: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))"],"string":"[\n \"Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_S-Class_(W222\",\n \"Modern Family Modern Familyis an American televisionsitcomcreated byChristopher LloydandSteven Levitan. It aired onABCfrom September 23, 2009 to April 8, 2020 for 11 seasons and 250 episodes.The series follows the lives of three diverse family set-ups living in suburbanLos Angeles, who are interrelated through their patriarch, Jay Pritchett. Lloyd and Levitan conceived the series while sharing stories of their own \\\"modern families.\\\"Modern Familyemploys anensemble castand is presented in a mockumentary style, with the characters frequentlyspeaking directly to the camerain confessional interview segments. Modern Familywas highly acclaimed by critics throughout its first few seasons. Its critical reception became more mixed as it progressed. The final season received positive reviews, and thefinale episodehad 7.37 million first-run viewers.The retrospective documentary that aired before the final episode had 6.72 million first-run viewers. The series won a total of 22 Emmy Awards, including fiveEmmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series, fourEmmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series(twice each forEric StonestreetandTy Burrell), and twoEmmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series(both forJulie Bowen). It also won theGolden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedyin 2011. Thebroadcast syndicationrights to the series were sold toNBCUniversal'sUSA Network, the stations ofFox Television Stations, and various other local stations in other markets for a fall 2013 premiere. The success of the series led to it being the 10th-highest revenue-generating show for 2012, earning $2.13 million an episode. Premise Modern Familyrevolves around three different types of families (nuclear,blended, andsame-sex) living in suburban Los Angeles, who are interrelated through wealthy businessman Jay Pritchett and his two adult children, Claire and Mitchell. Jay remarried a much younger woman, Gloria Delgado (née Ramirez), a passionateColombian immigrantwith whom he has a young son, Fulgencio “Joe” Joseph (born in themiddle of the fourth season), and a stepson from Gloria's previous marriage,Manuel \\\"Manny\\\" Delgado. Jay and Gloria's respective former spouses, DeDe and Javier, both also make occasional appearances in the show. Claire was a homemaker, though returned to the business world in the fifth season, eventually becoming the chief executive of her father's business, Pritchett's Closets and Blinds. She is married to Phil Dunphy, a realtor and a self-professed \\\"cool dad\\\", who is also an amateur magician and real-estate lecturer at community college. They have three children: Haley, a stereotypically ditzy teenaged girl;Alex, an intelligent and nerdy middle child;and Luke, the offbeat only son.Haley's on-and-off boyfriend, Dylan, is a permanent fixture on the show, with the two eventually marrying and having two children, Poppy and George. Mitchell is a lawyer who is in a same-sex relationship withCameron Tucker, a former music teacher who occasionally works as a substitute. The two have adopted a baby daughter, Lily, ofVietnamese origin, and are later on legally married. At the end of the show, they adopt another child, Rexford. As the show's name suggests, it depicts a modern-day extended family; many episodes are comically based on situations that many families encounter in real life. Cast and characters Main characters Family tree The characters in green have regular roles on the show. Dotted lines indicate a parental relationship through adoption or marriage, and dashed lines indicate a divorce between characters. † indicates a deceased character. The series has also had many recurring characters.Fred Willardguest starred as Phil's father Frank; he was nominated forOutstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Seriesat the62nd Primetime Emmy Awards, but lost toNeil Patrick Harris's performance onGlee.Willard also received a posthumous nomination in the same category at the72nd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2020.Shelley Longtoo guest starred occasionally as DeDe Pritchett, Jay's ex-wife and Claire and Mitchell's biological mother. Nathan Laneappeared as Cameron and Mitchell's flamboyant friend Pepper Saltzman; he was nominated three times for thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.Adam DeVineappeared as Andy Bailey, Jay and Gloria's \\\"manny\\\" (malenanny), Phil's assistant and Haley's ex-boyfriend.Elizabeth Banksappeared as Mitch and Cam's fun-loving friend Sal; she was nominated forOutstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Seriesat the67th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2015.Nathan Fillionalso makes an appearance as Rainer Shine, a weather forecaster, and later Haley's boyfriend. Development and production Initial development As creators Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan retold stories about their families, they realized that the stories could be the basis for a show. They started working on the idea of a family being observed in a mockumentary-style show.They later decided that it could be a show about three families and their experiences.It was originally calledMy American Family,and the camera crew was originally supposed to have been run by a fictitious Dutch filmmaker named Geert Floortje, who had lived as a teenaged exchange student with the Pritchetts and had developed a crush on Claire (while Mitchell had developed a crush on him). The producers later felt that this component was unnecessary, and it was scrapped. Lloyd preferred to look at the show as \\\"a family show done documentary-style\\\". Lloyd and Levitan pitched the series toCBS,NBC, and ABC (they did not pitch it toFoxbecause of issues they had with the network over a previous comedy series,Back to You, that Lloyd and Levitan also created and produced). CBS, which was not ready to make a big commitment to the single-camera style of filming, rejected the series. NBC, already broadcastingThe OfficeandParks and Recreationat the time, decided against taking on a third mockumentary-style show. ABC accepted the pitch. Thepilotepisode tested positively withfocus groups, resulting in the network ordering 13 episodes and adding it to the2009–10 fall lineupdays ahead of ABC's official schedule announcement.The series was given a full-season pickup in October 2009. Filming Principal photographytook place in Los Angeles.Many of the exteriors used are on the city'sWestside. The Dunphys' house is in theCheviot Hillsneighborhood. As of 2014,Palisades Charter High Schoolis used for the exteriors of Luke and Manny's school. Lloyd and Levitan, whose credits both includeFrasier,Wings, andJust Shoot Me!, are executive producers of the series, serving asshowrunnerandhead writerunder their Lloyd-Levitan Productions label in affiliation with20th Century Fox Television.The other original producers on the writing team were Paul Corrigan,Sameer Gardezi,Joe Lawson,Dan O'Shannon, Brad Walsh, Caroline Williams, Bill Wrubel, Danny Zuker, and Jeff Morton. Starting with the second season, Levitan and Lloyd ran the show, not as a team, but separately, with each showrunner supervising half the episodes. \\\"Chris and I are both strong, opinionated people, and we very, very quickly realized it doesn't make sense to sit here and debate each other and waste time,\\\" Levitan toldThe Hollywood Reporterin 2012. \\\"We often come at it from different points of view, so we said, 'Let's just switch off who has final say.'\\\" Litigation In the first season, the adult cast was paid a range of roughly $30,000 to $90,000 per episode.As a result of the show's success, the cast attempted to renegotiate their contracts in the summer of 2012 to obtain higher per-episode fees, but talks broke down to the point that the fourth season's firsttable readhad to be postponed. Five of the cast members (Ty Burrell,Julie Bowen,Jesse Tyler Ferguson,Eric StonestreetandSofía Vergara) retained theQuinn Emanuellaw firm and sued 20th Century Fox Television inLos Angeles County Superior Courton July 24, 2012.While not part of the lawsuit,Ed O'Neilljoined his fellow castmates in seeking raises for each to about $200,000 per episode; O'Neill had already been earning more money per episode than the other five. The lawsuit invoked the \\\"seven-year rule\\\" in California Labor Code Section 2855 (theDe Havilland Law) and requested adeclarationthat their contracts were void because they were in violation of that rule. By October 25, 2012, the conflict had been in final talks for a settlement, with plaintiffs planning thereafter to file a dismissal (which they ultimately did on November 19, 2012).The five adult cast members' salaries were increased from $55,000–$65,000 per episode to $150,000–$175,000, with increases every season, plus a percentage of residual profits.O'Neill had already been earning $200,000 an episode, so his salary was lowered to parity with his co-stars, but with a larger percentage of the back-end profits.By that August, four of the five child stars negotiated increases from $15,000–$25,000 to $70,000 per episode,with an additional $10,000 per season raise. Episodes Themes InThe New York Times,Bruce Feilercalled attention to how the show depicts the increasing way communications technology shapes the way people perceive others, even family members. \\\" is surely the first family comedy that incorporates its ownhashtagof simultaneous self-analysis directly into the storyline,\\\" he writes. \\\"Mark Zuckerbergmay be a greater influence onModern FamilythanNorman Lear.\\\" The show's writers and actors agree. \\\"We used to talk about how cellphones killed the sitcom because no one ever goes to anyone's house anymore\\\" for routine information,Abraham Higginbothamtold Feiler. \\\"We embrace technology so it's part of the story.\\\" Ty Burrell draws onFran Lebowitz's observation that there is no institution other than media.\\\"I had this little flash of Phil—and me—that we are parsing our personality together externally from how people perceive us.\\\" James Parker ofThe Atlanticcommented, \\\"How does one 'parent'? Who does what, which 'role'? Is Dad sufficiently dad-like and Mom enough of a mom?\\\" In a 2014 article inSlate, the site's podcast executive producer, Andy Bowers, a resident of Los Angeles' Westside, where the show films most of its exteriors, praised the series for its realistic depiction of life in that part of the city. Release Broadcast Modern Familywas picked up for syndication byUSA Networkfor $1.5 million per episode, along with being offered in local syndication at the same time, withFox Television Stationsthe lead station group picking up the series.It is also shown onSky ComedyandE4in theUnited Kingdom,e.tvinSouth Africa, Fox inSweden,yes ComedyinIsraelandStar WorldinIndia. The series aired onCitytvinCanadafor its first ten seasons.The network additionally obtained the syndicated strip-rights to the show when they became available. Subsequently, it moved toGlobalfor its eleventh and final season.Modern Familybegan airing onTBSsince 2023 and was picked up byNickelodeonfor itsNick at Niteblock, starting on September 10, 2024. Home media As of 2017,Modern Familyhad earned $72,226,621 from its domestic home media releases.The series was made available for streaming onHuluandPeacockin its entirety on February 3, 2021.Internationally, it was released onDisney+. Reception Ratings Since its premiere, the series has remained popular. In its first season, the show became the sixth-highest rated scripted show in America and the third-highest rated new show.Aided by winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, the show's second season became the highest rated show on Wednesday on premiere weekand also rose 34% from the previous season among adults between the ages of 18 and 49.The show frequently ranked as television's top scripted series in adults 18–49 as well. The success of the show has been positively compared toThe Cosby Show.During the2010–2011season,Modern Familywas the highest rated scripted show in the 18–49 demographic, and the third-highest rated overall sitcom behind CBS'sThe Big Bang TheoryandTwo and a Half Men.The season also ranked first amongDVRviewers. The third-season premiere became ABC's top-rated season premiere in six years.The series' success in ratings has also led it to being credited for reviving sitcoms. In 2016, aNew York Timesstudy of the 50 TV shows with the mostFacebook likesfound thatModern Family's \\\"audience pattern is the prototypical example of a city show — most popular in liberal, urban clusters in Boston, San Francisco, and Santa Barbara, California, and least popular in the more rural parts of Kentucky, Mississippi, and Arkansas\\\". Modern Familygained renewed popularity after becoming available onstreaming platforms. According to market research company Parrot Analytics, which examines consumer engagement across streaming, downloads, and social media,Modern Familyhas experienced a notable increase in interest since its debut onHuluandPeacockin 2021.For the week ending August 15, 2021,Whip Media, which tracks global TV viewership habits for nearly 1 million global users of itsTV Timeapp daily, calculated that the series placed third on its \\\"Binge Report\\\" chart, a ranking that highlights shows streamed in sessions of four or more episodes by viewers in a single day.In 2024, Parrot analytics reported thatModern Familywas among the 40 most in-demand TV shows worldwide between January 1 and August 8. While most of the top 10 shows appealed primarily to younger demographics (ages 15-31), the series attracted Millennial and Gen X viewers (32-42+).Nielsen Media Research, which records streaming viewership on U.S. television screens, estimated that the show was watched for 687 million minutes from August 12 to August 18, 2024.In October 2024, streaming analytics firm FlixPatrol, which monitors daily updated VOD charts across the globe, reported thatModern Familywas among the most viewed series on its platform, ranking second worldwide behindGrey's Anatomy. Critical response Season 1 The first season was met with critical acclaim. It scored 100%, based on 28 reviews, on review aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, with anaverage ratingof 8.55/10 and the critical consensus: \\\"Thanks to sharp writing and an eccentric but exceedingly likeable cast of characters,Modern Familysignals the triumphant return of the family comedy.\\\"The first season also scored 86/100, based on 27 reviews, on review aggregator websiteMetacritic, indicating \\\"universal acclaim\\\". Entertainment Weeklygave it an A−, calling it \\\"immediately recognizable as the best new sitcom of the fall.\\\"InTime's review, the show was named \\\"the funniest new family comedy of the year.\\\"It has also been compared to the 1970s seriesSoapbecause of the multiple-family aspect. Some have made comparisons toThe OfficeandParks and Recreationbecause of their mockumentary formats.BuddyTVnamed the show the second best show in 2009, saying, \\\"Every actor is fantastic, every family is interesting, and unlike many shows, there isn't a weak link.\\\"Robert Canning ofIGNgave the season an 8.9 calling it \\\"Great\\\" and saying \\\"Simply put,Modern Familywas one of the best new comedies of the season.\\\" He also praised the ensemble cast and the characters, calling them lovable.According to Metacritic, the first season was the best reviewed new broadcast television series. Modern Familydrew criticism from theLGBTcommunity for its portrayal of Cameron and Mitchell as not being physically affectionate with each other. The criticism spawned a Facebook campaign to demand that Mitchell and Cameron be allowed to kiss. In response to the controversy, producers released a statement that a season two episode would address Mitchell's discomfort withpublic displays of affection. Executive producer Levitan has said that it was unfortunate that the issue had arisen, since the show's writers had always planned on such a scene \\\"as part of the natural development of the show.\\\"The episode \\\"The Kiss\\\" eventually aired with the kiss scene in the background, which drew praise from multiple critics. Season 2 The show's second season received mostly positive reviews from critics. Season two has a rating of 88% onRotten Tomatoesbased on 16 reviews, with anaverage scoreof 8.11/10 and the consensus: \\\"Modern Family's sophomore season sings with ingenious sitcom structure and an ensemble in perfect comedic harmony – even if the tunes are a little familiar\\\".Robert Bianco ofUSA Todaygave the second season four out of four stars, saying \\\"Not sinceFrasierhas a sitcom offered such an ideal blend of heart and smarts, or proven itself so effortlessly adept at so many comic variations, from subtle wordplay to big-laugh slapstick to everything in between.\\\"In a later review Bianco stated \\\"as good as it was in its first year, is even better in its second\\\", positively comparing the characters to the characters fromThe Mary Tyler Moore Show,The Cosby Show, andFriends.During the second season,Adweeknamed the show one of the 100 Most Influential TV Shows (98th chronologically).Despite this, some critics were less favorable toward the season and described it as asophomore slump.Eric Stonestreet's acting was widely praised throughout the first season,but criticized during season two for being too contrived and \\\"over-the-top\\\";Alan Sepinwallcalled Cameron Tucker a \\\"whiny, overly-sensitive diva\\\".On the other hand, the praise for Ty Burrell's performance (as Phil Dunphy) continued. Season 3 The third season was met with critical acclaim. OnRotten Tomatoes, season three has a rating of 92% based on 13 reviews, with anaverage scoreof 8.33/10 and the consensus: \\\"Modern Familysettles into a well-oiled groove, consistently delivering inspired farce and making it look effortless.\\\"Slant Magazinereviewer Peter Swanson wrote that while the first episode was \\\"the type of wacky-location stunt that's usually reserved for the fifth or sixth season of a dying sitcom,\\\" the following episodes \\\"have been better... but they're still uneven\\\".He also criticized the writers for relying too much on \\\"stunt episodes and celebrity cameos, like David Cross\\\".He ultimately gave the season 3 out of 4 stars.James Parker ofThe Atlanticsaid, at the beginning of the third season that \\\"Modern Familyis very, very funny, almost ruthlessly so. It's a bit of a master class in pace and brevity. The writing isVorsprung durch Technik: hectically compressed but dramatically elegant, prodigal in its zingers and snorters but austere in its construction.\\\" He found it an exception to his dislike for sitcoms that do not use alaugh track.During the third season,New York TimescolumnistFrank Bruniargued that gay criticism of Cameron and Mitchell actually showed the progress gays have made toward social acceptance. \\\"A decade ago,\\\" he wrote, \\\" would have balked—and balked loudly—at how frequently Cameron in particular tips into limp-wristed, high-voiced caricature.\\\" But now, \\\"most gay people trust that the television audience knows we're a diverse tribe, not easily pigeonholed.Modern Familyendows us with a sort of comic banality. It's an odd kind of progress. But it's progress nonetheless.\\\" Season 4 The fourth season ofModern Familyreceived positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the season an approval rating of 67% based on 11 reviews, with anaverage scoreof 7.75/10 and the consensus: \\\"Modern Familystill has charm to burn and boasts a uniformly excellent cast, but the series' subversive edge has dulled\\\".Halfway through the season, Rachel Stein ofTelevision Without Pitywrote, \\\"much as I liked the pairings and some of the dialogue, is just another contrived episode of Modern Family we can cite when we talk later about how a different show should have won the 2013 Emmy for Best Comedy.\\\"Dalene Rovenstein ofPaste Magazinegave the season a positive review, but said a better season was possible. Season 5 The fifth season ofModern Familyalso received positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, season five has a rating of 90% based on 10 reviews, with anaverage scoreof 7.57/10 and the consensus: \\\"Modern Familyreturns to its conventional roots with grace in a fifth season that delights in providing reliable laughs and rekindles the show's trademark warmth\\\".Reviewing the season's first eight episodes, Matthew Wolfson ofSlant Magazinewrote that the show \\\"appear to have finally arrived at the depressing and predictable low point toward which it been trending for the past two years.\\\" He also went on to say that the show had \\\"turned into a shrill pastiche of stereotypical characterizations and superficial banter lacking both feeling and wit\\\", assigning it a rating of 1.5/4 stars.Different writers forThe A.V. Clubrated, in total, a majority of the former-half episodes with a \\\"B−\\\" grade or less. One writer for the magazine, Joshua Alston, gave \\\"ClosetCon '13\\\" a \\\"C+\\\" and remarked that \\\"Modern Familybecomes a high-wire act when it separates its characters into three storylines with no overlap between them.\\\"The second half was more warmly received, with three episodes rated an \\\"A−\\\" or higher. Season 6 The show's sixth season received highly positive reviews from TV critics, with some claiming that it was an improvement over the last few seasons.This season has a rating of 100% onRotten Tomatoesbased on 7 reviews, with anaverage scoreof 7.67/10.Joshua Alston and Gwen IhnatThe A.V. Clubhave awarded the majority of episodes a \\\"B\\\" grade or higher – with particular praise for \\\"The Day We Almost Died\\\" and \\\"Closet? You'll Love It!\\\" – marking an improvement over the repeated \\\"C\\\" grade given throughout the previous season's former half.\\\"Connection Lost\\\" received high critical acclaim, with many praising the episode's writing, originality and \\\"success in transcending what could have been a gimicky episode\\\".In her review for \\\"Closet? You'll Love It!\\\" Gwen Ihnat ofThe A.V. Clubstated that the episode represents \\\"all the reasons why we still watch Modern Family\\\" and awarded the episode an A−.On the same site, David Kallison reviewed \\\"Grill, Interrupted\\\", saying: \\\"This season proves that sitcoms can survive on solid characters and solid jokes.\\\" Season 7 The seventh season received positive reviews from critics with many critics calling it similar to the fourth and fifth seasons. On Rotten Tomatoes, this season is rated 67% with 6 reviews and an average rating of 6.5/10.Kyle Fowle fromThe A.V. Clubhad a very mixed reaction to the season, only giving one episode an A− or higher.Fowle felt the season was frustrating, believing the season would be defined \\\"by its lack of character progress and overstuffed episodes.\\\" Later seasons The series was renewed for a 9th and 10th season on May 10, 2017.Season 9 premiered on September 27, 2017, while season 10 premiered on September 26, 2018. Seasons 8 and 9 received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, with main criticisms directed at the lack of character development, overstuffing of episodes, and too many filler episodes per season. While the show continued to be praised for its charm, witty writing, and the cast's performances, criticism grew in these seasons, particularly from reviewers such as those atThe A.V. Club. In January 2018, Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd announced that season 10 would most likely be the final season, during theTelevision Critics Association's winter press tour.However, in August 2018, reports indicated that ABC was in discussions to renew the series for a potential eleventh season. Season 10 received positive reviews from critics, citing the season as a significant improvement over the last two. The series was praised for its tackling of Haley's pregnancy, the humor of Mitch and Cam looking after Cal, and its dealing with change in a positive way. Episodes \\\"Torn Between Two Lovers\\\", \\\"Good Grief\\\", and \\\"A Year Of Birthdays\\\" were particularly praised. The series was renewed for an eleventh season on January 7, 2019, which was confirmed as the final season on February 5. The last season premiered on September 25, 2019, and aired its last episode on April 8, 2020. Season 11 similarly received positive reviews. The season was praised for its themes of change and ending, and the improved humor upon the last seasons, with particular attention to episodes \\\"The Prescott\\\", \\\"Legacy\\\", \\\"Spuds\\\" and \\\"Finale\\\". Accolades Modern Familyhas won 22Primetime Emmy Awardsand 6Writers Guild of America Awards. The show also later received aGLSENRespect Awardfor its portrayal of \\\"positive images and storylines that reflect a diverse America, including the depiction of a family headed by a gay couple.\\\" In 2010,Modern Familywas nominated for five Television Critics Association Awards.To reinforce the idea of an ensemble cast, the cast all submitted themselves in the Supporting Actor and Actress categories instead of Lead Actor and Actress for the62nd Primetime Emmy Awards.The series has also been put on multiple critics' lists. In 2010, the series was listed 2nd onTime's Top Ten Best Shows of 2009,2nd onBuddyTV's Top Ten Best Shows of 2009,Jason Hughes Best TV of 2009,Modern Familywas awarded aPeabody Awardin 2009.In 2012, the show won theGolden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedyand was nominated for aBritish Academy Television Award. Every season of the show was also named one of the top 10 TV seasons of the year (from 2009 to 2012) by theAmerican Film Institute. During the2012 US presidential election, both First LadyMichelle Obama, in an interview withKal Pennat the2012 Democratic National Convention,andAnn Romney, in an interview withThe Insider,citedModern Familyas their favorite TV show. In June 2013, theWriters Guild of AmericarankedModern Familynumber 34 on a list of the 101 most well-written television series ever made.In December 2013,TV Guideranked it number 43 on its list of the 60 Best Series of all time. Emmy Awards received by cast The following is a list ofEmmynominations received by the cast of the series. Wins are highlighted inboldface. Criticism Michelle Haimoff of theChristian Science Monitorcriticized the show during its third season for only casting the women as stay-at-home moms while the husbands have highly successful careers: \\\"There is a difference between quirky, flawed characters and ones who are incapable of professional success. And when the latter is reliably female, it makes for sexist television. It also makes for unrealistic television.\\\"Late Night with Jimmy Fallonwriter Ali Waller asked her Twitter followers in 2013 \\\"IfModern Familyis so 'modern' then why don't any of the women have jobs?\\\"Other authors reinforced this criticism, claiming that stay-at-home mothers are no longer the norm in modern society.Claire later went to work in season five. According to aCNETstaffer commenting on a first-season episode: \\\"The wife and daughter are unable to learn how to use the remote and must be taught by the father, while the son is 'good with electronics,' even though he is thought of as the stupidest member of the family.\\\"Arianna Reiche fromGawkercommented on the episode \\\"Game Changer\\\" in which Gloria hides her skill at chess so her husband will not be upset at losing: \\\"This moment is at best a sappy quip about compromise in an often heavy-handed series, and at worst, it's a moment in a show with 9.3 million viewers, on a network owned by Disney, which explicitly validates girls and women subduing their intellect.\\\" Impact Adaptations Potential spinoff In June 2020, ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke discussed a spin-off ofModern Familycentered around Mitch and Cam, inspired by an idea from series co-creator and executive producer, Steven Levitan.In June 2022, star Jesse Tyler Ferguson confirmed that the script for the show's spinoff is completed. \\\"The script's out there and it's very good,\\\" he told. \\\"So you know, who knows? If someone wants to produce it, maybe.\\\"In September 2024, Eric Stonestreet stated that the spin-off \\\" potential anymore\\\" and that the time to produce it has passed, despite believing that the series would have been a \\\"slam dunk\\\". In early 2013, a spin-off series centered aroundRob Riggle's character Gil Thorpe was revealed to be in early stages of development. References External links\",\n \"Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Jesse_Tyler_Ferguson (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b933160e0>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_S-Class_(W222","Modern Family Modern Familyis an American televisionsitcomcreated byChristopher LloydandSteven Levitan. It aired onABCfrom September 23, 2009 to April 8, 2020 for 11 seasons and 250 episodes.The series follows the lives of three diverse family set-ups living in suburbanLos Angeles, who are interrelated through their patriarch, Jay Pritchett. Lloyd and Levitan conceived the series while sharing stories of their own \"modern families.\"Modern Familyemploys anensemble castand is presented in a mockumentary style, with the characters frequentlyspeaking directly to the camerain confessional interview segments. Modern Familywas highly acclaimed by critics throughout its first few seasons. Its critical reception became more mixed as it progressed. The final season received positive reviews, and thefinale episodehad 7.37 million first-run viewers.The retrospective documentary that aired before the final episode had 6.72 million first-run viewers. The series won a total of 22 Emmy Awards, including fiveEmmy Awards for","fiveEmmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series, fourEmmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series(twice each forEric StonestreetandTy Burrell), and twoEmmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series(both forJulie Bowen). It also won theGolden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedyin 2011. Thebroadcast syndicationrights to the series were sold toNBCUniversal'sUSA Network, the stations ofFox Television Stations, and various other local stations in other markets for a fall 2013 premiere. The success of the series led to it being the 10th-highest revenue-generating show for 2012, earning $2.13 million an episode. Premise Modern Familyrevolves around three different types of families (nuclear,blended, andsame-sex) living in suburban Los Angeles, who are interrelated through wealthy businessman Jay Pritchett and his two adult children, Claire and Mitchell. Jay remarried a much younger woman, Gloria Delgado (née Ramirez), a passionateColombian immigrantwith","immigrantwith whom he has a young son, Fulgencio “Joe” Joseph (born in themiddle of the fourth season), and a stepson from Gloria's previous marriage,Manuel \"Manny\" Delgado. Jay and Gloria's respective former spouses, DeDe and Javier, both also make occasional appearances in the show. Claire was a homemaker, though returned to the business world in the fifth season, eventually becoming the chief executive of her father's business, Pritchett's Closets and Blinds. She is married to Phil Dunphy, a realtor and a self-professed \"cool dad\", who is also an amateur magician and real-estate lecturer at community college. They have three children: Haley, a stereotypically ditzy teenaged girl;Alex, an intelligent and nerdy middle child;and Luke, the offbeat only son.Haley's on-and-off boyfriend, Dylan, is a permanent fixture on the show, with the two eventually marrying and having two children, Poppy and George. Mitchell is a lawyer who is in a same-sex relationship withCameron Tucker, a former music teacher who","music teacher who occasionally works as a substitute. The two have adopted a baby daughter, Lily, ofVietnamese origin, and are later on legally married. At the end of the show, they adopt another child, Rexford. As the show's name suggests, it depicts a modern-day extended family; many episodes are comically based on situations that many families encounter in real life. Cast and characters Main characters Family tree The characters in green have regular roles on the show. Dotted lines indicate a parental relationship through adoption or marriage, and dashed lines indicate a divorce between characters. † indicates a deceased character. The series has also had many recurring characters.Fred Willardguest starred as Phil's father Frank; he was nominated forOutstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Seriesat the62nd Primetime Emmy Awards, but lost toNeil Patrick Harris's performance onGlee.Willard also received a posthumous nomination in the same category at the72nd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2020.Shelley","in 2020.Shelley Longtoo guest starred occasionally as DeDe Pritchett, Jay's ex-wife and Claire and Mitchell's biological mother. Nathan Laneappeared as Cameron and Mitchell's flamboyant friend Pepper Saltzman; he was nominated three times for thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.Adam DeVineappeared as Andy Bailey, Jay and Gloria's \"manny\" (malenanny), Phil's assistant and Haley's ex-boyfriend.Elizabeth Banksappeared as Mitch and Cam's fun-loving friend Sal; she was nominated forOutstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Seriesat the67th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2015.Nathan Fillionalso makes an appearance as Rainer Shine, a weather forecaster, and later Haley's boyfriend. Development and production Initial development As creators Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan retold stories about their families, they realized that the stories could be the basis for a show. They started working on the idea of a family being observed in a mockumentary-style show.They later","show.They later decided that it could be a show about three families and their experiences.It was originally calledMy American Family,and the camera crew was originally supposed to have been run by a fictitious Dutch filmmaker named Geert Floortje, who had lived as a teenaged exchange student with the Pritchetts and had developed a crush on Claire (while Mitchell had developed a crush on him). The producers later felt that this component was unnecessary, and it was scrapped. Lloyd preferred to look at the show as \"a family show done documentary-style\". Lloyd and Levitan pitched the series toCBS,NBC, and ABC (they did not pitch it toFoxbecause of issues they had with the network over a previous comedy series,Back to You, that Lloyd and Levitan also created and produced). CBS, which was not ready to make a big commitment to the single-camera style of filming, rejected the series. NBC, already broadcastingThe OfficeandParks and Recreationat the time, decided against taking on a third mockumentary-style show.","show. ABC accepted the pitch. Thepilotepisode tested positively withfocus groups, resulting in the network ordering 13 episodes and adding it to the2009–10 fall lineupdays ahead of ABC's official schedule announcement.The series was given a full-season pickup in October 2009. Filming Principal photographytook place in Los Angeles.Many of the exteriors used are on the city'sWestside. The Dunphys' house is in theCheviot Hillsneighborhood. As of 2014,Palisades Charter High Schoolis used for the exteriors of Luke and Manny's school. Lloyd and Levitan, whose credits both includeFrasier,Wings, andJust Shoot Me!, are executive producers of the series, serving asshowrunnerandhead writerunder their Lloyd-Levitan Productions label in affiliation with20th Century Fox Television.The other original producers on the writing team were Paul Corrigan,Sameer Gardezi,Joe Lawson,Dan O'Shannon, Brad Walsh, Caroline Williams, Bill Wrubel, Danny Zuker, and Jeff Morton. Starting with the second season, Levitan and Lloyd ran the","and Lloyd ran the show, not as a team, but separately, with each showrunner supervising half the episodes. \"Chris and I are both strong, opinionated people, and we very, very quickly realized it doesn't make sense to sit here and debate each other and waste time,\" Levitan toldThe Hollywood Reporterin 2012. \"We often come at it from different points of view, so we said, 'Let's just switch off who has final say.'\" Litigation In the first season, the adult cast was paid a range of roughly $30,000 to $90,000 per episode.As a result of the show's success, the cast attempted to renegotiate their contracts in the summer of 2012 to obtain higher per-episode fees, but talks broke down to the point that the fourth season's firsttable readhad to be postponed. Five of the cast members (Ty Burrell,Julie Bowen,Jesse Tyler Ferguson,Eric StonestreetandSofía Vergara) retained theQuinn Emanuellaw firm and sued 20th Century Fox Television inLos Angeles County Superior Courton July 24, 2012.While not part of the lawsuit,Ed","of the lawsuit,Ed O'Neilljoined his fellow castmates in seeking raises for each to about $200,000 per episode; O'Neill had already been earning more money per episode than the other five. The lawsuit invoked the \"seven-year rule\" in California Labor Code Section 2855 (theDe Havilland Law) and requested adeclarationthat their contracts were void because they were in violation of that rule. By October 25, 2012, the conflict had been in final talks for a settlement, with plaintiffs planning thereafter to file a dismissal (which they ultimately did on November 19, 2012).The five adult cast members' salaries were increased from $55,000–$65,000 per episode to $150,000–$175,000, with increases every season, plus a percentage of residual profits.O'Neill had already been earning $200,000 an episode, so his salary was lowered to parity with his co-stars, but with a larger percentage of the back-end profits.By that August, four of the five child stars negotiated increases from $15,000–$25,000 to $70,000 per","to $70,000 per episode,with an additional $10,000 per season raise. Episodes Themes InThe New York Times,Bruce Feilercalled attention to how the show depicts the increasing way communications technology shapes the way people perceive others, even family members. \" is surely the first family comedy that incorporates its ownhashtagof simultaneous self-analysis directly into the storyline,\" he writes. \"Mark Zuckerbergmay be a greater influence onModern FamilythanNorman Lear.\" The show's writers and actors agree. \"We used to talk about how cellphones killed the sitcom because no one ever goes to anyone's house anymore\" for routine information,Abraham Higginbothamtold Feiler. \"We embrace technology so it's part of the story.\" Ty Burrell draws onFran Lebowitz's observation that there is no institution other than media.\"I had this little flash of Phil—and me—that we are parsing our personality together externally from how people perceive us.\" James Parker ofThe Atlanticcommented, \"How does one 'parent'? Who does","'parent'? Who does what, which 'role'? Is Dad sufficiently dad-like and Mom enough of a mom?\" In a 2014 article inSlate, the site's podcast executive producer, Andy Bowers, a resident of Los Angeles' Westside, where the show films most of its exteriors, praised the series for its realistic depiction of life in that part of the city. Release Broadcast Modern Familywas picked up for syndication byUSA Networkfor $1.5 million per episode, along with being offered in local syndication at the same time, withFox Television Stationsthe lead station group picking up the series.It is also shown onSky ComedyandE4in theUnited Kingdom,e.tvinSouth Africa, Fox inSweden,yes ComedyinIsraelandStar WorldinIndia. The series aired onCitytvinCanadafor its first ten seasons.The network additionally obtained the syndicated strip-rights to the show when they became available. Subsequently, it moved toGlobalfor its eleventh and final season.Modern Familybegan airing onTBSsince 2023 and was picked up byNickelodeonfor itsNick at","itsNick at Niteblock, starting on September 10, 2024. Home media As of 2017,Modern Familyhad earned $72,226,621 from its domestic home media releases.The series was made available for streaming onHuluandPeacockin its entirety on February 3, 2021.Internationally, it was released onDisney+. Reception Ratings Since its premiere, the series has remained popular. In its first season, the show became the sixth-highest rated scripted show in America and the third-highest rated new show.Aided by winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, the show's second season became the highest rated show on Wednesday on premiere weekand also rose 34% from the previous season among adults between the ages of 18 and 49.The show frequently ranked as television's top scripted series in adults 18–49 as well. The success of the show has been positively compared toThe Cosby Show.During the2010–2011season,Modern Familywas the highest rated scripted show in the 18–49 demographic, and the third-highest rated overall","rated overall sitcom behind CBS'sThe Big Bang TheoryandTwo and a Half Men.The season also ranked first amongDVRviewers. The third-season premiere became ABC's top-rated season premiere in six years.The series' success in ratings has also led it to being credited for reviving sitcoms. In 2016, aNew York Timesstudy of the 50 TV shows with the mostFacebook likesfound thatModern Family's \"audience pattern is the prototypical example of a city show — most popular in liberal, urban clusters in Boston, San Francisco, and Santa Barbara, California, and least popular in the more rural parts of Kentucky, Mississippi, and Arkansas\". Modern Familygained renewed popularity after becoming available onstreaming platforms. According to market research company Parrot Analytics, which examines consumer engagement across streaming, downloads, and social media,Modern Familyhas experienced a notable increase in interest since its debut onHuluandPeacockin 2021.For the week ending August 15, 2021,Whip Media, which tracks global TV","tracks global TV viewership habits for nearly 1 million global users of itsTV Timeapp daily, calculated that the series placed third on its \"Binge Report\" chart, a ranking that highlights shows streamed in sessions of four or more episodes by viewers in a single day.In 2024, Parrot analytics reported thatModern Familywas among the 40 most in-demand TV shows worldwide between January 1 and August 8. While most of the top 10 shows appealed primarily to younger demographics (ages 15-31), the series attracted Millennial and Gen X viewers (32-42+).Nielsen Media Research, which records streaming viewership on U.S. television screens, estimated that the show was watched for 687 million minutes from August 12 to August 18, 2024.In October 2024, streaming analytics firm FlixPatrol, which monitors daily updated VOD charts across the globe, reported thatModern Familywas among the most viewed series on its platform, ranking second worldwide behindGrey's Anatomy. Critical response Season 1 The first season was met with","season was met with critical acclaim. It scored 100%, based on 28 reviews, on review aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, with anaverage ratingof 8.55/10 and the critical consensus: \"Thanks to sharp writing and an eccentric but exceedingly likeable cast of characters,Modern Familysignals the triumphant return of the family comedy.\"The first season also scored 86/100, based on 27 reviews, on review aggregator websiteMetacritic, indicating \"universal acclaim\". Entertainment Weeklygave it an A−, calling it \"immediately recognizable as the best new sitcom of the fall.\"InTime's review, the show was named \"the funniest new family comedy of the year.\"It has also been compared to the 1970s seriesSoapbecause of the multiple-family aspect. Some have made comparisons toThe OfficeandParks and Recreationbecause of their mockumentary formats.BuddyTVnamed the show the second best show in 2009, saying, \"Every actor is fantastic, every family is interesting, and unlike many shows, there isn't a weak link.\"Robert Canning","Canning ofIGNgave the season an 8.9 calling it \"Great\" and saying \"Simply put,Modern Familywas one of the best new comedies of the season.\" He also praised the ensemble cast and the characters, calling them lovable.According to Metacritic, the first season was the best reviewed new broadcast television series. Modern Familydrew criticism from theLGBTcommunity for its portrayal of Cameron and Mitchell as not being physically affectionate with each other. The criticism spawned a Facebook campaign to demand that Mitchell and Cameron be allowed to kiss. In response to the controversy, producers released a statement that a season two episode would address Mitchell's discomfort withpublic displays of affection. Executive producer Levitan has said that it was unfortunate that the issue had arisen, since the show's writers had always planned on such a scene \"as part of the natural development of the show.\"The episode \"The Kiss\" eventually aired with the kiss scene in the background, which drew praise from multiple","from multiple critics. Season 2 The show's second season received mostly positive reviews from critics. Season two has a rating of 88% onRotten Tomatoesbased on 16 reviews, with anaverage scoreof 8.11/10 and the consensus: \"Modern Family's sophomore season sings with ingenious sitcom structure and an ensemble in perfect comedic harmony – even if the tunes are a little familiar\".Robert Bianco ofUSA Todaygave the second season four out of four stars, saying \"Not sinceFrasierhas a sitcom offered such an ideal blend of heart and smarts, or proven itself so effortlessly adept at so many comic variations, from subtle wordplay to big-laugh slapstick to everything in between.\"In a later review Bianco stated \"as good as it was in its first year, is even better in its second\", positively comparing the characters to the characters fromThe Mary Tyler Moore Show,The Cosby Show, andFriends.During the second season,Adweeknamed the show one of the 100 Most Influential TV Shows (98th chronologically).Despite this, some","this, some critics were less favorable toward the season and described it as asophomore slump.Eric Stonestreet's acting was widely praised throughout the first season,but criticized during season two for being too contrived and \"over-the-top\";Alan Sepinwallcalled Cameron Tucker a \"whiny, overly-sensitive diva\".On the other hand, the praise for Ty Burrell's performance (as Phil Dunphy) continued. Season 3 The third season was met with critical acclaim. OnRotten Tomatoes, season three has a rating of 92% based on 13 reviews, with anaverage scoreof 8.33/10 and the consensus: \"Modern Familysettles into a well-oiled groove, consistently delivering inspired farce and making it look effortless.\"Slant Magazinereviewer Peter Swanson wrote that while the first episode was \"the type of wacky-location stunt that's usually reserved for the fifth or sixth season of a dying sitcom,\" the following episodes \"have been better... but they're still uneven\".He also criticized the writers for relying too much on \"stunt episodes","on \"stunt episodes and celebrity cameos, like David Cross\".He ultimately gave the season 3 out of 4 stars.James Parker ofThe Atlanticsaid, at the beginning of the third season that \"Modern Familyis very, very funny, almost ruthlessly so. It's a bit of a master class in pace and brevity. The writing isVorsprung durch Technik: hectically compressed but dramatically elegant, prodigal in its zingers and snorters but austere in its construction.\" He found it an exception to his dislike for sitcoms that do not use alaugh track.During the third season,New York TimescolumnistFrank Bruniargued that gay criticism of Cameron and Mitchell actually showed the progress gays have made toward social acceptance. \"A decade ago,\" he wrote, \" would have balked—and balked loudly—at how frequently Cameron in particular tips into limp-wristed, high-voiced caricature.\" But now, \"most gay people trust that the television audience knows we're a diverse tribe, not easily pigeonholed.Modern Familyendows us with a sort of comic","a sort of comic banality. It's an odd kind of progress. But it's progress nonetheless.\" Season 4 The fourth season ofModern Familyreceived positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the season an approval rating of 67% based on 11 reviews, with anaverage scoreof 7.75/10 and the consensus: \"Modern Familystill has charm to burn and boasts a uniformly excellent cast, but the series' subversive edge has dulled\".Halfway through the season, Rachel Stein ofTelevision Without Pitywrote, \"much as I liked the pairings and some of the dialogue, is just another contrived episode of Modern Family we can cite when we talk later about how a different show should have won the 2013 Emmy for Best Comedy.\"Dalene Rovenstein ofPaste Magazinegave the season a positive review, but said a better season was possible. Season 5 The fifth season ofModern Familyalso received positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, season five has a rating of 90% based on 10 reviews, with anaverage scoreof 7.57/10 and the consensus: \"Modern","consensus: \"Modern Familyreturns to its conventional roots with grace in a fifth season that delights in providing reliable laughs and rekindles the show's trademark warmth\".Reviewing the season's first eight episodes, Matthew Wolfson ofSlant Magazinewrote that the show \"appear to have finally arrived at the depressing and predictable low point toward which it been trending for the past two years.\" He also went on to say that the show had \"turned into a shrill pastiche of stereotypical characterizations and superficial banter lacking both feeling and wit\", assigning it a rating of 1.5/4 stars.Different writers forThe A.V. Clubrated, in total, a majority of the former-half episodes with a \"B−\" grade or less. One writer for the magazine, Joshua Alston, gave \"ClosetCon '13\" a \"C+\" and remarked that \"Modern Familybecomes a high-wire act when it separates its characters into three storylines with no overlap between them.\"The second half was more warmly received, with three episodes rated an \"A−\" or higher.","an \"A−\" or higher. Season 6 The show's sixth season received highly positive reviews from TV critics, with some claiming that it was an improvement over the last few seasons.This season has a rating of 100% onRotten Tomatoesbased on 7 reviews, with anaverage scoreof 7.67/10.Joshua Alston and Gwen IhnatThe A.V. Clubhave awarded the majority of episodes a \"B\" grade or higher – with particular praise for \"The Day We Almost Died\" and \"Closet? You'll Love It!\" – marking an improvement over the repeated \"C\" grade given throughout the previous season's former half.\"Connection Lost\" received high critical acclaim, with many praising the episode's writing, originality and \"success in transcending what could have been a gimicky episode\".In her review for \"Closet? You'll Love It!\" Gwen Ihnat ofThe A.V. Clubstated that the episode represents \"all the reasons why we still watch Modern Family\" and awarded the episode an A−.On the same site, David Kallison reviewed \"Grill, Interrupted\", saying: \"This season proves that","season proves that sitcoms can survive on solid characters and solid jokes.\" Season 7 The seventh season received positive reviews from critics with many critics calling it similar to the fourth and fifth seasons. On Rotten Tomatoes, this season is rated 67% with 6 reviews and an average rating of 6.5/10.Kyle Fowle fromThe A.V. Clubhad a very mixed reaction to the season, only giving one episode an A− or higher.Fowle felt the season was frustrating, believing the season would be defined \"by its lack of character progress and overstuffed episodes.\" Later seasons The series was renewed for a 9th and 10th season on May 10, 2017.Season 9 premiered on September 27, 2017, while season 10 premiered on September 26, 2018. Seasons 8 and 9 received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, with main criticisms directed at the lack of character development, overstuffing of episodes, and too many filler episodes per season. While the show continued to be praised for its charm, witty writing, and the cast's performances,","performances, criticism grew in these seasons, particularly from reviewers such as those atThe A.V. Club. In January 2018, Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd announced that season 10 would most likely be the final season, during theTelevision Critics Association's winter press tour.However, in August 2018, reports indicated that ABC was in discussions to renew the series for a potential eleventh season. Season 10 received positive reviews from critics, citing the season as a significant improvement over the last two. The series was praised for its tackling of Haley's pregnancy, the humor of Mitch and Cam looking after Cal, and its dealing with change in a positive way. Episodes \"Torn Between Two Lovers\", \"Good Grief\", and \"A Year Of Birthdays\" were particularly praised. The series was renewed for an eleventh season on January 7, 2019, which was confirmed as the final season on February 5. The last season premiered on September 25, 2019, and aired its last episode on April 8, 2020. Season 11 similarly","Season 11 similarly received positive reviews. The season was praised for its themes of change and ending, and the improved humor upon the last seasons, with particular attention to episodes \"The Prescott\", \"Legacy\", \"Spuds\" and \"Finale\". Accolades Modern Familyhas won 22Primetime Emmy Awardsand 6Writers Guild of America Awards. The show also later received aGLSENRespect Awardfor its portrayal of \"positive images and storylines that reflect a diverse America, including the depiction of a family headed by a gay couple.\" In 2010,Modern Familywas nominated for five Television Critics Association Awards.To reinforce the idea of an ensemble cast, the cast all submitted themselves in the Supporting Actor and Actress categories instead of Lead Actor and Actress for the62nd Primetime Emmy Awards.The series has also been put on multiple critics' lists. In 2010, the series was listed 2nd onTime's Top Ten Best Shows of 2009,2nd onBuddyTV's Top Ten Best Shows of 2009,Jason Hughes Best TV of 2009,Modern Familywas awarded","Familywas awarded aPeabody Awardin 2009.In 2012, the show won theGolden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedyand was nominated for aBritish Academy Television Award. Every season of the show was also named one of the top 10 TV seasons of the year (from 2009 to 2012) by theAmerican Film Institute. During the2012 US presidential election, both First LadyMichelle Obama, in an interview withKal Pennat the2012 Democratic National Convention,andAnn Romney, in an interview withThe Insider,citedModern Familyas their favorite TV show. In June 2013, theWriters Guild of AmericarankedModern Familynumber 34 on a list of the 101 most well-written television series ever made.In December 2013,TV Guideranked it number 43 on its list of the 60 Best Series of all time. Emmy Awards received by cast The following is a list ofEmmynominations received by the cast of the series. Wins are highlighted inboldface. Criticism Michelle Haimoff of theChristian Science Monitorcriticized the show during its third season","its third season for only casting the women as stay-at-home moms while the husbands have highly successful careers: \"There is a difference between quirky, flawed characters and ones who are incapable of professional success. And when the latter is reliably female, it makes for sexist television. It also makes for unrealistic television.\"Late Night with Jimmy Fallonwriter Ali Waller asked her Twitter followers in 2013 \"IfModern Familyis so 'modern' then why don't any of the women have jobs?\"Other authors reinforced this criticism, claiming that stay-at-home mothers are no longer the norm in modern society.Claire later went to work in season five. According to aCNETstaffer commenting on a first-season episode: \"The wife and daughter are unable to learn how to use the remote and must be taught by the father, while the son is 'good with electronics,' even though he is thought of as the stupidest member of the family.\"Arianna Reiche fromGawkercommented on the episode \"Game Changer\" in which Gloria hides her skill","hides her skill at chess so her husband will not be upset at losing: \"This moment is at best a sappy quip about compromise in an often heavy-handed series, and at worst, it's a moment in a show with 9.3 million viewers, on a network owned by Disney, which explicitly validates girls and women subduing their intellect.\" Impact Adaptations Potential spinoff In June 2020, ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke discussed a spin-off ofModern Familycentered around Mitch and Cam, inspired by an idea from series co-creator and executive producer, Steven Levitan.In June 2022, star Jesse Tyler Ferguson confirmed that the script for the show's spinoff is completed. \"The script's out there and it's very good,\" he told. \"So you know, who knows? If someone wants to produce it, maybe.\"In September 2024, Eric Stonestreet stated that the spin-off \" potential anymore\" and that the time to produce it has passed, despite believing that the series would have been a \"slam dunk\". In early 2013, a spin-off series centered aroundRob","centered aroundRob Riggle's character Gil Thorpe was revealed to be in early stages of development. References External links","Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Jesse_Tyler_Ferguson (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b933160e0>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))"],"string":"[\n \"Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_S-Class_(W222\",\n \"Modern Family Modern Familyis an American televisionsitcomcreated byChristopher LloydandSteven Levitan. It aired onABCfrom September 23, 2009 to April 8, 2020 for 11 seasons and 250 episodes.The series follows the lives of three diverse family set-ups living in suburbanLos Angeles, who are interrelated through their patriarch, Jay Pritchett. Lloyd and Levitan conceived the series while sharing stories of their own \\\"modern families.\\\"Modern Familyemploys anensemble castand is presented in a mockumentary style, with the characters frequentlyspeaking directly to the camerain confessional interview segments. Modern Familywas highly acclaimed by critics throughout its first few seasons. Its critical reception became more mixed as it progressed. The final season received positive reviews, and thefinale episodehad 7.37 million first-run viewers.The retrospective documentary that aired before the final episode had 6.72 million first-run viewers. The series won a total of 22 Emmy Awards, including fiveEmmy Awards for\",\n \"fiveEmmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series, fourEmmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series(twice each forEric StonestreetandTy Burrell), and twoEmmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series(both forJulie Bowen). It also won theGolden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedyin 2011. Thebroadcast syndicationrights to the series were sold toNBCUniversal'sUSA Network, the stations ofFox Television Stations, and various other local stations in other markets for a fall 2013 premiere. The success of the series led to it being the 10th-highest revenue-generating show for 2012, earning $2.13 million an episode. Premise Modern Familyrevolves around three different types of families (nuclear,blended, andsame-sex) living in suburban Los Angeles, who are interrelated through wealthy businessman Jay Pritchett and his two adult children, Claire and Mitchell. Jay remarried a much younger woman, Gloria Delgado (née Ramirez), a passionateColombian immigrantwith\",\n \"immigrantwith whom he has a young son, Fulgencio “Joe” Joseph (born in themiddle of the fourth season), and a stepson from Gloria's previous marriage,Manuel \\\"Manny\\\" Delgado. Jay and Gloria's respective former spouses, DeDe and Javier, both also make occasional appearances in the show. Claire was a homemaker, though returned to the business world in the fifth season, eventually becoming the chief executive of her father's business, Pritchett's Closets and Blinds. She is married to Phil Dunphy, a realtor and a self-professed \\\"cool dad\\\", who is also an amateur magician and real-estate lecturer at community college. They have three children: Haley, a stereotypically ditzy teenaged girl;Alex, an intelligent and nerdy middle child;and Luke, the offbeat only son.Haley's on-and-off boyfriend, Dylan, is a permanent fixture on the show, with the two eventually marrying and having two children, Poppy and George. Mitchell is a lawyer who is in a same-sex relationship withCameron Tucker, a former music teacher who\",\n \"music teacher who occasionally works as a substitute. The two have adopted a baby daughter, Lily, ofVietnamese origin, and are later on legally married. At the end of the show, they adopt another child, Rexford. As the show's name suggests, it depicts a modern-day extended family; many episodes are comically based on situations that many families encounter in real life. Cast and characters Main characters Family tree The characters in green have regular roles on the show. Dotted lines indicate a parental relationship through adoption or marriage, and dashed lines indicate a divorce between characters. † indicates a deceased character. The series has also had many recurring characters.Fred Willardguest starred as Phil's father Frank; he was nominated forOutstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Seriesat the62nd Primetime Emmy Awards, but lost toNeil Patrick Harris's performance onGlee.Willard also received a posthumous nomination in the same category at the72nd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2020.Shelley\",\n \"in 2020.Shelley Longtoo guest starred occasionally as DeDe Pritchett, Jay's ex-wife and Claire and Mitchell's biological mother. Nathan Laneappeared as Cameron and Mitchell's flamboyant friend Pepper Saltzman; he was nominated three times for thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.Adam DeVineappeared as Andy Bailey, Jay and Gloria's \\\"manny\\\" (malenanny), Phil's assistant and Haley's ex-boyfriend.Elizabeth Banksappeared as Mitch and Cam's fun-loving friend Sal; she was nominated forOutstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Seriesat the67th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2015.Nathan Fillionalso makes an appearance as Rainer Shine, a weather forecaster, and later Haley's boyfriend. Development and production Initial development As creators Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan retold stories about their families, they realized that the stories could be the basis for a show. They started working on the idea of a family being observed in a mockumentary-style show.They later\",\n \"show.They later decided that it could be a show about three families and their experiences.It was originally calledMy American Family,and the camera crew was originally supposed to have been run by a fictitious Dutch filmmaker named Geert Floortje, who had lived as a teenaged exchange student with the Pritchetts and had developed a crush on Claire (while Mitchell had developed a crush on him). The producers later felt that this component was unnecessary, and it was scrapped. Lloyd preferred to look at the show as \\\"a family show done documentary-style\\\". Lloyd and Levitan pitched the series toCBS,NBC, and ABC (they did not pitch it toFoxbecause of issues they had with the network over a previous comedy series,Back to You, that Lloyd and Levitan also created and produced). CBS, which was not ready to make a big commitment to the single-camera style of filming, rejected the series. NBC, already broadcastingThe OfficeandParks and Recreationat the time, decided against taking on a third mockumentary-style show.\",\n \"show. ABC accepted the pitch. Thepilotepisode tested positively withfocus groups, resulting in the network ordering 13 episodes and adding it to the2009–10 fall lineupdays ahead of ABC's official schedule announcement.The series was given a full-season pickup in October 2009. Filming Principal photographytook place in Los Angeles.Many of the exteriors used are on the city'sWestside. The Dunphys' house is in theCheviot Hillsneighborhood. As of 2014,Palisades Charter High Schoolis used for the exteriors of Luke and Manny's school. Lloyd and Levitan, whose credits both includeFrasier,Wings, andJust Shoot Me!, are executive producers of the series, serving asshowrunnerandhead writerunder their Lloyd-Levitan Productions label in affiliation with20th Century Fox Television.The other original producers on the writing team were Paul Corrigan,Sameer Gardezi,Joe Lawson,Dan O'Shannon, Brad Walsh, Caroline Williams, Bill Wrubel, Danny Zuker, and Jeff Morton. Starting with the second season, Levitan and Lloyd ran the\",\n \"and Lloyd ran the show, not as a team, but separately, with each showrunner supervising half the episodes. \\\"Chris and I are both strong, opinionated people, and we very, very quickly realized it doesn't make sense to sit here and debate each other and waste time,\\\" Levitan toldThe Hollywood Reporterin 2012. \\\"We often come at it from different points of view, so we said, 'Let's just switch off who has final say.'\\\" Litigation In the first season, the adult cast was paid a range of roughly $30,000 to $90,000 per episode.As a result of the show's success, the cast attempted to renegotiate their contracts in the summer of 2012 to obtain higher per-episode fees, but talks broke down to the point that the fourth season's firsttable readhad to be postponed. Five of the cast members (Ty Burrell,Julie Bowen,Jesse Tyler Ferguson,Eric StonestreetandSofía Vergara) retained theQuinn Emanuellaw firm and sued 20th Century Fox Television inLos Angeles County Superior Courton July 24, 2012.While not part of the lawsuit,Ed\",\n \"of the lawsuit,Ed O'Neilljoined his fellow castmates in seeking raises for each to about $200,000 per episode; O'Neill had already been earning more money per episode than the other five. The lawsuit invoked the \\\"seven-year rule\\\" in California Labor Code Section 2855 (theDe Havilland Law) and requested adeclarationthat their contracts were void because they were in violation of that rule. By October 25, 2012, the conflict had been in final talks for a settlement, with plaintiffs planning thereafter to file a dismissal (which they ultimately did on November 19, 2012).The five adult cast members' salaries were increased from $55,000–$65,000 per episode to $150,000–$175,000, with increases every season, plus a percentage of residual profits.O'Neill had already been earning $200,000 an episode, so his salary was lowered to parity with his co-stars, but with a larger percentage of the back-end profits.By that August, four of the five child stars negotiated increases from $15,000–$25,000 to $70,000 per\",\n \"to $70,000 per episode,with an additional $10,000 per season raise. Episodes Themes InThe New York Times,Bruce Feilercalled attention to how the show depicts the increasing way communications technology shapes the way people perceive others, even family members. \\\" is surely the first family comedy that incorporates its ownhashtagof simultaneous self-analysis directly into the storyline,\\\" he writes. \\\"Mark Zuckerbergmay be a greater influence onModern FamilythanNorman Lear.\\\" The show's writers and actors agree. \\\"We used to talk about how cellphones killed the sitcom because no one ever goes to anyone's house anymore\\\" for routine information,Abraham Higginbothamtold Feiler. \\\"We embrace technology so it's part of the story.\\\" Ty Burrell draws onFran Lebowitz's observation that there is no institution other than media.\\\"I had this little flash of Phil—and me—that we are parsing our personality together externally from how people perceive us.\\\" James Parker ofThe Atlanticcommented, \\\"How does one 'parent'? Who does\",\n \"'parent'? Who does what, which 'role'? Is Dad sufficiently dad-like and Mom enough of a mom?\\\" In a 2014 article inSlate, the site's podcast executive producer, Andy Bowers, a resident of Los Angeles' Westside, where the show films most of its exteriors, praised the series for its realistic depiction of life in that part of the city. Release Broadcast Modern Familywas picked up for syndication byUSA Networkfor $1.5 million per episode, along with being offered in local syndication at the same time, withFox Television Stationsthe lead station group picking up the series.It is also shown onSky ComedyandE4in theUnited Kingdom,e.tvinSouth Africa, Fox inSweden,yes ComedyinIsraelandStar WorldinIndia. The series aired onCitytvinCanadafor its first ten seasons.The network additionally obtained the syndicated strip-rights to the show when they became available. Subsequently, it moved toGlobalfor its eleventh and final season.Modern Familybegan airing onTBSsince 2023 and was picked up byNickelodeonfor itsNick at\",\n \"itsNick at Niteblock, starting on September 10, 2024. Home media As of 2017,Modern Familyhad earned $72,226,621 from its domestic home media releases.The series was made available for streaming onHuluandPeacockin its entirety on February 3, 2021.Internationally, it was released onDisney+. Reception Ratings Since its premiere, the series has remained popular. In its first season, the show became the sixth-highest rated scripted show in America and the third-highest rated new show.Aided by winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, the show's second season became the highest rated show on Wednesday on premiere weekand also rose 34% from the previous season among adults between the ages of 18 and 49.The show frequently ranked as television's top scripted series in adults 18–49 as well. The success of the show has been positively compared toThe Cosby Show.During the2010–2011season,Modern Familywas the highest rated scripted show in the 18–49 demographic, and the third-highest rated overall\",\n \"rated overall sitcom behind CBS'sThe Big Bang TheoryandTwo and a Half Men.The season also ranked first amongDVRviewers. The third-season premiere became ABC's top-rated season premiere in six years.The series' success in ratings has also led it to being credited for reviving sitcoms. In 2016, aNew York Timesstudy of the 50 TV shows with the mostFacebook likesfound thatModern Family's \\\"audience pattern is the prototypical example of a city show — most popular in liberal, urban clusters in Boston, San Francisco, and Santa Barbara, California, and least popular in the more rural parts of Kentucky, Mississippi, and Arkansas\\\". Modern Familygained renewed popularity after becoming available onstreaming platforms. According to market research company Parrot Analytics, which examines consumer engagement across streaming, downloads, and social media,Modern Familyhas experienced a notable increase in interest since its debut onHuluandPeacockin 2021.For the week ending August 15, 2021,Whip Media, which tracks global TV\",\n \"tracks global TV viewership habits for nearly 1 million global users of itsTV Timeapp daily, calculated that the series placed third on its \\\"Binge Report\\\" chart, a ranking that highlights shows streamed in sessions of four or more episodes by viewers in a single day.In 2024, Parrot analytics reported thatModern Familywas among the 40 most in-demand TV shows worldwide between January 1 and August 8. While most of the top 10 shows appealed primarily to younger demographics (ages 15-31), the series attracted Millennial and Gen X viewers (32-42+).Nielsen Media Research, which records streaming viewership on U.S. television screens, estimated that the show was watched for 687 million minutes from August 12 to August 18, 2024.In October 2024, streaming analytics firm FlixPatrol, which monitors daily updated VOD charts across the globe, reported thatModern Familywas among the most viewed series on its platform, ranking second worldwide behindGrey's Anatomy. Critical response Season 1 The first season was met with\",\n \"season was met with critical acclaim. It scored 100%, based on 28 reviews, on review aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, with anaverage ratingof 8.55/10 and the critical consensus: \\\"Thanks to sharp writing and an eccentric but exceedingly likeable cast of characters,Modern Familysignals the triumphant return of the family comedy.\\\"The first season also scored 86/100, based on 27 reviews, on review aggregator websiteMetacritic, indicating \\\"universal acclaim\\\". Entertainment Weeklygave it an A−, calling it \\\"immediately recognizable as the best new sitcom of the fall.\\\"InTime's review, the show was named \\\"the funniest new family comedy of the year.\\\"It has also been compared to the 1970s seriesSoapbecause of the multiple-family aspect. Some have made comparisons toThe OfficeandParks and Recreationbecause of their mockumentary formats.BuddyTVnamed the show the second best show in 2009, saying, \\\"Every actor is fantastic, every family is interesting, and unlike many shows, there isn't a weak link.\\\"Robert Canning\",\n \"Canning ofIGNgave the season an 8.9 calling it \\\"Great\\\" and saying \\\"Simply put,Modern Familywas one of the best new comedies of the season.\\\" He also praised the ensemble cast and the characters, calling them lovable.According to Metacritic, the first season was the best reviewed new broadcast television series. Modern Familydrew criticism from theLGBTcommunity for its portrayal of Cameron and Mitchell as not being physically affectionate with each other. The criticism spawned a Facebook campaign to demand that Mitchell and Cameron be allowed to kiss. In response to the controversy, producers released a statement that a season two episode would address Mitchell's discomfort withpublic displays of affection. Executive producer Levitan has said that it was unfortunate that the issue had arisen, since the show's writers had always planned on such a scene \\\"as part of the natural development of the show.\\\"The episode \\\"The Kiss\\\" eventually aired with the kiss scene in the background, which drew praise from multiple\",\n \"from multiple critics. Season 2 The show's second season received mostly positive reviews from critics. Season two has a rating of 88% onRotten Tomatoesbased on 16 reviews, with anaverage scoreof 8.11/10 and the consensus: \\\"Modern Family's sophomore season sings with ingenious sitcom structure and an ensemble in perfect comedic harmony – even if the tunes are a little familiar\\\".Robert Bianco ofUSA Todaygave the second season four out of four stars, saying \\\"Not sinceFrasierhas a sitcom offered such an ideal blend of heart and smarts, or proven itself so effortlessly adept at so many comic variations, from subtle wordplay to big-laugh slapstick to everything in between.\\\"In a later review Bianco stated \\\"as good as it was in its first year, is even better in its second\\\", positively comparing the characters to the characters fromThe Mary Tyler Moore Show,The Cosby Show, andFriends.During the second season,Adweeknamed the show one of the 100 Most Influential TV Shows (98th chronologically).Despite this, some\",\n \"this, some critics were less favorable toward the season and described it as asophomore slump.Eric Stonestreet's acting was widely praised throughout the first season,but criticized during season two for being too contrived and \\\"over-the-top\\\";Alan Sepinwallcalled Cameron Tucker a \\\"whiny, overly-sensitive diva\\\".On the other hand, the praise for Ty Burrell's performance (as Phil Dunphy) continued. Season 3 The third season was met with critical acclaim. OnRotten Tomatoes, season three has a rating of 92% based on 13 reviews, with anaverage scoreof 8.33/10 and the consensus: \\\"Modern Familysettles into a well-oiled groove, consistently delivering inspired farce and making it look effortless.\\\"Slant Magazinereviewer Peter Swanson wrote that while the first episode was \\\"the type of wacky-location stunt that's usually reserved for the fifth or sixth season of a dying sitcom,\\\" the following episodes \\\"have been better... but they're still uneven\\\".He also criticized the writers for relying too much on \\\"stunt episodes\",\n \"on \\\"stunt episodes and celebrity cameos, like David Cross\\\".He ultimately gave the season 3 out of 4 stars.James Parker ofThe Atlanticsaid, at the beginning of the third season that \\\"Modern Familyis very, very funny, almost ruthlessly so. It's a bit of a master class in pace and brevity. The writing isVorsprung durch Technik: hectically compressed but dramatically elegant, prodigal in its zingers and snorters but austere in its construction.\\\" He found it an exception to his dislike for sitcoms that do not use alaugh track.During the third season,New York TimescolumnistFrank Bruniargued that gay criticism of Cameron and Mitchell actually showed the progress gays have made toward social acceptance. \\\"A decade ago,\\\" he wrote, \\\" would have balked—and balked loudly—at how frequently Cameron in particular tips into limp-wristed, high-voiced caricature.\\\" But now, \\\"most gay people trust that the television audience knows we're a diverse tribe, not easily pigeonholed.Modern Familyendows us with a sort of comic\",\n \"a sort of comic banality. It's an odd kind of progress. But it's progress nonetheless.\\\" Season 4 The fourth season ofModern Familyreceived positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the season an approval rating of 67% based on 11 reviews, with anaverage scoreof 7.75/10 and the consensus: \\\"Modern Familystill has charm to burn and boasts a uniformly excellent cast, but the series' subversive edge has dulled\\\".Halfway through the season, Rachel Stein ofTelevision Without Pitywrote, \\\"much as I liked the pairings and some of the dialogue, is just another contrived episode of Modern Family we can cite when we talk later about how a different show should have won the 2013 Emmy for Best Comedy.\\\"Dalene Rovenstein ofPaste Magazinegave the season a positive review, but said a better season was possible. Season 5 The fifth season ofModern Familyalso received positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, season five has a rating of 90% based on 10 reviews, with anaverage scoreof 7.57/10 and the consensus: \\\"Modern\",\n \"consensus: \\\"Modern Familyreturns to its conventional roots with grace in a fifth season that delights in providing reliable laughs and rekindles the show's trademark warmth\\\".Reviewing the season's first eight episodes, Matthew Wolfson ofSlant Magazinewrote that the show \\\"appear to have finally arrived at the depressing and predictable low point toward which it been trending for the past two years.\\\" He also went on to say that the show had \\\"turned into a shrill pastiche of stereotypical characterizations and superficial banter lacking both feeling and wit\\\", assigning it a rating of 1.5/4 stars.Different writers forThe A.V. Clubrated, in total, a majority of the former-half episodes with a \\\"B−\\\" grade or less. One writer for the magazine, Joshua Alston, gave \\\"ClosetCon '13\\\" a \\\"C+\\\" and remarked that \\\"Modern Familybecomes a high-wire act when it separates its characters into three storylines with no overlap between them.\\\"The second half was more warmly received, with three episodes rated an \\\"A−\\\" or higher.\",\n \"an \\\"A−\\\" or higher. Season 6 The show's sixth season received highly positive reviews from TV critics, with some claiming that it was an improvement over the last few seasons.This season has a rating of 100% onRotten Tomatoesbased on 7 reviews, with anaverage scoreof 7.67/10.Joshua Alston and Gwen IhnatThe A.V. Clubhave awarded the majority of episodes a \\\"B\\\" grade or higher – with particular praise for \\\"The Day We Almost Died\\\" and \\\"Closet? You'll Love It!\\\" – marking an improvement over the repeated \\\"C\\\" grade given throughout the previous season's former half.\\\"Connection Lost\\\" received high critical acclaim, with many praising the episode's writing, originality and \\\"success in transcending what could have been a gimicky episode\\\".In her review for \\\"Closet? You'll Love It!\\\" Gwen Ihnat ofThe A.V. Clubstated that the episode represents \\\"all the reasons why we still watch Modern Family\\\" and awarded the episode an A−.On the same site, David Kallison reviewed \\\"Grill, Interrupted\\\", saying: \\\"This season proves that\",\n \"season proves that sitcoms can survive on solid characters and solid jokes.\\\" Season 7 The seventh season received positive reviews from critics with many critics calling it similar to the fourth and fifth seasons. On Rotten Tomatoes, this season is rated 67% with 6 reviews and an average rating of 6.5/10.Kyle Fowle fromThe A.V. Clubhad a very mixed reaction to the season, only giving one episode an A− or higher.Fowle felt the season was frustrating, believing the season would be defined \\\"by its lack of character progress and overstuffed episodes.\\\" Later seasons The series was renewed for a 9th and 10th season on May 10, 2017.Season 9 premiered on September 27, 2017, while season 10 premiered on September 26, 2018. Seasons 8 and 9 received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, with main criticisms directed at the lack of character development, overstuffing of episodes, and too many filler episodes per season. While the show continued to be praised for its charm, witty writing, and the cast's performances,\",\n \"performances, criticism grew in these seasons, particularly from reviewers such as those atThe A.V. Club. In January 2018, Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd announced that season 10 would most likely be the final season, during theTelevision Critics Association's winter press tour.However, in August 2018, reports indicated that ABC was in discussions to renew the series for a potential eleventh season. Season 10 received positive reviews from critics, citing the season as a significant improvement over the last two. The series was praised for its tackling of Haley's pregnancy, the humor of Mitch and Cam looking after Cal, and its dealing with change in a positive way. Episodes \\\"Torn Between Two Lovers\\\", \\\"Good Grief\\\", and \\\"A Year Of Birthdays\\\" were particularly praised. The series was renewed for an eleventh season on January 7, 2019, which was confirmed as the final season on February 5. The last season premiered on September 25, 2019, and aired its last episode on April 8, 2020. Season 11 similarly\",\n \"Season 11 similarly received positive reviews. The season was praised for its themes of change and ending, and the improved humor upon the last seasons, with particular attention to episodes \\\"The Prescott\\\", \\\"Legacy\\\", \\\"Spuds\\\" and \\\"Finale\\\". Accolades Modern Familyhas won 22Primetime Emmy Awardsand 6Writers Guild of America Awards. The show also later received aGLSENRespect Awardfor its portrayal of \\\"positive images and storylines that reflect a diverse America, including the depiction of a family headed by a gay couple.\\\" In 2010,Modern Familywas nominated for five Television Critics Association Awards.To reinforce the idea of an ensemble cast, the cast all submitted themselves in the Supporting Actor and Actress categories instead of Lead Actor and Actress for the62nd Primetime Emmy Awards.The series has also been put on multiple critics' lists. In 2010, the series was listed 2nd onTime's Top Ten Best Shows of 2009,2nd onBuddyTV's Top Ten Best Shows of 2009,Jason Hughes Best TV of 2009,Modern Familywas awarded\",\n \"Familywas awarded aPeabody Awardin 2009.In 2012, the show won theGolden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedyand was nominated for aBritish Academy Television Award. Every season of the show was also named one of the top 10 TV seasons of the year (from 2009 to 2012) by theAmerican Film Institute. During the2012 US presidential election, both First LadyMichelle Obama, in an interview withKal Pennat the2012 Democratic National Convention,andAnn Romney, in an interview withThe Insider,citedModern Familyas their favorite TV show. In June 2013, theWriters Guild of AmericarankedModern Familynumber 34 on a list of the 101 most well-written television series ever made.In December 2013,TV Guideranked it number 43 on its list of the 60 Best Series of all time. Emmy Awards received by cast The following is a list ofEmmynominations received by the cast of the series. Wins are highlighted inboldface. Criticism Michelle Haimoff of theChristian Science Monitorcriticized the show during its third season\",\n \"its third season for only casting the women as stay-at-home moms while the husbands have highly successful careers: \\\"There is a difference between quirky, flawed characters and ones who are incapable of professional success. And when the latter is reliably female, it makes for sexist television. It also makes for unrealistic television.\\\"Late Night with Jimmy Fallonwriter Ali Waller asked her Twitter followers in 2013 \\\"IfModern Familyis so 'modern' then why don't any of the women have jobs?\\\"Other authors reinforced this criticism, claiming that stay-at-home mothers are no longer the norm in modern society.Claire later went to work in season five. According to aCNETstaffer commenting on a first-season episode: \\\"The wife and daughter are unable to learn how to use the remote and must be taught by the father, while the son is 'good with electronics,' even though he is thought of as the stupidest member of the family.\\\"Arianna Reiche fromGawkercommented on the episode \\\"Game Changer\\\" in which Gloria hides her skill\",\n \"hides her skill at chess so her husband will not be upset at losing: \\\"This moment is at best a sappy quip about compromise in an often heavy-handed series, and at worst, it's a moment in a show with 9.3 million viewers, on a network owned by Disney, which explicitly validates girls and women subduing their intellect.\\\" Impact Adaptations Potential spinoff In June 2020, ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke discussed a spin-off ofModern Familycentered around Mitch and Cam, inspired by an idea from series co-creator and executive producer, Steven Levitan.In June 2022, star Jesse Tyler Ferguson confirmed that the script for the show's spinoff is completed. \\\"The script's out there and it's very good,\\\" he told. \\\"So you know, who knows? If someone wants to produce it, maybe.\\\"In September 2024, Eric Stonestreet stated that the spin-off \\\" potential anymore\\\" and that the time to produce it has passed, despite believing that the series would have been a \\\"slam dunk\\\". In early 2013, a spin-off series centered aroundRob\",\n \"centered aroundRob Riggle's character Gil Thorpe was revealed to be in early stages of development. References External links\",\n \"Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Jesse_Tyler_Ferguson (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b933160e0>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":38,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Which species from the genus mulona are both found in the same country?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"Mulona barnesi and mulona schausi"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_barnesi"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_grisea"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_lapidaria"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_manni"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_piperita"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_schausi"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Multiple constraints"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_barnesi', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_grisea', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_lapidaria', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_manni', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_piperita', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_schausi']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_barnesi","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_grisea","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_lapidaria","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_manni","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_piperita","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_schausi"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_barnesi\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_grisea\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_lapidaria\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_manni\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_piperita\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulona_schausi\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Mulona (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b943a80a0>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))","Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Mulona_barnesi (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b94453f10>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))","Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Mulona_grisea (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b9513a170>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] 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port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Mulona_manni (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b943a8fd0>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))\",\n \"Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Mulona_piperita (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b943a9810>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))\",\n \"Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Mulona_schausi (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b943aa050>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":39,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"As of July 1, 2024, if I wanted to give my daughter the middle name of the American woman who is the most decorated female in the history of American gymnastics as her first name and the full first name of the American woman who holds the world record in the 800-meter freestyle as her middle name, what would I name my daughter? "},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"Arianne Kathleen"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_Biles"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katie_Ledecky"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Post processing"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_Biles', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katie_Ledecky']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_Biles","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katie_Ledecky"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_Biles\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katie_Ledecky\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Simone_Biles (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b93d8e5f0>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))","Katie Ledecky Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky(/ləˈdɛki/lə-DEK-ee; born March 17, 1997)is an American competitiveswimmer. She has won nineOlympicgold medals and 21 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. With 14 medals and 9 gold medals, she is also the most decorated American woman, most decorated female swimmer, the woman with the most gold medals (tied withLarisa Latynina) andfifth-most decorated athletein Olympic history. She has won a record 16 individual gold medals at theWorld Aquatics Championships.Ledecky's 10 individual medals at the Olympics and 26 overall medals at the World Aquatics Championships arerecordsin women's swimming. Ledecky is theworld recordholder in the women's 800- and 1500-meter freestyle (both long course and short course), as well as the former world record holder in the women's 400-meter freestyle (long course). She also holds the fastest-ever times in the women's 500-, 1000-, and 1650-yard freestyle events. She is widely regarded as the greatest female swimmer of all time and one of the greatest Olympians of all time. In her international debut at the2012 London Olympic Gamesas a 15-year-old, Ledecky unexpectedly won the gold medal in the women's800-metre freestyle. Four years later, she leftRio de Janeiroas the most decorated female athlete of the2016 Olympic Games, with four gold medals, one silver medal, and two world records. At the2020 Olympic Games, Ledecky emerged as the most decorated U.S. female athlete and became the first American female swimmer to win an individual event in three straight Olympiads.In 2023, she won gold in the 800 meter World Championship, becoming the first swimmer—male or female—to win six World Championship gold medals in the same event.In total, she has won 50 medals (38 golds, 10 silvers, and 2 bronzes) in major international competitions, spanning theSummer Olympics,World Championships, andPan Pacific Championships. During her career, she has broken sixteen world records. Ledecky's success has earned herSwimming World'sFemaleWorld Swimmer of the Yeara record five times. Ledecky was also namedAssociated Press Female Athlete of the Yearin 2017 and 2022, international femaleChampion of ChampionsbyL'Équipein 2014 and 2017,United States Olympic Committee Female Athlete of the Yearin 2013, 2016 and 2017,Sportswoman of the Yearby theWomen's Sports Foundationin 2017, and theESPY Best Female Athletein 2022.In 2024, she was awarded thePresidential Medal of Freedomby PresidentJoe Biden. Early life, swimming, and education Ledecky was born in Washington, DCand raised in the suburb ofBethesda, Maryland,the daughter of Mary Gen (née Hagan) and David Ledecky. HerCzech-born paternal grandfather Jaromír Ledecky arrived in New York City on September 8, 1947, as a student.He later became an economist and married anAshkenazi Jewishwoman named Berta Ruth Greenwald inBrooklynon December 30, 1956. Through her paternal grandmother, Ledecky has relatives who were murdered in theHolocaust.Ledecky's mother is ofIrishdescent.She was raisedCatholicand continues to practice the faith, often praying theHail Marybefore her races.Her uncleJon Ledeckyis abusinessmanand a co-owner of the NHL teamNew York Islanders. Ledecky began swimming at the age of six under the influence of her older brother, Michael, and her mother, who swam for theUniversity of New Mexico. In Bethesda, she attended Little Flower School through eighth grade and graduated fromStone Ridge School of the Sacred Heartin 2015.During her high-school swimming career, Ledecky twice set the American and US Open record in the 500-yard freestyle, and she twice set the national high-school record in the 200-yard freestyle. During the summer of 2012, she trained with theNation's Capital Swim Club(formerly the Curl Burke Swim Club) under coach Yuri Suguiyama. Following Suguiyama's departure to coach for theUniversity of California, Berkeley, she continued to train with the Nation's Capital Swim Club under coachBruce Gemmellthrough the 2016 Olympics. During the summers prior to 2012, she swam for Palisades Swim Team inCabin John, Maryland. Ledecky accepted an athletic scholarship toStanford University, where she swam for coachGreg Meehan'sStanford Cardinalwomen's swimming team. In December 2016, Ledecky was chosen as one of thesponsorsof theUS Navyaircraft carrierUSSEnterprisealongside Olympic gold medal-winning gymnastSimone Biles. They are the first Olympians to be given this honor. In December 2020, she completed a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and minor in political science fromStanford University,and graduated in June 2021. Swimming career 2012 US Olympic trials At the2012 United States Olympic trialsinOmaha, Nebraska(her first senior national competition), Ledecky made the Olympic team by placing first in the 800-meter freestyle with a time of 8:19.78, which was over two seconds ahead of second-place finisherKate Ziegler.In Omaha, Ledecky also placed third in the 400-meter freestyle (4:05.00) and ninth in the 200-meter freestyle (1:58.66).Her third-place finish in the 400-meter freestyle was the fastest time ever swum by a 15- to 16-year-old American.At 15 years, 4 months, and 10 days, she was the youngestAmerican participantat the 2012 Olympic Games. Summer Olympic Games At the2012 Summer Olympicsin London, Ledecky qualified to swim in the final of the800-meter freestyleby placing third overall in the heats with a time of 8:23.84.In the final, Ledecky stunned the field, winning gold by more than four seconds, with a time of 8:14.63, the then second-fastest effort of all time just behindRebecca Adlington's world record of 8:14.10 set in 2008.In addition, she brokeJanet Evans'American recordof 8:16.22 that had stood since 1989. In the final, Ledecky went out hard and, by the 200-meter mark, she had already established an almost body-length lead. Her 400-meter split was 4:04.34, a personal best for Ledecky in that distance, and would have placed fifth in the individual 400-meter freestyle. At the 750-meter mark, Ledecky was 3.42 seconds ahead ofMireia Belmonte García, and 0.31 seconds under world record pace. Ledecky won by 4.13 seconds and just missed the world record by 0.53 seconds. Her gold was the first international medal of her career, earning her the 2012 Best Female Performance of the Year and Breakout Performer of the Year at theGolden Goggle Awards. 2013 USA Swimming Championships At the 2013 US National Championships, Ledecky qualified to swim in four individual events and the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the2013 World Aquatics Championshipsin Barcelona, Spain, though she later dropped the 200-meter freestyle from her program. At the National Championships, she finished first in the 400-, 800- and 1500-meter freestyle, and second in the 200-meter freestyle. World Championships At the 2013 World Championships, Ledecky won gold in the 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle, and in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, and set two world records. In winning the 400 through 1500-meter titles, she became the second woman ever to win the events in a World Championships since GermanHannah Stockbauerin 2003. In her first event in Barcelona, the400-meter freestyle, Ledecky became a world champion for the first time by winning in 3:59.82, setting a newAmerican recordand becoming the second-fastest performer of all time in the event. In her second event, Ledecky won gold in the1500-meter freestylein aworld recordtime of 15:36.53, breaking the record held by compatriotKate Zieglerby six seconds.The hard-fought race saw Ledecky overcome DaneLotte Friisin the final few hundred meters after losing the lead at the 300-meter mark and included a final 50 split of 29.47. In her third, and first relay event of her international career, the4×200-meter freestyle, Ledecky and teammatesShannon Vreeland,Karlee Bispo, andMissy Franklinwon gold in 7:45.14.Anchor Missy Franklin overtook AustralianAlicia Couttsin the last 200 meters, giving the US the gold. Ledecky provided the US with an early lead, swimming the first leg in a personal best of 1:56.32. In her fourth and last event, the800-meter freestyle, Ledecky won gold in a world record of 8:13.86, betteringRebecca Adlington's world record of 8:14.10. Much like the 1500-meter freestyle, Ledecky let Lotte Friis lead most of the race, making a move at the 650-meter mark to eventually win the race by 2.46 seconds. Ledecky scored more points than any other swimmer to earn the FINA trophy for best female swimmer of the meet. At year's end, Ledecky was named the American Swimmer of the Year and theWorld Swimmer of the YearbySwimming Worldmagazine. She was also named the best female swimmer for 2013 byFINA Aquatics Worldmagazine. 2014 Ledecky began the year by breaking her own world records in the 800- and 1500-meter freestyle at the 2014 Woodlands Swim Team Senior Invitational in June. Despite being in season and swimming multiple events, Ledecky was able to first break the world record in the 1500-meter freestyle with a time of 15:34.23,bettering her previous mark of 15:36.53. Three days later, Ledecky then broke the world record in the 800-meter freestyle with a time of 8:11.00,bettering her previous mark of 8:13.86. USA Swimming Championships At the 2014 US National Championships, the qualifying meet for both the2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championshipsand the2015 World Aquatics Championships, Ledecky finished first in the 200-, 400-, and 800-meter freestyle. In the 400-meter freestyle, Ledecky set her third world record of the year by breakingFederica Pellegrini's 2009 world record of 3:59.15 with a time of 3:58.86. With her mark in the 400, Ledecky became the first female since Janet Evans to hold world records simultaneously in the 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyles. Pan Pacific Championships At the2014 Pan Pacific Swimming ChampionshipsinGold Coast, Australia, Ledecky won five gold medals and broke two world records. Her wins came in the 200-, 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle and the 4×200-meter freestyle. Ledecky almost broke the world record in the 800-meter freestyle, finishing with a time of 8:11.35. Her world records came in the 400- and 1500-meter freestyles, with times of 3:58.37 and 15:28.36, respectively. She became the first woman to win four individual gold medals at a single Pan Pacific Championship. In the 200-meter freestyle final, Ledecky had over a half-second lead on the field at the halfway point before winning by 1.46 seconds with a meet record time of 1:55.74. Less than an hour later, Ledecky won the 800-meter freestyle, swimming under her world record pace for most of the race before touching in at 8:11.35, the second-fastest time ever, to win by 7.52 seconds over New Zealand swimmerLauren Boyle. The next day, Ledecky added her third meet record by swimming on the American 4×200-meter freestyle relay team withShannon Vreeland,Missy Franklin, andLeah Smith. Swimming the anchor leg, Ledecky erased a 1.2-second deficit going into the final leg of the race, passing Australia'sMelanie Schlangerwith a 1:54.36 split over the final 200 meters. She also swam in the 100-meter freestyle heats. On the third day of the meet, Ledecky set her fourth meet record in the 400-meter freestyle prelim heats with a time of 4:03.09. That night, Ledecky lowered the record again, setting the first world record ever at the new Gold Coast Aquatic Center with a time of 3:58.37. Ledecky's winning time was over six seconds quicker than American teammate and silver medalistCierra Runge. On the meet's final day, Ledecky set her fifth world record of the year, lowering her record in the 1500-meter freestyle by nearly six seconds with a time of 15:28.36. Ledecky swam the second half of the race faster than the first, completing the final 800 meters in 8:14.11—faster than any other woman has completed a regular 800-meter race in a textile suit.Ledecky lapped three competitors in the final and finished 27.33 seconds ahead of silver medalist Boyle. National Team Director Frank Busch described Ledecky's 1500 performance as \"the most impressive race I have ever seen, and I've been in the sport for 50 years.... She's blazing a completely different trail than anyone who has come before.\" During the championships' closing ceremonies, Ledecky was named the female swimmer of the meet. At year's end, Ledecky was named theWorld Swimmer of the Yearand American Swimmer of the Year bySwimming World Magazine. 2015 World Championships At the2015 World Aquatics ChampionshipsinKazan, Russia, Ledecky won five gold medals and broke three world records. Her wins came in the 200-, 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyles and the 4×200-meter freestyle. Her world records came in the 800- and 1500-meter freestyles. Ledecky became the first and only swimmer—male or female—to win the 200-, 400-, 800- and 1500-meter freestyles in a major competition.Ledecky was also named the female swimmer of the meet. Ledecky began the World Championships by winning gold in the400-meter freestylein a time of 3:59.13, a new championship record and almost four seconds ahead of her closest competitor. In the heats of the1500-meter freestyleon the second day of competition, Ledecky broke her own world record in a time of 15:27.71. On the third day of competition during the morning session, Ledecky swam in the heats of the200-meter freestyleand qualified first with a time of 1:55.82. In the evening session, Ledecky faced a tough double with the 1500-meter freestyle final and the semi-finals of the 200-meter freestyle shortly after. In the 1500-meter freestyle, Ledecky broke her own world record in a time of 15:25.48.Twenty-nine minutes later, Ledecky qualified 6th in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 1:56.76. In her only event on the fourth day of competition, the 200-meter freestyle, Ledecky won her third gold medal of the meet, winning in a time of 1:55.16. Unlike her other races, it was not an easy win for Ledecky, which featured the likes ofMissy FranklinandFederica Pellegrini. In the end, Ledecky was able to hold off a fast charging Pellegrini, eventually winning by a 0.16 margin. Ledecky's final 50-meter split of 29.33 was the second-fastest in the field behind Pellegrini's 29.23. On the fifth day of competition, Ledecky, with Missy Franklin,Leah Smith, andKatie McLaughlinwon gold in the4×200-meter freestyle relay. Swimming the anchor leg, Ledecky recorded a split of 1:55.64 and the Americans finished with an aggregate time of 7:45.37. On the seventh day of competition, Ledecky completed her World Championships run by winning gold in the800-meter freestylein a world record time of 8:07.39, breaking her own record by 3.61 seconds. 2016 Ledecky began 2016 at the Arena Pro Swim Series at Austin. On the final day of competition, she reset her world record in the 800-meter freestyle, clocking a time of 8:06.68.Earlier in the meet, she set world-leading times in the 200- and 400-meter freestyles and a U.S.-leading time in the 100-meter freestyle. US Olympic trials At the2016 United States Olympic trialsinOmaha, Nebraska, Ledecky won the 200-, 400- and 800-meter freestyles to qualify for her second Olympic team. Ledecky opened the Trials with a win and meet record in the 400-meter freestyle (3:58.98). Two days later, she recorded a time of 1:54.88 en route to winning the 200-meter freestyle. On July 1, Ledecky broke Janet Evans's 28-year-old national championship record in the morning preliminary heats of the 800-meter freestyle (8:10.91) before placing seventh that evening in the 100-meter freestyle (53.99). The next day, Ledecky lowered her meet record, winning the 800-meter freestyle final by nearly 10 seconds (8:10.32). With her pair of swims in the 800-meter freestyle, Ledecky took control of the top 11 fastest times in the event's history.At the conclusion of the week, Ledecky was named the female swimmer of the meet. Summer Olympic Games Ledecky's first event in the2016 Summer Olympicswas the4×100-meter freestylerelay, swimming the anchor leg for the United States in both the prelims and final. Ledecky recorded a split of 52.64 in the heats. In the final, she joinedSimone Manuel,Abbey Weitzeil, andDana Vollmerand recorded a split of 52.79, helping the team earn a silver medal (behind Australia) with a time of 3:31.89, a newnational recordfor the United States. Her first individual event was the400-meter freestyle. Ledecky qualified in the heats with a time of 3:58.71, an Olympic record. In the final, she won the gold medal with aworld recordtime of 3:56.46––nearly two seconds faster than her previous record from 2014 and almost 5 seconds ahead of the silver medalist,Jazmin Carlin. Ledecky won a second gold in the200-meter freestylewith a personal best of 1:53.73, beatingSarah Sjöströmby 0.35 seconds. Ledecky claimed her third gold in the4×200-meter freestylerelay, withAllison Schmitt,Leah Smith, andMaya DiRado. Swimming the anchor leg again, Ledecky provided the fastest split of the field (1:53.74) to turn a 0.89-second deficit into a 1.84-second victory, stopping the clock at 7:43.03. She won a fourth gold in her final individual event, the800-meter freestyle. She qualified in the heats with an Olympic record, 8:12.86, and set a world record in the finals of 8:04.79, over 11 seconds faster than the silver medalist,Jazmin Carlin. With three individual titles, Ledecky became the first swimmer to win the 200, 400 and 800 m freestyle at the same Olympics sinceDebbie Meyerdid so in 1968 in Mexico City.Ledecky's final medal total (four golds, one silver) is the most decorated single-Olympics performance by a U.S. female athlete in terms of gold medals, topping Missy Franklin (2012; four golds, 1 bronze),Simone Biles(2016; four golds, 1 bronze), andAmy Van Dyken(1996; four golds).Ledecky was also the 2nd most decorated Olympian at the 2016 games behindMichael Phelps(5 golds, 1 silver). 2017 NCAA During the 2016–17 NCAA season, Ledecky set 12 NCAA records and nine American records while swimming as a freshman forStanford University. At the Ohio State Invitational in November 2016, Ledecky lowered her American and U.S. Open marks in the women's 500-yard freestyle and 1650-yard freestyle. At the Pac-12 Championships inFederal Way, Washington, Ledecky earned Swimmer of the Meet honors with four American records as Stanford won its first conference title in four years. On the first day of the meet, Ledecky anchored the 800-yard freestyle relay with a 1:40.28 split to break the NCAA, American, and U.S. Open record in the 800-yard freestyle relay withLia Neal,Katie Drabot, andElla Eastin. The next day, Ledecky lowered her own mark again in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:25.15.On the meet's third day, she won the 400-yard individual medley in a new American record of 3:57.68 before finishing second to teammateSimone Manuelin the 200-yard freestyle with a personal best time less than a half hour later.On the meet's final day, Ledecky joined Manuel, Neal, and Janet Hu to break the NCAA and American record in the 400-yard freestyle relay. At the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis, Ledecky helped lead Stanford to its first team title since 1998. She reset her American, NCAA, and U.S. Open records in the 800-yard freestyle relay, 500-yard freestyle, and 400-yard freestyle relay and won a meet-best five race titles overall. On the meet's first day, she recorded the team's fastest split to lower the 800-yard freestyle relay record to 6:45.91 with Manuel, Neal, and Eastin.The next day, she lowered her own record in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:24.06, beating the second-fastest performer of all time, Leah Smith, by nearly five seconds. On the meet's third day, Ledecky's 20th birthday, Ledecky recorded a personal-best time of 1:40.36 in the 200-yard freestyle to edge Manuel and tie Louisville sophomore Mallory Comerford for the title.On the meet's final day, Ledecky set an NCAA record in the 1000-yard freestyle (9:06.90) en route to a championship record in the 1650-yard freestyle (15:07.70), defeating runner-up Smith by 21.19 seconds and lapping all other competitors.In the meet's final event, Ledecky joined Manuel, Neal, and Hu to swim the second leg of Stanford's 400-yard freestyle relay. The team lowered its previous record with a time of 3:07.61, securing a 526.5–366 decision over runner-up California-Berkeley, the largest championship margin of victory since 2003. Following the season, Ledecky became the first freshman in 35 years to receive theHonda Cup, which recognizes the nation's top female collegiate athlete. USA Swimming Championships At the2017 USA Swimming Championships, the qualifying meet for the2017 World Aquatics Championships, Ledecky won the 200-meter freestyle (1:54.84), 400-meter freestyle (3:58.44), and 800-meter freestyle (8:11.50) and earned a spot on six events. World Championships At the2017 World Aquatics Championshipsin Budapest, Ledecky broke the World Aquatics Championships' all-time female gold medal record, winning five golds and one silver to bring her career title total to 14. In her first event, the400-meter freestyle, Ledecky successfully defended her world title, finishing with a championship record time of 3:58.34.Later that evening, Ledecky swam the third leg of the4×100-meter freestyle. Joined withMallory Comerford,Kelsi Worrell, andSimone Manuel, Ledecky recorded a split of 53.83, helping the team win gold with a time of 3:31.72, a newnational recordfor the United States. On the third day of competition, Ledecky defended her1500-meter freestyletitle, winning with a time of 15:31.82. With this win being Ledecky's twelfth World Championship gold medal, Ledecky passedMissy Franklinfor the most gold medals won by a female swimmer in long course World Championships history. On the fourth day of competition, Ledecky tied for silver in the200-meter freestyle(withEmma McKeon), finishing behindFederica Pellegriniwith a time of 1:55.18. This was Ledecky's first international loss in a final in individual event. Notably, in the semifinals the day prior, Ledecky recorded the top time in the semifinals with a time of 1:54.69. She achieved this result less than an hour after swimming the 1500-meter freestyle final. On the fifth day of competition, Ledecky, withLeah Smith,Mallory Comerford, andMelanie Margaliswon gold in the4×200-meter freestyle relay. Swimming the anchor leg, Ledecky recorded a split of 1:54.02, and the Americans finished with an aggregate time of 7:43.39. Ledecky concluded the meet with a win in the800-meter freestyle, her fifth-straight title in the event across Olympics and World Championships. 2018 NCAA During the 2017–18 NCAA season, Ledecky set another three NCAA records and two American records while helping lead Stanford to its second straight team title. At the Texas A&M Invitational in November 2017, Ledecky lowered her American and U.S. Open mark in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 15:03.31. Following another undefeated dual meet season, Ledecky earned Swimmer of the Meet honors for the second straight year at the Pac-12 Championships in Federal Way, sweeping the 500-yard freestyle, 400-yard individual medley, and 200-yard freestyle. In the 400-yard individual medley, Ledecky brokeKatinka Hosszú's all-time record by one-hundredth of a second, finishing in 3:56.53. Stanford earned its second team title in as many years. At the NCAA Championships, Ledecky won the 500 and 1650-yard freestyle events by record margins and anchored the winning 800-yard freestyle relay team of Katie Drabot, Brooke Forde, and Ella Eastin. Ledecky finished second in the 400-yard individual medley to Eastin, who lowered the record Ledecky set a month earlier at the Pac-12 Championships. In the 1650-yard freestyle, Ledecky re-set her NCAA record in the 1000-yard free with a split of 9:05.89 en route to winning by more than 28 seconds. In the team standings, Stanford beat runner-up California-Berkeley by 220 points, the largest margin of victory in 25 years. A week following Stanford's championship win, Ledecky announced at theNational Press Clubthat she will forego her final two seasons of NCAA eligibility in order to accept professional endorsement and sponsorship opportunities.She signed withWassermansports agent Dan Levy for representation. At the academic year's conclusion, theCollege Sports Information Directors of Americanamed Ledecky the Division IAcademic All-America Team Member of the Yearfor her athletic and academic achievements. Professional career Ledecky made her debut as a professional swimmer on May 16, 2018, at the TYR Pro Swim Series inIndianapolis, Indiana, where she beat her old world record in the 1500-meter freestyle, setting a new world record of 15:20.48. She broke the existing mark by five seconds. Ledecky signed her first sponsorship deal withTYR Sport, Inc.on June 8, 2018. USA Swimming Championships In July 2018, at the2018 USA Swimming Championshipsin Irvine, Ledecky qualified for the2018 Pan Pacific Championshipsby finishing first in the 200-,400-, and 800-meter freestyle. Pan Pacific Championships At the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo, Ledecky led all swimmers with three individual titles, winning golds in the 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle. She also took bronze in the 200-meter freestyle and silver in the 4x200-meter freestyle. On the first day of competition, Ledecky won gold in the 800-meter freestyle with a championship-record time of 8:09.13, topping runner-upAriarne Titmusof Australia by 7.94 seconds. Just over an hour later, Ledecky took third in the 200-meter freestyle (1:55.15), finishing behind Canada'sTaylor Ruck(1:54.44) and Japan'sRikako Ikee(1:54.85). The next day, Ledecky anchored the United States team of Allison Schmitt, Leah Smith, and Katie McLaughlin in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay. Entering the water with a 2.88-second deficit, Ledecky swam the fourth-fastest relay split in history (1:53.84), nearly overtaking AustralianMadeline Groves, who touched 0.25 seconds ahead of Ledecky to set a new championship and national record. On the third day, Ledecky defeated Titmus wire-to-wire in the 400-meter freestyle. Ledecky concluded the championships with another gold medal in the 1500-meter freestyle, winning by a margin of 21.11 seconds (15:38.97). 2019 World Championships At the2019 World Aquatics Championshipsin Gwangju, South Korea, Ledecky battled illness and withdrew from two events before winning her fourth-straight World Championship title in the 800-meter freestyle. On the first day of competition, Ledecky led Australian Ariarne Titmus into the final wall of the 400-meter freestyle final before fading to second. The next morning, Ledecky struggled through her preliminary heat of the 1500-meter freestyle despite qualifying first for the event's final. She subsequently announced her withdrawal from the 1500 and 200-meter freestyle due to illness. Ledecky returned to competition three days later to swim the final of the women's 4x200-meter freestyle relay. The Americans (Simone Manuel, Ledecky, Melanie Margalis and Katie McLaughlin) set a new American record and swam under the existing world record with a time of 7:41.87, yet placed second to the Australian team (7:41.50). Still recovering from illness, Ledecky qualified second the next day for the final of the 800-meter freestyle. In the final, Ledecky swam to an early lead before Italian swimmerSimona Quadarellatook over midway through the race. Ledecky trailed Quadarella into the final wall. Ledecky passed Quadarella and pulled away in the final 50 meters to win by 1.41 seconds. In the inaugural season of theInternational Swimming League, Ledecky represented DC Trident. For the seventh-straight year, Ledecky finished the year with the top times in the world in both the 800- and 1500-meter freestyle (8:10.70 and 15:35.98). Ledecky collected several end-of-decade honors. Fifty-two percent of SwimSwam.com readers voted Ledecky the top swimmer of the decade, ahead of Michael Phelps.Readers of The London Evening Standard voted Ledecky the International Sportswoman of the Decade.She finished third in the Associated Press's Female Athlete of the Decade voting, behindSerena WilliamsandSimone Biles. 2020 Ledecky began 2020 at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Des Moines, Iowa, where she won the 200-, 400- and 1500-meter freestyle races.Ledecky withdrew from the 800-meter freestyle race due to illness.Ledecky did not compete at any other events during 2020. 2021 Ledecky began 2021 at the TYR Pro Swim Series at San Antonio, Texas. She won the 200-, 400-, 800- and 1500-meter freestyle races. On Thursday May 20, 2021, at the Longhorn Aquatics Elite Invite Ledecky won the long course 100 meter freestyle final by one one-hundredth of a second in a time of 53.82 with second place going toSimone Manuel. US Olympic trials As part of theNBCevening telecast for day one of the2020 USA Swimming Olympic trials(postponed to June 2021 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic), Ledecky was featured in an interview discussing Stanford University'scommencement, finishing her college degree, and training for the Olympic Trials.Because training facilities were closed during the pandemic, Ledecky and her colleagueSimone Manueltrained for the Olympics in a 25-yard private pool inAtherton, in the backyard ofmastersswimmer Tod Spieker. On the second day, June 14, 2021, Ledecky competed in the prelims of the 400 meter freestyle in the morning, swimming a 4:03.07, ranking 1st out of all prelims heats, and advancing to the final in the evening.The 400 meter freestyle was the first race on Ledecky's schedule where she had the opportunity to make the2020 USA Olympic Team.In the evening final of the 400 meter freestyle, Ledecky finished first with a time of 4:01.27,securingher first spot on her third US Olympic Team swimming the 400 meter freestyle at the 2020 Summer Olympics.This accomplishment was highlighted by various news outlets includingNBC Sports,Newsweek, andUSA Today. In the morning of day three, Ledecky swam a 1:57.58 in the 200 meter freestyle prelims, ranking second fastest of all heats.Two events later, she swam a 15:43.10 in the 1500 meter freestyle prelims, ranking as the fastest swimmer of prelims heat, advancing to the final, and setting a new Championship Record over four seconds faster than the previous record she set in 2013.Later the same day in the evening semifinals for the 200 meter freestyle, Ledecky finished first with a time of 1:55.83. On day 4, June 16, she won both the 200m and 1500m freestyle finals in the evening.Ledecky swam a 15:40.50 in the 1500 meter freestyle, lowering her Championship Record from the day before and becoming the first winner of the women's 1500 meter freestyle at the US Olympic Trials.She swam a 1:55.11 in the 200 meter freestyle.These two swims secured her spots on the US Olympic Team for the2020 Summer Olympicsin the 1500 meter freestyle and 200 meter freestyle individual events as well as the4 × 200 meter freestyle relay.Ledecky won the 200 meter and 1500 meter freestyle finals in a time span of about 70 minutes as well as collecting her medal at the 200 meter freestyle medal ceremony and eating a snack. Friday June 18, 2021, the sixth day of competition, Ledecky won with a time of 8:16.61 in the prelims heats of the 800-meter freestyle and advanced to the final.The following day in the final, Ledecky won with a time of 8:14.62 and qualified to swim the800 meter freestyleat the 2020 Summer Olympics for the United States. Summer Olympic Games At the2020 Summer Olympicsin Tokyo, Japan, Ledecky won two gold medals and two silver medals, making her the most decorated U.S. female athlete for a second straight Summer Olympics.Ledecky began her racing in the prelims of the400 meter freestyle, ranking first overall with her time of 4:00.45 and advancing to the final.However, she finished second to Australian swimmerAriarne Titmusto win the silver medal, trailing Titmus by half a second after leading at the 300m mark.Ledecky's time of 3:57.36 was the second-fastest time of her career and fourth-fastest in history.This was Ledecky's first loss in an individual event at the Olympics. In the debut of thewomen's 1500 meter freestyleat theSummer Olympics, Ledecky set anOlympic recordin her heat with a time of 15:35.35 and advanced to the final ranked first overall.In the same prelims session as the 1500 meter freestyle, Ledecky ranked first in the200 meter freestylewith a time of 1:55.28 and advanced to the event's semifinals.She swam a 1:55.34 in the semifinals of the 200 meter freestyle and advanced to the final ranking third overall.In the finals of these two events, Ledecky failed to reach the podium for the 200 m freestyle, placing 5th behind Titmus,Haughey,Oleksiak, andYang, but placed 1st in the 1500 m race, leading teammateErica Sullivan(silver) by 4 seconds, clinchingher first gold medal of the Games.She finished the final in 15:37.34, but herrecord from the preliminaryround still holds. The next day, Ledecky anchored for Team USA in the women's 4 × 200 freestyle relay, winning a silver medal alongside teammatesAllison Schmitt,Paige Madden, andKatie McLaughlinbehind China. Before she entered the pool, the United States was trailing both Australia and China, but she swam a time of 1:53.76 to finish the race 0.4 seconds behind the Chinese swimmerLi Bingjieand ahead of Australia, who were the favorites coming into the competition. Ledecky's split was the fastest of all swimmers in the relay finals.Ledecky won her second gold medal of the Olympics and her seventh of all time in the 800-meter freestyle. Her six individual gold medals are the most of any female Olympic swimmer and female US Olympian, and the second-most of all Olympic swimmers behindMichael Phelps. She became the first swimmer to win a distance event three times in a row, as well as the youngest and oldest person to win the 800 free (at age 15 in 2012 and age 24 in 2021). Following the Olympic Games on September 22, Ledecky announced her intention to train with coachAnthony Nestyat theUniversity of Florida.Additionally, Ledecky signed on to be a volunteer swim coach for theFlorida Gators. 2022 US International Team Trials At the2022 USA Swimming International Team Trialsin Greensboro, Ledecky qualified for the2022 World Aquatics Championshipsby finishing first in the 200-meter freestyle (1:55.15), the 400-meter freestyle (3:59.52), the 800-meter freestyle (8:09.27) and the 1500-meter freestyle (15:38.99). World Championships At the2022 World Aquatics ChampionshipsinBudapest, Ledecky won all four of her events: the 400 meter freestyle, 1500 meter freestyle, 4 × 200 freestyle relay, and 800-meter freestyle. With four golds, Ledecky expanded her career World Championships medal haul to 22, passingNatalie Coughlinfor most for a female swimmer.Ledecky earned FINA's female swimmer of the meet trophy for a third time. On the first day of competition, Ledecky won the 400-meter freestyle in a championship record 3:58.15, besting Canadian silver medalistSummer McIntoshby 1.24 seconds. Ledecky's swim was the seventh-fastest performance in history. Ledecky won the 1500-meter freestyle two days later in a time of 15:30.15, over 14 seconds faster than runner-up and teammateKatie Grimes. Ledecky's time was the sixth-fastest ever (behind only her own performances) and over 7 seconds faster than her winning time at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Ledecky joinedClaire Weinstein, Leah Smith, andBella Simson the U.S. 4 × 200 freestyle relay on day five. Swimming the third leg, Ledecky passed Australia and Canada to take the lead with the third-fastest split in history (1:53.67). Sims anchored the team to a championship record time of 7:41.45. On day 7, Ledecky won her final event by over 10 seconds, recording a time of 8:08.04 in the 800-meter freestyle. The swim was the fifth-fastest in history and earned Ledecky the 28 fastest times in the distance. With the victory, Ledecky became the first swimmer, male or female, to win five consecutive world championship titles in an individual event. USA Swimming Championships At the2022 USA Swimming Championshipsin Irvine, Ledecky won three gold medals by finishing first in the 200-meter freestyle (1:54.50), the 800-meter freestyle (8:12.03), and the 400-meter individual medley (4:35.77). FINA Swimming World Cup On October 29, during theTorontoround of theFINA Swimming World Cup, Ledecky swam the 1500m short course event for the first time. She set a time of 15:08.24, breaking the previous world record set by German swimmerSarah Köhlerby almost 10 seconds. The following week at the World Cup'sIndianapolisstop, Ledecky broke the world record in the 800m short course freestyle. Her time of 7:57.42 surpassedMireia Belmonte's mark from 2013. 2023 USA Swimming Championships At the2023 USA Swimming Championshipsin Indianapolis, Ledecky won three gold medals (400-, 800- and 1500-meter freestyle) and a silver medal (200-meter freestyle). Her times in the 800-meter freestyle (8:07.07) and 1500-meter freestyle (15:29.64) were the third- and sixth-fastest times in history, trailing only her own performances. World Championships At the2023 World Aquatics ChampionshipsinFukuoka,Japan, Ledecky won two gold medals and two silver medals. Her 16th career individual gold medal surpassedMichael Phelpsfor most individual gold medals at the world championships. On the first day of competition, Ledecky placed second in the400-meter freestyleto Ariarne Titmus, who set a new world record in the event (3:55.38). Ledecky's time of 3:58.73 topped New Zealand'sErika Fairweather(3:59.59) and Canada'sSummer McIntosh(3:59.94) in the first women's 400-meter race that saw four swimmers break the 4-minute barrier. Two days later, Ledecky won the1500-meter freestyleby over 17 seconds. Her time of 15:26.27 was the third-fastest time in history, trailing only her world and world championship records. Ledecky joinedErin Gemmell, Bella Sims, andAlex Shackellto earn the silver medal in the4 × 200 m freestyle relay. Ledecky swam the second leg and posted a team-best split of 1:54.39 as Australia lowered the world record by 1.79 seconds. Ledecky concluded her meet on Day 7 with the final of the800-meter freestyle. Ledecky posted the sixth-fastest time in history (8:08.87) to top China's Li Bingjie by 4.44 seconds. Li and Ariarne Titmus became the second- and third-fastest performers ever in the event, while Ledecky retained the 29 fastest times in history. With the victory, Ledecky passed Michael Phelps as the swimmer with the most career individual world championship gold medals and became the first swimmer to win six-straight world titles in an event. 2024 Memoir Ledecky's memoir,Just Add Water, was published on June 11.In the book, she discloses that she haspostural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. US Olympic Trials At the2024 US Olympic trials, Ledecky qualified for her fourth Olympics. She finished in first place in four events: 200-meter freestyle (1:55.22), 400-meter freestyle (3:58.35), 800-meter freestyle (8:14.12), and 1500-meter freestyle (15:37.35). Summer Olympic Games On the first night of the2024 Summer Olympicsin Paris, Ledecky finished third in the400-metre freestylebehindAriarne TitmusandSummer McIntosh.Ledecky later defended her title in the1500 metre freestyleevent, setting the newOlympic recordwith a time of 15:30:02.She won her fourth consecutive gold medal and eighth individual gold (an all-time record for women at the Olympics) in the800 metre freestyleand also competed in the4x200m freestyle relay, joined byClaire Weinstein,Paige Madden, andErin Gemmell.With a collective time of 7:40.86, the team won the silver medal. Honors and awards Ledecky was a USA Olympic team member in2012,2016,2020, and2024. She also holds the women's record for mostindividual gold medals(16) and overall gold medals (21) at theWorld Aquatics Championships. Her combined 24 individual titles at theOlympics(8) andWorld Aquatics Championships(16) is also arecord for female swimmers. Ledecky has also received the following awards: Ledecky has also received the following honors: Personal bests World records Publications Books See also References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Simone_Biles (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b93d8e5f0>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))\",\n \"Katie Ledecky Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky(/ləˈdɛki/lə-DEK-ee; born March 17, 1997)is an American competitiveswimmer. She has won nineOlympicgold medals and 21 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. With 14 medals and 9 gold medals, she is also the most decorated American woman, most decorated female swimmer, the woman with the most gold medals (tied withLarisa Latynina) andfifth-most decorated athletein Olympic history. She has won a record 16 individual gold medals at theWorld Aquatics Championships.Ledecky's 10 individual medals at the Olympics and 26 overall medals at the World Aquatics Championships arerecordsin women's swimming. Ledecky is theworld recordholder in the women's 800- and 1500-meter freestyle (both long course and short course), as well as the former world record holder in the women's 400-meter freestyle (long course). She also holds the fastest-ever times in the women's 500-, 1000-, and 1650-yard freestyle events. She is widely regarded as the greatest female swimmer of all time and one of the greatest Olympians of all time. In her international debut at the2012 London Olympic Gamesas a 15-year-old, Ledecky unexpectedly won the gold medal in the women's800-metre freestyle. Four years later, she leftRio de Janeiroas the most decorated female athlete of the2016 Olympic Games, with four gold medals, one silver medal, and two world records. At the2020 Olympic Games, Ledecky emerged as the most decorated U.S. female athlete and became the first American female swimmer to win an individual event in three straight Olympiads.In 2023, she won gold in the 800 meter World Championship, becoming the first swimmer—male or female—to win six World Championship gold medals in the same event.In total, she has won 50 medals (38 golds, 10 silvers, and 2 bronzes) in major international competitions, spanning theSummer Olympics,World Championships, andPan Pacific Championships. During her career, she has broken sixteen world records. Ledecky's success has earned herSwimming World'sFemaleWorld Swimmer of the Yeara record five times. Ledecky was also namedAssociated Press Female Athlete of the Yearin 2017 and 2022, international femaleChampion of ChampionsbyL'Équipein 2014 and 2017,United States Olympic Committee Female Athlete of the Yearin 2013, 2016 and 2017,Sportswoman of the Yearby theWomen's Sports Foundationin 2017, and theESPY Best Female Athletein 2022.In 2024, she was awarded thePresidential Medal of Freedomby PresidentJoe Biden. Early life, swimming, and education Ledecky was born in Washington, DCand raised in the suburb ofBethesda, Maryland,the daughter of Mary Gen (née Hagan) and David Ledecky. HerCzech-born paternal grandfather Jaromír Ledecky arrived in New York City on September 8, 1947, as a student.He later became an economist and married anAshkenazi Jewishwoman named Berta Ruth Greenwald inBrooklynon December 30, 1956. Through her paternal grandmother, Ledecky has relatives who were murdered in theHolocaust.Ledecky's mother is ofIrishdescent.She was raisedCatholicand continues to practice the faith, often praying theHail Marybefore her races.Her uncleJon Ledeckyis abusinessmanand a co-owner of the NHL teamNew York Islanders. Ledecky began swimming at the age of six under the influence of her older brother, Michael, and her mother, who swam for theUniversity of New Mexico. In Bethesda, she attended Little Flower School through eighth grade and graduated fromStone Ridge School of the Sacred Heartin 2015.During her high-school swimming career, Ledecky twice set the American and US Open record in the 500-yard freestyle, and she twice set the national high-school record in the 200-yard freestyle. During the summer of 2012, she trained with theNation's Capital Swim Club(formerly the Curl Burke Swim Club) under coach Yuri Suguiyama. Following Suguiyama's departure to coach for theUniversity of California, Berkeley, she continued to train with the Nation's Capital Swim Club under coachBruce Gemmellthrough the 2016 Olympics. During the summers prior to 2012, she swam for Palisades Swim Team inCabin John, Maryland. Ledecky accepted an athletic scholarship toStanford University, where she swam for coachGreg Meehan'sStanford Cardinalwomen's swimming team. In December 2016, Ledecky was chosen as one of thesponsorsof theUS Navyaircraft carrierUSSEnterprisealongside Olympic gold medal-winning gymnastSimone Biles. They are the first Olympians to be given this honor. In December 2020, she completed a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and minor in political science fromStanford University,and graduated in June 2021. Swimming career 2012 US Olympic trials At the2012 United States Olympic trialsinOmaha, Nebraska(her first senior national competition), Ledecky made the Olympic team by placing first in the 800-meter freestyle with a time of 8:19.78, which was over two seconds ahead of second-place finisherKate Ziegler.In Omaha, Ledecky also placed third in the 400-meter freestyle (4:05.00) and ninth in the 200-meter freestyle (1:58.66).Her third-place finish in the 400-meter freestyle was the fastest time ever swum by a 15- to 16-year-old American.At 15 years, 4 months, and 10 days, she was the youngestAmerican participantat the 2012 Olympic Games. Summer Olympic Games At the2012 Summer Olympicsin London, Ledecky qualified to swim in the final of the800-meter freestyleby placing third overall in the heats with a time of 8:23.84.In the final, Ledecky stunned the field, winning gold by more than four seconds, with a time of 8:14.63, the then second-fastest effort of all time just behindRebecca Adlington's world record of 8:14.10 set in 2008.In addition, she brokeJanet Evans'American recordof 8:16.22 that had stood since 1989. In the final, Ledecky went out hard and, by the 200-meter mark, she had already established an almost body-length lead. Her 400-meter split was 4:04.34, a personal best for Ledecky in that distance, and would have placed fifth in the individual 400-meter freestyle. At the 750-meter mark, Ledecky was 3.42 seconds ahead ofMireia Belmonte García, and 0.31 seconds under world record pace. Ledecky won by 4.13 seconds and just missed the world record by 0.53 seconds. Her gold was the first international medal of her career, earning her the 2012 Best Female Performance of the Year and Breakout Performer of the Year at theGolden Goggle Awards. 2013 USA Swimming Championships At the 2013 US National Championships, Ledecky qualified to swim in four individual events and the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the2013 World Aquatics Championshipsin Barcelona, Spain, though she later dropped the 200-meter freestyle from her program. At the National Championships, she finished first in the 400-, 800- and 1500-meter freestyle, and second in the 200-meter freestyle. World Championships At the 2013 World Championships, Ledecky won gold in the 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle, and in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, and set two world records. In winning the 400 through 1500-meter titles, she became the second woman ever to win the events in a World Championships since GermanHannah Stockbauerin 2003. In her first event in Barcelona, the400-meter freestyle, Ledecky became a world champion for the first time by winning in 3:59.82, setting a newAmerican recordand becoming the second-fastest performer of all time in the event. In her second event, Ledecky won gold in the1500-meter freestylein aworld recordtime of 15:36.53, breaking the record held by compatriotKate Zieglerby six seconds.The hard-fought race saw Ledecky overcome DaneLotte Friisin the final few hundred meters after losing the lead at the 300-meter mark and included a final 50 split of 29.47. In her third, and first relay event of her international career, the4×200-meter freestyle, Ledecky and teammatesShannon Vreeland,Karlee Bispo, andMissy Franklinwon gold in 7:45.14.Anchor Missy Franklin overtook AustralianAlicia Couttsin the last 200 meters, giving the US the gold. Ledecky provided the US with an early lead, swimming the first leg in a personal best of 1:56.32. In her fourth and last event, the800-meter freestyle, Ledecky won gold in a world record of 8:13.86, betteringRebecca Adlington's world record of 8:14.10. Much like the 1500-meter freestyle, Ledecky let Lotte Friis lead most of the race, making a move at the 650-meter mark to eventually win the race by 2.46 seconds. Ledecky scored more points than any other swimmer to earn the FINA trophy for best female swimmer of the meet. At year's end, Ledecky was named the American Swimmer of the Year and theWorld Swimmer of the YearbySwimming Worldmagazine. She was also named the best female swimmer for 2013 byFINA Aquatics Worldmagazine. 2014 Ledecky began the year by breaking her own world records in the 800- and 1500-meter freestyle at the 2014 Woodlands Swim Team Senior Invitational in June. Despite being in season and swimming multiple events, Ledecky was able to first break the world record in the 1500-meter freestyle with a time of 15:34.23,bettering her previous mark of 15:36.53. Three days later, Ledecky then broke the world record in the 800-meter freestyle with a time of 8:11.00,bettering her previous mark of 8:13.86. USA Swimming Championships At the 2014 US National Championships, the qualifying meet for both the2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championshipsand the2015 World Aquatics Championships, Ledecky finished first in the 200-, 400-, and 800-meter freestyle. In the 400-meter freestyle, Ledecky set her third world record of the year by breakingFederica Pellegrini's 2009 world record of 3:59.15 with a time of 3:58.86. With her mark in the 400, Ledecky became the first female since Janet Evans to hold world records simultaneously in the 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyles. Pan Pacific Championships At the2014 Pan Pacific Swimming ChampionshipsinGold Coast, Australia, Ledecky won five gold medals and broke two world records. Her wins came in the 200-, 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle and the 4×200-meter freestyle. Ledecky almost broke the world record in the 800-meter freestyle, finishing with a time of 8:11.35. Her world records came in the 400- and 1500-meter freestyles, with times of 3:58.37 and 15:28.36, respectively. She became the first woman to win four individual gold medals at a single Pan Pacific Championship. In the 200-meter freestyle final, Ledecky had over a half-second lead on the field at the halfway point before winning by 1.46 seconds with a meet record time of 1:55.74. Less than an hour later, Ledecky won the 800-meter freestyle, swimming under her world record pace for most of the race before touching in at 8:11.35, the second-fastest time ever, to win by 7.52 seconds over New Zealand swimmerLauren Boyle. The next day, Ledecky added her third meet record by swimming on the American 4×200-meter freestyle relay team withShannon Vreeland,Missy Franklin, andLeah Smith. Swimming the anchor leg, Ledecky erased a 1.2-second deficit going into the final leg of the race, passing Australia'sMelanie Schlangerwith a 1:54.36 split over the final 200 meters. She also swam in the 100-meter freestyle heats. On the third day of the meet, Ledecky set her fourth meet record in the 400-meter freestyle prelim heats with a time of 4:03.09. That night, Ledecky lowered the record again, setting the first world record ever at the new Gold Coast Aquatic Center with a time of 3:58.37. Ledecky's winning time was over six seconds quicker than American teammate and silver medalistCierra Runge. On the meet's final day, Ledecky set her fifth world record of the year, lowering her record in the 1500-meter freestyle by nearly six seconds with a time of 15:28.36. Ledecky swam the second half of the race faster than the first, completing the final 800 meters in 8:14.11—faster than any other woman has completed a regular 800-meter race in a textile suit.Ledecky lapped three competitors in the final and finished 27.33 seconds ahead of silver medalist Boyle. National Team Director Frank Busch described Ledecky's 1500 performance as \\\"the most impressive race I have ever seen, and I've been in the sport for 50 years.... She's blazing a completely different trail than anyone who has come before.\\\" During the championships' closing ceremonies, Ledecky was named the female swimmer of the meet. At year's end, Ledecky was named theWorld Swimmer of the Yearand American Swimmer of the Year bySwimming World Magazine. 2015 World Championships At the2015 World Aquatics ChampionshipsinKazan, Russia, Ledecky won five gold medals and broke three world records. Her wins came in the 200-, 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyles and the 4×200-meter freestyle. Her world records came in the 800- and 1500-meter freestyles. Ledecky became the first and only swimmer—male or female—to win the 200-, 400-, 800- and 1500-meter freestyles in a major competition.Ledecky was also named the female swimmer of the meet. Ledecky began the World Championships by winning gold in the400-meter freestylein a time of 3:59.13, a new championship record and almost four seconds ahead of her closest competitor. In the heats of the1500-meter freestyleon the second day of competition, Ledecky broke her own world record in a time of 15:27.71. On the third day of competition during the morning session, Ledecky swam in the heats of the200-meter freestyleand qualified first with a time of 1:55.82. In the evening session, Ledecky faced a tough double with the 1500-meter freestyle final and the semi-finals of the 200-meter freestyle shortly after. In the 1500-meter freestyle, Ledecky broke her own world record in a time of 15:25.48.Twenty-nine minutes later, Ledecky qualified 6th in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 1:56.76. In her only event on the fourth day of competition, the 200-meter freestyle, Ledecky won her third gold medal of the meet, winning in a time of 1:55.16. Unlike her other races, it was not an easy win for Ledecky, which featured the likes ofMissy FranklinandFederica Pellegrini. In the end, Ledecky was able to hold off a fast charging Pellegrini, eventually winning by a 0.16 margin. Ledecky's final 50-meter split of 29.33 was the second-fastest in the field behind Pellegrini's 29.23. On the fifth day of competition, Ledecky, with Missy Franklin,Leah Smith, andKatie McLaughlinwon gold in the4×200-meter freestyle relay. Swimming the anchor leg, Ledecky recorded a split of 1:55.64 and the Americans finished with an aggregate time of 7:45.37. On the seventh day of competition, Ledecky completed her World Championships run by winning gold in the800-meter freestylein a world record time of 8:07.39, breaking her own record by 3.61 seconds. 2016 Ledecky began 2016 at the Arena Pro Swim Series at Austin. On the final day of competition, she reset her world record in the 800-meter freestyle, clocking a time of 8:06.68.Earlier in the meet, she set world-leading times in the 200- and 400-meter freestyles and a U.S.-leading time in the 100-meter freestyle. US Olympic trials At the2016 United States Olympic trialsinOmaha, Nebraska, Ledecky won the 200-, 400- and 800-meter freestyles to qualify for her second Olympic team. Ledecky opened the Trials with a win and meet record in the 400-meter freestyle (3:58.98). Two days later, she recorded a time of 1:54.88 en route to winning the 200-meter freestyle. On July 1, Ledecky broke Janet Evans's 28-year-old national championship record in the morning preliminary heats of the 800-meter freestyle (8:10.91) before placing seventh that evening in the 100-meter freestyle (53.99). The next day, Ledecky lowered her meet record, winning the 800-meter freestyle final by nearly 10 seconds (8:10.32). With her pair of swims in the 800-meter freestyle, Ledecky took control of the top 11 fastest times in the event's history.At the conclusion of the week, Ledecky was named the female swimmer of the meet. Summer Olympic Games Ledecky's first event in the2016 Summer Olympicswas the4×100-meter freestylerelay, swimming the anchor leg for the United States in both the prelims and final. Ledecky recorded a split of 52.64 in the heats. In the final, she joinedSimone Manuel,Abbey Weitzeil, andDana Vollmerand recorded a split of 52.79, helping the team earn a silver medal (behind Australia) with a time of 3:31.89, a newnational recordfor the United States. Her first individual event was the400-meter freestyle. Ledecky qualified in the heats with a time of 3:58.71, an Olympic record. In the final, she won the gold medal with aworld recordtime of 3:56.46––nearly two seconds faster than her previous record from 2014 and almost 5 seconds ahead of the silver medalist,Jazmin Carlin. Ledecky won a second gold in the200-meter freestylewith a personal best of 1:53.73, beatingSarah Sjöströmby 0.35 seconds. Ledecky claimed her third gold in the4×200-meter freestylerelay, withAllison Schmitt,Leah Smith, andMaya DiRado. Swimming the anchor leg again, Ledecky provided the fastest split of the field (1:53.74) to turn a 0.89-second deficit into a 1.84-second victory, stopping the clock at 7:43.03. She won a fourth gold in her final individual event, the800-meter freestyle. She qualified in the heats with an Olympic record, 8:12.86, and set a world record in the finals of 8:04.79, over 11 seconds faster than the silver medalist,Jazmin Carlin. With three individual titles, Ledecky became the first swimmer to win the 200, 400 and 800 m freestyle at the same Olympics sinceDebbie Meyerdid so in 1968 in Mexico City.Ledecky's final medal total (four golds, one silver) is the most decorated single-Olympics performance by a U.S. female athlete in terms of gold medals, topping Missy Franklin (2012; four golds, 1 bronze),Simone Biles(2016; four golds, 1 bronze), andAmy Van Dyken(1996; four golds).Ledecky was also the 2nd most decorated Olympian at the 2016 games behindMichael Phelps(5 golds, 1 silver). 2017 NCAA During the 2016–17 NCAA season, Ledecky set 12 NCAA records and nine American records while swimming as a freshman forStanford University. At the Ohio State Invitational in November 2016, Ledecky lowered her American and U.S. Open marks in the women's 500-yard freestyle and 1650-yard freestyle. At the Pac-12 Championships inFederal Way, Washington, Ledecky earned Swimmer of the Meet honors with four American records as Stanford won its first conference title in four years. On the first day of the meet, Ledecky anchored the 800-yard freestyle relay with a 1:40.28 split to break the NCAA, American, and U.S. Open record in the 800-yard freestyle relay withLia Neal,Katie Drabot, andElla Eastin. The next day, Ledecky lowered her own mark again in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:25.15.On the meet's third day, she won the 400-yard individual medley in a new American record of 3:57.68 before finishing second to teammateSimone Manuelin the 200-yard freestyle with a personal best time less than a half hour later.On the meet's final day, Ledecky joined Manuel, Neal, and Janet Hu to break the NCAA and American record in the 400-yard freestyle relay. At the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis, Ledecky helped lead Stanford to its first team title since 1998. She reset her American, NCAA, and U.S. Open records in the 800-yard freestyle relay, 500-yard freestyle, and 400-yard freestyle relay and won a meet-best five race titles overall. On the meet's first day, she recorded the team's fastest split to lower the 800-yard freestyle relay record to 6:45.91 with Manuel, Neal, and Eastin.The next day, she lowered her own record in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:24.06, beating the second-fastest performer of all time, Leah Smith, by nearly five seconds. On the meet's third day, Ledecky's 20th birthday, Ledecky recorded a personal-best time of 1:40.36 in the 200-yard freestyle to edge Manuel and tie Louisville sophomore Mallory Comerford for the title.On the meet's final day, Ledecky set an NCAA record in the 1000-yard freestyle (9:06.90) en route to a championship record in the 1650-yard freestyle (15:07.70), defeating runner-up Smith by 21.19 seconds and lapping all other competitors.In the meet's final event, Ledecky joined Manuel, Neal, and Hu to swim the second leg of Stanford's 400-yard freestyle relay. The team lowered its previous record with a time of 3:07.61, securing a 526.5–366 decision over runner-up California-Berkeley, the largest championship margin of victory since 2003. Following the season, Ledecky became the first freshman in 35 years to receive theHonda Cup, which recognizes the nation's top female collegiate athlete. USA Swimming Championships At the2017 USA Swimming Championships, the qualifying meet for the2017 World Aquatics Championships, Ledecky won the 200-meter freestyle (1:54.84), 400-meter freestyle (3:58.44), and 800-meter freestyle (8:11.50) and earned a spot on six events. World Championships At the2017 World Aquatics Championshipsin Budapest, Ledecky broke the World Aquatics Championships' all-time female gold medal record, winning five golds and one silver to bring her career title total to 14. In her first event, the400-meter freestyle, Ledecky successfully defended her world title, finishing with a championship record time of 3:58.34.Later that evening, Ledecky swam the third leg of the4×100-meter freestyle. Joined withMallory Comerford,Kelsi Worrell, andSimone Manuel, Ledecky recorded a split of 53.83, helping the team win gold with a time of 3:31.72, a newnational recordfor the United States. On the third day of competition, Ledecky defended her1500-meter freestyletitle, winning with a time of 15:31.82. With this win being Ledecky's twelfth World Championship gold medal, Ledecky passedMissy Franklinfor the most gold medals won by a female swimmer in long course World Championships history. On the fourth day of competition, Ledecky tied for silver in the200-meter freestyle(withEmma McKeon), finishing behindFederica Pellegriniwith a time of 1:55.18. This was Ledecky's first international loss in a final in individual event. Notably, in the semifinals the day prior, Ledecky recorded the top time in the semifinals with a time of 1:54.69. She achieved this result less than an hour after swimming the 1500-meter freestyle final. On the fifth day of competition, Ledecky, withLeah Smith,Mallory Comerford, andMelanie Margaliswon gold in the4×200-meter freestyle relay. Swimming the anchor leg, Ledecky recorded a split of 1:54.02, and the Americans finished with an aggregate time of 7:43.39. Ledecky concluded the meet with a win in the800-meter freestyle, her fifth-straight title in the event across Olympics and World Championships. 2018 NCAA During the 2017–18 NCAA season, Ledecky set another three NCAA records and two American records while helping lead Stanford to its second straight team title. At the Texas A&M Invitational in November 2017, Ledecky lowered her American and U.S. Open mark in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 15:03.31. Following another undefeated dual meet season, Ledecky earned Swimmer of the Meet honors for the second straight year at the Pac-12 Championships in Federal Way, sweeping the 500-yard freestyle, 400-yard individual medley, and 200-yard freestyle. In the 400-yard individual medley, Ledecky brokeKatinka Hosszú's all-time record by one-hundredth of a second, finishing in 3:56.53. Stanford earned its second team title in as many years. At the NCAA Championships, Ledecky won the 500 and 1650-yard freestyle events by record margins and anchored the winning 800-yard freestyle relay team of Katie Drabot, Brooke Forde, and Ella Eastin. Ledecky finished second in the 400-yard individual medley to Eastin, who lowered the record Ledecky set a month earlier at the Pac-12 Championships. In the 1650-yard freestyle, Ledecky re-set her NCAA record in the 1000-yard free with a split of 9:05.89 en route to winning by more than 28 seconds. In the team standings, Stanford beat runner-up California-Berkeley by 220 points, the largest margin of victory in 25 years. A week following Stanford's championship win, Ledecky announced at theNational Press Clubthat she will forego her final two seasons of NCAA eligibility in order to accept professional endorsement and sponsorship opportunities.She signed withWassermansports agent Dan Levy for representation. At the academic year's conclusion, theCollege Sports Information Directors of Americanamed Ledecky the Division IAcademic All-America Team Member of the Yearfor her athletic and academic achievements. Professional career Ledecky made her debut as a professional swimmer on May 16, 2018, at the TYR Pro Swim Series inIndianapolis, Indiana, where she beat her old world record in the 1500-meter freestyle, setting a new world record of 15:20.48. She broke the existing mark by five seconds. Ledecky signed her first sponsorship deal withTYR Sport, Inc.on June 8, 2018. USA Swimming Championships In July 2018, at the2018 USA Swimming Championshipsin Irvine, Ledecky qualified for the2018 Pan Pacific Championshipsby finishing first in the 200-,400-, and 800-meter freestyle. Pan Pacific Championships At the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo, Ledecky led all swimmers with three individual titles, winning golds in the 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle. She also took bronze in the 200-meter freestyle and silver in the 4x200-meter freestyle. On the first day of competition, Ledecky won gold in the 800-meter freestyle with a championship-record time of 8:09.13, topping runner-upAriarne Titmusof Australia by 7.94 seconds. Just over an hour later, Ledecky took third in the 200-meter freestyle (1:55.15), finishing behind Canada'sTaylor Ruck(1:54.44) and Japan'sRikako Ikee(1:54.85). The next day, Ledecky anchored the United States team of Allison Schmitt, Leah Smith, and Katie McLaughlin in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay. Entering the water with a 2.88-second deficit, Ledecky swam the fourth-fastest relay split in history (1:53.84), nearly overtaking AustralianMadeline Groves, who touched 0.25 seconds ahead of Ledecky to set a new championship and national record. On the third day, Ledecky defeated Titmus wire-to-wire in the 400-meter freestyle. Ledecky concluded the championships with another gold medal in the 1500-meter freestyle, winning by a margin of 21.11 seconds (15:38.97). 2019 World Championships At the2019 World Aquatics Championshipsin Gwangju, South Korea, Ledecky battled illness and withdrew from two events before winning her fourth-straight World Championship title in the 800-meter freestyle. On the first day of competition, Ledecky led Australian Ariarne Titmus into the final wall of the 400-meter freestyle final before fading to second. The next morning, Ledecky struggled through her preliminary heat of the 1500-meter freestyle despite qualifying first for the event's final. She subsequently announced her withdrawal from the 1500 and 200-meter freestyle due to illness. Ledecky returned to competition three days later to swim the final of the women's 4x200-meter freestyle relay. The Americans (Simone Manuel, Ledecky, Melanie Margalis and Katie McLaughlin) set a new American record and swam under the existing world record with a time of 7:41.87, yet placed second to the Australian team (7:41.50). Still recovering from illness, Ledecky qualified second the next day for the final of the 800-meter freestyle. In the final, Ledecky swam to an early lead before Italian swimmerSimona Quadarellatook over midway through the race. Ledecky trailed Quadarella into the final wall. Ledecky passed Quadarella and pulled away in the final 50 meters to win by 1.41 seconds. In the inaugural season of theInternational Swimming League, Ledecky represented DC Trident. For the seventh-straight year, Ledecky finished the year with the top times in the world in both the 800- and 1500-meter freestyle (8:10.70 and 15:35.98). Ledecky collected several end-of-decade honors. Fifty-two percent of SwimSwam.com readers voted Ledecky the top swimmer of the decade, ahead of Michael Phelps.Readers of The London Evening Standard voted Ledecky the International Sportswoman of the Decade.She finished third in the Associated Press's Female Athlete of the Decade voting, behindSerena WilliamsandSimone Biles. 2020 Ledecky began 2020 at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Des Moines, Iowa, where she won the 200-, 400- and 1500-meter freestyle races.Ledecky withdrew from the 800-meter freestyle race due to illness.Ledecky did not compete at any other events during 2020. 2021 Ledecky began 2021 at the TYR Pro Swim Series at San Antonio, Texas. She won the 200-, 400-, 800- and 1500-meter freestyle races. On Thursday May 20, 2021, at the Longhorn Aquatics Elite Invite Ledecky won the long course 100 meter freestyle final by one one-hundredth of a second in a time of 53.82 with second place going toSimone Manuel. US Olympic trials As part of theNBCevening telecast for day one of the2020 USA Swimming Olympic trials(postponed to June 2021 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic), Ledecky was featured in an interview discussing Stanford University'scommencement, finishing her college degree, and training for the Olympic Trials.Because training facilities were closed during the pandemic, Ledecky and her colleagueSimone Manueltrained for the Olympics in a 25-yard private pool inAtherton, in the backyard ofmastersswimmer Tod Spieker. On the second day, June 14, 2021, Ledecky competed in the prelims of the 400 meter freestyle in the morning, swimming a 4:03.07, ranking 1st out of all prelims heats, and advancing to the final in the evening.The 400 meter freestyle was the first race on Ledecky's schedule where she had the opportunity to make the2020 USA Olympic Team.In the evening final of the 400 meter freestyle, Ledecky finished first with a time of 4:01.27,securingher first spot on her third US Olympic Team swimming the 400 meter freestyle at the 2020 Summer Olympics.This accomplishment was highlighted by various news outlets includingNBC Sports,Newsweek, andUSA Today. In the morning of day three, Ledecky swam a 1:57.58 in the 200 meter freestyle prelims, ranking second fastest of all heats.Two events later, she swam a 15:43.10 in the 1500 meter freestyle prelims, ranking as the fastest swimmer of prelims heat, advancing to the final, and setting a new Championship Record over four seconds faster than the previous record she set in 2013.Later the same day in the evening semifinals for the 200 meter freestyle, Ledecky finished first with a time of 1:55.83. On day 4, June 16, she won both the 200m and 1500m freestyle finals in the evening.Ledecky swam a 15:40.50 in the 1500 meter freestyle, lowering her Championship Record from the day before and becoming the first winner of the women's 1500 meter freestyle at the US Olympic Trials.She swam a 1:55.11 in the 200 meter freestyle.These two swims secured her spots on the US Olympic Team for the2020 Summer Olympicsin the 1500 meter freestyle and 200 meter freestyle individual events as well as the4 × 200 meter freestyle relay.Ledecky won the 200 meter and 1500 meter freestyle finals in a time span of about 70 minutes as well as collecting her medal at the 200 meter freestyle medal ceremony and eating a snack. Friday June 18, 2021, the sixth day of competition, Ledecky won with a time of 8:16.61 in the prelims heats of the 800-meter freestyle and advanced to the final.The following day in the final, Ledecky won with a time of 8:14.62 and qualified to swim the800 meter freestyleat the 2020 Summer Olympics for the United States. Summer Olympic Games At the2020 Summer Olympicsin Tokyo, Japan, Ledecky won two gold medals and two silver medals, making her the most decorated U.S. female athlete for a second straight Summer Olympics.Ledecky began her racing in the prelims of the400 meter freestyle, ranking first overall with her time of 4:00.45 and advancing to the final.However, she finished second to Australian swimmerAriarne Titmusto win the silver medal, trailing Titmus by half a second after leading at the 300m mark.Ledecky's time of 3:57.36 was the second-fastest time of her career and fourth-fastest in history.This was Ledecky's first loss in an individual event at the Olympics. In the debut of thewomen's 1500 meter freestyleat theSummer Olympics, Ledecky set anOlympic recordin her heat with a time of 15:35.35 and advanced to the final ranked first overall.In the same prelims session as the 1500 meter freestyle, Ledecky ranked first in the200 meter freestylewith a time of 1:55.28 and advanced to the event's semifinals.She swam a 1:55.34 in the semifinals of the 200 meter freestyle and advanced to the final ranking third overall.In the finals of these two events, Ledecky failed to reach the podium for the 200 m freestyle, placing 5th behind Titmus,Haughey,Oleksiak, andYang, but placed 1st in the 1500 m race, leading teammateErica Sullivan(silver) by 4 seconds, clinchingher first gold medal of the Games.She finished the final in 15:37.34, but herrecord from the preliminaryround still holds. The next day, Ledecky anchored for Team USA in the women's 4 × 200 freestyle relay, winning a silver medal alongside teammatesAllison Schmitt,Paige Madden, andKatie McLaughlinbehind China. Before she entered the pool, the United States was trailing both Australia and China, but she swam a time of 1:53.76 to finish the race 0.4 seconds behind the Chinese swimmerLi Bingjieand ahead of Australia, who were the favorites coming into the competition. Ledecky's split was the fastest of all swimmers in the relay finals.Ledecky won her second gold medal of the Olympics and her seventh of all time in the 800-meter freestyle. Her six individual gold medals are the most of any female Olympic swimmer and female US Olympian, and the second-most of all Olympic swimmers behindMichael Phelps. She became the first swimmer to win a distance event three times in a row, as well as the youngest and oldest person to win the 800 free (at age 15 in 2012 and age 24 in 2021). Following the Olympic Games on September 22, Ledecky announced her intention to train with coachAnthony Nestyat theUniversity of Florida.Additionally, Ledecky signed on to be a volunteer swim coach for theFlorida Gators. 2022 US International Team Trials At the2022 USA Swimming International Team Trialsin Greensboro, Ledecky qualified for the2022 World Aquatics Championshipsby finishing first in the 200-meter freestyle (1:55.15), the 400-meter freestyle (3:59.52), the 800-meter freestyle (8:09.27) and the 1500-meter freestyle (15:38.99). World Championships At the2022 World Aquatics ChampionshipsinBudapest, Ledecky won all four of her events: the 400 meter freestyle, 1500 meter freestyle, 4 × 200 freestyle relay, and 800-meter freestyle. With four golds, Ledecky expanded her career World Championships medal haul to 22, passingNatalie Coughlinfor most for a female swimmer.Ledecky earned FINA's female swimmer of the meet trophy for a third time. On the first day of competition, Ledecky won the 400-meter freestyle in a championship record 3:58.15, besting Canadian silver medalistSummer McIntoshby 1.24 seconds. Ledecky's swim was the seventh-fastest performance in history. Ledecky won the 1500-meter freestyle two days later in a time of 15:30.15, over 14 seconds faster than runner-up and teammateKatie Grimes. Ledecky's time was the sixth-fastest ever (behind only her own performances) and over 7 seconds faster than her winning time at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Ledecky joinedClaire Weinstein, Leah Smith, andBella Simson the U.S. 4 × 200 freestyle relay on day five. Swimming the third leg, Ledecky passed Australia and Canada to take the lead with the third-fastest split in history (1:53.67). Sims anchored the team to a championship record time of 7:41.45. On day 7, Ledecky won her final event by over 10 seconds, recording a time of 8:08.04 in the 800-meter freestyle. The swim was the fifth-fastest in history and earned Ledecky the 28 fastest times in the distance. With the victory, Ledecky became the first swimmer, male or female, to win five consecutive world championship titles in an individual event. USA Swimming Championships At the2022 USA Swimming Championshipsin Irvine, Ledecky won three gold medals by finishing first in the 200-meter freestyle (1:54.50), the 800-meter freestyle (8:12.03), and the 400-meter individual medley (4:35.77). FINA Swimming World Cup On October 29, during theTorontoround of theFINA Swimming World Cup, Ledecky swam the 1500m short course event for the first time. She set a time of 15:08.24, breaking the previous world record set by German swimmerSarah Köhlerby almost 10 seconds. The following week at the World Cup'sIndianapolisstop, Ledecky broke the world record in the 800m short course freestyle. Her time of 7:57.42 surpassedMireia Belmonte's mark from 2013. 2023 USA Swimming Championships At the2023 USA Swimming Championshipsin Indianapolis, Ledecky won three gold medals (400-, 800- and 1500-meter freestyle) and a silver medal (200-meter freestyle). Her times in the 800-meter freestyle (8:07.07) and 1500-meter freestyle (15:29.64) were the third- and sixth-fastest times in history, trailing only her own performances. World Championships At the2023 World Aquatics ChampionshipsinFukuoka,Japan, Ledecky won two gold medals and two silver medals. Her 16th career individual gold medal surpassedMichael Phelpsfor most individual gold medals at the world championships. On the first day of competition, Ledecky placed second in the400-meter freestyleto Ariarne Titmus, who set a new world record in the event (3:55.38). Ledecky's time of 3:58.73 topped New Zealand'sErika Fairweather(3:59.59) and Canada'sSummer McIntosh(3:59.94) in the first women's 400-meter race that saw four swimmers break the 4-minute barrier. Two days later, Ledecky won the1500-meter freestyleby over 17 seconds. Her time of 15:26.27 was the third-fastest time in history, trailing only her world and world championship records. Ledecky joinedErin Gemmell, Bella Sims, andAlex Shackellto earn the silver medal in the4 × 200 m freestyle relay. Ledecky swam the second leg and posted a team-best split of 1:54.39 as Australia lowered the world record by 1.79 seconds. Ledecky concluded her meet on Day 7 with the final of the800-meter freestyle. Ledecky posted the sixth-fastest time in history (8:08.87) to top China's Li Bingjie by 4.44 seconds. Li and Ariarne Titmus became the second- and third-fastest performers ever in the event, while Ledecky retained the 29 fastest times in history. With the victory, Ledecky passed Michael Phelps as the swimmer with the most career individual world championship gold medals and became the first swimmer to win six-straight world titles in an event. 2024 Memoir Ledecky's memoir,Just Add Water, was published on June 11.In the book, she discloses that she haspostural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. US Olympic Trials At the2024 US Olympic trials, Ledecky qualified for her fourth Olympics. She finished in first place in four events: 200-meter freestyle (1:55.22), 400-meter freestyle (3:58.35), 800-meter freestyle (8:14.12), and 1500-meter freestyle (15:37.35). Summer Olympic Games On the first night of the2024 Summer Olympicsin Paris, Ledecky finished third in the400-metre freestylebehindAriarne TitmusandSummer McIntosh.Ledecky later defended her title in the1500 metre freestyleevent, setting the newOlympic recordwith a time of 15:30:02.She won her fourth consecutive gold medal and eighth individual gold (an all-time record for women at the Olympics) in the800 metre freestyleand also competed in the4x200m freestyle relay, joined byClaire Weinstein,Paige Madden, andErin Gemmell.With a collective time of 7:40.86, the team won the silver medal. Honors and awards Ledecky was a USA Olympic team member in2012,2016,2020, and2024. She also holds the women's record for mostindividual gold medals(16) and overall gold medals (21) at theWorld Aquatics Championships. Her combined 24 individual titles at theOlympics(8) andWorld Aquatics Championships(16) is also arecord for female swimmers. Ledecky has also received the following awards: Ledecky has also received the following honors: Personal bests World records Publications Books See also References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Simone_Biles (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b93d8e5f0>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))","Katie Ledecky Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky(/ləˈdɛki/lə-DEK-ee; born March 17, 1997)is an American competitiveswimmer. She has won nineOlympicgold medals and 21 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. With 14 medals and 9 gold medals, she is also the most decorated American woman, most decorated female swimmer, the woman with the most gold medals (tied withLarisa Latynina) andfifth-most decorated athletein Olympic history. She has won a record 16 individual gold medals at theWorld Aquatics Championships.Ledecky's 10 individual medals at the Olympics and 26 overall medals at the World Aquatics Championships arerecordsin women's swimming. Ledecky is theworld recordholder in the women's 800- and 1500-meter freestyle (both long course and short course), as well as the former world record holder in the women's 400-meter freestyle (long course). She also holds the fastest-ever times in the women's 500-, 1000-, and 1650-yard freestyle events. She is widely regarded as the greatest","as the greatest female swimmer of all time and one of the greatest Olympians of all time. In her international debut at the2012 London Olympic Gamesas a 15-year-old, Ledecky unexpectedly won the gold medal in the women's800-metre freestyle. Four years later, she leftRio de Janeiroas the most decorated female athlete of the2016 Olympic Games, with four gold medals, one silver medal, and two world records. At the2020 Olympic Games, Ledecky emerged as the most decorated U.S. female athlete and became the first American female swimmer to win an individual event in three straight Olympiads.In 2023, she won gold in the 800 meter World Championship, becoming the first swimmer—male or female—to win six World Championship gold medals in the same event.In total, she has won 50 medals (38 golds, 10 silvers, and 2 bronzes) in major international competitions, spanning theSummer Olympics,World Championships, andPan Pacific Championships. During her career, she has broken sixteen world records. Ledecky's success has","success has earned herSwimming World'sFemaleWorld Swimmer of the Yeara record five times. Ledecky was also namedAssociated Press Female Athlete of the Yearin 2017 and 2022, international femaleChampion of ChampionsbyL'Équipein 2014 and 2017,United States Olympic Committee Female Athlete of the Yearin 2013, 2016 and 2017,Sportswoman of the Yearby theWomen's Sports Foundationin 2017, and theESPY Best Female Athletein 2022.In 2024, she was awarded thePresidential Medal of Freedomby PresidentJoe Biden. Early life, swimming, and education Ledecky was born in Washington, DCand raised in the suburb ofBethesda, Maryland,the daughter of Mary Gen (née Hagan) and David Ledecky. HerCzech-born paternal grandfather Jaromír Ledecky arrived in New York City on September 8, 1947, as a student.He later became an economist and married anAshkenazi Jewishwoman named Berta Ruth Greenwald inBrooklynon December 30, 1956. Through her paternal grandmother, Ledecky has relatives who were murdered in theHolocaust.Ledecky's mother is","mother is ofIrishdescent.She was raisedCatholicand continues to practice the faith, often praying theHail Marybefore her races.Her uncleJon Ledeckyis abusinessmanand a co-owner of the NHL teamNew York Islanders. Ledecky began swimming at the age of six under the influence of her older brother, Michael, and her mother, who swam for theUniversity of New Mexico. In Bethesda, she attended Little Flower School through eighth grade and graduated fromStone Ridge School of the Sacred Heartin 2015.During her high-school swimming career, Ledecky twice set the American and US Open record in the 500-yard freestyle, and she twice set the national high-school record in the 200-yard freestyle. During the summer of 2012, she trained with theNation's Capital Swim Club(formerly the Curl Burke Swim Club) under coach Yuri Suguiyama. Following Suguiyama's departure to coach for theUniversity of California, Berkeley, she continued to train with the Nation's Capital Swim Club under coachBruce Gemmellthrough the 2016 Olympics.","the 2016 Olympics. During the summers prior to 2012, she swam for Palisades Swim Team inCabin John, Maryland. Ledecky accepted an athletic scholarship toStanford University, where she swam for coachGreg Meehan'sStanford Cardinalwomen's swimming team. In December 2016, Ledecky was chosen as one of thesponsorsof theUS Navyaircraft carrierUSSEnterprisealongside Olympic gold medal-winning gymnastSimone Biles. They are the first Olympians to be given this honor. In December 2020, she completed a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and minor in political science fromStanford University,and graduated in June 2021. Swimming career 2012 US Olympic trials At the2012 United States Olympic trialsinOmaha, Nebraska(her first senior national competition), Ledecky made the Olympic team by placing first in the 800-meter freestyle with a time of 8:19.78, which was over two seconds ahead of second-place finisherKate Ziegler.In Omaha, Ledecky also placed third in the 400-meter freestyle (4:05.00) and ninth in the 200-meter freestyle","200-meter freestyle (1:58.66).Her third-place finish in the 400-meter freestyle was the fastest time ever swum by a 15- to 16-year-old American.At 15 years, 4 months, and 10 days, she was the youngestAmerican participantat the 2012 Olympic Games. Summer Olympic Games At the2012 Summer Olympicsin London, Ledecky qualified to swim in the final of the800-meter freestyleby placing third overall in the heats with a time of 8:23.84.In the final, Ledecky stunned the field, winning gold by more than four seconds, with a time of 8:14.63, the then second-fastest effort of all time just behindRebecca Adlington's world record of 8:14.10 set in 2008.In addition, she brokeJanet Evans'American recordof 8:16.22 that had stood since 1989. In the final, Ledecky went out hard and, by the 200-meter mark, she had already established an almost body-length lead. Her 400-meter split was 4:04.34, a personal best for Ledecky in that distance, and would have placed fifth in the individual 400-meter freestyle. At the 750-meter mark,","the 750-meter mark, Ledecky was 3.42 seconds ahead ofMireia Belmonte García, and 0.31 seconds under world record pace. Ledecky won by 4.13 seconds and just missed the world record by 0.53 seconds. Her gold was the first international medal of her career, earning her the 2012 Best Female Performance of the Year and Breakout Performer of the Year at theGolden Goggle Awards. 2013 USA Swimming Championships At the 2013 US National Championships, Ledecky qualified to swim in four individual events and the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the2013 World Aquatics Championshipsin Barcelona, Spain, though she later dropped the 200-meter freestyle from her program. At the National Championships, she finished first in the 400-, 800- and 1500-meter freestyle, and second in the 200-meter freestyle. World Championships At the 2013 World Championships, Ledecky won gold in the 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle, and in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, and set two world records. In winning the 400 through 1500-meter titles,","1500-meter titles, she became the second woman ever to win the events in a World Championships since GermanHannah Stockbauerin 2003. In her first event in Barcelona, the400-meter freestyle, Ledecky became a world champion for the first time by winning in 3:59.82, setting a newAmerican recordand becoming the second-fastest performer of all time in the event. In her second event, Ledecky won gold in the1500-meter freestylein aworld recordtime of 15:36.53, breaking the record held by compatriotKate Zieglerby six seconds.The hard-fought race saw Ledecky overcome DaneLotte Friisin the final few hundred meters after losing the lead at the 300-meter mark and included a final 50 split of 29.47. In her third, and first relay event of her international career, the4×200-meter freestyle, Ledecky and teammatesShannon Vreeland,Karlee Bispo, andMissy Franklinwon gold in 7:45.14.Anchor Missy Franklin overtook AustralianAlicia Couttsin the last 200 meters, giving the US the gold. Ledecky provided the US with an early lead,","with an early lead, swimming the first leg in a personal best of 1:56.32. In her fourth and last event, the800-meter freestyle, Ledecky won gold in a world record of 8:13.86, betteringRebecca Adlington's world record of 8:14.10. Much like the 1500-meter freestyle, Ledecky let Lotte Friis lead most of the race, making a move at the 650-meter mark to eventually win the race by 2.46 seconds. Ledecky scored more points than any other swimmer to earn the FINA trophy for best female swimmer of the meet. At year's end, Ledecky was named the American Swimmer of the Year and theWorld Swimmer of the YearbySwimming Worldmagazine. She was also named the best female swimmer for 2013 byFINA Aquatics Worldmagazine. 2014 Ledecky began the year by breaking her own world records in the 800- and 1500-meter freestyle at the 2014 Woodlands Swim Team Senior Invitational in June. Despite being in season and swimming multiple events, Ledecky was able to first break the world record in the 1500-meter freestyle with a time of","with a time of 15:34.23,bettering her previous mark of 15:36.53. Three days later, Ledecky then broke the world record in the 800-meter freestyle with a time of 8:11.00,bettering her previous mark of 8:13.86. USA Swimming Championships At the 2014 US National Championships, the qualifying meet for both the2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championshipsand the2015 World Aquatics Championships, Ledecky finished first in the 200-, 400-, and 800-meter freestyle. In the 400-meter freestyle, Ledecky set her third world record of the year by breakingFederica Pellegrini's 2009 world record of 3:59.15 with a time of 3:58.86. With her mark in the 400, Ledecky became the first female since Janet Evans to hold world records simultaneously in the 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyles. Pan Pacific Championships At the2014 Pan Pacific Swimming ChampionshipsinGold Coast, Australia, Ledecky won five gold medals and broke two world records. Her wins came in the 200-, 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle and the 4×200-meter freestyle.","freestyle. Ledecky almost broke the world record in the 800-meter freestyle, finishing with a time of 8:11.35. Her world records came in the 400- and 1500-meter freestyles, with times of 3:58.37 and 15:28.36, respectively. She became the first woman to win four individual gold medals at a single Pan Pacific Championship. In the 200-meter freestyle final, Ledecky had over a half-second lead on the field at the halfway point before winning by 1.46 seconds with a meet record time of 1:55.74. Less than an hour later, Ledecky won the 800-meter freestyle, swimming under her world record pace for most of the race before touching in at 8:11.35, the second-fastest time ever, to win by 7.52 seconds over New Zealand swimmerLauren Boyle. The next day, Ledecky added her third meet record by swimming on the American 4×200-meter freestyle relay team withShannon Vreeland,Missy Franklin, andLeah Smith. Swimming the anchor leg, Ledecky erased a 1.2-second deficit going into the final leg of the race, passing","the race, passing Australia'sMelanie Schlangerwith a 1:54.36 split over the final 200 meters. She also swam in the 100-meter freestyle heats. On the third day of the meet, Ledecky set her fourth meet record in the 400-meter freestyle prelim heats with a time of 4:03.09. That night, Ledecky lowered the record again, setting the first world record ever at the new Gold Coast Aquatic Center with a time of 3:58.37. Ledecky's winning time was over six seconds quicker than American teammate and silver medalistCierra Runge. On the meet's final day, Ledecky set her fifth world record of the year, lowering her record in the 1500-meter freestyle by nearly six seconds with a time of 15:28.36. Ledecky swam the second half of the race faster than the first, completing the final 800 meters in 8:14.11—faster than any other woman has completed a regular 800-meter race in a textile suit.Ledecky lapped three competitors in the final and finished 27.33 seconds ahead of silver medalist Boyle. National Team Director Frank Busch","Frank Busch described Ledecky's 1500 performance as \"the most impressive race I have ever seen, and I've been in the sport for 50 years.... She's blazing a completely different trail than anyone who has come before.\" During the championships' closing ceremonies, Ledecky was named the female swimmer of the meet. At year's end, Ledecky was named theWorld Swimmer of the Yearand American Swimmer of the Year bySwimming World Magazine. 2015 World Championships At the2015 World Aquatics ChampionshipsinKazan, Russia, Ledecky won five gold medals and broke three world records. Her wins came in the 200-, 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyles and the 4×200-meter freestyle. Her world records came in the 800- and 1500-meter freestyles. Ledecky became the first and only swimmer—male or female—to win the 200-, 400-, 800- and 1500-meter freestyles in a major competition.Ledecky was also named the female swimmer of the meet. Ledecky began the World Championships by winning gold in the400-meter freestylein a time of 3:59.13,","a time of 3:59.13, a new championship record and almost four seconds ahead of her closest competitor. In the heats of the1500-meter freestyleon the second day of competition, Ledecky broke her own world record in a time of 15:27.71. On the third day of competition during the morning session, Ledecky swam in the heats of the200-meter freestyleand qualified first with a time of 1:55.82. In the evening session, Ledecky faced a tough double with the 1500-meter freestyle final and the semi-finals of the 200-meter freestyle shortly after. In the 1500-meter freestyle, Ledecky broke her own world record in a time of 15:25.48.Twenty-nine minutes later, Ledecky qualified 6th in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 1:56.76. In her only event on the fourth day of competition, the 200-meter freestyle, Ledecky won her third gold medal of the meet, winning in a time of 1:55.16. Unlike her other races, it was not an easy win for Ledecky, which featured the likes ofMissy FranklinandFederica Pellegrini. In the end, Ledecky","In the end, Ledecky was able to hold off a fast charging Pellegrini, eventually winning by a 0.16 margin. Ledecky's final 50-meter split of 29.33 was the second-fastest in the field behind Pellegrini's 29.23. On the fifth day of competition, Ledecky, with Missy Franklin,Leah Smith, andKatie McLaughlinwon gold in the4×200-meter freestyle relay. Swimming the anchor leg, Ledecky recorded a split of 1:55.64 and the Americans finished with an aggregate time of 7:45.37. On the seventh day of competition, Ledecky completed her World Championships run by winning gold in the800-meter freestylein a world record time of 8:07.39, breaking her own record by 3.61 seconds. 2016 Ledecky began 2016 at the Arena Pro Swim Series at Austin. On the final day of competition, she reset her world record in the 800-meter freestyle, clocking a time of 8:06.68.Earlier in the meet, she set world-leading times in the 200- and 400-meter freestyles and a U.S.-leading time in the 100-meter freestyle. US Olympic trials At the2016 United","At the2016 United States Olympic trialsinOmaha, Nebraska, Ledecky won the 200-, 400- and 800-meter freestyles to qualify for her second Olympic team. Ledecky opened the Trials with a win and meet record in the 400-meter freestyle (3:58.98). Two days later, she recorded a time of 1:54.88 en route to winning the 200-meter freestyle. On July 1, Ledecky broke Janet Evans's 28-year-old national championship record in the morning preliminary heats of the 800-meter freestyle (8:10.91) before placing seventh that evening in the 100-meter freestyle (53.99). The next day, Ledecky lowered her meet record, winning the 800-meter freestyle final by nearly 10 seconds (8:10.32). With her pair of swims in the 800-meter freestyle, Ledecky took control of the top 11 fastest times in the event's history.At the conclusion of the week, Ledecky was named the female swimmer of the meet. Summer Olympic Games Ledecky's first event in the2016 Summer Olympicswas the4×100-meter freestylerelay, swimming the anchor leg for the United","leg for the United States in both the prelims and final. Ledecky recorded a split of 52.64 in the heats. In the final, she joinedSimone Manuel,Abbey Weitzeil, andDana Vollmerand recorded a split of 52.79, helping the team earn a silver medal (behind Australia) with a time of 3:31.89, a newnational recordfor the United States. Her first individual event was the400-meter freestyle. Ledecky qualified in the heats with a time of 3:58.71, an Olympic record. In the final, she won the gold medal with aworld recordtime of 3:56.46––nearly two seconds faster than her previous record from 2014 and almost 5 seconds ahead of the silver medalist,Jazmin Carlin. Ledecky won a second gold in the200-meter freestylewith a personal best of 1:53.73, beatingSarah Sjöströmby 0.35 seconds. Ledecky claimed her third gold in the4×200-meter freestylerelay, withAllison Schmitt,Leah Smith, andMaya DiRado. Swimming the anchor leg again, Ledecky provided the fastest split of the field (1:53.74) to turn a 0.89-second deficit into a","deficit into a 1.84-second victory, stopping the clock at 7:43.03. She won a fourth gold in her final individual event, the800-meter freestyle. She qualified in the heats with an Olympic record, 8:12.86, and set a world record in the finals of 8:04.79, over 11 seconds faster than the silver medalist,Jazmin Carlin. With three individual titles, Ledecky became the first swimmer to win the 200, 400 and 800 m freestyle at the same Olympics sinceDebbie Meyerdid so in 1968 in Mexico City.Ledecky's final medal total (four golds, one silver) is the most decorated single-Olympics performance by a U.S. female athlete in terms of gold medals, topping Missy Franklin (2012; four golds, 1 bronze),Simone Biles(2016; four golds, 1 bronze), andAmy Van Dyken(1996; four golds).Ledecky was also the 2nd most decorated Olympian at the 2016 games behindMichael Phelps(5 golds, 1 silver). 2017 NCAA During the 2016–17 NCAA season, Ledecky set 12 NCAA records and nine American records while swimming as a freshman forStanford","forStanford University. At the Ohio State Invitational in November 2016, Ledecky lowered her American and U.S. Open marks in the women's 500-yard freestyle and 1650-yard freestyle. At the Pac-12 Championships inFederal Way, Washington, Ledecky earned Swimmer of the Meet honors with four American records as Stanford won its first conference title in four years. On the first day of the meet, Ledecky anchored the 800-yard freestyle relay with a 1:40.28 split to break the NCAA, American, and U.S. Open record in the 800-yard freestyle relay withLia Neal,Katie Drabot, andElla Eastin. The next day, Ledecky lowered her own mark again in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:25.15.On the meet's third day, she won the 400-yard individual medley in a new American record of 3:57.68 before finishing second to teammateSimone Manuelin the 200-yard freestyle with a personal best time less than a half hour later.On the meet's final day, Ledecky joined Manuel, Neal, and Janet Hu to break the NCAA and American record in the","record in the 400-yard freestyle relay. At the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis, Ledecky helped lead Stanford to its first team title since 1998. She reset her American, NCAA, and U.S. Open records in the 800-yard freestyle relay, 500-yard freestyle, and 400-yard freestyle relay and won a meet-best five race titles overall. On the meet's first day, she recorded the team's fastest split to lower the 800-yard freestyle relay record to 6:45.91 with Manuel, Neal, and Eastin.The next day, she lowered her own record in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:24.06, beating the second-fastest performer of all time, Leah Smith, by nearly five seconds. On the meet's third day, Ledecky's 20th birthday, Ledecky recorded a personal-best time of 1:40.36 in the 200-yard freestyle to edge Manuel and tie Louisville sophomore Mallory Comerford for the title.On the meet's final day, Ledecky set an NCAA record in the 1000-yard freestyle (9:06.90) en route to a championship record in the 1650-yard freestyle (15:07.70),","(15:07.70), defeating runner-up Smith by 21.19 seconds and lapping all other competitors.In the meet's final event, Ledecky joined Manuel, Neal, and Hu to swim the second leg of Stanford's 400-yard freestyle relay. The team lowered its previous record with a time of 3:07.61, securing a 526.5–366 decision over runner-up California-Berkeley, the largest championship margin of victory since 2003. Following the season, Ledecky became the first freshman in 35 years to receive theHonda Cup, which recognizes the nation's top female collegiate athlete. USA Swimming Championships At the2017 USA Swimming Championships, the qualifying meet for the2017 World Aquatics Championships, Ledecky won the 200-meter freestyle (1:54.84), 400-meter freestyle (3:58.44), and 800-meter freestyle (8:11.50) and earned a spot on six events. World Championships At the2017 World Aquatics Championshipsin Budapest, Ledecky broke the World Aquatics Championships' all-time female gold medal record, winning five golds and one silver to bring","one silver to bring her career title total to 14. In her first event, the400-meter freestyle, Ledecky successfully defended her world title, finishing with a championship record time of 3:58.34.Later that evening, Ledecky swam the third leg of the4×100-meter freestyle. Joined withMallory Comerford,Kelsi Worrell, andSimone Manuel, Ledecky recorded a split of 53.83, helping the team win gold with a time of 3:31.72, a newnational recordfor the United States. On the third day of competition, Ledecky defended her1500-meter freestyletitle, winning with a time of 15:31.82. With this win being Ledecky's twelfth World Championship gold medal, Ledecky passedMissy Franklinfor the most gold medals won by a female swimmer in long course World Championships history. On the fourth day of competition, Ledecky tied for silver in the200-meter freestyle(withEmma McKeon), finishing behindFederica Pellegriniwith a time of 1:55.18. This was Ledecky's first international loss in a final in individual event. Notably, in the","Notably, in the semifinals the day prior, Ledecky recorded the top time in the semifinals with a time of 1:54.69. She achieved this result less than an hour after swimming the 1500-meter freestyle final. On the fifth day of competition, Ledecky, withLeah Smith,Mallory Comerford, andMelanie Margaliswon gold in the4×200-meter freestyle relay. Swimming the anchor leg, Ledecky recorded a split of 1:54.02, and the Americans finished with an aggregate time of 7:43.39. Ledecky concluded the meet with a win in the800-meter freestyle, her fifth-straight title in the event across Olympics and World Championships. 2018 NCAA During the 2017–18 NCAA season, Ledecky set another three NCAA records and two American records while helping lead Stanford to its second straight team title. At the Texas A&M Invitational in November 2017, Ledecky lowered her American and U.S. Open mark in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 15:03.31. Following another undefeated dual meet season, Ledecky earned Swimmer of the Meet honors for","the Meet honors for the second straight year at the Pac-12 Championships in Federal Way, sweeping the 500-yard freestyle, 400-yard individual medley, and 200-yard freestyle. In the 400-yard individual medley, Ledecky brokeKatinka Hosszú's all-time record by one-hundredth of a second, finishing in 3:56.53. Stanford earned its second team title in as many years. At the NCAA Championships, Ledecky won the 500 and 1650-yard freestyle events by record margins and anchored the winning 800-yard freestyle relay team of Katie Drabot, Brooke Forde, and Ella Eastin. Ledecky finished second in the 400-yard individual medley to Eastin, who lowered the record Ledecky set a month earlier at the Pac-12 Championships. In the 1650-yard freestyle, Ledecky re-set her NCAA record in the 1000-yard free with a split of 9:05.89 en route to winning by more than 28 seconds. In the team standings, Stanford beat runner-up California-Berkeley by 220 points, the largest margin of victory in 25 years. A week following Stanford's","Stanford's championship win, Ledecky announced at theNational Press Clubthat she will forego her final two seasons of NCAA eligibility in order to accept professional endorsement and sponsorship opportunities.She signed withWassermansports agent Dan Levy for representation. At the academic year's conclusion, theCollege Sports Information Directors of Americanamed Ledecky the Division IAcademic All-America Team Member of the Yearfor her athletic and academic achievements. Professional career Ledecky made her debut as a professional swimmer on May 16, 2018, at the TYR Pro Swim Series inIndianapolis, Indiana, where she beat her old world record in the 1500-meter freestyle, setting a new world record of 15:20.48. She broke the existing mark by five seconds. Ledecky signed her first sponsorship deal withTYR Sport, Inc.on June 8, 2018. USA Swimming Championships In July 2018, at the2018 USA Swimming Championshipsin Irvine, Ledecky qualified for the2018 Pan Pacific Championshipsby finishing first in the 200-,400-,","in the 200-,400-, and 800-meter freestyle. Pan Pacific Championships At the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo, Ledecky led all swimmers with three individual titles, winning golds in the 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle. She also took bronze in the 200-meter freestyle and silver in the 4x200-meter freestyle. On the first day of competition, Ledecky won gold in the 800-meter freestyle with a championship-record time of 8:09.13, topping runner-upAriarne Titmusof Australia by 7.94 seconds. Just over an hour later, Ledecky took third in the 200-meter freestyle (1:55.15), finishing behind Canada'sTaylor Ruck(1:54.44) and Japan'sRikako Ikee(1:54.85). The next day, Ledecky anchored the United States team of Allison Schmitt, Leah Smith, and Katie McLaughlin in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay. Entering the water with a 2.88-second deficit, Ledecky swam the fourth-fastest relay split in history (1:53.84), nearly overtaking AustralianMadeline Groves, who touched 0.25 seconds ahead of Ledecky to set a new","to set a new championship and national record. On the third day, Ledecky defeated Titmus wire-to-wire in the 400-meter freestyle. Ledecky concluded the championships with another gold medal in the 1500-meter freestyle, winning by a margin of 21.11 seconds (15:38.97). 2019 World Championships At the2019 World Aquatics Championshipsin Gwangju, South Korea, Ledecky battled illness and withdrew from two events before winning her fourth-straight World Championship title in the 800-meter freestyle. On the first day of competition, Ledecky led Australian Ariarne Titmus into the final wall of the 400-meter freestyle final before fading to second. The next morning, Ledecky struggled through her preliminary heat of the 1500-meter freestyle despite qualifying first for the event's final. She subsequently announced her withdrawal from the 1500 and 200-meter freestyle due to illness. Ledecky returned to competition three days later to swim the final of the women's 4x200-meter freestyle relay. The Americans (Simone","Americans (Simone Manuel, Ledecky, Melanie Margalis and Katie McLaughlin) set a new American record and swam under the existing world record with a time of 7:41.87, yet placed second to the Australian team (7:41.50). Still recovering from illness, Ledecky qualified second the next day for the final of the 800-meter freestyle. In the final, Ledecky swam to an early lead before Italian swimmerSimona Quadarellatook over midway through the race. Ledecky trailed Quadarella into the final wall. Ledecky passed Quadarella and pulled away in the final 50 meters to win by 1.41 seconds. In the inaugural season of theInternational Swimming League, Ledecky represented DC Trident. For the seventh-straight year, Ledecky finished the year with the top times in the world in both the 800- and 1500-meter freestyle (8:10.70 and 15:35.98). Ledecky collected several end-of-decade honors. Fifty-two percent of SwimSwam.com readers voted Ledecky the top swimmer of the decade, ahead of Michael Phelps.Readers of The London Evening","The London Evening Standard voted Ledecky the International Sportswoman of the Decade.She finished third in the Associated Press's Female Athlete of the Decade voting, behindSerena WilliamsandSimone Biles. 2020 Ledecky began 2020 at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Des Moines, Iowa, where she won the 200-, 400- and 1500-meter freestyle races.Ledecky withdrew from the 800-meter freestyle race due to illness.Ledecky did not compete at any other events during 2020. 2021 Ledecky began 2021 at the TYR Pro Swim Series at San Antonio, Texas. She won the 200-, 400-, 800- and 1500-meter freestyle races. On Thursday May 20, 2021, at the Longhorn Aquatics Elite Invite Ledecky won the long course 100 meter freestyle final by one one-hundredth of a second in a time of 53.82 with second place going toSimone Manuel. US Olympic trials As part of theNBCevening telecast for day one of the2020 USA Swimming Olympic trials(postponed to June 2021 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic), Ledecky was featured in an interview discussing Stanford","discussing Stanford University'scommencement, finishing her college degree, and training for the Olympic Trials.Because training facilities were closed during the pandemic, Ledecky and her colleagueSimone Manueltrained for the Olympics in a 25-yard private pool inAtherton, in the backyard ofmastersswimmer Tod Spieker. On the second day, June 14, 2021, Ledecky competed in the prelims of the 400 meter freestyle in the morning, swimming a 4:03.07, ranking 1st out of all prelims heats, and advancing to the final in the evening.The 400 meter freestyle was the first race on Ledecky's schedule where she had the opportunity to make the2020 USA Olympic Team.In the evening final of the 400 meter freestyle, Ledecky finished first with a time of 4:01.27,securingher first spot on her third US Olympic Team swimming the 400 meter freestyle at the 2020 Summer Olympics.This accomplishment was highlighted by various news outlets includingNBC Sports,Newsweek, andUSA Today. In the morning of day three, Ledecky swam a 1:57.58 in","swam a 1:57.58 in the 200 meter freestyle prelims, ranking second fastest of all heats.Two events later, she swam a 15:43.10 in the 1500 meter freestyle prelims, ranking as the fastest swimmer of prelims heat, advancing to the final, and setting a new Championship Record over four seconds faster than the previous record she set in 2013.Later the same day in the evening semifinals for the 200 meter freestyle, Ledecky finished first with a time of 1:55.83. On day 4, June 16, she won both the 200m and 1500m freestyle finals in the evening.Ledecky swam a 15:40.50 in the 1500 meter freestyle, lowering her Championship Record from the day before and becoming the first winner of the women's 1500 meter freestyle at the US Olympic Trials.She swam a 1:55.11 in the 200 meter freestyle.These two swims secured her spots on the US Olympic Team for the2020 Summer Olympicsin the 1500 meter freestyle and 200 meter freestyle individual events as well as the4 × 200 meter freestyle relay.Ledecky won the 200 meter and 1500 meter","and 1500 meter freestyle finals in a time span of about 70 minutes as well as collecting her medal at the 200 meter freestyle medal ceremony and eating a snack. Friday June 18, 2021, the sixth day of competition, Ledecky won with a time of 8:16.61 in the prelims heats of the 800-meter freestyle and advanced to the final.The following day in the final, Ledecky won with a time of 8:14.62 and qualified to swim the800 meter freestyleat the 2020 Summer Olympics for the United States. Summer Olympic Games At the2020 Summer Olympicsin Tokyo, Japan, Ledecky won two gold medals and two silver medals, making her the most decorated U.S. female athlete for a second straight Summer Olympics.Ledecky began her racing in the prelims of the400 meter freestyle, ranking first overall with her time of 4:00.45 and advancing to the final.However, she finished second to Australian swimmerAriarne Titmusto win the silver medal, trailing Titmus by half a second after leading at the 300m mark.Ledecky's time of 3:57.36 was the","of 3:57.36 was the second-fastest time of her career and fourth-fastest in history.This was Ledecky's first loss in an individual event at the Olympics. In the debut of thewomen's 1500 meter freestyleat theSummer Olympics, Ledecky set anOlympic recordin her heat with a time of 15:35.35 and advanced to the final ranked first overall.In the same prelims session as the 1500 meter freestyle, Ledecky ranked first in the200 meter freestylewith a time of 1:55.28 and advanced to the event's semifinals.She swam a 1:55.34 in the semifinals of the 200 meter freestyle and advanced to the final ranking third overall.In the finals of these two events, Ledecky failed to reach the podium for the 200 m freestyle, placing 5th behind Titmus,Haughey,Oleksiak, andYang, but placed 1st in the 1500 m race, leading teammateErica Sullivan(silver) by 4 seconds, clinchingher first gold medal of the Games.She finished the final in 15:37.34, but herrecord from the preliminaryround still holds. The next day, Ledecky anchored for Team USA","for Team USA in the women's 4 × 200 freestyle relay, winning a silver medal alongside teammatesAllison Schmitt,Paige Madden, andKatie McLaughlinbehind China. Before she entered the pool, the United States was trailing both Australia and China, but she swam a time of 1:53.76 to finish the race 0.4 seconds behind the Chinese swimmerLi Bingjieand ahead of Australia, who were the favorites coming into the competition. Ledecky's split was the fastest of all swimmers in the relay finals.Ledecky won her second gold medal of the Olympics and her seventh of all time in the 800-meter freestyle. Her six individual gold medals are the most of any female Olympic swimmer and female US Olympian, and the second-most of all Olympic swimmers behindMichael Phelps. She became the first swimmer to win a distance event three times in a row, as well as the youngest and oldest person to win the 800 free (at age 15 in 2012 and age 24 in 2021). Following the Olympic Games on September 22, Ledecky announced her intention to train with","to train with coachAnthony Nestyat theUniversity of Florida.Additionally, Ledecky signed on to be a volunteer swim coach for theFlorida Gators. 2022 US International Team Trials At the2022 USA Swimming International Team Trialsin Greensboro, Ledecky qualified for the2022 World Aquatics Championshipsby finishing first in the 200-meter freestyle (1:55.15), the 400-meter freestyle (3:59.52), the 800-meter freestyle (8:09.27) and the 1500-meter freestyle (15:38.99). World Championships At the2022 World Aquatics ChampionshipsinBudapest, Ledecky won all four of her events: the 400 meter freestyle, 1500 meter freestyle, 4 × 200 freestyle relay, and 800-meter freestyle. With four golds, Ledecky expanded her career World Championships medal haul to 22, passingNatalie Coughlinfor most for a female swimmer.Ledecky earned FINA's female swimmer of the meet trophy for a third time. On the first day of competition, Ledecky won the 400-meter freestyle in a championship record 3:58.15, besting Canadian silver medalistSummer","medalistSummer McIntoshby 1.24 seconds. Ledecky's swim was the seventh-fastest performance in history. Ledecky won the 1500-meter freestyle two days later in a time of 15:30.15, over 14 seconds faster than runner-up and teammateKatie Grimes. Ledecky's time was the sixth-fastest ever (behind only her own performances) and over 7 seconds faster than her winning time at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Ledecky joinedClaire Weinstein, Leah Smith, andBella Simson the U.S. 4 × 200 freestyle relay on day five. Swimming the third leg, Ledecky passed Australia and Canada to take the lead with the third-fastest split in history (1:53.67). Sims anchored the team to a championship record time of 7:41.45. On day 7, Ledecky won her final event by over 10 seconds, recording a time of 8:08.04 in the 800-meter freestyle. The swim was the fifth-fastest in history and earned Ledecky the 28 fastest times in the distance. With the victory, Ledecky became the first swimmer, male or female, to win five consecutive world championship","world championship titles in an individual event. USA Swimming Championships At the2022 USA Swimming Championshipsin Irvine, Ledecky won three gold medals by finishing first in the 200-meter freestyle (1:54.50), the 800-meter freestyle (8:12.03), and the 400-meter individual medley (4:35.77). FINA Swimming World Cup On October 29, during theTorontoround of theFINA Swimming World Cup, Ledecky swam the 1500m short course event for the first time. She set a time of 15:08.24, breaking the previous world record set by German swimmerSarah Köhlerby almost 10 seconds. The following week at the World Cup'sIndianapolisstop, Ledecky broke the world record in the 800m short course freestyle. Her time of 7:57.42 surpassedMireia Belmonte's mark from 2013. 2023 USA Swimming Championships At the2023 USA Swimming Championshipsin Indianapolis, Ledecky won three gold medals (400-, 800- and 1500-meter freestyle) and a silver medal (200-meter freestyle). Her times in the 800-meter freestyle (8:07.07) and 1500-meter freestyle","freestyle (15:29.64) were the third- and sixth-fastest times in history, trailing only her own performances. World Championships At the2023 World Aquatics ChampionshipsinFukuoka,Japan, Ledecky won two gold medals and two silver medals. Her 16th career individual gold medal surpassedMichael Phelpsfor most individual gold medals at the world championships. On the first day of competition, Ledecky placed second in the400-meter freestyleto Ariarne Titmus, who set a new world record in the event (3:55.38). Ledecky's time of 3:58.73 topped New Zealand'sErika Fairweather(3:59.59) and Canada'sSummer McIntosh(3:59.94) in the first women's 400-meter race that saw four swimmers break the 4-minute barrier. Two days later, Ledecky won the1500-meter freestyleby over 17 seconds. Her time of 15:26.27 was the third-fastest time in history, trailing only her world and world championship records. Ledecky joinedErin Gemmell, Bella Sims, andAlex Shackellto earn the silver medal in the4 × 200 m freestyle relay. Ledecky swam the","Ledecky swam the second leg and posted a team-best split of 1:54.39 as Australia lowered the world record by 1.79 seconds. Ledecky concluded her meet on Day 7 with the final of the800-meter freestyle. Ledecky posted the sixth-fastest time in history (8:08.87) to top China's Li Bingjie by 4.44 seconds. Li and Ariarne Titmus became the second- and third-fastest performers ever in the event, while Ledecky retained the 29 fastest times in history. With the victory, Ledecky passed Michael Phelps as the swimmer with the most career individual world championship gold medals and became the first swimmer to win six-straight world titles in an event. 2024 Memoir Ledecky's memoir,Just Add Water, was published on June 11.In the book, she discloses that she haspostural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. US Olympic Trials At the2024 US Olympic trials, Ledecky qualified for her fourth Olympics. She finished in first place in four events: 200-meter freestyle (1:55.22), 400-meter freestyle (3:58.35), 800-meter freestyle","800-meter freestyle (8:14.12), and 1500-meter freestyle (15:37.35). Summer Olympic Games On the first night of the2024 Summer Olympicsin Paris, Ledecky finished third in the400-metre freestylebehindAriarne TitmusandSummer McIntosh.Ledecky later defended her title in the1500 metre freestyleevent, setting the newOlympic recordwith a time of 15:30:02.She won her fourth consecutive gold medal and eighth individual gold (an all-time record for women at the Olympics) in the800 metre freestyleand also competed in the4x200m freestyle relay, joined byClaire Weinstein,Paige Madden, andErin Gemmell.With a collective time of 7:40.86, the team won the silver medal. Honors and awards Ledecky was a USA Olympic team member in2012,2016,2020, and2024. She also holds the women's record for mostindividual gold medals(16) and overall gold medals (21) at theWorld Aquatics Championships. Her combined 24 individual titles at theOlympics(8) andWorld Aquatics Championships(16) is also arecord for female swimmers. Ledecky has also","Ledecky has also received the following awards: Ledecky has also received the following honors: Personal bests World records Publications Books See also References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Simone_Biles (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b93d8e5f0>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))\",\n \"Katie Ledecky Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky(/ləˈdɛki/lə-DEK-ee; born March 17, 1997)is an American competitiveswimmer. She has won nineOlympicgold medals and 21 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. With 14 medals and 9 gold medals, she is also the most decorated American woman, most decorated female swimmer, the woman with the most gold medals (tied withLarisa Latynina) andfifth-most decorated athletein Olympic history. She has won a record 16 individual gold medals at theWorld Aquatics Championships.Ledecky's 10 individual medals at the Olympics and 26 overall medals at the World Aquatics Championships arerecordsin women's swimming. Ledecky is theworld recordholder in the women's 800- and 1500-meter freestyle (both long course and short course), as well as the former world record holder in the women's 400-meter freestyle (long course). She also holds the fastest-ever times in the women's 500-, 1000-, and 1650-yard freestyle events. She is widely regarded as the greatest\",\n \"as the greatest female swimmer of all time and one of the greatest Olympians of all time. In her international debut at the2012 London Olympic Gamesas a 15-year-old, Ledecky unexpectedly won the gold medal in the women's800-metre freestyle. Four years later, she leftRio de Janeiroas the most decorated female athlete of the2016 Olympic Games, with four gold medals, one silver medal, and two world records. At the2020 Olympic Games, Ledecky emerged as the most decorated U.S. female athlete and became the first American female swimmer to win an individual event in three straight Olympiads.In 2023, she won gold in the 800 meter World Championship, becoming the first swimmer—male or female—to win six World Championship gold medals in the same event.In total, she has won 50 medals (38 golds, 10 silvers, and 2 bronzes) in major international competitions, spanning theSummer Olympics,World Championships, andPan Pacific Championships. During her career, she has broken sixteen world records. Ledecky's success has\",\n \"success has earned herSwimming World'sFemaleWorld Swimmer of the Yeara record five times. Ledecky was also namedAssociated Press Female Athlete of the Yearin 2017 and 2022, international femaleChampion of ChampionsbyL'Équipein 2014 and 2017,United States Olympic Committee Female Athlete of the Yearin 2013, 2016 and 2017,Sportswoman of the Yearby theWomen's Sports Foundationin 2017, and theESPY Best Female Athletein 2022.In 2024, she was awarded thePresidential Medal of Freedomby PresidentJoe Biden. Early life, swimming, and education Ledecky was born in Washington, DCand raised in the suburb ofBethesda, Maryland,the daughter of Mary Gen (née Hagan) and David Ledecky. HerCzech-born paternal grandfather Jaromír Ledecky arrived in New York City on September 8, 1947, as a student.He later became an economist and married anAshkenazi Jewishwoman named Berta Ruth Greenwald inBrooklynon December 30, 1956. Through her paternal grandmother, Ledecky has relatives who were murdered in theHolocaust.Ledecky's mother is\",\n \"mother is ofIrishdescent.She was raisedCatholicand continues to practice the faith, often praying theHail Marybefore her races.Her uncleJon Ledeckyis abusinessmanand a co-owner of the NHL teamNew York Islanders. Ledecky began swimming at the age of six under the influence of her older brother, Michael, and her mother, who swam for theUniversity of New Mexico. In Bethesda, she attended Little Flower School through eighth grade and graduated fromStone Ridge School of the Sacred Heartin 2015.During her high-school swimming career, Ledecky twice set the American and US Open record in the 500-yard freestyle, and she twice set the national high-school record in the 200-yard freestyle. During the summer of 2012, she trained with theNation's Capital Swim Club(formerly the Curl Burke Swim Club) under coach Yuri Suguiyama. Following Suguiyama's departure to coach for theUniversity of California, Berkeley, she continued to train with the Nation's Capital Swim Club under coachBruce Gemmellthrough the 2016 Olympics.\",\n \"the 2016 Olympics. During the summers prior to 2012, she swam for Palisades Swim Team inCabin John, Maryland. Ledecky accepted an athletic scholarship toStanford University, where she swam for coachGreg Meehan'sStanford Cardinalwomen's swimming team. In December 2016, Ledecky was chosen as one of thesponsorsof theUS Navyaircraft carrierUSSEnterprisealongside Olympic gold medal-winning gymnastSimone Biles. They are the first Olympians to be given this honor. In December 2020, she completed a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and minor in political science fromStanford University,and graduated in June 2021. Swimming career 2012 US Olympic trials At the2012 United States Olympic trialsinOmaha, Nebraska(her first senior national competition), Ledecky made the Olympic team by placing first in the 800-meter freestyle with a time of 8:19.78, which was over two seconds ahead of second-place finisherKate Ziegler.In Omaha, Ledecky also placed third in the 400-meter freestyle (4:05.00) and ninth in the 200-meter freestyle\",\n \"200-meter freestyle (1:58.66).Her third-place finish in the 400-meter freestyle was the fastest time ever swum by a 15- to 16-year-old American.At 15 years, 4 months, and 10 days, she was the youngestAmerican participantat the 2012 Olympic Games. Summer Olympic Games At the2012 Summer Olympicsin London, Ledecky qualified to swim in the final of the800-meter freestyleby placing third overall in the heats with a time of 8:23.84.In the final, Ledecky stunned the field, winning gold by more than four seconds, with a time of 8:14.63, the then second-fastest effort of all time just behindRebecca Adlington's world record of 8:14.10 set in 2008.In addition, she brokeJanet Evans'American recordof 8:16.22 that had stood since 1989. In the final, Ledecky went out hard and, by the 200-meter mark, she had already established an almost body-length lead. Her 400-meter split was 4:04.34, a personal best for Ledecky in that distance, and would have placed fifth in the individual 400-meter freestyle. At the 750-meter mark,\",\n \"the 750-meter mark, Ledecky was 3.42 seconds ahead ofMireia Belmonte García, and 0.31 seconds under world record pace. Ledecky won by 4.13 seconds and just missed the world record by 0.53 seconds. Her gold was the first international medal of her career, earning her the 2012 Best Female Performance of the Year and Breakout Performer of the Year at theGolden Goggle Awards. 2013 USA Swimming Championships At the 2013 US National Championships, Ledecky qualified to swim in four individual events and the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the2013 World Aquatics Championshipsin Barcelona, Spain, though she later dropped the 200-meter freestyle from her program. At the National Championships, she finished first in the 400-, 800- and 1500-meter freestyle, and second in the 200-meter freestyle. World Championships At the 2013 World Championships, Ledecky won gold in the 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle, and in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, and set two world records. In winning the 400 through 1500-meter titles,\",\n \"1500-meter titles, she became the second woman ever to win the events in a World Championships since GermanHannah Stockbauerin 2003. In her first event in Barcelona, the400-meter freestyle, Ledecky became a world champion for the first time by winning in 3:59.82, setting a newAmerican recordand becoming the second-fastest performer of all time in the event. In her second event, Ledecky won gold in the1500-meter freestylein aworld recordtime of 15:36.53, breaking the record held by compatriotKate Zieglerby six seconds.The hard-fought race saw Ledecky overcome DaneLotte Friisin the final few hundred meters after losing the lead at the 300-meter mark and included a final 50 split of 29.47. In her third, and first relay event of her international career, the4×200-meter freestyle, Ledecky and teammatesShannon Vreeland,Karlee Bispo, andMissy Franklinwon gold in 7:45.14.Anchor Missy Franklin overtook AustralianAlicia Couttsin the last 200 meters, giving the US the gold. Ledecky provided the US with an early lead,\",\n \"with an early lead, swimming the first leg in a personal best of 1:56.32. In her fourth and last event, the800-meter freestyle, Ledecky won gold in a world record of 8:13.86, betteringRebecca Adlington's world record of 8:14.10. Much like the 1500-meter freestyle, Ledecky let Lotte Friis lead most of the race, making a move at the 650-meter mark to eventually win the race by 2.46 seconds. Ledecky scored more points than any other swimmer to earn the FINA trophy for best female swimmer of the meet. At year's end, Ledecky was named the American Swimmer of the Year and theWorld Swimmer of the YearbySwimming Worldmagazine. She was also named the best female swimmer for 2013 byFINA Aquatics Worldmagazine. 2014 Ledecky began the year by breaking her own world records in the 800- and 1500-meter freestyle at the 2014 Woodlands Swim Team Senior Invitational in June. Despite being in season and swimming multiple events, Ledecky was able to first break the world record in the 1500-meter freestyle with a time of\",\n \"with a time of 15:34.23,bettering her previous mark of 15:36.53. Three days later, Ledecky then broke the world record in the 800-meter freestyle with a time of 8:11.00,bettering her previous mark of 8:13.86. USA Swimming Championships At the 2014 US National Championships, the qualifying meet for both the2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championshipsand the2015 World Aquatics Championships, Ledecky finished first in the 200-, 400-, and 800-meter freestyle. In the 400-meter freestyle, Ledecky set her third world record of the year by breakingFederica Pellegrini's 2009 world record of 3:59.15 with a time of 3:58.86. With her mark in the 400, Ledecky became the first female since Janet Evans to hold world records simultaneously in the 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyles. Pan Pacific Championships At the2014 Pan Pacific Swimming ChampionshipsinGold Coast, Australia, Ledecky won five gold medals and broke two world records. Her wins came in the 200-, 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle and the 4×200-meter freestyle.\",\n \"freestyle. Ledecky almost broke the world record in the 800-meter freestyle, finishing with a time of 8:11.35. Her world records came in the 400- and 1500-meter freestyles, with times of 3:58.37 and 15:28.36, respectively. She became the first woman to win four individual gold medals at a single Pan Pacific Championship. In the 200-meter freestyle final, Ledecky had over a half-second lead on the field at the halfway point before winning by 1.46 seconds with a meet record time of 1:55.74. Less than an hour later, Ledecky won the 800-meter freestyle, swimming under her world record pace for most of the race before touching in at 8:11.35, the second-fastest time ever, to win by 7.52 seconds over New Zealand swimmerLauren Boyle. The next day, Ledecky added her third meet record by swimming on the American 4×200-meter freestyle relay team withShannon Vreeland,Missy Franklin, andLeah Smith. Swimming the anchor leg, Ledecky erased a 1.2-second deficit going into the final leg of the race, passing\",\n \"the race, passing Australia'sMelanie Schlangerwith a 1:54.36 split over the final 200 meters. She also swam in the 100-meter freestyle heats. On the third day of the meet, Ledecky set her fourth meet record in the 400-meter freestyle prelim heats with a time of 4:03.09. That night, Ledecky lowered the record again, setting the first world record ever at the new Gold Coast Aquatic Center with a time of 3:58.37. Ledecky's winning time was over six seconds quicker than American teammate and silver medalistCierra Runge. On the meet's final day, Ledecky set her fifth world record of the year, lowering her record in the 1500-meter freestyle by nearly six seconds with a time of 15:28.36. Ledecky swam the second half of the race faster than the first, completing the final 800 meters in 8:14.11—faster than any other woman has completed a regular 800-meter race in a textile suit.Ledecky lapped three competitors in the final and finished 27.33 seconds ahead of silver medalist Boyle. National Team Director Frank Busch\",\n \"Frank Busch described Ledecky's 1500 performance as \\\"the most impressive race I have ever seen, and I've been in the sport for 50 years.... She's blazing a completely different trail than anyone who has come before.\\\" During the championships' closing ceremonies, Ledecky was named the female swimmer of the meet. At year's end, Ledecky was named theWorld Swimmer of the Yearand American Swimmer of the Year bySwimming World Magazine. 2015 World Championships At the2015 World Aquatics ChampionshipsinKazan, Russia, Ledecky won five gold medals and broke three world records. Her wins came in the 200-, 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyles and the 4×200-meter freestyle. Her world records came in the 800- and 1500-meter freestyles. Ledecky became the first and only swimmer—male or female—to win the 200-, 400-, 800- and 1500-meter freestyles in a major competition.Ledecky was also named the female swimmer of the meet. Ledecky began the World Championships by winning gold in the400-meter freestylein a time of 3:59.13,\",\n \"a time of 3:59.13, a new championship record and almost four seconds ahead of her closest competitor. In the heats of the1500-meter freestyleon the second day of competition, Ledecky broke her own world record in a time of 15:27.71. On the third day of competition during the morning session, Ledecky swam in the heats of the200-meter freestyleand qualified first with a time of 1:55.82. In the evening session, Ledecky faced a tough double with the 1500-meter freestyle final and the semi-finals of the 200-meter freestyle shortly after. In the 1500-meter freestyle, Ledecky broke her own world record in a time of 15:25.48.Twenty-nine minutes later, Ledecky qualified 6th in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 1:56.76. In her only event on the fourth day of competition, the 200-meter freestyle, Ledecky won her third gold medal of the meet, winning in a time of 1:55.16. Unlike her other races, it was not an easy win for Ledecky, which featured the likes ofMissy FranklinandFederica Pellegrini. In the end, Ledecky\",\n \"In the end, Ledecky was able to hold off a fast charging Pellegrini, eventually winning by a 0.16 margin. Ledecky's final 50-meter split of 29.33 was the second-fastest in the field behind Pellegrini's 29.23. On the fifth day of competition, Ledecky, with Missy Franklin,Leah Smith, andKatie McLaughlinwon gold in the4×200-meter freestyle relay. Swimming the anchor leg, Ledecky recorded a split of 1:55.64 and the Americans finished with an aggregate time of 7:45.37. On the seventh day of competition, Ledecky completed her World Championships run by winning gold in the800-meter freestylein a world record time of 8:07.39, breaking her own record by 3.61 seconds. 2016 Ledecky began 2016 at the Arena Pro Swim Series at Austin. On the final day of competition, she reset her world record in the 800-meter freestyle, clocking a time of 8:06.68.Earlier in the meet, she set world-leading times in the 200- and 400-meter freestyles and a U.S.-leading time in the 100-meter freestyle. US Olympic trials At the2016 United\",\n \"At the2016 United States Olympic trialsinOmaha, Nebraska, Ledecky won the 200-, 400- and 800-meter freestyles to qualify for her second Olympic team. Ledecky opened the Trials with a win and meet record in the 400-meter freestyle (3:58.98). Two days later, she recorded a time of 1:54.88 en route to winning the 200-meter freestyle. On July 1, Ledecky broke Janet Evans's 28-year-old national championship record in the morning preliminary heats of the 800-meter freestyle (8:10.91) before placing seventh that evening in the 100-meter freestyle (53.99). The next day, Ledecky lowered her meet record, winning the 800-meter freestyle final by nearly 10 seconds (8:10.32). With her pair of swims in the 800-meter freestyle, Ledecky took control of the top 11 fastest times in the event's history.At the conclusion of the week, Ledecky was named the female swimmer of the meet. Summer Olympic Games Ledecky's first event in the2016 Summer Olympicswas the4×100-meter freestylerelay, swimming the anchor leg for the United\",\n \"leg for the United States in both the prelims and final. Ledecky recorded a split of 52.64 in the heats. In the final, she joinedSimone Manuel,Abbey Weitzeil, andDana Vollmerand recorded a split of 52.79, helping the team earn a silver medal (behind Australia) with a time of 3:31.89, a newnational recordfor the United States. Her first individual event was the400-meter freestyle. Ledecky qualified in the heats with a time of 3:58.71, an Olympic record. In the final, she won the gold medal with aworld recordtime of 3:56.46––nearly two seconds faster than her previous record from 2014 and almost 5 seconds ahead of the silver medalist,Jazmin Carlin. Ledecky won a second gold in the200-meter freestylewith a personal best of 1:53.73, beatingSarah Sjöströmby 0.35 seconds. Ledecky claimed her third gold in the4×200-meter freestylerelay, withAllison Schmitt,Leah Smith, andMaya DiRado. Swimming the anchor leg again, Ledecky provided the fastest split of the field (1:53.74) to turn a 0.89-second deficit into a\",\n \"deficit into a 1.84-second victory, stopping the clock at 7:43.03. She won a fourth gold in her final individual event, the800-meter freestyle. She qualified in the heats with an Olympic record, 8:12.86, and set a world record in the finals of 8:04.79, over 11 seconds faster than the silver medalist,Jazmin Carlin. With three individual titles, Ledecky became the first swimmer to win the 200, 400 and 800 m freestyle at the same Olympics sinceDebbie Meyerdid so in 1968 in Mexico City.Ledecky's final medal total (four golds, one silver) is the most decorated single-Olympics performance by a U.S. female athlete in terms of gold medals, topping Missy Franklin (2012; four golds, 1 bronze),Simone Biles(2016; four golds, 1 bronze), andAmy Van Dyken(1996; four golds).Ledecky was also the 2nd most decorated Olympian at the 2016 games behindMichael Phelps(5 golds, 1 silver). 2017 NCAA During the 2016–17 NCAA season, Ledecky set 12 NCAA records and nine American records while swimming as a freshman forStanford\",\n \"forStanford University. At the Ohio State Invitational in November 2016, Ledecky lowered her American and U.S. Open marks in the women's 500-yard freestyle and 1650-yard freestyle. At the Pac-12 Championships inFederal Way, Washington, Ledecky earned Swimmer of the Meet honors with four American records as Stanford won its first conference title in four years. On the first day of the meet, Ledecky anchored the 800-yard freestyle relay with a 1:40.28 split to break the NCAA, American, and U.S. Open record in the 800-yard freestyle relay withLia Neal,Katie Drabot, andElla Eastin. The next day, Ledecky lowered her own mark again in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:25.15.On the meet's third day, she won the 400-yard individual medley in a new American record of 3:57.68 before finishing second to teammateSimone Manuelin the 200-yard freestyle with a personal best time less than a half hour later.On the meet's final day, Ledecky joined Manuel, Neal, and Janet Hu to break the NCAA and American record in the\",\n \"record in the 400-yard freestyle relay. At the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis, Ledecky helped lead Stanford to its first team title since 1998. She reset her American, NCAA, and U.S. Open records in the 800-yard freestyle relay, 500-yard freestyle, and 400-yard freestyle relay and won a meet-best five race titles overall. On the meet's first day, she recorded the team's fastest split to lower the 800-yard freestyle relay record to 6:45.91 with Manuel, Neal, and Eastin.The next day, she lowered her own record in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:24.06, beating the second-fastest performer of all time, Leah Smith, by nearly five seconds. On the meet's third day, Ledecky's 20th birthday, Ledecky recorded a personal-best time of 1:40.36 in the 200-yard freestyle to edge Manuel and tie Louisville sophomore Mallory Comerford for the title.On the meet's final day, Ledecky set an NCAA record in the 1000-yard freestyle (9:06.90) en route to a championship record in the 1650-yard freestyle (15:07.70),\",\n \"(15:07.70), defeating runner-up Smith by 21.19 seconds and lapping all other competitors.In the meet's final event, Ledecky joined Manuel, Neal, and Hu to swim the second leg of Stanford's 400-yard freestyle relay. The team lowered its previous record with a time of 3:07.61, securing a 526.5–366 decision over runner-up California-Berkeley, the largest championship margin of victory since 2003. Following the season, Ledecky became the first freshman in 35 years to receive theHonda Cup, which recognizes the nation's top female collegiate athlete. USA Swimming Championships At the2017 USA Swimming Championships, the qualifying meet for the2017 World Aquatics Championships, Ledecky won the 200-meter freestyle (1:54.84), 400-meter freestyle (3:58.44), and 800-meter freestyle (8:11.50) and earned a spot on six events. World Championships At the2017 World Aquatics Championshipsin Budapest, Ledecky broke the World Aquatics Championships' all-time female gold medal record, winning five golds and one silver to bring\",\n \"one silver to bring her career title total to 14. In her first event, the400-meter freestyle, Ledecky successfully defended her world title, finishing with a championship record time of 3:58.34.Later that evening, Ledecky swam the third leg of the4×100-meter freestyle. Joined withMallory Comerford,Kelsi Worrell, andSimone Manuel, Ledecky recorded a split of 53.83, helping the team win gold with a time of 3:31.72, a newnational recordfor the United States. On the third day of competition, Ledecky defended her1500-meter freestyletitle, winning with a time of 15:31.82. With this win being Ledecky's twelfth World Championship gold medal, Ledecky passedMissy Franklinfor the most gold medals won by a female swimmer in long course World Championships history. On the fourth day of competition, Ledecky tied for silver in the200-meter freestyle(withEmma McKeon), finishing behindFederica Pellegriniwith a time of 1:55.18. This was Ledecky's first international loss in a final in individual event. Notably, in the\",\n \"Notably, in the semifinals the day prior, Ledecky recorded the top time in the semifinals with a time of 1:54.69. She achieved this result less than an hour after swimming the 1500-meter freestyle final. On the fifth day of competition, Ledecky, withLeah Smith,Mallory Comerford, andMelanie Margaliswon gold in the4×200-meter freestyle relay. Swimming the anchor leg, Ledecky recorded a split of 1:54.02, and the Americans finished with an aggregate time of 7:43.39. Ledecky concluded the meet with a win in the800-meter freestyle, her fifth-straight title in the event across Olympics and World Championships. 2018 NCAA During the 2017–18 NCAA season, Ledecky set another three NCAA records and two American records while helping lead Stanford to its second straight team title. At the Texas A&M Invitational in November 2017, Ledecky lowered her American and U.S. Open mark in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 15:03.31. Following another undefeated dual meet season, Ledecky earned Swimmer of the Meet honors for\",\n \"the Meet honors for the second straight year at the Pac-12 Championships in Federal Way, sweeping the 500-yard freestyle, 400-yard individual medley, and 200-yard freestyle. In the 400-yard individual medley, Ledecky brokeKatinka Hosszú's all-time record by one-hundredth of a second, finishing in 3:56.53. Stanford earned its second team title in as many years. At the NCAA Championships, Ledecky won the 500 and 1650-yard freestyle events by record margins and anchored the winning 800-yard freestyle relay team of Katie Drabot, Brooke Forde, and Ella Eastin. Ledecky finished second in the 400-yard individual medley to Eastin, who lowered the record Ledecky set a month earlier at the Pac-12 Championships. In the 1650-yard freestyle, Ledecky re-set her NCAA record in the 1000-yard free with a split of 9:05.89 en route to winning by more than 28 seconds. In the team standings, Stanford beat runner-up California-Berkeley by 220 points, the largest margin of victory in 25 years. A week following Stanford's\",\n \"Stanford's championship win, Ledecky announced at theNational Press Clubthat she will forego her final two seasons of NCAA eligibility in order to accept professional endorsement and sponsorship opportunities.She signed withWassermansports agent Dan Levy for representation. At the academic year's conclusion, theCollege Sports Information Directors of Americanamed Ledecky the Division IAcademic All-America Team Member of the Yearfor her athletic and academic achievements. Professional career Ledecky made her debut as a professional swimmer on May 16, 2018, at the TYR Pro Swim Series inIndianapolis, Indiana, where she beat her old world record in the 1500-meter freestyle, setting a new world record of 15:20.48. She broke the existing mark by five seconds. Ledecky signed her first sponsorship deal withTYR Sport, Inc.on June 8, 2018. USA Swimming Championships In July 2018, at the2018 USA Swimming Championshipsin Irvine, Ledecky qualified for the2018 Pan Pacific Championshipsby finishing first in the 200-,400-,\",\n \"in the 200-,400-, and 800-meter freestyle. Pan Pacific Championships At the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo, Ledecky led all swimmers with three individual titles, winning golds in the 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle. She also took bronze in the 200-meter freestyle and silver in the 4x200-meter freestyle. On the first day of competition, Ledecky won gold in the 800-meter freestyle with a championship-record time of 8:09.13, topping runner-upAriarne Titmusof Australia by 7.94 seconds. Just over an hour later, Ledecky took third in the 200-meter freestyle (1:55.15), finishing behind Canada'sTaylor Ruck(1:54.44) and Japan'sRikako Ikee(1:54.85). The next day, Ledecky anchored the United States team of Allison Schmitt, Leah Smith, and Katie McLaughlin in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay. Entering the water with a 2.88-second deficit, Ledecky swam the fourth-fastest relay split in history (1:53.84), nearly overtaking AustralianMadeline Groves, who touched 0.25 seconds ahead of Ledecky to set a new\",\n \"to set a new championship and national record. On the third day, Ledecky defeated Titmus wire-to-wire in the 400-meter freestyle. Ledecky concluded the championships with another gold medal in the 1500-meter freestyle, winning by a margin of 21.11 seconds (15:38.97). 2019 World Championships At the2019 World Aquatics Championshipsin Gwangju, South Korea, Ledecky battled illness and withdrew from two events before winning her fourth-straight World Championship title in the 800-meter freestyle. On the first day of competition, Ledecky led Australian Ariarne Titmus into the final wall of the 400-meter freestyle final before fading to second. The next morning, Ledecky struggled through her preliminary heat of the 1500-meter freestyle despite qualifying first for the event's final. She subsequently announced her withdrawal from the 1500 and 200-meter freestyle due to illness. Ledecky returned to competition three days later to swim the final of the women's 4x200-meter freestyle relay. The Americans (Simone\",\n \"Americans (Simone Manuel, Ledecky, Melanie Margalis and Katie McLaughlin) set a new American record and swam under the existing world record with a time of 7:41.87, yet placed second to the Australian team (7:41.50). Still recovering from illness, Ledecky qualified second the next day for the final of the 800-meter freestyle. In the final, Ledecky swam to an early lead before Italian swimmerSimona Quadarellatook over midway through the race. Ledecky trailed Quadarella into the final wall. Ledecky passed Quadarella and pulled away in the final 50 meters to win by 1.41 seconds. In the inaugural season of theInternational Swimming League, Ledecky represented DC Trident. For the seventh-straight year, Ledecky finished the year with the top times in the world in both the 800- and 1500-meter freestyle (8:10.70 and 15:35.98). Ledecky collected several end-of-decade honors. Fifty-two percent of SwimSwam.com readers voted Ledecky the top swimmer of the decade, ahead of Michael Phelps.Readers of The London Evening\",\n \"The London Evening Standard voted Ledecky the International Sportswoman of the Decade.She finished third in the Associated Press's Female Athlete of the Decade voting, behindSerena WilliamsandSimone Biles. 2020 Ledecky began 2020 at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Des Moines, Iowa, where she won the 200-, 400- and 1500-meter freestyle races.Ledecky withdrew from the 800-meter freestyle race due to illness.Ledecky did not compete at any other events during 2020. 2021 Ledecky began 2021 at the TYR Pro Swim Series at San Antonio, Texas. She won the 200-, 400-, 800- and 1500-meter freestyle races. On Thursday May 20, 2021, at the Longhorn Aquatics Elite Invite Ledecky won the long course 100 meter freestyle final by one one-hundredth of a second in a time of 53.82 with second place going toSimone Manuel. US Olympic trials As part of theNBCevening telecast for day one of the2020 USA Swimming Olympic trials(postponed to June 2021 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic), Ledecky was featured in an interview discussing Stanford\",\n \"discussing Stanford University'scommencement, finishing her college degree, and training for the Olympic Trials.Because training facilities were closed during the pandemic, Ledecky and her colleagueSimone Manueltrained for the Olympics in a 25-yard private pool inAtherton, in the backyard ofmastersswimmer Tod Spieker. On the second day, June 14, 2021, Ledecky competed in the prelims of the 400 meter freestyle in the morning, swimming a 4:03.07, ranking 1st out of all prelims heats, and advancing to the final in the evening.The 400 meter freestyle was the first race on Ledecky's schedule where she had the opportunity to make the2020 USA Olympic Team.In the evening final of the 400 meter freestyle, Ledecky finished first with a time of 4:01.27,securingher first spot on her third US Olympic Team swimming the 400 meter freestyle at the 2020 Summer Olympics.This accomplishment was highlighted by various news outlets includingNBC Sports,Newsweek, andUSA Today. In the morning of day three, Ledecky swam a 1:57.58 in\",\n \"swam a 1:57.58 in the 200 meter freestyle prelims, ranking second fastest of all heats.Two events later, she swam a 15:43.10 in the 1500 meter freestyle prelims, ranking as the fastest swimmer of prelims heat, advancing to the final, and setting a new Championship Record over four seconds faster than the previous record she set in 2013.Later the same day in the evening semifinals for the 200 meter freestyle, Ledecky finished first with a time of 1:55.83. On day 4, June 16, she won both the 200m and 1500m freestyle finals in the evening.Ledecky swam a 15:40.50 in the 1500 meter freestyle, lowering her Championship Record from the day before and becoming the first winner of the women's 1500 meter freestyle at the US Olympic Trials.She swam a 1:55.11 in the 200 meter freestyle.These two swims secured her spots on the US Olympic Team for the2020 Summer Olympicsin the 1500 meter freestyle and 200 meter freestyle individual events as well as the4 × 200 meter freestyle relay.Ledecky won the 200 meter and 1500 meter\",\n \"and 1500 meter freestyle finals in a time span of about 70 minutes as well as collecting her medal at the 200 meter freestyle medal ceremony and eating a snack. Friday June 18, 2021, the sixth day of competition, Ledecky won with a time of 8:16.61 in the prelims heats of the 800-meter freestyle and advanced to the final.The following day in the final, Ledecky won with a time of 8:14.62 and qualified to swim the800 meter freestyleat the 2020 Summer Olympics for the United States. Summer Olympic Games At the2020 Summer Olympicsin Tokyo, Japan, Ledecky won two gold medals and two silver medals, making her the most decorated U.S. female athlete for a second straight Summer Olympics.Ledecky began her racing in the prelims of the400 meter freestyle, ranking first overall with her time of 4:00.45 and advancing to the final.However, she finished second to Australian swimmerAriarne Titmusto win the silver medal, trailing Titmus by half a second after leading at the 300m mark.Ledecky's time of 3:57.36 was the\",\n \"of 3:57.36 was the second-fastest time of her career and fourth-fastest in history.This was Ledecky's first loss in an individual event at the Olympics. In the debut of thewomen's 1500 meter freestyleat theSummer Olympics, Ledecky set anOlympic recordin her heat with a time of 15:35.35 and advanced to the final ranked first overall.In the same prelims session as the 1500 meter freestyle, Ledecky ranked first in the200 meter freestylewith a time of 1:55.28 and advanced to the event's semifinals.She swam a 1:55.34 in the semifinals of the 200 meter freestyle and advanced to the final ranking third overall.In the finals of these two events, Ledecky failed to reach the podium for the 200 m freestyle, placing 5th behind Titmus,Haughey,Oleksiak, andYang, but placed 1st in the 1500 m race, leading teammateErica Sullivan(silver) by 4 seconds, clinchingher first gold medal of the Games.She finished the final in 15:37.34, but herrecord from the preliminaryround still holds. The next day, Ledecky anchored for Team USA\",\n \"for Team USA in the women's 4 × 200 freestyle relay, winning a silver medal alongside teammatesAllison Schmitt,Paige Madden, andKatie McLaughlinbehind China. Before she entered the pool, the United States was trailing both Australia and China, but she swam a time of 1:53.76 to finish the race 0.4 seconds behind the Chinese swimmerLi Bingjieand ahead of Australia, who were the favorites coming into the competition. Ledecky's split was the fastest of all swimmers in the relay finals.Ledecky won her second gold medal of the Olympics and her seventh of all time in the 800-meter freestyle. Her six individual gold medals are the most of any female Olympic swimmer and female US Olympian, and the second-most of all Olympic swimmers behindMichael Phelps. She became the first swimmer to win a distance event three times in a row, as well as the youngest and oldest person to win the 800 free (at age 15 in 2012 and age 24 in 2021). Following the Olympic Games on September 22, Ledecky announced her intention to train with\",\n \"to train with coachAnthony Nestyat theUniversity of Florida.Additionally, Ledecky signed on to be a volunteer swim coach for theFlorida Gators. 2022 US International Team Trials At the2022 USA Swimming International Team Trialsin Greensboro, Ledecky qualified for the2022 World Aquatics Championshipsby finishing first in the 200-meter freestyle (1:55.15), the 400-meter freestyle (3:59.52), the 800-meter freestyle (8:09.27) and the 1500-meter freestyle (15:38.99). World Championships At the2022 World Aquatics ChampionshipsinBudapest, Ledecky won all four of her events: the 400 meter freestyle, 1500 meter freestyle, 4 × 200 freestyle relay, and 800-meter freestyle. With four golds, Ledecky expanded her career World Championships medal haul to 22, passingNatalie Coughlinfor most for a female swimmer.Ledecky earned FINA's female swimmer of the meet trophy for a third time. On the first day of competition, Ledecky won the 400-meter freestyle in a championship record 3:58.15, besting Canadian silver medalistSummer\",\n \"medalistSummer McIntoshby 1.24 seconds. Ledecky's swim was the seventh-fastest performance in history. Ledecky won the 1500-meter freestyle two days later in a time of 15:30.15, over 14 seconds faster than runner-up and teammateKatie Grimes. Ledecky's time was the sixth-fastest ever (behind only her own performances) and over 7 seconds faster than her winning time at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Ledecky joinedClaire Weinstein, Leah Smith, andBella Simson the U.S. 4 × 200 freestyle relay on day five. Swimming the third leg, Ledecky passed Australia and Canada to take the lead with the third-fastest split in history (1:53.67). Sims anchored the team to a championship record time of 7:41.45. On day 7, Ledecky won her final event by over 10 seconds, recording a time of 8:08.04 in the 800-meter freestyle. The swim was the fifth-fastest in history and earned Ledecky the 28 fastest times in the distance. With the victory, Ledecky became the first swimmer, male or female, to win five consecutive world championship\",\n \"world championship titles in an individual event. USA Swimming Championships At the2022 USA Swimming Championshipsin Irvine, Ledecky won three gold medals by finishing first in the 200-meter freestyle (1:54.50), the 800-meter freestyle (8:12.03), and the 400-meter individual medley (4:35.77). FINA Swimming World Cup On October 29, during theTorontoround of theFINA Swimming World Cup, Ledecky swam the 1500m short course event for the first time. She set a time of 15:08.24, breaking the previous world record set by German swimmerSarah Köhlerby almost 10 seconds. The following week at the World Cup'sIndianapolisstop, Ledecky broke the world record in the 800m short course freestyle. Her time of 7:57.42 surpassedMireia Belmonte's mark from 2013. 2023 USA Swimming Championships At the2023 USA Swimming Championshipsin Indianapolis, Ledecky won three gold medals (400-, 800- and 1500-meter freestyle) and a silver medal (200-meter freestyle). Her times in the 800-meter freestyle (8:07.07) and 1500-meter freestyle\",\n \"freestyle (15:29.64) were the third- and sixth-fastest times in history, trailing only her own performances. World Championships At the2023 World Aquatics ChampionshipsinFukuoka,Japan, Ledecky won two gold medals and two silver medals. Her 16th career individual gold medal surpassedMichael Phelpsfor most individual gold medals at the world championships. On the first day of competition, Ledecky placed second in the400-meter freestyleto Ariarne Titmus, who set a new world record in the event (3:55.38). Ledecky's time of 3:58.73 topped New Zealand'sErika Fairweather(3:59.59) and Canada'sSummer McIntosh(3:59.94) in the first women's 400-meter race that saw four swimmers break the 4-minute barrier. Two days later, Ledecky won the1500-meter freestyleby over 17 seconds. Her time of 15:26.27 was the third-fastest time in history, trailing only her world and world championship records. Ledecky joinedErin Gemmell, Bella Sims, andAlex Shackellto earn the silver medal in the4 × 200 m freestyle relay. Ledecky swam the\",\n \"Ledecky swam the second leg and posted a team-best split of 1:54.39 as Australia lowered the world record by 1.79 seconds. Ledecky concluded her meet on Day 7 with the final of the800-meter freestyle. Ledecky posted the sixth-fastest time in history (8:08.87) to top China's Li Bingjie by 4.44 seconds. Li and Ariarne Titmus became the second- and third-fastest performers ever in the event, while Ledecky retained the 29 fastest times in history. With the victory, Ledecky passed Michael Phelps as the swimmer with the most career individual world championship gold medals and became the first swimmer to win six-straight world titles in an event. 2024 Memoir Ledecky's memoir,Just Add Water, was published on June 11.In the book, she discloses that she haspostural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. US Olympic Trials At the2024 US Olympic trials, Ledecky qualified for her fourth Olympics. She finished in first place in four events: 200-meter freestyle (1:55.22), 400-meter freestyle (3:58.35), 800-meter freestyle\",\n \"800-meter freestyle (8:14.12), and 1500-meter freestyle (15:37.35). Summer Olympic Games On the first night of the2024 Summer Olympicsin Paris, Ledecky finished third in the400-metre freestylebehindAriarne TitmusandSummer McIntosh.Ledecky later defended her title in the1500 metre freestyleevent, setting the newOlympic recordwith a time of 15:30:02.She won her fourth consecutive gold medal and eighth individual gold (an all-time record for women at the Olympics) in the800 metre freestyleand also competed in the4x200m freestyle relay, joined byClaire Weinstein,Paige Madden, andErin Gemmell.With a collective time of 7:40.86, the team won the silver medal. Honors and awards Ledecky was a USA Olympic team member in2012,2016,2020, and2024. She also holds the women's record for mostindividual gold medals(16) and overall gold medals (21) at theWorld Aquatics Championships. Her combined 24 individual titles at theOlympics(8) andWorld Aquatics Championships(16) is also arecord for female swimmers. Ledecky has also\",\n \"Ledecky has also received the following awards: Ledecky has also received the following honors: Personal bests World records Publications Books See also References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":40,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"I am thinking of a Ancient Roman City. The city was destroyed by volcanic eruption. The eruption occurred in the year 79 AD. The volcano was a stratovolcano. Where was the session held where it was decided that the city would be named a UNESCO world heritage site?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"Naples"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratovolcano"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eruption_of_Mount_Vesuvius_in_79_AD"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_Committee"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Tabular reasoning"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratovolcano', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eruption_of_Mount_Vesuvius_in_79_AD', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_Committee']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratovolcano","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eruption_of_Mount_Vesuvius_in_79_AD","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_Committee"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratovolcano\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eruption_of_Mount_Vesuvius_in_79_AD\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_Committee\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["Stratovolcano Astratovolcano, also known as acomposite volcano, is aconicalvolcanobuilt up by many layers (strata) of hardenedlavaandtephra.Unlikeshield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and periodic intervals ofexplosive eruptionsandeffusive eruptions, although some have collapsed summit craters calledcalderas. The lava flowing from stratovolcanoes typically cools and solidifies before spreading far, due to high viscosity. The magma forming this lava is oftenfelsic, having high to intermediate levels ofsilica(as inrhyolite,dacite, orandesite), with lesser amounts of less viscousmaficmagma.Extensive felsic lava flows are uncommon, but have traveled as far as 15 km (9 mi). Stratovolcanoes are sometimes called composite volcanoes because of their composite stratified structure, built up from sequential outpourings of erupted materials. They are among the most common types of volcanoes, in contrast to the less common shield volcanoes.Two examples of stratovolcanoes famous for catastrophic eruptions areKrakatoainIndonesia, which erupted in1883, andVesuviusinItaly, having erupted in79; both eruptions claimed thousands of lives. In modern times,Mount St. Helens(March 27, 1980) inWashington State, US, andMount Pinatubo(June 15, 1991) in thePhilippineshave erupted catastrophically, but with fewer deaths. The existence of stratovolcanoes on other bodies of theSolar Systemhas not been conclusively demonstrated.One possible exception is the existence of some isolatedmassifson Mars, for example theZephyria Tholus. Creation Stratovolcanoes are common atsubduction zones, forming chains and clusters along plate tectonic boundaries whereoceanic crustis drawn undercontinental crust(continental arc volcanism, e.g.Cascade Range,Andes,Campania) or another oceanic plate (island arcvolcanism, e.g.Japan,Philippines,Aleutian Islands). The magma forming stratovolcanoes rises when water trapped both in hydrated minerals and in the porousbasaltrock of the upper oceanic crust is released intomantlerock of theasthenosphereabove the sinking oceanic slab.The release of water from hydrated minerals is termed \"dewatering\", and occurs at specific pressures and temperatures for each mineral, as the plate descends to greater depths.The water freed from the rock lowers themelting pointof the overlying mantle rock, which then undergoes partial melting, rises (due to its lighter density relative to the surrounding mantle rock), and pools temporarily at the base of thelithosphere. The magma then rises through thecrust, incorporating silica-rich crustal rock, leading to a finalintermediate composition. When the magma nears the top surface, it pools in amagma chamberwithin the crust below the stratovolcano. The processes that trigger the final eruption remain a question for further research. Possible mechanisms include: These internal triggers may be modified by external triggers such assector collapse,earthquakes, orinteractions with groundwater. Some of these triggers operate only under limited conditions. For example, sector collapse (where part of the flank of a volcano collapses in a massive landslide) can trigger eruption only of a very shallow magma chamber. Magma differentiation and thermal expansion also are ineffective as triggers for eruptions from deep magma chambers. Hazards Inrecorded history, explosive eruptions at subduction zone (convergent-boundary) volcanoes have posed the greatest hazard to civilizations.Subduction-zone stratovolcanoes, such asMount St. Helens,Mount EtnaandMount Pinatubo, typically erupt with explosive force because the magma is too viscous to allow easy escape of volcanic gases. As a consequence, the tremendous internal pressures of the trapped volcanic gases remain and intermingle in the pasty magma. Following the breaching of the vent and the opening of the crater, the magma degasses explosively. The magma and gases blast out with high speed and full force. Since 1600CE, nearly 300,000 people have been killed by volcanic eruptions.Most deaths were caused bypyroclastic flowsandlahars, deadly hazards that often accompany explosive eruptions of subduction-zone stratovolcanoes. Pyroclastic flows are swift, avalanche-like, ground-sweeping, incandescent mixtures of hot volcanic debris, fine ash, fragmented lava, and superheated gases that can travel at speeds over 160 km/h (100 mph). Around 30,000 people were killed by pyroclastic flows during the 1902 eruption ofMount Peléeon the island ofMartiniquein the Caribbean.During March and April 1982, three explosive eruptions ofEl Chichónin the State ofChiapasin southeastern Mexico caused the worst volcanic disaster in that country's history. Villages within 8 km (5 mi) of the volcano were destroyed by pyroclastic flows, killing more than 2,000 people. TwoDecade Volcanoesthat erupted in 1991 provide examples of stratovolcano hazards. On 15 June, Mount Pinatubo spewed an ash cloud 40 km (25 mi) into the air and produced huge pyroclastic surges andlaharfloods that devastated a large area around the volcano. Pinatubo, located inCentral Luzonjust 90 km (56 mi) west-northwest ofManila, had been dormant for six centuries before the 1991 eruption, which ranks as one of the largest eruptions in the 20th century.Also in 1991, Japan'sUnzen Volcano, located on the island of Kyushu about 40 km (25 mi) east of Nagasaki, awakened from its 200-year slumber to produce a newlava domeat its summit. Beginning in June, the repeated collapse of this erupting dome generated ash flows that swept down the mountain's slopes at speeds as high as 200 km/h (120 mph). Unzen is one of more than 75 active volcanoes in Japan; an eruption in 1792 killed more than 15,000 people—the worst volcanic disaster in the nation's history. Theeruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79completely smothered the nearby ancient cities ofPompeiiandHerculaneumwith thick deposits ofpyroclastic surgesandlava flows. Although the death toll has been estimated at between 13,000 and 26,000 people, the exact number is still unclear. Vesuvius is recognized as one of the most dangerous of the world's volcanoes, due to its capacity forpowerful explosive eruptionscoupled with the high population density of the surroundingMetropolitan Naplesarea (totaling about 3.6 million inhabitants). Ash In addition to potentially affecting the climate, volcanic clouds from explosive eruptions pose a serious hazard to aviation.For example, during the 1982 eruption ofGalunggunginJava,British Airways Flight 9flew into the ash cloud, causing it to sustain temporary engine failure and structural damage. During the past two decades, more than 60 airplanes, mostly commercial airliners, have been damaged by in-flight encounters with volcanic ash. Some of these encounters have resulted in the loss of power in all engines, necessitating emergency landings. As of 1999, no crashes have happened because of jet aircraft flying into volcanic ash.Ashfallsare a threat to health when inhaled and ash is also a threat to property with enough accumulation. Dense clouds of hot volcanic ash can be expelled due to the collapse of aneruptive column, or laterally due to the partial collapse of a volcanic edifice or lava dome during explosive eruptions. These clouds can generate devastating pyroclastic flows or surges. Lava Lava flows from stratovolcanoes are generally not a significant threat to humans or animals because the highlyviscouslava moves slowly enough for everyone to flee away from the path of flow. The lava flows are more of a threat to property. However, not all stratovolcanoes erupt viscous and sticky lava.Nyiragongo, near Lake Kivu in central Africa, is very dangerous because itsmagmahas an unusually low silica content, making it quite fluid. Fluid lavas are typically associated with the formation of broad shield volcanoes such as those of Hawaii, but Nyiragongo has very steep slopes down which lava can flow at up to 100 km/h (60 mph). Lava flows could melt down ice and glaciers that accumulated on the volcano's crater and upper slopes, generating massivelaharflows. Rarely, generally fluid lava could also generate massive lava fountains, while lava of thicker viscosity can solidify within the vent, creating avolcanic plugwhich can result in highly explosive eruptions. Volcanic bombs Volcanic bombs are extrusiveigneous rocksranging from the size of books to small cars, that are explosively ejected from stratovolcanoes during their climactic eruptive phases. These \"bombs\" can travel over 20 km (12 mi) away from the volcano, and present a risk to buildings and living beings while shooting at very high speeds (hundreds of kilometers/miles per hour) through the air. Most bombs do not themselves explode on impact, but rather carry enough force to have destructive effects as if they exploded. Lahar Lahars (from aJavaneseterm for volcanic mudflows) are mixtures of volcanic debris and water. Lahars usually come from two sources: rainfall, or the melting of snow and ice by hot volcanic elements, such as lava. Depending on the proportion and temperature of water to volcanic material, lahars can range from thick, gooey flows that have the consistency of wet concrete to fast-flowing, soupy floods.As lahars flood down the steep sides of stratovolcanoes, they have the strength and speed to flatten or drown everything in their paths. Hot ash clouds, lava flows and pyroclastic surges ejected during1985 eruptionofNevado del RuizinColombiamelted snow and ice atop the 5,321 m (17,457 ft) high Andean volcano. The ensuing lahar flooded the city ofArmeroand nearby settlements, killing 25,000 people. Effects on climate and atmosphere As per the above examples, while the Unzen eruptions have caused deaths and considerable local damage in the historic past, the impact of the June 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo was global. Slightly cooler-than-usual temperatures were recorded worldwide, with brilliant sunsets and intense sunrises attributed to theparticulates; this eruption lofted particles high into thestratosphere. Theaerosolsthat formed from thesulfur dioxide(SO2),carbon dioxide(CO2), and other gases dispersed around the world. The SO2mass in this cloud—about 22 million tons—combined with water (both of volcanic and atmospheric origin) formed droplets ofsulfuric acid, blocking a portion of the sunlight from reaching thetroposphereand ground. The cooling in some regions is thought to have been as much as 0.5 °C (0.9 °F).An eruption the size of Mount Pinatubo tends to affect the weather for a few years; the material injected into the stratosphere gradually drops into thetroposphere, where it is washed away by rain and cloud precipitation. A similar but extraordinarily more powerful phenomenon occurred in the cataclysmic April 1815 eruption ofMount TamboraonSumbawaisland inIndonesia. The Mount Tambora eruption is recognized as the most powerful eruption in recorded history. Its eruption cloud lowered global temperatures by as much as 3.5 °C (6.3 °F).In the year following the eruption, most of the Northern Hemisphere experienced sharply cooler temperatures during the summer. In parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America, 1816 was known as the \"Year Without a Summer\", which caused a considerable agricultural crisis and a brief but bitter famine, which generated a series of distresses across much of the affected continents. List See also References","Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD Of the many eruptions ofMount Vesuvius, a majorstratovolcanoinSouthern Italy, the best-known is its eruption in 79 AD,which wasone of the deadliest in history. Mount Vesuvius violently spewed forth acloudof super-heatedtephraandgasesto a height of 33 km (21 mi), ejectingmolten rock, pulverizedpumiceandhot ashat 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing 100,000 times thethermal energyof theatomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.The event gives its name to theVesuviantype of volcanic eruption, characterised by columns of hot gases and ash reaching thestratosphere, although the event also includedpyroclastic flowsassociated withPelean eruptions. The event destroyed severalRomantowns and settlements in the area.PompeiiandHerculaneum, obliterated and buried underneath massivepyroclastic surgesandashfall deposits, are the most famous examples.Archaeological excavations have revealed much of the towns and the lives of the inhabitants leading to the area becoming theVesuvius National Parkand a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site. The total population of both cities was over 20,000.The remains of over 1,500 people have been found at Pompeii and Herculaneum. The total death toll from the eruption remains unknown. Precursor earthquakes Amajor earthquakecaused widespread destruction around theBay of Naples, particularly to Pompeii, on February 5, 62 AD.Some of the damage had still not been repaired when the volcano erupted in October 79 AD. Another smaller earthquake took place in 64 AD; it was recorded bySuetoniusin his biography ofNero,and byTacitusinAnnalesbecause it took place while Nero was in Naples performing for the first time in a public theater.Suetonius recorded that the emperor continued singing through the earthquake until he had finished his song, while Tacitus wrote that the theater collapsed shortly after beingevacuated. Minor earthquakes were reported in the four days before the 79 AD eruption, but the warnings were not recognized. The inhabitants of the area surrounding Mount Vesuvius had been accustomed to minor tremors in the region;Pliny the Youngerwrote that they \"were not particularly alarming because they are frequent in Campania\". Nature of the eruption Reconstructions of the eruption and its effects vary considerably in the details but have the same overall features. The eruption lasted for two days.Pliny the Younger, author of the only surviving written testimony, described the morning before the eruption as normal; however, he was staying atMisenum29 kilometres (18 mi) from the volcano across the Bay of Naples. The first day of the eruption had little effect on Misenum.Pompeii is never mentioned in Pliny the Younger's letter. Around 1:00 p.m., Mount Vesuvius erupted violently, spewing up a high-altitude column from which ash and pumice began to fall, blanketing the area.Over the next few hours, rescues and escapes occurred during this time.At some time in the night or early the next day,pyroclastic flowsin the close vicinity of the volcano began; lights seen on the mountain were interpreted as fires, and people as far away as Misenum fled for their lives.The flows were rapid-moving, dense, and very hot, wholly or partly knocking down all structures in their path, incinerating or suffocating the remaining population.These were accompanied by additional tremors and a mildtsunamiin the Bay of Naples.One or more earthquakes at this time were strong enough to cause buildings to collapse at least in Pompeii killing the occupants.By the evening of the second day, the eruption stopped affecting Misenum, with only haze in the atmosphere, screening sunlight.Pliny the Younger wrote: broad flames shone out in several places fromMount Vesuvius, which the darkness of the night contributed to render still brighter and clearer... It was now day everywhere else, but there a deeper darkness prevailed than in the thickest night. Stratigraphic studies Sigurðsson, Cashdollar, andSparksundertook a detailed stratigraphic study of ash layers based on excavations and surveys, published in 1982. They concluded that the eruption unfolded in two phases,VesuvianandPelean, which alternated six times. A firstPlinian phaseprojected a column of volcanic debris and hot gases between 15 km (9 mi) and 30 km (19 mi) into thestratosphere. This phase lasted 18 to 20 hours and spread pumice and ashes, forming a 2.8 m (9 ft) layer to the south, towards Pompeii. An earthquake caused buildings in Pompeii to collapse at this time. The followingPelean phaseproducedpyroclastic surgesof molten rock and hot gases that reached as far asMisenum, to the west. Concentrated to the south and southeast, two pyroclastic surges engulfed Pompeii with a 1.8-metre-deep (6 ft) layer, burning and asphyxiating any living beings who had remained behind.Herculaneum,Pompeii, andOplontisreceived the brunt of the surges and were buried in fine pyroclastic deposits, pulverized pumice and lava fragments up to 20 m (70 ft) deep. Surges 4 and 5 are believed to have destroyed and buried Pompeii.Surges are identified in the deposits by dune and cross-bedding formations, which are not produced by fallout. The eruption is considered primarilyphreatomagmatic, i.e. a blast driven by energy from escaping steam produced by seawater seeping into the deep-seated faults and interacting with hot magma. Timing of explosions In an article published in 2002, Sigurðsson and Casey concluded that an early explosion produced a column of ash and pumice which rained on Pompeii to the southeast but not on Herculaneum, which was upwind.Subsequently, the cloud collapsed as the gases densified and lost their capability to support their solid contents. The authors suggest that the first ash falls are to be interpreted as early-morning, low-volume explosions not seen from Misenum, causingRectinato send her messenger on a ride of several hours around the Bay of Naples, then passable, providing an answer to the paradox of how the messenger might miraculously appear at Pliny's villa so shortly after a distant eruption that would have prevented him. Magnetic studies A 2006 study by Zanella, Gurioli, Pareschi, and Lanza used the magnetic characteristics of over 200 samples of lithic, roof-tile, and plaster fragments collected from pyroclastic deposits in and around Pompeii to estimate the equilibrium temperatures of thedeposits.The deposits were placed bypyroclastic density currents(PDCs) resulting from the collapses of the Plinian column. The authors argue that fragments over 2–5 cm (0.8–2 in) were not in the current long enough to acquire its temperature, which would have been much higher. Therefore, they distinguish between the depositional temperatures, which they estimated, and the emplacement temperatures, which in some cases, based on the cooling characteristics of some types and fragment sizes of rocks they believed they also could estimate. The final figures are considered to be those of the rocks in the current just before deposition. All crystal rock contains some iron or iron compounds, rendering itferromagnetic, as do Roman roof tiles and plaster. These materials may acquire a residual field from several sources. When individual molecules, which aremagnetic dipoles, are held in alignment by being bound in acrystallinestructure, the small fields reinforce each other to form the rock's residual field.Heating the material addsinternal energyto it. At theCurie temperature, the vibration of the molecules is sufficient to disrupt the alignment; the material loses its residual magnetism and assumes whatevermagnetic fieldmight be applied to it only for the duration of the application. The authors term this phenomenon unblocking. Residual magnetism is considered to \"block out\" non-residual fields. Arockis a mixture of minerals, each with its own Curie temperature; the authors, therefore, looked for aspectrumof temperatures rather than a single temperature. In the ideal sample, the PDC did not raise the temperature of the fragment beyond the highest blocking temperature. Some constituent materials retained the magnetism the Earth's field imposed when the item was formed. The temperature was raised above the lowest blocking temperature; therefore, some minerals on recooling acquired the magnetism of the Earth as it was in 79 AD. The broad field of the sample was thevector sumof the fields of the high-blocking material and the low-blocking material. This type of sample made it possible to estimate the low unblocking temperature. Using special equipment that measured field direction and strength at various temperatures, the experimenters raised the temperature of the sample in increments of40 °C (70 °F)from 100 °C (210 °F) until it reached the low unblocking temperature.Deprived of one of its components, the overall field changed direction. A plot of direction at each increment identified the increment at which the sample's resultant magnetism had formed.That was considered the equilibrium temperature of the deposit. Considering the data for all the surge deposits arrived at a surge deposit estimate. The authors discovered that the city of Pompeii was a relatively cool spot within a much hotter field, which they attributed to the interaction of the surge with the \"fabric\" of the city. The investigators reconstruct the sequence of volcanic events as follows: The variable temperature of the first surge was due to interaction with the buildings. Any population remaining in structural refuges could not have escaped, as gases of incinerating temperatures surrounded the city. The lowest temperatures were in rooms under collapsed roofs. These were as low as 100 °C (212 °F), the boiling point of water.The authors suggest that elements of the bottom of the flow were decoupled from the main flow by topographic irregularities and made cooler by introducing turbulent ambient air. In the second surge, the irregularities were gone, and the city was as hot as the surrounding environment. During the last surge, which was very dilute, an additional 1 metre (3.3 ft) of deposits fell over the region. The Two Plinys The only surviving eyewitness account of the event consists of two letters byPliny the Younger, who was 17 at the time of the eruption,written to the historianTacitussome 25 years after the event.Observing the first volcanic activity fromMisenumacross the Bay of Naples from the volcano, approximately 29 kilometres (18 mi) away,Pliny the Elder(Pliny the Younger's uncle) launched a rescue fleet and went himself to the rescue of a personal friend. His nephew declined to join the party. One of the nephew's letters relates what he could discover from witnesses of his uncle's experiences.In a second letter, the younger Pliny details his own observations after the departure of his uncle. Pliny the Younger Pliny the Younger saw an extraordinarily dense cloud rising rapidly above the mountain: the appearance of which I cannot give you a more exact description of than by likening it to that of a pine-tree, for it shot up to a great height in the form of a very tall trunk, which spread itself out at the top into a sort of branches. it appeared sometimes bright and sometimes dark and spotted, according as it was either more or less impregnated with earth and cinders. These events and a request by messenger for an evacuation by sea prompted the elder Pliny to order rescue operations in which he sailed away to participate. His nephew attempted to resume a normal life, continuing to study and bathe, but that night a tremor woke him and his mother, prompting them to abandon the house for the courtyard. At another tremor at dawn, the population abandoned the village. After a third tremor, \"the sea seemed to roll back upon itself, and to be driven from its banks\", which is evidence of atsunami. There is, however, no evidence of extensive damage from wave action. A black cloud obscured the early light through which shone flashes, which Pliny likens to sheet lightning, but more extensive. The cloud obscured Point Misenum near at hand and the island of Capraia (Capri) across the bay. Fearing for their lives, the population began calling each other and moving back from the coast along the road. Pliny's mother requested him to abandon her and save his own life, as she was too fleshy and aged to go further, but seizing her hand, he led her away as best he could. A rain of ash fell. Pliny needed to shake off the ash periodically to avoid being buried. Later that same day, the ash stopped falling, and the sun shone weakly through the cloud, encouraging Pliny and his mother to return home and wait for news of Pliny the Elder. The letter compares the ash to a blanket of snow. The earthquake and tsunami damage at that location were not severe enough to prevent continued use of the home. Pliny the Elder Pliny's uncle,Pliny the Elder, was in command of theRoman fleetat Misenum and had meanwhile decided to investigate the phenomenon at close hand in a light vessel. As the ship was preparing to leave the area, a messenger came from his friend Rectina (wife of Bassus) living on the coast near the foot of the volcano, explaining that her party could only get away by sea and asking for rescue.Pliny ordered the immediate launching of the fleet galleys to the evacuation of the coast. He continued in his light ship to the rescue of Rectina's party. He set off across the bay but encountered thick showers of hot cinders, lumps of pumice, and pieces of rock in the shallows on the other side. Advised by the helmsman to turn back, he stated \"Fortune favors the brave\" and ordered him to continue toStabiae(about 4.5 km or 2.8 mi from Pompeii), wherePomponianuswas.Pomponianus had already loaded a ship with possessions and was preparing to leave, but the same onshore wind that brought Pliny's ship to the location had prevented anyone from leaving. Pliny and his party saw flames coming from several parts of the mountain, which Pliny and his friends attributed to burning villages. After staying overnight, the party was driven from the building by its violent shaking.They woke Pliny, who had been napping and snoring loudly. They elected to take to the fields with pillows tied to their heads to protect them from rockfall. They approached the beach again, but the wind had not changed. Pliny sat down on a sail spread for him and could not rise, even with assistance. His friends then departed, escaping ultimately by land.Very likely, he had collapsed and died, the most popular explanation for why his friends abandoned him, although Suetonius offers an alternative story of his ordering a slave to kill him to avoid the pain of incineration. How the slave would have escaped remains a mystery. There is no mention of such an event in his nephew's letters. In the first letter to Tacitus, his nephew suggested that his death was due to the reaction of his weak lungs to a cloud of poisonous, sulphurous gas that wafted over the group.However, Stabiae was 16 km (9.9 mi) from the vent (roughly where the modern town ofCastellammare di Stabiais situated), and his companions were apparently unaffected by the fumes, and so it is more likely that the corpulent Pliny died from some other cause, such as a stroke or heart attack.Anasthmaticattack is also not out of the question. His body was found with no apparent injuries the next day once the plume had dispersed. Casualties from the eruption Apart from Pliny the Elder, the only casualties of the eruption to be known by name were theHerodianprincessDrusillaand her son Agrippa, who was born in her marriage with theprocuratorAntonius Felix.It is also said that the poetCaesius Bassusdied in the eruption. By 2003, approximately 1,044 casts made from impressions of bodies in the ash deposits had been recovered in and around Pompeii, with the scattered bones of another 100.The remains of about 332 bodies have been found at Herculaneum (300 in arched vaults discovered in 1980).The total number of fatalities remains unknown. Thirty-eight percent of the 1,044 were found in the ash fall deposits, the majority inside buildings.This differs from modern experience over the last 400 years when ash falls have killed only around 4% of victims during explosive eruptions. This cohort was possibly sheltering in buildings when they were overcome. The remaining 62% of bodies found at Pompeii lay in thepyroclastic surgedeposits, which probably killed them. It was initially believed that due to the state of the bodies found at Pompeii and the outline of clothes on the bodies, it was unlikely that high temperatures were a significant cause. Later studies indicated that during the fourth pyroclastic surge (the first surge to reach Pompeii), the temperature reached 300 °C (572 °F), which was enough to kill people in a fraction of a second.The contorted postures of bodies as if frozen in suspended action were not the effects of long agony, but of thecadaveric spasm, a consequence of heat shock on corpses.The heat was so intense that organs and blood were vaporised, and at least one victim's brain wasvitrifiedby the temperature. Herculaneum, which was much closer to the crater, was saved fromtephrafalls by the wind direction but was buried under 23 metres (75 ft) of material deposited by pyroclastic surges. It is likely that most, or all, of the known victims in this town, were killed by the surges, particularly given evidence of high temperatures found on the skeletons of the victims found in the arched vaults on the seashore and the existence of carbonised wood in many of the buildings. These people were concentrated in the vaults at a density as high as three per square metre and were all caught by the first surge, dying of thermal shock and partly carbonised by later and hotter surges. The vaults were most likely boathouses, as the crossbeams overhead were probably for the suspension of boats used for the earlier escape of some of the population. As only 85 metres (279 ft) of the coast have been excavated, more casualties may be waiting to be unearthed. Date of the eruption Vesuvius and its destructive eruption are mentioned in first-century Roman sources, but not the day of the eruption. For example,Josephusin hisAntiquities of the Jewsmentions that the eruption occurred \"in the days ofTitus Caesar.\"Suetonius, a second-century historian, in hisLife of Titussimply says that, \"There were some dreadful disasters during his reign, such as the eruption of Mount Vesuvius inCampania.\" Writing well over a century after the actual event, Roman historianCassius Dio(as translated in theLoeb Classical Library1925 edition) wrote that, \"In Campania remarkable and frightful occurrences took place; for a great fire suddenly flared up at the very end of the summer.\" For more than five centuries, until approximately 2018, articles about the eruption of Vesuvius typically stated that the eruption began on August 24, 79 AD. This date came from a 1508 printed copy of a letter addressed byPliny the Youngerto the Roman historianTacitus, originally written some 25 years after the event.Pliny was a witness to the eruption and provided the only known eyewitness account. Over fourteen centuries of manuscript hand-copying up to the 1508 printing of his letters, the date given in Pliny's original letter may have been corrupted. Manuscript experts believe that the date originally given by Pliny was one of August 24, October 30, November 1, or November 23.This odd scattered set of dates is due to the Romans'convention for describing calendar dates. The large majority of extant medieval manuscript copies (there are no surviving Roman copies) indicate a date corresponding to August 24. Since the discovery of the cities, this was accepted by most scholars and by nearly all books written about Pompeii and Herculaneum for the general public. Since at least the late 18th century, a minority among archaeologists and other scientists have suggested that the eruption began after August 24, during the autumn, perhaps in October or November. In 1797, the researcher Carlo Rosini reported that excavations atPompeiiandHerculaneumhad uncovered traces of fruits andbraziersindicative of autumn, not the summer. More recently, in 1990 and 2001, archaeologists discovered more remnants of autumnal fruits (such as thepomegranate), the remains of victims of the eruption in heavy clothing, and large earthenware storage vessels laden with wine (at the time of their burial by Vesuvius). The wine-related discovery suggests that the eruption might have happened after the grape harvest. In 2007, a study of prevailing winds in Campania showed that the southeasterly debris pattern of the first-century eruption is quite consistent with an autumn event and inconsistent with an August date. During June, July, and August, the prevailing winds flow to the west – an arc between the southwest and northwest – virtually all the time. AsEmperor Titusof theFlavian dynasty(reigning June 24, 79 AD to September 13, 81 AD) garnered victories on the battlefield (including his capture of theTemple of Jerusalem) and other honors, his administration issued coins enumerating his ever-growing accolades. Given the limited space on each coin, his achievements were stamped on the coins using an arcane encoding. Two of these coins, from early in Titus' reign, were found in a hoard recovered at Pompeii's House of the Golden Bracelet. Although the coins' minting dates are somewhat in dispute,anumismaticexpert at theBritish Museum, Richard Abdy, concluded that the latest coin in the hoard was minted on or after June 24 (the first date of Titus' reign) and before September 1, 79 AD. Abdy states that it is \"remarkable that both coins will have taken just two months after minting to enter circulation and reach Pompeii before the disaster.\" In October 2018, Italian archaeologists uncovered a charcoal inscription reading \"the 16th day before the calends (first) of November,\"or October 17, that was probably \"made by a worker renovating a home\",and which has subsequently been suggested as \"the most likely date for the eruption\".While the \"graffito does not have a year listed the nature of the writing suggests it was done just before the eruption of Vesuvius. It was found in an area of a house that was in the process of being renovated, likely just before the volcano erupted\",while the charcoal writing itself is \"fragile and unlikely to have been preserved for years prior to the utter destruction of Pompeii.\"However, \"it is not known whether the Oct 17 graffito referred to that day, or a day in the past or the future.\"A collaborative study in 2022 has determined a date of October 24–25 for the eruption in 79 AD. See also Notes References Bibliography External links","Pompeii Pompeii(/pɒmˈpeɪ(i)/ⓘpom-PAY(-ee),Latin:) was a city in what is now the municipality ofPompei, nearNaples, in theCampaniaregion ofItaly. Along withHerculaneum,Stabiae, andmany surrounding villas, the city was buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) ofvolcanic ashandpumicein theeruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Largely preserved under the ash, Pompeii offers a unique snapshot ofRoman life, frozen at the moment it was buried,as well as insight into ancienturban planning.It was a wealthy town of 10,000 to 20,000 residents at the time it was destroyed.It hosted many fine public buildings and luxurious private houses with lavish decorations, furnishings and artworks, which were the main attractions for early excavators; subsequent excavations have found hundreds of private homes and businesses reflecting various architectural styles and social classes, as well as numerous public buildings. Organic remains, including wooden objects and human bodies, were interred in the ash; their eventual decay allowed archaeologists to createmouldsof figures in their final moments of life. The numerousgraffiticarved on outside walls and inside rooms provide a wealth of examples of the largely lostVulgar Latinspoken colloquially at the time, contrasting with the formal language of classical writers. Following its destruction, Pompeii remained largely undisturbed until its rediscovery in the late 16th century. Major excavations did not begin until the mid-18th century, which marked the emergence of modernarcheology;initial efforts to unearth the city were haphazard or marred by looting, resulting in many items or sites being damaged or destroyed.By 1960, most of Pompeii had been uncovered but left in decay;further major excavations were banned or limited to targeted, prioritised areas. Since 2018, these efforts have led to new discoveries in some previously unexplored areas of the city,including a banquet hall adorned with rare, well preserved frescoes depicting various mythological scenes and figures. Pompeii is aUNESCOWorld Heritage Site, owing to its status as \"the only archaeological site in the world that provides a complete picture of an ancient Roman city.\"It is among the most popular tourist attractions in Italy, with approximately 2.5 million visitors annually. Name Pompeiiin Latin is a seconddeclensionmasculine nominative plural noun (Pompeiī, -ōrum). According to Theodor Kraus, \"The root of the word Pompeii would appear to be theOscanword for the number five,pompe, which suggests that either the community consisted of fivehamletsor perhaps it was settled by a family group (gens Pompeia).\" Geography Pompeii was built approximately 40 m (130 ft) above sea level on a coastal lava plateau created by earlier eruptions ofMount Vesuvius(8 km or 5 mi distant). The plateau fell steeply to the south and partly to the west into the sea. Three layers of sediment from largelandslideslie on top of the lava, perhaps triggered by extended rainfall.The city, once by the shoreline, is today circa 700 m (2,300 ft) inland. The mouth of the navigableSarno River, adjacent to the city, was protected by lagoons and served early Greek and Phoenician sailors as a haven port, later developed by the Romans. Pompeii covered a total of 64 to 67 hectares (160 to 170 acres) and was home to 11,000 to 11,500 people, based on household counts. History Although best known for its Roman remains visible today, dating from AD 79, it was built upon a substantial city dating from much earlier times. Expansion of the city from an early nucleus (theold town) accelerated after 450 BC under the Greeks following theBattle of Cumae. Early history The first stable settlements on the site date to the 8th century BC when theOscans,a population of central Italy, founded five villages in the area. With the arrival of the Greeks in Campania from around 740 BC, Pompeii entered the orbit of the Hellenic people. The most important building of this period is theDoricTemple,built away from the centre in what would later become the Triangular Forum.: 62At the same time the cult of Apollo was introduced.Greek andPhoeniciansailors used the location as a safe port. In the early 6th century BC, the settlement merged into a single community centred on the important crossroad betweenCumae,Nola, andStabiaeand was surrounded by atufacity wall (thepappamontewall).The first wall (which was also used as a base for the later wall) unusually enclosed a much greater area than the early town together with much agricultural land.That such an impressive wall was built at this time indicates that the settlement was already important and wealthy. The city began to flourish and maritime trade started with the construction of a small port near the mouth of the river.The earliest settlement was focused in regions VII and VIII of the town (the old town) as identified fromstratigraphybelow the Samnite and Roman buildings, as well as from the different and irregular street plan. By 524 BCthe Etruscans had settled in the area, including Pompeii, finding in the river Sarno a communication route between the sea and the interior. Like the Greeks, the Etruscans did not conquer the city militarily, but simply controlled it, and Pompeii enjoyed a sort of autonomy.: 63Nevertheless, Pompeii became a member of theEtruscan League of cities.Excavations in 1980–1981 have shown the presence of Etruscan inscriptions and a 6th-century BCnecropolis.Under the Etruscans, a primitiveforumor simple market square was built, as well as theTemple of Apollo, in both of which objects including fragments ofbuccherowere found byMaiuri.Several houses were built with the so-called Tuscanatrium, typical of this people.: 64 The city wall was strengthened in the early 5th century BC with two façades of relatively thin, vertically set slabs of Sarno limestone some four metres (13 ft) apart filled with earth (theorthostatewall). In 474 BC, the Greek city ofCumae, allied withSyracuse, defeated the Etruscans at theBattle of Cumaeand gained control of the area. The Samnite period The period between about 450–375 BC witnessed large areas of the city being abandoned while important sanctuaries such as the Temple of Apollo show a sudden lack of votive material remains. TheSamnites, people from the areas ofAbruzzoandMolise, and allies of the Romans, conquered Greek Cumae between 423 and 420 BC. It is likely that all of the surrounding territory, including Pompeii, was already conquered around 424 BC. The new rulers gradually imposed their architecture and enlarged the town. From 343 to 341 BC in theSamnite Wars, the first Roman army entered the Campanian plain bringing with it the customs and traditions of Rome, and in the RomanLatin Warfrom 340 BC, the Samnites were faithful to Rome. Although governed by the Samnites, Pompeii entered the Roman orbit, to which it remained faithful even during the third Samnite war and in the war againstPyrrhus. In the late 4th century BC, the city began expanding from its nucleus into the open-walled area. The street plan of the new areas was more regular and more conformal toHippodamus's street plan. The city walls were reinforced inSarnostone in the early 3rd century BC (the limestoneenceinte, or the \"first Samnite wall\"). It formed the basis for the currently visible walls with an outer wall of rectangular limestone blocks as a terrace wall supporting a largeagger, or earth embankment, behind it. After theSamnite Warsfrom 290 BC, Pompeii was forced to accept the status ofsociiof Rome, maintaining, however, linguistic and administrative autonomy. From the outbreak of theSecond Punic War(218–201 BC) in whichHannibal's invasion threatened many cities, Pompeii remained faithful to Rome unlike many of the southern cities. As a result, an additional internal wall was built oftufaand the internalaggerand outer façade raised, resulting in a double parapet with a wider wall-walk.Despite the political uncertainty of these events and the progressive migration of wealthy men to quieter cities in the eastern Mediterranean, Pompeii continued to flourish due to the production and trade of wine and oil with places likeProvenceand Spain,as well as to intensive agriculture on farms around the city. In the 2nd century BC, Pompeii enriched itself by taking part in Rome's conquest of the east, as shown by a statue of Apollo in the Forum erected byLucius Mummiusin gratitude for their support in the sack ofCorinthand the eastern campaigns. These riches enabled Pompeii to bloom and expand to its ultimate limits. The Forum and many public and private buildings of high architectural quality were built, includingThe Large Theatre, theTemple of Jupiter, the Basilica, the Comitium, the Stabian Baths, and a new two-story portico. The Roman period Pompeii was one of the towns of Campania that rebelled against Rome in theSocial Warsand in 89 BC it was besieged bySulla, who targeted the strategically vulnerable Porta Ercolano with his artillery as can still be seen by the impact craters of thousands ofballistashots in the walls. Many nearby buildings inside the walls were also destroyed.Although the battle-hardened troops of the Social League, headed byLucius Cluentius, helped in resisting the Romans, Pompeii was forced to surrender after the conquest of Nola. The result was that Pompeii became aRoman colonynamed Colonia Cornelia Veneria Pompeianorum. Many of Sulla's veterans were given land and property in and around the city, while many who opposed Rome were dispossessed of their property. Despite this, the Pompeians were grantedRoman citizenshipand quickly assimilated into the Roman world. The main language in the city became Latin,and many of Pompeii's old aristocratic families Latinized their names as a sign of assimilation. The area around Pompeii became very prosperous due to the desirability of living on the Bay of Naples for wealthy Romans and due to the rich agricultural land.Many farms and villas were built nearby, outside the city and many have been excavated. These include theVilla of the Mysteries,Villa of Diomedes, several atBoscoreale,Boscotrecase,Oplontis,Terzigno, and Civita Guiliana. The city became an important passage for goods that arrived by sea and had to be sent toward Rome orSouthern Italyalong the nearbyAppian Way. Many public buildings were constructed or refurbished and improved under the new order; new buildings included theAmphitheatre of Pompeiiin 70 BC, the Forum Baths, and theOdeon. In comparison, the Forum was embellished with the colonnade of Popidius before 80 BC.These buildings raised the status of Pompeii as a cultural centre in the region as it outshone its neighbours in the number of places for entertainment which significantly enhanced the social and economic development of the city. UnderAugustus, from about 30 BC, a major expansion in new public buildings, as in the rest of the empire, included theEumachia Building, the Sanctuary of Augustus and theMacellum. From about 20 BC, Pompeii was fed with running water by a spur from theSerino Aqueduct, built byMarcus Vipsanius Agrippa. In AD 59, there was a serious riot and bloodshed in the amphitheatre between Pompeians andNucerians(which is recorded in a fresco) and which led the Roman Senate to send thePraetorian Guardto restore order and to ban further events for ten years. AD 62–79 The inhabitants of Pompeii had long been used to minor earthquakes (indeed, the writerPliny the Youngerwrote that earth tremors \"were not particularly alarming because they are frequent in Campania\"), but on 5 February 62asevere earthquakedid considerable damage around the bay, and particularly to Pompeii. It is believed that the earthquake would have registered between 5 and 6 on theRichter magnitude scale. On that day in Pompeii, there were to be two sacrifices, as it was the anniversary ofAugustusbeing namedPater Patriae(\"Father of the Country\") and also a feast day to honour the guardian spirits of the city. Chaos followed the earthquake; fires caused by oil lamps that had fallen during the quake added to the panic. The nearby cities ofHerculaneumandNuceriawere also affected. Between 62 AD and the eruption in 79 AD, most rebuilding was done in the private sector and older, damaged frescoes were often covered with newer ones, for example. In the public sector, the opportunity was taken to improve buildings and the city plan, e.g. in the Forum. An important field of current research concerns structures that were restored between the earthquake of 62 and the eruption. It was thought until recently that some of the damage had still not been repaired at the time of the eruption, but this is doubtful as the evidence of missing forum statues and marble wall veneers are most likely due to robbers after the city's burial.The public buildings on the east side of the Forum were largely restored and were enhanced by beautiful marble veneers and other modifications to the architecture. Some buildings like the Central Baths were only started after the earthquake and were built to enhance the city with modern developments in their architecture, as had been done in Rome, in terms of wall-heating and window glass, and with well-lit spacious rooms. The new baths took over a wholeinsulaby demolishing houses, which may have been made easier by the earthquake that had damaged these houses. This shows that the city was still flourishing rather than struggling to recover from the earthquake. In about 64,Neroand his wifePoppaeavisited Pompeii and made gifts to the temple of Venus (the city's patron deity),probably when he performed in the theatre of Naples. By 79, Pompeii had a population of 20,000,which had prospered from the region's renowned agricultural fertility and favourable location, although more recent estimates are up to 11,500 based on household counts. Eruption of Vesuvius The eruption lasted for two days.The first phase was of pumice rain(lapilli)lasting about 18 hours, allowing most inhabitants to escape. Only approximately 1,150 bodieshave so far been found on site, which seems to confirm this theory, and most escapees probably managed to salvage some of their most valuable belongings; many skeletons were found with jewellery, coins, and silverware. At some time in the night or early the next day,pyroclastic flowsbegan near the volcano, consisting of high speed, dense, and scorching ash clouds, knocking down wholly or partly all structures in their path, incinerating or suffocating the remaining population and altering the landscape, including the coastline. By the evening of the second day, the eruption was over, leaving only haze in the atmosphere through which the sun shone weakly. A multidisciplinaryvolcanologicalandbio-anthropologicalstudyof the eruption products and victims, merged with numerical simulations and experiments, indicates that at Pompeii and surrounding towns heat was the main cause of death of people, previously believed to have died by ashsuffocation. The results of the study, published in 2010, show that exposure to at least 250 °C (480 °F) hot pyroclastic flows at a distance of 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the vent was sufficient to cause instant death, even if people were sheltered within buildings. The people and buildings of Pompeii were covered in up to twelve different layers oftephra, in total, up to 6 metres (19.7 ft) deep. Archaeology in 2023 showed that some buildings collapsed due to one or more earthquakes during the eruption, killing the occupants. Pliny the Youngerprovided a first-hand account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius from his position across theBay of NaplesatMisenum,but it was written approximately 27 or 28 years after the event.His uncle,Pliny the Elder, with whom he had a close relationship, died while attempting to rescue stranded victims. As admiral of the fleet, Pliny the Elder had ordered the ships of the Imperial Navy stationed at Misenum to cross the bay to assist evacuation attempts. Volcanologists have recognised the importance of Pliny the Younger's account of the eruption by calling similar events \"Plinian\". It had long been thought that the eruption was an August event based on one version of the letter, but another versiongives a date of the eruption as late as 23 November. A later date is consistent with a charcoal inscription at the site, discovered in 2018, which includes the date of 17 October and which must have been recently written.A collaborative study in 2022 determined a date of 24–25 October. An October/November eruption is clearly supported by many pieces of evidence: the fact that people buried in the ash appear to have been wearing heavier clothing than the light summer clothes typical of August; the fresh fruit and vegetables in the shops are typical of October – and conversely the summer fruit typical of August was already being sold in dried, or conserved form; nuts from chestnut trees were found atOplontis, which would not have been mature before mid-September;wine fermenting jars had been sealed, which would have happened around the end of October; coins found in the purse of a woman buried in the ash include one with a 15thimperatorialacclamation among theemperor's titles. These coins could not have been minted before the second week of September. Rediscovery and excavations Titusappointed two ex-consuls to organise a relief effort while donating large amounts of money from the imperial treasury to aid the victims of the volcano.He visited Pompeii once after the eruption and again the following yearbut no work was done on recovery. Soon after the city's burial, survivors and possibly thieves came to salvage valuables, including the marble statues from the Forum and other precious materials from buildings. There is wide evidence of post-eruptiondisturbance, including holes made through walls. The city was not completely buried, and the tops of larger buildings would have been visible above the ash, making it obvious where to dig or salvagebuilding material.The robbers left traces of their passage, as in a house where modern archaeologists found a wall graffito saying \"house dug\". Over the following centuries, its name and location were forgotten, though it still appeared on theTabula Peutingerianaof the 4th century. Further eruptions, particularly in 471–473 and 512, covered the remains more deeply. The area became known as theLa Civita(the city) due to the features in the ground. The next known date that any part was unearthed was in 1592, when architectDomenico Fontana, while digging an underground aqueduct to the mills ofTorre Annunziata, ran into ancient walls covered with paintings and inscriptions. His aqueduct passed through and underneath a large part of the cityand would have had to pass through many buildings and foundations, as they still can be seen in many places today. However, he kept the finding secret. In 1689, Francesco Picchetti saw a wall inscription mentioningdecurio Pompeiis(\"town councillor of Pompeii\"), but he associated it with a villa ofPompey. Francesco Bianchini pointed out the true meaning, and he was supported by Giuseppe Macrini, who in 1693 excavated some walls and wrote that Pompeii lay beneath La Civita. Herculaneum was rediscovered in 1738 by workers digging for the foundations of a summer palace for the King of Naples,Charles of Bourbon. Due to the spectacular quality of the finds, the Spanish military engineerRoque Joaquín de Alcubierremade excavations to find further remains at the site of Pompeii in 1748, even if the city was not identified.Charles of Bourbon took great interest in the finds, even after leaving to become king of Spain because the display of antiquities reinforced Naples' political and cultural prestige.On 20 August 1763, an inscription Rei Publicae Pompeianorum was found and the city was identified as Pompeii. Karl Weberdirected the first scientific excavations.He was followed in 1764 by military engineer Franscisco la Vega, who was succeeded by his brother,Pietro, in 1804. There was much progress in exploration when the French occupied Naples in 1799 and ruled over Italy from 1806 to 1815. The land on which Pompeii lies was confiscated, and up to 700 workers were employed in the excavations. The excavated areas in the north and south were connected. Parts of the Via dell'Abbondanza were also exposed in the west–east direction, and for the first time, an impression of the size and appearance of the ancient town could be appreciated. In the following years, the excavators struggled with a lack of money. Excavations progressed slowly, but with significant finds such as the houses of theFaun, ofMenandro, of theTragic Poetand theSurgeon. Giuseppe Fiorellitook charge of the excavations in 1863 and made greater progress.During early excavations of the site, occasional voids in the ash layer had been found that contained human remains. Fiorelli realised these were spaces left by the decomposed bodies, and so devised the technique of injectingplasterinto them to recreate the forms of Vesuvius's victims. This technique is still in use today, with a clearresinnow used instead of plaster because it is more durable and does not destroy the bones, allowing further analysis. Fiorelli also introduced scientific documentation. He divided the city into today's nine areas (regiones) and blocks (insulae) and numbered the entrances of the individual houses (domus). Fiorelli also published the first periodical with excavation reports. Under his successors, the entire west section of the city was exposed. Modern archaeology After those of Fiorelli, excavations continued in an increasingly more systematic and considered manner under several directors of archaeology though still with the main interest in making spectacular discoveries and uncovering more houses rather than answering the main questions about the city and its long term preservation. In the 1920s,Amedeo Maiuriexcavated older layers beneath those of 79 AD for the first time to learn about the settlement history.Maiuri made the last excavations on a grand scale in the 1950s, and the area south of the Via dell'Abbondanza and the city wall was almost completely uncovered, but they were poorly documented scientifically. Preservation was haphazard, and his reconstructions were difficult to distinguish from the original ruins, which is a great handicap for studying genuine antique remains. Questionable reconstruction was also done after the severe earthquake of 1980, which caused great destruction. Since then, work has been confined to the excavated areas except for targeted soundings and excavations. Further excavations on a large scale are not planned, and today archaeologists are more engaged in reconstructing, documenting and slowing the decay of the ruins. In December 2018, archaeologists discovered the remains of harnessed horses in theVilla of the Mysteries. Under the 'Great Pompeii Project' over 2.5 km (1.6 mi) of ancient walls within the city were relieved of danger of collapse by treating the unexcavated areas behind the street fronts in order to increase drainage and reduce the pressure of groundwater and earth on the walls, a problem especially in the rainy season. These excavations resumed on unexcavated areas ofRegio V.In November 2020 the remains of two men, thought to be a rich man and his slave, were found in a 2 m-thick (6.6 ft) layer of ash. They appeared to have escaped the first eruption but were killed by a second blast the next day. A study of the bones showed that the younger one appeared to have done manual labour and hence was likely a slave. In December 2020, athermopolium, an inn or snack-bar, was excavated in Regio V. In addition to brightly colouredfrescoesdepicting some of the food on offer, archaeologists found eightdolia(terracotta pots) still containing remnants of meals, including duck, goat, pig, fish, and snails.They also found a decorated bronze drinking bowl known as apatera, wine flasks,amphorae, and ceramic jars used for cooking stews and soups. One fresco depicts a dog with a collar on a leash, possibly reminding customers to leash their pets. The complete skeleton of a tiny adult dog was also discovered, measuring only about 20–25 cm (7.9–9.8 in) at the shoulder, which provides evidence of the highly selective breeding of dogs in Roman times. In January 2021 a well-preserved \"large, four-wheel ceremonial chariot\" was uncovered in the portico of the luxurious villa in Civita Giuliana,north of Pompeii, where a stable had previously been discovered in 2018.The carriage is made of bronze and black and red wooden panels, with engraved silver and bronze medallions at the back. It is now thought to be an elaborate and unique bridal carriage called apilentumand in 2023 has been restored for display at the Baths of Diocletian.Nearby the bodies of two fugitives had been found using plaster casts, and in a stable the remains of horses, one still in harness. In 2021, an exceptional 1st century AD painted tomb of a freed slave,Marcus Venerius Secundio, containing mummified human remains, was discovered outside the Porta Sarno gate.Its inscription records he achieved custodianship of the Temple of Venus and membership of the Augustales, priests of the Imperial Cult. Also, he organised Greek and Latin performances lasting four days, the first evidence of Greek cultural events in Pompeii. In April 2024, a dining hall lined with rare frescoes was excavated as part of a broader project aimed at shoring up the front of the perimeter between the excavated and unexcavated area of the site.One fresco presents Helen of Troy and Paris, and another depicts Apollo and Princess Cassandra, with Apollo trying to attract the princess's attention. The hall, measuring 15 by 6 meters, was located in a house on Via di Nola—one of the main city streets in the famousRegio IXarea. The room walls were painted black, perhaps to hide the traces of soot from the lighting fixtures. In June 2024, a shrine with rare blue-painted walls covered with paintings of females thought to represent the four seasons (Horae) was discovered. 15 amphorae, two bronze jugs and two bronze lamps were among the findings. The 8 m2(86 sq ft) room is thought to be a sacrarium (the sanctuary of a church). Conservation Objects buried beneath Pompeii were well-preserved for almost 2,000 years as the lack of air and moisture allowed little to no deterioration. However, Pompeii has been exposed to natural and anthropic deterioration following excavation. Weathering, erosion, light exposure, water damage, poor methods of excavation and reconstruction, introduced plants and animals, tourism, vandalism and theft have all damaged the site in some way. The lack of adequate weather protection for all but the most interesting and important buildings has allowed original interior decoration to fade or be lost. Two-thirds of the city has been excavated, but the remnants of the city are rapidly deteriorating. Furthermore, duringWorld War IImany buildings were badly damaged or destroyed by bombs dropped in several raids by theAllied forces. The conservation concern has constantly worried archaeologists. The ancient city was included in the1996 World Monuments Watchby theWorld Monuments Fund, and again in1998and in2000. In 1996 the organisation claimed that Pompeii \"desperately need repair\" and called for the drafting of a general plan ofrestorationand interpretation.The organisation supported conservation at Pompeii with funding fromAmerican Expressand theSamuel H. Kress Foundation. TheSchola Armatorum('House of the Gladiators')collapsed in 2010 caused by heavy rainfall and lack of proper drainage.The structure was not open to visitors, but the outside was visible to tourists. There was fierce controversy after the collapse, with accusations of neglect. Today, funding is mostly directed into conservation of the site; however, due to the expanse of Pompeii and the scale of the problems, this is inadequate in halting the slow decay of the materials. A 2012 study recommended an improved strategy for interpretation and presentation of the site as a cost-effective method of improving its conservation and preservation in the short term. In June 2013,UNESCOwarned that if restoration and preservation works \"fail to deliver substantial progress in the next two years,\" Pompeii could be placed on theList of World Heritage in Danger.A \"Grande Progetto Pompei\" project of about five years had begun in 2012 with theEuropean Unionand included stabilization and conservation of buildings in the highest risk areas. In 2014,UNESCO headquartersreceived a new management plan to help integrate the property's management, conservation, and maintenance programs. In 2020 manydomusgardens, orchards and vineyards were carefully recreated using depictions in frescoes and archaeological finds to give better insights into what they were like before the catastrophe.These include theHouse of Julia Felix, the House of the Golden Cupids,theHouse of Loreius Tiburtinus, the House of Cornelius Rufusandthe Garden of the Fugitives. In 2021 several long-closeddomuswere re-opened after restoration including the House of the Ship Europa,House of the Orchardand House of the Lovers.Also the newly excavated House of Leda and the Swanhas opened. Roman city development Owing to its wealth and its Greek, Etruscan and Roman history, Pompeii is of great interest for the study ofAncient Roman architecturein terms of building methods and urban planning. However, it was a relatively small provincial city and, except for theAmphitheatre, it did not have large monuments on the scale of other Roman cities. It also missed the large building schemes of the early Empire and kept much of its urban architecture dating from as early as the 4th century BC. The evolution of Pompeii's private and public buildings is often unclear because of the lack of excavations beneath the levels of 79. It is, however, clear that by the time of the conquest by Sulla in 89 BC, the development of the street layout was largely complete, and most of theinsulaewere built. Public buildings Under the Romans, Pompeii underwent a process of urban development which accelerated in the Augustan period from about 30 BC. New public buildings included the Amphitheatre withpalaestraor gymnasium with a centralnatatorium(cella natatoria) or swimming pool, two theatres, theEumachia Buildingand at least four public baths. The amphitheatre has been cited by scholars as a model of sophisticated design, particularly in the area of crowd control. Other service buildings were theMacellum(\"meat market\"); thePistrinum(baker); thethermopolia(inns or snack-bars that served hot and cold dishes and drinks), andcauponae(\"pubs\" or \"dives\" with a seedy reputation as hangouts for thieves and prostitutes). At least one building, theLupanar, was dedicated toprostitution.A large hotel orhospitium(of 1,000 m2) was found nearby at Murecine/Moregine,when theNaples-Salerno motorwaywas being built, and the Murecine Silver Treasure and the Tablets (providing a unique record of business transactions), as well as theMoregine bracelet, were discovered there. Anaqueductprovided water to the public baths, to more than 25 street fountains, and to many private houses and businesses. The aqueduct was a branch of the greatSerino Aqueductbuilt to serve the other large towns in the Bay of Naples region and the important naval base atMisenum. Thecastellum aquaeis well preserved and includes many details of the distribution network and its controls. Shops and workshops There were at least 31 bakeries in the town, each with wood-burning ovens, millstones and a sales counter. The Modestus bakery,or House of the Oven, was the largest in the city and Sotericus's bakery, also among the largest, preserves the room for kneading bread. Thermopoliawere inns or snack-bars in which hot food and drinks were sold and in Pompeii there were nearly 100. The thermopolium of Vetutius Placidusoverlooked the street directly, had a counter and severaldolia, as well as a room behind the shop where customers could eat their meals: thelarariumwith frescoes of theLaresandMercuryandDionysusand atricliniumdecorated in theThird style. In the thermopolium of Asellina,with three sales counters and a lararium with depictions of Mercury andBacchus, numerous furnishings have been found, both in bronze and terracotta, as well as 683sesterces; the external façade bears a representation of jugs and funnels and an electoral inscription referring to Asellina, probably the owner of the inn. Wool processing was well developed with 13 workshops that worked the raw material, seven that did the spinning, nine the dyeing, and 18 the washing: the Building of Eumachia, from the name of the priestess who built it, was the wool market, or the seat of the fullers guild; construction took place after 62 and was entirely in brickwork. Inside it has numerous niches in which statues were housed, mostly concerning the imperial family, a colonnade, and near the entrance, there was a jar in which urine was collected for use as a detergent for clothes. Thefullonicaof Stephanus,named after the owner or manager, was originally a house that was transformed into a workshop for the processing of fabrics: on the lower floor the working and washing activities took place, carried out in large tanks with water, soda and urine while on the upper floor the clothes were dried. Thegarumworkshopmade the sauce obtained from the fermentation of the entrails of fish; in the building some containers were found, closed by lids, with the sauce inside while in the nearby garden was a large deposit ofamphorae. Lists of buildings Town houses (Domus) Exterior villas Other Agriculture and horticulture Modern archaeologists have excavated garden sites and urban domains to reveal the agricultural staples of Pompeii's economy. Pompeii had fertile soil for crop cultivation. The soils surrounding Mount Vesuvius preceding its eruption had good water-retention capabilities, implying productive agriculture. TheTyrrhenian Sea's airflow provided hydration to the soil despite the hot, dry climate.Barley,wheat, andmilletwere produced along with wine and olive oil, for export to other regions. Evidence of wine imported nationally from Pompeii in its most prosperous years can be found from recovered artefacts such as wine bottles in Rome.For this reason, vineyards were of utmost importance to Pompeii's economy. Agricultural policymakerColumellasuggested that each vineyard in Rome produce a quota of threeculleiof wine perjugerum; otherwise, the vineyard would be uprooted. The nutrient-rich lands near Pompeii were extremely efficient and often capable of largely exceeding these requirements, providing the incentive for local wineries to establish themselves.While wine was exported for Pompeii's economy, most other agricultural goods were likely produced in quantities sufficient for the city's consumption. Remains of large formations of constructed wineries were found in the Forum Boarium, covered by cemented casts from the eruption of Vesuvius.It is speculated that these historical vineyards are strikingly similar in structure to the modern day vineyards across Italy. Carbonised food plant remains, roots, seeds and pollens have been found in gardens in Pompeii, Herculaneum, and a Roman villa atTorre Annunziata. They revealed thatemmerwheat,Italian millet,common millet, walnuts, pine nuts, chestnuts, hazel nuts, chickpeas,bitter vetch, broad beans, olives, figs, pears, onions, garlic, peaches, carob, grapes, and dates were consumed. All but the dates could have been produced locally. Erotic art The discovery oferotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneumleft the archaeologists with a dilemma stemming from theclash of culturesbetween the mores ofsexuality in ancient Romeand inCounter-ReformationEurope. An unknown number of discoveries were hidden away again. A wall fresco depictingPriapus, the ancient god of sex and fertility, with his grotesquely enlarged penis, was covered with plaster. An older reproduction was locked away \"out of prudishness\" and opened only on request – and only rediscovered in 1998 due to rainfall.In 2018, an ancient fresco depicting an erotic scene of \"Leda and the Swan\" was discovered at Pompeii. Manyartefactsfrom the buried cities are preserved in theNaples National Archaeological Museum. In 1819, whenKing Francisvisited the Pompeii exhibition there with his wife and daughter, he was so embarrassed by the erotic artwork that he had it locked away in a \"secret cabinet\" (gabinetto segreto), a gallery within the museum accessible only to \"people of mature age and respected morals\". Re-opened, closed, re-opened again and then closed again for nearly 100 years, theNaples \"Secret Museum\"was briefly made accessible again at the end of the 1960s (the time of thesexual revolution) and was finally re-opened for viewing in 2000. Minors are still allowed entry only in the presence of a guardian or with written permission. Tourism Pompeii has been a popular tourist destination for over 250 years;it was on theGrand Tour. By 2008, it was attracting almost 2.6 million visitors per year, making it one of Italy's most popular tourist sites.It is part of a largerVesuvius National Parkand was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997. To combat problems associated with tourism, the governing body for Pompeii, the 'Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei', has begun issuing new tickets that allow tourists to visit cities such asHerculaneumandStabiaeas well as theVilla Poppaea, to encourage visitors to see these sites and reduce pressure on Pompeii. Pompeii is a driving force behind the economy of the nearby town ofPompei. Many residents are employed in the tourism and hospitality industry, serving as taxi or bus drivers, waiters, or hotel staff. Excavations at the site have generally ceased due to a moratorium imposed by the superintendent of the site, Professor Pietro Giovanni Guzzo. The site is generally less accessible to tourists than in the past, with less than a third of all buildings open in the 1960s available for public viewing today. Antiquarium of Pompeii Originally built byGiuseppe Fiorellibetween 1873 and 1874, the Antiquarium of Pompeii began as an exhibition venue displaying archaeological finds that represented the daily life of the ancient city. The building suffered extensive damage in 1943 during theWorld War IIbombings and again in 1980 due to an earthquake. The museum was closed to the public for 36 years before reopening in 2016 as a space for temporary exhibitions.The museum was re-opened on 25 January 2021 as a permanent exhibition venue. Visitors can see archaeological discoveries from the excavations, casts of the victims of the Mount Vesuvius eruption as well as displays documenting Pompeii's settlement history before becoming a thriving Roman city. In popular culture The 1954 filmJourney to Italy, starringGeorge SandersandIngrid Bergman, includes a scene at Pompeii in which they witness the excavation of a cast of a couple who perished in the eruption. Pompeii was the setting for the British comedytelevision seriesUp Pompeii!and the movie of the series. Pompeii also featured in the second episode of the fourth season of revived BBC science fiction seriesDoctor Who, named \"The Fires of Pompeii\",which featured Caecilius as a character. The rock bandPink Floydfilmed a 1971 live concert,Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii, in which they performed six songs in the city's ancient Roman amphitheatre. The audience consisted only of the film's production crew and some local children. Siouxsie and the Bansheeswrote and recorded the punk-inflected dance song \"Cities in Dust\", which describes the disaster that befell Pompeii and Herculaneum in AD 79. The song appears on their album 1985Tinderbox. The jacket of the single remix of the song features the plaster cast of a chained dog killed in Pompeii. Pompeiiis a 2003Robert Harrisnovel featuring an account of the aquarius's race to fix the broken aqueduct in the days before the eruption of Vesuvius. Actual events and people inspired the novel. \"Pompeii\" is a 2013 song by the British bandBastille. The lyrics refer to the city and the eruption ofMount Vesuvius. Pompeiiis a 2014 German-Canadianhistoricaldisaster filmproduced and directed byPaul W. S. Anderson. 45 years after the Pink Floyd recordings, guitaristDavid Gilmourreturned to the Pompeii amphitheatre in 2016 to perform a live concert for hisRattle That Lock Tour. This event was considered the first in the amphitheatre to feature an audience since the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius. Documentaries Gallery See also References Further reading External links","World Heritage Committee TheWorld Heritage Committeeis a committee of theUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizationthat selects the sites to be listed as UNESCOWorld Heritage Sites, including the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger, defines the use of the World Heritage Fund and allocates financial assistance upon requests from States Parties.It comprises representatives from 21state partiesthat are elected by theGeneral Assembly of States Partiesfor a four-year term.These parties vote on decisions and proposals related to theWorld Heritage Conventionand World Heritage List. According to the World Heritage Convention, a committee member's term of office is six years. However many States Parties choose to voluntarily limit their term to four years, in order to give other States Parties an opportunity to serve.All members elected at the 15thGeneral Assembly(2005) voluntarily chose to reduce their term of office from six to four years. Deliberations of the World Heritage Committee are aided by three advisory bodies, theIUCN,ICOMOSandICCROM. Sessions The World Heritage Committee meets once a year for an ordinary session to discuss the management of existingWorld Heritage Sites, and accept nominations by countries.Extraordinary meetings can be convened at the request of two-thirds of the state members.Meetings are held within the territory of state members of the World Heritage Committee at their invitation. Rotation between regions and cultures is a consideration for selection and the location for the next session is chosen by the committee at the end of each session. Bureau At the end of each ordinary session, the committee elects a chairperson, five vice-chairpersons and aRapporteurfrom those members whose term will continue through the next session.These are known as the Bureau, and their representatives are responsible for coordinating the work of the World Heritage Committee, including fixing dates, hours and the order of business meetings. Voting Each state member of the World Heritage Committee has one vote. Decisions require a simple majority with abstentions counted as not voting. Votes are delivered by a show of hands unless a secret ballot is requested by either the chairperson or two or more states members. Members Current members of theUNESCOWorld Heritage Committee: Criticism Increasing politicization of World Heritage Committee decisions to the detriment of conservation aims has been alleged, particularly with regard to new nominations for the World Heritage List, but also with the consideration of sites for the List of World Heritage in Danger.In 2010, states parties including Hungary, Switzerland and Zimbabwe submitted an official protest against such politicization. An external audit requested by the World Heritage Committee for itsGlobal Strategy of the World Heritage Listconcluded in 2011 that political considerations were indeed influencing decisions.It observed that the composition of committee representatives had shifted from experts to diplomats in spite of World Heritage Convention Article 9 and found that opinions from advisory bodies often diverged from World Heritage Committee decisions. In 2016, Israel recalled its UNESCO ambassador after the World Heritage Committee adopted a resolution in a secret ballot that referred to one ofJerusalem's holiest sites, theTemple Mount, only as a \"Muslim holy site of worship\", not mentioning that Jews and Christians venerate the site. The committee has also been criticized with alleged racism, colorism, and geographic bias for favoring the inscription of sites in Western and industrialized countries over sites belonging to so-called \"third-world\" countries. A large proportion of the world heritage sites are located in Europe, Eastern Asia, and North America, where populations notably have lighter skin. See also References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Stratovolcano Astratovolcano, also known as acomposite volcano, is aconicalvolcanobuilt up by many layers (strata) of hardenedlavaandtephra.Unlikeshield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and periodic intervals ofexplosive eruptionsandeffusive eruptions, although some have collapsed summit craters calledcalderas. The lava flowing from stratovolcanoes typically cools and solidifies before spreading far, due to high viscosity. The magma forming this lava is oftenfelsic, having high to intermediate levels ofsilica(as inrhyolite,dacite, orandesite), with lesser amounts of less viscousmaficmagma.Extensive felsic lava flows are uncommon, but have traveled as far as 15 km (9 mi). Stratovolcanoes are sometimes called composite volcanoes because of their composite stratified structure, built up from sequential outpourings of erupted materials. They are among the most common types of volcanoes, in contrast to the less common shield volcanoes.Two examples of stratovolcanoes famous for catastrophic eruptions areKrakatoainIndonesia, which erupted in1883, andVesuviusinItaly, having erupted in79; both eruptions claimed thousands of lives. In modern times,Mount St. Helens(March 27, 1980) inWashington State, US, andMount Pinatubo(June 15, 1991) in thePhilippineshave erupted catastrophically, but with fewer deaths. The existence of stratovolcanoes on other bodies of theSolar Systemhas not been conclusively demonstrated.One possible exception is the existence of some isolatedmassifson Mars, for example theZephyria Tholus. Creation Stratovolcanoes are common atsubduction zones, forming chains and clusters along plate tectonic boundaries whereoceanic crustis drawn undercontinental crust(continental arc volcanism, e.g.Cascade Range,Andes,Campania) or another oceanic plate (island arcvolcanism, e.g.Japan,Philippines,Aleutian Islands). The magma forming stratovolcanoes rises when water trapped both in hydrated minerals and in the porousbasaltrock of the upper oceanic crust is released intomantlerock of theasthenosphereabove the sinking oceanic slab.The release of water from hydrated minerals is termed \\\"dewatering\\\", and occurs at specific pressures and temperatures for each mineral, as the plate descends to greater depths.The water freed from the rock lowers themelting pointof the overlying mantle rock, which then undergoes partial melting, rises (due to its lighter density relative to the surrounding mantle rock), and pools temporarily at the base of thelithosphere. The magma then rises through thecrust, incorporating silica-rich crustal rock, leading to a finalintermediate composition. When the magma nears the top surface, it pools in amagma chamberwithin the crust below the stratovolcano. The processes that trigger the final eruption remain a question for further research. Possible mechanisms include: These internal triggers may be modified by external triggers such assector collapse,earthquakes, orinteractions with groundwater. Some of these triggers operate only under limited conditions. For example, sector collapse (where part of the flank of a volcano collapses in a massive landslide) can trigger eruption only of a very shallow magma chamber. Magma differentiation and thermal expansion also are ineffective as triggers for eruptions from deep magma chambers. Hazards Inrecorded history, explosive eruptions at subduction zone (convergent-boundary) volcanoes have posed the greatest hazard to civilizations.Subduction-zone stratovolcanoes, such asMount St. Helens,Mount EtnaandMount Pinatubo, typically erupt with explosive force because the magma is too viscous to allow easy escape of volcanic gases. As a consequence, the tremendous internal pressures of the trapped volcanic gases remain and intermingle in the pasty magma. Following the breaching of the vent and the opening of the crater, the magma degasses explosively. The magma and gases blast out with high speed and full force. Since 1600CE, nearly 300,000 people have been killed by volcanic eruptions.Most deaths were caused bypyroclastic flowsandlahars, deadly hazards that often accompany explosive eruptions of subduction-zone stratovolcanoes. Pyroclastic flows are swift, avalanche-like, ground-sweeping, incandescent mixtures of hot volcanic debris, fine ash, fragmented lava, and superheated gases that can travel at speeds over 160 km/h (100 mph). Around 30,000 people were killed by pyroclastic flows during the 1902 eruption ofMount Peléeon the island ofMartiniquein the Caribbean.During March and April 1982, three explosive eruptions ofEl Chichónin the State ofChiapasin southeastern Mexico caused the worst volcanic disaster in that country's history. Villages within 8 km (5 mi) of the volcano were destroyed by pyroclastic flows, killing more than 2,000 people. TwoDecade Volcanoesthat erupted in 1991 provide examples of stratovolcano hazards. On 15 June, Mount Pinatubo spewed an ash cloud 40 km (25 mi) into the air and produced huge pyroclastic surges andlaharfloods that devastated a large area around the volcano. Pinatubo, located inCentral Luzonjust 90 km (56 mi) west-northwest ofManila, had been dormant for six centuries before the 1991 eruption, which ranks as one of the largest eruptions in the 20th century.Also in 1991, Japan'sUnzen Volcano, located on the island of Kyushu about 40 km (25 mi) east of Nagasaki, awakened from its 200-year slumber to produce a newlava domeat its summit. Beginning in June, the repeated collapse of this erupting dome generated ash flows that swept down the mountain's slopes at speeds as high as 200 km/h (120 mph). Unzen is one of more than 75 active volcanoes in Japan; an eruption in 1792 killed more than 15,000 people—the worst volcanic disaster in the nation's history. Theeruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79completely smothered the nearby ancient cities ofPompeiiandHerculaneumwith thick deposits ofpyroclastic surgesandlava flows. Although the death toll has been estimated at between 13,000 and 26,000 people, the exact number is still unclear. Vesuvius is recognized as one of the most dangerous of the world's volcanoes, due to its capacity forpowerful explosive eruptionscoupled with the high population density of the surroundingMetropolitan Naplesarea (totaling about 3.6 million inhabitants). Ash In addition to potentially affecting the climate, volcanic clouds from explosive eruptions pose a serious hazard to aviation.For example, during the 1982 eruption ofGalunggunginJava,British Airways Flight 9flew into the ash cloud, causing it to sustain temporary engine failure and structural damage. During the past two decades, more than 60 airplanes, mostly commercial airliners, have been damaged by in-flight encounters with volcanic ash. Some of these encounters have resulted in the loss of power in all engines, necessitating emergency landings. As of 1999, no crashes have happened because of jet aircraft flying into volcanic ash.Ashfallsare a threat to health when inhaled and ash is also a threat to property with enough accumulation. Dense clouds of hot volcanic ash can be expelled due to the collapse of aneruptive column, or laterally due to the partial collapse of a volcanic edifice or lava dome during explosive eruptions. These clouds can generate devastating pyroclastic flows or surges. Lava Lava flows from stratovolcanoes are generally not a significant threat to humans or animals because the highlyviscouslava moves slowly enough for everyone to flee away from the path of flow. The lava flows are more of a threat to property. However, not all stratovolcanoes erupt viscous and sticky lava.Nyiragongo, near Lake Kivu in central Africa, is very dangerous because itsmagmahas an unusually low silica content, making it quite fluid. Fluid lavas are typically associated with the formation of broad shield volcanoes such as those of Hawaii, but Nyiragongo has very steep slopes down which lava can flow at up to 100 km/h (60 mph). Lava flows could melt down ice and glaciers that accumulated on the volcano's crater and upper slopes, generating massivelaharflows. Rarely, generally fluid lava could also generate massive lava fountains, while lava of thicker viscosity can solidify within the vent, creating avolcanic plugwhich can result in highly explosive eruptions. Volcanic bombs Volcanic bombs are extrusiveigneous rocksranging from the size of books to small cars, that are explosively ejected from stratovolcanoes during their climactic eruptive phases. These \\\"bombs\\\" can travel over 20 km (12 mi) away from the volcano, and present a risk to buildings and living beings while shooting at very high speeds (hundreds of kilometers/miles per hour) through the air. Most bombs do not themselves explode on impact, but rather carry enough force to have destructive effects as if they exploded. Lahar Lahars (from aJavaneseterm for volcanic mudflows) are mixtures of volcanic debris and water. Lahars usually come from two sources: rainfall, or the melting of snow and ice by hot volcanic elements, such as lava. Depending on the proportion and temperature of water to volcanic material, lahars can range from thick, gooey flows that have the consistency of wet concrete to fast-flowing, soupy floods.As lahars flood down the steep sides of stratovolcanoes, they have the strength and speed to flatten or drown everything in their paths. Hot ash clouds, lava flows and pyroclastic surges ejected during1985 eruptionofNevado del RuizinColombiamelted snow and ice atop the 5,321 m (17,457 ft) high Andean volcano. The ensuing lahar flooded the city ofArmeroand nearby settlements, killing 25,000 people. Effects on climate and atmosphere As per the above examples, while the Unzen eruptions have caused deaths and considerable local damage in the historic past, the impact of the June 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo was global. Slightly cooler-than-usual temperatures were recorded worldwide, with brilliant sunsets and intense sunrises attributed to theparticulates; this eruption lofted particles high into thestratosphere. Theaerosolsthat formed from thesulfur dioxide(SO2),carbon dioxide(CO2), and other gases dispersed around the world. The SO2mass in this cloud—about 22 million tons—combined with water (both of volcanic and atmospheric origin) formed droplets ofsulfuric acid, blocking a portion of the sunlight from reaching thetroposphereand ground. The cooling in some regions is thought to have been as much as 0.5 °C (0.9 °F).An eruption the size of Mount Pinatubo tends to affect the weather for a few years; the material injected into the stratosphere gradually drops into thetroposphere, where it is washed away by rain and cloud precipitation. A similar but extraordinarily more powerful phenomenon occurred in the cataclysmic April 1815 eruption ofMount TamboraonSumbawaisland inIndonesia. The Mount Tambora eruption is recognized as the most powerful eruption in recorded history. Its eruption cloud lowered global temperatures by as much as 3.5 °C (6.3 °F).In the year following the eruption, most of the Northern Hemisphere experienced sharply cooler temperatures during the summer. In parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America, 1816 was known as the \\\"Year Without a Summer\\\", which caused a considerable agricultural crisis and a brief but bitter famine, which generated a series of distresses across much of the affected continents. List See also References\",\n \"Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD Of the many eruptions ofMount Vesuvius, a majorstratovolcanoinSouthern Italy, the best-known is its eruption in 79 AD,which wasone of the deadliest in history. Mount Vesuvius violently spewed forth acloudof super-heatedtephraandgasesto a height of 33 km (21 mi), ejectingmolten rock, pulverizedpumiceandhot ashat 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing 100,000 times thethermal energyof theatomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.The event gives its name to theVesuviantype of volcanic eruption, characterised by columns of hot gases and ash reaching thestratosphere, although the event also includedpyroclastic flowsassociated withPelean eruptions. The event destroyed severalRomantowns and settlements in the area.PompeiiandHerculaneum, obliterated and buried underneath massivepyroclastic surgesandashfall deposits, are the most famous examples.Archaeological excavations have revealed much of the towns and the lives of the inhabitants leading to the area becoming theVesuvius National Parkand a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site. The total population of both cities was over 20,000.The remains of over 1,500 people have been found at Pompeii and Herculaneum. The total death toll from the eruption remains unknown. Precursor earthquakes Amajor earthquakecaused widespread destruction around theBay of Naples, particularly to Pompeii, on February 5, 62 AD.Some of the damage had still not been repaired when the volcano erupted in October 79 AD. Another smaller earthquake took place in 64 AD; it was recorded bySuetoniusin his biography ofNero,and byTacitusinAnnalesbecause it took place while Nero was in Naples performing for the first time in a public theater.Suetonius recorded that the emperor continued singing through the earthquake until he had finished his song, while Tacitus wrote that the theater collapsed shortly after beingevacuated. Minor earthquakes were reported in the four days before the 79 AD eruption, but the warnings were not recognized. The inhabitants of the area surrounding Mount Vesuvius had been accustomed to minor tremors in the region;Pliny the Youngerwrote that they \\\"were not particularly alarming because they are frequent in Campania\\\". Nature of the eruption Reconstructions of the eruption and its effects vary considerably in the details but have the same overall features. The eruption lasted for two days.Pliny the Younger, author of the only surviving written testimony, described the morning before the eruption as normal; however, he was staying atMisenum29 kilometres (18 mi) from the volcano across the Bay of Naples. The first day of the eruption had little effect on Misenum.Pompeii is never mentioned in Pliny the Younger's letter. Around 1:00 p.m., Mount Vesuvius erupted violently, spewing up a high-altitude column from which ash and pumice began to fall, blanketing the area.Over the next few hours, rescues and escapes occurred during this time.At some time in the night or early the next day,pyroclastic flowsin the close vicinity of the volcano began; lights seen on the mountain were interpreted as fires, and people as far away as Misenum fled for their lives.The flows were rapid-moving, dense, and very hot, wholly or partly knocking down all structures in their path, incinerating or suffocating the remaining population.These were accompanied by additional tremors and a mildtsunamiin the Bay of Naples.One or more earthquakes at this time were strong enough to cause buildings to collapse at least in Pompeii killing the occupants.By the evening of the second day, the eruption stopped affecting Misenum, with only haze in the atmosphere, screening sunlight.Pliny the Younger wrote: broad flames shone out in several places fromMount Vesuvius, which the darkness of the night contributed to render still brighter and clearer... It was now day everywhere else, but there a deeper darkness prevailed than in the thickest night. Stratigraphic studies Sigurðsson, Cashdollar, andSparksundertook a detailed stratigraphic study of ash layers based on excavations and surveys, published in 1982. They concluded that the eruption unfolded in two phases,VesuvianandPelean, which alternated six times. A firstPlinian phaseprojected a column of volcanic debris and hot gases between 15 km (9 mi) and 30 km (19 mi) into thestratosphere. This phase lasted 18 to 20 hours and spread pumice and ashes, forming a 2.8 m (9 ft) layer to the south, towards Pompeii. An earthquake caused buildings in Pompeii to collapse at this time. The followingPelean phaseproducedpyroclastic surgesof molten rock and hot gases that reached as far asMisenum, to the west. Concentrated to the south and southeast, two pyroclastic surges engulfed Pompeii with a 1.8-metre-deep (6 ft) layer, burning and asphyxiating any living beings who had remained behind.Herculaneum,Pompeii, andOplontisreceived the brunt of the surges and were buried in fine pyroclastic deposits, pulverized pumice and lava fragments up to 20 m (70 ft) deep. Surges 4 and 5 are believed to have destroyed and buried Pompeii.Surges are identified in the deposits by dune and cross-bedding formations, which are not produced by fallout. The eruption is considered primarilyphreatomagmatic, i.e. a blast driven by energy from escaping steam produced by seawater seeping into the deep-seated faults and interacting with hot magma. Timing of explosions In an article published in 2002, Sigurðsson and Casey concluded that an early explosion produced a column of ash and pumice which rained on Pompeii to the southeast but not on Herculaneum, which was upwind.Subsequently, the cloud collapsed as the gases densified and lost their capability to support their solid contents. The authors suggest that the first ash falls are to be interpreted as early-morning, low-volume explosions not seen from Misenum, causingRectinato send her messenger on a ride of several hours around the Bay of Naples, then passable, providing an answer to the paradox of how the messenger might miraculously appear at Pliny's villa so shortly after a distant eruption that would have prevented him. Magnetic studies A 2006 study by Zanella, Gurioli, Pareschi, and Lanza used the magnetic characteristics of over 200 samples of lithic, roof-tile, and plaster fragments collected from pyroclastic deposits in and around Pompeii to estimate the equilibrium temperatures of thedeposits.The deposits were placed bypyroclastic density currents(PDCs) resulting from the collapses of the Plinian column. The authors argue that fragments over 2–5 cm (0.8–2 in) were not in the current long enough to acquire its temperature, which would have been much higher. Therefore, they distinguish between the depositional temperatures, which they estimated, and the emplacement temperatures, which in some cases, based on the cooling characteristics of some types and fragment sizes of rocks they believed they also could estimate. The final figures are considered to be those of the rocks in the current just before deposition. All crystal rock contains some iron or iron compounds, rendering itferromagnetic, as do Roman roof tiles and plaster. These materials may acquire a residual field from several sources. When individual molecules, which aremagnetic dipoles, are held in alignment by being bound in acrystallinestructure, the small fields reinforce each other to form the rock's residual field.Heating the material addsinternal energyto it. At theCurie temperature, the vibration of the molecules is sufficient to disrupt the alignment; the material loses its residual magnetism and assumes whatevermagnetic fieldmight be applied to it only for the duration of the application. The authors term this phenomenon unblocking. Residual magnetism is considered to \\\"block out\\\" non-residual fields. Arockis a mixture of minerals, each with its own Curie temperature; the authors, therefore, looked for aspectrumof temperatures rather than a single temperature. In the ideal sample, the PDC did not raise the temperature of the fragment beyond the highest blocking temperature. Some constituent materials retained the magnetism the Earth's field imposed when the item was formed. The temperature was raised above the lowest blocking temperature; therefore, some minerals on recooling acquired the magnetism of the Earth as it was in 79 AD. The broad field of the sample was thevector sumof the fields of the high-blocking material and the low-blocking material. This type of sample made it possible to estimate the low unblocking temperature. Using special equipment that measured field direction and strength at various temperatures, the experimenters raised the temperature of the sample in increments of40 °C (70 °F)from 100 °C (210 °F) until it reached the low unblocking temperature.Deprived of one of its components, the overall field changed direction. A plot of direction at each increment identified the increment at which the sample's resultant magnetism had formed.That was considered the equilibrium temperature of the deposit. Considering the data for all the surge deposits arrived at a surge deposit estimate. The authors discovered that the city of Pompeii was a relatively cool spot within a much hotter field, which they attributed to the interaction of the surge with the \\\"fabric\\\" of the city. The investigators reconstruct the sequence of volcanic events as follows: The variable temperature of the first surge was due to interaction with the buildings. Any population remaining in structural refuges could not have escaped, as gases of incinerating temperatures surrounded the city. The lowest temperatures were in rooms under collapsed roofs. These were as low as 100 °C (212 °F), the boiling point of water.The authors suggest that elements of the bottom of the flow were decoupled from the main flow by topographic irregularities and made cooler by introducing turbulent ambient air. In the second surge, the irregularities were gone, and the city was as hot as the surrounding environment. During the last surge, which was very dilute, an additional 1 metre (3.3 ft) of deposits fell over the region. The Two Plinys The only surviving eyewitness account of the event consists of two letters byPliny the Younger, who was 17 at the time of the eruption,written to the historianTacitussome 25 years after the event.Observing the first volcanic activity fromMisenumacross the Bay of Naples from the volcano, approximately 29 kilometres (18 mi) away,Pliny the Elder(Pliny the Younger's uncle) launched a rescue fleet and went himself to the rescue of a personal friend. His nephew declined to join the party. One of the nephew's letters relates what he could discover from witnesses of his uncle's experiences.In a second letter, the younger Pliny details his own observations after the departure of his uncle. Pliny the Younger Pliny the Younger saw an extraordinarily dense cloud rising rapidly above the mountain: the appearance of which I cannot give you a more exact description of than by likening it to that of a pine-tree, for it shot up to a great height in the form of a very tall trunk, which spread itself out at the top into a sort of branches. it appeared sometimes bright and sometimes dark and spotted, according as it was either more or less impregnated with earth and cinders. These events and a request by messenger for an evacuation by sea prompted the elder Pliny to order rescue operations in which he sailed away to participate. His nephew attempted to resume a normal life, continuing to study and bathe, but that night a tremor woke him and his mother, prompting them to abandon the house for the courtyard. At another tremor at dawn, the population abandoned the village. After a third tremor, \\\"the sea seemed to roll back upon itself, and to be driven from its banks\\\", which is evidence of atsunami. There is, however, no evidence of extensive damage from wave action. A black cloud obscured the early light through which shone flashes, which Pliny likens to sheet lightning, but more extensive. The cloud obscured Point Misenum near at hand and the island of Capraia (Capri) across the bay. Fearing for their lives, the population began calling each other and moving back from the coast along the road. Pliny's mother requested him to abandon her and save his own life, as she was too fleshy and aged to go further, but seizing her hand, he led her away as best he could. A rain of ash fell. Pliny needed to shake off the ash periodically to avoid being buried. Later that same day, the ash stopped falling, and the sun shone weakly through the cloud, encouraging Pliny and his mother to return home and wait for news of Pliny the Elder. The letter compares the ash to a blanket of snow. The earthquake and tsunami damage at that location were not severe enough to prevent continued use of the home. Pliny the Elder Pliny's uncle,Pliny the Elder, was in command of theRoman fleetat Misenum and had meanwhile decided to investigate the phenomenon at close hand in a light vessel. As the ship was preparing to leave the area, a messenger came from his friend Rectina (wife of Bassus) living on the coast near the foot of the volcano, explaining that her party could only get away by sea and asking for rescue.Pliny ordered the immediate launching of the fleet galleys to the evacuation of the coast. He continued in his light ship to the rescue of Rectina's party. He set off across the bay but encountered thick showers of hot cinders, lumps of pumice, and pieces of rock in the shallows on the other side. Advised by the helmsman to turn back, he stated \\\"Fortune favors the brave\\\" and ordered him to continue toStabiae(about 4.5 km or 2.8 mi from Pompeii), wherePomponianuswas.Pomponianus had already loaded a ship with possessions and was preparing to leave, but the same onshore wind that brought Pliny's ship to the location had prevented anyone from leaving. Pliny and his party saw flames coming from several parts of the mountain, which Pliny and his friends attributed to burning villages. After staying overnight, the party was driven from the building by its violent shaking.They woke Pliny, who had been napping and snoring loudly. They elected to take to the fields with pillows tied to their heads to protect them from rockfall. They approached the beach again, but the wind had not changed. Pliny sat down on a sail spread for him and could not rise, even with assistance. His friends then departed, escaping ultimately by land.Very likely, he had collapsed and died, the most popular explanation for why his friends abandoned him, although Suetonius offers an alternative story of his ordering a slave to kill him to avoid the pain of incineration. How the slave would have escaped remains a mystery. There is no mention of such an event in his nephew's letters. In the first letter to Tacitus, his nephew suggested that his death was due to the reaction of his weak lungs to a cloud of poisonous, sulphurous gas that wafted over the group.However, Stabiae was 16 km (9.9 mi) from the vent (roughly where the modern town ofCastellammare di Stabiais situated), and his companions were apparently unaffected by the fumes, and so it is more likely that the corpulent Pliny died from some other cause, such as a stroke or heart attack.Anasthmaticattack is also not out of the question. His body was found with no apparent injuries the next day once the plume had dispersed. Casualties from the eruption Apart from Pliny the Elder, the only casualties of the eruption to be known by name were theHerodianprincessDrusillaand her son Agrippa, who was born in her marriage with theprocuratorAntonius Felix.It is also said that the poetCaesius Bassusdied in the eruption. By 2003, approximately 1,044 casts made from impressions of bodies in the ash deposits had been recovered in and around Pompeii, with the scattered bones of another 100.The remains of about 332 bodies have been found at Herculaneum (300 in arched vaults discovered in 1980).The total number of fatalities remains unknown. Thirty-eight percent of the 1,044 were found in the ash fall deposits, the majority inside buildings.This differs from modern experience over the last 400 years when ash falls have killed only around 4% of victims during explosive eruptions. This cohort was possibly sheltering in buildings when they were overcome. The remaining 62% of bodies found at Pompeii lay in thepyroclastic surgedeposits, which probably killed them. It was initially believed that due to the state of the bodies found at Pompeii and the outline of clothes on the bodies, it was unlikely that high temperatures were a significant cause. Later studies indicated that during the fourth pyroclastic surge (the first surge to reach Pompeii), the temperature reached 300 °C (572 °F), which was enough to kill people in a fraction of a second.The contorted postures of bodies as if frozen in suspended action were not the effects of long agony, but of thecadaveric spasm, a consequence of heat shock on corpses.The heat was so intense that organs and blood were vaporised, and at least one victim's brain wasvitrifiedby the temperature. Herculaneum, which was much closer to the crater, was saved fromtephrafalls by the wind direction but was buried under 23 metres (75 ft) of material deposited by pyroclastic surges. It is likely that most, or all, of the known victims in this town, were killed by the surges, particularly given evidence of high temperatures found on the skeletons of the victims found in the arched vaults on the seashore and the existence of carbonised wood in many of the buildings. These people were concentrated in the vaults at a density as high as three per square metre and were all caught by the first surge, dying of thermal shock and partly carbonised by later and hotter surges. The vaults were most likely boathouses, as the crossbeams overhead were probably for the suspension of boats used for the earlier escape of some of the population. As only 85 metres (279 ft) of the coast have been excavated, more casualties may be waiting to be unearthed. Date of the eruption Vesuvius and its destructive eruption are mentioned in first-century Roman sources, but not the day of the eruption. For example,Josephusin hisAntiquities of the Jewsmentions that the eruption occurred \\\"in the days ofTitus Caesar.\\\"Suetonius, a second-century historian, in hisLife of Titussimply says that, \\\"There were some dreadful disasters during his reign, such as the eruption of Mount Vesuvius inCampania.\\\" Writing well over a century after the actual event, Roman historianCassius Dio(as translated in theLoeb Classical Library1925 edition) wrote that, \\\"In Campania remarkable and frightful occurrences took place; for a great fire suddenly flared up at the very end of the summer.\\\" For more than five centuries, until approximately 2018, articles about the eruption of Vesuvius typically stated that the eruption began on August 24, 79 AD. This date came from a 1508 printed copy of a letter addressed byPliny the Youngerto the Roman historianTacitus, originally written some 25 years after the event.Pliny was a witness to the eruption and provided the only known eyewitness account. Over fourteen centuries of manuscript hand-copying up to the 1508 printing of his letters, the date given in Pliny's original letter may have been corrupted. Manuscript experts believe that the date originally given by Pliny was one of August 24, October 30, November 1, or November 23.This odd scattered set of dates is due to the Romans'convention for describing calendar dates. The large majority of extant medieval manuscript copies (there are no surviving Roman copies) indicate a date corresponding to August 24. Since the discovery of the cities, this was accepted by most scholars and by nearly all books written about Pompeii and Herculaneum for the general public. Since at least the late 18th century, a minority among archaeologists and other scientists have suggested that the eruption began after August 24, during the autumn, perhaps in October or November. In 1797, the researcher Carlo Rosini reported that excavations atPompeiiandHerculaneumhad uncovered traces of fruits andbraziersindicative of autumn, not the summer. More recently, in 1990 and 2001, archaeologists discovered more remnants of autumnal fruits (such as thepomegranate), the remains of victims of the eruption in heavy clothing, and large earthenware storage vessels laden with wine (at the time of their burial by Vesuvius). The wine-related discovery suggests that the eruption might have happened after the grape harvest. In 2007, a study of prevailing winds in Campania showed that the southeasterly debris pattern of the first-century eruption is quite consistent with an autumn event and inconsistent with an August date. During June, July, and August, the prevailing winds flow to the west – an arc between the southwest and northwest – virtually all the time. AsEmperor Titusof theFlavian dynasty(reigning June 24, 79 AD to September 13, 81 AD) garnered victories on the battlefield (including his capture of theTemple of Jerusalem) and other honors, his administration issued coins enumerating his ever-growing accolades. Given the limited space on each coin, his achievements were stamped on the coins using an arcane encoding. Two of these coins, from early in Titus' reign, were found in a hoard recovered at Pompeii's House of the Golden Bracelet. Although the coins' minting dates are somewhat in dispute,anumismaticexpert at theBritish Museum, Richard Abdy, concluded that the latest coin in the hoard was minted on or after June 24 (the first date of Titus' reign) and before September 1, 79 AD. Abdy states that it is \\\"remarkable that both coins will have taken just two months after minting to enter circulation and reach Pompeii before the disaster.\\\" In October 2018, Italian archaeologists uncovered a charcoal inscription reading \\\"the 16th day before the calends (first) of November,\\\"or October 17, that was probably \\\"made by a worker renovating a home\\\",and which has subsequently been suggested as \\\"the most likely date for the eruption\\\".While the \\\"graffito does not have a year listed the nature of the writing suggests it was done just before the eruption of Vesuvius. It was found in an area of a house that was in the process of being renovated, likely just before the volcano erupted\\\",while the charcoal writing itself is \\\"fragile and unlikely to have been preserved for years prior to the utter destruction of Pompeii.\\\"However, \\\"it is not known whether the Oct 17 graffito referred to that day, or a day in the past or the future.\\\"A collaborative study in 2022 has determined a date of October 24–25 for the eruption in 79 AD. See also Notes References Bibliography External links\",\n \"Pompeii Pompeii(/pɒmˈpeɪ(i)/ⓘpom-PAY(-ee),Latin:) was a city in what is now the municipality ofPompei, nearNaples, in theCampaniaregion ofItaly. Along withHerculaneum,Stabiae, andmany surrounding villas, the city was buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) ofvolcanic ashandpumicein theeruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Largely preserved under the ash, Pompeii offers a unique snapshot ofRoman life, frozen at the moment it was buried,as well as insight into ancienturban planning.It was a wealthy town of 10,000 to 20,000 residents at the time it was destroyed.It hosted many fine public buildings and luxurious private houses with lavish decorations, furnishings and artworks, which were the main attractions for early excavators; subsequent excavations have found hundreds of private homes and businesses reflecting various architectural styles and social classes, as well as numerous public buildings. Organic remains, including wooden objects and human bodies, were interred in the ash; their eventual decay allowed archaeologists to createmouldsof figures in their final moments of life. The numerousgraffiticarved on outside walls and inside rooms provide a wealth of examples of the largely lostVulgar Latinspoken colloquially at the time, contrasting with the formal language of classical writers. Following its destruction, Pompeii remained largely undisturbed until its rediscovery in the late 16th century. Major excavations did not begin until the mid-18th century, which marked the emergence of modernarcheology;initial efforts to unearth the city were haphazard or marred by looting, resulting in many items or sites being damaged or destroyed.By 1960, most of Pompeii had been uncovered but left in decay;further major excavations were banned or limited to targeted, prioritised areas. Since 2018, these efforts have led to new discoveries in some previously unexplored areas of the city,including a banquet hall adorned with rare, well preserved frescoes depicting various mythological scenes and figures. Pompeii is aUNESCOWorld Heritage Site, owing to its status as \\\"the only archaeological site in the world that provides a complete picture of an ancient Roman city.\\\"It is among the most popular tourist attractions in Italy, with approximately 2.5 million visitors annually. Name Pompeiiin Latin is a seconddeclensionmasculine nominative plural noun (Pompeiī, -ōrum). According to Theodor Kraus, \\\"The root of the word Pompeii would appear to be theOscanword for the number five,pompe, which suggests that either the community consisted of fivehamletsor perhaps it was settled by a family group (gens Pompeia).\\\" Geography Pompeii was built approximately 40 m (130 ft) above sea level on a coastal lava plateau created by earlier eruptions ofMount Vesuvius(8 km or 5 mi distant). The plateau fell steeply to the south and partly to the west into the sea. Three layers of sediment from largelandslideslie on top of the lava, perhaps triggered by extended rainfall.The city, once by the shoreline, is today circa 700 m (2,300 ft) inland. The mouth of the navigableSarno River, adjacent to the city, was protected by lagoons and served early Greek and Phoenician sailors as a haven port, later developed by the Romans. Pompeii covered a total of 64 to 67 hectares (160 to 170 acres) and was home to 11,000 to 11,500 people, based on household counts. History Although best known for its Roman remains visible today, dating from AD 79, it was built upon a substantial city dating from much earlier times. Expansion of the city from an early nucleus (theold town) accelerated after 450 BC under the Greeks following theBattle of Cumae. Early history The first stable settlements on the site date to the 8th century BC when theOscans,a population of central Italy, founded five villages in the area. With the arrival of the Greeks in Campania from around 740 BC, Pompeii entered the orbit of the Hellenic people. The most important building of this period is theDoricTemple,built away from the centre in what would later become the Triangular Forum.: 62At the same time the cult of Apollo was introduced.Greek andPhoeniciansailors used the location as a safe port. In the early 6th century BC, the settlement merged into a single community centred on the important crossroad betweenCumae,Nola, andStabiaeand was surrounded by atufacity wall (thepappamontewall).The first wall (which was also used as a base for the later wall) unusually enclosed a much greater area than the early town together with much agricultural land.That such an impressive wall was built at this time indicates that the settlement was already important and wealthy. The city began to flourish and maritime trade started with the construction of a small port near the mouth of the river.The earliest settlement was focused in regions VII and VIII of the town (the old town) as identified fromstratigraphybelow the Samnite and Roman buildings, as well as from the different and irregular street plan. By 524 BCthe Etruscans had settled in the area, including Pompeii, finding in the river Sarno a communication route between the sea and the interior. Like the Greeks, the Etruscans did not conquer the city militarily, but simply controlled it, and Pompeii enjoyed a sort of autonomy.: 63Nevertheless, Pompeii became a member of theEtruscan League of cities.Excavations in 1980–1981 have shown the presence of Etruscan inscriptions and a 6th-century BCnecropolis.Under the Etruscans, a primitiveforumor simple market square was built, as well as theTemple of Apollo, in both of which objects including fragments ofbuccherowere found byMaiuri.Several houses were built with the so-called Tuscanatrium, typical of this people.: 64 The city wall was strengthened in the early 5th century BC with two façades of relatively thin, vertically set slabs of Sarno limestone some four metres (13 ft) apart filled with earth (theorthostatewall). In 474 BC, the Greek city ofCumae, allied withSyracuse, defeated the Etruscans at theBattle of Cumaeand gained control of the area. The Samnite period The period between about 450–375 BC witnessed large areas of the city being abandoned while important sanctuaries such as the Temple of Apollo show a sudden lack of votive material remains. TheSamnites, people from the areas ofAbruzzoandMolise, and allies of the Romans, conquered Greek Cumae between 423 and 420 BC. It is likely that all of the surrounding territory, including Pompeii, was already conquered around 424 BC. The new rulers gradually imposed their architecture and enlarged the town. From 343 to 341 BC in theSamnite Wars, the first Roman army entered the Campanian plain bringing with it the customs and traditions of Rome, and in the RomanLatin Warfrom 340 BC, the Samnites were faithful to Rome. Although governed by the Samnites, Pompeii entered the Roman orbit, to which it remained faithful even during the third Samnite war and in the war againstPyrrhus. In the late 4th century BC, the city began expanding from its nucleus into the open-walled area. The street plan of the new areas was more regular and more conformal toHippodamus's street plan. The city walls were reinforced inSarnostone in the early 3rd century BC (the limestoneenceinte, or the \\\"first Samnite wall\\\"). It formed the basis for the currently visible walls with an outer wall of rectangular limestone blocks as a terrace wall supporting a largeagger, or earth embankment, behind it. After theSamnite Warsfrom 290 BC, Pompeii was forced to accept the status ofsociiof Rome, maintaining, however, linguistic and administrative autonomy. From the outbreak of theSecond Punic War(218–201 BC) in whichHannibal's invasion threatened many cities, Pompeii remained faithful to Rome unlike many of the southern cities. As a result, an additional internal wall was built oftufaand the internalaggerand outer façade raised, resulting in a double parapet with a wider wall-walk.Despite the political uncertainty of these events and the progressive migration of wealthy men to quieter cities in the eastern Mediterranean, Pompeii continued to flourish due to the production and trade of wine and oil with places likeProvenceand Spain,as well as to intensive agriculture on farms around the city. In the 2nd century BC, Pompeii enriched itself by taking part in Rome's conquest of the east, as shown by a statue of Apollo in the Forum erected byLucius Mummiusin gratitude for their support in the sack ofCorinthand the eastern campaigns. These riches enabled Pompeii to bloom and expand to its ultimate limits. The Forum and many public and private buildings of high architectural quality were built, includingThe Large Theatre, theTemple of Jupiter, the Basilica, the Comitium, the Stabian Baths, and a new two-story portico. The Roman period Pompeii was one of the towns of Campania that rebelled against Rome in theSocial Warsand in 89 BC it was besieged bySulla, who targeted the strategically vulnerable Porta Ercolano with his artillery as can still be seen by the impact craters of thousands ofballistashots in the walls. Many nearby buildings inside the walls were also destroyed.Although the battle-hardened troops of the Social League, headed byLucius Cluentius, helped in resisting the Romans, Pompeii was forced to surrender after the conquest of Nola. The result was that Pompeii became aRoman colonynamed Colonia Cornelia Veneria Pompeianorum. Many of Sulla's veterans were given land and property in and around the city, while many who opposed Rome were dispossessed of their property. Despite this, the Pompeians were grantedRoman citizenshipand quickly assimilated into the Roman world. The main language in the city became Latin,and many of Pompeii's old aristocratic families Latinized their names as a sign of assimilation. The area around Pompeii became very prosperous due to the desirability of living on the Bay of Naples for wealthy Romans and due to the rich agricultural land.Many farms and villas were built nearby, outside the city and many have been excavated. These include theVilla of the Mysteries,Villa of Diomedes, several atBoscoreale,Boscotrecase,Oplontis,Terzigno, and Civita Guiliana. The city became an important passage for goods that arrived by sea and had to be sent toward Rome orSouthern Italyalong the nearbyAppian Way. Many public buildings were constructed or refurbished and improved under the new order; new buildings included theAmphitheatre of Pompeiiin 70 BC, the Forum Baths, and theOdeon. In comparison, the Forum was embellished with the colonnade of Popidius before 80 BC.These buildings raised the status of Pompeii as a cultural centre in the region as it outshone its neighbours in the number of places for entertainment which significantly enhanced the social and economic development of the city. UnderAugustus, from about 30 BC, a major expansion in new public buildings, as in the rest of the empire, included theEumachia Building, the Sanctuary of Augustus and theMacellum. From about 20 BC, Pompeii was fed with running water by a spur from theSerino Aqueduct, built byMarcus Vipsanius Agrippa. In AD 59, there was a serious riot and bloodshed in the amphitheatre between Pompeians andNucerians(which is recorded in a fresco) and which led the Roman Senate to send thePraetorian Guardto restore order and to ban further events for ten years. AD 62–79 The inhabitants of Pompeii had long been used to minor earthquakes (indeed, the writerPliny the Youngerwrote that earth tremors \\\"were not particularly alarming because they are frequent in Campania\\\"), but on 5 February 62asevere earthquakedid considerable damage around the bay, and particularly to Pompeii. It is believed that the earthquake would have registered between 5 and 6 on theRichter magnitude scale. On that day in Pompeii, there were to be two sacrifices, as it was the anniversary ofAugustusbeing namedPater Patriae(\\\"Father of the Country\\\") and also a feast day to honour the guardian spirits of the city. Chaos followed the earthquake; fires caused by oil lamps that had fallen during the quake added to the panic. The nearby cities ofHerculaneumandNuceriawere also affected. Between 62 AD and the eruption in 79 AD, most rebuilding was done in the private sector and older, damaged frescoes were often covered with newer ones, for example. In the public sector, the opportunity was taken to improve buildings and the city plan, e.g. in the Forum. An important field of current research concerns structures that were restored between the earthquake of 62 and the eruption. It was thought until recently that some of the damage had still not been repaired at the time of the eruption, but this is doubtful as the evidence of missing forum statues and marble wall veneers are most likely due to robbers after the city's burial.The public buildings on the east side of the Forum were largely restored and were enhanced by beautiful marble veneers and other modifications to the architecture. Some buildings like the Central Baths were only started after the earthquake and were built to enhance the city with modern developments in their architecture, as had been done in Rome, in terms of wall-heating and window glass, and with well-lit spacious rooms. The new baths took over a wholeinsulaby demolishing houses, which may have been made easier by the earthquake that had damaged these houses. This shows that the city was still flourishing rather than struggling to recover from the earthquake. In about 64,Neroand his wifePoppaeavisited Pompeii and made gifts to the temple of Venus (the city's patron deity),probably when he performed in the theatre of Naples. By 79, Pompeii had a population of 20,000,which had prospered from the region's renowned agricultural fertility and favourable location, although more recent estimates are up to 11,500 based on household counts. Eruption of Vesuvius The eruption lasted for two days.The first phase was of pumice rain(lapilli)lasting about 18 hours, allowing most inhabitants to escape. Only approximately 1,150 bodieshave so far been found on site, which seems to confirm this theory, and most escapees probably managed to salvage some of their most valuable belongings; many skeletons were found with jewellery, coins, and silverware. At some time in the night or early the next day,pyroclastic flowsbegan near the volcano, consisting of high speed, dense, and scorching ash clouds, knocking down wholly or partly all structures in their path, incinerating or suffocating the remaining population and altering the landscape, including the coastline. By the evening of the second day, the eruption was over, leaving only haze in the atmosphere through which the sun shone weakly. A multidisciplinaryvolcanologicalandbio-anthropologicalstudyof the eruption products and victims, merged with numerical simulations and experiments, indicates that at Pompeii and surrounding towns heat was the main cause of death of people, previously believed to have died by ashsuffocation. The results of the study, published in 2010, show that exposure to at least 250 °C (480 °F) hot pyroclastic flows at a distance of 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the vent was sufficient to cause instant death, even if people were sheltered within buildings. The people and buildings of Pompeii were covered in up to twelve different layers oftephra, in total, up to 6 metres (19.7 ft) deep. Archaeology in 2023 showed that some buildings collapsed due to one or more earthquakes during the eruption, killing the occupants. Pliny the Youngerprovided a first-hand account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius from his position across theBay of NaplesatMisenum,but it was written approximately 27 or 28 years after the event.His uncle,Pliny the Elder, with whom he had a close relationship, died while attempting to rescue stranded victims. As admiral of the fleet, Pliny the Elder had ordered the ships of the Imperial Navy stationed at Misenum to cross the bay to assist evacuation attempts. Volcanologists have recognised the importance of Pliny the Younger's account of the eruption by calling similar events \\\"Plinian\\\". It had long been thought that the eruption was an August event based on one version of the letter, but another versiongives a date of the eruption as late as 23 November. A later date is consistent with a charcoal inscription at the site, discovered in 2018, which includes the date of 17 October and which must have been recently written.A collaborative study in 2022 determined a date of 24–25 October. An October/November eruption is clearly supported by many pieces of evidence: the fact that people buried in the ash appear to have been wearing heavier clothing than the light summer clothes typical of August; the fresh fruit and vegetables in the shops are typical of October – and conversely the summer fruit typical of August was already being sold in dried, or conserved form; nuts from chestnut trees were found atOplontis, which would not have been mature before mid-September;wine fermenting jars had been sealed, which would have happened around the end of October; coins found in the purse of a woman buried in the ash include one with a 15thimperatorialacclamation among theemperor's titles. These coins could not have been minted before the second week of September. Rediscovery and excavations Titusappointed two ex-consuls to organise a relief effort while donating large amounts of money from the imperial treasury to aid the victims of the volcano.He visited Pompeii once after the eruption and again the following yearbut no work was done on recovery. Soon after the city's burial, survivors and possibly thieves came to salvage valuables, including the marble statues from the Forum and other precious materials from buildings. There is wide evidence of post-eruptiondisturbance, including holes made through walls. The city was not completely buried, and the tops of larger buildings would have been visible above the ash, making it obvious where to dig or salvagebuilding material.The robbers left traces of their passage, as in a house where modern archaeologists found a wall graffito saying \\\"house dug\\\". Over the following centuries, its name and location were forgotten, though it still appeared on theTabula Peutingerianaof the 4th century. Further eruptions, particularly in 471–473 and 512, covered the remains more deeply. The area became known as theLa Civita(the city) due to the features in the ground. The next known date that any part was unearthed was in 1592, when architectDomenico Fontana, while digging an underground aqueduct to the mills ofTorre Annunziata, ran into ancient walls covered with paintings and inscriptions. His aqueduct passed through and underneath a large part of the cityand would have had to pass through many buildings and foundations, as they still can be seen in many places today. However, he kept the finding secret. In 1689, Francesco Picchetti saw a wall inscription mentioningdecurio Pompeiis(\\\"town councillor of Pompeii\\\"), but he associated it with a villa ofPompey. Francesco Bianchini pointed out the true meaning, and he was supported by Giuseppe Macrini, who in 1693 excavated some walls and wrote that Pompeii lay beneath La Civita. Herculaneum was rediscovered in 1738 by workers digging for the foundations of a summer palace for the King of Naples,Charles of Bourbon. Due to the spectacular quality of the finds, the Spanish military engineerRoque Joaquín de Alcubierremade excavations to find further remains at the site of Pompeii in 1748, even if the city was not identified.Charles of Bourbon took great interest in the finds, even after leaving to become king of Spain because the display of antiquities reinforced Naples' political and cultural prestige.On 20 August 1763, an inscription Rei Publicae Pompeianorum was found and the city was identified as Pompeii. Karl Weberdirected the first scientific excavations.He was followed in 1764 by military engineer Franscisco la Vega, who was succeeded by his brother,Pietro, in 1804. There was much progress in exploration when the French occupied Naples in 1799 and ruled over Italy from 1806 to 1815. The land on which Pompeii lies was confiscated, and up to 700 workers were employed in the excavations. The excavated areas in the north and south were connected. Parts of the Via dell'Abbondanza were also exposed in the west–east direction, and for the first time, an impression of the size and appearance of the ancient town could be appreciated. In the following years, the excavators struggled with a lack of money. Excavations progressed slowly, but with significant finds such as the houses of theFaun, ofMenandro, of theTragic Poetand theSurgeon. Giuseppe Fiorellitook charge of the excavations in 1863 and made greater progress.During early excavations of the site, occasional voids in the ash layer had been found that contained human remains. Fiorelli realised these were spaces left by the decomposed bodies, and so devised the technique of injectingplasterinto them to recreate the forms of Vesuvius's victims. This technique is still in use today, with a clearresinnow used instead of plaster because it is more durable and does not destroy the bones, allowing further analysis. Fiorelli also introduced scientific documentation. He divided the city into today's nine areas (regiones) and blocks (insulae) and numbered the entrances of the individual houses (domus). Fiorelli also published the first periodical with excavation reports. Under his successors, the entire west section of the city was exposed. Modern archaeology After those of Fiorelli, excavations continued in an increasingly more systematic and considered manner under several directors of archaeology though still with the main interest in making spectacular discoveries and uncovering more houses rather than answering the main questions about the city and its long term preservation. In the 1920s,Amedeo Maiuriexcavated older layers beneath those of 79 AD for the first time to learn about the settlement history.Maiuri made the last excavations on a grand scale in the 1950s, and the area south of the Via dell'Abbondanza and the city wall was almost completely uncovered, but they were poorly documented scientifically. Preservation was haphazard, and his reconstructions were difficult to distinguish from the original ruins, which is a great handicap for studying genuine antique remains. Questionable reconstruction was also done after the severe earthquake of 1980, which caused great destruction. Since then, work has been confined to the excavated areas except for targeted soundings and excavations. Further excavations on a large scale are not planned, and today archaeologists are more engaged in reconstructing, documenting and slowing the decay of the ruins. In December 2018, archaeologists discovered the remains of harnessed horses in theVilla of the Mysteries. Under the 'Great Pompeii Project' over 2.5 km (1.6 mi) of ancient walls within the city were relieved of danger of collapse by treating the unexcavated areas behind the street fronts in order to increase drainage and reduce the pressure of groundwater and earth on the walls, a problem especially in the rainy season. These excavations resumed on unexcavated areas ofRegio V.In November 2020 the remains of two men, thought to be a rich man and his slave, were found in a 2 m-thick (6.6 ft) layer of ash. They appeared to have escaped the first eruption but were killed by a second blast the next day. A study of the bones showed that the younger one appeared to have done manual labour and hence was likely a slave. In December 2020, athermopolium, an inn or snack-bar, was excavated in Regio V. In addition to brightly colouredfrescoesdepicting some of the food on offer, archaeologists found eightdolia(terracotta pots) still containing remnants of meals, including duck, goat, pig, fish, and snails.They also found a decorated bronze drinking bowl known as apatera, wine flasks,amphorae, and ceramic jars used for cooking stews and soups. One fresco depicts a dog with a collar on a leash, possibly reminding customers to leash their pets. The complete skeleton of a tiny adult dog was also discovered, measuring only about 20–25 cm (7.9–9.8 in) at the shoulder, which provides evidence of the highly selective breeding of dogs in Roman times. In January 2021 a well-preserved \\\"large, four-wheel ceremonial chariot\\\" was uncovered in the portico of the luxurious villa in Civita Giuliana,north of Pompeii, where a stable had previously been discovered in 2018.The carriage is made of bronze and black and red wooden panels, with engraved silver and bronze medallions at the back. It is now thought to be an elaborate and unique bridal carriage called apilentumand in 2023 has been restored for display at the Baths of Diocletian.Nearby the bodies of two fugitives had been found using plaster casts, and in a stable the remains of horses, one still in harness. In 2021, an exceptional 1st century AD painted tomb of a freed slave,Marcus Venerius Secundio, containing mummified human remains, was discovered outside the Porta Sarno gate.Its inscription records he achieved custodianship of the Temple of Venus and membership of the Augustales, priests of the Imperial Cult. Also, he organised Greek and Latin performances lasting four days, the first evidence of Greek cultural events in Pompeii. In April 2024, a dining hall lined with rare frescoes was excavated as part of a broader project aimed at shoring up the front of the perimeter between the excavated and unexcavated area of the site.One fresco presents Helen of Troy and Paris, and another depicts Apollo and Princess Cassandra, with Apollo trying to attract the princess's attention. The hall, measuring 15 by 6 meters, was located in a house on Via di Nola—one of the main city streets in the famousRegio IXarea. The room walls were painted black, perhaps to hide the traces of soot from the lighting fixtures. In June 2024, a shrine with rare blue-painted walls covered with paintings of females thought to represent the four seasons (Horae) was discovered. 15 amphorae, two bronze jugs and two bronze lamps were among the findings. The 8 m2(86 sq ft) room is thought to be a sacrarium (the sanctuary of a church). Conservation Objects buried beneath Pompeii were well-preserved for almost 2,000 years as the lack of air and moisture allowed little to no deterioration. However, Pompeii has been exposed to natural and anthropic deterioration following excavation. Weathering, erosion, light exposure, water damage, poor methods of excavation and reconstruction, introduced plants and animals, tourism, vandalism and theft have all damaged the site in some way. The lack of adequate weather protection for all but the most interesting and important buildings has allowed original interior decoration to fade or be lost. Two-thirds of the city has been excavated, but the remnants of the city are rapidly deteriorating. Furthermore, duringWorld War IImany buildings were badly damaged or destroyed by bombs dropped in several raids by theAllied forces. The conservation concern has constantly worried archaeologists. The ancient city was included in the1996 World Monuments Watchby theWorld Monuments Fund, and again in1998and in2000. In 1996 the organisation claimed that Pompeii \\\"desperately need repair\\\" and called for the drafting of a general plan ofrestorationand interpretation.The organisation supported conservation at Pompeii with funding fromAmerican Expressand theSamuel H. Kress Foundation. TheSchola Armatorum('House of the Gladiators')collapsed in 2010 caused by heavy rainfall and lack of proper drainage.The structure was not open to visitors, but the outside was visible to tourists. There was fierce controversy after the collapse, with accusations of neglect. Today, funding is mostly directed into conservation of the site; however, due to the expanse of Pompeii and the scale of the problems, this is inadequate in halting the slow decay of the materials. A 2012 study recommended an improved strategy for interpretation and presentation of the site as a cost-effective method of improving its conservation and preservation in the short term. In June 2013,UNESCOwarned that if restoration and preservation works \\\"fail to deliver substantial progress in the next two years,\\\" Pompeii could be placed on theList of World Heritage in Danger.A \\\"Grande Progetto Pompei\\\" project of about five years had begun in 2012 with theEuropean Unionand included stabilization and conservation of buildings in the highest risk areas. In 2014,UNESCO headquartersreceived a new management plan to help integrate the property's management, conservation, and maintenance programs. In 2020 manydomusgardens, orchards and vineyards were carefully recreated using depictions in frescoes and archaeological finds to give better insights into what they were like before the catastrophe.These include theHouse of Julia Felix, the House of the Golden Cupids,theHouse of Loreius Tiburtinus, the House of Cornelius Rufusandthe Garden of the Fugitives. In 2021 several long-closeddomuswere re-opened after restoration including the House of the Ship Europa,House of the Orchardand House of the Lovers.Also the newly excavated House of Leda and the Swanhas opened. Roman city development Owing to its wealth and its Greek, Etruscan and Roman history, Pompeii is of great interest for the study ofAncient Roman architecturein terms of building methods and urban planning. However, it was a relatively small provincial city and, except for theAmphitheatre, it did not have large monuments on the scale of other Roman cities. It also missed the large building schemes of the early Empire and kept much of its urban architecture dating from as early as the 4th century BC. The evolution of Pompeii's private and public buildings is often unclear because of the lack of excavations beneath the levels of 79. It is, however, clear that by the time of the conquest by Sulla in 89 BC, the development of the street layout was largely complete, and most of theinsulaewere built. Public buildings Under the Romans, Pompeii underwent a process of urban development which accelerated in the Augustan period from about 30 BC. New public buildings included the Amphitheatre withpalaestraor gymnasium with a centralnatatorium(cella natatoria) or swimming pool, two theatres, theEumachia Buildingand at least four public baths. The amphitheatre has been cited by scholars as a model of sophisticated design, particularly in the area of crowd control. Other service buildings were theMacellum(\\\"meat market\\\"); thePistrinum(baker); thethermopolia(inns or snack-bars that served hot and cold dishes and drinks), andcauponae(\\\"pubs\\\" or \\\"dives\\\" with a seedy reputation as hangouts for thieves and prostitutes). At least one building, theLupanar, was dedicated toprostitution.A large hotel orhospitium(of 1,000 m2) was found nearby at Murecine/Moregine,when theNaples-Salerno motorwaywas being built, and the Murecine Silver Treasure and the Tablets (providing a unique record of business transactions), as well as theMoregine bracelet, were discovered there. Anaqueductprovided water to the public baths, to more than 25 street fountains, and to many private houses and businesses. The aqueduct was a branch of the greatSerino Aqueductbuilt to serve the other large towns in the Bay of Naples region and the important naval base atMisenum. Thecastellum aquaeis well preserved and includes many details of the distribution network and its controls. Shops and workshops There were at least 31 bakeries in the town, each with wood-burning ovens, millstones and a sales counter. The Modestus bakery,or House of the Oven, was the largest in the city and Sotericus's bakery, also among the largest, preserves the room for kneading bread. Thermopoliawere inns or snack-bars in which hot food and drinks were sold and in Pompeii there were nearly 100. The thermopolium of Vetutius Placidusoverlooked the street directly, had a counter and severaldolia, as well as a room behind the shop where customers could eat their meals: thelarariumwith frescoes of theLaresandMercuryandDionysusand atricliniumdecorated in theThird style. In the thermopolium of Asellina,with three sales counters and a lararium with depictions of Mercury andBacchus, numerous furnishings have been found, both in bronze and terracotta, as well as 683sesterces; the external façade bears a representation of jugs and funnels and an electoral inscription referring to Asellina, probably the owner of the inn. Wool processing was well developed with 13 workshops that worked the raw material, seven that did the spinning, nine the dyeing, and 18 the washing: the Building of Eumachia, from the name of the priestess who built it, was the wool market, or the seat of the fullers guild; construction took place after 62 and was entirely in brickwork. Inside it has numerous niches in which statues were housed, mostly concerning the imperial family, a colonnade, and near the entrance, there was a jar in which urine was collected for use as a detergent for clothes. Thefullonicaof Stephanus,named after the owner or manager, was originally a house that was transformed into a workshop for the processing of fabrics: on the lower floor the working and washing activities took place, carried out in large tanks with water, soda and urine while on the upper floor the clothes were dried. Thegarumworkshopmade the sauce obtained from the fermentation of the entrails of fish; in the building some containers were found, closed by lids, with the sauce inside while in the nearby garden was a large deposit ofamphorae. Lists of buildings Town houses (Domus) Exterior villas Other Agriculture and horticulture Modern archaeologists have excavated garden sites and urban domains to reveal the agricultural staples of Pompeii's economy. Pompeii had fertile soil for crop cultivation. The soils surrounding Mount Vesuvius preceding its eruption had good water-retention capabilities, implying productive agriculture. TheTyrrhenian Sea's airflow provided hydration to the soil despite the hot, dry climate.Barley,wheat, andmilletwere produced along with wine and olive oil, for export to other regions. Evidence of wine imported nationally from Pompeii in its most prosperous years can be found from recovered artefacts such as wine bottles in Rome.For this reason, vineyards were of utmost importance to Pompeii's economy. Agricultural policymakerColumellasuggested that each vineyard in Rome produce a quota of threeculleiof wine perjugerum; otherwise, the vineyard would be uprooted. The nutrient-rich lands near Pompeii were extremely efficient and often capable of largely exceeding these requirements, providing the incentive for local wineries to establish themselves.While wine was exported for Pompeii's economy, most other agricultural goods were likely produced in quantities sufficient for the city's consumption. Remains of large formations of constructed wineries were found in the Forum Boarium, covered by cemented casts from the eruption of Vesuvius.It is speculated that these historical vineyards are strikingly similar in structure to the modern day vineyards across Italy. Carbonised food plant remains, roots, seeds and pollens have been found in gardens in Pompeii, Herculaneum, and a Roman villa atTorre Annunziata. They revealed thatemmerwheat,Italian millet,common millet, walnuts, pine nuts, chestnuts, hazel nuts, chickpeas,bitter vetch, broad beans, olives, figs, pears, onions, garlic, peaches, carob, grapes, and dates were consumed. All but the dates could have been produced locally. Erotic art The discovery oferotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneumleft the archaeologists with a dilemma stemming from theclash of culturesbetween the mores ofsexuality in ancient Romeand inCounter-ReformationEurope. An unknown number of discoveries were hidden away again. A wall fresco depictingPriapus, the ancient god of sex and fertility, with his grotesquely enlarged penis, was covered with plaster. An older reproduction was locked away \\\"out of prudishness\\\" and opened only on request – and only rediscovered in 1998 due to rainfall.In 2018, an ancient fresco depicting an erotic scene of \\\"Leda and the Swan\\\" was discovered at Pompeii. Manyartefactsfrom the buried cities are preserved in theNaples National Archaeological Museum. In 1819, whenKing Francisvisited the Pompeii exhibition there with his wife and daughter, he was so embarrassed by the erotic artwork that he had it locked away in a \\\"secret cabinet\\\" (gabinetto segreto), a gallery within the museum accessible only to \\\"people of mature age and respected morals\\\". Re-opened, closed, re-opened again and then closed again for nearly 100 years, theNaples \\\"Secret Museum\\\"was briefly made accessible again at the end of the 1960s (the time of thesexual revolution) and was finally re-opened for viewing in 2000. Minors are still allowed entry only in the presence of a guardian or with written permission. Tourism Pompeii has been a popular tourist destination for over 250 years;it was on theGrand Tour. By 2008, it was attracting almost 2.6 million visitors per year, making it one of Italy's most popular tourist sites.It is part of a largerVesuvius National Parkand was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997. To combat problems associated with tourism, the governing body for Pompeii, the 'Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei', has begun issuing new tickets that allow tourists to visit cities such asHerculaneumandStabiaeas well as theVilla Poppaea, to encourage visitors to see these sites and reduce pressure on Pompeii. Pompeii is a driving force behind the economy of the nearby town ofPompei. Many residents are employed in the tourism and hospitality industry, serving as taxi or bus drivers, waiters, or hotel staff. Excavations at the site have generally ceased due to a moratorium imposed by the superintendent of the site, Professor Pietro Giovanni Guzzo. The site is generally less accessible to tourists than in the past, with less than a third of all buildings open in the 1960s available for public viewing today. Antiquarium of Pompeii Originally built byGiuseppe Fiorellibetween 1873 and 1874, the Antiquarium of Pompeii began as an exhibition venue displaying archaeological finds that represented the daily life of the ancient city. The building suffered extensive damage in 1943 during theWorld War IIbombings and again in 1980 due to an earthquake. The museum was closed to the public for 36 years before reopening in 2016 as a space for temporary exhibitions.The museum was re-opened on 25 January 2021 as a permanent exhibition venue. Visitors can see archaeological discoveries from the excavations, casts of the victims of the Mount Vesuvius eruption as well as displays documenting Pompeii's settlement history before becoming a thriving Roman city. In popular culture The 1954 filmJourney to Italy, starringGeorge SandersandIngrid Bergman, includes a scene at Pompeii in which they witness the excavation of a cast of a couple who perished in the eruption. Pompeii was the setting for the British comedytelevision seriesUp Pompeii!and the movie of the series. Pompeii also featured in the second episode of the fourth season of revived BBC science fiction seriesDoctor Who, named \\\"The Fires of Pompeii\\\",which featured Caecilius as a character. The rock bandPink Floydfilmed a 1971 live concert,Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii, in which they performed six songs in the city's ancient Roman amphitheatre. The audience consisted only of the film's production crew and some local children. Siouxsie and the Bansheeswrote and recorded the punk-inflected dance song \\\"Cities in Dust\\\", which describes the disaster that befell Pompeii and Herculaneum in AD 79. The song appears on their album 1985Tinderbox. The jacket of the single remix of the song features the plaster cast of a chained dog killed in Pompeii. Pompeiiis a 2003Robert Harrisnovel featuring an account of the aquarius's race to fix the broken aqueduct in the days before the eruption of Vesuvius. Actual events and people inspired the novel. \\\"Pompeii\\\" is a 2013 song by the British bandBastille. The lyrics refer to the city and the eruption ofMount Vesuvius. Pompeiiis a 2014 German-Canadianhistoricaldisaster filmproduced and directed byPaul W. S. Anderson. 45 years after the Pink Floyd recordings, guitaristDavid Gilmourreturned to the Pompeii amphitheatre in 2016 to perform a live concert for hisRattle That Lock Tour. This event was considered the first in the amphitheatre to feature an audience since the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius. Documentaries Gallery See also References Further reading External links\",\n \"World Heritage Committee TheWorld Heritage Committeeis a committee of theUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizationthat selects the sites to be listed as UNESCOWorld Heritage Sites, including the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger, defines the use of the World Heritage Fund and allocates financial assistance upon requests from States Parties.It comprises representatives from 21state partiesthat are elected by theGeneral Assembly of States Partiesfor a four-year term.These parties vote on decisions and proposals related to theWorld Heritage Conventionand World Heritage List. According to the World Heritage Convention, a committee member's term of office is six years. However many States Parties choose to voluntarily limit their term to four years, in order to give other States Parties an opportunity to serve.All members elected at the 15thGeneral Assembly(2005) voluntarily chose to reduce their term of office from six to four years. Deliberations of the World Heritage Committee are aided by three advisory bodies, theIUCN,ICOMOSandICCROM. Sessions The World Heritage Committee meets once a year for an ordinary session to discuss the management of existingWorld Heritage Sites, and accept nominations by countries.Extraordinary meetings can be convened at the request of two-thirds of the state members.Meetings are held within the territory of state members of the World Heritage Committee at their invitation. Rotation between regions and cultures is a consideration for selection and the location for the next session is chosen by the committee at the end of each session. Bureau At the end of each ordinary session, the committee elects a chairperson, five vice-chairpersons and aRapporteurfrom those members whose term will continue through the next session.These are known as the Bureau, and their representatives are responsible for coordinating the work of the World Heritage Committee, including fixing dates, hours and the order of business meetings. Voting Each state member of the World Heritage Committee has one vote. Decisions require a simple majority with abstentions counted as not voting. Votes are delivered by a show of hands unless a secret ballot is requested by either the chairperson or two or more states members. Members Current members of theUNESCOWorld Heritage Committee: Criticism Increasing politicization of World Heritage Committee decisions to the detriment of conservation aims has been alleged, particularly with regard to new nominations for the World Heritage List, but also with the consideration of sites for the List of World Heritage in Danger.In 2010, states parties including Hungary, Switzerland and Zimbabwe submitted an official protest against such politicization. An external audit requested by the World Heritage Committee for itsGlobal Strategy of the World Heritage Listconcluded in 2011 that political considerations were indeed influencing decisions.It observed that the composition of committee representatives had shifted from experts to diplomats in spite of World Heritage Convention Article 9 and found that opinions from advisory bodies often diverged from World Heritage Committee decisions. In 2016, Israel recalled its UNESCO ambassador after the World Heritage Committee adopted a resolution in a secret ballot that referred to one ofJerusalem's holiest sites, theTemple Mount, only as a \\\"Muslim holy site of worship\\\", not mentioning that Jews and Christians venerate the site. The committee has also been criticized with alleged racism, colorism, and geographic bias for favoring the inscription of sites in Western and industrialized countries over sites belonging to so-called \\\"third-world\\\" countries. A large proportion of the world heritage sites are located in Europe, Eastern Asia, and North America, where populations notably have lighter skin. See also References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Stratovolcano Astratovolcano, also known as acomposite volcano, is aconicalvolcanobuilt up by many layers (strata) of hardenedlavaandtephra.Unlikeshield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and periodic intervals ofexplosive eruptionsandeffusive eruptions, although some have collapsed summit craters calledcalderas. The lava flowing from stratovolcanoes typically cools and solidifies before spreading far, due to high viscosity. The magma forming this lava is oftenfelsic, having high to intermediate levels ofsilica(as inrhyolite,dacite, orandesite), with lesser amounts of less viscousmaficmagma.Extensive felsic lava flows are uncommon, but have traveled as far as 15 km (9 mi). Stratovolcanoes are sometimes called composite volcanoes because of their composite stratified structure, built up from sequential outpourings of erupted materials. They are among the most common types of volcanoes, in contrast to the less common shield volcanoes.Two examples of","examples of stratovolcanoes famous for catastrophic eruptions areKrakatoainIndonesia, which erupted in1883, andVesuviusinItaly, having erupted in79; both eruptions claimed thousands of lives. In modern times,Mount St. Helens(March 27, 1980) inWashington State, US, andMount Pinatubo(June 15, 1991) in thePhilippineshave erupted catastrophically, but with fewer deaths. The existence of stratovolcanoes on other bodies of theSolar Systemhas not been conclusively demonstrated.One possible exception is the existence of some isolatedmassifson Mars, for example theZephyria Tholus. Creation Stratovolcanoes are common atsubduction zones, forming chains and clusters along plate tectonic boundaries whereoceanic crustis drawn undercontinental crust(continental arc volcanism, e.g.Cascade Range,Andes,Campania) or another oceanic plate (island arcvolcanism, e.g.Japan,Philippines,Aleutian Islands). The magma forming stratovolcanoes rises when water trapped both in hydrated minerals and in the porousbasaltrock of the upper","of the upper oceanic crust is released intomantlerock of theasthenosphereabove the sinking oceanic slab.The release of water from hydrated minerals is termed \"dewatering\", and occurs at specific pressures and temperatures for each mineral, as the plate descends to greater depths.The water freed from the rock lowers themelting pointof the overlying mantle rock, which then undergoes partial melting, rises (due to its lighter density relative to the surrounding mantle rock), and pools temporarily at the base of thelithosphere. The magma then rises through thecrust, incorporating silica-rich crustal rock, leading to a finalintermediate composition. When the magma nears the top surface, it pools in amagma chamberwithin the crust below the stratovolcano. The processes that trigger the final eruption remain a question for further research. Possible mechanisms include: These internal triggers may be modified by external triggers such assector collapse,earthquakes, orinteractions with groundwater. Some of these","Some of these triggers operate only under limited conditions. For example, sector collapse (where part of the flank of a volcano collapses in a massive landslide) can trigger eruption only of a very shallow magma chamber. Magma differentiation and thermal expansion also are ineffective as triggers for eruptions from deep magma chambers. Hazards Inrecorded history, explosive eruptions at subduction zone (convergent-boundary) volcanoes have posed the greatest hazard to civilizations.Subduction-zone stratovolcanoes, such asMount St. Helens,Mount EtnaandMount Pinatubo, typically erupt with explosive force because the magma is too viscous to allow easy escape of volcanic gases. As a consequence, the tremendous internal pressures of the trapped volcanic gases remain and intermingle in the pasty magma. Following the breaching of the vent and the opening of the crater, the magma degasses explosively. The magma and gases blast out with high speed and full force. Since 1600CE, nearly 300,000 people have been killed by","have been killed by volcanic eruptions.Most deaths were caused bypyroclastic flowsandlahars, deadly hazards that often accompany explosive eruptions of subduction-zone stratovolcanoes. Pyroclastic flows are swift, avalanche-like, ground-sweeping, incandescent mixtures of hot volcanic debris, fine ash, fragmented lava, and superheated gases that can travel at speeds over 160 km/h (100 mph). Around 30,000 people were killed by pyroclastic flows during the 1902 eruption ofMount Peléeon the island ofMartiniquein the Caribbean.During March and April 1982, three explosive eruptions ofEl Chichónin the State ofChiapasin southeastern Mexico caused the worst volcanic disaster in that country's history. Villages within 8 km (5 mi) of the volcano were destroyed by pyroclastic flows, killing more than 2,000 people. TwoDecade Volcanoesthat erupted in 1991 provide examples of stratovolcano hazards. On 15 June, Mount Pinatubo spewed an ash cloud 40 km (25 mi) into the air and produced huge pyroclastic surges andlaharfloods","andlaharfloods that devastated a large area around the volcano. Pinatubo, located inCentral Luzonjust 90 km (56 mi) west-northwest ofManila, had been dormant for six centuries before the 1991 eruption, which ranks as one of the largest eruptions in the 20th century.Also in 1991, Japan'sUnzen Volcano, located on the island of Kyushu about 40 km (25 mi) east of Nagasaki, awakened from its 200-year slumber to produce a newlava domeat its summit. Beginning in June, the repeated collapse of this erupting dome generated ash flows that swept down the mountain's slopes at speeds as high as 200 km/h (120 mph). Unzen is one of more than 75 active volcanoes in Japan; an eruption in 1792 killed more than 15,000 people—the worst volcanic disaster in the nation's history. Theeruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79completely smothered the nearby ancient cities ofPompeiiandHerculaneumwith thick deposits ofpyroclastic surgesandlava flows. Although the death toll has been estimated at between 13,000 and 26,000 people, the exact","people, the exact number is still unclear. Vesuvius is recognized as one of the most dangerous of the world's volcanoes, due to its capacity forpowerful explosive eruptionscoupled with the high population density of the surroundingMetropolitan Naplesarea (totaling about 3.6 million inhabitants). Ash In addition to potentially affecting the climate, volcanic clouds from explosive eruptions pose a serious hazard to aviation.For example, during the 1982 eruption ofGalunggunginJava,British Airways Flight 9flew into the ash cloud, causing it to sustain temporary engine failure and structural damage. During the past two decades, more than 60 airplanes, mostly commercial airliners, have been damaged by in-flight encounters with volcanic ash. Some of these encounters have resulted in the loss of power in all engines, necessitating emergency landings. As of 1999, no crashes have happened because of jet aircraft flying into volcanic ash.Ashfallsare a threat to health when inhaled and ash is also a threat to property","threat to property with enough accumulation. Dense clouds of hot volcanic ash can be expelled due to the collapse of aneruptive column, or laterally due to the partial collapse of a volcanic edifice or lava dome during explosive eruptions. These clouds can generate devastating pyroclastic flows or surges. Lava Lava flows from stratovolcanoes are generally not a significant threat to humans or animals because the highlyviscouslava moves slowly enough for everyone to flee away from the path of flow. The lava flows are more of a threat to property. However, not all stratovolcanoes erupt viscous and sticky lava.Nyiragongo, near Lake Kivu in central Africa, is very dangerous because itsmagmahas an unusually low silica content, making it quite fluid. Fluid lavas are typically associated with the formation of broad shield volcanoes such as those of Hawaii, but Nyiragongo has very steep slopes down which lava can flow at up to 100 km/h (60 mph). Lava flows could melt down ice and glaciers that accumulated on the","accumulated on the volcano's crater and upper slopes, generating massivelaharflows. Rarely, generally fluid lava could also generate massive lava fountains, while lava of thicker viscosity can solidify within the vent, creating avolcanic plugwhich can result in highly explosive eruptions. Volcanic bombs Volcanic bombs are extrusiveigneous rocksranging from the size of books to small cars, that are explosively ejected from stratovolcanoes during their climactic eruptive phases. These \"bombs\" can travel over 20 km (12 mi) away from the volcano, and present a risk to buildings and living beings while shooting at very high speeds (hundreds of kilometers/miles per hour) through the air. Most bombs do not themselves explode on impact, but rather carry enough force to have destructive effects as if they exploded. Lahar Lahars (from aJavaneseterm for volcanic mudflows) are mixtures of volcanic debris and water. Lahars usually come from two sources: rainfall, or the melting of snow and ice by hot volcanic elements,","volcanic elements, such as lava. Depending on the proportion and temperature of water to volcanic material, lahars can range from thick, gooey flows that have the consistency of wet concrete to fast-flowing, soupy floods.As lahars flood down the steep sides of stratovolcanoes, they have the strength and speed to flatten or drown everything in their paths. Hot ash clouds, lava flows and pyroclastic surges ejected during1985 eruptionofNevado del RuizinColombiamelted snow and ice atop the 5,321 m (17,457 ft) high Andean volcano. The ensuing lahar flooded the city ofArmeroand nearby settlements, killing 25,000 people. Effects on climate and atmosphere As per the above examples, while the Unzen eruptions have caused deaths and considerable local damage in the historic past, the impact of the June 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo was global. Slightly cooler-than-usual temperatures were recorded worldwide, with brilliant sunsets and intense sunrises attributed to theparticulates; this eruption lofted particles high","particles high into thestratosphere. Theaerosolsthat formed from thesulfur dioxide(SO2),carbon dioxide(CO2), and other gases dispersed around the world. The SO2mass in this cloud—about 22 million tons—combined with water (both of volcanic and atmospheric origin) formed droplets ofsulfuric acid, blocking a portion of the sunlight from reaching thetroposphereand ground. The cooling in some regions is thought to have been as much as 0.5 °C (0.9 °F).An eruption the size of Mount Pinatubo tends to affect the weather for a few years; the material injected into the stratosphere gradually drops into thetroposphere, where it is washed away by rain and cloud precipitation. A similar but extraordinarily more powerful phenomenon occurred in the cataclysmic April 1815 eruption ofMount TamboraonSumbawaisland inIndonesia. The Mount Tambora eruption is recognized as the most powerful eruption in recorded history. Its eruption cloud lowered global temperatures by as much as 3.5 °C (6.3 °F).In the year following the eruption,","the eruption, most of the Northern Hemisphere experienced sharply cooler temperatures during the summer. In parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America, 1816 was known as the \"Year Without a Summer\", which caused a considerable agricultural crisis and a brief but bitter famine, which generated a series of distresses across much of the affected continents. List See also References","Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD Of the many eruptions ofMount Vesuvius, a majorstratovolcanoinSouthern Italy, the best-known is its eruption in 79 AD,which wasone of the deadliest in history. Mount Vesuvius violently spewed forth acloudof super-heatedtephraandgasesto a height of 33 km (21 mi), ejectingmolten rock, pulverizedpumiceandhot ashat 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing 100,000 times thethermal energyof theatomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.The event gives its name to theVesuviantype of volcanic eruption, characterised by columns of hot gases and ash reaching thestratosphere, although the event also includedpyroclastic flowsassociated withPelean eruptions. The event destroyed severalRomantowns and settlements in the area.PompeiiandHerculaneum, obliterated and buried underneath massivepyroclastic surgesandashfall deposits, are the most famous examples.Archaeological excavations have revealed much of the towns and the lives of the inhabitants leading to the area becoming","the area becoming theVesuvius National Parkand a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site. The total population of both cities was over 20,000.The remains of over 1,500 people have been found at Pompeii and Herculaneum. The total death toll from the eruption remains unknown. Precursor earthquakes Amajor earthquakecaused widespread destruction around theBay of Naples, particularly to Pompeii, on February 5, 62 AD.Some of the damage had still not been repaired when the volcano erupted in October 79 AD. Another smaller earthquake took place in 64 AD; it was recorded bySuetoniusin his biography ofNero,and byTacitusinAnnalesbecause it took place while Nero was in Naples performing for the first time in a public theater.Suetonius recorded that the emperor continued singing through the earthquake until he had finished his song, while Tacitus wrote that the theater collapsed shortly after beingevacuated. Minor earthquakes were reported in the four days before the 79 AD eruption, but the warnings were not recognized. The","not recognized. The inhabitants of the area surrounding Mount Vesuvius had been accustomed to minor tremors in the region;Pliny the Youngerwrote that they \"were not particularly alarming because they are frequent in Campania\". Nature of the eruption Reconstructions of the eruption and its effects vary considerably in the details but have the same overall features. The eruption lasted for two days.Pliny the Younger, author of the only surviving written testimony, described the morning before the eruption as normal; however, he was staying atMisenum29 kilometres (18 mi) from the volcano across the Bay of Naples. The first day of the eruption had little effect on Misenum.Pompeii is never mentioned in Pliny the Younger's letter. Around 1:00 p.m., Mount Vesuvius erupted violently, spewing up a high-altitude column from which ash and pumice began to fall, blanketing the area.Over the next few hours, rescues and escapes occurred during this time.At some time in the night or early the next day,pyroclastic flowsin","flowsin the close vicinity of the volcano began; lights seen on the mountain were interpreted as fires, and people as far away as Misenum fled for their lives.The flows were rapid-moving, dense, and very hot, wholly or partly knocking down all structures in their path, incinerating or suffocating the remaining population.These were accompanied by additional tremors and a mildtsunamiin the Bay of Naples.One or more earthquakes at this time were strong enough to cause buildings to collapse at least in Pompeii killing the occupants.By the evening of the second day, the eruption stopped affecting Misenum, with only haze in the atmosphere, screening sunlight.Pliny the Younger wrote: broad flames shone out in several places fromMount Vesuvius, which the darkness of the night contributed to render still brighter and clearer... It was now day everywhere else, but there a deeper darkness prevailed than in the thickest night. Stratigraphic studies Sigurðsson, Cashdollar, andSparksundertook a detailed stratigraphic","stratigraphic study of ash layers based on excavations and surveys, published in 1982. They concluded that the eruption unfolded in two phases,VesuvianandPelean, which alternated six times. A firstPlinian phaseprojected a column of volcanic debris and hot gases between 15 km (9 mi) and 30 km (19 mi) into thestratosphere. This phase lasted 18 to 20 hours and spread pumice and ashes, forming a 2.8 m (9 ft) layer to the south, towards Pompeii. An earthquake caused buildings in Pompeii to collapse at this time. The followingPelean phaseproducedpyroclastic surgesof molten rock and hot gases that reached as far asMisenum, to the west. Concentrated to the south and southeast, two pyroclastic surges engulfed Pompeii with a 1.8-metre-deep (6 ft) layer, burning and asphyxiating any living beings who had remained behind.Herculaneum,Pompeii, andOplontisreceived the brunt of the surges and were buried in fine pyroclastic deposits, pulverized pumice and lava fragments up to 20 m (70 ft) deep. Surges 4 and 5 are believed","and 5 are believed to have destroyed and buried Pompeii.Surges are identified in the deposits by dune and cross-bedding formations, which are not produced by fallout. The eruption is considered primarilyphreatomagmatic, i.e. a blast driven by energy from escaping steam produced by seawater seeping into the deep-seated faults and interacting with hot magma. Timing of explosions In an article published in 2002, Sigurðsson and Casey concluded that an early explosion produced a column of ash and pumice which rained on Pompeii to the southeast but not on Herculaneum, which was upwind.Subsequently, the cloud collapsed as the gases densified and lost their capability to support their solid contents. The authors suggest that the first ash falls are to be interpreted as early-morning, low-volume explosions not seen from Misenum, causingRectinato send her messenger on a ride of several hours around the Bay of Naples, then passable, providing an answer to the paradox of how the messenger might miraculously appear at","appear at Pliny's villa so shortly after a distant eruption that would have prevented him. Magnetic studies A 2006 study by Zanella, Gurioli, Pareschi, and Lanza used the magnetic characteristics of over 200 samples of lithic, roof-tile, and plaster fragments collected from pyroclastic deposits in and around Pompeii to estimate the equilibrium temperatures of thedeposits.The deposits were placed bypyroclastic density currents(PDCs) resulting from the collapses of the Plinian column. The authors argue that fragments over 2–5 cm (0.8–2 in) were not in the current long enough to acquire its temperature, which would have been much higher. Therefore, they distinguish between the depositional temperatures, which they estimated, and the emplacement temperatures, which in some cases, based on the cooling characteristics of some types and fragment sizes of rocks they believed they also could estimate. The final figures are considered to be those of the rocks in the current just before deposition. All crystal rock","All crystal rock contains some iron or iron compounds, rendering itferromagnetic, as do Roman roof tiles and plaster. These materials may acquire a residual field from several sources. When individual molecules, which aremagnetic dipoles, are held in alignment by being bound in acrystallinestructure, the small fields reinforce each other to form the rock's residual field.Heating the material addsinternal energyto it. At theCurie temperature, the vibration of the molecules is sufficient to disrupt the alignment; the material loses its residual magnetism and assumes whatevermagnetic fieldmight be applied to it only for the duration of the application. The authors term this phenomenon unblocking. Residual magnetism is considered to \"block out\" non-residual fields. Arockis a mixture of minerals, each with its own Curie temperature; the authors, therefore, looked for aspectrumof temperatures rather than a single temperature. In the ideal sample, the PDC did not raise the temperature of the fragment beyond the","fragment beyond the highest blocking temperature. Some constituent materials retained the magnetism the Earth's field imposed when the item was formed. The temperature was raised above the lowest blocking temperature; therefore, some minerals on recooling acquired the magnetism of the Earth as it was in 79 AD. The broad field of the sample was thevector sumof the fields of the high-blocking material and the low-blocking material. This type of sample made it possible to estimate the low unblocking temperature. Using special equipment that measured field direction and strength at various temperatures, the experimenters raised the temperature of the sample in increments of40 °C (70 °F)from 100 °C (210 °F) until it reached the low unblocking temperature.Deprived of one of its components, the overall field changed direction. A plot of direction at each increment identified the increment at which the sample's resultant magnetism had formed.That was considered the equilibrium temperature of the deposit. Considering","Considering the data for all the surge deposits arrived at a surge deposit estimate. The authors discovered that the city of Pompeii was a relatively cool spot within a much hotter field, which they attributed to the interaction of the surge with the \"fabric\" of the city. The investigators reconstruct the sequence of volcanic events as follows: The variable temperature of the first surge was due to interaction with the buildings. Any population remaining in structural refuges could not have escaped, as gases of incinerating temperatures surrounded the city. The lowest temperatures were in rooms under collapsed roofs. These were as low as 100 °C (212 °F), the boiling point of water.The authors suggest that elements of the bottom of the flow were decoupled from the main flow by topographic irregularities and made cooler by introducing turbulent ambient air. In the second surge, the irregularities were gone, and the city was as hot as the surrounding environment. During the last surge, which was very dilute, an","was very dilute, an additional 1 metre (3.3 ft) of deposits fell over the region. The Two Plinys The only surviving eyewitness account of the event consists of two letters byPliny the Younger, who was 17 at the time of the eruption,written to the historianTacitussome 25 years after the event.Observing the first volcanic activity fromMisenumacross the Bay of Naples from the volcano, approximately 29 kilometres (18 mi) away,Pliny the Elder(Pliny the Younger's uncle) launched a rescue fleet and went himself to the rescue of a personal friend. His nephew declined to join the party. One of the nephew's letters relates what he could discover from witnesses of his uncle's experiences.In a second letter, the younger Pliny details his own observations after the departure of his uncle. Pliny the Younger Pliny the Younger saw an extraordinarily dense cloud rising rapidly above the mountain: the appearance of which I cannot give you a more exact description of than by likening it to that of a pine-tree, for it shot up","for it shot up to a great height in the form of a very tall trunk, which spread itself out at the top into a sort of branches. it appeared sometimes bright and sometimes dark and spotted, according as it was either more or less impregnated with earth and cinders. These events and a request by messenger for an evacuation by sea prompted the elder Pliny to order rescue operations in which he sailed away to participate. His nephew attempted to resume a normal life, continuing to study and bathe, but that night a tremor woke him and his mother, prompting them to abandon the house for the courtyard. At another tremor at dawn, the population abandoned the village. After a third tremor, \"the sea seemed to roll back upon itself, and to be driven from its banks\", which is evidence of atsunami. There is, however, no evidence of extensive damage from wave action. A black cloud obscured the early light through which shone flashes, which Pliny likens to sheet lightning, but more extensive. The cloud obscured Point","obscured Point Misenum near at hand and the island of Capraia (Capri) across the bay. Fearing for their lives, the population began calling each other and moving back from the coast along the road. Pliny's mother requested him to abandon her and save his own life, as she was too fleshy and aged to go further, but seizing her hand, he led her away as best he could. A rain of ash fell. Pliny needed to shake off the ash periodically to avoid being buried. Later that same day, the ash stopped falling, and the sun shone weakly through the cloud, encouraging Pliny and his mother to return home and wait for news of Pliny the Elder. The letter compares the ash to a blanket of snow. The earthquake and tsunami damage at that location were not severe enough to prevent continued use of the home. Pliny the Elder Pliny's uncle,Pliny the Elder, was in command of theRoman fleetat Misenum and had meanwhile decided to investigate the phenomenon at close hand in a light vessel. As the ship was preparing to leave the area, a","leave the area, a messenger came from his friend Rectina (wife of Bassus) living on the coast near the foot of the volcano, explaining that her party could only get away by sea and asking for rescue.Pliny ordered the immediate launching of the fleet galleys to the evacuation of the coast. He continued in his light ship to the rescue of Rectina's party. He set off across the bay but encountered thick showers of hot cinders, lumps of pumice, and pieces of rock in the shallows on the other side. Advised by the helmsman to turn back, he stated \"Fortune favors the brave\" and ordered him to continue toStabiae(about 4.5 km or 2.8 mi from Pompeii), wherePomponianuswas.Pomponianus had already loaded a ship with possessions and was preparing to leave, but the same onshore wind that brought Pliny's ship to the location had prevented anyone from leaving. Pliny and his party saw flames coming from several parts of the mountain, which Pliny and his friends attributed to burning villages. After staying overnight, the party","the party was driven from the building by its violent shaking.They woke Pliny, who had been napping and snoring loudly. They elected to take to the fields with pillows tied to their heads to protect them from rockfall. They approached the beach again, but the wind had not changed. Pliny sat down on a sail spread for him and could not rise, even with assistance. His friends then departed, escaping ultimately by land.Very likely, he had collapsed and died, the most popular explanation for why his friends abandoned him, although Suetonius offers an alternative story of his ordering a slave to kill him to avoid the pain of incineration. How the slave would have escaped remains a mystery. There is no mention of such an event in his nephew's letters. In the first letter to Tacitus, his nephew suggested that his death was due to the reaction of his weak lungs to a cloud of poisonous, sulphurous gas that wafted over the group.However, Stabiae was 16 km (9.9 mi) from the vent (roughly where the modern town","the modern town ofCastellammare di Stabiais situated), and his companions were apparently unaffected by the fumes, and so it is more likely that the corpulent Pliny died from some other cause, such as a stroke or heart attack.Anasthmaticattack is also not out of the question. His body was found with no apparent injuries the next day once the plume had dispersed. Casualties from the eruption Apart from Pliny the Elder, the only casualties of the eruption to be known by name were theHerodianprincessDrusillaand her son Agrippa, who was born in her marriage with theprocuratorAntonius Felix.It is also said that the poetCaesius Bassusdied in the eruption. By 2003, approximately 1,044 casts made from impressions of bodies in the ash deposits had been recovered in and around Pompeii, with the scattered bones of another 100.The remains of about 332 bodies have been found at Herculaneum (300 in arched vaults discovered in 1980).The total number of fatalities remains unknown. Thirty-eight percent of the 1,044 were","of the 1,044 were found in the ash fall deposits, the majority inside buildings.This differs from modern experience over the last 400 years when ash falls have killed only around 4% of victims during explosive eruptions. This cohort was possibly sheltering in buildings when they were overcome. The remaining 62% of bodies found at Pompeii lay in thepyroclastic surgedeposits, which probably killed them. It was initially believed that due to the state of the bodies found at Pompeii and the outline of clothes on the bodies, it was unlikely that high temperatures were a significant cause. Later studies indicated that during the fourth pyroclastic surge (the first surge to reach Pompeii), the temperature reached 300 °C (572 °F), which was enough to kill people in a fraction of a second.The contorted postures of bodies as if frozen in suspended action were not the effects of long agony, but of thecadaveric spasm, a consequence of heat shock on corpses.The heat was so intense that organs and blood were vaporised,","were vaporised, and at least one victim's brain wasvitrifiedby the temperature. Herculaneum, which was much closer to the crater, was saved fromtephrafalls by the wind direction but was buried under 23 metres (75 ft) of material deposited by pyroclastic surges. It is likely that most, or all, of the known victims in this town, were killed by the surges, particularly given evidence of high temperatures found on the skeletons of the victims found in the arched vaults on the seashore and the existence of carbonised wood in many of the buildings. These people were concentrated in the vaults at a density as high as three per square metre and were all caught by the first surge, dying of thermal shock and partly carbonised by later and hotter surges. The vaults were most likely boathouses, as the crossbeams overhead were probably for the suspension of boats used for the earlier escape of some of the population. As only 85 metres (279 ft) of the coast have been excavated, more casualties may be waiting to be","be waiting to be unearthed. Date of the eruption Vesuvius and its destructive eruption are mentioned in first-century Roman sources, but not the day of the eruption. For example,Josephusin hisAntiquities of the Jewsmentions that the eruption occurred \"in the days ofTitus Caesar.\"Suetonius, a second-century historian, in hisLife of Titussimply says that, \"There were some dreadful disasters during his reign, such as the eruption of Mount Vesuvius inCampania.\" Writing well over a century after the actual event, Roman historianCassius Dio(as translated in theLoeb Classical Library1925 edition) wrote that, \"In Campania remarkable and frightful occurrences took place; for a great fire suddenly flared up at the very end of the summer.\" For more than five centuries, until approximately 2018, articles about the eruption of Vesuvius typically stated that the eruption began on August 24, 79 AD. This date came from a 1508 printed copy of a letter addressed byPliny the Youngerto the Roman historianTacitus, originally","originally written some 25 years after the event.Pliny was a witness to the eruption and provided the only known eyewitness account. Over fourteen centuries of manuscript hand-copying up to the 1508 printing of his letters, the date given in Pliny's original letter may have been corrupted. Manuscript experts believe that the date originally given by Pliny was one of August 24, October 30, November 1, or November 23.This odd scattered set of dates is due to the Romans'convention for describing calendar dates. The large majority of extant medieval manuscript copies (there are no surviving Roman copies) indicate a date corresponding to August 24. Since the discovery of the cities, this was accepted by most scholars and by nearly all books written about Pompeii and Herculaneum for the general public. Since at least the late 18th century, a minority among archaeologists and other scientists have suggested that the eruption began after August 24, during the autumn, perhaps in October or November. In 1797, the","In 1797, the researcher Carlo Rosini reported that excavations atPompeiiandHerculaneumhad uncovered traces of fruits andbraziersindicative of autumn, not the summer. More recently, in 1990 and 2001, archaeologists discovered more remnants of autumnal fruits (such as thepomegranate), the remains of victims of the eruption in heavy clothing, and large earthenware storage vessels laden with wine (at the time of their burial by Vesuvius). The wine-related discovery suggests that the eruption might have happened after the grape harvest. In 2007, a study of prevailing winds in Campania showed that the southeasterly debris pattern of the first-century eruption is quite consistent with an autumn event and inconsistent with an August date. During June, July, and August, the prevailing winds flow to the west – an arc between the southwest and northwest – virtually all the time. AsEmperor Titusof theFlavian dynasty(reigning June 24, 79 AD to September 13, 81 AD) garnered victories on the battlefield (including his","(including his capture of theTemple of Jerusalem) and other honors, his administration issued coins enumerating his ever-growing accolades. Given the limited space on each coin, his achievements were stamped on the coins using an arcane encoding. Two of these coins, from early in Titus' reign, were found in a hoard recovered at Pompeii's House of the Golden Bracelet. Although the coins' minting dates are somewhat in dispute,anumismaticexpert at theBritish Museum, Richard Abdy, concluded that the latest coin in the hoard was minted on or after June 24 (the first date of Titus' reign) and before September 1, 79 AD. Abdy states that it is \"remarkable that both coins will have taken just two months after minting to enter circulation and reach Pompeii before the disaster.\" In October 2018, Italian archaeologists uncovered a charcoal inscription reading \"the 16th day before the calends (first) of November,\"or October 17, that was probably \"made by a worker renovating a home\",and which has subsequently been","subsequently been suggested as \"the most likely date for the eruption\".While the \"graffito does not have a year listed the nature of the writing suggests it was done just before the eruption of Vesuvius. It was found in an area of a house that was in the process of being renovated, likely just before the volcano erupted\",while the charcoal writing itself is \"fragile and unlikely to have been preserved for years prior to the utter destruction of Pompeii.\"However, \"it is not known whether the Oct 17 graffito referred to that day, or a day in the past or the future.\"A collaborative study in 2022 has determined a date of October 24–25 for the eruption in 79 AD. See also Notes References Bibliography External links","Pompeii Pompeii(/pɒmˈpeɪ(i)/ⓘpom-PAY(-ee),Latin:) was a city in what is now the municipality ofPompei, nearNaples, in theCampaniaregion ofItaly. Along withHerculaneum,Stabiae, andmany surrounding villas, the city was buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) ofvolcanic ashandpumicein theeruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Largely preserved under the ash, Pompeii offers a unique snapshot ofRoman life, frozen at the moment it was buried,as well as insight into ancienturban planning.It was a wealthy town of 10,000 to 20,000 residents at the time it was destroyed.It hosted many fine public buildings and luxurious private houses with lavish decorations, furnishings and artworks, which were the main attractions for early excavators; subsequent excavations have found hundreds of private homes and businesses reflecting various architectural styles and social classes, as well as numerous public buildings. Organic remains, including wooden objects and human bodies, were interred in the ash; their eventual decay allowed","decay allowed archaeologists to createmouldsof figures in their final moments of life. The numerousgraffiticarved on outside walls and inside rooms provide a wealth of examples of the largely lostVulgar Latinspoken colloquially at the time, contrasting with the formal language of classical writers. Following its destruction, Pompeii remained largely undisturbed until its rediscovery in the late 16th century. Major excavations did not begin until the mid-18th century, which marked the emergence of modernarcheology;initial efforts to unearth the city were haphazard or marred by looting, resulting in many items or sites being damaged or destroyed.By 1960, most of Pompeii had been uncovered but left in decay;further major excavations were banned or limited to targeted, prioritised areas. Since 2018, these efforts have led to new discoveries in some previously unexplored areas of the city,including a banquet hall adorned with rare, well preserved frescoes depicting various mythological scenes and figures. Pompeii","figures. Pompeii is aUNESCOWorld Heritage Site, owing to its status as \"the only archaeological site in the world that provides a complete picture of an ancient Roman city.\"It is among the most popular tourist attractions in Italy, with approximately 2.5 million visitors annually. Name Pompeiiin Latin is a seconddeclensionmasculine nominative plural noun (Pompeiī, -ōrum). According to Theodor Kraus, \"The root of the word Pompeii would appear to be theOscanword for the number five,pompe, which suggests that either the community consisted of fivehamletsor perhaps it was settled by a family group (gens Pompeia).\" Geography Pompeii was built approximately 40 m (130 ft) above sea level on a coastal lava plateau created by earlier eruptions ofMount Vesuvius(8 km or 5 mi distant). The plateau fell steeply to the south and partly to the west into the sea. Three layers of sediment from largelandslideslie on top of the lava, perhaps triggered by extended rainfall.The city, once by the shoreline, is today circa 700 m","today circa 700 m (2,300 ft) inland. The mouth of the navigableSarno River, adjacent to the city, was protected by lagoons and served early Greek and Phoenician sailors as a haven port, later developed by the Romans. Pompeii covered a total of 64 to 67 hectares (160 to 170 acres) and was home to 11,000 to 11,500 people, based on household counts. History Although best known for its Roman remains visible today, dating from AD 79, it was built upon a substantial city dating from much earlier times. Expansion of the city from an early nucleus (theold town) accelerated after 450 BC under the Greeks following theBattle of Cumae. Early history The first stable settlements on the site date to the 8th century BC when theOscans,a population of central Italy, founded five villages in the area. With the arrival of the Greeks in Campania from around 740 BC, Pompeii entered the orbit of the Hellenic people. The most important building of this period is theDoricTemple,built away from the centre in what would later become","would later become the Triangular Forum.: 62At the same time the cult of Apollo was introduced.Greek andPhoeniciansailors used the location as a safe port. In the early 6th century BC, the settlement merged into a single community centred on the important crossroad betweenCumae,Nola, andStabiaeand was surrounded by atufacity wall (thepappamontewall).The first wall (which was also used as a base for the later wall) unusually enclosed a much greater area than the early town together with much agricultural land.That such an impressive wall was built at this time indicates that the settlement was already important and wealthy. The city began to flourish and maritime trade started with the construction of a small port near the mouth of the river.The earliest settlement was focused in regions VII and VIII of the town (the old town) as identified fromstratigraphybelow the Samnite and Roman buildings, as well as from the different and irregular street plan. By 524 BCthe Etruscans had settled in the area, including","the area, including Pompeii, finding in the river Sarno a communication route between the sea and the interior. Like the Greeks, the Etruscans did not conquer the city militarily, but simply controlled it, and Pompeii enjoyed a sort of autonomy.: 63Nevertheless, Pompeii became a member of theEtruscan League of cities.Excavations in 1980–1981 have shown the presence of Etruscan inscriptions and a 6th-century BCnecropolis.Under the Etruscans, a primitiveforumor simple market square was built, as well as theTemple of Apollo, in both of which objects including fragments ofbuccherowere found byMaiuri.Several houses were built with the so-called Tuscanatrium, typical of this people.: 64 The city wall was strengthened in the early 5th century BC with two façades of relatively thin, vertically set slabs of Sarno limestone some four metres (13 ft) apart filled with earth (theorthostatewall). In 474 BC, the Greek city ofCumae, allied withSyracuse, defeated the Etruscans at theBattle of Cumaeand gained control of the","control of the area. The Samnite period The period between about 450–375 BC witnessed large areas of the city being abandoned while important sanctuaries such as the Temple of Apollo show a sudden lack of votive material remains. TheSamnites, people from the areas ofAbruzzoandMolise, and allies of the Romans, conquered Greek Cumae between 423 and 420 BC. It is likely that all of the surrounding territory, including Pompeii, was already conquered around 424 BC. The new rulers gradually imposed their architecture and enlarged the town. From 343 to 341 BC in theSamnite Wars, the first Roman army entered the Campanian plain bringing with it the customs and traditions of Rome, and in the RomanLatin Warfrom 340 BC, the Samnites were faithful to Rome. Although governed by the Samnites, Pompeii entered the Roman orbit, to which it remained faithful even during the third Samnite war and in the war againstPyrrhus. In the late 4th century BC, the city began expanding from its nucleus into the open-walled area. The","area. The street plan of the new areas was more regular and more conformal toHippodamus's street plan. The city walls were reinforced inSarnostone in the early 3rd century BC (the limestoneenceinte, or the \"first Samnite wall\"). It formed the basis for the currently visible walls with an outer wall of rectangular limestone blocks as a terrace wall supporting a largeagger, or earth embankment, behind it. After theSamnite Warsfrom 290 BC, Pompeii was forced to accept the status ofsociiof Rome, maintaining, however, linguistic and administrative autonomy. From the outbreak of theSecond Punic War(218–201 BC) in whichHannibal's invasion threatened many cities, Pompeii remained faithful to Rome unlike many of the southern cities. As a result, an additional internal wall was built oftufaand the internalaggerand outer façade raised, resulting in a double parapet with a wider wall-walk.Despite the political uncertainty of these events and the progressive migration of wealthy men to quieter cities in the eastern","in the eastern Mediterranean, Pompeii continued to flourish due to the production and trade of wine and oil with places likeProvenceand Spain,as well as to intensive agriculture on farms around the city. In the 2nd century BC, Pompeii enriched itself by taking part in Rome's conquest of the east, as shown by a statue of Apollo in the Forum erected byLucius Mummiusin gratitude for their support in the sack ofCorinthand the eastern campaigns. These riches enabled Pompeii to bloom and expand to its ultimate limits. The Forum and many public and private buildings of high architectural quality were built, includingThe Large Theatre, theTemple of Jupiter, the Basilica, the Comitium, the Stabian Baths, and a new two-story portico. The Roman period Pompeii was one of the towns of Campania that rebelled against Rome in theSocial Warsand in 89 BC it was besieged bySulla, who targeted the strategically vulnerable Porta Ercolano with his artillery as can still be seen by the impact craters of thousands ofballistashots","ofballistashots in the walls. Many nearby buildings inside the walls were also destroyed.Although the battle-hardened troops of the Social League, headed byLucius Cluentius, helped in resisting the Romans, Pompeii was forced to surrender after the conquest of Nola. The result was that Pompeii became aRoman colonynamed Colonia Cornelia Veneria Pompeianorum. Many of Sulla's veterans were given land and property in and around the city, while many who opposed Rome were dispossessed of their property. Despite this, the Pompeians were grantedRoman citizenshipand quickly assimilated into the Roman world. The main language in the city became Latin,and many of Pompeii's old aristocratic families Latinized their names as a sign of assimilation. The area around Pompeii became very prosperous due to the desirability of living on the Bay of Naples for wealthy Romans and due to the rich agricultural land.Many farms and villas were built nearby, outside the city and many have been excavated. These include theVilla of the","theVilla of the Mysteries,Villa of Diomedes, several atBoscoreale,Boscotrecase,Oplontis,Terzigno, and Civita Guiliana. The city became an important passage for goods that arrived by sea and had to be sent toward Rome orSouthern Italyalong the nearbyAppian Way. Many public buildings were constructed or refurbished and improved under the new order; new buildings included theAmphitheatre of Pompeiiin 70 BC, the Forum Baths, and theOdeon. In comparison, the Forum was embellished with the colonnade of Popidius before 80 BC.These buildings raised the status of Pompeii as a cultural centre in the region as it outshone its neighbours in the number of places for entertainment which significantly enhanced the social and economic development of the city. UnderAugustus, from about 30 BC, a major expansion in new public buildings, as in the rest of the empire, included theEumachia Building, the Sanctuary of Augustus and theMacellum. From about 20 BC, Pompeii was fed with running water by a spur from theSerino Aqueduct,","theSerino Aqueduct, built byMarcus Vipsanius Agrippa. In AD 59, there was a serious riot and bloodshed in the amphitheatre between Pompeians andNucerians(which is recorded in a fresco) and which led the Roman Senate to send thePraetorian Guardto restore order and to ban further events for ten years. AD 62–79 The inhabitants of Pompeii had long been used to minor earthquakes (indeed, the writerPliny the Youngerwrote that earth tremors \"were not particularly alarming because they are frequent in Campania\"), but on 5 February 62asevere earthquakedid considerable damage around the bay, and particularly to Pompeii. It is believed that the earthquake would have registered between 5 and 6 on theRichter magnitude scale. On that day in Pompeii, there were to be two sacrifices, as it was the anniversary ofAugustusbeing namedPater Patriae(\"Father of the Country\") and also a feast day to honour the guardian spirits of the city. Chaos followed the earthquake; fires caused by oil lamps that had fallen during the quake","during the quake added to the panic. The nearby cities ofHerculaneumandNuceriawere also affected. Between 62 AD and the eruption in 79 AD, most rebuilding was done in the private sector and older, damaged frescoes were often covered with newer ones, for example. In the public sector, the opportunity was taken to improve buildings and the city plan, e.g. in the Forum. An important field of current research concerns structures that were restored between the earthquake of 62 and the eruption. It was thought until recently that some of the damage had still not been repaired at the time of the eruption, but this is doubtful as the evidence of missing forum statues and marble wall veneers are most likely due to robbers after the city's burial.The public buildings on the east side of the Forum were largely restored and were enhanced by beautiful marble veneers and other modifications to the architecture. Some buildings like the Central Baths were only started after the earthquake and were built to enhance the city","to enhance the city with modern developments in their architecture, as had been done in Rome, in terms of wall-heating and window glass, and with well-lit spacious rooms. The new baths took over a wholeinsulaby demolishing houses, which may have been made easier by the earthquake that had damaged these houses. This shows that the city was still flourishing rather than struggling to recover from the earthquake. In about 64,Neroand his wifePoppaeavisited Pompeii and made gifts to the temple of Venus (the city's patron deity),probably when he performed in the theatre of Naples. By 79, Pompeii had a population of 20,000,which had prospered from the region's renowned agricultural fertility and favourable location, although more recent estimates are up to 11,500 based on household counts. Eruption of Vesuvius The eruption lasted for two days.The first phase was of pumice rain(lapilli)lasting about 18 hours, allowing most inhabitants to escape. Only approximately 1,150 bodieshave so far been found on site, which","on site, which seems to confirm this theory, and most escapees probably managed to salvage some of their most valuable belongings; many skeletons were found with jewellery, coins, and silverware. At some time in the night or early the next day,pyroclastic flowsbegan near the volcano, consisting of high speed, dense, and scorching ash clouds, knocking down wholly or partly all structures in their path, incinerating or suffocating the remaining population and altering the landscape, including the coastline. By the evening of the second day, the eruption was over, leaving only haze in the atmosphere through which the sun shone weakly. A multidisciplinaryvolcanologicalandbio-anthropologicalstudyof the eruption products and victims, merged with numerical simulations and experiments, indicates that at Pompeii and surrounding towns heat was the main cause of death of people, previously believed to have died by ashsuffocation. The results of the study, published in 2010, show that exposure to at least 250 °C (480","least 250 °C (480 °F) hot pyroclastic flows at a distance of 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the vent was sufficient to cause instant death, even if people were sheltered within buildings. The people and buildings of Pompeii were covered in up to twelve different layers oftephra, in total, up to 6 metres (19.7 ft) deep. Archaeology in 2023 showed that some buildings collapsed due to one or more earthquakes during the eruption, killing the occupants. Pliny the Youngerprovided a first-hand account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius from his position across theBay of NaplesatMisenum,but it was written approximately 27 or 28 years after the event.His uncle,Pliny the Elder, with whom he had a close relationship, died while attempting to rescue stranded victims. As admiral of the fleet, Pliny the Elder had ordered the ships of the Imperial Navy stationed at Misenum to cross the bay to assist evacuation attempts. Volcanologists have recognised the importance of Pliny the Younger's account of the eruption by calling","eruption by calling similar events \"Plinian\". It had long been thought that the eruption was an August event based on one version of the letter, but another versiongives a date of the eruption as late as 23 November. A later date is consistent with a charcoal inscription at the site, discovered in 2018, which includes the date of 17 October and which must have been recently written.A collaborative study in 2022 determined a date of 24–25 October. An October/November eruption is clearly supported by many pieces of evidence: the fact that people buried in the ash appear to have been wearing heavier clothing than the light summer clothes typical of August; the fresh fruit and vegetables in the shops are typical of October – and conversely the summer fruit typical of August was already being sold in dried, or conserved form; nuts from chestnut trees were found atOplontis, which would not have been mature before mid-September;wine fermenting jars had been sealed, which would have happened around the end of","around the end of October; coins found in the purse of a woman buried in the ash include one with a 15thimperatorialacclamation among theemperor's titles. These coins could not have been minted before the second week of September. Rediscovery and excavations Titusappointed two ex-consuls to organise a relief effort while donating large amounts of money from the imperial treasury to aid the victims of the volcano.He visited Pompeii once after the eruption and again the following yearbut no work was done on recovery. Soon after the city's burial, survivors and possibly thieves came to salvage valuables, including the marble statues from the Forum and other precious materials from buildings. There is wide evidence of post-eruptiondisturbance, including holes made through walls. The city was not completely buried, and the tops of larger buildings would have been visible above the ash, making it obvious where to dig or salvagebuilding material.The robbers left traces of their passage, as in a house where modern","house where modern archaeologists found a wall graffito saying \"house dug\". Over the following centuries, its name and location were forgotten, though it still appeared on theTabula Peutingerianaof the 4th century. Further eruptions, particularly in 471–473 and 512, covered the remains more deeply. The area became known as theLa Civita(the city) due to the features in the ground. The next known date that any part was unearthed was in 1592, when architectDomenico Fontana, while digging an underground aqueduct to the mills ofTorre Annunziata, ran into ancient walls covered with paintings and inscriptions. His aqueduct passed through and underneath a large part of the cityand would have had to pass through many buildings and foundations, as they still can be seen in many places today. However, he kept the finding secret. In 1689, Francesco Picchetti saw a wall inscription mentioningdecurio Pompeiis(\"town councillor of Pompeii\"), but he associated it with a villa ofPompey. Francesco Bianchini pointed out the","pointed out the true meaning, and he was supported by Giuseppe Macrini, who in 1693 excavated some walls and wrote that Pompeii lay beneath La Civita. Herculaneum was rediscovered in 1738 by workers digging for the foundations of a summer palace for the King of Naples,Charles of Bourbon. Due to the spectacular quality of the finds, the Spanish military engineerRoque Joaquín de Alcubierremade excavations to find further remains at the site of Pompeii in 1748, even if the city was not identified.Charles of Bourbon took great interest in the finds, even after leaving to become king of Spain because the display of antiquities reinforced Naples' political and cultural prestige.On 20 August 1763, an inscription Rei Publicae Pompeianorum was found and the city was identified as Pompeii. Karl Weberdirected the first scientific excavations.He was followed in 1764 by military engineer Franscisco la Vega, who was succeeded by his brother,Pietro, in 1804. There was much progress in exploration when the French occupied","the French occupied Naples in 1799 and ruled over Italy from 1806 to 1815. The land on which Pompeii lies was confiscated, and up to 700 workers were employed in the excavations. The excavated areas in the north and south were connected. Parts of the Via dell'Abbondanza were also exposed in the west–east direction, and for the first time, an impression of the size and appearance of the ancient town could be appreciated. In the following years, the excavators struggled with a lack of money. Excavations progressed slowly, but with significant finds such as the houses of theFaun, ofMenandro, of theTragic Poetand theSurgeon. Giuseppe Fiorellitook charge of the excavations in 1863 and made greater progress.During early excavations of the site, occasional voids in the ash layer had been found that contained human remains. Fiorelli realised these were spaces left by the decomposed bodies, and so devised the technique of injectingplasterinto them to recreate the forms of Vesuvius's victims. This technique is still","technique is still in use today, with a clearresinnow used instead of plaster because it is more durable and does not destroy the bones, allowing further analysis. Fiorelli also introduced scientific documentation. He divided the city into today's nine areas (regiones) and blocks (insulae) and numbered the entrances of the individual houses (domus). Fiorelli also published the first periodical with excavation reports. Under his successors, the entire west section of the city was exposed. Modern archaeology After those of Fiorelli, excavations continued in an increasingly more systematic and considered manner under several directors of archaeology though still with the main interest in making spectacular discoveries and uncovering more houses rather than answering the main questions about the city and its long term preservation. In the 1920s,Amedeo Maiuriexcavated older layers beneath those of 79 AD for the first time to learn about the settlement history.Maiuri made the last excavations on a grand scale in","on a grand scale in the 1950s, and the area south of the Via dell'Abbondanza and the city wall was almost completely uncovered, but they were poorly documented scientifically. Preservation was haphazard, and his reconstructions were difficult to distinguish from the original ruins, which is a great handicap for studying genuine antique remains. Questionable reconstruction was also done after the severe earthquake of 1980, which caused great destruction. Since then, work has been confined to the excavated areas except for targeted soundings and excavations. Further excavations on a large scale are not planned, and today archaeologists are more engaged in reconstructing, documenting and slowing the decay of the ruins. In December 2018, archaeologists discovered the remains of harnessed horses in theVilla of the Mysteries. Under the 'Great Pompeii Project' over 2.5 km (1.6 mi) of ancient walls within the city were relieved of danger of collapse by treating the unexcavated areas behind the street fronts in order","fronts in order to increase drainage and reduce the pressure of groundwater and earth on the walls, a problem especially in the rainy season. These excavations resumed on unexcavated areas ofRegio V.In November 2020 the remains of two men, thought to be a rich man and his slave, were found in a 2 m-thick (6.6 ft) layer of ash. They appeared to have escaped the first eruption but were killed by a second blast the next day. A study of the bones showed that the younger one appeared to have done manual labour and hence was likely a slave. In December 2020, athermopolium, an inn or snack-bar, was excavated in Regio V. In addition to brightly colouredfrescoesdepicting some of the food on offer, archaeologists found eightdolia(terracotta pots) still containing remnants of meals, including duck, goat, pig, fish, and snails.They also found a decorated bronze drinking bowl known as apatera, wine flasks,amphorae, and ceramic jars used for cooking stews and soups. One fresco depicts a dog with a collar on a leash,","collar on a leash, possibly reminding customers to leash their pets. The complete skeleton of a tiny adult dog was also discovered, measuring only about 20–25 cm (7.9–9.8 in) at the shoulder, which provides evidence of the highly selective breeding of dogs in Roman times. In January 2021 a well-preserved \"large, four-wheel ceremonial chariot\" was uncovered in the portico of the luxurious villa in Civita Giuliana,north of Pompeii, where a stable had previously been discovered in 2018.The carriage is made of bronze and black and red wooden panels, with engraved silver and bronze medallions at the back. It is now thought to be an elaborate and unique bridal carriage called apilentumand in 2023 has been restored for display at the Baths of Diocletian.Nearby the bodies of two fugitives had been found using plaster casts, and in a stable the remains of horses, one still in harness. In 2021, an exceptional 1st century AD painted tomb of a freed slave,Marcus Venerius Secundio, containing mummified human remains, was","human remains, was discovered outside the Porta Sarno gate.Its inscription records he achieved custodianship of the Temple of Venus and membership of the Augustales, priests of the Imperial Cult. Also, he organised Greek and Latin performances lasting four days, the first evidence of Greek cultural events in Pompeii. In April 2024, a dining hall lined with rare frescoes was excavated as part of a broader project aimed at shoring up the front of the perimeter between the excavated and unexcavated area of the site.One fresco presents Helen of Troy and Paris, and another depicts Apollo and Princess Cassandra, with Apollo trying to attract the princess's attention. The hall, measuring 15 by 6 meters, was located in a house on Via di Nola—one of the main city streets in the famousRegio IXarea. The room walls were painted black, perhaps to hide the traces of soot from the lighting fixtures. In June 2024, a shrine with rare blue-painted walls covered with paintings of females thought to represent the four seasons","the four seasons (Horae) was discovered. 15 amphorae, two bronze jugs and two bronze lamps were among the findings. The 8 m2(86 sq ft) room is thought to be a sacrarium (the sanctuary of a church). Conservation Objects buried beneath Pompeii were well-preserved for almost 2,000 years as the lack of air and moisture allowed little to no deterioration. However, Pompeii has been exposed to natural and anthropic deterioration following excavation. Weathering, erosion, light exposure, water damage, poor methods of excavation and reconstruction, introduced plants and animals, tourism, vandalism and theft have all damaged the site in some way. The lack of adequate weather protection for all but the most interesting and important buildings has allowed original interior decoration to fade or be lost. Two-thirds of the city has been excavated, but the remnants of the city are rapidly deteriorating. Furthermore, duringWorld War IImany buildings were badly damaged or destroyed by bombs dropped in several raids by","in several raids by theAllied forces. The conservation concern has constantly worried archaeologists. The ancient city was included in the1996 World Monuments Watchby theWorld Monuments Fund, and again in1998and in2000. In 1996 the organisation claimed that Pompeii \"desperately need repair\" and called for the drafting of a general plan ofrestorationand interpretation.The organisation supported conservation at Pompeii with funding fromAmerican Expressand theSamuel H. Kress Foundation. TheSchola Armatorum('House of the Gladiators')collapsed in 2010 caused by heavy rainfall and lack of proper drainage.The structure was not open to visitors, but the outside was visible to tourists. There was fierce controversy after the collapse, with accusations of neglect. Today, funding is mostly directed into conservation of the site; however, due to the expanse of Pompeii and the scale of the problems, this is inadequate in halting the slow decay of the materials. A 2012 study recommended an improved strategy for","strategy for interpretation and presentation of the site as a cost-effective method of improving its conservation and preservation in the short term. In June 2013,UNESCOwarned that if restoration and preservation works \"fail to deliver substantial progress in the next two years,\" Pompeii could be placed on theList of World Heritage in Danger.A \"Grande Progetto Pompei\" project of about five years had begun in 2012 with theEuropean Unionand included stabilization and conservation of buildings in the highest risk areas. In 2014,UNESCO headquartersreceived a new management plan to help integrate the property's management, conservation, and maintenance programs. In 2020 manydomusgardens, orchards and vineyards were carefully recreated using depictions in frescoes and archaeological finds to give better insights into what they were like before the catastrophe.These include theHouse of Julia Felix, the House of the Golden Cupids,theHouse of Loreius Tiburtinus, the House of Cornelius Rufusandthe Garden of the","Garden of the Fugitives. In 2021 several long-closeddomuswere re-opened after restoration including the House of the Ship Europa,House of the Orchardand House of the Lovers.Also the newly excavated House of Leda and the Swanhas opened. Roman city development Owing to its wealth and its Greek, Etruscan and Roman history, Pompeii is of great interest for the study ofAncient Roman architecturein terms of building methods and urban planning. However, it was a relatively small provincial city and, except for theAmphitheatre, it did not have large monuments on the scale of other Roman cities. It also missed the large building schemes of the early Empire and kept much of its urban architecture dating from as early as the 4th century BC. The evolution of Pompeii's private and public buildings is often unclear because of the lack of excavations beneath the levels of 79. It is, however, clear that by the time of the conquest by Sulla in 89 BC, the development of the street layout was largely complete, and most of","and most of theinsulaewere built. Public buildings Under the Romans, Pompeii underwent a process of urban development which accelerated in the Augustan period from about 30 BC. New public buildings included the Amphitheatre withpalaestraor gymnasium with a centralnatatorium(cella natatoria) or swimming pool, two theatres, theEumachia Buildingand at least four public baths. The amphitheatre has been cited by scholars as a model of sophisticated design, particularly in the area of crowd control. Other service buildings were theMacellum(\"meat market\"); thePistrinum(baker); thethermopolia(inns or snack-bars that served hot and cold dishes and drinks), andcauponae(\"pubs\" or \"dives\" with a seedy reputation as hangouts for thieves and prostitutes). At least one building, theLupanar, was dedicated toprostitution.A large hotel orhospitium(of 1,000 m2) was found nearby at Murecine/Moregine,when theNaples-Salerno motorwaywas being built, and the Murecine Silver Treasure and the Tablets (providing a unique record of","a unique record of business transactions), as well as theMoregine bracelet, were discovered there. Anaqueductprovided water to the public baths, to more than 25 street fountains, and to many private houses and businesses. The aqueduct was a branch of the greatSerino Aqueductbuilt to serve the other large towns in the Bay of Naples region and the important naval base atMisenum. Thecastellum aquaeis well preserved and includes many details of the distribution network and its controls. Shops and workshops There were at least 31 bakeries in the town, each with wood-burning ovens, millstones and a sales counter. The Modestus bakery,or House of the Oven, was the largest in the city and Sotericus's bakery, also among the largest, preserves the room for kneading bread. Thermopoliawere inns or snack-bars in which hot food and drinks were sold and in Pompeii there were nearly 100. The thermopolium of Vetutius Placidusoverlooked the street directly, had a counter and severaldolia, as well as a room behind the shop","behind the shop where customers could eat their meals: thelarariumwith frescoes of theLaresandMercuryandDionysusand atricliniumdecorated in theThird style. In the thermopolium of Asellina,with three sales counters and a lararium with depictions of Mercury andBacchus, numerous furnishings have been found, both in bronze and terracotta, as well as 683sesterces; the external façade bears a representation of jugs and funnels and an electoral inscription referring to Asellina, probably the owner of the inn. Wool processing was well developed with 13 workshops that worked the raw material, seven that did the spinning, nine the dyeing, and 18 the washing: the Building of Eumachia, from the name of the priestess who built it, was the wool market, or the seat of the fullers guild; construction took place after 62 and was entirely in brickwork. Inside it has numerous niches in which statues were housed, mostly concerning the imperial family, a colonnade, and near the entrance, there was a jar in which urine was","in which urine was collected for use as a detergent for clothes. Thefullonicaof Stephanus,named after the owner or manager, was originally a house that was transformed into a workshop for the processing of fabrics: on the lower floor the working and washing activities took place, carried out in large tanks with water, soda and urine while on the upper floor the clothes were dried. Thegarumworkshopmade the sauce obtained from the fermentation of the entrails of fish; in the building some containers were found, closed by lids, with the sauce inside while in the nearby garden was a large deposit ofamphorae. Lists of buildings Town houses (Domus) Exterior villas Other Agriculture and horticulture Modern archaeologists have excavated garden sites and urban domains to reveal the agricultural staples of Pompeii's economy. Pompeii had fertile soil for crop cultivation. The soils surrounding Mount Vesuvius preceding its eruption had good water-retention capabilities, implying productive agriculture. TheTyrrhenian","TheTyrrhenian Sea's airflow provided hydration to the soil despite the hot, dry climate.Barley,wheat, andmilletwere produced along with wine and olive oil, for export to other regions. Evidence of wine imported nationally from Pompeii in its most prosperous years can be found from recovered artefacts such as wine bottles in Rome.For this reason, vineyards were of utmost importance to Pompeii's economy. Agricultural policymakerColumellasuggested that each vineyard in Rome produce a quota of threeculleiof wine perjugerum; otherwise, the vineyard would be uprooted. The nutrient-rich lands near Pompeii were extremely efficient and often capable of largely exceeding these requirements, providing the incentive for local wineries to establish themselves.While wine was exported for Pompeii's economy, most other agricultural goods were likely produced in quantities sufficient for the city's consumption. Remains of large formations of constructed wineries were found in the Forum Boarium, covered by cemented casts from","cemented casts from the eruption of Vesuvius.It is speculated that these historical vineyards are strikingly similar in structure to the modern day vineyards across Italy. Carbonised food plant remains, roots, seeds and pollens have been found in gardens in Pompeii, Herculaneum, and a Roman villa atTorre Annunziata. They revealed thatemmerwheat,Italian millet,common millet, walnuts, pine nuts, chestnuts, hazel nuts, chickpeas,bitter vetch, broad beans, olives, figs, pears, onions, garlic, peaches, carob, grapes, and dates were consumed. All but the dates could have been produced locally. Erotic art The discovery oferotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneumleft the archaeologists with a dilemma stemming from theclash of culturesbetween the mores ofsexuality in ancient Romeand inCounter-ReformationEurope. An unknown number of discoveries were hidden away again. A wall fresco depictingPriapus, the ancient god of sex and fertility, with his grotesquely enlarged penis, was covered with plaster. An older reproduction","older reproduction was locked away \"out of prudishness\" and opened only on request – and only rediscovered in 1998 due to rainfall.In 2018, an ancient fresco depicting an erotic scene of \"Leda and the Swan\" was discovered at Pompeii. Manyartefactsfrom the buried cities are preserved in theNaples National Archaeological Museum. In 1819, whenKing Francisvisited the Pompeii exhibition there with his wife and daughter, he was so embarrassed by the erotic artwork that he had it locked away in a \"secret cabinet\" (gabinetto segreto), a gallery within the museum accessible only to \"people of mature age and respected morals\". Re-opened, closed, re-opened again and then closed again for nearly 100 years, theNaples \"Secret Museum\"was briefly made accessible again at the end of the 1960s (the time of thesexual revolution) and was finally re-opened for viewing in 2000. Minors are still allowed entry only in the presence of a guardian or with written permission. Tourism Pompeii has been a popular tourist destination for","destination for over 250 years;it was on theGrand Tour. By 2008, it was attracting almost 2.6 million visitors per year, making it one of Italy's most popular tourist sites.It is part of a largerVesuvius National Parkand was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997. To combat problems associated with tourism, the governing body for Pompeii, the 'Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei', has begun issuing new tickets that allow tourists to visit cities such asHerculaneumandStabiaeas well as theVilla Poppaea, to encourage visitors to see these sites and reduce pressure on Pompeii. Pompeii is a driving force behind the economy of the nearby town ofPompei. Many residents are employed in the tourism and hospitality industry, serving as taxi or bus drivers, waiters, or hotel staff. Excavations at the site have generally ceased due to a moratorium imposed by the superintendent of the site, Professor Pietro Giovanni Guzzo. The site is generally less accessible to tourists than in the past, with less than a","with less than a third of all buildings open in the 1960s available for public viewing today. Antiquarium of Pompeii Originally built byGiuseppe Fiorellibetween 1873 and 1874, the Antiquarium of Pompeii began as an exhibition venue displaying archaeological finds that represented the daily life of the ancient city. The building suffered extensive damage in 1943 during theWorld War IIbombings and again in 1980 due to an earthquake. The museum was closed to the public for 36 years before reopening in 2016 as a space for temporary exhibitions.The museum was re-opened on 25 January 2021 as a permanent exhibition venue. Visitors can see archaeological discoveries from the excavations, casts of the victims of the Mount Vesuvius eruption as well as displays documenting Pompeii's settlement history before becoming a thriving Roman city. In popular culture The 1954 filmJourney to Italy, starringGeorge SandersandIngrid Bergman, includes a scene at Pompeii in which they witness the excavation of a cast of a couple who","of a couple who perished in the eruption. Pompeii was the setting for the British comedytelevision seriesUp Pompeii!and the movie of the series. Pompeii also featured in the second episode of the fourth season of revived BBC science fiction seriesDoctor Who, named \"The Fires of Pompeii\",which featured Caecilius as a character. The rock bandPink Floydfilmed a 1971 live concert,Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii, in which they performed six songs in the city's ancient Roman amphitheatre. The audience consisted only of the film's production crew and some local children. Siouxsie and the Bansheeswrote and recorded the punk-inflected dance song \"Cities in Dust\", which describes the disaster that befell Pompeii and Herculaneum in AD 79. The song appears on their album 1985Tinderbox. The jacket of the single remix of the song features the plaster cast of a chained dog killed in Pompeii. Pompeiiis a 2003Robert Harrisnovel featuring an account of the aquarius's race to fix the broken aqueduct in the days before the eruption","before the eruption of Vesuvius. Actual events and people inspired the novel. \"Pompeii\" is a 2013 song by the British bandBastille. The lyrics refer to the city and the eruption ofMount Vesuvius. Pompeiiis a 2014 German-Canadianhistoricaldisaster filmproduced and directed byPaul W. S. Anderson. 45 years after the Pink Floyd recordings, guitaristDavid Gilmourreturned to the Pompeii amphitheatre in 2016 to perform a live concert for hisRattle That Lock Tour. This event was considered the first in the amphitheatre to feature an audience since the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius. Documentaries Gallery See also References Further reading External links","World Heritage Committee TheWorld Heritage Committeeis a committee of theUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizationthat selects the sites to be listed as UNESCOWorld Heritage Sites, including the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger, defines the use of the World Heritage Fund and allocates financial assistance upon requests from States Parties.It comprises representatives from 21state partiesthat are elected by theGeneral Assembly of States Partiesfor a four-year term.These parties vote on decisions and proposals related to theWorld Heritage Conventionand World Heritage List. According to the World Heritage Convention, a committee member's term of office is six years. However many States Parties choose to voluntarily limit their term to four years, in order to give other States Parties an opportunity to serve.All members elected at the 15thGeneral Assembly(2005) voluntarily chose to reduce their term of office from six to four years. Deliberations of the World","of the World Heritage Committee are aided by three advisory bodies, theIUCN,ICOMOSandICCROM. Sessions The World Heritage Committee meets once a year for an ordinary session to discuss the management of existingWorld Heritage Sites, and accept nominations by countries.Extraordinary meetings can be convened at the request of two-thirds of the state members.Meetings are held within the territory of state members of the World Heritage Committee at their invitation. Rotation between regions and cultures is a consideration for selection and the location for the next session is chosen by the committee at the end of each session. Bureau At the end of each ordinary session, the committee elects a chairperson, five vice-chairpersons and aRapporteurfrom those members whose term will continue through the next session.These are known as the Bureau, and their representatives are responsible for coordinating the work of the World Heritage Committee, including fixing dates, hours and the order of business meetings. Voting","meetings. Voting Each state member of the World Heritage Committee has one vote. Decisions require a simple majority with abstentions counted as not voting. Votes are delivered by a show of hands unless a secret ballot is requested by either the chairperson or two or more states members. Members Current members of theUNESCOWorld Heritage Committee: Criticism Increasing politicization of World Heritage Committee decisions to the detriment of conservation aims has been alleged, particularly with regard to new nominations for the World Heritage List, but also with the consideration of sites for the List of World Heritage in Danger.In 2010, states parties including Hungary, Switzerland and Zimbabwe submitted an official protest against such politicization. An external audit requested by the World Heritage Committee for itsGlobal Strategy of the World Heritage Listconcluded in 2011 that political considerations were indeed influencing decisions.It observed that the composition of committee representatives had","representatives had shifted from experts to diplomats in spite of World Heritage Convention Article 9 and found that opinions from advisory bodies often diverged from World Heritage Committee decisions. In 2016, Israel recalled its UNESCO ambassador after the World Heritage Committee adopted a resolution in a secret ballot that referred to one ofJerusalem's holiest sites, theTemple Mount, only as a \"Muslim holy site of worship\", not mentioning that Jews and Christians venerate the site. The committee has also been criticized with alleged racism, colorism, and geographic bias for favoring the inscription of sites in Western and industrialized countries over sites belonging to so-called \"third-world\" countries. A large proportion of the world heritage sites are located in Europe, Eastern Asia, and North America, where populations notably have lighter skin. See also References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Stratovolcano Astratovolcano, also known as acomposite volcano, is aconicalvolcanobuilt up by many layers (strata) of hardenedlavaandtephra.Unlikeshield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and periodic intervals ofexplosive eruptionsandeffusive eruptions, although some have collapsed summit craters calledcalderas. The lava flowing from stratovolcanoes typically cools and solidifies before spreading far, due to high viscosity. The magma forming this lava is oftenfelsic, having high to intermediate levels ofsilica(as inrhyolite,dacite, orandesite), with lesser amounts of less viscousmaficmagma.Extensive felsic lava flows are uncommon, but have traveled as far as 15 km (9 mi). Stratovolcanoes are sometimes called composite volcanoes because of their composite stratified structure, built up from sequential outpourings of erupted materials. They are among the most common types of volcanoes, in contrast to the less common shield volcanoes.Two examples of\",\n \"examples of stratovolcanoes famous for catastrophic eruptions areKrakatoainIndonesia, which erupted in1883, andVesuviusinItaly, having erupted in79; both eruptions claimed thousands of lives. In modern times,Mount St. Helens(March 27, 1980) inWashington State, US, andMount Pinatubo(June 15, 1991) in thePhilippineshave erupted catastrophically, but with fewer deaths. The existence of stratovolcanoes on other bodies of theSolar Systemhas not been conclusively demonstrated.One possible exception is the existence of some isolatedmassifson Mars, for example theZephyria Tholus. Creation Stratovolcanoes are common atsubduction zones, forming chains and clusters along plate tectonic boundaries whereoceanic crustis drawn undercontinental crust(continental arc volcanism, e.g.Cascade Range,Andes,Campania) or another oceanic plate (island arcvolcanism, e.g.Japan,Philippines,Aleutian Islands). The magma forming stratovolcanoes rises when water trapped both in hydrated minerals and in the porousbasaltrock of the upper\",\n \"of the upper oceanic crust is released intomantlerock of theasthenosphereabove the sinking oceanic slab.The release of water from hydrated minerals is termed \\\"dewatering\\\", and occurs at specific pressures and temperatures for each mineral, as the plate descends to greater depths.The water freed from the rock lowers themelting pointof the overlying mantle rock, which then undergoes partial melting, rises (due to its lighter density relative to the surrounding mantle rock), and pools temporarily at the base of thelithosphere. The magma then rises through thecrust, incorporating silica-rich crustal rock, leading to a finalintermediate composition. When the magma nears the top surface, it pools in amagma chamberwithin the crust below the stratovolcano. The processes that trigger the final eruption remain a question for further research. Possible mechanisms include: These internal triggers may be modified by external triggers such assector collapse,earthquakes, orinteractions with groundwater. Some of these\",\n \"Some of these triggers operate only under limited conditions. For example, sector collapse (where part of the flank of a volcano collapses in a massive landslide) can trigger eruption only of a very shallow magma chamber. Magma differentiation and thermal expansion also are ineffective as triggers for eruptions from deep magma chambers. Hazards Inrecorded history, explosive eruptions at subduction zone (convergent-boundary) volcanoes have posed the greatest hazard to civilizations.Subduction-zone stratovolcanoes, such asMount St. Helens,Mount EtnaandMount Pinatubo, typically erupt with explosive force because the magma is too viscous to allow easy escape of volcanic gases. As a consequence, the tremendous internal pressures of the trapped volcanic gases remain and intermingle in the pasty magma. Following the breaching of the vent and the opening of the crater, the magma degasses explosively. The magma and gases blast out with high speed and full force. Since 1600CE, nearly 300,000 people have been killed by\",\n \"have been killed by volcanic eruptions.Most deaths were caused bypyroclastic flowsandlahars, deadly hazards that often accompany explosive eruptions of subduction-zone stratovolcanoes. Pyroclastic flows are swift, avalanche-like, ground-sweeping, incandescent mixtures of hot volcanic debris, fine ash, fragmented lava, and superheated gases that can travel at speeds over 160 km/h (100 mph). Around 30,000 people were killed by pyroclastic flows during the 1902 eruption ofMount Peléeon the island ofMartiniquein the Caribbean.During March and April 1982, three explosive eruptions ofEl Chichónin the State ofChiapasin southeastern Mexico caused the worst volcanic disaster in that country's history. Villages within 8 km (5 mi) of the volcano were destroyed by pyroclastic flows, killing more than 2,000 people. TwoDecade Volcanoesthat erupted in 1991 provide examples of stratovolcano hazards. On 15 June, Mount Pinatubo spewed an ash cloud 40 km (25 mi) into the air and produced huge pyroclastic surges andlaharfloods\",\n \"andlaharfloods that devastated a large area around the volcano. Pinatubo, located inCentral Luzonjust 90 km (56 mi) west-northwest ofManila, had been dormant for six centuries before the 1991 eruption, which ranks as one of the largest eruptions in the 20th century.Also in 1991, Japan'sUnzen Volcano, located on the island of Kyushu about 40 km (25 mi) east of Nagasaki, awakened from its 200-year slumber to produce a newlava domeat its summit. Beginning in June, the repeated collapse of this erupting dome generated ash flows that swept down the mountain's slopes at speeds as high as 200 km/h (120 mph). Unzen is one of more than 75 active volcanoes in Japan; an eruption in 1792 killed more than 15,000 people—the worst volcanic disaster in the nation's history. Theeruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79completely smothered the nearby ancient cities ofPompeiiandHerculaneumwith thick deposits ofpyroclastic surgesandlava flows. Although the death toll has been estimated at between 13,000 and 26,000 people, the exact\",\n \"people, the exact number is still unclear. Vesuvius is recognized as one of the most dangerous of the world's volcanoes, due to its capacity forpowerful explosive eruptionscoupled with the high population density of the surroundingMetropolitan Naplesarea (totaling about 3.6 million inhabitants). Ash In addition to potentially affecting the climate, volcanic clouds from explosive eruptions pose a serious hazard to aviation.For example, during the 1982 eruption ofGalunggunginJava,British Airways Flight 9flew into the ash cloud, causing it to sustain temporary engine failure and structural damage. During the past two decades, more than 60 airplanes, mostly commercial airliners, have been damaged by in-flight encounters with volcanic ash. Some of these encounters have resulted in the loss of power in all engines, necessitating emergency landings. As of 1999, no crashes have happened because of jet aircraft flying into volcanic ash.Ashfallsare a threat to health when inhaled and ash is also a threat to property\",\n \"threat to property with enough accumulation. Dense clouds of hot volcanic ash can be expelled due to the collapse of aneruptive column, or laterally due to the partial collapse of a volcanic edifice or lava dome during explosive eruptions. These clouds can generate devastating pyroclastic flows or surges. Lava Lava flows from stratovolcanoes are generally not a significant threat to humans or animals because the highlyviscouslava moves slowly enough for everyone to flee away from the path of flow. The lava flows are more of a threat to property. However, not all stratovolcanoes erupt viscous and sticky lava.Nyiragongo, near Lake Kivu in central Africa, is very dangerous because itsmagmahas an unusually low silica content, making it quite fluid. Fluid lavas are typically associated with the formation of broad shield volcanoes such as those of Hawaii, but Nyiragongo has very steep slopes down which lava can flow at up to 100 km/h (60 mph). Lava flows could melt down ice and glaciers that accumulated on the\",\n \"accumulated on the volcano's crater and upper slopes, generating massivelaharflows. Rarely, generally fluid lava could also generate massive lava fountains, while lava of thicker viscosity can solidify within the vent, creating avolcanic plugwhich can result in highly explosive eruptions. Volcanic bombs Volcanic bombs are extrusiveigneous rocksranging from the size of books to small cars, that are explosively ejected from stratovolcanoes during their climactic eruptive phases. These \\\"bombs\\\" can travel over 20 km (12 mi) away from the volcano, and present a risk to buildings and living beings while shooting at very high speeds (hundreds of kilometers/miles per hour) through the air. Most bombs do not themselves explode on impact, but rather carry enough force to have destructive effects as if they exploded. Lahar Lahars (from aJavaneseterm for volcanic mudflows) are mixtures of volcanic debris and water. Lahars usually come from two sources: rainfall, or the melting of snow and ice by hot volcanic elements,\",\n \"volcanic elements, such as lava. Depending on the proportion and temperature of water to volcanic material, lahars can range from thick, gooey flows that have the consistency of wet concrete to fast-flowing, soupy floods.As lahars flood down the steep sides of stratovolcanoes, they have the strength and speed to flatten or drown everything in their paths. Hot ash clouds, lava flows and pyroclastic surges ejected during1985 eruptionofNevado del RuizinColombiamelted snow and ice atop the 5,321 m (17,457 ft) high Andean volcano. The ensuing lahar flooded the city ofArmeroand nearby settlements, killing 25,000 people. Effects on climate and atmosphere As per the above examples, while the Unzen eruptions have caused deaths and considerable local damage in the historic past, the impact of the June 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo was global. Slightly cooler-than-usual temperatures were recorded worldwide, with brilliant sunsets and intense sunrises attributed to theparticulates; this eruption lofted particles high\",\n \"particles high into thestratosphere. Theaerosolsthat formed from thesulfur dioxide(SO2),carbon dioxide(CO2), and other gases dispersed around the world. The SO2mass in this cloud—about 22 million tons—combined with water (both of volcanic and atmospheric origin) formed droplets ofsulfuric acid, blocking a portion of the sunlight from reaching thetroposphereand ground. The cooling in some regions is thought to have been as much as 0.5 °C (0.9 °F).An eruption the size of Mount Pinatubo tends to affect the weather for a few years; the material injected into the stratosphere gradually drops into thetroposphere, where it is washed away by rain and cloud precipitation. A similar but extraordinarily more powerful phenomenon occurred in the cataclysmic April 1815 eruption ofMount TamboraonSumbawaisland inIndonesia. The Mount Tambora eruption is recognized as the most powerful eruption in recorded history. Its eruption cloud lowered global temperatures by as much as 3.5 °C (6.3 °F).In the year following the eruption,\",\n \"the eruption, most of the Northern Hemisphere experienced sharply cooler temperatures during the summer. In parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America, 1816 was known as the \\\"Year Without a Summer\\\", which caused a considerable agricultural crisis and a brief but bitter famine, which generated a series of distresses across much of the affected continents. List See also References\",\n \"Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD Of the many eruptions ofMount Vesuvius, a majorstratovolcanoinSouthern Italy, the best-known is its eruption in 79 AD,which wasone of the deadliest in history. Mount Vesuvius violently spewed forth acloudof super-heatedtephraandgasesto a height of 33 km (21 mi), ejectingmolten rock, pulverizedpumiceandhot ashat 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing 100,000 times thethermal energyof theatomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.The event gives its name to theVesuviantype of volcanic eruption, characterised by columns of hot gases and ash reaching thestratosphere, although the event also includedpyroclastic flowsassociated withPelean eruptions. The event destroyed severalRomantowns and settlements in the area.PompeiiandHerculaneum, obliterated and buried underneath massivepyroclastic surgesandashfall deposits, are the most famous examples.Archaeological excavations have revealed much of the towns and the lives of the inhabitants leading to the area becoming\",\n \"the area becoming theVesuvius National Parkand a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site. The total population of both cities was over 20,000.The remains of over 1,500 people have been found at Pompeii and Herculaneum. The total death toll from the eruption remains unknown. Precursor earthquakes Amajor earthquakecaused widespread destruction around theBay of Naples, particularly to Pompeii, on February 5, 62 AD.Some of the damage had still not been repaired when the volcano erupted in October 79 AD. Another smaller earthquake took place in 64 AD; it was recorded bySuetoniusin his biography ofNero,and byTacitusinAnnalesbecause it took place while Nero was in Naples performing for the first time in a public theater.Suetonius recorded that the emperor continued singing through the earthquake until he had finished his song, while Tacitus wrote that the theater collapsed shortly after beingevacuated. Minor earthquakes were reported in the four days before the 79 AD eruption, but the warnings were not recognized. The\",\n \"not recognized. The inhabitants of the area surrounding Mount Vesuvius had been accustomed to minor tremors in the region;Pliny the Youngerwrote that they \\\"were not particularly alarming because they are frequent in Campania\\\". Nature of the eruption Reconstructions of the eruption and its effects vary considerably in the details but have the same overall features. The eruption lasted for two days.Pliny the Younger, author of the only surviving written testimony, described the morning before the eruption as normal; however, he was staying atMisenum29 kilometres (18 mi) from the volcano across the Bay of Naples. The first day of the eruption had little effect on Misenum.Pompeii is never mentioned in Pliny the Younger's letter. Around 1:00 p.m., Mount Vesuvius erupted violently, spewing up a high-altitude column from which ash and pumice began to fall, blanketing the area.Over the next few hours, rescues and escapes occurred during this time.At some time in the night or early the next day,pyroclastic flowsin\",\n \"flowsin the close vicinity of the volcano began; lights seen on the mountain were interpreted as fires, and people as far away as Misenum fled for their lives.The flows were rapid-moving, dense, and very hot, wholly or partly knocking down all structures in their path, incinerating or suffocating the remaining population.These were accompanied by additional tremors and a mildtsunamiin the Bay of Naples.One or more earthquakes at this time were strong enough to cause buildings to collapse at least in Pompeii killing the occupants.By the evening of the second day, the eruption stopped affecting Misenum, with only haze in the atmosphere, screening sunlight.Pliny the Younger wrote: broad flames shone out in several places fromMount Vesuvius, which the darkness of the night contributed to render still brighter and clearer... It was now day everywhere else, but there a deeper darkness prevailed than in the thickest night. Stratigraphic studies Sigurðsson, Cashdollar, andSparksundertook a detailed stratigraphic\",\n \"stratigraphic study of ash layers based on excavations and surveys, published in 1982. They concluded that the eruption unfolded in two phases,VesuvianandPelean, which alternated six times. A firstPlinian phaseprojected a column of volcanic debris and hot gases between 15 km (9 mi) and 30 km (19 mi) into thestratosphere. This phase lasted 18 to 20 hours and spread pumice and ashes, forming a 2.8 m (9 ft) layer to the south, towards Pompeii. An earthquake caused buildings in Pompeii to collapse at this time. The followingPelean phaseproducedpyroclastic surgesof molten rock and hot gases that reached as far asMisenum, to the west. Concentrated to the south and southeast, two pyroclastic surges engulfed Pompeii with a 1.8-metre-deep (6 ft) layer, burning and asphyxiating any living beings who had remained behind.Herculaneum,Pompeii, andOplontisreceived the brunt of the surges and were buried in fine pyroclastic deposits, pulverized pumice and lava fragments up to 20 m (70 ft) deep. Surges 4 and 5 are believed\",\n \"and 5 are believed to have destroyed and buried Pompeii.Surges are identified in the deposits by dune and cross-bedding formations, which are not produced by fallout. The eruption is considered primarilyphreatomagmatic, i.e. a blast driven by energy from escaping steam produced by seawater seeping into the deep-seated faults and interacting with hot magma. Timing of explosions In an article published in 2002, Sigurðsson and Casey concluded that an early explosion produced a column of ash and pumice which rained on Pompeii to the southeast but not on Herculaneum, which was upwind.Subsequently, the cloud collapsed as the gases densified and lost their capability to support their solid contents. The authors suggest that the first ash falls are to be interpreted as early-morning, low-volume explosions not seen from Misenum, causingRectinato send her messenger on a ride of several hours around the Bay of Naples, then passable, providing an answer to the paradox of how the messenger might miraculously appear at\",\n \"appear at Pliny's villa so shortly after a distant eruption that would have prevented him. Magnetic studies A 2006 study by Zanella, Gurioli, Pareschi, and Lanza used the magnetic characteristics of over 200 samples of lithic, roof-tile, and plaster fragments collected from pyroclastic deposits in and around Pompeii to estimate the equilibrium temperatures of thedeposits.The deposits were placed bypyroclastic density currents(PDCs) resulting from the collapses of the Plinian column. The authors argue that fragments over 2–5 cm (0.8–2 in) were not in the current long enough to acquire its temperature, which would have been much higher. Therefore, they distinguish between the depositional temperatures, which they estimated, and the emplacement temperatures, which in some cases, based on the cooling characteristics of some types and fragment sizes of rocks they believed they also could estimate. The final figures are considered to be those of the rocks in the current just before deposition. All crystal rock\",\n \"All crystal rock contains some iron or iron compounds, rendering itferromagnetic, as do Roman roof tiles and plaster. These materials may acquire a residual field from several sources. When individual molecules, which aremagnetic dipoles, are held in alignment by being bound in acrystallinestructure, the small fields reinforce each other to form the rock's residual field.Heating the material addsinternal energyto it. At theCurie temperature, the vibration of the molecules is sufficient to disrupt the alignment; the material loses its residual magnetism and assumes whatevermagnetic fieldmight be applied to it only for the duration of the application. The authors term this phenomenon unblocking. Residual magnetism is considered to \\\"block out\\\" non-residual fields. Arockis a mixture of minerals, each with its own Curie temperature; the authors, therefore, looked for aspectrumof temperatures rather than a single temperature. In the ideal sample, the PDC did not raise the temperature of the fragment beyond the\",\n \"fragment beyond the highest blocking temperature. Some constituent materials retained the magnetism the Earth's field imposed when the item was formed. The temperature was raised above the lowest blocking temperature; therefore, some minerals on recooling acquired the magnetism of the Earth as it was in 79 AD. The broad field of the sample was thevector sumof the fields of the high-blocking material and the low-blocking material. This type of sample made it possible to estimate the low unblocking temperature. Using special equipment that measured field direction and strength at various temperatures, the experimenters raised the temperature of the sample in increments of40 °C (70 °F)from 100 °C (210 °F) until it reached the low unblocking temperature.Deprived of one of its components, the overall field changed direction. A plot of direction at each increment identified the increment at which the sample's resultant magnetism had formed.That was considered the equilibrium temperature of the deposit. Considering\",\n \"Considering the data for all the surge deposits arrived at a surge deposit estimate. The authors discovered that the city of Pompeii was a relatively cool spot within a much hotter field, which they attributed to the interaction of the surge with the \\\"fabric\\\" of the city. The investigators reconstruct the sequence of volcanic events as follows: The variable temperature of the first surge was due to interaction with the buildings. Any population remaining in structural refuges could not have escaped, as gases of incinerating temperatures surrounded the city. The lowest temperatures were in rooms under collapsed roofs. These were as low as 100 °C (212 °F), the boiling point of water.The authors suggest that elements of the bottom of the flow were decoupled from the main flow by topographic irregularities and made cooler by introducing turbulent ambient air. In the second surge, the irregularities were gone, and the city was as hot as the surrounding environment. During the last surge, which was very dilute, an\",\n \"was very dilute, an additional 1 metre (3.3 ft) of deposits fell over the region. The Two Plinys The only surviving eyewitness account of the event consists of two letters byPliny the Younger, who was 17 at the time of the eruption,written to the historianTacitussome 25 years after the event.Observing the first volcanic activity fromMisenumacross the Bay of Naples from the volcano, approximately 29 kilometres (18 mi) away,Pliny the Elder(Pliny the Younger's uncle) launched a rescue fleet and went himself to the rescue of a personal friend. His nephew declined to join the party. One of the nephew's letters relates what he could discover from witnesses of his uncle's experiences.In a second letter, the younger Pliny details his own observations after the departure of his uncle. Pliny the Younger Pliny the Younger saw an extraordinarily dense cloud rising rapidly above the mountain: the appearance of which I cannot give you a more exact description of than by likening it to that of a pine-tree, for it shot up\",\n \"for it shot up to a great height in the form of a very tall trunk, which spread itself out at the top into a sort of branches. it appeared sometimes bright and sometimes dark and spotted, according as it was either more or less impregnated with earth and cinders. These events and a request by messenger for an evacuation by sea prompted the elder Pliny to order rescue operations in which he sailed away to participate. His nephew attempted to resume a normal life, continuing to study and bathe, but that night a tremor woke him and his mother, prompting them to abandon the house for the courtyard. At another tremor at dawn, the population abandoned the village. After a third tremor, \\\"the sea seemed to roll back upon itself, and to be driven from its banks\\\", which is evidence of atsunami. There is, however, no evidence of extensive damage from wave action. A black cloud obscured the early light through which shone flashes, which Pliny likens to sheet lightning, but more extensive. The cloud obscured Point\",\n \"obscured Point Misenum near at hand and the island of Capraia (Capri) across the bay. Fearing for their lives, the population began calling each other and moving back from the coast along the road. Pliny's mother requested him to abandon her and save his own life, as she was too fleshy and aged to go further, but seizing her hand, he led her away as best he could. A rain of ash fell. Pliny needed to shake off the ash periodically to avoid being buried. Later that same day, the ash stopped falling, and the sun shone weakly through the cloud, encouraging Pliny and his mother to return home and wait for news of Pliny the Elder. The letter compares the ash to a blanket of snow. The earthquake and tsunami damage at that location were not severe enough to prevent continued use of the home. Pliny the Elder Pliny's uncle,Pliny the Elder, was in command of theRoman fleetat Misenum and had meanwhile decided to investigate the phenomenon at close hand in a light vessel. As the ship was preparing to leave the area, a\",\n \"leave the area, a messenger came from his friend Rectina (wife of Bassus) living on the coast near the foot of the volcano, explaining that her party could only get away by sea and asking for rescue.Pliny ordered the immediate launching of the fleet galleys to the evacuation of the coast. He continued in his light ship to the rescue of Rectina's party. He set off across the bay but encountered thick showers of hot cinders, lumps of pumice, and pieces of rock in the shallows on the other side. Advised by the helmsman to turn back, he stated \\\"Fortune favors the brave\\\" and ordered him to continue toStabiae(about 4.5 km or 2.8 mi from Pompeii), wherePomponianuswas.Pomponianus had already loaded a ship with possessions and was preparing to leave, but the same onshore wind that brought Pliny's ship to the location had prevented anyone from leaving. Pliny and his party saw flames coming from several parts of the mountain, which Pliny and his friends attributed to burning villages. After staying overnight, the party\",\n \"the party was driven from the building by its violent shaking.They woke Pliny, who had been napping and snoring loudly. They elected to take to the fields with pillows tied to their heads to protect them from rockfall. They approached the beach again, but the wind had not changed. Pliny sat down on a sail spread for him and could not rise, even with assistance. His friends then departed, escaping ultimately by land.Very likely, he had collapsed and died, the most popular explanation for why his friends abandoned him, although Suetonius offers an alternative story of his ordering a slave to kill him to avoid the pain of incineration. How the slave would have escaped remains a mystery. There is no mention of such an event in his nephew's letters. In the first letter to Tacitus, his nephew suggested that his death was due to the reaction of his weak lungs to a cloud of poisonous, sulphurous gas that wafted over the group.However, Stabiae was 16 km (9.9 mi) from the vent (roughly where the modern town\",\n \"the modern town ofCastellammare di Stabiais situated), and his companions were apparently unaffected by the fumes, and so it is more likely that the corpulent Pliny died from some other cause, such as a stroke or heart attack.Anasthmaticattack is also not out of the question. His body was found with no apparent injuries the next day once the plume had dispersed. Casualties from the eruption Apart from Pliny the Elder, the only casualties of the eruption to be known by name were theHerodianprincessDrusillaand her son Agrippa, who was born in her marriage with theprocuratorAntonius Felix.It is also said that the poetCaesius Bassusdied in the eruption. By 2003, approximately 1,044 casts made from impressions of bodies in the ash deposits had been recovered in and around Pompeii, with the scattered bones of another 100.The remains of about 332 bodies have been found at Herculaneum (300 in arched vaults discovered in 1980).The total number of fatalities remains unknown. Thirty-eight percent of the 1,044 were\",\n \"of the 1,044 were found in the ash fall deposits, the majority inside buildings.This differs from modern experience over the last 400 years when ash falls have killed only around 4% of victims during explosive eruptions. This cohort was possibly sheltering in buildings when they were overcome. The remaining 62% of bodies found at Pompeii lay in thepyroclastic surgedeposits, which probably killed them. It was initially believed that due to the state of the bodies found at Pompeii and the outline of clothes on the bodies, it was unlikely that high temperatures were a significant cause. Later studies indicated that during the fourth pyroclastic surge (the first surge to reach Pompeii), the temperature reached 300 °C (572 °F), which was enough to kill people in a fraction of a second.The contorted postures of bodies as if frozen in suspended action were not the effects of long agony, but of thecadaveric spasm, a consequence of heat shock on corpses.The heat was so intense that organs and blood were vaporised,\",\n \"were vaporised, and at least one victim's brain wasvitrifiedby the temperature. Herculaneum, which was much closer to the crater, was saved fromtephrafalls by the wind direction but was buried under 23 metres (75 ft) of material deposited by pyroclastic surges. It is likely that most, or all, of the known victims in this town, were killed by the surges, particularly given evidence of high temperatures found on the skeletons of the victims found in the arched vaults on the seashore and the existence of carbonised wood in many of the buildings. These people were concentrated in the vaults at a density as high as three per square metre and were all caught by the first surge, dying of thermal shock and partly carbonised by later and hotter surges. The vaults were most likely boathouses, as the crossbeams overhead were probably for the suspension of boats used for the earlier escape of some of the population. As only 85 metres (279 ft) of the coast have been excavated, more casualties may be waiting to be\",\n \"be waiting to be unearthed. Date of the eruption Vesuvius and its destructive eruption are mentioned in first-century Roman sources, but not the day of the eruption. For example,Josephusin hisAntiquities of the Jewsmentions that the eruption occurred \\\"in the days ofTitus Caesar.\\\"Suetonius, a second-century historian, in hisLife of Titussimply says that, \\\"There were some dreadful disasters during his reign, such as the eruption of Mount Vesuvius inCampania.\\\" Writing well over a century after the actual event, Roman historianCassius Dio(as translated in theLoeb Classical Library1925 edition) wrote that, \\\"In Campania remarkable and frightful occurrences took place; for a great fire suddenly flared up at the very end of the summer.\\\" For more than five centuries, until approximately 2018, articles about the eruption of Vesuvius typically stated that the eruption began on August 24, 79 AD. This date came from a 1508 printed copy of a letter addressed byPliny the Youngerto the Roman historianTacitus, originally\",\n \"originally written some 25 years after the event.Pliny was a witness to the eruption and provided the only known eyewitness account. Over fourteen centuries of manuscript hand-copying up to the 1508 printing of his letters, the date given in Pliny's original letter may have been corrupted. Manuscript experts believe that the date originally given by Pliny was one of August 24, October 30, November 1, or November 23.This odd scattered set of dates is due to the Romans'convention for describing calendar dates. The large majority of extant medieval manuscript copies (there are no surviving Roman copies) indicate a date corresponding to August 24. Since the discovery of the cities, this was accepted by most scholars and by nearly all books written about Pompeii and Herculaneum for the general public. Since at least the late 18th century, a minority among archaeologists and other scientists have suggested that the eruption began after August 24, during the autumn, perhaps in October or November. In 1797, the\",\n \"In 1797, the researcher Carlo Rosini reported that excavations atPompeiiandHerculaneumhad uncovered traces of fruits andbraziersindicative of autumn, not the summer. More recently, in 1990 and 2001, archaeologists discovered more remnants of autumnal fruits (such as thepomegranate), the remains of victims of the eruption in heavy clothing, and large earthenware storage vessels laden with wine (at the time of their burial by Vesuvius). The wine-related discovery suggests that the eruption might have happened after the grape harvest. In 2007, a study of prevailing winds in Campania showed that the southeasterly debris pattern of the first-century eruption is quite consistent with an autumn event and inconsistent with an August date. During June, July, and August, the prevailing winds flow to the west – an arc between the southwest and northwest – virtually all the time. AsEmperor Titusof theFlavian dynasty(reigning June 24, 79 AD to September 13, 81 AD) garnered victories on the battlefield (including his\",\n \"(including his capture of theTemple of Jerusalem) and other honors, his administration issued coins enumerating his ever-growing accolades. Given the limited space on each coin, his achievements were stamped on the coins using an arcane encoding. Two of these coins, from early in Titus' reign, were found in a hoard recovered at Pompeii's House of the Golden Bracelet. Although the coins' minting dates are somewhat in dispute,anumismaticexpert at theBritish Museum, Richard Abdy, concluded that the latest coin in the hoard was minted on or after June 24 (the first date of Titus' reign) and before September 1, 79 AD. Abdy states that it is \\\"remarkable that both coins will have taken just two months after minting to enter circulation and reach Pompeii before the disaster.\\\" In October 2018, Italian archaeologists uncovered a charcoal inscription reading \\\"the 16th day before the calends (first) of November,\\\"or October 17, that was probably \\\"made by a worker renovating a home\\\",and which has subsequently been\",\n \"subsequently been suggested as \\\"the most likely date for the eruption\\\".While the \\\"graffito does not have a year listed the nature of the writing suggests it was done just before the eruption of Vesuvius. It was found in an area of a house that was in the process of being renovated, likely just before the volcano erupted\\\",while the charcoal writing itself is \\\"fragile and unlikely to have been preserved for years prior to the utter destruction of Pompeii.\\\"However, \\\"it is not known whether the Oct 17 graffito referred to that day, or a day in the past or the future.\\\"A collaborative study in 2022 has determined a date of October 24–25 for the eruption in 79 AD. See also Notes References Bibliography External links\",\n \"Pompeii Pompeii(/pɒmˈpeɪ(i)/ⓘpom-PAY(-ee),Latin:) was a city in what is now the municipality ofPompei, nearNaples, in theCampaniaregion ofItaly. Along withHerculaneum,Stabiae, andmany surrounding villas, the city was buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) ofvolcanic ashandpumicein theeruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Largely preserved under the ash, Pompeii offers a unique snapshot ofRoman life, frozen at the moment it was buried,as well as insight into ancienturban planning.It was a wealthy town of 10,000 to 20,000 residents at the time it was destroyed.It hosted many fine public buildings and luxurious private houses with lavish decorations, furnishings and artworks, which were the main attractions for early excavators; subsequent excavations have found hundreds of private homes and businesses reflecting various architectural styles and social classes, as well as numerous public buildings. Organic remains, including wooden objects and human bodies, were interred in the ash; their eventual decay allowed\",\n \"decay allowed archaeologists to createmouldsof figures in their final moments of life. The numerousgraffiticarved on outside walls and inside rooms provide a wealth of examples of the largely lostVulgar Latinspoken colloquially at the time, contrasting with the formal language of classical writers. Following its destruction, Pompeii remained largely undisturbed until its rediscovery in the late 16th century. Major excavations did not begin until the mid-18th century, which marked the emergence of modernarcheology;initial efforts to unearth the city were haphazard or marred by looting, resulting in many items or sites being damaged or destroyed.By 1960, most of Pompeii had been uncovered but left in decay;further major excavations were banned or limited to targeted, prioritised areas. Since 2018, these efforts have led to new discoveries in some previously unexplored areas of the city,including a banquet hall adorned with rare, well preserved frescoes depicting various mythological scenes and figures. Pompeii\",\n \"figures. Pompeii is aUNESCOWorld Heritage Site, owing to its status as \\\"the only archaeological site in the world that provides a complete picture of an ancient Roman city.\\\"It is among the most popular tourist attractions in Italy, with approximately 2.5 million visitors annually. Name Pompeiiin Latin is a seconddeclensionmasculine nominative plural noun (Pompeiī, -ōrum). According to Theodor Kraus, \\\"The root of the word Pompeii would appear to be theOscanword for the number five,pompe, which suggests that either the community consisted of fivehamletsor perhaps it was settled by a family group (gens Pompeia).\\\" Geography Pompeii was built approximately 40 m (130 ft) above sea level on a coastal lava plateau created by earlier eruptions ofMount Vesuvius(8 km or 5 mi distant). The plateau fell steeply to the south and partly to the west into the sea. Three layers of sediment from largelandslideslie on top of the lava, perhaps triggered by extended rainfall.The city, once by the shoreline, is today circa 700 m\",\n \"today circa 700 m (2,300 ft) inland. The mouth of the navigableSarno River, adjacent to the city, was protected by lagoons and served early Greek and Phoenician sailors as a haven port, later developed by the Romans. Pompeii covered a total of 64 to 67 hectares (160 to 170 acres) and was home to 11,000 to 11,500 people, based on household counts. History Although best known for its Roman remains visible today, dating from AD 79, it was built upon a substantial city dating from much earlier times. Expansion of the city from an early nucleus (theold town) accelerated after 450 BC under the Greeks following theBattle of Cumae. Early history The first stable settlements on the site date to the 8th century BC when theOscans,a population of central Italy, founded five villages in the area. With the arrival of the Greeks in Campania from around 740 BC, Pompeii entered the orbit of the Hellenic people. The most important building of this period is theDoricTemple,built away from the centre in what would later become\",\n \"would later become the Triangular Forum.: 62At the same time the cult of Apollo was introduced.Greek andPhoeniciansailors used the location as a safe port. In the early 6th century BC, the settlement merged into a single community centred on the important crossroad betweenCumae,Nola, andStabiaeand was surrounded by atufacity wall (thepappamontewall).The first wall (which was also used as a base for the later wall) unusually enclosed a much greater area than the early town together with much agricultural land.That such an impressive wall was built at this time indicates that the settlement was already important and wealthy. The city began to flourish and maritime trade started with the construction of a small port near the mouth of the river.The earliest settlement was focused in regions VII and VIII of the town (the old town) as identified fromstratigraphybelow the Samnite and Roman buildings, as well as from the different and irregular street plan. By 524 BCthe Etruscans had settled in the area, including\",\n \"the area, including Pompeii, finding in the river Sarno a communication route between the sea and the interior. Like the Greeks, the Etruscans did not conquer the city militarily, but simply controlled it, and Pompeii enjoyed a sort of autonomy.: 63Nevertheless, Pompeii became a member of theEtruscan League of cities.Excavations in 1980–1981 have shown the presence of Etruscan inscriptions and a 6th-century BCnecropolis.Under the Etruscans, a primitiveforumor simple market square was built, as well as theTemple of Apollo, in both of which objects including fragments ofbuccherowere found byMaiuri.Several houses were built with the so-called Tuscanatrium, typical of this people.: 64 The city wall was strengthened in the early 5th century BC with two façades of relatively thin, vertically set slabs of Sarno limestone some four metres (13 ft) apart filled with earth (theorthostatewall). In 474 BC, the Greek city ofCumae, allied withSyracuse, defeated the Etruscans at theBattle of Cumaeand gained control of the\",\n \"control of the area. The Samnite period The period between about 450–375 BC witnessed large areas of the city being abandoned while important sanctuaries such as the Temple of Apollo show a sudden lack of votive material remains. TheSamnites, people from the areas ofAbruzzoandMolise, and allies of the Romans, conquered Greek Cumae between 423 and 420 BC. It is likely that all of the surrounding territory, including Pompeii, was already conquered around 424 BC. The new rulers gradually imposed their architecture and enlarged the town. From 343 to 341 BC in theSamnite Wars, the first Roman army entered the Campanian plain bringing with it the customs and traditions of Rome, and in the RomanLatin Warfrom 340 BC, the Samnites were faithful to Rome. Although governed by the Samnites, Pompeii entered the Roman orbit, to which it remained faithful even during the third Samnite war and in the war againstPyrrhus. In the late 4th century BC, the city began expanding from its nucleus into the open-walled area. The\",\n \"area. The street plan of the new areas was more regular and more conformal toHippodamus's street plan. The city walls were reinforced inSarnostone in the early 3rd century BC (the limestoneenceinte, or the \\\"first Samnite wall\\\"). It formed the basis for the currently visible walls with an outer wall of rectangular limestone blocks as a terrace wall supporting a largeagger, or earth embankment, behind it. After theSamnite Warsfrom 290 BC, Pompeii was forced to accept the status ofsociiof Rome, maintaining, however, linguistic and administrative autonomy. From the outbreak of theSecond Punic War(218–201 BC) in whichHannibal's invasion threatened many cities, Pompeii remained faithful to Rome unlike many of the southern cities. As a result, an additional internal wall was built oftufaand the internalaggerand outer façade raised, resulting in a double parapet with a wider wall-walk.Despite the political uncertainty of these events and the progressive migration of wealthy men to quieter cities in the eastern\",\n \"in the eastern Mediterranean, Pompeii continued to flourish due to the production and trade of wine and oil with places likeProvenceand Spain,as well as to intensive agriculture on farms around the city. In the 2nd century BC, Pompeii enriched itself by taking part in Rome's conquest of the east, as shown by a statue of Apollo in the Forum erected byLucius Mummiusin gratitude for their support in the sack ofCorinthand the eastern campaigns. These riches enabled Pompeii to bloom and expand to its ultimate limits. The Forum and many public and private buildings of high architectural quality were built, includingThe Large Theatre, theTemple of Jupiter, the Basilica, the Comitium, the Stabian Baths, and a new two-story portico. The Roman period Pompeii was one of the towns of Campania that rebelled against Rome in theSocial Warsand in 89 BC it was besieged bySulla, who targeted the strategically vulnerable Porta Ercolano with his artillery as can still be seen by the impact craters of thousands ofballistashots\",\n \"ofballistashots in the walls. Many nearby buildings inside the walls were also destroyed.Although the battle-hardened troops of the Social League, headed byLucius Cluentius, helped in resisting the Romans, Pompeii was forced to surrender after the conquest of Nola. The result was that Pompeii became aRoman colonynamed Colonia Cornelia Veneria Pompeianorum. Many of Sulla's veterans were given land and property in and around the city, while many who opposed Rome were dispossessed of their property. Despite this, the Pompeians were grantedRoman citizenshipand quickly assimilated into the Roman world. The main language in the city became Latin,and many of Pompeii's old aristocratic families Latinized their names as a sign of assimilation. The area around Pompeii became very prosperous due to the desirability of living on the Bay of Naples for wealthy Romans and due to the rich agricultural land.Many farms and villas were built nearby, outside the city and many have been excavated. These include theVilla of the\",\n \"theVilla of the Mysteries,Villa of Diomedes, several atBoscoreale,Boscotrecase,Oplontis,Terzigno, and Civita Guiliana. The city became an important passage for goods that arrived by sea and had to be sent toward Rome orSouthern Italyalong the nearbyAppian Way. Many public buildings were constructed or refurbished and improved under the new order; new buildings included theAmphitheatre of Pompeiiin 70 BC, the Forum Baths, and theOdeon. In comparison, the Forum was embellished with the colonnade of Popidius before 80 BC.These buildings raised the status of Pompeii as a cultural centre in the region as it outshone its neighbours in the number of places for entertainment which significantly enhanced the social and economic development of the city. UnderAugustus, from about 30 BC, a major expansion in new public buildings, as in the rest of the empire, included theEumachia Building, the Sanctuary of Augustus and theMacellum. From about 20 BC, Pompeii was fed with running water by a spur from theSerino Aqueduct,\",\n \"theSerino Aqueduct, built byMarcus Vipsanius Agrippa. In AD 59, there was a serious riot and bloodshed in the amphitheatre between Pompeians andNucerians(which is recorded in a fresco) and which led the Roman Senate to send thePraetorian Guardto restore order and to ban further events for ten years. AD 62–79 The inhabitants of Pompeii had long been used to minor earthquakes (indeed, the writerPliny the Youngerwrote that earth tremors \\\"were not particularly alarming because they are frequent in Campania\\\"), but on 5 February 62asevere earthquakedid considerable damage around the bay, and particularly to Pompeii. It is believed that the earthquake would have registered between 5 and 6 on theRichter magnitude scale. On that day in Pompeii, there were to be two sacrifices, as it was the anniversary ofAugustusbeing namedPater Patriae(\\\"Father of the Country\\\") and also a feast day to honour the guardian spirits of the city. Chaos followed the earthquake; fires caused by oil lamps that had fallen during the quake\",\n \"during the quake added to the panic. The nearby cities ofHerculaneumandNuceriawere also affected. Between 62 AD and the eruption in 79 AD, most rebuilding was done in the private sector and older, damaged frescoes were often covered with newer ones, for example. In the public sector, the opportunity was taken to improve buildings and the city plan, e.g. in the Forum. An important field of current research concerns structures that were restored between the earthquake of 62 and the eruption. It was thought until recently that some of the damage had still not been repaired at the time of the eruption, but this is doubtful as the evidence of missing forum statues and marble wall veneers are most likely due to robbers after the city's burial.The public buildings on the east side of the Forum were largely restored and were enhanced by beautiful marble veneers and other modifications to the architecture. Some buildings like the Central Baths were only started after the earthquake and were built to enhance the city\",\n \"to enhance the city with modern developments in their architecture, as had been done in Rome, in terms of wall-heating and window glass, and with well-lit spacious rooms. The new baths took over a wholeinsulaby demolishing houses, which may have been made easier by the earthquake that had damaged these houses. This shows that the city was still flourishing rather than struggling to recover from the earthquake. In about 64,Neroand his wifePoppaeavisited Pompeii and made gifts to the temple of Venus (the city's patron deity),probably when he performed in the theatre of Naples. By 79, Pompeii had a population of 20,000,which had prospered from the region's renowned agricultural fertility and favourable location, although more recent estimates are up to 11,500 based on household counts. Eruption of Vesuvius The eruption lasted for two days.The first phase was of pumice rain(lapilli)lasting about 18 hours, allowing most inhabitants to escape. Only approximately 1,150 bodieshave so far been found on site, which\",\n \"on site, which seems to confirm this theory, and most escapees probably managed to salvage some of their most valuable belongings; many skeletons were found with jewellery, coins, and silverware. At some time in the night or early the next day,pyroclastic flowsbegan near the volcano, consisting of high speed, dense, and scorching ash clouds, knocking down wholly or partly all structures in their path, incinerating or suffocating the remaining population and altering the landscape, including the coastline. By the evening of the second day, the eruption was over, leaving only haze in the atmosphere through which the sun shone weakly. A multidisciplinaryvolcanologicalandbio-anthropologicalstudyof the eruption products and victims, merged with numerical simulations and experiments, indicates that at Pompeii and surrounding towns heat was the main cause of death of people, previously believed to have died by ashsuffocation. The results of the study, published in 2010, show that exposure to at least 250 °C (480\",\n \"least 250 °C (480 °F) hot pyroclastic flows at a distance of 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the vent was sufficient to cause instant death, even if people were sheltered within buildings. The people and buildings of Pompeii were covered in up to twelve different layers oftephra, in total, up to 6 metres (19.7 ft) deep. Archaeology in 2023 showed that some buildings collapsed due to one or more earthquakes during the eruption, killing the occupants. Pliny the Youngerprovided a first-hand account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius from his position across theBay of NaplesatMisenum,but it was written approximately 27 or 28 years after the event.His uncle,Pliny the Elder, with whom he had a close relationship, died while attempting to rescue stranded victims. As admiral of the fleet, Pliny the Elder had ordered the ships of the Imperial Navy stationed at Misenum to cross the bay to assist evacuation attempts. Volcanologists have recognised the importance of Pliny the Younger's account of the eruption by calling\",\n \"eruption by calling similar events \\\"Plinian\\\". It had long been thought that the eruption was an August event based on one version of the letter, but another versiongives a date of the eruption as late as 23 November. A later date is consistent with a charcoal inscription at the site, discovered in 2018, which includes the date of 17 October and which must have been recently written.A collaborative study in 2022 determined a date of 24–25 October. An October/November eruption is clearly supported by many pieces of evidence: the fact that people buried in the ash appear to have been wearing heavier clothing than the light summer clothes typical of August; the fresh fruit and vegetables in the shops are typical of October – and conversely the summer fruit typical of August was already being sold in dried, or conserved form; nuts from chestnut trees were found atOplontis, which would not have been mature before mid-September;wine fermenting jars had been sealed, which would have happened around the end of\",\n \"around the end of October; coins found in the purse of a woman buried in the ash include one with a 15thimperatorialacclamation among theemperor's titles. These coins could not have been minted before the second week of September. Rediscovery and excavations Titusappointed two ex-consuls to organise a relief effort while donating large amounts of money from the imperial treasury to aid the victims of the volcano.He visited Pompeii once after the eruption and again the following yearbut no work was done on recovery. Soon after the city's burial, survivors and possibly thieves came to salvage valuables, including the marble statues from the Forum and other precious materials from buildings. There is wide evidence of post-eruptiondisturbance, including holes made through walls. The city was not completely buried, and the tops of larger buildings would have been visible above the ash, making it obvious where to dig or salvagebuilding material.The robbers left traces of their passage, as in a house where modern\",\n \"house where modern archaeologists found a wall graffito saying \\\"house dug\\\". Over the following centuries, its name and location were forgotten, though it still appeared on theTabula Peutingerianaof the 4th century. Further eruptions, particularly in 471–473 and 512, covered the remains more deeply. The area became known as theLa Civita(the city) due to the features in the ground. The next known date that any part was unearthed was in 1592, when architectDomenico Fontana, while digging an underground aqueduct to the mills ofTorre Annunziata, ran into ancient walls covered with paintings and inscriptions. His aqueduct passed through and underneath a large part of the cityand would have had to pass through many buildings and foundations, as they still can be seen in many places today. However, he kept the finding secret. In 1689, Francesco Picchetti saw a wall inscription mentioningdecurio Pompeiis(\\\"town councillor of Pompeii\\\"), but he associated it with a villa ofPompey. Francesco Bianchini pointed out the\",\n \"pointed out the true meaning, and he was supported by Giuseppe Macrini, who in 1693 excavated some walls and wrote that Pompeii lay beneath La Civita. Herculaneum was rediscovered in 1738 by workers digging for the foundations of a summer palace for the King of Naples,Charles of Bourbon. Due to the spectacular quality of the finds, the Spanish military engineerRoque Joaquín de Alcubierremade excavations to find further remains at the site of Pompeii in 1748, even if the city was not identified.Charles of Bourbon took great interest in the finds, even after leaving to become king of Spain because the display of antiquities reinforced Naples' political and cultural prestige.On 20 August 1763, an inscription Rei Publicae Pompeianorum was found and the city was identified as Pompeii. Karl Weberdirected the first scientific excavations.He was followed in 1764 by military engineer Franscisco la Vega, who was succeeded by his brother,Pietro, in 1804. There was much progress in exploration when the French occupied\",\n \"the French occupied Naples in 1799 and ruled over Italy from 1806 to 1815. The land on which Pompeii lies was confiscated, and up to 700 workers were employed in the excavations. The excavated areas in the north and south were connected. Parts of the Via dell'Abbondanza were also exposed in the west–east direction, and for the first time, an impression of the size and appearance of the ancient town could be appreciated. In the following years, the excavators struggled with a lack of money. Excavations progressed slowly, but with significant finds such as the houses of theFaun, ofMenandro, of theTragic Poetand theSurgeon. Giuseppe Fiorellitook charge of the excavations in 1863 and made greater progress.During early excavations of the site, occasional voids in the ash layer had been found that contained human remains. Fiorelli realised these were spaces left by the decomposed bodies, and so devised the technique of injectingplasterinto them to recreate the forms of Vesuvius's victims. This technique is still\",\n \"technique is still in use today, with a clearresinnow used instead of plaster because it is more durable and does not destroy the bones, allowing further analysis. Fiorelli also introduced scientific documentation. He divided the city into today's nine areas (regiones) and blocks (insulae) and numbered the entrances of the individual houses (domus). Fiorelli also published the first periodical with excavation reports. Under his successors, the entire west section of the city was exposed. Modern archaeology After those of Fiorelli, excavations continued in an increasingly more systematic and considered manner under several directors of archaeology though still with the main interest in making spectacular discoveries and uncovering more houses rather than answering the main questions about the city and its long term preservation. In the 1920s,Amedeo Maiuriexcavated older layers beneath those of 79 AD for the first time to learn about the settlement history.Maiuri made the last excavations on a grand scale in\",\n \"on a grand scale in the 1950s, and the area south of the Via dell'Abbondanza and the city wall was almost completely uncovered, but they were poorly documented scientifically. Preservation was haphazard, and his reconstructions were difficult to distinguish from the original ruins, which is a great handicap for studying genuine antique remains. Questionable reconstruction was also done after the severe earthquake of 1980, which caused great destruction. Since then, work has been confined to the excavated areas except for targeted soundings and excavations. Further excavations on a large scale are not planned, and today archaeologists are more engaged in reconstructing, documenting and slowing the decay of the ruins. In December 2018, archaeologists discovered the remains of harnessed horses in theVilla of the Mysteries. Under the 'Great Pompeii Project' over 2.5 km (1.6 mi) of ancient walls within the city were relieved of danger of collapse by treating the unexcavated areas behind the street fronts in order\",\n \"fronts in order to increase drainage and reduce the pressure of groundwater and earth on the walls, a problem especially in the rainy season. These excavations resumed on unexcavated areas ofRegio V.In November 2020 the remains of two men, thought to be a rich man and his slave, were found in a 2 m-thick (6.6 ft) layer of ash. They appeared to have escaped the first eruption but were killed by a second blast the next day. A study of the bones showed that the younger one appeared to have done manual labour and hence was likely a slave. In December 2020, athermopolium, an inn or snack-bar, was excavated in Regio V. In addition to brightly colouredfrescoesdepicting some of the food on offer, archaeologists found eightdolia(terracotta pots) still containing remnants of meals, including duck, goat, pig, fish, and snails.They also found a decorated bronze drinking bowl known as apatera, wine flasks,amphorae, and ceramic jars used for cooking stews and soups. One fresco depicts a dog with a collar on a leash,\",\n \"collar on a leash, possibly reminding customers to leash their pets. The complete skeleton of a tiny adult dog was also discovered, measuring only about 20–25 cm (7.9–9.8 in) at the shoulder, which provides evidence of the highly selective breeding of dogs in Roman times. In January 2021 a well-preserved \\\"large, four-wheel ceremonial chariot\\\" was uncovered in the portico of the luxurious villa in Civita Giuliana,north of Pompeii, where a stable had previously been discovered in 2018.The carriage is made of bronze and black and red wooden panels, with engraved silver and bronze medallions at the back. It is now thought to be an elaborate and unique bridal carriage called apilentumand in 2023 has been restored for display at the Baths of Diocletian.Nearby the bodies of two fugitives had been found using plaster casts, and in a stable the remains of horses, one still in harness. In 2021, an exceptional 1st century AD painted tomb of a freed slave,Marcus Venerius Secundio, containing mummified human remains, was\",\n \"human remains, was discovered outside the Porta Sarno gate.Its inscription records he achieved custodianship of the Temple of Venus and membership of the Augustales, priests of the Imperial Cult. Also, he organised Greek and Latin performances lasting four days, the first evidence of Greek cultural events in Pompeii. In April 2024, a dining hall lined with rare frescoes was excavated as part of a broader project aimed at shoring up the front of the perimeter between the excavated and unexcavated area of the site.One fresco presents Helen of Troy and Paris, and another depicts Apollo and Princess Cassandra, with Apollo trying to attract the princess's attention. The hall, measuring 15 by 6 meters, was located in a house on Via di Nola—one of the main city streets in the famousRegio IXarea. The room walls were painted black, perhaps to hide the traces of soot from the lighting fixtures. In June 2024, a shrine with rare blue-painted walls covered with paintings of females thought to represent the four seasons\",\n \"the four seasons (Horae) was discovered. 15 amphorae, two bronze jugs and two bronze lamps were among the findings. The 8 m2(86 sq ft) room is thought to be a sacrarium (the sanctuary of a church). Conservation Objects buried beneath Pompeii were well-preserved for almost 2,000 years as the lack of air and moisture allowed little to no deterioration. However, Pompeii has been exposed to natural and anthropic deterioration following excavation. Weathering, erosion, light exposure, water damage, poor methods of excavation and reconstruction, introduced plants and animals, tourism, vandalism and theft have all damaged the site in some way. The lack of adequate weather protection for all but the most interesting and important buildings has allowed original interior decoration to fade or be lost. Two-thirds of the city has been excavated, but the remnants of the city are rapidly deteriorating. Furthermore, duringWorld War IImany buildings were badly damaged or destroyed by bombs dropped in several raids by\",\n \"in several raids by theAllied forces. The conservation concern has constantly worried archaeologists. The ancient city was included in the1996 World Monuments Watchby theWorld Monuments Fund, and again in1998and in2000. In 1996 the organisation claimed that Pompeii \\\"desperately need repair\\\" and called for the drafting of a general plan ofrestorationand interpretation.The organisation supported conservation at Pompeii with funding fromAmerican Expressand theSamuel H. Kress Foundation. TheSchola Armatorum('House of the Gladiators')collapsed in 2010 caused by heavy rainfall and lack of proper drainage.The structure was not open to visitors, but the outside was visible to tourists. There was fierce controversy after the collapse, with accusations of neglect. Today, funding is mostly directed into conservation of the site; however, due to the expanse of Pompeii and the scale of the problems, this is inadequate in halting the slow decay of the materials. A 2012 study recommended an improved strategy for\",\n \"strategy for interpretation and presentation of the site as a cost-effective method of improving its conservation and preservation in the short term. In June 2013,UNESCOwarned that if restoration and preservation works \\\"fail to deliver substantial progress in the next two years,\\\" Pompeii could be placed on theList of World Heritage in Danger.A \\\"Grande Progetto Pompei\\\" project of about five years had begun in 2012 with theEuropean Unionand included stabilization and conservation of buildings in the highest risk areas. In 2014,UNESCO headquartersreceived a new management plan to help integrate the property's management, conservation, and maintenance programs. In 2020 manydomusgardens, orchards and vineyards were carefully recreated using depictions in frescoes and archaeological finds to give better insights into what they were like before the catastrophe.These include theHouse of Julia Felix, the House of the Golden Cupids,theHouse of Loreius Tiburtinus, the House of Cornelius Rufusandthe Garden of the\",\n \"Garden of the Fugitives. In 2021 several long-closeddomuswere re-opened after restoration including the House of the Ship Europa,House of the Orchardand House of the Lovers.Also the newly excavated House of Leda and the Swanhas opened. Roman city development Owing to its wealth and its Greek, Etruscan and Roman history, Pompeii is of great interest for the study ofAncient Roman architecturein terms of building methods and urban planning. However, it was a relatively small provincial city and, except for theAmphitheatre, it did not have large monuments on the scale of other Roman cities. It also missed the large building schemes of the early Empire and kept much of its urban architecture dating from as early as the 4th century BC. The evolution of Pompeii's private and public buildings is often unclear because of the lack of excavations beneath the levels of 79. It is, however, clear that by the time of the conquest by Sulla in 89 BC, the development of the street layout was largely complete, and most of\",\n \"and most of theinsulaewere built. Public buildings Under the Romans, Pompeii underwent a process of urban development which accelerated in the Augustan period from about 30 BC. New public buildings included the Amphitheatre withpalaestraor gymnasium with a centralnatatorium(cella natatoria) or swimming pool, two theatres, theEumachia Buildingand at least four public baths. The amphitheatre has been cited by scholars as a model of sophisticated design, particularly in the area of crowd control. Other service buildings were theMacellum(\\\"meat market\\\"); thePistrinum(baker); thethermopolia(inns or snack-bars that served hot and cold dishes and drinks), andcauponae(\\\"pubs\\\" or \\\"dives\\\" with a seedy reputation as hangouts for thieves and prostitutes). At least one building, theLupanar, was dedicated toprostitution.A large hotel orhospitium(of 1,000 m2) was found nearby at Murecine/Moregine,when theNaples-Salerno motorwaywas being built, and the Murecine Silver Treasure and the Tablets (providing a unique record of\",\n \"a unique record of business transactions), as well as theMoregine bracelet, were discovered there. Anaqueductprovided water to the public baths, to more than 25 street fountains, and to many private houses and businesses. The aqueduct was a branch of the greatSerino Aqueductbuilt to serve the other large towns in the Bay of Naples region and the important naval base atMisenum. Thecastellum aquaeis well preserved and includes many details of the distribution network and its controls. Shops and workshops There were at least 31 bakeries in the town, each with wood-burning ovens, millstones and a sales counter. The Modestus bakery,or House of the Oven, was the largest in the city and Sotericus's bakery, also among the largest, preserves the room for kneading bread. Thermopoliawere inns or snack-bars in which hot food and drinks were sold and in Pompeii there were nearly 100. The thermopolium of Vetutius Placidusoverlooked the street directly, had a counter and severaldolia, as well as a room behind the shop\",\n \"behind the shop where customers could eat their meals: thelarariumwith frescoes of theLaresandMercuryandDionysusand atricliniumdecorated in theThird style. In the thermopolium of Asellina,with three sales counters and a lararium with depictions of Mercury andBacchus, numerous furnishings have been found, both in bronze and terracotta, as well as 683sesterces; the external façade bears a representation of jugs and funnels and an electoral inscription referring to Asellina, probably the owner of the inn. Wool processing was well developed with 13 workshops that worked the raw material, seven that did the spinning, nine the dyeing, and 18 the washing: the Building of Eumachia, from the name of the priestess who built it, was the wool market, or the seat of the fullers guild; construction took place after 62 and was entirely in brickwork. Inside it has numerous niches in which statues were housed, mostly concerning the imperial family, a colonnade, and near the entrance, there was a jar in which urine was\",\n \"in which urine was collected for use as a detergent for clothes. Thefullonicaof Stephanus,named after the owner or manager, was originally a house that was transformed into a workshop for the processing of fabrics: on the lower floor the working and washing activities took place, carried out in large tanks with water, soda and urine while on the upper floor the clothes were dried. Thegarumworkshopmade the sauce obtained from the fermentation of the entrails of fish; in the building some containers were found, closed by lids, with the sauce inside while in the nearby garden was a large deposit ofamphorae. Lists of buildings Town houses (Domus) Exterior villas Other Agriculture and horticulture Modern archaeologists have excavated garden sites and urban domains to reveal the agricultural staples of Pompeii's economy. Pompeii had fertile soil for crop cultivation. The soils surrounding Mount Vesuvius preceding its eruption had good water-retention capabilities, implying productive agriculture. TheTyrrhenian\",\n \"TheTyrrhenian Sea's airflow provided hydration to the soil despite the hot, dry climate.Barley,wheat, andmilletwere produced along with wine and olive oil, for export to other regions. Evidence of wine imported nationally from Pompeii in its most prosperous years can be found from recovered artefacts such as wine bottles in Rome.For this reason, vineyards were of utmost importance to Pompeii's economy. Agricultural policymakerColumellasuggested that each vineyard in Rome produce a quota of threeculleiof wine perjugerum; otherwise, the vineyard would be uprooted. The nutrient-rich lands near Pompeii were extremely efficient and often capable of largely exceeding these requirements, providing the incentive for local wineries to establish themselves.While wine was exported for Pompeii's economy, most other agricultural goods were likely produced in quantities sufficient for the city's consumption. Remains of large formations of constructed wineries were found in the Forum Boarium, covered by cemented casts from\",\n \"cemented casts from the eruption of Vesuvius.It is speculated that these historical vineyards are strikingly similar in structure to the modern day vineyards across Italy. Carbonised food plant remains, roots, seeds and pollens have been found in gardens in Pompeii, Herculaneum, and a Roman villa atTorre Annunziata. They revealed thatemmerwheat,Italian millet,common millet, walnuts, pine nuts, chestnuts, hazel nuts, chickpeas,bitter vetch, broad beans, olives, figs, pears, onions, garlic, peaches, carob, grapes, and dates were consumed. All but the dates could have been produced locally. Erotic art The discovery oferotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneumleft the archaeologists with a dilemma stemming from theclash of culturesbetween the mores ofsexuality in ancient Romeand inCounter-ReformationEurope. An unknown number of discoveries were hidden away again. A wall fresco depictingPriapus, the ancient god of sex and fertility, with his grotesquely enlarged penis, was covered with plaster. An older reproduction\",\n \"older reproduction was locked away \\\"out of prudishness\\\" and opened only on request – and only rediscovered in 1998 due to rainfall.In 2018, an ancient fresco depicting an erotic scene of \\\"Leda and the Swan\\\" was discovered at Pompeii. Manyartefactsfrom the buried cities are preserved in theNaples National Archaeological Museum. In 1819, whenKing Francisvisited the Pompeii exhibition there with his wife and daughter, he was so embarrassed by the erotic artwork that he had it locked away in a \\\"secret cabinet\\\" (gabinetto segreto), a gallery within the museum accessible only to \\\"people of mature age and respected morals\\\". Re-opened, closed, re-opened again and then closed again for nearly 100 years, theNaples \\\"Secret Museum\\\"was briefly made accessible again at the end of the 1960s (the time of thesexual revolution) and was finally re-opened for viewing in 2000. Minors are still allowed entry only in the presence of a guardian or with written permission. Tourism Pompeii has been a popular tourist destination for\",\n \"destination for over 250 years;it was on theGrand Tour. By 2008, it was attracting almost 2.6 million visitors per year, making it one of Italy's most popular tourist sites.It is part of a largerVesuvius National Parkand was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997. To combat problems associated with tourism, the governing body for Pompeii, the 'Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei', has begun issuing new tickets that allow tourists to visit cities such asHerculaneumandStabiaeas well as theVilla Poppaea, to encourage visitors to see these sites and reduce pressure on Pompeii. Pompeii is a driving force behind the economy of the nearby town ofPompei. Many residents are employed in the tourism and hospitality industry, serving as taxi or bus drivers, waiters, or hotel staff. Excavations at the site have generally ceased due to a moratorium imposed by the superintendent of the site, Professor Pietro Giovanni Guzzo. The site is generally less accessible to tourists than in the past, with less than a\",\n \"with less than a third of all buildings open in the 1960s available for public viewing today. Antiquarium of Pompeii Originally built byGiuseppe Fiorellibetween 1873 and 1874, the Antiquarium of Pompeii began as an exhibition venue displaying archaeological finds that represented the daily life of the ancient city. The building suffered extensive damage in 1943 during theWorld War IIbombings and again in 1980 due to an earthquake. The museum was closed to the public for 36 years before reopening in 2016 as a space for temporary exhibitions.The museum was re-opened on 25 January 2021 as a permanent exhibition venue. Visitors can see archaeological discoveries from the excavations, casts of the victims of the Mount Vesuvius eruption as well as displays documenting Pompeii's settlement history before becoming a thriving Roman city. In popular culture The 1954 filmJourney to Italy, starringGeorge SandersandIngrid Bergman, includes a scene at Pompeii in which they witness the excavation of a cast of a couple who\",\n \"of a couple who perished in the eruption. Pompeii was the setting for the British comedytelevision seriesUp Pompeii!and the movie of the series. Pompeii also featured in the second episode of the fourth season of revived BBC science fiction seriesDoctor Who, named \\\"The Fires of Pompeii\\\",which featured Caecilius as a character. The rock bandPink Floydfilmed a 1971 live concert,Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii, in which they performed six songs in the city's ancient Roman amphitheatre. The audience consisted only of the film's production crew and some local children. Siouxsie and the Bansheeswrote and recorded the punk-inflected dance song \\\"Cities in Dust\\\", which describes the disaster that befell Pompeii and Herculaneum in AD 79. The song appears on their album 1985Tinderbox. The jacket of the single remix of the song features the plaster cast of a chained dog killed in Pompeii. Pompeiiis a 2003Robert Harrisnovel featuring an account of the aquarius's race to fix the broken aqueduct in the days before the eruption\",\n \"before the eruption of Vesuvius. Actual events and people inspired the novel. \\\"Pompeii\\\" is a 2013 song by the British bandBastille. The lyrics refer to the city and the eruption ofMount Vesuvius. Pompeiiis a 2014 German-Canadianhistoricaldisaster filmproduced and directed byPaul W. S. Anderson. 45 years after the Pink Floyd recordings, guitaristDavid Gilmourreturned to the Pompeii amphitheatre in 2016 to perform a live concert for hisRattle That Lock Tour. This event was considered the first in the amphitheatre to feature an audience since the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius. Documentaries Gallery See also References Further reading External links\",\n \"World Heritage Committee TheWorld Heritage Committeeis a committee of theUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizationthat selects the sites to be listed as UNESCOWorld Heritage Sites, including the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger, defines the use of the World Heritage Fund and allocates financial assistance upon requests from States Parties.It comprises representatives from 21state partiesthat are elected by theGeneral Assembly of States Partiesfor a four-year term.These parties vote on decisions and proposals related to theWorld Heritage Conventionand World Heritage List. According to the World Heritage Convention, a committee member's term of office is six years. However many States Parties choose to voluntarily limit their term to four years, in order to give other States Parties an opportunity to serve.All members elected at the 15thGeneral Assembly(2005) voluntarily chose to reduce their term of office from six to four years. Deliberations of the World\",\n \"of the World Heritage Committee are aided by three advisory bodies, theIUCN,ICOMOSandICCROM. Sessions The World Heritage Committee meets once a year for an ordinary session to discuss the management of existingWorld Heritage Sites, and accept nominations by countries.Extraordinary meetings can be convened at the request of two-thirds of the state members.Meetings are held within the territory of state members of the World Heritage Committee at their invitation. Rotation between regions and cultures is a consideration for selection and the location for the next session is chosen by the committee at the end of each session. Bureau At the end of each ordinary session, the committee elects a chairperson, five vice-chairpersons and aRapporteurfrom those members whose term will continue through the next session.These are known as the Bureau, and their representatives are responsible for coordinating the work of the World Heritage Committee, including fixing dates, hours and the order of business meetings. Voting\",\n \"meetings. Voting Each state member of the World Heritage Committee has one vote. Decisions require a simple majority with abstentions counted as not voting. Votes are delivered by a show of hands unless a secret ballot is requested by either the chairperson or two or more states members. Members Current members of theUNESCOWorld Heritage Committee: Criticism Increasing politicization of World Heritage Committee decisions to the detriment of conservation aims has been alleged, particularly with regard to new nominations for the World Heritage List, but also with the consideration of sites for the List of World Heritage in Danger.In 2010, states parties including Hungary, Switzerland and Zimbabwe submitted an official protest against such politicization. An external audit requested by the World Heritage Committee for itsGlobal Strategy of the World Heritage Listconcluded in 2011 that political considerations were indeed influencing decisions.It observed that the composition of committee representatives had\",\n \"representatives had shifted from experts to diplomats in spite of World Heritage Convention Article 9 and found that opinions from advisory bodies often diverged from World Heritage Committee decisions. In 2016, Israel recalled its UNESCO ambassador after the World Heritage Committee adopted a resolution in a secret ballot that referred to one ofJerusalem's holiest sites, theTemple Mount, only as a \\\"Muslim holy site of worship\\\", not mentioning that Jews and Christians venerate the site. The committee has also been criticized with alleged racism, colorism, and geographic bias for favoring the inscription of sites in Western and industrialized countries over sites belonging to so-called \\\"third-world\\\" countries. A large proportion of the world heritage sites are located in Europe, Eastern Asia, and North America, where populations notably have lighter skin. See also References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":41,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"What Formula One car was driven in 1994 by the nephew of a racing driver from Italy who drove a Ferrari 312T and shares a last name with a common cocktail drink?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"Minardi M194"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minardi_M194"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierluigi_Martini"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giancarlo_Martini"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cocktails"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Multiple constraints"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minardi_M194', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierluigi_Martini', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giancarlo_Martini', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cocktails']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minardi_M194","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierluigi_Martini","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giancarlo_Martini","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cocktails"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minardi_M194\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierluigi_Martini\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giancarlo_Martini\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cocktails\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["Minardi M194 TheMinardi M194was aFormula Onecar designed byAldo CostaandGustav Brunnerand built byMinardifor the1994 season. It was introduced at that year'sCanadian Grand Prixto replace theMinardi M193B. The car was again powered by theFordHBDV8 engine. Minardi team drivers during 1994 werePierluigi Martiniand former Grand Prix winnerMichele Alboreto. The team's test driver wasLuca Badoer. The M194 would only score two points during its 11 races, both when Martini finished in 5th place at the car's second race, theFrench Grand Prix. The team in fact scored more points in 1994 (3 points) using the M193B than with the M194. The combined 5 point total saw Minardi only finish tenth in the Constructors' Championship. The M194 was replaced for the1995season by theMinardi M195. Alboreto retired and was replaced by test driver Badoer. Livery The M194 had a blue, orange and white livery, with main sponsorship fromLucchiniand Beta Tools. During theBritish Grand Prix, the car ran with the words \"Italia IN - Ireland OUT\", in response to the elimination ofIrelandfrom the1994 FIFA World Cupand the provocation fromEddie Jordanin the previous race. Race results (key) * 3 points scored usingMinardi M193B References ThisFormula One–related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.","Pierluigi Martini Pierluigi Martini(born 23 April 1961) is an Italian formerracing driver. He won the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans and participated in 124Formula OneGrands Prix (with 119 starts) between 1984 and 1995. Early life Martini's uncle,Giancarlo Martini, raced during the 1970s, including some non-championship races in aFerrari312Tentered by Scuderia Everest, a team owned byGiancarlo Minardi. Pierluigi's younger brother,Oliver, is also a racing driver. Formula One Martini participated in 124Formula OneGrands Prix, debuting on 9 September 1984, driving forTolemanin place of suspendedAyrton Sennaat the1984 Italian Grand Prix. He scored a total of 18 championship points and was synonymous with theMinarditeam (run by the sameGiancarlo Minardiwho had previously ownedScuderia Everest). Indeed, aside from a single outing with Toleman and a one-season dalliance withScuderia Italiain1992, Martini's entire Formula One career was spent with the Italian outfit. He raced with the minnow team in three different stints, drove for them on their debut in 1985, scored their first point in the1988 Detroit Grand Prix, and their only front-row start at the1990 United States Grand Prix(where unexpected rain on Saturday meant that the grid was decided entirely by times from Friday's session. Pirelli's soft qualifying tyres caught Goodyear off guard, and the Italian manufacturer put five of its teams in the top ten positions). Both Martini and Minardi led a race for a single lap at the1989 Portuguese Grand Prix, and their joint-best finish was 4th at the1991 San Marino Grand Prixand1991 Portuguese Grand Prix, the latter being Martini's single finish on the lead lap.Initially out of a drive for1993, he was recalled back to the little Italian team midway through the season in place ofFabrizio Barbazza, Martini impressed by outpacing his young teammateChristian Fittipaldi. Martini was also one of the drivers with a reputation for ignoringblue flags. Examples given are the1991 Monaco Grand Prixwhen he held upEmanuele Pirroin theDallara,Stefano Modenain theTyrrell, andRiccardo Patresein theWilliamsfor several laps despite running towards the back of the field, and the1995 Canadian Grand Prixwhere he blockedGerhard Bergerin the Ferrari when the Austrian tried to lap him. On both occasions Martini was called in for a 10-second stop and go penalty for ignoring blue flags. Quizzed about this attitude on the occasion of the1995 San Marino Grand Prix, where he held up winnerDamon Hill, Martini replied: 'What should I exactly apologise for? My trajectories are always clean. Should I just park the car on the grass? I'm here to do my race like anybody else. I've always been correct. Those who complain about my conduct should explain why they cannot overtake me when their car has at least 150 hp more than mine'. Sportscars Prior to commencing his Formula One career, Martini drove aLancia LC2in the1984 24 Hours of Le Mans. After leaving Formula One, he began a successful career insportscar racing. He contested the1996 24 Hours of Le Mansin a Porsche run byJoest Racing. 1997 brought a fourth-place finish in aPorsche 911 GT1which he also raced in theFIA GT Championshipthat year. In 1998, he joined the brand new Le Mans program of BMW Motorsports. In 1999, Martini,Yannick DalmasandJoachim Winkelhockwon theLe Mans 24 Hours.The trio drove for BMW. The team had to fight both Toyota and Mercedes works cars and won the race by a lap from the runner-up Toyota. Martini returned to motorsports in 2006, competing in theGrand Prix Mastersseries for retired Formula One drivers. Racing record Career summary Complete European Formula Two Championship results (key) (Races inboldindicate pole position; races initalicsindicate fastest lap) Complete International Formula 3000 results (key) (Races inboldindicate pole position; races initalicsindicate fastest lap.) Complete Formula One results (key) Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results Complete Grand Prix Masters results (key) Races inboldindicate pole position, races initalicsindicate fastest lap. Sources External links","Giancarlo Martini Giancarlo Martini(16 August 1947 – 26 March 2013)was aracing driverfromItaly. He participated in two non-championshipFormula OneGrands Prix driving aFerrari 312TforGiancarlo Minardi. He was the uncle of the racing driversPierluigi MartiniandOliver Martini. Racing record Complete European Formula Two Championship results (key) (Races inboldindicate pole position; races initalicsindicate fastest lap) Complete Formula One results (Note: races inbolddenote pole position.) Non-championship results References","List of cocktails Acocktailis amixed drinktypically made with adistilled liquor(such asarrack,brandy,cachaça,gin,rum,tequila,vodka, orwhiskey) as its base ingredient that is then mixed with other ingredients or garnishments. Sweetenedliqueurs, wine, or beer may also serve as the base or be added. Ifbeeris one of the ingredients, the drink is called abeer cocktail. Cocktails often also contain one or more types of juice, fruit, honey, milk or cream, spices, or other flavorings. Cocktails may vary in their ingredients from bartender to bartender, and from region to region. Two creations may have the same name but taste very different because of differences in how the drinks are prepared. This article is organized by the primary type of alcohol (by volume) contained in the beverage. Cocktails marked with \"IBA\" are designated asIBA official cocktailsby theInternational Bartenders Association, and are some of the most popular cocktails worldwide. Absinthe Beer Cocktails made withbeerare classified asbeer cocktails. Brandy Cachaça Gin Rum Sake Tequila Mezcal Vodka Whisky Wines Fortified wines Wine Wine variation Sparkling wine Champagne Red wine White wine Flavored liqueurs Anise-flavored liqueurs Chocolate liqueur Coffee liqueurs Coffee-flavored drinks Cream liqueur A liqueur containingcream, imparting amilkshake-like flavor Crème liqueur An intensely green, mint-flavored liqueur A colorless mint-flavored liqueur Fruit liqueurs Apple-flavored Orange-flavored One of severalorange-flavored liqueurs, likeGrand Marnier,triple sec, orCuraçao Other fruit flavors A clear, bright-green,melon-flavored liqueur Nut-flavored liqueurs Swedish punsch-flavored cocktails Misc. liqueur-based cocktails Less common spirits Bitters Korn Ouzo Pisco Schnapps Other Historical classes of cocktails By mixer Strawberry Strawberries can bemuddledor puréed and added to many drinks, and they are liquor-friendly, being compatible with, e.g.,bourbon whiskey,Cointreau,vodka,tequila,rum, andChampagne,among other spirits and liqueurs and so on. Some recipes call for a strawberry syrup that can be made using strawberries, vanilla extract, sugar, and water.Some strawberry cocktail recipes do not call for a syrup, but rely on puréed strawberries to play that part. Strawberries are often mixed withbasil.Strawberry is popular insmashessince after the beverage has been drunk, the alcohol-infused strawberries can be consumed as well. Carrot juice Carrotjuice can be mixed with spirits such asagave spirits,whiskey,tequila,gin, ormezcal.Vodkais sometimes chosen because its neutral taste allows more of the carrot juice taste to shine through. Carrot juice can also be mixed with liqueurs such asamaro. ginger, orange, lemon and honey can be other ingredients in carrot juice cocktails.Turmericinfusions are also common. Examples of drinks made with carrot juice include: Pineapple juice Smashed fruit Asmashis a casual icyjulep(spirits, sugar, and herb)cocktail filled with hunks of fresh fruit, so that after the liquid part of the drink has been consumed, one can also eat the alcohol-infused fruit (e.g.strawberries). The history of smashes goes back at least as far as the 1862 bookHow to Mix Drinks.Theold-style whiskey smashwas an example of an early smash. The herb used in a smash is often mint, althoughbasilis sometimes used in cocktails that go well with it, e.g. manystrawberry cocktails. The name \"smash\" comes from the idea that on a hot day, one takes whatever fruit is on hand and smashes it all together to make a refreshing beverage.Generally a smash will have crushed ice. Lemonade A number of hard lemonades, such asLynchburg lemonade(whose alcoholic ingredient isJack Daniel'sTennessee whiskey) have been marketed. This section includes drinks that have the ingredients of lemonade (lemon juice and sugar). Lemon-lime soda Alemon-lime soda cocktailis acocktailmade withlemon-lime sodasuch asSprite. Apple juice Hard ciderhas been produced by a number of companies, e.g.Woodchuck Hard Cider. Apple-flavored malt beverageproducts have also been sold by companies likeRedd's Apple Ale, but these do not actually contain fermented apple juice. Grape juice Orange juice Ginger soda Aginger soda cocktailis acocktailwithginger aleorginger beer.Small Town Breweryproduced the 5.90% ABV Not Your Father's Ginger Ale.Coney Island Brewing Co.Henry's Hard Sodaproduced the 4.2% ABV Henry's Hard Ginger Ale. Others have included Crabbie's Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer (4.8 percent) and Spiced Orange Alcoholic Ginger Beer (4.8 percent), Fentimen's Alcoholic Ginger Beer (4 percent), and New City Ginger Beer (8 percent). Cola Some cola cocktails are made by the brewer; for example, McAles sells a \"hard cola\" that is amalt beveragewithkolaand other natural flavors and caramel color added.Jack Daniel'sandMiller Brewingalso introduced a hard cola, \"Black Jack Cola\".Henry's Hard Sodaintroduced a hardcherry cola. Tonic Atonic cocktailis a cocktail that containstonic syruportonic water. Tonic water is usually combined withginfor agin and tonic, ormixed with vodka. However, it can also be used in cocktails withcognac,cynar,Lillet BlancorLillet Rosé,rum,tequila, orwhite port. See also References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Minardi M194 TheMinardi M194was aFormula Onecar designed byAldo CostaandGustav Brunnerand built byMinardifor the1994 season. It was introduced at that year'sCanadian Grand Prixto replace theMinardi M193B. The car was again powered by theFordHBDV8 engine. Minardi team drivers during 1994 werePierluigi Martiniand former Grand Prix winnerMichele Alboreto. The team's test driver wasLuca Badoer. The M194 would only score two points during its 11 races, both when Martini finished in 5th place at the car's second race, theFrench Grand Prix. The team in fact scored more points in 1994 (3 points) using the M193B than with the M194. The combined 5 point total saw Minardi only finish tenth in the Constructors' Championship. The M194 was replaced for the1995season by theMinardi M195. Alboreto retired and was replaced by test driver Badoer. Livery The M194 had a blue, orange and white livery, with main sponsorship fromLucchiniand Beta Tools. During theBritish Grand Prix, the car ran with the words \\\"Italia IN - Ireland OUT\\\", in response to the elimination ofIrelandfrom the1994 FIFA World Cupand the provocation fromEddie Jordanin the previous race. Race results (key) * 3 points scored usingMinardi M193B References ThisFormula One–related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.\",\n \"Pierluigi Martini Pierluigi Martini(born 23 April 1961) is an Italian formerracing driver. He won the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans and participated in 124Formula OneGrands Prix (with 119 starts) between 1984 and 1995. Early life Martini's uncle,Giancarlo Martini, raced during the 1970s, including some non-championship races in aFerrari312Tentered by Scuderia Everest, a team owned byGiancarlo Minardi. Pierluigi's younger brother,Oliver, is also a racing driver. Formula One Martini participated in 124Formula OneGrands Prix, debuting on 9 September 1984, driving forTolemanin place of suspendedAyrton Sennaat the1984 Italian Grand Prix. He scored a total of 18 championship points and was synonymous with theMinarditeam (run by the sameGiancarlo Minardiwho had previously ownedScuderia Everest). Indeed, aside from a single outing with Toleman and a one-season dalliance withScuderia Italiain1992, Martini's entire Formula One career was spent with the Italian outfit. He raced with the minnow team in three different stints, drove for them on their debut in 1985, scored their first point in the1988 Detroit Grand Prix, and their only front-row start at the1990 United States Grand Prix(where unexpected rain on Saturday meant that the grid was decided entirely by times from Friday's session. Pirelli's soft qualifying tyres caught Goodyear off guard, and the Italian manufacturer put five of its teams in the top ten positions). Both Martini and Minardi led a race for a single lap at the1989 Portuguese Grand Prix, and their joint-best finish was 4th at the1991 San Marino Grand Prixand1991 Portuguese Grand Prix, the latter being Martini's single finish on the lead lap.Initially out of a drive for1993, he was recalled back to the little Italian team midway through the season in place ofFabrizio Barbazza, Martini impressed by outpacing his young teammateChristian Fittipaldi. Martini was also one of the drivers with a reputation for ignoringblue flags. Examples given are the1991 Monaco Grand Prixwhen he held upEmanuele Pirroin theDallara,Stefano Modenain theTyrrell, andRiccardo Patresein theWilliamsfor several laps despite running towards the back of the field, and the1995 Canadian Grand Prixwhere he blockedGerhard Bergerin the Ferrari when the Austrian tried to lap him. On both occasions Martini was called in for a 10-second stop and go penalty for ignoring blue flags. Quizzed about this attitude on the occasion of the1995 San Marino Grand Prix, where he held up winnerDamon Hill, Martini replied: 'What should I exactly apologise for? My trajectories are always clean. Should I just park the car on the grass? I'm here to do my race like anybody else. I've always been correct. Those who complain about my conduct should explain why they cannot overtake me when their car has at least 150 hp more than mine'. Sportscars Prior to commencing his Formula One career, Martini drove aLancia LC2in the1984 24 Hours of Le Mans. After leaving Formula One, he began a successful career insportscar racing. He contested the1996 24 Hours of Le Mansin a Porsche run byJoest Racing. 1997 brought a fourth-place finish in aPorsche 911 GT1which he also raced in theFIA GT Championshipthat year. In 1998, he joined the brand new Le Mans program of BMW Motorsports. In 1999, Martini,Yannick DalmasandJoachim Winkelhockwon theLe Mans 24 Hours.The trio drove for BMW. The team had to fight both Toyota and Mercedes works cars and won the race by a lap from the runner-up Toyota. Martini returned to motorsports in 2006, competing in theGrand Prix Mastersseries for retired Formula One drivers. Racing record Career summary Complete European Formula Two Championship results (key) (Races inboldindicate pole position; races initalicsindicate fastest lap) Complete International Formula 3000 results (key) (Races inboldindicate pole position; races initalicsindicate fastest lap.) Complete Formula One results (key) Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results Complete Grand Prix Masters results (key) Races inboldindicate pole position, races initalicsindicate fastest lap. Sources External links\",\n \"Giancarlo Martini Giancarlo Martini(16 August 1947 – 26 March 2013)was aracing driverfromItaly. He participated in two non-championshipFormula OneGrands Prix driving aFerrari 312TforGiancarlo Minardi. He was the uncle of the racing driversPierluigi MartiniandOliver Martini. Racing record Complete European Formula Two Championship results (key) (Races inboldindicate pole position; races initalicsindicate fastest lap) Complete Formula One results (Note: races inbolddenote pole position.) Non-championship results References\",\n \"List of cocktails Acocktailis amixed drinktypically made with adistilled liquor(such asarrack,brandy,cachaça,gin,rum,tequila,vodka, orwhiskey) as its base ingredient that is then mixed with other ingredients or garnishments. Sweetenedliqueurs, wine, or beer may also serve as the base or be added. Ifbeeris one of the ingredients, the drink is called abeer cocktail. Cocktails often also contain one or more types of juice, fruit, honey, milk or cream, spices, or other flavorings. Cocktails may vary in their ingredients from bartender to bartender, and from region to region. Two creations may have the same name but taste very different because of differences in how the drinks are prepared. This article is organized by the primary type of alcohol (by volume) contained in the beverage. Cocktails marked with \\\"IBA\\\" are designated asIBA official cocktailsby theInternational Bartenders Association, and are some of the most popular cocktails worldwide. Absinthe Beer Cocktails made withbeerare classified asbeer cocktails. Brandy Cachaça Gin Rum Sake Tequila Mezcal Vodka Whisky Wines Fortified wines Wine Wine variation Sparkling wine Champagne Red wine White wine Flavored liqueurs Anise-flavored liqueurs Chocolate liqueur Coffee liqueurs Coffee-flavored drinks Cream liqueur A liqueur containingcream, imparting amilkshake-like flavor Crème liqueur An intensely green, mint-flavored liqueur A colorless mint-flavored liqueur Fruit liqueurs Apple-flavored Orange-flavored One of severalorange-flavored liqueurs, likeGrand Marnier,triple sec, orCuraçao Other fruit flavors A clear, bright-green,melon-flavored liqueur Nut-flavored liqueurs Swedish punsch-flavored cocktails Misc. liqueur-based cocktails Less common spirits Bitters Korn Ouzo Pisco Schnapps Other Historical classes of cocktails By mixer Strawberry Strawberries can bemuddledor puréed and added to many drinks, and they are liquor-friendly, being compatible with, e.g.,bourbon whiskey,Cointreau,vodka,tequila,rum, andChampagne,among other spirits and liqueurs and so on. Some recipes call for a strawberry syrup that can be made using strawberries, vanilla extract, sugar, and water.Some strawberry cocktail recipes do not call for a syrup, but rely on puréed strawberries to play that part. Strawberries are often mixed withbasil.Strawberry is popular insmashessince after the beverage has been drunk, the alcohol-infused strawberries can be consumed as well. Carrot juice Carrotjuice can be mixed with spirits such asagave spirits,whiskey,tequila,gin, ormezcal.Vodkais sometimes chosen because its neutral taste allows more of the carrot juice taste to shine through. Carrot juice can also be mixed with liqueurs such asamaro. ginger, orange, lemon and honey can be other ingredients in carrot juice cocktails.Turmericinfusions are also common. Examples of drinks made with carrot juice include: Pineapple juice Smashed fruit Asmashis a casual icyjulep(spirits, sugar, and herb)cocktail filled with hunks of fresh fruit, so that after the liquid part of the drink has been consumed, one can also eat the alcohol-infused fruit (e.g.strawberries). The history of smashes goes back at least as far as the 1862 bookHow to Mix Drinks.Theold-style whiskey smashwas an example of an early smash. The herb used in a smash is often mint, althoughbasilis sometimes used in cocktails that go well with it, e.g. manystrawberry cocktails. The name \\\"smash\\\" comes from the idea that on a hot day, one takes whatever fruit is on hand and smashes it all together to make a refreshing beverage.Generally a smash will have crushed ice. Lemonade A number of hard lemonades, such asLynchburg lemonade(whose alcoholic ingredient isJack Daniel'sTennessee whiskey) have been marketed. This section includes drinks that have the ingredients of lemonade (lemon juice and sugar). Lemon-lime soda Alemon-lime soda cocktailis acocktailmade withlemon-lime sodasuch asSprite. Apple juice Hard ciderhas been produced by a number of companies, e.g.Woodchuck Hard Cider. Apple-flavored malt beverageproducts have also been sold by companies likeRedd's Apple Ale, but these do not actually contain fermented apple juice. Grape juice Orange juice Ginger soda Aginger soda cocktailis acocktailwithginger aleorginger beer.Small Town Breweryproduced the 5.90% ABV Not Your Father's Ginger Ale.Coney Island Brewing Co.Henry's Hard Sodaproduced the 4.2% ABV Henry's Hard Ginger Ale. Others have included Crabbie's Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer (4.8 percent) and Spiced Orange Alcoholic Ginger Beer (4.8 percent), Fentimen's Alcoholic Ginger Beer (4 percent), and New City Ginger Beer (8 percent). Cola Some cola cocktails are made by the brewer; for example, McAles sells a \\\"hard cola\\\" that is amalt beveragewithkolaand other natural flavors and caramel color added.Jack Daniel'sandMiller Brewingalso introduced a hard cola, \\\"Black Jack Cola\\\".Henry's Hard Sodaintroduced a hardcherry cola. Tonic Atonic cocktailis a cocktail that containstonic syruportonic water. Tonic water is usually combined withginfor agin and tonic, ormixed with vodka. However, it can also be used in cocktails withcognac,cynar,Lillet BlancorLillet Rosé,rum,tequila, orwhite port. See also References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Minardi M194 TheMinardi M194was aFormula Onecar designed byAldo CostaandGustav Brunnerand built byMinardifor the1994 season. It was introduced at that year'sCanadian Grand Prixto replace theMinardi M193B. The car was again powered by theFordHBDV8 engine. Minardi team drivers during 1994 werePierluigi Martiniand former Grand Prix winnerMichele Alboreto. The team's test driver wasLuca Badoer. The M194 would only score two points during its 11 races, both when Martini finished in 5th place at the car's second race, theFrench Grand Prix. The team in fact scored more points in 1994 (3 points) using the M193B than with the M194. The combined 5 point total saw Minardi only finish tenth in the Constructors' Championship. The M194 was replaced for the1995season by theMinardi M195. Alboreto retired and was replaced by test driver Badoer. Livery The M194 had a blue, orange and white livery, with main sponsorship fromLucchiniand Beta Tools. During theBritish Grand Prix, the car ran with the words \"Italia IN - Ireland","IN - Ireland OUT\", in response to the elimination ofIrelandfrom the1994 FIFA World Cupand the provocation fromEddie Jordanin the previous race. Race results (key) * 3 points scored usingMinardi M193B References ThisFormula One–related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.","Pierluigi Martini Pierluigi Martini(born 23 April 1961) is an Italian formerracing driver. He won the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans and participated in 124Formula OneGrands Prix (with 119 starts) between 1984 and 1995. Early life Martini's uncle,Giancarlo Martini, raced during the 1970s, including some non-championship races in aFerrari312Tentered by Scuderia Everest, a team owned byGiancarlo Minardi. Pierluigi's younger brother,Oliver, is also a racing driver. Formula One Martini participated in 124Formula OneGrands Prix, debuting on 9 September 1984, driving forTolemanin place of suspendedAyrton Sennaat the1984 Italian Grand Prix. He scored a total of 18 championship points and was synonymous with theMinarditeam (run by the sameGiancarlo Minardiwho had previously ownedScuderia Everest). Indeed, aside from a single outing with Toleman and a one-season dalliance withScuderia Italiain1992, Martini's entire Formula One career was spent with the Italian outfit. He raced with the minnow team in three different stints,","different stints, drove for them on their debut in 1985, scored their first point in the1988 Detroit Grand Prix, and their only front-row start at the1990 United States Grand Prix(where unexpected rain on Saturday meant that the grid was decided entirely by times from Friday's session. Pirelli's soft qualifying tyres caught Goodyear off guard, and the Italian manufacturer put five of its teams in the top ten positions). Both Martini and Minardi led a race for a single lap at the1989 Portuguese Grand Prix, and their joint-best finish was 4th at the1991 San Marino Grand Prixand1991 Portuguese Grand Prix, the latter being Martini's single finish on the lead lap.Initially out of a drive for1993, he was recalled back to the little Italian team midway through the season in place ofFabrizio Barbazza, Martini impressed by outpacing his young teammateChristian Fittipaldi. Martini was also one of the drivers with a reputation for ignoringblue flags. Examples given are the1991 Monaco Grand Prixwhen he held upEmanuele","he held upEmanuele Pirroin theDallara,Stefano Modenain theTyrrell, andRiccardo Patresein theWilliamsfor several laps despite running towards the back of the field, and the1995 Canadian Grand Prixwhere he blockedGerhard Bergerin the Ferrari when the Austrian tried to lap him. On both occasions Martini was called in for a 10-second stop and go penalty for ignoring blue flags. Quizzed about this attitude on the occasion of the1995 San Marino Grand Prix, where he held up winnerDamon Hill, Martini replied: 'What should I exactly apologise for? My trajectories are always clean. Should I just park the car on the grass? I'm here to do my race like anybody else. I've always been correct. Those who complain about my conduct should explain why they cannot overtake me when their car has at least 150 hp more than mine'. Sportscars Prior to commencing his Formula One career, Martini drove aLancia LC2in the1984 24 Hours of Le Mans. After leaving Formula One, he began a successful career insportscar racing. He contested","He contested the1996 24 Hours of Le Mansin a Porsche run byJoest Racing. 1997 brought a fourth-place finish in aPorsche 911 GT1which he also raced in theFIA GT Championshipthat year. In 1998, he joined the brand new Le Mans program of BMW Motorsports. In 1999, Martini,Yannick DalmasandJoachim Winkelhockwon theLe Mans 24 Hours.The trio drove for BMW. The team had to fight both Toyota and Mercedes works cars and won the race by a lap from the runner-up Toyota. Martini returned to motorsports in 2006, competing in theGrand Prix Mastersseries for retired Formula One drivers. Racing record Career summary Complete European Formula Two Championship results (key) (Races inboldindicate pole position; races initalicsindicate fastest lap) Complete International Formula 3000 results (key) (Races inboldindicate pole position; races initalicsindicate fastest lap.) Complete Formula One results (key) Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results Complete Grand Prix Masters results (key) Races inboldindicate pole position, races","position, races initalicsindicate fastest lap. Sources External links","Giancarlo Martini Giancarlo Martini(16 August 1947 – 26 March 2013)was aracing driverfromItaly. He participated in two non-championshipFormula OneGrands Prix driving aFerrari 312TforGiancarlo Minardi. He was the uncle of the racing driversPierluigi MartiniandOliver Martini. Racing record Complete European Formula Two Championship results (key) (Races inboldindicate pole position; races initalicsindicate fastest lap) Complete Formula One results (Note: races inbolddenote pole position.) Non-championship results References","List of cocktails Acocktailis amixed drinktypically made with adistilled liquor(such asarrack,brandy,cachaça,gin,rum,tequila,vodka, orwhiskey) as its base ingredient that is then mixed with other ingredients or garnishments. Sweetenedliqueurs, wine, or beer may also serve as the base or be added. Ifbeeris one of the ingredients, the drink is called abeer cocktail. Cocktails often also contain one or more types of juice, fruit, honey, milk or cream, spices, or other flavorings. Cocktails may vary in their ingredients from bartender to bartender, and from region to region. Two creations may have the same name but taste very different because of differences in how the drinks are prepared. This article is organized by the primary type of alcohol (by volume) contained in the beverage. Cocktails marked with \"IBA\" are designated asIBA official cocktailsby theInternational Bartenders Association, and are some of the most popular cocktails worldwide. Absinthe Beer Cocktails made withbeerare classified asbeer","classified asbeer cocktails. Brandy Cachaça Gin Rum Sake Tequila Mezcal Vodka Whisky Wines Fortified wines Wine Wine variation Sparkling wine Champagne Red wine White wine Flavored liqueurs Anise-flavored liqueurs Chocolate liqueur Coffee liqueurs Coffee-flavored drinks Cream liqueur A liqueur containingcream, imparting amilkshake-like flavor Crème liqueur An intensely green, mint-flavored liqueur A colorless mint-flavored liqueur Fruit liqueurs Apple-flavored Orange-flavored One of severalorange-flavored liqueurs, likeGrand Marnier,triple sec, orCuraçao Other fruit flavors A clear, bright-green,melon-flavored liqueur Nut-flavored liqueurs Swedish punsch-flavored cocktails Misc. liqueur-based cocktails Less common spirits Bitters Korn Ouzo Pisco Schnapps Other Historical classes of cocktails By mixer Strawberry Strawberries can bemuddledor puréed and added to many drinks, and they are liquor-friendly, being compatible with, e.g.,bourbon whiskey,Cointreau,vodka,tequila,rum, andChampagne,among other spirits","other spirits and liqueurs and so on. Some recipes call for a strawberry syrup that can be made using strawberries, vanilla extract, sugar, and water.Some strawberry cocktail recipes do not call for a syrup, but rely on puréed strawberries to play that part. Strawberries are often mixed withbasil.Strawberry is popular insmashessince after the beverage has been drunk, the alcohol-infused strawberries can be consumed as well. Carrot juice Carrotjuice can be mixed with spirits such asagave spirits,whiskey,tequila,gin, ormezcal.Vodkais sometimes chosen because its neutral taste allows more of the carrot juice taste to shine through. Carrot juice can also be mixed with liqueurs such asamaro. ginger, orange, lemon and honey can be other ingredients in carrot juice cocktails.Turmericinfusions are also common. Examples of drinks made with carrot juice include: Pineapple juice Smashed fruit Asmashis a casual icyjulep(spirits, sugar, and herb)cocktail filled with hunks of fresh fruit, so that after the liquid part of","the liquid part of the drink has been consumed, one can also eat the alcohol-infused fruit (e.g.strawberries). The history of smashes goes back at least as far as the 1862 bookHow to Mix Drinks.Theold-style whiskey smashwas an example of an early smash. The herb used in a smash is often mint, althoughbasilis sometimes used in cocktails that go well with it, e.g. manystrawberry cocktails. The name \"smash\" comes from the idea that on a hot day, one takes whatever fruit is on hand and smashes it all together to make a refreshing beverage.Generally a smash will have crushed ice. Lemonade A number of hard lemonades, such asLynchburg lemonade(whose alcoholic ingredient isJack Daniel'sTennessee whiskey) have been marketed. This section includes drinks that have the ingredients of lemonade (lemon juice and sugar). Lemon-lime soda Alemon-lime soda cocktailis acocktailmade withlemon-lime sodasuch asSprite. Apple juice Hard ciderhas been produced by a number of companies, e.g.Woodchuck Hard Cider. Apple-flavored malt","Apple-flavored malt beverageproducts have also been sold by companies likeRedd's Apple Ale, but these do not actually contain fermented apple juice. Grape juice Orange juice Ginger soda Aginger soda cocktailis acocktailwithginger aleorginger beer.Small Town Breweryproduced the 5.90% ABV Not Your Father's Ginger Ale.Coney Island Brewing Co.Henry's Hard Sodaproduced the 4.2% ABV Henry's Hard Ginger Ale. Others have included Crabbie's Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer (4.8 percent) and Spiced Orange Alcoholic Ginger Beer (4.8 percent), Fentimen's Alcoholic Ginger Beer (4 percent), and New City Ginger Beer (8 percent). Cola Some cola cocktails are made by the brewer; for example, McAles sells a \"hard cola\" that is amalt beveragewithkolaand other natural flavors and caramel color added.Jack Daniel'sandMiller Brewingalso introduced a hard cola, \"Black Jack Cola\".Henry's Hard Sodaintroduced a hardcherry cola. Tonic Atonic cocktailis a cocktail that containstonic syruportonic water. Tonic water is usually combined","is usually combined withginfor agin and tonic, ormixed with vodka. However, it can also be used in cocktails withcognac,cynar,Lillet BlancorLillet Rosé,rum,tequila, orwhite port. See also References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Minardi M194 TheMinardi M194was aFormula Onecar designed byAldo CostaandGustav Brunnerand built byMinardifor the1994 season. It was introduced at that year'sCanadian Grand Prixto replace theMinardi M193B. The car was again powered by theFordHBDV8 engine. Minardi team drivers during 1994 werePierluigi Martiniand former Grand Prix winnerMichele Alboreto. The team's test driver wasLuca Badoer. The M194 would only score two points during its 11 races, both when Martini finished in 5th place at the car's second race, theFrench Grand Prix. The team in fact scored more points in 1994 (3 points) using the M193B than with the M194. The combined 5 point total saw Minardi only finish tenth in the Constructors' Championship. The M194 was replaced for the1995season by theMinardi M195. Alboreto retired and was replaced by test driver Badoer. Livery The M194 had a blue, orange and white livery, with main sponsorship fromLucchiniand Beta Tools. During theBritish Grand Prix, the car ran with the words \\\"Italia IN - Ireland\",\n \"IN - Ireland OUT\\\", in response to the elimination ofIrelandfrom the1994 FIFA World Cupand the provocation fromEddie Jordanin the previous race. Race results (key) * 3 points scored usingMinardi M193B References ThisFormula One–related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.\",\n \"Pierluigi Martini Pierluigi Martini(born 23 April 1961) is an Italian formerracing driver. He won the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans and participated in 124Formula OneGrands Prix (with 119 starts) between 1984 and 1995. Early life Martini's uncle,Giancarlo Martini, raced during the 1970s, including some non-championship races in aFerrari312Tentered by Scuderia Everest, a team owned byGiancarlo Minardi. Pierluigi's younger brother,Oliver, is also a racing driver. Formula One Martini participated in 124Formula OneGrands Prix, debuting on 9 September 1984, driving forTolemanin place of suspendedAyrton Sennaat the1984 Italian Grand Prix. He scored a total of 18 championship points and was synonymous with theMinarditeam (run by the sameGiancarlo Minardiwho had previously ownedScuderia Everest). Indeed, aside from a single outing with Toleman and a one-season dalliance withScuderia Italiain1992, Martini's entire Formula One career was spent with the Italian outfit. He raced with the minnow team in three different stints,\",\n \"different stints, drove for them on their debut in 1985, scored their first point in the1988 Detroit Grand Prix, and their only front-row start at the1990 United States Grand Prix(where unexpected rain on Saturday meant that the grid was decided entirely by times from Friday's session. Pirelli's soft qualifying tyres caught Goodyear off guard, and the Italian manufacturer put five of its teams in the top ten positions). Both Martini and Minardi led a race for a single lap at the1989 Portuguese Grand Prix, and their joint-best finish was 4th at the1991 San Marino Grand Prixand1991 Portuguese Grand Prix, the latter being Martini's single finish on the lead lap.Initially out of a drive for1993, he was recalled back to the little Italian team midway through the season in place ofFabrizio Barbazza, Martini impressed by outpacing his young teammateChristian Fittipaldi. Martini was also one of the drivers with a reputation for ignoringblue flags. Examples given are the1991 Monaco Grand Prixwhen he held upEmanuele\",\n \"he held upEmanuele Pirroin theDallara,Stefano Modenain theTyrrell, andRiccardo Patresein theWilliamsfor several laps despite running towards the back of the field, and the1995 Canadian Grand Prixwhere he blockedGerhard Bergerin the Ferrari when the Austrian tried to lap him. On both occasions Martini was called in for a 10-second stop and go penalty for ignoring blue flags. Quizzed about this attitude on the occasion of the1995 San Marino Grand Prix, where he held up winnerDamon Hill, Martini replied: 'What should I exactly apologise for? My trajectories are always clean. Should I just park the car on the grass? I'm here to do my race like anybody else. I've always been correct. Those who complain about my conduct should explain why they cannot overtake me when their car has at least 150 hp more than mine'. Sportscars Prior to commencing his Formula One career, Martini drove aLancia LC2in the1984 24 Hours of Le Mans. After leaving Formula One, he began a successful career insportscar racing. He contested\",\n \"He contested the1996 24 Hours of Le Mansin a Porsche run byJoest Racing. 1997 brought a fourth-place finish in aPorsche 911 GT1which he also raced in theFIA GT Championshipthat year. In 1998, he joined the brand new Le Mans program of BMW Motorsports. In 1999, Martini,Yannick DalmasandJoachim Winkelhockwon theLe Mans 24 Hours.The trio drove for BMW. The team had to fight both Toyota and Mercedes works cars and won the race by a lap from the runner-up Toyota. Martini returned to motorsports in 2006, competing in theGrand Prix Mastersseries for retired Formula One drivers. Racing record Career summary Complete European Formula Two Championship results (key) (Races inboldindicate pole position; races initalicsindicate fastest lap) Complete International Formula 3000 results (key) (Races inboldindicate pole position; races initalicsindicate fastest lap.) Complete Formula One results (key) Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results Complete Grand Prix Masters results (key) Races inboldindicate pole position, races\",\n \"position, races initalicsindicate fastest lap. Sources External links\",\n \"Giancarlo Martini Giancarlo Martini(16 August 1947 – 26 March 2013)was aracing driverfromItaly. He participated in two non-championshipFormula OneGrands Prix driving aFerrari 312TforGiancarlo Minardi. He was the uncle of the racing driversPierluigi MartiniandOliver Martini. Racing record Complete European Formula Two Championship results (key) (Races inboldindicate pole position; races initalicsindicate fastest lap) Complete Formula One results (Note: races inbolddenote pole position.) Non-championship results References\",\n \"List of cocktails Acocktailis amixed drinktypically made with adistilled liquor(such asarrack,brandy,cachaça,gin,rum,tequila,vodka, orwhiskey) as its base ingredient that is then mixed with other ingredients or garnishments. Sweetenedliqueurs, wine, or beer may also serve as the base or be added. Ifbeeris one of the ingredients, the drink is called abeer cocktail. Cocktails often also contain one or more types of juice, fruit, honey, milk or cream, spices, or other flavorings. Cocktails may vary in their ingredients from bartender to bartender, and from region to region. Two creations may have the same name but taste very different because of differences in how the drinks are prepared. This article is organized by the primary type of alcohol (by volume) contained in the beverage. Cocktails marked with \\\"IBA\\\" are designated asIBA official cocktailsby theInternational Bartenders Association, and are some of the most popular cocktails worldwide. Absinthe Beer Cocktails made withbeerare classified asbeer\",\n \"classified asbeer cocktails. Brandy Cachaça Gin Rum Sake Tequila Mezcal Vodka Whisky Wines Fortified wines Wine Wine variation Sparkling wine Champagne Red wine White wine Flavored liqueurs Anise-flavored liqueurs Chocolate liqueur Coffee liqueurs Coffee-flavored drinks Cream liqueur A liqueur containingcream, imparting amilkshake-like flavor Crème liqueur An intensely green, mint-flavored liqueur A colorless mint-flavored liqueur Fruit liqueurs Apple-flavored Orange-flavored One of severalorange-flavored liqueurs, likeGrand Marnier,triple sec, orCuraçao Other fruit flavors A clear, bright-green,melon-flavored liqueur Nut-flavored liqueurs Swedish punsch-flavored cocktails Misc. liqueur-based cocktails Less common spirits Bitters Korn Ouzo Pisco Schnapps Other Historical classes of cocktails By mixer Strawberry Strawberries can bemuddledor puréed and added to many drinks, and they are liquor-friendly, being compatible with, e.g.,bourbon whiskey,Cointreau,vodka,tequila,rum, andChampagne,among other spirits\",\n \"other spirits and liqueurs and so on. Some recipes call for a strawberry syrup that can be made using strawberries, vanilla extract, sugar, and water.Some strawberry cocktail recipes do not call for a syrup, but rely on puréed strawberries to play that part. Strawberries are often mixed withbasil.Strawberry is popular insmashessince after the beverage has been drunk, the alcohol-infused strawberries can be consumed as well. Carrot juice Carrotjuice can be mixed with spirits such asagave spirits,whiskey,tequila,gin, ormezcal.Vodkais sometimes chosen because its neutral taste allows more of the carrot juice taste to shine through. Carrot juice can also be mixed with liqueurs such asamaro. ginger, orange, lemon and honey can be other ingredients in carrot juice cocktails.Turmericinfusions are also common. Examples of drinks made with carrot juice include: Pineapple juice Smashed fruit Asmashis a casual icyjulep(spirits, sugar, and herb)cocktail filled with hunks of fresh fruit, so that after the liquid part of\",\n \"the liquid part of the drink has been consumed, one can also eat the alcohol-infused fruit (e.g.strawberries). The history of smashes goes back at least as far as the 1862 bookHow to Mix Drinks.Theold-style whiskey smashwas an example of an early smash. The herb used in a smash is often mint, althoughbasilis sometimes used in cocktails that go well with it, e.g. manystrawberry cocktails. The name \\\"smash\\\" comes from the idea that on a hot day, one takes whatever fruit is on hand and smashes it all together to make a refreshing beverage.Generally a smash will have crushed ice. Lemonade A number of hard lemonades, such asLynchburg lemonade(whose alcoholic ingredient isJack Daniel'sTennessee whiskey) have been marketed. This section includes drinks that have the ingredients of lemonade (lemon juice and sugar). Lemon-lime soda Alemon-lime soda cocktailis acocktailmade withlemon-lime sodasuch asSprite. Apple juice Hard ciderhas been produced by a number of companies, e.g.Woodchuck Hard Cider. Apple-flavored malt\",\n \"Apple-flavored malt beverageproducts have also been sold by companies likeRedd's Apple Ale, but these do not actually contain fermented apple juice. Grape juice Orange juice Ginger soda Aginger soda cocktailis acocktailwithginger aleorginger beer.Small Town Breweryproduced the 5.90% ABV Not Your Father's Ginger Ale.Coney Island Brewing Co.Henry's Hard Sodaproduced the 4.2% ABV Henry's Hard Ginger Ale. Others have included Crabbie's Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer (4.8 percent) and Spiced Orange Alcoholic Ginger Beer (4.8 percent), Fentimen's Alcoholic Ginger Beer (4 percent), and New City Ginger Beer (8 percent). Cola Some cola cocktails are made by the brewer; for example, McAles sells a \\\"hard cola\\\" that is amalt beveragewithkolaand other natural flavors and caramel color added.Jack Daniel'sandMiller Brewingalso introduced a hard cola, \\\"Black Jack Cola\\\".Henry's Hard Sodaintroduced a hardcherry cola. Tonic Atonic cocktailis a cocktail that containstonic syruportonic water. Tonic water is usually combined\",\n \"is usually combined withginfor agin and tonic, ormixed with vodka. However, it can also be used in cocktails withcognac,cynar,Lillet BlancorLillet Rosé,rum,tequila, orwhite port. See also References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":42,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"As of August 1, 2024, who is the president of the team that inspired the original name of the Washington Commanders?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"Derek Schiller"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Commanders"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Braves"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Braves"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Multiple constraints"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Commanders', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Braves', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Braves']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Commanders","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Braves","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Braves"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Commanders\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Braves\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Braves\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["Washington Commanders TheWashington Commandersare a professionalAmerican footballteam based in theWashington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in theNational Football League(NFL) as a member of theNational Football Conference(NFC)Eastdivision. The team plays its home games atNorthwest StadiuminLandover, Maryland; its headquarters and training facility are inAshburn, Virginia. The Commanders have played more than 1,300 games and have won more than 600. Washington was among the first NFL franchises with afight song, \"Hail to the Commanders\",which is played bytheir marching bandafter every home gametouchdown. The Commanders are owned by a group managed byJosh Harris, who acquired the franchise fromDaniel Snyderin 2023 for $6.05 billion. The Commanders were founded byGeorge Preston Marshallas theBoston Bravesin1932. The team changed its name to the Redskins the following year beforemovingtoWashington, D.C., in1937, to become theWashington Redskins. The usage of the termredskinwascontroversialfor decades. In2020, pressure from several NFL and team sponsors led to its being retired as part of awave of name changesin the wake of theGeorge Floyd protests, which led to larger awareness of theNative American mascot controversy. The team played as theWashington Football Teamfor two seasons before rebranding as the Commanders in 2022. Washington won the1937and1942NFLchampionship gamesand Super BowlsXVII,XXII, andXXVI. Washington has finished a season as league runner-up six times, losing the1936,1940,1943, and1945title games and Super BowlsVIIandXVIII. With 14 division titles and 24 postseason appearances, they have an overall postseason record of23–18. Their three Super Bowl wins are tied with theDenver BroncosandLas Vegas Raiders, behind thePittsburgh SteelersandNew England Patriots(six each),San Francisco 49ersandDallas Cowboys(five each), andGreen Bay Packers,New York GiantsandKansas City Chiefs(four each). All of Washington's championships were attained during two 10-year spans. From1936to1945, the team went to theNFL Championshipsix times, winning two of them under general managerJack Espeyand head coachRay Flaherty. The second period lasted from1982to1991under ownerJack Kent Cooke, general managersBobby BeathardandCharley Casserly, and head coachJoe Gibbs. From 1946 to 1970, Washington posted just four winning seasons and never reached the postseason. They went without a single winning season from 1956 to 1968, a span that included their worst regular-season record: 1–12–1 in1961. Since their last Super Bowl victory in1991, they have won theNFC Eastfour times with only seven postseason appearances. History George Preston Marshall era (1932–1965) Bostonwas awarded aNational Football Leaguefranchise on July 9, 1932, under the ownership of American businessmanGeorge Preston Marshall.The team was named after theBoston Braves baseball team, with whom they sharedBraves Field, with theinaugural seasonbeing coached byLud Wray. The team saw several changes in1933, including a name change to the \"Redskins\" and playing their home games atFenway Park, home of theBoston Red Sox. Wray was also replaced at head coach byWilliam \"Lone Star\" Dietz. The situation faced by Marshall in New England was difficult. In 1935, Joe F. Carr opined: \"To the casual observer bred in the knowledge of New England's place in football's sun, because its cradle and nursery were there, the success of a Boston team in the professional ranks would be a foregone conclusion. Nothing could have been more erroneous. Boston finished the most forbidding ground for professional football of any large city in the country. The history of the game in Boston and New England was entirely associated with college, preparatory, and high school playing. Its eminence as an institution of sport grew in a hallowed atmosphere as an almost sacrosanct element of education which was to be kept ever free from commercial pollution.\" The Redskins appeared in the1936 NFL Championship Game, their first championship appearance, but lost to the Green Bay Packers 21–6. The Redskins moved toWashington, D.C., after five years in Boston, with Marshall stating that the New England city showed a lack of interest in the team.Through1960, the team shared baseball'sGriffith Stadiumwith the first American LeagueWashington Senatorsbaseball team.In their first game in Washington, D.C., the Redskins defeated theNew York Giantsin the season opener, 13–3.The same season, they earned their first division title in Washington with a49–14win over the Giants.Shortly after, the team won their firstleague championshipin 1937, defeating theChicago Bears. In1940, the Redskins met theBearsagain in the1940 NFL Championship Game.The result,73–0in favor of the Bears, remains the worst one-sided loss in NFL history.The Redskins won their second championship in1942, defeating theBears14–6.In1943, Dutch Bergman was named head coach and led the team to a return to theNFL championship game, however they were defeated by the Chicago Bears41–21.That same season,Sammy Baughled the NFL in passing,punting, andinterceptions. The Redskins played in the NFL Championship one more time before a quarter-century drought that lasted until the1972 season. With former Olympicgold medalistDudley DeGrootas their new head coach, theRedskinswent 8–2 during the1945 season. One of the most impressive performances came from Baugh, who had a completion percentage of .703.They ended the season by losing to theCleveland Ramsin the1945 NFL Championship Game, 15–14.The one-point margin of victory came under scrutiny because of asafetythat occurred early in the game. In the first quarter, the Redskins had the ball at their own 5-yard line. Dropping back into theend zone,quarterbackBaugh threw to an open receiver, but the ball hit the goal post and bounced back to the ground in the end zone. Under the rules at the time, this was ruled as a safety and thus gave the Rams a 2–0 lead. Marshall was so upset at the outcome that he became a major force in passing a major rule change after the season, in which a forward pass that struck the goalpost was automatically ruled incomplete. This later became known as the \"Baugh/Marshall Rule\". The team's early success accredited it to the fans of Washington, D.C. However, after 1945, the Redskins began a slow decline that they did not end until aplayoff appearancein the1971 season.The Redskins had four different head coaches from 1946 to 1951, including former playersTurk EdwardsandDick Toddas well asJohn WhelchelandHerman Ball, and none were successful. But this did not stop Marshall from trying to make the Redskins the most successful franchise in the league. His first major alteration happened on June 14, 1950, when it was announced that theAmerican Oil Companyplanned to televise all Redskins games, making them the first NFL team to have an entire season of televised games.His next major change came in February 1952, when he hired formerGreen Bay PackerscoachEarl \"Curly\" Lambeau.But, after two seasons, Marshall fired Lambeau following theRedskinsloss in their exhibition opener to theLos Angeles Ramsand hiredJoe Kuharich.In 1955, Kuharich led theRedskinsto their first winning season in ten years and was named bothSporting News Coach of the YearandUPI NFL Coach of the Year. In1961, the Redskins moved into their new stadium called D.C. Stadium, later renamedRobert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadiumin 1969. The first game in new D.C. Stadium occurred on October 1 in front of 37,767 fans. However, the Redskins failed to hold a 14-point lead and lost to theNew York Giants24–21.That same year,Bill McPeakbecame the head coach and had a record of21–46–3over five seasons. During his tenure, he helped draft future stars: wide receiverCharley Taylor, tight endJerry Smith, safetyPaul Krause, centerLen Hauss, and linebackerChris Hanburger.He also helped pull off two important trades, gaining quarterbackSonny Jurgensenfrom thePhiladelphia Eaglesand linebackerSam Hufffrom theNew York Giants.In1966,Otto Grahamwas hired as the new head coach. Graham coached the Redskins for three seasons for a record of 17–22–3. He resigned after the1968 seasonin favor ofVince Lombardi.at 6–8. Integration controversy During most of this unsuccessful period, Marshall continually refused to integrate the team, despite pressure from theU.S. government.Two months into theKennedy administrationon March 24, 1961,Secretary of the InteriorStewart Udallwarned Marshall to hire black players or face federal retribution.For the first time in history, the federal government had attempted to desegregate a professional sports team.The Redskins were under the threat ofcivil rightslegal action by the Kennedy administration, which would have prevented a segregated team from playing at the new federally-ownedD.C. Stadium, managed by theU.S. Department of the Interior.The Redskins' previous venue,Griffith Stadium, was owned by the Griffith family, owners of theWashington Senators, who moved and became theMinnesota Twinsin1961. In1962, Washington became the final professional American football franchise to integrate. First, the Redskins selected running backErnie DavisofSyracusefirst overallin the1962 NFL draft; Davis was the first black player to win theHeisman Trophyand the first to be the top selection in an NFL draft.Washington also tookfullbackRon HatcherofMichigan Statein theeighth round, who became the first black player to sign a contract with the team. In December 1961, Marshall announced he had traded the rights to Davis to theCleveland Browns, who wanted Davis to join the league's leading rusher,Jim Brown, in their backfield.Davis was traded for veteran running backBobby Mitchell, who became awide receiverin Washington, D.C., and 1962 first-round draft choiceLeroy JacksonofWestern Illinois.The move was made under unfortunate circumstances – as it turned out that Davis hadleukemia, and died without ever playing a down in professional football.The Redskins ended the1962 seasonwith their best record in five years:5–7–2.Mitchell led the league with 11 touchdowns, and caught 72 passes and was selected to thePro Bowl. In time, Mitchell would be joined by other black players like receiverCharley Taylor, running backLarry Brown,defensive backBrig Owens, and guardJohn Nisby. Edward Bennett Williams era (1965–1979) Marshall appointed board memberEdward Bennett Williamsto run the team's daily operations in 1965 due to declining health.He acquired controlling interest in the franchise following Marshall's death on August 9, 1969.In1969, Williams hired formerGreen Bay Packershead coachVince Lombardifor the same role, granting him a 5% stake in ownership and full control over football operations as the team's executive vice president.Lombardi coached the Redskins to a 7–5–2 record, their first winning season since1955, but died from cancer shortly before the start of the1970 season.Bill Austin, appointed earlier by Lombardi, served as interim head coach for the season. George Allen years (1971–1977) On January 6, 1971, Williams hired formerLos Angeles Ramshead coachGeorge Allenas head coach and general manager.Partial to seasoned veterans instead of highly touted young players, Allen's teams became known as theOver-the-Hill Gang.Thatseason, theRedskinsmade theplayoffsfor the first time since 1945 with a 9–4–1 markwith Redskins first-year head coachGeorge Allenwinning the 1971NFL Coach of the Year Award, the second of his career, winning his first Coach of the Year Award in 1967 as the head coach of theRams.However, they lost in the Divisional Playoffs to theSan Francisco 49ers, 24–20. Thefollowing season, theRedskinshosted their first postseason game in Washington since 1942, where they beat theGreen Bay Packers16–3 in theNFC Divisional Playoffs.The Redskins reached theNFC Championship Game, and in a much-anticipated match-up against the archrivalDallas Cowboys, The Redskins placekickerCurt Knightkicked an 18-yard field goal in the second quarter to get the scoring underway, then Redskins quarterbackBilly Kilmerconnected with Redskins wide receiverCharley Tayloron a 15-yard touchdown pass and Washington had a 10–3 lead at halftime. In the fourth quarter, Kilmer again went to Taylor, this time for a 45-yard touchdown. Knight added three more field goals that period andThe Over-The-Hill-Gangdefense allowed only a second-quarter field goal. The final score was Washington 26, Dallas 3.After defeating the Dallas Cowboys to win the NFC Championship, the Redskins went on to lose to theundefeatedMiami Dolphins14–7 inSuper Bowl VII.Redskins running backLarry Brownwould be named the 1972NFL MVP.The Redskins again made the playoffs in1973,1974, and1976, only to lose all three times in the first round.After the team failed to make the playoffs inRedskinsdespite a 9–5 record, Allen was fired and was replaced at head coach byJack Pardee. Jack Kent Cooke era (1979–1998) Canadian-American businessmanJack Kent Cooke, who had owned minority shares of the Redskins and been a board member since 1960, purchased majority interest fromEdward Bennett Williamsin 1974.Due to NFL rules at the time disallowing controlling ownership in other leagues, he allowed Williams to operate the team until selling his other properties, the NBA'sLos Angeles Lakersand the NHL'sLos Angeles Kings, toJerry Bussin May 1979.Cooke became the team's sole owner in 1985 after purchasing the remaining shares from Williams for around $9 million. Joe Gibbs years (1981–1992) Jack Pardee, the 1979NFL Coach of the Year, was fired following a 6–10 record in1980.On January 13, 1981, Cooke hiredSan Diego Chargersoffensive coordinatorJoe Gibbsas head coach.During the offseason, the Redskins acquired players such asMark May,Russ Grimm, andDexter Manleyin the1981 NFL draft.After starting the1981 season0–5, the Redskins won eight out of their next 11 games and finished the season 8–8 but fourth in the NFC East. Super Bowl XVII champions (1982) Starting on September 21, 1982,the NFL faced a 57-day long players'strike, which reduced the1982 seasonfrom a 16-game schedule to a nine-game schedule.Because of the shortened season, the NFL adopted a special 16-team playoff tournament, in which eight teams from each conference were seeded 1–8 based on their regular season records. After the strike was settled, the Redskins dominated, winning six out of the seven remaining games to make the playoffs for the first time since 1976. In January 1983, during the second round of theplayoffsagainst theMinnesota Vikings,John Rigginsrushed for a Redskins playoff record 185 yards, leading Washington to a 21–7 win.The game is perhaps best known for a moment when the stadium physically shook as a crowd chanted \"We Want Dallas!\", which later became a rallying cry of sorts for Redskin fans before games against the Cowboys.In the NFC Championship Game against them atRFK Stadium, Redskins defensive endDexter Manleyknocked Cowboys' quarterbackDanny Whiteout for the rest of the game and sent him into the locker room shortly before halftime. Later in the game, Redskins defensive tackleDarryl Grant's interception, which he returned for a 10-yard touchdown, off one of Cowboys' backup quarterbackGary Hogeboom's passes which was tipped byDexter Manleyto score the decisive points.John Rigginsrushed for 140 yards and two touchdowns on 36 carries and the Redskins went on to defeat the Cowboys' by a score of 31–17.The Redskins' firstSuper Bowlwin, and their first NFL Championship in 40 years, was inSuper Bowl XVII, where the Redskins defeated theMiami Dolphins27–17.Riggins provided the game's signature play when, on 4th and inches, with the Redskins down 17–13, the coaches called \"70 Chip\", a play designed for short yardage.Riggins instead gained 43 yards (39 meters) by running through would-be tacklerDon McNealand getting the go-ahead touchdown. The Redskins ended up winning by a 27–17 score with John Riggins winning theSuper Bowl MVP. After the1982 seasonRedskins placekickerMark Moseleywas the first and only placekicker in NFL history to be named theNFL's Most Valuable Player;Moseley made 20 of 21 field goals attempted in 1982.Redskins head coachJoe Gibbsalso won his firstNFL Coach of the Year Awardin 1982 which was the first of his back-to-back NFL Coach of the Year Awards, his second coming in the1983 NFL season. CornerbackDarrell Greenand defensive endCharles Mannwere selected in the1983 NFL draftand became key contributors for the team; Green would play his entire 20-year career with the Redskins. On October 1, 1983, the Redskins lost to theGreen Bay Packers48–47 in the highest-scoringMonday night football game in history, in which both teams combine for more than 1,000 yards (910 m) of total offense.Then during the regular-season finale on December 17, 1983, Moseley set an NFL scoring record with 161 points while Riggins' total of 144 points was second. This marked the first time since 1951 that the top two scorers in a season played on the same team.They dominated the NFL with a 14-win season which included scoring a then NFL record 541 points,many of which came from Riggins, who scored 24 touchdowns. Redskins quarterbackJoe Theismannwould also be named the 1983NFL's Most Valuable Playerfinishing the season with a career-high in both yards passing 3,714 yds., and touchdown passes thrown, 29 Td's while throwing only 11 interceptions. In the postseason, the Redskins beat theLos Angeles Rams51–7.The next week, Washington beat theSan Francisco 49ers24–21 in theNFC Championship Game.It was their final win of the season because two weeks later, theRaidersbeat the Redskins 38–9 inSuper Bowl XVIII. The Redskins finished the1984 seasonwith an 11–5 record,and won the NFC East for the third consecutive season.However, they lost in the first round of theplayoffsto theChicago Bears, 23–19.On November 18, 1985, while playing against theGiants, Theismann broke his leg during a sack byLawrence Taylor. Thecompound fractureforced him to retire after a 12-year career, during which he became the Redskins' all-time leader in pass attempts and completions.The Redskins finished 3rd in the NFC East behind theCowboysand missed the wild card to the Giants by virtue oftiebreakers. The 1986 offseason's major highlight occurred during the1986 NFL draft, when the Redskins picked up future Super Bowl MVPMark Rypienin the sixth round, also the Redskins defensive endDexter Manleyset a franchise single-season record when he recorded 18.5 sacks while earning1st Team All-Prohonors and being selected to thePro bowl. In1986 season, the road to theplayoffswas even harder, with the Redskins making the postseason as a wild-card team despite having a regular-season record of 12–4.They won the Wild Card playoff against the Rams, and then again in the Divisional playoffs against the Bears. This game was Gibbs's 70th career, which made him the winningest head coach in Redskins history.The season ended next week, however, when the Redskins lost to the eventualSuper Bowl XXIChampion Giants 17–0 in the NFC Championship game. Super Bowl XXII champions (1987) The1987 NFL seasonbegan with aplayers' strikethat reduced the 16-game season to 15.No Redskins players crossed the picket line—the only such team—and the games for Weeks 4–6 were won with all-replacement squads.Those three victories, often credited with getting the team into the playoffs, are the basis for the 2000 movieThe Replacements. The Redskins won their second championship inSuper Bowl XXIIon January 31, 1988, in San Diego, California. The Redskins routed theDenver Broncos42–10after starting the game down 10–0, the largest come-from-behind victory in Super Bowl history, which was tied by theNew Orleans SaintsinSuper Bowl XLIVand theNew England PatriotsinSuper Bowl XLIX. This game is also noted forSuper Bowl MVPquarterbackDoug Williams, who threw four touchdowns in the second quarter en route to becoming the first black quarterback to lead his team to a championship,and for rookie running backTimmy Smith, who ran for a Super Bowl-record 204 yards (187 m). In1988, the club had a 5–3 record at mid-season, but a second-half swoon saw them miss the playoffs with a 7–9 record. The1989Redskins finished with a 10–6 record but missed the playoffs. The team is best remembered for\"The Posse\"—Art Monk,Gary Clark, andRicky Sanders—the first trio of NFL wide receivers to post more than 1,000 yards apiece in a single season. Also, Redskins head coachJoe Gibbsachieved his 100th career victory in a week-14 win against theSan Diego Chargers. The Redskins returned to theplayoffsin1990as a Wild Card team, but lost in the Divisional round to the49ers. Super Bowl XXVI champions (1991) The1991 seasonstarted with a franchise-record 11 straight victories.\"The Hogs\", under the coaching of Redskins offensive line coachJoe Bugel, allowed a league-low and franchise-record nine sacks, the third-lowest total in NFL history.The offense also dominated under head football coachJoe Gibbs, scoring 485 points, more than any other teamthat year.The defense was also dominant under defensive coordinatorRichie Petitbon, giving up 224 total points, second-best of any team that year, while holding opponents scoreless three times.After posting a 14–2 record, the Redskins dominated theplayoffs, beating theFalconsandLionsby a combined score of 64–17.On January 26, 1992, the Redskins wonSuper Bowl XXVIby defeating theBuffalo Bills37–24;QBMark Rypienwon theSuper Bowl MVPaward.After the Super Bowl, the Redskins set another franchise record by sending eight players to thePro Bowl.The1991 Washington Redskinsare widely considered one of the best teams in NFL history. In1992, the Redskins reached the playoffs as a wild-card team, but lost in theDivisional playoffsto the49ers, 20–13.On October 12, 1992,Art Monkbecame the NFL's all-time leading pass receiver by catching his 820th career reception against theDenver BroncosonMonday Night Football.The era ended on March 5, 1993, when Gibbs retired after 12 years of coaching with the Redskins.Gibbs later foundedJoe Gibbs Racing. After the end of Gibbs' first tenure, the Redskins hired former Redskins playerRichie Petitbonfor the1993 season. However, his first and only year as head coach, theRedskinsfinished with a record of 4–12.Petitbon was fired at the end of the season and on February 2, 1994,Norv Turnerwas hired as head coach after being theoffensive coordinatorof theDallas Cowboys.1994was even worse as they finished 3–13, their worst season in over 30 years. Their sole bright spot that year came on October 9, 1994, linebackerMonte Colemanplayed in his 206th career game with the Redskins, which brokeArt Monk's team record for games played (Coleman retired at season's end with 216 games played).They improved to 6–10 in1995where they were able to get a season sweep on the eventualSuper Bowl XXXChampions the Dallas Cowboys. On March 13, 1996, Redskins ownerJack Kent Cooke,Maryland GovernorParris Glendening, andPrince George's County ExecutiveWayne K. Currysigned a contract that paved the way for the immediate start of construction for the new home of the Redskins (now Northwest Stadium).The1996 seasonsaw Washington post their first winning record in 4 years by finishing 9–7. On December 22, 1996, the Redskins played their final game atRFK Stadium, a victory over theDallas Cowboys37–10, and finished their tenure at the stadium with a 173–102–3 record, including 11–1 in the playoffs. On April 6, 1997, Redskins ownerJack Kent Cookedied ofcongestive heart failureat the age of 84.In his will, Cooke left the Redskins to the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, with instructions to sell the team. In the meantime, management of the team was given to son and executive vice president John Kent Cooke.On September 14, 1997, the Redskins played in their new stadium for the first time and beat theArizona Cardinals, 19–13 in overtime.On November 23, 1997, they played theNew York Giantsand the result was a 7–7 tie, the Redskins first tie game since the1971 season. They would finish19978–7–1 and would miss theplayoffsfor the fifth season in a row. One bright spot during the season, however, occurred on December 13, 1997, whenDarrell Greenplayed in his 217th career game as a Redskin, breakingMonte Coleman's record for games played.The1998 seasonstarted with a seven-game losing streak,and the Redskins finished with a 6–10 record. The 1998 season concluded as a period marked by disappointment. Daniel Snyder era (1999–2023) On May 25, 1999, Cooke sold the Redskins to local businessmanDaniel Snyderfor $800 million after being unable to raise sufficient funds to keep the team.Snyder sold the naming rights to Jack Kent Cooke Stadium toFedExin November 1999, becomingFedExField. In Snyder's firstseasonas owner, the Redskins went 10–6,including a four-game winning streak early in the season,and made it to the playoffs for the first time inNorv Turner's career (and the first time for the Redskins since1992) in the final game of the season (on January 2, 2000, against theDolphins). Running backStephen Davisrushed for a then club-record 1,405 yards and quarterbackBrad Johnsoncompleted a then club-record 316 passes and threw for more than 4,000 yards in regular play that season.They then defeated theDetroit Lionsin the first round of theplayoffs, but lost to theBuccaneers, 14–13. The2000 seasonstarted with the selection of futurePro BowlerChris Samuelsand the tumultuousLaVar Arringtonin the2000 NFL draftand included five consecutive wins in the first half of the season.However, they ended up going 7–6 with Turner being fired as head coach prior to the end of the season.Terry Robiskiewas named interim coach to finish out the season,which ended with an 8–8 record.During the final game of the season,Larry Centersbecame the NFL's all-time leader in receptions by arunning backwith 685. On January 3, 2001, the Redskins hired formerCleveland BrownsandKansas City Chiefshead coachMarty Schottenheimeras head coach.The2001 seasonbegan with a loss to theSan Diego Chargers, 30–3, two days before theSeptember 11, 2001, attacks. On September 13, 2001, the Redskins announced the establishment of the Redskins Relief Fund to help families of the victims of the attack at the Pentagon. During the course of the season, the Redskins raised more than $700,000.They finished the season with an 8–8 recordand Schottenheimer was fired after the final game. Snyder later said in a 2013 interview that he was fired due to his over-controlling nature. On January 14, 2002, Snyder hiredUniversity of FloridacoachSteve Spurrier,the Redskins' fifth new head coach in 10 years. They finished with a 7–9 record, their first losing season in four years.A bittersweet moment during the season occurred on December 29, whenDarrell Greenconcluded his 20th and final season as the Redskins defeated theCowboys20–14 at FedExField. During his 20 seasons, he set an NFL record for consecutive seasons with at least one interception (19) and a Redskins team record for regular-season games played (295) and started (258).The Redskins finished the2003 seasonwith a 5–11 record, their worst since1994.The one bright note of the season was on December 7, whendefensive endBruce Smithsacked Giants quarterbackJesse Palmerin the fourth quarter. With his 199th career sack, Smith brokeReggie White's all-time NFL mark.After two mediocre years, Spurrier resigned after the 2003 season with three years left on his contract. For the2004 season, Snyder successfully lured former coach Joe Gibbs away fromNASCARto return as head coach and team president. His employment came with a promise of decreased intervention in football operations from Snyder.Snyder also expanded FedExField to a league-high capacity of 91,665 seats. Gibbs' return to the franchise did not pay instant dividends as the Redskins finished the 2004 season with a record of 6–10.Despite an impressive defense, the team struggled offensively. QuarterbackMark Brunell—an off-season acquisition from theJacksonville Jaguars—struggled in his first season, and was replaced midway through the season by backupPatrick Ramsey. On the other hand, some of Gibbs' other new signings, such as cornerbackShawn SpringsandlinebackerMarcus Washington, did very well. The Redskins also selectedSean Taylorduring the first draft in Gibbs' return. The2005 seasonstarted with three wins,including a win on September 19 against theDallas Cowboys. Dallas led 13–0 with less than four minutes left when Brunell threw a 39-yard (36 m) touchdown pass to Moss on a fourth-down play. Then, with 2:44 left, Brunell connected with Moss again on a 70-yard (64 m) touchdown pass andNick Novakkicked the game-winning extra point. It was the Redskins' first victory atTexas Stadiumsince1995.They then fell into a slump, losing six of the next eight games which included three straight losses in November,and their playoff chances looked bleak. On December 18, 2005, the Redskins beat Cowboys, 35–7, which marked the first time since 1995 that the Redskins swept the season series with Dallas.The Redskins clinched their first playoff berth since1999.The game also culminated impressive season performances by individuals. Portis set a team mark for most rushing yards in a single season with 1,516 yards (1,386 m), and Moss set a team record for most receiving yards in a single season with 1,483 yards (1,356 m), breakingBobby Mitchell's previous record set in1963.Also,Chris Cooley's 71 receptions brokeJerry Smith's season record for a Redskins tight end. In the first round of theplayoffs, the Redskins met theBuccaneers.The Redskins won 17–10,after taking an early 14–0 lead, which they thought they lost until replay showed that a touchdown, which would have tied the game, was an incomplete pass. In that game, the Redskins broke the record for fewest offensive yards (120) gained in a playoff victory, with one of their two touchdowns being from a defensive run after a fumble recovery. The following weekend, they played theSeahawks, who defeated the Redskins 20–10,ending their hopes of reaching their first NFC Championship Game since1991. The first major move of the 2006 off-season was the hiring ofKansas City Chiefs' offensive coordinatorAl Saundersasoffensive coordinator. Gibbs also added formerBuffalo Billsdefensive coordinatorJerry Grayto his staff as secondary/cornerbacks coach and lost quarterbacks coachBill Musgraveto theFalcons. The Redskins also picked up future startersRocky McIntosh,Anthony Montgomery,Reed Doughty, andKedric Golstonin the2006 NFL draft. After winning only three of the first nine games,Gibbs benched quarterback Brunell for former first-round draft pickJason Campbell. After losing his first game as a starter toTampa Bay, Campbell got his first NFL victory against theCarolina Panthers, bringing the Redskins out of a three-game losing streak.The highlight of the season happened on November 5, and concluded with one of the most exciting endings in the history of theCowboys–Redskins rivalry. Tied 19–19,Troy Vincentblocked a last-second field goal attempt byDallasthat would have given them the win.Sean Taylorpicked up the ball and ran 30 yards (27 m), breaking tackles along the way. It was thought that the game would then go in overtime, however because of a defensive 15-yard (14 m) face mask penalty, the Redskins would get an untimed down. Novak kicked a 47-yard (43 m) field goal, giving Washington a 22–19 victory.However, the Redskins finished the year with a 5–11 record, which resulted in them being last in theNFC East. This marked the second losing season of Joe Gibbs' second term as head coach with the Redskins, compared to the one losing season he had in his first 12-year tenure as head coach. The Redskins began the2007 seasonby \"winning ugly\" starting the season off 2–0. The Redskins kept winning and losing close games, the only exception to this a 34–3 rout of theDetroit Lions. The Redskins continued to win ugly and lose ugly to be 5–3 at the halfway mark. However, the Redskins would begin to collapse. The team lost their next three games to fall to 5–6. On Monday, November 26, Redskins safetySean Taylorwas shot by home intruders early in the morning in his Miami home. The next morning, Taylor died from severe blood loss.However, the Redskins rebounded to finish 9–7 and clinch the finalplayoffspot in the NFC. Washington trailed 13–0 entering the 4th quarter to theSeattle Seahawksin the wild-card round, but rallied to take a 14–13 lead, but Redskins kickerShaun Suishammissed a field goal later in the game, and the Seahawks scored on the next drive and converted thetwo-point conversion. To close the game, Todd Collins threw two interceptions, each returned for a touchdown, and the Redskins fell 35–14. After Joe Gibbs announced his retirement following the 2007 season,Jim Zornwas hired as head coach and brought in aWest Coast Offense.The2008 seasonstarted well, as the Redskins started the season 6–2. Furthermore, Redskins RBClinton Portisled the NFL in rushing yards.However, things turned for the worse in early November, when they were routed 23–6 by thePittsburgh Steelersand Portis' injuries finally caught up to him. The Redskins continued to struggle, falling all the way to 7–7, with their only win during that six-week period being a 3-point victory of the then-2–8Seattle Seahawks. The Redskins managed to upset thePhiladelphia Eaglesin Week 16, but were eliminated from playoff contention. The team's fortunes continued to slide in2009, as they finished 4–12.Zorn was fired and replaced byMike Shanahanafter the season. On April 4, the Redskins acquiredDonovan McNabbin a trade from the rivalPhiladelphia Eagles.However, the Redskins struggled to a 6–10 finish, once again 4th place in the division.The McNabb era came to an abrupt end when he was traded to Minnesota in August 2011.The troublesomeAfter cutting the injury-rattledClinton Portis, the Redskins had no important offensive players left except for Santana Moss. Mike Shanahan surprised most observers by his decision to nameJohn Beck, an obscure free-agent quarterback, as the starter.However, Shanahan suddenly reversed direction by naming veteran backupRex Grossmanto the starting position.In Week 1, Grossman threw for 305 yards and two touchdown passes as the Redskins crushed the Giants 28–14, ending a six-game losing streak against that team. The Washington Redskins started the season 2–0, but then struggled to a 5–11 finish, however, they managed to win both meetings over the eventualSuper BowlchampionNew York Giants. In2012, the Redskins traded several high draft picks to theSt. Louis Ramsin order to take Baylor quarterbackRobert Griffin IIIsecond overall in the2012 NFL draft.Although the need for a franchise quarterback was obvious, many journalists had doubts about the value of giving up a lot for a single player. In the opening game of the season, Griffin threw for 320 yards and two touchdown passes in a 40–32 victory over theNew Orleans Saintsto give the team its highest-scoring game since 2005. The Redskins struggled to a 3–6 start, but in Week 11, the Redskins would host the struggling Philadelphia Eagles. Griffin would have one of the best games of his career to date, as the Redskins won 31–6 with long touchdowns to Santana Moss and Aldrick Robinson. The Redskins would win their next 6 games after that, including the crucial final game of the season against the Cowboys, which would clinch the division for and send the Redskins to the playoffs. The Redskins hosted theSeattle Seahawksin the Wild Card round but lost 24–14. Hopes were high for a repeat division title in2013. However, these hopes were in vain, as poor play and controversy stirred during the entire year, leading to a disastrous 3–13 campaign.Even though most players had a down year compared to 2012,Pierre Garçonhad his greatest season statistically yet. Garcon brokeArt Monk's 29-year-old franchise record for catches in a single season. Garcon had 113 catches total, which broke Monk's 106 catches in1984by seven.The Redskins fired Shanahan and most of his staff after the season. Jay Gruden era (2014–2019) On January 9,2014, the Redskins hiredJay Grudenas their head coach. Gruden became the eighth head coach of the team since Daniel Snyder purchased the franchise in 1999.The Redskins struggled throughout the season, having three different quarterbacks start games, amounting to a 4–12 record.Defensive coordinatorJim Haslettwas fired at the end of the season. On January 7,2015, the Redskins hiredScot McCloughanto be their general manager.McCloughan took over control of the roster fromBruce Allen, who was given the sole title of team president after the hiring. In October 2015, the Redskins had their largest comeback win in franchise history, coming back to win against theTampa Bay Buccaneers31–30 after being down 0–24 in the second quarter.The Redskins clinched the NFC East division title on December 26, when they beat thePhiladelphia Eaglesin Week 16, 38–24.The division title was their third since Snyder took over ownership of the team, and was the first since the1999 seasonto be clinched before Week 17. The Redskins hosted theGreen Bay Packersin the Wild Card round on January 10, 2016, but lost 35–18, ending their 2015 season.Kirk Cousins, who took over as starting quarterback in the preseason, finished the season with career highs in touchdowns (29), yards (4,166), and completion percentage (69.8%). His completion percentage led the league, while his 29 touchdowns tied him for second on the franchise single-season list. The team's offense in2016set several franchise records, including having over 6,000 total net yards, which was only the third time in franchise history the team had accomplished that.QuarterbackKirk Cousinsalso set single-season team records in attempts, completions, and passing yards, breaking many of his records he had previously set in 2015.DeSean Jackson,Pierre Garçon,Jamison Crowder,Robert Kelley,Chris Thompson,Jordan Reed,Vernon Davis, andMatt Jonesall finished the season with at least 500 yards from scrimmage, tying the2011 New Orleans Saintsfor the most in a single season in NFL history.Despite the numerous records set, the Redskins missed the playoffs, losing 19–10 in a \"win and in\" situation against the New York Giants in the final week of the season.However, the Redskins still finished the season with a record of 8–7–1, giving the team their first consecutive winning seasons in nearly 20 years.In contrast with the record setting offense, the team's defense had a poor season, finishing 29 out of 32 teams in total defense, which led to the firing ofdefensive coordinatorJoe Barry, as well as three of his assistants.In2017, Cousins had his third straight season with 4,000 passing yards while once again playing under the franchise tag.For the second straight season, the Redskins missed the playoffs, finishing 7–9. During the2018offseason, the Redskins traded for quarterbackAlex Smithto replace Kirk Cousins as he left for the Minnesota Vikings in free agency.Despite early success starting the season 6–3, their best start since2008, the team finished the season 1–6 due to injuries. In a game against the Houston Texans on November 18, 2018, Alex Smith suffered acompoundandspiral fractureto histibiaandfibulain his right leg when he was sacked byKareem JacksonandJ. J. Wattwhich forced him to miss the rest of the season.This led toColt McCoy,Mark Sanchez, andJosh Johnsonstarting games in the second half of the season.The team finished at 7–9 and missed the playoffs for the third consecutive year, with a league-high 25 players on injured reserve. Due to Smith's injury, the Redskins acquiredCase Keenumfrom theDenver Broncosin the2019offseason, and draftedDwayne HaskinsfromOhio Statein the2019 NFL draft.With a league worst 0–5 start to the season, tying with theCincinnati Bengals, and their worst start since2001, the Redskins fired Gruden on October 7, 2019,with offensive line coachBill Callahanserving as the interim head coach for the rest of the season.Gruden finished as the longest-tenured head coach in the Snyder era with six seasons, a 35–49–1 regular season record and one playoff appearance. The Redskins finished the season at 3–13, with victories over theDetroit LionsandCarolina Panthers, and missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year.The record was their worst since going 3–13 in2013and was the second worst of any team that season, behind only the Bengals at 2–14. Rebranding, investigations into Snyder and workplace culture (2020–2023) The team underwent several changes in2020, including retiring the Redskins name and logo and hiring formerCarolina Panthershead coachRon Riverain the same role, as well as namingJason Wrightas team president, the first black person named to that position in NFL history.Some notable members of Rivera's staff include formerJacksonville JaguarsandOakland Raidershead coachJack Del Rioas defensive coordinator andScott Turner, the son of former Redskins head coachNorv Turner, as offensive coordinator. Under Rivera and Del Rio, the team switched their defensive scheme from a3–4 defense, which the team had used under both Shanahan and Gruden's tenure, to a4–3 defense.Due to their 3–13 record the previous season, the team had the second overall pick in the2020 NFL draftand selectedChase Young, who would go on to be namedDefensive Rookie of the Year.Dwayne Haskins, the team's first-round draft pick from 2019, was released prior to the season's end due to ineffective play and not meeting the team's standards off the field.Despite that, Washington would eventually win the division for the first time since 2015 at 7–9, becoming only the third team in NFL history to win a division with a losing record in a non-strike year after the2010 Seattle Seahawksand2014 Carolina Panthers, the latter of which Rivera also coached. In July 2021, a year-long independent investigation led by lawyerBeth Wilkinsoninto the team'sworkplace cultureunder ownerDaniel Snyderwas concluded.It found that several incidents ofsexual harassment, bullying, and intimidation were commonplace throughout the organization under his ownership.The NFL fined the team $10 million in response, with Snyder also voluntarily stepping down from running the team's day-to-day operations, giving those responsibilities to his wife and team CEOTanya.AU.S. House Oversight Committeereport later corroborated the claims and accused him of withholdingsecurity depositfrom season ticket holders. The2021 seasonsaw the hiring ofMartin Mayhewas general manager andMarty Hurneyas another high-ranking executive.With the hiring of Mayhew, Washington became the first team in NFL history to concurrently have a minority general manager, head coach, and president.Backup quarterbackTaylor Heinickewould start the majority of the season afterRyan Fitzpatrickwas injured in the opening game. The team missed the playoffs with a 7–10 record. The Football Team rebranded as the Commanders in2022with new logos and uniforms.The team traded for Colts quarterbackCarson Wentzin the offseason, with them finishing 8-8-1 and becoming the first team since 2008 to finish last in the division with a non-losing record.Wentz, who was benched for Henicke during the season, would be released with Heinicke not being retained.The season would also be the final one under Snyder's ownership. Josh Harris era (2023–present) After mounting pressure from other league owners to sell the team, Snyder hiredBofA Securitiesin November 2022 to explore possible transactions.In May 2023, he reached an agreement to sell the franchise to a group headed byJosh Harris, co-founder ofApollo Global Managementand owner of the NBA'sPhiladelphia 76ersand NHL'sNew Jersey Devils, for $6.05 billion.Limited partners includeDanaherandGlenstonefounderMitchell Rales, Hall of Fame basketball playerMagic Johnson, 76ers and Devils co-ownerDavid Blitzer, D.C. entrepreneurMark Ein,Maverick CapitalfounderLee Ainslie, formerMagic Johnson Enterprisespresident Eric Holoman,Blue Owl Capitalfounders Marc Lipschultz and Doug Ostrover, theSanto Domingo family,ProSharesfounder Michael Sapir, formerGoogleCEOEric Schmidt, andCambridge Information GroupCEO Andy Snyder.The sale was the highest price ever paid for a sports team and was unanimously approved by the NFL on July 20, 2023.By 2024, the Commanders had invested $75 million in improving the infrastructure and game experience ofNorthwest Stadium, including improved food options and renovations to the sound system and suites. The Commanders finished the2023 seasonwith a 4–13 record, allowing the most points and having the worst point differential in the league.Second-year quarterbackSam Howell, who started all 17 games, also led the league in sacks allowed (65) and interceptions thrown (21).It was their seventh straight non-winning season and third straight being eliminated from the playoffs, with the team also going winless in the division for the first time since2019. Head coachRon Riveraand his staff were fired following the season's conclusion. The2024 seasonsaw the hiring ofAdam Petersas general manager and former Falcons head coachDan Quinnfor the same role.The front office and roster saw several changes in the offseason under Peters, including leading the NFL with nearly 30free agentssigned and selecting 2023HeismanquarterbackJayden Danielssecond overall in the2024 NFL draftafter having traded Howell to the Seahawks. Redskins branding controversy The team's formerRedskinsbranding, used from 1933 until 2020, was one of the leading examples of theNative American mascot controversy. Various people and groups, such as theNational Congress of American Indians(NCAI), considered the name a racial slur and attempted to get the team to change it for decades.In a 2013 letter, Snyder stated that while respecting those that say they were offended, a poll conducted by theAnnenberg Public Policy Centerin 2004 found that 90% of Native Americans were not.This poll was essentially replicated in 2016 byThe Washington Post. Social scientists from theUniversity of MichiganandUniversity of California at Berkeleyperformed a study in 2020 that measured Native American opinion in detail, finding that 49% had responded that the name was offensive, with the level of offense increasing to 67% for those with a stronger involvement in Native American culture.When the franchise was undergoing atrademark dispute in 2014, theWashington Postannounced their editorials would no longer use the \"Redskins\" name.ESPN updated their employee work policies to allow their reporters to choose how to refer to the team going forward. Following renewed attention to racial justice in the wake of themurder of George Floydand subsequentprotestsin 2020, a letter signed by 87 shareholders and investors was sent to team and league sponsorsNike,FedEx, andPepsiCourging them to cut their ties unless the name was changed.Around the same time, several retail companies began removing Redskins merchandise from their stores.In response, the team underwent a review in July 2020 and announced that it would play as the Washington Football Team after retiring its name and logo in wake of theGeorge Floyd protests. The team rebranded as the Commanders, featuring new logos and uniforms, in 2022.In 2023, theNative American Guardians Association(NAGA) launched a petition to return to the Redskins.NAGA later sued the team for defamation after management claimed NAGA to be a \"fake\" association.In 2024,U.S. SenatorSteve Dainesadvocated for the NFL to honorBlackfeet Nationmember Blackie Wetzel in recognition of his role in the team's former logo depicting an Indian chief, which were based onJohn Two Guns White Calf. While Daines sought to honor the legacy without calling for the return of the Redskins name, some viewed the gesture as insufficient compared to addressing more pressing community needs.The Wetzel family wants to regain the rights to the logo to use it for the Blackie Wetzel Warrior Society to raise awareness about social issues on reservations. Logos and uniforms The franchise's primary colors are burgundy and gold.From 1961 through 1978, Washington wore gold pants with both the burgundy and white jerseys, although details of the jerseys and pants changed a few times during this period. Gold face masks were introduced in 1978 and remain as such to this day; previous to that they were grey. Throughout most of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, Washington was just one of three other teams that primarily wore their white jerseys at home (the others being theDallas CowboysandMiami Dolphins). The tradition of wearing white jerseys over burgundy pants at home, which is considered the \"classic\" look, was started byJoe Gibbswhen he took over as coach in 1981. Gibbs was an assistant for theSan Diego Chargersin 1979 and 1980 when the team wore white at home under head coachDon Coryell. Their burgundy jerseys were primarily used only when the opposing team decided to wear white at home, which came mostly against theDallas Cowboysand was normally worn over white pants. It was worn on the road against other teams that prefer to wear white at home for games occurring early in the season. From 1981 through 2000, Washington wore their white jerseys over burgundy pants at home almost exclusively. In 1994, as part of a league-wide celebration of the NFL's 75th anniversary, during certain games, the team wore special uniforms which emulated the uniforms worn by the team in its inaugural season in Washington in 1937. Both worn over gold pants, the burgundy jerseys featured gold numbers bordered in white and the white jerseys featured burgundy numbers bordered in gold. The most distinctive feature of both colors of the jersey was the patches worn on both sleeves, which were a reproduction of the patches worn on the full-length sleeves of the 1937 jerseys. Worn with these uniforms was a plain burgundy helmet with a gold facemask. In 2001, the team wore burgundy for all home games in the preseason and regular season per a decision by Marty Schottenheimer, their coach for that year. In 2002, the team celebrated the passing of 70 years since its creation as the Boston Braves in 1932 and wore a special home uniform, a burgundy jersey over gold pants, which roughly resembled the home uniforms used from 1969 to 1978. The helmets used with this special home uniform during that year were a reproduction of the helmets used by the team from 1965 to 1969, though they wore white at home in Week 1 against theArizona Cardinalsand again in Week 17, the latter forcing the Cowboys to use their blue jerseys.This special home uniform was also worn during one game in 2003. In 2004, when Gibbs became the coach of the team once again, the team switched back to wearing white jerseys at home; in Gibbs's 16 years as head coach, the team never wore burgundy jerseys at home, even wearing a white throwback jersey in 2007. Their white jerseys have provided three basic color combinations. The last combination consists of both white jerseys and pants. That particular combination surfaced in the first game of the 2003 season when the team was coached by Steve Spurrier, during a nationally televised game against theNew York Jets, which led many sports fans and Redskins faithful alike to point out that they had never seen that particular combination before. The Redskins won six straight games, including one in the playoffs against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, wearing that combination. In the NFC Divisional Playoff game against the eventual 2005 NFC ChampionSeattle Seahawks, Washington wore the all-white uniforms in hopes that they could keep their streak going; however, they lost 20–10. The white jersey over burgundy pants look reappeared in a home game against theCarolina Pantherslater in 2006. In celebration of the franchise's 75th anniversary, Washington wore a one-timethrowback uniformfor a home game against theNew York Giants, based on their away uniform from 1970 to 1971. Players wore a white jersey with three burgundy and two gold stripes on each sleeve and the 75th-anniversary logo on the left chest. The pants were gold, with one white stripe bordered by a burgundy stripe on each side, running down each side. The helmet was gold-colored with a burgundy \"R\" logo. The helmet and uniform styles were the same as the ones the franchise used during the 1970–71 seasons.Vince Lombardi, who coached Washington in 1969 before dying during the 1970 preseason, was the inspiration behind the helmet. Lombardi pushed for the logo, which sat inside a white circle enclosed within a burgundy circle border, with Native American feathers hanging down from the side because of its similarity to the \"G\" on the helmets worn by theGreen Bay Packers, who he had coached during most of the 1960s. In a 2008Monday Night Footballgame against thePittsburgh Steelers, Washington wore amonochromelook by wearing burgundy jerseys over burgundy pants.This combination made two further appearances the following season against theDallas CowboysandNew York Giants. The Redskins, starting in 2010, began to wear the burgundy jersey paired with the gold pants reminiscent of the George Allen era.Against theTennessee Titanslater that season, the team matched the gold pants with the usual white jerseys for the first time. Washington wore the same combination against the Giants on the road two weeks later. In 2011, the Redskins wore the burgundy jersey and gold pants for five home games and a road game at Dallas, the burgundy jersey with white pants for three home games and a road game at Miami, the white jersey and burgundy pants for five road games, and the white jersey and gold pants for aBills game in Toronto. The following year, the team wore an updated throwback uniform of the 1937 championship team that featured a helmet pattern based on the logo-less leather helmets worn at the time, in a game against the Carolina Panthers.In 2013, a newly implemented NFL rule stated that teams could not wear alternate helmets (thus limiting them to one helmet) on account of player safety. As a result, Washington wore its 1937 throwbacks with the logo removed from the regular helmet in a game versus theSan Diego Chargers.That year, the Redskins removed the burgundy collar from their white jerseys in order to have better consistency with the newNikeuniforms that had debuted the previous season. Between 2014 and 2016, the team wore the gold pants with their standard uniforms, although the burgundy pants returned as part of the team's away uniform later in 2016.In 2017, Washington resurrected the all-burgundy ensemble as part of theNFL Color Rush. Nike initially provided an all-gold uniform but team officials called it \"garish\" and refused to wear it.In 2018, Washington replaced the gold pants with white for the majority of their home games. During their two season as the Washington Football Team in 2020 and 2021, their logo was a simple \"W\" with the helmets having player numbers.The Commanders rebranding included new logos and uniforms featuring military-inspired motifs. The primary home uniform remained burgundy with gold and white stripes with the letters having a gold base. The team name is placed atop the numbers in front, which were also gold and trimmed in white. The road white uniform features burgundy and white gradient numbers with black trim, along with burgundy and white gradient and black sleeve stripes. Both sets are paired with either burgundy or white pants. The alternate black uniform features the team name on the left chest in gold, and numbers have a gold base with burgundy trim. Black pants are paired with this uniform with an alternate black helmet having with the \"W\" logo in front and uniform numbers on each side.A pig mascot,Major Tuddy, was also unveiled near the end of the season.In 2024, gold pants returned to the uniform rotation for the first time since 2018. Rivalries Divisional Dallas Cowboys The Commanders' rivalry with theDallas Cowboysfeatures two teams that have won 31 combined division titles and 10 championships, including eight combinedSuper Bowls.The rivalry started in 1960 when the Cowboys joined the league as anexpansion team.During that year they were in separate conferences, but played once during the season. In 1961, Dallas was placed in the same division as the Redskins, and from that point on, they have played each other twice during everyregular season. Texas oil tycoonClint Murchison Jr.was having a difficult time bringing an NFL team toDallas. In 1958, Murchison heard thatGeorge Preston Marshall, owner of the Washington Redskins, was eager to sell the team. Just as the sale was about to be finalized, Marshall called for a change in terms. Murchison was outraged and canceled the whole deal.Around this time, Marshall had a falling out with the Redskin band director, Barnee Breeskin. Breeskin had written the music for the team'sfight song, now known as \"Hail to the Commanders\", which gets played by theWashington Commanders Marching Bandafter every touchdown at home games.He wanted revenge after the failed negotiations with Marshall. He approached Tom Webb, Murchison's lawyer, and sold the rights for $2,500 (equivalent to $25,700 in 2023).Murchison then decided to create his own team, with the support of NFL expansion committee chairman,George Halas. Halas decided to put the proposition of a Dallas franchise before the NFL owners, which needed to have unanimous approval in order to pass. The only owner against the proposal was George Preston Marshall. However, Marshall found out that Murchison owned the rights to Washington's fight song, so a deal was finally struck. If Marshall showed his approval of the Dallas franchise, Murchison would return the song. The Cowboys were then founded and began playing in 1960.At the time in 2016, a matchup between the teams on Thanksgiving was the most-watched regular-season game broadcast by theNFL on Fox.The Cowboys lead the series 78–48–2. Philadelphia Eagles The Commanders' rivalry with thePhiladelphia Eaglesbegan October 21, 1934, during Washington's first year under the Boston Redskins moniker; the Redskins defeated the Eagles 6–0 atFenway Park. Washington leads the series 87–80–8. The Eagles have won 12 of the last 20 matchups since 2010. New York Giants As of the 2023 season, the Giants lead the all-time series 108–71–5. Other Baltimore Ravens Though the two teams only play each other every 4 years, the Commanders have taken part in a minor geographic rivalry with theBaltimore Ravensas both stadiums are approximately 40 miles apart.The Commanders particularly had long blocked the return of an NFL team to Baltimore since theColts franchiserelocated to Indianapolis in 1984. Former ownerJack Kent Cookehad been accused in multiple instances of orchestrating any means to prevent the city from receiving a new franchise until the Cleveland Browns relocated to Baltimore in 1996, prompting Cooke to put the Redskins' then-new stadium in Landover, Maryland.The two teams play each other annually during the preseason.The Ravens lead the all-time series 5–3. Ownership and staff Ownership Opposed calls to change thecontroversial Redskins brandinguntil 2020 amid growing pressure from sponsors, with the franchise playing as the Washington Football Team prior to rebranding as the Commanders in2022. Represented by his wifeTanyafor league events following an indefinite suspension by the NFL in 2021. Staff →Coaching staff→Front office→More NFL staffs Players Roster Running backs(RB) Wide receivers(WR) Tight ends(TE) Defensive linemen(DL) Defensive backs(DB) Special teams Reserved 53 active, 5 reserved, 16 practice squad (+1 exempt) Retired numbers Unofficial Some numbers are unofficially retired and are withheld from being selected by other players. The use of unofficial retired numbers drew controversy duringSteve Spurrier's first year as head coach in 2002.QuarterbacksDanny WuerffelandShane Matthewsfirst wore 7 and 9 respectively during training camp. The resulting controversy led to them switching to 17 and 6.Dwayne Haskins, the team's first-round selection in the2019 NFL draft, received permission from Theismann to wear number 7. Pro Football Hall of Fame members Names inboldindicate induction primarily based on accomplishments with Washington. Ring of Fame When the team leftRFK Stadiumin 1996, the signs commemorating the Washington Hall of Stars were left behind and the team began a new tradition of honoring Redskins greats via the \"Ring of Fame\", a set of signs on the upper level facade at Northwest Stadium. Team founderGeorge Preston Marshallis the only member to ever be removed once inducted, which was done in 2020. 90 Greatest In honor of the Redskins' 70th anniversary in 2002, a panel selected the 70 Greatest Redskins to honor the players and coaches who were significant on-field contributors to the Redskins five championships. They were honored in a weekend of festivities, including a special halftime ceremony during a Redskins' win over theIndianapolis Colts.In 2012, ten more players and personnel were added to the list for the team's 80th anniversary.In 2022, ten more players were added in honor of the franchise's 90th anniversary. The panel that chose the 70 consisted of former news anchorBernard Shaw; former playerBobby Mitchell; SenatorGeorge Allen(son of coachGeorge Allen); broadcasterKen Beatrice; Noel Epstein, editor for theWashington Post; former diplomatJoseph J. Sisco; Phil Hochberg, who retired in 2001 after 38 years as team stadium announcer; Pro Football Hall of Fame historian Joe Horrigan; sportscasterGeorge Michael; sports directorAndy Pollin; NFL Films presidentSteven Sabol; and news anchorJim Vance. The list includes three head coaches and 67 players, of which 41 were offensive players, 23 defensive players and three special teams players.Among the 70 Greatest, there are 92Super Bowlappearances, with 47 going once and 45 playing in more than one. 29 members possess one Super Bowl ring and 26 have more than one. Also, before the Super Bowl, members of the 70 made 18 World Championship appearances including six that participated in the Redskins' NFL Championship victories in 1937 and 1942.Boldindicates those elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Individual awards Command Force TheCommand Forceis the team's professional dance and performance group. They were originally formed in 1962 as acheerleadingsquad known as theRedskinettes, named after the team's former Redskins name.They were revamped as the Command Force upon the team's rebranding as the Commanders in 2022.They have also been referred to as theFirst Ladies of Football. Records Single-game Season Franchise NFL records Offense Defense Special teams Broadcasting The Commanders' currentflagshipradio station is100.3 WBIG-FM, which acquired the rights in 2022 as part of an agreement withiHeartMedia.Frank Herzogwas the team's leadplay-by-playannouncer from 1979 to 2004, when he was replaced by Larry Michael.Herzog was joined from 1981 by former RedskinsSonny JurgensenandSam Huff.Michael retired in 2020 and was replaced byBram Weinstein.Weinstein is joined by color analystLondon Fletcher, who played linebacker for the team from 2007 to 2013.Julie Donaldsonserved as host from 2020 to 2023 and was the first woman to be an on-air broadcaster for an NFL team. WMALhas historically been associated with the team, having been its flagship station from 1942 to 1956, and again from 1963 through 1991—broadcasting all three of the team's Super Bowl victories.From 1992 to 1994,WTEM—which had become DC's first all-sports radio station—became the Redskins' flagship station,after which they moved toWJFK-FM.In 2006, after WJFK andCBS Radiodeclined to renew its rights to the team, the Redskins moved toWWXT,WWXX, andWXTR. The stations had recently been bought byRed Zebra Broadcasting—a group co-owned by Snyder—and had become a sports radiotrimulcastknown as \"Triple XESPN Radio\".Red Zebra Broadcasting would eventually acquire WTEM in 2008, making it the originating station of the simulcast, and therefore the team's flagship station. In 2017,Cumulus Mediareached an agreement to carry the team's radio broadcasts on WMAL, marking its return to the station for the first time since 1991. As part of the agreement, WTEM remained the team's official flagship.In 2018, WTEM was sold toUrban One, but maintained its rights to the team.In June 2019, WMAL flipped to sports radio itself asWSBN, taking over the local ESPN Radio affiliation from WTEM; WMAL's previousconservative talkformat moved exclusively to itsFM simulcast station. Telecasts of preseason games were previously carried byNBC Sports Washingtonin theMid-Atlanticregion. SisterNBCowned-and-operated stationWRC-TVwas the team's \"official\" broadcast television station, simulcasting the preseason games and airing other team-produced programs during the season.With the sale of NBC Sports Washington byNBCUniversaltoWashington CapitalsandWashington WizardsownerTed Leonsis, the network declined to renew its rights to the team.Most regular season Commanders games are carried byNFL on Foxpackage except when the team plays in primetime. In June 2024, the team andWUSAannounced a partnership to broadcast the team's preseason games as well as some original content. U.S. presidential election superstition Between 1932 and 2008, for 19 of 20United States presidential elections, a win for the Redskins in their last home game prior toElection Daycoincided with the incumbent party winning re-election. The exception was in 2004, whenRepublicanincumbentGeorge W. Bushwon re-election despite theGreen Bay Packersbeating the Redskins.The trend subsequently came to an end when in 2012,Democraticincumbent Barack Obama won re-election despite the Redskins losing to theCarolina Panthers;in 2016, Republican candidateDonald Trumpwon the election despite the Redskins defeating the Eagles; and in 2020, Democratic candidateJoe Bidenwon despite Washington's win. Footnotes References External links # denotes de facto general manager # denotes interim status","Boston Braves TheBoston Braveswere aMajor League Baseballclub that originated inBoston, Massachusetts, and played from 1871 to 1952. Afterwards they moved toMilwaukee(and became theMilwaukee Braves). Then in 1966 they were relocated toAtlanta, where they were renamed theAtlanta Braves. During its 82-year stay inMassachusetts, the franchise was known by various nicknames, including theRed Stockings,Red Caps,Rustlers,Bees, and \"Braves\". While in Boston, the team won 10National League pennantsand aWorld Serieschampionship in1914that came after a season in which the Braves were in last place as late as July 15—a turnaround that led to the nickname \"Miracle Braves\". In1948, the Braves reached the World Series largely as a result of their two dominant pitchers,Warren SpahnandJohnny Sain, who inspired theBoston Postslogan \"Spahn and Sain and pray for rain.\" The Braves posted a losing record in all but 12 of the 38 seasons after their World Series win. The franchise relocated to Milwaukee in 1953. The Boston franchise played atSouth End Groundsfrom 1871 to 1914 and atBraves Fieldfrom 1915 to 1952. Braves Field is nowNickerson FieldofBoston University. The franchise, from Boston to Milwaukee to Atlanta, is the oldest continuously operating professional baseball franchise. Early history TheCincinnati Red Stockings, established in 1869 as the first openly all-professional baseball team, voted to dissolve after the 1870 season. Player-managerHarry Wrightthen went toBoston, Massachusetts—at the invitation of Boston businessmanIvers Whitney Adams—with brotherGeorge Wrightand two other Cincinnati players joined theBoston Red Stockings, a charter member of theNational Association of Professional Base Ball Players. This team and its successors are the oldest continuously playing team in American professional sports.(The only other team that has been organized as long,the Chicago Cubs, did not play for the two years following theGreat Chicago Fireof 1871.) Two players hired from theForest City clubofRockford, Illinois, were pitcherAl Spalding(founder ofSpaldingsporting goods) and second basemanRoss Barnes. Led by the Wright brothers, Barnes, andSpalding, the Red Stockings won four of the National Association's five championships. The team became one of the National League's charter franchises in 1876, sometimes called the \"Red Caps\" (as a new Cincinnati Red Stockings club was another charter member). Boston came to be called theBeaneatersby sportswriters in 1883, while retaining red as the team color. Boston won the 1877 and 1878 pennants. The Red Caps/Beaneaters won eight pennants during the 19th century. TheirmanagerwasFrank Selee, the first manager not to double as a player as well.The 1898 teamfinished 102–47, a club record for wins that would stand for almost a century. In 1894 the Braves became the first major league baseball team to wear letterforms on their uniform caps when they added a monogram-style device to their front. They only managed one winning season from 1900 to 1913, and lost 100 or more games six times. In1907,the renamed Doves(temporarily) eliminated the red from their stockings because their manager thought the red dye could cause wounds to become infected (as noted inThe Sporting News Baseball Guideduring the 1940s when each team's entry had a history of its nickname(s). See details inHistory of baseball team nicknames). The American League club's owner, Charles Taylor, changed his team's name to the Red Sox in place of the \"Americans\". WhenGeorgeandJohn Doveyacquired the club in 1907, the team was named theDoves; when purchased byWilliam Hepburn Russellin 1911 reporters tried outRustlers.The team adopted an official name, theBraves, for the first time in1912. Their owner,James Gaffney, was a member of New York City'sTammany Hall, which used an Indian chief as their symbol. 1914: Miracle Two years later, the Braves put together one of the most memorable seasons in baseball history. After a dismal 4–18 start, the Braves seemed to be on pace for a last place finish. On July 4, 1914, the Braves lost both games of a doubleheader tothe Brooklyn Dodgers. The consecutive losses put their record at 26–40 and the Braves were in last place, 15 games behind the league-leadingNew York Giants, who had won the previous three league pennants. After a day off, the Braves put together a hot streak, and from July 6 through September 5, the Braves won 41 games against only 12 losses.On September 7 and 8, the Braves took 2 of 3 from the New York Giants and moved into first place. The Braves tore through September and early October, closing with 25 wins against 6 losses, while the Giants went 16–16.They are the only team to win a pennant after being in last place on theFourth of July. They were in last place as late as July 18, but were close to the pack, moving into fourth on July 21 and second place on August 12. Despite their amazing comeback, the Braves enteredthe World Seriesas a heavy underdog toConnie Mack'sPhiladelphia Athletics. Nevertheless, the Braves swept the Athletics—the first unqualified sweep in the young history of the modern World Series (the1907 World Serieshad one tied game)—to win the world championship. Meanwhile, formerChicago CubsinfielderJohnny Evers, in his second season with the Braves, wonthe Chalmers Award. The Braves played the World Series (as well as the last few weeks of the 1914 regular season) atFenway Park, since their normal home, theSouth End Grounds, was too small. However, the Braves' success inspired owner Gaffney to build a modern park,Braves Field, which opened in August 1915. It was the largest park in the majors at the time, with 40,000 seats and also a very spacious outfield. The park was novel for its time; public transportation brought fans right into the park. 1915–1935: Losing years After contending for most of 1915 and 1916, the Braves spent much of the next 19 years in mediocrity, during which they posted only three winning seasons (1921,1933, and1934). The lone highlight of those years came when Giants' attorneyEmil Fuchsbought the team in 1923 to bring his longtime friend, pitching greatChristy Mathewson, back into the game. Although original plans called for Mathewson to be the principal owner, he had never recovered fromtuberculosisthat he had contracted after beinggassedduringWorld War I. By the end of the 1923 season, it was obvious Mathewson could not continue even in a reduced role, and he would die two years later, with the result that Fuchs was permanently given the presidency. In 1928, the Braves traded for Hall of FamerRogers Hornsbywho had a very productive year in his only season with Boston. He batted .387 to win his seventh and final batting championship. Fuchs was committed to building a winner, but the damage from the years prior to his arrival took some time to overcome. The Braves finally managed to compete in1933and1934under managerBill McKechnie, but Fuchs' revenue was severely depleted due to theGreat Depression. Babe Ruth returns to Boston Looking for a way to get more supporters and more money, Fuchs worked out a deal with theNew York Yankeesto acquireBabe Ruth, who had, coincidentally, started his career with theBoston Red Sox. Fuchs named Ruth vice president and assistant manager of the Braves, and promised him a share of team profits. He was also to be consulted on all player transactions. Fuchs even suggested that Ruth, who had long had his heart set on managing, could take over as manager once McKechnie stepped down—perhaps as early as 1936. At first, it looked like Ruth was the final piece the team needed in1935. Onopening day, he had a hand in all of the Braves' runs in a 4–2 win over theGiants. However, this could not last. Opening Day proved to be the only time the Braves were over .500 all year. A 4–20 May ended any realistic chance of contention. At the same time, it became apparent that Ruth was finished even as a part-time player. While his high living of previous years had begun catching up with him a year earlier, his conditioning rapidly declined in the first month of 1935. While he was still able to hit at first, he could do little else. He could no longer run, and his fielding was so terrible that three of the Braves' pitchers threatened to go on strike if Ruth were in the lineup. Ruth soon discovered that he was vice president and assistant manager in name only, and Fuchs' promise of a share of team profits was hot air. In fact, Ruth discovered that Fuchs expected him to invest some ofhismoney in the team. Seeing a franchise in complete disarray, Ruth retired on June 1, only six days after he clouted what turned out to be the last three home runs of his career, in what remains one of the most memorable afternoons in baseball history. He had wanted to quit as early as May 12, but Fuchs wanted him to hang on so he could play in every National League park.By this time, the Braves were 9–27, their season all but over. They ultimately finished 38–115, easily the worst season in franchise history. Their .248 winning percentage is tied for theseventh-worst in baseball history, and the sixth-worst in National League history. It is the second-worst in modern baseball history (behind only the1916 Philadelphia Athletics), and the worst in modern National League history. 1936–1941: the Bees Insolvent like his team, Fuchs was forced to give up control of the Braves in August 1935,and new ownerBob Quinntried to change the team's image by renaming it theBoston Bees.This did little to change the team's fortunes. After five uneven years, a new owner, construction magnateLou Perini, changed the nickname back to the Braves. 1948: National League champions In1948, theteamwon the National League pennant by capturing 91 games to finish 61⁄2places ahead of the second–placeSt. Louis Cardinals. They also attracted 1,455,439 fanstoBraves Field, the third-largest gate in the National League and a high-water mark for the team's stay in Boston. The pitching staff was anchored by Hall of FamerWarren SpahnandJohnny Sain, who won 39 games between them. The remainder of the rotation was so thin that in September,Boston Postwriter Gerald Hern wrote this poem about the pair: First we'll use Spahnthen we'll use SainThen an off dayfollowed by rainBack will come Spahnfollowed by SainAnd followedwe hopeby two days of rain. The poem received such a wide audience that the sentiment, usually now paraphrased as \"Spahn, Sain, then pray for rain\" or \"Spahn, Sain and two days of rain\", entered the baseball vocabulary. Ironically, in the 1948 season, the Braves actually had a better record in games that Spahn and Saindid notstart than in games they did. (Other sources include pitcherVern Bickfordin the verse.) The Braves lost the1948 World Seriesin six games tothe Cleveland Indians(who had beatenthe Red Soxin atie-breaker gameto spoil an all-Boston World Series). This turned out to be the Braves' last hurrah in Boston. 1949–1952: Final years in Boston Sam Jethroe Acquired earlier by trade from theBrooklyn Dodgers, on April 18, 1950,Sam \"Jet\" Jethroewas added to theBoston Bravesroster. The Dodgers had another young CF inDuke Sniderrising in their system, resulting in the trade to the Braves.Going on to be namedNational League Rookie of the Yearat age 32, Jethroe broke the color barrier with Boston. In 1950, Jethroe hit .273 with 100 runs, 18 home runs and 58 RBI. His 35 stolen bases led the National League, a feat he would duplicate in 1951. While in Boston, Jethroe was a roommate ofChuck Cooper, ofthe Boston Celticswho was the first African-American player drafted by anNBAteam.A formerNegro leaguesstar and military veteran, Jethroe remains the oldest player to have won Rookie of the Year honors. Move to Milwaukee and aftermath Amid four mediocre seasons after 1948, attendance steadily dwindled, even though Braves Field had the reputation of being more family friendly than Fenway. For a half century, the major leagues had not had a single franchise relocation.The Braves played their last home game in Boston on September 21,1952, losing to theBrooklyn Dodgers8–2before 8,822 at Braves Field; the home attendance for the 1952 season was under 282,000. On March 13, 1953, ownerLou Perinisaid that he would seek permission from the National League to move the Braves to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.After the franchise's long history in Boston, the day became known as \"Black Friday\" in the city as fans mourned the team's exit after eight decades. Perini, however, pointed to dwindling attendance as the main reason for the relocation. He also announced that he had recently bought out his original partners. He announced Milwaukee as that was where the Braves had their top farm club, the Brewers. Milwaukee had long been a possible target for relocation.Bill Veeckhad tried to move hisSt. Louis Brownsthere earlier the same year (Milwaukee was the original home of that franchise), but his proposal had been voted down by the other American League owners. Going into spring training in 1953, it appeared that the Braves would play another year in Boston unless the National League gave permission for the move. After a 31⁄2-hour meeting at theVinoy Park Hotelin St. Petersburg, Florida, league approval was granted after Perini promised not to sell the team.During a game against theNew York Yankeeson March 18, the sale was announced final and that the team would move to Milwaukee, immediately.TheAll-Star Gamehad been scheduled for Braves Field. It was moved toCrosley Fieldand hosted by theCincinnati Reds.The Braves franchise moved their triple-A Brewers from Milwaukee to Toledo, Ohio. After the Braves moved to Milwaukee in1953, the Braves Field site was sold toBoston Universityand reconstructed asNickerson Field, the home of manyBoston Universityteams. The Braves Field scoreboard was sold to theKansas City A'sand used atMunicipal Stadium; the A's moved toOaklandafter the1967season. Notable Boston Braves Notes References","Atlanta Braves TheAtlanta Bravesare an Americanprofessional baseballteam based in theAtlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete inMajor League Baseball(MLB) as a member club of theNational League(NL)East Division. The Braves were founded inBoston, Massachusetts, in 1871, as theBoston Red Stockings. The club was known by various names until the franchise settled on theBoston Bravesin 1912. The Braves are the oldest continuously operatingprofessional sports franchise in North America. After 81 seasons andone World Series titlein Boston, the clubmovedtoMilwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1953. With a roster of star players such asHank Aaron,Eddie Mathews, andWarren Spahn, theMilwaukee Braveswon theWorld Seriesin 1957. Despite the team's success, fan attendance declined. The club's owners moved the team toAtlanta, Georgia, in 1966. The Braves did not find much success in Atlanta until 1991. From 1991 to 2005, the Braves were one of the most successful teams in baseball, winning an unprecedented 14 consecutive division titles,making an MLB record eight consecutiveNational League Championship Seriesappearances, and producing one of thegreatest pitching rotationsin the history of baseball including Hall of FamersGreg Maddux,John Smoltz, andTom Glavine. The Braves are one of the two remaining National League charter franchises that debuted in 1876.The club has won an MLB record 23 divisional titles, 18National Leaguepennants, and four World Series championships. The Braves are the only Major League Baseball franchise to have won the World Series in three different home cities.At the end of the 2024 season, the Braves' overall win–loss record is11,114–10,949–154(.504). Since moving to Atlanta in 1966, the Braves have an overall win–loss record of4,850–4,461–8(.521) through the end of 2024. History Boston (1871–1952) 1871–1913 TheCincinnati Red Stockings, formed in 1869, were the first openly all-professional baseball team but disbanded after the 1870 season.ManagerHarry Wrightand players moved toBoston, forming theBoston Red Stockings, a charter team in theNational Association of Professional Base Ball Players(NAPBBP).Led by the Wright brothers, Ross Barnes, andAl Spalding, they dominated the National Association, winning four of five championships.The original Boston Red Stockings team and its successors can lay claim to being the oldest continuously playing franchise in American professional sports. The club was known as the Boston Red Caps when they played the firstNational Leaguegame in1876, winning against thePhiladelphia Athletics.Despite a weaker roster in the league's first year, they rebounded to secure the 1877 and 1878 pennants.Managed byFrank Selee, they were a dominant force in the 19th century, winning eight pennants.By 1898 the team was known as theBeaneatersand they won 102 games, with stars likeHugh Duffy,Tommy McCarthy, and \"Slidin'\"Billy Hamilton. In 1901, the American League was introduced, causing many Beaneaters players including stars Duffy andJimmy Collinsto leave for clubs of the rival league.The team struggled, having only one winning season from 1900 to 1913 and losing 100 games five times. In 1907, they temporarily dropped the red color from their stockings due to infection concerns.The club underwent various nickname changes until becoming the Braves before the1912 season.The president of the club, John M. Ward named the club after the owner,James Gaffney.Gaffney was called one of the \"braves\" of New York City's political machine,Tammany Hall, which used a Native American chief as their symbol. 1914: Miracle In 1914, the Boston Braves experienced a remarkable turnaround in what would become one of the most memorable seasons in baseball history.Starting with a dismal 4–18 record, the Braves found themselves in last place, trailing the league-leadingNew York Giantsby 15 games after losing a doubleheader to theBrooklyn Robinson July 4.However, the team rebounded with an incredible hot streak, going 41–12 from July 6 to September 5.On August 3,Joseph Lanninthe president of the Red Sox, offeredFenway Parkto the Braves free of charge for the remainder of the season since their usual home, theSouth End Grounds, was too small.On September 7 and 8, they defeated the Giants in two out of three games, propelling them into first place.Despite being in last place as late as July 18, the Braves secured the pennant, becoming the only team under the old eight-team league format to achieve this after being in last place on the Fourth of July.They were in last place as late as July 18, but were close to the pack, moving into fourth on July 21 and second place on August 12. The Braves entered the1914 World Seriesled by captain and National LeagueMost Valuable Player,Johnny Evers.The Boston club were slight underdogs againstConnie Mack'sPhiladelphia A's.However, they swept the Athletics and won the world championship.Inspired by their success, owner Gaffney constructed a modern park,Braves Field, which opened in August 1915 and was the largest park in the majors at the time, boasting 40,000 seats and convenient public transportation access. 1915–1953 From 1917 to 1933, the Boston Braves struggled. After a series of different owners,Emil Fuchsbought the team in 1923.Fuchs brought his longtime friend, pitching greatChristy Mathewson, as part of the syndicate that bought the club.However, the death of pitching legend in 1925 left Fuchs in control.Despite Fuchs' commitment to success, the team faced challenges overcoming the damage from previous years. It wasn't until 1933 and 1934, under managerBill McKechnie, that the Braves became competitive, but it did little to help the club's finances. In an effort to boost fan attendance and finances, Fuchs orchestrated a deal with theNew York Yankeesto acquireBabe Ruthin 1935.Ruth was appointed team vice president with promises of profit shares and managerial prospects.Initially, Ruth seemed to provide a spark on opening day, but his declining skills became evident.Ruth's inability to run and poor fielding led to internal strife, and it became clear that his titles were symbolic.Ruth retired on June 1, 1935, shortly after hitting his last three home runs.The Braves finished the season with a dismal 38–115 record, marking the franchise's worst season. Fuchs lost control of the team in August 1935,leading to a rebranding attempt as the Boston Bees, but it did little to alter the team's fortune. Construction magnateLou Perinitook over, eventually restoring the Braves' name.Despite World War II causing a brief setback, the team, led by pitcherWarren Spahn, enjoyed impressive seasons in 1946 and 1947 under Perini's ownership. In 1948, theteamwon the pennant, behind the pitching of Spahn andJohnny Sain.The remainder of the rotation was so thin that in September,Boston Postwriter Gerald Hern wrote this poem about the pair: The poem received such a wide audience that the sentiment, usually now paraphrased as \"Spahn and Sain and pray for rain\", entered the baseball vocabulary. The1948 World Series, which the Braves lost in six games to theIndians, turned out to be the Braves' last hurrah in Boston.On March 13, 1953, Perini announced he was moving the club toMilwaukee.Perini cited advent of television and the lack of enthusiasm for the Braves in Boston as the key factors in deciding to move the franchise. Milwaukee (1953–1965) The Milwaukee Braves' relocation to Wisconsin in 1953 was initially a triumphant success, as they drew a then-National League record of 1.8 million fans and finished their inaugural season second in the National League.ManagerCharlie Grimmwas namedNL Manager of the Yearfollowing the Braves improvement. Throughout the 1950s, the Braves were a National League power; driven by sluggersEddie MathewsandHank Aaron, the team won two pennants and finished second twice between 1956 and 1959.In1957, Aaron'sMVP seasonled the Braves to their first pennant in nine years, securing aWorld Seriesvictory against the formidable New York Yankees.Despite a strong start in the World Seriesrematchthe followingseason, the Braves ultimately lost the last three games and the World Series.The1959 seasonended in a tie with the Los Angeles Dodgers, leading to a playoff loss for the Braves. The ensuing years saw fluctuating success, including the Braves finishing fifth in 1963, their first time in the \"second division.\"The team's owner, Louis Perini, sold the Braves to a Chicago-based group led by William Bartholomay in 1962.Despite plans to move to Atlanta in 1965, legal hurdles kept the Braves in Milwaukee for one more season before they completed the relocation in 1966. Atlanta (1966–present) 1966–1974 After arriving in Atlanta in 1966, the Braves found success in 1969, with the onset of divisional play by winning the first-everNational League WestDivision title.In theNational League Championship Seriesthe Braves were swept by the \"Miracle Mets.\"They would not be a factor during the next decade, posting only two winning seasons between 1970 and 1981.Fans in Atlanta had to be satisfied with the achievements ofHank Aaron, who by the end of the 1973 season, had hit 713 home runs, one short of Ruth's record.On April 4, opening day of thenext season, he hit No. 714 inCincinnati, and on April 8, in front of his home fans and a national television audience, he finally beat Ruth's mark with a home run to left-center field off left-handerAl Downingof theLos Angeles Dodgers.Aaron spent most of his career as a Milwaukee and Atlanta Brave before being traded to theMilwaukee Brewerson November 2, 1974. Ted Turner era 1976–1977: Ted Turner buys the team In 1976, the team was purchased by media magnateTed Turner, owner ofsuperstationWTBS, as a means to keep the team (and one of his main programming staples) in Atlanta.Turner used the Braves as a major programming draw for his fledgling cable network, making the Braves the first franchise to have a nationwide audience and fan base.WTBS marketed the team as \"The Atlanta Braves:America's Team\", a nickname that still sticks in some areas of the country, especiallythe South.The financially strapped Turner used money already paid to the team for their broadcast rights as a down-payment. Turner quickly gained a reputation as a quirky, hands-on baseball owner. On May 11, 1977, Turner appointed himselfmanager, but because MLB passed a rule in the 1950s barring managers from holding a financial stake in their teams, Turner was ordered to relinquish that position after one game (theBraveslost 2–1 to thePittsburgh Piratesto bring their losing streak to 17 games). 1978–1990 The Braves didn't enjoy much success between 1978 and 1990, however, in the1982 season, led by managerJoe Torre, the Braves secured their first divisional title since 1969.The team was led by standout performances from key players likeDale Murphy,Bob Horner,Chris Chambliss,Phil Niekro, andGene Garber.The Braves were swept in theNLCSin three games by theCardinals.Murphy won the Most Valuable Player award for the National League in 1982 and 1983. 1991–2005: 14 consecutive division titles From 1991 to 2005, the Atlanta Braves enjoyed a remarkable era of success in baseball, marked by a record-setting 14 consecutive division titles, five National League pennants, and a World Series championship in 1995.Bobby Cox returned as manager in 1990, leading the team's turnaround after finishing the previous season with the worst record in baseball. Notable developments included the drafting ofChipper Jonesin 1990 and the hiring of general manager John Schuerholz from the Kansas City Royals. The Braves' remarkable journey began in1991, known as the \"Worst to First\" season.Overcoming a shaky start, the Braves bounced back led by young pitchersTom GlavineandJohn Smoltz.The team secured the NL pennant in a memorable playoff race, ultimately losing a closely contestedWorld Seriesto the Minnesota Twins. The following year, theBraveswon theNLCSin dramatic fashion against thePiratesbut fell short in theWorld Seriesagainst theToronto Blue Jays. In 1993, the Braves strengthened their pitching staff with the addition of Cy Young Award winnerGreg Madduxin free agency.Despite posting a franchise-best 104 wins, they lost in theNLCSto thePhiladelphia Phillies. The team moved to the Eastern Division in 1994, sparking a heated rivalry with the New York Mets. Theplayer's strikecut short the 1994 season just before the division championships, but the Braves rebounded in 1995, defeating theCleveland Indiansto win theWorld Series.With this World Series victory, the Braves became the first team in Major League Baseball to win world championships in three different cities.The Braves reached the World Series in1996and1999but were defeated both times by the New York Yankees. In 1996, Time Warner acquired Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting System, including the Braves.Despite their continued success with a ninth consecutive division title in 2000, the Braves faced postseason disappointment with a sweep by theSt. Louis Cardinalsin theNLDS.The team won division titles from 2002 to 2004 but experienced early exits in the NLDS each year. Liberty Media era Liberty Media buys the team In December 2005, Time Warner, put the club up for sale, leading to negotiations with Liberty Media.After over a year of talks, a deal was reached in February 2007 for Liberty Media to acquire the Braves for $450 million, a magazine publishing company, and $980 million in cash. The sale, valued at approximately $1.48 billion, was contingent on approval from 75 percent of MLB owners and Commissioner Bud Selig. Bobby Cox and Chipper Jones retire Bobby Cox's final year as manager in2010saw the Braves return to the postseason for the first time since 2005.The team secured the NL Wild Card but fell to the San Francisco Giants in theNational League Division Seriesin four closely contested games, marking the conclusion of Bobby Cox's managerial career.Thefollowing seasonthe Braves suffered a historic September collapse to miss the postseason.The club bounced back in2012and returned to the postseason in Chipper Jones' final season.The Braves won 94 games in 2012, but that wasn't enough to win the NL East, so they faced the St. Louis Cardinals in the inauguralWild Card Game.Chipper Jones last game was a memorable one: the Braves lost theone game playoff6–3, but the game would be remembered for a controversial infield fly call that helped end a Braves rally in the 8th inning. Truist Park and return to the World Series In 2017, the Atlanta Braves began playing atTruist Park, replacing Turner Field as their home stadium.Following an MLB investigation into international signing rule violations, general managerJohn Coppolellaresigned and faced a baseball ban.Alex Anthopoulostook over as the new general manager.The team's chairman,Terry McGuirk, apologized for the scandal and expressed confidence in Anthopoulos' integrity.A new on field mascot namedBlooperwas introduced at a fan event before the 2017 season.Under Anthopoulos, the Braves made the playoffs in six of his first seven seasons.In2020the Braves reach theNational League Championship Series, but ultimately lost to the Dodgers after leading 3–1. In the 2021 season, the Braves won the National League East with an 88–73 record. In the postseason, they quickly defeated the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Division Series 3–1. The Braves again faced the Dodgers in the2021 NLCS, and won in six games to take Atlanta's first National League pennant since1999. The Braves advanced to the World Series.They defeated theHouston Astrosin six games to win their fourth World Series title. Logos and uniforms The Braves logos have evolved over the years, featuring a Native American warrior from 1945 to 1955, followed by a laughing Native American with a mohawk and a feather from 1956 to 1965.The modern logo, introduced in 1987, includes the cursive word \"Braves\" with a tomahawk below it.Uniform changes occurred in 1987, with the team adopting uniforms reminiscent of their 1950s classic look.For the 2023 season, the Braves had four uniform combinations, including the classic white home and gray road uniforms, a navy blue road jersey for alternate games, and two alternate uniforms for home games - a Friday night red uniform and a City Connect uniform worn on Saturdays, paying tribute to Hank Aaron.The City Connect uniform features \"The A\" across the chest, accompanied by a cap with the \"A\" logo and 1974 uniform colors. World Series championships Over the 120 years since the inception of the World Series (119 total World Series played), the Braves franchise has won a total of fourWorld SeriesChampionships. The Braves are the only franchise to have won a World Series in three different cities. Ballparks Truist Park The Atlanta Braves home ballpark has been Truist Park since 2017. Truist Park is located approximately 10 miles (16 km) northwest ofdowntown Atlantain theunincorporated communityofCumberland, inCobb County,Georgia.The team played its home games atAtlanta–Fulton County Stadiumfrom 1966 to 1996, and atTurner Fieldfrom 1997 to 2016. The Braves opened Truist Park on April 14, 2017, with a four-game sweep of theSan Diego Padres.The park received positive reviews. Woody Studenmund of theHardball Timescalled the park a \"gem\" saying that he was impressed with \"the compact beauty of the stadium and its exciting approach to combining baseball, business and social activities.\"J.J. Cooper ofBaseball Americapraised the \"excellent sight lines for pretty much every seat.\" CoolToday Park Since 2019, the Braves have playedspring traininggames at CoolToday Park inNorth Port, Florida.The ballpark opened on March 24, 2019, with the Braves' 4–2 win over theTampa Bay Rays.The Braves leftChampion Stadium, their previous Spring Training home near Orlando to reduce travel times and to get closer to other teams' facilities.CoolToday Park also serves as the Braves' year round rehabilitation facility. Attendance (*) – There were no fans allowed in any MLB stadium in 2020 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. Major rivalries New York Mets Although their first major confrontation occurred when the Mets swept the Braves in the1969 NLCS, the rivalry did not become especially heated until the 1994 season when division realignment put both the Mets and the Braves in theNational League Eastdivision. TheBravesfaced theMetsin the1999 National League Championship Series.The Braves initially took a 3–0 series lead, seemingly on the verge of a sweep, but the Mets rallied in Game 4 and Game 5.Despite the Mets' resilience, the Braves eventually won the series in Game 6 withAndruw Jonessecuring a dramatic walk-off walk, earning their 5th National League pennant of the decade.In 2022, theBravesandMets, both finished with 101 wins.The National League East title and a first-round bye came down to a crucial three-game series at Truist Park from September 30 to October 2.The Mets entered with a slight lead but faltered as the Braves swept the series.Atlanta claimed the NL East division title and first-round bye, by winning the season series against the Mets. Nationwide fanbase In addition to having strong fan support in the Metro Atlanta area and the state of Georgia, the Braves are often referred to as \"America's Team\" in reference to the team's games being broadcast nationally onTBSfrom the 1970s until 2007, giving the team a nationwide fan base. The Braves boast heavy support within theSoutheastern United Statesparticularly in states such asMississippi,Alabama,South Carolina,North Carolina,TennesseeandFlorida. Tomahawk chop In 1991, fans of the Atlanta Braves popularized the \"tomahawk chop\" during games.The use of foam tomahawks drew criticism fromNative Americangroups, deeming it demeaning.Despite protests, the Braves' public relations director defended it as a \"proud expression of unification and family.\"The controversy resurfaced in 2019 whenCherokee Nationmember and St. Louis Cardinals pitcherRyan Helsleyfound the chop insulting, prompting the Braves to modify their in-game experience.During the off-season, discussions ensued with Native American representatives, and amid pressure in 2020 to change their name, the Braves announced ongoing talks about the chop but insisted the team name would remain unchanged. The debate over the tomahawk chop continued into 2021.While some Native American leaders, likeRichard Sneed, the Principal Chief of theEastern Band of Cherokee Indians, expressed personal indifference or tolerance, acknowledging it as an acknowledgment of Native American strength, others vehemently opposed it.Sneed emphasized larger issues facing Native American communities and questioned the focus on the chop.The Eastern Cherokee Band of Indians and the Braves initiated efforts to incorporate Cherokee language and culture into the team's activities, stadium, and merchandise, aiming for greater cultural sensitivity despite differing opinions within the Native American community. Achievements Awards Team records Retired numbers The Braves have retired eleven numbers in the history of the franchise, including most recentlyAndruw Jones' number 25 in 2023,Chipper Jones' number 10 in 2013,John Smoltz's number 29 in 2012,Bobby Cox's number 6 in 2011,Tom Glavine's number 47 in 2010, andGreg Maddux's number 31 in 2009. Additionally,Hank Aaron's 44,Dale Murphy's 3,Phil Niekro's 35,Eddie Mathews' 41,Warren Spahn's 21 andJackie Robinson's 42, which is retired for all of baseball with the exception ofJackie Robinson Day, have also been retired.Six of the eleven numbers (Cox, Jones, Jones, Smoltz, Maddux and Glavine) were on the Braves at the same time.Of the eleven Braves whose numbers have been retired, all who are eligible for theNational Baseball Hall of Famehave been elected with the exceptions of Dale Murphy and Andruw Jones.The color and design of the retired numbers on commemorative markers and other in-stadium signage reflect the primary uniform design at the time the player was on the team. Baseball Hall of Famers Earl AverillDave BancroftDan BrouthersJohn Clarkson*Jimmy CollinsHugh Duffy*Johnny Evers Burleigh GrimesBilly HamiltonBilly HermanRogers HornsbyJoe KelleyKing KellyErnie Lombardi Rabbit Maranville*Rube MarquardTommy McCarthy*Bill McKechnieJoe MedwickKid Nichols*Jim O'Rourke Charley RadbournBabe RuthFrank Selee*Al SimmonsGeorge SislerBilly SouthworthCasey StengelEd Walsh Lloyd WanerPaul WanerDeacon WhiteVic Willis*George Wright*Harry WrightCy Young Eddie Mathews* Red SchoendienstEnos Slaughter Warren Spahn* Hank Aaron* Hank Aaron†Orlando CepedaBobby Cox* Tom Glavine*Chipper Jones*Greg Maddux* Fred McGriff*Phil Niekro*Gaylord Perry John SchuerholzTed SimmonsJohn Smoltz* Bruce SutterJoe TorreHoyt Wilhelm Braves Hall of Fame Roster Pitchers Catchers Infielders Outfielders Designated hitters Manager Coaches 60-day injured list 40 active, 0 inactive, 0 non-roster invitees 7-, 10-, or 15-dayinjured list* Not on active roster†Suspended listRoster,coaches, andNRIsupdated October 14, 2024Transactions•Depth chart→All MLB rosters Minor league affiliates The Atlanta Bravesfarm systemconsists of sixminor leagueaffiliates. Radio and television The Braves regional games are exclusively broadcast onBally Sports Southeast.Brandon Gaudinis the play-by-play announcer for Bally Sports Southeast.Gaudin is joined in the booth by lead analystC.J. Nitkowski.Jeff Francoeurand Tom Glavine will also join the broadcast for a few games during the season.Peter Moylan,Nick Green, and John Smoltz also appear in the booth for select games as in-game analysts. The radio broadcast team is led by the tandem of play-by-play announcer Ben Ingram and analystJoe Simpson. Braves games are broadcast across Georgia and seven other states on at least 172 radio affiliates, including flagship station680 The Fanin Atlanta and stations as far away as Richmond, Virginia; Louisville, Kentucky; and the US Virgin Islands. The games are carried on at least 82 radio stations in Georgia. References Footnotes Citations Further reading External links"],"string":"[\n \"Washington Commanders TheWashington Commandersare a professionalAmerican footballteam based in theWashington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in theNational Football League(NFL) as a member of theNational Football Conference(NFC)Eastdivision. The team plays its home games atNorthwest StadiuminLandover, Maryland; its headquarters and training facility are inAshburn, Virginia. The Commanders have played more than 1,300 games and have won more than 600. Washington was among the first NFL franchises with afight song, \\\"Hail to the Commanders\\\",which is played bytheir marching bandafter every home gametouchdown. The Commanders are owned by a group managed byJosh Harris, who acquired the franchise fromDaniel Snyderin 2023 for $6.05 billion. The Commanders were founded byGeorge Preston Marshallas theBoston Bravesin1932. The team changed its name to the Redskins the following year beforemovingtoWashington, D.C., in1937, to become theWashington Redskins. The usage of the termredskinwascontroversialfor decades. In2020, pressure from several NFL and team sponsors led to its being retired as part of awave of name changesin the wake of theGeorge Floyd protests, which led to larger awareness of theNative American mascot controversy. The team played as theWashington Football Teamfor two seasons before rebranding as the Commanders in 2022. Washington won the1937and1942NFLchampionship gamesand Super BowlsXVII,XXII, andXXVI. Washington has finished a season as league runner-up six times, losing the1936,1940,1943, and1945title games and Super BowlsVIIandXVIII. With 14 division titles and 24 postseason appearances, they have an overall postseason record of23–18. Their three Super Bowl wins are tied with theDenver BroncosandLas Vegas Raiders, behind thePittsburgh SteelersandNew England Patriots(six each),San Francisco 49ersandDallas Cowboys(five each), andGreen Bay Packers,New York GiantsandKansas City Chiefs(four each). All of Washington's championships were attained during two 10-year spans. From1936to1945, the team went to theNFL Championshipsix times, winning two of them under general managerJack Espeyand head coachRay Flaherty. The second period lasted from1982to1991under ownerJack Kent Cooke, general managersBobby BeathardandCharley Casserly, and head coachJoe Gibbs. From 1946 to 1970, Washington posted just four winning seasons and never reached the postseason. They went without a single winning season from 1956 to 1968, a span that included their worst regular-season record: 1–12–1 in1961. Since their last Super Bowl victory in1991, they have won theNFC Eastfour times with only seven postseason appearances. History George Preston Marshall era (1932–1965) Bostonwas awarded aNational Football Leaguefranchise on July 9, 1932, under the ownership of American businessmanGeorge Preston Marshall.The team was named after theBoston Braves baseball team, with whom they sharedBraves Field, with theinaugural seasonbeing coached byLud Wray. The team saw several changes in1933, including a name change to the \\\"Redskins\\\" and playing their home games atFenway Park, home of theBoston Red Sox. Wray was also replaced at head coach byWilliam \\\"Lone Star\\\" Dietz. The situation faced by Marshall in New England was difficult. In 1935, Joe F. Carr opined: \\\"To the casual observer bred in the knowledge of New England's place in football's sun, because its cradle and nursery were there, the success of a Boston team in the professional ranks would be a foregone conclusion. Nothing could have been more erroneous. Boston finished the most forbidding ground for professional football of any large city in the country. The history of the game in Boston and New England was entirely associated with college, preparatory, and high school playing. Its eminence as an institution of sport grew in a hallowed atmosphere as an almost sacrosanct element of education which was to be kept ever free from commercial pollution.\\\" The Redskins appeared in the1936 NFL Championship Game, their first championship appearance, but lost to the Green Bay Packers 21–6. The Redskins moved toWashington, D.C., after five years in Boston, with Marshall stating that the New England city showed a lack of interest in the team.Through1960, the team shared baseball'sGriffith Stadiumwith the first American LeagueWashington Senatorsbaseball team.In their first game in Washington, D.C., the Redskins defeated theNew York Giantsin the season opener, 13–3.The same season, they earned their first division title in Washington with a49–14win over the Giants.Shortly after, the team won their firstleague championshipin 1937, defeating theChicago Bears. In1940, the Redskins met theBearsagain in the1940 NFL Championship Game.The result,73–0in favor of the Bears, remains the worst one-sided loss in NFL history.The Redskins won their second championship in1942, defeating theBears14–6.In1943, Dutch Bergman was named head coach and led the team to a return to theNFL championship game, however they were defeated by the Chicago Bears41–21.That same season,Sammy Baughled the NFL in passing,punting, andinterceptions. The Redskins played in the NFL Championship one more time before a quarter-century drought that lasted until the1972 season. With former Olympicgold medalistDudley DeGrootas their new head coach, theRedskinswent 8–2 during the1945 season. One of the most impressive performances came from Baugh, who had a completion percentage of .703.They ended the season by losing to theCleveland Ramsin the1945 NFL Championship Game, 15–14.The one-point margin of victory came under scrutiny because of asafetythat occurred early in the game. In the first quarter, the Redskins had the ball at their own 5-yard line. Dropping back into theend zone,quarterbackBaugh threw to an open receiver, but the ball hit the goal post and bounced back to the ground in the end zone. Under the rules at the time, this was ruled as a safety and thus gave the Rams a 2–0 lead. Marshall was so upset at the outcome that he became a major force in passing a major rule change after the season, in which a forward pass that struck the goalpost was automatically ruled incomplete. This later became known as the \\\"Baugh/Marshall Rule\\\". The team's early success accredited it to the fans of Washington, D.C. However, after 1945, the Redskins began a slow decline that they did not end until aplayoff appearancein the1971 season.The Redskins had four different head coaches from 1946 to 1951, including former playersTurk EdwardsandDick Toddas well asJohn WhelchelandHerman Ball, and none were successful. But this did not stop Marshall from trying to make the Redskins the most successful franchise in the league. His first major alteration happened on June 14, 1950, when it was announced that theAmerican Oil Companyplanned to televise all Redskins games, making them the first NFL team to have an entire season of televised games.His next major change came in February 1952, when he hired formerGreen Bay PackerscoachEarl \\\"Curly\\\" Lambeau.But, after two seasons, Marshall fired Lambeau following theRedskinsloss in their exhibition opener to theLos Angeles Ramsand hiredJoe Kuharich.In 1955, Kuharich led theRedskinsto their first winning season in ten years and was named bothSporting News Coach of the YearandUPI NFL Coach of the Year. In1961, the Redskins moved into their new stadium called D.C. Stadium, later renamedRobert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadiumin 1969. The first game in new D.C. Stadium occurred on October 1 in front of 37,767 fans. However, the Redskins failed to hold a 14-point lead and lost to theNew York Giants24–21.That same year,Bill McPeakbecame the head coach and had a record of21–46–3over five seasons. During his tenure, he helped draft future stars: wide receiverCharley Taylor, tight endJerry Smith, safetyPaul Krause, centerLen Hauss, and linebackerChris Hanburger.He also helped pull off two important trades, gaining quarterbackSonny Jurgensenfrom thePhiladelphia Eaglesand linebackerSam Hufffrom theNew York Giants.In1966,Otto Grahamwas hired as the new head coach. Graham coached the Redskins for three seasons for a record of 17–22–3. He resigned after the1968 seasonin favor ofVince Lombardi.at 6–8. Integration controversy During most of this unsuccessful period, Marshall continually refused to integrate the team, despite pressure from theU.S. government.Two months into theKennedy administrationon March 24, 1961,Secretary of the InteriorStewart Udallwarned Marshall to hire black players or face federal retribution.For the first time in history, the federal government had attempted to desegregate a professional sports team.The Redskins were under the threat ofcivil rightslegal action by the Kennedy administration, which would have prevented a segregated team from playing at the new federally-ownedD.C. Stadium, managed by theU.S. Department of the Interior.The Redskins' previous venue,Griffith Stadium, was owned by the Griffith family, owners of theWashington Senators, who moved and became theMinnesota Twinsin1961. In1962, Washington became the final professional American football franchise to integrate. First, the Redskins selected running backErnie DavisofSyracusefirst overallin the1962 NFL draft; Davis was the first black player to win theHeisman Trophyand the first to be the top selection in an NFL draft.Washington also tookfullbackRon HatcherofMichigan Statein theeighth round, who became the first black player to sign a contract with the team. In December 1961, Marshall announced he had traded the rights to Davis to theCleveland Browns, who wanted Davis to join the league's leading rusher,Jim Brown, in their backfield.Davis was traded for veteran running backBobby Mitchell, who became awide receiverin Washington, D.C., and 1962 first-round draft choiceLeroy JacksonofWestern Illinois.The move was made under unfortunate circumstances – as it turned out that Davis hadleukemia, and died without ever playing a down in professional football.The Redskins ended the1962 seasonwith their best record in five years:5–7–2.Mitchell led the league with 11 touchdowns, and caught 72 passes and was selected to thePro Bowl. In time, Mitchell would be joined by other black players like receiverCharley Taylor, running backLarry Brown,defensive backBrig Owens, and guardJohn Nisby. Edward Bennett Williams era (1965–1979) Marshall appointed board memberEdward Bennett Williamsto run the team's daily operations in 1965 due to declining health.He acquired controlling interest in the franchise following Marshall's death on August 9, 1969.In1969, Williams hired formerGreen Bay Packershead coachVince Lombardifor the same role, granting him a 5% stake in ownership and full control over football operations as the team's executive vice president.Lombardi coached the Redskins to a 7–5–2 record, their first winning season since1955, but died from cancer shortly before the start of the1970 season.Bill Austin, appointed earlier by Lombardi, served as interim head coach for the season. George Allen years (1971–1977) On January 6, 1971, Williams hired formerLos Angeles Ramshead coachGeorge Allenas head coach and general manager.Partial to seasoned veterans instead of highly touted young players, Allen's teams became known as theOver-the-Hill Gang.Thatseason, theRedskinsmade theplayoffsfor the first time since 1945 with a 9–4–1 markwith Redskins first-year head coachGeorge Allenwinning the 1971NFL Coach of the Year Award, the second of his career, winning his first Coach of the Year Award in 1967 as the head coach of theRams.However, they lost in the Divisional Playoffs to theSan Francisco 49ers, 24–20. Thefollowing season, theRedskinshosted their first postseason game in Washington since 1942, where they beat theGreen Bay Packers16–3 in theNFC Divisional Playoffs.The Redskins reached theNFC Championship Game, and in a much-anticipated match-up against the archrivalDallas Cowboys, The Redskins placekickerCurt Knightkicked an 18-yard field goal in the second quarter to get the scoring underway, then Redskins quarterbackBilly Kilmerconnected with Redskins wide receiverCharley Tayloron a 15-yard touchdown pass and Washington had a 10–3 lead at halftime. In the fourth quarter, Kilmer again went to Taylor, this time for a 45-yard touchdown. Knight added three more field goals that period andThe Over-The-Hill-Gangdefense allowed only a second-quarter field goal. The final score was Washington 26, Dallas 3.After defeating the Dallas Cowboys to win the NFC Championship, the Redskins went on to lose to theundefeatedMiami Dolphins14–7 inSuper Bowl VII.Redskins running backLarry Brownwould be named the 1972NFL MVP.The Redskins again made the playoffs in1973,1974, and1976, only to lose all three times in the first round.After the team failed to make the playoffs inRedskinsdespite a 9–5 record, Allen was fired and was replaced at head coach byJack Pardee. Jack Kent Cooke era (1979–1998) Canadian-American businessmanJack Kent Cooke, who had owned minority shares of the Redskins and been a board member since 1960, purchased majority interest fromEdward Bennett Williamsin 1974.Due to NFL rules at the time disallowing controlling ownership in other leagues, he allowed Williams to operate the team until selling his other properties, the NBA'sLos Angeles Lakersand the NHL'sLos Angeles Kings, toJerry Bussin May 1979.Cooke became the team's sole owner in 1985 after purchasing the remaining shares from Williams for around $9 million. Joe Gibbs years (1981–1992) Jack Pardee, the 1979NFL Coach of the Year, was fired following a 6–10 record in1980.On January 13, 1981, Cooke hiredSan Diego Chargersoffensive coordinatorJoe Gibbsas head coach.During the offseason, the Redskins acquired players such asMark May,Russ Grimm, andDexter Manleyin the1981 NFL draft.After starting the1981 season0–5, the Redskins won eight out of their next 11 games and finished the season 8–8 but fourth in the NFC East. Super Bowl XVII champions (1982) Starting on September 21, 1982,the NFL faced a 57-day long players'strike, which reduced the1982 seasonfrom a 16-game schedule to a nine-game schedule.Because of the shortened season, the NFL adopted a special 16-team playoff tournament, in which eight teams from each conference were seeded 1–8 based on their regular season records. After the strike was settled, the Redskins dominated, winning six out of the seven remaining games to make the playoffs for the first time since 1976. In January 1983, during the second round of theplayoffsagainst theMinnesota Vikings,John Rigginsrushed for a Redskins playoff record 185 yards, leading Washington to a 21–7 win.The game is perhaps best known for a moment when the stadium physically shook as a crowd chanted \\\"We Want Dallas!\\\", which later became a rallying cry of sorts for Redskin fans before games against the Cowboys.In the NFC Championship Game against them atRFK Stadium, Redskins defensive endDexter Manleyknocked Cowboys' quarterbackDanny Whiteout for the rest of the game and sent him into the locker room shortly before halftime. Later in the game, Redskins defensive tackleDarryl Grant's interception, which he returned for a 10-yard touchdown, off one of Cowboys' backup quarterbackGary Hogeboom's passes which was tipped byDexter Manleyto score the decisive points.John Rigginsrushed for 140 yards and two touchdowns on 36 carries and the Redskins went on to defeat the Cowboys' by a score of 31–17.The Redskins' firstSuper Bowlwin, and their first NFL Championship in 40 years, was inSuper Bowl XVII, where the Redskins defeated theMiami Dolphins27–17.Riggins provided the game's signature play when, on 4th and inches, with the Redskins down 17–13, the coaches called \\\"70 Chip\\\", a play designed for short yardage.Riggins instead gained 43 yards (39 meters) by running through would-be tacklerDon McNealand getting the go-ahead touchdown. The Redskins ended up winning by a 27–17 score with John Riggins winning theSuper Bowl MVP. After the1982 seasonRedskins placekickerMark Moseleywas the first and only placekicker in NFL history to be named theNFL's Most Valuable Player;Moseley made 20 of 21 field goals attempted in 1982.Redskins head coachJoe Gibbsalso won his firstNFL Coach of the Year Awardin 1982 which was the first of his back-to-back NFL Coach of the Year Awards, his second coming in the1983 NFL season. CornerbackDarrell Greenand defensive endCharles Mannwere selected in the1983 NFL draftand became key contributors for the team; Green would play his entire 20-year career with the Redskins. On October 1, 1983, the Redskins lost to theGreen Bay Packers48–47 in the highest-scoringMonday night football game in history, in which both teams combine for more than 1,000 yards (910 m) of total offense.Then during the regular-season finale on December 17, 1983, Moseley set an NFL scoring record with 161 points while Riggins' total of 144 points was second. This marked the first time since 1951 that the top two scorers in a season played on the same team.They dominated the NFL with a 14-win season which included scoring a then NFL record 541 points,many of which came from Riggins, who scored 24 touchdowns. Redskins quarterbackJoe Theismannwould also be named the 1983NFL's Most Valuable Playerfinishing the season with a career-high in both yards passing 3,714 yds., and touchdown passes thrown, 29 Td's while throwing only 11 interceptions. In the postseason, the Redskins beat theLos Angeles Rams51–7.The next week, Washington beat theSan Francisco 49ers24–21 in theNFC Championship Game.It was their final win of the season because two weeks later, theRaidersbeat the Redskins 38–9 inSuper Bowl XVIII. The Redskins finished the1984 seasonwith an 11–5 record,and won the NFC East for the third consecutive season.However, they lost in the first round of theplayoffsto theChicago Bears, 23–19.On November 18, 1985, while playing against theGiants, Theismann broke his leg during a sack byLawrence Taylor. Thecompound fractureforced him to retire after a 12-year career, during which he became the Redskins' all-time leader in pass attempts and completions.The Redskins finished 3rd in the NFC East behind theCowboysand missed the wild card to the Giants by virtue oftiebreakers. The 1986 offseason's major highlight occurred during the1986 NFL draft, when the Redskins picked up future Super Bowl MVPMark Rypienin the sixth round, also the Redskins defensive endDexter Manleyset a franchise single-season record when he recorded 18.5 sacks while earning1st Team All-Prohonors and being selected to thePro bowl. In1986 season, the road to theplayoffswas even harder, with the Redskins making the postseason as a wild-card team despite having a regular-season record of 12–4.They won the Wild Card playoff against the Rams, and then again in the Divisional playoffs against the Bears. This game was Gibbs's 70th career, which made him the winningest head coach in Redskins history.The season ended next week, however, when the Redskins lost to the eventualSuper Bowl XXIChampion Giants 17–0 in the NFC Championship game. Super Bowl XXII champions (1987) The1987 NFL seasonbegan with aplayers' strikethat reduced the 16-game season to 15.No Redskins players crossed the picket line—the only such team—and the games for Weeks 4–6 were won with all-replacement squads.Those three victories, often credited with getting the team into the playoffs, are the basis for the 2000 movieThe Replacements. The Redskins won their second championship inSuper Bowl XXIIon January 31, 1988, in San Diego, California. The Redskins routed theDenver Broncos42–10after starting the game down 10–0, the largest come-from-behind victory in Super Bowl history, which was tied by theNew Orleans SaintsinSuper Bowl XLIVand theNew England PatriotsinSuper Bowl XLIX. This game is also noted forSuper Bowl MVPquarterbackDoug Williams, who threw four touchdowns in the second quarter en route to becoming the first black quarterback to lead his team to a championship,and for rookie running backTimmy Smith, who ran for a Super Bowl-record 204 yards (187 m). In1988, the club had a 5–3 record at mid-season, but a second-half swoon saw them miss the playoffs with a 7–9 record. The1989Redskins finished with a 10–6 record but missed the playoffs. The team is best remembered for\\\"The Posse\\\"—Art Monk,Gary Clark, andRicky Sanders—the first trio of NFL wide receivers to post more than 1,000 yards apiece in a single season. Also, Redskins head coachJoe Gibbsachieved his 100th career victory in a week-14 win against theSan Diego Chargers. The Redskins returned to theplayoffsin1990as a Wild Card team, but lost in the Divisional round to the49ers. Super Bowl XXVI champions (1991) The1991 seasonstarted with a franchise-record 11 straight victories.\\\"The Hogs\\\", under the coaching of Redskins offensive line coachJoe Bugel, allowed a league-low and franchise-record nine sacks, the third-lowest total in NFL history.The offense also dominated under head football coachJoe Gibbs, scoring 485 points, more than any other teamthat year.The defense was also dominant under defensive coordinatorRichie Petitbon, giving up 224 total points, second-best of any team that year, while holding opponents scoreless three times.After posting a 14–2 record, the Redskins dominated theplayoffs, beating theFalconsandLionsby a combined score of 64–17.On January 26, 1992, the Redskins wonSuper Bowl XXVIby defeating theBuffalo Bills37–24;QBMark Rypienwon theSuper Bowl MVPaward.After the Super Bowl, the Redskins set another franchise record by sending eight players to thePro Bowl.The1991 Washington Redskinsare widely considered one of the best teams in NFL history. In1992, the Redskins reached the playoffs as a wild-card team, but lost in theDivisional playoffsto the49ers, 20–13.On October 12, 1992,Art Monkbecame the NFL's all-time leading pass receiver by catching his 820th career reception against theDenver BroncosonMonday Night Football.The era ended on March 5, 1993, when Gibbs retired after 12 years of coaching with the Redskins.Gibbs later foundedJoe Gibbs Racing. After the end of Gibbs' first tenure, the Redskins hired former Redskins playerRichie Petitbonfor the1993 season. However, his first and only year as head coach, theRedskinsfinished with a record of 4–12.Petitbon was fired at the end of the season and on February 2, 1994,Norv Turnerwas hired as head coach after being theoffensive coordinatorof theDallas Cowboys.1994was even worse as they finished 3–13, their worst season in over 30 years. Their sole bright spot that year came on October 9, 1994, linebackerMonte Colemanplayed in his 206th career game with the Redskins, which brokeArt Monk's team record for games played (Coleman retired at season's end with 216 games played).They improved to 6–10 in1995where they were able to get a season sweep on the eventualSuper Bowl XXXChampions the Dallas Cowboys. On March 13, 1996, Redskins ownerJack Kent Cooke,Maryland GovernorParris Glendening, andPrince George's County ExecutiveWayne K. Currysigned a contract that paved the way for the immediate start of construction for the new home of the Redskins (now Northwest Stadium).The1996 seasonsaw Washington post their first winning record in 4 years by finishing 9–7. On December 22, 1996, the Redskins played their final game atRFK Stadium, a victory over theDallas Cowboys37–10, and finished their tenure at the stadium with a 173–102–3 record, including 11–1 in the playoffs. On April 6, 1997, Redskins ownerJack Kent Cookedied ofcongestive heart failureat the age of 84.In his will, Cooke left the Redskins to the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, with instructions to sell the team. In the meantime, management of the team was given to son and executive vice president John Kent Cooke.On September 14, 1997, the Redskins played in their new stadium for the first time and beat theArizona Cardinals, 19–13 in overtime.On November 23, 1997, they played theNew York Giantsand the result was a 7–7 tie, the Redskins first tie game since the1971 season. They would finish19978–7–1 and would miss theplayoffsfor the fifth season in a row. One bright spot during the season, however, occurred on December 13, 1997, whenDarrell Greenplayed in his 217th career game as a Redskin, breakingMonte Coleman's record for games played.The1998 seasonstarted with a seven-game losing streak,and the Redskins finished with a 6–10 record. The 1998 season concluded as a period marked by disappointment. Daniel Snyder era (1999–2023) On May 25, 1999, Cooke sold the Redskins to local businessmanDaniel Snyderfor $800 million after being unable to raise sufficient funds to keep the team.Snyder sold the naming rights to Jack Kent Cooke Stadium toFedExin November 1999, becomingFedExField. In Snyder's firstseasonas owner, the Redskins went 10–6,including a four-game winning streak early in the season,and made it to the playoffs for the first time inNorv Turner's career (and the first time for the Redskins since1992) in the final game of the season (on January 2, 2000, against theDolphins). Running backStephen Davisrushed for a then club-record 1,405 yards and quarterbackBrad Johnsoncompleted a then club-record 316 passes and threw for more than 4,000 yards in regular play that season.They then defeated theDetroit Lionsin the first round of theplayoffs, but lost to theBuccaneers, 14–13. The2000 seasonstarted with the selection of futurePro BowlerChris Samuelsand the tumultuousLaVar Arringtonin the2000 NFL draftand included five consecutive wins in the first half of the season.However, they ended up going 7–6 with Turner being fired as head coach prior to the end of the season.Terry Robiskiewas named interim coach to finish out the season,which ended with an 8–8 record.During the final game of the season,Larry Centersbecame the NFL's all-time leader in receptions by arunning backwith 685. On January 3, 2001, the Redskins hired formerCleveland BrownsandKansas City Chiefshead coachMarty Schottenheimeras head coach.The2001 seasonbegan with a loss to theSan Diego Chargers, 30–3, two days before theSeptember 11, 2001, attacks. On September 13, 2001, the Redskins announced the establishment of the Redskins Relief Fund to help families of the victims of the attack at the Pentagon. During the course of the season, the Redskins raised more than $700,000.They finished the season with an 8–8 recordand Schottenheimer was fired after the final game. Snyder later said in a 2013 interview that he was fired due to his over-controlling nature. On January 14, 2002, Snyder hiredUniversity of FloridacoachSteve Spurrier,the Redskins' fifth new head coach in 10 years. They finished with a 7–9 record, their first losing season in four years.A bittersweet moment during the season occurred on December 29, whenDarrell Greenconcluded his 20th and final season as the Redskins defeated theCowboys20–14 at FedExField. During his 20 seasons, he set an NFL record for consecutive seasons with at least one interception (19) and a Redskins team record for regular-season games played (295) and started (258).The Redskins finished the2003 seasonwith a 5–11 record, their worst since1994.The one bright note of the season was on December 7, whendefensive endBruce Smithsacked Giants quarterbackJesse Palmerin the fourth quarter. With his 199th career sack, Smith brokeReggie White's all-time NFL mark.After two mediocre years, Spurrier resigned after the 2003 season with three years left on his contract. For the2004 season, Snyder successfully lured former coach Joe Gibbs away fromNASCARto return as head coach and team president. His employment came with a promise of decreased intervention in football operations from Snyder.Snyder also expanded FedExField to a league-high capacity of 91,665 seats. Gibbs' return to the franchise did not pay instant dividends as the Redskins finished the 2004 season with a record of 6–10.Despite an impressive defense, the team struggled offensively. QuarterbackMark Brunell—an off-season acquisition from theJacksonville Jaguars—struggled in his first season, and was replaced midway through the season by backupPatrick Ramsey. On the other hand, some of Gibbs' other new signings, such as cornerbackShawn SpringsandlinebackerMarcus Washington, did very well. The Redskins also selectedSean Taylorduring the first draft in Gibbs' return. The2005 seasonstarted with three wins,including a win on September 19 against theDallas Cowboys. Dallas led 13–0 with less than four minutes left when Brunell threw a 39-yard (36 m) touchdown pass to Moss on a fourth-down play. Then, with 2:44 left, Brunell connected with Moss again on a 70-yard (64 m) touchdown pass andNick Novakkicked the game-winning extra point. It was the Redskins' first victory atTexas Stadiumsince1995.They then fell into a slump, losing six of the next eight games which included three straight losses in November,and their playoff chances looked bleak. On December 18, 2005, the Redskins beat Cowboys, 35–7, which marked the first time since 1995 that the Redskins swept the season series with Dallas.The Redskins clinched their first playoff berth since1999.The game also culminated impressive season performances by individuals. Portis set a team mark for most rushing yards in a single season with 1,516 yards (1,386 m), and Moss set a team record for most receiving yards in a single season with 1,483 yards (1,356 m), breakingBobby Mitchell's previous record set in1963.Also,Chris Cooley's 71 receptions brokeJerry Smith's season record for a Redskins tight end. In the first round of theplayoffs, the Redskins met theBuccaneers.The Redskins won 17–10,after taking an early 14–0 lead, which they thought they lost until replay showed that a touchdown, which would have tied the game, was an incomplete pass. In that game, the Redskins broke the record for fewest offensive yards (120) gained in a playoff victory, with one of their two touchdowns being from a defensive run after a fumble recovery. The following weekend, they played theSeahawks, who defeated the Redskins 20–10,ending their hopes of reaching their first NFC Championship Game since1991. The first major move of the 2006 off-season was the hiring ofKansas City Chiefs' offensive coordinatorAl Saundersasoffensive coordinator. Gibbs also added formerBuffalo Billsdefensive coordinatorJerry Grayto his staff as secondary/cornerbacks coach and lost quarterbacks coachBill Musgraveto theFalcons. The Redskins also picked up future startersRocky McIntosh,Anthony Montgomery,Reed Doughty, andKedric Golstonin the2006 NFL draft. After winning only three of the first nine games,Gibbs benched quarterback Brunell for former first-round draft pickJason Campbell. After losing his first game as a starter toTampa Bay, Campbell got his first NFL victory against theCarolina Panthers, bringing the Redskins out of a three-game losing streak.The highlight of the season happened on November 5, and concluded with one of the most exciting endings in the history of theCowboys–Redskins rivalry. Tied 19–19,Troy Vincentblocked a last-second field goal attempt byDallasthat would have given them the win.Sean Taylorpicked up the ball and ran 30 yards (27 m), breaking tackles along the way. It was thought that the game would then go in overtime, however because of a defensive 15-yard (14 m) face mask penalty, the Redskins would get an untimed down. Novak kicked a 47-yard (43 m) field goal, giving Washington a 22–19 victory.However, the Redskins finished the year with a 5–11 record, which resulted in them being last in theNFC East. This marked the second losing season of Joe Gibbs' second term as head coach with the Redskins, compared to the one losing season he had in his first 12-year tenure as head coach. The Redskins began the2007 seasonby \\\"winning ugly\\\" starting the season off 2–0. The Redskins kept winning and losing close games, the only exception to this a 34–3 rout of theDetroit Lions. The Redskins continued to win ugly and lose ugly to be 5–3 at the halfway mark. However, the Redskins would begin to collapse. The team lost their next three games to fall to 5–6. On Monday, November 26, Redskins safetySean Taylorwas shot by home intruders early in the morning in his Miami home. The next morning, Taylor died from severe blood loss.However, the Redskins rebounded to finish 9–7 and clinch the finalplayoffspot in the NFC. Washington trailed 13–0 entering the 4th quarter to theSeattle Seahawksin the wild-card round, but rallied to take a 14–13 lead, but Redskins kickerShaun Suishammissed a field goal later in the game, and the Seahawks scored on the next drive and converted thetwo-point conversion. To close the game, Todd Collins threw two interceptions, each returned for a touchdown, and the Redskins fell 35–14. After Joe Gibbs announced his retirement following the 2007 season,Jim Zornwas hired as head coach and brought in aWest Coast Offense.The2008 seasonstarted well, as the Redskins started the season 6–2. Furthermore, Redskins RBClinton Portisled the NFL in rushing yards.However, things turned for the worse in early November, when they were routed 23–6 by thePittsburgh Steelersand Portis' injuries finally caught up to him. The Redskins continued to struggle, falling all the way to 7–7, with their only win during that six-week period being a 3-point victory of the then-2–8Seattle Seahawks. The Redskins managed to upset thePhiladelphia Eaglesin Week 16, but were eliminated from playoff contention. The team's fortunes continued to slide in2009, as they finished 4–12.Zorn was fired and replaced byMike Shanahanafter the season. On April 4, the Redskins acquiredDonovan McNabbin a trade from the rivalPhiladelphia Eagles.However, the Redskins struggled to a 6–10 finish, once again 4th place in the division.The McNabb era came to an abrupt end when he was traded to Minnesota in August 2011.The troublesomeAfter cutting the injury-rattledClinton Portis, the Redskins had no important offensive players left except for Santana Moss. Mike Shanahan surprised most observers by his decision to nameJohn Beck, an obscure free-agent quarterback, as the starter.However, Shanahan suddenly reversed direction by naming veteran backupRex Grossmanto the starting position.In Week 1, Grossman threw for 305 yards and two touchdown passes as the Redskins crushed the Giants 28–14, ending a six-game losing streak against that team. The Washington Redskins started the season 2–0, but then struggled to a 5–11 finish, however, they managed to win both meetings over the eventualSuper BowlchampionNew York Giants. In2012, the Redskins traded several high draft picks to theSt. Louis Ramsin order to take Baylor quarterbackRobert Griffin IIIsecond overall in the2012 NFL draft.Although the need for a franchise quarterback was obvious, many journalists had doubts about the value of giving up a lot for a single player. In the opening game of the season, Griffin threw for 320 yards and two touchdown passes in a 40–32 victory over theNew Orleans Saintsto give the team its highest-scoring game since 2005. The Redskins struggled to a 3–6 start, but in Week 11, the Redskins would host the struggling Philadelphia Eagles. Griffin would have one of the best games of his career to date, as the Redskins won 31–6 with long touchdowns to Santana Moss and Aldrick Robinson. The Redskins would win their next 6 games after that, including the crucial final game of the season against the Cowboys, which would clinch the division for and send the Redskins to the playoffs. The Redskins hosted theSeattle Seahawksin the Wild Card round but lost 24–14. Hopes were high for a repeat division title in2013. However, these hopes were in vain, as poor play and controversy stirred during the entire year, leading to a disastrous 3–13 campaign.Even though most players had a down year compared to 2012,Pierre Garçonhad his greatest season statistically yet. Garcon brokeArt Monk's 29-year-old franchise record for catches in a single season. Garcon had 113 catches total, which broke Monk's 106 catches in1984by seven.The Redskins fired Shanahan and most of his staff after the season. Jay Gruden era (2014–2019) On January 9,2014, the Redskins hiredJay Grudenas their head coach. Gruden became the eighth head coach of the team since Daniel Snyder purchased the franchise in 1999.The Redskins struggled throughout the season, having three different quarterbacks start games, amounting to a 4–12 record.Defensive coordinatorJim Haslettwas fired at the end of the season. On January 7,2015, the Redskins hiredScot McCloughanto be their general manager.McCloughan took over control of the roster fromBruce Allen, who was given the sole title of team president after the hiring. In October 2015, the Redskins had their largest comeback win in franchise history, coming back to win against theTampa Bay Buccaneers31–30 after being down 0–24 in the second quarter.The Redskins clinched the NFC East division title on December 26, when they beat thePhiladelphia Eaglesin Week 16, 38–24.The division title was their third since Snyder took over ownership of the team, and was the first since the1999 seasonto be clinched before Week 17. The Redskins hosted theGreen Bay Packersin the Wild Card round on January 10, 2016, but lost 35–18, ending their 2015 season.Kirk Cousins, who took over as starting quarterback in the preseason, finished the season with career highs in touchdowns (29), yards (4,166), and completion percentage (69.8%). His completion percentage led the league, while his 29 touchdowns tied him for second on the franchise single-season list. The team's offense in2016set several franchise records, including having over 6,000 total net yards, which was only the third time in franchise history the team had accomplished that.QuarterbackKirk Cousinsalso set single-season team records in attempts, completions, and passing yards, breaking many of his records he had previously set in 2015.DeSean Jackson,Pierre Garçon,Jamison Crowder,Robert Kelley,Chris Thompson,Jordan Reed,Vernon Davis, andMatt Jonesall finished the season with at least 500 yards from scrimmage, tying the2011 New Orleans Saintsfor the most in a single season in NFL history.Despite the numerous records set, the Redskins missed the playoffs, losing 19–10 in a \\\"win and in\\\" situation against the New York Giants in the final week of the season.However, the Redskins still finished the season with a record of 8–7–1, giving the team their first consecutive winning seasons in nearly 20 years.In contrast with the record setting offense, the team's defense had a poor season, finishing 29 out of 32 teams in total defense, which led to the firing ofdefensive coordinatorJoe Barry, as well as three of his assistants.In2017, Cousins had his third straight season with 4,000 passing yards while once again playing under the franchise tag.For the second straight season, the Redskins missed the playoffs, finishing 7–9. During the2018offseason, the Redskins traded for quarterbackAlex Smithto replace Kirk Cousins as he left for the Minnesota Vikings in free agency.Despite early success starting the season 6–3, their best start since2008, the team finished the season 1–6 due to injuries. In a game against the Houston Texans on November 18, 2018, Alex Smith suffered acompoundandspiral fractureto histibiaandfibulain his right leg when he was sacked byKareem JacksonandJ. J. Wattwhich forced him to miss the rest of the season.This led toColt McCoy,Mark Sanchez, andJosh Johnsonstarting games in the second half of the season.The team finished at 7–9 and missed the playoffs for the third consecutive year, with a league-high 25 players on injured reserve. Due to Smith's injury, the Redskins acquiredCase Keenumfrom theDenver Broncosin the2019offseason, and draftedDwayne HaskinsfromOhio Statein the2019 NFL draft.With a league worst 0–5 start to the season, tying with theCincinnati Bengals, and their worst start since2001, the Redskins fired Gruden on October 7, 2019,with offensive line coachBill Callahanserving as the interim head coach for the rest of the season.Gruden finished as the longest-tenured head coach in the Snyder era with six seasons, a 35–49–1 regular season record and one playoff appearance. The Redskins finished the season at 3–13, with victories over theDetroit LionsandCarolina Panthers, and missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year.The record was their worst since going 3–13 in2013and was the second worst of any team that season, behind only the Bengals at 2–14. Rebranding, investigations into Snyder and workplace culture (2020–2023) The team underwent several changes in2020, including retiring the Redskins name and logo and hiring formerCarolina Panthershead coachRon Riverain the same role, as well as namingJason Wrightas team president, the first black person named to that position in NFL history.Some notable members of Rivera's staff include formerJacksonville JaguarsandOakland Raidershead coachJack Del Rioas defensive coordinator andScott Turner, the son of former Redskins head coachNorv Turner, as offensive coordinator. Under Rivera and Del Rio, the team switched their defensive scheme from a3–4 defense, which the team had used under both Shanahan and Gruden's tenure, to a4–3 defense.Due to their 3–13 record the previous season, the team had the second overall pick in the2020 NFL draftand selectedChase Young, who would go on to be namedDefensive Rookie of the Year.Dwayne Haskins, the team's first-round draft pick from 2019, was released prior to the season's end due to ineffective play and not meeting the team's standards off the field.Despite that, Washington would eventually win the division for the first time since 2015 at 7–9, becoming only the third team in NFL history to win a division with a losing record in a non-strike year after the2010 Seattle Seahawksand2014 Carolina Panthers, the latter of which Rivera also coached. In July 2021, a year-long independent investigation led by lawyerBeth Wilkinsoninto the team'sworkplace cultureunder ownerDaniel Snyderwas concluded.It found that several incidents ofsexual harassment, bullying, and intimidation were commonplace throughout the organization under his ownership.The NFL fined the team $10 million in response, with Snyder also voluntarily stepping down from running the team's day-to-day operations, giving those responsibilities to his wife and team CEOTanya.AU.S. House Oversight Committeereport later corroborated the claims and accused him of withholdingsecurity depositfrom season ticket holders. The2021 seasonsaw the hiring ofMartin Mayhewas general manager andMarty Hurneyas another high-ranking executive.With the hiring of Mayhew, Washington became the first team in NFL history to concurrently have a minority general manager, head coach, and president.Backup quarterbackTaylor Heinickewould start the majority of the season afterRyan Fitzpatrickwas injured in the opening game. The team missed the playoffs with a 7–10 record. The Football Team rebranded as the Commanders in2022with new logos and uniforms.The team traded for Colts quarterbackCarson Wentzin the offseason, with them finishing 8-8-1 and becoming the first team since 2008 to finish last in the division with a non-losing record.Wentz, who was benched for Henicke during the season, would be released with Heinicke not being retained.The season would also be the final one under Snyder's ownership. Josh Harris era (2023–present) After mounting pressure from other league owners to sell the team, Snyder hiredBofA Securitiesin November 2022 to explore possible transactions.In May 2023, he reached an agreement to sell the franchise to a group headed byJosh Harris, co-founder ofApollo Global Managementand owner of the NBA'sPhiladelphia 76ersand NHL'sNew Jersey Devils, for $6.05 billion.Limited partners includeDanaherandGlenstonefounderMitchell Rales, Hall of Fame basketball playerMagic Johnson, 76ers and Devils co-ownerDavid Blitzer, D.C. entrepreneurMark Ein,Maverick CapitalfounderLee Ainslie, formerMagic Johnson Enterprisespresident Eric Holoman,Blue Owl Capitalfounders Marc Lipschultz and Doug Ostrover, theSanto Domingo family,ProSharesfounder Michael Sapir, formerGoogleCEOEric Schmidt, andCambridge Information GroupCEO Andy Snyder.The sale was the highest price ever paid for a sports team and was unanimously approved by the NFL on July 20, 2023.By 2024, the Commanders had invested $75 million in improving the infrastructure and game experience ofNorthwest Stadium, including improved food options and renovations to the sound system and suites. The Commanders finished the2023 seasonwith a 4–13 record, allowing the most points and having the worst point differential in the league.Second-year quarterbackSam Howell, who started all 17 games, also led the league in sacks allowed (65) and interceptions thrown (21).It was their seventh straight non-winning season and third straight being eliminated from the playoffs, with the team also going winless in the division for the first time since2019. Head coachRon Riveraand his staff were fired following the season's conclusion. The2024 seasonsaw the hiring ofAdam Petersas general manager and former Falcons head coachDan Quinnfor the same role.The front office and roster saw several changes in the offseason under Peters, including leading the NFL with nearly 30free agentssigned and selecting 2023HeismanquarterbackJayden Danielssecond overall in the2024 NFL draftafter having traded Howell to the Seahawks. Redskins branding controversy The team's formerRedskinsbranding, used from 1933 until 2020, was one of the leading examples of theNative American mascot controversy. Various people and groups, such as theNational Congress of American Indians(NCAI), considered the name a racial slur and attempted to get the team to change it for decades.In a 2013 letter, Snyder stated that while respecting those that say they were offended, a poll conducted by theAnnenberg Public Policy Centerin 2004 found that 90% of Native Americans were not.This poll was essentially replicated in 2016 byThe Washington Post. Social scientists from theUniversity of MichiganandUniversity of California at Berkeleyperformed a study in 2020 that measured Native American opinion in detail, finding that 49% had responded that the name was offensive, with the level of offense increasing to 67% for those with a stronger involvement in Native American culture.When the franchise was undergoing atrademark dispute in 2014, theWashington Postannounced their editorials would no longer use the \\\"Redskins\\\" name.ESPN updated their employee work policies to allow their reporters to choose how to refer to the team going forward. Following renewed attention to racial justice in the wake of themurder of George Floydand subsequentprotestsin 2020, a letter signed by 87 shareholders and investors was sent to team and league sponsorsNike,FedEx, andPepsiCourging them to cut their ties unless the name was changed.Around the same time, several retail companies began removing Redskins merchandise from their stores.In response, the team underwent a review in July 2020 and announced that it would play as the Washington Football Team after retiring its name and logo in wake of theGeorge Floyd protests. The team rebranded as the Commanders, featuring new logos and uniforms, in 2022.In 2023, theNative American Guardians Association(NAGA) launched a petition to return to the Redskins.NAGA later sued the team for defamation after management claimed NAGA to be a \\\"fake\\\" association.In 2024,U.S. SenatorSteve Dainesadvocated for the NFL to honorBlackfeet Nationmember Blackie Wetzel in recognition of his role in the team's former logo depicting an Indian chief, which were based onJohn Two Guns White Calf. While Daines sought to honor the legacy without calling for the return of the Redskins name, some viewed the gesture as insufficient compared to addressing more pressing community needs.The Wetzel family wants to regain the rights to the logo to use it for the Blackie Wetzel Warrior Society to raise awareness about social issues on reservations. Logos and uniforms The franchise's primary colors are burgundy and gold.From 1961 through 1978, Washington wore gold pants with both the burgundy and white jerseys, although details of the jerseys and pants changed a few times during this period. Gold face masks were introduced in 1978 and remain as such to this day; previous to that they were grey. Throughout most of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, Washington was just one of three other teams that primarily wore their white jerseys at home (the others being theDallas CowboysandMiami Dolphins). The tradition of wearing white jerseys over burgundy pants at home, which is considered the \\\"classic\\\" look, was started byJoe Gibbswhen he took over as coach in 1981. Gibbs was an assistant for theSan Diego Chargersin 1979 and 1980 when the team wore white at home under head coachDon Coryell. Their burgundy jerseys were primarily used only when the opposing team decided to wear white at home, which came mostly against theDallas Cowboysand was normally worn over white pants. It was worn on the road against other teams that prefer to wear white at home for games occurring early in the season. From 1981 through 2000, Washington wore their white jerseys over burgundy pants at home almost exclusively. In 1994, as part of a league-wide celebration of the NFL's 75th anniversary, during certain games, the team wore special uniforms which emulated the uniforms worn by the team in its inaugural season in Washington in 1937. Both worn over gold pants, the burgundy jerseys featured gold numbers bordered in white and the white jerseys featured burgundy numbers bordered in gold. The most distinctive feature of both colors of the jersey was the patches worn on both sleeves, which were a reproduction of the patches worn on the full-length sleeves of the 1937 jerseys. Worn with these uniforms was a plain burgundy helmet with a gold facemask. In 2001, the team wore burgundy for all home games in the preseason and regular season per a decision by Marty Schottenheimer, their coach for that year. In 2002, the team celebrated the passing of 70 years since its creation as the Boston Braves in 1932 and wore a special home uniform, a burgundy jersey over gold pants, which roughly resembled the home uniforms used from 1969 to 1978. The helmets used with this special home uniform during that year were a reproduction of the helmets used by the team from 1965 to 1969, though they wore white at home in Week 1 against theArizona Cardinalsand again in Week 17, the latter forcing the Cowboys to use their blue jerseys.This special home uniform was also worn during one game in 2003. In 2004, when Gibbs became the coach of the team once again, the team switched back to wearing white jerseys at home; in Gibbs's 16 years as head coach, the team never wore burgundy jerseys at home, even wearing a white throwback jersey in 2007. Their white jerseys have provided three basic color combinations. The last combination consists of both white jerseys and pants. That particular combination surfaced in the first game of the 2003 season when the team was coached by Steve Spurrier, during a nationally televised game against theNew York Jets, which led many sports fans and Redskins faithful alike to point out that they had never seen that particular combination before. The Redskins won six straight games, including one in the playoffs against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, wearing that combination. In the NFC Divisional Playoff game against the eventual 2005 NFC ChampionSeattle Seahawks, Washington wore the all-white uniforms in hopes that they could keep their streak going; however, they lost 20–10. The white jersey over burgundy pants look reappeared in a home game against theCarolina Pantherslater in 2006. In celebration of the franchise's 75th anniversary, Washington wore a one-timethrowback uniformfor a home game against theNew York Giants, based on their away uniform from 1970 to 1971. Players wore a white jersey with three burgundy and two gold stripes on each sleeve and the 75th-anniversary logo on the left chest. The pants were gold, with one white stripe bordered by a burgundy stripe on each side, running down each side. The helmet was gold-colored with a burgundy \\\"R\\\" logo. The helmet and uniform styles were the same as the ones the franchise used during the 1970–71 seasons.Vince Lombardi, who coached Washington in 1969 before dying during the 1970 preseason, was the inspiration behind the helmet. Lombardi pushed for the logo, which sat inside a white circle enclosed within a burgundy circle border, with Native American feathers hanging down from the side because of its similarity to the \\\"G\\\" on the helmets worn by theGreen Bay Packers, who he had coached during most of the 1960s. In a 2008Monday Night Footballgame against thePittsburgh Steelers, Washington wore amonochromelook by wearing burgundy jerseys over burgundy pants.This combination made two further appearances the following season against theDallas CowboysandNew York Giants. The Redskins, starting in 2010, began to wear the burgundy jersey paired with the gold pants reminiscent of the George Allen era.Against theTennessee Titanslater that season, the team matched the gold pants with the usual white jerseys for the first time. Washington wore the same combination against the Giants on the road two weeks later. In 2011, the Redskins wore the burgundy jersey and gold pants for five home games and a road game at Dallas, the burgundy jersey with white pants for three home games and a road game at Miami, the white jersey and burgundy pants for five road games, and the white jersey and gold pants for aBills game in Toronto. The following year, the team wore an updated throwback uniform of the 1937 championship team that featured a helmet pattern based on the logo-less leather helmets worn at the time, in a game against the Carolina Panthers.In 2013, a newly implemented NFL rule stated that teams could not wear alternate helmets (thus limiting them to one helmet) on account of player safety. As a result, Washington wore its 1937 throwbacks with the logo removed from the regular helmet in a game versus theSan Diego Chargers.That year, the Redskins removed the burgundy collar from their white jerseys in order to have better consistency with the newNikeuniforms that had debuted the previous season. Between 2014 and 2016, the team wore the gold pants with their standard uniforms, although the burgundy pants returned as part of the team's away uniform later in 2016.In 2017, Washington resurrected the all-burgundy ensemble as part of theNFL Color Rush. Nike initially provided an all-gold uniform but team officials called it \\\"garish\\\" and refused to wear it.In 2018, Washington replaced the gold pants with white for the majority of their home games. During their two season as the Washington Football Team in 2020 and 2021, their logo was a simple \\\"W\\\" with the helmets having player numbers.The Commanders rebranding included new logos and uniforms featuring military-inspired motifs. The primary home uniform remained burgundy with gold and white stripes with the letters having a gold base. The team name is placed atop the numbers in front, which were also gold and trimmed in white. The road white uniform features burgundy and white gradient numbers with black trim, along with burgundy and white gradient and black sleeve stripes. Both sets are paired with either burgundy or white pants. The alternate black uniform features the team name on the left chest in gold, and numbers have a gold base with burgundy trim. Black pants are paired with this uniform with an alternate black helmet having with the \\\"W\\\" logo in front and uniform numbers on each side.A pig mascot,Major Tuddy, was also unveiled near the end of the season.In 2024, gold pants returned to the uniform rotation for the first time since 2018. Rivalries Divisional Dallas Cowboys The Commanders' rivalry with theDallas Cowboysfeatures two teams that have won 31 combined division titles and 10 championships, including eight combinedSuper Bowls.The rivalry started in 1960 when the Cowboys joined the league as anexpansion team.During that year they were in separate conferences, but played once during the season. In 1961, Dallas was placed in the same division as the Redskins, and from that point on, they have played each other twice during everyregular season. Texas oil tycoonClint Murchison Jr.was having a difficult time bringing an NFL team toDallas. In 1958, Murchison heard thatGeorge Preston Marshall, owner of the Washington Redskins, was eager to sell the team. Just as the sale was about to be finalized, Marshall called for a change in terms. Murchison was outraged and canceled the whole deal.Around this time, Marshall had a falling out with the Redskin band director, Barnee Breeskin. Breeskin had written the music for the team'sfight song, now known as \\\"Hail to the Commanders\\\", which gets played by theWashington Commanders Marching Bandafter every touchdown at home games.He wanted revenge after the failed negotiations with Marshall. He approached Tom Webb, Murchison's lawyer, and sold the rights for $2,500 (equivalent to $25,700 in 2023).Murchison then decided to create his own team, with the support of NFL expansion committee chairman,George Halas. Halas decided to put the proposition of a Dallas franchise before the NFL owners, which needed to have unanimous approval in order to pass. The only owner against the proposal was George Preston Marshall. However, Marshall found out that Murchison owned the rights to Washington's fight song, so a deal was finally struck. If Marshall showed his approval of the Dallas franchise, Murchison would return the song. The Cowboys were then founded and began playing in 1960.At the time in 2016, a matchup between the teams on Thanksgiving was the most-watched regular-season game broadcast by theNFL on Fox.The Cowboys lead the series 78–48–2. Philadelphia Eagles The Commanders' rivalry with thePhiladelphia Eaglesbegan October 21, 1934, during Washington's first year under the Boston Redskins moniker; the Redskins defeated the Eagles 6–0 atFenway Park. Washington leads the series 87–80–8. The Eagles have won 12 of the last 20 matchups since 2010. New York Giants As of the 2023 season, the Giants lead the all-time series 108–71–5. Other Baltimore Ravens Though the two teams only play each other every 4 years, the Commanders have taken part in a minor geographic rivalry with theBaltimore Ravensas both stadiums are approximately 40 miles apart.The Commanders particularly had long blocked the return of an NFL team to Baltimore since theColts franchiserelocated to Indianapolis in 1984. Former ownerJack Kent Cookehad been accused in multiple instances of orchestrating any means to prevent the city from receiving a new franchise until the Cleveland Browns relocated to Baltimore in 1996, prompting Cooke to put the Redskins' then-new stadium in Landover, Maryland.The two teams play each other annually during the preseason.The Ravens lead the all-time series 5–3. Ownership and staff Ownership Opposed calls to change thecontroversial Redskins brandinguntil 2020 amid growing pressure from sponsors, with the franchise playing as the Washington Football Team prior to rebranding as the Commanders in2022. Represented by his wifeTanyafor league events following an indefinite suspension by the NFL in 2021. Staff →Coaching staff→Front office→More NFL staffs Players Roster Running backs(RB) Wide receivers(WR) Tight ends(TE) Defensive linemen(DL) Defensive backs(DB) Special teams Reserved 53 active, 5 reserved, 16 practice squad (+1 exempt) Retired numbers Unofficial Some numbers are unofficially retired and are withheld from being selected by other players. The use of unofficial retired numbers drew controversy duringSteve Spurrier's first year as head coach in 2002.QuarterbacksDanny WuerffelandShane Matthewsfirst wore 7 and 9 respectively during training camp. The resulting controversy led to them switching to 17 and 6.Dwayne Haskins, the team's first-round selection in the2019 NFL draft, received permission from Theismann to wear number 7. Pro Football Hall of Fame members Names inboldindicate induction primarily based on accomplishments with Washington. Ring of Fame When the team leftRFK Stadiumin 1996, the signs commemorating the Washington Hall of Stars were left behind and the team began a new tradition of honoring Redskins greats via the \\\"Ring of Fame\\\", a set of signs on the upper level facade at Northwest Stadium. Team founderGeorge Preston Marshallis the only member to ever be removed once inducted, which was done in 2020. 90 Greatest In honor of the Redskins' 70th anniversary in 2002, a panel selected the 70 Greatest Redskins to honor the players and coaches who were significant on-field contributors to the Redskins five championships. They were honored in a weekend of festivities, including a special halftime ceremony during a Redskins' win over theIndianapolis Colts.In 2012, ten more players and personnel were added to the list for the team's 80th anniversary.In 2022, ten more players were added in honor of the franchise's 90th anniversary. The panel that chose the 70 consisted of former news anchorBernard Shaw; former playerBobby Mitchell; SenatorGeorge Allen(son of coachGeorge Allen); broadcasterKen Beatrice; Noel Epstein, editor for theWashington Post; former diplomatJoseph J. Sisco; Phil Hochberg, who retired in 2001 after 38 years as team stadium announcer; Pro Football Hall of Fame historian Joe Horrigan; sportscasterGeorge Michael; sports directorAndy Pollin; NFL Films presidentSteven Sabol; and news anchorJim Vance. The list includes three head coaches and 67 players, of which 41 were offensive players, 23 defensive players and three special teams players.Among the 70 Greatest, there are 92Super Bowlappearances, with 47 going once and 45 playing in more than one. 29 members possess one Super Bowl ring and 26 have more than one. Also, before the Super Bowl, members of the 70 made 18 World Championship appearances including six that participated in the Redskins' NFL Championship victories in 1937 and 1942.Boldindicates those elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Individual awards Command Force TheCommand Forceis the team's professional dance and performance group. They were originally formed in 1962 as acheerleadingsquad known as theRedskinettes, named after the team's former Redskins name.They were revamped as the Command Force upon the team's rebranding as the Commanders in 2022.They have also been referred to as theFirst Ladies of Football. Records Single-game Season Franchise NFL records Offense Defense Special teams Broadcasting The Commanders' currentflagshipradio station is100.3 WBIG-FM, which acquired the rights in 2022 as part of an agreement withiHeartMedia.Frank Herzogwas the team's leadplay-by-playannouncer from 1979 to 2004, when he was replaced by Larry Michael.Herzog was joined from 1981 by former RedskinsSonny JurgensenandSam Huff.Michael retired in 2020 and was replaced byBram Weinstein.Weinstein is joined by color analystLondon Fletcher, who played linebacker for the team from 2007 to 2013.Julie Donaldsonserved as host from 2020 to 2023 and was the first woman to be an on-air broadcaster for an NFL team. WMALhas historically been associated with the team, having been its flagship station from 1942 to 1956, and again from 1963 through 1991—broadcasting all three of the team's Super Bowl victories.From 1992 to 1994,WTEM—which had become DC's first all-sports radio station—became the Redskins' flagship station,after which they moved toWJFK-FM.In 2006, after WJFK andCBS Radiodeclined to renew its rights to the team, the Redskins moved toWWXT,WWXX, andWXTR. The stations had recently been bought byRed Zebra Broadcasting—a group co-owned by Snyder—and had become a sports radiotrimulcastknown as \\\"Triple XESPN Radio\\\".Red Zebra Broadcasting would eventually acquire WTEM in 2008, making it the originating station of the simulcast, and therefore the team's flagship station. In 2017,Cumulus Mediareached an agreement to carry the team's radio broadcasts on WMAL, marking its return to the station for the first time since 1991. As part of the agreement, WTEM remained the team's official flagship.In 2018, WTEM was sold toUrban One, but maintained its rights to the team.In June 2019, WMAL flipped to sports radio itself asWSBN, taking over the local ESPN Radio affiliation from WTEM; WMAL's previousconservative talkformat moved exclusively to itsFM simulcast station. Telecasts of preseason games were previously carried byNBC Sports Washingtonin theMid-Atlanticregion. SisterNBCowned-and-operated stationWRC-TVwas the team's \\\"official\\\" broadcast television station, simulcasting the preseason games and airing other team-produced programs during the season.With the sale of NBC Sports Washington byNBCUniversaltoWashington CapitalsandWashington WizardsownerTed Leonsis, the network declined to renew its rights to the team.Most regular season Commanders games are carried byNFL on Foxpackage except when the team plays in primetime. In June 2024, the team andWUSAannounced a partnership to broadcast the team's preseason games as well as some original content. U.S. presidential election superstition Between 1932 and 2008, for 19 of 20United States presidential elections, a win for the Redskins in their last home game prior toElection Daycoincided with the incumbent party winning re-election. The exception was in 2004, whenRepublicanincumbentGeorge W. Bushwon re-election despite theGreen Bay Packersbeating the Redskins.The trend subsequently came to an end when in 2012,Democraticincumbent Barack Obama won re-election despite the Redskins losing to theCarolina Panthers;in 2016, Republican candidateDonald Trumpwon the election despite the Redskins defeating the Eagles; and in 2020, Democratic candidateJoe Bidenwon despite Washington's win. Footnotes References External links # denotes de facto general manager # denotes interim status\",\n \"Boston Braves TheBoston Braveswere aMajor League Baseballclub that originated inBoston, Massachusetts, and played from 1871 to 1952. Afterwards they moved toMilwaukee(and became theMilwaukee Braves). Then in 1966 they were relocated toAtlanta, where they were renamed theAtlanta Braves. During its 82-year stay inMassachusetts, the franchise was known by various nicknames, including theRed Stockings,Red Caps,Rustlers,Bees, and \\\"Braves\\\". While in Boston, the team won 10National League pennantsand aWorld Serieschampionship in1914that came after a season in which the Braves were in last place as late as July 15—a turnaround that led to the nickname \\\"Miracle Braves\\\". In1948, the Braves reached the World Series largely as a result of their two dominant pitchers,Warren SpahnandJohnny Sain, who inspired theBoston Postslogan \\\"Spahn and Sain and pray for rain.\\\" The Braves posted a losing record in all but 12 of the 38 seasons after their World Series win. The franchise relocated to Milwaukee in 1953. The Boston franchise played atSouth End Groundsfrom 1871 to 1914 and atBraves Fieldfrom 1915 to 1952. Braves Field is nowNickerson FieldofBoston University. The franchise, from Boston to Milwaukee to Atlanta, is the oldest continuously operating professional baseball franchise. Early history TheCincinnati Red Stockings, established in 1869 as the first openly all-professional baseball team, voted to dissolve after the 1870 season. Player-managerHarry Wrightthen went toBoston, Massachusetts—at the invitation of Boston businessmanIvers Whitney Adams—with brotherGeorge Wrightand two other Cincinnati players joined theBoston Red Stockings, a charter member of theNational Association of Professional Base Ball Players. This team and its successors are the oldest continuously playing team in American professional sports.(The only other team that has been organized as long,the Chicago Cubs, did not play for the two years following theGreat Chicago Fireof 1871.) Two players hired from theForest City clubofRockford, Illinois, were pitcherAl Spalding(founder ofSpaldingsporting goods) and second basemanRoss Barnes. Led by the Wright brothers, Barnes, andSpalding, the Red Stockings won four of the National Association's five championships. The team became one of the National League's charter franchises in 1876, sometimes called the \\\"Red Caps\\\" (as a new Cincinnati Red Stockings club was another charter member). Boston came to be called theBeaneatersby sportswriters in 1883, while retaining red as the team color. Boston won the 1877 and 1878 pennants. The Red Caps/Beaneaters won eight pennants during the 19th century. TheirmanagerwasFrank Selee, the first manager not to double as a player as well.The 1898 teamfinished 102–47, a club record for wins that would stand for almost a century. In 1894 the Braves became the first major league baseball team to wear letterforms on their uniform caps when they added a monogram-style device to their front. They only managed one winning season from 1900 to 1913, and lost 100 or more games six times. In1907,the renamed Doves(temporarily) eliminated the red from their stockings because their manager thought the red dye could cause wounds to become infected (as noted inThe Sporting News Baseball Guideduring the 1940s when each team's entry had a history of its nickname(s). See details inHistory of baseball team nicknames). The American League club's owner, Charles Taylor, changed his team's name to the Red Sox in place of the \\\"Americans\\\". WhenGeorgeandJohn Doveyacquired the club in 1907, the team was named theDoves; when purchased byWilliam Hepburn Russellin 1911 reporters tried outRustlers.The team adopted an official name, theBraves, for the first time in1912. Their owner,James Gaffney, was a member of New York City'sTammany Hall, which used an Indian chief as their symbol. 1914: Miracle Two years later, the Braves put together one of the most memorable seasons in baseball history. After a dismal 4–18 start, the Braves seemed to be on pace for a last place finish. On July 4, 1914, the Braves lost both games of a doubleheader tothe Brooklyn Dodgers. The consecutive losses put their record at 26–40 and the Braves were in last place, 15 games behind the league-leadingNew York Giants, who had won the previous three league pennants. After a day off, the Braves put together a hot streak, and from July 6 through September 5, the Braves won 41 games against only 12 losses.On September 7 and 8, the Braves took 2 of 3 from the New York Giants and moved into first place. The Braves tore through September and early October, closing with 25 wins against 6 losses, while the Giants went 16–16.They are the only team to win a pennant after being in last place on theFourth of July. They were in last place as late as July 18, but were close to the pack, moving into fourth on July 21 and second place on August 12. Despite their amazing comeback, the Braves enteredthe World Seriesas a heavy underdog toConnie Mack'sPhiladelphia Athletics. Nevertheless, the Braves swept the Athletics—the first unqualified sweep in the young history of the modern World Series (the1907 World Serieshad one tied game)—to win the world championship. Meanwhile, formerChicago CubsinfielderJohnny Evers, in his second season with the Braves, wonthe Chalmers Award. The Braves played the World Series (as well as the last few weeks of the 1914 regular season) atFenway Park, since their normal home, theSouth End Grounds, was too small. However, the Braves' success inspired owner Gaffney to build a modern park,Braves Field, which opened in August 1915. It was the largest park in the majors at the time, with 40,000 seats and also a very spacious outfield. The park was novel for its time; public transportation brought fans right into the park. 1915–1935: Losing years After contending for most of 1915 and 1916, the Braves spent much of the next 19 years in mediocrity, during which they posted only three winning seasons (1921,1933, and1934). The lone highlight of those years came when Giants' attorneyEmil Fuchsbought the team in 1923 to bring his longtime friend, pitching greatChristy Mathewson, back into the game. Although original plans called for Mathewson to be the principal owner, he had never recovered fromtuberculosisthat he had contracted after beinggassedduringWorld War I. By the end of the 1923 season, it was obvious Mathewson could not continue even in a reduced role, and he would die two years later, with the result that Fuchs was permanently given the presidency. In 1928, the Braves traded for Hall of FamerRogers Hornsbywho had a very productive year in his only season with Boston. He batted .387 to win his seventh and final batting championship. Fuchs was committed to building a winner, but the damage from the years prior to his arrival took some time to overcome. The Braves finally managed to compete in1933and1934under managerBill McKechnie, but Fuchs' revenue was severely depleted due to theGreat Depression. Babe Ruth returns to Boston Looking for a way to get more supporters and more money, Fuchs worked out a deal with theNew York Yankeesto acquireBabe Ruth, who had, coincidentally, started his career with theBoston Red Sox. Fuchs named Ruth vice president and assistant manager of the Braves, and promised him a share of team profits. He was also to be consulted on all player transactions. Fuchs even suggested that Ruth, who had long had his heart set on managing, could take over as manager once McKechnie stepped down—perhaps as early as 1936. At first, it looked like Ruth was the final piece the team needed in1935. Onopening day, he had a hand in all of the Braves' runs in a 4–2 win over theGiants. However, this could not last. Opening Day proved to be the only time the Braves were over .500 all year. A 4–20 May ended any realistic chance of contention. At the same time, it became apparent that Ruth was finished even as a part-time player. While his high living of previous years had begun catching up with him a year earlier, his conditioning rapidly declined in the first month of 1935. While he was still able to hit at first, he could do little else. He could no longer run, and his fielding was so terrible that three of the Braves' pitchers threatened to go on strike if Ruth were in the lineup. Ruth soon discovered that he was vice president and assistant manager in name only, and Fuchs' promise of a share of team profits was hot air. In fact, Ruth discovered that Fuchs expected him to invest some ofhismoney in the team. Seeing a franchise in complete disarray, Ruth retired on June 1, only six days after he clouted what turned out to be the last three home runs of his career, in what remains one of the most memorable afternoons in baseball history. He had wanted to quit as early as May 12, but Fuchs wanted him to hang on so he could play in every National League park.By this time, the Braves were 9–27, their season all but over. They ultimately finished 38–115, easily the worst season in franchise history. Their .248 winning percentage is tied for theseventh-worst in baseball history, and the sixth-worst in National League history. It is the second-worst in modern baseball history (behind only the1916 Philadelphia Athletics), and the worst in modern National League history. 1936–1941: the Bees Insolvent like his team, Fuchs was forced to give up control of the Braves in August 1935,and new ownerBob Quinntried to change the team's image by renaming it theBoston Bees.This did little to change the team's fortunes. After five uneven years, a new owner, construction magnateLou Perini, changed the nickname back to the Braves. 1948: National League champions In1948, theteamwon the National League pennant by capturing 91 games to finish 61⁄2places ahead of the second–placeSt. Louis Cardinals. They also attracted 1,455,439 fanstoBraves Field, the third-largest gate in the National League and a high-water mark for the team's stay in Boston. The pitching staff was anchored by Hall of FamerWarren SpahnandJohnny Sain, who won 39 games between them. The remainder of the rotation was so thin that in September,Boston Postwriter Gerald Hern wrote this poem about the pair: First we'll use Spahnthen we'll use SainThen an off dayfollowed by rainBack will come Spahnfollowed by SainAnd followedwe hopeby two days of rain. The poem received such a wide audience that the sentiment, usually now paraphrased as \\\"Spahn, Sain, then pray for rain\\\" or \\\"Spahn, Sain and two days of rain\\\", entered the baseball vocabulary. Ironically, in the 1948 season, the Braves actually had a better record in games that Spahn and Saindid notstart than in games they did. (Other sources include pitcherVern Bickfordin the verse.) The Braves lost the1948 World Seriesin six games tothe Cleveland Indians(who had beatenthe Red Soxin atie-breaker gameto spoil an all-Boston World Series). This turned out to be the Braves' last hurrah in Boston. 1949–1952: Final years in Boston Sam Jethroe Acquired earlier by trade from theBrooklyn Dodgers, on April 18, 1950,Sam \\\"Jet\\\" Jethroewas added to theBoston Bravesroster. The Dodgers had another young CF inDuke Sniderrising in their system, resulting in the trade to the Braves.Going on to be namedNational League Rookie of the Yearat age 32, Jethroe broke the color barrier with Boston. In 1950, Jethroe hit .273 with 100 runs, 18 home runs and 58 RBI. His 35 stolen bases led the National League, a feat he would duplicate in 1951. While in Boston, Jethroe was a roommate ofChuck Cooper, ofthe Boston Celticswho was the first African-American player drafted by anNBAteam.A formerNegro leaguesstar and military veteran, Jethroe remains the oldest player to have won Rookie of the Year honors. Move to Milwaukee and aftermath Amid four mediocre seasons after 1948, attendance steadily dwindled, even though Braves Field had the reputation of being more family friendly than Fenway. For a half century, the major leagues had not had a single franchise relocation.The Braves played their last home game in Boston on September 21,1952, losing to theBrooklyn Dodgers8–2before 8,822 at Braves Field; the home attendance for the 1952 season was under 282,000. On March 13, 1953, ownerLou Perinisaid that he would seek permission from the National League to move the Braves to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.After the franchise's long history in Boston, the day became known as \\\"Black Friday\\\" in the city as fans mourned the team's exit after eight decades. Perini, however, pointed to dwindling attendance as the main reason for the relocation. He also announced that he had recently bought out his original partners. He announced Milwaukee as that was where the Braves had their top farm club, the Brewers. Milwaukee had long been a possible target for relocation.Bill Veeckhad tried to move hisSt. Louis Brownsthere earlier the same year (Milwaukee was the original home of that franchise), but his proposal had been voted down by the other American League owners. Going into spring training in 1953, it appeared that the Braves would play another year in Boston unless the National League gave permission for the move. After a 31⁄2-hour meeting at theVinoy Park Hotelin St. Petersburg, Florida, league approval was granted after Perini promised not to sell the team.During a game against theNew York Yankeeson March 18, the sale was announced final and that the team would move to Milwaukee, immediately.TheAll-Star Gamehad been scheduled for Braves Field. It was moved toCrosley Fieldand hosted by theCincinnati Reds.The Braves franchise moved their triple-A Brewers from Milwaukee to Toledo, Ohio. After the Braves moved to Milwaukee in1953, the Braves Field site was sold toBoston Universityand reconstructed asNickerson Field, the home of manyBoston Universityteams. The Braves Field scoreboard was sold to theKansas City A'sand used atMunicipal Stadium; the A's moved toOaklandafter the1967season. Notable Boston Braves Notes References\",\n \"Atlanta Braves TheAtlanta Bravesare an Americanprofessional baseballteam based in theAtlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete inMajor League Baseball(MLB) as a member club of theNational League(NL)East Division. The Braves were founded inBoston, Massachusetts, in 1871, as theBoston Red Stockings. The club was known by various names until the franchise settled on theBoston Bravesin 1912. The Braves are the oldest continuously operatingprofessional sports franchise in North America. After 81 seasons andone World Series titlein Boston, the clubmovedtoMilwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1953. With a roster of star players such asHank Aaron,Eddie Mathews, andWarren Spahn, theMilwaukee Braveswon theWorld Seriesin 1957. Despite the team's success, fan attendance declined. The club's owners moved the team toAtlanta, Georgia, in 1966. The Braves did not find much success in Atlanta until 1991. From 1991 to 2005, the Braves were one of the most successful teams in baseball, winning an unprecedented 14 consecutive division titles,making an MLB record eight consecutiveNational League Championship Seriesappearances, and producing one of thegreatest pitching rotationsin the history of baseball including Hall of FamersGreg Maddux,John Smoltz, andTom Glavine. The Braves are one of the two remaining National League charter franchises that debuted in 1876.The club has won an MLB record 23 divisional titles, 18National Leaguepennants, and four World Series championships. The Braves are the only Major League Baseball franchise to have won the World Series in three different home cities.At the end of the 2024 season, the Braves' overall win–loss record is11,114–10,949–154(.504). Since moving to Atlanta in 1966, the Braves have an overall win–loss record of4,850–4,461–8(.521) through the end of 2024. History Boston (1871–1952) 1871–1913 TheCincinnati Red Stockings, formed in 1869, were the first openly all-professional baseball team but disbanded after the 1870 season.ManagerHarry Wrightand players moved toBoston, forming theBoston Red Stockings, a charter team in theNational Association of Professional Base Ball Players(NAPBBP).Led by the Wright brothers, Ross Barnes, andAl Spalding, they dominated the National Association, winning four of five championships.The original Boston Red Stockings team and its successors can lay claim to being the oldest continuously playing franchise in American professional sports. The club was known as the Boston Red Caps when they played the firstNational Leaguegame in1876, winning against thePhiladelphia Athletics.Despite a weaker roster in the league's first year, they rebounded to secure the 1877 and 1878 pennants.Managed byFrank Selee, they were a dominant force in the 19th century, winning eight pennants.By 1898 the team was known as theBeaneatersand they won 102 games, with stars likeHugh Duffy,Tommy McCarthy, and \\\"Slidin'\\\"Billy Hamilton. In 1901, the American League was introduced, causing many Beaneaters players including stars Duffy andJimmy Collinsto leave for clubs of the rival league.The team struggled, having only one winning season from 1900 to 1913 and losing 100 games five times. In 1907, they temporarily dropped the red color from their stockings due to infection concerns.The club underwent various nickname changes until becoming the Braves before the1912 season.The president of the club, John M. Ward named the club after the owner,James Gaffney.Gaffney was called one of the \\\"braves\\\" of New York City's political machine,Tammany Hall, which used a Native American chief as their symbol. 1914: Miracle In 1914, the Boston Braves experienced a remarkable turnaround in what would become one of the most memorable seasons in baseball history.Starting with a dismal 4–18 record, the Braves found themselves in last place, trailing the league-leadingNew York Giantsby 15 games after losing a doubleheader to theBrooklyn Robinson July 4.However, the team rebounded with an incredible hot streak, going 41–12 from July 6 to September 5.On August 3,Joseph Lanninthe president of the Red Sox, offeredFenway Parkto the Braves free of charge for the remainder of the season since their usual home, theSouth End Grounds, was too small.On September 7 and 8, they defeated the Giants in two out of three games, propelling them into first place.Despite being in last place as late as July 18, the Braves secured the pennant, becoming the only team under the old eight-team league format to achieve this after being in last place on the Fourth of July.They were in last place as late as July 18, but were close to the pack, moving into fourth on July 21 and second place on August 12. The Braves entered the1914 World Seriesled by captain and National LeagueMost Valuable Player,Johnny Evers.The Boston club were slight underdogs againstConnie Mack'sPhiladelphia A's.However, they swept the Athletics and won the world championship.Inspired by their success, owner Gaffney constructed a modern park,Braves Field, which opened in August 1915 and was the largest park in the majors at the time, boasting 40,000 seats and convenient public transportation access. 1915–1953 From 1917 to 1933, the Boston Braves struggled. After a series of different owners,Emil Fuchsbought the team in 1923.Fuchs brought his longtime friend, pitching greatChristy Mathewson, as part of the syndicate that bought the club.However, the death of pitching legend in 1925 left Fuchs in control.Despite Fuchs' commitment to success, the team faced challenges overcoming the damage from previous years. It wasn't until 1933 and 1934, under managerBill McKechnie, that the Braves became competitive, but it did little to help the club's finances. In an effort to boost fan attendance and finances, Fuchs orchestrated a deal with theNew York Yankeesto acquireBabe Ruthin 1935.Ruth was appointed team vice president with promises of profit shares and managerial prospects.Initially, Ruth seemed to provide a spark on opening day, but his declining skills became evident.Ruth's inability to run and poor fielding led to internal strife, and it became clear that his titles were symbolic.Ruth retired on June 1, 1935, shortly after hitting his last three home runs.The Braves finished the season with a dismal 38–115 record, marking the franchise's worst season. Fuchs lost control of the team in August 1935,leading to a rebranding attempt as the Boston Bees, but it did little to alter the team's fortune. Construction magnateLou Perinitook over, eventually restoring the Braves' name.Despite World War II causing a brief setback, the team, led by pitcherWarren Spahn, enjoyed impressive seasons in 1946 and 1947 under Perini's ownership. In 1948, theteamwon the pennant, behind the pitching of Spahn andJohnny Sain.The remainder of the rotation was so thin that in September,Boston Postwriter Gerald Hern wrote this poem about the pair: The poem received such a wide audience that the sentiment, usually now paraphrased as \\\"Spahn and Sain and pray for rain\\\", entered the baseball vocabulary. The1948 World Series, which the Braves lost in six games to theIndians, turned out to be the Braves' last hurrah in Boston.On March 13, 1953, Perini announced he was moving the club toMilwaukee.Perini cited advent of television and the lack of enthusiasm for the Braves in Boston as the key factors in deciding to move the franchise. Milwaukee (1953–1965) The Milwaukee Braves' relocation to Wisconsin in 1953 was initially a triumphant success, as they drew a then-National League record of 1.8 million fans and finished their inaugural season second in the National League.ManagerCharlie Grimmwas namedNL Manager of the Yearfollowing the Braves improvement. Throughout the 1950s, the Braves were a National League power; driven by sluggersEddie MathewsandHank Aaron, the team won two pennants and finished second twice between 1956 and 1959.In1957, Aaron'sMVP seasonled the Braves to their first pennant in nine years, securing aWorld Seriesvictory against the formidable New York Yankees.Despite a strong start in the World Seriesrematchthe followingseason, the Braves ultimately lost the last three games and the World Series.The1959 seasonended in a tie with the Los Angeles Dodgers, leading to a playoff loss for the Braves. The ensuing years saw fluctuating success, including the Braves finishing fifth in 1963, their first time in the \\\"second division.\\\"The team's owner, Louis Perini, sold the Braves to a Chicago-based group led by William Bartholomay in 1962.Despite plans to move to Atlanta in 1965, legal hurdles kept the Braves in Milwaukee for one more season before they completed the relocation in 1966. Atlanta (1966–present) 1966–1974 After arriving in Atlanta in 1966, the Braves found success in 1969, with the onset of divisional play by winning the first-everNational League WestDivision title.In theNational League Championship Seriesthe Braves were swept by the \\\"Miracle Mets.\\\"They would not be a factor during the next decade, posting only two winning seasons between 1970 and 1981.Fans in Atlanta had to be satisfied with the achievements ofHank Aaron, who by the end of the 1973 season, had hit 713 home runs, one short of Ruth's record.On April 4, opening day of thenext season, he hit No. 714 inCincinnati, and on April 8, in front of his home fans and a national television audience, he finally beat Ruth's mark with a home run to left-center field off left-handerAl Downingof theLos Angeles Dodgers.Aaron spent most of his career as a Milwaukee and Atlanta Brave before being traded to theMilwaukee Brewerson November 2, 1974. Ted Turner era 1976–1977: Ted Turner buys the team In 1976, the team was purchased by media magnateTed Turner, owner ofsuperstationWTBS, as a means to keep the team (and one of his main programming staples) in Atlanta.Turner used the Braves as a major programming draw for his fledgling cable network, making the Braves the first franchise to have a nationwide audience and fan base.WTBS marketed the team as \\\"The Atlanta Braves:America's Team\\\", a nickname that still sticks in some areas of the country, especiallythe South.The financially strapped Turner used money already paid to the team for their broadcast rights as a down-payment. Turner quickly gained a reputation as a quirky, hands-on baseball owner. On May 11, 1977, Turner appointed himselfmanager, but because MLB passed a rule in the 1950s barring managers from holding a financial stake in their teams, Turner was ordered to relinquish that position after one game (theBraveslost 2–1 to thePittsburgh Piratesto bring their losing streak to 17 games). 1978–1990 The Braves didn't enjoy much success between 1978 and 1990, however, in the1982 season, led by managerJoe Torre, the Braves secured their first divisional title since 1969.The team was led by standout performances from key players likeDale Murphy,Bob Horner,Chris Chambliss,Phil Niekro, andGene Garber.The Braves were swept in theNLCSin three games by theCardinals.Murphy won the Most Valuable Player award for the National League in 1982 and 1983. 1991–2005: 14 consecutive division titles From 1991 to 2005, the Atlanta Braves enjoyed a remarkable era of success in baseball, marked by a record-setting 14 consecutive division titles, five National League pennants, and a World Series championship in 1995.Bobby Cox returned as manager in 1990, leading the team's turnaround after finishing the previous season with the worst record in baseball. Notable developments included the drafting ofChipper Jonesin 1990 and the hiring of general manager John Schuerholz from the Kansas City Royals. The Braves' remarkable journey began in1991, known as the \\\"Worst to First\\\" season.Overcoming a shaky start, the Braves bounced back led by young pitchersTom GlavineandJohn Smoltz.The team secured the NL pennant in a memorable playoff race, ultimately losing a closely contestedWorld Seriesto the Minnesota Twins. The following year, theBraveswon theNLCSin dramatic fashion against thePiratesbut fell short in theWorld Seriesagainst theToronto Blue Jays. In 1993, the Braves strengthened their pitching staff with the addition of Cy Young Award winnerGreg Madduxin free agency.Despite posting a franchise-best 104 wins, they lost in theNLCSto thePhiladelphia Phillies. The team moved to the Eastern Division in 1994, sparking a heated rivalry with the New York Mets. Theplayer's strikecut short the 1994 season just before the division championships, but the Braves rebounded in 1995, defeating theCleveland Indiansto win theWorld Series.With this World Series victory, the Braves became the first team in Major League Baseball to win world championships in three different cities.The Braves reached the World Series in1996and1999but were defeated both times by the New York Yankees. In 1996, Time Warner acquired Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting System, including the Braves.Despite their continued success with a ninth consecutive division title in 2000, the Braves faced postseason disappointment with a sweep by theSt. Louis Cardinalsin theNLDS.The team won division titles from 2002 to 2004 but experienced early exits in the NLDS each year. Liberty Media era Liberty Media buys the team In December 2005, Time Warner, put the club up for sale, leading to negotiations with Liberty Media.After over a year of talks, a deal was reached in February 2007 for Liberty Media to acquire the Braves for $450 million, a magazine publishing company, and $980 million in cash. The sale, valued at approximately $1.48 billion, was contingent on approval from 75 percent of MLB owners and Commissioner Bud Selig. Bobby Cox and Chipper Jones retire Bobby Cox's final year as manager in2010saw the Braves return to the postseason for the first time since 2005.The team secured the NL Wild Card but fell to the San Francisco Giants in theNational League Division Seriesin four closely contested games, marking the conclusion of Bobby Cox's managerial career.Thefollowing seasonthe Braves suffered a historic September collapse to miss the postseason.The club bounced back in2012and returned to the postseason in Chipper Jones' final season.The Braves won 94 games in 2012, but that wasn't enough to win the NL East, so they faced the St. Louis Cardinals in the inauguralWild Card Game.Chipper Jones last game was a memorable one: the Braves lost theone game playoff6–3, but the game would be remembered for a controversial infield fly call that helped end a Braves rally in the 8th inning. Truist Park and return to the World Series In 2017, the Atlanta Braves began playing atTruist Park, replacing Turner Field as their home stadium.Following an MLB investigation into international signing rule violations, general managerJohn Coppolellaresigned and faced a baseball ban.Alex Anthopoulostook over as the new general manager.The team's chairman,Terry McGuirk, apologized for the scandal and expressed confidence in Anthopoulos' integrity.A new on field mascot namedBlooperwas introduced at a fan event before the 2017 season.Under Anthopoulos, the Braves made the playoffs in six of his first seven seasons.In2020the Braves reach theNational League Championship Series, but ultimately lost to the Dodgers after leading 3–1. In the 2021 season, the Braves won the National League East with an 88–73 record. In the postseason, they quickly defeated the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Division Series 3–1. The Braves again faced the Dodgers in the2021 NLCS, and won in six games to take Atlanta's first National League pennant since1999. The Braves advanced to the World Series.They defeated theHouston Astrosin six games to win their fourth World Series title. Logos and uniforms The Braves logos have evolved over the years, featuring a Native American warrior from 1945 to 1955, followed by a laughing Native American with a mohawk and a feather from 1956 to 1965.The modern logo, introduced in 1987, includes the cursive word \\\"Braves\\\" with a tomahawk below it.Uniform changes occurred in 1987, with the team adopting uniforms reminiscent of their 1950s classic look.For the 2023 season, the Braves had four uniform combinations, including the classic white home and gray road uniforms, a navy blue road jersey for alternate games, and two alternate uniforms for home games - a Friday night red uniform and a City Connect uniform worn on Saturdays, paying tribute to Hank Aaron.The City Connect uniform features \\\"The A\\\" across the chest, accompanied by a cap with the \\\"A\\\" logo and 1974 uniform colors. World Series championships Over the 120 years since the inception of the World Series (119 total World Series played), the Braves franchise has won a total of fourWorld SeriesChampionships. The Braves are the only franchise to have won a World Series in three different cities. Ballparks Truist Park The Atlanta Braves home ballpark has been Truist Park since 2017. Truist Park is located approximately 10 miles (16 km) northwest ofdowntown Atlantain theunincorporated communityofCumberland, inCobb County,Georgia.The team played its home games atAtlanta–Fulton County Stadiumfrom 1966 to 1996, and atTurner Fieldfrom 1997 to 2016. The Braves opened Truist Park on April 14, 2017, with a four-game sweep of theSan Diego Padres.The park received positive reviews. Woody Studenmund of theHardball Timescalled the park a \\\"gem\\\" saying that he was impressed with \\\"the compact beauty of the stadium and its exciting approach to combining baseball, business and social activities.\\\"J.J. Cooper ofBaseball Americapraised the \\\"excellent sight lines for pretty much every seat.\\\" CoolToday Park Since 2019, the Braves have playedspring traininggames at CoolToday Park inNorth Port, Florida.The ballpark opened on March 24, 2019, with the Braves' 4–2 win over theTampa Bay Rays.The Braves leftChampion Stadium, their previous Spring Training home near Orlando to reduce travel times and to get closer to other teams' facilities.CoolToday Park also serves as the Braves' year round rehabilitation facility. Attendance (*) – There were no fans allowed in any MLB stadium in 2020 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. Major rivalries New York Mets Although their first major confrontation occurred when the Mets swept the Braves in the1969 NLCS, the rivalry did not become especially heated until the 1994 season when division realignment put both the Mets and the Braves in theNational League Eastdivision. TheBravesfaced theMetsin the1999 National League Championship Series.The Braves initially took a 3–0 series lead, seemingly on the verge of a sweep, but the Mets rallied in Game 4 and Game 5.Despite the Mets' resilience, the Braves eventually won the series in Game 6 withAndruw Jonessecuring a dramatic walk-off walk, earning their 5th National League pennant of the decade.In 2022, theBravesandMets, both finished with 101 wins.The National League East title and a first-round bye came down to a crucial three-game series at Truist Park from September 30 to October 2.The Mets entered with a slight lead but faltered as the Braves swept the series.Atlanta claimed the NL East division title and first-round bye, by winning the season series against the Mets. Nationwide fanbase In addition to having strong fan support in the Metro Atlanta area and the state of Georgia, the Braves are often referred to as \\\"America's Team\\\" in reference to the team's games being broadcast nationally onTBSfrom the 1970s until 2007, giving the team a nationwide fan base. The Braves boast heavy support within theSoutheastern United Statesparticularly in states such asMississippi,Alabama,South Carolina,North Carolina,TennesseeandFlorida. Tomahawk chop In 1991, fans of the Atlanta Braves popularized the \\\"tomahawk chop\\\" during games.The use of foam tomahawks drew criticism fromNative Americangroups, deeming it demeaning.Despite protests, the Braves' public relations director defended it as a \\\"proud expression of unification and family.\\\"The controversy resurfaced in 2019 whenCherokee Nationmember and St. Louis Cardinals pitcherRyan Helsleyfound the chop insulting, prompting the Braves to modify their in-game experience.During the off-season, discussions ensued with Native American representatives, and amid pressure in 2020 to change their name, the Braves announced ongoing talks about the chop but insisted the team name would remain unchanged. The debate over the tomahawk chop continued into 2021.While some Native American leaders, likeRichard Sneed, the Principal Chief of theEastern Band of Cherokee Indians, expressed personal indifference or tolerance, acknowledging it as an acknowledgment of Native American strength, others vehemently opposed it.Sneed emphasized larger issues facing Native American communities and questioned the focus on the chop.The Eastern Cherokee Band of Indians and the Braves initiated efforts to incorporate Cherokee language and culture into the team's activities, stadium, and merchandise, aiming for greater cultural sensitivity despite differing opinions within the Native American community. Achievements Awards Team records Retired numbers The Braves have retired eleven numbers in the history of the franchise, including most recentlyAndruw Jones' number 25 in 2023,Chipper Jones' number 10 in 2013,John Smoltz's number 29 in 2012,Bobby Cox's number 6 in 2011,Tom Glavine's number 47 in 2010, andGreg Maddux's number 31 in 2009. Additionally,Hank Aaron's 44,Dale Murphy's 3,Phil Niekro's 35,Eddie Mathews' 41,Warren Spahn's 21 andJackie Robinson's 42, which is retired for all of baseball with the exception ofJackie Robinson Day, have also been retired.Six of the eleven numbers (Cox, Jones, Jones, Smoltz, Maddux and Glavine) were on the Braves at the same time.Of the eleven Braves whose numbers have been retired, all who are eligible for theNational Baseball Hall of Famehave been elected with the exceptions of Dale Murphy and Andruw Jones.The color and design of the retired numbers on commemorative markers and other in-stadium signage reflect the primary uniform design at the time the player was on the team. Baseball Hall of Famers Earl AverillDave BancroftDan BrouthersJohn Clarkson*Jimmy CollinsHugh Duffy*Johnny Evers Burleigh GrimesBilly HamiltonBilly HermanRogers HornsbyJoe KelleyKing KellyErnie Lombardi Rabbit Maranville*Rube MarquardTommy McCarthy*Bill McKechnieJoe MedwickKid Nichols*Jim O'Rourke Charley RadbournBabe RuthFrank Selee*Al SimmonsGeorge SislerBilly SouthworthCasey StengelEd Walsh Lloyd WanerPaul WanerDeacon WhiteVic Willis*George Wright*Harry WrightCy Young Eddie Mathews* Red SchoendienstEnos Slaughter Warren Spahn* Hank Aaron* Hank Aaron†Orlando CepedaBobby Cox* Tom Glavine*Chipper Jones*Greg Maddux* Fred McGriff*Phil Niekro*Gaylord Perry John SchuerholzTed SimmonsJohn Smoltz* Bruce SutterJoe TorreHoyt Wilhelm Braves Hall of Fame Roster Pitchers Catchers Infielders Outfielders Designated hitters Manager Coaches 60-day injured list 40 active, 0 inactive, 0 non-roster invitees 7-, 10-, or 15-dayinjured list* Not on active roster†Suspended listRoster,coaches, andNRIsupdated October 14, 2024Transactions•Depth chart→All MLB rosters Minor league affiliates The Atlanta Bravesfarm systemconsists of sixminor leagueaffiliates. Radio and television The Braves regional games are exclusively broadcast onBally Sports Southeast.Brandon Gaudinis the play-by-play announcer for Bally Sports Southeast.Gaudin is joined in the booth by lead analystC.J. Nitkowski.Jeff Francoeurand Tom Glavine will also join the broadcast for a few games during the season.Peter Moylan,Nick Green, and John Smoltz also appear in the booth for select games as in-game analysts. The radio broadcast team is led by the tandem of play-by-play announcer Ben Ingram and analystJoe Simpson. Braves games are broadcast across Georgia and seven other states on at least 172 radio affiliates, including flagship station680 The Fanin Atlanta and stations as far away as Richmond, Virginia; Louisville, Kentucky; and the US Virgin Islands. The games are carried on at least 82 radio stations in Georgia. References Footnotes Citations Further reading External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Washington Commanders TheWashington Commandersare a professionalAmerican footballteam based in theWashington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in theNational Football League(NFL) as a member of theNational Football Conference(NFC)Eastdivision. The team plays its home games atNorthwest StadiuminLandover, Maryland; its headquarters and training facility are inAshburn, Virginia. The Commanders have played more than 1,300 games and have won more than 600. Washington was among the first NFL franchises with afight song, \"Hail to the Commanders\",which is played bytheir marching bandafter every home gametouchdown. The Commanders are owned by a group managed byJosh Harris, who acquired the franchise fromDaniel Snyderin 2023 for $6.05 billion. The Commanders were founded byGeorge Preston Marshallas theBoston Bravesin1932. The team changed its name to the Redskins the following year beforemovingtoWashington, D.C., in1937, to become theWashington Redskins. The usage of the termredskinwascontroversialfor decades.","decades. In2020, pressure from several NFL and team sponsors led to its being retired as part of awave of name changesin the wake of theGeorge Floyd protests, which led to larger awareness of theNative American mascot controversy. The team played as theWashington Football Teamfor two seasons before rebranding as the Commanders in 2022. Washington won the1937and1942NFLchampionship gamesand Super BowlsXVII,XXII, andXXVI. Washington has finished a season as league runner-up six times, losing the1936,1940,1943, and1945title games and Super BowlsVIIandXVIII. With 14 division titles and 24 postseason appearances, they have an overall postseason record of23–18. Their three Super Bowl wins are tied with theDenver BroncosandLas Vegas Raiders, behind thePittsburgh SteelersandNew England Patriots(six each),San Francisco 49ersandDallas Cowboys(five each), andGreen Bay Packers,New York GiantsandKansas City Chiefs(four each). All of Washington's championships were attained during two 10-year spans. From1936to1945, the","From1936to1945, the team went to theNFL Championshipsix times, winning two of them under general managerJack Espeyand head coachRay Flaherty. The second period lasted from1982to1991under ownerJack Kent Cooke, general managersBobby BeathardandCharley Casserly, and head coachJoe Gibbs. From 1946 to 1970, Washington posted just four winning seasons and never reached the postseason. They went without a single winning season from 1956 to 1968, a span that included their worst regular-season record: 1–12–1 in1961. Since their last Super Bowl victory in1991, they have won theNFC Eastfour times with only seven postseason appearances. History George Preston Marshall era (1932–1965) Bostonwas awarded aNational Football Leaguefranchise on July 9, 1932, under the ownership of American businessmanGeorge Preston Marshall.The team was named after theBoston Braves baseball team, with whom they sharedBraves Field, with theinaugural seasonbeing coached byLud Wray. The team saw several changes in1933, including a name change","a name change to the \"Redskins\" and playing their home games atFenway Park, home of theBoston Red Sox. Wray was also replaced at head coach byWilliam \"Lone Star\" Dietz. The situation faced by Marshall in New England was difficult. In 1935, Joe F. Carr opined: \"To the casual observer bred in the knowledge of New England's place in football's sun, because its cradle and nursery were there, the success of a Boston team in the professional ranks would be a foregone conclusion. Nothing could have been more erroneous. Boston finished the most forbidding ground for professional football of any large city in the country. The history of the game in Boston and New England was entirely associated with college, preparatory, and high school playing. Its eminence as an institution of sport grew in a hallowed atmosphere as an almost sacrosanct element of education which was to be kept ever free from commercial pollution.\" The Redskins appeared in the1936 NFL Championship Game, their first championship appearance, but lost","but lost to the Green Bay Packers 21–6. The Redskins moved toWashington, D.C., after five years in Boston, with Marshall stating that the New England city showed a lack of interest in the team.Through1960, the team shared baseball'sGriffith Stadiumwith the first American LeagueWashington Senatorsbaseball team.In their first game in Washington, D.C., the Redskins defeated theNew York Giantsin the season opener, 13–3.The same season, they earned their first division title in Washington with a49–14win over the Giants.Shortly after, the team won their firstleague championshipin 1937, defeating theChicago Bears. In1940, the Redskins met theBearsagain in the1940 NFL Championship Game.The result,73–0in favor of the Bears, remains the worst one-sided loss in NFL history.The Redskins won their second championship in1942, defeating theBears14–6.In1943, Dutch Bergman was named head coach and led the team to a return to theNFL championship game, however they were defeated by the Chicago Bears41–21.That same season,Sammy","same season,Sammy Baughled the NFL in passing,punting, andinterceptions. The Redskins played in the NFL Championship one more time before a quarter-century drought that lasted until the1972 season. With former Olympicgold medalistDudley DeGrootas their new head coach, theRedskinswent 8–2 during the1945 season. One of the most impressive performances came from Baugh, who had a completion percentage of .703.They ended the season by losing to theCleveland Ramsin the1945 NFL Championship Game, 15–14.The one-point margin of victory came under scrutiny because of asafetythat occurred early in the game. In the first quarter, the Redskins had the ball at their own 5-yard line. Dropping back into theend zone,quarterbackBaugh threw to an open receiver, but the ball hit the goal post and bounced back to the ground in the end zone. Under the rules at the time, this was ruled as a safety and thus gave the Rams a 2–0 lead. Marshall was so upset at the outcome that he became a major force in passing a major rule change","a major rule change after the season, in which a forward pass that struck the goalpost was automatically ruled incomplete. This later became known as the \"Baugh/Marshall Rule\". The team's early success accredited it to the fans of Washington, D.C. However, after 1945, the Redskins began a slow decline that they did not end until aplayoff appearancein the1971 season.The Redskins had four different head coaches from 1946 to 1951, including former playersTurk EdwardsandDick Toddas well asJohn WhelchelandHerman Ball, and none were successful. But this did not stop Marshall from trying to make the Redskins the most successful franchise in the league. His first major alteration happened on June 14, 1950, when it was announced that theAmerican Oil Companyplanned to televise all Redskins games, making them the first NFL team to have an entire season of televised games.His next major change came in February 1952, when he hired formerGreen Bay PackerscoachEarl \"Curly\" Lambeau.But, after two seasons, Marshall fired","Marshall fired Lambeau following theRedskinsloss in their exhibition opener to theLos Angeles Ramsand hiredJoe Kuharich.In 1955, Kuharich led theRedskinsto their first winning season in ten years and was named bothSporting News Coach of the YearandUPI NFL Coach of the Year. In1961, the Redskins moved into their new stadium called D.C. Stadium, later renamedRobert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadiumin 1969. The first game in new D.C. Stadium occurred on October 1 in front of 37,767 fans. However, the Redskins failed to hold a 14-point lead and lost to theNew York Giants24–21.That same year,Bill McPeakbecame the head coach and had a record of21–46–3over five seasons. During his tenure, he helped draft future stars: wide receiverCharley Taylor, tight endJerry Smith, safetyPaul Krause, centerLen Hauss, and linebackerChris Hanburger.He also helped pull off two important trades, gaining quarterbackSonny Jurgensenfrom thePhiladelphia Eaglesand linebackerSam Hufffrom theNew York Giants.In1966,Otto Grahamwas hired as the new","hired as the new head coach. Graham coached the Redskins for three seasons for a record of 17–22–3. He resigned after the1968 seasonin favor ofVince Lombardi.at 6–8. Integration controversy During most of this unsuccessful period, Marshall continually refused to integrate the team, despite pressure from theU.S. government.Two months into theKennedy administrationon March 24, 1961,Secretary of the InteriorStewart Udallwarned Marshall to hire black players or face federal retribution.For the first time in history, the federal government had attempted to desegregate a professional sports team.The Redskins were under the threat ofcivil rightslegal action by the Kennedy administration, which would have prevented a segregated team from playing at the new federally-ownedD.C. Stadium, managed by theU.S. Department of the Interior.The Redskins' previous venue,Griffith Stadium, was owned by the Griffith family, owners of theWashington Senators, who moved and became theMinnesota Twinsin1961. In1962, Washington became","Washington became the final professional American football franchise to integrate. First, the Redskins selected running backErnie DavisofSyracusefirst overallin the1962 NFL draft; Davis was the first black player to win theHeisman Trophyand the first to be the top selection in an NFL draft.Washington also tookfullbackRon HatcherofMichigan Statein theeighth round, who became the first black player to sign a contract with the team. In December 1961, Marshall announced he had traded the rights to Davis to theCleveland Browns, who wanted Davis to join the league's leading rusher,Jim Brown, in their backfield.Davis was traded for veteran running backBobby Mitchell, who became awide receiverin Washington, D.C., and 1962 first-round draft choiceLeroy JacksonofWestern Illinois.The move was made under unfortunate circumstances – as it turned out that Davis hadleukemia, and died without ever playing a down in professional football.The Redskins ended the1962 seasonwith their best record in five years:5–7–2.Mitchell led","led the league with 11 touchdowns, and caught 72 passes and was selected to thePro Bowl. In time, Mitchell would be joined by other black players like receiverCharley Taylor, running backLarry Brown,defensive backBrig Owens, and guardJohn Nisby. Edward Bennett Williams era (1965–1979) Marshall appointed board memberEdward Bennett Williamsto run the team's daily operations in 1965 due to declining health.He acquired controlling interest in the franchise following Marshall's death on August 9, 1969.In1969, Williams hired formerGreen Bay Packershead coachVince Lombardifor the same role, granting him a 5% stake in ownership and full control over football operations as the team's executive vice president.Lombardi coached the Redskins to a 7–5–2 record, their first winning season since1955, but died from cancer shortly before the start of the1970 season.Bill Austin, appointed earlier by Lombardi, served as interim head coach for the season. George Allen years (1971–1977) On January 6, 1971, Williams hired","Williams hired formerLos Angeles Ramshead coachGeorge Allenas head coach and general manager.Partial to seasoned veterans instead of highly touted young players, Allen's teams became known as theOver-the-Hill Gang.Thatseason, theRedskinsmade theplayoffsfor the first time since 1945 with a 9–4–1 markwith Redskins first-year head coachGeorge Allenwinning the 1971NFL Coach of the Year Award, the second of his career, winning his first Coach of the Year Award in 1967 as the head coach of theRams.However, they lost in the Divisional Playoffs to theSan Francisco 49ers, 24–20. Thefollowing season, theRedskinshosted their first postseason game in Washington since 1942, where they beat theGreen Bay Packers16–3 in theNFC Divisional Playoffs.The Redskins reached theNFC Championship Game, and in a much-anticipated match-up against the archrivalDallas Cowboys, The Redskins placekickerCurt Knightkicked an 18-yard field goal in the second quarter to get the scoring underway, then Redskins quarterbackBilly Kilmerconnected","Kilmerconnected with Redskins wide receiverCharley Tayloron a 15-yard touchdown pass and Washington had a 10–3 lead at halftime. In the fourth quarter, Kilmer again went to Taylor, this time for a 45-yard touchdown. Knight added three more field goals that period andThe Over-The-Hill-Gangdefense allowed only a second-quarter field goal. The final score was Washington 26, Dallas 3.After defeating the Dallas Cowboys to win the NFC Championship, the Redskins went on to lose to theundefeatedMiami Dolphins14–7 inSuper Bowl VII.Redskins running backLarry Brownwould be named the 1972NFL MVP.The Redskins again made the playoffs in1973,1974, and1976, only to lose all three times in the first round.After the team failed to make the playoffs inRedskinsdespite a 9–5 record, Allen was fired and was replaced at head coach byJack Pardee. Jack Kent Cooke era (1979–1998) Canadian-American businessmanJack Kent Cooke, who had owned minority shares of the Redskins and been a board member since 1960, purchased majority interest","majority interest fromEdward Bennett Williamsin 1974.Due to NFL rules at the time disallowing controlling ownership in other leagues, he allowed Williams to operate the team until selling his other properties, the NBA'sLos Angeles Lakersand the NHL'sLos Angeles Kings, toJerry Bussin May 1979.Cooke became the team's sole owner in 1985 after purchasing the remaining shares from Williams for around $9 million. Joe Gibbs years (1981–1992) Jack Pardee, the 1979NFL Coach of the Year, was fired following a 6–10 record in1980.On January 13, 1981, Cooke hiredSan Diego Chargersoffensive coordinatorJoe Gibbsas head coach.During the offseason, the Redskins acquired players such asMark May,Russ Grimm, andDexter Manleyin the1981 NFL draft.After starting the1981 season0–5, the Redskins won eight out of their next 11 games and finished the season 8–8 but fourth in the NFC East. Super Bowl XVII champions (1982) Starting on September 21, 1982,the NFL faced a 57-day long players'strike, which reduced the1982 seasonfrom a","seasonfrom a 16-game schedule to a nine-game schedule.Because of the shortened season, the NFL adopted a special 16-team playoff tournament, in which eight teams from each conference were seeded 1–8 based on their regular season records. After the strike was settled, the Redskins dominated, winning six out of the seven remaining games to make the playoffs for the first time since 1976. In January 1983, during the second round of theplayoffsagainst theMinnesota Vikings,John Rigginsrushed for a Redskins playoff record 185 yards, leading Washington to a 21–7 win.The game is perhaps best known for a moment when the stadium physically shook as a crowd chanted \"We Want Dallas!\", which later became a rallying cry of sorts for Redskin fans before games against the Cowboys.In the NFC Championship Game against them atRFK Stadium, Redskins defensive endDexter Manleyknocked Cowboys' quarterbackDanny Whiteout for the rest of the game and sent him into the locker room shortly before halftime. Later in the game, Redskins","the game, Redskins defensive tackleDarryl Grant's interception, which he returned for a 10-yard touchdown, off one of Cowboys' backup quarterbackGary Hogeboom's passes which was tipped byDexter Manleyto score the decisive points.John Rigginsrushed for 140 yards and two touchdowns on 36 carries and the Redskins went on to defeat the Cowboys' by a score of 31–17.The Redskins' firstSuper Bowlwin, and their first NFL Championship in 40 years, was inSuper Bowl XVII, where the Redskins defeated theMiami Dolphins27–17.Riggins provided the game's signature play when, on 4th and inches, with the Redskins down 17–13, the coaches called \"70 Chip\", a play designed for short yardage.Riggins instead gained 43 yards (39 meters) by running through would-be tacklerDon McNealand getting the go-ahead touchdown. The Redskins ended up winning by a 27–17 score with John Riggins winning theSuper Bowl MVP. After the1982 seasonRedskins placekickerMark Moseleywas the first and only placekicker in NFL history to be named theNFL's Most","named theNFL's Most Valuable Player;Moseley made 20 of 21 field goals attempted in 1982.Redskins head coachJoe Gibbsalso won his firstNFL Coach of the Year Awardin 1982 which was the first of his back-to-back NFL Coach of the Year Awards, his second coming in the1983 NFL season. CornerbackDarrell Greenand defensive endCharles Mannwere selected in the1983 NFL draftand became key contributors for the team; Green would play his entire 20-year career with the Redskins. On October 1, 1983, the Redskins lost to theGreen Bay Packers48–47 in the highest-scoringMonday night football game in history, in which both teams combine for more than 1,000 yards (910 m) of total offense.Then during the regular-season finale on December 17, 1983, Moseley set an NFL scoring record with 161 points while Riggins' total of 144 points was second. This marked the first time since 1951 that the top two scorers in a season played on the same team.They dominated the NFL with a 14-win season which included scoring a then NFL record 541","then NFL record 541 points,many of which came from Riggins, who scored 24 touchdowns. Redskins quarterbackJoe Theismannwould also be named the 1983NFL's Most Valuable Playerfinishing the season with a career-high in both yards passing 3,714 yds., and touchdown passes thrown, 29 Td's while throwing only 11 interceptions. In the postseason, the Redskins beat theLos Angeles Rams51–7.The next week, Washington beat theSan Francisco 49ers24–21 in theNFC Championship Game.It was their final win of the season because two weeks later, theRaidersbeat the Redskins 38–9 inSuper Bowl XVIII. The Redskins finished the1984 seasonwith an 11–5 record,and won the NFC East for the third consecutive season.However, they lost in the first round of theplayoffsto theChicago Bears, 23–19.On November 18, 1985, while playing against theGiants, Theismann broke his leg during a sack byLawrence Taylor. Thecompound fractureforced him to retire after a 12-year career, during which he became the Redskins' all-time leader in pass attempts","in pass attempts and completions.The Redskins finished 3rd in the NFC East behind theCowboysand missed the wild card to the Giants by virtue oftiebreakers. The 1986 offseason's major highlight occurred during the1986 NFL draft, when the Redskins picked up future Super Bowl MVPMark Rypienin the sixth round, also the Redskins defensive endDexter Manleyset a franchise single-season record when he recorded 18.5 sacks while earning1st Team All-Prohonors and being selected to thePro bowl. In1986 season, the road to theplayoffswas even harder, with the Redskins making the postseason as a wild-card team despite having a regular-season record of 12–4.They won the Wild Card playoff against the Rams, and then again in the Divisional playoffs against the Bears. This game was Gibbs's 70th career, which made him the winningest head coach in Redskins history.The season ended next week, however, when the Redskins lost to the eventualSuper Bowl XXIChampion Giants 17–0 in the NFC Championship game. Super Bowl XXII champions","Bowl XXII champions (1987) The1987 NFL seasonbegan with aplayers' strikethat reduced the 16-game season to 15.No Redskins players crossed the picket line—the only such team—and the games for Weeks 4–6 were won with all-replacement squads.Those three victories, often credited with getting the team into the playoffs, are the basis for the 2000 movieThe Replacements. The Redskins won their second championship inSuper Bowl XXIIon January 31, 1988, in San Diego, California. The Redskins routed theDenver Broncos42–10after starting the game down 10–0, the largest come-from-behind victory in Super Bowl history, which was tied by theNew Orleans SaintsinSuper Bowl XLIVand theNew England PatriotsinSuper Bowl XLIX. This game is also noted forSuper Bowl MVPquarterbackDoug Williams, who threw four touchdowns in the second quarter en route to becoming the first black quarterback to lead his team to a championship,and for rookie running backTimmy Smith, who ran for a Super Bowl-record 204 yards (187 m). In1988, the club had","the club had a 5–3 record at mid-season, but a second-half swoon saw them miss the playoffs with a 7–9 record. The1989Redskins finished with a 10–6 record but missed the playoffs. The team is best remembered for\"The Posse\"—Art Monk,Gary Clark, andRicky Sanders—the first trio of NFL wide receivers to post more than 1,000 yards apiece in a single season. Also, Redskins head coachJoe Gibbsachieved his 100th career victory in a week-14 win against theSan Diego Chargers. The Redskins returned to theplayoffsin1990as a Wild Card team, but lost in the Divisional round to the49ers. Super Bowl XXVI champions (1991) The1991 seasonstarted with a franchise-record 11 straight victories.\"The Hogs\", under the coaching of Redskins offensive line coachJoe Bugel, allowed a league-low and franchise-record nine sacks, the third-lowest total in NFL history.The offense also dominated under head football coachJoe Gibbs, scoring 485 points, more than any other teamthat year.The defense was also dominant under defensive","under defensive coordinatorRichie Petitbon, giving up 224 total points, second-best of any team that year, while holding opponents scoreless three times.After posting a 14–2 record, the Redskins dominated theplayoffs, beating theFalconsandLionsby a combined score of 64–17.On January 26, 1992, the Redskins wonSuper Bowl XXVIby defeating theBuffalo Bills37–24;QBMark Rypienwon theSuper Bowl MVPaward.After the Super Bowl, the Redskins set another franchise record by sending eight players to thePro Bowl.The1991 Washington Redskinsare widely considered one of the best teams in NFL history. In1992, the Redskins reached the playoffs as a wild-card team, but lost in theDivisional playoffsto the49ers, 20–13.On October 12, 1992,Art Monkbecame the NFL's all-time leading pass receiver by catching his 820th career reception against theDenver BroncosonMonday Night Football.The era ended on March 5, 1993, when Gibbs retired after 12 years of coaching with the Redskins.Gibbs later foundedJoe Gibbs Racing. After the end of","After the end of Gibbs' first tenure, the Redskins hired former Redskins playerRichie Petitbonfor the1993 season. However, his first and only year as head coach, theRedskinsfinished with a record of 4–12.Petitbon was fired at the end of the season and on February 2, 1994,Norv Turnerwas hired as head coach after being theoffensive coordinatorof theDallas Cowboys.1994was even worse as they finished 3–13, their worst season in over 30 years. Their sole bright spot that year came on October 9, 1994, linebackerMonte Colemanplayed in his 206th career game with the Redskins, which brokeArt Monk's team record for games played (Coleman retired at season's end with 216 games played).They improved to 6–10 in1995where they were able to get a season sweep on the eventualSuper Bowl XXXChampions the Dallas Cowboys. On March 13, 1996, Redskins ownerJack Kent Cooke,Maryland GovernorParris Glendening, andPrince George's County ExecutiveWayne K. Currysigned a contract that paved the way for the immediate start of construction","of construction for the new home of the Redskins (now Northwest Stadium).The1996 seasonsaw Washington post their first winning record in 4 years by finishing 9–7. On December 22, 1996, the Redskins played their final game atRFK Stadium, a victory over theDallas Cowboys37–10, and finished their tenure at the stadium with a 173–102–3 record, including 11–1 in the playoffs. On April 6, 1997, Redskins ownerJack Kent Cookedied ofcongestive heart failureat the age of 84.In his will, Cooke left the Redskins to the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, with instructions to sell the team. In the meantime, management of the team was given to son and executive vice president John Kent Cooke.On September 14, 1997, the Redskins played in their new stadium for the first time and beat theArizona Cardinals, 19–13 in overtime.On November 23, 1997, they played theNew York Giantsand the result was a 7–7 tie, the Redskins first tie game since the1971 season. They would finish19978–7–1 and would miss theplayoffsfor the fifth season in a","fifth season in a row. One bright spot during the season, however, occurred on December 13, 1997, whenDarrell Greenplayed in his 217th career game as a Redskin, breakingMonte Coleman's record for games played.The1998 seasonstarted with a seven-game losing streak,and the Redskins finished with a 6–10 record. The 1998 season concluded as a period marked by disappointment. Daniel Snyder era (1999–2023) On May 25, 1999, Cooke sold the Redskins to local businessmanDaniel Snyderfor $800 million after being unable to raise sufficient funds to keep the team.Snyder sold the naming rights to Jack Kent Cooke Stadium toFedExin November 1999, becomingFedExField. In Snyder's firstseasonas owner, the Redskins went 10–6,including a four-game winning streak early in the season,and made it to the playoffs for the first time inNorv Turner's career (and the first time for the Redskins since1992) in the final game of the season (on January 2, 2000, against theDolphins). Running backStephen Davisrushed for a then club-record","a then club-record 1,405 yards and quarterbackBrad Johnsoncompleted a then club-record 316 passes and threw for more than 4,000 yards in regular play that season.They then defeated theDetroit Lionsin the first round of theplayoffs, but lost to theBuccaneers, 14–13. The2000 seasonstarted with the selection of futurePro BowlerChris Samuelsand the tumultuousLaVar Arringtonin the2000 NFL draftand included five consecutive wins in the first half of the season.However, they ended up going 7–6 with Turner being fired as head coach prior to the end of the season.Terry Robiskiewas named interim coach to finish out the season,which ended with an 8–8 record.During the final game of the season,Larry Centersbecame the NFL's all-time leader in receptions by arunning backwith 685. On January 3, 2001, the Redskins hired formerCleveland BrownsandKansas City Chiefshead coachMarty Schottenheimeras head coach.The2001 seasonbegan with a loss to theSan Diego Chargers, 30–3, two days before theSeptember 11, 2001, attacks. On","2001, attacks. On September 13, 2001, the Redskins announced the establishment of the Redskins Relief Fund to help families of the victims of the attack at the Pentagon. During the course of the season, the Redskins raised more than $700,000.They finished the season with an 8–8 recordand Schottenheimer was fired after the final game. Snyder later said in a 2013 interview that he was fired due to his over-controlling nature. On January 14, 2002, Snyder hiredUniversity of FloridacoachSteve Spurrier,the Redskins' fifth new head coach in 10 years. They finished with a 7–9 record, their first losing season in four years.A bittersweet moment during the season occurred on December 29, whenDarrell Greenconcluded his 20th and final season as the Redskins defeated theCowboys20–14 at FedExField. During his 20 seasons, he set an NFL record for consecutive seasons with at least one interception (19) and a Redskins team record for regular-season games played (295) and started (258).The Redskins finished the2003 seasonwith","the2003 seasonwith a 5–11 record, their worst since1994.The one bright note of the season was on December 7, whendefensive endBruce Smithsacked Giants quarterbackJesse Palmerin the fourth quarter. With his 199th career sack, Smith brokeReggie White's all-time NFL mark.After two mediocre years, Spurrier resigned after the 2003 season with three years left on his contract. For the2004 season, Snyder successfully lured former coach Joe Gibbs away fromNASCARto return as head coach and team president. His employment came with a promise of decreased intervention in football operations from Snyder.Snyder also expanded FedExField to a league-high capacity of 91,665 seats. Gibbs' return to the franchise did not pay instant dividends as the Redskins finished the 2004 season with a record of 6–10.Despite an impressive defense, the team struggled offensively. QuarterbackMark Brunell—an off-season acquisition from theJacksonville Jaguars—struggled in his first season, and was replaced midway through the season by","the season by backupPatrick Ramsey. On the other hand, some of Gibbs' other new signings, such as cornerbackShawn SpringsandlinebackerMarcus Washington, did very well. The Redskins also selectedSean Taylorduring the first draft in Gibbs' return. The2005 seasonstarted with three wins,including a win on September 19 against theDallas Cowboys. Dallas led 13–0 with less than four minutes left when Brunell threw a 39-yard (36 m) touchdown pass to Moss on a fourth-down play. Then, with 2:44 left, Brunell connected with Moss again on a 70-yard (64 m) touchdown pass andNick Novakkicked the game-winning extra point. It was the Redskins' first victory atTexas Stadiumsince1995.They then fell into a slump, losing six of the next eight games which included three straight losses in November,and their playoff chances looked bleak. On December 18, 2005, the Redskins beat Cowboys, 35–7, which marked the first time since 1995 that the Redskins swept the season series with Dallas.The Redskins clinched their first playoff berth","first playoff berth since1999.The game also culminated impressive season performances by individuals. Portis set a team mark for most rushing yards in a single season with 1,516 yards (1,386 m), and Moss set a team record for most receiving yards in a single season with 1,483 yards (1,356 m), breakingBobby Mitchell's previous record set in1963.Also,Chris Cooley's 71 receptions brokeJerry Smith's season record for a Redskins tight end. In the first round of theplayoffs, the Redskins met theBuccaneers.The Redskins won 17–10,after taking an early 14–0 lead, which they thought they lost until replay showed that a touchdown, which would have tied the game, was an incomplete pass. In that game, the Redskins broke the record for fewest offensive yards (120) gained in a playoff victory, with one of their two touchdowns being from a defensive run after a fumble recovery. The following weekend, they played theSeahawks, who defeated the Redskins 20–10,ending their hopes of reaching their first NFC Championship Game","Championship Game since1991. The first major move of the 2006 off-season was the hiring ofKansas City Chiefs' offensive coordinatorAl Saundersasoffensive coordinator. Gibbs also added formerBuffalo Billsdefensive coordinatorJerry Grayto his staff as secondary/cornerbacks coach and lost quarterbacks coachBill Musgraveto theFalcons. The Redskins also picked up future startersRocky McIntosh,Anthony Montgomery,Reed Doughty, andKedric Golstonin the2006 NFL draft. After winning only three of the first nine games,Gibbs benched quarterback Brunell for former first-round draft pickJason Campbell. After losing his first game as a starter toTampa Bay, Campbell got his first NFL victory against theCarolina Panthers, bringing the Redskins out of a three-game losing streak.The highlight of the season happened on November 5, and concluded with one of the most exciting endings in the history of theCowboys–Redskins rivalry. Tied 19–19,Troy Vincentblocked a last-second field goal attempt byDallasthat would have given them the","have given them the win.Sean Taylorpicked up the ball and ran 30 yards (27 m), breaking tackles along the way. It was thought that the game would then go in overtime, however because of a defensive 15-yard (14 m) face mask penalty, the Redskins would get an untimed down. Novak kicked a 47-yard (43 m) field goal, giving Washington a 22–19 victory.However, the Redskins finished the year with a 5–11 record, which resulted in them being last in theNFC East. This marked the second losing season of Joe Gibbs' second term as head coach with the Redskins, compared to the one losing season he had in his first 12-year tenure as head coach. The Redskins began the2007 seasonby \"winning ugly\" starting the season off 2–0. The Redskins kept winning and losing close games, the only exception to this a 34–3 rout of theDetroit Lions. The Redskins continued to win ugly and lose ugly to be 5–3 at the halfway mark. However, the Redskins would begin to collapse. The team lost their next three games to fall to 5–6. On Monday,","to 5–6. On Monday, November 26, Redskins safetySean Taylorwas shot by home intruders early in the morning in his Miami home. The next morning, Taylor died from severe blood loss.However, the Redskins rebounded to finish 9–7 and clinch the finalplayoffspot in the NFC. Washington trailed 13–0 entering the 4th quarter to theSeattle Seahawksin the wild-card round, but rallied to take a 14–13 lead, but Redskins kickerShaun Suishammissed a field goal later in the game, and the Seahawks scored on the next drive and converted thetwo-point conversion. To close the game, Todd Collins threw two interceptions, each returned for a touchdown, and the Redskins fell 35–14. After Joe Gibbs announced his retirement following the 2007 season,Jim Zornwas hired as head coach and brought in aWest Coast Offense.The2008 seasonstarted well, as the Redskins started the season 6–2. Furthermore, Redskins RBClinton Portisled the NFL in rushing yards.However, things turned for the worse in early November, when they were routed 23–6 by","were routed 23–6 by thePittsburgh Steelersand Portis' injuries finally caught up to him. The Redskins continued to struggle, falling all the way to 7–7, with their only win during that six-week period being a 3-point victory of the then-2–8Seattle Seahawks. The Redskins managed to upset thePhiladelphia Eaglesin Week 16, but were eliminated from playoff contention. The team's fortunes continued to slide in2009, as they finished 4–12.Zorn was fired and replaced byMike Shanahanafter the season. On April 4, the Redskins acquiredDonovan McNabbin a trade from the rivalPhiladelphia Eagles.However, the Redskins struggled to a 6–10 finish, once again 4th place in the division.The McNabb era came to an abrupt end when he was traded to Minnesota in August 2011.The troublesomeAfter cutting the injury-rattledClinton Portis, the Redskins had no important offensive players left except for Santana Moss. Mike Shanahan surprised most observers by his decision to nameJohn Beck, an obscure free-agent quarterback, as the","quarterback, as the starter.However, Shanahan suddenly reversed direction by naming veteran backupRex Grossmanto the starting position.In Week 1, Grossman threw for 305 yards and two touchdown passes as the Redskins crushed the Giants 28–14, ending a six-game losing streak against that team. The Washington Redskins started the season 2–0, but then struggled to a 5–11 finish, however, they managed to win both meetings over the eventualSuper BowlchampionNew York Giants. In2012, the Redskins traded several high draft picks to theSt. Louis Ramsin order to take Baylor quarterbackRobert Griffin IIIsecond overall in the2012 NFL draft.Although the need for a franchise quarterback was obvious, many journalists had doubts about the value of giving up a lot for a single player. In the opening game of the season, Griffin threw for 320 yards and two touchdown passes in a 40–32 victory over theNew Orleans Saintsto give the team its highest-scoring game since 2005. The Redskins struggled to a 3–6 start, but in Week 11, the","but in Week 11, the Redskins would host the struggling Philadelphia Eagles. Griffin would have one of the best games of his career to date, as the Redskins won 31–6 with long touchdowns to Santana Moss and Aldrick Robinson. The Redskins would win their next 6 games after that, including the crucial final game of the season against the Cowboys, which would clinch the division for and send the Redskins to the playoffs. The Redskins hosted theSeattle Seahawksin the Wild Card round but lost 24–14. Hopes were high for a repeat division title in2013. However, these hopes were in vain, as poor play and controversy stirred during the entire year, leading to a disastrous 3–13 campaign.Even though most players had a down year compared to 2012,Pierre Garçonhad his greatest season statistically yet. Garcon brokeArt Monk's 29-year-old franchise record for catches in a single season. Garcon had 113 catches total, which broke Monk's 106 catches in1984by seven.The Redskins fired Shanahan and most of his staff after the","his staff after the season. Jay Gruden era (2014–2019) On January 9,2014, the Redskins hiredJay Grudenas their head coach. Gruden became the eighth head coach of the team since Daniel Snyder purchased the franchise in 1999.The Redskins struggled throughout the season, having three different quarterbacks start games, amounting to a 4–12 record.Defensive coordinatorJim Haslettwas fired at the end of the season. On January 7,2015, the Redskins hiredScot McCloughanto be their general manager.McCloughan took over control of the roster fromBruce Allen, who was given the sole title of team president after the hiring. In October 2015, the Redskins had their largest comeback win in franchise history, coming back to win against theTampa Bay Buccaneers31–30 after being down 0–24 in the second quarter.The Redskins clinched the NFC East division title on December 26, when they beat thePhiladelphia Eaglesin Week 16, 38–24.The division title was their third since Snyder took over ownership of the team, and was the first","and was the first since the1999 seasonto be clinched before Week 17. The Redskins hosted theGreen Bay Packersin the Wild Card round on January 10, 2016, but lost 35–18, ending their 2015 season.Kirk Cousins, who took over as starting quarterback in the preseason, finished the season with career highs in touchdowns (29), yards (4,166), and completion percentage (69.8%). His completion percentage led the league, while his 29 touchdowns tied him for second on the franchise single-season list. The team's offense in2016set several franchise records, including having over 6,000 total net yards, which was only the third time in franchise history the team had accomplished that.QuarterbackKirk Cousinsalso set single-season team records in attempts, completions, and passing yards, breaking many of his records he had previously set in 2015.DeSean Jackson,Pierre Garçon,Jamison Crowder,Robert Kelley,Chris Thompson,Jordan Reed,Vernon Davis, andMatt Jonesall finished the season with at least 500 yards from scrimmage, tying","scrimmage, tying the2011 New Orleans Saintsfor the most in a single season in NFL history.Despite the numerous records set, the Redskins missed the playoffs, losing 19–10 in a \"win and in\" situation against the New York Giants in the final week of the season.However, the Redskins still finished the season with a record of 8–7–1, giving the team their first consecutive winning seasons in nearly 20 years.In contrast with the record setting offense, the team's defense had a poor season, finishing 29 out of 32 teams in total defense, which led to the firing ofdefensive coordinatorJoe Barry, as well as three of his assistants.In2017, Cousins had his third straight season with 4,000 passing yards while once again playing under the franchise tag.For the second straight season, the Redskins missed the playoffs, finishing 7–9. During the2018offseason, the Redskins traded for quarterbackAlex Smithto replace Kirk Cousins as he left for the Minnesota Vikings in free agency.Despite early success starting the season 6–3,","the season 6–3, their best start since2008, the team finished the season 1–6 due to injuries. In a game against the Houston Texans on November 18, 2018, Alex Smith suffered acompoundandspiral fractureto histibiaandfibulain his right leg when he was sacked byKareem JacksonandJ. J. Wattwhich forced him to miss the rest of the season.This led toColt McCoy,Mark Sanchez, andJosh Johnsonstarting games in the second half of the season.The team finished at 7–9 and missed the playoffs for the third consecutive year, with a league-high 25 players on injured reserve. Due to Smith's injury, the Redskins acquiredCase Keenumfrom theDenver Broncosin the2019offseason, and draftedDwayne HaskinsfromOhio Statein the2019 NFL draft.With a league worst 0–5 start to the season, tying with theCincinnati Bengals, and their worst start since2001, the Redskins fired Gruden on October 7, 2019,with offensive line coachBill Callahanserving as the interim head coach for the rest of the season.Gruden finished as the longest-tenured head","head coach in the Snyder era with six seasons, a 35–49–1 regular season record and one playoff appearance. The Redskins finished the season at 3–13, with victories over theDetroit LionsandCarolina Panthers, and missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year.The record was their worst since going 3–13 in2013and was the second worst of any team that season, behind only the Bengals at 2–14. Rebranding, investigations into Snyder and workplace culture (2020–2023) The team underwent several changes in2020, including retiring the Redskins name and logo and hiring formerCarolina Panthershead coachRon Riverain the same role, as well as namingJason Wrightas team president, the first black person named to that position in NFL history.Some notable members of Rivera's staff include formerJacksonville JaguarsandOakland Raidershead coachJack Del Rioas defensive coordinator andScott Turner, the son of former Redskins head coachNorv Turner, as offensive coordinator. Under Rivera and Del Rio, the team switched their","team switched their defensive scheme from a3–4 defense, which the team had used under both Shanahan and Gruden's tenure, to a4–3 defense.Due to their 3–13 record the previous season, the team had the second overall pick in the2020 NFL draftand selectedChase Young, who would go on to be namedDefensive Rookie of the Year.Dwayne Haskins, the team's first-round draft pick from 2019, was released prior to the season's end due to ineffective play and not meeting the team's standards off the field.Despite that, Washington would eventually win the division for the first time since 2015 at 7–9, becoming only the third team in NFL history to win a division with a losing record in a non-strike year after the2010 Seattle Seahawksand2014 Carolina Panthers, the latter of which Rivera also coached. In July 2021, a year-long independent investigation led by lawyerBeth Wilkinsoninto the team'sworkplace cultureunder ownerDaniel Snyderwas concluded.It found that several incidents ofsexual harassment, bullying, and intimidation","and intimidation were commonplace throughout the organization under his ownership.The NFL fined the team $10 million in response, with Snyder also voluntarily stepping down from running the team's day-to-day operations, giving those responsibilities to his wife and team CEOTanya.AU.S. House Oversight Committeereport later corroborated the claims and accused him of withholdingsecurity depositfrom season ticket holders. The2021 seasonsaw the hiring ofMartin Mayhewas general manager andMarty Hurneyas another high-ranking executive.With the hiring of Mayhew, Washington became the first team in NFL history to concurrently have a minority general manager, head coach, and president.Backup quarterbackTaylor Heinickewould start the majority of the season afterRyan Fitzpatrickwas injured in the opening game. The team missed the playoffs with a 7–10 record. The Football Team rebranded as the Commanders in2022with new logos and uniforms.The team traded for Colts quarterbackCarson Wentzin the offseason, with them","with them finishing 8-8-1 and becoming the first team since 2008 to finish last in the division with a non-losing record.Wentz, who was benched for Henicke during the season, would be released with Heinicke not being retained.The season would also be the final one under Snyder's ownership. Josh Harris era (2023–present) After mounting pressure from other league owners to sell the team, Snyder hiredBofA Securitiesin November 2022 to explore possible transactions.In May 2023, he reached an agreement to sell the franchise to a group headed byJosh Harris, co-founder ofApollo Global Managementand owner of the NBA'sPhiladelphia 76ersand NHL'sNew Jersey Devils, for $6.05 billion.Limited partners includeDanaherandGlenstonefounderMitchell Rales, Hall of Fame basketball playerMagic Johnson, 76ers and Devils co-ownerDavid Blitzer, D.C. entrepreneurMark Ein,Maverick CapitalfounderLee Ainslie, formerMagic Johnson Enterprisespresident Eric Holoman,Blue Owl Capitalfounders Marc Lipschultz and Doug Ostrover, theSanto","Ostrover, theSanto Domingo family,ProSharesfounder Michael Sapir, formerGoogleCEOEric Schmidt, andCambridge Information GroupCEO Andy Snyder.The sale was the highest price ever paid for a sports team and was unanimously approved by the NFL on July 20, 2023.By 2024, the Commanders had invested $75 million in improving the infrastructure and game experience ofNorthwest Stadium, including improved food options and renovations to the sound system and suites. The Commanders finished the2023 seasonwith a 4–13 record, allowing the most points and having the worst point differential in the league.Second-year quarterbackSam Howell, who started all 17 games, also led the league in sacks allowed (65) and interceptions thrown (21).It was their seventh straight non-winning season and third straight being eliminated from the playoffs, with the team also going winless in the division for the first time since2019. Head coachRon Riveraand his staff were fired following the season's conclusion. The2024 seasonsaw the hiring","the hiring ofAdam Petersas general manager and former Falcons head coachDan Quinnfor the same role.The front office and roster saw several changes in the offseason under Peters, including leading the NFL with nearly 30free agentssigned and selecting 2023HeismanquarterbackJayden Danielssecond overall in the2024 NFL draftafter having traded Howell to the Seahawks. Redskins branding controversy The team's formerRedskinsbranding, used from 1933 until 2020, was one of the leading examples of theNative American mascot controversy. Various people and groups, such as theNational Congress of American Indians(NCAI), considered the name a racial slur and attempted to get the team to change it for decades.In a 2013 letter, Snyder stated that while respecting those that say they were offended, a poll conducted by theAnnenberg Public Policy Centerin 2004 found that 90% of Native Americans were not.This poll was essentially replicated in 2016 byThe Washington Post. Social scientists from theUniversity of","theUniversity of MichiganandUniversity of California at Berkeleyperformed a study in 2020 that measured Native American opinion in detail, finding that 49% had responded that the name was offensive, with the level of offense increasing to 67% for those with a stronger involvement in Native American culture.When the franchise was undergoing atrademark dispute in 2014, theWashington Postannounced their editorials would no longer use the \"Redskins\" name.ESPN updated their employee work policies to allow their reporters to choose how to refer to the team going forward. Following renewed attention to racial justice in the wake of themurder of George Floydand subsequentprotestsin 2020, a letter signed by 87 shareholders and investors was sent to team and league sponsorsNike,FedEx, andPepsiCourging them to cut their ties unless the name was changed.Around the same time, several retail companies began removing Redskins merchandise from their stores.In response, the team underwent a review in July 2020 and announced","2020 and announced that it would play as the Washington Football Team after retiring its name and logo in wake of theGeorge Floyd protests. The team rebranded as the Commanders, featuring new logos and uniforms, in 2022.In 2023, theNative American Guardians Association(NAGA) launched a petition to return to the Redskins.NAGA later sued the team for defamation after management claimed NAGA to be a \"fake\" association.In 2024,U.S. SenatorSteve Dainesadvocated for the NFL to honorBlackfeet Nationmember Blackie Wetzel in recognition of his role in the team's former logo depicting an Indian chief, which were based onJohn Two Guns White Calf. While Daines sought to honor the legacy without calling for the return of the Redskins name, some viewed the gesture as insufficient compared to addressing more pressing community needs.The Wetzel family wants to regain the rights to the logo to use it for the Blackie Wetzel Warrior Society to raise awareness about social issues on reservations. Logos and uniforms The","and uniforms The franchise's primary colors are burgundy and gold.From 1961 through 1978, Washington wore gold pants with both the burgundy and white jerseys, although details of the jerseys and pants changed a few times during this period. Gold face masks were introduced in 1978 and remain as such to this day; previous to that they were grey. Throughout most of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, Washington was just one of three other teams that primarily wore their white jerseys at home (the others being theDallas CowboysandMiami Dolphins). The tradition of wearing white jerseys over burgundy pants at home, which is considered the \"classic\" look, was started byJoe Gibbswhen he took over as coach in 1981. Gibbs was an assistant for theSan Diego Chargersin 1979 and 1980 when the team wore white at home under head coachDon Coryell. Their burgundy jerseys were primarily used only when the opposing team decided to wear white at home, which came mostly against theDallas Cowboysand was normally worn over white pants. It","white pants. It was worn on the road against other teams that prefer to wear white at home for games occurring early in the season. From 1981 through 2000, Washington wore their white jerseys over burgundy pants at home almost exclusively. In 1994, as part of a league-wide celebration of the NFL's 75th anniversary, during certain games, the team wore special uniforms which emulated the uniforms worn by the team in its inaugural season in Washington in 1937. Both worn over gold pants, the burgundy jerseys featured gold numbers bordered in white and the white jerseys featured burgundy numbers bordered in gold. The most distinctive feature of both colors of the jersey was the patches worn on both sleeves, which were a reproduction of the patches worn on the full-length sleeves of the 1937 jerseys. Worn with these uniforms was a plain burgundy helmet with a gold facemask. In 2001, the team wore burgundy for all home games in the preseason and regular season per a decision by Marty Schottenheimer, their coach for","their coach for that year. In 2002, the team celebrated the passing of 70 years since its creation as the Boston Braves in 1932 and wore a special home uniform, a burgundy jersey over gold pants, which roughly resembled the home uniforms used from 1969 to 1978. The helmets used with this special home uniform during that year were a reproduction of the helmets used by the team from 1965 to 1969, though they wore white at home in Week 1 against theArizona Cardinalsand again in Week 17, the latter forcing the Cowboys to use their blue jerseys.This special home uniform was also worn during one game in 2003. In 2004, when Gibbs became the coach of the team once again, the team switched back to wearing white jerseys at home; in Gibbs's 16 years as head coach, the team never wore burgundy jerseys at home, even wearing a white throwback jersey in 2007. Their white jerseys have provided three basic color combinations. The last combination consists of both white jerseys and pants. That particular combination surfaced","surfaced in the first game of the 2003 season when the team was coached by Steve Spurrier, during a nationally televised game against theNew York Jets, which led many sports fans and Redskins faithful alike to point out that they had never seen that particular combination before. The Redskins won six straight games, including one in the playoffs against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, wearing that combination. In the NFC Divisional Playoff game against the eventual 2005 NFC ChampionSeattle Seahawks, Washington wore the all-white uniforms in hopes that they could keep their streak going; however, they lost 20–10. The white jersey over burgundy pants look reappeared in a home game against theCarolina Pantherslater in 2006. In celebration of the franchise's 75th anniversary, Washington wore a one-timethrowback uniformfor a home game against theNew York Giants, based on their away uniform from 1970 to 1971. Players wore a white jersey with three burgundy and two gold stripes on each sleeve and the 75th-anniversary","75th-anniversary logo on the left chest. The pants were gold, with one white stripe bordered by a burgundy stripe on each side, running down each side. The helmet was gold-colored with a burgundy \"R\" logo. The helmet and uniform styles were the same as the ones the franchise used during the 1970–71 seasons.Vince Lombardi, who coached Washington in 1969 before dying during the 1970 preseason, was the inspiration behind the helmet. Lombardi pushed for the logo, which sat inside a white circle enclosed within a burgundy circle border, with Native American feathers hanging down from the side because of its similarity to the \"G\" on the helmets worn by theGreen Bay Packers, who he had coached during most of the 1960s. In a 2008Monday Night Footballgame against thePittsburgh Steelers, Washington wore amonochromelook by wearing burgundy jerseys over burgundy pants.This combination made two further appearances the following season against theDallas CowboysandNew York Giants. The Redskins, starting in 2010, began to","in 2010, began to wear the burgundy jersey paired with the gold pants reminiscent of the George Allen era.Against theTennessee Titanslater that season, the team matched the gold pants with the usual white jerseys for the first time. Washington wore the same combination against the Giants on the road two weeks later. In 2011, the Redskins wore the burgundy jersey and gold pants for five home games and a road game at Dallas, the burgundy jersey with white pants for three home games and a road game at Miami, the white jersey and burgundy pants for five road games, and the white jersey and gold pants for aBills game in Toronto. The following year, the team wore an updated throwback uniform of the 1937 championship team that featured a helmet pattern based on the logo-less leather helmets worn at the time, in a game against the Carolina Panthers.In 2013, a newly implemented NFL rule stated that teams could not wear alternate helmets (thus limiting them to one helmet) on account of player safety. As a result,","As a result, Washington wore its 1937 throwbacks with the logo removed from the regular helmet in a game versus theSan Diego Chargers.That year, the Redskins removed the burgundy collar from their white jerseys in order to have better consistency with the newNikeuniforms that had debuted the previous season. Between 2014 and 2016, the team wore the gold pants with their standard uniforms, although the burgundy pants returned as part of the team's away uniform later in 2016.In 2017, Washington resurrected the all-burgundy ensemble as part of theNFL Color Rush. Nike initially provided an all-gold uniform but team officials called it \"garish\" and refused to wear it.In 2018, Washington replaced the gold pants with white for the majority of their home games. During their two season as the Washington Football Team in 2020 and 2021, their logo was a simple \"W\" with the helmets having player numbers.The Commanders rebranding included new logos and uniforms featuring military-inspired motifs. The primary home uniform","home uniform remained burgundy with gold and white stripes with the letters having a gold base. The team name is placed atop the numbers in front, which were also gold and trimmed in white. The road white uniform features burgundy and white gradient numbers with black trim, along with burgundy and white gradient and black sleeve stripes. Both sets are paired with either burgundy or white pants. The alternate black uniform features the team name on the left chest in gold, and numbers have a gold base with burgundy trim. Black pants are paired with this uniform with an alternate black helmet having with the \"W\" logo in front and uniform numbers on each side.A pig mascot,Major Tuddy, was also unveiled near the end of the season.In 2024, gold pants returned to the uniform rotation for the first time since 2018. Rivalries Divisional Dallas Cowboys The Commanders' rivalry with theDallas Cowboysfeatures two teams that have won 31 combined division titles and 10 championships, including eight combinedSuper Bowls.The","Bowls.The rivalry started in 1960 when the Cowboys joined the league as anexpansion team.During that year they were in separate conferences, but played once during the season. In 1961, Dallas was placed in the same division as the Redskins, and from that point on, they have played each other twice during everyregular season. Texas oil tycoonClint Murchison Jr.was having a difficult time bringing an NFL team toDallas. In 1958, Murchison heard thatGeorge Preston Marshall, owner of the Washington Redskins, was eager to sell the team. Just as the sale was about to be finalized, Marshall called for a change in terms. Murchison was outraged and canceled the whole deal.Around this time, Marshall had a falling out with the Redskin band director, Barnee Breeskin. Breeskin had written the music for the team'sfight song, now known as \"Hail to the Commanders\", which gets played by theWashington Commanders Marching Bandafter every touchdown at home games.He wanted revenge after the failed negotiations with Marshall. He","with Marshall. He approached Tom Webb, Murchison's lawyer, and sold the rights for $2,500 (equivalent to $25,700 in 2023).Murchison then decided to create his own team, with the support of NFL expansion committee chairman,George Halas. Halas decided to put the proposition of a Dallas franchise before the NFL owners, which needed to have unanimous approval in order to pass. The only owner against the proposal was George Preston Marshall. However, Marshall found out that Murchison owned the rights to Washington's fight song, so a deal was finally struck. If Marshall showed his approval of the Dallas franchise, Murchison would return the song. The Cowboys were then founded and began playing in 1960.At the time in 2016, a matchup between the teams on Thanksgiving was the most-watched regular-season game broadcast by theNFL on Fox.The Cowboys lead the series 78–48–2. Philadelphia Eagles The Commanders' rivalry with thePhiladelphia Eaglesbegan October 21, 1934, during Washington's first year under the Boston","under the Boston Redskins moniker; the Redskins defeated the Eagles 6–0 atFenway Park. Washington leads the series 87–80–8. The Eagles have won 12 of the last 20 matchups since 2010. New York Giants As of the 2023 season, the Giants lead the all-time series 108–71–5. Other Baltimore Ravens Though the two teams only play each other every 4 years, the Commanders have taken part in a minor geographic rivalry with theBaltimore Ravensas both stadiums are approximately 40 miles apart.The Commanders particularly had long blocked the return of an NFL team to Baltimore since theColts franchiserelocated to Indianapolis in 1984. Former ownerJack Kent Cookehad been accused in multiple instances of orchestrating any means to prevent the city from receiving a new franchise until the Cleveland Browns relocated to Baltimore in 1996, prompting Cooke to put the Redskins' then-new stadium in Landover, Maryland.The two teams play each other annually during the preseason.The Ravens lead the all-time series 5–3. Ownership and","5–3. Ownership and staff Ownership Opposed calls to change thecontroversial Redskins brandinguntil 2020 amid growing pressure from sponsors, with the franchise playing as the Washington Football Team prior to rebranding as the Commanders in2022. Represented by his wifeTanyafor league events following an indefinite suspension by the NFL in 2021. Staff →Coaching staff→Front office→More NFL staffs Players Roster Running backs(RB) Wide receivers(WR) Tight ends(TE) Defensive linemen(DL) Defensive backs(DB) Special teams Reserved 53 active, 5 reserved, 16 practice squad (+1 exempt) Retired numbers Unofficial Some numbers are unofficially retired and are withheld from being selected by other players. The use of unofficial retired numbers drew controversy duringSteve Spurrier's first year as head coach in 2002.QuarterbacksDanny WuerffelandShane Matthewsfirst wore 7 and 9 respectively during training camp. The resulting controversy led to them switching to 17 and 6.Dwayne Haskins, the team's first-round selection in","selection in the2019 NFL draft, received permission from Theismann to wear number 7. Pro Football Hall of Fame members Names inboldindicate induction primarily based on accomplishments with Washington. Ring of Fame When the team leftRFK Stadiumin 1996, the signs commemorating the Washington Hall of Stars were left behind and the team began a new tradition of honoring Redskins greats via the \"Ring of Fame\", a set of signs on the upper level facade at Northwest Stadium. Team founderGeorge Preston Marshallis the only member to ever be removed once inducted, which was done in 2020. 90 Greatest In honor of the Redskins' 70th anniversary in 2002, a panel selected the 70 Greatest Redskins to honor the players and coaches who were significant on-field contributors to the Redskins five championships. They were honored in a weekend of festivities, including a special halftime ceremony during a Redskins' win over theIndianapolis Colts.In 2012, ten more players and personnel were added to the list for the team's 80th","for the team's 80th anniversary.In 2022, ten more players were added in honor of the franchise's 90th anniversary. The panel that chose the 70 consisted of former news anchorBernard Shaw; former playerBobby Mitchell; SenatorGeorge Allen(son of coachGeorge Allen); broadcasterKen Beatrice; Noel Epstein, editor for theWashington Post; former diplomatJoseph J. Sisco; Phil Hochberg, who retired in 2001 after 38 years as team stadium announcer; Pro Football Hall of Fame historian Joe Horrigan; sportscasterGeorge Michael; sports directorAndy Pollin; NFL Films presidentSteven Sabol; and news anchorJim Vance. The list includes three head coaches and 67 players, of which 41 were offensive players, 23 defensive players and three special teams players.Among the 70 Greatest, there are 92Super Bowlappearances, with 47 going once and 45 playing in more than one. 29 members possess one Super Bowl ring and 26 have more than one. Also, before the Super Bowl, members of the 70 made 18 World Championship appearances including","including six that participated in the Redskins' NFL Championship victories in 1937 and 1942.Boldindicates those elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Individual awards Command Force TheCommand Forceis the team's professional dance and performance group. They were originally formed in 1962 as acheerleadingsquad known as theRedskinettes, named after the team's former Redskins name.They were revamped as the Command Force upon the team's rebranding as the Commanders in 2022.They have also been referred to as theFirst Ladies of Football. Records Single-game Season Franchise NFL records Offense Defense Special teams Broadcasting The Commanders' currentflagshipradio station is100.3 WBIG-FM, which acquired the rights in 2022 as part of an agreement withiHeartMedia.Frank Herzogwas the team's leadplay-by-playannouncer from 1979 to 2004, when he was replaced by Larry Michael.Herzog was joined from 1981 by former RedskinsSonny JurgensenandSam Huff.Michael retired in 2020 and was replaced byBram Weinstein.Weinstein","Weinstein.Weinstein is joined by color analystLondon Fletcher, who played linebacker for the team from 2007 to 2013.Julie Donaldsonserved as host from 2020 to 2023 and was the first woman to be an on-air broadcaster for an NFL team. WMALhas historically been associated with the team, having been its flagship station from 1942 to 1956, and again from 1963 through 1991—broadcasting all three of the team's Super Bowl victories.From 1992 to 1994,WTEM—which had become DC's first all-sports radio station—became the Redskins' flagship station,after which they moved toWJFK-FM.In 2006, after WJFK andCBS Radiodeclined to renew its rights to the team, the Redskins moved toWWXT,WWXX, andWXTR. The stations had recently been bought byRed Zebra Broadcasting—a group co-owned by Snyder—and had become a sports radiotrimulcastknown as \"Triple XESPN Radio\".Red Zebra Broadcasting would eventually acquire WTEM in 2008, making it the originating station of the simulcast, and therefore the team's flagship station. In 2017,Cumulus","In 2017,Cumulus Mediareached an agreement to carry the team's radio broadcasts on WMAL, marking its return to the station for the first time since 1991. As part of the agreement, WTEM remained the team's official flagship.In 2018, WTEM was sold toUrban One, but maintained its rights to the team.In June 2019, WMAL flipped to sports radio itself asWSBN, taking over the local ESPN Radio affiliation from WTEM; WMAL's previousconservative talkformat moved exclusively to itsFM simulcast station. Telecasts of preseason games were previously carried byNBC Sports Washingtonin theMid-Atlanticregion. SisterNBCowned-and-operated stationWRC-TVwas the team's \"official\" broadcast television station, simulcasting the preseason games and airing other team-produced programs during the season.With the sale of NBC Sports Washington byNBCUniversaltoWashington CapitalsandWashington WizardsownerTed Leonsis, the network declined to renew its rights to the team.Most regular season Commanders games are carried byNFL on Foxpackage","byNFL on Foxpackage except when the team plays in primetime. In June 2024, the team andWUSAannounced a partnership to broadcast the team's preseason games as well as some original content. U.S. presidential election superstition Between 1932 and 2008, for 19 of 20United States presidential elections, a win for the Redskins in their last home game prior toElection Daycoincided with the incumbent party winning re-election. The exception was in 2004, whenRepublicanincumbentGeorge W. Bushwon re-election despite theGreen Bay Packersbeating the Redskins.The trend subsequently came to an end when in 2012,Democraticincumbent Barack Obama won re-election despite the Redskins losing to theCarolina Panthers;in 2016, Republican candidateDonald Trumpwon the election despite the Redskins defeating the Eagles; and in 2020, Democratic candidateJoe Bidenwon despite Washington's win. Footnotes References External links # denotes de facto general manager # denotes interim status","Boston Braves TheBoston Braveswere aMajor League Baseballclub that originated inBoston, Massachusetts, and played from 1871 to 1952. Afterwards they moved toMilwaukee(and became theMilwaukee Braves). Then in 1966 they were relocated toAtlanta, where they were renamed theAtlanta Braves. During its 82-year stay inMassachusetts, the franchise was known by various nicknames, including theRed Stockings,Red Caps,Rustlers,Bees, and \"Braves\". While in Boston, the team won 10National League pennantsand aWorld Serieschampionship in1914that came after a season in which the Braves were in last place as late as July 15—a turnaround that led to the nickname \"Miracle Braves\". In1948, the Braves reached the World Series largely as a result of their two dominant pitchers,Warren SpahnandJohnny Sain, who inspired theBoston Postslogan \"Spahn and Sain and pray for rain.\" The Braves posted a losing record in all but 12 of the 38 seasons after their World Series win. The franchise relocated to Milwaukee in 1953. The Boston","in 1953. The Boston franchise played atSouth End Groundsfrom 1871 to 1914 and atBraves Fieldfrom 1915 to 1952. Braves Field is nowNickerson FieldofBoston University. The franchise, from Boston to Milwaukee to Atlanta, is the oldest continuously operating professional baseball franchise. Early history TheCincinnati Red Stockings, established in 1869 as the first openly all-professional baseball team, voted to dissolve after the 1870 season. Player-managerHarry Wrightthen went toBoston, Massachusetts—at the invitation of Boston businessmanIvers Whitney Adams—with brotherGeorge Wrightand two other Cincinnati players joined theBoston Red Stockings, a charter member of theNational Association of Professional Base Ball Players. This team and its successors are the oldest continuously playing team in American professional sports.(The only other team that has been organized as long,the Chicago Cubs, did not play for the two years following theGreat Chicago Fireof 1871.) Two players hired from theForest City","from theForest City clubofRockford, Illinois, were pitcherAl Spalding(founder ofSpaldingsporting goods) and second basemanRoss Barnes. Led by the Wright brothers, Barnes, andSpalding, the Red Stockings won four of the National Association's five championships. The team became one of the National League's charter franchises in 1876, sometimes called the \"Red Caps\" (as a new Cincinnati Red Stockings club was another charter member). Boston came to be called theBeaneatersby sportswriters in 1883, while retaining red as the team color. Boston won the 1877 and 1878 pennants. The Red Caps/Beaneaters won eight pennants during the 19th century. TheirmanagerwasFrank Selee, the first manager not to double as a player as well.The 1898 teamfinished 102–47, a club record for wins that would stand for almost a century. In 1894 the Braves became the first major league baseball team to wear letterforms on their uniform caps when they added a monogram-style device to their front. They only managed one winning season from","winning season from 1900 to 1913, and lost 100 or more games six times. In1907,the renamed Doves(temporarily) eliminated the red from their stockings because their manager thought the red dye could cause wounds to become infected (as noted inThe Sporting News Baseball Guideduring the 1940s when each team's entry had a history of its nickname(s). See details inHistory of baseball team nicknames). The American League club's owner, Charles Taylor, changed his team's name to the Red Sox in place of the \"Americans\". WhenGeorgeandJohn Doveyacquired the club in 1907, the team was named theDoves; when purchased byWilliam Hepburn Russellin 1911 reporters tried outRustlers.The team adopted an official name, theBraves, for the first time in1912. Their owner,James Gaffney, was a member of New York City'sTammany Hall, which used an Indian chief as their symbol. 1914: Miracle Two years later, the Braves put together one of the most memorable seasons in baseball history. After a dismal 4–18 start, the Braves seemed to be","Braves seemed to be on pace for a last place finish. On July 4, 1914, the Braves lost both games of a doubleheader tothe Brooklyn Dodgers. The consecutive losses put their record at 26–40 and the Braves were in last place, 15 games behind the league-leadingNew York Giants, who had won the previous three league pennants. After a day off, the Braves put together a hot streak, and from July 6 through September 5, the Braves won 41 games against only 12 losses.On September 7 and 8, the Braves took 2 of 3 from the New York Giants and moved into first place. The Braves tore through September and early October, closing with 25 wins against 6 losses, while the Giants went 16–16.They are the only team to win a pennant after being in last place on theFourth of July. They were in last place as late as July 18, but were close to the pack, moving into fourth on July 21 and second place on August 12. Despite their amazing comeback, the Braves enteredthe World Seriesas a heavy underdog toConnie Mack'sPhiladelphia","Mack'sPhiladelphia Athletics. Nevertheless, the Braves swept the Athletics—the first unqualified sweep in the young history of the modern World Series (the1907 World Serieshad one tied game)—to win the world championship. Meanwhile, formerChicago CubsinfielderJohnny Evers, in his second season with the Braves, wonthe Chalmers Award. The Braves played the World Series (as well as the last few weeks of the 1914 regular season) atFenway Park, since their normal home, theSouth End Grounds, was too small. However, the Braves' success inspired owner Gaffney to build a modern park,Braves Field, which opened in August 1915. It was the largest park in the majors at the time, with 40,000 seats and also a very spacious outfield. The park was novel for its time; public transportation brought fans right into the park. 1915–1935: Losing years After contending for most of 1915 and 1916, the Braves spent much of the next 19 years in mediocrity, during which they posted only three winning seasons (1921,1933, and1934). The","and1934). The lone highlight of those years came when Giants' attorneyEmil Fuchsbought the team in 1923 to bring his longtime friend, pitching greatChristy Mathewson, back into the game. Although original plans called for Mathewson to be the principal owner, he had never recovered fromtuberculosisthat he had contracted after beinggassedduringWorld War I. By the end of the 1923 season, it was obvious Mathewson could not continue even in a reduced role, and he would die two years later, with the result that Fuchs was permanently given the presidency. In 1928, the Braves traded for Hall of FamerRogers Hornsbywho had a very productive year in his only season with Boston. He batted .387 to win his seventh and final batting championship. Fuchs was committed to building a winner, but the damage from the years prior to his arrival took some time to overcome. The Braves finally managed to compete in1933and1934under managerBill McKechnie, but Fuchs' revenue was severely depleted due to theGreat Depression. Babe Ruth","Babe Ruth returns to Boston Looking for a way to get more supporters and more money, Fuchs worked out a deal with theNew York Yankeesto acquireBabe Ruth, who had, coincidentally, started his career with theBoston Red Sox. Fuchs named Ruth vice president and assistant manager of the Braves, and promised him a share of team profits. He was also to be consulted on all player transactions. Fuchs even suggested that Ruth, who had long had his heart set on managing, could take over as manager once McKechnie stepped down—perhaps as early as 1936. At first, it looked like Ruth was the final piece the team needed in1935. Onopening day, he had a hand in all of the Braves' runs in a 4–2 win over theGiants. However, this could not last. Opening Day proved to be the only time the Braves were over .500 all year. A 4–20 May ended any realistic chance of contention. At the same time, it became apparent that Ruth was finished even as a part-time player. While his high living of previous years had begun catching up with him a","up with him a year earlier, his conditioning rapidly declined in the first month of 1935. While he was still able to hit at first, he could do little else. He could no longer run, and his fielding was so terrible that three of the Braves' pitchers threatened to go on strike if Ruth were in the lineup. Ruth soon discovered that he was vice president and assistant manager in name only, and Fuchs' promise of a share of team profits was hot air. In fact, Ruth discovered that Fuchs expected him to invest some ofhismoney in the team. Seeing a franchise in complete disarray, Ruth retired on June 1, only six days after he clouted what turned out to be the last three home runs of his career, in what remains one of the most memorable afternoons in baseball history. He had wanted to quit as early as May 12, but Fuchs wanted him to hang on so he could play in every National League park.By this time, the Braves were 9–27, their season all but over. They ultimately finished 38–115, easily the worst season in franchise","season in franchise history. Their .248 winning percentage is tied for theseventh-worst in baseball history, and the sixth-worst in National League history. It is the second-worst in modern baseball history (behind only the1916 Philadelphia Athletics), and the worst in modern National League history. 1936–1941: the Bees Insolvent like his team, Fuchs was forced to give up control of the Braves in August 1935,and new ownerBob Quinntried to change the team's image by renaming it theBoston Bees.This did little to change the team's fortunes. After five uneven years, a new owner, construction magnateLou Perini, changed the nickname back to the Braves. 1948: National League champions In1948, theteamwon the National League pennant by capturing 91 games to finish 61⁄2places ahead of the second–placeSt. Louis Cardinals. They also attracted 1,455,439 fanstoBraves Field, the third-largest gate in the National League and a high-water mark for the team's stay in Boston. The pitching staff was anchored by Hall of","anchored by Hall of FamerWarren SpahnandJohnny Sain, who won 39 games between them. The remainder of the rotation was so thin that in September,Boston Postwriter Gerald Hern wrote this poem about the pair: First we'll use Spahnthen we'll use SainThen an off dayfollowed by rainBack will come Spahnfollowed by SainAnd followedwe hopeby two days of rain. The poem received such a wide audience that the sentiment, usually now paraphrased as \"Spahn, Sain, then pray for rain\" or \"Spahn, Sain and two days of rain\", entered the baseball vocabulary. Ironically, in the 1948 season, the Braves actually had a better record in games that Spahn and Saindid notstart than in games they did. (Other sources include pitcherVern Bickfordin the verse.) The Braves lost the1948 World Seriesin six games tothe Cleveland Indians(who had beatenthe Red Soxin atie-breaker gameto spoil an all-Boston World Series). This turned out to be the Braves' last hurrah in Boston. 1949–1952: Final years in Boston Sam Jethroe Acquired earlier by trade","earlier by trade from theBrooklyn Dodgers, on April 18, 1950,Sam \"Jet\" Jethroewas added to theBoston Bravesroster. The Dodgers had another young CF inDuke Sniderrising in their system, resulting in the trade to the Braves.Going on to be namedNational League Rookie of the Yearat age 32, Jethroe broke the color barrier with Boston. In 1950, Jethroe hit .273 with 100 runs, 18 home runs and 58 RBI. His 35 stolen bases led the National League, a feat he would duplicate in 1951. While in Boston, Jethroe was a roommate ofChuck Cooper, ofthe Boston Celticswho was the first African-American player drafted by anNBAteam.A formerNegro leaguesstar and military veteran, Jethroe remains the oldest player to have won Rookie of the Year honors. Move to Milwaukee and aftermath Amid four mediocre seasons after 1948, attendance steadily dwindled, even though Braves Field had the reputation of being more family friendly than Fenway. For a half century, the major leagues had not had a single franchise relocation.The Braves played","Braves played their last home game in Boston on September 21,1952, losing to theBrooklyn Dodgers8–2before 8,822 at Braves Field; the home attendance for the 1952 season was under 282,000. On March 13, 1953, ownerLou Perinisaid that he would seek permission from the National League to move the Braves to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.After the franchise's long history in Boston, the day became known as \"Black Friday\" in the city as fans mourned the team's exit after eight decades. Perini, however, pointed to dwindling attendance as the main reason for the relocation. He also announced that he had recently bought out his original partners. He announced Milwaukee as that was where the Braves had their top farm club, the Brewers. Milwaukee had long been a possible target for relocation.Bill Veeckhad tried to move hisSt. Louis Brownsthere earlier the same year (Milwaukee was the original home of that franchise), but his proposal had been voted down by the other American League owners. Going into spring training in 1953, it","in 1953, it appeared that the Braves would play another year in Boston unless the National League gave permission for the move. After a 31⁄2-hour meeting at theVinoy Park Hotelin St. Petersburg, Florida, league approval was granted after Perini promised not to sell the team.During a game against theNew York Yankeeson March 18, the sale was announced final and that the team would move to Milwaukee, immediately.TheAll-Star Gamehad been scheduled for Braves Field. It was moved toCrosley Fieldand hosted by theCincinnati Reds.The Braves franchise moved their triple-A Brewers from Milwaukee to Toledo, Ohio. After the Braves moved to Milwaukee in1953, the Braves Field site was sold toBoston Universityand reconstructed asNickerson Field, the home of manyBoston Universityteams. The Braves Field scoreboard was sold to theKansas City A'sand used atMunicipal Stadium; the A's moved toOaklandafter the1967season. Notable Boston Braves Notes References","Atlanta Braves TheAtlanta Bravesare an Americanprofessional baseballteam based in theAtlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete inMajor League Baseball(MLB) as a member club of theNational League(NL)East Division. The Braves were founded inBoston, Massachusetts, in 1871, as theBoston Red Stockings. The club was known by various names until the franchise settled on theBoston Bravesin 1912. The Braves are the oldest continuously operatingprofessional sports franchise in North America. After 81 seasons andone World Series titlein Boston, the clubmovedtoMilwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1953. With a roster of star players such asHank Aaron,Eddie Mathews, andWarren Spahn, theMilwaukee Braveswon theWorld Seriesin 1957. Despite the team's success, fan attendance declined. The club's owners moved the team toAtlanta, Georgia, in 1966. The Braves did not find much success in Atlanta until 1991. From 1991 to 2005, the Braves were one of the most successful teams in baseball, winning an unprecedented 14 consecutive division","division titles,making an MLB record eight consecutiveNational League Championship Seriesappearances, and producing one of thegreatest pitching rotationsin the history of baseball including Hall of FamersGreg Maddux,John Smoltz, andTom Glavine. The Braves are one of the two remaining National League charter franchises that debuted in 1876.The club has won an MLB record 23 divisional titles, 18National Leaguepennants, and four World Series championships. The Braves are the only Major League Baseball franchise to have won the World Series in three different home cities.At the end of the 2024 season, the Braves' overall win–loss record is11,114–10,949–154(.504). Since moving to Atlanta in 1966, the Braves have an overall win–loss record of4,850–4,461–8(.521) through the end of 2024. History Boston (1871–1952) 1871–1913 TheCincinnati Red Stockings, formed in 1869, were the first openly all-professional baseball team but disbanded after the 1870 season.ManagerHarry Wrightand players moved toBoston, forming","toBoston, forming theBoston Red Stockings, a charter team in theNational Association of Professional Base Ball Players(NAPBBP).Led by the Wright brothers, Ross Barnes, andAl Spalding, they dominated the National Association, winning four of five championships.The original Boston Red Stockings team and its successors can lay claim to being the oldest continuously playing franchise in American professional sports. The club was known as the Boston Red Caps when they played the firstNational Leaguegame in1876, winning against thePhiladelphia Athletics.Despite a weaker roster in the league's first year, they rebounded to secure the 1877 and 1878 pennants.Managed byFrank Selee, they were a dominant force in the 19th century, winning eight pennants.By 1898 the team was known as theBeaneatersand they won 102 games, with stars likeHugh Duffy,Tommy McCarthy, and \"Slidin'\"Billy Hamilton. In 1901, the American League was introduced, causing many Beaneaters players including stars Duffy andJimmy Collinsto leave for clubs","leave for clubs of the rival league.The team struggled, having only one winning season from 1900 to 1913 and losing 100 games five times. In 1907, they temporarily dropped the red color from their stockings due to infection concerns.The club underwent various nickname changes until becoming the Braves before the1912 season.The president of the club, John M. Ward named the club after the owner,James Gaffney.Gaffney was called one of the \"braves\" of New York City's political machine,Tammany Hall, which used a Native American chief as their symbol. 1914: Miracle In 1914, the Boston Braves experienced a remarkable turnaround in what would become one of the most memorable seasons in baseball history.Starting with a dismal 4–18 record, the Braves found themselves in last place, trailing the league-leadingNew York Giantsby 15 games after losing a doubleheader to theBrooklyn Robinson July 4.However, the team rebounded with an incredible hot streak, going 41–12 from July 6 to September 5.On August 3,Joseph Lanninthe","3,Joseph Lanninthe president of the Red Sox, offeredFenway Parkto the Braves free of charge for the remainder of the season since their usual home, theSouth End Grounds, was too small.On September 7 and 8, they defeated the Giants in two out of three games, propelling them into first place.Despite being in last place as late as July 18, the Braves secured the pennant, becoming the only team under the old eight-team league format to achieve this after being in last place on the Fourth of July.They were in last place as late as July 18, but were close to the pack, moving into fourth on July 21 and second place on August 12. The Braves entered the1914 World Seriesled by captain and National LeagueMost Valuable Player,Johnny Evers.The Boston club were slight underdogs againstConnie Mack'sPhiladelphia A's.However, they swept the Athletics and won the world championship.Inspired by their success, owner Gaffney constructed a modern park,Braves Field, which opened in August 1915 and was the largest park in the","largest park in the majors at the time, boasting 40,000 seats and convenient public transportation access. 1915–1953 From 1917 to 1933, the Boston Braves struggled. After a series of different owners,Emil Fuchsbought the team in 1923.Fuchs brought his longtime friend, pitching greatChristy Mathewson, as part of the syndicate that bought the club.However, the death of pitching legend in 1925 left Fuchs in control.Despite Fuchs' commitment to success, the team faced challenges overcoming the damage from previous years. It wasn't until 1933 and 1934, under managerBill McKechnie, that the Braves became competitive, but it did little to help the club's finances. In an effort to boost fan attendance and finances, Fuchs orchestrated a deal with theNew York Yankeesto acquireBabe Ruthin 1935.Ruth was appointed team vice president with promises of profit shares and managerial prospects.Initially, Ruth seemed to provide a spark on opening day, but his declining skills became evident.Ruth's inability to run and poor","to run and poor fielding led to internal strife, and it became clear that his titles were symbolic.Ruth retired on June 1, 1935, shortly after hitting his last three home runs.The Braves finished the season with a dismal 38–115 record, marking the franchise's worst season. Fuchs lost control of the team in August 1935,leading to a rebranding attempt as the Boston Bees, but it did little to alter the team's fortune. Construction magnateLou Perinitook over, eventually restoring the Braves' name.Despite World War II causing a brief setback, the team, led by pitcherWarren Spahn, enjoyed impressive seasons in 1946 and 1947 under Perini's ownership. In 1948, theteamwon the pennant, behind the pitching of Spahn andJohnny Sain.The remainder of the rotation was so thin that in September,Boston Postwriter Gerald Hern wrote this poem about the pair: The poem received such a wide audience that the sentiment, usually now paraphrased as \"Spahn and Sain and pray for rain\", entered the baseball vocabulary. The1948 World","The1948 World Series, which the Braves lost in six games to theIndians, turned out to be the Braves' last hurrah in Boston.On March 13, 1953, Perini announced he was moving the club toMilwaukee.Perini cited advent of television and the lack of enthusiasm for the Braves in Boston as the key factors in deciding to move the franchise. Milwaukee (1953–1965) The Milwaukee Braves' relocation to Wisconsin in 1953 was initially a triumphant success, as they drew a then-National League record of 1.8 million fans and finished their inaugural season second in the National League.ManagerCharlie Grimmwas namedNL Manager of the Yearfollowing the Braves improvement. Throughout the 1950s, the Braves were a National League power; driven by sluggersEddie MathewsandHank Aaron, the team won two pennants and finished second twice between 1956 and 1959.In1957, Aaron'sMVP seasonled the Braves to their first pennant in nine years, securing aWorld Seriesvictory against the formidable New York Yankees.Despite a strong start in the","strong start in the World Seriesrematchthe followingseason, the Braves ultimately lost the last three games and the World Series.The1959 seasonended in a tie with the Los Angeles Dodgers, leading to a playoff loss for the Braves. The ensuing years saw fluctuating success, including the Braves finishing fifth in 1963, their first time in the \"second division.\"The team's owner, Louis Perini, sold the Braves to a Chicago-based group led by William Bartholomay in 1962.Despite plans to move to Atlanta in 1965, legal hurdles kept the Braves in Milwaukee for one more season before they completed the relocation in 1966. Atlanta (1966–present) 1966–1974 After arriving in Atlanta in 1966, the Braves found success in 1969, with the onset of divisional play by winning the first-everNational League WestDivision title.In theNational League Championship Seriesthe Braves were swept by the \"Miracle Mets.\"They would not be a factor during the next decade, posting only two winning seasons between 1970 and 1981.Fans in Atlanta","in Atlanta had to be satisfied with the achievements ofHank Aaron, who by the end of the 1973 season, had hit 713 home runs, one short of Ruth's record.On April 4, opening day of thenext season, he hit No. 714 inCincinnati, and on April 8, in front of his home fans and a national television audience, he finally beat Ruth's mark with a home run to left-center field off left-handerAl Downingof theLos Angeles Dodgers.Aaron spent most of his career as a Milwaukee and Atlanta Brave before being traded to theMilwaukee Brewerson November 2, 1974. Ted Turner era 1976–1977: Ted Turner buys the team In 1976, the team was purchased by media magnateTed Turner, owner ofsuperstationWTBS, as a means to keep the team (and one of his main programming staples) in Atlanta.Turner used the Braves as a major programming draw for his fledgling cable network, making the Braves the first franchise to have a nationwide audience and fan base.WTBS marketed the team as \"The Atlanta Braves:America's Team\", a nickname that still sticks in","still sticks in some areas of the country, especiallythe South.The financially strapped Turner used money already paid to the team for their broadcast rights as a down-payment. Turner quickly gained a reputation as a quirky, hands-on baseball owner. On May 11, 1977, Turner appointed himselfmanager, but because MLB passed a rule in the 1950s barring managers from holding a financial stake in their teams, Turner was ordered to relinquish that position after one game (theBraveslost 2–1 to thePittsburgh Piratesto bring their losing streak to 17 games). 1978–1990 The Braves didn't enjoy much success between 1978 and 1990, however, in the1982 season, led by managerJoe Torre, the Braves secured their first divisional title since 1969.The team was led by standout performances from key players likeDale Murphy,Bob Horner,Chris Chambliss,Phil Niekro, andGene Garber.The Braves were swept in theNLCSin three games by theCardinals.Murphy won the Most Valuable Player award for the National League in 1982 and 1983.","in 1982 and 1983. 1991–2005: 14 consecutive division titles From 1991 to 2005, the Atlanta Braves enjoyed a remarkable era of success in baseball, marked by a record-setting 14 consecutive division titles, five National League pennants, and a World Series championship in 1995.Bobby Cox returned as manager in 1990, leading the team's turnaround after finishing the previous season with the worst record in baseball. Notable developments included the drafting ofChipper Jonesin 1990 and the hiring of general manager John Schuerholz from the Kansas City Royals. The Braves' remarkable journey began in1991, known as the \"Worst to First\" season.Overcoming a shaky start, the Braves bounced back led by young pitchersTom GlavineandJohn Smoltz.The team secured the NL pennant in a memorable playoff race, ultimately losing a closely contestedWorld Seriesto the Minnesota Twins. The following year, theBraveswon theNLCSin dramatic fashion against thePiratesbut fell short in theWorld Seriesagainst theToronto Blue Jays. In","Blue Jays. In 1993, the Braves strengthened their pitching staff with the addition of Cy Young Award winnerGreg Madduxin free agency.Despite posting a franchise-best 104 wins, they lost in theNLCSto thePhiladelphia Phillies. The team moved to the Eastern Division in 1994, sparking a heated rivalry with the New York Mets. Theplayer's strikecut short the 1994 season just before the division championships, but the Braves rebounded in 1995, defeating theCleveland Indiansto win theWorld Series.With this World Series victory, the Braves became the first team in Major League Baseball to win world championships in three different cities.The Braves reached the World Series in1996and1999but were defeated both times by the New York Yankees. In 1996, Time Warner acquired Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting System, including the Braves.Despite their continued success with a ninth consecutive division title in 2000, the Braves faced postseason disappointment with a sweep by theSt. Louis Cardinalsin theNLDS.The team won","team won division titles from 2002 to 2004 but experienced early exits in the NLDS each year. Liberty Media era Liberty Media buys the team In December 2005, Time Warner, put the club up for sale, leading to negotiations with Liberty Media.After over a year of talks, a deal was reached in February 2007 for Liberty Media to acquire the Braves for $450 million, a magazine publishing company, and $980 million in cash. The sale, valued at approximately $1.48 billion, was contingent on approval from 75 percent of MLB owners and Commissioner Bud Selig. Bobby Cox and Chipper Jones retire Bobby Cox's final year as manager in2010saw the Braves return to the postseason for the first time since 2005.The team secured the NL Wild Card but fell to the San Francisco Giants in theNational League Division Seriesin four closely contested games, marking the conclusion of Bobby Cox's managerial career.Thefollowing seasonthe Braves suffered a historic September collapse to miss the postseason.The club bounced back in2012and","back in2012and returned to the postseason in Chipper Jones' final season.The Braves won 94 games in 2012, but that wasn't enough to win the NL East, so they faced the St. Louis Cardinals in the inauguralWild Card Game.Chipper Jones last game was a memorable one: the Braves lost theone game playoff6–3, but the game would be remembered for a controversial infield fly call that helped end a Braves rally in the 8th inning. Truist Park and return to the World Series In 2017, the Atlanta Braves began playing atTruist Park, replacing Turner Field as their home stadium.Following an MLB investigation into international signing rule violations, general managerJohn Coppolellaresigned and faced a baseball ban.Alex Anthopoulostook over as the new general manager.The team's chairman,Terry McGuirk, apologized for the scandal and expressed confidence in Anthopoulos' integrity.A new on field mascot namedBlooperwas introduced at a fan event before the 2017 season.Under Anthopoulos, the Braves made the playoffs in six of his","in six of his first seven seasons.In2020the Braves reach theNational League Championship Series, but ultimately lost to the Dodgers after leading 3–1. In the 2021 season, the Braves won the National League East with an 88–73 record. In the postseason, they quickly defeated the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Division Series 3–1. The Braves again faced the Dodgers in the2021 NLCS, and won in six games to take Atlanta's first National League pennant since1999. The Braves advanced to the World Series.They defeated theHouston Astrosin six games to win their fourth World Series title. Logos and uniforms The Braves logos have evolved over the years, featuring a Native American warrior from 1945 to 1955, followed by a laughing Native American with a mohawk and a feather from 1956 to 1965.The modern logo, introduced in 1987, includes the cursive word \"Braves\" with a tomahawk below it.Uniform changes occurred in 1987, with the team adopting uniforms reminiscent of their 1950s classic look.For the 2023 season, the Braves","season, the Braves had four uniform combinations, including the classic white home and gray road uniforms, a navy blue road jersey for alternate games, and two alternate uniforms for home games - a Friday night red uniform and a City Connect uniform worn on Saturdays, paying tribute to Hank Aaron.The City Connect uniform features \"The A\" across the chest, accompanied by a cap with the \"A\" logo and 1974 uniform colors. World Series championships Over the 120 years since the inception of the World Series (119 total World Series played), the Braves franchise has won a total of fourWorld SeriesChampionships. The Braves are the only franchise to have won a World Series in three different cities. Ballparks Truist Park The Atlanta Braves home ballpark has been Truist Park since 2017. Truist Park is located approximately 10 miles (16 km) northwest ofdowntown Atlantain theunincorporated communityofCumberland, inCobb County,Georgia.The team played its home games atAtlanta–Fulton County Stadiumfrom 1966 to 1996, and","1966 to 1996, and atTurner Fieldfrom 1997 to 2016. The Braves opened Truist Park on April 14, 2017, with a four-game sweep of theSan Diego Padres.The park received positive reviews. Woody Studenmund of theHardball Timescalled the park a \"gem\" saying that he was impressed with \"the compact beauty of the stadium and its exciting approach to combining baseball, business and social activities.\"J.J. Cooper ofBaseball Americapraised the \"excellent sight lines for pretty much every seat.\" CoolToday Park Since 2019, the Braves have playedspring traininggames at CoolToday Park inNorth Port, Florida.The ballpark opened on March 24, 2019, with the Braves' 4–2 win over theTampa Bay Rays.The Braves leftChampion Stadium, their previous Spring Training home near Orlando to reduce travel times and to get closer to other teams' facilities.CoolToday Park also serves as the Braves' year round rehabilitation facility. Attendance (*) – There were no fans allowed in any MLB stadium in 2020 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. Major","pandemic. Major rivalries New York Mets Although their first major confrontation occurred when the Mets swept the Braves in the1969 NLCS, the rivalry did not become especially heated until the 1994 season when division realignment put both the Mets and the Braves in theNational League Eastdivision. TheBravesfaced theMetsin the1999 National League Championship Series.The Braves initially took a 3–0 series lead, seemingly on the verge of a sweep, but the Mets rallied in Game 4 and Game 5.Despite the Mets' resilience, the Braves eventually won the series in Game 6 withAndruw Jonessecuring a dramatic walk-off walk, earning their 5th National League pennant of the decade.In 2022, theBravesandMets, both finished with 101 wins.The National League East title and a first-round bye came down to a crucial three-game series at Truist Park from September 30 to October 2.The Mets entered with a slight lead but faltered as the Braves swept the series.Atlanta claimed the NL East division title and first-round bye, by","first-round bye, by winning the season series against the Mets. Nationwide fanbase In addition to having strong fan support in the Metro Atlanta area and the state of Georgia, the Braves are often referred to as \"America's Team\" in reference to the team's games being broadcast nationally onTBSfrom the 1970s until 2007, giving the team a nationwide fan base. The Braves boast heavy support within theSoutheastern United Statesparticularly in states such asMississippi,Alabama,South Carolina,North Carolina,TennesseeandFlorida. Tomahawk chop In 1991, fans of the Atlanta Braves popularized the \"tomahawk chop\" during games.The use of foam tomahawks drew criticism fromNative Americangroups, deeming it demeaning.Despite protests, the Braves' public relations director defended it as a \"proud expression of unification and family.\"The controversy resurfaced in 2019 whenCherokee Nationmember and St. Louis Cardinals pitcherRyan Helsleyfound the chop insulting, prompting the Braves to modify their in-game experience.During","experience.During the off-season, discussions ensued with Native American representatives, and amid pressure in 2020 to change their name, the Braves announced ongoing talks about the chop but insisted the team name would remain unchanged. The debate over the tomahawk chop continued into 2021.While some Native American leaders, likeRichard Sneed, the Principal Chief of theEastern Band of Cherokee Indians, expressed personal indifference or tolerance, acknowledging it as an acknowledgment of Native American strength, others vehemently opposed it.Sneed emphasized larger issues facing Native American communities and questioned the focus on the chop.The Eastern Cherokee Band of Indians and the Braves initiated efforts to incorporate Cherokee language and culture into the team's activities, stadium, and merchandise, aiming for greater cultural sensitivity despite differing opinions within the Native American community. Achievements Awards Team records Retired numbers The Braves have retired eleven numbers in the","numbers in the history of the franchise, including most recentlyAndruw Jones' number 25 in 2023,Chipper Jones' number 10 in 2013,John Smoltz's number 29 in 2012,Bobby Cox's number 6 in 2011,Tom Glavine's number 47 in 2010, andGreg Maddux's number 31 in 2009. Additionally,Hank Aaron's 44,Dale Murphy's 3,Phil Niekro's 35,Eddie Mathews' 41,Warren Spahn's 21 andJackie Robinson's 42, which is retired for all of baseball with the exception ofJackie Robinson Day, have also been retired.Six of the eleven numbers (Cox, Jones, Jones, Smoltz, Maddux and Glavine) were on the Braves at the same time.Of the eleven Braves whose numbers have been retired, all who are eligible for theNational Baseball Hall of Famehave been elected with the exceptions of Dale Murphy and Andruw Jones.The color and design of the retired numbers on commemorative markers and other in-stadium signage reflect the primary uniform design at the time the player was on the team. Baseball Hall of Famers Earl AverillDave BancroftDan BrouthersJohn","BrouthersJohn Clarkson*Jimmy CollinsHugh Duffy*Johnny Evers Burleigh GrimesBilly HamiltonBilly HermanRogers HornsbyJoe KelleyKing KellyErnie Lombardi Rabbit Maranville*Rube MarquardTommy McCarthy*Bill McKechnieJoe MedwickKid Nichols*Jim O'Rourke Charley RadbournBabe RuthFrank Selee*Al SimmonsGeorge SislerBilly SouthworthCasey StengelEd Walsh Lloyd WanerPaul WanerDeacon WhiteVic Willis*George Wright*Harry WrightCy Young Eddie Mathews* Red SchoendienstEnos Slaughter Warren Spahn* Hank Aaron* Hank Aaron†Orlando CepedaBobby Cox* Tom Glavine*Chipper Jones*Greg Maddux* Fred McGriff*Phil Niekro*Gaylord Perry John SchuerholzTed SimmonsJohn Smoltz* Bruce SutterJoe TorreHoyt Wilhelm Braves Hall of Fame Roster Pitchers Catchers Infielders Outfielders Designated hitters Manager Coaches 60-day injured list 40 active, 0 inactive, 0 non-roster invitees 7-, 10-, or 15-dayinjured list* Not on active roster†Suspended listRoster,coaches, andNRIsupdated October 14, 2024Transactions•Depth chart→All MLB rosters Minor league","Minor league affiliates The Atlanta Bravesfarm systemconsists of sixminor leagueaffiliates. Radio and television The Braves regional games are exclusively broadcast onBally Sports Southeast.Brandon Gaudinis the play-by-play announcer for Bally Sports Southeast.Gaudin is joined in the booth by lead analystC.J. Nitkowski.Jeff Francoeurand Tom Glavine will also join the broadcast for a few games during the season.Peter Moylan,Nick Green, and John Smoltz also appear in the booth for select games as in-game analysts. The radio broadcast team is led by the tandem of play-by-play announcer Ben Ingram and analystJoe Simpson. Braves games are broadcast across Georgia and seven other states on at least 172 radio affiliates, including flagship station680 The Fanin Atlanta and stations as far away as Richmond, Virginia; Louisville, Kentucky; and the US Virgin Islands. The games are carried on at least 82 radio stations in Georgia. References Footnotes Citations Further reading External links"],"string":"[\n \"Washington Commanders TheWashington Commandersare a professionalAmerican footballteam based in theWashington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in theNational Football League(NFL) as a member of theNational Football Conference(NFC)Eastdivision. The team plays its home games atNorthwest StadiuminLandover, Maryland; its headquarters and training facility are inAshburn, Virginia. The Commanders have played more than 1,300 games and have won more than 600. Washington was among the first NFL franchises with afight song, \\\"Hail to the Commanders\\\",which is played bytheir marching bandafter every home gametouchdown. The Commanders are owned by a group managed byJosh Harris, who acquired the franchise fromDaniel Snyderin 2023 for $6.05 billion. The Commanders were founded byGeorge Preston Marshallas theBoston Bravesin1932. The team changed its name to the Redskins the following year beforemovingtoWashington, D.C., in1937, to become theWashington Redskins. The usage of the termredskinwascontroversialfor decades.\",\n \"decades. In2020, pressure from several NFL and team sponsors led to its being retired as part of awave of name changesin the wake of theGeorge Floyd protests, which led to larger awareness of theNative American mascot controversy. The team played as theWashington Football Teamfor two seasons before rebranding as the Commanders in 2022. Washington won the1937and1942NFLchampionship gamesand Super BowlsXVII,XXII, andXXVI. Washington has finished a season as league runner-up six times, losing the1936,1940,1943, and1945title games and Super BowlsVIIandXVIII. With 14 division titles and 24 postseason appearances, they have an overall postseason record of23–18. Their three Super Bowl wins are tied with theDenver BroncosandLas Vegas Raiders, behind thePittsburgh SteelersandNew England Patriots(six each),San Francisco 49ersandDallas Cowboys(five each), andGreen Bay Packers,New York GiantsandKansas City Chiefs(four each). All of Washington's championships were attained during two 10-year spans. From1936to1945, the\",\n \"From1936to1945, the team went to theNFL Championshipsix times, winning two of them under general managerJack Espeyand head coachRay Flaherty. The second period lasted from1982to1991under ownerJack Kent Cooke, general managersBobby BeathardandCharley Casserly, and head coachJoe Gibbs. From 1946 to 1970, Washington posted just four winning seasons and never reached the postseason. They went without a single winning season from 1956 to 1968, a span that included their worst regular-season record: 1–12–1 in1961. Since their last Super Bowl victory in1991, they have won theNFC Eastfour times with only seven postseason appearances. History George Preston Marshall era (1932–1965) Bostonwas awarded aNational Football Leaguefranchise on July 9, 1932, under the ownership of American businessmanGeorge Preston Marshall.The team was named after theBoston Braves baseball team, with whom they sharedBraves Field, with theinaugural seasonbeing coached byLud Wray. The team saw several changes in1933, including a name change\",\n \"a name change to the \\\"Redskins\\\" and playing their home games atFenway Park, home of theBoston Red Sox. Wray was also replaced at head coach byWilliam \\\"Lone Star\\\" Dietz. The situation faced by Marshall in New England was difficult. In 1935, Joe F. Carr opined: \\\"To the casual observer bred in the knowledge of New England's place in football's sun, because its cradle and nursery were there, the success of a Boston team in the professional ranks would be a foregone conclusion. Nothing could have been more erroneous. Boston finished the most forbidding ground for professional football of any large city in the country. The history of the game in Boston and New England was entirely associated with college, preparatory, and high school playing. Its eminence as an institution of sport grew in a hallowed atmosphere as an almost sacrosanct element of education which was to be kept ever free from commercial pollution.\\\" The Redskins appeared in the1936 NFL Championship Game, their first championship appearance, but lost\",\n \"but lost to the Green Bay Packers 21–6. The Redskins moved toWashington, D.C., after five years in Boston, with Marshall stating that the New England city showed a lack of interest in the team.Through1960, the team shared baseball'sGriffith Stadiumwith the first American LeagueWashington Senatorsbaseball team.In their first game in Washington, D.C., the Redskins defeated theNew York Giantsin the season opener, 13–3.The same season, they earned their first division title in Washington with a49–14win over the Giants.Shortly after, the team won their firstleague championshipin 1937, defeating theChicago Bears. In1940, the Redskins met theBearsagain in the1940 NFL Championship Game.The result,73–0in favor of the Bears, remains the worst one-sided loss in NFL history.The Redskins won their second championship in1942, defeating theBears14–6.In1943, Dutch Bergman was named head coach and led the team to a return to theNFL championship game, however they were defeated by the Chicago Bears41–21.That same season,Sammy\",\n \"same season,Sammy Baughled the NFL in passing,punting, andinterceptions. The Redskins played in the NFL Championship one more time before a quarter-century drought that lasted until the1972 season. With former Olympicgold medalistDudley DeGrootas their new head coach, theRedskinswent 8–2 during the1945 season. One of the most impressive performances came from Baugh, who had a completion percentage of .703.They ended the season by losing to theCleveland Ramsin the1945 NFL Championship Game, 15–14.The one-point margin of victory came under scrutiny because of asafetythat occurred early in the game. In the first quarter, the Redskins had the ball at their own 5-yard line. Dropping back into theend zone,quarterbackBaugh threw to an open receiver, but the ball hit the goal post and bounced back to the ground in the end zone. Under the rules at the time, this was ruled as a safety and thus gave the Rams a 2–0 lead. Marshall was so upset at the outcome that he became a major force in passing a major rule change\",\n \"a major rule change after the season, in which a forward pass that struck the goalpost was automatically ruled incomplete. This later became known as the \\\"Baugh/Marshall Rule\\\". The team's early success accredited it to the fans of Washington, D.C. However, after 1945, the Redskins began a slow decline that they did not end until aplayoff appearancein the1971 season.The Redskins had four different head coaches from 1946 to 1951, including former playersTurk EdwardsandDick Toddas well asJohn WhelchelandHerman Ball, and none were successful. But this did not stop Marshall from trying to make the Redskins the most successful franchise in the league. His first major alteration happened on June 14, 1950, when it was announced that theAmerican Oil Companyplanned to televise all Redskins games, making them the first NFL team to have an entire season of televised games.His next major change came in February 1952, when he hired formerGreen Bay PackerscoachEarl \\\"Curly\\\" Lambeau.But, after two seasons, Marshall fired\",\n \"Marshall fired Lambeau following theRedskinsloss in their exhibition opener to theLos Angeles Ramsand hiredJoe Kuharich.In 1955, Kuharich led theRedskinsto their first winning season in ten years and was named bothSporting News Coach of the YearandUPI NFL Coach of the Year. In1961, the Redskins moved into their new stadium called D.C. Stadium, later renamedRobert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadiumin 1969. The first game in new D.C. Stadium occurred on October 1 in front of 37,767 fans. However, the Redskins failed to hold a 14-point lead and lost to theNew York Giants24–21.That same year,Bill McPeakbecame the head coach and had a record of21–46–3over five seasons. During his tenure, he helped draft future stars: wide receiverCharley Taylor, tight endJerry Smith, safetyPaul Krause, centerLen Hauss, and linebackerChris Hanburger.He also helped pull off two important trades, gaining quarterbackSonny Jurgensenfrom thePhiladelphia Eaglesand linebackerSam Hufffrom theNew York Giants.In1966,Otto Grahamwas hired as the new\",\n \"hired as the new head coach. Graham coached the Redskins for three seasons for a record of 17–22–3. He resigned after the1968 seasonin favor ofVince Lombardi.at 6–8. Integration controversy During most of this unsuccessful period, Marshall continually refused to integrate the team, despite pressure from theU.S. government.Two months into theKennedy administrationon March 24, 1961,Secretary of the InteriorStewart Udallwarned Marshall to hire black players or face federal retribution.For the first time in history, the federal government had attempted to desegregate a professional sports team.The Redskins were under the threat ofcivil rightslegal action by the Kennedy administration, which would have prevented a segregated team from playing at the new federally-ownedD.C. Stadium, managed by theU.S. Department of the Interior.The Redskins' previous venue,Griffith Stadium, was owned by the Griffith family, owners of theWashington Senators, who moved and became theMinnesota Twinsin1961. In1962, Washington became\",\n \"Washington became the final professional American football franchise to integrate. First, the Redskins selected running backErnie DavisofSyracusefirst overallin the1962 NFL draft; Davis was the first black player to win theHeisman Trophyand the first to be the top selection in an NFL draft.Washington also tookfullbackRon HatcherofMichigan Statein theeighth round, who became the first black player to sign a contract with the team. In December 1961, Marshall announced he had traded the rights to Davis to theCleveland Browns, who wanted Davis to join the league's leading rusher,Jim Brown, in their backfield.Davis was traded for veteran running backBobby Mitchell, who became awide receiverin Washington, D.C., and 1962 first-round draft choiceLeroy JacksonofWestern Illinois.The move was made under unfortunate circumstances – as it turned out that Davis hadleukemia, and died without ever playing a down in professional football.The Redskins ended the1962 seasonwith their best record in five years:5–7–2.Mitchell led\",\n \"led the league with 11 touchdowns, and caught 72 passes and was selected to thePro Bowl. In time, Mitchell would be joined by other black players like receiverCharley Taylor, running backLarry Brown,defensive backBrig Owens, and guardJohn Nisby. Edward Bennett Williams era (1965–1979) Marshall appointed board memberEdward Bennett Williamsto run the team's daily operations in 1965 due to declining health.He acquired controlling interest in the franchise following Marshall's death on August 9, 1969.In1969, Williams hired formerGreen Bay Packershead coachVince Lombardifor the same role, granting him a 5% stake in ownership and full control over football operations as the team's executive vice president.Lombardi coached the Redskins to a 7–5–2 record, their first winning season since1955, but died from cancer shortly before the start of the1970 season.Bill Austin, appointed earlier by Lombardi, served as interim head coach for the season. George Allen years (1971–1977) On January 6, 1971, Williams hired\",\n \"Williams hired formerLos Angeles Ramshead coachGeorge Allenas head coach and general manager.Partial to seasoned veterans instead of highly touted young players, Allen's teams became known as theOver-the-Hill Gang.Thatseason, theRedskinsmade theplayoffsfor the first time since 1945 with a 9–4–1 markwith Redskins first-year head coachGeorge Allenwinning the 1971NFL Coach of the Year Award, the second of his career, winning his first Coach of the Year Award in 1967 as the head coach of theRams.However, they lost in the Divisional Playoffs to theSan Francisco 49ers, 24–20. Thefollowing season, theRedskinshosted their first postseason game in Washington since 1942, where they beat theGreen Bay Packers16–3 in theNFC Divisional Playoffs.The Redskins reached theNFC Championship Game, and in a much-anticipated match-up against the archrivalDallas Cowboys, The Redskins placekickerCurt Knightkicked an 18-yard field goal in the second quarter to get the scoring underway, then Redskins quarterbackBilly Kilmerconnected\",\n \"Kilmerconnected with Redskins wide receiverCharley Tayloron a 15-yard touchdown pass and Washington had a 10–3 lead at halftime. In the fourth quarter, Kilmer again went to Taylor, this time for a 45-yard touchdown. Knight added three more field goals that period andThe Over-The-Hill-Gangdefense allowed only a second-quarter field goal. The final score was Washington 26, Dallas 3.After defeating the Dallas Cowboys to win the NFC Championship, the Redskins went on to lose to theundefeatedMiami Dolphins14–7 inSuper Bowl VII.Redskins running backLarry Brownwould be named the 1972NFL MVP.The Redskins again made the playoffs in1973,1974, and1976, only to lose all three times in the first round.After the team failed to make the playoffs inRedskinsdespite a 9–5 record, Allen was fired and was replaced at head coach byJack Pardee. Jack Kent Cooke era (1979–1998) Canadian-American businessmanJack Kent Cooke, who had owned minority shares of the Redskins and been a board member since 1960, purchased majority interest\",\n \"majority interest fromEdward Bennett Williamsin 1974.Due to NFL rules at the time disallowing controlling ownership in other leagues, he allowed Williams to operate the team until selling his other properties, the NBA'sLos Angeles Lakersand the NHL'sLos Angeles Kings, toJerry Bussin May 1979.Cooke became the team's sole owner in 1985 after purchasing the remaining shares from Williams for around $9 million. Joe Gibbs years (1981–1992) Jack Pardee, the 1979NFL Coach of the Year, was fired following a 6–10 record in1980.On January 13, 1981, Cooke hiredSan Diego Chargersoffensive coordinatorJoe Gibbsas head coach.During the offseason, the Redskins acquired players such asMark May,Russ Grimm, andDexter Manleyin the1981 NFL draft.After starting the1981 season0–5, the Redskins won eight out of their next 11 games and finished the season 8–8 but fourth in the NFC East. Super Bowl XVII champions (1982) Starting on September 21, 1982,the NFL faced a 57-day long players'strike, which reduced the1982 seasonfrom a\",\n \"seasonfrom a 16-game schedule to a nine-game schedule.Because of the shortened season, the NFL adopted a special 16-team playoff tournament, in which eight teams from each conference were seeded 1–8 based on their regular season records. After the strike was settled, the Redskins dominated, winning six out of the seven remaining games to make the playoffs for the first time since 1976. In January 1983, during the second round of theplayoffsagainst theMinnesota Vikings,John Rigginsrushed for a Redskins playoff record 185 yards, leading Washington to a 21–7 win.The game is perhaps best known for a moment when the stadium physically shook as a crowd chanted \\\"We Want Dallas!\\\", which later became a rallying cry of sorts for Redskin fans before games against the Cowboys.In the NFC Championship Game against them atRFK Stadium, Redskins defensive endDexter Manleyknocked Cowboys' quarterbackDanny Whiteout for the rest of the game and sent him into the locker room shortly before halftime. Later in the game, Redskins\",\n \"the game, Redskins defensive tackleDarryl Grant's interception, which he returned for a 10-yard touchdown, off one of Cowboys' backup quarterbackGary Hogeboom's passes which was tipped byDexter Manleyto score the decisive points.John Rigginsrushed for 140 yards and two touchdowns on 36 carries and the Redskins went on to defeat the Cowboys' by a score of 31–17.The Redskins' firstSuper Bowlwin, and their first NFL Championship in 40 years, was inSuper Bowl XVII, where the Redskins defeated theMiami Dolphins27–17.Riggins provided the game's signature play when, on 4th and inches, with the Redskins down 17–13, the coaches called \\\"70 Chip\\\", a play designed for short yardage.Riggins instead gained 43 yards (39 meters) by running through would-be tacklerDon McNealand getting the go-ahead touchdown. The Redskins ended up winning by a 27–17 score with John Riggins winning theSuper Bowl MVP. After the1982 seasonRedskins placekickerMark Moseleywas the first and only placekicker in NFL history to be named theNFL's Most\",\n \"named theNFL's Most Valuable Player;Moseley made 20 of 21 field goals attempted in 1982.Redskins head coachJoe Gibbsalso won his firstNFL Coach of the Year Awardin 1982 which was the first of his back-to-back NFL Coach of the Year Awards, his second coming in the1983 NFL season. CornerbackDarrell Greenand defensive endCharles Mannwere selected in the1983 NFL draftand became key contributors for the team; Green would play his entire 20-year career with the Redskins. On October 1, 1983, the Redskins lost to theGreen Bay Packers48–47 in the highest-scoringMonday night football game in history, in which both teams combine for more than 1,000 yards (910 m) of total offense.Then during the regular-season finale on December 17, 1983, Moseley set an NFL scoring record with 161 points while Riggins' total of 144 points was second. This marked the first time since 1951 that the top two scorers in a season played on the same team.They dominated the NFL with a 14-win season which included scoring a then NFL record 541\",\n \"then NFL record 541 points,many of which came from Riggins, who scored 24 touchdowns. Redskins quarterbackJoe Theismannwould also be named the 1983NFL's Most Valuable Playerfinishing the season with a career-high in both yards passing 3,714 yds., and touchdown passes thrown, 29 Td's while throwing only 11 interceptions. In the postseason, the Redskins beat theLos Angeles Rams51–7.The next week, Washington beat theSan Francisco 49ers24–21 in theNFC Championship Game.It was their final win of the season because two weeks later, theRaidersbeat the Redskins 38–9 inSuper Bowl XVIII. The Redskins finished the1984 seasonwith an 11–5 record,and won the NFC East for the third consecutive season.However, they lost in the first round of theplayoffsto theChicago Bears, 23–19.On November 18, 1985, while playing against theGiants, Theismann broke his leg during a sack byLawrence Taylor. Thecompound fractureforced him to retire after a 12-year career, during which he became the Redskins' all-time leader in pass attempts\",\n \"in pass attempts and completions.The Redskins finished 3rd in the NFC East behind theCowboysand missed the wild card to the Giants by virtue oftiebreakers. The 1986 offseason's major highlight occurred during the1986 NFL draft, when the Redskins picked up future Super Bowl MVPMark Rypienin the sixth round, also the Redskins defensive endDexter Manleyset a franchise single-season record when he recorded 18.5 sacks while earning1st Team All-Prohonors and being selected to thePro bowl. In1986 season, the road to theplayoffswas even harder, with the Redskins making the postseason as a wild-card team despite having a regular-season record of 12–4.They won the Wild Card playoff against the Rams, and then again in the Divisional playoffs against the Bears. This game was Gibbs's 70th career, which made him the winningest head coach in Redskins history.The season ended next week, however, when the Redskins lost to the eventualSuper Bowl XXIChampion Giants 17–0 in the NFC Championship game. Super Bowl XXII champions\",\n \"Bowl XXII champions (1987) The1987 NFL seasonbegan with aplayers' strikethat reduced the 16-game season to 15.No Redskins players crossed the picket line—the only such team—and the games for Weeks 4–6 were won with all-replacement squads.Those three victories, often credited with getting the team into the playoffs, are the basis for the 2000 movieThe Replacements. The Redskins won their second championship inSuper Bowl XXIIon January 31, 1988, in San Diego, California. The Redskins routed theDenver Broncos42–10after starting the game down 10–0, the largest come-from-behind victory in Super Bowl history, which was tied by theNew Orleans SaintsinSuper Bowl XLIVand theNew England PatriotsinSuper Bowl XLIX. This game is also noted forSuper Bowl MVPquarterbackDoug Williams, who threw four touchdowns in the second quarter en route to becoming the first black quarterback to lead his team to a championship,and for rookie running backTimmy Smith, who ran for a Super Bowl-record 204 yards (187 m). In1988, the club had\",\n \"the club had a 5–3 record at mid-season, but a second-half swoon saw them miss the playoffs with a 7–9 record. The1989Redskins finished with a 10–6 record but missed the playoffs. The team is best remembered for\\\"The Posse\\\"—Art Monk,Gary Clark, andRicky Sanders—the first trio of NFL wide receivers to post more than 1,000 yards apiece in a single season. Also, Redskins head coachJoe Gibbsachieved his 100th career victory in a week-14 win against theSan Diego Chargers. The Redskins returned to theplayoffsin1990as a Wild Card team, but lost in the Divisional round to the49ers. Super Bowl XXVI champions (1991) The1991 seasonstarted with a franchise-record 11 straight victories.\\\"The Hogs\\\", under the coaching of Redskins offensive line coachJoe Bugel, allowed a league-low and franchise-record nine sacks, the third-lowest total in NFL history.The offense also dominated under head football coachJoe Gibbs, scoring 485 points, more than any other teamthat year.The defense was also dominant under defensive\",\n \"under defensive coordinatorRichie Petitbon, giving up 224 total points, second-best of any team that year, while holding opponents scoreless three times.After posting a 14–2 record, the Redskins dominated theplayoffs, beating theFalconsandLionsby a combined score of 64–17.On January 26, 1992, the Redskins wonSuper Bowl XXVIby defeating theBuffalo Bills37–24;QBMark Rypienwon theSuper Bowl MVPaward.After the Super Bowl, the Redskins set another franchise record by sending eight players to thePro Bowl.The1991 Washington Redskinsare widely considered one of the best teams in NFL history. In1992, the Redskins reached the playoffs as a wild-card team, but lost in theDivisional playoffsto the49ers, 20–13.On October 12, 1992,Art Monkbecame the NFL's all-time leading pass receiver by catching his 820th career reception against theDenver BroncosonMonday Night Football.The era ended on March 5, 1993, when Gibbs retired after 12 years of coaching with the Redskins.Gibbs later foundedJoe Gibbs Racing. After the end of\",\n \"After the end of Gibbs' first tenure, the Redskins hired former Redskins playerRichie Petitbonfor the1993 season. However, his first and only year as head coach, theRedskinsfinished with a record of 4–12.Petitbon was fired at the end of the season and on February 2, 1994,Norv Turnerwas hired as head coach after being theoffensive coordinatorof theDallas Cowboys.1994was even worse as they finished 3–13, their worst season in over 30 years. Their sole bright spot that year came on October 9, 1994, linebackerMonte Colemanplayed in his 206th career game with the Redskins, which brokeArt Monk's team record for games played (Coleman retired at season's end with 216 games played).They improved to 6–10 in1995where they were able to get a season sweep on the eventualSuper Bowl XXXChampions the Dallas Cowboys. On March 13, 1996, Redskins ownerJack Kent Cooke,Maryland GovernorParris Glendening, andPrince George's County ExecutiveWayne K. Currysigned a contract that paved the way for the immediate start of construction\",\n \"of construction for the new home of the Redskins (now Northwest Stadium).The1996 seasonsaw Washington post their first winning record in 4 years by finishing 9–7. On December 22, 1996, the Redskins played their final game atRFK Stadium, a victory over theDallas Cowboys37–10, and finished their tenure at the stadium with a 173–102–3 record, including 11–1 in the playoffs. On April 6, 1997, Redskins ownerJack Kent Cookedied ofcongestive heart failureat the age of 84.In his will, Cooke left the Redskins to the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, with instructions to sell the team. In the meantime, management of the team was given to son and executive vice president John Kent Cooke.On September 14, 1997, the Redskins played in their new stadium for the first time and beat theArizona Cardinals, 19–13 in overtime.On November 23, 1997, they played theNew York Giantsand the result was a 7–7 tie, the Redskins first tie game since the1971 season. They would finish19978–7–1 and would miss theplayoffsfor the fifth season in a\",\n \"fifth season in a row. One bright spot during the season, however, occurred on December 13, 1997, whenDarrell Greenplayed in his 217th career game as a Redskin, breakingMonte Coleman's record for games played.The1998 seasonstarted with a seven-game losing streak,and the Redskins finished with a 6–10 record. The 1998 season concluded as a period marked by disappointment. Daniel Snyder era (1999–2023) On May 25, 1999, Cooke sold the Redskins to local businessmanDaniel Snyderfor $800 million after being unable to raise sufficient funds to keep the team.Snyder sold the naming rights to Jack Kent Cooke Stadium toFedExin November 1999, becomingFedExField. In Snyder's firstseasonas owner, the Redskins went 10–6,including a four-game winning streak early in the season,and made it to the playoffs for the first time inNorv Turner's career (and the first time for the Redskins since1992) in the final game of the season (on January 2, 2000, against theDolphins). Running backStephen Davisrushed for a then club-record\",\n \"a then club-record 1,405 yards and quarterbackBrad Johnsoncompleted a then club-record 316 passes and threw for more than 4,000 yards in regular play that season.They then defeated theDetroit Lionsin the first round of theplayoffs, but lost to theBuccaneers, 14–13. The2000 seasonstarted with the selection of futurePro BowlerChris Samuelsand the tumultuousLaVar Arringtonin the2000 NFL draftand included five consecutive wins in the first half of the season.However, they ended up going 7–6 with Turner being fired as head coach prior to the end of the season.Terry Robiskiewas named interim coach to finish out the season,which ended with an 8–8 record.During the final game of the season,Larry Centersbecame the NFL's all-time leader in receptions by arunning backwith 685. On January 3, 2001, the Redskins hired formerCleveland BrownsandKansas City Chiefshead coachMarty Schottenheimeras head coach.The2001 seasonbegan with a loss to theSan Diego Chargers, 30–3, two days before theSeptember 11, 2001, attacks. On\",\n \"2001, attacks. On September 13, 2001, the Redskins announced the establishment of the Redskins Relief Fund to help families of the victims of the attack at the Pentagon. During the course of the season, the Redskins raised more than $700,000.They finished the season with an 8–8 recordand Schottenheimer was fired after the final game. Snyder later said in a 2013 interview that he was fired due to his over-controlling nature. On January 14, 2002, Snyder hiredUniversity of FloridacoachSteve Spurrier,the Redskins' fifth new head coach in 10 years. They finished with a 7–9 record, their first losing season in four years.A bittersweet moment during the season occurred on December 29, whenDarrell Greenconcluded his 20th and final season as the Redskins defeated theCowboys20–14 at FedExField. During his 20 seasons, he set an NFL record for consecutive seasons with at least one interception (19) and a Redskins team record for regular-season games played (295) and started (258).The Redskins finished the2003 seasonwith\",\n \"the2003 seasonwith a 5–11 record, their worst since1994.The one bright note of the season was on December 7, whendefensive endBruce Smithsacked Giants quarterbackJesse Palmerin the fourth quarter. With his 199th career sack, Smith brokeReggie White's all-time NFL mark.After two mediocre years, Spurrier resigned after the 2003 season with three years left on his contract. For the2004 season, Snyder successfully lured former coach Joe Gibbs away fromNASCARto return as head coach and team president. His employment came with a promise of decreased intervention in football operations from Snyder.Snyder also expanded FedExField to a league-high capacity of 91,665 seats. Gibbs' return to the franchise did not pay instant dividends as the Redskins finished the 2004 season with a record of 6–10.Despite an impressive defense, the team struggled offensively. QuarterbackMark Brunell—an off-season acquisition from theJacksonville Jaguars—struggled in his first season, and was replaced midway through the season by\",\n \"the season by backupPatrick Ramsey. On the other hand, some of Gibbs' other new signings, such as cornerbackShawn SpringsandlinebackerMarcus Washington, did very well. The Redskins also selectedSean Taylorduring the first draft in Gibbs' return. The2005 seasonstarted with three wins,including a win on September 19 against theDallas Cowboys. Dallas led 13–0 with less than four minutes left when Brunell threw a 39-yard (36 m) touchdown pass to Moss on a fourth-down play. Then, with 2:44 left, Brunell connected with Moss again on a 70-yard (64 m) touchdown pass andNick Novakkicked the game-winning extra point. It was the Redskins' first victory atTexas Stadiumsince1995.They then fell into a slump, losing six of the next eight games which included three straight losses in November,and their playoff chances looked bleak. On December 18, 2005, the Redskins beat Cowboys, 35–7, which marked the first time since 1995 that the Redskins swept the season series with Dallas.The Redskins clinched their first playoff berth\",\n \"first playoff berth since1999.The game also culminated impressive season performances by individuals. Portis set a team mark for most rushing yards in a single season with 1,516 yards (1,386 m), and Moss set a team record for most receiving yards in a single season with 1,483 yards (1,356 m), breakingBobby Mitchell's previous record set in1963.Also,Chris Cooley's 71 receptions brokeJerry Smith's season record for a Redskins tight end. In the first round of theplayoffs, the Redskins met theBuccaneers.The Redskins won 17–10,after taking an early 14–0 lead, which they thought they lost until replay showed that a touchdown, which would have tied the game, was an incomplete pass. In that game, the Redskins broke the record for fewest offensive yards (120) gained in a playoff victory, with one of their two touchdowns being from a defensive run after a fumble recovery. The following weekend, they played theSeahawks, who defeated the Redskins 20–10,ending their hopes of reaching their first NFC Championship Game\",\n \"Championship Game since1991. The first major move of the 2006 off-season was the hiring ofKansas City Chiefs' offensive coordinatorAl Saundersasoffensive coordinator. Gibbs also added formerBuffalo Billsdefensive coordinatorJerry Grayto his staff as secondary/cornerbacks coach and lost quarterbacks coachBill Musgraveto theFalcons. The Redskins also picked up future startersRocky McIntosh,Anthony Montgomery,Reed Doughty, andKedric Golstonin the2006 NFL draft. After winning only three of the first nine games,Gibbs benched quarterback Brunell for former first-round draft pickJason Campbell. After losing his first game as a starter toTampa Bay, Campbell got his first NFL victory against theCarolina Panthers, bringing the Redskins out of a three-game losing streak.The highlight of the season happened on November 5, and concluded with one of the most exciting endings in the history of theCowboys–Redskins rivalry. Tied 19–19,Troy Vincentblocked a last-second field goal attempt byDallasthat would have given them the\",\n \"have given them the win.Sean Taylorpicked up the ball and ran 30 yards (27 m), breaking tackles along the way. It was thought that the game would then go in overtime, however because of a defensive 15-yard (14 m) face mask penalty, the Redskins would get an untimed down. Novak kicked a 47-yard (43 m) field goal, giving Washington a 22–19 victory.However, the Redskins finished the year with a 5–11 record, which resulted in them being last in theNFC East. This marked the second losing season of Joe Gibbs' second term as head coach with the Redskins, compared to the one losing season he had in his first 12-year tenure as head coach. The Redskins began the2007 seasonby \\\"winning ugly\\\" starting the season off 2–0. The Redskins kept winning and losing close games, the only exception to this a 34–3 rout of theDetroit Lions. The Redskins continued to win ugly and lose ugly to be 5–3 at the halfway mark. However, the Redskins would begin to collapse. The team lost their next three games to fall to 5–6. On Monday,\",\n \"to 5–6. On Monday, November 26, Redskins safetySean Taylorwas shot by home intruders early in the morning in his Miami home. The next morning, Taylor died from severe blood loss.However, the Redskins rebounded to finish 9–7 and clinch the finalplayoffspot in the NFC. Washington trailed 13–0 entering the 4th quarter to theSeattle Seahawksin the wild-card round, but rallied to take a 14–13 lead, but Redskins kickerShaun Suishammissed a field goal later in the game, and the Seahawks scored on the next drive and converted thetwo-point conversion. To close the game, Todd Collins threw two interceptions, each returned for a touchdown, and the Redskins fell 35–14. After Joe Gibbs announced his retirement following the 2007 season,Jim Zornwas hired as head coach and brought in aWest Coast Offense.The2008 seasonstarted well, as the Redskins started the season 6–2. Furthermore, Redskins RBClinton Portisled the NFL in rushing yards.However, things turned for the worse in early November, when they were routed 23–6 by\",\n \"were routed 23–6 by thePittsburgh Steelersand Portis' injuries finally caught up to him. The Redskins continued to struggle, falling all the way to 7–7, with their only win during that six-week period being a 3-point victory of the then-2–8Seattle Seahawks. The Redskins managed to upset thePhiladelphia Eaglesin Week 16, but were eliminated from playoff contention. The team's fortunes continued to slide in2009, as they finished 4–12.Zorn was fired and replaced byMike Shanahanafter the season. On April 4, the Redskins acquiredDonovan McNabbin a trade from the rivalPhiladelphia Eagles.However, the Redskins struggled to a 6–10 finish, once again 4th place in the division.The McNabb era came to an abrupt end when he was traded to Minnesota in August 2011.The troublesomeAfter cutting the injury-rattledClinton Portis, the Redskins had no important offensive players left except for Santana Moss. Mike Shanahan surprised most observers by his decision to nameJohn Beck, an obscure free-agent quarterback, as the\",\n \"quarterback, as the starter.However, Shanahan suddenly reversed direction by naming veteran backupRex Grossmanto the starting position.In Week 1, Grossman threw for 305 yards and two touchdown passes as the Redskins crushed the Giants 28–14, ending a six-game losing streak against that team. The Washington Redskins started the season 2–0, but then struggled to a 5–11 finish, however, they managed to win both meetings over the eventualSuper BowlchampionNew York Giants. In2012, the Redskins traded several high draft picks to theSt. Louis Ramsin order to take Baylor quarterbackRobert Griffin IIIsecond overall in the2012 NFL draft.Although the need for a franchise quarterback was obvious, many journalists had doubts about the value of giving up a lot for a single player. In the opening game of the season, Griffin threw for 320 yards and two touchdown passes in a 40–32 victory over theNew Orleans Saintsto give the team its highest-scoring game since 2005. The Redskins struggled to a 3–6 start, but in Week 11, the\",\n \"but in Week 11, the Redskins would host the struggling Philadelphia Eagles. Griffin would have one of the best games of his career to date, as the Redskins won 31–6 with long touchdowns to Santana Moss and Aldrick Robinson. The Redskins would win their next 6 games after that, including the crucial final game of the season against the Cowboys, which would clinch the division for and send the Redskins to the playoffs. The Redskins hosted theSeattle Seahawksin the Wild Card round but lost 24–14. Hopes were high for a repeat division title in2013. However, these hopes were in vain, as poor play and controversy stirred during the entire year, leading to a disastrous 3–13 campaign.Even though most players had a down year compared to 2012,Pierre Garçonhad his greatest season statistically yet. Garcon brokeArt Monk's 29-year-old franchise record for catches in a single season. Garcon had 113 catches total, which broke Monk's 106 catches in1984by seven.The Redskins fired Shanahan and most of his staff after the\",\n \"his staff after the season. Jay Gruden era (2014–2019) On January 9,2014, the Redskins hiredJay Grudenas their head coach. Gruden became the eighth head coach of the team since Daniel Snyder purchased the franchise in 1999.The Redskins struggled throughout the season, having three different quarterbacks start games, amounting to a 4–12 record.Defensive coordinatorJim Haslettwas fired at the end of the season. On January 7,2015, the Redskins hiredScot McCloughanto be their general manager.McCloughan took over control of the roster fromBruce Allen, who was given the sole title of team president after the hiring. In October 2015, the Redskins had their largest comeback win in franchise history, coming back to win against theTampa Bay Buccaneers31–30 after being down 0–24 in the second quarter.The Redskins clinched the NFC East division title on December 26, when they beat thePhiladelphia Eaglesin Week 16, 38–24.The division title was their third since Snyder took over ownership of the team, and was the first\",\n \"and was the first since the1999 seasonto be clinched before Week 17. The Redskins hosted theGreen Bay Packersin the Wild Card round on January 10, 2016, but lost 35–18, ending their 2015 season.Kirk Cousins, who took over as starting quarterback in the preseason, finished the season with career highs in touchdowns (29), yards (4,166), and completion percentage (69.8%). His completion percentage led the league, while his 29 touchdowns tied him for second on the franchise single-season list. The team's offense in2016set several franchise records, including having over 6,000 total net yards, which was only the third time in franchise history the team had accomplished that.QuarterbackKirk Cousinsalso set single-season team records in attempts, completions, and passing yards, breaking many of his records he had previously set in 2015.DeSean Jackson,Pierre Garçon,Jamison Crowder,Robert Kelley,Chris Thompson,Jordan Reed,Vernon Davis, andMatt Jonesall finished the season with at least 500 yards from scrimmage, tying\",\n \"scrimmage, tying the2011 New Orleans Saintsfor the most in a single season in NFL history.Despite the numerous records set, the Redskins missed the playoffs, losing 19–10 in a \\\"win and in\\\" situation against the New York Giants in the final week of the season.However, the Redskins still finished the season with a record of 8–7–1, giving the team their first consecutive winning seasons in nearly 20 years.In contrast with the record setting offense, the team's defense had a poor season, finishing 29 out of 32 teams in total defense, which led to the firing ofdefensive coordinatorJoe Barry, as well as three of his assistants.In2017, Cousins had his third straight season with 4,000 passing yards while once again playing under the franchise tag.For the second straight season, the Redskins missed the playoffs, finishing 7–9. During the2018offseason, the Redskins traded for quarterbackAlex Smithto replace Kirk Cousins as he left for the Minnesota Vikings in free agency.Despite early success starting the season 6–3,\",\n \"the season 6–3, their best start since2008, the team finished the season 1–6 due to injuries. In a game against the Houston Texans on November 18, 2018, Alex Smith suffered acompoundandspiral fractureto histibiaandfibulain his right leg when he was sacked byKareem JacksonandJ. J. Wattwhich forced him to miss the rest of the season.This led toColt McCoy,Mark Sanchez, andJosh Johnsonstarting games in the second half of the season.The team finished at 7–9 and missed the playoffs for the third consecutive year, with a league-high 25 players on injured reserve. Due to Smith's injury, the Redskins acquiredCase Keenumfrom theDenver Broncosin the2019offseason, and draftedDwayne HaskinsfromOhio Statein the2019 NFL draft.With a league worst 0–5 start to the season, tying with theCincinnati Bengals, and their worst start since2001, the Redskins fired Gruden on October 7, 2019,with offensive line coachBill Callahanserving as the interim head coach for the rest of the season.Gruden finished as the longest-tenured head\",\n \"head coach in the Snyder era with six seasons, a 35–49–1 regular season record and one playoff appearance. The Redskins finished the season at 3–13, with victories over theDetroit LionsandCarolina Panthers, and missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year.The record was their worst since going 3–13 in2013and was the second worst of any team that season, behind only the Bengals at 2–14. Rebranding, investigations into Snyder and workplace culture (2020–2023) The team underwent several changes in2020, including retiring the Redskins name and logo and hiring formerCarolina Panthershead coachRon Riverain the same role, as well as namingJason Wrightas team president, the first black person named to that position in NFL history.Some notable members of Rivera's staff include formerJacksonville JaguarsandOakland Raidershead coachJack Del Rioas defensive coordinator andScott Turner, the son of former Redskins head coachNorv Turner, as offensive coordinator. Under Rivera and Del Rio, the team switched their\",\n \"team switched their defensive scheme from a3–4 defense, which the team had used under both Shanahan and Gruden's tenure, to a4–3 defense.Due to their 3–13 record the previous season, the team had the second overall pick in the2020 NFL draftand selectedChase Young, who would go on to be namedDefensive Rookie of the Year.Dwayne Haskins, the team's first-round draft pick from 2019, was released prior to the season's end due to ineffective play and not meeting the team's standards off the field.Despite that, Washington would eventually win the division for the first time since 2015 at 7–9, becoming only the third team in NFL history to win a division with a losing record in a non-strike year after the2010 Seattle Seahawksand2014 Carolina Panthers, the latter of which Rivera also coached. In July 2021, a year-long independent investigation led by lawyerBeth Wilkinsoninto the team'sworkplace cultureunder ownerDaniel Snyderwas concluded.It found that several incidents ofsexual harassment, bullying, and intimidation\",\n \"and intimidation were commonplace throughout the organization under his ownership.The NFL fined the team $10 million in response, with Snyder also voluntarily stepping down from running the team's day-to-day operations, giving those responsibilities to his wife and team CEOTanya.AU.S. House Oversight Committeereport later corroborated the claims and accused him of withholdingsecurity depositfrom season ticket holders. The2021 seasonsaw the hiring ofMartin Mayhewas general manager andMarty Hurneyas another high-ranking executive.With the hiring of Mayhew, Washington became the first team in NFL history to concurrently have a minority general manager, head coach, and president.Backup quarterbackTaylor Heinickewould start the majority of the season afterRyan Fitzpatrickwas injured in the opening game. The team missed the playoffs with a 7–10 record. The Football Team rebranded as the Commanders in2022with new logos and uniforms.The team traded for Colts quarterbackCarson Wentzin the offseason, with them\",\n \"with them finishing 8-8-1 and becoming the first team since 2008 to finish last in the division with a non-losing record.Wentz, who was benched for Henicke during the season, would be released with Heinicke not being retained.The season would also be the final one under Snyder's ownership. Josh Harris era (2023–present) After mounting pressure from other league owners to sell the team, Snyder hiredBofA Securitiesin November 2022 to explore possible transactions.In May 2023, he reached an agreement to sell the franchise to a group headed byJosh Harris, co-founder ofApollo Global Managementand owner of the NBA'sPhiladelphia 76ersand NHL'sNew Jersey Devils, for $6.05 billion.Limited partners includeDanaherandGlenstonefounderMitchell Rales, Hall of Fame basketball playerMagic Johnson, 76ers and Devils co-ownerDavid Blitzer, D.C. entrepreneurMark Ein,Maverick CapitalfounderLee Ainslie, formerMagic Johnson Enterprisespresident Eric Holoman,Blue Owl Capitalfounders Marc Lipschultz and Doug Ostrover, theSanto\",\n \"Ostrover, theSanto Domingo family,ProSharesfounder Michael Sapir, formerGoogleCEOEric Schmidt, andCambridge Information GroupCEO Andy Snyder.The sale was the highest price ever paid for a sports team and was unanimously approved by the NFL on July 20, 2023.By 2024, the Commanders had invested $75 million in improving the infrastructure and game experience ofNorthwest Stadium, including improved food options and renovations to the sound system and suites. The Commanders finished the2023 seasonwith a 4–13 record, allowing the most points and having the worst point differential in the league.Second-year quarterbackSam Howell, who started all 17 games, also led the league in sacks allowed (65) and interceptions thrown (21).It was their seventh straight non-winning season and third straight being eliminated from the playoffs, with the team also going winless in the division for the first time since2019. Head coachRon Riveraand his staff were fired following the season's conclusion. The2024 seasonsaw the hiring\",\n \"the hiring ofAdam Petersas general manager and former Falcons head coachDan Quinnfor the same role.The front office and roster saw several changes in the offseason under Peters, including leading the NFL with nearly 30free agentssigned and selecting 2023HeismanquarterbackJayden Danielssecond overall in the2024 NFL draftafter having traded Howell to the Seahawks. Redskins branding controversy The team's formerRedskinsbranding, used from 1933 until 2020, was one of the leading examples of theNative American mascot controversy. Various people and groups, such as theNational Congress of American Indians(NCAI), considered the name a racial slur and attempted to get the team to change it for decades.In a 2013 letter, Snyder stated that while respecting those that say they were offended, a poll conducted by theAnnenberg Public Policy Centerin 2004 found that 90% of Native Americans were not.This poll was essentially replicated in 2016 byThe Washington Post. Social scientists from theUniversity of\",\n \"theUniversity of MichiganandUniversity of California at Berkeleyperformed a study in 2020 that measured Native American opinion in detail, finding that 49% had responded that the name was offensive, with the level of offense increasing to 67% for those with a stronger involvement in Native American culture.When the franchise was undergoing atrademark dispute in 2014, theWashington Postannounced their editorials would no longer use the \\\"Redskins\\\" name.ESPN updated their employee work policies to allow their reporters to choose how to refer to the team going forward. Following renewed attention to racial justice in the wake of themurder of George Floydand subsequentprotestsin 2020, a letter signed by 87 shareholders and investors was sent to team and league sponsorsNike,FedEx, andPepsiCourging them to cut their ties unless the name was changed.Around the same time, several retail companies began removing Redskins merchandise from their stores.In response, the team underwent a review in July 2020 and announced\",\n \"2020 and announced that it would play as the Washington Football Team after retiring its name and logo in wake of theGeorge Floyd protests. The team rebranded as the Commanders, featuring new logos and uniforms, in 2022.In 2023, theNative American Guardians Association(NAGA) launched a petition to return to the Redskins.NAGA later sued the team for defamation after management claimed NAGA to be a \\\"fake\\\" association.In 2024,U.S. SenatorSteve Dainesadvocated for the NFL to honorBlackfeet Nationmember Blackie Wetzel in recognition of his role in the team's former logo depicting an Indian chief, which were based onJohn Two Guns White Calf. While Daines sought to honor the legacy without calling for the return of the Redskins name, some viewed the gesture as insufficient compared to addressing more pressing community needs.The Wetzel family wants to regain the rights to the logo to use it for the Blackie Wetzel Warrior Society to raise awareness about social issues on reservations. Logos and uniforms The\",\n \"and uniforms The franchise's primary colors are burgundy and gold.From 1961 through 1978, Washington wore gold pants with both the burgundy and white jerseys, although details of the jerseys and pants changed a few times during this period. Gold face masks were introduced in 1978 and remain as such to this day; previous to that they were grey. Throughout most of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, Washington was just one of three other teams that primarily wore their white jerseys at home (the others being theDallas CowboysandMiami Dolphins). The tradition of wearing white jerseys over burgundy pants at home, which is considered the \\\"classic\\\" look, was started byJoe Gibbswhen he took over as coach in 1981. Gibbs was an assistant for theSan Diego Chargersin 1979 and 1980 when the team wore white at home under head coachDon Coryell. Their burgundy jerseys were primarily used only when the opposing team decided to wear white at home, which came mostly against theDallas Cowboysand was normally worn over white pants. It\",\n \"white pants. It was worn on the road against other teams that prefer to wear white at home for games occurring early in the season. From 1981 through 2000, Washington wore their white jerseys over burgundy pants at home almost exclusively. In 1994, as part of a league-wide celebration of the NFL's 75th anniversary, during certain games, the team wore special uniforms which emulated the uniforms worn by the team in its inaugural season in Washington in 1937. Both worn over gold pants, the burgundy jerseys featured gold numbers bordered in white and the white jerseys featured burgundy numbers bordered in gold. The most distinctive feature of both colors of the jersey was the patches worn on both sleeves, which were a reproduction of the patches worn on the full-length sleeves of the 1937 jerseys. Worn with these uniforms was a plain burgundy helmet with a gold facemask. In 2001, the team wore burgundy for all home games in the preseason and regular season per a decision by Marty Schottenheimer, their coach for\",\n \"their coach for that year. In 2002, the team celebrated the passing of 70 years since its creation as the Boston Braves in 1932 and wore a special home uniform, a burgundy jersey over gold pants, which roughly resembled the home uniforms used from 1969 to 1978. The helmets used with this special home uniform during that year were a reproduction of the helmets used by the team from 1965 to 1969, though they wore white at home in Week 1 against theArizona Cardinalsand again in Week 17, the latter forcing the Cowboys to use their blue jerseys.This special home uniform was also worn during one game in 2003. In 2004, when Gibbs became the coach of the team once again, the team switched back to wearing white jerseys at home; in Gibbs's 16 years as head coach, the team never wore burgundy jerseys at home, even wearing a white throwback jersey in 2007. Their white jerseys have provided three basic color combinations. The last combination consists of both white jerseys and pants. That particular combination surfaced\",\n \"surfaced in the first game of the 2003 season when the team was coached by Steve Spurrier, during a nationally televised game against theNew York Jets, which led many sports fans and Redskins faithful alike to point out that they had never seen that particular combination before. The Redskins won six straight games, including one in the playoffs against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, wearing that combination. In the NFC Divisional Playoff game against the eventual 2005 NFC ChampionSeattle Seahawks, Washington wore the all-white uniforms in hopes that they could keep their streak going; however, they lost 20–10. The white jersey over burgundy pants look reappeared in a home game against theCarolina Pantherslater in 2006. In celebration of the franchise's 75th anniversary, Washington wore a one-timethrowback uniformfor a home game against theNew York Giants, based on their away uniform from 1970 to 1971. Players wore a white jersey with three burgundy and two gold stripes on each sleeve and the 75th-anniversary\",\n \"75th-anniversary logo on the left chest. The pants were gold, with one white stripe bordered by a burgundy stripe on each side, running down each side. The helmet was gold-colored with a burgundy \\\"R\\\" logo. The helmet and uniform styles were the same as the ones the franchise used during the 1970–71 seasons.Vince Lombardi, who coached Washington in 1969 before dying during the 1970 preseason, was the inspiration behind the helmet. Lombardi pushed for the logo, which sat inside a white circle enclosed within a burgundy circle border, with Native American feathers hanging down from the side because of its similarity to the \\\"G\\\" on the helmets worn by theGreen Bay Packers, who he had coached during most of the 1960s. In a 2008Monday Night Footballgame against thePittsburgh Steelers, Washington wore amonochromelook by wearing burgundy jerseys over burgundy pants.This combination made two further appearances the following season against theDallas CowboysandNew York Giants. The Redskins, starting in 2010, began to\",\n \"in 2010, began to wear the burgundy jersey paired with the gold pants reminiscent of the George Allen era.Against theTennessee Titanslater that season, the team matched the gold pants with the usual white jerseys for the first time. Washington wore the same combination against the Giants on the road two weeks later. In 2011, the Redskins wore the burgundy jersey and gold pants for five home games and a road game at Dallas, the burgundy jersey with white pants for three home games and a road game at Miami, the white jersey and burgundy pants for five road games, and the white jersey and gold pants for aBills game in Toronto. The following year, the team wore an updated throwback uniform of the 1937 championship team that featured a helmet pattern based on the logo-less leather helmets worn at the time, in a game against the Carolina Panthers.In 2013, a newly implemented NFL rule stated that teams could not wear alternate helmets (thus limiting them to one helmet) on account of player safety. As a result,\",\n \"As a result, Washington wore its 1937 throwbacks with the logo removed from the regular helmet in a game versus theSan Diego Chargers.That year, the Redskins removed the burgundy collar from their white jerseys in order to have better consistency with the newNikeuniforms that had debuted the previous season. Between 2014 and 2016, the team wore the gold pants with their standard uniforms, although the burgundy pants returned as part of the team's away uniform later in 2016.In 2017, Washington resurrected the all-burgundy ensemble as part of theNFL Color Rush. Nike initially provided an all-gold uniform but team officials called it \\\"garish\\\" and refused to wear it.In 2018, Washington replaced the gold pants with white for the majority of their home games. During their two season as the Washington Football Team in 2020 and 2021, their logo was a simple \\\"W\\\" with the helmets having player numbers.The Commanders rebranding included new logos and uniforms featuring military-inspired motifs. The primary home uniform\",\n \"home uniform remained burgundy with gold and white stripes with the letters having a gold base. The team name is placed atop the numbers in front, which were also gold and trimmed in white. The road white uniform features burgundy and white gradient numbers with black trim, along with burgundy and white gradient and black sleeve stripes. Both sets are paired with either burgundy or white pants. The alternate black uniform features the team name on the left chest in gold, and numbers have a gold base with burgundy trim. Black pants are paired with this uniform with an alternate black helmet having with the \\\"W\\\" logo in front and uniform numbers on each side.A pig mascot,Major Tuddy, was also unveiled near the end of the season.In 2024, gold pants returned to the uniform rotation for the first time since 2018. Rivalries Divisional Dallas Cowboys The Commanders' rivalry with theDallas Cowboysfeatures two teams that have won 31 combined division titles and 10 championships, including eight combinedSuper Bowls.The\",\n \"Bowls.The rivalry started in 1960 when the Cowboys joined the league as anexpansion team.During that year they were in separate conferences, but played once during the season. In 1961, Dallas was placed in the same division as the Redskins, and from that point on, they have played each other twice during everyregular season. Texas oil tycoonClint Murchison Jr.was having a difficult time bringing an NFL team toDallas. In 1958, Murchison heard thatGeorge Preston Marshall, owner of the Washington Redskins, was eager to sell the team. Just as the sale was about to be finalized, Marshall called for a change in terms. Murchison was outraged and canceled the whole deal.Around this time, Marshall had a falling out with the Redskin band director, Barnee Breeskin. Breeskin had written the music for the team'sfight song, now known as \\\"Hail to the Commanders\\\", which gets played by theWashington Commanders Marching Bandafter every touchdown at home games.He wanted revenge after the failed negotiations with Marshall. He\",\n \"with Marshall. He approached Tom Webb, Murchison's lawyer, and sold the rights for $2,500 (equivalent to $25,700 in 2023).Murchison then decided to create his own team, with the support of NFL expansion committee chairman,George Halas. Halas decided to put the proposition of a Dallas franchise before the NFL owners, which needed to have unanimous approval in order to pass. The only owner against the proposal was George Preston Marshall. However, Marshall found out that Murchison owned the rights to Washington's fight song, so a deal was finally struck. If Marshall showed his approval of the Dallas franchise, Murchison would return the song. The Cowboys were then founded and began playing in 1960.At the time in 2016, a matchup between the teams on Thanksgiving was the most-watched regular-season game broadcast by theNFL on Fox.The Cowboys lead the series 78–48–2. Philadelphia Eagles The Commanders' rivalry with thePhiladelphia Eaglesbegan October 21, 1934, during Washington's first year under the Boston\",\n \"under the Boston Redskins moniker; the Redskins defeated the Eagles 6–0 atFenway Park. Washington leads the series 87–80–8. The Eagles have won 12 of the last 20 matchups since 2010. New York Giants As of the 2023 season, the Giants lead the all-time series 108–71–5. Other Baltimore Ravens Though the two teams only play each other every 4 years, the Commanders have taken part in a minor geographic rivalry with theBaltimore Ravensas both stadiums are approximately 40 miles apart.The Commanders particularly had long blocked the return of an NFL team to Baltimore since theColts franchiserelocated to Indianapolis in 1984. Former ownerJack Kent Cookehad been accused in multiple instances of orchestrating any means to prevent the city from receiving a new franchise until the Cleveland Browns relocated to Baltimore in 1996, prompting Cooke to put the Redskins' then-new stadium in Landover, Maryland.The two teams play each other annually during the preseason.The Ravens lead the all-time series 5–3. Ownership and\",\n \"5–3. Ownership and staff Ownership Opposed calls to change thecontroversial Redskins brandinguntil 2020 amid growing pressure from sponsors, with the franchise playing as the Washington Football Team prior to rebranding as the Commanders in2022. Represented by his wifeTanyafor league events following an indefinite suspension by the NFL in 2021. Staff →Coaching staff→Front office→More NFL staffs Players Roster Running backs(RB) Wide receivers(WR) Tight ends(TE) Defensive linemen(DL) Defensive backs(DB) Special teams Reserved 53 active, 5 reserved, 16 practice squad (+1 exempt) Retired numbers Unofficial Some numbers are unofficially retired and are withheld from being selected by other players. The use of unofficial retired numbers drew controversy duringSteve Spurrier's first year as head coach in 2002.QuarterbacksDanny WuerffelandShane Matthewsfirst wore 7 and 9 respectively during training camp. The resulting controversy led to them switching to 17 and 6.Dwayne Haskins, the team's first-round selection in\",\n \"selection in the2019 NFL draft, received permission from Theismann to wear number 7. Pro Football Hall of Fame members Names inboldindicate induction primarily based on accomplishments with Washington. Ring of Fame When the team leftRFK Stadiumin 1996, the signs commemorating the Washington Hall of Stars were left behind and the team began a new tradition of honoring Redskins greats via the \\\"Ring of Fame\\\", a set of signs on the upper level facade at Northwest Stadium. Team founderGeorge Preston Marshallis the only member to ever be removed once inducted, which was done in 2020. 90 Greatest In honor of the Redskins' 70th anniversary in 2002, a panel selected the 70 Greatest Redskins to honor the players and coaches who were significant on-field contributors to the Redskins five championships. They were honored in a weekend of festivities, including a special halftime ceremony during a Redskins' win over theIndianapolis Colts.In 2012, ten more players and personnel were added to the list for the team's 80th\",\n \"for the team's 80th anniversary.In 2022, ten more players were added in honor of the franchise's 90th anniversary. The panel that chose the 70 consisted of former news anchorBernard Shaw; former playerBobby Mitchell; SenatorGeorge Allen(son of coachGeorge Allen); broadcasterKen Beatrice; Noel Epstein, editor for theWashington Post; former diplomatJoseph J. Sisco; Phil Hochberg, who retired in 2001 after 38 years as team stadium announcer; Pro Football Hall of Fame historian Joe Horrigan; sportscasterGeorge Michael; sports directorAndy Pollin; NFL Films presidentSteven Sabol; and news anchorJim Vance. The list includes three head coaches and 67 players, of which 41 were offensive players, 23 defensive players and three special teams players.Among the 70 Greatest, there are 92Super Bowlappearances, with 47 going once and 45 playing in more than one. 29 members possess one Super Bowl ring and 26 have more than one. Also, before the Super Bowl, members of the 70 made 18 World Championship appearances including\",\n \"including six that participated in the Redskins' NFL Championship victories in 1937 and 1942.Boldindicates those elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Individual awards Command Force TheCommand Forceis the team's professional dance and performance group. They were originally formed in 1962 as acheerleadingsquad known as theRedskinettes, named after the team's former Redskins name.They were revamped as the Command Force upon the team's rebranding as the Commanders in 2022.They have also been referred to as theFirst Ladies of Football. Records Single-game Season Franchise NFL records Offense Defense Special teams Broadcasting The Commanders' currentflagshipradio station is100.3 WBIG-FM, which acquired the rights in 2022 as part of an agreement withiHeartMedia.Frank Herzogwas the team's leadplay-by-playannouncer from 1979 to 2004, when he was replaced by Larry Michael.Herzog was joined from 1981 by former RedskinsSonny JurgensenandSam Huff.Michael retired in 2020 and was replaced byBram Weinstein.Weinstein\",\n \"Weinstein.Weinstein is joined by color analystLondon Fletcher, who played linebacker for the team from 2007 to 2013.Julie Donaldsonserved as host from 2020 to 2023 and was the first woman to be an on-air broadcaster for an NFL team. WMALhas historically been associated with the team, having been its flagship station from 1942 to 1956, and again from 1963 through 1991—broadcasting all three of the team's Super Bowl victories.From 1992 to 1994,WTEM—which had become DC's first all-sports radio station—became the Redskins' flagship station,after which they moved toWJFK-FM.In 2006, after WJFK andCBS Radiodeclined to renew its rights to the team, the Redskins moved toWWXT,WWXX, andWXTR. The stations had recently been bought byRed Zebra Broadcasting—a group co-owned by Snyder—and had become a sports radiotrimulcastknown as \\\"Triple XESPN Radio\\\".Red Zebra Broadcasting would eventually acquire WTEM in 2008, making it the originating station of the simulcast, and therefore the team's flagship station. In 2017,Cumulus\",\n \"In 2017,Cumulus Mediareached an agreement to carry the team's radio broadcasts on WMAL, marking its return to the station for the first time since 1991. As part of the agreement, WTEM remained the team's official flagship.In 2018, WTEM was sold toUrban One, but maintained its rights to the team.In June 2019, WMAL flipped to sports radio itself asWSBN, taking over the local ESPN Radio affiliation from WTEM; WMAL's previousconservative talkformat moved exclusively to itsFM simulcast station. Telecasts of preseason games were previously carried byNBC Sports Washingtonin theMid-Atlanticregion. SisterNBCowned-and-operated stationWRC-TVwas the team's \\\"official\\\" broadcast television station, simulcasting the preseason games and airing other team-produced programs during the season.With the sale of NBC Sports Washington byNBCUniversaltoWashington CapitalsandWashington WizardsownerTed Leonsis, the network declined to renew its rights to the team.Most regular season Commanders games are carried byNFL on Foxpackage\",\n \"byNFL on Foxpackage except when the team plays in primetime. In June 2024, the team andWUSAannounced a partnership to broadcast the team's preseason games as well as some original content. U.S. presidential election superstition Between 1932 and 2008, for 19 of 20United States presidential elections, a win for the Redskins in their last home game prior toElection Daycoincided with the incumbent party winning re-election. The exception was in 2004, whenRepublicanincumbentGeorge W. Bushwon re-election despite theGreen Bay Packersbeating the Redskins.The trend subsequently came to an end when in 2012,Democraticincumbent Barack Obama won re-election despite the Redskins losing to theCarolina Panthers;in 2016, Republican candidateDonald Trumpwon the election despite the Redskins defeating the Eagles; and in 2020, Democratic candidateJoe Bidenwon despite Washington's win. Footnotes References External links # denotes de facto general manager # denotes interim status\",\n \"Boston Braves TheBoston Braveswere aMajor League Baseballclub that originated inBoston, Massachusetts, and played from 1871 to 1952. Afterwards they moved toMilwaukee(and became theMilwaukee Braves). Then in 1966 they were relocated toAtlanta, where they were renamed theAtlanta Braves. During its 82-year stay inMassachusetts, the franchise was known by various nicknames, including theRed Stockings,Red Caps,Rustlers,Bees, and \\\"Braves\\\". While in Boston, the team won 10National League pennantsand aWorld Serieschampionship in1914that came after a season in which the Braves were in last place as late as July 15—a turnaround that led to the nickname \\\"Miracle Braves\\\". In1948, the Braves reached the World Series largely as a result of their two dominant pitchers,Warren SpahnandJohnny Sain, who inspired theBoston Postslogan \\\"Spahn and Sain and pray for rain.\\\" The Braves posted a losing record in all but 12 of the 38 seasons after their World Series win. The franchise relocated to Milwaukee in 1953. The Boston\",\n \"in 1953. The Boston franchise played atSouth End Groundsfrom 1871 to 1914 and atBraves Fieldfrom 1915 to 1952. Braves Field is nowNickerson FieldofBoston University. The franchise, from Boston to Milwaukee to Atlanta, is the oldest continuously operating professional baseball franchise. Early history TheCincinnati Red Stockings, established in 1869 as the first openly all-professional baseball team, voted to dissolve after the 1870 season. Player-managerHarry Wrightthen went toBoston, Massachusetts—at the invitation of Boston businessmanIvers Whitney Adams—with brotherGeorge Wrightand two other Cincinnati players joined theBoston Red Stockings, a charter member of theNational Association of Professional Base Ball Players. This team and its successors are the oldest continuously playing team in American professional sports.(The only other team that has been organized as long,the Chicago Cubs, did not play for the two years following theGreat Chicago Fireof 1871.) Two players hired from theForest City\",\n \"from theForest City clubofRockford, Illinois, were pitcherAl Spalding(founder ofSpaldingsporting goods) and second basemanRoss Barnes. Led by the Wright brothers, Barnes, andSpalding, the Red Stockings won four of the National Association's five championships. The team became one of the National League's charter franchises in 1876, sometimes called the \\\"Red Caps\\\" (as a new Cincinnati Red Stockings club was another charter member). Boston came to be called theBeaneatersby sportswriters in 1883, while retaining red as the team color. Boston won the 1877 and 1878 pennants. The Red Caps/Beaneaters won eight pennants during the 19th century. TheirmanagerwasFrank Selee, the first manager not to double as a player as well.The 1898 teamfinished 102–47, a club record for wins that would stand for almost a century. In 1894 the Braves became the first major league baseball team to wear letterforms on their uniform caps when they added a monogram-style device to their front. They only managed one winning season from\",\n \"winning season from 1900 to 1913, and lost 100 or more games six times. In1907,the renamed Doves(temporarily) eliminated the red from their stockings because their manager thought the red dye could cause wounds to become infected (as noted inThe Sporting News Baseball Guideduring the 1940s when each team's entry had a history of its nickname(s). See details inHistory of baseball team nicknames). The American League club's owner, Charles Taylor, changed his team's name to the Red Sox in place of the \\\"Americans\\\". WhenGeorgeandJohn Doveyacquired the club in 1907, the team was named theDoves; when purchased byWilliam Hepburn Russellin 1911 reporters tried outRustlers.The team adopted an official name, theBraves, for the first time in1912. Their owner,James Gaffney, was a member of New York City'sTammany Hall, which used an Indian chief as their symbol. 1914: Miracle Two years later, the Braves put together one of the most memorable seasons in baseball history. After a dismal 4–18 start, the Braves seemed to be\",\n \"Braves seemed to be on pace for a last place finish. On July 4, 1914, the Braves lost both games of a doubleheader tothe Brooklyn Dodgers. The consecutive losses put their record at 26–40 and the Braves were in last place, 15 games behind the league-leadingNew York Giants, who had won the previous three league pennants. After a day off, the Braves put together a hot streak, and from July 6 through September 5, the Braves won 41 games against only 12 losses.On September 7 and 8, the Braves took 2 of 3 from the New York Giants and moved into first place. The Braves tore through September and early October, closing with 25 wins against 6 losses, while the Giants went 16–16.They are the only team to win a pennant after being in last place on theFourth of July. They were in last place as late as July 18, but were close to the pack, moving into fourth on July 21 and second place on August 12. Despite their amazing comeback, the Braves enteredthe World Seriesas a heavy underdog toConnie Mack'sPhiladelphia\",\n \"Mack'sPhiladelphia Athletics. Nevertheless, the Braves swept the Athletics—the first unqualified sweep in the young history of the modern World Series (the1907 World Serieshad one tied game)—to win the world championship. Meanwhile, formerChicago CubsinfielderJohnny Evers, in his second season with the Braves, wonthe Chalmers Award. The Braves played the World Series (as well as the last few weeks of the 1914 regular season) atFenway Park, since their normal home, theSouth End Grounds, was too small. However, the Braves' success inspired owner Gaffney to build a modern park,Braves Field, which opened in August 1915. It was the largest park in the majors at the time, with 40,000 seats and also a very spacious outfield. The park was novel for its time; public transportation brought fans right into the park. 1915–1935: Losing years After contending for most of 1915 and 1916, the Braves spent much of the next 19 years in mediocrity, during which they posted only three winning seasons (1921,1933, and1934). The\",\n \"and1934). The lone highlight of those years came when Giants' attorneyEmil Fuchsbought the team in 1923 to bring his longtime friend, pitching greatChristy Mathewson, back into the game. Although original plans called for Mathewson to be the principal owner, he had never recovered fromtuberculosisthat he had contracted after beinggassedduringWorld War I. By the end of the 1923 season, it was obvious Mathewson could not continue even in a reduced role, and he would die two years later, with the result that Fuchs was permanently given the presidency. In 1928, the Braves traded for Hall of FamerRogers Hornsbywho had a very productive year in his only season with Boston. He batted .387 to win his seventh and final batting championship. Fuchs was committed to building a winner, but the damage from the years prior to his arrival took some time to overcome. The Braves finally managed to compete in1933and1934under managerBill McKechnie, but Fuchs' revenue was severely depleted due to theGreat Depression. Babe Ruth\",\n \"Babe Ruth returns to Boston Looking for a way to get more supporters and more money, Fuchs worked out a deal with theNew York Yankeesto acquireBabe Ruth, who had, coincidentally, started his career with theBoston Red Sox. Fuchs named Ruth vice president and assistant manager of the Braves, and promised him a share of team profits. He was also to be consulted on all player transactions. Fuchs even suggested that Ruth, who had long had his heart set on managing, could take over as manager once McKechnie stepped down—perhaps as early as 1936. At first, it looked like Ruth was the final piece the team needed in1935. Onopening day, he had a hand in all of the Braves' runs in a 4–2 win over theGiants. However, this could not last. Opening Day proved to be the only time the Braves were over .500 all year. A 4–20 May ended any realistic chance of contention. At the same time, it became apparent that Ruth was finished even as a part-time player. While his high living of previous years had begun catching up with him a\",\n \"up with him a year earlier, his conditioning rapidly declined in the first month of 1935. While he was still able to hit at first, he could do little else. He could no longer run, and his fielding was so terrible that three of the Braves' pitchers threatened to go on strike if Ruth were in the lineup. Ruth soon discovered that he was vice president and assistant manager in name only, and Fuchs' promise of a share of team profits was hot air. In fact, Ruth discovered that Fuchs expected him to invest some ofhismoney in the team. Seeing a franchise in complete disarray, Ruth retired on June 1, only six days after he clouted what turned out to be the last three home runs of his career, in what remains one of the most memorable afternoons in baseball history. He had wanted to quit as early as May 12, but Fuchs wanted him to hang on so he could play in every National League park.By this time, the Braves were 9–27, their season all but over. They ultimately finished 38–115, easily the worst season in franchise\",\n \"season in franchise history. Their .248 winning percentage is tied for theseventh-worst in baseball history, and the sixth-worst in National League history. It is the second-worst in modern baseball history (behind only the1916 Philadelphia Athletics), and the worst in modern National League history. 1936–1941: the Bees Insolvent like his team, Fuchs was forced to give up control of the Braves in August 1935,and new ownerBob Quinntried to change the team's image by renaming it theBoston Bees.This did little to change the team's fortunes. After five uneven years, a new owner, construction magnateLou Perini, changed the nickname back to the Braves. 1948: National League champions In1948, theteamwon the National League pennant by capturing 91 games to finish 61⁄2places ahead of the second–placeSt. Louis Cardinals. They also attracted 1,455,439 fanstoBraves Field, the third-largest gate in the National League and a high-water mark for the team's stay in Boston. The pitching staff was anchored by Hall of\",\n \"anchored by Hall of FamerWarren SpahnandJohnny Sain, who won 39 games between them. The remainder of the rotation was so thin that in September,Boston Postwriter Gerald Hern wrote this poem about the pair: First we'll use Spahnthen we'll use SainThen an off dayfollowed by rainBack will come Spahnfollowed by SainAnd followedwe hopeby two days of rain. The poem received such a wide audience that the sentiment, usually now paraphrased as \\\"Spahn, Sain, then pray for rain\\\" or \\\"Spahn, Sain and two days of rain\\\", entered the baseball vocabulary. Ironically, in the 1948 season, the Braves actually had a better record in games that Spahn and Saindid notstart than in games they did. (Other sources include pitcherVern Bickfordin the verse.) The Braves lost the1948 World Seriesin six games tothe Cleveland Indians(who had beatenthe Red Soxin atie-breaker gameto spoil an all-Boston World Series). This turned out to be the Braves' last hurrah in Boston. 1949–1952: Final years in Boston Sam Jethroe Acquired earlier by trade\",\n \"earlier by trade from theBrooklyn Dodgers, on April 18, 1950,Sam \\\"Jet\\\" Jethroewas added to theBoston Bravesroster. The Dodgers had another young CF inDuke Sniderrising in their system, resulting in the trade to the Braves.Going on to be namedNational League Rookie of the Yearat age 32, Jethroe broke the color barrier with Boston. In 1950, Jethroe hit .273 with 100 runs, 18 home runs and 58 RBI. His 35 stolen bases led the National League, a feat he would duplicate in 1951. While in Boston, Jethroe was a roommate ofChuck Cooper, ofthe Boston Celticswho was the first African-American player drafted by anNBAteam.A formerNegro leaguesstar and military veteran, Jethroe remains the oldest player to have won Rookie of the Year honors. Move to Milwaukee and aftermath Amid four mediocre seasons after 1948, attendance steadily dwindled, even though Braves Field had the reputation of being more family friendly than Fenway. For a half century, the major leagues had not had a single franchise relocation.The Braves played\",\n \"Braves played their last home game in Boston on September 21,1952, losing to theBrooklyn Dodgers8–2before 8,822 at Braves Field; the home attendance for the 1952 season was under 282,000. On March 13, 1953, ownerLou Perinisaid that he would seek permission from the National League to move the Braves to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.After the franchise's long history in Boston, the day became known as \\\"Black Friday\\\" in the city as fans mourned the team's exit after eight decades. Perini, however, pointed to dwindling attendance as the main reason for the relocation. He also announced that he had recently bought out his original partners. He announced Milwaukee as that was where the Braves had their top farm club, the Brewers. Milwaukee had long been a possible target for relocation.Bill Veeckhad tried to move hisSt. Louis Brownsthere earlier the same year (Milwaukee was the original home of that franchise), but his proposal had been voted down by the other American League owners. Going into spring training in 1953, it\",\n \"in 1953, it appeared that the Braves would play another year in Boston unless the National League gave permission for the move. After a 31⁄2-hour meeting at theVinoy Park Hotelin St. Petersburg, Florida, league approval was granted after Perini promised not to sell the team.During a game against theNew York Yankeeson March 18, the sale was announced final and that the team would move to Milwaukee, immediately.TheAll-Star Gamehad been scheduled for Braves Field. It was moved toCrosley Fieldand hosted by theCincinnati Reds.The Braves franchise moved their triple-A Brewers from Milwaukee to Toledo, Ohio. After the Braves moved to Milwaukee in1953, the Braves Field site was sold toBoston Universityand reconstructed asNickerson Field, the home of manyBoston Universityteams. The Braves Field scoreboard was sold to theKansas City A'sand used atMunicipal Stadium; the A's moved toOaklandafter the1967season. Notable Boston Braves Notes References\",\n \"Atlanta Braves TheAtlanta Bravesare an Americanprofessional baseballteam based in theAtlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete inMajor League Baseball(MLB) as a member club of theNational League(NL)East Division. The Braves were founded inBoston, Massachusetts, in 1871, as theBoston Red Stockings. The club was known by various names until the franchise settled on theBoston Bravesin 1912. The Braves are the oldest continuously operatingprofessional sports franchise in North America. After 81 seasons andone World Series titlein Boston, the clubmovedtoMilwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1953. With a roster of star players such asHank Aaron,Eddie Mathews, andWarren Spahn, theMilwaukee Braveswon theWorld Seriesin 1957. Despite the team's success, fan attendance declined. The club's owners moved the team toAtlanta, Georgia, in 1966. The Braves did not find much success in Atlanta until 1991. From 1991 to 2005, the Braves were one of the most successful teams in baseball, winning an unprecedented 14 consecutive division\",\n \"division titles,making an MLB record eight consecutiveNational League Championship Seriesappearances, and producing one of thegreatest pitching rotationsin the history of baseball including Hall of FamersGreg Maddux,John Smoltz, andTom Glavine. The Braves are one of the two remaining National League charter franchises that debuted in 1876.The club has won an MLB record 23 divisional titles, 18National Leaguepennants, and four World Series championships. The Braves are the only Major League Baseball franchise to have won the World Series in three different home cities.At the end of the 2024 season, the Braves' overall win–loss record is11,114–10,949–154(.504). Since moving to Atlanta in 1966, the Braves have an overall win–loss record of4,850–4,461–8(.521) through the end of 2024. History Boston (1871–1952) 1871–1913 TheCincinnati Red Stockings, formed in 1869, were the first openly all-professional baseball team but disbanded after the 1870 season.ManagerHarry Wrightand players moved toBoston, forming\",\n \"toBoston, forming theBoston Red Stockings, a charter team in theNational Association of Professional Base Ball Players(NAPBBP).Led by the Wright brothers, Ross Barnes, andAl Spalding, they dominated the National Association, winning four of five championships.The original Boston Red Stockings team and its successors can lay claim to being the oldest continuously playing franchise in American professional sports. The club was known as the Boston Red Caps when they played the firstNational Leaguegame in1876, winning against thePhiladelphia Athletics.Despite a weaker roster in the league's first year, they rebounded to secure the 1877 and 1878 pennants.Managed byFrank Selee, they were a dominant force in the 19th century, winning eight pennants.By 1898 the team was known as theBeaneatersand they won 102 games, with stars likeHugh Duffy,Tommy McCarthy, and \\\"Slidin'\\\"Billy Hamilton. In 1901, the American League was introduced, causing many Beaneaters players including stars Duffy andJimmy Collinsto leave for clubs\",\n \"leave for clubs of the rival league.The team struggled, having only one winning season from 1900 to 1913 and losing 100 games five times. In 1907, they temporarily dropped the red color from their stockings due to infection concerns.The club underwent various nickname changes until becoming the Braves before the1912 season.The president of the club, John M. Ward named the club after the owner,James Gaffney.Gaffney was called one of the \\\"braves\\\" of New York City's political machine,Tammany Hall, which used a Native American chief as their symbol. 1914: Miracle In 1914, the Boston Braves experienced a remarkable turnaround in what would become one of the most memorable seasons in baseball history.Starting with a dismal 4–18 record, the Braves found themselves in last place, trailing the league-leadingNew York Giantsby 15 games after losing a doubleheader to theBrooklyn Robinson July 4.However, the team rebounded with an incredible hot streak, going 41–12 from July 6 to September 5.On August 3,Joseph Lanninthe\",\n \"3,Joseph Lanninthe president of the Red Sox, offeredFenway Parkto the Braves free of charge for the remainder of the season since their usual home, theSouth End Grounds, was too small.On September 7 and 8, they defeated the Giants in two out of three games, propelling them into first place.Despite being in last place as late as July 18, the Braves secured the pennant, becoming the only team under the old eight-team league format to achieve this after being in last place on the Fourth of July.They were in last place as late as July 18, but were close to the pack, moving into fourth on July 21 and second place on August 12. The Braves entered the1914 World Seriesled by captain and National LeagueMost Valuable Player,Johnny Evers.The Boston club were slight underdogs againstConnie Mack'sPhiladelphia A's.However, they swept the Athletics and won the world championship.Inspired by their success, owner Gaffney constructed a modern park,Braves Field, which opened in August 1915 and was the largest park in the\",\n \"largest park in the majors at the time, boasting 40,000 seats and convenient public transportation access. 1915–1953 From 1917 to 1933, the Boston Braves struggled. After a series of different owners,Emil Fuchsbought the team in 1923.Fuchs brought his longtime friend, pitching greatChristy Mathewson, as part of the syndicate that bought the club.However, the death of pitching legend in 1925 left Fuchs in control.Despite Fuchs' commitment to success, the team faced challenges overcoming the damage from previous years. It wasn't until 1933 and 1934, under managerBill McKechnie, that the Braves became competitive, but it did little to help the club's finances. In an effort to boost fan attendance and finances, Fuchs orchestrated a deal with theNew York Yankeesto acquireBabe Ruthin 1935.Ruth was appointed team vice president with promises of profit shares and managerial prospects.Initially, Ruth seemed to provide a spark on opening day, but his declining skills became evident.Ruth's inability to run and poor\",\n \"to run and poor fielding led to internal strife, and it became clear that his titles were symbolic.Ruth retired on June 1, 1935, shortly after hitting his last three home runs.The Braves finished the season with a dismal 38–115 record, marking the franchise's worst season. Fuchs lost control of the team in August 1935,leading to a rebranding attempt as the Boston Bees, but it did little to alter the team's fortune. Construction magnateLou Perinitook over, eventually restoring the Braves' name.Despite World War II causing a brief setback, the team, led by pitcherWarren Spahn, enjoyed impressive seasons in 1946 and 1947 under Perini's ownership. In 1948, theteamwon the pennant, behind the pitching of Spahn andJohnny Sain.The remainder of the rotation was so thin that in September,Boston Postwriter Gerald Hern wrote this poem about the pair: The poem received such a wide audience that the sentiment, usually now paraphrased as \\\"Spahn and Sain and pray for rain\\\", entered the baseball vocabulary. The1948 World\",\n \"The1948 World Series, which the Braves lost in six games to theIndians, turned out to be the Braves' last hurrah in Boston.On March 13, 1953, Perini announced he was moving the club toMilwaukee.Perini cited advent of television and the lack of enthusiasm for the Braves in Boston as the key factors in deciding to move the franchise. Milwaukee (1953–1965) The Milwaukee Braves' relocation to Wisconsin in 1953 was initially a triumphant success, as they drew a then-National League record of 1.8 million fans and finished their inaugural season second in the National League.ManagerCharlie Grimmwas namedNL Manager of the Yearfollowing the Braves improvement. Throughout the 1950s, the Braves were a National League power; driven by sluggersEddie MathewsandHank Aaron, the team won two pennants and finished second twice between 1956 and 1959.In1957, Aaron'sMVP seasonled the Braves to their first pennant in nine years, securing aWorld Seriesvictory against the formidable New York Yankees.Despite a strong start in the\",\n \"strong start in the World Seriesrematchthe followingseason, the Braves ultimately lost the last three games and the World Series.The1959 seasonended in a tie with the Los Angeles Dodgers, leading to a playoff loss for the Braves. The ensuing years saw fluctuating success, including the Braves finishing fifth in 1963, their first time in the \\\"second division.\\\"The team's owner, Louis Perini, sold the Braves to a Chicago-based group led by William Bartholomay in 1962.Despite plans to move to Atlanta in 1965, legal hurdles kept the Braves in Milwaukee for one more season before they completed the relocation in 1966. Atlanta (1966–present) 1966–1974 After arriving in Atlanta in 1966, the Braves found success in 1969, with the onset of divisional play by winning the first-everNational League WestDivision title.In theNational League Championship Seriesthe Braves were swept by the \\\"Miracle Mets.\\\"They would not be a factor during the next decade, posting only two winning seasons between 1970 and 1981.Fans in Atlanta\",\n \"in Atlanta had to be satisfied with the achievements ofHank Aaron, who by the end of the 1973 season, had hit 713 home runs, one short of Ruth's record.On April 4, opening day of thenext season, he hit No. 714 inCincinnati, and on April 8, in front of his home fans and a national television audience, he finally beat Ruth's mark with a home run to left-center field off left-handerAl Downingof theLos Angeles Dodgers.Aaron spent most of his career as a Milwaukee and Atlanta Brave before being traded to theMilwaukee Brewerson November 2, 1974. Ted Turner era 1976–1977: Ted Turner buys the team In 1976, the team was purchased by media magnateTed Turner, owner ofsuperstationWTBS, as a means to keep the team (and one of his main programming staples) in Atlanta.Turner used the Braves as a major programming draw for his fledgling cable network, making the Braves the first franchise to have a nationwide audience and fan base.WTBS marketed the team as \\\"The Atlanta Braves:America's Team\\\", a nickname that still sticks in\",\n \"still sticks in some areas of the country, especiallythe South.The financially strapped Turner used money already paid to the team for their broadcast rights as a down-payment. Turner quickly gained a reputation as a quirky, hands-on baseball owner. On May 11, 1977, Turner appointed himselfmanager, but because MLB passed a rule in the 1950s barring managers from holding a financial stake in their teams, Turner was ordered to relinquish that position after one game (theBraveslost 2–1 to thePittsburgh Piratesto bring their losing streak to 17 games). 1978–1990 The Braves didn't enjoy much success between 1978 and 1990, however, in the1982 season, led by managerJoe Torre, the Braves secured their first divisional title since 1969.The team was led by standout performances from key players likeDale Murphy,Bob Horner,Chris Chambliss,Phil Niekro, andGene Garber.The Braves were swept in theNLCSin three games by theCardinals.Murphy won the Most Valuable Player award for the National League in 1982 and 1983.\",\n \"in 1982 and 1983. 1991–2005: 14 consecutive division titles From 1991 to 2005, the Atlanta Braves enjoyed a remarkable era of success in baseball, marked by a record-setting 14 consecutive division titles, five National League pennants, and a World Series championship in 1995.Bobby Cox returned as manager in 1990, leading the team's turnaround after finishing the previous season with the worst record in baseball. Notable developments included the drafting ofChipper Jonesin 1990 and the hiring of general manager John Schuerholz from the Kansas City Royals. The Braves' remarkable journey began in1991, known as the \\\"Worst to First\\\" season.Overcoming a shaky start, the Braves bounced back led by young pitchersTom GlavineandJohn Smoltz.The team secured the NL pennant in a memorable playoff race, ultimately losing a closely contestedWorld Seriesto the Minnesota Twins. The following year, theBraveswon theNLCSin dramatic fashion against thePiratesbut fell short in theWorld Seriesagainst theToronto Blue Jays. In\",\n \"Blue Jays. In 1993, the Braves strengthened their pitching staff with the addition of Cy Young Award winnerGreg Madduxin free agency.Despite posting a franchise-best 104 wins, they lost in theNLCSto thePhiladelphia Phillies. The team moved to the Eastern Division in 1994, sparking a heated rivalry with the New York Mets. Theplayer's strikecut short the 1994 season just before the division championships, but the Braves rebounded in 1995, defeating theCleveland Indiansto win theWorld Series.With this World Series victory, the Braves became the first team in Major League Baseball to win world championships in three different cities.The Braves reached the World Series in1996and1999but were defeated both times by the New York Yankees. In 1996, Time Warner acquired Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting System, including the Braves.Despite their continued success with a ninth consecutive division title in 2000, the Braves faced postseason disappointment with a sweep by theSt. Louis Cardinalsin theNLDS.The team won\",\n \"team won division titles from 2002 to 2004 but experienced early exits in the NLDS each year. Liberty Media era Liberty Media buys the team In December 2005, Time Warner, put the club up for sale, leading to negotiations with Liberty Media.After over a year of talks, a deal was reached in February 2007 for Liberty Media to acquire the Braves for $450 million, a magazine publishing company, and $980 million in cash. The sale, valued at approximately $1.48 billion, was contingent on approval from 75 percent of MLB owners and Commissioner Bud Selig. Bobby Cox and Chipper Jones retire Bobby Cox's final year as manager in2010saw the Braves return to the postseason for the first time since 2005.The team secured the NL Wild Card but fell to the San Francisco Giants in theNational League Division Seriesin four closely contested games, marking the conclusion of Bobby Cox's managerial career.Thefollowing seasonthe Braves suffered a historic September collapse to miss the postseason.The club bounced back in2012and\",\n \"back in2012and returned to the postseason in Chipper Jones' final season.The Braves won 94 games in 2012, but that wasn't enough to win the NL East, so they faced the St. Louis Cardinals in the inauguralWild Card Game.Chipper Jones last game was a memorable one: the Braves lost theone game playoff6–3, but the game would be remembered for a controversial infield fly call that helped end a Braves rally in the 8th inning. Truist Park and return to the World Series In 2017, the Atlanta Braves began playing atTruist Park, replacing Turner Field as their home stadium.Following an MLB investigation into international signing rule violations, general managerJohn Coppolellaresigned and faced a baseball ban.Alex Anthopoulostook over as the new general manager.The team's chairman,Terry McGuirk, apologized for the scandal and expressed confidence in Anthopoulos' integrity.A new on field mascot namedBlooperwas introduced at a fan event before the 2017 season.Under Anthopoulos, the Braves made the playoffs in six of his\",\n \"in six of his first seven seasons.In2020the Braves reach theNational League Championship Series, but ultimately lost to the Dodgers after leading 3–1. In the 2021 season, the Braves won the National League East with an 88–73 record. In the postseason, they quickly defeated the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Division Series 3–1. The Braves again faced the Dodgers in the2021 NLCS, and won in six games to take Atlanta's first National League pennant since1999. The Braves advanced to the World Series.They defeated theHouston Astrosin six games to win their fourth World Series title. Logos and uniforms The Braves logos have evolved over the years, featuring a Native American warrior from 1945 to 1955, followed by a laughing Native American with a mohawk and a feather from 1956 to 1965.The modern logo, introduced in 1987, includes the cursive word \\\"Braves\\\" with a tomahawk below it.Uniform changes occurred in 1987, with the team adopting uniforms reminiscent of their 1950s classic look.For the 2023 season, the Braves\",\n \"season, the Braves had four uniform combinations, including the classic white home and gray road uniforms, a navy blue road jersey for alternate games, and two alternate uniforms for home games - a Friday night red uniform and a City Connect uniform worn on Saturdays, paying tribute to Hank Aaron.The City Connect uniform features \\\"The A\\\" across the chest, accompanied by a cap with the \\\"A\\\" logo and 1974 uniform colors. World Series championships Over the 120 years since the inception of the World Series (119 total World Series played), the Braves franchise has won a total of fourWorld SeriesChampionships. The Braves are the only franchise to have won a World Series in three different cities. Ballparks Truist Park The Atlanta Braves home ballpark has been Truist Park since 2017. Truist Park is located approximately 10 miles (16 km) northwest ofdowntown Atlantain theunincorporated communityofCumberland, inCobb County,Georgia.The team played its home games atAtlanta–Fulton County Stadiumfrom 1966 to 1996, and\",\n \"1966 to 1996, and atTurner Fieldfrom 1997 to 2016. The Braves opened Truist Park on April 14, 2017, with a four-game sweep of theSan Diego Padres.The park received positive reviews. Woody Studenmund of theHardball Timescalled the park a \\\"gem\\\" saying that he was impressed with \\\"the compact beauty of the stadium and its exciting approach to combining baseball, business and social activities.\\\"J.J. Cooper ofBaseball Americapraised the \\\"excellent sight lines for pretty much every seat.\\\" CoolToday Park Since 2019, the Braves have playedspring traininggames at CoolToday Park inNorth Port, Florida.The ballpark opened on March 24, 2019, with the Braves' 4–2 win over theTampa Bay Rays.The Braves leftChampion Stadium, their previous Spring Training home near Orlando to reduce travel times and to get closer to other teams' facilities.CoolToday Park also serves as the Braves' year round rehabilitation facility. Attendance (*) – There were no fans allowed in any MLB stadium in 2020 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. Major\",\n \"pandemic. Major rivalries New York Mets Although their first major confrontation occurred when the Mets swept the Braves in the1969 NLCS, the rivalry did not become especially heated until the 1994 season when division realignment put both the Mets and the Braves in theNational League Eastdivision. TheBravesfaced theMetsin the1999 National League Championship Series.The Braves initially took a 3–0 series lead, seemingly on the verge of a sweep, but the Mets rallied in Game 4 and Game 5.Despite the Mets' resilience, the Braves eventually won the series in Game 6 withAndruw Jonessecuring a dramatic walk-off walk, earning their 5th National League pennant of the decade.In 2022, theBravesandMets, both finished with 101 wins.The National League East title and a first-round bye came down to a crucial three-game series at Truist Park from September 30 to October 2.The Mets entered with a slight lead but faltered as the Braves swept the series.Atlanta claimed the NL East division title and first-round bye, by\",\n \"first-round bye, by winning the season series against the Mets. Nationwide fanbase In addition to having strong fan support in the Metro Atlanta area and the state of Georgia, the Braves are often referred to as \\\"America's Team\\\" in reference to the team's games being broadcast nationally onTBSfrom the 1970s until 2007, giving the team a nationwide fan base. The Braves boast heavy support within theSoutheastern United Statesparticularly in states such asMississippi,Alabama,South Carolina,North Carolina,TennesseeandFlorida. Tomahawk chop In 1991, fans of the Atlanta Braves popularized the \\\"tomahawk chop\\\" during games.The use of foam tomahawks drew criticism fromNative Americangroups, deeming it demeaning.Despite protests, the Braves' public relations director defended it as a \\\"proud expression of unification and family.\\\"The controversy resurfaced in 2019 whenCherokee Nationmember and St. Louis Cardinals pitcherRyan Helsleyfound the chop insulting, prompting the Braves to modify their in-game experience.During\",\n \"experience.During the off-season, discussions ensued with Native American representatives, and amid pressure in 2020 to change their name, the Braves announced ongoing talks about the chop but insisted the team name would remain unchanged. The debate over the tomahawk chop continued into 2021.While some Native American leaders, likeRichard Sneed, the Principal Chief of theEastern Band of Cherokee Indians, expressed personal indifference or tolerance, acknowledging it as an acknowledgment of Native American strength, others vehemently opposed it.Sneed emphasized larger issues facing Native American communities and questioned the focus on the chop.The Eastern Cherokee Band of Indians and the Braves initiated efforts to incorporate Cherokee language and culture into the team's activities, stadium, and merchandise, aiming for greater cultural sensitivity despite differing opinions within the Native American community. Achievements Awards Team records Retired numbers The Braves have retired eleven numbers in the\",\n \"numbers in the history of the franchise, including most recentlyAndruw Jones' number 25 in 2023,Chipper Jones' number 10 in 2013,John Smoltz's number 29 in 2012,Bobby Cox's number 6 in 2011,Tom Glavine's number 47 in 2010, andGreg Maddux's number 31 in 2009. Additionally,Hank Aaron's 44,Dale Murphy's 3,Phil Niekro's 35,Eddie Mathews' 41,Warren Spahn's 21 andJackie Robinson's 42, which is retired for all of baseball with the exception ofJackie Robinson Day, have also been retired.Six of the eleven numbers (Cox, Jones, Jones, Smoltz, Maddux and Glavine) were on the Braves at the same time.Of the eleven Braves whose numbers have been retired, all who are eligible for theNational Baseball Hall of Famehave been elected with the exceptions of Dale Murphy and Andruw Jones.The color and design of the retired numbers on commemorative markers and other in-stadium signage reflect the primary uniform design at the time the player was on the team. Baseball Hall of Famers Earl AverillDave BancroftDan BrouthersJohn\",\n \"BrouthersJohn Clarkson*Jimmy CollinsHugh Duffy*Johnny Evers Burleigh GrimesBilly HamiltonBilly HermanRogers HornsbyJoe KelleyKing KellyErnie Lombardi Rabbit Maranville*Rube MarquardTommy McCarthy*Bill McKechnieJoe MedwickKid Nichols*Jim O'Rourke Charley RadbournBabe RuthFrank Selee*Al SimmonsGeorge SislerBilly SouthworthCasey StengelEd Walsh Lloyd WanerPaul WanerDeacon WhiteVic Willis*George Wright*Harry WrightCy Young Eddie Mathews* Red SchoendienstEnos Slaughter Warren Spahn* Hank Aaron* Hank Aaron†Orlando CepedaBobby Cox* Tom Glavine*Chipper Jones*Greg Maddux* Fred McGriff*Phil Niekro*Gaylord Perry John SchuerholzTed SimmonsJohn Smoltz* Bruce SutterJoe TorreHoyt Wilhelm Braves Hall of Fame Roster Pitchers Catchers Infielders Outfielders Designated hitters Manager Coaches 60-day injured list 40 active, 0 inactive, 0 non-roster invitees 7-, 10-, or 15-dayinjured list* Not on active roster†Suspended listRoster,coaches, andNRIsupdated October 14, 2024Transactions•Depth chart→All MLB rosters Minor league\",\n \"Minor league affiliates The Atlanta Bravesfarm systemconsists of sixminor leagueaffiliates. Radio and television The Braves regional games are exclusively broadcast onBally Sports Southeast.Brandon Gaudinis the play-by-play announcer for Bally Sports Southeast.Gaudin is joined in the booth by lead analystC.J. Nitkowski.Jeff Francoeurand Tom Glavine will also join the broadcast for a few games during the season.Peter Moylan,Nick Green, and John Smoltz also appear in the booth for select games as in-game analysts. The radio broadcast team is led by the tandem of play-by-play announcer Ben Ingram and analystJoe Simpson. Braves games are broadcast across Georgia and seven other states on at least 172 radio affiliates, including flagship station680 The Fanin Atlanta and stations as far away as Richmond, Virginia; Louisville, Kentucky; and the US Virgin Islands. The games are carried on at least 82 radio stations in Georgia. References Footnotes Citations Further reading External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":43,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"As of 2023, how many more employees does the company alphabetically first by ticker symbol in the S&P500 have than the company alphabetically 2nd to last by ticker symbol in the S&P500?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"8,350"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_S%26P_500_companies"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agilent_Technologies"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_Technologies"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Numerical reasoning | Tabular reasoning | Multiple constraints"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_S%26P_500_companies', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agilent_Technologies', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_Technologies']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_S%26P_500_companies","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agilent_Technologies","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_Technologies"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_S%26P_500_companies\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agilent_Technologies\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_Technologies\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["List of S&P 500 companies TheS&P 500is astock market indexmaintained byS&P Dow Jones Indices. It comprises 503common stockswhich are issued by 500large-capcompanies traded on American stock exchanges (including the 30 companies that compose theDow Jones Industrial Average). The index includes about 80 percent of the American market by capitalization. It is weighted byfree-floatmarket capitalization, so more valuable companies account for relatively more weight in the index. The index constituents and the constituent weights are updated regularly using rules published by S&P Dow Jones Indices. Although called the S&P 500, the index contains 503 stocks because it includes two share classes of stock from 4 of its component companies. S&P 500 component stocks Selected changes to the list of S&P 500 components S&P Dow Jones Indices updates the components of theS&P 500periodically, typically in response to acquisitions, or to keep the index up to date as various companies grow or shrink in value.Between January 1, 1963, and December 31, 2014, 1,186 index components were replaced by other components. See also References External links","Agilent Technologies Agilent Technologies, Inc.is an American global company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, that provides instruments, software, services, and consumables for laboratories. Agilent was established in 1999 as a spin-off fromHewlett-Packard. The resultingIPOof Agilent stock was the largest in the history ofSilicon Valleyat the time.From 1999 to 2014, the company produced optics (LED, laser),semiconductors,EDAsoftware and test and measurement equipment for electronics; that division was spun off to formKeysight.Since then, the company has continued to expand into pharmaceutical, diagnostics & clinical, and academia & government (research) markets. Products and services Agilent serves analytical laboratories and the clinical and routine diagnostics markets with a full suite of technology platforms. These include:automation, bioreagents,FISH probes, gas and liquid chromatography,immunohistochemistry,informatics,mass spectrometry,microarrays,spectroscopy, target enrichment, and vacuum technologies. Agilent also provides lab management services, includingenterprise asset management, laboratory business intelligence, equipment management and service,software maintenance,regulatory compliance, sample preparation, genomics and cloning, GC and HPLC columns, spectrometry and spectroscopy supplies, and consumables.The company is known for investing in R&D within its own research labs and those of leading universities to advance the state of knowledge in the life sciences, diagnostics, and chemical analysis space. In recent years, the company has advanced digital lab instrumentation and technology that improves lab workflow and overall efficiency and productivity. In 2020, Agilent introduced CrossLab Virtual Assist, a mobile app that facilities high-quality remote technical support.Agilent’s digital advancements, including CrossLab Connect, have also improved lab optimization and sustainability by providing more efficient utilization of instruments, which can lower a lab’s energy consumption. Agilent is also a pioneer of the target enrichment used as part of a NGS workflow. The portfolio also includes sample prep, QA/QC instrumentation, 2100 bioanalyzers, and automation tools. In early 2023, the company announced a $725 million expansion of its nucleic acid-based therapeutics manufacturing facility inFrederick, Colorado. History Agilent Technologies was created in 1999 as a spin-off of several business units ofHewlett-Packardincluding test & measurement, optics, instrumentation and chemical analysis, electronic components, and medical equipment product lines.The split was predicated on the difficulty of growing HP's revenue stream and on the competitive vigor of smaller, more agile competitors.The company's launch slogan was \"Innovating the HP Way\", which capitalized on the strong HP corporate culture.Thestarburstlogo was selected to reflect \"a burst of insight\" (or \"spark of insight\")and the name \"Agilent\" aimed to invoke the notion of agility as a trait of the new firm.The Agilent spin-off was accompanied by aninitial public offeringwhich raised $2.1 billion, setting a record at the time. 2000–2009 In the early 2000s, \"economic uncertainty\" depressed demand for Agilent's products,including slow sales of health care products to hospitals in the United States, which accounted for 60% of the company's revenue at the time.The downturn also struck sales in the communications and semiconductor markets, where orders amounting to $500 million were canceled by buyers.These poor economic conditions prompted large reductions in force; from a headcount in 1999 of 35,000, which had risen to 48,000 by May 2001,it had by early 2003 cut 18,500 positions.In 2001, in midst of this downsizing, Agilent sold its health care and medical products organization toPhilips Medical Systems,and was noted as having a valuation of about $11 billion.HP Medical Products had been the second oldest part ofHewlett-Packard, acquired in the 1950s. In August 2005, Agilent announced the sale of its business which produced semiconductorintegrated circuits(known as \"chips\") for consumer and industrial uses toKohlberg Kravis RobertsandSilver Lake Partnersfor $2.66 billion.This move was part of a broad effort to concentrate \"on the test-and-measurement business at its historic core,\" and would entail termination of about 1,300 of the company's 28,000 employees.The group operated as a private company,Avago Technologies, until August 2009, when it was brought public in an IPO. After purchasingBroadcom Corporationin 2016, Avago changed its name toBroadcom Limited. Also in August 2005, Agilent sold its 47% stake in thelight-emitting diodemanufacturerLumiledstoPhilipsfor $1 billion.Lumileds originally started asHewlett-Packard's optoelectronics division. Also in August 2005, Agilent announced a plan to divest its semiconductor test business, composed of both the system-on-chip and memory test market areas.Agilent listed the new company asVerigyon theNasdaqin mid-2006. 2010 onwards In 2009, Agilent announced the closure of a subsection of its Test & Measurement division. The product lines affected included the automated optical inspection,solder pasteinspection, and automatedX-rayproducts in 2004. In 2011, the company, along with theUniversity of California, Davis, announced that it would be establishing the \"Davis Millimeter Wave Research Center\".Agilent announced it would increase its life sciences engagement through the acquisition of Halo Genomics, based inUppsala, Sweden, which was involved innext-generation sequencingtechnology development. On May 17, 2012, Agilent agreed to buy Dako, a Danish cancer diagnostics company, for $2.2 billion, to expand its presence in the life sciences industry. On September 19, 2013, Agilent announced its decision to separate into two publicly traded companies: Agilent, a life sciences, diagnostics, and applied markets company, and an electronic measurement company.The life sciences company retained the Agilent name and the electronic measurement company was calledKeysight Technologies.On October 14, 2014, the company announced that it is exiting its Nuclear Magnetic Resonance business.On November 1, the formal separation of Agilent andKeysight Technologieswas completed.Agilent announced it had completed the spin-off of its electronic measurement business, Keysight Technologies. Hewlett-Packard Co., Agilent's predecessor, acquired F&M Scientific Corp., maker of gas chromatographs, on August 8, 1965. In September 2015, the company announced it would acquireSeahorse Biosciencefor $235 million. On July 7, 2016, Agilent announced that they had acquired U.K. based Cobalt Light Systems, which develops and manufacturesRaman spectroscopyinstruments, for £40 million in cash.In December the company acquired Multiplicom N.V. In January 2018, the company announced it would acquire Luxcel Biosciences, increasing the company's cell analysis portfolio.In May, Agilent acquired Lasergen, Inc. after the end of its two-year option on a prior investment.In the same month it acquired digital laboratory management company, Genohm,Ultra Scientific, provider of chemical standards and reference materialsand Advanced Analytical Technologies, Inc. (AATI), provider of capillaryelectrophoresis-based molecules for $250 million in cash.In August the company announced it would acquire glycan reagent producer, ProZyme, Inc.and South Korean instrument distributor, Young In Scientific Co. Ltd.In September Agilent acquired ACEA Biosciences for $250 million increasing the company's presence in cell analysis technologies.In August 2019, Agilent acquired US-based BioTek Instruments, a designer, manufacturer, and distributor of life science instrumentation, for $1.165 billion. On May 1, 2024, Padraig McDonnell succeeded Mike McMullen as CEO. Notes References Further reading Books News items External links","Zebra Technologies Zebra Technologies Corporationis an American mobile computing company specializing in technology used tosense, analyze, and act in real time.The company manufactures and sells marking, tracking, andcomputer printing technologies. Its products include mobile computers and tablets, software, thermalbarcodelabel and receipt printers, RFID smart label printers/encoders/fixed & handheld readers/antennas, autonomous mobile robots (AMR’s) &machine vision(MV), and fixed industrial scanning hardware & software. History Zebra was incorporated in 1969 asData Specialties Incorporated, a manufacturer of high-speed electromechanical products. The company changed its focus to specialty on-demand labeling and ticketing systems in 1982 and became Zebra Technologies Corporation in 1986. Zebra became a publicly traded company in 1991. In 1986, Zebra (then Data Specialties Incorporated) acquiredQwint Systems(formerly Martin Research), an early microcomputer pioneer which had restructured as ateletypewritermanufacturer at the beginning of the 1980s. In 1998, Zebra Technologies merged with Eltron International, Inc.In 2000, Comtec Information Systems was acquired by Zebra Technologies,followed in 2003 by the acquisition of Atlantek, Inc., which was a manufacturer of photo ID printers. In 2004, the company expanded into RFID smart label manufacturing.In the following years, Zebra also acquired Swecoin, WhereNet Corp,Proveo AG,and Navis Holdings (later divested in 2011). The company bought the Enterprise Solutions Group (ESG) in 2008 and renamed the group Zebra Enterprise Solutions in 2009. In the same year, Multispectral Solutions, Inc. was acquired.In 2012, the companiesLaserBand,and StepOne Systems were purchased with a cash price of $1.5 million. In 2013, the company acquired Hart Systems for $94 million in cash from the private equity firm Topspin Partners LBO. In 2014, Zebra acquiredMotorola Solutions' Enterprise Division in a $3.45 billion transaction, providing mobile computing and advanced data capture communications technologies and services. Zebra's acquisition of the Enterprise Division included theSymbol TechnologiesandPsionproduct lines.Also in 2014, Zebra provided its real-time location system (RTLS) inNFLstadiums to track players and officials and provide location-based data for the NFL'sNext Gen Statsprogram.Zebra’s partnership with the NFL extends through the 2025 football season. In 2018, the company acquiredXplore Technologies, a maker of ruggedized tablets and other hard-wearing hardware. In 2019, Zebra acquired Temptime Corporation, a provider of temperature monitoring devices to the healthcare industry.That same year, Zebra also acquired Profitect, a retail software company that developed a product line used for tracking and identifying inventory losses. In 2020, Zebra acquired Reflexis Systems, a provider of workforce scheduling and task management software to the retail, food service, hospitality, and banking industriesfor $575 Million. In 2021, Zebra acquired Adaptive Vision (provider of graphical MV software), Fetch Robotics (manufacturer of autonomous mobile robots) and Antuit.ai (provider ofAI-poweredSaaSsolutions specific to forecasting and merchandising for the retail and CPG industries). In 2022, Zebra acquiredMatrox Imaging, a developer of machine vision components and systems. In December 2023, Zebra partnered with Verizon Business to create a software package that will allow for a faster private 5G network. Zebra tablets and computers will work on Verizon's private network, allowing for more network capacity and fast communication. In 2023, Zebra unveiled Zebra Workcloud - its purpose-built suite of enterprise software applications, primarily serving in retail, banking and healthcare industries.Zebra also introduced the WS50 powered by Workcloud, the first wearable Android touch computer. Locations Zebra Technologies has more than 128 offices in 55 countries,including Australia, Poland, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.The company also has over 10,000+ partnersacross 180 countries.In the 2021 annual report, Zebra stated that it traded in 180 countries, with approximately 128 facilities and 9,800 employees. Reception Newsweekincluded Zebra on its2023 America’s Greatest Workplaces for Diversity list. References External links"],"string":"[\n \"List of S&P 500 companies TheS&P 500is astock market indexmaintained byS&P Dow Jones Indices. It comprises 503common stockswhich are issued by 500large-capcompanies traded on American stock exchanges (including the 30 companies that compose theDow Jones Industrial Average). The index includes about 80 percent of the American market by capitalization. It is weighted byfree-floatmarket capitalization, so more valuable companies account for relatively more weight in the index. The index constituents and the constituent weights are updated regularly using rules published by S&P Dow Jones Indices. Although called the S&P 500, the index contains 503 stocks because it includes two share classes of stock from 4 of its component companies. S&P 500 component stocks Selected changes to the list of S&P 500 components S&P Dow Jones Indices updates the components of theS&P 500periodically, typically in response to acquisitions, or to keep the index up to date as various companies grow or shrink in value.Between January 1, 1963, and December 31, 2014, 1,186 index components were replaced by other components. See also References External links\",\n \"Agilent Technologies Agilent Technologies, Inc.is an American global company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, that provides instruments, software, services, and consumables for laboratories. Agilent was established in 1999 as a spin-off fromHewlett-Packard. The resultingIPOof Agilent stock was the largest in the history ofSilicon Valleyat the time.From 1999 to 2014, the company produced optics (LED, laser),semiconductors,EDAsoftware and test and measurement equipment for electronics; that division was spun off to formKeysight.Since then, the company has continued to expand into pharmaceutical, diagnostics & clinical, and academia & government (research) markets. Products and services Agilent serves analytical laboratories and the clinical and routine diagnostics markets with a full suite of technology platforms. These include:automation, bioreagents,FISH probes, gas and liquid chromatography,immunohistochemistry,informatics,mass spectrometry,microarrays,spectroscopy, target enrichment, and vacuum technologies. Agilent also provides lab management services, includingenterprise asset management, laboratory business intelligence, equipment management and service,software maintenance,regulatory compliance, sample preparation, genomics and cloning, GC and HPLC columns, spectrometry and spectroscopy supplies, and consumables.The company is known for investing in R&D within its own research labs and those of leading universities to advance the state of knowledge in the life sciences, diagnostics, and chemical analysis space. In recent years, the company has advanced digital lab instrumentation and technology that improves lab workflow and overall efficiency and productivity. In 2020, Agilent introduced CrossLab Virtual Assist, a mobile app that facilities high-quality remote technical support.Agilent’s digital advancements, including CrossLab Connect, have also improved lab optimization and sustainability by providing more efficient utilization of instruments, which can lower a lab’s energy consumption. Agilent is also a pioneer of the target enrichment used as part of a NGS workflow. The portfolio also includes sample prep, QA/QC instrumentation, 2100 bioanalyzers, and automation tools. In early 2023, the company announced a $725 million expansion of its nucleic acid-based therapeutics manufacturing facility inFrederick, Colorado. History Agilent Technologies was created in 1999 as a spin-off of several business units ofHewlett-Packardincluding test & measurement, optics, instrumentation and chemical analysis, electronic components, and medical equipment product lines.The split was predicated on the difficulty of growing HP's revenue stream and on the competitive vigor of smaller, more agile competitors.The company's launch slogan was \\\"Innovating the HP Way\\\", which capitalized on the strong HP corporate culture.Thestarburstlogo was selected to reflect \\\"a burst of insight\\\" (or \\\"spark of insight\\\")and the name \\\"Agilent\\\" aimed to invoke the notion of agility as a trait of the new firm.The Agilent spin-off was accompanied by aninitial public offeringwhich raised $2.1 billion, setting a record at the time. 2000–2009 In the early 2000s, \\\"economic uncertainty\\\" depressed demand for Agilent's products,including slow sales of health care products to hospitals in the United States, which accounted for 60% of the company's revenue at the time.The downturn also struck sales in the communications and semiconductor markets, where orders amounting to $500 million were canceled by buyers.These poor economic conditions prompted large reductions in force; from a headcount in 1999 of 35,000, which had risen to 48,000 by May 2001,it had by early 2003 cut 18,500 positions.In 2001, in midst of this downsizing, Agilent sold its health care and medical products organization toPhilips Medical Systems,and was noted as having a valuation of about $11 billion.HP Medical Products had been the second oldest part ofHewlett-Packard, acquired in the 1950s. In August 2005, Agilent announced the sale of its business which produced semiconductorintegrated circuits(known as \\\"chips\\\") for consumer and industrial uses toKohlberg Kravis RobertsandSilver Lake Partnersfor $2.66 billion.This move was part of a broad effort to concentrate \\\"on the test-and-measurement business at its historic core,\\\" and would entail termination of about 1,300 of the company's 28,000 employees.The group operated as a private company,Avago Technologies, until August 2009, when it was brought public in an IPO. After purchasingBroadcom Corporationin 2016, Avago changed its name toBroadcom Limited. Also in August 2005, Agilent sold its 47% stake in thelight-emitting diodemanufacturerLumiledstoPhilipsfor $1 billion.Lumileds originally started asHewlett-Packard's optoelectronics division. Also in August 2005, Agilent announced a plan to divest its semiconductor test business, composed of both the system-on-chip and memory test market areas.Agilent listed the new company asVerigyon theNasdaqin mid-2006. 2010 onwards In 2009, Agilent announced the closure of a subsection of its Test & Measurement division. The product lines affected included the automated optical inspection,solder pasteinspection, and automatedX-rayproducts in 2004. In 2011, the company, along with theUniversity of California, Davis, announced that it would be establishing the \\\"Davis Millimeter Wave Research Center\\\".Agilent announced it would increase its life sciences engagement through the acquisition of Halo Genomics, based inUppsala, Sweden, which was involved innext-generation sequencingtechnology development. On May 17, 2012, Agilent agreed to buy Dako, a Danish cancer diagnostics company, for $2.2 billion, to expand its presence in the life sciences industry. On September 19, 2013, Agilent announced its decision to separate into two publicly traded companies: Agilent, a life sciences, diagnostics, and applied markets company, and an electronic measurement company.The life sciences company retained the Agilent name and the electronic measurement company was calledKeysight Technologies.On October 14, 2014, the company announced that it is exiting its Nuclear Magnetic Resonance business.On November 1, the formal separation of Agilent andKeysight Technologieswas completed.Agilent announced it had completed the spin-off of its electronic measurement business, Keysight Technologies. Hewlett-Packard Co., Agilent's predecessor, acquired F&M Scientific Corp., maker of gas chromatographs, on August 8, 1965. In September 2015, the company announced it would acquireSeahorse Biosciencefor $235 million. On July 7, 2016, Agilent announced that they had acquired U.K. based Cobalt Light Systems, which develops and manufacturesRaman spectroscopyinstruments, for £40 million in cash.In December the company acquired Multiplicom N.V. In January 2018, the company announced it would acquire Luxcel Biosciences, increasing the company's cell analysis portfolio.In May, Agilent acquired Lasergen, Inc. after the end of its two-year option on a prior investment.In the same month it acquired digital laboratory management company, Genohm,Ultra Scientific, provider of chemical standards and reference materialsand Advanced Analytical Technologies, Inc. (AATI), provider of capillaryelectrophoresis-based molecules for $250 million in cash.In August the company announced it would acquire glycan reagent producer, ProZyme, Inc.and South Korean instrument distributor, Young In Scientific Co. Ltd.In September Agilent acquired ACEA Biosciences for $250 million increasing the company's presence in cell analysis technologies.In August 2019, Agilent acquired US-based BioTek Instruments, a designer, manufacturer, and distributor of life science instrumentation, for $1.165 billion. On May 1, 2024, Padraig McDonnell succeeded Mike McMullen as CEO. Notes References Further reading Books News items External links\",\n \"Zebra Technologies Zebra Technologies Corporationis an American mobile computing company specializing in technology used tosense, analyze, and act in real time.The company manufactures and sells marking, tracking, andcomputer printing technologies. Its products include mobile computers and tablets, software, thermalbarcodelabel and receipt printers, RFID smart label printers/encoders/fixed & handheld readers/antennas, autonomous mobile robots (AMR’s) &machine vision(MV), and fixed industrial scanning hardware & software. History Zebra was incorporated in 1969 asData Specialties Incorporated, a manufacturer of high-speed electromechanical products. The company changed its focus to specialty on-demand labeling and ticketing systems in 1982 and became Zebra Technologies Corporation in 1986. Zebra became a publicly traded company in 1991. In 1986, Zebra (then Data Specialties Incorporated) acquiredQwint Systems(formerly Martin Research), an early microcomputer pioneer which had restructured as ateletypewritermanufacturer at the beginning of the 1980s. In 1998, Zebra Technologies merged with Eltron International, Inc.In 2000, Comtec Information Systems was acquired by Zebra Technologies,followed in 2003 by the acquisition of Atlantek, Inc., which was a manufacturer of photo ID printers. In 2004, the company expanded into RFID smart label manufacturing.In the following years, Zebra also acquired Swecoin, WhereNet Corp,Proveo AG,and Navis Holdings (later divested in 2011). The company bought the Enterprise Solutions Group (ESG) in 2008 and renamed the group Zebra Enterprise Solutions in 2009. In the same year, Multispectral Solutions, Inc. was acquired.In 2012, the companiesLaserBand,and StepOne Systems were purchased with a cash price of $1.5 million. In 2013, the company acquired Hart Systems for $94 million in cash from the private equity firm Topspin Partners LBO. In 2014, Zebra acquiredMotorola Solutions' Enterprise Division in a $3.45 billion transaction, providing mobile computing and advanced data capture communications technologies and services. Zebra's acquisition of the Enterprise Division included theSymbol TechnologiesandPsionproduct lines.Also in 2014, Zebra provided its real-time location system (RTLS) inNFLstadiums to track players and officials and provide location-based data for the NFL'sNext Gen Statsprogram.Zebra’s partnership with the NFL extends through the 2025 football season. In 2018, the company acquiredXplore Technologies, a maker of ruggedized tablets and other hard-wearing hardware. In 2019, Zebra acquired Temptime Corporation, a provider of temperature monitoring devices to the healthcare industry.That same year, Zebra also acquired Profitect, a retail software company that developed a product line used for tracking and identifying inventory losses. In 2020, Zebra acquired Reflexis Systems, a provider of workforce scheduling and task management software to the retail, food service, hospitality, and banking industriesfor $575 Million. In 2021, Zebra acquired Adaptive Vision (provider of graphical MV software), Fetch Robotics (manufacturer of autonomous mobile robots) and Antuit.ai (provider ofAI-poweredSaaSsolutions specific to forecasting and merchandising for the retail and CPG industries). In 2022, Zebra acquiredMatrox Imaging, a developer of machine vision components and systems. In December 2023, Zebra partnered with Verizon Business to create a software package that will allow for a faster private 5G network. Zebra tablets and computers will work on Verizon's private network, allowing for more network capacity and fast communication. In 2023, Zebra unveiled Zebra Workcloud - its purpose-built suite of enterprise software applications, primarily serving in retail, banking and healthcare industries.Zebra also introduced the WS50 powered by Workcloud, the first wearable Android touch computer. Locations Zebra Technologies has more than 128 offices in 55 countries,including Australia, Poland, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.The company also has over 10,000+ partnersacross 180 countries.In the 2021 annual report, Zebra stated that it traded in 180 countries, with approximately 128 facilities and 9,800 employees. Reception Newsweekincluded Zebra on its2023 America’s Greatest Workplaces for Diversity list. References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["List of S&P 500 companies TheS&P 500is astock market indexmaintained byS&P Dow Jones Indices. It comprises 503common stockswhich are issued by 500large-capcompanies traded on American stock exchanges (including the 30 companies that compose theDow Jones Industrial Average). The index includes about 80 percent of the American market by capitalization. It is weighted byfree-floatmarket capitalization, so more valuable companies account for relatively more weight in the index. The index constituents and the constituent weights are updated regularly using rules published by S&P Dow Jones Indices. Although called the S&P 500, the index contains 503 stocks because it includes two share classes of stock from 4 of its component companies. S&P 500 component stocks Selected changes to the list of S&P 500 components S&P Dow Jones Indices updates the components of theS&P 500periodically, typically in response to acquisitions, or to keep the index up to date as various companies grow or shrink in value.Between January 1,","January 1, 1963, and December 31, 2014, 1,186 index components were replaced by other components. See also References External links","Agilent Technologies Agilent Technologies, Inc.is an American global company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, that provides instruments, software, services, and consumables for laboratories. Agilent was established in 1999 as a spin-off fromHewlett-Packard. The resultingIPOof Agilent stock was the largest in the history ofSilicon Valleyat the time.From 1999 to 2014, the company produced optics (LED, laser),semiconductors,EDAsoftware and test and measurement equipment for electronics; that division was spun off to formKeysight.Since then, the company has continued to expand into pharmaceutical, diagnostics & clinical, and academia & government (research) markets. Products and services Agilent serves analytical laboratories and the clinical and routine diagnostics markets with a full suite of technology platforms. These include:automation, bioreagents,FISH probes, gas and liquid chromatography,immunohistochemistry,informatics,mass spectrometry,microarrays,spectroscopy, target enrichment, and vacuum","and vacuum technologies. Agilent also provides lab management services, includingenterprise asset management, laboratory business intelligence, equipment management and service,software maintenance,regulatory compliance, sample preparation, genomics and cloning, GC and HPLC columns, spectrometry and spectroscopy supplies, and consumables.The company is known for investing in R&D within its own research labs and those of leading universities to advance the state of knowledge in the life sciences, diagnostics, and chemical analysis space. In recent years, the company has advanced digital lab instrumentation and technology that improves lab workflow and overall efficiency and productivity. In 2020, Agilent introduced CrossLab Virtual Assist, a mobile app that facilities high-quality remote technical support.Agilent’s digital advancements, including CrossLab Connect, have also improved lab optimization and sustainability by providing more efficient utilization of instruments, which can lower a lab’s energy","a lab’s energy consumption. Agilent is also a pioneer of the target enrichment used as part of a NGS workflow. The portfolio also includes sample prep, QA/QC instrumentation, 2100 bioanalyzers, and automation tools. In early 2023, the company announced a $725 million expansion of its nucleic acid-based therapeutics manufacturing facility inFrederick, Colorado. History Agilent Technologies was created in 1999 as a spin-off of several business units ofHewlett-Packardincluding test & measurement, optics, instrumentation and chemical analysis, electronic components, and medical equipment product lines.The split was predicated on the difficulty of growing HP's revenue stream and on the competitive vigor of smaller, more agile competitors.The company's launch slogan was \"Innovating the HP Way\", which capitalized on the strong HP corporate culture.Thestarburstlogo was selected to reflect \"a burst of insight\" (or \"spark of insight\")and the name \"Agilent\" aimed to invoke the notion of agility as a trait of the new","a trait of the new firm.The Agilent spin-off was accompanied by aninitial public offeringwhich raised $2.1 billion, setting a record at the time. 2000–2009 In the early 2000s, \"economic uncertainty\" depressed demand for Agilent's products,including slow sales of health care products to hospitals in the United States, which accounted for 60% of the company's revenue at the time.The downturn also struck sales in the communications and semiconductor markets, where orders amounting to $500 million were canceled by buyers.These poor economic conditions prompted large reductions in force; from a headcount in 1999 of 35,000, which had risen to 48,000 by May 2001,it had by early 2003 cut 18,500 positions.In 2001, in midst of this downsizing, Agilent sold its health care and medical products organization toPhilips Medical Systems,and was noted as having a valuation of about $11 billion.HP Medical Products had been the second oldest part ofHewlett-Packard, acquired in the 1950s. In August 2005, Agilent announced the","announced the sale of its business which produced semiconductorintegrated circuits(known as \"chips\") for consumer and industrial uses toKohlberg Kravis RobertsandSilver Lake Partnersfor $2.66 billion.This move was part of a broad effort to concentrate \"on the test-and-measurement business at its historic core,\" and would entail termination of about 1,300 of the company's 28,000 employees.The group operated as a private company,Avago Technologies, until August 2009, when it was brought public in an IPO. After purchasingBroadcom Corporationin 2016, Avago changed its name toBroadcom Limited. Also in August 2005, Agilent sold its 47% stake in thelight-emitting diodemanufacturerLumiledstoPhilipsfor $1 billion.Lumileds originally started asHewlett-Packard's optoelectronics division. Also in August 2005, Agilent announced a plan to divest its semiconductor test business, composed of both the system-on-chip and memory test market areas.Agilent listed the new company asVerigyon theNasdaqin mid-2006. 2010 onwards In","2010 onwards In 2009, Agilent announced the closure of a subsection of its Test & Measurement division. The product lines affected included the automated optical inspection,solder pasteinspection, and automatedX-rayproducts in 2004. In 2011, the company, along with theUniversity of California, Davis, announced that it would be establishing the \"Davis Millimeter Wave Research Center\".Agilent announced it would increase its life sciences engagement through the acquisition of Halo Genomics, based inUppsala, Sweden, which was involved innext-generation sequencingtechnology development. On May 17, 2012, Agilent agreed to buy Dako, a Danish cancer diagnostics company, for $2.2 billion, to expand its presence in the life sciences industry. On September 19, 2013, Agilent announced its decision to separate into two publicly traded companies: Agilent, a life sciences, diagnostics, and applied markets company, and an electronic measurement company.The life sciences company retained the Agilent name and the electronic","and the electronic measurement company was calledKeysight Technologies.On October 14, 2014, the company announced that it is exiting its Nuclear Magnetic Resonance business.On November 1, the formal separation of Agilent andKeysight Technologieswas completed.Agilent announced it had completed the spin-off of its electronic measurement business, Keysight Technologies. Hewlett-Packard Co., Agilent's predecessor, acquired F&M Scientific Corp., maker of gas chromatographs, on August 8, 1965. In September 2015, the company announced it would acquireSeahorse Biosciencefor $235 million. On July 7, 2016, Agilent announced that they had acquired U.K. based Cobalt Light Systems, which develops and manufacturesRaman spectroscopyinstruments, for £40 million in cash.In December the company acquired Multiplicom N.V. In January 2018, the company announced it would acquire Luxcel Biosciences, increasing the company's cell analysis portfolio.In May, Agilent acquired Lasergen, Inc. after the end of its two-year option on a","option on a prior investment.In the same month it acquired digital laboratory management company, Genohm,Ultra Scientific, provider of chemical standards and reference materialsand Advanced Analytical Technologies, Inc. (AATI), provider of capillaryelectrophoresis-based molecules for $250 million in cash.In August the company announced it would acquire glycan reagent producer, ProZyme, Inc.and South Korean instrument distributor, Young In Scientific Co. Ltd.In September Agilent acquired ACEA Biosciences for $250 million increasing the company's presence in cell analysis technologies.In August 2019, Agilent acquired US-based BioTek Instruments, a designer, manufacturer, and distributor of life science instrumentation, for $1.165 billion. On May 1, 2024, Padraig McDonnell succeeded Mike McMullen as CEO. Notes References Further reading Books News items External links","Zebra Technologies Zebra Technologies Corporationis an American mobile computing company specializing in technology used tosense, analyze, and act in real time.The company manufactures and sells marking, tracking, andcomputer printing technologies. Its products include mobile computers and tablets, software, thermalbarcodelabel and receipt printers, RFID smart label printers/encoders/fixed & handheld readers/antennas, autonomous mobile robots (AMR’s) &machine vision(MV), and fixed industrial scanning hardware & software. History Zebra was incorporated in 1969 asData Specialties Incorporated, a manufacturer of high-speed electromechanical products. The company changed its focus to specialty on-demand labeling and ticketing systems in 1982 and became Zebra Technologies Corporation in 1986. Zebra became a publicly traded company in 1991. In 1986, Zebra (then Data Specialties Incorporated) acquiredQwint Systems(formerly Martin Research), an early microcomputer pioneer which had restructured as","had restructured as ateletypewritermanufacturer at the beginning of the 1980s. In 1998, Zebra Technologies merged with Eltron International, Inc.In 2000, Comtec Information Systems was acquired by Zebra Technologies,followed in 2003 by the acquisition of Atlantek, Inc., which was a manufacturer of photo ID printers. In 2004, the company expanded into RFID smart label manufacturing.In the following years, Zebra also acquired Swecoin, WhereNet Corp,Proveo AG,and Navis Holdings (later divested in 2011). The company bought the Enterprise Solutions Group (ESG) in 2008 and renamed the group Zebra Enterprise Solutions in 2009. In the same year, Multispectral Solutions, Inc. was acquired.In 2012, the companiesLaserBand,and StepOne Systems were purchased with a cash price of $1.5 million. In 2013, the company acquired Hart Systems for $94 million in cash from the private equity firm Topspin Partners LBO. In 2014, Zebra acquiredMotorola Solutions' Enterprise Division in a $3.45 billion transaction, providing mobile","providing mobile computing and advanced data capture communications technologies and services. Zebra's acquisition of the Enterprise Division included theSymbol TechnologiesandPsionproduct lines.Also in 2014, Zebra provided its real-time location system (RTLS) inNFLstadiums to track players and officials and provide location-based data for the NFL'sNext Gen Statsprogram.Zebra’s partnership with the NFL extends through the 2025 football season. In 2018, the company acquiredXplore Technologies, a maker of ruggedized tablets and other hard-wearing hardware. In 2019, Zebra acquired Temptime Corporation, a provider of temperature monitoring devices to the healthcare industry.That same year, Zebra also acquired Profitect, a retail software company that developed a product line used for tracking and identifying inventory losses. In 2020, Zebra acquired Reflexis Systems, a provider of workforce scheduling and task management software to the retail, food service, hospitality, and banking industriesfor $575 Million.","$575 Million. In 2021, Zebra acquired Adaptive Vision (provider of graphical MV software), Fetch Robotics (manufacturer of autonomous mobile robots) and Antuit.ai (provider ofAI-poweredSaaSsolutions specific to forecasting and merchandising for the retail and CPG industries). In 2022, Zebra acquiredMatrox Imaging, a developer of machine vision components and systems. In December 2023, Zebra partnered with Verizon Business to create a software package that will allow for a faster private 5G network. Zebra tablets and computers will work on Verizon's private network, allowing for more network capacity and fast communication. In 2023, Zebra unveiled Zebra Workcloud - its purpose-built suite of enterprise software applications, primarily serving in retail, banking and healthcare industries.Zebra also introduced the WS50 powered by Workcloud, the first wearable Android touch computer. Locations Zebra Technologies has more than 128 offices in 55 countries,including Australia, Poland, Brazil, Canada, China, France,","China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.The company also has over 10,000+ partnersacross 180 countries.In the 2021 annual report, Zebra stated that it traded in 180 countries, with approximately 128 facilities and 9,800 employees. Reception Newsweekincluded Zebra on its2023 America’s Greatest Workplaces for Diversity list. References External links"],"string":"[\n \"List of S&P 500 companies TheS&P 500is astock market indexmaintained byS&P Dow Jones Indices. It comprises 503common stockswhich are issued by 500large-capcompanies traded on American stock exchanges (including the 30 companies that compose theDow Jones Industrial Average). The index includes about 80 percent of the American market by capitalization. It is weighted byfree-floatmarket capitalization, so more valuable companies account for relatively more weight in the index. The index constituents and the constituent weights are updated regularly using rules published by S&P Dow Jones Indices. Although called the S&P 500, the index contains 503 stocks because it includes two share classes of stock from 4 of its component companies. S&P 500 component stocks Selected changes to the list of S&P 500 components S&P Dow Jones Indices updates the components of theS&P 500periodically, typically in response to acquisitions, or to keep the index up to date as various companies grow or shrink in value.Between January 1,\",\n \"January 1, 1963, and December 31, 2014, 1,186 index components were replaced by other components. See also References External links\",\n \"Agilent Technologies Agilent Technologies, Inc.is an American global company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, that provides instruments, software, services, and consumables for laboratories. Agilent was established in 1999 as a spin-off fromHewlett-Packard. The resultingIPOof Agilent stock was the largest in the history ofSilicon Valleyat the time.From 1999 to 2014, the company produced optics (LED, laser),semiconductors,EDAsoftware and test and measurement equipment for electronics; that division was spun off to formKeysight.Since then, the company has continued to expand into pharmaceutical, diagnostics & clinical, and academia & government (research) markets. Products and services Agilent serves analytical laboratories and the clinical and routine diagnostics markets with a full suite of technology platforms. These include:automation, bioreagents,FISH probes, gas and liquid chromatography,immunohistochemistry,informatics,mass spectrometry,microarrays,spectroscopy, target enrichment, and vacuum\",\n \"and vacuum technologies. Agilent also provides lab management services, includingenterprise asset management, laboratory business intelligence, equipment management and service,software maintenance,regulatory compliance, sample preparation, genomics and cloning, GC and HPLC columns, spectrometry and spectroscopy supplies, and consumables.The company is known for investing in R&D within its own research labs and those of leading universities to advance the state of knowledge in the life sciences, diagnostics, and chemical analysis space. In recent years, the company has advanced digital lab instrumentation and technology that improves lab workflow and overall efficiency and productivity. In 2020, Agilent introduced CrossLab Virtual Assist, a mobile app that facilities high-quality remote technical support.Agilent’s digital advancements, including CrossLab Connect, have also improved lab optimization and sustainability by providing more efficient utilization of instruments, which can lower a lab’s energy\",\n \"a lab’s energy consumption. Agilent is also a pioneer of the target enrichment used as part of a NGS workflow. The portfolio also includes sample prep, QA/QC instrumentation, 2100 bioanalyzers, and automation tools. In early 2023, the company announced a $725 million expansion of its nucleic acid-based therapeutics manufacturing facility inFrederick, Colorado. History Agilent Technologies was created in 1999 as a spin-off of several business units ofHewlett-Packardincluding test & measurement, optics, instrumentation and chemical analysis, electronic components, and medical equipment product lines.The split was predicated on the difficulty of growing HP's revenue stream and on the competitive vigor of smaller, more agile competitors.The company's launch slogan was \\\"Innovating the HP Way\\\", which capitalized on the strong HP corporate culture.Thestarburstlogo was selected to reflect \\\"a burst of insight\\\" (or \\\"spark of insight\\\")and the name \\\"Agilent\\\" aimed to invoke the notion of agility as a trait of the new\",\n \"a trait of the new firm.The Agilent spin-off was accompanied by aninitial public offeringwhich raised $2.1 billion, setting a record at the time. 2000–2009 In the early 2000s, \\\"economic uncertainty\\\" depressed demand for Agilent's products,including slow sales of health care products to hospitals in the United States, which accounted for 60% of the company's revenue at the time.The downturn also struck sales in the communications and semiconductor markets, where orders amounting to $500 million were canceled by buyers.These poor economic conditions prompted large reductions in force; from a headcount in 1999 of 35,000, which had risen to 48,000 by May 2001,it had by early 2003 cut 18,500 positions.In 2001, in midst of this downsizing, Agilent sold its health care and medical products organization toPhilips Medical Systems,and was noted as having a valuation of about $11 billion.HP Medical Products had been the second oldest part ofHewlett-Packard, acquired in the 1950s. In August 2005, Agilent announced the\",\n \"announced the sale of its business which produced semiconductorintegrated circuits(known as \\\"chips\\\") for consumer and industrial uses toKohlberg Kravis RobertsandSilver Lake Partnersfor $2.66 billion.This move was part of a broad effort to concentrate \\\"on the test-and-measurement business at its historic core,\\\" and would entail termination of about 1,300 of the company's 28,000 employees.The group operated as a private company,Avago Technologies, until August 2009, when it was brought public in an IPO. After purchasingBroadcom Corporationin 2016, Avago changed its name toBroadcom Limited. Also in August 2005, Agilent sold its 47% stake in thelight-emitting diodemanufacturerLumiledstoPhilipsfor $1 billion.Lumileds originally started asHewlett-Packard's optoelectronics division. Also in August 2005, Agilent announced a plan to divest its semiconductor test business, composed of both the system-on-chip and memory test market areas.Agilent listed the new company asVerigyon theNasdaqin mid-2006. 2010 onwards In\",\n \"2010 onwards In 2009, Agilent announced the closure of a subsection of its Test & Measurement division. The product lines affected included the automated optical inspection,solder pasteinspection, and automatedX-rayproducts in 2004. In 2011, the company, along with theUniversity of California, Davis, announced that it would be establishing the \\\"Davis Millimeter Wave Research Center\\\".Agilent announced it would increase its life sciences engagement through the acquisition of Halo Genomics, based inUppsala, Sweden, which was involved innext-generation sequencingtechnology development. On May 17, 2012, Agilent agreed to buy Dako, a Danish cancer diagnostics company, for $2.2 billion, to expand its presence in the life sciences industry. On September 19, 2013, Agilent announced its decision to separate into two publicly traded companies: Agilent, a life sciences, diagnostics, and applied markets company, and an electronic measurement company.The life sciences company retained the Agilent name and the electronic\",\n \"and the electronic measurement company was calledKeysight Technologies.On October 14, 2014, the company announced that it is exiting its Nuclear Magnetic Resonance business.On November 1, the formal separation of Agilent andKeysight Technologieswas completed.Agilent announced it had completed the spin-off of its electronic measurement business, Keysight Technologies. Hewlett-Packard Co., Agilent's predecessor, acquired F&M Scientific Corp., maker of gas chromatographs, on August 8, 1965. In September 2015, the company announced it would acquireSeahorse Biosciencefor $235 million. On July 7, 2016, Agilent announced that they had acquired U.K. based Cobalt Light Systems, which develops and manufacturesRaman spectroscopyinstruments, for £40 million in cash.In December the company acquired Multiplicom N.V. In January 2018, the company announced it would acquire Luxcel Biosciences, increasing the company's cell analysis portfolio.In May, Agilent acquired Lasergen, Inc. after the end of its two-year option on a\",\n \"option on a prior investment.In the same month it acquired digital laboratory management company, Genohm,Ultra Scientific, provider of chemical standards and reference materialsand Advanced Analytical Technologies, Inc. (AATI), provider of capillaryelectrophoresis-based molecules for $250 million in cash.In August the company announced it would acquire glycan reagent producer, ProZyme, Inc.and South Korean instrument distributor, Young In Scientific Co. Ltd.In September Agilent acquired ACEA Biosciences for $250 million increasing the company's presence in cell analysis technologies.In August 2019, Agilent acquired US-based BioTek Instruments, a designer, manufacturer, and distributor of life science instrumentation, for $1.165 billion. On May 1, 2024, Padraig McDonnell succeeded Mike McMullen as CEO. Notes References Further reading Books News items External links\",\n \"Zebra Technologies Zebra Technologies Corporationis an American mobile computing company specializing in technology used tosense, analyze, and act in real time.The company manufactures and sells marking, tracking, andcomputer printing technologies. Its products include mobile computers and tablets, software, thermalbarcodelabel and receipt printers, RFID smart label printers/encoders/fixed & handheld readers/antennas, autonomous mobile robots (AMR’s) &machine vision(MV), and fixed industrial scanning hardware & software. History Zebra was incorporated in 1969 asData Specialties Incorporated, a manufacturer of high-speed electromechanical products. The company changed its focus to specialty on-demand labeling and ticketing systems in 1982 and became Zebra Technologies Corporation in 1986. Zebra became a publicly traded company in 1991. In 1986, Zebra (then Data Specialties Incorporated) acquiredQwint Systems(formerly Martin Research), an early microcomputer pioneer which had restructured as\",\n \"had restructured as ateletypewritermanufacturer at the beginning of the 1980s. In 1998, Zebra Technologies merged with Eltron International, Inc.In 2000, Comtec Information Systems was acquired by Zebra Technologies,followed in 2003 by the acquisition of Atlantek, Inc., which was a manufacturer of photo ID printers. In 2004, the company expanded into RFID smart label manufacturing.In the following years, Zebra also acquired Swecoin, WhereNet Corp,Proveo AG,and Navis Holdings (later divested in 2011). The company bought the Enterprise Solutions Group (ESG) in 2008 and renamed the group Zebra Enterprise Solutions in 2009. In the same year, Multispectral Solutions, Inc. was acquired.In 2012, the companiesLaserBand,and StepOne Systems were purchased with a cash price of $1.5 million. In 2013, the company acquired Hart Systems for $94 million in cash from the private equity firm Topspin Partners LBO. In 2014, Zebra acquiredMotorola Solutions' Enterprise Division in a $3.45 billion transaction, providing mobile\",\n \"providing mobile computing and advanced data capture communications technologies and services. Zebra's acquisition of the Enterprise Division included theSymbol TechnologiesandPsionproduct lines.Also in 2014, Zebra provided its real-time location system (RTLS) inNFLstadiums to track players and officials and provide location-based data for the NFL'sNext Gen Statsprogram.Zebra’s partnership with the NFL extends through the 2025 football season. In 2018, the company acquiredXplore Technologies, a maker of ruggedized tablets and other hard-wearing hardware. In 2019, Zebra acquired Temptime Corporation, a provider of temperature monitoring devices to the healthcare industry.That same year, Zebra also acquired Profitect, a retail software company that developed a product line used for tracking and identifying inventory losses. In 2020, Zebra acquired Reflexis Systems, a provider of workforce scheduling and task management software to the retail, food service, hospitality, and banking industriesfor $575 Million.\",\n \"$575 Million. In 2021, Zebra acquired Adaptive Vision (provider of graphical MV software), Fetch Robotics (manufacturer of autonomous mobile robots) and Antuit.ai (provider ofAI-poweredSaaSsolutions specific to forecasting and merchandising for the retail and CPG industries). In 2022, Zebra acquiredMatrox Imaging, a developer of machine vision components and systems. In December 2023, Zebra partnered with Verizon Business to create a software package that will allow for a faster private 5G network. Zebra tablets and computers will work on Verizon's private network, allowing for more network capacity and fast communication. In 2023, Zebra unveiled Zebra Workcloud - its purpose-built suite of enterprise software applications, primarily serving in retail, banking and healthcare industries.Zebra also introduced the WS50 powered by Workcloud, the first wearable Android touch computer. Locations Zebra Technologies has more than 128 offices in 55 countries,including Australia, Poland, Brazil, Canada, China, France,\",\n \"China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.The company also has over 10,000+ partnersacross 180 countries.In the 2021 annual report, Zebra stated that it traded in 180 countries, with approximately 128 facilities and 9,800 employees. Reception Newsweekincluded Zebra on its2023 America’s Greatest Workplaces for Diversity list. References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":44,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"I am moving to the G40 postcode area - what train stations are nearby, as of 2024?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"Bridgeton Railway Station and Dalmarnock Railway Station."},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_postcode_areas_in_the_United_Kingdom"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_postcode_area"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeton,_Glasgow"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeton_railway_station"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calton,_Glasgow "},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalmarnock"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Multiple constraints"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_postcode_areas_in_the_United_Kingdom', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_postcode_area', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeton,_Glasgow', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeton_railway_station', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calton,_Glasgow ', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalmarnock']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_postcode_areas_in_the_United_Kingdom","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_postcode_area","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeton,_Glasgow","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeton_railway_station","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calton,_Glasgow ","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalmarnock"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_postcode_areas_in_the_United_Kingdom\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_postcode_area\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeton,_Glasgow\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeton_railway_station\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calton,_Glasgow \",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalmarnock\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["List of postcode areas in the United Kingdom This is a list of postcode areas, used byRoyal Mailfor the purposes of directing mail within theUnited Kingdom. The postcode area is the largest geographical unit used and forms the initial characters of the alphanumericUK postcode.There are currently 121 geographic postcode areas in use in the UK and a further three often combined with these covering the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and Isle of Man. Subdivision Each postcode area is further divided intopost townsandpostcode districts.There are on average 20 postcode districts to a postcode area,with ZE having the lowest (3) and BT the highest (81). TheLondonpost town is instead divided into several postcode areas. Scope The single or pair of letters chosen for postcode areas are generally intended as amnemonicfor the places served.Postcode areas,post townsand postcode districts do not follow political or local authority administrative boundaries and usually serve much larger areas than the place names with which they are associated. Many post towns are former \"county towns\" but postcode areas rarely align with the county (or successor authority) area. For example, within the PA postcode area the PA1 and PA78 postcode districts are 140 miles (225 km) apart, and cover 5 local authority areas; and the eight postcode areas of theLondon post towncover only 40% ofGreater London.The remainder of its area is covered by sections of twelve adjoining postcode areas:EN,IG,RM,DA,BR,TN,CR,SM,KT,TW,HAandUB. United Kingdom postcode areas Crown dependencies TheCrown dependencies(which are not part of the United Kingdom) did not introduce postcodes until later, but use a similar coding scheme. They are separate postal authorities. Defunct postcode areas London NE and S Glasgow Glasgow, like London, was divided into compass districts: C, W, NW, N, E, SE, S, SW. When postcodes were introduced, these were mapped into the newGpostcode: C1 became G1, W1 became G11, N1 became G21, E1 became G31, S1 became G41, SW1 became G51, and so on. As NW and SE had never been subdivided they became G20 and G40 respectively. Norwich and Croydon Norwich and Croydon were used for a postcode experiment in the late 1960s, which was replaced by the current system. The format was of the form NOR or CRO followed by two numbers and a letter, e.g. NOR 07A. They were later changed toCR0(digit '0') and NR1. Dublin, Ireland When Ireland was a part of theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Irelanda postal district system was introduced in 1917 by the UK government. The letterDwas assigned to Dublin. Upon the establishment of theIrish Free Stateand later, theRepublic of Ireland, the Irish government retained the designation and today it forms part of theEircodesystem, a postcode format slightly different from the UK format and identifying individual addresses. Since Irish independence,Dhas never been reassigned as a postcode area in the UK. Non-geographic postcodes Types Some postcode areas do not correspond to geographical areas. They can be - postcode areas with no geographic link (for use by Large Volume Receivers, with delivery options determined between the LVR and Royal Mail) and these can for general mail or specific functions (e.g. parcel returns); non-geographic postcode districts or sectors contained within geographic postcode areas (for LVRs or PO Boxes); and specific purpose postcodes. Numbering of non-geographic postcode districts For those within geographic postcode areas, the first two numbers can be any number though they are generally larger than the numbers allocated to geographic districts. Some fall within the range 91 to 95 for businesses (e.g. S98 for payments to MNBA Ltd) and the range 96 to 99 for Government departments (e.g. NE98 forDepartment for Work and Pensions, Central Office, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, EH99 1SP for the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh). However, there are many exceptions to this - e.g. American Express has the postcode area BN88; in Glasgow G58 1SB is allocated to National Savings, formerly National Savings Bank, as a mnemonic (SB, and with 58 looking like SB), though it is located in the G43 postcode district; and in Glasgow G70 is allocated to HMRC which is located in G67. BF The BF postcode area was introduced in 2012 to provide optional postcodes forBritishForces Post Officeaddresses, for consistency with the layout of other UK addresses. It uses the national non-geographicpost town\"BFPO\" and, as of 2012, the postcode district \"BF1\". Each BFPO number is assigned an inward code, which are gouped as: 0 - Germany, 1 - UK, 2 - Rest of Europe, 3 - Rest of World, 4 - Ships and Naval Parties, 5 - Rest of World, Operations and Exercises, 6 - Rest of World, Operations and Exercises. BX The non-geographic postcode area BX has been introduced for addresses which do not include a locality; this allows large organisations long-term flexibility as to where they receive their mail. This postcode area is used byLloyds Banking Group(BX1 1LT),HSBC(BX8 0HB) and parts ofHM Revenue and Customslike VAT (BX5 5AT) and Pay As You Earn (BX9 1AS). Lloyds Bank also use BX4. After splitting from Lloyds,TSB Bankuses BX4 7SB, the latter part of which, when written, looks similar to \"TSB\". GIR GIR 0AA is a postcode created forGirobankinBootle. It remained in use by its successors when Girobank was taken over byAlliance & Leicesterand subsequently bySantander UK. XM XM4 5HQ is a postcode created forFather Christmas. XX The non-geographic postcode area XX is used by online retailers for returns by Royal Mail, and forCOVID-19test samples. Overseas territories CertainBritish Overseas Territoriesintroduced single postal codes for their territory or major sub-sections of it. These are not UK postcodes, even though many are formatted in a similar fashion: Other overseas territories have introduced their own more extensive postcode systems: Civilian residential and business addresses inAkrotiri and Dhekeliaare served byCyprus Postal Servicesand useCypriot postal codes. Mail to Overseas Territories is treated as international if posted in the UK. See also Notes References External links","G postcode area TheG postcode area, also known as theGlasgow postcode area,is a group of postcode districts in central Scotland, within six post towns. These districts are primarily centered onGlasgowitself, andWest Dunbartonshire(includingDumbarton,ClydebankandAlexandria), plus parts of the council areas ofArgyll and Bute(includingArrocharandHelensburgh),East Dunbartonshire,North Lanarkshire,South Lanarkshire,East RenfrewshireandStirling. Former postal districts and their legacy From 1923 until the introduction of the national postcode system in the late 1960s, Glasgow was divided into (mostly) numbered postal districts for its central and surrounding parts identified by compass-point letters: C1–C5 (corresponding to current postcode districts G1–G5), W1–W5 (G11–G15), NW (G20), N1–N3 (G21–G23), E1–E4 (G31–G34), SE (G40), S1–S6 (G41–G46) and SW1–SW3 (G51–G53). Coverage The approximate coverage of the postcode districts: Map See also References External links","Bridgeton, Glasgow Bridgeton(Scots:Brigtoun,Scottish Gaelic:Baile na Drochaid) is a district to the east ofGlasgowcity centre.Historicallypart ofLanarkshire, it is bounded byGlasgow Greento the west,Dalmarnockto the east and south,Caltonto the north-west at Abercromby Street/London Road and Broad street to the north-east. History It started as a small weaving village in 1705, when the third John Walkinshaw marked out a portion of his Goosefauld estate for rent.However, not much interest was shown until 1776 whenRutherglen Bridgewas built over theRiver Clydeand the area became known asBridge Town(orBrig Tounin Scots).The area was incorporated into the city of Glasgow officially in 1846.A major employer was carpet manufacturerJames Templeton & Co. Bridgeton used to be bounded by a village named Mile-End to the north, however this district seems to have vanished over the years, resulting in Bridgeton's boundary moving north to Crownpoint Road. Bridgeton Cross Bridgeton Cross, also known as 'The Toll' is a major junction, the meeting point of London Road (A74towardsCeltic Park), Dalmarnock Road (A749), Main Street, James Street (leading to Glasgow Green), Olympia Street and Orr Street. The intersection is notable for the\"Brigton Umbrella\", aVictorian(1875) cast ironbandstandcovering the centre of the Cross.TheCategory A listedlandmark structure and surrounds was renovated in the early 21st century, resulting in improved public realm areas and the complete refurbishment of the Umbrella. Bridgeton Cross is the location forBridgeton railway station(opened in 1895, closed in 1964, reopened in 1979) which is on theArgyle Lineconnecting the area to central Glasgow. The Category B listed buildingwhich previously housedBridgeton Central railway station(1892-1979) is a short distance away. A number of local buses also pass along London Road and Dalmarnock Road. The Cross is also the location for theOlympia Theatre(built 1911), which after lying abandoned for many years has undergone rebuilding and reopened in 2012 as a library and community facility for the people of Bridgeton.There are several public houses in the vicinity, with most themed aroundRangers F.C. In 1893 William Millard startedMillers Linoleum Stores, renting sheds in Charles Street (now Olympia Street) from theNorth British Railway Company. On 26 June 1913 planning permission was granted to build a two-storey warehouse on this land, which had now been purchased by Millard. Under the directorship of William's great-grandson David Millard, the building was sympathetically renovated in 2013. Believed to be the only surviving family business from the 1800s in the area,Millers 1893continues to operate. Points of interest Bridgeton has one of Glasgow's originalCarnegie libraries, designed by the Invernesian architect,James Robert Rhind.Since 2014, the library has been in use by the Glasgow Women's Library, holding a lending library, archive and museum collection, who have made significant renovations both inside and out. After the2014 Commonwealth Gameswas held in Glasgow, Bridgeton now has international-class sporting facilities within walking distance: theCommonwealth Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodromeare located in nearby Dalmarnock, with theCrownpoint Sports Complex, a modern outdoor athletics track, also located in the area adjacent toSt Mungo's Academy. Bridgeton has been the centre of theOrange Order in Scotland. Their marches are a fairly common sight in Glasgow during the summer months but reach a peak aroundthe Twelfthof July when the parades commemorating theBattle of the Boyneare in full flow. In 2019, theSunday Timesreported that concerns over an incident during the 2018 Apprentice Boys of Derry (Bridgeton) march had led to suggestions that Glasgow council reroute the march to avoid passing near two Catholic churches. The Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust, one of the largest voluntary commercial and passenger vehicle preservation groups in Scotland are based at Bridgeton Bus Garage which opened on 5 June 1965on a site bordered by London Road to the south, Fordneuk Street to the West, Broad Street to the north and Rimsdale Street to the east. It replaced the former tram depot at Dalmarnock which had suffered fire damage. In 1870 a grocer name of John Wilson of 13 Main Street and a few friends from the local bowling club founded Bridgeton Burns Club, a charity which continues to this day, assisting local children. Bridgeton's use as a Glasgow Bus Garage was brief, the tendency was to use a smaller fleet of larger buses and that led to the garage being closed in 1976, however it was then taken on byStrathclyde Regional Councilfor its Internal Transport fleet, servicing everything from light vans to Gritting Lorries. In this capacity it later passed toGlasgow City Councilwho when they ceased using it for that purpose were prevailed upon to rent it out for vehicle preservation. Football For four decades in the mid-20th century, Bridgeton was represented in theScottish Junior Football AssociationbyBridgeton Waverley F.C.Initially a local Juvenile team, upon joining the Junior setup they played atShawfield Stadium(home ofClyde F.C.), then moved toBarrowfield Parkwhich was bought and demolished byGlasgow Corporationfor the construction of thehousing scheme of the same namein the 1930s. Waverley then moved toNew Barrowfieldon the edge of theParkheaddistrict. After they folded in the 1960s, that site became the training ground ofCeltic F.C. Another Junior club which became defunct around the same time,Strathclyde F.C., was also based in the area.Strathclyde's predecessor senior league clubThistle F.C.had their roots in Bridgeton/Dalmarnock, as did the aforementioned Clyde and the 19th century sideEastern F.C.who both once played at anotherBarrowfield Park. Although Celtic's stadium is nearby the district is now known for a large and passionateRangersfollowing. Notable people See also References External links","Bridgeton railway station Bridgeton railway stationserves theBridgetondistrict ofGlasgow,Scotlandand is a station on theArgyle Line,1+3⁄4miles (2.8 km) south east ofGlasgow Central. The station is operated byScotRailwho also provide all train services. History CalledBridgeton Cross Station,it opened on 1 November 1895 when the line between Glasgow Green and Rutherglen was opened by theGlasgow Central Railway. The station became a junction with the opening of the line to Carmyle andKirkhillon 1 February 1897. Westbound services ran to Stobcross, from where they could proceed toPossilviaMaryhill Central,Partickhilland points north via the connection to theStobcross Railwayor on to theLanarkshire and Dunbartonshire Railwayto Dumbarton and Balloch Central via Partick Central & Dalmuir Riverside. In 1956 the line was re-signalled with colour light signals controlled from the re-equippedsignal boxesat Bridgeton Cross Junction and Stobcross Junction. However, the station was closed along with both lines on 5 October 1964 as a result of theBeeching Axe. The tracks were subsequently lifted, but the station and tunnels were left intact. As part of theArgyle Lineproject, the Rutherglen line platforms reopened asBridgeton Stationon 5 November 1979, as offering regular commuter services into Central Station (low level) and on towards the western suburbs. In preparation for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the station underwent substantial renovations in 2010. Accidents and incidents Services 1979 When the Argyle Line was opened in 1979, there were six trains an hour to the Hamilton Circle, fromDalmuir, with two services an hour going as far west asDumbarton Central. The hourly service betweenLanarkandMilngavieran non-stop through Bridgeton station. 2008 Four trains per hour daily head westbound towards Glasgow Central and beyond (Milngavie and Dalmuir) and eastbound towardsMotherwell(with services onward to Lanark). 2015 The basic four trains per hour frequency remains unchanged, but since the December 2014 timetable recast southbound trains now run to either Motherwell via Hamilton Central or viaWhifflet(though alternate services on that route terminate at Whifflet). On Sundays, southbound trains also serve Larkhall every hour andBallochevery 30 minutes. Routes References","Calton, Glasgow Calton(Scottish Gaelic:A' Challtainn,lit.'the hazel wood',Scots:Caltoun), known locally asThe Calton, is a district inGlasgow. It is situated north of theRiver Clyde, and just to the east of the city centre. Calton's most famous landmark is theBarrasstreet market and theBarrowland Ballroom, one of Glasgow's principal musical venues. No official definition of Calton's boundaries exist, notionally it can be thought of as the roughly trapezoidal area bounded by theRiver Clydeto the south, Abercrombie Street to the east (where it borders bothCamlachieandBridgeton), and theCity Union Linerailway to the north andHigh Street/Saltmarketto the west. History The area was aBurgh of Baronyfrom 1817 to 1846, when it was annexed to Glasgow. The lands of Blackfaulds, on which Calton now stands, originally formed part of the lands of theArchbishopricof Glasgow, but were annexed toThe Crownin 1587. In 1705 the owner, John Walkinshaw, began tofeuthe lands of Blackfaulds (part of theBarrowfieldestate) on which the old village of Calton was built, and in 1817 acharterwas granted, erecting Calton into aBurgh. During the area's time as an independent burgh, there were fourProvostsof Calton: The Calton martyrs The area became known for itsweavingindustry. On 30 June 1787, a meeting ofCalton weaverswas held onGlasgow Green. Theirwageshad dropped because of the increased importation of cheaper foreigntextiles. Most of the workers decided to takestrike action, although some accepted lower wages and carried on working. The dispute came to a head on 3 September 1787: when violence erupted after some striking weavers tried to seize materials from weavers who had carried on working. Themilitarywere called in and a detachment of the39th Regiment of Footopened fire on the demonstrators. Six of the men killed at the scene were locally called 'martyrs' and some of them were buried in the CaltonCemeteryoff the main London Road. The families of the men could not afford aheadstonealthough, a century later, a memorial was raised to commemorate their actions. Social problems ComedianJaney Godley, in her 2005autobiographyHandstands in the Dark,wrote about the 14 years she spent running a Caltonpub, the Weavers Inn (formerly the Nationalist Bar, now the Calton Bar). Her book details life there in the 1980s and 1990s, a time when the area became notorious forheroinabuse and whenurban renewalbegan. Calton is an area of considerable poverty andmultiple deprivationregarding; \"current income, employment, health, education, skills and training, housing, geographic access and crime.\"In January 2006, a report into poverty inThe Scotsmannewspaperstated that \"a child born in Calton... is three times as likely to sufferheart disease, four times as likely to be hospitalised and ten times as likely to grow up in a workless household than a child in the city's prosperous westernsuburbs\". Calton has the lowest malelife expectancyin Scotland. ABBC Scotlandnews report on 13 February 2006 pointed out that, partially due to poor diet, crime,alcoholanddrug abuse, life expectancy in Calton is lower than in some areas ofIraqor theGaza Strip. A news report in the 21 January 2006 edition ofThe Guardiannewspapergave the average lifespan of a person living in the Calton area as 53.9 years against a city average of 69 years and the Scottish average of 78. A 2008World Health Organizationreport contrasted Calton's male life expectancy, reported as standing at 54, with that of nearbyLenzie,East Dunbartonshire, at 82.Most of the affordable housing is owned byHousing Associationswith a high percentage oftenantsonhousing benefit(For example, Thenue Housing Association has approximately 75% of tenants on housing benefit).The Guardianwrites that higher risk of dying before they are 65 (up to 30% in comparison withLiverpoolandManchester) occurred because of rehousing skilled workers (cream skimming) due to 1970s policy documents. The area has experiencedsectariantensions for generations; it is a predominantly Catholic area (due to Irish immigration), and there are alsoIrish republicansupporter groups present. This is reflected, albeit much declined in modern times, in gang and sectarian relatedgraffiti, with the main gang being the Calton Tongs. In the 1960s, the Calton was known locally asTongland(and still is by some), prominently marked out as such by graffiti. Tongland appears inGillies MacKinnon's 1995 movieSmall Faces.The gangs' power over the area and their decline in the 1970s is described inHandstands in the Dark. See also References External links Media related toCalton, Glasgowat Wikimedia Commons","Dalmarnock Dalmarnock(/dælˈmɑːrnək/,Scottish Gaelic:Dail Mheàrnaig) is adistrictin theScottishcity ofGlasgow. It is situated east of the city centre, directly north of theRiver Clydeopposite the town ofRutherglen. It is also bounded by the Glasgow neighbourhoods ofParkheadto the north-east andBridgetonto the north-west. History The area was once heavily industrialised.Sir William Arrol & Co.had its extensive engineering works at Dunn Street and Baltic Street from 1873. From its beginnings inboilermaking, the firm later became renowned for its achievements in the field ofstructural engineering. Amongst the many bridges constructed throughout Britain were theForth Railway Bridge, theForth Road Bridge, theHumber Bridgeand London'sTower Bridge. The company was eventually taken over byClarke Chapmanin 1969 and the Dalmarnock Works closed in 1986. There was also a largecoal-fired power stationlocated near Dalmarnock Bridge. It was built byGlasgow Corporationin two stages, with phase one opening in 1920 and phase two in 1926. It was closed in 1977 by theSouth of Scotland Electricity Board. The east side of Allan Street was bombed during the Second World War. Most of the Victorian red sandstone tenements on Dalmarnock Road and Springfield Roadwere demolished in the 1960s and early-1970s, although some were renovated as part of theGlasgow Eastern Area Renewal(GEAR) scheme in the late 1970s. In the 1960s, a new housing scheme was built, consisting of four twenty-two storeytower blocksand \"H-block\" maisonettes. Two of the towers, 40 & 50 Millerfield Road, were demolished on 3 February 2002.One other tower was demolished on 1 July 2007, and the final one on 9 September 2007. This physical transformation featured in Chris Leslie's 'Disappearing Glasgow' book. Dalmarnock was the location chosen for theathletes' villagewhen Glasgow hosted the2014 Commonwealth Games,and by August 2011, there was no remaining housing on Ardenlea Street/Sunnybank Street side of the area,due to the preparations and land need for the construction in the area pertaining to the Games andCity Legacy. From 19 May to 2 June 2014,BBC One Scotlandaired a documentary entitled \"Commonwealth City\", narrated by actorMartin Compston, which showed how the people and community in Dalmarnock had been affected since the games were announced in November 2007.The documentary featured local resident Margaret Jaconelli (evicted to make way for the Games),David Stewart (youth and community campaigner)Darren Faulds (local entrepreneur) and local councillors George Redmond & Yvonne Kucuk. TheSir Chris Hoy Velodrome, constructed for the Games, is located at the intersection of Springfield Road, London Road and theGlasgow East End Regeneration Route, oppositeCeltic Parkfootball stadium which denotes the district's boundary with Parkhead. A triangular piece of land to the east of the arena was the proposed location of a modern skyscraper,East One; however as of 2020 this site was still undeveloped. To the south of this is the 'Legacy Hub' building, a multi-function community facility belatedly installed to replace the previous hall at Lily Street. It opened in 2015but by January 2019 had closed suddenly amid financial problems at the People's Development Trust charity which ran its operations;the council purchased the building to secure its future,while an investigation found funds had been embezzled by charity leaders including former councillor Yvonne Kucuk. Clyde Gatewayis a large-scale regeneration programme which includes Dalmarnock. It is a partnership betweenGlasgow City Council,South Lanarkshire CouncilandScottish Enterprise, backed by funding and direct support from theScottish Government.Residential developments in the area following the Commonwealth Games includeRiverside,a project on the site of the former large power station overlooking the river (approximately 550 homes for purchase and social rent),and a site near the railway station (200 homes, in planning as of 2018). After the departure of all local retailers from the area, all that remained was a small shop which was set up by the workers in the Community Centre; This was a welcome boon for the area residents as the nearest shops were not within walking distance.There is a petrol station on Dalmarnock Road and a car wash, with a pub a short distance further north past the railway station (this has been the location of a licensed premises under various names since the 1830s).There are also a lot of small business units in the Nuneaton Street area and theCalder Millerfieldfactory which supplies meat-based products to the fast-food market. Education The area once had four schools:Springfield Road Primary, Springfield Primary, Riverside Secondary and Our Lady of Fatima RC Primary School on Springfield Road have now closed. There is still a 'Dalmarnock Primary School', but it is situated in nearby Bridgeton and should not be counted among the schools within the area. A new primary schoolwas developed by Glasgow City Council; Riverbank Primary School, opened in August 2019. Transport Dalmarnock railway station, on theArgyle Line, serves the local area. The station was upgraded for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.Glasgow Corporation Tramwayshad routes serving the area in the first half of the 20th century, using tracks on Dalmarnock Road, London Road and Springfield Road. Dalmarnock Railway Bridges There have been two railway bridges in Dalmarnock crossing theRiver Clyde. The first bridge was built in 1861,and was augmented in 1897by a wider bridge to accommodate the Dalmarnock branch line. The stone pillars of the old bridge are still in situ adjacent to the newer bridge, with the track deck having been removed when it was no longer necessary to have so many lines.<Both bridges were designed by George Graham. Dalmarnock Bridge There is also a road bridge over the River Clyde on Dalmarnock Road (A749) called Dalmarnock Bridge. The first bridge at the location was wooden, erected in 1821 to connect Dalmarnock and theFarme Crossarea of Rutherglen.It was replaced by a new timber bridge in 1848,and in 1891 by the current Dalmarnock Bridge, designed by Glasgow consulting engineers, Crouch & Hogg; it isCategory B listed. The Glasgow side of the bridge is a convenient point for walkers and cyclists to join theClyde WalkwayorNational Cycle Route 75which share a tarmac path along the river at this point. This structure should not be confused with the nearbyRutherglen Bridgewhich also connects Rutherglen and Dalmarnock (as well asGlasgow Green,Oatlands,Shawfieldand Bridgeton), nor with two modern pedestrian bridges: one also connecting to Shawfield, and the other between the 2014 Athletes' Village homes and theCuningar Loop, an area of open ground on a meander of the river, known locally as 'The Vallies' and converted to a park as part of the area's redevelopment). Notable people See also References External links"],"string":"[\n \"List of postcode areas in the United Kingdom This is a list of postcode areas, used byRoyal Mailfor the purposes of directing mail within theUnited Kingdom. The postcode area is the largest geographical unit used and forms the initial characters of the alphanumericUK postcode.There are currently 121 geographic postcode areas in use in the UK and a further three often combined with these covering the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and Isle of Man. Subdivision Each postcode area is further divided intopost townsandpostcode districts.There are on average 20 postcode districts to a postcode area,with ZE having the lowest (3) and BT the highest (81). TheLondonpost town is instead divided into several postcode areas. Scope The single or pair of letters chosen for postcode areas are generally intended as amnemonicfor the places served.Postcode areas,post townsand postcode districts do not follow political or local authority administrative boundaries and usually serve much larger areas than the place names with which they are associated. Many post towns are former \\\"county towns\\\" but postcode areas rarely align with the county (or successor authority) area. For example, within the PA postcode area the PA1 and PA78 postcode districts are 140 miles (225 km) apart, and cover 5 local authority areas; and the eight postcode areas of theLondon post towncover only 40% ofGreater London.The remainder of its area is covered by sections of twelve adjoining postcode areas:EN,IG,RM,DA,BR,TN,CR,SM,KT,TW,HAandUB. United Kingdom postcode areas Crown dependencies TheCrown dependencies(which are not part of the United Kingdom) did not introduce postcodes until later, but use a similar coding scheme. They are separate postal authorities. Defunct postcode areas London NE and S Glasgow Glasgow, like London, was divided into compass districts: C, W, NW, N, E, SE, S, SW. When postcodes were introduced, these were mapped into the newGpostcode: C1 became G1, W1 became G11, N1 became G21, E1 became G31, S1 became G41, SW1 became G51, and so on. As NW and SE had never been subdivided they became G20 and G40 respectively. Norwich and Croydon Norwich and Croydon were used for a postcode experiment in the late 1960s, which was replaced by the current system. The format was of the form NOR or CRO followed by two numbers and a letter, e.g. NOR 07A. They were later changed toCR0(digit '0') and NR1. Dublin, Ireland When Ireland was a part of theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Irelanda postal district system was introduced in 1917 by the UK government. The letterDwas assigned to Dublin. Upon the establishment of theIrish Free Stateand later, theRepublic of Ireland, the Irish government retained the designation and today it forms part of theEircodesystem, a postcode format slightly different from the UK format and identifying individual addresses. Since Irish independence,Dhas never been reassigned as a postcode area in the UK. Non-geographic postcodes Types Some postcode areas do not correspond to geographical areas. They can be - postcode areas with no geographic link (for use by Large Volume Receivers, with delivery options determined between the LVR and Royal Mail) and these can for general mail or specific functions (e.g. parcel returns); non-geographic postcode districts or sectors contained within geographic postcode areas (for LVRs or PO Boxes); and specific purpose postcodes. Numbering of non-geographic postcode districts For those within geographic postcode areas, the first two numbers can be any number though they are generally larger than the numbers allocated to geographic districts. Some fall within the range 91 to 95 for businesses (e.g. S98 for payments to MNBA Ltd) and the range 96 to 99 for Government departments (e.g. NE98 forDepartment for Work and Pensions, Central Office, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, EH99 1SP for the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh). However, there are many exceptions to this - e.g. American Express has the postcode area BN88; in Glasgow G58 1SB is allocated to National Savings, formerly National Savings Bank, as a mnemonic (SB, and with 58 looking like SB), though it is located in the G43 postcode district; and in Glasgow G70 is allocated to HMRC which is located in G67. BF The BF postcode area was introduced in 2012 to provide optional postcodes forBritishForces Post Officeaddresses, for consistency with the layout of other UK addresses. It uses the national non-geographicpost town\\\"BFPO\\\" and, as of 2012, the postcode district \\\"BF1\\\". Each BFPO number is assigned an inward code, which are gouped as: 0 - Germany, 1 - UK, 2 - Rest of Europe, 3 - Rest of World, 4 - Ships and Naval Parties, 5 - Rest of World, Operations and Exercises, 6 - Rest of World, Operations and Exercises. BX The non-geographic postcode area BX has been introduced for addresses which do not include a locality; this allows large organisations long-term flexibility as to where they receive their mail. This postcode area is used byLloyds Banking Group(BX1 1LT),HSBC(BX8 0HB) and parts ofHM Revenue and Customslike VAT (BX5 5AT) and Pay As You Earn (BX9 1AS). Lloyds Bank also use BX4. After splitting from Lloyds,TSB Bankuses BX4 7SB, the latter part of which, when written, looks similar to \\\"TSB\\\". GIR GIR 0AA is a postcode created forGirobankinBootle. It remained in use by its successors when Girobank was taken over byAlliance & Leicesterand subsequently bySantander UK. XM XM4 5HQ is a postcode created forFather Christmas. XX The non-geographic postcode area XX is used by online retailers for returns by Royal Mail, and forCOVID-19test samples. Overseas territories CertainBritish Overseas Territoriesintroduced single postal codes for their territory or major sub-sections of it. These are not UK postcodes, even though many are formatted in a similar fashion: Other overseas territories have introduced their own more extensive postcode systems: Civilian residential and business addresses inAkrotiri and Dhekeliaare served byCyprus Postal Servicesand useCypriot postal codes. Mail to Overseas Territories is treated as international if posted in the UK. See also Notes References External links\",\n \"G postcode area TheG postcode area, also known as theGlasgow postcode area,is a group of postcode districts in central Scotland, within six post towns. These districts are primarily centered onGlasgowitself, andWest Dunbartonshire(includingDumbarton,ClydebankandAlexandria), plus parts of the council areas ofArgyll and Bute(includingArrocharandHelensburgh),East Dunbartonshire,North Lanarkshire,South Lanarkshire,East RenfrewshireandStirling. Former postal districts and their legacy From 1923 until the introduction of the national postcode system in the late 1960s, Glasgow was divided into (mostly) numbered postal districts for its central and surrounding parts identified by compass-point letters: C1–C5 (corresponding to current postcode districts G1–G5), W1–W5 (G11–G15), NW (G20), N1–N3 (G21–G23), E1–E4 (G31–G34), SE (G40), S1–S6 (G41–G46) and SW1–SW3 (G51–G53). Coverage The approximate coverage of the postcode districts: Map See also References External links\",\n \"Bridgeton, Glasgow Bridgeton(Scots:Brigtoun,Scottish Gaelic:Baile na Drochaid) is a district to the east ofGlasgowcity centre.Historicallypart ofLanarkshire, it is bounded byGlasgow Greento the west,Dalmarnockto the east and south,Caltonto the north-west at Abercromby Street/London Road and Broad street to the north-east. History It started as a small weaving village in 1705, when the third John Walkinshaw marked out a portion of his Goosefauld estate for rent.However, not much interest was shown until 1776 whenRutherglen Bridgewas built over theRiver Clydeand the area became known asBridge Town(orBrig Tounin Scots).The area was incorporated into the city of Glasgow officially in 1846.A major employer was carpet manufacturerJames Templeton & Co. Bridgeton used to be bounded by a village named Mile-End to the north, however this district seems to have vanished over the years, resulting in Bridgeton's boundary moving north to Crownpoint Road. Bridgeton Cross Bridgeton Cross, also known as 'The Toll' is a major junction, the meeting point of London Road (A74towardsCeltic Park), Dalmarnock Road (A749), Main Street, James Street (leading to Glasgow Green), Olympia Street and Orr Street. The intersection is notable for the\\\"Brigton Umbrella\\\", aVictorian(1875) cast ironbandstandcovering the centre of the Cross.TheCategory A listedlandmark structure and surrounds was renovated in the early 21st century, resulting in improved public realm areas and the complete refurbishment of the Umbrella. Bridgeton Cross is the location forBridgeton railway station(opened in 1895, closed in 1964, reopened in 1979) which is on theArgyle Lineconnecting the area to central Glasgow. The Category B listed buildingwhich previously housedBridgeton Central railway station(1892-1979) is a short distance away. A number of local buses also pass along London Road and Dalmarnock Road. The Cross is also the location for theOlympia Theatre(built 1911), which after lying abandoned for many years has undergone rebuilding and reopened in 2012 as a library and community facility for the people of Bridgeton.There are several public houses in the vicinity, with most themed aroundRangers F.C. In 1893 William Millard startedMillers Linoleum Stores, renting sheds in Charles Street (now Olympia Street) from theNorth British Railway Company. On 26 June 1913 planning permission was granted to build a two-storey warehouse on this land, which had now been purchased by Millard. Under the directorship of William's great-grandson David Millard, the building was sympathetically renovated in 2013. Believed to be the only surviving family business from the 1800s in the area,Millers 1893continues to operate. Points of interest Bridgeton has one of Glasgow's originalCarnegie libraries, designed by the Invernesian architect,James Robert Rhind.Since 2014, the library has been in use by the Glasgow Women's Library, holding a lending library, archive and museum collection, who have made significant renovations both inside and out. After the2014 Commonwealth Gameswas held in Glasgow, Bridgeton now has international-class sporting facilities within walking distance: theCommonwealth Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodromeare located in nearby Dalmarnock, with theCrownpoint Sports Complex, a modern outdoor athletics track, also located in the area adjacent toSt Mungo's Academy. Bridgeton has been the centre of theOrange Order in Scotland. Their marches are a fairly common sight in Glasgow during the summer months but reach a peak aroundthe Twelfthof July when the parades commemorating theBattle of the Boyneare in full flow. In 2019, theSunday Timesreported that concerns over an incident during the 2018 Apprentice Boys of Derry (Bridgeton) march had led to suggestions that Glasgow council reroute the march to avoid passing near two Catholic churches. The Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust, one of the largest voluntary commercial and passenger vehicle preservation groups in Scotland are based at Bridgeton Bus Garage which opened on 5 June 1965on a site bordered by London Road to the south, Fordneuk Street to the West, Broad Street to the north and Rimsdale Street to the east. It replaced the former tram depot at Dalmarnock which had suffered fire damage. In 1870 a grocer name of John Wilson of 13 Main Street and a few friends from the local bowling club founded Bridgeton Burns Club, a charity which continues to this day, assisting local children. Bridgeton's use as a Glasgow Bus Garage was brief, the tendency was to use a smaller fleet of larger buses and that led to the garage being closed in 1976, however it was then taken on byStrathclyde Regional Councilfor its Internal Transport fleet, servicing everything from light vans to Gritting Lorries. In this capacity it later passed toGlasgow City Councilwho when they ceased using it for that purpose were prevailed upon to rent it out for vehicle preservation. Football For four decades in the mid-20th century, Bridgeton was represented in theScottish Junior Football AssociationbyBridgeton Waverley F.C.Initially a local Juvenile team, upon joining the Junior setup they played atShawfield Stadium(home ofClyde F.C.), then moved toBarrowfield Parkwhich was bought and demolished byGlasgow Corporationfor the construction of thehousing scheme of the same namein the 1930s. Waverley then moved toNew Barrowfieldon the edge of theParkheaddistrict. After they folded in the 1960s, that site became the training ground ofCeltic F.C. Another Junior club which became defunct around the same time,Strathclyde F.C., was also based in the area.Strathclyde's predecessor senior league clubThistle F.C.had their roots in Bridgeton/Dalmarnock, as did the aforementioned Clyde and the 19th century sideEastern F.C.who both once played at anotherBarrowfield Park. Although Celtic's stadium is nearby the district is now known for a large and passionateRangersfollowing. Notable people See also References External links\",\n \"Bridgeton railway station Bridgeton railway stationserves theBridgetondistrict ofGlasgow,Scotlandand is a station on theArgyle Line,1+3⁄4miles (2.8 km) south east ofGlasgow Central. The station is operated byScotRailwho also provide all train services. History CalledBridgeton Cross Station,it opened on 1 November 1895 when the line between Glasgow Green and Rutherglen was opened by theGlasgow Central Railway. The station became a junction with the opening of the line to Carmyle andKirkhillon 1 February 1897. Westbound services ran to Stobcross, from where they could proceed toPossilviaMaryhill Central,Partickhilland points north via the connection to theStobcross Railwayor on to theLanarkshire and Dunbartonshire Railwayto Dumbarton and Balloch Central via Partick Central & Dalmuir Riverside. In 1956 the line was re-signalled with colour light signals controlled from the re-equippedsignal boxesat Bridgeton Cross Junction and Stobcross Junction. However, the station was closed along with both lines on 5 October 1964 as a result of theBeeching Axe. The tracks were subsequently lifted, but the station and tunnels were left intact. As part of theArgyle Lineproject, the Rutherglen line platforms reopened asBridgeton Stationon 5 November 1979, as offering regular commuter services into Central Station (low level) and on towards the western suburbs. In preparation for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the station underwent substantial renovations in 2010. Accidents and incidents Services 1979 When the Argyle Line was opened in 1979, there were six trains an hour to the Hamilton Circle, fromDalmuir, with two services an hour going as far west asDumbarton Central. The hourly service betweenLanarkandMilngavieran non-stop through Bridgeton station. 2008 Four trains per hour daily head westbound towards Glasgow Central and beyond (Milngavie and Dalmuir) and eastbound towardsMotherwell(with services onward to Lanark). 2015 The basic four trains per hour frequency remains unchanged, but since the December 2014 timetable recast southbound trains now run to either Motherwell via Hamilton Central or viaWhifflet(though alternate services on that route terminate at Whifflet). On Sundays, southbound trains also serve Larkhall every hour andBallochevery 30 minutes. Routes References\",\n \"Calton, Glasgow Calton(Scottish Gaelic:A' Challtainn,lit.'the hazel wood',Scots:Caltoun), known locally asThe Calton, is a district inGlasgow. It is situated north of theRiver Clyde, and just to the east of the city centre. Calton's most famous landmark is theBarrasstreet market and theBarrowland Ballroom, one of Glasgow's principal musical venues. No official definition of Calton's boundaries exist, notionally it can be thought of as the roughly trapezoidal area bounded by theRiver Clydeto the south, Abercrombie Street to the east (where it borders bothCamlachieandBridgeton), and theCity Union Linerailway to the north andHigh Street/Saltmarketto the west. History The area was aBurgh of Baronyfrom 1817 to 1846, when it was annexed to Glasgow. The lands of Blackfaulds, on which Calton now stands, originally formed part of the lands of theArchbishopricof Glasgow, but were annexed toThe Crownin 1587. In 1705 the owner, John Walkinshaw, began tofeuthe lands of Blackfaulds (part of theBarrowfieldestate) on which the old village of Calton was built, and in 1817 acharterwas granted, erecting Calton into aBurgh. During the area's time as an independent burgh, there were fourProvostsof Calton: The Calton martyrs The area became known for itsweavingindustry. On 30 June 1787, a meeting ofCalton weaverswas held onGlasgow Green. Theirwageshad dropped because of the increased importation of cheaper foreigntextiles. Most of the workers decided to takestrike action, although some accepted lower wages and carried on working. The dispute came to a head on 3 September 1787: when violence erupted after some striking weavers tried to seize materials from weavers who had carried on working. Themilitarywere called in and a detachment of the39th Regiment of Footopened fire on the demonstrators. Six of the men killed at the scene were locally called 'martyrs' and some of them were buried in the CaltonCemeteryoff the main London Road. The families of the men could not afford aheadstonealthough, a century later, a memorial was raised to commemorate their actions. Social problems ComedianJaney Godley, in her 2005autobiographyHandstands in the Dark,wrote about the 14 years she spent running a Caltonpub, the Weavers Inn (formerly the Nationalist Bar, now the Calton Bar). Her book details life there in the 1980s and 1990s, a time when the area became notorious forheroinabuse and whenurban renewalbegan. Calton is an area of considerable poverty andmultiple deprivationregarding; \\\"current income, employment, health, education, skills and training, housing, geographic access and crime.\\\"In January 2006, a report into poverty inThe Scotsmannewspaperstated that \\\"a child born in Calton... is three times as likely to sufferheart disease, four times as likely to be hospitalised and ten times as likely to grow up in a workless household than a child in the city's prosperous westernsuburbs\\\". Calton has the lowest malelife expectancyin Scotland. ABBC Scotlandnews report on 13 February 2006 pointed out that, partially due to poor diet, crime,alcoholanddrug abuse, life expectancy in Calton is lower than in some areas ofIraqor theGaza Strip. A news report in the 21 January 2006 edition ofThe Guardiannewspapergave the average lifespan of a person living in the Calton area as 53.9 years against a city average of 69 years and the Scottish average of 78. A 2008World Health Organizationreport contrasted Calton's male life expectancy, reported as standing at 54, with that of nearbyLenzie,East Dunbartonshire, at 82.Most of the affordable housing is owned byHousing Associationswith a high percentage oftenantsonhousing benefit(For example, Thenue Housing Association has approximately 75% of tenants on housing benefit).The Guardianwrites that higher risk of dying before they are 65 (up to 30% in comparison withLiverpoolandManchester) occurred because of rehousing skilled workers (cream skimming) due to 1970s policy documents. The area has experiencedsectariantensions for generations; it is a predominantly Catholic area (due to Irish immigration), and there are alsoIrish republicansupporter groups present. This is reflected, albeit much declined in modern times, in gang and sectarian relatedgraffiti, with the main gang being the Calton Tongs. In the 1960s, the Calton was known locally asTongland(and still is by some), prominently marked out as such by graffiti. Tongland appears inGillies MacKinnon's 1995 movieSmall Faces.The gangs' power over the area and their decline in the 1970s is described inHandstands in the Dark. See also References External links Media related toCalton, Glasgowat Wikimedia Commons\",\n \"Dalmarnock Dalmarnock(/dælˈmɑːrnək/,Scottish Gaelic:Dail Mheàrnaig) is adistrictin theScottishcity ofGlasgow. It is situated east of the city centre, directly north of theRiver Clydeopposite the town ofRutherglen. It is also bounded by the Glasgow neighbourhoods ofParkheadto the north-east andBridgetonto the north-west. History The area was once heavily industrialised.Sir William Arrol & Co.had its extensive engineering works at Dunn Street and Baltic Street from 1873. From its beginnings inboilermaking, the firm later became renowned for its achievements in the field ofstructural engineering. Amongst the many bridges constructed throughout Britain were theForth Railway Bridge, theForth Road Bridge, theHumber Bridgeand London'sTower Bridge. The company was eventually taken over byClarke Chapmanin 1969 and the Dalmarnock Works closed in 1986. There was also a largecoal-fired power stationlocated near Dalmarnock Bridge. It was built byGlasgow Corporationin two stages, with phase one opening in 1920 and phase two in 1926. It was closed in 1977 by theSouth of Scotland Electricity Board. The east side of Allan Street was bombed during the Second World War. Most of the Victorian red sandstone tenements on Dalmarnock Road and Springfield Roadwere demolished in the 1960s and early-1970s, although some were renovated as part of theGlasgow Eastern Area Renewal(GEAR) scheme in the late 1970s. In the 1960s, a new housing scheme was built, consisting of four twenty-two storeytower blocksand \\\"H-block\\\" maisonettes. Two of the towers, 40 & 50 Millerfield Road, were demolished on 3 February 2002.One other tower was demolished on 1 July 2007, and the final one on 9 September 2007. This physical transformation featured in Chris Leslie's 'Disappearing Glasgow' book. Dalmarnock was the location chosen for theathletes' villagewhen Glasgow hosted the2014 Commonwealth Games,and by August 2011, there was no remaining housing on Ardenlea Street/Sunnybank Street side of the area,due to the preparations and land need for the construction in the area pertaining to the Games andCity Legacy. From 19 May to 2 June 2014,BBC One Scotlandaired a documentary entitled \\\"Commonwealth City\\\", narrated by actorMartin Compston, which showed how the people and community in Dalmarnock had been affected since the games were announced in November 2007.The documentary featured local resident Margaret Jaconelli (evicted to make way for the Games),David Stewart (youth and community campaigner)Darren Faulds (local entrepreneur) and local councillors George Redmond & Yvonne Kucuk. TheSir Chris Hoy Velodrome, constructed for the Games, is located at the intersection of Springfield Road, London Road and theGlasgow East End Regeneration Route, oppositeCeltic Parkfootball stadium which denotes the district's boundary with Parkhead. A triangular piece of land to the east of the arena was the proposed location of a modern skyscraper,East One; however as of 2020 this site was still undeveloped. To the south of this is the 'Legacy Hub' building, a multi-function community facility belatedly installed to replace the previous hall at Lily Street. It opened in 2015but by January 2019 had closed suddenly amid financial problems at the People's Development Trust charity which ran its operations;the council purchased the building to secure its future,while an investigation found funds had been embezzled by charity leaders including former councillor Yvonne Kucuk. Clyde Gatewayis a large-scale regeneration programme which includes Dalmarnock. It is a partnership betweenGlasgow City Council,South Lanarkshire CouncilandScottish Enterprise, backed by funding and direct support from theScottish Government.Residential developments in the area following the Commonwealth Games includeRiverside,a project on the site of the former large power station overlooking the river (approximately 550 homes for purchase and social rent),and a site near the railway station (200 homes, in planning as of 2018). After the departure of all local retailers from the area, all that remained was a small shop which was set up by the workers in the Community Centre; This was a welcome boon for the area residents as the nearest shops were not within walking distance.There is a petrol station on Dalmarnock Road and a car wash, with a pub a short distance further north past the railway station (this has been the location of a licensed premises under various names since the 1830s).There are also a lot of small business units in the Nuneaton Street area and theCalder Millerfieldfactory which supplies meat-based products to the fast-food market. Education The area once had four schools:Springfield Road Primary, Springfield Primary, Riverside Secondary and Our Lady of Fatima RC Primary School on Springfield Road have now closed. There is still a 'Dalmarnock Primary School', but it is situated in nearby Bridgeton and should not be counted among the schools within the area. A new primary schoolwas developed by Glasgow City Council; Riverbank Primary School, opened in August 2019. Transport Dalmarnock railway station, on theArgyle Line, serves the local area. The station was upgraded for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.Glasgow Corporation Tramwayshad routes serving the area in the first half of the 20th century, using tracks on Dalmarnock Road, London Road and Springfield Road. Dalmarnock Railway Bridges There have been two railway bridges in Dalmarnock crossing theRiver Clyde. The first bridge was built in 1861,and was augmented in 1897by a wider bridge to accommodate the Dalmarnock branch line. The stone pillars of the old bridge are still in situ adjacent to the newer bridge, with the track deck having been removed when it was no longer necessary to have so many lines.<Both bridges were designed by George Graham. Dalmarnock Bridge There is also a road bridge over the River Clyde on Dalmarnock Road (A749) called Dalmarnock Bridge. The first bridge at the location was wooden, erected in 1821 to connect Dalmarnock and theFarme Crossarea of Rutherglen.It was replaced by a new timber bridge in 1848,and in 1891 by the current Dalmarnock Bridge, designed by Glasgow consulting engineers, Crouch & Hogg; it isCategory B listed. The Glasgow side of the bridge is a convenient point for walkers and cyclists to join theClyde WalkwayorNational Cycle Route 75which share a tarmac path along the river at this point. This structure should not be confused with the nearbyRutherglen Bridgewhich also connects Rutherglen and Dalmarnock (as well asGlasgow Green,Oatlands,Shawfieldand Bridgeton), nor with two modern pedestrian bridges: one also connecting to Shawfield, and the other between the 2014 Athletes' Village homes and theCuningar Loop, an area of open ground on a meander of the river, known locally as 'The Vallies' and converted to a park as part of the area's redevelopment). Notable people See also References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["List of postcode areas in the United Kingdom This is a list of postcode areas, used byRoyal Mailfor the purposes of directing mail within theUnited Kingdom. The postcode area is the largest geographical unit used and forms the initial characters of the alphanumericUK postcode.There are currently 121 geographic postcode areas in use in the UK and a further three often combined with these covering the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and Isle of Man. Subdivision Each postcode area is further divided intopost townsandpostcode districts.There are on average 20 postcode districts to a postcode area,with ZE having the lowest (3) and BT the highest (81). TheLondonpost town is instead divided into several postcode areas. Scope The single or pair of letters chosen for postcode areas are generally intended as amnemonicfor the places served.Postcode areas,post townsand postcode districts do not follow political or local authority administrative boundaries and usually serve much larger areas than the place names","the place names with which they are associated. Many post towns are former \"county towns\" but postcode areas rarely align with the county (or successor authority) area. For example, within the PA postcode area the PA1 and PA78 postcode districts are 140 miles (225 km) apart, and cover 5 local authority areas; and the eight postcode areas of theLondon post towncover only 40% ofGreater London.The remainder of its area is covered by sections of twelve adjoining postcode areas:EN,IG,RM,DA,BR,TN,CR,SM,KT,TW,HAandUB. United Kingdom postcode areas Crown dependencies TheCrown dependencies(which are not part of the United Kingdom) did not introduce postcodes until later, but use a similar coding scheme. They are separate postal authorities. Defunct postcode areas London NE and S Glasgow Glasgow, like London, was divided into compass districts: C, W, NW, N, E, SE, S, SW. When postcodes were introduced, these were mapped into the newGpostcode: C1 became G1, W1 became G11, N1 became G21, E1 became G31, S1 became G41,","G31, S1 became G41, SW1 became G51, and so on. As NW and SE had never been subdivided they became G20 and G40 respectively. Norwich and Croydon Norwich and Croydon were used for a postcode experiment in the late 1960s, which was replaced by the current system. The format was of the form NOR or CRO followed by two numbers and a letter, e.g. NOR 07A. They were later changed toCR0(digit '0') and NR1. Dublin, Ireland When Ireland was a part of theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Irelanda postal district system was introduced in 1917 by the UK government. The letterDwas assigned to Dublin. Upon the establishment of theIrish Free Stateand later, theRepublic of Ireland, the Irish government retained the designation and today it forms part of theEircodesystem, a postcode format slightly different from the UK format and identifying individual addresses. Since Irish independence,Dhas never been reassigned as a postcode area in the UK. Non-geographic postcodes Types Some postcode areas do not correspond to","not correspond to geographical areas. They can be - postcode areas with no geographic link (for use by Large Volume Receivers, with delivery options determined between the LVR and Royal Mail) and these can for general mail or specific functions (e.g. parcel returns); non-geographic postcode districts or sectors contained within geographic postcode areas (for LVRs or PO Boxes); and specific purpose postcodes. Numbering of non-geographic postcode districts For those within geographic postcode areas, the first two numbers can be any number though they are generally larger than the numbers allocated to geographic districts. Some fall within the range 91 to 95 for businesses (e.g. S98 for payments to MNBA Ltd) and the range 96 to 99 for Government departments (e.g. NE98 forDepartment for Work and Pensions, Central Office, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, EH99 1SP for the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh). However, there are many exceptions to this - e.g. American Express has the postcode area BN88; in Glasgow G58 1SB is","Glasgow G58 1SB is allocated to National Savings, formerly National Savings Bank, as a mnemonic (SB, and with 58 looking like SB), though it is located in the G43 postcode district; and in Glasgow G70 is allocated to HMRC which is located in G67. BF The BF postcode area was introduced in 2012 to provide optional postcodes forBritishForces Post Officeaddresses, for consistency with the layout of other UK addresses. It uses the national non-geographicpost town\"BFPO\" and, as of 2012, the postcode district \"BF1\". Each BFPO number is assigned an inward code, which are gouped as: 0 - Germany, 1 - UK, 2 - Rest of Europe, 3 - Rest of World, 4 - Ships and Naval Parties, 5 - Rest of World, Operations and Exercises, 6 - Rest of World, Operations and Exercises. BX The non-geographic postcode area BX has been introduced for addresses which do not include a locality; this allows large organisations long-term flexibility as to where they receive their mail. This postcode area is used byLloyds Banking Group(BX1","Banking Group(BX1 1LT),HSBC(BX8 0HB) and parts ofHM Revenue and Customslike VAT (BX5 5AT) and Pay As You Earn (BX9 1AS). Lloyds Bank also use BX4. After splitting from Lloyds,TSB Bankuses BX4 7SB, the latter part of which, when written, looks similar to \"TSB\". GIR GIR 0AA is a postcode created forGirobankinBootle. It remained in use by its successors when Girobank was taken over byAlliance & Leicesterand subsequently bySantander UK. XM XM4 5HQ is a postcode created forFather Christmas. XX The non-geographic postcode area XX is used by online retailers for returns by Royal Mail, and forCOVID-19test samples. Overseas territories CertainBritish Overseas Territoriesintroduced single postal codes for their territory or major sub-sections of it. These are not UK postcodes, even though many are formatted in a similar fashion: Other overseas territories have introduced their own more extensive postcode systems: Civilian residential and business addresses inAkrotiri and Dhekeliaare served byCyprus Postal Servicesand","Postal Servicesand useCypriot postal codes. Mail to Overseas Territories is treated as international if posted in the UK. See also Notes References External links","G postcode area TheG postcode area, also known as theGlasgow postcode area,is a group of postcode districts in central Scotland, within six post towns. These districts are primarily centered onGlasgowitself, andWest Dunbartonshire(includingDumbarton,ClydebankandAlexandria), plus parts of the council areas ofArgyll and Bute(includingArrocharandHelensburgh),East Dunbartonshire,North Lanarkshire,South Lanarkshire,East RenfrewshireandStirling. Former postal districts and their legacy From 1923 until the introduction of the national postcode system in the late 1960s, Glasgow was divided into (mostly) numbered postal districts for its central and surrounding parts identified by compass-point letters: C1–C5 (corresponding to current postcode districts G1–G5), W1–W5 (G11–G15), NW (G20), N1–N3 (G21–G23), E1–E4 (G31–G34), SE (G40), S1–S6 (G41–G46) and SW1–SW3 (G51–G53). Coverage The approximate coverage of the postcode districts: Map See also References External links","Bridgeton, Glasgow Bridgeton(Scots:Brigtoun,Scottish Gaelic:Baile na Drochaid) is a district to the east ofGlasgowcity centre.Historicallypart ofLanarkshire, it is bounded byGlasgow Greento the west,Dalmarnockto the east and south,Caltonto the north-west at Abercromby Street/London Road and Broad street to the north-east. History It started as a small weaving village in 1705, when the third John Walkinshaw marked out a portion of his Goosefauld estate for rent.However, not much interest was shown until 1776 whenRutherglen Bridgewas built over theRiver Clydeand the area became known asBridge Town(orBrig Tounin Scots).The area was incorporated into the city of Glasgow officially in 1846.A major employer was carpet manufacturerJames Templeton & Co. Bridgeton used to be bounded by a village named Mile-End to the north, however this district seems to have vanished over the years, resulting in Bridgeton's boundary moving north to Crownpoint Road. Bridgeton Cross Bridgeton Cross, also known as 'The Toll' is a major","Toll' is a major junction, the meeting point of London Road (A74towardsCeltic Park), Dalmarnock Road (A749), Main Street, James Street (leading to Glasgow Green), Olympia Street and Orr Street. The intersection is notable for the\"Brigton Umbrella\", aVictorian(1875) cast ironbandstandcovering the centre of the Cross.TheCategory A listedlandmark structure and surrounds was renovated in the early 21st century, resulting in improved public realm areas and the complete refurbishment of the Umbrella. Bridgeton Cross is the location forBridgeton railway station(opened in 1895, closed in 1964, reopened in 1979) which is on theArgyle Lineconnecting the area to central Glasgow. The Category B listed buildingwhich previously housedBridgeton Central railway station(1892-1979) is a short distance away. A number of local buses also pass along London Road and Dalmarnock Road. The Cross is also the location for theOlympia Theatre(built 1911), which after lying abandoned for many years has undergone rebuilding and reopened","and reopened in 2012 as a library and community facility for the people of Bridgeton.There are several public houses in the vicinity, with most themed aroundRangers F.C. In 1893 William Millard startedMillers Linoleum Stores, renting sheds in Charles Street (now Olympia Street) from theNorth British Railway Company. On 26 June 1913 planning permission was granted to build a two-storey warehouse on this land, which had now been purchased by Millard. Under the directorship of William's great-grandson David Millard, the building was sympathetically renovated in 2013. Believed to be the only surviving family business from the 1800s in the area,Millers 1893continues to operate. Points of interest Bridgeton has one of Glasgow's originalCarnegie libraries, designed by the Invernesian architect,James Robert Rhind.Since 2014, the library has been in use by the Glasgow Women's Library, holding a lending library, archive and museum collection, who have made significant renovations both inside and out. After the2014","out. After the2014 Commonwealth Gameswas held in Glasgow, Bridgeton now has international-class sporting facilities within walking distance: theCommonwealth Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodromeare located in nearby Dalmarnock, with theCrownpoint Sports Complex, a modern outdoor athletics track, also located in the area adjacent toSt Mungo's Academy. Bridgeton has been the centre of theOrange Order in Scotland. Their marches are a fairly common sight in Glasgow during the summer months but reach a peak aroundthe Twelfthof July when the parades commemorating theBattle of the Boyneare in full flow. In 2019, theSunday Timesreported that concerns over an incident during the 2018 Apprentice Boys of Derry (Bridgeton) march had led to suggestions that Glasgow council reroute the march to avoid passing near two Catholic churches. The Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust, one of the largest voluntary commercial and passenger vehicle preservation groups in Scotland are based at Bridgeton Bus Garage which opened on 5 June 1965on","on 5 June 1965on a site bordered by London Road to the south, Fordneuk Street to the West, Broad Street to the north and Rimsdale Street to the east. It replaced the former tram depot at Dalmarnock which had suffered fire damage. In 1870 a grocer name of John Wilson of 13 Main Street and a few friends from the local bowling club founded Bridgeton Burns Club, a charity which continues to this day, assisting local children. Bridgeton's use as a Glasgow Bus Garage was brief, the tendency was to use a smaller fleet of larger buses and that led to the garage being closed in 1976, however it was then taken on byStrathclyde Regional Councilfor its Internal Transport fleet, servicing everything from light vans to Gritting Lorries. In this capacity it later passed toGlasgow City Councilwho when they ceased using it for that purpose were prevailed upon to rent it out for vehicle preservation. Football For four decades in the mid-20th century, Bridgeton was represented in theScottish Junior Football","Junior Football AssociationbyBridgeton Waverley F.C.Initially a local Juvenile team, upon joining the Junior setup they played atShawfield Stadium(home ofClyde F.C.), then moved toBarrowfield Parkwhich was bought and demolished byGlasgow Corporationfor the construction of thehousing scheme of the same namein the 1930s. Waverley then moved toNew Barrowfieldon the edge of theParkheaddistrict. After they folded in the 1960s, that site became the training ground ofCeltic F.C. Another Junior club which became defunct around the same time,Strathclyde F.C., was also based in the area.Strathclyde's predecessor senior league clubThistle F.C.had their roots in Bridgeton/Dalmarnock, as did the aforementioned Clyde and the 19th century sideEastern F.C.who both once played at anotherBarrowfield Park. Although Celtic's stadium is nearby the district is now known for a large and passionateRangersfollowing. Notable people See also References External links","Bridgeton railway station Bridgeton railway stationserves theBridgetondistrict ofGlasgow,Scotlandand is a station on theArgyle Line,1+3⁄4miles (2.8 km) south east ofGlasgow Central. The station is operated byScotRailwho also provide all train services. History CalledBridgeton Cross Station,it opened on 1 November 1895 when the line between Glasgow Green and Rutherglen was opened by theGlasgow Central Railway. The station became a junction with the opening of the line to Carmyle andKirkhillon 1 February 1897. Westbound services ran to Stobcross, from where they could proceed toPossilviaMaryhill Central,Partickhilland points north via the connection to theStobcross Railwayor on to theLanarkshire and Dunbartonshire Railwayto Dumbarton and Balloch Central via Partick Central & Dalmuir Riverside. In 1956 the line was re-signalled with colour light signals controlled from the re-equippedsignal boxesat Bridgeton Cross Junction and Stobcross Junction. However, the station was closed along with both lines on 5 October","lines on 5 October 1964 as a result of theBeeching Axe. The tracks were subsequently lifted, but the station and tunnels were left intact. As part of theArgyle Lineproject, the Rutherglen line platforms reopened asBridgeton Stationon 5 November 1979, as offering regular commuter services into Central Station (low level) and on towards the western suburbs. In preparation for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the station underwent substantial renovations in 2010. Accidents and incidents Services 1979 When the Argyle Line was opened in 1979, there were six trains an hour to the Hamilton Circle, fromDalmuir, with two services an hour going as far west asDumbarton Central. The hourly service betweenLanarkandMilngavieran non-stop through Bridgeton station. 2008 Four trains per hour daily head westbound towards Glasgow Central and beyond (Milngavie and Dalmuir) and eastbound towardsMotherwell(with services onward to Lanark). 2015 The basic four trains per hour frequency remains unchanged, but since the December 2014","the December 2014 timetable recast southbound trains now run to either Motherwell via Hamilton Central or viaWhifflet(though alternate services on that route terminate at Whifflet). On Sundays, southbound trains also serve Larkhall every hour andBallochevery 30 minutes. Routes References","Calton, Glasgow Calton(Scottish Gaelic:A' Challtainn,lit.'the hazel wood',Scots:Caltoun), known locally asThe Calton, is a district inGlasgow. It is situated north of theRiver Clyde, and just to the east of the city centre. Calton's most famous landmark is theBarrasstreet market and theBarrowland Ballroom, one of Glasgow's principal musical venues. No official definition of Calton's boundaries exist, notionally it can be thought of as the roughly trapezoidal area bounded by theRiver Clydeto the south, Abercrombie Street to the east (where it borders bothCamlachieandBridgeton), and theCity Union Linerailway to the north andHigh Street/Saltmarketto the west. History The area was aBurgh of Baronyfrom 1817 to 1846, when it was annexed to Glasgow. The lands of Blackfaulds, on which Calton now stands, originally formed part of the lands of theArchbishopricof Glasgow, but were annexed toThe Crownin 1587. In 1705 the owner, John Walkinshaw, began tofeuthe lands of Blackfaulds (part of theBarrowfieldestate) on which","on which the old village of Calton was built, and in 1817 acharterwas granted, erecting Calton into aBurgh. During the area's time as an independent burgh, there were fourProvostsof Calton: The Calton martyrs The area became known for itsweavingindustry. On 30 June 1787, a meeting ofCalton weaverswas held onGlasgow Green. Theirwageshad dropped because of the increased importation of cheaper foreigntextiles. Most of the workers decided to takestrike action, although some accepted lower wages and carried on working. The dispute came to a head on 3 September 1787: when violence erupted after some striking weavers tried to seize materials from weavers who had carried on working. Themilitarywere called in and a detachment of the39th Regiment of Footopened fire on the demonstrators. Six of the men killed at the scene were locally called 'martyrs' and some of them were buried in the CaltonCemeteryoff the main London Road. The families of the men could not afford aheadstonealthough, a century later, a memorial was","a memorial was raised to commemorate their actions. Social problems ComedianJaney Godley, in her 2005autobiographyHandstands in the Dark,wrote about the 14 years she spent running a Caltonpub, the Weavers Inn (formerly the Nationalist Bar, now the Calton Bar). Her book details life there in the 1980s and 1990s, a time when the area became notorious forheroinabuse and whenurban renewalbegan. Calton is an area of considerable poverty andmultiple deprivationregarding; \"current income, employment, health, education, skills and training, housing, geographic access and crime.\"In January 2006, a report into poverty inThe Scotsmannewspaperstated that \"a child born in Calton... is three times as likely to sufferheart disease, four times as likely to be hospitalised and ten times as likely to grow up in a workless household than a child in the city's prosperous westernsuburbs\". Calton has the lowest malelife expectancyin Scotland. ABBC Scotlandnews report on 13 February 2006 pointed out that, partially due to poor","due to poor diet, crime,alcoholanddrug abuse, life expectancy in Calton is lower than in some areas ofIraqor theGaza Strip. A news report in the 21 January 2006 edition ofThe Guardiannewspapergave the average lifespan of a person living in the Calton area as 53.9 years against a city average of 69 years and the Scottish average of 78. A 2008World Health Organizationreport contrasted Calton's male life expectancy, reported as standing at 54, with that of nearbyLenzie,East Dunbartonshire, at 82.Most of the affordable housing is owned byHousing Associationswith a high percentage oftenantsonhousing benefit(For example, Thenue Housing Association has approximately 75% of tenants on housing benefit).The Guardianwrites that higher risk of dying before they are 65 (up to 30% in comparison withLiverpoolandManchester) occurred because of rehousing skilled workers (cream skimming) due to 1970s policy documents. The area has experiencedsectariantensions for generations; it is a predominantly Catholic area (due to Irish","area (due to Irish immigration), and there are alsoIrish republicansupporter groups present. This is reflected, albeit much declined in modern times, in gang and sectarian relatedgraffiti, with the main gang being the Calton Tongs. In the 1960s, the Calton was known locally asTongland(and still is by some), prominently marked out as such by graffiti. Tongland appears inGillies MacKinnon's 1995 movieSmall Faces.The gangs' power over the area and their decline in the 1970s is described inHandstands in the Dark. See also References External links Media related toCalton, Glasgowat Wikimedia Commons","Dalmarnock Dalmarnock(/dælˈmɑːrnək/,Scottish Gaelic:Dail Mheàrnaig) is adistrictin theScottishcity ofGlasgow. It is situated east of the city centre, directly north of theRiver Clydeopposite the town ofRutherglen. It is also bounded by the Glasgow neighbourhoods ofParkheadto the north-east andBridgetonto the north-west. History The area was once heavily industrialised.Sir William Arrol & Co.had its extensive engineering works at Dunn Street and Baltic Street from 1873. From its beginnings inboilermaking, the firm later became renowned for its achievements in the field ofstructural engineering. Amongst the many bridges constructed throughout Britain were theForth Railway Bridge, theForth Road Bridge, theHumber Bridgeand London'sTower Bridge. The company was eventually taken over byClarke Chapmanin 1969 and the Dalmarnock Works closed in 1986. There was also a largecoal-fired power stationlocated near Dalmarnock Bridge. It was built byGlasgow Corporationin two stages, with phase one opening in 1920 and phase","in 1920 and phase two in 1926. It was closed in 1977 by theSouth of Scotland Electricity Board. The east side of Allan Street was bombed during the Second World War. Most of the Victorian red sandstone tenements on Dalmarnock Road and Springfield Roadwere demolished in the 1960s and early-1970s, although some were renovated as part of theGlasgow Eastern Area Renewal(GEAR) scheme in the late 1970s. In the 1960s, a new housing scheme was built, consisting of four twenty-two storeytower blocksand \"H-block\" maisonettes. Two of the towers, 40 & 50 Millerfield Road, were demolished on 3 February 2002.One other tower was demolished on 1 July 2007, and the final one on 9 September 2007. This physical transformation featured in Chris Leslie's 'Disappearing Glasgow' book. Dalmarnock was the location chosen for theathletes' villagewhen Glasgow hosted the2014 Commonwealth Games,and by August 2011, there was no remaining housing on Ardenlea Street/Sunnybank Street side of the area,due to the preparations and land need","and land need for the construction in the area pertaining to the Games andCity Legacy. From 19 May to 2 June 2014,BBC One Scotlandaired a documentary entitled \"Commonwealth City\", narrated by actorMartin Compston, which showed how the people and community in Dalmarnock had been affected since the games were announced in November 2007.The documentary featured local resident Margaret Jaconelli (evicted to make way for the Games),David Stewart (youth and community campaigner)Darren Faulds (local entrepreneur) and local councillors George Redmond & Yvonne Kucuk. TheSir Chris Hoy Velodrome, constructed for the Games, is located at the intersection of Springfield Road, London Road and theGlasgow East End Regeneration Route, oppositeCeltic Parkfootball stadium which denotes the district's boundary with Parkhead. A triangular piece of land to the east of the arena was the proposed location of a modern skyscraper,East One; however as of 2020 this site was still undeveloped. To the south of this is the 'Legacy Hub'","is the 'Legacy Hub' building, a multi-function community facility belatedly installed to replace the previous hall at Lily Street. It opened in 2015but by January 2019 had closed suddenly amid financial problems at the People's Development Trust charity which ran its operations;the council purchased the building to secure its future,while an investigation found funds had been embezzled by charity leaders including former councillor Yvonne Kucuk. Clyde Gatewayis a large-scale regeneration programme which includes Dalmarnock. It is a partnership betweenGlasgow City Council,South Lanarkshire CouncilandScottish Enterprise, backed by funding and direct support from theScottish Government.Residential developments in the area following the Commonwealth Games includeRiverside,a project on the site of the former large power station overlooking the river (approximately 550 homes for purchase and social rent),and a site near the railway station (200 homes, in planning as of 2018). After the departure of all local","of all local retailers from the area, all that remained was a small shop which was set up by the workers in the Community Centre; This was a welcome boon for the area residents as the nearest shops were not within walking distance.There is a petrol station on Dalmarnock Road and a car wash, with a pub a short distance further north past the railway station (this has been the location of a licensed premises under various names since the 1830s).There are also a lot of small business units in the Nuneaton Street area and theCalder Millerfieldfactory which supplies meat-based products to the fast-food market. Education The area once had four schools:Springfield Road Primary, Springfield Primary, Riverside Secondary and Our Lady of Fatima RC Primary School on Springfield Road have now closed. There is still a 'Dalmarnock Primary School', but it is situated in nearby Bridgeton and should not be counted among the schools within the area. A new primary schoolwas developed by Glasgow City Council; Riverbank Primary","Riverbank Primary School, opened in August 2019. Transport Dalmarnock railway station, on theArgyle Line, serves the local area. The station was upgraded for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.Glasgow Corporation Tramwayshad routes serving the area in the first half of the 20th century, using tracks on Dalmarnock Road, London Road and Springfield Road. Dalmarnock Railway Bridges There have been two railway bridges in Dalmarnock crossing theRiver Clyde. The first bridge was built in 1861,and was augmented in 1897by a wider bridge to accommodate the Dalmarnock branch line. The stone pillars of the old bridge are still in situ adjacent to the newer bridge, with the track deck having been removed when it was no longer necessary to have so many lines.<Both bridges were designed by George Graham. Dalmarnock Bridge There is also a road bridge over the River Clyde on Dalmarnock Road (A749) called Dalmarnock Bridge. The first bridge at the location was wooden, erected in 1821 to connect Dalmarnock and theFarme Crossarea of","Crossarea of Rutherglen.It was replaced by a new timber bridge in 1848,and in 1891 by the current Dalmarnock Bridge, designed by Glasgow consulting engineers, Crouch & Hogg; it isCategory B listed. The Glasgow side of the bridge is a convenient point for walkers and cyclists to join theClyde WalkwayorNational Cycle Route 75which share a tarmac path along the river at this point. This structure should not be confused with the nearbyRutherglen Bridgewhich also connects Rutherglen and Dalmarnock (as well asGlasgow Green,Oatlands,Shawfieldand Bridgeton), nor with two modern pedestrian bridges: one also connecting to Shawfield, and the other between the 2014 Athletes' Village homes and theCuningar Loop, an area of open ground on a meander of the river, known locally as 'The Vallies' and converted to a park as part of the area's redevelopment). Notable people See also References External links"],"string":"[\n \"List of postcode areas in the United Kingdom This is a list of postcode areas, used byRoyal Mailfor the purposes of directing mail within theUnited Kingdom. The postcode area is the largest geographical unit used and forms the initial characters of the alphanumericUK postcode.There are currently 121 geographic postcode areas in use in the UK and a further three often combined with these covering the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and Isle of Man. Subdivision Each postcode area is further divided intopost townsandpostcode districts.There are on average 20 postcode districts to a postcode area,with ZE having the lowest (3) and BT the highest (81). TheLondonpost town is instead divided into several postcode areas. Scope The single or pair of letters chosen for postcode areas are generally intended as amnemonicfor the places served.Postcode areas,post townsand postcode districts do not follow political or local authority administrative boundaries and usually serve much larger areas than the place names\",\n \"the place names with which they are associated. Many post towns are former \\\"county towns\\\" but postcode areas rarely align with the county (or successor authority) area. For example, within the PA postcode area the PA1 and PA78 postcode districts are 140 miles (225 km) apart, and cover 5 local authority areas; and the eight postcode areas of theLondon post towncover only 40% ofGreater London.The remainder of its area is covered by sections of twelve adjoining postcode areas:EN,IG,RM,DA,BR,TN,CR,SM,KT,TW,HAandUB. United Kingdom postcode areas Crown dependencies TheCrown dependencies(which are not part of the United Kingdom) did not introduce postcodes until later, but use a similar coding scheme. They are separate postal authorities. Defunct postcode areas London NE and S Glasgow Glasgow, like London, was divided into compass districts: C, W, NW, N, E, SE, S, SW. When postcodes were introduced, these were mapped into the newGpostcode: C1 became G1, W1 became G11, N1 became G21, E1 became G31, S1 became G41,\",\n \"G31, S1 became G41, SW1 became G51, and so on. As NW and SE had never been subdivided they became G20 and G40 respectively. Norwich and Croydon Norwich and Croydon were used for a postcode experiment in the late 1960s, which was replaced by the current system. The format was of the form NOR or CRO followed by two numbers and a letter, e.g. NOR 07A. They were later changed toCR0(digit '0') and NR1. Dublin, Ireland When Ireland was a part of theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Irelanda postal district system was introduced in 1917 by the UK government. The letterDwas assigned to Dublin. Upon the establishment of theIrish Free Stateand later, theRepublic of Ireland, the Irish government retained the designation and today it forms part of theEircodesystem, a postcode format slightly different from the UK format and identifying individual addresses. Since Irish independence,Dhas never been reassigned as a postcode area in the UK. Non-geographic postcodes Types Some postcode areas do not correspond to\",\n \"not correspond to geographical areas. They can be - postcode areas with no geographic link (for use by Large Volume Receivers, with delivery options determined between the LVR and Royal Mail) and these can for general mail or specific functions (e.g. parcel returns); non-geographic postcode districts or sectors contained within geographic postcode areas (for LVRs or PO Boxes); and specific purpose postcodes. Numbering of non-geographic postcode districts For those within geographic postcode areas, the first two numbers can be any number though they are generally larger than the numbers allocated to geographic districts. Some fall within the range 91 to 95 for businesses (e.g. S98 for payments to MNBA Ltd) and the range 96 to 99 for Government departments (e.g. NE98 forDepartment for Work and Pensions, Central Office, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, EH99 1SP for the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh). However, there are many exceptions to this - e.g. American Express has the postcode area BN88; in Glasgow G58 1SB is\",\n \"Glasgow G58 1SB is allocated to National Savings, formerly National Savings Bank, as a mnemonic (SB, and with 58 looking like SB), though it is located in the G43 postcode district; and in Glasgow G70 is allocated to HMRC which is located in G67. BF The BF postcode area was introduced in 2012 to provide optional postcodes forBritishForces Post Officeaddresses, for consistency with the layout of other UK addresses. It uses the national non-geographicpost town\\\"BFPO\\\" and, as of 2012, the postcode district \\\"BF1\\\". Each BFPO number is assigned an inward code, which are gouped as: 0 - Germany, 1 - UK, 2 - Rest of Europe, 3 - Rest of World, 4 - Ships and Naval Parties, 5 - Rest of World, Operations and Exercises, 6 - Rest of World, Operations and Exercises. BX The non-geographic postcode area BX has been introduced for addresses which do not include a locality; this allows large organisations long-term flexibility as to where they receive their mail. This postcode area is used byLloyds Banking Group(BX1\",\n \"Banking Group(BX1 1LT),HSBC(BX8 0HB) and parts ofHM Revenue and Customslike VAT (BX5 5AT) and Pay As You Earn (BX9 1AS). Lloyds Bank also use BX4. After splitting from Lloyds,TSB Bankuses BX4 7SB, the latter part of which, when written, looks similar to \\\"TSB\\\". GIR GIR 0AA is a postcode created forGirobankinBootle. It remained in use by its successors when Girobank was taken over byAlliance & Leicesterand subsequently bySantander UK. XM XM4 5HQ is a postcode created forFather Christmas. XX The non-geographic postcode area XX is used by online retailers for returns by Royal Mail, and forCOVID-19test samples. Overseas territories CertainBritish Overseas Territoriesintroduced single postal codes for their territory or major sub-sections of it. These are not UK postcodes, even though many are formatted in a similar fashion: Other overseas territories have introduced their own more extensive postcode systems: Civilian residential and business addresses inAkrotiri and Dhekeliaare served byCyprus Postal Servicesand\",\n \"Postal Servicesand useCypriot postal codes. Mail to Overseas Territories is treated as international if posted in the UK. See also Notes References External links\",\n \"G postcode area TheG postcode area, also known as theGlasgow postcode area,is a group of postcode districts in central Scotland, within six post towns. These districts are primarily centered onGlasgowitself, andWest Dunbartonshire(includingDumbarton,ClydebankandAlexandria), plus parts of the council areas ofArgyll and Bute(includingArrocharandHelensburgh),East Dunbartonshire,North Lanarkshire,South Lanarkshire,East RenfrewshireandStirling. Former postal districts and their legacy From 1923 until the introduction of the national postcode system in the late 1960s, Glasgow was divided into (mostly) numbered postal districts for its central and surrounding parts identified by compass-point letters: C1–C5 (corresponding to current postcode districts G1–G5), W1–W5 (G11–G15), NW (G20), N1–N3 (G21–G23), E1–E4 (G31–G34), SE (G40), S1–S6 (G41–G46) and SW1–SW3 (G51–G53). Coverage The approximate coverage of the postcode districts: Map See also References External links\",\n \"Bridgeton, Glasgow Bridgeton(Scots:Brigtoun,Scottish Gaelic:Baile na Drochaid) is a district to the east ofGlasgowcity centre.Historicallypart ofLanarkshire, it is bounded byGlasgow Greento the west,Dalmarnockto the east and south,Caltonto the north-west at Abercromby Street/London Road and Broad street to the north-east. History It started as a small weaving village in 1705, when the third John Walkinshaw marked out a portion of his Goosefauld estate for rent.However, not much interest was shown until 1776 whenRutherglen Bridgewas built over theRiver Clydeand the area became known asBridge Town(orBrig Tounin Scots).The area was incorporated into the city of Glasgow officially in 1846.A major employer was carpet manufacturerJames Templeton & Co. Bridgeton used to be bounded by a village named Mile-End to the north, however this district seems to have vanished over the years, resulting in Bridgeton's boundary moving north to Crownpoint Road. Bridgeton Cross Bridgeton Cross, also known as 'The Toll' is a major\",\n \"Toll' is a major junction, the meeting point of London Road (A74towardsCeltic Park), Dalmarnock Road (A749), Main Street, James Street (leading to Glasgow Green), Olympia Street and Orr Street. The intersection is notable for the\\\"Brigton Umbrella\\\", aVictorian(1875) cast ironbandstandcovering the centre of the Cross.TheCategory A listedlandmark structure and surrounds was renovated in the early 21st century, resulting in improved public realm areas and the complete refurbishment of the Umbrella. Bridgeton Cross is the location forBridgeton railway station(opened in 1895, closed in 1964, reopened in 1979) which is on theArgyle Lineconnecting the area to central Glasgow. The Category B listed buildingwhich previously housedBridgeton Central railway station(1892-1979) is a short distance away. A number of local buses also pass along London Road and Dalmarnock Road. The Cross is also the location for theOlympia Theatre(built 1911), which after lying abandoned for many years has undergone rebuilding and reopened\",\n \"and reopened in 2012 as a library and community facility for the people of Bridgeton.There are several public houses in the vicinity, with most themed aroundRangers F.C. In 1893 William Millard startedMillers Linoleum Stores, renting sheds in Charles Street (now Olympia Street) from theNorth British Railway Company. On 26 June 1913 planning permission was granted to build a two-storey warehouse on this land, which had now been purchased by Millard. Under the directorship of William's great-grandson David Millard, the building was sympathetically renovated in 2013. Believed to be the only surviving family business from the 1800s in the area,Millers 1893continues to operate. Points of interest Bridgeton has one of Glasgow's originalCarnegie libraries, designed by the Invernesian architect,James Robert Rhind.Since 2014, the library has been in use by the Glasgow Women's Library, holding a lending library, archive and museum collection, who have made significant renovations both inside and out. After the2014\",\n \"out. After the2014 Commonwealth Gameswas held in Glasgow, Bridgeton now has international-class sporting facilities within walking distance: theCommonwealth Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodromeare located in nearby Dalmarnock, with theCrownpoint Sports Complex, a modern outdoor athletics track, also located in the area adjacent toSt Mungo's Academy. Bridgeton has been the centre of theOrange Order in Scotland. Their marches are a fairly common sight in Glasgow during the summer months but reach a peak aroundthe Twelfthof July when the parades commemorating theBattle of the Boyneare in full flow. In 2019, theSunday Timesreported that concerns over an incident during the 2018 Apprentice Boys of Derry (Bridgeton) march had led to suggestions that Glasgow council reroute the march to avoid passing near two Catholic churches. The Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust, one of the largest voluntary commercial and passenger vehicle preservation groups in Scotland are based at Bridgeton Bus Garage which opened on 5 June 1965on\",\n \"on 5 June 1965on a site bordered by London Road to the south, Fordneuk Street to the West, Broad Street to the north and Rimsdale Street to the east. It replaced the former tram depot at Dalmarnock which had suffered fire damage. In 1870 a grocer name of John Wilson of 13 Main Street and a few friends from the local bowling club founded Bridgeton Burns Club, a charity which continues to this day, assisting local children. Bridgeton's use as a Glasgow Bus Garage was brief, the tendency was to use a smaller fleet of larger buses and that led to the garage being closed in 1976, however it was then taken on byStrathclyde Regional Councilfor its Internal Transport fleet, servicing everything from light vans to Gritting Lorries. In this capacity it later passed toGlasgow City Councilwho when they ceased using it for that purpose were prevailed upon to rent it out for vehicle preservation. Football For four decades in the mid-20th century, Bridgeton was represented in theScottish Junior Football\",\n \"Junior Football AssociationbyBridgeton Waverley F.C.Initially a local Juvenile team, upon joining the Junior setup they played atShawfield Stadium(home ofClyde F.C.), then moved toBarrowfield Parkwhich was bought and demolished byGlasgow Corporationfor the construction of thehousing scheme of the same namein the 1930s. Waverley then moved toNew Barrowfieldon the edge of theParkheaddistrict. After they folded in the 1960s, that site became the training ground ofCeltic F.C. Another Junior club which became defunct around the same time,Strathclyde F.C., was also based in the area.Strathclyde's predecessor senior league clubThistle F.C.had their roots in Bridgeton/Dalmarnock, as did the aforementioned Clyde and the 19th century sideEastern F.C.who both once played at anotherBarrowfield Park. Although Celtic's stadium is nearby the district is now known for a large and passionateRangersfollowing. Notable people See also References External links\",\n \"Bridgeton railway station Bridgeton railway stationserves theBridgetondistrict ofGlasgow,Scotlandand is a station on theArgyle Line,1+3⁄4miles (2.8 km) south east ofGlasgow Central. The station is operated byScotRailwho also provide all train services. History CalledBridgeton Cross Station,it opened on 1 November 1895 when the line between Glasgow Green and Rutherglen was opened by theGlasgow Central Railway. The station became a junction with the opening of the line to Carmyle andKirkhillon 1 February 1897. Westbound services ran to Stobcross, from where they could proceed toPossilviaMaryhill Central,Partickhilland points north via the connection to theStobcross Railwayor on to theLanarkshire and Dunbartonshire Railwayto Dumbarton and Balloch Central via Partick Central & Dalmuir Riverside. In 1956 the line was re-signalled with colour light signals controlled from the re-equippedsignal boxesat Bridgeton Cross Junction and Stobcross Junction. However, the station was closed along with both lines on 5 October\",\n \"lines on 5 October 1964 as a result of theBeeching Axe. The tracks were subsequently lifted, but the station and tunnels were left intact. As part of theArgyle Lineproject, the Rutherglen line platforms reopened asBridgeton Stationon 5 November 1979, as offering regular commuter services into Central Station (low level) and on towards the western suburbs. In preparation for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the station underwent substantial renovations in 2010. Accidents and incidents Services 1979 When the Argyle Line was opened in 1979, there were six trains an hour to the Hamilton Circle, fromDalmuir, with two services an hour going as far west asDumbarton Central. The hourly service betweenLanarkandMilngavieran non-stop through Bridgeton station. 2008 Four trains per hour daily head westbound towards Glasgow Central and beyond (Milngavie and Dalmuir) and eastbound towardsMotherwell(with services onward to Lanark). 2015 The basic four trains per hour frequency remains unchanged, but since the December 2014\",\n \"the December 2014 timetable recast southbound trains now run to either Motherwell via Hamilton Central or viaWhifflet(though alternate services on that route terminate at Whifflet). On Sundays, southbound trains also serve Larkhall every hour andBallochevery 30 minutes. Routes References\",\n \"Calton, Glasgow Calton(Scottish Gaelic:A' Challtainn,lit.'the hazel wood',Scots:Caltoun), known locally asThe Calton, is a district inGlasgow. It is situated north of theRiver Clyde, and just to the east of the city centre. Calton's most famous landmark is theBarrasstreet market and theBarrowland Ballroom, one of Glasgow's principal musical venues. No official definition of Calton's boundaries exist, notionally it can be thought of as the roughly trapezoidal area bounded by theRiver Clydeto the south, Abercrombie Street to the east (where it borders bothCamlachieandBridgeton), and theCity Union Linerailway to the north andHigh Street/Saltmarketto the west. History The area was aBurgh of Baronyfrom 1817 to 1846, when it was annexed to Glasgow. The lands of Blackfaulds, on which Calton now stands, originally formed part of the lands of theArchbishopricof Glasgow, but were annexed toThe Crownin 1587. In 1705 the owner, John Walkinshaw, began tofeuthe lands of Blackfaulds (part of theBarrowfieldestate) on which\",\n \"on which the old village of Calton was built, and in 1817 acharterwas granted, erecting Calton into aBurgh. During the area's time as an independent burgh, there were fourProvostsof Calton: The Calton martyrs The area became known for itsweavingindustry. On 30 June 1787, a meeting ofCalton weaverswas held onGlasgow Green. Theirwageshad dropped because of the increased importation of cheaper foreigntextiles. Most of the workers decided to takestrike action, although some accepted lower wages and carried on working. The dispute came to a head on 3 September 1787: when violence erupted after some striking weavers tried to seize materials from weavers who had carried on working. Themilitarywere called in and a detachment of the39th Regiment of Footopened fire on the demonstrators. Six of the men killed at the scene were locally called 'martyrs' and some of them were buried in the CaltonCemeteryoff the main London Road. The families of the men could not afford aheadstonealthough, a century later, a memorial was\",\n \"a memorial was raised to commemorate their actions. Social problems ComedianJaney Godley, in her 2005autobiographyHandstands in the Dark,wrote about the 14 years she spent running a Caltonpub, the Weavers Inn (formerly the Nationalist Bar, now the Calton Bar). Her book details life there in the 1980s and 1990s, a time when the area became notorious forheroinabuse and whenurban renewalbegan. Calton is an area of considerable poverty andmultiple deprivationregarding; \\\"current income, employment, health, education, skills and training, housing, geographic access and crime.\\\"In January 2006, a report into poverty inThe Scotsmannewspaperstated that \\\"a child born in Calton... is three times as likely to sufferheart disease, four times as likely to be hospitalised and ten times as likely to grow up in a workless household than a child in the city's prosperous westernsuburbs\\\". Calton has the lowest malelife expectancyin Scotland. ABBC Scotlandnews report on 13 February 2006 pointed out that, partially due to poor\",\n \"due to poor diet, crime,alcoholanddrug abuse, life expectancy in Calton is lower than in some areas ofIraqor theGaza Strip. A news report in the 21 January 2006 edition ofThe Guardiannewspapergave the average lifespan of a person living in the Calton area as 53.9 years against a city average of 69 years and the Scottish average of 78. A 2008World Health Organizationreport contrasted Calton's male life expectancy, reported as standing at 54, with that of nearbyLenzie,East Dunbartonshire, at 82.Most of the affordable housing is owned byHousing Associationswith a high percentage oftenantsonhousing benefit(For example, Thenue Housing Association has approximately 75% of tenants on housing benefit).The Guardianwrites that higher risk of dying before they are 65 (up to 30% in comparison withLiverpoolandManchester) occurred because of rehousing skilled workers (cream skimming) due to 1970s policy documents. The area has experiencedsectariantensions for generations; it is a predominantly Catholic area (due to Irish\",\n \"area (due to Irish immigration), and there are alsoIrish republicansupporter groups present. This is reflected, albeit much declined in modern times, in gang and sectarian relatedgraffiti, with the main gang being the Calton Tongs. In the 1960s, the Calton was known locally asTongland(and still is by some), prominently marked out as such by graffiti. Tongland appears inGillies MacKinnon's 1995 movieSmall Faces.The gangs' power over the area and their decline in the 1970s is described inHandstands in the Dark. See also References External links Media related toCalton, Glasgowat Wikimedia Commons\",\n \"Dalmarnock Dalmarnock(/dælˈmɑːrnək/,Scottish Gaelic:Dail Mheàrnaig) is adistrictin theScottishcity ofGlasgow. It is situated east of the city centre, directly north of theRiver Clydeopposite the town ofRutherglen. It is also bounded by the Glasgow neighbourhoods ofParkheadto the north-east andBridgetonto the north-west. History The area was once heavily industrialised.Sir William Arrol & Co.had its extensive engineering works at Dunn Street and Baltic Street from 1873. From its beginnings inboilermaking, the firm later became renowned for its achievements in the field ofstructural engineering. Amongst the many bridges constructed throughout Britain were theForth Railway Bridge, theForth Road Bridge, theHumber Bridgeand London'sTower Bridge. The company was eventually taken over byClarke Chapmanin 1969 and the Dalmarnock Works closed in 1986. There was also a largecoal-fired power stationlocated near Dalmarnock Bridge. It was built byGlasgow Corporationin two stages, with phase one opening in 1920 and phase\",\n \"in 1920 and phase two in 1926. It was closed in 1977 by theSouth of Scotland Electricity Board. The east side of Allan Street was bombed during the Second World War. Most of the Victorian red sandstone tenements on Dalmarnock Road and Springfield Roadwere demolished in the 1960s and early-1970s, although some were renovated as part of theGlasgow Eastern Area Renewal(GEAR) scheme in the late 1970s. In the 1960s, a new housing scheme was built, consisting of four twenty-two storeytower blocksand \\\"H-block\\\" maisonettes. Two of the towers, 40 & 50 Millerfield Road, were demolished on 3 February 2002.One other tower was demolished on 1 July 2007, and the final one on 9 September 2007. This physical transformation featured in Chris Leslie's 'Disappearing Glasgow' book. Dalmarnock was the location chosen for theathletes' villagewhen Glasgow hosted the2014 Commonwealth Games,and by August 2011, there was no remaining housing on Ardenlea Street/Sunnybank Street side of the area,due to the preparations and land need\",\n \"and land need for the construction in the area pertaining to the Games andCity Legacy. From 19 May to 2 June 2014,BBC One Scotlandaired a documentary entitled \\\"Commonwealth City\\\", narrated by actorMartin Compston, which showed how the people and community in Dalmarnock had been affected since the games were announced in November 2007.The documentary featured local resident Margaret Jaconelli (evicted to make way for the Games),David Stewart (youth and community campaigner)Darren Faulds (local entrepreneur) and local councillors George Redmond & Yvonne Kucuk. TheSir Chris Hoy Velodrome, constructed for the Games, is located at the intersection of Springfield Road, London Road and theGlasgow East End Regeneration Route, oppositeCeltic Parkfootball stadium which denotes the district's boundary with Parkhead. A triangular piece of land to the east of the arena was the proposed location of a modern skyscraper,East One; however as of 2020 this site was still undeveloped. To the south of this is the 'Legacy Hub'\",\n \"is the 'Legacy Hub' building, a multi-function community facility belatedly installed to replace the previous hall at Lily Street. It opened in 2015but by January 2019 had closed suddenly amid financial problems at the People's Development Trust charity which ran its operations;the council purchased the building to secure its future,while an investigation found funds had been embezzled by charity leaders including former councillor Yvonne Kucuk. Clyde Gatewayis a large-scale regeneration programme which includes Dalmarnock. It is a partnership betweenGlasgow City Council,South Lanarkshire CouncilandScottish Enterprise, backed by funding and direct support from theScottish Government.Residential developments in the area following the Commonwealth Games includeRiverside,a project on the site of the former large power station overlooking the river (approximately 550 homes for purchase and social rent),and a site near the railway station (200 homes, in planning as of 2018). After the departure of all local\",\n \"of all local retailers from the area, all that remained was a small shop which was set up by the workers in the Community Centre; This was a welcome boon for the area residents as the nearest shops were not within walking distance.There is a petrol station on Dalmarnock Road and a car wash, with a pub a short distance further north past the railway station (this has been the location of a licensed premises under various names since the 1830s).There are also a lot of small business units in the Nuneaton Street area and theCalder Millerfieldfactory which supplies meat-based products to the fast-food market. Education The area once had four schools:Springfield Road Primary, Springfield Primary, Riverside Secondary and Our Lady of Fatima RC Primary School on Springfield Road have now closed. There is still a 'Dalmarnock Primary School', but it is situated in nearby Bridgeton and should not be counted among the schools within the area. A new primary schoolwas developed by Glasgow City Council; Riverbank Primary\",\n \"Riverbank Primary School, opened in August 2019. Transport Dalmarnock railway station, on theArgyle Line, serves the local area. The station was upgraded for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.Glasgow Corporation Tramwayshad routes serving the area in the first half of the 20th century, using tracks on Dalmarnock Road, London Road and Springfield Road. Dalmarnock Railway Bridges There have been two railway bridges in Dalmarnock crossing theRiver Clyde. The first bridge was built in 1861,and was augmented in 1897by a wider bridge to accommodate the Dalmarnock branch line. The stone pillars of the old bridge are still in situ adjacent to the newer bridge, with the track deck having been removed when it was no longer necessary to have so many lines.<Both bridges were designed by George Graham. Dalmarnock Bridge There is also a road bridge over the River Clyde on Dalmarnock Road (A749) called Dalmarnock Bridge. The first bridge at the location was wooden, erected in 1821 to connect Dalmarnock and theFarme Crossarea of\",\n \"Crossarea of Rutherglen.It was replaced by a new timber bridge in 1848,and in 1891 by the current Dalmarnock Bridge, designed by Glasgow consulting engineers, Crouch & Hogg; it isCategory B listed. The Glasgow side of the bridge is a convenient point for walkers and cyclists to join theClyde WalkwayorNational Cycle Route 75which share a tarmac path along the river at this point. This structure should not be confused with the nearbyRutherglen Bridgewhich also connects Rutherglen and Dalmarnock (as well asGlasgow Green,Oatlands,Shawfieldand Bridgeton), nor with two modern pedestrian bridges: one also connecting to Shawfield, and the other between the 2014 Athletes' Village homes and theCuningar Loop, an area of open ground on a meander of the river, known locally as 'The Vallies' and converted to a park as part of the area's redevelopment). Notable people See also References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":45,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"How old was Stephen Baldwin when Hailey and Justin got married?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"52"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hailey_Bieber"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Baldwin"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Numerical reasoning"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hailey_Bieber', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Baldwin']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hailey_Bieber","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Baldwin"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hailey_Bieber\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Baldwin\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["Hailey Bieber Hailey Rhode Bieber(néeBaldwin; born November 22, 1996) is an American model, socialite, and businesswoman.She has been featured in advertisements forGuess,Ralph Lauren, andTommy Hilfiger. Early life and family Hailey Rhode Baldwin was born inTucson, Arizona,to actorStephen Baldwin, the youngest of theBaldwin brothers, and graphic designer Kennya Deodato Baldwin. Bieber's maternal grandfather is the Brazilian musicianEumir Deodato.She was named afterHalley's Comet. Career Modeling The first modeling agency Bieber signed with wasFord Models,appearing in magazines such asTatler,,LOVE,Vandi-D.Her first commercial campaign was for the clothing brandFrench Connectionin the winter of 2014.In October 2014, Bieber made her runway debut walking forTopshopand French fashion designerSonia Rykiel.In December 2014, she was involved in a photo session forLovemagazine, which also produced a short movie shot by photographer Daniel Jackson and released on the magazine's officialYouTubechannel. In January 2015, Bieber was photographed for AmericanVogueand in March forTeen Vogue.In April, she shot her first magazine cover forJalousemagazine alongside male modelLucky Blue Smith.In the same month she was involved in two further cover-shoots, for the Dutch edition ofL'Officieland the American edition ofWonderlandmagazineand was also pictured in editorials forMiss VogueandWmagazines. In July 2015, she was featured inRalph Laurenadvertising alongside Australian singerCody Simpson, and in October returned to the runway forTommy HilfigerandPhilipp Plein. In January 2016, Bieber appeared in a Ralph Lauren campaign and shot an editorial for the Korean edition ofVogue.After walking again for Tommy Hilfiger in February, Bieber featured in spring/summer campaigns for Philipp Plein and Tommy Hilfiger.In the same period she was also shot forSelfmagazineand filmed for a commercial of clothing brandH&M, which was released in theCoachella Music Festivalperiod in April.In March 2016, Bieber signed a contract with high-profile New York modeling agencyIMG Modelsand in May appeared on the cover ofMarie Claire, who described her as a \"fresh face\".The American cover was also released as the July cover of the Dutch edition of Marie Claire.In June, Bieber walked forMoschinoalongside high-profile supermodels such asMiranda Kerr,Alessandra Ambrosio,Jourdan DunnandChanel Imanand in the same month she also made her debut in advertising forGuess. During the summer of 2016, Bieber was photographed and filmed for anUGGfootwear campaign, alongside supermodelRosie Huntington-Whiteley.Along withJoan Smalls, Bieber was also the face ofKarl Lagerfeld's limited-edition North American clothing line entitled \"Love from Paris\".Bieber also appeared in editorials forGlamour MagazineandItalian Vogue.In September, she took part inNew York Fashion Week, walking for Tommy Hilfiger,Prabal Gurung,Jeremy Scott,Tory BurchandMatty Bovan.In London she made a personal appearance at a pre-London Fashion Weekparty atStradivariuswhere she provided social media presence via selfies and tweets. She then walked forJulien Macdonaldin LFW.DuringMilan Fashion WeekBieber walked forDolce & Gabbanaand inParis Fashion Weekshe walked forElie Saab.Bieber also appeared in advertising for Prabal Gurung Sport.Later that year she featured in campaigns forGuess' holiday collectionand Australian labelSass & bide.In November 2016, Bieber was on the cover of the Australian edition ofHarper's Bazaar, and featured in a FrenchElleeditorial. In 2017, Bieber was featured on the cover of SpanishHarper's Bazaaralongside male modelJon Kortajarenaand the British edition ofElle.Bieber also appeared in the promotion video for theFyre Festival. She has since then stated that the money went towards charity.Bieber appeared in the March 2018 issue of USElle.In September 2018, Bieber became a face of the Power of Good campaign for theShiseido-owned make-up brand bareMinerals.Bieber became the face ofLevi Jeansin 2019. Other ventures Acting and TV appearances In 2005, aged nine, Bieber appeared by the side of her family in the television documentaryLivin It: Unusual Suspects, and in 2009, she made an appearance in an episode of the TV showSaturday Night Liveby the side of her uncleAlec Baldwin. In 2011, she appeared as Australian singerCody Simpson's love interest in the music video of the song \"On My Mind\" as part of her early workand several years later, in 2016, she had a role in a second music video, \"Love to Love You Baby\" by French model and singerBaptiste Giabiconi, acoverof theDonna Summer songreleased in 1975. Hosting On October 25, 2015, Bieber worked as a TV host in a segment of the2015MTV Europe Music AwardsinMilan, Italy. Alongside Italian supermodelBianca Baltiand English rapperTinie Tempahshe revealed the winner of theBest Music Video Award, won byMacklemoreandRyan Lewisfor the video of their song \"Downtown\".On June 19, 2016, she co-hosted with modelGigi Hadidannouncing a live exhibition byShawn Mendesat the2016iHeartRadio Much Music Video AwardsinToronto, Canada. Beginning on May 2, 2017, Bieber began hosting a new TBS showDrop the Micwith rapperMethod Man, featuring four celebrities facing off in a series ofrap battles.As of 2020, the show had been broadcast for two seasons but had yet to be renewed or cancelled for season three. Personal branding In 2016, Bieber collaborated with clothing brandThe Daily Edited, promoting a handbag capsule collection labeled as #theHAILEYedited collection.In the same year, she announced a collaboration with UK footwear brand Public Desire using the hashtag #PDxHB,and announced she would be launching her own make-up collection produced by Australian brand ModelCo. In 2018, Bieber applied for and received a trademark on her name \"Hailey Bieber\" for commercial purposes. On June 15, 2022, Bieber launched a skincare brand, called Rhode, after her middle name. Personal life Bieber's first career aspiration was to become a professionalclassical ballet dancer, but her training ended due to a foot injury. Bieber was linked toShawn Mendesin 2018, with the two making their first public appearance together that May at theMet Gala. Hailey andJustin Bieberbriefly dated from December 2015 to January 2016 before splitting, then reconciled in June 2018.The couple got engaged in July 2018, and confirmed in November 2018 that they were married.On May 9, 2024, it was announced that Hailey was pregnant with the couple's first child.They announced the birth of their son on August 23, 2024. As of 2024, Bieber primarily resides with her husband Justin inLa Quinta, California, previously having lived in their lakefront property inCambridge, Ontarioin Canada.The Biebers held a second wedding ceremony inSouth Carolinaon September 30, 2019. Bieber was raised as anevangelical Christianand attends Churchome, the samenondenominationalchurch attended by her husband.OnWorld Mental Health Day2020, she endorsedJoe Bidenfor theUnited States presidential election.She had initially endorsed SenatorBernie Sandersfor theDemocraticnomination during theparty's primaries in 2020. In addition to English, Bieber speaks some Portuguese as the maternal side of her family is Brazilian. Bieber supportsabortion rights, describing theoverturning ofRoe v. Wadeas \"an extreme loss and disappointment. This is really really scary.\"In May 2022, Bieber appeared alongside almost 160 other celebrities in a \"Bans Off Our Bodies\" full-page advertisement in theNew York Timesadvocating for reproductive rights. Health On March 12, 2022, Bieber was hospitalized withstroke-like symptoms. She was discharged the following day.In a 12-minute video she posted on her YouTube channel, she revealed she had suffered from atransient ischemic attack, caused by apatent foramen ovaleand had surgery to repair theheart defect. In November 2022, she stated that she had anovarian cyst\"the size of an apple\" on her ovary and she had had such cysts \"a few times\". On April 20, 2023, Bieber issued a statement about her mental health where she revealed that she had been \"fragile\" since the beginning of the year. Filmography Television Music videos Awards and nominations References External links","Stephen Baldwin Stephen Andrew Baldwin(born May 12, 1966)is an American actor, producer, director, and activist. He has appeared in the filmsBorn on the Fourth of July(1989),Posse(1993),8 Seconds(1994),Threesome(1994),The Usual Suspects(1995),Bio-Dome(1996) andThe Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas(2000). Baldwin also starred in the television seriesThe Young Riders(1989–1992) and as himself in the reality showsCelebrity Big Brother 7, which he placed 9th, in the United Kingdom andCelebrity Apprentice. In 2004, he directedLivin' It, aChristian-themedskateboardingDVD. He is the youngest of the fourBaldwin brothers. Early life Baldwin was born inMassapequa, New York, the youngest son of Carol Newcomb (néeMartineau), founder of The Baldwin Fund, and Alexander Rae Baldwin Jr., a high schoolsocial studiesteacher and football coach.Baldwin's elder brothers are actorsAlec,DanielandWilliam, they are all known collectively known as the \"Baldwin brothers\". He was raised in theCatholicfaith.In high school, Baldwin participated on the varsity wrestling team, along with William.Baldwin has two elder sisters, Elizabeth Keuchler and Jane Sasso.Baldwin attended theAmerican Academy of Dramatic Arts. Career Baldwin began acting on television and made his film debut inThe Beast. He starred in the western television seriesThe Young Ridersand inThreesome(1994).Baldwin landed a breakthrough role inThe Usual Suspects(1995) and playedBarney RubbleinThe Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas(2000). He participated inCelebrity Mole Hawaii, the first celebrity edition ofThe Molein 2002.ABCbroadcast the program in early 2003. Later that year, he returned forCelebrity Mole Yucatán, which ABC aired in early 2004. In 2006, Baldwin played a villainous thug in the television filmJesse Stone: Night Passage. In August 2007, Baldwin returned to television, whenCMTcast him inTy Murray's Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge, one of nine celebrities cast.In the first episode, Baldwin was injured in a bad fall from a wooden pontoon, breaking hisshoulder bladeand cracking a rib. Under doctor's orders, he left the show in the second episode. From January to March 2008, Baldwin appeared onDonald Trump'sCelebrity ApprenticeonNBC. He finished fifth out of the 14 celebrity contestants. He andTrace Adkinsbecame friends while competing on the show. In October 2008, Baldwin appeared in Adkins's music video, \"Muddy Water\". In March 2013, Baldwin returned to compete inAll-Star Celebrity Apprentice. He was a contestant on the 2009 NBC reality showI'm a Celebrity…Get Me out of Here!.Baldwin quit the show mid-season. On the second episode, he baptizedThe HillsactorSpencer Pratt. In 2019, Baldwin starred in a Filipino film,Kaibigan. Personal life Baldwin resides in the village ofNyack, New York, with his wife, the Braziliangraphic designerKennya Baldwin (née Deodato), whom he met in 1987 and married in 1990. They have two daughters, Alaia andHailey Bieber; both are models. His father-in-law is Brazilian composerEumir Deodato, and Canadian singerJustin Bieberis his son-in-law through marriage to his daughter Hailey. Through his daughters, Alaia and Hailey, Baldwin has two grandchildren. In 2006, Baldwin launched a campaign to prevent an adult bookstore from opening in Nyack.He has a tattoo on his left shoulder of the initials \"HM\" forHannah Montana. He got the tattoo after making a pact withMiley Cyrusthat he would be allowed to cameo on the show if he had the initials tattooed on him. He revealed the tattoo to Cyrus at a book signing inNashvilleon November 10, 2008.He was never given the opportunity to appear on the show and has since said that he regrets getting the tattoo. In June 2009, Baldwin's foreclosed $515,000, 1.4-acre home inRockland County, New Yorkwas publicly auctioned after he and his wife defaulted on more than $824,000 in mortgage payments.In July, Baldwin filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy protectionclaiming more than $2.3 million in debt. Court papers showed he owed $1.2 million on two mortgages on aNew Yorkproperty valued at only $1.1 million, more than $1 million in taxes and credit card debt. Baldwin was the first person to enter theCelebrity Big Brotherhouse on January 3, 2010. The theme for this series was \"Hell\", with a devil head on the front door. He frequently taunted the head by saying \"you're a loser\". During his stay in the house, he frequently read passages from the Bible to his fellow housemates.He failed to win many fans and was evicted on January 22, 2010, becoming the fourth housemate to be evicted. In a three-way vote—againstIvana TrumpandSisqó—he received 50% of the public vote.After his eviction, the website restorestephenbaldwin.org, unsolicited by him, began soliciting cash donations to improve Baldwin's career. In December 2010, Baldwin filed a $3.8 million lawsuit againstKevin Costnerover oil-separating technology that was used to help solve theBP oil spillin the Gulf of Mexico.In June 2012, a jury sided with Costner and awarded Baldwin no damages. In March 2013, Baldwin pleaded guilty to failing to file income taxes for the years 2008, 2009, and 2010. He stated that he never intended to avoid paying taxes and that he had received bad advice from lawyers and accountants. Baldwin agreed to pay $300,000 within a year, or he would be sentenced to five years' probation and have five years to pay the money. Views Religion In September 2006, Baldwin released his book titledThe Unusual Suspect, which details highlights from his personal life, career, days ofdrug abuseand his turn to becoming aborn-again Evangelicalafter theSeptember 11 attacksin 2001.In the same year, Baldwin, Mario D'Ortenzio, andBobby Brewerfounded Breakthrough Ministry, which was designed to useextreme sportsas a ministry via arena tours, called AsSalt Tours. The tours featured extreme sports celebrities, includingChristian Hosoi. In late 2008, Baldwin formed a for-profit organization called Antioch Ministry, which exists \"to facilitate the gifts and calling of Stephen Baldwin.\"In 2009, Baldwin launched a third ministry called Now More Than Ever, designed to reach enlisted men and women in the U.S. armed services around the world. In 2008, Baldwin teamed up withconservativetalk-radio host Kevin McCullough to put together a Saturday radio show calledBaldwin/McCullough Radio. As of April 18, 2009, the show aired on 213 stations and in more than 400 cities across the US and worldwide on Sirius 161 and XM 227.Baldwin appears weekly on the show from the broadcast studios in New York City and from various locations around the country when he is traveling for other business purposes. Politics In 2007, Baldwin endorsedSam Brownbackfor U.S. president.After Brownback ended his campaign, Baldwin switched his support toMike Huckabee.Baldwin was an outspoken advocate of theJohn McCain–Sarah Palinpresidential ticket after Huckabee dropped out of the2008 presidential election. In 2011, Baldwin mentioned the possibility of enteringNew York City's 2013 mayoral electionas an opponent of his brotherAlec, who had suggested that he might run himself. Baldwin was among the first Hollywood celebrities to endorseDonald Trumpin the2016 presidential election. Filmography Film Television Director Awards References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Hailey Bieber Hailey Rhode Bieber(néeBaldwin; born November 22, 1996) is an American model, socialite, and businesswoman.She has been featured in advertisements forGuess,Ralph Lauren, andTommy Hilfiger. Early life and family Hailey Rhode Baldwin was born inTucson, Arizona,to actorStephen Baldwin, the youngest of theBaldwin brothers, and graphic designer Kennya Deodato Baldwin. Bieber's maternal grandfather is the Brazilian musicianEumir Deodato.She was named afterHalley's Comet. Career Modeling The first modeling agency Bieber signed with wasFord Models,appearing in magazines such asTatler,,LOVE,Vandi-D.Her first commercial campaign was for the clothing brandFrench Connectionin the winter of 2014.In October 2014, Bieber made her runway debut walking forTopshopand French fashion designerSonia Rykiel.In December 2014, she was involved in a photo session forLovemagazine, which also produced a short movie shot by photographer Daniel Jackson and released on the magazine's officialYouTubechannel. In January 2015, Bieber was photographed for AmericanVogueand in March forTeen Vogue.In April, she shot her first magazine cover forJalousemagazine alongside male modelLucky Blue Smith.In the same month she was involved in two further cover-shoots, for the Dutch edition ofL'Officieland the American edition ofWonderlandmagazineand was also pictured in editorials forMiss VogueandWmagazines. In July 2015, she was featured inRalph Laurenadvertising alongside Australian singerCody Simpson, and in October returned to the runway forTommy HilfigerandPhilipp Plein. In January 2016, Bieber appeared in a Ralph Lauren campaign and shot an editorial for the Korean edition ofVogue.After walking again for Tommy Hilfiger in February, Bieber featured in spring/summer campaigns for Philipp Plein and Tommy Hilfiger.In the same period she was also shot forSelfmagazineand filmed for a commercial of clothing brandH&M, which was released in theCoachella Music Festivalperiod in April.In March 2016, Bieber signed a contract with high-profile New York modeling agencyIMG Modelsand in May appeared on the cover ofMarie Claire, who described her as a \\\"fresh face\\\".The American cover was also released as the July cover of the Dutch edition of Marie Claire.In June, Bieber walked forMoschinoalongside high-profile supermodels such asMiranda Kerr,Alessandra Ambrosio,Jourdan DunnandChanel Imanand in the same month she also made her debut in advertising forGuess. During the summer of 2016, Bieber was photographed and filmed for anUGGfootwear campaign, alongside supermodelRosie Huntington-Whiteley.Along withJoan Smalls, Bieber was also the face ofKarl Lagerfeld's limited-edition North American clothing line entitled \\\"Love from Paris\\\".Bieber also appeared in editorials forGlamour MagazineandItalian Vogue.In September, she took part inNew York Fashion Week, walking for Tommy Hilfiger,Prabal Gurung,Jeremy Scott,Tory BurchandMatty Bovan.In London she made a personal appearance at a pre-London Fashion Weekparty atStradivariuswhere she provided social media presence via selfies and tweets. She then walked forJulien Macdonaldin LFW.DuringMilan Fashion WeekBieber walked forDolce & Gabbanaand inParis Fashion Weekshe walked forElie Saab.Bieber also appeared in advertising for Prabal Gurung Sport.Later that year she featured in campaigns forGuess' holiday collectionand Australian labelSass & bide.In November 2016, Bieber was on the cover of the Australian edition ofHarper's Bazaar, and featured in a FrenchElleeditorial. In 2017, Bieber was featured on the cover of SpanishHarper's Bazaaralongside male modelJon Kortajarenaand the British edition ofElle.Bieber also appeared in the promotion video for theFyre Festival. She has since then stated that the money went towards charity.Bieber appeared in the March 2018 issue of USElle.In September 2018, Bieber became a face of the Power of Good campaign for theShiseido-owned make-up brand bareMinerals.Bieber became the face ofLevi Jeansin 2019. Other ventures Acting and TV appearances In 2005, aged nine, Bieber appeared by the side of her family in the television documentaryLivin It: Unusual Suspects, and in 2009, she made an appearance in an episode of the TV showSaturday Night Liveby the side of her uncleAlec Baldwin. In 2011, she appeared as Australian singerCody Simpson's love interest in the music video of the song \\\"On My Mind\\\" as part of her early workand several years later, in 2016, she had a role in a second music video, \\\"Love to Love You Baby\\\" by French model and singerBaptiste Giabiconi, acoverof theDonna Summer songreleased in 1975. Hosting On October 25, 2015, Bieber worked as a TV host in a segment of the2015MTV Europe Music AwardsinMilan, Italy. Alongside Italian supermodelBianca Baltiand English rapperTinie Tempahshe revealed the winner of theBest Music Video Award, won byMacklemoreandRyan Lewisfor the video of their song \\\"Downtown\\\".On June 19, 2016, she co-hosted with modelGigi Hadidannouncing a live exhibition byShawn Mendesat the2016iHeartRadio Much Music Video AwardsinToronto, Canada. Beginning on May 2, 2017, Bieber began hosting a new TBS showDrop the Micwith rapperMethod Man, featuring four celebrities facing off in a series ofrap battles.As of 2020, the show had been broadcast for two seasons but had yet to be renewed or cancelled for season three. Personal branding In 2016, Bieber collaborated with clothing brandThe Daily Edited, promoting a handbag capsule collection labeled as #theHAILEYedited collection.In the same year, she announced a collaboration with UK footwear brand Public Desire using the hashtag #PDxHB,and announced she would be launching her own make-up collection produced by Australian brand ModelCo. In 2018, Bieber applied for and received a trademark on her name \\\"Hailey Bieber\\\" for commercial purposes. On June 15, 2022, Bieber launched a skincare brand, called Rhode, after her middle name. Personal life Bieber's first career aspiration was to become a professionalclassical ballet dancer, but her training ended due to a foot injury. Bieber was linked toShawn Mendesin 2018, with the two making their first public appearance together that May at theMet Gala. Hailey andJustin Bieberbriefly dated from December 2015 to January 2016 before splitting, then reconciled in June 2018.The couple got engaged in July 2018, and confirmed in November 2018 that they were married.On May 9, 2024, it was announced that Hailey was pregnant with the couple's first child.They announced the birth of their son on August 23, 2024. As of 2024, Bieber primarily resides with her husband Justin inLa Quinta, California, previously having lived in their lakefront property inCambridge, Ontarioin Canada.The Biebers held a second wedding ceremony inSouth Carolinaon September 30, 2019. Bieber was raised as anevangelical Christianand attends Churchome, the samenondenominationalchurch attended by her husband.OnWorld Mental Health Day2020, she endorsedJoe Bidenfor theUnited States presidential election.She had initially endorsed SenatorBernie Sandersfor theDemocraticnomination during theparty's primaries in 2020. In addition to English, Bieber speaks some Portuguese as the maternal side of her family is Brazilian. Bieber supportsabortion rights, describing theoverturning ofRoe v. Wadeas \\\"an extreme loss and disappointment. This is really really scary.\\\"In May 2022, Bieber appeared alongside almost 160 other celebrities in a \\\"Bans Off Our Bodies\\\" full-page advertisement in theNew York Timesadvocating for reproductive rights. Health On March 12, 2022, Bieber was hospitalized withstroke-like symptoms. She was discharged the following day.In a 12-minute video she posted on her YouTube channel, she revealed she had suffered from atransient ischemic attack, caused by apatent foramen ovaleand had surgery to repair theheart defect. In November 2022, she stated that she had anovarian cyst\\\"the size of an apple\\\" on her ovary and she had had such cysts \\\"a few times\\\". On April 20, 2023, Bieber issued a statement about her mental health where she revealed that she had been \\\"fragile\\\" since the beginning of the year. Filmography Television Music videos Awards and nominations References External links\",\n \"Stephen Baldwin Stephen Andrew Baldwin(born May 12, 1966)is an American actor, producer, director, and activist. He has appeared in the filmsBorn on the Fourth of July(1989),Posse(1993),8 Seconds(1994),Threesome(1994),The Usual Suspects(1995),Bio-Dome(1996) andThe Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas(2000). Baldwin also starred in the television seriesThe Young Riders(1989–1992) and as himself in the reality showsCelebrity Big Brother 7, which he placed 9th, in the United Kingdom andCelebrity Apprentice. In 2004, he directedLivin' It, aChristian-themedskateboardingDVD. He is the youngest of the fourBaldwin brothers. Early life Baldwin was born inMassapequa, New York, the youngest son of Carol Newcomb (néeMartineau), founder of The Baldwin Fund, and Alexander Rae Baldwin Jr., a high schoolsocial studiesteacher and football coach.Baldwin's elder brothers are actorsAlec,DanielandWilliam, they are all known collectively known as the \\\"Baldwin brothers\\\". He was raised in theCatholicfaith.In high school, Baldwin participated on the varsity wrestling team, along with William.Baldwin has two elder sisters, Elizabeth Keuchler and Jane Sasso.Baldwin attended theAmerican Academy of Dramatic Arts. Career Baldwin began acting on television and made his film debut inThe Beast. He starred in the western television seriesThe Young Ridersand inThreesome(1994).Baldwin landed a breakthrough role inThe Usual Suspects(1995) and playedBarney RubbleinThe Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas(2000). He participated inCelebrity Mole Hawaii, the first celebrity edition ofThe Molein 2002.ABCbroadcast the program in early 2003. Later that year, he returned forCelebrity Mole Yucatán, which ABC aired in early 2004. In 2006, Baldwin played a villainous thug in the television filmJesse Stone: Night Passage. In August 2007, Baldwin returned to television, whenCMTcast him inTy Murray's Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge, one of nine celebrities cast.In the first episode, Baldwin was injured in a bad fall from a wooden pontoon, breaking hisshoulder bladeand cracking a rib. Under doctor's orders, he left the show in the second episode. From January to March 2008, Baldwin appeared onDonald Trump'sCelebrity ApprenticeonNBC. He finished fifth out of the 14 celebrity contestants. He andTrace Adkinsbecame friends while competing on the show. In October 2008, Baldwin appeared in Adkins's music video, \\\"Muddy Water\\\". In March 2013, Baldwin returned to compete inAll-Star Celebrity Apprentice. He was a contestant on the 2009 NBC reality showI'm a Celebrity…Get Me out of Here!.Baldwin quit the show mid-season. On the second episode, he baptizedThe HillsactorSpencer Pratt. In 2019, Baldwin starred in a Filipino film,Kaibigan. Personal life Baldwin resides in the village ofNyack, New York, with his wife, the Braziliangraphic designerKennya Baldwin (née Deodato), whom he met in 1987 and married in 1990. They have two daughters, Alaia andHailey Bieber; both are models. His father-in-law is Brazilian composerEumir Deodato, and Canadian singerJustin Bieberis his son-in-law through marriage to his daughter Hailey. Through his daughters, Alaia and Hailey, Baldwin has two grandchildren. In 2006, Baldwin launched a campaign to prevent an adult bookstore from opening in Nyack.He has a tattoo on his left shoulder of the initials \\\"HM\\\" forHannah Montana. He got the tattoo after making a pact withMiley Cyrusthat he would be allowed to cameo on the show if he had the initials tattooed on him. He revealed the tattoo to Cyrus at a book signing inNashvilleon November 10, 2008.He was never given the opportunity to appear on the show and has since said that he regrets getting the tattoo. In June 2009, Baldwin's foreclosed $515,000, 1.4-acre home inRockland County, New Yorkwas publicly auctioned after he and his wife defaulted on more than $824,000 in mortgage payments.In July, Baldwin filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy protectionclaiming more than $2.3 million in debt. Court papers showed he owed $1.2 million on two mortgages on aNew Yorkproperty valued at only $1.1 million, more than $1 million in taxes and credit card debt. Baldwin was the first person to enter theCelebrity Big Brotherhouse on January 3, 2010. The theme for this series was \\\"Hell\\\", with a devil head on the front door. He frequently taunted the head by saying \\\"you're a loser\\\". During his stay in the house, he frequently read passages from the Bible to his fellow housemates.He failed to win many fans and was evicted on January 22, 2010, becoming the fourth housemate to be evicted. In a three-way vote—againstIvana TrumpandSisqó—he received 50% of the public vote.After his eviction, the website restorestephenbaldwin.org, unsolicited by him, began soliciting cash donations to improve Baldwin's career. In December 2010, Baldwin filed a $3.8 million lawsuit againstKevin Costnerover oil-separating technology that was used to help solve theBP oil spillin the Gulf of Mexico.In June 2012, a jury sided with Costner and awarded Baldwin no damages. In March 2013, Baldwin pleaded guilty to failing to file income taxes for the years 2008, 2009, and 2010. He stated that he never intended to avoid paying taxes and that he had received bad advice from lawyers and accountants. Baldwin agreed to pay $300,000 within a year, or he would be sentenced to five years' probation and have five years to pay the money. Views Religion In September 2006, Baldwin released his book titledThe Unusual Suspect, which details highlights from his personal life, career, days ofdrug abuseand his turn to becoming aborn-again Evangelicalafter theSeptember 11 attacksin 2001.In the same year, Baldwin, Mario D'Ortenzio, andBobby Brewerfounded Breakthrough Ministry, which was designed to useextreme sportsas a ministry via arena tours, called AsSalt Tours. The tours featured extreme sports celebrities, includingChristian Hosoi. In late 2008, Baldwin formed a for-profit organization called Antioch Ministry, which exists \\\"to facilitate the gifts and calling of Stephen Baldwin.\\\"In 2009, Baldwin launched a third ministry called Now More Than Ever, designed to reach enlisted men and women in the U.S. armed services around the world. In 2008, Baldwin teamed up withconservativetalk-radio host Kevin McCullough to put together a Saturday radio show calledBaldwin/McCullough Radio. As of April 18, 2009, the show aired on 213 stations and in more than 400 cities across the US and worldwide on Sirius 161 and XM 227.Baldwin appears weekly on the show from the broadcast studios in New York City and from various locations around the country when he is traveling for other business purposes. Politics In 2007, Baldwin endorsedSam Brownbackfor U.S. president.After Brownback ended his campaign, Baldwin switched his support toMike Huckabee.Baldwin was an outspoken advocate of theJohn McCain–Sarah Palinpresidential ticket after Huckabee dropped out of the2008 presidential election. In 2011, Baldwin mentioned the possibility of enteringNew York City's 2013 mayoral electionas an opponent of his brotherAlec, who had suggested that he might run himself. Baldwin was among the first Hollywood celebrities to endorseDonald Trumpin the2016 presidential election. Filmography Film Television Director Awards References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Hailey Bieber Hailey Rhode Bieber(néeBaldwin; born November 22, 1996) is an American model, socialite, and businesswoman.She has been featured in advertisements forGuess,Ralph Lauren, andTommy Hilfiger. Early life and family Hailey Rhode Baldwin was born inTucson, Arizona,to actorStephen Baldwin, the youngest of theBaldwin brothers, and graphic designer Kennya Deodato Baldwin. Bieber's maternal grandfather is the Brazilian musicianEumir Deodato.She was named afterHalley's Comet. Career Modeling The first modeling agency Bieber signed with wasFord Models,appearing in magazines such asTatler,,LOVE,Vandi-D.Her first commercial campaign was for the clothing brandFrench Connectionin the winter of 2014.In October 2014, Bieber made her runway debut walking forTopshopand French fashion designerSonia Rykiel.In December 2014, she was involved in a photo session forLovemagazine, which also produced a short movie shot by photographer Daniel Jackson and released on the magazine's officialYouTubechannel. In January 2015,","In January 2015, Bieber was photographed for AmericanVogueand in March forTeen Vogue.In April, she shot her first magazine cover forJalousemagazine alongside male modelLucky Blue Smith.In the same month she was involved in two further cover-shoots, for the Dutch edition ofL'Officieland the American edition ofWonderlandmagazineand was also pictured in editorials forMiss VogueandWmagazines. In July 2015, she was featured inRalph Laurenadvertising alongside Australian singerCody Simpson, and in October returned to the runway forTommy HilfigerandPhilipp Plein. In January 2016, Bieber appeared in a Ralph Lauren campaign and shot an editorial for the Korean edition ofVogue.After walking again for Tommy Hilfiger in February, Bieber featured in spring/summer campaigns for Philipp Plein and Tommy Hilfiger.In the same period she was also shot forSelfmagazineand filmed for a commercial of clothing brandH&M, which was released in theCoachella Music Festivalperiod in April.In March 2016, Bieber signed a contract with","a contract with high-profile New York modeling agencyIMG Modelsand in May appeared on the cover ofMarie Claire, who described her as a \"fresh face\".The American cover was also released as the July cover of the Dutch edition of Marie Claire.In June, Bieber walked forMoschinoalongside high-profile supermodels such asMiranda Kerr,Alessandra Ambrosio,Jourdan DunnandChanel Imanand in the same month she also made her debut in advertising forGuess. During the summer of 2016, Bieber was photographed and filmed for anUGGfootwear campaign, alongside supermodelRosie Huntington-Whiteley.Along withJoan Smalls, Bieber was also the face ofKarl Lagerfeld's limited-edition North American clothing line entitled \"Love from Paris\".Bieber also appeared in editorials forGlamour MagazineandItalian Vogue.In September, she took part inNew York Fashion Week, walking for Tommy Hilfiger,Prabal Gurung,Jeremy Scott,Tory BurchandMatty Bovan.In London she made a personal appearance at a pre-London Fashion Weekparty atStradivariuswhere she","she provided social media presence via selfies and tweets. She then walked forJulien Macdonaldin LFW.DuringMilan Fashion WeekBieber walked forDolce & Gabbanaand inParis Fashion Weekshe walked forElie Saab.Bieber also appeared in advertising for Prabal Gurung Sport.Later that year she featured in campaigns forGuess' holiday collectionand Australian labelSass & bide.In November 2016, Bieber was on the cover of the Australian edition ofHarper's Bazaar, and featured in a FrenchElleeditorial. In 2017, Bieber was featured on the cover of SpanishHarper's Bazaaralongside male modelJon Kortajarenaand the British edition ofElle.Bieber also appeared in the promotion video for theFyre Festival. She has since then stated that the money went towards charity.Bieber appeared in the March 2018 issue of USElle.In September 2018, Bieber became a face of the Power of Good campaign for theShiseido-owned make-up brand bareMinerals.Bieber became the face ofLevi Jeansin 2019. Other ventures Acting and TV appearances In 2005, aged","In 2005, aged nine, Bieber appeared by the side of her family in the television documentaryLivin It: Unusual Suspects, and in 2009, she made an appearance in an episode of the TV showSaturday Night Liveby the side of her uncleAlec Baldwin. In 2011, she appeared as Australian singerCody Simpson's love interest in the music video of the song \"On My Mind\" as part of her early workand several years later, in 2016, she had a role in a second music video, \"Love to Love You Baby\" by French model and singerBaptiste Giabiconi, acoverof theDonna Summer songreleased in 1975. Hosting On October 25, 2015, Bieber worked as a TV host in a segment of the2015MTV Europe Music AwardsinMilan, Italy. Alongside Italian supermodelBianca Baltiand English rapperTinie Tempahshe revealed the winner of theBest Music Video Award, won byMacklemoreandRyan Lewisfor the video of their song \"Downtown\".On June 19, 2016, she co-hosted with modelGigi Hadidannouncing a live exhibition byShawn Mendesat the2016iHeartRadio Much Music Video","Much Music Video AwardsinToronto, Canada. Beginning on May 2, 2017, Bieber began hosting a new TBS showDrop the Micwith rapperMethod Man, featuring four celebrities facing off in a series ofrap battles.As of 2020, the show had been broadcast for two seasons but had yet to be renewed or cancelled for season three. Personal branding In 2016, Bieber collaborated with clothing brandThe Daily Edited, promoting a handbag capsule collection labeled as #theHAILEYedited collection.In the same year, she announced a collaboration with UK footwear brand Public Desire using the hashtag #PDxHB,and announced she would be launching her own make-up collection produced by Australian brand ModelCo. In 2018, Bieber applied for and received a trademark on her name \"Hailey Bieber\" for commercial purposes. On June 15, 2022, Bieber launched a skincare brand, called Rhode, after her middle name. Personal life Bieber's first career aspiration was to become a professionalclassical ballet dancer, but her training ended due to a foot","ended due to a foot injury. Bieber was linked toShawn Mendesin 2018, with the two making their first public appearance together that May at theMet Gala. Hailey andJustin Bieberbriefly dated from December 2015 to January 2016 before splitting, then reconciled in June 2018.The couple got engaged in July 2018, and confirmed in November 2018 that they were married.On May 9, 2024, it was announced that Hailey was pregnant with the couple's first child.They announced the birth of their son on August 23, 2024. As of 2024, Bieber primarily resides with her husband Justin inLa Quinta, California, previously having lived in their lakefront property inCambridge, Ontarioin Canada.The Biebers held a second wedding ceremony inSouth Carolinaon September 30, 2019. Bieber was raised as anevangelical Christianand attends Churchome, the samenondenominationalchurch attended by her husband.OnWorld Mental Health Day2020, she endorsedJoe Bidenfor theUnited States presidential election.She had initially endorsed SenatorBernie","SenatorBernie Sandersfor theDemocraticnomination during theparty's primaries in 2020. In addition to English, Bieber speaks some Portuguese as the maternal side of her family is Brazilian. Bieber supportsabortion rights, describing theoverturning ofRoe v. Wadeas \"an extreme loss and disappointment. This is really really scary.\"In May 2022, Bieber appeared alongside almost 160 other celebrities in a \"Bans Off Our Bodies\" full-page advertisement in theNew York Timesadvocating for reproductive rights. Health On March 12, 2022, Bieber was hospitalized withstroke-like symptoms. She was discharged the following day.In a 12-minute video she posted on her YouTube channel, she revealed she had suffered from atransient ischemic attack, caused by apatent foramen ovaleand had surgery to repair theheart defect. In November 2022, she stated that she had anovarian cyst\"the size of an apple\" on her ovary and she had had such cysts \"a few times\". On April 20, 2023, Bieber issued a statement about her mental health where she","health where she revealed that she had been \"fragile\" since the beginning of the year. Filmography Television Music videos Awards and nominations References External links","Stephen Baldwin Stephen Andrew Baldwin(born May 12, 1966)is an American actor, producer, director, and activist. He has appeared in the filmsBorn on the Fourth of July(1989),Posse(1993),8 Seconds(1994),Threesome(1994),The Usual Suspects(1995),Bio-Dome(1996) andThe Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas(2000). Baldwin also starred in the television seriesThe Young Riders(1989–1992) and as himself in the reality showsCelebrity Big Brother 7, which he placed 9th, in the United Kingdom andCelebrity Apprentice. In 2004, he directedLivin' It, aChristian-themedskateboardingDVD. He is the youngest of the fourBaldwin brothers. Early life Baldwin was born inMassapequa, New York, the youngest son of Carol Newcomb (néeMartineau), founder of The Baldwin Fund, and Alexander Rae Baldwin Jr., a high schoolsocial studiesteacher and football coach.Baldwin's elder brothers are actorsAlec,DanielandWilliam, they are all known collectively known as the \"Baldwin brothers\". He was raised in theCatholicfaith.In high school, Baldwin","school, Baldwin participated on the varsity wrestling team, along with William.Baldwin has two elder sisters, Elizabeth Keuchler and Jane Sasso.Baldwin attended theAmerican Academy of Dramatic Arts. Career Baldwin began acting on television and made his film debut inThe Beast. He starred in the western television seriesThe Young Ridersand inThreesome(1994).Baldwin landed a breakthrough role inThe Usual Suspects(1995) and playedBarney RubbleinThe Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas(2000). He participated inCelebrity Mole Hawaii, the first celebrity edition ofThe Molein 2002.ABCbroadcast the program in early 2003. Later that year, he returned forCelebrity Mole Yucatán, which ABC aired in early 2004. In 2006, Baldwin played a villainous thug in the television filmJesse Stone: Night Passage. In August 2007, Baldwin returned to television, whenCMTcast him inTy Murray's Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge, one of nine celebrities cast.In the first episode, Baldwin was injured in a bad fall from a wooden pontoon, breaking","pontoon, breaking hisshoulder bladeand cracking a rib. Under doctor's orders, he left the show in the second episode. From January to March 2008, Baldwin appeared onDonald Trump'sCelebrity ApprenticeonNBC. He finished fifth out of the 14 celebrity contestants. He andTrace Adkinsbecame friends while competing on the show. In October 2008, Baldwin appeared in Adkins's music video, \"Muddy Water\". In March 2013, Baldwin returned to compete inAll-Star Celebrity Apprentice. He was a contestant on the 2009 NBC reality showI'm a Celebrity…Get Me out of Here!.Baldwin quit the show mid-season. On the second episode, he baptizedThe HillsactorSpencer Pratt. In 2019, Baldwin starred in a Filipino film,Kaibigan. Personal life Baldwin resides in the village ofNyack, New York, with his wife, the Braziliangraphic designerKennya Baldwin (née Deodato), whom he met in 1987 and married in 1990. They have two daughters, Alaia andHailey Bieber; both are models. His father-in-law is Brazilian composerEumir Deodato, and Canadian","and Canadian singerJustin Bieberis his son-in-law through marriage to his daughter Hailey. Through his daughters, Alaia and Hailey, Baldwin has two grandchildren. In 2006, Baldwin launched a campaign to prevent an adult bookstore from opening in Nyack.He has a tattoo on his left shoulder of the initials \"HM\" forHannah Montana. He got the tattoo after making a pact withMiley Cyrusthat he would be allowed to cameo on the show if he had the initials tattooed on him. He revealed the tattoo to Cyrus at a book signing inNashvilleon November 10, 2008.He was never given the opportunity to appear on the show and has since said that he regrets getting the tattoo. In June 2009, Baldwin's foreclosed $515,000, 1.4-acre home inRockland County, New Yorkwas publicly auctioned after he and his wife defaulted on more than $824,000 in mortgage payments.In July, Baldwin filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy protectionclaiming more than $2.3 million in debt. Court papers showed he owed $1.2 million on two mortgages on aNew Yorkproperty","aNew Yorkproperty valued at only $1.1 million, more than $1 million in taxes and credit card debt. Baldwin was the first person to enter theCelebrity Big Brotherhouse on January 3, 2010. The theme for this series was \"Hell\", with a devil head on the front door. He frequently taunted the head by saying \"you're a loser\". During his stay in the house, he frequently read passages from the Bible to his fellow housemates.He failed to win many fans and was evicted on January 22, 2010, becoming the fourth housemate to be evicted. In a three-way vote—againstIvana TrumpandSisqó—he received 50% of the public vote.After his eviction, the website restorestephenbaldwin.org, unsolicited by him, began soliciting cash donations to improve Baldwin's career. In December 2010, Baldwin filed a $3.8 million lawsuit againstKevin Costnerover oil-separating technology that was used to help solve theBP oil spillin the Gulf of Mexico.In June 2012, a jury sided with Costner and awarded Baldwin no damages. In March 2013, Baldwin pleaded","Baldwin pleaded guilty to failing to file income taxes for the years 2008, 2009, and 2010. He stated that he never intended to avoid paying taxes and that he had received bad advice from lawyers and accountants. Baldwin agreed to pay $300,000 within a year, or he would be sentenced to five years' probation and have five years to pay the money. Views Religion In September 2006, Baldwin released his book titledThe Unusual Suspect, which details highlights from his personal life, career, days ofdrug abuseand his turn to becoming aborn-again Evangelicalafter theSeptember 11 attacksin 2001.In the same year, Baldwin, Mario D'Ortenzio, andBobby Brewerfounded Breakthrough Ministry, which was designed to useextreme sportsas a ministry via arena tours, called AsSalt Tours. The tours featured extreme sports celebrities, includingChristian Hosoi. In late 2008, Baldwin formed a for-profit organization called Antioch Ministry, which exists \"to facilitate the gifts and calling of Stephen Baldwin.\"In 2009, Baldwin launched","Baldwin launched a third ministry called Now More Than Ever, designed to reach enlisted men and women in the U.S. armed services around the world. In 2008, Baldwin teamed up withconservativetalk-radio host Kevin McCullough to put together a Saturday radio show calledBaldwin/McCullough Radio. As of April 18, 2009, the show aired on 213 stations and in more than 400 cities across the US and worldwide on Sirius 161 and XM 227.Baldwin appears weekly on the show from the broadcast studios in New York City and from various locations around the country when he is traveling for other business purposes. Politics In 2007, Baldwin endorsedSam Brownbackfor U.S. president.After Brownback ended his campaign, Baldwin switched his support toMike Huckabee.Baldwin was an outspoken advocate of theJohn McCain–Sarah Palinpresidential ticket after Huckabee dropped out of the2008 presidential election. In 2011, Baldwin mentioned the possibility of enteringNew York City's 2013 mayoral electionas an opponent of his brotherAlec, who","brotherAlec, who had suggested that he might run himself. Baldwin was among the first Hollywood celebrities to endorseDonald Trumpin the2016 presidential election. Filmography Film Television Director Awards References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Hailey Bieber Hailey Rhode Bieber(néeBaldwin; born November 22, 1996) is an American model, socialite, and businesswoman.She has been featured in advertisements forGuess,Ralph Lauren, andTommy Hilfiger. Early life and family Hailey Rhode Baldwin was born inTucson, Arizona,to actorStephen Baldwin, the youngest of theBaldwin brothers, and graphic designer Kennya Deodato Baldwin. Bieber's maternal grandfather is the Brazilian musicianEumir Deodato.She was named afterHalley's Comet. Career Modeling The first modeling agency Bieber signed with wasFord Models,appearing in magazines such asTatler,,LOVE,Vandi-D.Her first commercial campaign was for the clothing brandFrench Connectionin the winter of 2014.In October 2014, Bieber made her runway debut walking forTopshopand French fashion designerSonia Rykiel.In December 2014, she was involved in a photo session forLovemagazine, which also produced a short movie shot by photographer Daniel Jackson and released on the magazine's officialYouTubechannel. In January 2015,\",\n \"In January 2015, Bieber was photographed for AmericanVogueand in March forTeen Vogue.In April, she shot her first magazine cover forJalousemagazine alongside male modelLucky Blue Smith.In the same month she was involved in two further cover-shoots, for the Dutch edition ofL'Officieland the American edition ofWonderlandmagazineand was also pictured in editorials forMiss VogueandWmagazines. In July 2015, she was featured inRalph Laurenadvertising alongside Australian singerCody Simpson, and in October returned to the runway forTommy HilfigerandPhilipp Plein. In January 2016, Bieber appeared in a Ralph Lauren campaign and shot an editorial for the Korean edition ofVogue.After walking again for Tommy Hilfiger in February, Bieber featured in spring/summer campaigns for Philipp Plein and Tommy Hilfiger.In the same period she was also shot forSelfmagazineand filmed for a commercial of clothing brandH&M, which was released in theCoachella Music Festivalperiod in April.In March 2016, Bieber signed a contract with\",\n \"a contract with high-profile New York modeling agencyIMG Modelsand in May appeared on the cover ofMarie Claire, who described her as a \\\"fresh face\\\".The American cover was also released as the July cover of the Dutch edition of Marie Claire.In June, Bieber walked forMoschinoalongside high-profile supermodels such asMiranda Kerr,Alessandra Ambrosio,Jourdan DunnandChanel Imanand in the same month she also made her debut in advertising forGuess. During the summer of 2016, Bieber was photographed and filmed for anUGGfootwear campaign, alongside supermodelRosie Huntington-Whiteley.Along withJoan Smalls, Bieber was also the face ofKarl Lagerfeld's limited-edition North American clothing line entitled \\\"Love from Paris\\\".Bieber also appeared in editorials forGlamour MagazineandItalian Vogue.In September, she took part inNew York Fashion Week, walking for Tommy Hilfiger,Prabal Gurung,Jeremy Scott,Tory BurchandMatty Bovan.In London she made a personal appearance at a pre-London Fashion Weekparty atStradivariuswhere she\",\n \"she provided social media presence via selfies and tweets. She then walked forJulien Macdonaldin LFW.DuringMilan Fashion WeekBieber walked forDolce & Gabbanaand inParis Fashion Weekshe walked forElie Saab.Bieber also appeared in advertising for Prabal Gurung Sport.Later that year she featured in campaigns forGuess' holiday collectionand Australian labelSass & bide.In November 2016, Bieber was on the cover of the Australian edition ofHarper's Bazaar, and featured in a FrenchElleeditorial. In 2017, Bieber was featured on the cover of SpanishHarper's Bazaaralongside male modelJon Kortajarenaand the British edition ofElle.Bieber also appeared in the promotion video for theFyre Festival. She has since then stated that the money went towards charity.Bieber appeared in the March 2018 issue of USElle.In September 2018, Bieber became a face of the Power of Good campaign for theShiseido-owned make-up brand bareMinerals.Bieber became the face ofLevi Jeansin 2019. Other ventures Acting and TV appearances In 2005, aged\",\n \"In 2005, aged nine, Bieber appeared by the side of her family in the television documentaryLivin It: Unusual Suspects, and in 2009, she made an appearance in an episode of the TV showSaturday Night Liveby the side of her uncleAlec Baldwin. In 2011, she appeared as Australian singerCody Simpson's love interest in the music video of the song \\\"On My Mind\\\" as part of her early workand several years later, in 2016, she had a role in a second music video, \\\"Love to Love You Baby\\\" by French model and singerBaptiste Giabiconi, acoverof theDonna Summer songreleased in 1975. Hosting On October 25, 2015, Bieber worked as a TV host in a segment of the2015MTV Europe Music AwardsinMilan, Italy. Alongside Italian supermodelBianca Baltiand English rapperTinie Tempahshe revealed the winner of theBest Music Video Award, won byMacklemoreandRyan Lewisfor the video of their song \\\"Downtown\\\".On June 19, 2016, she co-hosted with modelGigi Hadidannouncing a live exhibition byShawn Mendesat the2016iHeartRadio Much Music Video\",\n \"Much Music Video AwardsinToronto, Canada. Beginning on May 2, 2017, Bieber began hosting a new TBS showDrop the Micwith rapperMethod Man, featuring four celebrities facing off in a series ofrap battles.As of 2020, the show had been broadcast for two seasons but had yet to be renewed or cancelled for season three. Personal branding In 2016, Bieber collaborated with clothing brandThe Daily Edited, promoting a handbag capsule collection labeled as #theHAILEYedited collection.In the same year, she announced a collaboration with UK footwear brand Public Desire using the hashtag #PDxHB,and announced she would be launching her own make-up collection produced by Australian brand ModelCo. In 2018, Bieber applied for and received a trademark on her name \\\"Hailey Bieber\\\" for commercial purposes. On June 15, 2022, Bieber launched a skincare brand, called Rhode, after her middle name. Personal life Bieber's first career aspiration was to become a professionalclassical ballet dancer, but her training ended due to a foot\",\n \"ended due to a foot injury. Bieber was linked toShawn Mendesin 2018, with the two making their first public appearance together that May at theMet Gala. Hailey andJustin Bieberbriefly dated from December 2015 to January 2016 before splitting, then reconciled in June 2018.The couple got engaged in July 2018, and confirmed in November 2018 that they were married.On May 9, 2024, it was announced that Hailey was pregnant with the couple's first child.They announced the birth of their son on August 23, 2024. As of 2024, Bieber primarily resides with her husband Justin inLa Quinta, California, previously having lived in their lakefront property inCambridge, Ontarioin Canada.The Biebers held a second wedding ceremony inSouth Carolinaon September 30, 2019. Bieber was raised as anevangelical Christianand attends Churchome, the samenondenominationalchurch attended by her husband.OnWorld Mental Health Day2020, she endorsedJoe Bidenfor theUnited States presidential election.She had initially endorsed SenatorBernie\",\n \"SenatorBernie Sandersfor theDemocraticnomination during theparty's primaries in 2020. In addition to English, Bieber speaks some Portuguese as the maternal side of her family is Brazilian. Bieber supportsabortion rights, describing theoverturning ofRoe v. Wadeas \\\"an extreme loss and disappointment. This is really really scary.\\\"In May 2022, Bieber appeared alongside almost 160 other celebrities in a \\\"Bans Off Our Bodies\\\" full-page advertisement in theNew York Timesadvocating for reproductive rights. Health On March 12, 2022, Bieber was hospitalized withstroke-like symptoms. She was discharged the following day.In a 12-minute video she posted on her YouTube channel, she revealed she had suffered from atransient ischemic attack, caused by apatent foramen ovaleand had surgery to repair theheart defect. In November 2022, she stated that she had anovarian cyst\\\"the size of an apple\\\" on her ovary and she had had such cysts \\\"a few times\\\". On April 20, 2023, Bieber issued a statement about her mental health where she\",\n \"health where she revealed that she had been \\\"fragile\\\" since the beginning of the year. Filmography Television Music videos Awards and nominations References External links\",\n \"Stephen Baldwin Stephen Andrew Baldwin(born May 12, 1966)is an American actor, producer, director, and activist. He has appeared in the filmsBorn on the Fourth of July(1989),Posse(1993),8 Seconds(1994),Threesome(1994),The Usual Suspects(1995),Bio-Dome(1996) andThe Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas(2000). Baldwin also starred in the television seriesThe Young Riders(1989–1992) and as himself in the reality showsCelebrity Big Brother 7, which he placed 9th, in the United Kingdom andCelebrity Apprentice. In 2004, he directedLivin' It, aChristian-themedskateboardingDVD. He is the youngest of the fourBaldwin brothers. Early life Baldwin was born inMassapequa, New York, the youngest son of Carol Newcomb (néeMartineau), founder of The Baldwin Fund, and Alexander Rae Baldwin Jr., a high schoolsocial studiesteacher and football coach.Baldwin's elder brothers are actorsAlec,DanielandWilliam, they are all known collectively known as the \\\"Baldwin brothers\\\". He was raised in theCatholicfaith.In high school, Baldwin\",\n \"school, Baldwin participated on the varsity wrestling team, along with William.Baldwin has two elder sisters, Elizabeth Keuchler and Jane Sasso.Baldwin attended theAmerican Academy of Dramatic Arts. Career Baldwin began acting on television and made his film debut inThe Beast. He starred in the western television seriesThe Young Ridersand inThreesome(1994).Baldwin landed a breakthrough role inThe Usual Suspects(1995) and playedBarney RubbleinThe Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas(2000). He participated inCelebrity Mole Hawaii, the first celebrity edition ofThe Molein 2002.ABCbroadcast the program in early 2003. Later that year, he returned forCelebrity Mole Yucatán, which ABC aired in early 2004. In 2006, Baldwin played a villainous thug in the television filmJesse Stone: Night Passage. In August 2007, Baldwin returned to television, whenCMTcast him inTy Murray's Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge, one of nine celebrities cast.In the first episode, Baldwin was injured in a bad fall from a wooden pontoon, breaking\",\n \"pontoon, breaking hisshoulder bladeand cracking a rib. Under doctor's orders, he left the show in the second episode. From January to March 2008, Baldwin appeared onDonald Trump'sCelebrity ApprenticeonNBC. He finished fifth out of the 14 celebrity contestants. He andTrace Adkinsbecame friends while competing on the show. In October 2008, Baldwin appeared in Adkins's music video, \\\"Muddy Water\\\". In March 2013, Baldwin returned to compete inAll-Star Celebrity Apprentice. He was a contestant on the 2009 NBC reality showI'm a Celebrity…Get Me out of Here!.Baldwin quit the show mid-season. On the second episode, he baptizedThe HillsactorSpencer Pratt. In 2019, Baldwin starred in a Filipino film,Kaibigan. Personal life Baldwin resides in the village ofNyack, New York, with his wife, the Braziliangraphic designerKennya Baldwin (née Deodato), whom he met in 1987 and married in 1990. They have two daughters, Alaia andHailey Bieber; both are models. His father-in-law is Brazilian composerEumir Deodato, and Canadian\",\n \"and Canadian singerJustin Bieberis his son-in-law through marriage to his daughter Hailey. Through his daughters, Alaia and Hailey, Baldwin has two grandchildren. In 2006, Baldwin launched a campaign to prevent an adult bookstore from opening in Nyack.He has a tattoo on his left shoulder of the initials \\\"HM\\\" forHannah Montana. He got the tattoo after making a pact withMiley Cyrusthat he would be allowed to cameo on the show if he had the initials tattooed on him. He revealed the tattoo to Cyrus at a book signing inNashvilleon November 10, 2008.He was never given the opportunity to appear on the show and has since said that he regrets getting the tattoo. In June 2009, Baldwin's foreclosed $515,000, 1.4-acre home inRockland County, New Yorkwas publicly auctioned after he and his wife defaulted on more than $824,000 in mortgage payments.In July, Baldwin filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy protectionclaiming more than $2.3 million in debt. Court papers showed he owed $1.2 million on two mortgages on aNew Yorkproperty\",\n \"aNew Yorkproperty valued at only $1.1 million, more than $1 million in taxes and credit card debt. Baldwin was the first person to enter theCelebrity Big Brotherhouse on January 3, 2010. The theme for this series was \\\"Hell\\\", with a devil head on the front door. He frequently taunted the head by saying \\\"you're a loser\\\". During his stay in the house, he frequently read passages from the Bible to his fellow housemates.He failed to win many fans and was evicted on January 22, 2010, becoming the fourth housemate to be evicted. In a three-way vote—againstIvana TrumpandSisqó—he received 50% of the public vote.After his eviction, the website restorestephenbaldwin.org, unsolicited by him, began soliciting cash donations to improve Baldwin's career. In December 2010, Baldwin filed a $3.8 million lawsuit againstKevin Costnerover oil-separating technology that was used to help solve theBP oil spillin the Gulf of Mexico.In June 2012, a jury sided with Costner and awarded Baldwin no damages. In March 2013, Baldwin pleaded\",\n \"Baldwin pleaded guilty to failing to file income taxes for the years 2008, 2009, and 2010. He stated that he never intended to avoid paying taxes and that he had received bad advice from lawyers and accountants. Baldwin agreed to pay $300,000 within a year, or he would be sentenced to five years' probation and have five years to pay the money. Views Religion In September 2006, Baldwin released his book titledThe Unusual Suspect, which details highlights from his personal life, career, days ofdrug abuseand his turn to becoming aborn-again Evangelicalafter theSeptember 11 attacksin 2001.In the same year, Baldwin, Mario D'Ortenzio, andBobby Brewerfounded Breakthrough Ministry, which was designed to useextreme sportsas a ministry via arena tours, called AsSalt Tours. The tours featured extreme sports celebrities, includingChristian Hosoi. In late 2008, Baldwin formed a for-profit organization called Antioch Ministry, which exists \\\"to facilitate the gifts and calling of Stephen Baldwin.\\\"In 2009, Baldwin launched\",\n \"Baldwin launched a third ministry called Now More Than Ever, designed to reach enlisted men and women in the U.S. armed services around the world. In 2008, Baldwin teamed up withconservativetalk-radio host Kevin McCullough to put together a Saturday radio show calledBaldwin/McCullough Radio. As of April 18, 2009, the show aired on 213 stations and in more than 400 cities across the US and worldwide on Sirius 161 and XM 227.Baldwin appears weekly on the show from the broadcast studios in New York City and from various locations around the country when he is traveling for other business purposes. Politics In 2007, Baldwin endorsedSam Brownbackfor U.S. president.After Brownback ended his campaign, Baldwin switched his support toMike Huckabee.Baldwin was an outspoken advocate of theJohn McCain–Sarah Palinpresidential ticket after Huckabee dropped out of the2008 presidential election. In 2011, Baldwin mentioned the possibility of enteringNew York City's 2013 mayoral electionas an opponent of his brotherAlec, who\",\n \"brotherAlec, who had suggested that he might run himself. Baldwin was among the first Hollywood celebrities to endorseDonald Trumpin the2016 presidential election. Filmography Film Television Director Awards References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":46,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"As of August 1, 2024, what is the largest city of the 9th largest country by land area in Europe?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"The largest city of the 9th largest country in Europe is Warsaw."},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_area"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Tabular reasoning | Multiple constraints"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_area', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_area","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_area\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["List of European countries by area Below is alist of European countries and dependencies by areainEurope.As acontinent, Europe's total geographical area is about 10 million square kilometres.Transcontinental countriesare ranked according to the size of their European part only, excludingGreecedue to the not clearly defined boundaries of its islands between Europe andAsia. Inland water is included in area numbers. List of European countries and dependencies by area Definition Europe and Asia are contiguous with each other; thus, the exactboundary between themis not clearly defined, and often follows historical, political, and cultural definitions, rather than geographical. Map of Europe, showing one of the most commonly usedcontinental boundaries Legend: Blue=Contiguous transcontinental countriesGreen= Sometimes considered European but geographically outside Europe's boundaries See also Notes References","Poland – inEurope(green & dark grey)– in theEuropean Union(green) – Poland,officially theRepublic of Poland,is a country inCentral Europe. It extends from theBaltic Seain the north to theSudetesandCarpathian Mountainsin the south, bordered byLithuaniaandRussiato the northeast,BelarusandUkraineto the east,Slovakiaand theCzech Republicto the south, andGermanyto the west. The territory is characterised by a varied landscape, diverse ecosystems, andtemperate transitionalclimate. Poland is composed ofsixteen voivodeshipsand is the fifth most populousmember state of the European Union(EU), with over 38 million people, and thefifth largest EU countryby land area, covering a combined area of 312,696 km2(120,733 sq mi). The capital andlargest cityisWarsaw; other major cities includeKraków,Wrocław,Łódź,Poznań, andGdańsk. Prehistoric human activity on Polish soildates to theLower Paleolithic, with continuous settlement since the end of theLast Glacial Period. Culturally diverse throughoutlate antiquity, in theearly medieval periodthe region became inhabited by theWest SlavictribalPolans, who gavePoland its name. The process of establishing statehood coincided with the conversion of apagan ruler of the Polansto Christianity, under the auspices of theRoman Catholic Churchin 966. TheKingdom of Polandemerged in 1025, and in 1569 cemented its long-standingassociation with Lithuania, thus forming thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. At the time, the Commonwealth was one of thegreat powersof Europe, with anelective monarchyand auniquely liberalpolitical system, which adoptedEurope's first modern constitutionin 1791. With the passing of the prosperousPolish Golden Age, the country waspartitioned by neighbouring statesat the end of the 18th century. Poland regained itsindependenceat the end ofWorld War Iin 1918 with the creation of theSecond Polish Republic, which emergedvictoriousinvarious conflictsof theinterbellumperiod. In September 1939, theinvasion of PolandbyGermanyand theSoviet Unionmarked the beginning ofWorld War II, which resulted inthe Holocaustand millions ofPolish casualties. Forced into theEastern Blocin the globalCold War, thePolish People's Republicwas a founding signatory of theWarsaw Pact. Through the emergence and contributions of theSolidarity movement, thecommunist governmentwasdissolvedand Poland re-established itself as ademocratic statein 1989, as thefirstof its neighbors. Poland is a De jureparliamentary republicwith itsbicameral legislaturecomprising theSejmand theSenate. Considered amiddle power, it is adeveloped marketandhigh-income economythat is thesixth largestin theEUby nominalGDPand thefifth largest by GDP (PPP). Poland enjoys avery high standard of living, safety, andeconomic freedom, as well as freeuniversity educationanduniversal health care. The country has 17UNESCOWorld Heritage Sites, 15 of which are cultural. Poland is a founding member state of the United Nations and a member of theWorld Trade Organization,OECD,NATO, and theEuropean Union(including theSchengen Area). Etymology The nativePolishname for Poland isPolska.The name is derived from thePolans, aWest Slavictribe who inhabited theWarta Riverbasin of present-dayGreater Polandregion (6th–8th century CE).The tribe's name stems from theProto-Slavicnounpolemeaning field, which in-itself originates from theProto-Indo-Europeanword*pleh₂-indicating flatland.The etymology alludes to thetopographyof the region and the flat landscape of Greater Poland.During theMiddle Ages, theLatinformPoloniawas widely used throughout Europe. The country's alternative archaic name isLechiaand its root syllable remains in official use in several languages, notablyHungarian,Lithuanian, andPersian.Theexonympossibly derives from eitherLech, a legendary ruler of theLechites, or from theLendians, a West Slavic tribe that dwelt on the south-easternmost edge ofLesser Poland.The origin of the tribe's name lies in theOld Polishwordlęda(plain).Initially, both namesLechiaandPoloniawere used interchangeably when referring to Poland by chroniclers during theMiddle Ages. History Prehistory and protohistory The firstStone Agearchaic humans andHomo erectusspecies settled what was to become Poland approximately 500,000 years ago, though the ensuing hostile climate prevented early humans from founding more permanent encampments.The arrival ofHomo sapiensandanatomically modern humanscoincided with the climatic discontinuity at the end of theLast Glacial Period(Northern Polish glaciation10,000 BC), when Poland became habitable.Neolithicexcavations indicated broad-ranging development in that era; the earliest evidence of European cheesemaking (5500 BC) was discovered in PolishKuyavia,and theBronocice potis incised with the earliest known depiction of what may be a wheeled vehicle (3400 BC). The period spanning theBronze Ageand theEarly Iron Age(1300 BC–500 BC) was marked by an increase in population density, establishment ofpalisadedsettlements (gords) and the expansion ofLusatian culture.A significant archaeological find fromthe protohistory of Polandis a fortified settlement atBiskupin, attributed to the Lusatian culture of theLate Bronze Age(mid-8th century BC). Throughoutantiquity(400 BC–500 AD), many distinct ancient populations inhabited the territory of present-day Poland, notablyCeltic,Scythian,Germanic,Sarmatian,BalticandSlavictribes.Furthermore, archaeological findings confirmed the presence ofRoman Legionssent to protect theamber trade.ThePolish tribesemerged following thesecond wave of the Migration Periodaround the 6th century AD;they wereSlavicand may have included assimilated remnants of peoples that earlier dwelled in the area.Beginning in the early 10th century, thePolanswould come to dominate otherLechitictribes in the region, initially forming a tribal federation and later a centralised monarchical state. Kingdom of Poland Poland began to form into a recognisable unitary and territorial entity around the middle of the 10th century under thePiast dynasty.In 966, ruler of the PolansMieszko Iaccepted Christianity under the auspices of theRoman Churchwith theBaptism of Poland.In 968, a missionarybishopricwas established inPoznań. AnincipittitledDagome iudexfirst defined Poland's geographical boundaries with its capital inGnieznoand affirmed that its monarchy was under the protection of theApostolic See.The country's early origins were described byGallus AnonymusinGesta principum Polonorum, the oldest Polish chronicle.An important national event of the period was themartyrdomofSaint Adalbert, who was killed byPrussianpagans in 997 and whose remains were reputedly bought back for their weight in gold by Mieszko's successor,Bolesław I the Brave. In 1000, at theCongress of Gniezno, Bolesław obtained the right ofinvestiturefromOtto III, Holy Roman Emperor, who assented to the creation of additional bishoprics and an archdioceses in Gniezno.Three new dioceses were subsequently established inKraków,Kołobrzeg, andWrocław.Also, Otto bestowed upon Bolesław royalregaliaand a replica of theHoly Lance, which were later used at his coronation as the firstKing of Polandinc.1025, when Bolesław received permission for his coronation fromPope John XIX.Bolesław also expanded the realm considerably by seizing parts of GermanLusatia, CzechMoravia,Upper Hungary, and southwestern regions of theKievan Rus'. The transition frompaganismin Poland was not instantaneous and resulted in thepagan reaction of the 1030s.In 1031,Mieszko II Lambertlost the title of king and fled amidst the violence.The unrest led to the transfer of the capital to Kraków in 1038 byCasimir I the Restorer.In 1076,Bolesław IIre-instituted the office of king, but was banished in 1079 for murdering his opponent,Bishop Stanislaus.In 1138, the countryfragmentedinto five principalities whenBolesław III Wrymouthdivided his lands among his sons.These wereLesser Poland, Greater Poland,Silesia,MasoviaandSandomierz, with intermittent hold overPomerania.In 1226,Konrad I of Masoviainvited theTeutonic Knightsto aid in combating theBalticPrussians; a decision that later led to centuries of warfare with the Knights. In the first half of the 13th century,Henry I the BeardedandHenry II the Piousaimed to unite the fragmented dukedoms, but theMongol invasionand the death of Henry II inbattlehindered the unification.As a result of the devastation which followed, depopulation and the demand for craft labour spurred a migration ofGerman and Flemish settlersinto Poland, which was encouraged by the Polish dukes.In 1264, theStatute of Kaliszintroduced unprecedented autonomy for thePolish Jews, who came to Poland fleeing persecution elsewhere in Europe. In 1320,Władysław I the Shortbecame the first king ofa reunified PolandsincePrzemysł IIin 1296,and the first to be crowned atWawel Cathedralin Kraków.Beginning in 1333, the reign ofCasimir III the Greatwas marked by developments incastle infrastructure, army, judiciary anddiplomacy.Under his authority, Poland transformed into a major European power; he instituted Polish rule overRutheniain 1340 and imposed quarantine that prevented the spread ofBlack Death.In 1364, Casimir inaugurated theUniversity of Kraków, one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in Europe.Upon his death in 1370, the Piast dynasty came to an end.He was succeeded by his closest male relative,Louis of Anjou, who ruled Poland,Hungary, andCroatiain apersonal union.Louis' younger daughterJadwigabecame Poland's first female monarch in 1384. In 1386, Jadwiga of Poland entered a marriage of convenience withWładysław II Jagiełło, theGrand Duke of Lithuania, thus forming theJagiellonian dynastyand thePolish–Lithuanian unionwhich spanned the lateMiddle Agesand earlyModern Era.The partnership between Poles and Lithuanians brought the vast multi-ethnicLithuanianterritories into Poland's sphere of influence and proved beneficial for its inhabitants, who coexisted in one of the largest Europeanpolitical entitiesof the time. In the Baltic Sea region, the struggle of Poland and Lithuania with theTeutonic Knightscontinued and culminated at theBattle of Grunwaldin 1410, where a combined Polish-Lithuanian army inflicted a decisive victory against them.In 1466, after theThirteen Years' War, kingCasimir IV Jagiellongave royal consent to thePeace of Thorn, which created the futureDuchy of Prussiaunder Polish suzerainty and forced the Prussian rulers to paytributes.The Jagiellonian dynasty also established dynastic control over the kingdoms ofBohemia(1471 onwards) and Hungary.In the south, Poland confronted theOttoman Empire(at theVarna Crusade) and theCrimean Tatars, and in the east helped Lithuania to combatRussia. Poland was developing as afeudalstate, with a predominantly agricultural economy and an increasingly powerfullanded nobilitythat confined the population to private manorial farmstead known asfolwarks.In 1493,John I Albertsanctioned the creation of abicameral parliamentcomposed of a lower house, theSejm, and an upper house, theSenate.TheNihil noviact adopted by the PolishGeneral Sejmin 1505, transferred most of thelegislative powerfrom the monarch to the parliament, an event which marked the beginning of the period known asGolden Liberty, when the state was ruled by the seemingly free and equalPolish nobles. The 16th century sawProtestant Reformationmovements making deep inroads into Polish Christianity, which resulted in the establishment of policies promoting religious tolerance, unique in Europe at that time.This tolerance allowed the country to avoid the religious turmoil andwars of religionthat beset Europe.In Poland,Nontrinitarian Christianitybecame the doctrine of the so-calledPolish Brethren, who separated from theirCalvinistdenomination and became the co-founders of globalUnitarianism. The EuropeanRenaissanceevoked underSigismund I the OldandSigismund II Augustusa sense of urgency in the need to promote acultural awakening.During thePolish Golden Age, the nation's economy and culture flourished.The Italian-bornBona Sforza, daughter of theDuke of Milanand queen consort to Sigismund I, made considerable contributions toarchitecture,cuisine, language and court customs atWawel Castle. Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth TheUnion of Lublinof 1569 established thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a unified federal state with anelective monarchy, but largely governed by the nobility.The latter coincided with a period of prosperity; the Polish-dominated union thereafter becoming a leading power and a major cultural entity, exercising political control over parts of Central,Eastern,Southeasternand Northern Europe. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied approximately 1 million km2(390,000 sq mi)at its peakand was the largest state in Europe.Simultaneously, Poland imposedPolonisationpolicies in newly acquired territories which were met with resistance from ethnic and religious minorities. In 1573,Henry de Valois of France, the first elected king, approbated theHenrician Articleswhich obliged future monarchs to respect the rights of nobles.When he left Poland to becomeKing of France, his successor,Stephen Báthory, led a successfulcampaignin theLivonian War, granting Poland morelands across the eastern shoresof the Baltic Sea.State affairs were then headed byJan Zamoyski, theCrown Chancellor.Stephen's successor,Sigismund III, defeated a rivalHabsburgelectoral candidate,Archduke Maximilian III, in theWar of the Polish Succession (1587–1588). In 1592, Sigismund succeeded his father andJohn Vasa, inSweden.ThePolish-Swedish unionendured until 1599, when he wasdeposedby the Swedes. In 1609, SigismundinvadedRussiawhich was engulfed in acivil war,and a year later the Polishwinged hussarunits underStanisław ŻółkiewskioccupiedMoscow for two years after defeating the Russians atKlushino.Sigismund also countered theOttoman Empirein the southeast; atKhotynin 1621Jan Karol Chodkiewiczachieved a decisive victory against the Turks, which ushered the downfall of SultanOsman II. Sigismund's long reign in Poland coincided with theSilver Age.The liberalWładysław IVeffectively defended Poland's territorial possessions but after his death the vast Commonwealth began declining from internal disorder and constant warfare.In 1648, the Polish hegemony over Ukraine sparked theKhmelnytsky Uprising,followed by the decimatingSwedish Delugeduring theSecond Northern War,and Prussia'sindependencein 1657.In 1683,John III Sobieskire-established military prowess when he halted the advance of anOttoman Armyinto Europe at theBattle of Vienna.TheSaxonera, underAugustus IIandAugustus III, saw neighboring powers grow in strength at the expense of Poland. Both Saxon kings faced opposition fromStanisław Leszczyńskiduring theGreat Northern War(1700) and theWar of the Polish Succession (1733). Partitions Theroyal electionof 1764 resulted in the elevation ofStanisław II Augustus Poniatowskito the monarchy.His candidacy was extensively funded by his sponsor and former lover, EmpressCatherine II of Russia.The new king maneuvered between his desire to implement necessary modernising reforms, and the necessity to remain at peace with surrounding states.His ideals led to the formation of the 1768Bar Confederation, a rebellion directed against the Poniatowski and all external influence, which ineptly aimed to preserve Poland's sovereignty and privileges held by the nobility.The failed attempts at government restructuring as well as the domestic turmoil provoked its neighbours to invade. In 1772, theFirst Partition of the Commonwealthby Prussia, Russia and Austria took place; an act which thePartition Sejm, under considerable duress, eventually ratified as afait accompli.Disregarding the territorial losses, in 1773 a plan of critical reforms was established, in which theCommission of National Education, the first government education authority in Europe, was inaugurated.Corporal punishment of schoolchildren was officially prohibited in 1783. Poniatowski was the head figure of theEnlightenment, encouraged the development of industries, and embraced republicanneoclassicism.For his contributions to the arts and sciences he was awarded aFellowship of the Royal Society. In 1791,Great Sejm parliamentadopted the3 May Constitution, the first set of supreme national laws, and introduced aconstitutional monarchy.TheTargowica Confederation, an organisation of nobles and deputies opposing the act, appealed to Catherine and caused the1792 Polish–Russian War.Fearing the reemergence of Polish hegemony, Russia and Prussia arranged and in 1793 executed, theSecond Partition, which left the country deprived of territory and incapable of independent existence. On 24 October 1795, the Commonwealth waspartitioned for the third timeand ceased to exist as a territorial entity.Stanisław Augustus, the last King of Poland, abdicated the throne on 25 November 1795. Era of insurrections The Polish peoplerose several times against the partitionersand occupying armies. An unsuccessful attempt at defending Poland's sovereignty took place in the 1794Kościuszko Uprising, where a popular and distinguished generalTadeusz Kościuszko, who had several years earlier served underGeorge Washingtonin theAmerican Revolutionary War, led Polish insurgents.Despite the victory at theBattle of Racławice, his ultimate defeat ended Poland's independent existencefor 123 years. In 1806, aninsurrectionorganised byJan Henryk Dąbrowskiliberated western Poland ahead ofNapoleon'sadvance into Prussia during theWar of the Fourth Coalition. In accordance with the 1807Treaty of Tilsit, Napoleon proclaimed theDuchy of Warsaw, aclient stateruled by his allyFrederick Augustus I of Saxony. The Poles actively aided French troops in theNapoleonic Wars, particularly those underJózef Poniatowskiwho becameMarshal of Franceshortly before his death atLeipzigin 1813.In the aftermath of Napoleon's exile, the Duchy of Warsaw was abolished at theCongress of Viennain 1815 and its territory was divided into RussianCongress Kingdom of Poland, the PrussianGrand Duchy of Posen, andAustrian Galiciawith theFree City of Kraków. In 1830,non-commissioned officersat Warsaw'sOfficer Cadet Schoolrebelled in what was theNovember Uprising.After its collapse, Congress Poland lost itsconstitutional autonomy,armyand legislative assembly.During theEuropean Spring of Nations, Poles took up arms in theGreater Poland Uprising of 1848to resistGermanisation, but its failure saw duchy's status reduced to a mereprovince; and subsequent integration into theGerman Empirein 1871.In Russia, the fall of theJanuary Uprising(1863–1864) prompted severepolitical, social and cultural reprisals, followed by deportations andpogromsof the Polish-Jewish population. Towards the end of the 19th century, Congress Poland became heavily industrialised; its primary exports being coal,zinc, iron and textiles. Second Polish Republic In the aftermath ofWorld War I, theAlliesagreed on the reconstitution of Poland, confirmed through theTreaty of Versaillesof June 1919.A total of 2 million Polish troops fought with the armies of the three occupying powers, and over 450,000 died.Following thearmistice with Germanyin November 1918, Poland regained its independence as theSecond Polish Republic. The Second Polish Republic reaffirmed its sovereignty aftera series of military conflicts, most notably thePolish–Soviet War, when Poland inflicted a crushing defeat on theRed Armyat theBattle of Warsaw. The inter-war period heralded a new era of Polish politics. Whilst Polish political activists had faced heavy censorship in the decades up untilWorld War I, a new political tradition was established in the country. Many exiled Polish activists, such asIgnacy Jan Paderewski, who would later become prime minister, returned home. A significant number of them then went on to take key positions in the newly formed political and governmental structures. Tragedy struck in 1922 whenGabriel Narutowicz, inaugural holder of the presidency, was assassinated at theZachętaGallery in Warsaw by a painter and right-wing nationalistEligiusz Niewiadomski. In 1926, theMay Coup, led by the hero of the Polish independence campaign MarshalJózef Piłsudski, turned rule of the Second Polish Republic over to the nonpartisanSanacja(Healing) movement to prevent radical political organisations on both the left and the right from destabilizing the country.By the late 1930s, due to increased threats posed by political extremism inside the country, the Polish government became increasingly heavy-handed, banning a number of radical organisations, including communist and ultra-nationalist political parties, which threatened the stability of the country. World War II World War II began with theNazi Germaninvasion of Polandon 1 September 1939, followed by theSoviet invasion of Polandon 17 September. On 28 September 1939,Warsaw fell. As agreed in theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Poland was split into two zones,one occupied by Nazi Germany, the other bythe Soviet Union. In 1939–1941, the Soviets deported hundreds of thousands of Poles. The SovietNKVDexecuted thousands of Polish prisoners of war (among other incidents in theKatyn massacre) ahead ofOperation Barbarossa.German planners had in November 1939 called for \"the complete destruction of all Poles\" and their fate as outlined in the genocidalGeneralplan Ost. Poland made the fourth-largest troop contribution in Europe,and its troops served both thePolish Government in Exilein thewestand Soviet leadership in theeast. Polish troops played an important role in theNormandy,Italian,North African CampaignsandNetherlandsand are particularly remembered for theBattle of BritainandBattle of Monte Cassino.Polish intelligence operatives proved extremely valuable to the Allies, providing much of the intelligence from Europe and beyond,Polish code breakerswere responsible forcracking the Enigma cipherand Polish scientists participating in theManhattan Projectwere co-creators of the Americanatomic bomb. In the east, the Soviet-backedPolish 1st Armydistinguished itself in the battles forWarsawandBerlin. Thewartime resistance movement, and theArmia Krajowa(Home Army), fought against German occupation. It was one of the three largest resistance movements of the entire war, and encompassed a range of clandestine activities, which functioned as anunderground statecomplete withdegree-awarding universitiesanda court system.The resistance was loyal to the exiled government and generally resented the idea of a communist Poland; for this reason, in the summer of 1944 it initiatedOperation Tempest, of which theWarsaw Uprisingthat began on 1 August 1944 is the best-known operation. Nazi German forces under orders fromAdolf Hitlerset up six Germanextermination campsin occupied Poland, includingTreblinka,MajdanekandAuschwitz. The Germanstransported millions of Jewsfrom across occupied Europe to be murdered in those camps.Altogether, 3 million Polish Jews– approximately 90% of Poland's pre-war Jewry – and between 1.8 and 2.8 million ethnic Poleswere killed during the Germanoccupation of Poland, including between 50,000 and 100,000 members of the Polishintelligentsia– academics, doctors, lawyers, nobility and priesthood. During the Warsaw Uprising alone, over 150,000 Polish civilians were killed, most were murdered by the Germans during theWolaandOchotamassacres.Around 150,000 Polish civilians were killed by Soviets between 1939 and 1941 during the Soviet Union's occupation of eastern Poland (Kresy), and another estimated 100,000 Poles were murdered by theUkrainian Insurgent Army(UPA) between 1943 and 1944 in what became known as theWołyń Massacres.Of all the countriesin the war, Poland lost the highest percentage of its citizens: around 6 million perished – more than one-sixth of Poland's pre-war population –half of themPolish Jews.About 90% of deaths were non-military in nature. In 1945, Poland's borderswere shifted westwards. Over two million Polish inhabitants ofKresywere expelledalong theCurzon LinebyStalin.The western border became theOder-Neisse line. As a result, Poland's territory was reduced by 20%, or 77,500 square kilometres (29,900 sq mi). The shift forced the migration ofmillions of other people, most of whom were Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, and Jews. Post-war communism At the insistence ofJoseph Stalin, theYalta Conferencesanctioned the formation of a new provisional pro-Communist coalition government in Moscow, which ignored thePolish government-in-exilebased in London. This action angered many Poles who considered it abetrayalby the Allies. In 1944, Stalin had made guarantees toChurchillandRooseveltthat he would maintain Poland's sovereignty and allow democratic elections to take place. However, upon achieving victory in 1945, the elections organised by the occupying Soviet authorities were falsified and were used to provide a veneer of legitimacy for Soviet hegemony over Polish affairs. The Soviet Union instituted a newcommunistgovernment in Poland, analogous to much of the rest of theEastern Bloc.As elsewhere in Communist Europe, the Soviet influence over Poland was met witharmed resistancefrom the outset which continued into the 1950s. Despite widespread objections, the new Polish government accepted the Soviet annexation of the pre-war eastern regions of Poland(in particular the cities ofWilnoandLwów) and agreed to the permanent garrisoning ofRed Armyunits on Poland's territory. Military alignment within theWarsaw Pactthroughout theCold Warcame about as a direct result of this change in Poland's political culture. In the European scene, it came to characterise the full-fledged integration of Poland into the brotherhood of communist nations. The new communist government took control with the adoption of theSmall Constitutionon 19 February 1947. ThePolish People's Republic(Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa)was officially proclaimed in 1952. In 1956, after the death ofBolesław Bierut, the régime ofWładysław Gomułkabecame temporarily more liberal, freeing many people from prison and expanding some personal freedoms.Collectivisation in the Polish People's Republicfailed. A similar situation repeated itself in the 1970s underEdward Gierek, but most of the time persecution ofanti-communist oppositiongroups persisted. Despite this, Poland was at the time considered to be one of the least oppressive states of the Eastern Bloc. Labour turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union \"Solidarity\" (\"Solidarność\"), which over time became a political force. Despite persecution and imposition ofmartial law in 1981by GeneralWojciech Jaruzelski, it eroded the dominance of thePolish United Workers' Partyand by 1989 had triumphed in Poland's firstpartially free and democratic parliamentary electionssince the end of the Second World War.Lech Wałęsa, a Solidarity candidate, eventuallywon the presidency in 1990. The Solidarity movement heralded thecollapse of communist regimes and parties across Europe. Third Polish Republic Ashock therapyprogram, initiated byLeszek Balcerowiczin the early 1990s, enabled the country to transform itsSoviet-styleplanned economyinto amarket economy.As with otherpost-communist countries, Poland suffered temporary declines in social, economic, and living standards,but it became the first post-communist country to reach its pre-1989GDP levelsas early as 1995, although the unemployment rate increased.Poland became a member of theVisegrád Groupin 1991,and joinedNATOin 1999.Poles then voted to join theEuropean Unionina referendumin June 2003,withPoland becoming a full memberon 1 May 2004, following theconsequent enlargement of the organisation. Poland joined theSchengen Areain 2007, as a result of which,the country's borderswith other member states of the European Union were dismantled, allowing forfull freedom of movementwithin most of the European Union.On 10 April 2010, thePresident of PolandLech Kaczyński, along with 89 other high-ranking Polish officialsdied in a plane crashnearSmolensk, Russia. In 2011, the rulingCivic Platformwonparliamentary elections.In 2014, thePrime Minister of Poland,Donald Tusk, was chosen to bePresident of the European Council, and resigned as prime minister.The2015and2019 electionswere won by the national-conservativeLaw and JusticeParty (PiS) led byJarosław Kaczyński,resulting in increasedEuroscepticismandincreased frictionwith the European Union.In December 2017,Mateusz Morawieckiwas sworn in as the Prime Minister, succeedingBeata Szydlo, in office since 2015. PresidentAndrzej Duda, supported by Law and Justice party, was re-elected in the 2020 presidentialelection.As of November 2023, theRussian invasion of Ukrainehad led to 17 millionUkrainian refugeescrossing the border to Poland.As of November 2023, 0.9 million of those had stayed in Poland.In October 2023, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party won the largest share of the vote in theelection, but lost its majority in parliament. In December 2023, Donald Tusk became the new Prime Minister leading a coalition made up ofCivic Coalition,Third Way, andThe Left. Law and Justice became the leading opposition party. Geography Poland covers an administrative area of 312,722 km2(120,743 sq mi), and is theninth-largest country in Europe. Approximately 311,895 km2(120,423 sq mi) of the country's territory consists of land, 2,041 km2(788 sq mi) is internal waters and 8,783 km2(3,391 sq mi) is territorial sea.Topographically, the landscape of Poland is characterised by diverselandforms,water bodiesandecosystems.The central and northern region bordering theBaltic Sealie within the flatCentral European Plain, but its south is hilly and mountainous.The averageelevation above the sea levelis estimated at 173 metres. The country has a coastline spanning 770 km (480 mi); extending from the shores of the Baltic Sea, along theBay of Pomeraniain the west to theGulf of Gdańskin the east.The beach coastline is abundant insand dune fieldsorcoastal ridgesand is indented byspitsand lagoons, notably theHel Peninsulaand theVistula Lagoon, which is shared with Russia.The largest Polish island on the Baltic Sea isWolin, located withinWolin National Park.Poland also shares theSzczecin Lagoonand theUsedomisland with Germany. The mountainous belt in the extreme south of Poland is divided into two majormountain ranges; theSudetesin the west and theCarpathiansin the east. The highest part of the Carpathian massif are theTatra Mountains, extending along Poland's southern border.Poland's highest point isMount Rysyat 2,501 metres (8,205 ft) in elevation, located in the Tatras.The highest summit of the Sudetes massif isMount Śnieżkaat 1,603.3 metres (5,260 ft), shared with the Czech Republic.The lowest point in Poland is situated atRaczki Elbląskiein theVistula Delta, which is 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) below sea level. Poland'slongest riversare theVistula, theOder, theWarta, and theBug.The country also possesses one of the highest densities of lakes in the world, numbering around ten thousand and mostly concentrated in the north-eastern region ofMasuria, within theMasurian Lake District.The largest lakes, covering more than 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi), areŚniardwyandMamry, and the deepest isLake Hańczaat 108.5 metres (356 ft) in depth. Climate The climate of Poland istemperate transitional, and varies fromoceanicin the north-west tocontinentalin the south-east.The mountainous southern fringes are situated within analpine climate.Poland is characterised by warm summers, with a mean temperature of around 20 °C (68.0 °F) in July, and moderately cold winters averaging −1 °C (30.2 °F) in December.The warmest and sunniest part of Poland isLower Silesiain the southwest and the coldest region is the northeast corner, aroundSuwałkiinPodlaskie province, where the climate is affected bycold frontsfromScandinaviaandSiberia.Precipitationis more frequent during the summer months, with highest rainfall recorded from June to September. There is a considerable fluctuation in day-to-day weather and the arrival of a particular season can differ each year.Climate changeand other factors have further contributed to interannualthermal anomaliesand increased temperatures; the average annual air temperature between 2011 and 2020 was 9.33 °C (48.8 °F), around 1.11 °C higher than in the 2001–2010 period.Winters are also becoming increasingly drier, with lesssleetand snowfall. Biodiversity Phytogeographically, Poland belongs to the Central European province of theCircumboreal Regionwithin theBoreal Kingdom. The country has fourPalearctic ecoregions– Central, Northern, Western Europeantemperate broadleaf and mixed forest, and theCarpathian montane conifer. Forests occupy 31% of Poland's land area, the largest of which is theLower Silesian Wilderness.The most commondeciduous treesfound across the country areoak,maple, andbeech; the most common conifers arepine,spruce, andfir.An estimated 69% of all forests areconiferous. Thefloraandfaunain Poland is that ofContinental Europe, with thewisent,white storkandwhite-tailed eagledesignated as national animals, and thered common poppybeing the unofficial floral emblem.Among the most protected species is theEuropean bison, Europe's heaviest land animal, as well as theEurasian beaver, thelynx, thegray wolfand theTatra chamois.The region was also home to the extinctaurochs, the last individual dying in Poland in 1627.Game animals such asred deer,roe deer, andwild boarare found in most woodlands.Poland is also a significant breeding ground formigratory birdsand hosts around one quarter of the global population of white storks. Around 315,100 hectares (1,217 sq mi), equivalent to 1% of Poland's territory, is protected within 23Polish national parks, two of which –BiałowieżaandBieszczady– areUNESCO World Heritage Sites.There are 123 areas designated aslandscape parks, along with numerousnature reservesand otherprotected areasunder theNatura 2000network. Government and politics Poland is aunitarysemi-presidential republicand arepresentative democracy, with apresidentas thehead of state.The executive power is exercised further by theCouncil of Ministersand theprime ministerwho acts as thehead of government.The council's individual members are selected by the prime minister, approved by parliament and sworn in by the president.The head of state is elected bypopular votefor a five-year term.The current president isAndrzej Dudaand the prime minister isDonald Tusk. Poland'slegislativeassembly is abicameralparliament consisting of a 460-member lower house (Sejm) and a 100-member upper house (Senate).The Sejm is elected underproportional representationaccording to thed'Hondt methodfor vote-seat conversion.The Senate is elected under thefirst-past-the-postelectoral system, with one senator being returned from each of the one hundred constituencies.The Senate has the right to amend or reject a statute passed by the Sejm, but the Sejm may override the Senate's decision with a majority vote. With the exception of ethnic minority parties, only candidates ofpolitical partiesreceiving at least 5% of the total national vote can enter the Sejm.Both the lower and upper houses of parliament in Poland are elected for a four-year term and each member of the Polish parliament is guaranteedparliamentary immunity.Under current legislation, a person must be 21 years of age or over to assume the position of deputy, 30 or over to become senator and 35 to run in a presidential election. Members of the Sejm and Senate jointly form theNational Assembly of the Republic of Poland.The National Assembly, headed by theSejm Marshal, is formed on three occasions – when a new president takes theoath of office; when an indictment against the president is brought to theState Tribunal; and in case a president's permanent incapacity to exercise his duties due to the state of his health is declared. Administrative divisions Poland is divided into 16 provinces or states known asvoivodeships.As of 2022, the voivodeships are subdivided into 380 counties (powiats), which are further fragmented into 2,477 municipalities (gminas).Major cities normally have the status of bothgminaandpowiat.The provinces are largely founded on the borders ofhistoric regions, or named for individual cities.Administrative authority at the voivodeship level is shared between a government-appointed governor (voivode), an elected regional assembly (sejmik) and avoivodeship marshal, an executive elected by the assembly. Law TheConstitution of Polandis the enacted supreme law, and Polish judicature is based on the principle of civil rights, governed by the code ofcivil law.The current democratic constitution was adopted by theNational Assembly of Polandon 2 April 1997; it guarantees amulti-party statewith freedoms of religion, speech and gatherings, prohibits the practices of forcedmedical experimentation, torture orcorporal punishment, and acknowledges the inviolability of the home, the right to form trade unions, and the right tostrike. Thejudiciaryin Poland is composed of theSupreme Courtas the country's highest judicial organ, theSupreme Administrative Courtfor the judicial control of public administration, Common Courts (District,Regional,Appellate) and theMilitary Court.TheConstitutionaland State Tribunals are separate judicial bodies, which rule the constitutional liability of people holding the highest offices of state and supervise the compliance ofstatutory law, thus protecting the Constitution.Judges are nominated by theNational Council of the Judiciaryand are appointed for life by thepresident.With the approval of the Senate, the Sejm appoints anombudsmanfor a five-year term to guard the observance of social justice. Poland has a lowhomiciderate at 0.7 murders per 100,000 people, as of 2018.Rape, assault and violent crime remain at a very low level.The country has imposed strict regulations onabortion, which is permitted only in cases of rape, incest or when the woman's life is in danger;congenital disorderandstillbirthare not covered by the law, prompting some women to seek abortion abroad. Historically, the most significant Polish legal act is theConstitution of 3 May 1791. Instituted to redress long-standing political defects of thefederativePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealthand itsGolden Liberty, it was the first modern constitution in Europe and influenced many laterdemocratic movementsacross the globe.In 1918, theSecond Polish Republicbecame one of the first countries to introduce universalwomen's suffrage. Foreign relations Poland is amiddle powerand is transitioning into aregional powerin Europe.It has a total of 53 representatives in theEuropean Parliamentas of 2024.Warsawserves as the headquarters forFrontex, the European Union's agency for external border security as well asODIHR, one of the principal institutions of theOSCE.Apart from the European Union, Poland has been a member ofNATO, the United Nations, and theWTO. In recent years, Poland significantly strengthened itsrelationswith the United States, thus becoming one of its closestalliesand strategic partners in Europe.Historically, Poland maintained strongcultural and politicalties to Hungary; this special relationship was recognised by the parliaments of both countries in 2007 with the joint declaration of 23 March as \"The Day of Polish-Hungarian Friendship\". Military The Polish Armed Forces are composed of five branches – theLand Forces, theNavy, theAir Force, theSpecial Forcesand theTerritorial Defence Force.The military is subordinate to theMinistry of National Defence of the Republic of Poland.However, its commander-in-chief in peacetime is the president, who nominates officers, the Minister for National Defence and the chief of staff.Polish military tradition is generally commemorated by theArmed Forces Day, celebrated annually on 15 August.As of 2022, the Polish Armed Forces have a combined strength of 114,050 active soldiers, with a further 75,400 active in thegendarmerieanddefence force. Poland ranks14th in the worldin terms of military expenditures; the country allocates 3.8% of its total GDP on military spending, equivalent to approximately US$31.6 billion in 2023.From 2022, Poland initiated a programme of mass modernisation of its armed forces, in close cooperation with American, South Korean and local Polishdefence manufacturers.Also, the Polish military is set to increase its size to 250,000 enlisted and officers, and 50,000 defence force personnel.According toSIPRI, the country exported €487 million worth of arms and armaments to foreign countries in 2020. Compulsorymilitary servicefor men, who previously had to serve for nine months, was discontinued in 2008.Polish military doctrine reflects the same defensive nature as that of its NATO partners and the country actively hosts NATO'smilitary exercises.Since 1953, the country has been a large contributor to various United Nations peacekeeping missions,and currently maintains military presence in the Middle East, Africa, theBaltic statesand southeastern Europe. Security, law enforcement and emergency services Thanks to its location, Poland is a country essentially free from the threat of natural disasters such asearthquakes,volcanic eruptions,tornadoesandtropical cyclones. However,floodshave occurred in low-lying areas from time to time during periods of extreme rainfall (e.g. during the2010 Central European floods). Law enforcement in Poland is performed by several agencies which are subordinate to theMinistry of Interior and Administration– theState Police(Policja), assigned to investigate crimes or transgression; theMunicipal City Guard, which maintains public order; and several specialised agencies, such as thePolish Border Guard.Private security firms are also common, although they possess no legal authority to arrest or detain a suspect.Municipal guards are primarily headed by provincial, regional or city councils; individual guards are not permitted to carryfirearmsunless instructed by the superior commanding officer.Security service personnel conduct regular patrols in both large urban areas or smaller suburban localities. TheInternal Security Agency(ABW, or ISA in English) is the chiefcounterintelligence instrumentsafeguarding Poland's internal security, along withAgencja Wywiadu(AW) which identifies threats and collects secret information abroad.TheCentral Investigation Bureau of Police(CBŚP) and theCentral Anticorruption Bureau(CBA) are responsible for countering organised crime and corruption in state and private institutions. Emergency services in Poland consist of theemergency medical services,search and rescueunits of thePolish Armed ForcesandState Fire Service. Emergency medical services in Poland are operated by local and regional governments,but are a part of the centralised national agency – theNational Medical Emergency Service(Państwowe Ratownictwo Medyczne). Economy As of 2023, Poland's economy and gross domestic product (GDP) is the sixth largest in the European Union bynominal standardsand the fifth largest bypurchasing power parity. It is also one of the fastest growing within the Union and reached adeveloped marketstatus in 2018.The unemployment rate published byEurostatin 2023 amounted to 2.8%, which was the second-lowest in the EU.As of 2023, around 62% of the employed population works in theservice sector, 29% in manufacturing, and 8% in the agricultural sector.Although Poland is a member of theEuropean single market, the country has not adopted theEuroas legal tender and maintains its own currency – thePolish złoty(zł, PLN). Poland is the regional economic leader in Central Europe, with nearly 40 per cent of the 500 biggest companies in the region (by revenues) as well as ahigh globalisation rate.The country's largest firms compose theWIG20andWIG30indexes, which is traded on theWarsaw Stock Exchange. According to reports made by theNational Bank of Poland, the value of Polish foreign direct investments reached almost 300 billionPLNat the end of 2014. TheCentral Statistical Officeestimated that in 2014 there were 1,437 Polish corporations with interests in 3,194 foreign entities. Poland has the largest banking sector in Central Europe,with 32.3 branches per 100,000 adults.It was the only European economy to have avoided therecession of 2008.The country is the20th largest exporterof goods and services in the world.Exports of goods and services are valued at approximately 56% of GDP, as of 2020.In 2019, Poland passed a law that would exempt workers under the age of 26 fromincome tax. Tourism In 2020, the total value of thetourism industryin Poland was 104.3 billionPLN, then equivalent to 4.5% of the Polish GDP.Tourism contributes considerably to the overall economy and makes up a relatively large proportion of the country's service market.Nearly 200,000 people were employed in theaccommodation and catering(hospitality) sector in 2020.In 2021, Poland ranked12th most visited countryin the world by international arrivals. Tourist attractions in Poland vary, from the mountains in the south to the beaches in the north, with a trail of rich architectural and cultural heritage. Among the most recognisable landmarks are Old Towns inKraków,Warsaw,Wrocław(dwarf statues),Gdańsk,Poznań,Lublin,ToruńandZamośćas well as museums, zoological gardens, theme parks and theWieliczka Salt Mine, with its labyrinthine tunnels,underground lakeand chapels carved by miners out ofrock saltbeneath the ground. There areover 100 castlesin the country, largely within theLower Silesian Voivodeship, and also on theTrail of the Eagles' Nests; the largest castle in the world by land area is situated inMalbork.The GermanAuschwitz concentration campinOświęcim, and theSkull ChapelinKudowa-Zdrójconstitutedark tourism.Regarding nature based travel, notable sites include theMasurian Lake DistrictandBiałowieża Forestin the east; on the southKarkonosze, theTable Mountainsand theTatra Mountains, whereRysyand theEagle's Pathtrail are located. ThePieninyandBieszczady Mountainslie in the extreme south-east. Transport Transport in Poland is provided by means ofrail,road,marine shippingandair travel. The country is part of EU'sSchengen Areaand is an important transport hub due to its strategic geographical position in Central Europe.Some of the longest European routes, including theE30andE40, run through Poland. The country has a good network ofhighwaysconsisting ofexpress roadsandmotorways. As of August 2023, Poland has the world's21st-largest road network, maintaining over 5,000 km (3,100 mi) of highways in use. In 2022, the nation had 19,393 kilometres (12,050 mi) of railway track, the third longest in the European Union after Germany and France.ThePolish State Railways(PKP) is the dominant railway operator, with certain major voivodeships or urban areas possessing their owncommuterandregional rail.Poland has a number of international airports, the largest of which isWarsaw Chopin Airport.It is the primary global hub forLOT Polish Airlines, the country'sflag carrier. Seaports exist all along Poland's Baltic coast, with most freight operations usingŚwinoujście,Police,Szczecin,Kołobrzeg,Gdynia,GdańskandElblągas their base. ThePort of Gdańskis the only port in theBaltic Seaadapted to receive oceanic vessels.PolferriesandUnity Lineare the largest Polish ferry operators, with the latter providingroll-on/roll-offandtrain ferryservices toScandinavia. Energy The electricity generation sector in Poland is largelyfossil-fuel–based. Coal production in Poland is a major source of employment and the largest source of the nation'sgreenhouse gas emissions.Many power plants nationwide use Poland's position as a major European exporter of coal to their advantage by continuing to use coal as the primary raw material in the production of their energy. The three largest Polish coal mining firms (Węglokoks,Kompania WęglowaandJSW) extract around 100 million tonnes of coal annually.After coal, Polish energy supply relies significantly on oil—the nation is the third-largest buyer of Russian oil exports to the EU. The newEnergy Policy of Poland until 2040(EPP2040) would reduce the share of coal andlignitein electricity generation by 25% from 2017 to 2030. The plan involves deploying new nuclear plants, increasing energy efficiency, and decarbonising the Polish transport system in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prioritise long-term energy security. Science and technology Over the course of history, the Polish people have made considerable contributions in the fields of science, technology and mathematics.Perhaps the most renowned Pole to support this theory wasNicolaus Copernicus(Mikołaj Kopernik), who triggered theCopernican Revolutionby placing theSun rather than the Earth at the center of the universe.He also derived aquantity theory of money, which made him a pioneer of economics. Copernicus' achievements and discoveries are considered the basis of Polish culture and cultural identity.Poland was ranked 40th in theGlobal Innovation Indexin 2024. Poland's tertiary education institutions; traditionaluniversities, as well as technical, medical, and economic institutions, employ around tens of thousands of researchers and staff members. There are hundreds of research and development institutes.However, in the 19th and 20th centuries many Polish scientists worked abroad; one of the most important of these exiles wasMarie Curie, a physicist and chemist who lived much of her life in France. In 1925, she established Poland'sRadium Institute. In the first half of the 20th century, Poland was a flourishing centre of mathematics. Outstanding Polish mathematicians formed theLwów School of Mathematics(withStefan Banach,Stanisław Mazur,Hugo Steinhaus,Stanisław Ulam) andWarsaw School of Mathematics(withAlfred Tarski,Kazimierz Kuratowski,Wacław SierpińskiandAntoni Zygmund). Numerous mathematicians, scientists, chemists or economists emigrated due to historic vicissitudes, among themBenoit Mandelbrot,Leonid Hurwicz,Alfred Tarski,Joseph Rotblatand Nobel Prize laureatesRoald Hoffmann,Georges CharpakandTadeusz Reichstein. Demographics Poland has a population of approximately 38.2 million as of 2021, and is theninth-most populous countryin Europe, as well as the fifth-most populous member state of theEuropean Union.It has a population density of 122 inhabitants per square kilometre (320 inhabitants/sq mi).Thetotal fertility ratewas estimated at 1.33 children born to a woman in 2021, which isamong the world's lowest.Furthermore, Poland's population isaging significantly, and the country has amedian ageof 42.2. Around 60% of the country's population lives in urban areas or major cities and 40% in rural zones.In 2020, 50.2% of Poles resided indetached dwellingsand 44.3% in apartments.The most populous administrative province or state is theMasovian Voivodeshipand the most populous city is the capital,Warsaw, at 1.8 million inhabitants with a further 2–3 million people living in itsmetropolitan area.Themetropolitan areaofKatowiceis the largest urbanconurbationwith a population between 2.7 millionand 5.3 million residents.Population density is higher in the south of Poland and mostly concentrated between the cities ofWrocławandKraków. In the2011 Polish census, 37,310,341 people reportedPolishidentity, 846,719Silesian, 232,547Kashubianand 147,814German. Otheridentitieswere reported by 163,363 people (0.41%) and 521,470 people (1.35%) did not specify any nationality.Official population statistics do not include migrant workers who do not possess a permanent residency permit orKarta Polaka.More than 1.7 millionUkrainiancitizens worked legally in Poland in 2017.The number of migrants is rising steadily; the country approved 504,172 work permits for foreigners in 2021 alone.According to theCouncil of Europe, 12,731Romani peoplelive in Poland. Languages Polishis theofficialand predominant spoken language in Poland, and is one of the officiallanguages of the European Union.It is also asecond languagein parts of neighbouringLithuania, where it is taught in Polish-minority schools.Contemporary Poland is a linguisticallyhomogeneousnation, with 97% of respondents declaring Polish as their mother tongue.There are currently 15 minority languages in Poland,including one recognised regional language,Kashubian, which is spoken by approximately 100,000 people on a daily basis in the northern regions ofKashubiaandPomerania.Poland also recognisessecondary administrative languages or auxiliary languages in bilingual municipalities, where bilingual signs and placenames are commonplace.According to theCentre for Public Opinion Research, around 32% of Polish citizens declared knowledge of the English language in 2015. Religion According to the 2021 census, 71.3% of all Polish citizens adhere to theRoman Catholic Church, with 6.9% identifying as having no religion and 20.6% refusing to answer. Poland is one of themost religious countries in Europe, where Roman Catholicism remains a part of national identity and Polish-bornPope John Paul IIis widely revered.In 2015, 61.6% of respondents outlined that religion is of high or very high importance.However, church attendance has greatly decreased in recent years; only 28% of Catholics attendedmassweekly in 2021, down from around half in 2000.According toThe Wall Street Journal, \"Of more than 100 countries studied by thePew Research Centerin 2018, Poland wassecularizingthe fastest, as measured by the disparity between the religiosity of young people and their elders.\" Freedom of religion in Poland is guaranteed by the Constitution, and Poland'sconcordatwith theHoly Seeenables the teaching of religion in public schools.Historically, the Polish state maintained a high degree ofreligious toleranceand provided asylum for refugees fleeing religious persecution in other parts of Europe.Poland hosted Europe's largestJewish diaspora, and the country was a centre ofAshkenazi Jewishculture and traditional learning until theHolocaust. Contemporary religious minorities includeOrthodox Christians,Protestants, includingLutheransof theEvangelical-Augsburg Church,Pentecostalsin thePentecostal Church in Poland,Adventistsin theSeventh-day Adventist Church, and other smallerEvangelicaldenominations, includingJehovah's Witnesses,Eastern Catholics,Mariavites,Jews,Muslims(Tatars), andneopagans, some of whom are members of theNative Polish Church. Pilgrimagesto theJasna Góra Monastery, a shrinededicatedto theBlack Madonna, take place annually. Health Medical service providers andhospitals(szpitale) in Poland are subordinate to theMinistry of Health; it provides administrative oversight and scrutiny of general medical practice, and is obliged to maintain a high standard ofhygieneand patient care. Poland has auniversal healthcare systembased on an all-inclusiveinsurance system; state subsidised healthcare is available to all citizens covered by the general health insurance program of theNational Health Fund(NFZ). Private medical complexes exist nationwide; over 50% of the population uses both public and private sectors. According to theHuman Development Reportfrom 2020, the average life expectancy at birth is 79 years (around 75 years for an infant male and 83 years for an infant female);the country has a lowinfant mortality rate(4 per 1,000 births).In 2019, the principal cause of death wasischemic heart disease; diseases of thecirculatory systemaccounted for 45% of all deaths.In the same year, Poland was also the 15th-largest importer ofmedicationsand pharmaceutical products. Education TheJagiellonian Universityfounded in 1364 byCasimir IIIinKrakówwas the first institution of higher learning established in Poland, and is one of theoldest universitiesstill in continuous operation.Poland'sCommission of National Education(Komisja Edukacji Narodowej), established in 1773, was the world's first state ministry of education.In 2018, theProgramme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, placed Poland's educational output as one of the highest in the OECD, ranking 5th by student attainment and 6th by student performance in 2022.The study showed that students in Poland perform better academically than in most OECD countries. The framework for primary, secondary and higher tertiary education are established by theMinistry of Education and Science. One year of kindergarten iscompulsoryfor six-year-olds.Primary education traditionally begins at the age of seven, although children aged six can attend at the request of their parents or guardians.Elementary school spans eight grades and secondary schooling is dependent on student preference – a four-year high school (liceum), a five-year technical school (technikum) or variousvocational studies(szkoła branżowa) can be pursued by individual pupils.A liceum or technikum is concluded with a maturity exit exam (matura), which must be passed in order to apply for a university or other institutions of higher learning. In Poland, there are over 500 university-level institutions,with numerous faculties.TheUniversity of WarsawandWarsaw Polytechnic, theUniversity of Wrocław,Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznańand theUniversity of Technology in Gdańskare among the most prominent.There are three conventionalacademic degreesin Poland –licencjatorinżynier(first cycle),magister(second cycle) anddoktor(third cycle qualification). Ethnicity Ethnic structure of Poland by voivodeship according to the censuses of 2002, 2011 and 2021: Culture The culture of Poland is closely connected with its intricate 1,000-yearhistory, and forms an important constituent in theWestern civilisation.The Poles take great pride in their national identity which is often associated with the colours white and red, and exuded by the expressionbiało-czerwoni(\"whitereds\").National symbols, chiefly the crownedwhite-tailed eagle, are often visible on clothing, insignia and emblems.The architectural monuments of great importance are protected by theNational Heritage Board of Poland.Over 100 of the country's most significant tangible wonders were enlisted onto theHistoric Monuments Register,with further 17 being recognised byUNESCOas World Heritage Sites. Holidays and traditions There are 13 government-approved annual public holidays – New Year on 1 January,Three Kings' Dayon 6 January,Easter SundayandEaster Monday,Labour Dayon 1 May,Constitution Dayon 3 May,Pentecost,Corpus Christi,Feast of the Assumptionon 15 August,All Saints' Dayon 1 November,Independence Dayon 11 November and Christmastide on 25 and 26 December. Particular traditions and superstitious customs observed in Poland are not found elsewhere in Europe. Though Christmas Eve (Wigilia) is not a public holiday, it remains the most memorable day of the entire year.Treesare decorated on 24 December, hay is placed under the tablecloth to resemble Jesus'manger,Christmas wafers(opłatek) are shared between gathered guests and atwelve-dish meatless supperis served that same evening when thefirst starappears.An empty plate and seat are symbolically left at the table for an unexpected guest.On occasion,carolersjourney around smaller towns with a folkTurońcreature until theLentperiod. A widely-populardoughnutand sweet pastry feast occurs onFat Thursday, usually 52 days prior to Easter.EggsforHoly Sundayare painted and placed in decoratedbasketsthat are previously blessed by clergymen in churches onEaster Saturday. Easter Monday is celebrated with pagandyngusfestivities, where the youth is engaged in water fights.Cemeteries and graves of the deceased are annually visited by family members on All Saints' Day; tombstones are cleaned as a sign of respect and candles are lit to honour the dead on an unprecedented scale. Music Artists from Poland, including famous musicians such asFrédéric Chopin,Artur Rubinstein,Ignacy Jan Paderewski,Krzysztof Penderecki,Henryk Wieniawski,Karol Szymanowski,Witold Lutosławski,Stanisław Moniuszkoand traditional, regionalisedfolk composerscreate a lively and diverse music scene, which even recognises its own music genres, such assung poetryanddisco polo. The origins of Polish music can be traced to the 13th century; manuscripts have been found inStary Sączcontainingpolyphoniccompositions related to the ParisianNotre Dame School. Other early compositions, such as the melody ofBogurodzicaandGod Is Born(a coronationpolonaise tunefor Polish kings by an unknown composer), may also date back to this period, however, the first known notable composer,Nicholas of Radom, lived in the 15th century.Diomedes Cato, a native-born Italian who lived in Kraków, became a renowned lutenist at the court of Sigismund III; he not only imported some of the musical styles from southern Europe but blended them with native folk music. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Polish baroque composers wroteliturgical musicand secular compositions such as concertos andsonatasfor voices or instruments. At the end of the 18th century, Polish classical music evolved into national forms like thepolonaise.Wojciech Bogusławskiis accredited with composing the first Polish national opera, titledKrakowiacy i Górale, which premiered in 1794. Poland today has an active music scene, with the jazz and metal genres being particularly popular among the contemporary populace. Polish jazz musicians such asKrzysztof Komedacreated a unique style, which was most famous in the 1960s and 1970s and continues to be popular to this day. Poland has also become a major venue for large-scale music festivals, chief among which are thePol'and'Rock Festival,Open'er Festival,Opole FestivalandSopot Festival. Art Art in Poland has invariably reflectedEuropeantrends, with Polish painting pivoted onfolklore,Catholic themes,historicismandrealism, but also onImpressionismandromanticism. An important art movement wasYoung Poland, developed in the late 19th century for promotingdecadence,symbolismandArt Nouveau. Since the 20th century Polish documentary art and photography has enjoyed worldwide fame, especially thePolish School of Posters.One of the most distinguished paintings in Poland isLady with an Ermine(1490) byLeonardo da Vinci. Internationally renowned Polish artists includeJan Matejko(historicism),Jacek Malczewski(symbolism),Stanisław Wyspiański(art nouveau),Henryk Siemiradzki(Romanacademic art),Tamara de Lempicka(art deco), andZdzisław Beksiński(dystopiansurrealism).Several Polish artists and sculptors were also acclaimed representatives ofavant-garde,constructivist,minimalistand contemporary art movements, includingKatarzyna Kobro,Władysław Strzemiński,Magdalena Abakanowicz,Alina Szapocznikow,Igor MitorajandWilhelm Sasnal. Notable art academies in Poland include theKraków Academy of Fine Arts,Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw,Art Academy of Szczecin,University of Fine Arts in Poznańand theGeppert Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław. Contemporary works are exhibited atZachęta,Ujazdów, andMOCAKart galleries. Architecture Thearchitecture of PolandreflectsEuropean architecturalstyles, with strong historical influences derived fromItaly,Germany, and theLow Countries.Settlements founded onMagdeburg Lawevolved aroundcentral marketplaces(plac,rynek), encircled by a grid orconcentricnetwork of streets forming anold town(stare miasto).Poland's traditional landscape is characterised by ornate churches,city tenementsandtown halls.Cloth hall markets(sukiennice) were once an abundant feature of Polish urban architecture.The mountainous south is known for itsZakopane chalet style, which originated in Poland. The earliest architectonic trend wasRomanesque(c.11th century), but its traces in the form ofcircular rotundasare scarce.The arrival ofbrick Gothic(c.13th century) defined Poland's most distinguishable medieval style, exuded by the castles ofMalbork,Lidzbark,GniewandKwidzynas well as the cathedrals ofGniezno,Gdańsk,Wrocław,FromborkandKraków.TheRenaissance(16th century) gave rise to Italianate courtyards, defensivepalazzosandmausoleums.Decorativeatticswithpinnaclesandarcadeloggiasare elements ofPolish Mannerism, found inPoznań,LublinandZamość.Foreign artisans often came at the expense of kings or nobles, whose palaces were built thereafter in theBaroque,NeoclassicalandRevivaliststyles (17th–19th century). Primary building materialstimberandred brickwere used extensively in Polish folk architecture,and the concept of afortified churchwas commonplace.Secular structures such asdworekmanor houses,farmsteads,granaries,millsand countryinnsare still present in some regions or in open air museums (skansen).However, traditional construction methods faded in the early-mid 20th century due to urbanisation and the construction offunctionalisthousing estatesandresidential areas. Literature Theliterary works of Polandhave traditionally concentrated around the themes of patriotism,spirituality, socialallegoriesand moral narratives.The earliest examples of Polish literature, written inLatin, date to the 12th century.The firstPolishphraseDay ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai(officially translated as \"Let me, I shall grind, and you take a rest\") was documented in theBook of Henrykówand reflected the use of aquern-stone.It has been since included inUNESCO's Memory of World Register.The oldest extant manuscripts of fineproseinOld Polishare theHoly Cross Sermonsand theBible of Queen Sophia,andCalendarium cracoviense(1474) is Poland's oldest survivingprint. The poetsJan KochanowskiandNicholas Reybecame the firstRenaissanceauthors to write in Polish.Prime literarians of the period includedDantiscus,Modrevius,Goslicius,Sarbieviusand theologianJohn Laski. In theBaroqueera,Jesuit philosophyand local culture greatly influenced the literary techniques ofJan Andrzej Morsztyn(Marinism) andJan Chryzostom Pasek(sarmatianmemoirs).During theEnlightenment, playwrightIgnacy Krasickicomposed the first Polish-languagenovel.Poland's leading 19th-centuryromantic poetswere theThree Bards–Juliusz Słowacki,Zygmunt KrasińskiandAdam Mickiewicz, whose epic poemPan Tadeusz(1834) is a national classic.In the 20th century, the Englishimpressionistand earlymodernistwritings ofJoseph Conradmade him one of the most eminent novelists of all time. Contemporary Polish literature is versatile, with its fantasy genre having been particularly praised.The philosophicalsci-finovelSolarisbyStanisław LemandThe Witcherseries byAndrzej Sapkowskiare celebrated works of world fiction.Poland has sixNobel-Prize winningauthors –Henryk Sienkiewicz(Quo Vadis; 1905),Władysław Reymont(The Peasants; 1924),Isaac Bashevis Singer(1978),Czesław Miłosz(1980),Wisława Szymborska(1996), andOlga Tokarczuk(2018). Cuisine The cuisine of Poland is eclectic and shares similarities with other regional cuisines. Among the staple or regional dishes arepierogi(filled dumplings),kielbasa(sausage),bigos(hunter's stew),kotlet schabowy(breaded cutlet),gołąbki(cabbage rolls),barszcz(borscht),żurek(soured rye soup),oscypek(smoked cheese), andtomato soup.Bagels, a type ofbread roll, also originated in Poland. Traditional dishes are hearty and abundant in pork, potatoes, eggs, cream, mushrooms, regional herbs, and sauce.Polish food is characteristic for its various kinds ofkluski(soft dumplings),soups, cereals and a variety of breads andopen sandwiches. Salads, includingmizeria(cucumber salad),coleslaw,sauerkraut, carrot andseared beets, are common. Meals conclude with a dessert such assernik(cheesecake),makowiec(poppy seed roll), ornapoleonka(mille-feuille) cream pie. Traditional alcoholic beverages include honeymead, widespread since the 13th century,beer, wine andvodka.The world's first written mention of vodka originates from Poland.The most popular alcoholic drinks at present are beer and wine which took over from vodka more popular in the years 1980–1998.Grodziskie, sometimes referred to as \"Polish Champagne\", is an example of a historical beer style from Poland.Tea remains common in Polish society since the 19th century, whilst coffee is drunk widely since the 18th century. Fashion and design Several Polish designers and stylists left a legacy of beauty inventions and cosmetics; includingHelena RubinsteinandMaksymilian Faktorowicz, who created a line of cosmetics company in California known asMax Factorand formulated the term \"make-up\" which is now widely used as an alternative for describing cosmetics.Faktorowicz is also credited with inventing moderneyelash extensions.As of 2020, Poland possesses the sixth-largest cosmetic market in Europe.Inglot Cosmeticsis the country's largest beauty products manufacturer,and the retail storeReservedis the country's most successful clothing store chain. Historically, fashion has been an important aspect of Poland's national consciousness orcultural manifestation, and the country developed its own style known asSarmatismat the turn of the 17th century.The national dress and etiquette of Poland also reached the court atVersailles, where French dresses inspired by Polish garments includedrobe à la polonaiseand thewitzchoura. The scope of influence also entailed furniture; rococoPolish bedswithcanopiesbecame fashionable in French châteaus.Sarmatism eventually faded in the wake of the 18th century. Cinema Thecinema of Polandtraces its origins to 1894, when inventorKazimierz Prószyńskipatented thePleographand subsequently theAeroscope, the first successful hand-held operated film camera.In 1897,Jan Szczepanikconstructed theTelectroscope, a prototype of television transmitting images and sounds.They are both recognised as pioneers ofcinematography.Poland has also produced influential directors, film producers and actors, many of whom were active inHollywood, chieflyRoman Polański,Andrzej Wajda,Pola Negri,Samuel Goldwyn, theWarner brothers,Max Fleischer,Agnieszka Holland,Krzysztof ZanussiandKrzysztof Kieślowski. Thethemescommonly explored in Polish cinema includehistory,drama, war, culture and black realism (film noir).In the 21st-century, two Polish productions won theAcademy Awards–The Pianist(2002) by Roman Polański andIda(2013) byPaweł Pawlikowski.Polish cinematography also created many well-received comedies. The most known of them were made byStanisław BarejaandJuliusz Machulski. Media According to theEurobarometer Report(2015), 78 percent of Poles watch thetelevisiondaily.In 2020, 79 percent of the population read the news more than once a day, placing it second behind Sweden.Poland has a number of major domestic media outlets, chiefly thepublic broadcastingcorporationTVP,free-to-airchannelsTVNandPolsatas well as 24-hour news channelsTVP Info,TVN 24andPolsat News.Public television extends its operations to genre-specific programmes such asTVP Sport,TVP Historia,TVP Kultura,TVP Rozrywka, TVP Seriale andTVP Polonia, the latter a state-run channel dedicated to the transmission of Polish-language telecasts for thePolish diaspora. In 2020, the most popular types of newspapers weretabloidsand socio-political news dailies. Poland is a major European hub for video game developers and among the most successful companies areCD Projekt,Techland,The Farm 51,CI GamesandPeople Can Fly.Some of the popular video games developed in Poland includeThe Witchertrilogy andCyberpunk 2077.The Polish city ofKatowicealso hostsIntel Extreme Masters, one of the biggestesportsevents in the world. Sports Motorcycle Speedway, volleyball and association football are among the country's most popular sports, with a rich history of international competitions.Track and field, basketball,handball, boxing,MMA,ski jumping,cross-country skiing,ice hockey, tennis, fencing, swimming, andweightliftingare other popular sports. The golden era offootball in Polandoccurred throughout the 1970s and went on until the early 1980s when thePolish national football teamachieved their best results in any FIFA World Cup competitions finishing third place inthe 1974andthe 1982tournaments. The team won a gold medalin footballat the1972 Summer Olympicsand two silver medals,in 1976andin 1992. In 2012, Poland co-hosted theUEFA European Football Championship. As of September 2024, thePolish men's national volleyball teamis rankedas firstin the world.The team won a gold medal at the1976 Summer Olympicsand the gold medal at theFIVB World Championship1974,2014and2018.Mariusz Pudzianowskiis a highly successful strongman competitor and has won moreWorld's Strongest Mantitles than any other competitor in the world, winning the event in 2008 for the fifth time. Poland has made a distinctive markin motorcycle speedway racing. The topEkstraligadivision has one ofthe highest average attendancesfor any sport in Poland. Thenational speedway team of Polandis one of the major teams in international speedway. Individually, Poland has threeSpeedway Grand PrixWorld Champions, with the most successful being four-time World ChampionBartosz Zmarzlikwho won back-to-back championships in 2019 and 2020 as well as 2022 and 2023. In 2021, Poland finished runners-up in the Speedway of Nations world championship final, held inManchester, England in 2021. In the 21st century, the country has seen a growth of popularity of tennis and produced a number of successful tennis players including World No. 1Iga Świątek, winner of fiveGrand Slamsingles titles; former World No. 2Agnieszka Radwanska, winner of 20 WTA career singles titles including2015 WTA Finals; Top 10 ATP playerHubert Hurkacz; former World No. 1 doubles playerŁukasz Kubot, winner of two Grand Slam doubles titles andJan Zieliński, winner of two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. Poland also won the2015 Hopman Cupwith Agnieszka Radwańska andJerzy Janowiczrepresenting the country. Poles made significant achievements in mountaineering, in particular, in theHimalayasand the winter ascending of theeight-thousanders(e.g.Jerzy Kukuczka,Krzysztof Wielicki,Wanda Rutkiewicz). Polish mountains are one of the tourist attractions of the country. Hiking, climbing, skiing and mountain biking and attract numerous tourists every year from all over the world.Water sports are the most popular summer recreation activities, with ample locations for fishing, canoeing, kayaking, sailing and windsurfing especially in the northern regions of the country. See also Notes References Works cited External links 52°N20°E / 52°N 20°E /52; 20"],"string":"[\n \"List of European countries by area Below is alist of European countries and dependencies by areainEurope.As acontinent, Europe's total geographical area is about 10 million square kilometres.Transcontinental countriesare ranked according to the size of their European part only, excludingGreecedue to the not clearly defined boundaries of its islands between Europe andAsia. Inland water is included in area numbers. List of European countries and dependencies by area Definition Europe and Asia are contiguous with each other; thus, the exactboundary between themis not clearly defined, and often follows historical, political, and cultural definitions, rather than geographical. Map of Europe, showing one of the most commonly usedcontinental boundaries Legend: Blue=Contiguous transcontinental countriesGreen= Sometimes considered European but geographically outside Europe's boundaries See also Notes References\",\n \"Poland – inEurope(green & dark grey)– in theEuropean Union(green) – Poland,officially theRepublic of Poland,is a country inCentral Europe. It extends from theBaltic Seain the north to theSudetesandCarpathian Mountainsin the south, bordered byLithuaniaandRussiato the northeast,BelarusandUkraineto the east,Slovakiaand theCzech Republicto the south, andGermanyto the west. The territory is characterised by a varied landscape, diverse ecosystems, andtemperate transitionalclimate. Poland is composed ofsixteen voivodeshipsand is the fifth most populousmember state of the European Union(EU), with over 38 million people, and thefifth largest EU countryby land area, covering a combined area of 312,696 km2(120,733 sq mi). The capital andlargest cityisWarsaw; other major cities includeKraków,Wrocław,Łódź,Poznań, andGdańsk. Prehistoric human activity on Polish soildates to theLower Paleolithic, with continuous settlement since the end of theLast Glacial Period. Culturally diverse throughoutlate antiquity, in theearly medieval periodthe region became inhabited by theWest SlavictribalPolans, who gavePoland its name. The process of establishing statehood coincided with the conversion of apagan ruler of the Polansto Christianity, under the auspices of theRoman Catholic Churchin 966. TheKingdom of Polandemerged in 1025, and in 1569 cemented its long-standingassociation with Lithuania, thus forming thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. At the time, the Commonwealth was one of thegreat powersof Europe, with anelective monarchyand auniquely liberalpolitical system, which adoptedEurope's first modern constitutionin 1791. With the passing of the prosperousPolish Golden Age, the country waspartitioned by neighbouring statesat the end of the 18th century. Poland regained itsindependenceat the end ofWorld War Iin 1918 with the creation of theSecond Polish Republic, which emergedvictoriousinvarious conflictsof theinterbellumperiod. In September 1939, theinvasion of PolandbyGermanyand theSoviet Unionmarked the beginning ofWorld War II, which resulted inthe Holocaustand millions ofPolish casualties. Forced into theEastern Blocin the globalCold War, thePolish People's Republicwas a founding signatory of theWarsaw Pact. Through the emergence and contributions of theSolidarity movement, thecommunist governmentwasdissolvedand Poland re-established itself as ademocratic statein 1989, as thefirstof its neighbors. Poland is a De jureparliamentary republicwith itsbicameral legislaturecomprising theSejmand theSenate. Considered amiddle power, it is adeveloped marketandhigh-income economythat is thesixth largestin theEUby nominalGDPand thefifth largest by GDP (PPP). Poland enjoys avery high standard of living, safety, andeconomic freedom, as well as freeuniversity educationanduniversal health care. The country has 17UNESCOWorld Heritage Sites, 15 of which are cultural. Poland is a founding member state of the United Nations and a member of theWorld Trade Organization,OECD,NATO, and theEuropean Union(including theSchengen Area). Etymology The nativePolishname for Poland isPolska.The name is derived from thePolans, aWest Slavictribe who inhabited theWarta Riverbasin of present-dayGreater Polandregion (6th–8th century CE).The tribe's name stems from theProto-Slavicnounpolemeaning field, which in-itself originates from theProto-Indo-Europeanword*pleh₂-indicating flatland.The etymology alludes to thetopographyof the region and the flat landscape of Greater Poland.During theMiddle Ages, theLatinformPoloniawas widely used throughout Europe. The country's alternative archaic name isLechiaand its root syllable remains in official use in several languages, notablyHungarian,Lithuanian, andPersian.Theexonympossibly derives from eitherLech, a legendary ruler of theLechites, or from theLendians, a West Slavic tribe that dwelt on the south-easternmost edge ofLesser Poland.The origin of the tribe's name lies in theOld Polishwordlęda(plain).Initially, both namesLechiaandPoloniawere used interchangeably when referring to Poland by chroniclers during theMiddle Ages. History Prehistory and protohistory The firstStone Agearchaic humans andHomo erectusspecies settled what was to become Poland approximately 500,000 years ago, though the ensuing hostile climate prevented early humans from founding more permanent encampments.The arrival ofHomo sapiensandanatomically modern humanscoincided with the climatic discontinuity at the end of theLast Glacial Period(Northern Polish glaciation10,000 BC), when Poland became habitable.Neolithicexcavations indicated broad-ranging development in that era; the earliest evidence of European cheesemaking (5500 BC) was discovered in PolishKuyavia,and theBronocice potis incised with the earliest known depiction of what may be a wheeled vehicle (3400 BC). The period spanning theBronze Ageand theEarly Iron Age(1300 BC–500 BC) was marked by an increase in population density, establishment ofpalisadedsettlements (gords) and the expansion ofLusatian culture.A significant archaeological find fromthe protohistory of Polandis a fortified settlement atBiskupin, attributed to the Lusatian culture of theLate Bronze Age(mid-8th century BC). Throughoutantiquity(400 BC–500 AD), many distinct ancient populations inhabited the territory of present-day Poland, notablyCeltic,Scythian,Germanic,Sarmatian,BalticandSlavictribes.Furthermore, archaeological findings confirmed the presence ofRoman Legionssent to protect theamber trade.ThePolish tribesemerged following thesecond wave of the Migration Periodaround the 6th century AD;they wereSlavicand may have included assimilated remnants of peoples that earlier dwelled in the area.Beginning in the early 10th century, thePolanswould come to dominate otherLechitictribes in the region, initially forming a tribal federation and later a centralised monarchical state. Kingdom of Poland Poland began to form into a recognisable unitary and territorial entity around the middle of the 10th century under thePiast dynasty.In 966, ruler of the PolansMieszko Iaccepted Christianity under the auspices of theRoman Churchwith theBaptism of Poland.In 968, a missionarybishopricwas established inPoznań. AnincipittitledDagome iudexfirst defined Poland's geographical boundaries with its capital inGnieznoand affirmed that its monarchy was under the protection of theApostolic See.The country's early origins were described byGallus AnonymusinGesta principum Polonorum, the oldest Polish chronicle.An important national event of the period was themartyrdomofSaint Adalbert, who was killed byPrussianpagans in 997 and whose remains were reputedly bought back for their weight in gold by Mieszko's successor,Bolesław I the Brave. In 1000, at theCongress of Gniezno, Bolesław obtained the right ofinvestiturefromOtto III, Holy Roman Emperor, who assented to the creation of additional bishoprics and an archdioceses in Gniezno.Three new dioceses were subsequently established inKraków,Kołobrzeg, andWrocław.Also, Otto bestowed upon Bolesław royalregaliaand a replica of theHoly Lance, which were later used at his coronation as the firstKing of Polandinc.1025, when Bolesław received permission for his coronation fromPope John XIX.Bolesław also expanded the realm considerably by seizing parts of GermanLusatia, CzechMoravia,Upper Hungary, and southwestern regions of theKievan Rus'. The transition frompaganismin Poland was not instantaneous and resulted in thepagan reaction of the 1030s.In 1031,Mieszko II Lambertlost the title of king and fled amidst the violence.The unrest led to the transfer of the capital to Kraków in 1038 byCasimir I the Restorer.In 1076,Bolesław IIre-instituted the office of king, but was banished in 1079 for murdering his opponent,Bishop Stanislaus.In 1138, the countryfragmentedinto five principalities whenBolesław III Wrymouthdivided his lands among his sons.These wereLesser Poland, Greater Poland,Silesia,MasoviaandSandomierz, with intermittent hold overPomerania.In 1226,Konrad I of Masoviainvited theTeutonic Knightsto aid in combating theBalticPrussians; a decision that later led to centuries of warfare with the Knights. In the first half of the 13th century,Henry I the BeardedandHenry II the Piousaimed to unite the fragmented dukedoms, but theMongol invasionand the death of Henry II inbattlehindered the unification.As a result of the devastation which followed, depopulation and the demand for craft labour spurred a migration ofGerman and Flemish settlersinto Poland, which was encouraged by the Polish dukes.In 1264, theStatute of Kaliszintroduced unprecedented autonomy for thePolish Jews, who came to Poland fleeing persecution elsewhere in Europe. In 1320,Władysław I the Shortbecame the first king ofa reunified PolandsincePrzemysł IIin 1296,and the first to be crowned atWawel Cathedralin Kraków.Beginning in 1333, the reign ofCasimir III the Greatwas marked by developments incastle infrastructure, army, judiciary anddiplomacy.Under his authority, Poland transformed into a major European power; he instituted Polish rule overRutheniain 1340 and imposed quarantine that prevented the spread ofBlack Death.In 1364, Casimir inaugurated theUniversity of Kraków, one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in Europe.Upon his death in 1370, the Piast dynasty came to an end.He was succeeded by his closest male relative,Louis of Anjou, who ruled Poland,Hungary, andCroatiain apersonal union.Louis' younger daughterJadwigabecame Poland's first female monarch in 1384. In 1386, Jadwiga of Poland entered a marriage of convenience withWładysław II Jagiełło, theGrand Duke of Lithuania, thus forming theJagiellonian dynastyand thePolish–Lithuanian unionwhich spanned the lateMiddle Agesand earlyModern Era.The partnership between Poles and Lithuanians brought the vast multi-ethnicLithuanianterritories into Poland's sphere of influence and proved beneficial for its inhabitants, who coexisted in one of the largest Europeanpolitical entitiesof the time. In the Baltic Sea region, the struggle of Poland and Lithuania with theTeutonic Knightscontinued and culminated at theBattle of Grunwaldin 1410, where a combined Polish-Lithuanian army inflicted a decisive victory against them.In 1466, after theThirteen Years' War, kingCasimir IV Jagiellongave royal consent to thePeace of Thorn, which created the futureDuchy of Prussiaunder Polish suzerainty and forced the Prussian rulers to paytributes.The Jagiellonian dynasty also established dynastic control over the kingdoms ofBohemia(1471 onwards) and Hungary.In the south, Poland confronted theOttoman Empire(at theVarna Crusade) and theCrimean Tatars, and in the east helped Lithuania to combatRussia. Poland was developing as afeudalstate, with a predominantly agricultural economy and an increasingly powerfullanded nobilitythat confined the population to private manorial farmstead known asfolwarks.In 1493,John I Albertsanctioned the creation of abicameral parliamentcomposed of a lower house, theSejm, and an upper house, theSenate.TheNihil noviact adopted by the PolishGeneral Sejmin 1505, transferred most of thelegislative powerfrom the monarch to the parliament, an event which marked the beginning of the period known asGolden Liberty, when the state was ruled by the seemingly free and equalPolish nobles. The 16th century sawProtestant Reformationmovements making deep inroads into Polish Christianity, which resulted in the establishment of policies promoting religious tolerance, unique in Europe at that time.This tolerance allowed the country to avoid the religious turmoil andwars of religionthat beset Europe.In Poland,Nontrinitarian Christianitybecame the doctrine of the so-calledPolish Brethren, who separated from theirCalvinistdenomination and became the co-founders of globalUnitarianism. The EuropeanRenaissanceevoked underSigismund I the OldandSigismund II Augustusa sense of urgency in the need to promote acultural awakening.During thePolish Golden Age, the nation's economy and culture flourished.The Italian-bornBona Sforza, daughter of theDuke of Milanand queen consort to Sigismund I, made considerable contributions toarchitecture,cuisine, language and court customs atWawel Castle. Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth TheUnion of Lublinof 1569 established thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a unified federal state with anelective monarchy, but largely governed by the nobility.The latter coincided with a period of prosperity; the Polish-dominated union thereafter becoming a leading power and a major cultural entity, exercising political control over parts of Central,Eastern,Southeasternand Northern Europe. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied approximately 1 million km2(390,000 sq mi)at its peakand was the largest state in Europe.Simultaneously, Poland imposedPolonisationpolicies in newly acquired territories which were met with resistance from ethnic and religious minorities. In 1573,Henry de Valois of France, the first elected king, approbated theHenrician Articleswhich obliged future monarchs to respect the rights of nobles.When he left Poland to becomeKing of France, his successor,Stephen Báthory, led a successfulcampaignin theLivonian War, granting Poland morelands across the eastern shoresof the Baltic Sea.State affairs were then headed byJan Zamoyski, theCrown Chancellor.Stephen's successor,Sigismund III, defeated a rivalHabsburgelectoral candidate,Archduke Maximilian III, in theWar of the Polish Succession (1587–1588). In 1592, Sigismund succeeded his father andJohn Vasa, inSweden.ThePolish-Swedish unionendured until 1599, when he wasdeposedby the Swedes. In 1609, SigismundinvadedRussiawhich was engulfed in acivil war,and a year later the Polishwinged hussarunits underStanisław ŻółkiewskioccupiedMoscow for two years after defeating the Russians atKlushino.Sigismund also countered theOttoman Empirein the southeast; atKhotynin 1621Jan Karol Chodkiewiczachieved a decisive victory against the Turks, which ushered the downfall of SultanOsman II. Sigismund's long reign in Poland coincided with theSilver Age.The liberalWładysław IVeffectively defended Poland's territorial possessions but after his death the vast Commonwealth began declining from internal disorder and constant warfare.In 1648, the Polish hegemony over Ukraine sparked theKhmelnytsky Uprising,followed by the decimatingSwedish Delugeduring theSecond Northern War,and Prussia'sindependencein 1657.In 1683,John III Sobieskire-established military prowess when he halted the advance of anOttoman Armyinto Europe at theBattle of Vienna.TheSaxonera, underAugustus IIandAugustus III, saw neighboring powers grow in strength at the expense of Poland. Both Saxon kings faced opposition fromStanisław Leszczyńskiduring theGreat Northern War(1700) and theWar of the Polish Succession (1733). Partitions Theroyal electionof 1764 resulted in the elevation ofStanisław II Augustus Poniatowskito the monarchy.His candidacy was extensively funded by his sponsor and former lover, EmpressCatherine II of Russia.The new king maneuvered between his desire to implement necessary modernising reforms, and the necessity to remain at peace with surrounding states.His ideals led to the formation of the 1768Bar Confederation, a rebellion directed against the Poniatowski and all external influence, which ineptly aimed to preserve Poland's sovereignty and privileges held by the nobility.The failed attempts at government restructuring as well as the domestic turmoil provoked its neighbours to invade. In 1772, theFirst Partition of the Commonwealthby Prussia, Russia and Austria took place; an act which thePartition Sejm, under considerable duress, eventually ratified as afait accompli.Disregarding the territorial losses, in 1773 a plan of critical reforms was established, in which theCommission of National Education, the first government education authority in Europe, was inaugurated.Corporal punishment of schoolchildren was officially prohibited in 1783. Poniatowski was the head figure of theEnlightenment, encouraged the development of industries, and embraced republicanneoclassicism.For his contributions to the arts and sciences he was awarded aFellowship of the Royal Society. In 1791,Great Sejm parliamentadopted the3 May Constitution, the first set of supreme national laws, and introduced aconstitutional monarchy.TheTargowica Confederation, an organisation of nobles and deputies opposing the act, appealed to Catherine and caused the1792 Polish–Russian War.Fearing the reemergence of Polish hegemony, Russia and Prussia arranged and in 1793 executed, theSecond Partition, which left the country deprived of territory and incapable of independent existence. On 24 October 1795, the Commonwealth waspartitioned for the third timeand ceased to exist as a territorial entity.Stanisław Augustus, the last King of Poland, abdicated the throne on 25 November 1795. Era of insurrections The Polish peoplerose several times against the partitionersand occupying armies. An unsuccessful attempt at defending Poland's sovereignty took place in the 1794Kościuszko Uprising, where a popular and distinguished generalTadeusz Kościuszko, who had several years earlier served underGeorge Washingtonin theAmerican Revolutionary War, led Polish insurgents.Despite the victory at theBattle of Racławice, his ultimate defeat ended Poland's independent existencefor 123 years. In 1806, aninsurrectionorganised byJan Henryk Dąbrowskiliberated western Poland ahead ofNapoleon'sadvance into Prussia during theWar of the Fourth Coalition. In accordance with the 1807Treaty of Tilsit, Napoleon proclaimed theDuchy of Warsaw, aclient stateruled by his allyFrederick Augustus I of Saxony. The Poles actively aided French troops in theNapoleonic Wars, particularly those underJózef Poniatowskiwho becameMarshal of Franceshortly before his death atLeipzigin 1813.In the aftermath of Napoleon's exile, the Duchy of Warsaw was abolished at theCongress of Viennain 1815 and its territory was divided into RussianCongress Kingdom of Poland, the PrussianGrand Duchy of Posen, andAustrian Galiciawith theFree City of Kraków. In 1830,non-commissioned officersat Warsaw'sOfficer Cadet Schoolrebelled in what was theNovember Uprising.After its collapse, Congress Poland lost itsconstitutional autonomy,armyand legislative assembly.During theEuropean Spring of Nations, Poles took up arms in theGreater Poland Uprising of 1848to resistGermanisation, but its failure saw duchy's status reduced to a mereprovince; and subsequent integration into theGerman Empirein 1871.In Russia, the fall of theJanuary Uprising(1863–1864) prompted severepolitical, social and cultural reprisals, followed by deportations andpogromsof the Polish-Jewish population. Towards the end of the 19th century, Congress Poland became heavily industrialised; its primary exports being coal,zinc, iron and textiles. Second Polish Republic In the aftermath ofWorld War I, theAlliesagreed on the reconstitution of Poland, confirmed through theTreaty of Versaillesof June 1919.A total of 2 million Polish troops fought with the armies of the three occupying powers, and over 450,000 died.Following thearmistice with Germanyin November 1918, Poland regained its independence as theSecond Polish Republic. The Second Polish Republic reaffirmed its sovereignty aftera series of military conflicts, most notably thePolish–Soviet War, when Poland inflicted a crushing defeat on theRed Armyat theBattle of Warsaw. The inter-war period heralded a new era of Polish politics. Whilst Polish political activists had faced heavy censorship in the decades up untilWorld War I, a new political tradition was established in the country. Many exiled Polish activists, such asIgnacy Jan Paderewski, who would later become prime minister, returned home. A significant number of them then went on to take key positions in the newly formed political and governmental structures. Tragedy struck in 1922 whenGabriel Narutowicz, inaugural holder of the presidency, was assassinated at theZachętaGallery in Warsaw by a painter and right-wing nationalistEligiusz Niewiadomski. In 1926, theMay Coup, led by the hero of the Polish independence campaign MarshalJózef Piłsudski, turned rule of the Second Polish Republic over to the nonpartisanSanacja(Healing) movement to prevent radical political organisations on both the left and the right from destabilizing the country.By the late 1930s, due to increased threats posed by political extremism inside the country, the Polish government became increasingly heavy-handed, banning a number of radical organisations, including communist and ultra-nationalist political parties, which threatened the stability of the country. World War II World War II began with theNazi Germaninvasion of Polandon 1 September 1939, followed by theSoviet invasion of Polandon 17 September. On 28 September 1939,Warsaw fell. As agreed in theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Poland was split into two zones,one occupied by Nazi Germany, the other bythe Soviet Union. In 1939–1941, the Soviets deported hundreds of thousands of Poles. The SovietNKVDexecuted thousands of Polish prisoners of war (among other incidents in theKatyn massacre) ahead ofOperation Barbarossa.German planners had in November 1939 called for \\\"the complete destruction of all Poles\\\" and their fate as outlined in the genocidalGeneralplan Ost. Poland made the fourth-largest troop contribution in Europe,and its troops served both thePolish Government in Exilein thewestand Soviet leadership in theeast. Polish troops played an important role in theNormandy,Italian,North African CampaignsandNetherlandsand are particularly remembered for theBattle of BritainandBattle of Monte Cassino.Polish intelligence operatives proved extremely valuable to the Allies, providing much of the intelligence from Europe and beyond,Polish code breakerswere responsible forcracking the Enigma cipherand Polish scientists participating in theManhattan Projectwere co-creators of the Americanatomic bomb. In the east, the Soviet-backedPolish 1st Armydistinguished itself in the battles forWarsawandBerlin. Thewartime resistance movement, and theArmia Krajowa(Home Army), fought against German occupation. It was one of the three largest resistance movements of the entire war, and encompassed a range of clandestine activities, which functioned as anunderground statecomplete withdegree-awarding universitiesanda court system.The resistance was loyal to the exiled government and generally resented the idea of a communist Poland; for this reason, in the summer of 1944 it initiatedOperation Tempest, of which theWarsaw Uprisingthat began on 1 August 1944 is the best-known operation. Nazi German forces under orders fromAdolf Hitlerset up six Germanextermination campsin occupied Poland, includingTreblinka,MajdanekandAuschwitz. The Germanstransported millions of Jewsfrom across occupied Europe to be murdered in those camps.Altogether, 3 million Polish Jews– approximately 90% of Poland's pre-war Jewry – and between 1.8 and 2.8 million ethnic Poleswere killed during the Germanoccupation of Poland, including between 50,000 and 100,000 members of the Polishintelligentsia– academics, doctors, lawyers, nobility and priesthood. During the Warsaw Uprising alone, over 150,000 Polish civilians were killed, most were murdered by the Germans during theWolaandOchotamassacres.Around 150,000 Polish civilians were killed by Soviets between 1939 and 1941 during the Soviet Union's occupation of eastern Poland (Kresy), and another estimated 100,000 Poles were murdered by theUkrainian Insurgent Army(UPA) between 1943 and 1944 in what became known as theWołyń Massacres.Of all the countriesin the war, Poland lost the highest percentage of its citizens: around 6 million perished – more than one-sixth of Poland's pre-war population –half of themPolish Jews.About 90% of deaths were non-military in nature. In 1945, Poland's borderswere shifted westwards. Over two million Polish inhabitants ofKresywere expelledalong theCurzon LinebyStalin.The western border became theOder-Neisse line. As a result, Poland's territory was reduced by 20%, or 77,500 square kilometres (29,900 sq mi). The shift forced the migration ofmillions of other people, most of whom were Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, and Jews. Post-war communism At the insistence ofJoseph Stalin, theYalta Conferencesanctioned the formation of a new provisional pro-Communist coalition government in Moscow, which ignored thePolish government-in-exilebased in London. This action angered many Poles who considered it abetrayalby the Allies. In 1944, Stalin had made guarantees toChurchillandRooseveltthat he would maintain Poland's sovereignty and allow democratic elections to take place. However, upon achieving victory in 1945, the elections organised by the occupying Soviet authorities were falsified and were used to provide a veneer of legitimacy for Soviet hegemony over Polish affairs. The Soviet Union instituted a newcommunistgovernment in Poland, analogous to much of the rest of theEastern Bloc.As elsewhere in Communist Europe, the Soviet influence over Poland was met witharmed resistancefrom the outset which continued into the 1950s. Despite widespread objections, the new Polish government accepted the Soviet annexation of the pre-war eastern regions of Poland(in particular the cities ofWilnoandLwów) and agreed to the permanent garrisoning ofRed Armyunits on Poland's territory. Military alignment within theWarsaw Pactthroughout theCold Warcame about as a direct result of this change in Poland's political culture. In the European scene, it came to characterise the full-fledged integration of Poland into the brotherhood of communist nations. The new communist government took control with the adoption of theSmall Constitutionon 19 February 1947. ThePolish People's Republic(Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa)was officially proclaimed in 1952. In 1956, after the death ofBolesław Bierut, the régime ofWładysław Gomułkabecame temporarily more liberal, freeing many people from prison and expanding some personal freedoms.Collectivisation in the Polish People's Republicfailed. A similar situation repeated itself in the 1970s underEdward Gierek, but most of the time persecution ofanti-communist oppositiongroups persisted. Despite this, Poland was at the time considered to be one of the least oppressive states of the Eastern Bloc. Labour turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union \\\"Solidarity\\\" (\\\"Solidarność\\\"), which over time became a political force. Despite persecution and imposition ofmartial law in 1981by GeneralWojciech Jaruzelski, it eroded the dominance of thePolish United Workers' Partyand by 1989 had triumphed in Poland's firstpartially free and democratic parliamentary electionssince the end of the Second World War.Lech Wałęsa, a Solidarity candidate, eventuallywon the presidency in 1990. The Solidarity movement heralded thecollapse of communist regimes and parties across Europe. Third Polish Republic Ashock therapyprogram, initiated byLeszek Balcerowiczin the early 1990s, enabled the country to transform itsSoviet-styleplanned economyinto amarket economy.As with otherpost-communist countries, Poland suffered temporary declines in social, economic, and living standards,but it became the first post-communist country to reach its pre-1989GDP levelsas early as 1995, although the unemployment rate increased.Poland became a member of theVisegrád Groupin 1991,and joinedNATOin 1999.Poles then voted to join theEuropean Unionina referendumin June 2003,withPoland becoming a full memberon 1 May 2004, following theconsequent enlargement of the organisation. Poland joined theSchengen Areain 2007, as a result of which,the country's borderswith other member states of the European Union were dismantled, allowing forfull freedom of movementwithin most of the European Union.On 10 April 2010, thePresident of PolandLech Kaczyński, along with 89 other high-ranking Polish officialsdied in a plane crashnearSmolensk, Russia. In 2011, the rulingCivic Platformwonparliamentary elections.In 2014, thePrime Minister of Poland,Donald Tusk, was chosen to bePresident of the European Council, and resigned as prime minister.The2015and2019 electionswere won by the national-conservativeLaw and JusticeParty (PiS) led byJarosław Kaczyński,resulting in increasedEuroscepticismandincreased frictionwith the European Union.In December 2017,Mateusz Morawieckiwas sworn in as the Prime Minister, succeedingBeata Szydlo, in office since 2015. PresidentAndrzej Duda, supported by Law and Justice party, was re-elected in the 2020 presidentialelection.As of November 2023, theRussian invasion of Ukrainehad led to 17 millionUkrainian refugeescrossing the border to Poland.As of November 2023, 0.9 million of those had stayed in Poland.In October 2023, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party won the largest share of the vote in theelection, but lost its majority in parliament. In December 2023, Donald Tusk became the new Prime Minister leading a coalition made up ofCivic Coalition,Third Way, andThe Left. Law and Justice became the leading opposition party. Geography Poland covers an administrative area of 312,722 km2(120,743 sq mi), and is theninth-largest country in Europe. Approximately 311,895 km2(120,423 sq mi) of the country's territory consists of land, 2,041 km2(788 sq mi) is internal waters and 8,783 km2(3,391 sq mi) is territorial sea.Topographically, the landscape of Poland is characterised by diverselandforms,water bodiesandecosystems.The central and northern region bordering theBaltic Sealie within the flatCentral European Plain, but its south is hilly and mountainous.The averageelevation above the sea levelis estimated at 173 metres. The country has a coastline spanning 770 km (480 mi); extending from the shores of the Baltic Sea, along theBay of Pomeraniain the west to theGulf of Gdańskin the east.The beach coastline is abundant insand dune fieldsorcoastal ridgesand is indented byspitsand lagoons, notably theHel Peninsulaand theVistula Lagoon, which is shared with Russia.The largest Polish island on the Baltic Sea isWolin, located withinWolin National Park.Poland also shares theSzczecin Lagoonand theUsedomisland with Germany. The mountainous belt in the extreme south of Poland is divided into two majormountain ranges; theSudetesin the west and theCarpathiansin the east. The highest part of the Carpathian massif are theTatra Mountains, extending along Poland's southern border.Poland's highest point isMount Rysyat 2,501 metres (8,205 ft) in elevation, located in the Tatras.The highest summit of the Sudetes massif isMount Śnieżkaat 1,603.3 metres (5,260 ft), shared with the Czech Republic.The lowest point in Poland is situated atRaczki Elbląskiein theVistula Delta, which is 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) below sea level. Poland'slongest riversare theVistula, theOder, theWarta, and theBug.The country also possesses one of the highest densities of lakes in the world, numbering around ten thousand and mostly concentrated in the north-eastern region ofMasuria, within theMasurian Lake District.The largest lakes, covering more than 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi), areŚniardwyandMamry, and the deepest isLake Hańczaat 108.5 metres (356 ft) in depth. Climate The climate of Poland istemperate transitional, and varies fromoceanicin the north-west tocontinentalin the south-east.The mountainous southern fringes are situated within analpine climate.Poland is characterised by warm summers, with a mean temperature of around 20 °C (68.0 °F) in July, and moderately cold winters averaging −1 °C (30.2 °F) in December.The warmest and sunniest part of Poland isLower Silesiain the southwest and the coldest region is the northeast corner, aroundSuwałkiinPodlaskie province, where the climate is affected bycold frontsfromScandinaviaandSiberia.Precipitationis more frequent during the summer months, with highest rainfall recorded from June to September. There is a considerable fluctuation in day-to-day weather and the arrival of a particular season can differ each year.Climate changeand other factors have further contributed to interannualthermal anomaliesand increased temperatures; the average annual air temperature between 2011 and 2020 was 9.33 °C (48.8 °F), around 1.11 °C higher than in the 2001–2010 period.Winters are also becoming increasingly drier, with lesssleetand snowfall. Biodiversity Phytogeographically, Poland belongs to the Central European province of theCircumboreal Regionwithin theBoreal Kingdom. The country has fourPalearctic ecoregions– Central, Northern, Western Europeantemperate broadleaf and mixed forest, and theCarpathian montane conifer. Forests occupy 31% of Poland's land area, the largest of which is theLower Silesian Wilderness.The most commondeciduous treesfound across the country areoak,maple, andbeech; the most common conifers arepine,spruce, andfir.An estimated 69% of all forests areconiferous. Thefloraandfaunain Poland is that ofContinental Europe, with thewisent,white storkandwhite-tailed eagledesignated as national animals, and thered common poppybeing the unofficial floral emblem.Among the most protected species is theEuropean bison, Europe's heaviest land animal, as well as theEurasian beaver, thelynx, thegray wolfand theTatra chamois.The region was also home to the extinctaurochs, the last individual dying in Poland in 1627.Game animals such asred deer,roe deer, andwild boarare found in most woodlands.Poland is also a significant breeding ground formigratory birdsand hosts around one quarter of the global population of white storks. Around 315,100 hectares (1,217 sq mi), equivalent to 1% of Poland's territory, is protected within 23Polish national parks, two of which –BiałowieżaandBieszczady– areUNESCO World Heritage Sites.There are 123 areas designated aslandscape parks, along with numerousnature reservesand otherprotected areasunder theNatura 2000network. Government and politics Poland is aunitarysemi-presidential republicand arepresentative democracy, with apresidentas thehead of state.The executive power is exercised further by theCouncil of Ministersand theprime ministerwho acts as thehead of government.The council's individual members are selected by the prime minister, approved by parliament and sworn in by the president.The head of state is elected bypopular votefor a five-year term.The current president isAndrzej Dudaand the prime minister isDonald Tusk. Poland'slegislativeassembly is abicameralparliament consisting of a 460-member lower house (Sejm) and a 100-member upper house (Senate).The Sejm is elected underproportional representationaccording to thed'Hondt methodfor vote-seat conversion.The Senate is elected under thefirst-past-the-postelectoral system, with one senator being returned from each of the one hundred constituencies.The Senate has the right to amend or reject a statute passed by the Sejm, but the Sejm may override the Senate's decision with a majority vote. With the exception of ethnic minority parties, only candidates ofpolitical partiesreceiving at least 5% of the total national vote can enter the Sejm.Both the lower and upper houses of parliament in Poland are elected for a four-year term and each member of the Polish parliament is guaranteedparliamentary immunity.Under current legislation, a person must be 21 years of age or over to assume the position of deputy, 30 or over to become senator and 35 to run in a presidential election. Members of the Sejm and Senate jointly form theNational Assembly of the Republic of Poland.The National Assembly, headed by theSejm Marshal, is formed on three occasions – when a new president takes theoath of office; when an indictment against the president is brought to theState Tribunal; and in case a president's permanent incapacity to exercise his duties due to the state of his health is declared. Administrative divisions Poland is divided into 16 provinces or states known asvoivodeships.As of 2022, the voivodeships are subdivided into 380 counties (powiats), which are further fragmented into 2,477 municipalities (gminas).Major cities normally have the status of bothgminaandpowiat.The provinces are largely founded on the borders ofhistoric regions, or named for individual cities.Administrative authority at the voivodeship level is shared between a government-appointed governor (voivode), an elected regional assembly (sejmik) and avoivodeship marshal, an executive elected by the assembly. Law TheConstitution of Polandis the enacted supreme law, and Polish judicature is based on the principle of civil rights, governed by the code ofcivil law.The current democratic constitution was adopted by theNational Assembly of Polandon 2 April 1997; it guarantees amulti-party statewith freedoms of religion, speech and gatherings, prohibits the practices of forcedmedical experimentation, torture orcorporal punishment, and acknowledges the inviolability of the home, the right to form trade unions, and the right tostrike. Thejudiciaryin Poland is composed of theSupreme Courtas the country's highest judicial organ, theSupreme Administrative Courtfor the judicial control of public administration, Common Courts (District,Regional,Appellate) and theMilitary Court.TheConstitutionaland State Tribunals are separate judicial bodies, which rule the constitutional liability of people holding the highest offices of state and supervise the compliance ofstatutory law, thus protecting the Constitution.Judges are nominated by theNational Council of the Judiciaryand are appointed for life by thepresident.With the approval of the Senate, the Sejm appoints anombudsmanfor a five-year term to guard the observance of social justice. Poland has a lowhomiciderate at 0.7 murders per 100,000 people, as of 2018.Rape, assault and violent crime remain at a very low level.The country has imposed strict regulations onabortion, which is permitted only in cases of rape, incest or when the woman's life is in danger;congenital disorderandstillbirthare not covered by the law, prompting some women to seek abortion abroad. Historically, the most significant Polish legal act is theConstitution of 3 May 1791. Instituted to redress long-standing political defects of thefederativePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealthand itsGolden Liberty, it was the first modern constitution in Europe and influenced many laterdemocratic movementsacross the globe.In 1918, theSecond Polish Republicbecame one of the first countries to introduce universalwomen's suffrage. Foreign relations Poland is amiddle powerand is transitioning into aregional powerin Europe.It has a total of 53 representatives in theEuropean Parliamentas of 2024.Warsawserves as the headquarters forFrontex, the European Union's agency for external border security as well asODIHR, one of the principal institutions of theOSCE.Apart from the European Union, Poland has been a member ofNATO, the United Nations, and theWTO. In recent years, Poland significantly strengthened itsrelationswith the United States, thus becoming one of its closestalliesand strategic partners in Europe.Historically, Poland maintained strongcultural and politicalties to Hungary; this special relationship was recognised by the parliaments of both countries in 2007 with the joint declaration of 23 March as \\\"The Day of Polish-Hungarian Friendship\\\". Military The Polish Armed Forces are composed of five branches – theLand Forces, theNavy, theAir Force, theSpecial Forcesand theTerritorial Defence Force.The military is subordinate to theMinistry of National Defence of the Republic of Poland.However, its commander-in-chief in peacetime is the president, who nominates officers, the Minister for National Defence and the chief of staff.Polish military tradition is generally commemorated by theArmed Forces Day, celebrated annually on 15 August.As of 2022, the Polish Armed Forces have a combined strength of 114,050 active soldiers, with a further 75,400 active in thegendarmerieanddefence force. Poland ranks14th in the worldin terms of military expenditures; the country allocates 3.8% of its total GDP on military spending, equivalent to approximately US$31.6 billion in 2023.From 2022, Poland initiated a programme of mass modernisation of its armed forces, in close cooperation with American, South Korean and local Polishdefence manufacturers.Also, the Polish military is set to increase its size to 250,000 enlisted and officers, and 50,000 defence force personnel.According toSIPRI, the country exported €487 million worth of arms and armaments to foreign countries in 2020. Compulsorymilitary servicefor men, who previously had to serve for nine months, was discontinued in 2008.Polish military doctrine reflects the same defensive nature as that of its NATO partners and the country actively hosts NATO'smilitary exercises.Since 1953, the country has been a large contributor to various United Nations peacekeeping missions,and currently maintains military presence in the Middle East, Africa, theBaltic statesand southeastern Europe. Security, law enforcement and emergency services Thanks to its location, Poland is a country essentially free from the threat of natural disasters such asearthquakes,volcanic eruptions,tornadoesandtropical cyclones. However,floodshave occurred in low-lying areas from time to time during periods of extreme rainfall (e.g. during the2010 Central European floods). Law enforcement in Poland is performed by several agencies which are subordinate to theMinistry of Interior and Administration– theState Police(Policja), assigned to investigate crimes or transgression; theMunicipal City Guard, which maintains public order; and several specialised agencies, such as thePolish Border Guard.Private security firms are also common, although they possess no legal authority to arrest or detain a suspect.Municipal guards are primarily headed by provincial, regional or city councils; individual guards are not permitted to carryfirearmsunless instructed by the superior commanding officer.Security service personnel conduct regular patrols in both large urban areas or smaller suburban localities. TheInternal Security Agency(ABW, or ISA in English) is the chiefcounterintelligence instrumentsafeguarding Poland's internal security, along withAgencja Wywiadu(AW) which identifies threats and collects secret information abroad.TheCentral Investigation Bureau of Police(CBŚP) and theCentral Anticorruption Bureau(CBA) are responsible for countering organised crime and corruption in state and private institutions. Emergency services in Poland consist of theemergency medical services,search and rescueunits of thePolish Armed ForcesandState Fire Service. Emergency medical services in Poland are operated by local and regional governments,but are a part of the centralised national agency – theNational Medical Emergency Service(Państwowe Ratownictwo Medyczne). Economy As of 2023, Poland's economy and gross domestic product (GDP) is the sixth largest in the European Union bynominal standardsand the fifth largest bypurchasing power parity. It is also one of the fastest growing within the Union and reached adeveloped marketstatus in 2018.The unemployment rate published byEurostatin 2023 amounted to 2.8%, which was the second-lowest in the EU.As of 2023, around 62% of the employed population works in theservice sector, 29% in manufacturing, and 8% in the agricultural sector.Although Poland is a member of theEuropean single market, the country has not adopted theEuroas legal tender and maintains its own currency – thePolish złoty(zł, PLN). Poland is the regional economic leader in Central Europe, with nearly 40 per cent of the 500 biggest companies in the region (by revenues) as well as ahigh globalisation rate.The country's largest firms compose theWIG20andWIG30indexes, which is traded on theWarsaw Stock Exchange. According to reports made by theNational Bank of Poland, the value of Polish foreign direct investments reached almost 300 billionPLNat the end of 2014. TheCentral Statistical Officeestimated that in 2014 there were 1,437 Polish corporations with interests in 3,194 foreign entities. Poland has the largest banking sector in Central Europe,with 32.3 branches per 100,000 adults.It was the only European economy to have avoided therecession of 2008.The country is the20th largest exporterof goods and services in the world.Exports of goods and services are valued at approximately 56% of GDP, as of 2020.In 2019, Poland passed a law that would exempt workers under the age of 26 fromincome tax. Tourism In 2020, the total value of thetourism industryin Poland was 104.3 billionPLN, then equivalent to 4.5% of the Polish GDP.Tourism contributes considerably to the overall economy and makes up a relatively large proportion of the country's service market.Nearly 200,000 people were employed in theaccommodation and catering(hospitality) sector in 2020.In 2021, Poland ranked12th most visited countryin the world by international arrivals. Tourist attractions in Poland vary, from the mountains in the south to the beaches in the north, with a trail of rich architectural and cultural heritage. Among the most recognisable landmarks are Old Towns inKraków,Warsaw,Wrocław(dwarf statues),Gdańsk,Poznań,Lublin,ToruńandZamośćas well as museums, zoological gardens, theme parks and theWieliczka Salt Mine, with its labyrinthine tunnels,underground lakeand chapels carved by miners out ofrock saltbeneath the ground. There areover 100 castlesin the country, largely within theLower Silesian Voivodeship, and also on theTrail of the Eagles' Nests; the largest castle in the world by land area is situated inMalbork.The GermanAuschwitz concentration campinOświęcim, and theSkull ChapelinKudowa-Zdrójconstitutedark tourism.Regarding nature based travel, notable sites include theMasurian Lake DistrictandBiałowieża Forestin the east; on the southKarkonosze, theTable Mountainsand theTatra Mountains, whereRysyand theEagle's Pathtrail are located. ThePieninyandBieszczady Mountainslie in the extreme south-east. Transport Transport in Poland is provided by means ofrail,road,marine shippingandair travel. The country is part of EU'sSchengen Areaand is an important transport hub due to its strategic geographical position in Central Europe.Some of the longest European routes, including theE30andE40, run through Poland. The country has a good network ofhighwaysconsisting ofexpress roadsandmotorways. As of August 2023, Poland has the world's21st-largest road network, maintaining over 5,000 km (3,100 mi) of highways in use. In 2022, the nation had 19,393 kilometres (12,050 mi) of railway track, the third longest in the European Union after Germany and France.ThePolish State Railways(PKP) is the dominant railway operator, with certain major voivodeships or urban areas possessing their owncommuterandregional rail.Poland has a number of international airports, the largest of which isWarsaw Chopin Airport.It is the primary global hub forLOT Polish Airlines, the country'sflag carrier. Seaports exist all along Poland's Baltic coast, with most freight operations usingŚwinoujście,Police,Szczecin,Kołobrzeg,Gdynia,GdańskandElblągas their base. ThePort of Gdańskis the only port in theBaltic Seaadapted to receive oceanic vessels.PolferriesandUnity Lineare the largest Polish ferry operators, with the latter providingroll-on/roll-offandtrain ferryservices toScandinavia. Energy The electricity generation sector in Poland is largelyfossil-fuel–based. Coal production in Poland is a major source of employment and the largest source of the nation'sgreenhouse gas emissions.Many power plants nationwide use Poland's position as a major European exporter of coal to their advantage by continuing to use coal as the primary raw material in the production of their energy. The three largest Polish coal mining firms (Węglokoks,Kompania WęglowaandJSW) extract around 100 million tonnes of coal annually.After coal, Polish energy supply relies significantly on oil—the nation is the third-largest buyer of Russian oil exports to the EU. The newEnergy Policy of Poland until 2040(EPP2040) would reduce the share of coal andlignitein electricity generation by 25% from 2017 to 2030. The plan involves deploying new nuclear plants, increasing energy efficiency, and decarbonising the Polish transport system in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prioritise long-term energy security. Science and technology Over the course of history, the Polish people have made considerable contributions in the fields of science, technology and mathematics.Perhaps the most renowned Pole to support this theory wasNicolaus Copernicus(Mikołaj Kopernik), who triggered theCopernican Revolutionby placing theSun rather than the Earth at the center of the universe.He also derived aquantity theory of money, which made him a pioneer of economics. Copernicus' achievements and discoveries are considered the basis of Polish culture and cultural identity.Poland was ranked 40th in theGlobal Innovation Indexin 2024. Poland's tertiary education institutions; traditionaluniversities, as well as technical, medical, and economic institutions, employ around tens of thousands of researchers and staff members. There are hundreds of research and development institutes.However, in the 19th and 20th centuries many Polish scientists worked abroad; one of the most important of these exiles wasMarie Curie, a physicist and chemist who lived much of her life in France. In 1925, she established Poland'sRadium Institute. In the first half of the 20th century, Poland was a flourishing centre of mathematics. Outstanding Polish mathematicians formed theLwów School of Mathematics(withStefan Banach,Stanisław Mazur,Hugo Steinhaus,Stanisław Ulam) andWarsaw School of Mathematics(withAlfred Tarski,Kazimierz Kuratowski,Wacław SierpińskiandAntoni Zygmund). Numerous mathematicians, scientists, chemists or economists emigrated due to historic vicissitudes, among themBenoit Mandelbrot,Leonid Hurwicz,Alfred Tarski,Joseph Rotblatand Nobel Prize laureatesRoald Hoffmann,Georges CharpakandTadeusz Reichstein. Demographics Poland has a population of approximately 38.2 million as of 2021, and is theninth-most populous countryin Europe, as well as the fifth-most populous member state of theEuropean Union.It has a population density of 122 inhabitants per square kilometre (320 inhabitants/sq mi).Thetotal fertility ratewas estimated at 1.33 children born to a woman in 2021, which isamong the world's lowest.Furthermore, Poland's population isaging significantly, and the country has amedian ageof 42.2. Around 60% of the country's population lives in urban areas or major cities and 40% in rural zones.In 2020, 50.2% of Poles resided indetached dwellingsand 44.3% in apartments.The most populous administrative province or state is theMasovian Voivodeshipand the most populous city is the capital,Warsaw, at 1.8 million inhabitants with a further 2–3 million people living in itsmetropolitan area.Themetropolitan areaofKatowiceis the largest urbanconurbationwith a population between 2.7 millionand 5.3 million residents.Population density is higher in the south of Poland and mostly concentrated between the cities ofWrocławandKraków. In the2011 Polish census, 37,310,341 people reportedPolishidentity, 846,719Silesian, 232,547Kashubianand 147,814German. Otheridentitieswere reported by 163,363 people (0.41%) and 521,470 people (1.35%) did not specify any nationality.Official population statistics do not include migrant workers who do not possess a permanent residency permit orKarta Polaka.More than 1.7 millionUkrainiancitizens worked legally in Poland in 2017.The number of migrants is rising steadily; the country approved 504,172 work permits for foreigners in 2021 alone.According to theCouncil of Europe, 12,731Romani peoplelive in Poland. Languages Polishis theofficialand predominant spoken language in Poland, and is one of the officiallanguages of the European Union.It is also asecond languagein parts of neighbouringLithuania, where it is taught in Polish-minority schools.Contemporary Poland is a linguisticallyhomogeneousnation, with 97% of respondents declaring Polish as their mother tongue.There are currently 15 minority languages in Poland,including one recognised regional language,Kashubian, which is spoken by approximately 100,000 people on a daily basis in the northern regions ofKashubiaandPomerania.Poland also recognisessecondary administrative languages or auxiliary languages in bilingual municipalities, where bilingual signs and placenames are commonplace.According to theCentre for Public Opinion Research, around 32% of Polish citizens declared knowledge of the English language in 2015. Religion According to the 2021 census, 71.3% of all Polish citizens adhere to theRoman Catholic Church, with 6.9% identifying as having no religion and 20.6% refusing to answer. Poland is one of themost religious countries in Europe, where Roman Catholicism remains a part of national identity and Polish-bornPope John Paul IIis widely revered.In 2015, 61.6% of respondents outlined that religion is of high or very high importance.However, church attendance has greatly decreased in recent years; only 28% of Catholics attendedmassweekly in 2021, down from around half in 2000.According toThe Wall Street Journal, \\\"Of more than 100 countries studied by thePew Research Centerin 2018, Poland wassecularizingthe fastest, as measured by the disparity between the religiosity of young people and their elders.\\\" Freedom of religion in Poland is guaranteed by the Constitution, and Poland'sconcordatwith theHoly Seeenables the teaching of religion in public schools.Historically, the Polish state maintained a high degree ofreligious toleranceand provided asylum for refugees fleeing religious persecution in other parts of Europe.Poland hosted Europe's largestJewish diaspora, and the country was a centre ofAshkenazi Jewishculture and traditional learning until theHolocaust. Contemporary religious minorities includeOrthodox Christians,Protestants, includingLutheransof theEvangelical-Augsburg Church,Pentecostalsin thePentecostal Church in Poland,Adventistsin theSeventh-day Adventist Church, and other smallerEvangelicaldenominations, includingJehovah's Witnesses,Eastern Catholics,Mariavites,Jews,Muslims(Tatars), andneopagans, some of whom are members of theNative Polish Church. Pilgrimagesto theJasna Góra Monastery, a shrinededicatedto theBlack Madonna, take place annually. Health Medical service providers andhospitals(szpitale) in Poland are subordinate to theMinistry of Health; it provides administrative oversight and scrutiny of general medical practice, and is obliged to maintain a high standard ofhygieneand patient care. Poland has auniversal healthcare systembased on an all-inclusiveinsurance system; state subsidised healthcare is available to all citizens covered by the general health insurance program of theNational Health Fund(NFZ). Private medical complexes exist nationwide; over 50% of the population uses both public and private sectors. According to theHuman Development Reportfrom 2020, the average life expectancy at birth is 79 years (around 75 years for an infant male and 83 years for an infant female);the country has a lowinfant mortality rate(4 per 1,000 births).In 2019, the principal cause of death wasischemic heart disease; diseases of thecirculatory systemaccounted for 45% of all deaths.In the same year, Poland was also the 15th-largest importer ofmedicationsand pharmaceutical products. Education TheJagiellonian Universityfounded in 1364 byCasimir IIIinKrakówwas the first institution of higher learning established in Poland, and is one of theoldest universitiesstill in continuous operation.Poland'sCommission of National Education(Komisja Edukacji Narodowej), established in 1773, was the world's first state ministry of education.In 2018, theProgramme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, placed Poland's educational output as one of the highest in the OECD, ranking 5th by student attainment and 6th by student performance in 2022.The study showed that students in Poland perform better academically than in most OECD countries. The framework for primary, secondary and higher tertiary education are established by theMinistry of Education and Science. One year of kindergarten iscompulsoryfor six-year-olds.Primary education traditionally begins at the age of seven, although children aged six can attend at the request of their parents or guardians.Elementary school spans eight grades and secondary schooling is dependent on student preference – a four-year high school (liceum), a five-year technical school (technikum) or variousvocational studies(szkoła branżowa) can be pursued by individual pupils.A liceum or technikum is concluded with a maturity exit exam (matura), which must be passed in order to apply for a university or other institutions of higher learning. In Poland, there are over 500 university-level institutions,with numerous faculties.TheUniversity of WarsawandWarsaw Polytechnic, theUniversity of Wrocław,Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznańand theUniversity of Technology in Gdańskare among the most prominent.There are three conventionalacademic degreesin Poland –licencjatorinżynier(first cycle),magister(second cycle) anddoktor(third cycle qualification). Ethnicity Ethnic structure of Poland by voivodeship according to the censuses of 2002, 2011 and 2021: Culture The culture of Poland is closely connected with its intricate 1,000-yearhistory, and forms an important constituent in theWestern civilisation.The Poles take great pride in their national identity which is often associated with the colours white and red, and exuded by the expressionbiało-czerwoni(\\\"whitereds\\\").National symbols, chiefly the crownedwhite-tailed eagle, are often visible on clothing, insignia and emblems.The architectural monuments of great importance are protected by theNational Heritage Board of Poland.Over 100 of the country's most significant tangible wonders were enlisted onto theHistoric Monuments Register,with further 17 being recognised byUNESCOas World Heritage Sites. Holidays and traditions There are 13 government-approved annual public holidays – New Year on 1 January,Three Kings' Dayon 6 January,Easter SundayandEaster Monday,Labour Dayon 1 May,Constitution Dayon 3 May,Pentecost,Corpus Christi,Feast of the Assumptionon 15 August,All Saints' Dayon 1 November,Independence Dayon 11 November and Christmastide on 25 and 26 December. Particular traditions and superstitious customs observed in Poland are not found elsewhere in Europe. Though Christmas Eve (Wigilia) is not a public holiday, it remains the most memorable day of the entire year.Treesare decorated on 24 December, hay is placed under the tablecloth to resemble Jesus'manger,Christmas wafers(opłatek) are shared between gathered guests and atwelve-dish meatless supperis served that same evening when thefirst starappears.An empty plate and seat are symbolically left at the table for an unexpected guest.On occasion,carolersjourney around smaller towns with a folkTurońcreature until theLentperiod. A widely-populardoughnutand sweet pastry feast occurs onFat Thursday, usually 52 days prior to Easter.EggsforHoly Sundayare painted and placed in decoratedbasketsthat are previously blessed by clergymen in churches onEaster Saturday. Easter Monday is celebrated with pagandyngusfestivities, where the youth is engaged in water fights.Cemeteries and graves of the deceased are annually visited by family members on All Saints' Day; tombstones are cleaned as a sign of respect and candles are lit to honour the dead on an unprecedented scale. Music Artists from Poland, including famous musicians such asFrédéric Chopin,Artur Rubinstein,Ignacy Jan Paderewski,Krzysztof Penderecki,Henryk Wieniawski,Karol Szymanowski,Witold Lutosławski,Stanisław Moniuszkoand traditional, regionalisedfolk composerscreate a lively and diverse music scene, which even recognises its own music genres, such assung poetryanddisco polo. The origins of Polish music can be traced to the 13th century; manuscripts have been found inStary Sączcontainingpolyphoniccompositions related to the ParisianNotre Dame School. Other early compositions, such as the melody ofBogurodzicaandGod Is Born(a coronationpolonaise tunefor Polish kings by an unknown composer), may also date back to this period, however, the first known notable composer,Nicholas of Radom, lived in the 15th century.Diomedes Cato, a native-born Italian who lived in Kraków, became a renowned lutenist at the court of Sigismund III; he not only imported some of the musical styles from southern Europe but blended them with native folk music. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Polish baroque composers wroteliturgical musicand secular compositions such as concertos andsonatasfor voices or instruments. At the end of the 18th century, Polish classical music evolved into national forms like thepolonaise.Wojciech Bogusławskiis accredited with composing the first Polish national opera, titledKrakowiacy i Górale, which premiered in 1794. Poland today has an active music scene, with the jazz and metal genres being particularly popular among the contemporary populace. Polish jazz musicians such asKrzysztof Komedacreated a unique style, which was most famous in the 1960s and 1970s and continues to be popular to this day. Poland has also become a major venue for large-scale music festivals, chief among which are thePol'and'Rock Festival,Open'er Festival,Opole FestivalandSopot Festival. Art Art in Poland has invariably reflectedEuropeantrends, with Polish painting pivoted onfolklore,Catholic themes,historicismandrealism, but also onImpressionismandromanticism. An important art movement wasYoung Poland, developed in the late 19th century for promotingdecadence,symbolismandArt Nouveau. Since the 20th century Polish documentary art and photography has enjoyed worldwide fame, especially thePolish School of Posters.One of the most distinguished paintings in Poland isLady with an Ermine(1490) byLeonardo da Vinci. Internationally renowned Polish artists includeJan Matejko(historicism),Jacek Malczewski(symbolism),Stanisław Wyspiański(art nouveau),Henryk Siemiradzki(Romanacademic art),Tamara de Lempicka(art deco), andZdzisław Beksiński(dystopiansurrealism).Several Polish artists and sculptors were also acclaimed representatives ofavant-garde,constructivist,minimalistand contemporary art movements, includingKatarzyna Kobro,Władysław Strzemiński,Magdalena Abakanowicz,Alina Szapocznikow,Igor MitorajandWilhelm Sasnal. Notable art academies in Poland include theKraków Academy of Fine Arts,Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw,Art Academy of Szczecin,University of Fine Arts in Poznańand theGeppert Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław. Contemporary works are exhibited atZachęta,Ujazdów, andMOCAKart galleries. Architecture Thearchitecture of PolandreflectsEuropean architecturalstyles, with strong historical influences derived fromItaly,Germany, and theLow Countries.Settlements founded onMagdeburg Lawevolved aroundcentral marketplaces(plac,rynek), encircled by a grid orconcentricnetwork of streets forming anold town(stare miasto).Poland's traditional landscape is characterised by ornate churches,city tenementsandtown halls.Cloth hall markets(sukiennice) were once an abundant feature of Polish urban architecture.The mountainous south is known for itsZakopane chalet style, which originated in Poland. The earliest architectonic trend wasRomanesque(c.11th century), but its traces in the form ofcircular rotundasare scarce.The arrival ofbrick Gothic(c.13th century) defined Poland's most distinguishable medieval style, exuded by the castles ofMalbork,Lidzbark,GniewandKwidzynas well as the cathedrals ofGniezno,Gdańsk,Wrocław,FromborkandKraków.TheRenaissance(16th century) gave rise to Italianate courtyards, defensivepalazzosandmausoleums.Decorativeatticswithpinnaclesandarcadeloggiasare elements ofPolish Mannerism, found inPoznań,LublinandZamość.Foreign artisans often came at the expense of kings or nobles, whose palaces were built thereafter in theBaroque,NeoclassicalandRevivaliststyles (17th–19th century). Primary building materialstimberandred brickwere used extensively in Polish folk architecture,and the concept of afortified churchwas commonplace.Secular structures such asdworekmanor houses,farmsteads,granaries,millsand countryinnsare still present in some regions or in open air museums (skansen).However, traditional construction methods faded in the early-mid 20th century due to urbanisation and the construction offunctionalisthousing estatesandresidential areas. Literature Theliterary works of Polandhave traditionally concentrated around the themes of patriotism,spirituality, socialallegoriesand moral narratives.The earliest examples of Polish literature, written inLatin, date to the 12th century.The firstPolishphraseDay ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai(officially translated as \\\"Let me, I shall grind, and you take a rest\\\") was documented in theBook of Henrykówand reflected the use of aquern-stone.It has been since included inUNESCO's Memory of World Register.The oldest extant manuscripts of fineproseinOld Polishare theHoly Cross Sermonsand theBible of Queen Sophia,andCalendarium cracoviense(1474) is Poland's oldest survivingprint. The poetsJan KochanowskiandNicholas Reybecame the firstRenaissanceauthors to write in Polish.Prime literarians of the period includedDantiscus,Modrevius,Goslicius,Sarbieviusand theologianJohn Laski. In theBaroqueera,Jesuit philosophyand local culture greatly influenced the literary techniques ofJan Andrzej Morsztyn(Marinism) andJan Chryzostom Pasek(sarmatianmemoirs).During theEnlightenment, playwrightIgnacy Krasickicomposed the first Polish-languagenovel.Poland's leading 19th-centuryromantic poetswere theThree Bards–Juliusz Słowacki,Zygmunt KrasińskiandAdam Mickiewicz, whose epic poemPan Tadeusz(1834) is a national classic.In the 20th century, the Englishimpressionistand earlymodernistwritings ofJoseph Conradmade him one of the most eminent novelists of all time. Contemporary Polish literature is versatile, with its fantasy genre having been particularly praised.The philosophicalsci-finovelSolarisbyStanisław LemandThe Witcherseries byAndrzej Sapkowskiare celebrated works of world fiction.Poland has sixNobel-Prize winningauthors –Henryk Sienkiewicz(Quo Vadis; 1905),Władysław Reymont(The Peasants; 1924),Isaac Bashevis Singer(1978),Czesław Miłosz(1980),Wisława Szymborska(1996), andOlga Tokarczuk(2018). Cuisine The cuisine of Poland is eclectic and shares similarities with other regional cuisines. Among the staple or regional dishes arepierogi(filled dumplings),kielbasa(sausage),bigos(hunter's stew),kotlet schabowy(breaded cutlet),gołąbki(cabbage rolls),barszcz(borscht),żurek(soured rye soup),oscypek(smoked cheese), andtomato soup.Bagels, a type ofbread roll, also originated in Poland. Traditional dishes are hearty and abundant in pork, potatoes, eggs, cream, mushrooms, regional herbs, and sauce.Polish food is characteristic for its various kinds ofkluski(soft dumplings),soups, cereals and a variety of breads andopen sandwiches. Salads, includingmizeria(cucumber salad),coleslaw,sauerkraut, carrot andseared beets, are common. Meals conclude with a dessert such assernik(cheesecake),makowiec(poppy seed roll), ornapoleonka(mille-feuille) cream pie. Traditional alcoholic beverages include honeymead, widespread since the 13th century,beer, wine andvodka.The world's first written mention of vodka originates from Poland.The most popular alcoholic drinks at present are beer and wine which took over from vodka more popular in the years 1980–1998.Grodziskie, sometimes referred to as \\\"Polish Champagne\\\", is an example of a historical beer style from Poland.Tea remains common in Polish society since the 19th century, whilst coffee is drunk widely since the 18th century. Fashion and design Several Polish designers and stylists left a legacy of beauty inventions and cosmetics; includingHelena RubinsteinandMaksymilian Faktorowicz, who created a line of cosmetics company in California known asMax Factorand formulated the term \\\"make-up\\\" which is now widely used as an alternative for describing cosmetics.Faktorowicz is also credited with inventing moderneyelash extensions.As of 2020, Poland possesses the sixth-largest cosmetic market in Europe.Inglot Cosmeticsis the country's largest beauty products manufacturer,and the retail storeReservedis the country's most successful clothing store chain. Historically, fashion has been an important aspect of Poland's national consciousness orcultural manifestation, and the country developed its own style known asSarmatismat the turn of the 17th century.The national dress and etiquette of Poland also reached the court atVersailles, where French dresses inspired by Polish garments includedrobe à la polonaiseand thewitzchoura. The scope of influence also entailed furniture; rococoPolish bedswithcanopiesbecame fashionable in French châteaus.Sarmatism eventually faded in the wake of the 18th century. Cinema Thecinema of Polandtraces its origins to 1894, when inventorKazimierz Prószyńskipatented thePleographand subsequently theAeroscope, the first successful hand-held operated film camera.In 1897,Jan Szczepanikconstructed theTelectroscope, a prototype of television transmitting images and sounds.They are both recognised as pioneers ofcinematography.Poland has also produced influential directors, film producers and actors, many of whom were active inHollywood, chieflyRoman Polański,Andrzej Wajda,Pola Negri,Samuel Goldwyn, theWarner brothers,Max Fleischer,Agnieszka Holland,Krzysztof ZanussiandKrzysztof Kieślowski. Thethemescommonly explored in Polish cinema includehistory,drama, war, culture and black realism (film noir).In the 21st-century, two Polish productions won theAcademy Awards–The Pianist(2002) by Roman Polański andIda(2013) byPaweł Pawlikowski.Polish cinematography also created many well-received comedies. The most known of them were made byStanisław BarejaandJuliusz Machulski. Media According to theEurobarometer Report(2015), 78 percent of Poles watch thetelevisiondaily.In 2020, 79 percent of the population read the news more than once a day, placing it second behind Sweden.Poland has a number of major domestic media outlets, chiefly thepublic broadcastingcorporationTVP,free-to-airchannelsTVNandPolsatas well as 24-hour news channelsTVP Info,TVN 24andPolsat News.Public television extends its operations to genre-specific programmes such asTVP Sport,TVP Historia,TVP Kultura,TVP Rozrywka, TVP Seriale andTVP Polonia, the latter a state-run channel dedicated to the transmission of Polish-language telecasts for thePolish diaspora. In 2020, the most popular types of newspapers weretabloidsand socio-political news dailies. Poland is a major European hub for video game developers and among the most successful companies areCD Projekt,Techland,The Farm 51,CI GamesandPeople Can Fly.Some of the popular video games developed in Poland includeThe Witchertrilogy andCyberpunk 2077.The Polish city ofKatowicealso hostsIntel Extreme Masters, one of the biggestesportsevents in the world. Sports Motorcycle Speedway, volleyball and association football are among the country's most popular sports, with a rich history of international competitions.Track and field, basketball,handball, boxing,MMA,ski jumping,cross-country skiing,ice hockey, tennis, fencing, swimming, andweightliftingare other popular sports. The golden era offootball in Polandoccurred throughout the 1970s and went on until the early 1980s when thePolish national football teamachieved their best results in any FIFA World Cup competitions finishing third place inthe 1974andthe 1982tournaments. The team won a gold medalin footballat the1972 Summer Olympicsand two silver medals,in 1976andin 1992. In 2012, Poland co-hosted theUEFA European Football Championship. As of September 2024, thePolish men's national volleyball teamis rankedas firstin the world.The team won a gold medal at the1976 Summer Olympicsand the gold medal at theFIVB World Championship1974,2014and2018.Mariusz Pudzianowskiis a highly successful strongman competitor and has won moreWorld's Strongest Mantitles than any other competitor in the world, winning the event in 2008 for the fifth time. Poland has made a distinctive markin motorcycle speedway racing. The topEkstraligadivision has one ofthe highest average attendancesfor any sport in Poland. Thenational speedway team of Polandis one of the major teams in international speedway. Individually, Poland has threeSpeedway Grand PrixWorld Champions, with the most successful being four-time World ChampionBartosz Zmarzlikwho won back-to-back championships in 2019 and 2020 as well as 2022 and 2023. In 2021, Poland finished runners-up in the Speedway of Nations world championship final, held inManchester, England in 2021. In the 21st century, the country has seen a growth of popularity of tennis and produced a number of successful tennis players including World No. 1Iga Świątek, winner of fiveGrand Slamsingles titles; former World No. 2Agnieszka Radwanska, winner of 20 WTA career singles titles including2015 WTA Finals; Top 10 ATP playerHubert Hurkacz; former World No. 1 doubles playerŁukasz Kubot, winner of two Grand Slam doubles titles andJan Zieliński, winner of two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. Poland also won the2015 Hopman Cupwith Agnieszka Radwańska andJerzy Janowiczrepresenting the country. Poles made significant achievements in mountaineering, in particular, in theHimalayasand the winter ascending of theeight-thousanders(e.g.Jerzy Kukuczka,Krzysztof Wielicki,Wanda Rutkiewicz). Polish mountains are one of the tourist attractions of the country. Hiking, climbing, skiing and mountain biking and attract numerous tourists every year from all over the world.Water sports are the most popular summer recreation activities, with ample locations for fishing, canoeing, kayaking, sailing and windsurfing especially in the northern regions of the country. See also Notes References Works cited External links 52°N20°E / 52°N 20°E /52; 20\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["List of European countries by area Below is alist of European countries and dependencies by areainEurope.As acontinent, Europe's total geographical area is about 10 million square kilometres.Transcontinental countriesare ranked according to the size of their European part only, excludingGreecedue to the not clearly defined boundaries of its islands between Europe andAsia. Inland water is included in area numbers. List of European countries and dependencies by area Definition Europe and Asia are contiguous with each other; thus, the exactboundary between themis not clearly defined, and often follows historical, political, and cultural definitions, rather than geographical. Map of Europe, showing one of the most commonly usedcontinental boundaries Legend: Blue=Contiguous transcontinental countriesGreen= Sometimes considered European but geographically outside Europe's boundaries See also Notes References","Poland – inEurope(green & dark grey)– in theEuropean Union(green) – Poland,officially theRepublic of Poland,is a country inCentral Europe. It extends from theBaltic Seain the north to theSudetesandCarpathian Mountainsin the south, bordered byLithuaniaandRussiato the northeast,BelarusandUkraineto the east,Slovakiaand theCzech Republicto the south, andGermanyto the west. The territory is characterised by a varied landscape, diverse ecosystems, andtemperate transitionalclimate. Poland is composed ofsixteen voivodeshipsand is the fifth most populousmember state of the European Union(EU), with over 38 million people, and thefifth largest EU countryby land area, covering a combined area of 312,696 km2(120,733 sq mi). The capital andlargest cityisWarsaw; other major cities includeKraków,Wrocław,Łódź,Poznań, andGdańsk. Prehistoric human activity on Polish soildates to theLower Paleolithic, with continuous settlement since the end of theLast Glacial Period. Culturally diverse throughoutlate antiquity, in theearly","in theearly medieval periodthe region became inhabited by theWest SlavictribalPolans, who gavePoland its name. The process of establishing statehood coincided with the conversion of apagan ruler of the Polansto Christianity, under the auspices of theRoman Catholic Churchin 966. TheKingdom of Polandemerged in 1025, and in 1569 cemented its long-standingassociation with Lithuania, thus forming thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. At the time, the Commonwealth was one of thegreat powersof Europe, with anelective monarchyand auniquely liberalpolitical system, which adoptedEurope's first modern constitutionin 1791. With the passing of the prosperousPolish Golden Age, the country waspartitioned by neighbouring statesat the end of the 18th century. Poland regained itsindependenceat the end ofWorld War Iin 1918 with the creation of theSecond Polish Republic, which emergedvictoriousinvarious conflictsof theinterbellumperiod. In September 1939, theinvasion of PolandbyGermanyand theSoviet Unionmarked the beginning","the beginning ofWorld War II, which resulted inthe Holocaustand millions ofPolish casualties. Forced into theEastern Blocin the globalCold War, thePolish People's Republicwas a founding signatory of theWarsaw Pact. Through the emergence and contributions of theSolidarity movement, thecommunist governmentwasdissolvedand Poland re-established itself as ademocratic statein 1989, as thefirstof its neighbors. Poland is a De jureparliamentary republicwith itsbicameral legislaturecomprising theSejmand theSenate. Considered amiddle power, it is adeveloped marketandhigh-income economythat is thesixth largestin theEUby nominalGDPand thefifth largest by GDP (PPP). Poland enjoys avery high standard of living, safety, andeconomic freedom, as well as freeuniversity educationanduniversal health care. The country has 17UNESCOWorld Heritage Sites, 15 of which are cultural. Poland is a founding member state of the United Nations and a member of theWorld Trade Organization,OECD,NATO, and theEuropean Union(including theSchengen","theSchengen Area). Etymology The nativePolishname for Poland isPolska.The name is derived from thePolans, aWest Slavictribe who inhabited theWarta Riverbasin of present-dayGreater Polandregion (6th–8th century CE).The tribe's name stems from theProto-Slavicnounpolemeaning field, which in-itself originates from theProto-Indo-Europeanword*pleh₂-indicating flatland.The etymology alludes to thetopographyof the region and the flat landscape of Greater Poland.During theMiddle Ages, theLatinformPoloniawas widely used throughout Europe. The country's alternative archaic name isLechiaand its root syllable remains in official use in several languages, notablyHungarian,Lithuanian, andPersian.Theexonympossibly derives from eitherLech, a legendary ruler of theLechites, or from theLendians, a West Slavic tribe that dwelt on the south-easternmost edge ofLesser Poland.The origin of the tribe's name lies in theOld Polishwordlęda(plain).Initially, both namesLechiaandPoloniawere used interchangeably when referring to Poland by","to Poland by chroniclers during theMiddle Ages. History Prehistory and protohistory The firstStone Agearchaic humans andHomo erectusspecies settled what was to become Poland approximately 500,000 years ago, though the ensuing hostile climate prevented early humans from founding more permanent encampments.The arrival ofHomo sapiensandanatomically modern humanscoincided with the climatic discontinuity at the end of theLast Glacial Period(Northern Polish glaciation10,000 BC), when Poland became habitable.Neolithicexcavations indicated broad-ranging development in that era; the earliest evidence of European cheesemaking (5500 BC) was discovered in PolishKuyavia,and theBronocice potis incised with the earliest known depiction of what may be a wheeled vehicle (3400 BC). The period spanning theBronze Ageand theEarly Iron Age(1300 BC–500 BC) was marked by an increase in population density, establishment ofpalisadedsettlements (gords) and the expansion ofLusatian culture.A significant archaeological find fromthe","find fromthe protohistory of Polandis a fortified settlement atBiskupin, attributed to the Lusatian culture of theLate Bronze Age(mid-8th century BC). Throughoutantiquity(400 BC–500 AD), many distinct ancient populations inhabited the territory of present-day Poland, notablyCeltic,Scythian,Germanic,Sarmatian,BalticandSlavictribes.Furthermore, archaeological findings confirmed the presence ofRoman Legionssent to protect theamber trade.ThePolish tribesemerged following thesecond wave of the Migration Periodaround the 6th century AD;they wereSlavicand may have included assimilated remnants of peoples that earlier dwelled in the area.Beginning in the early 10th century, thePolanswould come to dominate otherLechitictribes in the region, initially forming a tribal federation and later a centralised monarchical state. Kingdom of Poland Poland began to form into a recognisable unitary and territorial entity around the middle of the 10th century under thePiast dynasty.In 966, ruler of the PolansMieszko Iaccepted","Iaccepted Christianity under the auspices of theRoman Churchwith theBaptism of Poland.In 968, a missionarybishopricwas established inPoznań. AnincipittitledDagome iudexfirst defined Poland's geographical boundaries with its capital inGnieznoand affirmed that its monarchy was under the protection of theApostolic See.The country's early origins were described byGallus AnonymusinGesta principum Polonorum, the oldest Polish chronicle.An important national event of the period was themartyrdomofSaint Adalbert, who was killed byPrussianpagans in 997 and whose remains were reputedly bought back for their weight in gold by Mieszko's successor,Bolesław I the Brave. In 1000, at theCongress of Gniezno, Bolesław obtained the right ofinvestiturefromOtto III, Holy Roman Emperor, who assented to the creation of additional bishoprics and an archdioceses in Gniezno.Three new dioceses were subsequently established inKraków,Kołobrzeg, andWrocław.Also, Otto bestowed upon Bolesław royalregaliaand a replica of theHoly Lance, which","Lance, which were later used at his coronation as the firstKing of Polandinc.1025, when Bolesław received permission for his coronation fromPope John XIX.Bolesław also expanded the realm considerably by seizing parts of GermanLusatia, CzechMoravia,Upper Hungary, and southwestern regions of theKievan Rus'. The transition frompaganismin Poland was not instantaneous and resulted in thepagan reaction of the 1030s.In 1031,Mieszko II Lambertlost the title of king and fled amidst the violence.The unrest led to the transfer of the capital to Kraków in 1038 byCasimir I the Restorer.In 1076,Bolesław IIre-instituted the office of king, but was banished in 1079 for murdering his opponent,Bishop Stanislaus.In 1138, the countryfragmentedinto five principalities whenBolesław III Wrymouthdivided his lands among his sons.These wereLesser Poland, Greater Poland,Silesia,MasoviaandSandomierz, with intermittent hold overPomerania.In 1226,Konrad I of Masoviainvited theTeutonic Knightsto aid in combating theBalticPrussians; a","a decision that later led to centuries of warfare with the Knights. In the first half of the 13th century,Henry I the BeardedandHenry II the Piousaimed to unite the fragmented dukedoms, but theMongol invasionand the death of Henry II inbattlehindered the unification.As a result of the devastation which followed, depopulation and the demand for craft labour spurred a migration ofGerman and Flemish settlersinto Poland, which was encouraged by the Polish dukes.In 1264, theStatute of Kaliszintroduced unprecedented autonomy for thePolish Jews, who came to Poland fleeing persecution elsewhere in Europe. In 1320,Władysław I the Shortbecame the first king ofa reunified PolandsincePrzemysł IIin 1296,and the first to be crowned atWawel Cathedralin Kraków.Beginning in 1333, the reign ofCasimir III the Greatwas marked by developments incastle infrastructure, army, judiciary anddiplomacy.Under his authority, Poland transformed into a major European power; he instituted Polish rule overRutheniain 1340 and imposed","1340 and imposed quarantine that prevented the spread ofBlack Death.In 1364, Casimir inaugurated theUniversity of Kraków, one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in Europe.Upon his death in 1370, the Piast dynasty came to an end.He was succeeded by his closest male relative,Louis of Anjou, who ruled Poland,Hungary, andCroatiain apersonal union.Louis' younger daughterJadwigabecame Poland's first female monarch in 1384. In 1386, Jadwiga of Poland entered a marriage of convenience withWładysław II Jagiełło, theGrand Duke of Lithuania, thus forming theJagiellonian dynastyand thePolish–Lithuanian unionwhich spanned the lateMiddle Agesand earlyModern Era.The partnership between Poles and Lithuanians brought the vast multi-ethnicLithuanianterritories into Poland's sphere of influence and proved beneficial for its inhabitants, who coexisted in one of the largest Europeanpolitical entitiesof the time. In the Baltic Sea region, the struggle of Poland and Lithuania with theTeutonic Knightscontinued and","and culminated at theBattle of Grunwaldin 1410, where a combined Polish-Lithuanian army inflicted a decisive victory against them.In 1466, after theThirteen Years' War, kingCasimir IV Jagiellongave royal consent to thePeace of Thorn, which created the futureDuchy of Prussiaunder Polish suzerainty and forced the Prussian rulers to paytributes.The Jagiellonian dynasty also established dynastic control over the kingdoms ofBohemia(1471 onwards) and Hungary.In the south, Poland confronted theOttoman Empire(at theVarna Crusade) and theCrimean Tatars, and in the east helped Lithuania to combatRussia. Poland was developing as afeudalstate, with a predominantly agricultural economy and an increasingly powerfullanded nobilitythat confined the population to private manorial farmstead known asfolwarks.In 1493,John I Albertsanctioned the creation of abicameral parliamentcomposed of a lower house, theSejm, and an upper house, theSenate.TheNihil noviact adopted by the PolishGeneral Sejmin 1505, transferred most of","transferred most of thelegislative powerfrom the monarch to the parliament, an event which marked the beginning of the period known asGolden Liberty, when the state was ruled by the seemingly free and equalPolish nobles. The 16th century sawProtestant Reformationmovements making deep inroads into Polish Christianity, which resulted in the establishment of policies promoting religious tolerance, unique in Europe at that time.This tolerance allowed the country to avoid the religious turmoil andwars of religionthat beset Europe.In Poland,Nontrinitarian Christianitybecame the doctrine of the so-calledPolish Brethren, who separated from theirCalvinistdenomination and became the co-founders of globalUnitarianism. The EuropeanRenaissanceevoked underSigismund I the OldandSigismund II Augustusa sense of urgency in the need to promote acultural awakening.During thePolish Golden Age, the nation's economy and culture flourished.The Italian-bornBona Sforza, daughter of theDuke of Milanand queen consort to Sigismund I,","to Sigismund I, made considerable contributions toarchitecture,cuisine, language and court customs atWawel Castle. Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth TheUnion of Lublinof 1569 established thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a unified federal state with anelective monarchy, but largely governed by the nobility.The latter coincided with a period of prosperity; the Polish-dominated union thereafter becoming a leading power and a major cultural entity, exercising political control over parts of Central,Eastern,Southeasternand Northern Europe. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied approximately 1 million km2(390,000 sq mi)at its peakand was the largest state in Europe.Simultaneously, Poland imposedPolonisationpolicies in newly acquired territories which were met with resistance from ethnic and religious minorities. In 1573,Henry de Valois of France, the first elected king, approbated theHenrician Articleswhich obliged future monarchs to respect the rights of nobles.When he left Poland to becomeKing of France,","of France, his successor,Stephen Báthory, led a successfulcampaignin theLivonian War, granting Poland morelands across the eastern shoresof the Baltic Sea.State affairs were then headed byJan Zamoyski, theCrown Chancellor.Stephen's successor,Sigismund III, defeated a rivalHabsburgelectoral candidate,Archduke Maximilian III, in theWar of the Polish Succession (1587–1588). In 1592, Sigismund succeeded his father andJohn Vasa, inSweden.ThePolish-Swedish unionendured until 1599, when he wasdeposedby the Swedes. In 1609, SigismundinvadedRussiawhich was engulfed in acivil war,and a year later the Polishwinged hussarunits underStanisław ŻółkiewskioccupiedMoscow for two years after defeating the Russians atKlushino.Sigismund also countered theOttoman Empirein the southeast; atKhotynin 1621Jan Karol Chodkiewiczachieved a decisive victory against the Turks, which ushered the downfall of SultanOsman II. Sigismund's long reign in Poland coincided with theSilver Age.The liberalWładysław IVeffectively defended Poland's","defended Poland's territorial possessions but after his death the vast Commonwealth began declining from internal disorder and constant warfare.In 1648, the Polish hegemony over Ukraine sparked theKhmelnytsky Uprising,followed by the decimatingSwedish Delugeduring theSecond Northern War,and Prussia'sindependencein 1657.In 1683,John III Sobieskire-established military prowess when he halted the advance of anOttoman Armyinto Europe at theBattle of Vienna.TheSaxonera, underAugustus IIandAugustus III, saw neighboring powers grow in strength at the expense of Poland. Both Saxon kings faced opposition fromStanisław Leszczyńskiduring theGreat Northern War(1700) and theWar of the Polish Succession (1733). Partitions Theroyal electionof 1764 resulted in the elevation ofStanisław II Augustus Poniatowskito the monarchy.His candidacy was extensively funded by his sponsor and former lover, EmpressCatherine II of Russia.The new king maneuvered between his desire to implement necessary modernising reforms, and the","reforms, and the necessity to remain at peace with surrounding states.His ideals led to the formation of the 1768Bar Confederation, a rebellion directed against the Poniatowski and all external influence, which ineptly aimed to preserve Poland's sovereignty and privileges held by the nobility.The failed attempts at government restructuring as well as the domestic turmoil provoked its neighbours to invade. In 1772, theFirst Partition of the Commonwealthby Prussia, Russia and Austria took place; an act which thePartition Sejm, under considerable duress, eventually ratified as afait accompli.Disregarding the territorial losses, in 1773 a plan of critical reforms was established, in which theCommission of National Education, the first government education authority in Europe, was inaugurated.Corporal punishment of schoolchildren was officially prohibited in 1783. Poniatowski was the head figure of theEnlightenment, encouraged the development of industries, and embraced republicanneoclassicism.For his","his contributions to the arts and sciences he was awarded aFellowship of the Royal Society. In 1791,Great Sejm parliamentadopted the3 May Constitution, the first set of supreme national laws, and introduced aconstitutional monarchy.TheTargowica Confederation, an organisation of nobles and deputies opposing the act, appealed to Catherine and caused the1792 Polish–Russian War.Fearing the reemergence of Polish hegemony, Russia and Prussia arranged and in 1793 executed, theSecond Partition, which left the country deprived of territory and incapable of independent existence. On 24 October 1795, the Commonwealth waspartitioned for the third timeand ceased to exist as a territorial entity.Stanisław Augustus, the last King of Poland, abdicated the throne on 25 November 1795. Era of insurrections The Polish peoplerose several times against the partitionersand occupying armies. An unsuccessful attempt at defending Poland's sovereignty took place in the 1794Kościuszko Uprising, where a popular and distinguished","and distinguished generalTadeusz Kościuszko, who had several years earlier served underGeorge Washingtonin theAmerican Revolutionary War, led Polish insurgents.Despite the victory at theBattle of Racławice, his ultimate defeat ended Poland's independent existencefor 123 years. In 1806, aninsurrectionorganised byJan Henryk Dąbrowskiliberated western Poland ahead ofNapoleon'sadvance into Prussia during theWar of the Fourth Coalition. In accordance with the 1807Treaty of Tilsit, Napoleon proclaimed theDuchy of Warsaw, aclient stateruled by his allyFrederick Augustus I of Saxony. The Poles actively aided French troops in theNapoleonic Wars, particularly those underJózef Poniatowskiwho becameMarshal of Franceshortly before his death atLeipzigin 1813.In the aftermath of Napoleon's exile, the Duchy of Warsaw was abolished at theCongress of Viennain 1815 and its territory was divided into RussianCongress Kingdom of Poland, the PrussianGrand Duchy of Posen, andAustrian Galiciawith theFree City of Kraków. In","City of Kraków. In 1830,non-commissioned officersat Warsaw'sOfficer Cadet Schoolrebelled in what was theNovember Uprising.After its collapse, Congress Poland lost itsconstitutional autonomy,armyand legislative assembly.During theEuropean Spring of Nations, Poles took up arms in theGreater Poland Uprising of 1848to resistGermanisation, but its failure saw duchy's status reduced to a mereprovince; and subsequent integration into theGerman Empirein 1871.In Russia, the fall of theJanuary Uprising(1863–1864) prompted severepolitical, social and cultural reprisals, followed by deportations andpogromsof the Polish-Jewish population. Towards the end of the 19th century, Congress Poland became heavily industrialised; its primary exports being coal,zinc, iron and textiles. Second Polish Republic In the aftermath ofWorld War I, theAlliesagreed on the reconstitution of Poland, confirmed through theTreaty of Versaillesof June 1919.A total of 2 million Polish troops fought with the armies of the three occupying powers,","occupying powers, and over 450,000 died.Following thearmistice with Germanyin November 1918, Poland regained its independence as theSecond Polish Republic. The Second Polish Republic reaffirmed its sovereignty aftera series of military conflicts, most notably thePolish–Soviet War, when Poland inflicted a crushing defeat on theRed Armyat theBattle of Warsaw. The inter-war period heralded a new era of Polish politics. Whilst Polish political activists had faced heavy censorship in the decades up untilWorld War I, a new political tradition was established in the country. Many exiled Polish activists, such asIgnacy Jan Paderewski, who would later become prime minister, returned home. A significant number of them then went on to take key positions in the newly formed political and governmental structures. Tragedy struck in 1922 whenGabriel Narutowicz, inaugural holder of the presidency, was assassinated at theZachętaGallery in Warsaw by a painter and right-wing nationalistEligiusz Niewiadomski. In 1926, theMay","In 1926, theMay Coup, led by the hero of the Polish independence campaign MarshalJózef Piłsudski, turned rule of the Second Polish Republic over to the nonpartisanSanacja(Healing) movement to prevent radical political organisations on both the left and the right from destabilizing the country.By the late 1930s, due to increased threats posed by political extremism inside the country, the Polish government became increasingly heavy-handed, banning a number of radical organisations, including communist and ultra-nationalist political parties, which threatened the stability of the country. World War II World War II began with theNazi Germaninvasion of Polandon 1 September 1939, followed by theSoviet invasion of Polandon 17 September. On 28 September 1939,Warsaw fell. As agreed in theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Poland was split into two zones,one occupied by Nazi Germany, the other bythe Soviet Union. In 1939–1941, the Soviets deported hundreds of thousands of Poles. The SovietNKVDexecuted thousands of Polish","thousands of Polish prisoners of war (among other incidents in theKatyn massacre) ahead ofOperation Barbarossa.German planners had in November 1939 called for \"the complete destruction of all Poles\" and their fate as outlined in the genocidalGeneralplan Ost. Poland made the fourth-largest troop contribution in Europe,and its troops served both thePolish Government in Exilein thewestand Soviet leadership in theeast. Polish troops played an important role in theNormandy,Italian,North African CampaignsandNetherlandsand are particularly remembered for theBattle of BritainandBattle of Monte Cassino.Polish intelligence operatives proved extremely valuable to the Allies, providing much of the intelligence from Europe and beyond,Polish code breakerswere responsible forcracking the Enigma cipherand Polish scientists participating in theManhattan Projectwere co-creators of the Americanatomic bomb. In the east, the Soviet-backedPolish 1st Armydistinguished itself in the battles forWarsawandBerlin. Thewartime resistance","resistance movement, and theArmia Krajowa(Home Army), fought against German occupation. It was one of the three largest resistance movements of the entire war, and encompassed a range of clandestine activities, which functioned as anunderground statecomplete withdegree-awarding universitiesanda court system.The resistance was loyal to the exiled government and generally resented the idea of a communist Poland; for this reason, in the summer of 1944 it initiatedOperation Tempest, of which theWarsaw Uprisingthat began on 1 August 1944 is the best-known operation. Nazi German forces under orders fromAdolf Hitlerset up six Germanextermination campsin occupied Poland, includingTreblinka,MajdanekandAuschwitz. The Germanstransported millions of Jewsfrom across occupied Europe to be murdered in those camps.Altogether, 3 million Polish Jews– approximately 90% of Poland's pre-war Jewry – and between 1.8 and 2.8 million ethnic Poleswere killed during the Germanoccupation of Poland, including between 50,000 and 100,000","50,000 and 100,000 members of the Polishintelligentsia– academics, doctors, lawyers, nobility and priesthood. During the Warsaw Uprising alone, over 150,000 Polish civilians were killed, most were murdered by the Germans during theWolaandOchotamassacres.Around 150,000 Polish civilians were killed by Soviets between 1939 and 1941 during the Soviet Union's occupation of eastern Poland (Kresy), and another estimated 100,000 Poles were murdered by theUkrainian Insurgent Army(UPA) between 1943 and 1944 in what became known as theWołyń Massacres.Of all the countriesin the war, Poland lost the highest percentage of its citizens: around 6 million perished – more than one-sixth of Poland's pre-war population –half of themPolish Jews.About 90% of deaths were non-military in nature. In 1945, Poland's borderswere shifted westwards. Over two million Polish inhabitants ofKresywere expelledalong theCurzon LinebyStalin.The western border became theOder-Neisse line. As a result, Poland's territory was reduced by 20%, or","reduced by 20%, or 77,500 square kilometres (29,900 sq mi). The shift forced the migration ofmillions of other people, most of whom were Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, and Jews. Post-war communism At the insistence ofJoseph Stalin, theYalta Conferencesanctioned the formation of a new provisional pro-Communist coalition government in Moscow, which ignored thePolish government-in-exilebased in London. This action angered many Poles who considered it abetrayalby the Allies. In 1944, Stalin had made guarantees toChurchillandRooseveltthat he would maintain Poland's sovereignty and allow democratic elections to take place. However, upon achieving victory in 1945, the elections organised by the occupying Soviet authorities were falsified and were used to provide a veneer of legitimacy for Soviet hegemony over Polish affairs. The Soviet Union instituted a newcommunistgovernment in Poland, analogous to much of the rest of theEastern Bloc.As elsewhere in Communist Europe, the Soviet influence over Poland was met","over Poland was met witharmed resistancefrom the outset which continued into the 1950s. Despite widespread objections, the new Polish government accepted the Soviet annexation of the pre-war eastern regions of Poland(in particular the cities ofWilnoandLwów) and agreed to the permanent garrisoning ofRed Armyunits on Poland's territory. Military alignment within theWarsaw Pactthroughout theCold Warcame about as a direct result of this change in Poland's political culture. In the European scene, it came to characterise the full-fledged integration of Poland into the brotherhood of communist nations. The new communist government took control with the adoption of theSmall Constitutionon 19 February 1947. ThePolish People's Republic(Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa)was officially proclaimed in 1952. In 1956, after the death ofBolesław Bierut, the régime ofWładysław Gomułkabecame temporarily more liberal, freeing many people from prison and expanding some personal freedoms.Collectivisation in the Polish People's","the Polish People's Republicfailed. A similar situation repeated itself in the 1970s underEdward Gierek, but most of the time persecution ofanti-communist oppositiongroups persisted. Despite this, Poland was at the time considered to be one of the least oppressive states of the Eastern Bloc. Labour turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union \"Solidarity\" (\"Solidarność\"), which over time became a political force. Despite persecution and imposition ofmartial law in 1981by GeneralWojciech Jaruzelski, it eroded the dominance of thePolish United Workers' Partyand by 1989 had triumphed in Poland's firstpartially free and democratic parliamentary electionssince the end of the Second World War.Lech Wałęsa, a Solidarity candidate, eventuallywon the presidency in 1990. The Solidarity movement heralded thecollapse of communist regimes and parties across Europe. Third Polish Republic Ashock therapyprogram, initiated byLeszek Balcerowiczin the early 1990s, enabled the country to transform","to transform itsSoviet-styleplanned economyinto amarket economy.As with otherpost-communist countries, Poland suffered temporary declines in social, economic, and living standards,but it became the first post-communist country to reach its pre-1989GDP levelsas early as 1995, although the unemployment rate increased.Poland became a member of theVisegrád Groupin 1991,and joinedNATOin 1999.Poles then voted to join theEuropean Unionina referendumin June 2003,withPoland becoming a full memberon 1 May 2004, following theconsequent enlargement of the organisation. Poland joined theSchengen Areain 2007, as a result of which,the country's borderswith other member states of the European Union were dismantled, allowing forfull freedom of movementwithin most of the European Union.On 10 April 2010, thePresident of PolandLech Kaczyński, along with 89 other high-ranking Polish officialsdied in a plane crashnearSmolensk, Russia. In 2011, the rulingCivic Platformwonparliamentary elections.In 2014, thePrime Minister of","Minister of Poland,Donald Tusk, was chosen to bePresident of the European Council, and resigned as prime minister.The2015and2019 electionswere won by the national-conservativeLaw and JusticeParty (PiS) led byJarosław Kaczyński,resulting in increasedEuroscepticismandincreased frictionwith the European Union.In December 2017,Mateusz Morawieckiwas sworn in as the Prime Minister, succeedingBeata Szydlo, in office since 2015. PresidentAndrzej Duda, supported by Law and Justice party, was re-elected in the 2020 presidentialelection.As of November 2023, theRussian invasion of Ukrainehad led to 17 millionUkrainian refugeescrossing the border to Poland.As of November 2023, 0.9 million of those had stayed in Poland.In October 2023, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party won the largest share of the vote in theelection, but lost its majority in parliament. In December 2023, Donald Tusk became the new Prime Minister leading a coalition made up ofCivic Coalition,Third Way, andThe Left. Law and Justice became the leading","became the leading opposition party. Geography Poland covers an administrative area of 312,722 km2(120,743 sq mi), and is theninth-largest country in Europe. Approximately 311,895 km2(120,423 sq mi) of the country's territory consists of land, 2,041 km2(788 sq mi) is internal waters and 8,783 km2(3,391 sq mi) is territorial sea.Topographically, the landscape of Poland is characterised by diverselandforms,water bodiesandecosystems.The central and northern region bordering theBaltic Sealie within the flatCentral European Plain, but its south is hilly and mountainous.The averageelevation above the sea levelis estimated at 173 metres. The country has a coastline spanning 770 km (480 mi); extending from the shores of the Baltic Sea, along theBay of Pomeraniain the west to theGulf of Gdańskin the east.The beach coastline is abundant insand dune fieldsorcoastal ridgesand is indented byspitsand lagoons, notably theHel Peninsulaand theVistula Lagoon, which is shared with Russia.The largest Polish island on the Baltic","on the Baltic Sea isWolin, located withinWolin National Park.Poland also shares theSzczecin Lagoonand theUsedomisland with Germany. The mountainous belt in the extreme south of Poland is divided into two majormountain ranges; theSudetesin the west and theCarpathiansin the east. The highest part of the Carpathian massif are theTatra Mountains, extending along Poland's southern border.Poland's highest point isMount Rysyat 2,501 metres (8,205 ft) in elevation, located in the Tatras.The highest summit of the Sudetes massif isMount Śnieżkaat 1,603.3 metres (5,260 ft), shared with the Czech Republic.The lowest point in Poland is situated atRaczki Elbląskiein theVistula Delta, which is 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) below sea level. Poland'slongest riversare theVistula, theOder, theWarta, and theBug.The country also possesses one of the highest densities of lakes in the world, numbering around ten thousand and mostly concentrated in the north-eastern region ofMasuria, within theMasurian Lake District.The largest lakes,","largest lakes, covering more than 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi), areŚniardwyandMamry, and the deepest isLake Hańczaat 108.5 metres (356 ft) in depth. Climate The climate of Poland istemperate transitional, and varies fromoceanicin the north-west tocontinentalin the south-east.The mountainous southern fringes are situated within analpine climate.Poland is characterised by warm summers, with a mean temperature of around 20 °C (68.0 °F) in July, and moderately cold winters averaging −1 °C (30.2 °F) in December.The warmest and sunniest part of Poland isLower Silesiain the southwest and the coldest region is the northeast corner, aroundSuwałkiinPodlaskie province, where the climate is affected bycold frontsfromScandinaviaandSiberia.Precipitationis more frequent during the summer months, with highest rainfall recorded from June to September. There is a considerable fluctuation in day-to-day weather and the arrival of a particular season can differ each year.Climate changeand other factors have further","have further contributed to interannualthermal anomaliesand increased temperatures; the average annual air temperature between 2011 and 2020 was 9.33 °C (48.8 °F), around 1.11 °C higher than in the 2001–2010 period.Winters are also becoming increasingly drier, with lesssleetand snowfall. Biodiversity Phytogeographically, Poland belongs to the Central European province of theCircumboreal Regionwithin theBoreal Kingdom. The country has fourPalearctic ecoregions– Central, Northern, Western Europeantemperate broadleaf and mixed forest, and theCarpathian montane conifer. Forests occupy 31% of Poland's land area, the largest of which is theLower Silesian Wilderness.The most commondeciduous treesfound across the country areoak,maple, andbeech; the most common conifers arepine,spruce, andfir.An estimated 69% of all forests areconiferous. Thefloraandfaunain Poland is that ofContinental Europe, with thewisent,white storkandwhite-tailed eagledesignated as national animals, and thered common poppybeing the unofficial","the unofficial floral emblem.Among the most protected species is theEuropean bison, Europe's heaviest land animal, as well as theEurasian beaver, thelynx, thegray wolfand theTatra chamois.The region was also home to the extinctaurochs, the last individual dying in Poland in 1627.Game animals such asred deer,roe deer, andwild boarare found in most woodlands.Poland is also a significant breeding ground formigratory birdsand hosts around one quarter of the global population of white storks. Around 315,100 hectares (1,217 sq mi), equivalent to 1% of Poland's territory, is protected within 23Polish national parks, two of which –BiałowieżaandBieszczady– areUNESCO World Heritage Sites.There are 123 areas designated aslandscape parks, along with numerousnature reservesand otherprotected areasunder theNatura 2000network. Government and politics Poland is aunitarysemi-presidential republicand arepresentative democracy, with apresidentas thehead of state.The executive power is exercised further by theCouncil of","by theCouncil of Ministersand theprime ministerwho acts as thehead of government.The council's individual members are selected by the prime minister, approved by parliament and sworn in by the president.The head of state is elected bypopular votefor a five-year term.The current president isAndrzej Dudaand the prime minister isDonald Tusk. Poland'slegislativeassembly is abicameralparliament consisting of a 460-member lower house (Sejm) and a 100-member upper house (Senate).The Sejm is elected underproportional representationaccording to thed'Hondt methodfor vote-seat conversion.The Senate is elected under thefirst-past-the-postelectoral system, with one senator being returned from each of the one hundred constituencies.The Senate has the right to amend or reject a statute passed by the Sejm, but the Sejm may override the Senate's decision with a majority vote. With the exception of ethnic minority parties, only candidates ofpolitical partiesreceiving at least 5% of the total national vote can enter the","vote can enter the Sejm.Both the lower and upper houses of parliament in Poland are elected for a four-year term and each member of the Polish parliament is guaranteedparliamentary immunity.Under current legislation, a person must be 21 years of age or over to assume the position of deputy, 30 or over to become senator and 35 to run in a presidential election. Members of the Sejm and Senate jointly form theNational Assembly of the Republic of Poland.The National Assembly, headed by theSejm Marshal, is formed on three occasions – when a new president takes theoath of office; when an indictment against the president is brought to theState Tribunal; and in case a president's permanent incapacity to exercise his duties due to the state of his health is declared. Administrative divisions Poland is divided into 16 provinces or states known asvoivodeships.As of 2022, the voivodeships are subdivided into 380 counties (powiats), which are further fragmented into 2,477 municipalities (gminas).Major cities normally","cities normally have the status of bothgminaandpowiat.The provinces are largely founded on the borders ofhistoric regions, or named for individual cities.Administrative authority at the voivodeship level is shared between a government-appointed governor (voivode), an elected regional assembly (sejmik) and avoivodeship marshal, an executive elected by the assembly. Law TheConstitution of Polandis the enacted supreme law, and Polish judicature is based on the principle of civil rights, governed by the code ofcivil law.The current democratic constitution was adopted by theNational Assembly of Polandon 2 April 1997; it guarantees amulti-party statewith freedoms of religion, speech and gatherings, prohibits the practices of forcedmedical experimentation, torture orcorporal punishment, and acknowledges the inviolability of the home, the right to form trade unions, and the right tostrike. Thejudiciaryin Poland is composed of theSupreme Courtas the country's highest judicial organ, theSupreme Administrative Courtfor","Courtfor the judicial control of public administration, Common Courts (District,Regional,Appellate) and theMilitary Court.TheConstitutionaland State Tribunals are separate judicial bodies, which rule the constitutional liability of people holding the highest offices of state and supervise the compliance ofstatutory law, thus protecting the Constitution.Judges are nominated by theNational Council of the Judiciaryand are appointed for life by thepresident.With the approval of the Senate, the Sejm appoints anombudsmanfor a five-year term to guard the observance of social justice. Poland has a lowhomiciderate at 0.7 murders per 100,000 people, as of 2018.Rape, assault and violent crime remain at a very low level.The country has imposed strict regulations onabortion, which is permitted only in cases of rape, incest or when the woman's life is in danger;congenital disorderandstillbirthare not covered by the law, prompting some women to seek abortion abroad. Historically, the most significant Polish legal act is","Polish legal act is theConstitution of 3 May 1791. Instituted to redress long-standing political defects of thefederativePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealthand itsGolden Liberty, it was the first modern constitution in Europe and influenced many laterdemocratic movementsacross the globe.In 1918, theSecond Polish Republicbecame one of the first countries to introduce universalwomen's suffrage. Foreign relations Poland is amiddle powerand is transitioning into aregional powerin Europe.It has a total of 53 representatives in theEuropean Parliamentas of 2024.Warsawserves as the headquarters forFrontex, the European Union's agency for external border security as well asODIHR, one of the principal institutions of theOSCE.Apart from the European Union, Poland has been a member ofNATO, the United Nations, and theWTO. In recent years, Poland significantly strengthened itsrelationswith the United States, thus becoming one of its closestalliesand strategic partners in Europe.Historically, Poland maintained strongcultural","strongcultural and politicalties to Hungary; this special relationship was recognised by the parliaments of both countries in 2007 with the joint declaration of 23 March as \"The Day of Polish-Hungarian Friendship\". Military The Polish Armed Forces are composed of five branches – theLand Forces, theNavy, theAir Force, theSpecial Forcesand theTerritorial Defence Force.The military is subordinate to theMinistry of National Defence of the Republic of Poland.However, its commander-in-chief in peacetime is the president, who nominates officers, the Minister for National Defence and the chief of staff.Polish military tradition is generally commemorated by theArmed Forces Day, celebrated annually on 15 August.As of 2022, the Polish Armed Forces have a combined strength of 114,050 active soldiers, with a further 75,400 active in thegendarmerieanddefence force. Poland ranks14th in the worldin terms of military expenditures; the country allocates 3.8% of its total GDP on military spending, equivalent to approximately","to approximately US$31.6 billion in 2023.From 2022, Poland initiated a programme of mass modernisation of its armed forces, in close cooperation with American, South Korean and local Polishdefence manufacturers.Also, the Polish military is set to increase its size to 250,000 enlisted and officers, and 50,000 defence force personnel.According toSIPRI, the country exported €487 million worth of arms and armaments to foreign countries in 2020. Compulsorymilitary servicefor men, who previously had to serve for nine months, was discontinued in 2008.Polish military doctrine reflects the same defensive nature as that of its NATO partners and the country actively hosts NATO'smilitary exercises.Since 1953, the country has been a large contributor to various United Nations peacekeeping missions,and currently maintains military presence in the Middle East, Africa, theBaltic statesand southeastern Europe. Security, law enforcement and emergency services Thanks to its location, Poland is a country essentially free from","free from the threat of natural disasters such asearthquakes,volcanic eruptions,tornadoesandtropical cyclones. However,floodshave occurred in low-lying areas from time to time during periods of extreme rainfall (e.g. during the2010 Central European floods). Law enforcement in Poland is performed by several agencies which are subordinate to theMinistry of Interior and Administration– theState Police(Policja), assigned to investigate crimes or transgression; theMunicipal City Guard, which maintains public order; and several specialised agencies, such as thePolish Border Guard.Private security firms are also common, although they possess no legal authority to arrest or detain a suspect.Municipal guards are primarily headed by provincial, regional or city councils; individual guards are not permitted to carryfirearmsunless instructed by the superior commanding officer.Security service personnel conduct regular patrols in both large urban areas or smaller suburban localities. TheInternal Security Agency(ABW, or","Agency(ABW, or ISA in English) is the chiefcounterintelligence instrumentsafeguarding Poland's internal security, along withAgencja Wywiadu(AW) which identifies threats and collects secret information abroad.TheCentral Investigation Bureau of Police(CBŚP) and theCentral Anticorruption Bureau(CBA) are responsible for countering organised crime and corruption in state and private institutions. Emergency services in Poland consist of theemergency medical services,search and rescueunits of thePolish Armed ForcesandState Fire Service. Emergency medical services in Poland are operated by local and regional governments,but are a part of the centralised national agency – theNational Medical Emergency Service(Państwowe Ratownictwo Medyczne). Economy As of 2023, Poland's economy and gross domestic product (GDP) is the sixth largest in the European Union bynominal standardsand the fifth largest bypurchasing power parity. It is also one of the fastest growing within the Union and reached adeveloped marketstatus in","marketstatus in 2018.The unemployment rate published byEurostatin 2023 amounted to 2.8%, which was the second-lowest in the EU.As of 2023, around 62% of the employed population works in theservice sector, 29% in manufacturing, and 8% in the agricultural sector.Although Poland is a member of theEuropean single market, the country has not adopted theEuroas legal tender and maintains its own currency – thePolish złoty(zł, PLN). Poland is the regional economic leader in Central Europe, with nearly 40 per cent of the 500 biggest companies in the region (by revenues) as well as ahigh globalisation rate.The country's largest firms compose theWIG20andWIG30indexes, which is traded on theWarsaw Stock Exchange. According to reports made by theNational Bank of Poland, the value of Polish foreign direct investments reached almost 300 billionPLNat the end of 2014. TheCentral Statistical Officeestimated that in 2014 there were 1,437 Polish corporations with interests in 3,194 foreign entities. Poland has the largest","has the largest banking sector in Central Europe,with 32.3 branches per 100,000 adults.It was the only European economy to have avoided therecession of 2008.The country is the20th largest exporterof goods and services in the world.Exports of goods and services are valued at approximately 56% of GDP, as of 2020.In 2019, Poland passed a law that would exempt workers under the age of 26 fromincome tax. Tourism In 2020, the total value of thetourism industryin Poland was 104.3 billionPLN, then equivalent to 4.5% of the Polish GDP.Tourism contributes considerably to the overall economy and makes up a relatively large proportion of the country's service market.Nearly 200,000 people were employed in theaccommodation and catering(hospitality) sector in 2020.In 2021, Poland ranked12th most visited countryin the world by international arrivals. Tourist attractions in Poland vary, from the mountains in the south to the beaches in the north, with a trail of rich architectural and cultural heritage. Among the most","Among the most recognisable landmarks are Old Towns inKraków,Warsaw,Wrocław(dwarf statues),Gdańsk,Poznań,Lublin,ToruńandZamośćas well as museums, zoological gardens, theme parks and theWieliczka Salt Mine, with its labyrinthine tunnels,underground lakeand chapels carved by miners out ofrock saltbeneath the ground. There areover 100 castlesin the country, largely within theLower Silesian Voivodeship, and also on theTrail of the Eagles' Nests; the largest castle in the world by land area is situated inMalbork.The GermanAuschwitz concentration campinOświęcim, and theSkull ChapelinKudowa-Zdrójconstitutedark tourism.Regarding nature based travel, notable sites include theMasurian Lake DistrictandBiałowieża Forestin the east; on the southKarkonosze, theTable Mountainsand theTatra Mountains, whereRysyand theEagle's Pathtrail are located. ThePieninyandBieszczady Mountainslie in the extreme south-east. Transport Transport in Poland is provided by means ofrail,road,marine shippingandair travel. The country is part of","country is part of EU'sSchengen Areaand is an important transport hub due to its strategic geographical position in Central Europe.Some of the longest European routes, including theE30andE40, run through Poland. The country has a good network ofhighwaysconsisting ofexpress roadsandmotorways. As of August 2023, Poland has the world's21st-largest road network, maintaining over 5,000 km (3,100 mi) of highways in use. In 2022, the nation had 19,393 kilometres (12,050 mi) of railway track, the third longest in the European Union after Germany and France.ThePolish State Railways(PKP) is the dominant railway operator, with certain major voivodeships or urban areas possessing their owncommuterandregional rail.Poland has a number of international airports, the largest of which isWarsaw Chopin Airport.It is the primary global hub forLOT Polish Airlines, the country'sflag carrier. Seaports exist all along Poland's Baltic coast, with most freight operations","freight operations usingŚwinoujście,Police,Szczecin,Kołobrzeg,Gdynia,GdańskandElblągas their base. ThePort of Gdańskis the only port in theBaltic Seaadapted to receive oceanic vessels.PolferriesandUnity Lineare the largest Polish ferry operators, with the latter providingroll-on/roll-offandtrain ferryservices toScandinavia. Energy The electricity generation sector in Poland is largelyfossil-fuel–based. Coal production in Poland is a major source of employment and the largest source of the nation'sgreenhouse gas emissions.Many power plants nationwide use Poland's position as a major European exporter of coal to their advantage by continuing to use coal as the primary raw material in the production of their energy. The three largest Polish coal mining firms (Węglokoks,Kompania WęglowaandJSW) extract around 100 million tonnes of coal annually.After coal, Polish energy supply relies significantly on oil—the nation is the third-largest buyer of Russian oil exports to the EU. The newEnergy Policy of Poland until","of Poland until 2040(EPP2040) would reduce the share of coal andlignitein electricity generation by 25% from 2017 to 2030. The plan involves deploying new nuclear plants, increasing energy efficiency, and decarbonising the Polish transport system in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prioritise long-term energy security. Science and technology Over the course of history, the Polish people have made considerable contributions in the fields of science, technology and mathematics.Perhaps the most renowned Pole to support this theory wasNicolaus Copernicus(Mikołaj Kopernik), who triggered theCopernican Revolutionby placing theSun rather than the Earth at the center of the universe.He also derived aquantity theory of money, which made him a pioneer of economics. Copernicus' achievements and discoveries are considered the basis of Polish culture and cultural identity.Poland was ranked 40th in theGlobal Innovation Indexin 2024. Poland's tertiary education institutions; traditionaluniversities, as well as","as well as technical, medical, and economic institutions, employ around tens of thousands of researchers and staff members. There are hundreds of research and development institutes.However, in the 19th and 20th centuries many Polish scientists worked abroad; one of the most important of these exiles wasMarie Curie, a physicist and chemist who lived much of her life in France. In 1925, she established Poland'sRadium Institute. In the first half of the 20th century, Poland was a flourishing centre of mathematics. Outstanding Polish mathematicians formed theLwów School of Mathematics(withStefan Banach,Stanisław Mazur,Hugo Steinhaus,Stanisław Ulam) andWarsaw School of Mathematics(withAlfred Tarski,Kazimierz Kuratowski,Wacław SierpińskiandAntoni Zygmund). Numerous mathematicians, scientists, chemists or economists emigrated due to historic vicissitudes, among themBenoit Mandelbrot,Leonid Hurwicz,Alfred Tarski,Joseph Rotblatand Nobel Prize laureatesRoald Hoffmann,Georges CharpakandTadeusz Reichstein. Demographics","Demographics Poland has a population of approximately 38.2 million as of 2021, and is theninth-most populous countryin Europe, as well as the fifth-most populous member state of theEuropean Union.It has a population density of 122 inhabitants per square kilometre (320 inhabitants/sq mi).Thetotal fertility ratewas estimated at 1.33 children born to a woman in 2021, which isamong the world's lowest.Furthermore, Poland's population isaging significantly, and the country has amedian ageof 42.2. Around 60% of the country's population lives in urban areas or major cities and 40% in rural zones.In 2020, 50.2% of Poles resided indetached dwellingsand 44.3% in apartments.The most populous administrative province or state is theMasovian Voivodeshipand the most populous city is the capital,Warsaw, at 1.8 million inhabitants with a further 2–3 million people living in itsmetropolitan area.Themetropolitan areaofKatowiceis the largest urbanconurbationwith a population between 2.7 millionand 5.3 million","5.3 million residents.Population density is higher in the south of Poland and mostly concentrated between the cities ofWrocławandKraków. In the2011 Polish census, 37,310,341 people reportedPolishidentity, 846,719Silesian, 232,547Kashubianand 147,814German. Otheridentitieswere reported by 163,363 people (0.41%) and 521,470 people (1.35%) did not specify any nationality.Official population statistics do not include migrant workers who do not possess a permanent residency permit orKarta Polaka.More than 1.7 millionUkrainiancitizens worked legally in Poland in 2017.The number of migrants is rising steadily; the country approved 504,172 work permits for foreigners in 2021 alone.According to theCouncil of Europe, 12,731Romani peoplelive in Poland. Languages Polishis theofficialand predominant spoken language in Poland, and is one of the officiallanguages of the European Union.It is also asecond languagein parts of neighbouringLithuania, where it is taught in Polish-minority schools.Contemporary Poland is a","Poland is a linguisticallyhomogeneousnation, with 97% of respondents declaring Polish as their mother tongue.There are currently 15 minority languages in Poland,including one recognised regional language,Kashubian, which is spoken by approximately 100,000 people on a daily basis in the northern regions ofKashubiaandPomerania.Poland also recognisessecondary administrative languages or auxiliary languages in bilingual municipalities, where bilingual signs and placenames are commonplace.According to theCentre for Public Opinion Research, around 32% of Polish citizens declared knowledge of the English language in 2015. Religion According to the 2021 census, 71.3% of all Polish citizens adhere to theRoman Catholic Church, with 6.9% identifying as having no religion and 20.6% refusing to answer. Poland is one of themost religious countries in Europe, where Roman Catholicism remains a part of national identity and Polish-bornPope John Paul IIis widely revered.In 2015, 61.6% of respondents outlined that religion is","that religion is of high or very high importance.However, church attendance has greatly decreased in recent years; only 28% of Catholics attendedmassweekly in 2021, down from around half in 2000.According toThe Wall Street Journal, \"Of more than 100 countries studied by thePew Research Centerin 2018, Poland wassecularizingthe fastest, as measured by the disparity between the religiosity of young people and their elders.\" Freedom of religion in Poland is guaranteed by the Constitution, and Poland'sconcordatwith theHoly Seeenables the teaching of religion in public schools.Historically, the Polish state maintained a high degree ofreligious toleranceand provided asylum for refugees fleeing religious persecution in other parts of Europe.Poland hosted Europe's largestJewish diaspora, and the country was a centre ofAshkenazi Jewishculture and traditional learning until theHolocaust. Contemporary religious minorities includeOrthodox Christians,Protestants, includingLutheransof theEvangelical-Augsburg","Church,Pentecostalsin thePentecostal Church in Poland,Adventistsin theSeventh-day Adventist Church, and other smallerEvangelicaldenominations, includingJehovah's Witnesses,Eastern Catholics,Mariavites,Jews,Muslims(Tatars), andneopagans, some of whom are members of theNative Polish Church. Pilgrimagesto theJasna Góra Monastery, a shrinededicatedto theBlack Madonna, take place annually. Health Medical service providers andhospitals(szpitale) in Poland are subordinate to theMinistry of Health; it provides administrative oversight and scrutiny of general medical practice, and is obliged to maintain a high standard ofhygieneand patient care. Poland has auniversal healthcare systembased on an all-inclusiveinsurance system; state subsidised healthcare is available to all citizens covered by the general health insurance program of theNational Health Fund(NFZ). Private medical complexes exist nationwide; over 50% of the population uses both public and private sectors. According to theHuman Development Reportfrom","Reportfrom 2020, the average life expectancy at birth is 79 years (around 75 years for an infant male and 83 years for an infant female);the country has a lowinfant mortality rate(4 per 1,000 births).In 2019, the principal cause of death wasischemic heart disease; diseases of thecirculatory systemaccounted for 45% of all deaths.In the same year, Poland was also the 15th-largest importer ofmedicationsand pharmaceutical products. Education TheJagiellonian Universityfounded in 1364 byCasimir IIIinKrakówwas the first institution of higher learning established in Poland, and is one of theoldest universitiesstill in continuous operation.Poland'sCommission of National Education(Komisja Edukacji Narodowej), established in 1773, was the world's first state ministry of education.In 2018, theProgramme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, placed Poland's educational output as one of the highest in the OECD, ranking 5th by student attainment and","attainment and 6th by student performance in 2022.The study showed that students in Poland perform better academically than in most OECD countries. The framework for primary, secondary and higher tertiary education are established by theMinistry of Education and Science. One year of kindergarten iscompulsoryfor six-year-olds.Primary education traditionally begins at the age of seven, although children aged six can attend at the request of their parents or guardians.Elementary school spans eight grades and secondary schooling is dependent on student preference – a four-year high school (liceum), a five-year technical school (technikum) or variousvocational studies(szkoła branżowa) can be pursued by individual pupils.A liceum or technikum is concluded with a maturity exit exam (matura), which must be passed in order to apply for a university or other institutions of higher learning. In Poland, there are over 500 university-level institutions,with numerous faculties.TheUniversity of WarsawandWarsaw Polytechnic,","Polytechnic, theUniversity of Wrocław,Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznańand theUniversity of Technology in Gdańskare among the most prominent.There are three conventionalacademic degreesin Poland –licencjatorinżynier(first cycle),magister(second cycle) anddoktor(third cycle qualification). Ethnicity Ethnic structure of Poland by voivodeship according to the censuses of 2002, 2011 and 2021: Culture The culture of Poland is closely connected with its intricate 1,000-yearhistory, and forms an important constituent in theWestern civilisation.The Poles take great pride in their national identity which is often associated with the colours white and red, and exuded by the expressionbiało-czerwoni(\"whitereds\").National symbols, chiefly the crownedwhite-tailed eagle, are often visible on clothing, insignia and emblems.The architectural monuments of great importance are protected by theNational Heritage Board of Poland.Over 100 of the country's most significant tangible wonders were enlisted onto theHistoric","onto theHistoric Monuments Register,with further 17 being recognised byUNESCOas World Heritage Sites. Holidays and traditions There are 13 government-approved annual public holidays – New Year on 1 January,Three Kings' Dayon 6 January,Easter SundayandEaster Monday,Labour Dayon 1 May,Constitution Dayon 3 May,Pentecost,Corpus Christi,Feast of the Assumptionon 15 August,All Saints' Dayon 1 November,Independence Dayon 11 November and Christmastide on 25 and 26 December. Particular traditions and superstitious customs observed in Poland are not found elsewhere in Europe. Though Christmas Eve (Wigilia) is not a public holiday, it remains the most memorable day of the entire year.Treesare decorated on 24 December, hay is placed under the tablecloth to resemble Jesus'manger,Christmas wafers(opłatek) are shared between gathered guests and atwelve-dish meatless supperis served that same evening when thefirst starappears.An empty plate and seat are symbolically left at the table for an unexpected guest.On","unexpected guest.On occasion,carolersjourney around smaller towns with a folkTurońcreature until theLentperiod. A widely-populardoughnutand sweet pastry feast occurs onFat Thursday, usually 52 days prior to Easter.EggsforHoly Sundayare painted and placed in decoratedbasketsthat are previously blessed by clergymen in churches onEaster Saturday. Easter Monday is celebrated with pagandyngusfestivities, where the youth is engaged in water fights.Cemeteries and graves of the deceased are annually visited by family members on All Saints' Day; tombstones are cleaned as a sign of respect and candles are lit to honour the dead on an unprecedented scale. Music Artists from Poland, including famous musicians such asFrédéric Chopin,Artur Rubinstein,Ignacy Jan Paderewski,Krzysztof Penderecki,Henryk Wieniawski,Karol Szymanowski,Witold Lutosławski,Stanisław Moniuszkoand traditional, regionalisedfolk composerscreate a lively and diverse music scene, which even recognises its own music genres, such assung poetryanddisco","poetryanddisco polo. The origins of Polish music can be traced to the 13th century; manuscripts have been found inStary Sączcontainingpolyphoniccompositions related to the ParisianNotre Dame School. Other early compositions, such as the melody ofBogurodzicaandGod Is Born(a coronationpolonaise tunefor Polish kings by an unknown composer), may also date back to this period, however, the first known notable composer,Nicholas of Radom, lived in the 15th century.Diomedes Cato, a native-born Italian who lived in Kraków, became a renowned lutenist at the court of Sigismund III; he not only imported some of the musical styles from southern Europe but blended them with native folk music. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Polish baroque composers wroteliturgical musicand secular compositions such as concertos andsonatasfor voices or instruments. At the end of the 18th century, Polish classical music evolved into national forms like thepolonaise.Wojciech Bogusławskiis accredited with composing the first Polish national","Polish national opera, titledKrakowiacy i Górale, which premiered in 1794. Poland today has an active music scene, with the jazz and metal genres being particularly popular among the contemporary populace. Polish jazz musicians such asKrzysztof Komedacreated a unique style, which was most famous in the 1960s and 1970s and continues to be popular to this day. Poland has also become a major venue for large-scale music festivals, chief among which are thePol'and'Rock Festival,Open'er Festival,Opole FestivalandSopot Festival. Art Art in Poland has invariably reflectedEuropeantrends, with Polish painting pivoted onfolklore,Catholic themes,historicismandrealism, but also onImpressionismandromanticism. An important art movement wasYoung Poland, developed in the late 19th century for promotingdecadence,symbolismandArt Nouveau. Since the 20th century Polish documentary art and photography has enjoyed worldwide fame, especially thePolish School of Posters.One of the most distinguished paintings in Poland isLady with","Poland isLady with an Ermine(1490) byLeonardo da Vinci. Internationally renowned Polish artists includeJan Matejko(historicism),Jacek Malczewski(symbolism),Stanisław Wyspiański(art nouveau),Henryk Siemiradzki(Romanacademic art),Tamara de Lempicka(art deco), andZdzisław Beksiński(dystopiansurrealism).Several Polish artists and sculptors were also acclaimed representatives ofavant-garde,constructivist,minimalistand contemporary art movements, includingKatarzyna Kobro,Władysław Strzemiński,Magdalena Abakanowicz,Alina Szapocznikow,Igor MitorajandWilhelm Sasnal. Notable art academies in Poland include theKraków Academy of Fine Arts,Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw,Art Academy of Szczecin,University of Fine Arts in Poznańand theGeppert Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław. Contemporary works are exhibited atZachęta,Ujazdów, andMOCAKart galleries. Architecture Thearchitecture of PolandreflectsEuropean architecturalstyles, with strong historical influences derived fromItaly,Germany, and theLow Countries.Settlements founded","founded onMagdeburg Lawevolved aroundcentral marketplaces(plac,rynek), encircled by a grid orconcentricnetwork of streets forming anold town(stare miasto).Poland's traditional landscape is characterised by ornate churches,city tenementsandtown halls.Cloth hall markets(sukiennice) were once an abundant feature of Polish urban architecture.The mountainous south is known for itsZakopane chalet style, which originated in Poland. The earliest architectonic trend wasRomanesque(c.11th century), but its traces in the form ofcircular rotundasare scarce.The arrival ofbrick Gothic(c.13th century) defined Poland's most distinguishable medieval style, exuded by the castles ofMalbork,Lidzbark,GniewandKwidzynas well as the cathedrals ofGniezno,Gdańsk,Wrocław,FromborkandKraków.TheRenaissance(16th century) gave rise to Italianate courtyards, defensivepalazzosandmausoleums.Decorativeatticswithpinnaclesandarcadeloggiasare elements ofPolish Mannerism, found inPoznań,LublinandZamość.Foreign artisans often came at the expense of","at the expense of kings or nobles, whose palaces were built thereafter in theBaroque,NeoclassicalandRevivaliststyles (17th–19th century). Primary building materialstimberandred brickwere used extensively in Polish folk architecture,and the concept of afortified churchwas commonplace.Secular structures such asdworekmanor houses,farmsteads,granaries,millsand countryinnsare still present in some regions or in open air museums (skansen).However, traditional construction methods faded in the early-mid 20th century due to urbanisation and the construction offunctionalisthousing estatesandresidential areas. Literature Theliterary works of Polandhave traditionally concentrated around the themes of patriotism,spirituality, socialallegoriesand moral narratives.The earliest examples of Polish literature, written inLatin, date to the 12th century.The firstPolishphraseDay ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai(officially translated as \"Let me, I shall grind, and you take a rest\") was documented in theBook of Henrykówand reflected","reflected the use of aquern-stone.It has been since included inUNESCO's Memory of World Register.The oldest extant manuscripts of fineproseinOld Polishare theHoly Cross Sermonsand theBible of Queen Sophia,andCalendarium cracoviense(1474) is Poland's oldest survivingprint. The poetsJan KochanowskiandNicholas Reybecame the firstRenaissanceauthors to write in Polish.Prime literarians of the period includedDantiscus,Modrevius,Goslicius,Sarbieviusand theologianJohn Laski. In theBaroqueera,Jesuit philosophyand local culture greatly influenced the literary techniques ofJan Andrzej Morsztyn(Marinism) andJan Chryzostom Pasek(sarmatianmemoirs).During theEnlightenment, playwrightIgnacy Krasickicomposed the first Polish-languagenovel.Poland's leading 19th-centuryromantic poetswere theThree Bards–Juliusz Słowacki,Zygmunt KrasińskiandAdam Mickiewicz, whose epic poemPan Tadeusz(1834) is a national classic.In the 20th century, the Englishimpressionistand earlymodernistwritings ofJoseph Conradmade him one of the most eminent","of the most eminent novelists of all time. Contemporary Polish literature is versatile, with its fantasy genre having been particularly praised.The philosophicalsci-finovelSolarisbyStanisław LemandThe Witcherseries byAndrzej Sapkowskiare celebrated works of world fiction.Poland has sixNobel-Prize winningauthors –Henryk Sienkiewicz(Quo Vadis; 1905),Władysław Reymont(The Peasants; 1924),Isaac Bashevis Singer(1978),Czesław Miłosz(1980),Wisława Szymborska(1996), andOlga Tokarczuk(2018). Cuisine The cuisine of Poland is eclectic and shares similarities with other regional cuisines. Among the staple or regional dishes arepierogi(filled dumplings),kielbasa(sausage),bigos(hunter's stew),kotlet schabowy(breaded cutlet),gołąbki(cabbage rolls),barszcz(borscht),żurek(soured rye soup),oscypek(smoked cheese), andtomato soup.Bagels, a type ofbread roll, also originated in Poland. Traditional dishes are hearty and abundant in pork, potatoes, eggs, cream, mushrooms, regional herbs, and sauce.Polish food is characteristic for","characteristic for its various kinds ofkluski(soft dumplings),soups, cereals and a variety of breads andopen sandwiches. Salads, includingmizeria(cucumber salad),coleslaw,sauerkraut, carrot andseared beets, are common. Meals conclude with a dessert such assernik(cheesecake),makowiec(poppy seed roll), ornapoleonka(mille-feuille) cream pie. Traditional alcoholic beverages include honeymead, widespread since the 13th century,beer, wine andvodka.The world's first written mention of vodka originates from Poland.The most popular alcoholic drinks at present are beer and wine which took over from vodka more popular in the years 1980–1998.Grodziskie, sometimes referred to as \"Polish Champagne\", is an example of a historical beer style from Poland.Tea remains common in Polish society since the 19th century, whilst coffee is drunk widely since the 18th century. Fashion and design Several Polish designers and stylists left a legacy of beauty inventions and cosmetics; includingHelena RubinsteinandMaksymilian Faktorowicz,","Faktorowicz, who created a line of cosmetics company in California known asMax Factorand formulated the term \"make-up\" which is now widely used as an alternative for describing cosmetics.Faktorowicz is also credited with inventing moderneyelash extensions.As of 2020, Poland possesses the sixth-largest cosmetic market in Europe.Inglot Cosmeticsis the country's largest beauty products manufacturer,and the retail storeReservedis the country's most successful clothing store chain. Historically, fashion has been an important aspect of Poland's national consciousness orcultural manifestation, and the country developed its own style known asSarmatismat the turn of the 17th century.The national dress and etiquette of Poland also reached the court atVersailles, where French dresses inspired by Polish garments includedrobe à la polonaiseand thewitzchoura. The scope of influence also entailed furniture; rococoPolish bedswithcanopiesbecame fashionable in French châteaus.Sarmatism eventually faded in the wake of the 18th","wake of the 18th century. Cinema Thecinema of Polandtraces its origins to 1894, when inventorKazimierz Prószyńskipatented thePleographand subsequently theAeroscope, the first successful hand-held operated film camera.In 1897,Jan Szczepanikconstructed theTelectroscope, a prototype of television transmitting images and sounds.They are both recognised as pioneers ofcinematography.Poland has also produced influential directors, film producers and actors, many of whom were active inHollywood, chieflyRoman Polański,Andrzej Wajda,Pola Negri,Samuel Goldwyn, theWarner brothers,Max Fleischer,Agnieszka Holland,Krzysztof ZanussiandKrzysztof Kieślowski. Thethemescommonly explored in Polish cinema includehistory,drama, war, culture and black realism (film noir).In the 21st-century, two Polish productions won theAcademy Awards–The Pianist(2002) by Roman Polański andIda(2013) byPaweł Pawlikowski.Polish cinematography also created many well-received comedies. The most known of them were made byStanisław BarejaandJuliusz","BarejaandJuliusz Machulski. Media According to theEurobarometer Report(2015), 78 percent of Poles watch thetelevisiondaily.In 2020, 79 percent of the population read the news more than once a day, placing it second behind Sweden.Poland has a number of major domestic media outlets, chiefly thepublic broadcastingcorporationTVP,free-to-airchannelsTVNandPolsatas well as 24-hour news channelsTVP Info,TVN 24andPolsat News.Public television extends its operations to genre-specific programmes such asTVP Sport,TVP Historia,TVP Kultura,TVP Rozrywka, TVP Seriale andTVP Polonia, the latter a state-run channel dedicated to the transmission of Polish-language telecasts for thePolish diaspora. In 2020, the most popular types of newspapers weretabloidsand socio-political news dailies. Poland is a major European hub for video game developers and among the most successful companies areCD Projekt,Techland,The Farm 51,CI GamesandPeople Can Fly.Some of the popular video games developed in Poland includeThe Witchertrilogy","Witchertrilogy andCyberpunk 2077.The Polish city ofKatowicealso hostsIntel Extreme Masters, one of the biggestesportsevents in the world. Sports Motorcycle Speedway, volleyball and association football are among the country's most popular sports, with a rich history of international competitions.Track and field, basketball,handball, boxing,MMA,ski jumping,cross-country skiing,ice hockey, tennis, fencing, swimming, andweightliftingare other popular sports. The golden era offootball in Polandoccurred throughout the 1970s and went on until the early 1980s when thePolish national football teamachieved their best results in any FIFA World Cup competitions finishing third place inthe 1974andthe 1982tournaments. The team won a gold medalin footballat the1972 Summer Olympicsand two silver medals,in 1976andin 1992. In 2012, Poland co-hosted theUEFA European Football Championship. As of September 2024, thePolish men's national volleyball teamis rankedas firstin the world.The team won a gold medal at the1976 Summer","at the1976 Summer Olympicsand the gold medal at theFIVB World Championship1974,2014and2018.Mariusz Pudzianowskiis a highly successful strongman competitor and has won moreWorld's Strongest Mantitles than any other competitor in the world, winning the event in 2008 for the fifth time. Poland has made a distinctive markin motorcycle speedway racing. The topEkstraligadivision has one ofthe highest average attendancesfor any sport in Poland. Thenational speedway team of Polandis one of the major teams in international speedway. Individually, Poland has threeSpeedway Grand PrixWorld Champions, with the most successful being four-time World ChampionBartosz Zmarzlikwho won back-to-back championships in 2019 and 2020 as well as 2022 and 2023. In 2021, Poland finished runners-up in the Speedway of Nations world championship final, held inManchester, England in 2021. In the 21st century, the country has seen a growth of popularity of tennis and produced a number of successful tennis players including World No. 1Iga","World No. 1Iga Świątek, winner of fiveGrand Slamsingles titles; former World No. 2Agnieszka Radwanska, winner of 20 WTA career singles titles including2015 WTA Finals; Top 10 ATP playerHubert Hurkacz; former World No. 1 doubles playerŁukasz Kubot, winner of two Grand Slam doubles titles andJan Zieliński, winner of two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. Poland also won the2015 Hopman Cupwith Agnieszka Radwańska andJerzy Janowiczrepresenting the country. Poles made significant achievements in mountaineering, in particular, in theHimalayasand the winter ascending of theeight-thousanders(e.g.Jerzy Kukuczka,Krzysztof Wielicki,Wanda Rutkiewicz). Polish mountains are one of the tourist attractions of the country. Hiking, climbing, skiing and mountain biking and attract numerous tourists every year from all over the world.Water sports are the most popular summer recreation activities, with ample locations for fishing, canoeing, kayaking, sailing and windsurfing especially in the northern regions of the country. See","of the country. See also Notes References Works cited External links 52°N20°E / 52°N 20°E /52; 20"],"string":"[\n \"List of European countries by area Below is alist of European countries and dependencies by areainEurope.As acontinent, Europe's total geographical area is about 10 million square kilometres.Transcontinental countriesare ranked according to the size of their European part only, excludingGreecedue to the not clearly defined boundaries of its islands between Europe andAsia. Inland water is included in area numbers. List of European countries and dependencies by area Definition Europe and Asia are contiguous with each other; thus, the exactboundary between themis not clearly defined, and often follows historical, political, and cultural definitions, rather than geographical. Map of Europe, showing one of the most commonly usedcontinental boundaries Legend: Blue=Contiguous transcontinental countriesGreen= Sometimes considered European but geographically outside Europe's boundaries See also Notes References\",\n \"Poland – inEurope(green & dark grey)– in theEuropean Union(green) – Poland,officially theRepublic of Poland,is a country inCentral Europe. It extends from theBaltic Seain the north to theSudetesandCarpathian Mountainsin the south, bordered byLithuaniaandRussiato the northeast,BelarusandUkraineto the east,Slovakiaand theCzech Republicto the south, andGermanyto the west. The territory is characterised by a varied landscape, diverse ecosystems, andtemperate transitionalclimate. Poland is composed ofsixteen voivodeshipsand is the fifth most populousmember state of the European Union(EU), with over 38 million people, and thefifth largest EU countryby land area, covering a combined area of 312,696 km2(120,733 sq mi). The capital andlargest cityisWarsaw; other major cities includeKraków,Wrocław,Łódź,Poznań, andGdańsk. Prehistoric human activity on Polish soildates to theLower Paleolithic, with continuous settlement since the end of theLast Glacial Period. Culturally diverse throughoutlate antiquity, in theearly\",\n \"in theearly medieval periodthe region became inhabited by theWest SlavictribalPolans, who gavePoland its name. The process of establishing statehood coincided with the conversion of apagan ruler of the Polansto Christianity, under the auspices of theRoman Catholic Churchin 966. TheKingdom of Polandemerged in 1025, and in 1569 cemented its long-standingassociation with Lithuania, thus forming thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. At the time, the Commonwealth was one of thegreat powersof Europe, with anelective monarchyand auniquely liberalpolitical system, which adoptedEurope's first modern constitutionin 1791. With the passing of the prosperousPolish Golden Age, the country waspartitioned by neighbouring statesat the end of the 18th century. Poland regained itsindependenceat the end ofWorld War Iin 1918 with the creation of theSecond Polish Republic, which emergedvictoriousinvarious conflictsof theinterbellumperiod. In September 1939, theinvasion of PolandbyGermanyand theSoviet Unionmarked the beginning\",\n \"the beginning ofWorld War II, which resulted inthe Holocaustand millions ofPolish casualties. Forced into theEastern Blocin the globalCold War, thePolish People's Republicwas a founding signatory of theWarsaw Pact. Through the emergence and contributions of theSolidarity movement, thecommunist governmentwasdissolvedand Poland re-established itself as ademocratic statein 1989, as thefirstof its neighbors. Poland is a De jureparliamentary republicwith itsbicameral legislaturecomprising theSejmand theSenate. Considered amiddle power, it is adeveloped marketandhigh-income economythat is thesixth largestin theEUby nominalGDPand thefifth largest by GDP (PPP). Poland enjoys avery high standard of living, safety, andeconomic freedom, as well as freeuniversity educationanduniversal health care. The country has 17UNESCOWorld Heritage Sites, 15 of which are cultural. Poland is a founding member state of the United Nations and a member of theWorld Trade Organization,OECD,NATO, and theEuropean Union(including theSchengen\",\n \"theSchengen Area). Etymology The nativePolishname for Poland isPolska.The name is derived from thePolans, aWest Slavictribe who inhabited theWarta Riverbasin of present-dayGreater Polandregion (6th–8th century CE).The tribe's name stems from theProto-Slavicnounpolemeaning field, which in-itself originates from theProto-Indo-Europeanword*pleh₂-indicating flatland.The etymology alludes to thetopographyof the region and the flat landscape of Greater Poland.During theMiddle Ages, theLatinformPoloniawas widely used throughout Europe. The country's alternative archaic name isLechiaand its root syllable remains in official use in several languages, notablyHungarian,Lithuanian, andPersian.Theexonympossibly derives from eitherLech, a legendary ruler of theLechites, or from theLendians, a West Slavic tribe that dwelt on the south-easternmost edge ofLesser Poland.The origin of the tribe's name lies in theOld Polishwordlęda(plain).Initially, both namesLechiaandPoloniawere used interchangeably when referring to Poland by\",\n \"to Poland by chroniclers during theMiddle Ages. History Prehistory and protohistory The firstStone Agearchaic humans andHomo erectusspecies settled what was to become Poland approximately 500,000 years ago, though the ensuing hostile climate prevented early humans from founding more permanent encampments.The arrival ofHomo sapiensandanatomically modern humanscoincided with the climatic discontinuity at the end of theLast Glacial Period(Northern Polish glaciation10,000 BC), when Poland became habitable.Neolithicexcavations indicated broad-ranging development in that era; the earliest evidence of European cheesemaking (5500 BC) was discovered in PolishKuyavia,and theBronocice potis incised with the earliest known depiction of what may be a wheeled vehicle (3400 BC). The period spanning theBronze Ageand theEarly Iron Age(1300 BC–500 BC) was marked by an increase in population density, establishment ofpalisadedsettlements (gords) and the expansion ofLusatian culture.A significant archaeological find fromthe\",\n \"find fromthe protohistory of Polandis a fortified settlement atBiskupin, attributed to the Lusatian culture of theLate Bronze Age(mid-8th century BC). Throughoutantiquity(400 BC–500 AD), many distinct ancient populations inhabited the territory of present-day Poland, notablyCeltic,Scythian,Germanic,Sarmatian,BalticandSlavictribes.Furthermore, archaeological findings confirmed the presence ofRoman Legionssent to protect theamber trade.ThePolish tribesemerged following thesecond wave of the Migration Periodaround the 6th century AD;they wereSlavicand may have included assimilated remnants of peoples that earlier dwelled in the area.Beginning in the early 10th century, thePolanswould come to dominate otherLechitictribes in the region, initially forming a tribal federation and later a centralised monarchical state. Kingdom of Poland Poland began to form into a recognisable unitary and territorial entity around the middle of the 10th century under thePiast dynasty.In 966, ruler of the PolansMieszko Iaccepted\",\n \"Iaccepted Christianity under the auspices of theRoman Churchwith theBaptism of Poland.In 968, a missionarybishopricwas established inPoznań. AnincipittitledDagome iudexfirst defined Poland's geographical boundaries with its capital inGnieznoand affirmed that its monarchy was under the protection of theApostolic See.The country's early origins were described byGallus AnonymusinGesta principum Polonorum, the oldest Polish chronicle.An important national event of the period was themartyrdomofSaint Adalbert, who was killed byPrussianpagans in 997 and whose remains were reputedly bought back for their weight in gold by Mieszko's successor,Bolesław I the Brave. In 1000, at theCongress of Gniezno, Bolesław obtained the right ofinvestiturefromOtto III, Holy Roman Emperor, who assented to the creation of additional bishoprics and an archdioceses in Gniezno.Three new dioceses were subsequently established inKraków,Kołobrzeg, andWrocław.Also, Otto bestowed upon Bolesław royalregaliaand a replica of theHoly Lance, which\",\n \"Lance, which were later used at his coronation as the firstKing of Polandinc.1025, when Bolesław received permission for his coronation fromPope John XIX.Bolesław also expanded the realm considerably by seizing parts of GermanLusatia, CzechMoravia,Upper Hungary, and southwestern regions of theKievan Rus'. The transition frompaganismin Poland was not instantaneous and resulted in thepagan reaction of the 1030s.In 1031,Mieszko II Lambertlost the title of king and fled amidst the violence.The unrest led to the transfer of the capital to Kraków in 1038 byCasimir I the Restorer.In 1076,Bolesław IIre-instituted the office of king, but was banished in 1079 for murdering his opponent,Bishop Stanislaus.In 1138, the countryfragmentedinto five principalities whenBolesław III Wrymouthdivided his lands among his sons.These wereLesser Poland, Greater Poland,Silesia,MasoviaandSandomierz, with intermittent hold overPomerania.In 1226,Konrad I of Masoviainvited theTeutonic Knightsto aid in combating theBalticPrussians; a\",\n \"a decision that later led to centuries of warfare with the Knights. In the first half of the 13th century,Henry I the BeardedandHenry II the Piousaimed to unite the fragmented dukedoms, but theMongol invasionand the death of Henry II inbattlehindered the unification.As a result of the devastation which followed, depopulation and the demand for craft labour spurred a migration ofGerman and Flemish settlersinto Poland, which was encouraged by the Polish dukes.In 1264, theStatute of Kaliszintroduced unprecedented autonomy for thePolish Jews, who came to Poland fleeing persecution elsewhere in Europe. In 1320,Władysław I the Shortbecame the first king ofa reunified PolandsincePrzemysł IIin 1296,and the first to be crowned atWawel Cathedralin Kraków.Beginning in 1333, the reign ofCasimir III the Greatwas marked by developments incastle infrastructure, army, judiciary anddiplomacy.Under his authority, Poland transformed into a major European power; he instituted Polish rule overRutheniain 1340 and imposed\",\n \"1340 and imposed quarantine that prevented the spread ofBlack Death.In 1364, Casimir inaugurated theUniversity of Kraków, one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in Europe.Upon his death in 1370, the Piast dynasty came to an end.He was succeeded by his closest male relative,Louis of Anjou, who ruled Poland,Hungary, andCroatiain apersonal union.Louis' younger daughterJadwigabecame Poland's first female monarch in 1384. In 1386, Jadwiga of Poland entered a marriage of convenience withWładysław II Jagiełło, theGrand Duke of Lithuania, thus forming theJagiellonian dynastyand thePolish–Lithuanian unionwhich spanned the lateMiddle Agesand earlyModern Era.The partnership between Poles and Lithuanians brought the vast multi-ethnicLithuanianterritories into Poland's sphere of influence and proved beneficial for its inhabitants, who coexisted in one of the largest Europeanpolitical entitiesof the time. In the Baltic Sea region, the struggle of Poland and Lithuania with theTeutonic Knightscontinued and\",\n \"and culminated at theBattle of Grunwaldin 1410, where a combined Polish-Lithuanian army inflicted a decisive victory against them.In 1466, after theThirteen Years' War, kingCasimir IV Jagiellongave royal consent to thePeace of Thorn, which created the futureDuchy of Prussiaunder Polish suzerainty and forced the Prussian rulers to paytributes.The Jagiellonian dynasty also established dynastic control over the kingdoms ofBohemia(1471 onwards) and Hungary.In the south, Poland confronted theOttoman Empire(at theVarna Crusade) and theCrimean Tatars, and in the east helped Lithuania to combatRussia. Poland was developing as afeudalstate, with a predominantly agricultural economy and an increasingly powerfullanded nobilitythat confined the population to private manorial farmstead known asfolwarks.In 1493,John I Albertsanctioned the creation of abicameral parliamentcomposed of a lower house, theSejm, and an upper house, theSenate.TheNihil noviact adopted by the PolishGeneral Sejmin 1505, transferred most of\",\n \"transferred most of thelegislative powerfrom the monarch to the parliament, an event which marked the beginning of the period known asGolden Liberty, when the state was ruled by the seemingly free and equalPolish nobles. The 16th century sawProtestant Reformationmovements making deep inroads into Polish Christianity, which resulted in the establishment of policies promoting religious tolerance, unique in Europe at that time.This tolerance allowed the country to avoid the religious turmoil andwars of religionthat beset Europe.In Poland,Nontrinitarian Christianitybecame the doctrine of the so-calledPolish Brethren, who separated from theirCalvinistdenomination and became the co-founders of globalUnitarianism. The EuropeanRenaissanceevoked underSigismund I the OldandSigismund II Augustusa sense of urgency in the need to promote acultural awakening.During thePolish Golden Age, the nation's economy and culture flourished.The Italian-bornBona Sforza, daughter of theDuke of Milanand queen consort to Sigismund I,\",\n \"to Sigismund I, made considerable contributions toarchitecture,cuisine, language and court customs atWawel Castle. Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth TheUnion of Lublinof 1569 established thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a unified federal state with anelective monarchy, but largely governed by the nobility.The latter coincided with a period of prosperity; the Polish-dominated union thereafter becoming a leading power and a major cultural entity, exercising political control over parts of Central,Eastern,Southeasternand Northern Europe. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied approximately 1 million km2(390,000 sq mi)at its peakand was the largest state in Europe.Simultaneously, Poland imposedPolonisationpolicies in newly acquired territories which were met with resistance from ethnic and religious minorities. In 1573,Henry de Valois of France, the first elected king, approbated theHenrician Articleswhich obliged future monarchs to respect the rights of nobles.When he left Poland to becomeKing of France,\",\n \"of France, his successor,Stephen Báthory, led a successfulcampaignin theLivonian War, granting Poland morelands across the eastern shoresof the Baltic Sea.State affairs were then headed byJan Zamoyski, theCrown Chancellor.Stephen's successor,Sigismund III, defeated a rivalHabsburgelectoral candidate,Archduke Maximilian III, in theWar of the Polish Succession (1587–1588). In 1592, Sigismund succeeded his father andJohn Vasa, inSweden.ThePolish-Swedish unionendured until 1599, when he wasdeposedby the Swedes. In 1609, SigismundinvadedRussiawhich was engulfed in acivil war,and a year later the Polishwinged hussarunits underStanisław ŻółkiewskioccupiedMoscow for two years after defeating the Russians atKlushino.Sigismund also countered theOttoman Empirein the southeast; atKhotynin 1621Jan Karol Chodkiewiczachieved a decisive victory against the Turks, which ushered the downfall of SultanOsman II. Sigismund's long reign in Poland coincided with theSilver Age.The liberalWładysław IVeffectively defended Poland's\",\n \"defended Poland's territorial possessions but after his death the vast Commonwealth began declining from internal disorder and constant warfare.In 1648, the Polish hegemony over Ukraine sparked theKhmelnytsky Uprising,followed by the decimatingSwedish Delugeduring theSecond Northern War,and Prussia'sindependencein 1657.In 1683,John III Sobieskire-established military prowess when he halted the advance of anOttoman Armyinto Europe at theBattle of Vienna.TheSaxonera, underAugustus IIandAugustus III, saw neighboring powers grow in strength at the expense of Poland. Both Saxon kings faced opposition fromStanisław Leszczyńskiduring theGreat Northern War(1700) and theWar of the Polish Succession (1733). Partitions Theroyal electionof 1764 resulted in the elevation ofStanisław II Augustus Poniatowskito the monarchy.His candidacy was extensively funded by his sponsor and former lover, EmpressCatherine II of Russia.The new king maneuvered between his desire to implement necessary modernising reforms, and the\",\n \"reforms, and the necessity to remain at peace with surrounding states.His ideals led to the formation of the 1768Bar Confederation, a rebellion directed against the Poniatowski and all external influence, which ineptly aimed to preserve Poland's sovereignty and privileges held by the nobility.The failed attempts at government restructuring as well as the domestic turmoil provoked its neighbours to invade. In 1772, theFirst Partition of the Commonwealthby Prussia, Russia and Austria took place; an act which thePartition Sejm, under considerable duress, eventually ratified as afait accompli.Disregarding the territorial losses, in 1773 a plan of critical reforms was established, in which theCommission of National Education, the first government education authority in Europe, was inaugurated.Corporal punishment of schoolchildren was officially prohibited in 1783. Poniatowski was the head figure of theEnlightenment, encouraged the development of industries, and embraced republicanneoclassicism.For his\",\n \"his contributions to the arts and sciences he was awarded aFellowship of the Royal Society. In 1791,Great Sejm parliamentadopted the3 May Constitution, the first set of supreme national laws, and introduced aconstitutional monarchy.TheTargowica Confederation, an organisation of nobles and deputies opposing the act, appealed to Catherine and caused the1792 Polish–Russian War.Fearing the reemergence of Polish hegemony, Russia and Prussia arranged and in 1793 executed, theSecond Partition, which left the country deprived of territory and incapable of independent existence. On 24 October 1795, the Commonwealth waspartitioned for the third timeand ceased to exist as a territorial entity.Stanisław Augustus, the last King of Poland, abdicated the throne on 25 November 1795. Era of insurrections The Polish peoplerose several times against the partitionersand occupying armies. An unsuccessful attempt at defending Poland's sovereignty took place in the 1794Kościuszko Uprising, where a popular and distinguished\",\n \"and distinguished generalTadeusz Kościuszko, who had several years earlier served underGeorge Washingtonin theAmerican Revolutionary War, led Polish insurgents.Despite the victory at theBattle of Racławice, his ultimate defeat ended Poland's independent existencefor 123 years. In 1806, aninsurrectionorganised byJan Henryk Dąbrowskiliberated western Poland ahead ofNapoleon'sadvance into Prussia during theWar of the Fourth Coalition. In accordance with the 1807Treaty of Tilsit, Napoleon proclaimed theDuchy of Warsaw, aclient stateruled by his allyFrederick Augustus I of Saxony. The Poles actively aided French troops in theNapoleonic Wars, particularly those underJózef Poniatowskiwho becameMarshal of Franceshortly before his death atLeipzigin 1813.In the aftermath of Napoleon's exile, the Duchy of Warsaw was abolished at theCongress of Viennain 1815 and its territory was divided into RussianCongress Kingdom of Poland, the PrussianGrand Duchy of Posen, andAustrian Galiciawith theFree City of Kraków. In\",\n \"City of Kraków. In 1830,non-commissioned officersat Warsaw'sOfficer Cadet Schoolrebelled in what was theNovember Uprising.After its collapse, Congress Poland lost itsconstitutional autonomy,armyand legislative assembly.During theEuropean Spring of Nations, Poles took up arms in theGreater Poland Uprising of 1848to resistGermanisation, but its failure saw duchy's status reduced to a mereprovince; and subsequent integration into theGerman Empirein 1871.In Russia, the fall of theJanuary Uprising(1863–1864) prompted severepolitical, social and cultural reprisals, followed by deportations andpogromsof the Polish-Jewish population. Towards the end of the 19th century, Congress Poland became heavily industrialised; its primary exports being coal,zinc, iron and textiles. Second Polish Republic In the aftermath ofWorld War I, theAlliesagreed on the reconstitution of Poland, confirmed through theTreaty of Versaillesof June 1919.A total of 2 million Polish troops fought with the armies of the three occupying powers,\",\n \"occupying powers, and over 450,000 died.Following thearmistice with Germanyin November 1918, Poland regained its independence as theSecond Polish Republic. The Second Polish Republic reaffirmed its sovereignty aftera series of military conflicts, most notably thePolish–Soviet War, when Poland inflicted a crushing defeat on theRed Armyat theBattle of Warsaw. The inter-war period heralded a new era of Polish politics. Whilst Polish political activists had faced heavy censorship in the decades up untilWorld War I, a new political tradition was established in the country. Many exiled Polish activists, such asIgnacy Jan Paderewski, who would later become prime minister, returned home. A significant number of them then went on to take key positions in the newly formed political and governmental structures. Tragedy struck in 1922 whenGabriel Narutowicz, inaugural holder of the presidency, was assassinated at theZachętaGallery in Warsaw by a painter and right-wing nationalistEligiusz Niewiadomski. In 1926, theMay\",\n \"In 1926, theMay Coup, led by the hero of the Polish independence campaign MarshalJózef Piłsudski, turned rule of the Second Polish Republic over to the nonpartisanSanacja(Healing) movement to prevent radical political organisations on both the left and the right from destabilizing the country.By the late 1930s, due to increased threats posed by political extremism inside the country, the Polish government became increasingly heavy-handed, banning a number of radical organisations, including communist and ultra-nationalist political parties, which threatened the stability of the country. World War II World War II began with theNazi Germaninvasion of Polandon 1 September 1939, followed by theSoviet invasion of Polandon 17 September. On 28 September 1939,Warsaw fell. As agreed in theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Poland was split into two zones,one occupied by Nazi Germany, the other bythe Soviet Union. In 1939–1941, the Soviets deported hundreds of thousands of Poles. The SovietNKVDexecuted thousands of Polish\",\n \"thousands of Polish prisoners of war (among other incidents in theKatyn massacre) ahead ofOperation Barbarossa.German planners had in November 1939 called for \\\"the complete destruction of all Poles\\\" and their fate as outlined in the genocidalGeneralplan Ost. Poland made the fourth-largest troop contribution in Europe,and its troops served both thePolish Government in Exilein thewestand Soviet leadership in theeast. Polish troops played an important role in theNormandy,Italian,North African CampaignsandNetherlandsand are particularly remembered for theBattle of BritainandBattle of Monte Cassino.Polish intelligence operatives proved extremely valuable to the Allies, providing much of the intelligence from Europe and beyond,Polish code breakerswere responsible forcracking the Enigma cipherand Polish scientists participating in theManhattan Projectwere co-creators of the Americanatomic bomb. In the east, the Soviet-backedPolish 1st Armydistinguished itself in the battles forWarsawandBerlin. Thewartime resistance\",\n \"resistance movement, and theArmia Krajowa(Home Army), fought against German occupation. It was one of the three largest resistance movements of the entire war, and encompassed a range of clandestine activities, which functioned as anunderground statecomplete withdegree-awarding universitiesanda court system.The resistance was loyal to the exiled government and generally resented the idea of a communist Poland; for this reason, in the summer of 1944 it initiatedOperation Tempest, of which theWarsaw Uprisingthat began on 1 August 1944 is the best-known operation. Nazi German forces under orders fromAdolf Hitlerset up six Germanextermination campsin occupied Poland, includingTreblinka,MajdanekandAuschwitz. The Germanstransported millions of Jewsfrom across occupied Europe to be murdered in those camps.Altogether, 3 million Polish Jews– approximately 90% of Poland's pre-war Jewry – and between 1.8 and 2.8 million ethnic Poleswere killed during the Germanoccupation of Poland, including between 50,000 and 100,000\",\n \"50,000 and 100,000 members of the Polishintelligentsia– academics, doctors, lawyers, nobility and priesthood. During the Warsaw Uprising alone, over 150,000 Polish civilians were killed, most were murdered by the Germans during theWolaandOchotamassacres.Around 150,000 Polish civilians were killed by Soviets between 1939 and 1941 during the Soviet Union's occupation of eastern Poland (Kresy), and another estimated 100,000 Poles were murdered by theUkrainian Insurgent Army(UPA) between 1943 and 1944 in what became known as theWołyń Massacres.Of all the countriesin the war, Poland lost the highest percentage of its citizens: around 6 million perished – more than one-sixth of Poland's pre-war population –half of themPolish Jews.About 90% of deaths were non-military in nature. In 1945, Poland's borderswere shifted westwards. Over two million Polish inhabitants ofKresywere expelledalong theCurzon LinebyStalin.The western border became theOder-Neisse line. As a result, Poland's territory was reduced by 20%, or\",\n \"reduced by 20%, or 77,500 square kilometres (29,900 sq mi). The shift forced the migration ofmillions of other people, most of whom were Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, and Jews. Post-war communism At the insistence ofJoseph Stalin, theYalta Conferencesanctioned the formation of a new provisional pro-Communist coalition government in Moscow, which ignored thePolish government-in-exilebased in London. This action angered many Poles who considered it abetrayalby the Allies. In 1944, Stalin had made guarantees toChurchillandRooseveltthat he would maintain Poland's sovereignty and allow democratic elections to take place. However, upon achieving victory in 1945, the elections organised by the occupying Soviet authorities were falsified and were used to provide a veneer of legitimacy for Soviet hegemony over Polish affairs. The Soviet Union instituted a newcommunistgovernment in Poland, analogous to much of the rest of theEastern Bloc.As elsewhere in Communist Europe, the Soviet influence over Poland was met\",\n \"over Poland was met witharmed resistancefrom the outset which continued into the 1950s. Despite widespread objections, the new Polish government accepted the Soviet annexation of the pre-war eastern regions of Poland(in particular the cities ofWilnoandLwów) and agreed to the permanent garrisoning ofRed Armyunits on Poland's territory. Military alignment within theWarsaw Pactthroughout theCold Warcame about as a direct result of this change in Poland's political culture. In the European scene, it came to characterise the full-fledged integration of Poland into the brotherhood of communist nations. The new communist government took control with the adoption of theSmall Constitutionon 19 February 1947. ThePolish People's Republic(Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa)was officially proclaimed in 1952. In 1956, after the death ofBolesław Bierut, the régime ofWładysław Gomułkabecame temporarily more liberal, freeing many people from prison and expanding some personal freedoms.Collectivisation in the Polish People's\",\n \"the Polish People's Republicfailed. A similar situation repeated itself in the 1970s underEdward Gierek, but most of the time persecution ofanti-communist oppositiongroups persisted. Despite this, Poland was at the time considered to be one of the least oppressive states of the Eastern Bloc. Labour turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union \\\"Solidarity\\\" (\\\"Solidarność\\\"), which over time became a political force. Despite persecution and imposition ofmartial law in 1981by GeneralWojciech Jaruzelski, it eroded the dominance of thePolish United Workers' Partyand by 1989 had triumphed in Poland's firstpartially free and democratic parliamentary electionssince the end of the Second World War.Lech Wałęsa, a Solidarity candidate, eventuallywon the presidency in 1990. The Solidarity movement heralded thecollapse of communist regimes and parties across Europe. Third Polish Republic Ashock therapyprogram, initiated byLeszek Balcerowiczin the early 1990s, enabled the country to transform\",\n \"to transform itsSoviet-styleplanned economyinto amarket economy.As with otherpost-communist countries, Poland suffered temporary declines in social, economic, and living standards,but it became the first post-communist country to reach its pre-1989GDP levelsas early as 1995, although the unemployment rate increased.Poland became a member of theVisegrád Groupin 1991,and joinedNATOin 1999.Poles then voted to join theEuropean Unionina referendumin June 2003,withPoland becoming a full memberon 1 May 2004, following theconsequent enlargement of the organisation. Poland joined theSchengen Areain 2007, as a result of which,the country's borderswith other member states of the European Union were dismantled, allowing forfull freedom of movementwithin most of the European Union.On 10 April 2010, thePresident of PolandLech Kaczyński, along with 89 other high-ranking Polish officialsdied in a plane crashnearSmolensk, Russia. In 2011, the rulingCivic Platformwonparliamentary elections.In 2014, thePrime Minister of\",\n \"Minister of Poland,Donald Tusk, was chosen to bePresident of the European Council, and resigned as prime minister.The2015and2019 electionswere won by the national-conservativeLaw and JusticeParty (PiS) led byJarosław Kaczyński,resulting in increasedEuroscepticismandincreased frictionwith the European Union.In December 2017,Mateusz Morawieckiwas sworn in as the Prime Minister, succeedingBeata Szydlo, in office since 2015. PresidentAndrzej Duda, supported by Law and Justice party, was re-elected in the 2020 presidentialelection.As of November 2023, theRussian invasion of Ukrainehad led to 17 millionUkrainian refugeescrossing the border to Poland.As of November 2023, 0.9 million of those had stayed in Poland.In October 2023, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party won the largest share of the vote in theelection, but lost its majority in parliament. In December 2023, Donald Tusk became the new Prime Minister leading a coalition made up ofCivic Coalition,Third Way, andThe Left. Law and Justice became the leading\",\n \"became the leading opposition party. Geography Poland covers an administrative area of 312,722 km2(120,743 sq mi), and is theninth-largest country in Europe. Approximately 311,895 km2(120,423 sq mi) of the country's territory consists of land, 2,041 km2(788 sq mi) is internal waters and 8,783 km2(3,391 sq mi) is territorial sea.Topographically, the landscape of Poland is characterised by diverselandforms,water bodiesandecosystems.The central and northern region bordering theBaltic Sealie within the flatCentral European Plain, but its south is hilly and mountainous.The averageelevation above the sea levelis estimated at 173 metres. The country has a coastline spanning 770 km (480 mi); extending from the shores of the Baltic Sea, along theBay of Pomeraniain the west to theGulf of Gdańskin the east.The beach coastline is abundant insand dune fieldsorcoastal ridgesand is indented byspitsand lagoons, notably theHel Peninsulaand theVistula Lagoon, which is shared with Russia.The largest Polish island on the Baltic\",\n \"on the Baltic Sea isWolin, located withinWolin National Park.Poland also shares theSzczecin Lagoonand theUsedomisland with Germany. The mountainous belt in the extreme south of Poland is divided into two majormountain ranges; theSudetesin the west and theCarpathiansin the east. The highest part of the Carpathian massif are theTatra Mountains, extending along Poland's southern border.Poland's highest point isMount Rysyat 2,501 metres (8,205 ft) in elevation, located in the Tatras.The highest summit of the Sudetes massif isMount Śnieżkaat 1,603.3 metres (5,260 ft), shared with the Czech Republic.The lowest point in Poland is situated atRaczki Elbląskiein theVistula Delta, which is 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) below sea level. Poland'slongest riversare theVistula, theOder, theWarta, and theBug.The country also possesses one of the highest densities of lakes in the world, numbering around ten thousand and mostly concentrated in the north-eastern region ofMasuria, within theMasurian Lake District.The largest lakes,\",\n \"largest lakes, covering more than 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi), areŚniardwyandMamry, and the deepest isLake Hańczaat 108.5 metres (356 ft) in depth. Climate The climate of Poland istemperate transitional, and varies fromoceanicin the north-west tocontinentalin the south-east.The mountainous southern fringes are situated within analpine climate.Poland is characterised by warm summers, with a mean temperature of around 20 °C (68.0 °F) in July, and moderately cold winters averaging −1 °C (30.2 °F) in December.The warmest and sunniest part of Poland isLower Silesiain the southwest and the coldest region is the northeast corner, aroundSuwałkiinPodlaskie province, where the climate is affected bycold frontsfromScandinaviaandSiberia.Precipitationis more frequent during the summer months, with highest rainfall recorded from June to September. There is a considerable fluctuation in day-to-day weather and the arrival of a particular season can differ each year.Climate changeand other factors have further\",\n \"have further contributed to interannualthermal anomaliesand increased temperatures; the average annual air temperature between 2011 and 2020 was 9.33 °C (48.8 °F), around 1.11 °C higher than in the 2001–2010 period.Winters are also becoming increasingly drier, with lesssleetand snowfall. Biodiversity Phytogeographically, Poland belongs to the Central European province of theCircumboreal Regionwithin theBoreal Kingdom. The country has fourPalearctic ecoregions– Central, Northern, Western Europeantemperate broadleaf and mixed forest, and theCarpathian montane conifer. Forests occupy 31% of Poland's land area, the largest of which is theLower Silesian Wilderness.The most commondeciduous treesfound across the country areoak,maple, andbeech; the most common conifers arepine,spruce, andfir.An estimated 69% of all forests areconiferous. Thefloraandfaunain Poland is that ofContinental Europe, with thewisent,white storkandwhite-tailed eagledesignated as national animals, and thered common poppybeing the unofficial\",\n \"the unofficial floral emblem.Among the most protected species is theEuropean bison, Europe's heaviest land animal, as well as theEurasian beaver, thelynx, thegray wolfand theTatra chamois.The region was also home to the extinctaurochs, the last individual dying in Poland in 1627.Game animals such asred deer,roe deer, andwild boarare found in most woodlands.Poland is also a significant breeding ground formigratory birdsand hosts around one quarter of the global population of white storks. Around 315,100 hectares (1,217 sq mi), equivalent to 1% of Poland's territory, is protected within 23Polish national parks, two of which –BiałowieżaandBieszczady– areUNESCO World Heritage Sites.There are 123 areas designated aslandscape parks, along with numerousnature reservesand otherprotected areasunder theNatura 2000network. Government and politics Poland is aunitarysemi-presidential republicand arepresentative democracy, with apresidentas thehead of state.The executive power is exercised further by theCouncil of\",\n \"by theCouncil of Ministersand theprime ministerwho acts as thehead of government.The council's individual members are selected by the prime minister, approved by parliament and sworn in by the president.The head of state is elected bypopular votefor a five-year term.The current president isAndrzej Dudaand the prime minister isDonald Tusk. Poland'slegislativeassembly is abicameralparliament consisting of a 460-member lower house (Sejm) and a 100-member upper house (Senate).The Sejm is elected underproportional representationaccording to thed'Hondt methodfor vote-seat conversion.The Senate is elected under thefirst-past-the-postelectoral system, with one senator being returned from each of the one hundred constituencies.The Senate has the right to amend or reject a statute passed by the Sejm, but the Sejm may override the Senate's decision with a majority vote. With the exception of ethnic minority parties, only candidates ofpolitical partiesreceiving at least 5% of the total national vote can enter the\",\n \"vote can enter the Sejm.Both the lower and upper houses of parliament in Poland are elected for a four-year term and each member of the Polish parliament is guaranteedparliamentary immunity.Under current legislation, a person must be 21 years of age or over to assume the position of deputy, 30 or over to become senator and 35 to run in a presidential election. Members of the Sejm and Senate jointly form theNational Assembly of the Republic of Poland.The National Assembly, headed by theSejm Marshal, is formed on three occasions – when a new president takes theoath of office; when an indictment against the president is brought to theState Tribunal; and in case a president's permanent incapacity to exercise his duties due to the state of his health is declared. Administrative divisions Poland is divided into 16 provinces or states known asvoivodeships.As of 2022, the voivodeships are subdivided into 380 counties (powiats), which are further fragmented into 2,477 municipalities (gminas).Major cities normally\",\n \"cities normally have the status of bothgminaandpowiat.The provinces are largely founded on the borders ofhistoric regions, or named for individual cities.Administrative authority at the voivodeship level is shared between a government-appointed governor (voivode), an elected regional assembly (sejmik) and avoivodeship marshal, an executive elected by the assembly. Law TheConstitution of Polandis the enacted supreme law, and Polish judicature is based on the principle of civil rights, governed by the code ofcivil law.The current democratic constitution was adopted by theNational Assembly of Polandon 2 April 1997; it guarantees amulti-party statewith freedoms of religion, speech and gatherings, prohibits the practices of forcedmedical experimentation, torture orcorporal punishment, and acknowledges the inviolability of the home, the right to form trade unions, and the right tostrike. Thejudiciaryin Poland is composed of theSupreme Courtas the country's highest judicial organ, theSupreme Administrative Courtfor\",\n \"Courtfor the judicial control of public administration, Common Courts (District,Regional,Appellate) and theMilitary Court.TheConstitutionaland State Tribunals are separate judicial bodies, which rule the constitutional liability of people holding the highest offices of state and supervise the compliance ofstatutory law, thus protecting the Constitution.Judges are nominated by theNational Council of the Judiciaryand are appointed for life by thepresident.With the approval of the Senate, the Sejm appoints anombudsmanfor a five-year term to guard the observance of social justice. Poland has a lowhomiciderate at 0.7 murders per 100,000 people, as of 2018.Rape, assault and violent crime remain at a very low level.The country has imposed strict regulations onabortion, which is permitted only in cases of rape, incest or when the woman's life is in danger;congenital disorderandstillbirthare not covered by the law, prompting some women to seek abortion abroad. Historically, the most significant Polish legal act is\",\n \"Polish legal act is theConstitution of 3 May 1791. Instituted to redress long-standing political defects of thefederativePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealthand itsGolden Liberty, it was the first modern constitution in Europe and influenced many laterdemocratic movementsacross the globe.In 1918, theSecond Polish Republicbecame one of the first countries to introduce universalwomen's suffrage. Foreign relations Poland is amiddle powerand is transitioning into aregional powerin Europe.It has a total of 53 representatives in theEuropean Parliamentas of 2024.Warsawserves as the headquarters forFrontex, the European Union's agency for external border security as well asODIHR, one of the principal institutions of theOSCE.Apart from the European Union, Poland has been a member ofNATO, the United Nations, and theWTO. In recent years, Poland significantly strengthened itsrelationswith the United States, thus becoming one of its closestalliesand strategic partners in Europe.Historically, Poland maintained strongcultural\",\n \"strongcultural and politicalties to Hungary; this special relationship was recognised by the parliaments of both countries in 2007 with the joint declaration of 23 March as \\\"The Day of Polish-Hungarian Friendship\\\". Military The Polish Armed Forces are composed of five branches – theLand Forces, theNavy, theAir Force, theSpecial Forcesand theTerritorial Defence Force.The military is subordinate to theMinistry of National Defence of the Republic of Poland.However, its commander-in-chief in peacetime is the president, who nominates officers, the Minister for National Defence and the chief of staff.Polish military tradition is generally commemorated by theArmed Forces Day, celebrated annually on 15 August.As of 2022, the Polish Armed Forces have a combined strength of 114,050 active soldiers, with a further 75,400 active in thegendarmerieanddefence force. Poland ranks14th in the worldin terms of military expenditures; the country allocates 3.8% of its total GDP on military spending, equivalent to approximately\",\n \"to approximately US$31.6 billion in 2023.From 2022, Poland initiated a programme of mass modernisation of its armed forces, in close cooperation with American, South Korean and local Polishdefence manufacturers.Also, the Polish military is set to increase its size to 250,000 enlisted and officers, and 50,000 defence force personnel.According toSIPRI, the country exported €487 million worth of arms and armaments to foreign countries in 2020. Compulsorymilitary servicefor men, who previously had to serve for nine months, was discontinued in 2008.Polish military doctrine reflects the same defensive nature as that of its NATO partners and the country actively hosts NATO'smilitary exercises.Since 1953, the country has been a large contributor to various United Nations peacekeeping missions,and currently maintains military presence in the Middle East, Africa, theBaltic statesand southeastern Europe. Security, law enforcement and emergency services Thanks to its location, Poland is a country essentially free from\",\n \"free from the threat of natural disasters such asearthquakes,volcanic eruptions,tornadoesandtropical cyclones. However,floodshave occurred in low-lying areas from time to time during periods of extreme rainfall (e.g. during the2010 Central European floods). Law enforcement in Poland is performed by several agencies which are subordinate to theMinistry of Interior and Administration– theState Police(Policja), assigned to investigate crimes or transgression; theMunicipal City Guard, which maintains public order; and several specialised agencies, such as thePolish Border Guard.Private security firms are also common, although they possess no legal authority to arrest or detain a suspect.Municipal guards are primarily headed by provincial, regional or city councils; individual guards are not permitted to carryfirearmsunless instructed by the superior commanding officer.Security service personnel conduct regular patrols in both large urban areas or smaller suburban localities. TheInternal Security Agency(ABW, or\",\n \"Agency(ABW, or ISA in English) is the chiefcounterintelligence instrumentsafeguarding Poland's internal security, along withAgencja Wywiadu(AW) which identifies threats and collects secret information abroad.TheCentral Investigation Bureau of Police(CBŚP) and theCentral Anticorruption Bureau(CBA) are responsible for countering organised crime and corruption in state and private institutions. Emergency services in Poland consist of theemergency medical services,search and rescueunits of thePolish Armed ForcesandState Fire Service. Emergency medical services in Poland are operated by local and regional governments,but are a part of the centralised national agency – theNational Medical Emergency Service(Państwowe Ratownictwo Medyczne). Economy As of 2023, Poland's economy and gross domestic product (GDP) is the sixth largest in the European Union bynominal standardsand the fifth largest bypurchasing power parity. It is also one of the fastest growing within the Union and reached adeveloped marketstatus in\",\n \"marketstatus in 2018.The unemployment rate published byEurostatin 2023 amounted to 2.8%, which was the second-lowest in the EU.As of 2023, around 62% of the employed population works in theservice sector, 29% in manufacturing, and 8% in the agricultural sector.Although Poland is a member of theEuropean single market, the country has not adopted theEuroas legal tender and maintains its own currency – thePolish złoty(zł, PLN). Poland is the regional economic leader in Central Europe, with nearly 40 per cent of the 500 biggest companies in the region (by revenues) as well as ahigh globalisation rate.The country's largest firms compose theWIG20andWIG30indexes, which is traded on theWarsaw Stock Exchange. According to reports made by theNational Bank of Poland, the value of Polish foreign direct investments reached almost 300 billionPLNat the end of 2014. TheCentral Statistical Officeestimated that in 2014 there were 1,437 Polish corporations with interests in 3,194 foreign entities. Poland has the largest\",\n \"has the largest banking sector in Central Europe,with 32.3 branches per 100,000 adults.It was the only European economy to have avoided therecession of 2008.The country is the20th largest exporterof goods and services in the world.Exports of goods and services are valued at approximately 56% of GDP, as of 2020.In 2019, Poland passed a law that would exempt workers under the age of 26 fromincome tax. Tourism In 2020, the total value of thetourism industryin Poland was 104.3 billionPLN, then equivalent to 4.5% of the Polish GDP.Tourism contributes considerably to the overall economy and makes up a relatively large proportion of the country's service market.Nearly 200,000 people were employed in theaccommodation and catering(hospitality) sector in 2020.In 2021, Poland ranked12th most visited countryin the world by international arrivals. Tourist attractions in Poland vary, from the mountains in the south to the beaches in the north, with a trail of rich architectural and cultural heritage. Among the most\",\n \"Among the most recognisable landmarks are Old Towns inKraków,Warsaw,Wrocław(dwarf statues),Gdańsk,Poznań,Lublin,ToruńandZamośćas well as museums, zoological gardens, theme parks and theWieliczka Salt Mine, with its labyrinthine tunnels,underground lakeand chapels carved by miners out ofrock saltbeneath the ground. There areover 100 castlesin the country, largely within theLower Silesian Voivodeship, and also on theTrail of the Eagles' Nests; the largest castle in the world by land area is situated inMalbork.The GermanAuschwitz concentration campinOświęcim, and theSkull ChapelinKudowa-Zdrójconstitutedark tourism.Regarding nature based travel, notable sites include theMasurian Lake DistrictandBiałowieża Forestin the east; on the southKarkonosze, theTable Mountainsand theTatra Mountains, whereRysyand theEagle's Pathtrail are located. ThePieninyandBieszczady Mountainslie in the extreme south-east. Transport Transport in Poland is provided by means ofrail,road,marine shippingandair travel. The country is part of\",\n \"country is part of EU'sSchengen Areaand is an important transport hub due to its strategic geographical position in Central Europe.Some of the longest European routes, including theE30andE40, run through Poland. The country has a good network ofhighwaysconsisting ofexpress roadsandmotorways. As of August 2023, Poland has the world's21st-largest road network, maintaining over 5,000 km (3,100 mi) of highways in use. In 2022, the nation had 19,393 kilometres (12,050 mi) of railway track, the third longest in the European Union after Germany and France.ThePolish State Railways(PKP) is the dominant railway operator, with certain major voivodeships or urban areas possessing their owncommuterandregional rail.Poland has a number of international airports, the largest of which isWarsaw Chopin Airport.It is the primary global hub forLOT Polish Airlines, the country'sflag carrier. Seaports exist all along Poland's Baltic coast, with most freight operations\",\n \"freight operations usingŚwinoujście,Police,Szczecin,Kołobrzeg,Gdynia,GdańskandElblągas their base. ThePort of Gdańskis the only port in theBaltic Seaadapted to receive oceanic vessels.PolferriesandUnity Lineare the largest Polish ferry operators, with the latter providingroll-on/roll-offandtrain ferryservices toScandinavia. Energy The electricity generation sector in Poland is largelyfossil-fuel–based. Coal production in Poland is a major source of employment and the largest source of the nation'sgreenhouse gas emissions.Many power plants nationwide use Poland's position as a major European exporter of coal to their advantage by continuing to use coal as the primary raw material in the production of their energy. The three largest Polish coal mining firms (Węglokoks,Kompania WęglowaandJSW) extract around 100 million tonnes of coal annually.After coal, Polish energy supply relies significantly on oil—the nation is the third-largest buyer of Russian oil exports to the EU. The newEnergy Policy of Poland until\",\n \"of Poland until 2040(EPP2040) would reduce the share of coal andlignitein electricity generation by 25% from 2017 to 2030. The plan involves deploying new nuclear plants, increasing energy efficiency, and decarbonising the Polish transport system in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prioritise long-term energy security. Science and technology Over the course of history, the Polish people have made considerable contributions in the fields of science, technology and mathematics.Perhaps the most renowned Pole to support this theory wasNicolaus Copernicus(Mikołaj Kopernik), who triggered theCopernican Revolutionby placing theSun rather than the Earth at the center of the universe.He also derived aquantity theory of money, which made him a pioneer of economics. Copernicus' achievements and discoveries are considered the basis of Polish culture and cultural identity.Poland was ranked 40th in theGlobal Innovation Indexin 2024. Poland's tertiary education institutions; traditionaluniversities, as well as\",\n \"as well as technical, medical, and economic institutions, employ around tens of thousands of researchers and staff members. There are hundreds of research and development institutes.However, in the 19th and 20th centuries many Polish scientists worked abroad; one of the most important of these exiles wasMarie Curie, a physicist and chemist who lived much of her life in France. In 1925, she established Poland'sRadium Institute. In the first half of the 20th century, Poland was a flourishing centre of mathematics. Outstanding Polish mathematicians formed theLwów School of Mathematics(withStefan Banach,Stanisław Mazur,Hugo Steinhaus,Stanisław Ulam) andWarsaw School of Mathematics(withAlfred Tarski,Kazimierz Kuratowski,Wacław SierpińskiandAntoni Zygmund). Numerous mathematicians, scientists, chemists or economists emigrated due to historic vicissitudes, among themBenoit Mandelbrot,Leonid Hurwicz,Alfred Tarski,Joseph Rotblatand Nobel Prize laureatesRoald Hoffmann,Georges CharpakandTadeusz Reichstein. Demographics\",\n \"Demographics Poland has a population of approximately 38.2 million as of 2021, and is theninth-most populous countryin Europe, as well as the fifth-most populous member state of theEuropean Union.It has a population density of 122 inhabitants per square kilometre (320 inhabitants/sq mi).Thetotal fertility ratewas estimated at 1.33 children born to a woman in 2021, which isamong the world's lowest.Furthermore, Poland's population isaging significantly, and the country has amedian ageof 42.2. Around 60% of the country's population lives in urban areas or major cities and 40% in rural zones.In 2020, 50.2% of Poles resided indetached dwellingsand 44.3% in apartments.The most populous administrative province or state is theMasovian Voivodeshipand the most populous city is the capital,Warsaw, at 1.8 million inhabitants with a further 2–3 million people living in itsmetropolitan area.Themetropolitan areaofKatowiceis the largest urbanconurbationwith a population between 2.7 millionand 5.3 million\",\n \"5.3 million residents.Population density is higher in the south of Poland and mostly concentrated between the cities ofWrocławandKraków. In the2011 Polish census, 37,310,341 people reportedPolishidentity, 846,719Silesian, 232,547Kashubianand 147,814German. Otheridentitieswere reported by 163,363 people (0.41%) and 521,470 people (1.35%) did not specify any nationality.Official population statistics do not include migrant workers who do not possess a permanent residency permit orKarta Polaka.More than 1.7 millionUkrainiancitizens worked legally in Poland in 2017.The number of migrants is rising steadily; the country approved 504,172 work permits for foreigners in 2021 alone.According to theCouncil of Europe, 12,731Romani peoplelive in Poland. Languages Polishis theofficialand predominant spoken language in Poland, and is one of the officiallanguages of the European Union.It is also asecond languagein parts of neighbouringLithuania, where it is taught in Polish-minority schools.Contemporary Poland is a\",\n \"Poland is a linguisticallyhomogeneousnation, with 97% of respondents declaring Polish as their mother tongue.There are currently 15 minority languages in Poland,including one recognised regional language,Kashubian, which is spoken by approximately 100,000 people on a daily basis in the northern regions ofKashubiaandPomerania.Poland also recognisessecondary administrative languages or auxiliary languages in bilingual municipalities, where bilingual signs and placenames are commonplace.According to theCentre for Public Opinion Research, around 32% of Polish citizens declared knowledge of the English language in 2015. Religion According to the 2021 census, 71.3% of all Polish citizens adhere to theRoman Catholic Church, with 6.9% identifying as having no religion and 20.6% refusing to answer. Poland is one of themost religious countries in Europe, where Roman Catholicism remains a part of national identity and Polish-bornPope John Paul IIis widely revered.In 2015, 61.6% of respondents outlined that religion is\",\n \"that religion is of high or very high importance.However, church attendance has greatly decreased in recent years; only 28% of Catholics attendedmassweekly in 2021, down from around half in 2000.According toThe Wall Street Journal, \\\"Of more than 100 countries studied by thePew Research Centerin 2018, Poland wassecularizingthe fastest, as measured by the disparity between the religiosity of young people and their elders.\\\" Freedom of religion in Poland is guaranteed by the Constitution, and Poland'sconcordatwith theHoly Seeenables the teaching of religion in public schools.Historically, the Polish state maintained a high degree ofreligious toleranceand provided asylum for refugees fleeing religious persecution in other parts of Europe.Poland hosted Europe's largestJewish diaspora, and the country was a centre ofAshkenazi Jewishculture and traditional learning until theHolocaust. Contemporary religious minorities includeOrthodox Christians,Protestants, includingLutheransof theEvangelical-Augsburg\",\n \"Church,Pentecostalsin thePentecostal Church in Poland,Adventistsin theSeventh-day Adventist Church, and other smallerEvangelicaldenominations, includingJehovah's Witnesses,Eastern Catholics,Mariavites,Jews,Muslims(Tatars), andneopagans, some of whom are members of theNative Polish Church. Pilgrimagesto theJasna Góra Monastery, a shrinededicatedto theBlack Madonna, take place annually. Health Medical service providers andhospitals(szpitale) in Poland are subordinate to theMinistry of Health; it provides administrative oversight and scrutiny of general medical practice, and is obliged to maintain a high standard ofhygieneand patient care. Poland has auniversal healthcare systembased on an all-inclusiveinsurance system; state subsidised healthcare is available to all citizens covered by the general health insurance program of theNational Health Fund(NFZ). Private medical complexes exist nationwide; over 50% of the population uses both public and private sectors. According to theHuman Development Reportfrom\",\n \"Reportfrom 2020, the average life expectancy at birth is 79 years (around 75 years for an infant male and 83 years for an infant female);the country has a lowinfant mortality rate(4 per 1,000 births).In 2019, the principal cause of death wasischemic heart disease; diseases of thecirculatory systemaccounted for 45% of all deaths.In the same year, Poland was also the 15th-largest importer ofmedicationsand pharmaceutical products. Education TheJagiellonian Universityfounded in 1364 byCasimir IIIinKrakówwas the first institution of higher learning established in Poland, and is one of theoldest universitiesstill in continuous operation.Poland'sCommission of National Education(Komisja Edukacji Narodowej), established in 1773, was the world's first state ministry of education.In 2018, theProgramme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, placed Poland's educational output as one of the highest in the OECD, ranking 5th by student attainment and\",\n \"attainment and 6th by student performance in 2022.The study showed that students in Poland perform better academically than in most OECD countries. The framework for primary, secondary and higher tertiary education are established by theMinistry of Education and Science. One year of kindergarten iscompulsoryfor six-year-olds.Primary education traditionally begins at the age of seven, although children aged six can attend at the request of their parents or guardians.Elementary school spans eight grades and secondary schooling is dependent on student preference – a four-year high school (liceum), a five-year technical school (technikum) or variousvocational studies(szkoła branżowa) can be pursued by individual pupils.A liceum or technikum is concluded with a maturity exit exam (matura), which must be passed in order to apply for a university or other institutions of higher learning. In Poland, there are over 500 university-level institutions,with numerous faculties.TheUniversity of WarsawandWarsaw Polytechnic,\",\n \"Polytechnic, theUniversity of Wrocław,Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznańand theUniversity of Technology in Gdańskare among the most prominent.There are three conventionalacademic degreesin Poland –licencjatorinżynier(first cycle),magister(second cycle) anddoktor(third cycle qualification). Ethnicity Ethnic structure of Poland by voivodeship according to the censuses of 2002, 2011 and 2021: Culture The culture of Poland is closely connected with its intricate 1,000-yearhistory, and forms an important constituent in theWestern civilisation.The Poles take great pride in their national identity which is often associated with the colours white and red, and exuded by the expressionbiało-czerwoni(\\\"whitereds\\\").National symbols, chiefly the crownedwhite-tailed eagle, are often visible on clothing, insignia and emblems.The architectural monuments of great importance are protected by theNational Heritage Board of Poland.Over 100 of the country's most significant tangible wonders were enlisted onto theHistoric\",\n \"onto theHistoric Monuments Register,with further 17 being recognised byUNESCOas World Heritage Sites. Holidays and traditions There are 13 government-approved annual public holidays – New Year on 1 January,Three Kings' Dayon 6 January,Easter SundayandEaster Monday,Labour Dayon 1 May,Constitution Dayon 3 May,Pentecost,Corpus Christi,Feast of the Assumptionon 15 August,All Saints' Dayon 1 November,Independence Dayon 11 November and Christmastide on 25 and 26 December. Particular traditions and superstitious customs observed in Poland are not found elsewhere in Europe. Though Christmas Eve (Wigilia) is not a public holiday, it remains the most memorable day of the entire year.Treesare decorated on 24 December, hay is placed under the tablecloth to resemble Jesus'manger,Christmas wafers(opłatek) are shared between gathered guests and atwelve-dish meatless supperis served that same evening when thefirst starappears.An empty plate and seat are symbolically left at the table for an unexpected guest.On\",\n \"unexpected guest.On occasion,carolersjourney around smaller towns with a folkTurońcreature until theLentperiod. A widely-populardoughnutand sweet pastry feast occurs onFat Thursday, usually 52 days prior to Easter.EggsforHoly Sundayare painted and placed in decoratedbasketsthat are previously blessed by clergymen in churches onEaster Saturday. Easter Monday is celebrated with pagandyngusfestivities, where the youth is engaged in water fights.Cemeteries and graves of the deceased are annually visited by family members on All Saints' Day; tombstones are cleaned as a sign of respect and candles are lit to honour the dead on an unprecedented scale. Music Artists from Poland, including famous musicians such asFrédéric Chopin,Artur Rubinstein,Ignacy Jan Paderewski,Krzysztof Penderecki,Henryk Wieniawski,Karol Szymanowski,Witold Lutosławski,Stanisław Moniuszkoand traditional, regionalisedfolk composerscreate a lively and diverse music scene, which even recognises its own music genres, such assung poetryanddisco\",\n \"poetryanddisco polo. The origins of Polish music can be traced to the 13th century; manuscripts have been found inStary Sączcontainingpolyphoniccompositions related to the ParisianNotre Dame School. Other early compositions, such as the melody ofBogurodzicaandGod Is Born(a coronationpolonaise tunefor Polish kings by an unknown composer), may also date back to this period, however, the first known notable composer,Nicholas of Radom, lived in the 15th century.Diomedes Cato, a native-born Italian who lived in Kraków, became a renowned lutenist at the court of Sigismund III; he not only imported some of the musical styles from southern Europe but blended them with native folk music. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Polish baroque composers wroteliturgical musicand secular compositions such as concertos andsonatasfor voices or instruments. At the end of the 18th century, Polish classical music evolved into national forms like thepolonaise.Wojciech Bogusławskiis accredited with composing the first Polish national\",\n \"Polish national opera, titledKrakowiacy i Górale, which premiered in 1794. Poland today has an active music scene, with the jazz and metal genres being particularly popular among the contemporary populace. Polish jazz musicians such asKrzysztof Komedacreated a unique style, which was most famous in the 1960s and 1970s and continues to be popular to this day. Poland has also become a major venue for large-scale music festivals, chief among which are thePol'and'Rock Festival,Open'er Festival,Opole FestivalandSopot Festival. Art Art in Poland has invariably reflectedEuropeantrends, with Polish painting pivoted onfolklore,Catholic themes,historicismandrealism, but also onImpressionismandromanticism. An important art movement wasYoung Poland, developed in the late 19th century for promotingdecadence,symbolismandArt Nouveau. Since the 20th century Polish documentary art and photography has enjoyed worldwide fame, especially thePolish School of Posters.One of the most distinguished paintings in Poland isLady with\",\n \"Poland isLady with an Ermine(1490) byLeonardo da Vinci. Internationally renowned Polish artists includeJan Matejko(historicism),Jacek Malczewski(symbolism),Stanisław Wyspiański(art nouveau),Henryk Siemiradzki(Romanacademic art),Tamara de Lempicka(art deco), andZdzisław Beksiński(dystopiansurrealism).Several Polish artists and sculptors were also acclaimed representatives ofavant-garde,constructivist,minimalistand contemporary art movements, includingKatarzyna Kobro,Władysław Strzemiński,Magdalena Abakanowicz,Alina Szapocznikow,Igor MitorajandWilhelm Sasnal. Notable art academies in Poland include theKraków Academy of Fine Arts,Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw,Art Academy of Szczecin,University of Fine Arts in Poznańand theGeppert Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław. Contemporary works are exhibited atZachęta,Ujazdów, andMOCAKart galleries. Architecture Thearchitecture of PolandreflectsEuropean architecturalstyles, with strong historical influences derived fromItaly,Germany, and theLow Countries.Settlements founded\",\n \"founded onMagdeburg Lawevolved aroundcentral marketplaces(plac,rynek), encircled by a grid orconcentricnetwork of streets forming anold town(stare miasto).Poland's traditional landscape is characterised by ornate churches,city tenementsandtown halls.Cloth hall markets(sukiennice) were once an abundant feature of Polish urban architecture.The mountainous south is known for itsZakopane chalet style, which originated in Poland. The earliest architectonic trend wasRomanesque(c.11th century), but its traces in the form ofcircular rotundasare scarce.The arrival ofbrick Gothic(c.13th century) defined Poland's most distinguishable medieval style, exuded by the castles ofMalbork,Lidzbark,GniewandKwidzynas well as the cathedrals ofGniezno,Gdańsk,Wrocław,FromborkandKraków.TheRenaissance(16th century) gave rise to Italianate courtyards, defensivepalazzosandmausoleums.Decorativeatticswithpinnaclesandarcadeloggiasare elements ofPolish Mannerism, found inPoznań,LublinandZamość.Foreign artisans often came at the expense of\",\n \"at the expense of kings or nobles, whose palaces were built thereafter in theBaroque,NeoclassicalandRevivaliststyles (17th–19th century). Primary building materialstimberandred brickwere used extensively in Polish folk architecture,and the concept of afortified churchwas commonplace.Secular structures such asdworekmanor houses,farmsteads,granaries,millsand countryinnsare still present in some regions or in open air museums (skansen).However, traditional construction methods faded in the early-mid 20th century due to urbanisation and the construction offunctionalisthousing estatesandresidential areas. Literature Theliterary works of Polandhave traditionally concentrated around the themes of patriotism,spirituality, socialallegoriesand moral narratives.The earliest examples of Polish literature, written inLatin, date to the 12th century.The firstPolishphraseDay ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai(officially translated as \\\"Let me, I shall grind, and you take a rest\\\") was documented in theBook of Henrykówand reflected\",\n \"reflected the use of aquern-stone.It has been since included inUNESCO's Memory of World Register.The oldest extant manuscripts of fineproseinOld Polishare theHoly Cross Sermonsand theBible of Queen Sophia,andCalendarium cracoviense(1474) is Poland's oldest survivingprint. The poetsJan KochanowskiandNicholas Reybecame the firstRenaissanceauthors to write in Polish.Prime literarians of the period includedDantiscus,Modrevius,Goslicius,Sarbieviusand theologianJohn Laski. In theBaroqueera,Jesuit philosophyand local culture greatly influenced the literary techniques ofJan Andrzej Morsztyn(Marinism) andJan Chryzostom Pasek(sarmatianmemoirs).During theEnlightenment, playwrightIgnacy Krasickicomposed the first Polish-languagenovel.Poland's leading 19th-centuryromantic poetswere theThree Bards–Juliusz Słowacki,Zygmunt KrasińskiandAdam Mickiewicz, whose epic poemPan Tadeusz(1834) is a national classic.In the 20th century, the Englishimpressionistand earlymodernistwritings ofJoseph Conradmade him one of the most eminent\",\n \"of the most eminent novelists of all time. Contemporary Polish literature is versatile, with its fantasy genre having been particularly praised.The philosophicalsci-finovelSolarisbyStanisław LemandThe Witcherseries byAndrzej Sapkowskiare celebrated works of world fiction.Poland has sixNobel-Prize winningauthors –Henryk Sienkiewicz(Quo Vadis; 1905),Władysław Reymont(The Peasants; 1924),Isaac Bashevis Singer(1978),Czesław Miłosz(1980),Wisława Szymborska(1996), andOlga Tokarczuk(2018). Cuisine The cuisine of Poland is eclectic and shares similarities with other regional cuisines. Among the staple or regional dishes arepierogi(filled dumplings),kielbasa(sausage),bigos(hunter's stew),kotlet schabowy(breaded cutlet),gołąbki(cabbage rolls),barszcz(borscht),żurek(soured rye soup),oscypek(smoked cheese), andtomato soup.Bagels, a type ofbread roll, also originated in Poland. Traditional dishes are hearty and abundant in pork, potatoes, eggs, cream, mushrooms, regional herbs, and sauce.Polish food is characteristic for\",\n \"characteristic for its various kinds ofkluski(soft dumplings),soups, cereals and a variety of breads andopen sandwiches. Salads, includingmizeria(cucumber salad),coleslaw,sauerkraut, carrot andseared beets, are common. Meals conclude with a dessert such assernik(cheesecake),makowiec(poppy seed roll), ornapoleonka(mille-feuille) cream pie. Traditional alcoholic beverages include honeymead, widespread since the 13th century,beer, wine andvodka.The world's first written mention of vodka originates from Poland.The most popular alcoholic drinks at present are beer and wine which took over from vodka more popular in the years 1980–1998.Grodziskie, sometimes referred to as \\\"Polish Champagne\\\", is an example of a historical beer style from Poland.Tea remains common in Polish society since the 19th century, whilst coffee is drunk widely since the 18th century. Fashion and design Several Polish designers and stylists left a legacy of beauty inventions and cosmetics; includingHelena RubinsteinandMaksymilian Faktorowicz,\",\n \"Faktorowicz, who created a line of cosmetics company in California known asMax Factorand formulated the term \\\"make-up\\\" which is now widely used as an alternative for describing cosmetics.Faktorowicz is also credited with inventing moderneyelash extensions.As of 2020, Poland possesses the sixth-largest cosmetic market in Europe.Inglot Cosmeticsis the country's largest beauty products manufacturer,and the retail storeReservedis the country's most successful clothing store chain. Historically, fashion has been an important aspect of Poland's national consciousness orcultural manifestation, and the country developed its own style known asSarmatismat the turn of the 17th century.The national dress and etiquette of Poland also reached the court atVersailles, where French dresses inspired by Polish garments includedrobe à la polonaiseand thewitzchoura. The scope of influence also entailed furniture; rococoPolish bedswithcanopiesbecame fashionable in French châteaus.Sarmatism eventually faded in the wake of the 18th\",\n \"wake of the 18th century. Cinema Thecinema of Polandtraces its origins to 1894, when inventorKazimierz Prószyńskipatented thePleographand subsequently theAeroscope, the first successful hand-held operated film camera.In 1897,Jan Szczepanikconstructed theTelectroscope, a prototype of television transmitting images and sounds.They are both recognised as pioneers ofcinematography.Poland has also produced influential directors, film producers and actors, many of whom were active inHollywood, chieflyRoman Polański,Andrzej Wajda,Pola Negri,Samuel Goldwyn, theWarner brothers,Max Fleischer,Agnieszka Holland,Krzysztof ZanussiandKrzysztof Kieślowski. Thethemescommonly explored in Polish cinema includehistory,drama, war, culture and black realism (film noir).In the 21st-century, two Polish productions won theAcademy Awards–The Pianist(2002) by Roman Polański andIda(2013) byPaweł Pawlikowski.Polish cinematography also created many well-received comedies. The most known of them were made byStanisław BarejaandJuliusz\",\n \"BarejaandJuliusz Machulski. Media According to theEurobarometer Report(2015), 78 percent of Poles watch thetelevisiondaily.In 2020, 79 percent of the population read the news more than once a day, placing it second behind Sweden.Poland has a number of major domestic media outlets, chiefly thepublic broadcastingcorporationTVP,free-to-airchannelsTVNandPolsatas well as 24-hour news channelsTVP Info,TVN 24andPolsat News.Public television extends its operations to genre-specific programmes such asTVP Sport,TVP Historia,TVP Kultura,TVP Rozrywka, TVP Seriale andTVP Polonia, the latter a state-run channel dedicated to the transmission of Polish-language telecasts for thePolish diaspora. In 2020, the most popular types of newspapers weretabloidsand socio-political news dailies. Poland is a major European hub for video game developers and among the most successful companies areCD Projekt,Techland,The Farm 51,CI GamesandPeople Can Fly.Some of the popular video games developed in Poland includeThe Witchertrilogy\",\n \"Witchertrilogy andCyberpunk 2077.The Polish city ofKatowicealso hostsIntel Extreme Masters, one of the biggestesportsevents in the world. Sports Motorcycle Speedway, volleyball and association football are among the country's most popular sports, with a rich history of international competitions.Track and field, basketball,handball, boxing,MMA,ski jumping,cross-country skiing,ice hockey, tennis, fencing, swimming, andweightliftingare other popular sports. The golden era offootball in Polandoccurred throughout the 1970s and went on until the early 1980s when thePolish national football teamachieved their best results in any FIFA World Cup competitions finishing third place inthe 1974andthe 1982tournaments. The team won a gold medalin footballat the1972 Summer Olympicsand two silver medals,in 1976andin 1992. In 2012, Poland co-hosted theUEFA European Football Championship. As of September 2024, thePolish men's national volleyball teamis rankedas firstin the world.The team won a gold medal at the1976 Summer\",\n \"at the1976 Summer Olympicsand the gold medal at theFIVB World Championship1974,2014and2018.Mariusz Pudzianowskiis a highly successful strongman competitor and has won moreWorld's Strongest Mantitles than any other competitor in the world, winning the event in 2008 for the fifth time. Poland has made a distinctive markin motorcycle speedway racing. The topEkstraligadivision has one ofthe highest average attendancesfor any sport in Poland. Thenational speedway team of Polandis one of the major teams in international speedway. Individually, Poland has threeSpeedway Grand PrixWorld Champions, with the most successful being four-time World ChampionBartosz Zmarzlikwho won back-to-back championships in 2019 and 2020 as well as 2022 and 2023. In 2021, Poland finished runners-up in the Speedway of Nations world championship final, held inManchester, England in 2021. In the 21st century, the country has seen a growth of popularity of tennis and produced a number of successful tennis players including World No. 1Iga\",\n \"World No. 1Iga Świątek, winner of fiveGrand Slamsingles titles; former World No. 2Agnieszka Radwanska, winner of 20 WTA career singles titles including2015 WTA Finals; Top 10 ATP playerHubert Hurkacz; former World No. 1 doubles playerŁukasz Kubot, winner of two Grand Slam doubles titles andJan Zieliński, winner of two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. Poland also won the2015 Hopman Cupwith Agnieszka Radwańska andJerzy Janowiczrepresenting the country. Poles made significant achievements in mountaineering, in particular, in theHimalayasand the winter ascending of theeight-thousanders(e.g.Jerzy Kukuczka,Krzysztof Wielicki,Wanda Rutkiewicz). Polish mountains are one of the tourist attractions of the country. Hiking, climbing, skiing and mountain biking and attract numerous tourists every year from all over the world.Water sports are the most popular summer recreation activities, with ample locations for fishing, canoeing, kayaking, sailing and windsurfing especially in the northern regions of the country. See\",\n \"of the country. See also Notes References Works cited External links 52°N20°E / 52°N 20°E /52; 20\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":47,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"What was the running time of the first cartoon in the series that inspired the name of the Looney Tunes franchise?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"5 minutes and 31 seconds"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looney_Tunes"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silly_Symphony"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Tabular reasoning | Multiple constraints"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looney_Tunes', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silly_Symphony']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looney_Tunes","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silly_Symphony"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looney_Tunes\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silly_Symphony\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["Looney Tunes Looney Tunesis an Americanmedia franchiseproduced and distributed byWarner Bros.The franchise began as a series ofanimatedshort filmsthat originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside the related seriesMerrie Melodies, during thegolden age of American animation.Following a revival in the late 1970s, new shorts were released as recently as 2014. The two series introduced a largecast of characters, includingBugs Bunny,Daffy Duck, andPorky Pig. The termLooney Tuneshas since been expanded to also refer to the characters themselves. Looney TunesandMerrie Melodieswere initially produced byLeon Schlesingerand animatorsHugh HarmanandRudolf Isingfrom 1930 to 1933.Schlesinger assumed full production from 1933 until he sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944, after which it was renamedWarner Bros. Cartoons.TheLooney Tunestitle was inspired by that ofWalt Disney'sSilly Symphonies.The shorts initially showcased musical compositions owned by Warner's music publishing interests through the adventures of such characters asBoskoandBuddy.However, the shorts gained a higher profile upon the debuts of directorsTex Avery,Friz Freleng,Chuck Jones,Bob Clampett, andRobert McKimson, andvoice actorMel Blanclater in the decade.Porky Pig and Daffy Duck became the featuredLooney Tunescharacters, whileMerrie Melodiesfeatured one-shot cartoons and minor recurring characters. After Bugs Bunny became popular in theMerrie Melodiesshorts of the early 1940s,Looney Tunesmoved fromblack and whiteto color production,Merrie Melodieshaving already been in color since 1934.The two series gradually lost their distinctions, and shorts were assigned to each series arbitrarily.From 1942 to 1964,Looney TunesandMerrie Melodieswere the most popular animated shorts in movie theaters. Looney Tuneshas become one of thehighest-grossing media franchisesof all time, spawning several television series, feature films, comic books, music albums, video games, and amusement park rides. Many of the characters have made and continue to make cameo appearances in television shows, films, and other media. Bugs Bunny, in particular, is regarded as acultural iconand has a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame.ManyLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiesfilms are ranked among the greatest animated cartoons of all time, and five of them have wonAcademy Awards.In 2013,TV GuidecountedLooney Tunesas the third greatest television cartoon series of all time, behindThe SimpsonsandThe Flintstones, the latter of which also featured the voice talents of Mel Blanc andBea Benaderet. History Looney TunesandMerrie Melodieswere so named as a reference to Disney'sSilly Symphoniesand were initially developed to showcase tracks from Warner Bros.' extensive music library; the title of the firstLooney Tunesshort,Sinkin' in the Bathtub(1930), is a pun onSingin' in the Bathtub.Between 1934 and 1943,Merrie Melodieswere produced in color andLooney Tunesin black and white.After 1943, both series were produced in color and became virtually indistinguishable, varying only in their opening theme music and titles.Both series made use of the various Warner Bros. characters. By 1937, the theme music forLooney Tuneswas \"The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down\" byCliff FriendandDave Franklin, and the theme music forMerrie Melodieswas an adaptation of \"Merrily We Roll Along\" byCharles Tobias, Murray Mencher andEddie Cantor. 1930–1933: Harman and Ising era In 1929, to compete againstWalt Disney'sMickey Mouse short cartoons, Warner Bros. became interested in developing a series of animated shorts to promote their music. They had recently acquiredBrunswick Recordsalong with four music publishers for US$28 million (equivalent to $511 million in 2024) and were eager to promote this material for the sales of sheet music and phonograph records. Warner made a deal withLeon Schlesingerto produce cartoons for them. Schlesinger hiredRudolf IsingandHugh Harmanto produce the first series of cartoons. Schlesinger was impressed by Harman's and Ising's 1929 pilot cartoon,Bosko, The Talk-Ink Kid. The firstLooney Tunesshort wasSinkin' in the BathtubstarringBosko, which was released in 1930. 1933–1936: Leon Schlesinger Productions When Harman and Ising left Warner Bros. in 1933 over a budget dispute with Schlesinger, they took with them all the rights of the characters they had created. A new character calledBuddybecame the only star of theLooney Tunesseries for a couple of years. New directors includingTex Avery,Friz FrelengandBob Clampettwere brought in or promoted to work with animators in the Schlesinger studio, with Avery's unit housed in a bungalow which the animators dubbed \"Termite Terrace.\" In 1935, the first majorLooney Tunesstar debuted,Porky Pig. He first appeared along withBeans the Catin theMerrie MelodiescartoonI Haven't Got a Hat, directed by Friz Freleng. Beans was the star of the next Porky/Beans cartoon,Gold Diggers of '49, but it was Porky who emerged as the star instead of Beans. The ensemble characters ofI Haven't Got a Hat, such as Oliver Owl and the twin dogs Ham and Ex, were also given a sampling of shorts. Beans and Porky proved much more popular in comparison. Beans was later phased out when his popularity declined, leaving Porky as the only star of the Schlesinger studio. 1936–1944: More star characters and switch to color The debuts of other memorableLooney Tunesstars followed:Daffy DuckinPorky's Duck Hunt(1937),Elmer Fuddin theMerrie MelodiesshortElmer's Candid Camera(1940),Bugs Bunnyin theMerrie MelodiesshortA Wild Hare(1940),andTweetyin theMerrie MelodiesshortA Tale of Two Kitties(1942). Bugs initially starred in the colorMerrie Melodiesshorts following the success of 1940'sA Wild Hare, and formally joined theLooney Tunesseries with the release ofBuckaroo Bugsin 1944. Schlesinger began to phase in the production of colorLooney Tuneswith the 1942 cartoonThe Hep Cat. The final black-and-whiteLooney Tunesshort wasPuss n' Bootyin 1943, directed byFrank Tashlin. The inspiration for the changeover was Warner's decision to re-release only the color cartoons in theBlue Ribbon Classicsseries ofMerrie Melodies. Bugs made a cameo appearance in 1942 in the Avery/Clampett cartoonCrazy Cruiseand also at the end of the Frank Tashlin 1943 cartoonPorky Pig's Feat, which marked Bugs' only official appearance in a black-and-whiteLooney Tunesshort. Schlesinger sold his interest in the cartoon studio in 1944 to Warner Bros. and went into retirement; he died five years later. 1944–1964: The Golden era More popularLooney Tunescharacters were created (most of which first appeared inMerrie Melodiescartoons), such asPepé Le Pew(debuted in 1945'sOdor-able Kitty),Sylvester(debuted in 1945'sLife with Feathers),Yosemite Sam(debuted in 1945'sHare Trigger),Foghorn Leghorn(debuted in 1946'sWalky Talky Hawky),Marvin the Martian(debuted in 1948'sHaredevil Hare),Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner(debuted in 1949'sFast and Furry-ous),Granny(debuted in 1950'sCanary Row),Speedy Gonzales(debuted in 1953'sCat Tails for Two),the Tasmanian Devil(debuted in 1954'sDevil May Hare), andRalph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog(debuted in 1953'sDon't Give Up the Sheep). It was during this era that the series won fiveAcademy Awards: 1964–1969: DePatie–Freleng and Seven Arts era During the mid-late 1960s, the shorts were produced byDePatie–Freleng Enterprises(andFormat Productions) (1964–1967) andWarner Bros.-Seven Arts(1967–1969) after Warner Bros. shut down their animation studio. The shorts from this era can be identified by their different title sequence, featuring stylizedlimited animationand graphics on a black background and a new arrangement, byWilliam Lava, of \"The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down\" which had first been used in the 1963 experimental short \"Now Hear This\" directed by Chuck Jones. In 1967, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts commissioned an animation studio inSouth Koreato redraw 79 black-and-white Looney Tunes produced from 1935 to 1943 in color which were syndicated to TV stations from the late 1960s to the early 1990s. The originalLooney Tunestheatrical series ran from 1930'sSinkin' in the Bathtubto 1969'sInjun TroublebyRobert McKimson. ACool Catcartoon called \"Stage Cat\" was planned, about Cool Cat being in a stage production, but it was cancelled when Warner Bros.-Seven Arts shut down. 1970–1999: Syndication and return to television and film TheLooney Tunesseries' popularity was further strengthened when it began airing on network andsyndicated televisionin the 1950s under various titles and formats. TheLooney Tunesshorts were broadcast with edits to remove scenes of violence (particularly suicidal gags and scenes of characters performing dangerous stunts that impressionable viewers could easily imitate), stereotypes, and alcohol consumption. Production of theatrical animated shorts was dormant from 1969 until 1979, when new shorts were made to introduce theLooney Tunesto a new generation of audiences.New shortshave been produced and released sporadically for theaters since then, though usually as promotional tie-ins with various family movies produced by Warner Bros. While many have been released in limited releases theatrically for Academy Award consideration, only a few have gained theatrical releases with movies. In the 1970s through the early 1990s, several feature-film compilations andtelevision specialswere produced, mostly centering on Bugs Bunny and/or Daffy Duck, with a mixture of new and old footage. These releases includeThe Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie(1979),The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie(1981),Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales(1982),Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island(1983), andDaffy Duck's Quackbusters(1988). In 1976, theLooney Tunescharacters made their way into the amusement park business when they became the mascots for Marriott's two Great America theme parks in Gurnee, Illinois, and Santa Clara, California. After theGurnee parkwas sold toSix Flagsin 1984, they also claimed the rights to use the characters at the other Six Flags parks, which continues to the present. (Warner Bros. parent company Time Warner would own the Six Flags chain in whole or part form most of the 1990s.) In 1988, severalLooney Tunescharacters appeared in cameo roles in theDisneyfilmWho Framed Roger Rabbit. The more significant cameos featured Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Tweety, and Yosemite Sam. It is the only time in whichLooney Tunescharacters have shared screen time with their rivals at Disney (producers of the film)—particularly in the scenes where Bugs andMickey Mouseareskydiving, and when Daffy andDonald Duckare performing their \"Dueling Pianos\" sequence. On July 10, 1989, after a battle with heart problems,Mel Blancdied at theCedars-Sinai Medical Centerofcardiovascular disease. A picture depicting theLooney Tunescharacters entitled \"Speechless\" was released shortly after his death. Viacom-ownedNickelodeonairedLooney Tunescartoons in a show calledLooney Tunes on Nickelodeonbetween 1988 and 1999. Initially, the Nickelodeon package included cartoons that were typically omitted from the higher-profile Saturday morning network and syndicated weekday packages, including black-and-white Bosko cartoons that had not aired in many years and cartoons from the late DePattie–Freling and Seven Arts eras. In January 1999, it was reported that the cartoons shown on Nickelodeon would move toCartoon Networkin the fall of that year.To date,Looney Tunes on Nickelodeonis the longest-airinganimated serieson the network that was not aNicktoon. In 1996,Space Jam, alive-action animated film, was released to theaters starring Bugs Bunny and basketball playerMichael Jordan. Despite a mixed critical reception,the film was a major box-office success, grossing nearly $100 million in the U.S. alone, almost becoming the first non-Disney animated film to achieve that feat.For a two-year period, it was the highest grossing non-Disney animated film ever.The film also introduced the characterLola Bunny, who subsequently became another recurring member of theLooney Tunescast, usually as a love interest for Bugs. In 1997, Bugs Bunny was featured on a U.S. 32 cent postage stamp, the first of fiveLooney Tunesthemed stamps to be issued. TheLooney Tunesalso achieved success in the area of television during this era, with appearances in several originally produced series, includingTaz-Mania(1991, starring Taz) andThe Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries(1995, starring Sylvester, Tweety, and Granny). The gang also made frequent cameos in the 1990 spinoff seriesTiny Toon Adventures, from executive producerSteven Spielberg, where they played teachers and mentors to a younger generation of cartoon characters (Plucky Duck,Hamton J. Pig,Babs and Buster Bunny, etc.), plus occasional cameos in the later Warner Bros. shows such asAnimaniacs(also from Spielberg) andHisteria!.Traditional cel animationwas used to animate the characters forLooney Tunes'cartoons until 1999 when it was replaced withdigital ink and paint animation. In 1979,Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carolpremiered. AfterThe Chocolate Chase, there would not be another short released for seven years. In 1990, it was made so there would be about one short per year until 1998. In 2003, there would be seven shorts produced to promoteLooney Tunes: Back in Action. The first of these to be released wasThe Whizzard of Ow, which appeared on a DVD release ofBack in Actionthat was sold exclusively atWal-Martstores. Only about half of the shorts were shown in theaters; the rest would not be made available until 2004, when all seven shorts were included on the general home video release of the film. In 2010, five computer-animated shorts would be released and directed byMatthew O'Callaghan, who would also direct another short,Flash in the Pain, in 2014. 2000–2014: Network exploration In March 2000, it was revealed that the entireLooney TunesandMerrie Melodieslibrary would be exclusive to Cartoon Network, starting with the fall of that year.Looney Tunesshorts were still airing on Disney'sABCas part ofThe Bugs Bunny and Tweety Showat the time and the decision led to the show's cancellation. This decision would remain in effect for over 20 years untilMeTVbegan airing the classic Warner Bros. cartoons (along with MGM and Paramount's library) in January 2021. In 2003, another feature film was released, this time in an attempt to recapture the spirit of the original shorts: the live-action/animatedLooney Tunes: Back in Action. Although the film was not financially successful,it was met with mixed-to-positive reviews from film critics and has been argued by animation historians and fans as the finest original feature-length appearance of the cartoon characters.In 2006,Warner Home Videoreleased a new and Christmas-themedLooney Tunesdirect-to-video film calledBah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas, a parody ofCharles Dickens'A Christmas Carol. OtherLooney TunesTV series made during this time wereBaby Looney Tunes(2001–2006),Duck Dodgers(2003–2005) andLoonatics Unleashed(2005–2007). On October 22, 2007,Looney TunesandMerrie Melodiescartoons became available for the first time inHigh-definitionviaMicrosoft'sXbox Liveservice, including some in Spanish.From February 29 – May 18, 2008, manyLooney Tunesartifacts, including original animation cels and concept drawings, were on display at theButler Institute of American ArtinYoungstown, Ohio, just off the campus ofYoungstown State University, near where the Warners lived early in life. At the 2009 Cartoon Networkupfront,The Looney Tunes Showwas announced.After several delays, the series premiered on May 3, 2011. Produced byWarner Bros. Animation, the series centers on Bugs and Daffy as they leave the woods and move to the suburbs with \"colorful neighbors\" including Sylvester, Tweety, Granny, Yosemite Sam, etc. The series introduced the characterTina Russo, a duck who becomes Daffy's girlfriend. The show also features 2-minute music videos titled respectfully \"Merrie Melodies\" (as a tribute to theLooney Tunessister shorts) which features the characters singing original songs, as well as CGI animated shorts starring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner (which were removed after the first season). The series was cancelled after its second season. Also, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner returned to the big screen in a series of 3-D shorts that preceded select Warner Bros. films. There were six in the works that began with the first short,Coyote Falls, that preceded the filmCats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, which was released on July 30, 2010. On September 24, 2010,Fur of Flyingpreceded the film,Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, and on December 17, 2010,Rabid Riderpreceded the film,Yogi Bear. On June 8, 2011, Warner Bros. Animation announced that there will be moreLooney Tunes3-D theatrical shorts; the first titledDaffy's Rhapsodywith Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd, the next beingI Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tatwith Sylvester, Tweety, and Granny.Daffy's Rhapsodywas to precede the filmHappy Feet Two,until the studio decided to premiereI Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tatinstead.Daffy's Rhapsodyinstead premiered in 2012, precedingJourney 2: The Mysterious Island.All five shorts were directed byMatthew O'Callaghan. In 2012, several announcements were made about aLooney Tunesreboot film titledAcme, in development.FormerSaturday Night Livecast memberJenny Slatewas said to be on board as writer for the new film. Jeffrey Clifford,Harry PotterproducerDavid Heyman, andDark Shadowswriters David Katzenberg andSeth Grahame-Smithwere slated to produce the film.On August 27, 2014, writersAshley MillerandZack Stentzwere hired to script the film, directorsGlenn Ficarraand John Requa were in talks to direct the film, while actorSteve Carellwas rumored to be starring in a lead role.Despite this, the film never entered production. 2015–2021: Revival At the 2014 Cartoon Networkupfront, another series titledWabbit: A Looney Tunes Production(laterNew Looney Tunes) was announced.Starring Bugs Bunny, the series premiered on both Cartoon Network and its sister channelBoomerangin late 2015.The series had an unusually slow rollout, with the series being moved to the Boomerang streaming service in 2017, and was eventually cancelled on January 30, 2020. On June 11, 2018, another series, titledLooney Tunes Cartoons, was announced by Warner Bros. Animation. It premiered on May 27, 2020, on the streaming serviceHBO Max. The series features \"1,000 minutes of new one-to-six minute cartoons featuring the brand's marquee characters\", voiced by their current voice actors in \"simple, gag-driven and visually vibrant stories\" that are rendered by multiple artists employing \"a visual style that will resonate with fans\", most noticeably having a style reminiscent of the styles ofTex Avery,Bob Clampett,Chuck Jones,Friz FrelengandRobert McKimson.According to co-executive producerPeter Browngardt, \"We're not doing guns, but we can do cartoony violence — TNT, the Acme stuff. All that was kind of grandfathered in.\"Sam Register, president of Warner Bros. Animation also served as a co-executive producer for the series.The series ended on July 27, 2023. On February 11, 2021, it was announced two new series were in the works:Bugs Bunny BuildersandTweety Mysteries.Bugs Bunny Buildersbegan airing on Cartoon Network as part ofCartoonitoandHBO Maxon July 25, 2022;Tweety Mysterieswould also air onCartoon Network.Bugs Bunny Buildersis aimed towards preschoolers; whileTweety Mysteriesis a live-action/animated hybrid.However, the latter was scrapped for unknown reasons. A sequel toSpace JamtitledSpace Jam: A New Legacy, starring basketball playerLeBron James, was released in theaters and HBO Max on July 16, 2021, after aLos Angelesspecial screening on July 12, 2021. It is a film with a story of LeBron James' second son, Dom, who gets kidnapped by an evilAInamed Al. G Rhythm (Don Cheadle), into the Warner Bros. server-verse. LeBron then assembles the Tune Squad to play against the algorithm and get his son back. It received generally negative reviews and underperformed at the box office. 2022–present; Warner Bros. Discovery ownership and tax write-offs A reboot ofTiny Toon AdventurestitledTiny Toons Looniversitypremiered on September 8, 2023, onMaxand then aired the following day on Cartoon Network. The Looney Tunes characters reprise their roles as the professors at Acme Looniversity in this series. In September 2021, it was reported that a film based on theLooney Tunes Cartoons, titledThe Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movieand starringDaffy DuckandPorky Pig, was announced for release onHBO Maxand Cartoon Network.However, it was reported in August 2022 that the film would instead be shopped around to other streaming services.In October 2023, it was announced the film would instead be released in theaters, becoming the first animated non-compilation feature film in the franchise to do so.In early August 2024, it was announced thatKetchup Entertainmentacquired the North American theatrical distribution rights to the film. On December 31, 2022, 256 shorts were removed from HBO Max, includingWhat's Opera, Doc?andDuck Amuck,though many were later re-added in March 2024 when the shorts on the service were rotated. In August 2024, it was announced that Warner Bros. was planning to relaunch theLooney Tunestheatrical film series in 2028. Home media In the 1980s, the shorts receivedVHSreleases, with the pre-August 1948 shorts released byMGM/UA Home Videoand the post-July 1948 shorts released byWarner Home Video. In 2003, Warner Home Video began releasing select shorts onDVD, aimed at collectors, in four-disc sets known as theLooney Tunes Golden Collectionstarting withVolume 1. This continued until 2008, whenthe final volume of the Golden Collectionwas released. Then, from 2010 until 2013, the company released theLooney Tunes Super StarsDVDs. There have been numerous complaints regarding theSuper Starsreleases, however (particularly the first two), having the post-1953 shorts in a 16:9 widescreen format. The last DVD in theSuper Starsseries wasSylvester and Hippety Hopper: Marsupial Mayhem, released on April 23, 2013. 2010 and 2011 saw the releases ofThe Essential Bugs BunnyandThe Essential Daffy DuckDVDs. In 2011, the shorts were released onBlu-ray Discfor the first time with theLooney Tunes Platinum Collectionseries. On September 19, 2017,Warner Home Video'sWarner Archive Collectionreleased the five-discPorky Pig 101DVD-set. Licensing and ownership In 1933,Harman and Isingleft, taking the rights to theBosko characterswith them. However, Warner Bros. retained the rights to the cartoons and theLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiesbrand names, leaving their former producer Leon Schlesinger to start his own animation studio to continue theLooney Tunesseries. With their retained Bosko rights, Harman and Ising began making cartoons atMetro-Goldwyn-Mayerin 1934 until they were fired in 1937 due to a lack of success. MGM proceeded to formtheir own studioto create its own cartoons. Time Warner eventually acquired the Bosko characters from Harman and Ising's estates. Meanwhile, the Schlesinger studio continued to make popular cartoons until 1944 when Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. Since then, Warner Bros. has owned all rights to all post-1933 characters created by Leon Schlesinger Productions and Warner Bros. Cartoons, even after the rights to individual cartoons were placed in other hands. In 1955, Warner Bros. sold the television distribution rights to 191 of its cartoons (which included the black-and-whiteLooney Tunesand the black-and-whiteMerrie Melodiesmade after Harman and Ising left) to Guild Films.The copyrights to those cartoons were assigned toSunset Productions, an entity owned by Warner Bros.The cartoons were distributed by Guild Films until it went bankrupt and was bought by Seven Arts. Seven Arts bought WB in 1967, and WB regained the TV distribution rights to the black and white cartoons. In 1956,Associated Artists Productions(a.a.p.) acquired television distribution rights to most of Warner Bros.' pre-1950library, including allMerrie Melodies(except for those sold to Guild andLady, Play Your Mandolin!) and colorLooney Tunesshorts that were released prior to August 1948, while Warner still owned the copyright to all of the cartoons. Unlike the previous TV package, this package had the Warner titles kept intact and an \"Associated Artists Productions presents\" title inserted at the head of each reel (as a result, eachMerrie Melodiescartoon had the song \"Merrily We Roll Along\" playing twice).Two years later,United Artistsbought a.a.p. (which had also bought Paramount'sPopeyefilms) who merged the company into its television division,United Artists Television. In 1981, UA was sold to MGM, and five years later,Ted Turneracquired the pre-May 1986 MGM library, as well the rights to the a.a.p. library. In 1996, Turner's company,Turner Broadcasting System(whoseTurner Entertainmentdivision oversaw the film library), was purchased by Time Warner (nowWarner Bros. Discovery), which was also Warner Bros.' corporate parent.Then when MGM/UA terminated its distribution deal with Time Warner in 1999, it surrendered its home video rights to the a.a.p. library to WB.Since then, Warner Home Video (nowWarner Bros. Home Entertainment) has held the video rights to the entireLooney Tunes/Merrie Melodiesanimated output by virtue of Warner Bros.' ownership of Turner Entertainment. Starting in 1960, the cartoons were repackaged into several different TV programs that remained popular for several decades before being purchased by Turner Broadcasting System.Turner'sCartoon Networkreran the cartoons from its launch in 1992 until 2004, again from 2009 until 2017, and making a temporary return in April 2023 to celebrate WB's 100th anniversary.The Looney Tunes Show(not to be confused with the 2010s animated series ofthe same name), an early 2000s anthology produced by Warner Bros. Animation for the network, was broadcast from 2001to 2004. The show featured shorts from the originalLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiestheatrical series. As of 2021, classic cartoons continue to air on CN's sister channel,BoomerangandMeTV. Differing curated collections ofLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiesare available for streaming on both theBoomerang streaming serviceandHBO Max. Five dozenLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiesshorts from before December 1943 have lapsed into thepublic domainand are thus freely distributed through various unofficial releases. Filmography Characters The major characters of the originalLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiesseries areBugs Bunny, a clever and insouciant rabbit or hare who is portrayed as atrickster;Daffy Duck, a black duck who was originally portrayed as ascrewball, but later became greedy and egocentric;Porky Pig, a stuttering pig who often appears as thestraight manto Daffy, and is the oldest of the franchise's recurring characters;Sylvester the Cat, his preyTweety(a small canary), and their elderly ownerGranny;Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, who routinely engage in high-speed chases in their home in theSouthwest Americandesert;Elmer Fudd, an unintelligent hunter who is Bugs' oldest nemesis;Yosemite Sam, a hot-tempered cowboy who is another of Bugs' archenemies;Foghorn Leghorn, a rooster who is known for his often excessive ranting;Marvin the Martian, an alien commander from the planetMars, who aims to conquer the Earth; theTasmanian Devil(often nicknamed \"Taz\" in later media), a vicious, brutal marsupial with an insatiable appetite;Pepé Le Pew, a French skunk who is always looking for love and romance; andSpeedy Gonzales, the self-proclaimed \"fastest mouse in all of Mexico\". One additional major character was introduced in post-Golden AgeLooney Tunesmedia (starting withSpace Jam):Lola Bunny, a female rabbit who is usually portrayed as Bugs' girlfriend. Racial stereotypes and censorship controversies Due to content considered offensive,stereotypedor insensitive, in 1968 Warner Bros. removed the \"Censored Eleven\" episodes ofLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiescartoons from broadcast or distribution. Depictions included those ofAfrican Americans(as inCoal Black and de Sebben DwarfsandJungle Jitters),Native Americans,Japanese people(especially during WWII, as inTokio JokioandBugs Bunny Nips the Nips),Germans,Italians,White Southerners, andMexicans. In 1999,Cartoon Networkceased broadcast of all of Speedy Gonzales' cartoons, due to concerns about stereotyping of Mexicans.ManyLatinosprotested that they were not offended, and expressed fondness for Speedy; the character's shorts were made available for broadcast on CN again in 2002. Many Warner Bros. cartoons contain fleeting or sometimes extended gags that make reference to racial or ethnic stereotypes, or useethnic humor. The release of theLooney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3includes a disclaimer at the beginning of each DVD in the volume given byWhoopi Goldberg. She explains that the cartoons are products of their time and contain racial and ethnic stereotypes that \"were wrong then and they are wrong today\", but the cartoons are presented on the DVD uncut and uncensored because \"editing them would be the same as denying that the stereotypes existed.\"A similarly phrased written disclaimer is shown at the beginning of each DVD in theLooney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4,Volume 5, andVolume 6sets, as well as the Daffy Duck andFoghorn LeghornLooney Tunes Super Starssets and theWarner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection. Accolades Inducted into the National Film Registry Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film(Cartoon) Academy Award nominations Related media Television series Series marked with * are compilations of earlier shorts. Television specials Films Compilation films Feature films Direct-to-video Comic books Looney Tunescomic books were published beginning in 1941 byDell Comicsunder license. These comics were, like many published by Dell, were produced in partnership withWestern Publishing. After Dell and Western ended their partnership in 1962, Western continued the series under theirGold Key Comicsand Whitman imprints through 1984. Beginning in 1990,DC Comics, which is owned by Warner Bros., has publishedLooney Tunescomics. Dell Comics (1941–1962) Western Publishing (1962–1984) DC Comics (1990–present) Video games Video games based onLooney Tunescharacters began in 1979 with theRoad Runnerpinball machine. More titles would continue to be released as video game hardware evolved throughout the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. Prominent characters who have received multiple video games include Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, the Tasmanian Devil, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, Speedy Gonzales, and Sylvester and Tweety. See also References External links","Silly Symphony Silly Symphony(also known asSilly Symphonies) is an Americananimatedseries of 75 musicalshort filmsproduced byWalt Disney Productionsfrom 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, theSilly Symphonieswere originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces of music.As such, the films usually did not feature continuing characters, unlike theMickey Mouseshorts produced by Disney at the same time (exceptions to this includeThree Little Pigs,The Tortoise and the Hare, andThree Orphan Kittens, which all had sequels). The series is notable for its innovation withTechnicolorand themultiplane motion picture camera, as well as its introduction of the characterDonald Duck, who made his first appearance in theSilly SymphonycartoonThe Wise Little Henin 1934. Seven shorts won theAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Film. The series also spawned aSilly Symphonynewspaper comic stripdistributed byKing Features Syndicate, as well as aDellcomic book series and several children's books. TheSilly Symphoniesreturned to theaters with its re-issues and re-releases, and eventually tied withJoseph BarberaandWilliam Hanna'sTom and Jerry's record for most Oscar wins for a cartoon series in theAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Filmcategory. Production While Walt Disney andCarl Stalling, a theatre organist from Kansas City, were in New York to add sound to the Mickey Mouse shortsThe Gallopin' Gaucho,The Barn DanceandPlane Crazy, Stalling suggested the idea of making a series of musical animated shorts that combined the latest sound technology with storytelling. At first Walt did not seem interested, but when they returned to New York in February to record the sound for a fifth Mickey Mouse cartoon,The Opry House, they also recorded the soundtrack forThe Skeleton Dance, the type of short that Stalling had suggested and the first Silly Symphony cartoon. Within the animation industry, the series is known for its use byWalt Disneyas a platform for experimenting with processes, techniques, characters, and stories in order to further the art of animation. It also provided a venue to try out techniques and technologies, such as Technicolor,special effects animation, and dramatic storytelling in animation, that would be crucial to Disney's plans to eventually begin making feature-length animated films. Shortly after the switch to United Artists, the series became even more popular. Walt Disney had seen some of Dr. Herbert Kalmus' tests for a newthree-strip, full-colorTechnicolorprocess, which would replace the previoustwo-tone Technicolorprocess. Disney signed a contract with Technicolor which gave the Disney studio exclusive rights to the new three-strip process through the end of 1935, and had a 60% completeSymphony,Flowers and Trees, scrapped and redone in full color.Flowers and Treeswas the first animated film to use the three-strip Technicolor process,and was a phenomenal success. Within a year, the now-in-TechnicolorSilly Symphoniesseries had popularity and success that matched (and later surpassed) that of theMickey Mousecartoons. The contract Disney had with Technicolor would also later be extended another five years as well. The success ofSilly Symphonieswould be tremendously boosted afterThree Little Pigswas released in 1933 and became a box office sensation; the film was featured in movie theaters for several months and also featured the hit song that became the anthem of the Great Depression, \"Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf\".SeveralSilly Symphoniesentries, includingThree Little Pigs(1933),The Grasshopper and the Ants(1934),The Tortoise and the Hare(1935),The Country Cousin(1936),The Old Mill(1937),Wynken, Blynken, and Nod(1938), andThe Ugly Duckling(1939, with an earlierblack-and-white versionfrom 1931), are among the most notable films produced by Walt Disney. Due to problems related to Disney's scheduled productions of cartoons, a deal was made withHarman and Isingto produce three Silly Symphonies:Merbabies,Pipe Dreams, andThe Little Bantamweight. Only one of these cartoons,Merbabies, ended up being bought by Disney, the remaining two Harman-Ising Silly Symphonies were then sold to MGM who released them as Happy Harmonies cartoons.Disney ceased production ofSilly Symphoniesin 1939. Distribution The series was first distributed byPat Powersfrom 1929 to 1930 and released by Celebrity Productions (1929–1930) indirectly throughColumbia Pictures. The original basis of the cartoons was musical novelty, and the musical scores of the first cartoons were composed byCarl Stalling. Columbia Pictures After viewing \"The Skeleton Dance\", the manager at Columbia Pictures quickly became interested in distributing the series, and gained the perfect opportunity to acquire Silly Symphonies after Disney broke with Celebrity Productions head Pat Powers after Powers signed Disney's colleagueUb Iwerksto a studio contract.Columbia Pictures(1930–1932) agreed to pick up the direct distribution of theMickey Mouseseries on the condition that they would have exclusive rights to distribute theSilly Symphoniesseries; at first,Silly Symphoniescould not even come close to the popularity Mickey Mouse had. The original title cards to the shorts released by Celebrity Productions and Columbia Pictures were all redrawn after Walt Disney stopped distributing his cartoons through them. Meanwhile, more competition spread for Disney afterMax Fleischer's flapper cartoon characterBetty Boopbegan to gain more and more popularity after starring in the cartoonMinnie the Moocher. By August 1932, Betty Boop became so popular that theTalkartoonseries was renamed as Betty Boop cartoons. United Artists In 1932, after falling out with Columbia Pictures, Disney began distributing his products throughUnited Artists. UA refused to distribute theSilly Symphoniesunless Disney associated Mickey Mouse with them somehow, resulting in the \"Mickey Mouse presents aSilly Symphony\" title cards and posters that introduced and promoted the series during its five-year run for UA. United Artists also agreed to double the budget for each cartoon from $7,500 to $15,000. RKO Radio Pictures In 1937, Disney signed a distribution deal withRKO Radio Picturesto distribute the Silly Symphony cartoons, along with the Mickey Mouse series. RKO would continue to distribute until the end of the series in 1939. Home media SeveralSymphonieshave been released in home media, most of the time as bonus shorts that relate to something within various Disney films. For instance, the originalDumboVHS includedFather Noah's Ark,The Practical PigandThree Orphan Kittensas bonus shorts to make up for the film's short length. In the UK, severalSilly Symphonieswere released in compilations under Disney Videos' \"Storybook Favourites\" brand. The three \"Storybook Favourites Shorts\" volumes released included among others,The Three Little Pigs,The Tortoise and the Hareand the remake ofThe Ugly Duckling. On December 4, 2001, Disney released \"Silly Symphonies\" as part of its DVD series \"Walt Disney Treasures\". On December 19, 2006, \"More Silly Symphonies\" was released, completing the collection and allowing the cartoons to be completely available to the public. Some DisneyBlu-raydiscs includeSilly Symphoniesas high definition special features.Snow White and the Seven Dwarfsincludes six,Beauty and the BeastandDumboboth contain two andPixar'sA Bug's Lifecontains one. TheSilly Symphonyshorts originally aired onTurner Classic Movies' period program block \"Treasures from the Disney Vault\". SomeSilly Symphonyshorts are viewable onDisney+. List of films TheSilly Symphoniesare listed here in production order. Reception Disney's experiments were widely praised within the film industry, and theSilly Symphonieswon theAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Filmseven times, maintaining a six-year-hold on the category after it was first introduced. This record was matched only byMGM'sTom and Jerryseries during the 1940s and 1950s. Legacy TheSymphonieschanged the course of Disney Studio history when Walt's plans to direct his first feature cartoon became problematic after his warm-up to the taskThe Golden Touchwas widely seen (even by Disney himself) as stiff and slowly paced. This motivated him to embrace his role as being the producer and providing creative oversight (especially of the story) forSnow Whitewhile taskingDavid Handto handle the actual directing. Silly Symphoniesbrought along many imitators, including Warner Bros. cartoon seriesLooney TunesandMerrie Melodies, MGM'sHappy Harmonies, and later, Universal'sSwing Symphony. Years later after theSilly Symphoniesended, Disney occasionally produced a handful of one-shot cartoons, playing the same style as theSilly Symphonyseries. Unlike theSilly Symphoniescanon, most of these \"Specials\" have a narration, usually by Disney legendSterling Holloway. In the 1934 MGM filmHollywood Party, Mickey Mouse appears withJimmy Durante, where they introduceThe Hot Choc-late Soldiers. The 1999–2000 television seriesMickey Mouse Worksused theSilly Symphoniestitle for some of its new cartoons, but unlike the original cartoons, these did feature continuing characters. As of 2021, three of theSilly Symphonyshorts (Three Little Pigs,The Old Mill, andFlowers and Trees), have been selected for preservation in the United StatesNational Film Registryby the Library of Congress, for being \"culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant\". Comic adaptations A SundaySilly Symphonycomic stripran in newspapers from January 10, 1932, to July 12, 1942.The strip featured adaptations of some of theSilly Symphonycartoons, includingBirds of a Feather,The Robber Kitten,Elmer Elephant,Farmyard SymphonyandLittle Hiawatha.This strip began with a two-year sequence aboutBucky Bug, a character based on the bugs inBugs in Love. There was also an occasionalSilly Symphoniescomic book, with nine issues published byDell Comicsfrom September 1952 to February 1959.The first issue of this anthology comic featured adaptations of someSilly Symphonycartoons, includingThe Grasshopper and the Ants,Three Little Pigs,The Goddess of SpringandMother Pluto, but it also included non-Symphonycartoons like Mickey Mouse'sBrave Little Tailor.By the third issue, there was almost noSymphony-related material in the book; the stories and activities were mostly based on other Disney shorts and feature films. See also References Further reading External links Category"],"string":"[\n \"Looney Tunes Looney Tunesis an Americanmedia franchiseproduced and distributed byWarner Bros.The franchise began as a series ofanimatedshort filmsthat originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside the related seriesMerrie Melodies, during thegolden age of American animation.Following a revival in the late 1970s, new shorts were released as recently as 2014. The two series introduced a largecast of characters, includingBugs Bunny,Daffy Duck, andPorky Pig. The termLooney Tuneshas since been expanded to also refer to the characters themselves. Looney TunesandMerrie Melodieswere initially produced byLeon Schlesingerand animatorsHugh HarmanandRudolf Isingfrom 1930 to 1933.Schlesinger assumed full production from 1933 until he sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944, after which it was renamedWarner Bros. Cartoons.TheLooney Tunestitle was inspired by that ofWalt Disney'sSilly Symphonies.The shorts initially showcased musical compositions owned by Warner's music publishing interests through the adventures of such characters asBoskoandBuddy.However, the shorts gained a higher profile upon the debuts of directorsTex Avery,Friz Freleng,Chuck Jones,Bob Clampett, andRobert McKimson, andvoice actorMel Blanclater in the decade.Porky Pig and Daffy Duck became the featuredLooney Tunescharacters, whileMerrie Melodiesfeatured one-shot cartoons and minor recurring characters. After Bugs Bunny became popular in theMerrie Melodiesshorts of the early 1940s,Looney Tunesmoved fromblack and whiteto color production,Merrie Melodieshaving already been in color since 1934.The two series gradually lost their distinctions, and shorts were assigned to each series arbitrarily.From 1942 to 1964,Looney TunesandMerrie Melodieswere the most popular animated shorts in movie theaters. Looney Tuneshas become one of thehighest-grossing media franchisesof all time, spawning several television series, feature films, comic books, music albums, video games, and amusement park rides. Many of the characters have made and continue to make cameo appearances in television shows, films, and other media. Bugs Bunny, in particular, is regarded as acultural iconand has a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame.ManyLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiesfilms are ranked among the greatest animated cartoons of all time, and five of them have wonAcademy Awards.In 2013,TV GuidecountedLooney Tunesas the third greatest television cartoon series of all time, behindThe SimpsonsandThe Flintstones, the latter of which also featured the voice talents of Mel Blanc andBea Benaderet. History Looney TunesandMerrie Melodieswere so named as a reference to Disney'sSilly Symphoniesand were initially developed to showcase tracks from Warner Bros.' extensive music library; the title of the firstLooney Tunesshort,Sinkin' in the Bathtub(1930), is a pun onSingin' in the Bathtub.Between 1934 and 1943,Merrie Melodieswere produced in color andLooney Tunesin black and white.After 1943, both series were produced in color and became virtually indistinguishable, varying only in their opening theme music and titles.Both series made use of the various Warner Bros. characters. By 1937, the theme music forLooney Tuneswas \\\"The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down\\\" byCliff FriendandDave Franklin, and the theme music forMerrie Melodieswas an adaptation of \\\"Merrily We Roll Along\\\" byCharles Tobias, Murray Mencher andEddie Cantor. 1930–1933: Harman and Ising era In 1929, to compete againstWalt Disney'sMickey Mouse short cartoons, Warner Bros. became interested in developing a series of animated shorts to promote their music. They had recently acquiredBrunswick Recordsalong with four music publishers for US$28 million (equivalent to $511 million in 2024) and were eager to promote this material for the sales of sheet music and phonograph records. Warner made a deal withLeon Schlesingerto produce cartoons for them. Schlesinger hiredRudolf IsingandHugh Harmanto produce the first series of cartoons. Schlesinger was impressed by Harman's and Ising's 1929 pilot cartoon,Bosko, The Talk-Ink Kid. The firstLooney Tunesshort wasSinkin' in the BathtubstarringBosko, which was released in 1930. 1933–1936: Leon Schlesinger Productions When Harman and Ising left Warner Bros. in 1933 over a budget dispute with Schlesinger, they took with them all the rights of the characters they had created. A new character calledBuddybecame the only star of theLooney Tunesseries for a couple of years. New directors includingTex Avery,Friz FrelengandBob Clampettwere brought in or promoted to work with animators in the Schlesinger studio, with Avery's unit housed in a bungalow which the animators dubbed \\\"Termite Terrace.\\\" In 1935, the first majorLooney Tunesstar debuted,Porky Pig. He first appeared along withBeans the Catin theMerrie MelodiescartoonI Haven't Got a Hat, directed by Friz Freleng. Beans was the star of the next Porky/Beans cartoon,Gold Diggers of '49, but it was Porky who emerged as the star instead of Beans. The ensemble characters ofI Haven't Got a Hat, such as Oliver Owl and the twin dogs Ham and Ex, were also given a sampling of shorts. Beans and Porky proved much more popular in comparison. Beans was later phased out when his popularity declined, leaving Porky as the only star of the Schlesinger studio. 1936–1944: More star characters and switch to color The debuts of other memorableLooney Tunesstars followed:Daffy DuckinPorky's Duck Hunt(1937),Elmer Fuddin theMerrie MelodiesshortElmer's Candid Camera(1940),Bugs Bunnyin theMerrie MelodiesshortA Wild Hare(1940),andTweetyin theMerrie MelodiesshortA Tale of Two Kitties(1942). Bugs initially starred in the colorMerrie Melodiesshorts following the success of 1940'sA Wild Hare, and formally joined theLooney Tunesseries with the release ofBuckaroo Bugsin 1944. Schlesinger began to phase in the production of colorLooney Tuneswith the 1942 cartoonThe Hep Cat. The final black-and-whiteLooney Tunesshort wasPuss n' Bootyin 1943, directed byFrank Tashlin. The inspiration for the changeover was Warner's decision to re-release only the color cartoons in theBlue Ribbon Classicsseries ofMerrie Melodies. Bugs made a cameo appearance in 1942 in the Avery/Clampett cartoonCrazy Cruiseand also at the end of the Frank Tashlin 1943 cartoonPorky Pig's Feat, which marked Bugs' only official appearance in a black-and-whiteLooney Tunesshort. Schlesinger sold his interest in the cartoon studio in 1944 to Warner Bros. and went into retirement; he died five years later. 1944–1964: The Golden era More popularLooney Tunescharacters were created (most of which first appeared inMerrie Melodiescartoons), such asPepé Le Pew(debuted in 1945'sOdor-able Kitty),Sylvester(debuted in 1945'sLife with Feathers),Yosemite Sam(debuted in 1945'sHare Trigger),Foghorn Leghorn(debuted in 1946'sWalky Talky Hawky),Marvin the Martian(debuted in 1948'sHaredevil Hare),Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner(debuted in 1949'sFast and Furry-ous),Granny(debuted in 1950'sCanary Row),Speedy Gonzales(debuted in 1953'sCat Tails for Two),the Tasmanian Devil(debuted in 1954'sDevil May Hare), andRalph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog(debuted in 1953'sDon't Give Up the Sheep). It was during this era that the series won fiveAcademy Awards: 1964–1969: DePatie–Freleng and Seven Arts era During the mid-late 1960s, the shorts were produced byDePatie–Freleng Enterprises(andFormat Productions) (1964–1967) andWarner Bros.-Seven Arts(1967–1969) after Warner Bros. shut down their animation studio. The shorts from this era can be identified by their different title sequence, featuring stylizedlimited animationand graphics on a black background and a new arrangement, byWilliam Lava, of \\\"The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down\\\" which had first been used in the 1963 experimental short \\\"Now Hear This\\\" directed by Chuck Jones. In 1967, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts commissioned an animation studio inSouth Koreato redraw 79 black-and-white Looney Tunes produced from 1935 to 1943 in color which were syndicated to TV stations from the late 1960s to the early 1990s. The originalLooney Tunestheatrical series ran from 1930'sSinkin' in the Bathtubto 1969'sInjun TroublebyRobert McKimson. ACool Catcartoon called \\\"Stage Cat\\\" was planned, about Cool Cat being in a stage production, but it was cancelled when Warner Bros.-Seven Arts shut down. 1970–1999: Syndication and return to television and film TheLooney Tunesseries' popularity was further strengthened when it began airing on network andsyndicated televisionin the 1950s under various titles and formats. TheLooney Tunesshorts were broadcast with edits to remove scenes of violence (particularly suicidal gags and scenes of characters performing dangerous stunts that impressionable viewers could easily imitate), stereotypes, and alcohol consumption. Production of theatrical animated shorts was dormant from 1969 until 1979, when new shorts were made to introduce theLooney Tunesto a new generation of audiences.New shortshave been produced and released sporadically for theaters since then, though usually as promotional tie-ins with various family movies produced by Warner Bros. While many have been released in limited releases theatrically for Academy Award consideration, only a few have gained theatrical releases with movies. In the 1970s through the early 1990s, several feature-film compilations andtelevision specialswere produced, mostly centering on Bugs Bunny and/or Daffy Duck, with a mixture of new and old footage. These releases includeThe Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie(1979),The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie(1981),Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales(1982),Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island(1983), andDaffy Duck's Quackbusters(1988). In 1976, theLooney Tunescharacters made their way into the amusement park business when they became the mascots for Marriott's two Great America theme parks in Gurnee, Illinois, and Santa Clara, California. After theGurnee parkwas sold toSix Flagsin 1984, they also claimed the rights to use the characters at the other Six Flags parks, which continues to the present. (Warner Bros. parent company Time Warner would own the Six Flags chain in whole or part form most of the 1990s.) In 1988, severalLooney Tunescharacters appeared in cameo roles in theDisneyfilmWho Framed Roger Rabbit. The more significant cameos featured Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Tweety, and Yosemite Sam. It is the only time in whichLooney Tunescharacters have shared screen time with their rivals at Disney (producers of the film)—particularly in the scenes where Bugs andMickey Mouseareskydiving, and when Daffy andDonald Duckare performing their \\\"Dueling Pianos\\\" sequence. On July 10, 1989, after a battle with heart problems,Mel Blancdied at theCedars-Sinai Medical Centerofcardiovascular disease. A picture depicting theLooney Tunescharacters entitled \\\"Speechless\\\" was released shortly after his death. Viacom-ownedNickelodeonairedLooney Tunescartoons in a show calledLooney Tunes on Nickelodeonbetween 1988 and 1999. Initially, the Nickelodeon package included cartoons that were typically omitted from the higher-profile Saturday morning network and syndicated weekday packages, including black-and-white Bosko cartoons that had not aired in many years and cartoons from the late DePattie–Freling and Seven Arts eras. In January 1999, it was reported that the cartoons shown on Nickelodeon would move toCartoon Networkin the fall of that year.To date,Looney Tunes on Nickelodeonis the longest-airinganimated serieson the network that was not aNicktoon. In 1996,Space Jam, alive-action animated film, was released to theaters starring Bugs Bunny and basketball playerMichael Jordan. Despite a mixed critical reception,the film was a major box-office success, grossing nearly $100 million in the U.S. alone, almost becoming the first non-Disney animated film to achieve that feat.For a two-year period, it was the highest grossing non-Disney animated film ever.The film also introduced the characterLola Bunny, who subsequently became another recurring member of theLooney Tunescast, usually as a love interest for Bugs. In 1997, Bugs Bunny was featured on a U.S. 32 cent postage stamp, the first of fiveLooney Tunesthemed stamps to be issued. TheLooney Tunesalso achieved success in the area of television during this era, with appearances in several originally produced series, includingTaz-Mania(1991, starring Taz) andThe Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries(1995, starring Sylvester, Tweety, and Granny). The gang also made frequent cameos in the 1990 spinoff seriesTiny Toon Adventures, from executive producerSteven Spielberg, where they played teachers and mentors to a younger generation of cartoon characters (Plucky Duck,Hamton J. Pig,Babs and Buster Bunny, etc.), plus occasional cameos in the later Warner Bros. shows such asAnimaniacs(also from Spielberg) andHisteria!.Traditional cel animationwas used to animate the characters forLooney Tunes'cartoons until 1999 when it was replaced withdigital ink and paint animation. In 1979,Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carolpremiered. AfterThe Chocolate Chase, there would not be another short released for seven years. In 1990, it was made so there would be about one short per year until 1998. In 2003, there would be seven shorts produced to promoteLooney Tunes: Back in Action. The first of these to be released wasThe Whizzard of Ow, which appeared on a DVD release ofBack in Actionthat was sold exclusively atWal-Martstores. Only about half of the shorts were shown in theaters; the rest would not be made available until 2004, when all seven shorts were included on the general home video release of the film. In 2010, five computer-animated shorts would be released and directed byMatthew O'Callaghan, who would also direct another short,Flash in the Pain, in 2014. 2000–2014: Network exploration In March 2000, it was revealed that the entireLooney TunesandMerrie Melodieslibrary would be exclusive to Cartoon Network, starting with the fall of that year.Looney Tunesshorts were still airing on Disney'sABCas part ofThe Bugs Bunny and Tweety Showat the time and the decision led to the show's cancellation. This decision would remain in effect for over 20 years untilMeTVbegan airing the classic Warner Bros. cartoons (along with MGM and Paramount's library) in January 2021. In 2003, another feature film was released, this time in an attempt to recapture the spirit of the original shorts: the live-action/animatedLooney Tunes: Back in Action. Although the film was not financially successful,it was met with mixed-to-positive reviews from film critics and has been argued by animation historians and fans as the finest original feature-length appearance of the cartoon characters.In 2006,Warner Home Videoreleased a new and Christmas-themedLooney Tunesdirect-to-video film calledBah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas, a parody ofCharles Dickens'A Christmas Carol. OtherLooney TunesTV series made during this time wereBaby Looney Tunes(2001–2006),Duck Dodgers(2003–2005) andLoonatics Unleashed(2005–2007). On October 22, 2007,Looney TunesandMerrie Melodiescartoons became available for the first time inHigh-definitionviaMicrosoft'sXbox Liveservice, including some in Spanish.From February 29 – May 18, 2008, manyLooney Tunesartifacts, including original animation cels and concept drawings, were on display at theButler Institute of American ArtinYoungstown, Ohio, just off the campus ofYoungstown State University, near where the Warners lived early in life. At the 2009 Cartoon Networkupfront,The Looney Tunes Showwas announced.After several delays, the series premiered on May 3, 2011. Produced byWarner Bros. Animation, the series centers on Bugs and Daffy as they leave the woods and move to the suburbs with \\\"colorful neighbors\\\" including Sylvester, Tweety, Granny, Yosemite Sam, etc. The series introduced the characterTina Russo, a duck who becomes Daffy's girlfriend. The show also features 2-minute music videos titled respectfully \\\"Merrie Melodies\\\" (as a tribute to theLooney Tunessister shorts) which features the characters singing original songs, as well as CGI animated shorts starring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner (which were removed after the first season). The series was cancelled after its second season. Also, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner returned to the big screen in a series of 3-D shorts that preceded select Warner Bros. films. There were six in the works that began with the first short,Coyote Falls, that preceded the filmCats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, which was released on July 30, 2010. On September 24, 2010,Fur of Flyingpreceded the film,Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, and on December 17, 2010,Rabid Riderpreceded the film,Yogi Bear. On June 8, 2011, Warner Bros. Animation announced that there will be moreLooney Tunes3-D theatrical shorts; the first titledDaffy's Rhapsodywith Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd, the next beingI Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tatwith Sylvester, Tweety, and Granny.Daffy's Rhapsodywas to precede the filmHappy Feet Two,until the studio decided to premiereI Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tatinstead.Daffy's Rhapsodyinstead premiered in 2012, precedingJourney 2: The Mysterious Island.All five shorts were directed byMatthew O'Callaghan. In 2012, several announcements were made about aLooney Tunesreboot film titledAcme, in development.FormerSaturday Night Livecast memberJenny Slatewas said to be on board as writer for the new film. Jeffrey Clifford,Harry PotterproducerDavid Heyman, andDark Shadowswriters David Katzenberg andSeth Grahame-Smithwere slated to produce the film.On August 27, 2014, writersAshley MillerandZack Stentzwere hired to script the film, directorsGlenn Ficarraand John Requa were in talks to direct the film, while actorSteve Carellwas rumored to be starring in a lead role.Despite this, the film never entered production. 2015–2021: Revival At the 2014 Cartoon Networkupfront, another series titledWabbit: A Looney Tunes Production(laterNew Looney Tunes) was announced.Starring Bugs Bunny, the series premiered on both Cartoon Network and its sister channelBoomerangin late 2015.The series had an unusually slow rollout, with the series being moved to the Boomerang streaming service in 2017, and was eventually cancelled on January 30, 2020. On June 11, 2018, another series, titledLooney Tunes Cartoons, was announced by Warner Bros. Animation. It premiered on May 27, 2020, on the streaming serviceHBO Max. The series features \\\"1,000 minutes of new one-to-six minute cartoons featuring the brand's marquee characters\\\", voiced by their current voice actors in \\\"simple, gag-driven and visually vibrant stories\\\" that are rendered by multiple artists employing \\\"a visual style that will resonate with fans\\\", most noticeably having a style reminiscent of the styles ofTex Avery,Bob Clampett,Chuck Jones,Friz FrelengandRobert McKimson.According to co-executive producerPeter Browngardt, \\\"We're not doing guns, but we can do cartoony violence — TNT, the Acme stuff. All that was kind of grandfathered in.\\\"Sam Register, president of Warner Bros. Animation also served as a co-executive producer for the series.The series ended on July 27, 2023. On February 11, 2021, it was announced two new series were in the works:Bugs Bunny BuildersandTweety Mysteries.Bugs Bunny Buildersbegan airing on Cartoon Network as part ofCartoonitoandHBO Maxon July 25, 2022;Tweety Mysterieswould also air onCartoon Network.Bugs Bunny Buildersis aimed towards preschoolers; whileTweety Mysteriesis a live-action/animated hybrid.However, the latter was scrapped for unknown reasons. A sequel toSpace JamtitledSpace Jam: A New Legacy, starring basketball playerLeBron James, was released in theaters and HBO Max on July 16, 2021, after aLos Angelesspecial screening on July 12, 2021. It is a film with a story of LeBron James' second son, Dom, who gets kidnapped by an evilAInamed Al. G Rhythm (Don Cheadle), into the Warner Bros. server-verse. LeBron then assembles the Tune Squad to play against the algorithm and get his son back. It received generally negative reviews and underperformed at the box office. 2022–present; Warner Bros. Discovery ownership and tax write-offs A reboot ofTiny Toon AdventurestitledTiny Toons Looniversitypremiered on September 8, 2023, onMaxand then aired the following day on Cartoon Network. The Looney Tunes characters reprise their roles as the professors at Acme Looniversity in this series. In September 2021, it was reported that a film based on theLooney Tunes Cartoons, titledThe Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movieand starringDaffy DuckandPorky Pig, was announced for release onHBO Maxand Cartoon Network.However, it was reported in August 2022 that the film would instead be shopped around to other streaming services.In October 2023, it was announced the film would instead be released in theaters, becoming the first animated non-compilation feature film in the franchise to do so.In early August 2024, it was announced thatKetchup Entertainmentacquired the North American theatrical distribution rights to the film. On December 31, 2022, 256 shorts were removed from HBO Max, includingWhat's Opera, Doc?andDuck Amuck,though many were later re-added in March 2024 when the shorts on the service were rotated. In August 2024, it was announced that Warner Bros. was planning to relaunch theLooney Tunestheatrical film series in 2028. Home media In the 1980s, the shorts receivedVHSreleases, with the pre-August 1948 shorts released byMGM/UA Home Videoand the post-July 1948 shorts released byWarner Home Video. In 2003, Warner Home Video began releasing select shorts onDVD, aimed at collectors, in four-disc sets known as theLooney Tunes Golden Collectionstarting withVolume 1. This continued until 2008, whenthe final volume of the Golden Collectionwas released. Then, from 2010 until 2013, the company released theLooney Tunes Super StarsDVDs. There have been numerous complaints regarding theSuper Starsreleases, however (particularly the first two), having the post-1953 shorts in a 16:9 widescreen format. The last DVD in theSuper Starsseries wasSylvester and Hippety Hopper: Marsupial Mayhem, released on April 23, 2013. 2010 and 2011 saw the releases ofThe Essential Bugs BunnyandThe Essential Daffy DuckDVDs. In 2011, the shorts were released onBlu-ray Discfor the first time with theLooney Tunes Platinum Collectionseries. On September 19, 2017,Warner Home Video'sWarner Archive Collectionreleased the five-discPorky Pig 101DVD-set. Licensing and ownership In 1933,Harman and Isingleft, taking the rights to theBosko characterswith them. However, Warner Bros. retained the rights to the cartoons and theLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiesbrand names, leaving their former producer Leon Schlesinger to start his own animation studio to continue theLooney Tunesseries. With their retained Bosko rights, Harman and Ising began making cartoons atMetro-Goldwyn-Mayerin 1934 until they were fired in 1937 due to a lack of success. MGM proceeded to formtheir own studioto create its own cartoons. Time Warner eventually acquired the Bosko characters from Harman and Ising's estates. Meanwhile, the Schlesinger studio continued to make popular cartoons until 1944 when Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. Since then, Warner Bros. has owned all rights to all post-1933 characters created by Leon Schlesinger Productions and Warner Bros. Cartoons, even after the rights to individual cartoons were placed in other hands. In 1955, Warner Bros. sold the television distribution rights to 191 of its cartoons (which included the black-and-whiteLooney Tunesand the black-and-whiteMerrie Melodiesmade after Harman and Ising left) to Guild Films.The copyrights to those cartoons were assigned toSunset Productions, an entity owned by Warner Bros.The cartoons were distributed by Guild Films until it went bankrupt and was bought by Seven Arts. Seven Arts bought WB in 1967, and WB regained the TV distribution rights to the black and white cartoons. In 1956,Associated Artists Productions(a.a.p.) acquired television distribution rights to most of Warner Bros.' pre-1950library, including allMerrie Melodies(except for those sold to Guild andLady, Play Your Mandolin!) and colorLooney Tunesshorts that were released prior to August 1948, while Warner still owned the copyright to all of the cartoons. Unlike the previous TV package, this package had the Warner titles kept intact and an \\\"Associated Artists Productions presents\\\" title inserted at the head of each reel (as a result, eachMerrie Melodiescartoon had the song \\\"Merrily We Roll Along\\\" playing twice).Two years later,United Artistsbought a.a.p. (which had also bought Paramount'sPopeyefilms) who merged the company into its television division,United Artists Television. In 1981, UA was sold to MGM, and five years later,Ted Turneracquired the pre-May 1986 MGM library, as well the rights to the a.a.p. library. In 1996, Turner's company,Turner Broadcasting System(whoseTurner Entertainmentdivision oversaw the film library), was purchased by Time Warner (nowWarner Bros. Discovery), which was also Warner Bros.' corporate parent.Then when MGM/UA terminated its distribution deal with Time Warner in 1999, it surrendered its home video rights to the a.a.p. library to WB.Since then, Warner Home Video (nowWarner Bros. Home Entertainment) has held the video rights to the entireLooney Tunes/Merrie Melodiesanimated output by virtue of Warner Bros.' ownership of Turner Entertainment. Starting in 1960, the cartoons were repackaged into several different TV programs that remained popular for several decades before being purchased by Turner Broadcasting System.Turner'sCartoon Networkreran the cartoons from its launch in 1992 until 2004, again from 2009 until 2017, and making a temporary return in April 2023 to celebrate WB's 100th anniversary.The Looney Tunes Show(not to be confused with the 2010s animated series ofthe same name), an early 2000s anthology produced by Warner Bros. Animation for the network, was broadcast from 2001to 2004. The show featured shorts from the originalLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiestheatrical series. As of 2021, classic cartoons continue to air on CN's sister channel,BoomerangandMeTV. Differing curated collections ofLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiesare available for streaming on both theBoomerang streaming serviceandHBO Max. Five dozenLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiesshorts from before December 1943 have lapsed into thepublic domainand are thus freely distributed through various unofficial releases. Filmography Characters The major characters of the originalLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiesseries areBugs Bunny, a clever and insouciant rabbit or hare who is portrayed as atrickster;Daffy Duck, a black duck who was originally portrayed as ascrewball, but later became greedy and egocentric;Porky Pig, a stuttering pig who often appears as thestraight manto Daffy, and is the oldest of the franchise's recurring characters;Sylvester the Cat, his preyTweety(a small canary), and their elderly ownerGranny;Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, who routinely engage in high-speed chases in their home in theSouthwest Americandesert;Elmer Fudd, an unintelligent hunter who is Bugs' oldest nemesis;Yosemite Sam, a hot-tempered cowboy who is another of Bugs' archenemies;Foghorn Leghorn, a rooster who is known for his often excessive ranting;Marvin the Martian, an alien commander from the planetMars, who aims to conquer the Earth; theTasmanian Devil(often nicknamed \\\"Taz\\\" in later media), a vicious, brutal marsupial with an insatiable appetite;Pepé Le Pew, a French skunk who is always looking for love and romance; andSpeedy Gonzales, the self-proclaimed \\\"fastest mouse in all of Mexico\\\". One additional major character was introduced in post-Golden AgeLooney Tunesmedia (starting withSpace Jam):Lola Bunny, a female rabbit who is usually portrayed as Bugs' girlfriend. Racial stereotypes and censorship controversies Due to content considered offensive,stereotypedor insensitive, in 1968 Warner Bros. removed the \\\"Censored Eleven\\\" episodes ofLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiescartoons from broadcast or distribution. Depictions included those ofAfrican Americans(as inCoal Black and de Sebben DwarfsandJungle Jitters),Native Americans,Japanese people(especially during WWII, as inTokio JokioandBugs Bunny Nips the Nips),Germans,Italians,White Southerners, andMexicans. In 1999,Cartoon Networkceased broadcast of all of Speedy Gonzales' cartoons, due to concerns about stereotyping of Mexicans.ManyLatinosprotested that they were not offended, and expressed fondness for Speedy; the character's shorts were made available for broadcast on CN again in 2002. Many Warner Bros. cartoons contain fleeting or sometimes extended gags that make reference to racial or ethnic stereotypes, or useethnic humor. The release of theLooney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3includes a disclaimer at the beginning of each DVD in the volume given byWhoopi Goldberg. She explains that the cartoons are products of their time and contain racial and ethnic stereotypes that \\\"were wrong then and they are wrong today\\\", but the cartoons are presented on the DVD uncut and uncensored because \\\"editing them would be the same as denying that the stereotypes existed.\\\"A similarly phrased written disclaimer is shown at the beginning of each DVD in theLooney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4,Volume 5, andVolume 6sets, as well as the Daffy Duck andFoghorn LeghornLooney Tunes Super Starssets and theWarner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection. Accolades Inducted into the National Film Registry Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film(Cartoon) Academy Award nominations Related media Television series Series marked with * are compilations of earlier shorts. Television specials Films Compilation films Feature films Direct-to-video Comic books Looney Tunescomic books were published beginning in 1941 byDell Comicsunder license. These comics were, like many published by Dell, were produced in partnership withWestern Publishing. After Dell and Western ended their partnership in 1962, Western continued the series under theirGold Key Comicsand Whitman imprints through 1984. Beginning in 1990,DC Comics, which is owned by Warner Bros., has publishedLooney Tunescomics. Dell Comics (1941–1962) Western Publishing (1962–1984) DC Comics (1990–present) Video games Video games based onLooney Tunescharacters began in 1979 with theRoad Runnerpinball machine. More titles would continue to be released as video game hardware evolved throughout the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. Prominent characters who have received multiple video games include Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, the Tasmanian Devil, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, Speedy Gonzales, and Sylvester and Tweety. See also References External links\",\n \"Silly Symphony Silly Symphony(also known asSilly Symphonies) is an Americananimatedseries of 75 musicalshort filmsproduced byWalt Disney Productionsfrom 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, theSilly Symphonieswere originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces of music.As such, the films usually did not feature continuing characters, unlike theMickey Mouseshorts produced by Disney at the same time (exceptions to this includeThree Little Pigs,The Tortoise and the Hare, andThree Orphan Kittens, which all had sequels). The series is notable for its innovation withTechnicolorand themultiplane motion picture camera, as well as its introduction of the characterDonald Duck, who made his first appearance in theSilly SymphonycartoonThe Wise Little Henin 1934. Seven shorts won theAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Film. The series also spawned aSilly Symphonynewspaper comic stripdistributed byKing Features Syndicate, as well as aDellcomic book series and several children's books. TheSilly Symphoniesreturned to theaters with its re-issues and re-releases, and eventually tied withJoseph BarberaandWilliam Hanna'sTom and Jerry's record for most Oscar wins for a cartoon series in theAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Filmcategory. Production While Walt Disney andCarl Stalling, a theatre organist from Kansas City, were in New York to add sound to the Mickey Mouse shortsThe Gallopin' Gaucho,The Barn DanceandPlane Crazy, Stalling suggested the idea of making a series of musical animated shorts that combined the latest sound technology with storytelling. At first Walt did not seem interested, but when they returned to New York in February to record the sound for a fifth Mickey Mouse cartoon,The Opry House, they also recorded the soundtrack forThe Skeleton Dance, the type of short that Stalling had suggested and the first Silly Symphony cartoon. Within the animation industry, the series is known for its use byWalt Disneyas a platform for experimenting with processes, techniques, characters, and stories in order to further the art of animation. It also provided a venue to try out techniques and technologies, such as Technicolor,special effects animation, and dramatic storytelling in animation, that would be crucial to Disney's plans to eventually begin making feature-length animated films. Shortly after the switch to United Artists, the series became even more popular. Walt Disney had seen some of Dr. Herbert Kalmus' tests for a newthree-strip, full-colorTechnicolorprocess, which would replace the previoustwo-tone Technicolorprocess. Disney signed a contract with Technicolor which gave the Disney studio exclusive rights to the new three-strip process through the end of 1935, and had a 60% completeSymphony,Flowers and Trees, scrapped and redone in full color.Flowers and Treeswas the first animated film to use the three-strip Technicolor process,and was a phenomenal success. Within a year, the now-in-TechnicolorSilly Symphoniesseries had popularity and success that matched (and later surpassed) that of theMickey Mousecartoons. The contract Disney had with Technicolor would also later be extended another five years as well. The success ofSilly Symphonieswould be tremendously boosted afterThree Little Pigswas released in 1933 and became a box office sensation; the film was featured in movie theaters for several months and also featured the hit song that became the anthem of the Great Depression, \\\"Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf\\\".SeveralSilly Symphoniesentries, includingThree Little Pigs(1933),The Grasshopper and the Ants(1934),The Tortoise and the Hare(1935),The Country Cousin(1936),The Old Mill(1937),Wynken, Blynken, and Nod(1938), andThe Ugly Duckling(1939, with an earlierblack-and-white versionfrom 1931), are among the most notable films produced by Walt Disney. Due to problems related to Disney's scheduled productions of cartoons, a deal was made withHarman and Isingto produce three Silly Symphonies:Merbabies,Pipe Dreams, andThe Little Bantamweight. Only one of these cartoons,Merbabies, ended up being bought by Disney, the remaining two Harman-Ising Silly Symphonies were then sold to MGM who released them as Happy Harmonies cartoons.Disney ceased production ofSilly Symphoniesin 1939. Distribution The series was first distributed byPat Powersfrom 1929 to 1930 and released by Celebrity Productions (1929–1930) indirectly throughColumbia Pictures. The original basis of the cartoons was musical novelty, and the musical scores of the first cartoons were composed byCarl Stalling. Columbia Pictures After viewing \\\"The Skeleton Dance\\\", the manager at Columbia Pictures quickly became interested in distributing the series, and gained the perfect opportunity to acquire Silly Symphonies after Disney broke with Celebrity Productions head Pat Powers after Powers signed Disney's colleagueUb Iwerksto a studio contract.Columbia Pictures(1930–1932) agreed to pick up the direct distribution of theMickey Mouseseries on the condition that they would have exclusive rights to distribute theSilly Symphoniesseries; at first,Silly Symphoniescould not even come close to the popularity Mickey Mouse had. The original title cards to the shorts released by Celebrity Productions and Columbia Pictures were all redrawn after Walt Disney stopped distributing his cartoons through them. Meanwhile, more competition spread for Disney afterMax Fleischer's flapper cartoon characterBetty Boopbegan to gain more and more popularity after starring in the cartoonMinnie the Moocher. By August 1932, Betty Boop became so popular that theTalkartoonseries was renamed as Betty Boop cartoons. United Artists In 1932, after falling out with Columbia Pictures, Disney began distributing his products throughUnited Artists. UA refused to distribute theSilly Symphoniesunless Disney associated Mickey Mouse with them somehow, resulting in the \\\"Mickey Mouse presents aSilly Symphony\\\" title cards and posters that introduced and promoted the series during its five-year run for UA. United Artists also agreed to double the budget for each cartoon from $7,500 to $15,000. RKO Radio Pictures In 1937, Disney signed a distribution deal withRKO Radio Picturesto distribute the Silly Symphony cartoons, along with the Mickey Mouse series. RKO would continue to distribute until the end of the series in 1939. Home media SeveralSymphonieshave been released in home media, most of the time as bonus shorts that relate to something within various Disney films. For instance, the originalDumboVHS includedFather Noah's Ark,The Practical PigandThree Orphan Kittensas bonus shorts to make up for the film's short length. In the UK, severalSilly Symphonieswere released in compilations under Disney Videos' \\\"Storybook Favourites\\\" brand. The three \\\"Storybook Favourites Shorts\\\" volumes released included among others,The Three Little Pigs,The Tortoise and the Hareand the remake ofThe Ugly Duckling. On December 4, 2001, Disney released \\\"Silly Symphonies\\\" as part of its DVD series \\\"Walt Disney Treasures\\\". On December 19, 2006, \\\"More Silly Symphonies\\\" was released, completing the collection and allowing the cartoons to be completely available to the public. Some DisneyBlu-raydiscs includeSilly Symphoniesas high definition special features.Snow White and the Seven Dwarfsincludes six,Beauty and the BeastandDumboboth contain two andPixar'sA Bug's Lifecontains one. TheSilly Symphonyshorts originally aired onTurner Classic Movies' period program block \\\"Treasures from the Disney Vault\\\". SomeSilly Symphonyshorts are viewable onDisney+. List of films TheSilly Symphoniesare listed here in production order. Reception Disney's experiments were widely praised within the film industry, and theSilly Symphonieswon theAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Filmseven times, maintaining a six-year-hold on the category after it was first introduced. This record was matched only byMGM'sTom and Jerryseries during the 1940s and 1950s. Legacy TheSymphonieschanged the course of Disney Studio history when Walt's plans to direct his first feature cartoon became problematic after his warm-up to the taskThe Golden Touchwas widely seen (even by Disney himself) as stiff and slowly paced. This motivated him to embrace his role as being the producer and providing creative oversight (especially of the story) forSnow Whitewhile taskingDavid Handto handle the actual directing. Silly Symphoniesbrought along many imitators, including Warner Bros. cartoon seriesLooney TunesandMerrie Melodies, MGM'sHappy Harmonies, and later, Universal'sSwing Symphony. Years later after theSilly Symphoniesended, Disney occasionally produced a handful of one-shot cartoons, playing the same style as theSilly Symphonyseries. Unlike theSilly Symphoniescanon, most of these \\\"Specials\\\" have a narration, usually by Disney legendSterling Holloway. In the 1934 MGM filmHollywood Party, Mickey Mouse appears withJimmy Durante, where they introduceThe Hot Choc-late Soldiers. The 1999–2000 television seriesMickey Mouse Worksused theSilly Symphoniestitle for some of its new cartoons, but unlike the original cartoons, these did feature continuing characters. As of 2021, three of theSilly Symphonyshorts (Three Little Pigs,The Old Mill, andFlowers and Trees), have been selected for preservation in the United StatesNational Film Registryby the Library of Congress, for being \\\"culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant\\\". Comic adaptations A SundaySilly Symphonycomic stripran in newspapers from January 10, 1932, to July 12, 1942.The strip featured adaptations of some of theSilly Symphonycartoons, includingBirds of a Feather,The Robber Kitten,Elmer Elephant,Farmyard SymphonyandLittle Hiawatha.This strip began with a two-year sequence aboutBucky Bug, a character based on the bugs inBugs in Love. There was also an occasionalSilly Symphoniescomic book, with nine issues published byDell Comicsfrom September 1952 to February 1959.The first issue of this anthology comic featured adaptations of someSilly Symphonycartoons, includingThe Grasshopper and the Ants,Three Little Pigs,The Goddess of SpringandMother Pluto, but it also included non-Symphonycartoons like Mickey Mouse'sBrave Little Tailor.By the third issue, there was almost noSymphony-related material in the book; the stories and activities were mostly based on other Disney shorts and feature films. See also References Further reading External links Category\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Looney Tunes Looney Tunesis an Americanmedia franchiseproduced and distributed byWarner Bros.The franchise began as a series ofanimatedshort filmsthat originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside the related seriesMerrie Melodies, during thegolden age of American animation.Following a revival in the late 1970s, new shorts were released as recently as 2014. The two series introduced a largecast of characters, includingBugs Bunny,Daffy Duck, andPorky Pig. The termLooney Tuneshas since been expanded to also refer to the characters themselves. Looney TunesandMerrie Melodieswere initially produced byLeon Schlesingerand animatorsHugh HarmanandRudolf Isingfrom 1930 to 1933.Schlesinger assumed full production from 1933 until he sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944, after which it was renamedWarner Bros. Cartoons.TheLooney Tunestitle was inspired by that ofWalt Disney'sSilly Symphonies.The shorts initially showcased musical compositions owned by Warner's music publishing interests through the adventures of such","adventures of such characters asBoskoandBuddy.However, the shorts gained a higher profile upon the debuts of directorsTex Avery,Friz Freleng,Chuck Jones,Bob Clampett, andRobert McKimson, andvoice actorMel Blanclater in the decade.Porky Pig and Daffy Duck became the featuredLooney Tunescharacters, whileMerrie Melodiesfeatured one-shot cartoons and minor recurring characters. After Bugs Bunny became popular in theMerrie Melodiesshorts of the early 1940s,Looney Tunesmoved fromblack and whiteto color production,Merrie Melodieshaving already been in color since 1934.The two series gradually lost their distinctions, and shorts were assigned to each series arbitrarily.From 1942 to 1964,Looney TunesandMerrie Melodieswere the most popular animated shorts in movie theaters. Looney Tuneshas become one of thehighest-grossing media franchisesof all time, spawning several television series, feature films, comic books, music albums, video games, and amusement park rides. Many of the characters have made and continue to","and continue to make cameo appearances in television shows, films, and other media. Bugs Bunny, in particular, is regarded as acultural iconand has a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame.ManyLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiesfilms are ranked among the greatest animated cartoons of all time, and five of them have wonAcademy Awards.In 2013,TV GuidecountedLooney Tunesas the third greatest television cartoon series of all time, behindThe SimpsonsandThe Flintstones, the latter of which also featured the voice talents of Mel Blanc andBea Benaderet. History Looney TunesandMerrie Melodieswere so named as a reference to Disney'sSilly Symphoniesand were initially developed to showcase tracks from Warner Bros.' extensive music library; the title of the firstLooney Tunesshort,Sinkin' in the Bathtub(1930), is a pun onSingin' in the Bathtub.Between 1934 and 1943,Merrie Melodieswere produced in color andLooney Tunesin black and white.After 1943, both series were produced in color and became virtually indistinguishable, varying","varying only in their opening theme music and titles.Both series made use of the various Warner Bros. characters. By 1937, the theme music forLooney Tuneswas \"The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down\" byCliff FriendandDave Franklin, and the theme music forMerrie Melodieswas an adaptation of \"Merrily We Roll Along\" byCharles Tobias, Murray Mencher andEddie Cantor. 1930–1933: Harman and Ising era In 1929, to compete againstWalt Disney'sMickey Mouse short cartoons, Warner Bros. became interested in developing a series of animated shorts to promote their music. They had recently acquiredBrunswick Recordsalong with four music publishers for US$28 million (equivalent to $511 million in 2024) and were eager to promote this material for the sales of sheet music and phonograph records. Warner made a deal withLeon Schlesingerto produce cartoons for them. Schlesinger hiredRudolf IsingandHugh Harmanto produce the first series of cartoons. Schlesinger was impressed by Harman's and Ising's 1929 pilot cartoon,Bosko, The Talk-Ink Kid.","The Talk-Ink Kid. The firstLooney Tunesshort wasSinkin' in the BathtubstarringBosko, which was released in 1930. 1933–1936: Leon Schlesinger Productions When Harman and Ising left Warner Bros. in 1933 over a budget dispute with Schlesinger, they took with them all the rights of the characters they had created. A new character calledBuddybecame the only star of theLooney Tunesseries for a couple of years. New directors includingTex Avery,Friz FrelengandBob Clampettwere brought in or promoted to work with animators in the Schlesinger studio, with Avery's unit housed in a bungalow which the animators dubbed \"Termite Terrace.\" In 1935, the first majorLooney Tunesstar debuted,Porky Pig. He first appeared along withBeans the Catin theMerrie MelodiescartoonI Haven't Got a Hat, directed by Friz Freleng. Beans was the star of the next Porky/Beans cartoon,Gold Diggers of '49, but it was Porky who emerged as the star instead of Beans. The ensemble characters ofI Haven't Got a Hat, such as Oliver Owl and the twin dogs","and the twin dogs Ham and Ex, were also given a sampling of shorts. Beans and Porky proved much more popular in comparison. Beans was later phased out when his popularity declined, leaving Porky as the only star of the Schlesinger studio. 1936–1944: More star characters and switch to color The debuts of other memorableLooney Tunesstars followed:Daffy DuckinPorky's Duck Hunt(1937),Elmer Fuddin theMerrie MelodiesshortElmer's Candid Camera(1940),Bugs Bunnyin theMerrie MelodiesshortA Wild Hare(1940),andTweetyin theMerrie MelodiesshortA Tale of Two Kitties(1942). Bugs initially starred in the colorMerrie Melodiesshorts following the success of 1940'sA Wild Hare, and formally joined theLooney Tunesseries with the release ofBuckaroo Bugsin 1944. Schlesinger began to phase in the production of colorLooney Tuneswith the 1942 cartoonThe Hep Cat. The final black-and-whiteLooney Tunesshort wasPuss n' Bootyin 1943, directed byFrank Tashlin. The inspiration for the changeover was Warner's decision to re-release only the","re-release only the color cartoons in theBlue Ribbon Classicsseries ofMerrie Melodies. Bugs made a cameo appearance in 1942 in the Avery/Clampett cartoonCrazy Cruiseand also at the end of the Frank Tashlin 1943 cartoonPorky Pig's Feat, which marked Bugs' only official appearance in a black-and-whiteLooney Tunesshort. Schlesinger sold his interest in the cartoon studio in 1944 to Warner Bros. and went into retirement; he died five years later. 1944–1964: The Golden era More popularLooney Tunescharacters were created (most of which first appeared inMerrie Melodiescartoons), such asPepé Le Pew(debuted in 1945'sOdor-able Kitty),Sylvester(debuted in 1945'sLife with Feathers),Yosemite Sam(debuted in 1945'sHare Trigger),Foghorn Leghorn(debuted in 1946'sWalky Talky Hawky),Marvin the Martian(debuted in 1948'sHaredevil Hare),Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner(debuted in 1949'sFast and Furry-ous),Granny(debuted in 1950'sCanary Row),Speedy Gonzales(debuted in 1953'sCat Tails for Two),the Tasmanian Devil(debuted in","Devil(debuted in 1954'sDevil May Hare), andRalph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog(debuted in 1953'sDon't Give Up the Sheep). It was during this era that the series won fiveAcademy Awards: 1964–1969: DePatie–Freleng and Seven Arts era During the mid-late 1960s, the shorts were produced byDePatie–Freleng Enterprises(andFormat Productions) (1964–1967) andWarner Bros.-Seven Arts(1967–1969) after Warner Bros. shut down their animation studio. The shorts from this era can be identified by their different title sequence, featuring stylizedlimited animationand graphics on a black background and a new arrangement, byWilliam Lava, of \"The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down\" which had first been used in the 1963 experimental short \"Now Hear This\" directed by Chuck Jones. In 1967, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts commissioned an animation studio inSouth Koreato redraw 79 black-and-white Looney Tunes produced from 1935 to 1943 in color which were syndicated to TV stations from the late 1960s to the early 1990s. The originalLooney Tunestheatrical","Tunestheatrical series ran from 1930'sSinkin' in the Bathtubto 1969'sInjun TroublebyRobert McKimson. ACool Catcartoon called \"Stage Cat\" was planned, about Cool Cat being in a stage production, but it was cancelled when Warner Bros.-Seven Arts shut down. 1970–1999: Syndication and return to television and film TheLooney Tunesseries' popularity was further strengthened when it began airing on network andsyndicated televisionin the 1950s under various titles and formats. TheLooney Tunesshorts were broadcast with edits to remove scenes of violence (particularly suicidal gags and scenes of characters performing dangerous stunts that impressionable viewers could easily imitate), stereotypes, and alcohol consumption. Production of theatrical animated shorts was dormant from 1969 until 1979, when new shorts were made to introduce theLooney Tunesto a new generation of audiences.New shortshave been produced and released sporadically for theaters since then, though usually as promotional tie-ins with various family","with various family movies produced by Warner Bros. While many have been released in limited releases theatrically for Academy Award consideration, only a few have gained theatrical releases with movies. In the 1970s through the early 1990s, several feature-film compilations andtelevision specialswere produced, mostly centering on Bugs Bunny and/or Daffy Duck, with a mixture of new and old footage. These releases includeThe Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie(1979),The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie(1981),Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales(1982),Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island(1983), andDaffy Duck's Quackbusters(1988). In 1976, theLooney Tunescharacters made their way into the amusement park business when they became the mascots for Marriott's two Great America theme parks in Gurnee, Illinois, and Santa Clara, California. After theGurnee parkwas sold toSix Flagsin 1984, they also claimed the rights to use the characters at the other Six Flags parks, which continues to the present. (Warner Bros. parent","Bros. parent company Time Warner would own the Six Flags chain in whole or part form most of the 1990s.) In 1988, severalLooney Tunescharacters appeared in cameo roles in theDisneyfilmWho Framed Roger Rabbit. The more significant cameos featured Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Tweety, and Yosemite Sam. It is the only time in whichLooney Tunescharacters have shared screen time with their rivals at Disney (producers of the film)—particularly in the scenes where Bugs andMickey Mouseareskydiving, and when Daffy andDonald Duckare performing their \"Dueling Pianos\" sequence. On July 10, 1989, after a battle with heart problems,Mel Blancdied at theCedars-Sinai Medical Centerofcardiovascular disease. A picture depicting theLooney Tunescharacters entitled \"Speechless\" was released shortly after his death. Viacom-ownedNickelodeonairedLooney Tunescartoons in a show calledLooney Tunes on Nickelodeonbetween 1988 and 1999. Initially, the Nickelodeon package included cartoons that were typically omitted from the higher-profile Saturday","Saturday morning network and syndicated weekday packages, including black-and-white Bosko cartoons that had not aired in many years and cartoons from the late DePattie–Freling and Seven Arts eras. In January 1999, it was reported that the cartoons shown on Nickelodeon would move toCartoon Networkin the fall of that year.To date,Looney Tunes on Nickelodeonis the longest-airinganimated serieson the network that was not aNicktoon. In 1996,Space Jam, alive-action animated film, was released to theaters starring Bugs Bunny and basketball playerMichael Jordan. Despite a mixed critical reception,the film was a major box-office success, grossing nearly $100 million in the U.S. alone, almost becoming the first non-Disney animated film to achieve that feat.For a two-year period, it was the highest grossing non-Disney animated film ever.The film also introduced the characterLola Bunny, who subsequently became another recurring member of theLooney Tunescast, usually as a love interest for Bugs. In 1997, Bugs Bunny was","Bugs Bunny was featured on a U.S. 32 cent postage stamp, the first of fiveLooney Tunesthemed stamps to be issued. TheLooney Tunesalso achieved success in the area of television during this era, with appearances in several originally produced series, includingTaz-Mania(1991, starring Taz) andThe Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries(1995, starring Sylvester, Tweety, and Granny). The gang also made frequent cameos in the 1990 spinoff seriesTiny Toon Adventures, from executive producerSteven Spielberg, where they played teachers and mentors to a younger generation of cartoon characters (Plucky Duck,Hamton J. Pig,Babs and Buster Bunny, etc.), plus occasional cameos in the later Warner Bros. shows such asAnimaniacs(also from Spielberg) andHisteria!.Traditional cel animationwas used to animate the characters forLooney Tunes'cartoons until 1999 when it was replaced withdigital ink and paint animation. In 1979,Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carolpremiered. AfterThe Chocolate Chase, there would not be another short released for seven","released for seven years. In 1990, it was made so there would be about one short per year until 1998. In 2003, there would be seven shorts produced to promoteLooney Tunes: Back in Action. The first of these to be released wasThe Whizzard of Ow, which appeared on a DVD release ofBack in Actionthat was sold exclusively atWal-Martstores. Only about half of the shorts were shown in theaters; the rest would not be made available until 2004, when all seven shorts were included on the general home video release of the film. In 2010, five computer-animated shorts would be released and directed byMatthew O'Callaghan, who would also direct another short,Flash in the Pain, in 2014. 2000–2014: Network exploration In March 2000, it was revealed that the entireLooney TunesandMerrie Melodieslibrary would be exclusive to Cartoon Network, starting with the fall of that year.Looney Tunesshorts were still airing on Disney'sABCas part ofThe Bugs Bunny and Tweety Showat the time and the decision led to the show's cancellation.","cancellation. This decision would remain in effect for over 20 years untilMeTVbegan airing the classic Warner Bros. cartoons (along with MGM and Paramount's library) in January 2021. In 2003, another feature film was released, this time in an attempt to recapture the spirit of the original shorts: the live-action/animatedLooney Tunes: Back in Action. Although the film was not financially successful,it was met with mixed-to-positive reviews from film critics and has been argued by animation historians and fans as the finest original feature-length appearance of the cartoon characters.In 2006,Warner Home Videoreleased a new and Christmas-themedLooney Tunesdirect-to-video film calledBah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas, a parody ofCharles Dickens'A Christmas Carol. OtherLooney TunesTV series made during this time wereBaby Looney Tunes(2001–2006),Duck Dodgers(2003–2005) andLoonatics Unleashed(2005–2007). On October 22, 2007,Looney TunesandMerrie Melodiescartoons became available for the first time","for the first time inHigh-definitionviaMicrosoft'sXbox Liveservice, including some in Spanish.From February 29 – May 18, 2008, manyLooney Tunesartifacts, including original animation cels and concept drawings, were on display at theButler Institute of American ArtinYoungstown, Ohio, just off the campus ofYoungstown State University, near where the Warners lived early in life. At the 2009 Cartoon Networkupfront,The Looney Tunes Showwas announced.After several delays, the series premiered on May 3, 2011. Produced byWarner Bros. Animation, the series centers on Bugs and Daffy as they leave the woods and move to the suburbs with \"colorful neighbors\" including Sylvester, Tweety, Granny, Yosemite Sam, etc. The series introduced the characterTina Russo, a duck who becomes Daffy's girlfriend. The show also features 2-minute music videos titled respectfully \"Merrie Melodies\" (as a tribute to theLooney Tunessister shorts) which features the characters singing original songs, as well as CGI animated shorts starring","shorts starring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner (which were removed after the first season). The series was cancelled after its second season. Also, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner returned to the big screen in a series of 3-D shorts that preceded select Warner Bros. films. There were six in the works that began with the first short,Coyote Falls, that preceded the filmCats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, which was released on July 30, 2010. On September 24, 2010,Fur of Flyingpreceded the film,Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, and on December 17, 2010,Rabid Riderpreceded the film,Yogi Bear. On June 8, 2011, Warner Bros. Animation announced that there will be moreLooney Tunes3-D theatrical shorts; the first titledDaffy's Rhapsodywith Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd, the next beingI Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tatwith Sylvester, Tweety, and Granny.Daffy's Rhapsodywas to precede the filmHappy Feet Two,until the studio decided to premiereI Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tatinstead.Daffy's Rhapsodyinstead premiered","premiered in 2012, precedingJourney 2: The Mysterious Island.All five shorts were directed byMatthew O'Callaghan. In 2012, several announcements were made about aLooney Tunesreboot film titledAcme, in development.FormerSaturday Night Livecast memberJenny Slatewas said to be on board as writer for the new film. Jeffrey Clifford,Harry PotterproducerDavid Heyman, andDark Shadowswriters David Katzenberg andSeth Grahame-Smithwere slated to produce the film.On August 27, 2014, writersAshley MillerandZack Stentzwere hired to script the film, directorsGlenn Ficarraand John Requa were in talks to direct the film, while actorSteve Carellwas rumored to be starring in a lead role.Despite this, the film never entered production. 2015–2021: Revival At the 2014 Cartoon Networkupfront, another series titledWabbit: A Looney Tunes Production(laterNew Looney Tunes) was announced.Starring Bugs Bunny, the series premiered on both Cartoon Network and its sister channelBoomerangin late 2015.The series had an unusually slow","an unusually slow rollout, with the series being moved to the Boomerang streaming service in 2017, and was eventually cancelled on January 30, 2020. On June 11, 2018, another series, titledLooney Tunes Cartoons, was announced by Warner Bros. Animation. It premiered on May 27, 2020, on the streaming serviceHBO Max. The series features \"1,000 minutes of new one-to-six minute cartoons featuring the brand's marquee characters\", voiced by their current voice actors in \"simple, gag-driven and visually vibrant stories\" that are rendered by multiple artists employing \"a visual style that will resonate with fans\", most noticeably having a style reminiscent of the styles ofTex Avery,Bob Clampett,Chuck Jones,Friz FrelengandRobert McKimson.According to co-executive producerPeter Browngardt, \"We're not doing guns, but we can do cartoony violence — TNT, the Acme stuff. All that was kind of grandfathered in.\"Sam Register, president of Warner Bros. Animation also served as a co-executive producer for the series.The series","series.The series ended on July 27, 2023. On February 11, 2021, it was announced two new series were in the works:Bugs Bunny BuildersandTweety Mysteries.Bugs Bunny Buildersbegan airing on Cartoon Network as part ofCartoonitoandHBO Maxon July 25, 2022;Tweety Mysterieswould also air onCartoon Network.Bugs Bunny Buildersis aimed towards preschoolers; whileTweety Mysteriesis a live-action/animated hybrid.However, the latter was scrapped for unknown reasons. A sequel toSpace JamtitledSpace Jam: A New Legacy, starring basketball playerLeBron James, was released in theaters and HBO Max on July 16, 2021, after aLos Angelesspecial screening on July 12, 2021. It is a film with a story of LeBron James' second son, Dom, who gets kidnapped by an evilAInamed Al. G Rhythm (Don Cheadle), into the Warner Bros. server-verse. LeBron then assembles the Tune Squad to play against the algorithm and get his son back. It received generally negative reviews and underperformed at the box office. 2022–present; Warner Bros. Discovery","Bros. Discovery ownership and tax write-offs A reboot ofTiny Toon AdventurestitledTiny Toons Looniversitypremiered on September 8, 2023, onMaxand then aired the following day on Cartoon Network. The Looney Tunes characters reprise their roles as the professors at Acme Looniversity in this series. In September 2021, it was reported that a film based on theLooney Tunes Cartoons, titledThe Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movieand starringDaffy DuckandPorky Pig, was announced for release onHBO Maxand Cartoon Network.However, it was reported in August 2022 that the film would instead be shopped around to other streaming services.In October 2023, it was announced the film would instead be released in theaters, becoming the first animated non-compilation feature film in the franchise to do so.In early August 2024, it was announced thatKetchup Entertainmentacquired the North American theatrical distribution rights to the film. On December 31, 2022, 256 shorts were removed from HBO Max, includingWhat's Opera,","Opera, Doc?andDuck Amuck,though many were later re-added in March 2024 when the shorts on the service were rotated. In August 2024, it was announced that Warner Bros. was planning to relaunch theLooney Tunestheatrical film series in 2028. Home media In the 1980s, the shorts receivedVHSreleases, with the pre-August 1948 shorts released byMGM/UA Home Videoand the post-July 1948 shorts released byWarner Home Video. In 2003, Warner Home Video began releasing select shorts onDVD, aimed at collectors, in four-disc sets known as theLooney Tunes Golden Collectionstarting withVolume 1. This continued until 2008, whenthe final volume of the Golden Collectionwas released. Then, from 2010 until 2013, the company released theLooney Tunes Super StarsDVDs. There have been numerous complaints regarding theSuper Starsreleases, however (particularly the first two), having the post-1953 shorts in a 16:9 widescreen format. The last DVD in theSuper Starsseries wasSylvester and Hippety Hopper: Marsupial Mayhem, released on April","released on April 23, 2013. 2010 and 2011 saw the releases ofThe Essential Bugs BunnyandThe Essential Daffy DuckDVDs. In 2011, the shorts were released onBlu-ray Discfor the first time with theLooney Tunes Platinum Collectionseries. On September 19, 2017,Warner Home Video'sWarner Archive Collectionreleased the five-discPorky Pig 101DVD-set. Licensing and ownership In 1933,Harman and Isingleft, taking the rights to theBosko characterswith them. However, Warner Bros. retained the rights to the cartoons and theLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiesbrand names, leaving their former producer Leon Schlesinger to start his own animation studio to continue theLooney Tunesseries. With their retained Bosko rights, Harman and Ising began making cartoons atMetro-Goldwyn-Mayerin 1934 until they were fired in 1937 due to a lack of success. MGM proceeded to formtheir own studioto create its own cartoons. Time Warner eventually acquired the Bosko characters from Harman and Ising's estates. Meanwhile, the Schlesinger studio","Schlesinger studio continued to make popular cartoons until 1944 when Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. Since then, Warner Bros. has owned all rights to all post-1933 characters created by Leon Schlesinger Productions and Warner Bros. Cartoons, even after the rights to individual cartoons were placed in other hands. In 1955, Warner Bros. sold the television distribution rights to 191 of its cartoons (which included the black-and-whiteLooney Tunesand the black-and-whiteMerrie Melodiesmade after Harman and Ising left) to Guild Films.The copyrights to those cartoons were assigned toSunset Productions, an entity owned by Warner Bros.The cartoons were distributed by Guild Films until it went bankrupt and was bought by Seven Arts. Seven Arts bought WB in 1967, and WB regained the TV distribution rights to the black and white cartoons. In 1956,Associated Artists Productions(a.a.p.) acquired television distribution rights to most of Warner Bros.' pre-1950library, including allMerrie Melodies(except for","Melodies(except for those sold to Guild andLady, Play Your Mandolin!) and colorLooney Tunesshorts that were released prior to August 1948, while Warner still owned the copyright to all of the cartoons. Unlike the previous TV package, this package had the Warner titles kept intact and an \"Associated Artists Productions presents\" title inserted at the head of each reel (as a result, eachMerrie Melodiescartoon had the song \"Merrily We Roll Along\" playing twice).Two years later,United Artistsbought a.a.p. (which had also bought Paramount'sPopeyefilms) who merged the company into its television division,United Artists Television. In 1981, UA was sold to MGM, and five years later,Ted Turneracquired the pre-May 1986 MGM library, as well the rights to the a.a.p. library. In 1996, Turner's company,Turner Broadcasting System(whoseTurner Entertainmentdivision oversaw the film library), was purchased by Time Warner (nowWarner Bros. Discovery), which was also Warner Bros.' corporate parent.Then when MGM/UA terminated its","terminated its distribution deal with Time Warner in 1999, it surrendered its home video rights to the a.a.p. library to WB.Since then, Warner Home Video (nowWarner Bros. Home Entertainment) has held the video rights to the entireLooney Tunes/Merrie Melodiesanimated output by virtue of Warner Bros.' ownership of Turner Entertainment. Starting in 1960, the cartoons were repackaged into several different TV programs that remained popular for several decades before being purchased by Turner Broadcasting System.Turner'sCartoon Networkreran the cartoons from its launch in 1992 until 2004, again from 2009 until 2017, and making a temporary return in April 2023 to celebrate WB's 100th anniversary.The Looney Tunes Show(not to be confused with the 2010s animated series ofthe same name), an early 2000s anthology produced by Warner Bros. Animation for the network, was broadcast from 2001to 2004. The show featured shorts from the originalLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiestheatrical series. As of 2021, classic cartoons","classic cartoons continue to air on CN's sister channel,BoomerangandMeTV. Differing curated collections ofLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiesare available for streaming on both theBoomerang streaming serviceandHBO Max. Five dozenLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiesshorts from before December 1943 have lapsed into thepublic domainand are thus freely distributed through various unofficial releases. Filmography Characters The major characters of the originalLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiesseries areBugs Bunny, a clever and insouciant rabbit or hare who is portrayed as atrickster;Daffy Duck, a black duck who was originally portrayed as ascrewball, but later became greedy and egocentric;Porky Pig, a stuttering pig who often appears as thestraight manto Daffy, and is the oldest of the franchise's recurring characters;Sylvester the Cat, his preyTweety(a small canary), and their elderly ownerGranny;Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, who routinely engage in high-speed chases in their home in theSouthwest Americandesert;Elmer","Fudd, an unintelligent hunter who is Bugs' oldest nemesis;Yosemite Sam, a hot-tempered cowboy who is another of Bugs' archenemies;Foghorn Leghorn, a rooster who is known for his often excessive ranting;Marvin the Martian, an alien commander from the planetMars, who aims to conquer the Earth; theTasmanian Devil(often nicknamed \"Taz\" in later media), a vicious, brutal marsupial with an insatiable appetite;Pepé Le Pew, a French skunk who is always looking for love and romance; andSpeedy Gonzales, the self-proclaimed \"fastest mouse in all of Mexico\". One additional major character was introduced in post-Golden AgeLooney Tunesmedia (starting withSpace Jam):Lola Bunny, a female rabbit who is usually portrayed as Bugs' girlfriend. Racial stereotypes and censorship controversies Due to content considered offensive,stereotypedor insensitive, in 1968 Warner Bros. removed the \"Censored Eleven\" episodes ofLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiescartoons from broadcast or distribution. Depictions included those ofAfrican","those ofAfrican Americans(as inCoal Black and de Sebben DwarfsandJungle Jitters),Native Americans,Japanese people(especially during WWII, as inTokio JokioandBugs Bunny Nips the Nips),Germans,Italians,White Southerners, andMexicans. In 1999,Cartoon Networkceased broadcast of all of Speedy Gonzales' cartoons, due to concerns about stereotyping of Mexicans.ManyLatinosprotested that they were not offended, and expressed fondness for Speedy; the character's shorts were made available for broadcast on CN again in 2002. Many Warner Bros. cartoons contain fleeting or sometimes extended gags that make reference to racial or ethnic stereotypes, or useethnic humor. The release of theLooney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3includes a disclaimer at the beginning of each DVD in the volume given byWhoopi Goldberg. She explains that the cartoons are products of their time and contain racial and ethnic stereotypes that \"were wrong then and they are wrong today\", but the cartoons are presented on the DVD uncut and uncensored","and uncensored because \"editing them would be the same as denying that the stereotypes existed.\"A similarly phrased written disclaimer is shown at the beginning of each DVD in theLooney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4,Volume 5, andVolume 6sets, as well as the Daffy Duck andFoghorn LeghornLooney Tunes Super Starssets and theWarner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection. Accolades Inducted into the National Film Registry Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film(Cartoon) Academy Award nominations Related media Television series Series marked with * are compilations of earlier shorts. Television specials Films Compilation films Feature films Direct-to-video Comic books Looney Tunescomic books were published beginning in 1941 byDell Comicsunder license. These comics were, like many published by Dell, were produced in partnership withWestern Publishing. After Dell and Western ended their partnership in 1962, Western continued the series under theirGold Key Comicsand Whitman imprints","Whitman imprints through 1984. Beginning in 1990,DC Comics, which is owned by Warner Bros., has publishedLooney Tunescomics. Dell Comics (1941–1962) Western Publishing (1962–1984) DC Comics (1990–present) Video games Video games based onLooney Tunescharacters began in 1979 with theRoad Runnerpinball machine. More titles would continue to be released as video game hardware evolved throughout the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. Prominent characters who have received multiple video games include Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, the Tasmanian Devil, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, Speedy Gonzales, and Sylvester and Tweety. See also References External links","Silly Symphony Silly Symphony(also known asSilly Symphonies) is an Americananimatedseries of 75 musicalshort filmsproduced byWalt Disney Productionsfrom 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, theSilly Symphonieswere originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces of music.As such, the films usually did not feature continuing characters, unlike theMickey Mouseshorts produced by Disney at the same time (exceptions to this includeThree Little Pigs,The Tortoise and the Hare, andThree Orphan Kittens, which all had sequels). The series is notable for its innovation withTechnicolorand themultiplane motion picture camera, as well as its introduction of the characterDonald Duck, who made his first appearance in theSilly SymphonycartoonThe Wise Little Henin 1934. Seven shorts won theAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Film. The series also spawned aSilly Symphonynewspaper comic stripdistributed byKing Features Syndicate, as well as aDellcomic book series and several children's books. TheSilly","books. TheSilly Symphoniesreturned to theaters with its re-issues and re-releases, and eventually tied withJoseph BarberaandWilliam Hanna'sTom and Jerry's record for most Oscar wins for a cartoon series in theAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Filmcategory. Production While Walt Disney andCarl Stalling, a theatre organist from Kansas City, were in New York to add sound to the Mickey Mouse shortsThe Gallopin' Gaucho,The Barn DanceandPlane Crazy, Stalling suggested the idea of making a series of musical animated shorts that combined the latest sound technology with storytelling. At first Walt did not seem interested, but when they returned to New York in February to record the sound for a fifth Mickey Mouse cartoon,The Opry House, they also recorded the soundtrack forThe Skeleton Dance, the type of short that Stalling had suggested and the first Silly Symphony cartoon. Within the animation industry, the series is known for its use byWalt Disneyas a platform for experimenting with processes, techniques,","techniques, characters, and stories in order to further the art of animation. It also provided a venue to try out techniques and technologies, such as Technicolor,special effects animation, and dramatic storytelling in animation, that would be crucial to Disney's plans to eventually begin making feature-length animated films. Shortly after the switch to United Artists, the series became even more popular. Walt Disney had seen some of Dr. Herbert Kalmus' tests for a newthree-strip, full-colorTechnicolorprocess, which would replace the previoustwo-tone Technicolorprocess. Disney signed a contract with Technicolor which gave the Disney studio exclusive rights to the new three-strip process through the end of 1935, and had a 60% completeSymphony,Flowers and Trees, scrapped and redone in full color.Flowers and Treeswas the first animated film to use the three-strip Technicolor process,and was a phenomenal success. Within a year, the now-in-TechnicolorSilly Symphoniesseries had popularity and success that matched","that matched (and later surpassed) that of theMickey Mousecartoons. The contract Disney had with Technicolor would also later be extended another five years as well. The success ofSilly Symphonieswould be tremendously boosted afterThree Little Pigswas released in 1933 and became a box office sensation; the film was featured in movie theaters for several months and also featured the hit song that became the anthem of the Great Depression, \"Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf\".SeveralSilly Symphoniesentries, includingThree Little Pigs(1933),The Grasshopper and the Ants(1934),The Tortoise and the Hare(1935),The Country Cousin(1936),The Old Mill(1937),Wynken, Blynken, and Nod(1938), andThe Ugly Duckling(1939, with an earlierblack-and-white versionfrom 1931), are among the most notable films produced by Walt Disney. Due to problems related to Disney's scheduled productions of cartoons, a deal was made withHarman and Isingto produce three Silly Symphonies:Merbabies,Pipe Dreams, andThe Little Bantamweight. Only one of","Only one of these cartoons,Merbabies, ended up being bought by Disney, the remaining two Harman-Ising Silly Symphonies were then sold to MGM who released them as Happy Harmonies cartoons.Disney ceased production ofSilly Symphoniesin 1939. Distribution The series was first distributed byPat Powersfrom 1929 to 1930 and released by Celebrity Productions (1929–1930) indirectly throughColumbia Pictures. The original basis of the cartoons was musical novelty, and the musical scores of the first cartoons were composed byCarl Stalling. Columbia Pictures After viewing \"The Skeleton Dance\", the manager at Columbia Pictures quickly became interested in distributing the series, and gained the perfect opportunity to acquire Silly Symphonies after Disney broke with Celebrity Productions head Pat Powers after Powers signed Disney's colleagueUb Iwerksto a studio contract.Columbia Pictures(1930–1932) agreed to pick up the direct distribution of theMickey Mouseseries on the condition that they would have exclusive rights to","exclusive rights to distribute theSilly Symphoniesseries; at first,Silly Symphoniescould not even come close to the popularity Mickey Mouse had. The original title cards to the shorts released by Celebrity Productions and Columbia Pictures were all redrawn after Walt Disney stopped distributing his cartoons through them. Meanwhile, more competition spread for Disney afterMax Fleischer's flapper cartoon characterBetty Boopbegan to gain more and more popularity after starring in the cartoonMinnie the Moocher. By August 1932, Betty Boop became so popular that theTalkartoonseries was renamed as Betty Boop cartoons. United Artists In 1932, after falling out with Columbia Pictures, Disney began distributing his products throughUnited Artists. UA refused to distribute theSilly Symphoniesunless Disney associated Mickey Mouse with them somehow, resulting in the \"Mickey Mouse presents aSilly Symphony\" title cards and posters that introduced and promoted the series during its five-year run for UA. United Artists also","United Artists also agreed to double the budget for each cartoon from $7,500 to $15,000. RKO Radio Pictures In 1937, Disney signed a distribution deal withRKO Radio Picturesto distribute the Silly Symphony cartoons, along with the Mickey Mouse series. RKO would continue to distribute until the end of the series in 1939. Home media SeveralSymphonieshave been released in home media, most of the time as bonus shorts that relate to something within various Disney films. For instance, the originalDumboVHS includedFather Noah's Ark,The Practical PigandThree Orphan Kittensas bonus shorts to make up for the film's short length. In the UK, severalSilly Symphonieswere released in compilations under Disney Videos' \"Storybook Favourites\" brand. The three \"Storybook Favourites Shorts\" volumes released included among others,The Three Little Pigs,The Tortoise and the Hareand the remake ofThe Ugly Duckling. On December 4, 2001, Disney released \"Silly Symphonies\" as part of its DVD series \"Walt Disney Treasures\". On December","On December 19, 2006, \"More Silly Symphonies\" was released, completing the collection and allowing the cartoons to be completely available to the public. Some DisneyBlu-raydiscs includeSilly Symphoniesas high definition special features.Snow White and the Seven Dwarfsincludes six,Beauty and the BeastandDumboboth contain two andPixar'sA Bug's Lifecontains one. TheSilly Symphonyshorts originally aired onTurner Classic Movies' period program block \"Treasures from the Disney Vault\". SomeSilly Symphonyshorts are viewable onDisney+. List of films TheSilly Symphoniesare listed here in production order. Reception Disney's experiments were widely praised within the film industry, and theSilly Symphonieswon theAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Filmseven times, maintaining a six-year-hold on the category after it was first introduced. This record was matched only byMGM'sTom and Jerryseries during the 1940s and 1950s. Legacy TheSymphonieschanged the course of Disney Studio history when Walt's plans to direct his","plans to direct his first feature cartoon became problematic after his warm-up to the taskThe Golden Touchwas widely seen (even by Disney himself) as stiff and slowly paced. This motivated him to embrace his role as being the producer and providing creative oversight (especially of the story) forSnow Whitewhile taskingDavid Handto handle the actual directing. Silly Symphoniesbrought along many imitators, including Warner Bros. cartoon seriesLooney TunesandMerrie Melodies, MGM'sHappy Harmonies, and later, Universal'sSwing Symphony. Years later after theSilly Symphoniesended, Disney occasionally produced a handful of one-shot cartoons, playing the same style as theSilly Symphonyseries. Unlike theSilly Symphoniescanon, most of these \"Specials\" have a narration, usually by Disney legendSterling Holloway. In the 1934 MGM filmHollywood Party, Mickey Mouse appears withJimmy Durante, where they introduceThe Hot Choc-late Soldiers. The 1999–2000 television seriesMickey Mouse Worksused theSilly Symphoniestitle for","Symphoniestitle for some of its new cartoons, but unlike the original cartoons, these did feature continuing characters. As of 2021, three of theSilly Symphonyshorts (Three Little Pigs,The Old Mill, andFlowers and Trees), have been selected for preservation in the United StatesNational Film Registryby the Library of Congress, for being \"culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant\". Comic adaptations A SundaySilly Symphonycomic stripran in newspapers from January 10, 1932, to July 12, 1942.The strip featured adaptations of some of theSilly Symphonycartoons, includingBirds of a Feather,The Robber Kitten,Elmer Elephant,Farmyard SymphonyandLittle Hiawatha.This strip began with a two-year sequence aboutBucky Bug, a character based on the bugs inBugs in Love. There was also an occasionalSilly Symphoniescomic book, with nine issues published byDell Comicsfrom September 1952 to February 1959.The first issue of this anthology comic featured adaptations of someSilly Symphonycartoons, includingThe","includingThe Grasshopper and the Ants,Three Little Pigs,The Goddess of SpringandMother Pluto, but it also included non-Symphonycartoons like Mickey Mouse'sBrave Little Tailor.By the third issue, there was almost noSymphony-related material in the book; the stories and activities were mostly based on other Disney shorts and feature films. See also References Further reading External links Category"],"string":"[\n \"Looney Tunes Looney Tunesis an Americanmedia franchiseproduced and distributed byWarner Bros.The franchise began as a series ofanimatedshort filmsthat originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside the related seriesMerrie Melodies, during thegolden age of American animation.Following a revival in the late 1970s, new shorts were released as recently as 2014. The two series introduced a largecast of characters, includingBugs Bunny,Daffy Duck, andPorky Pig. The termLooney Tuneshas since been expanded to also refer to the characters themselves. Looney TunesandMerrie Melodieswere initially produced byLeon Schlesingerand animatorsHugh HarmanandRudolf Isingfrom 1930 to 1933.Schlesinger assumed full production from 1933 until he sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944, after which it was renamedWarner Bros. Cartoons.TheLooney Tunestitle was inspired by that ofWalt Disney'sSilly Symphonies.The shorts initially showcased musical compositions owned by Warner's music publishing interests through the adventures of such\",\n \"adventures of such characters asBoskoandBuddy.However, the shorts gained a higher profile upon the debuts of directorsTex Avery,Friz Freleng,Chuck Jones,Bob Clampett, andRobert McKimson, andvoice actorMel Blanclater in the decade.Porky Pig and Daffy Duck became the featuredLooney Tunescharacters, whileMerrie Melodiesfeatured one-shot cartoons and minor recurring characters. After Bugs Bunny became popular in theMerrie Melodiesshorts of the early 1940s,Looney Tunesmoved fromblack and whiteto color production,Merrie Melodieshaving already been in color since 1934.The two series gradually lost their distinctions, and shorts were assigned to each series arbitrarily.From 1942 to 1964,Looney TunesandMerrie Melodieswere the most popular animated shorts in movie theaters. Looney Tuneshas become one of thehighest-grossing media franchisesof all time, spawning several television series, feature films, comic books, music albums, video games, and amusement park rides. Many of the characters have made and continue to\",\n \"and continue to make cameo appearances in television shows, films, and other media. Bugs Bunny, in particular, is regarded as acultural iconand has a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame.ManyLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiesfilms are ranked among the greatest animated cartoons of all time, and five of them have wonAcademy Awards.In 2013,TV GuidecountedLooney Tunesas the third greatest television cartoon series of all time, behindThe SimpsonsandThe Flintstones, the latter of which also featured the voice talents of Mel Blanc andBea Benaderet. History Looney TunesandMerrie Melodieswere so named as a reference to Disney'sSilly Symphoniesand were initially developed to showcase tracks from Warner Bros.' extensive music library; the title of the firstLooney Tunesshort,Sinkin' in the Bathtub(1930), is a pun onSingin' in the Bathtub.Between 1934 and 1943,Merrie Melodieswere produced in color andLooney Tunesin black and white.After 1943, both series were produced in color and became virtually indistinguishable, varying\",\n \"varying only in their opening theme music and titles.Both series made use of the various Warner Bros. characters. By 1937, the theme music forLooney Tuneswas \\\"The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down\\\" byCliff FriendandDave Franklin, and the theme music forMerrie Melodieswas an adaptation of \\\"Merrily We Roll Along\\\" byCharles Tobias, Murray Mencher andEddie Cantor. 1930–1933: Harman and Ising era In 1929, to compete againstWalt Disney'sMickey Mouse short cartoons, Warner Bros. became interested in developing a series of animated shorts to promote their music. They had recently acquiredBrunswick Recordsalong with four music publishers for US$28 million (equivalent to $511 million in 2024) and were eager to promote this material for the sales of sheet music and phonograph records. Warner made a deal withLeon Schlesingerto produce cartoons for them. Schlesinger hiredRudolf IsingandHugh Harmanto produce the first series of cartoons. Schlesinger was impressed by Harman's and Ising's 1929 pilot cartoon,Bosko, The Talk-Ink Kid.\",\n \"The Talk-Ink Kid. The firstLooney Tunesshort wasSinkin' in the BathtubstarringBosko, which was released in 1930. 1933–1936: Leon Schlesinger Productions When Harman and Ising left Warner Bros. in 1933 over a budget dispute with Schlesinger, they took with them all the rights of the characters they had created. A new character calledBuddybecame the only star of theLooney Tunesseries for a couple of years. New directors includingTex Avery,Friz FrelengandBob Clampettwere brought in or promoted to work with animators in the Schlesinger studio, with Avery's unit housed in a bungalow which the animators dubbed \\\"Termite Terrace.\\\" In 1935, the first majorLooney Tunesstar debuted,Porky Pig. He first appeared along withBeans the Catin theMerrie MelodiescartoonI Haven't Got a Hat, directed by Friz Freleng. Beans was the star of the next Porky/Beans cartoon,Gold Diggers of '49, but it was Porky who emerged as the star instead of Beans. The ensemble characters ofI Haven't Got a Hat, such as Oliver Owl and the twin dogs\",\n \"and the twin dogs Ham and Ex, were also given a sampling of shorts. Beans and Porky proved much more popular in comparison. Beans was later phased out when his popularity declined, leaving Porky as the only star of the Schlesinger studio. 1936–1944: More star characters and switch to color The debuts of other memorableLooney Tunesstars followed:Daffy DuckinPorky's Duck Hunt(1937),Elmer Fuddin theMerrie MelodiesshortElmer's Candid Camera(1940),Bugs Bunnyin theMerrie MelodiesshortA Wild Hare(1940),andTweetyin theMerrie MelodiesshortA Tale of Two Kitties(1942). Bugs initially starred in the colorMerrie Melodiesshorts following the success of 1940'sA Wild Hare, and formally joined theLooney Tunesseries with the release ofBuckaroo Bugsin 1944. Schlesinger began to phase in the production of colorLooney Tuneswith the 1942 cartoonThe Hep Cat. The final black-and-whiteLooney Tunesshort wasPuss n' Bootyin 1943, directed byFrank Tashlin. The inspiration for the changeover was Warner's decision to re-release only the\",\n \"re-release only the color cartoons in theBlue Ribbon Classicsseries ofMerrie Melodies. Bugs made a cameo appearance in 1942 in the Avery/Clampett cartoonCrazy Cruiseand also at the end of the Frank Tashlin 1943 cartoonPorky Pig's Feat, which marked Bugs' only official appearance in a black-and-whiteLooney Tunesshort. Schlesinger sold his interest in the cartoon studio in 1944 to Warner Bros. and went into retirement; he died five years later. 1944–1964: The Golden era More popularLooney Tunescharacters were created (most of which first appeared inMerrie Melodiescartoons), such asPepé Le Pew(debuted in 1945'sOdor-able Kitty),Sylvester(debuted in 1945'sLife with Feathers),Yosemite Sam(debuted in 1945'sHare Trigger),Foghorn Leghorn(debuted in 1946'sWalky Talky Hawky),Marvin the Martian(debuted in 1948'sHaredevil Hare),Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner(debuted in 1949'sFast and Furry-ous),Granny(debuted in 1950'sCanary Row),Speedy Gonzales(debuted in 1953'sCat Tails for Two),the Tasmanian Devil(debuted in\",\n \"Devil(debuted in 1954'sDevil May Hare), andRalph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog(debuted in 1953'sDon't Give Up the Sheep). It was during this era that the series won fiveAcademy Awards: 1964–1969: DePatie–Freleng and Seven Arts era During the mid-late 1960s, the shorts were produced byDePatie–Freleng Enterprises(andFormat Productions) (1964–1967) andWarner Bros.-Seven Arts(1967–1969) after Warner Bros. shut down their animation studio. The shorts from this era can be identified by their different title sequence, featuring stylizedlimited animationand graphics on a black background and a new arrangement, byWilliam Lava, of \\\"The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down\\\" which had first been used in the 1963 experimental short \\\"Now Hear This\\\" directed by Chuck Jones. In 1967, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts commissioned an animation studio inSouth Koreato redraw 79 black-and-white Looney Tunes produced from 1935 to 1943 in color which were syndicated to TV stations from the late 1960s to the early 1990s. The originalLooney Tunestheatrical\",\n \"Tunestheatrical series ran from 1930'sSinkin' in the Bathtubto 1969'sInjun TroublebyRobert McKimson. ACool Catcartoon called \\\"Stage Cat\\\" was planned, about Cool Cat being in a stage production, but it was cancelled when Warner Bros.-Seven Arts shut down. 1970–1999: Syndication and return to television and film TheLooney Tunesseries' popularity was further strengthened when it began airing on network andsyndicated televisionin the 1950s under various titles and formats. TheLooney Tunesshorts were broadcast with edits to remove scenes of violence (particularly suicidal gags and scenes of characters performing dangerous stunts that impressionable viewers could easily imitate), stereotypes, and alcohol consumption. Production of theatrical animated shorts was dormant from 1969 until 1979, when new shorts were made to introduce theLooney Tunesto a new generation of audiences.New shortshave been produced and released sporadically for theaters since then, though usually as promotional tie-ins with various family\",\n \"with various family movies produced by Warner Bros. While many have been released in limited releases theatrically for Academy Award consideration, only a few have gained theatrical releases with movies. In the 1970s through the early 1990s, several feature-film compilations andtelevision specialswere produced, mostly centering on Bugs Bunny and/or Daffy Duck, with a mixture of new and old footage. These releases includeThe Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie(1979),The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie(1981),Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales(1982),Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island(1983), andDaffy Duck's Quackbusters(1988). In 1976, theLooney Tunescharacters made their way into the amusement park business when they became the mascots for Marriott's two Great America theme parks in Gurnee, Illinois, and Santa Clara, California. After theGurnee parkwas sold toSix Flagsin 1984, they also claimed the rights to use the characters at the other Six Flags parks, which continues to the present. (Warner Bros. parent\",\n \"Bros. parent company Time Warner would own the Six Flags chain in whole or part form most of the 1990s.) In 1988, severalLooney Tunescharacters appeared in cameo roles in theDisneyfilmWho Framed Roger Rabbit. The more significant cameos featured Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Tweety, and Yosemite Sam. It is the only time in whichLooney Tunescharacters have shared screen time with their rivals at Disney (producers of the film)—particularly in the scenes where Bugs andMickey Mouseareskydiving, and when Daffy andDonald Duckare performing their \\\"Dueling Pianos\\\" sequence. On July 10, 1989, after a battle with heart problems,Mel Blancdied at theCedars-Sinai Medical Centerofcardiovascular disease. A picture depicting theLooney Tunescharacters entitled \\\"Speechless\\\" was released shortly after his death. Viacom-ownedNickelodeonairedLooney Tunescartoons in a show calledLooney Tunes on Nickelodeonbetween 1988 and 1999. Initially, the Nickelodeon package included cartoons that were typically omitted from the higher-profile Saturday\",\n \"Saturday morning network and syndicated weekday packages, including black-and-white Bosko cartoons that had not aired in many years and cartoons from the late DePattie–Freling and Seven Arts eras. In January 1999, it was reported that the cartoons shown on Nickelodeon would move toCartoon Networkin the fall of that year.To date,Looney Tunes on Nickelodeonis the longest-airinganimated serieson the network that was not aNicktoon. In 1996,Space Jam, alive-action animated film, was released to theaters starring Bugs Bunny and basketball playerMichael Jordan. Despite a mixed critical reception,the film was a major box-office success, grossing nearly $100 million in the U.S. alone, almost becoming the first non-Disney animated film to achieve that feat.For a two-year period, it was the highest grossing non-Disney animated film ever.The film also introduced the characterLola Bunny, who subsequently became another recurring member of theLooney Tunescast, usually as a love interest for Bugs. In 1997, Bugs Bunny was\",\n \"Bugs Bunny was featured on a U.S. 32 cent postage stamp, the first of fiveLooney Tunesthemed stamps to be issued. TheLooney Tunesalso achieved success in the area of television during this era, with appearances in several originally produced series, includingTaz-Mania(1991, starring Taz) andThe Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries(1995, starring Sylvester, Tweety, and Granny). The gang also made frequent cameos in the 1990 spinoff seriesTiny Toon Adventures, from executive producerSteven Spielberg, where they played teachers and mentors to a younger generation of cartoon characters (Plucky Duck,Hamton J. Pig,Babs and Buster Bunny, etc.), plus occasional cameos in the later Warner Bros. shows such asAnimaniacs(also from Spielberg) andHisteria!.Traditional cel animationwas used to animate the characters forLooney Tunes'cartoons until 1999 when it was replaced withdigital ink and paint animation. In 1979,Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carolpremiered. AfterThe Chocolate Chase, there would not be another short released for seven\",\n \"released for seven years. In 1990, it was made so there would be about one short per year until 1998. In 2003, there would be seven shorts produced to promoteLooney Tunes: Back in Action. The first of these to be released wasThe Whizzard of Ow, which appeared on a DVD release ofBack in Actionthat was sold exclusively atWal-Martstores. Only about half of the shorts were shown in theaters; the rest would not be made available until 2004, when all seven shorts were included on the general home video release of the film. In 2010, five computer-animated shorts would be released and directed byMatthew O'Callaghan, who would also direct another short,Flash in the Pain, in 2014. 2000–2014: Network exploration In March 2000, it was revealed that the entireLooney TunesandMerrie Melodieslibrary would be exclusive to Cartoon Network, starting with the fall of that year.Looney Tunesshorts were still airing on Disney'sABCas part ofThe Bugs Bunny and Tweety Showat the time and the decision led to the show's cancellation.\",\n \"cancellation. This decision would remain in effect for over 20 years untilMeTVbegan airing the classic Warner Bros. cartoons (along with MGM and Paramount's library) in January 2021. In 2003, another feature film was released, this time in an attempt to recapture the spirit of the original shorts: the live-action/animatedLooney Tunes: Back in Action. Although the film was not financially successful,it was met with mixed-to-positive reviews from film critics and has been argued by animation historians and fans as the finest original feature-length appearance of the cartoon characters.In 2006,Warner Home Videoreleased a new and Christmas-themedLooney Tunesdirect-to-video film calledBah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas, a parody ofCharles Dickens'A Christmas Carol. OtherLooney TunesTV series made during this time wereBaby Looney Tunes(2001–2006),Duck Dodgers(2003–2005) andLoonatics Unleashed(2005–2007). On October 22, 2007,Looney TunesandMerrie Melodiescartoons became available for the first time\",\n \"for the first time inHigh-definitionviaMicrosoft'sXbox Liveservice, including some in Spanish.From February 29 – May 18, 2008, manyLooney Tunesartifacts, including original animation cels and concept drawings, were on display at theButler Institute of American ArtinYoungstown, Ohio, just off the campus ofYoungstown State University, near where the Warners lived early in life. At the 2009 Cartoon Networkupfront,The Looney Tunes Showwas announced.After several delays, the series premiered on May 3, 2011. Produced byWarner Bros. Animation, the series centers on Bugs and Daffy as they leave the woods and move to the suburbs with \\\"colorful neighbors\\\" including Sylvester, Tweety, Granny, Yosemite Sam, etc. The series introduced the characterTina Russo, a duck who becomes Daffy's girlfriend. The show also features 2-minute music videos titled respectfully \\\"Merrie Melodies\\\" (as a tribute to theLooney Tunessister shorts) which features the characters singing original songs, as well as CGI animated shorts starring\",\n \"shorts starring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner (which were removed after the first season). The series was cancelled after its second season. Also, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner returned to the big screen in a series of 3-D shorts that preceded select Warner Bros. films. There were six in the works that began with the first short,Coyote Falls, that preceded the filmCats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, which was released on July 30, 2010. On September 24, 2010,Fur of Flyingpreceded the film,Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, and on December 17, 2010,Rabid Riderpreceded the film,Yogi Bear. On June 8, 2011, Warner Bros. Animation announced that there will be moreLooney Tunes3-D theatrical shorts; the first titledDaffy's Rhapsodywith Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd, the next beingI Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tatwith Sylvester, Tweety, and Granny.Daffy's Rhapsodywas to precede the filmHappy Feet Two,until the studio decided to premiereI Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tatinstead.Daffy's Rhapsodyinstead premiered\",\n \"premiered in 2012, precedingJourney 2: The Mysterious Island.All five shorts were directed byMatthew O'Callaghan. In 2012, several announcements were made about aLooney Tunesreboot film titledAcme, in development.FormerSaturday Night Livecast memberJenny Slatewas said to be on board as writer for the new film. Jeffrey Clifford,Harry PotterproducerDavid Heyman, andDark Shadowswriters David Katzenberg andSeth Grahame-Smithwere slated to produce the film.On August 27, 2014, writersAshley MillerandZack Stentzwere hired to script the film, directorsGlenn Ficarraand John Requa were in talks to direct the film, while actorSteve Carellwas rumored to be starring in a lead role.Despite this, the film never entered production. 2015–2021: Revival At the 2014 Cartoon Networkupfront, another series titledWabbit: A Looney Tunes Production(laterNew Looney Tunes) was announced.Starring Bugs Bunny, the series premiered on both Cartoon Network and its sister channelBoomerangin late 2015.The series had an unusually slow\",\n \"an unusually slow rollout, with the series being moved to the Boomerang streaming service in 2017, and was eventually cancelled on January 30, 2020. On June 11, 2018, another series, titledLooney Tunes Cartoons, was announced by Warner Bros. Animation. It premiered on May 27, 2020, on the streaming serviceHBO Max. The series features \\\"1,000 minutes of new one-to-six minute cartoons featuring the brand's marquee characters\\\", voiced by their current voice actors in \\\"simple, gag-driven and visually vibrant stories\\\" that are rendered by multiple artists employing \\\"a visual style that will resonate with fans\\\", most noticeably having a style reminiscent of the styles ofTex Avery,Bob Clampett,Chuck Jones,Friz FrelengandRobert McKimson.According to co-executive producerPeter Browngardt, \\\"We're not doing guns, but we can do cartoony violence — TNT, the Acme stuff. All that was kind of grandfathered in.\\\"Sam Register, president of Warner Bros. Animation also served as a co-executive producer for the series.The series\",\n \"series.The series ended on July 27, 2023. On February 11, 2021, it was announced two new series were in the works:Bugs Bunny BuildersandTweety Mysteries.Bugs Bunny Buildersbegan airing on Cartoon Network as part ofCartoonitoandHBO Maxon July 25, 2022;Tweety Mysterieswould also air onCartoon Network.Bugs Bunny Buildersis aimed towards preschoolers; whileTweety Mysteriesis a live-action/animated hybrid.However, the latter was scrapped for unknown reasons. A sequel toSpace JamtitledSpace Jam: A New Legacy, starring basketball playerLeBron James, was released in theaters and HBO Max on July 16, 2021, after aLos Angelesspecial screening on July 12, 2021. It is a film with a story of LeBron James' second son, Dom, who gets kidnapped by an evilAInamed Al. G Rhythm (Don Cheadle), into the Warner Bros. server-verse. LeBron then assembles the Tune Squad to play against the algorithm and get his son back. It received generally negative reviews and underperformed at the box office. 2022–present; Warner Bros. Discovery\",\n \"Bros. Discovery ownership and tax write-offs A reboot ofTiny Toon AdventurestitledTiny Toons Looniversitypremiered on September 8, 2023, onMaxand then aired the following day on Cartoon Network. The Looney Tunes characters reprise their roles as the professors at Acme Looniversity in this series. In September 2021, it was reported that a film based on theLooney Tunes Cartoons, titledThe Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movieand starringDaffy DuckandPorky Pig, was announced for release onHBO Maxand Cartoon Network.However, it was reported in August 2022 that the film would instead be shopped around to other streaming services.In October 2023, it was announced the film would instead be released in theaters, becoming the first animated non-compilation feature film in the franchise to do so.In early August 2024, it was announced thatKetchup Entertainmentacquired the North American theatrical distribution rights to the film. On December 31, 2022, 256 shorts were removed from HBO Max, includingWhat's Opera,\",\n \"Opera, Doc?andDuck Amuck,though many were later re-added in March 2024 when the shorts on the service were rotated. In August 2024, it was announced that Warner Bros. was planning to relaunch theLooney Tunestheatrical film series in 2028. Home media In the 1980s, the shorts receivedVHSreleases, with the pre-August 1948 shorts released byMGM/UA Home Videoand the post-July 1948 shorts released byWarner Home Video. In 2003, Warner Home Video began releasing select shorts onDVD, aimed at collectors, in four-disc sets known as theLooney Tunes Golden Collectionstarting withVolume 1. This continued until 2008, whenthe final volume of the Golden Collectionwas released. Then, from 2010 until 2013, the company released theLooney Tunes Super StarsDVDs. There have been numerous complaints regarding theSuper Starsreleases, however (particularly the first two), having the post-1953 shorts in a 16:9 widescreen format. The last DVD in theSuper Starsseries wasSylvester and Hippety Hopper: Marsupial Mayhem, released on April\",\n \"released on April 23, 2013. 2010 and 2011 saw the releases ofThe Essential Bugs BunnyandThe Essential Daffy DuckDVDs. In 2011, the shorts were released onBlu-ray Discfor the first time with theLooney Tunes Platinum Collectionseries. On September 19, 2017,Warner Home Video'sWarner Archive Collectionreleased the five-discPorky Pig 101DVD-set. Licensing and ownership In 1933,Harman and Isingleft, taking the rights to theBosko characterswith them. However, Warner Bros. retained the rights to the cartoons and theLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiesbrand names, leaving their former producer Leon Schlesinger to start his own animation studio to continue theLooney Tunesseries. With their retained Bosko rights, Harman and Ising began making cartoons atMetro-Goldwyn-Mayerin 1934 until they were fired in 1937 due to a lack of success. MGM proceeded to formtheir own studioto create its own cartoons. Time Warner eventually acquired the Bosko characters from Harman and Ising's estates. Meanwhile, the Schlesinger studio\",\n \"Schlesinger studio continued to make popular cartoons until 1944 when Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. Since then, Warner Bros. has owned all rights to all post-1933 characters created by Leon Schlesinger Productions and Warner Bros. Cartoons, even after the rights to individual cartoons were placed in other hands. In 1955, Warner Bros. sold the television distribution rights to 191 of its cartoons (which included the black-and-whiteLooney Tunesand the black-and-whiteMerrie Melodiesmade after Harman and Ising left) to Guild Films.The copyrights to those cartoons were assigned toSunset Productions, an entity owned by Warner Bros.The cartoons were distributed by Guild Films until it went bankrupt and was bought by Seven Arts. Seven Arts bought WB in 1967, and WB regained the TV distribution rights to the black and white cartoons. In 1956,Associated Artists Productions(a.a.p.) acquired television distribution rights to most of Warner Bros.' pre-1950library, including allMerrie Melodies(except for\",\n \"Melodies(except for those sold to Guild andLady, Play Your Mandolin!) and colorLooney Tunesshorts that were released prior to August 1948, while Warner still owned the copyright to all of the cartoons. Unlike the previous TV package, this package had the Warner titles kept intact and an \\\"Associated Artists Productions presents\\\" title inserted at the head of each reel (as a result, eachMerrie Melodiescartoon had the song \\\"Merrily We Roll Along\\\" playing twice).Two years later,United Artistsbought a.a.p. (which had also bought Paramount'sPopeyefilms) who merged the company into its television division,United Artists Television. In 1981, UA was sold to MGM, and five years later,Ted Turneracquired the pre-May 1986 MGM library, as well the rights to the a.a.p. library. In 1996, Turner's company,Turner Broadcasting System(whoseTurner Entertainmentdivision oversaw the film library), was purchased by Time Warner (nowWarner Bros. Discovery), which was also Warner Bros.' corporate parent.Then when MGM/UA terminated its\",\n \"terminated its distribution deal with Time Warner in 1999, it surrendered its home video rights to the a.a.p. library to WB.Since then, Warner Home Video (nowWarner Bros. Home Entertainment) has held the video rights to the entireLooney Tunes/Merrie Melodiesanimated output by virtue of Warner Bros.' ownership of Turner Entertainment. Starting in 1960, the cartoons were repackaged into several different TV programs that remained popular for several decades before being purchased by Turner Broadcasting System.Turner'sCartoon Networkreran the cartoons from its launch in 1992 until 2004, again from 2009 until 2017, and making a temporary return in April 2023 to celebrate WB's 100th anniversary.The Looney Tunes Show(not to be confused with the 2010s animated series ofthe same name), an early 2000s anthology produced by Warner Bros. Animation for the network, was broadcast from 2001to 2004. The show featured shorts from the originalLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiestheatrical series. As of 2021, classic cartoons\",\n \"classic cartoons continue to air on CN's sister channel,BoomerangandMeTV. Differing curated collections ofLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiesare available for streaming on both theBoomerang streaming serviceandHBO Max. Five dozenLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiesshorts from before December 1943 have lapsed into thepublic domainand are thus freely distributed through various unofficial releases. Filmography Characters The major characters of the originalLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiesseries areBugs Bunny, a clever and insouciant rabbit or hare who is portrayed as atrickster;Daffy Duck, a black duck who was originally portrayed as ascrewball, but later became greedy and egocentric;Porky Pig, a stuttering pig who often appears as thestraight manto Daffy, and is the oldest of the franchise's recurring characters;Sylvester the Cat, his preyTweety(a small canary), and their elderly ownerGranny;Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, who routinely engage in high-speed chases in their home in theSouthwest Americandesert;Elmer\",\n \"Fudd, an unintelligent hunter who is Bugs' oldest nemesis;Yosemite Sam, a hot-tempered cowboy who is another of Bugs' archenemies;Foghorn Leghorn, a rooster who is known for his often excessive ranting;Marvin the Martian, an alien commander from the planetMars, who aims to conquer the Earth; theTasmanian Devil(often nicknamed \\\"Taz\\\" in later media), a vicious, brutal marsupial with an insatiable appetite;Pepé Le Pew, a French skunk who is always looking for love and romance; andSpeedy Gonzales, the self-proclaimed \\\"fastest mouse in all of Mexico\\\". One additional major character was introduced in post-Golden AgeLooney Tunesmedia (starting withSpace Jam):Lola Bunny, a female rabbit who is usually portrayed as Bugs' girlfriend. Racial stereotypes and censorship controversies Due to content considered offensive,stereotypedor insensitive, in 1968 Warner Bros. removed the \\\"Censored Eleven\\\" episodes ofLooney TunesandMerrie Melodiescartoons from broadcast or distribution. Depictions included those ofAfrican\",\n \"those ofAfrican Americans(as inCoal Black and de Sebben DwarfsandJungle Jitters),Native Americans,Japanese people(especially during WWII, as inTokio JokioandBugs Bunny Nips the Nips),Germans,Italians,White Southerners, andMexicans. In 1999,Cartoon Networkceased broadcast of all of Speedy Gonzales' cartoons, due to concerns about stereotyping of Mexicans.ManyLatinosprotested that they were not offended, and expressed fondness for Speedy; the character's shorts were made available for broadcast on CN again in 2002. Many Warner Bros. cartoons contain fleeting or sometimes extended gags that make reference to racial or ethnic stereotypes, or useethnic humor. The release of theLooney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3includes a disclaimer at the beginning of each DVD in the volume given byWhoopi Goldberg. She explains that the cartoons are products of their time and contain racial and ethnic stereotypes that \\\"were wrong then and they are wrong today\\\", but the cartoons are presented on the DVD uncut and uncensored\",\n \"and uncensored because \\\"editing them would be the same as denying that the stereotypes existed.\\\"A similarly phrased written disclaimer is shown at the beginning of each DVD in theLooney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4,Volume 5, andVolume 6sets, as well as the Daffy Duck andFoghorn LeghornLooney Tunes Super Starssets and theWarner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection. Accolades Inducted into the National Film Registry Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film(Cartoon) Academy Award nominations Related media Television series Series marked with * are compilations of earlier shorts. Television specials Films Compilation films Feature films Direct-to-video Comic books Looney Tunescomic books were published beginning in 1941 byDell Comicsunder license. These comics were, like many published by Dell, were produced in partnership withWestern Publishing. After Dell and Western ended their partnership in 1962, Western continued the series under theirGold Key Comicsand Whitman imprints\",\n \"Whitman imprints through 1984. Beginning in 1990,DC Comics, which is owned by Warner Bros., has publishedLooney Tunescomics. Dell Comics (1941–1962) Western Publishing (1962–1984) DC Comics (1990–present) Video games Video games based onLooney Tunescharacters began in 1979 with theRoad Runnerpinball machine. More titles would continue to be released as video game hardware evolved throughout the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. Prominent characters who have received multiple video games include Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, the Tasmanian Devil, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, Speedy Gonzales, and Sylvester and Tweety. See also References External links\",\n \"Silly Symphony Silly Symphony(also known asSilly Symphonies) is an Americananimatedseries of 75 musicalshort filmsproduced byWalt Disney Productionsfrom 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, theSilly Symphonieswere originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces of music.As such, the films usually did not feature continuing characters, unlike theMickey Mouseshorts produced by Disney at the same time (exceptions to this includeThree Little Pigs,The Tortoise and the Hare, andThree Orphan Kittens, which all had sequels). The series is notable for its innovation withTechnicolorand themultiplane motion picture camera, as well as its introduction of the characterDonald Duck, who made his first appearance in theSilly SymphonycartoonThe Wise Little Henin 1934. Seven shorts won theAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Film. The series also spawned aSilly Symphonynewspaper comic stripdistributed byKing Features Syndicate, as well as aDellcomic book series and several children's books. TheSilly\",\n \"books. TheSilly Symphoniesreturned to theaters with its re-issues and re-releases, and eventually tied withJoseph BarberaandWilliam Hanna'sTom and Jerry's record for most Oscar wins for a cartoon series in theAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Filmcategory. Production While Walt Disney andCarl Stalling, a theatre organist from Kansas City, were in New York to add sound to the Mickey Mouse shortsThe Gallopin' Gaucho,The Barn DanceandPlane Crazy, Stalling suggested the idea of making a series of musical animated shorts that combined the latest sound technology with storytelling. At first Walt did not seem interested, but when they returned to New York in February to record the sound for a fifth Mickey Mouse cartoon,The Opry House, they also recorded the soundtrack forThe Skeleton Dance, the type of short that Stalling had suggested and the first Silly Symphony cartoon. Within the animation industry, the series is known for its use byWalt Disneyas a platform for experimenting with processes, techniques,\",\n \"techniques, characters, and stories in order to further the art of animation. It also provided a venue to try out techniques and technologies, such as Technicolor,special effects animation, and dramatic storytelling in animation, that would be crucial to Disney's plans to eventually begin making feature-length animated films. Shortly after the switch to United Artists, the series became even more popular. Walt Disney had seen some of Dr. Herbert Kalmus' tests for a newthree-strip, full-colorTechnicolorprocess, which would replace the previoustwo-tone Technicolorprocess. Disney signed a contract with Technicolor which gave the Disney studio exclusive rights to the new three-strip process through the end of 1935, and had a 60% completeSymphony,Flowers and Trees, scrapped and redone in full color.Flowers and Treeswas the first animated film to use the three-strip Technicolor process,and was a phenomenal success. Within a year, the now-in-TechnicolorSilly Symphoniesseries had popularity and success that matched\",\n \"that matched (and later surpassed) that of theMickey Mousecartoons. The contract Disney had with Technicolor would also later be extended another five years as well. The success ofSilly Symphonieswould be tremendously boosted afterThree Little Pigswas released in 1933 and became a box office sensation; the film was featured in movie theaters for several months and also featured the hit song that became the anthem of the Great Depression, \\\"Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf\\\".SeveralSilly Symphoniesentries, includingThree Little Pigs(1933),The Grasshopper and the Ants(1934),The Tortoise and the Hare(1935),The Country Cousin(1936),The Old Mill(1937),Wynken, Blynken, and Nod(1938), andThe Ugly Duckling(1939, with an earlierblack-and-white versionfrom 1931), are among the most notable films produced by Walt Disney. Due to problems related to Disney's scheduled productions of cartoons, a deal was made withHarman and Isingto produce three Silly Symphonies:Merbabies,Pipe Dreams, andThe Little Bantamweight. Only one of\",\n \"Only one of these cartoons,Merbabies, ended up being bought by Disney, the remaining two Harman-Ising Silly Symphonies were then sold to MGM who released them as Happy Harmonies cartoons.Disney ceased production ofSilly Symphoniesin 1939. Distribution The series was first distributed byPat Powersfrom 1929 to 1930 and released by Celebrity Productions (1929–1930) indirectly throughColumbia Pictures. The original basis of the cartoons was musical novelty, and the musical scores of the first cartoons were composed byCarl Stalling. Columbia Pictures After viewing \\\"The Skeleton Dance\\\", the manager at Columbia Pictures quickly became interested in distributing the series, and gained the perfect opportunity to acquire Silly Symphonies after Disney broke with Celebrity Productions head Pat Powers after Powers signed Disney's colleagueUb Iwerksto a studio contract.Columbia Pictures(1930–1932) agreed to pick up the direct distribution of theMickey Mouseseries on the condition that they would have exclusive rights to\",\n \"exclusive rights to distribute theSilly Symphoniesseries; at first,Silly Symphoniescould not even come close to the popularity Mickey Mouse had. The original title cards to the shorts released by Celebrity Productions and Columbia Pictures were all redrawn after Walt Disney stopped distributing his cartoons through them. Meanwhile, more competition spread for Disney afterMax Fleischer's flapper cartoon characterBetty Boopbegan to gain more and more popularity after starring in the cartoonMinnie the Moocher. By August 1932, Betty Boop became so popular that theTalkartoonseries was renamed as Betty Boop cartoons. United Artists In 1932, after falling out with Columbia Pictures, Disney began distributing his products throughUnited Artists. UA refused to distribute theSilly Symphoniesunless Disney associated Mickey Mouse with them somehow, resulting in the \\\"Mickey Mouse presents aSilly Symphony\\\" title cards and posters that introduced and promoted the series during its five-year run for UA. United Artists also\",\n \"United Artists also agreed to double the budget for each cartoon from $7,500 to $15,000. RKO Radio Pictures In 1937, Disney signed a distribution deal withRKO Radio Picturesto distribute the Silly Symphony cartoons, along with the Mickey Mouse series. RKO would continue to distribute until the end of the series in 1939. Home media SeveralSymphonieshave been released in home media, most of the time as bonus shorts that relate to something within various Disney films. For instance, the originalDumboVHS includedFather Noah's Ark,The Practical PigandThree Orphan Kittensas bonus shorts to make up for the film's short length. In the UK, severalSilly Symphonieswere released in compilations under Disney Videos' \\\"Storybook Favourites\\\" brand. The three \\\"Storybook Favourites Shorts\\\" volumes released included among others,The Three Little Pigs,The Tortoise and the Hareand the remake ofThe Ugly Duckling. On December 4, 2001, Disney released \\\"Silly Symphonies\\\" as part of its DVD series \\\"Walt Disney Treasures\\\". On December\",\n \"On December 19, 2006, \\\"More Silly Symphonies\\\" was released, completing the collection and allowing the cartoons to be completely available to the public. Some DisneyBlu-raydiscs includeSilly Symphoniesas high definition special features.Snow White and the Seven Dwarfsincludes six,Beauty and the BeastandDumboboth contain two andPixar'sA Bug's Lifecontains one. TheSilly Symphonyshorts originally aired onTurner Classic Movies' period program block \\\"Treasures from the Disney Vault\\\". SomeSilly Symphonyshorts are viewable onDisney+. List of films TheSilly Symphoniesare listed here in production order. Reception Disney's experiments were widely praised within the film industry, and theSilly Symphonieswon theAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Filmseven times, maintaining a six-year-hold on the category after it was first introduced. This record was matched only byMGM'sTom and Jerryseries during the 1940s and 1950s. Legacy TheSymphonieschanged the course of Disney Studio history when Walt's plans to direct his\",\n \"plans to direct his first feature cartoon became problematic after his warm-up to the taskThe Golden Touchwas widely seen (even by Disney himself) as stiff and slowly paced. This motivated him to embrace his role as being the producer and providing creative oversight (especially of the story) forSnow Whitewhile taskingDavid Handto handle the actual directing. Silly Symphoniesbrought along many imitators, including Warner Bros. cartoon seriesLooney TunesandMerrie Melodies, MGM'sHappy Harmonies, and later, Universal'sSwing Symphony. Years later after theSilly Symphoniesended, Disney occasionally produced a handful of one-shot cartoons, playing the same style as theSilly Symphonyseries. Unlike theSilly Symphoniescanon, most of these \\\"Specials\\\" have a narration, usually by Disney legendSterling Holloway. In the 1934 MGM filmHollywood Party, Mickey Mouse appears withJimmy Durante, where they introduceThe Hot Choc-late Soldiers. The 1999–2000 television seriesMickey Mouse Worksused theSilly Symphoniestitle for\",\n \"Symphoniestitle for some of its new cartoons, but unlike the original cartoons, these did feature continuing characters. As of 2021, three of theSilly Symphonyshorts (Three Little Pigs,The Old Mill, andFlowers and Trees), have been selected for preservation in the United StatesNational Film Registryby the Library of Congress, for being \\\"culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant\\\". Comic adaptations A SundaySilly Symphonycomic stripran in newspapers from January 10, 1932, to July 12, 1942.The strip featured adaptations of some of theSilly Symphonycartoons, includingBirds of a Feather,The Robber Kitten,Elmer Elephant,Farmyard SymphonyandLittle Hiawatha.This strip began with a two-year sequence aboutBucky Bug, a character based on the bugs inBugs in Love. There was also an occasionalSilly Symphoniescomic book, with nine issues published byDell Comicsfrom September 1952 to February 1959.The first issue of this anthology comic featured adaptations of someSilly Symphonycartoons, includingThe\",\n \"includingThe Grasshopper and the Ants,Three Little Pigs,The Goddess of SpringandMother Pluto, but it also included non-Symphonycartoons like Mickey Mouse'sBrave Little Tailor.By the third issue, there was almost noSymphony-related material in the book; the stories and activities were mostly based on other Disney shorts and feature films. See also References Further reading External links Category\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":48,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"The state, whose motto was adopted March 26, 1928, has 0.94% of the population in 2024 speaking a language that is native to which country?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"Philippines"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_and_territory_mottos"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog_language"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Tabular reasoning | Multiple constraints"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_and_territory_mottos', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog_language']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_and_territory_mottos","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog_language"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_and_territory_mottos\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog_language\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["List of U.S. state and territory mottos Most of theUnited States' 50 stateshave a statemotto, as do theDistrict of Columbiaand 3 ofits territories. A motto is a phrase intended to formally describe the general motivation or intention of an organization. State mottos can sometimes be found onstate sealsorstate flags. Some states have officially designated a state motto by an act of thestate legislature, whereas other states have the motto only as an element of their seals. The motto of the United States itself isIn God We Trust, proclaimed by Congress and signed into law by PresidentDwight D. Eisenhoweron July 30, 1956.The motto \"E pluribus unum\" (Latinfor 'out of many, one') was approved for use on theGreat Seal of the United Statesin 1782, but was never adopted as the national motto through legislative action. South Carolinahas two official mottos, both which are in Latin.Kentucky,North Dakota, andVermontalso have two mottos, one in Latin and the other in English.All other states and territories have only one motto, except forGuamand theNorthern Mariana Islands, which do not have any mottos.English and Latin are the most-used languages for state mottos, each used by 25 states and territories. Seven states and territories use another language, of which each language is only used once. Eight states and two territories have their mottos on theirstate quarter; thirty-eight states and four territories have their mottos on their state seals. The dates given are, where possible, the earliest date that the motto was used in an official sense. Some state mottos are not official but are on the official state seal; in these cases the adoption date of the seal is given. The earliest use of a current motto is that ofPuerto Rico,Joannes est nomen ejus, granted to the island by the Spanish in 1511. State, federal district and territory mottos See also Notes References External links","New Jersey New Jerseyis a state in both theMid-AtlanticandNortheasternregions of the United States. It is themost densely populatedstate and at the center of theNortheast megalopolis. New Jersey is bordered on its north and east byNew York state; on its east, southeast, and south by theAtlantic Ocean; on its west by theDelaware RiverandPennsylvania; and on its southwest byDelaware BayandDelaware. At 7,354 square miles (19,050 km2), New Jersey is thefifth-smallest state in land area, but with close to 9.3 million residents as of the2020 United States census, it ranks11th in population. The state capital isTrenton, and the state's most populous city isNewark. New Jersey is the only U.S. state in which every county is deemedurbanby theU.S. Census Bureau. New Jersey was first inhabited byPaleo-Indiansas early as 13,000 B.C.E. TheLenapewere the dominantIndigenous groupwhen Europeans arrived in the early 17th century, and they were subdivived into dialectal groups such as the Munsee, in the north, and the Unami and the Unalachtigo, elsewhere.DutchandSwedishcolonists founded the first European settlements in the state,with theBritishlater seizing control of the region and establishing theProvince of New Jersey, named afterJersey.The colony's fertile lands and relativereligious tolerancedrew a large and diverse population. New Jersey was among theThirteen Coloniesthat supported theAmerican Revolution, hosting severalpivotal battles and military commandsin theAmerican Revolutionary War. New Jersey remained in theUnionduring theAmerican Civil Warandprovidedtroops, resources, and military leaders in support of theUnion Army. After the war, the state emerged as a majormanufacturingcenter and a leading destination for immigrants, helping drive theIndustrial Revolutionin the U.S. New Jersey was the site of many industrial, technological, and commercialinnovations.Many prominent Americans associated with New Jerseyhave proven influential nationally and globally, including in academia, advocacy, business, entertainment, government, military, non-profit leadership, and other fields. New Jersey's central location in the Northeast megalopolis helped fuel its rapid growth andsuburbanizationin the second half of the 20th century. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the state's economy has become highly diversified, with major sectors includingbiotechnology,pharmaceuticals,information technology,finance, andtourism, and it has become anAtlantic seaboardepicenter forlogisticsanddistribution. New Jersey remains a major destination for immigrants and is home to one of the world's mostmulticultural populations.Echoing historical trends, the state has increasingly re-urbanized, with growth in cities outpacingsuburbssince 2008. New Jersey is one of the most educated, wealthiest, healthiest, diverse and highly developed states in the U.S. ranking it high in several quality of life metrics.As of 2022, New Jersey had the highest annualmedian household income, at $96,346, of all 50 states.Almost one-tenth of all households in the state, or over 323,000, aremillionaires, the highest representation of millionaires among all states.New Jersey'spublic schoolsystem consistently ranks at or among the top of all U.S. states.In 2024, New Jersey was ranked as having the second-healthiest population overall.New Jersey was ranked as the fourth most diverse state in 2024.New Jersey ranks near the top on both theAmerican Human Development Indexand thestandard Human Development Index. According toclimatologyresearch by the U.S.National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, New Jersey has been the fastest-warming state by averageair temperatureover a 100-year period beginning in the early 20th century, which has been attributed to warming of theNorth Atlantic Ocean. History Prehistoric era The pressure of collision betweenNorth AmericaandAfricagave rise to theAppalachian Mountains. Around 18,000 years ago, theIce Ageresulted inglaciersthat reached New Jersey. As glaciers retreated, they left behindLake Passaicalong with rivers,meadows, swamps, andgorges. Since the6th millennium BC,Native Americanpeople have inhabited New Jersey, beginning with theLenape tribe.Scheyichbiis theLenapename for the land that represents present-day New Jersey.The Lenape were severalautonomousgroups that practicedmaizeagriculture in order to supplement their hunting and gathering in the region surrounding theDelaware River, the lowerHudson River, and westernLong Island Sound. The Lenape were divided intomatrilinealclans that were based upon common female ancestors. Clans were organized into three distinctphratriesidentified by their animal sign:Turtle,Turkey, andWolf. They first encountered theDutchin the early 17th century, and their primary relationship with the Dutch and later European settlers was throughfur trade. Colonial era TheDutchwere the firstEuropeansto lay claim to lands in New Jersey. The Dutch colony ofNew Netherlandconsisted of parts of the modernMid-Atlanticstates. Although the European principle ofland ownershipwas not recognized by theLenape,Dutch West India Companypolicy required its colonists to purchase land that they settled. The first to do so wasMichiel Pauw, who established a patron ship calledPavoniain 1630 alongNorth River, that eventually becameBergen.Peter Minuit's purchase of lands along theDelaware Riverestablished the colony ofNew Sweden, that lasted until the Dutch conquered it in 1655. Then the entire region became a territory ofEnglandon June 24, 1664, after an English fleet under command of ColonelRichard Nicollssailed into what is nowNew York Harborand took control ofFort Amsterdam, annexing the entire province. During theEnglish Civil War, theChannel IslandofJerseyremained loyal to the British Crown and gave sanctuary to theKing. In the Royal Square inSt Helier,Charles II of Englandwas proclaimed King in 1649, following the execution of his father,Charles I. North American lands were divided byCharles II, who gave his brother, the Duke of York (laterKing James II), the region betweenNew EnglandandMarylandas aproprietary colony(as opposed to aroyal colony). James then granted land between theHudson Riverand theDelaware River(the land that would become New Jersey) to two friends who had remained loyal through theEnglish Civil War:Sir George CarteretandLord Berkeley of Stratton.The area was named theProvince of New Jersey. Since its inception, New Jersey has been characterized byethnic and religious diversity. New EnglandCongregationalistssettled alongsideScots PresbyteriansandDutch Reformedmigrants. While the majority of residents lived in towns with individuallandholdingsof 100 acres (40 ha), a few rich proprietors owned vast estates. EnglishQuakersandAnglicansowned large landholdings. UnlikePlymouth Colony,Jamestownand other colonies, New Jersey was populated by a secondary wave of immigrants who came from other colonies instead of those who migrated directly from Europe. New Jersey remained agrarian and rural throughout the colonial era, andcommercial farmingdeveloped sporadically. Some townships, such asBurlingtonon the Delaware River andPerth Amboy, emerged as important ports for shipping to New York City and Philadelphia. The colony's fertile lands andtolerant religious policydrew more settlers, and New Jersey's population had increased to 120,000 by 1775. Settlement for the first ten years of English rule took place along theHackensack RiverandArthur Kill. Settlers came primarily from New York and New England. On March 18, 1673, Berkeley sold his half of the colony toQuakersin England, who settled theDelaware Valleyregion as a Quaker colony, withWilliam Pennacting astrusteefor the lands for a time. New Jersey was governed as two distinct provinces,EastandWest Jersey, for 28 years between 1674 and 1702, which were part of theDominion of New Englandfrom 1686 to 1689. In 1702, the two provinces were reunited under aroyal governorrather than aproprietary one.Edward Hyde, titled Lord Cornbury, became the first governor of the royal colony. Britain believed that he was an ineffective and corrupt ruler, taking bribes and speculating on land. In 1708, he was recalled to England. New Jersey was then ruled by the governors of New York, but this infuriated the settlers of New Jersey, who accused these governors of favoritism to New York.Judge Lewis Morrisled the case for a separate governor, and was appointed governor byKing George IIin 1738. Revolutionary War era New Jersey was one of theThirteen Coloniesthat revolted against British rule in theAmerican Revolution. TheNew Jersey Constitution of 1776was passed July 2, 1776, just two days before theSecond Continental Congressdeclared American Independence fromGreat Britain. It was an act of theProvincial Congress, which made itself into theState Legislature. To reassure neutrals, it provided that it would become the legislature would disband if New Jersey reached reconciliation with Great Britain. Among the 56Founding Fatherswho signed theDeclaration of Independence, five were New Jersey representatives:Richard Stockton,John Witherspoon,Francis Hopkinson,John Hart, andAbraham Clark. During theAmerican Revolutionary War, British and American armies crossed New Jersey numerous times, and several pivotal battles took place in the state. Because of this, New Jersey today is sometimes referred to as \"The Crossroads of the American Revolution\".The winter quarters of theContinental Armywere established in New Jersey twice by GeneralGeorge WashingtoninMorristown, which has been called \"The Military Capital of the American Revolution.\" On the night of December 25–26, 1776, the Continental Army underGeorge Washington crossed the Delaware River. After the crossing, they surprised and defeated theHessian troopsin theBattle of Trenton. Slightly more than a week after victory atTrenton, Continental Army forces gained an important victory by stoppingGeneral Cornwallis'scharges at theSecond Battle of Trenton. By evading Cornwallis's army, the Continental Army was able to make a surprise attack onPrincetonand successfully defeated the British forces there on January 3, 1777.Emanuel Leutze's painting ofWashington Crossing the Delawarebecame an icon of the Revolution. Continental Army forces under Washington's command met British forces under GeneralHenry Clintonat theBattle of Monmouthin an indecisive engagement in June 1778. Washington's forces attempted to take the British column by surprise. When the British army attempted to flank the Americans, the Continental Army retreated in disorder. Their ranks were later reorganized and withstood British charges. In the summer of 1783, theContinental Congressmet inNassau HallatPrinceton University, makingPrincetonthe nation's capital for four months. It was there that the Continental Congress learned of the signing of theTreaty of Paris, which ended the war. On December 18, 1787, New Jersey became the third state to ratify theUnited States Constitution, which was overwhelmingly popular in New Jersey since it prevented New York and Pennsylvania from chargingtariffson goods imported from Europe. On November 20, 1789, New Jersey became the first in the newly formed Union to ratify theBill of Rights. The 1776New Jersey State Constitutiongave the vote to all inhabitants who had a certain level of wealth. This included women and Black people, but not married women because they were not legally permitted to own property separately from their husbands. Both sides, in several elections, claimed that the other side had had unqualified women vote and mocked them for use of petticoat electors, whether entitled to vote or not; on the other hand, both parties passed Voting Rights Acts. In 1807, legislature passed a bill interpreting the constitution to mean universal white malesuffrage, excluding paupers; the constitution was itself an act of the legislature and not enshrined as the modern constitution. 19th century On February 15, 1804, New Jersey became the last northern state toabolishnewslaveryand enacted legislation that slowly phased out existing slavery. This led to a gradual decrease of the slave population. By theAmerican Civil War's end, about a dozen African Americans in New Jersey were still held in bondage.New Jersey voters eventually ratified the constitutional amendments banning slavery and granting rights to the United States' black population. Industrialization accelerated in the present-dayNorth Jerseyregion of the state following completion of theMorris Canalin 1831. The canal allowed foranthracite coalto be transported from easternPennsylvania'sLehigh Valleyto North Jersey's growing industries inPaterson,Newark, andJersey City. In 1844, the secondstate constitutionwas ratified and brought into effect. Counties thereby became districts for the state senate, and some realignment of boundaries (including the creation ofMercer County) immediately followed. This provision was retained in the 1947 Constitution, but was overturned by theSupreme Court of the United Statesin 1962, by the decisionBaker v. Carr. While the Governorship was stronger than under the 1776 constitution, the constitution of 1844 created many offices that were not responsible to him, or to the people, and it gave him a three-year term, but he could not succeed himself. New Jersey was one of the few Union states (the others beingDelawareandKentucky) to select a candidate other thanAbraham Lincolntwice in national elections, and sided withStephen A. Douglas(1860) andGeorge B. McClellan(1864) during their campaigns. McClellan, a native Philadelphian, had New Jersey ties and formally resided in New Jersey at the time; he later became Governor of New Jersey (1878–81). (In New Jersey, the factions of the Democratic party managed an effective coalition in 1860.) During theAmerican Civil War, the state was led first by Republican governorCharles Smith Olden, then by DemocratJoel Parker. During the course of the war, between 65,000 and 80,000 soldiers from the state enlisted in the Union army; unlike many states, including some Northern ones, no battle was fought there. In theIndustrial Revolution, cities likePatersongrew and prospered. Previously, the economy had been largely agrarian, which was problematically subject to crop failures and poor soil. This caused a shift to a moreindustrializedeconomy, one based on manufactured commodities such as textiles and silk.InventorThomas Edisonalso became an important figure of the Industrial Revolution, having beengranted 1,093 patents, many of which for inventions he developed while working in New Jersey. Edison's facilities, first atMenlo Parkand then inWest Orange, are considered perhaps the firstresearch centersin the United States. Christie Street in Menlo Park was the first thoroughfare in the world to have electric lighting. Transportation was greatly improved aslocomotionandsteamboatswere introduced to New Jersey. Ironmining was also a leading industry during the middle to late 19th century.Bog ironpits in theNew Jersey Pine Barrenswere among the first sources of iron for the new nation.Mines such as Mt. Hope, Mine Hill, and the Rockaway Valley Mines created a thriving industry. Mining generated the impetus for new towns and was one of the driving forces behind the need for theMorris Canal.Zincmines were also a major industry, especially theSterling Hill Mine. 20th century New Jersey prospered through theRoaring Twenties. The firstMiss America Pageantwas held in 1921 inAtlantic City; theHolland TunnelconnectingJersey CitytoManhattanopened in 1927; and the firstdrive-in moviewas shown in 1933 inCamden. During theGreat Depressionof the 1930s, the state offered begging licenses to unemployed residents,the zeppelin airshipHindenburgcrashed in flames overLakehurst, and theSSMorro Castlebeached itself nearAsbury Parkafter going up in flames while at sea. Through bothWorld Wars, New Jersey was a center for war production, especially naval construction. TheFederal Shipbuilding and Drydock Companyyards in Kearny and Newark and theNew York Shipbuilding Corporationyard in Camden producedaircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, and destroyers.New Jersey manufactured 6.8 percent of total United States military armaments produced duringWorld War II, ranking fifth among the 48 states.In addition,Fort Dix(1917) (originally called \"Camp Dix\"),Camp Merritt(1917),andCamp Kilmer(1941)were all constructed to house and train American soldiers through both World Wars. New Jersey also became a principal location for defense in theCold War. FourteenNike missilestations were constructed for the defense of the New York City andPhiladelphiaareas.PT-109, a motor torpedo boat commanded by Lt. (j.g.)John F. Kennedyin World War II, was built at the Elco Boatworks inBayonne. The aircraft carrierUSSEnterprise(CV-6)was briefly docked at the Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne in the 1950s before she was sent to Kearney to be scrapped.In 1962, the world's first nuclear-powered cargo ship, theNS Savannah, was launched at Camden. In 1951, theNew Jersey Turnpikeopened, facilitating efficient travel by car and truck betweenNorth Jerseyandmetropolitan New York, andSouth Jerseyandmetropolitan Philadelphia.Subsequently, in 1957, theGarden State Parkwaywas completed, serving as a diagonal counterpart to the Turnpike, and opening up highway travel along New Jersey's coastal flank betweenBergen Countyin the northeast and theCape May Countypeninsulaat the southeastern tip of New Jersey; in doing so, theJersey Shorebecame readily accessible to millions of residents in the New York metropolitan area. In 1959, Air Defense Command deployed theCIM-10 Bomarcsurface-to-air missiletoMcGuire Air Force Base. On June 7, 1960, anexplosionin a CIM-10 Bomarc missile fuel tank caused an accident and subsequent plutonium contamination. In the 1960s,race riotserupted in many of the industrial cities ofNorth Jersey. The first race riots in New Jersey occurred in Jersey City on August 2, 1964. Several others ensued in 1967, inNewarkandPlainfield.Other riotsfollowed theassassination of Martin Luther King Jr.in April 1968, just as in the rest of the country. Ariotoccurred inCamdenin 1971. As a result of an order from theNew Jersey Supreme Courtto fund schools equitably, the New Jersey legislature passed an income tax bill in 1976. Prior to this bill, the state had no income tax. 21st century In the early part of the 2000s, twolight railsystems were opened: theHudson–Bergen Light RailinHudson Countyand theRiver LinebetweenCamdenandTrenton. The intent of these projects was to encouragetransit-oriented developmentinNorth JerseyandSouth Jersey, respectively. The HBLR was credited with a revitalization ofHudson CountyandJersey City.Urban revitalization has continued in North Jersey in the 21st century. In 2014, Jersey City's Census-estimated population was 262,146,with the largest population increase of any municipality in New Jersey since 2010,representing an increase of 5.9% from the2010 U.S. census, when the city's population was enumerated at 247,597.Between2000and2010Newark experienced its first population increase since the 1950s, and by2020had rebounded to 311,549. Geography New Jersey is located at the center of theNortheast megalopolis, the most populated Americanurban agglomeration. It is bordered on the north and northeast byNew York(parts of which are across theHudson River,Upper New York Bay, theKill Van Kull,Newark Bay, and theArthur Kill); on the east by the Atlantic Ocean; on the southwest byDelawareacrossDelaware Bay; and on the west byPennsylvaniaacross theDelaware River. New Jersey is broadly divided into theNorth,Central, andSouth Jerseygeographic regions, although some residents do not consider Central Jersey a region in its own right. Across the regions are five distinct areas divided by natural geography and population concentration. Northeastern New Jersey, often referred to as theGateway Region, lies closest toManhattanin New York City, and up to a million residents commute daily into the city for work, many via public transportation.TheJersey Shore, along the Atlantic Coast in Central and South Jersey, has its own unique natural, residential, and cultural characteristics owing to its location by the ocean. South Jersey represents the southernmost geographical region of thenortheastern United States. TheDelaware Valleyincludes the southwestern counties of the state, which reside within theDelaware ValleysurroundingPhiladelphia. Despite its heavily urban character and a long history ofindustrialization, forests cover roughly 45 percent of New Jersey's land area, or approximately 2.1 million acres (8,500 km2), ranking 31st among the 50 U.S. states and six territories.Northwestern New Jersey, often referred to as theSkylands Region, is more wooded, rural, and mountainous. The chief tree of the northern forests is theoak. TheNew Jersey Pine Barrensis situated in the southern interior of New Jersey and covered extensively by mixedpineandoakforest; its population density is lower than most of the state. High PointinMontague Township,Sussex Countyis the state's highest elevation at 1,803 feet (550 m) above sea level. The state's highestprominenceisKitty Ann MountaininMorris County, rising 892 feet (272 m). ThePalisadesare a line of steep cliffs on the west side of theHudson RiverinBergenandHudson Counties. MajorNew Jersey riversinclude theHudson,Delaware,Raritan,Passaic,Hackensack,Rahway,Musconetcong,Mullica,Rancocas,Manasquan,Maurice, andTomsrivers. Due to New Jersey'speninsulargeography, both sunrise and sunset are visible over water from different points on the Jersey Shore. Prominent geographic features Climate The state consists of two climate zones; the southernmost edges of the state have ahumid subtropical climate, while the rest has ahumid continental climate.New Jersey receives between 2,400 and 2,800 hours ofsunshineannually. Summers are typically hot and humid, with statewide average high temperatures of 82–87 °F (28–31 °C) and lows of 60–69 °F (16–21 °C); however, temperatures exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on average 25 days each summer, exceeding 100 °F (38 °C) in some years. Winters are usually cold, with average high temperatures of 34–43 °F (1–6 °C) and lows of 16 to 28 °F (−9 to −2 °C) for most of the state, but temperatures can, for brief periods, fall below 10 °F (−12 °C) and sometimes rise above 50 °F (10 °C). Northwestern parts of the state have significantly colder winters with sub-0 °F (−18 °C) being an almost annual occurrence. Spring and autumn may feature wide temperature variations, with lower humidity than summer. TheUSDA Plant Hardiness Zoneclassification ranges from6 in the northwest of the state, to 7B near Cape May.All-time temperature extremes recorded in New Jersey include 110 °F (43 °C) on July 10, 1936, inRunyon, Middlesex County and −34 °F (−37 °C) on January 5, 1904, inRiver Vale, Bergen County. Average annual precipitation ranges from 43 to 51 inches (1,100 to 1,300 mm), spread uniformly throughout the year. Average snowfall per winter season ranges from 10–15 inches (25–38 cm) in the south and near the seacoast, 15–30 inches (38–76 cm) in the northeast and central part of the state, to about 40–50 inches (1.0–1.3 m) in the northwestern highlands, but this often varies considerably from year to year. Precipitation falls on an average of 120 days a year, with 25 to 30 thunderstorms, most of which occur during the summer. During winter and early spring, New Jersey can experiencenor'easters, which are capable of causingblizzardsor flooding throughout the northeastern United States.Hurricanesandtropical storms,tornadoes, and earthquakes are rare; the state was impacted by a hurricane in1903, Tropical StormFloydin1999,andHurricane Sandyin2012, which made landfall in the state with top winds of 90 mph (145 km/h). Climate change Climate change is affecting New Jerseyfaster than much of the rest of the United States.Climatologistsat the U.S.National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationhave concluded that New Jersey has been the fastest-warming state by average air temperature over a 100-year period beginning in the early 20th century. Administrative divisions TheU.S. Census Bureaudivides New Jersey's 21 counties into sevenmetropolitan statistical areas, with 20 counties included in either the New York City or PhiladelphiaCombined Statistical Area.Warren Countyis part of the Pennsylvania-basedLehigh Valleymetro area. Counties The 21 counties in New Jersey, listed in order by population (as of the 2020 census) are: Municipalities For its overall population and nation-leading population density, New Jersey has a relative paucity of classic large cities. Thisparadoxis most pronounced inBergen County, the state's most populous county, whose 955,732 residents at the 2020 census inhabited 70 municipalities, of which the most populous isHackensack, with 46,030 residents. Many urban areas extend far beyond the limits of a single large city, as New Jersey municipalities tend to be geographically small; three of the four largest cities in New Jersey by population have under 20 square miles (52 km2) of land area, and eight of the top ten, including all the top five, have a land area under 30 square miles (78 km2). As of the2010 United States census, only four municipalities had over 100,000 residents (although Edison and Woodbridge Township came very close); this number increased to seven by the 2020 census. Demographics Population Residents of New Jersey are most commonly referred to as New Jerseyans or, less commonly, as New Jerseyites. According to the2020 U.S. census, the state had a population of 9,288,994, a 5.7% increase since the2010 U.S. census, which counted 8,791,894 residents.The state ranked eleventh in the country by total population and first in population density, with 1,185 residents per square mile (458 per km2). Historically, New Jersey has experienced one of the fastest growth rates in the country, with its population increasing by double digits almost every decade until 1980; growth has since slowed but remained relatively robust until recently. In 2022, the Census Bureau estimated there were 6,262 fewer residents than in 2020, a decline of 0.3% from 2020, related to theCOVID-19 pandemic. New Jersey is the only state where every county is deemedurbanas defined by theCensus Bureau.Most residents live in the counties surroundingNew York City, the nation's largest city,Philadelphia, the nation's sixth-largest city, or along the easternJersey Shore; the extreme southern and northwestern counties are relatively less dense overall. Since the 2000 census, theUnited States Census Bureaucalculated that New Jersey'scenter of populationwas located inEast Brunswick.The state is located in the middle of theNortheast megalopolis, which has more than 50 million residents. As of 2019, New Jersey was thethird highest U.S. statemeasured bymedian household income, behindMarylandandMassachusetts;the state's median household income was over $85,000 compared to the national average of roughly $65,000.Conversely, New Jersey's poverty rate of 9.4% was slightly lower than the national average of 11.4%,and thesixth lowest of the fifty states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. This is attributed to several factors, including the state's proximity to the major economic centers of New York City andPhiladelphia, its hosting the highest number ofmillionairesboth per capita and per square mile in the U.S., and the fact that it has the mostscientistsandengineersper square mile in the world. According toHUD's 2022Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 8,752homelesspeople in New Jersey.The top countries of origin for New Jersey's immigrants in 2018 wereIndia,Dominican Republic,Mexico,Ecuador, and thePhilippines. Race and ethnicity New Jersey is one of the most ethnically diverse states in the United States: as of 2022, over one-fifth (21.5%) of its residents are Hispanic or Latino, 15.3% are Black, and one-tenth are Asian. One in four New Jerseyans were born abroad and more than one million (12.1%) are not fully fluent in English. Compared to the U.S. as a whole, the state is more racially and ethnically diverse and has a higher proportion of immigrants. New Jersey is home to roughly half a millionunauthorized immigrants,comprising an estimated 6.2% of the population, which in 2018 was the fifth-highest percentage of any U.S. state.The municipalities of Camden, Jersey City, and Newark are consideredsanctuary citiesfor illegal immigrants. For further information on various ethnoracial groups and neighborhoods prominently featured within New Jersey, see the following articles: New Jersey is one of the most ethnically and religiouslydiversestates in the United States. Nearly one-fourth of New Jerseyans (22.7%) wereforeign born, compared to the national average of 13.5%.As of 2011, 56.4% of New Jersey's children under the age of one belonged to racial or ethnic minority groups, meaning that they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic white.The 2019 Vintage Year Census estimated that the state's ethnic makeup was as follows: 71.9% White alone, 15.1% Black or African American alone, 10.0% Asian alone, 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native alone, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, and 2.3% Two or more races. Hispanic or Latino accounted for 20.9%, while White alone (non-Hispanic or Latino) accounted for 54.6% of the population.Many of the municipalities inBergen County, New Jersey, the state's largest county, have a sizeable minority population of Hispanics and Asians. New Jersey hosts some of the nation's largest communities of religious and ethnic minorities in proportional or absolute terms. It has the second-largestJewishpopulation by percentage (after New York);the largestMuslimpopulation by percentage;the largest population ofPeruviansin the U.S.; the largest population ofCubansoutside Florida; the third-highestAsianpopulation by percentage; and the second highestItalianpopulation,according to the2000 Census. African Americans,Hispanics(Puerto RicansandDominicans),West Indians,Arabs, andBrazilianandPortuguese Americansare also high in number. Overall, New Jersey has the third-largestKoreanpopulation, with Bergen County home to the highest Korean concentration per capita of any U.S. county(6.9% in 2011). New Jersey also has the fourth-largestFilipinopopulation, and fourth-largestChinesepopulation, per the 2010 U.S. Census. New Jersey has the-third highestIndianpopulation of any state by absolute numbers and the highest by percentage,withIndia SquareinJersey City,Hudson Countyhosting the highest concentration of Asian Indians in theWestern Hemisphere.A study by thePew Research Centerfound that in 2013, New Jersey was the only U.S. state in which immigrants born inIndiaconstituted the largestforeign-bornnationality, representing roughly 10% of all foreign-born residents in the state.Central New Jersey, particularlyEdisonand surroundingMiddlesex County, has the highest concentration of Indians, at nearly 20% in 2020;Little Indiais the largest and most diverseSouth Asiancultural hub in the United States.The area includes a sprawlingChinatownandKoreatownrunning alongNew Jersey Route 27.Monroe Townshipin Middlesex County has experienced a particularly rapid growth rate in itsIndian Americanpopulation with an estimated 5,943 (13.6%) as of 2017,which was 23 times the 256 (0.9%) counted at the 2000 Census;Diwaliis celebrated by the township as aHinduholiday. In Middlesex County, electionballotsare printed in English,Spanish,Gujarati,Hindi, andPunjabi.Robbinsville, in neighboring Mercer County, hoststhe world's largestHindu templeoutside Asia.Carteret'sPunjabiSikhcommunity, variously estimated at upwards of 3,000, is the largest concentration of Sikhs in the state.Bergen Countyis home to America's largestMalayalicommunity.fromNew York City (뉴욕), is a growing hub and home toall of the nation's top ten municipalities by percentage of Korean population,led (above) byPalisades Park (벼랑 공원),the municipality with the highestdensityof ethnicKoreansin theWestern Hemisphere. Displaying ubiquitousHangul (한글)signage and known as theKorean village,Palisades Park uniquely comprises a Korean majority (52% in 2010) of its population,with both thehighest Korean-American density and percentageof any municipality in the United States. There are also threestate-recognized tribes, and in 2020, 51,186 identified as being Native American alone, while 96,691 did in combination with one or more other races. Birth data Languages As of 2010, 71.31% (5,830,812) of New Jersey residents age5 and older spoke English at home as aprimary language, while 14.59% (1,193,261) spoke Spanish, 1.23% (100,217) Chinese (which includesCantoneseandMandarin), 1.06% (86,849) Italian, 1.06% (86,486)Portuguese, 0.96% (78,627)Tagalog, andKoreanwas spoken as amain languageby 0.89% (73,057) of the population over the age of five. In total, 28.69% (2,345,644) of New Jersey's population age5 and older spoke amother languageother than English. A diverse collection of languages has since evolved amongst the state's population, given that New Jersey has becomecosmopolitanand is home toethnic enclavesof non-English-speaking communities: Sexual orientation and gender identity New Jersey is anLGBTQ+ friendlystate and is now home to moregay villagesper square mile than any other U.S. state.Same-sex marriage in New Jerseyhas been legally recognized since October 21, 2013, the effective date of a trial court ruling invalidating New Jersey's restriction ofmarriageto persons of different sexes at the time. In September 2013, Mary C. Jacobson, Assignment Judge of theMercer Vicinageof theSuperior Court, ruled that as a result of theU.S. Supreme Court's June 2013 decision inUnited States v. Windsor, theConstitution of New Jerseyrequires the state to recognizesame-sex marriages. Numerousgayborhoodshave emerged in New Jersey, most prominently inJersey City,Asbury Park,Maplewood,Montclair, andLambertville.Trenton, thestate capitalof New Jersey, electedReed Gusciora, its first openly gay mayor, in 2018,and Jennifer Williams, New Jersey's first openlytransgendercity councilmember, in 2022.In June 2018, Maplewood,Essex Countyunveiled permanentrainbow-colored crosswalksto celebrate LGBTQ pride.Rahway,Union County, also unveiled its own rainbow-colored crosswalks in June 2019.In January 2019,New Jersey GovernorPhil Murphysigned legislation mandating LGBTQ+ inclusiveeducational curriculumin schools.In February 2019, New Jersey began allowing aneutral or non-binary genderchoice onbirth certificates. Religion By number of adherents, the largest religious traditions in New Jersey, according to the 2010Association of Religion Data Archives, were theRoman Catholic Churchwith 3,235,290;Islamwith 160,666; and theUnited Methodist Churchwith 138,052.The world'slargest Hindu temple outside Asiais inRobbinsville,Mercer County.In September 2021, the State of New Jersey aligned with the World Hindu Council to declare OctoberHinduHeritage Month. In January 2018,Gurbir Grewalbecame the firstSikh Americanto serve as stateattorney generalin the United States.In January 2019,Sadaf JafferofMontgomerybecame the first femaleMuslim Americanmayor, first femaleSouth Asianmayor, and first femalePakistani-Americanmayor in the U.S.Large numbers of Orthodox Jews are now migrating to New Jersey from New York, due to the latter's higher cost of living. Education As of the 2020–2021 school year, there were 686 operatingdistricts in the state. Of these, 599 weretraditional public schooldistricts and 87 werecharter schooldistricts.TheNJDOEreported a total district enrollment of 1,362,400 students, the lowest total enrollment since the early 2000s, though these figures do not considerhomeschooledstudents or those attendingout-of-state schools.New Jersey public schools emphasizeSTEMsubjects, and New Jersey is home to more scientists and engineers per square mile than anywhere else in the world. Educational standards New Jersey is known for the high quality of its education. In 2024, New Jersey spent more per each public school student than any other U.S. state exceptNew York, amounting to $26,600 spent per pupil;Over 50% of the expenditure is allocated to student instruction. New Jersey is home to private universities includingPrinceton UniversityinPrinceton,Mercer County, one of the world's most prominentresearch universities, featured at the top ofU.S. News & World Report's national university rankings for the ninth consecutive year in 2024 as well as topping comparable lists byForbesandThe Wall Street Journal,and public universities such asRutgers University, headquartered inNew Brunswick,Middlesex County, the state's flagship institution of higher education. In 2014, New Jersey's school systems were ranked at the top of all fifty U.S. states by financial websiteWalletHub.In 2018, New Jersey's overall educational system was ranked second among all states toMassachusettsbyU.S. News & World Report.In 2019, 2020, and 2021,Education Weekalso ranked New Jersey public schools the best of all U.S. states. Nine New Jerseyhigh schoolswere ranked among the top 25 in the U.S. on theNewsweek\"America's Top High Schools 2016\" list, more than from any other state. In November 2023, GovernorPhil Murphysigned into law legislation eliminating testing for prospective teachers in reading, writing, and math, replacing it with an alternative certification process. Economy TheU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysisestimates that New Jersey'sgross state productin the third quarter of 2022 was $753 billion. Affluence New Jersey'sper capita gross state productroutinely ranks as one of the highest in the United States. In 2020, New Jersey had the highest number ofmillionairesboth per capita and per square mile in the United States, approximately 9.76% of households. The state is ranked second in the nation by the number of places with per capita incomes above national average with 76.4%. Three of New Jersey's counties are among the 20 highest-income U.S. counties. Fiscal policy New Jersey has seventax bracketsthat determinestate income taxrates, which range from 1.4% (for income below $20,000) to 8.97% (for income above $500,000). The standardsales taxrate as of January 1, 2018, is 6.625%, applicable to all retail sales unless specifically exempt by law. This rate, which is comparably lower than that of New York City, often attracts numerous shoppers from New York City, often to suburbanParamus, New Jersey, which has five malls, one of which (theGarden State Plaza) has over 2 million square feet (200,000 m2) of retail space.Tax exemptionsinclude most food items for at-home preparation, medications, most clothing, footwear and disposable paper products for use in the home.There are 27Urban Enterprise Zonestatewide, including sections ofPaterson,Elizabeth, andJersey City. In addition to other benefits to encourage employment within the zone, shoppers can take advantage of a reduced 3.3125%sales taxrate (half the rate charged statewide) at eligible merchants. New Jersey has the highest cumulative tax rate of all 50 states with residents paying a total of $68 billion in state and local taxes annually with a per capita burden of $7,816 at a rate of 12.9% of income.Allreal propertylocated in the state is subject toproperty taxunless specifically exempted by statute. New Jersey does not assess an intangible personal property tax or anestate tax, but it does impose aninheritance tax(which is levied only on heirs who are not direct descendants).In 2023, GovernorPhil Murphysigned into law a new tax-relief program known as StayNJ that will provide for an annual property-tax cut of 50% for those aged 65 and over with incomes below $500,000; the cut will go into effect in January 2026 and be capped at $6,500, but with this cap rising as indexed to the increase in New Jersey's overall property taxes. Federal taxation disparity New Jersey consistently ranks as having one of the highest proportional levels of disparity of any state in the United States, based upon what it receives from the federal government relative to what it gives. In 2015, WalletHub ranked New Jersey the state least dependent upon federal government aid overall and having the fourth lowest return on taxpayer investment from the federal government, at 48 cents per dollar. New Jersey has one of the highest tax burdens in the nation.Factors for this include the large federal tax liability which is not adjusted for New Jersey's higher cost of living andMedicaidfunding formulas. Industries New Jersey's economy is multifaceted, featuring high levels of bothproductivityandretail consumption; the Garden State's economy comprises thepharmaceutical industry,biotechnology,information technology, thefinancial industry,tourism,filmmaking,telecommunications,gambling, food processing, electrical equipment manufacturing, printing, and publishing. New Jersey's agricultural outputs are nursery stock, horses, vegetables, fruits and nuts, seafood, and dairy products.New Jersey ranks second among states inblueberryproduction, third incranberriesandspinach, and fourth inbell peppers,peaches, andhead lettuce.The state harvests the fourth-largest number of acres planted withasparagus.South Jerseyhas become anEast Coast epicenterforlogisticsandwarehouseconstruction. Scientific economy New Jersey has a strongscientific economyand is home to major pharmaceutical and telecommunications firms, drawing on the state's large and well-educated labor pool, including one of the highest concentrations ofengineersand other scientists in the world. There is also a robust service economy in retail sales, education, and real estate, serving residents who work in New York City or Philadelphia.Thomas Edisoninvented the firstelectric light bulbat his home inMenlo Park, Edisonin 1879. New Jersey is also a key participant in therenewable wind industry. New Jersey has more scientists and engineers per square mile than anywhere in the world,and is a global leader inpharmaceuticals,biotechnology,life sciences, andtechnology. Corporate and retail New Jersey hosts numerous business headquarters, including twenty-fourFortune 500companies.ParamusinBergen Countyhas become the top retailZIP code(07652) in the United States, with the municipality generating over US$6 billion in annual retail sales.Several New Jersey counties, includingSomerset(7),Morris(10),Hunterdon(13), Bergen (21), andMonmouth(42), have been ranked among thehighest-income counties in the United States. Shipping, manufacturing, and logistics Shipping is a key industry in New Jersey because of the state's strategic geographic location, thePort of New York and New Jerseybeing the busiest port on the East Coast. ThePort Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminalwas the world's firstcontainer portand today is one of the world's largest. New Jersey's location at the center of theEastern North Americanpopulation belt has made the state a prime hub for the logistics, warehousing, andsupply chainmanagement industries. Themanufacturingeconomy in New Jersey had declined for several decades in the post-Industrial Revolutionera but has since resumed growth. Tourism New Jersey's location at the center of theNortheast megalopolisand its extensive transportation system have put over one-third of all United States residents and many Canadian residents within overnight distance by land. This accessibility to consumer revenue has enabledseaside resortssuch asAtlantic Cityand the remainder of theJersey Shore, as well as the state's other natural and cultural attractions, to contribute significantly to the record 111 million tourist visits to New Jersey in 2018, providing US$44.7 billion in tourism revenue, directly supporting 333,860 jobs, sustaining more than 531,000 jobs overall including peripheral impacts, and generating US$5 billion in state and local tax revenue. Gambling In 1976, areferendumby Jersey voters approvedcasinogambling in Atlantic City, where the first legalized casino opened in 1978.At that time,Las Vegaswas the only other casino resort in the country.Today, several casinos lie along the Atlantic CityBoardwalk, the oldest and longest boardwalk in the world, at5+1⁄2miles (8.9 km) in length.Atlantic City experienced a dramatic contraction in its stature as a gambling destination after 2010, including the closure of multiple casinos since 2014, spurred by competition from the advent of legalized gambling in other northeastern U.S. states. On February 26, 2013, Governor Chris Christie signedonline gamblinginto law.Sports bettinghas become a growing source of gambling revenue in New Jersey, with sportsbooks bringing in almost $12 billion in bets, making over $1 billion in revenue in 2023.Since being legalized across the nation by theU.S. Supreme Courton May 14, 2018, New Jersey led all states in sports betting handle until New York passed them.In September 2022, the lifetime revenue fromonline casinosoperating in New Jersey for the nine years since the industry's launch had surpassed $5 billion. Media Television and film production New Jersey is a growing center forfilmmakingandtelevision production,withmedia companies, enticed by its proximity toManhattan, in conjunction withtax incentives, collectively spending billions of dollars to develop large newstudio facilitiesandsound stagecomplexes.Motion picture technology was developed byThomas Edison, with much of his early work done at hisWest Orangelaboratory.Edison's Black Mariawas the first motion picture studio.America's first motion picture industrystarted in 1907 inFort Leeand the first studio was constructed there in 1909.DuMont LaboratoriesinPassaicdeveloped early sets and made the first broadcast to the private home. A number of television shows and films have been filmed in New Jersey. Since 1978, the state has maintained a Motion Picture and Television Commission to encourage filming in-state.New Jersey has long offered tax credits to television producers. Governor Chris Christie suspended the credits in 2010, but theNew Jersey State Legislaturein 2011 approved the restoration and expansion of the tax credit program. Under bills passed by both the state Senate and Assembly, the program offers 20 percent tax credits (22% inurban enterprise zones) to television and film productions that shoot in the state and meet set standards for hiring and local spending.When Governor Phil Murphy took office, he instated the New Jersey Film & Digital Media Tax Credit Program in 2018 and expanded it in 2020. The benefits include a 30% tax credit on film projects and a 40% subsidy for studio developments. Newspapers Radio stations Television stations New Jersey has severalPBSaffiliates:WNET(13) inNewark,WNJN(50) inMontclair, WNJB (58) inNew Brunswick, WNJS (23) inCamdenand WNJT (52) inTrenton. There are no standard commercialnetwork affiliatesin the state.WMGM-TV(Wildwood) lost its affiliation withNBCin 2014. Viewers in northern New Jersey receiveNew York City marketstations over cable or over the air; southern New Jersey viewers receivePhiladelphia marketstations over cable or over the air. WMGM now affiliates with theTrue Crime Network.WJLP(Middletown) affiliates with the retro networkMeTV. There areTelemundoaffiliates in Fort Lee, Linden and Mount Laurel, andUnivisionaffiliates in Paterson and Vineland. Finance as Wall Street West Jersey City'sHudson River waterfront, fromExchange PlacetoNewport, is known asWall Street Westand has over 13 million square feet ofClass A office space. One third of theprivate sectorjobs in the city are in thefinancial servicessector: more than 60% are in thesecurities industry, 20% are in banking and 8% ininsurance.Jersey City is home to the headquarters ofVerisk AnalyticsandLord Abbett,a privately held money management firm.Companies such asComputershare,ADP,IPC Systems, andFidelity Investmentsalso conduct operations in the city.In 2014,Forbesmagazine moved its headquarters to the district, having been awarded a $27 million tax grant in exchange for bringing 350 jobs to the city over a ten-year period.By the early 2020s, the construction of residentialskyscrapersDowntown made median rental rates in Jersey City amongst the highest of any city in the United States. Natural resources and energy Limited mining activity ofzinc, iron, andmanganesestill takes place in the area in and around theFranklin FurnaceinSussex County. Although New Jersey is home to many energy-intensive industries, its energy consumption is only 2.7% of the U.S. total, and itscarbon dioxide emissionsare 0.8% of the U.S. total. New Jersey's electricity comes primarily from natural gas and nuclear power.New Jersey is seventh in the nation insolar powerinstallations,enabled by one of the country's most favorablenet meteringpolicies andrenewable portfolio standard. The state has more than 140,000 solar installations. Environment Due to past industrial activity, New Jersey has moreSuperfundtoxic waste sites than any other state in the union despite its small geographic size. By 2024, only 35 of New Jersey's Superfund sites (out of about 150 that have been on the EPA's list since the Superfund law was passed in 1980) have been cleaned up. In late 2023, a concern became public aboutPFAs(so-called \"forever chemicals\") existing in the state's water supplies. Transportation New Jersey's population density and location at the geographic center of theNortheast Megalopolishave rendered it a vital transportation for hub for both passengers and industry. Roadways TheNew Jersey Turnpikeis one of the most prominent and heavily trafficked roadways in the United States. Thistoll road, which overlaps withInterstate 95for much of its length, carries traffic betweenDelawareand New York, and up and down theEast Coastin general. Commonly referred to as simply \"the Turnpike\", it is known for its numerousrest areasnamed after prominent New Jerseyans. TheGarden State Parkway, or simply \"the Parkway\", carries relatively more in-state traffic than interstate traffic and runs from New Jersey's northern border to its southernmost tip atCape May. It is the main route that connects theNew York metropolitan areato theJersey Shore. With a total of fifteen travel and six shoulder lanes, theDriscoll Bridgeon the Parkway, spanning theRaritan RiverinMiddlesex County, is the widest motor vehicle bridge in the world by number of lanes as well as one of the busiest. New Jersey is connected to New York City via various key bridges and tunnels. The double-deckedGeorge Washington Bridgecarries the heaviest load of motor vehicle traffic of any bridge in the world, at 102 million vehicles per year, across fourteen lanes.It connectsFort Lee, New Jerseyto theWashington Heightsneighborhood ofUpper Manhattan, and carriesInterstate 95andU.S. Route 1/9across theHudson River. TheLincoln Tunnelconnects toMidtown ManhattancarryingNew Jersey Route 495, and theHolland Tunnelconnects toLower ManhattancarryingInterstate 78. New Jersey is also connected toStaten Islandby three bridges—from north to south, theBayonne Bridge, theGoethals Bridge, and theOuterbridge Crossing. New Jersey hasinterstate compactswith all three of its neighboring states. ThePort Authority of New York and New Jersey, theDelaware River Port Authority(withPennsylvania), theDelaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission(with Pennsylvania), and theDelaware River and Bay Authority(withDelaware) operate most of the major transportation routes in and out of the state. Bridge tolls are collected only from traffic exiting the state, with the exception of the privateDingman's Ferry Bridgeover the Delaware River, which charges a toll in both directions. It is unlawful for a customer to serve themselves gasoline in New Jersey. It became the last remaining U.S. state where allgas stationsare required to sell full-service gasoline to customers at all times in 2016, afterOregon's introduction of restricted self-service gasoline availability took effect. Airports Newark Liberty International Airport(EWR) is one of thebusiest airportsin the United States. Operated by thePort Authority of New York and New Jersey, it is one of the three main airports serving theNew York metropolitan area, along withJohn F. Kennedy International AirportandLaGuardia Airport, which are both in Queens, New York.United Airlinesis the airport's largest tenant, operating an entire terminal (Terminal C) there, which it uses as one of its primaryhubs.FedEx Expressoperates a largecargo terminalat EWR as well. The adjacentNewark Airport railroad stationprovides access toAmtrakandNJ Transittrains along theNortheast Corridor Line. Two smaller commercial airports,Atlantic City International Airportand rapidly growingTrenton-Mercer Airport, also operate in other parts of the state.Teterboro AirportinBergen CountyandMillville Municipal AirportinCumberland Countyaregeneral aviationairports popular withprivateandcorporate aircraftdue to their proximity to New York City and theJersey Shore, respectively. Rail and bus NJ Transitoperates extensive rail and bus service throughout the state. A state-run corporation, it began with the consolidation of several private bus companies inNorth Jerseyin 1979. In the early 1980s, it acquiredConrail's commuter train operations that connected suburban towns to New York City. NJ Transit has12 rail linesthat run through different parts of the state and 165 stations statewide.Most of the lines end at eitherPenn Stationin New York City orHoboken TerminalinHoboken, although some lines serve service to both terminal stations. One line provides service betweenAtlantic CityandPhiladelphia. NJ Transit also operates threelight railsystems in the state. TheHudson-Bergen Light RailconnectsBayonnetoNorth Bergen, throughHobokenandJersey City. TheNewark Light Railis partially underground, and connects downtownNewarkwith other parts of the city and its suburbs,BellevilleandBloomfield. TheRiver LineconnectsTrenton, andCamden. ThePATHis arapid transitsystem consisting of four lines operated by thePort Authority of New York and New Jersey. It linksHoboken,Jersey City,Harrison, andNewarkwith New York City. ThePATCO Speedlineis a rapid transit system that linksCamden Countyto Philadelphia. Both the PATCO and the PATH are two of only five rapid transit systems in the United States to operate 24 hours a day. Amtrakoperates numerous long-distance passenger trains in New Jersey, both to and from neighboring states and around the country. In addition to the Newark Airport connection, other major Amtrak railway stations includeTrenton Transit Center,Metropark, and the historicNewark Penn Station. TheSoutheastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, or SEPTA, has two commuter rail lines that operate into New Jersey. TheTrenton Lineterminates at theTrenton Transit Center, and theWest Trenton Lineterminates at theWest Trenton Rail StationinEwing. AirTrain Newarkis amonorailconnecting the Amtrak/NJ Transit station on the Northeast Corridor to the airport's terminals and parking lots. Some private bus carriers still remain in New Jersey. Most of these carriers operate with state funding to offset losses and state owned buses are provided to these carriers, of whichCoach USAcompanies make up the bulk. Other carriers include private charter and tour bus operators that take gamblers from other parts of New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia, andDelawareto the casino resorts of Atlantic City. Ferries New York Waterwayhas ferry terminals atBelford,Jersey City, Hoboken,Weehawken, andEdgewater, with service to different parts of Manhattan.Liberty Water TaxiinJersey Cityhas ferries fromPaulus HookandLiberty State ParktoBattery Park Cityin Manhattan.Statue Cruisesoffers service from Liberty State Park to theStatue of Liberty National Monument, includingEllis Island.SeaStreakoffers services from theRaritan Bayshoreto Manhattan,Martha's Vineyard, andNantucket. TheDelaware River and Bay Authorityoperates theCape May–Lewes FerryonDelaware Bay, carrying both passengers and vehicles between New Jersey and Delaware as part ofUS 9. The agency also operates theForts Ferry Crossingfor passengers across theDelaware River. TheDelaware River Port Authorityoperates theRiverLink Ferrybetween theCamdenwaterfront andPenn's Landingin Philadelphia. Culture General New Jersey has continued to play a prominent role as a U.S. cultural nexus. Like every state, New Jersey has its owncuisine, religious communities,museums, andhalls of fame. New Jersey is the birthplace of many modern inventions, includingFM radio, the motion picture camera, thelithium battery, thelight bulb,transistors, and the electric train. Other New Jersey creations include: the drive-in movie, the cultivatedblueberry,cranberry sauce, theboardwalk, thezipper, thephonograph,saltwater taffy, thedirigible, theseedless watermelon,thefirst useof asubmarinein warfare, and theice cream cone. Dinersare iconic to New Jersey. The state is home to many diner manufacturers and has over 600 diners, more than any other place in the world. New Jersey is the only state to have never had astate song;as of 2021, it is one of only two states (the other beingMaryland) that are currently without a state song. \"I'm From New Jersey\" is incorrectly listed on many websites as being the New Jersey state song, but it was not even a contender when the New Jersey Arts Council submitted state song suggestions to theNew Jersey Legislaturein 1996. New Jersey is frequently the target of jokes in American culture,especially from New York City-based television shows, such asSaturday Night Live.AcademicMichael Aaron Rocklandattributes this to New Yorkers' view that New Jersey is the beginning ofMiddle America. TheNew Jersey Turnpike, which runs between two major East Coast cities, New York City and Philadelphia, is also cited as a reason, as people who traverse through the state may only see its industrial zones.Reality television shows likeJersey ShoreandThe Real Housewives of New Jerseyhave reinforced stereotypical views of New Jersey culture,but Rockland citedThe Sopranosand the music ofBruce Springsteenas exporting a more positive image. The \"New\" in \"New Jersey\" is often omitted in casual conversation. Cuisine New Jersey is known for several foods developed within the region, includingTaylor Ham(also known aspork roll),sloppy joe sandwiches,tomato pies,salt water taffy, andTexas wieners. Just asNew York City's cuisinehas an influence onNorth Jersey,Philadelphia's cuisineinfluencesSouth Jersey. New Jersey's third-largest industry is food and agriculture just behind pharmaceuticals and tourism. New Jersey is one of the top 10 producers ofblueberries,cranberries,peaches,tomatoes,bell peppers,eggplant,cucumbers,apples,spinach,squash, andasparagusin the United States. Many restaurants in the state offer locally grown ingredients because of this. Campbell's Soup Companyhas been headquartered inCamdensince 1869.Goya Foods, the largestHispanic-owned food company in the United States, operates a corporate headquarters inJersey City.Mars Wrigley Confectionery's US headquarters has been based inHackettstownandNewarksince 2007. Several states with substantial Italian American populations take credit for the development ofsubmarine sandwiches, including New Jersey. Music New Jersey has long been an important origin for bothrockandrapmusic. Prominent musicians from or with significant connections to New Jersey include: Sports New Jersey currently has six teams frommajor professional sports leaguesplaying in the state, although oneMajor League Soccerteam and twoNational Football Leagueteams identify themselves as being from theNew York metropolitan area. Professional sports TheNational Hockey League'sNew Jersey Devils, based inNewarkat thePrudential Center, is the only major leaguesports franchiseto bear the state's name. Founded in 1974 inKansas City, Missouri, as theKansas City Scouts, the team played inDenver, Colorado, as theColorado Rockiesfrom 1976 until the spring of 1982 when naval architect, businessman, andJersey CitynativeJohn J. McMullenpurchased, renamed, and moved the franchise toBrendan Byrne ArenainEast Rutherford'sMeadowlands Sports Complex. While the team was poor to mediocre in Kansas City, Denver, and its first years in New Jersey, qualifying for the playoffs once in the 13 seasons from 1974 to 1987, the Devils ultimately established themselves in late 1980s and early 1990s during the tenure of Hall of Fame president and general managerLou Lamoriello. As of 2023, the Devils have appeared in 23 postseasons in 40 seasons in New Jersey, reaching fiveStanley CupFinals (most recently in2012) and winning it in1995,2000, and2003. The organization is the youngest of the nine \"Big Four\" major league teams based in New York metropolitan area, ultimately establishing its core following throughout the northern and central portions of the state and carving a place in a media market once dominated by theNew York RangersandIslanderswhich has the distinction of being the only metropolitan area in the country with three major league professional sports teams participating in the same sport. In 2018, thePhiladelphia Flyersrenovated and expanded their training facility, the Virtua Center Flyers Skate Zone, inVoorhees Townshipin the southern portion of the state. TheNew York metropolitan area's twoNational Football Leagueteams, theNew York Giantsand theNew York Jets, play atMetLife StadiuminEast Rutherford'sMeadowlands Sports Complex.Built for about $1.6 billion,the venue is one of the most expensive stadiums ever built.On February 2, 2014, MetLife Stadium hostedSuper Bowl XLVIII. TheNew York Red BullsofMajor League Soccerplay inRed Bull Arena, a soccer-specific stadium inHarrisonacross thePassaic Riverfrom downtownNewark. On July 27, 2011, Red Bull Arena hosted the2011 MLS All-Star Game.New Jersey hosted matches during the1994 FIFA World CupatGiants Stadiumand will be one of 16 cities to host matches during the2026 FIFA World Cup, atMetLife Stadium, which will also host thetournament final. From 1977 to 2012, New Jersey had aNational Basketball Associationteam, theNew Jersey Nets.WNBA'sNew York Libertyplayed in New Jersey from 2011 to 2013 while their primary home arena,Madison Square Gardenwas undergoing renovations.In 2016, thePhiladelphia 76ersof the NBA opened their new headquarters and training facility, the Philadelphia 76ers Training Complex, inCamden. The Meadowlands Sports Complex is home to theMeadowlands Racetrack, one of three majorharness racingtracks in the state. The Meadowlands Racetrack andFreehold Racewayin Freehold are two of the major harness racing tracks in North America.Monmouth Park Racetrackin Oceanport is a popular spot forthoroughbred racingin New Jersey and the northeast. It hosted theBreeders' Cupin 2007, and its turf course was renovated in preparation. Major league sports Minor league sports College sports Major schools New Jerseyans' collegiate allegiances are predominantly split among the three majorNCAA Division Iprograms in the state: theRutgers University(New Jersey's flagship state university)Scarlet Knights, members of theBig Ten Conference; theSeton Hall University(the state's largestCatholicuniversity)Pirates, members of theBig East Conference; and thePrinceton University(the state'sIvy Leagueuniversity)Tigers. The intense rivalry between Rutgers and Princeton athletics began with thefirst intercollegiate football gamein 1869. The schools have not met on the football field since 1980, but they continue to play each other annually in all other sports offered by the two universities. Rutgers, which fields 24 teams in various sports, is nationally known for its football program, with a 6–4 all-timebowlrecord; and its women's basketball programs, which appeared in aNational Finalin 2007. In 2008 and 2009, Rutgers expanded their football home,Rutgers Stadium, now called SHI Stadium, on theBusch Campus. The basketball teams play at theRutgers Athletic CenteronLivingston Campus. Both venues and campuses are inPiscataway, across theRaritan RiverfromNew Brunswick. The university also fields men's basketball and baseball programs. Rutgers' fans live mostly in the western parts of the state andMiddlesex County; its alumni base is the largest in the state. Rutgers' satellite campuses in Camden and Newark each field their own athletic programs—theRutgers–Camden Scarlet Raptorsand theRutgers–Newark Scarlet Raiders—which both compete in NCAADivision III. Seton Hall fields no football team, but its men's basketball team is one of theBig East's storied programs. No New Jersey team has won more games in theNCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, and it is the state's only men's basketball program to reach a modernNational Final. The Pirates play their home games atPrudential Centerin downtownNewark, about 4 miles (6 km) from the university'sSouth Orangecampus. Their fans hail largely from the predominantly Roman Catholic areas of the northern part of the state and theJersey Shore. The annual inter-conference rivalry game between Seton Hall and Rutgers, whose venue alternates between Newark and Piscataway, the Garden State Hardwood Classic, is planned through 2026. Other schools The state's other Division I schools include theMonmouth University Hawks(West Long Branch), theNew Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) Highlanders(Newark), theRider University Broncs(Lawrenceville), and theSaint Peter's University Peacocks and Peahens(Jersey City). Fairleigh Dickinson Universitycompetes in both Division I and Division III. It has two campuses, each with its own sports teams. The teams at the Metropolitan Campus are known as the FDU Knights, and compete in theNortheast Conferenceand NCAA Division I. The college at Florham (FDU-Florham) teams are known as the FDU-Florham Devils and compete in theMiddle Atlantic Conferences' Freedom Conferenceand NCAA Division III. Among the various Division III schools in the state, theStevens Institute of TechnologyDucks have fielded the longest continuously running collegiate men's lacrosse program in the country. 2009 marked the 125th season. High school New Jersey high schools are divided into divisions under theNew Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association(NJSIAA).' Stadiums and arenas Other notable sports venues Government and politics Executive The position of Governor of New Jersey is one of the most powerful in the nation. The governor is elected on a ticket with their lieutenant governor as the only statewide elected executive officials in the state; the governor appoints the entire executive cabinet and judges of the Supreme and Superior Courts.Phil Murphy(D) is thegovernor. The governor's mansion isDrumthwacket, located inPrinceton. Before 2010, New Jersey was one of the few states without alieutenant governor.RepublicanKim Guadagnowas elected the firstlieutenant governor of New Jerseyon the Republican ticket with GovernorChris Christieand took office on January 19, 2010. The position was created as the result of aConstitutional amendmentto theNew Jersey State Constitutionpassed by the voters in 2005. Previously a gubernatorial vacancy would be filled by the president of theNew Jersey State Senateas acting governor, thus directing half of the legislative and all of the executive process. Legislative The current version of theNew Jersey State Constitutionwas adopted in 1947. It provides for abicameralNew Jersey Legislature, consisting of anupper houseSenateof 40 members and alower houseGeneral Assemblyof 80 members. Each of the 40 legislative districts elects one state senator and two Assembly members. Assembly members are elected for a two-year term in all odd-numbered years; state senators are elected in years ending in 1, 3, and7 and thus serve either four- or two-year terms. New Jersey is one of only five states that elects its state officials in odd-numbered years (the others areKentucky,Louisiana,Mississippi, andVirginia). New Jersey holds elections for these offices every four years, in the year following each federal Presidential election year. Judicial TheNew Jersey Supreme Courtconsists of a chief justice and six associate justices. All are appointed by the governor with theadvice and consentof a majority of the membership of the state senate. Justices serve an initial seven-year term, after which they can be reappointed to serve until age 70. Most of the day-to-day work in the New Jersey courts is carried out in the Municipal Court, where simple traffic tickets, minor criminal offenses, and small civil matters are heard. More serious criminal and civil cases are handled by theSuperior Courtfor each county. All Superior Court judges are appointed by the governor with theadvice and consentof a majority of the membership of the state senate. Each judge serves an initial seven-year term and can be reappointed to serve until age 70. New Jersey's judiciary is unusual in that it still has separate courts of law andequity, like its neighborDelawarebut unlike most other U.S. states. TheNew Jersey Superior Courtis divided into Law and Chancery Divisions at the trial level; the Law Division hears both criminal cases and civil lawsuits where the plaintiff's primary remedy isdamages, while the Chancery Division hears family cases, civil suits where the plaintiff's primary remedy is equitable relief, and probate trials. The Superior Court also has anAppellate Division, which functions as the state's intermediateappellate court. Superior Court judges are assigned to the Appellate Division by the Chief Justice. There is also a Tax Court, which is a court of limited jurisdiction. Tax Court judges hear appeals of tax decisions made by County Boards of Taxation. They also hear appeals on decisions made by the director of the Division of Taxation on such matters as state income, sales and business taxes, and homestead rebates. Appeals from Tax Court decisions are heard in the Appellate Division of Superior Court. Tax Court judges are appointed by the governor for initial terms of seven years, and upon reappointment are granted tenure until they reach the mandatory retirement age of 70. There are 12 Tax Court judgeships. Counties New Jersey is divided into 21 counties; 13 date from the colonial era. New Jersey was completely divided into counties by 1692; the present counties were created by dividing the existing ones; most recentlyUnion Countyin 1857.New Jersey was formerly the only state in the nation where elected county officials were called \"freeholders\". Elected county officials are now called county commissioners as of bill S855 signed by Governor Murphy on August 8, 2020. The county commissioners govern each county as part of its ownBoard of Chosen County CommissionersThe number of county commissioners in each county is determined by referendum, and must consist of three, five, seven or nine members. Depending on the county, the executive andlegislativefunctions may be performed by theBoard of County Commissionersor split into separate branches of government. In 16 counties, the County Commissioners perform both legislative and executive functions on a commission basis, with each commissioner assigned responsibility for a department or group of departments. In the other five counties (Atlantic,Bergen,Essex,HudsonandMercer), there is a directly electedCounty Executivewho performs the executive functions while the commissioners retain a legislative and oversight role. In counties without an Executive, a County Administrator (or County Manager) may be hired to perform day-to-day administration of county functions. Municipalities New Jersey currently has 564 municipalities; the most recent dissolution of a municipality was whenPine Valleymerged intoPine Hillon January 1, 2022. Unlike other states, all New Jersey land is part of a municipality. In 2008, GovernorJon Corzineproposed cutting state aid to all towns under 10,000 people, to encourage mergers to reduce administrative costs.In May 2009, the Local Unit Alignment Reorganization and Consolidation Commission began a study of about 40 small communities in South Jersey to decide which ones might be good candidates for consolidation. Forms of municipal government Starting in the 20th century, largely driven by reform-minded goals, a series of six modern forms of government was implemented. This began with theWalsh Act, enacted in 1911 by theNew Jersey Legislature, which provided for a three- or five-member commission elected on a non-partisan basis. This was followed by the1923 Municipal Manager Law, which offered a non-partisan council, provided for a weak mayor elected by and from the members of the council, and introduced aCouncil-manager governmentstructure with an appointed manager responsible for the day-to-day administration of municipal affairs. TheFaulkner Act, originally enacted in 1950 and substantially amended in 1981, offers four basic plans:Mayor-Council,Council-Manager,Small Municipality, andMayor-Council-Administrator. The act provides many choices for communities with a preference for a strong executive and professional management of municipal affairs and offers great flexibility in allowing municipalities to select the characteristics of its government: the number of seats on the council; seats selected at-large, by wards, or through a combination of both; staggered or concurrent terms of office; and a mayor chosen by the council or elected directly by voters. Most large municipalities and a majority of New Jersey's residents are governed by municipalities with Faulkner Act charters. Municipalities can also formulate their own unique form of government and operate under aSpecial Charterwith the approval of theNew Jersey Legislature. While municipalities retain their names derived from types of government, they may have changed to one of the modern forms of government, or further in the past to one of the other traditional forms, leading to municipalities with formal names quite baffling to the general public. For example, though there are four municipalities that are officially of the village type, none use the village form of government.Loch ArbourandRidgefield Park(now with a Walsh Act form),Ridgewood(now with a Faulkner Act Council-Manager charter) andSouth Orange(now operates under aSpecial Charter) all migrated to other non-village forms. Politics Social attitudes and issues Socially, New Jersey is considered one of the more liberal states in the nation. Polls indicate that 60% of the population are self-described aspro-choice, although a majority are opposed to late trimester andintact dilation and extractionand public funding of abortion.As of 2022, all aspects of reproductive choice (including abortion) are protected by law. In a 2009Quinnipiac University Polling Institutepoll, a plurality supportedsame-sex marriage49% to 43% opposed.On October 18, 2013, theNew Jersey Supreme Courtrendered a provisional, unanimous (7–0) order authorizing same-sex marriage in the state, pending a legal appeal by Governor Chris Christie,who then withdrew this appeal hours after the inaugural same-sex marriages took place on October 21, 2013. New Jersey also has some of the most stringentgun controllaws in the U.S. These include bans onassault firearms, hollow-nose bullets and slingshots. No gun offense in New Jersey is graded less than a felony.BB gunsand black-powder guns are all treated as modern firearms. New Jersey does not recognize out-of-state gun licenses and aggressively enforces its own gun laws. In 2020, the state's voting population passed a public questionthat amended the state constitution to legalizemarijuanaand erase past legal convictions for possession. The measure passed by a two-thirds vote. At the time the measure was enacted, about a dozen other U.S. states had also legalized the sale and possession of marijuana. As of 2024, local governments and municipalities are still in the process of regulating marijuana-related businesses within their jurisdictions. Elections New Jersey is aDemocraticstronghold.New Jersey Democratshave majority control of both houses of theNew Jersey Legislature(Senate, 24–16, and Assembly, 46–34), 9–3 split of the state's twelve seats in theU.S. House of Representatives, and bothU.S. Senateseats. There have been recent Republican governors, however:Christine Todd Whitmanwon election in 1993 and 1997 andChris Christiein 2009 and 2013. In federal elections, the state leans heavily towards theDemocratic Party, having last voted for a Republican for president in 1988. New Jersey was a crucialswing statein the elections of1960,1968, and1992. The last elected Republican to hold a Senate seat from New Jersey wasClifford P. Casein 1979. Newark MayorCory Bookerwas elected in October 2013 to joinRobert Menendezto make New Jersey the first state with concurrently serving black and Latino U.S. senators. The state's Democratic strongholds includeCamden County,Essex County(the state's most Democratic county—it includesNewark, the state's largest city),Hudson County(the second-strongest Democratic county, includingJersey City, the state's second-largest city);Mercer County(especially aroundTrentonandPrinceton),Middlesex County, andUnion County(includingElizabeth, the state's fourth-largest city).Other suburban counties, especiallyBergen CountyandBurlington County, had the majority of votes go to theDemocratic Party. The northwestern and southeastern counties of the state are reliably Republican: Republicans have support along the coast inOcean CountyandCape May Countyas well as in the mountainous northwestern part of the state, especially inHunterdon County,Sussex County, andWarren County. To be eligible to vote in a U.S. election, all New Jerseyans are required to start their residency in the state 30 days prior to an election and register 21 days prior to election day. Capital punishment On December 17, 2007, Governor Jon Corzine signed into law a bill that would eliminate the death penalty in New Jersey. New Jersey was the first state to pass such legislation sinceIowaandWest Virginiaeliminated executions in 1965.Corzine also signed a bill that would downgrade the Death Row prisoners' sentences from \"Death\" to \"Life in Prison with No Parole\". Points of interest Boardwalks Many communities along theJersey Shorehave a boardwalk with various attractions, entertainment, shopping, dining, arcades, water parks, and amusement parks. TheAtlantic Cityboardwalk, opened in 1870, as the world's firstboardwalk.At5+1⁄2miles (8.9 km) long, it is also the world's longest and busiest boardwalk. Museums National Park Service areas Entertainment and concert venues Visitors and residents take advantage of and contribute to performances at the numerous music, theater, and dance companies and venues located throughout the state, including: Theme parks See also Notes References External links State government U.S. government Other 40°00′N74°30′W / 40.0°N 74.5°W /40.0; -74.5 (State of New Jersey)","Tagalog language Tagalog(/təˈɡɑːlɒɡ/,tə-GAH-log;;Baybayin:ᜆᜄᜎᜓᜄ᜔) is anAustronesian languagespoken as a first language by the ethnicTagalog people, who make up a quarter of the population of thePhilippines, and as asecond languageby the majority. Itsstandardizedform, officially namedFilipino, is thenational languageof the Philippines, and is one of twoofficial languages, alongsideEnglish. Tagalog is closely related to otherPhilippine languages, such as theBikol languages, theBisayan languages,Ilocano,Kapampangan, andPangasinan, and more distantly to other Austronesian languages, such as theFormosan languagesofTaiwan,Indonesian,Malay,Hawaiian,Māori,Malagasy, and many more. Classification Tagalog is aCentralPhilippine languagewithin theAustronesianlanguage family. BeingMalayo-Polynesian, it is related to other Austronesian languages, such asMalagasy,Javanese,Indonesian,Malay,Tetum(of Timor), andYami(of Taiwan).It is closely related to the languages spoken in theBicol Regionand theVisayasislands, such as theBikol groupand theVisayan group, includingWaray-Waray,HiligaynonandCebuano. Tagalog differs from itsCentral Philippinecounterparts with its treatment of theProto-Philippineschwavowel*ə. In mostBikolandVisayanlanguages, this sound merged with/u/and. In Tagalog, it has merged with/i/. For example, Proto-Philippine*dəkət(adhere, stick) is Tagalogdikítand Visayan & Bikoldukót. Proto-Philippine*r,*j, and*zmerged with/d/but is/l/between vowels. Proto-Philippine*ŋajan(name) and*hajək(kiss) became Tagalogngalanandhalík. Adjacent to an affix, however, it becomes/r/instead:bayád(paid) →bayaran(to pay). Proto-Philippine*Rmerged with/ɡ/.*tubiR(water) and*zuRuʔ(blood) became Tagalogtubiganddugô. History The wordTagalogis possibly derived from theendonymtaga-ilog(\"river dweller\"), composed oftagá-(\"native of\" or \"from\") andilog(\"river\"), or alternatively,taga-alogderiving fromalog(\"pool of water in the lowlands\"; \"rice or vegetable plantation\"). Linguists such asDavid ZorcandRobert Blustspeculate that the Tagalogs and other Central Philippine ethno-linguistic groups originated in NortheasternMindanaoor theEastern Visayas. Possible words of Old Tagalog origin are attested in theLaguna Copperplate Inscriptionfrom the tenth century, which is largely written inOld Malay.The first known complete book to be written in Tagalog is theDoctrina Christiana(Christian Doctrine), printed in 1593. TheDoctrinawas written in Spanish and two transcriptions of Tagalog; one in the ancient, then-currentBaybayinscript and the other in an early Spanish attempt at aLatinorthography for the language. Throughout the 333 years of Spanish rule, various grammars and dictionaries were written by Spanish clergymen. In 1610, the Dominican priest Francisco Blancas de San José published theArte y reglas de la lengua tagala(which was subsequently revised with two editions in 1752 and 1832) in Bataan. In 1613, the Franciscan priest Pedro de San Buenaventura published the first Tagalog dictionary, hisVocabulario de la lengua tagalainPila, Laguna. The first substantial dictionary of the Tagalog language was written by theCzechJesuitmissionaryPablo Clainin the beginning of the 18th century. Clain spoke Tagalog and used it actively in several of his books. He prepared the dictionary, which he later passed over to Francisco Jansens and José Hernandez.Further compilation of his substantial work was prepared by P. Juan de Noceda and P. Pedro de Sanlucar and published asVocabulario de la lengua tagalain Manila in 1754 and then repeatedlyreedited, with the last edition being in 2013 in Manila. Among others,Arte de la lengua tagala y manual tagalog para la administración de los Santos Sacramentos(1850) in addition to early studiesof the language. The indigenous poetFrancisco Balagtas(1788–1862) is known as the foremost Tagalog writer, his most notable work being the 19th-centuryepicFlorante at Laura. Official status Tagalog was declared the official language by the first revolutionary constitution in the Philippines, theConstitution of Biak-na-Batoin 1897. In 1935, the Philippine constitution designated English and Spanish as official languages, but mandated the development and adoption of a common national language based on one of the existing native languages.After study and deliberation, the National Language Institute, a committee composed of seven members who represented various regions in the Philippines, chose Tagalog as the basis for the evolution and adoption of the national language of the Philippines.PresidentManuel L. Quezonthen, on December 30, 1937, proclaimed the selection of the Tagalog language to be used as the basis for the evolution and adoption of the national language of the Philippines.In 1939, President Quezon renamed the proposed Tagalog-based national language asWikang Pambansâ(national language).Quezon himself was born and raised inBaler, Aurora, which is a native Tagalog-speaking area. Under the Japanese puppet government duringWorld War II, Tagalog as a national language was strongly promoted; the 1943 Constitution specifying: \"The government shall take steps toward the development and propagation of Tagalog as the national language.\" In 1959, the language was further renamed as \"Pilipino\".Along with English, the national language has had official status under the 1973 constitution (as \"Pilipino\")and the present 1987 constitution (as Filipino). Controversy The adoption of Tagalog in 1937 as basis for a national language is not without its own controversies. Instead of specifying Tagalog, the national language was designated asWikang Pambansâ(\"National Language\") in 1939.Twenty years later, in 1959, it was renamed by then Secretary of Education,José E. Romero, asPilipinoto give it anationalrather thanethniclabel and connotation. The changing of the name did not, however, result in acceptance among non-Tagalogs, especiallyCebuanoswho had not accepted the selection. The national language issue was revived once more during the1971 Constitutional Convention. The majority of the delegates were even in favor of scrapping the idea of a \"national language\" altogether.A compromise solution was worked out—a \"universalist\" approach to the national language, to be calledFilipinorather thanPilipino. The 1973 constitution makes no mention of Tagalog. When a new constitution was drawn up in 1987, it named Filipino as the national language.The constitution specified that as the Filipino language evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages. However, more than two decades after the institution of the \"universalist\" approach, there seems to be little if any difference between Tagalog and Filipino. Many of the older generation in the Philippines feel that the replacement of English by Tagalog in the popular visual media has had dire economic effects regarding the competitiveness of the Philippines in trade and overseas remittances. Use in education Upon the issuance ofExecutive Order No. 134, Tagalog was declared as basis of the National Language. On April 12, 1940,Executive No. 263was issued ordering the teaching of the national language in all public and private schools in the country. Article XIV, Section 6 of the 1987Constitution of the Philippinesspecifies, in part: Subject to provisions of law and as the Congress may deem appropriate, the Government shall take steps to initiate and sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of official communication and as language of instruction in the educational system. Under Section 7, however: The regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein. In 2009, theDepartment of Educationpromulgated an order institutionalizing a system of mother-tongue based multilingual education (\"MLE\"), wherein instruction is conducted primarily in a student's mother tongue (one of the various regional Philippine languages) until at least grade three, with additional languages such as Filipino and English being introduced as separate subjects no earlier than grade two. In secondary school, Filipino and English become the primary languages of instruction, with the learner's first language taking on an auxiliary role.After pilot tests in selected schools, the MLE program was implemented nationwide from School Year (SY) 2012–2013. Tagalog is the first language of a quarter of the population of thePhilippines(particularly in Central and Southern Luzon) and the second language for the majority. Geographic distribution In the Philippines According to the 2020 census conducted by thePhilippine Statistics Authority, there were 109 million people living in the Philippines, where the vast majority have some basic level of understanding of the language. The Tagalog homeland,Katagalugan, covers roughly much of the central to southern parts of the island ofLuzon— particularly inAurora,Bataan,Batangas,Bulacan,Cavite,Laguna,Metro Manila,Nueva Ecija,Quezon, andRizal. Tagalog is also spoken natively by inhabitants living on the islands ofMarinduqueandMindoro, as well asPalawanto a lesser extent. Significant minorities are found in the other Central Luzon provinces ofPampangaandTarlac,Ambos Camarinesin Bicol Region, theCordilleracity ofBaguioand various parts ofMindanaoespecially in the island's urban areas. Tagalog is also the predominant language ofCotabato CityinMindanao, making it the only place outside of Luzon with a native Tagalog-speaking majority. It is also the main lingua franca inBangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. According to the 2000 Philippine Census, approximately 96% of the household population who were able to attend school could speak Tagalog;and about 28% of the total population spoke it natively. The following regions and provinces of the Philippines are majority Tagalog-speaking (from north to south): Tagalog speakers are also found in other parts of the Philippines and through its standardized form ofFilipino, the language serves the nationallingua francaof the country. Outside of the Philippines Tagalog serves as the common language amongOverseas Filipinos, though its use overseas is usually limited to communication betweenFilipino ethnic groups. The largest concentration of Tagalog speakers outside the Philippines is found in theUnited States, wherein 2020, theUnited States Census Bureaureported (based on data collected in 2018) that it was the fourth most-spoken non-English language at home with over 1.7 million speakers, behindSpanish,French, andChinese(with figures forCantoneseandMandarincombined). A study based on data from the United States Census Bureau's 2015 American Consumer Survey shows that Tagalog is the most commonly spoken non-English language after Spanish inCalifornia,Nevada, andWashingtonstates. Tagalog is one of three recognized languages inSan Francisco, California, along with Spanish and Chinese, making all essential city services be communicated using these languages along with English.Meanwhile, Tagalog andIlocano(which is primarily spoken in northern Philippines) are among the non-official languages ofHawaiithat its state offices and state-funded entities are required to provide oral and written translations to its residents.Election ballots in Nevada include instructions written in Tagalog, which was first introduced in the2020 United States presidential elections. Other countries with significant concentrations of overseas Filipinos and Tagalog speakers includeSaudi Arabiawith 938,490,Canadawith 676,775,Japanwith 313,588,United Arab Emirateswith 541,593,Kuwaitwith 187,067, andMalaysiawith 620,043. Dialects At present, no comprehensivedialectologyhas been done in the Tagalog-speaking regions, though there have been descriptions in the form of dictionaries and grammars of various Tagalog dialects.Ethnologuelists Manila, Lubang,Marinduque, Bataan (Western Central Luzon),Batangas, Bulacan (Eastern Central Luzon), Tanay-Paete (Rizal-Laguna), andTayabas(Quezon)as dialects of Tagalog; however, there appear to be four main dialects, of which the aforementioned are a part: Northern (exemplified by theBulacandialect), Central (including Manila), Southern (exemplified by Batangas), and Marinduque. Some example of dialectal differences are: Perhaps the most divergent Tagalog dialects are those spoken in Marinduque.Linguist Rosa Soberano identifies two dialects, western and eastern, with the former being closer to the Tagalog dialects spoken in the provinces of Batangas and Quezon. One example is the verb conjugation paradigms. While some of the affixes are different, Marinduque also preserves the imperative affixes, also found in Visayan and Bikol languages, that have mostly disappeared from most Tagalog early 20th century; they have since merged with the infinitive. The Manila Dialect is the basis for the national language. Phonology Tagalog has 21phonemes: 16 of them areconsonantsand 5 arevowels. Native Tagalog words follow CV(C)syllablestructure, though complex consonant clusters are permitted in loanwords. Vowels Tagalog has five vowels, and four diphthongs.Tagalog originally had three vowel phonemes:/a/,/i/, and/u/. Tagalog is now considered to have five vowel phonemes following the introduction of two marginal phonemes from Spanish, /o/ and /e/. Nevertheless, simplification of pairsandis likely to take place, especially in some Tagalog as second language, remote location and working class registers. The fourdiphthongsare/aj/,/uj/,/aw/, and/iw/. Long vowels are not written apart from pedagogical texts, where an acute accent is used:á é í ó ú. The table above shows all the possible realizations for each of the five vowel sounds depending on the speaker's origin or proficiency. The five general vowels are inbold. Consonants Below is a chart of Tagalog consonants. All the stops are unaspirated. Thevelar nasaloccurs in all positions including at the beginning of a word. Loanword variants using these phonemes are italicized inside the angle brackets. Glottal stop is not indicated.Glottal stops are most likely to occur when: Stress and final glottal stop Stressis adistinctive featurein Tagalog. Primary stress occurs on either the final or the penultimate syllable of a word. Vowel lengthening accompanies primary or secondary stress except when stress occurs at the end of a word. Tagalog words are often distinguished from one another by the position of the stress and/or the presence of a final glottal stop. In formal or academic settings, stress placement and the glottal stop are indicated by adiacritic(tuldík) above the final vowel.The penultimate primary stress position (malumay) is the default stress type and so is left unwritten except in dictionaries. Grammar Writing system Tagalog, like other Philippines languages today, is written using the Latin alphabet. Prior to the arrival of the Spanish in 1521 and the beginning of their colonization in 1565, Tagalog was written in anabugida—oralphasyllabary—calledBaybayin. This system of writing gradually gave way to the use and propagation of the Latin alphabet as introduced by the Spanish. As the Spanish began to record and create grammars and dictionaries for the various languages of the Philippine archipelago, they adopted systems of writing closely following the orthographic customs of the Spanish language and were refined over the years. Until the first half of the 20th century, most Philippine languages were widely written in a variety of ways based on Spanish orthography. In the late 19th century, a number of educated Filipinos began proposing for revising the spelling system used for Tagalog at the time. In 1884, Filipino doctor and student of languagesTrinidad Pardo de Taverapublished his study on the ancient Tagalog scriptContribucion para el Estudio de los Antiguos Alfabetos Filipinosand in 1887, published his essayEl Sanscrito en la lengua Tagalogwhich made use of a new writing system developed by him. Meanwhile, Jose Rizal, inspired by Pardo de Tavera's 1884 work, also began developing a new system of orthography (unaware at first of Pardo de Tavera's own orthography).A major noticeable change in these proposed orthographies was the use of the letter ⟨k⟩ rather than ⟨c⟩ and ⟨q⟩ to represent the phoneme/k/. In 1889, the new bilingual Spanish-TagalogLa España Orientalnewspaper, of whichIsabelo de los Reyeswas an editor, began publishing using the new orthography stating in a footnote that it would \"use the orthography recently introduced by ... learned Orientalis\". This new orthography, while having its supporters, was also not initially accepted by several writers. Soon after the first issue ofLa España,Pascual H. Poblete'sRevista Católica de Filipinabegan a series of articles attacking the new orthography and its proponents. A fellow writer, Pablo Tecson was also critical. Among the attacks was the use of the letters \"k\" and \"w\" as they were deemed to be of German origin and thus its proponents were deemed as \"unpatriotic\". The publishers of these two papers would eventually merge asLa Lectura Popularin January 1890 and would eventually make use of both spelling systems in its articles.Pedro Laktaw, a schoolteacher, published the first Spanish-Tagalog dictionary using the new orthography in 1890. In April 1890, Jose Rizal authored an articleSobre la Nueva Ortografia de la Lengua Tagalogin the Madrid-based periodicalLa Solidaridad. In it, he addressed the criticisms of the new writing system by writers like Pobrete and Tecson and the simplicity, in his opinion, of the new orthography. Rizal described the orthography promoted by Pardo de Tavera as \"more perfect\" than what he himself had developed.The new orthography was, however, not broadly adopted initially and was used inconsistently in the bilingual periodicals of Manila until the early 20th century.The revolutionary society Kataás-taasan, Kagalang-galang Katipunan ng̃ mg̃á Anak ng̃ Bayan orKatipunanmade use of the k-orthography and the letter k featured prominently on many of its flags and insignias. In 1937, Tagalog was selected to serve as basis for the country'snational language. In 1940, theBalarilâ ng Wikang Pambansâ(English:Grammar of the National Language) of grammarianLope K. Santosintroduced theAbakadaalphabet. This alphabet consists of 20 letters and became the standard alphabet of the national language.The orthography as used by Tagalog would eventually influence and spread to the systems of writing used by other Philippine languages (which had been using variants of the Spanish-based system of writing). In 1987, the Abakada was dropped and replaced by the expanded Filipino alphabet. Baybayin Tagalog was written in anabugida(alphasyllabary) calledBaybayinprior to the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines, in the 16th century. This particularwriting systemwas composed of symbols representing threevowelsand 14consonants. Belonging to theBrahmic familyof scripts, it shares similarities with theOld Kawiscript ofJavaand is believed to be descended from the script used by theBugisinSulawesi. Although it enjoyed a relatively high level of literacy, Baybayin gradually fell into disuse in favor of theLatin alphabettaught by the Spaniards during their rule. There has been confusion of how to use Baybayin, which is actually anabugida, or analphasyllabary, rather than analphabet. Not every letter in the Latin alphabet is represented with one of those in the Baybayin alphasyllabary. Rather than letters being put together to make sounds as in Western languages, Baybayin uses symbols to represent syllables. A \"kudlít\" resembling an apostrophe is used above or below a symbol to change the vowel sound after its consonant. If the kudlit is used above, the vowel is an \"E\" or \"I\" sound. If the kudlit is used below, the vowel is an \"O\" or \"U\" sound. A special kudlit was later added by Spanish missionaries in which a cross placed below the symbol to get rid of the vowel sound all together, leaving a consonant. Previously, the consonant without a following vowel was simply left out (for example,bundókbeing rendered asbudo), forcing the reader to use context when reading such words. Example: Latin alphabet Abecedario Until the first half of the 20th century, Tagalog was widely written in a variety of ways based on Spanish orthography consisting of 32 letters called 'ABECEDARIO'(Spanish for \"alphabet\").The additional letters from the 26-letterEnglish alphabetare: ch, ll, ng, ñ, n͠g / ñg, and rr. Abakada When the national language was based on Tagalog, grammarian Lope K. Santos introduced a new alphabet consisting of 20 letters calledAbakadain school grammar books calledbalarilâ.The only letter not in theEnglish alphabetis ng. Revised alphabet In 1987, theDepartment of Education, Culture and Sportsissued a memo stating that the Philippine alphabet had changed from the Pilipino-Tagalog Abakada version to a new 28-letter alphabetto make room for loans, especially family names from Spanish and English.The additional letters from the 26-letterEnglish alphabetare: ñ, ng. ngandmga Thegenitivemarkerngand the plural markermga(e.g.Iyan angmgadamít ko.(Those are my clothes)) are abbreviations that are pronouncednangandmangá.Ng, in most cases, roughly translates to \"of\" (ex.Siyá ay kapatídngnanay ko.She is the siblingofmy mother) whilenangusually means \"when\" or can describe how something is done or to what extent (equivalent to the suffix-lyin English adverbs), among other uses. In the first example,nangis used in lieu of the wordnoong(when;Noongsi Hudas ay madulás). In the second,nangdescribes that the person woke up (gumising) early (maaga);gumising nang maaga. In the third,nangdescribed up to what extent that Juan improved (gumalíng), which is \"greatly\" (nang todo). In the latter two examples, the ligaturenaand its variants-ngand-gmay also be used (Gumisingnamaaga/Maaganggumising;Gumalíngnatodo/Todonggumalíng). The longernangmay also have other uses, such as aligaturethat joins a repeated word: pô/hôandopò/ohò The wordspô/hôoriginated from the word \"Panginoon.\" and \"Poon.\" (\"Lord.\"). When combined with the basic affirmativeOo\"yes\" (fromProto-Malayo-Polynesian*heqe), the resulting forms areopòandohò. \"Pô\" and \"opò\" are specifically used to denote a high level of respect when addressing older persons of close affinity like parents, relatives, teachers and family friends. \"Hô\" and \"ohò\" are generally used to politely address older neighbours, strangers, public officials, bosses and nannies, and may suggest a distance in societal relationship and respect determined by the addressee's social rank and not their age. However, \"pô\" and \"opò\" can be used in any case in order to express an elevation of respect. Used in the affirmative: Pô/Hômay also be used in negation. Vocabulary and borrowed words Tagalog vocabulary is mostly of native Austronesian or Tagalog origin, such as most of the words that end with thediphthong-iw, (e.g. giliw) and words that exhibitreduplication(e.g. halo-halo, patpat, etc.). Besides inherited cognates, this also accounts for innovations in Tagalog vocabulary, especially traditional ones within its dialects. Tagalog has also incorporated many Spanish and English loanwords; the necessity of which increases in more technical parlance. In precolonial times,Trade Malaywas widely known and spoken throughoutMaritime Southeast Asia, contributing a significant number of Malay vocabulary into the Tagalog language. Malay loanwords, identifiable or not, may often already be considered native as these have existed in the language before colonisation. Tagalog also includes loanwords fromIndian languages(SanskritandTamil, mostly through Malay),Chinese languages(mostlyHokkien, followed byCantonese,Mandarin, etc.),Japanese,ArabicandPersian. English has borrowed some words from Tagalog, such as abaca, barong,balisong,boondocks,jeepney, Manila hemp,pancit, ylang-ylang, and yaya. Some of these loanwords are more often used inPhilippine English. Tagalog has contributed several words toPhilippine Spanish, likebarangay(frombalan͠gay,meaningbarrio), theabacá,cogon,palay,dalagaetc. Tagalog words of foreign origin Taglish (Englog) TaglishandEnglogare names given to a mix of English and Tagalog. The amount of English vs. Tagalog varies from the occasional use of English loan words to changing language in mid-sentence. Such code-switching is prevalent throughout the Philippines and in various languages of the Philippines other than Tagalog. Code-mixing also entails the use of foreign words that are \"Filipinized\" by reforming them using Filipino rules, such as verb conjugations. Users typically use Filipino or English words, whichever comes to mind first or whichever is easier to use. Magshoshopping kamí sa mall. Sino ba ang magdadrive sa shopping center? We will go shopping at the mall. Who will drive to the shopping center? Urbanites are the most likely to speak like this. The practice is common in television, radio, and print media as well.Advertisements from companies likeWells Fargo,Wal-Mart,Albertsons,McDonald'sandWestern Unionhave contained Taglish. Cognates with other Philippine languages Comparisons with Austronesian languages Below is a chart of Tagalog and a number of other Austronesian languagescomparingthirteen words. Religious literature Religious literature remains one of the most dynamic components toTagalog literature. The first Bible in Tagalog, then calledAng Biblia(\"the Bible\") and now calledAng Dating Biblia(\"the Old Bible\"), was published in 1905. In 1970, the Philippine Bible Society translated theBibleinto modern Tagalog. Even before theSecond Vatican Council, devotional materials in Tagalog had been in circulation. There are at least four circulating Tagalog translations of the Bible When theSecond Vatican Council, (specifically theSacrosanctum Concilium) permitted the universal prayers to be translated intovernacular languages, theCatholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippineswas one of the first to translate theRoman Missalinto Tagalog. TheRoman Missalin Tagalog was published as early as 1982. In 2012, theCatholic Bishops Conference of the Philippinesrevised the 41-year-old liturgy with an English version of the Roman Missal, and later translated it in thevernacularto several native languages in the Philippines.For instance, in 2024, theRoman Catholic Diocese of Malolosuses the Tagalog translation of theRoman Missalentitled \"Ang Aklat ng Mabuting Balita.\" Jehovah's Witnesses were printing Tagalog literature at least as early as 1941andThe Watchtower(the primary magazine of Jehovah's Witnesses) has been published in Tagalog since at least the 1950s. New releases are now regularly released simultaneously in a number of languages, including Tagalog. The official website of Jehovah's Witnesses also has some publications available online in Tagalog.The revisedbibleedition, theNew World Translation of the Holy Scriptures,was released in Tagalog on 2019and it is distributed without charge both printed andonline versions. Tagalog is quite a stable language, and very few revisions have been made to CatholicBible translations. Also, as Protestantism in the Philippines is relatively young,liturgicalprayers tend to be moreecumenical. Example texts Lord's Prayer In Tagalog, theLord's Prayeris known by itsincipit,Amá Namin(literally, \"Our Father\"). Amá namin, sumasalangit Ka,Sambahín ang ngalan Mo.Mapasaamin ang kaharián Mo.Sundín ang loób Mo,Dito sa lupà, gaya nang sa langit.Bigyán Mo kamí ngayón ng aming kakanin sa araw-araw,At patawarin Mo kamí sa aming mga salà,Para nang pagpápatawad namin,Sa nagkakasalà sa amin;At huwág Mo kamíng ipahintulot sa tuksô,At iadyâ Mo kamí sa lahát ng masamâ.Amen. Universal Declaration of Human Rights This is Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights(Pangkalahatáng Pagpapahayág ng Karapatáng Pantao) Bawat tao'y isinilang na may layà at magkakapantáy ang tagláy na dangál at karapatán. Silá'y pinagkalooban ng pangangatwiran at budhî, na kailangang gamitin nilá sa pagtuturingan nilá sa diwà ng pagkakapatiran. ᜊᜏᜆ᜔ ᜆᜂᜌ᜔ ᜁᜐᜒᜈᜒᜎᜅ᜔ ᜈ ᜋᜌ᜔ ᜎᜌ ᜀᜆ᜔ ᜋᜄ᜔ᜃᜃᜉᜈ᜔ᜆᜌ᜔ ᜀᜅ᜔ ᜆᜄ᜔ᜎᜌ᜔ ᜈ ᜇᜅᜎ᜔ ᜀᜆ᜔ ᜃᜇᜉᜆᜈ᜔᜶ ᜐᜒᜎᜌ᜔ ᜉᜒᜈᜄ᜔ᜃᜎᜓᜂᜊᜈ᜔ ᜈᜅ᜔ ᜃᜆ᜔ᜏᜒᜇᜈ᜔ ᜀᜆ᜔ ᜊᜓᜇᜑᜒ᜵ ᜈ ᜃᜁᜎᜅᜅ᜔ ᜄᜋᜒᜆᜒᜈ᜔ ᜈᜒᜎ ᜐ ᜉᜄ᜔ᜆᜓᜆᜓᜇᜒᜅᜈ᜔ ᜈᜒᜎ ᜐ ᜇᜒᜏ ᜈᜅ᜔ ᜉᜄ᜔ᜃᜃᜉᜆᜒᜇᜈ᜔᜶ All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Numbers Numbers (mga bilang/mga numero) in Tagalog follow two systems. The first consists of native Tagalog words and the other are Spanish-derived. (This may be compared to other East Asian languages, except with the second set of numbers borrowed from Spanish instead of Chinese.) For example, when a person refers to the number \"seven\", it can be translated into Tagalog as \"pitó\" or \"siyete\" (Spanish:siete). Months and days Months and days in Tagalog are also localised forms of Spanish months and days. \"Month\" in Tagalog isbuwán(also the word formoon) and \"day\" isaraw(the word also meanssun). Unlike Spanish, however, months and days in Tagalog are always capitalised. Time Time expressions in Tagalog are also Tagalized forms of the corresponding Spanish. \"Time\" in Tagalog ispanahónororas. Common phrases Opòorohò(formal/polite form) Hindî pô(formal/polite form) Very informal:Ewan, archaicaywan(closest English equivalent: colloquial dismissive 'Whatever' or 'Dunno') Hindî ko naúunawáan Marunong pô ba kayóng magsalitâ ng Inglés?(polite version for elders and strangers)Marunong ka bang mag-Inglés?(short form)Marunong pô ba kayóng mag-Inglés?(short form, polite version for elders and strangers) *Pronouns such asniyó(2nd person plural) andnilá(3rd person plural) are used on a single 2nd person in polite or formal language. SeeTagalog grammar. Proverbs Ang hindî marunong lumingón sa pinánggalingan ay hindî makaráratíng sa paroroonan. One who knows not how to look back to whence he came will never get to where he is going. Unang kagát, tinapay pa rin.First bite, still bread.All fluff, no substance. Tao ka nang humaráp, bilang tao kitáng haharapin.You reach me as a human, I will treat you as a human and never act as a traitor.(A proverb in Southern Tagalog that has made people aware of the significance of sincerity in Tagalog communities.) Hulí man daw (raw) at magalíng, nakáhahábol pa rin.If one is behind but capable, one will still be able to catch up. Magbirô ka na sa lasíng, huwág lang sa bagong gising.Make fun of someone drunk, if you must, but never one who has just awakened. Aanhín pa ang damó kung patáy na ang kabayò?What use is the grass if the horse is already dead? Ang sakít ng kalingkingan, damdám ng buóng katawán.The pain in the pinkie is felt by the whole body.In a group, if one goes down, the rest follow. Nasa hulí ang pagsisisi.Regret is always in the end. Pagkáhabà-habà man ng prusisyón, sa simbahan pa rin ang tulóy.Theprocessionmay stretch on and on, but it still ends up at the church.(In romance: refers to how certain people are destined to be married. In general: refers to how some things are inevitable, no matter how long you try to postpone it.) Kung 'dî mádaán sa santóng dasalan, daanin sa santóng paspasan.If it cannot be got through holy prayer, get it through blessed force.(In romance and courting:santóng paspasanliterally means 'holy speeding' and is a euphemism forsexual intercourse. It refers to the two styles of courting by Filipino boys: one is the traditional, protracted, restrained manner favored by older generations, which often featuredserenadesand manual labor for the girl's family; the other is upfront seduction, which may lead to a slap on the face or a pregnancy out of wedlock. The second conclusion is known aspikotor what Western cultures would call a 'shotgun marriage'. This proverb is also applied in terms of diplomacy and negotiation.) See also References Further reading External links"],"string":"[\n \"List of U.S. state and territory mottos Most of theUnited States' 50 stateshave a statemotto, as do theDistrict of Columbiaand 3 ofits territories. A motto is a phrase intended to formally describe the general motivation or intention of an organization. State mottos can sometimes be found onstate sealsorstate flags. Some states have officially designated a state motto by an act of thestate legislature, whereas other states have the motto only as an element of their seals. The motto of the United States itself isIn God We Trust, proclaimed by Congress and signed into law by PresidentDwight D. Eisenhoweron July 30, 1956.The motto \\\"E pluribus unum\\\" (Latinfor 'out of many, one') was approved for use on theGreat Seal of the United Statesin 1782, but was never adopted as the national motto through legislative action. South Carolinahas two official mottos, both which are in Latin.Kentucky,North Dakota, andVermontalso have two mottos, one in Latin and the other in English.All other states and territories have only one motto, except forGuamand theNorthern Mariana Islands, which do not have any mottos.English and Latin are the most-used languages for state mottos, each used by 25 states and territories. Seven states and territories use another language, of which each language is only used once. Eight states and two territories have their mottos on theirstate quarter; thirty-eight states and four territories have their mottos on their state seals. The dates given are, where possible, the earliest date that the motto was used in an official sense. Some state mottos are not official but are on the official state seal; in these cases the adoption date of the seal is given. The earliest use of a current motto is that ofPuerto Rico,Joannes est nomen ejus, granted to the island by the Spanish in 1511. State, federal district and territory mottos See also Notes References External links\",\n \"New Jersey New Jerseyis a state in both theMid-AtlanticandNortheasternregions of the United States. It is themost densely populatedstate and at the center of theNortheast megalopolis. New Jersey is bordered on its north and east byNew York state; on its east, southeast, and south by theAtlantic Ocean; on its west by theDelaware RiverandPennsylvania; and on its southwest byDelaware BayandDelaware. At 7,354 square miles (19,050 km2), New Jersey is thefifth-smallest state in land area, but with close to 9.3 million residents as of the2020 United States census, it ranks11th in population. The state capital isTrenton, and the state's most populous city isNewark. New Jersey is the only U.S. state in which every county is deemedurbanby theU.S. Census Bureau. New Jersey was first inhabited byPaleo-Indiansas early as 13,000 B.C.E. TheLenapewere the dominantIndigenous groupwhen Europeans arrived in the early 17th century, and they were subdivived into dialectal groups such as the Munsee, in the north, and the Unami and the Unalachtigo, elsewhere.DutchandSwedishcolonists founded the first European settlements in the state,with theBritishlater seizing control of the region and establishing theProvince of New Jersey, named afterJersey.The colony's fertile lands and relativereligious tolerancedrew a large and diverse population. New Jersey was among theThirteen Coloniesthat supported theAmerican Revolution, hosting severalpivotal battles and military commandsin theAmerican Revolutionary War. New Jersey remained in theUnionduring theAmerican Civil Warandprovidedtroops, resources, and military leaders in support of theUnion Army. After the war, the state emerged as a majormanufacturingcenter and a leading destination for immigrants, helping drive theIndustrial Revolutionin the U.S. New Jersey was the site of many industrial, technological, and commercialinnovations.Many prominent Americans associated with New Jerseyhave proven influential nationally and globally, including in academia, advocacy, business, entertainment, government, military, non-profit leadership, and other fields. New Jersey's central location in the Northeast megalopolis helped fuel its rapid growth andsuburbanizationin the second half of the 20th century. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the state's economy has become highly diversified, with major sectors includingbiotechnology,pharmaceuticals,information technology,finance, andtourism, and it has become anAtlantic seaboardepicenter forlogisticsanddistribution. New Jersey remains a major destination for immigrants and is home to one of the world's mostmulticultural populations.Echoing historical trends, the state has increasingly re-urbanized, with growth in cities outpacingsuburbssince 2008. New Jersey is one of the most educated, wealthiest, healthiest, diverse and highly developed states in the U.S. ranking it high in several quality of life metrics.As of 2022, New Jersey had the highest annualmedian household income, at $96,346, of all 50 states.Almost one-tenth of all households in the state, or over 323,000, aremillionaires, the highest representation of millionaires among all states.New Jersey'spublic schoolsystem consistently ranks at or among the top of all U.S. states.In 2024, New Jersey was ranked as having the second-healthiest population overall.New Jersey was ranked as the fourth most diverse state in 2024.New Jersey ranks near the top on both theAmerican Human Development Indexand thestandard Human Development Index. According toclimatologyresearch by the U.S.National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, New Jersey has been the fastest-warming state by averageair temperatureover a 100-year period beginning in the early 20th century, which has been attributed to warming of theNorth Atlantic Ocean. History Prehistoric era The pressure of collision betweenNorth AmericaandAfricagave rise to theAppalachian Mountains. Around 18,000 years ago, theIce Ageresulted inglaciersthat reached New Jersey. As glaciers retreated, they left behindLake Passaicalong with rivers,meadows, swamps, andgorges. Since the6th millennium BC,Native Americanpeople have inhabited New Jersey, beginning with theLenape tribe.Scheyichbiis theLenapename for the land that represents present-day New Jersey.The Lenape were severalautonomousgroups that practicedmaizeagriculture in order to supplement their hunting and gathering in the region surrounding theDelaware River, the lowerHudson River, and westernLong Island Sound. The Lenape were divided intomatrilinealclans that were based upon common female ancestors. Clans were organized into three distinctphratriesidentified by their animal sign:Turtle,Turkey, andWolf. They first encountered theDutchin the early 17th century, and their primary relationship with the Dutch and later European settlers was throughfur trade. Colonial era TheDutchwere the firstEuropeansto lay claim to lands in New Jersey. The Dutch colony ofNew Netherlandconsisted of parts of the modernMid-Atlanticstates. Although the European principle ofland ownershipwas not recognized by theLenape,Dutch West India Companypolicy required its colonists to purchase land that they settled. The first to do so wasMichiel Pauw, who established a patron ship calledPavoniain 1630 alongNorth River, that eventually becameBergen.Peter Minuit's purchase of lands along theDelaware Riverestablished the colony ofNew Sweden, that lasted until the Dutch conquered it in 1655. Then the entire region became a territory ofEnglandon June 24, 1664, after an English fleet under command of ColonelRichard Nicollssailed into what is nowNew York Harborand took control ofFort Amsterdam, annexing the entire province. During theEnglish Civil War, theChannel IslandofJerseyremained loyal to the British Crown and gave sanctuary to theKing. In the Royal Square inSt Helier,Charles II of Englandwas proclaimed King in 1649, following the execution of his father,Charles I. North American lands were divided byCharles II, who gave his brother, the Duke of York (laterKing James II), the region betweenNew EnglandandMarylandas aproprietary colony(as opposed to aroyal colony). James then granted land between theHudson Riverand theDelaware River(the land that would become New Jersey) to two friends who had remained loyal through theEnglish Civil War:Sir George CarteretandLord Berkeley of Stratton.The area was named theProvince of New Jersey. Since its inception, New Jersey has been characterized byethnic and religious diversity. New EnglandCongregationalistssettled alongsideScots PresbyteriansandDutch Reformedmigrants. While the majority of residents lived in towns with individuallandholdingsof 100 acres (40 ha), a few rich proprietors owned vast estates. EnglishQuakersandAnglicansowned large landholdings. UnlikePlymouth Colony,Jamestownand other colonies, New Jersey was populated by a secondary wave of immigrants who came from other colonies instead of those who migrated directly from Europe. New Jersey remained agrarian and rural throughout the colonial era, andcommercial farmingdeveloped sporadically. Some townships, such asBurlingtonon the Delaware River andPerth Amboy, emerged as important ports for shipping to New York City and Philadelphia. The colony's fertile lands andtolerant religious policydrew more settlers, and New Jersey's population had increased to 120,000 by 1775. Settlement for the first ten years of English rule took place along theHackensack RiverandArthur Kill. Settlers came primarily from New York and New England. On March 18, 1673, Berkeley sold his half of the colony toQuakersin England, who settled theDelaware Valleyregion as a Quaker colony, withWilliam Pennacting astrusteefor the lands for a time. New Jersey was governed as two distinct provinces,EastandWest Jersey, for 28 years between 1674 and 1702, which were part of theDominion of New Englandfrom 1686 to 1689. In 1702, the two provinces were reunited under aroyal governorrather than aproprietary one.Edward Hyde, titled Lord Cornbury, became the first governor of the royal colony. Britain believed that he was an ineffective and corrupt ruler, taking bribes and speculating on land. In 1708, he was recalled to England. New Jersey was then ruled by the governors of New York, but this infuriated the settlers of New Jersey, who accused these governors of favoritism to New York.Judge Lewis Morrisled the case for a separate governor, and was appointed governor byKing George IIin 1738. Revolutionary War era New Jersey was one of theThirteen Coloniesthat revolted against British rule in theAmerican Revolution. TheNew Jersey Constitution of 1776was passed July 2, 1776, just two days before theSecond Continental Congressdeclared American Independence fromGreat Britain. It was an act of theProvincial Congress, which made itself into theState Legislature. To reassure neutrals, it provided that it would become the legislature would disband if New Jersey reached reconciliation with Great Britain. Among the 56Founding Fatherswho signed theDeclaration of Independence, five were New Jersey representatives:Richard Stockton,John Witherspoon,Francis Hopkinson,John Hart, andAbraham Clark. During theAmerican Revolutionary War, British and American armies crossed New Jersey numerous times, and several pivotal battles took place in the state. Because of this, New Jersey today is sometimes referred to as \\\"The Crossroads of the American Revolution\\\".The winter quarters of theContinental Armywere established in New Jersey twice by GeneralGeorge WashingtoninMorristown, which has been called \\\"The Military Capital of the American Revolution.\\\" On the night of December 25–26, 1776, the Continental Army underGeorge Washington crossed the Delaware River. After the crossing, they surprised and defeated theHessian troopsin theBattle of Trenton. Slightly more than a week after victory atTrenton, Continental Army forces gained an important victory by stoppingGeneral Cornwallis'scharges at theSecond Battle of Trenton. By evading Cornwallis's army, the Continental Army was able to make a surprise attack onPrincetonand successfully defeated the British forces there on January 3, 1777.Emanuel Leutze's painting ofWashington Crossing the Delawarebecame an icon of the Revolution. Continental Army forces under Washington's command met British forces under GeneralHenry Clintonat theBattle of Monmouthin an indecisive engagement in June 1778. Washington's forces attempted to take the British column by surprise. When the British army attempted to flank the Americans, the Continental Army retreated in disorder. Their ranks were later reorganized and withstood British charges. In the summer of 1783, theContinental Congressmet inNassau HallatPrinceton University, makingPrincetonthe nation's capital for four months. It was there that the Continental Congress learned of the signing of theTreaty of Paris, which ended the war. On December 18, 1787, New Jersey became the third state to ratify theUnited States Constitution, which was overwhelmingly popular in New Jersey since it prevented New York and Pennsylvania from chargingtariffson goods imported from Europe. On November 20, 1789, New Jersey became the first in the newly formed Union to ratify theBill of Rights. The 1776New Jersey State Constitutiongave the vote to all inhabitants who had a certain level of wealth. This included women and Black people, but not married women because they were not legally permitted to own property separately from their husbands. Both sides, in several elections, claimed that the other side had had unqualified women vote and mocked them for use of petticoat electors, whether entitled to vote or not; on the other hand, both parties passed Voting Rights Acts. In 1807, legislature passed a bill interpreting the constitution to mean universal white malesuffrage, excluding paupers; the constitution was itself an act of the legislature and not enshrined as the modern constitution. 19th century On February 15, 1804, New Jersey became the last northern state toabolishnewslaveryand enacted legislation that slowly phased out existing slavery. This led to a gradual decrease of the slave population. By theAmerican Civil War's end, about a dozen African Americans in New Jersey were still held in bondage.New Jersey voters eventually ratified the constitutional amendments banning slavery and granting rights to the United States' black population. Industrialization accelerated in the present-dayNorth Jerseyregion of the state following completion of theMorris Canalin 1831. The canal allowed foranthracite coalto be transported from easternPennsylvania'sLehigh Valleyto North Jersey's growing industries inPaterson,Newark, andJersey City. In 1844, the secondstate constitutionwas ratified and brought into effect. Counties thereby became districts for the state senate, and some realignment of boundaries (including the creation ofMercer County) immediately followed. This provision was retained in the 1947 Constitution, but was overturned by theSupreme Court of the United Statesin 1962, by the decisionBaker v. Carr. While the Governorship was stronger than under the 1776 constitution, the constitution of 1844 created many offices that were not responsible to him, or to the people, and it gave him a three-year term, but he could not succeed himself. New Jersey was one of the few Union states (the others beingDelawareandKentucky) to select a candidate other thanAbraham Lincolntwice in national elections, and sided withStephen A. Douglas(1860) andGeorge B. McClellan(1864) during their campaigns. McClellan, a native Philadelphian, had New Jersey ties and formally resided in New Jersey at the time; he later became Governor of New Jersey (1878–81). (In New Jersey, the factions of the Democratic party managed an effective coalition in 1860.) During theAmerican Civil War, the state was led first by Republican governorCharles Smith Olden, then by DemocratJoel Parker. During the course of the war, between 65,000 and 80,000 soldiers from the state enlisted in the Union army; unlike many states, including some Northern ones, no battle was fought there. In theIndustrial Revolution, cities likePatersongrew and prospered. Previously, the economy had been largely agrarian, which was problematically subject to crop failures and poor soil. This caused a shift to a moreindustrializedeconomy, one based on manufactured commodities such as textiles and silk.InventorThomas Edisonalso became an important figure of the Industrial Revolution, having beengranted 1,093 patents, many of which for inventions he developed while working in New Jersey. Edison's facilities, first atMenlo Parkand then inWest Orange, are considered perhaps the firstresearch centersin the United States. Christie Street in Menlo Park was the first thoroughfare in the world to have electric lighting. Transportation was greatly improved aslocomotionandsteamboatswere introduced to New Jersey. Ironmining was also a leading industry during the middle to late 19th century.Bog ironpits in theNew Jersey Pine Barrenswere among the first sources of iron for the new nation.Mines such as Mt. Hope, Mine Hill, and the Rockaway Valley Mines created a thriving industry. Mining generated the impetus for new towns and was one of the driving forces behind the need for theMorris Canal.Zincmines were also a major industry, especially theSterling Hill Mine. 20th century New Jersey prospered through theRoaring Twenties. The firstMiss America Pageantwas held in 1921 inAtlantic City; theHolland TunnelconnectingJersey CitytoManhattanopened in 1927; and the firstdrive-in moviewas shown in 1933 inCamden. During theGreat Depressionof the 1930s, the state offered begging licenses to unemployed residents,the zeppelin airshipHindenburgcrashed in flames overLakehurst, and theSSMorro Castlebeached itself nearAsbury Parkafter going up in flames while at sea. Through bothWorld Wars, New Jersey was a center for war production, especially naval construction. TheFederal Shipbuilding and Drydock Companyyards in Kearny and Newark and theNew York Shipbuilding Corporationyard in Camden producedaircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, and destroyers.New Jersey manufactured 6.8 percent of total United States military armaments produced duringWorld War II, ranking fifth among the 48 states.In addition,Fort Dix(1917) (originally called \\\"Camp Dix\\\"),Camp Merritt(1917),andCamp Kilmer(1941)were all constructed to house and train American soldiers through both World Wars. New Jersey also became a principal location for defense in theCold War. FourteenNike missilestations were constructed for the defense of the New York City andPhiladelphiaareas.PT-109, a motor torpedo boat commanded by Lt. (j.g.)John F. Kennedyin World War II, was built at the Elco Boatworks inBayonne. The aircraft carrierUSSEnterprise(CV-6)was briefly docked at the Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne in the 1950s before she was sent to Kearney to be scrapped.In 1962, the world's first nuclear-powered cargo ship, theNS Savannah, was launched at Camden. In 1951, theNew Jersey Turnpikeopened, facilitating efficient travel by car and truck betweenNorth Jerseyandmetropolitan New York, andSouth Jerseyandmetropolitan Philadelphia.Subsequently, in 1957, theGarden State Parkwaywas completed, serving as a diagonal counterpart to the Turnpike, and opening up highway travel along New Jersey's coastal flank betweenBergen Countyin the northeast and theCape May Countypeninsulaat the southeastern tip of New Jersey; in doing so, theJersey Shorebecame readily accessible to millions of residents in the New York metropolitan area. In 1959, Air Defense Command deployed theCIM-10 Bomarcsurface-to-air missiletoMcGuire Air Force Base. On June 7, 1960, anexplosionin a CIM-10 Bomarc missile fuel tank caused an accident and subsequent plutonium contamination. In the 1960s,race riotserupted in many of the industrial cities ofNorth Jersey. The first race riots in New Jersey occurred in Jersey City on August 2, 1964. Several others ensued in 1967, inNewarkandPlainfield.Other riotsfollowed theassassination of Martin Luther King Jr.in April 1968, just as in the rest of the country. Ariotoccurred inCamdenin 1971. As a result of an order from theNew Jersey Supreme Courtto fund schools equitably, the New Jersey legislature passed an income tax bill in 1976. Prior to this bill, the state had no income tax. 21st century In the early part of the 2000s, twolight railsystems were opened: theHudson–Bergen Light RailinHudson Countyand theRiver LinebetweenCamdenandTrenton. The intent of these projects was to encouragetransit-oriented developmentinNorth JerseyandSouth Jersey, respectively. The HBLR was credited with a revitalization ofHudson CountyandJersey City.Urban revitalization has continued in North Jersey in the 21st century. In 2014, Jersey City's Census-estimated population was 262,146,with the largest population increase of any municipality in New Jersey since 2010,representing an increase of 5.9% from the2010 U.S. census, when the city's population was enumerated at 247,597.Between2000and2010Newark experienced its first population increase since the 1950s, and by2020had rebounded to 311,549. Geography New Jersey is located at the center of theNortheast megalopolis, the most populated Americanurban agglomeration. It is bordered on the north and northeast byNew York(parts of which are across theHudson River,Upper New York Bay, theKill Van Kull,Newark Bay, and theArthur Kill); on the east by the Atlantic Ocean; on the southwest byDelawareacrossDelaware Bay; and on the west byPennsylvaniaacross theDelaware River. New Jersey is broadly divided into theNorth,Central, andSouth Jerseygeographic regions, although some residents do not consider Central Jersey a region in its own right. Across the regions are five distinct areas divided by natural geography and population concentration. Northeastern New Jersey, often referred to as theGateway Region, lies closest toManhattanin New York City, and up to a million residents commute daily into the city for work, many via public transportation.TheJersey Shore, along the Atlantic Coast in Central and South Jersey, has its own unique natural, residential, and cultural characteristics owing to its location by the ocean. South Jersey represents the southernmost geographical region of thenortheastern United States. TheDelaware Valleyincludes the southwestern counties of the state, which reside within theDelaware ValleysurroundingPhiladelphia. Despite its heavily urban character and a long history ofindustrialization, forests cover roughly 45 percent of New Jersey's land area, or approximately 2.1 million acres (8,500 km2), ranking 31st among the 50 U.S. states and six territories.Northwestern New Jersey, often referred to as theSkylands Region, is more wooded, rural, and mountainous. The chief tree of the northern forests is theoak. TheNew Jersey Pine Barrensis situated in the southern interior of New Jersey and covered extensively by mixedpineandoakforest; its population density is lower than most of the state. High PointinMontague Township,Sussex Countyis the state's highest elevation at 1,803 feet (550 m) above sea level. The state's highestprominenceisKitty Ann MountaininMorris County, rising 892 feet (272 m). ThePalisadesare a line of steep cliffs on the west side of theHudson RiverinBergenandHudson Counties. MajorNew Jersey riversinclude theHudson,Delaware,Raritan,Passaic,Hackensack,Rahway,Musconetcong,Mullica,Rancocas,Manasquan,Maurice, andTomsrivers. Due to New Jersey'speninsulargeography, both sunrise and sunset are visible over water from different points on the Jersey Shore. Prominent geographic features Climate The state consists of two climate zones; the southernmost edges of the state have ahumid subtropical climate, while the rest has ahumid continental climate.New Jersey receives between 2,400 and 2,800 hours ofsunshineannually. Summers are typically hot and humid, with statewide average high temperatures of 82–87 °F (28–31 °C) and lows of 60–69 °F (16–21 °C); however, temperatures exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on average 25 days each summer, exceeding 100 °F (38 °C) in some years. Winters are usually cold, with average high temperatures of 34–43 °F (1–6 °C) and lows of 16 to 28 °F (−9 to −2 °C) for most of the state, but temperatures can, for brief periods, fall below 10 °F (−12 °C) and sometimes rise above 50 °F (10 °C). Northwestern parts of the state have significantly colder winters with sub-0 °F (−18 °C) being an almost annual occurrence. Spring and autumn may feature wide temperature variations, with lower humidity than summer. TheUSDA Plant Hardiness Zoneclassification ranges from6 in the northwest of the state, to 7B near Cape May.All-time temperature extremes recorded in New Jersey include 110 °F (43 °C) on July 10, 1936, inRunyon, Middlesex County and −34 °F (−37 °C) on January 5, 1904, inRiver Vale, Bergen County. Average annual precipitation ranges from 43 to 51 inches (1,100 to 1,300 mm), spread uniformly throughout the year. Average snowfall per winter season ranges from 10–15 inches (25–38 cm) in the south and near the seacoast, 15–30 inches (38–76 cm) in the northeast and central part of the state, to about 40–50 inches (1.0–1.3 m) in the northwestern highlands, but this often varies considerably from year to year. Precipitation falls on an average of 120 days a year, with 25 to 30 thunderstorms, most of which occur during the summer. During winter and early spring, New Jersey can experiencenor'easters, which are capable of causingblizzardsor flooding throughout the northeastern United States.Hurricanesandtropical storms,tornadoes, and earthquakes are rare; the state was impacted by a hurricane in1903, Tropical StormFloydin1999,andHurricane Sandyin2012, which made landfall in the state with top winds of 90 mph (145 km/h). Climate change Climate change is affecting New Jerseyfaster than much of the rest of the United States.Climatologistsat the U.S.National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationhave concluded that New Jersey has been the fastest-warming state by average air temperature over a 100-year period beginning in the early 20th century. Administrative divisions TheU.S. Census Bureaudivides New Jersey's 21 counties into sevenmetropolitan statistical areas, with 20 counties included in either the New York City or PhiladelphiaCombined Statistical Area.Warren Countyis part of the Pennsylvania-basedLehigh Valleymetro area. Counties The 21 counties in New Jersey, listed in order by population (as of the 2020 census) are: Municipalities For its overall population and nation-leading population density, New Jersey has a relative paucity of classic large cities. Thisparadoxis most pronounced inBergen County, the state's most populous county, whose 955,732 residents at the 2020 census inhabited 70 municipalities, of which the most populous isHackensack, with 46,030 residents. Many urban areas extend far beyond the limits of a single large city, as New Jersey municipalities tend to be geographically small; three of the four largest cities in New Jersey by population have under 20 square miles (52 km2) of land area, and eight of the top ten, including all the top five, have a land area under 30 square miles (78 km2). As of the2010 United States census, only four municipalities had over 100,000 residents (although Edison and Woodbridge Township came very close); this number increased to seven by the 2020 census. Demographics Population Residents of New Jersey are most commonly referred to as New Jerseyans or, less commonly, as New Jerseyites. According to the2020 U.S. census, the state had a population of 9,288,994, a 5.7% increase since the2010 U.S. census, which counted 8,791,894 residents.The state ranked eleventh in the country by total population and first in population density, with 1,185 residents per square mile (458 per km2). Historically, New Jersey has experienced one of the fastest growth rates in the country, with its population increasing by double digits almost every decade until 1980; growth has since slowed but remained relatively robust until recently. In 2022, the Census Bureau estimated there were 6,262 fewer residents than in 2020, a decline of 0.3% from 2020, related to theCOVID-19 pandemic. New Jersey is the only state where every county is deemedurbanas defined by theCensus Bureau.Most residents live in the counties surroundingNew York City, the nation's largest city,Philadelphia, the nation's sixth-largest city, or along the easternJersey Shore; the extreme southern and northwestern counties are relatively less dense overall. Since the 2000 census, theUnited States Census Bureaucalculated that New Jersey'scenter of populationwas located inEast Brunswick.The state is located in the middle of theNortheast megalopolis, which has more than 50 million residents. As of 2019, New Jersey was thethird highest U.S. statemeasured bymedian household income, behindMarylandandMassachusetts;the state's median household income was over $85,000 compared to the national average of roughly $65,000.Conversely, New Jersey's poverty rate of 9.4% was slightly lower than the national average of 11.4%,and thesixth lowest of the fifty states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. This is attributed to several factors, including the state's proximity to the major economic centers of New York City andPhiladelphia, its hosting the highest number ofmillionairesboth per capita and per square mile in the U.S., and the fact that it has the mostscientistsandengineersper square mile in the world. According toHUD's 2022Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 8,752homelesspeople in New Jersey.The top countries of origin for New Jersey's immigrants in 2018 wereIndia,Dominican Republic,Mexico,Ecuador, and thePhilippines. Race and ethnicity New Jersey is one of the most ethnically diverse states in the United States: as of 2022, over one-fifth (21.5%) of its residents are Hispanic or Latino, 15.3% are Black, and one-tenth are Asian. One in four New Jerseyans were born abroad and more than one million (12.1%) are not fully fluent in English. Compared to the U.S. as a whole, the state is more racially and ethnically diverse and has a higher proportion of immigrants. New Jersey is home to roughly half a millionunauthorized immigrants,comprising an estimated 6.2% of the population, which in 2018 was the fifth-highest percentage of any U.S. state.The municipalities of Camden, Jersey City, and Newark are consideredsanctuary citiesfor illegal immigrants. For further information on various ethnoracial groups and neighborhoods prominently featured within New Jersey, see the following articles: New Jersey is one of the most ethnically and religiouslydiversestates in the United States. Nearly one-fourth of New Jerseyans (22.7%) wereforeign born, compared to the national average of 13.5%.As of 2011, 56.4% of New Jersey's children under the age of one belonged to racial or ethnic minority groups, meaning that they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic white.The 2019 Vintage Year Census estimated that the state's ethnic makeup was as follows: 71.9% White alone, 15.1% Black or African American alone, 10.0% Asian alone, 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native alone, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, and 2.3% Two or more races. Hispanic or Latino accounted for 20.9%, while White alone (non-Hispanic or Latino) accounted for 54.6% of the population.Many of the municipalities inBergen County, New Jersey, the state's largest county, have a sizeable minority population of Hispanics and Asians. New Jersey hosts some of the nation's largest communities of religious and ethnic minorities in proportional or absolute terms. It has the second-largestJewishpopulation by percentage (after New York);the largestMuslimpopulation by percentage;the largest population ofPeruviansin the U.S.; the largest population ofCubansoutside Florida; the third-highestAsianpopulation by percentage; and the second highestItalianpopulation,according to the2000 Census. African Americans,Hispanics(Puerto RicansandDominicans),West Indians,Arabs, andBrazilianandPortuguese Americansare also high in number. Overall, New Jersey has the third-largestKoreanpopulation, with Bergen County home to the highest Korean concentration per capita of any U.S. county(6.9% in 2011). New Jersey also has the fourth-largestFilipinopopulation, and fourth-largestChinesepopulation, per the 2010 U.S. Census. New Jersey has the-third highestIndianpopulation of any state by absolute numbers and the highest by percentage,withIndia SquareinJersey City,Hudson Countyhosting the highest concentration of Asian Indians in theWestern Hemisphere.A study by thePew Research Centerfound that in 2013, New Jersey was the only U.S. state in which immigrants born inIndiaconstituted the largestforeign-bornnationality, representing roughly 10% of all foreign-born residents in the state.Central New Jersey, particularlyEdisonand surroundingMiddlesex County, has the highest concentration of Indians, at nearly 20% in 2020;Little Indiais the largest and most diverseSouth Asiancultural hub in the United States.The area includes a sprawlingChinatownandKoreatownrunning alongNew Jersey Route 27.Monroe Townshipin Middlesex County has experienced a particularly rapid growth rate in itsIndian Americanpopulation with an estimated 5,943 (13.6%) as of 2017,which was 23 times the 256 (0.9%) counted at the 2000 Census;Diwaliis celebrated by the township as aHinduholiday. In Middlesex County, electionballotsare printed in English,Spanish,Gujarati,Hindi, andPunjabi.Robbinsville, in neighboring Mercer County, hoststhe world's largestHindu templeoutside Asia.Carteret'sPunjabiSikhcommunity, variously estimated at upwards of 3,000, is the largest concentration of Sikhs in the state.Bergen Countyis home to America's largestMalayalicommunity.fromNew York City (뉴욕), is a growing hub and home toall of the nation's top ten municipalities by percentage of Korean population,led (above) byPalisades Park (벼랑 공원),the municipality with the highestdensityof ethnicKoreansin theWestern Hemisphere. Displaying ubiquitousHangul (한글)signage and known as theKorean village,Palisades Park uniquely comprises a Korean majority (52% in 2010) of its population,with both thehighest Korean-American density and percentageof any municipality in the United States. There are also threestate-recognized tribes, and in 2020, 51,186 identified as being Native American alone, while 96,691 did in combination with one or more other races. Birth data Languages As of 2010, 71.31% (5,830,812) of New Jersey residents age5 and older spoke English at home as aprimary language, while 14.59% (1,193,261) spoke Spanish, 1.23% (100,217) Chinese (which includesCantoneseandMandarin), 1.06% (86,849) Italian, 1.06% (86,486)Portuguese, 0.96% (78,627)Tagalog, andKoreanwas spoken as amain languageby 0.89% (73,057) of the population over the age of five. In total, 28.69% (2,345,644) of New Jersey's population age5 and older spoke amother languageother than English. A diverse collection of languages has since evolved amongst the state's population, given that New Jersey has becomecosmopolitanand is home toethnic enclavesof non-English-speaking communities: Sexual orientation and gender identity New Jersey is anLGBTQ+ friendlystate and is now home to moregay villagesper square mile than any other U.S. state.Same-sex marriage in New Jerseyhas been legally recognized since October 21, 2013, the effective date of a trial court ruling invalidating New Jersey's restriction ofmarriageto persons of different sexes at the time. In September 2013, Mary C. Jacobson, Assignment Judge of theMercer Vicinageof theSuperior Court, ruled that as a result of theU.S. Supreme Court's June 2013 decision inUnited States v. Windsor, theConstitution of New Jerseyrequires the state to recognizesame-sex marriages. Numerousgayborhoodshave emerged in New Jersey, most prominently inJersey City,Asbury Park,Maplewood,Montclair, andLambertville.Trenton, thestate capitalof New Jersey, electedReed Gusciora, its first openly gay mayor, in 2018,and Jennifer Williams, New Jersey's first openlytransgendercity councilmember, in 2022.In June 2018, Maplewood,Essex Countyunveiled permanentrainbow-colored crosswalksto celebrate LGBTQ pride.Rahway,Union County, also unveiled its own rainbow-colored crosswalks in June 2019.In January 2019,New Jersey GovernorPhil Murphysigned legislation mandating LGBTQ+ inclusiveeducational curriculumin schools.In February 2019, New Jersey began allowing aneutral or non-binary genderchoice onbirth certificates. Religion By number of adherents, the largest religious traditions in New Jersey, according to the 2010Association of Religion Data Archives, were theRoman Catholic Churchwith 3,235,290;Islamwith 160,666; and theUnited Methodist Churchwith 138,052.The world'slargest Hindu temple outside Asiais inRobbinsville,Mercer County.In September 2021, the State of New Jersey aligned with the World Hindu Council to declare OctoberHinduHeritage Month. In January 2018,Gurbir Grewalbecame the firstSikh Americanto serve as stateattorney generalin the United States.In January 2019,Sadaf JafferofMontgomerybecame the first femaleMuslim Americanmayor, first femaleSouth Asianmayor, and first femalePakistani-Americanmayor in the U.S.Large numbers of Orthodox Jews are now migrating to New Jersey from New York, due to the latter's higher cost of living. Education As of the 2020–2021 school year, there were 686 operatingdistricts in the state. Of these, 599 weretraditional public schooldistricts and 87 werecharter schooldistricts.TheNJDOEreported a total district enrollment of 1,362,400 students, the lowest total enrollment since the early 2000s, though these figures do not considerhomeschooledstudents or those attendingout-of-state schools.New Jersey public schools emphasizeSTEMsubjects, and New Jersey is home to more scientists and engineers per square mile than anywhere else in the world. Educational standards New Jersey is known for the high quality of its education. In 2024, New Jersey spent more per each public school student than any other U.S. state exceptNew York, amounting to $26,600 spent per pupil;Over 50% of the expenditure is allocated to student instruction. New Jersey is home to private universities includingPrinceton UniversityinPrinceton,Mercer County, one of the world's most prominentresearch universities, featured at the top ofU.S. News & World Report's national university rankings for the ninth consecutive year in 2024 as well as topping comparable lists byForbesandThe Wall Street Journal,and public universities such asRutgers University, headquartered inNew Brunswick,Middlesex County, the state's flagship institution of higher education. In 2014, New Jersey's school systems were ranked at the top of all fifty U.S. states by financial websiteWalletHub.In 2018, New Jersey's overall educational system was ranked second among all states toMassachusettsbyU.S. News & World Report.In 2019, 2020, and 2021,Education Weekalso ranked New Jersey public schools the best of all U.S. states. Nine New Jerseyhigh schoolswere ranked among the top 25 in the U.S. on theNewsweek\\\"America's Top High Schools 2016\\\" list, more than from any other state. In November 2023, GovernorPhil Murphysigned into law legislation eliminating testing for prospective teachers in reading, writing, and math, replacing it with an alternative certification process. Economy TheU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysisestimates that New Jersey'sgross state productin the third quarter of 2022 was $753 billion. Affluence New Jersey'sper capita gross state productroutinely ranks as one of the highest in the United States. In 2020, New Jersey had the highest number ofmillionairesboth per capita and per square mile in the United States, approximately 9.76% of households. The state is ranked second in the nation by the number of places with per capita incomes above national average with 76.4%. Three of New Jersey's counties are among the 20 highest-income U.S. counties. Fiscal policy New Jersey has seventax bracketsthat determinestate income taxrates, which range from 1.4% (for income below $20,000) to 8.97% (for income above $500,000). The standardsales taxrate as of January 1, 2018, is 6.625%, applicable to all retail sales unless specifically exempt by law. This rate, which is comparably lower than that of New York City, often attracts numerous shoppers from New York City, often to suburbanParamus, New Jersey, which has five malls, one of which (theGarden State Plaza) has over 2 million square feet (200,000 m2) of retail space.Tax exemptionsinclude most food items for at-home preparation, medications, most clothing, footwear and disposable paper products for use in the home.There are 27Urban Enterprise Zonestatewide, including sections ofPaterson,Elizabeth, andJersey City. In addition to other benefits to encourage employment within the zone, shoppers can take advantage of a reduced 3.3125%sales taxrate (half the rate charged statewide) at eligible merchants. New Jersey has the highest cumulative tax rate of all 50 states with residents paying a total of $68 billion in state and local taxes annually with a per capita burden of $7,816 at a rate of 12.9% of income.Allreal propertylocated in the state is subject toproperty taxunless specifically exempted by statute. New Jersey does not assess an intangible personal property tax or anestate tax, but it does impose aninheritance tax(which is levied only on heirs who are not direct descendants).In 2023, GovernorPhil Murphysigned into law a new tax-relief program known as StayNJ that will provide for an annual property-tax cut of 50% for those aged 65 and over with incomes below $500,000; the cut will go into effect in January 2026 and be capped at $6,500, but with this cap rising as indexed to the increase in New Jersey's overall property taxes. Federal taxation disparity New Jersey consistently ranks as having one of the highest proportional levels of disparity of any state in the United States, based upon what it receives from the federal government relative to what it gives. In 2015, WalletHub ranked New Jersey the state least dependent upon federal government aid overall and having the fourth lowest return on taxpayer investment from the federal government, at 48 cents per dollar. New Jersey has one of the highest tax burdens in the nation.Factors for this include the large federal tax liability which is not adjusted for New Jersey's higher cost of living andMedicaidfunding formulas. Industries New Jersey's economy is multifaceted, featuring high levels of bothproductivityandretail consumption; the Garden State's economy comprises thepharmaceutical industry,biotechnology,information technology, thefinancial industry,tourism,filmmaking,telecommunications,gambling, food processing, electrical equipment manufacturing, printing, and publishing. New Jersey's agricultural outputs are nursery stock, horses, vegetables, fruits and nuts, seafood, and dairy products.New Jersey ranks second among states inblueberryproduction, third incranberriesandspinach, and fourth inbell peppers,peaches, andhead lettuce.The state harvests the fourth-largest number of acres planted withasparagus.South Jerseyhas become anEast Coast epicenterforlogisticsandwarehouseconstruction. Scientific economy New Jersey has a strongscientific economyand is home to major pharmaceutical and telecommunications firms, drawing on the state's large and well-educated labor pool, including one of the highest concentrations ofengineersand other scientists in the world. There is also a robust service economy in retail sales, education, and real estate, serving residents who work in New York City or Philadelphia.Thomas Edisoninvented the firstelectric light bulbat his home inMenlo Park, Edisonin 1879. New Jersey is also a key participant in therenewable wind industry. New Jersey has more scientists and engineers per square mile than anywhere in the world,and is a global leader inpharmaceuticals,biotechnology,life sciences, andtechnology. Corporate and retail New Jersey hosts numerous business headquarters, including twenty-fourFortune 500companies.ParamusinBergen Countyhas become the top retailZIP code(07652) in the United States, with the municipality generating over US$6 billion in annual retail sales.Several New Jersey counties, includingSomerset(7),Morris(10),Hunterdon(13), Bergen (21), andMonmouth(42), have been ranked among thehighest-income counties in the United States. Shipping, manufacturing, and logistics Shipping is a key industry in New Jersey because of the state's strategic geographic location, thePort of New York and New Jerseybeing the busiest port on the East Coast. ThePort Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminalwas the world's firstcontainer portand today is one of the world's largest. New Jersey's location at the center of theEastern North Americanpopulation belt has made the state a prime hub for the logistics, warehousing, andsupply chainmanagement industries. Themanufacturingeconomy in New Jersey had declined for several decades in the post-Industrial Revolutionera but has since resumed growth. Tourism New Jersey's location at the center of theNortheast megalopolisand its extensive transportation system have put over one-third of all United States residents and many Canadian residents within overnight distance by land. This accessibility to consumer revenue has enabledseaside resortssuch asAtlantic Cityand the remainder of theJersey Shore, as well as the state's other natural and cultural attractions, to contribute significantly to the record 111 million tourist visits to New Jersey in 2018, providing US$44.7 billion in tourism revenue, directly supporting 333,860 jobs, sustaining more than 531,000 jobs overall including peripheral impacts, and generating US$5 billion in state and local tax revenue. Gambling In 1976, areferendumby Jersey voters approvedcasinogambling in Atlantic City, where the first legalized casino opened in 1978.At that time,Las Vegaswas the only other casino resort in the country.Today, several casinos lie along the Atlantic CityBoardwalk, the oldest and longest boardwalk in the world, at5+1⁄2miles (8.9 km) in length.Atlantic City experienced a dramatic contraction in its stature as a gambling destination after 2010, including the closure of multiple casinos since 2014, spurred by competition from the advent of legalized gambling in other northeastern U.S. states. On February 26, 2013, Governor Chris Christie signedonline gamblinginto law.Sports bettinghas become a growing source of gambling revenue in New Jersey, with sportsbooks bringing in almost $12 billion in bets, making over $1 billion in revenue in 2023.Since being legalized across the nation by theU.S. Supreme Courton May 14, 2018, New Jersey led all states in sports betting handle until New York passed them.In September 2022, the lifetime revenue fromonline casinosoperating in New Jersey for the nine years since the industry's launch had surpassed $5 billion. Media Television and film production New Jersey is a growing center forfilmmakingandtelevision production,withmedia companies, enticed by its proximity toManhattan, in conjunction withtax incentives, collectively spending billions of dollars to develop large newstudio facilitiesandsound stagecomplexes.Motion picture technology was developed byThomas Edison, with much of his early work done at hisWest Orangelaboratory.Edison's Black Mariawas the first motion picture studio.America's first motion picture industrystarted in 1907 inFort Leeand the first studio was constructed there in 1909.DuMont LaboratoriesinPassaicdeveloped early sets and made the first broadcast to the private home. A number of television shows and films have been filmed in New Jersey. Since 1978, the state has maintained a Motion Picture and Television Commission to encourage filming in-state.New Jersey has long offered tax credits to television producers. Governor Chris Christie suspended the credits in 2010, but theNew Jersey State Legislaturein 2011 approved the restoration and expansion of the tax credit program. Under bills passed by both the state Senate and Assembly, the program offers 20 percent tax credits (22% inurban enterprise zones) to television and film productions that shoot in the state and meet set standards for hiring and local spending.When Governor Phil Murphy took office, he instated the New Jersey Film & Digital Media Tax Credit Program in 2018 and expanded it in 2020. The benefits include a 30% tax credit on film projects and a 40% subsidy for studio developments. Newspapers Radio stations Television stations New Jersey has severalPBSaffiliates:WNET(13) inNewark,WNJN(50) inMontclair, WNJB (58) inNew Brunswick, WNJS (23) inCamdenand WNJT (52) inTrenton. There are no standard commercialnetwork affiliatesin the state.WMGM-TV(Wildwood) lost its affiliation withNBCin 2014. Viewers in northern New Jersey receiveNew York City marketstations over cable or over the air; southern New Jersey viewers receivePhiladelphia marketstations over cable or over the air. WMGM now affiliates with theTrue Crime Network.WJLP(Middletown) affiliates with the retro networkMeTV. There areTelemundoaffiliates in Fort Lee, Linden and Mount Laurel, andUnivisionaffiliates in Paterson and Vineland. Finance as Wall Street West Jersey City'sHudson River waterfront, fromExchange PlacetoNewport, is known asWall Street Westand has over 13 million square feet ofClass A office space. One third of theprivate sectorjobs in the city are in thefinancial servicessector: more than 60% are in thesecurities industry, 20% are in banking and 8% ininsurance.Jersey City is home to the headquarters ofVerisk AnalyticsandLord Abbett,a privately held money management firm.Companies such asComputershare,ADP,IPC Systems, andFidelity Investmentsalso conduct operations in the city.In 2014,Forbesmagazine moved its headquarters to the district, having been awarded a $27 million tax grant in exchange for bringing 350 jobs to the city over a ten-year period.By the early 2020s, the construction of residentialskyscrapersDowntown made median rental rates in Jersey City amongst the highest of any city in the United States. Natural resources and energy Limited mining activity ofzinc, iron, andmanganesestill takes place in the area in and around theFranklin FurnaceinSussex County. Although New Jersey is home to many energy-intensive industries, its energy consumption is only 2.7% of the U.S. total, and itscarbon dioxide emissionsare 0.8% of the U.S. total. New Jersey's electricity comes primarily from natural gas and nuclear power.New Jersey is seventh in the nation insolar powerinstallations,enabled by one of the country's most favorablenet meteringpolicies andrenewable portfolio standard. The state has more than 140,000 solar installations. Environment Due to past industrial activity, New Jersey has moreSuperfundtoxic waste sites than any other state in the union despite its small geographic size. By 2024, only 35 of New Jersey's Superfund sites (out of about 150 that have been on the EPA's list since the Superfund law was passed in 1980) have been cleaned up. In late 2023, a concern became public aboutPFAs(so-called \\\"forever chemicals\\\") existing in the state's water supplies. Transportation New Jersey's population density and location at the geographic center of theNortheast Megalopolishave rendered it a vital transportation for hub for both passengers and industry. Roadways TheNew Jersey Turnpikeis one of the most prominent and heavily trafficked roadways in the United States. Thistoll road, which overlaps withInterstate 95for much of its length, carries traffic betweenDelawareand New York, and up and down theEast Coastin general. Commonly referred to as simply \\\"the Turnpike\\\", it is known for its numerousrest areasnamed after prominent New Jerseyans. TheGarden State Parkway, or simply \\\"the Parkway\\\", carries relatively more in-state traffic than interstate traffic and runs from New Jersey's northern border to its southernmost tip atCape May. It is the main route that connects theNew York metropolitan areato theJersey Shore. With a total of fifteen travel and six shoulder lanes, theDriscoll Bridgeon the Parkway, spanning theRaritan RiverinMiddlesex County, is the widest motor vehicle bridge in the world by number of lanes as well as one of the busiest. New Jersey is connected to New York City via various key bridges and tunnels. The double-deckedGeorge Washington Bridgecarries the heaviest load of motor vehicle traffic of any bridge in the world, at 102 million vehicles per year, across fourteen lanes.It connectsFort Lee, New Jerseyto theWashington Heightsneighborhood ofUpper Manhattan, and carriesInterstate 95andU.S. Route 1/9across theHudson River. TheLincoln Tunnelconnects toMidtown ManhattancarryingNew Jersey Route 495, and theHolland Tunnelconnects toLower ManhattancarryingInterstate 78. New Jersey is also connected toStaten Islandby three bridges—from north to south, theBayonne Bridge, theGoethals Bridge, and theOuterbridge Crossing. New Jersey hasinterstate compactswith all three of its neighboring states. ThePort Authority of New York and New Jersey, theDelaware River Port Authority(withPennsylvania), theDelaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission(with Pennsylvania), and theDelaware River and Bay Authority(withDelaware) operate most of the major transportation routes in and out of the state. Bridge tolls are collected only from traffic exiting the state, with the exception of the privateDingman's Ferry Bridgeover the Delaware River, which charges a toll in both directions. It is unlawful for a customer to serve themselves gasoline in New Jersey. It became the last remaining U.S. state where allgas stationsare required to sell full-service gasoline to customers at all times in 2016, afterOregon's introduction of restricted self-service gasoline availability took effect. Airports Newark Liberty International Airport(EWR) is one of thebusiest airportsin the United States. Operated by thePort Authority of New York and New Jersey, it is one of the three main airports serving theNew York metropolitan area, along withJohn F. Kennedy International AirportandLaGuardia Airport, which are both in Queens, New York.United Airlinesis the airport's largest tenant, operating an entire terminal (Terminal C) there, which it uses as one of its primaryhubs.FedEx Expressoperates a largecargo terminalat EWR as well. The adjacentNewark Airport railroad stationprovides access toAmtrakandNJ Transittrains along theNortheast Corridor Line. Two smaller commercial airports,Atlantic City International Airportand rapidly growingTrenton-Mercer Airport, also operate in other parts of the state.Teterboro AirportinBergen CountyandMillville Municipal AirportinCumberland Countyaregeneral aviationairports popular withprivateandcorporate aircraftdue to their proximity to New York City and theJersey Shore, respectively. Rail and bus NJ Transitoperates extensive rail and bus service throughout the state. A state-run corporation, it began with the consolidation of several private bus companies inNorth Jerseyin 1979. In the early 1980s, it acquiredConrail's commuter train operations that connected suburban towns to New York City. NJ Transit has12 rail linesthat run through different parts of the state and 165 stations statewide.Most of the lines end at eitherPenn Stationin New York City orHoboken TerminalinHoboken, although some lines serve service to both terminal stations. One line provides service betweenAtlantic CityandPhiladelphia. NJ Transit also operates threelight railsystems in the state. TheHudson-Bergen Light RailconnectsBayonnetoNorth Bergen, throughHobokenandJersey City. TheNewark Light Railis partially underground, and connects downtownNewarkwith other parts of the city and its suburbs,BellevilleandBloomfield. TheRiver LineconnectsTrenton, andCamden. ThePATHis arapid transitsystem consisting of four lines operated by thePort Authority of New York and New Jersey. It linksHoboken,Jersey City,Harrison, andNewarkwith New York City. ThePATCO Speedlineis a rapid transit system that linksCamden Countyto Philadelphia. Both the PATCO and the PATH are two of only five rapid transit systems in the United States to operate 24 hours a day. Amtrakoperates numerous long-distance passenger trains in New Jersey, both to and from neighboring states and around the country. In addition to the Newark Airport connection, other major Amtrak railway stations includeTrenton Transit Center,Metropark, and the historicNewark Penn Station. TheSoutheastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, or SEPTA, has two commuter rail lines that operate into New Jersey. TheTrenton Lineterminates at theTrenton Transit Center, and theWest Trenton Lineterminates at theWest Trenton Rail StationinEwing. AirTrain Newarkis amonorailconnecting the Amtrak/NJ Transit station on the Northeast Corridor to the airport's terminals and parking lots. Some private bus carriers still remain in New Jersey. Most of these carriers operate with state funding to offset losses and state owned buses are provided to these carriers, of whichCoach USAcompanies make up the bulk. Other carriers include private charter and tour bus operators that take gamblers from other parts of New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia, andDelawareto the casino resorts of Atlantic City. Ferries New York Waterwayhas ferry terminals atBelford,Jersey City, Hoboken,Weehawken, andEdgewater, with service to different parts of Manhattan.Liberty Water TaxiinJersey Cityhas ferries fromPaulus HookandLiberty State ParktoBattery Park Cityin Manhattan.Statue Cruisesoffers service from Liberty State Park to theStatue of Liberty National Monument, includingEllis Island.SeaStreakoffers services from theRaritan Bayshoreto Manhattan,Martha's Vineyard, andNantucket. TheDelaware River and Bay Authorityoperates theCape May–Lewes FerryonDelaware Bay, carrying both passengers and vehicles between New Jersey and Delaware as part ofUS 9. The agency also operates theForts Ferry Crossingfor passengers across theDelaware River. TheDelaware River Port Authorityoperates theRiverLink Ferrybetween theCamdenwaterfront andPenn's Landingin Philadelphia. Culture General New Jersey has continued to play a prominent role as a U.S. cultural nexus. Like every state, New Jersey has its owncuisine, religious communities,museums, andhalls of fame. New Jersey is the birthplace of many modern inventions, includingFM radio, the motion picture camera, thelithium battery, thelight bulb,transistors, and the electric train. Other New Jersey creations include: the drive-in movie, the cultivatedblueberry,cranberry sauce, theboardwalk, thezipper, thephonograph,saltwater taffy, thedirigible, theseedless watermelon,thefirst useof asubmarinein warfare, and theice cream cone. Dinersare iconic to New Jersey. The state is home to many diner manufacturers and has over 600 diners, more than any other place in the world. New Jersey is the only state to have never had astate song;as of 2021, it is one of only two states (the other beingMaryland) that are currently without a state song. \\\"I'm From New Jersey\\\" is incorrectly listed on many websites as being the New Jersey state song, but it was not even a contender when the New Jersey Arts Council submitted state song suggestions to theNew Jersey Legislaturein 1996. New Jersey is frequently the target of jokes in American culture,especially from New York City-based television shows, such asSaturday Night Live.AcademicMichael Aaron Rocklandattributes this to New Yorkers' view that New Jersey is the beginning ofMiddle America. TheNew Jersey Turnpike, which runs between two major East Coast cities, New York City and Philadelphia, is also cited as a reason, as people who traverse through the state may only see its industrial zones.Reality television shows likeJersey ShoreandThe Real Housewives of New Jerseyhave reinforced stereotypical views of New Jersey culture,but Rockland citedThe Sopranosand the music ofBruce Springsteenas exporting a more positive image. The \\\"New\\\" in \\\"New Jersey\\\" is often omitted in casual conversation. Cuisine New Jersey is known for several foods developed within the region, includingTaylor Ham(also known aspork roll),sloppy joe sandwiches,tomato pies,salt water taffy, andTexas wieners. Just asNew York City's cuisinehas an influence onNorth Jersey,Philadelphia's cuisineinfluencesSouth Jersey. New Jersey's third-largest industry is food and agriculture just behind pharmaceuticals and tourism. New Jersey is one of the top 10 producers ofblueberries,cranberries,peaches,tomatoes,bell peppers,eggplant,cucumbers,apples,spinach,squash, andasparagusin the United States. Many restaurants in the state offer locally grown ingredients because of this. Campbell's Soup Companyhas been headquartered inCamdensince 1869.Goya Foods, the largestHispanic-owned food company in the United States, operates a corporate headquarters inJersey City.Mars Wrigley Confectionery's US headquarters has been based inHackettstownandNewarksince 2007. Several states with substantial Italian American populations take credit for the development ofsubmarine sandwiches, including New Jersey. Music New Jersey has long been an important origin for bothrockandrapmusic. Prominent musicians from or with significant connections to New Jersey include: Sports New Jersey currently has six teams frommajor professional sports leaguesplaying in the state, although oneMajor League Soccerteam and twoNational Football Leagueteams identify themselves as being from theNew York metropolitan area. Professional sports TheNational Hockey League'sNew Jersey Devils, based inNewarkat thePrudential Center, is the only major leaguesports franchiseto bear the state's name. Founded in 1974 inKansas City, Missouri, as theKansas City Scouts, the team played inDenver, Colorado, as theColorado Rockiesfrom 1976 until the spring of 1982 when naval architect, businessman, andJersey CitynativeJohn J. McMullenpurchased, renamed, and moved the franchise toBrendan Byrne ArenainEast Rutherford'sMeadowlands Sports Complex. While the team was poor to mediocre in Kansas City, Denver, and its first years in New Jersey, qualifying for the playoffs once in the 13 seasons from 1974 to 1987, the Devils ultimately established themselves in late 1980s and early 1990s during the tenure of Hall of Fame president and general managerLou Lamoriello. As of 2023, the Devils have appeared in 23 postseasons in 40 seasons in New Jersey, reaching fiveStanley CupFinals (most recently in2012) and winning it in1995,2000, and2003. The organization is the youngest of the nine \\\"Big Four\\\" major league teams based in New York metropolitan area, ultimately establishing its core following throughout the northern and central portions of the state and carving a place in a media market once dominated by theNew York RangersandIslanderswhich has the distinction of being the only metropolitan area in the country with three major league professional sports teams participating in the same sport. In 2018, thePhiladelphia Flyersrenovated and expanded their training facility, the Virtua Center Flyers Skate Zone, inVoorhees Townshipin the southern portion of the state. TheNew York metropolitan area's twoNational Football Leagueteams, theNew York Giantsand theNew York Jets, play atMetLife StadiuminEast Rutherford'sMeadowlands Sports Complex.Built for about $1.6 billion,the venue is one of the most expensive stadiums ever built.On February 2, 2014, MetLife Stadium hostedSuper Bowl XLVIII. TheNew York Red BullsofMajor League Soccerplay inRed Bull Arena, a soccer-specific stadium inHarrisonacross thePassaic Riverfrom downtownNewark. On July 27, 2011, Red Bull Arena hosted the2011 MLS All-Star Game.New Jersey hosted matches during the1994 FIFA World CupatGiants Stadiumand will be one of 16 cities to host matches during the2026 FIFA World Cup, atMetLife Stadium, which will also host thetournament final. From 1977 to 2012, New Jersey had aNational Basketball Associationteam, theNew Jersey Nets.WNBA'sNew York Libertyplayed in New Jersey from 2011 to 2013 while their primary home arena,Madison Square Gardenwas undergoing renovations.In 2016, thePhiladelphia 76ersof the NBA opened their new headquarters and training facility, the Philadelphia 76ers Training Complex, inCamden. The Meadowlands Sports Complex is home to theMeadowlands Racetrack, one of three majorharness racingtracks in the state. The Meadowlands Racetrack andFreehold Racewayin Freehold are two of the major harness racing tracks in North America.Monmouth Park Racetrackin Oceanport is a popular spot forthoroughbred racingin New Jersey and the northeast. It hosted theBreeders' Cupin 2007, and its turf course was renovated in preparation. Major league sports Minor league sports College sports Major schools New Jerseyans' collegiate allegiances are predominantly split among the three majorNCAA Division Iprograms in the state: theRutgers University(New Jersey's flagship state university)Scarlet Knights, members of theBig Ten Conference; theSeton Hall University(the state's largestCatholicuniversity)Pirates, members of theBig East Conference; and thePrinceton University(the state'sIvy Leagueuniversity)Tigers. The intense rivalry between Rutgers and Princeton athletics began with thefirst intercollegiate football gamein 1869. The schools have not met on the football field since 1980, but they continue to play each other annually in all other sports offered by the two universities. Rutgers, which fields 24 teams in various sports, is nationally known for its football program, with a 6–4 all-timebowlrecord; and its women's basketball programs, which appeared in aNational Finalin 2007. In 2008 and 2009, Rutgers expanded their football home,Rutgers Stadium, now called SHI Stadium, on theBusch Campus. The basketball teams play at theRutgers Athletic CenteronLivingston Campus. Both venues and campuses are inPiscataway, across theRaritan RiverfromNew Brunswick. The university also fields men's basketball and baseball programs. Rutgers' fans live mostly in the western parts of the state andMiddlesex County; its alumni base is the largest in the state. Rutgers' satellite campuses in Camden and Newark each field their own athletic programs—theRutgers–Camden Scarlet Raptorsand theRutgers–Newark Scarlet Raiders—which both compete in NCAADivision III. Seton Hall fields no football team, but its men's basketball team is one of theBig East's storied programs. No New Jersey team has won more games in theNCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, and it is the state's only men's basketball program to reach a modernNational Final. The Pirates play their home games atPrudential Centerin downtownNewark, about 4 miles (6 km) from the university'sSouth Orangecampus. Their fans hail largely from the predominantly Roman Catholic areas of the northern part of the state and theJersey Shore. The annual inter-conference rivalry game between Seton Hall and Rutgers, whose venue alternates between Newark and Piscataway, the Garden State Hardwood Classic, is planned through 2026. Other schools The state's other Division I schools include theMonmouth University Hawks(West Long Branch), theNew Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) Highlanders(Newark), theRider University Broncs(Lawrenceville), and theSaint Peter's University Peacocks and Peahens(Jersey City). Fairleigh Dickinson Universitycompetes in both Division I and Division III. It has two campuses, each with its own sports teams. The teams at the Metropolitan Campus are known as the FDU Knights, and compete in theNortheast Conferenceand NCAA Division I. The college at Florham (FDU-Florham) teams are known as the FDU-Florham Devils and compete in theMiddle Atlantic Conferences' Freedom Conferenceand NCAA Division III. Among the various Division III schools in the state, theStevens Institute of TechnologyDucks have fielded the longest continuously running collegiate men's lacrosse program in the country. 2009 marked the 125th season. High school New Jersey high schools are divided into divisions under theNew Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association(NJSIAA).' Stadiums and arenas Other notable sports venues Government and politics Executive The position of Governor of New Jersey is one of the most powerful in the nation. The governor is elected on a ticket with their lieutenant governor as the only statewide elected executive officials in the state; the governor appoints the entire executive cabinet and judges of the Supreme and Superior Courts.Phil Murphy(D) is thegovernor. The governor's mansion isDrumthwacket, located inPrinceton. Before 2010, New Jersey was one of the few states without alieutenant governor.RepublicanKim Guadagnowas elected the firstlieutenant governor of New Jerseyon the Republican ticket with GovernorChris Christieand took office on January 19, 2010. The position was created as the result of aConstitutional amendmentto theNew Jersey State Constitutionpassed by the voters in 2005. Previously a gubernatorial vacancy would be filled by the president of theNew Jersey State Senateas acting governor, thus directing half of the legislative and all of the executive process. Legislative The current version of theNew Jersey State Constitutionwas adopted in 1947. It provides for abicameralNew Jersey Legislature, consisting of anupper houseSenateof 40 members and alower houseGeneral Assemblyof 80 members. Each of the 40 legislative districts elects one state senator and two Assembly members. Assembly members are elected for a two-year term in all odd-numbered years; state senators are elected in years ending in 1, 3, and7 and thus serve either four- or two-year terms. New Jersey is one of only five states that elects its state officials in odd-numbered years (the others areKentucky,Louisiana,Mississippi, andVirginia). New Jersey holds elections for these offices every four years, in the year following each federal Presidential election year. Judicial TheNew Jersey Supreme Courtconsists of a chief justice and six associate justices. All are appointed by the governor with theadvice and consentof a majority of the membership of the state senate. Justices serve an initial seven-year term, after which they can be reappointed to serve until age 70. Most of the day-to-day work in the New Jersey courts is carried out in the Municipal Court, where simple traffic tickets, minor criminal offenses, and small civil matters are heard. More serious criminal and civil cases are handled by theSuperior Courtfor each county. All Superior Court judges are appointed by the governor with theadvice and consentof a majority of the membership of the state senate. Each judge serves an initial seven-year term and can be reappointed to serve until age 70. New Jersey's judiciary is unusual in that it still has separate courts of law andequity, like its neighborDelawarebut unlike most other U.S. states. TheNew Jersey Superior Courtis divided into Law and Chancery Divisions at the trial level; the Law Division hears both criminal cases and civil lawsuits where the plaintiff's primary remedy isdamages, while the Chancery Division hears family cases, civil suits where the plaintiff's primary remedy is equitable relief, and probate trials. The Superior Court also has anAppellate Division, which functions as the state's intermediateappellate court. Superior Court judges are assigned to the Appellate Division by the Chief Justice. There is also a Tax Court, which is a court of limited jurisdiction. Tax Court judges hear appeals of tax decisions made by County Boards of Taxation. They also hear appeals on decisions made by the director of the Division of Taxation on such matters as state income, sales and business taxes, and homestead rebates. Appeals from Tax Court decisions are heard in the Appellate Division of Superior Court. Tax Court judges are appointed by the governor for initial terms of seven years, and upon reappointment are granted tenure until they reach the mandatory retirement age of 70. There are 12 Tax Court judgeships. Counties New Jersey is divided into 21 counties; 13 date from the colonial era. New Jersey was completely divided into counties by 1692; the present counties were created by dividing the existing ones; most recentlyUnion Countyin 1857.New Jersey was formerly the only state in the nation where elected county officials were called \\\"freeholders\\\". Elected county officials are now called county commissioners as of bill S855 signed by Governor Murphy on August 8, 2020. The county commissioners govern each county as part of its ownBoard of Chosen County CommissionersThe number of county commissioners in each county is determined by referendum, and must consist of three, five, seven or nine members. Depending on the county, the executive andlegislativefunctions may be performed by theBoard of County Commissionersor split into separate branches of government. In 16 counties, the County Commissioners perform both legislative and executive functions on a commission basis, with each commissioner assigned responsibility for a department or group of departments. In the other five counties (Atlantic,Bergen,Essex,HudsonandMercer), there is a directly electedCounty Executivewho performs the executive functions while the commissioners retain a legislative and oversight role. In counties without an Executive, a County Administrator (or County Manager) may be hired to perform day-to-day administration of county functions. Municipalities New Jersey currently has 564 municipalities; the most recent dissolution of a municipality was whenPine Valleymerged intoPine Hillon January 1, 2022. Unlike other states, all New Jersey land is part of a municipality. In 2008, GovernorJon Corzineproposed cutting state aid to all towns under 10,000 people, to encourage mergers to reduce administrative costs.In May 2009, the Local Unit Alignment Reorganization and Consolidation Commission began a study of about 40 small communities in South Jersey to decide which ones might be good candidates for consolidation. Forms of municipal government Starting in the 20th century, largely driven by reform-minded goals, a series of six modern forms of government was implemented. This began with theWalsh Act, enacted in 1911 by theNew Jersey Legislature, which provided for a three- or five-member commission elected on a non-partisan basis. This was followed by the1923 Municipal Manager Law, which offered a non-partisan council, provided for a weak mayor elected by and from the members of the council, and introduced aCouncil-manager governmentstructure with an appointed manager responsible for the day-to-day administration of municipal affairs. TheFaulkner Act, originally enacted in 1950 and substantially amended in 1981, offers four basic plans:Mayor-Council,Council-Manager,Small Municipality, andMayor-Council-Administrator. The act provides many choices for communities with a preference for a strong executive and professional management of municipal affairs and offers great flexibility in allowing municipalities to select the characteristics of its government: the number of seats on the council; seats selected at-large, by wards, or through a combination of both; staggered or concurrent terms of office; and a mayor chosen by the council or elected directly by voters. Most large municipalities and a majority of New Jersey's residents are governed by municipalities with Faulkner Act charters. Municipalities can also formulate their own unique form of government and operate under aSpecial Charterwith the approval of theNew Jersey Legislature. While municipalities retain their names derived from types of government, they may have changed to one of the modern forms of government, or further in the past to one of the other traditional forms, leading to municipalities with formal names quite baffling to the general public. For example, though there are four municipalities that are officially of the village type, none use the village form of government.Loch ArbourandRidgefield Park(now with a Walsh Act form),Ridgewood(now with a Faulkner Act Council-Manager charter) andSouth Orange(now operates under aSpecial Charter) all migrated to other non-village forms. Politics Social attitudes and issues Socially, New Jersey is considered one of the more liberal states in the nation. Polls indicate that 60% of the population are self-described aspro-choice, although a majority are opposed to late trimester andintact dilation and extractionand public funding of abortion.As of 2022, all aspects of reproductive choice (including abortion) are protected by law. In a 2009Quinnipiac University Polling Institutepoll, a plurality supportedsame-sex marriage49% to 43% opposed.On October 18, 2013, theNew Jersey Supreme Courtrendered a provisional, unanimous (7–0) order authorizing same-sex marriage in the state, pending a legal appeal by Governor Chris Christie,who then withdrew this appeal hours after the inaugural same-sex marriages took place on October 21, 2013. New Jersey also has some of the most stringentgun controllaws in the U.S. These include bans onassault firearms, hollow-nose bullets and slingshots. No gun offense in New Jersey is graded less than a felony.BB gunsand black-powder guns are all treated as modern firearms. New Jersey does not recognize out-of-state gun licenses and aggressively enforces its own gun laws. In 2020, the state's voting population passed a public questionthat amended the state constitution to legalizemarijuanaand erase past legal convictions for possession. The measure passed by a two-thirds vote. At the time the measure was enacted, about a dozen other U.S. states had also legalized the sale and possession of marijuana. As of 2024, local governments and municipalities are still in the process of regulating marijuana-related businesses within their jurisdictions. Elections New Jersey is aDemocraticstronghold.New Jersey Democratshave majority control of both houses of theNew Jersey Legislature(Senate, 24–16, and Assembly, 46–34), 9–3 split of the state's twelve seats in theU.S. House of Representatives, and bothU.S. Senateseats. There have been recent Republican governors, however:Christine Todd Whitmanwon election in 1993 and 1997 andChris Christiein 2009 and 2013. In federal elections, the state leans heavily towards theDemocratic Party, having last voted for a Republican for president in 1988. New Jersey was a crucialswing statein the elections of1960,1968, and1992. The last elected Republican to hold a Senate seat from New Jersey wasClifford P. Casein 1979. Newark MayorCory Bookerwas elected in October 2013 to joinRobert Menendezto make New Jersey the first state with concurrently serving black and Latino U.S. senators. The state's Democratic strongholds includeCamden County,Essex County(the state's most Democratic county—it includesNewark, the state's largest city),Hudson County(the second-strongest Democratic county, includingJersey City, the state's second-largest city);Mercer County(especially aroundTrentonandPrinceton),Middlesex County, andUnion County(includingElizabeth, the state's fourth-largest city).Other suburban counties, especiallyBergen CountyandBurlington County, had the majority of votes go to theDemocratic Party. The northwestern and southeastern counties of the state are reliably Republican: Republicans have support along the coast inOcean CountyandCape May Countyas well as in the mountainous northwestern part of the state, especially inHunterdon County,Sussex County, andWarren County. To be eligible to vote in a U.S. election, all New Jerseyans are required to start their residency in the state 30 days prior to an election and register 21 days prior to election day. Capital punishment On December 17, 2007, Governor Jon Corzine signed into law a bill that would eliminate the death penalty in New Jersey. New Jersey was the first state to pass such legislation sinceIowaandWest Virginiaeliminated executions in 1965.Corzine also signed a bill that would downgrade the Death Row prisoners' sentences from \\\"Death\\\" to \\\"Life in Prison with No Parole\\\". Points of interest Boardwalks Many communities along theJersey Shorehave a boardwalk with various attractions, entertainment, shopping, dining, arcades, water parks, and amusement parks. TheAtlantic Cityboardwalk, opened in 1870, as the world's firstboardwalk.At5+1⁄2miles (8.9 km) long, it is also the world's longest and busiest boardwalk. Museums National Park Service areas Entertainment and concert venues Visitors and residents take advantage of and contribute to performances at the numerous music, theater, and dance companies and venues located throughout the state, including: Theme parks See also Notes References External links State government U.S. government Other 40°00′N74°30′W / 40.0°N 74.5°W /40.0; -74.5 (State of New Jersey)\",\n \"Tagalog language Tagalog(/təˈɡɑːlɒɡ/,tə-GAH-log;;Baybayin:ᜆᜄᜎᜓᜄ᜔) is anAustronesian languagespoken as a first language by the ethnicTagalog people, who make up a quarter of the population of thePhilippines, and as asecond languageby the majority. Itsstandardizedform, officially namedFilipino, is thenational languageof the Philippines, and is one of twoofficial languages, alongsideEnglish. Tagalog is closely related to otherPhilippine languages, such as theBikol languages, theBisayan languages,Ilocano,Kapampangan, andPangasinan, and more distantly to other Austronesian languages, such as theFormosan languagesofTaiwan,Indonesian,Malay,Hawaiian,Māori,Malagasy, and many more. Classification Tagalog is aCentralPhilippine languagewithin theAustronesianlanguage family. BeingMalayo-Polynesian, it is related to other Austronesian languages, such asMalagasy,Javanese,Indonesian,Malay,Tetum(of Timor), andYami(of Taiwan).It is closely related to the languages spoken in theBicol Regionand theVisayasislands, such as theBikol groupand theVisayan group, includingWaray-Waray,HiligaynonandCebuano. Tagalog differs from itsCentral Philippinecounterparts with its treatment of theProto-Philippineschwavowel*ə. In mostBikolandVisayanlanguages, this sound merged with/u/and. In Tagalog, it has merged with/i/. For example, Proto-Philippine*dəkət(adhere, stick) is Tagalogdikítand Visayan & Bikoldukót. Proto-Philippine*r,*j, and*zmerged with/d/but is/l/between vowels. Proto-Philippine*ŋajan(name) and*hajək(kiss) became Tagalogngalanandhalík. Adjacent to an affix, however, it becomes/r/instead:bayád(paid) →bayaran(to pay). Proto-Philippine*Rmerged with/ɡ/.*tubiR(water) and*zuRuʔ(blood) became Tagalogtubiganddugô. History The wordTagalogis possibly derived from theendonymtaga-ilog(\\\"river dweller\\\"), composed oftagá-(\\\"native of\\\" or \\\"from\\\") andilog(\\\"river\\\"), or alternatively,taga-alogderiving fromalog(\\\"pool of water in the lowlands\\\"; \\\"rice or vegetable plantation\\\"). Linguists such asDavid ZorcandRobert Blustspeculate that the Tagalogs and other Central Philippine ethno-linguistic groups originated in NortheasternMindanaoor theEastern Visayas. Possible words of Old Tagalog origin are attested in theLaguna Copperplate Inscriptionfrom the tenth century, which is largely written inOld Malay.The first known complete book to be written in Tagalog is theDoctrina Christiana(Christian Doctrine), printed in 1593. TheDoctrinawas written in Spanish and two transcriptions of Tagalog; one in the ancient, then-currentBaybayinscript and the other in an early Spanish attempt at aLatinorthography for the language. Throughout the 333 years of Spanish rule, various grammars and dictionaries were written by Spanish clergymen. In 1610, the Dominican priest Francisco Blancas de San José published theArte y reglas de la lengua tagala(which was subsequently revised with two editions in 1752 and 1832) in Bataan. In 1613, the Franciscan priest Pedro de San Buenaventura published the first Tagalog dictionary, hisVocabulario de la lengua tagalainPila, Laguna. The first substantial dictionary of the Tagalog language was written by theCzechJesuitmissionaryPablo Clainin the beginning of the 18th century. Clain spoke Tagalog and used it actively in several of his books. He prepared the dictionary, which he later passed over to Francisco Jansens and José Hernandez.Further compilation of his substantial work was prepared by P. Juan de Noceda and P. Pedro de Sanlucar and published asVocabulario de la lengua tagalain Manila in 1754 and then repeatedlyreedited, with the last edition being in 2013 in Manila. Among others,Arte de la lengua tagala y manual tagalog para la administración de los Santos Sacramentos(1850) in addition to early studiesof the language. The indigenous poetFrancisco Balagtas(1788–1862) is known as the foremost Tagalog writer, his most notable work being the 19th-centuryepicFlorante at Laura. Official status Tagalog was declared the official language by the first revolutionary constitution in the Philippines, theConstitution of Biak-na-Batoin 1897. In 1935, the Philippine constitution designated English and Spanish as official languages, but mandated the development and adoption of a common national language based on one of the existing native languages.After study and deliberation, the National Language Institute, a committee composed of seven members who represented various regions in the Philippines, chose Tagalog as the basis for the evolution and adoption of the national language of the Philippines.PresidentManuel L. Quezonthen, on December 30, 1937, proclaimed the selection of the Tagalog language to be used as the basis for the evolution and adoption of the national language of the Philippines.In 1939, President Quezon renamed the proposed Tagalog-based national language asWikang Pambansâ(national language).Quezon himself was born and raised inBaler, Aurora, which is a native Tagalog-speaking area. Under the Japanese puppet government duringWorld War II, Tagalog as a national language was strongly promoted; the 1943 Constitution specifying: \\\"The government shall take steps toward the development and propagation of Tagalog as the national language.\\\" In 1959, the language was further renamed as \\\"Pilipino\\\".Along with English, the national language has had official status under the 1973 constitution (as \\\"Pilipino\\\")and the present 1987 constitution (as Filipino). Controversy The adoption of Tagalog in 1937 as basis for a national language is not without its own controversies. Instead of specifying Tagalog, the national language was designated asWikang Pambansâ(\\\"National Language\\\") in 1939.Twenty years later, in 1959, it was renamed by then Secretary of Education,José E. Romero, asPilipinoto give it anationalrather thanethniclabel and connotation. The changing of the name did not, however, result in acceptance among non-Tagalogs, especiallyCebuanoswho had not accepted the selection. The national language issue was revived once more during the1971 Constitutional Convention. The majority of the delegates were even in favor of scrapping the idea of a \\\"national language\\\" altogether.A compromise solution was worked out—a \\\"universalist\\\" approach to the national language, to be calledFilipinorather thanPilipino. The 1973 constitution makes no mention of Tagalog. When a new constitution was drawn up in 1987, it named Filipino as the national language.The constitution specified that as the Filipino language evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages. However, more than two decades after the institution of the \\\"universalist\\\" approach, there seems to be little if any difference between Tagalog and Filipino. Many of the older generation in the Philippines feel that the replacement of English by Tagalog in the popular visual media has had dire economic effects regarding the competitiveness of the Philippines in trade and overseas remittances. Use in education Upon the issuance ofExecutive Order No. 134, Tagalog was declared as basis of the National Language. On April 12, 1940,Executive No. 263was issued ordering the teaching of the national language in all public and private schools in the country. Article XIV, Section 6 of the 1987Constitution of the Philippinesspecifies, in part: Subject to provisions of law and as the Congress may deem appropriate, the Government shall take steps to initiate and sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of official communication and as language of instruction in the educational system. Under Section 7, however: The regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein. In 2009, theDepartment of Educationpromulgated an order institutionalizing a system of mother-tongue based multilingual education (\\\"MLE\\\"), wherein instruction is conducted primarily in a student's mother tongue (one of the various regional Philippine languages) until at least grade three, with additional languages such as Filipino and English being introduced as separate subjects no earlier than grade two. In secondary school, Filipino and English become the primary languages of instruction, with the learner's first language taking on an auxiliary role.After pilot tests in selected schools, the MLE program was implemented nationwide from School Year (SY) 2012–2013. Tagalog is the first language of a quarter of the population of thePhilippines(particularly in Central and Southern Luzon) and the second language for the majority. Geographic distribution In the Philippines According to the 2020 census conducted by thePhilippine Statistics Authority, there were 109 million people living in the Philippines, where the vast majority have some basic level of understanding of the language. The Tagalog homeland,Katagalugan, covers roughly much of the central to southern parts of the island ofLuzon— particularly inAurora,Bataan,Batangas,Bulacan,Cavite,Laguna,Metro Manila,Nueva Ecija,Quezon, andRizal. Tagalog is also spoken natively by inhabitants living on the islands ofMarinduqueandMindoro, as well asPalawanto a lesser extent. Significant minorities are found in the other Central Luzon provinces ofPampangaandTarlac,Ambos Camarinesin Bicol Region, theCordilleracity ofBaguioand various parts ofMindanaoespecially in the island's urban areas. Tagalog is also the predominant language ofCotabato CityinMindanao, making it the only place outside of Luzon with a native Tagalog-speaking majority. It is also the main lingua franca inBangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. According to the 2000 Philippine Census, approximately 96% of the household population who were able to attend school could speak Tagalog;and about 28% of the total population spoke it natively. The following regions and provinces of the Philippines are majority Tagalog-speaking (from north to south): Tagalog speakers are also found in other parts of the Philippines and through its standardized form ofFilipino, the language serves the nationallingua francaof the country. Outside of the Philippines Tagalog serves as the common language amongOverseas Filipinos, though its use overseas is usually limited to communication betweenFilipino ethnic groups. The largest concentration of Tagalog speakers outside the Philippines is found in theUnited States, wherein 2020, theUnited States Census Bureaureported (based on data collected in 2018) that it was the fourth most-spoken non-English language at home with over 1.7 million speakers, behindSpanish,French, andChinese(with figures forCantoneseandMandarincombined). A study based on data from the United States Census Bureau's 2015 American Consumer Survey shows that Tagalog is the most commonly spoken non-English language after Spanish inCalifornia,Nevada, andWashingtonstates. Tagalog is one of three recognized languages inSan Francisco, California, along with Spanish and Chinese, making all essential city services be communicated using these languages along with English.Meanwhile, Tagalog andIlocano(which is primarily spoken in northern Philippines) are among the non-official languages ofHawaiithat its state offices and state-funded entities are required to provide oral and written translations to its residents.Election ballots in Nevada include instructions written in Tagalog, which was first introduced in the2020 United States presidential elections. Other countries with significant concentrations of overseas Filipinos and Tagalog speakers includeSaudi Arabiawith 938,490,Canadawith 676,775,Japanwith 313,588,United Arab Emirateswith 541,593,Kuwaitwith 187,067, andMalaysiawith 620,043. Dialects At present, no comprehensivedialectologyhas been done in the Tagalog-speaking regions, though there have been descriptions in the form of dictionaries and grammars of various Tagalog dialects.Ethnologuelists Manila, Lubang,Marinduque, Bataan (Western Central Luzon),Batangas, Bulacan (Eastern Central Luzon), Tanay-Paete (Rizal-Laguna), andTayabas(Quezon)as dialects of Tagalog; however, there appear to be four main dialects, of which the aforementioned are a part: Northern (exemplified by theBulacandialect), Central (including Manila), Southern (exemplified by Batangas), and Marinduque. Some example of dialectal differences are: Perhaps the most divergent Tagalog dialects are those spoken in Marinduque.Linguist Rosa Soberano identifies two dialects, western and eastern, with the former being closer to the Tagalog dialects spoken in the provinces of Batangas and Quezon. One example is the verb conjugation paradigms. While some of the affixes are different, Marinduque also preserves the imperative affixes, also found in Visayan and Bikol languages, that have mostly disappeared from most Tagalog early 20th century; they have since merged with the infinitive. The Manila Dialect is the basis for the national language. Phonology Tagalog has 21phonemes: 16 of them areconsonantsand 5 arevowels. Native Tagalog words follow CV(C)syllablestructure, though complex consonant clusters are permitted in loanwords. Vowels Tagalog has five vowels, and four diphthongs.Tagalog originally had three vowel phonemes:/a/,/i/, and/u/. Tagalog is now considered to have five vowel phonemes following the introduction of two marginal phonemes from Spanish, /o/ and /e/. Nevertheless, simplification of pairsandis likely to take place, especially in some Tagalog as second language, remote location and working class registers. The fourdiphthongsare/aj/,/uj/,/aw/, and/iw/. Long vowels are not written apart from pedagogical texts, where an acute accent is used:á é í ó ú. The table above shows all the possible realizations for each of the five vowel sounds depending on the speaker's origin or proficiency. The five general vowels are inbold. Consonants Below is a chart of Tagalog consonants. All the stops are unaspirated. Thevelar nasaloccurs in all positions including at the beginning of a word. Loanword variants using these phonemes are italicized inside the angle brackets. Glottal stop is not indicated.Glottal stops are most likely to occur when: Stress and final glottal stop Stressis adistinctive featurein Tagalog. Primary stress occurs on either the final or the penultimate syllable of a word. Vowel lengthening accompanies primary or secondary stress except when stress occurs at the end of a word. Tagalog words are often distinguished from one another by the position of the stress and/or the presence of a final glottal stop. In formal or academic settings, stress placement and the glottal stop are indicated by adiacritic(tuldík) above the final vowel.The penultimate primary stress position (malumay) is the default stress type and so is left unwritten except in dictionaries. Grammar Writing system Tagalog, like other Philippines languages today, is written using the Latin alphabet. Prior to the arrival of the Spanish in 1521 and the beginning of their colonization in 1565, Tagalog was written in anabugida—oralphasyllabary—calledBaybayin. This system of writing gradually gave way to the use and propagation of the Latin alphabet as introduced by the Spanish. As the Spanish began to record and create grammars and dictionaries for the various languages of the Philippine archipelago, they adopted systems of writing closely following the orthographic customs of the Spanish language and were refined over the years. Until the first half of the 20th century, most Philippine languages were widely written in a variety of ways based on Spanish orthography. In the late 19th century, a number of educated Filipinos began proposing for revising the spelling system used for Tagalog at the time. In 1884, Filipino doctor and student of languagesTrinidad Pardo de Taverapublished his study on the ancient Tagalog scriptContribucion para el Estudio de los Antiguos Alfabetos Filipinosand in 1887, published his essayEl Sanscrito en la lengua Tagalogwhich made use of a new writing system developed by him. Meanwhile, Jose Rizal, inspired by Pardo de Tavera's 1884 work, also began developing a new system of orthography (unaware at first of Pardo de Tavera's own orthography).A major noticeable change in these proposed orthographies was the use of the letter ⟨k⟩ rather than ⟨c⟩ and ⟨q⟩ to represent the phoneme/k/. In 1889, the new bilingual Spanish-TagalogLa España Orientalnewspaper, of whichIsabelo de los Reyeswas an editor, began publishing using the new orthography stating in a footnote that it would \\\"use the orthography recently introduced by ... learned Orientalis\\\". This new orthography, while having its supporters, was also not initially accepted by several writers. Soon after the first issue ofLa España,Pascual H. Poblete'sRevista Católica de Filipinabegan a series of articles attacking the new orthography and its proponents. A fellow writer, Pablo Tecson was also critical. Among the attacks was the use of the letters \\\"k\\\" and \\\"w\\\" as they were deemed to be of German origin and thus its proponents were deemed as \\\"unpatriotic\\\". The publishers of these two papers would eventually merge asLa Lectura Popularin January 1890 and would eventually make use of both spelling systems in its articles.Pedro Laktaw, a schoolteacher, published the first Spanish-Tagalog dictionary using the new orthography in 1890. In April 1890, Jose Rizal authored an articleSobre la Nueva Ortografia de la Lengua Tagalogin the Madrid-based periodicalLa Solidaridad. In it, he addressed the criticisms of the new writing system by writers like Pobrete and Tecson and the simplicity, in his opinion, of the new orthography. Rizal described the orthography promoted by Pardo de Tavera as \\\"more perfect\\\" than what he himself had developed.The new orthography was, however, not broadly adopted initially and was used inconsistently in the bilingual periodicals of Manila until the early 20th century.The revolutionary society Kataás-taasan, Kagalang-galang Katipunan ng̃ mg̃á Anak ng̃ Bayan orKatipunanmade use of the k-orthography and the letter k featured prominently on many of its flags and insignias. In 1937, Tagalog was selected to serve as basis for the country'snational language. In 1940, theBalarilâ ng Wikang Pambansâ(English:Grammar of the National Language) of grammarianLope K. Santosintroduced theAbakadaalphabet. This alphabet consists of 20 letters and became the standard alphabet of the national language.The orthography as used by Tagalog would eventually influence and spread to the systems of writing used by other Philippine languages (which had been using variants of the Spanish-based system of writing). In 1987, the Abakada was dropped and replaced by the expanded Filipino alphabet. Baybayin Tagalog was written in anabugida(alphasyllabary) calledBaybayinprior to the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines, in the 16th century. This particularwriting systemwas composed of symbols representing threevowelsand 14consonants. Belonging to theBrahmic familyof scripts, it shares similarities with theOld Kawiscript ofJavaand is believed to be descended from the script used by theBugisinSulawesi. Although it enjoyed a relatively high level of literacy, Baybayin gradually fell into disuse in favor of theLatin alphabettaught by the Spaniards during their rule. There has been confusion of how to use Baybayin, which is actually anabugida, or analphasyllabary, rather than analphabet. Not every letter in the Latin alphabet is represented with one of those in the Baybayin alphasyllabary. Rather than letters being put together to make sounds as in Western languages, Baybayin uses symbols to represent syllables. A \\\"kudlít\\\" resembling an apostrophe is used above or below a symbol to change the vowel sound after its consonant. If the kudlit is used above, the vowel is an \\\"E\\\" or \\\"I\\\" sound. If the kudlit is used below, the vowel is an \\\"O\\\" or \\\"U\\\" sound. A special kudlit was later added by Spanish missionaries in which a cross placed below the symbol to get rid of the vowel sound all together, leaving a consonant. Previously, the consonant without a following vowel was simply left out (for example,bundókbeing rendered asbudo), forcing the reader to use context when reading such words. Example: Latin alphabet Abecedario Until the first half of the 20th century, Tagalog was widely written in a variety of ways based on Spanish orthography consisting of 32 letters called 'ABECEDARIO'(Spanish for \\\"alphabet\\\").The additional letters from the 26-letterEnglish alphabetare: ch, ll, ng, ñ, n͠g / ñg, and rr. Abakada When the national language was based on Tagalog, grammarian Lope K. Santos introduced a new alphabet consisting of 20 letters calledAbakadain school grammar books calledbalarilâ.The only letter not in theEnglish alphabetis ng. Revised alphabet In 1987, theDepartment of Education, Culture and Sportsissued a memo stating that the Philippine alphabet had changed from the Pilipino-Tagalog Abakada version to a new 28-letter alphabetto make room for loans, especially family names from Spanish and English.The additional letters from the 26-letterEnglish alphabetare: ñ, ng. ngandmga Thegenitivemarkerngand the plural markermga(e.g.Iyan angmgadamít ko.(Those are my clothes)) are abbreviations that are pronouncednangandmangá.Ng, in most cases, roughly translates to \\\"of\\\" (ex.Siyá ay kapatídngnanay ko.She is the siblingofmy mother) whilenangusually means \\\"when\\\" or can describe how something is done or to what extent (equivalent to the suffix-lyin English adverbs), among other uses. In the first example,nangis used in lieu of the wordnoong(when;Noongsi Hudas ay madulás). In the second,nangdescribes that the person woke up (gumising) early (maaga);gumising nang maaga. In the third,nangdescribed up to what extent that Juan improved (gumalíng), which is \\\"greatly\\\" (nang todo). In the latter two examples, the ligaturenaand its variants-ngand-gmay also be used (Gumisingnamaaga/Maaganggumising;Gumalíngnatodo/Todonggumalíng). The longernangmay also have other uses, such as aligaturethat joins a repeated word: pô/hôandopò/ohò The wordspô/hôoriginated from the word \\\"Panginoon.\\\" and \\\"Poon.\\\" (\\\"Lord.\\\"). When combined with the basic affirmativeOo\\\"yes\\\" (fromProto-Malayo-Polynesian*heqe), the resulting forms areopòandohò. \\\"Pô\\\" and \\\"opò\\\" are specifically used to denote a high level of respect when addressing older persons of close affinity like parents, relatives, teachers and family friends. \\\"Hô\\\" and \\\"ohò\\\" are generally used to politely address older neighbours, strangers, public officials, bosses and nannies, and may suggest a distance in societal relationship and respect determined by the addressee's social rank and not their age. However, \\\"pô\\\" and \\\"opò\\\" can be used in any case in order to express an elevation of respect. Used in the affirmative: Pô/Hômay also be used in negation. Vocabulary and borrowed words Tagalog vocabulary is mostly of native Austronesian or Tagalog origin, such as most of the words that end with thediphthong-iw, (e.g. giliw) and words that exhibitreduplication(e.g. halo-halo, patpat, etc.). Besides inherited cognates, this also accounts for innovations in Tagalog vocabulary, especially traditional ones within its dialects. Tagalog has also incorporated many Spanish and English loanwords; the necessity of which increases in more technical parlance. In precolonial times,Trade Malaywas widely known and spoken throughoutMaritime Southeast Asia, contributing a significant number of Malay vocabulary into the Tagalog language. Malay loanwords, identifiable or not, may often already be considered native as these have existed in the language before colonisation. Tagalog also includes loanwords fromIndian languages(SanskritandTamil, mostly through Malay),Chinese languages(mostlyHokkien, followed byCantonese,Mandarin, etc.),Japanese,ArabicandPersian. English has borrowed some words from Tagalog, such as abaca, barong,balisong,boondocks,jeepney, Manila hemp,pancit, ylang-ylang, and yaya. Some of these loanwords are more often used inPhilippine English. Tagalog has contributed several words toPhilippine Spanish, likebarangay(frombalan͠gay,meaningbarrio), theabacá,cogon,palay,dalagaetc. Tagalog words of foreign origin Taglish (Englog) TaglishandEnglogare names given to a mix of English and Tagalog. The amount of English vs. Tagalog varies from the occasional use of English loan words to changing language in mid-sentence. Such code-switching is prevalent throughout the Philippines and in various languages of the Philippines other than Tagalog. Code-mixing also entails the use of foreign words that are \\\"Filipinized\\\" by reforming them using Filipino rules, such as verb conjugations. Users typically use Filipino or English words, whichever comes to mind first or whichever is easier to use. Magshoshopping kamí sa mall. Sino ba ang magdadrive sa shopping center? We will go shopping at the mall. Who will drive to the shopping center? Urbanites are the most likely to speak like this. The practice is common in television, radio, and print media as well.Advertisements from companies likeWells Fargo,Wal-Mart,Albertsons,McDonald'sandWestern Unionhave contained Taglish. Cognates with other Philippine languages Comparisons with Austronesian languages Below is a chart of Tagalog and a number of other Austronesian languagescomparingthirteen words. Religious literature Religious literature remains one of the most dynamic components toTagalog literature. The first Bible in Tagalog, then calledAng Biblia(\\\"the Bible\\\") and now calledAng Dating Biblia(\\\"the Old Bible\\\"), was published in 1905. In 1970, the Philippine Bible Society translated theBibleinto modern Tagalog. Even before theSecond Vatican Council, devotional materials in Tagalog had been in circulation. There are at least four circulating Tagalog translations of the Bible When theSecond Vatican Council, (specifically theSacrosanctum Concilium) permitted the universal prayers to be translated intovernacular languages, theCatholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippineswas one of the first to translate theRoman Missalinto Tagalog. TheRoman Missalin Tagalog was published as early as 1982. In 2012, theCatholic Bishops Conference of the Philippinesrevised the 41-year-old liturgy with an English version of the Roman Missal, and later translated it in thevernacularto several native languages in the Philippines.For instance, in 2024, theRoman Catholic Diocese of Malolosuses the Tagalog translation of theRoman Missalentitled \\\"Ang Aklat ng Mabuting Balita.\\\" Jehovah's Witnesses were printing Tagalog literature at least as early as 1941andThe Watchtower(the primary magazine of Jehovah's Witnesses) has been published in Tagalog since at least the 1950s. New releases are now regularly released simultaneously in a number of languages, including Tagalog. The official website of Jehovah's Witnesses also has some publications available online in Tagalog.The revisedbibleedition, theNew World Translation of the Holy Scriptures,was released in Tagalog on 2019and it is distributed without charge both printed andonline versions. Tagalog is quite a stable language, and very few revisions have been made to CatholicBible translations. Also, as Protestantism in the Philippines is relatively young,liturgicalprayers tend to be moreecumenical. Example texts Lord's Prayer In Tagalog, theLord's Prayeris known by itsincipit,Amá Namin(literally, \\\"Our Father\\\"). Amá namin, sumasalangit Ka,Sambahín ang ngalan Mo.Mapasaamin ang kaharián Mo.Sundín ang loób Mo,Dito sa lupà, gaya nang sa langit.Bigyán Mo kamí ngayón ng aming kakanin sa araw-araw,At patawarin Mo kamí sa aming mga salà,Para nang pagpápatawad namin,Sa nagkakasalà sa amin;At huwág Mo kamíng ipahintulot sa tuksô,At iadyâ Mo kamí sa lahát ng masamâ.Amen. Universal Declaration of Human Rights This is Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights(Pangkalahatáng Pagpapahayág ng Karapatáng Pantao) Bawat tao'y isinilang na may layà at magkakapantáy ang tagláy na dangál at karapatán. Silá'y pinagkalooban ng pangangatwiran at budhî, na kailangang gamitin nilá sa pagtuturingan nilá sa diwà ng pagkakapatiran. ᜊᜏᜆ᜔ ᜆᜂᜌ᜔ ᜁᜐᜒᜈᜒᜎᜅ᜔ ᜈ ᜋᜌ᜔ ᜎᜌ ᜀᜆ᜔ ᜋᜄ᜔ᜃᜃᜉᜈ᜔ᜆᜌ᜔ ᜀᜅ᜔ ᜆᜄ᜔ᜎᜌ᜔ ᜈ ᜇᜅᜎ᜔ ᜀᜆ᜔ ᜃᜇᜉᜆᜈ᜔᜶ ᜐᜒᜎᜌ᜔ ᜉᜒᜈᜄ᜔ᜃᜎᜓᜂᜊᜈ᜔ ᜈᜅ᜔ ᜃᜆ᜔ᜏᜒᜇᜈ᜔ ᜀᜆ᜔ ᜊᜓᜇᜑᜒ᜵ ᜈ ᜃᜁᜎᜅᜅ᜔ ᜄᜋᜒᜆᜒᜈ᜔ ᜈᜒᜎ ᜐ ᜉᜄ᜔ᜆᜓᜆᜓᜇᜒᜅᜈ᜔ ᜈᜒᜎ ᜐ ᜇᜒᜏ ᜈᜅ᜔ ᜉᜄ᜔ᜃᜃᜉᜆᜒᜇᜈ᜔᜶ All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Numbers Numbers (mga bilang/mga numero) in Tagalog follow two systems. The first consists of native Tagalog words and the other are Spanish-derived. (This may be compared to other East Asian languages, except with the second set of numbers borrowed from Spanish instead of Chinese.) For example, when a person refers to the number \\\"seven\\\", it can be translated into Tagalog as \\\"pitó\\\" or \\\"siyete\\\" (Spanish:siete). Months and days Months and days in Tagalog are also localised forms of Spanish months and days. \\\"Month\\\" in Tagalog isbuwán(also the word formoon) and \\\"day\\\" isaraw(the word also meanssun). Unlike Spanish, however, months and days in Tagalog are always capitalised. Time Time expressions in Tagalog are also Tagalized forms of the corresponding Spanish. \\\"Time\\\" in Tagalog ispanahónororas. Common phrases Opòorohò(formal/polite form) Hindî pô(formal/polite form) Very informal:Ewan, archaicaywan(closest English equivalent: colloquial dismissive 'Whatever' or 'Dunno') Hindî ko naúunawáan Marunong pô ba kayóng magsalitâ ng Inglés?(polite version for elders and strangers)Marunong ka bang mag-Inglés?(short form)Marunong pô ba kayóng mag-Inglés?(short form, polite version for elders and strangers) *Pronouns such asniyó(2nd person plural) andnilá(3rd person plural) are used on a single 2nd person in polite or formal language. SeeTagalog grammar. Proverbs Ang hindî marunong lumingón sa pinánggalingan ay hindî makaráratíng sa paroroonan. One who knows not how to look back to whence he came will never get to where he is going. Unang kagát, tinapay pa rin.First bite, still bread.All fluff, no substance. Tao ka nang humaráp, bilang tao kitáng haharapin.You reach me as a human, I will treat you as a human and never act as a traitor.(A proverb in Southern Tagalog that has made people aware of the significance of sincerity in Tagalog communities.) Hulí man daw (raw) at magalíng, nakáhahábol pa rin.If one is behind but capable, one will still be able to catch up. Magbirô ka na sa lasíng, huwág lang sa bagong gising.Make fun of someone drunk, if you must, but never one who has just awakened. Aanhín pa ang damó kung patáy na ang kabayò?What use is the grass if the horse is already dead? Ang sakít ng kalingkingan, damdám ng buóng katawán.The pain in the pinkie is felt by the whole body.In a group, if one goes down, the rest follow. Nasa hulí ang pagsisisi.Regret is always in the end. Pagkáhabà-habà man ng prusisyón, sa simbahan pa rin ang tulóy.Theprocessionmay stretch on and on, but it still ends up at the church.(In romance: refers to how certain people are destined to be married. In general: refers to how some things are inevitable, no matter how long you try to postpone it.) Kung 'dî mádaán sa santóng dasalan, daanin sa santóng paspasan.If it cannot be got through holy prayer, get it through blessed force.(In romance and courting:santóng paspasanliterally means 'holy speeding' and is a euphemism forsexual intercourse. It refers to the two styles of courting by Filipino boys: one is the traditional, protracted, restrained manner favored by older generations, which often featuredserenadesand manual labor for the girl's family; the other is upfront seduction, which may lead to a slap on the face or a pregnancy out of wedlock. The second conclusion is known aspikotor what Western cultures would call a 'shotgun marriage'. This proverb is also applied in terms of diplomacy and negotiation.) See also References Further reading External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["List of U.S. state and territory mottos Most of theUnited States' 50 stateshave a statemotto, as do theDistrict of Columbiaand 3 ofits territories. A motto is a phrase intended to formally describe the general motivation or intention of an organization. State mottos can sometimes be found onstate sealsorstate flags. Some states have officially designated a state motto by an act of thestate legislature, whereas other states have the motto only as an element of their seals. The motto of the United States itself isIn God We Trust, proclaimed by Congress and signed into law by PresidentDwight D. Eisenhoweron July 30, 1956.The motto \"E pluribus unum\" (Latinfor 'out of many, one') was approved for use on theGreat Seal of the United Statesin 1782, but was never adopted as the national motto through legislative action. South Carolinahas two official mottos, both which are in Latin.Kentucky,North Dakota, andVermontalso have two mottos, one in Latin and the other in English.All other states and territories have only","have only one motto, except forGuamand theNorthern Mariana Islands, which do not have any mottos.English and Latin are the most-used languages for state mottos, each used by 25 states and territories. Seven states and territories use another language, of which each language is only used once. Eight states and two territories have their mottos on theirstate quarter; thirty-eight states and four territories have their mottos on their state seals. The dates given are, where possible, the earliest date that the motto was used in an official sense. Some state mottos are not official but are on the official state seal; in these cases the adoption date of the seal is given. The earliest use of a current motto is that ofPuerto Rico,Joannes est nomen ejus, granted to the island by the Spanish in 1511. State, federal district and territory mottos See also Notes References External links","New Jersey New Jerseyis a state in both theMid-AtlanticandNortheasternregions of the United States. It is themost densely populatedstate and at the center of theNortheast megalopolis. New Jersey is bordered on its north and east byNew York state; on its east, southeast, and south by theAtlantic Ocean; on its west by theDelaware RiverandPennsylvania; and on its southwest byDelaware BayandDelaware. At 7,354 square miles (19,050 km2), New Jersey is thefifth-smallest state in land area, but with close to 9.3 million residents as of the2020 United States census, it ranks11th in population. The state capital isTrenton, and the state's most populous city isNewark. New Jersey is the only U.S. state in which every county is deemedurbanby theU.S. Census Bureau. New Jersey was first inhabited byPaleo-Indiansas early as 13,000 B.C.E. TheLenapewere the dominantIndigenous groupwhen Europeans arrived in the early 17th century, and they were subdivived into dialectal groups such as the Munsee, in the north, and the Unami and","and the Unami and the Unalachtigo, elsewhere.DutchandSwedishcolonists founded the first European settlements in the state,with theBritishlater seizing control of the region and establishing theProvince of New Jersey, named afterJersey.The colony's fertile lands and relativereligious tolerancedrew a large and diverse population. New Jersey was among theThirteen Coloniesthat supported theAmerican Revolution, hosting severalpivotal battles and military commandsin theAmerican Revolutionary War. New Jersey remained in theUnionduring theAmerican Civil Warandprovidedtroops, resources, and military leaders in support of theUnion Army. After the war, the state emerged as a majormanufacturingcenter and a leading destination for immigrants, helping drive theIndustrial Revolutionin the U.S. New Jersey was the site of many industrial, technological, and commercialinnovations.Many prominent Americans associated with New Jerseyhave proven influential nationally and globally, including in academia, advocacy, business,","advocacy, business, entertainment, government, military, non-profit leadership, and other fields. New Jersey's central location in the Northeast megalopolis helped fuel its rapid growth andsuburbanizationin the second half of the 20th century. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the state's economy has become highly diversified, with major sectors includingbiotechnology,pharmaceuticals,information technology,finance, andtourism, and it has become anAtlantic seaboardepicenter forlogisticsanddistribution. New Jersey remains a major destination for immigrants and is home to one of the world's mostmulticultural populations.Echoing historical trends, the state has increasingly re-urbanized, with growth in cities outpacingsuburbssince 2008. New Jersey is one of the most educated, wealthiest, healthiest, diverse and highly developed states in the U.S. ranking it high in several quality of life metrics.As of 2022, New Jersey had the highest annualmedian household income, at $96,346, of all 50 states.Almost","50 states.Almost one-tenth of all households in the state, or over 323,000, aremillionaires, the highest representation of millionaires among all states.New Jersey'spublic schoolsystem consistently ranks at or among the top of all U.S. states.In 2024, New Jersey was ranked as having the second-healthiest population overall.New Jersey was ranked as the fourth most diverse state in 2024.New Jersey ranks near the top on both theAmerican Human Development Indexand thestandard Human Development Index. According toclimatologyresearch by the U.S.National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, New Jersey has been the fastest-warming state by averageair temperatureover a 100-year period beginning in the early 20th century, which has been attributed to warming of theNorth Atlantic Ocean. History Prehistoric era The pressure of collision betweenNorth AmericaandAfricagave rise to theAppalachian Mountains. Around 18,000 years ago, theIce Ageresulted inglaciersthat reached New Jersey. As glaciers retreated, they left","they left behindLake Passaicalong with rivers,meadows, swamps, andgorges. Since the6th millennium BC,Native Americanpeople have inhabited New Jersey, beginning with theLenape tribe.Scheyichbiis theLenapename for the land that represents present-day New Jersey.The Lenape were severalautonomousgroups that practicedmaizeagriculture in order to supplement their hunting and gathering in the region surrounding theDelaware River, the lowerHudson River, and westernLong Island Sound. The Lenape were divided intomatrilinealclans that were based upon common female ancestors. Clans were organized into three distinctphratriesidentified by their animal sign:Turtle,Turkey, andWolf. They first encountered theDutchin the early 17th century, and their primary relationship with the Dutch and later European settlers was throughfur trade. Colonial era TheDutchwere the firstEuropeansto lay claim to lands in New Jersey. The Dutch colony ofNew Netherlandconsisted of parts of the modernMid-Atlanticstates. Although the European","the European principle ofland ownershipwas not recognized by theLenape,Dutch West India Companypolicy required its colonists to purchase land that they settled. The first to do so wasMichiel Pauw, who established a patron ship calledPavoniain 1630 alongNorth River, that eventually becameBergen.Peter Minuit's purchase of lands along theDelaware Riverestablished the colony ofNew Sweden, that lasted until the Dutch conquered it in 1655. Then the entire region became a territory ofEnglandon June 24, 1664, after an English fleet under command of ColonelRichard Nicollssailed into what is nowNew York Harborand took control ofFort Amsterdam, annexing the entire province. During theEnglish Civil War, theChannel IslandofJerseyremained loyal to the British Crown and gave sanctuary to theKing. In the Royal Square inSt Helier,Charles II of Englandwas proclaimed King in 1649, following the execution of his father,Charles I. North American lands were divided byCharles II, who gave his brother, the Duke of York (laterKing","of York (laterKing James II), the region betweenNew EnglandandMarylandas aproprietary colony(as opposed to aroyal colony). James then granted land between theHudson Riverand theDelaware River(the land that would become New Jersey) to two friends who had remained loyal through theEnglish Civil War:Sir George CarteretandLord Berkeley of Stratton.The area was named theProvince of New Jersey. Since its inception, New Jersey has been characterized byethnic and religious diversity. New EnglandCongregationalistssettled alongsideScots PresbyteriansandDutch Reformedmigrants. While the majority of residents lived in towns with individuallandholdingsof 100 acres (40 ha), a few rich proprietors owned vast estates. EnglishQuakersandAnglicansowned large landholdings. UnlikePlymouth Colony,Jamestownand other colonies, New Jersey was populated by a secondary wave of immigrants who came from other colonies instead of those who migrated directly from Europe. New Jersey remained agrarian and rural throughout the colonial era,","the colonial era, andcommercial farmingdeveloped sporadically. Some townships, such asBurlingtonon the Delaware River andPerth Amboy, emerged as important ports for shipping to New York City and Philadelphia. The colony's fertile lands andtolerant religious policydrew more settlers, and New Jersey's population had increased to 120,000 by 1775. Settlement for the first ten years of English rule took place along theHackensack RiverandArthur Kill. Settlers came primarily from New York and New England. On March 18, 1673, Berkeley sold his half of the colony toQuakersin England, who settled theDelaware Valleyregion as a Quaker colony, withWilliam Pennacting astrusteefor the lands for a time. New Jersey was governed as two distinct provinces,EastandWest Jersey, for 28 years between 1674 and 1702, which were part of theDominion of New Englandfrom 1686 to 1689. In 1702, the two provinces were reunited under aroyal governorrather than aproprietary one.Edward Hyde, titled Lord Cornbury, became the first governor of","first governor of the royal colony. Britain believed that he was an ineffective and corrupt ruler, taking bribes and speculating on land. In 1708, he was recalled to England. New Jersey was then ruled by the governors of New York, but this infuriated the settlers of New Jersey, who accused these governors of favoritism to New York.Judge Lewis Morrisled the case for a separate governor, and was appointed governor byKing George IIin 1738. Revolutionary War era New Jersey was one of theThirteen Coloniesthat revolted against British rule in theAmerican Revolution. TheNew Jersey Constitution of 1776was passed July 2, 1776, just two days before theSecond Continental Congressdeclared American Independence fromGreat Britain. It was an act of theProvincial Congress, which made itself into theState Legislature. To reassure neutrals, it provided that it would become the legislature would disband if New Jersey reached reconciliation with Great Britain. Among the 56Founding Fatherswho signed theDeclaration of","theDeclaration of Independence, five were New Jersey representatives:Richard Stockton,John Witherspoon,Francis Hopkinson,John Hart, andAbraham Clark. During theAmerican Revolutionary War, British and American armies crossed New Jersey numerous times, and several pivotal battles took place in the state. Because of this, New Jersey today is sometimes referred to as \"The Crossroads of the American Revolution\".The winter quarters of theContinental Armywere established in New Jersey twice by GeneralGeorge WashingtoninMorristown, which has been called \"The Military Capital of the American Revolution.\" On the night of December 25–26, 1776, the Continental Army underGeorge Washington crossed the Delaware River. After the crossing, they surprised and defeated theHessian troopsin theBattle of Trenton. Slightly more than a week after victory atTrenton, Continental Army forces gained an important victory by stoppingGeneral Cornwallis'scharges at theSecond Battle of Trenton. By evading Cornwallis's army, the Continental","the Continental Army was able to make a surprise attack onPrincetonand successfully defeated the British forces there on January 3, 1777.Emanuel Leutze's painting ofWashington Crossing the Delawarebecame an icon of the Revolution. Continental Army forces under Washington's command met British forces under GeneralHenry Clintonat theBattle of Monmouthin an indecisive engagement in June 1778. Washington's forces attempted to take the British column by surprise. When the British army attempted to flank the Americans, the Continental Army retreated in disorder. Their ranks were later reorganized and withstood British charges. In the summer of 1783, theContinental Congressmet inNassau HallatPrinceton University, makingPrincetonthe nation's capital for four months. It was there that the Continental Congress learned of the signing of theTreaty of Paris, which ended the war. On December 18, 1787, New Jersey became the third state to ratify theUnited States Constitution, which was overwhelmingly popular in New Jersey","in New Jersey since it prevented New York and Pennsylvania from chargingtariffson goods imported from Europe. On November 20, 1789, New Jersey became the first in the newly formed Union to ratify theBill of Rights. The 1776New Jersey State Constitutiongave the vote to all inhabitants who had a certain level of wealth. This included women and Black people, but not married women because they were not legally permitted to own property separately from their husbands. Both sides, in several elections, claimed that the other side had had unqualified women vote and mocked them for use of petticoat electors, whether entitled to vote or not; on the other hand, both parties passed Voting Rights Acts. In 1807, legislature passed a bill interpreting the constitution to mean universal white malesuffrage, excluding paupers; the constitution was itself an act of the legislature and not enshrined as the modern constitution. 19th century On February 15, 1804, New Jersey became the last northern state toabolishnewslaveryand","enacted legislation that slowly phased out existing slavery. This led to a gradual decrease of the slave population. By theAmerican Civil War's end, about a dozen African Americans in New Jersey were still held in bondage.New Jersey voters eventually ratified the constitutional amendments banning slavery and granting rights to the United States' black population. Industrialization accelerated in the present-dayNorth Jerseyregion of the state following completion of theMorris Canalin 1831. The canal allowed foranthracite coalto be transported from easternPennsylvania'sLehigh Valleyto North Jersey's growing industries inPaterson,Newark, andJersey City. In 1844, the secondstate constitutionwas ratified and brought into effect. Counties thereby became districts for the state senate, and some realignment of boundaries (including the creation ofMercer County) immediately followed. This provision was retained in the 1947 Constitution, but was overturned by theSupreme Court of the United Statesin 1962, by the","1962, by the decisionBaker v. Carr. While the Governorship was stronger than under the 1776 constitution, the constitution of 1844 created many offices that were not responsible to him, or to the people, and it gave him a three-year term, but he could not succeed himself. New Jersey was one of the few Union states (the others beingDelawareandKentucky) to select a candidate other thanAbraham Lincolntwice in national elections, and sided withStephen A. Douglas(1860) andGeorge B. McClellan(1864) during their campaigns. McClellan, a native Philadelphian, had New Jersey ties and formally resided in New Jersey at the time; he later became Governor of New Jersey (1878–81). (In New Jersey, the factions of the Democratic party managed an effective coalition in 1860.) During theAmerican Civil War, the state was led first by Republican governorCharles Smith Olden, then by DemocratJoel Parker. During the course of the war, between 65,000 and 80,000 soldiers from the state enlisted in the Union army; unlike many states,","unlike many states, including some Northern ones, no battle was fought there. In theIndustrial Revolution, cities likePatersongrew and prospered. Previously, the economy had been largely agrarian, which was problematically subject to crop failures and poor soil. This caused a shift to a moreindustrializedeconomy, one based on manufactured commodities such as textiles and silk.InventorThomas Edisonalso became an important figure of the Industrial Revolution, having beengranted 1,093 patents, many of which for inventions he developed while working in New Jersey. Edison's facilities, first atMenlo Parkand then inWest Orange, are considered perhaps the firstresearch centersin the United States. Christie Street in Menlo Park was the first thoroughfare in the world to have electric lighting. Transportation was greatly improved aslocomotionandsteamboatswere introduced to New Jersey. Ironmining was also a leading industry during the middle to late 19th century.Bog ironpits in theNew Jersey Pine Barrenswere among the","among the first sources of iron for the new nation.Mines such as Mt. Hope, Mine Hill, and the Rockaway Valley Mines created a thriving industry. Mining generated the impetus for new towns and was one of the driving forces behind the need for theMorris Canal.Zincmines were also a major industry, especially theSterling Hill Mine. 20th century New Jersey prospered through theRoaring Twenties. The firstMiss America Pageantwas held in 1921 inAtlantic City; theHolland TunnelconnectingJersey CitytoManhattanopened in 1927; and the firstdrive-in moviewas shown in 1933 inCamden. During theGreat Depressionof the 1930s, the state offered begging licenses to unemployed residents,the zeppelin airshipHindenburgcrashed in flames overLakehurst, and theSSMorro Castlebeached itself nearAsbury Parkafter going up in flames while at sea. Through bothWorld Wars, New Jersey was a center for war production, especially naval construction. TheFederal Shipbuilding and Drydock Companyyards in Kearny and Newark and theNew York","and theNew York Shipbuilding Corporationyard in Camden producedaircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, and destroyers.New Jersey manufactured 6.8 percent of total United States military armaments produced duringWorld War II, ranking fifth among the 48 states.In addition,Fort Dix(1917) (originally called \"Camp Dix\"),Camp Merritt(1917),andCamp Kilmer(1941)were all constructed to house and train American soldiers through both World Wars. New Jersey also became a principal location for defense in theCold War. FourteenNike missilestations were constructed for the defense of the New York City andPhiladelphiaareas.PT-109, a motor torpedo boat commanded by Lt. (j.g.)John F. Kennedyin World War II, was built at the Elco Boatworks inBayonne. The aircraft carrierUSSEnterprise(CV-6)was briefly docked at the Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne in the 1950s before she was sent to Kearney to be scrapped.In 1962, the world's first nuclear-powered cargo ship, theNS Savannah, was launched at Camden. In 1951, theNew Jersey","1951, theNew Jersey Turnpikeopened, facilitating efficient travel by car and truck betweenNorth Jerseyandmetropolitan New York, andSouth Jerseyandmetropolitan Philadelphia.Subsequently, in 1957, theGarden State Parkwaywas completed, serving as a diagonal counterpart to the Turnpike, and opening up highway travel along New Jersey's coastal flank betweenBergen Countyin the northeast and theCape May Countypeninsulaat the southeastern tip of New Jersey; in doing so, theJersey Shorebecame readily accessible to millions of residents in the New York metropolitan area. In 1959, Air Defense Command deployed theCIM-10 Bomarcsurface-to-air missiletoMcGuire Air Force Base. On June 7, 1960, anexplosionin a CIM-10 Bomarc missile fuel tank caused an accident and subsequent plutonium contamination. In the 1960s,race riotserupted in many of the industrial cities ofNorth Jersey. The first race riots in New Jersey occurred in Jersey City on August 2, 1964. Several others ensued in 1967, inNewarkandPlainfield.Other","riotsfollowed theassassination of Martin Luther King Jr.in April 1968, just as in the rest of the country. Ariotoccurred inCamdenin 1971. As a result of an order from theNew Jersey Supreme Courtto fund schools equitably, the New Jersey legislature passed an income tax bill in 1976. Prior to this bill, the state had no income tax. 21st century In the early part of the 2000s, twolight railsystems were opened: theHudson–Bergen Light RailinHudson Countyand theRiver LinebetweenCamdenandTrenton. The intent of these projects was to encouragetransit-oriented developmentinNorth JerseyandSouth Jersey, respectively. The HBLR was credited with a revitalization ofHudson CountyandJersey City.Urban revitalization has continued in North Jersey in the 21st century. In 2014, Jersey City's Census-estimated population was 262,146,with the largest population increase of any municipality in New Jersey since 2010,representing an increase of 5.9% from the2010 U.S. census, when the city's population was enumerated at","was enumerated at 247,597.Between2000and2010Newark experienced its first population increase since the 1950s, and by2020had rebounded to 311,549. Geography New Jersey is located at the center of theNortheast megalopolis, the most populated Americanurban agglomeration. It is bordered on the north and northeast byNew York(parts of which are across theHudson River,Upper New York Bay, theKill Van Kull,Newark Bay, and theArthur Kill); on the east by the Atlantic Ocean; on the southwest byDelawareacrossDelaware Bay; and on the west byPennsylvaniaacross theDelaware River. New Jersey is broadly divided into theNorth,Central, andSouth Jerseygeographic regions, although some residents do not consider Central Jersey a region in its own right. Across the regions are five distinct areas divided by natural geography and population concentration. Northeastern New Jersey, often referred to as theGateway Region, lies closest toManhattanin New York City, and up to a million residents commute daily into the city for work, many","city for work, many via public transportation.TheJersey Shore, along the Atlantic Coast in Central and South Jersey, has its own unique natural, residential, and cultural characteristics owing to its location by the ocean. South Jersey represents the southernmost geographical region of thenortheastern United States. TheDelaware Valleyincludes the southwestern counties of the state, which reside within theDelaware ValleysurroundingPhiladelphia. Despite its heavily urban character and a long history ofindustrialization, forests cover roughly 45 percent of New Jersey's land area, or approximately 2.1 million acres (8,500 km2), ranking 31st among the 50 U.S. states and six territories.Northwestern New Jersey, often referred to as theSkylands Region, is more wooded, rural, and mountainous. The chief tree of the northern forests is theoak. TheNew Jersey Pine Barrensis situated in the southern interior of New Jersey and covered extensively by mixedpineandoakforest; its population density is lower than most of the","than most of the state. High PointinMontague Township,Sussex Countyis the state's highest elevation at 1,803 feet (550 m) above sea level. The state's highestprominenceisKitty Ann MountaininMorris County, rising 892 feet (272 m). ThePalisadesare a line of steep cliffs on the west side of theHudson RiverinBergenandHudson Counties. MajorNew Jersey riversinclude theHudson,Delaware,Raritan,Passaic,Hackensack,Rahway,Musconetcong,Mullica,Rancocas,Manasquan,Maurice, andTomsrivers. Due to New Jersey'speninsulargeography, both sunrise and sunset are visible over water from different points on the Jersey Shore. Prominent geographic features Climate The state consists of two climate zones; the southernmost edges of the state have ahumid subtropical climate, while the rest has ahumid continental climate.New Jersey receives between 2,400 and 2,800 hours ofsunshineannually. Summers are typically hot and humid, with statewide average high temperatures of 82–87 °F (28–31 °C) and lows of 60–69 °F (16–21 °C); however,","°C); however, temperatures exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on average 25 days each summer, exceeding 100 °F (38 °C) in some years. Winters are usually cold, with average high temperatures of 34–43 °F (1–6 °C) and lows of 16 to 28 °F (−9 to −2 °C) for most of the state, but temperatures can, for brief periods, fall below 10 °F (−12 °C) and sometimes rise above 50 °F (10 °C). Northwestern parts of the state have significantly colder winters with sub-0 °F (−18 °C) being an almost annual occurrence. Spring and autumn may feature wide temperature variations, with lower humidity than summer. TheUSDA Plant Hardiness Zoneclassification ranges from6 in the northwest of the state, to 7B near Cape May.All-time temperature extremes recorded in New Jersey include 110 °F (43 °C) on July 10, 1936, inRunyon, Middlesex County and −34 °F (−37 °C) on January 5, 1904, inRiver Vale, Bergen County. Average annual precipitation ranges from 43 to 51 inches (1,100 to 1,300 mm), spread uniformly throughout the year. Average snowfall per winter","snowfall per winter season ranges from 10–15 inches (25–38 cm) in the south and near the seacoast, 15–30 inches (38–76 cm) in the northeast and central part of the state, to about 40–50 inches (1.0–1.3 m) in the northwestern highlands, but this often varies considerably from year to year. Precipitation falls on an average of 120 days a year, with 25 to 30 thunderstorms, most of which occur during the summer. During winter and early spring, New Jersey can experiencenor'easters, which are capable of causingblizzardsor flooding throughout the northeastern United States.Hurricanesandtropical storms,tornadoes, and earthquakes are rare; the state was impacted by a hurricane in1903, Tropical StormFloydin1999,andHurricane Sandyin2012, which made landfall in the state with top winds of 90 mph (145 km/h). Climate change Climate change is affecting New Jerseyfaster than much of the rest of the United States.Climatologistsat the U.S.National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationhave concluded that New Jersey has been","New Jersey has been the fastest-warming state by average air temperature over a 100-year period beginning in the early 20th century. Administrative divisions TheU.S. Census Bureaudivides New Jersey's 21 counties into sevenmetropolitan statistical areas, with 20 counties included in either the New York City or PhiladelphiaCombined Statistical Area.Warren Countyis part of the Pennsylvania-basedLehigh Valleymetro area. Counties The 21 counties in New Jersey, listed in order by population (as of the 2020 census) are: Municipalities For its overall population and nation-leading population density, New Jersey has a relative paucity of classic large cities. Thisparadoxis most pronounced inBergen County, the state's most populous county, whose 955,732 residents at the 2020 census inhabited 70 municipalities, of which the most populous isHackensack, with 46,030 residents. Many urban areas extend far beyond the limits of a single large city, as New Jersey municipalities tend to be geographically small; three of the","small; three of the four largest cities in New Jersey by population have under 20 square miles (52 km2) of land area, and eight of the top ten, including all the top five, have a land area under 30 square miles (78 km2). As of the2010 United States census, only four municipalities had over 100,000 residents (although Edison and Woodbridge Township came very close); this number increased to seven by the 2020 census. Demographics Population Residents of New Jersey are most commonly referred to as New Jerseyans or, less commonly, as New Jerseyites. According to the2020 U.S. census, the state had a population of 9,288,994, a 5.7% increase since the2010 U.S. census, which counted 8,791,894 residents.The state ranked eleventh in the country by total population and first in population density, with 1,185 residents per square mile (458 per km2). Historically, New Jersey has experienced one of the fastest growth rates in the country, with its population increasing by double digits almost every decade until 1980;","decade until 1980; growth has since slowed but remained relatively robust until recently. In 2022, the Census Bureau estimated there were 6,262 fewer residents than in 2020, a decline of 0.3% from 2020, related to theCOVID-19 pandemic. New Jersey is the only state where every county is deemedurbanas defined by theCensus Bureau.Most residents live in the counties surroundingNew York City, the nation's largest city,Philadelphia, the nation's sixth-largest city, or along the easternJersey Shore; the extreme southern and northwestern counties are relatively less dense overall. Since the 2000 census, theUnited States Census Bureaucalculated that New Jersey'scenter of populationwas located inEast Brunswick.The state is located in the middle of theNortheast megalopolis, which has more than 50 million residents. As of 2019, New Jersey was thethird highest U.S. statemeasured bymedian household income, behindMarylandandMassachusetts;the state's median household income was over $85,000 compared to the national average","national average of roughly $65,000.Conversely, New Jersey's poverty rate of 9.4% was slightly lower than the national average of 11.4%,and thesixth lowest of the fifty states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. This is attributed to several factors, including the state's proximity to the major economic centers of New York City andPhiladelphia, its hosting the highest number ofmillionairesboth per capita and per square mile in the U.S., and the fact that it has the mostscientistsandengineersper square mile in the world. According toHUD's 2022Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 8,752homelesspeople in New Jersey.The top countries of origin for New Jersey's immigrants in 2018 wereIndia,Dominican Republic,Mexico,Ecuador, and thePhilippines. Race and ethnicity New Jersey is one of the most ethnically diverse states in the United States: as of 2022, over one-fifth (21.5%) of its residents are Hispanic or Latino, 15.3% are Black, and one-tenth are Asian. One in four New Jerseyans were born","Jerseyans were born abroad and more than one million (12.1%) are not fully fluent in English. Compared to the U.S. as a whole, the state is more racially and ethnically diverse and has a higher proportion of immigrants. New Jersey is home to roughly half a millionunauthorized immigrants,comprising an estimated 6.2% of the population, which in 2018 was the fifth-highest percentage of any U.S. state.The municipalities of Camden, Jersey City, and Newark are consideredsanctuary citiesfor illegal immigrants. For further information on various ethnoracial groups and neighborhoods prominently featured within New Jersey, see the following articles: New Jersey is one of the most ethnically and religiouslydiversestates in the United States. Nearly one-fourth of New Jerseyans (22.7%) wereforeign born, compared to the national average of 13.5%.As of 2011, 56.4% of New Jersey's children under the age of one belonged to racial or ethnic minority groups, meaning that they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic","not non-Hispanic white.The 2019 Vintage Year Census estimated that the state's ethnic makeup was as follows: 71.9% White alone, 15.1% Black or African American alone, 10.0% Asian alone, 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native alone, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, and 2.3% Two or more races. Hispanic or Latino accounted for 20.9%, while White alone (non-Hispanic or Latino) accounted for 54.6% of the population.Many of the municipalities inBergen County, New Jersey, the state's largest county, have a sizeable minority population of Hispanics and Asians. New Jersey hosts some of the nation's largest communities of religious and ethnic minorities in proportional or absolute terms. It has the second-largestJewishpopulation by percentage (after New York);the largestMuslimpopulation by percentage;the largest population ofPeruviansin the U.S.; the largest population ofCubansoutside Florida; the third-highestAsianpopulation by percentage; and the second highestItalianpopulation,according to","to the2000 Census. African Americans,Hispanics(Puerto RicansandDominicans),West Indians,Arabs, andBrazilianandPortuguese Americansare also high in number. Overall, New Jersey has the third-largestKoreanpopulation, with Bergen County home to the highest Korean concentration per capita of any U.S. county(6.9% in 2011). New Jersey also has the fourth-largestFilipinopopulation, and fourth-largestChinesepopulation, per the 2010 U.S. Census. New Jersey has the-third highestIndianpopulation of any state by absolute numbers and the highest by percentage,withIndia SquareinJersey City,Hudson Countyhosting the highest concentration of Asian Indians in theWestern Hemisphere.A study by thePew Research Centerfound that in 2013, New Jersey was the only U.S. state in which immigrants born inIndiaconstituted the largestforeign-bornnationality, representing roughly 10% of all foreign-born residents in the state.Central New Jersey, particularlyEdisonand surroundingMiddlesex County, has the highest concentration of Indians, at","of Indians, at nearly 20% in 2020;Little Indiais the largest and most diverseSouth Asiancultural hub in the United States.The area includes a sprawlingChinatownandKoreatownrunning alongNew Jersey Route 27.Monroe Townshipin Middlesex County has experienced a particularly rapid growth rate in itsIndian Americanpopulation with an estimated 5,943 (13.6%) as of 2017,which was 23 times the 256 (0.9%) counted at the 2000 Census;Diwaliis celebrated by the township as aHinduholiday. In Middlesex County, electionballotsare printed in English,Spanish,Gujarati,Hindi, andPunjabi.Robbinsville, in neighboring Mercer County, hoststhe world's largestHindu templeoutside Asia.Carteret'sPunjabiSikhcommunity, variously estimated at upwards of 3,000, is the largest concentration of Sikhs in the state.Bergen Countyis home to America's largestMalayalicommunity.fromNew York City (뉴욕), is a growing hub and home toall of the nation's top ten municipalities by percentage of Korean population,led (above) byPalisades Park (벼랑 공원),the","Park (벼랑 공원),the municipality with the highestdensityof ethnicKoreansin theWestern Hemisphere. Displaying ubiquitousHangul (한글)signage and known as theKorean village,Palisades Park uniquely comprises a Korean majority (52% in 2010) of its population,with both thehighest Korean-American density and percentageof any municipality in the United States. There are also threestate-recognized tribes, and in 2020, 51,186 identified as being Native American alone, while 96,691 did in combination with one or more other races. Birth data Languages As of 2010, 71.31% (5,830,812) of New Jersey residents age5 and older spoke English at home as aprimary language, while 14.59% (1,193,261) spoke Spanish, 1.23% (100,217) Chinese (which includesCantoneseandMandarin), 1.06% (86,849) Italian, 1.06% (86,486)Portuguese, 0.96% (78,627)Tagalog, andKoreanwas spoken as amain languageby 0.89% (73,057) of the population over the age of five. In total, 28.69% (2,345,644) of New Jersey's population age5 and older spoke amother","older spoke amother languageother than English. A diverse collection of languages has since evolved amongst the state's population, given that New Jersey has becomecosmopolitanand is home toethnic enclavesof non-English-speaking communities: Sexual orientation and gender identity New Jersey is anLGBTQ+ friendlystate and is now home to moregay villagesper square mile than any other U.S. state.Same-sex marriage in New Jerseyhas been legally recognized since October 21, 2013, the effective date of a trial court ruling invalidating New Jersey's restriction ofmarriageto persons of different sexes at the time. In September 2013, Mary C. Jacobson, Assignment Judge of theMercer Vicinageof theSuperior Court, ruled that as a result of theU.S. Supreme Court's June 2013 decision inUnited States v. Windsor, theConstitution of New Jerseyrequires the state to recognizesame-sex marriages. Numerousgayborhoodshave emerged in New Jersey, most prominently inJersey City,Asbury Park,Maplewood,Montclair, andLambertville.Trenton,","thestate capitalof New Jersey, electedReed Gusciora, its first openly gay mayor, in 2018,and Jennifer Williams, New Jersey's first openlytransgendercity councilmember, in 2022.In June 2018, Maplewood,Essex Countyunveiled permanentrainbow-colored crosswalksto celebrate LGBTQ pride.Rahway,Union County, also unveiled its own rainbow-colored crosswalks in June 2019.In January 2019,New Jersey GovernorPhil Murphysigned legislation mandating LGBTQ+ inclusiveeducational curriculumin schools.In February 2019, New Jersey began allowing aneutral or non-binary genderchoice onbirth certificates. Religion By number of adherents, the largest religious traditions in New Jersey, according to the 2010Association of Religion Data Archives, were theRoman Catholic Churchwith 3,235,290;Islamwith 160,666; and theUnited Methodist Churchwith 138,052.The world'slargest Hindu temple outside Asiais inRobbinsville,Mercer County.In September 2021, the State of New Jersey aligned with the World Hindu Council to declare","Council to declare OctoberHinduHeritage Month. In January 2018,Gurbir Grewalbecame the firstSikh Americanto serve as stateattorney generalin the United States.In January 2019,Sadaf JafferofMontgomerybecame the first femaleMuslim Americanmayor, first femaleSouth Asianmayor, and first femalePakistani-Americanmayor in the U.S.Large numbers of Orthodox Jews are now migrating to New Jersey from New York, due to the latter's higher cost of living. Education As of the 2020–2021 school year, there were 686 operatingdistricts in the state. Of these, 599 weretraditional public schooldistricts and 87 werecharter schooldistricts.TheNJDOEreported a total district enrollment of 1,362,400 students, the lowest total enrollment since the early 2000s, though these figures do not considerhomeschooledstudents or those attendingout-of-state schools.New Jersey public schools emphasizeSTEMsubjects, and New Jersey is home to more scientists and engineers per square mile than anywhere else in the world. Educational standards New","standards New Jersey is known for the high quality of its education. In 2024, New Jersey spent more per each public school student than any other U.S. state exceptNew York, amounting to $26,600 spent per pupil;Over 50% of the expenditure is allocated to student instruction. New Jersey is home to private universities includingPrinceton UniversityinPrinceton,Mercer County, one of the world's most prominentresearch universities, featured at the top ofU.S. News & World Report's national university rankings for the ninth consecutive year in 2024 as well as topping comparable lists byForbesandThe Wall Street Journal,and public universities such asRutgers University, headquartered inNew Brunswick,Middlesex County, the state's flagship institution of higher education. In 2014, New Jersey's school systems were ranked at the top of all fifty U.S. states by financial websiteWalletHub.In 2018, New Jersey's overall educational system was ranked second among all states toMassachusettsbyU.S. News & World Report.In 2019,","Report.In 2019, 2020, and 2021,Education Weekalso ranked New Jersey public schools the best of all U.S. states. Nine New Jerseyhigh schoolswere ranked among the top 25 in the U.S. on theNewsweek\"America's Top High Schools 2016\" list, more than from any other state. In November 2023, GovernorPhil Murphysigned into law legislation eliminating testing for prospective teachers in reading, writing, and math, replacing it with an alternative certification process. Economy TheU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysisestimates that New Jersey'sgross state productin the third quarter of 2022 was $753 billion. Affluence New Jersey'sper capita gross state productroutinely ranks as one of the highest in the United States. In 2020, New Jersey had the highest number ofmillionairesboth per capita and per square mile in the United States, approximately 9.76% of households. The state is ranked second in the nation by the number of places with per capita incomes above national average with 76.4%. Three of New Jersey's counties are","counties are among the 20 highest-income U.S. counties. Fiscal policy New Jersey has seventax bracketsthat determinestate income taxrates, which range from 1.4% (for income below $20,000) to 8.97% (for income above $500,000). The standardsales taxrate as of January 1, 2018, is 6.625%, applicable to all retail sales unless specifically exempt by law. This rate, which is comparably lower than that of New York City, often attracts numerous shoppers from New York City, often to suburbanParamus, New Jersey, which has five malls, one of which (theGarden State Plaza) has over 2 million square feet (200,000 m2) of retail space.Tax exemptionsinclude most food items for at-home preparation, medications, most clothing, footwear and disposable paper products for use in the home.There are 27Urban Enterprise Zonestatewide, including sections ofPaterson,Elizabeth, andJersey City. In addition to other benefits to encourage employment within the zone, shoppers can take advantage of a reduced 3.3125%sales taxrate (half the","taxrate (half the rate charged statewide) at eligible merchants. New Jersey has the highest cumulative tax rate of all 50 states with residents paying a total of $68 billion in state and local taxes annually with a per capita burden of $7,816 at a rate of 12.9% of income.Allreal propertylocated in the state is subject toproperty taxunless specifically exempted by statute. New Jersey does not assess an intangible personal property tax or anestate tax, but it does impose aninheritance tax(which is levied only on heirs who are not direct descendants).In 2023, GovernorPhil Murphysigned into law a new tax-relief program known as StayNJ that will provide for an annual property-tax cut of 50% for those aged 65 and over with incomes below $500,000; the cut will go into effect in January 2026 and be capped at $6,500, but with this cap rising as indexed to the increase in New Jersey's overall property taxes. Federal taxation disparity New Jersey consistently ranks as having one of the highest proportional levels of","levels of disparity of any state in the United States, based upon what it receives from the federal government relative to what it gives. In 2015, WalletHub ranked New Jersey the state least dependent upon federal government aid overall and having the fourth lowest return on taxpayer investment from the federal government, at 48 cents per dollar. New Jersey has one of the highest tax burdens in the nation.Factors for this include the large federal tax liability which is not adjusted for New Jersey's higher cost of living andMedicaidfunding formulas. Industries New Jersey's economy is multifaceted, featuring high levels of bothproductivityandretail consumption; the Garden State's economy comprises thepharmaceutical industry,biotechnology,information technology, thefinancial industry,tourism,filmmaking,telecommunications,gambling, food processing, electrical equipment manufacturing, printing, and publishing. New Jersey's agricultural outputs are nursery stock, horses, vegetables, fruits and nuts, seafood, and","nuts, seafood, and dairy products.New Jersey ranks second among states inblueberryproduction, third incranberriesandspinach, and fourth inbell peppers,peaches, andhead lettuce.The state harvests the fourth-largest number of acres planted withasparagus.South Jerseyhas become anEast Coast epicenterforlogisticsandwarehouseconstruction. Scientific economy New Jersey has a strongscientific economyand is home to major pharmaceutical and telecommunications firms, drawing on the state's large and well-educated labor pool, including one of the highest concentrations ofengineersand other scientists in the world. There is also a robust service economy in retail sales, education, and real estate, serving residents who work in New York City or Philadelphia.Thomas Edisoninvented the firstelectric light bulbat his home inMenlo Park, Edisonin 1879. New Jersey is also a key participant in therenewable wind industry. New Jersey has more scientists and engineers per square mile than anywhere in the world,and is a global leader","is a global leader inpharmaceuticals,biotechnology,life sciences, andtechnology. Corporate and retail New Jersey hosts numerous business headquarters, including twenty-fourFortune 500companies.ParamusinBergen Countyhas become the top retailZIP code(07652) in the United States, with the municipality generating over US$6 billion in annual retail sales.Several New Jersey counties, includingSomerset(7),Morris(10),Hunterdon(13), Bergen (21), andMonmouth(42), have been ranked among thehighest-income counties in the United States. Shipping, manufacturing, and logistics Shipping is a key industry in New Jersey because of the state's strategic geographic location, thePort of New York and New Jerseybeing the busiest port on the East Coast. ThePort Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminalwas the world's firstcontainer portand today is one of the world's largest. New Jersey's location at the center of theEastern North Americanpopulation belt has made the state a prime hub for the logistics, warehousing, andsupply","andsupply chainmanagement industries. Themanufacturingeconomy in New Jersey had declined for several decades in the post-Industrial Revolutionera but has since resumed growth. Tourism New Jersey's location at the center of theNortheast megalopolisand its extensive transportation system have put over one-third of all United States residents and many Canadian residents within overnight distance by land. This accessibility to consumer revenue has enabledseaside resortssuch asAtlantic Cityand the remainder of theJersey Shore, as well as the state's other natural and cultural attractions, to contribute significantly to the record 111 million tourist visits to New Jersey in 2018, providing US$44.7 billion in tourism revenue, directly supporting 333,860 jobs, sustaining more than 531,000 jobs overall including peripheral impacts, and generating US$5 billion in state and local tax revenue. Gambling In 1976, areferendumby Jersey voters approvedcasinogambling in Atlantic City, where the first legalized casino opened","casino opened in 1978.At that time,Las Vegaswas the only other casino resort in the country.Today, several casinos lie along the Atlantic CityBoardwalk, the oldest and longest boardwalk in the world, at5+1⁄2miles (8.9 km) in length.Atlantic City experienced a dramatic contraction in its stature as a gambling destination after 2010, including the closure of multiple casinos since 2014, spurred by competition from the advent of legalized gambling in other northeastern U.S. states. On February 26, 2013, Governor Chris Christie signedonline gamblinginto law.Sports bettinghas become a growing source of gambling revenue in New Jersey, with sportsbooks bringing in almost $12 billion in bets, making over $1 billion in revenue in 2023.Since being legalized across the nation by theU.S. Supreme Courton May 14, 2018, New Jersey led all states in sports betting handle until New York passed them.In September 2022, the lifetime revenue fromonline casinosoperating in New Jersey for the nine years since the industry's launch","industry's launch had surpassed $5 billion. Media Television and film production New Jersey is a growing center forfilmmakingandtelevision production,withmedia companies, enticed by its proximity toManhattan, in conjunction withtax incentives, collectively spending billions of dollars to develop large newstudio facilitiesandsound stagecomplexes.Motion picture technology was developed byThomas Edison, with much of his early work done at hisWest Orangelaboratory.Edison's Black Mariawas the first motion picture studio.America's first motion picture industrystarted in 1907 inFort Leeand the first studio was constructed there in 1909.DuMont LaboratoriesinPassaicdeveloped early sets and made the first broadcast to the private home. A number of television shows and films have been filmed in New Jersey. Since 1978, the state has maintained a Motion Picture and Television Commission to encourage filming in-state.New Jersey has long offered tax credits to television producers. Governor Chris Christie suspended the","suspended the credits in 2010, but theNew Jersey State Legislaturein 2011 approved the restoration and expansion of the tax credit program. Under bills passed by both the state Senate and Assembly, the program offers 20 percent tax credits (22% inurban enterprise zones) to television and film productions that shoot in the state and meet set standards for hiring and local spending.When Governor Phil Murphy took office, he instated the New Jersey Film & Digital Media Tax Credit Program in 2018 and expanded it in 2020. The benefits include a 30% tax credit on film projects and a 40% subsidy for studio developments. Newspapers Radio stations Television stations New Jersey has severalPBSaffiliates:WNET(13) inNewark,WNJN(50) inMontclair, WNJB (58) inNew Brunswick, WNJS (23) inCamdenand WNJT (52) inTrenton. There are no standard commercialnetwork affiliatesin the state.WMGM-TV(Wildwood) lost its affiliation withNBCin 2014. Viewers in northern New Jersey receiveNew York City marketstations over cable or over the","cable or over the air; southern New Jersey viewers receivePhiladelphia marketstations over cable or over the air. WMGM now affiliates with theTrue Crime Network.WJLP(Middletown) affiliates with the retro networkMeTV. There areTelemundoaffiliates in Fort Lee, Linden and Mount Laurel, andUnivisionaffiliates in Paterson and Vineland. Finance as Wall Street West Jersey City'sHudson River waterfront, fromExchange PlacetoNewport, is known asWall Street Westand has over 13 million square feet ofClass A office space. One third of theprivate sectorjobs in the city are in thefinancial servicessector: more than 60% are in thesecurities industry, 20% are in banking and 8% ininsurance.Jersey City is home to the headquarters ofVerisk AnalyticsandLord Abbett,a privately held money management firm.Companies such asComputershare,ADP,IPC Systems, andFidelity Investmentsalso conduct operations in the city.In 2014,Forbesmagazine moved its headquarters to the district, having been awarded a $27 million tax grant in exchange for","in exchange for bringing 350 jobs to the city over a ten-year period.By the early 2020s, the construction of residentialskyscrapersDowntown made median rental rates in Jersey City amongst the highest of any city in the United States. Natural resources and energy Limited mining activity ofzinc, iron, andmanganesestill takes place in the area in and around theFranklin FurnaceinSussex County. Although New Jersey is home to many energy-intensive industries, its energy consumption is only 2.7% of the U.S. total, and itscarbon dioxide emissionsare 0.8% of the U.S. total. New Jersey's electricity comes primarily from natural gas and nuclear power.New Jersey is seventh in the nation insolar powerinstallations,enabled by one of the country's most favorablenet meteringpolicies andrenewable portfolio standard. The state has more than 140,000 solar installations. Environment Due to past industrial activity, New Jersey has moreSuperfundtoxic waste sites than any other state in the union despite its small geographic size.","geographic size. By 2024, only 35 of New Jersey's Superfund sites (out of about 150 that have been on the EPA's list since the Superfund law was passed in 1980) have been cleaned up. In late 2023, a concern became public aboutPFAs(so-called \"forever chemicals\") existing in the state's water supplies. Transportation New Jersey's population density and location at the geographic center of theNortheast Megalopolishave rendered it a vital transportation for hub for both passengers and industry. Roadways TheNew Jersey Turnpikeis one of the most prominent and heavily trafficked roadways in the United States. Thistoll road, which overlaps withInterstate 95for much of its length, carries traffic betweenDelawareand New York, and up and down theEast Coastin general. Commonly referred to as simply \"the Turnpike\", it is known for its numerousrest areasnamed after prominent New Jerseyans. TheGarden State Parkway, or simply \"the Parkway\", carries relatively more in-state traffic than interstate traffic and runs from New","and runs from New Jersey's northern border to its southernmost tip atCape May. It is the main route that connects theNew York metropolitan areato theJersey Shore. With a total of fifteen travel and six shoulder lanes, theDriscoll Bridgeon the Parkway, spanning theRaritan RiverinMiddlesex County, is the widest motor vehicle bridge in the world by number of lanes as well as one of the busiest. New Jersey is connected to New York City via various key bridges and tunnels. The double-deckedGeorge Washington Bridgecarries the heaviest load of motor vehicle traffic of any bridge in the world, at 102 million vehicles per year, across fourteen lanes.It connectsFort Lee, New Jerseyto theWashington Heightsneighborhood ofUpper Manhattan, and carriesInterstate 95andU.S. Route 1/9across theHudson River. TheLincoln Tunnelconnects toMidtown ManhattancarryingNew Jersey Route 495, and theHolland Tunnelconnects toLower ManhattancarryingInterstate 78. New Jersey is also connected toStaten Islandby three bridges—from north to","north to south, theBayonne Bridge, theGoethals Bridge, and theOuterbridge Crossing. New Jersey hasinterstate compactswith all three of its neighboring states. ThePort Authority of New York and New Jersey, theDelaware River Port Authority(withPennsylvania), theDelaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission(with Pennsylvania), and theDelaware River and Bay Authority(withDelaware) operate most of the major transportation routes in and out of the state. Bridge tolls are collected only from traffic exiting the state, with the exception of the privateDingman's Ferry Bridgeover the Delaware River, which charges a toll in both directions. It is unlawful for a customer to serve themselves gasoline in New Jersey. It became the last remaining U.S. state where allgas stationsare required to sell full-service gasoline to customers at all times in 2016, afterOregon's introduction of restricted self-service gasoline availability took effect. Airports Newark Liberty International Airport(EWR) is one of thebusiest airportsin","airportsin the United States. Operated by thePort Authority of New York and New Jersey, it is one of the three main airports serving theNew York metropolitan area, along withJohn F. Kennedy International AirportandLaGuardia Airport, which are both in Queens, New York.United Airlinesis the airport's largest tenant, operating an entire terminal (Terminal C) there, which it uses as one of its primaryhubs.FedEx Expressoperates a largecargo terminalat EWR as well. The adjacentNewark Airport railroad stationprovides access toAmtrakandNJ Transittrains along theNortheast Corridor Line. Two smaller commercial airports,Atlantic City International Airportand rapidly growingTrenton-Mercer Airport, also operate in other parts of the state.Teterboro AirportinBergen CountyandMillville Municipal AirportinCumberland Countyaregeneral aviationairports popular withprivateandcorporate aircraftdue to their proximity to New York City and theJersey Shore, respectively. Rail and bus NJ Transitoperates extensive rail and bus service","and bus service throughout the state. A state-run corporation, it began with the consolidation of several private bus companies inNorth Jerseyin 1979. In the early 1980s, it acquiredConrail's commuter train operations that connected suburban towns to New York City. NJ Transit has12 rail linesthat run through different parts of the state and 165 stations statewide.Most of the lines end at eitherPenn Stationin New York City orHoboken TerminalinHoboken, although some lines serve service to both terminal stations. One line provides service betweenAtlantic CityandPhiladelphia. NJ Transit also operates threelight railsystems in the state. TheHudson-Bergen Light RailconnectsBayonnetoNorth Bergen, throughHobokenandJersey City. TheNewark Light Railis partially underground, and connects downtownNewarkwith other parts of the city and its suburbs,BellevilleandBloomfield. TheRiver LineconnectsTrenton, andCamden. ThePATHis arapid transitsystem consisting of four lines operated by thePort Authority of New York and New","of New York and New Jersey. It linksHoboken,Jersey City,Harrison, andNewarkwith New York City. ThePATCO Speedlineis a rapid transit system that linksCamden Countyto Philadelphia. Both the PATCO and the PATH are two of only five rapid transit systems in the United States to operate 24 hours a day. Amtrakoperates numerous long-distance passenger trains in New Jersey, both to and from neighboring states and around the country. In addition to the Newark Airport connection, other major Amtrak railway stations includeTrenton Transit Center,Metropark, and the historicNewark Penn Station. TheSoutheastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, or SEPTA, has two commuter rail lines that operate into New Jersey. TheTrenton Lineterminates at theTrenton Transit Center, and theWest Trenton Lineterminates at theWest Trenton Rail StationinEwing. AirTrain Newarkis amonorailconnecting the Amtrak/NJ Transit station on the Northeast Corridor to the airport's terminals and parking lots. Some private bus carriers still remain in","still remain in New Jersey. Most of these carriers operate with state funding to offset losses and state owned buses are provided to these carriers, of whichCoach USAcompanies make up the bulk. Other carriers include private charter and tour bus operators that take gamblers from other parts of New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia, andDelawareto the casino resorts of Atlantic City. Ferries New York Waterwayhas ferry terminals atBelford,Jersey City, Hoboken,Weehawken, andEdgewater, with service to different parts of Manhattan.Liberty Water TaxiinJersey Cityhas ferries fromPaulus HookandLiberty State ParktoBattery Park Cityin Manhattan.Statue Cruisesoffers service from Liberty State Park to theStatue of Liberty National Monument, includingEllis Island.SeaStreakoffers services from theRaritan Bayshoreto Manhattan,Martha's Vineyard, andNantucket. TheDelaware River and Bay Authorityoperates theCape May–Lewes FerryonDelaware Bay, carrying both passengers and vehicles between New Jersey and Delaware as part ofUS","as part ofUS 9. The agency also operates theForts Ferry Crossingfor passengers across theDelaware River. TheDelaware River Port Authorityoperates theRiverLink Ferrybetween theCamdenwaterfront andPenn's Landingin Philadelphia. Culture General New Jersey has continued to play a prominent role as a U.S. cultural nexus. Like every state, New Jersey has its owncuisine, religious communities,museums, andhalls of fame. New Jersey is the birthplace of many modern inventions, includingFM radio, the motion picture camera, thelithium battery, thelight bulb,transistors, and the electric train. Other New Jersey creations include: the drive-in movie, the cultivatedblueberry,cranberry sauce, theboardwalk, thezipper, thephonograph,saltwater taffy, thedirigible, theseedless watermelon,thefirst useof asubmarinein warfare, and theice cream cone. Dinersare iconic to New Jersey. The state is home to many diner manufacturers and has over 600 diners, more than any other place in the world. New Jersey is the only state to have","only state to have never had astate song;as of 2021, it is one of only two states (the other beingMaryland) that are currently without a state song. \"I'm From New Jersey\" is incorrectly listed on many websites as being the New Jersey state song, but it was not even a contender when the New Jersey Arts Council submitted state song suggestions to theNew Jersey Legislaturein 1996. New Jersey is frequently the target of jokes in American culture,especially from New York City-based television shows, such asSaturday Night Live.AcademicMichael Aaron Rocklandattributes this to New Yorkers' view that New Jersey is the beginning ofMiddle America. TheNew Jersey Turnpike, which runs between two major East Coast cities, New York City and Philadelphia, is also cited as a reason, as people who traverse through the state may only see its industrial zones.Reality television shows likeJersey ShoreandThe Real Housewives of New Jerseyhave reinforced stereotypical views of New Jersey culture,but Rockland citedThe Sopranosand the","Sopranosand the music ofBruce Springsteenas exporting a more positive image. The \"New\" in \"New Jersey\" is often omitted in casual conversation. Cuisine New Jersey is known for several foods developed within the region, includingTaylor Ham(also known aspork roll),sloppy joe sandwiches,tomato pies,salt water taffy, andTexas wieners. Just asNew York City's cuisinehas an influence onNorth Jersey,Philadelphia's cuisineinfluencesSouth Jersey. New Jersey's third-largest industry is food and agriculture just behind pharmaceuticals and tourism. New Jersey is one of the top 10 producers ofblueberries,cranberries,peaches,tomatoes,bell peppers,eggplant,cucumbers,apples,spinach,squash, andasparagusin the United States. Many restaurants in the state offer locally grown ingredients because of this. Campbell's Soup Companyhas been headquartered inCamdensince 1869.Goya Foods, the largestHispanic-owned food company in the United States, operates a corporate headquarters inJersey City.Mars Wrigley Confectionery's US","Confectionery's US headquarters has been based inHackettstownandNewarksince 2007. Several states with substantial Italian American populations take credit for the development ofsubmarine sandwiches, including New Jersey. Music New Jersey has long been an important origin for bothrockandrapmusic. Prominent musicians from or with significant connections to New Jersey include: Sports New Jersey currently has six teams frommajor professional sports leaguesplaying in the state, although oneMajor League Soccerteam and twoNational Football Leagueteams identify themselves as being from theNew York metropolitan area. Professional sports TheNational Hockey League'sNew Jersey Devils, based inNewarkat thePrudential Center, is the only major leaguesports franchiseto bear the state's name. Founded in 1974 inKansas City, Missouri, as theKansas City Scouts, the team played inDenver, Colorado, as theColorado Rockiesfrom 1976 until the spring of 1982 when naval architect, businessman, andJersey CitynativeJohn J.","CitynativeJohn J. McMullenpurchased, renamed, and moved the franchise toBrendan Byrne ArenainEast Rutherford'sMeadowlands Sports Complex. While the team was poor to mediocre in Kansas City, Denver, and its first years in New Jersey, qualifying for the playoffs once in the 13 seasons from 1974 to 1987, the Devils ultimately established themselves in late 1980s and early 1990s during the tenure of Hall of Fame president and general managerLou Lamoriello. As of 2023, the Devils have appeared in 23 postseasons in 40 seasons in New Jersey, reaching fiveStanley CupFinals (most recently in2012) and winning it in1995,2000, and2003. The organization is the youngest of the nine \"Big Four\" major league teams based in New York metropolitan area, ultimately establishing its core following throughout the northern and central portions of the state and carving a place in a media market once dominated by theNew York RangersandIslanderswhich has the distinction of being the only metropolitan area in the country with three","country with three major league professional sports teams participating in the same sport. In 2018, thePhiladelphia Flyersrenovated and expanded their training facility, the Virtua Center Flyers Skate Zone, inVoorhees Townshipin the southern portion of the state. TheNew York metropolitan area's twoNational Football Leagueteams, theNew York Giantsand theNew York Jets, play atMetLife StadiuminEast Rutherford'sMeadowlands Sports Complex.Built for about $1.6 billion,the venue is one of the most expensive stadiums ever built.On February 2, 2014, MetLife Stadium hostedSuper Bowl XLVIII. TheNew York Red BullsofMajor League Soccerplay inRed Bull Arena, a soccer-specific stadium inHarrisonacross thePassaic Riverfrom downtownNewark. On July 27, 2011, Red Bull Arena hosted the2011 MLS All-Star Game.New Jersey hosted matches during the1994 FIFA World CupatGiants Stadiumand will be one of 16 cities to host matches during the2026 FIFA World Cup, atMetLife Stadium, which will also host thetournament final. From 1977 to","final. From 1977 to 2012, New Jersey had aNational Basketball Associationteam, theNew Jersey Nets.WNBA'sNew York Libertyplayed in New Jersey from 2011 to 2013 while their primary home arena,Madison Square Gardenwas undergoing renovations.In 2016, thePhiladelphia 76ersof the NBA opened their new headquarters and training facility, the Philadelphia 76ers Training Complex, inCamden. The Meadowlands Sports Complex is home to theMeadowlands Racetrack, one of three majorharness racingtracks in the state. The Meadowlands Racetrack andFreehold Racewayin Freehold are two of the major harness racing tracks in North America.Monmouth Park Racetrackin Oceanport is a popular spot forthoroughbred racingin New Jersey and the northeast. It hosted theBreeders' Cupin 2007, and its turf course was renovated in preparation. Major league sports Minor league sports College sports Major schools New Jerseyans' collegiate allegiances are predominantly split among the three majorNCAA Division Iprograms in the state: theRutgers","state: theRutgers University(New Jersey's flagship state university)Scarlet Knights, members of theBig Ten Conference; theSeton Hall University(the state's largestCatholicuniversity)Pirates, members of theBig East Conference; and thePrinceton University(the state'sIvy Leagueuniversity)Tigers. The intense rivalry between Rutgers and Princeton athletics began with thefirst intercollegiate football gamein 1869. The schools have not met on the football field since 1980, but they continue to play each other annually in all other sports offered by the two universities. Rutgers, which fields 24 teams in various sports, is nationally known for its football program, with a 6–4 all-timebowlrecord; and its women's basketball programs, which appeared in aNational Finalin 2007. In 2008 and 2009, Rutgers expanded their football home,Rutgers Stadium, now called SHI Stadium, on theBusch Campus. The basketball teams play at theRutgers Athletic CenteronLivingston Campus. Both venues and campuses are inPiscataway, across","across theRaritan RiverfromNew Brunswick. The university also fields men's basketball and baseball programs. Rutgers' fans live mostly in the western parts of the state andMiddlesex County; its alumni base is the largest in the state. Rutgers' satellite campuses in Camden and Newark each field their own athletic programs—theRutgers–Camden Scarlet Raptorsand theRutgers–Newark Scarlet Raiders—which both compete in NCAADivision III. Seton Hall fields no football team, but its men's basketball team is one of theBig East's storied programs. No New Jersey team has won more games in theNCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, and it is the state's only men's basketball program to reach a modernNational Final. The Pirates play their home games atPrudential Centerin downtownNewark, about 4 miles (6 km) from the university'sSouth Orangecampus. Their fans hail largely from the predominantly Roman Catholic areas of the northern part of the state and theJersey Shore. The annual inter-conference rivalry game between","game between Seton Hall and Rutgers, whose venue alternates between Newark and Piscataway, the Garden State Hardwood Classic, is planned through 2026. Other schools The state's other Division I schools include theMonmouth University Hawks(West Long Branch), theNew Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) Highlanders(Newark), theRider University Broncs(Lawrenceville), and theSaint Peter's University Peacocks and Peahens(Jersey City). Fairleigh Dickinson Universitycompetes in both Division I and Division III. It has two campuses, each with its own sports teams. The teams at the Metropolitan Campus are known as the FDU Knights, and compete in theNortheast Conferenceand NCAA Division I. The college at Florham (FDU-Florham) teams are known as the FDU-Florham Devils and compete in theMiddle Atlantic Conferences' Freedom Conferenceand NCAA Division III. Among the various Division III schools in the state, theStevens Institute of TechnologyDucks have fielded the longest continuously running collegiate men's lacrosse","men's lacrosse program in the country. 2009 marked the 125th season. High school New Jersey high schools are divided into divisions under theNew Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association(NJSIAA).' Stadiums and arenas Other notable sports venues Government and politics Executive The position of Governor of New Jersey is one of the most powerful in the nation. The governor is elected on a ticket with their lieutenant governor as the only statewide elected executive officials in the state; the governor appoints the entire executive cabinet and judges of the Supreme and Superior Courts.Phil Murphy(D) is thegovernor. The governor's mansion isDrumthwacket, located inPrinceton. Before 2010, New Jersey was one of the few states without alieutenant governor.RepublicanKim Guadagnowas elected the firstlieutenant governor of New Jerseyon the Republican ticket with GovernorChris Christieand took office on January 19, 2010. The position was created as the result of aConstitutional amendmentto theNew Jersey State","theNew Jersey State Constitutionpassed by the voters in 2005. Previously a gubernatorial vacancy would be filled by the president of theNew Jersey State Senateas acting governor, thus directing half of the legislative and all of the executive process. Legislative The current version of theNew Jersey State Constitutionwas adopted in 1947. It provides for abicameralNew Jersey Legislature, consisting of anupper houseSenateof 40 members and alower houseGeneral Assemblyof 80 members. Each of the 40 legislative districts elects one state senator and two Assembly members. Assembly members are elected for a two-year term in all odd-numbered years; state senators are elected in years ending in 1, 3, and7 and thus serve either four- or two-year terms. New Jersey is one of only five states that elects its state officials in odd-numbered years (the others areKentucky,Louisiana,Mississippi, andVirginia). New Jersey holds elections for these offices every four years, in the year following each federal Presidential","Presidential election year. Judicial TheNew Jersey Supreme Courtconsists of a chief justice and six associate justices. All are appointed by the governor with theadvice and consentof a majority of the membership of the state senate. Justices serve an initial seven-year term, after which they can be reappointed to serve until age 70. Most of the day-to-day work in the New Jersey courts is carried out in the Municipal Court, where simple traffic tickets, minor criminal offenses, and small civil matters are heard. More serious criminal and civil cases are handled by theSuperior Courtfor each county. All Superior Court judges are appointed by the governor with theadvice and consentof a majority of the membership of the state senate. Each judge serves an initial seven-year term and can be reappointed to serve until age 70. New Jersey's judiciary is unusual in that it still has separate courts of law andequity, like its neighborDelawarebut unlike most other U.S. states. TheNew Jersey Superior Courtis divided into","divided into Law and Chancery Divisions at the trial level; the Law Division hears both criminal cases and civil lawsuits where the plaintiff's primary remedy isdamages, while the Chancery Division hears family cases, civil suits where the plaintiff's primary remedy is equitable relief, and probate trials. The Superior Court also has anAppellate Division, which functions as the state's intermediateappellate court. Superior Court judges are assigned to the Appellate Division by the Chief Justice. There is also a Tax Court, which is a court of limited jurisdiction. Tax Court judges hear appeals of tax decisions made by County Boards of Taxation. They also hear appeals on decisions made by the director of the Division of Taxation on such matters as state income, sales and business taxes, and homestead rebates. Appeals from Tax Court decisions are heard in the Appellate Division of Superior Court. Tax Court judges are appointed by the governor for initial terms of seven years, and upon reappointment are granted","are granted tenure until they reach the mandatory retirement age of 70. There are 12 Tax Court judgeships. Counties New Jersey is divided into 21 counties; 13 date from the colonial era. New Jersey was completely divided into counties by 1692; the present counties were created by dividing the existing ones; most recentlyUnion Countyin 1857.New Jersey was formerly the only state in the nation where elected county officials were called \"freeholders\". Elected county officials are now called county commissioners as of bill S855 signed by Governor Murphy on August 8, 2020. The county commissioners govern each county as part of its ownBoard of Chosen County CommissionersThe number of county commissioners in each county is determined by referendum, and must consist of three, five, seven or nine members. Depending on the county, the executive andlegislativefunctions may be performed by theBoard of County Commissionersor split into separate branches of government. In 16 counties, the County Commissioners perform both","perform both legislative and executive functions on a commission basis, with each commissioner assigned responsibility for a department or group of departments. In the other five counties (Atlantic,Bergen,Essex,HudsonandMercer), there is a directly electedCounty Executivewho performs the executive functions while the commissioners retain a legislative and oversight role. In counties without an Executive, a County Administrator (or County Manager) may be hired to perform day-to-day administration of county functions. Municipalities New Jersey currently has 564 municipalities; the most recent dissolution of a municipality was whenPine Valleymerged intoPine Hillon January 1, 2022. Unlike other states, all New Jersey land is part of a municipality. In 2008, GovernorJon Corzineproposed cutting state aid to all towns under 10,000 people, to encourage mergers to reduce administrative costs.In May 2009, the Local Unit Alignment Reorganization and Consolidation Commission began a study of about 40 small communities","small communities in South Jersey to decide which ones might be good candidates for consolidation. Forms of municipal government Starting in the 20th century, largely driven by reform-minded goals, a series of six modern forms of government was implemented. This began with theWalsh Act, enacted in 1911 by theNew Jersey Legislature, which provided for a three- or five-member commission elected on a non-partisan basis. This was followed by the1923 Municipal Manager Law, which offered a non-partisan council, provided for a weak mayor elected by and from the members of the council, and introduced aCouncil-manager governmentstructure with an appointed manager responsible for the day-to-day administration of municipal affairs. TheFaulkner Act, originally enacted in 1950 and substantially amended in 1981, offers four basic plans:Mayor-Council,Council-Manager,Small Municipality, andMayor-Council-Administrator. The act provides many choices for communities with a preference for a strong executive and professional","and professional management of municipal affairs and offers great flexibility in allowing municipalities to select the characteristics of its government: the number of seats on the council; seats selected at-large, by wards, or through a combination of both; staggered or concurrent terms of office; and a mayor chosen by the council or elected directly by voters. Most large municipalities and a majority of New Jersey's residents are governed by municipalities with Faulkner Act charters. Municipalities can also formulate their own unique form of government and operate under aSpecial Charterwith the approval of theNew Jersey Legislature. While municipalities retain their names derived from types of government, they may have changed to one of the modern forms of government, or further in the past to one of the other traditional forms, leading to municipalities with formal names quite baffling to the general public. For example, though there are four municipalities that are officially of the village type, none","village type, none use the village form of government.Loch ArbourandRidgefield Park(now with a Walsh Act form),Ridgewood(now with a Faulkner Act Council-Manager charter) andSouth Orange(now operates under aSpecial Charter) all migrated to other non-village forms. Politics Social attitudes and issues Socially, New Jersey is considered one of the more liberal states in the nation. Polls indicate that 60% of the population are self-described aspro-choice, although a majority are opposed to late trimester andintact dilation and extractionand public funding of abortion.As of 2022, all aspects of reproductive choice (including abortion) are protected by law. In a 2009Quinnipiac University Polling Institutepoll, a plurality supportedsame-sex marriage49% to 43% opposed.On October 18, 2013, theNew Jersey Supreme Courtrendered a provisional, unanimous (7–0) order authorizing same-sex marriage in the state, pending a legal appeal by Governor Chris Christie,who then withdrew this appeal hours after the inaugural","after the inaugural same-sex marriages took place on October 21, 2013. New Jersey also has some of the most stringentgun controllaws in the U.S. These include bans onassault firearms, hollow-nose bullets and slingshots. No gun offense in New Jersey is graded less than a felony.BB gunsand black-powder guns are all treated as modern firearms. New Jersey does not recognize out-of-state gun licenses and aggressively enforces its own gun laws. In 2020, the state's voting population passed a public questionthat amended the state constitution to legalizemarijuanaand erase past legal convictions for possession. The measure passed by a two-thirds vote. At the time the measure was enacted, about a dozen other U.S. states had also legalized the sale and possession of marijuana. As of 2024, local governments and municipalities are still in the process of regulating marijuana-related businesses within their jurisdictions. Elections New Jersey is aDemocraticstronghold.New Jersey Democratshave majority control of both","control of both houses of theNew Jersey Legislature(Senate, 24–16, and Assembly, 46–34), 9–3 split of the state's twelve seats in theU.S. House of Representatives, and bothU.S. Senateseats. There have been recent Republican governors, however:Christine Todd Whitmanwon election in 1993 and 1997 andChris Christiein 2009 and 2013. In federal elections, the state leans heavily towards theDemocratic Party, having last voted for a Republican for president in 1988. New Jersey was a crucialswing statein the elections of1960,1968, and1992. The last elected Republican to hold a Senate seat from New Jersey wasClifford P. Casein 1979. Newark MayorCory Bookerwas elected in October 2013 to joinRobert Menendezto make New Jersey the first state with concurrently serving black and Latino U.S. senators. The state's Democratic strongholds includeCamden County,Essex County(the state's most Democratic county—it includesNewark, the state's largest city),Hudson County(the second-strongest Democratic county, includingJersey City,","City, the state's second-largest city);Mercer County(especially aroundTrentonandPrinceton),Middlesex County, andUnion County(includingElizabeth, the state's fourth-largest city).Other suburban counties, especiallyBergen CountyandBurlington County, had the majority of votes go to theDemocratic Party. The northwestern and southeastern counties of the state are reliably Republican: Republicans have support along the coast inOcean CountyandCape May Countyas well as in the mountainous northwestern part of the state, especially inHunterdon County,Sussex County, andWarren County. To be eligible to vote in a U.S. election, all New Jerseyans are required to start their residency in the state 30 days prior to an election and register 21 days prior to election day. Capital punishment On December 17, 2007, Governor Jon Corzine signed into law a bill that would eliminate the death penalty in New Jersey. New Jersey was the first state to pass such legislation sinceIowaandWest Virginiaeliminated executions in 1965.Corzine","in 1965.Corzine also signed a bill that would downgrade the Death Row prisoners' sentences from \"Death\" to \"Life in Prison with No Parole\". Points of interest Boardwalks Many communities along theJersey Shorehave a boardwalk with various attractions, entertainment, shopping, dining, arcades, water parks, and amusement parks. TheAtlantic Cityboardwalk, opened in 1870, as the world's firstboardwalk.At5+1⁄2miles (8.9 km) long, it is also the world's longest and busiest boardwalk. Museums National Park Service areas Entertainment and concert venues Visitors and residents take advantage of and contribute to performances at the numerous music, theater, and dance companies and venues located throughout the state, including: Theme parks See also Notes References External links State government U.S. government Other 40°00′N74°30′W / 40.0°N 74.5°W /40.0; -74.5 (State of New Jersey)","Tagalog language Tagalog(/təˈɡɑːlɒɡ/,tə-GAH-log;;Baybayin:ᜆᜄᜎᜓᜄ᜔) is anAustronesian languagespoken as a first language by the ethnicTagalog people, who make up a quarter of the population of thePhilippines, and as asecond languageby the majority. Itsstandardizedform, officially namedFilipino, is thenational languageof the Philippines, and is one of twoofficial languages, alongsideEnglish. Tagalog is closely related to otherPhilippine languages, such as theBikol languages, theBisayan languages,Ilocano,Kapampangan, andPangasinan, and more distantly to other Austronesian languages, such as theFormosan languagesofTaiwan,Indonesian,Malay,Hawaiian,Māori,Malagasy, and many more. Classification Tagalog is aCentralPhilippine languagewithin theAustronesianlanguage family. BeingMalayo-Polynesian, it is related to other Austronesian languages, such asMalagasy,Javanese,Indonesian,Malay,Tetum(of Timor), andYami(of Taiwan).It is closely related to the languages spoken in theBicol Regionand theVisayasislands, such as","such as theBikol groupand theVisayan group, includingWaray-Waray,HiligaynonandCebuano. Tagalog differs from itsCentral Philippinecounterparts with its treatment of theProto-Philippineschwavowel*ə. In mostBikolandVisayanlanguages, this sound merged with/u/and. In Tagalog, it has merged with/i/. For example, Proto-Philippine*dəkət(adhere, stick) is Tagalogdikítand Visayan & Bikoldukót. Proto-Philippine*r,*j, and*zmerged with/d/but is/l/between vowels. Proto-Philippine*ŋajan(name) and*hajək(kiss) became Tagalogngalanandhalík. Adjacent to an affix, however, it becomes/r/instead:bayád(paid) →bayaran(to pay). Proto-Philippine*Rmerged with/ɡ/.*tubiR(water) and*zuRuʔ(blood) became Tagalogtubiganddugô. History The wordTagalogis possibly derived from theendonymtaga-ilog(\"river dweller\"), composed oftagá-(\"native of\" or \"from\") andilog(\"river\"), or alternatively,taga-alogderiving fromalog(\"pool of water in the lowlands\"; \"rice or vegetable plantation\"). Linguists such asDavid ZorcandRobert Blustspeculate that the","that the Tagalogs and other Central Philippine ethno-linguistic groups originated in NortheasternMindanaoor theEastern Visayas. Possible words of Old Tagalog origin are attested in theLaguna Copperplate Inscriptionfrom the tenth century, which is largely written inOld Malay.The first known complete book to be written in Tagalog is theDoctrina Christiana(Christian Doctrine), printed in 1593. TheDoctrinawas written in Spanish and two transcriptions of Tagalog; one in the ancient, then-currentBaybayinscript and the other in an early Spanish attempt at aLatinorthography for the language. Throughout the 333 years of Spanish rule, various grammars and dictionaries were written by Spanish clergymen. In 1610, the Dominican priest Francisco Blancas de San José published theArte y reglas de la lengua tagala(which was subsequently revised with two editions in 1752 and 1832) in Bataan. In 1613, the Franciscan priest Pedro de San Buenaventura published the first Tagalog dictionary, hisVocabulario de la lengua","de la lengua tagalainPila, Laguna. The first substantial dictionary of the Tagalog language was written by theCzechJesuitmissionaryPablo Clainin the beginning of the 18th century. Clain spoke Tagalog and used it actively in several of his books. He prepared the dictionary, which he later passed over to Francisco Jansens and José Hernandez.Further compilation of his substantial work was prepared by P. Juan de Noceda and P. Pedro de Sanlucar and published asVocabulario de la lengua tagalain Manila in 1754 and then repeatedlyreedited, with the last edition being in 2013 in Manila. Among others,Arte de la lengua tagala y manual tagalog para la administración de los Santos Sacramentos(1850) in addition to early studiesof the language. The indigenous poetFrancisco Balagtas(1788–1862) is known as the foremost Tagalog writer, his most notable work being the 19th-centuryepicFlorante at Laura. Official status Tagalog was declared the official language by the first revolutionary constitution in the Philippines,","in the Philippines, theConstitution of Biak-na-Batoin 1897. In 1935, the Philippine constitution designated English and Spanish as official languages, but mandated the development and adoption of a common national language based on one of the existing native languages.After study and deliberation, the National Language Institute, a committee composed of seven members who represented various regions in the Philippines, chose Tagalog as the basis for the evolution and adoption of the national language of the Philippines.PresidentManuel L. Quezonthen, on December 30, 1937, proclaimed the selection of the Tagalog language to be used as the basis for the evolution and adoption of the national language of the Philippines.In 1939, President Quezon renamed the proposed Tagalog-based national language asWikang Pambansâ(national language).Quezon himself was born and raised inBaler, Aurora, which is a native Tagalog-speaking area. Under the Japanese puppet government duringWorld War II, Tagalog as a national language","a national language was strongly promoted; the 1943 Constitution specifying: \"The government shall take steps toward the development and propagation of Tagalog as the national language.\" In 1959, the language was further renamed as \"Pilipino\".Along with English, the national language has had official status under the 1973 constitution (as \"Pilipino\")and the present 1987 constitution (as Filipino). Controversy The adoption of Tagalog in 1937 as basis for a national language is not without its own controversies. Instead of specifying Tagalog, the national language was designated asWikang Pambansâ(\"National Language\") in 1939.Twenty years later, in 1959, it was renamed by then Secretary of Education,José E. Romero, asPilipinoto give it anationalrather thanethniclabel and connotation. The changing of the name did not, however, result in acceptance among non-Tagalogs, especiallyCebuanoswho had not accepted the selection. The national language issue was revived once more during the1971 Constitutional Convention.","Convention. The majority of the delegates were even in favor of scrapping the idea of a \"national language\" altogether.A compromise solution was worked out—a \"universalist\" approach to the national language, to be calledFilipinorather thanPilipino. The 1973 constitution makes no mention of Tagalog. When a new constitution was drawn up in 1987, it named Filipino as the national language.The constitution specified that as the Filipino language evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages. However, more than two decades after the institution of the \"universalist\" approach, there seems to be little if any difference between Tagalog and Filipino. Many of the older generation in the Philippines feel that the replacement of English by Tagalog in the popular visual media has had dire economic effects regarding the competitiveness of the Philippines in trade and overseas remittances. Use in education Upon the issuance ofExecutive Order No. 134, Tagalog","No. 134, Tagalog was declared as basis of the National Language. On April 12, 1940,Executive No. 263was issued ordering the teaching of the national language in all public and private schools in the country. Article XIV, Section 6 of the 1987Constitution of the Philippinesspecifies, in part: Subject to provisions of law and as the Congress may deem appropriate, the Government shall take steps to initiate and sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of official communication and as language of instruction in the educational system. Under Section 7, however: The regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein. In 2009, theDepartment of Educationpromulgated an order institutionalizing a system of mother-tongue based multilingual education (\"MLE\"), wherein instruction is conducted primarily in a student's mother tongue (one of the various regional Philippine languages) until at least grade three, with additional languages such as","languages such as Filipino and English being introduced as separate subjects no earlier than grade two. In secondary school, Filipino and English become the primary languages of instruction, with the learner's first language taking on an auxiliary role.After pilot tests in selected schools, the MLE program was implemented nationwide from School Year (SY) 2012–2013. Tagalog is the first language of a quarter of the population of thePhilippines(particularly in Central and Southern Luzon) and the second language for the majority. Geographic distribution In the Philippines According to the 2020 census conducted by thePhilippine Statistics Authority, there were 109 million people living in the Philippines, where the vast majority have some basic level of understanding of the language. The Tagalog homeland,Katagalugan, covers roughly much of the central to southern parts of the island ofLuzon— particularly inAurora,Bataan,Batangas,Bulacan,Cavite,Laguna,Metro Manila,Nueva Ecija,Quezon, andRizal. Tagalog is also","Tagalog is also spoken natively by inhabitants living on the islands ofMarinduqueandMindoro, as well asPalawanto a lesser extent. Significant minorities are found in the other Central Luzon provinces ofPampangaandTarlac,Ambos Camarinesin Bicol Region, theCordilleracity ofBaguioand various parts ofMindanaoespecially in the island's urban areas. Tagalog is also the predominant language ofCotabato CityinMindanao, making it the only place outside of Luzon with a native Tagalog-speaking majority. It is also the main lingua franca inBangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. According to the 2000 Philippine Census, approximately 96% of the household population who were able to attend school could speak Tagalog;and about 28% of the total population spoke it natively. The following regions and provinces of the Philippines are majority Tagalog-speaking (from north to south): Tagalog speakers are also found in other parts of the Philippines and through its standardized form ofFilipino, the language serves the","language serves the nationallingua francaof the country. Outside of the Philippines Tagalog serves as the common language amongOverseas Filipinos, though its use overseas is usually limited to communication betweenFilipino ethnic groups. The largest concentration of Tagalog speakers outside the Philippines is found in theUnited States, wherein 2020, theUnited States Census Bureaureported (based on data collected in 2018) that it was the fourth most-spoken non-English language at home with over 1.7 million speakers, behindSpanish,French, andChinese(with figures forCantoneseandMandarincombined). A study based on data from the United States Census Bureau's 2015 American Consumer Survey shows that Tagalog is the most commonly spoken non-English language after Spanish inCalifornia,Nevada, andWashingtonstates. Tagalog is one of three recognized languages inSan Francisco, California, along with Spanish and Chinese, making all essential city services be communicated using these languages along with","along with English.Meanwhile, Tagalog andIlocano(which is primarily spoken in northern Philippines) are among the non-official languages ofHawaiithat its state offices and state-funded entities are required to provide oral and written translations to its residents.Election ballots in Nevada include instructions written in Tagalog, which was first introduced in the2020 United States presidential elections. Other countries with significant concentrations of overseas Filipinos and Tagalog speakers includeSaudi Arabiawith 938,490,Canadawith 676,775,Japanwith 313,588,United Arab Emirateswith 541,593,Kuwaitwith 187,067, andMalaysiawith 620,043. Dialects At present, no comprehensivedialectologyhas been done in the Tagalog-speaking regions, though there have been descriptions in the form of dictionaries and grammars of various Tagalog dialects.Ethnologuelists Manila, Lubang,Marinduque, Bataan (Western Central Luzon),Batangas, Bulacan (Eastern Central Luzon), Tanay-Paete (Rizal-Laguna), andTayabas(Quezon)as dialects","dialects of Tagalog; however, there appear to be four main dialects, of which the aforementioned are a part: Northern (exemplified by theBulacandialect), Central (including Manila), Southern (exemplified by Batangas), and Marinduque. Some example of dialectal differences are: Perhaps the most divergent Tagalog dialects are those spoken in Marinduque.Linguist Rosa Soberano identifies two dialects, western and eastern, with the former being closer to the Tagalog dialects spoken in the provinces of Batangas and Quezon. One example is the verb conjugation paradigms. While some of the affixes are different, Marinduque also preserves the imperative affixes, also found in Visayan and Bikol languages, that have mostly disappeared from most Tagalog early 20th century; they have since merged with the infinitive. The Manila Dialect is the basis for the national language. Phonology Tagalog has 21phonemes: 16 of them areconsonantsand 5 arevowels. Native Tagalog words follow CV(C)syllablestructure, though complex","though complex consonant clusters are permitted in loanwords. Vowels Tagalog has five vowels, and four diphthongs.Tagalog originally had three vowel phonemes:/a/,/i/, and/u/. Tagalog is now considered to have five vowel phonemes following the introduction of two marginal phonemes from Spanish, /o/ and /e/. Nevertheless, simplification of pairsandis likely to take place, especially in some Tagalog as second language, remote location and working class registers. The fourdiphthongsare/aj/,/uj/,/aw/, and/iw/. Long vowels are not written apart from pedagogical texts, where an acute accent is used:á é í ó ú. The table above shows all the possible realizations for each of the five vowel sounds depending on the speaker's origin or proficiency. The five general vowels are inbold. Consonants Below is a chart of Tagalog consonants. All the stops are unaspirated. Thevelar nasaloccurs in all positions including at the beginning of a word. Loanword variants using these phonemes are italicized inside the angle brackets.","the angle brackets. Glottal stop is not indicated.Glottal stops are most likely to occur when: Stress and final glottal stop Stressis adistinctive featurein Tagalog. Primary stress occurs on either the final or the penultimate syllable of a word. Vowel lengthening accompanies primary or secondary stress except when stress occurs at the end of a word. Tagalog words are often distinguished from one another by the position of the stress and/or the presence of a final glottal stop. In formal or academic settings, stress placement and the glottal stop are indicated by adiacritic(tuldík) above the final vowel.The penultimate primary stress position (malumay) is the default stress type and so is left unwritten except in dictionaries. Grammar Writing system Tagalog, like other Philippines languages today, is written using the Latin alphabet. Prior to the arrival of the Spanish in 1521 and the beginning of their colonization in 1565, Tagalog was written in anabugida—oralphasyllabary—calledBaybayin. This system of","This system of writing gradually gave way to the use and propagation of the Latin alphabet as introduced by the Spanish. As the Spanish began to record and create grammars and dictionaries for the various languages of the Philippine archipelago, they adopted systems of writing closely following the orthographic customs of the Spanish language and were refined over the years. Until the first half of the 20th century, most Philippine languages were widely written in a variety of ways based on Spanish orthography. In the late 19th century, a number of educated Filipinos began proposing for revising the spelling system used for Tagalog at the time. In 1884, Filipino doctor and student of languagesTrinidad Pardo de Taverapublished his study on the ancient Tagalog scriptContribucion para el Estudio de los Antiguos Alfabetos Filipinosand in 1887, published his essayEl Sanscrito en la lengua Tagalogwhich made use of a new writing system developed by him. Meanwhile, Jose Rizal, inspired by Pardo de Tavera's 1884","de Tavera's 1884 work, also began developing a new system of orthography (unaware at first of Pardo de Tavera's own orthography).A major noticeable change in these proposed orthographies was the use of the letter ⟨k⟩ rather than ⟨c⟩ and ⟨q⟩ to represent the phoneme/k/. In 1889, the new bilingual Spanish-TagalogLa España Orientalnewspaper, of whichIsabelo de los Reyeswas an editor, began publishing using the new orthography stating in a footnote that it would \"use the orthography recently introduced by ... learned Orientalis\". This new orthography, while having its supporters, was also not initially accepted by several writers. Soon after the first issue ofLa España,Pascual H. Poblete'sRevista Católica de Filipinabegan a series of articles attacking the new orthography and its proponents. A fellow writer, Pablo Tecson was also critical. Among the attacks was the use of the letters \"k\" and \"w\" as they were deemed to be of German origin and thus its proponents were deemed as \"unpatriotic\". The publishers of","The publishers of these two papers would eventually merge asLa Lectura Popularin January 1890 and would eventually make use of both spelling systems in its articles.Pedro Laktaw, a schoolteacher, published the first Spanish-Tagalog dictionary using the new orthography in 1890. In April 1890, Jose Rizal authored an articleSobre la Nueva Ortografia de la Lengua Tagalogin the Madrid-based periodicalLa Solidaridad. In it, he addressed the criticisms of the new writing system by writers like Pobrete and Tecson and the simplicity, in his opinion, of the new orthography. Rizal described the orthography promoted by Pardo de Tavera as \"more perfect\" than what he himself had developed.The new orthography was, however, not broadly adopted initially and was used inconsistently in the bilingual periodicals of Manila until the early 20th century.The revolutionary society Kataás-taasan, Kagalang-galang Katipunan ng̃ mg̃á Anak ng̃ Bayan orKatipunanmade use of the k-orthography and the letter k featured prominently on many","prominently on many of its flags and insignias. In 1937, Tagalog was selected to serve as basis for the country'snational language. In 1940, theBalarilâ ng Wikang Pambansâ(English:Grammar of the National Language) of grammarianLope K. Santosintroduced theAbakadaalphabet. This alphabet consists of 20 letters and became the standard alphabet of the national language.The orthography as used by Tagalog would eventually influence and spread to the systems of writing used by other Philippine languages (which had been using variants of the Spanish-based system of writing). In 1987, the Abakada was dropped and replaced by the expanded Filipino alphabet. Baybayin Tagalog was written in anabugida(alphasyllabary) calledBaybayinprior to the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines, in the 16th century. This particularwriting systemwas composed of symbols representing threevowelsand 14consonants. Belonging to theBrahmic familyof scripts, it shares similarities with theOld Kawiscript ofJavaand is believed to be","is believed to be descended from the script used by theBugisinSulawesi. Although it enjoyed a relatively high level of literacy, Baybayin gradually fell into disuse in favor of theLatin alphabettaught by the Spaniards during their rule. There has been confusion of how to use Baybayin, which is actually anabugida, or analphasyllabary, rather than analphabet. Not every letter in the Latin alphabet is represented with one of those in the Baybayin alphasyllabary. Rather than letters being put together to make sounds as in Western languages, Baybayin uses symbols to represent syllables. A \"kudlít\" resembling an apostrophe is used above or below a symbol to change the vowel sound after its consonant. If the kudlit is used above, the vowel is an \"E\" or \"I\" sound. If the kudlit is used below, the vowel is an \"O\" or \"U\" sound. A special kudlit was later added by Spanish missionaries in which a cross placed below the symbol to get rid of the vowel sound all together, leaving a consonant. Previously, the consonant","the consonant without a following vowel was simply left out (for example,bundókbeing rendered asbudo), forcing the reader to use context when reading such words. Example: Latin alphabet Abecedario Until the first half of the 20th century, Tagalog was widely written in a variety of ways based on Spanish orthography consisting of 32 letters called 'ABECEDARIO'(Spanish for \"alphabet\").The additional letters from the 26-letterEnglish alphabetare: ch, ll, ng, ñ, n͠g / ñg, and rr. Abakada When the national language was based on Tagalog, grammarian Lope K. Santos introduced a new alphabet consisting of 20 letters calledAbakadain school grammar books calledbalarilâ.The only letter not in theEnglish alphabetis ng. Revised alphabet In 1987, theDepartment of Education, Culture and Sportsissued a memo stating that the Philippine alphabet had changed from the Pilipino-Tagalog Abakada version to a new 28-letter alphabetto make room for loans, especially family names from Spanish and English.The additional letters from the","letters from the 26-letterEnglish alphabetare: ñ, ng. ngandmga Thegenitivemarkerngand the plural markermga(e.g.Iyan angmgadamít ko.(Those are my clothes)) are abbreviations that are pronouncednangandmangá.Ng, in most cases, roughly translates to \"of\" (ex.Siyá ay kapatídngnanay ko.She is the siblingofmy mother) whilenangusually means \"when\" or can describe how something is done or to what extent (equivalent to the suffix-lyin English adverbs), among other uses. In the first example,nangis used in lieu of the wordnoong(when;Noongsi Hudas ay madulás). In the second,nangdescribes that the person woke up (gumising) early (maaga);gumising nang maaga. In the third,nangdescribed up to what extent that Juan improved (gumalíng), which is \"greatly\" (nang todo). In the latter two examples, the ligaturenaand its variants-ngand-gmay also be used (Gumisingnamaaga/Maaganggumising;Gumalíngnatodo/Todonggumalíng). The longernangmay also have other uses, such as aligaturethat joins a repeated word: pô/hôandopò/ohò The","pô/hôandopò/ohò The wordspô/hôoriginated from the word \"Panginoon.\" and \"Poon.\" (\"Lord.\"). When combined with the basic affirmativeOo\"yes\" (fromProto-Malayo-Polynesian*heqe), the resulting forms areopòandohò. \"Pô\" and \"opò\" are specifically used to denote a high level of respect when addressing older persons of close affinity like parents, relatives, teachers and family friends. \"Hô\" and \"ohò\" are generally used to politely address older neighbours, strangers, public officials, bosses and nannies, and may suggest a distance in societal relationship and respect determined by the addressee's social rank and not their age. However, \"pô\" and \"opò\" can be used in any case in order to express an elevation of respect. Used in the affirmative: Pô/Hômay also be used in negation. Vocabulary and borrowed words Tagalog vocabulary is mostly of native Austronesian or Tagalog origin, such as most of the words that end with thediphthong-iw, (e.g. giliw) and words that exhibitreduplication(e.g. halo-halo, patpat, etc.).","patpat, etc.). Besides inherited cognates, this also accounts for innovations in Tagalog vocabulary, especially traditional ones within its dialects. Tagalog has also incorporated many Spanish and English loanwords; the necessity of which increases in more technical parlance. In precolonial times,Trade Malaywas widely known and spoken throughoutMaritime Southeast Asia, contributing a significant number of Malay vocabulary into the Tagalog language. Malay loanwords, identifiable or not, may often already be considered native as these have existed in the language before colonisation. Tagalog also includes loanwords fromIndian languages(SanskritandTamil, mostly through Malay),Chinese languages(mostlyHokkien, followed byCantonese,Mandarin, etc.),Japanese,ArabicandPersian. English has borrowed some words from Tagalog, such as abaca, barong,balisong,boondocks,jeepney, Manila hemp,pancit, ylang-ylang, and yaya. Some of these loanwords are more often used inPhilippine English. Tagalog has contributed several words","several words toPhilippine Spanish, likebarangay(frombalan͠gay,meaningbarrio), theabacá,cogon,palay,dalagaetc. Tagalog words of foreign origin Taglish (Englog) TaglishandEnglogare names given to a mix of English and Tagalog. The amount of English vs. Tagalog varies from the occasional use of English loan words to changing language in mid-sentence. Such code-switching is prevalent throughout the Philippines and in various languages of the Philippines other than Tagalog. Code-mixing also entails the use of foreign words that are \"Filipinized\" by reforming them using Filipino rules, such as verb conjugations. Users typically use Filipino or English words, whichever comes to mind first or whichever is easier to use. Magshoshopping kamí sa mall. Sino ba ang magdadrive sa shopping center? We will go shopping at the mall. Who will drive to the shopping center? Urbanites are the most likely to speak like this. The practice is common in television, radio, and print media as well.Advertisements from companies","from companies likeWells Fargo,Wal-Mart,Albertsons,McDonald'sandWestern Unionhave contained Taglish. Cognates with other Philippine languages Comparisons with Austronesian languages Below is a chart of Tagalog and a number of other Austronesian languagescomparingthirteen words. Religious literature Religious literature remains one of the most dynamic components toTagalog literature. The first Bible in Tagalog, then calledAng Biblia(\"the Bible\") and now calledAng Dating Biblia(\"the Old Bible\"), was published in 1905. In 1970, the Philippine Bible Society translated theBibleinto modern Tagalog. Even before theSecond Vatican Council, devotional materials in Tagalog had been in circulation. There are at least four circulating Tagalog translations of the Bible When theSecond Vatican Council, (specifically theSacrosanctum Concilium) permitted the universal prayers to be translated intovernacular languages, theCatholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippineswas one of the first to translate theRoman Missalinto","theRoman Missalinto Tagalog. TheRoman Missalin Tagalog was published as early as 1982. In 2012, theCatholic Bishops Conference of the Philippinesrevised the 41-year-old liturgy with an English version of the Roman Missal, and later translated it in thevernacularto several native languages in the Philippines.For instance, in 2024, theRoman Catholic Diocese of Malolosuses the Tagalog translation of theRoman Missalentitled \"Ang Aklat ng Mabuting Balita.\" Jehovah's Witnesses were printing Tagalog literature at least as early as 1941andThe Watchtower(the primary magazine of Jehovah's Witnesses) has been published in Tagalog since at least the 1950s. New releases are now regularly released simultaneously in a number of languages, including Tagalog. The official website of Jehovah's Witnesses also has some publications available online in Tagalog.The revisedbibleedition, theNew World Translation of the Holy Scriptures,was released in Tagalog on 2019and it is distributed without charge both printed andonline","printed andonline versions. Tagalog is quite a stable language, and very few revisions have been made to CatholicBible translations. Also, as Protestantism in the Philippines is relatively young,liturgicalprayers tend to be moreecumenical. Example texts Lord's Prayer In Tagalog, theLord's Prayeris known by itsincipit,Amá Namin(literally, \"Our Father\"). Amá namin, sumasalangit Ka,Sambahín ang ngalan Mo.Mapasaamin ang kaharián Mo.Sundín ang loób Mo,Dito sa lupà, gaya nang sa langit.Bigyán Mo kamí ngayón ng aming kakanin sa araw-araw,At patawarin Mo kamí sa aming mga salà,Para nang pagpápatawad namin,Sa nagkakasalà sa amin;At huwág Mo kamíng ipahintulot sa tuksô,At iadyâ Mo kamí sa lahát ng masamâ.Amen. Universal Declaration of Human Rights This is Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights(Pangkalahatáng Pagpapahayág ng Karapatáng Pantao) Bawat tao'y isinilang na may layà at magkakapantáy ang tagláy na dangál at karapatán. Silá'y pinagkalooban ng pangangatwiran at budhî, na kailangang gamitin nilá","gamitin nilá sa pagtuturingan nilá sa diwà ng pagkakapatiran. ᜊᜏᜆ᜔ ᜆᜂᜌ᜔ ᜁᜐᜒᜈᜒᜎᜅ᜔ ᜈ ᜋᜌ᜔ ᜎᜌ ᜀᜆ᜔ ᜋᜄ᜔ᜃᜃᜉᜈ᜔ᜆᜌ᜔ ᜀᜅ᜔ ᜆᜄ᜔ᜎᜌ᜔ ᜈ ᜇᜅᜎ᜔ ᜀᜆ᜔ ᜃᜇᜉᜆᜈ᜔᜶ ᜐᜒᜎᜌ᜔ ᜉᜒᜈᜄ᜔ᜃᜎᜓᜂᜊᜈ᜔ ᜈᜅ᜔ ᜃᜆ᜔ᜏᜒᜇᜈ᜔ ᜀᜆ᜔ ᜊᜓᜇᜑᜒ᜵ ᜈ ᜃᜁᜎᜅᜅ᜔ ᜄᜋᜒᜆᜒᜈ᜔ ᜈᜒᜎ ᜐ ᜉᜄ᜔ᜆᜓᜆᜓᜇᜒᜅᜈ᜔ ᜈᜒᜎ ᜐ ᜇᜒᜏ ᜈᜅ᜔ ᜉᜄ᜔ᜃᜃᜉᜆᜒᜇᜈ᜔᜶ All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Numbers Numbers (mga bilang/mga numero) in Tagalog follow two systems. The first consists of native Tagalog words and the other are Spanish-derived. (This may be compared to other East Asian languages, except with the second set of numbers borrowed from Spanish instead of Chinese.) For example, when a person refers to the number \"seven\", it can be translated into Tagalog as \"pitó\" or \"siyete\" (Spanish:siete). Months and days Months and days in Tagalog are also localised forms of Spanish months and days. \"Month\" in Tagalog isbuwán(also the word formoon) and \"day\" isaraw(the word also meanssun). Unlike","meanssun). Unlike Spanish, however, months and days in Tagalog are always capitalised. Time Time expressions in Tagalog are also Tagalized forms of the corresponding Spanish. \"Time\" in Tagalog ispanahónororas. Common phrases Opòorohò(formal/polite form) Hindî pô(formal/polite form) Very informal:Ewan, archaicaywan(closest English equivalent: colloquial dismissive 'Whatever' or 'Dunno') Hindî ko naúunawáan Marunong pô ba kayóng magsalitâ ng Inglés?(polite version for elders and strangers)Marunong ka bang mag-Inglés?(short form)Marunong pô ba kayóng mag-Inglés?(short form, polite version for elders and strangers) *Pronouns such asniyó(2nd person plural) andnilá(3rd person plural) are used on a single 2nd person in polite or formal language. SeeTagalog grammar. Proverbs Ang hindî marunong lumingón sa pinánggalingan ay hindî makaráratíng sa paroroonan. One who knows not how to look back to whence he came will never get to where he is going. Unang kagát, tinapay pa rin.First bite, still bread.All fluff, no","bread.All fluff, no substance. Tao ka nang humaráp, bilang tao kitáng haharapin.You reach me as a human, I will treat you as a human and never act as a traitor.(A proverb in Southern Tagalog that has made people aware of the significance of sincerity in Tagalog communities.) Hulí man daw (raw) at magalíng, nakáhahábol pa rin.If one is behind but capable, one will still be able to catch up. Magbirô ka na sa lasíng, huwág lang sa bagong gising.Make fun of someone drunk, if you must, but never one who has just awakened. Aanhín pa ang damó kung patáy na ang kabayò?What use is the grass if the horse is already dead? Ang sakít ng kalingkingan, damdám ng buóng katawán.The pain in the pinkie is felt by the whole body.In a group, if one goes down, the rest follow. Nasa hulí ang pagsisisi.Regret is always in the end. Pagkáhabà-habà man ng prusisyón, sa simbahan pa rin ang tulóy.Theprocessionmay stretch on and on, but it still ends up at the church.(In romance: refers to how certain people are destined to be married.","to be married. In general: refers to how some things are inevitable, no matter how long you try to postpone it.) Kung 'dî mádaán sa santóng dasalan, daanin sa santóng paspasan.If it cannot be got through holy prayer, get it through blessed force.(In romance and courting:santóng paspasanliterally means 'holy speeding' and is a euphemism forsexual intercourse. It refers to the two styles of courting by Filipino boys: one is the traditional, protracted, restrained manner favored by older generations, which often featuredserenadesand manual labor for the girl's family; the other is upfront seduction, which may lead to a slap on the face or a pregnancy out of wedlock. The second conclusion is known aspikotor what Western cultures would call a 'shotgun marriage'. This proverb is also applied in terms of diplomacy and negotiation.) See also References Further reading External links"],"string":"[\n \"List of U.S. state and territory mottos Most of theUnited States' 50 stateshave a statemotto, as do theDistrict of Columbiaand 3 ofits territories. A motto is a phrase intended to formally describe the general motivation or intention of an organization. State mottos can sometimes be found onstate sealsorstate flags. Some states have officially designated a state motto by an act of thestate legislature, whereas other states have the motto only as an element of their seals. The motto of the United States itself isIn God We Trust, proclaimed by Congress and signed into law by PresidentDwight D. Eisenhoweron July 30, 1956.The motto \\\"E pluribus unum\\\" (Latinfor 'out of many, one') was approved for use on theGreat Seal of the United Statesin 1782, but was never adopted as the national motto through legislative action. South Carolinahas two official mottos, both which are in Latin.Kentucky,North Dakota, andVermontalso have two mottos, one in Latin and the other in English.All other states and territories have only\",\n \"have only one motto, except forGuamand theNorthern Mariana Islands, which do not have any mottos.English and Latin are the most-used languages for state mottos, each used by 25 states and territories. Seven states and territories use another language, of which each language is only used once. Eight states and two territories have their mottos on theirstate quarter; thirty-eight states and four territories have their mottos on their state seals. The dates given are, where possible, the earliest date that the motto was used in an official sense. Some state mottos are not official but are on the official state seal; in these cases the adoption date of the seal is given. The earliest use of a current motto is that ofPuerto Rico,Joannes est nomen ejus, granted to the island by the Spanish in 1511. State, federal district and territory mottos See also Notes References External links\",\n \"New Jersey New Jerseyis a state in both theMid-AtlanticandNortheasternregions of the United States. It is themost densely populatedstate and at the center of theNortheast megalopolis. New Jersey is bordered on its north and east byNew York state; on its east, southeast, and south by theAtlantic Ocean; on its west by theDelaware RiverandPennsylvania; and on its southwest byDelaware BayandDelaware. At 7,354 square miles (19,050 km2), New Jersey is thefifth-smallest state in land area, but with close to 9.3 million residents as of the2020 United States census, it ranks11th in population. The state capital isTrenton, and the state's most populous city isNewark. New Jersey is the only U.S. state in which every county is deemedurbanby theU.S. Census Bureau. New Jersey was first inhabited byPaleo-Indiansas early as 13,000 B.C.E. TheLenapewere the dominantIndigenous groupwhen Europeans arrived in the early 17th century, and they were subdivived into dialectal groups such as the Munsee, in the north, and the Unami and\",\n \"and the Unami and the Unalachtigo, elsewhere.DutchandSwedishcolonists founded the first European settlements in the state,with theBritishlater seizing control of the region and establishing theProvince of New Jersey, named afterJersey.The colony's fertile lands and relativereligious tolerancedrew a large and diverse population. New Jersey was among theThirteen Coloniesthat supported theAmerican Revolution, hosting severalpivotal battles and military commandsin theAmerican Revolutionary War. New Jersey remained in theUnionduring theAmerican Civil Warandprovidedtroops, resources, and military leaders in support of theUnion Army. After the war, the state emerged as a majormanufacturingcenter and a leading destination for immigrants, helping drive theIndustrial Revolutionin the U.S. New Jersey was the site of many industrial, technological, and commercialinnovations.Many prominent Americans associated with New Jerseyhave proven influential nationally and globally, including in academia, advocacy, business,\",\n \"advocacy, business, entertainment, government, military, non-profit leadership, and other fields. New Jersey's central location in the Northeast megalopolis helped fuel its rapid growth andsuburbanizationin the second half of the 20th century. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the state's economy has become highly diversified, with major sectors includingbiotechnology,pharmaceuticals,information technology,finance, andtourism, and it has become anAtlantic seaboardepicenter forlogisticsanddistribution. New Jersey remains a major destination for immigrants and is home to one of the world's mostmulticultural populations.Echoing historical trends, the state has increasingly re-urbanized, with growth in cities outpacingsuburbssince 2008. New Jersey is one of the most educated, wealthiest, healthiest, diverse and highly developed states in the U.S. ranking it high in several quality of life metrics.As of 2022, New Jersey had the highest annualmedian household income, at $96,346, of all 50 states.Almost\",\n \"50 states.Almost one-tenth of all households in the state, or over 323,000, aremillionaires, the highest representation of millionaires among all states.New Jersey'spublic schoolsystem consistently ranks at or among the top of all U.S. states.In 2024, New Jersey was ranked as having the second-healthiest population overall.New Jersey was ranked as the fourth most diverse state in 2024.New Jersey ranks near the top on both theAmerican Human Development Indexand thestandard Human Development Index. According toclimatologyresearch by the U.S.National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, New Jersey has been the fastest-warming state by averageair temperatureover a 100-year period beginning in the early 20th century, which has been attributed to warming of theNorth Atlantic Ocean. History Prehistoric era The pressure of collision betweenNorth AmericaandAfricagave rise to theAppalachian Mountains. Around 18,000 years ago, theIce Ageresulted inglaciersthat reached New Jersey. As glaciers retreated, they left\",\n \"they left behindLake Passaicalong with rivers,meadows, swamps, andgorges. Since the6th millennium BC,Native Americanpeople have inhabited New Jersey, beginning with theLenape tribe.Scheyichbiis theLenapename for the land that represents present-day New Jersey.The Lenape were severalautonomousgroups that practicedmaizeagriculture in order to supplement their hunting and gathering in the region surrounding theDelaware River, the lowerHudson River, and westernLong Island Sound. The Lenape were divided intomatrilinealclans that were based upon common female ancestors. Clans were organized into three distinctphratriesidentified by their animal sign:Turtle,Turkey, andWolf. They first encountered theDutchin the early 17th century, and their primary relationship with the Dutch and later European settlers was throughfur trade. Colonial era TheDutchwere the firstEuropeansto lay claim to lands in New Jersey. The Dutch colony ofNew Netherlandconsisted of parts of the modernMid-Atlanticstates. Although the European\",\n \"the European principle ofland ownershipwas not recognized by theLenape,Dutch West India Companypolicy required its colonists to purchase land that they settled. The first to do so wasMichiel Pauw, who established a patron ship calledPavoniain 1630 alongNorth River, that eventually becameBergen.Peter Minuit's purchase of lands along theDelaware Riverestablished the colony ofNew Sweden, that lasted until the Dutch conquered it in 1655. Then the entire region became a territory ofEnglandon June 24, 1664, after an English fleet under command of ColonelRichard Nicollssailed into what is nowNew York Harborand took control ofFort Amsterdam, annexing the entire province. During theEnglish Civil War, theChannel IslandofJerseyremained loyal to the British Crown and gave sanctuary to theKing. In the Royal Square inSt Helier,Charles II of Englandwas proclaimed King in 1649, following the execution of his father,Charles I. North American lands were divided byCharles II, who gave his brother, the Duke of York (laterKing\",\n \"of York (laterKing James II), the region betweenNew EnglandandMarylandas aproprietary colony(as opposed to aroyal colony). James then granted land between theHudson Riverand theDelaware River(the land that would become New Jersey) to two friends who had remained loyal through theEnglish Civil War:Sir George CarteretandLord Berkeley of Stratton.The area was named theProvince of New Jersey. Since its inception, New Jersey has been characterized byethnic and religious diversity. New EnglandCongregationalistssettled alongsideScots PresbyteriansandDutch Reformedmigrants. While the majority of residents lived in towns with individuallandholdingsof 100 acres (40 ha), a few rich proprietors owned vast estates. EnglishQuakersandAnglicansowned large landholdings. UnlikePlymouth Colony,Jamestownand other colonies, New Jersey was populated by a secondary wave of immigrants who came from other colonies instead of those who migrated directly from Europe. New Jersey remained agrarian and rural throughout the colonial era,\",\n \"the colonial era, andcommercial farmingdeveloped sporadically. Some townships, such asBurlingtonon the Delaware River andPerth Amboy, emerged as important ports for shipping to New York City and Philadelphia. The colony's fertile lands andtolerant religious policydrew more settlers, and New Jersey's population had increased to 120,000 by 1775. Settlement for the first ten years of English rule took place along theHackensack RiverandArthur Kill. Settlers came primarily from New York and New England. On March 18, 1673, Berkeley sold his half of the colony toQuakersin England, who settled theDelaware Valleyregion as a Quaker colony, withWilliam Pennacting astrusteefor the lands for a time. New Jersey was governed as two distinct provinces,EastandWest Jersey, for 28 years between 1674 and 1702, which were part of theDominion of New Englandfrom 1686 to 1689. In 1702, the two provinces were reunited under aroyal governorrather than aproprietary one.Edward Hyde, titled Lord Cornbury, became the first governor of\",\n \"first governor of the royal colony. Britain believed that he was an ineffective and corrupt ruler, taking bribes and speculating on land. In 1708, he was recalled to England. New Jersey was then ruled by the governors of New York, but this infuriated the settlers of New Jersey, who accused these governors of favoritism to New York.Judge Lewis Morrisled the case for a separate governor, and was appointed governor byKing George IIin 1738. Revolutionary War era New Jersey was one of theThirteen Coloniesthat revolted against British rule in theAmerican Revolution. TheNew Jersey Constitution of 1776was passed July 2, 1776, just two days before theSecond Continental Congressdeclared American Independence fromGreat Britain. It was an act of theProvincial Congress, which made itself into theState Legislature. To reassure neutrals, it provided that it would become the legislature would disband if New Jersey reached reconciliation with Great Britain. Among the 56Founding Fatherswho signed theDeclaration of\",\n \"theDeclaration of Independence, five were New Jersey representatives:Richard Stockton,John Witherspoon,Francis Hopkinson,John Hart, andAbraham Clark. During theAmerican Revolutionary War, British and American armies crossed New Jersey numerous times, and several pivotal battles took place in the state. Because of this, New Jersey today is sometimes referred to as \\\"The Crossroads of the American Revolution\\\".The winter quarters of theContinental Armywere established in New Jersey twice by GeneralGeorge WashingtoninMorristown, which has been called \\\"The Military Capital of the American Revolution.\\\" On the night of December 25–26, 1776, the Continental Army underGeorge Washington crossed the Delaware River. After the crossing, they surprised and defeated theHessian troopsin theBattle of Trenton. Slightly more than a week after victory atTrenton, Continental Army forces gained an important victory by stoppingGeneral Cornwallis'scharges at theSecond Battle of Trenton. By evading Cornwallis's army, the Continental\",\n \"the Continental Army was able to make a surprise attack onPrincetonand successfully defeated the British forces there on January 3, 1777.Emanuel Leutze's painting ofWashington Crossing the Delawarebecame an icon of the Revolution. Continental Army forces under Washington's command met British forces under GeneralHenry Clintonat theBattle of Monmouthin an indecisive engagement in June 1778. Washington's forces attempted to take the British column by surprise. When the British army attempted to flank the Americans, the Continental Army retreated in disorder. Their ranks were later reorganized and withstood British charges. In the summer of 1783, theContinental Congressmet inNassau HallatPrinceton University, makingPrincetonthe nation's capital for four months. It was there that the Continental Congress learned of the signing of theTreaty of Paris, which ended the war. On December 18, 1787, New Jersey became the third state to ratify theUnited States Constitution, which was overwhelmingly popular in New Jersey\",\n \"in New Jersey since it prevented New York and Pennsylvania from chargingtariffson goods imported from Europe. On November 20, 1789, New Jersey became the first in the newly formed Union to ratify theBill of Rights. The 1776New Jersey State Constitutiongave the vote to all inhabitants who had a certain level of wealth. This included women and Black people, but not married women because they were not legally permitted to own property separately from their husbands. Both sides, in several elections, claimed that the other side had had unqualified women vote and mocked them for use of petticoat electors, whether entitled to vote or not; on the other hand, both parties passed Voting Rights Acts. In 1807, legislature passed a bill interpreting the constitution to mean universal white malesuffrage, excluding paupers; the constitution was itself an act of the legislature and not enshrined as the modern constitution. 19th century On February 15, 1804, New Jersey became the last northern state toabolishnewslaveryand\",\n \"enacted legislation that slowly phased out existing slavery. This led to a gradual decrease of the slave population. By theAmerican Civil War's end, about a dozen African Americans in New Jersey were still held in bondage.New Jersey voters eventually ratified the constitutional amendments banning slavery and granting rights to the United States' black population. Industrialization accelerated in the present-dayNorth Jerseyregion of the state following completion of theMorris Canalin 1831. The canal allowed foranthracite coalto be transported from easternPennsylvania'sLehigh Valleyto North Jersey's growing industries inPaterson,Newark, andJersey City. In 1844, the secondstate constitutionwas ratified and brought into effect. Counties thereby became districts for the state senate, and some realignment of boundaries (including the creation ofMercer County) immediately followed. This provision was retained in the 1947 Constitution, but was overturned by theSupreme Court of the United Statesin 1962, by the\",\n \"1962, by the decisionBaker v. Carr. While the Governorship was stronger than under the 1776 constitution, the constitution of 1844 created many offices that were not responsible to him, or to the people, and it gave him a three-year term, but he could not succeed himself. New Jersey was one of the few Union states (the others beingDelawareandKentucky) to select a candidate other thanAbraham Lincolntwice in national elections, and sided withStephen A. Douglas(1860) andGeorge B. McClellan(1864) during their campaigns. McClellan, a native Philadelphian, had New Jersey ties and formally resided in New Jersey at the time; he later became Governor of New Jersey (1878–81). (In New Jersey, the factions of the Democratic party managed an effective coalition in 1860.) During theAmerican Civil War, the state was led first by Republican governorCharles Smith Olden, then by DemocratJoel Parker. During the course of the war, between 65,000 and 80,000 soldiers from the state enlisted in the Union army; unlike many states,\",\n \"unlike many states, including some Northern ones, no battle was fought there. In theIndustrial Revolution, cities likePatersongrew and prospered. Previously, the economy had been largely agrarian, which was problematically subject to crop failures and poor soil. This caused a shift to a moreindustrializedeconomy, one based on manufactured commodities such as textiles and silk.InventorThomas Edisonalso became an important figure of the Industrial Revolution, having beengranted 1,093 patents, many of which for inventions he developed while working in New Jersey. Edison's facilities, first atMenlo Parkand then inWest Orange, are considered perhaps the firstresearch centersin the United States. Christie Street in Menlo Park was the first thoroughfare in the world to have electric lighting. Transportation was greatly improved aslocomotionandsteamboatswere introduced to New Jersey. Ironmining was also a leading industry during the middle to late 19th century.Bog ironpits in theNew Jersey Pine Barrenswere among the\",\n \"among the first sources of iron for the new nation.Mines such as Mt. Hope, Mine Hill, and the Rockaway Valley Mines created a thriving industry. Mining generated the impetus for new towns and was one of the driving forces behind the need for theMorris Canal.Zincmines were also a major industry, especially theSterling Hill Mine. 20th century New Jersey prospered through theRoaring Twenties. The firstMiss America Pageantwas held in 1921 inAtlantic City; theHolland TunnelconnectingJersey CitytoManhattanopened in 1927; and the firstdrive-in moviewas shown in 1933 inCamden. During theGreat Depressionof the 1930s, the state offered begging licenses to unemployed residents,the zeppelin airshipHindenburgcrashed in flames overLakehurst, and theSSMorro Castlebeached itself nearAsbury Parkafter going up in flames while at sea. Through bothWorld Wars, New Jersey was a center for war production, especially naval construction. TheFederal Shipbuilding and Drydock Companyyards in Kearny and Newark and theNew York\",\n \"and theNew York Shipbuilding Corporationyard in Camden producedaircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, and destroyers.New Jersey manufactured 6.8 percent of total United States military armaments produced duringWorld War II, ranking fifth among the 48 states.In addition,Fort Dix(1917) (originally called \\\"Camp Dix\\\"),Camp Merritt(1917),andCamp Kilmer(1941)were all constructed to house and train American soldiers through both World Wars. New Jersey also became a principal location for defense in theCold War. FourteenNike missilestations were constructed for the defense of the New York City andPhiladelphiaareas.PT-109, a motor torpedo boat commanded by Lt. (j.g.)John F. Kennedyin World War II, was built at the Elco Boatworks inBayonne. The aircraft carrierUSSEnterprise(CV-6)was briefly docked at the Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne in the 1950s before she was sent to Kearney to be scrapped.In 1962, the world's first nuclear-powered cargo ship, theNS Savannah, was launched at Camden. In 1951, theNew Jersey\",\n \"1951, theNew Jersey Turnpikeopened, facilitating efficient travel by car and truck betweenNorth Jerseyandmetropolitan New York, andSouth Jerseyandmetropolitan Philadelphia.Subsequently, in 1957, theGarden State Parkwaywas completed, serving as a diagonal counterpart to the Turnpike, and opening up highway travel along New Jersey's coastal flank betweenBergen Countyin the northeast and theCape May Countypeninsulaat the southeastern tip of New Jersey; in doing so, theJersey Shorebecame readily accessible to millions of residents in the New York metropolitan area. In 1959, Air Defense Command deployed theCIM-10 Bomarcsurface-to-air missiletoMcGuire Air Force Base. On June 7, 1960, anexplosionin a CIM-10 Bomarc missile fuel tank caused an accident and subsequent plutonium contamination. In the 1960s,race riotserupted in many of the industrial cities ofNorth Jersey. The first race riots in New Jersey occurred in Jersey City on August 2, 1964. Several others ensued in 1967, inNewarkandPlainfield.Other\",\n \"riotsfollowed theassassination of Martin Luther King Jr.in April 1968, just as in the rest of the country. Ariotoccurred inCamdenin 1971. As a result of an order from theNew Jersey Supreme Courtto fund schools equitably, the New Jersey legislature passed an income tax bill in 1976. Prior to this bill, the state had no income tax. 21st century In the early part of the 2000s, twolight railsystems were opened: theHudson–Bergen Light RailinHudson Countyand theRiver LinebetweenCamdenandTrenton. The intent of these projects was to encouragetransit-oriented developmentinNorth JerseyandSouth Jersey, respectively. The HBLR was credited with a revitalization ofHudson CountyandJersey City.Urban revitalization has continued in North Jersey in the 21st century. In 2014, Jersey City's Census-estimated population was 262,146,with the largest population increase of any municipality in New Jersey since 2010,representing an increase of 5.9% from the2010 U.S. census, when the city's population was enumerated at\",\n \"was enumerated at 247,597.Between2000and2010Newark experienced its first population increase since the 1950s, and by2020had rebounded to 311,549. Geography New Jersey is located at the center of theNortheast megalopolis, the most populated Americanurban agglomeration. It is bordered on the north and northeast byNew York(parts of which are across theHudson River,Upper New York Bay, theKill Van Kull,Newark Bay, and theArthur Kill); on the east by the Atlantic Ocean; on the southwest byDelawareacrossDelaware Bay; and on the west byPennsylvaniaacross theDelaware River. New Jersey is broadly divided into theNorth,Central, andSouth Jerseygeographic regions, although some residents do not consider Central Jersey a region in its own right. Across the regions are five distinct areas divided by natural geography and population concentration. Northeastern New Jersey, often referred to as theGateway Region, lies closest toManhattanin New York City, and up to a million residents commute daily into the city for work, many\",\n \"city for work, many via public transportation.TheJersey Shore, along the Atlantic Coast in Central and South Jersey, has its own unique natural, residential, and cultural characteristics owing to its location by the ocean. South Jersey represents the southernmost geographical region of thenortheastern United States. TheDelaware Valleyincludes the southwestern counties of the state, which reside within theDelaware ValleysurroundingPhiladelphia. Despite its heavily urban character and a long history ofindustrialization, forests cover roughly 45 percent of New Jersey's land area, or approximately 2.1 million acres (8,500 km2), ranking 31st among the 50 U.S. states and six territories.Northwestern New Jersey, often referred to as theSkylands Region, is more wooded, rural, and mountainous. The chief tree of the northern forests is theoak. TheNew Jersey Pine Barrensis situated in the southern interior of New Jersey and covered extensively by mixedpineandoakforest; its population density is lower than most of the\",\n \"than most of the state. High PointinMontague Township,Sussex Countyis the state's highest elevation at 1,803 feet (550 m) above sea level. The state's highestprominenceisKitty Ann MountaininMorris County, rising 892 feet (272 m). ThePalisadesare a line of steep cliffs on the west side of theHudson RiverinBergenandHudson Counties. MajorNew Jersey riversinclude theHudson,Delaware,Raritan,Passaic,Hackensack,Rahway,Musconetcong,Mullica,Rancocas,Manasquan,Maurice, andTomsrivers. Due to New Jersey'speninsulargeography, both sunrise and sunset are visible over water from different points on the Jersey Shore. Prominent geographic features Climate The state consists of two climate zones; the southernmost edges of the state have ahumid subtropical climate, while the rest has ahumid continental climate.New Jersey receives between 2,400 and 2,800 hours ofsunshineannually. Summers are typically hot and humid, with statewide average high temperatures of 82–87 °F (28–31 °C) and lows of 60–69 °F (16–21 °C); however,\",\n \"°C); however, temperatures exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on average 25 days each summer, exceeding 100 °F (38 °C) in some years. Winters are usually cold, with average high temperatures of 34–43 °F (1–6 °C) and lows of 16 to 28 °F (−9 to −2 °C) for most of the state, but temperatures can, for brief periods, fall below 10 °F (−12 °C) and sometimes rise above 50 °F (10 °C). Northwestern parts of the state have significantly colder winters with sub-0 °F (−18 °C) being an almost annual occurrence. Spring and autumn may feature wide temperature variations, with lower humidity than summer. TheUSDA Plant Hardiness Zoneclassification ranges from6 in the northwest of the state, to 7B near Cape May.All-time temperature extremes recorded in New Jersey include 110 °F (43 °C) on July 10, 1936, inRunyon, Middlesex County and −34 °F (−37 °C) on January 5, 1904, inRiver Vale, Bergen County. Average annual precipitation ranges from 43 to 51 inches (1,100 to 1,300 mm), spread uniformly throughout the year. Average snowfall per winter\",\n \"snowfall per winter season ranges from 10–15 inches (25–38 cm) in the south and near the seacoast, 15–30 inches (38–76 cm) in the northeast and central part of the state, to about 40–50 inches (1.0–1.3 m) in the northwestern highlands, but this often varies considerably from year to year. Precipitation falls on an average of 120 days a year, with 25 to 30 thunderstorms, most of which occur during the summer. During winter and early spring, New Jersey can experiencenor'easters, which are capable of causingblizzardsor flooding throughout the northeastern United States.Hurricanesandtropical storms,tornadoes, and earthquakes are rare; the state was impacted by a hurricane in1903, Tropical StormFloydin1999,andHurricane Sandyin2012, which made landfall in the state with top winds of 90 mph (145 km/h). Climate change Climate change is affecting New Jerseyfaster than much of the rest of the United States.Climatologistsat the U.S.National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationhave concluded that New Jersey has been\",\n \"New Jersey has been the fastest-warming state by average air temperature over a 100-year period beginning in the early 20th century. Administrative divisions TheU.S. Census Bureaudivides New Jersey's 21 counties into sevenmetropolitan statistical areas, with 20 counties included in either the New York City or PhiladelphiaCombined Statistical Area.Warren Countyis part of the Pennsylvania-basedLehigh Valleymetro area. Counties The 21 counties in New Jersey, listed in order by population (as of the 2020 census) are: Municipalities For its overall population and nation-leading population density, New Jersey has a relative paucity of classic large cities. Thisparadoxis most pronounced inBergen County, the state's most populous county, whose 955,732 residents at the 2020 census inhabited 70 municipalities, of which the most populous isHackensack, with 46,030 residents. Many urban areas extend far beyond the limits of a single large city, as New Jersey municipalities tend to be geographically small; three of the\",\n \"small; three of the four largest cities in New Jersey by population have under 20 square miles (52 km2) of land area, and eight of the top ten, including all the top five, have a land area under 30 square miles (78 km2). As of the2010 United States census, only four municipalities had over 100,000 residents (although Edison and Woodbridge Township came very close); this number increased to seven by the 2020 census. Demographics Population Residents of New Jersey are most commonly referred to as New Jerseyans or, less commonly, as New Jerseyites. According to the2020 U.S. census, the state had a population of 9,288,994, a 5.7% increase since the2010 U.S. census, which counted 8,791,894 residents.The state ranked eleventh in the country by total population and first in population density, with 1,185 residents per square mile (458 per km2). Historically, New Jersey has experienced one of the fastest growth rates in the country, with its population increasing by double digits almost every decade until 1980;\",\n \"decade until 1980; growth has since slowed but remained relatively robust until recently. In 2022, the Census Bureau estimated there were 6,262 fewer residents than in 2020, a decline of 0.3% from 2020, related to theCOVID-19 pandemic. New Jersey is the only state where every county is deemedurbanas defined by theCensus Bureau.Most residents live in the counties surroundingNew York City, the nation's largest city,Philadelphia, the nation's sixth-largest city, or along the easternJersey Shore; the extreme southern and northwestern counties are relatively less dense overall. Since the 2000 census, theUnited States Census Bureaucalculated that New Jersey'scenter of populationwas located inEast Brunswick.The state is located in the middle of theNortheast megalopolis, which has more than 50 million residents. As of 2019, New Jersey was thethird highest U.S. statemeasured bymedian household income, behindMarylandandMassachusetts;the state's median household income was over $85,000 compared to the national average\",\n \"national average of roughly $65,000.Conversely, New Jersey's poverty rate of 9.4% was slightly lower than the national average of 11.4%,and thesixth lowest of the fifty states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. This is attributed to several factors, including the state's proximity to the major economic centers of New York City andPhiladelphia, its hosting the highest number ofmillionairesboth per capita and per square mile in the U.S., and the fact that it has the mostscientistsandengineersper square mile in the world. According toHUD's 2022Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 8,752homelesspeople in New Jersey.The top countries of origin for New Jersey's immigrants in 2018 wereIndia,Dominican Republic,Mexico,Ecuador, and thePhilippines. Race and ethnicity New Jersey is one of the most ethnically diverse states in the United States: as of 2022, over one-fifth (21.5%) of its residents are Hispanic or Latino, 15.3% are Black, and one-tenth are Asian. One in four New Jerseyans were born\",\n \"Jerseyans were born abroad and more than one million (12.1%) are not fully fluent in English. Compared to the U.S. as a whole, the state is more racially and ethnically diverse and has a higher proportion of immigrants. New Jersey is home to roughly half a millionunauthorized immigrants,comprising an estimated 6.2% of the population, which in 2018 was the fifth-highest percentage of any U.S. state.The municipalities of Camden, Jersey City, and Newark are consideredsanctuary citiesfor illegal immigrants. For further information on various ethnoracial groups and neighborhoods prominently featured within New Jersey, see the following articles: New Jersey is one of the most ethnically and religiouslydiversestates in the United States. Nearly one-fourth of New Jerseyans (22.7%) wereforeign born, compared to the national average of 13.5%.As of 2011, 56.4% of New Jersey's children under the age of one belonged to racial or ethnic minority groups, meaning that they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic\",\n \"not non-Hispanic white.The 2019 Vintage Year Census estimated that the state's ethnic makeup was as follows: 71.9% White alone, 15.1% Black or African American alone, 10.0% Asian alone, 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native alone, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, and 2.3% Two or more races. Hispanic or Latino accounted for 20.9%, while White alone (non-Hispanic or Latino) accounted for 54.6% of the population.Many of the municipalities inBergen County, New Jersey, the state's largest county, have a sizeable minority population of Hispanics and Asians. New Jersey hosts some of the nation's largest communities of religious and ethnic minorities in proportional or absolute terms. It has the second-largestJewishpopulation by percentage (after New York);the largestMuslimpopulation by percentage;the largest population ofPeruviansin the U.S.; the largest population ofCubansoutside Florida; the third-highestAsianpopulation by percentage; and the second highestItalianpopulation,according to\",\n \"to the2000 Census. African Americans,Hispanics(Puerto RicansandDominicans),West Indians,Arabs, andBrazilianandPortuguese Americansare also high in number. Overall, New Jersey has the third-largestKoreanpopulation, with Bergen County home to the highest Korean concentration per capita of any U.S. county(6.9% in 2011). New Jersey also has the fourth-largestFilipinopopulation, and fourth-largestChinesepopulation, per the 2010 U.S. Census. New Jersey has the-third highestIndianpopulation of any state by absolute numbers and the highest by percentage,withIndia SquareinJersey City,Hudson Countyhosting the highest concentration of Asian Indians in theWestern Hemisphere.A study by thePew Research Centerfound that in 2013, New Jersey was the only U.S. state in which immigrants born inIndiaconstituted the largestforeign-bornnationality, representing roughly 10% of all foreign-born residents in the state.Central New Jersey, particularlyEdisonand surroundingMiddlesex County, has the highest concentration of Indians, at\",\n \"of Indians, at nearly 20% in 2020;Little Indiais the largest and most diverseSouth Asiancultural hub in the United States.The area includes a sprawlingChinatownandKoreatownrunning alongNew Jersey Route 27.Monroe Townshipin Middlesex County has experienced a particularly rapid growth rate in itsIndian Americanpopulation with an estimated 5,943 (13.6%) as of 2017,which was 23 times the 256 (0.9%) counted at the 2000 Census;Diwaliis celebrated by the township as aHinduholiday. In Middlesex County, electionballotsare printed in English,Spanish,Gujarati,Hindi, andPunjabi.Robbinsville, in neighboring Mercer County, hoststhe world's largestHindu templeoutside Asia.Carteret'sPunjabiSikhcommunity, variously estimated at upwards of 3,000, is the largest concentration of Sikhs in the state.Bergen Countyis home to America's largestMalayalicommunity.fromNew York City (뉴욕), is a growing hub and home toall of the nation's top ten municipalities by percentage of Korean population,led (above) byPalisades Park (벼랑 공원),the\",\n \"Park (벼랑 공원),the municipality with the highestdensityof ethnicKoreansin theWestern Hemisphere. Displaying ubiquitousHangul (한글)signage and known as theKorean village,Palisades Park uniquely comprises a Korean majority (52% in 2010) of its population,with both thehighest Korean-American density and percentageof any municipality in the United States. There are also threestate-recognized tribes, and in 2020, 51,186 identified as being Native American alone, while 96,691 did in combination with one or more other races. Birth data Languages As of 2010, 71.31% (5,830,812) of New Jersey residents age5 and older spoke English at home as aprimary language, while 14.59% (1,193,261) spoke Spanish, 1.23% (100,217) Chinese (which includesCantoneseandMandarin), 1.06% (86,849) Italian, 1.06% (86,486)Portuguese, 0.96% (78,627)Tagalog, andKoreanwas spoken as amain languageby 0.89% (73,057) of the population over the age of five. In total, 28.69% (2,345,644) of New Jersey's population age5 and older spoke amother\",\n \"older spoke amother languageother than English. A diverse collection of languages has since evolved amongst the state's population, given that New Jersey has becomecosmopolitanand is home toethnic enclavesof non-English-speaking communities: Sexual orientation and gender identity New Jersey is anLGBTQ+ friendlystate and is now home to moregay villagesper square mile than any other U.S. state.Same-sex marriage in New Jerseyhas been legally recognized since October 21, 2013, the effective date of a trial court ruling invalidating New Jersey's restriction ofmarriageto persons of different sexes at the time. In September 2013, Mary C. Jacobson, Assignment Judge of theMercer Vicinageof theSuperior Court, ruled that as a result of theU.S. Supreme Court's June 2013 decision inUnited States v. Windsor, theConstitution of New Jerseyrequires the state to recognizesame-sex marriages. Numerousgayborhoodshave emerged in New Jersey, most prominently inJersey City,Asbury Park,Maplewood,Montclair, andLambertville.Trenton,\",\n \"thestate capitalof New Jersey, electedReed Gusciora, its first openly gay mayor, in 2018,and Jennifer Williams, New Jersey's first openlytransgendercity councilmember, in 2022.In June 2018, Maplewood,Essex Countyunveiled permanentrainbow-colored crosswalksto celebrate LGBTQ pride.Rahway,Union County, also unveiled its own rainbow-colored crosswalks in June 2019.In January 2019,New Jersey GovernorPhil Murphysigned legislation mandating LGBTQ+ inclusiveeducational curriculumin schools.In February 2019, New Jersey began allowing aneutral or non-binary genderchoice onbirth certificates. Religion By number of adherents, the largest religious traditions in New Jersey, according to the 2010Association of Religion Data Archives, were theRoman Catholic Churchwith 3,235,290;Islamwith 160,666; and theUnited Methodist Churchwith 138,052.The world'slargest Hindu temple outside Asiais inRobbinsville,Mercer County.In September 2021, the State of New Jersey aligned with the World Hindu Council to declare\",\n \"Council to declare OctoberHinduHeritage Month. In January 2018,Gurbir Grewalbecame the firstSikh Americanto serve as stateattorney generalin the United States.In January 2019,Sadaf JafferofMontgomerybecame the first femaleMuslim Americanmayor, first femaleSouth Asianmayor, and first femalePakistani-Americanmayor in the U.S.Large numbers of Orthodox Jews are now migrating to New Jersey from New York, due to the latter's higher cost of living. Education As of the 2020–2021 school year, there were 686 operatingdistricts in the state. Of these, 599 weretraditional public schooldistricts and 87 werecharter schooldistricts.TheNJDOEreported a total district enrollment of 1,362,400 students, the lowest total enrollment since the early 2000s, though these figures do not considerhomeschooledstudents or those attendingout-of-state schools.New Jersey public schools emphasizeSTEMsubjects, and New Jersey is home to more scientists and engineers per square mile than anywhere else in the world. Educational standards New\",\n \"standards New Jersey is known for the high quality of its education. In 2024, New Jersey spent more per each public school student than any other U.S. state exceptNew York, amounting to $26,600 spent per pupil;Over 50% of the expenditure is allocated to student instruction. New Jersey is home to private universities includingPrinceton UniversityinPrinceton,Mercer County, one of the world's most prominentresearch universities, featured at the top ofU.S. News & World Report's national university rankings for the ninth consecutive year in 2024 as well as topping comparable lists byForbesandThe Wall Street Journal,and public universities such asRutgers University, headquartered inNew Brunswick,Middlesex County, the state's flagship institution of higher education. In 2014, New Jersey's school systems were ranked at the top of all fifty U.S. states by financial websiteWalletHub.In 2018, New Jersey's overall educational system was ranked second among all states toMassachusettsbyU.S. News & World Report.In 2019,\",\n \"Report.In 2019, 2020, and 2021,Education Weekalso ranked New Jersey public schools the best of all U.S. states. Nine New Jerseyhigh schoolswere ranked among the top 25 in the U.S. on theNewsweek\\\"America's Top High Schools 2016\\\" list, more than from any other state. In November 2023, GovernorPhil Murphysigned into law legislation eliminating testing for prospective teachers in reading, writing, and math, replacing it with an alternative certification process. Economy TheU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysisestimates that New Jersey'sgross state productin the third quarter of 2022 was $753 billion. Affluence New Jersey'sper capita gross state productroutinely ranks as one of the highest in the United States. In 2020, New Jersey had the highest number ofmillionairesboth per capita and per square mile in the United States, approximately 9.76% of households. The state is ranked second in the nation by the number of places with per capita incomes above national average with 76.4%. Three of New Jersey's counties are\",\n \"counties are among the 20 highest-income U.S. counties. Fiscal policy New Jersey has seventax bracketsthat determinestate income taxrates, which range from 1.4% (for income below $20,000) to 8.97% (for income above $500,000). The standardsales taxrate as of January 1, 2018, is 6.625%, applicable to all retail sales unless specifically exempt by law. This rate, which is comparably lower than that of New York City, often attracts numerous shoppers from New York City, often to suburbanParamus, New Jersey, which has five malls, one of which (theGarden State Plaza) has over 2 million square feet (200,000 m2) of retail space.Tax exemptionsinclude most food items for at-home preparation, medications, most clothing, footwear and disposable paper products for use in the home.There are 27Urban Enterprise Zonestatewide, including sections ofPaterson,Elizabeth, andJersey City. In addition to other benefits to encourage employment within the zone, shoppers can take advantage of a reduced 3.3125%sales taxrate (half the\",\n \"taxrate (half the rate charged statewide) at eligible merchants. New Jersey has the highest cumulative tax rate of all 50 states with residents paying a total of $68 billion in state and local taxes annually with a per capita burden of $7,816 at a rate of 12.9% of income.Allreal propertylocated in the state is subject toproperty taxunless specifically exempted by statute. New Jersey does not assess an intangible personal property tax or anestate tax, but it does impose aninheritance tax(which is levied only on heirs who are not direct descendants).In 2023, GovernorPhil Murphysigned into law a new tax-relief program known as StayNJ that will provide for an annual property-tax cut of 50% for those aged 65 and over with incomes below $500,000; the cut will go into effect in January 2026 and be capped at $6,500, but with this cap rising as indexed to the increase in New Jersey's overall property taxes. Federal taxation disparity New Jersey consistently ranks as having one of the highest proportional levels of\",\n \"levels of disparity of any state in the United States, based upon what it receives from the federal government relative to what it gives. In 2015, WalletHub ranked New Jersey the state least dependent upon federal government aid overall and having the fourth lowest return on taxpayer investment from the federal government, at 48 cents per dollar. New Jersey has one of the highest tax burdens in the nation.Factors for this include the large federal tax liability which is not adjusted for New Jersey's higher cost of living andMedicaidfunding formulas. Industries New Jersey's economy is multifaceted, featuring high levels of bothproductivityandretail consumption; the Garden State's economy comprises thepharmaceutical industry,biotechnology,information technology, thefinancial industry,tourism,filmmaking,telecommunications,gambling, food processing, electrical equipment manufacturing, printing, and publishing. New Jersey's agricultural outputs are nursery stock, horses, vegetables, fruits and nuts, seafood, and\",\n \"nuts, seafood, and dairy products.New Jersey ranks second among states inblueberryproduction, third incranberriesandspinach, and fourth inbell peppers,peaches, andhead lettuce.The state harvests the fourth-largest number of acres planted withasparagus.South Jerseyhas become anEast Coast epicenterforlogisticsandwarehouseconstruction. Scientific economy New Jersey has a strongscientific economyand is home to major pharmaceutical and telecommunications firms, drawing on the state's large and well-educated labor pool, including one of the highest concentrations ofengineersand other scientists in the world. There is also a robust service economy in retail sales, education, and real estate, serving residents who work in New York City or Philadelphia.Thomas Edisoninvented the firstelectric light bulbat his home inMenlo Park, Edisonin 1879. New Jersey is also a key participant in therenewable wind industry. New Jersey has more scientists and engineers per square mile than anywhere in the world,and is a global leader\",\n \"is a global leader inpharmaceuticals,biotechnology,life sciences, andtechnology. Corporate and retail New Jersey hosts numerous business headquarters, including twenty-fourFortune 500companies.ParamusinBergen Countyhas become the top retailZIP code(07652) in the United States, with the municipality generating over US$6 billion in annual retail sales.Several New Jersey counties, includingSomerset(7),Morris(10),Hunterdon(13), Bergen (21), andMonmouth(42), have been ranked among thehighest-income counties in the United States. Shipping, manufacturing, and logistics Shipping is a key industry in New Jersey because of the state's strategic geographic location, thePort of New York and New Jerseybeing the busiest port on the East Coast. ThePort Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminalwas the world's firstcontainer portand today is one of the world's largest. New Jersey's location at the center of theEastern North Americanpopulation belt has made the state a prime hub for the logistics, warehousing, andsupply\",\n \"andsupply chainmanagement industries. Themanufacturingeconomy in New Jersey had declined for several decades in the post-Industrial Revolutionera but has since resumed growth. Tourism New Jersey's location at the center of theNortheast megalopolisand its extensive transportation system have put over one-third of all United States residents and many Canadian residents within overnight distance by land. This accessibility to consumer revenue has enabledseaside resortssuch asAtlantic Cityand the remainder of theJersey Shore, as well as the state's other natural and cultural attractions, to contribute significantly to the record 111 million tourist visits to New Jersey in 2018, providing US$44.7 billion in tourism revenue, directly supporting 333,860 jobs, sustaining more than 531,000 jobs overall including peripheral impacts, and generating US$5 billion in state and local tax revenue. Gambling In 1976, areferendumby Jersey voters approvedcasinogambling in Atlantic City, where the first legalized casino opened\",\n \"casino opened in 1978.At that time,Las Vegaswas the only other casino resort in the country.Today, several casinos lie along the Atlantic CityBoardwalk, the oldest and longest boardwalk in the world, at5+1⁄2miles (8.9 km) in length.Atlantic City experienced a dramatic contraction in its stature as a gambling destination after 2010, including the closure of multiple casinos since 2014, spurred by competition from the advent of legalized gambling in other northeastern U.S. states. On February 26, 2013, Governor Chris Christie signedonline gamblinginto law.Sports bettinghas become a growing source of gambling revenue in New Jersey, with sportsbooks bringing in almost $12 billion in bets, making over $1 billion in revenue in 2023.Since being legalized across the nation by theU.S. Supreme Courton May 14, 2018, New Jersey led all states in sports betting handle until New York passed them.In September 2022, the lifetime revenue fromonline casinosoperating in New Jersey for the nine years since the industry's launch\",\n \"industry's launch had surpassed $5 billion. Media Television and film production New Jersey is a growing center forfilmmakingandtelevision production,withmedia companies, enticed by its proximity toManhattan, in conjunction withtax incentives, collectively spending billions of dollars to develop large newstudio facilitiesandsound stagecomplexes.Motion picture technology was developed byThomas Edison, with much of his early work done at hisWest Orangelaboratory.Edison's Black Mariawas the first motion picture studio.America's first motion picture industrystarted in 1907 inFort Leeand the first studio was constructed there in 1909.DuMont LaboratoriesinPassaicdeveloped early sets and made the first broadcast to the private home. A number of television shows and films have been filmed in New Jersey. Since 1978, the state has maintained a Motion Picture and Television Commission to encourage filming in-state.New Jersey has long offered tax credits to television producers. Governor Chris Christie suspended the\",\n \"suspended the credits in 2010, but theNew Jersey State Legislaturein 2011 approved the restoration and expansion of the tax credit program. Under bills passed by both the state Senate and Assembly, the program offers 20 percent tax credits (22% inurban enterprise zones) to television and film productions that shoot in the state and meet set standards for hiring and local spending.When Governor Phil Murphy took office, he instated the New Jersey Film & Digital Media Tax Credit Program in 2018 and expanded it in 2020. The benefits include a 30% tax credit on film projects and a 40% subsidy for studio developments. Newspapers Radio stations Television stations New Jersey has severalPBSaffiliates:WNET(13) inNewark,WNJN(50) inMontclair, WNJB (58) inNew Brunswick, WNJS (23) inCamdenand WNJT (52) inTrenton. There are no standard commercialnetwork affiliatesin the state.WMGM-TV(Wildwood) lost its affiliation withNBCin 2014. Viewers in northern New Jersey receiveNew York City marketstations over cable or over the\",\n \"cable or over the air; southern New Jersey viewers receivePhiladelphia marketstations over cable or over the air. WMGM now affiliates with theTrue Crime Network.WJLP(Middletown) affiliates with the retro networkMeTV. There areTelemundoaffiliates in Fort Lee, Linden and Mount Laurel, andUnivisionaffiliates in Paterson and Vineland. Finance as Wall Street West Jersey City'sHudson River waterfront, fromExchange PlacetoNewport, is known asWall Street Westand has over 13 million square feet ofClass A office space. One third of theprivate sectorjobs in the city are in thefinancial servicessector: more than 60% are in thesecurities industry, 20% are in banking and 8% ininsurance.Jersey City is home to the headquarters ofVerisk AnalyticsandLord Abbett,a privately held money management firm.Companies such asComputershare,ADP,IPC Systems, andFidelity Investmentsalso conduct operations in the city.In 2014,Forbesmagazine moved its headquarters to the district, having been awarded a $27 million tax grant in exchange for\",\n \"in exchange for bringing 350 jobs to the city over a ten-year period.By the early 2020s, the construction of residentialskyscrapersDowntown made median rental rates in Jersey City amongst the highest of any city in the United States. Natural resources and energy Limited mining activity ofzinc, iron, andmanganesestill takes place in the area in and around theFranklin FurnaceinSussex County. Although New Jersey is home to many energy-intensive industries, its energy consumption is only 2.7% of the U.S. total, and itscarbon dioxide emissionsare 0.8% of the U.S. total. New Jersey's electricity comes primarily from natural gas and nuclear power.New Jersey is seventh in the nation insolar powerinstallations,enabled by one of the country's most favorablenet meteringpolicies andrenewable portfolio standard. The state has more than 140,000 solar installations. Environment Due to past industrial activity, New Jersey has moreSuperfundtoxic waste sites than any other state in the union despite its small geographic size.\",\n \"geographic size. By 2024, only 35 of New Jersey's Superfund sites (out of about 150 that have been on the EPA's list since the Superfund law was passed in 1980) have been cleaned up. In late 2023, a concern became public aboutPFAs(so-called \\\"forever chemicals\\\") existing in the state's water supplies. Transportation New Jersey's population density and location at the geographic center of theNortheast Megalopolishave rendered it a vital transportation for hub for both passengers and industry. Roadways TheNew Jersey Turnpikeis one of the most prominent and heavily trafficked roadways in the United States. Thistoll road, which overlaps withInterstate 95for much of its length, carries traffic betweenDelawareand New York, and up and down theEast Coastin general. Commonly referred to as simply \\\"the Turnpike\\\", it is known for its numerousrest areasnamed after prominent New Jerseyans. TheGarden State Parkway, or simply \\\"the Parkway\\\", carries relatively more in-state traffic than interstate traffic and runs from New\",\n \"and runs from New Jersey's northern border to its southernmost tip atCape May. It is the main route that connects theNew York metropolitan areato theJersey Shore. With a total of fifteen travel and six shoulder lanes, theDriscoll Bridgeon the Parkway, spanning theRaritan RiverinMiddlesex County, is the widest motor vehicle bridge in the world by number of lanes as well as one of the busiest. New Jersey is connected to New York City via various key bridges and tunnels. The double-deckedGeorge Washington Bridgecarries the heaviest load of motor vehicle traffic of any bridge in the world, at 102 million vehicles per year, across fourteen lanes.It connectsFort Lee, New Jerseyto theWashington Heightsneighborhood ofUpper Manhattan, and carriesInterstate 95andU.S. Route 1/9across theHudson River. TheLincoln Tunnelconnects toMidtown ManhattancarryingNew Jersey Route 495, and theHolland Tunnelconnects toLower ManhattancarryingInterstate 78. New Jersey is also connected toStaten Islandby three bridges—from north to\",\n \"north to south, theBayonne Bridge, theGoethals Bridge, and theOuterbridge Crossing. New Jersey hasinterstate compactswith all three of its neighboring states. ThePort Authority of New York and New Jersey, theDelaware River Port Authority(withPennsylvania), theDelaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission(with Pennsylvania), and theDelaware River and Bay Authority(withDelaware) operate most of the major transportation routes in and out of the state. Bridge tolls are collected only from traffic exiting the state, with the exception of the privateDingman's Ferry Bridgeover the Delaware River, which charges a toll in both directions. It is unlawful for a customer to serve themselves gasoline in New Jersey. It became the last remaining U.S. state where allgas stationsare required to sell full-service gasoline to customers at all times in 2016, afterOregon's introduction of restricted self-service gasoline availability took effect. Airports Newark Liberty International Airport(EWR) is one of thebusiest airportsin\",\n \"airportsin the United States. Operated by thePort Authority of New York and New Jersey, it is one of the three main airports serving theNew York metropolitan area, along withJohn F. Kennedy International AirportandLaGuardia Airport, which are both in Queens, New York.United Airlinesis the airport's largest tenant, operating an entire terminal (Terminal C) there, which it uses as one of its primaryhubs.FedEx Expressoperates a largecargo terminalat EWR as well. The adjacentNewark Airport railroad stationprovides access toAmtrakandNJ Transittrains along theNortheast Corridor Line. Two smaller commercial airports,Atlantic City International Airportand rapidly growingTrenton-Mercer Airport, also operate in other parts of the state.Teterboro AirportinBergen CountyandMillville Municipal AirportinCumberland Countyaregeneral aviationairports popular withprivateandcorporate aircraftdue to their proximity to New York City and theJersey Shore, respectively. Rail and bus NJ Transitoperates extensive rail and bus service\",\n \"and bus service throughout the state. A state-run corporation, it began with the consolidation of several private bus companies inNorth Jerseyin 1979. In the early 1980s, it acquiredConrail's commuter train operations that connected suburban towns to New York City. NJ Transit has12 rail linesthat run through different parts of the state and 165 stations statewide.Most of the lines end at eitherPenn Stationin New York City orHoboken TerminalinHoboken, although some lines serve service to both terminal stations. One line provides service betweenAtlantic CityandPhiladelphia. NJ Transit also operates threelight railsystems in the state. TheHudson-Bergen Light RailconnectsBayonnetoNorth Bergen, throughHobokenandJersey City. TheNewark Light Railis partially underground, and connects downtownNewarkwith other parts of the city and its suburbs,BellevilleandBloomfield. TheRiver LineconnectsTrenton, andCamden. ThePATHis arapid transitsystem consisting of four lines operated by thePort Authority of New York and New\",\n \"of New York and New Jersey. It linksHoboken,Jersey City,Harrison, andNewarkwith New York City. ThePATCO Speedlineis a rapid transit system that linksCamden Countyto Philadelphia. Both the PATCO and the PATH are two of only five rapid transit systems in the United States to operate 24 hours a day. Amtrakoperates numerous long-distance passenger trains in New Jersey, both to and from neighboring states and around the country. In addition to the Newark Airport connection, other major Amtrak railway stations includeTrenton Transit Center,Metropark, and the historicNewark Penn Station. TheSoutheastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, or SEPTA, has two commuter rail lines that operate into New Jersey. TheTrenton Lineterminates at theTrenton Transit Center, and theWest Trenton Lineterminates at theWest Trenton Rail StationinEwing. AirTrain Newarkis amonorailconnecting the Amtrak/NJ Transit station on the Northeast Corridor to the airport's terminals and parking lots. Some private bus carriers still remain in\",\n \"still remain in New Jersey. Most of these carriers operate with state funding to offset losses and state owned buses are provided to these carriers, of whichCoach USAcompanies make up the bulk. Other carriers include private charter and tour bus operators that take gamblers from other parts of New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia, andDelawareto the casino resorts of Atlantic City. Ferries New York Waterwayhas ferry terminals atBelford,Jersey City, Hoboken,Weehawken, andEdgewater, with service to different parts of Manhattan.Liberty Water TaxiinJersey Cityhas ferries fromPaulus HookandLiberty State ParktoBattery Park Cityin Manhattan.Statue Cruisesoffers service from Liberty State Park to theStatue of Liberty National Monument, includingEllis Island.SeaStreakoffers services from theRaritan Bayshoreto Manhattan,Martha's Vineyard, andNantucket. TheDelaware River and Bay Authorityoperates theCape May–Lewes FerryonDelaware Bay, carrying both passengers and vehicles between New Jersey and Delaware as part ofUS\",\n \"as part ofUS 9. The agency also operates theForts Ferry Crossingfor passengers across theDelaware River. TheDelaware River Port Authorityoperates theRiverLink Ferrybetween theCamdenwaterfront andPenn's Landingin Philadelphia. Culture General New Jersey has continued to play a prominent role as a U.S. cultural nexus. Like every state, New Jersey has its owncuisine, religious communities,museums, andhalls of fame. New Jersey is the birthplace of many modern inventions, includingFM radio, the motion picture camera, thelithium battery, thelight bulb,transistors, and the electric train. Other New Jersey creations include: the drive-in movie, the cultivatedblueberry,cranberry sauce, theboardwalk, thezipper, thephonograph,saltwater taffy, thedirigible, theseedless watermelon,thefirst useof asubmarinein warfare, and theice cream cone. Dinersare iconic to New Jersey. The state is home to many diner manufacturers and has over 600 diners, more than any other place in the world. New Jersey is the only state to have\",\n \"only state to have never had astate song;as of 2021, it is one of only two states (the other beingMaryland) that are currently without a state song. \\\"I'm From New Jersey\\\" is incorrectly listed on many websites as being the New Jersey state song, but it was not even a contender when the New Jersey Arts Council submitted state song suggestions to theNew Jersey Legislaturein 1996. New Jersey is frequently the target of jokes in American culture,especially from New York City-based television shows, such asSaturday Night Live.AcademicMichael Aaron Rocklandattributes this to New Yorkers' view that New Jersey is the beginning ofMiddle America. TheNew Jersey Turnpike, which runs between two major East Coast cities, New York City and Philadelphia, is also cited as a reason, as people who traverse through the state may only see its industrial zones.Reality television shows likeJersey ShoreandThe Real Housewives of New Jerseyhave reinforced stereotypical views of New Jersey culture,but Rockland citedThe Sopranosand the\",\n \"Sopranosand the music ofBruce Springsteenas exporting a more positive image. The \\\"New\\\" in \\\"New Jersey\\\" is often omitted in casual conversation. Cuisine New Jersey is known for several foods developed within the region, includingTaylor Ham(also known aspork roll),sloppy joe sandwiches,tomato pies,salt water taffy, andTexas wieners. Just asNew York City's cuisinehas an influence onNorth Jersey,Philadelphia's cuisineinfluencesSouth Jersey. New Jersey's third-largest industry is food and agriculture just behind pharmaceuticals and tourism. New Jersey is one of the top 10 producers ofblueberries,cranberries,peaches,tomatoes,bell peppers,eggplant,cucumbers,apples,spinach,squash, andasparagusin the United States. Many restaurants in the state offer locally grown ingredients because of this. Campbell's Soup Companyhas been headquartered inCamdensince 1869.Goya Foods, the largestHispanic-owned food company in the United States, operates a corporate headquarters inJersey City.Mars Wrigley Confectionery's US\",\n \"Confectionery's US headquarters has been based inHackettstownandNewarksince 2007. Several states with substantial Italian American populations take credit for the development ofsubmarine sandwiches, including New Jersey. Music New Jersey has long been an important origin for bothrockandrapmusic. Prominent musicians from or with significant connections to New Jersey include: Sports New Jersey currently has six teams frommajor professional sports leaguesplaying in the state, although oneMajor League Soccerteam and twoNational Football Leagueteams identify themselves as being from theNew York metropolitan area. Professional sports TheNational Hockey League'sNew Jersey Devils, based inNewarkat thePrudential Center, is the only major leaguesports franchiseto bear the state's name. Founded in 1974 inKansas City, Missouri, as theKansas City Scouts, the team played inDenver, Colorado, as theColorado Rockiesfrom 1976 until the spring of 1982 when naval architect, businessman, andJersey CitynativeJohn J.\",\n \"CitynativeJohn J. McMullenpurchased, renamed, and moved the franchise toBrendan Byrne ArenainEast Rutherford'sMeadowlands Sports Complex. While the team was poor to mediocre in Kansas City, Denver, and its first years in New Jersey, qualifying for the playoffs once in the 13 seasons from 1974 to 1987, the Devils ultimately established themselves in late 1980s and early 1990s during the tenure of Hall of Fame president and general managerLou Lamoriello. As of 2023, the Devils have appeared in 23 postseasons in 40 seasons in New Jersey, reaching fiveStanley CupFinals (most recently in2012) and winning it in1995,2000, and2003. The organization is the youngest of the nine \\\"Big Four\\\" major league teams based in New York metropolitan area, ultimately establishing its core following throughout the northern and central portions of the state and carving a place in a media market once dominated by theNew York RangersandIslanderswhich has the distinction of being the only metropolitan area in the country with three\",\n \"country with three major league professional sports teams participating in the same sport. In 2018, thePhiladelphia Flyersrenovated and expanded their training facility, the Virtua Center Flyers Skate Zone, inVoorhees Townshipin the southern portion of the state. TheNew York metropolitan area's twoNational Football Leagueteams, theNew York Giantsand theNew York Jets, play atMetLife StadiuminEast Rutherford'sMeadowlands Sports Complex.Built for about $1.6 billion,the venue is one of the most expensive stadiums ever built.On February 2, 2014, MetLife Stadium hostedSuper Bowl XLVIII. TheNew York Red BullsofMajor League Soccerplay inRed Bull Arena, a soccer-specific stadium inHarrisonacross thePassaic Riverfrom downtownNewark. On July 27, 2011, Red Bull Arena hosted the2011 MLS All-Star Game.New Jersey hosted matches during the1994 FIFA World CupatGiants Stadiumand will be one of 16 cities to host matches during the2026 FIFA World Cup, atMetLife Stadium, which will also host thetournament final. From 1977 to\",\n \"final. From 1977 to 2012, New Jersey had aNational Basketball Associationteam, theNew Jersey Nets.WNBA'sNew York Libertyplayed in New Jersey from 2011 to 2013 while their primary home arena,Madison Square Gardenwas undergoing renovations.In 2016, thePhiladelphia 76ersof the NBA opened their new headquarters and training facility, the Philadelphia 76ers Training Complex, inCamden. The Meadowlands Sports Complex is home to theMeadowlands Racetrack, one of three majorharness racingtracks in the state. The Meadowlands Racetrack andFreehold Racewayin Freehold are two of the major harness racing tracks in North America.Monmouth Park Racetrackin Oceanport is a popular spot forthoroughbred racingin New Jersey and the northeast. It hosted theBreeders' Cupin 2007, and its turf course was renovated in preparation. Major league sports Minor league sports College sports Major schools New Jerseyans' collegiate allegiances are predominantly split among the three majorNCAA Division Iprograms in the state: theRutgers\",\n \"state: theRutgers University(New Jersey's flagship state university)Scarlet Knights, members of theBig Ten Conference; theSeton Hall University(the state's largestCatholicuniversity)Pirates, members of theBig East Conference; and thePrinceton University(the state'sIvy Leagueuniversity)Tigers. The intense rivalry between Rutgers and Princeton athletics began with thefirst intercollegiate football gamein 1869. The schools have not met on the football field since 1980, but they continue to play each other annually in all other sports offered by the two universities. Rutgers, which fields 24 teams in various sports, is nationally known for its football program, with a 6–4 all-timebowlrecord; and its women's basketball programs, which appeared in aNational Finalin 2007. In 2008 and 2009, Rutgers expanded their football home,Rutgers Stadium, now called SHI Stadium, on theBusch Campus. The basketball teams play at theRutgers Athletic CenteronLivingston Campus. Both venues and campuses are inPiscataway, across\",\n \"across theRaritan RiverfromNew Brunswick. The university also fields men's basketball and baseball programs. Rutgers' fans live mostly in the western parts of the state andMiddlesex County; its alumni base is the largest in the state. Rutgers' satellite campuses in Camden and Newark each field their own athletic programs—theRutgers–Camden Scarlet Raptorsand theRutgers–Newark Scarlet Raiders—which both compete in NCAADivision III. Seton Hall fields no football team, but its men's basketball team is one of theBig East's storied programs. No New Jersey team has won more games in theNCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, and it is the state's only men's basketball program to reach a modernNational Final. The Pirates play their home games atPrudential Centerin downtownNewark, about 4 miles (6 km) from the university'sSouth Orangecampus. Their fans hail largely from the predominantly Roman Catholic areas of the northern part of the state and theJersey Shore. The annual inter-conference rivalry game between\",\n \"game between Seton Hall and Rutgers, whose venue alternates between Newark and Piscataway, the Garden State Hardwood Classic, is planned through 2026. Other schools The state's other Division I schools include theMonmouth University Hawks(West Long Branch), theNew Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) Highlanders(Newark), theRider University Broncs(Lawrenceville), and theSaint Peter's University Peacocks and Peahens(Jersey City). Fairleigh Dickinson Universitycompetes in both Division I and Division III. It has two campuses, each with its own sports teams. The teams at the Metropolitan Campus are known as the FDU Knights, and compete in theNortheast Conferenceand NCAA Division I. The college at Florham (FDU-Florham) teams are known as the FDU-Florham Devils and compete in theMiddle Atlantic Conferences' Freedom Conferenceand NCAA Division III. Among the various Division III schools in the state, theStevens Institute of TechnologyDucks have fielded the longest continuously running collegiate men's lacrosse\",\n \"men's lacrosse program in the country. 2009 marked the 125th season. High school New Jersey high schools are divided into divisions under theNew Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association(NJSIAA).' Stadiums and arenas Other notable sports venues Government and politics Executive The position of Governor of New Jersey is one of the most powerful in the nation. The governor is elected on a ticket with their lieutenant governor as the only statewide elected executive officials in the state; the governor appoints the entire executive cabinet and judges of the Supreme and Superior Courts.Phil Murphy(D) is thegovernor. The governor's mansion isDrumthwacket, located inPrinceton. Before 2010, New Jersey was one of the few states without alieutenant governor.RepublicanKim Guadagnowas elected the firstlieutenant governor of New Jerseyon the Republican ticket with GovernorChris Christieand took office on January 19, 2010. The position was created as the result of aConstitutional amendmentto theNew Jersey State\",\n \"theNew Jersey State Constitutionpassed by the voters in 2005. Previously a gubernatorial vacancy would be filled by the president of theNew Jersey State Senateas acting governor, thus directing half of the legislative and all of the executive process. Legislative The current version of theNew Jersey State Constitutionwas adopted in 1947. It provides for abicameralNew Jersey Legislature, consisting of anupper houseSenateof 40 members and alower houseGeneral Assemblyof 80 members. Each of the 40 legislative districts elects one state senator and two Assembly members. Assembly members are elected for a two-year term in all odd-numbered years; state senators are elected in years ending in 1, 3, and7 and thus serve either four- or two-year terms. New Jersey is one of only five states that elects its state officials in odd-numbered years (the others areKentucky,Louisiana,Mississippi, andVirginia). New Jersey holds elections for these offices every four years, in the year following each federal Presidential\",\n \"Presidential election year. Judicial TheNew Jersey Supreme Courtconsists of a chief justice and six associate justices. All are appointed by the governor with theadvice and consentof a majority of the membership of the state senate. Justices serve an initial seven-year term, after which they can be reappointed to serve until age 70. Most of the day-to-day work in the New Jersey courts is carried out in the Municipal Court, where simple traffic tickets, minor criminal offenses, and small civil matters are heard. More serious criminal and civil cases are handled by theSuperior Courtfor each county. All Superior Court judges are appointed by the governor with theadvice and consentof a majority of the membership of the state senate. Each judge serves an initial seven-year term and can be reappointed to serve until age 70. New Jersey's judiciary is unusual in that it still has separate courts of law andequity, like its neighborDelawarebut unlike most other U.S. states. TheNew Jersey Superior Courtis divided into\",\n \"divided into Law and Chancery Divisions at the trial level; the Law Division hears both criminal cases and civil lawsuits where the plaintiff's primary remedy isdamages, while the Chancery Division hears family cases, civil suits where the plaintiff's primary remedy is equitable relief, and probate trials. The Superior Court also has anAppellate Division, which functions as the state's intermediateappellate court. Superior Court judges are assigned to the Appellate Division by the Chief Justice. There is also a Tax Court, which is a court of limited jurisdiction. Tax Court judges hear appeals of tax decisions made by County Boards of Taxation. They also hear appeals on decisions made by the director of the Division of Taxation on such matters as state income, sales and business taxes, and homestead rebates. Appeals from Tax Court decisions are heard in the Appellate Division of Superior Court. Tax Court judges are appointed by the governor for initial terms of seven years, and upon reappointment are granted\",\n \"are granted tenure until they reach the mandatory retirement age of 70. There are 12 Tax Court judgeships. Counties New Jersey is divided into 21 counties; 13 date from the colonial era. New Jersey was completely divided into counties by 1692; the present counties were created by dividing the existing ones; most recentlyUnion Countyin 1857.New Jersey was formerly the only state in the nation where elected county officials were called \\\"freeholders\\\". Elected county officials are now called county commissioners as of bill S855 signed by Governor Murphy on August 8, 2020. The county commissioners govern each county as part of its ownBoard of Chosen County CommissionersThe number of county commissioners in each county is determined by referendum, and must consist of three, five, seven or nine members. Depending on the county, the executive andlegislativefunctions may be performed by theBoard of County Commissionersor split into separate branches of government. In 16 counties, the County Commissioners perform both\",\n \"perform both legislative and executive functions on a commission basis, with each commissioner assigned responsibility for a department or group of departments. In the other five counties (Atlantic,Bergen,Essex,HudsonandMercer), there is a directly electedCounty Executivewho performs the executive functions while the commissioners retain a legislative and oversight role. In counties without an Executive, a County Administrator (or County Manager) may be hired to perform day-to-day administration of county functions. Municipalities New Jersey currently has 564 municipalities; the most recent dissolution of a municipality was whenPine Valleymerged intoPine Hillon January 1, 2022. Unlike other states, all New Jersey land is part of a municipality. In 2008, GovernorJon Corzineproposed cutting state aid to all towns under 10,000 people, to encourage mergers to reduce administrative costs.In May 2009, the Local Unit Alignment Reorganization and Consolidation Commission began a study of about 40 small communities\",\n \"small communities in South Jersey to decide which ones might be good candidates for consolidation. Forms of municipal government Starting in the 20th century, largely driven by reform-minded goals, a series of six modern forms of government was implemented. This began with theWalsh Act, enacted in 1911 by theNew Jersey Legislature, which provided for a three- or five-member commission elected on a non-partisan basis. This was followed by the1923 Municipal Manager Law, which offered a non-partisan council, provided for a weak mayor elected by and from the members of the council, and introduced aCouncil-manager governmentstructure with an appointed manager responsible for the day-to-day administration of municipal affairs. TheFaulkner Act, originally enacted in 1950 and substantially amended in 1981, offers four basic plans:Mayor-Council,Council-Manager,Small Municipality, andMayor-Council-Administrator. The act provides many choices for communities with a preference for a strong executive and professional\",\n \"and professional management of municipal affairs and offers great flexibility in allowing municipalities to select the characteristics of its government: the number of seats on the council; seats selected at-large, by wards, or through a combination of both; staggered or concurrent terms of office; and a mayor chosen by the council or elected directly by voters. Most large municipalities and a majority of New Jersey's residents are governed by municipalities with Faulkner Act charters. Municipalities can also formulate their own unique form of government and operate under aSpecial Charterwith the approval of theNew Jersey Legislature. While municipalities retain their names derived from types of government, they may have changed to one of the modern forms of government, or further in the past to one of the other traditional forms, leading to municipalities with formal names quite baffling to the general public. For example, though there are four municipalities that are officially of the village type, none\",\n \"village type, none use the village form of government.Loch ArbourandRidgefield Park(now with a Walsh Act form),Ridgewood(now with a Faulkner Act Council-Manager charter) andSouth Orange(now operates under aSpecial Charter) all migrated to other non-village forms. Politics Social attitudes and issues Socially, New Jersey is considered one of the more liberal states in the nation. Polls indicate that 60% of the population are self-described aspro-choice, although a majority are opposed to late trimester andintact dilation and extractionand public funding of abortion.As of 2022, all aspects of reproductive choice (including abortion) are protected by law. In a 2009Quinnipiac University Polling Institutepoll, a plurality supportedsame-sex marriage49% to 43% opposed.On October 18, 2013, theNew Jersey Supreme Courtrendered a provisional, unanimous (7–0) order authorizing same-sex marriage in the state, pending a legal appeal by Governor Chris Christie,who then withdrew this appeal hours after the inaugural\",\n \"after the inaugural same-sex marriages took place on October 21, 2013. New Jersey also has some of the most stringentgun controllaws in the U.S. These include bans onassault firearms, hollow-nose bullets and slingshots. No gun offense in New Jersey is graded less than a felony.BB gunsand black-powder guns are all treated as modern firearms. New Jersey does not recognize out-of-state gun licenses and aggressively enforces its own gun laws. In 2020, the state's voting population passed a public questionthat amended the state constitution to legalizemarijuanaand erase past legal convictions for possession. The measure passed by a two-thirds vote. At the time the measure was enacted, about a dozen other U.S. states had also legalized the sale and possession of marijuana. As of 2024, local governments and municipalities are still in the process of regulating marijuana-related businesses within their jurisdictions. Elections New Jersey is aDemocraticstronghold.New Jersey Democratshave majority control of both\",\n \"control of both houses of theNew Jersey Legislature(Senate, 24–16, and Assembly, 46–34), 9–3 split of the state's twelve seats in theU.S. House of Representatives, and bothU.S. Senateseats. There have been recent Republican governors, however:Christine Todd Whitmanwon election in 1993 and 1997 andChris Christiein 2009 and 2013. In federal elections, the state leans heavily towards theDemocratic Party, having last voted for a Republican for president in 1988. New Jersey was a crucialswing statein the elections of1960,1968, and1992. The last elected Republican to hold a Senate seat from New Jersey wasClifford P. Casein 1979. Newark MayorCory Bookerwas elected in October 2013 to joinRobert Menendezto make New Jersey the first state with concurrently serving black and Latino U.S. senators. The state's Democratic strongholds includeCamden County,Essex County(the state's most Democratic county—it includesNewark, the state's largest city),Hudson County(the second-strongest Democratic county, includingJersey City,\",\n \"City, the state's second-largest city);Mercer County(especially aroundTrentonandPrinceton),Middlesex County, andUnion County(includingElizabeth, the state's fourth-largest city).Other suburban counties, especiallyBergen CountyandBurlington County, had the majority of votes go to theDemocratic Party. The northwestern and southeastern counties of the state are reliably Republican: Republicans have support along the coast inOcean CountyandCape May Countyas well as in the mountainous northwestern part of the state, especially inHunterdon County,Sussex County, andWarren County. To be eligible to vote in a U.S. election, all New Jerseyans are required to start their residency in the state 30 days prior to an election and register 21 days prior to election day. Capital punishment On December 17, 2007, Governor Jon Corzine signed into law a bill that would eliminate the death penalty in New Jersey. New Jersey was the first state to pass such legislation sinceIowaandWest Virginiaeliminated executions in 1965.Corzine\",\n \"in 1965.Corzine also signed a bill that would downgrade the Death Row prisoners' sentences from \\\"Death\\\" to \\\"Life in Prison with No Parole\\\". Points of interest Boardwalks Many communities along theJersey Shorehave a boardwalk with various attractions, entertainment, shopping, dining, arcades, water parks, and amusement parks. TheAtlantic Cityboardwalk, opened in 1870, as the world's firstboardwalk.At5+1⁄2miles (8.9 km) long, it is also the world's longest and busiest boardwalk. Museums National Park Service areas Entertainment and concert venues Visitors and residents take advantage of and contribute to performances at the numerous music, theater, and dance companies and venues located throughout the state, including: Theme parks See also Notes References External links State government U.S. government Other 40°00′N74°30′W / 40.0°N 74.5°W /40.0; -74.5 (State of New Jersey)\",\n \"Tagalog language Tagalog(/təˈɡɑːlɒɡ/,tə-GAH-log;;Baybayin:ᜆᜄᜎᜓᜄ᜔) is anAustronesian languagespoken as a first language by the ethnicTagalog people, who make up a quarter of the population of thePhilippines, and as asecond languageby the majority. Itsstandardizedform, officially namedFilipino, is thenational languageof the Philippines, and is one of twoofficial languages, alongsideEnglish. Tagalog is closely related to otherPhilippine languages, such as theBikol languages, theBisayan languages,Ilocano,Kapampangan, andPangasinan, and more distantly to other Austronesian languages, such as theFormosan languagesofTaiwan,Indonesian,Malay,Hawaiian,Māori,Malagasy, and many more. Classification Tagalog is aCentralPhilippine languagewithin theAustronesianlanguage family. BeingMalayo-Polynesian, it is related to other Austronesian languages, such asMalagasy,Javanese,Indonesian,Malay,Tetum(of Timor), andYami(of Taiwan).It is closely related to the languages spoken in theBicol Regionand theVisayasislands, such as\",\n \"such as theBikol groupand theVisayan group, includingWaray-Waray,HiligaynonandCebuano. Tagalog differs from itsCentral Philippinecounterparts with its treatment of theProto-Philippineschwavowel*ə. In mostBikolandVisayanlanguages, this sound merged with/u/and. In Tagalog, it has merged with/i/. For example, Proto-Philippine*dəkət(adhere, stick) is Tagalogdikítand Visayan & Bikoldukót. Proto-Philippine*r,*j, and*zmerged with/d/but is/l/between vowels. Proto-Philippine*ŋajan(name) and*hajək(kiss) became Tagalogngalanandhalík. Adjacent to an affix, however, it becomes/r/instead:bayád(paid) →bayaran(to pay). Proto-Philippine*Rmerged with/ɡ/.*tubiR(water) and*zuRuʔ(blood) became Tagalogtubiganddugô. History The wordTagalogis possibly derived from theendonymtaga-ilog(\\\"river dweller\\\"), composed oftagá-(\\\"native of\\\" or \\\"from\\\") andilog(\\\"river\\\"), or alternatively,taga-alogderiving fromalog(\\\"pool of water in the lowlands\\\"; \\\"rice or vegetable plantation\\\"). Linguists such asDavid ZorcandRobert Blustspeculate that the\",\n \"that the Tagalogs and other Central Philippine ethno-linguistic groups originated in NortheasternMindanaoor theEastern Visayas. Possible words of Old Tagalog origin are attested in theLaguna Copperplate Inscriptionfrom the tenth century, which is largely written inOld Malay.The first known complete book to be written in Tagalog is theDoctrina Christiana(Christian Doctrine), printed in 1593. TheDoctrinawas written in Spanish and two transcriptions of Tagalog; one in the ancient, then-currentBaybayinscript and the other in an early Spanish attempt at aLatinorthography for the language. Throughout the 333 years of Spanish rule, various grammars and dictionaries were written by Spanish clergymen. In 1610, the Dominican priest Francisco Blancas de San José published theArte y reglas de la lengua tagala(which was subsequently revised with two editions in 1752 and 1832) in Bataan. In 1613, the Franciscan priest Pedro de San Buenaventura published the first Tagalog dictionary, hisVocabulario de la lengua\",\n \"de la lengua tagalainPila, Laguna. The first substantial dictionary of the Tagalog language was written by theCzechJesuitmissionaryPablo Clainin the beginning of the 18th century. Clain spoke Tagalog and used it actively in several of his books. He prepared the dictionary, which he later passed over to Francisco Jansens and José Hernandez.Further compilation of his substantial work was prepared by P. Juan de Noceda and P. Pedro de Sanlucar and published asVocabulario de la lengua tagalain Manila in 1754 and then repeatedlyreedited, with the last edition being in 2013 in Manila. Among others,Arte de la lengua tagala y manual tagalog para la administración de los Santos Sacramentos(1850) in addition to early studiesof the language. The indigenous poetFrancisco Balagtas(1788–1862) is known as the foremost Tagalog writer, his most notable work being the 19th-centuryepicFlorante at Laura. Official status Tagalog was declared the official language by the first revolutionary constitution in the Philippines,\",\n \"in the Philippines, theConstitution of Biak-na-Batoin 1897. In 1935, the Philippine constitution designated English and Spanish as official languages, but mandated the development and adoption of a common national language based on one of the existing native languages.After study and deliberation, the National Language Institute, a committee composed of seven members who represented various regions in the Philippines, chose Tagalog as the basis for the evolution and adoption of the national language of the Philippines.PresidentManuel L. Quezonthen, on December 30, 1937, proclaimed the selection of the Tagalog language to be used as the basis for the evolution and adoption of the national language of the Philippines.In 1939, President Quezon renamed the proposed Tagalog-based national language asWikang Pambansâ(national language).Quezon himself was born and raised inBaler, Aurora, which is a native Tagalog-speaking area. Under the Japanese puppet government duringWorld War II, Tagalog as a national language\",\n \"a national language was strongly promoted; the 1943 Constitution specifying: \\\"The government shall take steps toward the development and propagation of Tagalog as the national language.\\\" In 1959, the language was further renamed as \\\"Pilipino\\\".Along with English, the national language has had official status under the 1973 constitution (as \\\"Pilipino\\\")and the present 1987 constitution (as Filipino). Controversy The adoption of Tagalog in 1937 as basis for a national language is not without its own controversies. Instead of specifying Tagalog, the national language was designated asWikang Pambansâ(\\\"National Language\\\") in 1939.Twenty years later, in 1959, it was renamed by then Secretary of Education,José E. Romero, asPilipinoto give it anationalrather thanethniclabel and connotation. The changing of the name did not, however, result in acceptance among non-Tagalogs, especiallyCebuanoswho had not accepted the selection. The national language issue was revived once more during the1971 Constitutional Convention.\",\n \"Convention. The majority of the delegates were even in favor of scrapping the idea of a \\\"national language\\\" altogether.A compromise solution was worked out—a \\\"universalist\\\" approach to the national language, to be calledFilipinorather thanPilipino. The 1973 constitution makes no mention of Tagalog. When a new constitution was drawn up in 1987, it named Filipino as the national language.The constitution specified that as the Filipino language evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages. However, more than two decades after the institution of the \\\"universalist\\\" approach, there seems to be little if any difference between Tagalog and Filipino. Many of the older generation in the Philippines feel that the replacement of English by Tagalog in the popular visual media has had dire economic effects regarding the competitiveness of the Philippines in trade and overseas remittances. Use in education Upon the issuance ofExecutive Order No. 134, Tagalog\",\n \"No. 134, Tagalog was declared as basis of the National Language. On April 12, 1940,Executive No. 263was issued ordering the teaching of the national language in all public and private schools in the country. Article XIV, Section 6 of the 1987Constitution of the Philippinesspecifies, in part: Subject to provisions of law and as the Congress may deem appropriate, the Government shall take steps to initiate and sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of official communication and as language of instruction in the educational system. Under Section 7, however: The regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein. In 2009, theDepartment of Educationpromulgated an order institutionalizing a system of mother-tongue based multilingual education (\\\"MLE\\\"), wherein instruction is conducted primarily in a student's mother tongue (one of the various regional Philippine languages) until at least grade three, with additional languages such as\",\n \"languages such as Filipino and English being introduced as separate subjects no earlier than grade two. In secondary school, Filipino and English become the primary languages of instruction, with the learner's first language taking on an auxiliary role.After pilot tests in selected schools, the MLE program was implemented nationwide from School Year (SY) 2012–2013. Tagalog is the first language of a quarter of the population of thePhilippines(particularly in Central and Southern Luzon) and the second language for the majority. Geographic distribution In the Philippines According to the 2020 census conducted by thePhilippine Statistics Authority, there were 109 million people living in the Philippines, where the vast majority have some basic level of understanding of the language. The Tagalog homeland,Katagalugan, covers roughly much of the central to southern parts of the island ofLuzon— particularly inAurora,Bataan,Batangas,Bulacan,Cavite,Laguna,Metro Manila,Nueva Ecija,Quezon, andRizal. Tagalog is also\",\n \"Tagalog is also spoken natively by inhabitants living on the islands ofMarinduqueandMindoro, as well asPalawanto a lesser extent. Significant minorities are found in the other Central Luzon provinces ofPampangaandTarlac,Ambos Camarinesin Bicol Region, theCordilleracity ofBaguioand various parts ofMindanaoespecially in the island's urban areas. Tagalog is also the predominant language ofCotabato CityinMindanao, making it the only place outside of Luzon with a native Tagalog-speaking majority. It is also the main lingua franca inBangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. According to the 2000 Philippine Census, approximately 96% of the household population who were able to attend school could speak Tagalog;and about 28% of the total population spoke it natively. The following regions and provinces of the Philippines are majority Tagalog-speaking (from north to south): Tagalog speakers are also found in other parts of the Philippines and through its standardized form ofFilipino, the language serves the\",\n \"language serves the nationallingua francaof the country. Outside of the Philippines Tagalog serves as the common language amongOverseas Filipinos, though its use overseas is usually limited to communication betweenFilipino ethnic groups. The largest concentration of Tagalog speakers outside the Philippines is found in theUnited States, wherein 2020, theUnited States Census Bureaureported (based on data collected in 2018) that it was the fourth most-spoken non-English language at home with over 1.7 million speakers, behindSpanish,French, andChinese(with figures forCantoneseandMandarincombined). A study based on data from the United States Census Bureau's 2015 American Consumer Survey shows that Tagalog is the most commonly spoken non-English language after Spanish inCalifornia,Nevada, andWashingtonstates. Tagalog is one of three recognized languages inSan Francisco, California, along with Spanish and Chinese, making all essential city services be communicated using these languages along with\",\n \"along with English.Meanwhile, Tagalog andIlocano(which is primarily spoken in northern Philippines) are among the non-official languages ofHawaiithat its state offices and state-funded entities are required to provide oral and written translations to its residents.Election ballots in Nevada include instructions written in Tagalog, which was first introduced in the2020 United States presidential elections. Other countries with significant concentrations of overseas Filipinos and Tagalog speakers includeSaudi Arabiawith 938,490,Canadawith 676,775,Japanwith 313,588,United Arab Emirateswith 541,593,Kuwaitwith 187,067, andMalaysiawith 620,043. Dialects At present, no comprehensivedialectologyhas been done in the Tagalog-speaking regions, though there have been descriptions in the form of dictionaries and grammars of various Tagalog dialects.Ethnologuelists Manila, Lubang,Marinduque, Bataan (Western Central Luzon),Batangas, Bulacan (Eastern Central Luzon), Tanay-Paete (Rizal-Laguna), andTayabas(Quezon)as dialects\",\n \"dialects of Tagalog; however, there appear to be four main dialects, of which the aforementioned are a part: Northern (exemplified by theBulacandialect), Central (including Manila), Southern (exemplified by Batangas), and Marinduque. Some example of dialectal differences are: Perhaps the most divergent Tagalog dialects are those spoken in Marinduque.Linguist Rosa Soberano identifies two dialects, western and eastern, with the former being closer to the Tagalog dialects spoken in the provinces of Batangas and Quezon. One example is the verb conjugation paradigms. While some of the affixes are different, Marinduque also preserves the imperative affixes, also found in Visayan and Bikol languages, that have mostly disappeared from most Tagalog early 20th century; they have since merged with the infinitive. The Manila Dialect is the basis for the national language. Phonology Tagalog has 21phonemes: 16 of them areconsonantsand 5 arevowels. Native Tagalog words follow CV(C)syllablestructure, though complex\",\n \"though complex consonant clusters are permitted in loanwords. Vowels Tagalog has five vowels, and four diphthongs.Tagalog originally had three vowel phonemes:/a/,/i/, and/u/. Tagalog is now considered to have five vowel phonemes following the introduction of two marginal phonemes from Spanish, /o/ and /e/. Nevertheless, simplification of pairsandis likely to take place, especially in some Tagalog as second language, remote location and working class registers. The fourdiphthongsare/aj/,/uj/,/aw/, and/iw/. Long vowels are not written apart from pedagogical texts, where an acute accent is used:á é í ó ú. The table above shows all the possible realizations for each of the five vowel sounds depending on the speaker's origin or proficiency. The five general vowels are inbold. Consonants Below is a chart of Tagalog consonants. All the stops are unaspirated. Thevelar nasaloccurs in all positions including at the beginning of a word. Loanword variants using these phonemes are italicized inside the angle brackets.\",\n \"the angle brackets. Glottal stop is not indicated.Glottal stops are most likely to occur when: Stress and final glottal stop Stressis adistinctive featurein Tagalog. Primary stress occurs on either the final or the penultimate syllable of a word. Vowel lengthening accompanies primary or secondary stress except when stress occurs at the end of a word. Tagalog words are often distinguished from one another by the position of the stress and/or the presence of a final glottal stop. In formal or academic settings, stress placement and the glottal stop are indicated by adiacritic(tuldík) above the final vowel.The penultimate primary stress position (malumay) is the default stress type and so is left unwritten except in dictionaries. Grammar Writing system Tagalog, like other Philippines languages today, is written using the Latin alphabet. Prior to the arrival of the Spanish in 1521 and the beginning of their colonization in 1565, Tagalog was written in anabugida—oralphasyllabary—calledBaybayin. This system of\",\n \"This system of writing gradually gave way to the use and propagation of the Latin alphabet as introduced by the Spanish. As the Spanish began to record and create grammars and dictionaries for the various languages of the Philippine archipelago, they adopted systems of writing closely following the orthographic customs of the Spanish language and were refined over the years. Until the first half of the 20th century, most Philippine languages were widely written in a variety of ways based on Spanish orthography. In the late 19th century, a number of educated Filipinos began proposing for revising the spelling system used for Tagalog at the time. In 1884, Filipino doctor and student of languagesTrinidad Pardo de Taverapublished his study on the ancient Tagalog scriptContribucion para el Estudio de los Antiguos Alfabetos Filipinosand in 1887, published his essayEl Sanscrito en la lengua Tagalogwhich made use of a new writing system developed by him. Meanwhile, Jose Rizal, inspired by Pardo de Tavera's 1884\",\n \"de Tavera's 1884 work, also began developing a new system of orthography (unaware at first of Pardo de Tavera's own orthography).A major noticeable change in these proposed orthographies was the use of the letter ⟨k⟩ rather than ⟨c⟩ and ⟨q⟩ to represent the phoneme/k/. In 1889, the new bilingual Spanish-TagalogLa España Orientalnewspaper, of whichIsabelo de los Reyeswas an editor, began publishing using the new orthography stating in a footnote that it would \\\"use the orthography recently introduced by ... learned Orientalis\\\". This new orthography, while having its supporters, was also not initially accepted by several writers. Soon after the first issue ofLa España,Pascual H. Poblete'sRevista Católica de Filipinabegan a series of articles attacking the new orthography and its proponents. A fellow writer, Pablo Tecson was also critical. Among the attacks was the use of the letters \\\"k\\\" and \\\"w\\\" as they were deemed to be of German origin and thus its proponents were deemed as \\\"unpatriotic\\\". The publishers of\",\n \"The publishers of these two papers would eventually merge asLa Lectura Popularin January 1890 and would eventually make use of both spelling systems in its articles.Pedro Laktaw, a schoolteacher, published the first Spanish-Tagalog dictionary using the new orthography in 1890. In April 1890, Jose Rizal authored an articleSobre la Nueva Ortografia de la Lengua Tagalogin the Madrid-based periodicalLa Solidaridad. In it, he addressed the criticisms of the new writing system by writers like Pobrete and Tecson and the simplicity, in his opinion, of the new orthography. Rizal described the orthography promoted by Pardo de Tavera as \\\"more perfect\\\" than what he himself had developed.The new orthography was, however, not broadly adopted initially and was used inconsistently in the bilingual periodicals of Manila until the early 20th century.The revolutionary society Kataás-taasan, Kagalang-galang Katipunan ng̃ mg̃á Anak ng̃ Bayan orKatipunanmade use of the k-orthography and the letter k featured prominently on many\",\n \"prominently on many of its flags and insignias. In 1937, Tagalog was selected to serve as basis for the country'snational language. In 1940, theBalarilâ ng Wikang Pambansâ(English:Grammar of the National Language) of grammarianLope K. Santosintroduced theAbakadaalphabet. This alphabet consists of 20 letters and became the standard alphabet of the national language.The orthography as used by Tagalog would eventually influence and spread to the systems of writing used by other Philippine languages (which had been using variants of the Spanish-based system of writing). In 1987, the Abakada was dropped and replaced by the expanded Filipino alphabet. Baybayin Tagalog was written in anabugida(alphasyllabary) calledBaybayinprior to the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines, in the 16th century. This particularwriting systemwas composed of symbols representing threevowelsand 14consonants. Belonging to theBrahmic familyof scripts, it shares similarities with theOld Kawiscript ofJavaand is believed to be\",\n \"is believed to be descended from the script used by theBugisinSulawesi. Although it enjoyed a relatively high level of literacy, Baybayin gradually fell into disuse in favor of theLatin alphabettaught by the Spaniards during their rule. There has been confusion of how to use Baybayin, which is actually anabugida, or analphasyllabary, rather than analphabet. Not every letter in the Latin alphabet is represented with one of those in the Baybayin alphasyllabary. Rather than letters being put together to make sounds as in Western languages, Baybayin uses symbols to represent syllables. A \\\"kudlít\\\" resembling an apostrophe is used above or below a symbol to change the vowel sound after its consonant. If the kudlit is used above, the vowel is an \\\"E\\\" or \\\"I\\\" sound. If the kudlit is used below, the vowel is an \\\"O\\\" or \\\"U\\\" sound. A special kudlit was later added by Spanish missionaries in which a cross placed below the symbol to get rid of the vowel sound all together, leaving a consonant. Previously, the consonant\",\n \"the consonant without a following vowel was simply left out (for example,bundókbeing rendered asbudo), forcing the reader to use context when reading such words. Example: Latin alphabet Abecedario Until the first half of the 20th century, Tagalog was widely written in a variety of ways based on Spanish orthography consisting of 32 letters called 'ABECEDARIO'(Spanish for \\\"alphabet\\\").The additional letters from the 26-letterEnglish alphabetare: ch, ll, ng, ñ, n͠g / ñg, and rr. Abakada When the national language was based on Tagalog, grammarian Lope K. Santos introduced a new alphabet consisting of 20 letters calledAbakadain school grammar books calledbalarilâ.The only letter not in theEnglish alphabetis ng. Revised alphabet In 1987, theDepartment of Education, Culture and Sportsissued a memo stating that the Philippine alphabet had changed from the Pilipino-Tagalog Abakada version to a new 28-letter alphabetto make room for loans, especially family names from Spanish and English.The additional letters from the\",\n \"letters from the 26-letterEnglish alphabetare: ñ, ng. ngandmga Thegenitivemarkerngand the plural markermga(e.g.Iyan angmgadamít ko.(Those are my clothes)) are abbreviations that are pronouncednangandmangá.Ng, in most cases, roughly translates to \\\"of\\\" (ex.Siyá ay kapatídngnanay ko.She is the siblingofmy mother) whilenangusually means \\\"when\\\" or can describe how something is done or to what extent (equivalent to the suffix-lyin English adverbs), among other uses. In the first example,nangis used in lieu of the wordnoong(when;Noongsi Hudas ay madulás). In the second,nangdescribes that the person woke up (gumising) early (maaga);gumising nang maaga. In the third,nangdescribed up to what extent that Juan improved (gumalíng), which is \\\"greatly\\\" (nang todo). In the latter two examples, the ligaturenaand its variants-ngand-gmay also be used (Gumisingnamaaga/Maaganggumising;Gumalíngnatodo/Todonggumalíng). The longernangmay also have other uses, such as aligaturethat joins a repeated word: pô/hôandopò/ohò The\",\n \"pô/hôandopò/ohò The wordspô/hôoriginated from the word \\\"Panginoon.\\\" and \\\"Poon.\\\" (\\\"Lord.\\\"). When combined with the basic affirmativeOo\\\"yes\\\" (fromProto-Malayo-Polynesian*heqe), the resulting forms areopòandohò. \\\"Pô\\\" and \\\"opò\\\" are specifically used to denote a high level of respect when addressing older persons of close affinity like parents, relatives, teachers and family friends. \\\"Hô\\\" and \\\"ohò\\\" are generally used to politely address older neighbours, strangers, public officials, bosses and nannies, and may suggest a distance in societal relationship and respect determined by the addressee's social rank and not their age. However, \\\"pô\\\" and \\\"opò\\\" can be used in any case in order to express an elevation of respect. Used in the affirmative: Pô/Hômay also be used in negation. Vocabulary and borrowed words Tagalog vocabulary is mostly of native Austronesian or Tagalog origin, such as most of the words that end with thediphthong-iw, (e.g. giliw) and words that exhibitreduplication(e.g. halo-halo, patpat, etc.).\",\n \"patpat, etc.). Besides inherited cognates, this also accounts for innovations in Tagalog vocabulary, especially traditional ones within its dialects. Tagalog has also incorporated many Spanish and English loanwords; the necessity of which increases in more technical parlance. In precolonial times,Trade Malaywas widely known and spoken throughoutMaritime Southeast Asia, contributing a significant number of Malay vocabulary into the Tagalog language. Malay loanwords, identifiable or not, may often already be considered native as these have existed in the language before colonisation. Tagalog also includes loanwords fromIndian languages(SanskritandTamil, mostly through Malay),Chinese languages(mostlyHokkien, followed byCantonese,Mandarin, etc.),Japanese,ArabicandPersian. English has borrowed some words from Tagalog, such as abaca, barong,balisong,boondocks,jeepney, Manila hemp,pancit, ylang-ylang, and yaya. Some of these loanwords are more often used inPhilippine English. Tagalog has contributed several words\",\n \"several words toPhilippine Spanish, likebarangay(frombalan͠gay,meaningbarrio), theabacá,cogon,palay,dalagaetc. Tagalog words of foreign origin Taglish (Englog) TaglishandEnglogare names given to a mix of English and Tagalog. The amount of English vs. Tagalog varies from the occasional use of English loan words to changing language in mid-sentence. Such code-switching is prevalent throughout the Philippines and in various languages of the Philippines other than Tagalog. Code-mixing also entails the use of foreign words that are \\\"Filipinized\\\" by reforming them using Filipino rules, such as verb conjugations. Users typically use Filipino or English words, whichever comes to mind first or whichever is easier to use. Magshoshopping kamí sa mall. Sino ba ang magdadrive sa shopping center? We will go shopping at the mall. Who will drive to the shopping center? Urbanites are the most likely to speak like this. The practice is common in television, radio, and print media as well.Advertisements from companies\",\n \"from companies likeWells Fargo,Wal-Mart,Albertsons,McDonald'sandWestern Unionhave contained Taglish. Cognates with other Philippine languages Comparisons with Austronesian languages Below is a chart of Tagalog and a number of other Austronesian languagescomparingthirteen words. Religious literature Religious literature remains one of the most dynamic components toTagalog literature. The first Bible in Tagalog, then calledAng Biblia(\\\"the Bible\\\") and now calledAng Dating Biblia(\\\"the Old Bible\\\"), was published in 1905. In 1970, the Philippine Bible Society translated theBibleinto modern Tagalog. Even before theSecond Vatican Council, devotional materials in Tagalog had been in circulation. There are at least four circulating Tagalog translations of the Bible When theSecond Vatican Council, (specifically theSacrosanctum Concilium) permitted the universal prayers to be translated intovernacular languages, theCatholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippineswas one of the first to translate theRoman Missalinto\",\n \"theRoman Missalinto Tagalog. TheRoman Missalin Tagalog was published as early as 1982. In 2012, theCatholic Bishops Conference of the Philippinesrevised the 41-year-old liturgy with an English version of the Roman Missal, and later translated it in thevernacularto several native languages in the Philippines.For instance, in 2024, theRoman Catholic Diocese of Malolosuses the Tagalog translation of theRoman Missalentitled \\\"Ang Aklat ng Mabuting Balita.\\\" Jehovah's Witnesses were printing Tagalog literature at least as early as 1941andThe Watchtower(the primary magazine of Jehovah's Witnesses) has been published in Tagalog since at least the 1950s. New releases are now regularly released simultaneously in a number of languages, including Tagalog. The official website of Jehovah's Witnesses also has some publications available online in Tagalog.The revisedbibleedition, theNew World Translation of the Holy Scriptures,was released in Tagalog on 2019and it is distributed without charge both printed andonline\",\n \"printed andonline versions. Tagalog is quite a stable language, and very few revisions have been made to CatholicBible translations. Also, as Protestantism in the Philippines is relatively young,liturgicalprayers tend to be moreecumenical. Example texts Lord's Prayer In Tagalog, theLord's Prayeris known by itsincipit,Amá Namin(literally, \\\"Our Father\\\"). Amá namin, sumasalangit Ka,Sambahín ang ngalan Mo.Mapasaamin ang kaharián Mo.Sundín ang loób Mo,Dito sa lupà, gaya nang sa langit.Bigyán Mo kamí ngayón ng aming kakanin sa araw-araw,At patawarin Mo kamí sa aming mga salà,Para nang pagpápatawad namin,Sa nagkakasalà sa amin;At huwág Mo kamíng ipahintulot sa tuksô,At iadyâ Mo kamí sa lahát ng masamâ.Amen. Universal Declaration of Human Rights This is Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights(Pangkalahatáng Pagpapahayág ng Karapatáng Pantao) Bawat tao'y isinilang na may layà at magkakapantáy ang tagláy na dangál at karapatán. Silá'y pinagkalooban ng pangangatwiran at budhî, na kailangang gamitin nilá\",\n \"gamitin nilá sa pagtuturingan nilá sa diwà ng pagkakapatiran. ᜊᜏᜆ᜔ ᜆᜂᜌ᜔ ᜁᜐᜒᜈᜒᜎᜅ᜔ ᜈ ᜋᜌ᜔ ᜎᜌ ᜀᜆ᜔ ᜋᜄ᜔ᜃᜃᜉᜈ᜔ᜆᜌ᜔ ᜀᜅ᜔ ᜆᜄ᜔ᜎᜌ᜔ ᜈ ᜇᜅᜎ᜔ ᜀᜆ᜔ ᜃᜇᜉᜆᜈ᜔᜶ ᜐᜒᜎᜌ᜔ ᜉᜒᜈᜄ᜔ᜃᜎᜓᜂᜊᜈ᜔ ᜈᜅ᜔ ᜃᜆ᜔ᜏᜒᜇᜈ᜔ ᜀᜆ᜔ ᜊᜓᜇᜑᜒ᜵ ᜈ ᜃᜁᜎᜅᜅ᜔ ᜄᜋᜒᜆᜒᜈ᜔ ᜈᜒᜎ ᜐ ᜉᜄ᜔ᜆᜓᜆᜓᜇᜒᜅᜈ᜔ ᜈᜒᜎ ᜐ ᜇᜒᜏ ᜈᜅ᜔ ᜉᜄ᜔ᜃᜃᜉᜆᜒᜇᜈ᜔᜶ All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Numbers Numbers (mga bilang/mga numero) in Tagalog follow two systems. The first consists of native Tagalog words and the other are Spanish-derived. (This may be compared to other East Asian languages, except with the second set of numbers borrowed from Spanish instead of Chinese.) For example, when a person refers to the number \\\"seven\\\", it can be translated into Tagalog as \\\"pitó\\\" or \\\"siyete\\\" (Spanish:siete). Months and days Months and days in Tagalog are also localised forms of Spanish months and days. \\\"Month\\\" in Tagalog isbuwán(also the word formoon) and \\\"day\\\" isaraw(the word also meanssun). Unlike\",\n \"meanssun). Unlike Spanish, however, months and days in Tagalog are always capitalised. Time Time expressions in Tagalog are also Tagalized forms of the corresponding Spanish. \\\"Time\\\" in Tagalog ispanahónororas. Common phrases Opòorohò(formal/polite form) Hindî pô(formal/polite form) Very informal:Ewan, archaicaywan(closest English equivalent: colloquial dismissive 'Whatever' or 'Dunno') Hindî ko naúunawáan Marunong pô ba kayóng magsalitâ ng Inglés?(polite version for elders and strangers)Marunong ka bang mag-Inglés?(short form)Marunong pô ba kayóng mag-Inglés?(short form, polite version for elders and strangers) *Pronouns such asniyó(2nd person plural) andnilá(3rd person plural) are used on a single 2nd person in polite or formal language. SeeTagalog grammar. Proverbs Ang hindî marunong lumingón sa pinánggalingan ay hindî makaráratíng sa paroroonan. One who knows not how to look back to whence he came will never get to where he is going. Unang kagát, tinapay pa rin.First bite, still bread.All fluff, no\",\n \"bread.All fluff, no substance. Tao ka nang humaráp, bilang tao kitáng haharapin.You reach me as a human, I will treat you as a human and never act as a traitor.(A proverb in Southern Tagalog that has made people aware of the significance of sincerity in Tagalog communities.) Hulí man daw (raw) at magalíng, nakáhahábol pa rin.If one is behind but capable, one will still be able to catch up. Magbirô ka na sa lasíng, huwág lang sa bagong gising.Make fun of someone drunk, if you must, but never one who has just awakened. Aanhín pa ang damó kung patáy na ang kabayò?What use is the grass if the horse is already dead? Ang sakít ng kalingkingan, damdám ng buóng katawán.The pain in the pinkie is felt by the whole body.In a group, if one goes down, the rest follow. Nasa hulí ang pagsisisi.Regret is always in the end. Pagkáhabà-habà man ng prusisyón, sa simbahan pa rin ang tulóy.Theprocessionmay stretch on and on, but it still ends up at the church.(In romance: refers to how certain people are destined to be married.\",\n \"to be married. In general: refers to how some things are inevitable, no matter how long you try to postpone it.) Kung 'dî mádaán sa santóng dasalan, daanin sa santóng paspasan.If it cannot be got through holy prayer, get it through blessed force.(In romance and courting:santóng paspasanliterally means 'holy speeding' and is a euphemism forsexual intercourse. It refers to the two styles of courting by Filipino boys: one is the traditional, protracted, restrained manner favored by older generations, which often featuredserenadesand manual labor for the girl's family; the other is upfront seduction, which may lead to a slap on the face or a pregnancy out of wedlock. The second conclusion is known aspikotor what Western cultures would call a 'shotgun marriage'. This proverb is also applied in terms of diplomacy and negotiation.) See also References Further reading External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":49,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"As of 2024, at the time of his birth, what was the middle name of the U.S. president who won Alaska, graduated from Yale University, and had a son named Michael?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"Lynch"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_elections_in_Alaska"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Multiple constraints"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_elections_in_Alaska', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_elections_in_Alaska","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_elections_in_Alaska\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["United States presidential elections in Alaska SinceAlaska'sadmission to the Unionin January 1959,it has participated in 16United States presidential elections, always having 3electoral votes. In the1960 presidential election, Alaska was narrowly won by theRepublican Party's candidate and incumbentvice presidentRichard Nixon, defeating theDemocratic Party's candidateJohn F. Kennedyby a margin of just 1.88% (1,144 votes).In the1964 presidential election, the Democratic Party's candidateLyndon B. Johnsonwon Alaska in a national Democraticlandslide victory.Since the 1964 election, Alaska has been won by the Republican Party in every presidential election. Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate in the1984 presidential election, won Alaska by 36.78%,which remains the largest margin of victory in the state's history.Ross Perot, theindependent candidatein the1992 presidential election, received the highest vote share (28.43%)ever won by athird-party candidatein Alaska. Various news organizations have characterized Alaska as a safe Republican state.No Republican has won the presidency without carrying Alaska since its statehood in 1959 due toLyndon B. Johnsonbeing the only Democrat candidate to ever carry the state. Alaska is tied withIdaho,Utah,Wyoming,North Dakota,South Dakota,Nebraska,KansasandOklahomafor the longest Republican voting streak for any state in recent political history, from 1968 to present. Presidential elections Graph The following graph shows the margin of victory of the winner over the runner-up in the 16 presidential elections Alaska participated. See also Notes References Works cited","Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr.(bornLeslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913 – December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38thpresident of the United Statesfrom 1974 to 1977. He previously served as the leader of theRepublican Partyin theU.S. House of Representativesfrom 1965 to 1973, and as the 40thvice presidentunder PresidentRichard Nixonfrom 1973 to 1974. Ford succeeded to the presidency when Nixon resigned in 1974, but wasdefeated for election to a full term in 1976. Ford remains the only person to serve as president without winning an election for president or vice president. Ford was born inOmaha, Nebraskaand raised inGrand Rapids, Michigan. He attended theUniversity of Michigan, where he played forthe school's football team, before eventually attendingYale Law School. Afterward, he served in theU.S. Naval Reservefrom 1942 to 1946. Ford began his political career in 1949 as the U.S. representative fromMichigan's 5th congressional district, serving in this capacity for nearly 25 years, the final nine of them as theHouse minority leader. In December 1973, two months afterSpiro Agnew's resignation, Ford became the first person appointed to the vice presidency under the terms of the25th Amendment. After the subsequent resignation of Nixon in August 1974, Ford immediately assumed the presidency. Domestically, Ford presided over the worst economy in the four decades since theGreat Depression, with growing inflation and a recession.In one of his most controversial acts, he granted apresidential pardon to Nixonfor his role in theWatergate scandal. Foreign policy was characterized in procedural terms by the increased role Congress began to play, and by the corresponding curb on the powers of the president.Ford signed theHelsinki Accords, which marked a move towarddétentein theCold War. With the collapse ofSouth Vietnamnine months into his presidency,U.S. involvement in the Vietnam Waressentially ended. In the1976 Republican presidential primary, Ford defeatedRonald Reaganfor the Republican nomination, but narrowly lost the presidential election to theDemocraticcandidate,Jimmy Carter. Following his years as president, Ford remained active in the Republican Party, but his moderate views on various social issues increasingly put him at odds with conservative members of the party in the 1990s and early 2000s. He also set aside the enmity he had felt towards Carter following the 1976 election and the two former presidents developed a close friendship. After experiencing a series of health problems, hedied in Rancho Mirage, Californiain 2006. Surveys of historians and political scientistshave rankedFord as a below-average president,though retrospective public polls on his time in office were more positive. Early life Ford was born Leslie Lynch King Jr. on July 14, 1913, at3202 Woolworth AvenueinOmaha, Nebraska, where his parents lived with his paternal grandparents. He was the only child ofDorothy Ayer GardnerandLeslie Lynch King Sr., a wool trader. His paternal grandfather was banker and businessmanCharles Henry King, and his maternal grandfather was Illinois politician and businessmanLevi Addison Gardner. Ford's parents separated just sixteen days after his birth and his mother took the infant Ford with her toOak Park, Illinois, where her sister Tannisse and brother-in-law, Clarence Haskins James lived. From there, she moved to the home of her parents inGrand Rapids, Michigan. Gardner and King divorced in December 1913, and she gained full custody of her son. Ford's paternal grandfather paid child support until shortly before his death in 1930. Ford later said that his biological father had a history of hitting his mother.In a biography of Ford,James M. Cannonwrote that the separation and divorce of Ford's parents was sparked when, a few days after Ford's birth, Leslie King took abutcher knifeand threatened to kill his wife, infant son, and Ford's nursemaid. Ford later told confidants that his father had first hit his mother when she had smiled at another man during their honeymoon. After living with her parents for two and a half years, on February 1, 1917, Gardner marriedGerald Rudolff Ford, a salesman in a family-owned paint and varnish company. Though never formally adopted, her young son was referred to as Gerald Rudolff Ford Jr. from then on; thename change, including the anglicized spelling \"Rudolph\", was formalized on December 3, 1935.He was raised inGrand Rapidswith his three half-brothers from his mother's second marriage:Thomas Gardner \"Tom\" Ford(1918–1995), Richard Addison \"Dick\" Ford (1924–2015), and James Francis \"Jim\" Ford (1927–2001). Ford was involved in theBoy Scouts of America, and earned that program's highest rank,Eagle Scout.He is the only Eagle Scout to have ascended to the U.S. presidency.Ford attended Grand Rapids South High School, where he was a star athlete andcaptainof thefootballteam.In 1930, he was selected to the All-City team of theGrand Rapids City League. He also attracted the attention of college recruiters. College and law school Ford attended theUniversity of Michigan, where he playedcenterandlinebackerfor the school's football teamand helped theWolverinesto two undefeated seasons andnational titlesin1932and1933. In his senior year of1934, the team suffered a steep decline and won only one game, but Ford was still the team's star player. In one of those games, Michigan held heavily favoredMinnesota—the eventual national champion—to a scoreless tie in the first half. After the game, assistant coachBennie Oosterbaansaid, \"When I walked into the dressing room at halftime, I had tears in my eyes I was so proud of them. Ford and Sweet played their hearts out. They were everywhere on defense.\" Ford later recalled, \"During 25 years in the rough-and-tumble world of politics, I often thought of the experiences before, during, and after that game in 1934. Remembering them has helped me many times to face a tough situation, take action, and make every effort possible despite adverse odds.\" His teammates later voted Ford their most valuable player, with one assistant coach noting, \"They felt Jerry was one guy who would stay and fight in a losing cause.\" During Ford's senior year, a controversy developed whenGeorgia Techsaid that it would not play a scheduled game with Michigan if a Black player namedWillis Wardtook the field. Students, players and alumni protested, but university officials capitulated and kept Ward out of the game. Ford was Ward's best friend on the team, and they roomed together while on road trips. Ford reportedly threatened to quit the team in response to the university's decision, but he eventually agreed to play againstGeorgia Techwhen Ward personally asked him to play. In 1934, Ford was selected for the Eastern Team on the Shriner'sEast–West Shrine Gameat San Francisco (a benefit for physically disabled children), played on January 1, 1935. As part of the 1935 Collegiate All-Star football team, Ford played against theChicago Bearsin theChicago College All-Star GameatSoldier Field.In honor of his athletic accomplishments and his later political career, the University of Michigan retired Ford's No. 48 jersey in 1994. With the blessing of the Ford family, it was placed back into circulation in 2012 as part of theMichigan Football Legendsprogram and issued to sophomore linebackerDesmond Morganbefore a home game againstIllinoison October 13. Throughout life, Ford remained interested in his school and football; he occasionally attended games. Ford also visited with players and coaches during practices; at one point, he asked to join the players in the huddle.Before state events, Ford often had the Navy band play the University of Michigan fight song, \"The Victors,\" instead of \"Hail to the Chief.\" Ford graduated from Michigan in 1935 with aBachelor of Artsdegree ineconomics. He turned down offers from theDetroit LionsandGreen Bay Packersof theNational Football League. Instead, he took a job in September 1935 as the boxing coach and assistant varsity football coach atYale Universityand applied to its law school. Ford hoped to attend Yale Law School beginning in 1935. Yale officials at first denied his admission to the law school because of his full-time coaching responsibilities. He spent the summer of 1937 as a student at theUniversity of Michigan Law Schooland was eventually admitted in the spring of 1938 toYale Law School.That year he was also promoted to the position of junior varsity head football coach at Yale.While at Yale, Ford began working as a model. He initially worked with theJohn Robert Powersagency before investing in theHarry Conoveragency, with whom he modelled until 1941. While attending Yale Law School, Ford joined a group of students led byR. Douglas Stuart Jr., and signed a petition to enforce the 1939Neutrality Act. The petition was circulated nationally and was the inspiration for theAmerica First Committee, a group determined to keep the U.S. out ofWorld War II.His introduction into politics was in the summer of 1940 when he worked for the Republican presidential campaign ofWendell Willkie. Ford graduated in the top third of his class in 1941, and was admitted to theMichigan barshortly thereafter. In May 1941, he opened a Grand Rapids law practice with a friend,Philip W. Buchen. U.S. Naval Reserve Following theDecember 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, Ford enlisted in the Navy.He received a commission asensignin theU.S. Naval Reserveon April 13, 1942.On April 20, he reported for active duty to the V-5 instructor school atAnnapolis, Maryland. After one month of training, he went to Navy Preflight School inChapel Hill, North Carolina, where he was one of 83 instructors and taught elementary navigation skills, ordnance, gunnery, first aid, and military drill. In addition, he coached all nine sports that were offered, but mostly swimming, boxing, and football. During the year he was at the Preflight School, he was promoted toLieutenant, Junior Grade, on June 2, 1942, and to lieutenant, in March 1943. Sea duty After Ford applied for sea duty, he was sent in May 1943 to the pre-commissioning detachment for the new aircraft carrierUSSMonterey(CVL-26), at New York Shipbuilding Corporation,Camden, New Jersey. From the ship's commissioning on June 17, 1943, until the end of December 1944, Ford served as the assistant navigator, Athletic Officer, and antiaircraft battery officer on board theMonterey. While he was on board, the carrier participated in many actions in thePacific Theaterwith theThirdandFifth Fleetsin late 1943 and 1944. In 1943, the carrier helped secureMakin Islandin the Gilberts, and participated in carrier strikes againstKavieng,Papua New Guineain 1943. During the spring of 1944, theMontereysupported landings atKwajaleinandEniwetokand participated in carrier strikes in theMarianas,Western Carolines, and northern New Guinea, as well as in theBattle of the Philippine Sea.After an overhaul, from September to November 1944, aircraft from theMontereylaunched strikes againstWake Island, participated in strikes in the Philippines andRyukyus, and supported the landings atLeyteandMindoro. Although the ship was not damaged by Japanese forces, theMontereywas one of several ships damaged byTyphoon Cobrathat hit AdmiralWilliam Halsey'sThird Fleet on December 18–19, 1944. The Third Fleet lost threedestroyersand over 800 men during the typhoon. TheMontereywas damaged by a fire, which was started by several of the ship's aircraft tearing loose from their cables and colliding on thehangar deck. Ford was serving as General Quarters Officer of the Deck and was ordered to go below to assess the raging fire. He did so safely, and reported his findings back to the ship's commanding officer, CaptainStuart H. Ingersoll. The ship's crew was able to contain the fire, and the ship got underway again. After the fire, theMontereywas declared unfit for service. Ford was detached from the ship and sent to the Navy Pre-Flight School atSaint Mary's College of California, where he was assigned to the Athletic Department until April 1945. From the end of April 1945 to January 1946, he was on the staff of the Naval Reserve Training Command,Naval Air Station, Glenview, Illinois, at the rank oflieutenant commander. Ford received the following military awards: theAmerican Campaign Medal, theAsiatic-Pacific Campaign Medalwith nine3⁄16\" bronze stars(for operations in theGilbert Islands,Bismarck Archipelago, Marshall Islands, Asiatic and Pacific carrier raids,Hollandia, Marianas, Western Carolines, Western New Guinea, and the Leyte Operation), thePhilippine Liberation Medalwith two3⁄16\" bronze stars (for Leyte and Mindoro), and theWorld War II Victory Medal.He was honorably discharged in February 1946. U.S. House of Representatives (1949–1973) After Ford returned to Grand Rapids in 1946, he became active in local Republican politics, and supporters urged him to challengeBartel J. Jonkman, the incumbent Republican congressman. Military service had changed his view of the world. \"I came back a convertedinternationalist\", Ford wrote, \"and of course our congressman at that time was an avowed, dedicatedisolationist. And I thought he ought to be replaced. Nobody thought I could win. I ended up winning two to one.\" During his first campaign in 1948, Ford visited voters at their doorsteps and as they left the factories where they worked.Ford also visited local farms where, in one instance, a wager resulted in Ford spending two weeks milking cows following his election victory. Ford was a member of the House of Representatives for 25 years, holdingMichigan's 5th congressional districtseat from 1949 to 1973. It was a tenure largely notable for its modesty. As an editorial inThe New York Timesdescribed him, Ford \"saw himself as a negotiator and a reconciler, and the record shows it: he did not write a single piece of major legislation in his entire career.\"Appointed to theHouse Appropriations Committeetwo years after being elected, he was a prominent member of theDefense Appropriations Subcommittee. Ford described his philosophy as \"a moderate in domestic affairs, an internationalist in foreign affairs, and a conservative in fiscal policy.\"He voted in favor of theCivil Rights Acts of 1957,1960,1964,and1968,as well as the24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitutionand theVoting Rights Act of 1965.Ford was known to his colleagues in the House as a \"Congressman's Congressman\". In the early 1950s, Ford declined offers to run for either the Senate or the Michigan governorship. Rather, his ambition was to becomeSpeaker of the House,which he called \"the ultimate achievement. To sit up there and be the head honcho of 434 other people and have the responsibility, aside from the achievement, of trying to run the greatest legislative body in the history of mankind ... I think I got that ambition within a year or two after I was in the House of Representatives\". Warren Commission On November 29, 1963, PresidentLyndon B. Johnsonappointed Ford to theWarren Commission, a special task force set up to investigate theassassinationof PresidentJohn F. Kennedy.Ford was assigned to prepare a biography of accused assassinLee Harvey Oswald. He andEarl Warrenalso interviewedJack Ruby, Oswald's killer. According to a 1963FBImemo that was released to the public in 2008, Ford was in contact with the FBI throughout his time on the Warren Commission and relayed information to the deputy director,Cartha DeLoach, about the panel's activities.In the preface to his book,A Presidential Legacy and The Warren Commission, Ford defended the work of the commission and reiterated his support of its conclusions. House Minority Leader (1965–1973) In 1964, Lyndon Johnson led a landslide victory for his party, secured another term as president and took 36 seats from Republicans in the House of Representatives. Following the election, members of the Republican caucus looked to select a new minority leader. Three members approached Ford to see if he would be willing to serve; after consulting with his family, he agreed. After a closely contested election, Ford was chosen to replaceCharles HalleckofIndianaas minority leader.The members of the Republican caucus that encouraged and eventually endorsed Ford to run as the House minority leader were later known as the \"Young Turks\". One of the members of the Young Turks was congressmanDonald H. RumsfeldfromIllinois's 13th congressional district, who later on would serve in Ford's administration as thechief of staffandsecretary of defense. With a Democratic majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Johnson Administration proposed and passed a series of programs that was called by Johnson the \"Great Society\". During the first session of theEighty-ninth Congressalone, the Johnson Administration submitted 87 bills to Congress, and Johnson signed 84, or 96%, arguably the most successful legislative agenda in Congressional history. In 1966, criticism over the Johnson Administration's handling of theVietnam Warbegan to grow, with Ford and Congressional Republicans expressing concern that the United States was not doing what was necessary to win the war. Public sentiment also began to move against Johnson, and the1966 midterm electionsproduced a 47-seat swing in favor of the Republicans. This was not enough to give Republicans a majority in the House, but the victory gave Ford the opportunity to prevent the passage of further Great Society programs. Ford's private criticism of the Vietnam War became public knowledge after he spoke from the floor of the House and questioned whether the White House had a clear plan to bring the war to a successful conclusion.The speech angered President Johnson, who accused Ford of having played \"too much football without a helmet\". As minority leader in the House, Ford appeared in a popular series of televised press conferences withIllinoisSenatorEverett Dirksen, in which they proposed Republican alternatives to Johnson's policies. Many in the press jokingly called this \"The Ev and Jerry Show.\"Johnson said at the time, \"Jerry Ford is so dumb he can't fart and chew gum at the same time.\"The press, used to sanitizing Johnson's salty language, reported this as \"Gerald Ford can't walk and chew gum at the same time.\" AfterRichard Nixonwas elected president in November 1968, Ford's role shifted to being an advocate for the White House agenda. Congress passed several of Nixon's proposals, including theNational Environmental Policy Actand theTax Reform Act of 1969. Another high-profile victory for the Republican minority was the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act. Passed in 1972, the act established arevenue sharingprogram for state and local governments.Ford's leadership was instrumental in shepherding revenue sharing through Congress, and resulted in a bipartisan coalition that supported the bill with 223 votes in favor (compared with 185 against). During the eight years (1965–1973) that Ford served as minority leader, he received many friends in the House because of his fair leadership and inoffensive personality. Vice presidency (1973–1974) For the past decade, Ford had been unsuccessfully working to help Republicans across the country get a majority in the chamber so that he could becomeHouse Speaker. He promised his wife that he would try again in 1974 then retire in 1976.However, on October 10, 1973,Spiro Agnewresigned from the vice presidency.According toThe New York Times, Nixon \"sought advice from senior Congressional leaders about a replacement.\" The advice was unanimous. House SpeakerCarl Albertrecalled later, \"We gave Nixon no choice but Ford.\"Ford agreed to the nomination, telling his wife that the vice presidency would be \"a nice conclusion\" to his career.Ford was nominated to take Agnew's position on October 12, the first time the vice-presidential vacancy provision of the25th Amendmenthad been implemented. TheUnited States Senatevoted 92 to 3 to confirm Ford on November 27. On December 6, the House confirmed Ford by a vote of 387 to 35.After the confirmation votein the House, Ford took the oath of office as vice president. Ford became vice president as theWatergate scandalwas unfolding. On August 1, 1974,Chief of StaffAlexander Haigcontacted Ford to tell him to prepare for the presidency.At the time, Ford and his wife, Betty, were living in suburban Virginia, waiting for their expected move into the newly designatedvice president's residencein Washington, D.C. However, \"Al Haig asked to come over and see me\", Ford later said, \"to tell me that there would be a new tape released on a Monday, and he said the evidence in there was devastating and there would probably be either an impeachment or a resignation. And he said, 'I'm just warning you that you've got to be prepared, that things might change dramatically and you could become President.' And I said, 'Betty, I don't think we're ever going to live in the vice president's house.'\" Presidency (1974–1977) Swearing-in When Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, Ford automatically assumed the presidency, taking the oath of office in theEast Roomof the White House. This made him the only person to become the nation's chief executive without beingelectedto the presidency or the vice presidency. Immediately afterward, he spoke to the assembled audience in a speech that was broadcast live to the nation,noting the peculiarity of his position.He later declared that \"our long national nightmare is over\". Nominating Rockefeller On August 20, Ford nominated former New York GovernorNelson Rockefellerto fill the vice presidency he had vacated.Rockefeller's top competitor had beenGeorge H. W. Bush. Rockefeller underwent extended hearings before Congress, which caused embarrassment when it was revealed he made large gifts to senior aides, such asHenry Kissinger. Although conservative Republicans were not pleased that Rockefeller was picked, most of them voted for his confirmation, and his nomination passed both the House and Senate. Some, includingBarry Goldwater, voted against him. Pardon of Nixon On September 8, 1974, Ford issuedProclamation 4311, which gave Nixon a full and unconditionalpardonfor any crimes he might have committed against the United States while president.In a televised broadcast to the nation, Ford explained that he felt the pardon was in the best interests of the country, and that the Nixon family's situation \"is a tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must.\" Ford's decision to pardon Nixon was highly controversial. Critics derided the move and said a \"corrupt bargain\" had been struck between the two men,in which Ford's pardon was granted in exchange for Nixon's resignation, elevating Ford to the presidency. Ford's first press secretary and close friendJerald terHorstresigned his post in protest after the pardon.According toBob Woodward, Nixon Chief of Staff Alexander Haig proposed a pardon deal to Ford. He later decided to pardon Nixon for other reasons, primarily the friendship he and Nixon shared.Regardless, historians believe the controversy was one of the major reasons Ford lost the1976 presidential election, an observation with which Ford agreed.In an editorial at the time,The New York Timesstated that the Nixon pardon was a \"profoundly unwise, divisive and unjust act\" that in a stroke had destroyed the new president's \"credibility as a man of judgment, candor and competence\".On October 17, 1974, Ford testified before Congress on the pardon. He was the first sitting president sinceAbraham Lincolnto testify before theHouse of Representatives. In the months following the pardon, Ford often declined to mention President Nixon by name, referring to him in public as \"my predecessor\" or \"the former president.\" When Ford was pressed on the matter on a 1974 trip to California, White House correspondentFred Barnesrecalled that he replied \"I just can't bring myself to do it.\" After Ford left the White House in January 1977, he privately justified his pardon of Nixon by carrying in his wallet a portion of the text ofBurdick v. United States, a 1915U.S. Supreme Courtdecision which stated that a pardon indicated a presumption of guilt, and that acceptance of a pardon was tantamount to a confession of that guilt.In 2001, theJohn F. Kennedy LibraryFoundation awarded the John F. KennedyProfile in Courage Awardto Ford for his pardon of Nixon.In presenting the award to Ford, SenatorEdward Kennedysaid that he had initially been opposed to the pardon, but later decided that history had proven Ford to have made the correct decision. Draft dodgers and deserters On September 16 (shortly after he pardoned Nixon), Ford issued Presidential Proclamation 4313, which introduced a conditionalamnestyprogram for military deserters and Vietnam Wardraft dodgerswho had fled to countries such as Canada. The conditions of the amnesty required that those reaffirm their allegiance to the United States and serve two years working in a public service job or a total of two years service for those who had served less than two years of honorable service in the military.The program for the Return of Vietnam Era Draft Evaders and Military Desertersestablished a Clemency Board to review the records and make recommendations for receiving a presidential pardon and a change inmilitary dischargestatus.Full pardon for draft dodgerscame in theCarter administration. Administration When Ford assumed office, he inherited Nixon'sCabinet. During his brief administration, he replaced all members exceptSecretary of StateKissinger andSecretary of the TreasuryWilliam E. Simon. Political commentators have referred to Ford's dramatic reorganization of his Cabinet in the fall of 1975 as the \"Halloween Massacre\". One of Ford's appointees,William Coleman—theSecretary of Transportation—was the second Black man to serve in a presidential cabinet (afterRobert C. Weaver) and the first appointed in a Republican administration. Ford selected George H. W. Bush asChief of the US Liaison Officeto the People's Republic of China in 1974, and thenDirectorof theCentral Intelligence Agencyin late 1975. Ford's transition chairman and first Chief of Staff was former congressman and ambassadorDonald Rumsfeld. In 1975, Rumsfeld was named by Ford as the youngest-everSecretary of Defense. Ford chose a youngWyomingpolitician,Richard Cheney, to replace Rumsfeld as his new Chief of Staff; Cheney became thecampaign managerfor Ford's1976 presidential campaign. Midterm elections The 1974 Congressional midterm elections took place in the wake of the Watergate scandal and less than three months after Ford assumed office. The Democratic Party turned voter dissatisfaction into large gains in theHouse elections, taking 49 seats from the Republican Party, increasing their majority to 291 of the 435 seats. This was one more than the number needed (290) for a two-thirds majority, the number necessary to override a presidential veto or to propose a constitutional amendment. Perhaps due in part to this fact, the94th Congressoverrode the highest percentage of vetoes sinceAndrew Johnsonwas President of the United States (1865–1869).Even Ford's former, reliably Republican House seat was won by a Democrat,Richard Vander Veen, who defeatedRobert VanderLaan. In theSenate elections, the Democratic majority became 61 in the 100-seat body. Domestic policy Inflation Theeconomywas a great concern during the Ford administration. One of the first acts the new president took to deal with the economy was to create, byExecutive Orderon September 30, 1974, the Economic Policy Board.In October 1974, in response to rising inflation, Ford went before the American public and asked them to \"WhipInflationNow\". As part of this program, he urged people to wear \"WIN\" buttons.At the time, inflation was believed to be the primary threat to the economy, more so than growing unemployment; there was a belief that controlling inflation would help reduce unemployment.To rein in inflation, it was necessary to control the public's spending. To try to mesh service and sacrifice, \"WIN\" called for Americans to reduce their spending and consumption.On October 4, 1974, Ford gave a speech in front of a joint session of Congress; as a part of this speech he kicked off the \"WIN\" campaign. Over the next nine days, 101,240 Americans mailed in \"WIN\" pledges.In hindsight, this was viewed as simply apublic relationsgimmick which had no way of solving the underlying problems.The main point of that speech was to introduce to Congress a one-year, five-percent income tax increase on corporations and wealthy individuals. This plan would also take $4.4 billion out of the budget, bringing federal spending below $300 billion.At the time, inflation was over twelve percent. Budget The federal budget ran adeficitevery year Ford was president.Despite his reservations about how the program ultimately would be funded in an era of tightpublic budgeting, Ford signed theEducation for All Handicapped Children Actof 1975, which establishedspecial educationthroughout the United States. Ford expressed \"strong support for full educational opportunities for our handicapped children\" according to the official White House press release for the bill signing. The economic focus began to change as the country sank into the worstrecessionsince theGreat Depressionfour decades earlier.The focus of the Ford administration turned to stopping the rise in unemployment, which reached nine percent in May 1975.In January 1975, Ford proposed a 1-year tax reduction of $16 billion to stimulate economic growth, along with spending cuts to avoid inflation.Ford was criticized for abruptly switching from advocating a tax increase to a tax reduction. In Congress, the proposed amount of the tax reduction increased to $22.8 billion in tax cuts and lacked spending cuts.In March 1975, Congress passed, and Ford signed into law, theseincome taxrebates as part of theTax Reduction Act of 1975. This resulted in a federal deficit of around $53 billion for the 1975 fiscal year and $73.7 billion for 1976. When New York City faced bankruptcy in 1975,MayorAbraham Beamewas unsuccessful in obtaining Ford's support for a federal bailout. The incident prompted the New YorkDaily News'famous headline \"Ford to City: Drop Dead\", referring to a speech in which \"Ford declared flatly ... that he would veto any bill calling for 'a federal bail-out of New York City'\". Swine flu Ford was confronted with a potentialswine flupandemic. In the early 1970s, aninfluenzastrainH1N1shifted from a form of flu that affected primarily pigs and crossed over to humans. On February 5, 1976, anarmyrecruit atFort Dixmysteriously died and four fellow soldiers were hospitalized;health officialsannounced that \"swine flu\" was the cause. Soon after, public health officials in the Ford administration urged that every person in the United States bevaccinated.Although the vaccination program was plagued by delays and public relations problems, some 25% of the population was vaccinated by the time the program was canceled in December 1976. Equal rights and abortion Ford was an outspoken supporter of theEqual Rights Amendment, issuing Presidential Proclamation no. 4383 in 1975: In this Land of the Free, it is right, and by nature it ought to be, that all men and all women are equal before the law. Now, therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States of America, to remind all Americans that it is fitting and just to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment adopted by the Congress of the United States of America, in order to secure legal equality for all women and men, do hereby designate and proclaim August 26, 1975, as Women's Equality Day. As president, Ford's position on abortion was that he supported \"a federal constitutional amendment that would permit each one of the 50 States to make the choice\".This had also been his position as House Minority Leader in response to the 1973 Supreme Court case ofRoe v. Wade, which he opposed.Ford came under criticism when First Lady Betty Ford entered the debate over abortion during anAugust 1975 interview for60 Minutes, in which she stated thatRoe v. Wadewas a \"great, great decision\".During his later life, Ford would identify aspro-choice. Foreign policy Ford continued the détente policy with both theSoviet Unionand China, easing the tensions of the Cold War. Still in place from the Nixon administration was theStrategic Arms Limitation Treaty(SALT).The thawing relationship brought about byNixon's visit to Chinawas reinforced by Ford's own visit in December 1975.The Administration entered into the Helsinki Accordswith the Soviet Union in 1975, creating the framework of theHelsinki Watch, an independent non-governmental organization created to monitor compliance which later evolved intoHuman Rights Watch. Ford attended the inaugural meeting of theGroup of Seven(G7) industrialized nations (initially the G5) in 1975 and secured membership for Canada. Ford supported international solutions to issues. \"We live in an interdependent world and, therefore, must work together to resolve common economic problems,\" he said in a 1974 speech. In November 1975, Ford adopted the globalhuman population controlrecommendations ofNational Security Study Memorandum 200– anational security directiveinitially commissioned by Nixon – as United States policy in the subsequent NSDM 314.The plan explicitly states the goal was population control and not improving the lives of individuals despite instructing organizers to \"emphasize development and improvements in the quality of life of the poor\", later explaining the projects were \"primarily for other reasons\".Upon approving the plan, Ford stated \"United States leadership is essential to combat population growth, to implement the World Population Plan of Action and to advance United States security and overseas interests\".Population control policies were adopted to protect American economic and military interests, with the memorandum arguing thatpopulation growthindeveloping countriesresulted with such nations gaining global political power, that more citizens posed a risk to accessing foreign natural resources while also making American businesses vulnerable to governments seeking to fund a growing population, and that younger generations born would be prone toanti-establishmentbehavior, increasing political instability. Indonesia and East Timor As South Vietnam collapsed, an anti-communistIndonesiawas seen as essential by the United States. Good relations with the Indonesian government were considered more important than the decolonization process inEast Timor.The Ford administration gave theSuharto regimeinIndonesiaeconomic and military support, even as itinvaded East Timorandcommitted a genocidethat killed close to a third of the population.One day prior to the invasion, Ford and Kissinger met with Suharto, and they assured him that relations with Indonesia would remain strong regardless of Indonesia's actions and that it would not object to theannexationof East Timor. Middle East In the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean, two ongoing international disputes developed into crises. TheCyprus disputeturned into a crisis with theTurkish invasion of Cyprusin July 1974, causing extreme strain within theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) alliance. In mid-August, theGreek governmentwithdrew Greece from the NATO military structure; in mid-September, the Senate and House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to halt military aid to Turkey. Ford, concerned with both the effect of this on Turkish-American relations and the deterioration of security on NATO's eastern front, vetoed the bill. A second bill was then passed by Congress, which Ford also vetoed, fearing that it might impede negotiations in Cyprus, although a compromise was accepted to continue aid until December 10, 1974, provided Turkey would not send American supplies to Cyprus.U.S. military aid to Turkey was suspended on February 5, 1975. In the continuingArab–Israeli conflict, although the initialcease firehad been implemented to end active conflict in theYom Kippur War, Kissinger's continuingshuttle diplomacywas showing little progress. Ford considered it \"stalling\" and wrote, \"Their tactics frustrated the Egyptians and made me mad as hell.\"During Kissinger's shuttle to Israel in early March 1975, a last minute reversal to consider further withdrawal, prompted a cable from Ford to Prime MinisterYitzhak Rabin, which included: I wish to express my profound disappointment over Israel's attitude in the course of the negotiations ... Failure of the negotiation will have a far reaching impact on the region and on our relations. I have given instructions for a reassessment of United States policy in the region, including our relations with Israel, with the aim of ensuring that overall American interests ... are protected. You will be notified of our decision. On March 24, Ford informed congressional leaders of both parties of the reassessment of the administration's policies in the Middle East. In practical terms, \"reassessment\" meant canceling or suspending further aid to Israel. For six months between March and September 1975, the United States refused to conclude any new arms agreements with Israel. Rabin notes it was \"an innocent-sounding term that heralded one of the worst periods in American-Israeli relations\".The announced reassessments upset the American Jewish community and Israel's well-wishers in Congress. On May 21, Ford \"experienced a real shock\" when seventy-six U.S. senators wrote him a letter urging him to be \"responsive\" to Israel's request for $2.59 billion (equivalent to $14.67 billion in 2023) in military and economic aid. Ford felt truly annoyed and thought the chance for peace was jeopardized. It was, since the September 1974 ban on arms sales to Turkey, the second major congressional intrusion upon the President's foreign policy prerogatives.The following summer months were described by Ford as an American-Israeli \"war of nerves\" or \"test of wills\".After much bargaining, theSinai Interim Agreement(Sinai II) was formally signed on September 1, and aid resumed. Vietnam One of Ford's greatest challenges was dealing with the continuingVietnam War. American offensive operations against North Vietnam had ended with theParis Peace Accords, signed on January 27, 1973. The accords declared a cease-fire across both North and South Vietnam, and required the release of Americanprisoners of war. The agreement guaranteed the territorial integrity of Vietnam and, like theGeneva Conferenceof 1954, called for national elections in the North and South. The Paris Peace Accords stipulated a sixty-day period for the total withdrawal of U.S. forces. The agreements were negotiated byUS National Security AdvisorHenry Kissingerand North VietnamesePolitburomemberLê Đức Thọ. South Vietnamese PresidentNguyen Van Thieuwas not involved in the final negotiations, and publicly criticized the proposed agreement. However, anti-war pressures within the United States forced Nixon and Kissinger to pressure Thieu to sign the agreement and enable the withdrawal of American forces. In multiple letters to the South Vietnamese president, Nixon had promised that the United States would defend Thieu's government, should the North Vietnamese violate the accords. In December 1974, months after Ford took office, North Vietnamese forces invaded the province ofPhuoc Long. GeneralTrần Văn Tràsought to gauge any South Vietnamese or American response to the invasion, as well as to solve logistical issues, before proceeding with the invasion. As North Vietnamese forces advanced, Ford requested Congress approve a $722 million aid package for South Vietnam (equivalent to $4.09 billion in 2023), funds that had been promised by the Nixon administration. Congress voted against the proposal by a wide margin.SenatorJacob K. Javitsoffered \"...large sums for evacuation, but not one nickel for military aid\".President Thieu resigned on April 21, 1975, publicly blaming the lack of support from the United States for the fall of his country.Two days later, on April 23, Ford gave a speech atTulane University. In that speech, he announced that the Vietnam War was over \"...as far as America is concerned\".The announcement was met with thunderous applause. 1,373 U.S. citizens and 5,595Vietnameseand third-country nationals were evacuated from the South Vietnamese capital ofSaigonduringOperation Frequent Wind. Many of the Vietnamese evacuees were allowed to enter the United States under theIndochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act. The 1975 Act appropriated $455 million (equivalent to $2.58 billion in 2023) toward the costs of assisting the settlement of Indochinese refugees.In all, 130,000 Vietnamese refugees came to the United States in 1975. Thousands more escaped in the years that followed. Mayaguezincident North Vietnam's victory over the South led to a considerable shift in the political winds in Asia, and Ford administration officials worried about a consequent loss of U.S. influence there. The administration proved it was willing to respond forcefully to challenges to its interests in the region whenKhmer Rougeforces seized an American ship ininternational waters.The main crisis was theMayaguezincident. In May 1975, shortly after the fall of Saigon and the Khmer Rouge conquest ofCambodia, Cambodians seized the American merchant shipMayaguezin international waters.Ford dispatchedMarinesto rescue the crew, but the Marines landed on the wrong island and met unexpectedly stiff resistance just as, unknown to the U.S., theMayaguezsailors were being released. In the operation, two military transport helicopters carrying the Marines for the assault operation were shot down, and 41 U.S. servicemen were killed and 50 wounded, while approximately 60 Khmer Rouge soldiers were killed.Despite the American losses, the operation was seen as a success in the United States, and Ford enjoyed an 11-point boost in his approval ratings in the aftermath.The Americans killed during the operation became the last to have their names inscribed on theVietnam Veterans Memorialwall in Washington, D.C. Some historians have argued that the Ford administration felt the need to respond forcefully to the incident because it was construed as a Soviet plot.But work by Andrew Gawthorpe, published in 2009, based on an analysis of the administration's internal discussions, shows that Ford's national security team understood that the seizure of the vessel was a local, and perhaps even accidental, provocation by an immature Khmer government. Nevertheless, they felt the need to respond forcefully to discourage further provocations by other Communist countries in Asia. Assassination attempts Ford was the target of two assassination attempts during his presidency. InSacramento, California, on September 5, 1975,Lynette \"Squeaky\" Fromme, a follower ofCharles Manson, pointed aColt .45-caliber handgunat Ford and pulled the trigger atpoint-blank range.As she did,Larry Buendorf,a Secret Service agent, grabbed the gun, and Fromme was taken into custody. She was later convicted of attempted assassination of the President and was sentenced to life in prison; she was paroled on August 14, 2009, after serving 34 years. In reaction to this attempt, the Secret Service began keeping Ford at a more secure distance from anonymous crowds, a strategy that may have saved his life seventeen days later. As he left theSt. Francis Hotelin downtown San Francisco,Sara Jane Moore, standing in a crowd of onlookers across the street, fired a.38-caliber revolverat him. The shot missed Ford by a few feet.Before she fired a second round, retired MarineOliver Sipplegrabbed at the gun and deflected her shot; the bullet struck a wall about six inches above and to the right of Ford's head, then ricocheted and hit a taxi driver, who was slightly wounded. Moore was later sentenced to life in prison. She was paroled on December 31, 2007, after serving 32 years. Judicial appointments Supreme Court In 1975, Ford appointedJohn Paul StevensasAssociate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Statesto replace retiring JusticeWilliam O. Douglas. Stevens had been a judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, appointed by President Nixon.During his tenure as House Republican leader, Ford had led efforts to have Douglas impeached.After being confirmed, Stevens eventually disappointed some conservatives by siding with the Court's liberal wing regarding the outcome of many key issues.Nevertheless, in 2005 Ford praised Stevens. \"He has served his nation well,\" Ford said of Stevens, \"with dignity, intellect and without partisan political concerns.\" Other judicial appointments Ford appointed 11 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, and 50 judges to theUnited States district courts. 1976 presidential campaign Ford reluctantly agreed to run for office in 1976, but first he had to counter a challenge for the Republican party nomination. FormerGovernor of CaliforniaRonald Reaganand the party'sconservativewing faulted Ford for failing to do more inSouth Vietnam, for signing the Helsinki Accords, and for negotiating to cede thePanama Canal. (Negotiations for the canal continued under President Carter, who eventually signed theTorrijos–Carter Treaties.) Reagan launched his campaign in autumn of 1975 and won numerousprimaries, includingNorth Carolina,Texas,Indiana, andCalifornia, but failed to get a majority of delegates; Reagan withdrew from the race at theRepublican ConventioninKansas City,Missouri. The conservative insurgency did lead to Ford dropping the moreliberalVice President Nelson Rockefeller in favor of U.S. senatorBob DoleofKansas. In addition to the pardon dispute and lingering anti-Republican sentiment, Ford had to counter a plethora of negative media imagery.Chevy Chaseoften didpratfallsonSaturday Night Live,imitating Ford, who had been seen stumbling on two occasions during his term. As Chase commented, \"He even mentioned in his own autobiography it had an effect over a period of time that affected the election to some degree.\" Ford's 1976 election campaign benefitted from his being an incumbent president during several anniversary events held during the period leading up to theUnited States Bicentennial. The Washington, D.C.fireworksdisplay on theFourth of Julywas presided over by the President and televised nationally.On July 7, 1976, the President and First Lady served as hosts at a White House state dinner forQueen Elizabeth IIandPrince Philipof the United Kingdom, which was televised on thePublic Broadcasting Servicenetwork. The 200th anniversary of theBattles of Lexington and Concordin Massachusetts gave Ford the opportunity to deliver a speech to 110,000 in Concord acknowledging the need for a strong national defense tempered with a plea for \"reconciliation, not recrimination\" and \"reconstruction, not rancor\" between the United States and those who would pose \"threats to peace\".Speaking in New Hampshire on the previous day, Ford condemned the growing trend toward big government bureaucracy and argued for a return to \"basic American virtues\". Televisedpresidential debateswere reintroduced for the first time since the 1960 election. As such, Ford became the first incumbent president to participate in one. Carter later attributed his victory in the election to the debates, saying they \"gave the viewers reason to think that Jimmy Carter had something to offer\". The turning point came in the second debate when Ford blundered by stating, \"There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford Administration.\" Ford also said that he did not \"believe that the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union\".In an interview years later, Ford said he had intended to imply that the Soviets would never crush thespiritsof eastern Europeans seeking independence. However, the phrasing was so awkward that questionerMax Frankelwas visibly incredulous at the response. In the end, Carter won the election, receiving 50.1% of the popular vote and 297electoral votescompared with 48.0% and 240 electoral votes for Ford. Post-presidency (1977–2006) The Nixon pardon controversy eventually subsided. Ford's successor, Jimmy Carter, opened his 1977inaugural addressby praising the outgoing president, saying, \"For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land.\" After leaving the White House, the Fords moved to Denver, Colorado. Ford successfully invested in oil withMarvin Davis, which later provided an income for Ford's children. He continued to make appearances at events of historical and ceremonial significance to the nation, such as presidential inaugurals and memorial services. In January 1977, he became the president ofEisenhower FellowshipsinPhiladelphia, then served as the chairman of its board of trustees from 1980 to 1986.Later in 1977, he reluctantly agreed to be interviewed by James M. Naughton, aNew York Timesjournalist who was given the assignment to write the former president's advance obituary, an article that would be updated prior to its eventual publication.In 1979, Ford published his autobiography,A Time to Heal(Harper/Reader's Digest, 454 pages). A review inForeign Affairsdescribed it as, \"Serene, unruffled, unpretentious, like the author. This is the shortest and most honest of recent presidential memoirs, but there are no surprises, no deep probings of motives or events. No more here than meets the eye.\" During the term of office of his successor, Jimmy Carter, Ford received monthly briefs by President Carter's senior staff on international and domestic issues, and was always invited to lunch at the White House whenever he was in Washington, D.C. Their close friendship developed after Carter had left office, with the catalyst being their trip together to thefuneralofAnwar el-Sadatin 1981.Until Ford's death, Carter and his wife,Rosalynn, visited the Fords' home frequently.Ford and Carter served as honorary co-chairs of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform in 2001 and of theContinuity of Government Commissionin 2002. Like Presidents Carter,George H. W. Bush, andBill Clinton, Ford was an honorary co-chair of theCouncil for Excellence in Government, a group dedicated to excellence in government performance, which provides leadership training to top federal employees. He also devoted much time to his love of golf, often playing both privately and in public events with comedianBob Hope, a longtime friend. In 1977, he shot ahole in oneduring a Pro-am held in conjunction with theDanny Thomas Memphis ClassicatColonial Country ClubinMemphis, Tennessee. In 1977, Ford established the Gerald R. Ford Institute of Public Policy atAlbion CollegeinAlbion, Michigan, to give undergraduates training in public policy. In April 1981, he opened theGerald R. Ford LibraryinAnn Arbor, Michigan, on the north campus of his alma mater, theUniversity of Michigan,followed in September by theGerald R. Ford Museumin Grand Rapids. Ford considered a run for the Republican nomination in1980, forgoing numerous opportunities to serve on corporate boards to keep his options open for a rematch with Carter. Ford attacked Carter's conduct of the SALT II negotiations and foreign policy in the Middle East and Africa. Many have argued that Ford also wanted to exorcise his image as an \"Accidental President\" and to win a term in his own right. Ford also believed the more conservative Ronald Reagan would be unable to defeat Carter and would hand the incumbent a second term. Ford was encouraged by his former Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, as well asJim Rhodesof Ohio andBill Clementsof Texas to make the race. On March 15, 1980, Ford announced that he would forgo a run for the Republican nomination, vowing to support the eventual nominee. After securing the Republican nomination in 1980, Ronald Reagan considered his former rival Ford as a potential vice-presidential running mate, but negotiations between the Reagan and Ford camps at theRepublican National Conventionwere unsuccessful. Ford conditioned his acceptance on Reagan's agreement to an unprecedented \"co-presidency\",giving Ford the power to control key executive branch appointments (such as Kissinger as Secretary of State andAlan Greenspanas Treasury Secretary). After rejecting these terms, Reagan offered the vice-presidential nomination instead to George H. W. Bush.Ford did appear in a campaign commercial for the Reagan-Bush ticket, in which he declared that the country would be \"better served by a Reagan presidency rather than a continuation of the weak and politically expedient policies of Jimmy Carter\".On October 8, 1980, Ford said former President Nixon's involvement in the general election potentially could negatively impact the Reagan campaign: \"I think it would have been much more helpful if Mr. Nixon had stayed in the background during this campaign. It would have been much more beneficial to Ronald Reagan.\" On October 3, 1980, Ford cast blame on Carter for the latter's charges of ineffectiveness on the part of theFederal Reserve Boarddue to his appointing of most of its members: \"President Carter, when the going gets tough, will do anything to save his own political skin. This latest action by the president is cowardly.\" Following theattempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, Ford told reporters while appearing at a fundraiser forThomas Keanthat criminals who use firearms should get the death penalty in the event someone is injured with the weapon. In September 1981, Ford advised Reagan against succumbing toWall Streetdemands and follow his own agenda for the economic policies of the US during an appearance onGood Morning America: \"He shouldn't let the gurus of Wall Street decide what the economic future of this country is going to be. They are wrong in my opinion.\"During a news conference on October 20, 1981, Ford stated that stopping the Reagan administration's Saudi arms package could have a large negative impact to American relations in the Middle East. On March 24, 1982, Ford offered an endorsement of President Reagan's economic policies while also stating the possibility of Reagan being met with a stalemate by Congress if not willing to compromise while in Washington. Ford founded the annualAEI World Forumin 1982, and joined theAmerican Enterprise Instituteas a distinguished fellow. He was also awarded anhonorary doctorate at Central Connecticut State Universityon March 23, 1988. During an August 1982 fundraising reception, Ford stated his opposition to a constitutional amendment requiring the US to have a balanced budget, citing a need to elect \"members of the House and Senate who will immediately when Congress convenes act more responsibly in fiscal matters.\"Ford was a participant in the 1982 midterm elections, traveling toTennesseein October of that year to help Republican candidates. In January 1984, a letter signed by Ford and Carter and urging world leaders to extend their failed effort to end world hunger was released and sent toSecretary-General of the United NationsJavier Pérez de Cuéllar. In 1987, Ford testified before theSenate Judiciary Committeein favor ofDistrict of Columbia Circuit Courtjudge and formerSolicitor GeneralRobert Borkafter Bork wasnominatedby President Reagan to be anAssociate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.Bork's nomination was rejected by a vote of 58–42. In 1987, Ford'sHumor and the Presidency, a book of humorous political anecdotes, was published. By 1988, Ford was a member of several corporate boards including Commercial Credit, Nova Pharmaceutical,The Pullman Company,Tesoro Petroleum, and Tiger International, Inc.Ford also became an honorary director ofCitigroup, a position he held until his death. In October 1990, Ford appeared inGettysburg, PennsylvaniawithBob Hopeto commemorate the centennial anniversary of the birth of former presidentDwight D. Eisenhower, where the two unveiled a plaque with the signatures of each living former president. In April 1991, Ford joined former presidentsRichard Nixon,Ronald Reagan, andJimmy Carter, in supporting theBrady Bill.Three years later, he wrote to theU.S. House of Representatives, along with Carter and Reagan, in support of theassault weapons ban. At the1992 Republican National Convention, Ford compared the election cycle to his 1976 loss to Carter and urged attention be paid to electing a Republican Congress: \"If it's change you want on Nov. 3, my friends, the place to start is not at the White House but in the United States' Capitol. Congress, as every school child knows, has the power of the purse. For nearly 40 years, Democratic majorities have held to the time-tested New Deal formula, tax and tax, spend and spend, elect and elect.\" (The Republicans would later win both Houses of Congress at the1994 mid-term elections.) In April 1997, Ford joined PresidentBill Clinton, former president Bush, andNancy Reaganin signing the \"Summit Declaration of Commitment\" in advocating for participation by private citizens in solving domestic issues within the United States. On January 20, 1998, during an interview at his Palm Springs home, Ford said the Republican Party's nominee in the 2000 presidential election would lose if the party turned ultra-conservative in their ideals: \"If we get way over on the hard right of the political spectrum, we will not elect a Republican President. I worry about the party going down this ultra-conservative line. We ought to learn from the Democrats: when they were running ultra-liberal candidates, they didn't win.\" In the prelude to the impeachment of President Clinton, Ford conferred with former president Carter and the two agreed to not speak publicly on the controversy, a pact broken by Carter when answering a question from a student atEmory University. In October 2001, Ford broke with conservative members of the Republican Party by stating that gay and lesbian couples \"ought to be treated equally. Period.\" He became the highest-ranking Republican to embrace full equality for gays and lesbians, stating his belief that there should be a federal amendment outlawing anti-gay job discrimination and expressing his hope that the Republican Party would reach out to gay and lesbian voters.He also was a member of the Republican Unity Coalition, whichThe New York Timesdescribed as \"a group of prominent Republicans, including former President Gerald R. Ford, dedicated to making sexual orientation a non-issue in the Republican Party\". On November 22, 2004, New York Republican governorGeorge Patakinamed Ford and the other living former presidents (Carter, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton) as honorary members of the board rebuilding theWorld Trade Center. In a pre-recordedembargoed interviewwithBob WoodwardofThe Washington Postin July 2004, Ford stated that he disagreed \"very strongly\" with the Bush administration's choice of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction as justification for its decision toinvade Iraq, calling it a \"big mistake\" unrelated to the national security of the United States and indicating that he would not have gone to war had he been president. The details of the interview were not released until after Ford's death, as he requested. Health issues On April 4, 1990, Ford was admitted toEisenhower Medical Centerfor surgery to replace his left knee, orthopedic surgeon Robert Murphy saying, \"Ford's entire left knee was replaced with an artificial joint, including portions of the adjacent femur, or thigh bone, and tibia, or leg bone.\" Ford suffered two minor strokes at the2000 Republican National Convention, but made a quick recovery after being admitted toHahnemann University Hospital.In January 2006, he spent 11 days at theEisenhower Medical Centernear his residence atRancho Mirage, California, for treatment ofpneumonia.On April 23, 2006, PresidentGeorge W. Bushvisited Ford at his home in Rancho Mirage for a little over an hour. This was Ford's last public appearance and produced the last known public photos, video footage, and voice recording. While vacationing inVail, Colorado, Ford was hospitalized for two days in July 2006 for shortness of breath.On August 15 he was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital of theMayo ClinicinRochester, Minnesota, for testing and evaluation. On August 21, it was reported that he had been fitted with apacemaker. On August 25, he underwent anangioplastyprocedure at the Mayo Clinic. On August 28, Ford was released from the hospital and returned with his wife Betty to their California home. On October 13, he was scheduled to attend the dedication of a building of his namesake, theGerald R. Ford School of Public Policyat the University of Michigan, but due to poor health and on the advice of his doctors he did not attend. The previous day, Ford had entered the Eisenhower Medical Center for undisclosed tests; he was released on October 16.By November 2006, he was confined to a bed in his study. Death and legacy Ford died on December 26, 2006, at his home inRancho Mirage, California, of arterioscleroticcerebrovascular diseaseand diffusearteriosclerosis. He had end-stage coronary artery disease and severeaortic stenosisand insufficiency, caused by calcific alteration of one of his heart valves.At the time of his death, Ford was thelongest-lived U.S. president, having lived 93 years and 165 days (45 days longer than Ronald Reagan, whose record he surpassed).He died on the 34th anniversary of PresidentHarry S. Truman's death; he was the last surviving member of theWarren Commission. On December 30, 2006, Ford became the 11th U.S. president tolie in statein theRotunda of the U.S. Capitol.A state funeral and memorial services were held at theNational Cathedralin Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, January 2, 2007. After the service, Ford was interred at hisPresidential Museumin Grand Rapids, Michigan. Scouting was so important to Ford that his family asked for Scouts to participate in his funeral. A few selected Scouts served as ushers inside the National Cathedral. About 400 Eagle Scouts were part of the funeral procession, where they formed an honor guard as the casket went by in front of the museum. One of the songs selected by Ford during the procession was the University of Michigan fight song, as it was a favorite of his that he preferred go be played during his presidency.After his death in December 2006, theUniversity of Michigan Marching Bandplayed the school's fight song for him one final time, for his last ride from theGerald R. Ford Airportin Grand Rapids, Michigan. The State of Michigan commissioned and submitted astatue of Fordto theNational Statuary Hall Collection, replacingZachariah Chandler. It was unveiled on May 3, 2011, in the Capitol Rotunda. Personal life Family When speaking of his mother and stepfather, Ford said that \"My stepfather was a magnificent person and my mother equally wonderful. So I couldn't have written a better prescription for a superb family upbringing.\" Ford had three half-siblings from the second marriage of Leslie King Sr., his biological father: Marjorie King (1921–1993), Leslie Henry King (1923–1976), and Patricia Jane King (1925–1980). They never saw one another as children, and he did not know them at all until 1960. Ford was not aware of his biological father until he was 17, when his parents told him about the circumstances of his birth. That year his biological father, whom Ford described as a \"carefree, well-to-do man who didn't really give a damn about the hopes and dreams of his firstborn son\", approached Ford while he was waiting tables in a Grand Rapids restaurant. The two \"maintained a sporadic contact\" until Leslie King Sr.'s death in 1941. On October 15, 1948, Ford marriedElizabeth Bloomer(1918–2011) at GraceEpiscopal Churchin Grand Rapids; it was his first and only marriage and her second marriage. She had previously been married and, after a five‐year marriage, divorced from William Warren. Originally from Grand Rapids herself, she had lived in New York City for several years, where she worked as aJohn Robert Powersfashion model and a dancer in the auxiliary troupe of theMartha GrahamDance Company. At the time of their engagement, Ford was campaigning for what would be his first of 13 terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives. The wedding was delayed until shortly before theelectionbecause, asThe New York Timesreported in a 1974 profile of Betty Ford, \"Jerry Ford was running for Congress and wasn't sure how voters might feel about his marrying a divorced exdancer.\" The couple had four children: Michael Gerald, born in 1950, John Gardner (known as Jack) born in 1952,Steven Meigs, born in 1956, andSusan Elizabeth, born in 1957. Civic and fraternal organizations Ford was a member of several civic and fraternal organizations, including theJunior Chamber of Commerce(Jaycees),American Legion,AMVETS,Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks,Sons of the Revolution,Veterans of Foreign Wars, and was an alumnus ofDelta Kappa Epsilonat Michigan. Freemasonry Ford was initiated intoFreemasonryon September 30, 1949.He later said in 1975, \"When I took my obligation as a master mason—incidentally, with my three younger brothers—I recalled the value my own father attached to that order. But I had no idea that I would ever be added to the company of the Father of our Country and 12 other members of the order who also served as Presidents of the United States.\"Ford was made a 33° Scottish Rite Mason on September 26, 1962.In April 1975, Ford was elected by a unanimous vote Honorary Grand Master of the International Supreme Council, Order of DeMolay, a position in which he served until January 1977.Ford received the degrees of York Rite Masonry (Chapter and Council degrees) in a special ceremony in the Oval Office on January 11, 1977, during his term as President of the United States. Ford was also a member of theShrinersand theRoyal Order of Jesters; both beingaffiliated bodiesof Freemasonry. Public image Ford is the only person to hold the presidential office without being elected as either president or vice president. The choice of Ford to fill the vacant vice-presidency was based on Ford's reputation for openness and honesty.\"In all the years I sat in the House, I never knew Mr. Ford to make a dishonest statement nor a statement part-true and part-false. He never attempted to shade a statement, and I never heard him utter an unkind word\", saidMartha Griffiths. The trust the American public had in him was rapidly and severely tarnished by his pardon of Nixon.Nonetheless, many grant in hindsight that he had respectably discharged with considerable dignity a great responsibility that he had not sought. In spite of his athletic record and remarkable career accomplishments, Ford acquired a reputation as a clumsy, likable, and simple-mindedeveryman.Henry Kissingerdescribed him as \"as close to a normal human being as we'll ever get in that office\".Other pieces of the everyman image were attributed to his inevitable comparison with Nixon, his Midwestern stodginess, and his self-deprecation. An incident in 1975, when Ford tripped while exiting Air Force One in Austria, was famously and repeatedly parodied byChevy ChaseonSaturday Night Live, cementing Ford's image as a klutz.Additionally, an incident in April 1976, when Ford bit into a still shuck-wrapped tamale, a culinary faux pas, made national news and contributed to the image of Ford as a chronic bumbler.The incident has become a cautionary tale about the hazards of eating on the campaign trail. Ford has notably been portrayed in two television productions which included a central focus on his wife: theEmmy-winning 1987ABCbiographicaltelevision movieThe Betty Ford Story,and the 2022Showtimetelevision seriesThe First Lady. Honors Foreign honors The following are named after Ford: See also Notes References Bibliography Primary sources External links Official sites Media coverage Other"],"string":"[\n \"United States presidential elections in Alaska SinceAlaska'sadmission to the Unionin January 1959,it has participated in 16United States presidential elections, always having 3electoral votes. In the1960 presidential election, Alaska was narrowly won by theRepublican Party's candidate and incumbentvice presidentRichard Nixon, defeating theDemocratic Party's candidateJohn F. Kennedyby a margin of just 1.88% (1,144 votes).In the1964 presidential election, the Democratic Party's candidateLyndon B. Johnsonwon Alaska in a national Democraticlandslide victory.Since the 1964 election, Alaska has been won by the Republican Party in every presidential election. Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate in the1984 presidential election, won Alaska by 36.78%,which remains the largest margin of victory in the state's history.Ross Perot, theindependent candidatein the1992 presidential election, received the highest vote share (28.43%)ever won by athird-party candidatein Alaska. Various news organizations have characterized Alaska as a safe Republican state.No Republican has won the presidency without carrying Alaska since its statehood in 1959 due toLyndon B. Johnsonbeing the only Democrat candidate to ever carry the state. Alaska is tied withIdaho,Utah,Wyoming,North Dakota,South Dakota,Nebraska,KansasandOklahomafor the longest Republican voting streak for any state in recent political history, from 1968 to present. Presidential elections Graph The following graph shows the margin of victory of the winner over the runner-up in the 16 presidential elections Alaska participated. See also Notes References Works cited\",\n \"Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr.(bornLeslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913 – December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38thpresident of the United Statesfrom 1974 to 1977. He previously served as the leader of theRepublican Partyin theU.S. House of Representativesfrom 1965 to 1973, and as the 40thvice presidentunder PresidentRichard Nixonfrom 1973 to 1974. Ford succeeded to the presidency when Nixon resigned in 1974, but wasdefeated for election to a full term in 1976. Ford remains the only person to serve as president without winning an election for president or vice president. Ford was born inOmaha, Nebraskaand raised inGrand Rapids, Michigan. He attended theUniversity of Michigan, where he played forthe school's football team, before eventually attendingYale Law School. Afterward, he served in theU.S. Naval Reservefrom 1942 to 1946. Ford began his political career in 1949 as the U.S. representative fromMichigan's 5th congressional district, serving in this capacity for nearly 25 years, the final nine of them as theHouse minority leader. In December 1973, two months afterSpiro Agnew's resignation, Ford became the first person appointed to the vice presidency under the terms of the25th Amendment. After the subsequent resignation of Nixon in August 1974, Ford immediately assumed the presidency. Domestically, Ford presided over the worst economy in the four decades since theGreat Depression, with growing inflation and a recession.In one of his most controversial acts, he granted apresidential pardon to Nixonfor his role in theWatergate scandal. Foreign policy was characterized in procedural terms by the increased role Congress began to play, and by the corresponding curb on the powers of the president.Ford signed theHelsinki Accords, which marked a move towarddétentein theCold War. With the collapse ofSouth Vietnamnine months into his presidency,U.S. involvement in the Vietnam Waressentially ended. In the1976 Republican presidential primary, Ford defeatedRonald Reaganfor the Republican nomination, but narrowly lost the presidential election to theDemocraticcandidate,Jimmy Carter. Following his years as president, Ford remained active in the Republican Party, but his moderate views on various social issues increasingly put him at odds with conservative members of the party in the 1990s and early 2000s. He also set aside the enmity he had felt towards Carter following the 1976 election and the two former presidents developed a close friendship. After experiencing a series of health problems, hedied in Rancho Mirage, Californiain 2006. Surveys of historians and political scientistshave rankedFord as a below-average president,though retrospective public polls on his time in office were more positive. Early life Ford was born Leslie Lynch King Jr. on July 14, 1913, at3202 Woolworth AvenueinOmaha, Nebraska, where his parents lived with his paternal grandparents. He was the only child ofDorothy Ayer GardnerandLeslie Lynch King Sr., a wool trader. His paternal grandfather was banker and businessmanCharles Henry King, and his maternal grandfather was Illinois politician and businessmanLevi Addison Gardner. Ford's parents separated just sixteen days after his birth and his mother took the infant Ford with her toOak Park, Illinois, where her sister Tannisse and brother-in-law, Clarence Haskins James lived. From there, she moved to the home of her parents inGrand Rapids, Michigan. Gardner and King divorced in December 1913, and she gained full custody of her son. Ford's paternal grandfather paid child support until shortly before his death in 1930. Ford later said that his biological father had a history of hitting his mother.In a biography of Ford,James M. Cannonwrote that the separation and divorce of Ford's parents was sparked when, a few days after Ford's birth, Leslie King took abutcher knifeand threatened to kill his wife, infant son, and Ford's nursemaid. Ford later told confidants that his father had first hit his mother when she had smiled at another man during their honeymoon. After living with her parents for two and a half years, on February 1, 1917, Gardner marriedGerald Rudolff Ford, a salesman in a family-owned paint and varnish company. Though never formally adopted, her young son was referred to as Gerald Rudolff Ford Jr. from then on; thename change, including the anglicized spelling \\\"Rudolph\\\", was formalized on December 3, 1935.He was raised inGrand Rapidswith his three half-brothers from his mother's second marriage:Thomas Gardner \\\"Tom\\\" Ford(1918–1995), Richard Addison \\\"Dick\\\" Ford (1924–2015), and James Francis \\\"Jim\\\" Ford (1927–2001). Ford was involved in theBoy Scouts of America, and earned that program's highest rank,Eagle Scout.He is the only Eagle Scout to have ascended to the U.S. presidency.Ford attended Grand Rapids South High School, where he was a star athlete andcaptainof thefootballteam.In 1930, he was selected to the All-City team of theGrand Rapids City League. He also attracted the attention of college recruiters. College and law school Ford attended theUniversity of Michigan, where he playedcenterandlinebackerfor the school's football teamand helped theWolverinesto two undefeated seasons andnational titlesin1932and1933. In his senior year of1934, the team suffered a steep decline and won only one game, but Ford was still the team's star player. In one of those games, Michigan held heavily favoredMinnesota—the eventual national champion—to a scoreless tie in the first half. After the game, assistant coachBennie Oosterbaansaid, \\\"When I walked into the dressing room at halftime, I had tears in my eyes I was so proud of them. Ford and Sweet played their hearts out. They were everywhere on defense.\\\" Ford later recalled, \\\"During 25 years in the rough-and-tumble world of politics, I often thought of the experiences before, during, and after that game in 1934. Remembering them has helped me many times to face a tough situation, take action, and make every effort possible despite adverse odds.\\\" His teammates later voted Ford their most valuable player, with one assistant coach noting, \\\"They felt Jerry was one guy who would stay and fight in a losing cause.\\\" During Ford's senior year, a controversy developed whenGeorgia Techsaid that it would not play a scheduled game with Michigan if a Black player namedWillis Wardtook the field. Students, players and alumni protested, but university officials capitulated and kept Ward out of the game. Ford was Ward's best friend on the team, and they roomed together while on road trips. Ford reportedly threatened to quit the team in response to the university's decision, but he eventually agreed to play againstGeorgia Techwhen Ward personally asked him to play. In 1934, Ford was selected for the Eastern Team on the Shriner'sEast–West Shrine Gameat San Francisco (a benefit for physically disabled children), played on January 1, 1935. As part of the 1935 Collegiate All-Star football team, Ford played against theChicago Bearsin theChicago College All-Star GameatSoldier Field.In honor of his athletic accomplishments and his later political career, the University of Michigan retired Ford's No. 48 jersey in 1994. With the blessing of the Ford family, it was placed back into circulation in 2012 as part of theMichigan Football Legendsprogram and issued to sophomore linebackerDesmond Morganbefore a home game againstIllinoison October 13. Throughout life, Ford remained interested in his school and football; he occasionally attended games. Ford also visited with players and coaches during practices; at one point, he asked to join the players in the huddle.Before state events, Ford often had the Navy band play the University of Michigan fight song, \\\"The Victors,\\\" instead of \\\"Hail to the Chief.\\\" Ford graduated from Michigan in 1935 with aBachelor of Artsdegree ineconomics. He turned down offers from theDetroit LionsandGreen Bay Packersof theNational Football League. Instead, he took a job in September 1935 as the boxing coach and assistant varsity football coach atYale Universityand applied to its law school. Ford hoped to attend Yale Law School beginning in 1935. Yale officials at first denied his admission to the law school because of his full-time coaching responsibilities. He spent the summer of 1937 as a student at theUniversity of Michigan Law Schooland was eventually admitted in the spring of 1938 toYale Law School.That year he was also promoted to the position of junior varsity head football coach at Yale.While at Yale, Ford began working as a model. He initially worked with theJohn Robert Powersagency before investing in theHarry Conoveragency, with whom he modelled until 1941. While attending Yale Law School, Ford joined a group of students led byR. Douglas Stuart Jr., and signed a petition to enforce the 1939Neutrality Act. The petition was circulated nationally and was the inspiration for theAmerica First Committee, a group determined to keep the U.S. out ofWorld War II.His introduction into politics was in the summer of 1940 when he worked for the Republican presidential campaign ofWendell Willkie. Ford graduated in the top third of his class in 1941, and was admitted to theMichigan barshortly thereafter. In May 1941, he opened a Grand Rapids law practice with a friend,Philip W. Buchen. U.S. Naval Reserve Following theDecember 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, Ford enlisted in the Navy.He received a commission asensignin theU.S. Naval Reserveon April 13, 1942.On April 20, he reported for active duty to the V-5 instructor school atAnnapolis, Maryland. After one month of training, he went to Navy Preflight School inChapel Hill, North Carolina, where he was one of 83 instructors and taught elementary navigation skills, ordnance, gunnery, first aid, and military drill. In addition, he coached all nine sports that were offered, but mostly swimming, boxing, and football. During the year he was at the Preflight School, he was promoted toLieutenant, Junior Grade, on June 2, 1942, and to lieutenant, in March 1943. Sea duty After Ford applied for sea duty, he was sent in May 1943 to the pre-commissioning detachment for the new aircraft carrierUSSMonterey(CVL-26), at New York Shipbuilding Corporation,Camden, New Jersey. From the ship's commissioning on June 17, 1943, until the end of December 1944, Ford served as the assistant navigator, Athletic Officer, and antiaircraft battery officer on board theMonterey. While he was on board, the carrier participated in many actions in thePacific Theaterwith theThirdandFifth Fleetsin late 1943 and 1944. In 1943, the carrier helped secureMakin Islandin the Gilberts, and participated in carrier strikes againstKavieng,Papua New Guineain 1943. During the spring of 1944, theMontereysupported landings atKwajaleinandEniwetokand participated in carrier strikes in theMarianas,Western Carolines, and northern New Guinea, as well as in theBattle of the Philippine Sea.After an overhaul, from September to November 1944, aircraft from theMontereylaunched strikes againstWake Island, participated in strikes in the Philippines andRyukyus, and supported the landings atLeyteandMindoro. Although the ship was not damaged by Japanese forces, theMontereywas one of several ships damaged byTyphoon Cobrathat hit AdmiralWilliam Halsey'sThird Fleet on December 18–19, 1944. The Third Fleet lost threedestroyersand over 800 men during the typhoon. TheMontereywas damaged by a fire, which was started by several of the ship's aircraft tearing loose from their cables and colliding on thehangar deck. Ford was serving as General Quarters Officer of the Deck and was ordered to go below to assess the raging fire. He did so safely, and reported his findings back to the ship's commanding officer, CaptainStuart H. Ingersoll. The ship's crew was able to contain the fire, and the ship got underway again. After the fire, theMontereywas declared unfit for service. Ford was detached from the ship and sent to the Navy Pre-Flight School atSaint Mary's College of California, where he was assigned to the Athletic Department until April 1945. From the end of April 1945 to January 1946, he was on the staff of the Naval Reserve Training Command,Naval Air Station, Glenview, Illinois, at the rank oflieutenant commander. Ford received the following military awards: theAmerican Campaign Medal, theAsiatic-Pacific Campaign Medalwith nine3⁄16\\\" bronze stars(for operations in theGilbert Islands,Bismarck Archipelago, Marshall Islands, Asiatic and Pacific carrier raids,Hollandia, Marianas, Western Carolines, Western New Guinea, and the Leyte Operation), thePhilippine Liberation Medalwith two3⁄16\\\" bronze stars (for Leyte and Mindoro), and theWorld War II Victory Medal.He was honorably discharged in February 1946. U.S. House of Representatives (1949–1973) After Ford returned to Grand Rapids in 1946, he became active in local Republican politics, and supporters urged him to challengeBartel J. Jonkman, the incumbent Republican congressman. Military service had changed his view of the world. \\\"I came back a convertedinternationalist\\\", Ford wrote, \\\"and of course our congressman at that time was an avowed, dedicatedisolationist. And I thought he ought to be replaced. Nobody thought I could win. I ended up winning two to one.\\\" During his first campaign in 1948, Ford visited voters at their doorsteps and as they left the factories where they worked.Ford also visited local farms where, in one instance, a wager resulted in Ford spending two weeks milking cows following his election victory. Ford was a member of the House of Representatives for 25 years, holdingMichigan's 5th congressional districtseat from 1949 to 1973. It was a tenure largely notable for its modesty. As an editorial inThe New York Timesdescribed him, Ford \\\"saw himself as a negotiator and a reconciler, and the record shows it: he did not write a single piece of major legislation in his entire career.\\\"Appointed to theHouse Appropriations Committeetwo years after being elected, he was a prominent member of theDefense Appropriations Subcommittee. Ford described his philosophy as \\\"a moderate in domestic affairs, an internationalist in foreign affairs, and a conservative in fiscal policy.\\\"He voted in favor of theCivil Rights Acts of 1957,1960,1964,and1968,as well as the24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitutionand theVoting Rights Act of 1965.Ford was known to his colleagues in the House as a \\\"Congressman's Congressman\\\". In the early 1950s, Ford declined offers to run for either the Senate or the Michigan governorship. Rather, his ambition was to becomeSpeaker of the House,which he called \\\"the ultimate achievement. To sit up there and be the head honcho of 434 other people and have the responsibility, aside from the achievement, of trying to run the greatest legislative body in the history of mankind ... I think I got that ambition within a year or two after I was in the House of Representatives\\\". Warren Commission On November 29, 1963, PresidentLyndon B. Johnsonappointed Ford to theWarren Commission, a special task force set up to investigate theassassinationof PresidentJohn F. Kennedy.Ford was assigned to prepare a biography of accused assassinLee Harvey Oswald. He andEarl Warrenalso interviewedJack Ruby, Oswald's killer. According to a 1963FBImemo that was released to the public in 2008, Ford was in contact with the FBI throughout his time on the Warren Commission and relayed information to the deputy director,Cartha DeLoach, about the panel's activities.In the preface to his book,A Presidential Legacy and The Warren Commission, Ford defended the work of the commission and reiterated his support of its conclusions. House Minority Leader (1965–1973) In 1964, Lyndon Johnson led a landslide victory for his party, secured another term as president and took 36 seats from Republicans in the House of Representatives. Following the election, members of the Republican caucus looked to select a new minority leader. Three members approached Ford to see if he would be willing to serve; after consulting with his family, he agreed. After a closely contested election, Ford was chosen to replaceCharles HalleckofIndianaas minority leader.The members of the Republican caucus that encouraged and eventually endorsed Ford to run as the House minority leader were later known as the \\\"Young Turks\\\". One of the members of the Young Turks was congressmanDonald H. RumsfeldfromIllinois's 13th congressional district, who later on would serve in Ford's administration as thechief of staffandsecretary of defense. With a Democratic majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Johnson Administration proposed and passed a series of programs that was called by Johnson the \\\"Great Society\\\". During the first session of theEighty-ninth Congressalone, the Johnson Administration submitted 87 bills to Congress, and Johnson signed 84, or 96%, arguably the most successful legislative agenda in Congressional history. In 1966, criticism over the Johnson Administration's handling of theVietnam Warbegan to grow, with Ford and Congressional Republicans expressing concern that the United States was not doing what was necessary to win the war. Public sentiment also began to move against Johnson, and the1966 midterm electionsproduced a 47-seat swing in favor of the Republicans. This was not enough to give Republicans a majority in the House, but the victory gave Ford the opportunity to prevent the passage of further Great Society programs. Ford's private criticism of the Vietnam War became public knowledge after he spoke from the floor of the House and questioned whether the White House had a clear plan to bring the war to a successful conclusion.The speech angered President Johnson, who accused Ford of having played \\\"too much football without a helmet\\\". As minority leader in the House, Ford appeared in a popular series of televised press conferences withIllinoisSenatorEverett Dirksen, in which they proposed Republican alternatives to Johnson's policies. Many in the press jokingly called this \\\"The Ev and Jerry Show.\\\"Johnson said at the time, \\\"Jerry Ford is so dumb he can't fart and chew gum at the same time.\\\"The press, used to sanitizing Johnson's salty language, reported this as \\\"Gerald Ford can't walk and chew gum at the same time.\\\" AfterRichard Nixonwas elected president in November 1968, Ford's role shifted to being an advocate for the White House agenda. Congress passed several of Nixon's proposals, including theNational Environmental Policy Actand theTax Reform Act of 1969. Another high-profile victory for the Republican minority was the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act. Passed in 1972, the act established arevenue sharingprogram for state and local governments.Ford's leadership was instrumental in shepherding revenue sharing through Congress, and resulted in a bipartisan coalition that supported the bill with 223 votes in favor (compared with 185 against). During the eight years (1965–1973) that Ford served as minority leader, he received many friends in the House because of his fair leadership and inoffensive personality. Vice presidency (1973–1974) For the past decade, Ford had been unsuccessfully working to help Republicans across the country get a majority in the chamber so that he could becomeHouse Speaker. He promised his wife that he would try again in 1974 then retire in 1976.However, on October 10, 1973,Spiro Agnewresigned from the vice presidency.According toThe New York Times, Nixon \\\"sought advice from senior Congressional leaders about a replacement.\\\" The advice was unanimous. House SpeakerCarl Albertrecalled later, \\\"We gave Nixon no choice but Ford.\\\"Ford agreed to the nomination, telling his wife that the vice presidency would be \\\"a nice conclusion\\\" to his career.Ford was nominated to take Agnew's position on October 12, the first time the vice-presidential vacancy provision of the25th Amendmenthad been implemented. TheUnited States Senatevoted 92 to 3 to confirm Ford on November 27. On December 6, the House confirmed Ford by a vote of 387 to 35.After the confirmation votein the House, Ford took the oath of office as vice president. Ford became vice president as theWatergate scandalwas unfolding. On August 1, 1974,Chief of StaffAlexander Haigcontacted Ford to tell him to prepare for the presidency.At the time, Ford and his wife, Betty, were living in suburban Virginia, waiting for their expected move into the newly designatedvice president's residencein Washington, D.C. However, \\\"Al Haig asked to come over and see me\\\", Ford later said, \\\"to tell me that there would be a new tape released on a Monday, and he said the evidence in there was devastating and there would probably be either an impeachment or a resignation. And he said, 'I'm just warning you that you've got to be prepared, that things might change dramatically and you could become President.' And I said, 'Betty, I don't think we're ever going to live in the vice president's house.'\\\" Presidency (1974–1977) Swearing-in When Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, Ford automatically assumed the presidency, taking the oath of office in theEast Roomof the White House. This made him the only person to become the nation's chief executive without beingelectedto the presidency or the vice presidency. Immediately afterward, he spoke to the assembled audience in a speech that was broadcast live to the nation,noting the peculiarity of his position.He later declared that \\\"our long national nightmare is over\\\". Nominating Rockefeller On August 20, Ford nominated former New York GovernorNelson Rockefellerto fill the vice presidency he had vacated.Rockefeller's top competitor had beenGeorge H. W. Bush. Rockefeller underwent extended hearings before Congress, which caused embarrassment when it was revealed he made large gifts to senior aides, such asHenry Kissinger. Although conservative Republicans were not pleased that Rockefeller was picked, most of them voted for his confirmation, and his nomination passed both the House and Senate. Some, includingBarry Goldwater, voted against him. Pardon of Nixon On September 8, 1974, Ford issuedProclamation 4311, which gave Nixon a full and unconditionalpardonfor any crimes he might have committed against the United States while president.In a televised broadcast to the nation, Ford explained that he felt the pardon was in the best interests of the country, and that the Nixon family's situation \\\"is a tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must.\\\" Ford's decision to pardon Nixon was highly controversial. Critics derided the move and said a \\\"corrupt bargain\\\" had been struck between the two men,in which Ford's pardon was granted in exchange for Nixon's resignation, elevating Ford to the presidency. Ford's first press secretary and close friendJerald terHorstresigned his post in protest after the pardon.According toBob Woodward, Nixon Chief of Staff Alexander Haig proposed a pardon deal to Ford. He later decided to pardon Nixon for other reasons, primarily the friendship he and Nixon shared.Regardless, historians believe the controversy was one of the major reasons Ford lost the1976 presidential election, an observation with which Ford agreed.In an editorial at the time,The New York Timesstated that the Nixon pardon was a \\\"profoundly unwise, divisive and unjust act\\\" that in a stroke had destroyed the new president's \\\"credibility as a man of judgment, candor and competence\\\".On October 17, 1974, Ford testified before Congress on the pardon. He was the first sitting president sinceAbraham Lincolnto testify before theHouse of Representatives. In the months following the pardon, Ford often declined to mention President Nixon by name, referring to him in public as \\\"my predecessor\\\" or \\\"the former president.\\\" When Ford was pressed on the matter on a 1974 trip to California, White House correspondentFred Barnesrecalled that he replied \\\"I just can't bring myself to do it.\\\" After Ford left the White House in January 1977, he privately justified his pardon of Nixon by carrying in his wallet a portion of the text ofBurdick v. United States, a 1915U.S. Supreme Courtdecision which stated that a pardon indicated a presumption of guilt, and that acceptance of a pardon was tantamount to a confession of that guilt.In 2001, theJohn F. Kennedy LibraryFoundation awarded the John F. KennedyProfile in Courage Awardto Ford for his pardon of Nixon.In presenting the award to Ford, SenatorEdward Kennedysaid that he had initially been opposed to the pardon, but later decided that history had proven Ford to have made the correct decision. Draft dodgers and deserters On September 16 (shortly after he pardoned Nixon), Ford issued Presidential Proclamation 4313, which introduced a conditionalamnestyprogram for military deserters and Vietnam Wardraft dodgerswho had fled to countries such as Canada. The conditions of the amnesty required that those reaffirm their allegiance to the United States and serve two years working in a public service job or a total of two years service for those who had served less than two years of honorable service in the military.The program for the Return of Vietnam Era Draft Evaders and Military Desertersestablished a Clemency Board to review the records and make recommendations for receiving a presidential pardon and a change inmilitary dischargestatus.Full pardon for draft dodgerscame in theCarter administration. Administration When Ford assumed office, he inherited Nixon'sCabinet. During his brief administration, he replaced all members exceptSecretary of StateKissinger andSecretary of the TreasuryWilliam E. Simon. Political commentators have referred to Ford's dramatic reorganization of his Cabinet in the fall of 1975 as the \\\"Halloween Massacre\\\". One of Ford's appointees,William Coleman—theSecretary of Transportation—was the second Black man to serve in a presidential cabinet (afterRobert C. Weaver) and the first appointed in a Republican administration. Ford selected George H. W. Bush asChief of the US Liaison Officeto the People's Republic of China in 1974, and thenDirectorof theCentral Intelligence Agencyin late 1975. Ford's transition chairman and first Chief of Staff was former congressman and ambassadorDonald Rumsfeld. In 1975, Rumsfeld was named by Ford as the youngest-everSecretary of Defense. Ford chose a youngWyomingpolitician,Richard Cheney, to replace Rumsfeld as his new Chief of Staff; Cheney became thecampaign managerfor Ford's1976 presidential campaign. Midterm elections The 1974 Congressional midterm elections took place in the wake of the Watergate scandal and less than three months after Ford assumed office. The Democratic Party turned voter dissatisfaction into large gains in theHouse elections, taking 49 seats from the Republican Party, increasing their majority to 291 of the 435 seats. This was one more than the number needed (290) for a two-thirds majority, the number necessary to override a presidential veto or to propose a constitutional amendment. Perhaps due in part to this fact, the94th Congressoverrode the highest percentage of vetoes sinceAndrew Johnsonwas President of the United States (1865–1869).Even Ford's former, reliably Republican House seat was won by a Democrat,Richard Vander Veen, who defeatedRobert VanderLaan. In theSenate elections, the Democratic majority became 61 in the 100-seat body. Domestic policy Inflation Theeconomywas a great concern during the Ford administration. One of the first acts the new president took to deal with the economy was to create, byExecutive Orderon September 30, 1974, the Economic Policy Board.In October 1974, in response to rising inflation, Ford went before the American public and asked them to \\\"WhipInflationNow\\\". As part of this program, he urged people to wear \\\"WIN\\\" buttons.At the time, inflation was believed to be the primary threat to the economy, more so than growing unemployment; there was a belief that controlling inflation would help reduce unemployment.To rein in inflation, it was necessary to control the public's spending. To try to mesh service and sacrifice, \\\"WIN\\\" called for Americans to reduce their spending and consumption.On October 4, 1974, Ford gave a speech in front of a joint session of Congress; as a part of this speech he kicked off the \\\"WIN\\\" campaign. Over the next nine days, 101,240 Americans mailed in \\\"WIN\\\" pledges.In hindsight, this was viewed as simply apublic relationsgimmick which had no way of solving the underlying problems.The main point of that speech was to introduce to Congress a one-year, five-percent income tax increase on corporations and wealthy individuals. This plan would also take $4.4 billion out of the budget, bringing federal spending below $300 billion.At the time, inflation was over twelve percent. Budget The federal budget ran adeficitevery year Ford was president.Despite his reservations about how the program ultimately would be funded in an era of tightpublic budgeting, Ford signed theEducation for All Handicapped Children Actof 1975, which establishedspecial educationthroughout the United States. Ford expressed \\\"strong support for full educational opportunities for our handicapped children\\\" according to the official White House press release for the bill signing. The economic focus began to change as the country sank into the worstrecessionsince theGreat Depressionfour decades earlier.The focus of the Ford administration turned to stopping the rise in unemployment, which reached nine percent in May 1975.In January 1975, Ford proposed a 1-year tax reduction of $16 billion to stimulate economic growth, along with spending cuts to avoid inflation.Ford was criticized for abruptly switching from advocating a tax increase to a tax reduction. In Congress, the proposed amount of the tax reduction increased to $22.8 billion in tax cuts and lacked spending cuts.In March 1975, Congress passed, and Ford signed into law, theseincome taxrebates as part of theTax Reduction Act of 1975. This resulted in a federal deficit of around $53 billion for the 1975 fiscal year and $73.7 billion for 1976. When New York City faced bankruptcy in 1975,MayorAbraham Beamewas unsuccessful in obtaining Ford's support for a federal bailout. The incident prompted the New YorkDaily News'famous headline \\\"Ford to City: Drop Dead\\\", referring to a speech in which \\\"Ford declared flatly ... that he would veto any bill calling for 'a federal bail-out of New York City'\\\". Swine flu Ford was confronted with a potentialswine flupandemic. In the early 1970s, aninfluenzastrainH1N1shifted from a form of flu that affected primarily pigs and crossed over to humans. On February 5, 1976, anarmyrecruit atFort Dixmysteriously died and four fellow soldiers were hospitalized;health officialsannounced that \\\"swine flu\\\" was the cause. Soon after, public health officials in the Ford administration urged that every person in the United States bevaccinated.Although the vaccination program was plagued by delays and public relations problems, some 25% of the population was vaccinated by the time the program was canceled in December 1976. Equal rights and abortion Ford was an outspoken supporter of theEqual Rights Amendment, issuing Presidential Proclamation no. 4383 in 1975: In this Land of the Free, it is right, and by nature it ought to be, that all men and all women are equal before the law. Now, therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States of America, to remind all Americans that it is fitting and just to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment adopted by the Congress of the United States of America, in order to secure legal equality for all women and men, do hereby designate and proclaim August 26, 1975, as Women's Equality Day. As president, Ford's position on abortion was that he supported \\\"a federal constitutional amendment that would permit each one of the 50 States to make the choice\\\".This had also been his position as House Minority Leader in response to the 1973 Supreme Court case ofRoe v. Wade, which he opposed.Ford came under criticism when First Lady Betty Ford entered the debate over abortion during anAugust 1975 interview for60 Minutes, in which she stated thatRoe v. Wadewas a \\\"great, great decision\\\".During his later life, Ford would identify aspro-choice. Foreign policy Ford continued the détente policy with both theSoviet Unionand China, easing the tensions of the Cold War. Still in place from the Nixon administration was theStrategic Arms Limitation Treaty(SALT).The thawing relationship brought about byNixon's visit to Chinawas reinforced by Ford's own visit in December 1975.The Administration entered into the Helsinki Accordswith the Soviet Union in 1975, creating the framework of theHelsinki Watch, an independent non-governmental organization created to monitor compliance which later evolved intoHuman Rights Watch. Ford attended the inaugural meeting of theGroup of Seven(G7) industrialized nations (initially the G5) in 1975 and secured membership for Canada. Ford supported international solutions to issues. \\\"We live in an interdependent world and, therefore, must work together to resolve common economic problems,\\\" he said in a 1974 speech. In November 1975, Ford adopted the globalhuman population controlrecommendations ofNational Security Study Memorandum 200– anational security directiveinitially commissioned by Nixon – as United States policy in the subsequent NSDM 314.The plan explicitly states the goal was population control and not improving the lives of individuals despite instructing organizers to \\\"emphasize development and improvements in the quality of life of the poor\\\", later explaining the projects were \\\"primarily for other reasons\\\".Upon approving the plan, Ford stated \\\"United States leadership is essential to combat population growth, to implement the World Population Plan of Action and to advance United States security and overseas interests\\\".Population control policies were adopted to protect American economic and military interests, with the memorandum arguing thatpopulation growthindeveloping countriesresulted with such nations gaining global political power, that more citizens posed a risk to accessing foreign natural resources while also making American businesses vulnerable to governments seeking to fund a growing population, and that younger generations born would be prone toanti-establishmentbehavior, increasing political instability. Indonesia and East Timor As South Vietnam collapsed, an anti-communistIndonesiawas seen as essential by the United States. Good relations with the Indonesian government were considered more important than the decolonization process inEast Timor.The Ford administration gave theSuharto regimeinIndonesiaeconomic and military support, even as itinvaded East Timorandcommitted a genocidethat killed close to a third of the population.One day prior to the invasion, Ford and Kissinger met with Suharto, and they assured him that relations with Indonesia would remain strong regardless of Indonesia's actions and that it would not object to theannexationof East Timor. Middle East In the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean, two ongoing international disputes developed into crises. TheCyprus disputeturned into a crisis with theTurkish invasion of Cyprusin July 1974, causing extreme strain within theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) alliance. In mid-August, theGreek governmentwithdrew Greece from the NATO military structure; in mid-September, the Senate and House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to halt military aid to Turkey. Ford, concerned with both the effect of this on Turkish-American relations and the deterioration of security on NATO's eastern front, vetoed the bill. A second bill was then passed by Congress, which Ford also vetoed, fearing that it might impede negotiations in Cyprus, although a compromise was accepted to continue aid until December 10, 1974, provided Turkey would not send American supplies to Cyprus.U.S. military aid to Turkey was suspended on February 5, 1975. In the continuingArab–Israeli conflict, although the initialcease firehad been implemented to end active conflict in theYom Kippur War, Kissinger's continuingshuttle diplomacywas showing little progress. Ford considered it \\\"stalling\\\" and wrote, \\\"Their tactics frustrated the Egyptians and made me mad as hell.\\\"During Kissinger's shuttle to Israel in early March 1975, a last minute reversal to consider further withdrawal, prompted a cable from Ford to Prime MinisterYitzhak Rabin, which included: I wish to express my profound disappointment over Israel's attitude in the course of the negotiations ... Failure of the negotiation will have a far reaching impact on the region and on our relations. I have given instructions for a reassessment of United States policy in the region, including our relations with Israel, with the aim of ensuring that overall American interests ... are protected. You will be notified of our decision. On March 24, Ford informed congressional leaders of both parties of the reassessment of the administration's policies in the Middle East. In practical terms, \\\"reassessment\\\" meant canceling or suspending further aid to Israel. For six months between March and September 1975, the United States refused to conclude any new arms agreements with Israel. Rabin notes it was \\\"an innocent-sounding term that heralded one of the worst periods in American-Israeli relations\\\".The announced reassessments upset the American Jewish community and Israel's well-wishers in Congress. On May 21, Ford \\\"experienced a real shock\\\" when seventy-six U.S. senators wrote him a letter urging him to be \\\"responsive\\\" to Israel's request for $2.59 billion (equivalent to $14.67 billion in 2023) in military and economic aid. Ford felt truly annoyed and thought the chance for peace was jeopardized. It was, since the September 1974 ban on arms sales to Turkey, the second major congressional intrusion upon the President's foreign policy prerogatives.The following summer months were described by Ford as an American-Israeli \\\"war of nerves\\\" or \\\"test of wills\\\".After much bargaining, theSinai Interim Agreement(Sinai II) was formally signed on September 1, and aid resumed. Vietnam One of Ford's greatest challenges was dealing with the continuingVietnam War. American offensive operations against North Vietnam had ended with theParis Peace Accords, signed on January 27, 1973. The accords declared a cease-fire across both North and South Vietnam, and required the release of Americanprisoners of war. The agreement guaranteed the territorial integrity of Vietnam and, like theGeneva Conferenceof 1954, called for national elections in the North and South. The Paris Peace Accords stipulated a sixty-day period for the total withdrawal of U.S. forces. The agreements were negotiated byUS National Security AdvisorHenry Kissingerand North VietnamesePolitburomemberLê Đức Thọ. South Vietnamese PresidentNguyen Van Thieuwas not involved in the final negotiations, and publicly criticized the proposed agreement. However, anti-war pressures within the United States forced Nixon and Kissinger to pressure Thieu to sign the agreement and enable the withdrawal of American forces. In multiple letters to the South Vietnamese president, Nixon had promised that the United States would defend Thieu's government, should the North Vietnamese violate the accords. In December 1974, months after Ford took office, North Vietnamese forces invaded the province ofPhuoc Long. GeneralTrần Văn Tràsought to gauge any South Vietnamese or American response to the invasion, as well as to solve logistical issues, before proceeding with the invasion. As North Vietnamese forces advanced, Ford requested Congress approve a $722 million aid package for South Vietnam (equivalent to $4.09 billion in 2023), funds that had been promised by the Nixon administration. Congress voted against the proposal by a wide margin.SenatorJacob K. Javitsoffered \\\"...large sums for evacuation, but not one nickel for military aid\\\".President Thieu resigned on April 21, 1975, publicly blaming the lack of support from the United States for the fall of his country.Two days later, on April 23, Ford gave a speech atTulane University. In that speech, he announced that the Vietnam War was over \\\"...as far as America is concerned\\\".The announcement was met with thunderous applause. 1,373 U.S. citizens and 5,595Vietnameseand third-country nationals were evacuated from the South Vietnamese capital ofSaigonduringOperation Frequent Wind. Many of the Vietnamese evacuees were allowed to enter the United States under theIndochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act. The 1975 Act appropriated $455 million (equivalent to $2.58 billion in 2023) toward the costs of assisting the settlement of Indochinese refugees.In all, 130,000 Vietnamese refugees came to the United States in 1975. Thousands more escaped in the years that followed. Mayaguezincident North Vietnam's victory over the South led to a considerable shift in the political winds in Asia, and Ford administration officials worried about a consequent loss of U.S. influence there. The administration proved it was willing to respond forcefully to challenges to its interests in the region whenKhmer Rougeforces seized an American ship ininternational waters.The main crisis was theMayaguezincident. In May 1975, shortly after the fall of Saigon and the Khmer Rouge conquest ofCambodia, Cambodians seized the American merchant shipMayaguezin international waters.Ford dispatchedMarinesto rescue the crew, but the Marines landed on the wrong island and met unexpectedly stiff resistance just as, unknown to the U.S., theMayaguezsailors were being released. In the operation, two military transport helicopters carrying the Marines for the assault operation were shot down, and 41 U.S. servicemen were killed and 50 wounded, while approximately 60 Khmer Rouge soldiers were killed.Despite the American losses, the operation was seen as a success in the United States, and Ford enjoyed an 11-point boost in his approval ratings in the aftermath.The Americans killed during the operation became the last to have their names inscribed on theVietnam Veterans Memorialwall in Washington, D.C. Some historians have argued that the Ford administration felt the need to respond forcefully to the incident because it was construed as a Soviet plot.But work by Andrew Gawthorpe, published in 2009, based on an analysis of the administration's internal discussions, shows that Ford's national security team understood that the seizure of the vessel was a local, and perhaps even accidental, provocation by an immature Khmer government. Nevertheless, they felt the need to respond forcefully to discourage further provocations by other Communist countries in Asia. Assassination attempts Ford was the target of two assassination attempts during his presidency. InSacramento, California, on September 5, 1975,Lynette \\\"Squeaky\\\" Fromme, a follower ofCharles Manson, pointed aColt .45-caliber handgunat Ford and pulled the trigger atpoint-blank range.As she did,Larry Buendorf,a Secret Service agent, grabbed the gun, and Fromme was taken into custody. She was later convicted of attempted assassination of the President and was sentenced to life in prison; she was paroled on August 14, 2009, after serving 34 years. In reaction to this attempt, the Secret Service began keeping Ford at a more secure distance from anonymous crowds, a strategy that may have saved his life seventeen days later. As he left theSt. Francis Hotelin downtown San Francisco,Sara Jane Moore, standing in a crowd of onlookers across the street, fired a.38-caliber revolverat him. The shot missed Ford by a few feet.Before she fired a second round, retired MarineOliver Sipplegrabbed at the gun and deflected her shot; the bullet struck a wall about six inches above and to the right of Ford's head, then ricocheted and hit a taxi driver, who was slightly wounded. Moore was later sentenced to life in prison. She was paroled on December 31, 2007, after serving 32 years. Judicial appointments Supreme Court In 1975, Ford appointedJohn Paul StevensasAssociate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Statesto replace retiring JusticeWilliam O. Douglas. Stevens had been a judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, appointed by President Nixon.During his tenure as House Republican leader, Ford had led efforts to have Douglas impeached.After being confirmed, Stevens eventually disappointed some conservatives by siding with the Court's liberal wing regarding the outcome of many key issues.Nevertheless, in 2005 Ford praised Stevens. \\\"He has served his nation well,\\\" Ford said of Stevens, \\\"with dignity, intellect and without partisan political concerns.\\\" Other judicial appointments Ford appointed 11 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, and 50 judges to theUnited States district courts. 1976 presidential campaign Ford reluctantly agreed to run for office in 1976, but first he had to counter a challenge for the Republican party nomination. FormerGovernor of CaliforniaRonald Reaganand the party'sconservativewing faulted Ford for failing to do more inSouth Vietnam, for signing the Helsinki Accords, and for negotiating to cede thePanama Canal. (Negotiations for the canal continued under President Carter, who eventually signed theTorrijos–Carter Treaties.) Reagan launched his campaign in autumn of 1975 and won numerousprimaries, includingNorth Carolina,Texas,Indiana, andCalifornia, but failed to get a majority of delegates; Reagan withdrew from the race at theRepublican ConventioninKansas City,Missouri. The conservative insurgency did lead to Ford dropping the moreliberalVice President Nelson Rockefeller in favor of U.S. senatorBob DoleofKansas. In addition to the pardon dispute and lingering anti-Republican sentiment, Ford had to counter a plethora of negative media imagery.Chevy Chaseoften didpratfallsonSaturday Night Live,imitating Ford, who had been seen stumbling on two occasions during his term. As Chase commented, \\\"He even mentioned in his own autobiography it had an effect over a period of time that affected the election to some degree.\\\" Ford's 1976 election campaign benefitted from his being an incumbent president during several anniversary events held during the period leading up to theUnited States Bicentennial. The Washington, D.C.fireworksdisplay on theFourth of Julywas presided over by the President and televised nationally.On July 7, 1976, the President and First Lady served as hosts at a White House state dinner forQueen Elizabeth IIandPrince Philipof the United Kingdom, which was televised on thePublic Broadcasting Servicenetwork. The 200th anniversary of theBattles of Lexington and Concordin Massachusetts gave Ford the opportunity to deliver a speech to 110,000 in Concord acknowledging the need for a strong national defense tempered with a plea for \\\"reconciliation, not recrimination\\\" and \\\"reconstruction, not rancor\\\" between the United States and those who would pose \\\"threats to peace\\\".Speaking in New Hampshire on the previous day, Ford condemned the growing trend toward big government bureaucracy and argued for a return to \\\"basic American virtues\\\". Televisedpresidential debateswere reintroduced for the first time since the 1960 election. As such, Ford became the first incumbent president to participate in one. Carter later attributed his victory in the election to the debates, saying they \\\"gave the viewers reason to think that Jimmy Carter had something to offer\\\". The turning point came in the second debate when Ford blundered by stating, \\\"There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford Administration.\\\" Ford also said that he did not \\\"believe that the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union\\\".In an interview years later, Ford said he had intended to imply that the Soviets would never crush thespiritsof eastern Europeans seeking independence. However, the phrasing was so awkward that questionerMax Frankelwas visibly incredulous at the response. In the end, Carter won the election, receiving 50.1% of the popular vote and 297electoral votescompared with 48.0% and 240 electoral votes for Ford. Post-presidency (1977–2006) The Nixon pardon controversy eventually subsided. Ford's successor, Jimmy Carter, opened his 1977inaugural addressby praising the outgoing president, saying, \\\"For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land.\\\" After leaving the White House, the Fords moved to Denver, Colorado. Ford successfully invested in oil withMarvin Davis, which later provided an income for Ford's children. He continued to make appearances at events of historical and ceremonial significance to the nation, such as presidential inaugurals and memorial services. In January 1977, he became the president ofEisenhower FellowshipsinPhiladelphia, then served as the chairman of its board of trustees from 1980 to 1986.Later in 1977, he reluctantly agreed to be interviewed by James M. Naughton, aNew York Timesjournalist who was given the assignment to write the former president's advance obituary, an article that would be updated prior to its eventual publication.In 1979, Ford published his autobiography,A Time to Heal(Harper/Reader's Digest, 454 pages). A review inForeign Affairsdescribed it as, \\\"Serene, unruffled, unpretentious, like the author. This is the shortest and most honest of recent presidential memoirs, but there are no surprises, no deep probings of motives or events. No more here than meets the eye.\\\" During the term of office of his successor, Jimmy Carter, Ford received monthly briefs by President Carter's senior staff on international and domestic issues, and was always invited to lunch at the White House whenever he was in Washington, D.C. Their close friendship developed after Carter had left office, with the catalyst being their trip together to thefuneralofAnwar el-Sadatin 1981.Until Ford's death, Carter and his wife,Rosalynn, visited the Fords' home frequently.Ford and Carter served as honorary co-chairs of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform in 2001 and of theContinuity of Government Commissionin 2002. Like Presidents Carter,George H. W. Bush, andBill Clinton, Ford was an honorary co-chair of theCouncil for Excellence in Government, a group dedicated to excellence in government performance, which provides leadership training to top federal employees. He also devoted much time to his love of golf, often playing both privately and in public events with comedianBob Hope, a longtime friend. In 1977, he shot ahole in oneduring a Pro-am held in conjunction with theDanny Thomas Memphis ClassicatColonial Country ClubinMemphis, Tennessee. In 1977, Ford established the Gerald R. Ford Institute of Public Policy atAlbion CollegeinAlbion, Michigan, to give undergraduates training in public policy. In April 1981, he opened theGerald R. Ford LibraryinAnn Arbor, Michigan, on the north campus of his alma mater, theUniversity of Michigan,followed in September by theGerald R. Ford Museumin Grand Rapids. Ford considered a run for the Republican nomination in1980, forgoing numerous opportunities to serve on corporate boards to keep his options open for a rematch with Carter. Ford attacked Carter's conduct of the SALT II negotiations and foreign policy in the Middle East and Africa. Many have argued that Ford also wanted to exorcise his image as an \\\"Accidental President\\\" and to win a term in his own right. Ford also believed the more conservative Ronald Reagan would be unable to defeat Carter and would hand the incumbent a second term. Ford was encouraged by his former Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, as well asJim Rhodesof Ohio andBill Clementsof Texas to make the race. On March 15, 1980, Ford announced that he would forgo a run for the Republican nomination, vowing to support the eventual nominee. After securing the Republican nomination in 1980, Ronald Reagan considered his former rival Ford as a potential vice-presidential running mate, but negotiations between the Reagan and Ford camps at theRepublican National Conventionwere unsuccessful. Ford conditioned his acceptance on Reagan's agreement to an unprecedented \\\"co-presidency\\\",giving Ford the power to control key executive branch appointments (such as Kissinger as Secretary of State andAlan Greenspanas Treasury Secretary). After rejecting these terms, Reagan offered the vice-presidential nomination instead to George H. W. Bush.Ford did appear in a campaign commercial for the Reagan-Bush ticket, in which he declared that the country would be \\\"better served by a Reagan presidency rather than a continuation of the weak and politically expedient policies of Jimmy Carter\\\".On October 8, 1980, Ford said former President Nixon's involvement in the general election potentially could negatively impact the Reagan campaign: \\\"I think it would have been much more helpful if Mr. Nixon had stayed in the background during this campaign. It would have been much more beneficial to Ronald Reagan.\\\" On October 3, 1980, Ford cast blame on Carter for the latter's charges of ineffectiveness on the part of theFederal Reserve Boarddue to his appointing of most of its members: \\\"President Carter, when the going gets tough, will do anything to save his own political skin. This latest action by the president is cowardly.\\\" Following theattempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, Ford told reporters while appearing at a fundraiser forThomas Keanthat criminals who use firearms should get the death penalty in the event someone is injured with the weapon. In September 1981, Ford advised Reagan against succumbing toWall Streetdemands and follow his own agenda for the economic policies of the US during an appearance onGood Morning America: \\\"He shouldn't let the gurus of Wall Street decide what the economic future of this country is going to be. They are wrong in my opinion.\\\"During a news conference on October 20, 1981, Ford stated that stopping the Reagan administration's Saudi arms package could have a large negative impact to American relations in the Middle East. On March 24, 1982, Ford offered an endorsement of President Reagan's economic policies while also stating the possibility of Reagan being met with a stalemate by Congress if not willing to compromise while in Washington. Ford founded the annualAEI World Forumin 1982, and joined theAmerican Enterprise Instituteas a distinguished fellow. He was also awarded anhonorary doctorate at Central Connecticut State Universityon March 23, 1988. During an August 1982 fundraising reception, Ford stated his opposition to a constitutional amendment requiring the US to have a balanced budget, citing a need to elect \\\"members of the House and Senate who will immediately when Congress convenes act more responsibly in fiscal matters.\\\"Ford was a participant in the 1982 midterm elections, traveling toTennesseein October of that year to help Republican candidates. In January 1984, a letter signed by Ford and Carter and urging world leaders to extend their failed effort to end world hunger was released and sent toSecretary-General of the United NationsJavier Pérez de Cuéllar. In 1987, Ford testified before theSenate Judiciary Committeein favor ofDistrict of Columbia Circuit Courtjudge and formerSolicitor GeneralRobert Borkafter Bork wasnominatedby President Reagan to be anAssociate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.Bork's nomination was rejected by a vote of 58–42. In 1987, Ford'sHumor and the Presidency, a book of humorous political anecdotes, was published. By 1988, Ford was a member of several corporate boards including Commercial Credit, Nova Pharmaceutical,The Pullman Company,Tesoro Petroleum, and Tiger International, Inc.Ford also became an honorary director ofCitigroup, a position he held until his death. In October 1990, Ford appeared inGettysburg, PennsylvaniawithBob Hopeto commemorate the centennial anniversary of the birth of former presidentDwight D. Eisenhower, where the two unveiled a plaque with the signatures of each living former president. In April 1991, Ford joined former presidentsRichard Nixon,Ronald Reagan, andJimmy Carter, in supporting theBrady Bill.Three years later, he wrote to theU.S. House of Representatives, along with Carter and Reagan, in support of theassault weapons ban. At the1992 Republican National Convention, Ford compared the election cycle to his 1976 loss to Carter and urged attention be paid to electing a Republican Congress: \\\"If it's change you want on Nov. 3, my friends, the place to start is not at the White House but in the United States' Capitol. Congress, as every school child knows, has the power of the purse. For nearly 40 years, Democratic majorities have held to the time-tested New Deal formula, tax and tax, spend and spend, elect and elect.\\\" (The Republicans would later win both Houses of Congress at the1994 mid-term elections.) In April 1997, Ford joined PresidentBill Clinton, former president Bush, andNancy Reaganin signing the \\\"Summit Declaration of Commitment\\\" in advocating for participation by private citizens in solving domestic issues within the United States. On January 20, 1998, during an interview at his Palm Springs home, Ford said the Republican Party's nominee in the 2000 presidential election would lose if the party turned ultra-conservative in their ideals: \\\"If we get way over on the hard right of the political spectrum, we will not elect a Republican President. I worry about the party going down this ultra-conservative line. We ought to learn from the Democrats: when they were running ultra-liberal candidates, they didn't win.\\\" In the prelude to the impeachment of President Clinton, Ford conferred with former president Carter and the two agreed to not speak publicly on the controversy, a pact broken by Carter when answering a question from a student atEmory University. In October 2001, Ford broke with conservative members of the Republican Party by stating that gay and lesbian couples \\\"ought to be treated equally. Period.\\\" He became the highest-ranking Republican to embrace full equality for gays and lesbians, stating his belief that there should be a federal amendment outlawing anti-gay job discrimination and expressing his hope that the Republican Party would reach out to gay and lesbian voters.He also was a member of the Republican Unity Coalition, whichThe New York Timesdescribed as \\\"a group of prominent Republicans, including former President Gerald R. Ford, dedicated to making sexual orientation a non-issue in the Republican Party\\\". On November 22, 2004, New York Republican governorGeorge Patakinamed Ford and the other living former presidents (Carter, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton) as honorary members of the board rebuilding theWorld Trade Center. In a pre-recordedembargoed interviewwithBob WoodwardofThe Washington Postin July 2004, Ford stated that he disagreed \\\"very strongly\\\" with the Bush administration's choice of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction as justification for its decision toinvade Iraq, calling it a \\\"big mistake\\\" unrelated to the national security of the United States and indicating that he would not have gone to war had he been president. The details of the interview were not released until after Ford's death, as he requested. Health issues On April 4, 1990, Ford was admitted toEisenhower Medical Centerfor surgery to replace his left knee, orthopedic surgeon Robert Murphy saying, \\\"Ford's entire left knee was replaced with an artificial joint, including portions of the adjacent femur, or thigh bone, and tibia, or leg bone.\\\" Ford suffered two minor strokes at the2000 Republican National Convention, but made a quick recovery after being admitted toHahnemann University Hospital.In January 2006, he spent 11 days at theEisenhower Medical Centernear his residence atRancho Mirage, California, for treatment ofpneumonia.On April 23, 2006, PresidentGeorge W. Bushvisited Ford at his home in Rancho Mirage for a little over an hour. This was Ford's last public appearance and produced the last known public photos, video footage, and voice recording. While vacationing inVail, Colorado, Ford was hospitalized for two days in July 2006 for shortness of breath.On August 15 he was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital of theMayo ClinicinRochester, Minnesota, for testing and evaluation. On August 21, it was reported that he had been fitted with apacemaker. On August 25, he underwent anangioplastyprocedure at the Mayo Clinic. On August 28, Ford was released from the hospital and returned with his wife Betty to their California home. On October 13, he was scheduled to attend the dedication of a building of his namesake, theGerald R. Ford School of Public Policyat the University of Michigan, but due to poor health and on the advice of his doctors he did not attend. The previous day, Ford had entered the Eisenhower Medical Center for undisclosed tests; he was released on October 16.By November 2006, he was confined to a bed in his study. Death and legacy Ford died on December 26, 2006, at his home inRancho Mirage, California, of arterioscleroticcerebrovascular diseaseand diffusearteriosclerosis. He had end-stage coronary artery disease and severeaortic stenosisand insufficiency, caused by calcific alteration of one of his heart valves.At the time of his death, Ford was thelongest-lived U.S. president, having lived 93 years and 165 days (45 days longer than Ronald Reagan, whose record he surpassed).He died on the 34th anniversary of PresidentHarry S. Truman's death; he was the last surviving member of theWarren Commission. On December 30, 2006, Ford became the 11th U.S. president tolie in statein theRotunda of the U.S. Capitol.A state funeral and memorial services were held at theNational Cathedralin Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, January 2, 2007. After the service, Ford was interred at hisPresidential Museumin Grand Rapids, Michigan. Scouting was so important to Ford that his family asked for Scouts to participate in his funeral. A few selected Scouts served as ushers inside the National Cathedral. About 400 Eagle Scouts were part of the funeral procession, where they formed an honor guard as the casket went by in front of the museum. One of the songs selected by Ford during the procession was the University of Michigan fight song, as it was a favorite of his that he preferred go be played during his presidency.After his death in December 2006, theUniversity of Michigan Marching Bandplayed the school's fight song for him one final time, for his last ride from theGerald R. Ford Airportin Grand Rapids, Michigan. The State of Michigan commissioned and submitted astatue of Fordto theNational Statuary Hall Collection, replacingZachariah Chandler. It was unveiled on May 3, 2011, in the Capitol Rotunda. Personal life Family When speaking of his mother and stepfather, Ford said that \\\"My stepfather was a magnificent person and my mother equally wonderful. So I couldn't have written a better prescription for a superb family upbringing.\\\" Ford had three half-siblings from the second marriage of Leslie King Sr., his biological father: Marjorie King (1921–1993), Leslie Henry King (1923–1976), and Patricia Jane King (1925–1980). They never saw one another as children, and he did not know them at all until 1960. Ford was not aware of his biological father until he was 17, when his parents told him about the circumstances of his birth. That year his biological father, whom Ford described as a \\\"carefree, well-to-do man who didn't really give a damn about the hopes and dreams of his firstborn son\\\", approached Ford while he was waiting tables in a Grand Rapids restaurant. The two \\\"maintained a sporadic contact\\\" until Leslie King Sr.'s death in 1941. On October 15, 1948, Ford marriedElizabeth Bloomer(1918–2011) at GraceEpiscopal Churchin Grand Rapids; it was his first and only marriage and her second marriage. She had previously been married and, after a five‐year marriage, divorced from William Warren. Originally from Grand Rapids herself, she had lived in New York City for several years, where she worked as aJohn Robert Powersfashion model and a dancer in the auxiliary troupe of theMartha GrahamDance Company. At the time of their engagement, Ford was campaigning for what would be his first of 13 terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives. The wedding was delayed until shortly before theelectionbecause, asThe New York Timesreported in a 1974 profile of Betty Ford, \\\"Jerry Ford was running for Congress and wasn't sure how voters might feel about his marrying a divorced exdancer.\\\" The couple had four children: Michael Gerald, born in 1950, John Gardner (known as Jack) born in 1952,Steven Meigs, born in 1956, andSusan Elizabeth, born in 1957. Civic and fraternal organizations Ford was a member of several civic and fraternal organizations, including theJunior Chamber of Commerce(Jaycees),American Legion,AMVETS,Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks,Sons of the Revolution,Veterans of Foreign Wars, and was an alumnus ofDelta Kappa Epsilonat Michigan. Freemasonry Ford was initiated intoFreemasonryon September 30, 1949.He later said in 1975, \\\"When I took my obligation as a master mason—incidentally, with my three younger brothers—I recalled the value my own father attached to that order. But I had no idea that I would ever be added to the company of the Father of our Country and 12 other members of the order who also served as Presidents of the United States.\\\"Ford was made a 33° Scottish Rite Mason on September 26, 1962.In April 1975, Ford was elected by a unanimous vote Honorary Grand Master of the International Supreme Council, Order of DeMolay, a position in which he served until January 1977.Ford received the degrees of York Rite Masonry (Chapter and Council degrees) in a special ceremony in the Oval Office on January 11, 1977, during his term as President of the United States. Ford was also a member of theShrinersand theRoyal Order of Jesters; both beingaffiliated bodiesof Freemasonry. Public image Ford is the only person to hold the presidential office without being elected as either president or vice president. The choice of Ford to fill the vacant vice-presidency was based on Ford's reputation for openness and honesty.\\\"In all the years I sat in the House, I never knew Mr. Ford to make a dishonest statement nor a statement part-true and part-false. He never attempted to shade a statement, and I never heard him utter an unkind word\\\", saidMartha Griffiths. The trust the American public had in him was rapidly and severely tarnished by his pardon of Nixon.Nonetheless, many grant in hindsight that he had respectably discharged with considerable dignity a great responsibility that he had not sought. In spite of his athletic record and remarkable career accomplishments, Ford acquired a reputation as a clumsy, likable, and simple-mindedeveryman.Henry Kissingerdescribed him as \\\"as close to a normal human being as we'll ever get in that office\\\".Other pieces of the everyman image were attributed to his inevitable comparison with Nixon, his Midwestern stodginess, and his self-deprecation. An incident in 1975, when Ford tripped while exiting Air Force One in Austria, was famously and repeatedly parodied byChevy ChaseonSaturday Night Live, cementing Ford's image as a klutz.Additionally, an incident in April 1976, when Ford bit into a still shuck-wrapped tamale, a culinary faux pas, made national news and contributed to the image of Ford as a chronic bumbler.The incident has become a cautionary tale about the hazards of eating on the campaign trail. Ford has notably been portrayed in two television productions which included a central focus on his wife: theEmmy-winning 1987ABCbiographicaltelevision movieThe Betty Ford Story,and the 2022Showtimetelevision seriesThe First Lady. Honors Foreign honors The following are named after Ford: See also Notes References Bibliography Primary sources External links Official sites Media coverage Other\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["United States presidential elections in Alaska SinceAlaska'sadmission to the Unionin January 1959,it has participated in 16United States presidential elections, always having 3electoral votes. In the1960 presidential election, Alaska was narrowly won by theRepublican Party's candidate and incumbentvice presidentRichard Nixon, defeating theDemocratic Party's candidateJohn F. Kennedyby a margin of just 1.88% (1,144 votes).In the1964 presidential election, the Democratic Party's candidateLyndon B. Johnsonwon Alaska in a national Democraticlandslide victory.Since the 1964 election, Alaska has been won by the Republican Party in every presidential election. Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate in the1984 presidential election, won Alaska by 36.78%,which remains the largest margin of victory in the state's history.Ross Perot, theindependent candidatein the1992 presidential election, received the highest vote share (28.43%)ever won by athird-party candidatein Alaska. Various news organizations have characterized","have characterized Alaska as a safe Republican state.No Republican has won the presidency without carrying Alaska since its statehood in 1959 due toLyndon B. Johnsonbeing the only Democrat candidate to ever carry the state. Alaska is tied withIdaho,Utah,Wyoming,North Dakota,South Dakota,Nebraska,KansasandOklahomafor the longest Republican voting streak for any state in recent political history, from 1968 to present. Presidential elections Graph The following graph shows the margin of victory of the winner over the runner-up in the 16 presidential elections Alaska participated. See also Notes References Works cited","Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr.(bornLeslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913 – December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38thpresident of the United Statesfrom 1974 to 1977. He previously served as the leader of theRepublican Partyin theU.S. House of Representativesfrom 1965 to 1973, and as the 40thvice presidentunder PresidentRichard Nixonfrom 1973 to 1974. Ford succeeded to the presidency when Nixon resigned in 1974, but wasdefeated for election to a full term in 1976. Ford remains the only person to serve as president without winning an election for president or vice president. Ford was born inOmaha, Nebraskaand raised inGrand Rapids, Michigan. He attended theUniversity of Michigan, where he played forthe school's football team, before eventually attendingYale Law School. Afterward, he served in theU.S. Naval Reservefrom 1942 to 1946. Ford began his political career in 1949 as the U.S. representative fromMichigan's 5th congressional district, serving in this capacity for nearly 25","for nearly 25 years, the final nine of them as theHouse minority leader. In December 1973, two months afterSpiro Agnew's resignation, Ford became the first person appointed to the vice presidency under the terms of the25th Amendment. After the subsequent resignation of Nixon in August 1974, Ford immediately assumed the presidency. Domestically, Ford presided over the worst economy in the four decades since theGreat Depression, with growing inflation and a recession.In one of his most controversial acts, he granted apresidential pardon to Nixonfor his role in theWatergate scandal. Foreign policy was characterized in procedural terms by the increased role Congress began to play, and by the corresponding curb on the powers of the president.Ford signed theHelsinki Accords, which marked a move towarddétentein theCold War. With the collapse ofSouth Vietnamnine months into his presidency,U.S. involvement in the Vietnam Waressentially ended. In the1976 Republican presidential primary, Ford defeatedRonald Reaganfor","Reaganfor the Republican nomination, but narrowly lost the presidential election to theDemocraticcandidate,Jimmy Carter. Following his years as president, Ford remained active in the Republican Party, but his moderate views on various social issues increasingly put him at odds with conservative members of the party in the 1990s and early 2000s. He also set aside the enmity he had felt towards Carter following the 1976 election and the two former presidents developed a close friendship. After experiencing a series of health problems, hedied in Rancho Mirage, Californiain 2006. Surveys of historians and political scientistshave rankedFord as a below-average president,though retrospective public polls on his time in office were more positive. Early life Ford was born Leslie Lynch King Jr. on July 14, 1913, at3202 Woolworth AvenueinOmaha, Nebraska, where his parents lived with his paternal grandparents. He was the only child ofDorothy Ayer GardnerandLeslie Lynch King Sr., a wool trader. His paternal grandfather","grandfather was banker and businessmanCharles Henry King, and his maternal grandfather was Illinois politician and businessmanLevi Addison Gardner. Ford's parents separated just sixteen days after his birth and his mother took the infant Ford with her toOak Park, Illinois, where her sister Tannisse and brother-in-law, Clarence Haskins James lived. From there, she moved to the home of her parents inGrand Rapids, Michigan. Gardner and King divorced in December 1913, and she gained full custody of her son. Ford's paternal grandfather paid child support until shortly before his death in 1930. Ford later said that his biological father had a history of hitting his mother.In a biography of Ford,James M. Cannonwrote that the separation and divorce of Ford's parents was sparked when, a few days after Ford's birth, Leslie King took abutcher knifeand threatened to kill his wife, infant son, and Ford's nursemaid. Ford later told confidants that his father had first hit his mother when she had smiled at another man","at another man during their honeymoon. After living with her parents for two and a half years, on February 1, 1917, Gardner marriedGerald Rudolff Ford, a salesman in a family-owned paint and varnish company. Though never formally adopted, her young son was referred to as Gerald Rudolff Ford Jr. from then on; thename change, including the anglicized spelling \"Rudolph\", was formalized on December 3, 1935.He was raised inGrand Rapidswith his three half-brothers from his mother's second marriage:Thomas Gardner \"Tom\" Ford(1918–1995), Richard Addison \"Dick\" Ford (1924–2015), and James Francis \"Jim\" Ford (1927–2001). Ford was involved in theBoy Scouts of America, and earned that program's highest rank,Eagle Scout.He is the only Eagle Scout to have ascended to the U.S. presidency.Ford attended Grand Rapids South High School, where he was a star athlete andcaptainof thefootballteam.In 1930, he was selected to the All-City team of theGrand Rapids City League. He also attracted the attention of college recruiters.","college recruiters. College and law school Ford attended theUniversity of Michigan, where he playedcenterandlinebackerfor the school's football teamand helped theWolverinesto two undefeated seasons andnational titlesin1932and1933. In his senior year of1934, the team suffered a steep decline and won only one game, but Ford was still the team's star player. In one of those games, Michigan held heavily favoredMinnesota—the eventual national champion—to a scoreless tie in the first half. After the game, assistant coachBennie Oosterbaansaid, \"When I walked into the dressing room at halftime, I had tears in my eyes I was so proud of them. Ford and Sweet played their hearts out. They were everywhere on defense.\" Ford later recalled, \"During 25 years in the rough-and-tumble world of politics, I often thought of the experiences before, during, and after that game in 1934. Remembering them has helped me many times to face a tough situation, take action, and make every effort possible despite adverse odds.\" His","adverse odds.\" His teammates later voted Ford their most valuable player, with one assistant coach noting, \"They felt Jerry was one guy who would stay and fight in a losing cause.\" During Ford's senior year, a controversy developed whenGeorgia Techsaid that it would not play a scheduled game with Michigan if a Black player namedWillis Wardtook the field. Students, players and alumni protested, but university officials capitulated and kept Ward out of the game. Ford was Ward's best friend on the team, and they roomed together while on road trips. Ford reportedly threatened to quit the team in response to the university's decision, but he eventually agreed to play againstGeorgia Techwhen Ward personally asked him to play. In 1934, Ford was selected for the Eastern Team on the Shriner'sEast–West Shrine Gameat San Francisco (a benefit for physically disabled children), played on January 1, 1935. As part of the 1935 Collegiate All-Star football team, Ford played against theChicago Bearsin theChicago College","theChicago College All-Star GameatSoldier Field.In honor of his athletic accomplishments and his later political career, the University of Michigan retired Ford's No. 48 jersey in 1994. With the blessing of the Ford family, it was placed back into circulation in 2012 as part of theMichigan Football Legendsprogram and issued to sophomore linebackerDesmond Morganbefore a home game againstIllinoison October 13. Throughout life, Ford remained interested in his school and football; he occasionally attended games. Ford also visited with players and coaches during practices; at one point, he asked to join the players in the huddle.Before state events, Ford often had the Navy band play the University of Michigan fight song, \"The Victors,\" instead of \"Hail to the Chief.\" Ford graduated from Michigan in 1935 with aBachelor of Artsdegree ineconomics. He turned down offers from theDetroit LionsandGreen Bay Packersof theNational Football League. Instead, he took a job in September 1935 as the boxing coach and assistant","coach and assistant varsity football coach atYale Universityand applied to its law school. Ford hoped to attend Yale Law School beginning in 1935. Yale officials at first denied his admission to the law school because of his full-time coaching responsibilities. He spent the summer of 1937 as a student at theUniversity of Michigan Law Schooland was eventually admitted in the spring of 1938 toYale Law School.That year he was also promoted to the position of junior varsity head football coach at Yale.While at Yale, Ford began working as a model. He initially worked with theJohn Robert Powersagency before investing in theHarry Conoveragency, with whom he modelled until 1941. While attending Yale Law School, Ford joined a group of students led byR. Douglas Stuart Jr., and signed a petition to enforce the 1939Neutrality Act. The petition was circulated nationally and was the inspiration for theAmerica First Committee, a group determined to keep the U.S. out ofWorld War II.His introduction into politics was in the","politics was in the summer of 1940 when he worked for the Republican presidential campaign ofWendell Willkie. Ford graduated in the top third of his class in 1941, and was admitted to theMichigan barshortly thereafter. In May 1941, he opened a Grand Rapids law practice with a friend,Philip W. Buchen. U.S. Naval Reserve Following theDecember 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, Ford enlisted in the Navy.He received a commission asensignin theU.S. Naval Reserveon April 13, 1942.On April 20, he reported for active duty to the V-5 instructor school atAnnapolis, Maryland. After one month of training, he went to Navy Preflight School inChapel Hill, North Carolina, where he was one of 83 instructors and taught elementary navigation skills, ordnance, gunnery, first aid, and military drill. In addition, he coached all nine sports that were offered, but mostly swimming, boxing, and football. During the year he was at the Preflight School, he was promoted toLieutenant, Junior Grade, on June 2, 1942, and to lieutenant, in","to lieutenant, in March 1943. Sea duty After Ford applied for sea duty, he was sent in May 1943 to the pre-commissioning detachment for the new aircraft carrierUSSMonterey(CVL-26), at New York Shipbuilding Corporation,Camden, New Jersey. From the ship's commissioning on June 17, 1943, until the end of December 1944, Ford served as the assistant navigator, Athletic Officer, and antiaircraft battery officer on board theMonterey. While he was on board, the carrier participated in many actions in thePacific Theaterwith theThirdandFifth Fleetsin late 1943 and 1944. In 1943, the carrier helped secureMakin Islandin the Gilberts, and participated in carrier strikes againstKavieng,Papua New Guineain 1943. During the spring of 1944, theMontereysupported landings atKwajaleinandEniwetokand participated in carrier strikes in theMarianas,Western Carolines, and northern New Guinea, as well as in theBattle of the Philippine Sea.After an overhaul, from September to November 1944, aircraft from theMontereylaunched strikes","strikes againstWake Island, participated in strikes in the Philippines andRyukyus, and supported the landings atLeyteandMindoro. Although the ship was not damaged by Japanese forces, theMontereywas one of several ships damaged byTyphoon Cobrathat hit AdmiralWilliam Halsey'sThird Fleet on December 18–19, 1944. The Third Fleet lost threedestroyersand over 800 men during the typhoon. TheMontereywas damaged by a fire, which was started by several of the ship's aircraft tearing loose from their cables and colliding on thehangar deck. Ford was serving as General Quarters Officer of the Deck and was ordered to go below to assess the raging fire. He did so safely, and reported his findings back to the ship's commanding officer, CaptainStuart H. Ingersoll. The ship's crew was able to contain the fire, and the ship got underway again. After the fire, theMontereywas declared unfit for service. Ford was detached from the ship and sent to the Navy Pre-Flight School atSaint Mary's College of California, where he was","where he was assigned to the Athletic Department until April 1945. From the end of April 1945 to January 1946, he was on the staff of the Naval Reserve Training Command,Naval Air Station, Glenview, Illinois, at the rank oflieutenant commander. Ford received the following military awards: theAmerican Campaign Medal, theAsiatic-Pacific Campaign Medalwith nine3⁄16\" bronze stars(for operations in theGilbert Islands,Bismarck Archipelago, Marshall Islands, Asiatic and Pacific carrier raids,Hollandia, Marianas, Western Carolines, Western New Guinea, and the Leyte Operation), thePhilippine Liberation Medalwith two3⁄16\" bronze stars (for Leyte and Mindoro), and theWorld War II Victory Medal.He was honorably discharged in February 1946. U.S. House of Representatives (1949–1973) After Ford returned to Grand Rapids in 1946, he became active in local Republican politics, and supporters urged him to challengeBartel J. Jonkman, the incumbent Republican congressman. Military service had changed his view of the world. \"I","of the world. \"I came back a convertedinternationalist\", Ford wrote, \"and of course our congressman at that time was an avowed, dedicatedisolationist. And I thought he ought to be replaced. Nobody thought I could win. I ended up winning two to one.\" During his first campaign in 1948, Ford visited voters at their doorsteps and as they left the factories where they worked.Ford also visited local farms where, in one instance, a wager resulted in Ford spending two weeks milking cows following his election victory. Ford was a member of the House of Representatives for 25 years, holdingMichigan's 5th congressional districtseat from 1949 to 1973. It was a tenure largely notable for its modesty. As an editorial inThe New York Timesdescribed him, Ford \"saw himself as a negotiator and a reconciler, and the record shows it: he did not write a single piece of major legislation in his entire career.\"Appointed to theHouse Appropriations Committeetwo years after being elected, he was a prominent member of theDefense","of theDefense Appropriations Subcommittee. Ford described his philosophy as \"a moderate in domestic affairs, an internationalist in foreign affairs, and a conservative in fiscal policy.\"He voted in favor of theCivil Rights Acts of 1957,1960,1964,and1968,as well as the24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitutionand theVoting Rights Act of 1965.Ford was known to his colleagues in the House as a \"Congressman's Congressman\". In the early 1950s, Ford declined offers to run for either the Senate or the Michigan governorship. Rather, his ambition was to becomeSpeaker of the House,which he called \"the ultimate achievement. To sit up there and be the head honcho of 434 other people and have the responsibility, aside from the achievement, of trying to run the greatest legislative body in the history of mankind ... I think I got that ambition within a year or two after I was in the House of Representatives\". Warren Commission On November 29, 1963, PresidentLyndon B. Johnsonappointed Ford to theWarren Commission, a special","a special task force set up to investigate theassassinationof PresidentJohn F. Kennedy.Ford was assigned to prepare a biography of accused assassinLee Harvey Oswald. He andEarl Warrenalso interviewedJack Ruby, Oswald's killer. According to a 1963FBImemo that was released to the public in 2008, Ford was in contact with the FBI throughout his time on the Warren Commission and relayed information to the deputy director,Cartha DeLoach, about the panel's activities.In the preface to his book,A Presidential Legacy and The Warren Commission, Ford defended the work of the commission and reiterated his support of its conclusions. House Minority Leader (1965–1973) In 1964, Lyndon Johnson led a landslide victory for his party, secured another term as president and took 36 seats from Republicans in the House of Representatives. Following the election, members of the Republican caucus looked to select a new minority leader. Three members approached Ford to see if he would be willing to serve; after consulting with his","consulting with his family, he agreed. After a closely contested election, Ford was chosen to replaceCharles HalleckofIndianaas minority leader.The members of the Republican caucus that encouraged and eventually endorsed Ford to run as the House minority leader were later known as the \"Young Turks\". One of the members of the Young Turks was congressmanDonald H. RumsfeldfromIllinois's 13th congressional district, who later on would serve in Ford's administration as thechief of staffandsecretary of defense. With a Democratic majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Johnson Administration proposed and passed a series of programs that was called by Johnson the \"Great Society\". During the first session of theEighty-ninth Congressalone, the Johnson Administration submitted 87 bills to Congress, and Johnson signed 84, or 96%, arguably the most successful legislative agenda in Congressional history. In 1966, criticism over the Johnson Administration's handling of theVietnam Warbegan to grow,","Warbegan to grow, with Ford and Congressional Republicans expressing concern that the United States was not doing what was necessary to win the war. Public sentiment also began to move against Johnson, and the1966 midterm electionsproduced a 47-seat swing in favor of the Republicans. This was not enough to give Republicans a majority in the House, but the victory gave Ford the opportunity to prevent the passage of further Great Society programs. Ford's private criticism of the Vietnam War became public knowledge after he spoke from the floor of the House and questioned whether the White House had a clear plan to bring the war to a successful conclusion.The speech angered President Johnson, who accused Ford of having played \"too much football without a helmet\". As minority leader in the House, Ford appeared in a popular series of televised press conferences withIllinoisSenatorEverett Dirksen, in which they proposed Republican alternatives to Johnson's policies. Many in the press jokingly called this \"The Ev","called this \"The Ev and Jerry Show.\"Johnson said at the time, \"Jerry Ford is so dumb he can't fart and chew gum at the same time.\"The press, used to sanitizing Johnson's salty language, reported this as \"Gerald Ford can't walk and chew gum at the same time.\" AfterRichard Nixonwas elected president in November 1968, Ford's role shifted to being an advocate for the White House agenda. Congress passed several of Nixon's proposals, including theNational Environmental Policy Actand theTax Reform Act of 1969. Another high-profile victory for the Republican minority was the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act. Passed in 1972, the act established arevenue sharingprogram for state and local governments.Ford's leadership was instrumental in shepherding revenue sharing through Congress, and resulted in a bipartisan coalition that supported the bill with 223 votes in favor (compared with 185 against). During the eight years (1965–1973) that Ford served as minority leader, he received many friends in the House because","the House because of his fair leadership and inoffensive personality. Vice presidency (1973–1974) For the past decade, Ford had been unsuccessfully working to help Republicans across the country get a majority in the chamber so that he could becomeHouse Speaker. He promised his wife that he would try again in 1974 then retire in 1976.However, on October 10, 1973,Spiro Agnewresigned from the vice presidency.According toThe New York Times, Nixon \"sought advice from senior Congressional leaders about a replacement.\" The advice was unanimous. House SpeakerCarl Albertrecalled later, \"We gave Nixon no choice but Ford.\"Ford agreed to the nomination, telling his wife that the vice presidency would be \"a nice conclusion\" to his career.Ford was nominated to take Agnew's position on October 12, the first time the vice-presidential vacancy provision of the25th Amendmenthad been implemented. TheUnited States Senatevoted 92 to 3 to confirm Ford on November 27. On December 6, the House confirmed Ford by a vote of 387 to","by a vote of 387 to 35.After the confirmation votein the House, Ford took the oath of office as vice president. Ford became vice president as theWatergate scandalwas unfolding. On August 1, 1974,Chief of StaffAlexander Haigcontacted Ford to tell him to prepare for the presidency.At the time, Ford and his wife, Betty, were living in suburban Virginia, waiting for their expected move into the newly designatedvice president's residencein Washington, D.C. However, \"Al Haig asked to come over and see me\", Ford later said, \"to tell me that there would be a new tape released on a Monday, and he said the evidence in there was devastating and there would probably be either an impeachment or a resignation. And he said, 'I'm just warning you that you've got to be prepared, that things might change dramatically and you could become President.' And I said, 'Betty, I don't think we're ever going to live in the vice president's house.'\" Presidency (1974–1977) Swearing-in When Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, Ford","9, 1974, Ford automatically assumed the presidency, taking the oath of office in theEast Roomof the White House. This made him the only person to become the nation's chief executive without beingelectedto the presidency or the vice presidency. Immediately afterward, he spoke to the assembled audience in a speech that was broadcast live to the nation,noting the peculiarity of his position.He later declared that \"our long national nightmare is over\". Nominating Rockefeller On August 20, Ford nominated former New York GovernorNelson Rockefellerto fill the vice presidency he had vacated.Rockefeller's top competitor had beenGeorge H. W. Bush. Rockefeller underwent extended hearings before Congress, which caused embarrassment when it was revealed he made large gifts to senior aides, such asHenry Kissinger. Although conservative Republicans were not pleased that Rockefeller was picked, most of them voted for his confirmation, and his nomination passed both the House and Senate. Some, includingBarry Goldwater, voted","Goldwater, voted against him. Pardon of Nixon On September 8, 1974, Ford issuedProclamation 4311, which gave Nixon a full and unconditionalpardonfor any crimes he might have committed against the United States while president.In a televised broadcast to the nation, Ford explained that he felt the pardon was in the best interests of the country, and that the Nixon family's situation \"is a tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must.\" Ford's decision to pardon Nixon was highly controversial. Critics derided the move and said a \"corrupt bargain\" had been struck between the two men,in which Ford's pardon was granted in exchange for Nixon's resignation, elevating Ford to the presidency. Ford's first press secretary and close friendJerald terHorstresigned his post in protest after the pardon.According toBob Woodward, Nixon Chief of Staff Alexander Haig proposed a pardon deal to Ford. He","deal to Ford. He later decided to pardon Nixon for other reasons, primarily the friendship he and Nixon shared.Regardless, historians believe the controversy was one of the major reasons Ford lost the1976 presidential election, an observation with which Ford agreed.In an editorial at the time,The New York Timesstated that the Nixon pardon was a \"profoundly unwise, divisive and unjust act\" that in a stroke had destroyed the new president's \"credibility as a man of judgment, candor and competence\".On October 17, 1974, Ford testified before Congress on the pardon. He was the first sitting president sinceAbraham Lincolnto testify before theHouse of Representatives. In the months following the pardon, Ford often declined to mention President Nixon by name, referring to him in public as \"my predecessor\" or \"the former president.\" When Ford was pressed on the matter on a 1974 trip to California, White House correspondentFred Barnesrecalled that he replied \"I just can't bring myself to do it.\" After Ford left the","After Ford left the White House in January 1977, he privately justified his pardon of Nixon by carrying in his wallet a portion of the text ofBurdick v. United States, a 1915U.S. Supreme Courtdecision which stated that a pardon indicated a presumption of guilt, and that acceptance of a pardon was tantamount to a confession of that guilt.In 2001, theJohn F. Kennedy LibraryFoundation awarded the John F. KennedyProfile in Courage Awardto Ford for his pardon of Nixon.In presenting the award to Ford, SenatorEdward Kennedysaid that he had initially been opposed to the pardon, but later decided that history had proven Ford to have made the correct decision. Draft dodgers and deserters On September 16 (shortly after he pardoned Nixon), Ford issued Presidential Proclamation 4313, which introduced a conditionalamnestyprogram for military deserters and Vietnam Wardraft dodgerswho had fled to countries such as Canada. The conditions of the amnesty required that those reaffirm their allegiance to the United States and","United States and serve two years working in a public service job or a total of two years service for those who had served less than two years of honorable service in the military.The program for the Return of Vietnam Era Draft Evaders and Military Desertersestablished a Clemency Board to review the records and make recommendations for receiving a presidential pardon and a change inmilitary dischargestatus.Full pardon for draft dodgerscame in theCarter administration. Administration When Ford assumed office, he inherited Nixon'sCabinet. During his brief administration, he replaced all members exceptSecretary of StateKissinger andSecretary of the TreasuryWilliam E. Simon. Political commentators have referred to Ford's dramatic reorganization of his Cabinet in the fall of 1975 as the \"Halloween Massacre\". One of Ford's appointees,William Coleman—theSecretary of Transportation—was the second Black man to serve in a presidential cabinet (afterRobert C. Weaver) and the first appointed in a Republican","in a Republican administration. Ford selected George H. W. Bush asChief of the US Liaison Officeto the People's Republic of China in 1974, and thenDirectorof theCentral Intelligence Agencyin late 1975. Ford's transition chairman and first Chief of Staff was former congressman and ambassadorDonald Rumsfeld. In 1975, Rumsfeld was named by Ford as the youngest-everSecretary of Defense. Ford chose a youngWyomingpolitician,Richard Cheney, to replace Rumsfeld as his new Chief of Staff; Cheney became thecampaign managerfor Ford's1976 presidential campaign. Midterm elections The 1974 Congressional midterm elections took place in the wake of the Watergate scandal and less than three months after Ford assumed office. The Democratic Party turned voter dissatisfaction into large gains in theHouse elections, taking 49 seats from the Republican Party, increasing their majority to 291 of the 435 seats. This was one more than the number needed (290) for a two-thirds majority, the number necessary to override a presidential","a presidential veto or to propose a constitutional amendment. Perhaps due in part to this fact, the94th Congressoverrode the highest percentage of vetoes sinceAndrew Johnsonwas President of the United States (1865–1869).Even Ford's former, reliably Republican House seat was won by a Democrat,Richard Vander Veen, who defeatedRobert VanderLaan. In theSenate elections, the Democratic majority became 61 in the 100-seat body. Domestic policy Inflation Theeconomywas a great concern during the Ford administration. One of the first acts the new president took to deal with the economy was to create, byExecutive Orderon September 30, 1974, the Economic Policy Board.In October 1974, in response to rising inflation, Ford went before the American public and asked them to \"WhipInflationNow\". As part of this program, he urged people to wear \"WIN\" buttons.At the time, inflation was believed to be the primary threat to the economy, more so than growing unemployment; there was a belief that controlling inflation would help","would help reduce unemployment.To rein in inflation, it was necessary to control the public's spending. To try to mesh service and sacrifice, \"WIN\" called for Americans to reduce their spending and consumption.On October 4, 1974, Ford gave a speech in front of a joint session of Congress; as a part of this speech he kicked off the \"WIN\" campaign. Over the next nine days, 101,240 Americans mailed in \"WIN\" pledges.In hindsight, this was viewed as simply apublic relationsgimmick which had no way of solving the underlying problems.The main point of that speech was to introduce to Congress a one-year, five-percent income tax increase on corporations and wealthy individuals. This plan would also take $4.4 billion out of the budget, bringing federal spending below $300 billion.At the time, inflation was over twelve percent. Budget The federal budget ran adeficitevery year Ford was president.Despite his reservations about how the program ultimately would be funded in an era of tightpublic budgeting, Ford signed","Ford signed theEducation for All Handicapped Children Actof 1975, which establishedspecial educationthroughout the United States. Ford expressed \"strong support for full educational opportunities for our handicapped children\" according to the official White House press release for the bill signing. The economic focus began to change as the country sank into the worstrecessionsince theGreat Depressionfour decades earlier.The focus of the Ford administration turned to stopping the rise in unemployment, which reached nine percent in May 1975.In January 1975, Ford proposed a 1-year tax reduction of $16 billion to stimulate economic growth, along with spending cuts to avoid inflation.Ford was criticized for abruptly switching from advocating a tax increase to a tax reduction. In Congress, the proposed amount of the tax reduction increased to $22.8 billion in tax cuts and lacked spending cuts.In March 1975, Congress passed, and Ford signed into law, theseincome taxrebates as part of theTax Reduction Act of 1975.","Act of 1975. This resulted in a federal deficit of around $53 billion for the 1975 fiscal year and $73.7 billion for 1976. When New York City faced bankruptcy in 1975,MayorAbraham Beamewas unsuccessful in obtaining Ford's support for a federal bailout. The incident prompted the New YorkDaily News'famous headline \"Ford to City: Drop Dead\", referring to a speech in which \"Ford declared flatly ... that he would veto any bill calling for 'a federal bail-out of New York City'\". Swine flu Ford was confronted with a potentialswine flupandemic. In the early 1970s, aninfluenzastrainH1N1shifted from a form of flu that affected primarily pigs and crossed over to humans. On February 5, 1976, anarmyrecruit atFort Dixmysteriously died and four fellow soldiers were hospitalized;health officialsannounced that \"swine flu\" was the cause. Soon after, public health officials in the Ford administration urged that every person in the United States bevaccinated.Although the vaccination program was plagued by delays and public","delays and public relations problems, some 25% of the population was vaccinated by the time the program was canceled in December 1976. Equal rights and abortion Ford was an outspoken supporter of theEqual Rights Amendment, issuing Presidential Proclamation no. 4383 in 1975: In this Land of the Free, it is right, and by nature it ought to be, that all men and all women are equal before the law. Now, therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States of America, to remind all Americans that it is fitting and just to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment adopted by the Congress of the United States of America, in order to secure legal equality for all women and men, do hereby designate and proclaim August 26, 1975, as Women's Equality Day. As president, Ford's position on abortion was that he supported \"a federal constitutional amendment that would permit each one of the 50 States to make the choice\".This had also been his position as House Minority Leader in response to the 1973 Supreme Court case ofRoe","Court case ofRoe v. Wade, which he opposed.Ford came under criticism when First Lady Betty Ford entered the debate over abortion during anAugust 1975 interview for60 Minutes, in which she stated thatRoe v. Wadewas a \"great, great decision\".During his later life, Ford would identify aspro-choice. Foreign policy Ford continued the détente policy with both theSoviet Unionand China, easing the tensions of the Cold War. Still in place from the Nixon administration was theStrategic Arms Limitation Treaty(SALT).The thawing relationship brought about byNixon's visit to Chinawas reinforced by Ford's own visit in December 1975.The Administration entered into the Helsinki Accordswith the Soviet Union in 1975, creating the framework of theHelsinki Watch, an independent non-governmental organization created to monitor compliance which later evolved intoHuman Rights Watch. Ford attended the inaugural meeting of theGroup of Seven(G7) industrialized nations (initially the G5) in 1975 and secured membership for Canada. Ford","for Canada. Ford supported international solutions to issues. \"We live in an interdependent world and, therefore, must work together to resolve common economic problems,\" he said in a 1974 speech. In November 1975, Ford adopted the globalhuman population controlrecommendations ofNational Security Study Memorandum 200– anational security directiveinitially commissioned by Nixon – as United States policy in the subsequent NSDM 314.The plan explicitly states the goal was population control and not improving the lives of individuals despite instructing organizers to \"emphasize development and improvements in the quality of life of the poor\", later explaining the projects were \"primarily for other reasons\".Upon approving the plan, Ford stated \"United States leadership is essential to combat population growth, to implement the World Population Plan of Action and to advance United States security and overseas interests\".Population control policies were adopted to protect American economic and military interests,","military interests, with the memorandum arguing thatpopulation growthindeveloping countriesresulted with such nations gaining global political power, that more citizens posed a risk to accessing foreign natural resources while also making American businesses vulnerable to governments seeking to fund a growing population, and that younger generations born would be prone toanti-establishmentbehavior, increasing political instability. Indonesia and East Timor As South Vietnam collapsed, an anti-communistIndonesiawas seen as essential by the United States. Good relations with the Indonesian government were considered more important than the decolonization process inEast Timor.The Ford administration gave theSuharto regimeinIndonesiaeconomic and military support, even as itinvaded East Timorandcommitted a genocidethat killed close to a third of the population.One day prior to the invasion, Ford and Kissinger met with Suharto, and they assured him that relations with Indonesia would remain strong regardless of","regardless of Indonesia's actions and that it would not object to theannexationof East Timor. Middle East In the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean, two ongoing international disputes developed into crises. TheCyprus disputeturned into a crisis with theTurkish invasion of Cyprusin July 1974, causing extreme strain within theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) alliance. In mid-August, theGreek governmentwithdrew Greece from the NATO military structure; in mid-September, the Senate and House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to halt military aid to Turkey. Ford, concerned with both the effect of this on Turkish-American relations and the deterioration of security on NATO's eastern front, vetoed the bill. A second bill was then passed by Congress, which Ford also vetoed, fearing that it might impede negotiations in Cyprus, although a compromise was accepted to continue aid until December 10, 1974, provided Turkey would not send American supplies to Cyprus.U.S. military aid to Turkey was suspended","was suspended on February 5, 1975. In the continuingArab–Israeli conflict, although the initialcease firehad been implemented to end active conflict in theYom Kippur War, Kissinger's continuingshuttle diplomacywas showing little progress. Ford considered it \"stalling\" and wrote, \"Their tactics frustrated the Egyptians and made me mad as hell.\"During Kissinger's shuttle to Israel in early March 1975, a last minute reversal to consider further withdrawal, prompted a cable from Ford to Prime MinisterYitzhak Rabin, which included: I wish to express my profound disappointment over Israel's attitude in the course of the negotiations ... Failure of the negotiation will have a far reaching impact on the region and on our relations. I have given instructions for a reassessment of United States policy in the region, including our relations with Israel, with the aim of ensuring that overall American interests ... are protected. You will be notified of our decision. On March 24, Ford informed congressional leaders of","leaders of both parties of the reassessment of the administration's policies in the Middle East. In practical terms, \"reassessment\" meant canceling or suspending further aid to Israel. For six months between March and September 1975, the United States refused to conclude any new arms agreements with Israel. Rabin notes it was \"an innocent-sounding term that heralded one of the worst periods in American-Israeli relations\".The announced reassessments upset the American Jewish community and Israel's well-wishers in Congress. On May 21, Ford \"experienced a real shock\" when seventy-six U.S. senators wrote him a letter urging him to be \"responsive\" to Israel's request for $2.59 billion (equivalent to $14.67 billion in 2023) in military and economic aid. Ford felt truly annoyed and thought the chance for peace was jeopardized. It was, since the September 1974 ban on arms sales to Turkey, the second major congressional intrusion upon the President's foreign policy prerogatives.The following summer months were","summer months were described by Ford as an American-Israeli \"war of nerves\" or \"test of wills\".After much bargaining, theSinai Interim Agreement(Sinai II) was formally signed on September 1, and aid resumed. Vietnam One of Ford's greatest challenges was dealing with the continuingVietnam War. American offensive operations against North Vietnam had ended with theParis Peace Accords, signed on January 27, 1973. The accords declared a cease-fire across both North and South Vietnam, and required the release of Americanprisoners of war. The agreement guaranteed the territorial integrity of Vietnam and, like theGeneva Conferenceof 1954, called for national elections in the North and South. The Paris Peace Accords stipulated a sixty-day period for the total withdrawal of U.S. forces. The agreements were negotiated byUS National Security AdvisorHenry Kissingerand North VietnamesePolitburomemberLê Đức Thọ. South Vietnamese PresidentNguyen Van Thieuwas not involved in the final negotiations, and publicly criticized","publicly criticized the proposed agreement. However, anti-war pressures within the United States forced Nixon and Kissinger to pressure Thieu to sign the agreement and enable the withdrawal of American forces. In multiple letters to the South Vietnamese president, Nixon had promised that the United States would defend Thieu's government, should the North Vietnamese violate the accords. In December 1974, months after Ford took office, North Vietnamese forces invaded the province ofPhuoc Long. GeneralTrần Văn Tràsought to gauge any South Vietnamese or American response to the invasion, as well as to solve logistical issues, before proceeding with the invasion. As North Vietnamese forces advanced, Ford requested Congress approve a $722 million aid package for South Vietnam (equivalent to $4.09 billion in 2023), funds that had been promised by the Nixon administration. Congress voted against the proposal by a wide margin.SenatorJacob K. Javitsoffered \"...large sums for evacuation, but not one nickel for military","nickel for military aid\".President Thieu resigned on April 21, 1975, publicly blaming the lack of support from the United States for the fall of his country.Two days later, on April 23, Ford gave a speech atTulane University. In that speech, he announced that the Vietnam War was over \"...as far as America is concerned\".The announcement was met with thunderous applause. 1,373 U.S. citizens and 5,595Vietnameseand third-country nationals were evacuated from the South Vietnamese capital ofSaigonduringOperation Frequent Wind. Many of the Vietnamese evacuees were allowed to enter the United States under theIndochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act. The 1975 Act appropriated $455 million (equivalent to $2.58 billion in 2023) toward the costs of assisting the settlement of Indochinese refugees.In all, 130,000 Vietnamese refugees came to the United States in 1975. Thousands more escaped in the years that followed. Mayaguezincident North Vietnam's victory over the South led to a considerable shift in the","shift in the political winds in Asia, and Ford administration officials worried about a consequent loss of U.S. influence there. The administration proved it was willing to respond forcefully to challenges to its interests in the region whenKhmer Rougeforces seized an American ship ininternational waters.The main crisis was theMayaguezincident. In May 1975, shortly after the fall of Saigon and the Khmer Rouge conquest ofCambodia, Cambodians seized the American merchant shipMayaguezin international waters.Ford dispatchedMarinesto rescue the crew, but the Marines landed on the wrong island and met unexpectedly stiff resistance just as, unknown to the U.S., theMayaguezsailors were being released. In the operation, two military transport helicopters carrying the Marines for the assault operation were shot down, and 41 U.S. servicemen were killed and 50 wounded, while approximately 60 Khmer Rouge soldiers were killed.Despite the American losses, the operation was seen as a success in the United States, and Ford","States, and Ford enjoyed an 11-point boost in his approval ratings in the aftermath.The Americans killed during the operation became the last to have their names inscribed on theVietnam Veterans Memorialwall in Washington, D.C. Some historians have argued that the Ford administration felt the need to respond forcefully to the incident because it was construed as a Soviet plot.But work by Andrew Gawthorpe, published in 2009, based on an analysis of the administration's internal discussions, shows that Ford's national security team understood that the seizure of the vessel was a local, and perhaps even accidental, provocation by an immature Khmer government. Nevertheless, they felt the need to respond forcefully to discourage further provocations by other Communist countries in Asia. Assassination attempts Ford was the target of two assassination attempts during his presidency. InSacramento, California, on September 5, 1975,Lynette \"Squeaky\" Fromme, a follower ofCharles Manson, pointed aColt .45-caliber","aColt .45-caliber handgunat Ford and pulled the trigger atpoint-blank range.As she did,Larry Buendorf,a Secret Service agent, grabbed the gun, and Fromme was taken into custody. She was later convicted of attempted assassination of the President and was sentenced to life in prison; she was paroled on August 14, 2009, after serving 34 years. In reaction to this attempt, the Secret Service began keeping Ford at a more secure distance from anonymous crowds, a strategy that may have saved his life seventeen days later. As he left theSt. Francis Hotelin downtown San Francisco,Sara Jane Moore, standing in a crowd of onlookers across the street, fired a.38-caliber revolverat him. The shot missed Ford by a few feet.Before she fired a second round, retired MarineOliver Sipplegrabbed at the gun and deflected her shot; the bullet struck a wall about six inches above and to the right of Ford's head, then ricocheted and hit a taxi driver, who was slightly wounded. Moore was later sentenced to life in prison. She was","in prison. She was paroled on December 31, 2007, after serving 32 years. Judicial appointments Supreme Court In 1975, Ford appointedJohn Paul StevensasAssociate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Statesto replace retiring JusticeWilliam O. Douglas. Stevens had been a judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, appointed by President Nixon.During his tenure as House Republican leader, Ford had led efforts to have Douglas impeached.After being confirmed, Stevens eventually disappointed some conservatives by siding with the Court's liberal wing regarding the outcome of many key issues.Nevertheless, in 2005 Ford praised Stevens. \"He has served his nation well,\" Ford said of Stevens, \"with dignity, intellect and without partisan political concerns.\" Other judicial appointments Ford appointed 11 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, and 50 judges to theUnited States district courts. 1976 presidential campaign Ford reluctantly agreed to run for office in 1976, but first he","1976, but first he had to counter a challenge for the Republican party nomination. FormerGovernor of CaliforniaRonald Reaganand the party'sconservativewing faulted Ford for failing to do more inSouth Vietnam, for signing the Helsinki Accords, and for negotiating to cede thePanama Canal. (Negotiations for the canal continued under President Carter, who eventually signed theTorrijos–Carter Treaties.) Reagan launched his campaign in autumn of 1975 and won numerousprimaries, includingNorth Carolina,Texas,Indiana, andCalifornia, but failed to get a majority of delegates; Reagan withdrew from the race at theRepublican ConventioninKansas City,Missouri. The conservative insurgency did lead to Ford dropping the moreliberalVice President Nelson Rockefeller in favor of U.S. senatorBob DoleofKansas. In addition to the pardon dispute and lingering anti-Republican sentiment, Ford had to counter a plethora of negative media imagery.Chevy Chaseoften didpratfallsonSaturday Night Live,imitating Ford, who had been seen","who had been seen stumbling on two occasions during his term. As Chase commented, \"He even mentioned in his own autobiography it had an effect over a period of time that affected the election to some degree.\" Ford's 1976 election campaign benefitted from his being an incumbent president during several anniversary events held during the period leading up to theUnited States Bicentennial. The Washington, D.C.fireworksdisplay on theFourth of Julywas presided over by the President and televised nationally.On July 7, 1976, the President and First Lady served as hosts at a White House state dinner forQueen Elizabeth IIandPrince Philipof the United Kingdom, which was televised on thePublic Broadcasting Servicenetwork. The 200th anniversary of theBattles of Lexington and Concordin Massachusetts gave Ford the opportunity to deliver a speech to 110,000 in Concord acknowledging the need for a strong national defense tempered with a plea for \"reconciliation, not recrimination\" and \"reconstruction, not rancor\" between","not rancor\" between the United States and those who would pose \"threats to peace\".Speaking in New Hampshire on the previous day, Ford condemned the growing trend toward big government bureaucracy and argued for a return to \"basic American virtues\". Televisedpresidential debateswere reintroduced for the first time since the 1960 election. As such, Ford became the first incumbent president to participate in one. Carter later attributed his victory in the election to the debates, saying they \"gave the viewers reason to think that Jimmy Carter had something to offer\". The turning point came in the second debate when Ford blundered by stating, \"There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford Administration.\" Ford also said that he did not \"believe that the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union\".In an interview years later, Ford said he had intended to imply that the Soviets would never crush thespiritsof eastern Europeans seeking independence. However, the","However, the phrasing was so awkward that questionerMax Frankelwas visibly incredulous at the response. In the end, Carter won the election, receiving 50.1% of the popular vote and 297electoral votescompared with 48.0% and 240 electoral votes for Ford. Post-presidency (1977–2006) The Nixon pardon controversy eventually subsided. Ford's successor, Jimmy Carter, opened his 1977inaugural addressby praising the outgoing president, saying, \"For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land.\" After leaving the White House, the Fords moved to Denver, Colorado. Ford successfully invested in oil withMarvin Davis, which later provided an income for Ford's children. He continued to make appearances at events of historical and ceremonial significance to the nation, such as presidential inaugurals and memorial services. In January 1977, he became the president ofEisenhower FellowshipsinPhiladelphia, then served as the chairman of its board of trustees from 1980 to","from 1980 to 1986.Later in 1977, he reluctantly agreed to be interviewed by James M. Naughton, aNew York Timesjournalist who was given the assignment to write the former president's advance obituary, an article that would be updated prior to its eventual publication.In 1979, Ford published his autobiography,A Time to Heal(Harper/Reader's Digest, 454 pages). A review inForeign Affairsdescribed it as, \"Serene, unruffled, unpretentious, like the author. This is the shortest and most honest of recent presidential memoirs, but there are no surprises, no deep probings of motives or events. No more here than meets the eye.\" During the term of office of his successor, Jimmy Carter, Ford received monthly briefs by President Carter's senior staff on international and domestic issues, and was always invited to lunch at the White House whenever he was in Washington, D.C. Their close friendship developed after Carter had left office, with the catalyst being their trip together to thefuneralofAnwar el-Sadatin 1981.Until","1981.Until Ford's death, Carter and his wife,Rosalynn, visited the Fords' home frequently.Ford and Carter served as honorary co-chairs of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform in 2001 and of theContinuity of Government Commissionin 2002. Like Presidents Carter,George H. W. Bush, andBill Clinton, Ford was an honorary co-chair of theCouncil for Excellence in Government, a group dedicated to excellence in government performance, which provides leadership training to top federal employees. He also devoted much time to his love of golf, often playing both privately and in public events with comedianBob Hope, a longtime friend. In 1977, he shot ahole in oneduring a Pro-am held in conjunction with theDanny Thomas Memphis ClassicatColonial Country ClubinMemphis, Tennessee. In 1977, Ford established the Gerald R. Ford Institute of Public Policy atAlbion CollegeinAlbion, Michigan, to give undergraduates training in public policy. In April 1981, he opened theGerald R. Ford LibraryinAnn Arbor, Michigan, on","Arbor, Michigan, on the north campus of his alma mater, theUniversity of Michigan,followed in September by theGerald R. Ford Museumin Grand Rapids. Ford considered a run for the Republican nomination in1980, forgoing numerous opportunities to serve on corporate boards to keep his options open for a rematch with Carter. Ford attacked Carter's conduct of the SALT II negotiations and foreign policy in the Middle East and Africa. Many have argued that Ford also wanted to exorcise his image as an \"Accidental President\" and to win a term in his own right. Ford also believed the more conservative Ronald Reagan would be unable to defeat Carter and would hand the incumbent a second term. Ford was encouraged by his former Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, as well asJim Rhodesof Ohio andBill Clementsof Texas to make the race. On March 15, 1980, Ford announced that he would forgo a run for the Republican nomination, vowing to support the eventual nominee. After securing the Republican nomination in 1980, Ronald","in 1980, Ronald Reagan considered his former rival Ford as a potential vice-presidential running mate, but negotiations between the Reagan and Ford camps at theRepublican National Conventionwere unsuccessful. Ford conditioned his acceptance on Reagan's agreement to an unprecedented \"co-presidency\",giving Ford the power to control key executive branch appointments (such as Kissinger as Secretary of State andAlan Greenspanas Treasury Secretary). After rejecting these terms, Reagan offered the vice-presidential nomination instead to George H. W. Bush.Ford did appear in a campaign commercial for the Reagan-Bush ticket, in which he declared that the country would be \"better served by a Reagan presidency rather than a continuation of the weak and politically expedient policies of Jimmy Carter\".On October 8, 1980, Ford said former President Nixon's involvement in the general election potentially could negatively impact the Reagan campaign: \"I think it would have been much more helpful if Mr. Nixon had stayed in the","had stayed in the background during this campaign. It would have been much more beneficial to Ronald Reagan.\" On October 3, 1980, Ford cast blame on Carter for the latter's charges of ineffectiveness on the part of theFederal Reserve Boarddue to his appointing of most of its members: \"President Carter, when the going gets tough, will do anything to save his own political skin. This latest action by the president is cowardly.\" Following theattempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, Ford told reporters while appearing at a fundraiser forThomas Keanthat criminals who use firearms should get the death penalty in the event someone is injured with the weapon. In September 1981, Ford advised Reagan against succumbing toWall Streetdemands and follow his own agenda for the economic policies of the US during an appearance onGood Morning America: \"He shouldn't let the gurus of Wall Street decide what the economic future of this country is going to be. They are wrong in my opinion.\"During a news conference on October 20,","on October 20, 1981, Ford stated that stopping the Reagan administration's Saudi arms package could have a large negative impact to American relations in the Middle East. On March 24, 1982, Ford offered an endorsement of President Reagan's economic policies while also stating the possibility of Reagan being met with a stalemate by Congress if not willing to compromise while in Washington. Ford founded the annualAEI World Forumin 1982, and joined theAmerican Enterprise Instituteas a distinguished fellow. He was also awarded anhonorary doctorate at Central Connecticut State Universityon March 23, 1988. During an August 1982 fundraising reception, Ford stated his opposition to a constitutional amendment requiring the US to have a balanced budget, citing a need to elect \"members of the House and Senate who will immediately when Congress convenes act more responsibly in fiscal matters.\"Ford was a participant in the 1982 midterm elections, traveling toTennesseein October of that year to help Republican candidates.","candidates. In January 1984, a letter signed by Ford and Carter and urging world leaders to extend their failed effort to end world hunger was released and sent toSecretary-General of the United NationsJavier Pérez de Cuéllar. In 1987, Ford testified before theSenate Judiciary Committeein favor ofDistrict of Columbia Circuit Courtjudge and formerSolicitor GeneralRobert Borkafter Bork wasnominatedby President Reagan to be anAssociate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.Bork's nomination was rejected by a vote of 58–42. In 1987, Ford'sHumor and the Presidency, a book of humorous political anecdotes, was published. By 1988, Ford was a member of several corporate boards including Commercial Credit, Nova Pharmaceutical,The Pullman Company,Tesoro Petroleum, and Tiger International, Inc.Ford also became an honorary director ofCitigroup, a position he held until his death. In October 1990, Ford appeared inGettysburg, PennsylvaniawithBob Hopeto commemorate the centennial anniversary of the birth of former","the birth of former presidentDwight D. Eisenhower, where the two unveiled a plaque with the signatures of each living former president. In April 1991, Ford joined former presidentsRichard Nixon,Ronald Reagan, andJimmy Carter, in supporting theBrady Bill.Three years later, he wrote to theU.S. House of Representatives, along with Carter and Reagan, in support of theassault weapons ban. At the1992 Republican National Convention, Ford compared the election cycle to his 1976 loss to Carter and urged attention be paid to electing a Republican Congress: \"If it's change you want on Nov. 3, my friends, the place to start is not at the White House but in the United States' Capitol. Congress, as every school child knows, has the power of the purse. For nearly 40 years, Democratic majorities have held to the time-tested New Deal formula, tax and tax, spend and spend, elect and elect.\" (The Republicans would later win both Houses of Congress at the1994 mid-term elections.) In April 1997, Ford joined PresidentBill","PresidentBill Clinton, former president Bush, andNancy Reaganin signing the \"Summit Declaration of Commitment\" in advocating for participation by private citizens in solving domestic issues within the United States. On January 20, 1998, during an interview at his Palm Springs home, Ford said the Republican Party's nominee in the 2000 presidential election would lose if the party turned ultra-conservative in their ideals: \"If we get way over on the hard right of the political spectrum, we will not elect a Republican President. I worry about the party going down this ultra-conservative line. We ought to learn from the Democrats: when they were running ultra-liberal candidates, they didn't win.\" In the prelude to the impeachment of President Clinton, Ford conferred with former president Carter and the two agreed to not speak publicly on the controversy, a pact broken by Carter when answering a question from a student atEmory University. In October 2001, Ford broke with conservative members of the Republican","of the Republican Party by stating that gay and lesbian couples \"ought to be treated equally. Period.\" He became the highest-ranking Republican to embrace full equality for gays and lesbians, stating his belief that there should be a federal amendment outlawing anti-gay job discrimination and expressing his hope that the Republican Party would reach out to gay and lesbian voters.He also was a member of the Republican Unity Coalition, whichThe New York Timesdescribed as \"a group of prominent Republicans, including former President Gerald R. Ford, dedicated to making sexual orientation a non-issue in the Republican Party\". On November 22, 2004, New York Republican governorGeorge Patakinamed Ford and the other living former presidents (Carter, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton) as honorary members of the board rebuilding theWorld Trade Center. In a pre-recordedembargoed interviewwithBob WoodwardofThe Washington Postin July 2004, Ford stated that he disagreed \"very strongly\" with the Bush administration's","administration's choice of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction as justification for its decision toinvade Iraq, calling it a \"big mistake\" unrelated to the national security of the United States and indicating that he would not have gone to war had he been president. The details of the interview were not released until after Ford's death, as he requested. Health issues On April 4, 1990, Ford was admitted toEisenhower Medical Centerfor surgery to replace his left knee, orthopedic surgeon Robert Murphy saying, \"Ford's entire left knee was replaced with an artificial joint, including portions of the adjacent femur, or thigh bone, and tibia, or leg bone.\" Ford suffered two minor strokes at the2000 Republican National Convention, but made a quick recovery after being admitted toHahnemann University Hospital.In January 2006, he spent 11 days at theEisenhower Medical Centernear his residence atRancho Mirage, California, for treatment ofpneumonia.On April 23, 2006, PresidentGeorge W. Bushvisited Ford at his","Ford at his home in Rancho Mirage for a little over an hour. This was Ford's last public appearance and produced the last known public photos, video footage, and voice recording. While vacationing inVail, Colorado, Ford was hospitalized for two days in July 2006 for shortness of breath.On August 15 he was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital of theMayo ClinicinRochester, Minnesota, for testing and evaluation. On August 21, it was reported that he had been fitted with apacemaker. On August 25, he underwent anangioplastyprocedure at the Mayo Clinic. On August 28, Ford was released from the hospital and returned with his wife Betty to their California home. On October 13, he was scheduled to attend the dedication of a building of his namesake, theGerald R. Ford School of Public Policyat the University of Michigan, but due to poor health and on the advice of his doctors he did not attend. The previous day, Ford had entered the Eisenhower Medical Center for undisclosed tests; he was released on October 16.By November","16.By November 2006, he was confined to a bed in his study. Death and legacy Ford died on December 26, 2006, at his home inRancho Mirage, California, of arterioscleroticcerebrovascular diseaseand diffusearteriosclerosis. He had end-stage coronary artery disease and severeaortic stenosisand insufficiency, caused by calcific alteration of one of his heart valves.At the time of his death, Ford was thelongest-lived U.S. president, having lived 93 years and 165 days (45 days longer than Ronald Reagan, whose record he surpassed).He died on the 34th anniversary of PresidentHarry S. Truman's death; he was the last surviving member of theWarren Commission. On December 30, 2006, Ford became the 11th U.S. president tolie in statein theRotunda of the U.S. Capitol.A state funeral and memorial services were held at theNational Cathedralin Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, January 2, 2007. After the service, Ford was interred at hisPresidential Museumin Grand Rapids, Michigan. Scouting was so important to Ford that his family","that his family asked for Scouts to participate in his funeral. A few selected Scouts served as ushers inside the National Cathedral. About 400 Eagle Scouts were part of the funeral procession, where they formed an honor guard as the casket went by in front of the museum. One of the songs selected by Ford during the procession was the University of Michigan fight song, as it was a favorite of his that he preferred go be played during his presidency.After his death in December 2006, theUniversity of Michigan Marching Bandplayed the school's fight song for him one final time, for his last ride from theGerald R. Ford Airportin Grand Rapids, Michigan. The State of Michigan commissioned and submitted astatue of Fordto theNational Statuary Hall Collection, replacingZachariah Chandler. It was unveiled on May 3, 2011, in the Capitol Rotunda. Personal life Family When speaking of his mother and stepfather, Ford said that \"My stepfather was a magnificent person and my mother equally wonderful. So I couldn't have","So I couldn't have written a better prescription for a superb family upbringing.\" Ford had three half-siblings from the second marriage of Leslie King Sr., his biological father: Marjorie King (1921–1993), Leslie Henry King (1923–1976), and Patricia Jane King (1925–1980). They never saw one another as children, and he did not know them at all until 1960. Ford was not aware of his biological father until he was 17, when his parents told him about the circumstances of his birth. That year his biological father, whom Ford described as a \"carefree, well-to-do man who didn't really give a damn about the hopes and dreams of his firstborn son\", approached Ford while he was waiting tables in a Grand Rapids restaurant. The two \"maintained a sporadic contact\" until Leslie King Sr.'s death in 1941. On October 15, 1948, Ford marriedElizabeth Bloomer(1918–2011) at GraceEpiscopal Churchin Grand Rapids; it was his first and only marriage and her second marriage. She had previously been married and, after a five‐year","after a five‐year marriage, divorced from William Warren. Originally from Grand Rapids herself, she had lived in New York City for several years, where she worked as aJohn Robert Powersfashion model and a dancer in the auxiliary troupe of theMartha GrahamDance Company. At the time of their engagement, Ford was campaigning for what would be his first of 13 terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives. The wedding was delayed until shortly before theelectionbecause, asThe New York Timesreported in a 1974 profile of Betty Ford, \"Jerry Ford was running for Congress and wasn't sure how voters might feel about his marrying a divorced exdancer.\" The couple had four children: Michael Gerald, born in 1950, John Gardner (known as Jack) born in 1952,Steven Meigs, born in 1956, andSusan Elizabeth, born in 1957. Civic and fraternal organizations Ford was a member of several civic and fraternal organizations, including theJunior Chamber of Commerce(Jaycees),American Legion,AMVETS,Benevolent and","and Protective Order of Elks,Sons of the Revolution,Veterans of Foreign Wars, and was an alumnus ofDelta Kappa Epsilonat Michigan. Freemasonry Ford was initiated intoFreemasonryon September 30, 1949.He later said in 1975, \"When I took my obligation as a master mason—incidentally, with my three younger brothers—I recalled the value my own father attached to that order. But I had no idea that I would ever be added to the company of the Father of our Country and 12 other members of the order who also served as Presidents of the United States.\"Ford was made a 33° Scottish Rite Mason on September 26, 1962.In April 1975, Ford was elected by a unanimous vote Honorary Grand Master of the International Supreme Council, Order of DeMolay, a position in which he served until January 1977.Ford received the degrees of York Rite Masonry (Chapter and Council degrees) in a special ceremony in the Oval Office on January 11, 1977, during his term as President of the United States. Ford was also a member of theShrinersand","of theShrinersand theRoyal Order of Jesters; both beingaffiliated bodiesof Freemasonry. Public image Ford is the only person to hold the presidential office without being elected as either president or vice president. The choice of Ford to fill the vacant vice-presidency was based on Ford's reputation for openness and honesty.\"In all the years I sat in the House, I never knew Mr. Ford to make a dishonest statement nor a statement part-true and part-false. He never attempted to shade a statement, and I never heard him utter an unkind word\", saidMartha Griffiths. The trust the American public had in him was rapidly and severely tarnished by his pardon of Nixon.Nonetheless, many grant in hindsight that he had respectably discharged with considerable dignity a great responsibility that he had not sought. In spite of his athletic record and remarkable career accomplishments, Ford acquired a reputation as a clumsy, likable, and simple-mindedeveryman.Henry Kissingerdescribed him as \"as close to a normal human being","normal human being as we'll ever get in that office\".Other pieces of the everyman image were attributed to his inevitable comparison with Nixon, his Midwestern stodginess, and his self-deprecation. An incident in 1975, when Ford tripped while exiting Air Force One in Austria, was famously and repeatedly parodied byChevy ChaseonSaturday Night Live, cementing Ford's image as a klutz.Additionally, an incident in April 1976, when Ford bit into a still shuck-wrapped tamale, a culinary faux pas, made national news and contributed to the image of Ford as a chronic bumbler.The incident has become a cautionary tale about the hazards of eating on the campaign trail. Ford has notably been portrayed in two television productions which included a central focus on his wife: theEmmy-winning 1987ABCbiographicaltelevision movieThe Betty Ford Story,and the 2022Showtimetelevision seriesThe First Lady. Honors Foreign honors The following are named after Ford: See also Notes References Bibliography Primary sources External links","External links Official sites Media coverage Other"],"string":"[\n \"United States presidential elections in Alaska SinceAlaska'sadmission to the Unionin January 1959,it has participated in 16United States presidential elections, always having 3electoral votes. In the1960 presidential election, Alaska was narrowly won by theRepublican Party's candidate and incumbentvice presidentRichard Nixon, defeating theDemocratic Party's candidateJohn F. Kennedyby a margin of just 1.88% (1,144 votes).In the1964 presidential election, the Democratic Party's candidateLyndon B. Johnsonwon Alaska in a national Democraticlandslide victory.Since the 1964 election, Alaska has been won by the Republican Party in every presidential election. Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate in the1984 presidential election, won Alaska by 36.78%,which remains the largest margin of victory in the state's history.Ross Perot, theindependent candidatein the1992 presidential election, received the highest vote share (28.43%)ever won by athird-party candidatein Alaska. Various news organizations have characterized\",\n \"have characterized Alaska as a safe Republican state.No Republican has won the presidency without carrying Alaska since its statehood in 1959 due toLyndon B. Johnsonbeing the only Democrat candidate to ever carry the state. Alaska is tied withIdaho,Utah,Wyoming,North Dakota,South Dakota,Nebraska,KansasandOklahomafor the longest Republican voting streak for any state in recent political history, from 1968 to present. Presidential elections Graph The following graph shows the margin of victory of the winner over the runner-up in the 16 presidential elections Alaska participated. See also Notes References Works cited\",\n \"Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr.(bornLeslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913 – December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38thpresident of the United Statesfrom 1974 to 1977. He previously served as the leader of theRepublican Partyin theU.S. House of Representativesfrom 1965 to 1973, and as the 40thvice presidentunder PresidentRichard Nixonfrom 1973 to 1974. Ford succeeded to the presidency when Nixon resigned in 1974, but wasdefeated for election to a full term in 1976. Ford remains the only person to serve as president without winning an election for president or vice president. Ford was born inOmaha, Nebraskaand raised inGrand Rapids, Michigan. He attended theUniversity of Michigan, where he played forthe school's football team, before eventually attendingYale Law School. Afterward, he served in theU.S. Naval Reservefrom 1942 to 1946. Ford began his political career in 1949 as the U.S. representative fromMichigan's 5th congressional district, serving in this capacity for nearly 25\",\n \"for nearly 25 years, the final nine of them as theHouse minority leader. In December 1973, two months afterSpiro Agnew's resignation, Ford became the first person appointed to the vice presidency under the terms of the25th Amendment. After the subsequent resignation of Nixon in August 1974, Ford immediately assumed the presidency. Domestically, Ford presided over the worst economy in the four decades since theGreat Depression, with growing inflation and a recession.In one of his most controversial acts, he granted apresidential pardon to Nixonfor his role in theWatergate scandal. Foreign policy was characterized in procedural terms by the increased role Congress began to play, and by the corresponding curb on the powers of the president.Ford signed theHelsinki Accords, which marked a move towarddétentein theCold War. With the collapse ofSouth Vietnamnine months into his presidency,U.S. involvement in the Vietnam Waressentially ended. In the1976 Republican presidential primary, Ford defeatedRonald Reaganfor\",\n \"Reaganfor the Republican nomination, but narrowly lost the presidential election to theDemocraticcandidate,Jimmy Carter. Following his years as president, Ford remained active in the Republican Party, but his moderate views on various social issues increasingly put him at odds with conservative members of the party in the 1990s and early 2000s. He also set aside the enmity he had felt towards Carter following the 1976 election and the two former presidents developed a close friendship. After experiencing a series of health problems, hedied in Rancho Mirage, Californiain 2006. Surveys of historians and political scientistshave rankedFord as a below-average president,though retrospective public polls on his time in office were more positive. Early life Ford was born Leslie Lynch King Jr. on July 14, 1913, at3202 Woolworth AvenueinOmaha, Nebraska, where his parents lived with his paternal grandparents. He was the only child ofDorothy Ayer GardnerandLeslie Lynch King Sr., a wool trader. His paternal grandfather\",\n \"grandfather was banker and businessmanCharles Henry King, and his maternal grandfather was Illinois politician and businessmanLevi Addison Gardner. Ford's parents separated just sixteen days after his birth and his mother took the infant Ford with her toOak Park, Illinois, where her sister Tannisse and brother-in-law, Clarence Haskins James lived. From there, she moved to the home of her parents inGrand Rapids, Michigan. Gardner and King divorced in December 1913, and she gained full custody of her son. Ford's paternal grandfather paid child support until shortly before his death in 1930. Ford later said that his biological father had a history of hitting his mother.In a biography of Ford,James M. Cannonwrote that the separation and divorce of Ford's parents was sparked when, a few days after Ford's birth, Leslie King took abutcher knifeand threatened to kill his wife, infant son, and Ford's nursemaid. Ford later told confidants that his father had first hit his mother when she had smiled at another man\",\n \"at another man during their honeymoon. After living with her parents for two and a half years, on February 1, 1917, Gardner marriedGerald Rudolff Ford, a salesman in a family-owned paint and varnish company. Though never formally adopted, her young son was referred to as Gerald Rudolff Ford Jr. from then on; thename change, including the anglicized spelling \\\"Rudolph\\\", was formalized on December 3, 1935.He was raised inGrand Rapidswith his three half-brothers from his mother's second marriage:Thomas Gardner \\\"Tom\\\" Ford(1918–1995), Richard Addison \\\"Dick\\\" Ford (1924–2015), and James Francis \\\"Jim\\\" Ford (1927–2001). Ford was involved in theBoy Scouts of America, and earned that program's highest rank,Eagle Scout.He is the only Eagle Scout to have ascended to the U.S. presidency.Ford attended Grand Rapids South High School, where he was a star athlete andcaptainof thefootballteam.In 1930, he was selected to the All-City team of theGrand Rapids City League. He also attracted the attention of college recruiters.\",\n \"college recruiters. College and law school Ford attended theUniversity of Michigan, where he playedcenterandlinebackerfor the school's football teamand helped theWolverinesto two undefeated seasons andnational titlesin1932and1933. In his senior year of1934, the team suffered a steep decline and won only one game, but Ford was still the team's star player. In one of those games, Michigan held heavily favoredMinnesota—the eventual national champion—to a scoreless tie in the first half. After the game, assistant coachBennie Oosterbaansaid, \\\"When I walked into the dressing room at halftime, I had tears in my eyes I was so proud of them. Ford and Sweet played their hearts out. They were everywhere on defense.\\\" Ford later recalled, \\\"During 25 years in the rough-and-tumble world of politics, I often thought of the experiences before, during, and after that game in 1934. Remembering them has helped me many times to face a tough situation, take action, and make every effort possible despite adverse odds.\\\" His\",\n \"adverse odds.\\\" His teammates later voted Ford their most valuable player, with one assistant coach noting, \\\"They felt Jerry was one guy who would stay and fight in a losing cause.\\\" During Ford's senior year, a controversy developed whenGeorgia Techsaid that it would not play a scheduled game with Michigan if a Black player namedWillis Wardtook the field. Students, players and alumni protested, but university officials capitulated and kept Ward out of the game. Ford was Ward's best friend on the team, and they roomed together while on road trips. Ford reportedly threatened to quit the team in response to the university's decision, but he eventually agreed to play againstGeorgia Techwhen Ward personally asked him to play. In 1934, Ford was selected for the Eastern Team on the Shriner'sEast–West Shrine Gameat San Francisco (a benefit for physically disabled children), played on January 1, 1935. As part of the 1935 Collegiate All-Star football team, Ford played against theChicago Bearsin theChicago College\",\n \"theChicago College All-Star GameatSoldier Field.In honor of his athletic accomplishments and his later political career, the University of Michigan retired Ford's No. 48 jersey in 1994. With the blessing of the Ford family, it was placed back into circulation in 2012 as part of theMichigan Football Legendsprogram and issued to sophomore linebackerDesmond Morganbefore a home game againstIllinoison October 13. Throughout life, Ford remained interested in his school and football; he occasionally attended games. Ford also visited with players and coaches during practices; at one point, he asked to join the players in the huddle.Before state events, Ford often had the Navy band play the University of Michigan fight song, \\\"The Victors,\\\" instead of \\\"Hail to the Chief.\\\" Ford graduated from Michigan in 1935 with aBachelor of Artsdegree ineconomics. He turned down offers from theDetroit LionsandGreen Bay Packersof theNational Football League. Instead, he took a job in September 1935 as the boxing coach and assistant\",\n \"coach and assistant varsity football coach atYale Universityand applied to its law school. Ford hoped to attend Yale Law School beginning in 1935. Yale officials at first denied his admission to the law school because of his full-time coaching responsibilities. He spent the summer of 1937 as a student at theUniversity of Michigan Law Schooland was eventually admitted in the spring of 1938 toYale Law School.That year he was also promoted to the position of junior varsity head football coach at Yale.While at Yale, Ford began working as a model. He initially worked with theJohn Robert Powersagency before investing in theHarry Conoveragency, with whom he modelled until 1941. While attending Yale Law School, Ford joined a group of students led byR. Douglas Stuart Jr., and signed a petition to enforce the 1939Neutrality Act. The petition was circulated nationally and was the inspiration for theAmerica First Committee, a group determined to keep the U.S. out ofWorld War II.His introduction into politics was in the\",\n \"politics was in the summer of 1940 when he worked for the Republican presidential campaign ofWendell Willkie. Ford graduated in the top third of his class in 1941, and was admitted to theMichigan barshortly thereafter. In May 1941, he opened a Grand Rapids law practice with a friend,Philip W. Buchen. U.S. Naval Reserve Following theDecember 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, Ford enlisted in the Navy.He received a commission asensignin theU.S. Naval Reserveon April 13, 1942.On April 20, he reported for active duty to the V-5 instructor school atAnnapolis, Maryland. After one month of training, he went to Navy Preflight School inChapel Hill, North Carolina, where he was one of 83 instructors and taught elementary navigation skills, ordnance, gunnery, first aid, and military drill. In addition, he coached all nine sports that were offered, but mostly swimming, boxing, and football. During the year he was at the Preflight School, he was promoted toLieutenant, Junior Grade, on June 2, 1942, and to lieutenant, in\",\n \"to lieutenant, in March 1943. Sea duty After Ford applied for sea duty, he was sent in May 1943 to the pre-commissioning detachment for the new aircraft carrierUSSMonterey(CVL-26), at New York Shipbuilding Corporation,Camden, New Jersey. From the ship's commissioning on June 17, 1943, until the end of December 1944, Ford served as the assistant navigator, Athletic Officer, and antiaircraft battery officer on board theMonterey. While he was on board, the carrier participated in many actions in thePacific Theaterwith theThirdandFifth Fleetsin late 1943 and 1944. In 1943, the carrier helped secureMakin Islandin the Gilberts, and participated in carrier strikes againstKavieng,Papua New Guineain 1943. During the spring of 1944, theMontereysupported landings atKwajaleinandEniwetokand participated in carrier strikes in theMarianas,Western Carolines, and northern New Guinea, as well as in theBattle of the Philippine Sea.After an overhaul, from September to November 1944, aircraft from theMontereylaunched strikes\",\n \"strikes againstWake Island, participated in strikes in the Philippines andRyukyus, and supported the landings atLeyteandMindoro. Although the ship was not damaged by Japanese forces, theMontereywas one of several ships damaged byTyphoon Cobrathat hit AdmiralWilliam Halsey'sThird Fleet on December 18–19, 1944. The Third Fleet lost threedestroyersand over 800 men during the typhoon. TheMontereywas damaged by a fire, which was started by several of the ship's aircraft tearing loose from their cables and colliding on thehangar deck. Ford was serving as General Quarters Officer of the Deck and was ordered to go below to assess the raging fire. He did so safely, and reported his findings back to the ship's commanding officer, CaptainStuart H. Ingersoll. The ship's crew was able to contain the fire, and the ship got underway again. After the fire, theMontereywas declared unfit for service. Ford was detached from the ship and sent to the Navy Pre-Flight School atSaint Mary's College of California, where he was\",\n \"where he was assigned to the Athletic Department until April 1945. From the end of April 1945 to January 1946, he was on the staff of the Naval Reserve Training Command,Naval Air Station, Glenview, Illinois, at the rank oflieutenant commander. Ford received the following military awards: theAmerican Campaign Medal, theAsiatic-Pacific Campaign Medalwith nine3⁄16\\\" bronze stars(for operations in theGilbert Islands,Bismarck Archipelago, Marshall Islands, Asiatic and Pacific carrier raids,Hollandia, Marianas, Western Carolines, Western New Guinea, and the Leyte Operation), thePhilippine Liberation Medalwith two3⁄16\\\" bronze stars (for Leyte and Mindoro), and theWorld War II Victory Medal.He was honorably discharged in February 1946. U.S. House of Representatives (1949–1973) After Ford returned to Grand Rapids in 1946, he became active in local Republican politics, and supporters urged him to challengeBartel J. Jonkman, the incumbent Republican congressman. Military service had changed his view of the world. \\\"I\",\n \"of the world. \\\"I came back a convertedinternationalist\\\", Ford wrote, \\\"and of course our congressman at that time was an avowed, dedicatedisolationist. And I thought he ought to be replaced. Nobody thought I could win. I ended up winning two to one.\\\" During his first campaign in 1948, Ford visited voters at their doorsteps and as they left the factories where they worked.Ford also visited local farms where, in one instance, a wager resulted in Ford spending two weeks milking cows following his election victory. Ford was a member of the House of Representatives for 25 years, holdingMichigan's 5th congressional districtseat from 1949 to 1973. It was a tenure largely notable for its modesty. As an editorial inThe New York Timesdescribed him, Ford \\\"saw himself as a negotiator and a reconciler, and the record shows it: he did not write a single piece of major legislation in his entire career.\\\"Appointed to theHouse Appropriations Committeetwo years after being elected, he was a prominent member of theDefense\",\n \"of theDefense Appropriations Subcommittee. Ford described his philosophy as \\\"a moderate in domestic affairs, an internationalist in foreign affairs, and a conservative in fiscal policy.\\\"He voted in favor of theCivil Rights Acts of 1957,1960,1964,and1968,as well as the24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitutionand theVoting Rights Act of 1965.Ford was known to his colleagues in the House as a \\\"Congressman's Congressman\\\". In the early 1950s, Ford declined offers to run for either the Senate or the Michigan governorship. Rather, his ambition was to becomeSpeaker of the House,which he called \\\"the ultimate achievement. To sit up there and be the head honcho of 434 other people and have the responsibility, aside from the achievement, of trying to run the greatest legislative body in the history of mankind ... I think I got that ambition within a year or two after I was in the House of Representatives\\\". Warren Commission On November 29, 1963, PresidentLyndon B. Johnsonappointed Ford to theWarren Commission, a special\",\n \"a special task force set up to investigate theassassinationof PresidentJohn F. Kennedy.Ford was assigned to prepare a biography of accused assassinLee Harvey Oswald. He andEarl Warrenalso interviewedJack Ruby, Oswald's killer. According to a 1963FBImemo that was released to the public in 2008, Ford was in contact with the FBI throughout his time on the Warren Commission and relayed information to the deputy director,Cartha DeLoach, about the panel's activities.In the preface to his book,A Presidential Legacy and The Warren Commission, Ford defended the work of the commission and reiterated his support of its conclusions. House Minority Leader (1965–1973) In 1964, Lyndon Johnson led a landslide victory for his party, secured another term as president and took 36 seats from Republicans in the House of Representatives. Following the election, members of the Republican caucus looked to select a new minority leader. Three members approached Ford to see if he would be willing to serve; after consulting with his\",\n \"consulting with his family, he agreed. After a closely contested election, Ford was chosen to replaceCharles HalleckofIndianaas minority leader.The members of the Republican caucus that encouraged and eventually endorsed Ford to run as the House minority leader were later known as the \\\"Young Turks\\\". One of the members of the Young Turks was congressmanDonald H. RumsfeldfromIllinois's 13th congressional district, who later on would serve in Ford's administration as thechief of staffandsecretary of defense. With a Democratic majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Johnson Administration proposed and passed a series of programs that was called by Johnson the \\\"Great Society\\\". During the first session of theEighty-ninth Congressalone, the Johnson Administration submitted 87 bills to Congress, and Johnson signed 84, or 96%, arguably the most successful legislative agenda in Congressional history. In 1966, criticism over the Johnson Administration's handling of theVietnam Warbegan to grow,\",\n \"Warbegan to grow, with Ford and Congressional Republicans expressing concern that the United States was not doing what was necessary to win the war. Public sentiment also began to move against Johnson, and the1966 midterm electionsproduced a 47-seat swing in favor of the Republicans. This was not enough to give Republicans a majority in the House, but the victory gave Ford the opportunity to prevent the passage of further Great Society programs. Ford's private criticism of the Vietnam War became public knowledge after he spoke from the floor of the House and questioned whether the White House had a clear plan to bring the war to a successful conclusion.The speech angered President Johnson, who accused Ford of having played \\\"too much football without a helmet\\\". As minority leader in the House, Ford appeared in a popular series of televised press conferences withIllinoisSenatorEverett Dirksen, in which they proposed Republican alternatives to Johnson's policies. Many in the press jokingly called this \\\"The Ev\",\n \"called this \\\"The Ev and Jerry Show.\\\"Johnson said at the time, \\\"Jerry Ford is so dumb he can't fart and chew gum at the same time.\\\"The press, used to sanitizing Johnson's salty language, reported this as \\\"Gerald Ford can't walk and chew gum at the same time.\\\" AfterRichard Nixonwas elected president in November 1968, Ford's role shifted to being an advocate for the White House agenda. Congress passed several of Nixon's proposals, including theNational Environmental Policy Actand theTax Reform Act of 1969. Another high-profile victory for the Republican minority was the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act. Passed in 1972, the act established arevenue sharingprogram for state and local governments.Ford's leadership was instrumental in shepherding revenue sharing through Congress, and resulted in a bipartisan coalition that supported the bill with 223 votes in favor (compared with 185 against). During the eight years (1965–1973) that Ford served as minority leader, he received many friends in the House because\",\n \"the House because of his fair leadership and inoffensive personality. Vice presidency (1973–1974) For the past decade, Ford had been unsuccessfully working to help Republicans across the country get a majority in the chamber so that he could becomeHouse Speaker. He promised his wife that he would try again in 1974 then retire in 1976.However, on October 10, 1973,Spiro Agnewresigned from the vice presidency.According toThe New York Times, Nixon \\\"sought advice from senior Congressional leaders about a replacement.\\\" The advice was unanimous. House SpeakerCarl Albertrecalled later, \\\"We gave Nixon no choice but Ford.\\\"Ford agreed to the nomination, telling his wife that the vice presidency would be \\\"a nice conclusion\\\" to his career.Ford was nominated to take Agnew's position on October 12, the first time the vice-presidential vacancy provision of the25th Amendmenthad been implemented. TheUnited States Senatevoted 92 to 3 to confirm Ford on November 27. On December 6, the House confirmed Ford by a vote of 387 to\",\n \"by a vote of 387 to 35.After the confirmation votein the House, Ford took the oath of office as vice president. Ford became vice president as theWatergate scandalwas unfolding. On August 1, 1974,Chief of StaffAlexander Haigcontacted Ford to tell him to prepare for the presidency.At the time, Ford and his wife, Betty, were living in suburban Virginia, waiting for their expected move into the newly designatedvice president's residencein Washington, D.C. However, \\\"Al Haig asked to come over and see me\\\", Ford later said, \\\"to tell me that there would be a new tape released on a Monday, and he said the evidence in there was devastating and there would probably be either an impeachment or a resignation. And he said, 'I'm just warning you that you've got to be prepared, that things might change dramatically and you could become President.' And I said, 'Betty, I don't think we're ever going to live in the vice president's house.'\\\" Presidency (1974–1977) Swearing-in When Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, Ford\",\n \"9, 1974, Ford automatically assumed the presidency, taking the oath of office in theEast Roomof the White House. This made him the only person to become the nation's chief executive without beingelectedto the presidency or the vice presidency. Immediately afterward, he spoke to the assembled audience in a speech that was broadcast live to the nation,noting the peculiarity of his position.He later declared that \\\"our long national nightmare is over\\\". Nominating Rockefeller On August 20, Ford nominated former New York GovernorNelson Rockefellerto fill the vice presidency he had vacated.Rockefeller's top competitor had beenGeorge H. W. Bush. Rockefeller underwent extended hearings before Congress, which caused embarrassment when it was revealed he made large gifts to senior aides, such asHenry Kissinger. Although conservative Republicans were not pleased that Rockefeller was picked, most of them voted for his confirmation, and his nomination passed both the House and Senate. Some, includingBarry Goldwater, voted\",\n \"Goldwater, voted against him. Pardon of Nixon On September 8, 1974, Ford issuedProclamation 4311, which gave Nixon a full and unconditionalpardonfor any crimes he might have committed against the United States while president.In a televised broadcast to the nation, Ford explained that he felt the pardon was in the best interests of the country, and that the Nixon family's situation \\\"is a tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must.\\\" Ford's decision to pardon Nixon was highly controversial. Critics derided the move and said a \\\"corrupt bargain\\\" had been struck between the two men,in which Ford's pardon was granted in exchange for Nixon's resignation, elevating Ford to the presidency. Ford's first press secretary and close friendJerald terHorstresigned his post in protest after the pardon.According toBob Woodward, Nixon Chief of Staff Alexander Haig proposed a pardon deal to Ford. He\",\n \"deal to Ford. He later decided to pardon Nixon for other reasons, primarily the friendship he and Nixon shared.Regardless, historians believe the controversy was one of the major reasons Ford lost the1976 presidential election, an observation with which Ford agreed.In an editorial at the time,The New York Timesstated that the Nixon pardon was a \\\"profoundly unwise, divisive and unjust act\\\" that in a stroke had destroyed the new president's \\\"credibility as a man of judgment, candor and competence\\\".On October 17, 1974, Ford testified before Congress on the pardon. He was the first sitting president sinceAbraham Lincolnto testify before theHouse of Representatives. In the months following the pardon, Ford often declined to mention President Nixon by name, referring to him in public as \\\"my predecessor\\\" or \\\"the former president.\\\" When Ford was pressed on the matter on a 1974 trip to California, White House correspondentFred Barnesrecalled that he replied \\\"I just can't bring myself to do it.\\\" After Ford left the\",\n \"After Ford left the White House in January 1977, he privately justified his pardon of Nixon by carrying in his wallet a portion of the text ofBurdick v. United States, a 1915U.S. Supreme Courtdecision which stated that a pardon indicated a presumption of guilt, and that acceptance of a pardon was tantamount to a confession of that guilt.In 2001, theJohn F. Kennedy LibraryFoundation awarded the John F. KennedyProfile in Courage Awardto Ford for his pardon of Nixon.In presenting the award to Ford, SenatorEdward Kennedysaid that he had initially been opposed to the pardon, but later decided that history had proven Ford to have made the correct decision. Draft dodgers and deserters On September 16 (shortly after he pardoned Nixon), Ford issued Presidential Proclamation 4313, which introduced a conditionalamnestyprogram for military deserters and Vietnam Wardraft dodgerswho had fled to countries such as Canada. The conditions of the amnesty required that those reaffirm their allegiance to the United States and\",\n \"United States and serve two years working in a public service job or a total of two years service for those who had served less than two years of honorable service in the military.The program for the Return of Vietnam Era Draft Evaders and Military Desertersestablished a Clemency Board to review the records and make recommendations for receiving a presidential pardon and a change inmilitary dischargestatus.Full pardon for draft dodgerscame in theCarter administration. Administration When Ford assumed office, he inherited Nixon'sCabinet. During his brief administration, he replaced all members exceptSecretary of StateKissinger andSecretary of the TreasuryWilliam E. Simon. Political commentators have referred to Ford's dramatic reorganization of his Cabinet in the fall of 1975 as the \\\"Halloween Massacre\\\". One of Ford's appointees,William Coleman—theSecretary of Transportation—was the second Black man to serve in a presidential cabinet (afterRobert C. Weaver) and the first appointed in a Republican\",\n \"in a Republican administration. Ford selected George H. W. Bush asChief of the US Liaison Officeto the People's Republic of China in 1974, and thenDirectorof theCentral Intelligence Agencyin late 1975. Ford's transition chairman and first Chief of Staff was former congressman and ambassadorDonald Rumsfeld. In 1975, Rumsfeld was named by Ford as the youngest-everSecretary of Defense. Ford chose a youngWyomingpolitician,Richard Cheney, to replace Rumsfeld as his new Chief of Staff; Cheney became thecampaign managerfor Ford's1976 presidential campaign. Midterm elections The 1974 Congressional midterm elections took place in the wake of the Watergate scandal and less than three months after Ford assumed office. The Democratic Party turned voter dissatisfaction into large gains in theHouse elections, taking 49 seats from the Republican Party, increasing their majority to 291 of the 435 seats. This was one more than the number needed (290) for a two-thirds majority, the number necessary to override a presidential\",\n \"a presidential veto or to propose a constitutional amendment. Perhaps due in part to this fact, the94th Congressoverrode the highest percentage of vetoes sinceAndrew Johnsonwas President of the United States (1865–1869).Even Ford's former, reliably Republican House seat was won by a Democrat,Richard Vander Veen, who defeatedRobert VanderLaan. In theSenate elections, the Democratic majority became 61 in the 100-seat body. Domestic policy Inflation Theeconomywas a great concern during the Ford administration. One of the first acts the new president took to deal with the economy was to create, byExecutive Orderon September 30, 1974, the Economic Policy Board.In October 1974, in response to rising inflation, Ford went before the American public and asked them to \\\"WhipInflationNow\\\". As part of this program, he urged people to wear \\\"WIN\\\" buttons.At the time, inflation was believed to be the primary threat to the economy, more so than growing unemployment; there was a belief that controlling inflation would help\",\n \"would help reduce unemployment.To rein in inflation, it was necessary to control the public's spending. To try to mesh service and sacrifice, \\\"WIN\\\" called for Americans to reduce their spending and consumption.On October 4, 1974, Ford gave a speech in front of a joint session of Congress; as a part of this speech he kicked off the \\\"WIN\\\" campaign. Over the next nine days, 101,240 Americans mailed in \\\"WIN\\\" pledges.In hindsight, this was viewed as simply apublic relationsgimmick which had no way of solving the underlying problems.The main point of that speech was to introduce to Congress a one-year, five-percent income tax increase on corporations and wealthy individuals. This plan would also take $4.4 billion out of the budget, bringing federal spending below $300 billion.At the time, inflation was over twelve percent. Budget The federal budget ran adeficitevery year Ford was president.Despite his reservations about how the program ultimately would be funded in an era of tightpublic budgeting, Ford signed\",\n \"Ford signed theEducation for All Handicapped Children Actof 1975, which establishedspecial educationthroughout the United States. Ford expressed \\\"strong support for full educational opportunities for our handicapped children\\\" according to the official White House press release for the bill signing. The economic focus began to change as the country sank into the worstrecessionsince theGreat Depressionfour decades earlier.The focus of the Ford administration turned to stopping the rise in unemployment, which reached nine percent in May 1975.In January 1975, Ford proposed a 1-year tax reduction of $16 billion to stimulate economic growth, along with spending cuts to avoid inflation.Ford was criticized for abruptly switching from advocating a tax increase to a tax reduction. In Congress, the proposed amount of the tax reduction increased to $22.8 billion in tax cuts and lacked spending cuts.In March 1975, Congress passed, and Ford signed into law, theseincome taxrebates as part of theTax Reduction Act of 1975.\",\n \"Act of 1975. This resulted in a federal deficit of around $53 billion for the 1975 fiscal year and $73.7 billion for 1976. When New York City faced bankruptcy in 1975,MayorAbraham Beamewas unsuccessful in obtaining Ford's support for a federal bailout. The incident prompted the New YorkDaily News'famous headline \\\"Ford to City: Drop Dead\\\", referring to a speech in which \\\"Ford declared flatly ... that he would veto any bill calling for 'a federal bail-out of New York City'\\\". Swine flu Ford was confronted with a potentialswine flupandemic. In the early 1970s, aninfluenzastrainH1N1shifted from a form of flu that affected primarily pigs and crossed over to humans. On February 5, 1976, anarmyrecruit atFort Dixmysteriously died and four fellow soldiers were hospitalized;health officialsannounced that \\\"swine flu\\\" was the cause. Soon after, public health officials in the Ford administration urged that every person in the United States bevaccinated.Although the vaccination program was plagued by delays and public\",\n \"delays and public relations problems, some 25% of the population was vaccinated by the time the program was canceled in December 1976. Equal rights and abortion Ford was an outspoken supporter of theEqual Rights Amendment, issuing Presidential Proclamation no. 4383 in 1975: In this Land of the Free, it is right, and by nature it ought to be, that all men and all women are equal before the law. Now, therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States of America, to remind all Americans that it is fitting and just to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment adopted by the Congress of the United States of America, in order to secure legal equality for all women and men, do hereby designate and proclaim August 26, 1975, as Women's Equality Day. As president, Ford's position on abortion was that he supported \\\"a federal constitutional amendment that would permit each one of the 50 States to make the choice\\\".This had also been his position as House Minority Leader in response to the 1973 Supreme Court case ofRoe\",\n \"Court case ofRoe v. Wade, which he opposed.Ford came under criticism when First Lady Betty Ford entered the debate over abortion during anAugust 1975 interview for60 Minutes, in which she stated thatRoe v. Wadewas a \\\"great, great decision\\\".During his later life, Ford would identify aspro-choice. Foreign policy Ford continued the détente policy with both theSoviet Unionand China, easing the tensions of the Cold War. Still in place from the Nixon administration was theStrategic Arms Limitation Treaty(SALT).The thawing relationship brought about byNixon's visit to Chinawas reinforced by Ford's own visit in December 1975.The Administration entered into the Helsinki Accordswith the Soviet Union in 1975, creating the framework of theHelsinki Watch, an independent non-governmental organization created to monitor compliance which later evolved intoHuman Rights Watch. Ford attended the inaugural meeting of theGroup of Seven(G7) industrialized nations (initially the G5) in 1975 and secured membership for Canada. Ford\",\n \"for Canada. Ford supported international solutions to issues. \\\"We live in an interdependent world and, therefore, must work together to resolve common economic problems,\\\" he said in a 1974 speech. In November 1975, Ford adopted the globalhuman population controlrecommendations ofNational Security Study Memorandum 200– anational security directiveinitially commissioned by Nixon – as United States policy in the subsequent NSDM 314.The plan explicitly states the goal was population control and not improving the lives of individuals despite instructing organizers to \\\"emphasize development and improvements in the quality of life of the poor\\\", later explaining the projects were \\\"primarily for other reasons\\\".Upon approving the plan, Ford stated \\\"United States leadership is essential to combat population growth, to implement the World Population Plan of Action and to advance United States security and overseas interests\\\".Population control policies were adopted to protect American economic and military interests,\",\n \"military interests, with the memorandum arguing thatpopulation growthindeveloping countriesresulted with such nations gaining global political power, that more citizens posed a risk to accessing foreign natural resources while also making American businesses vulnerable to governments seeking to fund a growing population, and that younger generations born would be prone toanti-establishmentbehavior, increasing political instability. Indonesia and East Timor As South Vietnam collapsed, an anti-communistIndonesiawas seen as essential by the United States. Good relations with the Indonesian government were considered more important than the decolonization process inEast Timor.The Ford administration gave theSuharto regimeinIndonesiaeconomic and military support, even as itinvaded East Timorandcommitted a genocidethat killed close to a third of the population.One day prior to the invasion, Ford and Kissinger met with Suharto, and they assured him that relations with Indonesia would remain strong regardless of\",\n \"regardless of Indonesia's actions and that it would not object to theannexationof East Timor. Middle East In the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean, two ongoing international disputes developed into crises. TheCyprus disputeturned into a crisis with theTurkish invasion of Cyprusin July 1974, causing extreme strain within theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) alliance. In mid-August, theGreek governmentwithdrew Greece from the NATO military structure; in mid-September, the Senate and House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to halt military aid to Turkey. Ford, concerned with both the effect of this on Turkish-American relations and the deterioration of security on NATO's eastern front, vetoed the bill. A second bill was then passed by Congress, which Ford also vetoed, fearing that it might impede negotiations in Cyprus, although a compromise was accepted to continue aid until December 10, 1974, provided Turkey would not send American supplies to Cyprus.U.S. military aid to Turkey was suspended\",\n \"was suspended on February 5, 1975. In the continuingArab–Israeli conflict, although the initialcease firehad been implemented to end active conflict in theYom Kippur War, Kissinger's continuingshuttle diplomacywas showing little progress. Ford considered it \\\"stalling\\\" and wrote, \\\"Their tactics frustrated the Egyptians and made me mad as hell.\\\"During Kissinger's shuttle to Israel in early March 1975, a last minute reversal to consider further withdrawal, prompted a cable from Ford to Prime MinisterYitzhak Rabin, which included: I wish to express my profound disappointment over Israel's attitude in the course of the negotiations ... Failure of the negotiation will have a far reaching impact on the region and on our relations. I have given instructions for a reassessment of United States policy in the region, including our relations with Israel, with the aim of ensuring that overall American interests ... are protected. You will be notified of our decision. On March 24, Ford informed congressional leaders of\",\n \"leaders of both parties of the reassessment of the administration's policies in the Middle East. In practical terms, \\\"reassessment\\\" meant canceling or suspending further aid to Israel. For six months between March and September 1975, the United States refused to conclude any new arms agreements with Israel. Rabin notes it was \\\"an innocent-sounding term that heralded one of the worst periods in American-Israeli relations\\\".The announced reassessments upset the American Jewish community and Israel's well-wishers in Congress. On May 21, Ford \\\"experienced a real shock\\\" when seventy-six U.S. senators wrote him a letter urging him to be \\\"responsive\\\" to Israel's request for $2.59 billion (equivalent to $14.67 billion in 2023) in military and economic aid. Ford felt truly annoyed and thought the chance for peace was jeopardized. It was, since the September 1974 ban on arms sales to Turkey, the second major congressional intrusion upon the President's foreign policy prerogatives.The following summer months were\",\n \"summer months were described by Ford as an American-Israeli \\\"war of nerves\\\" or \\\"test of wills\\\".After much bargaining, theSinai Interim Agreement(Sinai II) was formally signed on September 1, and aid resumed. Vietnam One of Ford's greatest challenges was dealing with the continuingVietnam War. American offensive operations against North Vietnam had ended with theParis Peace Accords, signed on January 27, 1973. The accords declared a cease-fire across both North and South Vietnam, and required the release of Americanprisoners of war. The agreement guaranteed the territorial integrity of Vietnam and, like theGeneva Conferenceof 1954, called for national elections in the North and South. The Paris Peace Accords stipulated a sixty-day period for the total withdrawal of U.S. forces. The agreements were negotiated byUS National Security AdvisorHenry Kissingerand North VietnamesePolitburomemberLê Đức Thọ. South Vietnamese PresidentNguyen Van Thieuwas not involved in the final negotiations, and publicly criticized\",\n \"publicly criticized the proposed agreement. However, anti-war pressures within the United States forced Nixon and Kissinger to pressure Thieu to sign the agreement and enable the withdrawal of American forces. In multiple letters to the South Vietnamese president, Nixon had promised that the United States would defend Thieu's government, should the North Vietnamese violate the accords. In December 1974, months after Ford took office, North Vietnamese forces invaded the province ofPhuoc Long. GeneralTrần Văn Tràsought to gauge any South Vietnamese or American response to the invasion, as well as to solve logistical issues, before proceeding with the invasion. As North Vietnamese forces advanced, Ford requested Congress approve a $722 million aid package for South Vietnam (equivalent to $4.09 billion in 2023), funds that had been promised by the Nixon administration. Congress voted against the proposal by a wide margin.SenatorJacob K. Javitsoffered \\\"...large sums for evacuation, but not one nickel for military\",\n \"nickel for military aid\\\".President Thieu resigned on April 21, 1975, publicly blaming the lack of support from the United States for the fall of his country.Two days later, on April 23, Ford gave a speech atTulane University. In that speech, he announced that the Vietnam War was over \\\"...as far as America is concerned\\\".The announcement was met with thunderous applause. 1,373 U.S. citizens and 5,595Vietnameseand third-country nationals were evacuated from the South Vietnamese capital ofSaigonduringOperation Frequent Wind. Many of the Vietnamese evacuees were allowed to enter the United States under theIndochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act. The 1975 Act appropriated $455 million (equivalent to $2.58 billion in 2023) toward the costs of assisting the settlement of Indochinese refugees.In all, 130,000 Vietnamese refugees came to the United States in 1975. Thousands more escaped in the years that followed. Mayaguezincident North Vietnam's victory over the South led to a considerable shift in the\",\n \"shift in the political winds in Asia, and Ford administration officials worried about a consequent loss of U.S. influence there. The administration proved it was willing to respond forcefully to challenges to its interests in the region whenKhmer Rougeforces seized an American ship ininternational waters.The main crisis was theMayaguezincident. In May 1975, shortly after the fall of Saigon and the Khmer Rouge conquest ofCambodia, Cambodians seized the American merchant shipMayaguezin international waters.Ford dispatchedMarinesto rescue the crew, but the Marines landed on the wrong island and met unexpectedly stiff resistance just as, unknown to the U.S., theMayaguezsailors were being released. In the operation, two military transport helicopters carrying the Marines for the assault operation were shot down, and 41 U.S. servicemen were killed and 50 wounded, while approximately 60 Khmer Rouge soldiers were killed.Despite the American losses, the operation was seen as a success in the United States, and Ford\",\n \"States, and Ford enjoyed an 11-point boost in his approval ratings in the aftermath.The Americans killed during the operation became the last to have their names inscribed on theVietnam Veterans Memorialwall in Washington, D.C. Some historians have argued that the Ford administration felt the need to respond forcefully to the incident because it was construed as a Soviet plot.But work by Andrew Gawthorpe, published in 2009, based on an analysis of the administration's internal discussions, shows that Ford's national security team understood that the seizure of the vessel was a local, and perhaps even accidental, provocation by an immature Khmer government. Nevertheless, they felt the need to respond forcefully to discourage further provocations by other Communist countries in Asia. Assassination attempts Ford was the target of two assassination attempts during his presidency. InSacramento, California, on September 5, 1975,Lynette \\\"Squeaky\\\" Fromme, a follower ofCharles Manson, pointed aColt .45-caliber\",\n \"aColt .45-caliber handgunat Ford and pulled the trigger atpoint-blank range.As she did,Larry Buendorf,a Secret Service agent, grabbed the gun, and Fromme was taken into custody. She was later convicted of attempted assassination of the President and was sentenced to life in prison; she was paroled on August 14, 2009, after serving 34 years. In reaction to this attempt, the Secret Service began keeping Ford at a more secure distance from anonymous crowds, a strategy that may have saved his life seventeen days later. As he left theSt. Francis Hotelin downtown San Francisco,Sara Jane Moore, standing in a crowd of onlookers across the street, fired a.38-caliber revolverat him. The shot missed Ford by a few feet.Before she fired a second round, retired MarineOliver Sipplegrabbed at the gun and deflected her shot; the bullet struck a wall about six inches above and to the right of Ford's head, then ricocheted and hit a taxi driver, who was slightly wounded. Moore was later sentenced to life in prison. She was\",\n \"in prison. She was paroled on December 31, 2007, after serving 32 years. Judicial appointments Supreme Court In 1975, Ford appointedJohn Paul StevensasAssociate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Statesto replace retiring JusticeWilliam O. Douglas. Stevens had been a judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, appointed by President Nixon.During his tenure as House Republican leader, Ford had led efforts to have Douglas impeached.After being confirmed, Stevens eventually disappointed some conservatives by siding with the Court's liberal wing regarding the outcome of many key issues.Nevertheless, in 2005 Ford praised Stevens. \\\"He has served his nation well,\\\" Ford said of Stevens, \\\"with dignity, intellect and without partisan political concerns.\\\" Other judicial appointments Ford appointed 11 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, and 50 judges to theUnited States district courts. 1976 presidential campaign Ford reluctantly agreed to run for office in 1976, but first he\",\n \"1976, but first he had to counter a challenge for the Republican party nomination. FormerGovernor of CaliforniaRonald Reaganand the party'sconservativewing faulted Ford for failing to do more inSouth Vietnam, for signing the Helsinki Accords, and for negotiating to cede thePanama Canal. (Negotiations for the canal continued under President Carter, who eventually signed theTorrijos–Carter Treaties.) Reagan launched his campaign in autumn of 1975 and won numerousprimaries, includingNorth Carolina,Texas,Indiana, andCalifornia, but failed to get a majority of delegates; Reagan withdrew from the race at theRepublican ConventioninKansas City,Missouri. The conservative insurgency did lead to Ford dropping the moreliberalVice President Nelson Rockefeller in favor of U.S. senatorBob DoleofKansas. In addition to the pardon dispute and lingering anti-Republican sentiment, Ford had to counter a plethora of negative media imagery.Chevy Chaseoften didpratfallsonSaturday Night Live,imitating Ford, who had been seen\",\n \"who had been seen stumbling on two occasions during his term. As Chase commented, \\\"He even mentioned in his own autobiography it had an effect over a period of time that affected the election to some degree.\\\" Ford's 1976 election campaign benefitted from his being an incumbent president during several anniversary events held during the period leading up to theUnited States Bicentennial. The Washington, D.C.fireworksdisplay on theFourth of Julywas presided over by the President and televised nationally.On July 7, 1976, the President and First Lady served as hosts at a White House state dinner forQueen Elizabeth IIandPrince Philipof the United Kingdom, which was televised on thePublic Broadcasting Servicenetwork. The 200th anniversary of theBattles of Lexington and Concordin Massachusetts gave Ford the opportunity to deliver a speech to 110,000 in Concord acknowledging the need for a strong national defense tempered with a plea for \\\"reconciliation, not recrimination\\\" and \\\"reconstruction, not rancor\\\" between\",\n \"not rancor\\\" between the United States and those who would pose \\\"threats to peace\\\".Speaking in New Hampshire on the previous day, Ford condemned the growing trend toward big government bureaucracy and argued for a return to \\\"basic American virtues\\\". Televisedpresidential debateswere reintroduced for the first time since the 1960 election. As such, Ford became the first incumbent president to participate in one. Carter later attributed his victory in the election to the debates, saying they \\\"gave the viewers reason to think that Jimmy Carter had something to offer\\\". The turning point came in the second debate when Ford blundered by stating, \\\"There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford Administration.\\\" Ford also said that he did not \\\"believe that the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union\\\".In an interview years later, Ford said he had intended to imply that the Soviets would never crush thespiritsof eastern Europeans seeking independence. However, the\",\n \"However, the phrasing was so awkward that questionerMax Frankelwas visibly incredulous at the response. In the end, Carter won the election, receiving 50.1% of the popular vote and 297electoral votescompared with 48.0% and 240 electoral votes for Ford. Post-presidency (1977–2006) The Nixon pardon controversy eventually subsided. Ford's successor, Jimmy Carter, opened his 1977inaugural addressby praising the outgoing president, saying, \\\"For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land.\\\" After leaving the White House, the Fords moved to Denver, Colorado. Ford successfully invested in oil withMarvin Davis, which later provided an income for Ford's children. He continued to make appearances at events of historical and ceremonial significance to the nation, such as presidential inaugurals and memorial services. In January 1977, he became the president ofEisenhower FellowshipsinPhiladelphia, then served as the chairman of its board of trustees from 1980 to\",\n \"from 1980 to 1986.Later in 1977, he reluctantly agreed to be interviewed by James M. Naughton, aNew York Timesjournalist who was given the assignment to write the former president's advance obituary, an article that would be updated prior to its eventual publication.In 1979, Ford published his autobiography,A Time to Heal(Harper/Reader's Digest, 454 pages). A review inForeign Affairsdescribed it as, \\\"Serene, unruffled, unpretentious, like the author. This is the shortest and most honest of recent presidential memoirs, but there are no surprises, no deep probings of motives or events. No more here than meets the eye.\\\" During the term of office of his successor, Jimmy Carter, Ford received monthly briefs by President Carter's senior staff on international and domestic issues, and was always invited to lunch at the White House whenever he was in Washington, D.C. Their close friendship developed after Carter had left office, with the catalyst being their trip together to thefuneralofAnwar el-Sadatin 1981.Until\",\n \"1981.Until Ford's death, Carter and his wife,Rosalynn, visited the Fords' home frequently.Ford and Carter served as honorary co-chairs of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform in 2001 and of theContinuity of Government Commissionin 2002. Like Presidents Carter,George H. W. Bush, andBill Clinton, Ford was an honorary co-chair of theCouncil for Excellence in Government, a group dedicated to excellence in government performance, which provides leadership training to top federal employees. He also devoted much time to his love of golf, often playing both privately and in public events with comedianBob Hope, a longtime friend. In 1977, he shot ahole in oneduring a Pro-am held in conjunction with theDanny Thomas Memphis ClassicatColonial Country ClubinMemphis, Tennessee. In 1977, Ford established the Gerald R. Ford Institute of Public Policy atAlbion CollegeinAlbion, Michigan, to give undergraduates training in public policy. In April 1981, he opened theGerald R. Ford LibraryinAnn Arbor, Michigan, on\",\n \"Arbor, Michigan, on the north campus of his alma mater, theUniversity of Michigan,followed in September by theGerald R. Ford Museumin Grand Rapids. Ford considered a run for the Republican nomination in1980, forgoing numerous opportunities to serve on corporate boards to keep his options open for a rematch with Carter. Ford attacked Carter's conduct of the SALT II negotiations and foreign policy in the Middle East and Africa. Many have argued that Ford also wanted to exorcise his image as an \\\"Accidental President\\\" and to win a term in his own right. Ford also believed the more conservative Ronald Reagan would be unable to defeat Carter and would hand the incumbent a second term. Ford was encouraged by his former Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, as well asJim Rhodesof Ohio andBill Clementsof Texas to make the race. On March 15, 1980, Ford announced that he would forgo a run for the Republican nomination, vowing to support the eventual nominee. After securing the Republican nomination in 1980, Ronald\",\n \"in 1980, Ronald Reagan considered his former rival Ford as a potential vice-presidential running mate, but negotiations between the Reagan and Ford camps at theRepublican National Conventionwere unsuccessful. Ford conditioned his acceptance on Reagan's agreement to an unprecedented \\\"co-presidency\\\",giving Ford the power to control key executive branch appointments (such as Kissinger as Secretary of State andAlan Greenspanas Treasury Secretary). After rejecting these terms, Reagan offered the vice-presidential nomination instead to George H. W. Bush.Ford did appear in a campaign commercial for the Reagan-Bush ticket, in which he declared that the country would be \\\"better served by a Reagan presidency rather than a continuation of the weak and politically expedient policies of Jimmy Carter\\\".On October 8, 1980, Ford said former President Nixon's involvement in the general election potentially could negatively impact the Reagan campaign: \\\"I think it would have been much more helpful if Mr. Nixon had stayed in the\",\n \"had stayed in the background during this campaign. It would have been much more beneficial to Ronald Reagan.\\\" On October 3, 1980, Ford cast blame on Carter for the latter's charges of ineffectiveness on the part of theFederal Reserve Boarddue to his appointing of most of its members: \\\"President Carter, when the going gets tough, will do anything to save his own political skin. This latest action by the president is cowardly.\\\" Following theattempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, Ford told reporters while appearing at a fundraiser forThomas Keanthat criminals who use firearms should get the death penalty in the event someone is injured with the weapon. In September 1981, Ford advised Reagan against succumbing toWall Streetdemands and follow his own agenda for the economic policies of the US during an appearance onGood Morning America: \\\"He shouldn't let the gurus of Wall Street decide what the economic future of this country is going to be. They are wrong in my opinion.\\\"During a news conference on October 20,\",\n \"on October 20, 1981, Ford stated that stopping the Reagan administration's Saudi arms package could have a large negative impact to American relations in the Middle East. On March 24, 1982, Ford offered an endorsement of President Reagan's economic policies while also stating the possibility of Reagan being met with a stalemate by Congress if not willing to compromise while in Washington. Ford founded the annualAEI World Forumin 1982, and joined theAmerican Enterprise Instituteas a distinguished fellow. He was also awarded anhonorary doctorate at Central Connecticut State Universityon March 23, 1988. During an August 1982 fundraising reception, Ford stated his opposition to a constitutional amendment requiring the US to have a balanced budget, citing a need to elect \\\"members of the House and Senate who will immediately when Congress convenes act more responsibly in fiscal matters.\\\"Ford was a participant in the 1982 midterm elections, traveling toTennesseein October of that year to help Republican candidates.\",\n \"candidates. In January 1984, a letter signed by Ford and Carter and urging world leaders to extend their failed effort to end world hunger was released and sent toSecretary-General of the United NationsJavier Pérez de Cuéllar. In 1987, Ford testified before theSenate Judiciary Committeein favor ofDistrict of Columbia Circuit Courtjudge and formerSolicitor GeneralRobert Borkafter Bork wasnominatedby President Reagan to be anAssociate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.Bork's nomination was rejected by a vote of 58–42. In 1987, Ford'sHumor and the Presidency, a book of humorous political anecdotes, was published. By 1988, Ford was a member of several corporate boards including Commercial Credit, Nova Pharmaceutical,The Pullman Company,Tesoro Petroleum, and Tiger International, Inc.Ford also became an honorary director ofCitigroup, a position he held until his death. In October 1990, Ford appeared inGettysburg, PennsylvaniawithBob Hopeto commemorate the centennial anniversary of the birth of former\",\n \"the birth of former presidentDwight D. Eisenhower, where the two unveiled a plaque with the signatures of each living former president. In April 1991, Ford joined former presidentsRichard Nixon,Ronald Reagan, andJimmy Carter, in supporting theBrady Bill.Three years later, he wrote to theU.S. House of Representatives, along with Carter and Reagan, in support of theassault weapons ban. At the1992 Republican National Convention, Ford compared the election cycle to his 1976 loss to Carter and urged attention be paid to electing a Republican Congress: \\\"If it's change you want on Nov. 3, my friends, the place to start is not at the White House but in the United States' Capitol. Congress, as every school child knows, has the power of the purse. For nearly 40 years, Democratic majorities have held to the time-tested New Deal formula, tax and tax, spend and spend, elect and elect.\\\" (The Republicans would later win both Houses of Congress at the1994 mid-term elections.) In April 1997, Ford joined PresidentBill\",\n \"PresidentBill Clinton, former president Bush, andNancy Reaganin signing the \\\"Summit Declaration of Commitment\\\" in advocating for participation by private citizens in solving domestic issues within the United States. On January 20, 1998, during an interview at his Palm Springs home, Ford said the Republican Party's nominee in the 2000 presidential election would lose if the party turned ultra-conservative in their ideals: \\\"If we get way over on the hard right of the political spectrum, we will not elect a Republican President. I worry about the party going down this ultra-conservative line. We ought to learn from the Democrats: when they were running ultra-liberal candidates, they didn't win.\\\" In the prelude to the impeachment of President Clinton, Ford conferred with former president Carter and the two agreed to not speak publicly on the controversy, a pact broken by Carter when answering a question from a student atEmory University. In October 2001, Ford broke with conservative members of the Republican\",\n \"of the Republican Party by stating that gay and lesbian couples \\\"ought to be treated equally. Period.\\\" He became the highest-ranking Republican to embrace full equality for gays and lesbians, stating his belief that there should be a federal amendment outlawing anti-gay job discrimination and expressing his hope that the Republican Party would reach out to gay and lesbian voters.He also was a member of the Republican Unity Coalition, whichThe New York Timesdescribed as \\\"a group of prominent Republicans, including former President Gerald R. Ford, dedicated to making sexual orientation a non-issue in the Republican Party\\\". On November 22, 2004, New York Republican governorGeorge Patakinamed Ford and the other living former presidents (Carter, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton) as honorary members of the board rebuilding theWorld Trade Center. In a pre-recordedembargoed interviewwithBob WoodwardofThe Washington Postin July 2004, Ford stated that he disagreed \\\"very strongly\\\" with the Bush administration's\",\n \"administration's choice of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction as justification for its decision toinvade Iraq, calling it a \\\"big mistake\\\" unrelated to the national security of the United States and indicating that he would not have gone to war had he been president. The details of the interview were not released until after Ford's death, as he requested. Health issues On April 4, 1990, Ford was admitted toEisenhower Medical Centerfor surgery to replace his left knee, orthopedic surgeon Robert Murphy saying, \\\"Ford's entire left knee was replaced with an artificial joint, including portions of the adjacent femur, or thigh bone, and tibia, or leg bone.\\\" Ford suffered two minor strokes at the2000 Republican National Convention, but made a quick recovery after being admitted toHahnemann University Hospital.In January 2006, he spent 11 days at theEisenhower Medical Centernear his residence atRancho Mirage, California, for treatment ofpneumonia.On April 23, 2006, PresidentGeorge W. Bushvisited Ford at his\",\n \"Ford at his home in Rancho Mirage for a little over an hour. This was Ford's last public appearance and produced the last known public photos, video footage, and voice recording. While vacationing inVail, Colorado, Ford was hospitalized for two days in July 2006 for shortness of breath.On August 15 he was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital of theMayo ClinicinRochester, Minnesota, for testing and evaluation. On August 21, it was reported that he had been fitted with apacemaker. On August 25, he underwent anangioplastyprocedure at the Mayo Clinic. On August 28, Ford was released from the hospital and returned with his wife Betty to their California home. On October 13, he was scheduled to attend the dedication of a building of his namesake, theGerald R. Ford School of Public Policyat the University of Michigan, but due to poor health and on the advice of his doctors he did not attend. The previous day, Ford had entered the Eisenhower Medical Center for undisclosed tests; he was released on October 16.By November\",\n \"16.By November 2006, he was confined to a bed in his study. Death and legacy Ford died on December 26, 2006, at his home inRancho Mirage, California, of arterioscleroticcerebrovascular diseaseand diffusearteriosclerosis. He had end-stage coronary artery disease and severeaortic stenosisand insufficiency, caused by calcific alteration of one of his heart valves.At the time of his death, Ford was thelongest-lived U.S. president, having lived 93 years and 165 days (45 days longer than Ronald Reagan, whose record he surpassed).He died on the 34th anniversary of PresidentHarry S. Truman's death; he was the last surviving member of theWarren Commission. On December 30, 2006, Ford became the 11th U.S. president tolie in statein theRotunda of the U.S. Capitol.A state funeral and memorial services were held at theNational Cathedralin Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, January 2, 2007. After the service, Ford was interred at hisPresidential Museumin Grand Rapids, Michigan. Scouting was so important to Ford that his family\",\n \"that his family asked for Scouts to participate in his funeral. A few selected Scouts served as ushers inside the National Cathedral. About 400 Eagle Scouts were part of the funeral procession, where they formed an honor guard as the casket went by in front of the museum. One of the songs selected by Ford during the procession was the University of Michigan fight song, as it was a favorite of his that he preferred go be played during his presidency.After his death in December 2006, theUniversity of Michigan Marching Bandplayed the school's fight song for him one final time, for his last ride from theGerald R. Ford Airportin Grand Rapids, Michigan. The State of Michigan commissioned and submitted astatue of Fordto theNational Statuary Hall Collection, replacingZachariah Chandler. It was unveiled on May 3, 2011, in the Capitol Rotunda. Personal life Family When speaking of his mother and stepfather, Ford said that \\\"My stepfather was a magnificent person and my mother equally wonderful. So I couldn't have\",\n \"So I couldn't have written a better prescription for a superb family upbringing.\\\" Ford had three half-siblings from the second marriage of Leslie King Sr., his biological father: Marjorie King (1921–1993), Leslie Henry King (1923–1976), and Patricia Jane King (1925–1980). They never saw one another as children, and he did not know them at all until 1960. Ford was not aware of his biological father until he was 17, when his parents told him about the circumstances of his birth. That year his biological father, whom Ford described as a \\\"carefree, well-to-do man who didn't really give a damn about the hopes and dreams of his firstborn son\\\", approached Ford while he was waiting tables in a Grand Rapids restaurant. The two \\\"maintained a sporadic contact\\\" until Leslie King Sr.'s death in 1941. On October 15, 1948, Ford marriedElizabeth Bloomer(1918–2011) at GraceEpiscopal Churchin Grand Rapids; it was his first and only marriage and her second marriage. She had previously been married and, after a five‐year\",\n \"after a five‐year marriage, divorced from William Warren. Originally from Grand Rapids herself, she had lived in New York City for several years, where she worked as aJohn Robert Powersfashion model and a dancer in the auxiliary troupe of theMartha GrahamDance Company. At the time of their engagement, Ford was campaigning for what would be his first of 13 terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives. The wedding was delayed until shortly before theelectionbecause, asThe New York Timesreported in a 1974 profile of Betty Ford, \\\"Jerry Ford was running for Congress and wasn't sure how voters might feel about his marrying a divorced exdancer.\\\" The couple had four children: Michael Gerald, born in 1950, John Gardner (known as Jack) born in 1952,Steven Meigs, born in 1956, andSusan Elizabeth, born in 1957. Civic and fraternal organizations Ford was a member of several civic and fraternal organizations, including theJunior Chamber of Commerce(Jaycees),American Legion,AMVETS,Benevolent and\",\n \"and Protective Order of Elks,Sons of the Revolution,Veterans of Foreign Wars, and was an alumnus ofDelta Kappa Epsilonat Michigan. Freemasonry Ford was initiated intoFreemasonryon September 30, 1949.He later said in 1975, \\\"When I took my obligation as a master mason—incidentally, with my three younger brothers—I recalled the value my own father attached to that order. But I had no idea that I would ever be added to the company of the Father of our Country and 12 other members of the order who also served as Presidents of the United States.\\\"Ford was made a 33° Scottish Rite Mason on September 26, 1962.In April 1975, Ford was elected by a unanimous vote Honorary Grand Master of the International Supreme Council, Order of DeMolay, a position in which he served until January 1977.Ford received the degrees of York Rite Masonry (Chapter and Council degrees) in a special ceremony in the Oval Office on January 11, 1977, during his term as President of the United States. Ford was also a member of theShrinersand\",\n \"of theShrinersand theRoyal Order of Jesters; both beingaffiliated bodiesof Freemasonry. Public image Ford is the only person to hold the presidential office without being elected as either president or vice president. The choice of Ford to fill the vacant vice-presidency was based on Ford's reputation for openness and honesty.\\\"In all the years I sat in the House, I never knew Mr. Ford to make a dishonest statement nor a statement part-true and part-false. He never attempted to shade a statement, and I never heard him utter an unkind word\\\", saidMartha Griffiths. The trust the American public had in him was rapidly and severely tarnished by his pardon of Nixon.Nonetheless, many grant in hindsight that he had respectably discharged with considerable dignity a great responsibility that he had not sought. In spite of his athletic record and remarkable career accomplishments, Ford acquired a reputation as a clumsy, likable, and simple-mindedeveryman.Henry Kissingerdescribed him as \\\"as close to a normal human being\",\n \"normal human being as we'll ever get in that office\\\".Other pieces of the everyman image were attributed to his inevitable comparison with Nixon, his Midwestern stodginess, and his self-deprecation. An incident in 1975, when Ford tripped while exiting Air Force One in Austria, was famously and repeatedly parodied byChevy ChaseonSaturday Night Live, cementing Ford's image as a klutz.Additionally, an incident in April 1976, when Ford bit into a still shuck-wrapped tamale, a culinary faux pas, made national news and contributed to the image of Ford as a chronic bumbler.The incident has become a cautionary tale about the hazards of eating on the campaign trail. Ford has notably been portrayed in two television productions which included a central focus on his wife: theEmmy-winning 1987ABCbiographicaltelevision movieThe Betty Ford Story,and the 2022Showtimetelevision seriesThe First Lady. Honors Foreign honors The following are named after Ford: See also Notes References Bibliography Primary sources External links\",\n \"External links Official sites Media coverage Other\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":50,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"The first white man to visit the indigenous people who were forced on a reserve during the Klondike Gold Rush, worked for a company who officially stopped selling what in 2023?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"Animal Fur Products"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klondike_Gold_Rush"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A4n"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson%27s_Bay_Company"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Multiple constraints"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klondike_Gold_Rush', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A4n', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson%27s_Bay_Company']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klondike_Gold_Rush","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A4n","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson%27s_Bay_Company"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klondike_Gold_Rush\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A4n\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson%27s_Bay_Company\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["Klondike Gold Rush TheKlondike Gold Rushwas a migration by an estimated 100,000prospectorsto theKlondike regionofYukon, in north-western Canada, between 1896 and 1899.Goldwas discovered there by local miners on August 16, 1896; when news reachedSeattleandSan Franciscothe following year, it triggered astampede of prospectors. Some became wealthy, but the majority went in vain. It has been immortalized in films, literature, and photographs. To reach the gold fields, most prospectors took the route through the ports ofDyeaandSkagway, inSoutheast Alaska. Here, the \"Klondikers\" could follow either theChilkootor theWhite Passtrails to theYukon River, and sail down to the Klondike. The Canadian authorities required each of them to bring a year's supply of food, in order to prevent starvation. In all, the Klondikers' equipment weighed close to a ton, which most carried themselves, in stages. Performing this task, and contending with the mountainous terrain and cold climate, meant that most of those who persisted did not arrive until the summer of 1898. Once there, they found few opportunities, and many left disappointed. To accommodate the prospectors,boom townssprang up along the routes. At their terminus,Dawson Citywas founded at the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon rivers. From a population of 500 in 1896, the town grew to house approximately 17,000 people by summer 1898. Built of wood, isolated, and unsanitary, Dawson suffered from fires, high prices, and epidemics. Despite this, the wealthiest prospectors spent extravagantly, gambling and drinking in thesaloons. The indigenousHän, on the other hand, suffered from the rush; they were forcibly moved into areserveto make way for the Klondikers, and many died. Beginning in 1898, the newspapers that had encouraged so many to travel to the Klondike lost interest in it. In the summer of 1899,gold was discovered around Nomein westAlaska, and many prospectors left the Klondike for the new goldfields, marking the end of the Klondike Rush. The boom towns declined, and the population ofDawson Cityfell. Gold mining production in the Klondike peaked in 1903 after heavier equipment was brought in. Since then, the Klondike has been mined on and off, and today the legacy draws tourists to the region and contributes to its prosperity. Background Theindigenous peoples in north-west Americahad traded incoppernuggets prior toEuropean expansion. Most of the tribes were aware that gold existed in the region, but the metal was not valued by them.TheRussiansand theHudson's Bay Companyhad both explored the Yukon in the first half of the 19th century, but ignored the rumours of gold in favour offur trading, which offered more immediate profits. In the second half of the 19th century, American prospectors began to spread into the area.Making deals with the NativeTlingitandTagishtribes, the early prospectors opened the important routes ofChilkootand White Pass and reached theYukonvalley between 1870 and 1890.Here, they encountered the Hän people, semi-nomadic hunters and fishermen who lived along the Yukon and Klondike Rivers.The Hän did not appear to know about the extent of the gold deposits in the region. In 1883,Ed Schieffelinidentified gold deposits along the Yukon River, and an expedition up theFortymile Riverin 1886 discovered considerable amounts of it and founded Fortymile City.The same year gold had been found on the banks of the Klondike River, but in small amounts and with no claims being made.By late 1886, several hundred miners were working their way along the Yukon valley, living in small mining camps and trading with the Hän.On the Alaskan side of the border,Circle City, alogtown, was established in 1893 on the Yukon River. In three years it grew to become \"the Paris of Alaska\", with about 1,200 inhabitants, saloons, opera houses, schools, and libraries. In 1896, it was so well-known that acorrespondentfrom the ChicagoDaily Recordcame to visit. At the end of the year, it became aghost town, when large gold deposits were found upstream on the Klondike. Discovery (1896) On August 16, 1896, an American prospector namedGeorge Carmackand two Tagish men,Skookum Jim(Keish), andTagish Charlie(K̲áa Goox̱) were travelling south of the Klondike River.Following a suggestion fromRobert Henderson, a Canadian prospector, they began looking for gold onBonanza Creek, then called Rabbit Creek, one of the Klondike's tributaries.It is not clear who discovered the gold: George Carmack or Skookum Jim, but the group agreed to let George Carmack appear as the official discoverer because they feared that authorities would not recognize anindigenousclaimant. In any event, gold was present along the river in huge quantities.Carmack measured out four claims, strips of ground that could later be legally mined by the owner, along the river; these including two for himself—one as his normal claim, the second as a reward for having discovered the gold—and one each for Jim and Charlie.The claims were registered the next day at the police post at the mouth of the Fortymile River and news spread rapidly from there to other mining camps in the Yukon River valley. By the end of August, all of Bonanza Creek had been claimed by miners.A prospector then advanced up into one of the creeks feeding into Bonanza, later to be namedEldorado Creek. He discovered new sources of gold there, which would prove to be even richer than those on Bonanza.Claims began to be sold between miners and speculators for considerable sums.Just before Christmas, word of the gold reached Circle City. Despite the winter, many prospectors immediately left for the Klondike by dog-sled, eager to reach the region before the best claims were taken.The outside world was still largely unaware of the news, and although Canadian officials had managed to send a message to their superiors inOttawaabout the finds and influx of prospectors, the government did not give it much attention.The winter prevented river traffic, and it was not until June 1897 that the first boats left the area, carrying the freshly mined gold and the full story of the discoveries. Beginning of the stampede (July 1897) In the resulting Klondike stampede, an estimated 100,000 people tried to reach the Klondike goldfields, of whom only around 30,000 to 40,000 eventually did.It formed the height of the Klondike gold rush from the summer of 1897 until the summer of 1898. It began on July 14, 1897, inSan Franciscoand was spurred further three days later inSeattle, when the first of the early prospectors returned from the Klondike, bringing with them large amounts of gold on the shipsExcelsiorandPortland.The press reported that a total of $1,139,000 (equivalent to $1 billion at 2010 prices) had been brought in by these ships, although this proved to be an underestimate.The migration of prospectors caught so much attention that it was joined by outfitters, writers and photographers. Various factors lay behind this sudden mass response. Economically, the news had reached the US at the height of a series of financial recessions and bank failures in the 1890s. Thegold standardof the time tied paper money to the production of gold and shortages towards the end of the 19th century meant that gold dollars were rapidly increasing in value ahead of paper currencies and being hoarded.This had contributed to thePanic of 1893andPanic of 1896, which caused unemployment and financial uncertainty.There was a huge, unresolved demand for gold across the developed world that the Klondike promised to fulfil and, for individuals, the region promised higher wages or financial security. Psychologically, the Klondike, as historianPierre Bertondescribes, was \"just far enough away to be romantic and just close enough to be accessible\". Furthermore, the Pacific ports closest to the gold strikes were desperate to encourage trade and travel to the region.The mass journalism of the period promoted the event and the human interest stories that lay behind it. A worldwide publicity campaign engineered largely byErastus Brainerd, a Seattle newspaperman, helped establish that city as the premier supply centre and the departure point for the gold fields. The prospectors came from many nations, although an estimated majority of 60 to 80 percent were Americans or recent immigrants to America.Most had no experience in the mining industry, being clerks or salesmen.Mass resignations of staff to join the gold rush became notorious.In Seattle, this included the mayor, twelve policemen, and a significant percentage of the city's streetcar drivers. Some stampeders were famous:John McGraw, the former governor of Washington, joined, together with the prominent lawyer and sportsman A. Balliot.Frederick Burnham, a well-known American scout and explorer, arrived from Africa, only to be called back to take part in theSecond Boer War.Among those who documented the rush was the Swedish-born photographerEric Hegg, who took some of the iconic pictures of Chilkoot Pass, and reporterTappan Adney, who afterwards wrote a first-hand history of the stampede.Jack London, later a famous American writer, left to seek for gold but made his money during the rush mostly by working for prospectors. Seattle and San Francisco competed fiercely for business during the rush, with Seattle winning the larger share of trade.Indeed, one of the first to join the gold rush was William D. Wood, the mayor of Seattle, who resigned and formed a company to transport prospectors to the Klondike.The publicity around the gold rush led to a flurry of branded goods being marketed. Clothing, equipment, food, and medicines were all sold as \"Klondike\" goods, allegedly designed for the northwest.Guidebooks were published, giving advice about routes, equipment, mining, and capital necessary for the enterprise.The newspapers of the time termed this phenomenon \"Klondicitis\". Routes to the Klondike The Klondike could be reached only by the Yukon River, either upstream from its delta, downstream from its head, or from somewhere in the middle through its tributaries. River boats could navigate the Yukon in the summer from the delta until a point called Whitehorse, above the Klondike. Travel, in general, was made difficult by both terrain and climate. The region was mountainous, the rivers winding and sometimes impassable; summers, albeit short, still brought heat, while during the long winters, temperatures could drop below −50 °C (−58 °F). Aids for the travellers to carry their supplies varied; some had brought dogs, horses,mules, or oxen, whereas others had to rely on carrying their equipment on their backs or on sleds pulled by hand.Shortly after the stampede began in 1897, the Canadian authorities had introduced rules requiring anyone entering Yukon Territory to bring with them a year's supply of food; typically this weighed around 1,150 pounds (520 kg).By the time camping equipment, tools and other essentials were included, a typical traveller was transporting as much as a ton in weight.Unsurprisingly, the price of draft animals soared; at Dyea, even poor quality horses could sell for as much as $700 ($19,000), or be rented out for $40 ($1,100) a day. From Seattle or San Francisco, prospectors could travel by sea up the coast to the ports of Alaska.The route following the coast is now referred to as theInside Passage. It led to the ports of Dyea and Skagway plus ports of nearby trails. The sudden increase in demand encouraged a range of vessels to be pressed into service including oldpaddle wheelers, fishing boats, barges, and coal ships still full of coal dust. All were overloaded and many sank. All water routes It was possible to sail all the way to the Klondike, first from Seattle across the northern Pacific to the Alaskan coast. FromSt. Michael, at the Yukon River delta, a river boat could then take the prospectors the rest of the way up the river to Dawson, often guided by one of the NativeKoyukon peoplewho lived near St. Michael.Although this all-water route, also called \"the rich man's route\", was expensive and long – 4,700 miles (7,600 km) in total – it had the attraction of speed and avoiding overland travel.At the beginning of the stampede a ticket could be bought for $150 ($4,050) while during the winter 1897–98 the fare settled at $1,000 ($27,000). In 1897, some 1,800 travellers attempted this route but the vast majority were caught along the river when the region iced over in October.Only 43 reached the Klondike before winter and of those 35 had to return, having thrown away their equipment en route to reach their destination in time.The remainder mostly found themselves stranded in isolated camps and settlements along the ice-covered river often in desperate circumstances. Dyea/Skagway routes Most of the prospectors landed at the southeast Alaskan towns of Dyea and Skagway, both located at the head of the naturalLynn Canalat the end of the Inside Passage. From there, they needed to travel over the mountain ranges into Canada's Yukon Territory, and then down the river network to the Klondike.Along the trails, tent camps sprung up at places where prospectors had to stop to eat or sleep or at obstacles such as the icy lakes at the head of the Yukon.At the start of the rush, a ticket from Seattle to the port of Dyea cost $40 ($1,100) for a cabin. Premiums of $100 ($2,700), however, were soon paid and the steamship companies hesitated to post their rates in advance since they could increase on a daily basis. White Pass trail Those who landed at Skagway made their way over the White Pass before cutting across toBennett Lake.Although the trail began gently, it progressed over several mountains with paths as narrow as 2 feet (0.61 m) and in wider parts covered with boulders and sharp rocks.Under these conditions horses died in huge numbers, giving the route the informal name of Dead Horse Trail.The volumes of travellers and the wet weather made the trail impassable and, by late 1897, it was closed until further notice, leaving around 5,000 stranded in Skagway. An alternative toll road suitable for wagons was eventually constructed and this, combined with colder weather that froze the muddy ground, allowed the White Pass to reopen, and prospectors began to make their way into Canada.Moving supplies and equipment over the pass had to be done in stages. Most divided their belongings into 65 pounds (29 kg) packages that could be carried on a man's back, or heavier loads that could be pulled by hand on a sled.Ferrying packages forwards and walking back for more, a prospector would need about thirty round trips, a distance of at least 2,500 miles (4,000 km), before they had moved all of their supplies to the end of the trail. Even using a heavy sled, a strong man would be covering 1,000 miles (1,600 km) and need around 90 days to reach Lake Bennett. Chilkoot trail Those who landed at Dyea, Skagway's neighbour town, travelled theChilkoot Trailand crossed its pass to reach Lake Lindeman, which fed into Lake Bennett at the head of the Yukon River.The Chilkoot Pass was higher than the White Pass, but more used it: around 22,000 during the gold rush.The trail passed up through camps until it reached a flat ledge, just before the main ascent, which was too steep for animals.This location was known as the Scales, and was where goods were weighed before travellers officially entered Canada. The cold, the steepness and the weight of equipment made the climb extremely arduous and it could take a day to get to the top of the 1,000 feet (300 m) high slope. As on the White Pass trail, supplies needed to be broken down into smaller packages and carried in relay.Packers, prepared to carry supplies for cash, were available along the route but would charge up to $1 ($27) per lb (0.45 kg) on the later stages; many of these packers were natives: Tlingits or, less commonly, Tagish.Avalancheswere common in the mountains and, on April 3, 1898, one claimed the lives of more than 60 people travelling over Chilkoot Pass. Entrepreneurs began to provide solutions as the winter progressed. Steps were cut into the ice at the Chilkoot Pass which could be used for a daily fee, this 1,500 step staircase becoming known as the \"Golden Steps\".By December 1897, Archie Burns built atramwayup the final parts of the Chilkoot Pass. A horse at the bottom turned a wheel, which pulled a rope running to the top and back; freight was loaded on sledges pulled by the rope. Five more tramways soon followed, one powered by asteam engine, charging between 8 and 30 cents ($2 and $8) per 1 pound (0.45 kg).Anaerial tramwaywas built in the spring of 1898, able to move 9 tonnes of goods an hour up to the summit. Head of Yukon River At Lakes Bennett and Lindeman, the prospectors camped to build rafts or boats that would take them the final 500 miles (800 km) down the Yukon to Dawson City in the spring.7,124 boats of varying size and quality left in May 1898; by that time, the forests around the lakes had been largely cut down for timber.The river posed a new problem. AboveWhitehorse, it was dangerous, with several rapids along the Miles Canyon through to the White Horse Rapids. After many boats were wrecked and several hundred people died, theNorth-West Mounted Police(NWMP) introduced safety rules,vettingthe boats carefully and forbidding women and children to travel through the rapids.Additional rules stated that any boat carrying passengers required alicensed pilot, typically costing $25 ($680), although some prospectors simply unpacked their boats and let them drift unmanned through the rapids with the intent of walking down to collect them on the other side.During the summer, a horse-powered rail-tramway was built by Norman Macaulay, capable of carrying boats and equipment through the canyon at $25 ($680) a time, removing the need for prospectors to navigate the rapids. Parallel trails There were a few more trails established during 1898 from South-east Alaska to the Yukon River. One was the Dalton trail: starting from Pyramid Harbour, close to Dyea, it went across theChilkat Passsome miles west of Chilkoot and turned north to the Yukon River, a distance of about 350 miles (560 km). This was created by Jack Dalton as a summer route, intended for cattle and horses, and Dalton charged a toll of $250 ($6,800) for its use. The Takou route started from Juneau and went north-east to Teslin Lake. From here, it followed a river to the Yukon, where it met the Dyea and Skagway route at a point halfway to the Klondike.It meant dragging and poling canoes up-river and through mud together with crossing a 5,000 feet (1,500 m) mountain along a narrow trail. Finally, there was the Stikine route starting from the port of Wrangell further south-east of Skagway. This route went up the uneasy Stikine River to Glenora, thehead of navigation. From Glenora, prospectors would have to carry their supplies 150 miles (240 km) to Teslin Lake where it, like the Takou route, met the Yukon River system. All-Canadian routes An alternative to the South-east Alaskan ports were the All-Canadian routes, so-called because they mostly stayed on Canadian soil throughout their journey.These were popular with British and Canadians for patriotic reasons and because they avoided American customs.The first of these, around 1,000 miles (1,600 km) in length, started fromAshcroftin British Columbia and crossed swamps, rivergorges, and mountains until it met with the Stikine River route at Glenora.From Glenora, prospectors would face the same difficulties as those who came from Wrangell.At least 1,500 men attempted to travel along the Ashcroft route and 5,000 along the Stikine.The mud and the slushy ice of the two routes proved exhausting, killing or incapacitating the pack animals and creating chaos amongst the travellers. Three more routes started fromEdmonton,Alberta; these were not much better – barely trails at all – despite being advertised as \"the inside track\" and the \"back door to the Klondike\".One, the \"overland route\", headed north-west from Edmonton, ultimately meeting thePeace Riverand then continuing on overland to the Klondike, crossing theLiard Riveren route.To encourage travel via Edmonton, the government hired T.W. Chalmers to build a trail, which became known as theKlondike Trailor Chalmers Trail.The other two trails, known as the \"water routes\", involved more river travel. One went by boat along rivers and overland to the Yukon River system atPelly Riverand from there to Dawson.Another went north of Dawson by theMackenzie RivertoFort McPherson, before entering Alaska and meeting the Yukon River atFort Yukon, downstream to the Klondike.From here, the boat and equipment had to be pulled up the Yukon about 400 miles (640 km). An estimated 1,660 travellers took these three routes, of whom only 685 arrived, some taking up to 18 months to make the journey. \"All-American\" route An equivalent to the All-Canadian routes was the \"All-American route\", which aimed to reach the Yukon from the port ofValdez, which lay further along the Alaskan coast from Skagway.This, it was hoped, would evade the Canadian customs posts and provide an American-controlled route into the interior.From late 1897 onwards 3,500 men and women attempted it; delayed by the winter snows, fresh efforts were made in the spring. In practice, the huge Valdez glacier that stood between the port and the Alaskan interior proved almost insurmountable and only 200 managed to climb it; by 1899, the cold andscurvywas causing many deaths amongst the rest.Other prospectors attempted an alternative route across theMalaspina Glacierjust to the east, suffering even greater hardships.Those who did manage to cross it found themselves having to negotiate miles of wilderness before they could reach Dawson. Their expedition was forced to turn back the same way they had come, with only four men surviving. Border control The borders in South-east Alaskawere disputedbetween the US, Canada and Britain since the Americanpurchase of Alaskafrom Russia in 1867.The US and Canada both claimed the ports of Dyea and Skagway.This, combined with the numbers of American prospectors, the quantities of gold being mined and the difficulties in exercising government authority in such a remote area, made the control of the borders a sensitive issue. Early on in the gold rush, the US Army sent a smalldetachmentto Circle City, in case intervention was required in the Klondike, while the Canadian government considered excluding all American prospectors from the Yukon Territory.Neither eventuality took place and instead the US agreed to make Dyea a sub-port of entry for Canadians, allowing British ships to land Canadian passengers and goods freely there, while Canada agreed to permit American miners to operate in the Klondike.Both decisions were unpopular among their domestic publics: American businessmen complained that their right to amonopolyon regional trade was being undermined, while the Canadian public demanded action against the American miners. The North-West Mounted Police set up control posts at the borders of the Yukon Territory or, where that was disputed, at easily controlled points such as the Chilkoot and White Passes.These units were armed withMaxim guns.Their tasks included enforcing the rules requiring that travellers bring a year's supply of food with them to be allowed into the Yukon Territory, checking for illegal weapons, preventing the entry of criminals and enforcing customs duties. This last task was particularly unpopular with American prospectors, who faced paying an average of 25 percent of the value of their goods and supplies.The Mounties had a reputation for running these posts honestly, although accusations were made that they took bribes.Prospectors, on the other hand, tried to smuggle prize items likesilkandwhiskeyacross the pass in tins and bales of hay: the former item for the ladies, the latter for the saloons. Mining Of the estimated 30,000 to 40,000 people who reached Dawson City during the gold rush, only around 15,000 to 20,000 finally became prospectors. Of these, no more than 4,000 struck gold and only a few hundred became rich.By the time most of the stampeders arrived in 1898, the best creeks had all been claimed, either by the long-term miners in the region or by the first arrivals of the year before.The Bonanza, Eldorado, Hunker, and Dominion Creeks were all taken, with almost 10,000 claims recorded by the authorities by July 1898; a new prospector would have to look further afield to find a claim of his own. Geologically, the region was permeated with veins of gold, forced to the surface byvolcanicaction and then worn away by the action of rivers and streams, leaving nuggets and gold dust in deposits known asplacer gold.Some ores lay along the creek beds in lines of soil, typically 15 feet (4.6 m) to 30 feet (9.1 m) beneath the surface.Others, formed by even older streams, lay along the hilltops; these deposits were called \"bench gold\".Finding the gold was challenging. Initially, miners had assumed that all the gold would be along the existing creeks, and it was not until late in 1897 that the hilltops began to be mined.Gold was also unevenly distributed, which made the prediction of good mining sites uncertain without exploratory digging. Methods Mining began with clearing the ground of vegetation and debris.Prospect holes were then dug in an attempt to find the ore or \"pay streak\".If these holes looked productive, proper digging could commence, aiming down to the bedrock, where the majority of the gold was found.The digging would be carefully monitored in case the operation needed to be shifted to allow for changes in the flow. In the sub-Arctic climate of the Klondike, a layer of hard permafrost lay only 6 feet (1.8 m) below the surface.Traditionally, this had meant that mining in the region only occurred during the summer months, but the pressure of the gold rush made such a delay unacceptable.Late 19th-century technology existed for dealing with this problem, including hydraulic mining and stripping, anddredging. Still, the heavy equipment required for this could not be brought into the Klondike during the gold rush. Instead, the miners relied on wood fires to soften the ground to a depth of about 14 inches (360 mm) and then remove the resulting gravel. The process was repeated until the gold was reached. In theory, no support of the shaft was necessary because of the permafrost although in practice sometimes the fire melted the permafrost and caused collapses.Fires could also produce harmful gases, which had to be removed by bellows or other tools.The resulting \"dirt\" brought out of the mines froze quickly in winter and could be processed only during the warmer summer months.An alternative, more efficient, approach called steam thawing was devised between 1897 and 1898; this used a furnace to pump steam directly into the ground, but since it required additional equipment it was not a widespread technique during the years of the rush. In the summer, water would sluice and pan the dirt, separating the heavier gold from gravel.This required miners to construct sluices, which were sequences of wooden boxes 15 feet (4.6 m) long, through which the dirt would be washed; up to 20 of these might be needed for each mining operation.The sluices in turn required much water, usually produced by creating a dam and ditches or crude pipes.\"Bench gold\" mining on the hill sides could not use sluice lines because water could not be pumped that high up. Instead, these mines used rockers, boxes that moved back and forth like a cradle, to create the motion needed for separation.Finally, the resulting gold dust could be exported out of the Klondike; exchanged for paper money at the rate of $16 ($430) per troy ounce (ozt)(31.1 g) through one of the major banks that opened in Dawson City, or simply used as money when dealing with local traders. Business Successful mining took time and capital, particularly once most of the timber around the Klondike had been cut down.A realistic mining operation required $1,500 ($42,000) for wood to be burned to melt the ground, along with around $1,000 ($28,000) to construct a dam, $1,500 ($42,000) for ditches and up to $600 ($16,800) for sluice boxes, a total of $4,600 ($128,800).The attraction of the Klondike to a prospector, however, was that when gold was found, it was often highly concentrated.Some of the creeks in the Klondike were fifteen times richer in gold than those inCalifornia, and richer still than those inSouth Africa.In just two years, for example, $230,000 ($6,440,000) worth of gold was brought up from claim 29 on the Eldorado Creek. Under Canadian law, miners first had to get a licence, either when they arrived at Dawson or en route fromVictoriain Canada.They could then prospect for gold and when they had found a suitable location, lay a claim to mining rights over it.To stake a claim, a prospector would drive stakes into the ground a measured distance apart and then return to Dawson to register the claim for $15 ($410).This normally had to be done within three days, and by 1897 only one claim per person at a time was allowed in a district, although married couples could exploit a loophole that allowed the wife to register a claim in her own name, doubling their amount of land. The claim could be mined freely for a year, after which a $100 ($2,800) fee had to be paid annually. Should the prospector leave the claim for more than three days without good reason, another miner could make a claim on the land.The Canadian government also charged aroyaltyof between 10 and 20 percent on the value of gold taken from a claim. Traditionally, a mining claim had been granted over a 500-foot (150 m) long stretch of a creek, including the land from one side of the valley to another. The Canadian authorities had tried to reduce this length to 150 feet (46 m), but under pressure from miners had been forced to agree to 250 feet (76 m). The only exception to this was a \"Discovery\" claim, the first to be made on a creek, which could be 500 feet (150 m) long.The exact lengths of claims were often challenged and when the governmentsurveyorWilliam Ogilvieconducted surveys to settle disputes, he found some claims exceeded the official limit.The excess fractions of land then became available as claims and were sometimes quite valuable. Claims could be bought. However, their price depended on whether they had been yet proved to contain gold.A prospector with capital might consider taking a risk on an \"unproved\" claim on one of the better creeks for $5,000 ($140,000); a wealthier miner could buy a \"proved\" mine for $50,000 ($1,400,000).The well known claim eight on Eldorado Creek was sold for as much as $350,000 ($9,800,000).Prospectors were also allowed to hire others to work for them.Enterprising miners such asAlex McDonaldset about amassing mines and employees.Leveraginghis acquisitions with short-term loans, by the autumn of 1897 McDonald had purchased 28 claims, estimated to be worth millions.Swiftwater Billfamously borrowed heavily against his claim on the Eldorado creek, relying on hired hands to mine the gold to keep up his interest payments. The less fortunate or less well funded prospectors rapidly found themselves destitute. Some chose to sell their equipment and return south.Others took jobs as manual workers, either in mines or in Dawson; the typical daily pay of $15 ($410) was high by external standards, but low compared to the cost of living in the Klondike.The possibility that a new creek might suddenly produce gold, however, continued to tempt poorer prospectors.Smaller stampedes around the Klondike continued throughout the gold rush, when rumours of new strikes would cause a small mob to descend on fresh sites, hoping to be able to stake out a high-value claim. Life in the Klondike The massive influx of prospectors drove the formation of boom towns along the routes of the stampede, with Dawson City in the Klondike the largest.The new towns were crowded, often chaotic and many disappeared just as soon as they came.Most stampeders were men but women also travelled to the region, typically as the wife of a prospector.Some women entertained in gambling and dance halls built by business men and women who were encouraged by the lavish spending of successful miners. Dawson remained relatively lawful, protected by the Canadian NWMP, which meant that gambling and prostitution were accepted while robbery and murder were kept low. By contrast, especially the port of Skagway under US jurisdiction in Southeast Alaska became infamous for its criminal underworld.The extreme climate and remoteness of the region in general meant that supplies and communication with the outside world including news and mail were scarce. Boomtowns The ports of Dyea and Skagway, through which most of the prospectors entered, were tiny settlements before the gold rush, Skagway consisting of only a single log cabin, and Dyea comprising a handful of Tlingit houses and the Healy & Wilson trading store.Because there were nodocking facilities, ships had to unload their cargo directly onto the beach, where people tried to move their goods before high tide.Inevitablycargoswere lost in the process.Some travellers had arrived intending to supply goods and services to the would-be miners; some of these in turn, realizing how difficult it would be to reach Dawson, chose to do the same.Within weeks, storehouses, saloons, and offices lined the muddy streets of Dyea and Skagway, surrounded by tents andhovels. Skagway became famous in international media; the authorJohn Muirdescribed the town as \"a nest of ants taken into a strange country and stirred up by a stick\".While Dyea remained a transit point throughout the winter, Skagway began to take on a more permanent character.Skagway also built wharves out into the bay in order to attract a greater share of the prospectors.The town was effectively lawless, dominated by drinking, gunfire and prostitution.The visiting NWMP SuperintendentSam Steelenoted that it was \"little better than a hell on earth ... about the roughest place in the world\".Nonetheless, by the summer of 1898, with a population—including migrants—of between 15,000 and 20,000, Skagway was the largest city in Alaska. In early 1898 Skagway fell under the control ofJefferson Randolph \"Soapy\" Smithand his men, who arrived from Seattle shortly after Skagway began to expand.He was an Americanconfidence manwhose gang, 200 to 300 strong, cheated and stole from the prospectors travelling through the region.He maintained the illusion of being an upstanding member of the community, opening three saloons as well as creating fake businesses to assist in his operations.One of his scams was a faketelegraph officecharging to send messages all over the US and Canada, often pretending to receive a reply.Opposition to Smith steadily grew and, after weeks ofvigilanteactivity, he was killed in Skagway during theshootout on Juneau Wharfon July 8, 1898. Other towns also boomed.Wrangell, port of the Stikine route and boom town from earlier gold rushes, increased in size again, with robberies, gambling and nude female dancing commonplace.Valdez, formed on theGulf of Alaskaduring the attempt to create the \"All-American\" route to the Klondike during the winter of 1897–1898, became a tent city of people who stayed behind to supply the ill-fated attempts to reach the interior.Edmonton, Alberta (at that time, the District of Alberta in the Northwest Territories), Canada, increased from a population of 1,200 before the gold rush to 4,000 during 1898.Beyond the immediate region, cities such as San Francisco, Seattle,Tacoma,Portland,Vancouverand Victoria all saw their populations soar as a result of the stampede and the trade it brought along. Dawson City Dawson Citywas founded in the early years of the Klondike goldrush, when prospectorJoe Ladueand shopkeeper Arthur Harper decided to make a profit from the influx to the Klondike.The two men bought 178 acres (72 ha) of themudflatsat the junction of the Klondike and Yukon rivers from the government and laid out the street plan for a new town, bringing in timber and other supplies to sell to the migrants.The Hän village ofTr'ochëkalong Deer Creek was considered to be too close to the new town, and the NWMP SuperintendentCharles Constantinemoved its inhabitants 3 miles (4.8 km) down-river to a smallreserve.The town, in the beginning simply known as \"Harper and Ladue town site\", was named Dawson City afterthe director of Canada's Geographical Survey.It grew rapidly to hold 500 people by the winter of 1896, with plots of land selling for $500 ($14,000) each. In the spring of 1898, the Dawson area population, including the surrounding gold fields, rose further to 30,000 as stampeders arrived over the passes.The centre of the town, Front Street, was lined with hastily built buildings and warehouses, together with log cabins and tents spreading out across the rest of the settlement.There was no running water or sewerage, and only twospringsfor drinking water to supplement the increasingly polluted river.In spring, the unpaved streets were churned into thick mud and in summer the settlement reeked of human effluent and was plagued by flies and mosquitoes.Land in Dawson was now scarce, and plots sold for up to $10,000 ($280,000) each; prime locations on Front Street could reach $20,000 ($560,000) while a small log cabin might rent for $100 ($2,800) a month.As a result, Dawson's population spread south into the empty Hän village, renaming it Klondike City.Other communities emerged closer to the mines, such as Granville on Dominion Creek andGrand Forkson Bonanza Creek. The newly built town proved highly vulnerable to fire. Houses were made of wood, heated with stoves and lit by candles andoil lamps; water for emergencies was wanting, especially in the frozen winters.The first major fire occurred on November 25, 1897, started accidentally by dance-hall girl Belle Mitchell.She also accidentally started a second major fire on October 14, 1898, which, in the absence of afire brigadein Dawson, destroyed two major saloons, the post-office building and the Bank of British North America at a cost of $500,000 ($14,000,000).The worst fire occurred on April 26, 1899, when a saloon caught fire in the middle of astrikeby the newly established fire brigade.Most of the major landmarks in the town were burned to the ground: 117 buildings were destroyed, with the damage estimated at over $1 million ($28,000,000). Logistics The remoteness of Dawson proved an ongoing problem for the supply of food, and as the population grew to 5,000 in 1897, this became critical.When the rivers iced over, it became clear that there would not be enough food for that winter.The NWMP evacuated some prospectors without supplies toFort Yukonin Alaska from September 30 onwards, while others made their way out of the Klondike in search of food and shelter for the winter. Prices remained high in Dawson and supply fluctuated according to the season. During the winter of 1897 salt became worth its weight in gold, while nails, vital for construction work, rose in price to $28 ($784) per lb (0.45 kg).Cans of butter sold for $5 ($140) each.The only eight horses in Dawson were slaughtered for dog food as they could not be kept alive over the winter.The first fresh goods arriving in the spring of 1898 sold for record prices, eggs reaching $3 ($84) each and apples $1 ($28). Scurvy, a potentially fatal illness caused by the lack of vitamin C, became a problem, particularly during the winter where fresh food was unavailable. English prospectors gave it the telling name of \"Canadian black leg\".It struck, among others, writer Jack London and, although not fatal in his case, brought an end to his mining career.Dysenteryandmalariawere also common in Dawson, and an epidemic oftyphoidbroke out in July and ran rampant throughout the summer.Up to 140 patients were taken into the newly constructed St Mary's Hospital and thousands were affected.Measures were taken by the following year to prevent further outbreaks, including the introduction of better sewage management and the piping in of water from further upstream.These gave improvements in 1899, although typhoid remained a problem.The new Hän reserve, however, lay downstream from Dawson City, and here the badly contaminated river continued to contribute to epidemics of typhoid anddiphtheriathroughout the gold rush. Conspicuous consumption Despite these challenges, the huge quantities of gold coming through Dawson City encouraged a lavish lifestyle amongst the richer prospectors. Saloons were typically open 24 hours a day, with whiskey the standard drink.Gambling was popular, with the major saloons each running their own rooms; a culture of high stakes evolved, with rich prospectors routinely betting $1,000 ($28,000) atdiceor playing for a $5,000 ($140,000)pokerpot.The establishments around Front Street had grand façades in aParisianstyle, mirrors and plate-glass windows and, from late 1898, were lit by electric light.The dance halls in Dawson were particularly prestigious and major status symbols, both for customers and their owners.Wealthy prospectors were expected to drinkchampagneat $60 ($1,660) a bottle, and the Pavilion dancehall cost its owner, Charlie Kimball, as much as $100,000 ($2,800,000) to construct and decorate.Elaborate opera houses were built, bringing singers and specialty acts to Dawson. Tales abounded of prospectors spending huge sums on entertainment — Jimmy McMahon once spent $28,000 ($784,000) in a single evening, for example.Most payments were made in gold dust and in places like saloons, there was so much spilled gold that a profit could be made just by sweeping the floor.Some of the richest prospectors lived flamboyantly in Dawson.Swiftwater Bill, a gambler who rarely went anywhere without wearing silk and diamonds, was one of them. When he discovered the woman he was in love with (who liked eggs, an expensive luxury) was dining with another man, he allegedly bought all the eggs in Dawson, had them boiled and fed them to dogs.Another miner, Frank Conrad, threw a sequence of gold objects onto a ship as tokens of his esteem when his favourite singer left Dawson City.The wealthiest dance-hall girls followed suit: Daisy D'Avara had a belt made for herself from $340 ($9,520) in gold dollar coins; another, Gertie Lovejoy, had a diamond inserted between her two front teeth.The miner and businessman Alex McDonald, despite being styled the \"King of the Klondike\", was unusual amongst his peers for his lack of grandiose spending. Law and order Unlike its American equivalents, Dawson City was a law-abiding town.By 1897, 96 members of theNWMP had been sent to the districtand by 1898, this had increased to 288, an expensive commitment by the Canadian government.By June 1898, the force was headed by ColonelSam Steele, an officer with a reputation for firm discipline.In 1898, there were no murders and only a few major thefts; in all, only about 150 arrests were made in the Yukon for serious offences that year.Of these arrests, over half were for prostitution and resulted from an attempt by the NWMP to regulate the sex industry in Dawson: regular monthly arrests, $50 ($1,400) fines and medical inspections were imposed, with the proceeds being used to fund the local hospitals.The so-calledblue lawswere strictly enforced. Saloons and other establishments closed promptly at midnight on Saturday, and anyone caught working on Sunday was liable to be fined or set to chopping firewood for the NWMP.The NWMP are generally regarded by historians to have been an efficient and honest force during the period, although their task was helped by the geography of the Klondike which made it relatively easy to bar entry to undesirables or prevent suspects from leaving the region. In contrast to the NWMP, the early civil authorities were criticized by the prospectors for being inept and potentially corrupt.Thomas Fawcett was the gold commissioner and temporary head of the Klondike administration at the start of the gold rush; he was accused of keeping the details of new claims secret and allowing what historian Kathryn Winslow termed \"carelessness, ignorance and partiality\" to reign in the mine recorder's office.Following campaigns against him by prospectors, who were backed by the local press, Fawcett was relieved by the Canadian government.His successor, MajorJames Morrow Walsh, was considered a stronger character and arrived in May 1898, but fell ill and returned east in July.It was left to his replacement, William Ogilvie, supported by aRoyal Commission, to conduct reforms.The Commission, in lack of evidence, cleared Fawcett of all charges, which meant that he was not punished further than being relieved.Ogilvie proved a much stronger administrator and subsequently revisited many of the mining surveys of his predecessors. News and mail In the remote Klondike, there was great demand for news and contact with the world outside. During the first months of the stampede in 1897, it was said that no news was too old to be read. In the lack of newspapers, some prospectors would read can labels until they knew them by heart.The following year, two teams fought their way over the passes to reach Dawson City first, complete withprinting-presses, with the aim of gaining control of the newspaper market.Gene Kelly, the editor of theKlondike Nuggetarrived first, but without his equipment, and it was the team behind theMidnight Sunwho produced the first daily newspaper in Dawson.TheDawson Minerfollowed shortly after, bringing the number of daily newspapers in the town during the gold rush up to three.TheNuggetsold for $24 ($680) as an annual subscription, and became well known for championing miners and for its lucid coverage of scandals.Paper was often hard to find and during the winter of 1898–99, theNuggethad to be printed on butcher's wrapping paper.News could also be told. In June, 1898, a prospector bought an edition of theSeattle Post-Intelligencerat an auction and charged spectators a dollar each to have it read aloud in one of Dawson's halls. Mail service was chaotic during the stampede.Apart from the number of prospectors, two major obstacles stood in its way. To begin with, any mail from America to Dawson City was sent to Juneau in South-east Alaska before being sent through Dawson and then down the Yukon to Circle City. From here it was then distributed by theUS Post Officeback up to Dawson.The huge distances involved resulted in delays of several months and frequently the loss of protective envelopes and their addresses.The second problem was in Dawson itself, which initially lacked a post office and therefore relied on two stores and a saloon to act as informal delivery points.The NWMP were tasked to run the mail system by October 1897, but they were ill-trained to do so.Up to 5,700 letters might arrive in a single shipment, all of which had to be collected in person from the post office. This resulted in huge queues, with claimants lining up outside the office for up to three days.Those who had no time and could afford it would pay others to stand in line for them, preferably a woman since they were allowed to get ahead in line out of politeness.Postage stamps, like paper in general, were scarce and rationed to two per customer.By 1899, trained postal staff took over mail delivery and relieved the NWMP of this task. Role of women In 1898 eight percent of those living in the Klondike territory were women, and in towns like Dawson this rose to 12 percent.Many women arrived with their husbands or families, but others travelled alone.Most came to the Klondike for similar economic and social reasons as male prospectors, but they attracted particular media interest.The gender imbalance in the Klondike encouraged business proposals to ship young, single women into the region to marry newly wealthy miners; few, if any, of these marriages ever took place, but some single women appear to have travelled on their own in the hope of finding prosperous husbands.Guidebooks gave recommendations for what practical clothes women should take to the Klondike: the female dress code of the time was formal, emphasising long skirts andcorsets, but most women adapted this for the conditions of the trails.Regardless of experience, women in a party were typically expected to cook for the group.Few mothers brought their children with them due to the risks of the travel. Once in the Klondike, very few women—less than one percent—actually worked as miners.Many were married to miners; however, their lives as partners on the gold fields were still hard and often lonely. They had extensive domestic duties, including thawing ice and snow for water, breaking up frozen food, chopping wood and collecting wild foods.In Dawson and other towns, some women took in laundry to make money.This was a physically demanding job but could be relatively easily combined with child care duties.Others took jobs in the service industry, for example as waitresses or seamstresses, which could pay well, but were often punctuated by periods of unemployment.Both men and women openedroadhouses, but women were considered to be better at running them.A few women worked in the packing trade, carrying goods on their backs, or became domestic servants. Wealthier women with capital might invest in mines and other businesses.One of the most prominent businesswomen in the Klondike wasBelinda Mulrooney. She brought a consignment of cloth and hot water bottles with her when she arrived in the Klondike in early 1897, and with the proceeds of those sales she first builta roadhouse at Grand Forksand later a grand hotel in Dawson.She invested widely, including acquiring her own mining company, and was reputed to be the richest woman of the Klondike.The wealthyMartha Blackwas abandoned by her husband early in the journey to the Klondike but continued on without him, reaching Dawson City where she became a prominent citizen, investing in various mining and business ventures with her brother. A relatively small number of women worked in the entertainment andsex industries.Theeliteof these women were the highly paid actresses and courtesans of Dawson; beneath them werechorus linedancers, who usually doubled as hostesses and other dance hall workers.While still better paid than white-collar male workers, these women worked very long hours and had significant expenses.The entertainment industry merged into the sex industry, where women made a living as prostitutes. The sex industry in the Klondike was concentrated in Klondike City and in a backstreet area of Dawson.A hierarchy of sexual employment existed, with brothels and parlour houses at the top, small independent \"cigar shops\" in the middle, and, at the bottom, the prostitutes who worked out of small huts called \"hutches\".Life for these workers was a continual struggle and the suicide rate was high. The degree of involvement between Indigenous women and the stampeders varied. Many Tlingit women worked as packers for the prospectors, for example, carrying supplies and equipment, sometimes also transporting their babies as well.Hän women had relatively little contact with the white immigrants, however, and there was a significant social divide between local Hän women and white women.Although before 1897 there had been a number of Indigenous women who married western men, including Kate Carmack, the Tagish wife of one of the discoverers, this practice did not survive into the stampede.Very few stampeders married Hän women, and very few Hän women worked as prostitutes.\"Respectable\" white women would avoid associating with Indigenous women or prostitutes: those who did risked scandal. End of the gold rush By 1899 telegraphy stretched fromSkagway, Alaska, to Dawson City, Yukon, allowing instant international contact.In 1898, theWhite Pass and Yukon Routerailway began to be built between Skagway and thehead of navigation on the Yukon.When it was completed in 1900, the Chilkoot trail and its tramways became obsolete.Despite these improvements in communication and transport, the rush faltered from 1898 on.It began in the summer of 1898, when many of the prospectors arriving in Dawson City found themselves unable to make a living and left for home.For those who stayed, the wages of casual work, depressed by the number of men, fell to $100 ($2,700) a month by 1899. The world's newspapers began to turn against the Klondike gold rush as well.In the spring of 1898, theSpanish–American Warremoved Klondike from the headlines.\"Ah, go to the Klondike!\" became a popular phrase of disgust.Klondike-branded goods had to be disposed of at special rates in Seattle. Another factor in the decline was the change in Dawson City, which had developed throughout 1898, metamorphosing from a ramshackle, if wealthy, boom town into a more sedate, conservative municipality.Modern luxuries were introduced, including \"zinc bath tubs, pianos, billiard tables, Brussels carpets in hotel dining rooms, menus printed in French and invitational balls\" as noted by historian Kathryn Winslow.Visiting Senator Jerry Lynch likened the newly paved streets with their smartly dressed inhabitants tothe Strandin London.It was no longer attractive for prospectors used to a wilder way of living.Even the formerly lawless town of Skagway had become respectable by 1899. The final trigger, however, was the discovery of gold elsewhere in Canada and Alaska, prompting a new stampede, this time away from the Klondike. In August 1898, gold had been found atAtlin Lakeat the head of the Yukon River, generating a flurry of interest, but during the winter of 1898–99 much larger quantities were foundat Nome.In 1899, a flood of prospectors from across the region left for Nome, about 2,500 from Dawson alone during August and September.The Klondike gold rush was over. Legacy People Only a few hundred of the 100,000 people who left for the Klondike during the gold rush became rich, and only a handful managed to maintain their wealth.They typically spent $1,000 ($27,000) each reaching the region, which when combined exceeded what was produced from the gold fields between 1897 and 1901.Those who did find gold often lost their fortunes in the subsequent years and died penniless attempting to reproduce their earlier good fortune.Businessman and miner Alex McDonald, for example, continued to accumulate land after the boom until his money ran out; he died in poverty, still prospecting. Antoine Stander, who discovered gold on Eldorado Creek, abused alcohol, dissipated his fortune and ended working in a ship's kitchen to pay his way.The three discoverers had mixed fates. George Carmack left his wife Kate—who had found it difficult to adapt to their new lifestyle—remarried and lived in relative prosperity; Skookum Jim had a huge income from his mining royalties but refused to settle and continued to prospect until his death in 1916; Dawson Charlie spent lavishly and died in an alcohol-related accident. The richest of the Klondike saloon owners, businessmen and gamblers also typically lost their fortunes and died in poverty.Gene Allen, for example, the editor of theKlondike Nugget, becamebankruptand spent the rest of his career in smaller newspapers; the prominent gambler and saloon owner Sam Bonnifield suffered anervous breakdownand died in extreme poverty.Nonetheless, some of those who joined the gold rush prospered.Kathleen Rockwell, for example, became a famous dancer in Dawson and remained popular in America until her death. Rockwell's tales from the North invigorated readers and audience members across the United States and Canada. Becoming known as 'Klondike Kate' to those who read about her adventures, Rockwell became a star.However, her tall tales and catchy nickname were plagiarized fromNew Brunswicker Katherine Ryan,The Real Klondike Kate,and one of the first individuals to arrive in the Klondike not long after gold was discovered in the area.Katherine Ryan may not have received deserving recognition in the public eye,but she is remembered as one of the first women to walk theStikine Trail, as an early suffragette, and as an integral piece of Dawson City's culture.Dawson City was also whereAlexander Pantages, her business partner and lover, started his career, going on to become one of America's greatest theatre and movietycoons.The businesswoman Martha Black, who had been abandoned by her husband on the way to the Klondike, remarried and ultimately became the second female member of theParliament of Canada. The impact of the gold rush on the Native peoples of the region was considerable.The Tlingit and the Koyukon peoples prospered in the short term from their work as guides, packers and from selling food and supplies to the prospectors.In the longer term, however, especially the Hän people living in the Klondike region suffered from the environmental damage of the gold mining on the rivers and forests.Their population had already begun to decline after the discovery of gold along Fortymile River in the 1880s but dropped catastrophically after their move to the reserve, a result of the contaminated water supply andsmallpox.The Hän found only few ways to benefit economically from the gold rush and their fishing and hunting grounds were largely destroyed. By 1904 they needed aid from theNWMPto prevent famine. Places Dawson City declined after the gold rush. When journalist Laura Berton (future mother ofPierre Berton) moved to Dawson in 1907 it was still thriving, but away from Front Street, the town had become increasingly deserted, jammed, as she put it, \"with the refuse of the gold rush: stoves, furniture, gold-pans, sets of dishes, double-belledseltzer bottles... piles of rusting mining machinery—boilers, winches, wheelbarrows and pumps\".By 1912, only around 2,000 inhabitants remained, compared to the 30,000 of the boom years, and the site was becoming aghost town.By 1972, 500 people were living in Dawson, while the nearby settlements created during the gold rush had been entirely abandoned.The population has grown since the 1970s, with 1,300 recorded in 2006. During the gold rush, transport improvements meant that heavier mining equipment could be brought in and larger, more modern mines established in the Klondike, revolutionising the gold industry.Gold production increased until 1903 as a result of the dredging and hydraulic mining, but then declined; by 2005, approximately 1,250,000 pounds (570,000 kg) had been recovered from the Klondike area.In the 21st century, Dawson City still has a small gold mining industry, which together with tourism, taking advantage of the legacy of the gold rush, plays a role in the local economy. Many buildings in the centre of the town reflect the style of the era.The Klondike River valley was affected by the gold rush by the heavy dredging that occurred after it. The port of Skagway also shrank after the rush, but remains a well-preserved period town, centred on the tourist industry and sightseeing trips from visitingcruise ships.TheNational Park Servicerestored Jeff Smith's Parlor, from which the famous con man \"Soapy\" Smith once operated, during 2010–2016.Skagway also has one of the two visitor centres forming theKlondike Gold Rush National Historical Park; the other is located in Seattle, and both focus on the human interest stories behind the gold rush.By contrast, Dyea, Skagway's neighbour and former rival, was abandoned after the gold rush and is now a ghost town.The railway built for prospectors through White Pass in the last year of the rush reopened in 1988 and is today only used by tourists, closely linked to the Chilkoot trail which is a popularhikingroute. TheTr’ondëk-Klondike World Heritage Site, aUNESCO World Heritage Site in Canada, protects a series of eight properties that attest to the effects of the rapid colonization of the area, including the Gold Rush, on theTr’ondëk Hwëch’inpeople. The World Heritage Site was designated in 2023. Culture The events of the Klondike gold rush rapidly became embedded in North American culture, being captured in poems, stories, photographs and promotional campaigns long after the end of the stampede.In the Yukon, Discovery Day is celebrated on the third Monday in August as a holiday, and the events of the gold rush are promoted by the regional tourist industries.The events of the gold rush were frequently exaggerated at the time and modern works on the subject similarly often focus on the most dramatic and exciting events of the stampede, not always accurately.HistorianKen Coatesdescribes the gold rush as \"a resilient, pliable myth\", which continues to fascinate and appeal. Several novels, books and poems were generated as a consequence of the Klondike gold rush. The writer Jack London incorporated scenes from the gold rush into his novels and short stories set in the Klondike, includingThe Call of the Wild, a 1903 novel about a sled dog.His colleague, poetRobert W. Service, did not join the rush himself, although he made his home in Dawson City in 1908. Service created well-known poems about the gold rush, among themSongs of a Sourdough, one of the bestselling books of poetry in the first decade of the 20th century, along with his novel,The Trail of '98, which was written by hand on wallpaper in one of Dawson's log cabins.The Canadian historianPierre Bertongrew up in Dawson where his father had been a prospector, and wrote several historical books about the gold rush, such asThe Last Great Gold Rush.The experiences of the IrishMicí Mac Gabhannresulted the posthumous workRotha Mór an tSaoil(translated into English asThe Hard Road to Klondikein 1962), a vivid description of the period. Some terminology from the stampede made its way into North American English like \"cheechakos\", referring to newly arrived miners, and \"sourdoughs\", experienced miners.The photographs taken during the Klondike gold rush heavily influenced later cultural approaches to the stampede.The gold rush was vividly recorded by several early photographers, for instanceEric A. Hegg; these stark, black-and-white photographs showing the ascent of the Chilkoot pass rapidly became iconic images and were widely distributed.These pictures, in turn, inspiredCharlie Chaplinto makeThe Gold Rush, a silent movie, which uses the background of the Klondike to combine physical comedy with its character's desperate battle for survival in the harsh conditions of the stampede.The photographs reappear in the documentaryCity of Goldfrom 1957 which, narrated byPierre Berton, won prizes for pioneering the incorporation of still images into documentary film-making.The Klondike gold rush, however, has not been widely covered in later fictional films; evenThe Far Country, aWesternfrom 1955 set in the Klondike, largely ignores the unique features of the gold rush in favour of a traditional Western plot.Indeed, much of the popular literature on the gold rush approaches the stampede simply as a final phase of the expansion of theAmerican West, a perception critiqued by modern historians such as Charlene Porsild. Charts and tables Maps of routes and goldfields Dyea/Skagway routes and Dalton trail Takou, Stikine and Edmonton routes Goldfields Gold production in Yukon, 1892–1912 Population growth of west coast cities, 1890–1900 Klondikers supply list The list was a suggestion of equipment and supplies sufficient to support a prospector for one year, generated by the Northern Pacific Railroad company in 1897. The total weight is approximately 1 ton, and the estimated cost amounted to $140 ($3,800). Timeline 1896 1897 1898 1899 Source: See also Notes References Bibliography External links Archives","Hän TheHän,HanorHwëch'in / Han Hwech’in(meaning \"People of the River, i.e. Yukon River\", in English alsoHankutchin) are aFirst Nationspeople of Canada and anAlaska NativeAthabaskanpeople of the United States; they are part of theAthabaskan-speakingethnolinguistic group. Their traditional lands centered on a heavilyforestedarea around theUpper Yukon River (Chu Kon'Dëk),Klondike River (Tr'on'Dëk),Bonanza Creek (Gàh Dëk)andSixtymile River (Khel Dëk)and straddling what is now theAlaska-Yukon Territoryborder. In later times, the Han population became centered inDawson City, YukonandEagle, Alaska. Etymology The nameHänorHanis a shortening of their own name asHwëch'in / Han Hwech’in, and of theGwich’inwordHangʷičʼinfor the Hän, both literally meaning \"People of the River, i.e. the Yukon River\". This word has been spelled variously asHankutchin,Han-Kootchin,Hun-koo-chin,Hong-Kutchin,An Kutchin,Han Kutchin,Han-Kutchín,Hăn-Kŭtchin´,Hän Hwëch'in, andHungwitchin. The Hän were often mistaken for just anotherGwich'in (Kutchin)band, especially as part of the Dagoo Gwich'in / Tukudh Gwich'in and Teetł'it Gwich'in / Teetl'it Zheh Gwich'in. The French traders called the HänGens du fou,Gens de Fou,Gens de Foux,Gens des Foux, orGens-de-fine. The nameGens de Foux(and variants) has also been used to refer to theNorthern Tutchone (Dan or Huč’an). The Hankutchin were then known asGens de BoisorGens des Bois,in association with their forested territory. History of the Hän The Hän were one of the last Northern Athabascan groups to have contact with European peoples. In 1851 Robert Campbell from theHudson's Bay Companybecame the first white man known to have entered Han territory, when he traveled fromFort SelkirktoFort Yukon. It was not until 1873 and 1874 (after theUnited Statespurchase ofAlaska), that two trading posts were set up. One was established by Moses Mercier, a former employee of theHudson's Bay Company, inBelle Isleacross theEagle River. The other,Fort Reliance, was established on theYukon, just below the mouth of theKlondike River, nearDawson, by twoAlaska Commercial Companytraders, Leroy N. McQuesten and Frank Bonifield. Graduallytrading with whitesresulted in the Han shifting from their traditional fishing-hunting economy to a fur-trapping economy, as they grew increasingly reliant on such European goods as guns, clothing, and canvas from 1887 to 1895. Bishop William Bompas established the firstAnglican Churchmission in Hän territory, and gradually the people shifted away from traditional religion. They also combined it with Christianity in a syncretic fashion. The Han suffered high mortality during several epidemics of new infectious diseases, to which they had no immunity. Culture Food Historically, fish, especially salmon, comprised the main part of the Hän diet.King salmonwas caught along the Yukon River in June andchum salmonin August. Fishing tools includedweirs,traps,gill nets,dip nets,spears, andharpoons. Salmon was dried and stored for winter consumption. Between thesalmon runsfrom June–September, the river camps were abandoned. The Han men sought other fish, moose, caribou, birds, bears, and small game. Men hunted game (once after the salmon run and later for caribou in February and March) while women fished (for fish other than salmon). The women traditionally cooked by boiling food with water heated by stones that been placed in a fire and then dropped in woven spruce-root baskets. Housing A square half-recessed house was made of wooden poles and moss insulation (called amoss house). This served as the main type of housing. The people erected temporary domed houses made of skin stretched over tied branches when they were traveling. Language TheHän languageis most similar toGwich’in(Kutchin). It is more distantly related toUpper TananaandNorthern Tutchone. The language was used as alingua francabyGwich’in,Tutchone,Tagish, and Upper Tanana peoples toward the end of the 19th century during theGold Rush in the Yukon. The language is now the mostendangered languageof Alaska, with only a few speakers (all are over 60 years of age). The language may have ancient, earlyHoloceneorigins in the region. In media See also References Bibliography External links","Hudson's Bay Company TheHudson's Bay Company(HBC;French:Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadianretailbusiness group. Afur tradingbusiness for much of its existence, it became the largest and oldest corporation in Canada, before evolving into a majorfashionretailer, operating retail stores across both the United States and Canada.The company's namesake business division isHudson's Bay, commonly referred to as The Bay (La Baiein French). After incorporation by Englishroyal charterin 1670, the company was granted a right of \"sole trade and commerce\" over an expansive area of land known asRupert's Land, comprising much of theHudson Bay drainage basin.This right effectively gave the company acommercial monopolyover that area. The HBC functioned as thede factogovernment in Rupert's Land for nearly 200 years until the HBC relinquished control of the land to Canada in 1869 as part of theDeed of Surrender,authorized by theRupert's Land Act 1868. At its peak, the company controlled the fur trade throughout much of the English- and laterBritish-controlled North America. By the mid-19th century, the company evolved into a mercantile business selling a wide variety of products from furs to finehomewarein a small number of sales shops (as opposed totrading posts) across Canada.These shops were the first step towards the department stores the company owns today. In 2006,Jerry Zucker, an American businessman, bought HBC for US$1.1 billion. In 2008, HBC was acquired byNRDC Equity Partners, which also owned the upmarket American department storeLord & Taylor.From 2008 to 2012, the HBC was run through a holding company of NRDC,Hudson's Bay Trading Company, which was dissolved in early 2012.HBC's U.S. headquarters are inLower Manhattan, New York City,while its Canadian headquarters are inToronto.The company spun off most of its European operations by August 2019 and its remaining stores there, in theNetherlands, were sold by the end of 2019. Until March 2020, the company was listed on theToronto Stock Exchangeunder the symbol \"HBC.TO\" untilRichard Bakerand a group of shareholders took the company private.HBC is, as of 2022,the majority owner of eCommerce companiesSaks Fifth AvenueandSaks Off 5th,both established as separate operating companies in 2021.HBC wholly owns SFA, the entity that operates Saks Fifth Avenue's physical locations;O5, the operating company for Saks Off 5th stores;The Bay, an eCommerce marketplace and Hudson's Bay, the operating company for Hudson's Bay'sbrick-and-mortarstores.In July 2024, HBC announced that it would acquire theNeiman Marcus Groupfor US$2.65 billion and fold it into the new flagship entity Saks Fifth Avenue Global. HBC owns or controls approximately 3.7 million square metres (40 million square feet) of gross leasable real estatethrough its real estate and investment arm, HBC Properties and Investments, established in October 2020. History 17th century For much of the 17th century, the French colonists in North America, based inNew France, operated ade factomonopolyin the North Americanfur trade. TwoFrenchtraders,Pierre-Esprit RadissonandMédard des Groseilliers(Médard de Chouart, Sieur des Groseilliers), Radisson's brother-in-law, learned from theCreethat the best fur country lay north and west ofLake Superior, and that there was a \"frozen sea\" still further north.Assuming this was Hudson Bay, they sought French backing for a plan to set up a trading post on the Bay in order to reduce the cost of moving furs overland. According toPeter C. Newman, \"concerned that exploration of the Hudson Bay route might shift the focus of the fur trade away from theSt. Lawrence River, the French governor\",Marquis d'Argenson(in office 1658–61), \"refused to grant thecoureurs des boispermission to scout the distant territory\".Despite this refusal, in 1659 Radisson and Groseilliers set out for the upper Great Lakes basin. A year later they returned to Montreal with premium furs, evidence of the potential of the Hudson Bay region. Subsequently, they were arrested by French authorities for trading without a licence and fined, and their furs were confiscated by the government. Determined to establish trade in the Hudson Bay area, Radisson and Groseilliers approached a group of English colonial merchants inBostonto help finance their explorations. The Bostonians agreed on the plan's merits, but their speculative voyage in 1663 failed when their ship ran intopack iceinHudson Strait. Boston-based English commissionerColonel George Cartwrightlearned of the expedition and brought the two to England to raise financing.Radisson and Groseilliers arrived in London in 1665 at the height of theGreat Plague. Eventually, the two met and gained the sponsorship ofPrince Rupert. Prince Rupert introduced the two to his cousin, the reigning king –Charles II.In 1668 the English expedition acquired two ships, theNonsuchand theEaglet, to explore possible trade into Hudson Bay. Groseilliers sailed on theNonsuch, commanded by CaptainZachariah Gillam, while theEagletwas commanded by Captain William Stannard and accompanied by Radisson. On 5 June 1668, both ships left port atDeptford, England, but theEagletwas forced to turn back off the coast of Ireland. TheNonsuchcontinued toJames Bay, the southern portion of Hudson Bay, where its explorers founded, in 1668, the first fort on Hudson Bay, Charles Fortat the mouth of theRupert River. It later became known as \"Rupert House\", and developed as the community of present-dayWaskaganish, Quebec. Both thefortand the river were named after the sponsor of the expedition, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, one of the major investors and soon to become the new company's first governor. After a successful trading expedition over the winter of 1668–69,Nonsuchreturned to England on 9 October 1669 with the first cargo of fur resulting from trade in Hudson Bay.The bulk of the fur – worth £1,233 – was sold to Thomas Glover, one of London's most prominent furriers. This and subsequent purchases by Glover proved the viability of the fur trade in Hudson Bay. A royal charter from King Charles II incorporated \"The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson's Bay\" on 2 May 1670.The charter granted the company a monopoly over the region drained by all rivers and streams flowing into Hudson Bay in northern parts of present-day Canada, taking possession on behalf of England. The area was named \"Rupert's Land\"after Prince Rupert,the first governor of the company appointed by the King. This drainage basin of Hudson Bay spans 3,861,400 square kilometres (1,490,900 sq mi),comprising over one-third of the area of modern-day Canada, and stretches into the present-day north-centralUnited States. The specific boundaries remained unknown at the time. Rupert's Land would eventually become Canada's largest land\"purchase\"in the 19th century. The HBC established six posts between 1668 and 1717. Rupert House(1668, southeast),Moose Factory(1673, south) and Fort Albany,Ontario (1679, west) were erected on James Bay; three other posts were established on the western shore of Hudson Bay proper:New Severn(1685),York Factory(1684), andFort Churchill(1717). Inland postswere not builtuntil 1774. After 1774, York Factory became the main post because of its convenient access to the vast interior waterway-systems of theSaskatchewanandRedrivers. Originally called \"factories\" because the\"factor\", i.e., a person acting as a mercantile agent, did business from there, these posts operated in the manner of the Dutch fur-trading operations inNew Netherland. By adoption of the Standard of Trade in the 18th century, the HBC ensured consistent pricing throughout Rupert's Land. A means of exchange arose based on the \"Made Beaver\" (MB); a prime pelt, worn for a year and ready for processing: \"the prices of all trade goods were set in values of Made Beaver (MB) with other animal pelts, such as squirrel, otter and moose quoted in their MB (made beaver) equivalents. For example, two otter pelts might equal 1 MB\". During the fall and winter,First Nationsmen and Europeanfur trappersaccomplished the vast majority of the animal trapping and pelt preparation. They travelled bycanoeand on foot to the forts to sell their pelts. In exchange they typically received popular trade-goods such as knives, kettles, beads, needles, and theHudson's Bay point blanket. The arrival of the First Nations trappers was one of the high points of the year, met with pomp and circumstance. The highlight was very formal, an almost ritualized \"Trading Ceremony\" between the Chief Trader and the Captain of the aboriginal contingent who traded on their behalf.During the initial years of the fur trade, prices for items varied from post to post. The early coastal factory model of the English contrasted with the system of the French, who established an extensive system of inland posts at native villages and sent traders to live among the tribes of the region, learning their languages and often forming alliances through marriages with indigenous women. In March 1686 the French sent araiding partyunder theChevalier des Troyesmore than 1,300 km (810 mi) to capture the HBC posts along James Bay. The French appointedPierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, who had shown great heroism during the raids, as commander of the company's captured posts. In 1687 an English attempt toresettle Fort Albanyfailed due to strategic deceptions by d'Iberville. After 1688 England and Francewere officially at war, and the conflict played out in North America as well. D'Iberville raided Fort Severn in 1690 but did not attempt to raid the well-defended local headquarters at York Factory. In 1693 the HBCrecovered Fort Albany; d'Ibervillecaptured York Factoryin 1694, but the company recovered it the next year.: 151–158 In 1697, d'Iberville again commanded a French naval raid on York Factory. On the way to the fort he defeated three ships of the Royal Navy in theBattle of Hudson's Bay(5 September 1697), the largest naval battle in the history of the North American Arctic. D'Iberville's depleted French force captured York Factory by laying siege to the fort and pretending to be a much larger army. The French retained all of the outposts except Fort Albany until 1713. A small French and Indian force attacked Fort Albany againin 1709duringQueen Anne's Warbut was unsuccessful. The economic consequences of the French possession of these posts for the company were significant; the HBC did not pay any dividends for more than 20 years. SeeAnglo-French conflicts on Hudson Bay.: 160–164 18th century With the ending of theNine Years' Warin 1697, and theWar of the Spanish Successionin 1713 with the signing of theTreaty of Utrecht, France had made substantial concessions. Among the treaty's many provisions, it required France to relinquish all claims to Great Britain on the Hudson Bay, which again became a British possession.(TheKingdom of Great Britainhad been established following the union of Scotland and England in 1707). After the treaty, the HBC builtPrince of Wales Fort, a stonestar fortat the mouth of the nearbyChurchill River.: 202–206In 1782, during theAmerican Revolutionary War, a French squadron underJean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérousecaptured and demolishedYork Factory and Prince of Wales Fort in support of the American rebels.: 366–371 In its trade with native peoples, Hudson's Bay Company exchanged wool blankets, called Hudson's Bay point blankets, for the beaver pelts trapped by aboriginal hunters. By 1700, point blankets accounted for more than 60 percent of the trade.The number ofindigostripes (a.k.a. points) woven into the blankets identified its finished size. A long-held misconception is that the number of stripes was related to its value in beaver pelts. A parallel may be drawn between the HBC's control over Rupert's Land with the trade monopoly and government functions enjoyed by theEast India Companyover India during roughly the same period. The HBC invested £10,000 in the East India Company in 1732, which it viewed as a major competitor. Hudson's Bay Company's first inland trading post was established bySamuel Hearnein 1774 withCumberland House, Saskatchewan. Conversely, a number of inland HBC \"houses\" pre-date the construction of Cumberland House, in 1774. Henley House, established in 1743, inland from Hudson Bay, at the confluence of the Albany and Kabinakagami Rivers, was dependent on Albany River – Fort Albany for lines of communication, was not \"finished\" until 1768.Next, the inland houses of Split Lake and Nelson Houses were established between 1740 and 1760. These were dependent on York River – York Factory and Churchill River, respectively. Although not inland, Richmond Fort was established in 1749. This was on an island within Hudson Bay. It was titled a \"New Discovery\" in 1749, and by 1750 was titled Richmond Gulf. The name was changed to Richmond Fort and given the abbreviation RF from 1756 to 1759, it served mainly as a trade goods and provisions storage location.Additional inland posts were Capusco River and Chickney Creek, both circa 1750. Likewise, Brunswick (1776), New Brunswick (1777), Gloucester (1777), Upper Hudson (ca. 1778), Lower Hudson (1779), Rupert, and Wapiscogami Houses were established in the decade of the 1770s.These post-date Cumberland House, yet speak to the expanding inland incursion of the HBC in the last quarter of the 18th century. Minor posts also during this time period include Mesackamy/Mesagami Lake (1777), Sturgeon Lake (1778), Beaver Lake Posts. In 1779, other traders founded theNorth West Company(NWC) inMontrealas a seasonal partnership to provide more capital and to continue competing with the HBC. It became operative for the outfit of 1780 and was the firstjoint-stock companyin Canada and possibly North America. The agreement lasted one year. A second agreement established in 1780 had a three-year term. The company became a permanent entity in 1783.By 1784, the NWC had begun to make serious inroads into the HBC's profits. 19th century The North West Company (NWC) was the main rival in the fur trade. The competition led to the smallPemmican Warin 1816. TheBattle of Seven Oakson 19 June 1816 was the climax of the long dispute.In 1821, the North West Company of Montreal and Hudson's Bay Company were forcibly merged by intervention of the British government to put an end to often-violent competition. 175 posts, 68 of them the HBC's, were reduced to 52 for efficiency and because many were redundant as a result of the rivalry and were inherently unprofitable.Their combined territory was extended by a licence to theNorth-Western Territory, which reached to theArctic Oceanin the north and, with the creation of theColumbia Departmentin thePacific Northwest, to thePacific Oceanin the west. The NWC's regional headquarters atFort George(Fort Astoria) was relocated toFort Vancouverby 1825 on the north bank of the Columbia River; it became the HBC base of operations on the Pacific Slope.: 369–370 Before the merger, the employees of the HBC, unlike those of the North West Company, did not participate in its profits. After the merger, with all operations under the management ofSir George Simpson(1826–60), the company had a corps of commissioned officers: 25 chief factors and 28 chief traders, who shared in the company's profits during the monopoly years. Its trade covered 7,770,000 km2(3,000,000 sq mi), and it had 1,500 contract employees. Between 1820 and 1870, the HBC issued its ownpaper money. The notes, denominated in sterling, were printed in London and issued at York Factory for circulation primarily in theRed River Colony. Competition and exploration Although the HBC maintained a monopoly on the fur trade during the early to mid-19th century, there was competition from James Sinclair andAndrew McDermot(Dermott), independent traders in the Red River Colony. They shipped furs by theRed River TrailstoNorman Kittson,a buyer in the United States. In addition, Americans controlled themaritime fur tradeon the Northwest Coast until the 1830s. Throughout the 1820s and the 1830s, the HBC controlled nearly all trading operations in the Pacific Northwest region and was based at its headquarters at Fort Vancouver, on theColumbia River.Although claims to the region were by agreement in abeyance, commercial operating rights were nominally shared by the United States and Britain through theAnglo-American Convention of 1818, but company policy, enforced via Chief FactorJohn McLoughlinof the company'sColumbia District, was to discourage U.S. settlement of the territory. The company's effective monopoly on trade virtually forbade any settlement in the region.: 370 Additional early presence in present-day United States Over and above the NWC Fort George headquarters site, the HBC carried on the early presence in the region of the NWC when it merged in 1821 with noteworthy sites:Spokane House,Fort OkanoganandFort Nez Percés.Fort Colvillelocated further North on the Columbia River replaced Spokane House in 1825. Fort Umpquawas established in 1832 in present-day southernOregonafter theWillamette Riverhad been explored up toward its headwaters by mainly the NWC. Nisqually House was built during the same year to establish a presence further North on Puget Sound in present-day State ofWashington, resulting inFort Nisquallya few years later closer to present-day Canadian sites. The HBC establishedFort Boisein 1834 (in present-day southwestern Idaho) to compete with the AmericanFort Hall, 483 km (300 mi) to the east. In 1837, it purchased Fort Hall, also along the route of theOregon Trail. The outpost director displayed the abandoned wagons of discouraged settlers to those seeking to move west along the trail. HBC trappers were also deeply involved in the early exploration and development ofNorthern California. Company trapping brigades were sent south from Fort Vancouver, along what became known as theSiskiyou Trail, into Northern California as far south as theSan Francisco Bay Area, where the company operated a trading post atYerba Buena(San Francisco). The southern-most camp of the company wasFrench Camp, east of San Francisco in the Central Valley adjacent to the future site of the city ofStockton. These trapping brigades in Northern California faced serious risks, and were often the first to explore relatively uncharted territory. They included the lesser knownPeter Skene OgdenandSamuel Black. The HBC also operated a store in what were then known as the Sandwich Islands (now theHawaiian Islands), engaging in merchant shipping to the islands between 1828 and 1859. Extending the presence it had built in present-day British Columbia northern coast, the HBC reached by 1838 as far North asFort Stikinein theAlaska Panhandleby present-dayWrangell. TheRAC-HBC agreement(1839) with theRussian American Company(RAC) provided for such a continuing presence in exchange for the HBC to supply the Russian coastal sites with agricultural products. ThePuget Sound Agricultural Companysubsidiary was created to supply grain, dairy, livestock and manufactured goods out of Fort Vancouver, Fort Nisqually,Fort CowlitzandFort Langleyin present-day southern British Columbia. The company's stranglehold on the region was broken by thefirst successful large wagon train to reach Oregon in 1843, led byMarcus Whitman. In the years that followed, thousands of emigrants poured into theWillamette Valleyof Oregon. In 1846, the United States acquired full authority south of the49th parallel; the most settled areas of the Oregon Country were south of the Columbia River in what is now Oregon. McLoughlin, who had once turned away would-be settlers when he was company director, then welcomed them from his general store atOregon City. He later became known as the \"Father of Oregon\". Early presence in present-day Canada (British Columbia) The HBC also carried on the early presence in the region of the NWC in present-day central and northernBritish Columbiawith noteworthy sites:Fort Alexandria,Fort d'Épinette (Fort St. John),Fort St. James,Fort GeorgeandFort Shuswap (Fort Kamloops). Since the 1818 Treaty settled the 49th degree parallel border only as far as theRocky Mountains, the HBC was looking for a site further West in case the parallel border would become further extended at the end of the 10 years joint occupancy term. By 1824, the HBC was commissioning an expedition to travel from theFort Georgeregional headquarter on the southern shore of theColumbia Riverall the way to theFraser River. The three boats 40some crew led by theJames McMillanwere first to officially ever make it toPuget Soundfrom the continent, to reach its northern end intoBoundary Bayand to bypass the mouth of the Fraser. They shortcut through two mainland rivers and a portage in order to finally reach the lower Fraser. Friendly tribes were identified along with subsistence farming land suitable for sustaining a trading post. The firstFort Langleywas subsequently built (1827), establishing an early settlers long lasting presence in current day southern British Columbia. The fur trade in a wet climate turned out to be marginal and quickly evolved into a salmon trade site with abundant supply in the vicinity. The HBC stretched its presence North on the coastline withFort Simpson(1831) on theNass River,Fort McLoughlin(1833) and theBeaver(1836), the first steamship to ever roam the Pacific Northwest for resupplying its coastline sites. The HBC was securing a trading monopoly on the coastline keeping away independent American traders: \"By 1837, American competition on the North West Coast was effectively over\".: 126 The HBC gained more control of the fur trade with both the coastline and inland tribes to access the fur richNew Caledonia districtin current day northern British Columbia: \"monopoly control of the coastal fur trade allowed the HBC to impose a uniform tariff on both sides of the Coast Mountains\".: 133 By 1843, under pressure from the Americans to withdraw further North with the loomingOregon Treatyborder negotiation finalized in 1846, and strong of its coastal presence on the northern coast, HBC builtFort Victoriaat the southern end of present-dayVancouver Islandin southern BC. A well sheltered ocean port with agricultural potential in the vicinity would allow the new regional headquarter to further develop the trade on salmon, timber and cranberries. Trade via the Hawaiian post was also increasing. TheFort Rupert(1849) at the northern end of the island would open up access to coal fields. On the continent mainland,Fort HopeandFort Yale(1848) were built to extend the HBC presence on theFraser Riveras far as navigable. Brigades would link a rebuiltFort Langley(1840) on the Lower Fraser toFort Kamloopsby 1850 and the rest of the transportation network toYork Factoryon theHudson Bayalong with theNew Caledonia districtfur returns. End of monopoly The Guillaume Sayer trial in 1849 contributed to the end of the HBC monopoly.Guillaume Sayer, aMétistrapper and trader, was accused of illegal trading in furs. The Court ofAssiniboiabrought Sayer to trial, before a jury of HBC officials and supporters. During the trial, a crowd of armed Métis men led byLouis Riel Sr.gathered outside the courtroom. Although Sayer was found guilty of illegal trade, having evaded the HBC monopoly, JudgeAdam Thomdid not levy a fine or punishment. Some accounts attributed that to the intimidating armed crowd gathered outside the courthouse. With the cry, \"Le commerce est libre! Le commerce est libre!\" (\"Trade is free! Trade is free!\"), the Métis loosened the HBC's previous control of the courts, which had enforced their monopoly on the settlers of Red River. Another factor was the findings of thePalliser Expeditionof 1857 to 1860, led by CaptainJohn Palliser. He surveyed the area of the prairies and wilderness from Lake Superior to the southern passes of the Rocky Mountains. Although he recommended against settlement of the region, the report sparked a debate. It ended the myth publicized by Hudson's Bay Company: that the Canadian West was unfit for agricultural settlement. In 1863, theInternational Financial Societybought controlling interest in the HBC, signalling a shift in the company's outlook: most of the new shareholders were less interested in the fur trade than in real estate speculation and economic development in the West. The Society floated £2 million in public shares on non-ceded land held ostensibly by the Hudson's Bay Company as an asset and leveraged this asset for collateral for these funds. These funds allowed the Society the financial means to weather thefinancial collapse of 1866which destroyed many competitors and invest in railways in North America. In 1869, after rejecting the American government offer ofCA$10million,the company approved the return of Rupert's Land to Britain. The government gave it to Canada and loaned the new country the £300,000 required to compensate HBC for its losses.HBC also received one-twentieth of the fertile areas to be opened for settlement and retained title to the lands on which it had built trading establishments.The deal, known as theDeed of Surrender, came into force the following year. The resulting territory, theNorth-West Territories, was brought under Canadian jurisdiction under the terms of theRupert's Land Act 1868, enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Deed enabled the admission of the fifth province,Manitoba, to theConfederationon 15 July 1870, the same day that the deed itself came into force. During the 19th century the Hudson's Bay Company went through great changes in response to such factors as growth of population and new settlements in part of its territory, and ongoing pressure from Britain. It seemed unlikely that it would continue to control the future of the West. Shift to department stores The iconic department store today evolved from trading posts at the start of the 19th century, when they began to see demand for general merchandise grow rapidly. HBC soon expanded into the interior and set-up posts along river settlements that later developed into the modern cities of Winnipeg,CalgaryandEdmonton. In 1857, the first sales shop was established inFort Langley. This was followed by other sales shops inFort Victoria(1859), Winnipeg (1881), Calgary (1884),Vancouver(1887),Vernon(1887), Edmonton (1890),Yorkton(1898), andNelson(1902). The first of the grand \"original six\" department stores was built in Calgary in 1913. The other department stores that followed were in Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria,Saskatoon, and Winnipeg. 20th century The First World War interrupted a major remodelling and restoration of retail trade shops planned in 1912. Following the war, the company revitalized its fur-trade and real-estate activities, and diversified its operations by venturing into the oil business.During theRussian Civil War, the company briefly operated in theSiberian far east, even obtaining an agreement with theSoviet governmentuntil departing in 1924.The company co-foundedHudson's Bay Oil and Gas Company(HBOG) in 1926 withMarland Oil Company(which merged withConocoin 1929). Although the company diversified into a number of areas, its department store business is the only remaining part of the company's operations, in the form of department stores under the Hudson's Bay brand.The company also established new trading posts in the Canadian Arctic. Indigenous health The medical scientistFrederick Bantingwas travelling in the Arctic in 1927 when he realized that crew or passengers on board the HBC paddle wheelerDistributorwere responsible for spreading the influenza virus down theSlave RiverandMackenzie River. Less than a decade afterthe 1918 global flu pandemic, a similar virus spread territory-wide over the summer and autumn, devastating the aboriginal population of the north.Returning from the trip, Banting gave an interview in Montreal with aToronto Starreporter under the agreement that his statements on HBC would remain off the record.The newspaper nonetheless published the conversation, which rapidly reached a wide audience across Europe and Australia.Banting was angry at the leak, having promised the Department of the Interior not to make any statements to the press prior to clearing them. The article noted that Banting had given the journalist C. R. Greenaway repeated instances of how the fox fur trade always favoured the company: \"For over $100,000 of fox skins, he estimated that the Eskimos had not received $5,000 worth of goods.\"He traced this treatment to health, consistent with reports made in previous years by RCMP officers, suggesting that \"the result was a diet of 'flour,sea-biscuits, tea and tobacco,' with the skins that once were used for clothing traded merely for 'cheap whiteman's goods.'\" The HBC fur trade commissioner called Banting's remarks \"false and slanderous\", and a month later, the governor and general manager met Banting at theKing Edward Hotelto demand a retraction.Banting stated that the reporter had betrayed his confidence, but did not retract his statement and reaffirmed that HBC was responsible for the death of indigenous residents by supplying the wrong kind of food and introducing diseases into the Arctic.AsA. Y. Jackson, theGroup of Sevenpainter with whom Banting was travelling, noted in his memoir that since neither the governor nor the general manager had been to the Arctic, the meeting ended with them asking Banting's advice on what HBC ought to do: \"He gave them some good advice and later he received a card at Christmas with the Governor's best wishes.\" Banting maintained this position in his report to the Department of the Interior: He noted that \"infant mortality was high because of the undernourishment of the mother before birth\"; that \"white man's food leads to decay of native teeth\"; that \"tuberculosis has commenced. Saw several cases at Godhavn, Etah, Port Burwell, Arctic Bay\"; that \"an epidemic resembling influenza killed a considerable proportion of population at Port Burwell\"; and that \"the gravest danger faces the Eskimo in his transfer from a race-long hunter to a dependent trapper. White flour, sea-biscuits, tea and tobacco do not provide sufficient fuel to warm and nourish him\". Furthermore, he discouraged the establishment of an Arctic hospital. The \"proposed hospital at Pangnirtung would be a waste of money, as it could be reached by only a few natives\". Banting's report contrasted starkly with the bland descriptions provided by the ship's physician, F. H. Stringer. Latter 20th century In 1960, the company acquiredMorgan'sallowing it to expand into Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, and Ottawa. In 1965, HBC rebranded its department stores as The Bay.The Morgan's logo was changed to match the new visual identity. By 1972 the last of the former Morgan's stores had been rebranded to Bay stores.HBOG also expanded during the 1960s, as it began shipping Canadian crude through a new link to the Glacier pipeline and on to the refinery in Billings, Montana. The company became the sixth-largest Canadian oil producer in 1967. In 1970, on the company's 300th anniversary, as a result of punishing new British tax laws, the company relocated to Canada, and was rechartered as a Canadian business corporation under Canadian law,Head Office functions were transferred from London to Winnipeg. By 1974, as the company expanded into eastern Canada, head office functions were moved to Toronto. In 1972, the company acquired the four-storeShop-Ritechain ofcatalogue stores. The chain was quickly expanded to 65 stores in Ontario, but closed in 1982 due to declining sales.In these stores, little merchandise was displayed; customers made their selections from catalogues, and staff would retrieve the merchandise from storerooms. The HBC also acquiredFreimansdepartment stores in Ottawa and converted them to The Bay. In 1973, HBOG acquired a 35 per cent stake in Siebens Oil and Gas, and, in 1979, it divested that interest. In 1980, it bought a controlling interest in Roxy Petroleum. In 1978, theZellersdiscount store chain made a bid to acquire the HBC, but the HBC turned the tables and acquired Zellers.Also in 1978,Simpson'sdepartment stores were acquired by Hudson's Bay Company, and were converted to Bay stores in 1991.(The related chain Simpsons-Sears was not acquired by the Bay, but becameSears Canadain 1978.) In 1991, Simpsons disappeared, when the last Simpsons store was converted to the Bay banner. In 1979, Canadian billionaireKenneth Thomsonwon control of the company in a battle withGeorge Weston Limited, and acquired a 75 per cent stake for $400 million.Thomson sold the company's oil and gas business, financial services, distillery, and other interests for approximately $550 million, transforming the company into a leaner, more focused operation. In the 1980s, sales and oil prices slipped, while debt from acquisitions piled up which led to Hudson's Bay Company selling its 10.1 per cent stake in HBOG toDome Petroleumin 1981.In 1997, the Thomson family sold the last of its remaining shares. Hudson's Bay Company reversed a formidable debt problem in 1987, by shedding non-strategic assets such as its wholesale division and getting completely out of the oil and gas business. HBC also sold its Canadian fur-auction business to Hudson's Bay Fur Sales Canada (nowNorth American Fur Auctions). The Northern Stores Division was sold that same year to a group of investors and employees, which adoptedThe North West Companyname three years later. The HBC acquiredTowers Department Storesin 1990, combining them with the Zellers chain, andWoodward'sstores in 1993, converting them into Bay or Zellers stores.Kmart Canadawas acquired in 1998 and merged with Zellers. In 1991, the Bay agreed to stop retailingfurin response to complaints from people opposed to killing animals for this purpose.In 1997, the Bay reopened its fur salons to meet the demand of consumers. 21st century In December 2003, Maple Leaf Heritage Investments, aNova Scotia-based company created to acquire shares of Hudson's Bay Company, announced that it was considering making an offer to acquire all or some of the common shares of Hudson's Bay Company.Maple Leaf Heritage Investments is a subsidiary of B-Bay Inc. Its CEO and chairman is American businesswomanAnita Zucker, widow ofJerry Zucker. Zucker had previously been the head of the Polymer Group, which acquired another Canadian institution,Dominion Textile. It had been a member of theInternational Association of Department Storesfrom 2001 to 2005.On 26 January 2006, the HBC's board agreed to a bid from Jerry Zucker. The South Carolina billionaire financier was a longtime HBC minority shareholder. In a 9 March 2006 press release,the HBC announced that Zucker would replaceYves Fortieras governor andGeorge Helleras CEO, becoming the first US citizen to lead the company. After Jerry Zucker's death, the board named his widow, Anita Zucker, as HBC Governor and HBC Deputy-Governor Rob Johnston as CEO. On 16 July 2008, the company was sold toNRDC Equity Partnersfor just over $1.1 billion,a private equity firm based inPurchase, New York, which already ownedLord & Taylor, the oldest department store in the United States.The Canadian and U.S. holdings were transferred to NRDC Equity Partners' holding company,Hudson's Bay Trading Company, as of late 2008. In October 2012, the HBC announced a $1.6 billioninitial public offering(IPO); Baker planned to use the IPO to allow Canadian ownership to return to the company, and to help pay off debts with other partners. Additionally, the company also announced that it would re-brand The Bay department store chain as \"Hudson's Bay\".The new Hudson's Bay brand was launched in March 2013, incorporating a new logo with an updated rendition of the classic Hudson's Bay Companycoat of arms, designed to be modern and better reflect the company's heritage. Following the IPO, HBC had also introduced a new corporate logo of its own (reviving awordmarkfrom the originalHBC flag), but the new logo was not intended to be a consumer-facing brand. In January 2016, HBC announced it would expand deeper into digital space with the acquisition of anonlineflash sales site, theGilt Groupe, for US$250 million.HBC also announced its expansion into the Netherlands in May 2016 with the takeover of 20 formerVroom & Dreesmann(V&D) sites by 2017. V&D, a historic Dutch department store chain, had gonebankruptand shut down in early 2016.As of November 2017, the company also expanded retail operations into Europe, including five Saks Off Fifth stores in Germany. On 1 April 2018, HBC disclosed that more than five million credit and debit cards used for in-store purchases had been recently breached by hackers. The compromised credit card transactions took place at Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks Off 5th, and Lord & Taylor stores. The hack had been discovered by Gemini Advisory, which called the breach \"amongst the biggest and most damaging to ever hit retail companies\".A July 2019 hack ofCapital One, which provides HBC Mastercards, did not affect the HBC credit cards or card applications, according to HBC. In June 2019, a consortium including chairmanRichard Baker,Rhône Group,WeWork, Hanover Investments (Luxembourg) and Abrams Capital Management announced that it wanted to take the company private.The group then owned just over 50 per cent of HBC shares. In mid-August, the consortium said that it owned 57 per cent of the HBC shares. By 19 August 2019, however, Canadian investment firmCatalyst Capital Group Inc.said it had acquired enough shares to block the plan. A U.S. company, Land & Buildings Investment Management, the owner of over 6 per cent of the shares, had also criticized the Baker plan.In March 2020, Baker and a group of shareholders were successful in taking the company private. Aside fromHudson's Bay,Saks Fifth Avenue, andSaks Off Fifth, HBC soldGaleria Kaufhof,Galeria Inno,Gilt Groupe, andLord & Taylorby August 2019. In June 2018, HBC announced it would sell Gilt Groupe to online fashion store Rue La La for an undisclosed sum. In June, 2019 HBC announced its intent to sell the last 49.99 percent of Galeria Kaufhof shares it held to Austrian firmSigna Holding. In August, 2019 Lord & Taylor was sold toLe Totefor $75 million.The remaining stores in theNetherlandswere sold by the end of 2019. By early September 2019, it was clear that HBC was streamlining its operations, with the sales ofGaleria Kaufhof,Galeria Inno,Gilt Groupe, andLord & Tayloras the most recent steps. A feature article byBloomberg Newsmentioned that CEOHelena Foulkes, recruited in 2018, \"had helped improve the bottom line at Hudson's Bay\". She was selling assets \"to put the company on more solid financial footing\" and could then focus on Saks Fifth Avenue and the Bay. On the other hand, Bloomberg suggested that millennial shoppers prefer to make purchases online, or direct from various brands' own stores, and that HBC \"has yet to offer something they can't find somewhere else and risks drifting into irrelevance\". In February 2020, shareholders of the company voted in favour of a plan to become a private company at a special meeting of shareholders. Under the plan of arrangement, the company will be owned by a group of continuing shareholders led by HBC governor and executive chairman Richard Baker.Effective 3 March 2020, the company was delisted from theToronto Stock Exchange, withRichard A. Bakerreplacing Foulkes as CEO. In 2023, Hudson's Bay officially stopped selling animal fur products. Acquisition and sale of other chains From 2004 to 2008, the HBC owned and operated a small chain of off-price stores calledDesigner Depot. Similar to theWinnersandHomeSenseretail format, Designer Depot did not meet sales expectations, and its nine stores were sold.Another HBC chain,Fields, was sold to a private firm in 2012.Established in 1950, Fields was acquired byZellersin 1976. When Zellers was acquired by HBC in 1978, Fields became part of the HBC portfolio.In early 2019, HBC announced that all 37Home Outfittersstores would be phased out by year end. In early 2017, the Hudson's Bay Company made an overture toMacy'sfor a potential takeover of the U.S. department store chain. Later, HBC also considered a purchase ofNeiman Marcus GroupInc. It did not proceed with either deal.On March 16, 2022, it was announced that HBC andSycamore Partnerswere preparing bids to buyKohl's. Zellers In September 2011, the HBC announced that it would sell the majority of the Zellers leases for $1.825 billion to the U.S.-based retailerTarget Corporationand shutter all of their remaining locations by early 2013.Target used the acquisition of this real estate as a means to enable its entry in the Canadian market. HBC used some of the proceeds to pay down debt and to invest in growing its Hudson's Bay and Lord & Taylor banners. In January 2013, it was confirmed that three Zellers locations, re-purposed as discount department stores for The Bay and Home Outfitters, would remain open.The Target Canada chain folded in 2015; the leases were subsequently returned to landlords or re-sold to other retailers.Zellers was still owned by HBC as two remaining stores following the sale of its lease portfolio toTarget Canadain 2011.By September 2019, the re-purposed Toronto and Ottawa Zellers locations were still operating as discount department stores. In August 2022, the Hudson's Bay Company announced it would be reviving the Zellers brand through online shopping and physical locations in 2023. Lord & Taylor On 24 January 2012, theFinancial Postreported that Richard Baker (owner of NDRC and governor of Hudson's Bay Company) had dissolvedHudson's Bay Trading Companyand that the HBC would now also operate theLord & Taylorchain. At the time, the company was run by presidentBonnie Brooks.Baker remained governor and CEO of the business, and Donald Watros stayed on as chief operating officer. In 2018, HBC in a joint venture sold the building that housed its flagshipLord & Taylorstore on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan toWeWorkProperty Advisors for $850 million. WeWork was set to occupy the uppermost floors of the building, with the rest of the building remaining a flagship space for Lord & Taylor.The deal also included the use of floors of certain HBC-owned department stores in New York, Toronto, Vancouver and Germany as WeWork's shared office workspaces. In August 2019, HBC announced that it would sell their Lord & Taylor business toLe ToteInc., which was to payCA$99.5 millionin cash when the deal closes (probably before year end 2019) and an additionalCA$33.2 milliontwo years later. HBC was to get a 25 per cent equity stake in Le Tote.The buyer would retain the stores' inventory, with an estimated value ofCA$284.2 million. The deal, expected to close before year end, required HBC to pay the stores' rent for at least three years, leading one news report to describe it as \"Not a clean exit\". The liability to HBC for the rents was estimated atCA$77 millioncash per year. Saks, Inc. On 29 July 2013, Hudson's Bay Company announced that it would buySaks, Inc., operator of the U.S.Saks Fifth Avenuebrand, forUS$2.9 billion, or $16 per share.The merger was completed on 3 November 2013.The company also stated that as a result of the purchase, Canadian consumers would see Saks stores arriving in their country soon.After the purchase was finalized, HBC had a net loss of $124.2 million in the 2013 3Q due to the cost of the purchase and promotions. Galeria Kaufhof/Galeria Inno HBC had acquired the German department store chain Galeria Kaufhof and its Belgian subsidiary,Galeria Inno, fromMetro Groupin September 2015 forUS$3.2 billion. On 1 November 2017, HBC received an unsolicited offer from Austrian firmSigna Holdingfor Kaufhof and other real estate.An unnamed source toldCNBCthat the value of the offer was approximately 3 billion euros.This information on the offer was also reiterated in a press release by activist shareholder Land & Buildings Investment Management, which urged HBC to accept the offer; the company replied that the offer was incomplete and did not provide indication of financing for the deal.In late 2018, Galeria Kaufhof andKarstadtmerged as part of a spin off. HBC announced its intent to sell the last 49.99 percent of Galeria Kaufhof and Galeria Inno shares it held to Austrian firmSigna Holdingin June 2019. The sale of the real estate in Germany had gained US$1.5 billion (€1 billion) for HBC.At that time, HBC still had a retail operation in the Netherlands, using the Vroom & Dreesmann locations it had purchased in 2017. On 31 August 2019, the company announced that all 15 of those stores would be sold by year end. Neiman Marcus On July 4, 2024, Hudson's Bay Company announced it would acquireNeiman Marcus Groupfor $2.65 billion, concluding years of negotiations. Operations The HBC is diversified into joint ventures and other types of business products. The HBC has credit card, mortgage, and personal insurance branches. These other products and services are joint partnerships with other corporations. The HBC also has anHBC Rewardsprogram, where Rewards points can be redeemed in house. The HBC is involved in community and charity activities. The HBC Rewards Community Program raises funds for community causes. The HBC Foundation is a charity agency involved in social issues and service. The HBC used to sponsor the annual HBC Run for Canada, a series of public-participation runs and walks held across the country on Canada Day to raise funds for Canadian athletes. The company discontinued this event in 2009. Olympic outfitter The HBC was the official outfitter of clothing for members of the Canadian Olympic team in 1936, 1960, 1964, 1968, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016. The sponsorship has been renewed through 2020. Since the late 2000s, HBC has used its status as the official Canadian Olympics team outfitter to gain global exposure, as part of a turnaround plan that included shedding under-performing brands and luring new high-end brands. On 2 March 2005, the company was announced as the new clothing outfitter for the Canadian Olympic team, in a $100 million deal, providing apparel for the 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012 Games, having outbid the existing Canadian Olympic wear-supplier,Roots Canada, which had supplied Canada's Olympic teams from 1998 to 2004.The Canadian Olympic collection is sold through Hudson's Bay (and Zellers until 2013 when the Zellers leases were sold toTarget Canada). HBC's2006 Winter Olympicsand2008 Summer Olympicsuniforms and toques received a mixed reception for their multicoloured stripes (green, red, yellow, blue) which seemed to be not-so-subtle advertising for HBC rather than representing the Canadian Olympic team's traditional colours of red and white (with black as a secondary), in contrast to well-received Root's 1998 collection with its trendy redletter jacketsand Poor Boy caps. HBC produced 80 per cent to 90 per cent of their Olympic clothes in China which was criticized, as Roots ensured that the Olympic clothes were made in Canada using Canadian material. HBC's apparel for the2010 Winter Olympicsheld in Vancouver proved to be extremely successful, in part because Canada was the host country and their athletes had a record medal haul. The \"Red Mittens\" (red-and-white mittens featuring a large maple leaf) that were sold forCA$10, with one-third of the proceeds going to theCanadian Olympic Committee, proved very popular, as were the \"Canada\" hoodies. The HBC's2010 Winter Olympicsapparel was also controversial due to a knitted, machine-made sweater that looked like aCowichan sweater.After a meeting between HBC representatives andCowichan Tribes, a compromise was made between the parties; knitters would have an opportunity to sell their sweaters at the downtown Vancouver HBC store, alongside the HBC imitations. LordSebastian Coe, chairman of the2012 London Olympic Games Organizing Committee, who attended theVancouver Olympics, noted that the Canadians were passionate in embracing the Games with their \"Canada\" hoodies and their red mittens (of which 2.6 million pairs sold that year).HBC has continued to produce these red mittens for subsequent Olympic Games. In 2021, it was announced that beginning with the2022 Winter Olympics,Lululemonwould replace the HBC as Canada's Olympic outfitter. Archives The legacy of the HBC has been maintained in part by the detailed record-keeping and archiving of material by the company. Before 1974, the records of the HBC were kept in the London office headquarters. The HBC opened an archives department to researchers in 1931. In 1974, Hudson's Bay Company Archives (HBCA) were transferred from London and placed on deposit with the Manitoba archives in Winnipeg. The company granted public access to the collection the following year. On 27 January 1994, the company's archives were formally donated to the Archives of Manitoba. At the time of the donation, the appraised value of the records was nearly $60 million. A foundation, Hudson's Bay Company History Foundation funded through the tax savings resulting from the donation, was established to support the operations of the HBC Archive as a division of the Archives of Manitoba, along with other activities and programs.More than two kilometres (1.2 mi) of filed documents and hundreds of microfilm reels are now stored in a special climate-controlled vault in the Manitoba Archives Building. In 2007, Hudson's Bay Company Archives became part of the United Nations \"Memory of the World Programme\" project, underUNESCO. The records covered the HBC history from the founding of the company in 1670. The records contained business transactions, medical records, personal journals of officials, inventories, company reports, etc. Corporate governance As of January 2018, the members of the board of directors of Hudson's Bay Company are: Corporate hierarchy In the 18th and 19th centuries, Hudson's Bay Company operated with a very rigid employee hierarchy. This hierarchy essentially broke down into two levels; the officers and the servants. Comprising the officers were the factors, masters and chief traders, clerks and surgeons. The servants were the tradesmen, boatmen, and labourers. The officers essentially ran the fur trading posts. They had many duties which included supervising the workers in their trade posts, valuing the furs, and keeping trade and post records. In 1821, when Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company merged, the hierarchy became even stricter and the lines between officers and servants became virtually impossible to cross. Officers in charge of individual trading posts had much responsibility because they were directly in charge of enforcing the policies made by the governor and committee (the board) of the company. One of these policies was the price of particular furs and trade goods. These prices were called the Official and Comparative Standards. Made-Beaver, the quality measurement of the pelt, was the means of exchange used by Hudson's Bay Company to define the Official and Comparative Standards. Because the governor was stationed in London, England, they needed to have reliable officers managing the trade posts halfway around the world. Because the fur trade was a very dynamic market, HBC needed to have some form of flexibility when dealing with prices and traders. Price fluctuation was deferred to the officers in charge of the trade posts, and the head office recorded any difference between the company's standard and that set by the individual officers. Overplus, or any excess revenue gained by officers, was strictly documented to insure that it was not being pocketed and taken from the company. This strict yet flexible hierarchy exemplifies how Hudson's Bay Company was able to be so successful while still having its central management and trade posts located so far apart. Progression In the 19th century, career progression for officers, together referred to as the Commissioned Gentlemen, was to enter the company as a fur trader. Typically, they were men who had the capital to invest in starting up their trading. They sought to be promoted to the rank of Chief Trader. A Chief Trader would be in charge of an individual post and was entitled to one share of the company's profits. Chief Factors sat in council with the Governors and were the heads of districts. They were entitled to two shares of the company's profits or losses. The average income of a Chief Trader was £360 and that of a Chief Factor was £720. Governors Chronological list of governors of the Hudson's Bay Company: Miscellany Rent obligation under charter Under the charter establishing Hudson's Bay Company, the company was required to give twoelkskins and two blackbeaverpelts to the English king, then Charles II, or his heirs, whenever the monarch visited Rupert's Land. The exact text from the 1670 Charter reads: ...Yielding and paying yearly to us and our heirs and successors for the same two Elks and two Black beavers whensoever and as often as We, our heirs and successors shall happen to enter into the said Countries, Territories and Regions hereby granted. The ceremony was first conducted with thePrince of Wales(the future Edward VIII) in 1927, then with KingGeorge VIin 1939, and last with his daughter, QueenElizabeth IIin 1959 and 1970. On the last such visit, the pelts were given in the form of two live beavers, which the Queen donated to the Winnipeg Zoo inAssiniboine Park. However, when the company permanently moved its headquarters to Canada, the Charter was amended to remove the rent obligation. Each of the four \"rent ceremonies\" took place in or around Winnipeg. HBC explorers, builders, and associates HBC sternwheelers and steamships Rivals The HBC is the only European trading company to have survived. It outlived all its rivals. See also References Bibliography Further reading External links"],"string":"[\n \"Klondike Gold Rush TheKlondike Gold Rushwas a migration by an estimated 100,000prospectorsto theKlondike regionofYukon, in north-western Canada, between 1896 and 1899.Goldwas discovered there by local miners on August 16, 1896; when news reachedSeattleandSan Franciscothe following year, it triggered astampede of prospectors. Some became wealthy, but the majority went in vain. It has been immortalized in films, literature, and photographs. To reach the gold fields, most prospectors took the route through the ports ofDyeaandSkagway, inSoutheast Alaska. Here, the \\\"Klondikers\\\" could follow either theChilkootor theWhite Passtrails to theYukon River, and sail down to the Klondike. The Canadian authorities required each of them to bring a year's supply of food, in order to prevent starvation. In all, the Klondikers' equipment weighed close to a ton, which most carried themselves, in stages. Performing this task, and contending with the mountainous terrain and cold climate, meant that most of those who persisted did not arrive until the summer of 1898. Once there, they found few opportunities, and many left disappointed. To accommodate the prospectors,boom townssprang up along the routes. At their terminus,Dawson Citywas founded at the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon rivers. From a population of 500 in 1896, the town grew to house approximately 17,000 people by summer 1898. Built of wood, isolated, and unsanitary, Dawson suffered from fires, high prices, and epidemics. Despite this, the wealthiest prospectors spent extravagantly, gambling and drinking in thesaloons. The indigenousHän, on the other hand, suffered from the rush; they were forcibly moved into areserveto make way for the Klondikers, and many died. Beginning in 1898, the newspapers that had encouraged so many to travel to the Klondike lost interest in it. In the summer of 1899,gold was discovered around Nomein westAlaska, and many prospectors left the Klondike for the new goldfields, marking the end of the Klondike Rush. The boom towns declined, and the population ofDawson Cityfell. Gold mining production in the Klondike peaked in 1903 after heavier equipment was brought in. Since then, the Klondike has been mined on and off, and today the legacy draws tourists to the region and contributes to its prosperity. Background Theindigenous peoples in north-west Americahad traded incoppernuggets prior toEuropean expansion. Most of the tribes were aware that gold existed in the region, but the metal was not valued by them.TheRussiansand theHudson's Bay Companyhad both explored the Yukon in the first half of the 19th century, but ignored the rumours of gold in favour offur trading, which offered more immediate profits. In the second half of the 19th century, American prospectors began to spread into the area.Making deals with the NativeTlingitandTagishtribes, the early prospectors opened the important routes ofChilkootand White Pass and reached theYukonvalley between 1870 and 1890.Here, they encountered the Hän people, semi-nomadic hunters and fishermen who lived along the Yukon and Klondike Rivers.The Hän did not appear to know about the extent of the gold deposits in the region. In 1883,Ed Schieffelinidentified gold deposits along the Yukon River, and an expedition up theFortymile Riverin 1886 discovered considerable amounts of it and founded Fortymile City.The same year gold had been found on the banks of the Klondike River, but in small amounts and with no claims being made.By late 1886, several hundred miners were working their way along the Yukon valley, living in small mining camps and trading with the Hän.On the Alaskan side of the border,Circle City, alogtown, was established in 1893 on the Yukon River. In three years it grew to become \\\"the Paris of Alaska\\\", with about 1,200 inhabitants, saloons, opera houses, schools, and libraries. In 1896, it was so well-known that acorrespondentfrom the ChicagoDaily Recordcame to visit. At the end of the year, it became aghost town, when large gold deposits were found upstream on the Klondike. Discovery (1896) On August 16, 1896, an American prospector namedGeorge Carmackand two Tagish men,Skookum Jim(Keish), andTagish Charlie(K̲áa Goox̱) were travelling south of the Klondike River.Following a suggestion fromRobert Henderson, a Canadian prospector, they began looking for gold onBonanza Creek, then called Rabbit Creek, one of the Klondike's tributaries.It is not clear who discovered the gold: George Carmack or Skookum Jim, but the group agreed to let George Carmack appear as the official discoverer because they feared that authorities would not recognize anindigenousclaimant. In any event, gold was present along the river in huge quantities.Carmack measured out four claims, strips of ground that could later be legally mined by the owner, along the river; these including two for himself—one as his normal claim, the second as a reward for having discovered the gold—and one each for Jim and Charlie.The claims were registered the next day at the police post at the mouth of the Fortymile River and news spread rapidly from there to other mining camps in the Yukon River valley. By the end of August, all of Bonanza Creek had been claimed by miners.A prospector then advanced up into one of the creeks feeding into Bonanza, later to be namedEldorado Creek. He discovered new sources of gold there, which would prove to be even richer than those on Bonanza.Claims began to be sold between miners and speculators for considerable sums.Just before Christmas, word of the gold reached Circle City. Despite the winter, many prospectors immediately left for the Klondike by dog-sled, eager to reach the region before the best claims were taken.The outside world was still largely unaware of the news, and although Canadian officials had managed to send a message to their superiors inOttawaabout the finds and influx of prospectors, the government did not give it much attention.The winter prevented river traffic, and it was not until June 1897 that the first boats left the area, carrying the freshly mined gold and the full story of the discoveries. Beginning of the stampede (July 1897) In the resulting Klondike stampede, an estimated 100,000 people tried to reach the Klondike goldfields, of whom only around 30,000 to 40,000 eventually did.It formed the height of the Klondike gold rush from the summer of 1897 until the summer of 1898. It began on July 14, 1897, inSan Franciscoand was spurred further three days later inSeattle, when the first of the early prospectors returned from the Klondike, bringing with them large amounts of gold on the shipsExcelsiorandPortland.The press reported that a total of $1,139,000 (equivalent to $1 billion at 2010 prices) had been brought in by these ships, although this proved to be an underestimate.The migration of prospectors caught so much attention that it was joined by outfitters, writers and photographers. Various factors lay behind this sudden mass response. Economically, the news had reached the US at the height of a series of financial recessions and bank failures in the 1890s. Thegold standardof the time tied paper money to the production of gold and shortages towards the end of the 19th century meant that gold dollars were rapidly increasing in value ahead of paper currencies and being hoarded.This had contributed to thePanic of 1893andPanic of 1896, which caused unemployment and financial uncertainty.There was a huge, unresolved demand for gold across the developed world that the Klondike promised to fulfil and, for individuals, the region promised higher wages or financial security. Psychologically, the Klondike, as historianPierre Bertondescribes, was \\\"just far enough away to be romantic and just close enough to be accessible\\\". Furthermore, the Pacific ports closest to the gold strikes were desperate to encourage trade and travel to the region.The mass journalism of the period promoted the event and the human interest stories that lay behind it. A worldwide publicity campaign engineered largely byErastus Brainerd, a Seattle newspaperman, helped establish that city as the premier supply centre and the departure point for the gold fields. The prospectors came from many nations, although an estimated majority of 60 to 80 percent were Americans or recent immigrants to America.Most had no experience in the mining industry, being clerks or salesmen.Mass resignations of staff to join the gold rush became notorious.In Seattle, this included the mayor, twelve policemen, and a significant percentage of the city's streetcar drivers. Some stampeders were famous:John McGraw, the former governor of Washington, joined, together with the prominent lawyer and sportsman A. Balliot.Frederick Burnham, a well-known American scout and explorer, arrived from Africa, only to be called back to take part in theSecond Boer War.Among those who documented the rush was the Swedish-born photographerEric Hegg, who took some of the iconic pictures of Chilkoot Pass, and reporterTappan Adney, who afterwards wrote a first-hand history of the stampede.Jack London, later a famous American writer, left to seek for gold but made his money during the rush mostly by working for prospectors. Seattle and San Francisco competed fiercely for business during the rush, with Seattle winning the larger share of trade.Indeed, one of the first to join the gold rush was William D. Wood, the mayor of Seattle, who resigned and formed a company to transport prospectors to the Klondike.The publicity around the gold rush led to a flurry of branded goods being marketed. Clothing, equipment, food, and medicines were all sold as \\\"Klondike\\\" goods, allegedly designed for the northwest.Guidebooks were published, giving advice about routes, equipment, mining, and capital necessary for the enterprise.The newspapers of the time termed this phenomenon \\\"Klondicitis\\\". Routes to the Klondike The Klondike could be reached only by the Yukon River, either upstream from its delta, downstream from its head, or from somewhere in the middle through its tributaries. River boats could navigate the Yukon in the summer from the delta until a point called Whitehorse, above the Klondike. Travel, in general, was made difficult by both terrain and climate. The region was mountainous, the rivers winding and sometimes impassable; summers, albeit short, still brought heat, while during the long winters, temperatures could drop below −50 °C (−58 °F). Aids for the travellers to carry their supplies varied; some had brought dogs, horses,mules, or oxen, whereas others had to rely on carrying their equipment on their backs or on sleds pulled by hand.Shortly after the stampede began in 1897, the Canadian authorities had introduced rules requiring anyone entering Yukon Territory to bring with them a year's supply of food; typically this weighed around 1,150 pounds (520 kg).By the time camping equipment, tools and other essentials were included, a typical traveller was transporting as much as a ton in weight.Unsurprisingly, the price of draft animals soared; at Dyea, even poor quality horses could sell for as much as $700 ($19,000), or be rented out for $40 ($1,100) a day. From Seattle or San Francisco, prospectors could travel by sea up the coast to the ports of Alaska.The route following the coast is now referred to as theInside Passage. It led to the ports of Dyea and Skagway plus ports of nearby trails. The sudden increase in demand encouraged a range of vessels to be pressed into service including oldpaddle wheelers, fishing boats, barges, and coal ships still full of coal dust. All were overloaded and many sank. All water routes It was possible to sail all the way to the Klondike, first from Seattle across the northern Pacific to the Alaskan coast. FromSt. Michael, at the Yukon River delta, a river boat could then take the prospectors the rest of the way up the river to Dawson, often guided by one of the NativeKoyukon peoplewho lived near St. Michael.Although this all-water route, also called \\\"the rich man's route\\\", was expensive and long – 4,700 miles (7,600 km) in total – it had the attraction of speed and avoiding overland travel.At the beginning of the stampede a ticket could be bought for $150 ($4,050) while during the winter 1897–98 the fare settled at $1,000 ($27,000). In 1897, some 1,800 travellers attempted this route but the vast majority were caught along the river when the region iced over in October.Only 43 reached the Klondike before winter and of those 35 had to return, having thrown away their equipment en route to reach their destination in time.The remainder mostly found themselves stranded in isolated camps and settlements along the ice-covered river often in desperate circumstances. Dyea/Skagway routes Most of the prospectors landed at the southeast Alaskan towns of Dyea and Skagway, both located at the head of the naturalLynn Canalat the end of the Inside Passage. From there, they needed to travel over the mountain ranges into Canada's Yukon Territory, and then down the river network to the Klondike.Along the trails, tent camps sprung up at places where prospectors had to stop to eat or sleep or at obstacles such as the icy lakes at the head of the Yukon.At the start of the rush, a ticket from Seattle to the port of Dyea cost $40 ($1,100) for a cabin. Premiums of $100 ($2,700), however, were soon paid and the steamship companies hesitated to post their rates in advance since they could increase on a daily basis. White Pass trail Those who landed at Skagway made their way over the White Pass before cutting across toBennett Lake.Although the trail began gently, it progressed over several mountains with paths as narrow as 2 feet (0.61 m) and in wider parts covered with boulders and sharp rocks.Under these conditions horses died in huge numbers, giving the route the informal name of Dead Horse Trail.The volumes of travellers and the wet weather made the trail impassable and, by late 1897, it was closed until further notice, leaving around 5,000 stranded in Skagway. An alternative toll road suitable for wagons was eventually constructed and this, combined with colder weather that froze the muddy ground, allowed the White Pass to reopen, and prospectors began to make their way into Canada.Moving supplies and equipment over the pass had to be done in stages. Most divided their belongings into 65 pounds (29 kg) packages that could be carried on a man's back, or heavier loads that could be pulled by hand on a sled.Ferrying packages forwards and walking back for more, a prospector would need about thirty round trips, a distance of at least 2,500 miles (4,000 km), before they had moved all of their supplies to the end of the trail. Even using a heavy sled, a strong man would be covering 1,000 miles (1,600 km) and need around 90 days to reach Lake Bennett. Chilkoot trail Those who landed at Dyea, Skagway's neighbour town, travelled theChilkoot Trailand crossed its pass to reach Lake Lindeman, which fed into Lake Bennett at the head of the Yukon River.The Chilkoot Pass was higher than the White Pass, but more used it: around 22,000 during the gold rush.The trail passed up through camps until it reached a flat ledge, just before the main ascent, which was too steep for animals.This location was known as the Scales, and was where goods were weighed before travellers officially entered Canada. The cold, the steepness and the weight of equipment made the climb extremely arduous and it could take a day to get to the top of the 1,000 feet (300 m) high slope. As on the White Pass trail, supplies needed to be broken down into smaller packages and carried in relay.Packers, prepared to carry supplies for cash, were available along the route but would charge up to $1 ($27) per lb (0.45 kg) on the later stages; many of these packers were natives: Tlingits or, less commonly, Tagish.Avalancheswere common in the mountains and, on April 3, 1898, one claimed the lives of more than 60 people travelling over Chilkoot Pass. Entrepreneurs began to provide solutions as the winter progressed. Steps were cut into the ice at the Chilkoot Pass which could be used for a daily fee, this 1,500 step staircase becoming known as the \\\"Golden Steps\\\".By December 1897, Archie Burns built atramwayup the final parts of the Chilkoot Pass. A horse at the bottom turned a wheel, which pulled a rope running to the top and back; freight was loaded on sledges pulled by the rope. Five more tramways soon followed, one powered by asteam engine, charging between 8 and 30 cents ($2 and $8) per 1 pound (0.45 kg).Anaerial tramwaywas built in the spring of 1898, able to move 9 tonnes of goods an hour up to the summit. Head of Yukon River At Lakes Bennett and Lindeman, the prospectors camped to build rafts or boats that would take them the final 500 miles (800 km) down the Yukon to Dawson City in the spring.7,124 boats of varying size and quality left in May 1898; by that time, the forests around the lakes had been largely cut down for timber.The river posed a new problem. AboveWhitehorse, it was dangerous, with several rapids along the Miles Canyon through to the White Horse Rapids. After many boats were wrecked and several hundred people died, theNorth-West Mounted Police(NWMP) introduced safety rules,vettingthe boats carefully and forbidding women and children to travel through the rapids.Additional rules stated that any boat carrying passengers required alicensed pilot, typically costing $25 ($680), although some prospectors simply unpacked their boats and let them drift unmanned through the rapids with the intent of walking down to collect them on the other side.During the summer, a horse-powered rail-tramway was built by Norman Macaulay, capable of carrying boats and equipment through the canyon at $25 ($680) a time, removing the need for prospectors to navigate the rapids. Parallel trails There were a few more trails established during 1898 from South-east Alaska to the Yukon River. One was the Dalton trail: starting from Pyramid Harbour, close to Dyea, it went across theChilkat Passsome miles west of Chilkoot and turned north to the Yukon River, a distance of about 350 miles (560 km). This was created by Jack Dalton as a summer route, intended for cattle and horses, and Dalton charged a toll of $250 ($6,800) for its use. The Takou route started from Juneau and went north-east to Teslin Lake. From here, it followed a river to the Yukon, where it met the Dyea and Skagway route at a point halfway to the Klondike.It meant dragging and poling canoes up-river and through mud together with crossing a 5,000 feet (1,500 m) mountain along a narrow trail. Finally, there was the Stikine route starting from the port of Wrangell further south-east of Skagway. This route went up the uneasy Stikine River to Glenora, thehead of navigation. From Glenora, prospectors would have to carry their supplies 150 miles (240 km) to Teslin Lake where it, like the Takou route, met the Yukon River system. All-Canadian routes An alternative to the South-east Alaskan ports were the All-Canadian routes, so-called because they mostly stayed on Canadian soil throughout their journey.These were popular with British and Canadians for patriotic reasons and because they avoided American customs.The first of these, around 1,000 miles (1,600 km) in length, started fromAshcroftin British Columbia and crossed swamps, rivergorges, and mountains until it met with the Stikine River route at Glenora.From Glenora, prospectors would face the same difficulties as those who came from Wrangell.At least 1,500 men attempted to travel along the Ashcroft route and 5,000 along the Stikine.The mud and the slushy ice of the two routes proved exhausting, killing or incapacitating the pack animals and creating chaos amongst the travellers. Three more routes started fromEdmonton,Alberta; these were not much better – barely trails at all – despite being advertised as \\\"the inside track\\\" and the \\\"back door to the Klondike\\\".One, the \\\"overland route\\\", headed north-west from Edmonton, ultimately meeting thePeace Riverand then continuing on overland to the Klondike, crossing theLiard Riveren route.To encourage travel via Edmonton, the government hired T.W. Chalmers to build a trail, which became known as theKlondike Trailor Chalmers Trail.The other two trails, known as the \\\"water routes\\\", involved more river travel. One went by boat along rivers and overland to the Yukon River system atPelly Riverand from there to Dawson.Another went north of Dawson by theMackenzie RivertoFort McPherson, before entering Alaska and meeting the Yukon River atFort Yukon, downstream to the Klondike.From here, the boat and equipment had to be pulled up the Yukon about 400 miles (640 km). An estimated 1,660 travellers took these three routes, of whom only 685 arrived, some taking up to 18 months to make the journey. \\\"All-American\\\" route An equivalent to the All-Canadian routes was the \\\"All-American route\\\", which aimed to reach the Yukon from the port ofValdez, which lay further along the Alaskan coast from Skagway.This, it was hoped, would evade the Canadian customs posts and provide an American-controlled route into the interior.From late 1897 onwards 3,500 men and women attempted it; delayed by the winter snows, fresh efforts were made in the spring. In practice, the huge Valdez glacier that stood between the port and the Alaskan interior proved almost insurmountable and only 200 managed to climb it; by 1899, the cold andscurvywas causing many deaths amongst the rest.Other prospectors attempted an alternative route across theMalaspina Glacierjust to the east, suffering even greater hardships.Those who did manage to cross it found themselves having to negotiate miles of wilderness before they could reach Dawson. Their expedition was forced to turn back the same way they had come, with only four men surviving. Border control The borders in South-east Alaskawere disputedbetween the US, Canada and Britain since the Americanpurchase of Alaskafrom Russia in 1867.The US and Canada both claimed the ports of Dyea and Skagway.This, combined with the numbers of American prospectors, the quantities of gold being mined and the difficulties in exercising government authority in such a remote area, made the control of the borders a sensitive issue. Early on in the gold rush, the US Army sent a smalldetachmentto Circle City, in case intervention was required in the Klondike, while the Canadian government considered excluding all American prospectors from the Yukon Territory.Neither eventuality took place and instead the US agreed to make Dyea a sub-port of entry for Canadians, allowing British ships to land Canadian passengers and goods freely there, while Canada agreed to permit American miners to operate in the Klondike.Both decisions were unpopular among their domestic publics: American businessmen complained that their right to amonopolyon regional trade was being undermined, while the Canadian public demanded action against the American miners. The North-West Mounted Police set up control posts at the borders of the Yukon Territory or, where that was disputed, at easily controlled points such as the Chilkoot and White Passes.These units were armed withMaxim guns.Their tasks included enforcing the rules requiring that travellers bring a year's supply of food with them to be allowed into the Yukon Territory, checking for illegal weapons, preventing the entry of criminals and enforcing customs duties. This last task was particularly unpopular with American prospectors, who faced paying an average of 25 percent of the value of their goods and supplies.The Mounties had a reputation for running these posts honestly, although accusations were made that they took bribes.Prospectors, on the other hand, tried to smuggle prize items likesilkandwhiskeyacross the pass in tins and bales of hay: the former item for the ladies, the latter for the saloons. Mining Of the estimated 30,000 to 40,000 people who reached Dawson City during the gold rush, only around 15,000 to 20,000 finally became prospectors. Of these, no more than 4,000 struck gold and only a few hundred became rich.By the time most of the stampeders arrived in 1898, the best creeks had all been claimed, either by the long-term miners in the region or by the first arrivals of the year before.The Bonanza, Eldorado, Hunker, and Dominion Creeks were all taken, with almost 10,000 claims recorded by the authorities by July 1898; a new prospector would have to look further afield to find a claim of his own. Geologically, the region was permeated with veins of gold, forced to the surface byvolcanicaction and then worn away by the action of rivers and streams, leaving nuggets and gold dust in deposits known asplacer gold.Some ores lay along the creek beds in lines of soil, typically 15 feet (4.6 m) to 30 feet (9.1 m) beneath the surface.Others, formed by even older streams, lay along the hilltops; these deposits were called \\\"bench gold\\\".Finding the gold was challenging. Initially, miners had assumed that all the gold would be along the existing creeks, and it was not until late in 1897 that the hilltops began to be mined.Gold was also unevenly distributed, which made the prediction of good mining sites uncertain without exploratory digging. Methods Mining began with clearing the ground of vegetation and debris.Prospect holes were then dug in an attempt to find the ore or \\\"pay streak\\\".If these holes looked productive, proper digging could commence, aiming down to the bedrock, where the majority of the gold was found.The digging would be carefully monitored in case the operation needed to be shifted to allow for changes in the flow. In the sub-Arctic climate of the Klondike, a layer of hard permafrost lay only 6 feet (1.8 m) below the surface.Traditionally, this had meant that mining in the region only occurred during the summer months, but the pressure of the gold rush made such a delay unacceptable.Late 19th-century technology existed for dealing with this problem, including hydraulic mining and stripping, anddredging. Still, the heavy equipment required for this could not be brought into the Klondike during the gold rush. Instead, the miners relied on wood fires to soften the ground to a depth of about 14 inches (360 mm) and then remove the resulting gravel. The process was repeated until the gold was reached. In theory, no support of the shaft was necessary because of the permafrost although in practice sometimes the fire melted the permafrost and caused collapses.Fires could also produce harmful gases, which had to be removed by bellows or other tools.The resulting \\\"dirt\\\" brought out of the mines froze quickly in winter and could be processed only during the warmer summer months.An alternative, more efficient, approach called steam thawing was devised between 1897 and 1898; this used a furnace to pump steam directly into the ground, but since it required additional equipment it was not a widespread technique during the years of the rush. In the summer, water would sluice and pan the dirt, separating the heavier gold from gravel.This required miners to construct sluices, which were sequences of wooden boxes 15 feet (4.6 m) long, through which the dirt would be washed; up to 20 of these might be needed for each mining operation.The sluices in turn required much water, usually produced by creating a dam and ditches or crude pipes.\\\"Bench gold\\\" mining on the hill sides could not use sluice lines because water could not be pumped that high up. Instead, these mines used rockers, boxes that moved back and forth like a cradle, to create the motion needed for separation.Finally, the resulting gold dust could be exported out of the Klondike; exchanged for paper money at the rate of $16 ($430) per troy ounce (ozt)(31.1 g) through one of the major banks that opened in Dawson City, or simply used as money when dealing with local traders. Business Successful mining took time and capital, particularly once most of the timber around the Klondike had been cut down.A realistic mining operation required $1,500 ($42,000) for wood to be burned to melt the ground, along with around $1,000 ($28,000) to construct a dam, $1,500 ($42,000) for ditches and up to $600 ($16,800) for sluice boxes, a total of $4,600 ($128,800).The attraction of the Klondike to a prospector, however, was that when gold was found, it was often highly concentrated.Some of the creeks in the Klondike were fifteen times richer in gold than those inCalifornia, and richer still than those inSouth Africa.In just two years, for example, $230,000 ($6,440,000) worth of gold was brought up from claim 29 on the Eldorado Creek. Under Canadian law, miners first had to get a licence, either when they arrived at Dawson or en route fromVictoriain Canada.They could then prospect for gold and when they had found a suitable location, lay a claim to mining rights over it.To stake a claim, a prospector would drive stakes into the ground a measured distance apart and then return to Dawson to register the claim for $15 ($410).This normally had to be done within three days, and by 1897 only one claim per person at a time was allowed in a district, although married couples could exploit a loophole that allowed the wife to register a claim in her own name, doubling their amount of land. The claim could be mined freely for a year, after which a $100 ($2,800) fee had to be paid annually. Should the prospector leave the claim for more than three days without good reason, another miner could make a claim on the land.The Canadian government also charged aroyaltyof between 10 and 20 percent on the value of gold taken from a claim. Traditionally, a mining claim had been granted over a 500-foot (150 m) long stretch of a creek, including the land from one side of the valley to another. The Canadian authorities had tried to reduce this length to 150 feet (46 m), but under pressure from miners had been forced to agree to 250 feet (76 m). The only exception to this was a \\\"Discovery\\\" claim, the first to be made on a creek, which could be 500 feet (150 m) long.The exact lengths of claims were often challenged and when the governmentsurveyorWilliam Ogilvieconducted surveys to settle disputes, he found some claims exceeded the official limit.The excess fractions of land then became available as claims and were sometimes quite valuable. Claims could be bought. However, their price depended on whether they had been yet proved to contain gold.A prospector with capital might consider taking a risk on an \\\"unproved\\\" claim on one of the better creeks for $5,000 ($140,000); a wealthier miner could buy a \\\"proved\\\" mine for $50,000 ($1,400,000).The well known claim eight on Eldorado Creek was sold for as much as $350,000 ($9,800,000).Prospectors were also allowed to hire others to work for them.Enterprising miners such asAlex McDonaldset about amassing mines and employees.Leveraginghis acquisitions with short-term loans, by the autumn of 1897 McDonald had purchased 28 claims, estimated to be worth millions.Swiftwater Billfamously borrowed heavily against his claim on the Eldorado creek, relying on hired hands to mine the gold to keep up his interest payments. The less fortunate or less well funded prospectors rapidly found themselves destitute. Some chose to sell their equipment and return south.Others took jobs as manual workers, either in mines or in Dawson; the typical daily pay of $15 ($410) was high by external standards, but low compared to the cost of living in the Klondike.The possibility that a new creek might suddenly produce gold, however, continued to tempt poorer prospectors.Smaller stampedes around the Klondike continued throughout the gold rush, when rumours of new strikes would cause a small mob to descend on fresh sites, hoping to be able to stake out a high-value claim. Life in the Klondike The massive influx of prospectors drove the formation of boom towns along the routes of the stampede, with Dawson City in the Klondike the largest.The new towns were crowded, often chaotic and many disappeared just as soon as they came.Most stampeders were men but women also travelled to the region, typically as the wife of a prospector.Some women entertained in gambling and dance halls built by business men and women who were encouraged by the lavish spending of successful miners. Dawson remained relatively lawful, protected by the Canadian NWMP, which meant that gambling and prostitution were accepted while robbery and murder were kept low. By contrast, especially the port of Skagway under US jurisdiction in Southeast Alaska became infamous for its criminal underworld.The extreme climate and remoteness of the region in general meant that supplies and communication with the outside world including news and mail were scarce. Boomtowns The ports of Dyea and Skagway, through which most of the prospectors entered, were tiny settlements before the gold rush, Skagway consisting of only a single log cabin, and Dyea comprising a handful of Tlingit houses and the Healy & Wilson trading store.Because there were nodocking facilities, ships had to unload their cargo directly onto the beach, where people tried to move their goods before high tide.Inevitablycargoswere lost in the process.Some travellers had arrived intending to supply goods and services to the would-be miners; some of these in turn, realizing how difficult it would be to reach Dawson, chose to do the same.Within weeks, storehouses, saloons, and offices lined the muddy streets of Dyea and Skagway, surrounded by tents andhovels. Skagway became famous in international media; the authorJohn Muirdescribed the town as \\\"a nest of ants taken into a strange country and stirred up by a stick\\\".While Dyea remained a transit point throughout the winter, Skagway began to take on a more permanent character.Skagway also built wharves out into the bay in order to attract a greater share of the prospectors.The town was effectively lawless, dominated by drinking, gunfire and prostitution.The visiting NWMP SuperintendentSam Steelenoted that it was \\\"little better than a hell on earth ... about the roughest place in the world\\\".Nonetheless, by the summer of 1898, with a population—including migrants—of between 15,000 and 20,000, Skagway was the largest city in Alaska. In early 1898 Skagway fell under the control ofJefferson Randolph \\\"Soapy\\\" Smithand his men, who arrived from Seattle shortly after Skagway began to expand.He was an Americanconfidence manwhose gang, 200 to 300 strong, cheated and stole from the prospectors travelling through the region.He maintained the illusion of being an upstanding member of the community, opening three saloons as well as creating fake businesses to assist in his operations.One of his scams was a faketelegraph officecharging to send messages all over the US and Canada, often pretending to receive a reply.Opposition to Smith steadily grew and, after weeks ofvigilanteactivity, he was killed in Skagway during theshootout on Juneau Wharfon July 8, 1898. Other towns also boomed.Wrangell, port of the Stikine route and boom town from earlier gold rushes, increased in size again, with robberies, gambling and nude female dancing commonplace.Valdez, formed on theGulf of Alaskaduring the attempt to create the \\\"All-American\\\" route to the Klondike during the winter of 1897–1898, became a tent city of people who stayed behind to supply the ill-fated attempts to reach the interior.Edmonton, Alberta (at that time, the District of Alberta in the Northwest Territories), Canada, increased from a population of 1,200 before the gold rush to 4,000 during 1898.Beyond the immediate region, cities such as San Francisco, Seattle,Tacoma,Portland,Vancouverand Victoria all saw their populations soar as a result of the stampede and the trade it brought along. Dawson City Dawson Citywas founded in the early years of the Klondike goldrush, when prospectorJoe Ladueand shopkeeper Arthur Harper decided to make a profit from the influx to the Klondike.The two men bought 178 acres (72 ha) of themudflatsat the junction of the Klondike and Yukon rivers from the government and laid out the street plan for a new town, bringing in timber and other supplies to sell to the migrants.The Hän village ofTr'ochëkalong Deer Creek was considered to be too close to the new town, and the NWMP SuperintendentCharles Constantinemoved its inhabitants 3 miles (4.8 km) down-river to a smallreserve.The town, in the beginning simply known as \\\"Harper and Ladue town site\\\", was named Dawson City afterthe director of Canada's Geographical Survey.It grew rapidly to hold 500 people by the winter of 1896, with plots of land selling for $500 ($14,000) each. In the spring of 1898, the Dawson area population, including the surrounding gold fields, rose further to 30,000 as stampeders arrived over the passes.The centre of the town, Front Street, was lined with hastily built buildings and warehouses, together with log cabins and tents spreading out across the rest of the settlement.There was no running water or sewerage, and only twospringsfor drinking water to supplement the increasingly polluted river.In spring, the unpaved streets were churned into thick mud and in summer the settlement reeked of human effluent and was plagued by flies and mosquitoes.Land in Dawson was now scarce, and plots sold for up to $10,000 ($280,000) each; prime locations on Front Street could reach $20,000 ($560,000) while a small log cabin might rent for $100 ($2,800) a month.As a result, Dawson's population spread south into the empty Hän village, renaming it Klondike City.Other communities emerged closer to the mines, such as Granville on Dominion Creek andGrand Forkson Bonanza Creek. The newly built town proved highly vulnerable to fire. Houses were made of wood, heated with stoves and lit by candles andoil lamps; water for emergencies was wanting, especially in the frozen winters.The first major fire occurred on November 25, 1897, started accidentally by dance-hall girl Belle Mitchell.She also accidentally started a second major fire on October 14, 1898, which, in the absence of afire brigadein Dawson, destroyed two major saloons, the post-office building and the Bank of British North America at a cost of $500,000 ($14,000,000).The worst fire occurred on April 26, 1899, when a saloon caught fire in the middle of astrikeby the newly established fire brigade.Most of the major landmarks in the town were burned to the ground: 117 buildings were destroyed, with the damage estimated at over $1 million ($28,000,000). Logistics The remoteness of Dawson proved an ongoing problem for the supply of food, and as the population grew to 5,000 in 1897, this became critical.When the rivers iced over, it became clear that there would not be enough food for that winter.The NWMP evacuated some prospectors without supplies toFort Yukonin Alaska from September 30 onwards, while others made their way out of the Klondike in search of food and shelter for the winter. Prices remained high in Dawson and supply fluctuated according to the season. During the winter of 1897 salt became worth its weight in gold, while nails, vital for construction work, rose in price to $28 ($784) per lb (0.45 kg).Cans of butter sold for $5 ($140) each.The only eight horses in Dawson were slaughtered for dog food as they could not be kept alive over the winter.The first fresh goods arriving in the spring of 1898 sold for record prices, eggs reaching $3 ($84) each and apples $1 ($28). Scurvy, a potentially fatal illness caused by the lack of vitamin C, became a problem, particularly during the winter where fresh food was unavailable. English prospectors gave it the telling name of \\\"Canadian black leg\\\".It struck, among others, writer Jack London and, although not fatal in his case, brought an end to his mining career.Dysenteryandmalariawere also common in Dawson, and an epidemic oftyphoidbroke out in July and ran rampant throughout the summer.Up to 140 patients were taken into the newly constructed St Mary's Hospital and thousands were affected.Measures were taken by the following year to prevent further outbreaks, including the introduction of better sewage management and the piping in of water from further upstream.These gave improvements in 1899, although typhoid remained a problem.The new Hän reserve, however, lay downstream from Dawson City, and here the badly contaminated river continued to contribute to epidemics of typhoid anddiphtheriathroughout the gold rush. Conspicuous consumption Despite these challenges, the huge quantities of gold coming through Dawson City encouraged a lavish lifestyle amongst the richer prospectors. Saloons were typically open 24 hours a day, with whiskey the standard drink.Gambling was popular, with the major saloons each running their own rooms; a culture of high stakes evolved, with rich prospectors routinely betting $1,000 ($28,000) atdiceor playing for a $5,000 ($140,000)pokerpot.The establishments around Front Street had grand façades in aParisianstyle, mirrors and plate-glass windows and, from late 1898, were lit by electric light.The dance halls in Dawson were particularly prestigious and major status symbols, both for customers and their owners.Wealthy prospectors were expected to drinkchampagneat $60 ($1,660) a bottle, and the Pavilion dancehall cost its owner, Charlie Kimball, as much as $100,000 ($2,800,000) to construct and decorate.Elaborate opera houses were built, bringing singers and specialty acts to Dawson. Tales abounded of prospectors spending huge sums on entertainment — Jimmy McMahon once spent $28,000 ($784,000) in a single evening, for example.Most payments were made in gold dust and in places like saloons, there was so much spilled gold that a profit could be made just by sweeping the floor.Some of the richest prospectors lived flamboyantly in Dawson.Swiftwater Bill, a gambler who rarely went anywhere without wearing silk and diamonds, was one of them. When he discovered the woman he was in love with (who liked eggs, an expensive luxury) was dining with another man, he allegedly bought all the eggs in Dawson, had them boiled and fed them to dogs.Another miner, Frank Conrad, threw a sequence of gold objects onto a ship as tokens of his esteem when his favourite singer left Dawson City.The wealthiest dance-hall girls followed suit: Daisy D'Avara had a belt made for herself from $340 ($9,520) in gold dollar coins; another, Gertie Lovejoy, had a diamond inserted between her two front teeth.The miner and businessman Alex McDonald, despite being styled the \\\"King of the Klondike\\\", was unusual amongst his peers for his lack of grandiose spending. Law and order Unlike its American equivalents, Dawson City was a law-abiding town.By 1897, 96 members of theNWMP had been sent to the districtand by 1898, this had increased to 288, an expensive commitment by the Canadian government.By June 1898, the force was headed by ColonelSam Steele, an officer with a reputation for firm discipline.In 1898, there were no murders and only a few major thefts; in all, only about 150 arrests were made in the Yukon for serious offences that year.Of these arrests, over half were for prostitution and resulted from an attempt by the NWMP to regulate the sex industry in Dawson: regular monthly arrests, $50 ($1,400) fines and medical inspections were imposed, with the proceeds being used to fund the local hospitals.The so-calledblue lawswere strictly enforced. Saloons and other establishments closed promptly at midnight on Saturday, and anyone caught working on Sunday was liable to be fined or set to chopping firewood for the NWMP.The NWMP are generally regarded by historians to have been an efficient and honest force during the period, although their task was helped by the geography of the Klondike which made it relatively easy to bar entry to undesirables or prevent suspects from leaving the region. In contrast to the NWMP, the early civil authorities were criticized by the prospectors for being inept and potentially corrupt.Thomas Fawcett was the gold commissioner and temporary head of the Klondike administration at the start of the gold rush; he was accused of keeping the details of new claims secret and allowing what historian Kathryn Winslow termed \\\"carelessness, ignorance and partiality\\\" to reign in the mine recorder's office.Following campaigns against him by prospectors, who were backed by the local press, Fawcett was relieved by the Canadian government.His successor, MajorJames Morrow Walsh, was considered a stronger character and arrived in May 1898, but fell ill and returned east in July.It was left to his replacement, William Ogilvie, supported by aRoyal Commission, to conduct reforms.The Commission, in lack of evidence, cleared Fawcett of all charges, which meant that he was not punished further than being relieved.Ogilvie proved a much stronger administrator and subsequently revisited many of the mining surveys of his predecessors. News and mail In the remote Klondike, there was great demand for news and contact with the world outside. During the first months of the stampede in 1897, it was said that no news was too old to be read. In the lack of newspapers, some prospectors would read can labels until they knew them by heart.The following year, two teams fought their way over the passes to reach Dawson City first, complete withprinting-presses, with the aim of gaining control of the newspaper market.Gene Kelly, the editor of theKlondike Nuggetarrived first, but without his equipment, and it was the team behind theMidnight Sunwho produced the first daily newspaper in Dawson.TheDawson Minerfollowed shortly after, bringing the number of daily newspapers in the town during the gold rush up to three.TheNuggetsold for $24 ($680) as an annual subscription, and became well known for championing miners and for its lucid coverage of scandals.Paper was often hard to find and during the winter of 1898–99, theNuggethad to be printed on butcher's wrapping paper.News could also be told. In June, 1898, a prospector bought an edition of theSeattle Post-Intelligencerat an auction and charged spectators a dollar each to have it read aloud in one of Dawson's halls. Mail service was chaotic during the stampede.Apart from the number of prospectors, two major obstacles stood in its way. To begin with, any mail from America to Dawson City was sent to Juneau in South-east Alaska before being sent through Dawson and then down the Yukon to Circle City. From here it was then distributed by theUS Post Officeback up to Dawson.The huge distances involved resulted in delays of several months and frequently the loss of protective envelopes and their addresses.The second problem was in Dawson itself, which initially lacked a post office and therefore relied on two stores and a saloon to act as informal delivery points.The NWMP were tasked to run the mail system by October 1897, but they were ill-trained to do so.Up to 5,700 letters might arrive in a single shipment, all of which had to be collected in person from the post office. This resulted in huge queues, with claimants lining up outside the office for up to three days.Those who had no time and could afford it would pay others to stand in line for them, preferably a woman since they were allowed to get ahead in line out of politeness.Postage stamps, like paper in general, were scarce and rationed to two per customer.By 1899, trained postal staff took over mail delivery and relieved the NWMP of this task. Role of women In 1898 eight percent of those living in the Klondike territory were women, and in towns like Dawson this rose to 12 percent.Many women arrived with their husbands or families, but others travelled alone.Most came to the Klondike for similar economic and social reasons as male prospectors, but they attracted particular media interest.The gender imbalance in the Klondike encouraged business proposals to ship young, single women into the region to marry newly wealthy miners; few, if any, of these marriages ever took place, but some single women appear to have travelled on their own in the hope of finding prosperous husbands.Guidebooks gave recommendations for what practical clothes women should take to the Klondike: the female dress code of the time was formal, emphasising long skirts andcorsets, but most women adapted this for the conditions of the trails.Regardless of experience, women in a party were typically expected to cook for the group.Few mothers brought their children with them due to the risks of the travel. Once in the Klondike, very few women—less than one percent—actually worked as miners.Many were married to miners; however, their lives as partners on the gold fields were still hard and often lonely. They had extensive domestic duties, including thawing ice and snow for water, breaking up frozen food, chopping wood and collecting wild foods.In Dawson and other towns, some women took in laundry to make money.This was a physically demanding job but could be relatively easily combined with child care duties.Others took jobs in the service industry, for example as waitresses or seamstresses, which could pay well, but were often punctuated by periods of unemployment.Both men and women openedroadhouses, but women were considered to be better at running them.A few women worked in the packing trade, carrying goods on their backs, or became domestic servants. Wealthier women with capital might invest in mines and other businesses.One of the most prominent businesswomen in the Klondike wasBelinda Mulrooney. She brought a consignment of cloth and hot water bottles with her when she arrived in the Klondike in early 1897, and with the proceeds of those sales she first builta roadhouse at Grand Forksand later a grand hotel in Dawson.She invested widely, including acquiring her own mining company, and was reputed to be the richest woman of the Klondike.The wealthyMartha Blackwas abandoned by her husband early in the journey to the Klondike but continued on without him, reaching Dawson City where she became a prominent citizen, investing in various mining and business ventures with her brother. A relatively small number of women worked in the entertainment andsex industries.Theeliteof these women were the highly paid actresses and courtesans of Dawson; beneath them werechorus linedancers, who usually doubled as hostesses and other dance hall workers.While still better paid than white-collar male workers, these women worked very long hours and had significant expenses.The entertainment industry merged into the sex industry, where women made a living as prostitutes. The sex industry in the Klondike was concentrated in Klondike City and in a backstreet area of Dawson.A hierarchy of sexual employment existed, with brothels and parlour houses at the top, small independent \\\"cigar shops\\\" in the middle, and, at the bottom, the prostitutes who worked out of small huts called \\\"hutches\\\".Life for these workers was a continual struggle and the suicide rate was high. The degree of involvement between Indigenous women and the stampeders varied. Many Tlingit women worked as packers for the prospectors, for example, carrying supplies and equipment, sometimes also transporting their babies as well.Hän women had relatively little contact with the white immigrants, however, and there was a significant social divide between local Hän women and white women.Although before 1897 there had been a number of Indigenous women who married western men, including Kate Carmack, the Tagish wife of one of the discoverers, this practice did not survive into the stampede.Very few stampeders married Hän women, and very few Hän women worked as prostitutes.\\\"Respectable\\\" white women would avoid associating with Indigenous women or prostitutes: those who did risked scandal. End of the gold rush By 1899 telegraphy stretched fromSkagway, Alaska, to Dawson City, Yukon, allowing instant international contact.In 1898, theWhite Pass and Yukon Routerailway began to be built between Skagway and thehead of navigation on the Yukon.When it was completed in 1900, the Chilkoot trail and its tramways became obsolete.Despite these improvements in communication and transport, the rush faltered from 1898 on.It began in the summer of 1898, when many of the prospectors arriving in Dawson City found themselves unable to make a living and left for home.For those who stayed, the wages of casual work, depressed by the number of men, fell to $100 ($2,700) a month by 1899. The world's newspapers began to turn against the Klondike gold rush as well.In the spring of 1898, theSpanish–American Warremoved Klondike from the headlines.\\\"Ah, go to the Klondike!\\\" became a popular phrase of disgust.Klondike-branded goods had to be disposed of at special rates in Seattle. Another factor in the decline was the change in Dawson City, which had developed throughout 1898, metamorphosing from a ramshackle, if wealthy, boom town into a more sedate, conservative municipality.Modern luxuries were introduced, including \\\"zinc bath tubs, pianos, billiard tables, Brussels carpets in hotel dining rooms, menus printed in French and invitational balls\\\" as noted by historian Kathryn Winslow.Visiting Senator Jerry Lynch likened the newly paved streets with their smartly dressed inhabitants tothe Strandin London.It was no longer attractive for prospectors used to a wilder way of living.Even the formerly lawless town of Skagway had become respectable by 1899. The final trigger, however, was the discovery of gold elsewhere in Canada and Alaska, prompting a new stampede, this time away from the Klondike. In August 1898, gold had been found atAtlin Lakeat the head of the Yukon River, generating a flurry of interest, but during the winter of 1898–99 much larger quantities were foundat Nome.In 1899, a flood of prospectors from across the region left for Nome, about 2,500 from Dawson alone during August and September.The Klondike gold rush was over. Legacy People Only a few hundred of the 100,000 people who left for the Klondike during the gold rush became rich, and only a handful managed to maintain their wealth.They typically spent $1,000 ($27,000) each reaching the region, which when combined exceeded what was produced from the gold fields between 1897 and 1901.Those who did find gold often lost their fortunes in the subsequent years and died penniless attempting to reproduce their earlier good fortune.Businessman and miner Alex McDonald, for example, continued to accumulate land after the boom until his money ran out; he died in poverty, still prospecting. Antoine Stander, who discovered gold on Eldorado Creek, abused alcohol, dissipated his fortune and ended working in a ship's kitchen to pay his way.The three discoverers had mixed fates. George Carmack left his wife Kate—who had found it difficult to adapt to their new lifestyle—remarried and lived in relative prosperity; Skookum Jim had a huge income from his mining royalties but refused to settle and continued to prospect until his death in 1916; Dawson Charlie spent lavishly and died in an alcohol-related accident. The richest of the Klondike saloon owners, businessmen and gamblers also typically lost their fortunes and died in poverty.Gene Allen, for example, the editor of theKlondike Nugget, becamebankruptand spent the rest of his career in smaller newspapers; the prominent gambler and saloon owner Sam Bonnifield suffered anervous breakdownand died in extreme poverty.Nonetheless, some of those who joined the gold rush prospered.Kathleen Rockwell, for example, became a famous dancer in Dawson and remained popular in America until her death. Rockwell's tales from the North invigorated readers and audience members across the United States and Canada. Becoming known as 'Klondike Kate' to those who read about her adventures, Rockwell became a star.However, her tall tales and catchy nickname were plagiarized fromNew Brunswicker Katherine Ryan,The Real Klondike Kate,and one of the first individuals to arrive in the Klondike not long after gold was discovered in the area.Katherine Ryan may not have received deserving recognition in the public eye,but she is remembered as one of the first women to walk theStikine Trail, as an early suffragette, and as an integral piece of Dawson City's culture.Dawson City was also whereAlexander Pantages, her business partner and lover, started his career, going on to become one of America's greatest theatre and movietycoons.The businesswoman Martha Black, who had been abandoned by her husband on the way to the Klondike, remarried and ultimately became the second female member of theParliament of Canada. The impact of the gold rush on the Native peoples of the region was considerable.The Tlingit and the Koyukon peoples prospered in the short term from their work as guides, packers and from selling food and supplies to the prospectors.In the longer term, however, especially the Hän people living in the Klondike region suffered from the environmental damage of the gold mining on the rivers and forests.Their population had already begun to decline after the discovery of gold along Fortymile River in the 1880s but dropped catastrophically after their move to the reserve, a result of the contaminated water supply andsmallpox.The Hän found only few ways to benefit economically from the gold rush and their fishing and hunting grounds were largely destroyed. By 1904 they needed aid from theNWMPto prevent famine. Places Dawson City declined after the gold rush. When journalist Laura Berton (future mother ofPierre Berton) moved to Dawson in 1907 it was still thriving, but away from Front Street, the town had become increasingly deserted, jammed, as she put it, \\\"with the refuse of the gold rush: stoves, furniture, gold-pans, sets of dishes, double-belledseltzer bottles... piles of rusting mining machinery—boilers, winches, wheelbarrows and pumps\\\".By 1912, only around 2,000 inhabitants remained, compared to the 30,000 of the boom years, and the site was becoming aghost town.By 1972, 500 people were living in Dawson, while the nearby settlements created during the gold rush had been entirely abandoned.The population has grown since the 1970s, with 1,300 recorded in 2006. During the gold rush, transport improvements meant that heavier mining equipment could be brought in and larger, more modern mines established in the Klondike, revolutionising the gold industry.Gold production increased until 1903 as a result of the dredging and hydraulic mining, but then declined; by 2005, approximately 1,250,000 pounds (570,000 kg) had been recovered from the Klondike area.In the 21st century, Dawson City still has a small gold mining industry, which together with tourism, taking advantage of the legacy of the gold rush, plays a role in the local economy. Many buildings in the centre of the town reflect the style of the era.The Klondike River valley was affected by the gold rush by the heavy dredging that occurred after it. The port of Skagway also shrank after the rush, but remains a well-preserved period town, centred on the tourist industry and sightseeing trips from visitingcruise ships.TheNational Park Servicerestored Jeff Smith's Parlor, from which the famous con man \\\"Soapy\\\" Smith once operated, during 2010–2016.Skagway also has one of the two visitor centres forming theKlondike Gold Rush National Historical Park; the other is located in Seattle, and both focus on the human interest stories behind the gold rush.By contrast, Dyea, Skagway's neighbour and former rival, was abandoned after the gold rush and is now a ghost town.The railway built for prospectors through White Pass in the last year of the rush reopened in 1988 and is today only used by tourists, closely linked to the Chilkoot trail which is a popularhikingroute. TheTr’ondëk-Klondike World Heritage Site, aUNESCO World Heritage Site in Canada, protects a series of eight properties that attest to the effects of the rapid colonization of the area, including the Gold Rush, on theTr’ondëk Hwëch’inpeople. The World Heritage Site was designated in 2023. Culture The events of the Klondike gold rush rapidly became embedded in North American culture, being captured in poems, stories, photographs and promotional campaigns long after the end of the stampede.In the Yukon, Discovery Day is celebrated on the third Monday in August as a holiday, and the events of the gold rush are promoted by the regional tourist industries.The events of the gold rush were frequently exaggerated at the time and modern works on the subject similarly often focus on the most dramatic and exciting events of the stampede, not always accurately.HistorianKen Coatesdescribes the gold rush as \\\"a resilient, pliable myth\\\", which continues to fascinate and appeal. Several novels, books and poems were generated as a consequence of the Klondike gold rush. The writer Jack London incorporated scenes from the gold rush into his novels and short stories set in the Klondike, includingThe Call of the Wild, a 1903 novel about a sled dog.His colleague, poetRobert W. Service, did not join the rush himself, although he made his home in Dawson City in 1908. Service created well-known poems about the gold rush, among themSongs of a Sourdough, one of the bestselling books of poetry in the first decade of the 20th century, along with his novel,The Trail of '98, which was written by hand on wallpaper in one of Dawson's log cabins.The Canadian historianPierre Bertongrew up in Dawson where his father had been a prospector, and wrote several historical books about the gold rush, such asThe Last Great Gold Rush.The experiences of the IrishMicí Mac Gabhannresulted the posthumous workRotha Mór an tSaoil(translated into English asThe Hard Road to Klondikein 1962), a vivid description of the period. Some terminology from the stampede made its way into North American English like \\\"cheechakos\\\", referring to newly arrived miners, and \\\"sourdoughs\\\", experienced miners.The photographs taken during the Klondike gold rush heavily influenced later cultural approaches to the stampede.The gold rush was vividly recorded by several early photographers, for instanceEric A. Hegg; these stark, black-and-white photographs showing the ascent of the Chilkoot pass rapidly became iconic images and were widely distributed.These pictures, in turn, inspiredCharlie Chaplinto makeThe Gold Rush, a silent movie, which uses the background of the Klondike to combine physical comedy with its character's desperate battle for survival in the harsh conditions of the stampede.The photographs reappear in the documentaryCity of Goldfrom 1957 which, narrated byPierre Berton, won prizes for pioneering the incorporation of still images into documentary film-making.The Klondike gold rush, however, has not been widely covered in later fictional films; evenThe Far Country, aWesternfrom 1955 set in the Klondike, largely ignores the unique features of the gold rush in favour of a traditional Western plot.Indeed, much of the popular literature on the gold rush approaches the stampede simply as a final phase of the expansion of theAmerican West, a perception critiqued by modern historians such as Charlene Porsild. Charts and tables Maps of routes and goldfields Dyea/Skagway routes and Dalton trail Takou, Stikine and Edmonton routes Goldfields Gold production in Yukon, 1892–1912 Population growth of west coast cities, 1890–1900 Klondikers supply list The list was a suggestion of equipment and supplies sufficient to support a prospector for one year, generated by the Northern Pacific Railroad company in 1897. The total weight is approximately 1 ton, and the estimated cost amounted to $140 ($3,800). Timeline 1896 1897 1898 1899 Source: See also Notes References Bibliography External links Archives\",\n \"Hän TheHän,HanorHwëch'in / Han Hwech’in(meaning \\\"People of the River, i.e. Yukon River\\\", in English alsoHankutchin) are aFirst Nationspeople of Canada and anAlaska NativeAthabaskanpeople of the United States; they are part of theAthabaskan-speakingethnolinguistic group. Their traditional lands centered on a heavilyforestedarea around theUpper Yukon River (Chu Kon'Dëk),Klondike River (Tr'on'Dëk),Bonanza Creek (Gàh Dëk)andSixtymile River (Khel Dëk)and straddling what is now theAlaska-Yukon Territoryborder. In later times, the Han population became centered inDawson City, YukonandEagle, Alaska. Etymology The nameHänorHanis a shortening of their own name asHwëch'in / Han Hwech’in, and of theGwich’inwordHangʷičʼinfor the Hän, both literally meaning \\\"People of the River, i.e. the Yukon River\\\". This word has been spelled variously asHankutchin,Han-Kootchin,Hun-koo-chin,Hong-Kutchin,An Kutchin,Han Kutchin,Han-Kutchín,Hăn-Kŭtchin´,Hän Hwëch'in, andHungwitchin. The Hän were often mistaken for just anotherGwich'in (Kutchin)band, especially as part of the Dagoo Gwich'in / Tukudh Gwich'in and Teetł'it Gwich'in / Teetl'it Zheh Gwich'in. The French traders called the HänGens du fou,Gens de Fou,Gens de Foux,Gens des Foux, orGens-de-fine. The nameGens de Foux(and variants) has also been used to refer to theNorthern Tutchone (Dan or Huč’an). The Hankutchin were then known asGens de BoisorGens des Bois,in association with their forested territory. History of the Hän The Hän were one of the last Northern Athabascan groups to have contact with European peoples. In 1851 Robert Campbell from theHudson's Bay Companybecame the first white man known to have entered Han territory, when he traveled fromFort SelkirktoFort Yukon. It was not until 1873 and 1874 (after theUnited Statespurchase ofAlaska), that two trading posts were set up. One was established by Moses Mercier, a former employee of theHudson's Bay Company, inBelle Isleacross theEagle River. The other,Fort Reliance, was established on theYukon, just below the mouth of theKlondike River, nearDawson, by twoAlaska Commercial Companytraders, Leroy N. McQuesten and Frank Bonifield. Graduallytrading with whitesresulted in the Han shifting from their traditional fishing-hunting economy to a fur-trapping economy, as they grew increasingly reliant on such European goods as guns, clothing, and canvas from 1887 to 1895. Bishop William Bompas established the firstAnglican Churchmission in Hän territory, and gradually the people shifted away from traditional religion. They also combined it with Christianity in a syncretic fashion. The Han suffered high mortality during several epidemics of new infectious diseases, to which they had no immunity. Culture Food Historically, fish, especially salmon, comprised the main part of the Hän diet.King salmonwas caught along the Yukon River in June andchum salmonin August. Fishing tools includedweirs,traps,gill nets,dip nets,spears, andharpoons. Salmon was dried and stored for winter consumption. Between thesalmon runsfrom June–September, the river camps were abandoned. The Han men sought other fish, moose, caribou, birds, bears, and small game. Men hunted game (once after the salmon run and later for caribou in February and March) while women fished (for fish other than salmon). The women traditionally cooked by boiling food with water heated by stones that been placed in a fire and then dropped in woven spruce-root baskets. Housing A square half-recessed house was made of wooden poles and moss insulation (called amoss house). This served as the main type of housing. The people erected temporary domed houses made of skin stretched over tied branches when they were traveling. Language TheHän languageis most similar toGwich’in(Kutchin). It is more distantly related toUpper TananaandNorthern Tutchone. The language was used as alingua francabyGwich’in,Tutchone,Tagish, and Upper Tanana peoples toward the end of the 19th century during theGold Rush in the Yukon. The language is now the mostendangered languageof Alaska, with only a few speakers (all are over 60 years of age). The language may have ancient, earlyHoloceneorigins in the region. In media See also References Bibliography External links\",\n \"Hudson's Bay Company TheHudson's Bay Company(HBC;French:Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadianretailbusiness group. Afur tradingbusiness for much of its existence, it became the largest and oldest corporation in Canada, before evolving into a majorfashionretailer, operating retail stores across both the United States and Canada.The company's namesake business division isHudson's Bay, commonly referred to as The Bay (La Baiein French). After incorporation by Englishroyal charterin 1670, the company was granted a right of \\\"sole trade and commerce\\\" over an expansive area of land known asRupert's Land, comprising much of theHudson Bay drainage basin.This right effectively gave the company acommercial monopolyover that area. The HBC functioned as thede factogovernment in Rupert's Land for nearly 200 years until the HBC relinquished control of the land to Canada in 1869 as part of theDeed of Surrender,authorized by theRupert's Land Act 1868. At its peak, the company controlled the fur trade throughout much of the English- and laterBritish-controlled North America. By the mid-19th century, the company evolved into a mercantile business selling a wide variety of products from furs to finehomewarein a small number of sales shops (as opposed totrading posts) across Canada.These shops were the first step towards the department stores the company owns today. In 2006,Jerry Zucker, an American businessman, bought HBC for US$1.1 billion. In 2008, HBC was acquired byNRDC Equity Partners, which also owned the upmarket American department storeLord & Taylor.From 2008 to 2012, the HBC was run through a holding company of NRDC,Hudson's Bay Trading Company, which was dissolved in early 2012.HBC's U.S. headquarters are inLower Manhattan, New York City,while its Canadian headquarters are inToronto.The company spun off most of its European operations by August 2019 and its remaining stores there, in theNetherlands, were sold by the end of 2019. Until March 2020, the company was listed on theToronto Stock Exchangeunder the symbol \\\"HBC.TO\\\" untilRichard Bakerand a group of shareholders took the company private.HBC is, as of 2022,the majority owner of eCommerce companiesSaks Fifth AvenueandSaks Off 5th,both established as separate operating companies in 2021.HBC wholly owns SFA, the entity that operates Saks Fifth Avenue's physical locations;O5, the operating company for Saks Off 5th stores;The Bay, an eCommerce marketplace and Hudson's Bay, the operating company for Hudson's Bay'sbrick-and-mortarstores.In July 2024, HBC announced that it would acquire theNeiman Marcus Groupfor US$2.65 billion and fold it into the new flagship entity Saks Fifth Avenue Global. HBC owns or controls approximately 3.7 million square metres (40 million square feet) of gross leasable real estatethrough its real estate and investment arm, HBC Properties and Investments, established in October 2020. History 17th century For much of the 17th century, the French colonists in North America, based inNew France, operated ade factomonopolyin the North Americanfur trade. TwoFrenchtraders,Pierre-Esprit RadissonandMédard des Groseilliers(Médard de Chouart, Sieur des Groseilliers), Radisson's brother-in-law, learned from theCreethat the best fur country lay north and west ofLake Superior, and that there was a \\\"frozen sea\\\" still further north.Assuming this was Hudson Bay, they sought French backing for a plan to set up a trading post on the Bay in order to reduce the cost of moving furs overland. According toPeter C. Newman, \\\"concerned that exploration of the Hudson Bay route might shift the focus of the fur trade away from theSt. Lawrence River, the French governor\\\",Marquis d'Argenson(in office 1658–61), \\\"refused to grant thecoureurs des boispermission to scout the distant territory\\\".Despite this refusal, in 1659 Radisson and Groseilliers set out for the upper Great Lakes basin. A year later they returned to Montreal with premium furs, evidence of the potential of the Hudson Bay region. Subsequently, they were arrested by French authorities for trading without a licence and fined, and their furs were confiscated by the government. Determined to establish trade in the Hudson Bay area, Radisson and Groseilliers approached a group of English colonial merchants inBostonto help finance their explorations. The Bostonians agreed on the plan's merits, but their speculative voyage in 1663 failed when their ship ran intopack iceinHudson Strait. Boston-based English commissionerColonel George Cartwrightlearned of the expedition and brought the two to England to raise financing.Radisson and Groseilliers arrived in London in 1665 at the height of theGreat Plague. Eventually, the two met and gained the sponsorship ofPrince Rupert. Prince Rupert introduced the two to his cousin, the reigning king –Charles II.In 1668 the English expedition acquired two ships, theNonsuchand theEaglet, to explore possible trade into Hudson Bay. Groseilliers sailed on theNonsuch, commanded by CaptainZachariah Gillam, while theEagletwas commanded by Captain William Stannard and accompanied by Radisson. On 5 June 1668, both ships left port atDeptford, England, but theEagletwas forced to turn back off the coast of Ireland. TheNonsuchcontinued toJames Bay, the southern portion of Hudson Bay, where its explorers founded, in 1668, the first fort on Hudson Bay, Charles Fortat the mouth of theRupert River. It later became known as \\\"Rupert House\\\", and developed as the community of present-dayWaskaganish, Quebec. Both thefortand the river were named after the sponsor of the expedition, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, one of the major investors and soon to become the new company's first governor. After a successful trading expedition over the winter of 1668–69,Nonsuchreturned to England on 9 October 1669 with the first cargo of fur resulting from trade in Hudson Bay.The bulk of the fur – worth £1,233 – was sold to Thomas Glover, one of London's most prominent furriers. This and subsequent purchases by Glover proved the viability of the fur trade in Hudson Bay. A royal charter from King Charles II incorporated \\\"The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson's Bay\\\" on 2 May 1670.The charter granted the company a monopoly over the region drained by all rivers and streams flowing into Hudson Bay in northern parts of present-day Canada, taking possession on behalf of England. The area was named \\\"Rupert's Land\\\"after Prince Rupert,the first governor of the company appointed by the King. This drainage basin of Hudson Bay spans 3,861,400 square kilometres (1,490,900 sq mi),comprising over one-third of the area of modern-day Canada, and stretches into the present-day north-centralUnited States. The specific boundaries remained unknown at the time. Rupert's Land would eventually become Canada's largest land\\\"purchase\\\"in the 19th century. The HBC established six posts between 1668 and 1717. Rupert House(1668, southeast),Moose Factory(1673, south) and Fort Albany,Ontario (1679, west) were erected on James Bay; three other posts were established on the western shore of Hudson Bay proper:New Severn(1685),York Factory(1684), andFort Churchill(1717). Inland postswere not builtuntil 1774. After 1774, York Factory became the main post because of its convenient access to the vast interior waterway-systems of theSaskatchewanandRedrivers. Originally called \\\"factories\\\" because the\\\"factor\\\", i.e., a person acting as a mercantile agent, did business from there, these posts operated in the manner of the Dutch fur-trading operations inNew Netherland. By adoption of the Standard of Trade in the 18th century, the HBC ensured consistent pricing throughout Rupert's Land. A means of exchange arose based on the \\\"Made Beaver\\\" (MB); a prime pelt, worn for a year and ready for processing: \\\"the prices of all trade goods were set in values of Made Beaver (MB) with other animal pelts, such as squirrel, otter and moose quoted in their MB (made beaver) equivalents. For example, two otter pelts might equal 1 MB\\\". During the fall and winter,First Nationsmen and Europeanfur trappersaccomplished the vast majority of the animal trapping and pelt preparation. They travelled bycanoeand on foot to the forts to sell their pelts. In exchange they typically received popular trade-goods such as knives, kettles, beads, needles, and theHudson's Bay point blanket. The arrival of the First Nations trappers was one of the high points of the year, met with pomp and circumstance. The highlight was very formal, an almost ritualized \\\"Trading Ceremony\\\" between the Chief Trader and the Captain of the aboriginal contingent who traded on their behalf.During the initial years of the fur trade, prices for items varied from post to post. The early coastal factory model of the English contrasted with the system of the French, who established an extensive system of inland posts at native villages and sent traders to live among the tribes of the region, learning their languages and often forming alliances through marriages with indigenous women. In March 1686 the French sent araiding partyunder theChevalier des Troyesmore than 1,300 km (810 mi) to capture the HBC posts along James Bay. The French appointedPierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, who had shown great heroism during the raids, as commander of the company's captured posts. In 1687 an English attempt toresettle Fort Albanyfailed due to strategic deceptions by d'Iberville. After 1688 England and Francewere officially at war, and the conflict played out in North America as well. D'Iberville raided Fort Severn in 1690 but did not attempt to raid the well-defended local headquarters at York Factory. In 1693 the HBCrecovered Fort Albany; d'Ibervillecaptured York Factoryin 1694, but the company recovered it the next year.: 151–158 In 1697, d'Iberville again commanded a French naval raid on York Factory. On the way to the fort he defeated three ships of the Royal Navy in theBattle of Hudson's Bay(5 September 1697), the largest naval battle in the history of the North American Arctic. D'Iberville's depleted French force captured York Factory by laying siege to the fort and pretending to be a much larger army. The French retained all of the outposts except Fort Albany until 1713. A small French and Indian force attacked Fort Albany againin 1709duringQueen Anne's Warbut was unsuccessful. The economic consequences of the French possession of these posts for the company were significant; the HBC did not pay any dividends for more than 20 years. SeeAnglo-French conflicts on Hudson Bay.: 160–164 18th century With the ending of theNine Years' Warin 1697, and theWar of the Spanish Successionin 1713 with the signing of theTreaty of Utrecht, France had made substantial concessions. Among the treaty's many provisions, it required France to relinquish all claims to Great Britain on the Hudson Bay, which again became a British possession.(TheKingdom of Great Britainhad been established following the union of Scotland and England in 1707). After the treaty, the HBC builtPrince of Wales Fort, a stonestar fortat the mouth of the nearbyChurchill River.: 202–206In 1782, during theAmerican Revolutionary War, a French squadron underJean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérousecaptured and demolishedYork Factory and Prince of Wales Fort in support of the American rebels.: 366–371 In its trade with native peoples, Hudson's Bay Company exchanged wool blankets, called Hudson's Bay point blankets, for the beaver pelts trapped by aboriginal hunters. By 1700, point blankets accounted for more than 60 percent of the trade.The number ofindigostripes (a.k.a. points) woven into the blankets identified its finished size. A long-held misconception is that the number of stripes was related to its value in beaver pelts. A parallel may be drawn between the HBC's control over Rupert's Land with the trade monopoly and government functions enjoyed by theEast India Companyover India during roughly the same period. The HBC invested £10,000 in the East India Company in 1732, which it viewed as a major competitor. Hudson's Bay Company's first inland trading post was established bySamuel Hearnein 1774 withCumberland House, Saskatchewan. Conversely, a number of inland HBC \\\"houses\\\" pre-date the construction of Cumberland House, in 1774. Henley House, established in 1743, inland from Hudson Bay, at the confluence of the Albany and Kabinakagami Rivers, was dependent on Albany River – Fort Albany for lines of communication, was not \\\"finished\\\" until 1768.Next, the inland houses of Split Lake and Nelson Houses were established between 1740 and 1760. These were dependent on York River – York Factory and Churchill River, respectively. Although not inland, Richmond Fort was established in 1749. This was on an island within Hudson Bay. It was titled a \\\"New Discovery\\\" in 1749, and by 1750 was titled Richmond Gulf. The name was changed to Richmond Fort and given the abbreviation RF from 1756 to 1759, it served mainly as a trade goods and provisions storage location.Additional inland posts were Capusco River and Chickney Creek, both circa 1750. Likewise, Brunswick (1776), New Brunswick (1777), Gloucester (1777), Upper Hudson (ca. 1778), Lower Hudson (1779), Rupert, and Wapiscogami Houses were established in the decade of the 1770s.These post-date Cumberland House, yet speak to the expanding inland incursion of the HBC in the last quarter of the 18th century. Minor posts also during this time period include Mesackamy/Mesagami Lake (1777), Sturgeon Lake (1778), Beaver Lake Posts. In 1779, other traders founded theNorth West Company(NWC) inMontrealas a seasonal partnership to provide more capital and to continue competing with the HBC. It became operative for the outfit of 1780 and was the firstjoint-stock companyin Canada and possibly North America. The agreement lasted one year. A second agreement established in 1780 had a three-year term. The company became a permanent entity in 1783.By 1784, the NWC had begun to make serious inroads into the HBC's profits. 19th century The North West Company (NWC) was the main rival in the fur trade. The competition led to the smallPemmican Warin 1816. TheBattle of Seven Oakson 19 June 1816 was the climax of the long dispute.In 1821, the North West Company of Montreal and Hudson's Bay Company were forcibly merged by intervention of the British government to put an end to often-violent competition. 175 posts, 68 of them the HBC's, were reduced to 52 for efficiency and because many were redundant as a result of the rivalry and were inherently unprofitable.Their combined territory was extended by a licence to theNorth-Western Territory, which reached to theArctic Oceanin the north and, with the creation of theColumbia Departmentin thePacific Northwest, to thePacific Oceanin the west. The NWC's regional headquarters atFort George(Fort Astoria) was relocated toFort Vancouverby 1825 on the north bank of the Columbia River; it became the HBC base of operations on the Pacific Slope.: 369–370 Before the merger, the employees of the HBC, unlike those of the North West Company, did not participate in its profits. After the merger, with all operations under the management ofSir George Simpson(1826–60), the company had a corps of commissioned officers: 25 chief factors and 28 chief traders, who shared in the company's profits during the monopoly years. Its trade covered 7,770,000 km2(3,000,000 sq mi), and it had 1,500 contract employees. Between 1820 and 1870, the HBC issued its ownpaper money. The notes, denominated in sterling, were printed in London and issued at York Factory for circulation primarily in theRed River Colony. Competition and exploration Although the HBC maintained a monopoly on the fur trade during the early to mid-19th century, there was competition from James Sinclair andAndrew McDermot(Dermott), independent traders in the Red River Colony. They shipped furs by theRed River TrailstoNorman Kittson,a buyer in the United States. In addition, Americans controlled themaritime fur tradeon the Northwest Coast until the 1830s. Throughout the 1820s and the 1830s, the HBC controlled nearly all trading operations in the Pacific Northwest region and was based at its headquarters at Fort Vancouver, on theColumbia River.Although claims to the region were by agreement in abeyance, commercial operating rights were nominally shared by the United States and Britain through theAnglo-American Convention of 1818, but company policy, enforced via Chief FactorJohn McLoughlinof the company'sColumbia District, was to discourage U.S. settlement of the territory. The company's effective monopoly on trade virtually forbade any settlement in the region.: 370 Additional early presence in present-day United States Over and above the NWC Fort George headquarters site, the HBC carried on the early presence in the region of the NWC when it merged in 1821 with noteworthy sites:Spokane House,Fort OkanoganandFort Nez Percés.Fort Colvillelocated further North on the Columbia River replaced Spokane House in 1825. Fort Umpquawas established in 1832 in present-day southernOregonafter theWillamette Riverhad been explored up toward its headwaters by mainly the NWC. Nisqually House was built during the same year to establish a presence further North on Puget Sound in present-day State ofWashington, resulting inFort Nisquallya few years later closer to present-day Canadian sites. The HBC establishedFort Boisein 1834 (in present-day southwestern Idaho) to compete with the AmericanFort Hall, 483 km (300 mi) to the east. In 1837, it purchased Fort Hall, also along the route of theOregon Trail. The outpost director displayed the abandoned wagons of discouraged settlers to those seeking to move west along the trail. HBC trappers were also deeply involved in the early exploration and development ofNorthern California. Company trapping brigades were sent south from Fort Vancouver, along what became known as theSiskiyou Trail, into Northern California as far south as theSan Francisco Bay Area, where the company operated a trading post atYerba Buena(San Francisco). The southern-most camp of the company wasFrench Camp, east of San Francisco in the Central Valley adjacent to the future site of the city ofStockton. These trapping brigades in Northern California faced serious risks, and were often the first to explore relatively uncharted territory. They included the lesser knownPeter Skene OgdenandSamuel Black. The HBC also operated a store in what were then known as the Sandwich Islands (now theHawaiian Islands), engaging in merchant shipping to the islands between 1828 and 1859. Extending the presence it had built in present-day British Columbia northern coast, the HBC reached by 1838 as far North asFort Stikinein theAlaska Panhandleby present-dayWrangell. TheRAC-HBC agreement(1839) with theRussian American Company(RAC) provided for such a continuing presence in exchange for the HBC to supply the Russian coastal sites with agricultural products. ThePuget Sound Agricultural Companysubsidiary was created to supply grain, dairy, livestock and manufactured goods out of Fort Vancouver, Fort Nisqually,Fort CowlitzandFort Langleyin present-day southern British Columbia. The company's stranglehold on the region was broken by thefirst successful large wagon train to reach Oregon in 1843, led byMarcus Whitman. In the years that followed, thousands of emigrants poured into theWillamette Valleyof Oregon. In 1846, the United States acquired full authority south of the49th parallel; the most settled areas of the Oregon Country were south of the Columbia River in what is now Oregon. McLoughlin, who had once turned away would-be settlers when he was company director, then welcomed them from his general store atOregon City. He later became known as the \\\"Father of Oregon\\\". Early presence in present-day Canada (British Columbia) The HBC also carried on the early presence in the region of the NWC in present-day central and northernBritish Columbiawith noteworthy sites:Fort Alexandria,Fort d'Épinette (Fort St. John),Fort St. James,Fort GeorgeandFort Shuswap (Fort Kamloops). Since the 1818 Treaty settled the 49th degree parallel border only as far as theRocky Mountains, the HBC was looking for a site further West in case the parallel border would become further extended at the end of the 10 years joint occupancy term. By 1824, the HBC was commissioning an expedition to travel from theFort Georgeregional headquarter on the southern shore of theColumbia Riverall the way to theFraser River. The three boats 40some crew led by theJames McMillanwere first to officially ever make it toPuget Soundfrom the continent, to reach its northern end intoBoundary Bayand to bypass the mouth of the Fraser. They shortcut through two mainland rivers and a portage in order to finally reach the lower Fraser. Friendly tribes were identified along with subsistence farming land suitable for sustaining a trading post. The firstFort Langleywas subsequently built (1827), establishing an early settlers long lasting presence in current day southern British Columbia. The fur trade in a wet climate turned out to be marginal and quickly evolved into a salmon trade site with abundant supply in the vicinity. The HBC stretched its presence North on the coastline withFort Simpson(1831) on theNass River,Fort McLoughlin(1833) and theBeaver(1836), the first steamship to ever roam the Pacific Northwest for resupplying its coastline sites. The HBC was securing a trading monopoly on the coastline keeping away independent American traders: \\\"By 1837, American competition on the North West Coast was effectively over\\\".: 126 The HBC gained more control of the fur trade with both the coastline and inland tribes to access the fur richNew Caledonia districtin current day northern British Columbia: \\\"monopoly control of the coastal fur trade allowed the HBC to impose a uniform tariff on both sides of the Coast Mountains\\\".: 133 By 1843, under pressure from the Americans to withdraw further North with the loomingOregon Treatyborder negotiation finalized in 1846, and strong of its coastal presence on the northern coast, HBC builtFort Victoriaat the southern end of present-dayVancouver Islandin southern BC. A well sheltered ocean port with agricultural potential in the vicinity would allow the new regional headquarter to further develop the trade on salmon, timber and cranberries. Trade via the Hawaiian post was also increasing. TheFort Rupert(1849) at the northern end of the island would open up access to coal fields. On the continent mainland,Fort HopeandFort Yale(1848) were built to extend the HBC presence on theFraser Riveras far as navigable. Brigades would link a rebuiltFort Langley(1840) on the Lower Fraser toFort Kamloopsby 1850 and the rest of the transportation network toYork Factoryon theHudson Bayalong with theNew Caledonia districtfur returns. End of monopoly The Guillaume Sayer trial in 1849 contributed to the end of the HBC monopoly.Guillaume Sayer, aMétistrapper and trader, was accused of illegal trading in furs. The Court ofAssiniboiabrought Sayer to trial, before a jury of HBC officials and supporters. During the trial, a crowd of armed Métis men led byLouis Riel Sr.gathered outside the courtroom. Although Sayer was found guilty of illegal trade, having evaded the HBC monopoly, JudgeAdam Thomdid not levy a fine or punishment. Some accounts attributed that to the intimidating armed crowd gathered outside the courthouse. With the cry, \\\"Le commerce est libre! Le commerce est libre!\\\" (\\\"Trade is free! Trade is free!\\\"), the Métis loosened the HBC's previous control of the courts, which had enforced their monopoly on the settlers of Red River. Another factor was the findings of thePalliser Expeditionof 1857 to 1860, led by CaptainJohn Palliser. He surveyed the area of the prairies and wilderness from Lake Superior to the southern passes of the Rocky Mountains. Although he recommended against settlement of the region, the report sparked a debate. It ended the myth publicized by Hudson's Bay Company: that the Canadian West was unfit for agricultural settlement. In 1863, theInternational Financial Societybought controlling interest in the HBC, signalling a shift in the company's outlook: most of the new shareholders were less interested in the fur trade than in real estate speculation and economic development in the West. The Society floated £2 million in public shares on non-ceded land held ostensibly by the Hudson's Bay Company as an asset and leveraged this asset for collateral for these funds. These funds allowed the Society the financial means to weather thefinancial collapse of 1866which destroyed many competitors and invest in railways in North America. In 1869, after rejecting the American government offer ofCA$10million,the company approved the return of Rupert's Land to Britain. The government gave it to Canada and loaned the new country the £300,000 required to compensate HBC for its losses.HBC also received one-twentieth of the fertile areas to be opened for settlement and retained title to the lands on which it had built trading establishments.The deal, known as theDeed of Surrender, came into force the following year. The resulting territory, theNorth-West Territories, was brought under Canadian jurisdiction under the terms of theRupert's Land Act 1868, enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Deed enabled the admission of the fifth province,Manitoba, to theConfederationon 15 July 1870, the same day that the deed itself came into force. During the 19th century the Hudson's Bay Company went through great changes in response to such factors as growth of population and new settlements in part of its territory, and ongoing pressure from Britain. It seemed unlikely that it would continue to control the future of the West. Shift to department stores The iconic department store today evolved from trading posts at the start of the 19th century, when they began to see demand for general merchandise grow rapidly. HBC soon expanded into the interior and set-up posts along river settlements that later developed into the modern cities of Winnipeg,CalgaryandEdmonton. In 1857, the first sales shop was established inFort Langley. This was followed by other sales shops inFort Victoria(1859), Winnipeg (1881), Calgary (1884),Vancouver(1887),Vernon(1887), Edmonton (1890),Yorkton(1898), andNelson(1902). The first of the grand \\\"original six\\\" department stores was built in Calgary in 1913. The other department stores that followed were in Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria,Saskatoon, and Winnipeg. 20th century The First World War interrupted a major remodelling and restoration of retail trade shops planned in 1912. Following the war, the company revitalized its fur-trade and real-estate activities, and diversified its operations by venturing into the oil business.During theRussian Civil War, the company briefly operated in theSiberian far east, even obtaining an agreement with theSoviet governmentuntil departing in 1924.The company co-foundedHudson's Bay Oil and Gas Company(HBOG) in 1926 withMarland Oil Company(which merged withConocoin 1929). Although the company diversified into a number of areas, its department store business is the only remaining part of the company's operations, in the form of department stores under the Hudson's Bay brand.The company also established new trading posts in the Canadian Arctic. Indigenous health The medical scientistFrederick Bantingwas travelling in the Arctic in 1927 when he realized that crew or passengers on board the HBC paddle wheelerDistributorwere responsible for spreading the influenza virus down theSlave RiverandMackenzie River. Less than a decade afterthe 1918 global flu pandemic, a similar virus spread territory-wide over the summer and autumn, devastating the aboriginal population of the north.Returning from the trip, Banting gave an interview in Montreal with aToronto Starreporter under the agreement that his statements on HBC would remain off the record.The newspaper nonetheless published the conversation, which rapidly reached a wide audience across Europe and Australia.Banting was angry at the leak, having promised the Department of the Interior not to make any statements to the press prior to clearing them. The article noted that Banting had given the journalist C. R. Greenaway repeated instances of how the fox fur trade always favoured the company: \\\"For over $100,000 of fox skins, he estimated that the Eskimos had not received $5,000 worth of goods.\\\"He traced this treatment to health, consistent with reports made in previous years by RCMP officers, suggesting that \\\"the result was a diet of 'flour,sea-biscuits, tea and tobacco,' with the skins that once were used for clothing traded merely for 'cheap whiteman's goods.'\\\" The HBC fur trade commissioner called Banting's remarks \\\"false and slanderous\\\", and a month later, the governor and general manager met Banting at theKing Edward Hotelto demand a retraction.Banting stated that the reporter had betrayed his confidence, but did not retract his statement and reaffirmed that HBC was responsible for the death of indigenous residents by supplying the wrong kind of food and introducing diseases into the Arctic.AsA. Y. Jackson, theGroup of Sevenpainter with whom Banting was travelling, noted in his memoir that since neither the governor nor the general manager had been to the Arctic, the meeting ended with them asking Banting's advice on what HBC ought to do: \\\"He gave them some good advice and later he received a card at Christmas with the Governor's best wishes.\\\" Banting maintained this position in his report to the Department of the Interior: He noted that \\\"infant mortality was high because of the undernourishment of the mother before birth\\\"; that \\\"white man's food leads to decay of native teeth\\\"; that \\\"tuberculosis has commenced. Saw several cases at Godhavn, Etah, Port Burwell, Arctic Bay\\\"; that \\\"an epidemic resembling influenza killed a considerable proportion of population at Port Burwell\\\"; and that \\\"the gravest danger faces the Eskimo in his transfer from a race-long hunter to a dependent trapper. White flour, sea-biscuits, tea and tobacco do not provide sufficient fuel to warm and nourish him\\\". Furthermore, he discouraged the establishment of an Arctic hospital. The \\\"proposed hospital at Pangnirtung would be a waste of money, as it could be reached by only a few natives\\\". Banting's report contrasted starkly with the bland descriptions provided by the ship's physician, F. H. Stringer. Latter 20th century In 1960, the company acquiredMorgan'sallowing it to expand into Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, and Ottawa. In 1965, HBC rebranded its department stores as The Bay.The Morgan's logo was changed to match the new visual identity. By 1972 the last of the former Morgan's stores had been rebranded to Bay stores.HBOG also expanded during the 1960s, as it began shipping Canadian crude through a new link to the Glacier pipeline and on to the refinery in Billings, Montana. The company became the sixth-largest Canadian oil producer in 1967. In 1970, on the company's 300th anniversary, as a result of punishing new British tax laws, the company relocated to Canada, and was rechartered as a Canadian business corporation under Canadian law,Head Office functions were transferred from London to Winnipeg. By 1974, as the company expanded into eastern Canada, head office functions were moved to Toronto. In 1972, the company acquired the four-storeShop-Ritechain ofcatalogue stores. The chain was quickly expanded to 65 stores in Ontario, but closed in 1982 due to declining sales.In these stores, little merchandise was displayed; customers made their selections from catalogues, and staff would retrieve the merchandise from storerooms. The HBC also acquiredFreimansdepartment stores in Ottawa and converted them to The Bay. In 1973, HBOG acquired a 35 per cent stake in Siebens Oil and Gas, and, in 1979, it divested that interest. In 1980, it bought a controlling interest in Roxy Petroleum. In 1978, theZellersdiscount store chain made a bid to acquire the HBC, but the HBC turned the tables and acquired Zellers.Also in 1978,Simpson'sdepartment stores were acquired by Hudson's Bay Company, and were converted to Bay stores in 1991.(The related chain Simpsons-Sears was not acquired by the Bay, but becameSears Canadain 1978.) In 1991, Simpsons disappeared, when the last Simpsons store was converted to the Bay banner. In 1979, Canadian billionaireKenneth Thomsonwon control of the company in a battle withGeorge Weston Limited, and acquired a 75 per cent stake for $400 million.Thomson sold the company's oil and gas business, financial services, distillery, and other interests for approximately $550 million, transforming the company into a leaner, more focused operation. In the 1980s, sales and oil prices slipped, while debt from acquisitions piled up which led to Hudson's Bay Company selling its 10.1 per cent stake in HBOG toDome Petroleumin 1981.In 1997, the Thomson family sold the last of its remaining shares. Hudson's Bay Company reversed a formidable debt problem in 1987, by shedding non-strategic assets such as its wholesale division and getting completely out of the oil and gas business. HBC also sold its Canadian fur-auction business to Hudson's Bay Fur Sales Canada (nowNorth American Fur Auctions). The Northern Stores Division was sold that same year to a group of investors and employees, which adoptedThe North West Companyname three years later. The HBC acquiredTowers Department Storesin 1990, combining them with the Zellers chain, andWoodward'sstores in 1993, converting them into Bay or Zellers stores.Kmart Canadawas acquired in 1998 and merged with Zellers. In 1991, the Bay agreed to stop retailingfurin response to complaints from people opposed to killing animals for this purpose.In 1997, the Bay reopened its fur salons to meet the demand of consumers. 21st century In December 2003, Maple Leaf Heritage Investments, aNova Scotia-based company created to acquire shares of Hudson's Bay Company, announced that it was considering making an offer to acquire all or some of the common shares of Hudson's Bay Company.Maple Leaf Heritage Investments is a subsidiary of B-Bay Inc. Its CEO and chairman is American businesswomanAnita Zucker, widow ofJerry Zucker. Zucker had previously been the head of the Polymer Group, which acquired another Canadian institution,Dominion Textile. It had been a member of theInternational Association of Department Storesfrom 2001 to 2005.On 26 January 2006, the HBC's board agreed to a bid from Jerry Zucker. The South Carolina billionaire financier was a longtime HBC minority shareholder. In a 9 March 2006 press release,the HBC announced that Zucker would replaceYves Fortieras governor andGeorge Helleras CEO, becoming the first US citizen to lead the company. After Jerry Zucker's death, the board named his widow, Anita Zucker, as HBC Governor and HBC Deputy-Governor Rob Johnston as CEO. On 16 July 2008, the company was sold toNRDC Equity Partnersfor just over $1.1 billion,a private equity firm based inPurchase, New York, which already ownedLord & Taylor, the oldest department store in the United States.The Canadian and U.S. holdings were transferred to NRDC Equity Partners' holding company,Hudson's Bay Trading Company, as of late 2008. In October 2012, the HBC announced a $1.6 billioninitial public offering(IPO); Baker planned to use the IPO to allow Canadian ownership to return to the company, and to help pay off debts with other partners. Additionally, the company also announced that it would re-brand The Bay department store chain as \\\"Hudson's Bay\\\".The new Hudson's Bay brand was launched in March 2013, incorporating a new logo with an updated rendition of the classic Hudson's Bay Companycoat of arms, designed to be modern and better reflect the company's heritage. Following the IPO, HBC had also introduced a new corporate logo of its own (reviving awordmarkfrom the originalHBC flag), but the new logo was not intended to be a consumer-facing brand. In January 2016, HBC announced it would expand deeper into digital space with the acquisition of anonlineflash sales site, theGilt Groupe, for US$250 million.HBC also announced its expansion into the Netherlands in May 2016 with the takeover of 20 formerVroom & Dreesmann(V&D) sites by 2017. V&D, a historic Dutch department store chain, had gonebankruptand shut down in early 2016.As of November 2017, the company also expanded retail operations into Europe, including five Saks Off Fifth stores in Germany. On 1 April 2018, HBC disclosed that more than five million credit and debit cards used for in-store purchases had been recently breached by hackers. The compromised credit card transactions took place at Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks Off 5th, and Lord & Taylor stores. The hack had been discovered by Gemini Advisory, which called the breach \\\"amongst the biggest and most damaging to ever hit retail companies\\\".A July 2019 hack ofCapital One, which provides HBC Mastercards, did not affect the HBC credit cards or card applications, according to HBC. In June 2019, a consortium including chairmanRichard Baker,Rhône Group,WeWork, Hanover Investments (Luxembourg) and Abrams Capital Management announced that it wanted to take the company private.The group then owned just over 50 per cent of HBC shares. In mid-August, the consortium said that it owned 57 per cent of the HBC shares. By 19 August 2019, however, Canadian investment firmCatalyst Capital Group Inc.said it had acquired enough shares to block the plan. A U.S. company, Land & Buildings Investment Management, the owner of over 6 per cent of the shares, had also criticized the Baker plan.In March 2020, Baker and a group of shareholders were successful in taking the company private. Aside fromHudson's Bay,Saks Fifth Avenue, andSaks Off Fifth, HBC soldGaleria Kaufhof,Galeria Inno,Gilt Groupe, andLord & Taylorby August 2019. In June 2018, HBC announced it would sell Gilt Groupe to online fashion store Rue La La for an undisclosed sum. In June, 2019 HBC announced its intent to sell the last 49.99 percent of Galeria Kaufhof shares it held to Austrian firmSigna Holding. In August, 2019 Lord & Taylor was sold toLe Totefor $75 million.The remaining stores in theNetherlandswere sold by the end of 2019. By early September 2019, it was clear that HBC was streamlining its operations, with the sales ofGaleria Kaufhof,Galeria Inno,Gilt Groupe, andLord & Tayloras the most recent steps. A feature article byBloomberg Newsmentioned that CEOHelena Foulkes, recruited in 2018, \\\"had helped improve the bottom line at Hudson's Bay\\\". She was selling assets \\\"to put the company on more solid financial footing\\\" and could then focus on Saks Fifth Avenue and the Bay. On the other hand, Bloomberg suggested that millennial shoppers prefer to make purchases online, or direct from various brands' own stores, and that HBC \\\"has yet to offer something they can't find somewhere else and risks drifting into irrelevance\\\". In February 2020, shareholders of the company voted in favour of a plan to become a private company at a special meeting of shareholders. Under the plan of arrangement, the company will be owned by a group of continuing shareholders led by HBC governor and executive chairman Richard Baker.Effective 3 March 2020, the company was delisted from theToronto Stock Exchange, withRichard A. Bakerreplacing Foulkes as CEO. In 2023, Hudson's Bay officially stopped selling animal fur products. Acquisition and sale of other chains From 2004 to 2008, the HBC owned and operated a small chain of off-price stores calledDesigner Depot. Similar to theWinnersandHomeSenseretail format, Designer Depot did not meet sales expectations, and its nine stores were sold.Another HBC chain,Fields, was sold to a private firm in 2012.Established in 1950, Fields was acquired byZellersin 1976. When Zellers was acquired by HBC in 1978, Fields became part of the HBC portfolio.In early 2019, HBC announced that all 37Home Outfittersstores would be phased out by year end. In early 2017, the Hudson's Bay Company made an overture toMacy'sfor a potential takeover of the U.S. department store chain. Later, HBC also considered a purchase ofNeiman Marcus GroupInc. It did not proceed with either deal.On March 16, 2022, it was announced that HBC andSycamore Partnerswere preparing bids to buyKohl's. Zellers In September 2011, the HBC announced that it would sell the majority of the Zellers leases for $1.825 billion to the U.S.-based retailerTarget Corporationand shutter all of their remaining locations by early 2013.Target used the acquisition of this real estate as a means to enable its entry in the Canadian market. HBC used some of the proceeds to pay down debt and to invest in growing its Hudson's Bay and Lord & Taylor banners. In January 2013, it was confirmed that three Zellers locations, re-purposed as discount department stores for The Bay and Home Outfitters, would remain open.The Target Canada chain folded in 2015; the leases were subsequently returned to landlords or re-sold to other retailers.Zellers was still owned by HBC as two remaining stores following the sale of its lease portfolio toTarget Canadain 2011.By September 2019, the re-purposed Toronto and Ottawa Zellers locations were still operating as discount department stores. In August 2022, the Hudson's Bay Company announced it would be reviving the Zellers brand through online shopping and physical locations in 2023. Lord & Taylor On 24 January 2012, theFinancial Postreported that Richard Baker (owner of NDRC and governor of Hudson's Bay Company) had dissolvedHudson's Bay Trading Companyand that the HBC would now also operate theLord & Taylorchain. At the time, the company was run by presidentBonnie Brooks.Baker remained governor and CEO of the business, and Donald Watros stayed on as chief operating officer. In 2018, HBC in a joint venture sold the building that housed its flagshipLord & Taylorstore on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan toWeWorkProperty Advisors for $850 million. WeWork was set to occupy the uppermost floors of the building, with the rest of the building remaining a flagship space for Lord & Taylor.The deal also included the use of floors of certain HBC-owned department stores in New York, Toronto, Vancouver and Germany as WeWork's shared office workspaces. In August 2019, HBC announced that it would sell their Lord & Taylor business toLe ToteInc., which was to payCA$99.5 millionin cash when the deal closes (probably before year end 2019) and an additionalCA$33.2 milliontwo years later. HBC was to get a 25 per cent equity stake in Le Tote.The buyer would retain the stores' inventory, with an estimated value ofCA$284.2 million. The deal, expected to close before year end, required HBC to pay the stores' rent for at least three years, leading one news report to describe it as \\\"Not a clean exit\\\". The liability to HBC for the rents was estimated atCA$77 millioncash per year. Saks, Inc. On 29 July 2013, Hudson's Bay Company announced that it would buySaks, Inc., operator of the U.S.Saks Fifth Avenuebrand, forUS$2.9 billion, or $16 per share.The merger was completed on 3 November 2013.The company also stated that as a result of the purchase, Canadian consumers would see Saks stores arriving in their country soon.After the purchase was finalized, HBC had a net loss of $124.2 million in the 2013 3Q due to the cost of the purchase and promotions. Galeria Kaufhof/Galeria Inno HBC had acquired the German department store chain Galeria Kaufhof and its Belgian subsidiary,Galeria Inno, fromMetro Groupin September 2015 forUS$3.2 billion. On 1 November 2017, HBC received an unsolicited offer from Austrian firmSigna Holdingfor Kaufhof and other real estate.An unnamed source toldCNBCthat the value of the offer was approximately 3 billion euros.This information on the offer was also reiterated in a press release by activist shareholder Land & Buildings Investment Management, which urged HBC to accept the offer; the company replied that the offer was incomplete and did not provide indication of financing for the deal.In late 2018, Galeria Kaufhof andKarstadtmerged as part of a spin off. HBC announced its intent to sell the last 49.99 percent of Galeria Kaufhof and Galeria Inno shares it held to Austrian firmSigna Holdingin June 2019. The sale of the real estate in Germany had gained US$1.5 billion (€1 billion) for HBC.At that time, HBC still had a retail operation in the Netherlands, using the Vroom & Dreesmann locations it had purchased in 2017. On 31 August 2019, the company announced that all 15 of those stores would be sold by year end. Neiman Marcus On July 4, 2024, Hudson's Bay Company announced it would acquireNeiman Marcus Groupfor $2.65 billion, concluding years of negotiations. Operations The HBC is diversified into joint ventures and other types of business products. The HBC has credit card, mortgage, and personal insurance branches. These other products and services are joint partnerships with other corporations. The HBC also has anHBC Rewardsprogram, where Rewards points can be redeemed in house. The HBC is involved in community and charity activities. The HBC Rewards Community Program raises funds for community causes. The HBC Foundation is a charity agency involved in social issues and service. The HBC used to sponsor the annual HBC Run for Canada, a series of public-participation runs and walks held across the country on Canada Day to raise funds for Canadian athletes. The company discontinued this event in 2009. Olympic outfitter The HBC was the official outfitter of clothing for members of the Canadian Olympic team in 1936, 1960, 1964, 1968, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016. The sponsorship has been renewed through 2020. Since the late 2000s, HBC has used its status as the official Canadian Olympics team outfitter to gain global exposure, as part of a turnaround plan that included shedding under-performing brands and luring new high-end brands. On 2 March 2005, the company was announced as the new clothing outfitter for the Canadian Olympic team, in a $100 million deal, providing apparel for the 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012 Games, having outbid the existing Canadian Olympic wear-supplier,Roots Canada, which had supplied Canada's Olympic teams from 1998 to 2004.The Canadian Olympic collection is sold through Hudson's Bay (and Zellers until 2013 when the Zellers leases were sold toTarget Canada). HBC's2006 Winter Olympicsand2008 Summer Olympicsuniforms and toques received a mixed reception for their multicoloured stripes (green, red, yellow, blue) which seemed to be not-so-subtle advertising for HBC rather than representing the Canadian Olympic team's traditional colours of red and white (with black as a secondary), in contrast to well-received Root's 1998 collection with its trendy redletter jacketsand Poor Boy caps. HBC produced 80 per cent to 90 per cent of their Olympic clothes in China which was criticized, as Roots ensured that the Olympic clothes were made in Canada using Canadian material. HBC's apparel for the2010 Winter Olympicsheld in Vancouver proved to be extremely successful, in part because Canada was the host country and their athletes had a record medal haul. The \\\"Red Mittens\\\" (red-and-white mittens featuring a large maple leaf) that were sold forCA$10, with one-third of the proceeds going to theCanadian Olympic Committee, proved very popular, as were the \\\"Canada\\\" hoodies. The HBC's2010 Winter Olympicsapparel was also controversial due to a knitted, machine-made sweater that looked like aCowichan sweater.After a meeting between HBC representatives andCowichan Tribes, a compromise was made between the parties; knitters would have an opportunity to sell their sweaters at the downtown Vancouver HBC store, alongside the HBC imitations. LordSebastian Coe, chairman of the2012 London Olympic Games Organizing Committee, who attended theVancouver Olympics, noted that the Canadians were passionate in embracing the Games with their \\\"Canada\\\" hoodies and their red mittens (of which 2.6 million pairs sold that year).HBC has continued to produce these red mittens for subsequent Olympic Games. In 2021, it was announced that beginning with the2022 Winter Olympics,Lululemonwould replace the HBC as Canada's Olympic outfitter. Archives The legacy of the HBC has been maintained in part by the detailed record-keeping and archiving of material by the company. Before 1974, the records of the HBC were kept in the London office headquarters. The HBC opened an archives department to researchers in 1931. In 1974, Hudson's Bay Company Archives (HBCA) were transferred from London and placed on deposit with the Manitoba archives in Winnipeg. The company granted public access to the collection the following year. On 27 January 1994, the company's archives were formally donated to the Archives of Manitoba. At the time of the donation, the appraised value of the records was nearly $60 million. A foundation, Hudson's Bay Company History Foundation funded through the tax savings resulting from the donation, was established to support the operations of the HBC Archive as a division of the Archives of Manitoba, along with other activities and programs.More than two kilometres (1.2 mi) of filed documents and hundreds of microfilm reels are now stored in a special climate-controlled vault in the Manitoba Archives Building. In 2007, Hudson's Bay Company Archives became part of the United Nations \\\"Memory of the World Programme\\\" project, underUNESCO. The records covered the HBC history from the founding of the company in 1670. The records contained business transactions, medical records, personal journals of officials, inventories, company reports, etc. Corporate governance As of January 2018, the members of the board of directors of Hudson's Bay Company are: Corporate hierarchy In the 18th and 19th centuries, Hudson's Bay Company operated with a very rigid employee hierarchy. This hierarchy essentially broke down into two levels; the officers and the servants. Comprising the officers were the factors, masters and chief traders, clerks and surgeons. The servants were the tradesmen, boatmen, and labourers. The officers essentially ran the fur trading posts. They had many duties which included supervising the workers in their trade posts, valuing the furs, and keeping trade and post records. In 1821, when Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company merged, the hierarchy became even stricter and the lines between officers and servants became virtually impossible to cross. Officers in charge of individual trading posts had much responsibility because they were directly in charge of enforcing the policies made by the governor and committee (the board) of the company. One of these policies was the price of particular furs and trade goods. These prices were called the Official and Comparative Standards. Made-Beaver, the quality measurement of the pelt, was the means of exchange used by Hudson's Bay Company to define the Official and Comparative Standards. Because the governor was stationed in London, England, they needed to have reliable officers managing the trade posts halfway around the world. Because the fur trade was a very dynamic market, HBC needed to have some form of flexibility when dealing with prices and traders. Price fluctuation was deferred to the officers in charge of the trade posts, and the head office recorded any difference between the company's standard and that set by the individual officers. Overplus, or any excess revenue gained by officers, was strictly documented to insure that it was not being pocketed and taken from the company. This strict yet flexible hierarchy exemplifies how Hudson's Bay Company was able to be so successful while still having its central management and trade posts located so far apart. Progression In the 19th century, career progression for officers, together referred to as the Commissioned Gentlemen, was to enter the company as a fur trader. Typically, they were men who had the capital to invest in starting up their trading. They sought to be promoted to the rank of Chief Trader. A Chief Trader would be in charge of an individual post and was entitled to one share of the company's profits. Chief Factors sat in council with the Governors and were the heads of districts. They were entitled to two shares of the company's profits or losses. The average income of a Chief Trader was £360 and that of a Chief Factor was £720. Governors Chronological list of governors of the Hudson's Bay Company: Miscellany Rent obligation under charter Under the charter establishing Hudson's Bay Company, the company was required to give twoelkskins and two blackbeaverpelts to the English king, then Charles II, or his heirs, whenever the monarch visited Rupert's Land. The exact text from the 1670 Charter reads: ...Yielding and paying yearly to us and our heirs and successors for the same two Elks and two Black beavers whensoever and as often as We, our heirs and successors shall happen to enter into the said Countries, Territories and Regions hereby granted. The ceremony was first conducted with thePrince of Wales(the future Edward VIII) in 1927, then with KingGeorge VIin 1939, and last with his daughter, QueenElizabeth IIin 1959 and 1970. On the last such visit, the pelts were given in the form of two live beavers, which the Queen donated to the Winnipeg Zoo inAssiniboine Park. However, when the company permanently moved its headquarters to Canada, the Charter was amended to remove the rent obligation. Each of the four \\\"rent ceremonies\\\" took place in or around Winnipeg. HBC explorers, builders, and associates HBC sternwheelers and steamships Rivals The HBC is the only European trading company to have survived. It outlived all its rivals. See also References Bibliography Further reading External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Klondike Gold Rush TheKlondike Gold Rushwas a migration by an estimated 100,000prospectorsto theKlondike regionofYukon, in north-western Canada, between 1896 and 1899.Goldwas discovered there by local miners on August 16, 1896; when news reachedSeattleandSan Franciscothe following year, it triggered astampede of prospectors. Some became wealthy, but the majority went in vain. It has been immortalized in films, literature, and photographs. To reach the gold fields, most prospectors took the route through the ports ofDyeaandSkagway, inSoutheast Alaska. Here, the \"Klondikers\" could follow either theChilkootor theWhite Passtrails to theYukon River, and sail down to the Klondike. The Canadian authorities required each of them to bring a year's supply of food, in order to prevent starvation. In all, the Klondikers' equipment weighed close to a ton, which most carried themselves, in stages. Performing this task, and contending with the mountainous terrain and cold climate, meant that most of those who persisted did","who persisted did not arrive until the summer of 1898. Once there, they found few opportunities, and many left disappointed. To accommodate the prospectors,boom townssprang up along the routes. At their terminus,Dawson Citywas founded at the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon rivers. From a population of 500 in 1896, the town grew to house approximately 17,000 people by summer 1898. Built of wood, isolated, and unsanitary, Dawson suffered from fires, high prices, and epidemics. Despite this, the wealthiest prospectors spent extravagantly, gambling and drinking in thesaloons. The indigenousHän, on the other hand, suffered from the rush; they were forcibly moved into areserveto make way for the Klondikers, and many died. Beginning in 1898, the newspapers that had encouraged so many to travel to the Klondike lost interest in it. In the summer of 1899,gold was discovered around Nomein westAlaska, and many prospectors left the Klondike for the new goldfields, marking the end of the Klondike Rush. The boom towns","The boom towns declined, and the population ofDawson Cityfell. Gold mining production in the Klondike peaked in 1903 after heavier equipment was brought in. Since then, the Klondike has been mined on and off, and today the legacy draws tourists to the region and contributes to its prosperity. Background Theindigenous peoples in north-west Americahad traded incoppernuggets prior toEuropean expansion. Most of the tribes were aware that gold existed in the region, but the metal was not valued by them.TheRussiansand theHudson's Bay Companyhad both explored the Yukon in the first half of the 19th century, but ignored the rumours of gold in favour offur trading, which offered more immediate profits. In the second half of the 19th century, American prospectors began to spread into the area.Making deals with the NativeTlingitandTagishtribes, the early prospectors opened the important routes ofChilkootand White Pass and reached theYukonvalley between 1870 and 1890.Here, they encountered the Hän people, semi-nomadic","semi-nomadic hunters and fishermen who lived along the Yukon and Klondike Rivers.The Hän did not appear to know about the extent of the gold deposits in the region. In 1883,Ed Schieffelinidentified gold deposits along the Yukon River, and an expedition up theFortymile Riverin 1886 discovered considerable amounts of it and founded Fortymile City.The same year gold had been found on the banks of the Klondike River, but in small amounts and with no claims being made.By late 1886, several hundred miners were working their way along the Yukon valley, living in small mining camps and trading with the Hän.On the Alaskan side of the border,Circle City, alogtown, was established in 1893 on the Yukon River. In three years it grew to become \"the Paris of Alaska\", with about 1,200 inhabitants, saloons, opera houses, schools, and libraries. In 1896, it was so well-known that acorrespondentfrom the ChicagoDaily Recordcame to visit. At the end of the year, it became aghost town, when large gold deposits were found upstream","were found upstream on the Klondike. Discovery (1896) On August 16, 1896, an American prospector namedGeorge Carmackand two Tagish men,Skookum Jim(Keish), andTagish Charlie(K̲áa Goox̱) were travelling south of the Klondike River.Following a suggestion fromRobert Henderson, a Canadian prospector, they began looking for gold onBonanza Creek, then called Rabbit Creek, one of the Klondike's tributaries.It is not clear who discovered the gold: George Carmack or Skookum Jim, but the group agreed to let George Carmack appear as the official discoverer because they feared that authorities would not recognize anindigenousclaimant. In any event, gold was present along the river in huge quantities.Carmack measured out four claims, strips of ground that could later be legally mined by the owner, along the river; these including two for himself—one as his normal claim, the second as a reward for having discovered the gold—and one each for Jim and Charlie.The claims were registered the next day at the police post at the","police post at the mouth of the Fortymile River and news spread rapidly from there to other mining camps in the Yukon River valley. By the end of August, all of Bonanza Creek had been claimed by miners.A prospector then advanced up into one of the creeks feeding into Bonanza, later to be namedEldorado Creek. He discovered new sources of gold there, which would prove to be even richer than those on Bonanza.Claims began to be sold between miners and speculators for considerable sums.Just before Christmas, word of the gold reached Circle City. Despite the winter, many prospectors immediately left for the Klondike by dog-sled, eager to reach the region before the best claims were taken.The outside world was still largely unaware of the news, and although Canadian officials had managed to send a message to their superiors inOttawaabout the finds and influx of prospectors, the government did not give it much attention.The winter prevented river traffic, and it was not until June 1897 that the first boats left the","boats left the area, carrying the freshly mined gold and the full story of the discoveries. Beginning of the stampede (July 1897) In the resulting Klondike stampede, an estimated 100,000 people tried to reach the Klondike goldfields, of whom only around 30,000 to 40,000 eventually did.It formed the height of the Klondike gold rush from the summer of 1897 until the summer of 1898. It began on July 14, 1897, inSan Franciscoand was spurred further three days later inSeattle, when the first of the early prospectors returned from the Klondike, bringing with them large amounts of gold on the shipsExcelsiorandPortland.The press reported that a total of $1,139,000 (equivalent to $1 billion at 2010 prices) had been brought in by these ships, although this proved to be an underestimate.The migration of prospectors caught so much attention that it was joined by outfitters, writers and photographers. Various factors lay behind this sudden mass response. Economically, the news had reached the US at the height of a series","height of a series of financial recessions and bank failures in the 1890s. Thegold standardof the time tied paper money to the production of gold and shortages towards the end of the 19th century meant that gold dollars were rapidly increasing in value ahead of paper currencies and being hoarded.This had contributed to thePanic of 1893andPanic of 1896, which caused unemployment and financial uncertainty.There was a huge, unresolved demand for gold across the developed world that the Klondike promised to fulfil and, for individuals, the region promised higher wages or financial security. Psychologically, the Klondike, as historianPierre Bertondescribes, was \"just far enough away to be romantic and just close enough to be accessible\". Furthermore, the Pacific ports closest to the gold strikes were desperate to encourage trade and travel to the region.The mass journalism of the period promoted the event and the human interest stories that lay behind it. A worldwide publicity campaign engineered largely","engineered largely byErastus Brainerd, a Seattle newspaperman, helped establish that city as the premier supply centre and the departure point for the gold fields. The prospectors came from many nations, although an estimated majority of 60 to 80 percent were Americans or recent immigrants to America.Most had no experience in the mining industry, being clerks or salesmen.Mass resignations of staff to join the gold rush became notorious.In Seattle, this included the mayor, twelve policemen, and a significant percentage of the city's streetcar drivers. Some stampeders were famous:John McGraw, the former governor of Washington, joined, together with the prominent lawyer and sportsman A. Balliot.Frederick Burnham, a well-known American scout and explorer, arrived from Africa, only to be called back to take part in theSecond Boer War.Among those who documented the rush was the Swedish-born photographerEric Hegg, who took some of the iconic pictures of Chilkoot Pass, and reporterTappan Adney, who afterwards wrote","afterwards wrote a first-hand history of the stampede.Jack London, later a famous American writer, left to seek for gold but made his money during the rush mostly by working for prospectors. Seattle and San Francisco competed fiercely for business during the rush, with Seattle winning the larger share of trade.Indeed, one of the first to join the gold rush was William D. Wood, the mayor of Seattle, who resigned and formed a company to transport prospectors to the Klondike.The publicity around the gold rush led to a flurry of branded goods being marketed. Clothing, equipment, food, and medicines were all sold as \"Klondike\" goods, allegedly designed for the northwest.Guidebooks were published, giving advice about routes, equipment, mining, and capital necessary for the enterprise.The newspapers of the time termed this phenomenon \"Klondicitis\". Routes to the Klondike The Klondike could be reached only by the Yukon River, either upstream from its delta, downstream from its head, or from somewhere in the middle","in the middle through its tributaries. River boats could navigate the Yukon in the summer from the delta until a point called Whitehorse, above the Klondike. Travel, in general, was made difficult by both terrain and climate. The region was mountainous, the rivers winding and sometimes impassable; summers, albeit short, still brought heat, while during the long winters, temperatures could drop below −50 °C (−58 °F). Aids for the travellers to carry their supplies varied; some had brought dogs, horses,mules, or oxen, whereas others had to rely on carrying their equipment on their backs or on sleds pulled by hand.Shortly after the stampede began in 1897, the Canadian authorities had introduced rules requiring anyone entering Yukon Territory to bring with them a year's supply of food; typically this weighed around 1,150 pounds (520 kg).By the time camping equipment, tools and other essentials were included, a typical traveller was transporting as much as a ton in weight.Unsurprisingly, the price of draft","the price of draft animals soared; at Dyea, even poor quality horses could sell for as much as $700 ($19,000), or be rented out for $40 ($1,100) a day. From Seattle or San Francisco, prospectors could travel by sea up the coast to the ports of Alaska.The route following the coast is now referred to as theInside Passage. It led to the ports of Dyea and Skagway plus ports of nearby trails. The sudden increase in demand encouraged a range of vessels to be pressed into service including oldpaddle wheelers, fishing boats, barges, and coal ships still full of coal dust. All were overloaded and many sank. All water routes It was possible to sail all the way to the Klondike, first from Seattle across the northern Pacific to the Alaskan coast. FromSt. Michael, at the Yukon River delta, a river boat could then take the prospectors the rest of the way up the river to Dawson, often guided by one of the NativeKoyukon peoplewho lived near St. Michael.Although this all-water route, also called \"the rich man's route\", was","man's route\", was expensive and long – 4,700 miles (7,600 km) in total – it had the attraction of speed and avoiding overland travel.At the beginning of the stampede a ticket could be bought for $150 ($4,050) while during the winter 1897–98 the fare settled at $1,000 ($27,000). In 1897, some 1,800 travellers attempted this route but the vast majority were caught along the river when the region iced over in October.Only 43 reached the Klondike before winter and of those 35 had to return, having thrown away their equipment en route to reach their destination in time.The remainder mostly found themselves stranded in isolated camps and settlements along the ice-covered river often in desperate circumstances. Dyea/Skagway routes Most of the prospectors landed at the southeast Alaskan towns of Dyea and Skagway, both located at the head of the naturalLynn Canalat the end of the Inside Passage. From there, they needed to travel over the mountain ranges into Canada's Yukon Territory, and then down the river network","the river network to the Klondike.Along the trails, tent camps sprung up at places where prospectors had to stop to eat or sleep or at obstacles such as the icy lakes at the head of the Yukon.At the start of the rush, a ticket from Seattle to the port of Dyea cost $40 ($1,100) for a cabin. Premiums of $100 ($2,700), however, were soon paid and the steamship companies hesitated to post their rates in advance since they could increase on a daily basis. White Pass trail Those who landed at Skagway made their way over the White Pass before cutting across toBennett Lake.Although the trail began gently, it progressed over several mountains with paths as narrow as 2 feet (0.61 m) and in wider parts covered with boulders and sharp rocks.Under these conditions horses died in huge numbers, giving the route the informal name of Dead Horse Trail.The volumes of travellers and the wet weather made the trail impassable and, by late 1897, it was closed until further notice, leaving around 5,000 stranded in Skagway. An","in Skagway. An alternative toll road suitable for wagons was eventually constructed and this, combined with colder weather that froze the muddy ground, allowed the White Pass to reopen, and prospectors began to make their way into Canada.Moving supplies and equipment over the pass had to be done in stages. Most divided their belongings into 65 pounds (29 kg) packages that could be carried on a man's back, or heavier loads that could be pulled by hand on a sled.Ferrying packages forwards and walking back for more, a prospector would need about thirty round trips, a distance of at least 2,500 miles (4,000 km), before they had moved all of their supplies to the end of the trail. Even using a heavy sled, a strong man would be covering 1,000 miles (1,600 km) and need around 90 days to reach Lake Bennett. Chilkoot trail Those who landed at Dyea, Skagway's neighbour town, travelled theChilkoot Trailand crossed its pass to reach Lake Lindeman, which fed into Lake Bennett at the head of the Yukon River.The Chilkoot","River.The Chilkoot Pass was higher than the White Pass, but more used it: around 22,000 during the gold rush.The trail passed up through camps until it reached a flat ledge, just before the main ascent, which was too steep for animals.This location was known as the Scales, and was where goods were weighed before travellers officially entered Canada. The cold, the steepness and the weight of equipment made the climb extremely arduous and it could take a day to get to the top of the 1,000 feet (300 m) high slope. As on the White Pass trail, supplies needed to be broken down into smaller packages and carried in relay.Packers, prepared to carry supplies for cash, were available along the route but would charge up to $1 ($27) per lb (0.45 kg) on the later stages; many of these packers were natives: Tlingits or, less commonly, Tagish.Avalancheswere common in the mountains and, on April 3, 1898, one claimed the lives of more than 60 people travelling over Chilkoot Pass. Entrepreneurs began to provide solutions as","solutions as the winter progressed. Steps were cut into the ice at the Chilkoot Pass which could be used for a daily fee, this 1,500 step staircase becoming known as the \"Golden Steps\".By December 1897, Archie Burns built atramwayup the final parts of the Chilkoot Pass. A horse at the bottom turned a wheel, which pulled a rope running to the top and back; freight was loaded on sledges pulled by the rope. Five more tramways soon followed, one powered by asteam engine, charging between 8 and 30 cents ($2 and $8) per 1 pound (0.45 kg).Anaerial tramwaywas built in the spring of 1898, able to move 9 tonnes of goods an hour up to the summit. Head of Yukon River At Lakes Bennett and Lindeman, the prospectors camped to build rafts or boats that would take them the final 500 miles (800 km) down the Yukon to Dawson City in the spring.7,124 boats of varying size and quality left in May 1898; by that time, the forests around the lakes had been largely cut down for timber.The river posed a new problem. AboveWhitehorse,","AboveWhitehorse, it was dangerous, with several rapids along the Miles Canyon through to the White Horse Rapids. After many boats were wrecked and several hundred people died, theNorth-West Mounted Police(NWMP) introduced safety rules,vettingthe boats carefully and forbidding women and children to travel through the rapids.Additional rules stated that any boat carrying passengers required alicensed pilot, typically costing $25 ($680), although some prospectors simply unpacked their boats and let them drift unmanned through the rapids with the intent of walking down to collect them on the other side.During the summer, a horse-powered rail-tramway was built by Norman Macaulay, capable of carrying boats and equipment through the canyon at $25 ($680) a time, removing the need for prospectors to navigate the rapids. Parallel trails There were a few more trails established during 1898 from South-east Alaska to the Yukon River. One was the Dalton trail: starting from Pyramid Harbour, close to Dyea, it went across","it went across theChilkat Passsome miles west of Chilkoot and turned north to the Yukon River, a distance of about 350 miles (560 km). This was created by Jack Dalton as a summer route, intended for cattle and horses, and Dalton charged a toll of $250 ($6,800) for its use. The Takou route started from Juneau and went north-east to Teslin Lake. From here, it followed a river to the Yukon, where it met the Dyea and Skagway route at a point halfway to the Klondike.It meant dragging and poling canoes up-river and through mud together with crossing a 5,000 feet (1,500 m) mountain along a narrow trail. Finally, there was the Stikine route starting from the port of Wrangell further south-east of Skagway. This route went up the uneasy Stikine River to Glenora, thehead of navigation. From Glenora, prospectors would have to carry their supplies 150 miles (240 km) to Teslin Lake where it, like the Takou route, met the Yukon River system. All-Canadian routes An alternative to the South-east Alaskan ports were the","ports were the All-Canadian routes, so-called because they mostly stayed on Canadian soil throughout their journey.These were popular with British and Canadians for patriotic reasons and because they avoided American customs.The first of these, around 1,000 miles (1,600 km) in length, started fromAshcroftin British Columbia and crossed swamps, rivergorges, and mountains until it met with the Stikine River route at Glenora.From Glenora, prospectors would face the same difficulties as those who came from Wrangell.At least 1,500 men attempted to travel along the Ashcroft route and 5,000 along the Stikine.The mud and the slushy ice of the two routes proved exhausting, killing or incapacitating the pack animals and creating chaos amongst the travellers. Three more routes started fromEdmonton,Alberta; these were not much better – barely trails at all – despite being advertised as \"the inside track\" and the \"back door to the Klondike\".One, the \"overland route\", headed north-west from Edmonton, ultimately meeting","ultimately meeting thePeace Riverand then continuing on overland to the Klondike, crossing theLiard Riveren route.To encourage travel via Edmonton, the government hired T.W. Chalmers to build a trail, which became known as theKlondike Trailor Chalmers Trail.The other two trails, known as the \"water routes\", involved more river travel. One went by boat along rivers and overland to the Yukon River system atPelly Riverand from there to Dawson.Another went north of Dawson by theMackenzie RivertoFort McPherson, before entering Alaska and meeting the Yukon River atFort Yukon, downstream to the Klondike.From here, the boat and equipment had to be pulled up the Yukon about 400 miles (640 km). An estimated 1,660 travellers took these three routes, of whom only 685 arrived, some taking up to 18 months to make the journey. \"All-American\" route An equivalent to the All-Canadian routes was the \"All-American route\", which aimed to reach the Yukon from the port ofValdez, which lay further along the Alaskan coast from","Alaskan coast from Skagway.This, it was hoped, would evade the Canadian customs posts and provide an American-controlled route into the interior.From late 1897 onwards 3,500 men and women attempted it; delayed by the winter snows, fresh efforts were made in the spring. In practice, the huge Valdez glacier that stood between the port and the Alaskan interior proved almost insurmountable and only 200 managed to climb it; by 1899, the cold andscurvywas causing many deaths amongst the rest.Other prospectors attempted an alternative route across theMalaspina Glacierjust to the east, suffering even greater hardships.Those who did manage to cross it found themselves having to negotiate miles of wilderness before they could reach Dawson. Their expedition was forced to turn back the same way they had come, with only four men surviving. Border control The borders in South-east Alaskawere disputedbetween the US, Canada and Britain since the Americanpurchase of Alaskafrom Russia in 1867.The US and Canada both claimed","Canada both claimed the ports of Dyea and Skagway.This, combined with the numbers of American prospectors, the quantities of gold being mined and the difficulties in exercising government authority in such a remote area, made the control of the borders a sensitive issue. Early on in the gold rush, the US Army sent a smalldetachmentto Circle City, in case intervention was required in the Klondike, while the Canadian government considered excluding all American prospectors from the Yukon Territory.Neither eventuality took place and instead the US agreed to make Dyea a sub-port of entry for Canadians, allowing British ships to land Canadian passengers and goods freely there, while Canada agreed to permit American miners to operate in the Klondike.Both decisions were unpopular among their domestic publics: American businessmen complained that their right to amonopolyon regional trade was being undermined, while the Canadian public demanded action against the American miners. The North-West Mounted Police set up","Police set up control posts at the borders of the Yukon Territory or, where that was disputed, at easily controlled points such as the Chilkoot and White Passes.These units were armed withMaxim guns.Their tasks included enforcing the rules requiring that travellers bring a year's supply of food with them to be allowed into the Yukon Territory, checking for illegal weapons, preventing the entry of criminals and enforcing customs duties. This last task was particularly unpopular with American prospectors, who faced paying an average of 25 percent of the value of their goods and supplies.The Mounties had a reputation for running these posts honestly, although accusations were made that they took bribes.Prospectors, on the other hand, tried to smuggle prize items likesilkandwhiskeyacross the pass in tins and bales of hay: the former item for the ladies, the latter for the saloons. Mining Of the estimated 30,000 to 40,000 people who reached Dawson City during the gold rush, only around 15,000 to 20,000 finally","to 20,000 finally became prospectors. Of these, no more than 4,000 struck gold and only a few hundred became rich.By the time most of the stampeders arrived in 1898, the best creeks had all been claimed, either by the long-term miners in the region or by the first arrivals of the year before.The Bonanza, Eldorado, Hunker, and Dominion Creeks were all taken, with almost 10,000 claims recorded by the authorities by July 1898; a new prospector would have to look further afield to find a claim of his own. Geologically, the region was permeated with veins of gold, forced to the surface byvolcanicaction and then worn away by the action of rivers and streams, leaving nuggets and gold dust in deposits known asplacer gold.Some ores lay along the creek beds in lines of soil, typically 15 feet (4.6 m) to 30 feet (9.1 m) beneath the surface.Others, formed by even older streams, lay along the hilltops; these deposits were called \"bench gold\".Finding the gold was challenging. Initially, miners had assumed that all the","that all the gold would be along the existing creeks, and it was not until late in 1897 that the hilltops began to be mined.Gold was also unevenly distributed, which made the prediction of good mining sites uncertain without exploratory digging. Methods Mining began with clearing the ground of vegetation and debris.Prospect holes were then dug in an attempt to find the ore or \"pay streak\".If these holes looked productive, proper digging could commence, aiming down to the bedrock, where the majority of the gold was found.The digging would be carefully monitored in case the operation needed to be shifted to allow for changes in the flow. In the sub-Arctic climate of the Klondike, a layer of hard permafrost lay only 6 feet (1.8 m) below the surface.Traditionally, this had meant that mining in the region only occurred during the summer months, but the pressure of the gold rush made such a delay unacceptable.Late 19th-century technology existed for dealing with this problem, including hydraulic mining and","mining and stripping, anddredging. Still, the heavy equipment required for this could not be brought into the Klondike during the gold rush. Instead, the miners relied on wood fires to soften the ground to a depth of about 14 inches (360 mm) and then remove the resulting gravel. The process was repeated until the gold was reached. In theory, no support of the shaft was necessary because of the permafrost although in practice sometimes the fire melted the permafrost and caused collapses.Fires could also produce harmful gases, which had to be removed by bellows or other tools.The resulting \"dirt\" brought out of the mines froze quickly in winter and could be processed only during the warmer summer months.An alternative, more efficient, approach called steam thawing was devised between 1897 and 1898; this used a furnace to pump steam directly into the ground, but since it required additional equipment it was not a widespread technique during the years of the rush. In the summer, water would sluice and pan the","sluice and pan the dirt, separating the heavier gold from gravel.This required miners to construct sluices, which were sequences of wooden boxes 15 feet (4.6 m) long, through which the dirt would be washed; up to 20 of these might be needed for each mining operation.The sluices in turn required much water, usually produced by creating a dam and ditches or crude pipes.\"Bench gold\" mining on the hill sides could not use sluice lines because water could not be pumped that high up. Instead, these mines used rockers, boxes that moved back and forth like a cradle, to create the motion needed for separation.Finally, the resulting gold dust could be exported out of the Klondike; exchanged for paper money at the rate of $16 ($430) per troy ounce (ozt)(31.1 g) through one of the major banks that opened in Dawson City, or simply used as money when dealing with local traders. Business Successful mining took time and capital, particularly once most of the timber around the Klondike had been cut down.A realistic mining","realistic mining operation required $1,500 ($42,000) for wood to be burned to melt the ground, along with around $1,000 ($28,000) to construct a dam, $1,500 ($42,000) for ditches and up to $600 ($16,800) for sluice boxes, a total of $4,600 ($128,800).The attraction of the Klondike to a prospector, however, was that when gold was found, it was often highly concentrated.Some of the creeks in the Klondike were fifteen times richer in gold than those inCalifornia, and richer still than those inSouth Africa.In just two years, for example, $230,000 ($6,440,000) worth of gold was brought up from claim 29 on the Eldorado Creek. Under Canadian law, miners first had to get a licence, either when they arrived at Dawson or en route fromVictoriain Canada.They could then prospect for gold and when they had found a suitable location, lay a claim to mining rights over it.To stake a claim, a prospector would drive stakes into the ground a measured distance apart and then return to Dawson to register the claim for $15","the claim for $15 ($410).This normally had to be done within three days, and by 1897 only one claim per person at a time was allowed in a district, although married couples could exploit a loophole that allowed the wife to register a claim in her own name, doubling their amount of land. The claim could be mined freely for a year, after which a $100 ($2,800) fee had to be paid annually. Should the prospector leave the claim for more than three days without good reason, another miner could make a claim on the land.The Canadian government also charged aroyaltyof between 10 and 20 percent on the value of gold taken from a claim. Traditionally, a mining claim had been granted over a 500-foot (150 m) long stretch of a creek, including the land from one side of the valley to another. The Canadian authorities had tried to reduce this length to 150 feet (46 m), but under pressure from miners had been forced to agree to 250 feet (76 m). The only exception to this was a \"Discovery\" claim, the first to be made on a","to be made on a creek, which could be 500 feet (150 m) long.The exact lengths of claims were often challenged and when the governmentsurveyorWilliam Ogilvieconducted surveys to settle disputes, he found some claims exceeded the official limit.The excess fractions of land then became available as claims and were sometimes quite valuable. Claims could be bought. However, their price depended on whether they had been yet proved to contain gold.A prospector with capital might consider taking a risk on an \"unproved\" claim on one of the better creeks for $5,000 ($140,000); a wealthier miner could buy a \"proved\" mine for $50,000 ($1,400,000).The well known claim eight on Eldorado Creek was sold for as much as $350,000 ($9,800,000).Prospectors were also allowed to hire others to work for them.Enterprising miners such asAlex McDonaldset about amassing mines and employees.Leveraginghis acquisitions with short-term loans, by the autumn of 1897 McDonald had purchased 28 claims, estimated to be worth millions.Swiftwater","millions.Swiftwater Billfamously borrowed heavily against his claim on the Eldorado creek, relying on hired hands to mine the gold to keep up his interest payments. The less fortunate or less well funded prospectors rapidly found themselves destitute. Some chose to sell their equipment and return south.Others took jobs as manual workers, either in mines or in Dawson; the typical daily pay of $15 ($410) was high by external standards, but low compared to the cost of living in the Klondike.The possibility that a new creek might suddenly produce gold, however, continued to tempt poorer prospectors.Smaller stampedes around the Klondike continued throughout the gold rush, when rumours of new strikes would cause a small mob to descend on fresh sites, hoping to be able to stake out a high-value claim. Life in the Klondike The massive influx of prospectors drove the formation of boom towns along the routes of the stampede, with Dawson City in the Klondike the largest.The new towns were crowded, often chaotic and","often chaotic and many disappeared just as soon as they came.Most stampeders were men but women also travelled to the region, typically as the wife of a prospector.Some women entertained in gambling and dance halls built by business men and women who were encouraged by the lavish spending of successful miners. Dawson remained relatively lawful, protected by the Canadian NWMP, which meant that gambling and prostitution were accepted while robbery and murder were kept low. By contrast, especially the port of Skagway under US jurisdiction in Southeast Alaska became infamous for its criminal underworld.The extreme climate and remoteness of the region in general meant that supplies and communication with the outside world including news and mail were scarce. Boomtowns The ports of Dyea and Skagway, through which most of the prospectors entered, were tiny settlements before the gold rush, Skagway consisting of only a single log cabin, and Dyea comprising a handful of Tlingit houses and the Healy & Wilson trading","& Wilson trading store.Because there were nodocking facilities, ships had to unload their cargo directly onto the beach, where people tried to move their goods before high tide.Inevitablycargoswere lost in the process.Some travellers had arrived intending to supply goods and services to the would-be miners; some of these in turn, realizing how difficult it would be to reach Dawson, chose to do the same.Within weeks, storehouses, saloons, and offices lined the muddy streets of Dyea and Skagway, surrounded by tents andhovels. Skagway became famous in international media; the authorJohn Muirdescribed the town as \"a nest of ants taken into a strange country and stirred up by a stick\".While Dyea remained a transit point throughout the winter, Skagway began to take on a more permanent character.Skagway also built wharves out into the bay in order to attract a greater share of the prospectors.The town was effectively lawless, dominated by drinking, gunfire and prostitution.The visiting NWMP SuperintendentSam","SuperintendentSam Steelenoted that it was \"little better than a hell on earth ... about the roughest place in the world\".Nonetheless, by the summer of 1898, with a population—including migrants—of between 15,000 and 20,000, Skagway was the largest city in Alaska. In early 1898 Skagway fell under the control ofJefferson Randolph \"Soapy\" Smithand his men, who arrived from Seattle shortly after Skagway began to expand.He was an Americanconfidence manwhose gang, 200 to 300 strong, cheated and stole from the prospectors travelling through the region.He maintained the illusion of being an upstanding member of the community, opening three saloons as well as creating fake businesses to assist in his operations.One of his scams was a faketelegraph officecharging to send messages all over the US and Canada, often pretending to receive a reply.Opposition to Smith steadily grew and, after weeks ofvigilanteactivity, he was killed in Skagway during theshootout on Juneau Wharfon July 8, 1898. Other towns also","Other towns also boomed.Wrangell, port of the Stikine route and boom town from earlier gold rushes, increased in size again, with robberies, gambling and nude female dancing commonplace.Valdez, formed on theGulf of Alaskaduring the attempt to create the \"All-American\" route to the Klondike during the winter of 1897–1898, became a tent city of people who stayed behind to supply the ill-fated attempts to reach the interior.Edmonton, Alberta (at that time, the District of Alberta in the Northwest Territories), Canada, increased from a population of 1,200 before the gold rush to 4,000 during 1898.Beyond the immediate region, cities such as San Francisco, Seattle,Tacoma,Portland,Vancouverand Victoria all saw their populations soar as a result of the stampede and the trade it brought along. Dawson City Dawson Citywas founded in the early years of the Klondike goldrush, when prospectorJoe Ladueand shopkeeper Arthur Harper decided to make a profit from the influx to the Klondike.The two men bought 178 acres (72 ha)","178 acres (72 ha) of themudflatsat the junction of the Klondike and Yukon rivers from the government and laid out the street plan for a new town, bringing in timber and other supplies to sell to the migrants.The Hän village ofTr'ochëkalong Deer Creek was considered to be too close to the new town, and the NWMP SuperintendentCharles Constantinemoved its inhabitants 3 miles (4.8 km) down-river to a smallreserve.The town, in the beginning simply known as \"Harper and Ladue town site\", was named Dawson City afterthe director of Canada's Geographical Survey.It grew rapidly to hold 500 people by the winter of 1896, with plots of land selling for $500 ($14,000) each. In the spring of 1898, the Dawson area population, including the surrounding gold fields, rose further to 30,000 as stampeders arrived over the passes.The centre of the town, Front Street, was lined with hastily built buildings and warehouses, together with log cabins and tents spreading out across the rest of the settlement.There was no running water","no running water or sewerage, and only twospringsfor drinking water to supplement the increasingly polluted river.In spring, the unpaved streets were churned into thick mud and in summer the settlement reeked of human effluent and was plagued by flies and mosquitoes.Land in Dawson was now scarce, and plots sold for up to $10,000 ($280,000) each; prime locations on Front Street could reach $20,000 ($560,000) while a small log cabin might rent for $100 ($2,800) a month.As a result, Dawson's population spread south into the empty Hän village, renaming it Klondike City.Other communities emerged closer to the mines, such as Granville on Dominion Creek andGrand Forkson Bonanza Creek. The newly built town proved highly vulnerable to fire. Houses were made of wood, heated with stoves and lit by candles andoil lamps; water for emergencies was wanting, especially in the frozen winters.The first major fire occurred on November 25, 1897, started accidentally by dance-hall girl Belle Mitchell.She also accidentally","also accidentally started a second major fire on October 14, 1898, which, in the absence of afire brigadein Dawson, destroyed two major saloons, the post-office building and the Bank of British North America at a cost of $500,000 ($14,000,000).The worst fire occurred on April 26, 1899, when a saloon caught fire in the middle of astrikeby the newly established fire brigade.Most of the major landmarks in the town were burned to the ground: 117 buildings were destroyed, with the damage estimated at over $1 million ($28,000,000). Logistics The remoteness of Dawson proved an ongoing problem for the supply of food, and as the population grew to 5,000 in 1897, this became critical.When the rivers iced over, it became clear that there would not be enough food for that winter.The NWMP evacuated some prospectors without supplies toFort Yukonin Alaska from September 30 onwards, while others made their way out of the Klondike in search of food and shelter for the winter. Prices remained high in Dawson and supply","Dawson and supply fluctuated according to the season. During the winter of 1897 salt became worth its weight in gold, while nails, vital for construction work, rose in price to $28 ($784) per lb (0.45 kg).Cans of butter sold for $5 ($140) each.The only eight horses in Dawson were slaughtered for dog food as they could not be kept alive over the winter.The first fresh goods arriving in the spring of 1898 sold for record prices, eggs reaching $3 ($84) each and apples $1 ($28). Scurvy, a potentially fatal illness caused by the lack of vitamin C, became a problem, particularly during the winter where fresh food was unavailable. English prospectors gave it the telling name of \"Canadian black leg\".It struck, among others, writer Jack London and, although not fatal in his case, brought an end to his mining career.Dysenteryandmalariawere also common in Dawson, and an epidemic oftyphoidbroke out in July and ran rampant throughout the summer.Up to 140 patients were taken into the newly constructed St Mary's Hospital","St Mary's Hospital and thousands were affected.Measures were taken by the following year to prevent further outbreaks, including the introduction of better sewage management and the piping in of water from further upstream.These gave improvements in 1899, although typhoid remained a problem.The new Hän reserve, however, lay downstream from Dawson City, and here the badly contaminated river continued to contribute to epidemics of typhoid anddiphtheriathroughout the gold rush. Conspicuous consumption Despite these challenges, the huge quantities of gold coming through Dawson City encouraged a lavish lifestyle amongst the richer prospectors. Saloons were typically open 24 hours a day, with whiskey the standard drink.Gambling was popular, with the major saloons each running their own rooms; a culture of high stakes evolved, with rich prospectors routinely betting $1,000 ($28,000) atdiceor playing for a $5,000 ($140,000)pokerpot.The establishments around Front Street had grand façades in aParisianstyle, mirrors","mirrors and plate-glass windows and, from late 1898, were lit by electric light.The dance halls in Dawson were particularly prestigious and major status symbols, both for customers and their owners.Wealthy prospectors were expected to drinkchampagneat $60 ($1,660) a bottle, and the Pavilion dancehall cost its owner, Charlie Kimball, as much as $100,000 ($2,800,000) to construct and decorate.Elaborate opera houses were built, bringing singers and specialty acts to Dawson. Tales abounded of prospectors spending huge sums on entertainment — Jimmy McMahon once spent $28,000 ($784,000) in a single evening, for example.Most payments were made in gold dust and in places like saloons, there was so much spilled gold that a profit could be made just by sweeping the floor.Some of the richest prospectors lived flamboyantly in Dawson.Swiftwater Bill, a gambler who rarely went anywhere without wearing silk and diamonds, was one of them. When he discovered the woman he was in love with (who liked eggs, an expensive luxury)","expensive luxury) was dining with another man, he allegedly bought all the eggs in Dawson, had them boiled and fed them to dogs.Another miner, Frank Conrad, threw a sequence of gold objects onto a ship as tokens of his esteem when his favourite singer left Dawson City.The wealthiest dance-hall girls followed suit: Daisy D'Avara had a belt made for herself from $340 ($9,520) in gold dollar coins; another, Gertie Lovejoy, had a diamond inserted between her two front teeth.The miner and businessman Alex McDonald, despite being styled the \"King of the Klondike\", was unusual amongst his peers for his lack of grandiose spending. Law and order Unlike its American equivalents, Dawson City was a law-abiding town.By 1897, 96 members of theNWMP had been sent to the districtand by 1898, this had increased to 288, an expensive commitment by the Canadian government.By June 1898, the force was headed by ColonelSam Steele, an officer with a reputation for firm discipline.In 1898, there were no murders and only a few major","only a few major thefts; in all, only about 150 arrests were made in the Yukon for serious offences that year.Of these arrests, over half were for prostitution and resulted from an attempt by the NWMP to regulate the sex industry in Dawson: regular monthly arrests, $50 ($1,400) fines and medical inspections were imposed, with the proceeds being used to fund the local hospitals.The so-calledblue lawswere strictly enforced. Saloons and other establishments closed promptly at midnight on Saturday, and anyone caught working on Sunday was liable to be fined or set to chopping firewood for the NWMP.The NWMP are generally regarded by historians to have been an efficient and honest force during the period, although their task was helped by the geography of the Klondike which made it relatively easy to bar entry to undesirables or prevent suspects from leaving the region. In contrast to the NWMP, the early civil authorities were criticized by the prospectors for being inept and potentially corrupt.Thomas Fawcett was","Fawcett was the gold commissioner and temporary head of the Klondike administration at the start of the gold rush; he was accused of keeping the details of new claims secret and allowing what historian Kathryn Winslow termed \"carelessness, ignorance and partiality\" to reign in the mine recorder's office.Following campaigns against him by prospectors, who were backed by the local press, Fawcett was relieved by the Canadian government.His successor, MajorJames Morrow Walsh, was considered a stronger character and arrived in May 1898, but fell ill and returned east in July.It was left to his replacement, William Ogilvie, supported by aRoyal Commission, to conduct reforms.The Commission, in lack of evidence, cleared Fawcett of all charges, which meant that he was not punished further than being relieved.Ogilvie proved a much stronger administrator and subsequently revisited many of the mining surveys of his predecessors. News and mail In the remote Klondike, there was great demand for news and contact with the","contact with the world outside. During the first months of the stampede in 1897, it was said that no news was too old to be read. In the lack of newspapers, some prospectors would read can labels until they knew them by heart.The following year, two teams fought their way over the passes to reach Dawson City first, complete withprinting-presses, with the aim of gaining control of the newspaper market.Gene Kelly, the editor of theKlondike Nuggetarrived first, but without his equipment, and it was the team behind theMidnight Sunwho produced the first daily newspaper in Dawson.TheDawson Minerfollowed shortly after, bringing the number of daily newspapers in the town during the gold rush up to three.TheNuggetsold for $24 ($680) as an annual subscription, and became well known for championing miners and for its lucid coverage of scandals.Paper was often hard to find and during the winter of 1898–99, theNuggethad to be printed on butcher's wrapping paper.News could also be told. In June, 1898, a prospector bought","a prospector bought an edition of theSeattle Post-Intelligencerat an auction and charged spectators a dollar each to have it read aloud in one of Dawson's halls. Mail service was chaotic during the stampede.Apart from the number of prospectors, two major obstacles stood in its way. To begin with, any mail from America to Dawson City was sent to Juneau in South-east Alaska before being sent through Dawson and then down the Yukon to Circle City. From here it was then distributed by theUS Post Officeback up to Dawson.The huge distances involved resulted in delays of several months and frequently the loss of protective envelopes and their addresses.The second problem was in Dawson itself, which initially lacked a post office and therefore relied on two stores and a saloon to act as informal delivery points.The NWMP were tasked to run the mail system by October 1897, but they were ill-trained to do so.Up to 5,700 letters might arrive in a single shipment, all of which had to be collected in person from the post","from the post office. This resulted in huge queues, with claimants lining up outside the office for up to three days.Those who had no time and could afford it would pay others to stand in line for them, preferably a woman since they were allowed to get ahead in line out of politeness.Postage stamps, like paper in general, were scarce and rationed to two per customer.By 1899, trained postal staff took over mail delivery and relieved the NWMP of this task. Role of women In 1898 eight percent of those living in the Klondike territory were women, and in towns like Dawson this rose to 12 percent.Many women arrived with their husbands or families, but others travelled alone.Most came to the Klondike for similar economic and social reasons as male prospectors, but they attracted particular media interest.The gender imbalance in the Klondike encouraged business proposals to ship young, single women into the region to marry newly wealthy miners; few, if any, of these marriages ever took place, but some single women","some single women appear to have travelled on their own in the hope of finding prosperous husbands.Guidebooks gave recommendations for what practical clothes women should take to the Klondike: the female dress code of the time was formal, emphasising long skirts andcorsets, but most women adapted this for the conditions of the trails.Regardless of experience, women in a party were typically expected to cook for the group.Few mothers brought their children with them due to the risks of the travel. Once in the Klondike, very few women—less than one percent—actually worked as miners.Many were married to miners; however, their lives as partners on the gold fields were still hard and often lonely. They had extensive domestic duties, including thawing ice and snow for water, breaking up frozen food, chopping wood and collecting wild foods.In Dawson and other towns, some women took in laundry to make money.This was a physically demanding job but could be relatively easily combined with child care duties.Others took","duties.Others took jobs in the service industry, for example as waitresses or seamstresses, which could pay well, but were often punctuated by periods of unemployment.Both men and women openedroadhouses, but women were considered to be better at running them.A few women worked in the packing trade, carrying goods on their backs, or became domestic servants. Wealthier women with capital might invest in mines and other businesses.One of the most prominent businesswomen in the Klondike wasBelinda Mulrooney. She brought a consignment of cloth and hot water bottles with her when she arrived in the Klondike in early 1897, and with the proceeds of those sales she first builta roadhouse at Grand Forksand later a grand hotel in Dawson.She invested widely, including acquiring her own mining company, and was reputed to be the richest woman of the Klondike.The wealthyMartha Blackwas abandoned by her husband early in the journey to the Klondike but continued on without him, reaching Dawson City where she became a","where she became a prominent citizen, investing in various mining and business ventures with her brother. A relatively small number of women worked in the entertainment andsex industries.Theeliteof these women were the highly paid actresses and courtesans of Dawson; beneath them werechorus linedancers, who usually doubled as hostesses and other dance hall workers.While still better paid than white-collar male workers, these women worked very long hours and had significant expenses.The entertainment industry merged into the sex industry, where women made a living as prostitutes. The sex industry in the Klondike was concentrated in Klondike City and in a backstreet area of Dawson.A hierarchy of sexual employment existed, with brothels and parlour houses at the top, small independent \"cigar shops\" in the middle, and, at the bottom, the prostitutes who worked out of small huts called \"hutches\".Life for these workers was a continual struggle and the suicide rate was high. The degree of involvement between","involvement between Indigenous women and the stampeders varied. Many Tlingit women worked as packers for the prospectors, for example, carrying supplies and equipment, sometimes also transporting their babies as well.Hän women had relatively little contact with the white immigrants, however, and there was a significant social divide between local Hän women and white women.Although before 1897 there had been a number of Indigenous women who married western men, including Kate Carmack, the Tagish wife of one of the discoverers, this practice did not survive into the stampede.Very few stampeders married Hän women, and very few Hän women worked as prostitutes.\"Respectable\" white women would avoid associating with Indigenous women or prostitutes: those who did risked scandal. End of the gold rush By 1899 telegraphy stretched fromSkagway, Alaska, to Dawson City, Yukon, allowing instant international contact.In 1898, theWhite Pass and Yukon Routerailway began to be built between Skagway and thehead of navigation on","of navigation on the Yukon.When it was completed in 1900, the Chilkoot trail and its tramways became obsolete.Despite these improvements in communication and transport, the rush faltered from 1898 on.It began in the summer of 1898, when many of the prospectors arriving in Dawson City found themselves unable to make a living and left for home.For those who stayed, the wages of casual work, depressed by the number of men, fell to $100 ($2,700) a month by 1899. The world's newspapers began to turn against the Klondike gold rush as well.In the spring of 1898, theSpanish–American Warremoved Klondike from the headlines.\"Ah, go to the Klondike!\" became a popular phrase of disgust.Klondike-branded goods had to be disposed of at special rates in Seattle. Another factor in the decline was the change in Dawson City, which had developed throughout 1898, metamorphosing from a ramshackle, if wealthy, boom town into a more sedate, conservative municipality.Modern luxuries were introduced, including \"zinc bath tubs, pianos,","bath tubs, pianos, billiard tables, Brussels carpets in hotel dining rooms, menus printed in French and invitational balls\" as noted by historian Kathryn Winslow.Visiting Senator Jerry Lynch likened the newly paved streets with their smartly dressed inhabitants tothe Strandin London.It was no longer attractive for prospectors used to a wilder way of living.Even the formerly lawless town of Skagway had become respectable by 1899. The final trigger, however, was the discovery of gold elsewhere in Canada and Alaska, prompting a new stampede, this time away from the Klondike. In August 1898, gold had been found atAtlin Lakeat the head of the Yukon River, generating a flurry of interest, but during the winter of 1898–99 much larger quantities were foundat Nome.In 1899, a flood of prospectors from across the region left for Nome, about 2,500 from Dawson alone during August and September.The Klondike gold rush was over. Legacy People Only a few hundred of the 100,000 people who left for the Klondike during the gold","during the gold rush became rich, and only a handful managed to maintain their wealth.They typically spent $1,000 ($27,000) each reaching the region, which when combined exceeded what was produced from the gold fields between 1897 and 1901.Those who did find gold often lost their fortunes in the subsequent years and died penniless attempting to reproduce their earlier good fortune.Businessman and miner Alex McDonald, for example, continued to accumulate land after the boom until his money ran out; he died in poverty, still prospecting. Antoine Stander, who discovered gold on Eldorado Creek, abused alcohol, dissipated his fortune and ended working in a ship's kitchen to pay his way.The three discoverers had mixed fates. George Carmack left his wife Kate—who had found it difficult to adapt to their new lifestyle—remarried and lived in relative prosperity; Skookum Jim had a huge income from his mining royalties but refused to settle and continued to prospect until his death in 1916; Dawson Charlie spent","Charlie spent lavishly and died in an alcohol-related accident. The richest of the Klondike saloon owners, businessmen and gamblers also typically lost their fortunes and died in poverty.Gene Allen, for example, the editor of theKlondike Nugget, becamebankruptand spent the rest of his career in smaller newspapers; the prominent gambler and saloon owner Sam Bonnifield suffered anervous breakdownand died in extreme poverty.Nonetheless, some of those who joined the gold rush prospered.Kathleen Rockwell, for example, became a famous dancer in Dawson and remained popular in America until her death. Rockwell's tales from the North invigorated readers and audience members across the United States and Canada. Becoming known as 'Klondike Kate' to those who read about her adventures, Rockwell became a star.However, her tall tales and catchy nickname were plagiarized fromNew Brunswicker Katherine Ryan,The Real Klondike Kate,and one of the first individuals to arrive in the Klondike not long after gold was discovered in","was discovered in the area.Katherine Ryan may not have received deserving recognition in the public eye,but she is remembered as one of the first women to walk theStikine Trail, as an early suffragette, and as an integral piece of Dawson City's culture.Dawson City was also whereAlexander Pantages, her business partner and lover, started his career, going on to become one of America's greatest theatre and movietycoons.The businesswoman Martha Black, who had been abandoned by her husband on the way to the Klondike, remarried and ultimately became the second female member of theParliament of Canada. The impact of the gold rush on the Native peoples of the region was considerable.The Tlingit and the Koyukon peoples prospered in the short term from their work as guides, packers and from selling food and supplies to the prospectors.In the longer term, however, especially the Hän people living in the Klondike region suffered from the environmental damage of the gold mining on the rivers and forests.Their population","population had already begun to decline after the discovery of gold along Fortymile River in the 1880s but dropped catastrophically after their move to the reserve, a result of the contaminated water supply andsmallpox.The Hän found only few ways to benefit economically from the gold rush and their fishing and hunting grounds were largely destroyed. By 1904 they needed aid from theNWMPto prevent famine. Places Dawson City declined after the gold rush. When journalist Laura Berton (future mother ofPierre Berton) moved to Dawson in 1907 it was still thriving, but away from Front Street, the town had become increasingly deserted, jammed, as she put it, \"with the refuse of the gold rush: stoves, furniture, gold-pans, sets of dishes, double-belledseltzer bottles... piles of rusting mining machinery—boilers, winches, wheelbarrows and pumps\".By 1912, only around 2,000 inhabitants remained, compared to the 30,000 of the boom years, and the site was becoming aghost town.By 1972, 500 people were living in Dawson,","living in Dawson, while the nearby settlements created during the gold rush had been entirely abandoned.The population has grown since the 1970s, with 1,300 recorded in 2006. During the gold rush, transport improvements meant that heavier mining equipment could be brought in and larger, more modern mines established in the Klondike, revolutionising the gold industry.Gold production increased until 1903 as a result of the dredging and hydraulic mining, but then declined; by 2005, approximately 1,250,000 pounds (570,000 kg) had been recovered from the Klondike area.In the 21st century, Dawson City still has a small gold mining industry, which together with tourism, taking advantage of the legacy of the gold rush, plays a role in the local economy. Many buildings in the centre of the town reflect the style of the era.The Klondike River valley was affected by the gold rush by the heavy dredging that occurred after it. The port of Skagway also shrank after the rush, but remains a well-preserved period town,","period town, centred on the tourist industry and sightseeing trips from visitingcruise ships.TheNational Park Servicerestored Jeff Smith's Parlor, from which the famous con man \"Soapy\" Smith once operated, during 2010–2016.Skagway also has one of the two visitor centres forming theKlondike Gold Rush National Historical Park; the other is located in Seattle, and both focus on the human interest stories behind the gold rush.By contrast, Dyea, Skagway's neighbour and former rival, was abandoned after the gold rush and is now a ghost town.The railway built for prospectors through White Pass in the last year of the rush reopened in 1988 and is today only used by tourists, closely linked to the Chilkoot trail which is a popularhikingroute. TheTr’ondëk-Klondike World Heritage Site, aUNESCO World Heritage Site in Canada, protects a series of eight properties that attest to the effects of the rapid colonization of the area, including the Gold Rush, on theTr’ondëk Hwëch’inpeople. The World Heritage Site was designated","Site was designated in 2023. Culture The events of the Klondike gold rush rapidly became embedded in North American culture, being captured in poems, stories, photographs and promotional campaigns long after the end of the stampede.In the Yukon, Discovery Day is celebrated on the third Monday in August as a holiday, and the events of the gold rush are promoted by the regional tourist industries.The events of the gold rush were frequently exaggerated at the time and modern works on the subject similarly often focus on the most dramatic and exciting events of the stampede, not always accurately.HistorianKen Coatesdescribes the gold rush as \"a resilient, pliable myth\", which continues to fascinate and appeal. Several novels, books and poems were generated as a consequence of the Klondike gold rush. The writer Jack London incorporated scenes from the gold rush into his novels and short stories set in the Klondike, includingThe Call of the Wild, a 1903 novel about a sled dog.His colleague, poetRobert W. Service,","W. Service, did not join the rush himself, although he made his home in Dawson City in 1908. Service created well-known poems about the gold rush, among themSongs of a Sourdough, one of the bestselling books of poetry in the first decade of the 20th century, along with his novel,The Trail of '98, which was written by hand on wallpaper in one of Dawson's log cabins.The Canadian historianPierre Bertongrew up in Dawson where his father had been a prospector, and wrote several historical books about the gold rush, such asThe Last Great Gold Rush.The experiences of the IrishMicí Mac Gabhannresulted the posthumous workRotha Mór an tSaoil(translated into English asThe Hard Road to Klondikein 1962), a vivid description of the period. Some terminology from the stampede made its way into North American English like \"cheechakos\", referring to newly arrived miners, and \"sourdoughs\", experienced miners.The photographs taken during the Klondike gold rush heavily influenced later cultural approaches to the stampede.The","to the stampede.The gold rush was vividly recorded by several early photographers, for instanceEric A. Hegg; these stark, black-and-white photographs showing the ascent of the Chilkoot pass rapidly became iconic images and were widely distributed.These pictures, in turn, inspiredCharlie Chaplinto makeThe Gold Rush, a silent movie, which uses the background of the Klondike to combine physical comedy with its character's desperate battle for survival in the harsh conditions of the stampede.The photographs reappear in the documentaryCity of Goldfrom 1957 which, narrated byPierre Berton, won prizes for pioneering the incorporation of still images into documentary film-making.The Klondike gold rush, however, has not been widely covered in later fictional films; evenThe Far Country, aWesternfrom 1955 set in the Klondike, largely ignores the unique features of the gold rush in favour of a traditional Western plot.Indeed, much of the popular literature on the gold rush approaches the stampede simply as a final phase","as a final phase of the expansion of theAmerican West, a perception critiqued by modern historians such as Charlene Porsild. Charts and tables Maps of routes and goldfields Dyea/Skagway routes and Dalton trail Takou, Stikine and Edmonton routes Goldfields Gold production in Yukon, 1892–1912 Population growth of west coast cities, 1890–1900 Klondikers supply list The list was a suggestion of equipment and supplies sufficient to support a prospector for one year, generated by the Northern Pacific Railroad company in 1897. The total weight is approximately 1 ton, and the estimated cost amounted to $140 ($3,800). Timeline 1896 1897 1898 1899 Source: See also Notes References Bibliography External links Archives","Hän TheHän,HanorHwëch'in / Han Hwech’in(meaning \"People of the River, i.e. Yukon River\", in English alsoHankutchin) are aFirst Nationspeople of Canada and anAlaska NativeAthabaskanpeople of the United States; they are part of theAthabaskan-speakingethnolinguistic group. Their traditional lands centered on a heavilyforestedarea around theUpper Yukon River (Chu Kon'Dëk),Klondike River (Tr'on'Dëk),Bonanza Creek (Gàh Dëk)andSixtymile River (Khel Dëk)and straddling what is now theAlaska-Yukon Territoryborder. In later times, the Han population became centered inDawson City, YukonandEagle, Alaska. Etymology The nameHänorHanis a shortening of their own name asHwëch'in / Han Hwech’in, and of theGwich’inwordHangʷičʼinfor the Hän, both literally meaning \"People of the River, i.e. the Yukon River\". This word has been spelled variously asHankutchin,Han-Kootchin,Hun-koo-chin,Hong-Kutchin,An Kutchin,Han Kutchin,Han-Kutchín,Hăn-Kŭtchin´,Hän Hwëch'in, andHungwitchin. The Hän were often mistaken for just anotherGwich'in","anotherGwich'in (Kutchin)band, especially as part of the Dagoo Gwich'in / Tukudh Gwich'in and Teetł'it Gwich'in / Teetl'it Zheh Gwich'in. The French traders called the HänGens du fou,Gens de Fou,Gens de Foux,Gens des Foux, orGens-de-fine. The nameGens de Foux(and variants) has also been used to refer to theNorthern Tutchone (Dan or Huč’an). The Hankutchin were then known asGens de BoisorGens des Bois,in association with their forested territory. History of the Hän The Hän were one of the last Northern Athabascan groups to have contact with European peoples. In 1851 Robert Campbell from theHudson's Bay Companybecame the first white man known to have entered Han territory, when he traveled fromFort SelkirktoFort Yukon. It was not until 1873 and 1874 (after theUnited Statespurchase ofAlaska), that two trading posts were set up. One was established by Moses Mercier, a former employee of theHudson's Bay Company, inBelle Isleacross theEagle River. The other,Fort Reliance, was established on theYukon, just below","just below the mouth of theKlondike River, nearDawson, by twoAlaska Commercial Companytraders, Leroy N. McQuesten and Frank Bonifield. Graduallytrading with whitesresulted in the Han shifting from their traditional fishing-hunting economy to a fur-trapping economy, as they grew increasingly reliant on such European goods as guns, clothing, and canvas from 1887 to 1895. Bishop William Bompas established the firstAnglican Churchmission in Hän territory, and gradually the people shifted away from traditional religion. They also combined it with Christianity in a syncretic fashion. The Han suffered high mortality during several epidemics of new infectious diseases, to which they had no immunity. Culture Food Historically, fish, especially salmon, comprised the main part of the Hän diet.King salmonwas caught along the Yukon River in June andchum salmonin August. Fishing tools includedweirs,traps,gill nets,dip nets,spears, andharpoons. Salmon was dried and stored for winter consumption. Between thesalmon runsfrom","thesalmon runsfrom June–September, the river camps were abandoned. The Han men sought other fish, moose, caribou, birds, bears, and small game. Men hunted game (once after the salmon run and later for caribou in February and March) while women fished (for fish other than salmon). The women traditionally cooked by boiling food with water heated by stones that been placed in a fire and then dropped in woven spruce-root baskets. Housing A square half-recessed house was made of wooden poles and moss insulation (called amoss house). This served as the main type of housing. The people erected temporary domed houses made of skin stretched over tied branches when they were traveling. Language TheHän languageis most similar toGwich’in(Kutchin). It is more distantly related toUpper TananaandNorthern Tutchone. The language was used as alingua francabyGwich’in,Tutchone,Tagish, and Upper Tanana peoples toward the end of the 19th century during theGold Rush in the Yukon. The language is now the mostendangered languageof","languageof Alaska, with only a few speakers (all are over 60 years of age). The language may have ancient, earlyHoloceneorigins in the region. In media See also References Bibliography External links","Hudson's Bay Company TheHudson's Bay Company(HBC;French:Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadianretailbusiness group. Afur tradingbusiness for much of its existence, it became the largest and oldest corporation in Canada, before evolving into a majorfashionretailer, operating retail stores across both the United States and Canada.The company's namesake business division isHudson's Bay, commonly referred to as The Bay (La Baiein French). After incorporation by Englishroyal charterin 1670, the company was granted a right of \"sole trade and commerce\" over an expansive area of land known asRupert's Land, comprising much of theHudson Bay drainage basin.This right effectively gave the company acommercial monopolyover that area. The HBC functioned as thede factogovernment in Rupert's Land for nearly 200 years until the HBC relinquished control of the land to Canada in 1869 as part of theDeed of Surrender,authorized by theRupert's Land Act 1868. At its peak, the company controlled the fur trade throughout much of","throughout much of the English- and laterBritish-controlled North America. By the mid-19th century, the company evolved into a mercantile business selling a wide variety of products from furs to finehomewarein a small number of sales shops (as opposed totrading posts) across Canada.These shops were the first step towards the department stores the company owns today. In 2006,Jerry Zucker, an American businessman, bought HBC for US$1.1 billion. In 2008, HBC was acquired byNRDC Equity Partners, which also owned the upmarket American department storeLord & Taylor.From 2008 to 2012, the HBC was run through a holding company of NRDC,Hudson's Bay Trading Company, which was dissolved in early 2012.HBC's U.S. headquarters are inLower Manhattan, New York City,while its Canadian headquarters are inToronto.The company spun off most of its European operations by August 2019 and its remaining stores there, in theNetherlands, were sold by the end of 2019. Until March 2020, the company was listed on theToronto Stock","on theToronto Stock Exchangeunder the symbol \"HBC.TO\" untilRichard Bakerand a group of shareholders took the company private.HBC is, as of 2022,the majority owner of eCommerce companiesSaks Fifth AvenueandSaks Off 5th,both established as separate operating companies in 2021.HBC wholly owns SFA, the entity that operates Saks Fifth Avenue's physical locations;O5, the operating company for Saks Off 5th stores;The Bay, an eCommerce marketplace and Hudson's Bay, the operating company for Hudson's Bay'sbrick-and-mortarstores.In July 2024, HBC announced that it would acquire theNeiman Marcus Groupfor US$2.65 billion and fold it into the new flagship entity Saks Fifth Avenue Global. HBC owns or controls approximately 3.7 million square metres (40 million square feet) of gross leasable real estatethrough its real estate and investment arm, HBC Properties and Investments, established in October 2020. History 17th century For much of the 17th century, the French colonists in North America, based inNew France, operated","France, operated ade factomonopolyin the North Americanfur trade. TwoFrenchtraders,Pierre-Esprit RadissonandMédard des Groseilliers(Médard de Chouart, Sieur des Groseilliers), Radisson's brother-in-law, learned from theCreethat the best fur country lay north and west ofLake Superior, and that there was a \"frozen sea\" still further north.Assuming this was Hudson Bay, they sought French backing for a plan to set up a trading post on the Bay in order to reduce the cost of moving furs overland. According toPeter C. Newman, \"concerned that exploration of the Hudson Bay route might shift the focus of the fur trade away from theSt. Lawrence River, the French governor\",Marquis d'Argenson(in office 1658–61), \"refused to grant thecoureurs des boispermission to scout the distant territory\".Despite this refusal, in 1659 Radisson and Groseilliers set out for the upper Great Lakes basin. A year later they returned to Montreal with premium furs, evidence of the potential of the Hudson Bay region. Subsequently, they were","they were arrested by French authorities for trading without a licence and fined, and their furs were confiscated by the government. Determined to establish trade in the Hudson Bay area, Radisson and Groseilliers approached a group of English colonial merchants inBostonto help finance their explorations. The Bostonians agreed on the plan's merits, but their speculative voyage in 1663 failed when their ship ran intopack iceinHudson Strait. Boston-based English commissionerColonel George Cartwrightlearned of the expedition and brought the two to England to raise financing.Radisson and Groseilliers arrived in London in 1665 at the height of theGreat Plague. Eventually, the two met and gained the sponsorship ofPrince Rupert. Prince Rupert introduced the two to his cousin, the reigning king –Charles II.In 1668 the English expedition acquired two ships, theNonsuchand theEaglet, to explore possible trade into Hudson Bay. Groseilliers sailed on theNonsuch, commanded by CaptainZachariah Gillam, while theEagletwas","while theEagletwas commanded by Captain William Stannard and accompanied by Radisson. On 5 June 1668, both ships left port atDeptford, England, but theEagletwas forced to turn back off the coast of Ireland. TheNonsuchcontinued toJames Bay, the southern portion of Hudson Bay, where its explorers founded, in 1668, the first fort on Hudson Bay, Charles Fortat the mouth of theRupert River. It later became known as \"Rupert House\", and developed as the community of present-dayWaskaganish, Quebec. Both thefortand the river were named after the sponsor of the expedition, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, one of the major investors and soon to become the new company's first governor. After a successful trading expedition over the winter of 1668–69,Nonsuchreturned to England on 9 October 1669 with the first cargo of fur resulting from trade in Hudson Bay.The bulk of the fur – worth £1,233 – was sold to Thomas Glover, one of London's most prominent furriers. This and subsequent purchases by Glover proved the viability of the","viability of the fur trade in Hudson Bay. A royal charter from King Charles II incorporated \"The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson's Bay\" on 2 May 1670.The charter granted the company a monopoly over the region drained by all rivers and streams flowing into Hudson Bay in northern parts of present-day Canada, taking possession on behalf of England. The area was named \"Rupert's Land\"after Prince Rupert,the first governor of the company appointed by the King. This drainage basin of Hudson Bay spans 3,861,400 square kilometres (1,490,900 sq mi),comprising over one-third of the area of modern-day Canada, and stretches into the present-day north-centralUnited States. The specific boundaries remained unknown at the time. Rupert's Land would eventually become Canada's largest land\"purchase\"in the 19th century. The HBC established six posts between 1668 and 1717. Rupert House(1668, southeast),Moose Factory(1673, south) and Fort Albany,Ontario (1679, west) were erected on James Bay;","on James Bay; three other posts were established on the western shore of Hudson Bay proper:New Severn(1685),York Factory(1684), andFort Churchill(1717). Inland postswere not builtuntil 1774. After 1774, York Factory became the main post because of its convenient access to the vast interior waterway-systems of theSaskatchewanandRedrivers. Originally called \"factories\" because the\"factor\", i.e., a person acting as a mercantile agent, did business from there, these posts operated in the manner of the Dutch fur-trading operations inNew Netherland. By adoption of the Standard of Trade in the 18th century, the HBC ensured consistent pricing throughout Rupert's Land. A means of exchange arose based on the \"Made Beaver\" (MB); a prime pelt, worn for a year and ready for processing: \"the prices of all trade goods were set in values of Made Beaver (MB) with other animal pelts, such as squirrel, otter and moose quoted in their MB (made beaver) equivalents. For example, two otter pelts might equal 1 MB\". During the fall","During the fall and winter,First Nationsmen and Europeanfur trappersaccomplished the vast majority of the animal trapping and pelt preparation. They travelled bycanoeand on foot to the forts to sell their pelts. In exchange they typically received popular trade-goods such as knives, kettles, beads, needles, and theHudson's Bay point blanket. The arrival of the First Nations trappers was one of the high points of the year, met with pomp and circumstance. The highlight was very formal, an almost ritualized \"Trading Ceremony\" between the Chief Trader and the Captain of the aboriginal contingent who traded on their behalf.During the initial years of the fur trade, prices for items varied from post to post. The early coastal factory model of the English contrasted with the system of the French, who established an extensive system of inland posts at native villages and sent traders to live among the tribes of the region, learning their languages and often forming alliances through marriages with indigenous women.","indigenous women. In March 1686 the French sent araiding partyunder theChevalier des Troyesmore than 1,300 km (810 mi) to capture the HBC posts along James Bay. The French appointedPierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, who had shown great heroism during the raids, as commander of the company's captured posts. In 1687 an English attempt toresettle Fort Albanyfailed due to strategic deceptions by d'Iberville. After 1688 England and Francewere officially at war, and the conflict played out in North America as well. D'Iberville raided Fort Severn in 1690 but did not attempt to raid the well-defended local headquarters at York Factory. In 1693 the HBCrecovered Fort Albany; d'Ibervillecaptured York Factoryin 1694, but the company recovered it the next year.: 151–158 In 1697, d'Iberville again commanded a French naval raid on York Factory. On the way to the fort he defeated three ships of the Royal Navy in theBattle of Hudson's Bay(5 September 1697), the largest naval battle in the history of the North American Arctic.","American Arctic. D'Iberville's depleted French force captured York Factory by laying siege to the fort and pretending to be a much larger army. The French retained all of the outposts except Fort Albany until 1713. A small French and Indian force attacked Fort Albany againin 1709duringQueen Anne's Warbut was unsuccessful. The economic consequences of the French possession of these posts for the company were significant; the HBC did not pay any dividends for more than 20 years. SeeAnglo-French conflicts on Hudson Bay.: 160–164 18th century With the ending of theNine Years' Warin 1697, and theWar of the Spanish Successionin 1713 with the signing of theTreaty of Utrecht, France had made substantial concessions. Among the treaty's many provisions, it required France to relinquish all claims to Great Britain on the Hudson Bay, which again became a British possession.(TheKingdom of Great Britainhad been established following the union of Scotland and England in 1707). After the treaty, the HBC builtPrince of Wales","of Wales Fort, a stonestar fortat the mouth of the nearbyChurchill River.: 202–206In 1782, during theAmerican Revolutionary War, a French squadron underJean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérousecaptured and demolishedYork Factory and Prince of Wales Fort in support of the American rebels.: 366–371 In its trade with native peoples, Hudson's Bay Company exchanged wool blankets, called Hudson's Bay point blankets, for the beaver pelts trapped by aboriginal hunters. By 1700, point blankets accounted for more than 60 percent of the trade.The number ofindigostripes (a.k.a. points) woven into the blankets identified its finished size. A long-held misconception is that the number of stripes was related to its value in beaver pelts. A parallel may be drawn between the HBC's control over Rupert's Land with the trade monopoly and government functions enjoyed by theEast India Companyover India during roughly the same period. The HBC invested £10,000 in the East India Company in 1732, which it viewed as a major","viewed as a major competitor. Hudson's Bay Company's first inland trading post was established bySamuel Hearnein 1774 withCumberland House, Saskatchewan. Conversely, a number of inland HBC \"houses\" pre-date the construction of Cumberland House, in 1774. Henley House, established in 1743, inland from Hudson Bay, at the confluence of the Albany and Kabinakagami Rivers, was dependent on Albany River – Fort Albany for lines of communication, was not \"finished\" until 1768.Next, the inland houses of Split Lake and Nelson Houses were established between 1740 and 1760. These were dependent on York River – York Factory and Churchill River, respectively. Although not inland, Richmond Fort was established in 1749. This was on an island within Hudson Bay. It was titled a \"New Discovery\" in 1749, and by 1750 was titled Richmond Gulf. The name was changed to Richmond Fort and given the abbreviation RF from 1756 to 1759, it served mainly as a trade goods and provisions storage location.Additional inland posts were Capusco","posts were Capusco River and Chickney Creek, both circa 1750. Likewise, Brunswick (1776), New Brunswick (1777), Gloucester (1777), Upper Hudson (ca. 1778), Lower Hudson (1779), Rupert, and Wapiscogami Houses were established in the decade of the 1770s.These post-date Cumberland House, yet speak to the expanding inland incursion of the HBC in the last quarter of the 18th century. Minor posts also during this time period include Mesackamy/Mesagami Lake (1777), Sturgeon Lake (1778), Beaver Lake Posts. In 1779, other traders founded theNorth West Company(NWC) inMontrealas a seasonal partnership to provide more capital and to continue competing with the HBC. It became operative for the outfit of 1780 and was the firstjoint-stock companyin Canada and possibly North America. The agreement lasted one year. A second agreement established in 1780 had a three-year term. The company became a permanent entity in 1783.By 1784, the NWC had begun to make serious inroads into the HBC's profits. 19th century The North West","The North West Company (NWC) was the main rival in the fur trade. The competition led to the smallPemmican Warin 1816. TheBattle of Seven Oakson 19 June 1816 was the climax of the long dispute.In 1821, the North West Company of Montreal and Hudson's Bay Company were forcibly merged by intervention of the British government to put an end to often-violent competition. 175 posts, 68 of them the HBC's, were reduced to 52 for efficiency and because many were redundant as a result of the rivalry and were inherently unprofitable.Their combined territory was extended by a licence to theNorth-Western Territory, which reached to theArctic Oceanin the north and, with the creation of theColumbia Departmentin thePacific Northwest, to thePacific Oceanin the west. The NWC's regional headquarters atFort George(Fort Astoria) was relocated toFort Vancouverby 1825 on the north bank of the Columbia River; it became the HBC base of operations on the Pacific Slope.: 369–370 Before the merger, the employees of the HBC, unlike","of the HBC, unlike those of the North West Company, did not participate in its profits. After the merger, with all operations under the management ofSir George Simpson(1826–60), the company had a corps of commissioned officers: 25 chief factors and 28 chief traders, who shared in the company's profits during the monopoly years. Its trade covered 7,770,000 km2(3,000,000 sq mi), and it had 1,500 contract employees. Between 1820 and 1870, the HBC issued its ownpaper money. The notes, denominated in sterling, were printed in London and issued at York Factory for circulation primarily in theRed River Colony. Competition and exploration Although the HBC maintained a monopoly on the fur trade during the early to mid-19th century, there was competition from James Sinclair andAndrew McDermot(Dermott), independent traders in the Red River Colony. They shipped furs by theRed River TrailstoNorman Kittson,a buyer in the United States. In addition, Americans controlled themaritime fur tradeon the Northwest Coast until the","Coast until the 1830s. Throughout the 1820s and the 1830s, the HBC controlled nearly all trading operations in the Pacific Northwest region and was based at its headquarters at Fort Vancouver, on theColumbia River.Although claims to the region were by agreement in abeyance, commercial operating rights were nominally shared by the United States and Britain through theAnglo-American Convention of 1818, but company policy, enforced via Chief FactorJohn McLoughlinof the company'sColumbia District, was to discourage U.S. settlement of the territory. The company's effective monopoly on trade virtually forbade any settlement in the region.: 370 Additional early presence in present-day United States Over and above the NWC Fort George headquarters site, the HBC carried on the early presence in the region of the NWC when it merged in 1821 with noteworthy sites:Spokane House,Fort OkanoganandFort Nez Percés.Fort Colvillelocated further North on the Columbia River replaced Spokane House in 1825. Fort Umpquawas","Fort Umpquawas established in 1832 in present-day southernOregonafter theWillamette Riverhad been explored up toward its headwaters by mainly the NWC. Nisqually House was built during the same year to establish a presence further North on Puget Sound in present-day State ofWashington, resulting inFort Nisquallya few years later closer to present-day Canadian sites. The HBC establishedFort Boisein 1834 (in present-day southwestern Idaho) to compete with the AmericanFort Hall, 483 km (300 mi) to the east. In 1837, it purchased Fort Hall, also along the route of theOregon Trail. The outpost director displayed the abandoned wagons of discouraged settlers to those seeking to move west along the trail. HBC trappers were also deeply involved in the early exploration and development ofNorthern California. Company trapping brigades were sent south from Fort Vancouver, along what became known as theSiskiyou Trail, into Northern California as far south as theSan Francisco Bay Area, where the company operated a trading","operated a trading post atYerba Buena(San Francisco). The southern-most camp of the company wasFrench Camp, east of San Francisco in the Central Valley adjacent to the future site of the city ofStockton. These trapping brigades in Northern California faced serious risks, and were often the first to explore relatively uncharted territory. They included the lesser knownPeter Skene OgdenandSamuel Black. The HBC also operated a store in what were then known as the Sandwich Islands (now theHawaiian Islands), engaging in merchant shipping to the islands between 1828 and 1859. Extending the presence it had built in present-day British Columbia northern coast, the HBC reached by 1838 as far North asFort Stikinein theAlaska Panhandleby present-dayWrangell. TheRAC-HBC agreement(1839) with theRussian American Company(RAC) provided for such a continuing presence in exchange for the HBC to supply the Russian coastal sites with agricultural products. ThePuget Sound Agricultural Companysubsidiary was created to supply","created to supply grain, dairy, livestock and manufactured goods out of Fort Vancouver, Fort Nisqually,Fort CowlitzandFort Langleyin present-day southern British Columbia. The company's stranglehold on the region was broken by thefirst successful large wagon train to reach Oregon in 1843, led byMarcus Whitman. In the years that followed, thousands of emigrants poured into theWillamette Valleyof Oregon. In 1846, the United States acquired full authority south of the49th parallel; the most settled areas of the Oregon Country were south of the Columbia River in what is now Oregon. McLoughlin, who had once turned away would-be settlers when he was company director, then welcomed them from his general store atOregon City. He later became known as the \"Father of Oregon\". Early presence in present-day Canada (British Columbia) The HBC also carried on the early presence in the region of the NWC in present-day central and northernBritish Columbiawith noteworthy sites:Fort Alexandria,Fort d'Épinette (Fort St.","(Fort St. John),Fort St. James,Fort GeorgeandFort Shuswap (Fort Kamloops). Since the 1818 Treaty settled the 49th degree parallel border only as far as theRocky Mountains, the HBC was looking for a site further West in case the parallel border would become further extended at the end of the 10 years joint occupancy term. By 1824, the HBC was commissioning an expedition to travel from theFort Georgeregional headquarter on the southern shore of theColumbia Riverall the way to theFraser River. The three boats 40some crew led by theJames McMillanwere first to officially ever make it toPuget Soundfrom the continent, to reach its northern end intoBoundary Bayand to bypass the mouth of the Fraser. They shortcut through two mainland rivers and a portage in order to finally reach the lower Fraser. Friendly tribes were identified along with subsistence farming land suitable for sustaining a trading post. The firstFort Langleywas subsequently built (1827), establishing an early settlers long lasting presence in current","presence in current day southern British Columbia. The fur trade in a wet climate turned out to be marginal and quickly evolved into a salmon trade site with abundant supply in the vicinity. The HBC stretched its presence North on the coastline withFort Simpson(1831) on theNass River,Fort McLoughlin(1833) and theBeaver(1836), the first steamship to ever roam the Pacific Northwest for resupplying its coastline sites. The HBC was securing a trading monopoly on the coastline keeping away independent American traders: \"By 1837, American competition on the North West Coast was effectively over\".: 126 The HBC gained more control of the fur trade with both the coastline and inland tribes to access the fur richNew Caledonia districtin current day northern British Columbia: \"monopoly control of the coastal fur trade allowed the HBC to impose a uniform tariff on both sides of the Coast Mountains\".: 133 By 1843, under pressure from the Americans to withdraw further North with the loomingOregon Treatyborder negotiation","negotiation finalized in 1846, and strong of its coastal presence on the northern coast, HBC builtFort Victoriaat the southern end of present-dayVancouver Islandin southern BC. A well sheltered ocean port with agricultural potential in the vicinity would allow the new regional headquarter to further develop the trade on salmon, timber and cranberries. Trade via the Hawaiian post was also increasing. TheFort Rupert(1849) at the northern end of the island would open up access to coal fields. On the continent mainland,Fort HopeandFort Yale(1848) were built to extend the HBC presence on theFraser Riveras far as navigable. Brigades would link a rebuiltFort Langley(1840) on the Lower Fraser toFort Kamloopsby 1850 and the rest of the transportation network toYork Factoryon theHudson Bayalong with theNew Caledonia districtfur returns. End of monopoly The Guillaume Sayer trial in 1849 contributed to the end of the HBC monopoly.Guillaume Sayer, aMétistrapper and trader, was accused of illegal trading in furs. The","in furs. The Court ofAssiniboiabrought Sayer to trial, before a jury of HBC officials and supporters. During the trial, a crowd of armed Métis men led byLouis Riel Sr.gathered outside the courtroom. Although Sayer was found guilty of illegal trade, having evaded the HBC monopoly, JudgeAdam Thomdid not levy a fine or punishment. Some accounts attributed that to the intimidating armed crowd gathered outside the courthouse. With the cry, \"Le commerce est libre! Le commerce est libre!\" (\"Trade is free! Trade is free!\"), the Métis loosened the HBC's previous control of the courts, which had enforced their monopoly on the settlers of Red River. Another factor was the findings of thePalliser Expeditionof 1857 to 1860, led by CaptainJohn Palliser. He surveyed the area of the prairies and wilderness from Lake Superior to the southern passes of the Rocky Mountains. Although he recommended against settlement of the region, the report sparked a debate. It ended the myth publicized by Hudson's Bay Company: that the","Company: that the Canadian West was unfit for agricultural settlement. In 1863, theInternational Financial Societybought controlling interest in the HBC, signalling a shift in the company's outlook: most of the new shareholders were less interested in the fur trade than in real estate speculation and economic development in the West. The Society floated £2 million in public shares on non-ceded land held ostensibly by the Hudson's Bay Company as an asset and leveraged this asset for collateral for these funds. These funds allowed the Society the financial means to weather thefinancial collapse of 1866which destroyed many competitors and invest in railways in North America. In 1869, after rejecting the American government offer ofCA$10million,the company approved the return of Rupert's Land to Britain. The government gave it to Canada and loaned the new country the £300,000 required to compensate HBC for its losses.HBC also received one-twentieth of the fertile areas to be opened for settlement and retained","and retained title to the lands on which it had built trading establishments.The deal, known as theDeed of Surrender, came into force the following year. The resulting territory, theNorth-West Territories, was brought under Canadian jurisdiction under the terms of theRupert's Land Act 1868, enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Deed enabled the admission of the fifth province,Manitoba, to theConfederationon 15 July 1870, the same day that the deed itself came into force. During the 19th century the Hudson's Bay Company went through great changes in response to such factors as growth of population and new settlements in part of its territory, and ongoing pressure from Britain. It seemed unlikely that it would continue to control the future of the West. Shift to department stores The iconic department store today evolved from trading posts at the start of the 19th century, when they began to see demand for general merchandise grow rapidly. HBC soon expanded into the interior and set-up posts","and set-up posts along river settlements that later developed into the modern cities of Winnipeg,CalgaryandEdmonton. In 1857, the first sales shop was established inFort Langley. This was followed by other sales shops inFort Victoria(1859), Winnipeg (1881), Calgary (1884),Vancouver(1887),Vernon(1887), Edmonton (1890),Yorkton(1898), andNelson(1902). The first of the grand \"original six\" department stores was built in Calgary in 1913. The other department stores that followed were in Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria,Saskatoon, and Winnipeg. 20th century The First World War interrupted a major remodelling and restoration of retail trade shops planned in 1912. Following the war, the company revitalized its fur-trade and real-estate activities, and diversified its operations by venturing into the oil business.During theRussian Civil War, the company briefly operated in theSiberian far east, even obtaining an agreement with theSoviet governmentuntil departing in 1924.The company co-foundedHudson's Bay Oil and Gas","Bay Oil and Gas Company(HBOG) in 1926 withMarland Oil Company(which merged withConocoin 1929). Although the company diversified into a number of areas, its department store business is the only remaining part of the company's operations, in the form of department stores under the Hudson's Bay brand.The company also established new trading posts in the Canadian Arctic. Indigenous health The medical scientistFrederick Bantingwas travelling in the Arctic in 1927 when he realized that crew or passengers on board the HBC paddle wheelerDistributorwere responsible for spreading the influenza virus down theSlave RiverandMackenzie River. Less than a decade afterthe 1918 global flu pandemic, a similar virus spread territory-wide over the summer and autumn, devastating the aboriginal population of the north.Returning from the trip, Banting gave an interview in Montreal with aToronto Starreporter under the agreement that his statements on HBC would remain off the record.The newspaper nonetheless published the","published the conversation, which rapidly reached a wide audience across Europe and Australia.Banting was angry at the leak, having promised the Department of the Interior not to make any statements to the press prior to clearing them. The article noted that Banting had given the journalist C. R. Greenaway repeated instances of how the fox fur trade always favoured the company: \"For over $100,000 of fox skins, he estimated that the Eskimos had not received $5,000 worth of goods.\"He traced this treatment to health, consistent with reports made in previous years by RCMP officers, suggesting that \"the result was a diet of 'flour,sea-biscuits, tea and tobacco,' with the skins that once were used for clothing traded merely for 'cheap whiteman's goods.'\" The HBC fur trade commissioner called Banting's remarks \"false and slanderous\", and a month later, the governor and general manager met Banting at theKing Edward Hotelto demand a retraction.Banting stated that the reporter had betrayed his confidence, but did not","but did not retract his statement and reaffirmed that HBC was responsible for the death of indigenous residents by supplying the wrong kind of food and introducing diseases into the Arctic.AsA. Y. Jackson, theGroup of Sevenpainter with whom Banting was travelling, noted in his memoir that since neither the governor nor the general manager had been to the Arctic, the meeting ended with them asking Banting's advice on what HBC ought to do: \"He gave them some good advice and later he received a card at Christmas with the Governor's best wishes.\" Banting maintained this position in his report to the Department of the Interior: He noted that \"infant mortality was high because of the undernourishment of the mother before birth\"; that \"white man's food leads to decay of native teeth\"; that \"tuberculosis has commenced. Saw several cases at Godhavn, Etah, Port Burwell, Arctic Bay\"; that \"an epidemic resembling influenza killed a considerable proportion of population at Port Burwell\"; and that \"the gravest danger","\"the gravest danger faces the Eskimo in his transfer from a race-long hunter to a dependent trapper. White flour, sea-biscuits, tea and tobacco do not provide sufficient fuel to warm and nourish him\". Furthermore, he discouraged the establishment of an Arctic hospital. The \"proposed hospital at Pangnirtung would be a waste of money, as it could be reached by only a few natives\". Banting's report contrasted starkly with the bland descriptions provided by the ship's physician, F. H. Stringer. Latter 20th century In 1960, the company acquiredMorgan'sallowing it to expand into Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, and Ottawa. In 1965, HBC rebranded its department stores as The Bay.The Morgan's logo was changed to match the new visual identity. By 1972 the last of the former Morgan's stores had been rebranded to Bay stores.HBOG also expanded during the 1960s, as it began shipping Canadian crude through a new link to the Glacier pipeline and on to the refinery in Billings, Montana. The company became the sixth-largest","the sixth-largest Canadian oil producer in 1967. In 1970, on the company's 300th anniversary, as a result of punishing new British tax laws, the company relocated to Canada, and was rechartered as a Canadian business corporation under Canadian law,Head Office functions were transferred from London to Winnipeg. By 1974, as the company expanded into eastern Canada, head office functions were moved to Toronto. In 1972, the company acquired the four-storeShop-Ritechain ofcatalogue stores. The chain was quickly expanded to 65 stores in Ontario, but closed in 1982 due to declining sales.In these stores, little merchandise was displayed; customers made their selections from catalogues, and staff would retrieve the merchandise from storerooms. The HBC also acquiredFreimansdepartment stores in Ottawa and converted them to The Bay. In 1973, HBOG acquired a 35 per cent stake in Siebens Oil and Gas, and, in 1979, it divested that interest. In 1980, it bought a controlling interest in Roxy Petroleum. In 1978,","Petroleum. In 1978, theZellersdiscount store chain made a bid to acquire the HBC, but the HBC turned the tables and acquired Zellers.Also in 1978,Simpson'sdepartment stores were acquired by Hudson's Bay Company, and were converted to Bay stores in 1991.(The related chain Simpsons-Sears was not acquired by the Bay, but becameSears Canadain 1978.) In 1991, Simpsons disappeared, when the last Simpsons store was converted to the Bay banner. In 1979, Canadian billionaireKenneth Thomsonwon control of the company in a battle withGeorge Weston Limited, and acquired a 75 per cent stake for $400 million.Thomson sold the company's oil and gas business, financial services, distillery, and other interests for approximately $550 million, transforming the company into a leaner, more focused operation. In the 1980s, sales and oil prices slipped, while debt from acquisitions piled up which led to Hudson's Bay Company selling its 10.1 per cent stake in HBOG toDome Petroleumin 1981.In 1997, the Thomson family sold the last of","sold the last of its remaining shares. Hudson's Bay Company reversed a formidable debt problem in 1987, by shedding non-strategic assets such as its wholesale division and getting completely out of the oil and gas business. HBC also sold its Canadian fur-auction business to Hudson's Bay Fur Sales Canada (nowNorth American Fur Auctions). The Northern Stores Division was sold that same year to a group of investors and employees, which adoptedThe North West Companyname three years later. The HBC acquiredTowers Department Storesin 1990, combining them with the Zellers chain, andWoodward'sstores in 1993, converting them into Bay or Zellers stores.Kmart Canadawas acquired in 1998 and merged with Zellers. In 1991, the Bay agreed to stop retailingfurin response to complaints from people opposed to killing animals for this purpose.In 1997, the Bay reopened its fur salons to meet the demand of consumers. 21st century In December 2003, Maple Leaf Heritage Investments, aNova Scotia-based company created to acquire","created to acquire shares of Hudson's Bay Company, announced that it was considering making an offer to acquire all or some of the common shares of Hudson's Bay Company.Maple Leaf Heritage Investments is a subsidiary of B-Bay Inc. Its CEO and chairman is American businesswomanAnita Zucker, widow ofJerry Zucker. Zucker had previously been the head of the Polymer Group, which acquired another Canadian institution,Dominion Textile. It had been a member of theInternational Association of Department Storesfrom 2001 to 2005.On 26 January 2006, the HBC's board agreed to a bid from Jerry Zucker. The South Carolina billionaire financier was a longtime HBC minority shareholder. In a 9 March 2006 press release,the HBC announced that Zucker would replaceYves Fortieras governor andGeorge Helleras CEO, becoming the first US citizen to lead the company. After Jerry Zucker's death, the board named his widow, Anita Zucker, as HBC Governor and HBC Deputy-Governor Rob Johnston as CEO. On 16 July 2008, the company was sold","company was sold toNRDC Equity Partnersfor just over $1.1 billion,a private equity firm based inPurchase, New York, which already ownedLord & Taylor, the oldest department store in the United States.The Canadian and U.S. holdings were transferred to NRDC Equity Partners' holding company,Hudson's Bay Trading Company, as of late 2008. In October 2012, the HBC announced a $1.6 billioninitial public offering(IPO); Baker planned to use the IPO to allow Canadian ownership to return to the company, and to help pay off debts with other partners. Additionally, the company also announced that it would re-brand The Bay department store chain as \"Hudson's Bay\".The new Hudson's Bay brand was launched in March 2013, incorporating a new logo with an updated rendition of the classic Hudson's Bay Companycoat of arms, designed to be modern and better reflect the company's heritage. Following the IPO, HBC had also introduced a new corporate logo of its own (reviving awordmarkfrom the originalHBC flag), but the new logo was not","new logo was not intended to be a consumer-facing brand. In January 2016, HBC announced it would expand deeper into digital space with the acquisition of anonlineflash sales site, theGilt Groupe, for US$250 million.HBC also announced its expansion into the Netherlands in May 2016 with the takeover of 20 formerVroom & Dreesmann(V&D) sites by 2017. V&D, a historic Dutch department store chain, had gonebankruptand shut down in early 2016.As of November 2017, the company also expanded retail operations into Europe, including five Saks Off Fifth stores in Germany. On 1 April 2018, HBC disclosed that more than five million credit and debit cards used for in-store purchases had been recently breached by hackers. The compromised credit card transactions took place at Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks Off 5th, and Lord & Taylor stores. The hack had been discovered by Gemini Advisory, which called the breach \"amongst the biggest and most damaging to ever hit retail companies\".A July 2019 hack ofCapital One, which provides HBC","which provides HBC Mastercards, did not affect the HBC credit cards or card applications, according to HBC. In June 2019, a consortium including chairmanRichard Baker,Rhône Group,WeWork, Hanover Investments (Luxembourg) and Abrams Capital Management announced that it wanted to take the company private.The group then owned just over 50 per cent of HBC shares. In mid-August, the consortium said that it owned 57 per cent of the HBC shares. By 19 August 2019, however, Canadian investment firmCatalyst Capital Group Inc.said it had acquired enough shares to block the plan. A U.S. company, Land & Buildings Investment Management, the owner of over 6 per cent of the shares, had also criticized the Baker plan.In March 2020, Baker and a group of shareholders were successful in taking the company private. Aside fromHudson's Bay,Saks Fifth Avenue, andSaks Off Fifth, HBC soldGaleria Kaufhof,Galeria Inno,Gilt Groupe, andLord & Taylorby August 2019. In June 2018, HBC announced it would sell Gilt Groupe to online fashion","to online fashion store Rue La La for an undisclosed sum. In June, 2019 HBC announced its intent to sell the last 49.99 percent of Galeria Kaufhof shares it held to Austrian firmSigna Holding. In August, 2019 Lord & Taylor was sold toLe Totefor $75 million.The remaining stores in theNetherlandswere sold by the end of 2019. By early September 2019, it was clear that HBC was streamlining its operations, with the sales ofGaleria Kaufhof,Galeria Inno,Gilt Groupe, andLord & Tayloras the most recent steps. A feature article byBloomberg Newsmentioned that CEOHelena Foulkes, recruited in 2018, \"had helped improve the bottom line at Hudson's Bay\". She was selling assets \"to put the company on more solid financial footing\" and could then focus on Saks Fifth Avenue and the Bay. On the other hand, Bloomberg suggested that millennial shoppers prefer to make purchases online, or direct from various brands' own stores, and that HBC \"has yet to offer something they can't find somewhere else and risks drifting into","risks drifting into irrelevance\". In February 2020, shareholders of the company voted in favour of a plan to become a private company at a special meeting of shareholders. Under the plan of arrangement, the company will be owned by a group of continuing shareholders led by HBC governor and executive chairman Richard Baker.Effective 3 March 2020, the company was delisted from theToronto Stock Exchange, withRichard A. Bakerreplacing Foulkes as CEO. In 2023, Hudson's Bay officially stopped selling animal fur products. Acquisition and sale of other chains From 2004 to 2008, the HBC owned and operated a small chain of off-price stores calledDesigner Depot. Similar to theWinnersandHomeSenseretail format, Designer Depot did not meet sales expectations, and its nine stores were sold.Another HBC chain,Fields, was sold to a private firm in 2012.Established in 1950, Fields was acquired byZellersin 1976. When Zellers was acquired by HBC in 1978, Fields became part of the HBC portfolio.In early 2019, HBC announced that","HBC announced that all 37Home Outfittersstores would be phased out by year end. In early 2017, the Hudson's Bay Company made an overture toMacy'sfor a potential takeover of the U.S. department store chain. Later, HBC also considered a purchase ofNeiman Marcus GroupInc. It did not proceed with either deal.On March 16, 2022, it was announced that HBC andSycamore Partnerswere preparing bids to buyKohl's. Zellers In September 2011, the HBC announced that it would sell the majority of the Zellers leases for $1.825 billion to the U.S.-based retailerTarget Corporationand shutter all of their remaining locations by early 2013.Target used the acquisition of this real estate as a means to enable its entry in the Canadian market. HBC used some of the proceeds to pay down debt and to invest in growing its Hudson's Bay and Lord & Taylor banners. In January 2013, it was confirmed that three Zellers locations, re-purposed as discount department stores for The Bay and Home Outfitters, would remain open.The Target Canada","Target Canada chain folded in 2015; the leases were subsequently returned to landlords or re-sold to other retailers.Zellers was still owned by HBC as two remaining stores following the sale of its lease portfolio toTarget Canadain 2011.By September 2019, the re-purposed Toronto and Ottawa Zellers locations were still operating as discount department stores. In August 2022, the Hudson's Bay Company announced it would be reviving the Zellers brand through online shopping and physical locations in 2023. Lord & Taylor On 24 January 2012, theFinancial Postreported that Richard Baker (owner of NDRC and governor of Hudson's Bay Company) had dissolvedHudson's Bay Trading Companyand that the HBC would now also operate theLord & Taylorchain. At the time, the company was run by presidentBonnie Brooks.Baker remained governor and CEO of the business, and Donald Watros stayed on as chief operating officer. In 2018, HBC in a joint venture sold the building that housed its flagshipLord & Taylorstore on Fifth Avenue in","on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan toWeWorkProperty Advisors for $850 million. WeWork was set to occupy the uppermost floors of the building, with the rest of the building remaining a flagship space for Lord & Taylor.The deal also included the use of floors of certain HBC-owned department stores in New York, Toronto, Vancouver and Germany as WeWork's shared office workspaces. In August 2019, HBC announced that it would sell their Lord & Taylor business toLe ToteInc., which was to payCA$99.5 millionin cash when the deal closes (probably before year end 2019) and an additionalCA$33.2 milliontwo years later. HBC was to get a 25 per cent equity stake in Le Tote.The buyer would retain the stores' inventory, with an estimated value ofCA$284.2 million. The deal, expected to close before year end, required HBC to pay the stores' rent for at least three years, leading one news report to describe it as \"Not a clean exit\". The liability to HBC for the rents was estimated atCA$77 millioncash per year. Saks, Inc. On 29 July","Inc. On 29 July 2013, Hudson's Bay Company announced that it would buySaks, Inc., operator of the U.S.Saks Fifth Avenuebrand, forUS$2.9 billion, or $16 per share.The merger was completed on 3 November 2013.The company also stated that as a result of the purchase, Canadian consumers would see Saks stores arriving in their country soon.After the purchase was finalized, HBC had a net loss of $124.2 million in the 2013 3Q due to the cost of the purchase and promotions. Galeria Kaufhof/Galeria Inno HBC had acquired the German department store chain Galeria Kaufhof and its Belgian subsidiary,Galeria Inno, fromMetro Groupin September 2015 forUS$3.2 billion. On 1 November 2017, HBC received an unsolicited offer from Austrian firmSigna Holdingfor Kaufhof and other real estate.An unnamed source toldCNBCthat the value of the offer was approximately 3 billion euros.This information on the offer was also reiterated in a press release by activist shareholder Land & Buildings Investment Management, which urged HBC to","which urged HBC to accept the offer; the company replied that the offer was incomplete and did not provide indication of financing for the deal.In late 2018, Galeria Kaufhof andKarstadtmerged as part of a spin off. HBC announced its intent to sell the last 49.99 percent of Galeria Kaufhof and Galeria Inno shares it held to Austrian firmSigna Holdingin June 2019. The sale of the real estate in Germany had gained US$1.5 billion (€1 billion) for HBC.At that time, HBC still had a retail operation in the Netherlands, using the Vroom & Dreesmann locations it had purchased in 2017. On 31 August 2019, the company announced that all 15 of those stores would be sold by year end. Neiman Marcus On July 4, 2024, Hudson's Bay Company announced it would acquireNeiman Marcus Groupfor $2.65 billion, concluding years of negotiations. Operations The HBC is diversified into joint ventures and other types of business products. The HBC has credit card, mortgage, and personal insurance branches. These other products and services","and services are joint partnerships with other corporations. The HBC also has anHBC Rewardsprogram, where Rewards points can be redeemed in house. The HBC is involved in community and charity activities. The HBC Rewards Community Program raises funds for community causes. The HBC Foundation is a charity agency involved in social issues and service. The HBC used to sponsor the annual HBC Run for Canada, a series of public-participation runs and walks held across the country on Canada Day to raise funds for Canadian athletes. The company discontinued this event in 2009. Olympic outfitter The HBC was the official outfitter of clothing for members of the Canadian Olympic team in 1936, 1960, 1964, 1968, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016. The sponsorship has been renewed through 2020. Since the late 2000s, HBC has used its status as the official Canadian Olympics team outfitter to gain global exposure, as part of a turnaround plan that included shedding under-performing brands and luring new high-end brands.","high-end brands. On 2 March 2005, the company was announced as the new clothing outfitter for the Canadian Olympic team, in a $100 million deal, providing apparel for the 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012 Games, having outbid the existing Canadian Olympic wear-supplier,Roots Canada, which had supplied Canada's Olympic teams from 1998 to 2004.The Canadian Olympic collection is sold through Hudson's Bay (and Zellers until 2013 when the Zellers leases were sold toTarget Canada). HBC's2006 Winter Olympicsand2008 Summer Olympicsuniforms and toques received a mixed reception for their multicoloured stripes (green, red, yellow, blue) which seemed to be not-so-subtle advertising for HBC rather than representing the Canadian Olympic team's traditional colours of red and white (with black as a secondary), in contrast to well-received Root's 1998 collection with its trendy redletter jacketsand Poor Boy caps. HBC produced 80 per cent to 90 per cent of their Olympic clothes in China which was criticized, as Roots ensured that","Roots ensured that the Olympic clothes were made in Canada using Canadian material. HBC's apparel for the2010 Winter Olympicsheld in Vancouver proved to be extremely successful, in part because Canada was the host country and their athletes had a record medal haul. The \"Red Mittens\" (red-and-white mittens featuring a large maple leaf) that were sold forCA$10, with one-third of the proceeds going to theCanadian Olympic Committee, proved very popular, as were the \"Canada\" hoodies. The HBC's2010 Winter Olympicsapparel was also controversial due to a knitted, machine-made sweater that looked like aCowichan sweater.After a meeting between HBC representatives andCowichan Tribes, a compromise was made between the parties; knitters would have an opportunity to sell their sweaters at the downtown Vancouver HBC store, alongside the HBC imitations. LordSebastian Coe, chairman of the2012 London Olympic Games Organizing Committee, who attended theVancouver Olympics, noted that the Canadians were passionate in embracing","in embracing the Games with their \"Canada\" hoodies and their red mittens (of which 2.6 million pairs sold that year).HBC has continued to produce these red mittens for subsequent Olympic Games. In 2021, it was announced that beginning with the2022 Winter Olympics,Lululemonwould replace the HBC as Canada's Olympic outfitter. Archives The legacy of the HBC has been maintained in part by the detailed record-keeping and archiving of material by the company. Before 1974, the records of the HBC were kept in the London office headquarters. The HBC opened an archives department to researchers in 1931. In 1974, Hudson's Bay Company Archives (HBCA) were transferred from London and placed on deposit with the Manitoba archives in Winnipeg. The company granted public access to the collection the following year. On 27 January 1994, the company's archives were formally donated to the Archives of Manitoba. At the time of the donation, the appraised value of the records was nearly $60 million. A foundation, Hudson's Bay","Hudson's Bay Company History Foundation funded through the tax savings resulting from the donation, was established to support the operations of the HBC Archive as a division of the Archives of Manitoba, along with other activities and programs.More than two kilometres (1.2 mi) of filed documents and hundreds of microfilm reels are now stored in a special climate-controlled vault in the Manitoba Archives Building. In 2007, Hudson's Bay Company Archives became part of the United Nations \"Memory of the World Programme\" project, underUNESCO. The records covered the HBC history from the founding of the company in 1670. The records contained business transactions, medical records, personal journals of officials, inventories, company reports, etc. Corporate governance As of January 2018, the members of the board of directors of Hudson's Bay Company are: Corporate hierarchy In the 18th and 19th centuries, Hudson's Bay Company operated with a very rigid employee hierarchy. This hierarchy essentially broke down into","broke down into two levels; the officers and the servants. Comprising the officers were the factors, masters and chief traders, clerks and surgeons. The servants were the tradesmen, boatmen, and labourers. The officers essentially ran the fur trading posts. They had many duties which included supervising the workers in their trade posts, valuing the furs, and keeping trade and post records. In 1821, when Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company merged, the hierarchy became even stricter and the lines between officers and servants became virtually impossible to cross. Officers in charge of individual trading posts had much responsibility because they were directly in charge of enforcing the policies made by the governor and committee (the board) of the company. One of these policies was the price of particular furs and trade goods. These prices were called the Official and Comparative Standards. Made-Beaver, the quality measurement of the pelt, was the means of exchange used by Hudson's Bay Company to","Bay Company to define the Official and Comparative Standards. Because the governor was stationed in London, England, they needed to have reliable officers managing the trade posts halfway around the world. Because the fur trade was a very dynamic market, HBC needed to have some form of flexibility when dealing with prices and traders. Price fluctuation was deferred to the officers in charge of the trade posts, and the head office recorded any difference between the company's standard and that set by the individual officers. Overplus, or any excess revenue gained by officers, was strictly documented to insure that it was not being pocketed and taken from the company. This strict yet flexible hierarchy exemplifies how Hudson's Bay Company was able to be so successful while still having its central management and trade posts located so far apart. Progression In the 19th century, career progression for officers, together referred to as the Commissioned Gentlemen, was to enter the company as a fur trader.","as a fur trader. Typically, they were men who had the capital to invest in starting up their trading. They sought to be promoted to the rank of Chief Trader. A Chief Trader would be in charge of an individual post and was entitled to one share of the company's profits. Chief Factors sat in council with the Governors and were the heads of districts. They were entitled to two shares of the company's profits or losses. The average income of a Chief Trader was £360 and that of a Chief Factor was £720. Governors Chronological list of governors of the Hudson's Bay Company: Miscellany Rent obligation under charter Under the charter establishing Hudson's Bay Company, the company was required to give twoelkskins and two blackbeaverpelts to the English king, then Charles II, or his heirs, whenever the monarch visited Rupert's Land. The exact text from the 1670 Charter reads: ...Yielding and paying yearly to us and our heirs and successors for the same two Elks and two Black beavers whensoever and as often as We, our","as often as We, our heirs and successors shall happen to enter into the said Countries, Territories and Regions hereby granted. The ceremony was first conducted with thePrince of Wales(the future Edward VIII) in 1927, then with KingGeorge VIin 1939, and last with his daughter, QueenElizabeth IIin 1959 and 1970. On the last such visit, the pelts were given in the form of two live beavers, which the Queen donated to the Winnipeg Zoo inAssiniboine Park. However, when the company permanently moved its headquarters to Canada, the Charter was amended to remove the rent obligation. Each of the four \"rent ceremonies\" took place in or around Winnipeg. HBC explorers, builders, and associates HBC sternwheelers and steamships Rivals The HBC is the only European trading company to have survived. It outlived all its rivals. See also References Bibliography Further reading External links"],"string":"[\n \"Klondike Gold Rush TheKlondike Gold Rushwas a migration by an estimated 100,000prospectorsto theKlondike regionofYukon, in north-western Canada, between 1896 and 1899.Goldwas discovered there by local miners on August 16, 1896; when news reachedSeattleandSan Franciscothe following year, it triggered astampede of prospectors. Some became wealthy, but the majority went in vain. It has been immortalized in films, literature, and photographs. To reach the gold fields, most prospectors took the route through the ports ofDyeaandSkagway, inSoutheast Alaska. Here, the \\\"Klondikers\\\" could follow either theChilkootor theWhite Passtrails to theYukon River, and sail down to the Klondike. The Canadian authorities required each of them to bring a year's supply of food, in order to prevent starvation. In all, the Klondikers' equipment weighed close to a ton, which most carried themselves, in stages. Performing this task, and contending with the mountainous terrain and cold climate, meant that most of those who persisted did\",\n \"who persisted did not arrive until the summer of 1898. Once there, they found few opportunities, and many left disappointed. To accommodate the prospectors,boom townssprang up along the routes. At their terminus,Dawson Citywas founded at the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon rivers. From a population of 500 in 1896, the town grew to house approximately 17,000 people by summer 1898. Built of wood, isolated, and unsanitary, Dawson suffered from fires, high prices, and epidemics. Despite this, the wealthiest prospectors spent extravagantly, gambling and drinking in thesaloons. The indigenousHän, on the other hand, suffered from the rush; they were forcibly moved into areserveto make way for the Klondikers, and many died. Beginning in 1898, the newspapers that had encouraged so many to travel to the Klondike lost interest in it. In the summer of 1899,gold was discovered around Nomein westAlaska, and many prospectors left the Klondike for the new goldfields, marking the end of the Klondike Rush. The boom towns\",\n \"The boom towns declined, and the population ofDawson Cityfell. Gold mining production in the Klondike peaked in 1903 after heavier equipment was brought in. Since then, the Klondike has been mined on and off, and today the legacy draws tourists to the region and contributes to its prosperity. Background Theindigenous peoples in north-west Americahad traded incoppernuggets prior toEuropean expansion. Most of the tribes were aware that gold existed in the region, but the metal was not valued by them.TheRussiansand theHudson's Bay Companyhad both explored the Yukon in the first half of the 19th century, but ignored the rumours of gold in favour offur trading, which offered more immediate profits. In the second half of the 19th century, American prospectors began to spread into the area.Making deals with the NativeTlingitandTagishtribes, the early prospectors opened the important routes ofChilkootand White Pass and reached theYukonvalley between 1870 and 1890.Here, they encountered the Hän people, semi-nomadic\",\n \"semi-nomadic hunters and fishermen who lived along the Yukon and Klondike Rivers.The Hän did not appear to know about the extent of the gold deposits in the region. In 1883,Ed Schieffelinidentified gold deposits along the Yukon River, and an expedition up theFortymile Riverin 1886 discovered considerable amounts of it and founded Fortymile City.The same year gold had been found on the banks of the Klondike River, but in small amounts and with no claims being made.By late 1886, several hundred miners were working their way along the Yukon valley, living in small mining camps and trading with the Hän.On the Alaskan side of the border,Circle City, alogtown, was established in 1893 on the Yukon River. In three years it grew to become \\\"the Paris of Alaska\\\", with about 1,200 inhabitants, saloons, opera houses, schools, and libraries. In 1896, it was so well-known that acorrespondentfrom the ChicagoDaily Recordcame to visit. At the end of the year, it became aghost town, when large gold deposits were found upstream\",\n \"were found upstream on the Klondike. Discovery (1896) On August 16, 1896, an American prospector namedGeorge Carmackand two Tagish men,Skookum Jim(Keish), andTagish Charlie(K̲áa Goox̱) were travelling south of the Klondike River.Following a suggestion fromRobert Henderson, a Canadian prospector, they began looking for gold onBonanza Creek, then called Rabbit Creek, one of the Klondike's tributaries.It is not clear who discovered the gold: George Carmack or Skookum Jim, but the group agreed to let George Carmack appear as the official discoverer because they feared that authorities would not recognize anindigenousclaimant. In any event, gold was present along the river in huge quantities.Carmack measured out four claims, strips of ground that could later be legally mined by the owner, along the river; these including two for himself—one as his normal claim, the second as a reward for having discovered the gold—and one each for Jim and Charlie.The claims were registered the next day at the police post at the\",\n \"police post at the mouth of the Fortymile River and news spread rapidly from there to other mining camps in the Yukon River valley. By the end of August, all of Bonanza Creek had been claimed by miners.A prospector then advanced up into one of the creeks feeding into Bonanza, later to be namedEldorado Creek. He discovered new sources of gold there, which would prove to be even richer than those on Bonanza.Claims began to be sold between miners and speculators for considerable sums.Just before Christmas, word of the gold reached Circle City. Despite the winter, many prospectors immediately left for the Klondike by dog-sled, eager to reach the region before the best claims were taken.The outside world was still largely unaware of the news, and although Canadian officials had managed to send a message to their superiors inOttawaabout the finds and influx of prospectors, the government did not give it much attention.The winter prevented river traffic, and it was not until June 1897 that the first boats left the\",\n \"boats left the area, carrying the freshly mined gold and the full story of the discoveries. Beginning of the stampede (July 1897) In the resulting Klondike stampede, an estimated 100,000 people tried to reach the Klondike goldfields, of whom only around 30,000 to 40,000 eventually did.It formed the height of the Klondike gold rush from the summer of 1897 until the summer of 1898. It began on July 14, 1897, inSan Franciscoand was spurred further three days later inSeattle, when the first of the early prospectors returned from the Klondike, bringing with them large amounts of gold on the shipsExcelsiorandPortland.The press reported that a total of $1,139,000 (equivalent to $1 billion at 2010 prices) had been brought in by these ships, although this proved to be an underestimate.The migration of prospectors caught so much attention that it was joined by outfitters, writers and photographers. Various factors lay behind this sudden mass response. Economically, the news had reached the US at the height of a series\",\n \"height of a series of financial recessions and bank failures in the 1890s. Thegold standardof the time tied paper money to the production of gold and shortages towards the end of the 19th century meant that gold dollars were rapidly increasing in value ahead of paper currencies and being hoarded.This had contributed to thePanic of 1893andPanic of 1896, which caused unemployment and financial uncertainty.There was a huge, unresolved demand for gold across the developed world that the Klondike promised to fulfil and, for individuals, the region promised higher wages or financial security. Psychologically, the Klondike, as historianPierre Bertondescribes, was \\\"just far enough away to be romantic and just close enough to be accessible\\\". Furthermore, the Pacific ports closest to the gold strikes were desperate to encourage trade and travel to the region.The mass journalism of the period promoted the event and the human interest stories that lay behind it. A worldwide publicity campaign engineered largely\",\n \"engineered largely byErastus Brainerd, a Seattle newspaperman, helped establish that city as the premier supply centre and the departure point for the gold fields. The prospectors came from many nations, although an estimated majority of 60 to 80 percent were Americans or recent immigrants to America.Most had no experience in the mining industry, being clerks or salesmen.Mass resignations of staff to join the gold rush became notorious.In Seattle, this included the mayor, twelve policemen, and a significant percentage of the city's streetcar drivers. Some stampeders were famous:John McGraw, the former governor of Washington, joined, together with the prominent lawyer and sportsman A. Balliot.Frederick Burnham, a well-known American scout and explorer, arrived from Africa, only to be called back to take part in theSecond Boer War.Among those who documented the rush was the Swedish-born photographerEric Hegg, who took some of the iconic pictures of Chilkoot Pass, and reporterTappan Adney, who afterwards wrote\",\n \"afterwards wrote a first-hand history of the stampede.Jack London, later a famous American writer, left to seek for gold but made his money during the rush mostly by working for prospectors. Seattle and San Francisco competed fiercely for business during the rush, with Seattle winning the larger share of trade.Indeed, one of the first to join the gold rush was William D. Wood, the mayor of Seattle, who resigned and formed a company to transport prospectors to the Klondike.The publicity around the gold rush led to a flurry of branded goods being marketed. Clothing, equipment, food, and medicines were all sold as \\\"Klondike\\\" goods, allegedly designed for the northwest.Guidebooks were published, giving advice about routes, equipment, mining, and capital necessary for the enterprise.The newspapers of the time termed this phenomenon \\\"Klondicitis\\\". Routes to the Klondike The Klondike could be reached only by the Yukon River, either upstream from its delta, downstream from its head, or from somewhere in the middle\",\n \"in the middle through its tributaries. River boats could navigate the Yukon in the summer from the delta until a point called Whitehorse, above the Klondike. Travel, in general, was made difficult by both terrain and climate. The region was mountainous, the rivers winding and sometimes impassable; summers, albeit short, still brought heat, while during the long winters, temperatures could drop below −50 °C (−58 °F). Aids for the travellers to carry their supplies varied; some had brought dogs, horses,mules, or oxen, whereas others had to rely on carrying their equipment on their backs or on sleds pulled by hand.Shortly after the stampede began in 1897, the Canadian authorities had introduced rules requiring anyone entering Yukon Territory to bring with them a year's supply of food; typically this weighed around 1,150 pounds (520 kg).By the time camping equipment, tools and other essentials were included, a typical traveller was transporting as much as a ton in weight.Unsurprisingly, the price of draft\",\n \"the price of draft animals soared; at Dyea, even poor quality horses could sell for as much as $700 ($19,000), or be rented out for $40 ($1,100) a day. From Seattle or San Francisco, prospectors could travel by sea up the coast to the ports of Alaska.The route following the coast is now referred to as theInside Passage. It led to the ports of Dyea and Skagway plus ports of nearby trails. The sudden increase in demand encouraged a range of vessels to be pressed into service including oldpaddle wheelers, fishing boats, barges, and coal ships still full of coal dust. All were overloaded and many sank. All water routes It was possible to sail all the way to the Klondike, first from Seattle across the northern Pacific to the Alaskan coast. FromSt. Michael, at the Yukon River delta, a river boat could then take the prospectors the rest of the way up the river to Dawson, often guided by one of the NativeKoyukon peoplewho lived near St. Michael.Although this all-water route, also called \\\"the rich man's route\\\", was\",\n \"man's route\\\", was expensive and long – 4,700 miles (7,600 km) in total – it had the attraction of speed and avoiding overland travel.At the beginning of the stampede a ticket could be bought for $150 ($4,050) while during the winter 1897–98 the fare settled at $1,000 ($27,000). In 1897, some 1,800 travellers attempted this route but the vast majority were caught along the river when the region iced over in October.Only 43 reached the Klondike before winter and of those 35 had to return, having thrown away their equipment en route to reach their destination in time.The remainder mostly found themselves stranded in isolated camps and settlements along the ice-covered river often in desperate circumstances. Dyea/Skagway routes Most of the prospectors landed at the southeast Alaskan towns of Dyea and Skagway, both located at the head of the naturalLynn Canalat the end of the Inside Passage. From there, they needed to travel over the mountain ranges into Canada's Yukon Territory, and then down the river network\",\n \"the river network to the Klondike.Along the trails, tent camps sprung up at places where prospectors had to stop to eat or sleep or at obstacles such as the icy lakes at the head of the Yukon.At the start of the rush, a ticket from Seattle to the port of Dyea cost $40 ($1,100) for a cabin. Premiums of $100 ($2,700), however, were soon paid and the steamship companies hesitated to post their rates in advance since they could increase on a daily basis. White Pass trail Those who landed at Skagway made their way over the White Pass before cutting across toBennett Lake.Although the trail began gently, it progressed over several mountains with paths as narrow as 2 feet (0.61 m) and in wider parts covered with boulders and sharp rocks.Under these conditions horses died in huge numbers, giving the route the informal name of Dead Horse Trail.The volumes of travellers and the wet weather made the trail impassable and, by late 1897, it was closed until further notice, leaving around 5,000 stranded in Skagway. An\",\n \"in Skagway. An alternative toll road suitable for wagons was eventually constructed and this, combined with colder weather that froze the muddy ground, allowed the White Pass to reopen, and prospectors began to make their way into Canada.Moving supplies and equipment over the pass had to be done in stages. Most divided their belongings into 65 pounds (29 kg) packages that could be carried on a man's back, or heavier loads that could be pulled by hand on a sled.Ferrying packages forwards and walking back for more, a prospector would need about thirty round trips, a distance of at least 2,500 miles (4,000 km), before they had moved all of their supplies to the end of the trail. Even using a heavy sled, a strong man would be covering 1,000 miles (1,600 km) and need around 90 days to reach Lake Bennett. Chilkoot trail Those who landed at Dyea, Skagway's neighbour town, travelled theChilkoot Trailand crossed its pass to reach Lake Lindeman, which fed into Lake Bennett at the head of the Yukon River.The Chilkoot\",\n \"River.The Chilkoot Pass was higher than the White Pass, but more used it: around 22,000 during the gold rush.The trail passed up through camps until it reached a flat ledge, just before the main ascent, which was too steep for animals.This location was known as the Scales, and was where goods were weighed before travellers officially entered Canada. The cold, the steepness and the weight of equipment made the climb extremely arduous and it could take a day to get to the top of the 1,000 feet (300 m) high slope. As on the White Pass trail, supplies needed to be broken down into smaller packages and carried in relay.Packers, prepared to carry supplies for cash, were available along the route but would charge up to $1 ($27) per lb (0.45 kg) on the later stages; many of these packers were natives: Tlingits or, less commonly, Tagish.Avalancheswere common in the mountains and, on April 3, 1898, one claimed the lives of more than 60 people travelling over Chilkoot Pass. Entrepreneurs began to provide solutions as\",\n \"solutions as the winter progressed. Steps were cut into the ice at the Chilkoot Pass which could be used for a daily fee, this 1,500 step staircase becoming known as the \\\"Golden Steps\\\".By December 1897, Archie Burns built atramwayup the final parts of the Chilkoot Pass. A horse at the bottom turned a wheel, which pulled a rope running to the top and back; freight was loaded on sledges pulled by the rope. Five more tramways soon followed, one powered by asteam engine, charging between 8 and 30 cents ($2 and $8) per 1 pound (0.45 kg).Anaerial tramwaywas built in the spring of 1898, able to move 9 tonnes of goods an hour up to the summit. Head of Yukon River At Lakes Bennett and Lindeman, the prospectors camped to build rafts or boats that would take them the final 500 miles (800 km) down the Yukon to Dawson City in the spring.7,124 boats of varying size and quality left in May 1898; by that time, the forests around the lakes had been largely cut down for timber.The river posed a new problem. AboveWhitehorse,\",\n \"AboveWhitehorse, it was dangerous, with several rapids along the Miles Canyon through to the White Horse Rapids. After many boats were wrecked and several hundred people died, theNorth-West Mounted Police(NWMP) introduced safety rules,vettingthe boats carefully and forbidding women and children to travel through the rapids.Additional rules stated that any boat carrying passengers required alicensed pilot, typically costing $25 ($680), although some prospectors simply unpacked their boats and let them drift unmanned through the rapids with the intent of walking down to collect them on the other side.During the summer, a horse-powered rail-tramway was built by Norman Macaulay, capable of carrying boats and equipment through the canyon at $25 ($680) a time, removing the need for prospectors to navigate the rapids. Parallel trails There were a few more trails established during 1898 from South-east Alaska to the Yukon River. One was the Dalton trail: starting from Pyramid Harbour, close to Dyea, it went across\",\n \"it went across theChilkat Passsome miles west of Chilkoot and turned north to the Yukon River, a distance of about 350 miles (560 km). This was created by Jack Dalton as a summer route, intended for cattle and horses, and Dalton charged a toll of $250 ($6,800) for its use. The Takou route started from Juneau and went north-east to Teslin Lake. From here, it followed a river to the Yukon, where it met the Dyea and Skagway route at a point halfway to the Klondike.It meant dragging and poling canoes up-river and through mud together with crossing a 5,000 feet (1,500 m) mountain along a narrow trail. Finally, there was the Stikine route starting from the port of Wrangell further south-east of Skagway. This route went up the uneasy Stikine River to Glenora, thehead of navigation. From Glenora, prospectors would have to carry their supplies 150 miles (240 km) to Teslin Lake where it, like the Takou route, met the Yukon River system. All-Canadian routes An alternative to the South-east Alaskan ports were the\",\n \"ports were the All-Canadian routes, so-called because they mostly stayed on Canadian soil throughout their journey.These were popular with British and Canadians for patriotic reasons and because they avoided American customs.The first of these, around 1,000 miles (1,600 km) in length, started fromAshcroftin British Columbia and crossed swamps, rivergorges, and mountains until it met with the Stikine River route at Glenora.From Glenora, prospectors would face the same difficulties as those who came from Wrangell.At least 1,500 men attempted to travel along the Ashcroft route and 5,000 along the Stikine.The mud and the slushy ice of the two routes proved exhausting, killing or incapacitating the pack animals and creating chaos amongst the travellers. Three more routes started fromEdmonton,Alberta; these were not much better – barely trails at all – despite being advertised as \\\"the inside track\\\" and the \\\"back door to the Klondike\\\".One, the \\\"overland route\\\", headed north-west from Edmonton, ultimately meeting\",\n \"ultimately meeting thePeace Riverand then continuing on overland to the Klondike, crossing theLiard Riveren route.To encourage travel via Edmonton, the government hired T.W. Chalmers to build a trail, which became known as theKlondike Trailor Chalmers Trail.The other two trails, known as the \\\"water routes\\\", involved more river travel. One went by boat along rivers and overland to the Yukon River system atPelly Riverand from there to Dawson.Another went north of Dawson by theMackenzie RivertoFort McPherson, before entering Alaska and meeting the Yukon River atFort Yukon, downstream to the Klondike.From here, the boat and equipment had to be pulled up the Yukon about 400 miles (640 km). An estimated 1,660 travellers took these three routes, of whom only 685 arrived, some taking up to 18 months to make the journey. \\\"All-American\\\" route An equivalent to the All-Canadian routes was the \\\"All-American route\\\", which aimed to reach the Yukon from the port ofValdez, which lay further along the Alaskan coast from\",\n \"Alaskan coast from Skagway.This, it was hoped, would evade the Canadian customs posts and provide an American-controlled route into the interior.From late 1897 onwards 3,500 men and women attempted it; delayed by the winter snows, fresh efforts were made in the spring. In practice, the huge Valdez glacier that stood between the port and the Alaskan interior proved almost insurmountable and only 200 managed to climb it; by 1899, the cold andscurvywas causing many deaths amongst the rest.Other prospectors attempted an alternative route across theMalaspina Glacierjust to the east, suffering even greater hardships.Those who did manage to cross it found themselves having to negotiate miles of wilderness before they could reach Dawson. Their expedition was forced to turn back the same way they had come, with only four men surviving. Border control The borders in South-east Alaskawere disputedbetween the US, Canada and Britain since the Americanpurchase of Alaskafrom Russia in 1867.The US and Canada both claimed\",\n \"Canada both claimed the ports of Dyea and Skagway.This, combined with the numbers of American prospectors, the quantities of gold being mined and the difficulties in exercising government authority in such a remote area, made the control of the borders a sensitive issue. Early on in the gold rush, the US Army sent a smalldetachmentto Circle City, in case intervention was required in the Klondike, while the Canadian government considered excluding all American prospectors from the Yukon Territory.Neither eventuality took place and instead the US agreed to make Dyea a sub-port of entry for Canadians, allowing British ships to land Canadian passengers and goods freely there, while Canada agreed to permit American miners to operate in the Klondike.Both decisions were unpopular among their domestic publics: American businessmen complained that their right to amonopolyon regional trade was being undermined, while the Canadian public demanded action against the American miners. The North-West Mounted Police set up\",\n \"Police set up control posts at the borders of the Yukon Territory or, where that was disputed, at easily controlled points such as the Chilkoot and White Passes.These units were armed withMaxim guns.Their tasks included enforcing the rules requiring that travellers bring a year's supply of food with them to be allowed into the Yukon Territory, checking for illegal weapons, preventing the entry of criminals and enforcing customs duties. This last task was particularly unpopular with American prospectors, who faced paying an average of 25 percent of the value of their goods and supplies.The Mounties had a reputation for running these posts honestly, although accusations were made that they took bribes.Prospectors, on the other hand, tried to smuggle prize items likesilkandwhiskeyacross the pass in tins and bales of hay: the former item for the ladies, the latter for the saloons. Mining Of the estimated 30,000 to 40,000 people who reached Dawson City during the gold rush, only around 15,000 to 20,000 finally\",\n \"to 20,000 finally became prospectors. Of these, no more than 4,000 struck gold and only a few hundred became rich.By the time most of the stampeders arrived in 1898, the best creeks had all been claimed, either by the long-term miners in the region or by the first arrivals of the year before.The Bonanza, Eldorado, Hunker, and Dominion Creeks were all taken, with almost 10,000 claims recorded by the authorities by July 1898; a new prospector would have to look further afield to find a claim of his own. Geologically, the region was permeated with veins of gold, forced to the surface byvolcanicaction and then worn away by the action of rivers and streams, leaving nuggets and gold dust in deposits known asplacer gold.Some ores lay along the creek beds in lines of soil, typically 15 feet (4.6 m) to 30 feet (9.1 m) beneath the surface.Others, formed by even older streams, lay along the hilltops; these deposits were called \\\"bench gold\\\".Finding the gold was challenging. Initially, miners had assumed that all the\",\n \"that all the gold would be along the existing creeks, and it was not until late in 1897 that the hilltops began to be mined.Gold was also unevenly distributed, which made the prediction of good mining sites uncertain without exploratory digging. Methods Mining began with clearing the ground of vegetation and debris.Prospect holes were then dug in an attempt to find the ore or \\\"pay streak\\\".If these holes looked productive, proper digging could commence, aiming down to the bedrock, where the majority of the gold was found.The digging would be carefully monitored in case the operation needed to be shifted to allow for changes in the flow. In the sub-Arctic climate of the Klondike, a layer of hard permafrost lay only 6 feet (1.8 m) below the surface.Traditionally, this had meant that mining in the region only occurred during the summer months, but the pressure of the gold rush made such a delay unacceptable.Late 19th-century technology existed for dealing with this problem, including hydraulic mining and\",\n \"mining and stripping, anddredging. Still, the heavy equipment required for this could not be brought into the Klondike during the gold rush. Instead, the miners relied on wood fires to soften the ground to a depth of about 14 inches (360 mm) and then remove the resulting gravel. The process was repeated until the gold was reached. In theory, no support of the shaft was necessary because of the permafrost although in practice sometimes the fire melted the permafrost and caused collapses.Fires could also produce harmful gases, which had to be removed by bellows or other tools.The resulting \\\"dirt\\\" brought out of the mines froze quickly in winter and could be processed only during the warmer summer months.An alternative, more efficient, approach called steam thawing was devised between 1897 and 1898; this used a furnace to pump steam directly into the ground, but since it required additional equipment it was not a widespread technique during the years of the rush. In the summer, water would sluice and pan the\",\n \"sluice and pan the dirt, separating the heavier gold from gravel.This required miners to construct sluices, which were sequences of wooden boxes 15 feet (4.6 m) long, through which the dirt would be washed; up to 20 of these might be needed for each mining operation.The sluices in turn required much water, usually produced by creating a dam and ditches or crude pipes.\\\"Bench gold\\\" mining on the hill sides could not use sluice lines because water could not be pumped that high up. Instead, these mines used rockers, boxes that moved back and forth like a cradle, to create the motion needed for separation.Finally, the resulting gold dust could be exported out of the Klondike; exchanged for paper money at the rate of $16 ($430) per troy ounce (ozt)(31.1 g) through one of the major banks that opened in Dawson City, or simply used as money when dealing with local traders. Business Successful mining took time and capital, particularly once most of the timber around the Klondike had been cut down.A realistic mining\",\n \"realistic mining operation required $1,500 ($42,000) for wood to be burned to melt the ground, along with around $1,000 ($28,000) to construct a dam, $1,500 ($42,000) for ditches and up to $600 ($16,800) for sluice boxes, a total of $4,600 ($128,800).The attraction of the Klondike to a prospector, however, was that when gold was found, it was often highly concentrated.Some of the creeks in the Klondike were fifteen times richer in gold than those inCalifornia, and richer still than those inSouth Africa.In just two years, for example, $230,000 ($6,440,000) worth of gold was brought up from claim 29 on the Eldorado Creek. Under Canadian law, miners first had to get a licence, either when they arrived at Dawson or en route fromVictoriain Canada.They could then prospect for gold and when they had found a suitable location, lay a claim to mining rights over it.To stake a claim, a prospector would drive stakes into the ground a measured distance apart and then return to Dawson to register the claim for $15\",\n \"the claim for $15 ($410).This normally had to be done within three days, and by 1897 only one claim per person at a time was allowed in a district, although married couples could exploit a loophole that allowed the wife to register a claim in her own name, doubling their amount of land. The claim could be mined freely for a year, after which a $100 ($2,800) fee had to be paid annually. Should the prospector leave the claim for more than three days without good reason, another miner could make a claim on the land.The Canadian government also charged aroyaltyof between 10 and 20 percent on the value of gold taken from a claim. Traditionally, a mining claim had been granted over a 500-foot (150 m) long stretch of a creek, including the land from one side of the valley to another. The Canadian authorities had tried to reduce this length to 150 feet (46 m), but under pressure from miners had been forced to agree to 250 feet (76 m). The only exception to this was a \\\"Discovery\\\" claim, the first to be made on a\",\n \"to be made on a creek, which could be 500 feet (150 m) long.The exact lengths of claims were often challenged and when the governmentsurveyorWilliam Ogilvieconducted surveys to settle disputes, he found some claims exceeded the official limit.The excess fractions of land then became available as claims and were sometimes quite valuable. Claims could be bought. However, their price depended on whether they had been yet proved to contain gold.A prospector with capital might consider taking a risk on an \\\"unproved\\\" claim on one of the better creeks for $5,000 ($140,000); a wealthier miner could buy a \\\"proved\\\" mine for $50,000 ($1,400,000).The well known claim eight on Eldorado Creek was sold for as much as $350,000 ($9,800,000).Prospectors were also allowed to hire others to work for them.Enterprising miners such asAlex McDonaldset about amassing mines and employees.Leveraginghis acquisitions with short-term loans, by the autumn of 1897 McDonald had purchased 28 claims, estimated to be worth millions.Swiftwater\",\n \"millions.Swiftwater Billfamously borrowed heavily against his claim on the Eldorado creek, relying on hired hands to mine the gold to keep up his interest payments. The less fortunate or less well funded prospectors rapidly found themselves destitute. Some chose to sell their equipment and return south.Others took jobs as manual workers, either in mines or in Dawson; the typical daily pay of $15 ($410) was high by external standards, but low compared to the cost of living in the Klondike.The possibility that a new creek might suddenly produce gold, however, continued to tempt poorer prospectors.Smaller stampedes around the Klondike continued throughout the gold rush, when rumours of new strikes would cause a small mob to descend on fresh sites, hoping to be able to stake out a high-value claim. Life in the Klondike The massive influx of prospectors drove the formation of boom towns along the routes of the stampede, with Dawson City in the Klondike the largest.The new towns were crowded, often chaotic and\",\n \"often chaotic and many disappeared just as soon as they came.Most stampeders were men but women also travelled to the region, typically as the wife of a prospector.Some women entertained in gambling and dance halls built by business men and women who were encouraged by the lavish spending of successful miners. Dawson remained relatively lawful, protected by the Canadian NWMP, which meant that gambling and prostitution were accepted while robbery and murder were kept low. By contrast, especially the port of Skagway under US jurisdiction in Southeast Alaska became infamous for its criminal underworld.The extreme climate and remoteness of the region in general meant that supplies and communication with the outside world including news and mail were scarce. Boomtowns The ports of Dyea and Skagway, through which most of the prospectors entered, were tiny settlements before the gold rush, Skagway consisting of only a single log cabin, and Dyea comprising a handful of Tlingit houses and the Healy & Wilson trading\",\n \"& Wilson trading store.Because there were nodocking facilities, ships had to unload their cargo directly onto the beach, where people tried to move their goods before high tide.Inevitablycargoswere lost in the process.Some travellers had arrived intending to supply goods and services to the would-be miners; some of these in turn, realizing how difficult it would be to reach Dawson, chose to do the same.Within weeks, storehouses, saloons, and offices lined the muddy streets of Dyea and Skagway, surrounded by tents andhovels. Skagway became famous in international media; the authorJohn Muirdescribed the town as \\\"a nest of ants taken into a strange country and stirred up by a stick\\\".While Dyea remained a transit point throughout the winter, Skagway began to take on a more permanent character.Skagway also built wharves out into the bay in order to attract a greater share of the prospectors.The town was effectively lawless, dominated by drinking, gunfire and prostitution.The visiting NWMP SuperintendentSam\",\n \"SuperintendentSam Steelenoted that it was \\\"little better than a hell on earth ... about the roughest place in the world\\\".Nonetheless, by the summer of 1898, with a population—including migrants—of between 15,000 and 20,000, Skagway was the largest city in Alaska. In early 1898 Skagway fell under the control ofJefferson Randolph \\\"Soapy\\\" Smithand his men, who arrived from Seattle shortly after Skagway began to expand.He was an Americanconfidence manwhose gang, 200 to 300 strong, cheated and stole from the prospectors travelling through the region.He maintained the illusion of being an upstanding member of the community, opening three saloons as well as creating fake businesses to assist in his operations.One of his scams was a faketelegraph officecharging to send messages all over the US and Canada, often pretending to receive a reply.Opposition to Smith steadily grew and, after weeks ofvigilanteactivity, he was killed in Skagway during theshootout on Juneau Wharfon July 8, 1898. Other towns also\",\n \"Other towns also boomed.Wrangell, port of the Stikine route and boom town from earlier gold rushes, increased in size again, with robberies, gambling and nude female dancing commonplace.Valdez, formed on theGulf of Alaskaduring the attempt to create the \\\"All-American\\\" route to the Klondike during the winter of 1897–1898, became a tent city of people who stayed behind to supply the ill-fated attempts to reach the interior.Edmonton, Alberta (at that time, the District of Alberta in the Northwest Territories), Canada, increased from a population of 1,200 before the gold rush to 4,000 during 1898.Beyond the immediate region, cities such as San Francisco, Seattle,Tacoma,Portland,Vancouverand Victoria all saw their populations soar as a result of the stampede and the trade it brought along. Dawson City Dawson Citywas founded in the early years of the Klondike goldrush, when prospectorJoe Ladueand shopkeeper Arthur Harper decided to make a profit from the influx to the Klondike.The two men bought 178 acres (72 ha)\",\n \"178 acres (72 ha) of themudflatsat the junction of the Klondike and Yukon rivers from the government and laid out the street plan for a new town, bringing in timber and other supplies to sell to the migrants.The Hän village ofTr'ochëkalong Deer Creek was considered to be too close to the new town, and the NWMP SuperintendentCharles Constantinemoved its inhabitants 3 miles (4.8 km) down-river to a smallreserve.The town, in the beginning simply known as \\\"Harper and Ladue town site\\\", was named Dawson City afterthe director of Canada's Geographical Survey.It grew rapidly to hold 500 people by the winter of 1896, with plots of land selling for $500 ($14,000) each. In the spring of 1898, the Dawson area population, including the surrounding gold fields, rose further to 30,000 as stampeders arrived over the passes.The centre of the town, Front Street, was lined with hastily built buildings and warehouses, together with log cabins and tents spreading out across the rest of the settlement.There was no running water\",\n \"no running water or sewerage, and only twospringsfor drinking water to supplement the increasingly polluted river.In spring, the unpaved streets were churned into thick mud and in summer the settlement reeked of human effluent and was plagued by flies and mosquitoes.Land in Dawson was now scarce, and plots sold for up to $10,000 ($280,000) each; prime locations on Front Street could reach $20,000 ($560,000) while a small log cabin might rent for $100 ($2,800) a month.As a result, Dawson's population spread south into the empty Hän village, renaming it Klondike City.Other communities emerged closer to the mines, such as Granville on Dominion Creek andGrand Forkson Bonanza Creek. The newly built town proved highly vulnerable to fire. Houses were made of wood, heated with stoves and lit by candles andoil lamps; water for emergencies was wanting, especially in the frozen winters.The first major fire occurred on November 25, 1897, started accidentally by dance-hall girl Belle Mitchell.She also accidentally\",\n \"also accidentally started a second major fire on October 14, 1898, which, in the absence of afire brigadein Dawson, destroyed two major saloons, the post-office building and the Bank of British North America at a cost of $500,000 ($14,000,000).The worst fire occurred on April 26, 1899, when a saloon caught fire in the middle of astrikeby the newly established fire brigade.Most of the major landmarks in the town were burned to the ground: 117 buildings were destroyed, with the damage estimated at over $1 million ($28,000,000). Logistics The remoteness of Dawson proved an ongoing problem for the supply of food, and as the population grew to 5,000 in 1897, this became critical.When the rivers iced over, it became clear that there would not be enough food for that winter.The NWMP evacuated some prospectors without supplies toFort Yukonin Alaska from September 30 onwards, while others made their way out of the Klondike in search of food and shelter for the winter. Prices remained high in Dawson and supply\",\n \"Dawson and supply fluctuated according to the season. During the winter of 1897 salt became worth its weight in gold, while nails, vital for construction work, rose in price to $28 ($784) per lb (0.45 kg).Cans of butter sold for $5 ($140) each.The only eight horses in Dawson were slaughtered for dog food as they could not be kept alive over the winter.The first fresh goods arriving in the spring of 1898 sold for record prices, eggs reaching $3 ($84) each and apples $1 ($28). Scurvy, a potentially fatal illness caused by the lack of vitamin C, became a problem, particularly during the winter where fresh food was unavailable. English prospectors gave it the telling name of \\\"Canadian black leg\\\".It struck, among others, writer Jack London and, although not fatal in his case, brought an end to his mining career.Dysenteryandmalariawere also common in Dawson, and an epidemic oftyphoidbroke out in July and ran rampant throughout the summer.Up to 140 patients were taken into the newly constructed St Mary's Hospital\",\n \"St Mary's Hospital and thousands were affected.Measures were taken by the following year to prevent further outbreaks, including the introduction of better sewage management and the piping in of water from further upstream.These gave improvements in 1899, although typhoid remained a problem.The new Hän reserve, however, lay downstream from Dawson City, and here the badly contaminated river continued to contribute to epidemics of typhoid anddiphtheriathroughout the gold rush. Conspicuous consumption Despite these challenges, the huge quantities of gold coming through Dawson City encouraged a lavish lifestyle amongst the richer prospectors. Saloons were typically open 24 hours a day, with whiskey the standard drink.Gambling was popular, with the major saloons each running their own rooms; a culture of high stakes evolved, with rich prospectors routinely betting $1,000 ($28,000) atdiceor playing for a $5,000 ($140,000)pokerpot.The establishments around Front Street had grand façades in aParisianstyle, mirrors\",\n \"mirrors and plate-glass windows and, from late 1898, were lit by electric light.The dance halls in Dawson were particularly prestigious and major status symbols, both for customers and their owners.Wealthy prospectors were expected to drinkchampagneat $60 ($1,660) a bottle, and the Pavilion dancehall cost its owner, Charlie Kimball, as much as $100,000 ($2,800,000) to construct and decorate.Elaborate opera houses were built, bringing singers and specialty acts to Dawson. Tales abounded of prospectors spending huge sums on entertainment — Jimmy McMahon once spent $28,000 ($784,000) in a single evening, for example.Most payments were made in gold dust and in places like saloons, there was so much spilled gold that a profit could be made just by sweeping the floor.Some of the richest prospectors lived flamboyantly in Dawson.Swiftwater Bill, a gambler who rarely went anywhere without wearing silk and diamonds, was one of them. When he discovered the woman he was in love with (who liked eggs, an expensive luxury)\",\n \"expensive luxury) was dining with another man, he allegedly bought all the eggs in Dawson, had them boiled and fed them to dogs.Another miner, Frank Conrad, threw a sequence of gold objects onto a ship as tokens of his esteem when his favourite singer left Dawson City.The wealthiest dance-hall girls followed suit: Daisy D'Avara had a belt made for herself from $340 ($9,520) in gold dollar coins; another, Gertie Lovejoy, had a diamond inserted between her two front teeth.The miner and businessman Alex McDonald, despite being styled the \\\"King of the Klondike\\\", was unusual amongst his peers for his lack of grandiose spending. Law and order Unlike its American equivalents, Dawson City was a law-abiding town.By 1897, 96 members of theNWMP had been sent to the districtand by 1898, this had increased to 288, an expensive commitment by the Canadian government.By June 1898, the force was headed by ColonelSam Steele, an officer with a reputation for firm discipline.In 1898, there were no murders and only a few major\",\n \"only a few major thefts; in all, only about 150 arrests were made in the Yukon for serious offences that year.Of these arrests, over half were for prostitution and resulted from an attempt by the NWMP to regulate the sex industry in Dawson: regular monthly arrests, $50 ($1,400) fines and medical inspections were imposed, with the proceeds being used to fund the local hospitals.The so-calledblue lawswere strictly enforced. Saloons and other establishments closed promptly at midnight on Saturday, and anyone caught working on Sunday was liable to be fined or set to chopping firewood for the NWMP.The NWMP are generally regarded by historians to have been an efficient and honest force during the period, although their task was helped by the geography of the Klondike which made it relatively easy to bar entry to undesirables or prevent suspects from leaving the region. In contrast to the NWMP, the early civil authorities were criticized by the prospectors for being inept and potentially corrupt.Thomas Fawcett was\",\n \"Fawcett was the gold commissioner and temporary head of the Klondike administration at the start of the gold rush; he was accused of keeping the details of new claims secret and allowing what historian Kathryn Winslow termed \\\"carelessness, ignorance and partiality\\\" to reign in the mine recorder's office.Following campaigns against him by prospectors, who were backed by the local press, Fawcett was relieved by the Canadian government.His successor, MajorJames Morrow Walsh, was considered a stronger character and arrived in May 1898, but fell ill and returned east in July.It was left to his replacement, William Ogilvie, supported by aRoyal Commission, to conduct reforms.The Commission, in lack of evidence, cleared Fawcett of all charges, which meant that he was not punished further than being relieved.Ogilvie proved a much stronger administrator and subsequently revisited many of the mining surveys of his predecessors. News and mail In the remote Klondike, there was great demand for news and contact with the\",\n \"contact with the world outside. During the first months of the stampede in 1897, it was said that no news was too old to be read. In the lack of newspapers, some prospectors would read can labels until they knew them by heart.The following year, two teams fought their way over the passes to reach Dawson City first, complete withprinting-presses, with the aim of gaining control of the newspaper market.Gene Kelly, the editor of theKlondike Nuggetarrived first, but without his equipment, and it was the team behind theMidnight Sunwho produced the first daily newspaper in Dawson.TheDawson Minerfollowed shortly after, bringing the number of daily newspapers in the town during the gold rush up to three.TheNuggetsold for $24 ($680) as an annual subscription, and became well known for championing miners and for its lucid coverage of scandals.Paper was often hard to find and during the winter of 1898–99, theNuggethad to be printed on butcher's wrapping paper.News could also be told. In June, 1898, a prospector bought\",\n \"a prospector bought an edition of theSeattle Post-Intelligencerat an auction and charged spectators a dollar each to have it read aloud in one of Dawson's halls. Mail service was chaotic during the stampede.Apart from the number of prospectors, two major obstacles stood in its way. To begin with, any mail from America to Dawson City was sent to Juneau in South-east Alaska before being sent through Dawson and then down the Yukon to Circle City. From here it was then distributed by theUS Post Officeback up to Dawson.The huge distances involved resulted in delays of several months and frequently the loss of protective envelopes and their addresses.The second problem was in Dawson itself, which initially lacked a post office and therefore relied on two stores and a saloon to act as informal delivery points.The NWMP were tasked to run the mail system by October 1897, but they were ill-trained to do so.Up to 5,700 letters might arrive in a single shipment, all of which had to be collected in person from the post\",\n \"from the post office. This resulted in huge queues, with claimants lining up outside the office for up to three days.Those who had no time and could afford it would pay others to stand in line for them, preferably a woman since they were allowed to get ahead in line out of politeness.Postage stamps, like paper in general, were scarce and rationed to two per customer.By 1899, trained postal staff took over mail delivery and relieved the NWMP of this task. Role of women In 1898 eight percent of those living in the Klondike territory were women, and in towns like Dawson this rose to 12 percent.Many women arrived with their husbands or families, but others travelled alone.Most came to the Klondike for similar economic and social reasons as male prospectors, but they attracted particular media interest.The gender imbalance in the Klondike encouraged business proposals to ship young, single women into the region to marry newly wealthy miners; few, if any, of these marriages ever took place, but some single women\",\n \"some single women appear to have travelled on their own in the hope of finding prosperous husbands.Guidebooks gave recommendations for what practical clothes women should take to the Klondike: the female dress code of the time was formal, emphasising long skirts andcorsets, but most women adapted this for the conditions of the trails.Regardless of experience, women in a party were typically expected to cook for the group.Few mothers brought their children with them due to the risks of the travel. Once in the Klondike, very few women—less than one percent—actually worked as miners.Many were married to miners; however, their lives as partners on the gold fields were still hard and often lonely. They had extensive domestic duties, including thawing ice and snow for water, breaking up frozen food, chopping wood and collecting wild foods.In Dawson and other towns, some women took in laundry to make money.This was a physically demanding job but could be relatively easily combined with child care duties.Others took\",\n \"duties.Others took jobs in the service industry, for example as waitresses or seamstresses, which could pay well, but were often punctuated by periods of unemployment.Both men and women openedroadhouses, but women were considered to be better at running them.A few women worked in the packing trade, carrying goods on their backs, or became domestic servants. Wealthier women with capital might invest in mines and other businesses.One of the most prominent businesswomen in the Klondike wasBelinda Mulrooney. She brought a consignment of cloth and hot water bottles with her when she arrived in the Klondike in early 1897, and with the proceeds of those sales she first builta roadhouse at Grand Forksand later a grand hotel in Dawson.She invested widely, including acquiring her own mining company, and was reputed to be the richest woman of the Klondike.The wealthyMartha Blackwas abandoned by her husband early in the journey to the Klondike but continued on without him, reaching Dawson City where she became a\",\n \"where she became a prominent citizen, investing in various mining and business ventures with her brother. A relatively small number of women worked in the entertainment andsex industries.Theeliteof these women were the highly paid actresses and courtesans of Dawson; beneath them werechorus linedancers, who usually doubled as hostesses and other dance hall workers.While still better paid than white-collar male workers, these women worked very long hours and had significant expenses.The entertainment industry merged into the sex industry, where women made a living as prostitutes. The sex industry in the Klondike was concentrated in Klondike City and in a backstreet area of Dawson.A hierarchy of sexual employment existed, with brothels and parlour houses at the top, small independent \\\"cigar shops\\\" in the middle, and, at the bottom, the prostitutes who worked out of small huts called \\\"hutches\\\".Life for these workers was a continual struggle and the suicide rate was high. The degree of involvement between\",\n \"involvement between Indigenous women and the stampeders varied. Many Tlingit women worked as packers for the prospectors, for example, carrying supplies and equipment, sometimes also transporting their babies as well.Hän women had relatively little contact with the white immigrants, however, and there was a significant social divide between local Hän women and white women.Although before 1897 there had been a number of Indigenous women who married western men, including Kate Carmack, the Tagish wife of one of the discoverers, this practice did not survive into the stampede.Very few stampeders married Hän women, and very few Hän women worked as prostitutes.\\\"Respectable\\\" white women would avoid associating with Indigenous women or prostitutes: those who did risked scandal. End of the gold rush By 1899 telegraphy stretched fromSkagway, Alaska, to Dawson City, Yukon, allowing instant international contact.In 1898, theWhite Pass and Yukon Routerailway began to be built between Skagway and thehead of navigation on\",\n \"of navigation on the Yukon.When it was completed in 1900, the Chilkoot trail and its tramways became obsolete.Despite these improvements in communication and transport, the rush faltered from 1898 on.It began in the summer of 1898, when many of the prospectors arriving in Dawson City found themselves unable to make a living and left for home.For those who stayed, the wages of casual work, depressed by the number of men, fell to $100 ($2,700) a month by 1899. The world's newspapers began to turn against the Klondike gold rush as well.In the spring of 1898, theSpanish–American Warremoved Klondike from the headlines.\\\"Ah, go to the Klondike!\\\" became a popular phrase of disgust.Klondike-branded goods had to be disposed of at special rates in Seattle. Another factor in the decline was the change in Dawson City, which had developed throughout 1898, metamorphosing from a ramshackle, if wealthy, boom town into a more sedate, conservative municipality.Modern luxuries were introduced, including \\\"zinc bath tubs, pianos,\",\n \"bath tubs, pianos, billiard tables, Brussels carpets in hotel dining rooms, menus printed in French and invitational balls\\\" as noted by historian Kathryn Winslow.Visiting Senator Jerry Lynch likened the newly paved streets with their smartly dressed inhabitants tothe Strandin London.It was no longer attractive for prospectors used to a wilder way of living.Even the formerly lawless town of Skagway had become respectable by 1899. The final trigger, however, was the discovery of gold elsewhere in Canada and Alaska, prompting a new stampede, this time away from the Klondike. In August 1898, gold had been found atAtlin Lakeat the head of the Yukon River, generating a flurry of interest, but during the winter of 1898–99 much larger quantities were foundat Nome.In 1899, a flood of prospectors from across the region left for Nome, about 2,500 from Dawson alone during August and September.The Klondike gold rush was over. Legacy People Only a few hundred of the 100,000 people who left for the Klondike during the gold\",\n \"during the gold rush became rich, and only a handful managed to maintain their wealth.They typically spent $1,000 ($27,000) each reaching the region, which when combined exceeded what was produced from the gold fields between 1897 and 1901.Those who did find gold often lost their fortunes in the subsequent years and died penniless attempting to reproduce their earlier good fortune.Businessman and miner Alex McDonald, for example, continued to accumulate land after the boom until his money ran out; he died in poverty, still prospecting. Antoine Stander, who discovered gold on Eldorado Creek, abused alcohol, dissipated his fortune and ended working in a ship's kitchen to pay his way.The three discoverers had mixed fates. George Carmack left his wife Kate—who had found it difficult to adapt to their new lifestyle—remarried and lived in relative prosperity; Skookum Jim had a huge income from his mining royalties but refused to settle and continued to prospect until his death in 1916; Dawson Charlie spent\",\n \"Charlie spent lavishly and died in an alcohol-related accident. The richest of the Klondike saloon owners, businessmen and gamblers also typically lost their fortunes and died in poverty.Gene Allen, for example, the editor of theKlondike Nugget, becamebankruptand spent the rest of his career in smaller newspapers; the prominent gambler and saloon owner Sam Bonnifield suffered anervous breakdownand died in extreme poverty.Nonetheless, some of those who joined the gold rush prospered.Kathleen Rockwell, for example, became a famous dancer in Dawson and remained popular in America until her death. Rockwell's tales from the North invigorated readers and audience members across the United States and Canada. Becoming known as 'Klondike Kate' to those who read about her adventures, Rockwell became a star.However, her tall tales and catchy nickname were plagiarized fromNew Brunswicker Katherine Ryan,The Real Klondike Kate,and one of the first individuals to arrive in the Klondike not long after gold was discovered in\",\n \"was discovered in the area.Katherine Ryan may not have received deserving recognition in the public eye,but she is remembered as one of the first women to walk theStikine Trail, as an early suffragette, and as an integral piece of Dawson City's culture.Dawson City was also whereAlexander Pantages, her business partner and lover, started his career, going on to become one of America's greatest theatre and movietycoons.The businesswoman Martha Black, who had been abandoned by her husband on the way to the Klondike, remarried and ultimately became the second female member of theParliament of Canada. The impact of the gold rush on the Native peoples of the region was considerable.The Tlingit and the Koyukon peoples prospered in the short term from their work as guides, packers and from selling food and supplies to the prospectors.In the longer term, however, especially the Hän people living in the Klondike region suffered from the environmental damage of the gold mining on the rivers and forests.Their population\",\n \"population had already begun to decline after the discovery of gold along Fortymile River in the 1880s but dropped catastrophically after their move to the reserve, a result of the contaminated water supply andsmallpox.The Hän found only few ways to benefit economically from the gold rush and their fishing and hunting grounds were largely destroyed. By 1904 they needed aid from theNWMPto prevent famine. Places Dawson City declined after the gold rush. When journalist Laura Berton (future mother ofPierre Berton) moved to Dawson in 1907 it was still thriving, but away from Front Street, the town had become increasingly deserted, jammed, as she put it, \\\"with the refuse of the gold rush: stoves, furniture, gold-pans, sets of dishes, double-belledseltzer bottles... piles of rusting mining machinery—boilers, winches, wheelbarrows and pumps\\\".By 1912, only around 2,000 inhabitants remained, compared to the 30,000 of the boom years, and the site was becoming aghost town.By 1972, 500 people were living in Dawson,\",\n \"living in Dawson, while the nearby settlements created during the gold rush had been entirely abandoned.The population has grown since the 1970s, with 1,300 recorded in 2006. During the gold rush, transport improvements meant that heavier mining equipment could be brought in and larger, more modern mines established in the Klondike, revolutionising the gold industry.Gold production increased until 1903 as a result of the dredging and hydraulic mining, but then declined; by 2005, approximately 1,250,000 pounds (570,000 kg) had been recovered from the Klondike area.In the 21st century, Dawson City still has a small gold mining industry, which together with tourism, taking advantage of the legacy of the gold rush, plays a role in the local economy. Many buildings in the centre of the town reflect the style of the era.The Klondike River valley was affected by the gold rush by the heavy dredging that occurred after it. The port of Skagway also shrank after the rush, but remains a well-preserved period town,\",\n \"period town, centred on the tourist industry and sightseeing trips from visitingcruise ships.TheNational Park Servicerestored Jeff Smith's Parlor, from which the famous con man \\\"Soapy\\\" Smith once operated, during 2010–2016.Skagway also has one of the two visitor centres forming theKlondike Gold Rush National Historical Park; the other is located in Seattle, and both focus on the human interest stories behind the gold rush.By contrast, Dyea, Skagway's neighbour and former rival, was abandoned after the gold rush and is now a ghost town.The railway built for prospectors through White Pass in the last year of the rush reopened in 1988 and is today only used by tourists, closely linked to the Chilkoot trail which is a popularhikingroute. TheTr’ondëk-Klondike World Heritage Site, aUNESCO World Heritage Site in Canada, protects a series of eight properties that attest to the effects of the rapid colonization of the area, including the Gold Rush, on theTr’ondëk Hwëch’inpeople. The World Heritage Site was designated\",\n \"Site was designated in 2023. Culture The events of the Klondike gold rush rapidly became embedded in North American culture, being captured in poems, stories, photographs and promotional campaigns long after the end of the stampede.In the Yukon, Discovery Day is celebrated on the third Monday in August as a holiday, and the events of the gold rush are promoted by the regional tourist industries.The events of the gold rush were frequently exaggerated at the time and modern works on the subject similarly often focus on the most dramatic and exciting events of the stampede, not always accurately.HistorianKen Coatesdescribes the gold rush as \\\"a resilient, pliable myth\\\", which continues to fascinate and appeal. Several novels, books and poems were generated as a consequence of the Klondike gold rush. The writer Jack London incorporated scenes from the gold rush into his novels and short stories set in the Klondike, includingThe Call of the Wild, a 1903 novel about a sled dog.His colleague, poetRobert W. Service,\",\n \"W. Service, did not join the rush himself, although he made his home in Dawson City in 1908. Service created well-known poems about the gold rush, among themSongs of a Sourdough, one of the bestselling books of poetry in the first decade of the 20th century, along with his novel,The Trail of '98, which was written by hand on wallpaper in one of Dawson's log cabins.The Canadian historianPierre Bertongrew up in Dawson where his father had been a prospector, and wrote several historical books about the gold rush, such asThe Last Great Gold Rush.The experiences of the IrishMicí Mac Gabhannresulted the posthumous workRotha Mór an tSaoil(translated into English asThe Hard Road to Klondikein 1962), a vivid description of the period. Some terminology from the stampede made its way into North American English like \\\"cheechakos\\\", referring to newly arrived miners, and \\\"sourdoughs\\\", experienced miners.The photographs taken during the Klondike gold rush heavily influenced later cultural approaches to the stampede.The\",\n \"to the stampede.The gold rush was vividly recorded by several early photographers, for instanceEric A. Hegg; these stark, black-and-white photographs showing the ascent of the Chilkoot pass rapidly became iconic images and were widely distributed.These pictures, in turn, inspiredCharlie Chaplinto makeThe Gold Rush, a silent movie, which uses the background of the Klondike to combine physical comedy with its character's desperate battle for survival in the harsh conditions of the stampede.The photographs reappear in the documentaryCity of Goldfrom 1957 which, narrated byPierre Berton, won prizes for pioneering the incorporation of still images into documentary film-making.The Klondike gold rush, however, has not been widely covered in later fictional films; evenThe Far Country, aWesternfrom 1955 set in the Klondike, largely ignores the unique features of the gold rush in favour of a traditional Western plot.Indeed, much of the popular literature on the gold rush approaches the stampede simply as a final phase\",\n \"as a final phase of the expansion of theAmerican West, a perception critiqued by modern historians such as Charlene Porsild. Charts and tables Maps of routes and goldfields Dyea/Skagway routes and Dalton trail Takou, Stikine and Edmonton routes Goldfields Gold production in Yukon, 1892–1912 Population growth of west coast cities, 1890–1900 Klondikers supply list The list was a suggestion of equipment and supplies sufficient to support a prospector for one year, generated by the Northern Pacific Railroad company in 1897. The total weight is approximately 1 ton, and the estimated cost amounted to $140 ($3,800). Timeline 1896 1897 1898 1899 Source: See also Notes References Bibliography External links Archives\",\n \"Hän TheHän,HanorHwëch'in / Han Hwech’in(meaning \\\"People of the River, i.e. Yukon River\\\", in English alsoHankutchin) are aFirst Nationspeople of Canada and anAlaska NativeAthabaskanpeople of the United States; they are part of theAthabaskan-speakingethnolinguistic group. Their traditional lands centered on a heavilyforestedarea around theUpper Yukon River (Chu Kon'Dëk),Klondike River (Tr'on'Dëk),Bonanza Creek (Gàh Dëk)andSixtymile River (Khel Dëk)and straddling what is now theAlaska-Yukon Territoryborder. In later times, the Han population became centered inDawson City, YukonandEagle, Alaska. Etymology The nameHänorHanis a shortening of their own name asHwëch'in / Han Hwech’in, and of theGwich’inwordHangʷičʼinfor the Hän, both literally meaning \\\"People of the River, i.e. the Yukon River\\\". This word has been spelled variously asHankutchin,Han-Kootchin,Hun-koo-chin,Hong-Kutchin,An Kutchin,Han Kutchin,Han-Kutchín,Hăn-Kŭtchin´,Hän Hwëch'in, andHungwitchin. The Hän were often mistaken for just anotherGwich'in\",\n \"anotherGwich'in (Kutchin)band, especially as part of the Dagoo Gwich'in / Tukudh Gwich'in and Teetł'it Gwich'in / Teetl'it Zheh Gwich'in. The French traders called the HänGens du fou,Gens de Fou,Gens de Foux,Gens des Foux, orGens-de-fine. The nameGens de Foux(and variants) has also been used to refer to theNorthern Tutchone (Dan or Huč’an). The Hankutchin were then known asGens de BoisorGens des Bois,in association with their forested territory. History of the Hän The Hän were one of the last Northern Athabascan groups to have contact with European peoples. In 1851 Robert Campbell from theHudson's Bay Companybecame the first white man known to have entered Han territory, when he traveled fromFort SelkirktoFort Yukon. It was not until 1873 and 1874 (after theUnited Statespurchase ofAlaska), that two trading posts were set up. One was established by Moses Mercier, a former employee of theHudson's Bay Company, inBelle Isleacross theEagle River. The other,Fort Reliance, was established on theYukon, just below\",\n \"just below the mouth of theKlondike River, nearDawson, by twoAlaska Commercial Companytraders, Leroy N. McQuesten and Frank Bonifield. Graduallytrading with whitesresulted in the Han shifting from their traditional fishing-hunting economy to a fur-trapping economy, as they grew increasingly reliant on such European goods as guns, clothing, and canvas from 1887 to 1895. Bishop William Bompas established the firstAnglican Churchmission in Hän territory, and gradually the people shifted away from traditional religion. They also combined it with Christianity in a syncretic fashion. The Han suffered high mortality during several epidemics of new infectious diseases, to which they had no immunity. Culture Food Historically, fish, especially salmon, comprised the main part of the Hän diet.King salmonwas caught along the Yukon River in June andchum salmonin August. Fishing tools includedweirs,traps,gill nets,dip nets,spears, andharpoons. Salmon was dried and stored for winter consumption. Between thesalmon runsfrom\",\n \"thesalmon runsfrom June–September, the river camps were abandoned. The Han men sought other fish, moose, caribou, birds, bears, and small game. Men hunted game (once after the salmon run and later for caribou in February and March) while women fished (for fish other than salmon). The women traditionally cooked by boiling food with water heated by stones that been placed in a fire and then dropped in woven spruce-root baskets. Housing A square half-recessed house was made of wooden poles and moss insulation (called amoss house). This served as the main type of housing. The people erected temporary domed houses made of skin stretched over tied branches when they were traveling. Language TheHän languageis most similar toGwich’in(Kutchin). It is more distantly related toUpper TananaandNorthern Tutchone. The language was used as alingua francabyGwich’in,Tutchone,Tagish, and Upper Tanana peoples toward the end of the 19th century during theGold Rush in the Yukon. The language is now the mostendangered languageof\",\n \"languageof Alaska, with only a few speakers (all are over 60 years of age). The language may have ancient, earlyHoloceneorigins in the region. In media See also References Bibliography External links\",\n \"Hudson's Bay Company TheHudson's Bay Company(HBC;French:Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadianretailbusiness group. Afur tradingbusiness for much of its existence, it became the largest and oldest corporation in Canada, before evolving into a majorfashionretailer, operating retail stores across both the United States and Canada.The company's namesake business division isHudson's Bay, commonly referred to as The Bay (La Baiein French). After incorporation by Englishroyal charterin 1670, the company was granted a right of \\\"sole trade and commerce\\\" over an expansive area of land known asRupert's Land, comprising much of theHudson Bay drainage basin.This right effectively gave the company acommercial monopolyover that area. The HBC functioned as thede factogovernment in Rupert's Land for nearly 200 years until the HBC relinquished control of the land to Canada in 1869 as part of theDeed of Surrender,authorized by theRupert's Land Act 1868. At its peak, the company controlled the fur trade throughout much of\",\n \"throughout much of the English- and laterBritish-controlled North America. By the mid-19th century, the company evolved into a mercantile business selling a wide variety of products from furs to finehomewarein a small number of sales shops (as opposed totrading posts) across Canada.These shops were the first step towards the department stores the company owns today. In 2006,Jerry Zucker, an American businessman, bought HBC for US$1.1 billion. In 2008, HBC was acquired byNRDC Equity Partners, which also owned the upmarket American department storeLord & Taylor.From 2008 to 2012, the HBC was run through a holding company of NRDC,Hudson's Bay Trading Company, which was dissolved in early 2012.HBC's U.S. headquarters are inLower Manhattan, New York City,while its Canadian headquarters are inToronto.The company spun off most of its European operations by August 2019 and its remaining stores there, in theNetherlands, were sold by the end of 2019. Until March 2020, the company was listed on theToronto Stock\",\n \"on theToronto Stock Exchangeunder the symbol \\\"HBC.TO\\\" untilRichard Bakerand a group of shareholders took the company private.HBC is, as of 2022,the majority owner of eCommerce companiesSaks Fifth AvenueandSaks Off 5th,both established as separate operating companies in 2021.HBC wholly owns SFA, the entity that operates Saks Fifth Avenue's physical locations;O5, the operating company for Saks Off 5th stores;The Bay, an eCommerce marketplace and Hudson's Bay, the operating company for Hudson's Bay'sbrick-and-mortarstores.In July 2024, HBC announced that it would acquire theNeiman Marcus Groupfor US$2.65 billion and fold it into the new flagship entity Saks Fifth Avenue Global. HBC owns or controls approximately 3.7 million square metres (40 million square feet) of gross leasable real estatethrough its real estate and investment arm, HBC Properties and Investments, established in October 2020. History 17th century For much of the 17th century, the French colonists in North America, based inNew France, operated\",\n \"France, operated ade factomonopolyin the North Americanfur trade. TwoFrenchtraders,Pierre-Esprit RadissonandMédard des Groseilliers(Médard de Chouart, Sieur des Groseilliers), Radisson's brother-in-law, learned from theCreethat the best fur country lay north and west ofLake Superior, and that there was a \\\"frozen sea\\\" still further north.Assuming this was Hudson Bay, they sought French backing for a plan to set up a trading post on the Bay in order to reduce the cost of moving furs overland. According toPeter C. Newman, \\\"concerned that exploration of the Hudson Bay route might shift the focus of the fur trade away from theSt. Lawrence River, the French governor\\\",Marquis d'Argenson(in office 1658–61), \\\"refused to grant thecoureurs des boispermission to scout the distant territory\\\".Despite this refusal, in 1659 Radisson and Groseilliers set out for the upper Great Lakes basin. A year later they returned to Montreal with premium furs, evidence of the potential of the Hudson Bay region. Subsequently, they were\",\n \"they were arrested by French authorities for trading without a licence and fined, and their furs were confiscated by the government. Determined to establish trade in the Hudson Bay area, Radisson and Groseilliers approached a group of English colonial merchants inBostonto help finance their explorations. The Bostonians agreed on the plan's merits, but their speculative voyage in 1663 failed when their ship ran intopack iceinHudson Strait. Boston-based English commissionerColonel George Cartwrightlearned of the expedition and brought the two to England to raise financing.Radisson and Groseilliers arrived in London in 1665 at the height of theGreat Plague. Eventually, the two met and gained the sponsorship ofPrince Rupert. Prince Rupert introduced the two to his cousin, the reigning king –Charles II.In 1668 the English expedition acquired two ships, theNonsuchand theEaglet, to explore possible trade into Hudson Bay. Groseilliers sailed on theNonsuch, commanded by CaptainZachariah Gillam, while theEagletwas\",\n \"while theEagletwas commanded by Captain William Stannard and accompanied by Radisson. On 5 June 1668, both ships left port atDeptford, England, but theEagletwas forced to turn back off the coast of Ireland. TheNonsuchcontinued toJames Bay, the southern portion of Hudson Bay, where its explorers founded, in 1668, the first fort on Hudson Bay, Charles Fortat the mouth of theRupert River. It later became known as \\\"Rupert House\\\", and developed as the community of present-dayWaskaganish, Quebec. Both thefortand the river were named after the sponsor of the expedition, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, one of the major investors and soon to become the new company's first governor. After a successful trading expedition over the winter of 1668–69,Nonsuchreturned to England on 9 October 1669 with the first cargo of fur resulting from trade in Hudson Bay.The bulk of the fur – worth £1,233 – was sold to Thomas Glover, one of London's most prominent furriers. This and subsequent purchases by Glover proved the viability of the\",\n \"viability of the fur trade in Hudson Bay. A royal charter from King Charles II incorporated \\\"The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson's Bay\\\" on 2 May 1670.The charter granted the company a monopoly over the region drained by all rivers and streams flowing into Hudson Bay in northern parts of present-day Canada, taking possession on behalf of England. The area was named \\\"Rupert's Land\\\"after Prince Rupert,the first governor of the company appointed by the King. This drainage basin of Hudson Bay spans 3,861,400 square kilometres (1,490,900 sq mi),comprising over one-third of the area of modern-day Canada, and stretches into the present-day north-centralUnited States. The specific boundaries remained unknown at the time. Rupert's Land would eventually become Canada's largest land\\\"purchase\\\"in the 19th century. The HBC established six posts between 1668 and 1717. Rupert House(1668, southeast),Moose Factory(1673, south) and Fort Albany,Ontario (1679, west) were erected on James Bay;\",\n \"on James Bay; three other posts were established on the western shore of Hudson Bay proper:New Severn(1685),York Factory(1684), andFort Churchill(1717). Inland postswere not builtuntil 1774. After 1774, York Factory became the main post because of its convenient access to the vast interior waterway-systems of theSaskatchewanandRedrivers. Originally called \\\"factories\\\" because the\\\"factor\\\", i.e., a person acting as a mercantile agent, did business from there, these posts operated in the manner of the Dutch fur-trading operations inNew Netherland. By adoption of the Standard of Trade in the 18th century, the HBC ensured consistent pricing throughout Rupert's Land. A means of exchange arose based on the \\\"Made Beaver\\\" (MB); a prime pelt, worn for a year and ready for processing: \\\"the prices of all trade goods were set in values of Made Beaver (MB) with other animal pelts, such as squirrel, otter and moose quoted in their MB (made beaver) equivalents. For example, two otter pelts might equal 1 MB\\\". During the fall\",\n \"During the fall and winter,First Nationsmen and Europeanfur trappersaccomplished the vast majority of the animal trapping and pelt preparation. They travelled bycanoeand on foot to the forts to sell their pelts. In exchange they typically received popular trade-goods such as knives, kettles, beads, needles, and theHudson's Bay point blanket. The arrival of the First Nations trappers was one of the high points of the year, met with pomp and circumstance. The highlight was very formal, an almost ritualized \\\"Trading Ceremony\\\" between the Chief Trader and the Captain of the aboriginal contingent who traded on their behalf.During the initial years of the fur trade, prices for items varied from post to post. The early coastal factory model of the English contrasted with the system of the French, who established an extensive system of inland posts at native villages and sent traders to live among the tribes of the region, learning their languages and often forming alliances through marriages with indigenous women.\",\n \"indigenous women. In March 1686 the French sent araiding partyunder theChevalier des Troyesmore than 1,300 km (810 mi) to capture the HBC posts along James Bay. The French appointedPierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, who had shown great heroism during the raids, as commander of the company's captured posts. In 1687 an English attempt toresettle Fort Albanyfailed due to strategic deceptions by d'Iberville. After 1688 England and Francewere officially at war, and the conflict played out in North America as well. D'Iberville raided Fort Severn in 1690 but did not attempt to raid the well-defended local headquarters at York Factory. In 1693 the HBCrecovered Fort Albany; d'Ibervillecaptured York Factoryin 1694, but the company recovered it the next year.: 151–158 In 1697, d'Iberville again commanded a French naval raid on York Factory. On the way to the fort he defeated three ships of the Royal Navy in theBattle of Hudson's Bay(5 September 1697), the largest naval battle in the history of the North American Arctic.\",\n \"American Arctic. D'Iberville's depleted French force captured York Factory by laying siege to the fort and pretending to be a much larger army. The French retained all of the outposts except Fort Albany until 1713. A small French and Indian force attacked Fort Albany againin 1709duringQueen Anne's Warbut was unsuccessful. The economic consequences of the French possession of these posts for the company were significant; the HBC did not pay any dividends for more than 20 years. SeeAnglo-French conflicts on Hudson Bay.: 160–164 18th century With the ending of theNine Years' Warin 1697, and theWar of the Spanish Successionin 1713 with the signing of theTreaty of Utrecht, France had made substantial concessions. Among the treaty's many provisions, it required France to relinquish all claims to Great Britain on the Hudson Bay, which again became a British possession.(TheKingdom of Great Britainhad been established following the union of Scotland and England in 1707). After the treaty, the HBC builtPrince of Wales\",\n \"of Wales Fort, a stonestar fortat the mouth of the nearbyChurchill River.: 202–206In 1782, during theAmerican Revolutionary War, a French squadron underJean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérousecaptured and demolishedYork Factory and Prince of Wales Fort in support of the American rebels.: 366–371 In its trade with native peoples, Hudson's Bay Company exchanged wool blankets, called Hudson's Bay point blankets, for the beaver pelts trapped by aboriginal hunters. By 1700, point blankets accounted for more than 60 percent of the trade.The number ofindigostripes (a.k.a. points) woven into the blankets identified its finished size. A long-held misconception is that the number of stripes was related to its value in beaver pelts. A parallel may be drawn between the HBC's control over Rupert's Land with the trade monopoly and government functions enjoyed by theEast India Companyover India during roughly the same period. The HBC invested £10,000 in the East India Company in 1732, which it viewed as a major\",\n \"viewed as a major competitor. Hudson's Bay Company's first inland trading post was established bySamuel Hearnein 1774 withCumberland House, Saskatchewan. Conversely, a number of inland HBC \\\"houses\\\" pre-date the construction of Cumberland House, in 1774. Henley House, established in 1743, inland from Hudson Bay, at the confluence of the Albany and Kabinakagami Rivers, was dependent on Albany River – Fort Albany for lines of communication, was not \\\"finished\\\" until 1768.Next, the inland houses of Split Lake and Nelson Houses were established between 1740 and 1760. These were dependent on York River – York Factory and Churchill River, respectively. Although not inland, Richmond Fort was established in 1749. This was on an island within Hudson Bay. It was titled a \\\"New Discovery\\\" in 1749, and by 1750 was titled Richmond Gulf. The name was changed to Richmond Fort and given the abbreviation RF from 1756 to 1759, it served mainly as a trade goods and provisions storage location.Additional inland posts were Capusco\",\n \"posts were Capusco River and Chickney Creek, both circa 1750. Likewise, Brunswick (1776), New Brunswick (1777), Gloucester (1777), Upper Hudson (ca. 1778), Lower Hudson (1779), Rupert, and Wapiscogami Houses were established in the decade of the 1770s.These post-date Cumberland House, yet speak to the expanding inland incursion of the HBC in the last quarter of the 18th century. Minor posts also during this time period include Mesackamy/Mesagami Lake (1777), Sturgeon Lake (1778), Beaver Lake Posts. In 1779, other traders founded theNorth West Company(NWC) inMontrealas a seasonal partnership to provide more capital and to continue competing with the HBC. It became operative for the outfit of 1780 and was the firstjoint-stock companyin Canada and possibly North America. The agreement lasted one year. A second agreement established in 1780 had a three-year term. The company became a permanent entity in 1783.By 1784, the NWC had begun to make serious inroads into the HBC's profits. 19th century The North West\",\n \"The North West Company (NWC) was the main rival in the fur trade. The competition led to the smallPemmican Warin 1816. TheBattle of Seven Oakson 19 June 1816 was the climax of the long dispute.In 1821, the North West Company of Montreal and Hudson's Bay Company were forcibly merged by intervention of the British government to put an end to often-violent competition. 175 posts, 68 of them the HBC's, were reduced to 52 for efficiency and because many were redundant as a result of the rivalry and were inherently unprofitable.Their combined territory was extended by a licence to theNorth-Western Territory, which reached to theArctic Oceanin the north and, with the creation of theColumbia Departmentin thePacific Northwest, to thePacific Oceanin the west. The NWC's regional headquarters atFort George(Fort Astoria) was relocated toFort Vancouverby 1825 on the north bank of the Columbia River; it became the HBC base of operations on the Pacific Slope.: 369–370 Before the merger, the employees of the HBC, unlike\",\n \"of the HBC, unlike those of the North West Company, did not participate in its profits. After the merger, with all operations under the management ofSir George Simpson(1826–60), the company had a corps of commissioned officers: 25 chief factors and 28 chief traders, who shared in the company's profits during the monopoly years. Its trade covered 7,770,000 km2(3,000,000 sq mi), and it had 1,500 contract employees. Between 1820 and 1870, the HBC issued its ownpaper money. The notes, denominated in sterling, were printed in London and issued at York Factory for circulation primarily in theRed River Colony. Competition and exploration Although the HBC maintained a monopoly on the fur trade during the early to mid-19th century, there was competition from James Sinclair andAndrew McDermot(Dermott), independent traders in the Red River Colony. They shipped furs by theRed River TrailstoNorman Kittson,a buyer in the United States. In addition, Americans controlled themaritime fur tradeon the Northwest Coast until the\",\n \"Coast until the 1830s. Throughout the 1820s and the 1830s, the HBC controlled nearly all trading operations in the Pacific Northwest region and was based at its headquarters at Fort Vancouver, on theColumbia River.Although claims to the region were by agreement in abeyance, commercial operating rights were nominally shared by the United States and Britain through theAnglo-American Convention of 1818, but company policy, enforced via Chief FactorJohn McLoughlinof the company'sColumbia District, was to discourage U.S. settlement of the territory. The company's effective monopoly on trade virtually forbade any settlement in the region.: 370 Additional early presence in present-day United States Over and above the NWC Fort George headquarters site, the HBC carried on the early presence in the region of the NWC when it merged in 1821 with noteworthy sites:Spokane House,Fort OkanoganandFort Nez Percés.Fort Colvillelocated further North on the Columbia River replaced Spokane House in 1825. Fort Umpquawas\",\n \"Fort Umpquawas established in 1832 in present-day southernOregonafter theWillamette Riverhad been explored up toward its headwaters by mainly the NWC. Nisqually House was built during the same year to establish a presence further North on Puget Sound in present-day State ofWashington, resulting inFort Nisquallya few years later closer to present-day Canadian sites. The HBC establishedFort Boisein 1834 (in present-day southwestern Idaho) to compete with the AmericanFort Hall, 483 km (300 mi) to the east. In 1837, it purchased Fort Hall, also along the route of theOregon Trail. The outpost director displayed the abandoned wagons of discouraged settlers to those seeking to move west along the trail. HBC trappers were also deeply involved in the early exploration and development ofNorthern California. Company trapping brigades were sent south from Fort Vancouver, along what became known as theSiskiyou Trail, into Northern California as far south as theSan Francisco Bay Area, where the company operated a trading\",\n \"operated a trading post atYerba Buena(San Francisco). The southern-most camp of the company wasFrench Camp, east of San Francisco in the Central Valley adjacent to the future site of the city ofStockton. These trapping brigades in Northern California faced serious risks, and were often the first to explore relatively uncharted territory. They included the lesser knownPeter Skene OgdenandSamuel Black. The HBC also operated a store in what were then known as the Sandwich Islands (now theHawaiian Islands), engaging in merchant shipping to the islands between 1828 and 1859. Extending the presence it had built in present-day British Columbia northern coast, the HBC reached by 1838 as far North asFort Stikinein theAlaska Panhandleby present-dayWrangell. TheRAC-HBC agreement(1839) with theRussian American Company(RAC) provided for such a continuing presence in exchange for the HBC to supply the Russian coastal sites with agricultural products. ThePuget Sound Agricultural Companysubsidiary was created to supply\",\n \"created to supply grain, dairy, livestock and manufactured goods out of Fort Vancouver, Fort Nisqually,Fort CowlitzandFort Langleyin present-day southern British Columbia. The company's stranglehold on the region was broken by thefirst successful large wagon train to reach Oregon in 1843, led byMarcus Whitman. In the years that followed, thousands of emigrants poured into theWillamette Valleyof Oregon. In 1846, the United States acquired full authority south of the49th parallel; the most settled areas of the Oregon Country were south of the Columbia River in what is now Oregon. McLoughlin, who had once turned away would-be settlers when he was company director, then welcomed them from his general store atOregon City. He later became known as the \\\"Father of Oregon\\\". Early presence in present-day Canada (British Columbia) The HBC also carried on the early presence in the region of the NWC in present-day central and northernBritish Columbiawith noteworthy sites:Fort Alexandria,Fort d'Épinette (Fort St.\",\n \"(Fort St. John),Fort St. James,Fort GeorgeandFort Shuswap (Fort Kamloops). Since the 1818 Treaty settled the 49th degree parallel border only as far as theRocky Mountains, the HBC was looking for a site further West in case the parallel border would become further extended at the end of the 10 years joint occupancy term. By 1824, the HBC was commissioning an expedition to travel from theFort Georgeregional headquarter on the southern shore of theColumbia Riverall the way to theFraser River. The three boats 40some crew led by theJames McMillanwere first to officially ever make it toPuget Soundfrom the continent, to reach its northern end intoBoundary Bayand to bypass the mouth of the Fraser. They shortcut through two mainland rivers and a portage in order to finally reach the lower Fraser. Friendly tribes were identified along with subsistence farming land suitable for sustaining a trading post. The firstFort Langleywas subsequently built (1827), establishing an early settlers long lasting presence in current\",\n \"presence in current day southern British Columbia. The fur trade in a wet climate turned out to be marginal and quickly evolved into a salmon trade site with abundant supply in the vicinity. The HBC stretched its presence North on the coastline withFort Simpson(1831) on theNass River,Fort McLoughlin(1833) and theBeaver(1836), the first steamship to ever roam the Pacific Northwest for resupplying its coastline sites. The HBC was securing a trading monopoly on the coastline keeping away independent American traders: \\\"By 1837, American competition on the North West Coast was effectively over\\\".: 126 The HBC gained more control of the fur trade with both the coastline and inland tribes to access the fur richNew Caledonia districtin current day northern British Columbia: \\\"monopoly control of the coastal fur trade allowed the HBC to impose a uniform tariff on both sides of the Coast Mountains\\\".: 133 By 1843, under pressure from the Americans to withdraw further North with the loomingOregon Treatyborder negotiation\",\n \"negotiation finalized in 1846, and strong of its coastal presence on the northern coast, HBC builtFort Victoriaat the southern end of present-dayVancouver Islandin southern BC. A well sheltered ocean port with agricultural potential in the vicinity would allow the new regional headquarter to further develop the trade on salmon, timber and cranberries. Trade via the Hawaiian post was also increasing. TheFort Rupert(1849) at the northern end of the island would open up access to coal fields. On the continent mainland,Fort HopeandFort Yale(1848) were built to extend the HBC presence on theFraser Riveras far as navigable. Brigades would link a rebuiltFort Langley(1840) on the Lower Fraser toFort Kamloopsby 1850 and the rest of the transportation network toYork Factoryon theHudson Bayalong with theNew Caledonia districtfur returns. End of monopoly The Guillaume Sayer trial in 1849 contributed to the end of the HBC monopoly.Guillaume Sayer, aMétistrapper and trader, was accused of illegal trading in furs. The\",\n \"in furs. The Court ofAssiniboiabrought Sayer to trial, before a jury of HBC officials and supporters. During the trial, a crowd of armed Métis men led byLouis Riel Sr.gathered outside the courtroom. Although Sayer was found guilty of illegal trade, having evaded the HBC monopoly, JudgeAdam Thomdid not levy a fine or punishment. Some accounts attributed that to the intimidating armed crowd gathered outside the courthouse. With the cry, \\\"Le commerce est libre! Le commerce est libre!\\\" (\\\"Trade is free! Trade is free!\\\"), the Métis loosened the HBC's previous control of the courts, which had enforced their monopoly on the settlers of Red River. Another factor was the findings of thePalliser Expeditionof 1857 to 1860, led by CaptainJohn Palliser. He surveyed the area of the prairies and wilderness from Lake Superior to the southern passes of the Rocky Mountains. Although he recommended against settlement of the region, the report sparked a debate. It ended the myth publicized by Hudson's Bay Company: that the\",\n \"Company: that the Canadian West was unfit for agricultural settlement. In 1863, theInternational Financial Societybought controlling interest in the HBC, signalling a shift in the company's outlook: most of the new shareholders were less interested in the fur trade than in real estate speculation and economic development in the West. The Society floated £2 million in public shares on non-ceded land held ostensibly by the Hudson's Bay Company as an asset and leveraged this asset for collateral for these funds. These funds allowed the Society the financial means to weather thefinancial collapse of 1866which destroyed many competitors and invest in railways in North America. In 1869, after rejecting the American government offer ofCA$10million,the company approved the return of Rupert's Land to Britain. The government gave it to Canada and loaned the new country the £300,000 required to compensate HBC for its losses.HBC also received one-twentieth of the fertile areas to be opened for settlement and retained\",\n \"and retained title to the lands on which it had built trading establishments.The deal, known as theDeed of Surrender, came into force the following year. The resulting territory, theNorth-West Territories, was brought under Canadian jurisdiction under the terms of theRupert's Land Act 1868, enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Deed enabled the admission of the fifth province,Manitoba, to theConfederationon 15 July 1870, the same day that the deed itself came into force. During the 19th century the Hudson's Bay Company went through great changes in response to such factors as growth of population and new settlements in part of its territory, and ongoing pressure from Britain. It seemed unlikely that it would continue to control the future of the West. Shift to department stores The iconic department store today evolved from trading posts at the start of the 19th century, when they began to see demand for general merchandise grow rapidly. HBC soon expanded into the interior and set-up posts\",\n \"and set-up posts along river settlements that later developed into the modern cities of Winnipeg,CalgaryandEdmonton. In 1857, the first sales shop was established inFort Langley. This was followed by other sales shops inFort Victoria(1859), Winnipeg (1881), Calgary (1884),Vancouver(1887),Vernon(1887), Edmonton (1890),Yorkton(1898), andNelson(1902). The first of the grand \\\"original six\\\" department stores was built in Calgary in 1913. The other department stores that followed were in Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria,Saskatoon, and Winnipeg. 20th century The First World War interrupted a major remodelling and restoration of retail trade shops planned in 1912. Following the war, the company revitalized its fur-trade and real-estate activities, and diversified its operations by venturing into the oil business.During theRussian Civil War, the company briefly operated in theSiberian far east, even obtaining an agreement with theSoviet governmentuntil departing in 1924.The company co-foundedHudson's Bay Oil and Gas\",\n \"Bay Oil and Gas Company(HBOG) in 1926 withMarland Oil Company(which merged withConocoin 1929). Although the company diversified into a number of areas, its department store business is the only remaining part of the company's operations, in the form of department stores under the Hudson's Bay brand.The company also established new trading posts in the Canadian Arctic. Indigenous health The medical scientistFrederick Bantingwas travelling in the Arctic in 1927 when he realized that crew or passengers on board the HBC paddle wheelerDistributorwere responsible for spreading the influenza virus down theSlave RiverandMackenzie River. Less than a decade afterthe 1918 global flu pandemic, a similar virus spread territory-wide over the summer and autumn, devastating the aboriginal population of the north.Returning from the trip, Banting gave an interview in Montreal with aToronto Starreporter under the agreement that his statements on HBC would remain off the record.The newspaper nonetheless published the\",\n \"published the conversation, which rapidly reached a wide audience across Europe and Australia.Banting was angry at the leak, having promised the Department of the Interior not to make any statements to the press prior to clearing them. The article noted that Banting had given the journalist C. R. Greenaway repeated instances of how the fox fur trade always favoured the company: \\\"For over $100,000 of fox skins, he estimated that the Eskimos had not received $5,000 worth of goods.\\\"He traced this treatment to health, consistent with reports made in previous years by RCMP officers, suggesting that \\\"the result was a diet of 'flour,sea-biscuits, tea and tobacco,' with the skins that once were used for clothing traded merely for 'cheap whiteman's goods.'\\\" The HBC fur trade commissioner called Banting's remarks \\\"false and slanderous\\\", and a month later, the governor and general manager met Banting at theKing Edward Hotelto demand a retraction.Banting stated that the reporter had betrayed his confidence, but did not\",\n \"but did not retract his statement and reaffirmed that HBC was responsible for the death of indigenous residents by supplying the wrong kind of food and introducing diseases into the Arctic.AsA. Y. Jackson, theGroup of Sevenpainter with whom Banting was travelling, noted in his memoir that since neither the governor nor the general manager had been to the Arctic, the meeting ended with them asking Banting's advice on what HBC ought to do: \\\"He gave them some good advice and later he received a card at Christmas with the Governor's best wishes.\\\" Banting maintained this position in his report to the Department of the Interior: He noted that \\\"infant mortality was high because of the undernourishment of the mother before birth\\\"; that \\\"white man's food leads to decay of native teeth\\\"; that \\\"tuberculosis has commenced. Saw several cases at Godhavn, Etah, Port Burwell, Arctic Bay\\\"; that \\\"an epidemic resembling influenza killed a considerable proportion of population at Port Burwell\\\"; and that \\\"the gravest danger\",\n \"\\\"the gravest danger faces the Eskimo in his transfer from a race-long hunter to a dependent trapper. White flour, sea-biscuits, tea and tobacco do not provide sufficient fuel to warm and nourish him\\\". Furthermore, he discouraged the establishment of an Arctic hospital. The \\\"proposed hospital at Pangnirtung would be a waste of money, as it could be reached by only a few natives\\\". Banting's report contrasted starkly with the bland descriptions provided by the ship's physician, F. H. Stringer. Latter 20th century In 1960, the company acquiredMorgan'sallowing it to expand into Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, and Ottawa. In 1965, HBC rebranded its department stores as The Bay.The Morgan's logo was changed to match the new visual identity. By 1972 the last of the former Morgan's stores had been rebranded to Bay stores.HBOG also expanded during the 1960s, as it began shipping Canadian crude through a new link to the Glacier pipeline and on to the refinery in Billings, Montana. The company became the sixth-largest\",\n \"the sixth-largest Canadian oil producer in 1967. In 1970, on the company's 300th anniversary, as a result of punishing new British tax laws, the company relocated to Canada, and was rechartered as a Canadian business corporation under Canadian law,Head Office functions were transferred from London to Winnipeg. By 1974, as the company expanded into eastern Canada, head office functions were moved to Toronto. In 1972, the company acquired the four-storeShop-Ritechain ofcatalogue stores. The chain was quickly expanded to 65 stores in Ontario, but closed in 1982 due to declining sales.In these stores, little merchandise was displayed; customers made their selections from catalogues, and staff would retrieve the merchandise from storerooms. The HBC also acquiredFreimansdepartment stores in Ottawa and converted them to The Bay. In 1973, HBOG acquired a 35 per cent stake in Siebens Oil and Gas, and, in 1979, it divested that interest. In 1980, it bought a controlling interest in Roxy Petroleum. In 1978,\",\n \"Petroleum. In 1978, theZellersdiscount store chain made a bid to acquire the HBC, but the HBC turned the tables and acquired Zellers.Also in 1978,Simpson'sdepartment stores were acquired by Hudson's Bay Company, and were converted to Bay stores in 1991.(The related chain Simpsons-Sears was not acquired by the Bay, but becameSears Canadain 1978.) In 1991, Simpsons disappeared, when the last Simpsons store was converted to the Bay banner. In 1979, Canadian billionaireKenneth Thomsonwon control of the company in a battle withGeorge Weston Limited, and acquired a 75 per cent stake for $400 million.Thomson sold the company's oil and gas business, financial services, distillery, and other interests for approximately $550 million, transforming the company into a leaner, more focused operation. In the 1980s, sales and oil prices slipped, while debt from acquisitions piled up which led to Hudson's Bay Company selling its 10.1 per cent stake in HBOG toDome Petroleumin 1981.In 1997, the Thomson family sold the last of\",\n \"sold the last of its remaining shares. Hudson's Bay Company reversed a formidable debt problem in 1987, by shedding non-strategic assets such as its wholesale division and getting completely out of the oil and gas business. HBC also sold its Canadian fur-auction business to Hudson's Bay Fur Sales Canada (nowNorth American Fur Auctions). The Northern Stores Division was sold that same year to a group of investors and employees, which adoptedThe North West Companyname three years later. The HBC acquiredTowers Department Storesin 1990, combining them with the Zellers chain, andWoodward'sstores in 1993, converting them into Bay or Zellers stores.Kmart Canadawas acquired in 1998 and merged with Zellers. In 1991, the Bay agreed to stop retailingfurin response to complaints from people opposed to killing animals for this purpose.In 1997, the Bay reopened its fur salons to meet the demand of consumers. 21st century In December 2003, Maple Leaf Heritage Investments, aNova Scotia-based company created to acquire\",\n \"created to acquire shares of Hudson's Bay Company, announced that it was considering making an offer to acquire all or some of the common shares of Hudson's Bay Company.Maple Leaf Heritage Investments is a subsidiary of B-Bay Inc. Its CEO and chairman is American businesswomanAnita Zucker, widow ofJerry Zucker. Zucker had previously been the head of the Polymer Group, which acquired another Canadian institution,Dominion Textile. It had been a member of theInternational Association of Department Storesfrom 2001 to 2005.On 26 January 2006, the HBC's board agreed to a bid from Jerry Zucker. The South Carolina billionaire financier was a longtime HBC minority shareholder. In a 9 March 2006 press release,the HBC announced that Zucker would replaceYves Fortieras governor andGeorge Helleras CEO, becoming the first US citizen to lead the company. After Jerry Zucker's death, the board named his widow, Anita Zucker, as HBC Governor and HBC Deputy-Governor Rob Johnston as CEO. On 16 July 2008, the company was sold\",\n \"company was sold toNRDC Equity Partnersfor just over $1.1 billion,a private equity firm based inPurchase, New York, which already ownedLord & Taylor, the oldest department store in the United States.The Canadian and U.S. holdings were transferred to NRDC Equity Partners' holding company,Hudson's Bay Trading Company, as of late 2008. In October 2012, the HBC announced a $1.6 billioninitial public offering(IPO); Baker planned to use the IPO to allow Canadian ownership to return to the company, and to help pay off debts with other partners. Additionally, the company also announced that it would re-brand The Bay department store chain as \\\"Hudson's Bay\\\".The new Hudson's Bay brand was launched in March 2013, incorporating a new logo with an updated rendition of the classic Hudson's Bay Companycoat of arms, designed to be modern and better reflect the company's heritage. Following the IPO, HBC had also introduced a new corporate logo of its own (reviving awordmarkfrom the originalHBC flag), but the new logo was not\",\n \"new logo was not intended to be a consumer-facing brand. In January 2016, HBC announced it would expand deeper into digital space with the acquisition of anonlineflash sales site, theGilt Groupe, for US$250 million.HBC also announced its expansion into the Netherlands in May 2016 with the takeover of 20 formerVroom & Dreesmann(V&D) sites by 2017. V&D, a historic Dutch department store chain, had gonebankruptand shut down in early 2016.As of November 2017, the company also expanded retail operations into Europe, including five Saks Off Fifth stores in Germany. On 1 April 2018, HBC disclosed that more than five million credit and debit cards used for in-store purchases had been recently breached by hackers. The compromised credit card transactions took place at Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks Off 5th, and Lord & Taylor stores. The hack had been discovered by Gemini Advisory, which called the breach \\\"amongst the biggest and most damaging to ever hit retail companies\\\".A July 2019 hack ofCapital One, which provides HBC\",\n \"which provides HBC Mastercards, did not affect the HBC credit cards or card applications, according to HBC. In June 2019, a consortium including chairmanRichard Baker,Rhône Group,WeWork, Hanover Investments (Luxembourg) and Abrams Capital Management announced that it wanted to take the company private.The group then owned just over 50 per cent of HBC shares. In mid-August, the consortium said that it owned 57 per cent of the HBC shares. By 19 August 2019, however, Canadian investment firmCatalyst Capital Group Inc.said it had acquired enough shares to block the plan. A U.S. company, Land & Buildings Investment Management, the owner of over 6 per cent of the shares, had also criticized the Baker plan.In March 2020, Baker and a group of shareholders were successful in taking the company private. Aside fromHudson's Bay,Saks Fifth Avenue, andSaks Off Fifth, HBC soldGaleria Kaufhof,Galeria Inno,Gilt Groupe, andLord & Taylorby August 2019. In June 2018, HBC announced it would sell Gilt Groupe to online fashion\",\n \"to online fashion store Rue La La for an undisclosed sum. In June, 2019 HBC announced its intent to sell the last 49.99 percent of Galeria Kaufhof shares it held to Austrian firmSigna Holding. In August, 2019 Lord & Taylor was sold toLe Totefor $75 million.The remaining stores in theNetherlandswere sold by the end of 2019. By early September 2019, it was clear that HBC was streamlining its operations, with the sales ofGaleria Kaufhof,Galeria Inno,Gilt Groupe, andLord & Tayloras the most recent steps. A feature article byBloomberg Newsmentioned that CEOHelena Foulkes, recruited in 2018, \\\"had helped improve the bottom line at Hudson's Bay\\\". She was selling assets \\\"to put the company on more solid financial footing\\\" and could then focus on Saks Fifth Avenue and the Bay. On the other hand, Bloomberg suggested that millennial shoppers prefer to make purchases online, or direct from various brands' own stores, and that HBC \\\"has yet to offer something they can't find somewhere else and risks drifting into\",\n \"risks drifting into irrelevance\\\". In February 2020, shareholders of the company voted in favour of a plan to become a private company at a special meeting of shareholders. Under the plan of arrangement, the company will be owned by a group of continuing shareholders led by HBC governor and executive chairman Richard Baker.Effective 3 March 2020, the company was delisted from theToronto Stock Exchange, withRichard A. Bakerreplacing Foulkes as CEO. In 2023, Hudson's Bay officially stopped selling animal fur products. Acquisition and sale of other chains From 2004 to 2008, the HBC owned and operated a small chain of off-price stores calledDesigner Depot. Similar to theWinnersandHomeSenseretail format, Designer Depot did not meet sales expectations, and its nine stores were sold.Another HBC chain,Fields, was sold to a private firm in 2012.Established in 1950, Fields was acquired byZellersin 1976. When Zellers was acquired by HBC in 1978, Fields became part of the HBC portfolio.In early 2019, HBC announced that\",\n \"HBC announced that all 37Home Outfittersstores would be phased out by year end. In early 2017, the Hudson's Bay Company made an overture toMacy'sfor a potential takeover of the U.S. department store chain. Later, HBC also considered a purchase ofNeiman Marcus GroupInc. It did not proceed with either deal.On March 16, 2022, it was announced that HBC andSycamore Partnerswere preparing bids to buyKohl's. Zellers In September 2011, the HBC announced that it would sell the majority of the Zellers leases for $1.825 billion to the U.S.-based retailerTarget Corporationand shutter all of their remaining locations by early 2013.Target used the acquisition of this real estate as a means to enable its entry in the Canadian market. HBC used some of the proceeds to pay down debt and to invest in growing its Hudson's Bay and Lord & Taylor banners. In January 2013, it was confirmed that three Zellers locations, re-purposed as discount department stores for The Bay and Home Outfitters, would remain open.The Target Canada\",\n \"Target Canada chain folded in 2015; the leases were subsequently returned to landlords or re-sold to other retailers.Zellers was still owned by HBC as two remaining stores following the sale of its lease portfolio toTarget Canadain 2011.By September 2019, the re-purposed Toronto and Ottawa Zellers locations were still operating as discount department stores. In August 2022, the Hudson's Bay Company announced it would be reviving the Zellers brand through online shopping and physical locations in 2023. Lord & Taylor On 24 January 2012, theFinancial Postreported that Richard Baker (owner of NDRC and governor of Hudson's Bay Company) had dissolvedHudson's Bay Trading Companyand that the HBC would now also operate theLord & Taylorchain. At the time, the company was run by presidentBonnie Brooks.Baker remained governor and CEO of the business, and Donald Watros stayed on as chief operating officer. In 2018, HBC in a joint venture sold the building that housed its flagshipLord & Taylorstore on Fifth Avenue in\",\n \"on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan toWeWorkProperty Advisors for $850 million. WeWork was set to occupy the uppermost floors of the building, with the rest of the building remaining a flagship space for Lord & Taylor.The deal also included the use of floors of certain HBC-owned department stores in New York, Toronto, Vancouver and Germany as WeWork's shared office workspaces. In August 2019, HBC announced that it would sell their Lord & Taylor business toLe ToteInc., which was to payCA$99.5 millionin cash when the deal closes (probably before year end 2019) and an additionalCA$33.2 milliontwo years later. HBC was to get a 25 per cent equity stake in Le Tote.The buyer would retain the stores' inventory, with an estimated value ofCA$284.2 million. The deal, expected to close before year end, required HBC to pay the stores' rent for at least three years, leading one news report to describe it as \\\"Not a clean exit\\\". The liability to HBC for the rents was estimated atCA$77 millioncash per year. Saks, Inc. On 29 July\",\n \"Inc. On 29 July 2013, Hudson's Bay Company announced that it would buySaks, Inc., operator of the U.S.Saks Fifth Avenuebrand, forUS$2.9 billion, or $16 per share.The merger was completed on 3 November 2013.The company also stated that as a result of the purchase, Canadian consumers would see Saks stores arriving in their country soon.After the purchase was finalized, HBC had a net loss of $124.2 million in the 2013 3Q due to the cost of the purchase and promotions. Galeria Kaufhof/Galeria Inno HBC had acquired the German department store chain Galeria Kaufhof and its Belgian subsidiary,Galeria Inno, fromMetro Groupin September 2015 forUS$3.2 billion. On 1 November 2017, HBC received an unsolicited offer from Austrian firmSigna Holdingfor Kaufhof and other real estate.An unnamed source toldCNBCthat the value of the offer was approximately 3 billion euros.This information on the offer was also reiterated in a press release by activist shareholder Land & Buildings Investment Management, which urged HBC to\",\n \"which urged HBC to accept the offer; the company replied that the offer was incomplete and did not provide indication of financing for the deal.In late 2018, Galeria Kaufhof andKarstadtmerged as part of a spin off. HBC announced its intent to sell the last 49.99 percent of Galeria Kaufhof and Galeria Inno shares it held to Austrian firmSigna Holdingin June 2019. The sale of the real estate in Germany had gained US$1.5 billion (€1 billion) for HBC.At that time, HBC still had a retail operation in the Netherlands, using the Vroom & Dreesmann locations it had purchased in 2017. On 31 August 2019, the company announced that all 15 of those stores would be sold by year end. Neiman Marcus On July 4, 2024, Hudson's Bay Company announced it would acquireNeiman Marcus Groupfor $2.65 billion, concluding years of negotiations. Operations The HBC is diversified into joint ventures and other types of business products. The HBC has credit card, mortgage, and personal insurance branches. These other products and services\",\n \"and services are joint partnerships with other corporations. The HBC also has anHBC Rewardsprogram, where Rewards points can be redeemed in house. The HBC is involved in community and charity activities. The HBC Rewards Community Program raises funds for community causes. The HBC Foundation is a charity agency involved in social issues and service. The HBC used to sponsor the annual HBC Run for Canada, a series of public-participation runs and walks held across the country on Canada Day to raise funds for Canadian athletes. The company discontinued this event in 2009. Olympic outfitter The HBC was the official outfitter of clothing for members of the Canadian Olympic team in 1936, 1960, 1964, 1968, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016. The sponsorship has been renewed through 2020. Since the late 2000s, HBC has used its status as the official Canadian Olympics team outfitter to gain global exposure, as part of a turnaround plan that included shedding under-performing brands and luring new high-end brands.\",\n \"high-end brands. On 2 March 2005, the company was announced as the new clothing outfitter for the Canadian Olympic team, in a $100 million deal, providing apparel for the 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012 Games, having outbid the existing Canadian Olympic wear-supplier,Roots Canada, which had supplied Canada's Olympic teams from 1998 to 2004.The Canadian Olympic collection is sold through Hudson's Bay (and Zellers until 2013 when the Zellers leases were sold toTarget Canada). HBC's2006 Winter Olympicsand2008 Summer Olympicsuniforms and toques received a mixed reception for their multicoloured stripes (green, red, yellow, blue) which seemed to be not-so-subtle advertising for HBC rather than representing the Canadian Olympic team's traditional colours of red and white (with black as a secondary), in contrast to well-received Root's 1998 collection with its trendy redletter jacketsand Poor Boy caps. HBC produced 80 per cent to 90 per cent of their Olympic clothes in China which was criticized, as Roots ensured that\",\n \"Roots ensured that the Olympic clothes were made in Canada using Canadian material. HBC's apparel for the2010 Winter Olympicsheld in Vancouver proved to be extremely successful, in part because Canada was the host country and their athletes had a record medal haul. The \\\"Red Mittens\\\" (red-and-white mittens featuring a large maple leaf) that were sold forCA$10, with one-third of the proceeds going to theCanadian Olympic Committee, proved very popular, as were the \\\"Canada\\\" hoodies. The HBC's2010 Winter Olympicsapparel was also controversial due to a knitted, machine-made sweater that looked like aCowichan sweater.After a meeting between HBC representatives andCowichan Tribes, a compromise was made between the parties; knitters would have an opportunity to sell their sweaters at the downtown Vancouver HBC store, alongside the HBC imitations. LordSebastian Coe, chairman of the2012 London Olympic Games Organizing Committee, who attended theVancouver Olympics, noted that the Canadians were passionate in embracing\",\n \"in embracing the Games with their \\\"Canada\\\" hoodies and their red mittens (of which 2.6 million pairs sold that year).HBC has continued to produce these red mittens for subsequent Olympic Games. In 2021, it was announced that beginning with the2022 Winter Olympics,Lululemonwould replace the HBC as Canada's Olympic outfitter. Archives The legacy of the HBC has been maintained in part by the detailed record-keeping and archiving of material by the company. Before 1974, the records of the HBC were kept in the London office headquarters. The HBC opened an archives department to researchers in 1931. In 1974, Hudson's Bay Company Archives (HBCA) were transferred from London and placed on deposit with the Manitoba archives in Winnipeg. The company granted public access to the collection the following year. On 27 January 1994, the company's archives were formally donated to the Archives of Manitoba. At the time of the donation, the appraised value of the records was nearly $60 million. A foundation, Hudson's Bay\",\n \"Hudson's Bay Company History Foundation funded through the tax savings resulting from the donation, was established to support the operations of the HBC Archive as a division of the Archives of Manitoba, along with other activities and programs.More than two kilometres (1.2 mi) of filed documents and hundreds of microfilm reels are now stored in a special climate-controlled vault in the Manitoba Archives Building. In 2007, Hudson's Bay Company Archives became part of the United Nations \\\"Memory of the World Programme\\\" project, underUNESCO. The records covered the HBC history from the founding of the company in 1670. The records contained business transactions, medical records, personal journals of officials, inventories, company reports, etc. Corporate governance As of January 2018, the members of the board of directors of Hudson's Bay Company are: Corporate hierarchy In the 18th and 19th centuries, Hudson's Bay Company operated with a very rigid employee hierarchy. This hierarchy essentially broke down into\",\n \"broke down into two levels; the officers and the servants. Comprising the officers were the factors, masters and chief traders, clerks and surgeons. The servants were the tradesmen, boatmen, and labourers. The officers essentially ran the fur trading posts. They had many duties which included supervising the workers in their trade posts, valuing the furs, and keeping trade and post records. In 1821, when Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company merged, the hierarchy became even stricter and the lines between officers and servants became virtually impossible to cross. Officers in charge of individual trading posts had much responsibility because they were directly in charge of enforcing the policies made by the governor and committee (the board) of the company. One of these policies was the price of particular furs and trade goods. These prices were called the Official and Comparative Standards. Made-Beaver, the quality measurement of the pelt, was the means of exchange used by Hudson's Bay Company to\",\n \"Bay Company to define the Official and Comparative Standards. Because the governor was stationed in London, England, they needed to have reliable officers managing the trade posts halfway around the world. Because the fur trade was a very dynamic market, HBC needed to have some form of flexibility when dealing with prices and traders. Price fluctuation was deferred to the officers in charge of the trade posts, and the head office recorded any difference between the company's standard and that set by the individual officers. Overplus, or any excess revenue gained by officers, was strictly documented to insure that it was not being pocketed and taken from the company. This strict yet flexible hierarchy exemplifies how Hudson's Bay Company was able to be so successful while still having its central management and trade posts located so far apart. Progression In the 19th century, career progression for officers, together referred to as the Commissioned Gentlemen, was to enter the company as a fur trader.\",\n \"as a fur trader. Typically, they were men who had the capital to invest in starting up their trading. They sought to be promoted to the rank of Chief Trader. A Chief Trader would be in charge of an individual post and was entitled to one share of the company's profits. Chief Factors sat in council with the Governors and were the heads of districts. They were entitled to two shares of the company's profits or losses. The average income of a Chief Trader was £360 and that of a Chief Factor was £720. Governors Chronological list of governors of the Hudson's Bay Company: Miscellany Rent obligation under charter Under the charter establishing Hudson's Bay Company, the company was required to give twoelkskins and two blackbeaverpelts to the English king, then Charles II, or his heirs, whenever the monarch visited Rupert's Land. The exact text from the 1670 Charter reads: ...Yielding and paying yearly to us and our heirs and successors for the same two Elks and two Black beavers whensoever and as often as We, our\",\n \"as often as We, our heirs and successors shall happen to enter into the said Countries, Territories and Regions hereby granted. The ceremony was first conducted with thePrince of Wales(the future Edward VIII) in 1927, then with KingGeorge VIin 1939, and last with his daughter, QueenElizabeth IIin 1959 and 1970. On the last such visit, the pelts were given in the form of two live beavers, which the Queen donated to the Winnipeg Zoo inAssiniboine Park. However, when the company permanently moved its headquarters to Canada, the Charter was amended to remove the rent obligation. Each of the four \\\"rent ceremonies\\\" took place in or around Winnipeg. HBC explorers, builders, and associates HBC sternwheelers and steamships Rivals The HBC is the only European trading company to have survived. It outlived all its rivals. See also References Bibliography Further reading External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":51,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"What state is the home of the losing team of the World Series three years before \"Old Shufflefoot\" managed his team to victory? "},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"Illinois"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Boudreau"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Series_champions"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Multiple constraints | Temporal reasoning"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Boudreau', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Series_champions', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Boudreau","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Series_champions","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Boudreau\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Series_champions\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["Lou Boudreau As manager Louis Boudreau(July 17, 1917 – August 10, 2001), nicknamed \"Old Shufflefoot\", \"Handsome Lou\", and \"the Good Kid\", was an Americanprofessional baseballplayer and manager.He played inMajor League Baseball(MLB) for 15 seasons, primarily as ashortstopon theCleveland Indians, and managed four teams for 15 seasons including 10 seasons as aplayer-manager. He was also a radio announcer for theChicago Cubsand in college was a dual-sport athlete in baseball and basketball, earningAll-Americanhonors in basketball for theUniversity of Illinois. Boudreau was anAll-Starfor seven seasons.In 1948, Boudreau won theAmerican LeagueMost Valuable Player Awardand managed theCleveland Indiansto theWorld Seriestitle. He won the 1944 American League (AL)batting title(.327), and led the league in doubles in 1941, 1944, and 1947. He led AL shortstops in fielding eight times. Boudreau still holds the MLB record for hitting the most consecutive doubles in a game (four), set on July 14, 1946. In 1970, Boudreau was elected to theNational Baseball Hall of Fameand his No. 5 was retired by the Indians that same year. Early life Boudreau was born inHarvey, Illinois, the son of Birdie (Henry) and Louis Boudreau.His father was of French-Canadian ancestry, his mother was Jewish, and both of his maternal grandparents were observantOrthodox Jewswith whom when he was young he celebratedPassoverseders.He was raised Catholic by his father after his parents divorced.He graduated fromThornton Township High SchoolinHarvey, Illinois, where he led the \"Flying Clouds\" to three straightIllinois high school championshipgames, winning in 1933 and finishing as runner up in 1934 and 1935. College baseball and basketball Boudreau attended theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he was a member ofPhi Sigma Kappafraternity and captain of thebasketballandbaseballteams. During the1936–37 basketballand baseball seasons, Boudreau led each Fighting Illini team to aBig Ten Conferencechampionship.During the1937–38 basketball season, Boudreau was named anNCAA Men's Basketball All-American. While Boudreau was still at Illinois,Cleveland Indiansgeneral managerCy Slapnickapaid him an undisclosed sum in return for agreeing to play baseball for the Indians after he graduated. Due to this agreement, Boudreau was ruled ineligible for collegiate sports by theBig Ten Conferenceofficials.During his senior year at Illinois, he played professional basketball with theHammond Ciesar All-Americansof theNational Basketball League. Despite playing professional baseball with Cleveland, Boudreau earned hisBachelor of Sciencein education from Illinois in 1940 and worked as the Illinois freshman basketball coach for the 1939 and 1940 teams. Boudreau stayed on as an assistant coach for the1941–42 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball teamand he was instrumental in recruiting futureNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame InducteeAndy Phillipto play for Illinois. Professional baseball career Cleveland Indians Boudreau made his major league debut on September 9, 1938, for theCleveland Indiansat 21 as a third baseman in his first game. In 1939, Indian managerOssie Vitttold him that he would have to move from his normal third base position toshortstopsince established sluggerKen Keltneralready had the regular third base job. In 1940, his first full year as a starter, he batted .295 with 46doublesand 101RBI, and was selected for theAll-Star Gamefor the first of five consecutive seasons (MLB cancelled the1945 gamedue to war-time travel restrictions and did not name All-Stars). Boudreau helped make history in 1941 as a key figure in stopping the56-game hitting streakbyJoe DiMaggio. After two sparkling stops by Keltner at third base on hard ground balls earlier in the game, Boudreau snagged a bad-hop grounder to short barehanded and started a double play retiring DiMaggio at first.He finished the season with a modest .257 batting average, but had a league-leading 45 doubles. After the 1941 season, ownerAlva Bradleypromoted Indians managerRoger Peckinpaughto general manager and appointed the 25-year-old Boudreau player-manager. Boudreau played and managed the Indians throughout World War II (playing basketball had put a strain on Boudreau's ankles that turned intoarthritis, which classified him as4-Fand thus ineligible for military service).In 1944, Boudreau turned 134double plays, the most ever by a player-manager in MLB history. When he bought the Indians in 1947,Bill Veeck, after being approached by Boudreau, renewed the player-manager agreement with mixed feelings on both sides, as Boudreau stated that he would rather be traded than only play shortstop. Details of possibly trading him forVern Stephensof the St. Louis Browns in 1947 only attracted fans to the side of Boudreau. However, Boudreau hit .355 in 1948; Cleveland won the AL pennant and theWorld Series, the Indians first World Series championship in 28 years and only the second in Indians history, with Veeck and Boudreau publicly acknowledging each other's role in the team's success. Later career Boudreau was released by the Indians as both player and manager following the 1950 season. He signed with theBoston Red Sox, playing full-time in 1951, moving up to player-manager in 1952 and managing from the bench in 1953–54. He then became the first manager of theKansas City Athleticsin 1955 after their move from Philadelphia until he was fired after 104 games in 1957 and replaced byHarry Craft. He last managed the Chicago Cubs, in 1960. Managerial record Boudreau shift Boudreau is credited with inventing theinfield shift, which came to be known colloquially as the \"Boudreau shift.\" Because sluggingRed SoxsuperstarTed Williamswas a dead-pull hitter, he moved most of his Cleveland Indian fielders to the right of second base against the Splendid Splinter, leaving only the third baseman and left fielder to the left of second but also very close to second base, far to the right of their normal positions. With characteristic stubborn pride, Williams refused the obvious advice from teammates to hit orbuntto left against the Boudreau shift, but great hitter that he was, not changing his approach against the shift didn't affect his hitting very much. Boudreau later admitted that the shift was more about \"psyching out\" Williams rather than playing him to pull. \"I always considered the Boudreau shift a psychological, rather than a tactical\" ploy, he declared in his autobiographyPlayer-Manager. Broadcasting Boudreau did play-by-play for Cub games in 1958–59 before switching roles with manager \"Jolly Cholly\"Charlie Grimmin 1960. But after only one season as Cubs manager, Boudreau returned to the radio booth and remained there until 1987. He also did radio play-by-play for theChicago Bullsin 1966–1968 and worked onChicago Blackhawksgames forWGN radioandtelevisionas well. The presence of a Hall of Fame announcer affected at least one game. On June 23, 1976, the Cubs were two runs behind at home in the fourth inning of the second game of a doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates at home when the umpires called the game on account of darkness (since there were no lights atWrigley Fielduntil 1988), announcing that the game would be resumed at the same point the next day as was normally the case in those days. But Boudreau knew the rules better than anyone else in the park, it turned out, for he went down quickly to the clubhouse and pointed out to the umpires that a game that was not yet an official game could not be treated as a suspended game (i.e., it had not gone five innings, or four and a half with the home team leading, as neither was the case), and as such had to be replayed from the first pitch (as was then the rule in a rain-out). The umpires called the National League office, found Boudreau was correct, and removed the two-run Cubs deficit. Later life and honors Boudreau was elected to theBaseball Hall of Famein 1970 with 77.33% of the vote. That same year, his uniform number 5 was retired by theCleveland Indians(he wore number 4 with the Red Sox). In 1973, the city ofClevelandrenamed a street borderingCleveland Municipal Stadiumafter Boudreau.Boudreau Drive in Urbana, Illinois, is also named after Boudreau. In 1990, the Cleveland Indians established The Lou Boudreau Award, which is given every year to the organization's Minor League Player of the Year.In 1992, Boudreau's number 5 jersey was retired by theIllinois Fighting Illini baseballprogram. Boudreau is only one of threeIllinois Fighting Illiniathletes to have their number retired; the other two athletes beingIllinois Fighting Illini footballplayersRed GrangeandDick Butkus. Personal life Boudreau married Della DeRuiter in 1938, and together they had four children. His daughter Sharyn marriedDenny McLain, a former star pitcher with theDetroit Tigerswho was the last 30-game winner in the major leagues (31–6 for the world champion 1968Detroit Tigers). Boudreau had a home inFrankfort, Illinois, for many years. He died on August 10, 2001, due tocardiac arrestat St. James Medical Center inOlympia Fields, Illinois. He was 84. He received a Catholic funeral and his body was interred in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery. See also Notes References Further reading External links","List of World Series champions TheWorld Seriesis the annual championship series ofMajor League Baseball(MLB) and concludes theMLB postseason. First played in 1903,the World Series championship is abest-of-seven playoffand is a contest between the champions of baseball'sNational League(NL) andAmerican League(AL).Often referred to as the \"Fall Classic\",the modern World Series has been played every year since 1903 with two exceptions: in1904, when the NL championNew York Giantsdeclined to play the AL championBoston Americans; and in1994, when the series was canceled due to theplayers' strike.The best-of-seven style has been the format of all World Series except in1903,1919,1920,1921, when the winner was determined through abest-of-nine playoff.Although the large majority of contests have been played entirely during the month of October, a small number of Series have also had games played during September and November. The Series-winning team is awarded theCommissioner's Trophy.Players, coaches and others associated with the team are generally givenWorld Series ringsto commemorate their victory; however, they have received other items such aspocket watchesand medallions in the past.The winning team is traditionally invited to theWhite Houseto meet thePresident of the United States. A total of 119 World Series have been contested through 2023, with the AL champion winning 68 and the NL champion winning 51. TheNew York Yankeesof the AL have played in 40 World Series, winning 27 – the most championship appearances and most victories by any team amongst themajor North American professional sports leagues. TheDodgersof the NL have the most losses with 14, while the Yankees have the most losses among AL teams with 13. TheSt. Louis Cardinalshave won 11 championships, the most championships among NL clubs and second-most all-time behind the Yankees, and have made 19 total appearances, third-most among NL clubs.The Dodgers have represented the NL the most in the World Series with 21 appearances. TheSeattle Marinersare the only MLB franchise that has never appeared in a World Series; theMilwaukee Brewers,San Diego Padres,Tampa Bay Rays, andColorado Rockieshave all played in the Series but have never won it, with the Padres and the Rays appearing twice. TheLos Angeles AngelsandWashington Nationalsare the only teams who have won their only World Series appearance, and theToronto Blue JaysandMiami Marlinsare the only teams with multiple World Series appearances with no losses. The Toronto Blue Jays are the only franchise from outside the United States to appear in and win a World Series, winning in 1992 and 1993. TheHouston Astrosare the only franchise to have represented both the NL (2005) and the AL (2017, 2019, 2021, 2022), winning the Series in 2017 and 2022. The 1919 and 2017 World Series were both marred with cheating scandals: theBlack Sox Scandaland theHouston Astros sign stealing scandal. The most recent World Series champions are theTexas Rangers. World Series results Numbers in parentheses in the table are World Series appearances as of the date of that World Series, and are used as follows: Source for this Table World Series records by franchise In the sortable table below, teams are ordered first by number of wins, then by number of appearances, and finally by year of first appearance. In the \"Season(s)\" column,bold yearsindicate winning appearances. Frequent matchups The following are the 20 matchups of teams that have occurred two or more times in the World Series. All teams that have participated in these were \"Classic Eight\" members of either the American or National League; no expansion team (created in 1961 or later) has faced the same opponent more than once in a World Series. See also References External links","Chicago Chicagois themost populous cityin theU.S. stateofIllinoisand in theMidwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the2020 census,it is thethird-most populous city in the United StatesafterNew York CityandLos Angeles. As theseatofCook County, thesecond-most populous countyin the U.S., Chicago is the center of theChicago metropolitan area, often colloquially called \"Chicagoland\" and home to 9.6 million residents. Located on the shore ofLake Michigan, Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837 near aportagebetween theGreat Lakesand theMississippi River watershed. It grew rapidly in the mid-19th century.In 1871, theGreat Chicago Firedestroyed several square miles and left more than 100,000 homeless,but Chicago's population continued to grow.Chicago made noted contributions tourban planningandarchitecture, such as theChicago School, the development of theCity Beautiful movement, and the steel-framedskyscraper. Chicago is an international hub for finance,culture, commerce, industry, education, technology, telecommunications, andtransportation. It has the largest and most diverse financederivativesmarket in the world, generating 20% of all volume incommoditiesand financial futures alone.O'Hare International Airportis routinely ranked among theworld's top six busiest airports by passenger traffic,and the region is also the nation's railroad hub.The Chicago area has one of the highestgross domestic products(GDP) of any urban region in the world, generating $689 billion in 2018.Chicago's economyisdiverse, with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. Chicago is a major destination fortourism, including visitors to itscultural institutions, and Lake Michiganbeaches. Chicago's culture has contributed much to the visual arts,literature, film,theater, comedy (especiallyimprovisational comedy),food, dance, andmusic(particularlyjazz,blues,soul,hip-hop,gospel,andelectronic dance music, includinghouse music). Chicago is home to theChicago Symphony Orchestraand theLyric Opera of Chicago, while theArt Institute of Chicagoprovides an influential visual arts museum andart school. The Chicago area also hosts theUniversity of Chicago,Northwestern University, and theUniversity of Illinois Chicago, amongother institutions of learning. ProfessionalsportsinChicago includeallmajor professional leagues, including twoMajor League Baseballteams. Etymology and nicknames The nameChicagois derived from a French rendering of theindigenousMiami–Illinoiswordshikaakwafor a wild relative of theonion; it is known to botanists asAllium tricoccumand known more commonly as \"ramps\". The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as \"Checagou\" was byRobert de LaSallearound 1679 in a memoir.Henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the eponymous wild \"garlic\" grew profusely in the area.According to his diary of late September 1687: ... when we arrived at the said place called \"Chicagou\" which, according to what we were able to learn of it, has taken this name because of the quantity of garlic which grows in the forests in this region. The city has hadseveral nicknamesthroughout its history, such as theWindy City, Chi-Town, Second City, and City of the Big Shoulders. History Beginnings In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by thePotawatomi, an indigenous tribe who had succeeded theMiami,SaukandMeskwakipeoples in this region. The first known permanent settler in Chicago was traderJean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was ofAfricandescent, perhaps born in theFrench colonyofSaint-Domingue(Haiti), and established the settlement in the 1780s. He is commonly known as the \"Founder of Chicago.\" In 1795, following the victory of the new United States in theNorthwest Indian War, an area that was to be part of Chicago was turned over to the U.S. for a military post by native tribes in accordance with theTreaty of Greenville. In 1803, theU.S. ArmyconstructedFort Dearborn, which was destroyed during theWar of 1812in theBattle of Fort Dearbornby the Potawatomi before being later rebuilt. After the War of 1812, theOttawa,Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the1833 Treaty of Chicagoand sent west of theMississippi Riveras part of the federal policy ofIndian removal. 19th century On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200.Within seven years it grew to more than 6,000 people. On June 15, 1835, the first public land sales began withEdmund Dick Tayloras Receiver of Public Monies. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4, 1837,and for several decades was the world's fastest-growing city. As the site of theChicago Portage,the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicago's first railway,Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and theIllinois and Michigan Canalopened in 1848. The canal allowedsteamboatsandsailing shipson theGreat Lakesto connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities andimmigrantsfrom abroad. Manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing theAmerican economy.TheChicago Board of Trade(established 1848) listed the first-ever standardized \"exchange-traded\" forward contracts, which were calledfutures contracts. In the 1850s, Chicago gained national political prominence as the home of SenatorStephen Douglas, the champion of theKansas–Nebraska Actand the \"popular sovereignty\" approach to the issue of the spread of slavery.These issues also helped propel another Illinoisan,Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage. Lincoln was nominated in Chicago for U.S. president at the1860 Republican National Convention, which was held in a purpose-built auditorium called theWigwam. He defeated Douglas in the general election, and this set the stage for theAmerican Civil War. To accommodaterapid population growthand demand for better sanitation, the city improved its infrastructure. In February 1856, Chicago's Common Council approvedChesbrough's plan to build the United States' first comprehensive sewerage system.The projectraised much of central Chicagoto a new grade with the use ofjackscrewsfor raising buildings.While elevating Chicago, and at first improving the city's health, the untreated sewage and industrial waste now flowed into theChicago River, and subsequently intoLake Michigan, polluting the city's primary freshwater source. The city responded by tunneling two miles (3.2 km) out into Lake Michigan to newly builtwater cribs. In 1900, the problem of sewage contamination was largely resolved when the city completed a major engineering feat. It reversed the flow of the Chicago River so that the water flowed away from Lake Michigan rather than into it. This project began with the construction and improvement of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and was completed with theChicago Sanitary and Ship Canalthat connects to theIllinois River, which flows into the Mississippi River. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed an area about 4 miles (6.4 km) long and 1-mile (1.6 km) wide, a large section of the city at the time.Much of the city, including railroads andstockyards, survived intact,and from the ruins of the previous wooden structures arose more modern constructions of steel and stone. These set a precedent for worldwide construction.During its rebuilding period, Chicago constructed the world'sfirst skyscraperin 1885, usingsteel-skeletonconstruction. The city grew significantly in size and population by incorporating many neighboring townships between 1851 and 1920, with the largest annexation happening in 1889, with five townships joining the city, including theHyde Park Township, which now comprises most of theSouth Side of Chicagoand the far southeast of Chicago, and theJefferson Township, which now makes up most ofChicago's Northwest Side.The desire to join the city was driven by municipal services that the city could provide its residents. Chicago's flourishing economy attracted huge numbers of new immigrants fromEuropeand migrants from theEastern United States. Of the total population in 1900, more than 77% were either foreign-born or born in the United States of foreign parentage.Germans,Irish,Poles,Swedes, andCzechsmade up nearly two-thirds of the foreign-born population (by 1900, whites were 98.1% of the city's population). Labor conflictsfollowed the industrial boom and the rapid expansion of the labor pool, including theHaymarket affairon May 4, 1886, and in 1894 thePullman Strike. Anarchist and socialist groups played prominent roles in creating very large and highly organized labor actions. Concern for social problems among Chicago's immigrant poor ledJane AddamsandEllen Gates Starrto foundHull Housein 1889.Programs that were developed there became a model for the new field ofsocial work. During the 1870s and 1880s, Chicago attained national stature as the leader in the movement to improve public health. City laws and later, state laws that upgraded standards for the medical profession and fought urban epidemics ofcholera,smallpox, andyellow feverwere both passed and enforced. These laws became templates for public health reform in other cities and states. The city established many large, well-landscapedmunicipal parks, which also included public sanitation facilities. The chief advocate for improving public health in Chicago wasJohn H. Rauch, M.D.Rauch established a plan for Chicago's park system in 1866. He createdLincoln Parkby closing a cemetery filled with shallow graves, and in 1867, in response to an outbreak of cholera he helped establish a new Chicago Board of Health. Ten years later, he became the secretary and then the president of the first Illinois State Board of Health, which carried out most of its activities in Chicago. In the 1800s, Chicago became the nation's railroad hub, and by 1910 over 20 railroads operated passenger service out of six different downtown terminals.In 1883, Chicago's railway managers needed a general time convention, so they developed the standardized system of North Americantime zones.This system for telling time spread throughout the continent. In 1893, Chicago hosted theWorld's Columbian Expositionon former marshland at the present location ofJackson Park. The Exposition drew 27.5 million visitors, and is considered the most influentialworld's fairin history.TheUniversity of Chicago, formerly at another location, moved to the same South Side location in 1892. The term \"midway\" for a fair or carnival referred originally to theMidway Plaisance, a strip of park land that still runs through the University of Chicago campus and connects theWashingtonand Jackson Parks. 20th and 21st centuries 1900 to 1939 DuringWorld War Iand the 1920s there was a major expansion in industry. The availability of jobs attracted African Americans from theSouthern United States. Between 1910 and 1930, the African American population of Chicago increased dramatically, from 44,103 to 233,903.ThisGreat Migrationhad an immense cultural impact, called theChicago Black Renaissance, part of theNew Negro Movement, in art, literature, and music.Continuing racial tensions and violence, such as theChicago race riot of 1919, also occurred. The ratification of the 18th amendment to the Constitution in 1919 made the production and sale (including exportation) of alcoholic beverages illegal in the United States. This ushered in the beginning of what is known as the gangster era, a time that roughly spans from 1919 until 1933 whenProhibitionwas repealed. The 1920s sawgangsters, includingAl Capone,Dion O'Banion,Bugs MoranandTony Accardobattle law enforcement and each other on the streets of Chicago during theProhibition era.Chicago was the location of the infamousSt. Valentine's Day Massacrein 1929, when Al Capone sent men to gun down members of a rival gang, North Side, led by Bugs Moran. From 1920 to 1921, the city was affected by a series of tenantrent strikes, which lead to the formation of the Chicago Tenants Protective association, passage of the Kessenger tenant laws, and of a heat ordinance that legally required flats to be kept above 68 °F during winter months by landlords. Chicago was the first American city to have a homosexual-rights organization. The organization, formed in 1924, was called theSociety for Human Rights. It produced the first American publication for homosexuals,Friendship and Freedom. Police and political pressure caused the organization to disband. The Great Depression brought unprecedented suffering to Chicago, in no small part due to the city's heavy reliance on heavy industry. Notably, industrial areas on the south side and neighborhoods lining both branches of the Chicago River were devastated; by 1933 over 50% of industrial jobs in the city had been lost, and unemployment rates amongst blacks and Mexicans in the city were over 40%. The Republican political machine in Chicago was utterly destroyed by the economic crisis, and every mayor since 1931 has been aDemocrat. From 1928 to 1933, the city witnessed a tax revolt, and the city was unable to meet payroll or provide relief efforts. The fiscal crisis was resolved by 1933, and at the same time, federal relief funding began to flow into Chicago.Chicago was also a hotbed of labor activism, withUnemployed Councilscontributing heavily in the early depression to create solidarity for the poor and demand relief; these organizations were created by socialist and communist groups. By 1935 theWorkers Alliance of Americabegun organizing the poor, workers, the unemployed. In the spring of 1937 Republic Steel Works witnessed theMemorial Day massacre of 1937in the neighborhood of East Side. In 1933, Chicago MayorAnton Cermakwas fatally wounded inMiami, Florida, during afailed assassinationattempt on President-electFranklin D. Roosevelt. In 1933 and 1934, the city celebrated its centennial by hosting theCentury of ProgressInternational ExpositionWorld's Fair.The theme of the fair was technological innovation over the century since Chicago's founding. 1940 to 1979 DuringWorld War II, the city of Chicago alone produced more steel than the United Kingdom every year from 1939 – 1945, and more thanNazi Germanyfrom 1943 – 1945. The Great Migration, which had been on pause due to the Depression, resumed at an even faster pace in thesecond wave, as hundreds of thousands of blacks from the South arrived in the city to work in the steel mills, railroads, and shipping yards. On December 2, 1942, physicistEnrico Fermiconducted the world's first controllednuclear reactionat the University of Chicago as part of the top-secretManhattan Project. This led to the creation of the atomic bomb by the United States, which it used inWorld War IIin 1945. MayorRichard J. Daley, a Democrat, was elected in 1955, in the era ofmachine politics. In 1956, the city conducted its last major expansion when it annexed the land under O'Hare airport, including a small portion of DuPage County. By the 1960s, white residents in several neighborhoods left the city for the suburban areas – in many American cities, a process known aswhite flight– as Blacks continued to move beyond theBlack Belt.While home loan discriminatoryredliningagainst blacks continued, the real estate industry practiced what became known asblockbusting, completely changing the racial composition of whole neighborhoods.Structural changes in industry, such as globalization and job outsourcing, caused heavy job losses for lower-skilled workers. At its peak during the 1960s, some 250,000 workers were employed in the steel industry in Chicago, but the steel crisis of the 1970s and 1980s reduced this number to just 28,000 in 2015. In 1966,Martin Luther King Jr.andAlbert Rabyled theChicago Freedom Movement, which culminated in agreements between Mayor Richard J. Daley and the movement leaders. Two years later, the city hosted the tumultuous1968 Democratic National Convention, which featured physical confrontations both inside and outside the convention hall, with anti-war protesters, journalists and bystanders being beaten by police.Major construction projects, including the Sears Tower (now known as theWillis Tower, which in 1974 became theworld's tallest building),University of Illinois at Chicago,McCormick Place, andO'Hare International Airport, were undertaken during Richard J. Daley's tenure.In 1979,Jane Byrne, the city's first female mayor, was elected. She was notable for temporarily moving into the crime-riddenCabrini-Greenhousing project and for leading Chicago's school system out of a financial crisis. 1980 to present In 1983,Harold Washingtonbecame the first black mayor of Chicago. Washington's first term in office directed attention to poor and previously neglected minority neighborhoods. He was re‑elected in 1987 but died of a heart attack soon after.Washington was succeeded by 6th ward alderpersonEugene Sawyer, who was elected by the Chicago City Council and served until a special election. Richard M. Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, was elected in 1989. His accomplishments included improvements to parks and creating incentives forsustainable development, as well as closingMeigs Fieldin the middle of the night and destroying the runways. After successfully running for re-election five times, and becoming Chicago's longest-serving mayor, Richard M. Daley declined to run for a seventh term. In 1992, a construction accident near theKinzie Street Bridgeproduced a breach connecting the Chicago River to a tunnel below, which was part of anabandoned freight tunnel systemextending throughout the downtownLoopdistrict. Thetunnels filledwith 250 million US gallons (1,000,000 m3) of water, affecting buildings throughout the district and forcing a shutdown of electrical power.The area was shut down for three days and some buildings did not reopen for weeks; losses were estimated at $1.95 billion. On February 23, 2011,Rahm Emanuel, a formerWhite House Chief of Staffand member of theHouse of Representatives, won the mayoral election.Emanuel was sworn in as mayor on May 16, 2011, and won re-election in 2015.Lori Lightfoot, the city's first African American woman mayor and its first openly LGBTQ mayor, was elected to succeed Emanuel as mayor in 2019.All three city-wide elective offices were held by women (and women of color) for the first time in Chicago history: in addition to Lightfoot, the city clerk wasAnna Valenciaand the city treasurer wasMelissa Conyears-Ervin. On May 15, 2023,Brandon Johnsonassumed office as the 57th mayor of Chicago. Geography Topography Chicago is located in northeastern Illinois on the southwestern shores of freshwater Lake Michigan. It is the principal city in theChicago Metropolitan Area, situated in both theMidwestern United Statesand theGreat Lakes region. The city rests on acontinental divideat the site of the Chicago Portage, connecting the Mississippi River and the Great Lakeswatersheds. In addition to it lying beside Lake Michigan, two rivers—the Chicago River in downtown and theCalumet Riverin the industrial far South Side—flow either entirely or partially through the city. Chicago's history and economy are closely tied to its proximity to Lake Michigan. While the Chicago River historically handled much of the region's waterborne cargo, today's hugelake freightersuse the city'sLake Calumet Harboron the South Side. The lake also provides another positive effect: moderating Chicago's climate, making waterfront neighborhoods slightly warmer in winter and cooler in summer. When Chicago was founded in 1837, most of the early building was around the mouth of the Chicago River, as can be seen on a map of the city's original 58 blocks.The overallgradeof the city's central, built-up areas is relatively consistent with the natural flatness of its overall natural geography, generally exhibiting only slight differentiation otherwise. The average land elevation is 579 ft (176.5 m)above sea level. While measurements vary somewhat,the lowest points are along the lake shore at 578 ft (176.2 m), while the highest point, at 672 ft (205 m), is the morainal ridge ofBlue Islandin the city's far south side. Lake Shore Driveruns adjacent to a large portion of Chicago's waterfront. Some of the parks along the waterfront includeLincoln Park,Grant Park,Burnham Park, andJackson Park. There are 24 publicbeachesacross 26 miles (42 km) of the waterfront.Landfill extends into portions of the lake providing space forNavy Pier,Northerly Island, theMuseum Campus, and large portions of theMcCormick PlaceConvention Center. Most of the city's high-rise commercial and residential buildings are close to the waterfront. An informal name for the entireChicago metropolitan areais \"Chicagoland\", which generally means the city and all its suburbs, though different organizations have slightly different definitions. Communities Major sections of the city include the central business district, calledthe Loop, and the North,South, andWest Sides.The three sides of the city are represented on theFlag of Chicagoby three horizontal white stripes.The North Side is the most-densely-populated residential section of the city, and many high-rises are located on this side of the city along the lakefront.The South Side is the largest section of the city, encompassing roughly 60% of the city's land area. The South Side contains most of the facilities of thePort of Chicago. In the late-1920s, sociologists at the University of Chicago subdivided the city into 77 distinctcommunity areas, which can further be subdivided into over 200 informally definedneighborhoods. Streetscape Chicago's streets were laid out in astreet gridthat grew from the city's original townsite plot, which was bounded by Lake Michigan on the east, North Avenue on the north, Wood Street on the west, and 22nd Street on the south.Streets following thePublic Land Survey Systemsection lines later became arterial streets in outlying sections. As new additions to the city were platted, city ordinance required them to be laid out with eight streets to the mile in one direction and sixteen in the other direction, about one street per 200 meters in one direction and one street per 100 meters in the other direction. The grid's regularity provided an efficient means of developing new real estate property. A scattering of diagonal streets, many of them originally Native American trails, also cross the city (Elston, Milwaukee, Ogden, Lincoln, etc.). Many additional diagonal streets were recommended in thePlan of Chicago, but only the extension ofOgden Avenuewas ever constructed. In 2021, Chicago was ranked the fourth-most walkable large city in the United States.Many of the city's residential streets have a wide patch of grass or trees between the street and the sidewalk itself. This helps to keep pedestrians on the sidewalk further away from the street traffic. Chicago'sWestern Avenueis the longest continuous urban street in the world.Other notable streets includeMichigan Avenue,State Street,95th Street,Cicero Avenue,Clark Street, andBelmont Avenue. TheCity Beautiful movementinspired Chicago's boulevards and parkways. Architecture The destruction caused by the Great Chicago Fire led to the largest building boom in the history of the nation. In 1885, the firststeel-framed high-rise building, the Home Insurance Building, rose in the city as Chicago ushered in theskyscraper era,which would then be followed by many other cities around the world.Today, Chicago's skyline is among the world's tallest and densest. Some of the United States' tallest towers are located in Chicago;Willis Tower(formerly Sears Tower) is the second tallest building in theWestern HemisphereafterOne World Trade Center, andTrump International Hotel and Toweris the third tallest in the country.The Loop's historic buildings include theChicago Board of Trade Building, theFine Arts Building,35 East Wacker, and theChicago Building,860-880 Lake Shore Drive ApartmentsbyMies van der Rohe. Many other architects have left their impression on the Chicago skyline such asDaniel Burnham,Louis Sullivan, Charles B. Atwood, John Root, andHelmut Jahn. TheMerchandise Mart, once first on thelist of largest buildings in the world, currently listed as 44th-largest 2013 as September 9, 2013, had its ownzip codeuntil 2008, and stands near the junction of the North and South branches of the Chicago River.Presently, the four tallest buildings in the city are Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower, also a building with its own zip code),Trump International Hotel and Tower, theAon Center(previously the Standard Oil Building), and theJohn Hancock Center.Industrial districts, such as some areas on theSouth Side, the areas along theChicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, and theNorthwest Indianaarea are clustered. Chicago gave its name to the Chicago School and was home to thePrairie School, two movements in architecture.Multiple kinds and scales of houses, townhouses, condominiums, and apartment buildings can be found throughout Chicago. Large swaths of the city's residential areas away from the lake are characterized by brickbungalowsbuilt from the early 20th century through the end of World War II. Chicago is also a prominent center of thePolish Cathedral styleofchurch architecture. The Chicago suburb ofOak Parkwas home to famous architectFrank Lloyd Wright, who had designed TheRobie Houselocated near the University of Chicago. A popular tourist activity is to take an architecture boat tour along the Chicago River. Monuments and public art Chicago is famous for its outdoorpublic artwith donors establishing funding for such art as far back asBenjamin Ferguson's 1905 trust.A number of Chicago's public art works are by modern figurative artists. Among these areChagall's Four Seasons; theChicago Picasso;Miro's Chicago;Calder'sFlamingo;Oldenburg'sBatcolumn;Moore'sLarge Interior Form, 1953-54,Man Enters the CosmosandNuclear Energy;Dubuffet'sMonument with Standing Beast,Abakanowicz'sAgora; and,Anish Kapoor'sCloud Gatewhich has become an icon of the city. Some events which shaped the city's history have also been memorialized by art works, including theGreat Northern Migration(Saar) and thecentennial of statehood for Illinois. Finally, two fountains near the Loop also function as monumental works of art:Plensa'sCrown Fountainas well asBurnhamand Bennett'sBuckingham Fountain. Climate The city lies within the typical hot-summerhumid continental climate(Köppen:Dfa), and experiences four distinct seasons.Summersare hot and humid, with frequentheat waves. The July daily average temperature is 75.4 °F (24.1 °C), with afternoon temperatures peaking at 84.5 °F (29.2 °C). In a normal summer, temperatures reach at least 90 °F (32 °C) on 17 days, with lakefront locations staying cooler when winds blow off the lake.Wintersare relatively cold and snowy.Blizzardsdo occur, such as inwinter 2011.There are many sunny but cold days. The normal winter high from December through March is about 36 °F (2 °C). January and February are the coldest months. Apolar vortex in January 2019nearly broke the city's cold record of −27 °F (−33 °C), which was set on January 20, 1985.Measurable snowfall can continue through the first or second week of April. Springandautumnare mild, short seasons, typically with low humidity.Dew pointtemperatures in the summer range from an average of 55.8 °F (13.2 °C) in June to 61.7 °F (16.5 °C) in July.They can reach nearly 80 °F (27 °C), such as during the July 2019 heat wave. The city lies withinUSDAplanthardiness zone6a, transitioning to 5b in the suburbs. According to theNational Weather Service, Chicago's highest official temperature reading of 105 °F (41 °C) was recorded on July 24, 1934.Midway Airportreached 109 °F (43 °C) one day prior and recorded aheat indexof 125 °F (52 °C) during the1995 heatwave.The lowest official temperature of −27 °F (−33 °C) was recorded onJanuary 20, 1985, at O'Hare Airport.Most of the city's rainfall is brought bythunderstorms, averaging 38 a year. The region is prone tosevere thunderstormsduring the spring and summer which can produce large hail, damaging winds, and occasionally tornadoes. Like other major cities, Chicago experiences anurban heat island, making the city and its suburbs milder than surrounding rural areas, especially at night and in winter. The proximity to Lake Michigan tends to keep the Chicago lakefront somewhat cooler in summer and less brutally cold in winter than inland parts of the city and suburbs away from the lake.Northeast winds from wintertimecyclonesdeparting south of the region sometimes bring the citylake-effect snow. Time zone As in the rest of the state of Illinois, Chicago forms part of theCentral Time Zone. The border with theEastern Time Zoneis located a short distance to the east, used in Michigan andcertain parts of Indiana. Demographics During its first hundred years, Chicago was one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. When founded in 1833, fewer than 200 people had settled on what was then the American frontier. By the time of its first census, seven years later, the population had reached over 4,000. In the forty years from 1850 to 1890, the city's population grew from slightly under 30,000 to over 1 million. At the end of the 19th century, Chicago was the 5th-most populous city in the world,and the largest of the cities that did not exist at the dawn of the century. Within sixty years of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the population went from about 300,000 to over 3 million,and reached its highest ever recorded population of 3.6 million for the 1950 census. From the last two decades of the 19th century, Chicago was the destination of waves of immigrants from Ireland, Southern, Central and Eastern Europe, includingItalians,Jews,Russians,Poles,Greeks,Lithuanians,Bulgarians,Albanians,Romanians,Turks,Croatians,Serbs,Bosnians,MontenegrinsandCzechs.To these ethnic groups, the basis of the city's industrialworking class, were added an additional influx ofAfrican Americansfrom theAmerican South—with Chicago's black population doubling between 1910 and 1920 and doubling again between 1920 and 1930.Chicago has asignificant Bosnian population, many of whom arrived in the 1990s and 2000s. In the 1920s and 1930s, the great majority of African Americans moving to Chicago settled in a so‑called \"Black Belt\" on the city'sSouth Side.A large number of blacks also settled on theWest Side. By 1930, two-thirds of Chicago's black population lived in sections of the city which were 90% black in racial composition.Around that time, a lesser known fact about African Americans on theNorth Sideis that the block of 4600 Winthrop Avenue inUptownwas the only block African Americans could live or open establishments.Chicago's South Side emerged as United States second-largest urban black concentration, following New York'sHarlem. In 1990, Chicago's South Side and the adjoining south suburbs constituted the largest black majority region in the entire United States.Since the 1980s, Chicago has had a massive exodus of African Americans (primarily from the South and West sides) to its suburbs or outside its metropolitan area.The above average crime and cost of living were leading reasons for the fast declining African American population in Chicago. Most of Chicago's foreign-born population were born inMexico,PolandorIndia. Chicago's population declined in the latter half of the 20th century, from over 3.6 million in 1950 down to under 2.7 million by 2010. By the time of the official census count in 1990, it was overtaken byLos Angelesas the United States' second largest city. The city has seen a rise in population for the 2000 census and after a decrease in 2010, it rose again for the 2020 census. According to U.S. census estimates as of July 2019, Chicago's largest racial or ethnic group is non-Hispanic White at 32.8% of the population, Blacks at 30.1% and the Hispanic population at 29.0% of the population. Chicago has the third-largestLGBTpopulation in the United States. In 2018, the Chicago Department of Health, estimated 7.5% of the adult population, approximately 146,000 Chicagoans, were LGBTQ.In 2015, roughly 4% of the population identified as LGBT.Since the 2013 legalization ofsame-sex marriage in Illinois, over 10,000 same-sex couples have wed inCook County, a majority of them in Chicago. Chicago became a \"de jure\"sanctuary cityin 2012 when MayorRahm Emanueland the City Council passed the Welcoming City Ordinance. According to the U.S. Census Bureau'sAmerican Community Surveydata estimates for 2022, the median income for a household in the city was $70,386,and the per capita income was $45,449. Male full-time workers had a median income of $68,870 versus $60,987 for females.About 17.2% of the population lived below the poverty line.In 2018, Chicago ranked seventh globally for the highest number of ultra-high-net-worth residents with roughly 3,300 residents worth more than $30 million. According to the 2022 American Community Survey, the specific ancestral groups having 10,000 or more persons in Chicago were: Persons who did not report or classify an ancestry were 548,790. Religion Religion in Chicago (2014) According to a 2014 study by thePew Research Center,Christianityis the most prevalently practiced religion in Chicago (71%),with the city being the fourth-most religious metropolis in the United States afterDallas,AtlantaandHouston.Roman CatholicismandProtestantismare the largest branches (34% and 35% respectively), followed byEastern OrthodoxyandJehovah's Witnesseswith 1% each.Chicago also has a sizable non-Christian population. Non-Christian groups includeIrreligious(22%),Judaism(3%),Islam(2%),Buddhism(1%) andHinduism(1%). Chicago is the headquarters of several religious denominations, including theEvangelical Covenant Churchand theEvangelical Lutheran Church in America. It is the seat of severaldioceses. TheFourth Presbyterian Churchis one of the largestPresbyteriancongregations in the United States based on memberships.Since the 20th century Chicago has also been the headquarters of theAssyrian Church of the East.In 2014 theCatholic Churchwas the largest individual Christian denomination (34%), with theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicagobeing the largest Catholic jurisdiction.Evangelical Protestantismform the largest theological Protestant branch (16%), followed byMainline Protestants(11%), and historicallyBlack churches(8%). Among denominational Protestant branches,Baptistsformed the largest group in Chicago (10%); followed by Nondenominational (5%);Lutherans(4%); andPentecostals(3%). Non-Christian faiths accounted for 7% of the religious population in 2014.Judaismhas at least 261,000 adherents which is 3% of the population, making it the second largest religion.A 2020 study estimated the total Jewish population of the Chicago metropolitan area, both religious and irreligious, at 319,500. The first twoParliament of the World's Religionsin 1893 and 1993 were held in Chicago.Many international religious leaders have visited Chicago, includingMother Teresa, theDalai LamaandPope John Paul IIin 1979. Economy Chicago has the third-largestgross metropolitan productin the United States—about $670.5 billion according to September 2017 estimates.The city has also been rated as having the most balanced economy in the United States, due to its high level of diversification.The Chicago metropolitan area has the third-largest science and engineering work force of any metropolitan area in the nation.Chicago was the base of commercial operations for industrialistsJohn Crerar,John Whitfield Bunn,Richard Teller Crane,Marshall Field,John Farwell,Julius Rosenwald, and many other commercial visionaries who laid the foundation for Midwestern and global industry. Chicago is a major world financial center, with the second-largest central business district in the United States, followingMidtown Manhattan.The city is the seat of theFederal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Bank's Seventh District. The city has major financial andfutures exchanges, including theChicago Stock Exchange, theChicago Board Options Exchange(CBOE), and theChicago Mercantile Exchange(the \"Merc\"), which is owned, along with theChicago Board of Trade(CBOT), by Chicago'sCME Group. In 2017, Chicago exchanges traded 4.7 billion in derivatives.Chase Bankhas its commercial and retail banking headquarters in Chicago'sChase Tower.Academically, Chicago has been influential through theChicago school of economics, which fielded 12Nobel Prizewinners. The city and its surrounding metropolitan area contain the third-largest labor pool in the United States with about 4.63 million workers.Illinois is home to 66Fortune1000companies, including those in Chicago.The city of Chicago also hosts 12FortuneGlobal 500 companies and 17Financial Times500 companies. The city claims threeDow 30companies:aerospacegiantBoeing, which moved its headquarters fromSeattleto the Chicago Loop in 2001;McDonald's; andWalgreens Boots Alliance.For six consecutive years from 2013 through 2018, Chicago was ranked the nation's top metropolitan area for corporate relocations.However, threeFortune500companies left Chicago in 2022, leaving the city with 35, still second to New York City. Manufacturing, printing, publishing, and food processing also play major roles in the city's economy. Several medical products and services companies are headquartered in the Chicago area, includingBaxter International,Boeing,Abbott Laboratories, and the Healthcare division ofGeneral Electric. Prominent food companies based in Chicago include the world headquarters ofConagra,Ferrara Candy Company,Kraft Heinz,McDonald's,Mondelez International, andQuaker Oats.Chicago has been a hub of theretailsector since its early development, withMontgomery Ward,Sears, andMarshall Field's. Today the Chicago metropolitan area is the headquarters of several retailers, includingWalgreens,Sears,Ace Hardware,Claire's,ULTA Beauty, andCrate & Barrel. Late in the 19th century, Chicago was part of thebicycle craze, with the Western Wheel Company, which introducedstampingto the production process and significantly reduced costs,while early in the 20th century, the city was part of the automobile revolution, hosting theBrass Era carbuilder Bugmobile, which was founded there in 1907.Chicago was also the site of theSchwinn Bicycle Company. Chicago is a major world convention destination. The city's main convention center is McCormick Place. With its four interconnected buildings, it is the largest convention center in the nation and third-largest in the world.Chicago also ranks third in the U.S. (behindLas VegasandOrlando) in number of conventions hosted annually. Chicago's minimum wage for non-tipped employees is one of the highest in the nation and reached $15 in 2021. Culture and contemporary life The city's waterfront location and nightlife attracts residents and tourists alike. Over a third of the city population is concentrated in the lakefront neighborhoods fromRogers Parkin the north toSouth Shorein the south.The city has many upscale dining establishments as well as many ethnic restaurant districts. These districts include theMexican Americanneighborhoods, such asPilsenalong 18th street, andLa Villitaalong 26th Street; thePuerto Ricanenclave ofPaseo Boricuain theHumboldt Parkneighborhood;Greektown, along SouthHalsted Street, immediately west of downtown;Little Italy, along Taylor Street;ChinatowninArmour Square;Polish PatchesinWest Town;Little SeoulinAlbany Parkaround Lawrence Avenue;Little VietnamnearBroadwayin Uptown; and theDesiarea, alongDevon AvenueinWest Ridge. Downtown is the center of Chicago's financial, cultural, governmental, and commercial institutions and the site of Grant Park and many of the city's skyscrapers. Many of the city's financial institutions, such as the CBOT and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, are located within a section of downtown called \"The Loop\", which is an eight-block by five-block area of city streets that is encircled by elevated rail tracks. The term \"The Loop\" is largely used by locals to refer to the entire downtown area as well. The central area includes theNear North Side, theNear South Side, and theNear West Side, as well as the Loop. These areas contribute famousskyscrapers, abundant restaurants,shopping,museums,Soldier Field, convention facilities,parkland, andbeaches. Lincoln Park contains theLincoln Park Zooand theLincoln Park Conservatory. TheRiver North Gallery Districtfeatures the nation's largest concentration of contemporary art galleries outside of New York City.Lake Viewis home toBoystown, the city's largeLGBTnightlife and culture center. TheChicago Pride Parade, held the last Sunday in June, is one of the world's largest with over a million people in attendance.NorthHalsted Streetis the main thoroughfare of Boystown. The South Side neighborhood ofHyde Parkis the home of former U.S. PresidentBarack Obama. It also contains the University of Chicago, ranked one of the world's top ten universities,and theMuseum of Science and Industry. The 6-mile (9.7 km) longBurnham Parkstretches along the waterfront of the South Side. Two of the city's largest parks are also located on this side of the city: Jackson Park, bordering the waterfront, hosted the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and is the site of the aforementioned museum; and slightly west sitsWashington Park. The two parks themselves are connected by a wide strip of parkland called theMidway Plaisance, running adjacent to the University of Chicago. The South Side hosts one of the city's largest parades, the annual African AmericanBud Billiken Parade and Picnic, which travels throughBronzevilleto Washington Park.Ford Motor Companyhas anautomobile assembly planton the South Side inHegewisch, and most of the facilities of the Port of Chicago are also on the South Side. The West Side holds theGarfield Park Conservatory, one of the largest collections of tropical plants in any U.S. city. Prominent Latino cultural attractions found here includeHumboldt Park'sInstitute of Puerto Rican Arts and Cultureand the annual Puerto Rican People's Parade, as well as theNational Museum of Mexican ArtandSt. Adalbert's ChurchinPilsen. The Near West Side holds theUniversity of Illinois at Chicagoand was once home toOprah Winfrey'sHarpo Studios, the site of which has been rebuilt as the global headquarters of McDonald's. The city's distinctive accent, made famous by its use in classic films likeThe Blues Brothersand television programs like theSaturday Night Liveskit \"Bill Swerski's Superfans\", is an advanced form ofInland Northern American English. This dialect can also be found in other cities bordering the Great Lakes such asCleveland,Milwaukee,Detroit, andRochester, New York, and most prominently features a rearrangement of certain vowel sounds, such as theshort 'a'sound as in \"cat\", which can sound more like \"kyet\" to outsiders. The accent remains well associated with the city. Entertainment and the arts Renowned Chicago theater companies include theGoodman Theatrein the Loop; theSteppenwolf Theatre CompanyandVictory Gardens Theaterin Lincoln Park; and theChicago Shakespeare Theaterat Navy Pier.Broadway In Chicagooffers Broadway-style entertainment at five theaters: theNederlander Theatre,CIBC Theatre,Cadillac Palace Theatre,Auditorium BuildingofRoosevelt University, andBroadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place.Polish languageproductions forChicago's large Polish speaking populationcan be seen at the historicGateway TheatreinJefferson Park. Since 1968, theJoseph Jefferson Awardsare given annually to acknowledge excellence in theater in the Chicago area. Chicago's theater community spawned modernimprovisational theater, and includes the prominent groupsThe Second CityandI.O.(formerly ImprovOlympic). TheChicago Symphony Orchestra(CSO) performs atSymphony Center, and is recognized as one of the best orchestras in the world.Also performing regularly atSymphony Centeris theChicago Sinfonietta, a more diverse and multicultural counterpart to the CSO. In the summer, many outdoor concerts are given in Grant Park andMillennium Park.Ravinia Festival, located 25 miles (40 km) north of Chicago, is the summer home of the CSO, and is a favorite destination for many Chicagoans. TheCivic Opera Houseis home to theLyric Opera of Chicago.TheLithuanian Opera Company of Chicagowas founded byLithuanian Chicagoansin 1956,and presents operas inLithuanian. TheJoffrey BalletandChicago Festival Balletperform in various venues, including theHarris TheaterinMillennium Park. Chicago has several other contemporary and jazz dance troupes, such as theHubbard Street Dance ChicagoandChicago Dance Crash. Other live-music genre which are part of the city's cultural heritage includeChicago blues,Chicago soul,jazz, andgospel. The city is the birthplace ofhouse music(a popular form of electronic dance music) andindustrial music, and is the site of an influentialhip hop scene. In the 1980s and 90s, the city was the global center for house and industrial music, two forms of music created in Chicago, as well as being popular foralternative rock,punk, andnew wave. The city has been a center forraveculture, since the 1980s. A flourishing independent rock music culture brought forth Chicagoindie.Annual festivalsfeature various acts, such asLollapaloozaand thePitchfork Music Festival.Lollapalooza originated in Chicago in 1991 and at first travelled to many cities, but as of 2005 its home has been Chicago.A 2007 report on the Chicago music industry by theUniversity of Chicago Cultural Policy Centerranked Chicago third among metropolitan U.S. areas in \"size of music industry\" and fourth among all U.S. cities in \"number of concerts and performances\". Chicago has a distinctivefine arttradition. For much of the twentieth century, it nurtured a strong style of figurativesurrealism, as in the works ofIvan AlbrightandEd Paschke. In 1968 and 1969, members of theChicago Imagists, such asRoger Brown,Leon Golub,Robert Lostutter,Jim Nutt, andBarbara Rossiproduced bizarre representational paintings.Henry Dargeris one of the most celebrated figures ofoutsider art. Tourism In 2014, Chicago attracted 50.17 million domestic leisure travelers, 11.09 million domestic business travelers and 1.308 million overseas visitors.These visitors contributed more thanUS$13.7billion to Chicago's economy.Upscale shopping along the Magnificent Mile and State Street, thousands of restaurants, as well as Chicago's eminent architecture, continue to draw tourists. The city is the United States' third-largestconventiondestination. A 2017 study byWalk Scoreranked Chicago the sixth-most walkable of fifty largest cities in the United States.Most conventions are held at McCormick Place, just south ofSoldier Field. Navy Pier, located just east ofStreeterville, is 3,000 ft (910 m) long and houses retail stores, restaurants, museums, exhibition halls and auditoriums. Chicago was the first city in the world to ever erect a Ferris wheel. The Willis Tower (formerly named Sears Tower) is a popular destination for tourists. Museums Among the city's museums are theAdler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, theField Museum of Natural History, and theShedd Aquarium. TheMuseum Campusjoins the southern section of Grant Park, which includes the renowned Art Institute of Chicago. Buckingham Fountain anchors the downtown park along the lakefront. The University of Chicago'sInstitute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, West Asia & North Africahas an extensive collection ofancient EgyptianandNear Easternarchaeological artifacts. Other museums and galleries in Chicago include theChicago History Museum, theDriehaus Museum, theDuSable Museum of African American History, theMuseum of Contemporary Art, thePeggy Notebaert Nature Museum, thePolish Museum of America, theMuseum of Broadcast Communications, theChicago Architecture Foundation, and theMuseum of Science and Industry. Cuisine Chicago lays claim to a large number of regional specialties that reflect the city's ethnic and working-class roots. Included among these are its nationally renowneddeep-dish pizza; this style is said to have originated atPizzeria Uno.The Chicago-style thin crust is also popular in the city.Certain Chicago pizza favorites includeLou Malnati'sandGiordano's. TheChicago-style hot dog, typically an all-beef hot dog, is loaded with an array of toppings that often includes pickle relish,yellow mustard, pickledsport peppers,tomatowedges,dill picklespear and topped off withcelery salton apoppy seedbun.Enthusiasts of the Chicago-style hot dog frown upon the use ofketchupas a garnish, but may prefer to addgiardiniera. A distinctly Chicago sandwich, theItalian beefsandwich is thinly sliced beef simmered inau jusand served on an Italian roll with sweet peppers or spicy giardiniera. A popular modification is the Combo—an Italian beef sandwich with the addition of an Italian sausage. TheMaxwell Street Polishis a grilled or deep-friedkielbasa—on a hot dog roll, topped with grilled onions, yellow mustard, and hot sport peppers. Chicken Vesuviois roasted bone-in chicken cooked in oil and garlic next to garlicky oven-roasted potato wedges and a sprinkling of green peas. ThePuerto Rican-influencedjibaritois a sandwich made with flattened, fried green plantains instead of bread. Themother-in-lawis atamaletopped with chili and served on a hot dog bun.The tradition of serving theGreekdishsaganakiwhile aflame has its origins in Chicago's Greek community.The appetizer, which consists of a square of fried cheese, is doused withMetaxaandflambéedtable-side.Chicago-style barbecuefeatures hardwood smokedrib tipsandhot linkswhich were traditionally cooked in an aquarium smoker, a Chicago invention.Annual festivalsfeature various Chicago signature dishes, such asTaste of Chicagoand the Chicago Food Truck Festival. One of the world's most decorated restaurants and a recipient of threeMichelinstars,Alineais located in Chicago. Well-known chefs who have had restaurants in Chicago include:Charlie Trotter,Rick Tramonto,Grant Achatz, andRick Bayless. In 2003,Robb Reportnamed Chicago the country's \"most exceptional dining destination\". Literature Chicago literature finds its roots in the city's tradition of lucid, direct journalism, lending to a strong tradition ofsocial realism. In theEncyclopedia of Chicago,Northwestern UniversityProfessor Bill Savage describes Chicago fiction as prose which tries to \"capture the essence of the city, its spaces and its people.\" The challenge for early writers was that Chicago was a frontier outpost that transformed into a global metropolis in the span of two generations. Narrative fiction of that time, much of it in the style of \"high-flown romance\" and \"genteel realism\", needed a new approach to describe the urban social, political, and economic conditions of Chicago.Nonetheless, Chicagoans worked hard to create a literary tradition that would stand the test of time,and create a \"city of feeling\" out of concrete, steel, vast lake, and open prairie.Much notable Chicago fiction focuses on the city itself, with social criticism keeping exultation in check. At least three short periods in thehistory of Chicagohave had a lasting influence onAmerican literature.These include from the time of the Great Chicago Fire to about 1900, what became known as the Chicago Literary Renaissance in the 1910s and early 1920s, and the period of theGreat Depressionthrough the 1940s. What would become the influentialPoetrymagazine was founded in 1912 byHarriet Monroe, who was working as anartcriticfor theChicago Tribune. The magazine discovered such poets asGwendolyn Brooks,James Merrill, andJohn Ashbery.T. S. Eliot's first professionally published poem, \"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock\", was first published byPoetry. Contributors have includedEzra Pound,William Butler Yeats,William Carlos Williams,Langston Hughes, andCarl Sandburg, among others. The magazine was instrumental in launching theImagistandObjectivistpoetic movements. From the 1950s through 1970s, American poetry continued to evolve in Chicago.In the 1980s, a modern form of poetry performance began in Chicago, thepoetry slam. Sports The city has twoMajor League Baseball(MLB) teams: theChicago Cubsof the National League play in Wrigley Field on the North Side; and theChicago White Soxof the American League play in Guaranteed Rate Field on the South Side. The two teams have faced each other in a World Series only once, in 1906. The Cubs are the oldest Major League Baseball team to have never changed their city;they have played in Chicago since 1871.They had the dubious honor of having the longest championship drought in American professional sports, failing to win a World Series between 1908 and 2016. The White Sox have played on the South Side continuously since 1901. They have won three World Series titles (1906, 1917, 2005) and six American League pennants, including the first in 1901. TheChicago Bears, one of the last two remaining charter members of theNational Football League(NFL), have won nineNFL Championships, including the 1985Super Bowl XX. The Bears play their home games at Soldier Field. TheChicago Bullsof theNational Basketball Association(NBA) is one of the most recognized basketball teams in the world.During the 1990s, withMichael Jordanleading them, the Bulls won six NBA championships in eight seasons. TheChicago Blackhawksof theNational Hockey League(NHL) began play in 1926, and are one of the \"Original Six\" teams of the NHL. The Blackhawks have won sixStanley Cups, including in 2010, 2013, and2015. Both the Bulls and the Blackhawks play at theUnited Center. Chicago Fire FCis a member ofMajor League Soccer(MLS) and plays at Soldier Field. The Fire have won one league title and fourU.S. Open Cups, since their founding in 1997. In 1994, the United States hosted a successfulFIFA World Cupwith games played at Soldier Field. TheChicago Red Starsare a team in theNational Women's Soccer League(NWSL). They previously played inWomen's Professional Soccer(WPS), of which they were a founding member, before joining the NWSL in 2013. They play atSeatGeek StadiuminBridgeview, Illinois. TheChicago Skyis a professional basketball team playing in theWomen's National Basketball Association(WNBA). They play home games at theWintrust Arena. The team was founded before the 2006 WNBA season began. TheChicago Marathonhas been held each year since 1977 except for 1987, when a half marathon was run in its place. The Chicago Marathon is one of sixWorld Marathon Majors. Five area colleges play inDivision Iconferences: two from major conferences—theDePaul Blue Demons(Big East Conference) and theNorthwestern Wildcats(Big Ten Conference)—and three from other D1 conferences—theChicago State Cougars(Northeast Conference); theLoyola Ramblers(Atlantic 10 Conference); and theUIC Flames(Missouri Valley Conference). Chicago has also entered intoesportswith the creation of theOpTic Chicago, a professionalCall of Dutyteam that participates within theCDL. Parks and greenspace When Chicago was incorporated in 1837, it chose the mottoUrbs in Horto, aLatinphrase which means \"City in a Garden\". Today, theChicago Park Districtconsists of more than 570 parks with over 8,000 acres (3,200 ha) ofmunicipal parkland. There are 31 sandbeaches, a plethora of museums, two world-class conservatories, and 50 nature areas.Lincoln Park, the largest of the city's parks, covers 1,200 acres (490 ha) and has over 20 million visitors each year, making it third in the number of visitors afterCentral ParkinNew York City, and theNational Mall and Memorial ParksinWashington, D.C. There is a historicboulevard system,a network of wide, tree-linedboulevardswhich connect a number of Chicagoparks.The boulevards and the parks were authorized by the Illinois legislature in 1869.A number ofChicago neighborhoodsemerged along these roadways in the 19th century.The building of the boulevard system continued intermittently until 1942. It includes nineteen boulevards, eight parks, and sixsquares, along twenty-six miles of interconnected streets.TheChicago Park Boulevard System Historic Districtwas listed on theNational Register of Historic Placesin 2018. With berths for more than 6,000 boats, the Chicago Park District operates the nation's largest municipal harbor system.In addition to ongoing beautification and renewal projects for the existing parks, a number of new parks have been added in recent years, such as thePing Tom Memorial Parkin Chinatown,DuSable Parkon the Near North Side, and most notably, Millennium Park, which is in the northwestern corner of one of Chicago's oldest parks, Grant Park in the Chicago Loop. The wealth of greenspace afforded by Chicago's parks is further augmented by theCook County Forest Preserves, a network of open spaces containing forest,prairie,wetland, streams, and lakes that are set aside as natural areas which lie along the city's outskirts,including both theChicago Botanic GardeninGlencoeand theBrookfield ZooinBrookfield.Washington Park is also one of the city's biggest parks; covering nearly 400 acres (160 ha). The park is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places listings in South Side Chicago. Law and government Government The government of the City of Chicago is divided into executive andlegislativebranches. Themayor of Chicagois the chief executive, elected by general election for a term of four years, with no term limits. The current mayor isBrandon Johnson. The mayor appoints commissioners and other officials who oversee the various departments. As well as the mayor, Chicago's clerk and treasurer are also elected citywide. TheCity Councilis the legislative branch and is made up of 50 alderpersons, one elected from eachwardin the city.The council takes official action through the passage ofordinancesand resolutions and approves the city budget. TheChicago Police Departmentprovides law enforcement and theChicago Fire Departmentprovides fire suppression and emergency medical services for the city and its residents. Civil and criminal law cases are heard in theCook County Circuit Courtof the State of Illinois court system, or in theNorthern District of Illinois, in the federal system. In the state court, the public prosecutor is the Illinoisstate's attorney; in the Federal court it is the United Statesattorney. Politics During much of the last half of the 19th century, Chicago's politics were dominated by a growingDemocratic Partyorganization. During the 1880s and 1890s, Chicago had a powerful radical tradition with large and highly organizedsocialist,anarchistandlabor organizations.For much of the 20th century, Chicago has been among the largest and most reliable Democratic strongholds in the United States; with Chicago's Democratic vote the state of Illinois has been \"solid blue\" inpresidential electionssince 1992. Even before then, it was not unheard of for Republican presidential candidates to win handily in downstate Illinois, only to lose statewide due to large Democratic margins in Chicago. The citizens of Chicago have not elected aRepublicanmayor since 1927, whenWilliam Thompsonwas voted into office. The strength of the party in the city is partly a consequence of Illinois state politics, where the Republicans have come to represent rural and farm concerns while the Democrats support urban issues such as Chicago's public school funding. Chicago contains less than 25% of the state's population, but it is split between eight of Illinois' 17districtsin theUnited States House of Representatives. All eight of the city's representatives are Democrats; only two Republicans have represented a significant portion of the city since 1973, for one term each:Robert P. Hanrahanfrom 1973 to 1975, andMichael Patrick Flanaganfrom 1995 to 1997. Machine politicspersisted in Chicago after the decline of similar machines in other large U.S. cities.During much of that time, the city administration found opposition mainly from a liberal \"independent\" faction of the Democratic Party. The independents finally gained control of city government in 1983 with the election ofHarold Washington(in office 1983–1987). From 1989 until May 16, 2011, Chicago was under the leadership of its longest-serving mayor,Richard M. Daley, the son of Richard J. Daley. Because of the dominance of the Democratic Party in Chicago, the Democraticprimaryvote held in the spring is generally more significant than the general elections in November for U.S. House and Illinois State seats. The aldermanic, mayoral, and other city offices are filled through nonpartisan elections with runoffs as needed. The city is home of former United States PresidentBarack Obamaand First LadyMichelle Obama; Barack Obama was formerly a state legislator representing Chicago and later a U.S. senator. The Obamas' residence is located near the University of Chicago inKenwoodon the city's south side. Crime Chicago's crime rate in 2020 was 3,926 per 100,000 people.Chicago experienced major rises inviolent crimein the 1920s, in the late 1960s, and in the 2020s.Chicago's biggestcriminal justicechallenges have changed little over the last 50 years, and statistically reside with homicide,armed robbery, gang violence, andaggravated battery. Chicago has a higher murder rate than the larger cities of New York and Los Angeles. However, while it has a large absolute number of crimes due to its size, Chicago is not among the top-25 most violent cities in the United States. Murder rates in Chicago vary greatly depending on the neighborhood in question.The neighborhoods ofEnglewoodon the South Side, andAustinon the West side, for example, have homicide rates that are ten times higher than other parts of the city.Chicago has an estimated population of over 100,000 active gang members from nearly 60 factions.According to reports in 2013, \"most of Chicago's violent crime comes from gangs trying to maintain control of drug-selling territories,\"and is specifically related to the activities of theSinaloa Cartel, which is active in several American cities.Violent crime rates vary significantly by area of the city, with more economically developed areas having low rates, but other sections have much higher rates of crime.In 2013, the violent crime rate was 910 per 100,000 people;the murder rate was 10.4 per 100,000 – while high crime districts saw 38.9 murders, low crime districts saw 2.5 murders per 100,000. Chicago has a long history of publiccorruptionthat regularly draws the attention of federal law enforcement and federal prosecutors.From 2012 to 2019, 33 Chicago alderpersons were convicted on corruption charges, roughly one third of those elected in the time period. A report from the Office of the Legislative Inspector General noted that over half of Chicago's elected alderpersons took illegal campaign contributions in 2013.Most corruption cases in Chicago are prosecuted by theU.S. Attorney's office, as legaljurisdictionmakes most offenses punishable as a federal crime. Education Schools and libraries Chicago Public Schools(CPS) is the governing body of theschool districtthat contains over 600 public elementary and high schools citywide, including several selective-admission magnet schools. There are eleven selective enrollment high schools in the Chicago Public Schools, designed to meet the needs of Chicago's most academically advanced students. These schools offer a rigorous curriculum with mainly honors andAdvanced Placement(AP) courses.Walter Payton College Prep High Schoolis ranked number one in the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois. Chicago high school rankings are determined by the average test scores on state achievement tests.The district, with an enrollment exceeding 400,545 students (2013–2014 20th Day Enrollment), is the third-largest in the U.S.On September 10, 2012, teachers for the Chicago Teachers Union went on strike for the first time since 1987 over pay, resources, and other issues.According to data compiled in 2014, Chicago's \"choice system\", where students who test or apply and may attend one of a number of public high schools (there are about 130), sorts students of different achievement levels into different schools (high performing, middle performing, and low performing schools). Chicago has a network ofLutheran schools,and several private schools are run by other denominations and faiths, such as theIda Crown Jewish AcademyinWest Ridge. TheRoman Catholic Archdiocese of ChicagooperatesCatholic schools, that includeJesuit preparatory schoolsand others. A number of private schools are completely secular. There are also the privateChicago Academy for the Arts, a high school focused on six different categories of the arts and the publicChicago High School for the Arts, a high school focused on five categories (visual arts, theatre, musical theatre, dance, and music) of the arts. TheChicago Public Librarysystem operates three regional libraries and 77 neighborhood branches, including the central library. Colleges and universities Since the 1850s, Chicago has been a world center of higher education and research with several universities. These institutions consistently rank among the top \"National Universities\" in the United States, as determined byU.S. News & World Report.Highly regarded universities in Chicago and the surrounding area are the University of Chicago; Northwestern University;Illinois Institute of Technology;Loyola University Chicago;DePaul University;Columbia College Chicagoand theUniversity of Illinois Chicago. Other notable schools include:Chicago State University; theSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago;East–West University;National Louis University;North Park University;Northeastern Illinois University;Robert Morris University Illinois;Roosevelt University;Saint Xavier University;Rush University; andShimer College. William Rainey Harper, the first president of the University of Chicago, was instrumental in the creation of thejunior collegeconcept, establishing nearbyJoliet Junior Collegeas the first in the nation in 1901.His legacy continues with the multiplecommunity collegesin the Chicago proper, including the sevenCity Colleges of Chicago:Richard J. Daley College,Kennedy–King College,Malcolm X College,Olive–Harvey College,Truman College,Harold Washington College, andWilbur Wright College, in addition to the privately heldMacCormac College. Chicago also has a high concentration of post-baccalaureate institutions, graduate schools, seminaries, and theological schools, such as theAdler School of Professional Psychology,The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, theErikson Institute,The Institute for Clinical Social Work, theLutheran School of Theology at Chicago, theCatholic Theological Union, theMoody Bible Institute, and theUniversity of Chicago Divinity School. Media Television The Chicago metropolitan area is a major media hub and the third-largest media market in the United States, after New York City and Los Angeles.Each of the big fiveU.S. television networks,NBC,ABC,CBS,FoxandThe CW, directly owns and operates ahigh-definition televisionstation in Chicago (WMAQ5,WLS7,WBBM2,WFLD32 andWGN-TV9, respectively). WGN is owned by the CW through a majority stake held in the network by theNexstar Media Group, which acquired it from its founding ownerTribune Broadcastingin 2019. WGN was once carried, with some programming differences, as \"WGN America\" oncable and satellite TVnationwide and in parts of theCaribbean. WGN America eventually becameNewsNationin 2021. Chicago has also been the home of several prominent talk shows, includingThe Oprah Winfrey Show,Steve Harvey Show,The Rosie Show,The Jerry Springer Show,The Phil Donahue Show,The Jenny Jones Show, and more. The city also has onePBSmember station (its second:WYCC20, removed its affiliation with PBS in 2017):WTTW11, producer of shows such asSneak Previews,The Frugal Gourmet,Lamb Chop's Play-AlongandThe McLaughlin Group. As of 2018,Windy City Liveis Chicago's only daytime talk show, which is hosted by Val Warner andRyan Chiaveriniat ABC7 Studios with a live weekday audience. Since 1999,Judge Mathisalso films his syndicated arbitration-based realitycourt showat theNBC Tower. Beginning in January 2019,Newsybegan producing 12 of its 14 hours of live news programming per day from its new facility in Chicago. Television stations Most of Chicago's television stations are owned and operated by the big television network companies. They are: Newspapers Two major daily newspapers are published in Chicago: theChicago Tribuneand theChicago Sun-Times, with the Tribune having the larger circulation. There are also several regional and special-interest newspapers and magazines, such asChicago, theDziennik Związkowy(Polish Daily News),Draugas(the Lithuanian daily newspaper), theChicago Reader, theSouthtownStar, theChicago Defender, theDaily Herald,Newcity,StreetWiseand theWindy City Times. The entertainment and cultural magazineTime Out ChicagoandGRABmagazine are also published in the city, as well as local music magazineChicago Innerview. In addition, Chicago is the home of satirical national news outlet,The Onion, as well as its sister pop-culture publication,The A.V. Club. Movies and filming Radio Chicago has five50,000 watt AM radio stations: theAudacy-ownedWBBMandWSCR; theTribune Broadcasting-ownedWGN; theCumulus Media-ownedWLS; and theESPN Radio-ownedWMVP. Chicago is also home to a number of national radio shows, includingBeyond the BeltwaywithBruce DuMonton Sunday evenings. Chicago Public Radioproduces nationally aired programs such asPRI'sThis American LifeandNPR'sWait Wait...Don't Tell Me!. Infrastructure Transportation Chicago is a major transportation hub in the United States. It is an important component in global distribution, as it is the third-largest inter-modal port in the world afterHong KongandSingapore. The city of Chicago has a higher than average percentage of households without a car. In 2015, 26.5 percent of Chicago households were without a car, and increased slightly to 27.5 percent in 2016. The national average was 8.7 percent in 2016. Chicago averaged 1.12 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8. Parking Due to Chicago'sWheel Tax,residents of Chicago who own a vehicle are required to purchase a Chicago City Vehicle Sticker.In established Residential Parking Zones, only local residents can purchase Zone-specific parking stickers for themselves and guests. Chicago since 2009 has relinquished rights to itspublicstreet parking.In 2008, as Chicago struggled to close a growing budget deficit, the city agreed to a 75-year, $1.16 billion deal to lease itsparking metersystem to an operating company created byMorgan Stanley, calledChicago Parking Meters LLC. Daley said the \"agreement is very good news for the taxpayers of Chicago because it will provide more than $1 billion in net proceeds that can be used during this very difficult economy.\" The rights of the parking ticket lease end in 2081, and since 2022 have already recouped over $1.5 billion in revenue forChicago Parking Meters LLCinvestors. Expressways Seven mainline and four auxiliaryinterstate highways(55,57,65(only in Indiana),80(also inIndiana),88,90(also inIndiana),94(also inIndiana),190,290,294, and355) run through Chicago and its suburbs. Segments that link to the city center are named after influential politicians, with three of them named after former U.S. Presidents (Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Reagan) and one named after two-time Democratic candidateAdlai Stevenson. TheKennedyandDan RyanExpressways are the busiest state maintained routes in the entire state of Illinois. Transit systems TheRegional Transportation Authority(RTA) coordinates the operation of the three service boards: CTA, Metra, and Pace. Greyhound Linesprovides inter-city bus service to and from the city at theChicago Bus Station, and Chicago is also the hub for the Midwest network ofMegabus (North America). Passenger rail Amtraklong distance andcommuter railservices originate fromUnion Station.Chicago is one of the largest hubs of passenger rail service in the nation.The services terminate in the San Francisco area, Washington, D.C., New York City, New Orleans,Portland,Seattle,Milwaukee,Quincy,St. Louis,Carbondale, Boston,Grand Rapids,Port Huron,Pontiac, Los Angeles, andSan Antonio. Future service will terminate atMoline. An attempt was made in the early 20th century to link Chicago with New York City via theChicago – New York Electric Air Line Railroad. Parts of this were built, but it was never completed. Bicycle and scooter sharing systems In July 2013, thebicycle-sharing systemDivvywas launched with 750 bikes and 75 docking stationsIt is operated byLyftfor theChicago Department of Transportation.As of July 2019, Divvy operated 5800 bicycles at 608 stations, covering almost all of the city, excludingPullman, Rosedale,Beverly,Belmont CraginandEdison Park. In May 2019, The City of Chicago announced its Chicago's Electric Shared Scooter Pilot Program, scheduled to run from June 15 to October 15.The program started on June 15 with 10 different scooter companies, including scooter sharing market leadersBird,Jump,LimeandLyft.Each company was allowed to bring 250electric scooters, although both Bird and Lime claimed that they experienced a higher demand for their scooters.The program ended on October 15, with nearly 800,000 rides taken. Freight rail Chicago is the largest hub in the railroad industry.All fiveClass I railroadsmeet in Chicago. As of 2002, severe freight train congestion caused trains to take as long to get through the Chicago region as it took to get there from the West Coast of the country (about 2 days).According to U.S. Department of Transportation, the volume of imported and exported goods transported via rail to, from, or through Chicago is forecast to increase nearly 150 percent between 2010 and 2040.CREATE, theChicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program, comprises about 70 programs, including crossovers, overpasses and underpasses, that intend to significantly improve the speed of freight movements in the Chicago area. Airports Chicago is served byO'Hare International Airport, the world's busiest airport measured by airline operations,on the far Northwest Side, andMidway International Airporton the Southwest Side. In 2005, O'Hare was the world's busiest airport by aircraft movements and the second-busiest by total passenger traffic.Both O'Hare and Midway are owned and operated by the City of Chicago.Gary/Chicago International AirportandChicago Rockford International Airport, located inGary, IndianaandRockford, Illinois, respectively, can serve as alternative Chicago area airports, however they do not offer as many commercial flights as O'Hare and Midway. In recent years the state of Illinois has been leaning towardsbuilding an entirely new airportin the Illinois suburbs of Chicago.The City of Chicago is the world headquarters forUnited Airlines, the world's third-largest airline. Port authority The Port of Chicago consists of several major port facilities within the city of Chicago operated by the Illinois International Port District (formerly known as the Chicago Regional Port District). The central element of the Port District, Calumet Harbor, is maintained by theU.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Utilities Electricity for most ofnorthern Illinoisis provided byCommonwealth Edison, also known as ComEd. Their service territory bordersIroquois Countyto the south, theWisconsinborder to the north, theIowaborder to the west and theIndianaborder to the east. In northern Illinois, ComEd (a division ofExelon) operates the greatest number of nuclear generating plants in any U.S. state. Because of this, ComEd reports indicate that Chicago receives about 75% of its electricity from nuclear power. Recently, the city began installing wind turbines on government buildings to promote renewable energy. Natural gas is provided by Peoples Gas, a subsidiary ofIntegrys Energy Group, which is headquartered in Chicago. Domestic and industrial waste was once incinerated but it is nowlandfilled, mainly in theCalumet area. From 1995 to 2008, the city had ablue bagprogram to divert recyclable refuse from landfills.Because of low participation in the blue bag programs, the city began a pilot program for blue bin recycling like other cities. This proved successful and blue bins were rolled out across the city. Health systems TheIllinois Medical Districtis on the Near West Side. It includesRush University Medical Center, ranked as the second best hospital in the Chicago metropolitan area byU.S. News & World Reportfor 2014–16, theUniversity of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago, Jesse Brown VA Hospital, andJohn H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, one of the busiest trauma centers in the nation. Two of the country's premier academic medical centers reside in Chicago, includingNorthwestern Memorial Hospitaland theUniversity of Chicago Medical Center. The Chicago campus of Northwestern University includes theFeinberg School of Medicine; Northwestern Memorial Hospital, which is ranked as the best hospital in the Chicago metropolitan area byU.S. News & World Reportfor 2017–18;theShirley Ryan AbilityLab(formerly named the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago), which is ranked the best U.S. rehabilitation hospital byU.S. News & World Report;the newPrentice Women's Hospital; and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. TheUniversity of Illinois College of Medicineat UIC is the second-largest medical school in the United States (2,600 students, including those at campuses in Peoria, Rockford andUrbana–Champaign). In addition, theChicago Medical Schooland Loyola University Chicago'sStritch School of Medicineare located in the suburbs ofNorth ChicagoandMaywood, respectively. TheMidwestern UniversityChicago College ofOsteopathic Medicineis inDowners Grove. TheAmerican Medical Association,Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education,Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education,American Osteopathic Association,American Dental Association,Academy of General Dentistry,Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics,American Association of Nurse Anesthetists,American College of Surgeons,American Society for Clinical Pathology,American College of Healthcare Executives, theAmerican Hospital Association, andBlue Cross and Blue Shield Associationare all based in Chicago. Sister cities See also Explanatory notes References Citations Cited references Further reading External links Former:Evanston•Hyde Park•Jefferson•Lake•Lake View•North Chicago•Rogers Park•South Chicago•West Chicago"],"string":"[\n \"Lou Boudreau As manager Louis Boudreau(July 17, 1917 – August 10, 2001), nicknamed \\\"Old Shufflefoot\\\", \\\"Handsome Lou\\\", and \\\"the Good Kid\\\", was an Americanprofessional baseballplayer and manager.He played inMajor League Baseball(MLB) for 15 seasons, primarily as ashortstopon theCleveland Indians, and managed four teams for 15 seasons including 10 seasons as aplayer-manager. He was also a radio announcer for theChicago Cubsand in college was a dual-sport athlete in baseball and basketball, earningAll-Americanhonors in basketball for theUniversity of Illinois. Boudreau was anAll-Starfor seven seasons.In 1948, Boudreau won theAmerican LeagueMost Valuable Player Awardand managed theCleveland Indiansto theWorld Seriestitle. He won the 1944 American League (AL)batting title(.327), and led the league in doubles in 1941, 1944, and 1947. He led AL shortstops in fielding eight times. Boudreau still holds the MLB record for hitting the most consecutive doubles in a game (four), set on July 14, 1946. In 1970, Boudreau was elected to theNational Baseball Hall of Fameand his No. 5 was retired by the Indians that same year. Early life Boudreau was born inHarvey, Illinois, the son of Birdie (Henry) and Louis Boudreau.His father was of French-Canadian ancestry, his mother was Jewish, and both of his maternal grandparents were observantOrthodox Jewswith whom when he was young he celebratedPassoverseders.He was raised Catholic by his father after his parents divorced.He graduated fromThornton Township High SchoolinHarvey, Illinois, where he led the \\\"Flying Clouds\\\" to three straightIllinois high school championshipgames, winning in 1933 and finishing as runner up in 1934 and 1935. College baseball and basketball Boudreau attended theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he was a member ofPhi Sigma Kappafraternity and captain of thebasketballandbaseballteams. During the1936–37 basketballand baseball seasons, Boudreau led each Fighting Illini team to aBig Ten Conferencechampionship.During the1937–38 basketball season, Boudreau was named anNCAA Men's Basketball All-American. While Boudreau was still at Illinois,Cleveland Indiansgeneral managerCy Slapnickapaid him an undisclosed sum in return for agreeing to play baseball for the Indians after he graduated. Due to this agreement, Boudreau was ruled ineligible for collegiate sports by theBig Ten Conferenceofficials.During his senior year at Illinois, he played professional basketball with theHammond Ciesar All-Americansof theNational Basketball League. Despite playing professional baseball with Cleveland, Boudreau earned hisBachelor of Sciencein education from Illinois in 1940 and worked as the Illinois freshman basketball coach for the 1939 and 1940 teams. Boudreau stayed on as an assistant coach for the1941–42 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball teamand he was instrumental in recruiting futureNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame InducteeAndy Phillipto play for Illinois. Professional baseball career Cleveland Indians Boudreau made his major league debut on September 9, 1938, for theCleveland Indiansat 21 as a third baseman in his first game. In 1939, Indian managerOssie Vitttold him that he would have to move from his normal third base position toshortstopsince established sluggerKen Keltneralready had the regular third base job. In 1940, his first full year as a starter, he batted .295 with 46doublesand 101RBI, and was selected for theAll-Star Gamefor the first of five consecutive seasons (MLB cancelled the1945 gamedue to war-time travel restrictions and did not name All-Stars). Boudreau helped make history in 1941 as a key figure in stopping the56-game hitting streakbyJoe DiMaggio. After two sparkling stops by Keltner at third base on hard ground balls earlier in the game, Boudreau snagged a bad-hop grounder to short barehanded and started a double play retiring DiMaggio at first.He finished the season with a modest .257 batting average, but had a league-leading 45 doubles. After the 1941 season, ownerAlva Bradleypromoted Indians managerRoger Peckinpaughto general manager and appointed the 25-year-old Boudreau player-manager. Boudreau played and managed the Indians throughout World War II (playing basketball had put a strain on Boudreau's ankles that turned intoarthritis, which classified him as4-Fand thus ineligible for military service).In 1944, Boudreau turned 134double plays, the most ever by a player-manager in MLB history. When he bought the Indians in 1947,Bill Veeck, after being approached by Boudreau, renewed the player-manager agreement with mixed feelings on both sides, as Boudreau stated that he would rather be traded than only play shortstop. Details of possibly trading him forVern Stephensof the St. Louis Browns in 1947 only attracted fans to the side of Boudreau. However, Boudreau hit .355 in 1948; Cleveland won the AL pennant and theWorld Series, the Indians first World Series championship in 28 years and only the second in Indians history, with Veeck and Boudreau publicly acknowledging each other's role in the team's success. Later career Boudreau was released by the Indians as both player and manager following the 1950 season. He signed with theBoston Red Sox, playing full-time in 1951, moving up to player-manager in 1952 and managing from the bench in 1953–54. He then became the first manager of theKansas City Athleticsin 1955 after their move from Philadelphia until he was fired after 104 games in 1957 and replaced byHarry Craft. He last managed the Chicago Cubs, in 1960. Managerial record Boudreau shift Boudreau is credited with inventing theinfield shift, which came to be known colloquially as the \\\"Boudreau shift.\\\" Because sluggingRed SoxsuperstarTed Williamswas a dead-pull hitter, he moved most of his Cleveland Indian fielders to the right of second base against the Splendid Splinter, leaving only the third baseman and left fielder to the left of second but also very close to second base, far to the right of their normal positions. With characteristic stubborn pride, Williams refused the obvious advice from teammates to hit orbuntto left against the Boudreau shift, but great hitter that he was, not changing his approach against the shift didn't affect his hitting very much. Boudreau later admitted that the shift was more about \\\"psyching out\\\" Williams rather than playing him to pull. \\\"I always considered the Boudreau shift a psychological, rather than a tactical\\\" ploy, he declared in his autobiographyPlayer-Manager. Broadcasting Boudreau did play-by-play for Cub games in 1958–59 before switching roles with manager \\\"Jolly Cholly\\\"Charlie Grimmin 1960. But after only one season as Cubs manager, Boudreau returned to the radio booth and remained there until 1987. He also did radio play-by-play for theChicago Bullsin 1966–1968 and worked onChicago Blackhawksgames forWGN radioandtelevisionas well. The presence of a Hall of Fame announcer affected at least one game. On June 23, 1976, the Cubs were two runs behind at home in the fourth inning of the second game of a doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates at home when the umpires called the game on account of darkness (since there were no lights atWrigley Fielduntil 1988), announcing that the game would be resumed at the same point the next day as was normally the case in those days. But Boudreau knew the rules better than anyone else in the park, it turned out, for he went down quickly to the clubhouse and pointed out to the umpires that a game that was not yet an official game could not be treated as a suspended game (i.e., it had not gone five innings, or four and a half with the home team leading, as neither was the case), and as such had to be replayed from the first pitch (as was then the rule in a rain-out). The umpires called the National League office, found Boudreau was correct, and removed the two-run Cubs deficit. Later life and honors Boudreau was elected to theBaseball Hall of Famein 1970 with 77.33% of the vote. That same year, his uniform number 5 was retired by theCleveland Indians(he wore number 4 with the Red Sox). In 1973, the city ofClevelandrenamed a street borderingCleveland Municipal Stadiumafter Boudreau.Boudreau Drive in Urbana, Illinois, is also named after Boudreau. In 1990, the Cleveland Indians established The Lou Boudreau Award, which is given every year to the organization's Minor League Player of the Year.In 1992, Boudreau's number 5 jersey was retired by theIllinois Fighting Illini baseballprogram. Boudreau is only one of threeIllinois Fighting Illiniathletes to have their number retired; the other two athletes beingIllinois Fighting Illini footballplayersRed GrangeandDick Butkus. Personal life Boudreau married Della DeRuiter in 1938, and together they had four children. His daughter Sharyn marriedDenny McLain, a former star pitcher with theDetroit Tigerswho was the last 30-game winner in the major leagues (31–6 for the world champion 1968Detroit Tigers). Boudreau had a home inFrankfort, Illinois, for many years. He died on August 10, 2001, due tocardiac arrestat St. James Medical Center inOlympia Fields, Illinois. He was 84. He received a Catholic funeral and his body was interred in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery. See also Notes References Further reading External links\",\n \"List of World Series champions TheWorld Seriesis the annual championship series ofMajor League Baseball(MLB) and concludes theMLB postseason. First played in 1903,the World Series championship is abest-of-seven playoffand is a contest between the champions of baseball'sNational League(NL) andAmerican League(AL).Often referred to as the \\\"Fall Classic\\\",the modern World Series has been played every year since 1903 with two exceptions: in1904, when the NL championNew York Giantsdeclined to play the AL championBoston Americans; and in1994, when the series was canceled due to theplayers' strike.The best-of-seven style has been the format of all World Series except in1903,1919,1920,1921, when the winner was determined through abest-of-nine playoff.Although the large majority of contests have been played entirely during the month of October, a small number of Series have also had games played during September and November. The Series-winning team is awarded theCommissioner's Trophy.Players, coaches and others associated with the team are generally givenWorld Series ringsto commemorate their victory; however, they have received other items such aspocket watchesand medallions in the past.The winning team is traditionally invited to theWhite Houseto meet thePresident of the United States. A total of 119 World Series have been contested through 2023, with the AL champion winning 68 and the NL champion winning 51. TheNew York Yankeesof the AL have played in 40 World Series, winning 27 – the most championship appearances and most victories by any team amongst themajor North American professional sports leagues. TheDodgersof the NL have the most losses with 14, while the Yankees have the most losses among AL teams with 13. TheSt. Louis Cardinalshave won 11 championships, the most championships among NL clubs and second-most all-time behind the Yankees, and have made 19 total appearances, third-most among NL clubs.The Dodgers have represented the NL the most in the World Series with 21 appearances. TheSeattle Marinersare the only MLB franchise that has never appeared in a World Series; theMilwaukee Brewers,San Diego Padres,Tampa Bay Rays, andColorado Rockieshave all played in the Series but have never won it, with the Padres and the Rays appearing twice. TheLos Angeles AngelsandWashington Nationalsare the only teams who have won their only World Series appearance, and theToronto Blue JaysandMiami Marlinsare the only teams with multiple World Series appearances with no losses. The Toronto Blue Jays are the only franchise from outside the United States to appear in and win a World Series, winning in 1992 and 1993. TheHouston Astrosare the only franchise to have represented both the NL (2005) and the AL (2017, 2019, 2021, 2022), winning the Series in 2017 and 2022. The 1919 and 2017 World Series were both marred with cheating scandals: theBlack Sox Scandaland theHouston Astros sign stealing scandal. The most recent World Series champions are theTexas Rangers. World Series results Numbers in parentheses in the table are World Series appearances as of the date of that World Series, and are used as follows: Source for this Table World Series records by franchise In the sortable table below, teams are ordered first by number of wins, then by number of appearances, and finally by year of first appearance. In the \\\"Season(s)\\\" column,bold yearsindicate winning appearances. Frequent matchups The following are the 20 matchups of teams that have occurred two or more times in the World Series. All teams that have participated in these were \\\"Classic Eight\\\" members of either the American or National League; no expansion team (created in 1961 or later) has faced the same opponent more than once in a World Series. See also References External links\",\n \"Chicago Chicagois themost populous cityin theU.S. stateofIllinoisand in theMidwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the2020 census,it is thethird-most populous city in the United StatesafterNew York CityandLos Angeles. As theseatofCook County, thesecond-most populous countyin the U.S., Chicago is the center of theChicago metropolitan area, often colloquially called \\\"Chicagoland\\\" and home to 9.6 million residents. Located on the shore ofLake Michigan, Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837 near aportagebetween theGreat Lakesand theMississippi River watershed. It grew rapidly in the mid-19th century.In 1871, theGreat Chicago Firedestroyed several square miles and left more than 100,000 homeless,but Chicago's population continued to grow.Chicago made noted contributions tourban planningandarchitecture, such as theChicago School, the development of theCity Beautiful movement, and the steel-framedskyscraper. Chicago is an international hub for finance,culture, commerce, industry, education, technology, telecommunications, andtransportation. It has the largest and most diverse financederivativesmarket in the world, generating 20% of all volume incommoditiesand financial futures alone.O'Hare International Airportis routinely ranked among theworld's top six busiest airports by passenger traffic,and the region is also the nation's railroad hub.The Chicago area has one of the highestgross domestic products(GDP) of any urban region in the world, generating $689 billion in 2018.Chicago's economyisdiverse, with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. Chicago is a major destination fortourism, including visitors to itscultural institutions, and Lake Michiganbeaches. Chicago's culture has contributed much to the visual arts,literature, film,theater, comedy (especiallyimprovisational comedy),food, dance, andmusic(particularlyjazz,blues,soul,hip-hop,gospel,andelectronic dance music, includinghouse music). Chicago is home to theChicago Symphony Orchestraand theLyric Opera of Chicago, while theArt Institute of Chicagoprovides an influential visual arts museum andart school. The Chicago area also hosts theUniversity of Chicago,Northwestern University, and theUniversity of Illinois Chicago, amongother institutions of learning. ProfessionalsportsinChicago includeallmajor professional leagues, including twoMajor League Baseballteams. Etymology and nicknames The nameChicagois derived from a French rendering of theindigenousMiami–Illinoiswordshikaakwafor a wild relative of theonion; it is known to botanists asAllium tricoccumand known more commonly as \\\"ramps\\\". The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as \\\"Checagou\\\" was byRobert de LaSallearound 1679 in a memoir.Henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the eponymous wild \\\"garlic\\\" grew profusely in the area.According to his diary of late September 1687: ... when we arrived at the said place called \\\"Chicagou\\\" which, according to what we were able to learn of it, has taken this name because of the quantity of garlic which grows in the forests in this region. The city has hadseveral nicknamesthroughout its history, such as theWindy City, Chi-Town, Second City, and City of the Big Shoulders. History Beginnings In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by thePotawatomi, an indigenous tribe who had succeeded theMiami,SaukandMeskwakipeoples in this region. The first known permanent settler in Chicago was traderJean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was ofAfricandescent, perhaps born in theFrench colonyofSaint-Domingue(Haiti), and established the settlement in the 1780s. He is commonly known as the \\\"Founder of Chicago.\\\" In 1795, following the victory of the new United States in theNorthwest Indian War, an area that was to be part of Chicago was turned over to the U.S. for a military post by native tribes in accordance with theTreaty of Greenville. In 1803, theU.S. ArmyconstructedFort Dearborn, which was destroyed during theWar of 1812in theBattle of Fort Dearbornby the Potawatomi before being later rebuilt. After the War of 1812, theOttawa,Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the1833 Treaty of Chicagoand sent west of theMississippi Riveras part of the federal policy ofIndian removal. 19th century On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200.Within seven years it grew to more than 6,000 people. On June 15, 1835, the first public land sales began withEdmund Dick Tayloras Receiver of Public Monies. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4, 1837,and for several decades was the world's fastest-growing city. As the site of theChicago Portage,the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicago's first railway,Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and theIllinois and Michigan Canalopened in 1848. The canal allowedsteamboatsandsailing shipson theGreat Lakesto connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities andimmigrantsfrom abroad. Manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing theAmerican economy.TheChicago Board of Trade(established 1848) listed the first-ever standardized \\\"exchange-traded\\\" forward contracts, which were calledfutures contracts. In the 1850s, Chicago gained national political prominence as the home of SenatorStephen Douglas, the champion of theKansas–Nebraska Actand the \\\"popular sovereignty\\\" approach to the issue of the spread of slavery.These issues also helped propel another Illinoisan,Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage. Lincoln was nominated in Chicago for U.S. president at the1860 Republican National Convention, which was held in a purpose-built auditorium called theWigwam. He defeated Douglas in the general election, and this set the stage for theAmerican Civil War. To accommodaterapid population growthand demand for better sanitation, the city improved its infrastructure. In February 1856, Chicago's Common Council approvedChesbrough's plan to build the United States' first comprehensive sewerage system.The projectraised much of central Chicagoto a new grade with the use ofjackscrewsfor raising buildings.While elevating Chicago, and at first improving the city's health, the untreated sewage and industrial waste now flowed into theChicago River, and subsequently intoLake Michigan, polluting the city's primary freshwater source. The city responded by tunneling two miles (3.2 km) out into Lake Michigan to newly builtwater cribs. In 1900, the problem of sewage contamination was largely resolved when the city completed a major engineering feat. It reversed the flow of the Chicago River so that the water flowed away from Lake Michigan rather than into it. This project began with the construction and improvement of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and was completed with theChicago Sanitary and Ship Canalthat connects to theIllinois River, which flows into the Mississippi River. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed an area about 4 miles (6.4 km) long and 1-mile (1.6 km) wide, a large section of the city at the time.Much of the city, including railroads andstockyards, survived intact,and from the ruins of the previous wooden structures arose more modern constructions of steel and stone. These set a precedent for worldwide construction.During its rebuilding period, Chicago constructed the world'sfirst skyscraperin 1885, usingsteel-skeletonconstruction. The city grew significantly in size and population by incorporating many neighboring townships between 1851 and 1920, with the largest annexation happening in 1889, with five townships joining the city, including theHyde Park Township, which now comprises most of theSouth Side of Chicagoand the far southeast of Chicago, and theJefferson Township, which now makes up most ofChicago's Northwest Side.The desire to join the city was driven by municipal services that the city could provide its residents. Chicago's flourishing economy attracted huge numbers of new immigrants fromEuropeand migrants from theEastern United States. Of the total population in 1900, more than 77% were either foreign-born or born in the United States of foreign parentage.Germans,Irish,Poles,Swedes, andCzechsmade up nearly two-thirds of the foreign-born population (by 1900, whites were 98.1% of the city's population). Labor conflictsfollowed the industrial boom and the rapid expansion of the labor pool, including theHaymarket affairon May 4, 1886, and in 1894 thePullman Strike. Anarchist and socialist groups played prominent roles in creating very large and highly organized labor actions. Concern for social problems among Chicago's immigrant poor ledJane AddamsandEllen Gates Starrto foundHull Housein 1889.Programs that were developed there became a model for the new field ofsocial work. During the 1870s and 1880s, Chicago attained national stature as the leader in the movement to improve public health. City laws and later, state laws that upgraded standards for the medical profession and fought urban epidemics ofcholera,smallpox, andyellow feverwere both passed and enforced. These laws became templates for public health reform in other cities and states. The city established many large, well-landscapedmunicipal parks, which also included public sanitation facilities. The chief advocate for improving public health in Chicago wasJohn H. Rauch, M.D.Rauch established a plan for Chicago's park system in 1866. He createdLincoln Parkby closing a cemetery filled with shallow graves, and in 1867, in response to an outbreak of cholera he helped establish a new Chicago Board of Health. Ten years later, he became the secretary and then the president of the first Illinois State Board of Health, which carried out most of its activities in Chicago. In the 1800s, Chicago became the nation's railroad hub, and by 1910 over 20 railroads operated passenger service out of six different downtown terminals.In 1883, Chicago's railway managers needed a general time convention, so they developed the standardized system of North Americantime zones.This system for telling time spread throughout the continent. In 1893, Chicago hosted theWorld's Columbian Expositionon former marshland at the present location ofJackson Park. The Exposition drew 27.5 million visitors, and is considered the most influentialworld's fairin history.TheUniversity of Chicago, formerly at another location, moved to the same South Side location in 1892. The term \\\"midway\\\" for a fair or carnival referred originally to theMidway Plaisance, a strip of park land that still runs through the University of Chicago campus and connects theWashingtonand Jackson Parks. 20th and 21st centuries 1900 to 1939 DuringWorld War Iand the 1920s there was a major expansion in industry. The availability of jobs attracted African Americans from theSouthern United States. Between 1910 and 1930, the African American population of Chicago increased dramatically, from 44,103 to 233,903.ThisGreat Migrationhad an immense cultural impact, called theChicago Black Renaissance, part of theNew Negro Movement, in art, literature, and music.Continuing racial tensions and violence, such as theChicago race riot of 1919, also occurred. The ratification of the 18th amendment to the Constitution in 1919 made the production and sale (including exportation) of alcoholic beverages illegal in the United States. This ushered in the beginning of what is known as the gangster era, a time that roughly spans from 1919 until 1933 whenProhibitionwas repealed. The 1920s sawgangsters, includingAl Capone,Dion O'Banion,Bugs MoranandTony Accardobattle law enforcement and each other on the streets of Chicago during theProhibition era.Chicago was the location of the infamousSt. Valentine's Day Massacrein 1929, when Al Capone sent men to gun down members of a rival gang, North Side, led by Bugs Moran. From 1920 to 1921, the city was affected by a series of tenantrent strikes, which lead to the formation of the Chicago Tenants Protective association, passage of the Kessenger tenant laws, and of a heat ordinance that legally required flats to be kept above 68 °F during winter months by landlords. Chicago was the first American city to have a homosexual-rights organization. The organization, formed in 1924, was called theSociety for Human Rights. It produced the first American publication for homosexuals,Friendship and Freedom. Police and political pressure caused the organization to disband. The Great Depression brought unprecedented suffering to Chicago, in no small part due to the city's heavy reliance on heavy industry. Notably, industrial areas on the south side and neighborhoods lining both branches of the Chicago River were devastated; by 1933 over 50% of industrial jobs in the city had been lost, and unemployment rates amongst blacks and Mexicans in the city were over 40%. The Republican political machine in Chicago was utterly destroyed by the economic crisis, and every mayor since 1931 has been aDemocrat. From 1928 to 1933, the city witnessed a tax revolt, and the city was unable to meet payroll or provide relief efforts. The fiscal crisis was resolved by 1933, and at the same time, federal relief funding began to flow into Chicago.Chicago was also a hotbed of labor activism, withUnemployed Councilscontributing heavily in the early depression to create solidarity for the poor and demand relief; these organizations were created by socialist and communist groups. By 1935 theWorkers Alliance of Americabegun organizing the poor, workers, the unemployed. In the spring of 1937 Republic Steel Works witnessed theMemorial Day massacre of 1937in the neighborhood of East Side. In 1933, Chicago MayorAnton Cermakwas fatally wounded inMiami, Florida, during afailed assassinationattempt on President-electFranklin D. Roosevelt. In 1933 and 1934, the city celebrated its centennial by hosting theCentury of ProgressInternational ExpositionWorld's Fair.The theme of the fair was technological innovation over the century since Chicago's founding. 1940 to 1979 DuringWorld War II, the city of Chicago alone produced more steel than the United Kingdom every year from 1939 – 1945, and more thanNazi Germanyfrom 1943 – 1945. The Great Migration, which had been on pause due to the Depression, resumed at an even faster pace in thesecond wave, as hundreds of thousands of blacks from the South arrived in the city to work in the steel mills, railroads, and shipping yards. On December 2, 1942, physicistEnrico Fermiconducted the world's first controllednuclear reactionat the University of Chicago as part of the top-secretManhattan Project. This led to the creation of the atomic bomb by the United States, which it used inWorld War IIin 1945. MayorRichard J. Daley, a Democrat, was elected in 1955, in the era ofmachine politics. In 1956, the city conducted its last major expansion when it annexed the land under O'Hare airport, including a small portion of DuPage County. By the 1960s, white residents in several neighborhoods left the city for the suburban areas – in many American cities, a process known aswhite flight– as Blacks continued to move beyond theBlack Belt.While home loan discriminatoryredliningagainst blacks continued, the real estate industry practiced what became known asblockbusting, completely changing the racial composition of whole neighborhoods.Structural changes in industry, such as globalization and job outsourcing, caused heavy job losses for lower-skilled workers. At its peak during the 1960s, some 250,000 workers were employed in the steel industry in Chicago, but the steel crisis of the 1970s and 1980s reduced this number to just 28,000 in 2015. In 1966,Martin Luther King Jr.andAlbert Rabyled theChicago Freedom Movement, which culminated in agreements between Mayor Richard J. Daley and the movement leaders. Two years later, the city hosted the tumultuous1968 Democratic National Convention, which featured physical confrontations both inside and outside the convention hall, with anti-war protesters, journalists and bystanders being beaten by police.Major construction projects, including the Sears Tower (now known as theWillis Tower, which in 1974 became theworld's tallest building),University of Illinois at Chicago,McCormick Place, andO'Hare International Airport, were undertaken during Richard J. Daley's tenure.In 1979,Jane Byrne, the city's first female mayor, was elected. She was notable for temporarily moving into the crime-riddenCabrini-Greenhousing project and for leading Chicago's school system out of a financial crisis. 1980 to present In 1983,Harold Washingtonbecame the first black mayor of Chicago. Washington's first term in office directed attention to poor and previously neglected minority neighborhoods. He was re‑elected in 1987 but died of a heart attack soon after.Washington was succeeded by 6th ward alderpersonEugene Sawyer, who was elected by the Chicago City Council and served until a special election. Richard M. Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, was elected in 1989. His accomplishments included improvements to parks and creating incentives forsustainable development, as well as closingMeigs Fieldin the middle of the night and destroying the runways. After successfully running for re-election five times, and becoming Chicago's longest-serving mayor, Richard M. Daley declined to run for a seventh term. In 1992, a construction accident near theKinzie Street Bridgeproduced a breach connecting the Chicago River to a tunnel below, which was part of anabandoned freight tunnel systemextending throughout the downtownLoopdistrict. Thetunnels filledwith 250 million US gallons (1,000,000 m3) of water, affecting buildings throughout the district and forcing a shutdown of electrical power.The area was shut down for three days and some buildings did not reopen for weeks; losses were estimated at $1.95 billion. On February 23, 2011,Rahm Emanuel, a formerWhite House Chief of Staffand member of theHouse of Representatives, won the mayoral election.Emanuel was sworn in as mayor on May 16, 2011, and won re-election in 2015.Lori Lightfoot, the city's first African American woman mayor and its first openly LGBTQ mayor, was elected to succeed Emanuel as mayor in 2019.All three city-wide elective offices were held by women (and women of color) for the first time in Chicago history: in addition to Lightfoot, the city clerk wasAnna Valenciaand the city treasurer wasMelissa Conyears-Ervin. On May 15, 2023,Brandon Johnsonassumed office as the 57th mayor of Chicago. Geography Topography Chicago is located in northeastern Illinois on the southwestern shores of freshwater Lake Michigan. It is the principal city in theChicago Metropolitan Area, situated in both theMidwestern United Statesand theGreat Lakes region. The city rests on acontinental divideat the site of the Chicago Portage, connecting the Mississippi River and the Great Lakeswatersheds. In addition to it lying beside Lake Michigan, two rivers—the Chicago River in downtown and theCalumet Riverin the industrial far South Side—flow either entirely or partially through the city. Chicago's history and economy are closely tied to its proximity to Lake Michigan. While the Chicago River historically handled much of the region's waterborne cargo, today's hugelake freightersuse the city'sLake Calumet Harboron the South Side. The lake also provides another positive effect: moderating Chicago's climate, making waterfront neighborhoods slightly warmer in winter and cooler in summer. When Chicago was founded in 1837, most of the early building was around the mouth of the Chicago River, as can be seen on a map of the city's original 58 blocks.The overallgradeof the city's central, built-up areas is relatively consistent with the natural flatness of its overall natural geography, generally exhibiting only slight differentiation otherwise. The average land elevation is 579 ft (176.5 m)above sea level. While measurements vary somewhat,the lowest points are along the lake shore at 578 ft (176.2 m), while the highest point, at 672 ft (205 m), is the morainal ridge ofBlue Islandin the city's far south side. Lake Shore Driveruns adjacent to a large portion of Chicago's waterfront. Some of the parks along the waterfront includeLincoln Park,Grant Park,Burnham Park, andJackson Park. There are 24 publicbeachesacross 26 miles (42 km) of the waterfront.Landfill extends into portions of the lake providing space forNavy Pier,Northerly Island, theMuseum Campus, and large portions of theMcCormick PlaceConvention Center. Most of the city's high-rise commercial and residential buildings are close to the waterfront. An informal name for the entireChicago metropolitan areais \\\"Chicagoland\\\", which generally means the city and all its suburbs, though different organizations have slightly different definitions. Communities Major sections of the city include the central business district, calledthe Loop, and the North,South, andWest Sides.The three sides of the city are represented on theFlag of Chicagoby three horizontal white stripes.The North Side is the most-densely-populated residential section of the city, and many high-rises are located on this side of the city along the lakefront.The South Side is the largest section of the city, encompassing roughly 60% of the city's land area. The South Side contains most of the facilities of thePort of Chicago. In the late-1920s, sociologists at the University of Chicago subdivided the city into 77 distinctcommunity areas, which can further be subdivided into over 200 informally definedneighborhoods. Streetscape Chicago's streets were laid out in astreet gridthat grew from the city's original townsite plot, which was bounded by Lake Michigan on the east, North Avenue on the north, Wood Street on the west, and 22nd Street on the south.Streets following thePublic Land Survey Systemsection lines later became arterial streets in outlying sections. As new additions to the city were platted, city ordinance required them to be laid out with eight streets to the mile in one direction and sixteen in the other direction, about one street per 200 meters in one direction and one street per 100 meters in the other direction. The grid's regularity provided an efficient means of developing new real estate property. A scattering of diagonal streets, many of them originally Native American trails, also cross the city (Elston, Milwaukee, Ogden, Lincoln, etc.). Many additional diagonal streets were recommended in thePlan of Chicago, but only the extension ofOgden Avenuewas ever constructed. In 2021, Chicago was ranked the fourth-most walkable large city in the United States.Many of the city's residential streets have a wide patch of grass or trees between the street and the sidewalk itself. This helps to keep pedestrians on the sidewalk further away from the street traffic. Chicago'sWestern Avenueis the longest continuous urban street in the world.Other notable streets includeMichigan Avenue,State Street,95th Street,Cicero Avenue,Clark Street, andBelmont Avenue. TheCity Beautiful movementinspired Chicago's boulevards and parkways. Architecture The destruction caused by the Great Chicago Fire led to the largest building boom in the history of the nation. In 1885, the firststeel-framed high-rise building, the Home Insurance Building, rose in the city as Chicago ushered in theskyscraper era,which would then be followed by many other cities around the world.Today, Chicago's skyline is among the world's tallest and densest. Some of the United States' tallest towers are located in Chicago;Willis Tower(formerly Sears Tower) is the second tallest building in theWestern HemisphereafterOne World Trade Center, andTrump International Hotel and Toweris the third tallest in the country.The Loop's historic buildings include theChicago Board of Trade Building, theFine Arts Building,35 East Wacker, and theChicago Building,860-880 Lake Shore Drive ApartmentsbyMies van der Rohe. Many other architects have left their impression on the Chicago skyline such asDaniel Burnham,Louis Sullivan, Charles B. Atwood, John Root, andHelmut Jahn. TheMerchandise Mart, once first on thelist of largest buildings in the world, currently listed as 44th-largest 2013 as September 9, 2013, had its ownzip codeuntil 2008, and stands near the junction of the North and South branches of the Chicago River.Presently, the four tallest buildings in the city are Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower, also a building with its own zip code),Trump International Hotel and Tower, theAon Center(previously the Standard Oil Building), and theJohn Hancock Center.Industrial districts, such as some areas on theSouth Side, the areas along theChicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, and theNorthwest Indianaarea are clustered. Chicago gave its name to the Chicago School and was home to thePrairie School, two movements in architecture.Multiple kinds and scales of houses, townhouses, condominiums, and apartment buildings can be found throughout Chicago. Large swaths of the city's residential areas away from the lake are characterized by brickbungalowsbuilt from the early 20th century through the end of World War II. Chicago is also a prominent center of thePolish Cathedral styleofchurch architecture. The Chicago suburb ofOak Parkwas home to famous architectFrank Lloyd Wright, who had designed TheRobie Houselocated near the University of Chicago. A popular tourist activity is to take an architecture boat tour along the Chicago River. Monuments and public art Chicago is famous for its outdoorpublic artwith donors establishing funding for such art as far back asBenjamin Ferguson's 1905 trust.A number of Chicago's public art works are by modern figurative artists. Among these areChagall's Four Seasons; theChicago Picasso;Miro's Chicago;Calder'sFlamingo;Oldenburg'sBatcolumn;Moore'sLarge Interior Form, 1953-54,Man Enters the CosmosandNuclear Energy;Dubuffet'sMonument with Standing Beast,Abakanowicz'sAgora; and,Anish Kapoor'sCloud Gatewhich has become an icon of the city. Some events which shaped the city's history have also been memorialized by art works, including theGreat Northern Migration(Saar) and thecentennial of statehood for Illinois. Finally, two fountains near the Loop also function as monumental works of art:Plensa'sCrown Fountainas well asBurnhamand Bennett'sBuckingham Fountain. Climate The city lies within the typical hot-summerhumid continental climate(Köppen:Dfa), and experiences four distinct seasons.Summersare hot and humid, with frequentheat waves. The July daily average temperature is 75.4 °F (24.1 °C), with afternoon temperatures peaking at 84.5 °F (29.2 °C). In a normal summer, temperatures reach at least 90 °F (32 °C) on 17 days, with lakefront locations staying cooler when winds blow off the lake.Wintersare relatively cold and snowy.Blizzardsdo occur, such as inwinter 2011.There are many sunny but cold days. The normal winter high from December through March is about 36 °F (2 °C). January and February are the coldest months. Apolar vortex in January 2019nearly broke the city's cold record of −27 °F (−33 °C), which was set on January 20, 1985.Measurable snowfall can continue through the first or second week of April. Springandautumnare mild, short seasons, typically with low humidity.Dew pointtemperatures in the summer range from an average of 55.8 °F (13.2 °C) in June to 61.7 °F (16.5 °C) in July.They can reach nearly 80 °F (27 °C), such as during the July 2019 heat wave. The city lies withinUSDAplanthardiness zone6a, transitioning to 5b in the suburbs. According to theNational Weather Service, Chicago's highest official temperature reading of 105 °F (41 °C) was recorded on July 24, 1934.Midway Airportreached 109 °F (43 °C) one day prior and recorded aheat indexof 125 °F (52 °C) during the1995 heatwave.The lowest official temperature of −27 °F (−33 °C) was recorded onJanuary 20, 1985, at O'Hare Airport.Most of the city's rainfall is brought bythunderstorms, averaging 38 a year. The region is prone tosevere thunderstormsduring the spring and summer which can produce large hail, damaging winds, and occasionally tornadoes. Like other major cities, Chicago experiences anurban heat island, making the city and its suburbs milder than surrounding rural areas, especially at night and in winter. The proximity to Lake Michigan tends to keep the Chicago lakefront somewhat cooler in summer and less brutally cold in winter than inland parts of the city and suburbs away from the lake.Northeast winds from wintertimecyclonesdeparting south of the region sometimes bring the citylake-effect snow. Time zone As in the rest of the state of Illinois, Chicago forms part of theCentral Time Zone. The border with theEastern Time Zoneis located a short distance to the east, used in Michigan andcertain parts of Indiana. Demographics During its first hundred years, Chicago was one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. When founded in 1833, fewer than 200 people had settled on what was then the American frontier. By the time of its first census, seven years later, the population had reached over 4,000. In the forty years from 1850 to 1890, the city's population grew from slightly under 30,000 to over 1 million. At the end of the 19th century, Chicago was the 5th-most populous city in the world,and the largest of the cities that did not exist at the dawn of the century. Within sixty years of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the population went from about 300,000 to over 3 million,and reached its highest ever recorded population of 3.6 million for the 1950 census. From the last two decades of the 19th century, Chicago was the destination of waves of immigrants from Ireland, Southern, Central and Eastern Europe, includingItalians,Jews,Russians,Poles,Greeks,Lithuanians,Bulgarians,Albanians,Romanians,Turks,Croatians,Serbs,Bosnians,MontenegrinsandCzechs.To these ethnic groups, the basis of the city's industrialworking class, were added an additional influx ofAfrican Americansfrom theAmerican South—with Chicago's black population doubling between 1910 and 1920 and doubling again between 1920 and 1930.Chicago has asignificant Bosnian population, many of whom arrived in the 1990s and 2000s. In the 1920s and 1930s, the great majority of African Americans moving to Chicago settled in a so‑called \\\"Black Belt\\\" on the city'sSouth Side.A large number of blacks also settled on theWest Side. By 1930, two-thirds of Chicago's black population lived in sections of the city which were 90% black in racial composition.Around that time, a lesser known fact about African Americans on theNorth Sideis that the block of 4600 Winthrop Avenue inUptownwas the only block African Americans could live or open establishments.Chicago's South Side emerged as United States second-largest urban black concentration, following New York'sHarlem. In 1990, Chicago's South Side and the adjoining south suburbs constituted the largest black majority region in the entire United States.Since the 1980s, Chicago has had a massive exodus of African Americans (primarily from the South and West sides) to its suburbs or outside its metropolitan area.The above average crime and cost of living were leading reasons for the fast declining African American population in Chicago. Most of Chicago's foreign-born population were born inMexico,PolandorIndia. Chicago's population declined in the latter half of the 20th century, from over 3.6 million in 1950 down to under 2.7 million by 2010. By the time of the official census count in 1990, it was overtaken byLos Angelesas the United States' second largest city. The city has seen a rise in population for the 2000 census and after a decrease in 2010, it rose again for the 2020 census. According to U.S. census estimates as of July 2019, Chicago's largest racial or ethnic group is non-Hispanic White at 32.8% of the population, Blacks at 30.1% and the Hispanic population at 29.0% of the population. Chicago has the third-largestLGBTpopulation in the United States. In 2018, the Chicago Department of Health, estimated 7.5% of the adult population, approximately 146,000 Chicagoans, were LGBTQ.In 2015, roughly 4% of the population identified as LGBT.Since the 2013 legalization ofsame-sex marriage in Illinois, over 10,000 same-sex couples have wed inCook County, a majority of them in Chicago. Chicago became a \\\"de jure\\\"sanctuary cityin 2012 when MayorRahm Emanueland the City Council passed the Welcoming City Ordinance. According to the U.S. Census Bureau'sAmerican Community Surveydata estimates for 2022, the median income for a household in the city was $70,386,and the per capita income was $45,449. Male full-time workers had a median income of $68,870 versus $60,987 for females.About 17.2% of the population lived below the poverty line.In 2018, Chicago ranked seventh globally for the highest number of ultra-high-net-worth residents with roughly 3,300 residents worth more than $30 million. According to the 2022 American Community Survey, the specific ancestral groups having 10,000 or more persons in Chicago were: Persons who did not report or classify an ancestry were 548,790. Religion Religion in Chicago (2014) According to a 2014 study by thePew Research Center,Christianityis the most prevalently practiced religion in Chicago (71%),with the city being the fourth-most religious metropolis in the United States afterDallas,AtlantaandHouston.Roman CatholicismandProtestantismare the largest branches (34% and 35% respectively), followed byEastern OrthodoxyandJehovah's Witnesseswith 1% each.Chicago also has a sizable non-Christian population. Non-Christian groups includeIrreligious(22%),Judaism(3%),Islam(2%),Buddhism(1%) andHinduism(1%). Chicago is the headquarters of several religious denominations, including theEvangelical Covenant Churchand theEvangelical Lutheran Church in America. It is the seat of severaldioceses. TheFourth Presbyterian Churchis one of the largestPresbyteriancongregations in the United States based on memberships.Since the 20th century Chicago has also been the headquarters of theAssyrian Church of the East.In 2014 theCatholic Churchwas the largest individual Christian denomination (34%), with theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicagobeing the largest Catholic jurisdiction.Evangelical Protestantismform the largest theological Protestant branch (16%), followed byMainline Protestants(11%), and historicallyBlack churches(8%). Among denominational Protestant branches,Baptistsformed the largest group in Chicago (10%); followed by Nondenominational (5%);Lutherans(4%); andPentecostals(3%). Non-Christian faiths accounted for 7% of the religious population in 2014.Judaismhas at least 261,000 adherents which is 3% of the population, making it the second largest religion.A 2020 study estimated the total Jewish population of the Chicago metropolitan area, both religious and irreligious, at 319,500. The first twoParliament of the World's Religionsin 1893 and 1993 were held in Chicago.Many international religious leaders have visited Chicago, includingMother Teresa, theDalai LamaandPope John Paul IIin 1979. Economy Chicago has the third-largestgross metropolitan productin the United States—about $670.5 billion according to September 2017 estimates.The city has also been rated as having the most balanced economy in the United States, due to its high level of diversification.The Chicago metropolitan area has the third-largest science and engineering work force of any metropolitan area in the nation.Chicago was the base of commercial operations for industrialistsJohn Crerar,John Whitfield Bunn,Richard Teller Crane,Marshall Field,John Farwell,Julius Rosenwald, and many other commercial visionaries who laid the foundation for Midwestern and global industry. Chicago is a major world financial center, with the second-largest central business district in the United States, followingMidtown Manhattan.The city is the seat of theFederal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Bank's Seventh District. The city has major financial andfutures exchanges, including theChicago Stock Exchange, theChicago Board Options Exchange(CBOE), and theChicago Mercantile Exchange(the \\\"Merc\\\"), which is owned, along with theChicago Board of Trade(CBOT), by Chicago'sCME Group. In 2017, Chicago exchanges traded 4.7 billion in derivatives.Chase Bankhas its commercial and retail banking headquarters in Chicago'sChase Tower.Academically, Chicago has been influential through theChicago school of economics, which fielded 12Nobel Prizewinners. The city and its surrounding metropolitan area contain the third-largest labor pool in the United States with about 4.63 million workers.Illinois is home to 66Fortune1000companies, including those in Chicago.The city of Chicago also hosts 12FortuneGlobal 500 companies and 17Financial Times500 companies. The city claims threeDow 30companies:aerospacegiantBoeing, which moved its headquarters fromSeattleto the Chicago Loop in 2001;McDonald's; andWalgreens Boots Alliance.For six consecutive years from 2013 through 2018, Chicago was ranked the nation's top metropolitan area for corporate relocations.However, threeFortune500companies left Chicago in 2022, leaving the city with 35, still second to New York City. Manufacturing, printing, publishing, and food processing also play major roles in the city's economy. Several medical products and services companies are headquartered in the Chicago area, includingBaxter International,Boeing,Abbott Laboratories, and the Healthcare division ofGeneral Electric. Prominent food companies based in Chicago include the world headquarters ofConagra,Ferrara Candy Company,Kraft Heinz,McDonald's,Mondelez International, andQuaker Oats.Chicago has been a hub of theretailsector since its early development, withMontgomery Ward,Sears, andMarshall Field's. Today the Chicago metropolitan area is the headquarters of several retailers, includingWalgreens,Sears,Ace Hardware,Claire's,ULTA Beauty, andCrate & Barrel. Late in the 19th century, Chicago was part of thebicycle craze, with the Western Wheel Company, which introducedstampingto the production process and significantly reduced costs,while early in the 20th century, the city was part of the automobile revolution, hosting theBrass Era carbuilder Bugmobile, which was founded there in 1907.Chicago was also the site of theSchwinn Bicycle Company. Chicago is a major world convention destination. The city's main convention center is McCormick Place. With its four interconnected buildings, it is the largest convention center in the nation and third-largest in the world.Chicago also ranks third in the U.S. (behindLas VegasandOrlando) in number of conventions hosted annually. Chicago's minimum wage for non-tipped employees is one of the highest in the nation and reached $15 in 2021. Culture and contemporary life The city's waterfront location and nightlife attracts residents and tourists alike. Over a third of the city population is concentrated in the lakefront neighborhoods fromRogers Parkin the north toSouth Shorein the south.The city has many upscale dining establishments as well as many ethnic restaurant districts. These districts include theMexican Americanneighborhoods, such asPilsenalong 18th street, andLa Villitaalong 26th Street; thePuerto Ricanenclave ofPaseo Boricuain theHumboldt Parkneighborhood;Greektown, along SouthHalsted Street, immediately west of downtown;Little Italy, along Taylor Street;ChinatowninArmour Square;Polish PatchesinWest Town;Little SeoulinAlbany Parkaround Lawrence Avenue;Little VietnamnearBroadwayin Uptown; and theDesiarea, alongDevon AvenueinWest Ridge. Downtown is the center of Chicago's financial, cultural, governmental, and commercial institutions and the site of Grant Park and many of the city's skyscrapers. Many of the city's financial institutions, such as the CBOT and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, are located within a section of downtown called \\\"The Loop\\\", which is an eight-block by five-block area of city streets that is encircled by elevated rail tracks. The term \\\"The Loop\\\" is largely used by locals to refer to the entire downtown area as well. The central area includes theNear North Side, theNear South Side, and theNear West Side, as well as the Loop. These areas contribute famousskyscrapers, abundant restaurants,shopping,museums,Soldier Field, convention facilities,parkland, andbeaches. Lincoln Park contains theLincoln Park Zooand theLincoln Park Conservatory. TheRiver North Gallery Districtfeatures the nation's largest concentration of contemporary art galleries outside of New York City.Lake Viewis home toBoystown, the city's largeLGBTnightlife and culture center. TheChicago Pride Parade, held the last Sunday in June, is one of the world's largest with over a million people in attendance.NorthHalsted Streetis the main thoroughfare of Boystown. The South Side neighborhood ofHyde Parkis the home of former U.S. PresidentBarack Obama. It also contains the University of Chicago, ranked one of the world's top ten universities,and theMuseum of Science and Industry. The 6-mile (9.7 km) longBurnham Parkstretches along the waterfront of the South Side. Two of the city's largest parks are also located on this side of the city: Jackson Park, bordering the waterfront, hosted the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and is the site of the aforementioned museum; and slightly west sitsWashington Park. The two parks themselves are connected by a wide strip of parkland called theMidway Plaisance, running adjacent to the University of Chicago. The South Side hosts one of the city's largest parades, the annual African AmericanBud Billiken Parade and Picnic, which travels throughBronzevilleto Washington Park.Ford Motor Companyhas anautomobile assembly planton the South Side inHegewisch, and most of the facilities of the Port of Chicago are also on the South Side. The West Side holds theGarfield Park Conservatory, one of the largest collections of tropical plants in any U.S. city. Prominent Latino cultural attractions found here includeHumboldt Park'sInstitute of Puerto Rican Arts and Cultureand the annual Puerto Rican People's Parade, as well as theNational Museum of Mexican ArtandSt. Adalbert's ChurchinPilsen. The Near West Side holds theUniversity of Illinois at Chicagoand was once home toOprah Winfrey'sHarpo Studios, the site of which has been rebuilt as the global headquarters of McDonald's. The city's distinctive accent, made famous by its use in classic films likeThe Blues Brothersand television programs like theSaturday Night Liveskit \\\"Bill Swerski's Superfans\\\", is an advanced form ofInland Northern American English. This dialect can also be found in other cities bordering the Great Lakes such asCleveland,Milwaukee,Detroit, andRochester, New York, and most prominently features a rearrangement of certain vowel sounds, such as theshort 'a'sound as in \\\"cat\\\", which can sound more like \\\"kyet\\\" to outsiders. The accent remains well associated with the city. Entertainment and the arts Renowned Chicago theater companies include theGoodman Theatrein the Loop; theSteppenwolf Theatre CompanyandVictory Gardens Theaterin Lincoln Park; and theChicago Shakespeare Theaterat Navy Pier.Broadway In Chicagooffers Broadway-style entertainment at five theaters: theNederlander Theatre,CIBC Theatre,Cadillac Palace Theatre,Auditorium BuildingofRoosevelt University, andBroadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place.Polish languageproductions forChicago's large Polish speaking populationcan be seen at the historicGateway TheatreinJefferson Park. Since 1968, theJoseph Jefferson Awardsare given annually to acknowledge excellence in theater in the Chicago area. Chicago's theater community spawned modernimprovisational theater, and includes the prominent groupsThe Second CityandI.O.(formerly ImprovOlympic). TheChicago Symphony Orchestra(CSO) performs atSymphony Center, and is recognized as one of the best orchestras in the world.Also performing regularly atSymphony Centeris theChicago Sinfonietta, a more diverse and multicultural counterpart to the CSO. In the summer, many outdoor concerts are given in Grant Park andMillennium Park.Ravinia Festival, located 25 miles (40 km) north of Chicago, is the summer home of the CSO, and is a favorite destination for many Chicagoans. TheCivic Opera Houseis home to theLyric Opera of Chicago.TheLithuanian Opera Company of Chicagowas founded byLithuanian Chicagoansin 1956,and presents operas inLithuanian. TheJoffrey BalletandChicago Festival Balletperform in various venues, including theHarris TheaterinMillennium Park. Chicago has several other contemporary and jazz dance troupes, such as theHubbard Street Dance ChicagoandChicago Dance Crash. Other live-music genre which are part of the city's cultural heritage includeChicago blues,Chicago soul,jazz, andgospel. The city is the birthplace ofhouse music(a popular form of electronic dance music) andindustrial music, and is the site of an influentialhip hop scene. In the 1980s and 90s, the city was the global center for house and industrial music, two forms of music created in Chicago, as well as being popular foralternative rock,punk, andnew wave. The city has been a center forraveculture, since the 1980s. A flourishing independent rock music culture brought forth Chicagoindie.Annual festivalsfeature various acts, such asLollapaloozaand thePitchfork Music Festival.Lollapalooza originated in Chicago in 1991 and at first travelled to many cities, but as of 2005 its home has been Chicago.A 2007 report on the Chicago music industry by theUniversity of Chicago Cultural Policy Centerranked Chicago third among metropolitan U.S. areas in \\\"size of music industry\\\" and fourth among all U.S. cities in \\\"number of concerts and performances\\\". Chicago has a distinctivefine arttradition. For much of the twentieth century, it nurtured a strong style of figurativesurrealism, as in the works ofIvan AlbrightandEd Paschke. In 1968 and 1969, members of theChicago Imagists, such asRoger Brown,Leon Golub,Robert Lostutter,Jim Nutt, andBarbara Rossiproduced bizarre representational paintings.Henry Dargeris one of the most celebrated figures ofoutsider art. Tourism In 2014, Chicago attracted 50.17 million domestic leisure travelers, 11.09 million domestic business travelers and 1.308 million overseas visitors.These visitors contributed more thanUS$13.7billion to Chicago's economy.Upscale shopping along the Magnificent Mile and State Street, thousands of restaurants, as well as Chicago's eminent architecture, continue to draw tourists. The city is the United States' third-largestconventiondestination. A 2017 study byWalk Scoreranked Chicago the sixth-most walkable of fifty largest cities in the United States.Most conventions are held at McCormick Place, just south ofSoldier Field. Navy Pier, located just east ofStreeterville, is 3,000 ft (910 m) long and houses retail stores, restaurants, museums, exhibition halls and auditoriums. Chicago was the first city in the world to ever erect a Ferris wheel. The Willis Tower (formerly named Sears Tower) is a popular destination for tourists. Museums Among the city's museums are theAdler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, theField Museum of Natural History, and theShedd Aquarium. TheMuseum Campusjoins the southern section of Grant Park, which includes the renowned Art Institute of Chicago. Buckingham Fountain anchors the downtown park along the lakefront. The University of Chicago'sInstitute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, West Asia & North Africahas an extensive collection ofancient EgyptianandNear Easternarchaeological artifacts. Other museums and galleries in Chicago include theChicago History Museum, theDriehaus Museum, theDuSable Museum of African American History, theMuseum of Contemporary Art, thePeggy Notebaert Nature Museum, thePolish Museum of America, theMuseum of Broadcast Communications, theChicago Architecture Foundation, and theMuseum of Science and Industry. Cuisine Chicago lays claim to a large number of regional specialties that reflect the city's ethnic and working-class roots. Included among these are its nationally renowneddeep-dish pizza; this style is said to have originated atPizzeria Uno.The Chicago-style thin crust is also popular in the city.Certain Chicago pizza favorites includeLou Malnati'sandGiordano's. TheChicago-style hot dog, typically an all-beef hot dog, is loaded with an array of toppings that often includes pickle relish,yellow mustard, pickledsport peppers,tomatowedges,dill picklespear and topped off withcelery salton apoppy seedbun.Enthusiasts of the Chicago-style hot dog frown upon the use ofketchupas a garnish, but may prefer to addgiardiniera. A distinctly Chicago sandwich, theItalian beefsandwich is thinly sliced beef simmered inau jusand served on an Italian roll with sweet peppers or spicy giardiniera. A popular modification is the Combo—an Italian beef sandwich with the addition of an Italian sausage. TheMaxwell Street Polishis a grilled or deep-friedkielbasa—on a hot dog roll, topped with grilled onions, yellow mustard, and hot sport peppers. Chicken Vesuviois roasted bone-in chicken cooked in oil and garlic next to garlicky oven-roasted potato wedges and a sprinkling of green peas. ThePuerto Rican-influencedjibaritois a sandwich made with flattened, fried green plantains instead of bread. Themother-in-lawis atamaletopped with chili and served on a hot dog bun.The tradition of serving theGreekdishsaganakiwhile aflame has its origins in Chicago's Greek community.The appetizer, which consists of a square of fried cheese, is doused withMetaxaandflambéedtable-side.Chicago-style barbecuefeatures hardwood smokedrib tipsandhot linkswhich were traditionally cooked in an aquarium smoker, a Chicago invention.Annual festivalsfeature various Chicago signature dishes, such asTaste of Chicagoand the Chicago Food Truck Festival. One of the world's most decorated restaurants and a recipient of threeMichelinstars,Alineais located in Chicago. Well-known chefs who have had restaurants in Chicago include:Charlie Trotter,Rick Tramonto,Grant Achatz, andRick Bayless. In 2003,Robb Reportnamed Chicago the country's \\\"most exceptional dining destination\\\". Literature Chicago literature finds its roots in the city's tradition of lucid, direct journalism, lending to a strong tradition ofsocial realism. In theEncyclopedia of Chicago,Northwestern UniversityProfessor Bill Savage describes Chicago fiction as prose which tries to \\\"capture the essence of the city, its spaces and its people.\\\" The challenge for early writers was that Chicago was a frontier outpost that transformed into a global metropolis in the span of two generations. Narrative fiction of that time, much of it in the style of \\\"high-flown romance\\\" and \\\"genteel realism\\\", needed a new approach to describe the urban social, political, and economic conditions of Chicago.Nonetheless, Chicagoans worked hard to create a literary tradition that would stand the test of time,and create a \\\"city of feeling\\\" out of concrete, steel, vast lake, and open prairie.Much notable Chicago fiction focuses on the city itself, with social criticism keeping exultation in check. At least three short periods in thehistory of Chicagohave had a lasting influence onAmerican literature.These include from the time of the Great Chicago Fire to about 1900, what became known as the Chicago Literary Renaissance in the 1910s and early 1920s, and the period of theGreat Depressionthrough the 1940s. What would become the influentialPoetrymagazine was founded in 1912 byHarriet Monroe, who was working as anartcriticfor theChicago Tribune. The magazine discovered such poets asGwendolyn Brooks,James Merrill, andJohn Ashbery.T. S. Eliot's first professionally published poem, \\\"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock\\\", was first published byPoetry. Contributors have includedEzra Pound,William Butler Yeats,William Carlos Williams,Langston Hughes, andCarl Sandburg, among others. The magazine was instrumental in launching theImagistandObjectivistpoetic movements. From the 1950s through 1970s, American poetry continued to evolve in Chicago.In the 1980s, a modern form of poetry performance began in Chicago, thepoetry slam. Sports The city has twoMajor League Baseball(MLB) teams: theChicago Cubsof the National League play in Wrigley Field on the North Side; and theChicago White Soxof the American League play in Guaranteed Rate Field on the South Side. The two teams have faced each other in a World Series only once, in 1906. The Cubs are the oldest Major League Baseball team to have never changed their city;they have played in Chicago since 1871.They had the dubious honor of having the longest championship drought in American professional sports, failing to win a World Series between 1908 and 2016. The White Sox have played on the South Side continuously since 1901. They have won three World Series titles (1906, 1917, 2005) and six American League pennants, including the first in 1901. TheChicago Bears, one of the last two remaining charter members of theNational Football League(NFL), have won nineNFL Championships, including the 1985Super Bowl XX. The Bears play their home games at Soldier Field. TheChicago Bullsof theNational Basketball Association(NBA) is one of the most recognized basketball teams in the world.During the 1990s, withMichael Jordanleading them, the Bulls won six NBA championships in eight seasons. TheChicago Blackhawksof theNational Hockey League(NHL) began play in 1926, and are one of the \\\"Original Six\\\" teams of the NHL. The Blackhawks have won sixStanley Cups, including in 2010, 2013, and2015. Both the Bulls and the Blackhawks play at theUnited Center. Chicago Fire FCis a member ofMajor League Soccer(MLS) and plays at Soldier Field. The Fire have won one league title and fourU.S. Open Cups, since their founding in 1997. In 1994, the United States hosted a successfulFIFA World Cupwith games played at Soldier Field. TheChicago Red Starsare a team in theNational Women's Soccer League(NWSL). They previously played inWomen's Professional Soccer(WPS), of which they were a founding member, before joining the NWSL in 2013. They play atSeatGeek StadiuminBridgeview, Illinois. TheChicago Skyis a professional basketball team playing in theWomen's National Basketball Association(WNBA). They play home games at theWintrust Arena. The team was founded before the 2006 WNBA season began. TheChicago Marathonhas been held each year since 1977 except for 1987, when a half marathon was run in its place. The Chicago Marathon is one of sixWorld Marathon Majors. Five area colleges play inDivision Iconferences: two from major conferences—theDePaul Blue Demons(Big East Conference) and theNorthwestern Wildcats(Big Ten Conference)—and three from other D1 conferences—theChicago State Cougars(Northeast Conference); theLoyola Ramblers(Atlantic 10 Conference); and theUIC Flames(Missouri Valley Conference). Chicago has also entered intoesportswith the creation of theOpTic Chicago, a professionalCall of Dutyteam that participates within theCDL. Parks and greenspace When Chicago was incorporated in 1837, it chose the mottoUrbs in Horto, aLatinphrase which means \\\"City in a Garden\\\". Today, theChicago Park Districtconsists of more than 570 parks with over 8,000 acres (3,200 ha) ofmunicipal parkland. There are 31 sandbeaches, a plethora of museums, two world-class conservatories, and 50 nature areas.Lincoln Park, the largest of the city's parks, covers 1,200 acres (490 ha) and has over 20 million visitors each year, making it third in the number of visitors afterCentral ParkinNew York City, and theNational Mall and Memorial ParksinWashington, D.C. There is a historicboulevard system,a network of wide, tree-linedboulevardswhich connect a number of Chicagoparks.The boulevards and the parks were authorized by the Illinois legislature in 1869.A number ofChicago neighborhoodsemerged along these roadways in the 19th century.The building of the boulevard system continued intermittently until 1942. It includes nineteen boulevards, eight parks, and sixsquares, along twenty-six miles of interconnected streets.TheChicago Park Boulevard System Historic Districtwas listed on theNational Register of Historic Placesin 2018. With berths for more than 6,000 boats, the Chicago Park District operates the nation's largest municipal harbor system.In addition to ongoing beautification and renewal projects for the existing parks, a number of new parks have been added in recent years, such as thePing Tom Memorial Parkin Chinatown,DuSable Parkon the Near North Side, and most notably, Millennium Park, which is in the northwestern corner of one of Chicago's oldest parks, Grant Park in the Chicago Loop. The wealth of greenspace afforded by Chicago's parks is further augmented by theCook County Forest Preserves, a network of open spaces containing forest,prairie,wetland, streams, and lakes that are set aside as natural areas which lie along the city's outskirts,including both theChicago Botanic GardeninGlencoeand theBrookfield ZooinBrookfield.Washington Park is also one of the city's biggest parks; covering nearly 400 acres (160 ha). The park is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places listings in South Side Chicago. Law and government Government The government of the City of Chicago is divided into executive andlegislativebranches. Themayor of Chicagois the chief executive, elected by general election for a term of four years, with no term limits. The current mayor isBrandon Johnson. The mayor appoints commissioners and other officials who oversee the various departments. As well as the mayor, Chicago's clerk and treasurer are also elected citywide. TheCity Councilis the legislative branch and is made up of 50 alderpersons, one elected from eachwardin the city.The council takes official action through the passage ofordinancesand resolutions and approves the city budget. TheChicago Police Departmentprovides law enforcement and theChicago Fire Departmentprovides fire suppression and emergency medical services for the city and its residents. Civil and criminal law cases are heard in theCook County Circuit Courtof the State of Illinois court system, or in theNorthern District of Illinois, in the federal system. In the state court, the public prosecutor is the Illinoisstate's attorney; in the Federal court it is the United Statesattorney. Politics During much of the last half of the 19th century, Chicago's politics were dominated by a growingDemocratic Partyorganization. During the 1880s and 1890s, Chicago had a powerful radical tradition with large and highly organizedsocialist,anarchistandlabor organizations.For much of the 20th century, Chicago has been among the largest and most reliable Democratic strongholds in the United States; with Chicago's Democratic vote the state of Illinois has been \\\"solid blue\\\" inpresidential electionssince 1992. Even before then, it was not unheard of for Republican presidential candidates to win handily in downstate Illinois, only to lose statewide due to large Democratic margins in Chicago. The citizens of Chicago have not elected aRepublicanmayor since 1927, whenWilliam Thompsonwas voted into office. The strength of the party in the city is partly a consequence of Illinois state politics, where the Republicans have come to represent rural and farm concerns while the Democrats support urban issues such as Chicago's public school funding. Chicago contains less than 25% of the state's population, but it is split between eight of Illinois' 17districtsin theUnited States House of Representatives. All eight of the city's representatives are Democrats; only two Republicans have represented a significant portion of the city since 1973, for one term each:Robert P. Hanrahanfrom 1973 to 1975, andMichael Patrick Flanaganfrom 1995 to 1997. Machine politicspersisted in Chicago after the decline of similar machines in other large U.S. cities.During much of that time, the city administration found opposition mainly from a liberal \\\"independent\\\" faction of the Democratic Party. The independents finally gained control of city government in 1983 with the election ofHarold Washington(in office 1983–1987). From 1989 until May 16, 2011, Chicago was under the leadership of its longest-serving mayor,Richard M. Daley, the son of Richard J. Daley. Because of the dominance of the Democratic Party in Chicago, the Democraticprimaryvote held in the spring is generally more significant than the general elections in November for U.S. House and Illinois State seats. The aldermanic, mayoral, and other city offices are filled through nonpartisan elections with runoffs as needed. The city is home of former United States PresidentBarack Obamaand First LadyMichelle Obama; Barack Obama was formerly a state legislator representing Chicago and later a U.S. senator. The Obamas' residence is located near the University of Chicago inKenwoodon the city's south side. Crime Chicago's crime rate in 2020 was 3,926 per 100,000 people.Chicago experienced major rises inviolent crimein the 1920s, in the late 1960s, and in the 2020s.Chicago's biggestcriminal justicechallenges have changed little over the last 50 years, and statistically reside with homicide,armed robbery, gang violence, andaggravated battery. Chicago has a higher murder rate than the larger cities of New York and Los Angeles. However, while it has a large absolute number of crimes due to its size, Chicago is not among the top-25 most violent cities in the United States. Murder rates in Chicago vary greatly depending on the neighborhood in question.The neighborhoods ofEnglewoodon the South Side, andAustinon the West side, for example, have homicide rates that are ten times higher than other parts of the city.Chicago has an estimated population of over 100,000 active gang members from nearly 60 factions.According to reports in 2013, \\\"most of Chicago's violent crime comes from gangs trying to maintain control of drug-selling territories,\\\"and is specifically related to the activities of theSinaloa Cartel, which is active in several American cities.Violent crime rates vary significantly by area of the city, with more economically developed areas having low rates, but other sections have much higher rates of crime.In 2013, the violent crime rate was 910 per 100,000 people;the murder rate was 10.4 per 100,000 – while high crime districts saw 38.9 murders, low crime districts saw 2.5 murders per 100,000. Chicago has a long history of publiccorruptionthat regularly draws the attention of federal law enforcement and federal prosecutors.From 2012 to 2019, 33 Chicago alderpersons were convicted on corruption charges, roughly one third of those elected in the time period. A report from the Office of the Legislative Inspector General noted that over half of Chicago's elected alderpersons took illegal campaign contributions in 2013.Most corruption cases in Chicago are prosecuted by theU.S. Attorney's office, as legaljurisdictionmakes most offenses punishable as a federal crime. Education Schools and libraries Chicago Public Schools(CPS) is the governing body of theschool districtthat contains over 600 public elementary and high schools citywide, including several selective-admission magnet schools. There are eleven selective enrollment high schools in the Chicago Public Schools, designed to meet the needs of Chicago's most academically advanced students. These schools offer a rigorous curriculum with mainly honors andAdvanced Placement(AP) courses.Walter Payton College Prep High Schoolis ranked number one in the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois. Chicago high school rankings are determined by the average test scores on state achievement tests.The district, with an enrollment exceeding 400,545 students (2013–2014 20th Day Enrollment), is the third-largest in the U.S.On September 10, 2012, teachers for the Chicago Teachers Union went on strike for the first time since 1987 over pay, resources, and other issues.According to data compiled in 2014, Chicago's \\\"choice system\\\", where students who test or apply and may attend one of a number of public high schools (there are about 130), sorts students of different achievement levels into different schools (high performing, middle performing, and low performing schools). Chicago has a network ofLutheran schools,and several private schools are run by other denominations and faiths, such as theIda Crown Jewish AcademyinWest Ridge. TheRoman Catholic Archdiocese of ChicagooperatesCatholic schools, that includeJesuit preparatory schoolsand others. A number of private schools are completely secular. There are also the privateChicago Academy for the Arts, a high school focused on six different categories of the arts and the publicChicago High School for the Arts, a high school focused on five categories (visual arts, theatre, musical theatre, dance, and music) of the arts. TheChicago Public Librarysystem operates three regional libraries and 77 neighborhood branches, including the central library. Colleges and universities Since the 1850s, Chicago has been a world center of higher education and research with several universities. These institutions consistently rank among the top \\\"National Universities\\\" in the United States, as determined byU.S. News & World Report.Highly regarded universities in Chicago and the surrounding area are the University of Chicago; Northwestern University;Illinois Institute of Technology;Loyola University Chicago;DePaul University;Columbia College Chicagoand theUniversity of Illinois Chicago. Other notable schools include:Chicago State University; theSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago;East–West University;National Louis University;North Park University;Northeastern Illinois University;Robert Morris University Illinois;Roosevelt University;Saint Xavier University;Rush University; andShimer College. William Rainey Harper, the first president of the University of Chicago, was instrumental in the creation of thejunior collegeconcept, establishing nearbyJoliet Junior Collegeas the first in the nation in 1901.His legacy continues with the multiplecommunity collegesin the Chicago proper, including the sevenCity Colleges of Chicago:Richard J. Daley College,Kennedy–King College,Malcolm X College,Olive–Harvey College,Truman College,Harold Washington College, andWilbur Wright College, in addition to the privately heldMacCormac College. Chicago also has a high concentration of post-baccalaureate institutions, graduate schools, seminaries, and theological schools, such as theAdler School of Professional Psychology,The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, theErikson Institute,The Institute for Clinical Social Work, theLutheran School of Theology at Chicago, theCatholic Theological Union, theMoody Bible Institute, and theUniversity of Chicago Divinity School. Media Television The Chicago metropolitan area is a major media hub and the third-largest media market in the United States, after New York City and Los Angeles.Each of the big fiveU.S. television networks,NBC,ABC,CBS,FoxandThe CW, directly owns and operates ahigh-definition televisionstation in Chicago (WMAQ5,WLS7,WBBM2,WFLD32 andWGN-TV9, respectively). WGN is owned by the CW through a majority stake held in the network by theNexstar Media Group, which acquired it from its founding ownerTribune Broadcastingin 2019. WGN was once carried, with some programming differences, as \\\"WGN America\\\" oncable and satellite TVnationwide and in parts of theCaribbean. WGN America eventually becameNewsNationin 2021. Chicago has also been the home of several prominent talk shows, includingThe Oprah Winfrey Show,Steve Harvey Show,The Rosie Show,The Jerry Springer Show,The Phil Donahue Show,The Jenny Jones Show, and more. The city also has onePBSmember station (its second:WYCC20, removed its affiliation with PBS in 2017):WTTW11, producer of shows such asSneak Previews,The Frugal Gourmet,Lamb Chop's Play-AlongandThe McLaughlin Group. As of 2018,Windy City Liveis Chicago's only daytime talk show, which is hosted by Val Warner andRyan Chiaveriniat ABC7 Studios with a live weekday audience. Since 1999,Judge Mathisalso films his syndicated arbitration-based realitycourt showat theNBC Tower. Beginning in January 2019,Newsybegan producing 12 of its 14 hours of live news programming per day from its new facility in Chicago. Television stations Most of Chicago's television stations are owned and operated by the big television network companies. They are: Newspapers Two major daily newspapers are published in Chicago: theChicago Tribuneand theChicago Sun-Times, with the Tribune having the larger circulation. There are also several regional and special-interest newspapers and magazines, such asChicago, theDziennik Związkowy(Polish Daily News),Draugas(the Lithuanian daily newspaper), theChicago Reader, theSouthtownStar, theChicago Defender, theDaily Herald,Newcity,StreetWiseand theWindy City Times. The entertainment and cultural magazineTime Out ChicagoandGRABmagazine are also published in the city, as well as local music magazineChicago Innerview. In addition, Chicago is the home of satirical national news outlet,The Onion, as well as its sister pop-culture publication,The A.V. Club. Movies and filming Radio Chicago has five50,000 watt AM radio stations: theAudacy-ownedWBBMandWSCR; theTribune Broadcasting-ownedWGN; theCumulus Media-ownedWLS; and theESPN Radio-ownedWMVP. Chicago is also home to a number of national radio shows, includingBeyond the BeltwaywithBruce DuMonton Sunday evenings. Chicago Public Radioproduces nationally aired programs such asPRI'sThis American LifeandNPR'sWait Wait...Don't Tell Me!. Infrastructure Transportation Chicago is a major transportation hub in the United States. It is an important component in global distribution, as it is the third-largest inter-modal port in the world afterHong KongandSingapore. The city of Chicago has a higher than average percentage of households without a car. In 2015, 26.5 percent of Chicago households were without a car, and increased slightly to 27.5 percent in 2016. The national average was 8.7 percent in 2016. Chicago averaged 1.12 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8. Parking Due to Chicago'sWheel Tax,residents of Chicago who own a vehicle are required to purchase a Chicago City Vehicle Sticker.In established Residential Parking Zones, only local residents can purchase Zone-specific parking stickers for themselves and guests. Chicago since 2009 has relinquished rights to itspublicstreet parking.In 2008, as Chicago struggled to close a growing budget deficit, the city agreed to a 75-year, $1.16 billion deal to lease itsparking metersystem to an operating company created byMorgan Stanley, calledChicago Parking Meters LLC. Daley said the \\\"agreement is very good news for the taxpayers of Chicago because it will provide more than $1 billion in net proceeds that can be used during this very difficult economy.\\\" The rights of the parking ticket lease end in 2081, and since 2022 have already recouped over $1.5 billion in revenue forChicago Parking Meters LLCinvestors. Expressways Seven mainline and four auxiliaryinterstate highways(55,57,65(only in Indiana),80(also inIndiana),88,90(also inIndiana),94(also inIndiana),190,290,294, and355) run through Chicago and its suburbs. Segments that link to the city center are named after influential politicians, with three of them named after former U.S. Presidents (Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Reagan) and one named after two-time Democratic candidateAdlai Stevenson. TheKennedyandDan RyanExpressways are the busiest state maintained routes in the entire state of Illinois. Transit systems TheRegional Transportation Authority(RTA) coordinates the operation of the three service boards: CTA, Metra, and Pace. Greyhound Linesprovides inter-city bus service to and from the city at theChicago Bus Station, and Chicago is also the hub for the Midwest network ofMegabus (North America). Passenger rail Amtraklong distance andcommuter railservices originate fromUnion Station.Chicago is one of the largest hubs of passenger rail service in the nation.The services terminate in the San Francisco area, Washington, D.C., New York City, New Orleans,Portland,Seattle,Milwaukee,Quincy,St. Louis,Carbondale, Boston,Grand Rapids,Port Huron,Pontiac, Los Angeles, andSan Antonio. Future service will terminate atMoline. An attempt was made in the early 20th century to link Chicago with New York City via theChicago – New York Electric Air Line Railroad. Parts of this were built, but it was never completed. Bicycle and scooter sharing systems In July 2013, thebicycle-sharing systemDivvywas launched with 750 bikes and 75 docking stationsIt is operated byLyftfor theChicago Department of Transportation.As of July 2019, Divvy operated 5800 bicycles at 608 stations, covering almost all of the city, excludingPullman, Rosedale,Beverly,Belmont CraginandEdison Park. In May 2019, The City of Chicago announced its Chicago's Electric Shared Scooter Pilot Program, scheduled to run from June 15 to October 15.The program started on June 15 with 10 different scooter companies, including scooter sharing market leadersBird,Jump,LimeandLyft.Each company was allowed to bring 250electric scooters, although both Bird and Lime claimed that they experienced a higher demand for their scooters.The program ended on October 15, with nearly 800,000 rides taken. Freight rail Chicago is the largest hub in the railroad industry.All fiveClass I railroadsmeet in Chicago. As of 2002, severe freight train congestion caused trains to take as long to get through the Chicago region as it took to get there from the West Coast of the country (about 2 days).According to U.S. Department of Transportation, the volume of imported and exported goods transported via rail to, from, or through Chicago is forecast to increase nearly 150 percent between 2010 and 2040.CREATE, theChicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program, comprises about 70 programs, including crossovers, overpasses and underpasses, that intend to significantly improve the speed of freight movements in the Chicago area. Airports Chicago is served byO'Hare International Airport, the world's busiest airport measured by airline operations,on the far Northwest Side, andMidway International Airporton the Southwest Side. In 2005, O'Hare was the world's busiest airport by aircraft movements and the second-busiest by total passenger traffic.Both O'Hare and Midway are owned and operated by the City of Chicago.Gary/Chicago International AirportandChicago Rockford International Airport, located inGary, IndianaandRockford, Illinois, respectively, can serve as alternative Chicago area airports, however they do not offer as many commercial flights as O'Hare and Midway. In recent years the state of Illinois has been leaning towardsbuilding an entirely new airportin the Illinois suburbs of Chicago.The City of Chicago is the world headquarters forUnited Airlines, the world's third-largest airline. Port authority The Port of Chicago consists of several major port facilities within the city of Chicago operated by the Illinois International Port District (formerly known as the Chicago Regional Port District). The central element of the Port District, Calumet Harbor, is maintained by theU.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Utilities Electricity for most ofnorthern Illinoisis provided byCommonwealth Edison, also known as ComEd. Their service territory bordersIroquois Countyto the south, theWisconsinborder to the north, theIowaborder to the west and theIndianaborder to the east. In northern Illinois, ComEd (a division ofExelon) operates the greatest number of nuclear generating plants in any U.S. state. Because of this, ComEd reports indicate that Chicago receives about 75% of its electricity from nuclear power. Recently, the city began installing wind turbines on government buildings to promote renewable energy. Natural gas is provided by Peoples Gas, a subsidiary ofIntegrys Energy Group, which is headquartered in Chicago. Domestic and industrial waste was once incinerated but it is nowlandfilled, mainly in theCalumet area. From 1995 to 2008, the city had ablue bagprogram to divert recyclable refuse from landfills.Because of low participation in the blue bag programs, the city began a pilot program for blue bin recycling like other cities. This proved successful and blue bins were rolled out across the city. Health systems TheIllinois Medical Districtis on the Near West Side. It includesRush University Medical Center, ranked as the second best hospital in the Chicago metropolitan area byU.S. News & World Reportfor 2014–16, theUniversity of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago, Jesse Brown VA Hospital, andJohn H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, one of the busiest trauma centers in the nation. Two of the country's premier academic medical centers reside in Chicago, includingNorthwestern Memorial Hospitaland theUniversity of Chicago Medical Center. The Chicago campus of Northwestern University includes theFeinberg School of Medicine; Northwestern Memorial Hospital, which is ranked as the best hospital in the Chicago metropolitan area byU.S. News & World Reportfor 2017–18;theShirley Ryan AbilityLab(formerly named the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago), which is ranked the best U.S. rehabilitation hospital byU.S. News & World Report;the newPrentice Women's Hospital; and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. TheUniversity of Illinois College of Medicineat UIC is the second-largest medical school in the United States (2,600 students, including those at campuses in Peoria, Rockford andUrbana–Champaign). In addition, theChicago Medical Schooland Loyola University Chicago'sStritch School of Medicineare located in the suburbs ofNorth ChicagoandMaywood, respectively. TheMidwestern UniversityChicago College ofOsteopathic Medicineis inDowners Grove. TheAmerican Medical Association,Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education,Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education,American Osteopathic Association,American Dental Association,Academy of General Dentistry,Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics,American Association of Nurse Anesthetists,American College of Surgeons,American Society for Clinical Pathology,American College of Healthcare Executives, theAmerican Hospital Association, andBlue Cross and Blue Shield Associationare all based in Chicago. Sister cities See also Explanatory notes References Citations Cited references Further reading External links Former:Evanston•Hyde Park•Jefferson•Lake•Lake View•North Chicago•Rogers Park•South Chicago•West Chicago\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Lou Boudreau As manager Louis Boudreau(July 17, 1917 – August 10, 2001), nicknamed \"Old Shufflefoot\", \"Handsome Lou\", and \"the Good Kid\", was an Americanprofessional baseballplayer and manager.He played inMajor League Baseball(MLB) for 15 seasons, primarily as ashortstopon theCleveland Indians, and managed four teams for 15 seasons including 10 seasons as aplayer-manager. He was also a radio announcer for theChicago Cubsand in college was a dual-sport athlete in baseball and basketball, earningAll-Americanhonors in basketball for theUniversity of Illinois. Boudreau was anAll-Starfor seven seasons.In 1948, Boudreau won theAmerican LeagueMost Valuable Player Awardand managed theCleveland Indiansto theWorld Seriestitle. He won the 1944 American League (AL)batting title(.327), and led the league in doubles in 1941, 1944, and 1947. He led AL shortstops in fielding eight times. Boudreau still holds the MLB record for hitting the most consecutive doubles in a game (four), set on July 14, 1946. In 1970, Boudreau was","1970, Boudreau was elected to theNational Baseball Hall of Fameand his No. 5 was retired by the Indians that same year. Early life Boudreau was born inHarvey, Illinois, the son of Birdie (Henry) and Louis Boudreau.His father was of French-Canadian ancestry, his mother was Jewish, and both of his maternal grandparents were observantOrthodox Jewswith whom when he was young he celebratedPassoverseders.He was raised Catholic by his father after his parents divorced.He graduated fromThornton Township High SchoolinHarvey, Illinois, where he led the \"Flying Clouds\" to three straightIllinois high school championshipgames, winning in 1933 and finishing as runner up in 1934 and 1935. College baseball and basketball Boudreau attended theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he was a member ofPhi Sigma Kappafraternity and captain of thebasketballandbaseballteams. During the1936–37 basketballand baseball seasons, Boudreau led each Fighting Illini team to aBig Ten Conferencechampionship.During the1937–38","the1937–38 basketball season, Boudreau was named anNCAA Men's Basketball All-American. While Boudreau was still at Illinois,Cleveland Indiansgeneral managerCy Slapnickapaid him an undisclosed sum in return for agreeing to play baseball for the Indians after he graduated. Due to this agreement, Boudreau was ruled ineligible for collegiate sports by theBig Ten Conferenceofficials.During his senior year at Illinois, he played professional basketball with theHammond Ciesar All-Americansof theNational Basketball League. Despite playing professional baseball with Cleveland, Boudreau earned hisBachelor of Sciencein education from Illinois in 1940 and worked as the Illinois freshman basketball coach for the 1939 and 1940 teams. Boudreau stayed on as an assistant coach for the1941–42 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball teamand he was instrumental in recruiting futureNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame InducteeAndy Phillipto play for Illinois. Professional baseball career Cleveland Indians Boudreau made","Boudreau made his major league debut on September 9, 1938, for theCleveland Indiansat 21 as a third baseman in his first game. In 1939, Indian managerOssie Vitttold him that he would have to move from his normal third base position toshortstopsince established sluggerKen Keltneralready had the regular third base job. In 1940, his first full year as a starter, he batted .295 with 46doublesand 101RBI, and was selected for theAll-Star Gamefor the first of five consecutive seasons (MLB cancelled the1945 gamedue to war-time travel restrictions and did not name All-Stars). Boudreau helped make history in 1941 as a key figure in stopping the56-game hitting streakbyJoe DiMaggio. After two sparkling stops by Keltner at third base on hard ground balls earlier in the game, Boudreau snagged a bad-hop grounder to short barehanded and started a double play retiring DiMaggio at first.He finished the season with a modest .257 batting average, but had a league-leading 45 doubles. After the 1941 season, ownerAlva","season, ownerAlva Bradleypromoted Indians managerRoger Peckinpaughto general manager and appointed the 25-year-old Boudreau player-manager. Boudreau played and managed the Indians throughout World War II (playing basketball had put a strain on Boudreau's ankles that turned intoarthritis, which classified him as4-Fand thus ineligible for military service).In 1944, Boudreau turned 134double plays, the most ever by a player-manager in MLB history. When he bought the Indians in 1947,Bill Veeck, after being approached by Boudreau, renewed the player-manager agreement with mixed feelings on both sides, as Boudreau stated that he would rather be traded than only play shortstop. Details of possibly trading him forVern Stephensof the St. Louis Browns in 1947 only attracted fans to the side of Boudreau. However, Boudreau hit .355 in 1948; Cleveland won the AL pennant and theWorld Series, the Indians first World Series championship in 28 years and only the second in Indians history, with Veeck and Boudreau publicly","Boudreau publicly acknowledging each other's role in the team's success. Later career Boudreau was released by the Indians as both player and manager following the 1950 season. He signed with theBoston Red Sox, playing full-time in 1951, moving up to player-manager in 1952 and managing from the bench in 1953–54. He then became the first manager of theKansas City Athleticsin 1955 after their move from Philadelphia until he was fired after 104 games in 1957 and replaced byHarry Craft. He last managed the Chicago Cubs, in 1960. Managerial record Boudreau shift Boudreau is credited with inventing theinfield shift, which came to be known colloquially as the \"Boudreau shift.\" Because sluggingRed SoxsuperstarTed Williamswas a dead-pull hitter, he moved most of his Cleveland Indian fielders to the right of second base against the Splendid Splinter, leaving only the third baseman and left fielder to the left of second but also very close to second base, far to the right of their normal positions. With characteristic","With characteristic stubborn pride, Williams refused the obvious advice from teammates to hit orbuntto left against the Boudreau shift, but great hitter that he was, not changing his approach against the shift didn't affect his hitting very much. Boudreau later admitted that the shift was more about \"psyching out\" Williams rather than playing him to pull. \"I always considered the Boudreau shift a psychological, rather than a tactical\" ploy, he declared in his autobiographyPlayer-Manager. Broadcasting Boudreau did play-by-play for Cub games in 1958–59 before switching roles with manager \"Jolly Cholly\"Charlie Grimmin 1960. But after only one season as Cubs manager, Boudreau returned to the radio booth and remained there until 1987. He also did radio play-by-play for theChicago Bullsin 1966–1968 and worked onChicago Blackhawksgames forWGN radioandtelevisionas well. The presence of a Hall of Fame announcer affected at least one game. On June 23, 1976, the Cubs were two runs behind at home in the fourth inning of","fourth inning of the second game of a doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates at home when the umpires called the game on account of darkness (since there were no lights atWrigley Fielduntil 1988), announcing that the game would be resumed at the same point the next day as was normally the case in those days. But Boudreau knew the rules better than anyone else in the park, it turned out, for he went down quickly to the clubhouse and pointed out to the umpires that a game that was not yet an official game could not be treated as a suspended game (i.e., it had not gone five innings, or four and a half with the home team leading, as neither was the case), and as such had to be replayed from the first pitch (as was then the rule in a rain-out). The umpires called the National League office, found Boudreau was correct, and removed the two-run Cubs deficit. Later life and honors Boudreau was elected to theBaseball Hall of Famein 1970 with 77.33% of the vote. That same year, his uniform number 5 was retired by","5 was retired by theCleveland Indians(he wore number 4 with the Red Sox). In 1973, the city ofClevelandrenamed a street borderingCleveland Municipal Stadiumafter Boudreau.Boudreau Drive in Urbana, Illinois, is also named after Boudreau. In 1990, the Cleveland Indians established The Lou Boudreau Award, which is given every year to the organization's Minor League Player of the Year.In 1992, Boudreau's number 5 jersey was retired by theIllinois Fighting Illini baseballprogram. Boudreau is only one of threeIllinois Fighting Illiniathletes to have their number retired; the other two athletes beingIllinois Fighting Illini footballplayersRed GrangeandDick Butkus. Personal life Boudreau married Della DeRuiter in 1938, and together they had four children. His daughter Sharyn marriedDenny McLain, a former star pitcher with theDetroit Tigerswho was the last 30-game winner in the major leagues (31–6 for the world champion 1968Detroit Tigers). Boudreau had a home inFrankfort, Illinois, for many years. He died on August","He died on August 10, 2001, due tocardiac arrestat St. James Medical Center inOlympia Fields, Illinois. He was 84. He received a Catholic funeral and his body was interred in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery. See also Notes References Further reading External links","List of World Series champions TheWorld Seriesis the annual championship series ofMajor League Baseball(MLB) and concludes theMLB postseason. First played in 1903,the World Series championship is abest-of-seven playoffand is a contest between the champions of baseball'sNational League(NL) andAmerican League(AL).Often referred to as the \"Fall Classic\",the modern World Series has been played every year since 1903 with two exceptions: in1904, when the NL championNew York Giantsdeclined to play the AL championBoston Americans; and in1994, when the series was canceled due to theplayers' strike.The best-of-seven style has been the format of all World Series except in1903,1919,1920,1921, when the winner was determined through abest-of-nine playoff.Although the large majority of contests have been played entirely during the month of October, a small number of Series have also had games played during September and November. The Series-winning team is awarded theCommissioner's Trophy.Players, coaches and others","coaches and others associated with the team are generally givenWorld Series ringsto commemorate their victory; however, they have received other items such aspocket watchesand medallions in the past.The winning team is traditionally invited to theWhite Houseto meet thePresident of the United States. A total of 119 World Series have been contested through 2023, with the AL champion winning 68 and the NL champion winning 51. TheNew York Yankeesof the AL have played in 40 World Series, winning 27 – the most championship appearances and most victories by any team amongst themajor North American professional sports leagues. TheDodgersof the NL have the most losses with 14, while the Yankees have the most losses among AL teams with 13. TheSt. Louis Cardinalshave won 11 championships, the most championships among NL clubs and second-most all-time behind the Yankees, and have made 19 total appearances, third-most among NL clubs.The Dodgers have represented the NL the most in the World Series with 21 appearances.","21 appearances. TheSeattle Marinersare the only MLB franchise that has never appeared in a World Series; theMilwaukee Brewers,San Diego Padres,Tampa Bay Rays, andColorado Rockieshave all played in the Series but have never won it, with the Padres and the Rays appearing twice. TheLos Angeles AngelsandWashington Nationalsare the only teams who have won their only World Series appearance, and theToronto Blue JaysandMiami Marlinsare the only teams with multiple World Series appearances with no losses. The Toronto Blue Jays are the only franchise from outside the United States to appear in and win a World Series, winning in 1992 and 1993. TheHouston Astrosare the only franchise to have represented both the NL (2005) and the AL (2017, 2019, 2021, 2022), winning the Series in 2017 and 2022. The 1919 and 2017 World Series were both marred with cheating scandals: theBlack Sox Scandaland theHouston Astros sign stealing scandal. The most recent World Series champions are theTexas Rangers. World Series results Numbers","results Numbers in parentheses in the table are World Series appearances as of the date of that World Series, and are used as follows: Source for this Table World Series records by franchise In the sortable table below, teams are ordered first by number of wins, then by number of appearances, and finally by year of first appearance. In the \"Season(s)\" column,bold yearsindicate winning appearances. Frequent matchups The following are the 20 matchups of teams that have occurred two or more times in the World Series. All teams that have participated in these were \"Classic Eight\" members of either the American or National League; no expansion team (created in 1961 or later) has faced the same opponent more than once in a World Series. See also References External links","Chicago Chicagois themost populous cityin theU.S. stateofIllinoisand in theMidwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the2020 census,it is thethird-most populous city in the United StatesafterNew York CityandLos Angeles. As theseatofCook County, thesecond-most populous countyin the U.S., Chicago is the center of theChicago metropolitan area, often colloquially called \"Chicagoland\" and home to 9.6 million residents. Located on the shore ofLake Michigan, Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837 near aportagebetween theGreat Lakesand theMississippi River watershed. It grew rapidly in the mid-19th century.In 1871, theGreat Chicago Firedestroyed several square miles and left more than 100,000 homeless,but Chicago's population continued to grow.Chicago made noted contributions tourban planningandarchitecture, such as theChicago School, the development of theCity Beautiful movement, and the steel-framedskyscraper. Chicago is an international hub for finance,culture, commerce, industry,","commerce, industry, education, technology, telecommunications, andtransportation. It has the largest and most diverse financederivativesmarket in the world, generating 20% of all volume incommoditiesand financial futures alone.O'Hare International Airportis routinely ranked among theworld's top six busiest airports by passenger traffic,and the region is also the nation's railroad hub.The Chicago area has one of the highestgross domestic products(GDP) of any urban region in the world, generating $689 billion in 2018.Chicago's economyisdiverse, with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. Chicago is a major destination fortourism, including visitors to itscultural institutions, and Lake Michiganbeaches. Chicago's culture has contributed much to the visual arts,literature, film,theater, comedy (especiallyimprovisational comedy),food, dance, andmusic(particularlyjazz,blues,soul,hip-hop,gospel,andelectronic dance music, includinghouse music). Chicago is home to theChicago Symphony","theChicago Symphony Orchestraand theLyric Opera of Chicago, while theArt Institute of Chicagoprovides an influential visual arts museum andart school. The Chicago area also hosts theUniversity of Chicago,Northwestern University, and theUniversity of Illinois Chicago, amongother institutions of learning. ProfessionalsportsinChicago includeallmajor professional leagues, including twoMajor League Baseballteams. Etymology and nicknames The nameChicagois derived from a French rendering of theindigenousMiami–Illinoiswordshikaakwafor a wild relative of theonion; it is known to botanists asAllium tricoccumand known more commonly as \"ramps\". The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as \"Checagou\" was byRobert de LaSallearound 1679 in a memoir.Henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the eponymous wild \"garlic\" grew profusely in the area.According to his diary of late September 1687: ... when we arrived at the said place called \"Chicagou\" which, according to what we were able to","we were able to learn of it, has taken this name because of the quantity of garlic which grows in the forests in this region. The city has hadseveral nicknamesthroughout its history, such as theWindy City, Chi-Town, Second City, and City of the Big Shoulders. History Beginnings In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by thePotawatomi, an indigenous tribe who had succeeded theMiami,SaukandMeskwakipeoples in this region. The first known permanent settler in Chicago was traderJean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was ofAfricandescent, perhaps born in theFrench colonyofSaint-Domingue(Haiti), and established the settlement in the 1780s. He is commonly known as the \"Founder of Chicago.\" In 1795, following the victory of the new United States in theNorthwest Indian War, an area that was to be part of Chicago was turned over to the U.S. for a military post by native tribes in accordance with theTreaty of Greenville. In 1803, theU.S. ArmyconstructedFort Dearborn, which was destroyed during theWar of 1812in","theWar of 1812in theBattle of Fort Dearbornby the Potawatomi before being later rebuilt. After the War of 1812, theOttawa,Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the1833 Treaty of Chicagoand sent west of theMississippi Riveras part of the federal policy ofIndian removal. 19th century On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200.Within seven years it grew to more than 6,000 people. On June 15, 1835, the first public land sales began withEdmund Dick Tayloras Receiver of Public Monies. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4, 1837,and for several decades was the world's fastest-growing city. As the site of theChicago Portage,the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicago's first railway,Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and theIllinois and Michigan Canalopened in 1848. The","in 1848. The canal allowedsteamboatsandsailing shipson theGreat Lakesto connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities andimmigrantsfrom abroad. Manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing theAmerican economy.TheChicago Board of Trade(established 1848) listed the first-ever standardized \"exchange-traded\" forward contracts, which were calledfutures contracts. In the 1850s, Chicago gained national political prominence as the home of SenatorStephen Douglas, the champion of theKansas–Nebraska Actand the \"popular sovereignty\" approach to the issue of the spread of slavery.These issues also helped propel another Illinoisan,Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage. Lincoln was nominated in Chicago for U.S. president at the1860 Republican National Convention, which was held in a purpose-built auditorium called theWigwam. He defeated Douglas in the general election, and this set the stage for theAmerican Civil War. To accommodaterapid","To accommodaterapid population growthand demand for better sanitation, the city improved its infrastructure. In February 1856, Chicago's Common Council approvedChesbrough's plan to build the United States' first comprehensive sewerage system.The projectraised much of central Chicagoto a new grade with the use ofjackscrewsfor raising buildings.While elevating Chicago, and at first improving the city's health, the untreated sewage and industrial waste now flowed into theChicago River, and subsequently intoLake Michigan, polluting the city's primary freshwater source. The city responded by tunneling two miles (3.2 km) out into Lake Michigan to newly builtwater cribs. In 1900, the problem of sewage contamination was largely resolved when the city completed a major engineering feat. It reversed the flow of the Chicago River so that the water flowed away from Lake Michigan rather than into it. This project began with the construction and improvement of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and was completed with","was completed with theChicago Sanitary and Ship Canalthat connects to theIllinois River, which flows into the Mississippi River. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed an area about 4 miles (6.4 km) long and 1-mile (1.6 km) wide, a large section of the city at the time.Much of the city, including railroads andstockyards, survived intact,and from the ruins of the previous wooden structures arose more modern constructions of steel and stone. These set a precedent for worldwide construction.During its rebuilding period, Chicago constructed the world'sfirst skyscraperin 1885, usingsteel-skeletonconstruction. The city grew significantly in size and population by incorporating many neighboring townships between 1851 and 1920, with the largest annexation happening in 1889, with five townships joining the city, including theHyde Park Township, which now comprises most of theSouth Side of Chicagoand the far southeast of Chicago, and theJefferson Township, which now makes up most ofChicago's Northwest Side.The","Northwest Side.The desire to join the city was driven by municipal services that the city could provide its residents. Chicago's flourishing economy attracted huge numbers of new immigrants fromEuropeand migrants from theEastern United States. Of the total population in 1900, more than 77% were either foreign-born or born in the United States of foreign parentage.Germans,Irish,Poles,Swedes, andCzechsmade up nearly two-thirds of the foreign-born population (by 1900, whites were 98.1% of the city's population). Labor conflictsfollowed the industrial boom and the rapid expansion of the labor pool, including theHaymarket affairon May 4, 1886, and in 1894 thePullman Strike. Anarchist and socialist groups played prominent roles in creating very large and highly organized labor actions. Concern for social problems among Chicago's immigrant poor ledJane AddamsandEllen Gates Starrto foundHull Housein 1889.Programs that were developed there became a model for the new field ofsocial work. During the 1870s and 1880s,","1870s and 1880s, Chicago attained national stature as the leader in the movement to improve public health. City laws and later, state laws that upgraded standards for the medical profession and fought urban epidemics ofcholera,smallpox, andyellow feverwere both passed and enforced. These laws became templates for public health reform in other cities and states. The city established many large, well-landscapedmunicipal parks, which also included public sanitation facilities. The chief advocate for improving public health in Chicago wasJohn H. Rauch, M.D.Rauch established a plan for Chicago's park system in 1866. He createdLincoln Parkby closing a cemetery filled with shallow graves, and in 1867, in response to an outbreak of cholera he helped establish a new Chicago Board of Health. Ten years later, he became the secretary and then the president of the first Illinois State Board of Health, which carried out most of its activities in Chicago. In the 1800s, Chicago became the nation's railroad hub, and by 1910","hub, and by 1910 over 20 railroads operated passenger service out of six different downtown terminals.In 1883, Chicago's railway managers needed a general time convention, so they developed the standardized system of North Americantime zones.This system for telling time spread throughout the continent. In 1893, Chicago hosted theWorld's Columbian Expositionon former marshland at the present location ofJackson Park. The Exposition drew 27.5 million visitors, and is considered the most influentialworld's fairin history.TheUniversity of Chicago, formerly at another location, moved to the same South Side location in 1892. The term \"midway\" for a fair or carnival referred originally to theMidway Plaisance, a strip of park land that still runs through the University of Chicago campus and connects theWashingtonand Jackson Parks. 20th and 21st centuries 1900 to 1939 DuringWorld War Iand the 1920s there was a major expansion in industry. The availability of jobs attracted African Americans from theSouthern United","theSouthern United States. Between 1910 and 1930, the African American population of Chicago increased dramatically, from 44,103 to 233,903.ThisGreat Migrationhad an immense cultural impact, called theChicago Black Renaissance, part of theNew Negro Movement, in art, literature, and music.Continuing racial tensions and violence, such as theChicago race riot of 1919, also occurred. The ratification of the 18th amendment to the Constitution in 1919 made the production and sale (including exportation) of alcoholic beverages illegal in the United States. This ushered in the beginning of what is known as the gangster era, a time that roughly spans from 1919 until 1933 whenProhibitionwas repealed. The 1920s sawgangsters, includingAl Capone,Dion O'Banion,Bugs MoranandTony Accardobattle law enforcement and each other on the streets of Chicago during theProhibition era.Chicago was the location of the infamousSt. Valentine's Day Massacrein 1929, when Al Capone sent men to gun down members of a rival gang, North Side,","gang, North Side, led by Bugs Moran. From 1920 to 1921, the city was affected by a series of tenantrent strikes, which lead to the formation of the Chicago Tenants Protective association, passage of the Kessenger tenant laws, and of a heat ordinance that legally required flats to be kept above 68 °F during winter months by landlords. Chicago was the first American city to have a homosexual-rights organization. The organization, formed in 1924, was called theSociety for Human Rights. It produced the first American publication for homosexuals,Friendship and Freedom. Police and political pressure caused the organization to disband. The Great Depression brought unprecedented suffering to Chicago, in no small part due to the city's heavy reliance on heavy industry. Notably, industrial areas on the south side and neighborhoods lining both branches of the Chicago River were devastated; by 1933 over 50% of industrial jobs in the city had been lost, and unemployment rates amongst blacks and Mexicans in the city were","in the city were over 40%. The Republican political machine in Chicago was utterly destroyed by the economic crisis, and every mayor since 1931 has been aDemocrat. From 1928 to 1933, the city witnessed a tax revolt, and the city was unable to meet payroll or provide relief efforts. The fiscal crisis was resolved by 1933, and at the same time, federal relief funding began to flow into Chicago.Chicago was also a hotbed of labor activism, withUnemployed Councilscontributing heavily in the early depression to create solidarity for the poor and demand relief; these organizations were created by socialist and communist groups. By 1935 theWorkers Alliance of Americabegun organizing the poor, workers, the unemployed. In the spring of 1937 Republic Steel Works witnessed theMemorial Day massacre of 1937in the neighborhood of East Side. In 1933, Chicago MayorAnton Cermakwas fatally wounded inMiami, Florida, during afailed assassinationattempt on President-electFranklin D. Roosevelt. In 1933 and 1934, the city","and 1934, the city celebrated its centennial by hosting theCentury of ProgressInternational ExpositionWorld's Fair.The theme of the fair was technological innovation over the century since Chicago's founding. 1940 to 1979 DuringWorld War II, the city of Chicago alone produced more steel than the United Kingdom every year from 1939 – 1945, and more thanNazi Germanyfrom 1943 – 1945. The Great Migration, which had been on pause due to the Depression, resumed at an even faster pace in thesecond wave, as hundreds of thousands of blacks from the South arrived in the city to work in the steel mills, railroads, and shipping yards. On December 2, 1942, physicistEnrico Fermiconducted the world's first controllednuclear reactionat the University of Chicago as part of the top-secretManhattan Project. This led to the creation of the atomic bomb by the United States, which it used inWorld War IIin 1945. MayorRichard J. Daley, a Democrat, was elected in 1955, in the era ofmachine politics. In 1956, the city conducted its","city conducted its last major expansion when it annexed the land under O'Hare airport, including a small portion of DuPage County. By the 1960s, white residents in several neighborhoods left the city for the suburban areas – in many American cities, a process known aswhite flight– as Blacks continued to move beyond theBlack Belt.While home loan discriminatoryredliningagainst blacks continued, the real estate industry practiced what became known asblockbusting, completely changing the racial composition of whole neighborhoods.Structural changes in industry, such as globalization and job outsourcing, caused heavy job losses for lower-skilled workers. At its peak during the 1960s, some 250,000 workers were employed in the steel industry in Chicago, but the steel crisis of the 1970s and 1980s reduced this number to just 28,000 in 2015. In 1966,Martin Luther King Jr.andAlbert Rabyled theChicago Freedom Movement, which culminated in agreements between Mayor Richard J. Daley and the movement leaders. Two years","leaders. Two years later, the city hosted the tumultuous1968 Democratic National Convention, which featured physical confrontations both inside and outside the convention hall, with anti-war protesters, journalists and bystanders being beaten by police.Major construction projects, including the Sears Tower (now known as theWillis Tower, which in 1974 became theworld's tallest building),University of Illinois at Chicago,McCormick Place, andO'Hare International Airport, were undertaken during Richard J. Daley's tenure.In 1979,Jane Byrne, the city's first female mayor, was elected. She was notable for temporarily moving into the crime-riddenCabrini-Greenhousing project and for leading Chicago's school system out of a financial crisis. 1980 to present In 1983,Harold Washingtonbecame the first black mayor of Chicago. Washington's first term in office directed attention to poor and previously neglected minority neighborhoods. He was re‑elected in 1987 but died of a heart attack soon after.Washington was succeeded","was succeeded by 6th ward alderpersonEugene Sawyer, who was elected by the Chicago City Council and served until a special election. Richard M. Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, was elected in 1989. His accomplishments included improvements to parks and creating incentives forsustainable development, as well as closingMeigs Fieldin the middle of the night and destroying the runways. After successfully running for re-election five times, and becoming Chicago's longest-serving mayor, Richard M. Daley declined to run for a seventh term. In 1992, a construction accident near theKinzie Street Bridgeproduced a breach connecting the Chicago River to a tunnel below, which was part of anabandoned freight tunnel systemextending throughout the downtownLoopdistrict. Thetunnels filledwith 250 million US gallons (1,000,000 m3) of water, affecting buildings throughout the district and forcing a shutdown of electrical power.The area was shut down for three days and some buildings did not reopen for weeks; losses were","weeks; losses were estimated at $1.95 billion. On February 23, 2011,Rahm Emanuel, a formerWhite House Chief of Staffand member of theHouse of Representatives, won the mayoral election.Emanuel was sworn in as mayor on May 16, 2011, and won re-election in 2015.Lori Lightfoot, the city's first African American woman mayor and its first openly LGBTQ mayor, was elected to succeed Emanuel as mayor in 2019.All three city-wide elective offices were held by women (and women of color) for the first time in Chicago history: in addition to Lightfoot, the city clerk wasAnna Valenciaand the city treasurer wasMelissa Conyears-Ervin. On May 15, 2023,Brandon Johnsonassumed office as the 57th mayor of Chicago. Geography Topography Chicago is located in northeastern Illinois on the southwestern shores of freshwater Lake Michigan. It is the principal city in theChicago Metropolitan Area, situated in both theMidwestern United Statesand theGreat Lakes region. The city rests on acontinental divideat the site of the Chicago","site of the Chicago Portage, connecting the Mississippi River and the Great Lakeswatersheds. In addition to it lying beside Lake Michigan, two rivers—the Chicago River in downtown and theCalumet Riverin the industrial far South Side—flow either entirely or partially through the city. Chicago's history and economy are closely tied to its proximity to Lake Michigan. While the Chicago River historically handled much of the region's waterborne cargo, today's hugelake freightersuse the city'sLake Calumet Harboron the South Side. The lake also provides another positive effect: moderating Chicago's climate, making waterfront neighborhoods slightly warmer in winter and cooler in summer. When Chicago was founded in 1837, most of the early building was around the mouth of the Chicago River, as can be seen on a map of the city's original 58 blocks.The overallgradeof the city's central, built-up areas is relatively consistent with the natural flatness of its overall natural geography, generally exhibiting only slight","only slight differentiation otherwise. The average land elevation is 579 ft (176.5 m)above sea level. While measurements vary somewhat,the lowest points are along the lake shore at 578 ft (176.2 m), while the highest point, at 672 ft (205 m), is the morainal ridge ofBlue Islandin the city's far south side. Lake Shore Driveruns adjacent to a large portion of Chicago's waterfront. Some of the parks along the waterfront includeLincoln Park,Grant Park,Burnham Park, andJackson Park. There are 24 publicbeachesacross 26 miles (42 km) of the waterfront.Landfill extends into portions of the lake providing space forNavy Pier,Northerly Island, theMuseum Campus, and large portions of theMcCormick PlaceConvention Center. Most of the city's high-rise commercial and residential buildings are close to the waterfront. An informal name for the entireChicago metropolitan areais \"Chicagoland\", which generally means the city and all its suburbs, though different organizations have slightly different definitions. Communities","Communities Major sections of the city include the central business district, calledthe Loop, and the North,South, andWest Sides.The three sides of the city are represented on theFlag of Chicagoby three horizontal white stripes.The North Side is the most-densely-populated residential section of the city, and many high-rises are located on this side of the city along the lakefront.The South Side is the largest section of the city, encompassing roughly 60% of the city's land area. The South Side contains most of the facilities of thePort of Chicago. In the late-1920s, sociologists at the University of Chicago subdivided the city into 77 distinctcommunity areas, which can further be subdivided into over 200 informally definedneighborhoods. Streetscape Chicago's streets were laid out in astreet gridthat grew from the city's original townsite plot, which was bounded by Lake Michigan on the east, North Avenue on the north, Wood Street on the west, and 22nd Street on the south.Streets following thePublic Land","thePublic Land Survey Systemsection lines later became arterial streets in outlying sections. As new additions to the city were platted, city ordinance required them to be laid out with eight streets to the mile in one direction and sixteen in the other direction, about one street per 200 meters in one direction and one street per 100 meters in the other direction. The grid's regularity provided an efficient means of developing new real estate property. A scattering of diagonal streets, many of them originally Native American trails, also cross the city (Elston, Milwaukee, Ogden, Lincoln, etc.). Many additional diagonal streets were recommended in thePlan of Chicago, but only the extension ofOgden Avenuewas ever constructed. In 2021, Chicago was ranked the fourth-most walkable large city in the United States.Many of the city's residential streets have a wide patch of grass or trees between the street and the sidewalk itself. This helps to keep pedestrians on the sidewalk further away from the street traffic.","the street traffic. Chicago'sWestern Avenueis the longest continuous urban street in the world.Other notable streets includeMichigan Avenue,State Street,95th Street,Cicero Avenue,Clark Street, andBelmont Avenue. TheCity Beautiful movementinspired Chicago's boulevards and parkways. Architecture The destruction caused by the Great Chicago Fire led to the largest building boom in the history of the nation. In 1885, the firststeel-framed high-rise building, the Home Insurance Building, rose in the city as Chicago ushered in theskyscraper era,which would then be followed by many other cities around the world.Today, Chicago's skyline is among the world's tallest and densest. Some of the United States' tallest towers are located in Chicago;Willis Tower(formerly Sears Tower) is the second tallest building in theWestern HemisphereafterOne World Trade Center, andTrump International Hotel and Toweris the third tallest in the country.The Loop's historic buildings include theChicago Board of Trade Building, theFine Arts","theFine Arts Building,35 East Wacker, and theChicago Building,860-880 Lake Shore Drive ApartmentsbyMies van der Rohe. Many other architects have left their impression on the Chicago skyline such asDaniel Burnham,Louis Sullivan, Charles B. Atwood, John Root, andHelmut Jahn. TheMerchandise Mart, once first on thelist of largest buildings in the world, currently listed as 44th-largest 2013 as September 9, 2013, had its ownzip codeuntil 2008, and stands near the junction of the North and South branches of the Chicago River.Presently, the four tallest buildings in the city are Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower, also a building with its own zip code),Trump International Hotel and Tower, theAon Center(previously the Standard Oil Building), and theJohn Hancock Center.Industrial districts, such as some areas on theSouth Side, the areas along theChicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, and theNorthwest Indianaarea are clustered. Chicago gave its name to the Chicago School and was home to thePrairie School, two movements","two movements in architecture.Multiple kinds and scales of houses, townhouses, condominiums, and apartment buildings can be found throughout Chicago. Large swaths of the city's residential areas away from the lake are characterized by brickbungalowsbuilt from the early 20th century through the end of World War II. Chicago is also a prominent center of thePolish Cathedral styleofchurch architecture. The Chicago suburb ofOak Parkwas home to famous architectFrank Lloyd Wright, who had designed TheRobie Houselocated near the University of Chicago. A popular tourist activity is to take an architecture boat tour along the Chicago River. Monuments and public art Chicago is famous for its outdoorpublic artwith donors establishing funding for such art as far back asBenjamin Ferguson's 1905 trust.A number of Chicago's public art works are by modern figurative artists. Among these areChagall's Four Seasons; theChicago Picasso;Miro's Chicago;Calder'sFlamingo;Oldenburg'sBatcolumn;Moore'sLarge Interior Form, 1953-54,Man","Form, 1953-54,Man Enters the CosmosandNuclear Energy;Dubuffet'sMonument with Standing Beast,Abakanowicz'sAgora; and,Anish Kapoor'sCloud Gatewhich has become an icon of the city. Some events which shaped the city's history have also been memorialized by art works, including theGreat Northern Migration(Saar) and thecentennial of statehood for Illinois. Finally, two fountains near the Loop also function as monumental works of art:Plensa'sCrown Fountainas well asBurnhamand Bennett'sBuckingham Fountain. Climate The city lies within the typical hot-summerhumid continental climate(Köppen:Dfa), and experiences four distinct seasons.Summersare hot and humid, with frequentheat waves. The July daily average temperature is 75.4 °F (24.1 °C), with afternoon temperatures peaking at 84.5 °F (29.2 °C). In a normal summer, temperatures reach at least 90 °F (32 °C) on 17 days, with lakefront locations staying cooler when winds blow off the lake.Wintersare relatively cold and snowy.Blizzardsdo occur, such as inwinter","such as inwinter 2011.There are many sunny but cold days. The normal winter high from December through March is about 36 °F (2 °C). January and February are the coldest months. Apolar vortex in January 2019nearly broke the city's cold record of −27 °F (−33 °C), which was set on January 20, 1985.Measurable snowfall can continue through the first or second week of April. Springandautumnare mild, short seasons, typically with low humidity.Dew pointtemperatures in the summer range from an average of 55.8 °F (13.2 °C) in June to 61.7 °F (16.5 °C) in July.They can reach nearly 80 °F (27 °C), such as during the July 2019 heat wave. The city lies withinUSDAplanthardiness zone6a, transitioning to 5b in the suburbs. According to theNational Weather Service, Chicago's highest official temperature reading of 105 °F (41 °C) was recorded on July 24, 1934.Midway Airportreached 109 °F (43 °C) one day prior and recorded aheat indexof 125 °F (52 °C) during the1995 heatwave.The lowest official temperature of −27 °F (−33 °C)","of −27 °F (−33 °C) was recorded onJanuary 20, 1985, at O'Hare Airport.Most of the city's rainfall is brought bythunderstorms, averaging 38 a year. The region is prone tosevere thunderstormsduring the spring and summer which can produce large hail, damaging winds, and occasionally tornadoes. Like other major cities, Chicago experiences anurban heat island, making the city and its suburbs milder than surrounding rural areas, especially at night and in winter. The proximity to Lake Michigan tends to keep the Chicago lakefront somewhat cooler in summer and less brutally cold in winter than inland parts of the city and suburbs away from the lake.Northeast winds from wintertimecyclonesdeparting south of the region sometimes bring the citylake-effect snow. Time zone As in the rest of the state of Illinois, Chicago forms part of theCentral Time Zone. The border with theEastern Time Zoneis located a short distance to the east, used in Michigan andcertain parts of Indiana. Demographics During its first hundred years,","hundred years, Chicago was one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. When founded in 1833, fewer than 200 people had settled on what was then the American frontier. By the time of its first census, seven years later, the population had reached over 4,000. In the forty years from 1850 to 1890, the city's population grew from slightly under 30,000 to over 1 million. At the end of the 19th century, Chicago was the 5th-most populous city in the world,and the largest of the cities that did not exist at the dawn of the century. Within sixty years of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the population went from about 300,000 to over 3 million,and reached its highest ever recorded population of 3.6 million for the 1950 census. From the last two decades of the 19th century, Chicago was the destination of waves of immigrants from Ireland, Southern, Central and Eastern Europe, includingItalians,Jews,Russians,Poles,Greeks,Lithuanians,Bulgarians,Albanians,Romanians,Turks,Croatians,Serbs,Bosnians,MontenegrinsandCzechs.To","these ethnic groups, the basis of the city's industrialworking class, were added an additional influx ofAfrican Americansfrom theAmerican South—with Chicago's black population doubling between 1910 and 1920 and doubling again between 1920 and 1930.Chicago has asignificant Bosnian population, many of whom arrived in the 1990s and 2000s. In the 1920s and 1930s, the great majority of African Americans moving to Chicago settled in a so‑called \"Black Belt\" on the city'sSouth Side.A large number of blacks also settled on theWest Side. By 1930, two-thirds of Chicago's black population lived in sections of the city which were 90% black in racial composition.Around that time, a lesser known fact about African Americans on theNorth Sideis that the block of 4600 Winthrop Avenue inUptownwas the only block African Americans could live or open establishments.Chicago's South Side emerged as United States second-largest urban black concentration, following New York'sHarlem. In 1990, Chicago's South Side and the adjoining","and the adjoining south suburbs constituted the largest black majority region in the entire United States.Since the 1980s, Chicago has had a massive exodus of African Americans (primarily from the South and West sides) to its suburbs or outside its metropolitan area.The above average crime and cost of living were leading reasons for the fast declining African American population in Chicago. Most of Chicago's foreign-born population were born inMexico,PolandorIndia. Chicago's population declined in the latter half of the 20th century, from over 3.6 million in 1950 down to under 2.7 million by 2010. By the time of the official census count in 1990, it was overtaken byLos Angelesas the United States' second largest city. The city has seen a rise in population for the 2000 census and after a decrease in 2010, it rose again for the 2020 census. According to U.S. census estimates as of July 2019, Chicago's largest racial or ethnic group is non-Hispanic White at 32.8% of the population, Blacks at 30.1% and the","at 30.1% and the Hispanic population at 29.0% of the population. Chicago has the third-largestLGBTpopulation in the United States. In 2018, the Chicago Department of Health, estimated 7.5% of the adult population, approximately 146,000 Chicagoans, were LGBTQ.In 2015, roughly 4% of the population identified as LGBT.Since the 2013 legalization ofsame-sex marriage in Illinois, over 10,000 same-sex couples have wed inCook County, a majority of them in Chicago. Chicago became a \"de jure\"sanctuary cityin 2012 when MayorRahm Emanueland the City Council passed the Welcoming City Ordinance. According to the U.S. Census Bureau'sAmerican Community Surveydata estimates for 2022, the median income for a household in the city was $70,386,and the per capita income was $45,449. Male full-time workers had a median income of $68,870 versus $60,987 for females.About 17.2% of the population lived below the poverty line.In 2018, Chicago ranked seventh globally for the highest number of ultra-high-net-worth residents with roughly","with roughly 3,300 residents worth more than $30 million. According to the 2022 American Community Survey, the specific ancestral groups having 10,000 or more persons in Chicago were: Persons who did not report or classify an ancestry were 548,790. Religion Religion in Chicago (2014) According to a 2014 study by thePew Research Center,Christianityis the most prevalently practiced religion in Chicago (71%),with the city being the fourth-most religious metropolis in the United States afterDallas,AtlantaandHouston.Roman CatholicismandProtestantismare the largest branches (34% and 35% respectively), followed byEastern OrthodoxyandJehovah's Witnesseswith 1% each.Chicago also has a sizable non-Christian population. Non-Christian groups includeIrreligious(22%),Judaism(3%),Islam(2%),Buddhism(1%) andHinduism(1%). Chicago is the headquarters of several religious denominations, including theEvangelical Covenant Churchand theEvangelical Lutheran Church in America. It is the seat of severaldioceses. TheFourth","TheFourth Presbyterian Churchis one of the largestPresbyteriancongregations in the United States based on memberships.Since the 20th century Chicago has also been the headquarters of theAssyrian Church of the East.In 2014 theCatholic Churchwas the largest individual Christian denomination (34%), with theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicagobeing the largest Catholic jurisdiction.Evangelical Protestantismform the largest theological Protestant branch (16%), followed byMainline Protestants(11%), and historicallyBlack churches(8%). Among denominational Protestant branches,Baptistsformed the largest group in Chicago (10%); followed by Nondenominational (5%);Lutherans(4%); andPentecostals(3%). Non-Christian faiths accounted for 7% of the religious population in 2014.Judaismhas at least 261,000 adherents which is 3% of the population, making it the second largest religion.A 2020 study estimated the total Jewish population of the Chicago metropolitan area, both religious and irreligious, at 319,500. The first","319,500. The first twoParliament of the World's Religionsin 1893 and 1993 were held in Chicago.Many international religious leaders have visited Chicago, includingMother Teresa, theDalai LamaandPope John Paul IIin 1979. Economy Chicago has the third-largestgross metropolitan productin the United States—about $670.5 billion according to September 2017 estimates.The city has also been rated as having the most balanced economy in the United States, due to its high level of diversification.The Chicago metropolitan area has the third-largest science and engineering work force of any metropolitan area in the nation.Chicago was the base of commercial operations for industrialistsJohn Crerar,John Whitfield Bunn,Richard Teller Crane,Marshall Field,John Farwell,Julius Rosenwald, and many other commercial visionaries who laid the foundation for Midwestern and global industry. Chicago is a major world financial center, with the second-largest central business district in the United States, followingMidtown Manhattan.The","Manhattan.The city is the seat of theFederal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Bank's Seventh District. The city has major financial andfutures exchanges, including theChicago Stock Exchange, theChicago Board Options Exchange(CBOE), and theChicago Mercantile Exchange(the \"Merc\"), which is owned, along with theChicago Board of Trade(CBOT), by Chicago'sCME Group. In 2017, Chicago exchanges traded 4.7 billion in derivatives.Chase Bankhas its commercial and retail banking headquarters in Chicago'sChase Tower.Academically, Chicago has been influential through theChicago school of economics, which fielded 12Nobel Prizewinners. The city and its surrounding metropolitan area contain the third-largest labor pool in the United States with about 4.63 million workers.Illinois is home to 66Fortune1000companies, including those in Chicago.The city of Chicago also hosts 12FortuneGlobal 500 companies and 17Financial Times500 companies. The city claims threeDow 30companies:aerospacegiantBoeing, which moved its headquarters","its headquarters fromSeattleto the Chicago Loop in 2001;McDonald's; andWalgreens Boots Alliance.For six consecutive years from 2013 through 2018, Chicago was ranked the nation's top metropolitan area for corporate relocations.However, threeFortune500companies left Chicago in 2022, leaving the city with 35, still second to New York City. Manufacturing, printing, publishing, and food processing also play major roles in the city's economy. Several medical products and services companies are headquartered in the Chicago area, includingBaxter International,Boeing,Abbott Laboratories, and the Healthcare division ofGeneral Electric. Prominent food companies based in Chicago include the world headquarters ofConagra,Ferrara Candy Company,Kraft Heinz,McDonald's,Mondelez International, andQuaker Oats.Chicago has been a hub of theretailsector since its early development, withMontgomery Ward,Sears, andMarshall Field's. Today the Chicago metropolitan area is the headquarters of several retailers,","several retailers, includingWalgreens,Sears,Ace Hardware,Claire's,ULTA Beauty, andCrate & Barrel. Late in the 19th century, Chicago was part of thebicycle craze, with the Western Wheel Company, which introducedstampingto the production process and significantly reduced costs,while early in the 20th century, the city was part of the automobile revolution, hosting theBrass Era carbuilder Bugmobile, which was founded there in 1907.Chicago was also the site of theSchwinn Bicycle Company. Chicago is a major world convention destination. The city's main convention center is McCormick Place. With its four interconnected buildings, it is the largest convention center in the nation and third-largest in the world.Chicago also ranks third in the U.S. (behindLas VegasandOrlando) in number of conventions hosted annually. Chicago's minimum wage for non-tipped employees is one of the highest in the nation and reached $15 in 2021. Culture and contemporary life The city's waterfront location and nightlife attracts residents","attracts residents and tourists alike. Over a third of the city population is concentrated in the lakefront neighborhoods fromRogers Parkin the north toSouth Shorein the south.The city has many upscale dining establishments as well as many ethnic restaurant districts. These districts include theMexican Americanneighborhoods, such asPilsenalong 18th street, andLa Villitaalong 26th Street; thePuerto Ricanenclave ofPaseo Boricuain theHumboldt Parkneighborhood;Greektown, along SouthHalsted Street, immediately west of downtown;Little Italy, along Taylor Street;ChinatowninArmour Square;Polish PatchesinWest Town;Little SeoulinAlbany Parkaround Lawrence Avenue;Little VietnamnearBroadwayin Uptown; and theDesiarea, alongDevon AvenueinWest Ridge. Downtown is the center of Chicago's financial, cultural, governmental, and commercial institutions and the site of Grant Park and many of the city's skyscrapers. Many of the city's financial institutions, such as the CBOT and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, are located","are located within a section of downtown called \"The Loop\", which is an eight-block by five-block area of city streets that is encircled by elevated rail tracks. The term \"The Loop\" is largely used by locals to refer to the entire downtown area as well. The central area includes theNear North Side, theNear South Side, and theNear West Side, as well as the Loop. These areas contribute famousskyscrapers, abundant restaurants,shopping,museums,Soldier Field, convention facilities,parkland, andbeaches. Lincoln Park contains theLincoln Park Zooand theLincoln Park Conservatory. TheRiver North Gallery Districtfeatures the nation's largest concentration of contemporary art galleries outside of New York City.Lake Viewis home toBoystown, the city's largeLGBTnightlife and culture center. TheChicago Pride Parade, held the last Sunday in June, is one of the world's largest with over a million people in attendance.NorthHalsted Streetis the main thoroughfare of Boystown. The South Side neighborhood ofHyde Parkis the home of","Parkis the home of former U.S. PresidentBarack Obama. It also contains the University of Chicago, ranked one of the world's top ten universities,and theMuseum of Science and Industry. The 6-mile (9.7 km) longBurnham Parkstretches along the waterfront of the South Side. Two of the city's largest parks are also located on this side of the city: Jackson Park, bordering the waterfront, hosted the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and is the site of the aforementioned museum; and slightly west sitsWashington Park. The two parks themselves are connected by a wide strip of parkland called theMidway Plaisance, running adjacent to the University of Chicago. The South Side hosts one of the city's largest parades, the annual African AmericanBud Billiken Parade and Picnic, which travels throughBronzevilleto Washington Park.Ford Motor Companyhas anautomobile assembly planton the South Side inHegewisch, and most of the facilities of the Port of Chicago are also on the South Side. The West Side holds theGarfield Park","theGarfield Park Conservatory, one of the largest collections of tropical plants in any U.S. city. Prominent Latino cultural attractions found here includeHumboldt Park'sInstitute of Puerto Rican Arts and Cultureand the annual Puerto Rican People's Parade, as well as theNational Museum of Mexican ArtandSt. Adalbert's ChurchinPilsen. The Near West Side holds theUniversity of Illinois at Chicagoand was once home toOprah Winfrey'sHarpo Studios, the site of which has been rebuilt as the global headquarters of McDonald's. The city's distinctive accent, made famous by its use in classic films likeThe Blues Brothersand television programs like theSaturday Night Liveskit \"Bill Swerski's Superfans\", is an advanced form ofInland Northern American English. This dialect can also be found in other cities bordering the Great Lakes such asCleveland,Milwaukee,Detroit, andRochester, New York, and most prominently features a rearrangement of certain vowel sounds, such as theshort 'a'sound as in \"cat\", which can sound more","can sound more like \"kyet\" to outsiders. The accent remains well associated with the city. Entertainment and the arts Renowned Chicago theater companies include theGoodman Theatrein the Loop; theSteppenwolf Theatre CompanyandVictory Gardens Theaterin Lincoln Park; and theChicago Shakespeare Theaterat Navy Pier.Broadway In Chicagooffers Broadway-style entertainment at five theaters: theNederlander Theatre,CIBC Theatre,Cadillac Palace Theatre,Auditorium BuildingofRoosevelt University, andBroadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place.Polish languageproductions forChicago's large Polish speaking populationcan be seen at the historicGateway TheatreinJefferson Park. Since 1968, theJoseph Jefferson Awardsare given annually to acknowledge excellence in theater in the Chicago area. Chicago's theater community spawned modernimprovisational theater, and includes the prominent groupsThe Second CityandI.O.(formerly ImprovOlympic). TheChicago Symphony Orchestra(CSO) performs atSymphony Center, and is recognized as one of the","as one of the best orchestras in the world.Also performing regularly atSymphony Centeris theChicago Sinfonietta, a more diverse and multicultural counterpart to the CSO. In the summer, many outdoor concerts are given in Grant Park andMillennium Park.Ravinia Festival, located 25 miles (40 km) north of Chicago, is the summer home of the CSO, and is a favorite destination for many Chicagoans. TheCivic Opera Houseis home to theLyric Opera of Chicago.TheLithuanian Opera Company of Chicagowas founded byLithuanian Chicagoansin 1956,and presents operas inLithuanian. TheJoffrey BalletandChicago Festival Balletperform in various venues, including theHarris TheaterinMillennium Park. Chicago has several other contemporary and jazz dance troupes, such as theHubbard Street Dance ChicagoandChicago Dance Crash. Other live-music genre which are part of the city's cultural heritage includeChicago blues,Chicago soul,jazz, andgospel. The city is the birthplace ofhouse music(a popular form of electronic dance music)","dance music) andindustrial music, and is the site of an influentialhip hop scene. In the 1980s and 90s, the city was the global center for house and industrial music, two forms of music created in Chicago, as well as being popular foralternative rock,punk, andnew wave. The city has been a center forraveculture, since the 1980s. A flourishing independent rock music culture brought forth Chicagoindie.Annual festivalsfeature various acts, such asLollapaloozaand thePitchfork Music Festival.Lollapalooza originated in Chicago in 1991 and at first travelled to many cities, but as of 2005 its home has been Chicago.A 2007 report on the Chicago music industry by theUniversity of Chicago Cultural Policy Centerranked Chicago third among metropolitan U.S. areas in \"size of music industry\" and fourth among all U.S. cities in \"number of concerts and performances\". Chicago has a distinctivefine arttradition. For much of the twentieth century, it nurtured a strong style of figurativesurrealism, as in the works ofIvan","in the works ofIvan AlbrightandEd Paschke. In 1968 and 1969, members of theChicago Imagists, such asRoger Brown,Leon Golub,Robert Lostutter,Jim Nutt, andBarbara Rossiproduced bizarre representational paintings.Henry Dargeris one of the most celebrated figures ofoutsider art. Tourism In 2014, Chicago attracted 50.17 million domestic leisure travelers, 11.09 million domestic business travelers and 1.308 million overseas visitors.These visitors contributed more thanUS$13.7billion to Chicago's economy.Upscale shopping along the Magnificent Mile and State Street, thousands of restaurants, as well as Chicago's eminent architecture, continue to draw tourists. The city is the United States' third-largestconventiondestination. A 2017 study byWalk Scoreranked Chicago the sixth-most walkable of fifty largest cities in the United States.Most conventions are held at McCormick Place, just south ofSoldier Field. Navy Pier, located just east ofStreeterville, is 3,000 ft (910 m) long and houses retail stores, restaurants,","restaurants, museums, exhibition halls and auditoriums. Chicago was the first city in the world to ever erect a Ferris wheel. The Willis Tower (formerly named Sears Tower) is a popular destination for tourists. Museums Among the city's museums are theAdler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, theField Museum of Natural History, and theShedd Aquarium. TheMuseum Campusjoins the southern section of Grant Park, which includes the renowned Art Institute of Chicago. Buckingham Fountain anchors the downtown park along the lakefront. The University of Chicago'sInstitute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, West Asia & North Africahas an extensive collection ofancient EgyptianandNear Easternarchaeological artifacts. Other museums and galleries in Chicago include theChicago History Museum, theDriehaus Museum, theDuSable Museum of African American History, theMuseum of Contemporary Art, thePeggy Notebaert Nature Museum, thePolish Museum of America, theMuseum of Broadcast Communications, theChicago Architecture Foundation, and","Foundation, and theMuseum of Science and Industry. Cuisine Chicago lays claim to a large number of regional specialties that reflect the city's ethnic and working-class roots. Included among these are its nationally renowneddeep-dish pizza; this style is said to have originated atPizzeria Uno.The Chicago-style thin crust is also popular in the city.Certain Chicago pizza favorites includeLou Malnati'sandGiordano's. TheChicago-style hot dog, typically an all-beef hot dog, is loaded with an array of toppings that often includes pickle relish,yellow mustard, pickledsport peppers,tomatowedges,dill picklespear and topped off withcelery salton apoppy seedbun.Enthusiasts of the Chicago-style hot dog frown upon the use ofketchupas a garnish, but may prefer to addgiardiniera. A distinctly Chicago sandwich, theItalian beefsandwich is thinly sliced beef simmered inau jusand served on an Italian roll with sweet peppers or spicy giardiniera. A popular modification is the Combo—an Italian beef sandwich with the addition of","the addition of an Italian sausage. TheMaxwell Street Polishis a grilled or deep-friedkielbasa—on a hot dog roll, topped with grilled onions, yellow mustard, and hot sport peppers. Chicken Vesuviois roasted bone-in chicken cooked in oil and garlic next to garlicky oven-roasted potato wedges and a sprinkling of green peas. ThePuerto Rican-influencedjibaritois a sandwich made with flattened, fried green plantains instead of bread. Themother-in-lawis atamaletopped with chili and served on a hot dog bun.The tradition of serving theGreekdishsaganakiwhile aflame has its origins in Chicago's Greek community.The appetizer, which consists of a square of fried cheese, is doused withMetaxaandflambéedtable-side.Chicago-style barbecuefeatures hardwood smokedrib tipsandhot linkswhich were traditionally cooked in an aquarium smoker, a Chicago invention.Annual festivalsfeature various Chicago signature dishes, such asTaste of Chicagoand the Chicago Food Truck Festival. One of the world's most decorated restaurants and a","restaurants and a recipient of threeMichelinstars,Alineais located in Chicago. Well-known chefs who have had restaurants in Chicago include:Charlie Trotter,Rick Tramonto,Grant Achatz, andRick Bayless. In 2003,Robb Reportnamed Chicago the country's \"most exceptional dining destination\". Literature Chicago literature finds its roots in the city's tradition of lucid, direct journalism, lending to a strong tradition ofsocial realism. In theEncyclopedia of Chicago,Northwestern UniversityProfessor Bill Savage describes Chicago fiction as prose which tries to \"capture the essence of the city, its spaces and its people.\" The challenge for early writers was that Chicago was a frontier outpost that transformed into a global metropolis in the span of two generations. Narrative fiction of that time, much of it in the style of \"high-flown romance\" and \"genteel realism\", needed a new approach to describe the urban social, political, and economic conditions of Chicago.Nonetheless, Chicagoans worked hard to create a","hard to create a literary tradition that would stand the test of time,and create a \"city of feeling\" out of concrete, steel, vast lake, and open prairie.Much notable Chicago fiction focuses on the city itself, with social criticism keeping exultation in check. At least three short periods in thehistory of Chicagohave had a lasting influence onAmerican literature.These include from the time of the Great Chicago Fire to about 1900, what became known as the Chicago Literary Renaissance in the 1910s and early 1920s, and the period of theGreat Depressionthrough the 1940s. What would become the influentialPoetrymagazine was founded in 1912 byHarriet Monroe, who was working as anartcriticfor theChicago Tribune. The magazine discovered such poets asGwendolyn Brooks,James Merrill, andJohn Ashbery.T. S. Eliot's first professionally published poem, \"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock\", was first published byPoetry. Contributors have includedEzra Pound,William Butler Yeats,William Carlos Williams,Langston Hughes,","Hughes, andCarl Sandburg, among others. The magazine was instrumental in launching theImagistandObjectivistpoetic movements. From the 1950s through 1970s, American poetry continued to evolve in Chicago.In the 1980s, a modern form of poetry performance began in Chicago, thepoetry slam. Sports The city has twoMajor League Baseball(MLB) teams: theChicago Cubsof the National League play in Wrigley Field on the North Side; and theChicago White Soxof the American League play in Guaranteed Rate Field on the South Side. The two teams have faced each other in a World Series only once, in 1906. The Cubs are the oldest Major League Baseball team to have never changed their city;they have played in Chicago since 1871.They had the dubious honor of having the longest championship drought in American professional sports, failing to win a World Series between 1908 and 2016. The White Sox have played on the South Side continuously since 1901. They have won three World Series titles (1906, 1917, 2005) and six American League","six American League pennants, including the first in 1901. TheChicago Bears, one of the last two remaining charter members of theNational Football League(NFL), have won nineNFL Championships, including the 1985Super Bowl XX. The Bears play their home games at Soldier Field. TheChicago Bullsof theNational Basketball Association(NBA) is one of the most recognized basketball teams in the world.During the 1990s, withMichael Jordanleading them, the Bulls won six NBA championships in eight seasons. TheChicago Blackhawksof theNational Hockey League(NHL) began play in 1926, and are one of the \"Original Six\" teams of the NHL. The Blackhawks have won sixStanley Cups, including in 2010, 2013, and2015. Both the Bulls and the Blackhawks play at theUnited Center. Chicago Fire FCis a member ofMajor League Soccer(MLS) and plays at Soldier Field. The Fire have won one league title and fourU.S. Open Cups, since their founding in 1997. In 1994, the United States hosted a successfulFIFA World Cupwith games played at Soldier","played at Soldier Field. TheChicago Red Starsare a team in theNational Women's Soccer League(NWSL). They previously played inWomen's Professional Soccer(WPS), of which they were a founding member, before joining the NWSL in 2013. They play atSeatGeek StadiuminBridgeview, Illinois. TheChicago Skyis a professional basketball team playing in theWomen's National Basketball Association(WNBA). They play home games at theWintrust Arena. The team was founded before the 2006 WNBA season began. TheChicago Marathonhas been held each year since 1977 except for 1987, when a half marathon was run in its place. The Chicago Marathon is one of sixWorld Marathon Majors. Five area colleges play inDivision Iconferences: two from major conferences—theDePaul Blue Demons(Big East Conference) and theNorthwestern Wildcats(Big Ten Conference)—and three from other D1 conferences—theChicago State Cougars(Northeast Conference); theLoyola Ramblers(Atlantic 10 Conference); and theUIC Flames(Missouri Valley Conference). Chicago has also","Chicago has also entered intoesportswith the creation of theOpTic Chicago, a professionalCall of Dutyteam that participates within theCDL. Parks and greenspace When Chicago was incorporated in 1837, it chose the mottoUrbs in Horto, aLatinphrase which means \"City in a Garden\". Today, theChicago Park Districtconsists of more than 570 parks with over 8,000 acres (3,200 ha) ofmunicipal parkland. There are 31 sandbeaches, a plethora of museums, two world-class conservatories, and 50 nature areas.Lincoln Park, the largest of the city's parks, covers 1,200 acres (490 ha) and has over 20 million visitors each year, making it third in the number of visitors afterCentral ParkinNew York City, and theNational Mall and Memorial ParksinWashington, D.C. There is a historicboulevard system,a network of wide, tree-linedboulevardswhich connect a number of Chicagoparks.The boulevards and the parks were authorized by the Illinois legislature in 1869.A number ofChicago neighborhoodsemerged along these roadways in the 19th","in the 19th century.The building of the boulevard system continued intermittently until 1942. It includes nineteen boulevards, eight parks, and sixsquares, along twenty-six miles of interconnected streets.TheChicago Park Boulevard System Historic Districtwas listed on theNational Register of Historic Placesin 2018. With berths for more than 6,000 boats, the Chicago Park District operates the nation's largest municipal harbor system.In addition to ongoing beautification and renewal projects for the existing parks, a number of new parks have been added in recent years, such as thePing Tom Memorial Parkin Chinatown,DuSable Parkon the Near North Side, and most notably, Millennium Park, which is in the northwestern corner of one of Chicago's oldest parks, Grant Park in the Chicago Loop. The wealth of greenspace afforded by Chicago's parks is further augmented by theCook County Forest Preserves, a network of open spaces containing forest,prairie,wetland, streams, and lakes that are set aside as natural areas which","natural areas which lie along the city's outskirts,including both theChicago Botanic GardeninGlencoeand theBrookfield ZooinBrookfield.Washington Park is also one of the city's biggest parks; covering nearly 400 acres (160 ha). The park is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places listings in South Side Chicago. Law and government Government The government of the City of Chicago is divided into executive andlegislativebranches. Themayor of Chicagois the chief executive, elected by general election for a term of four years, with no term limits. The current mayor isBrandon Johnson. The mayor appoints commissioners and other officials who oversee the various departments. As well as the mayor, Chicago's clerk and treasurer are also elected citywide. TheCity Councilis the legislative branch and is made up of 50 alderpersons, one elected from eachwardin the city.The council takes official action through the passage ofordinancesand resolutions and approves the city budget. TheChicago Police","TheChicago Police Departmentprovides law enforcement and theChicago Fire Departmentprovides fire suppression and emergency medical services for the city and its residents. Civil and criminal law cases are heard in theCook County Circuit Courtof the State of Illinois court system, or in theNorthern District of Illinois, in the federal system. In the state court, the public prosecutor is the Illinoisstate's attorney; in the Federal court it is the United Statesattorney. Politics During much of the last half of the 19th century, Chicago's politics were dominated by a growingDemocratic Partyorganization. During the 1880s and 1890s, Chicago had a powerful radical tradition with large and highly organizedsocialist,anarchistandlabor organizations.For much of the 20th century, Chicago has been among the largest and most reliable Democratic strongholds in the United States; with Chicago's Democratic vote the state of Illinois has been \"solid blue\" inpresidential electionssince 1992. Even before then, it was not","then, it was not unheard of for Republican presidential candidates to win handily in downstate Illinois, only to lose statewide due to large Democratic margins in Chicago. The citizens of Chicago have not elected aRepublicanmayor since 1927, whenWilliam Thompsonwas voted into office. The strength of the party in the city is partly a consequence of Illinois state politics, where the Republicans have come to represent rural and farm concerns while the Democrats support urban issues such as Chicago's public school funding. Chicago contains less than 25% of the state's population, but it is split between eight of Illinois' 17districtsin theUnited States House of Representatives. All eight of the city's representatives are Democrats; only two Republicans have represented a significant portion of the city since 1973, for one term each:Robert P. Hanrahanfrom 1973 to 1975, andMichael Patrick Flanaganfrom 1995 to 1997. Machine politicspersisted in Chicago after the decline of similar machines in other large U.S.","in other large U.S. cities.During much of that time, the city administration found opposition mainly from a liberal \"independent\" faction of the Democratic Party. The independents finally gained control of city government in 1983 with the election ofHarold Washington(in office 1983–1987). From 1989 until May 16, 2011, Chicago was under the leadership of its longest-serving mayor,Richard M. Daley, the son of Richard J. Daley. Because of the dominance of the Democratic Party in Chicago, the Democraticprimaryvote held in the spring is generally more significant than the general elections in November for U.S. House and Illinois State seats. The aldermanic, mayoral, and other city offices are filled through nonpartisan elections with runoffs as needed. The city is home of former United States PresidentBarack Obamaand First LadyMichelle Obama; Barack Obama was formerly a state legislator representing Chicago and later a U.S. senator. The Obamas' residence is located near the University of Chicago inKenwoodon the","inKenwoodon the city's south side. Crime Chicago's crime rate in 2020 was 3,926 per 100,000 people.Chicago experienced major rises inviolent crimein the 1920s, in the late 1960s, and in the 2020s.Chicago's biggestcriminal justicechallenges have changed little over the last 50 years, and statistically reside with homicide,armed robbery, gang violence, andaggravated battery. Chicago has a higher murder rate than the larger cities of New York and Los Angeles. However, while it has a large absolute number of crimes due to its size, Chicago is not among the top-25 most violent cities in the United States. Murder rates in Chicago vary greatly depending on the neighborhood in question.The neighborhoods ofEnglewoodon the South Side, andAustinon the West side, for example, have homicide rates that are ten times higher than other parts of the city.Chicago has an estimated population of over 100,000 active gang members from nearly 60 factions.According to reports in 2013, \"most of Chicago's violent crime comes from","crime comes from gangs trying to maintain control of drug-selling territories,\"and is specifically related to the activities of theSinaloa Cartel, which is active in several American cities.Violent crime rates vary significantly by area of the city, with more economically developed areas having low rates, but other sections have much higher rates of crime.In 2013, the violent crime rate was 910 per 100,000 people;the murder rate was 10.4 per 100,000 – while high crime districts saw 38.9 murders, low crime districts saw 2.5 murders per 100,000. Chicago has a long history of publiccorruptionthat regularly draws the attention of federal law enforcement and federal prosecutors.From 2012 to 2019, 33 Chicago alderpersons were convicted on corruption charges, roughly one third of those elected in the time period. A report from the Office of the Legislative Inspector General noted that over half of Chicago's elected alderpersons took illegal campaign contributions in 2013.Most corruption cases in Chicago are","in Chicago are prosecuted by theU.S. Attorney's office, as legaljurisdictionmakes most offenses punishable as a federal crime. Education Schools and libraries Chicago Public Schools(CPS) is the governing body of theschool districtthat contains over 600 public elementary and high schools citywide, including several selective-admission magnet schools. There are eleven selective enrollment high schools in the Chicago Public Schools, designed to meet the needs of Chicago's most academically advanced students. These schools offer a rigorous curriculum with mainly honors andAdvanced Placement(AP) courses.Walter Payton College Prep High Schoolis ranked number one in the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois. Chicago high school rankings are determined by the average test scores on state achievement tests.The district, with an enrollment exceeding 400,545 students (2013–2014 20th Day Enrollment), is the third-largest in the U.S.On September 10, 2012, teachers for the Chicago Teachers Union went on strike for the","on strike for the first time since 1987 over pay, resources, and other issues.According to data compiled in 2014, Chicago's \"choice system\", where students who test or apply and may attend one of a number of public high schools (there are about 130), sorts students of different achievement levels into different schools (high performing, middle performing, and low performing schools). Chicago has a network ofLutheran schools,and several private schools are run by other denominations and faiths, such as theIda Crown Jewish AcademyinWest Ridge. TheRoman Catholic Archdiocese of ChicagooperatesCatholic schools, that includeJesuit preparatory schoolsand others. A number of private schools are completely secular. There are also the privateChicago Academy for the Arts, a high school focused on six different categories of the arts and the publicChicago High School for the Arts, a high school focused on five categories (visual arts, theatre, musical theatre, dance, and music) of the arts. TheChicago Public","TheChicago Public Librarysystem operates three regional libraries and 77 neighborhood branches, including the central library. Colleges and universities Since the 1850s, Chicago has been a world center of higher education and research with several universities. These institutions consistently rank among the top \"National Universities\" in the United States, as determined byU.S. News & World Report.Highly regarded universities in Chicago and the surrounding area are the University of Chicago; Northwestern University;Illinois Institute of Technology;Loyola University Chicago;DePaul University;Columbia College Chicagoand theUniversity of Illinois Chicago. Other notable schools include:Chicago State University; theSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago;East–West University;National Louis University;North Park University;Northeastern Illinois University;Robert Morris University Illinois;Roosevelt University;Saint Xavier University;Rush University; andShimer College. William Rainey Harper, the first president of","first president of the University of Chicago, was instrumental in the creation of thejunior collegeconcept, establishing nearbyJoliet Junior Collegeas the first in the nation in 1901.His legacy continues with the multiplecommunity collegesin the Chicago proper, including the sevenCity Colleges of Chicago:Richard J. Daley College,Kennedy–King College,Malcolm X College,Olive–Harvey College,Truman College,Harold Washington College, andWilbur Wright College, in addition to the privately heldMacCormac College. Chicago also has a high concentration of post-baccalaureate institutions, graduate schools, seminaries, and theological schools, such as theAdler School of Professional Psychology,The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, theErikson Institute,The Institute for Clinical Social Work, theLutheran School of Theology at Chicago, theCatholic Theological Union, theMoody Bible Institute, and theUniversity of Chicago Divinity School. Media Television The Chicago metropolitan area is a major media hub and the","media hub and the third-largest media market in the United States, after New York City and Los Angeles.Each of the big fiveU.S. television networks,NBC,ABC,CBS,FoxandThe CW, directly owns and operates ahigh-definition televisionstation in Chicago (WMAQ5,WLS7,WBBM2,WFLD32 andWGN-TV9, respectively). WGN is owned by the CW through a majority stake held in the network by theNexstar Media Group, which acquired it from its founding ownerTribune Broadcastingin 2019. WGN was once carried, with some programming differences, as \"WGN America\" oncable and satellite TVnationwide and in parts of theCaribbean. WGN America eventually becameNewsNationin 2021. Chicago has also been the home of several prominent talk shows, includingThe Oprah Winfrey Show,Steve Harvey Show,The Rosie Show,The Jerry Springer Show,The Phil Donahue Show,The Jenny Jones Show, and more. The city also has onePBSmember station (its second:WYCC20, removed its affiliation with PBS in 2017):WTTW11, producer of shows such asSneak Previews,The Frugal","Previews,The Frugal Gourmet,Lamb Chop's Play-AlongandThe McLaughlin Group. As of 2018,Windy City Liveis Chicago's only daytime talk show, which is hosted by Val Warner andRyan Chiaveriniat ABC7 Studios with a live weekday audience. Since 1999,Judge Mathisalso films his syndicated arbitration-based realitycourt showat theNBC Tower. Beginning in January 2019,Newsybegan producing 12 of its 14 hours of live news programming per day from its new facility in Chicago. Television stations Most of Chicago's television stations are owned and operated by the big television network companies. They are: Newspapers Two major daily newspapers are published in Chicago: theChicago Tribuneand theChicago Sun-Times, with the Tribune having the larger circulation. There are also several regional and special-interest newspapers and magazines, such asChicago, theDziennik Związkowy(Polish Daily News),Draugas(the Lithuanian daily newspaper), theChicago Reader, theSouthtownStar, theChicago Defender, theDaily","Defender, theDaily Herald,Newcity,StreetWiseand theWindy City Times. The entertainment and cultural magazineTime Out ChicagoandGRABmagazine are also published in the city, as well as local music magazineChicago Innerview. In addition, Chicago is the home of satirical national news outlet,The Onion, as well as its sister pop-culture publication,The A.V. Club. Movies and filming Radio Chicago has five50,000 watt AM radio stations: theAudacy-ownedWBBMandWSCR; theTribune Broadcasting-ownedWGN; theCumulus Media-ownedWLS; and theESPN Radio-ownedWMVP. Chicago is also home to a number of national radio shows, includingBeyond the BeltwaywithBruce DuMonton Sunday evenings. Chicago Public Radioproduces nationally aired programs such asPRI'sThis American LifeandNPR'sWait Wait...Don't Tell Me!. Infrastructure Transportation Chicago is a major transportation hub in the United States. It is an important component in global distribution, as it is the third-largest inter-modal port in the world afterHong KongandSingapore.","KongandSingapore. The city of Chicago has a higher than average percentage of households without a car. In 2015, 26.5 percent of Chicago households were without a car, and increased slightly to 27.5 percent in 2016. The national average was 8.7 percent in 2016. Chicago averaged 1.12 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8. Parking Due to Chicago'sWheel Tax,residents of Chicago who own a vehicle are required to purchase a Chicago City Vehicle Sticker.In established Residential Parking Zones, only local residents can purchase Zone-specific parking stickers for themselves and guests. Chicago since 2009 has relinquished rights to itspublicstreet parking.In 2008, as Chicago struggled to close a growing budget deficit, the city agreed to a 75-year, $1.16 billion deal to lease itsparking metersystem to an operating company created byMorgan Stanley, calledChicago Parking Meters LLC. Daley said the \"agreement is very good news for the taxpayers of Chicago because it will provide more than $1","more than $1 billion in net proceeds that can be used during this very difficult economy.\" The rights of the parking ticket lease end in 2081, and since 2022 have already recouped over $1.5 billion in revenue forChicago Parking Meters LLCinvestors. Expressways Seven mainline and four auxiliaryinterstate highways(55,57,65(only in Indiana),80(also inIndiana),88,90(also inIndiana),94(also inIndiana),190,290,294, and355) run through Chicago and its suburbs. Segments that link to the city center are named after influential politicians, with three of them named after former U.S. Presidents (Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Reagan) and one named after two-time Democratic candidateAdlai Stevenson. TheKennedyandDan RyanExpressways are the busiest state maintained routes in the entire state of Illinois. Transit systems TheRegional Transportation Authority(RTA) coordinates the operation of the three service boards: CTA, Metra, and Pace. Greyhound Linesprovides inter-city bus service to and from the city at theChicago Bus","at theChicago Bus Station, and Chicago is also the hub for the Midwest network ofMegabus (North America). Passenger rail Amtraklong distance andcommuter railservices originate fromUnion Station.Chicago is one of the largest hubs of passenger rail service in the nation.The services terminate in the San Francisco area, Washington, D.C., New York City, New Orleans,Portland,Seattle,Milwaukee,Quincy,St. Louis,Carbondale, Boston,Grand Rapids,Port Huron,Pontiac, Los Angeles, andSan Antonio. Future service will terminate atMoline. An attempt was made in the early 20th century to link Chicago with New York City via theChicago – New York Electric Air Line Railroad. Parts of this were built, but it was never completed. Bicycle and scooter sharing systems In July 2013, thebicycle-sharing systemDivvywas launched with 750 bikes and 75 docking stationsIt is operated byLyftfor theChicago Department of Transportation.As of July 2019, Divvy operated 5800 bicycles at 608 stations, covering almost all of the city,","all of the city, excludingPullman, Rosedale,Beverly,Belmont CraginandEdison Park. In May 2019, The City of Chicago announced its Chicago's Electric Shared Scooter Pilot Program, scheduled to run from June 15 to October 15.The program started on June 15 with 10 different scooter companies, including scooter sharing market leadersBird,Jump,LimeandLyft.Each company was allowed to bring 250electric scooters, although both Bird and Lime claimed that they experienced a higher demand for their scooters.The program ended on October 15, with nearly 800,000 rides taken. Freight rail Chicago is the largest hub in the railroad industry.All fiveClass I railroadsmeet in Chicago. As of 2002, severe freight train congestion caused trains to take as long to get through the Chicago region as it took to get there from the West Coast of the country (about 2 days).According to U.S. Department of Transportation, the volume of imported and exported goods transported via rail to, from, or through Chicago is forecast to increase","to increase nearly 150 percent between 2010 and 2040.CREATE, theChicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program, comprises about 70 programs, including crossovers, overpasses and underpasses, that intend to significantly improve the speed of freight movements in the Chicago area. Airports Chicago is served byO'Hare International Airport, the world's busiest airport measured by airline operations,on the far Northwest Side, andMidway International Airporton the Southwest Side. In 2005, O'Hare was the world's busiest airport by aircraft movements and the second-busiest by total passenger traffic.Both O'Hare and Midway are owned and operated by the City of Chicago.Gary/Chicago International AirportandChicago Rockford International Airport, located inGary, IndianaandRockford, Illinois, respectively, can serve as alternative Chicago area airports, however they do not offer as many commercial flights as O'Hare and Midway. In recent years the state of Illinois has been leaning towardsbuilding an","towardsbuilding an entirely new airportin the Illinois suburbs of Chicago.The City of Chicago is the world headquarters forUnited Airlines, the world's third-largest airline. Port authority The Port of Chicago consists of several major port facilities within the city of Chicago operated by the Illinois International Port District (formerly known as the Chicago Regional Port District). The central element of the Port District, Calumet Harbor, is maintained by theU.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Utilities Electricity for most ofnorthern Illinoisis provided byCommonwealth Edison, also known as ComEd. Their service territory bordersIroquois Countyto the south, theWisconsinborder to the north, theIowaborder to the west and theIndianaborder to the east. In northern Illinois, ComEd (a division ofExelon) operates the greatest number of nuclear generating plants in any U.S. state. Because of this, ComEd reports indicate that Chicago receives about 75% of its electricity from nuclear power. Recently, the city began","the city began installing wind turbines on government buildings to promote renewable energy. Natural gas is provided by Peoples Gas, a subsidiary ofIntegrys Energy Group, which is headquartered in Chicago. Domestic and industrial waste was once incinerated but it is nowlandfilled, mainly in theCalumet area. From 1995 to 2008, the city had ablue bagprogram to divert recyclable refuse from landfills.Because of low participation in the blue bag programs, the city began a pilot program for blue bin recycling like other cities. This proved successful and blue bins were rolled out across the city. Health systems TheIllinois Medical Districtis on the Near West Side. It includesRush University Medical Center, ranked as the second best hospital in the Chicago metropolitan area byU.S. News & World Reportfor 2014–16, theUniversity of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago, Jesse Brown VA Hospital, andJohn H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, one of the busiest trauma centers in the nation. Two of the country's premier","country's premier academic medical centers reside in Chicago, includingNorthwestern Memorial Hospitaland theUniversity of Chicago Medical Center. The Chicago campus of Northwestern University includes theFeinberg School of Medicine; Northwestern Memorial Hospital, which is ranked as the best hospital in the Chicago metropolitan area byU.S. News & World Reportfor 2017–18;theShirley Ryan AbilityLab(formerly named the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago), which is ranked the best U.S. rehabilitation hospital byU.S. News & World Report;the newPrentice Women's Hospital; and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. TheUniversity of Illinois College of Medicineat UIC is the second-largest medical school in the United States (2,600 students, including those at campuses in Peoria, Rockford andUrbana–Champaign). In addition, theChicago Medical Schooland Loyola University Chicago'sStritch School of Medicineare located in the suburbs ofNorth ChicagoandMaywood, respectively. TheMidwestern UniversityChicago","UniversityChicago College ofOsteopathic Medicineis inDowners Grove. TheAmerican Medical Association,Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education,Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education,American Osteopathic Association,American Dental Association,Academy of General Dentistry,Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics,American Association of Nurse Anesthetists,American College of Surgeons,American Society for Clinical Pathology,American College of Healthcare Executives, theAmerican Hospital Association, andBlue Cross and Blue Shield Associationare all based in Chicago. Sister cities See also Explanatory notes References Citations Cited references Further reading External links Former:Evanston•Hyde Park•Jefferson•Lake•Lake View•North Chicago•Rogers Park•South Chicago•West Chicago"],"string":"[\n \"Lou Boudreau As manager Louis Boudreau(July 17, 1917 – August 10, 2001), nicknamed \\\"Old Shufflefoot\\\", \\\"Handsome Lou\\\", and \\\"the Good Kid\\\", was an Americanprofessional baseballplayer and manager.He played inMajor League Baseball(MLB) for 15 seasons, primarily as ashortstopon theCleveland Indians, and managed four teams for 15 seasons including 10 seasons as aplayer-manager. He was also a radio announcer for theChicago Cubsand in college was a dual-sport athlete in baseball and basketball, earningAll-Americanhonors in basketball for theUniversity of Illinois. Boudreau was anAll-Starfor seven seasons.In 1948, Boudreau won theAmerican LeagueMost Valuable Player Awardand managed theCleveland Indiansto theWorld Seriestitle. He won the 1944 American League (AL)batting title(.327), and led the league in doubles in 1941, 1944, and 1947. He led AL shortstops in fielding eight times. Boudreau still holds the MLB record for hitting the most consecutive doubles in a game (four), set on July 14, 1946. In 1970, Boudreau was\",\n \"1970, Boudreau was elected to theNational Baseball Hall of Fameand his No. 5 was retired by the Indians that same year. Early life Boudreau was born inHarvey, Illinois, the son of Birdie (Henry) and Louis Boudreau.His father was of French-Canadian ancestry, his mother was Jewish, and both of his maternal grandparents were observantOrthodox Jewswith whom when he was young he celebratedPassoverseders.He was raised Catholic by his father after his parents divorced.He graduated fromThornton Township High SchoolinHarvey, Illinois, where he led the \\\"Flying Clouds\\\" to three straightIllinois high school championshipgames, winning in 1933 and finishing as runner up in 1934 and 1935. College baseball and basketball Boudreau attended theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he was a member ofPhi Sigma Kappafraternity and captain of thebasketballandbaseballteams. During the1936–37 basketballand baseball seasons, Boudreau led each Fighting Illini team to aBig Ten Conferencechampionship.During the1937–38\",\n \"the1937–38 basketball season, Boudreau was named anNCAA Men's Basketball All-American. While Boudreau was still at Illinois,Cleveland Indiansgeneral managerCy Slapnickapaid him an undisclosed sum in return for agreeing to play baseball for the Indians after he graduated. Due to this agreement, Boudreau was ruled ineligible for collegiate sports by theBig Ten Conferenceofficials.During his senior year at Illinois, he played professional basketball with theHammond Ciesar All-Americansof theNational Basketball League. Despite playing professional baseball with Cleveland, Boudreau earned hisBachelor of Sciencein education from Illinois in 1940 and worked as the Illinois freshman basketball coach for the 1939 and 1940 teams. Boudreau stayed on as an assistant coach for the1941–42 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball teamand he was instrumental in recruiting futureNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame InducteeAndy Phillipto play for Illinois. Professional baseball career Cleveland Indians Boudreau made\",\n \"Boudreau made his major league debut on September 9, 1938, for theCleveland Indiansat 21 as a third baseman in his first game. In 1939, Indian managerOssie Vitttold him that he would have to move from his normal third base position toshortstopsince established sluggerKen Keltneralready had the regular third base job. In 1940, his first full year as a starter, he batted .295 with 46doublesand 101RBI, and was selected for theAll-Star Gamefor the first of five consecutive seasons (MLB cancelled the1945 gamedue to war-time travel restrictions and did not name All-Stars). Boudreau helped make history in 1941 as a key figure in stopping the56-game hitting streakbyJoe DiMaggio. After two sparkling stops by Keltner at third base on hard ground balls earlier in the game, Boudreau snagged a bad-hop grounder to short barehanded and started a double play retiring DiMaggio at first.He finished the season with a modest .257 batting average, but had a league-leading 45 doubles. After the 1941 season, ownerAlva\",\n \"season, ownerAlva Bradleypromoted Indians managerRoger Peckinpaughto general manager and appointed the 25-year-old Boudreau player-manager. Boudreau played and managed the Indians throughout World War II (playing basketball had put a strain on Boudreau's ankles that turned intoarthritis, which classified him as4-Fand thus ineligible for military service).In 1944, Boudreau turned 134double plays, the most ever by a player-manager in MLB history. When he bought the Indians in 1947,Bill Veeck, after being approached by Boudreau, renewed the player-manager agreement with mixed feelings on both sides, as Boudreau stated that he would rather be traded than only play shortstop. Details of possibly trading him forVern Stephensof the St. Louis Browns in 1947 only attracted fans to the side of Boudreau. However, Boudreau hit .355 in 1948; Cleveland won the AL pennant and theWorld Series, the Indians first World Series championship in 28 years and only the second in Indians history, with Veeck and Boudreau publicly\",\n \"Boudreau publicly acknowledging each other's role in the team's success. Later career Boudreau was released by the Indians as both player and manager following the 1950 season. He signed with theBoston Red Sox, playing full-time in 1951, moving up to player-manager in 1952 and managing from the bench in 1953–54. He then became the first manager of theKansas City Athleticsin 1955 after their move from Philadelphia until he was fired after 104 games in 1957 and replaced byHarry Craft. He last managed the Chicago Cubs, in 1960. Managerial record Boudreau shift Boudreau is credited with inventing theinfield shift, which came to be known colloquially as the \\\"Boudreau shift.\\\" Because sluggingRed SoxsuperstarTed Williamswas a dead-pull hitter, he moved most of his Cleveland Indian fielders to the right of second base against the Splendid Splinter, leaving only the third baseman and left fielder to the left of second but also very close to second base, far to the right of their normal positions. With characteristic\",\n \"With characteristic stubborn pride, Williams refused the obvious advice from teammates to hit orbuntto left against the Boudreau shift, but great hitter that he was, not changing his approach against the shift didn't affect his hitting very much. Boudreau later admitted that the shift was more about \\\"psyching out\\\" Williams rather than playing him to pull. \\\"I always considered the Boudreau shift a psychological, rather than a tactical\\\" ploy, he declared in his autobiographyPlayer-Manager. Broadcasting Boudreau did play-by-play for Cub games in 1958–59 before switching roles with manager \\\"Jolly Cholly\\\"Charlie Grimmin 1960. But after only one season as Cubs manager, Boudreau returned to the radio booth and remained there until 1987. He also did radio play-by-play for theChicago Bullsin 1966–1968 and worked onChicago Blackhawksgames forWGN radioandtelevisionas well. The presence of a Hall of Fame announcer affected at least one game. On June 23, 1976, the Cubs were two runs behind at home in the fourth inning of\",\n \"fourth inning of the second game of a doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates at home when the umpires called the game on account of darkness (since there were no lights atWrigley Fielduntil 1988), announcing that the game would be resumed at the same point the next day as was normally the case in those days. But Boudreau knew the rules better than anyone else in the park, it turned out, for he went down quickly to the clubhouse and pointed out to the umpires that a game that was not yet an official game could not be treated as a suspended game (i.e., it had not gone five innings, or four and a half with the home team leading, as neither was the case), and as such had to be replayed from the first pitch (as was then the rule in a rain-out). The umpires called the National League office, found Boudreau was correct, and removed the two-run Cubs deficit. Later life and honors Boudreau was elected to theBaseball Hall of Famein 1970 with 77.33% of the vote. That same year, his uniform number 5 was retired by\",\n \"5 was retired by theCleveland Indians(he wore number 4 with the Red Sox). In 1973, the city ofClevelandrenamed a street borderingCleveland Municipal Stadiumafter Boudreau.Boudreau Drive in Urbana, Illinois, is also named after Boudreau. In 1990, the Cleveland Indians established The Lou Boudreau Award, which is given every year to the organization's Minor League Player of the Year.In 1992, Boudreau's number 5 jersey was retired by theIllinois Fighting Illini baseballprogram. Boudreau is only one of threeIllinois Fighting Illiniathletes to have their number retired; the other two athletes beingIllinois Fighting Illini footballplayersRed GrangeandDick Butkus. Personal life Boudreau married Della DeRuiter in 1938, and together they had four children. His daughter Sharyn marriedDenny McLain, a former star pitcher with theDetroit Tigerswho was the last 30-game winner in the major leagues (31–6 for the world champion 1968Detroit Tigers). Boudreau had a home inFrankfort, Illinois, for many years. He died on August\",\n \"He died on August 10, 2001, due tocardiac arrestat St. James Medical Center inOlympia Fields, Illinois. He was 84. He received a Catholic funeral and his body was interred in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery. See also Notes References Further reading External links\",\n \"List of World Series champions TheWorld Seriesis the annual championship series ofMajor League Baseball(MLB) and concludes theMLB postseason. First played in 1903,the World Series championship is abest-of-seven playoffand is a contest between the champions of baseball'sNational League(NL) andAmerican League(AL).Often referred to as the \\\"Fall Classic\\\",the modern World Series has been played every year since 1903 with two exceptions: in1904, when the NL championNew York Giantsdeclined to play the AL championBoston Americans; and in1994, when the series was canceled due to theplayers' strike.The best-of-seven style has been the format of all World Series except in1903,1919,1920,1921, when the winner was determined through abest-of-nine playoff.Although the large majority of contests have been played entirely during the month of October, a small number of Series have also had games played during September and November. The Series-winning team is awarded theCommissioner's Trophy.Players, coaches and others\",\n \"coaches and others associated with the team are generally givenWorld Series ringsto commemorate their victory; however, they have received other items such aspocket watchesand medallions in the past.The winning team is traditionally invited to theWhite Houseto meet thePresident of the United States. A total of 119 World Series have been contested through 2023, with the AL champion winning 68 and the NL champion winning 51. TheNew York Yankeesof the AL have played in 40 World Series, winning 27 – the most championship appearances and most victories by any team amongst themajor North American professional sports leagues. TheDodgersof the NL have the most losses with 14, while the Yankees have the most losses among AL teams with 13. TheSt. Louis Cardinalshave won 11 championships, the most championships among NL clubs and second-most all-time behind the Yankees, and have made 19 total appearances, third-most among NL clubs.The Dodgers have represented the NL the most in the World Series with 21 appearances.\",\n \"21 appearances. TheSeattle Marinersare the only MLB franchise that has never appeared in a World Series; theMilwaukee Brewers,San Diego Padres,Tampa Bay Rays, andColorado Rockieshave all played in the Series but have never won it, with the Padres and the Rays appearing twice. TheLos Angeles AngelsandWashington Nationalsare the only teams who have won their only World Series appearance, and theToronto Blue JaysandMiami Marlinsare the only teams with multiple World Series appearances with no losses. The Toronto Blue Jays are the only franchise from outside the United States to appear in and win a World Series, winning in 1992 and 1993. TheHouston Astrosare the only franchise to have represented both the NL (2005) and the AL (2017, 2019, 2021, 2022), winning the Series in 2017 and 2022. The 1919 and 2017 World Series were both marred with cheating scandals: theBlack Sox Scandaland theHouston Astros sign stealing scandal. The most recent World Series champions are theTexas Rangers. World Series results Numbers\",\n \"results Numbers in parentheses in the table are World Series appearances as of the date of that World Series, and are used as follows: Source for this Table World Series records by franchise In the sortable table below, teams are ordered first by number of wins, then by number of appearances, and finally by year of first appearance. In the \\\"Season(s)\\\" column,bold yearsindicate winning appearances. Frequent matchups The following are the 20 matchups of teams that have occurred two or more times in the World Series. All teams that have participated in these were \\\"Classic Eight\\\" members of either the American or National League; no expansion team (created in 1961 or later) has faced the same opponent more than once in a World Series. See also References External links\",\n \"Chicago Chicagois themost populous cityin theU.S. stateofIllinoisand in theMidwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the2020 census,it is thethird-most populous city in the United StatesafterNew York CityandLos Angeles. As theseatofCook County, thesecond-most populous countyin the U.S., Chicago is the center of theChicago metropolitan area, often colloquially called \\\"Chicagoland\\\" and home to 9.6 million residents. Located on the shore ofLake Michigan, Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837 near aportagebetween theGreat Lakesand theMississippi River watershed. It grew rapidly in the mid-19th century.In 1871, theGreat Chicago Firedestroyed several square miles and left more than 100,000 homeless,but Chicago's population continued to grow.Chicago made noted contributions tourban planningandarchitecture, such as theChicago School, the development of theCity Beautiful movement, and the steel-framedskyscraper. Chicago is an international hub for finance,culture, commerce, industry,\",\n \"commerce, industry, education, technology, telecommunications, andtransportation. It has the largest and most diverse financederivativesmarket in the world, generating 20% of all volume incommoditiesand financial futures alone.O'Hare International Airportis routinely ranked among theworld's top six busiest airports by passenger traffic,and the region is also the nation's railroad hub.The Chicago area has one of the highestgross domestic products(GDP) of any urban region in the world, generating $689 billion in 2018.Chicago's economyisdiverse, with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. Chicago is a major destination fortourism, including visitors to itscultural institutions, and Lake Michiganbeaches. Chicago's culture has contributed much to the visual arts,literature, film,theater, comedy (especiallyimprovisational comedy),food, dance, andmusic(particularlyjazz,blues,soul,hip-hop,gospel,andelectronic dance music, includinghouse music). Chicago is home to theChicago Symphony\",\n \"theChicago Symphony Orchestraand theLyric Opera of Chicago, while theArt Institute of Chicagoprovides an influential visual arts museum andart school. The Chicago area also hosts theUniversity of Chicago,Northwestern University, and theUniversity of Illinois Chicago, amongother institutions of learning. ProfessionalsportsinChicago includeallmajor professional leagues, including twoMajor League Baseballteams. Etymology and nicknames The nameChicagois derived from a French rendering of theindigenousMiami–Illinoiswordshikaakwafor a wild relative of theonion; it is known to botanists asAllium tricoccumand known more commonly as \\\"ramps\\\". The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as \\\"Checagou\\\" was byRobert de LaSallearound 1679 in a memoir.Henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the eponymous wild \\\"garlic\\\" grew profusely in the area.According to his diary of late September 1687: ... when we arrived at the said place called \\\"Chicagou\\\" which, according to what we were able to\",\n \"we were able to learn of it, has taken this name because of the quantity of garlic which grows in the forests in this region. The city has hadseveral nicknamesthroughout its history, such as theWindy City, Chi-Town, Second City, and City of the Big Shoulders. History Beginnings In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by thePotawatomi, an indigenous tribe who had succeeded theMiami,SaukandMeskwakipeoples in this region. The first known permanent settler in Chicago was traderJean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was ofAfricandescent, perhaps born in theFrench colonyofSaint-Domingue(Haiti), and established the settlement in the 1780s. He is commonly known as the \\\"Founder of Chicago.\\\" In 1795, following the victory of the new United States in theNorthwest Indian War, an area that was to be part of Chicago was turned over to the U.S. for a military post by native tribes in accordance with theTreaty of Greenville. In 1803, theU.S. ArmyconstructedFort Dearborn, which was destroyed during theWar of 1812in\",\n \"theWar of 1812in theBattle of Fort Dearbornby the Potawatomi before being later rebuilt. After the War of 1812, theOttawa,Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the1833 Treaty of Chicagoand sent west of theMississippi Riveras part of the federal policy ofIndian removal. 19th century On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200.Within seven years it grew to more than 6,000 people. On June 15, 1835, the first public land sales began withEdmund Dick Tayloras Receiver of Public Monies. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4, 1837,and for several decades was the world's fastest-growing city. As the site of theChicago Portage,the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicago's first railway,Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and theIllinois and Michigan Canalopened in 1848. The\",\n \"in 1848. The canal allowedsteamboatsandsailing shipson theGreat Lakesto connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities andimmigrantsfrom abroad. Manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing theAmerican economy.TheChicago Board of Trade(established 1848) listed the first-ever standardized \\\"exchange-traded\\\" forward contracts, which were calledfutures contracts. In the 1850s, Chicago gained national political prominence as the home of SenatorStephen Douglas, the champion of theKansas–Nebraska Actand the \\\"popular sovereignty\\\" approach to the issue of the spread of slavery.These issues also helped propel another Illinoisan,Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage. Lincoln was nominated in Chicago for U.S. president at the1860 Republican National Convention, which was held in a purpose-built auditorium called theWigwam. He defeated Douglas in the general election, and this set the stage for theAmerican Civil War. To accommodaterapid\",\n \"To accommodaterapid population growthand demand for better sanitation, the city improved its infrastructure. In February 1856, Chicago's Common Council approvedChesbrough's plan to build the United States' first comprehensive sewerage system.The projectraised much of central Chicagoto a new grade with the use ofjackscrewsfor raising buildings.While elevating Chicago, and at first improving the city's health, the untreated sewage and industrial waste now flowed into theChicago River, and subsequently intoLake Michigan, polluting the city's primary freshwater source. The city responded by tunneling two miles (3.2 km) out into Lake Michigan to newly builtwater cribs. In 1900, the problem of sewage contamination was largely resolved when the city completed a major engineering feat. It reversed the flow of the Chicago River so that the water flowed away from Lake Michigan rather than into it. This project began with the construction and improvement of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and was completed with\",\n \"was completed with theChicago Sanitary and Ship Canalthat connects to theIllinois River, which flows into the Mississippi River. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed an area about 4 miles (6.4 km) long and 1-mile (1.6 km) wide, a large section of the city at the time.Much of the city, including railroads andstockyards, survived intact,and from the ruins of the previous wooden structures arose more modern constructions of steel and stone. These set a precedent for worldwide construction.During its rebuilding period, Chicago constructed the world'sfirst skyscraperin 1885, usingsteel-skeletonconstruction. The city grew significantly in size and population by incorporating many neighboring townships between 1851 and 1920, with the largest annexation happening in 1889, with five townships joining the city, including theHyde Park Township, which now comprises most of theSouth Side of Chicagoand the far southeast of Chicago, and theJefferson Township, which now makes up most ofChicago's Northwest Side.The\",\n \"Northwest Side.The desire to join the city was driven by municipal services that the city could provide its residents. Chicago's flourishing economy attracted huge numbers of new immigrants fromEuropeand migrants from theEastern United States. Of the total population in 1900, more than 77% were either foreign-born or born in the United States of foreign parentage.Germans,Irish,Poles,Swedes, andCzechsmade up nearly two-thirds of the foreign-born population (by 1900, whites were 98.1% of the city's population). Labor conflictsfollowed the industrial boom and the rapid expansion of the labor pool, including theHaymarket affairon May 4, 1886, and in 1894 thePullman Strike. Anarchist and socialist groups played prominent roles in creating very large and highly organized labor actions. Concern for social problems among Chicago's immigrant poor ledJane AddamsandEllen Gates Starrto foundHull Housein 1889.Programs that were developed there became a model for the new field ofsocial work. During the 1870s and 1880s,\",\n \"1870s and 1880s, Chicago attained national stature as the leader in the movement to improve public health. City laws and later, state laws that upgraded standards for the medical profession and fought urban epidemics ofcholera,smallpox, andyellow feverwere both passed and enforced. These laws became templates for public health reform in other cities and states. The city established many large, well-landscapedmunicipal parks, which also included public sanitation facilities. The chief advocate for improving public health in Chicago wasJohn H. Rauch, M.D.Rauch established a plan for Chicago's park system in 1866. He createdLincoln Parkby closing a cemetery filled with shallow graves, and in 1867, in response to an outbreak of cholera he helped establish a new Chicago Board of Health. Ten years later, he became the secretary and then the president of the first Illinois State Board of Health, which carried out most of its activities in Chicago. In the 1800s, Chicago became the nation's railroad hub, and by 1910\",\n \"hub, and by 1910 over 20 railroads operated passenger service out of six different downtown terminals.In 1883, Chicago's railway managers needed a general time convention, so they developed the standardized system of North Americantime zones.This system for telling time spread throughout the continent. In 1893, Chicago hosted theWorld's Columbian Expositionon former marshland at the present location ofJackson Park. The Exposition drew 27.5 million visitors, and is considered the most influentialworld's fairin history.TheUniversity of Chicago, formerly at another location, moved to the same South Side location in 1892. The term \\\"midway\\\" for a fair or carnival referred originally to theMidway Plaisance, a strip of park land that still runs through the University of Chicago campus and connects theWashingtonand Jackson Parks. 20th and 21st centuries 1900 to 1939 DuringWorld War Iand the 1920s there was a major expansion in industry. The availability of jobs attracted African Americans from theSouthern United\",\n \"theSouthern United States. Between 1910 and 1930, the African American population of Chicago increased dramatically, from 44,103 to 233,903.ThisGreat Migrationhad an immense cultural impact, called theChicago Black Renaissance, part of theNew Negro Movement, in art, literature, and music.Continuing racial tensions and violence, such as theChicago race riot of 1919, also occurred. The ratification of the 18th amendment to the Constitution in 1919 made the production and sale (including exportation) of alcoholic beverages illegal in the United States. This ushered in the beginning of what is known as the gangster era, a time that roughly spans from 1919 until 1933 whenProhibitionwas repealed. The 1920s sawgangsters, includingAl Capone,Dion O'Banion,Bugs MoranandTony Accardobattle law enforcement and each other on the streets of Chicago during theProhibition era.Chicago was the location of the infamousSt. Valentine's Day Massacrein 1929, when Al Capone sent men to gun down members of a rival gang, North Side,\",\n \"gang, North Side, led by Bugs Moran. From 1920 to 1921, the city was affected by a series of tenantrent strikes, which lead to the formation of the Chicago Tenants Protective association, passage of the Kessenger tenant laws, and of a heat ordinance that legally required flats to be kept above 68 °F during winter months by landlords. Chicago was the first American city to have a homosexual-rights organization. The organization, formed in 1924, was called theSociety for Human Rights. It produced the first American publication for homosexuals,Friendship and Freedom. Police and political pressure caused the organization to disband. The Great Depression brought unprecedented suffering to Chicago, in no small part due to the city's heavy reliance on heavy industry. Notably, industrial areas on the south side and neighborhoods lining both branches of the Chicago River were devastated; by 1933 over 50% of industrial jobs in the city had been lost, and unemployment rates amongst blacks and Mexicans in the city were\",\n \"in the city were over 40%. The Republican political machine in Chicago was utterly destroyed by the economic crisis, and every mayor since 1931 has been aDemocrat. From 1928 to 1933, the city witnessed a tax revolt, and the city was unable to meet payroll or provide relief efforts. The fiscal crisis was resolved by 1933, and at the same time, federal relief funding began to flow into Chicago.Chicago was also a hotbed of labor activism, withUnemployed Councilscontributing heavily in the early depression to create solidarity for the poor and demand relief; these organizations were created by socialist and communist groups. By 1935 theWorkers Alliance of Americabegun organizing the poor, workers, the unemployed. In the spring of 1937 Republic Steel Works witnessed theMemorial Day massacre of 1937in the neighborhood of East Side. In 1933, Chicago MayorAnton Cermakwas fatally wounded inMiami, Florida, during afailed assassinationattempt on President-electFranklin D. Roosevelt. In 1933 and 1934, the city\",\n \"and 1934, the city celebrated its centennial by hosting theCentury of ProgressInternational ExpositionWorld's Fair.The theme of the fair was technological innovation over the century since Chicago's founding. 1940 to 1979 DuringWorld War II, the city of Chicago alone produced more steel than the United Kingdom every year from 1939 – 1945, and more thanNazi Germanyfrom 1943 – 1945. The Great Migration, which had been on pause due to the Depression, resumed at an even faster pace in thesecond wave, as hundreds of thousands of blacks from the South arrived in the city to work in the steel mills, railroads, and shipping yards. On December 2, 1942, physicistEnrico Fermiconducted the world's first controllednuclear reactionat the University of Chicago as part of the top-secretManhattan Project. This led to the creation of the atomic bomb by the United States, which it used inWorld War IIin 1945. MayorRichard J. Daley, a Democrat, was elected in 1955, in the era ofmachine politics. In 1956, the city conducted its\",\n \"city conducted its last major expansion when it annexed the land under O'Hare airport, including a small portion of DuPage County. By the 1960s, white residents in several neighborhoods left the city for the suburban areas – in many American cities, a process known aswhite flight– as Blacks continued to move beyond theBlack Belt.While home loan discriminatoryredliningagainst blacks continued, the real estate industry practiced what became known asblockbusting, completely changing the racial composition of whole neighborhoods.Structural changes in industry, such as globalization and job outsourcing, caused heavy job losses for lower-skilled workers. At its peak during the 1960s, some 250,000 workers were employed in the steel industry in Chicago, but the steel crisis of the 1970s and 1980s reduced this number to just 28,000 in 2015. In 1966,Martin Luther King Jr.andAlbert Rabyled theChicago Freedom Movement, which culminated in agreements between Mayor Richard J. Daley and the movement leaders. Two years\",\n \"leaders. Two years later, the city hosted the tumultuous1968 Democratic National Convention, which featured physical confrontations both inside and outside the convention hall, with anti-war protesters, journalists and bystanders being beaten by police.Major construction projects, including the Sears Tower (now known as theWillis Tower, which in 1974 became theworld's tallest building),University of Illinois at Chicago,McCormick Place, andO'Hare International Airport, were undertaken during Richard J. Daley's tenure.In 1979,Jane Byrne, the city's first female mayor, was elected. She was notable for temporarily moving into the crime-riddenCabrini-Greenhousing project and for leading Chicago's school system out of a financial crisis. 1980 to present In 1983,Harold Washingtonbecame the first black mayor of Chicago. Washington's first term in office directed attention to poor and previously neglected minority neighborhoods. He was re‑elected in 1987 but died of a heart attack soon after.Washington was succeeded\",\n \"was succeeded by 6th ward alderpersonEugene Sawyer, who was elected by the Chicago City Council and served until a special election. Richard M. Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, was elected in 1989. His accomplishments included improvements to parks and creating incentives forsustainable development, as well as closingMeigs Fieldin the middle of the night and destroying the runways. After successfully running for re-election five times, and becoming Chicago's longest-serving mayor, Richard M. Daley declined to run for a seventh term. In 1992, a construction accident near theKinzie Street Bridgeproduced a breach connecting the Chicago River to a tunnel below, which was part of anabandoned freight tunnel systemextending throughout the downtownLoopdistrict. Thetunnels filledwith 250 million US gallons (1,000,000 m3) of water, affecting buildings throughout the district and forcing a shutdown of electrical power.The area was shut down for three days and some buildings did not reopen for weeks; losses were\",\n \"weeks; losses were estimated at $1.95 billion. On February 23, 2011,Rahm Emanuel, a formerWhite House Chief of Staffand member of theHouse of Representatives, won the mayoral election.Emanuel was sworn in as mayor on May 16, 2011, and won re-election in 2015.Lori Lightfoot, the city's first African American woman mayor and its first openly LGBTQ mayor, was elected to succeed Emanuel as mayor in 2019.All three city-wide elective offices were held by women (and women of color) for the first time in Chicago history: in addition to Lightfoot, the city clerk wasAnna Valenciaand the city treasurer wasMelissa Conyears-Ervin. On May 15, 2023,Brandon Johnsonassumed office as the 57th mayor of Chicago. Geography Topography Chicago is located in northeastern Illinois on the southwestern shores of freshwater Lake Michigan. It is the principal city in theChicago Metropolitan Area, situated in both theMidwestern United Statesand theGreat Lakes region. The city rests on acontinental divideat the site of the Chicago\",\n \"site of the Chicago Portage, connecting the Mississippi River and the Great Lakeswatersheds. In addition to it lying beside Lake Michigan, two rivers—the Chicago River in downtown and theCalumet Riverin the industrial far South Side—flow either entirely or partially through the city. Chicago's history and economy are closely tied to its proximity to Lake Michigan. While the Chicago River historically handled much of the region's waterborne cargo, today's hugelake freightersuse the city'sLake Calumet Harboron the South Side. The lake also provides another positive effect: moderating Chicago's climate, making waterfront neighborhoods slightly warmer in winter and cooler in summer. When Chicago was founded in 1837, most of the early building was around the mouth of the Chicago River, as can be seen on a map of the city's original 58 blocks.The overallgradeof the city's central, built-up areas is relatively consistent with the natural flatness of its overall natural geography, generally exhibiting only slight\",\n \"only slight differentiation otherwise. The average land elevation is 579 ft (176.5 m)above sea level. While measurements vary somewhat,the lowest points are along the lake shore at 578 ft (176.2 m), while the highest point, at 672 ft (205 m), is the morainal ridge ofBlue Islandin the city's far south side. Lake Shore Driveruns adjacent to a large portion of Chicago's waterfront. Some of the parks along the waterfront includeLincoln Park,Grant Park,Burnham Park, andJackson Park. There are 24 publicbeachesacross 26 miles (42 km) of the waterfront.Landfill extends into portions of the lake providing space forNavy Pier,Northerly Island, theMuseum Campus, and large portions of theMcCormick PlaceConvention Center. Most of the city's high-rise commercial and residential buildings are close to the waterfront. An informal name for the entireChicago metropolitan areais \\\"Chicagoland\\\", which generally means the city and all its suburbs, though different organizations have slightly different definitions. Communities\",\n \"Communities Major sections of the city include the central business district, calledthe Loop, and the North,South, andWest Sides.The three sides of the city are represented on theFlag of Chicagoby three horizontal white stripes.The North Side is the most-densely-populated residential section of the city, and many high-rises are located on this side of the city along the lakefront.The South Side is the largest section of the city, encompassing roughly 60% of the city's land area. The South Side contains most of the facilities of thePort of Chicago. In the late-1920s, sociologists at the University of Chicago subdivided the city into 77 distinctcommunity areas, which can further be subdivided into over 200 informally definedneighborhoods. Streetscape Chicago's streets were laid out in astreet gridthat grew from the city's original townsite plot, which was bounded by Lake Michigan on the east, North Avenue on the north, Wood Street on the west, and 22nd Street on the south.Streets following thePublic Land\",\n \"thePublic Land Survey Systemsection lines later became arterial streets in outlying sections. As new additions to the city were platted, city ordinance required them to be laid out with eight streets to the mile in one direction and sixteen in the other direction, about one street per 200 meters in one direction and one street per 100 meters in the other direction. The grid's regularity provided an efficient means of developing new real estate property. A scattering of diagonal streets, many of them originally Native American trails, also cross the city (Elston, Milwaukee, Ogden, Lincoln, etc.). Many additional diagonal streets were recommended in thePlan of Chicago, but only the extension ofOgden Avenuewas ever constructed. In 2021, Chicago was ranked the fourth-most walkable large city in the United States.Many of the city's residential streets have a wide patch of grass or trees between the street and the sidewalk itself. This helps to keep pedestrians on the sidewalk further away from the street traffic.\",\n \"the street traffic. Chicago'sWestern Avenueis the longest continuous urban street in the world.Other notable streets includeMichigan Avenue,State Street,95th Street,Cicero Avenue,Clark Street, andBelmont Avenue. TheCity Beautiful movementinspired Chicago's boulevards and parkways. Architecture The destruction caused by the Great Chicago Fire led to the largest building boom in the history of the nation. In 1885, the firststeel-framed high-rise building, the Home Insurance Building, rose in the city as Chicago ushered in theskyscraper era,which would then be followed by many other cities around the world.Today, Chicago's skyline is among the world's tallest and densest. Some of the United States' tallest towers are located in Chicago;Willis Tower(formerly Sears Tower) is the second tallest building in theWestern HemisphereafterOne World Trade Center, andTrump International Hotel and Toweris the third tallest in the country.The Loop's historic buildings include theChicago Board of Trade Building, theFine Arts\",\n \"theFine Arts Building,35 East Wacker, and theChicago Building,860-880 Lake Shore Drive ApartmentsbyMies van der Rohe. Many other architects have left their impression on the Chicago skyline such asDaniel Burnham,Louis Sullivan, Charles B. Atwood, John Root, andHelmut Jahn. TheMerchandise Mart, once first on thelist of largest buildings in the world, currently listed as 44th-largest 2013 as September 9, 2013, had its ownzip codeuntil 2008, and stands near the junction of the North and South branches of the Chicago River.Presently, the four tallest buildings in the city are Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower, also a building with its own zip code),Trump International Hotel and Tower, theAon Center(previously the Standard Oil Building), and theJohn Hancock Center.Industrial districts, such as some areas on theSouth Side, the areas along theChicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, and theNorthwest Indianaarea are clustered. Chicago gave its name to the Chicago School and was home to thePrairie School, two movements\",\n \"two movements in architecture.Multiple kinds and scales of houses, townhouses, condominiums, and apartment buildings can be found throughout Chicago. Large swaths of the city's residential areas away from the lake are characterized by brickbungalowsbuilt from the early 20th century through the end of World War II. Chicago is also a prominent center of thePolish Cathedral styleofchurch architecture. The Chicago suburb ofOak Parkwas home to famous architectFrank Lloyd Wright, who had designed TheRobie Houselocated near the University of Chicago. A popular tourist activity is to take an architecture boat tour along the Chicago River. Monuments and public art Chicago is famous for its outdoorpublic artwith donors establishing funding for such art as far back asBenjamin Ferguson's 1905 trust.A number of Chicago's public art works are by modern figurative artists. Among these areChagall's Four Seasons; theChicago Picasso;Miro's Chicago;Calder'sFlamingo;Oldenburg'sBatcolumn;Moore'sLarge Interior Form, 1953-54,Man\",\n \"Form, 1953-54,Man Enters the CosmosandNuclear Energy;Dubuffet'sMonument with Standing Beast,Abakanowicz'sAgora; and,Anish Kapoor'sCloud Gatewhich has become an icon of the city. Some events which shaped the city's history have also been memorialized by art works, including theGreat Northern Migration(Saar) and thecentennial of statehood for Illinois. Finally, two fountains near the Loop also function as monumental works of art:Plensa'sCrown Fountainas well asBurnhamand Bennett'sBuckingham Fountain. Climate The city lies within the typical hot-summerhumid continental climate(Köppen:Dfa), and experiences four distinct seasons.Summersare hot and humid, with frequentheat waves. The July daily average temperature is 75.4 °F (24.1 °C), with afternoon temperatures peaking at 84.5 °F (29.2 °C). In a normal summer, temperatures reach at least 90 °F (32 °C) on 17 days, with lakefront locations staying cooler when winds blow off the lake.Wintersare relatively cold and snowy.Blizzardsdo occur, such as inwinter\",\n \"such as inwinter 2011.There are many sunny but cold days. The normal winter high from December through March is about 36 °F (2 °C). January and February are the coldest months. Apolar vortex in January 2019nearly broke the city's cold record of −27 °F (−33 °C), which was set on January 20, 1985.Measurable snowfall can continue through the first or second week of April. Springandautumnare mild, short seasons, typically with low humidity.Dew pointtemperatures in the summer range from an average of 55.8 °F (13.2 °C) in June to 61.7 °F (16.5 °C) in July.They can reach nearly 80 °F (27 °C), such as during the July 2019 heat wave. The city lies withinUSDAplanthardiness zone6a, transitioning to 5b in the suburbs. According to theNational Weather Service, Chicago's highest official temperature reading of 105 °F (41 °C) was recorded on July 24, 1934.Midway Airportreached 109 °F (43 °C) one day prior and recorded aheat indexof 125 °F (52 °C) during the1995 heatwave.The lowest official temperature of −27 °F (−33 °C)\",\n \"of −27 °F (−33 °C) was recorded onJanuary 20, 1985, at O'Hare Airport.Most of the city's rainfall is brought bythunderstorms, averaging 38 a year. The region is prone tosevere thunderstormsduring the spring and summer which can produce large hail, damaging winds, and occasionally tornadoes. Like other major cities, Chicago experiences anurban heat island, making the city and its suburbs milder than surrounding rural areas, especially at night and in winter. The proximity to Lake Michigan tends to keep the Chicago lakefront somewhat cooler in summer and less brutally cold in winter than inland parts of the city and suburbs away from the lake.Northeast winds from wintertimecyclonesdeparting south of the region sometimes bring the citylake-effect snow. Time zone As in the rest of the state of Illinois, Chicago forms part of theCentral Time Zone. The border with theEastern Time Zoneis located a short distance to the east, used in Michigan andcertain parts of Indiana. Demographics During its first hundred years,\",\n \"hundred years, Chicago was one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. When founded in 1833, fewer than 200 people had settled on what was then the American frontier. By the time of its first census, seven years later, the population had reached over 4,000. In the forty years from 1850 to 1890, the city's population grew from slightly under 30,000 to over 1 million. At the end of the 19th century, Chicago was the 5th-most populous city in the world,and the largest of the cities that did not exist at the dawn of the century. Within sixty years of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the population went from about 300,000 to over 3 million,and reached its highest ever recorded population of 3.6 million for the 1950 census. From the last two decades of the 19th century, Chicago was the destination of waves of immigrants from Ireland, Southern, Central and Eastern Europe, includingItalians,Jews,Russians,Poles,Greeks,Lithuanians,Bulgarians,Albanians,Romanians,Turks,Croatians,Serbs,Bosnians,MontenegrinsandCzechs.To\",\n \"these ethnic groups, the basis of the city's industrialworking class, were added an additional influx ofAfrican Americansfrom theAmerican South—with Chicago's black population doubling between 1910 and 1920 and doubling again between 1920 and 1930.Chicago has asignificant Bosnian population, many of whom arrived in the 1990s and 2000s. In the 1920s and 1930s, the great majority of African Americans moving to Chicago settled in a so‑called \\\"Black Belt\\\" on the city'sSouth Side.A large number of blacks also settled on theWest Side. By 1930, two-thirds of Chicago's black population lived in sections of the city which were 90% black in racial composition.Around that time, a lesser known fact about African Americans on theNorth Sideis that the block of 4600 Winthrop Avenue inUptownwas the only block African Americans could live or open establishments.Chicago's South Side emerged as United States second-largest urban black concentration, following New York'sHarlem. In 1990, Chicago's South Side and the adjoining\",\n \"and the adjoining south suburbs constituted the largest black majority region in the entire United States.Since the 1980s, Chicago has had a massive exodus of African Americans (primarily from the South and West sides) to its suburbs or outside its metropolitan area.The above average crime and cost of living were leading reasons for the fast declining African American population in Chicago. Most of Chicago's foreign-born population were born inMexico,PolandorIndia. Chicago's population declined in the latter half of the 20th century, from over 3.6 million in 1950 down to under 2.7 million by 2010. By the time of the official census count in 1990, it was overtaken byLos Angelesas the United States' second largest city. The city has seen a rise in population for the 2000 census and after a decrease in 2010, it rose again for the 2020 census. According to U.S. census estimates as of July 2019, Chicago's largest racial or ethnic group is non-Hispanic White at 32.8% of the population, Blacks at 30.1% and the\",\n \"at 30.1% and the Hispanic population at 29.0% of the population. Chicago has the third-largestLGBTpopulation in the United States. In 2018, the Chicago Department of Health, estimated 7.5% of the adult population, approximately 146,000 Chicagoans, were LGBTQ.In 2015, roughly 4% of the population identified as LGBT.Since the 2013 legalization ofsame-sex marriage in Illinois, over 10,000 same-sex couples have wed inCook County, a majority of them in Chicago. Chicago became a \\\"de jure\\\"sanctuary cityin 2012 when MayorRahm Emanueland the City Council passed the Welcoming City Ordinance. According to the U.S. Census Bureau'sAmerican Community Surveydata estimates for 2022, the median income for a household in the city was $70,386,and the per capita income was $45,449. Male full-time workers had a median income of $68,870 versus $60,987 for females.About 17.2% of the population lived below the poverty line.In 2018, Chicago ranked seventh globally for the highest number of ultra-high-net-worth residents with roughly\",\n \"with roughly 3,300 residents worth more than $30 million. According to the 2022 American Community Survey, the specific ancestral groups having 10,000 or more persons in Chicago were: Persons who did not report or classify an ancestry were 548,790. Religion Religion in Chicago (2014) According to a 2014 study by thePew Research Center,Christianityis the most prevalently practiced religion in Chicago (71%),with the city being the fourth-most religious metropolis in the United States afterDallas,AtlantaandHouston.Roman CatholicismandProtestantismare the largest branches (34% and 35% respectively), followed byEastern OrthodoxyandJehovah's Witnesseswith 1% each.Chicago also has a sizable non-Christian population. Non-Christian groups includeIrreligious(22%),Judaism(3%),Islam(2%),Buddhism(1%) andHinduism(1%). Chicago is the headquarters of several religious denominations, including theEvangelical Covenant Churchand theEvangelical Lutheran Church in America. It is the seat of severaldioceses. TheFourth\",\n \"TheFourth Presbyterian Churchis one of the largestPresbyteriancongregations in the United States based on memberships.Since the 20th century Chicago has also been the headquarters of theAssyrian Church of the East.In 2014 theCatholic Churchwas the largest individual Christian denomination (34%), with theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicagobeing the largest Catholic jurisdiction.Evangelical Protestantismform the largest theological Protestant branch (16%), followed byMainline Protestants(11%), and historicallyBlack churches(8%). Among denominational Protestant branches,Baptistsformed the largest group in Chicago (10%); followed by Nondenominational (5%);Lutherans(4%); andPentecostals(3%). Non-Christian faiths accounted for 7% of the religious population in 2014.Judaismhas at least 261,000 adherents which is 3% of the population, making it the second largest religion.A 2020 study estimated the total Jewish population of the Chicago metropolitan area, both religious and irreligious, at 319,500. The first\",\n \"319,500. The first twoParliament of the World's Religionsin 1893 and 1993 were held in Chicago.Many international religious leaders have visited Chicago, includingMother Teresa, theDalai LamaandPope John Paul IIin 1979. Economy Chicago has the third-largestgross metropolitan productin the United States—about $670.5 billion according to September 2017 estimates.The city has also been rated as having the most balanced economy in the United States, due to its high level of diversification.The Chicago metropolitan area has the third-largest science and engineering work force of any metropolitan area in the nation.Chicago was the base of commercial operations for industrialistsJohn Crerar,John Whitfield Bunn,Richard Teller Crane,Marshall Field,John Farwell,Julius Rosenwald, and many other commercial visionaries who laid the foundation for Midwestern and global industry. Chicago is a major world financial center, with the second-largest central business district in the United States, followingMidtown Manhattan.The\",\n \"Manhattan.The city is the seat of theFederal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Bank's Seventh District. The city has major financial andfutures exchanges, including theChicago Stock Exchange, theChicago Board Options Exchange(CBOE), and theChicago Mercantile Exchange(the \\\"Merc\\\"), which is owned, along with theChicago Board of Trade(CBOT), by Chicago'sCME Group. In 2017, Chicago exchanges traded 4.7 billion in derivatives.Chase Bankhas its commercial and retail banking headquarters in Chicago'sChase Tower.Academically, Chicago has been influential through theChicago school of economics, which fielded 12Nobel Prizewinners. The city and its surrounding metropolitan area contain the third-largest labor pool in the United States with about 4.63 million workers.Illinois is home to 66Fortune1000companies, including those in Chicago.The city of Chicago also hosts 12FortuneGlobal 500 companies and 17Financial Times500 companies. The city claims threeDow 30companies:aerospacegiantBoeing, which moved its headquarters\",\n \"its headquarters fromSeattleto the Chicago Loop in 2001;McDonald's; andWalgreens Boots Alliance.For six consecutive years from 2013 through 2018, Chicago was ranked the nation's top metropolitan area for corporate relocations.However, threeFortune500companies left Chicago in 2022, leaving the city with 35, still second to New York City. Manufacturing, printing, publishing, and food processing also play major roles in the city's economy. Several medical products and services companies are headquartered in the Chicago area, includingBaxter International,Boeing,Abbott Laboratories, and the Healthcare division ofGeneral Electric. Prominent food companies based in Chicago include the world headquarters ofConagra,Ferrara Candy Company,Kraft Heinz,McDonald's,Mondelez International, andQuaker Oats.Chicago has been a hub of theretailsector since its early development, withMontgomery Ward,Sears, andMarshall Field's. Today the Chicago metropolitan area is the headquarters of several retailers,\",\n \"several retailers, includingWalgreens,Sears,Ace Hardware,Claire's,ULTA Beauty, andCrate & Barrel. Late in the 19th century, Chicago was part of thebicycle craze, with the Western Wheel Company, which introducedstampingto the production process and significantly reduced costs,while early in the 20th century, the city was part of the automobile revolution, hosting theBrass Era carbuilder Bugmobile, which was founded there in 1907.Chicago was also the site of theSchwinn Bicycle Company. Chicago is a major world convention destination. The city's main convention center is McCormick Place. With its four interconnected buildings, it is the largest convention center in the nation and third-largest in the world.Chicago also ranks third in the U.S. (behindLas VegasandOrlando) in number of conventions hosted annually. Chicago's minimum wage for non-tipped employees is one of the highest in the nation and reached $15 in 2021. Culture and contemporary life The city's waterfront location and nightlife attracts residents\",\n \"attracts residents and tourists alike. Over a third of the city population is concentrated in the lakefront neighborhoods fromRogers Parkin the north toSouth Shorein the south.The city has many upscale dining establishments as well as many ethnic restaurant districts. These districts include theMexican Americanneighborhoods, such asPilsenalong 18th street, andLa Villitaalong 26th Street; thePuerto Ricanenclave ofPaseo Boricuain theHumboldt Parkneighborhood;Greektown, along SouthHalsted Street, immediately west of downtown;Little Italy, along Taylor Street;ChinatowninArmour Square;Polish PatchesinWest Town;Little SeoulinAlbany Parkaround Lawrence Avenue;Little VietnamnearBroadwayin Uptown; and theDesiarea, alongDevon AvenueinWest Ridge. Downtown is the center of Chicago's financial, cultural, governmental, and commercial institutions and the site of Grant Park and many of the city's skyscrapers. Many of the city's financial institutions, such as the CBOT and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, are located\",\n \"are located within a section of downtown called \\\"The Loop\\\", which is an eight-block by five-block area of city streets that is encircled by elevated rail tracks. The term \\\"The Loop\\\" is largely used by locals to refer to the entire downtown area as well. The central area includes theNear North Side, theNear South Side, and theNear West Side, as well as the Loop. These areas contribute famousskyscrapers, abundant restaurants,shopping,museums,Soldier Field, convention facilities,parkland, andbeaches. Lincoln Park contains theLincoln Park Zooand theLincoln Park Conservatory. TheRiver North Gallery Districtfeatures the nation's largest concentration of contemporary art galleries outside of New York City.Lake Viewis home toBoystown, the city's largeLGBTnightlife and culture center. TheChicago Pride Parade, held the last Sunday in June, is one of the world's largest with over a million people in attendance.NorthHalsted Streetis the main thoroughfare of Boystown. The South Side neighborhood ofHyde Parkis the home of\",\n \"Parkis the home of former U.S. PresidentBarack Obama. It also contains the University of Chicago, ranked one of the world's top ten universities,and theMuseum of Science and Industry. The 6-mile (9.7 km) longBurnham Parkstretches along the waterfront of the South Side. Two of the city's largest parks are also located on this side of the city: Jackson Park, bordering the waterfront, hosted the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and is the site of the aforementioned museum; and slightly west sitsWashington Park. The two parks themselves are connected by a wide strip of parkland called theMidway Plaisance, running adjacent to the University of Chicago. The South Side hosts one of the city's largest parades, the annual African AmericanBud Billiken Parade and Picnic, which travels throughBronzevilleto Washington Park.Ford Motor Companyhas anautomobile assembly planton the South Side inHegewisch, and most of the facilities of the Port of Chicago are also on the South Side. The West Side holds theGarfield Park\",\n \"theGarfield Park Conservatory, one of the largest collections of tropical plants in any U.S. city. Prominent Latino cultural attractions found here includeHumboldt Park'sInstitute of Puerto Rican Arts and Cultureand the annual Puerto Rican People's Parade, as well as theNational Museum of Mexican ArtandSt. Adalbert's ChurchinPilsen. The Near West Side holds theUniversity of Illinois at Chicagoand was once home toOprah Winfrey'sHarpo Studios, the site of which has been rebuilt as the global headquarters of McDonald's. The city's distinctive accent, made famous by its use in classic films likeThe Blues Brothersand television programs like theSaturday Night Liveskit \\\"Bill Swerski's Superfans\\\", is an advanced form ofInland Northern American English. This dialect can also be found in other cities bordering the Great Lakes such asCleveland,Milwaukee,Detroit, andRochester, New York, and most prominently features a rearrangement of certain vowel sounds, such as theshort 'a'sound as in \\\"cat\\\", which can sound more\",\n \"can sound more like \\\"kyet\\\" to outsiders. The accent remains well associated with the city. Entertainment and the arts Renowned Chicago theater companies include theGoodman Theatrein the Loop; theSteppenwolf Theatre CompanyandVictory Gardens Theaterin Lincoln Park; and theChicago Shakespeare Theaterat Navy Pier.Broadway In Chicagooffers Broadway-style entertainment at five theaters: theNederlander Theatre,CIBC Theatre,Cadillac Palace Theatre,Auditorium BuildingofRoosevelt University, andBroadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place.Polish languageproductions forChicago's large Polish speaking populationcan be seen at the historicGateway TheatreinJefferson Park. Since 1968, theJoseph Jefferson Awardsare given annually to acknowledge excellence in theater in the Chicago area. Chicago's theater community spawned modernimprovisational theater, and includes the prominent groupsThe Second CityandI.O.(formerly ImprovOlympic). TheChicago Symphony Orchestra(CSO) performs atSymphony Center, and is recognized as one of the\",\n \"as one of the best orchestras in the world.Also performing regularly atSymphony Centeris theChicago Sinfonietta, a more diverse and multicultural counterpart to the CSO. In the summer, many outdoor concerts are given in Grant Park andMillennium Park.Ravinia Festival, located 25 miles (40 km) north of Chicago, is the summer home of the CSO, and is a favorite destination for many Chicagoans. TheCivic Opera Houseis home to theLyric Opera of Chicago.TheLithuanian Opera Company of Chicagowas founded byLithuanian Chicagoansin 1956,and presents operas inLithuanian. TheJoffrey BalletandChicago Festival Balletperform in various venues, including theHarris TheaterinMillennium Park. Chicago has several other contemporary and jazz dance troupes, such as theHubbard Street Dance ChicagoandChicago Dance Crash. Other live-music genre which are part of the city's cultural heritage includeChicago blues,Chicago soul,jazz, andgospel. The city is the birthplace ofhouse music(a popular form of electronic dance music)\",\n \"dance music) andindustrial music, and is the site of an influentialhip hop scene. In the 1980s and 90s, the city was the global center for house and industrial music, two forms of music created in Chicago, as well as being popular foralternative rock,punk, andnew wave. The city has been a center forraveculture, since the 1980s. A flourishing independent rock music culture brought forth Chicagoindie.Annual festivalsfeature various acts, such asLollapaloozaand thePitchfork Music Festival.Lollapalooza originated in Chicago in 1991 and at first travelled to many cities, but as of 2005 its home has been Chicago.A 2007 report on the Chicago music industry by theUniversity of Chicago Cultural Policy Centerranked Chicago third among metropolitan U.S. areas in \\\"size of music industry\\\" and fourth among all U.S. cities in \\\"number of concerts and performances\\\". Chicago has a distinctivefine arttradition. For much of the twentieth century, it nurtured a strong style of figurativesurrealism, as in the works ofIvan\",\n \"in the works ofIvan AlbrightandEd Paschke. In 1968 and 1969, members of theChicago Imagists, such asRoger Brown,Leon Golub,Robert Lostutter,Jim Nutt, andBarbara Rossiproduced bizarre representational paintings.Henry Dargeris one of the most celebrated figures ofoutsider art. Tourism In 2014, Chicago attracted 50.17 million domestic leisure travelers, 11.09 million domestic business travelers and 1.308 million overseas visitors.These visitors contributed more thanUS$13.7billion to Chicago's economy.Upscale shopping along the Magnificent Mile and State Street, thousands of restaurants, as well as Chicago's eminent architecture, continue to draw tourists. The city is the United States' third-largestconventiondestination. A 2017 study byWalk Scoreranked Chicago the sixth-most walkable of fifty largest cities in the United States.Most conventions are held at McCormick Place, just south ofSoldier Field. Navy Pier, located just east ofStreeterville, is 3,000 ft (910 m) long and houses retail stores, restaurants,\",\n \"restaurants, museums, exhibition halls and auditoriums. Chicago was the first city in the world to ever erect a Ferris wheel. The Willis Tower (formerly named Sears Tower) is a popular destination for tourists. Museums Among the city's museums are theAdler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, theField Museum of Natural History, and theShedd Aquarium. TheMuseum Campusjoins the southern section of Grant Park, which includes the renowned Art Institute of Chicago. Buckingham Fountain anchors the downtown park along the lakefront. The University of Chicago'sInstitute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, West Asia & North Africahas an extensive collection ofancient EgyptianandNear Easternarchaeological artifacts. Other museums and galleries in Chicago include theChicago History Museum, theDriehaus Museum, theDuSable Museum of African American History, theMuseum of Contemporary Art, thePeggy Notebaert Nature Museum, thePolish Museum of America, theMuseum of Broadcast Communications, theChicago Architecture Foundation, and\",\n \"Foundation, and theMuseum of Science and Industry. Cuisine Chicago lays claim to a large number of regional specialties that reflect the city's ethnic and working-class roots. Included among these are its nationally renowneddeep-dish pizza; this style is said to have originated atPizzeria Uno.The Chicago-style thin crust is also popular in the city.Certain Chicago pizza favorites includeLou Malnati'sandGiordano's. TheChicago-style hot dog, typically an all-beef hot dog, is loaded with an array of toppings that often includes pickle relish,yellow mustard, pickledsport peppers,tomatowedges,dill picklespear and topped off withcelery salton apoppy seedbun.Enthusiasts of the Chicago-style hot dog frown upon the use ofketchupas a garnish, but may prefer to addgiardiniera. A distinctly Chicago sandwich, theItalian beefsandwich is thinly sliced beef simmered inau jusand served on an Italian roll with sweet peppers or spicy giardiniera. A popular modification is the Combo—an Italian beef sandwich with the addition of\",\n \"the addition of an Italian sausage. TheMaxwell Street Polishis a grilled or deep-friedkielbasa—on a hot dog roll, topped with grilled onions, yellow mustard, and hot sport peppers. Chicken Vesuviois roasted bone-in chicken cooked in oil and garlic next to garlicky oven-roasted potato wedges and a sprinkling of green peas. ThePuerto Rican-influencedjibaritois a sandwich made with flattened, fried green plantains instead of bread. Themother-in-lawis atamaletopped with chili and served on a hot dog bun.The tradition of serving theGreekdishsaganakiwhile aflame has its origins in Chicago's Greek community.The appetizer, which consists of a square of fried cheese, is doused withMetaxaandflambéedtable-side.Chicago-style barbecuefeatures hardwood smokedrib tipsandhot linkswhich were traditionally cooked in an aquarium smoker, a Chicago invention.Annual festivalsfeature various Chicago signature dishes, such asTaste of Chicagoand the Chicago Food Truck Festival. One of the world's most decorated restaurants and a\",\n \"restaurants and a recipient of threeMichelinstars,Alineais located in Chicago. Well-known chefs who have had restaurants in Chicago include:Charlie Trotter,Rick Tramonto,Grant Achatz, andRick Bayless. In 2003,Robb Reportnamed Chicago the country's \\\"most exceptional dining destination\\\". Literature Chicago literature finds its roots in the city's tradition of lucid, direct journalism, lending to a strong tradition ofsocial realism. In theEncyclopedia of Chicago,Northwestern UniversityProfessor Bill Savage describes Chicago fiction as prose which tries to \\\"capture the essence of the city, its spaces and its people.\\\" The challenge for early writers was that Chicago was a frontier outpost that transformed into a global metropolis in the span of two generations. Narrative fiction of that time, much of it in the style of \\\"high-flown romance\\\" and \\\"genteel realism\\\", needed a new approach to describe the urban social, political, and economic conditions of Chicago.Nonetheless, Chicagoans worked hard to create a\",\n \"hard to create a literary tradition that would stand the test of time,and create a \\\"city of feeling\\\" out of concrete, steel, vast lake, and open prairie.Much notable Chicago fiction focuses on the city itself, with social criticism keeping exultation in check. At least three short periods in thehistory of Chicagohave had a lasting influence onAmerican literature.These include from the time of the Great Chicago Fire to about 1900, what became known as the Chicago Literary Renaissance in the 1910s and early 1920s, and the period of theGreat Depressionthrough the 1940s. What would become the influentialPoetrymagazine was founded in 1912 byHarriet Monroe, who was working as anartcriticfor theChicago Tribune. The magazine discovered such poets asGwendolyn Brooks,James Merrill, andJohn Ashbery.T. S. Eliot's first professionally published poem, \\\"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock\\\", was first published byPoetry. Contributors have includedEzra Pound,William Butler Yeats,William Carlos Williams,Langston Hughes,\",\n \"Hughes, andCarl Sandburg, among others. The magazine was instrumental in launching theImagistandObjectivistpoetic movements. From the 1950s through 1970s, American poetry continued to evolve in Chicago.In the 1980s, a modern form of poetry performance began in Chicago, thepoetry slam. Sports The city has twoMajor League Baseball(MLB) teams: theChicago Cubsof the National League play in Wrigley Field on the North Side; and theChicago White Soxof the American League play in Guaranteed Rate Field on the South Side. The two teams have faced each other in a World Series only once, in 1906. The Cubs are the oldest Major League Baseball team to have never changed their city;they have played in Chicago since 1871.They had the dubious honor of having the longest championship drought in American professional sports, failing to win a World Series between 1908 and 2016. The White Sox have played on the South Side continuously since 1901. They have won three World Series titles (1906, 1917, 2005) and six American League\",\n \"six American League pennants, including the first in 1901. TheChicago Bears, one of the last two remaining charter members of theNational Football League(NFL), have won nineNFL Championships, including the 1985Super Bowl XX. The Bears play their home games at Soldier Field. TheChicago Bullsof theNational Basketball Association(NBA) is one of the most recognized basketball teams in the world.During the 1990s, withMichael Jordanleading them, the Bulls won six NBA championships in eight seasons. TheChicago Blackhawksof theNational Hockey League(NHL) began play in 1926, and are one of the \\\"Original Six\\\" teams of the NHL. The Blackhawks have won sixStanley Cups, including in 2010, 2013, and2015. Both the Bulls and the Blackhawks play at theUnited Center. Chicago Fire FCis a member ofMajor League Soccer(MLS) and plays at Soldier Field. The Fire have won one league title and fourU.S. Open Cups, since their founding in 1997. In 1994, the United States hosted a successfulFIFA World Cupwith games played at Soldier\",\n \"played at Soldier Field. TheChicago Red Starsare a team in theNational Women's Soccer League(NWSL). They previously played inWomen's Professional Soccer(WPS), of which they were a founding member, before joining the NWSL in 2013. They play atSeatGeek StadiuminBridgeview, Illinois. TheChicago Skyis a professional basketball team playing in theWomen's National Basketball Association(WNBA). They play home games at theWintrust Arena. The team was founded before the 2006 WNBA season began. TheChicago Marathonhas been held each year since 1977 except for 1987, when a half marathon was run in its place. The Chicago Marathon is one of sixWorld Marathon Majors. Five area colleges play inDivision Iconferences: two from major conferences—theDePaul Blue Demons(Big East Conference) and theNorthwestern Wildcats(Big Ten Conference)—and three from other D1 conferences—theChicago State Cougars(Northeast Conference); theLoyola Ramblers(Atlantic 10 Conference); and theUIC Flames(Missouri Valley Conference). Chicago has also\",\n \"Chicago has also entered intoesportswith the creation of theOpTic Chicago, a professionalCall of Dutyteam that participates within theCDL. Parks and greenspace When Chicago was incorporated in 1837, it chose the mottoUrbs in Horto, aLatinphrase which means \\\"City in a Garden\\\". Today, theChicago Park Districtconsists of more than 570 parks with over 8,000 acres (3,200 ha) ofmunicipal parkland. There are 31 sandbeaches, a plethora of museums, two world-class conservatories, and 50 nature areas.Lincoln Park, the largest of the city's parks, covers 1,200 acres (490 ha) and has over 20 million visitors each year, making it third in the number of visitors afterCentral ParkinNew York City, and theNational Mall and Memorial ParksinWashington, D.C. There is a historicboulevard system,a network of wide, tree-linedboulevardswhich connect a number of Chicagoparks.The boulevards and the parks were authorized by the Illinois legislature in 1869.A number ofChicago neighborhoodsemerged along these roadways in the 19th\",\n \"in the 19th century.The building of the boulevard system continued intermittently until 1942. It includes nineteen boulevards, eight parks, and sixsquares, along twenty-six miles of interconnected streets.TheChicago Park Boulevard System Historic Districtwas listed on theNational Register of Historic Placesin 2018. With berths for more than 6,000 boats, the Chicago Park District operates the nation's largest municipal harbor system.In addition to ongoing beautification and renewal projects for the existing parks, a number of new parks have been added in recent years, such as thePing Tom Memorial Parkin Chinatown,DuSable Parkon the Near North Side, and most notably, Millennium Park, which is in the northwestern corner of one of Chicago's oldest parks, Grant Park in the Chicago Loop. The wealth of greenspace afforded by Chicago's parks is further augmented by theCook County Forest Preserves, a network of open spaces containing forest,prairie,wetland, streams, and lakes that are set aside as natural areas which\",\n \"natural areas which lie along the city's outskirts,including both theChicago Botanic GardeninGlencoeand theBrookfield ZooinBrookfield.Washington Park is also one of the city's biggest parks; covering nearly 400 acres (160 ha). The park is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places listings in South Side Chicago. Law and government Government The government of the City of Chicago is divided into executive andlegislativebranches. Themayor of Chicagois the chief executive, elected by general election for a term of four years, with no term limits. The current mayor isBrandon Johnson. The mayor appoints commissioners and other officials who oversee the various departments. As well as the mayor, Chicago's clerk and treasurer are also elected citywide. TheCity Councilis the legislative branch and is made up of 50 alderpersons, one elected from eachwardin the city.The council takes official action through the passage ofordinancesand resolutions and approves the city budget. TheChicago Police\",\n \"TheChicago Police Departmentprovides law enforcement and theChicago Fire Departmentprovides fire suppression and emergency medical services for the city and its residents. Civil and criminal law cases are heard in theCook County Circuit Courtof the State of Illinois court system, or in theNorthern District of Illinois, in the federal system. In the state court, the public prosecutor is the Illinoisstate's attorney; in the Federal court it is the United Statesattorney. Politics During much of the last half of the 19th century, Chicago's politics were dominated by a growingDemocratic Partyorganization. During the 1880s and 1890s, Chicago had a powerful radical tradition with large and highly organizedsocialist,anarchistandlabor organizations.For much of the 20th century, Chicago has been among the largest and most reliable Democratic strongholds in the United States; with Chicago's Democratic vote the state of Illinois has been \\\"solid blue\\\" inpresidential electionssince 1992. Even before then, it was not\",\n \"then, it was not unheard of for Republican presidential candidates to win handily in downstate Illinois, only to lose statewide due to large Democratic margins in Chicago. The citizens of Chicago have not elected aRepublicanmayor since 1927, whenWilliam Thompsonwas voted into office. The strength of the party in the city is partly a consequence of Illinois state politics, where the Republicans have come to represent rural and farm concerns while the Democrats support urban issues such as Chicago's public school funding. Chicago contains less than 25% of the state's population, but it is split between eight of Illinois' 17districtsin theUnited States House of Representatives. All eight of the city's representatives are Democrats; only two Republicans have represented a significant portion of the city since 1973, for one term each:Robert P. Hanrahanfrom 1973 to 1975, andMichael Patrick Flanaganfrom 1995 to 1997. Machine politicspersisted in Chicago after the decline of similar machines in other large U.S.\",\n \"in other large U.S. cities.During much of that time, the city administration found opposition mainly from a liberal \\\"independent\\\" faction of the Democratic Party. The independents finally gained control of city government in 1983 with the election ofHarold Washington(in office 1983–1987). From 1989 until May 16, 2011, Chicago was under the leadership of its longest-serving mayor,Richard M. Daley, the son of Richard J. Daley. Because of the dominance of the Democratic Party in Chicago, the Democraticprimaryvote held in the spring is generally more significant than the general elections in November for U.S. House and Illinois State seats. The aldermanic, mayoral, and other city offices are filled through nonpartisan elections with runoffs as needed. The city is home of former United States PresidentBarack Obamaand First LadyMichelle Obama; Barack Obama was formerly a state legislator representing Chicago and later a U.S. senator. The Obamas' residence is located near the University of Chicago inKenwoodon the\",\n \"inKenwoodon the city's south side. Crime Chicago's crime rate in 2020 was 3,926 per 100,000 people.Chicago experienced major rises inviolent crimein the 1920s, in the late 1960s, and in the 2020s.Chicago's biggestcriminal justicechallenges have changed little over the last 50 years, and statistically reside with homicide,armed robbery, gang violence, andaggravated battery. Chicago has a higher murder rate than the larger cities of New York and Los Angeles. However, while it has a large absolute number of crimes due to its size, Chicago is not among the top-25 most violent cities in the United States. Murder rates in Chicago vary greatly depending on the neighborhood in question.The neighborhoods ofEnglewoodon the South Side, andAustinon the West side, for example, have homicide rates that are ten times higher than other parts of the city.Chicago has an estimated population of over 100,000 active gang members from nearly 60 factions.According to reports in 2013, \\\"most of Chicago's violent crime comes from\",\n \"crime comes from gangs trying to maintain control of drug-selling territories,\\\"and is specifically related to the activities of theSinaloa Cartel, which is active in several American cities.Violent crime rates vary significantly by area of the city, with more economically developed areas having low rates, but other sections have much higher rates of crime.In 2013, the violent crime rate was 910 per 100,000 people;the murder rate was 10.4 per 100,000 – while high crime districts saw 38.9 murders, low crime districts saw 2.5 murders per 100,000. Chicago has a long history of publiccorruptionthat regularly draws the attention of federal law enforcement and federal prosecutors.From 2012 to 2019, 33 Chicago alderpersons were convicted on corruption charges, roughly one third of those elected in the time period. A report from the Office of the Legislative Inspector General noted that over half of Chicago's elected alderpersons took illegal campaign contributions in 2013.Most corruption cases in Chicago are\",\n \"in Chicago are prosecuted by theU.S. Attorney's office, as legaljurisdictionmakes most offenses punishable as a federal crime. Education Schools and libraries Chicago Public Schools(CPS) is the governing body of theschool districtthat contains over 600 public elementary and high schools citywide, including several selective-admission magnet schools. There are eleven selective enrollment high schools in the Chicago Public Schools, designed to meet the needs of Chicago's most academically advanced students. These schools offer a rigorous curriculum with mainly honors andAdvanced Placement(AP) courses.Walter Payton College Prep High Schoolis ranked number one in the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois. Chicago high school rankings are determined by the average test scores on state achievement tests.The district, with an enrollment exceeding 400,545 students (2013–2014 20th Day Enrollment), is the third-largest in the U.S.On September 10, 2012, teachers for the Chicago Teachers Union went on strike for the\",\n \"on strike for the first time since 1987 over pay, resources, and other issues.According to data compiled in 2014, Chicago's \\\"choice system\\\", where students who test or apply and may attend one of a number of public high schools (there are about 130), sorts students of different achievement levels into different schools (high performing, middle performing, and low performing schools). Chicago has a network ofLutheran schools,and several private schools are run by other denominations and faiths, such as theIda Crown Jewish AcademyinWest Ridge. TheRoman Catholic Archdiocese of ChicagooperatesCatholic schools, that includeJesuit preparatory schoolsand others. A number of private schools are completely secular. There are also the privateChicago Academy for the Arts, a high school focused on six different categories of the arts and the publicChicago High School for the Arts, a high school focused on five categories (visual arts, theatre, musical theatre, dance, and music) of the arts. TheChicago Public\",\n \"TheChicago Public Librarysystem operates three regional libraries and 77 neighborhood branches, including the central library. Colleges and universities Since the 1850s, Chicago has been a world center of higher education and research with several universities. These institutions consistently rank among the top \\\"National Universities\\\" in the United States, as determined byU.S. News & World Report.Highly regarded universities in Chicago and the surrounding area are the University of Chicago; Northwestern University;Illinois Institute of Technology;Loyola University Chicago;DePaul University;Columbia College Chicagoand theUniversity of Illinois Chicago. Other notable schools include:Chicago State University; theSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago;East–West University;National Louis University;North Park University;Northeastern Illinois University;Robert Morris University Illinois;Roosevelt University;Saint Xavier University;Rush University; andShimer College. William Rainey Harper, the first president of\",\n \"first president of the University of Chicago, was instrumental in the creation of thejunior collegeconcept, establishing nearbyJoliet Junior Collegeas the first in the nation in 1901.His legacy continues with the multiplecommunity collegesin the Chicago proper, including the sevenCity Colleges of Chicago:Richard J. Daley College,Kennedy–King College,Malcolm X College,Olive–Harvey College,Truman College,Harold Washington College, andWilbur Wright College, in addition to the privately heldMacCormac College. Chicago also has a high concentration of post-baccalaureate institutions, graduate schools, seminaries, and theological schools, such as theAdler School of Professional Psychology,The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, theErikson Institute,The Institute for Clinical Social Work, theLutheran School of Theology at Chicago, theCatholic Theological Union, theMoody Bible Institute, and theUniversity of Chicago Divinity School. Media Television The Chicago metropolitan area is a major media hub and the\",\n \"media hub and the third-largest media market in the United States, after New York City and Los Angeles.Each of the big fiveU.S. television networks,NBC,ABC,CBS,FoxandThe CW, directly owns and operates ahigh-definition televisionstation in Chicago (WMAQ5,WLS7,WBBM2,WFLD32 andWGN-TV9, respectively). WGN is owned by the CW through a majority stake held in the network by theNexstar Media Group, which acquired it from its founding ownerTribune Broadcastingin 2019. WGN was once carried, with some programming differences, as \\\"WGN America\\\" oncable and satellite TVnationwide and in parts of theCaribbean. WGN America eventually becameNewsNationin 2021. Chicago has also been the home of several prominent talk shows, includingThe Oprah Winfrey Show,Steve Harvey Show,The Rosie Show,The Jerry Springer Show,The Phil Donahue Show,The Jenny Jones Show, and more. The city also has onePBSmember station (its second:WYCC20, removed its affiliation with PBS in 2017):WTTW11, producer of shows such asSneak Previews,The Frugal\",\n \"Previews,The Frugal Gourmet,Lamb Chop's Play-AlongandThe McLaughlin Group. As of 2018,Windy City Liveis Chicago's only daytime talk show, which is hosted by Val Warner andRyan Chiaveriniat ABC7 Studios with a live weekday audience. Since 1999,Judge Mathisalso films his syndicated arbitration-based realitycourt showat theNBC Tower. Beginning in January 2019,Newsybegan producing 12 of its 14 hours of live news programming per day from its new facility in Chicago. Television stations Most of Chicago's television stations are owned and operated by the big television network companies. They are: Newspapers Two major daily newspapers are published in Chicago: theChicago Tribuneand theChicago Sun-Times, with the Tribune having the larger circulation. There are also several regional and special-interest newspapers and magazines, such asChicago, theDziennik Związkowy(Polish Daily News),Draugas(the Lithuanian daily newspaper), theChicago Reader, theSouthtownStar, theChicago Defender, theDaily\",\n \"Defender, theDaily Herald,Newcity,StreetWiseand theWindy City Times. The entertainment and cultural magazineTime Out ChicagoandGRABmagazine are also published in the city, as well as local music magazineChicago Innerview. In addition, Chicago is the home of satirical national news outlet,The Onion, as well as its sister pop-culture publication,The A.V. Club. Movies and filming Radio Chicago has five50,000 watt AM radio stations: theAudacy-ownedWBBMandWSCR; theTribune Broadcasting-ownedWGN; theCumulus Media-ownedWLS; and theESPN Radio-ownedWMVP. Chicago is also home to a number of national radio shows, includingBeyond the BeltwaywithBruce DuMonton Sunday evenings. Chicago Public Radioproduces nationally aired programs such asPRI'sThis American LifeandNPR'sWait Wait...Don't Tell Me!. Infrastructure Transportation Chicago is a major transportation hub in the United States. It is an important component in global distribution, as it is the third-largest inter-modal port in the world afterHong KongandSingapore.\",\n \"KongandSingapore. The city of Chicago has a higher than average percentage of households without a car. In 2015, 26.5 percent of Chicago households were without a car, and increased slightly to 27.5 percent in 2016. The national average was 8.7 percent in 2016. Chicago averaged 1.12 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8. Parking Due to Chicago'sWheel Tax,residents of Chicago who own a vehicle are required to purchase a Chicago City Vehicle Sticker.In established Residential Parking Zones, only local residents can purchase Zone-specific parking stickers for themselves and guests. Chicago since 2009 has relinquished rights to itspublicstreet parking.In 2008, as Chicago struggled to close a growing budget deficit, the city agreed to a 75-year, $1.16 billion deal to lease itsparking metersystem to an operating company created byMorgan Stanley, calledChicago Parking Meters LLC. Daley said the \\\"agreement is very good news for the taxpayers of Chicago because it will provide more than $1\",\n \"more than $1 billion in net proceeds that can be used during this very difficult economy.\\\" The rights of the parking ticket lease end in 2081, and since 2022 have already recouped over $1.5 billion in revenue forChicago Parking Meters LLCinvestors. Expressways Seven mainline and four auxiliaryinterstate highways(55,57,65(only in Indiana),80(also inIndiana),88,90(also inIndiana),94(also inIndiana),190,290,294, and355) run through Chicago and its suburbs. Segments that link to the city center are named after influential politicians, with three of them named after former U.S. Presidents (Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Reagan) and one named after two-time Democratic candidateAdlai Stevenson. TheKennedyandDan RyanExpressways are the busiest state maintained routes in the entire state of Illinois. Transit systems TheRegional Transportation Authority(RTA) coordinates the operation of the three service boards: CTA, Metra, and Pace. Greyhound Linesprovides inter-city bus service to and from the city at theChicago Bus\",\n \"at theChicago Bus Station, and Chicago is also the hub for the Midwest network ofMegabus (North America). Passenger rail Amtraklong distance andcommuter railservices originate fromUnion Station.Chicago is one of the largest hubs of passenger rail service in the nation.The services terminate in the San Francisco area, Washington, D.C., New York City, New Orleans,Portland,Seattle,Milwaukee,Quincy,St. Louis,Carbondale, Boston,Grand Rapids,Port Huron,Pontiac, Los Angeles, andSan Antonio. Future service will terminate atMoline. An attempt was made in the early 20th century to link Chicago with New York City via theChicago – New York Electric Air Line Railroad. Parts of this were built, but it was never completed. Bicycle and scooter sharing systems In July 2013, thebicycle-sharing systemDivvywas launched with 750 bikes and 75 docking stationsIt is operated byLyftfor theChicago Department of Transportation.As of July 2019, Divvy operated 5800 bicycles at 608 stations, covering almost all of the city,\",\n \"all of the city, excludingPullman, Rosedale,Beverly,Belmont CraginandEdison Park. In May 2019, The City of Chicago announced its Chicago's Electric Shared Scooter Pilot Program, scheduled to run from June 15 to October 15.The program started on June 15 with 10 different scooter companies, including scooter sharing market leadersBird,Jump,LimeandLyft.Each company was allowed to bring 250electric scooters, although both Bird and Lime claimed that they experienced a higher demand for their scooters.The program ended on October 15, with nearly 800,000 rides taken. Freight rail Chicago is the largest hub in the railroad industry.All fiveClass I railroadsmeet in Chicago. As of 2002, severe freight train congestion caused trains to take as long to get through the Chicago region as it took to get there from the West Coast of the country (about 2 days).According to U.S. Department of Transportation, the volume of imported and exported goods transported via rail to, from, or through Chicago is forecast to increase\",\n \"to increase nearly 150 percent between 2010 and 2040.CREATE, theChicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program, comprises about 70 programs, including crossovers, overpasses and underpasses, that intend to significantly improve the speed of freight movements in the Chicago area. Airports Chicago is served byO'Hare International Airport, the world's busiest airport measured by airline operations,on the far Northwest Side, andMidway International Airporton the Southwest Side. In 2005, O'Hare was the world's busiest airport by aircraft movements and the second-busiest by total passenger traffic.Both O'Hare and Midway are owned and operated by the City of Chicago.Gary/Chicago International AirportandChicago Rockford International Airport, located inGary, IndianaandRockford, Illinois, respectively, can serve as alternative Chicago area airports, however they do not offer as many commercial flights as O'Hare and Midway. In recent years the state of Illinois has been leaning towardsbuilding an\",\n \"towardsbuilding an entirely new airportin the Illinois suburbs of Chicago.The City of Chicago is the world headquarters forUnited Airlines, the world's third-largest airline. Port authority The Port of Chicago consists of several major port facilities within the city of Chicago operated by the Illinois International Port District (formerly known as the Chicago Regional Port District). The central element of the Port District, Calumet Harbor, is maintained by theU.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Utilities Electricity for most ofnorthern Illinoisis provided byCommonwealth Edison, also known as ComEd. Their service territory bordersIroquois Countyto the south, theWisconsinborder to the north, theIowaborder to the west and theIndianaborder to the east. In northern Illinois, ComEd (a division ofExelon) operates the greatest number of nuclear generating plants in any U.S. state. Because of this, ComEd reports indicate that Chicago receives about 75% of its electricity from nuclear power. Recently, the city began\",\n \"the city began installing wind turbines on government buildings to promote renewable energy. Natural gas is provided by Peoples Gas, a subsidiary ofIntegrys Energy Group, which is headquartered in Chicago. Domestic and industrial waste was once incinerated but it is nowlandfilled, mainly in theCalumet area. From 1995 to 2008, the city had ablue bagprogram to divert recyclable refuse from landfills.Because of low participation in the blue bag programs, the city began a pilot program for blue bin recycling like other cities. This proved successful and blue bins were rolled out across the city. Health systems TheIllinois Medical Districtis on the Near West Side. It includesRush University Medical Center, ranked as the second best hospital in the Chicago metropolitan area byU.S. News & World Reportfor 2014–16, theUniversity of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago, Jesse Brown VA Hospital, andJohn H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, one of the busiest trauma centers in the nation. Two of the country's premier\",\n \"country's premier academic medical centers reside in Chicago, includingNorthwestern Memorial Hospitaland theUniversity of Chicago Medical Center. The Chicago campus of Northwestern University includes theFeinberg School of Medicine; Northwestern Memorial Hospital, which is ranked as the best hospital in the Chicago metropolitan area byU.S. News & World Reportfor 2017–18;theShirley Ryan AbilityLab(formerly named the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago), which is ranked the best U.S. rehabilitation hospital byU.S. News & World Report;the newPrentice Women's Hospital; and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. TheUniversity of Illinois College of Medicineat UIC is the second-largest medical school in the United States (2,600 students, including those at campuses in Peoria, Rockford andUrbana–Champaign). In addition, theChicago Medical Schooland Loyola University Chicago'sStritch School of Medicineare located in the suburbs ofNorth ChicagoandMaywood, respectively. TheMidwestern UniversityChicago\",\n \"UniversityChicago College ofOsteopathic Medicineis inDowners Grove. TheAmerican Medical Association,Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education,Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education,American Osteopathic Association,American Dental Association,Academy of General Dentistry,Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics,American Association of Nurse Anesthetists,American College of Surgeons,American Society for Clinical Pathology,American College of Healthcare Executives, theAmerican Hospital Association, andBlue Cross and Blue Shield Associationare all based in Chicago. Sister cities See also Explanatory notes References Citations Cited references Further reading External links Former:Evanston•Hyde Park•Jefferson•Lake•Lake View•North Chicago•Rogers Park•South Chicago•West Chicago\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":52,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Was the person who served as president of the Scottish National Party from 1987 to 2005 alive when the party was founded?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"Yes"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_National_Party"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie_Ewing"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Temporal reasoning"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_National_Party', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie_Ewing']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_National_Party","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie_Ewing"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_National_Party\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie_Ewing\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["Scottish National Party TheScottish National Party(SNP;Scots:Scots National Pairty,Scottish Gaelic:Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is aScottish nationalistandsocial democraticparty. The party holds 62 of the 129 seats in theScottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in theHouse of Commons. It has 453 local councillors of the 1,227 available. The SNP supports and campaigns forScottish independencefrom the United Kingdom and for Scotland's membership in theEuropean Union,with a platform based on progressive social policies andcivic nationalism.Founded in 1934 with the amalgamation of theNational Party of Scotlandand theScottish Party, the party has had continuous parliamentaryrepresentation in WestminstersinceWinnie Ewingwon the1967 Hamilton by-election. With the establishment of the devolved Scottish Parliament in 1999, the SNP became the second-largest party, serving two terms as theopposition. The SNP gained power underAlex Salmondat the2007 Scottish Parliament election, forming aminority government, before going on to win the2011 Parliament election, after which it formedHolyrood's firstmajority government.After Scotland voted against independence in the2014 referendum, Salmond resigned and was succeeded byNicola Sturgeon. The SNP achieved a record number of 56 seats in Westminster after the2015 general electionto become the third largest partybut in Holyrood it was reduced back to being a minority government at the2016 election. In the2021 election, the SNP gained one seat and entered apower-sharing agreementwith theScottish Greens. In March 2023 Sturgeon resigned and was replaced byHumza Yousaf. In April 2024, Yousaf collapsed the power-sharing deal with the Greens andresignedthe following week due to the resulting fallout of the decision. The incumbentJohn Swinneywas elected leader in May 2024. In the2024 general election, the SNP lost 38 seats, reducing it to the second-largest party in Scotland and the fourth-largest party in the Westminster Parliament. The party does not have any members of theHouse of Lordson the principle that itopposes the upper house of Parliamentand calls for it to be scrapped.The SNP is a member of theEuropean Free Alliance(EFA). History Foundation and early breakthroughs (1934–1970) The SNP was formed in 1934 through the merger of theNational Party of Scotlandand theScottish Party, with theDuke of MontroseandCunninghame Grahamas its first joint presidents.Alexander MacEwenwas its first chairman. The party was divided on its approach to theSecond World War.Professor Douglas Young, who was SNP leader from 1942 to 1945, campaigned for the Scottish people to refuseconscriptionand his activities were popularly vilified as undermining theBritish war effortagainst theAxis powers. Young was imprisoned for refusing to be conscripted. The party suffered its first split during this period with John MacCormick leaving the party in 1942, owing to his failure to change the party's policy from supporting all-out independence toHome Ruleat that year's conference in Glasgow. McCormick went on to form theScottish Covenant Association, a non-partisan political organisation campaigning for the establishment of a devolved Scottish Assembly. However, wartime conditions also enabled the SNP's first parliamentary success at theMotherwell by-electionin 1945, butRobert McIntyreMP lost the seat at thegeneral electionthree months later. The 1950s were characterised by similarly low levels of support, and this made it difficult for the party to advance. Indeed, in most general elections they were unable to put up more than a handful of candidates. The 1960s, however, offered more electoral successes, with candidates polling credibly atGlasgow Bridgetonin 1961,West Lothianin 1962 andGlasgow Pollokin 1967. This foreshadowedWinnie Ewing's surprise victory ina by-electionat the previously safeLabourseat ofHamilton. This brought the SNP to national prominence, leading to the establishment of theKilbrandon Commission. Becoming a notable force (1970s) Despite this breakthrough, the1970 general electionwas to prove a disappointment for the party as, despite an increase in vote share, Ewing failed to retain her seat in Hamilton. The party did receive some consolation with the capture of theWestern Isles, makingDonald Stewartthe party's only MP. This was to be the case until the1973 by-electionatGlasgow Govanwhere a hitherto safe Labour seat was claimed byMargo MacDonald. Nineteen seventy-four was to prove something of anannus mirabilisfor the party, as it deployed its highly effectiveIt's Scotland's oilcampaign.The SNP gained six seats at theFebruary general electionbefore hitting a high point in theOctober re-run, polling almost a third of all votes in Scotland and returning 11 MPs to Westminster. Furthermore, during that year'slocal electionsthe party claimed overall control ofCumbernauld and Kilsyth. This success was to continue for much of the decade, and at the1977 district electionsthe SNP saw victories at councils includingEast KilbrideandFalkirkand held the balance of power inGlasgow.However, this level of support was not to last and by 1978 Labour revival was evident at three by-elections (Glasgow Garscadden,HamiltonandBerwick and East Lothian) as well as theregional elections. In 1976,James Callaghan's minority government made an agreement with the SNP andPlaid Cymru. In return for their support in the Commons, the government would respond to theKilbrandon commissionand legislate to devolve powers from Westminster to Scotland and Wales.The resultingScotland Act 1978would create a Scottish assembly, subject to a referendum. Labour, the Liberals and the SNP campaigned for a \"yes\" vote inthe referendum on the Scotland Actand \"yes\" won a majority, but a threshold imposed by anti-devolution Labour MPGeorge Cunninghamrequiring 40% of the electorate to be in favour was not reached due to low turnout.When the government decided not to implement the Act, the SNP's MPs withdrew their support and voted to supportMargaret Thatcher's motion of no confidence in Callaghan's government.In the ensuinggeneral election, the party experienced a large drop in its support. Reduced to just 2 MPs, the successes of October 1974 were not to be surpassed until the2015 general election. Factional divisions and infighting (1980s) Following this defeat, a period of internal strife occurred within the party, culminating with the formation of the left-wing79 Group.Traditionalists within the party, centred aroundWinnie Ewing, by this time anMEP, responded by establishing theCampaign for Nationalism in Scotlandwhich sought to ensure that the primary objective of the SNP was campaigning for independence without a traditional left-right orientation, even though this would have undone the work of figures such asWilliam Wolfe, who developed a clearlysocial democraticpolicy platform throughout the 1970s. These events ensured the success of a leadership motion at the party's annual conference of 1982, inAyr, despite the 79 Group being bolstered by the merger ofJim Sillars'Scottish Labour Party (SLP)although this influx of ex-SLP members further shifted the characteristics of the party leftwards. Despite this, traditionalist figureGordon Wilsonremained party leader through the electoral disappointments of1983and1987, where he lost his ownDundee Eastseat won 13 years prior. Through this period, Sillars' influence in the party grew, developing a clear socio-economic platform includingIndependence in Europe,reversing the SNP's previous opposition to membership of thethen-EECwhich had been unsuccessful in a1975 referendum. This position was enhanced further by Sillars reclaimingGlasgow Govanin aby-electionin 1988. Despite this moderation, the party did not joinLabour, theLiberal Democratsand theGreensas well as civil society in theScottish Constitutional Conventionwhich developed a blueprint for a devolvedScottish Parliamentdue to the unwillingness of the convention to discuss independence as a constitutional option. First Salmond era (1990s) Alex Salmondhad been elected MP forBanff and Buchanin 1987, after the re-admittance of 79 Group members, and was able to seize the party leadership after Wilson's resignation in1990after a contest withMargaret Ewing. This was a surprise victory as Ewing had the backing of much of the party establishment, including Sillars and then-Party SecretaryJohn Swinney. The defection of Labour MPDick Douglasfurther evidenced the party's clear left-wing positioning, particularly regarding opposition to thepoll tax.Despite this, Salmond's leadership was unable to avert a fourth successive general election disappointment in1992with the party reduced back from 5 to 3 MPs. The mid-90s offered some successes for the party, withNorth East Scotlandbeing gained at the1994 European electionsand the party securing aby-electionatPerth and Kinrossin 1995 after a near-miss atMonklands Eastthe previous year. Nineteen ninety-seven offered the party's most successfulgeneral electionfor 23 years, although in the face of the Labour landslide the party was unable to match either of the two 1974 elections. That September, the party joined with the members of theScottish Constitutional Conventionin the successful Yes-Yes campaign in thedevolution referendumwhich lead to the establishment of aScottish Parliamentwith tax-varying powers. By 1999, thefirst electionsto the parliament were being held, although the party suffered a disappointing result, gaining just 35 MSPs in the face of Salmond's unpopular 'KosovoBroadcast' which opposedNATO interventionin the country. Opposing Labour-Liberal Democrat coalitions (1999–2007) This meant that the party began as the official opposition in the parliament to aLabour-Liberal Democrat coalition government. Salmond found the move to a more consensual politics difficult and sought a return to Westminster, resigning the leadership in2000with John Swinney, like Salmond agradualist,victorious in the ensuring leadership election.Swinney's leadership proved ineffectual, with a loss of one MP in2001and a further reduction to 27 MSPs in2003despite theOfficegatescandal unseating previousFirst MinisterHenry McLeish.However, the only parties to gain seats in that election were theScottish Greensand theScottish Socialist Party (SSP)which like the SNP support independence. Following an unsuccessfulleadership challengein 2003, Swinney stepped down following disappointing results in theEuropean elections of 2004with Salmond victorious in thesubsequent leadership contestdespite initially refusing to be candidate.Nicola Sturgeonwas elected Depute Leader and became the party's leader in the Scottish Parliament until Salmond was able to return at the next parliamentary election. Salmond governments (2007–2014) In2007, the SNP emerged as the largest party in the Scottish Parliament with 47 of 129 seats, narrowly oustingScottish Labourwith 46 seats andAlex SalmondbecomingFirst Ministerafter ousting the Liberal Democrats inGordon. TheScottish Greenssupported Salmond's election as First Minister, and his subsequent appointments of ministers, in return for early tabling of theclimate change billand the SNP nominating a Green MSP to chair a parliamentary committee.Despite this, Salmond's minority government tended to strike budget deals with theConservativesto stay in office. In the final few years of the New Labour government, there were four parliamentary by-elections in Scotland. The SNP saw marginal swings towards the party in three of them;2006 in Dunfermline and West Fife,2008 in Glenrothesand2009 in Glasgow North East. None were as notable than the2008 Glasgow East by-election, in which the SNP'sJohn Masontook the third safest Labour seat in Scotland on a 22.5% swing. InMay 2011, the SNP won an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament with 69 seats.This was followed by a reverse in the party's previous opposition toNATOmembership at the party's annual conference in 2012despite Salmond's refusal to apologise for the Kosovo broadcast on the occasion of theKosovo Declaration of Independence. This majority enabled the SNP government to hold areferendum on Scottish independencein 2014. The \"No\" vote prevailed in a close-fought campaign, prompting the resignation of First MinisterAlex Salmond. Forty-five percent of Scottish voters cast their ballots for independence, with the \"Yes\" side receiving less support than late polling predicted.Exit polling by Lord Ashcroft suggested that many No voters thought independence too risky,while others voted for the Union because of their emotional attachment to Britain.Older voters, women and middle class voters voted no in margins above the national average. Following the Yes campaign's defeat, Salmond resigned andNicola Sturgeonwon thatyear's leadership electionunopposed. Sturgeon years (2014–2023) The SNP rebounded from their loss at the independence referendum at the2015 general electioneight months later, led by former Depute LeaderNicola Sturgeon. The party went from holding six seats in the House of Commons to 56, ending 51 years of dominance by the Scottish Labour Party. All but three of the fifty-nine constituencies in the country elected an SNP candidate in the party's most comprehensive electoral victory at any level. At the2016 Scottish election, the SNP lost a net total of six seats, losing its overall majority in the Scottish Parliament, but returning for a third consecutive term as a minority government despite gaining an additional 1.1% of the constituency vote, for the party's best-ever result, from the 2011 election however 2.3% of the regional list vote. On the constituency vote, the SNP gained a net 10 seats from Labour. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats each gained two constituency seats from the SNP on 2011. This election was followed by the2016 European Union referendum, after which the SNP joined with theLiberal DemocratsandGreensto call for continued UK membership of the EU. Despite a consequential increase in the Conservative Party vote at the2017 local electionsthe SNP for the first time became the largest party in each of Scotland's four city councils:Aberdeen,Dundee,EdinburghandGlasgow, where a Labour administration was ousted after 37 years. At the2017 general election, the SNP underperformed compared to polling expectations, losing 21 seats to bring their number of Commons seats down to 35 – however, this was still the party's second-best result ever at the time.This was largely attributed by many, including former Deputy First Minister John Swinney,to their stance on holding asecond Scottish independence referendumand saw a swing to the unionist parties, with seats being picked up by the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats and a reduction in their majorities in the other seats. High-profile losses included SNP Commons leaderAngus Robertsonand former SNP leader and First MinisterAlex Salmond. The SNP went on to achieve its best-everEuropean Parliamentresultin the final electionbeforeBrexit, the party taking itsMEPtotal to three (or half ofScottish seats) and achieving a record vote share for the party. This was also the best performance of any party in the era of proportional elections to the European Parliament inScotland. This was suggested as being due to the party'seurophilesentiment during what amounted to a single-issue election. Later that year, the SNP experienced a surge in support at the2019 general election, winning a 45.0% share of the vote and 48 seats, its second-best result ever. The party gained seven seats from the Conservatives and 6 from Labour. This victory was generally attributed to Sturgeon's cautious approach regarding holding a second independence referendum and a strong emphasis on retaining EU membership during the election campaign.The following January, the strengthenedConservative governmentensured that the UK left the European Union on 31 January 2020. At the2021 Scottish election, the SNP won 64 seats, one seat short of a majority, albeit achieving a record high number of votes, vote share and constituency seats, and leading to another minority government led by the SNP. Sturgeon emphasised after her party's victory that it would focus on controlling theCOVID-19 pandemicas well as pushing for a second referendum on independence. Although they won with a majority in 2021, a majority of MSPs elected had come from parties that supported Scottish independence; this prompted negotiations between the SNP and the Scottish Green Party to secure a deal that would see Green ministers appointed to government and theScottish Greensbacking SNP policies, with hopes that this united front on independence would solidify the SNP's mandate for the second independence referendum. TheThird Sturgeon governmentwas formed with Green support. In July 2021, the Scottish Police launched an investigation into possibly missing funds raised between 2017 and 2020 specifically for a second referendum. The investigation was given the code nameOperation Branchform.In the2022 Scottish local elections, the SNP remained as the biggest party, winning a record number of councillors and securing majority control ofDundee.On 15 February 2023, Sturgeon announced her intention to resign as leader and first minister. On 16 March 2023, it was revealed that the SNP's membership had fallen to 72,000, down from over 125,000 at the end of 2019. As a result of this, CEOPeter Murrellresigned on 18 March after criticism was levied at him over the way the figures were published. Yousaf era (March 2023 – May 2024) Humza Yousafwas announced as the next Leader of the Scottish National Party on 27 March 2023 after winning theleadership election. Yousaf defeated challengerKate Forbesin the final stage, with 52% of the vote to Forbes' 48%.The leadership election was dominated by the strategy for asecond independence referendumand theGender Recognition Reform Bill, which has divided the party.On 29 March 2023, Yousaf was appointed First Minister of Scotland. On 18 April, his government published its policy prospectus titled \"Equality, opportunity, community: New leadership - A fresh start\" On 23 August 2023, Murray Foote was appointed as the new Chief Executive of the SNP.On 12 October 2023, MPLisa Cameroncrossed the floorto join the Scottish Conservatives, ahead of counting the votes on her selection contest within the SNP for the2024 United Kingdom general election. She became the first elected representative from the SNP to defect to a unionist party. Cameron claimed a \"toxic and bullying\" culture in the SNP led to her defection. On 15 October 2023, the SNP National Conference voted in favour of Yousaf's strategy on Scottish independence, including a number of amendments proposed from senior SNP representatives. This committed the SNP to launching a Scotland-wide independence campaign before the end of 2023.Yousaf also made a number of policy announcements, including a freeze on Council Tax rates, additional funding for the NHS to reduce waiting lists as well as the issuing ofgovernment bondsto fund infrastructure projects. On 25 April 2024, it was announced that theBute House Agreementwould come to an endbefore a vote was to be held by the Scottish Greens on whether to continue the agreement.Four days later, Yousaf announced that he would be resigning as Leader of the Scottish National Party and as First Minister of Scotland. Operation Branchform In April 2023, two SNP officials were arrested and released without charge in connection with theinvestigation into Scottish National Party finances. Peter Murrell was arrested on 5 Apriland Colin Beattie, the SNP treasurer, on 18 April.Murrell is the husband of former party leader, Nicola Sturgeon. The day Murrell was arrested and interviewed,Police Scotlandalso searched a number of addresses, including the SNP's headquarters and Murrell's home in Glasgow.Beattie resigned as SNP treasurer and was replaced by Stuart McDonald. Also in April, it was reported that the SNP's auditors, Johnston Carmichael, had resigned from their role around October 2022, and were yet to be replaced, three months before the party's accounts 2022 were due to be submitted to the Electoral Commission.New auditors were appointed in May.Filing the party accounts in June 2023, the new auditors highlighted that they had not been able to find original records for some cash and cheques. Murrell was re-arrested on 18 April 2024 and charged with embezzlement. He later resigned his membership of the SNP. ACrown Office and Procurator Fiscal Servicespokesman confirmed that it received a report in relation to Murrell and that an investigation into two other individuals \"a man aged 72 and a 53-year-old woman\" were still ongoing. Swinney era (May 2024 onwards) On 6 May 2024,John Swinneywas confirmed as the new leader of the Scottish National Party in the2024 Scottish National Party leadership election.He was unopposed in the race as on 2 May his main speculated challenger,Kate Forbes, announced she would not stand in the race and endorsed Swinneyand on 5 May, Graeme McCormick claimed that he secured enough member votes for a nomination but then dropped out the same evening following a conversation with Swinney, ultimately endorsing him. During the campaign for the2024 general election, the SNP was investigated by Holyrood authorities for allegedly misusing MSPs' expenses to fund their campaigning. An anonymous complaint was sent toAlison Johnstonein which an individual claimed that stamps bought with expenses were given to Westminster election candidates for mailing leaflets. The complaint included a WhatsApp screenshot showing MSP staff discussing the traceability of the stamps. Parliamentary rules state that stationery and postage provided by theScottish Parliament Corporate Body\"must be used only for parliamentary duties and must not be used for any other purpose, including party political purposes\". It was reported that John Swinney's office manager had told an SNP staff WhatsApp group chat that \"stamp fairy is very useful when it comes to campaigns\". An SNP spokesperson confirmed the investigation and emphasized compliance with the rules, while John Swinney stated that he had been \"assured that no parliamentary stamps that have been provided by Parliament have been used to support election purposes\", adding that he was \"confident\" that there had been no use of any public money to support the SNP general election campaign. This investigation occurred amid SNP's financial struggles, falling membership, and the police investigation into alleged embezzlement. Despite a £128,000 bequest boosting their campaign, SNP spending was minimal compared to other parties. The SNP ultimately won nine seats in the 2024 election, a loss of 39 seats on its 2019 result, reducing it to the second-largest party in Scotland, behindScottish Labour, and the fourth-largest party in Westminster. Swinney took full responsibility but said that he would not resign as leader. He said of the results, \"There will have to be a lot of soul searching as a party as a consequence of these results that have come in tonight\", and that the SNP has to be \"better at governing on behalf of the people of Scotland\", admitting the party was not \"winning the argument\" on Scottish independence. Constitution and structure The local Branches are the primary level of organisation in the SNP. All of the Branches within each Scottish Parliament constituency form a Constituency Association, which coordinates the work of the Branches within the constituency, coordinates the activities of the party in the constituency and acts as a point of liaison between an MSP or MP and the party. Constituency Associations are composed of delegates from all of the Branches within the constituency. The annual National Conference is the supreme governing body of the SNP and is responsible for determining party policy and electing the National Executive Committee. The National Conference is composed of: There are also regular meetings of the National Assembly, which provides a forum for detailed discussions of party policy by party members. Membership The SNP experienced a large surge in membership following the2014 Scottish independence referendum.In 2013, the party's membership stood at just 20,000,but that number had swelled to over 100,000 by 2015.Party membership peaked in 2019 at around 125,000.Annual accounts submitted by the party to theElectoral Commissionshowed the SNP to have over 119,000 members in 2021.By the end of 2021, the party reported that this number was 103,884.Membership then continued to fall: to 85,000 at the end of 2022, and to 72,186 in March 2023.By the end of 2023, this had fallen to 69,325 and then to 64,525 by June 2024. European affiliation The SNP retains close links withPlaid Cymru, its counterpart inWales.MPsfrom both parties co-operate closely with each other and work as a single parliamentary group within the House of Commons. Both the SNP and Plaid Cymru are members of theEuropean Free Alliance(EFA),a European political party comprisingregionalistpolitical parties. The EFA co-operates with the largerEuropean Green Partyto formThe Greens–European Free Alliance(Greens/EFA) group in theEuropean Parliament.Before its affiliation with The Greens–European Free Alliance, the SNP had previously been allied with theEuropean Progressive Democrats(1979–1984),Rainbow Group(1989–1994) andEuropean Radical Alliance(1994–1999). As the UK is no longer a member of the EU, the SNP has no MEPs. Policies Ideology The Scottish National Party did not have a clear ideological position until the 1970s, when it sought to explicitly present itself as a social democratic party in terms of party policy and publicity.During the period from its foundation until the 1960s, the SNP was essentially a moderatecentristparty.Debate within the party focused more on the SNP being distinct as an all-Scotland national movement, with it being neither of theleftnor theright, but constituting a new politics that sought to put Scotland first. The SNP was formed through the merger of the centre-leftNational Party of Scotland(NPS) and the centre-rightScottish Party.The SNP's founders were united overself-determinationin principle, though not its exact nature, or the best strategic means to achieve self-government. From the mid-1940s onwards, SNP policy wasradicalandredistributionistconcerning land and in favour of 'the diffusion of economic power', including thedecentralisationof industries such as coal to include the involvement of local authorities and regional planning bodies to control industrial structure and development.Party policies supported the economic and social policy status quo of the post-warwelfare state. By the 1960s, the SNP was starting to become defined ideologically, with a social democratic tradition emerging as the party grew in urban, industrial Scotland, and its membership experienced an influx of social democrats from theLabour Party, thetrade unionsand theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament.The emergence ofBilly Wolfeas a leading figure in the SNP also contributed to the leftwards shift. By this period, the Labour Party was also the dominant party in Scotland, in terms of electoral support and representation. Targeting Labour through emphasising left-of-centre policies and values was therefore electorally logical for the SNP, as well as tying in with the ideological preferences of many new party members.In 1961, the SNP conference expressed the party's opposition to the siting of theUSPolarissubmarine base at theHoly Loch. This policy was followed in 1963 by a motion opposed tonuclear weapons: a policy that has remained in place ever since.The 1964 policy document,SNP & You, contained a clear centre-left policy platform, including commitments tofull employment, government intervention in fuel, power and transport, a state bank to guide economic development, encouragement ofcooperativesandcredit unions, extensive building ofcouncil houses(social housing) by central and local government, pensions adjusted to cost of living, aminimum wageand an improvednational health service. The 1960s also saw the beginnings of the SNP's efforts to establish an industrial organisation and mobilise amongst trade unionists in Scotland, with the establishment of the SNP Trade Union Group, and identifying the SNP with industrial campaigns, such as theUpper-Clyde Shipbuilders Work-inand the attempt of the workers at the ScottishDaily Expressto run as a co-operative.For the party manifestos for the two 1974 general elections, the SNP finally self-identified as a social democratic party, and proposed a range of social democratic policies.There was also an unsuccessful proposal at the 1975 party conference to rename the party as theScottish National Party (Social Democrats).In the UK-wide referendum on Britain's membership of the European Economic Community (EEC) in the same year as the aforementioned attempted name change, the SNP campaigned for Britain to leave the EEC. There were further ideological and internal struggles after 1979, with the79 Groupattempting to move the SNP further to the left, away from being what could be described a \"social-democratic\" party, to an expressly \"socialist\" party. Members of the 79 Group – including future party leader andFirst MinisterAlex Salmond– were expelled from the party. This produced a response in the shape of theCampaign for Nationalism in Scotlandfrom those who wanted the SNP to remain a \"broad church\", apart from arguments of left vs. right. The 1980s saw the SNP further define itself as a party of the political left, such as campaigning against the introduction of thepoll taxin Scotland in 1989; one year before the tax was imposed on the rest of the UK. Ideological tensions inside the SNP are further complicated by arguments between the so-calledSNP gradualistsandSNP fundamentalists. In essence, gradualists seek to advance Scotland to independence through further devolution, in a \"step-by-step\" strategy. They tend to be in the moderate left grouping, though much of the79 Groupwas gradualist in approach. However, this 79 Group gradualism was as much a reaction against the fundamentalists of the day, many of whom believed the SNP should not take a clear left or right position. Economy During the 1970s the SNP campaigned widely on the political sloganIt's Scotland's oil, where it was argued that the discovery of North Sea oil off the coast of Scotland, and the revenue that it created would not benefit Scotland to any significant degree while Scotland remained part of the United Kingdom. TheSturgeon Governmentin 2017 adjusted income tax rates so that low earners would pay less and those earning more than £33,000 a year would pay more.Previously the party had replaced the flat rateStamp Dutywith theLBTT, which uses a graduated tax rate.Whilst in government, the party was also responsible for the establishment ofRevenue Scotlandto administer devolved taxation. Having previously defined itself in opposition to thepoll taxthe SNP has also championed progressive taxation at a local level. Despite pledging to introduce alocal income taxtheSalmond Governmentfound itself unable to replace thecouncil taxand the party has, particularly since the ending of the council tax freezeunder Nicola Sturgeon's leadership, committing to increasing the graduated nature of the tax.Conversely, the party has also supported capping and reducingBusiness Ratesin an attempt to support small businesses. It has been noted that the party contains a broader spectrum of opinion regarding economic policy than most political parties in the UK due to its status as \"the only viable vehicle for Scottish independence\",with the party's parliamentary group at Westminster in 2016 including socialists such asTommy SheppardandMhairi Black, capitalists such asStewart Hosieand former Conservative,Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh. Social justice In 1980, whenRobin Cookmoved an amendment to legalise homosexual acts to the Bill which became theCriminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980, the SNP's two MPsGordon WilsonandDonald Stewartboth voted against the amendment. In June 2000, the SNP supported the repeal ofsection 28, a series of laws across Britain that prohibited the \"promotion of homosexuality\" by local authorities. In government in July 2012, the SNP announced that they would legislate for civil and religious same-sex marriage in Scotland.The bill was fast-tracked through theScottish Parliament,and approved with 105 MSPs in favour in February 2014. UnderSturgeon'sleadership, Scotland was twice in succession named the best country in Europe forLGBT+legal equality.The party is considered very supportive of gays, lesbians and bisexuals - something that historically was not the case, as stated above. The SNP legislated to improvegender self-identificationwith theGender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. The policy was controversial within the SNP, with some of the party's social conservatives claiming the reforms could be open to abuse.In 2020, the Scottish Government paused the legislation in order to find \"maximum consensus\" on the issueand commentators described the issue as having divided the SNP like no other, with many dubbing the debate a \"civil war\".In January 2021, a former trans officer in the SNP's LGBT wing, Teddy Hope, quit the party, describing it was one of the \"core hubs of transphobia in Scotland\".Large numbers of LGBT activists followed suit and Sturgeon released a video message in which she said that transphobia is \"not acceptable\" and that she hoped they would one day rejoin the party.In December 2022, theGender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Billwas passed by a majority of 86 to 39, with nine SNP members voting against the bill and 54 for. Particularly sinceNicola Sturgeon's elevation toFirst Ministerthe party has highlighted its commitments togender equality– with her first act being to appoint agender balanced cabinet.The SNP have also taken steps to implementall-women shortlistswhilst Sturgeon has introduced a mentoring schemeto encourage women's political engagement. The SNP supportsmulticulturalismwith Scotland receiving thousands ofrefugeesfrom theSyrian Civil War.To this end it has been claimed that refugees in Scotland are better supported than those in England.More generally, the SNP seeks to increase immigration to combat a declining populationand calling for a separate Scottish visa even within the UK.However, data for 2022 shows that Scotland houses proportionally fewer asylum seekers relative to its population than England. Foreign affairs and defence Despite traditionally supportingmilitary neutralitythe SNP's policy has in recent years moved to support both theAtlanticistandEuropeanisttraditions. This is particularly evident in the conclusion of theNATO debatewithin the party in favour of those who support membership of the military alliance.This is despite the party's continuing opposition to Scotland hostingnuclear weaponsand then-leaderSalmond's criticism of both theKosovo interventionand theIraq War.The party has placed an emphasis on developing positive relations with theUnited Statesin recent yearsdespite a lukewarm reaction to theelectionof part-Scottish AmericanDonald TrumpasPresidentdue to long running legal disputes. Having opposed continued membership in the1975 referendum, the party has supported membership of theEuropean Unionsince the adoption of the Independence in Europe policy during the 1980s. Consequentially, the SNP supported remaining within the EU during the2016 referendumwhere every Scottish council area backed this position.Consequently, the party opposedBrexitand sought afurther referendumon thewithdrawal agreement,ultimately unsuccessfully. The SNP would like to see anindependent Scotlandas a member of theEuropean UnionandNATOand has left open the prospect of an independent Scotland joining theeuro. The SNP has also taken a stance againstRussianinterference abroad – the party supporting the enlargement of theEUandNATOto areas such as theWestern BalkansandUkraineto counter this influence.The party called for repercussions for Russia regarding thepoisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripaland has criticised former leaderAlex Salmondfor broadcasting achat showonKremlin-backednetworkRT.Consequently, party representatives have expressed support for movements such asEuromaidanthat support the independence of countries acrossEastern Europe. The party have supported measures includingforeign aidwhich seek to facilitateinternational developmentthrough various charitable organisations.In recognition of Scotland's historic links to the country, these programmes are mostly focused inMalawiin common with previous Scottish governments. With local authorities across the country, includingGlasgow City Councilbeing involved in this partnership since before the SNP took office in2007. Health and education The SNP have pledged to uphold the public service nature ofNHS Scotlandand are consequently opposed to any attempts at privatisation of the health service,including any inclusion in a post-Brexittrade deal with the United States. The party has been fond of increasing provision under the NHS with the introduction of universalbaby boxesbased on theFinnishscheme.This supported child development alongside other commitments including the expansion of free childcare for children younger than school age and the introduction of universal free school meals in the first three years of school. Previously, SNP governments have abolished hospital parking chargesas well as prescription chargesin efforts to promote enhanced public health outcomes by increasing access to care and treatment. Furthermore, during Sturgeon's premiership, Scotland became the first country in the world to introducealcohol minimum unit pricingto counteralcohol problems.Recently, the party has also committed to providing universal access tosanitary productsand the liberalisation ofdrugs policythroughdevolution, in an effort to increase access to treatment and improvepublic healthoutcomes. Between 2014 and 2019 the party slashed the budget for drug and alcohol treatments by 6.3%- a cut that has been linked with Scotland recording the highest number of drug deaths per head in Europe. The party aspires to promote universal access to education, with one of the first acts of theSalmond governmentbeing to abolishtuition fees- although it has also introduced a cap on the number of Scots who can attend university and cut funding for further education colleges.More recently, the party has turned its attention to widening access tohigher educationwith Nicola Sturgeon stating that education is her number one priority.At school level, the SNP had the OECD review theCurriculum for Excellence.When the review found that the \"visionary ideals\" of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) had not fully succeeded, they announced a series of educational reforms and the scrapping of the Scottish Qualifications Authority.Furthermore, it has been claimed that a recent decline in Scotland's educational standards as illustrated by PISA studies is directly related to CfE's implementation in 2012. Constitution The foundations of the SNP are a belief thatScotlandwould be more prosperous by being governedindependentlyfrom theUnited Kingdom, although the party was defeated in the2014 referendumon this issue.The party has since sought to hold asecond referendumat some point in the future, perhaps related to the outcome ofBrexit,as the party sees areferendumas the only route to independence. In 2016 the party convened theSustainable Growth Commissionto advise on the economy and currency of an independent Scotland. Although theSustainable Growth Commission's report, published in 2018, divides opinion it contains the party's official economic recommendations in the event of independence. The party isconstitutionalistand as such rejects holding such a referendumunilaterallyor any course of actions that could lead to comparisons with cases such asCataloniawith the party seeing independence as a process that should be undertaken through a consensual process alongside theUK Government. As part of this process towards independence, the party supports increaseddevolutionto theScottish Parliamentand theScottish Government, particularly in areas such aswelfareandimmigration. Official SNP policy is supportive of themonarchy. Many party members are republicans including former party leaderHumza Yousafbut his predecessor,Nicola Sturgeon, believes it is a \"model with many merits\", although she has proposed reducing the funds spent on the royal family.Separately, the SNP has always opposed the UK'sunelected upper houseand would like to see both it and theHouse of Commonselected by a form ofproportional representation.The party also supports the introduction of acodified constitution, either for an independent Scotland or the UK as a whole,going as far as producing a proposed interim constitution for Scotland during the independence referendum campaign. Fundamentalists and gradualists There have always been divisions within the party on how to achieveScottish independence, with one wing described as 'fundamentalists' and the other 'gradualists'. The SNP leadership generally subscribes to the gradualist viewpoint, that being the idea that independence can be won by the accumulation by theScottish Parliamentof powers that theUK Parliamentcurrently has over time. Fundamentalism stands in opposition to the so-called gradualist point of view, which believes that the SNP should emphasise independence more widely to achieve it. The argument goes that if the SNP is unprepared to argue for its central policy then it is unlikely ever to persuade the public of its worthiness. Leadership Leader of the Scottish National Party Depute Leader of the Scottish National Party President of the Scottish National Party National Secretary of the Scottish National Party Leader of the parliamentary party, Scottish Parliament Deputy Leader of the parliamentary party, Scottish Parliament Leader of the parliamentary party, House of Commons Deputy Leader of the parliamentary party, House of Commons Chief Executive Current SNP Council Leaders Scottish Parliament Members of the Scottish Parliament The SNP has formed theScottish Governmentsince 2007. As of May 2024,the Cabinetof the Scottish Government is as follows: Parliament of the United Kingdom Members of Parliament Following the 2024 general election, the SNP holds nine seats in the House of Commons. TheSNP frontbench teamin the House of Commons is as follows. Local government Councillors The SNP had 453councillorsinlocal governmentelected from the2022 Scottish local elections. Electoral performance Scottish Parliament House of Commons Local councils Results by council (2022) European Parliament (1979–2020) Two-tier local councils (1975–1996) See also Notes References Further reading External links Does not include organisations focused onUnionismwhich do not mentionBritish nationalismin their official makeup. Does not include organisations supportive ofUnionismorScottish independencewithout mentioning nationalism in their official makeup. Does not include organisations supportive ofUnionismorWelsh independencewithout mentioning nationalism in their official makeup.","Winnie Ewing Winifred Margaret EwingFRSA(néeWoodburn; 10 July 1929 – 21 June 2023) was a Scottish lawyer and politician who figured prominently in theScottish National Party. Born and raised in Glasgow, Ewing studied law at theUniversity of Glasgow, where she joined the university'sScottish Nationalist Association. After graduating, she worked as a lawyer, serving as secretary of the Glasgow Bar Association from 1962 to 1967. Ewing was elected to the House of Commons in the1967 Hamilton by-electionand her presence at Westminster led to a rise in membership for the SNP. Although she lost her seat in the1970 election, she was re-elected inFebruary 1974, this time for theMoray and Nairnconstituency. Ewing lost her seat in the1979 electionand, after making numerous attempts to seek re-election, failed to do so. Ewing was elected to theEuropean Parliamentin the1979 elections, representing theHighlands and Islands. In Europe, she acquired the nicknameMadame Écossebecause of her advocacy of Scottish interests. In 1987, she became the president of the Scottish National Party. She served as vice president of theEuropean Radical Allianceand by 1995 had become Britain's longest servingMEP. In thefirst elections to the Scottish Parliament, she was elected to represent theHighlands and Islands. As the oldest qualified member, it was her duty to preside over the opening of the Scottish Parliament. Early life Ewing was born Winifred Margaret Woodburn on 10 July 1929 inGlasgow, to Christina Bell Anderson and George Woodburn, a small business owner.She was educated at Battlefield School andQueen's Park Secondary School. In 1946 she matriculated at theUniversity of Glasgowwhere she graduated with anMAandLLB.Although relatively inactive in politics at that time, she joined the Student Nationalists.Following her graduation, she qualified and practised as a solicitor andnotary public. She was Secretary of the Glasgow Bar Association from 1962 to 1967. Political career Ewing became active in campaigning forScottish independencethrough her membership of theGlasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association, and won the1967 Hamilton by-electionas theScottish National Party(SNP) candidate.She was elected with the help of a team including her election agent,John McAteer. On 16 November, she made her first appearance at Westminster, with her husband and children accompanying her on the journey.She arrived at the parliament in a Scottish-builtHillman Impand was greeted by a crowd and a pipe band. Ewing said at the time \"stop the world, Scotland wants to get on\", and her presence atWestminsterled to a rise in membership for the SNP.It was speculated that Ewing's electoral gain led to the establishment of theKilbrandon Commissionby theLabourgovernment ofHarold Wilsonto look into the viability of a devolvedScottish Assembly. In hindsight it could be said to mark the start of modern politics in Scotland, according to ProfessorRichard Finlayof Strathclyde University, bringing young people and women from non-political backgrounds into politics for the first time, whilst Labour and Tory party organisation and branch numbers were declining. Despite her high profile, Ewing was unsuccessful in retaining the Hamilton seat at the1970 general election.At the followingFebruary 1974 electionshe stood forMoray and Nairnand was returned to Westminster, although another election followed inOctoberof the same year when her already marginal majority declined. Following the October election she was announced as the SNP's spokesperson on external affairs and theEEC.She first became an MEP in 1975, at a time when the European Parliament was still composed of representative delegations from national parliaments.She lost her Westminster seat at theMay 1979 election, but within weeks had gained a seat in the European Parliament at thefirst direct elections to the Parliament. Ewing was unsuccessful at seeking to return to Westminster as the SNP candidate forOrkney and Shetlandin1983, coming third. Ewing was elected the SNP Party President in 1987.It was during her time as an MEP that she acquired the nicknameMadame Écosse(Frenchfor 'Mrs Scotland') because of her advocacy of Scottish interests in Strasbourg and Brussels.That sobriquet was first used byLe Mondeand with Ewing using the term as a badge of pride, it stuck.By 1995 she had become Britain's longest serving MEP.She served as Vice President of theEuropean Radical Alliance,which in addition to the SNP also included French, Belgian, Italian and Spanish MEPs. In 1999, she did not stand for the European Parliament, instead becoming aMember of the Scottish Parliament(MSP) in the first session of the Scottish Parliament, representing theHighlands and Islands. As the oldest qualified member,it was her duty to preside over the opening of the Scottish Parliament,a session she opened with the statement: \"The Scottish Parliament, adjourned on the 25th day of March in the year 1707, is hereby reconvened\".She sat as a member on the European Committee and the Public Petitions Committee. During the controversy that arose in the early years of theScottish Parliamentsurrounding proposals to repealClause 28(a law banning the active promotion of homosexuality in schools), she joined her sonFergus Ewingin abstaining, although her daughter in lawMargaret Ewingsupported repeal as did the majority of her party's MSPs. In June 2001, having turned 72 years old, she announced that she would retire from Parliament at the end of the session.In January 2003, her husband, Stewart Ewing, died from a heart attack after a fire at their home.He had been active with her in politics for many years, and had himself served as an SNP councillor for theSummerstonarea inGlasgow, gaining the seat of Dick Dynes, the leader of the Labour Group onGlasgow District Councilin1977, a result described byThe Glasgow Heraldas \"an absolute sensation\".Later in 2003 she stood down from being an MSP,although she continued to serve as the SNP's President. On 15 July 2005, she announced she would be stepping down as President of theScottish National Partyat its September Conference, bringing to an end her 38-year career in representative politics. Nicola Sturgeonsaid that Ewing had given her \"hugely valuable advice\" on public speaking, and that Ewing had given her some important advice as a young woman in politics, namely \"Stand your ground and believe in yourself\" and \"a more vibrant, colourful, dynamic, passionate, committed person, you would struggle to meet.\" Outside Parliament Ewing was a vice president of equal rights charityParity.In April 2009,BBC Albabroadcast a biographical documentaryMadame Ecosse, produced by Madmac Productions.It was rebroadcast onBBC Scotlandto mark her 80th birthday.Nicola Sturgeon named Ewing as her Political Hero on BBC News in 2018. Personal life Winnie and Stuart Ewing had three children, two of whom also went on to a career in politics: their son,Fergus Ewing, was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and went on to hold several cabinet posts. Their daughter,Annabelle Ewing, was an MP from 2001 to 2005 and was elected an MSP in 2006.Ewing died at her home inBridge of Weiron 21 June 2023, at age 93. Awards and honours In 1990 she was made a fellow of theRoyal Society of Arts.In 2003 theLaw Society of Scotlandmade her an honorary member.She was awarded honoraryLLDdegrees from the University of Glasgow in 1995 and theUniversity of Aberdeenin 2004.She was awarded Doctor of the University degrees from theOpen Universityin 1993and theUniversity of Stirlingin 2012.In 2009, a portrait of her painted byDavid Donaldsonin 1970 was lent to the Scottish Parliament and put on display. References Further reading External links"],"string":"[\n \"Scottish National Party TheScottish National Party(SNP;Scots:Scots National Pairty,Scottish Gaelic:Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is aScottish nationalistandsocial democraticparty. The party holds 62 of the 129 seats in theScottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in theHouse of Commons. It has 453 local councillors of the 1,227 available. The SNP supports and campaigns forScottish independencefrom the United Kingdom and for Scotland's membership in theEuropean Union,with a platform based on progressive social policies andcivic nationalism.Founded in 1934 with the amalgamation of theNational Party of Scotlandand theScottish Party, the party has had continuous parliamentaryrepresentation in WestminstersinceWinnie Ewingwon the1967 Hamilton by-election. With the establishment of the devolved Scottish Parliament in 1999, the SNP became the second-largest party, serving two terms as theopposition. The SNP gained power underAlex Salmondat the2007 Scottish Parliament election, forming aminority government, before going on to win the2011 Parliament election, after which it formedHolyrood's firstmajority government.After Scotland voted against independence in the2014 referendum, Salmond resigned and was succeeded byNicola Sturgeon. The SNP achieved a record number of 56 seats in Westminster after the2015 general electionto become the third largest partybut in Holyrood it was reduced back to being a minority government at the2016 election. In the2021 election, the SNP gained one seat and entered apower-sharing agreementwith theScottish Greens. In March 2023 Sturgeon resigned and was replaced byHumza Yousaf. In April 2024, Yousaf collapsed the power-sharing deal with the Greens andresignedthe following week due to the resulting fallout of the decision. The incumbentJohn Swinneywas elected leader in May 2024. In the2024 general election, the SNP lost 38 seats, reducing it to the second-largest party in Scotland and the fourth-largest party in the Westminster Parliament. The party does not have any members of theHouse of Lordson the principle that itopposes the upper house of Parliamentand calls for it to be scrapped.The SNP is a member of theEuropean Free Alliance(EFA). History Foundation and early breakthroughs (1934–1970) The SNP was formed in 1934 through the merger of theNational Party of Scotlandand theScottish Party, with theDuke of MontroseandCunninghame Grahamas its first joint presidents.Alexander MacEwenwas its first chairman. The party was divided on its approach to theSecond World War.Professor Douglas Young, who was SNP leader from 1942 to 1945, campaigned for the Scottish people to refuseconscriptionand his activities were popularly vilified as undermining theBritish war effortagainst theAxis powers. Young was imprisoned for refusing to be conscripted. The party suffered its first split during this period with John MacCormick leaving the party in 1942, owing to his failure to change the party's policy from supporting all-out independence toHome Ruleat that year's conference in Glasgow. McCormick went on to form theScottish Covenant Association, a non-partisan political organisation campaigning for the establishment of a devolved Scottish Assembly. However, wartime conditions also enabled the SNP's first parliamentary success at theMotherwell by-electionin 1945, butRobert McIntyreMP lost the seat at thegeneral electionthree months later. The 1950s were characterised by similarly low levels of support, and this made it difficult for the party to advance. Indeed, in most general elections they were unable to put up more than a handful of candidates. The 1960s, however, offered more electoral successes, with candidates polling credibly atGlasgow Bridgetonin 1961,West Lothianin 1962 andGlasgow Pollokin 1967. This foreshadowedWinnie Ewing's surprise victory ina by-electionat the previously safeLabourseat ofHamilton. This brought the SNP to national prominence, leading to the establishment of theKilbrandon Commission. Becoming a notable force (1970s) Despite this breakthrough, the1970 general electionwas to prove a disappointment for the party as, despite an increase in vote share, Ewing failed to retain her seat in Hamilton. The party did receive some consolation with the capture of theWestern Isles, makingDonald Stewartthe party's only MP. This was to be the case until the1973 by-electionatGlasgow Govanwhere a hitherto safe Labour seat was claimed byMargo MacDonald. Nineteen seventy-four was to prove something of anannus mirabilisfor the party, as it deployed its highly effectiveIt's Scotland's oilcampaign.The SNP gained six seats at theFebruary general electionbefore hitting a high point in theOctober re-run, polling almost a third of all votes in Scotland and returning 11 MPs to Westminster. Furthermore, during that year'slocal electionsthe party claimed overall control ofCumbernauld and Kilsyth. This success was to continue for much of the decade, and at the1977 district electionsthe SNP saw victories at councils includingEast KilbrideandFalkirkand held the balance of power inGlasgow.However, this level of support was not to last and by 1978 Labour revival was evident at three by-elections (Glasgow Garscadden,HamiltonandBerwick and East Lothian) as well as theregional elections. In 1976,James Callaghan's minority government made an agreement with the SNP andPlaid Cymru. In return for their support in the Commons, the government would respond to theKilbrandon commissionand legislate to devolve powers from Westminster to Scotland and Wales.The resultingScotland Act 1978would create a Scottish assembly, subject to a referendum. Labour, the Liberals and the SNP campaigned for a \\\"yes\\\" vote inthe referendum on the Scotland Actand \\\"yes\\\" won a majority, but a threshold imposed by anti-devolution Labour MPGeorge Cunninghamrequiring 40% of the electorate to be in favour was not reached due to low turnout.When the government decided not to implement the Act, the SNP's MPs withdrew their support and voted to supportMargaret Thatcher's motion of no confidence in Callaghan's government.In the ensuinggeneral election, the party experienced a large drop in its support. Reduced to just 2 MPs, the successes of October 1974 were not to be surpassed until the2015 general election. Factional divisions and infighting (1980s) Following this defeat, a period of internal strife occurred within the party, culminating with the formation of the left-wing79 Group.Traditionalists within the party, centred aroundWinnie Ewing, by this time anMEP, responded by establishing theCampaign for Nationalism in Scotlandwhich sought to ensure that the primary objective of the SNP was campaigning for independence without a traditional left-right orientation, even though this would have undone the work of figures such asWilliam Wolfe, who developed a clearlysocial democraticpolicy platform throughout the 1970s. These events ensured the success of a leadership motion at the party's annual conference of 1982, inAyr, despite the 79 Group being bolstered by the merger ofJim Sillars'Scottish Labour Party (SLP)although this influx of ex-SLP members further shifted the characteristics of the party leftwards. Despite this, traditionalist figureGordon Wilsonremained party leader through the electoral disappointments of1983and1987, where he lost his ownDundee Eastseat won 13 years prior. Through this period, Sillars' influence in the party grew, developing a clear socio-economic platform includingIndependence in Europe,reversing the SNP's previous opposition to membership of thethen-EECwhich had been unsuccessful in a1975 referendum. This position was enhanced further by Sillars reclaimingGlasgow Govanin aby-electionin 1988. Despite this moderation, the party did not joinLabour, theLiberal Democratsand theGreensas well as civil society in theScottish Constitutional Conventionwhich developed a blueprint for a devolvedScottish Parliamentdue to the unwillingness of the convention to discuss independence as a constitutional option. First Salmond era (1990s) Alex Salmondhad been elected MP forBanff and Buchanin 1987, after the re-admittance of 79 Group members, and was able to seize the party leadership after Wilson's resignation in1990after a contest withMargaret Ewing. This was a surprise victory as Ewing had the backing of much of the party establishment, including Sillars and then-Party SecretaryJohn Swinney. The defection of Labour MPDick Douglasfurther evidenced the party's clear left-wing positioning, particularly regarding opposition to thepoll tax.Despite this, Salmond's leadership was unable to avert a fourth successive general election disappointment in1992with the party reduced back from 5 to 3 MPs. The mid-90s offered some successes for the party, withNorth East Scotlandbeing gained at the1994 European electionsand the party securing aby-electionatPerth and Kinrossin 1995 after a near-miss atMonklands Eastthe previous year. Nineteen ninety-seven offered the party's most successfulgeneral electionfor 23 years, although in the face of the Labour landslide the party was unable to match either of the two 1974 elections. That September, the party joined with the members of theScottish Constitutional Conventionin the successful Yes-Yes campaign in thedevolution referendumwhich lead to the establishment of aScottish Parliamentwith tax-varying powers. By 1999, thefirst electionsto the parliament were being held, although the party suffered a disappointing result, gaining just 35 MSPs in the face of Salmond's unpopular 'KosovoBroadcast' which opposedNATO interventionin the country. Opposing Labour-Liberal Democrat coalitions (1999–2007) This meant that the party began as the official opposition in the parliament to aLabour-Liberal Democrat coalition government. Salmond found the move to a more consensual politics difficult and sought a return to Westminster, resigning the leadership in2000with John Swinney, like Salmond agradualist,victorious in the ensuring leadership election.Swinney's leadership proved ineffectual, with a loss of one MP in2001and a further reduction to 27 MSPs in2003despite theOfficegatescandal unseating previousFirst MinisterHenry McLeish.However, the only parties to gain seats in that election were theScottish Greensand theScottish Socialist Party (SSP)which like the SNP support independence. Following an unsuccessfulleadership challengein 2003, Swinney stepped down following disappointing results in theEuropean elections of 2004with Salmond victorious in thesubsequent leadership contestdespite initially refusing to be candidate.Nicola Sturgeonwas elected Depute Leader and became the party's leader in the Scottish Parliament until Salmond was able to return at the next parliamentary election. Salmond governments (2007–2014) In2007, the SNP emerged as the largest party in the Scottish Parliament with 47 of 129 seats, narrowly oustingScottish Labourwith 46 seats andAlex SalmondbecomingFirst Ministerafter ousting the Liberal Democrats inGordon. TheScottish Greenssupported Salmond's election as First Minister, and his subsequent appointments of ministers, in return for early tabling of theclimate change billand the SNP nominating a Green MSP to chair a parliamentary committee.Despite this, Salmond's minority government tended to strike budget deals with theConservativesto stay in office. In the final few years of the New Labour government, there were four parliamentary by-elections in Scotland. The SNP saw marginal swings towards the party in three of them;2006 in Dunfermline and West Fife,2008 in Glenrothesand2009 in Glasgow North East. None were as notable than the2008 Glasgow East by-election, in which the SNP'sJohn Masontook the third safest Labour seat in Scotland on a 22.5% swing. InMay 2011, the SNP won an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament with 69 seats.This was followed by a reverse in the party's previous opposition toNATOmembership at the party's annual conference in 2012despite Salmond's refusal to apologise for the Kosovo broadcast on the occasion of theKosovo Declaration of Independence. This majority enabled the SNP government to hold areferendum on Scottish independencein 2014. The \\\"No\\\" vote prevailed in a close-fought campaign, prompting the resignation of First MinisterAlex Salmond. Forty-five percent of Scottish voters cast their ballots for independence, with the \\\"Yes\\\" side receiving less support than late polling predicted.Exit polling by Lord Ashcroft suggested that many No voters thought independence too risky,while others voted for the Union because of their emotional attachment to Britain.Older voters, women and middle class voters voted no in margins above the national average. Following the Yes campaign's defeat, Salmond resigned andNicola Sturgeonwon thatyear's leadership electionunopposed. Sturgeon years (2014–2023) The SNP rebounded from their loss at the independence referendum at the2015 general electioneight months later, led by former Depute LeaderNicola Sturgeon. The party went from holding six seats in the House of Commons to 56, ending 51 years of dominance by the Scottish Labour Party. All but three of the fifty-nine constituencies in the country elected an SNP candidate in the party's most comprehensive electoral victory at any level. At the2016 Scottish election, the SNP lost a net total of six seats, losing its overall majority in the Scottish Parliament, but returning for a third consecutive term as a minority government despite gaining an additional 1.1% of the constituency vote, for the party's best-ever result, from the 2011 election however 2.3% of the regional list vote. On the constituency vote, the SNP gained a net 10 seats from Labour. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats each gained two constituency seats from the SNP on 2011. This election was followed by the2016 European Union referendum, after which the SNP joined with theLiberal DemocratsandGreensto call for continued UK membership of the EU. Despite a consequential increase in the Conservative Party vote at the2017 local electionsthe SNP for the first time became the largest party in each of Scotland's four city councils:Aberdeen,Dundee,EdinburghandGlasgow, where a Labour administration was ousted after 37 years. At the2017 general election, the SNP underperformed compared to polling expectations, losing 21 seats to bring their number of Commons seats down to 35 – however, this was still the party's second-best result ever at the time.This was largely attributed by many, including former Deputy First Minister John Swinney,to their stance on holding asecond Scottish independence referendumand saw a swing to the unionist parties, with seats being picked up by the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats and a reduction in their majorities in the other seats. High-profile losses included SNP Commons leaderAngus Robertsonand former SNP leader and First MinisterAlex Salmond. The SNP went on to achieve its best-everEuropean Parliamentresultin the final electionbeforeBrexit, the party taking itsMEPtotal to three (or half ofScottish seats) and achieving a record vote share for the party. This was also the best performance of any party in the era of proportional elections to the European Parliament inScotland. This was suggested as being due to the party'seurophilesentiment during what amounted to a single-issue election. Later that year, the SNP experienced a surge in support at the2019 general election, winning a 45.0% share of the vote and 48 seats, its second-best result ever. The party gained seven seats from the Conservatives and 6 from Labour. This victory was generally attributed to Sturgeon's cautious approach regarding holding a second independence referendum and a strong emphasis on retaining EU membership during the election campaign.The following January, the strengthenedConservative governmentensured that the UK left the European Union on 31 January 2020. At the2021 Scottish election, the SNP won 64 seats, one seat short of a majority, albeit achieving a record high number of votes, vote share and constituency seats, and leading to another minority government led by the SNP. Sturgeon emphasised after her party's victory that it would focus on controlling theCOVID-19 pandemicas well as pushing for a second referendum on independence. Although they won with a majority in 2021, a majority of MSPs elected had come from parties that supported Scottish independence; this prompted negotiations between the SNP and the Scottish Green Party to secure a deal that would see Green ministers appointed to government and theScottish Greensbacking SNP policies, with hopes that this united front on independence would solidify the SNP's mandate for the second independence referendum. TheThird Sturgeon governmentwas formed with Green support. In July 2021, the Scottish Police launched an investigation into possibly missing funds raised between 2017 and 2020 specifically for a second referendum. The investigation was given the code nameOperation Branchform.In the2022 Scottish local elections, the SNP remained as the biggest party, winning a record number of councillors and securing majority control ofDundee.On 15 February 2023, Sturgeon announced her intention to resign as leader and first minister. On 16 March 2023, it was revealed that the SNP's membership had fallen to 72,000, down from over 125,000 at the end of 2019. As a result of this, CEOPeter Murrellresigned on 18 March after criticism was levied at him over the way the figures were published. Yousaf era (March 2023 – May 2024) Humza Yousafwas announced as the next Leader of the Scottish National Party on 27 March 2023 after winning theleadership election. Yousaf defeated challengerKate Forbesin the final stage, with 52% of the vote to Forbes' 48%.The leadership election was dominated by the strategy for asecond independence referendumand theGender Recognition Reform Bill, which has divided the party.On 29 March 2023, Yousaf was appointed First Minister of Scotland. On 18 April, his government published its policy prospectus titled \\\"Equality, opportunity, community: New leadership - A fresh start\\\" On 23 August 2023, Murray Foote was appointed as the new Chief Executive of the SNP.On 12 October 2023, MPLisa Cameroncrossed the floorto join the Scottish Conservatives, ahead of counting the votes on her selection contest within the SNP for the2024 United Kingdom general election. She became the first elected representative from the SNP to defect to a unionist party. Cameron claimed a \\\"toxic and bullying\\\" culture in the SNP led to her defection. On 15 October 2023, the SNP National Conference voted in favour of Yousaf's strategy on Scottish independence, including a number of amendments proposed from senior SNP representatives. This committed the SNP to launching a Scotland-wide independence campaign before the end of 2023.Yousaf also made a number of policy announcements, including a freeze on Council Tax rates, additional funding for the NHS to reduce waiting lists as well as the issuing ofgovernment bondsto fund infrastructure projects. On 25 April 2024, it was announced that theBute House Agreementwould come to an endbefore a vote was to be held by the Scottish Greens on whether to continue the agreement.Four days later, Yousaf announced that he would be resigning as Leader of the Scottish National Party and as First Minister of Scotland. Operation Branchform In April 2023, two SNP officials were arrested and released without charge in connection with theinvestigation into Scottish National Party finances. Peter Murrell was arrested on 5 Apriland Colin Beattie, the SNP treasurer, on 18 April.Murrell is the husband of former party leader, Nicola Sturgeon. The day Murrell was arrested and interviewed,Police Scotlandalso searched a number of addresses, including the SNP's headquarters and Murrell's home in Glasgow.Beattie resigned as SNP treasurer and was replaced by Stuart McDonald. Also in April, it was reported that the SNP's auditors, Johnston Carmichael, had resigned from their role around October 2022, and were yet to be replaced, three months before the party's accounts 2022 were due to be submitted to the Electoral Commission.New auditors were appointed in May.Filing the party accounts in June 2023, the new auditors highlighted that they had not been able to find original records for some cash and cheques. Murrell was re-arrested on 18 April 2024 and charged with embezzlement. He later resigned his membership of the SNP. ACrown Office and Procurator Fiscal Servicespokesman confirmed that it received a report in relation to Murrell and that an investigation into two other individuals \\\"a man aged 72 and a 53-year-old woman\\\" were still ongoing. Swinney era (May 2024 onwards) On 6 May 2024,John Swinneywas confirmed as the new leader of the Scottish National Party in the2024 Scottish National Party leadership election.He was unopposed in the race as on 2 May his main speculated challenger,Kate Forbes, announced she would not stand in the race and endorsed Swinneyand on 5 May, Graeme McCormick claimed that he secured enough member votes for a nomination but then dropped out the same evening following a conversation with Swinney, ultimately endorsing him. During the campaign for the2024 general election, the SNP was investigated by Holyrood authorities for allegedly misusing MSPs' expenses to fund their campaigning. An anonymous complaint was sent toAlison Johnstonein which an individual claimed that stamps bought with expenses were given to Westminster election candidates for mailing leaflets. The complaint included a WhatsApp screenshot showing MSP staff discussing the traceability of the stamps. Parliamentary rules state that stationery and postage provided by theScottish Parliament Corporate Body\\\"must be used only for parliamentary duties and must not be used for any other purpose, including party political purposes\\\". It was reported that John Swinney's office manager had told an SNP staff WhatsApp group chat that \\\"stamp fairy is very useful when it comes to campaigns\\\". An SNP spokesperson confirmed the investigation and emphasized compliance with the rules, while John Swinney stated that he had been \\\"assured that no parliamentary stamps that have been provided by Parliament have been used to support election purposes\\\", adding that he was \\\"confident\\\" that there had been no use of any public money to support the SNP general election campaign. This investigation occurred amid SNP's financial struggles, falling membership, and the police investigation into alleged embezzlement. Despite a £128,000 bequest boosting their campaign, SNP spending was minimal compared to other parties. The SNP ultimately won nine seats in the 2024 election, a loss of 39 seats on its 2019 result, reducing it to the second-largest party in Scotland, behindScottish Labour, and the fourth-largest party in Westminster. Swinney took full responsibility but said that he would not resign as leader. He said of the results, \\\"There will have to be a lot of soul searching as a party as a consequence of these results that have come in tonight\\\", and that the SNP has to be \\\"better at governing on behalf of the people of Scotland\\\", admitting the party was not \\\"winning the argument\\\" on Scottish independence. Constitution and structure The local Branches are the primary level of organisation in the SNP. All of the Branches within each Scottish Parliament constituency form a Constituency Association, which coordinates the work of the Branches within the constituency, coordinates the activities of the party in the constituency and acts as a point of liaison between an MSP or MP and the party. Constituency Associations are composed of delegates from all of the Branches within the constituency. The annual National Conference is the supreme governing body of the SNP and is responsible for determining party policy and electing the National Executive Committee. The National Conference is composed of: There are also regular meetings of the National Assembly, which provides a forum for detailed discussions of party policy by party members. Membership The SNP experienced a large surge in membership following the2014 Scottish independence referendum.In 2013, the party's membership stood at just 20,000,but that number had swelled to over 100,000 by 2015.Party membership peaked in 2019 at around 125,000.Annual accounts submitted by the party to theElectoral Commissionshowed the SNP to have over 119,000 members in 2021.By the end of 2021, the party reported that this number was 103,884.Membership then continued to fall: to 85,000 at the end of 2022, and to 72,186 in March 2023.By the end of 2023, this had fallen to 69,325 and then to 64,525 by June 2024. European affiliation The SNP retains close links withPlaid Cymru, its counterpart inWales.MPsfrom both parties co-operate closely with each other and work as a single parliamentary group within the House of Commons. Both the SNP and Plaid Cymru are members of theEuropean Free Alliance(EFA),a European political party comprisingregionalistpolitical parties. The EFA co-operates with the largerEuropean Green Partyto formThe Greens–European Free Alliance(Greens/EFA) group in theEuropean Parliament.Before its affiliation with The Greens–European Free Alliance, the SNP had previously been allied with theEuropean Progressive Democrats(1979–1984),Rainbow Group(1989–1994) andEuropean Radical Alliance(1994–1999). As the UK is no longer a member of the EU, the SNP has no MEPs. Policies Ideology The Scottish National Party did not have a clear ideological position until the 1970s, when it sought to explicitly present itself as a social democratic party in terms of party policy and publicity.During the period from its foundation until the 1960s, the SNP was essentially a moderatecentristparty.Debate within the party focused more on the SNP being distinct as an all-Scotland national movement, with it being neither of theleftnor theright, but constituting a new politics that sought to put Scotland first. The SNP was formed through the merger of the centre-leftNational Party of Scotland(NPS) and the centre-rightScottish Party.The SNP's founders were united overself-determinationin principle, though not its exact nature, or the best strategic means to achieve self-government. From the mid-1940s onwards, SNP policy wasradicalandredistributionistconcerning land and in favour of 'the diffusion of economic power', including thedecentralisationof industries such as coal to include the involvement of local authorities and regional planning bodies to control industrial structure and development.Party policies supported the economic and social policy status quo of the post-warwelfare state. By the 1960s, the SNP was starting to become defined ideologically, with a social democratic tradition emerging as the party grew in urban, industrial Scotland, and its membership experienced an influx of social democrats from theLabour Party, thetrade unionsand theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament.The emergence ofBilly Wolfeas a leading figure in the SNP also contributed to the leftwards shift. By this period, the Labour Party was also the dominant party in Scotland, in terms of electoral support and representation. Targeting Labour through emphasising left-of-centre policies and values was therefore electorally logical for the SNP, as well as tying in with the ideological preferences of many new party members.In 1961, the SNP conference expressed the party's opposition to the siting of theUSPolarissubmarine base at theHoly Loch. This policy was followed in 1963 by a motion opposed tonuclear weapons: a policy that has remained in place ever since.The 1964 policy document,SNP & You, contained a clear centre-left policy platform, including commitments tofull employment, government intervention in fuel, power and transport, a state bank to guide economic development, encouragement ofcooperativesandcredit unions, extensive building ofcouncil houses(social housing) by central and local government, pensions adjusted to cost of living, aminimum wageand an improvednational health service. The 1960s also saw the beginnings of the SNP's efforts to establish an industrial organisation and mobilise amongst trade unionists in Scotland, with the establishment of the SNP Trade Union Group, and identifying the SNP with industrial campaigns, such as theUpper-Clyde Shipbuilders Work-inand the attempt of the workers at the ScottishDaily Expressto run as a co-operative.For the party manifestos for the two 1974 general elections, the SNP finally self-identified as a social democratic party, and proposed a range of social democratic policies.There was also an unsuccessful proposal at the 1975 party conference to rename the party as theScottish National Party (Social Democrats).In the UK-wide referendum on Britain's membership of the European Economic Community (EEC) in the same year as the aforementioned attempted name change, the SNP campaigned for Britain to leave the EEC. There were further ideological and internal struggles after 1979, with the79 Groupattempting to move the SNP further to the left, away from being what could be described a \\\"social-democratic\\\" party, to an expressly \\\"socialist\\\" party. Members of the 79 Group – including future party leader andFirst MinisterAlex Salmond– were expelled from the party. This produced a response in the shape of theCampaign for Nationalism in Scotlandfrom those who wanted the SNP to remain a \\\"broad church\\\", apart from arguments of left vs. right. The 1980s saw the SNP further define itself as a party of the political left, such as campaigning against the introduction of thepoll taxin Scotland in 1989; one year before the tax was imposed on the rest of the UK. Ideological tensions inside the SNP are further complicated by arguments between the so-calledSNP gradualistsandSNP fundamentalists. In essence, gradualists seek to advance Scotland to independence through further devolution, in a \\\"step-by-step\\\" strategy. They tend to be in the moderate left grouping, though much of the79 Groupwas gradualist in approach. However, this 79 Group gradualism was as much a reaction against the fundamentalists of the day, many of whom believed the SNP should not take a clear left or right position. Economy During the 1970s the SNP campaigned widely on the political sloganIt's Scotland's oil, where it was argued that the discovery of North Sea oil off the coast of Scotland, and the revenue that it created would not benefit Scotland to any significant degree while Scotland remained part of the United Kingdom. TheSturgeon Governmentin 2017 adjusted income tax rates so that low earners would pay less and those earning more than £33,000 a year would pay more.Previously the party had replaced the flat rateStamp Dutywith theLBTT, which uses a graduated tax rate.Whilst in government, the party was also responsible for the establishment ofRevenue Scotlandto administer devolved taxation. Having previously defined itself in opposition to thepoll taxthe SNP has also championed progressive taxation at a local level. Despite pledging to introduce alocal income taxtheSalmond Governmentfound itself unable to replace thecouncil taxand the party has, particularly since the ending of the council tax freezeunder Nicola Sturgeon's leadership, committing to increasing the graduated nature of the tax.Conversely, the party has also supported capping and reducingBusiness Ratesin an attempt to support small businesses. It has been noted that the party contains a broader spectrum of opinion regarding economic policy than most political parties in the UK due to its status as \\\"the only viable vehicle for Scottish independence\\\",with the party's parliamentary group at Westminster in 2016 including socialists such asTommy SheppardandMhairi Black, capitalists such asStewart Hosieand former Conservative,Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh. Social justice In 1980, whenRobin Cookmoved an amendment to legalise homosexual acts to the Bill which became theCriminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980, the SNP's two MPsGordon WilsonandDonald Stewartboth voted against the amendment. In June 2000, the SNP supported the repeal ofsection 28, a series of laws across Britain that prohibited the \\\"promotion of homosexuality\\\" by local authorities. In government in July 2012, the SNP announced that they would legislate for civil and religious same-sex marriage in Scotland.The bill was fast-tracked through theScottish Parliament,and approved with 105 MSPs in favour in February 2014. UnderSturgeon'sleadership, Scotland was twice in succession named the best country in Europe forLGBT+legal equality.The party is considered very supportive of gays, lesbians and bisexuals - something that historically was not the case, as stated above. The SNP legislated to improvegender self-identificationwith theGender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. The policy was controversial within the SNP, with some of the party's social conservatives claiming the reforms could be open to abuse.In 2020, the Scottish Government paused the legislation in order to find \\\"maximum consensus\\\" on the issueand commentators described the issue as having divided the SNP like no other, with many dubbing the debate a \\\"civil war\\\".In January 2021, a former trans officer in the SNP's LGBT wing, Teddy Hope, quit the party, describing it was one of the \\\"core hubs of transphobia in Scotland\\\".Large numbers of LGBT activists followed suit and Sturgeon released a video message in which she said that transphobia is \\\"not acceptable\\\" and that she hoped they would one day rejoin the party.In December 2022, theGender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Billwas passed by a majority of 86 to 39, with nine SNP members voting against the bill and 54 for. Particularly sinceNicola Sturgeon's elevation toFirst Ministerthe party has highlighted its commitments togender equality– with her first act being to appoint agender balanced cabinet.The SNP have also taken steps to implementall-women shortlistswhilst Sturgeon has introduced a mentoring schemeto encourage women's political engagement. The SNP supportsmulticulturalismwith Scotland receiving thousands ofrefugeesfrom theSyrian Civil War.To this end it has been claimed that refugees in Scotland are better supported than those in England.More generally, the SNP seeks to increase immigration to combat a declining populationand calling for a separate Scottish visa even within the UK.However, data for 2022 shows that Scotland houses proportionally fewer asylum seekers relative to its population than England. Foreign affairs and defence Despite traditionally supportingmilitary neutralitythe SNP's policy has in recent years moved to support both theAtlanticistandEuropeanisttraditions. This is particularly evident in the conclusion of theNATO debatewithin the party in favour of those who support membership of the military alliance.This is despite the party's continuing opposition to Scotland hostingnuclear weaponsand then-leaderSalmond's criticism of both theKosovo interventionand theIraq War.The party has placed an emphasis on developing positive relations with theUnited Statesin recent yearsdespite a lukewarm reaction to theelectionof part-Scottish AmericanDonald TrumpasPresidentdue to long running legal disputes. Having opposed continued membership in the1975 referendum, the party has supported membership of theEuropean Unionsince the adoption of the Independence in Europe policy during the 1980s. Consequentially, the SNP supported remaining within the EU during the2016 referendumwhere every Scottish council area backed this position.Consequently, the party opposedBrexitand sought afurther referendumon thewithdrawal agreement,ultimately unsuccessfully. The SNP would like to see anindependent Scotlandas a member of theEuropean UnionandNATOand has left open the prospect of an independent Scotland joining theeuro. The SNP has also taken a stance againstRussianinterference abroad – the party supporting the enlargement of theEUandNATOto areas such as theWestern BalkansandUkraineto counter this influence.The party called for repercussions for Russia regarding thepoisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripaland has criticised former leaderAlex Salmondfor broadcasting achat showonKremlin-backednetworkRT.Consequently, party representatives have expressed support for movements such asEuromaidanthat support the independence of countries acrossEastern Europe. The party have supported measures includingforeign aidwhich seek to facilitateinternational developmentthrough various charitable organisations.In recognition of Scotland's historic links to the country, these programmes are mostly focused inMalawiin common with previous Scottish governments. With local authorities across the country, includingGlasgow City Councilbeing involved in this partnership since before the SNP took office in2007. Health and education The SNP have pledged to uphold the public service nature ofNHS Scotlandand are consequently opposed to any attempts at privatisation of the health service,including any inclusion in a post-Brexittrade deal with the United States. The party has been fond of increasing provision under the NHS with the introduction of universalbaby boxesbased on theFinnishscheme.This supported child development alongside other commitments including the expansion of free childcare for children younger than school age and the introduction of universal free school meals in the first three years of school. Previously, SNP governments have abolished hospital parking chargesas well as prescription chargesin efforts to promote enhanced public health outcomes by increasing access to care and treatment. Furthermore, during Sturgeon's premiership, Scotland became the first country in the world to introducealcohol minimum unit pricingto counteralcohol problems.Recently, the party has also committed to providing universal access tosanitary productsand the liberalisation ofdrugs policythroughdevolution, in an effort to increase access to treatment and improvepublic healthoutcomes. Between 2014 and 2019 the party slashed the budget for drug and alcohol treatments by 6.3%- a cut that has been linked with Scotland recording the highest number of drug deaths per head in Europe. The party aspires to promote universal access to education, with one of the first acts of theSalmond governmentbeing to abolishtuition fees- although it has also introduced a cap on the number of Scots who can attend university and cut funding for further education colleges.More recently, the party has turned its attention to widening access tohigher educationwith Nicola Sturgeon stating that education is her number one priority.At school level, the SNP had the OECD review theCurriculum for Excellence.When the review found that the \\\"visionary ideals\\\" of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) had not fully succeeded, they announced a series of educational reforms and the scrapping of the Scottish Qualifications Authority.Furthermore, it has been claimed that a recent decline in Scotland's educational standards as illustrated by PISA studies is directly related to CfE's implementation in 2012. Constitution The foundations of the SNP are a belief thatScotlandwould be more prosperous by being governedindependentlyfrom theUnited Kingdom, although the party was defeated in the2014 referendumon this issue.The party has since sought to hold asecond referendumat some point in the future, perhaps related to the outcome ofBrexit,as the party sees areferendumas the only route to independence. In 2016 the party convened theSustainable Growth Commissionto advise on the economy and currency of an independent Scotland. Although theSustainable Growth Commission's report, published in 2018, divides opinion it contains the party's official economic recommendations in the event of independence. The party isconstitutionalistand as such rejects holding such a referendumunilaterallyor any course of actions that could lead to comparisons with cases such asCataloniawith the party seeing independence as a process that should be undertaken through a consensual process alongside theUK Government. As part of this process towards independence, the party supports increaseddevolutionto theScottish Parliamentand theScottish Government, particularly in areas such aswelfareandimmigration. Official SNP policy is supportive of themonarchy. Many party members are republicans including former party leaderHumza Yousafbut his predecessor,Nicola Sturgeon, believes it is a \\\"model with many merits\\\", although she has proposed reducing the funds spent on the royal family.Separately, the SNP has always opposed the UK'sunelected upper houseand would like to see both it and theHouse of Commonselected by a form ofproportional representation.The party also supports the introduction of acodified constitution, either for an independent Scotland or the UK as a whole,going as far as producing a proposed interim constitution for Scotland during the independence referendum campaign. Fundamentalists and gradualists There have always been divisions within the party on how to achieveScottish independence, with one wing described as 'fundamentalists' and the other 'gradualists'. The SNP leadership generally subscribes to the gradualist viewpoint, that being the idea that independence can be won by the accumulation by theScottish Parliamentof powers that theUK Parliamentcurrently has over time. Fundamentalism stands in opposition to the so-called gradualist point of view, which believes that the SNP should emphasise independence more widely to achieve it. The argument goes that if the SNP is unprepared to argue for its central policy then it is unlikely ever to persuade the public of its worthiness. Leadership Leader of the Scottish National Party Depute Leader of the Scottish National Party President of the Scottish National Party National Secretary of the Scottish National Party Leader of the parliamentary party, Scottish Parliament Deputy Leader of the parliamentary party, Scottish Parliament Leader of the parliamentary party, House of Commons Deputy Leader of the parliamentary party, House of Commons Chief Executive Current SNP Council Leaders Scottish Parliament Members of the Scottish Parliament The SNP has formed theScottish Governmentsince 2007. As of May 2024,the Cabinetof the Scottish Government is as follows: Parliament of the United Kingdom Members of Parliament Following the 2024 general election, the SNP holds nine seats in the House of Commons. TheSNP frontbench teamin the House of Commons is as follows. Local government Councillors The SNP had 453councillorsinlocal governmentelected from the2022 Scottish local elections. Electoral performance Scottish Parliament House of Commons Local councils Results by council (2022) European Parliament (1979–2020) Two-tier local councils (1975–1996) See also Notes References Further reading External links Does not include organisations focused onUnionismwhich do not mentionBritish nationalismin their official makeup. Does not include organisations supportive ofUnionismorScottish independencewithout mentioning nationalism in their official makeup. Does not include organisations supportive ofUnionismorWelsh independencewithout mentioning nationalism in their official makeup.\",\n \"Winnie Ewing Winifred Margaret EwingFRSA(néeWoodburn; 10 July 1929 – 21 June 2023) was a Scottish lawyer and politician who figured prominently in theScottish National Party. Born and raised in Glasgow, Ewing studied law at theUniversity of Glasgow, where she joined the university'sScottish Nationalist Association. After graduating, she worked as a lawyer, serving as secretary of the Glasgow Bar Association from 1962 to 1967. Ewing was elected to the House of Commons in the1967 Hamilton by-electionand her presence at Westminster led to a rise in membership for the SNP. Although she lost her seat in the1970 election, she was re-elected inFebruary 1974, this time for theMoray and Nairnconstituency. Ewing lost her seat in the1979 electionand, after making numerous attempts to seek re-election, failed to do so. Ewing was elected to theEuropean Parliamentin the1979 elections, representing theHighlands and Islands. In Europe, she acquired the nicknameMadame Écossebecause of her advocacy of Scottish interests. In 1987, she became the president of the Scottish National Party. She served as vice president of theEuropean Radical Allianceand by 1995 had become Britain's longest servingMEP. In thefirst elections to the Scottish Parliament, she was elected to represent theHighlands and Islands. As the oldest qualified member, it was her duty to preside over the opening of the Scottish Parliament. Early life Ewing was born Winifred Margaret Woodburn on 10 July 1929 inGlasgow, to Christina Bell Anderson and George Woodburn, a small business owner.She was educated at Battlefield School andQueen's Park Secondary School. In 1946 she matriculated at theUniversity of Glasgowwhere she graduated with anMAandLLB.Although relatively inactive in politics at that time, she joined the Student Nationalists.Following her graduation, she qualified and practised as a solicitor andnotary public. She was Secretary of the Glasgow Bar Association from 1962 to 1967. Political career Ewing became active in campaigning forScottish independencethrough her membership of theGlasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association, and won the1967 Hamilton by-electionas theScottish National Party(SNP) candidate.She was elected with the help of a team including her election agent,John McAteer. On 16 November, she made her first appearance at Westminster, with her husband and children accompanying her on the journey.She arrived at the parliament in a Scottish-builtHillman Impand was greeted by a crowd and a pipe band. Ewing said at the time \\\"stop the world, Scotland wants to get on\\\", and her presence atWestminsterled to a rise in membership for the SNP.It was speculated that Ewing's electoral gain led to the establishment of theKilbrandon Commissionby theLabourgovernment ofHarold Wilsonto look into the viability of a devolvedScottish Assembly. In hindsight it could be said to mark the start of modern politics in Scotland, according to ProfessorRichard Finlayof Strathclyde University, bringing young people and women from non-political backgrounds into politics for the first time, whilst Labour and Tory party organisation and branch numbers were declining. Despite her high profile, Ewing was unsuccessful in retaining the Hamilton seat at the1970 general election.At the followingFebruary 1974 electionshe stood forMoray and Nairnand was returned to Westminster, although another election followed inOctoberof the same year when her already marginal majority declined. Following the October election she was announced as the SNP's spokesperson on external affairs and theEEC.She first became an MEP in 1975, at a time when the European Parliament was still composed of representative delegations from national parliaments.She lost her Westminster seat at theMay 1979 election, but within weeks had gained a seat in the European Parliament at thefirst direct elections to the Parliament. Ewing was unsuccessful at seeking to return to Westminster as the SNP candidate forOrkney and Shetlandin1983, coming third. Ewing was elected the SNP Party President in 1987.It was during her time as an MEP that she acquired the nicknameMadame Écosse(Frenchfor 'Mrs Scotland') because of her advocacy of Scottish interests in Strasbourg and Brussels.That sobriquet was first used byLe Mondeand with Ewing using the term as a badge of pride, it stuck.By 1995 she had become Britain's longest serving MEP.She served as Vice President of theEuropean Radical Alliance,which in addition to the SNP also included French, Belgian, Italian and Spanish MEPs. In 1999, she did not stand for the European Parliament, instead becoming aMember of the Scottish Parliament(MSP) in the first session of the Scottish Parliament, representing theHighlands and Islands. As the oldest qualified member,it was her duty to preside over the opening of the Scottish Parliament,a session she opened with the statement: \\\"The Scottish Parliament, adjourned on the 25th day of March in the year 1707, is hereby reconvened\\\".She sat as a member on the European Committee and the Public Petitions Committee. During the controversy that arose in the early years of theScottish Parliamentsurrounding proposals to repealClause 28(a law banning the active promotion of homosexuality in schools), she joined her sonFergus Ewingin abstaining, although her daughter in lawMargaret Ewingsupported repeal as did the majority of her party's MSPs. In June 2001, having turned 72 years old, she announced that she would retire from Parliament at the end of the session.In January 2003, her husband, Stewart Ewing, died from a heart attack after a fire at their home.He had been active with her in politics for many years, and had himself served as an SNP councillor for theSummerstonarea inGlasgow, gaining the seat of Dick Dynes, the leader of the Labour Group onGlasgow District Councilin1977, a result described byThe Glasgow Heraldas \\\"an absolute sensation\\\".Later in 2003 she stood down from being an MSP,although she continued to serve as the SNP's President. On 15 July 2005, she announced she would be stepping down as President of theScottish National Partyat its September Conference, bringing to an end her 38-year career in representative politics. Nicola Sturgeonsaid that Ewing had given her \\\"hugely valuable advice\\\" on public speaking, and that Ewing had given her some important advice as a young woman in politics, namely \\\"Stand your ground and believe in yourself\\\" and \\\"a more vibrant, colourful, dynamic, passionate, committed person, you would struggle to meet.\\\" Outside Parliament Ewing was a vice president of equal rights charityParity.In April 2009,BBC Albabroadcast a biographical documentaryMadame Ecosse, produced by Madmac Productions.It was rebroadcast onBBC Scotlandto mark her 80th birthday.Nicola Sturgeon named Ewing as her Political Hero on BBC News in 2018. Personal life Winnie and Stuart Ewing had three children, two of whom also went on to a career in politics: their son,Fergus Ewing, was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and went on to hold several cabinet posts. Their daughter,Annabelle Ewing, was an MP from 2001 to 2005 and was elected an MSP in 2006.Ewing died at her home inBridge of Weiron 21 June 2023, at age 93. Awards and honours In 1990 she was made a fellow of theRoyal Society of Arts.In 2003 theLaw Society of Scotlandmade her an honorary member.She was awarded honoraryLLDdegrees from the University of Glasgow in 1995 and theUniversity of Aberdeenin 2004.She was awarded Doctor of the University degrees from theOpen Universityin 1993and theUniversity of Stirlingin 2012.In 2009, a portrait of her painted byDavid Donaldsonin 1970 was lent to the Scottish Parliament and put on display. References Further reading External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Scottish National Party TheScottish National Party(SNP;Scots:Scots National Pairty,Scottish Gaelic:Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is aScottish nationalistandsocial democraticparty. The party holds 62 of the 129 seats in theScottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in theHouse of Commons. It has 453 local councillors of the 1,227 available. The SNP supports and campaigns forScottish independencefrom the United Kingdom and for Scotland's membership in theEuropean Union,with a platform based on progressive social policies andcivic nationalism.Founded in 1934 with the amalgamation of theNational Party of Scotlandand theScottish Party, the party has had continuous parliamentaryrepresentation in WestminstersinceWinnie Ewingwon the1967 Hamilton by-election. With the establishment of the devolved Scottish Parliament in 1999, the SNP became the second-largest party, serving two terms as theopposition. The SNP gained power underAlex Salmondat the2007 Scottish Parliament election, forming aminority","forming aminority government, before going on to win the2011 Parliament election, after which it formedHolyrood's firstmajority government.After Scotland voted against independence in the2014 referendum, Salmond resigned and was succeeded byNicola Sturgeon. The SNP achieved a record number of 56 seats in Westminster after the2015 general electionto become the third largest partybut in Holyrood it was reduced back to being a minority government at the2016 election. In the2021 election, the SNP gained one seat and entered apower-sharing agreementwith theScottish Greens. In March 2023 Sturgeon resigned and was replaced byHumza Yousaf. In April 2024, Yousaf collapsed the power-sharing deal with the Greens andresignedthe following week due to the resulting fallout of the decision. The incumbentJohn Swinneywas elected leader in May 2024. In the2024 general election, the SNP lost 38 seats, reducing it to the second-largest party in Scotland and the fourth-largest party in the Westminster Parliament. The party does","The party does not have any members of theHouse of Lordson the principle that itopposes the upper house of Parliamentand calls for it to be scrapped.The SNP is a member of theEuropean Free Alliance(EFA). History Foundation and early breakthroughs (1934–1970) The SNP was formed in 1934 through the merger of theNational Party of Scotlandand theScottish Party, with theDuke of MontroseandCunninghame Grahamas its first joint presidents.Alexander MacEwenwas its first chairman. The party was divided on its approach to theSecond World War.Professor Douglas Young, who was SNP leader from 1942 to 1945, campaigned for the Scottish people to refuseconscriptionand his activities were popularly vilified as undermining theBritish war effortagainst theAxis powers. Young was imprisoned for refusing to be conscripted. The party suffered its first split during this period with John MacCormick leaving the party in 1942, owing to his failure to change the party's policy from supporting all-out independence toHome Ruleat that","toHome Ruleat that year's conference in Glasgow. McCormick went on to form theScottish Covenant Association, a non-partisan political organisation campaigning for the establishment of a devolved Scottish Assembly. However, wartime conditions also enabled the SNP's first parliamentary success at theMotherwell by-electionin 1945, butRobert McIntyreMP lost the seat at thegeneral electionthree months later. The 1950s were characterised by similarly low levels of support, and this made it difficult for the party to advance. Indeed, in most general elections they were unable to put up more than a handful of candidates. The 1960s, however, offered more electoral successes, with candidates polling credibly atGlasgow Bridgetonin 1961,West Lothianin 1962 andGlasgow Pollokin 1967. This foreshadowedWinnie Ewing's surprise victory ina by-electionat the previously safeLabourseat ofHamilton. This brought the SNP to national prominence, leading to the establishment of theKilbrandon Commission. Becoming a notable force","a notable force (1970s) Despite this breakthrough, the1970 general electionwas to prove a disappointment for the party as, despite an increase in vote share, Ewing failed to retain her seat in Hamilton. The party did receive some consolation with the capture of theWestern Isles, makingDonald Stewartthe party's only MP. This was to be the case until the1973 by-electionatGlasgow Govanwhere a hitherto safe Labour seat was claimed byMargo MacDonald. Nineteen seventy-four was to prove something of anannus mirabilisfor the party, as it deployed its highly effectiveIt's Scotland's oilcampaign.The SNP gained six seats at theFebruary general electionbefore hitting a high point in theOctober re-run, polling almost a third of all votes in Scotland and returning 11 MPs to Westminster. Furthermore, during that year'slocal electionsthe party claimed overall control ofCumbernauld and Kilsyth. This success was to continue for much of the decade, and at the1977 district electionsthe SNP saw victories at councils","at councils includingEast KilbrideandFalkirkand held the balance of power inGlasgow.However, this level of support was not to last and by 1978 Labour revival was evident at three by-elections (Glasgow Garscadden,HamiltonandBerwick and East Lothian) as well as theregional elections. In 1976,James Callaghan's minority government made an agreement with the SNP andPlaid Cymru. In return for their support in the Commons, the government would respond to theKilbrandon commissionand legislate to devolve powers from Westminster to Scotland and Wales.The resultingScotland Act 1978would create a Scottish assembly, subject to a referendum. Labour, the Liberals and the SNP campaigned for a \"yes\" vote inthe referendum on the Scotland Actand \"yes\" won a majority, but a threshold imposed by anti-devolution Labour MPGeorge Cunninghamrequiring 40% of the electorate to be in favour was not reached due to low turnout.When the government decided not to implement the Act, the SNP's MPs withdrew their support and voted to","and voted to supportMargaret Thatcher's motion of no confidence in Callaghan's government.In the ensuinggeneral election, the party experienced a large drop in its support. Reduced to just 2 MPs, the successes of October 1974 were not to be surpassed until the2015 general election. Factional divisions and infighting (1980s) Following this defeat, a period of internal strife occurred within the party, culminating with the formation of the left-wing79 Group.Traditionalists within the party, centred aroundWinnie Ewing, by this time anMEP, responded by establishing theCampaign for Nationalism in Scotlandwhich sought to ensure that the primary objective of the SNP was campaigning for independence without a traditional left-right orientation, even though this would have undone the work of figures such asWilliam Wolfe, who developed a clearlysocial democraticpolicy platform throughout the 1970s. These events ensured the success of a leadership motion at the party's annual conference of 1982, inAyr, despite the 79","despite the 79 Group being bolstered by the merger ofJim Sillars'Scottish Labour Party (SLP)although this influx of ex-SLP members further shifted the characteristics of the party leftwards. Despite this, traditionalist figureGordon Wilsonremained party leader through the electoral disappointments of1983and1987, where he lost his ownDundee Eastseat won 13 years prior. Through this period, Sillars' influence in the party grew, developing a clear socio-economic platform includingIndependence in Europe,reversing the SNP's previous opposition to membership of thethen-EECwhich had been unsuccessful in a1975 referendum. This position was enhanced further by Sillars reclaimingGlasgow Govanin aby-electionin 1988. Despite this moderation, the party did not joinLabour, theLiberal Democratsand theGreensas well as civil society in theScottish Constitutional Conventionwhich developed a blueprint for a devolvedScottish Parliamentdue to the unwillingness of the convention to discuss independence as a constitutional option.","option. First Salmond era (1990s) Alex Salmondhad been elected MP forBanff and Buchanin 1987, after the re-admittance of 79 Group members, and was able to seize the party leadership after Wilson's resignation in1990after a contest withMargaret Ewing. This was a surprise victory as Ewing had the backing of much of the party establishment, including Sillars and then-Party SecretaryJohn Swinney. The defection of Labour MPDick Douglasfurther evidenced the party's clear left-wing positioning, particularly regarding opposition to thepoll tax.Despite this, Salmond's leadership was unable to avert a fourth successive general election disappointment in1992with the party reduced back from 5 to 3 MPs. The mid-90s offered some successes for the party, withNorth East Scotlandbeing gained at the1994 European electionsand the party securing aby-electionatPerth and Kinrossin 1995 after a near-miss atMonklands Eastthe previous year. Nineteen ninety-seven offered the party's most successfulgeneral electionfor 23 years,","23 years, although in the face of the Labour landslide the party was unable to match either of the two 1974 elections. That September, the party joined with the members of theScottish Constitutional Conventionin the successful Yes-Yes campaign in thedevolution referendumwhich lead to the establishment of aScottish Parliamentwith tax-varying powers. By 1999, thefirst electionsto the parliament were being held, although the party suffered a disappointing result, gaining just 35 MSPs in the face of Salmond's unpopular 'KosovoBroadcast' which opposedNATO interventionin the country. Opposing Labour-Liberal Democrat coalitions (1999–2007) This meant that the party began as the official opposition in the parliament to aLabour-Liberal Democrat coalition government. Salmond found the move to a more consensual politics difficult and sought a return to Westminster, resigning the leadership in2000with John Swinney, like Salmond agradualist,victorious in the ensuring leadership election.Swinney's leadership proved","leadership proved ineffectual, with a loss of one MP in2001and a further reduction to 27 MSPs in2003despite theOfficegatescandal unseating previousFirst MinisterHenry McLeish.However, the only parties to gain seats in that election were theScottish Greensand theScottish Socialist Party (SSP)which like the SNP support independence. Following an unsuccessfulleadership challengein 2003, Swinney stepped down following disappointing results in theEuropean elections of 2004with Salmond victorious in thesubsequent leadership contestdespite initially refusing to be candidate.Nicola Sturgeonwas elected Depute Leader and became the party's leader in the Scottish Parliament until Salmond was able to return at the next parliamentary election. Salmond governments (2007–2014) In2007, the SNP emerged as the largest party in the Scottish Parliament with 47 of 129 seats, narrowly oustingScottish Labourwith 46 seats andAlex SalmondbecomingFirst Ministerafter ousting the Liberal Democrats inGordon. TheScottish Greenssupported","Greenssupported Salmond's election as First Minister, and his subsequent appointments of ministers, in return for early tabling of theclimate change billand the SNP nominating a Green MSP to chair a parliamentary committee.Despite this, Salmond's minority government tended to strike budget deals with theConservativesto stay in office. In the final few years of the New Labour government, there were four parliamentary by-elections in Scotland. The SNP saw marginal swings towards the party in three of them;2006 in Dunfermline and West Fife,2008 in Glenrothesand2009 in Glasgow North East. None were as notable than the2008 Glasgow East by-election, in which the SNP'sJohn Masontook the third safest Labour seat in Scotland on a 22.5% swing. InMay 2011, the SNP won an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament with 69 seats.This was followed by a reverse in the party's previous opposition toNATOmembership at the party's annual conference in 2012despite Salmond's refusal to apologise for the Kosovo broadcast on the","broadcast on the occasion of theKosovo Declaration of Independence. This majority enabled the SNP government to hold areferendum on Scottish independencein 2014. The \"No\" vote prevailed in a close-fought campaign, prompting the resignation of First MinisterAlex Salmond. Forty-five percent of Scottish voters cast their ballots for independence, with the \"Yes\" side receiving less support than late polling predicted.Exit polling by Lord Ashcroft suggested that many No voters thought independence too risky,while others voted for the Union because of their emotional attachment to Britain.Older voters, women and middle class voters voted no in margins above the national average. Following the Yes campaign's defeat, Salmond resigned andNicola Sturgeonwon thatyear's leadership electionunopposed. Sturgeon years (2014–2023) The SNP rebounded from their loss at the independence referendum at the2015 general electioneight months later, led by former Depute LeaderNicola Sturgeon. The party went from holding six seats in","six seats in the House of Commons to 56, ending 51 years of dominance by the Scottish Labour Party. All but three of the fifty-nine constituencies in the country elected an SNP candidate in the party's most comprehensive electoral victory at any level. At the2016 Scottish election, the SNP lost a net total of six seats, losing its overall majority in the Scottish Parliament, but returning for a third consecutive term as a minority government despite gaining an additional 1.1% of the constituency vote, for the party's best-ever result, from the 2011 election however 2.3% of the regional list vote. On the constituency vote, the SNP gained a net 10 seats from Labour. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats each gained two constituency seats from the SNP on 2011. This election was followed by the2016 European Union referendum, after which the SNP joined with theLiberal DemocratsandGreensto call for continued UK membership of the EU. Despite a consequential increase in the Conservative Party vote at the2017 local","at the2017 local electionsthe SNP for the first time became the largest party in each of Scotland's four city councils:Aberdeen,Dundee,EdinburghandGlasgow, where a Labour administration was ousted after 37 years. At the2017 general election, the SNP underperformed compared to polling expectations, losing 21 seats to bring their number of Commons seats down to 35 – however, this was still the party's second-best result ever at the time.This was largely attributed by many, including former Deputy First Minister John Swinney,to their stance on holding asecond Scottish independence referendumand saw a swing to the unionist parties, with seats being picked up by the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats and a reduction in their majorities in the other seats. High-profile losses included SNP Commons leaderAngus Robertsonand former SNP leader and First MinisterAlex Salmond. The SNP went on to achieve its best-everEuropean Parliamentresultin the final electionbeforeBrexit, the party taking itsMEPtotal to","itsMEPtotal to three (or half ofScottish seats) and achieving a record vote share for the party. This was also the best performance of any party in the era of proportional elections to the European Parliament inScotland. This was suggested as being due to the party'seurophilesentiment during what amounted to a single-issue election. Later that year, the SNP experienced a surge in support at the2019 general election, winning a 45.0% share of the vote and 48 seats, its second-best result ever. The party gained seven seats from the Conservatives and 6 from Labour. This victory was generally attributed to Sturgeon's cautious approach regarding holding a second independence referendum and a strong emphasis on retaining EU membership during the election campaign.The following January, the strengthenedConservative governmentensured that the UK left the European Union on 31 January 2020. At the2021 Scottish election, the SNP won 64 seats, one seat short of a majority, albeit achieving a record high number of votes,","number of votes, vote share and constituency seats, and leading to another minority government led by the SNP. Sturgeon emphasised after her party's victory that it would focus on controlling theCOVID-19 pandemicas well as pushing for a second referendum on independence. Although they won with a majority in 2021, a majority of MSPs elected had come from parties that supported Scottish independence; this prompted negotiations between the SNP and the Scottish Green Party to secure a deal that would see Green ministers appointed to government and theScottish Greensbacking SNP policies, with hopes that this united front on independence would solidify the SNP's mandate for the second independence referendum. TheThird Sturgeon governmentwas formed with Green support. In July 2021, the Scottish Police launched an investigation into possibly missing funds raised between 2017 and 2020 specifically for a second referendum. The investigation was given the code nameOperation Branchform.In the2022 Scottish local","Scottish local elections, the SNP remained as the biggest party, winning a record number of councillors and securing majority control ofDundee.On 15 February 2023, Sturgeon announced her intention to resign as leader and first minister. On 16 March 2023, it was revealed that the SNP's membership had fallen to 72,000, down from over 125,000 at the end of 2019. As a result of this, CEOPeter Murrellresigned on 18 March after criticism was levied at him over the way the figures were published. Yousaf era (March 2023 – May 2024) Humza Yousafwas announced as the next Leader of the Scottish National Party on 27 March 2023 after winning theleadership election. Yousaf defeated challengerKate Forbesin the final stage, with 52% of the vote to Forbes' 48%.The leadership election was dominated by the strategy for asecond independence referendumand theGender Recognition Reform Bill, which has divided the party.On 29 March 2023, Yousaf was appointed First Minister of Scotland. On 18 April, his government published its","published its policy prospectus titled \"Equality, opportunity, community: New leadership - A fresh start\" On 23 August 2023, Murray Foote was appointed as the new Chief Executive of the SNP.On 12 October 2023, MPLisa Cameroncrossed the floorto join the Scottish Conservatives, ahead of counting the votes on her selection contest within the SNP for the2024 United Kingdom general election. She became the first elected representative from the SNP to defect to a unionist party. Cameron claimed a \"toxic and bullying\" culture in the SNP led to her defection. On 15 October 2023, the SNP National Conference voted in favour of Yousaf's strategy on Scottish independence, including a number of amendments proposed from senior SNP representatives. This committed the SNP to launching a Scotland-wide independence campaign before the end of 2023.Yousaf also made a number of policy announcements, including a freeze on Council Tax rates, additional funding for the NHS to reduce waiting lists as well as the issuing ofgovernment","ofgovernment bondsto fund infrastructure projects. On 25 April 2024, it was announced that theBute House Agreementwould come to an endbefore a vote was to be held by the Scottish Greens on whether to continue the agreement.Four days later, Yousaf announced that he would be resigning as Leader of the Scottish National Party and as First Minister of Scotland. Operation Branchform In April 2023, two SNP officials were arrested and released without charge in connection with theinvestigation into Scottish National Party finances. Peter Murrell was arrested on 5 Apriland Colin Beattie, the SNP treasurer, on 18 April.Murrell is the husband of former party leader, Nicola Sturgeon. The day Murrell was arrested and interviewed,Police Scotlandalso searched a number of addresses, including the SNP's headquarters and Murrell's home in Glasgow.Beattie resigned as SNP treasurer and was replaced by Stuart McDonald. Also in April, it was reported that the SNP's auditors, Johnston Carmichael, had resigned from their role","from their role around October 2022, and were yet to be replaced, three months before the party's accounts 2022 were due to be submitted to the Electoral Commission.New auditors were appointed in May.Filing the party accounts in June 2023, the new auditors highlighted that they had not been able to find original records for some cash and cheques. Murrell was re-arrested on 18 April 2024 and charged with embezzlement. He later resigned his membership of the SNP. ACrown Office and Procurator Fiscal Servicespokesman confirmed that it received a report in relation to Murrell and that an investigation into two other individuals \"a man aged 72 and a 53-year-old woman\" were still ongoing. Swinney era (May 2024 onwards) On 6 May 2024,John Swinneywas confirmed as the new leader of the Scottish National Party in the2024 Scottish National Party leadership election.He was unopposed in the race as on 2 May his main speculated challenger,Kate Forbes, announced she would not stand in the race and endorsed Swinneyand on 5","Swinneyand on 5 May, Graeme McCormick claimed that he secured enough member votes for a nomination but then dropped out the same evening following a conversation with Swinney, ultimately endorsing him. During the campaign for the2024 general election, the SNP was investigated by Holyrood authorities for allegedly misusing MSPs' expenses to fund their campaigning. An anonymous complaint was sent toAlison Johnstonein which an individual claimed that stamps bought with expenses were given to Westminster election candidates for mailing leaflets. The complaint included a WhatsApp screenshot showing MSP staff discussing the traceability of the stamps. Parliamentary rules state that stationery and postage provided by theScottish Parliament Corporate Body\"must be used only for parliamentary duties and must not be used for any other purpose, including party political purposes\". It was reported that John Swinney's office manager had told an SNP staff WhatsApp group chat that \"stamp fairy is very useful when it comes","when it comes to campaigns\". An SNP spokesperson confirmed the investigation and emphasized compliance with the rules, while John Swinney stated that he had been \"assured that no parliamentary stamps that have been provided by Parliament have been used to support election purposes\", adding that he was \"confident\" that there had been no use of any public money to support the SNP general election campaign. This investigation occurred amid SNP's financial struggles, falling membership, and the police investigation into alleged embezzlement. Despite a £128,000 bequest boosting their campaign, SNP spending was minimal compared to other parties. The SNP ultimately won nine seats in the 2024 election, a loss of 39 seats on its 2019 result, reducing it to the second-largest party in Scotland, behindScottish Labour, and the fourth-largest party in Westminster. Swinney took full responsibility but said that he would not resign as leader. He said of the results, \"There will have to be a lot of soul searching as a party","as a party as a consequence of these results that have come in tonight\", and that the SNP has to be \"better at governing on behalf of the people of Scotland\", admitting the party was not \"winning the argument\" on Scottish independence. Constitution and structure The local Branches are the primary level of organisation in the SNP. All of the Branches within each Scottish Parliament constituency form a Constituency Association, which coordinates the work of the Branches within the constituency, coordinates the activities of the party in the constituency and acts as a point of liaison between an MSP or MP and the party. Constituency Associations are composed of delegates from all of the Branches within the constituency. The annual National Conference is the supreme governing body of the SNP and is responsible for determining party policy and electing the National Executive Committee. The National Conference is composed of: There are also regular meetings of the National Assembly, which provides a forum for","a forum for detailed discussions of party policy by party members. Membership The SNP experienced a large surge in membership following the2014 Scottish independence referendum.In 2013, the party's membership stood at just 20,000,but that number had swelled to over 100,000 by 2015.Party membership peaked in 2019 at around 125,000.Annual accounts submitted by the party to theElectoral Commissionshowed the SNP to have over 119,000 members in 2021.By the end of 2021, the party reported that this number was 103,884.Membership then continued to fall: to 85,000 at the end of 2022, and to 72,186 in March 2023.By the end of 2023, this had fallen to 69,325 and then to 64,525 by June 2024. European affiliation The SNP retains close links withPlaid Cymru, its counterpart inWales.MPsfrom both parties co-operate closely with each other and work as a single parliamentary group within the House of Commons. Both the SNP and Plaid Cymru are members of theEuropean Free Alliance(EFA),a European political party","political party comprisingregionalistpolitical parties. The EFA co-operates with the largerEuropean Green Partyto formThe Greens–European Free Alliance(Greens/EFA) group in theEuropean Parliament.Before its affiliation with The Greens–European Free Alliance, the SNP had previously been allied with theEuropean Progressive Democrats(1979–1984),Rainbow Group(1989–1994) andEuropean Radical Alliance(1994–1999). As the UK is no longer a member of the EU, the SNP has no MEPs. Policies Ideology The Scottish National Party did not have a clear ideological position until the 1970s, when it sought to explicitly present itself as a social democratic party in terms of party policy and publicity.During the period from its foundation until the 1960s, the SNP was essentially a moderatecentristparty.Debate within the party focused more on the SNP being distinct as an all-Scotland national movement, with it being neither of theleftnor theright, but constituting a new politics that sought to put Scotland first. The SNP was","first. The SNP was formed through the merger of the centre-leftNational Party of Scotland(NPS) and the centre-rightScottish Party.The SNP's founders were united overself-determinationin principle, though not its exact nature, or the best strategic means to achieve self-government. From the mid-1940s onwards, SNP policy wasradicalandredistributionistconcerning land and in favour of 'the diffusion of economic power', including thedecentralisationof industries such as coal to include the involvement of local authorities and regional planning bodies to control industrial structure and development.Party policies supported the economic and social policy status quo of the post-warwelfare state. By the 1960s, the SNP was starting to become defined ideologically, with a social democratic tradition emerging as the party grew in urban, industrial Scotland, and its membership experienced an influx of social democrats from theLabour Party, thetrade unionsand theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament.The emergence ofBilly","emergence ofBilly Wolfeas a leading figure in the SNP also contributed to the leftwards shift. By this period, the Labour Party was also the dominant party in Scotland, in terms of electoral support and representation. Targeting Labour through emphasising left-of-centre policies and values was therefore electorally logical for the SNP, as well as tying in with the ideological preferences of many new party members.In 1961, the SNP conference expressed the party's opposition to the siting of theUSPolarissubmarine base at theHoly Loch. This policy was followed in 1963 by a motion opposed tonuclear weapons: a policy that has remained in place ever since.The 1964 policy document,SNP & You, contained a clear centre-left policy platform, including commitments tofull employment, government intervention in fuel, power and transport, a state bank to guide economic development, encouragement ofcooperativesandcredit unions, extensive building ofcouncil houses(social housing) by central and local government, pensions","pensions adjusted to cost of living, aminimum wageand an improvednational health service. The 1960s also saw the beginnings of the SNP's efforts to establish an industrial organisation and mobilise amongst trade unionists in Scotland, with the establishment of the SNP Trade Union Group, and identifying the SNP with industrial campaigns, such as theUpper-Clyde Shipbuilders Work-inand the attempt of the workers at the ScottishDaily Expressto run as a co-operative.For the party manifestos for the two 1974 general elections, the SNP finally self-identified as a social democratic party, and proposed a range of social democratic policies.There was also an unsuccessful proposal at the 1975 party conference to rename the party as theScottish National Party (Social Democrats).In the UK-wide referendum on Britain's membership of the European Economic Community (EEC) in the same year as the aforementioned attempted name change, the SNP campaigned for Britain to leave the EEC. There were further ideological and internal","and internal struggles after 1979, with the79 Groupattempting to move the SNP further to the left, away from being what could be described a \"social-democratic\" party, to an expressly \"socialist\" party. Members of the 79 Group – including future party leader andFirst MinisterAlex Salmond– were expelled from the party. This produced a response in the shape of theCampaign for Nationalism in Scotlandfrom those who wanted the SNP to remain a \"broad church\", apart from arguments of left vs. right. The 1980s saw the SNP further define itself as a party of the political left, such as campaigning against the introduction of thepoll taxin Scotland in 1989; one year before the tax was imposed on the rest of the UK. Ideological tensions inside the SNP are further complicated by arguments between the so-calledSNP gradualistsandSNP fundamentalists. In essence, gradualists seek to advance Scotland to independence through further devolution, in a \"step-by-step\" strategy. They tend to be in the moderate left grouping,","left grouping, though much of the79 Groupwas gradualist in approach. However, this 79 Group gradualism was as much a reaction against the fundamentalists of the day, many of whom believed the SNP should not take a clear left or right position. Economy During the 1970s the SNP campaigned widely on the political sloganIt's Scotland's oil, where it was argued that the discovery of North Sea oil off the coast of Scotland, and the revenue that it created would not benefit Scotland to any significant degree while Scotland remained part of the United Kingdom. TheSturgeon Governmentin 2017 adjusted income tax rates so that low earners would pay less and those earning more than £33,000 a year would pay more.Previously the party had replaced the flat rateStamp Dutywith theLBTT, which uses a graduated tax rate.Whilst in government, the party was also responsible for the establishment ofRevenue Scotlandto administer devolved taxation. Having previously defined itself in opposition to thepoll taxthe SNP has also","taxthe SNP has also championed progressive taxation at a local level. Despite pledging to introduce alocal income taxtheSalmond Governmentfound itself unable to replace thecouncil taxand the party has, particularly since the ending of the council tax freezeunder Nicola Sturgeon's leadership, committing to increasing the graduated nature of the tax.Conversely, the party has also supported capping and reducingBusiness Ratesin an attempt to support small businesses. It has been noted that the party contains a broader spectrum of opinion regarding economic policy than most political parties in the UK due to its status as \"the only viable vehicle for Scottish independence\",with the party's parliamentary group at Westminster in 2016 including socialists such asTommy SheppardandMhairi Black, capitalists such asStewart Hosieand former Conservative,Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh. Social justice In 1980, whenRobin Cookmoved an amendment to legalise homosexual acts to the Bill which became theCriminal Justice (Scotland) Act","(Scotland) Act 1980, the SNP's two MPsGordon WilsonandDonald Stewartboth voted against the amendment. In June 2000, the SNP supported the repeal ofsection 28, a series of laws across Britain that prohibited the \"promotion of homosexuality\" by local authorities. In government in July 2012, the SNP announced that they would legislate for civil and religious same-sex marriage in Scotland.The bill was fast-tracked through theScottish Parliament,and approved with 105 MSPs in favour in February 2014. UnderSturgeon'sleadership, Scotland was twice in succession named the best country in Europe forLGBT+legal equality.The party is considered very supportive of gays, lesbians and bisexuals - something that historically was not the case, as stated above. The SNP legislated to improvegender self-identificationwith theGender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. The policy was controversial within the SNP, with some of the party's social conservatives claiming the reforms could be open to abuse.In 2020, the Scottish","2020, the Scottish Government paused the legislation in order to find \"maximum consensus\" on the issueand commentators described the issue as having divided the SNP like no other, with many dubbing the debate a \"civil war\".In January 2021, a former trans officer in the SNP's LGBT wing, Teddy Hope, quit the party, describing it was one of the \"core hubs of transphobia in Scotland\".Large numbers of LGBT activists followed suit and Sturgeon released a video message in which she said that transphobia is \"not acceptable\" and that she hoped they would one day rejoin the party.In December 2022, theGender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Billwas passed by a majority of 86 to 39, with nine SNP members voting against the bill and 54 for. Particularly sinceNicola Sturgeon's elevation toFirst Ministerthe party has highlighted its commitments togender equality– with her first act being to appoint agender balanced cabinet.The SNP have also taken steps to implementall-women shortlistswhilst Sturgeon has introduced a mentoring","a mentoring schemeto encourage women's political engagement. The SNP supportsmulticulturalismwith Scotland receiving thousands ofrefugeesfrom theSyrian Civil War.To this end it has been claimed that refugees in Scotland are better supported than those in England.More generally, the SNP seeks to increase immigration to combat a declining populationand calling for a separate Scottish visa even within the UK.However, data for 2022 shows that Scotland houses proportionally fewer asylum seekers relative to its population than England. Foreign affairs and defence Despite traditionally supportingmilitary neutralitythe SNP's policy has in recent years moved to support both theAtlanticistandEuropeanisttraditions. This is particularly evident in the conclusion of theNATO debatewithin the party in favour of those who support membership of the military alliance.This is despite the party's continuing opposition to Scotland hostingnuclear weaponsand then-leaderSalmond's criticism of both theKosovo interventionand theIraq","theIraq War.The party has placed an emphasis on developing positive relations with theUnited Statesin recent yearsdespite a lukewarm reaction to theelectionof part-Scottish AmericanDonald TrumpasPresidentdue to long running legal disputes. Having opposed continued membership in the1975 referendum, the party has supported membership of theEuropean Unionsince the adoption of the Independence in Europe policy during the 1980s. Consequentially, the SNP supported remaining within the EU during the2016 referendumwhere every Scottish council area backed this position.Consequently, the party opposedBrexitand sought afurther referendumon thewithdrawal agreement,ultimately unsuccessfully. The SNP would like to see anindependent Scotlandas a member of theEuropean UnionandNATOand has left open the prospect of an independent Scotland joining theeuro. The SNP has also taken a stance againstRussianinterference abroad – the party supporting the enlargement of theEUandNATOto areas such as theWestern BalkansandUkraineto","BalkansandUkraineto counter this influence.The party called for repercussions for Russia regarding thepoisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripaland has criticised former leaderAlex Salmondfor broadcasting achat showonKremlin-backednetworkRT.Consequently, party representatives have expressed support for movements such asEuromaidanthat support the independence of countries acrossEastern Europe. The party have supported measures includingforeign aidwhich seek to facilitateinternational developmentthrough various charitable organisations.In recognition of Scotland's historic links to the country, these programmes are mostly focused inMalawiin common with previous Scottish governments. With local authorities across the country, includingGlasgow City Councilbeing involved in this partnership since before the SNP took office in2007. Health and education The SNP have pledged to uphold the public service nature ofNHS Scotlandand are consequently opposed to any attempts at privatisation of the health service,including any","any inclusion in a post-Brexittrade deal with the United States. The party has been fond of increasing provision under the NHS with the introduction of universalbaby boxesbased on theFinnishscheme.This supported child development alongside other commitments including the expansion of free childcare for children younger than school age and the introduction of universal free school meals in the first three years of school. Previously, SNP governments have abolished hospital parking chargesas well as prescription chargesin efforts to promote enhanced public health outcomes by increasing access to care and treatment. Furthermore, during Sturgeon's premiership, Scotland became the first country in the world to introducealcohol minimum unit pricingto counteralcohol problems.Recently, the party has also committed to providing universal access tosanitary productsand the liberalisation ofdrugs policythroughdevolution, in an effort to increase access to treatment and improvepublic healthoutcomes. Between 2014 and 2019","2014 and 2019 the party slashed the budget for drug and alcohol treatments by 6.3%- a cut that has been linked with Scotland recording the highest number of drug deaths per head in Europe. The party aspires to promote universal access to education, with one of the first acts of theSalmond governmentbeing to abolishtuition fees- although it has also introduced a cap on the number of Scots who can attend university and cut funding for further education colleges.More recently, the party has turned its attention to widening access tohigher educationwith Nicola Sturgeon stating that education is her number one priority.At school level, the SNP had the OECD review theCurriculum for Excellence.When the review found that the \"visionary ideals\" of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) had not fully succeeded, they announced a series of educational reforms and the scrapping of the Scottish Qualifications Authority.Furthermore, it has been claimed that a recent decline in Scotland's educational standards as illustrated by","as illustrated by PISA studies is directly related to CfE's implementation in 2012. Constitution The foundations of the SNP are a belief thatScotlandwould be more prosperous by being governedindependentlyfrom theUnited Kingdom, although the party was defeated in the2014 referendumon this issue.The party has since sought to hold asecond referendumat some point in the future, perhaps related to the outcome ofBrexit,as the party sees areferendumas the only route to independence. In 2016 the party convened theSustainable Growth Commissionto advise on the economy and currency of an independent Scotland. Although theSustainable Growth Commission's report, published in 2018, divides opinion it contains the party's official economic recommendations in the event of independence. The party isconstitutionalistand as such rejects holding such a referendumunilaterallyor any course of actions that could lead to comparisons with cases such asCataloniawith the party seeing independence as a process that should be undertaken","be undertaken through a consensual process alongside theUK Government. As part of this process towards independence, the party supports increaseddevolutionto theScottish Parliamentand theScottish Government, particularly in areas such aswelfareandimmigration. Official SNP policy is supportive of themonarchy. Many party members are republicans including former party leaderHumza Yousafbut his predecessor,Nicola Sturgeon, believes it is a \"model with many merits\", although she has proposed reducing the funds spent on the royal family.Separately, the SNP has always opposed the UK'sunelected upper houseand would like to see both it and theHouse of Commonselected by a form ofproportional representation.The party also supports the introduction of acodified constitution, either for an independent Scotland or the UK as a whole,going as far as producing a proposed interim constitution for Scotland during the independence referendum campaign. Fundamentalists and gradualists There have always been divisions within the","within the party on how to achieveScottish independence, with one wing described as 'fundamentalists' and the other 'gradualists'. The SNP leadership generally subscribes to the gradualist viewpoint, that being the idea that independence can be won by the accumulation by theScottish Parliamentof powers that theUK Parliamentcurrently has over time. Fundamentalism stands in opposition to the so-called gradualist point of view, which believes that the SNP should emphasise independence more widely to achieve it. The argument goes that if the SNP is unprepared to argue for its central policy then it is unlikely ever to persuade the public of its worthiness. Leadership Leader of the Scottish National Party Depute Leader of the Scottish National Party President of the Scottish National Party National Secretary of the Scottish National Party Leader of the parliamentary party, Scottish Parliament Deputy Leader of the parliamentary party, Scottish Parliament Leader of the parliamentary party, House of Commons Deputy","of Commons Deputy Leader of the parliamentary party, House of Commons Chief Executive Current SNP Council Leaders Scottish Parliament Members of the Scottish Parliament The SNP has formed theScottish Governmentsince 2007. As of May 2024,the Cabinetof the Scottish Government is as follows: Parliament of the United Kingdom Members of Parliament Following the 2024 general election, the SNP holds nine seats in the House of Commons. TheSNP frontbench teamin the House of Commons is as follows. Local government Councillors The SNP had 453councillorsinlocal governmentelected from the2022 Scottish local elections. Electoral performance Scottish Parliament House of Commons Local councils Results by council (2022) European Parliament (1979–2020) Two-tier local councils (1975–1996) See also Notes References Further reading External links Does not include organisations focused onUnionismwhich do not mentionBritish nationalismin their official makeup. Does not include organisations supportive ofUnionismorScottish","independencewithout mentioning nationalism in their official makeup. Does not include organisations supportive ofUnionismorWelsh independencewithout mentioning nationalism in their official makeup.","Winnie Ewing Winifred Margaret EwingFRSA(néeWoodburn; 10 July 1929 – 21 June 2023) was a Scottish lawyer and politician who figured prominently in theScottish National Party. Born and raised in Glasgow, Ewing studied law at theUniversity of Glasgow, where she joined the university'sScottish Nationalist Association. After graduating, she worked as a lawyer, serving as secretary of the Glasgow Bar Association from 1962 to 1967. Ewing was elected to the House of Commons in the1967 Hamilton by-electionand her presence at Westminster led to a rise in membership for the SNP. Although she lost her seat in the1970 election, she was re-elected inFebruary 1974, this time for theMoray and Nairnconstituency. Ewing lost her seat in the1979 electionand, after making numerous attempts to seek re-election, failed to do so. Ewing was elected to theEuropean Parliamentin the1979 elections, representing theHighlands and Islands. In Europe, she acquired the nicknameMadame Écossebecause of her advocacy of Scottish interests. In","interests. In 1987, she became the president of the Scottish National Party. She served as vice president of theEuropean Radical Allianceand by 1995 had become Britain's longest servingMEP. In thefirst elections to the Scottish Parliament, she was elected to represent theHighlands and Islands. As the oldest qualified member, it was her duty to preside over the opening of the Scottish Parliament. Early life Ewing was born Winifred Margaret Woodburn on 10 July 1929 inGlasgow, to Christina Bell Anderson and George Woodburn, a small business owner.She was educated at Battlefield School andQueen's Park Secondary School. In 1946 she matriculated at theUniversity of Glasgowwhere she graduated with anMAandLLB.Although relatively inactive in politics at that time, she joined the Student Nationalists.Following her graduation, she qualified and practised as a solicitor andnotary public. She was Secretary of the Glasgow Bar Association from 1962 to 1967. Political career Ewing became active in campaigning forScottish","forScottish independencethrough her membership of theGlasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association, and won the1967 Hamilton by-electionas theScottish National Party(SNP) candidate.She was elected with the help of a team including her election agent,John McAteer. On 16 November, she made her first appearance at Westminster, with her husband and children accompanying her on the journey.She arrived at the parliament in a Scottish-builtHillman Impand was greeted by a crowd and a pipe band. Ewing said at the time \"stop the world, Scotland wants to get on\", and her presence atWestminsterled to a rise in membership for the SNP.It was speculated that Ewing's electoral gain led to the establishment of theKilbrandon Commissionby theLabourgovernment ofHarold Wilsonto look into the viability of a devolvedScottish Assembly. In hindsight it could be said to mark the start of modern politics in Scotland, according to ProfessorRichard Finlayof Strathclyde University, bringing young people and women from non-political","from non-political backgrounds into politics for the first time, whilst Labour and Tory party organisation and branch numbers were declining. Despite her high profile, Ewing was unsuccessful in retaining the Hamilton seat at the1970 general election.At the followingFebruary 1974 electionshe stood forMoray and Nairnand was returned to Westminster, although another election followed inOctoberof the same year when her already marginal majority declined. Following the October election she was announced as the SNP's spokesperson on external affairs and theEEC.She first became an MEP in 1975, at a time when the European Parliament was still composed of representative delegations from national parliaments.She lost her Westminster seat at theMay 1979 election, but within weeks had gained a seat in the European Parliament at thefirst direct elections to the Parliament. Ewing was unsuccessful at seeking to return to Westminster as the SNP candidate forOrkney and Shetlandin1983, coming third. Ewing was elected the SNP","was elected the SNP Party President in 1987.It was during her time as an MEP that she acquired the nicknameMadame Écosse(Frenchfor 'Mrs Scotland') because of her advocacy of Scottish interests in Strasbourg and Brussels.That sobriquet was first used byLe Mondeand with Ewing using the term as a badge of pride, it stuck.By 1995 she had become Britain's longest serving MEP.She served as Vice President of theEuropean Radical Alliance,which in addition to the SNP also included French, Belgian, Italian and Spanish MEPs. In 1999, she did not stand for the European Parliament, instead becoming aMember of the Scottish Parliament(MSP) in the first session of the Scottish Parliament, representing theHighlands and Islands. As the oldest qualified member,it was her duty to preside over the opening of the Scottish Parliament,a session she opened with the statement: \"The Scottish Parliament, adjourned on the 25th day of March in the year 1707, is hereby reconvened\".She sat as a member on the European Committee and the","Committee and the Public Petitions Committee. During the controversy that arose in the early years of theScottish Parliamentsurrounding proposals to repealClause 28(a law banning the active promotion of homosexuality in schools), she joined her sonFergus Ewingin abstaining, although her daughter in lawMargaret Ewingsupported repeal as did the majority of her party's MSPs. In June 2001, having turned 72 years old, she announced that she would retire from Parliament at the end of the session.In January 2003, her husband, Stewart Ewing, died from a heart attack after a fire at their home.He had been active with her in politics for many years, and had himself served as an SNP councillor for theSummerstonarea inGlasgow, gaining the seat of Dick Dynes, the leader of the Labour Group onGlasgow District Councilin1977, a result described byThe Glasgow Heraldas \"an absolute sensation\".Later in 2003 she stood down from being an MSP,although she continued to serve as the SNP's President. On 15 July 2005, she announced","2005, she announced she would be stepping down as President of theScottish National Partyat its September Conference, bringing to an end her 38-year career in representative politics. Nicola Sturgeonsaid that Ewing had given her \"hugely valuable advice\" on public speaking, and that Ewing had given her some important advice as a young woman in politics, namely \"Stand your ground and believe in yourself\" and \"a more vibrant, colourful, dynamic, passionate, committed person, you would struggle to meet.\" Outside Parliament Ewing was a vice president of equal rights charityParity.In April 2009,BBC Albabroadcast a biographical documentaryMadame Ecosse, produced by Madmac Productions.It was rebroadcast onBBC Scotlandto mark her 80th birthday.Nicola Sturgeon named Ewing as her Political Hero on BBC News in 2018. Personal life Winnie and Stuart Ewing had three children, two of whom also went on to a career in politics: their son,Fergus Ewing, was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and went on to hold several","on to hold several cabinet posts. Their daughter,Annabelle Ewing, was an MP from 2001 to 2005 and was elected an MSP in 2006.Ewing died at her home inBridge of Weiron 21 June 2023, at age 93. Awards and honours In 1990 she was made a fellow of theRoyal Society of Arts.In 2003 theLaw Society of Scotlandmade her an honorary member.She was awarded honoraryLLDdegrees from the University of Glasgow in 1995 and theUniversity of Aberdeenin 2004.She was awarded Doctor of the University degrees from theOpen Universityin 1993and theUniversity of Stirlingin 2012.In 2009, a portrait of her painted byDavid Donaldsonin 1970 was lent to the Scottish Parliament and put on display. References Further reading External links"],"string":"[\n \"Scottish National Party TheScottish National Party(SNP;Scots:Scots National Pairty,Scottish Gaelic:Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is aScottish nationalistandsocial democraticparty. The party holds 62 of the 129 seats in theScottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in theHouse of Commons. It has 453 local councillors of the 1,227 available. The SNP supports and campaigns forScottish independencefrom the United Kingdom and for Scotland's membership in theEuropean Union,with a platform based on progressive social policies andcivic nationalism.Founded in 1934 with the amalgamation of theNational Party of Scotlandand theScottish Party, the party has had continuous parliamentaryrepresentation in WestminstersinceWinnie Ewingwon the1967 Hamilton by-election. With the establishment of the devolved Scottish Parliament in 1999, the SNP became the second-largest party, serving two terms as theopposition. The SNP gained power underAlex Salmondat the2007 Scottish Parliament election, forming aminority\",\n \"forming aminority government, before going on to win the2011 Parliament election, after which it formedHolyrood's firstmajority government.After Scotland voted against independence in the2014 referendum, Salmond resigned and was succeeded byNicola Sturgeon. The SNP achieved a record number of 56 seats in Westminster after the2015 general electionto become the third largest partybut in Holyrood it was reduced back to being a minority government at the2016 election. In the2021 election, the SNP gained one seat and entered apower-sharing agreementwith theScottish Greens. In March 2023 Sturgeon resigned and was replaced byHumza Yousaf. In April 2024, Yousaf collapsed the power-sharing deal with the Greens andresignedthe following week due to the resulting fallout of the decision. The incumbentJohn Swinneywas elected leader in May 2024. In the2024 general election, the SNP lost 38 seats, reducing it to the second-largest party in Scotland and the fourth-largest party in the Westminster Parliament. The party does\",\n \"The party does not have any members of theHouse of Lordson the principle that itopposes the upper house of Parliamentand calls for it to be scrapped.The SNP is a member of theEuropean Free Alliance(EFA). History Foundation and early breakthroughs (1934–1970) The SNP was formed in 1934 through the merger of theNational Party of Scotlandand theScottish Party, with theDuke of MontroseandCunninghame Grahamas its first joint presidents.Alexander MacEwenwas its first chairman. The party was divided on its approach to theSecond World War.Professor Douglas Young, who was SNP leader from 1942 to 1945, campaigned for the Scottish people to refuseconscriptionand his activities were popularly vilified as undermining theBritish war effortagainst theAxis powers. Young was imprisoned for refusing to be conscripted. The party suffered its first split during this period with John MacCormick leaving the party in 1942, owing to his failure to change the party's policy from supporting all-out independence toHome Ruleat that\",\n \"toHome Ruleat that year's conference in Glasgow. McCormick went on to form theScottish Covenant Association, a non-partisan political organisation campaigning for the establishment of a devolved Scottish Assembly. However, wartime conditions also enabled the SNP's first parliamentary success at theMotherwell by-electionin 1945, butRobert McIntyreMP lost the seat at thegeneral electionthree months later. The 1950s were characterised by similarly low levels of support, and this made it difficult for the party to advance. Indeed, in most general elections they were unable to put up more than a handful of candidates. The 1960s, however, offered more electoral successes, with candidates polling credibly atGlasgow Bridgetonin 1961,West Lothianin 1962 andGlasgow Pollokin 1967. This foreshadowedWinnie Ewing's surprise victory ina by-electionat the previously safeLabourseat ofHamilton. This brought the SNP to national prominence, leading to the establishment of theKilbrandon Commission. Becoming a notable force\",\n \"a notable force (1970s) Despite this breakthrough, the1970 general electionwas to prove a disappointment for the party as, despite an increase in vote share, Ewing failed to retain her seat in Hamilton. The party did receive some consolation with the capture of theWestern Isles, makingDonald Stewartthe party's only MP. This was to be the case until the1973 by-electionatGlasgow Govanwhere a hitherto safe Labour seat was claimed byMargo MacDonald. Nineteen seventy-four was to prove something of anannus mirabilisfor the party, as it deployed its highly effectiveIt's Scotland's oilcampaign.The SNP gained six seats at theFebruary general electionbefore hitting a high point in theOctober re-run, polling almost a third of all votes in Scotland and returning 11 MPs to Westminster. Furthermore, during that year'slocal electionsthe party claimed overall control ofCumbernauld and Kilsyth. This success was to continue for much of the decade, and at the1977 district electionsthe SNP saw victories at councils\",\n \"at councils includingEast KilbrideandFalkirkand held the balance of power inGlasgow.However, this level of support was not to last and by 1978 Labour revival was evident at three by-elections (Glasgow Garscadden,HamiltonandBerwick and East Lothian) as well as theregional elections. In 1976,James Callaghan's minority government made an agreement with the SNP andPlaid Cymru. In return for their support in the Commons, the government would respond to theKilbrandon commissionand legislate to devolve powers from Westminster to Scotland and Wales.The resultingScotland Act 1978would create a Scottish assembly, subject to a referendum. Labour, the Liberals and the SNP campaigned for a \\\"yes\\\" vote inthe referendum on the Scotland Actand \\\"yes\\\" won a majority, but a threshold imposed by anti-devolution Labour MPGeorge Cunninghamrequiring 40% of the electorate to be in favour was not reached due to low turnout.When the government decided not to implement the Act, the SNP's MPs withdrew their support and voted to\",\n \"and voted to supportMargaret Thatcher's motion of no confidence in Callaghan's government.In the ensuinggeneral election, the party experienced a large drop in its support. Reduced to just 2 MPs, the successes of October 1974 were not to be surpassed until the2015 general election. Factional divisions and infighting (1980s) Following this defeat, a period of internal strife occurred within the party, culminating with the formation of the left-wing79 Group.Traditionalists within the party, centred aroundWinnie Ewing, by this time anMEP, responded by establishing theCampaign for Nationalism in Scotlandwhich sought to ensure that the primary objective of the SNP was campaigning for independence without a traditional left-right orientation, even though this would have undone the work of figures such asWilliam Wolfe, who developed a clearlysocial democraticpolicy platform throughout the 1970s. These events ensured the success of a leadership motion at the party's annual conference of 1982, inAyr, despite the 79\",\n \"despite the 79 Group being bolstered by the merger ofJim Sillars'Scottish Labour Party (SLP)although this influx of ex-SLP members further shifted the characteristics of the party leftwards. Despite this, traditionalist figureGordon Wilsonremained party leader through the electoral disappointments of1983and1987, where he lost his ownDundee Eastseat won 13 years prior. Through this period, Sillars' influence in the party grew, developing a clear socio-economic platform includingIndependence in Europe,reversing the SNP's previous opposition to membership of thethen-EECwhich had been unsuccessful in a1975 referendum. This position was enhanced further by Sillars reclaimingGlasgow Govanin aby-electionin 1988. Despite this moderation, the party did not joinLabour, theLiberal Democratsand theGreensas well as civil society in theScottish Constitutional Conventionwhich developed a blueprint for a devolvedScottish Parliamentdue to the unwillingness of the convention to discuss independence as a constitutional option.\",\n \"option. First Salmond era (1990s) Alex Salmondhad been elected MP forBanff and Buchanin 1987, after the re-admittance of 79 Group members, and was able to seize the party leadership after Wilson's resignation in1990after a contest withMargaret Ewing. This was a surprise victory as Ewing had the backing of much of the party establishment, including Sillars and then-Party SecretaryJohn Swinney. The defection of Labour MPDick Douglasfurther evidenced the party's clear left-wing positioning, particularly regarding opposition to thepoll tax.Despite this, Salmond's leadership was unable to avert a fourth successive general election disappointment in1992with the party reduced back from 5 to 3 MPs. The mid-90s offered some successes for the party, withNorth East Scotlandbeing gained at the1994 European electionsand the party securing aby-electionatPerth and Kinrossin 1995 after a near-miss atMonklands Eastthe previous year. Nineteen ninety-seven offered the party's most successfulgeneral electionfor 23 years,\",\n \"23 years, although in the face of the Labour landslide the party was unable to match either of the two 1974 elections. That September, the party joined with the members of theScottish Constitutional Conventionin the successful Yes-Yes campaign in thedevolution referendumwhich lead to the establishment of aScottish Parliamentwith tax-varying powers. By 1999, thefirst electionsto the parliament were being held, although the party suffered a disappointing result, gaining just 35 MSPs in the face of Salmond's unpopular 'KosovoBroadcast' which opposedNATO interventionin the country. Opposing Labour-Liberal Democrat coalitions (1999–2007) This meant that the party began as the official opposition in the parliament to aLabour-Liberal Democrat coalition government. Salmond found the move to a more consensual politics difficult and sought a return to Westminster, resigning the leadership in2000with John Swinney, like Salmond agradualist,victorious in the ensuring leadership election.Swinney's leadership proved\",\n \"leadership proved ineffectual, with a loss of one MP in2001and a further reduction to 27 MSPs in2003despite theOfficegatescandal unseating previousFirst MinisterHenry McLeish.However, the only parties to gain seats in that election were theScottish Greensand theScottish Socialist Party (SSP)which like the SNP support independence. Following an unsuccessfulleadership challengein 2003, Swinney stepped down following disappointing results in theEuropean elections of 2004with Salmond victorious in thesubsequent leadership contestdespite initially refusing to be candidate.Nicola Sturgeonwas elected Depute Leader and became the party's leader in the Scottish Parliament until Salmond was able to return at the next parliamentary election. Salmond governments (2007–2014) In2007, the SNP emerged as the largest party in the Scottish Parliament with 47 of 129 seats, narrowly oustingScottish Labourwith 46 seats andAlex SalmondbecomingFirst Ministerafter ousting the Liberal Democrats inGordon. TheScottish Greenssupported\",\n \"Greenssupported Salmond's election as First Minister, and his subsequent appointments of ministers, in return for early tabling of theclimate change billand the SNP nominating a Green MSP to chair a parliamentary committee.Despite this, Salmond's minority government tended to strike budget deals with theConservativesto stay in office. In the final few years of the New Labour government, there were four parliamentary by-elections in Scotland. The SNP saw marginal swings towards the party in three of them;2006 in Dunfermline and West Fife,2008 in Glenrothesand2009 in Glasgow North East. None were as notable than the2008 Glasgow East by-election, in which the SNP'sJohn Masontook the third safest Labour seat in Scotland on a 22.5% swing. InMay 2011, the SNP won an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament with 69 seats.This was followed by a reverse in the party's previous opposition toNATOmembership at the party's annual conference in 2012despite Salmond's refusal to apologise for the Kosovo broadcast on the\",\n \"broadcast on the occasion of theKosovo Declaration of Independence. This majority enabled the SNP government to hold areferendum on Scottish independencein 2014. The \\\"No\\\" vote prevailed in a close-fought campaign, prompting the resignation of First MinisterAlex Salmond. Forty-five percent of Scottish voters cast their ballots for independence, with the \\\"Yes\\\" side receiving less support than late polling predicted.Exit polling by Lord Ashcroft suggested that many No voters thought independence too risky,while others voted for the Union because of their emotional attachment to Britain.Older voters, women and middle class voters voted no in margins above the national average. Following the Yes campaign's defeat, Salmond resigned andNicola Sturgeonwon thatyear's leadership electionunopposed. Sturgeon years (2014–2023) The SNP rebounded from their loss at the independence referendum at the2015 general electioneight months later, led by former Depute LeaderNicola Sturgeon. The party went from holding six seats in\",\n \"six seats in the House of Commons to 56, ending 51 years of dominance by the Scottish Labour Party. All but three of the fifty-nine constituencies in the country elected an SNP candidate in the party's most comprehensive electoral victory at any level. At the2016 Scottish election, the SNP lost a net total of six seats, losing its overall majority in the Scottish Parliament, but returning for a third consecutive term as a minority government despite gaining an additional 1.1% of the constituency vote, for the party's best-ever result, from the 2011 election however 2.3% of the regional list vote. On the constituency vote, the SNP gained a net 10 seats from Labour. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats each gained two constituency seats from the SNP on 2011. This election was followed by the2016 European Union referendum, after which the SNP joined with theLiberal DemocratsandGreensto call for continued UK membership of the EU. Despite a consequential increase in the Conservative Party vote at the2017 local\",\n \"at the2017 local electionsthe SNP for the first time became the largest party in each of Scotland's four city councils:Aberdeen,Dundee,EdinburghandGlasgow, where a Labour administration was ousted after 37 years. At the2017 general election, the SNP underperformed compared to polling expectations, losing 21 seats to bring their number of Commons seats down to 35 – however, this was still the party's second-best result ever at the time.This was largely attributed by many, including former Deputy First Minister John Swinney,to their stance on holding asecond Scottish independence referendumand saw a swing to the unionist parties, with seats being picked up by the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats and a reduction in their majorities in the other seats. High-profile losses included SNP Commons leaderAngus Robertsonand former SNP leader and First MinisterAlex Salmond. The SNP went on to achieve its best-everEuropean Parliamentresultin the final electionbeforeBrexit, the party taking itsMEPtotal to\",\n \"itsMEPtotal to three (or half ofScottish seats) and achieving a record vote share for the party. This was also the best performance of any party in the era of proportional elections to the European Parliament inScotland. This was suggested as being due to the party'seurophilesentiment during what amounted to a single-issue election. Later that year, the SNP experienced a surge in support at the2019 general election, winning a 45.0% share of the vote and 48 seats, its second-best result ever. The party gained seven seats from the Conservatives and 6 from Labour. This victory was generally attributed to Sturgeon's cautious approach regarding holding a second independence referendum and a strong emphasis on retaining EU membership during the election campaign.The following January, the strengthenedConservative governmentensured that the UK left the European Union on 31 January 2020. At the2021 Scottish election, the SNP won 64 seats, one seat short of a majority, albeit achieving a record high number of votes,\",\n \"number of votes, vote share and constituency seats, and leading to another minority government led by the SNP. Sturgeon emphasised after her party's victory that it would focus on controlling theCOVID-19 pandemicas well as pushing for a second referendum on independence. Although they won with a majority in 2021, a majority of MSPs elected had come from parties that supported Scottish independence; this prompted negotiations between the SNP and the Scottish Green Party to secure a deal that would see Green ministers appointed to government and theScottish Greensbacking SNP policies, with hopes that this united front on independence would solidify the SNP's mandate for the second independence referendum. TheThird Sturgeon governmentwas formed with Green support. In July 2021, the Scottish Police launched an investigation into possibly missing funds raised between 2017 and 2020 specifically for a second referendum. The investigation was given the code nameOperation Branchform.In the2022 Scottish local\",\n \"Scottish local elections, the SNP remained as the biggest party, winning a record number of councillors and securing majority control ofDundee.On 15 February 2023, Sturgeon announced her intention to resign as leader and first minister. On 16 March 2023, it was revealed that the SNP's membership had fallen to 72,000, down from over 125,000 at the end of 2019. As a result of this, CEOPeter Murrellresigned on 18 March after criticism was levied at him over the way the figures were published. Yousaf era (March 2023 – May 2024) Humza Yousafwas announced as the next Leader of the Scottish National Party on 27 March 2023 after winning theleadership election. Yousaf defeated challengerKate Forbesin the final stage, with 52% of the vote to Forbes' 48%.The leadership election was dominated by the strategy for asecond independence referendumand theGender Recognition Reform Bill, which has divided the party.On 29 March 2023, Yousaf was appointed First Minister of Scotland. On 18 April, his government published its\",\n \"published its policy prospectus titled \\\"Equality, opportunity, community: New leadership - A fresh start\\\" On 23 August 2023, Murray Foote was appointed as the new Chief Executive of the SNP.On 12 October 2023, MPLisa Cameroncrossed the floorto join the Scottish Conservatives, ahead of counting the votes on her selection contest within the SNP for the2024 United Kingdom general election. She became the first elected representative from the SNP to defect to a unionist party. Cameron claimed a \\\"toxic and bullying\\\" culture in the SNP led to her defection. On 15 October 2023, the SNP National Conference voted in favour of Yousaf's strategy on Scottish independence, including a number of amendments proposed from senior SNP representatives. This committed the SNP to launching a Scotland-wide independence campaign before the end of 2023.Yousaf also made a number of policy announcements, including a freeze on Council Tax rates, additional funding for the NHS to reduce waiting lists as well as the issuing ofgovernment\",\n \"ofgovernment bondsto fund infrastructure projects. On 25 April 2024, it was announced that theBute House Agreementwould come to an endbefore a vote was to be held by the Scottish Greens on whether to continue the agreement.Four days later, Yousaf announced that he would be resigning as Leader of the Scottish National Party and as First Minister of Scotland. Operation Branchform In April 2023, two SNP officials were arrested and released without charge in connection with theinvestigation into Scottish National Party finances. Peter Murrell was arrested on 5 Apriland Colin Beattie, the SNP treasurer, on 18 April.Murrell is the husband of former party leader, Nicola Sturgeon. The day Murrell was arrested and interviewed,Police Scotlandalso searched a number of addresses, including the SNP's headquarters and Murrell's home in Glasgow.Beattie resigned as SNP treasurer and was replaced by Stuart McDonald. Also in April, it was reported that the SNP's auditors, Johnston Carmichael, had resigned from their role\",\n \"from their role around October 2022, and were yet to be replaced, three months before the party's accounts 2022 were due to be submitted to the Electoral Commission.New auditors were appointed in May.Filing the party accounts in June 2023, the new auditors highlighted that they had not been able to find original records for some cash and cheques. Murrell was re-arrested on 18 April 2024 and charged with embezzlement. He later resigned his membership of the SNP. ACrown Office and Procurator Fiscal Servicespokesman confirmed that it received a report in relation to Murrell and that an investigation into two other individuals \\\"a man aged 72 and a 53-year-old woman\\\" were still ongoing. Swinney era (May 2024 onwards) On 6 May 2024,John Swinneywas confirmed as the new leader of the Scottish National Party in the2024 Scottish National Party leadership election.He was unopposed in the race as on 2 May his main speculated challenger,Kate Forbes, announced she would not stand in the race and endorsed Swinneyand on 5\",\n \"Swinneyand on 5 May, Graeme McCormick claimed that he secured enough member votes for a nomination but then dropped out the same evening following a conversation with Swinney, ultimately endorsing him. During the campaign for the2024 general election, the SNP was investigated by Holyrood authorities for allegedly misusing MSPs' expenses to fund their campaigning. An anonymous complaint was sent toAlison Johnstonein which an individual claimed that stamps bought with expenses were given to Westminster election candidates for mailing leaflets. The complaint included a WhatsApp screenshot showing MSP staff discussing the traceability of the stamps. Parliamentary rules state that stationery and postage provided by theScottish Parliament Corporate Body\\\"must be used only for parliamentary duties and must not be used for any other purpose, including party political purposes\\\". It was reported that John Swinney's office manager had told an SNP staff WhatsApp group chat that \\\"stamp fairy is very useful when it comes\",\n \"when it comes to campaigns\\\". An SNP spokesperson confirmed the investigation and emphasized compliance with the rules, while John Swinney stated that he had been \\\"assured that no parliamentary stamps that have been provided by Parliament have been used to support election purposes\\\", adding that he was \\\"confident\\\" that there had been no use of any public money to support the SNP general election campaign. This investigation occurred amid SNP's financial struggles, falling membership, and the police investigation into alleged embezzlement. Despite a £128,000 bequest boosting their campaign, SNP spending was minimal compared to other parties. The SNP ultimately won nine seats in the 2024 election, a loss of 39 seats on its 2019 result, reducing it to the second-largest party in Scotland, behindScottish Labour, and the fourth-largest party in Westminster. Swinney took full responsibility but said that he would not resign as leader. He said of the results, \\\"There will have to be a lot of soul searching as a party\",\n \"as a party as a consequence of these results that have come in tonight\\\", and that the SNP has to be \\\"better at governing on behalf of the people of Scotland\\\", admitting the party was not \\\"winning the argument\\\" on Scottish independence. Constitution and structure The local Branches are the primary level of organisation in the SNP. All of the Branches within each Scottish Parliament constituency form a Constituency Association, which coordinates the work of the Branches within the constituency, coordinates the activities of the party in the constituency and acts as a point of liaison between an MSP or MP and the party. Constituency Associations are composed of delegates from all of the Branches within the constituency. The annual National Conference is the supreme governing body of the SNP and is responsible for determining party policy and electing the National Executive Committee. The National Conference is composed of: There are also regular meetings of the National Assembly, which provides a forum for\",\n \"a forum for detailed discussions of party policy by party members. Membership The SNP experienced a large surge in membership following the2014 Scottish independence referendum.In 2013, the party's membership stood at just 20,000,but that number had swelled to over 100,000 by 2015.Party membership peaked in 2019 at around 125,000.Annual accounts submitted by the party to theElectoral Commissionshowed the SNP to have over 119,000 members in 2021.By the end of 2021, the party reported that this number was 103,884.Membership then continued to fall: to 85,000 at the end of 2022, and to 72,186 in March 2023.By the end of 2023, this had fallen to 69,325 and then to 64,525 by June 2024. European affiliation The SNP retains close links withPlaid Cymru, its counterpart inWales.MPsfrom both parties co-operate closely with each other and work as a single parliamentary group within the House of Commons. Both the SNP and Plaid Cymru are members of theEuropean Free Alliance(EFA),a European political party\",\n \"political party comprisingregionalistpolitical parties. The EFA co-operates with the largerEuropean Green Partyto formThe Greens–European Free Alliance(Greens/EFA) group in theEuropean Parliament.Before its affiliation with The Greens–European Free Alliance, the SNP had previously been allied with theEuropean Progressive Democrats(1979–1984),Rainbow Group(1989–1994) andEuropean Radical Alliance(1994–1999). As the UK is no longer a member of the EU, the SNP has no MEPs. Policies Ideology The Scottish National Party did not have a clear ideological position until the 1970s, when it sought to explicitly present itself as a social democratic party in terms of party policy and publicity.During the period from its foundation until the 1960s, the SNP was essentially a moderatecentristparty.Debate within the party focused more on the SNP being distinct as an all-Scotland national movement, with it being neither of theleftnor theright, but constituting a new politics that sought to put Scotland first. The SNP was\",\n \"first. The SNP was formed through the merger of the centre-leftNational Party of Scotland(NPS) and the centre-rightScottish Party.The SNP's founders were united overself-determinationin principle, though not its exact nature, or the best strategic means to achieve self-government. From the mid-1940s onwards, SNP policy wasradicalandredistributionistconcerning land and in favour of 'the diffusion of economic power', including thedecentralisationof industries such as coal to include the involvement of local authorities and regional planning bodies to control industrial structure and development.Party policies supported the economic and social policy status quo of the post-warwelfare state. By the 1960s, the SNP was starting to become defined ideologically, with a social democratic tradition emerging as the party grew in urban, industrial Scotland, and its membership experienced an influx of social democrats from theLabour Party, thetrade unionsand theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament.The emergence ofBilly\",\n \"emergence ofBilly Wolfeas a leading figure in the SNP also contributed to the leftwards shift. By this period, the Labour Party was also the dominant party in Scotland, in terms of electoral support and representation. Targeting Labour through emphasising left-of-centre policies and values was therefore electorally logical for the SNP, as well as tying in with the ideological preferences of many new party members.In 1961, the SNP conference expressed the party's opposition to the siting of theUSPolarissubmarine base at theHoly Loch. This policy was followed in 1963 by a motion opposed tonuclear weapons: a policy that has remained in place ever since.The 1964 policy document,SNP & You, contained a clear centre-left policy platform, including commitments tofull employment, government intervention in fuel, power and transport, a state bank to guide economic development, encouragement ofcooperativesandcredit unions, extensive building ofcouncil houses(social housing) by central and local government, pensions\",\n \"pensions adjusted to cost of living, aminimum wageand an improvednational health service. The 1960s also saw the beginnings of the SNP's efforts to establish an industrial organisation and mobilise amongst trade unionists in Scotland, with the establishment of the SNP Trade Union Group, and identifying the SNP with industrial campaigns, such as theUpper-Clyde Shipbuilders Work-inand the attempt of the workers at the ScottishDaily Expressto run as a co-operative.For the party manifestos for the two 1974 general elections, the SNP finally self-identified as a social democratic party, and proposed a range of social democratic policies.There was also an unsuccessful proposal at the 1975 party conference to rename the party as theScottish National Party (Social Democrats).In the UK-wide referendum on Britain's membership of the European Economic Community (EEC) in the same year as the aforementioned attempted name change, the SNP campaigned for Britain to leave the EEC. There were further ideological and internal\",\n \"and internal struggles after 1979, with the79 Groupattempting to move the SNP further to the left, away from being what could be described a \\\"social-democratic\\\" party, to an expressly \\\"socialist\\\" party. Members of the 79 Group – including future party leader andFirst MinisterAlex Salmond– were expelled from the party. This produced a response in the shape of theCampaign for Nationalism in Scotlandfrom those who wanted the SNP to remain a \\\"broad church\\\", apart from arguments of left vs. right. The 1980s saw the SNP further define itself as a party of the political left, such as campaigning against the introduction of thepoll taxin Scotland in 1989; one year before the tax was imposed on the rest of the UK. Ideological tensions inside the SNP are further complicated by arguments between the so-calledSNP gradualistsandSNP fundamentalists. In essence, gradualists seek to advance Scotland to independence through further devolution, in a \\\"step-by-step\\\" strategy. They tend to be in the moderate left grouping,\",\n \"left grouping, though much of the79 Groupwas gradualist in approach. However, this 79 Group gradualism was as much a reaction against the fundamentalists of the day, many of whom believed the SNP should not take a clear left or right position. Economy During the 1970s the SNP campaigned widely on the political sloganIt's Scotland's oil, where it was argued that the discovery of North Sea oil off the coast of Scotland, and the revenue that it created would not benefit Scotland to any significant degree while Scotland remained part of the United Kingdom. TheSturgeon Governmentin 2017 adjusted income tax rates so that low earners would pay less and those earning more than £33,000 a year would pay more.Previously the party had replaced the flat rateStamp Dutywith theLBTT, which uses a graduated tax rate.Whilst in government, the party was also responsible for the establishment ofRevenue Scotlandto administer devolved taxation. Having previously defined itself in opposition to thepoll taxthe SNP has also\",\n \"taxthe SNP has also championed progressive taxation at a local level. Despite pledging to introduce alocal income taxtheSalmond Governmentfound itself unable to replace thecouncil taxand the party has, particularly since the ending of the council tax freezeunder Nicola Sturgeon's leadership, committing to increasing the graduated nature of the tax.Conversely, the party has also supported capping and reducingBusiness Ratesin an attempt to support small businesses. It has been noted that the party contains a broader spectrum of opinion regarding economic policy than most political parties in the UK due to its status as \\\"the only viable vehicle for Scottish independence\\\",with the party's parliamentary group at Westminster in 2016 including socialists such asTommy SheppardandMhairi Black, capitalists such asStewart Hosieand former Conservative,Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh. Social justice In 1980, whenRobin Cookmoved an amendment to legalise homosexual acts to the Bill which became theCriminal Justice (Scotland) Act\",\n \"(Scotland) Act 1980, the SNP's two MPsGordon WilsonandDonald Stewartboth voted against the amendment. In June 2000, the SNP supported the repeal ofsection 28, a series of laws across Britain that prohibited the \\\"promotion of homosexuality\\\" by local authorities. In government in July 2012, the SNP announced that they would legislate for civil and religious same-sex marriage in Scotland.The bill was fast-tracked through theScottish Parliament,and approved with 105 MSPs in favour in February 2014. UnderSturgeon'sleadership, Scotland was twice in succession named the best country in Europe forLGBT+legal equality.The party is considered very supportive of gays, lesbians and bisexuals - something that historically was not the case, as stated above. The SNP legislated to improvegender self-identificationwith theGender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. The policy was controversial within the SNP, with some of the party's social conservatives claiming the reforms could be open to abuse.In 2020, the Scottish\",\n \"2020, the Scottish Government paused the legislation in order to find \\\"maximum consensus\\\" on the issueand commentators described the issue as having divided the SNP like no other, with many dubbing the debate a \\\"civil war\\\".In January 2021, a former trans officer in the SNP's LGBT wing, Teddy Hope, quit the party, describing it was one of the \\\"core hubs of transphobia in Scotland\\\".Large numbers of LGBT activists followed suit and Sturgeon released a video message in which she said that transphobia is \\\"not acceptable\\\" and that she hoped they would one day rejoin the party.In December 2022, theGender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Billwas passed by a majority of 86 to 39, with nine SNP members voting against the bill and 54 for. Particularly sinceNicola Sturgeon's elevation toFirst Ministerthe party has highlighted its commitments togender equality– with her first act being to appoint agender balanced cabinet.The SNP have also taken steps to implementall-women shortlistswhilst Sturgeon has introduced a mentoring\",\n \"a mentoring schemeto encourage women's political engagement. The SNP supportsmulticulturalismwith Scotland receiving thousands ofrefugeesfrom theSyrian Civil War.To this end it has been claimed that refugees in Scotland are better supported than those in England.More generally, the SNP seeks to increase immigration to combat a declining populationand calling for a separate Scottish visa even within the UK.However, data for 2022 shows that Scotland houses proportionally fewer asylum seekers relative to its population than England. Foreign affairs and defence Despite traditionally supportingmilitary neutralitythe SNP's policy has in recent years moved to support both theAtlanticistandEuropeanisttraditions. This is particularly evident in the conclusion of theNATO debatewithin the party in favour of those who support membership of the military alliance.This is despite the party's continuing opposition to Scotland hostingnuclear weaponsand then-leaderSalmond's criticism of both theKosovo interventionand theIraq\",\n \"theIraq War.The party has placed an emphasis on developing positive relations with theUnited Statesin recent yearsdespite a lukewarm reaction to theelectionof part-Scottish AmericanDonald TrumpasPresidentdue to long running legal disputes. Having opposed continued membership in the1975 referendum, the party has supported membership of theEuropean Unionsince the adoption of the Independence in Europe policy during the 1980s. Consequentially, the SNP supported remaining within the EU during the2016 referendumwhere every Scottish council area backed this position.Consequently, the party opposedBrexitand sought afurther referendumon thewithdrawal agreement,ultimately unsuccessfully. The SNP would like to see anindependent Scotlandas a member of theEuropean UnionandNATOand has left open the prospect of an independent Scotland joining theeuro. The SNP has also taken a stance againstRussianinterference abroad – the party supporting the enlargement of theEUandNATOto areas such as theWestern BalkansandUkraineto\",\n \"BalkansandUkraineto counter this influence.The party called for repercussions for Russia regarding thepoisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripaland has criticised former leaderAlex Salmondfor broadcasting achat showonKremlin-backednetworkRT.Consequently, party representatives have expressed support for movements such asEuromaidanthat support the independence of countries acrossEastern Europe. The party have supported measures includingforeign aidwhich seek to facilitateinternational developmentthrough various charitable organisations.In recognition of Scotland's historic links to the country, these programmes are mostly focused inMalawiin common with previous Scottish governments. With local authorities across the country, includingGlasgow City Councilbeing involved in this partnership since before the SNP took office in2007. Health and education The SNP have pledged to uphold the public service nature ofNHS Scotlandand are consequently opposed to any attempts at privatisation of the health service,including any\",\n \"any inclusion in a post-Brexittrade deal with the United States. The party has been fond of increasing provision under the NHS with the introduction of universalbaby boxesbased on theFinnishscheme.This supported child development alongside other commitments including the expansion of free childcare for children younger than school age and the introduction of universal free school meals in the first three years of school. Previously, SNP governments have abolished hospital parking chargesas well as prescription chargesin efforts to promote enhanced public health outcomes by increasing access to care and treatment. Furthermore, during Sturgeon's premiership, Scotland became the first country in the world to introducealcohol minimum unit pricingto counteralcohol problems.Recently, the party has also committed to providing universal access tosanitary productsand the liberalisation ofdrugs policythroughdevolution, in an effort to increase access to treatment and improvepublic healthoutcomes. Between 2014 and 2019\",\n \"2014 and 2019 the party slashed the budget for drug and alcohol treatments by 6.3%- a cut that has been linked with Scotland recording the highest number of drug deaths per head in Europe. The party aspires to promote universal access to education, with one of the first acts of theSalmond governmentbeing to abolishtuition fees- although it has also introduced a cap on the number of Scots who can attend university and cut funding for further education colleges.More recently, the party has turned its attention to widening access tohigher educationwith Nicola Sturgeon stating that education is her number one priority.At school level, the SNP had the OECD review theCurriculum for Excellence.When the review found that the \\\"visionary ideals\\\" of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) had not fully succeeded, they announced a series of educational reforms and the scrapping of the Scottish Qualifications Authority.Furthermore, it has been claimed that a recent decline in Scotland's educational standards as illustrated by\",\n \"as illustrated by PISA studies is directly related to CfE's implementation in 2012. Constitution The foundations of the SNP are a belief thatScotlandwould be more prosperous by being governedindependentlyfrom theUnited Kingdom, although the party was defeated in the2014 referendumon this issue.The party has since sought to hold asecond referendumat some point in the future, perhaps related to the outcome ofBrexit,as the party sees areferendumas the only route to independence. In 2016 the party convened theSustainable Growth Commissionto advise on the economy and currency of an independent Scotland. Although theSustainable Growth Commission's report, published in 2018, divides opinion it contains the party's official economic recommendations in the event of independence. The party isconstitutionalistand as such rejects holding such a referendumunilaterallyor any course of actions that could lead to comparisons with cases such asCataloniawith the party seeing independence as a process that should be undertaken\",\n \"be undertaken through a consensual process alongside theUK Government. As part of this process towards independence, the party supports increaseddevolutionto theScottish Parliamentand theScottish Government, particularly in areas such aswelfareandimmigration. Official SNP policy is supportive of themonarchy. Many party members are republicans including former party leaderHumza Yousafbut his predecessor,Nicola Sturgeon, believes it is a \\\"model with many merits\\\", although she has proposed reducing the funds spent on the royal family.Separately, the SNP has always opposed the UK'sunelected upper houseand would like to see both it and theHouse of Commonselected by a form ofproportional representation.The party also supports the introduction of acodified constitution, either for an independent Scotland or the UK as a whole,going as far as producing a proposed interim constitution for Scotland during the independence referendum campaign. Fundamentalists and gradualists There have always been divisions within the\",\n \"within the party on how to achieveScottish independence, with one wing described as 'fundamentalists' and the other 'gradualists'. The SNP leadership generally subscribes to the gradualist viewpoint, that being the idea that independence can be won by the accumulation by theScottish Parliamentof powers that theUK Parliamentcurrently has over time. Fundamentalism stands in opposition to the so-called gradualist point of view, which believes that the SNP should emphasise independence more widely to achieve it. The argument goes that if the SNP is unprepared to argue for its central policy then it is unlikely ever to persuade the public of its worthiness. Leadership Leader of the Scottish National Party Depute Leader of the Scottish National Party President of the Scottish National Party National Secretary of the Scottish National Party Leader of the parliamentary party, Scottish Parliament Deputy Leader of the parliamentary party, Scottish Parliament Leader of the parliamentary party, House of Commons Deputy\",\n \"of Commons Deputy Leader of the parliamentary party, House of Commons Chief Executive Current SNP Council Leaders Scottish Parliament Members of the Scottish Parliament The SNP has formed theScottish Governmentsince 2007. As of May 2024,the Cabinetof the Scottish Government is as follows: Parliament of the United Kingdom Members of Parliament Following the 2024 general election, the SNP holds nine seats in the House of Commons. TheSNP frontbench teamin the House of Commons is as follows. Local government Councillors The SNP had 453councillorsinlocal governmentelected from the2022 Scottish local elections. Electoral performance Scottish Parliament House of Commons Local councils Results by council (2022) European Parliament (1979–2020) Two-tier local councils (1975–1996) See also Notes References Further reading External links Does not include organisations focused onUnionismwhich do not mentionBritish nationalismin their official makeup. Does not include organisations supportive ofUnionismorScottish\",\n \"independencewithout mentioning nationalism in their official makeup. Does not include organisations supportive ofUnionismorWelsh independencewithout mentioning nationalism in their official makeup.\",\n \"Winnie Ewing Winifred Margaret EwingFRSA(néeWoodburn; 10 July 1929 – 21 June 2023) was a Scottish lawyer and politician who figured prominently in theScottish National Party. Born and raised in Glasgow, Ewing studied law at theUniversity of Glasgow, where she joined the university'sScottish Nationalist Association. After graduating, she worked as a lawyer, serving as secretary of the Glasgow Bar Association from 1962 to 1967. Ewing was elected to the House of Commons in the1967 Hamilton by-electionand her presence at Westminster led to a rise in membership for the SNP. Although she lost her seat in the1970 election, she was re-elected inFebruary 1974, this time for theMoray and Nairnconstituency. Ewing lost her seat in the1979 electionand, after making numerous attempts to seek re-election, failed to do so. Ewing was elected to theEuropean Parliamentin the1979 elections, representing theHighlands and Islands. In Europe, she acquired the nicknameMadame Écossebecause of her advocacy of Scottish interests. In\",\n \"interests. In 1987, she became the president of the Scottish National Party. She served as vice president of theEuropean Radical Allianceand by 1995 had become Britain's longest servingMEP. In thefirst elections to the Scottish Parliament, she was elected to represent theHighlands and Islands. As the oldest qualified member, it was her duty to preside over the opening of the Scottish Parliament. Early life Ewing was born Winifred Margaret Woodburn on 10 July 1929 inGlasgow, to Christina Bell Anderson and George Woodburn, a small business owner.She was educated at Battlefield School andQueen's Park Secondary School. In 1946 she matriculated at theUniversity of Glasgowwhere she graduated with anMAandLLB.Although relatively inactive in politics at that time, she joined the Student Nationalists.Following her graduation, she qualified and practised as a solicitor andnotary public. She was Secretary of the Glasgow Bar Association from 1962 to 1967. Political career Ewing became active in campaigning forScottish\",\n \"forScottish independencethrough her membership of theGlasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association, and won the1967 Hamilton by-electionas theScottish National Party(SNP) candidate.She was elected with the help of a team including her election agent,John McAteer. On 16 November, she made her first appearance at Westminster, with her husband and children accompanying her on the journey.She arrived at the parliament in a Scottish-builtHillman Impand was greeted by a crowd and a pipe band. Ewing said at the time \\\"stop the world, Scotland wants to get on\\\", and her presence atWestminsterled to a rise in membership for the SNP.It was speculated that Ewing's electoral gain led to the establishment of theKilbrandon Commissionby theLabourgovernment ofHarold Wilsonto look into the viability of a devolvedScottish Assembly. In hindsight it could be said to mark the start of modern politics in Scotland, according to ProfessorRichard Finlayof Strathclyde University, bringing young people and women from non-political\",\n \"from non-political backgrounds into politics for the first time, whilst Labour and Tory party organisation and branch numbers were declining. Despite her high profile, Ewing was unsuccessful in retaining the Hamilton seat at the1970 general election.At the followingFebruary 1974 electionshe stood forMoray and Nairnand was returned to Westminster, although another election followed inOctoberof the same year when her already marginal majority declined. Following the October election she was announced as the SNP's spokesperson on external affairs and theEEC.She first became an MEP in 1975, at a time when the European Parliament was still composed of representative delegations from national parliaments.She lost her Westminster seat at theMay 1979 election, but within weeks had gained a seat in the European Parliament at thefirst direct elections to the Parliament. Ewing was unsuccessful at seeking to return to Westminster as the SNP candidate forOrkney and Shetlandin1983, coming third. Ewing was elected the SNP\",\n \"was elected the SNP Party President in 1987.It was during her time as an MEP that she acquired the nicknameMadame Écosse(Frenchfor 'Mrs Scotland') because of her advocacy of Scottish interests in Strasbourg and Brussels.That sobriquet was first used byLe Mondeand with Ewing using the term as a badge of pride, it stuck.By 1995 she had become Britain's longest serving MEP.She served as Vice President of theEuropean Radical Alliance,which in addition to the SNP also included French, Belgian, Italian and Spanish MEPs. In 1999, she did not stand for the European Parliament, instead becoming aMember of the Scottish Parliament(MSP) in the first session of the Scottish Parliament, representing theHighlands and Islands. As the oldest qualified member,it was her duty to preside over the opening of the Scottish Parliament,a session she opened with the statement: \\\"The Scottish Parliament, adjourned on the 25th day of March in the year 1707, is hereby reconvened\\\".She sat as a member on the European Committee and the\",\n \"Committee and the Public Petitions Committee. During the controversy that arose in the early years of theScottish Parliamentsurrounding proposals to repealClause 28(a law banning the active promotion of homosexuality in schools), she joined her sonFergus Ewingin abstaining, although her daughter in lawMargaret Ewingsupported repeal as did the majority of her party's MSPs. In June 2001, having turned 72 years old, she announced that she would retire from Parliament at the end of the session.In January 2003, her husband, Stewart Ewing, died from a heart attack after a fire at their home.He had been active with her in politics for many years, and had himself served as an SNP councillor for theSummerstonarea inGlasgow, gaining the seat of Dick Dynes, the leader of the Labour Group onGlasgow District Councilin1977, a result described byThe Glasgow Heraldas \\\"an absolute sensation\\\".Later in 2003 she stood down from being an MSP,although she continued to serve as the SNP's President. On 15 July 2005, she announced\",\n \"2005, she announced she would be stepping down as President of theScottish National Partyat its September Conference, bringing to an end her 38-year career in representative politics. Nicola Sturgeonsaid that Ewing had given her \\\"hugely valuable advice\\\" on public speaking, and that Ewing had given her some important advice as a young woman in politics, namely \\\"Stand your ground and believe in yourself\\\" and \\\"a more vibrant, colourful, dynamic, passionate, committed person, you would struggle to meet.\\\" Outside Parliament Ewing was a vice president of equal rights charityParity.In April 2009,BBC Albabroadcast a biographical documentaryMadame Ecosse, produced by Madmac Productions.It was rebroadcast onBBC Scotlandto mark her 80th birthday.Nicola Sturgeon named Ewing as her Political Hero on BBC News in 2018. Personal life Winnie and Stuart Ewing had three children, two of whom also went on to a career in politics: their son,Fergus Ewing, was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and went on to hold several\",\n \"on to hold several cabinet posts. Their daughter,Annabelle Ewing, was an MP from 2001 to 2005 and was elected an MSP in 2006.Ewing died at her home inBridge of Weiron 21 June 2023, at age 93. Awards and honours In 1990 she was made a fellow of theRoyal Society of Arts.In 2003 theLaw Society of Scotlandmade her an honorary member.She was awarded honoraryLLDdegrees from the University of Glasgow in 1995 and theUniversity of Aberdeenin 2004.She was awarded Doctor of the University degrees from theOpen Universityin 1993and theUniversity of Stirlingin 2012.In 2009, a portrait of her painted byDavid Donaldsonin 1970 was lent to the Scottish Parliament and put on display. References Further reading External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":53,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"In series six of Downton Abbey, Lord Merton is diagnosed with a terminal condition. 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It first aired in the United Kingdom onITVon 26 September 2010 and in the United States onPBS, which supported its production as part of itsMasterpiece Classicanthology, on 9 January 2011. The show ran for fifty-two episodes across six series, including five Christmas specials. The series, set on the fictionalYorkshirecountry estateof Downton Abbey between 1912 and 1926, depicts the lives of thearistocraticCrawley family and theirdomestic servantsin the post-Edwardian era, and the effects the great events of the time have on their lives and on theBritish social hierarchy. These events include news of thesinking of theTitanic(first series); the outbreak of theFirst World War, theSpanish influenza pandemicand theMarconi scandal(second series); theIrish War of Independenceleading to the formation of theIrish Free State(third series); theTeapot Dome scandal(fourth series); and theBritish general election of 1923and theBeer Hall Putsch(fifth series). The sixth and final series introduces the rise of the working class during theinterwar periodand hints at the eventual decline of theBritish aristocracy. Downton Abbeyhas received acclaim from television critics andnumerous accolades, including aGolden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Filmand aPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie. It was recognised byGuinness World Recordsas the most critically acclaimed English-language television series of 2011. It earned 27Primetime Emmy Awardnominations after its first two series, the most for any international television series in the awards' history.It was the most watched television series on both ITV and PBS, and became the most successful Britishcostume dramasince the 1981 television serial ofBrideshead Revisited. On 26 March 2015,Carnival Filmsand ITV announced that the sixth series would be the last; it aired on ITV between 20 September 2015 and 8 November 2015. The final episode, the annual Christmas special, was broadcast on 25 December 2015. Afilm adaptation, a continuation of the series, was confirmed on 13 July 2018 and released in the United Kingdom on 13 September 2019, and in the United States on 20 September 2019. A second feature film,Downton Abbey: A New Era, was released in the United Kingdom on 29 April 2022 byUniversal Pictures, and in the United States and Canada on 20 May 2022 byFocus Features.A third film is in production. Plot overview Series 1 (2010) The first series, comprising seven episodes, explores the lives of the fictional Crawley family, the hereditary Earl of Grantham, and their domestic servants. The storyline centres on thefee tail, or \"entail\", governing the titled elite, which endows title and estate exclusively tomale heirs. As part of the backstory, the main character, Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, had resolved his father's past financial difficulties by marrying Cora Levinson, an American heiress. Her considerabledowryis now contractually incorporated into the committal entail in perpetuity; however, Robert and Cora have three daughters and no son. As the eldest daughter, Lady Mary Crawley had agreed to marry her second cousin Patrick, the son of the then-heir presumptiveJames Crawley. The series begins the day after thesinking of RMSTitanicon 14/15 April 1912. The first episode starts as news reaches Downton Abbey that both James and Patrick have perished in the sinking of the ocean liner. The family then learns that a more distant and unknown male cousin, solicitor Matthew Crawley, the son of anupper-middle-classdoctor, has become the next heir presumptive. The story initially centres on the relationship between Lady Mary and Matthew, who resists embracing an aristocratic lifestyle, while Lady Mary resists her own attraction to the new heir presumptive. Of several subplots, one involves John Bates, Lord Grantham's newvaletand formerBoer Warbatman, and Thomas Barrow, an ambitious youngfootman, who resents the former for taking a position he had desired for himself. Bates and Thomas remain at odds as Barrow works to sabotage Bates's every move. After learning Bates had recently been released from prison, Thomas and Miss O'Brien (Lady Grantham'slady's maid) begin a relentless pursuit that nearly ruins the Crawley family in scandal. Barrow – ahomosexualman in lateEdwardian England– and O'Brien create havoc for most of the staff and family. When Barrow is caught stealing, he hands in hisnoticeto join theRoyal Army Medical Corps. Matthew eventually does propose to Lady Mary, but she puts him off when Lady Grantham becomes pregnant, understanding that Matthew would no longer be heir if the baby is a boy. Cora loses the baby after O'Brien, believing she is soon to be fired, retaliates by leaving a bar of soap on the floor next to the bathtub, causing Cora to slip while getting out of the tub, and the fall resulting in a miscarriage. It is later revealed that the miscarried foetus was a male. Although Lady Mary intends to accept Matthew, Matthew believes her reluctance is due to the earlier uncertainty of his heirship and emotionally rescinds his proposal, leaving Lady Mary devastated. The series ends just after theassassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinandand the outbreak of theFirst World Warin August 1914. Series 2 (2011) The second series comprises eight episodes and runs from theBattle of the Sommein 1916 to the1918 Spanish flu pandemic. During the war, Downton Abbey is temporarily converted into an officers'convalescent hospital. Matthew, having left Downton, is now aBritish Armyofficer and has become engaged. His fiancée is Lavinia Swire, the niece of aLiberalminister. William Mason, the second footman, is drafted, even after attempts by the Dowager Countess of Grantham to save him fromconscription. William is taken under Matthew's protection as his personalorderly. Enduring trench warfare and charging against machine guns and artillery, both are injured by an exploding shell. William dies from his wounds, but only after a deathbed marriage to Daisy, thekitchen maid. While Daisy does not believe she loves William, she marries him in his last hours as his dying wish. It is not until a brief encounter with the Dowager Countess that she begins to realise that her love was real, but she could not admit it to herself. Matthew is now paralysed from the waist down by his battle injury, and seemingly unable to father children. Lavinia remains true to him despite his attempts to set her free, and he finally accepts her devotion. Mary, while acknowledging her feelings for Matthew, becomes engaged to Sir Richard Carlisle, a powerful and overbearing newspaper mogul, but their relationship is rocky. Bates's wife, Vera, repeatedly causes trouble for John and Anna, who are now engaged. Vera threatens to expose Mary's past scandalous indiscretion, but Carlisle agrees to purchase andkillher story. Embittered, Mrs Bates mysteriously commits suicide with an arsenic pie after a visit by Bates, and he is arrested on suspicion of her murder. Matthew regains the use of his legs, and he and Mary realise they are still in love, but Matthew remains honourably committed to Lavinia after she stood by him during his misfortune. Unknown to them both, Lavinia, ill withSpanish flu, sees and overhears Matthew and Mary admit their love for one another while dancing to a song playing on thephonographgifted as a wedding present to Matthew and Lavinia. The Spanish influenza epidemic hits Downton Abbey further with Cora taken seriously ill, as well as Carson, thebutler. During the outbreak, Thomas attempts to make up for his inability to find other employment after the war by making himself as useful as possible and is made Lord Grantham's valet after Bates is arrested. Lavinia dies abruptly, which causes great guilt to both Matthew and Mary. Bates is found guilty of murder and sentenced to death but the sentence iscommutedto life in prison due to Lord Grantham's influence. After a talk with Robert, Mary realises that she must break off her engagement to Carlisle; he and Matthew fight in the drawing room, but in the end Carlisle goes quietly and is never heard from again. The annual Servants' Ball is held at Downton, and Mary and Matthew finally find their way to a marriage proposal on a snowy evening outside the Abbey. Lady Sybil, the youngest Crawley daughter, beginning to find her aristocratic life stifling, falls in love with Tom Branson, the new chauffeur ofIrishdescent with strongsocialistleanings. She is talked out ofelopementby her sisters, but her wayward marriage eventually receives Lord Grantham's reluctant blessing. Ethel Parks, a new housemaid, is seduced by a wounded officer, Major Bryant. Mrs Hughes, the housekeeper, finds them together in bed and dismisses Ethel, but takes pity on her and helps her when Ethel tells her she is pregnant. She has a baby boy and names him Charlie after his father, but Major Bryant refuses to acknowledge his paternity. The filming location,Highclere Castle, in reality served as a convalescent home during World War I. Series 3 (2012) In episode one of the third series, covering 1920 to 1921, preparations are underway for Mary and Matthew's wedding. Tom and Sybil Branson arrive from Ireland, where they now live, to attend the wedding. Also arriving to attend the wedding of her granddaughter is Cora's mother, Martha Levinson, from America. Robert (Lord Grantham) learns that the bulk of the family's fortune (including Cora's dowry) has been lost due to his impetuous investment in theGrand Trunk Railway. Meanwhile Edith has fallen for Sir Anthony Strallan, whom Robert discourages from marrying Edith due to his age and crippled arm. At Edith's insistence, Robert gives in and welcomes Sir Anthony, but even though he loves her, Strallan cannot accept that the Grantham family disapproves of the match, and at the altar announces that he cannot go through with the wedding, devastating Edith. Strallan flees the church and is never heard from again. Meanwhile, Bates's cellmate plants a small surgical knife in his bedding, but Bates is informed by a fellow prisoner allowing him time to find and hide it (this same small knife is later used by Bates to threaten his cellmate when he had been using his connections through corrupt prison guards to keep a witness from testifying to Bates's innocence of the crime for which he is incarcerated). At Downton, Mrs Hughes finds out she may havebreast cancer, which only some of the household hear about, causing deep concern, but the tumour turns out to bebenign. Tom Branson and Lady Sybil, now pregnant, return to Downton after Tom is implicated in the burning of an Anglo-Irish aristocrat's house. After Matthew's reluctance to accept an inheritance from Lavinia's recently deceased father and then Robert's reluctance to accept that inheritance as a gift, Matthew and Robert reach a compromise in which Matthew accepts that the inheritance will be used as an investment in the estate, giving Matthew an equal say in how it is run. However, as time goes on Robert repeatedly resists Matthew and Tom's efforts to modernise the running of the estate to make it profitable. Tragedy strikes when Sybil dies fromeclampsiashortly after giving birth. Tom, devastated, names his daughter Sybil after his late wife. Bates is released from prison after Anna uncovers evidence clearing him of his wife's murder. Tom becomes the newland agentat the suggestion of Violet, the Dowager Countess. Barrow and O'Brien have a falling out, after which O'Brien leads Barrow to believe that Jimmy, the new footman, is sexually attracted to him. Barrow enters Jimmy's room and kisses him while he is sleeping, which wakes him up shocked, confused, and very angry. In the end, Lord Grantham (familiar with homosexuality from Eton) defuses the situation. The family, except Branson, visits Violet's niece Susan, her husband \"Shrimpie\", theMarquessofFlintshire; and their daughter Rose, inScotland, accompanied by Matthew and a very pregnant Mary. The Marquess confides to Robert that his estate is bankrupt and will be sold, making Robert recognise that Downton has been saved through Matthew and Tom's efforts to modernise. At Downton, Edna Braithwaite, the new maid, enters Tom's room and kisses him, whereupon he asks her to leave, and she is eventually fired. Mary returns to Downton with Anna and gives birth to the new heir, but Matthew dies in a car crash while driving home from the hospital after seeing his newborn son. Series 4 (2013) In series four, covering 1922 to 1923, O'Brien leaves to serve Lady Flintshire inBritish India. Cora hires Edna Braithwaite, who had previously been fired for her interest in Tom. Eventually the situation blows up, and Edna is replaced by Phyllis Baxter. Mary deeply mourns Matthew's death. Matthew's newly-found letter states Mary is to be his soleheirand thus gives her management over his share of the estate until their son, George,comes of age. With Tom's encouragement, Mary assumes a more active role in running Downton. Two new suitors—Lord Gillingham and Charles Blake—arrive at Downton, though Mary, still grieving, is not interested. Edith, who has begun writing a weekly newspaper column, and Michael Gregson, a magazine editor, fall in love. Due to British law, he is unable todivorcehis wife, who is mentally ill and in an asylum. Gregson travels toGermanyto seekcitizenshipthere, enabling him to divorce, but is killed by Hitler'sBrownshirtsduring riots. Edith is left pregnant and decides to have an illegal abortion, but changes her mind at the last minute. With the help from her paternal aunt, Lady Rosamund, Edith secretly gives birth to a daughter while abroad, and places the baby with adoptive parents inSwitzerland, but reclaims her after arranging a new adoptive family on the estate. Mr and Mrs Drewe of Yew Tree Farm take the baby in and raise her as their own. Anna is raped by Lord Gillingham's valet Mr Green, which Mr Bates later discovers. Subsequently, Green is killed in a London street accident. A local school teacher, Sarah Bunting, and Tom begin a friendship. In the Christmas special set mainly in London, Sampson, acard sharp, steals a letter written byEdward VIII, thenPrince of Wales, to his mistress, Rose's friendFreda Dudley Ward, which if made public would create a scandal; the entire Crawley family connives to retrieve it, although it is Bates who extracts the letter from Sampson's overcoat, and it is returned to Mrs Dudley Ward. The family hold adebutanteball for Lady Rose following her presentation at court, and the grateful Prince makes an appearance at the ball. Series 5 (2014) In series five, covering the year 1924, aRussian exile, Prince Kuragin, wishes to renew his past affections for the Dowager Countess (Violet). Violet instead locates his wife inBritish Hong Kongand reunites the Prince and his estranged wife.Scotland Yardand the local police investigate Green's death. Violet learns that Marigold is Edith's daughter. Meanwhile, Mrs Drewe, not knowing Marigold's true parentage, resents Edith's constant visits. To increase his chances with Mary, Charles Blake plots to reunite Gillingham and his ex-fiancée, Mabel. After Edith inherits Michael Gregson's publishing company, she removes Marigold from the Drewes and relocates to London. Simon Bricker, an art expert interested in one of Downton's paintings, shows his true intentions toward Cora and is thrown out by Robert, causing a temporary rift between the couple. Mrs Patmore's decision to invest her inheritance in real estate inspires Mr Carson, Downton's butler, to do likewise. He suggests that head housekeeper Mrs Hughes invest with him; she confesses she has no money due to supporting a mentally incapacitated sister. The Crawleys' cousin, Lady Rose, daughter of Lord and Lady Flintshire, becomes engaged to Atticus Aldridge, son of Lord and Lady Sinderby. Lord Sinderby strongly objects to Atticus's marrying outside theJewish faith. Lord Merton proposes to Isobel Crawley (Matthew's mother). She accepts, but later ends the engagement due to Lord Merton's sons' disparaging comments over her status as acommoner. Lady Flintshire employs underhanded schemes to derail Rose and Atticus's engagement, including announcing to everyone at the wedding that she and her husband are divorcing, intending to cause a scandal to stop Rose's marriage to Atticus; they are married anyway. When Anna is arrested on suspicion of Green's murder, Bates writes afalse confessionbefore fleeing toIreland. Baxter and Molesley, a footman and Matthew's former valet, are able to prove that Bates was inYorkat the time of the murder. This new information allows Anna to be released. Cora eventually learns the truth about Marigold, and wants her raised at Downton; Marigold is presented as Edith'sward, but Robert and Tom eventually discern the truth. Only Mary is unaware. When a war memorial is unveiled in the town, Robert arranges for a separate plaque to honour the cook Mrs Patmore's late nephew, who was shot forcowardiceand excluded from his own village's memorial. The Crawleys are invited to Brancaster Castle, which Lord and Lady Sinderby have rented for a shooting party. While there, Lady Rose, with help from the Crawleys, defuses a personal near-disaster for Lord Sinderby, earning his gratitude and securing his approval of Rose. A second footman, Andy, is hired on Barrow's recommendation. During the annual Downton Abbey Christmas celebration, Tom announces he is moving toAmericato work for his cousin, taking daughter Sybil with him. Mr Carson proposes marriage to Mrs Hughes and she accepts. Series 6 (2015) In series six, changes are once again afoot at Downton Abbey as themiddle classrises and morebankrupted aristocratsare forced to sell off their large estates. Downton must do more to ensure its future survival;reductions in staffare considered, forcing Barrow to look for a job elsewhere. Having formed a close bond with young George, Barrow realises that Downton has become the first real home he has ever had, but feels unwanted. Mary defies a blackmailer, who is thwarted by Robert. With Tom's departure to Boston, Mary becomes theestate agent. Edith is more hands-on in running her magazine and hires a female editor. Violet and Isobel once again draw battle lines as a government take-over of the local hospital is considered. Mary begins seeing Henry Talbot, a racing driver, and Edith begins seeing Bertie Pelham, a cousin of the owner of Brancaster Castle. Meanwhile, Anna suffers repeated miscarriages. Mary takes her to a specialist, who diagnoses a treatable condition, and she becomes pregnant again. Mr Carson and Mrs Hughes disagree on where to hold their wedding reception, but eventually choose to have it at the schoolhouse, during which Tom reappears with Sybil, having returned to Downton for good. Coyle, who tricked Baxter into stealing a previous employer's jewellery, is convicted after she and other witnesses are persuaded to testify. After Mrs Drewe kidnaps Marigold when Edith is not looking, the Drewes vacate Yew Tree Farm; Daisy convinces Tom to ask Robert to give her father-in-law, Mr Mason, the tenancy. Andy, a footman, offers to help Mr Mason so he can learn about farming, but Andy is held back by his illiteracy. Barrow offers to teach him to read, but Andy soon trades his help for that of a teacher at the local school. Robert suffers a near-fatal health crisis. Previous episodes alluded to health problems for Robert; hisulcerbursts and he is rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. The operation is successful, but Mary and Tom must take over Downton's operations. Larry Merton's fiancée, Amelia, encourages Lord Merton and Isobel to renew their engagement, but Violet rightly becomes suspicious. Violet discovers that Amelia wants Isobel, and not her, to be Lord Merton's caretaker in his old age.Daisy and Molesley score high marks on their academic exams; Molesley's are so exceptional that he is offered a teaching position at the school. Mary breaks up with Henry, unable to live with the constant fear he could be killed in an accident like Matthew was. Bertie proposes to Edith, but she hesitates to accept because of Marigold. Violet, upset over Cora replacing her as hospital president, abruptly departs for a long cruise to restore her equanimity. Bertie unexpectedly succeeds his late second cousin as 7th Marquess of Hexham and moves into Brancaster Castle; Edith accepts him. Mary spitefully exposes Marigold's parentage, causing Bertie to walk out. Tom confronts Mary over her malicious behaviour and her true feelings for Henry. Despondent over his inability to find another job and his sense of being unloved, Barrow attemptssuicide, and is saved by Baxter and Andy. Realising the extent of Barrow's pain for the first time, Robert and Carson allow Barrow to stay at Downton while he recovers and searches for new employment. Mary and Henry reunite and are married. Edith returns to Downton for the wedding; she and Mary agree to work on improving their relationship. Mrs Patmore's newbed and breakfastbusiness is tainted by scandal, but saved when Robert, Cora and Rosamund appear there publicly to support her. Mary arranges a surprise meeting for Edith and Bertie with Bertie proposing again. Edith accepts. Edith tells Bertie's moralistic mother Mirada about Marigold; initially appalled, she is won over by Edith's honesty. Barrow, having decided to turn over a new leaf and become a kinder person, finds a position as butler and leaves Downton on good terms, but he is unhappy at his new post; the family and other servants also find themselves missing him. Lord Merton is diagnosed with terminalpernicious anaemiaand Amelia blocks Isobel from seeing him. Goaded by Violet, Isobel pushes into the Merton house and announces she will take Lord Merton to her house to care for and marry him, to his delight. Later, Lord Merton is correctly diagnosed with a non-fatal form ofanaemia. Robert resents Cora's frequent absences as the hospital president, but comes to admire her ability after watching her chair a hospital meeting. Henry and Tom go into business together selling used cars, while Mary announces her pregnancy. Molesley accepts a permanent teaching position and he and Baxter promise to continue seeing each other. Daisy and Andy finally acknowledge their feelings; Daisy decides to move to the farm with Mr Mason, her father-in-law. Carson developspalsyand must retire. Following Robert and Mary's suggestion, Barrow happily returns to Downton as butler, with Carson in an overseeing role. Edith and Bertie are finally married in the series finale, set on New Year's Eve 1925. Anna goes into labour during the reception, and she and Bates become parents to a healthy son. Cast and characters The main cast of the Crawley family is led byHugh Bonnevilleas Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham, andElizabeth McGovernas his wife Cora Crawley, the Countess of Grantham. Their three daughters are depicted byMichelle Dockeryas Lady Mary Crawley (Talbot),Laura Carmichaelas Lady Edith Crawley (Pelham) andJessica Brown Findlayas Lady Sybil Crawley (Branson).Maggie Smithis Robert Crawley's mother Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham.Samantha Bondportrays Lady Rosamund Painswick, Robert's sister who resides inBelgrave Square, London.Dan Stevensportrays Matthew Crawley, the new heir, along withPenelope Wiltonas his mother, Isobel Crawley, who are brought to Downton.Allen Leechas Tom Branson begins the series as the familychauffeur, but falls in love with Lady Sybil, marries her and later becomes theagentfor the estate.David Robbportrays Dr Richard Clarkson, the local town doctor. Joining the cast in series three isLily Jamesas Lady Rose MacClare, a cousin whose mother is Violet's niece Susan, the Marchioness of Flintshire, and who is sent to live with the Crawleys because her parents are serving the empire in India and, later, remains there because of family problems. In series three and four,Shirley MacLaineportrays the mother of Cora Crawley, Martha Levinson. Suitors for Lady Mary's affections during the series includeTom Cullenas Lord Gillingham,Julian Ovendenas Charles Blake, andMatthew Goodeas Henry Talbot. Edith's fiancé and eventual husband Bertie Pelham, 7th Marquess of Hexham, is played byHarry Hadden-Paton. Downton Abbey's senior household staff are portrayed byJim Carteras Mr Carson, thebutler, andPhyllis Loganas Mrs Hughes, thehousekeeper. Tensions rise whenRob James-Collier, portraying Thomas Barrow, afootmanand later avaletandunder-butler, along withSiobhan Finneranas Miss O'Brien, the lady'smaidto the Countess of Grantham (up to series three), plot againstBrendan Coyleas Mr Bates, the valet to the Earl of Grantham, and his love interest and eventual wife, Anna (Joanne Froggatt), lady's maid to Lady Mary.Kevin Doyleplays the unlucky Mr Molesley, valet to Matthew Crawley.Thomas Howesportrays William Mason, the second footman. Other household staff areRose Leslieas Gwen Dawson, ahousemaidstudying to be asecretaryin series one.Amy Nuttallplays Ethel Parks, a maid, beginning in series two and three.Matt Milnejoined the cast as Alfred Nugent, O'Brien's nephew, the awkward new footman for series three and four, andRaquel Cassidyplays Baxter, Cora's new lady's maid, who was hired to replace Edna Braithwaithe, who was sacked.Ed Speleersplays the dashing James (Jimmy) Kent, the second footman, from series three to five. In series five and sixMichael Foxplays Andy Parker, a replacement footman for Jimmy. In series four, five, and sixAndrew Scarboroughplays Tim Drewe, a farmer of the estate, who helps Lady Edith conceal a big secret. The kitchen staff includeLesley Nicolas Mrs Patmore thecook, andSophie McSheraas Daisy, thescullery maidwho works her way up to assistant cook having earlier married William Mason.Cara Theoboldportrays Ivy Stuart, a kitchen maid, joining the cast for series three and four. Crawley family The series is set in Downton Abbey, aYorkshirecountry house, which is the home and seat of theEarlandCountessofGrantham, along with their three daughters and other family members. Each series follows the lives of thearistocraticCrawley family, their friends, and their servants during the reign of KingGeorge V. Production Gareth NeameofCarnival Filmsconceived the idea of anEdwardian-eraTV drama set in a country house and approached Fellowes, who had won anAcademy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)forGosford Park. The TV seriesDownton Abbey– written and created by Fellowes – was originally planned as a spin-off ofGosford Park, but instead was developed as a stand-alone property inspired by the film, set decades earlier.Although Fellowes was reluctant to work on another project resemblingGosford Park, within a few weeks he returned to Neame with an outline of the first series. Influenced by Edith Wharton'sThe Custom of the Country,Fellowes wrote the scripts; and his wife, Emma, acted as an informalstory editor. Filming locations Highclere Castle in northHampshireis used for exterior shots of Downton Abbey and most of the interior filming.The kitchen,servants' quartersand working areas, and some of the \"upstairs\" bedrooms were constructed and filmed atEaling Studios.Bridgewater Housein the St James area of London served as the family's London home. Outdoor scenes are filmed in the village ofBamptoninOxfordshire. Notable locations include the Church of St Mary the Virgin and the library, which served as the entrance to the cottage hospital.The old rectory in Bampton is used for exterior shots of Isobel Crawley's house, with interior scenes filmed at Hall Place nearBeaconsfieldinBuckinghamshire. The fictional Downton Abbey is said to be located inYorkshire. The towns ofEasingwold,Kirkby Malzeard,Kirkbymoorside,Malton,Middlesbrough,Ripon,RichmondandThirsk, each mentioned by characters in the series, lie inNorth Yorkshire, as does the city of York, whileLeeds—similarly mentioned—lies inWest Yorkshire. Yorkshire media speculated the general location of the fictional Downton Abbey to be somewhere in the triangulated area between the towns of Easingwold, Ripon and Thirsk. First World Wartrench warfarescenes in France were filmed in a specially constructed replica battlefield for period war scenes near the village ofAkenhamin ruralSuffolk. Many historical locations and aristocratic mansions have been used to film various scenes: The fictional Haxby Park, the estate Sir Richard Carlisle intends to buy in series two, is part ofWaddesdon ManorinBuckinghamshire.Byfleet ManorinSurreyis the location for theDower house, home to Violet,DowagerCountess of Grantham,whileWest Wycombe ParkinBuckinghamshireis used for the interior scenes of Lady Rosamund (Samantha Bond)'sLondonresidence inBelgrave Square.A house in Belgrave Square is used for exterior shots. The farm scenes in series two in which Lady Edith learns to drive a tractor as part of the war effort were filmed on location at theChiltern Open Air Museumin Buckinghamshire. Inveraray CastleinArgyll, Scotland, doubled as \"Duneagle Castle\" in the 2012 Christmas special. Greys CourtnearHenley-on-ThamesinOxfordshirewas used as the family's secondary property, which they proposed moving into and calling \"Downton Place\" due to financial difficulties in series three. Also in the third series, Bates's prison scenes were filmed atLincoln CastleinLincolnshire. Horsted Keynes railway stationinSussexis used as Downton station.The station is part of the heritageBluebell Railway.St Pancrasstation inLondondoubled forKing's Crossstation in episode one of series four, in the scene where Lady Edith Crawley meets her lover Michael Gregson.The restaurant scene where Lady Edith meets Michael Gregson and where they share their kiss was filmed at theCriterion RestaurantinPiccadilly Circuswhich was originally opened in 1874. Bridgewater House in the St James area of London served as the family's London home. Outdoor scenes are filmed in the village of Bampton in Oxfordshire. Notable locations include St Mary's the Virgin Church and the library, which served as the entrance to the cottage hospital. The old rectory in Bampton is used for exterior shots of Isobel Crawley's house, with interior scenes filmed atHall Barn, Hall Place near Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, featured as Loxley House, the home of Sir Anthony Strallan. Parts of series four were filmed atThe Historic Dockyard Chatham,Kent– The Tarred Yarn Store was used in episode one as a workhouse where Mrs Hughes (Phyllis Logan) visits Mr Grigg (Nicky Henson) and in episode two, streets atThe Historic Dockyard Chathamwere used for the scenes where Lady Rose MacClare (Lily James) is at the market with James Kent (Ed Speleers) watching her.The production had previously filmed inKentfor series one where the opening sequence of a train going through the countryside was filmed at theKent & East Sussex Railway. Other filming locations for series four include the ballroom of The Savile Club inMayfair, London. Scenes for the 2013 Christmas special were filmed atRoyal Holloway, University of LondonnearEgham, Surrey,West Witteringbeach inWest Sussexand Berkshire'sBasildon ParknearStreatley.Lancaster Housein London stood in forBuckingham Palace. Alnwick Castle, inNorthumberland, was the filming location used for Brancaster Castle in the 2014 and 2015 Christmas specials, which included filming in Alnwick Castle'sState Rooms, as well as on the castle's grounds, and at the nearby semi-ruined Hulne Abbey on theDuke of Northumberland's parklands inAlnwick. In series five and six, Kingston Bagpuize House in Oxfordshire was used as the location for Cavenham Park, the home of Lord Merton.In series six, the scenes of motor racing atBrooklandswere filmed at theGoodwood Circuitin West Sussex. In 2015, Wayfair.co.uk published a map of 70+ Downton Abbey filming locations. The 2019 film ofDownton Abbeyuses many of the television locations such as Highclere Castle and Bampton, as well as exterior shots filmed atBeamish Museum.TheNorth York Moors Railwaywas used for railway scenes. Opening theme music The opening music ofDownton Abbey, titled \"Did I Make the Most of Loving You?\",was composed byJohn Lunn. A suite version was released on the soundtrack for the show on 19 September 2011 in the UK and later in the US on 13 December 2011. The soundtrack also included the song performed by singerMary-Jess Leaverland,with lyrics written byDon Black. Broadcasts The rights to broadcastDownton Abbeyhave been acquired in over 220 countries and territories, and the series has been viewed by a global audience of an estimated 120 million people. United Kingdom The series first aired on theITV networkin the United Kingdom beginning on 26 September 2010, and received its first Britain-wide broadcast when shown onITV3beginning in February 2011. STV, the ITV franchisee in central and northernScotland(including theOrkneyandShetlandislands), originally opted out of showingDownton Abbey, choosing instead to screen a brand-new six-part series ofTaggart, following a long practice of opting out of networked United Kingdom-wide programming on the ITV network.This led to backlash from Scottish viewers, who were frustrated at not being able to watch the programme. Many viewers with satellite or cable television tuned into other regional stations of the ITV network, for exampleITV London, with viewing figures showing this is also commonplace for other ITV programmes.STV announced in July 2011 that it would show the first and second series ofDownton Abbeyas part of its autumn schedule.Scottish cast membersPhyllis LoganandIain Glenwere both quoted as being pleased with the decision. United States In the United States,Downton Abbeywas first broadcast in January 2011 onPBS, as part of the 40th season ofMasterpiece.The programme was aired in four 90-minute episodes, controversially requiring PBS to alter the beginning and endpoints of each episode and make other small changes, slightly altering each episode's structure to fit the programme precisely into the allotted running-time.As part ofMasterpiece, episodes shown on PBS also featuredMasterpiecehost (Laura Linney), who introduced each episode, explaining matters such as \"theentail\" and \"Buccaneers\"for the benefit of American viewers; this was perceived as condescending by some American critics.PBS editing for broadcasts in the United States continued in the subsequent seasons.The final and sixth season aired in 2016. PBS continued to repeat episodes until 2020, whenNBC Universaltook over the US broadcasting rights for its streaming servicePeacock. The series became available onNetflixin 2021. The series also aired on the E! network in 2022. Canada In Canada,VisionTVbegan airing the programme on 7 September 2011;CBC Televisionrepeated the whole series in 2021; Downton Abbey was aired in French onIci Radio-Canada Télé. Australia and New Zealand In Australia, the first series was broadcast on theSeven Networkbeginning on 29 May 2011;the second series was broadcast beginning on 20 May 2012;and the third series beginning on 10 February 2013.In New Zealand,Primebegan airing the first series on 10 May 2011, the second series on 18 October 2011 and the third series on 18 October 2012. Ireland In Ireland, independent television channelTV3aired the first series in January and February 2011. France Downton Abbeywas broadcast onTMCin France beginning in 11 December 2011. Reception Critical response AtMetacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the first series received anaveragescore of 91, based on 16 reviews, which indicates \"universal acclaim\".This result earned the show a Guinness World Record in 2011 for \"Highest critical review ratings for a TV show\", makingDownton Abbeythe critically best received TV show in the world.Season 4 ofBreaking BadsurpassedDownton Abbey's record later in the year, with a score of 96, making the first series ofDownton Abbeythe second highest rated show of 2011. The series has been noted for its relatively sympathetic portrayal of thearistocraticfamily and the class-based society of early 20th-century Britain. This has led to criticism from the political left and praise from the right.James Fentonwrote inThe New York Review of Books, \"it is noticeable that the aristocrats in the series, even the ones who are supposed to be the most ridiculous, never lapse into the most offensive kind of upper-class drawl one would expect of them. Great care has been taken to keep them pleasant and approachable, even when the things they say are sometimes shown to be class-bound and unfeeling.\"Jerry Bowyerargued inForbesthat the sympathy for aristocracy is over-stated, and that the show is simply more balanced than most period dramas, which he believes have had a tendency to demonise or ridicule upper class characters. He wrote thatDownton Abbeyshows \"there is no inherent need for good TV to be left of center. Stories sympathetic to virtue, preservation of property and admiration of nobility and of wealth can be told beautifully and to wide audiences.\" Downton Abbeyhas been a commercial success and received general acclaim from critics, although some criticise it as superficial,melodramaticor unrealistic. Others defend these qualities as the reason for the show's appeal. David Kamp wrote inVanity Fairthat \"melodrama is an uncool thing to trade in these days, but then, that's precisely whyDownton Abbeyis so pleasurable. In its clear delineation between the goodies and the baddies, in its regulated dosages of highs and lows, the show is welcome counter-programming to the slow-burning despair and moral ambiguity of most quality drama on television right now.\"In September 2019,The Guardian,which ranked the show 50th on its list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century, stated that the show \"was TV drama as comfort blanket: at a time of austerity, Julian Fellowes's country house epic offered elegantly realised solace in the homilies of the past\".Mary McNamara ofLos Angeles Timeswrote, \"Possibly the best series of the year.\"Jill Serjeant ofReuterswrote, \"There's a new darling in U.S. pop culture.\"The staff ofEntertainment Weeklywrote, \"It's the biggest PBS phenomenon since Sesame Street.\"David Hinckley ofNew York Daily Newswrote, \"Maintains its magic touch.\" James Parker, writing inThe Atlantic, said, \"Preposterous as history, preposterous as drama, the show succeeds magnificently as bad television. The dialogue spins light-operatically along in the service of multiplying plotlets, not too hard on the ear, although now and again a line lands like a tray of dropped spoons. The acting is superb—it has to be.\"Ben W. Heineman Jr. compared the series unfavourably toBrideshead Revisited, writing \"Downton Abbeyis entertainment. Its illustrious predecessor in television mega-success about the English upper class,Brideshead Revisited, is art.\"He noted the lack of character development in Downton. Writing inThe Sunday Times,A. A. Gillsaid that the show is \"everything I despise and despair of on British television:National Trustsentimentality, costumed comfort drama that flogs an embarrassing, demeaning, and bogus vision of the place I live in.\" Sam Wollaston ofThe Guardianwrote, It's beautifully made—handsome, artfully crafted and acted. Smith, who plays the formidable and disdainful Dowager Countess, has a lovely way of delivering words, always spaced to perfection. This is going to be a treat if you like a lavish period drama of a Sunday evening. While rumoured due to the departure of actorDan Stevens, the death of Matthew Crawley in the 2012 Christmas special drew criticism.Fellowes defended the decision stating that they 'didn't really have an option' once Stevens decided to leave.Stevens later said that he had no say in the manner of his character's departure but that he was 'sorry' his character had died on Christmas Day. The third episode of the fourth series, which aired on 6 October 2013, included a warning at the beginning: \"This episode contains violent scenes that some viewers may find upsetting.\"The episode content, in which Anna Bates was raped, led to more than 200 complaints by viewers to UK television regulatorOfcom,while ITV received 60 complaints directly.On 4 November 2013, Ofcom announced it would not be taking action over the controversy citing the warning given, that the episode was screened after 9 pm, and, that the rape took place 'off-screen'.Series four also introduced a recurring character, black jazz musician Jack Ross, who had a brief romantic affair with Lady Rose. The casting ofGary Carrdrew critical accusations ofpolitical correctnessin the media. The character of Ross was partially based onLeslie Hutchinson(\"Hutch\"), a real-life 1920s jazz singer who had an affair with a number of women in high society, among themEdwina Mountbatten. Ratings The first episode ofDownton Abbeyhad a consolidated British audience of 9.2 million viewers, a 32% audience share—making it the most successful new drama on any channel sinceWhitechapelwas launched on ITV in February 2009. The total audience for the first episode, including repeats andITV Playerviewings, exceeded 11.6 million viewers. This was beaten by the next episode, with a total audience of 11.8 million viewers—including repeats and ITV Player views.Downton Abbeybroke the record for a single episode viewing onITV Player. The second series premiered in Britain on 18 September 2011 in the same 9 pm slot as the first series, with the first episode attracting an average audience of 9 million viewers on ITV1, a 34.6% share.The second episode attracted a similar following with an average of 9.3 million viewers.In January 2012, the PBS premiere attracted 4.2 million viewers, over double the network's average primetime audience of 2 million. The premiere audience was 18% higher than the first series premiere. The second series ofDownton Abbeygave PBS its highest ratings since 2009. The second series averaged 5.4 million viewers, excluding station replays, DVR viewings and online streaming. The 5.4 million average improved on PBS first series numbers by 25%. Additionally, episodes of series two have been viewed 4.8 million times on PBS's digital portal, surpassing the online viewing numbers of series one by more than 400 per cent. Overall,Downton Abbey-related content has racked up more than 9 million streams across all platforms, with 1.5 million unique visitors, since series 2's 8 January premiere.In 2013,Downton Abbeywas ranked the 43rd most well-written TV show of all time by theWriters Guild of America. The third series premiered in the UK on 16 September 2012 with an average of 9 million viewers (or a 36% audience share). For the first time in the UK, episode three received an average of more than 10 million viewers (or a 38.2% audience share).Premiering in the US in January 2013, the third series had an average audience of 11.5 million viewers and the finale on 17 February 2013, drew 12.3 million viewers making it the night's highest rating show.Overall, during its seven-week run, the series had an audience of 24 million viewers making it PBS's highest-rated drama of all time. The fourth series premiered in the UK on 22 September 2013 with an average audience of 9.5 million viewers—the highest ever for one of the drama's debut episodes.It premiered in the US on 5 January 2014, to an audience of at least 10.2 million viewers, outperforming every other drama on that night; it was the largest audience forPBSsince the 1990 premiere of theKen BurnsdocumentaryThe Civil War.The second episode attracted an average of 9.6 million UK viewers. Awards and nominations Cultural reaction Although Julian Fellowes supports aunited Ireland,there has been criticism of the stereotypicalIrish charactersused in the show, specifically the character of Tom Branson's brother, Kieran, portrayed as a rude and boorish drunk.Allen Leech, who plays Tom Branson, defended the series, stating that the show did not portray Irish characters in a pejorative fashion.Branson's character took some criticism in Ireland fromThe Irish Times, which described the character as \"an Irish republican turned Downtonian toff.\" The character of the Earl of Grantham occasionally expresses negative views about Catholics and is described, byThe Washington Post, as \"xenophobic\" but \"at least historically accurate\".Episodes in Season 3 featured Lord Grantham using offensive derogatory terms against Catholics such as the phrase \"left-footer\" and mocking theCatholic Massby calling it a \"gymnastics display\". A dinner scene also features a Protestant minister calling Catholic practices \"pagan\". Fellowes, himself a Roman Catholic, explained that he chose to address this in terms of \"that casual, almost unconscious anti-Catholicism that was found among the upper classes, which lasted well into my growing up years\", adding that he \"thought it might be interesting\" to explore this in the series and described his own experiences where the aristocracy \"were happy for you to come to their dances or shoot their pheasants, but there were plenty who did not want you to marry their daughters and risk Catholic grandchildren.\" Authenticity Fellowes has said he tries to be as authentic in his depiction of the period as he can.Despite this, the show features many linguisticanachronisms.The accents of characters have also been questioned, with theReceived Pronunciationof the actors who play the wealthy characters described as \"slightly more contemporary\" than would be expected among early-20th-century aristocrats; however, this \"elicited more natural and unaffected performances from the cast\". In 2010, Fellowes hiredAlastair Bruce, an expert on state and court ritual, as historical adviser.Bruce explains his role as being \"here to guide the production and particularly the director as they bring Julian's words to life. That also involves getting the social conduct right, and giving actors a sense of surety in the way they deliver a performance.\"ActorJim Carter, who plays butler Carson, describes Bruce as the series \"etiquette watchdog\",and the UK'sDaily Telegraphfinished its 2011 profile of Bruce's role stating \"Downton's authenticity, it seems, is in safe hands.\"However, historianSimon Schamacriticised the show for historical inaccuracies and \"pandering toclichés\".Producer Gareth Neame defended the show, saying, \"Downton is a fictional drama. It is not a history programme, but a drama of social satire about a time when relationships, behaviour and hierarchy were very different from those we enjoy today.\" A \"tremendous amount of research\" went into recreating the servants' quarters atEaling StudiosbecauseHighclere Castle, where many of the upstairs scenes are filmed,was not adequate for representing the \"downstairs\" life at the fictional manor house.Researchers visited nearly 40 English country houses to help inform what the kitchen should look like, and production designer Donal Woods said of the kitchen equipment that \"probably about 60 to 70 per cent of the stuff in there is from that period\".Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Managementis an important guide to the food served in the series, but Highclere owner, and author ofLady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle, Lady Carnarvon, states that dinner parties in the era \"would have been even more over the top\" than those shown.Lady Pamela Hicksagreed, stating that \"it is ridiculous to think that a weekend party would consist of only fourteen house guests, it would have consisted of at least 40!\"However, Carnarvon understood the compromises that must be made for television, and adds, \"It's a fun costume drama. It's not a social documentary. Because it's so popular, I think some people take it as historical fact.\" Home media Streaming The series was made available in its entirety on Netflix in June 2021. It has also been made available onAmazon Prime Video,Peacock, the PBS app and PBS.org with a PBS Passport subscription. Blu-ray and DVD On 16 September 2011, two days before the UK premiere of the second series, it was reported byAmazon.comthat the first series ofDownton Abbeyhad become the highest selling DVD boxset of all time on the online retailer's website, surpassing popular American programmes such asThe Sopranos,FriendsandThe Wire. Books The World of Downton Abbey, a book featuring a behind-the-scenes look atDownton Abbeyand the era in which it is set, was released on 15 September 2011. It was written byJessica Fellowes(the niece ofJulian Fellowes) and published byHarperCollins. A second book, also written by Jessica Fellowes and published by HarperCollins,The Chronicles of Downton Abbey, was released on 13 September 2012. It is a guide to the show's characters through the early part of the third series. Four spin-off cookbooks have been published –The Official Downton Abbey Cookbook(2019), which features dishes from the Edwardian period researched by food historian Dr Annie Gray,The Official Downton Abbey Christmas Cookbook(2020) by Regula Ysewijn,The Official Downton Abbey Cocktail Book(2019) and TheOfficial Downton Abbey Afternoon Tea Cookbook(2020). Soundtracks A soundtrack, featuring music from the series and also new songs, was released byDeccain September 2011. Music byJohn LunnandDon Blackfeatures, with vocals fromMary-Jess LeaverlandandAlfie Boe.A second soundtrack was released on 19 November 2012 entitledDownton Abbey: The Essential Collectionand a third and final soundtrack, containing two discs, was released on 15 January 2016 entitledDownton Abbey: The Ultimate Collectionand featured music spanning from all six seasons of the series including some from the first soundtrack. Cultural impact Some of the fashion items worn by characters on the show have seen a strong revival of interest in the UK and elsewhere during the show's run, includingstarched collars,midi skirts, beadedgowns, andhunting plaids. TheEquality (Titles) Billwas an unsuccessful piece of legislation introduced in theUK Parliamentin 2013 that would have allowed equal succession of female heirs tohereditary titles and peerages. It was nicknamed the \"Downton Abbeylaw\" because it addressed the same issue that affects Lady Mary Crawley, who cannot inherit the estate because it must pass to a male heir. The decor used onDownton AbbeyinspiredUS Representative Aaron Schockto redecorate his congressional offices in a more luxurious style.He repaid the $40,000 cost of redecoration following scrutiny of his expenses and questions about his use of public money for personal benefit,and subsequently resigned in March 2015. Other media Due to the show's popularity, there have been a number of references and spoofs on it, such asFamily Guyepisode \"Chap Stewie\", which has Stewie Griffin reborn in a household similar to Downton Abbey, andHow I Met Your Motherepisode \"The Fortress\", where the gang watch a television show calledWoodworthy Manor, which is remarkably similar toDownton Abbey. A short scene featuring the characters of Sybil and Tom Branson made a screen-in-screen appearance in the movieIron Man 3. The Gilded Age Julian Fellowes'sThe Gilded Age, which debuted onHBOin 2022, portrays New York in the 1880s and how itsold New York societycoped with the influx of newly wealthy families.While a separate series, a young Violet, Countess of Grantham, couldmake an appearance on the new show. Film adaptations On 13 July 2018, a feature-length film was confirmed, with production commencing mid-2018.The film was written byJulian Fellowesand is a continuation of the TV series, with direction byBrian Percival. It was distributed byFocus FeaturesandUniversal Pictures International.The film was released in the United Kingdom on 13 September 2019, with the United States following one week later on 20 September 2019.Filming of a sequel began in April 2021.The film was finally released in the UK on 29 April 2022, and in the US on 20 May. In March 2024,Imelda Staunton, who plays Lady Maud Bagshaw in the first two films, and is married toJim Carter(butler Mr Carson), revealed onBBC Radio 2that athird and final filmis in the pipeline.On 13 May 2024 it was announced on social media and the Focus Films website that a third film is planned, withPaul Giamatti,Joely Richardson,Alessandro Nivola,Simon Russell BealeandArty Froushanjoining the cast.On 26 June 2024 it was announced that the film would be released in cinemas on 12 September 2025. See also Notes References Further reading External links","Pernicious anemia Pernicious anemiais a disease where not enoughred blood cellsare produced due to a deficiency ofvitamin B12.Those affected often have a gradual onset.The most common initial symptoms arefeeling tiredand weak.Other symptoms may includeshortness of breath, feeling faint, a smooth red tongue,paleskin, chest pain,nauseaandvomiting, loss of appetite, heartburn, numbness in the hands and feet,difficulty walking, memory loss, muscle weakness, poorreflexes, blurred vision, clumsiness, depression, and confusion.Without treatment, some of these problems may become permanent. Pernicious anemia refers to a type ofvitamin B12deficiencyanemiathat results from lack ofintrinsic factor.Lack of intrinsic factor is most commonly due to anautoimmuneattack on thecellsthat create it in thestomach.It can also occur following the surgical removal of all or part of the stomach orsmall intestine; from an inherited disorder or illnesses that damage the stomach lining.When suspected, diagnosis is made byblood testsinitially acomplete blood count, and occasionally,bone marrow tests.Blood tests may showfewer but larger red blood cells, low numbers ofyoung red blood cells, low levels of vitamin B12, andantibodiesto intrinsic factor.Diagnosis is not always straightforward and can be challenging. Because pernicious anemia is due to a lack of intrinsic factor, it is not preventable.Pernicious anemia can be treated with injections of vitamin B12.If the symptoms are serious, frequent injections are typically recommended initially.There are not enough studies that pills are effective in improving or eliminating symptoms.Often, treatment may be needed for life. Pernicious anemia is the most common cause of clinically evident vitamin B12deficiency worldwide.Pernicious anemia due to autoimmune problems occurs in about one per 1000 people in the US. Among those over the age of 60, about 2% have the condition.It more commonly affects people of northern European descent.Women are more commonly affected than men.With proper treatment, most people live normal lives.Due to a higher risk ofstomach cancer, those with pernicious anemia should be checked regularly for this.The first clear description was byThomas Addisonin 1849.The term \"pernicious\" means \"deadly\", and this term came into use because, before the availability of treatment, the disease was often fatal. Signs and symptoms Pernicious anemia often presents slowly, and can cause harm insidiously and unnoticeably. Untreated, it can lead to neurological complications, and in serious cases, death.The onset may be vague and slow and the condition can be confused with other conditions, and there may be few to many symptoms without anemia.Pernicious anemia may be present without a person experiencing symptoms at first, over time,feeling tired and weak,lightheadedness,dizziness, headaches,rapidorirregularheartbeat, breathlessness,glossitis(a sore red tongue), poor ability to exercise,low blood pressure, cold hands and feet,paleoryellowskin, easy bruising and bleeding, low-gradefevers, tremor,cold sensitivity,chest pain,upset stomach,nausea, loss of appetite, heartburn, weight loss,diarrhea,constipation, severejoint pain,feeling abnormal sensationsincluding tingling or numbness to the fingers and toes (pins and needles), and tinnitus, may occur.Anemia may present with a number of further common symptoms,including hair thinning and loss, early greying of the hair, mouth ulcers, bleeding gums,angular cheilitis, a look of exhaustion with pale and dehydrated or cracked lips and dark circles around the eyes, as well as brittle nails. In more severe or prolonged cases of pernicious anemia, nerve cell damage may occur. This is may result in sense loss, difficulty inproprioception,neuropathic pain, difficulty walking, poor balance, loss of sensation in the feet,muscle weakness, blurred vision (either due toretinopathyoroptic neuropathy), impaired urination, fertility problems, decreased sense of taste and smell,decreased level of consciousness, changes in reflexes, memory loss, mood swings,depression,irritability, cognitive impairment, confusion, anxiety, clumsiness, psychosis, and, in more severe cases, dementia.Anemia may also lead to cardiac murmursand/or altered blood pressure (loworhigh). The deficiency may also present with thyroid disorders.In severe cases, the anemia may cause congestive heart failure.A complication of severe chronic PA issubacute combined degeneration of spinal cord, which leads to distal sensory loss (posterior column), absent ankle reflex, increased knee reflex response, and extensor plantar response.Other than anemia, hematological symptoms may includecytopenias, intramedullaryhemolysis, and pseudothrombotic microangiopathy.Vitamin B12deficiency, which is reversible, is occasionally confused withacute myeloid leukemia, which is an irreversible condition presenting with some of the same hematological symptoms, including hypercellular bone marrow with blastic differentiation and hypersegmented neutrophils.Pernicious anemia can causeosteoporosisand may lead tobone fractures.Pernicious anemia can contribute to a delay in physical growth in children, and may also be a cause for delay in puberty for adolescents. Causes Vitamin B12cannot be produced by the human body, and must be obtained from the diet. When foods containing B12are eaten, the vitamin is usually bound to protein and is released by proteases released by the pancreas into the small bowel. Following its release, most B12is absorbed by the body in the small bowel (ileum) after binding to a protein known asintrinsic factor. Intrinsic factor is produced byparietal cellsof thegastric mucosa(stomach lining) and the intrinsic factor-B12-complex is absorbed by enterocytes in theileum'scubamreceptors.PA is characterised by B12deficiency caused by the absence of intrinsic factor.Other disorders that can disrupt the absorption of vitamin B12in the small intestine includeceliac disease, surgical removal ofcrohn's disease, andHIV. PA may be considered as an end stage of autoimmuneatrophic gastritis, a disease characterised by stomach atrophy and the presence ofantibodiesto parietal cells and intrinsic factor.Autoimmune atrophic gastritis, is localised to the body of the stomach, where parietal cells are located.Antibodies to intrinsic factor and parietal cells cause the destruction of the oxyntic gastric mucosa, in which the parietal cells are located, leading to the subsequent loss of intrinsic factor synthesis. Without intrinsic factor, the ileum can no longer absorb the B12.Atrophic gastritis is often a precursor togastric cancer. Although the exact role ofHelicobacter pyloriinfection in PA remains controversial, evidence indicatesH. pyloriis involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. A long-standingH. pyloriinfection may cause gastric autoimmunity by a mechanism known asmolecular mimicry. Antibodies produced by the immune system can be cross-reactive and may bind to bothH. pyloriantigensand those found in thegastric mucosa. The antibodies are produced by activatedB cellsthat recognise both pathogen and self-derived peptides. Theautoantigensbelieved to cause the autoreactivity are the alpha and beta subunits of thesodium-potassium pump.In a study, B12deficiency caused byHelicobacter pyloriwas positively correlated withCagApositivity and gastric inflammatory activity, rather than gastric atrophy.Less commonly,H. pyloriandZollinger-Ellison syndromemay cause a form of nonautoimmune gastritis that can lead to pernicious anemia. Impaired B12absorption can also occur following gastric removal (gastrectomy) or gastric bypass surgery. In these surgeries, either the parts of the stomach that produce gastric secretions are removed or they are bypassed. This means intrinsic factor, as well as other factors required for B12absorption, are not available. However, B12deficiency after gastric surgery does not usually become a clinical issue. This is probably because the body stores many years' worth of B12in the liver and gastric surgery patients are adequately supplemented with the vitamin. Although no specific PA susceptibility genes have been identified, a genetic factor likely is involved in the disease. Pernicious anemia is often found in conjunction with other autoimmune disorders, suggesting common autoimmune susceptibility genes may be a causative factor.In spite of that, previous family studies and case reports focusing on PA have suggested that there is a tendency of genetic heritance of PA in particular, and close relatives of the PA patients seem to have higher incidence of PA and associated PA conditions.Moreover, it was further indicated that the formation of antibodies to gastric cells was autosomal dominant gene determined, and the presence of antibodies to the gastric cells might not be necessarily related to the occurrence of atrophic gastritis related to PA. Pathophysiology Although the healthy body stores three to five years' worth of B12in the liver, the usually undetected autoimmune activity in one's gut over a prolonged period of time leads to B12depletion and the resulting anemia; pernicious anemia refers to one of the hematologic manifestations ofchronic auto-immune gastritis, in which the immune system targets the parietal cells of the stomach orintrinsic factoritself, leading to decreased absorption of vitamin B12. The body needs enough intrinsic factor to absorb and reabsorb vitamin B12from thebile, in which reduces the time needed to develop a deficiency. B12is required by enzymes for two reactions: the conversion ofmethylmalonyl-CoAtosuccinyl-CoA, and the conversion ofhomocysteinetomethionine. In the latter reaction, themethyl groupoflevomefolic acidis transferred to homocysteine to producetetrahydrofolateand methionine. This reaction is catalyzed by the enzymemethionine synthasewith B12as an essential cofactor. During B12deficiency, this reaction cannot proceed, which leads to the accumulation of levomefolic acid. This accumulation depletes the other types of folate required forpurineandthymidylatesynthesis, which are required for the synthesis of DNA. Inhibition ofDNA replicationin maturing red blood cells results in the formation of large, fragile megaloblasticerythrocytes. The neurological aspects of the disease are thought to arise from the accumulation of methylmalonyl- CoA due to the requirement of B12as a cofactor to the enzyme methylmalonyl-CoA mutase. Diagnosis The insidious nature of PA may mean that diagnosis is delayed.Diagnosis is not always straightforward and can be challenging and can take up to several years to receive a diagnosis from the onset of symptoms and almost 60% of those affected are misdiagnosed or not initially diagnosed at all.PA may be suspected when a patient'sblood smearshows large, fragile, immature erythrocytes, known asmegaloblasts. A diagnosis of PA first requires demonstration ofmegaloblastic anemiaby conducting afull blood countand blood smear, which evaluates themean corpuscular volume(MCV), as well themean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration(MCHC).PA is identified with a high MCV (macrocytic anemia) and a normal MCHC (normochromicanemia).Ovalocytesare also typically seen on the blood smear, and apathognomonicfeature of megaloblastic anemias (which include PA and others) is hypersegmented neutrophils.Neuropsychiatric symptoms can precede hematological signs and are often the presenting manifestation of the disease. Vitamin B12serum levels are used to detect its deficiency, but do not distinguish its causes. Vitamin B12levels can be falsely high or low and data forsensitivity and specificityvary widely. Normal serum levels may be found in cases of deficiency wheremyeloproliferative disorders,liver disease,transcobalamin II, orsmall intestinal bacterial overgrowthare present.Low levels of serum vitamin B12may be caused by other factors than B12deficiency, such asfolate deficiency,pregnancy,oral contraceptiveuse,haptocorrindeficiency, andmyeloma.High serum levels may caused by supplementing with vitamin B12, present of antibodies to intrinsic factor, or due to underlying condition. The presence of antibodies to gastric parietal cells and intrinsic factor is common in PA. Parietal cell antibodies are found in other autoimmune disorders and also in up to 10% of healthy individuals. However, around 85% of PA patients have parietal cell antibodies, which means they are a sensitive marker for the disease. Intrinsic factor antibodies are much less sensitive than parietal cell antibodies, but they are much more specific. They are found in about half of PA patients and are very rarely found in other disorders. These antibody tests can distinguish between PA and food-B12malabsorption. A buildup of certain metabolites occurs in B12deficiency due to its role in metabolic processes and cellular functions.Methylmalonic acid(MMA) can be measured in both the blood and urine, whereashomocysteineis only measured in the blood. An increase in both MMA and homocysteine distinguishes B12deficiency from folate deficiency because homocysteine alone increases in the latter. Elevatedgastrinlevels can be found in around 80–90% of PA cases, but they may also be found in other forms of gastritis. Decreased pepsinogen I levels or a decreased pepsinogen I to pepsinogen II ratio may also be found, although these findings are less specific to PA and can be found in food-B12malabsorption and other forms of gastritis. The diagnosis of atrophic gastritis type A should be confirmed by gastroscopy and stepwise biopsy.About 90% of individuals with PA have antibodies for parietal cells; however, only 50% of all individuals in the general population with these antibodies have pernicious anemia. Differential diagnosis Forms of vitamin B12deficiency other than PA must be considered in thedifferential diagnosisof megaloblastic anemia. For example, a B12-deficient state which causes megaloblastic anemia and which may be mistaken for classical PA may be caused by infection with thetapewormDiphyllobothrium latum, possibly due to the parasite's competition with host for vitamin B12. The classic test for PA, theSchilling test, is no longer widely used, as more efficient methods are available. This historic test consisted, in its first step, of taking an oral dose ofradiolabelledvitamin B12, followed by quantitation of the vitamin in the patient's urine over a 24-hour period via measurement of theradioactivity. A second step of the test repeats the regimen and procedure of the first step, with the addition of oral intrinsic factor. A patient with PA presents lower than normal amounts of intrinsic factor; hence, addition of intrinsic factor in the second step results in an increase in vitamin B12absorption (over the baseline established in the first). The Schilling test distinguished PA from other forms of B12deficiency,specifically, fromImerslund–Gräsbeck syndrome, a B12-deficiency caused by mutations inCUBNthat codes forcubilinthe cobalamin receptor. Vitamin B12 deficiency is also prevalent in patients havingCrohn's disease(CD) so it should be differentiated. Treatment Pernicious anemia is usually easily treated by providing the necessary level of vitamin B12supplementation.Pernicious anemia can be treated with intramuscular injections of vitamin B12.Initially in high daily doses, followed by less frequent lower doses, as the condition improves.Activity may need to be limited during the course of treatment.As long as the body is saturated with vitamin B12expected to result in cessation of anemia-related symptoms and there are no other symptoms, unless there are irreversible neurological complications.There are not enough studies on whether pills are as effective in improving or eliminating symptoms as parenteral treatment.Folatesupplementation may affect the course and treatment of pernicious anemia if vitamin B12not replaced.In some severe cases of anemia, ablood transfusionmay be needed to resolve haematological effects.Treatment is lifelong. The treatment of PA varies by country and area. Opinions vary over the efficacy of administration (parenteral/oral), the amount and time interval of the doses, or the forms of vitamin B12(e.g. cyanocobalamin/hydroxocobalamin). More comprehensive studies are still needed in order to validate the feasibility of a particular therapeutic method for PA in clinical practices. Prognosis A person with well-treated PA can live a healthy life. Failure to diagnose and treat in time, however, may result in permanent neurological damage, excessive fatigue, depression, memory loss, and other complications. In severe cases, the neurological complications of pernicious anemia can lead to death – hence the name, \"pernicious\", meaning deadly. There is an increased risk ofgastric cancerin those with pernicious anemia linked to the common feature of atrophic gastritis. Epidemiology PA is estimated to affect 0.1% of the general population and 1.9% of those over 60, accounting for 20–50% of B12deficiency in adults.A review of literature shows that the prevalence of PA is higher in Northern Europe, especially in Scandinavian countries, and among people of African descent, and that increased awareness of the disease and better diagnostic tools might play a role in apparently higher rates of incidence. History A case of anemia with a first recognition of associatedatrophic gastritisa feature of pernicious anemia, was first described in 1824 byJames Combe. This was fully investigated in 1849, by British physicianThomas Addison, from which it acquired the common name ofAddison's anemia. In 1871, the first accurate description of the disease in continental Europe was made byMichael Anton Biermer, aGermanphysician who noted the insidious course of the condition. Because it was untreatable and fatal at the time, he first referred to it as \"pernicious\" anemia.Russellcoined the termsubacute combined degeneration of spinal cord. In 1907,Richard Clarke Cabotreported on a series of 1,200 patients with PA; their average survival was between one and three years.Pernicious anemia was a fatal disease before about the year 1920; until the importance of theliverinhematopoiesiswas recognized, the treatment of pernicious anemia was unsuccessful and arbitrary. It may have motivatedGeorge Whipple, who had a keen interest inliver diseases, to investigate the liver's role in hematopoiesis. Whipple began evaluating the effects of treatments for anemia caused by chronic blood loss. Whipple, Huber, and Robchett studied the effects onhemoglobinand blood regeneration of a variety of treatments, among which only raw liver showed real promise.Serendipity is said to have played a role in this discovery. Whipple observed that blood regeneration was poor in dogs fed cooked liver afterchronic blood loss. Had it not been that a lazy laboratory technician gave the dogs raw liver, the much more dramatic response might not have been discovered then. Around 1926,George MinotandWilliam P. Murphy, who learned of Whipple's discovery, sought raw liver as a treatment for pernicious anemia. They later suggested a high-protein diet with high amounts of raw liver. This caused a rapid improvement in symptoms and a simultaneous rise inred blood cellcounts.Fruitandironwere also part of the diet, and it appears that at this point, Minot and Murphy were not quite sure that the liver was a very important factor. It was thought that iron in liver tissue, not liver juice-soluble factor, cured hemorrhagic anemia in dogs. Thus, the discovery of liver juice as a treatment for pernicious anemia had been by coincidence. However, Minot, Murphy, and Whipple received the joint Nobel Prize for discovering a cure for a previously fatal disease of unknown cause in 1934, becoming the first Americans to be awarded theNobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. It is not easy to eat uncooked liver, and extracts were developed as a concentrate of liver juice forintramuscular injection. In 1928, chemistEdwin Cohnprepared an extract that was 50 to 100 times stronger than obtained from raw liver. This became part of the standard management of pernicious anemia until the 1950s. The active ingredient in the liver remained unknown until 1948.The anti-pernicious anemia factor was only isolated from the liver by Smith, Rex, and others. The substance wascobalamin, which the discoverers called \"vitamin B12\".They showed that giving a few micrograms could prevent relapse in the disease.Dorothy Hodgkinand co-workers went on to useX-ray crystallographyto elucidate the structure of cobalamin for which she, too, was awarded aNobel Prize. Understanding of the pathogenesis of pernicious anaemia increased over subsequent decades. It had long been known that the disease was associated withdefects in the gastrointestinal tract: patients hadchronic gastritisand lack of acid secretion (achlorhydria). It is known that transport of physiological amounts of vitamin B12depends on the combined actions of gastric, ileal and pancreatic components. The gastric moiety was discovered and named 'intrinsic factor' byWilliam Castlein 1930. A further important advance was made in the early 1960s by Doniach with the recognition that pernicious anemia is anautoimmune disease.Pernicious anemia is eventually treated with only injections of B12; injections are typically 1 mg every other day, or twice weekly. A medical author takes the view thatMary Todd Lincoln, the wife of American PresidentAbraham Lincoln, had pernicious anemia for decades and died from it in 1882. Research Permeation enhancers Treatment using oral drugs is an easier option in management but the bioavailabity of B12 is low. This is due to low absorption in the intestine, and breakdown by enzyme activity. Research continues to focus on the use of permeation enhancers or permeation absorbers in combination with the treatment. One of the better performing enhancers studied issalcoprozate sodium(SNAC).SNAC is able to form a noncovalent complex with cobalamin while preserving its chemical integrity and protect B12 from gastric acidity.This complex is much more lipophilic than the water-soluble vitamin B12, so is able to pass through cellular membranes with greater ease.Molecular dynamicsare used in experiments to gain an understanding of the molecular interactions involved in the different molecules used and the degree of ease achieved in absorption across the gastric epithelium. References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Downton Abbey Downton Abbeyis a Britishhistorical dramatelevision series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written byJulian Fellowes. It first aired in the United Kingdom onITVon 26 September 2010 and in the United States onPBS, which supported its production as part of itsMasterpiece Classicanthology, on 9 January 2011. The show ran for fifty-two episodes across six series, including five Christmas specials. The series, set on the fictionalYorkshirecountry estateof Downton Abbey between 1912 and 1926, depicts the lives of thearistocraticCrawley family and theirdomestic servantsin the post-Edwardian era, and the effects the great events of the time have on their lives and on theBritish social hierarchy. These events include news of thesinking of theTitanic(first series); the outbreak of theFirst World War, theSpanish influenza pandemicand theMarconi scandal(second series); theIrish War of Independenceleading to the formation of theIrish Free State(third series); theTeapot Dome scandal(fourth series); and theBritish general election of 1923and theBeer Hall Putsch(fifth series). The sixth and final series introduces the rise of the working class during theinterwar periodand hints at the eventual decline of theBritish aristocracy. Downton Abbeyhas received acclaim from television critics andnumerous accolades, including aGolden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Filmand aPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie. It was recognised byGuinness World Recordsas the most critically acclaimed English-language television series of 2011. It earned 27Primetime Emmy Awardnominations after its first two series, the most for any international television series in the awards' history.It was the most watched television series on both ITV and PBS, and became the most successful Britishcostume dramasince the 1981 television serial ofBrideshead Revisited. On 26 March 2015,Carnival Filmsand ITV announced that the sixth series would be the last; it aired on ITV between 20 September 2015 and 8 November 2015. The final episode, the annual Christmas special, was broadcast on 25 December 2015. Afilm adaptation, a continuation of the series, was confirmed on 13 July 2018 and released in the United Kingdom on 13 September 2019, and in the United States on 20 September 2019. A second feature film,Downton Abbey: A New Era, was released in the United Kingdom on 29 April 2022 byUniversal Pictures, and in the United States and Canada on 20 May 2022 byFocus Features.A third film is in production. Plot overview Series 1 (2010) The first series, comprising seven episodes, explores the lives of the fictional Crawley family, the hereditary Earl of Grantham, and their domestic servants. The storyline centres on thefee tail, or \\\"entail\\\", governing the titled elite, which endows title and estate exclusively tomale heirs. As part of the backstory, the main character, Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, had resolved his father's past financial difficulties by marrying Cora Levinson, an American heiress. Her considerabledowryis now contractually incorporated into the committal entail in perpetuity; however, Robert and Cora have three daughters and no son. As the eldest daughter, Lady Mary Crawley had agreed to marry her second cousin Patrick, the son of the then-heir presumptiveJames Crawley. The series begins the day after thesinking of RMSTitanicon 14/15 April 1912. The first episode starts as news reaches Downton Abbey that both James and Patrick have perished in the sinking of the ocean liner. The family then learns that a more distant and unknown male cousin, solicitor Matthew Crawley, the son of anupper-middle-classdoctor, has become the next heir presumptive. The story initially centres on the relationship between Lady Mary and Matthew, who resists embracing an aristocratic lifestyle, while Lady Mary resists her own attraction to the new heir presumptive. Of several subplots, one involves John Bates, Lord Grantham's newvaletand formerBoer Warbatman, and Thomas Barrow, an ambitious youngfootman, who resents the former for taking a position he had desired for himself. Bates and Thomas remain at odds as Barrow works to sabotage Bates's every move. After learning Bates had recently been released from prison, Thomas and Miss O'Brien (Lady Grantham'slady's maid) begin a relentless pursuit that nearly ruins the Crawley family in scandal. Barrow – ahomosexualman in lateEdwardian England– and O'Brien create havoc for most of the staff and family. When Barrow is caught stealing, he hands in hisnoticeto join theRoyal Army Medical Corps. Matthew eventually does propose to Lady Mary, but she puts him off when Lady Grantham becomes pregnant, understanding that Matthew would no longer be heir if the baby is a boy. Cora loses the baby after O'Brien, believing she is soon to be fired, retaliates by leaving a bar of soap on the floor next to the bathtub, causing Cora to slip while getting out of the tub, and the fall resulting in a miscarriage. It is later revealed that the miscarried foetus was a male. Although Lady Mary intends to accept Matthew, Matthew believes her reluctance is due to the earlier uncertainty of his heirship and emotionally rescinds his proposal, leaving Lady Mary devastated. The series ends just after theassassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinandand the outbreak of theFirst World Warin August 1914. Series 2 (2011) The second series comprises eight episodes and runs from theBattle of the Sommein 1916 to the1918 Spanish flu pandemic. During the war, Downton Abbey is temporarily converted into an officers'convalescent hospital. Matthew, having left Downton, is now aBritish Armyofficer and has become engaged. His fiancée is Lavinia Swire, the niece of aLiberalminister. William Mason, the second footman, is drafted, even after attempts by the Dowager Countess of Grantham to save him fromconscription. William is taken under Matthew's protection as his personalorderly. Enduring trench warfare and charging against machine guns and artillery, both are injured by an exploding shell. William dies from his wounds, but only after a deathbed marriage to Daisy, thekitchen maid. While Daisy does not believe she loves William, she marries him in his last hours as his dying wish. It is not until a brief encounter with the Dowager Countess that she begins to realise that her love was real, but she could not admit it to herself. Matthew is now paralysed from the waist down by his battle injury, and seemingly unable to father children. Lavinia remains true to him despite his attempts to set her free, and he finally accepts her devotion. Mary, while acknowledging her feelings for Matthew, becomes engaged to Sir Richard Carlisle, a powerful and overbearing newspaper mogul, but their relationship is rocky. Bates's wife, Vera, repeatedly causes trouble for John and Anna, who are now engaged. Vera threatens to expose Mary's past scandalous indiscretion, but Carlisle agrees to purchase andkillher story. Embittered, Mrs Bates mysteriously commits suicide with an arsenic pie after a visit by Bates, and he is arrested on suspicion of her murder. Matthew regains the use of his legs, and he and Mary realise they are still in love, but Matthew remains honourably committed to Lavinia after she stood by him during his misfortune. Unknown to them both, Lavinia, ill withSpanish flu, sees and overhears Matthew and Mary admit their love for one another while dancing to a song playing on thephonographgifted as a wedding present to Matthew and Lavinia. The Spanish influenza epidemic hits Downton Abbey further with Cora taken seriously ill, as well as Carson, thebutler. During the outbreak, Thomas attempts to make up for his inability to find other employment after the war by making himself as useful as possible and is made Lord Grantham's valet after Bates is arrested. Lavinia dies abruptly, which causes great guilt to both Matthew and Mary. Bates is found guilty of murder and sentenced to death but the sentence iscommutedto life in prison due to Lord Grantham's influence. After a talk with Robert, Mary realises that she must break off her engagement to Carlisle; he and Matthew fight in the drawing room, but in the end Carlisle goes quietly and is never heard from again. The annual Servants' Ball is held at Downton, and Mary and Matthew finally find their way to a marriage proposal on a snowy evening outside the Abbey. Lady Sybil, the youngest Crawley daughter, beginning to find her aristocratic life stifling, falls in love with Tom Branson, the new chauffeur ofIrishdescent with strongsocialistleanings. She is talked out ofelopementby her sisters, but her wayward marriage eventually receives Lord Grantham's reluctant blessing. Ethel Parks, a new housemaid, is seduced by a wounded officer, Major Bryant. Mrs Hughes, the housekeeper, finds them together in bed and dismisses Ethel, but takes pity on her and helps her when Ethel tells her she is pregnant. She has a baby boy and names him Charlie after his father, but Major Bryant refuses to acknowledge his paternity. The filming location,Highclere Castle, in reality served as a convalescent home during World War I. Series 3 (2012) In episode one of the third series, covering 1920 to 1921, preparations are underway for Mary and Matthew's wedding. Tom and Sybil Branson arrive from Ireland, where they now live, to attend the wedding. Also arriving to attend the wedding of her granddaughter is Cora's mother, Martha Levinson, from America. Robert (Lord Grantham) learns that the bulk of the family's fortune (including Cora's dowry) has been lost due to his impetuous investment in theGrand Trunk Railway. Meanwhile Edith has fallen for Sir Anthony Strallan, whom Robert discourages from marrying Edith due to his age and crippled arm. At Edith's insistence, Robert gives in and welcomes Sir Anthony, but even though he loves her, Strallan cannot accept that the Grantham family disapproves of the match, and at the altar announces that he cannot go through with the wedding, devastating Edith. Strallan flees the church and is never heard from again. Meanwhile, Bates's cellmate plants a small surgical knife in his bedding, but Bates is informed by a fellow prisoner allowing him time to find and hide it (this same small knife is later used by Bates to threaten his cellmate when he had been using his connections through corrupt prison guards to keep a witness from testifying to Bates's innocence of the crime for which he is incarcerated). At Downton, Mrs Hughes finds out she may havebreast cancer, which only some of the household hear about, causing deep concern, but the tumour turns out to bebenign. Tom Branson and Lady Sybil, now pregnant, return to Downton after Tom is implicated in the burning of an Anglo-Irish aristocrat's house. After Matthew's reluctance to accept an inheritance from Lavinia's recently deceased father and then Robert's reluctance to accept that inheritance as a gift, Matthew and Robert reach a compromise in which Matthew accepts that the inheritance will be used as an investment in the estate, giving Matthew an equal say in how it is run. However, as time goes on Robert repeatedly resists Matthew and Tom's efforts to modernise the running of the estate to make it profitable. Tragedy strikes when Sybil dies fromeclampsiashortly after giving birth. Tom, devastated, names his daughter Sybil after his late wife. Bates is released from prison after Anna uncovers evidence clearing him of his wife's murder. Tom becomes the newland agentat the suggestion of Violet, the Dowager Countess. Barrow and O'Brien have a falling out, after which O'Brien leads Barrow to believe that Jimmy, the new footman, is sexually attracted to him. Barrow enters Jimmy's room and kisses him while he is sleeping, which wakes him up shocked, confused, and very angry. In the end, Lord Grantham (familiar with homosexuality from Eton) defuses the situation. The family, except Branson, visits Violet's niece Susan, her husband \\\"Shrimpie\\\", theMarquessofFlintshire; and their daughter Rose, inScotland, accompanied by Matthew and a very pregnant Mary. The Marquess confides to Robert that his estate is bankrupt and will be sold, making Robert recognise that Downton has been saved through Matthew and Tom's efforts to modernise. At Downton, Edna Braithwaite, the new maid, enters Tom's room and kisses him, whereupon he asks her to leave, and she is eventually fired. Mary returns to Downton with Anna and gives birth to the new heir, but Matthew dies in a car crash while driving home from the hospital after seeing his newborn son. Series 4 (2013) In series four, covering 1922 to 1923, O'Brien leaves to serve Lady Flintshire inBritish India. Cora hires Edna Braithwaite, who had previously been fired for her interest in Tom. Eventually the situation blows up, and Edna is replaced by Phyllis Baxter. Mary deeply mourns Matthew's death. Matthew's newly-found letter states Mary is to be his soleheirand thus gives her management over his share of the estate until their son, George,comes of age. With Tom's encouragement, Mary assumes a more active role in running Downton. Two new suitors—Lord Gillingham and Charles Blake—arrive at Downton, though Mary, still grieving, is not interested. Edith, who has begun writing a weekly newspaper column, and Michael Gregson, a magazine editor, fall in love. Due to British law, he is unable todivorcehis wife, who is mentally ill and in an asylum. Gregson travels toGermanyto seekcitizenshipthere, enabling him to divorce, but is killed by Hitler'sBrownshirtsduring riots. Edith is left pregnant and decides to have an illegal abortion, but changes her mind at the last minute. With the help from her paternal aunt, Lady Rosamund, Edith secretly gives birth to a daughter while abroad, and places the baby with adoptive parents inSwitzerland, but reclaims her after arranging a new adoptive family on the estate. Mr and Mrs Drewe of Yew Tree Farm take the baby in and raise her as their own. Anna is raped by Lord Gillingham's valet Mr Green, which Mr Bates later discovers. Subsequently, Green is killed in a London street accident. A local school teacher, Sarah Bunting, and Tom begin a friendship. In the Christmas special set mainly in London, Sampson, acard sharp, steals a letter written byEdward VIII, thenPrince of Wales, to his mistress, Rose's friendFreda Dudley Ward, which if made public would create a scandal; the entire Crawley family connives to retrieve it, although it is Bates who extracts the letter from Sampson's overcoat, and it is returned to Mrs Dudley Ward. The family hold adebutanteball for Lady Rose following her presentation at court, and the grateful Prince makes an appearance at the ball. Series 5 (2014) In series five, covering the year 1924, aRussian exile, Prince Kuragin, wishes to renew his past affections for the Dowager Countess (Violet). Violet instead locates his wife inBritish Hong Kongand reunites the Prince and his estranged wife.Scotland Yardand the local police investigate Green's death. Violet learns that Marigold is Edith's daughter. Meanwhile, Mrs Drewe, not knowing Marigold's true parentage, resents Edith's constant visits. To increase his chances with Mary, Charles Blake plots to reunite Gillingham and his ex-fiancée, Mabel. After Edith inherits Michael Gregson's publishing company, she removes Marigold from the Drewes and relocates to London. Simon Bricker, an art expert interested in one of Downton's paintings, shows his true intentions toward Cora and is thrown out by Robert, causing a temporary rift between the couple. Mrs Patmore's decision to invest her inheritance in real estate inspires Mr Carson, Downton's butler, to do likewise. He suggests that head housekeeper Mrs Hughes invest with him; she confesses she has no money due to supporting a mentally incapacitated sister. The Crawleys' cousin, Lady Rose, daughter of Lord and Lady Flintshire, becomes engaged to Atticus Aldridge, son of Lord and Lady Sinderby. Lord Sinderby strongly objects to Atticus's marrying outside theJewish faith. Lord Merton proposes to Isobel Crawley (Matthew's mother). She accepts, but later ends the engagement due to Lord Merton's sons' disparaging comments over her status as acommoner. Lady Flintshire employs underhanded schemes to derail Rose and Atticus's engagement, including announcing to everyone at the wedding that she and her husband are divorcing, intending to cause a scandal to stop Rose's marriage to Atticus; they are married anyway. When Anna is arrested on suspicion of Green's murder, Bates writes afalse confessionbefore fleeing toIreland. Baxter and Molesley, a footman and Matthew's former valet, are able to prove that Bates was inYorkat the time of the murder. This new information allows Anna to be released. Cora eventually learns the truth about Marigold, and wants her raised at Downton; Marigold is presented as Edith'sward, but Robert and Tom eventually discern the truth. Only Mary is unaware. When a war memorial is unveiled in the town, Robert arranges for a separate plaque to honour the cook Mrs Patmore's late nephew, who was shot forcowardiceand excluded from his own village's memorial. The Crawleys are invited to Brancaster Castle, which Lord and Lady Sinderby have rented for a shooting party. While there, Lady Rose, with help from the Crawleys, defuses a personal near-disaster for Lord Sinderby, earning his gratitude and securing his approval of Rose. A second footman, Andy, is hired on Barrow's recommendation. During the annual Downton Abbey Christmas celebration, Tom announces he is moving toAmericato work for his cousin, taking daughter Sybil with him. Mr Carson proposes marriage to Mrs Hughes and she accepts. Series 6 (2015) In series six, changes are once again afoot at Downton Abbey as themiddle classrises and morebankrupted aristocratsare forced to sell off their large estates. Downton must do more to ensure its future survival;reductions in staffare considered, forcing Barrow to look for a job elsewhere. Having formed a close bond with young George, Barrow realises that Downton has become the first real home he has ever had, but feels unwanted. Mary defies a blackmailer, who is thwarted by Robert. With Tom's departure to Boston, Mary becomes theestate agent. Edith is more hands-on in running her magazine and hires a female editor. Violet and Isobel once again draw battle lines as a government take-over of the local hospital is considered. Mary begins seeing Henry Talbot, a racing driver, and Edith begins seeing Bertie Pelham, a cousin of the owner of Brancaster Castle. Meanwhile, Anna suffers repeated miscarriages. Mary takes her to a specialist, who diagnoses a treatable condition, and she becomes pregnant again. Mr Carson and Mrs Hughes disagree on where to hold their wedding reception, but eventually choose to have it at the schoolhouse, during which Tom reappears with Sybil, having returned to Downton for good. Coyle, who tricked Baxter into stealing a previous employer's jewellery, is convicted after she and other witnesses are persuaded to testify. After Mrs Drewe kidnaps Marigold when Edith is not looking, the Drewes vacate Yew Tree Farm; Daisy convinces Tom to ask Robert to give her father-in-law, Mr Mason, the tenancy. Andy, a footman, offers to help Mr Mason so he can learn about farming, but Andy is held back by his illiteracy. Barrow offers to teach him to read, but Andy soon trades his help for that of a teacher at the local school. Robert suffers a near-fatal health crisis. Previous episodes alluded to health problems for Robert; hisulcerbursts and he is rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. The operation is successful, but Mary and Tom must take over Downton's operations. Larry Merton's fiancée, Amelia, encourages Lord Merton and Isobel to renew their engagement, but Violet rightly becomes suspicious. Violet discovers that Amelia wants Isobel, and not her, to be Lord Merton's caretaker in his old age.Daisy and Molesley score high marks on their academic exams; Molesley's are so exceptional that he is offered a teaching position at the school. Mary breaks up with Henry, unable to live with the constant fear he could be killed in an accident like Matthew was. Bertie proposes to Edith, but she hesitates to accept because of Marigold. Violet, upset over Cora replacing her as hospital president, abruptly departs for a long cruise to restore her equanimity. Bertie unexpectedly succeeds his late second cousin as 7th Marquess of Hexham and moves into Brancaster Castle; Edith accepts him. Mary spitefully exposes Marigold's parentage, causing Bertie to walk out. Tom confronts Mary over her malicious behaviour and her true feelings for Henry. Despondent over his inability to find another job and his sense of being unloved, Barrow attemptssuicide, and is saved by Baxter and Andy. Realising the extent of Barrow's pain for the first time, Robert and Carson allow Barrow to stay at Downton while he recovers and searches for new employment. Mary and Henry reunite and are married. Edith returns to Downton for the wedding; she and Mary agree to work on improving their relationship. Mrs Patmore's newbed and breakfastbusiness is tainted by scandal, but saved when Robert, Cora and Rosamund appear there publicly to support her. Mary arranges a surprise meeting for Edith and Bertie with Bertie proposing again. Edith accepts. Edith tells Bertie's moralistic mother Mirada about Marigold; initially appalled, she is won over by Edith's honesty. Barrow, having decided to turn over a new leaf and become a kinder person, finds a position as butler and leaves Downton on good terms, but he is unhappy at his new post; the family and other servants also find themselves missing him. Lord Merton is diagnosed with terminalpernicious anaemiaand Amelia blocks Isobel from seeing him. Goaded by Violet, Isobel pushes into the Merton house and announces she will take Lord Merton to her house to care for and marry him, to his delight. Later, Lord Merton is correctly diagnosed with a non-fatal form ofanaemia. Robert resents Cora's frequent absences as the hospital president, but comes to admire her ability after watching her chair a hospital meeting. Henry and Tom go into business together selling used cars, while Mary announces her pregnancy. Molesley accepts a permanent teaching position and he and Baxter promise to continue seeing each other. Daisy and Andy finally acknowledge their feelings; Daisy decides to move to the farm with Mr Mason, her father-in-law. Carson developspalsyand must retire. Following Robert and Mary's suggestion, Barrow happily returns to Downton as butler, with Carson in an overseeing role. Edith and Bertie are finally married in the series finale, set on New Year's Eve 1925. Anna goes into labour during the reception, and she and Bates become parents to a healthy son. Cast and characters The main cast of the Crawley family is led byHugh Bonnevilleas Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham, andElizabeth McGovernas his wife Cora Crawley, the Countess of Grantham. Their three daughters are depicted byMichelle Dockeryas Lady Mary Crawley (Talbot),Laura Carmichaelas Lady Edith Crawley (Pelham) andJessica Brown Findlayas Lady Sybil Crawley (Branson).Maggie Smithis Robert Crawley's mother Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham.Samantha Bondportrays Lady Rosamund Painswick, Robert's sister who resides inBelgrave Square, London.Dan Stevensportrays Matthew Crawley, the new heir, along withPenelope Wiltonas his mother, Isobel Crawley, who are brought to Downton.Allen Leechas Tom Branson begins the series as the familychauffeur, but falls in love with Lady Sybil, marries her and later becomes theagentfor the estate.David Robbportrays Dr Richard Clarkson, the local town doctor. Joining the cast in series three isLily Jamesas Lady Rose MacClare, a cousin whose mother is Violet's niece Susan, the Marchioness of Flintshire, and who is sent to live with the Crawleys because her parents are serving the empire in India and, later, remains there because of family problems. In series three and four,Shirley MacLaineportrays the mother of Cora Crawley, Martha Levinson. Suitors for Lady Mary's affections during the series includeTom Cullenas Lord Gillingham,Julian Ovendenas Charles Blake, andMatthew Goodeas Henry Talbot. Edith's fiancé and eventual husband Bertie Pelham, 7th Marquess of Hexham, is played byHarry Hadden-Paton. Downton Abbey's senior household staff are portrayed byJim Carteras Mr Carson, thebutler, andPhyllis Loganas Mrs Hughes, thehousekeeper. Tensions rise whenRob James-Collier, portraying Thomas Barrow, afootmanand later avaletandunder-butler, along withSiobhan Finneranas Miss O'Brien, the lady'smaidto the Countess of Grantham (up to series three), plot againstBrendan Coyleas Mr Bates, the valet to the Earl of Grantham, and his love interest and eventual wife, Anna (Joanne Froggatt), lady's maid to Lady Mary.Kevin Doyleplays the unlucky Mr Molesley, valet to Matthew Crawley.Thomas Howesportrays William Mason, the second footman. Other household staff areRose Leslieas Gwen Dawson, ahousemaidstudying to be asecretaryin series one.Amy Nuttallplays Ethel Parks, a maid, beginning in series two and three.Matt Milnejoined the cast as Alfred Nugent, O'Brien's nephew, the awkward new footman for series three and four, andRaquel Cassidyplays Baxter, Cora's new lady's maid, who was hired to replace Edna Braithwaithe, who was sacked.Ed Speleersplays the dashing James (Jimmy) Kent, the second footman, from series three to five. In series five and sixMichael Foxplays Andy Parker, a replacement footman for Jimmy. In series four, five, and sixAndrew Scarboroughplays Tim Drewe, a farmer of the estate, who helps Lady Edith conceal a big secret. The kitchen staff includeLesley Nicolas Mrs Patmore thecook, andSophie McSheraas Daisy, thescullery maidwho works her way up to assistant cook having earlier married William Mason.Cara Theoboldportrays Ivy Stuart, a kitchen maid, joining the cast for series three and four. Crawley family The series is set in Downton Abbey, aYorkshirecountry house, which is the home and seat of theEarlandCountessofGrantham, along with their three daughters and other family members. Each series follows the lives of thearistocraticCrawley family, their friends, and their servants during the reign of KingGeorge V. Production Gareth NeameofCarnival Filmsconceived the idea of anEdwardian-eraTV drama set in a country house and approached Fellowes, who had won anAcademy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)forGosford Park. The TV seriesDownton Abbey– written and created by Fellowes – was originally planned as a spin-off ofGosford Park, but instead was developed as a stand-alone property inspired by the film, set decades earlier.Although Fellowes was reluctant to work on another project resemblingGosford Park, within a few weeks he returned to Neame with an outline of the first series. Influenced by Edith Wharton'sThe Custom of the Country,Fellowes wrote the scripts; and his wife, Emma, acted as an informalstory editor. Filming locations Highclere Castle in northHampshireis used for exterior shots of Downton Abbey and most of the interior filming.The kitchen,servants' quartersand working areas, and some of the \\\"upstairs\\\" bedrooms were constructed and filmed atEaling Studios.Bridgewater Housein the St James area of London served as the family's London home. Outdoor scenes are filmed in the village ofBamptoninOxfordshire. Notable locations include the Church of St Mary the Virgin and the library, which served as the entrance to the cottage hospital.The old rectory in Bampton is used for exterior shots of Isobel Crawley's house, with interior scenes filmed at Hall Place nearBeaconsfieldinBuckinghamshire. The fictional Downton Abbey is said to be located inYorkshire. The towns ofEasingwold,Kirkby Malzeard,Kirkbymoorside,Malton,Middlesbrough,Ripon,RichmondandThirsk, each mentioned by characters in the series, lie inNorth Yorkshire, as does the city of York, whileLeeds—similarly mentioned—lies inWest Yorkshire. Yorkshire media speculated the general location of the fictional Downton Abbey to be somewhere in the triangulated area between the towns of Easingwold, Ripon and Thirsk. First World Wartrench warfarescenes in France were filmed in a specially constructed replica battlefield for period war scenes near the village ofAkenhamin ruralSuffolk. Many historical locations and aristocratic mansions have been used to film various scenes: The fictional Haxby Park, the estate Sir Richard Carlisle intends to buy in series two, is part ofWaddesdon ManorinBuckinghamshire.Byfleet ManorinSurreyis the location for theDower house, home to Violet,DowagerCountess of Grantham,whileWest Wycombe ParkinBuckinghamshireis used for the interior scenes of Lady Rosamund (Samantha Bond)'sLondonresidence inBelgrave Square.A house in Belgrave Square is used for exterior shots. The farm scenes in series two in which Lady Edith learns to drive a tractor as part of the war effort were filmed on location at theChiltern Open Air Museumin Buckinghamshire. Inveraray CastleinArgyll, Scotland, doubled as \\\"Duneagle Castle\\\" in the 2012 Christmas special. Greys CourtnearHenley-on-ThamesinOxfordshirewas used as the family's secondary property, which they proposed moving into and calling \\\"Downton Place\\\" due to financial difficulties in series three. Also in the third series, Bates's prison scenes were filmed atLincoln CastleinLincolnshire. Horsted Keynes railway stationinSussexis used as Downton station.The station is part of the heritageBluebell Railway.St Pancrasstation inLondondoubled forKing's Crossstation in episode one of series four, in the scene where Lady Edith Crawley meets her lover Michael Gregson.The restaurant scene where Lady Edith meets Michael Gregson and where they share their kiss was filmed at theCriterion RestaurantinPiccadilly Circuswhich was originally opened in 1874. Bridgewater House in the St James area of London served as the family's London home. Outdoor scenes are filmed in the village of Bampton in Oxfordshire. Notable locations include St Mary's the Virgin Church and the library, which served as the entrance to the cottage hospital. The old rectory in Bampton is used for exterior shots of Isobel Crawley's house, with interior scenes filmed atHall Barn, Hall Place near Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, featured as Loxley House, the home of Sir Anthony Strallan. Parts of series four were filmed atThe Historic Dockyard Chatham,Kent– The Tarred Yarn Store was used in episode one as a workhouse where Mrs Hughes (Phyllis Logan) visits Mr Grigg (Nicky Henson) and in episode two, streets atThe Historic Dockyard Chathamwere used for the scenes where Lady Rose MacClare (Lily James) is at the market with James Kent (Ed Speleers) watching her.The production had previously filmed inKentfor series one where the opening sequence of a train going through the countryside was filmed at theKent & East Sussex Railway. Other filming locations for series four include the ballroom of The Savile Club inMayfair, London. Scenes for the 2013 Christmas special were filmed atRoyal Holloway, University of LondonnearEgham, Surrey,West Witteringbeach inWest Sussexand Berkshire'sBasildon ParknearStreatley.Lancaster Housein London stood in forBuckingham Palace. Alnwick Castle, inNorthumberland, was the filming location used for Brancaster Castle in the 2014 and 2015 Christmas specials, which included filming in Alnwick Castle'sState Rooms, as well as on the castle's grounds, and at the nearby semi-ruined Hulne Abbey on theDuke of Northumberland's parklands inAlnwick. In series five and six, Kingston Bagpuize House in Oxfordshire was used as the location for Cavenham Park, the home of Lord Merton.In series six, the scenes of motor racing atBrooklandswere filmed at theGoodwood Circuitin West Sussex. In 2015, Wayfair.co.uk published a map of 70+ Downton Abbey filming locations. The 2019 film ofDownton Abbeyuses many of the television locations such as Highclere Castle and Bampton, as well as exterior shots filmed atBeamish Museum.TheNorth York Moors Railwaywas used for railway scenes. Opening theme music The opening music ofDownton Abbey, titled \\\"Did I Make the Most of Loving You?\\\",was composed byJohn Lunn. A suite version was released on the soundtrack for the show on 19 September 2011 in the UK and later in the US on 13 December 2011. The soundtrack also included the song performed by singerMary-Jess Leaverland,with lyrics written byDon Black. Broadcasts The rights to broadcastDownton Abbeyhave been acquired in over 220 countries and territories, and the series has been viewed by a global audience of an estimated 120 million people. United Kingdom The series first aired on theITV networkin the United Kingdom beginning on 26 September 2010, and received its first Britain-wide broadcast when shown onITV3beginning in February 2011. STV, the ITV franchisee in central and northernScotland(including theOrkneyandShetlandislands), originally opted out of showingDownton Abbey, choosing instead to screen a brand-new six-part series ofTaggart, following a long practice of opting out of networked United Kingdom-wide programming on the ITV network.This led to backlash from Scottish viewers, who were frustrated at not being able to watch the programme. Many viewers with satellite or cable television tuned into other regional stations of the ITV network, for exampleITV London, with viewing figures showing this is also commonplace for other ITV programmes.STV announced in July 2011 that it would show the first and second series ofDownton Abbeyas part of its autumn schedule.Scottish cast membersPhyllis LoganandIain Glenwere both quoted as being pleased with the decision. United States In the United States,Downton Abbeywas first broadcast in January 2011 onPBS, as part of the 40th season ofMasterpiece.The programme was aired in four 90-minute episodes, controversially requiring PBS to alter the beginning and endpoints of each episode and make other small changes, slightly altering each episode's structure to fit the programme precisely into the allotted running-time.As part ofMasterpiece, episodes shown on PBS also featuredMasterpiecehost (Laura Linney), who introduced each episode, explaining matters such as \\\"theentail\\\" and \\\"Buccaneers\\\"for the benefit of American viewers; this was perceived as condescending by some American critics.PBS editing for broadcasts in the United States continued in the subsequent seasons.The final and sixth season aired in 2016. PBS continued to repeat episodes until 2020, whenNBC Universaltook over the US broadcasting rights for its streaming servicePeacock. The series became available onNetflixin 2021. The series also aired on the E! network in 2022. Canada In Canada,VisionTVbegan airing the programme on 7 September 2011;CBC Televisionrepeated the whole series in 2021; Downton Abbey was aired in French onIci Radio-Canada Télé. Australia and New Zealand In Australia, the first series was broadcast on theSeven Networkbeginning on 29 May 2011;the second series was broadcast beginning on 20 May 2012;and the third series beginning on 10 February 2013.In New Zealand,Primebegan airing the first series on 10 May 2011, the second series on 18 October 2011 and the third series on 18 October 2012. Ireland In Ireland, independent television channelTV3aired the first series in January and February 2011. France Downton Abbeywas broadcast onTMCin France beginning in 11 December 2011. Reception Critical response AtMetacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the first series received anaveragescore of 91, based on 16 reviews, which indicates \\\"universal acclaim\\\".This result earned the show a Guinness World Record in 2011 for \\\"Highest critical review ratings for a TV show\\\", makingDownton Abbeythe critically best received TV show in the world.Season 4 ofBreaking BadsurpassedDownton Abbey's record later in the year, with a score of 96, making the first series ofDownton Abbeythe second highest rated show of 2011. The series has been noted for its relatively sympathetic portrayal of thearistocraticfamily and the class-based society of early 20th-century Britain. This has led to criticism from the political left and praise from the right.James Fentonwrote inThe New York Review of Books, \\\"it is noticeable that the aristocrats in the series, even the ones who are supposed to be the most ridiculous, never lapse into the most offensive kind of upper-class drawl one would expect of them. Great care has been taken to keep them pleasant and approachable, even when the things they say are sometimes shown to be class-bound and unfeeling.\\\"Jerry Bowyerargued inForbesthat the sympathy for aristocracy is over-stated, and that the show is simply more balanced than most period dramas, which he believes have had a tendency to demonise or ridicule upper class characters. He wrote thatDownton Abbeyshows \\\"there is no inherent need for good TV to be left of center. Stories sympathetic to virtue, preservation of property and admiration of nobility and of wealth can be told beautifully and to wide audiences.\\\" Downton Abbeyhas been a commercial success and received general acclaim from critics, although some criticise it as superficial,melodramaticor unrealistic. Others defend these qualities as the reason for the show's appeal. David Kamp wrote inVanity Fairthat \\\"melodrama is an uncool thing to trade in these days, but then, that's precisely whyDownton Abbeyis so pleasurable. In its clear delineation between the goodies and the baddies, in its regulated dosages of highs and lows, the show is welcome counter-programming to the slow-burning despair and moral ambiguity of most quality drama on television right now.\\\"In September 2019,The Guardian,which ranked the show 50th on its list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century, stated that the show \\\"was TV drama as comfort blanket: at a time of austerity, Julian Fellowes's country house epic offered elegantly realised solace in the homilies of the past\\\".Mary McNamara ofLos Angeles Timeswrote, \\\"Possibly the best series of the year.\\\"Jill Serjeant ofReuterswrote, \\\"There's a new darling in U.S. pop culture.\\\"The staff ofEntertainment Weeklywrote, \\\"It's the biggest PBS phenomenon since Sesame Street.\\\"David Hinckley ofNew York Daily Newswrote, \\\"Maintains its magic touch.\\\" James Parker, writing inThe Atlantic, said, \\\"Preposterous as history, preposterous as drama, the show succeeds magnificently as bad television. The dialogue spins light-operatically along in the service of multiplying plotlets, not too hard on the ear, although now and again a line lands like a tray of dropped spoons. The acting is superb—it has to be.\\\"Ben W. Heineman Jr. compared the series unfavourably toBrideshead Revisited, writing \\\"Downton Abbeyis entertainment. Its illustrious predecessor in television mega-success about the English upper class,Brideshead Revisited, is art.\\\"He noted the lack of character development in Downton. Writing inThe Sunday Times,A. A. Gillsaid that the show is \\\"everything I despise and despair of on British television:National Trustsentimentality, costumed comfort drama that flogs an embarrassing, demeaning, and bogus vision of the place I live in.\\\" Sam Wollaston ofThe Guardianwrote, It's beautifully made—handsome, artfully crafted and acted. Smith, who plays the formidable and disdainful Dowager Countess, has a lovely way of delivering words, always spaced to perfection. This is going to be a treat if you like a lavish period drama of a Sunday evening. While rumoured due to the departure of actorDan Stevens, the death of Matthew Crawley in the 2012 Christmas special drew criticism.Fellowes defended the decision stating that they 'didn't really have an option' once Stevens decided to leave.Stevens later said that he had no say in the manner of his character's departure but that he was 'sorry' his character had died on Christmas Day. The third episode of the fourth series, which aired on 6 October 2013, included a warning at the beginning: \\\"This episode contains violent scenes that some viewers may find upsetting.\\\"The episode content, in which Anna Bates was raped, led to more than 200 complaints by viewers to UK television regulatorOfcom,while ITV received 60 complaints directly.On 4 November 2013, Ofcom announced it would not be taking action over the controversy citing the warning given, that the episode was screened after 9 pm, and, that the rape took place 'off-screen'.Series four also introduced a recurring character, black jazz musician Jack Ross, who had a brief romantic affair with Lady Rose. The casting ofGary Carrdrew critical accusations ofpolitical correctnessin the media. The character of Ross was partially based onLeslie Hutchinson(\\\"Hutch\\\"), a real-life 1920s jazz singer who had an affair with a number of women in high society, among themEdwina Mountbatten. Ratings The first episode ofDownton Abbeyhad a consolidated British audience of 9.2 million viewers, a 32% audience share—making it the most successful new drama on any channel sinceWhitechapelwas launched on ITV in February 2009. The total audience for the first episode, including repeats andITV Playerviewings, exceeded 11.6 million viewers. This was beaten by the next episode, with a total audience of 11.8 million viewers—including repeats and ITV Player views.Downton Abbeybroke the record for a single episode viewing onITV Player. The second series premiered in Britain on 18 September 2011 in the same 9 pm slot as the first series, with the first episode attracting an average audience of 9 million viewers on ITV1, a 34.6% share.The second episode attracted a similar following with an average of 9.3 million viewers.In January 2012, the PBS premiere attracted 4.2 million viewers, over double the network's average primetime audience of 2 million. The premiere audience was 18% higher than the first series premiere. The second series ofDownton Abbeygave PBS its highest ratings since 2009. The second series averaged 5.4 million viewers, excluding station replays, DVR viewings and online streaming. The 5.4 million average improved on PBS first series numbers by 25%. Additionally, episodes of series two have been viewed 4.8 million times on PBS's digital portal, surpassing the online viewing numbers of series one by more than 400 per cent. Overall,Downton Abbey-related content has racked up more than 9 million streams across all platforms, with 1.5 million unique visitors, since series 2's 8 January premiere.In 2013,Downton Abbeywas ranked the 43rd most well-written TV show of all time by theWriters Guild of America. The third series premiered in the UK on 16 September 2012 with an average of 9 million viewers (or a 36% audience share). For the first time in the UK, episode three received an average of more than 10 million viewers (or a 38.2% audience share).Premiering in the US in January 2013, the third series had an average audience of 11.5 million viewers and the finale on 17 February 2013, drew 12.3 million viewers making it the night's highest rating show.Overall, during its seven-week run, the series had an audience of 24 million viewers making it PBS's highest-rated drama of all time. The fourth series premiered in the UK on 22 September 2013 with an average audience of 9.5 million viewers—the highest ever for one of the drama's debut episodes.It premiered in the US on 5 January 2014, to an audience of at least 10.2 million viewers, outperforming every other drama on that night; it was the largest audience forPBSsince the 1990 premiere of theKen BurnsdocumentaryThe Civil War.The second episode attracted an average of 9.6 million UK viewers. Awards and nominations Cultural reaction Although Julian Fellowes supports aunited Ireland,there has been criticism of the stereotypicalIrish charactersused in the show, specifically the character of Tom Branson's brother, Kieran, portrayed as a rude and boorish drunk.Allen Leech, who plays Tom Branson, defended the series, stating that the show did not portray Irish characters in a pejorative fashion.Branson's character took some criticism in Ireland fromThe Irish Times, which described the character as \\\"an Irish republican turned Downtonian toff.\\\" The character of the Earl of Grantham occasionally expresses negative views about Catholics and is described, byThe Washington Post, as \\\"xenophobic\\\" but \\\"at least historically accurate\\\".Episodes in Season 3 featured Lord Grantham using offensive derogatory terms against Catholics such as the phrase \\\"left-footer\\\" and mocking theCatholic Massby calling it a \\\"gymnastics display\\\". A dinner scene also features a Protestant minister calling Catholic practices \\\"pagan\\\". Fellowes, himself a Roman Catholic, explained that he chose to address this in terms of \\\"that casual, almost unconscious anti-Catholicism that was found among the upper classes, which lasted well into my growing up years\\\", adding that he \\\"thought it might be interesting\\\" to explore this in the series and described his own experiences where the aristocracy \\\"were happy for you to come to their dances or shoot their pheasants, but there were plenty who did not want you to marry their daughters and risk Catholic grandchildren.\\\" Authenticity Fellowes has said he tries to be as authentic in his depiction of the period as he can.Despite this, the show features many linguisticanachronisms.The accents of characters have also been questioned, with theReceived Pronunciationof the actors who play the wealthy characters described as \\\"slightly more contemporary\\\" than would be expected among early-20th-century aristocrats; however, this \\\"elicited more natural and unaffected performances from the cast\\\". In 2010, Fellowes hiredAlastair Bruce, an expert on state and court ritual, as historical adviser.Bruce explains his role as being \\\"here to guide the production and particularly the director as they bring Julian's words to life. That also involves getting the social conduct right, and giving actors a sense of surety in the way they deliver a performance.\\\"ActorJim Carter, who plays butler Carson, describes Bruce as the series \\\"etiquette watchdog\\\",and the UK'sDaily Telegraphfinished its 2011 profile of Bruce's role stating \\\"Downton's authenticity, it seems, is in safe hands.\\\"However, historianSimon Schamacriticised the show for historical inaccuracies and \\\"pandering toclichés\\\".Producer Gareth Neame defended the show, saying, \\\"Downton is a fictional drama. It is not a history programme, but a drama of social satire about a time when relationships, behaviour and hierarchy were very different from those we enjoy today.\\\" A \\\"tremendous amount of research\\\" went into recreating the servants' quarters atEaling StudiosbecauseHighclere Castle, where many of the upstairs scenes are filmed,was not adequate for representing the \\\"downstairs\\\" life at the fictional manor house.Researchers visited nearly 40 English country houses to help inform what the kitchen should look like, and production designer Donal Woods said of the kitchen equipment that \\\"probably about 60 to 70 per cent of the stuff in there is from that period\\\".Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Managementis an important guide to the food served in the series, but Highclere owner, and author ofLady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle, Lady Carnarvon, states that dinner parties in the era \\\"would have been even more over the top\\\" than those shown.Lady Pamela Hicksagreed, stating that \\\"it is ridiculous to think that a weekend party would consist of only fourteen house guests, it would have consisted of at least 40!\\\"However, Carnarvon understood the compromises that must be made for television, and adds, \\\"It's a fun costume drama. It's not a social documentary. Because it's so popular, I think some people take it as historical fact.\\\" Home media Streaming The series was made available in its entirety on Netflix in June 2021. It has also been made available onAmazon Prime Video,Peacock, the PBS app and PBS.org with a PBS Passport subscription. Blu-ray and DVD On 16 September 2011, two days before the UK premiere of the second series, it was reported byAmazon.comthat the first series ofDownton Abbeyhad become the highest selling DVD boxset of all time on the online retailer's website, surpassing popular American programmes such asThe Sopranos,FriendsandThe Wire. Books The World of Downton Abbey, a book featuring a behind-the-scenes look atDownton Abbeyand the era in which it is set, was released on 15 September 2011. It was written byJessica Fellowes(the niece ofJulian Fellowes) and published byHarperCollins. A second book, also written by Jessica Fellowes and published by HarperCollins,The Chronicles of Downton Abbey, was released on 13 September 2012. It is a guide to the show's characters through the early part of the third series. Four spin-off cookbooks have been published –The Official Downton Abbey Cookbook(2019), which features dishes from the Edwardian period researched by food historian Dr Annie Gray,The Official Downton Abbey Christmas Cookbook(2020) by Regula Ysewijn,The Official Downton Abbey Cocktail Book(2019) and TheOfficial Downton Abbey Afternoon Tea Cookbook(2020). Soundtracks A soundtrack, featuring music from the series and also new songs, was released byDeccain September 2011. Music byJohn LunnandDon Blackfeatures, with vocals fromMary-Jess LeaverlandandAlfie Boe.A second soundtrack was released on 19 November 2012 entitledDownton Abbey: The Essential Collectionand a third and final soundtrack, containing two discs, was released on 15 January 2016 entitledDownton Abbey: The Ultimate Collectionand featured music spanning from all six seasons of the series including some from the first soundtrack. Cultural impact Some of the fashion items worn by characters on the show have seen a strong revival of interest in the UK and elsewhere during the show's run, includingstarched collars,midi skirts, beadedgowns, andhunting plaids. TheEquality (Titles) Billwas an unsuccessful piece of legislation introduced in theUK Parliamentin 2013 that would have allowed equal succession of female heirs tohereditary titles and peerages. It was nicknamed the \\\"Downton Abbeylaw\\\" because it addressed the same issue that affects Lady Mary Crawley, who cannot inherit the estate because it must pass to a male heir. The decor used onDownton AbbeyinspiredUS Representative Aaron Schockto redecorate his congressional offices in a more luxurious style.He repaid the $40,000 cost of redecoration following scrutiny of his expenses and questions about his use of public money for personal benefit,and subsequently resigned in March 2015. Other media Due to the show's popularity, there have been a number of references and spoofs on it, such asFamily Guyepisode \\\"Chap Stewie\\\", which has Stewie Griffin reborn in a household similar to Downton Abbey, andHow I Met Your Motherepisode \\\"The Fortress\\\", where the gang watch a television show calledWoodworthy Manor, which is remarkably similar toDownton Abbey. A short scene featuring the characters of Sybil and Tom Branson made a screen-in-screen appearance in the movieIron Man 3. The Gilded Age Julian Fellowes'sThe Gilded Age, which debuted onHBOin 2022, portrays New York in the 1880s and how itsold New York societycoped with the influx of newly wealthy families.While a separate series, a young Violet, Countess of Grantham, couldmake an appearance on the new show. Film adaptations On 13 July 2018, a feature-length film was confirmed, with production commencing mid-2018.The film was written byJulian Fellowesand is a continuation of the TV series, with direction byBrian Percival. It was distributed byFocus FeaturesandUniversal Pictures International.The film was released in the United Kingdom on 13 September 2019, with the United States following one week later on 20 September 2019.Filming of a sequel began in April 2021.The film was finally released in the UK on 29 April 2022, and in the US on 20 May. In March 2024,Imelda Staunton, who plays Lady Maud Bagshaw in the first two films, and is married toJim Carter(butler Mr Carson), revealed onBBC Radio 2that athird and final filmis in the pipeline.On 13 May 2024 it was announced on social media and the Focus Films website that a third film is planned, withPaul Giamatti,Joely Richardson,Alessandro Nivola,Simon Russell BealeandArty Froushanjoining the cast.On 26 June 2024 it was announced that the film would be released in cinemas on 12 September 2025. See also Notes References Further reading External links\",\n \"Pernicious anemia Pernicious anemiais a disease where not enoughred blood cellsare produced due to a deficiency ofvitamin B12.Those affected often have a gradual onset.The most common initial symptoms arefeeling tiredand weak.Other symptoms may includeshortness of breath, feeling faint, a smooth red tongue,paleskin, chest pain,nauseaandvomiting, loss of appetite, heartburn, numbness in the hands and feet,difficulty walking, memory loss, muscle weakness, poorreflexes, blurred vision, clumsiness, depression, and confusion.Without treatment, some of these problems may become permanent. Pernicious anemia refers to a type ofvitamin B12deficiencyanemiathat results from lack ofintrinsic factor.Lack of intrinsic factor is most commonly due to anautoimmuneattack on thecellsthat create it in thestomach.It can also occur following the surgical removal of all or part of the stomach orsmall intestine; from an inherited disorder or illnesses that damage the stomach lining.When suspected, diagnosis is made byblood testsinitially acomplete blood count, and occasionally,bone marrow tests.Blood tests may showfewer but larger red blood cells, low numbers ofyoung red blood cells, low levels of vitamin B12, andantibodiesto intrinsic factor.Diagnosis is not always straightforward and can be challenging. Because pernicious anemia is due to a lack of intrinsic factor, it is not preventable.Pernicious anemia can be treated with injections of vitamin B12.If the symptoms are serious, frequent injections are typically recommended initially.There are not enough studies that pills are effective in improving or eliminating symptoms.Often, treatment may be needed for life. Pernicious anemia is the most common cause of clinically evident vitamin B12deficiency worldwide.Pernicious anemia due to autoimmune problems occurs in about one per 1000 people in the US. Among those over the age of 60, about 2% have the condition.It more commonly affects people of northern European descent.Women are more commonly affected than men.With proper treatment, most people live normal lives.Due to a higher risk ofstomach cancer, those with pernicious anemia should be checked regularly for this.The first clear description was byThomas Addisonin 1849.The term \\\"pernicious\\\" means \\\"deadly\\\", and this term came into use because, before the availability of treatment, the disease was often fatal. Signs and symptoms Pernicious anemia often presents slowly, and can cause harm insidiously and unnoticeably. Untreated, it can lead to neurological complications, and in serious cases, death.The onset may be vague and slow and the condition can be confused with other conditions, and there may be few to many symptoms without anemia.Pernicious anemia may be present without a person experiencing symptoms at first, over time,feeling tired and weak,lightheadedness,dizziness, headaches,rapidorirregularheartbeat, breathlessness,glossitis(a sore red tongue), poor ability to exercise,low blood pressure, cold hands and feet,paleoryellowskin, easy bruising and bleeding, low-gradefevers, tremor,cold sensitivity,chest pain,upset stomach,nausea, loss of appetite, heartburn, weight loss,diarrhea,constipation, severejoint pain,feeling abnormal sensationsincluding tingling or numbness to the fingers and toes (pins and needles), and tinnitus, may occur.Anemia may present with a number of further common symptoms,including hair thinning and loss, early greying of the hair, mouth ulcers, bleeding gums,angular cheilitis, a look of exhaustion with pale and dehydrated or cracked lips and dark circles around the eyes, as well as brittle nails. In more severe or prolonged cases of pernicious anemia, nerve cell damage may occur. This is may result in sense loss, difficulty inproprioception,neuropathic pain, difficulty walking, poor balance, loss of sensation in the feet,muscle weakness, blurred vision (either due toretinopathyoroptic neuropathy), impaired urination, fertility problems, decreased sense of taste and smell,decreased level of consciousness, changes in reflexes, memory loss, mood swings,depression,irritability, cognitive impairment, confusion, anxiety, clumsiness, psychosis, and, in more severe cases, dementia.Anemia may also lead to cardiac murmursand/or altered blood pressure (loworhigh). The deficiency may also present with thyroid disorders.In severe cases, the anemia may cause congestive heart failure.A complication of severe chronic PA issubacute combined degeneration of spinal cord, which leads to distal sensory loss (posterior column), absent ankle reflex, increased knee reflex response, and extensor plantar response.Other than anemia, hematological symptoms may includecytopenias, intramedullaryhemolysis, and pseudothrombotic microangiopathy.Vitamin B12deficiency, which is reversible, is occasionally confused withacute myeloid leukemia, which is an irreversible condition presenting with some of the same hematological symptoms, including hypercellular bone marrow with blastic differentiation and hypersegmented neutrophils.Pernicious anemia can causeosteoporosisand may lead tobone fractures.Pernicious anemia can contribute to a delay in physical growth in children, and may also be a cause for delay in puberty for adolescents. Causes Vitamin B12cannot be produced by the human body, and must be obtained from the diet. When foods containing B12are eaten, the vitamin is usually bound to protein and is released by proteases released by the pancreas into the small bowel. Following its release, most B12is absorbed by the body in the small bowel (ileum) after binding to a protein known asintrinsic factor. Intrinsic factor is produced byparietal cellsof thegastric mucosa(stomach lining) and the intrinsic factor-B12-complex is absorbed by enterocytes in theileum'scubamreceptors.PA is characterised by B12deficiency caused by the absence of intrinsic factor.Other disorders that can disrupt the absorption of vitamin B12in the small intestine includeceliac disease, surgical removal ofcrohn's disease, andHIV. PA may be considered as an end stage of autoimmuneatrophic gastritis, a disease characterised by stomach atrophy and the presence ofantibodiesto parietal cells and intrinsic factor.Autoimmune atrophic gastritis, is localised to the body of the stomach, where parietal cells are located.Antibodies to intrinsic factor and parietal cells cause the destruction of the oxyntic gastric mucosa, in which the parietal cells are located, leading to the subsequent loss of intrinsic factor synthesis. Without intrinsic factor, the ileum can no longer absorb the B12.Atrophic gastritis is often a precursor togastric cancer. Although the exact role ofHelicobacter pyloriinfection in PA remains controversial, evidence indicatesH. pyloriis involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. A long-standingH. pyloriinfection may cause gastric autoimmunity by a mechanism known asmolecular mimicry. Antibodies produced by the immune system can be cross-reactive and may bind to bothH. pyloriantigensand those found in thegastric mucosa. The antibodies are produced by activatedB cellsthat recognise both pathogen and self-derived peptides. Theautoantigensbelieved to cause the autoreactivity are the alpha and beta subunits of thesodium-potassium pump.In a study, B12deficiency caused byHelicobacter pyloriwas positively correlated withCagApositivity and gastric inflammatory activity, rather than gastric atrophy.Less commonly,H. pyloriandZollinger-Ellison syndromemay cause a form of nonautoimmune gastritis that can lead to pernicious anemia. Impaired B12absorption can also occur following gastric removal (gastrectomy) or gastric bypass surgery. In these surgeries, either the parts of the stomach that produce gastric secretions are removed or they are bypassed. This means intrinsic factor, as well as other factors required for B12absorption, are not available. However, B12deficiency after gastric surgery does not usually become a clinical issue. This is probably because the body stores many years' worth of B12in the liver and gastric surgery patients are adequately supplemented with the vitamin. Although no specific PA susceptibility genes have been identified, a genetic factor likely is involved in the disease. Pernicious anemia is often found in conjunction with other autoimmune disorders, suggesting common autoimmune susceptibility genes may be a causative factor.In spite of that, previous family studies and case reports focusing on PA have suggested that there is a tendency of genetic heritance of PA in particular, and close relatives of the PA patients seem to have higher incidence of PA and associated PA conditions.Moreover, it was further indicated that the formation of antibodies to gastric cells was autosomal dominant gene determined, and the presence of antibodies to the gastric cells might not be necessarily related to the occurrence of atrophic gastritis related to PA. Pathophysiology Although the healthy body stores three to five years' worth of B12in the liver, the usually undetected autoimmune activity in one's gut over a prolonged period of time leads to B12depletion and the resulting anemia; pernicious anemia refers to one of the hematologic manifestations ofchronic auto-immune gastritis, in which the immune system targets the parietal cells of the stomach orintrinsic factoritself, leading to decreased absorption of vitamin B12. The body needs enough intrinsic factor to absorb and reabsorb vitamin B12from thebile, in which reduces the time needed to develop a deficiency. B12is required by enzymes for two reactions: the conversion ofmethylmalonyl-CoAtosuccinyl-CoA, and the conversion ofhomocysteinetomethionine. In the latter reaction, themethyl groupoflevomefolic acidis transferred to homocysteine to producetetrahydrofolateand methionine. This reaction is catalyzed by the enzymemethionine synthasewith B12as an essential cofactor. During B12deficiency, this reaction cannot proceed, which leads to the accumulation of levomefolic acid. This accumulation depletes the other types of folate required forpurineandthymidylatesynthesis, which are required for the synthesis of DNA. Inhibition ofDNA replicationin maturing red blood cells results in the formation of large, fragile megaloblasticerythrocytes. The neurological aspects of the disease are thought to arise from the accumulation of methylmalonyl- CoA due to the requirement of B12as a cofactor to the enzyme methylmalonyl-CoA mutase. Diagnosis The insidious nature of PA may mean that diagnosis is delayed.Diagnosis is not always straightforward and can be challenging and can take up to several years to receive a diagnosis from the onset of symptoms and almost 60% of those affected are misdiagnosed or not initially diagnosed at all.PA may be suspected when a patient'sblood smearshows large, fragile, immature erythrocytes, known asmegaloblasts. A diagnosis of PA first requires demonstration ofmegaloblastic anemiaby conducting afull blood countand blood smear, which evaluates themean corpuscular volume(MCV), as well themean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration(MCHC).PA is identified with a high MCV (macrocytic anemia) and a normal MCHC (normochromicanemia).Ovalocytesare also typically seen on the blood smear, and apathognomonicfeature of megaloblastic anemias (which include PA and others) is hypersegmented neutrophils.Neuropsychiatric symptoms can precede hematological signs and are often the presenting manifestation of the disease. Vitamin B12serum levels are used to detect its deficiency, but do not distinguish its causes. Vitamin B12levels can be falsely high or low and data forsensitivity and specificityvary widely. Normal serum levels may be found in cases of deficiency wheremyeloproliferative disorders,liver disease,transcobalamin II, orsmall intestinal bacterial overgrowthare present.Low levels of serum vitamin B12may be caused by other factors than B12deficiency, such asfolate deficiency,pregnancy,oral contraceptiveuse,haptocorrindeficiency, andmyeloma.High serum levels may caused by supplementing with vitamin B12, present of antibodies to intrinsic factor, or due to underlying condition. The presence of antibodies to gastric parietal cells and intrinsic factor is common in PA. Parietal cell antibodies are found in other autoimmune disorders and also in up to 10% of healthy individuals. However, around 85% of PA patients have parietal cell antibodies, which means they are a sensitive marker for the disease. Intrinsic factor antibodies are much less sensitive than parietal cell antibodies, but they are much more specific. They are found in about half of PA patients and are very rarely found in other disorders. These antibody tests can distinguish between PA and food-B12malabsorption. A buildup of certain metabolites occurs in B12deficiency due to its role in metabolic processes and cellular functions.Methylmalonic acid(MMA) can be measured in both the blood and urine, whereashomocysteineis only measured in the blood. An increase in both MMA and homocysteine distinguishes B12deficiency from folate deficiency because homocysteine alone increases in the latter. Elevatedgastrinlevels can be found in around 80–90% of PA cases, but they may also be found in other forms of gastritis. Decreased pepsinogen I levels or a decreased pepsinogen I to pepsinogen II ratio may also be found, although these findings are less specific to PA and can be found in food-B12malabsorption and other forms of gastritis. The diagnosis of atrophic gastritis type A should be confirmed by gastroscopy and stepwise biopsy.About 90% of individuals with PA have antibodies for parietal cells; however, only 50% of all individuals in the general population with these antibodies have pernicious anemia. Differential diagnosis Forms of vitamin B12deficiency other than PA must be considered in thedifferential diagnosisof megaloblastic anemia. For example, a B12-deficient state which causes megaloblastic anemia and which may be mistaken for classical PA may be caused by infection with thetapewormDiphyllobothrium latum, possibly due to the parasite's competition with host for vitamin B12. The classic test for PA, theSchilling test, is no longer widely used, as more efficient methods are available. This historic test consisted, in its first step, of taking an oral dose ofradiolabelledvitamin B12, followed by quantitation of the vitamin in the patient's urine over a 24-hour period via measurement of theradioactivity. A second step of the test repeats the regimen and procedure of the first step, with the addition of oral intrinsic factor. A patient with PA presents lower than normal amounts of intrinsic factor; hence, addition of intrinsic factor in the second step results in an increase in vitamin B12absorption (over the baseline established in the first). The Schilling test distinguished PA from other forms of B12deficiency,specifically, fromImerslund–Gräsbeck syndrome, a B12-deficiency caused by mutations inCUBNthat codes forcubilinthe cobalamin receptor. Vitamin B12 deficiency is also prevalent in patients havingCrohn's disease(CD) so it should be differentiated. Treatment Pernicious anemia is usually easily treated by providing the necessary level of vitamin B12supplementation.Pernicious anemia can be treated with intramuscular injections of vitamin B12.Initially in high daily doses, followed by less frequent lower doses, as the condition improves.Activity may need to be limited during the course of treatment.As long as the body is saturated with vitamin B12expected to result in cessation of anemia-related symptoms and there are no other symptoms, unless there are irreversible neurological complications.There are not enough studies on whether pills are as effective in improving or eliminating symptoms as parenteral treatment.Folatesupplementation may affect the course and treatment of pernicious anemia if vitamin B12not replaced.In some severe cases of anemia, ablood transfusionmay be needed to resolve haematological effects.Treatment is lifelong. The treatment of PA varies by country and area. Opinions vary over the efficacy of administration (parenteral/oral), the amount and time interval of the doses, or the forms of vitamin B12(e.g. cyanocobalamin/hydroxocobalamin). More comprehensive studies are still needed in order to validate the feasibility of a particular therapeutic method for PA in clinical practices. Prognosis A person with well-treated PA can live a healthy life. Failure to diagnose and treat in time, however, may result in permanent neurological damage, excessive fatigue, depression, memory loss, and other complications. In severe cases, the neurological complications of pernicious anemia can lead to death – hence the name, \\\"pernicious\\\", meaning deadly. There is an increased risk ofgastric cancerin those with pernicious anemia linked to the common feature of atrophic gastritis. Epidemiology PA is estimated to affect 0.1% of the general population and 1.9% of those over 60, accounting for 20–50% of B12deficiency in adults.A review of literature shows that the prevalence of PA is higher in Northern Europe, especially in Scandinavian countries, and among people of African descent, and that increased awareness of the disease and better diagnostic tools might play a role in apparently higher rates of incidence. History A case of anemia with a first recognition of associatedatrophic gastritisa feature of pernicious anemia, was first described in 1824 byJames Combe. This was fully investigated in 1849, by British physicianThomas Addison, from which it acquired the common name ofAddison's anemia. In 1871, the first accurate description of the disease in continental Europe was made byMichael Anton Biermer, aGermanphysician who noted the insidious course of the condition. Because it was untreatable and fatal at the time, he first referred to it as \\\"pernicious\\\" anemia.Russellcoined the termsubacute combined degeneration of spinal cord. In 1907,Richard Clarke Cabotreported on a series of 1,200 patients with PA; their average survival was between one and three years.Pernicious anemia was a fatal disease before about the year 1920; until the importance of theliverinhematopoiesiswas recognized, the treatment of pernicious anemia was unsuccessful and arbitrary. It may have motivatedGeorge Whipple, who had a keen interest inliver diseases, to investigate the liver's role in hematopoiesis. Whipple began evaluating the effects of treatments for anemia caused by chronic blood loss. Whipple, Huber, and Robchett studied the effects onhemoglobinand blood regeneration of a variety of treatments, among which only raw liver showed real promise.Serendipity is said to have played a role in this discovery. Whipple observed that blood regeneration was poor in dogs fed cooked liver afterchronic blood loss. Had it not been that a lazy laboratory technician gave the dogs raw liver, the much more dramatic response might not have been discovered then. Around 1926,George MinotandWilliam P. Murphy, who learned of Whipple's discovery, sought raw liver as a treatment for pernicious anemia. They later suggested a high-protein diet with high amounts of raw liver. This caused a rapid improvement in symptoms and a simultaneous rise inred blood cellcounts.Fruitandironwere also part of the diet, and it appears that at this point, Minot and Murphy were not quite sure that the liver was a very important factor. It was thought that iron in liver tissue, not liver juice-soluble factor, cured hemorrhagic anemia in dogs. Thus, the discovery of liver juice as a treatment for pernicious anemia had been by coincidence. However, Minot, Murphy, and Whipple received the joint Nobel Prize for discovering a cure for a previously fatal disease of unknown cause in 1934, becoming the first Americans to be awarded theNobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. It is not easy to eat uncooked liver, and extracts were developed as a concentrate of liver juice forintramuscular injection. In 1928, chemistEdwin Cohnprepared an extract that was 50 to 100 times stronger than obtained from raw liver. This became part of the standard management of pernicious anemia until the 1950s. The active ingredient in the liver remained unknown until 1948.The anti-pernicious anemia factor was only isolated from the liver by Smith, Rex, and others. The substance wascobalamin, which the discoverers called \\\"vitamin B12\\\".They showed that giving a few micrograms could prevent relapse in the disease.Dorothy Hodgkinand co-workers went on to useX-ray crystallographyto elucidate the structure of cobalamin for which she, too, was awarded aNobel Prize. Understanding of the pathogenesis of pernicious anaemia increased over subsequent decades. It had long been known that the disease was associated withdefects in the gastrointestinal tract: patients hadchronic gastritisand lack of acid secretion (achlorhydria). It is known that transport of physiological amounts of vitamin B12depends on the combined actions of gastric, ileal and pancreatic components. The gastric moiety was discovered and named 'intrinsic factor' byWilliam Castlein 1930. A further important advance was made in the early 1960s by Doniach with the recognition that pernicious anemia is anautoimmune disease.Pernicious anemia is eventually treated with only injections of B12; injections are typically 1 mg every other day, or twice weekly. A medical author takes the view thatMary Todd Lincoln, the wife of American PresidentAbraham Lincoln, had pernicious anemia for decades and died from it in 1882. Research Permeation enhancers Treatment using oral drugs is an easier option in management but the bioavailabity of B12 is low. This is due to low absorption in the intestine, and breakdown by enzyme activity. Research continues to focus on the use of permeation enhancers or permeation absorbers in combination with the treatment. One of the better performing enhancers studied issalcoprozate sodium(SNAC).SNAC is able to form a noncovalent complex with cobalamin while preserving its chemical integrity and protect B12 from gastric acidity.This complex is much more lipophilic than the water-soluble vitamin B12, so is able to pass through cellular membranes with greater ease.Molecular dynamicsare used in experiments to gain an understanding of the molecular interactions involved in the different molecules used and the degree of ease achieved in absorption across the gastric epithelium. References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Downton Abbey Downton Abbeyis a Britishhistorical dramatelevision series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written byJulian Fellowes. It first aired in the United Kingdom onITVon 26 September 2010 and in the United States onPBS, which supported its production as part of itsMasterpiece Classicanthology, on 9 January 2011. The show ran for fifty-two episodes across six series, including five Christmas specials. The series, set on the fictionalYorkshirecountry estateof Downton Abbey between 1912 and 1926, depicts the lives of thearistocraticCrawley family and theirdomestic servantsin the post-Edwardian era, and the effects the great events of the time have on their lives and on theBritish social hierarchy. These events include news of thesinking of theTitanic(first series); the outbreak of theFirst World War, theSpanish influenza pandemicand theMarconi scandal(second series); theIrish War of Independenceleading to the formation of theIrish Free State(third series); theTeapot Dome scandal(fourth","Dome scandal(fourth series); and theBritish general election of 1923and theBeer Hall Putsch(fifth series). The sixth and final series introduces the rise of the working class during theinterwar periodand hints at the eventual decline of theBritish aristocracy. Downton Abbeyhas received acclaim from television critics andnumerous accolades, including aGolden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Filmand aPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie. It was recognised byGuinness World Recordsas the most critically acclaimed English-language television series of 2011. It earned 27Primetime Emmy Awardnominations after its first two series, the most for any international television series in the awards' history.It was the most watched television series on both ITV and PBS, and became the most successful Britishcostume dramasince the 1981 television serial ofBrideshead Revisited. On 26 March 2015,Carnival Filmsand ITV announced that the sixth series would be the last; it aired on ITV between 20","on ITV between 20 September 2015 and 8 November 2015. The final episode, the annual Christmas special, was broadcast on 25 December 2015. Afilm adaptation, a continuation of the series, was confirmed on 13 July 2018 and released in the United Kingdom on 13 September 2019, and in the United States on 20 September 2019. A second feature film,Downton Abbey: A New Era, was released in the United Kingdom on 29 April 2022 byUniversal Pictures, and in the United States and Canada on 20 May 2022 byFocus Features.A third film is in production. Plot overview Series 1 (2010) The first series, comprising seven episodes, explores the lives of the fictional Crawley family, the hereditary Earl of Grantham, and their domestic servants. The storyline centres on thefee tail, or \"entail\", governing the titled elite, which endows title and estate exclusively tomale heirs. As part of the backstory, the main character, Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, had resolved his father's past financial difficulties by marrying Cora","by marrying Cora Levinson, an American heiress. Her considerabledowryis now contractually incorporated into the committal entail in perpetuity; however, Robert and Cora have three daughters and no son. As the eldest daughter, Lady Mary Crawley had agreed to marry her second cousin Patrick, the son of the then-heir presumptiveJames Crawley. The series begins the day after thesinking of RMSTitanicon 14/15 April 1912. The first episode starts as news reaches Downton Abbey that both James and Patrick have perished in the sinking of the ocean liner. The family then learns that a more distant and unknown male cousin, solicitor Matthew Crawley, the son of anupper-middle-classdoctor, has become the next heir presumptive. The story initially centres on the relationship between Lady Mary and Matthew, who resists embracing an aristocratic lifestyle, while Lady Mary resists her own attraction to the new heir presumptive. Of several subplots, one involves John Bates, Lord Grantham's newvaletand formerBoer Warbatman, and","Warbatman, and Thomas Barrow, an ambitious youngfootman, who resents the former for taking a position he had desired for himself. Bates and Thomas remain at odds as Barrow works to sabotage Bates's every move. After learning Bates had recently been released from prison, Thomas and Miss O'Brien (Lady Grantham'slady's maid) begin a relentless pursuit that nearly ruins the Crawley family in scandal. Barrow – ahomosexualman in lateEdwardian England– and O'Brien create havoc for most of the staff and family. When Barrow is caught stealing, he hands in hisnoticeto join theRoyal Army Medical Corps. Matthew eventually does propose to Lady Mary, but she puts him off when Lady Grantham becomes pregnant, understanding that Matthew would no longer be heir if the baby is a boy. Cora loses the baby after O'Brien, believing she is soon to be fired, retaliates by leaving a bar of soap on the floor next to the bathtub, causing Cora to slip while getting out of the tub, and the fall resulting in a miscarriage. It is later","It is later revealed that the miscarried foetus was a male. Although Lady Mary intends to accept Matthew, Matthew believes her reluctance is due to the earlier uncertainty of his heirship and emotionally rescinds his proposal, leaving Lady Mary devastated. The series ends just after theassassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinandand the outbreak of theFirst World Warin August 1914. Series 2 (2011) The second series comprises eight episodes and runs from theBattle of the Sommein 1916 to the1918 Spanish flu pandemic. During the war, Downton Abbey is temporarily converted into an officers'convalescent hospital. Matthew, having left Downton, is now aBritish Armyofficer and has become engaged. His fiancée is Lavinia Swire, the niece of aLiberalminister. William Mason, the second footman, is drafted, even after attempts by the Dowager Countess of Grantham to save him fromconscription. William is taken under Matthew's protection as his personalorderly. Enduring trench warfare and charging against machine guns and","machine guns and artillery, both are injured by an exploding shell. William dies from his wounds, but only after a deathbed marriage to Daisy, thekitchen maid. While Daisy does not believe she loves William, she marries him in his last hours as his dying wish. It is not until a brief encounter with the Dowager Countess that she begins to realise that her love was real, but she could not admit it to herself. Matthew is now paralysed from the waist down by his battle injury, and seemingly unable to father children. Lavinia remains true to him despite his attempts to set her free, and he finally accepts her devotion. Mary, while acknowledging her feelings for Matthew, becomes engaged to Sir Richard Carlisle, a powerful and overbearing newspaper mogul, but their relationship is rocky. Bates's wife, Vera, repeatedly causes trouble for John and Anna, who are now engaged. Vera threatens to expose Mary's past scandalous indiscretion, but Carlisle agrees to purchase andkillher story. Embittered, Mrs Bates","Mrs Bates mysteriously commits suicide with an arsenic pie after a visit by Bates, and he is arrested on suspicion of her murder. Matthew regains the use of his legs, and he and Mary realise they are still in love, but Matthew remains honourably committed to Lavinia after she stood by him during his misfortune. Unknown to them both, Lavinia, ill withSpanish flu, sees and overhears Matthew and Mary admit their love for one another while dancing to a song playing on thephonographgifted as a wedding present to Matthew and Lavinia. The Spanish influenza epidemic hits Downton Abbey further with Cora taken seriously ill, as well as Carson, thebutler. During the outbreak, Thomas attempts to make up for his inability to find other employment after the war by making himself as useful as possible and is made Lord Grantham's valet after Bates is arrested. Lavinia dies abruptly, which causes great guilt to both Matthew and Mary. Bates is found guilty of murder and sentenced to death but the sentence iscommutedto life in","life in prison due to Lord Grantham's influence. After a talk with Robert, Mary realises that she must break off her engagement to Carlisle; he and Matthew fight in the drawing room, but in the end Carlisle goes quietly and is never heard from again. The annual Servants' Ball is held at Downton, and Mary and Matthew finally find their way to a marriage proposal on a snowy evening outside the Abbey. Lady Sybil, the youngest Crawley daughter, beginning to find her aristocratic life stifling, falls in love with Tom Branson, the new chauffeur ofIrishdescent with strongsocialistleanings. She is talked out ofelopementby her sisters, but her wayward marriage eventually receives Lord Grantham's reluctant blessing. Ethel Parks, a new housemaid, is seduced by a wounded officer, Major Bryant. Mrs Hughes, the housekeeper, finds them together in bed and dismisses Ethel, but takes pity on her and helps her when Ethel tells her she is pregnant. She has a baby boy and names him Charlie after his father, but Major Bryant","but Major Bryant refuses to acknowledge his paternity. The filming location,Highclere Castle, in reality served as a convalescent home during World War I. Series 3 (2012) In episode one of the third series, covering 1920 to 1921, preparations are underway for Mary and Matthew's wedding. Tom and Sybil Branson arrive from Ireland, where they now live, to attend the wedding. Also arriving to attend the wedding of her granddaughter is Cora's mother, Martha Levinson, from America. Robert (Lord Grantham) learns that the bulk of the family's fortune (including Cora's dowry) has been lost due to his impetuous investment in theGrand Trunk Railway. Meanwhile Edith has fallen for Sir Anthony Strallan, whom Robert discourages from marrying Edith due to his age and crippled arm. At Edith's insistence, Robert gives in and welcomes Sir Anthony, but even though he loves her, Strallan cannot accept that the Grantham family disapproves of the match, and at the altar announces that he cannot go through with the wedding,","with the wedding, devastating Edith. Strallan flees the church and is never heard from again. Meanwhile, Bates's cellmate plants a small surgical knife in his bedding, but Bates is informed by a fellow prisoner allowing him time to find and hide it (this same small knife is later used by Bates to threaten his cellmate when he had been using his connections through corrupt prison guards to keep a witness from testifying to Bates's innocence of the crime for which he is incarcerated). At Downton, Mrs Hughes finds out she may havebreast cancer, which only some of the household hear about, causing deep concern, but the tumour turns out to bebenign. Tom Branson and Lady Sybil, now pregnant, return to Downton after Tom is implicated in the burning of an Anglo-Irish aristocrat's house. After Matthew's reluctance to accept an inheritance from Lavinia's recently deceased father and then Robert's reluctance to accept that inheritance as a gift, Matthew and Robert reach a compromise in which Matthew accepts that the","accepts that the inheritance will be used as an investment in the estate, giving Matthew an equal say in how it is run. However, as time goes on Robert repeatedly resists Matthew and Tom's efforts to modernise the running of the estate to make it profitable. Tragedy strikes when Sybil dies fromeclampsiashortly after giving birth. Tom, devastated, names his daughter Sybil after his late wife. Bates is released from prison after Anna uncovers evidence clearing him of his wife's murder. Tom becomes the newland agentat the suggestion of Violet, the Dowager Countess. Barrow and O'Brien have a falling out, after which O'Brien leads Barrow to believe that Jimmy, the new footman, is sexually attracted to him. Barrow enters Jimmy's room and kisses him while he is sleeping, which wakes him up shocked, confused, and very angry. In the end, Lord Grantham (familiar with homosexuality from Eton) defuses the situation. The family, except Branson, visits Violet's niece Susan, her husband \"Shrimpie\", theMarquessofFlintshire;","and their daughter Rose, inScotland, accompanied by Matthew and a very pregnant Mary. The Marquess confides to Robert that his estate is bankrupt and will be sold, making Robert recognise that Downton has been saved through Matthew and Tom's efforts to modernise. At Downton, Edna Braithwaite, the new maid, enters Tom's room and kisses him, whereupon he asks her to leave, and she is eventually fired. Mary returns to Downton with Anna and gives birth to the new heir, but Matthew dies in a car crash while driving home from the hospital after seeing his newborn son. Series 4 (2013) In series four, covering 1922 to 1923, O'Brien leaves to serve Lady Flintshire inBritish India. Cora hires Edna Braithwaite, who had previously been fired for her interest in Tom. Eventually the situation blows up, and Edna is replaced by Phyllis Baxter. Mary deeply mourns Matthew's death. Matthew's newly-found letter states Mary is to be his soleheirand thus gives her management over his share of the estate until their son,","until their son, George,comes of age. With Tom's encouragement, Mary assumes a more active role in running Downton. Two new suitors—Lord Gillingham and Charles Blake—arrive at Downton, though Mary, still grieving, is not interested. Edith, who has begun writing a weekly newspaper column, and Michael Gregson, a magazine editor, fall in love. Due to British law, he is unable todivorcehis wife, who is mentally ill and in an asylum. Gregson travels toGermanyto seekcitizenshipthere, enabling him to divorce, but is killed by Hitler'sBrownshirtsduring riots. Edith is left pregnant and decides to have an illegal abortion, but changes her mind at the last minute. With the help from her paternal aunt, Lady Rosamund, Edith secretly gives birth to a daughter while abroad, and places the baby with adoptive parents inSwitzerland, but reclaims her after arranging a new adoptive family on the estate. Mr and Mrs Drewe of Yew Tree Farm take the baby in and raise her as their own. Anna is raped by Lord Gillingham's valet Mr","valet Mr Green, which Mr Bates later discovers. Subsequently, Green is killed in a London street accident. A local school teacher, Sarah Bunting, and Tom begin a friendship. In the Christmas special set mainly in London, Sampson, acard sharp, steals a letter written byEdward VIII, thenPrince of Wales, to his mistress, Rose's friendFreda Dudley Ward, which if made public would create a scandal; the entire Crawley family connives to retrieve it, although it is Bates who extracts the letter from Sampson's overcoat, and it is returned to Mrs Dudley Ward. The family hold adebutanteball for Lady Rose following her presentation at court, and the grateful Prince makes an appearance at the ball. Series 5 (2014) In series five, covering the year 1924, aRussian exile, Prince Kuragin, wishes to renew his past affections for the Dowager Countess (Violet). Violet instead locates his wife inBritish Hong Kongand reunites the Prince and his estranged wife.Scotland Yardand the local police investigate Green's death. Violet","death. Violet learns that Marigold is Edith's daughter. Meanwhile, Mrs Drewe, not knowing Marigold's true parentage, resents Edith's constant visits. To increase his chances with Mary, Charles Blake plots to reunite Gillingham and his ex-fiancée, Mabel. After Edith inherits Michael Gregson's publishing company, she removes Marigold from the Drewes and relocates to London. Simon Bricker, an art expert interested in one of Downton's paintings, shows his true intentions toward Cora and is thrown out by Robert, causing a temporary rift between the couple. Mrs Patmore's decision to invest her inheritance in real estate inspires Mr Carson, Downton's butler, to do likewise. He suggests that head housekeeper Mrs Hughes invest with him; she confesses she has no money due to supporting a mentally incapacitated sister. The Crawleys' cousin, Lady Rose, daughter of Lord and Lady Flintshire, becomes engaged to Atticus Aldridge, son of Lord and Lady Sinderby. Lord Sinderby strongly objects to Atticus's marrying outside","marrying outside theJewish faith. Lord Merton proposes to Isobel Crawley (Matthew's mother). She accepts, but later ends the engagement due to Lord Merton's sons' disparaging comments over her status as acommoner. Lady Flintshire employs underhanded schemes to derail Rose and Atticus's engagement, including announcing to everyone at the wedding that she and her husband are divorcing, intending to cause a scandal to stop Rose's marriage to Atticus; they are married anyway. When Anna is arrested on suspicion of Green's murder, Bates writes afalse confessionbefore fleeing toIreland. Baxter and Molesley, a footman and Matthew's former valet, are able to prove that Bates was inYorkat the time of the murder. This new information allows Anna to be released. Cora eventually learns the truth about Marigold, and wants her raised at Downton; Marigold is presented as Edith'sward, but Robert and Tom eventually discern the truth. Only Mary is unaware. When a war memorial is unveiled in the town, Robert arranges for a","arranges for a separate plaque to honour the cook Mrs Patmore's late nephew, who was shot forcowardiceand excluded from his own village's memorial. The Crawleys are invited to Brancaster Castle, which Lord and Lady Sinderby have rented for a shooting party. While there, Lady Rose, with help from the Crawleys, defuses a personal near-disaster for Lord Sinderby, earning his gratitude and securing his approval of Rose. A second footman, Andy, is hired on Barrow's recommendation. During the annual Downton Abbey Christmas celebration, Tom announces he is moving toAmericato work for his cousin, taking daughter Sybil with him. Mr Carson proposes marriage to Mrs Hughes and she accepts. Series 6 (2015) In series six, changes are once again afoot at Downton Abbey as themiddle classrises and morebankrupted aristocratsare forced to sell off their large estates. Downton must do more to ensure its future survival;reductions in staffare considered, forcing Barrow to look for a job elsewhere. Having formed a close bond with","a close bond with young George, Barrow realises that Downton has become the first real home he has ever had, but feels unwanted. Mary defies a blackmailer, who is thwarted by Robert. With Tom's departure to Boston, Mary becomes theestate agent. Edith is more hands-on in running her magazine and hires a female editor. Violet and Isobel once again draw battle lines as a government take-over of the local hospital is considered. Mary begins seeing Henry Talbot, a racing driver, and Edith begins seeing Bertie Pelham, a cousin of the owner of Brancaster Castle. Meanwhile, Anna suffers repeated miscarriages. Mary takes her to a specialist, who diagnoses a treatable condition, and she becomes pregnant again. Mr Carson and Mrs Hughes disagree on where to hold their wedding reception, but eventually choose to have it at the schoolhouse, during which Tom reappears with Sybil, having returned to Downton for good. Coyle, who tricked Baxter into stealing a previous employer's jewellery, is convicted after she and other","after she and other witnesses are persuaded to testify. After Mrs Drewe kidnaps Marigold when Edith is not looking, the Drewes vacate Yew Tree Farm; Daisy convinces Tom to ask Robert to give her father-in-law, Mr Mason, the tenancy. Andy, a footman, offers to help Mr Mason so he can learn about farming, but Andy is held back by his illiteracy. Barrow offers to teach him to read, but Andy soon trades his help for that of a teacher at the local school. Robert suffers a near-fatal health crisis. Previous episodes alluded to health problems for Robert; hisulcerbursts and he is rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. The operation is successful, but Mary and Tom must take over Downton's operations. Larry Merton's fiancée, Amelia, encourages Lord Merton and Isobel to renew their engagement, but Violet rightly becomes suspicious. Violet discovers that Amelia wants Isobel, and not her, to be Lord Merton's caretaker in his old age.Daisy and Molesley score high marks on their academic exams; Molesley's are so","Molesley's are so exceptional that he is offered a teaching position at the school. Mary breaks up with Henry, unable to live with the constant fear he could be killed in an accident like Matthew was. Bertie proposes to Edith, but she hesitates to accept because of Marigold. Violet, upset over Cora replacing her as hospital president, abruptly departs for a long cruise to restore her equanimity. Bertie unexpectedly succeeds his late second cousin as 7th Marquess of Hexham and moves into Brancaster Castle; Edith accepts him. Mary spitefully exposes Marigold's parentage, causing Bertie to walk out. Tom confronts Mary over her malicious behaviour and her true feelings for Henry. Despondent over his inability to find another job and his sense of being unloved, Barrow attemptssuicide, and is saved by Baxter and Andy. Realising the extent of Barrow's pain for the first time, Robert and Carson allow Barrow to stay at Downton while he recovers and searches for new employment. Mary and Henry reunite and are married.","and are married. Edith returns to Downton for the wedding; she and Mary agree to work on improving their relationship. Mrs Patmore's newbed and breakfastbusiness is tainted by scandal, but saved when Robert, Cora and Rosamund appear there publicly to support her. Mary arranges a surprise meeting for Edith and Bertie with Bertie proposing again. Edith accepts. Edith tells Bertie's moralistic mother Mirada about Marigold; initially appalled, she is won over by Edith's honesty. Barrow, having decided to turn over a new leaf and become a kinder person, finds a position as butler and leaves Downton on good terms, but he is unhappy at his new post; the family and other servants also find themselves missing him. Lord Merton is diagnosed with terminalpernicious anaemiaand Amelia blocks Isobel from seeing him. Goaded by Violet, Isobel pushes into the Merton house and announces she will take Lord Merton to her house to care for and marry him, to his delight. Later, Lord Merton is correctly diagnosed with a non-fatal","with a non-fatal form ofanaemia. Robert resents Cora's frequent absences as the hospital president, but comes to admire her ability after watching her chair a hospital meeting. Henry and Tom go into business together selling used cars, while Mary announces her pregnancy. Molesley accepts a permanent teaching position and he and Baxter promise to continue seeing each other. Daisy and Andy finally acknowledge their feelings; Daisy decides to move to the farm with Mr Mason, her father-in-law. Carson developspalsyand must retire. Following Robert and Mary's suggestion, Barrow happily returns to Downton as butler, with Carson in an overseeing role. Edith and Bertie are finally married in the series finale, set on New Year's Eve 1925. Anna goes into labour during the reception, and she and Bates become parents to a healthy son. Cast and characters The main cast of the Crawley family is led byHugh Bonnevilleas Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham, andElizabeth McGovernas his wife Cora Crawley, the Countess of","the Countess of Grantham. Their three daughters are depicted byMichelle Dockeryas Lady Mary Crawley (Talbot),Laura Carmichaelas Lady Edith Crawley (Pelham) andJessica Brown Findlayas Lady Sybil Crawley (Branson).Maggie Smithis Robert Crawley's mother Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham.Samantha Bondportrays Lady Rosamund Painswick, Robert's sister who resides inBelgrave Square, London.Dan Stevensportrays Matthew Crawley, the new heir, along withPenelope Wiltonas his mother, Isobel Crawley, who are brought to Downton.Allen Leechas Tom Branson begins the series as the familychauffeur, but falls in love with Lady Sybil, marries her and later becomes theagentfor the estate.David Robbportrays Dr Richard Clarkson, the local town doctor. Joining the cast in series three isLily Jamesas Lady Rose MacClare, a cousin whose mother is Violet's niece Susan, the Marchioness of Flintshire, and who is sent to live with the Crawleys because her parents are serving the empire in India and, later, remains there because of","there because of family problems. In series three and four,Shirley MacLaineportrays the mother of Cora Crawley, Martha Levinson. Suitors for Lady Mary's affections during the series includeTom Cullenas Lord Gillingham,Julian Ovendenas Charles Blake, andMatthew Goodeas Henry Talbot. Edith's fiancé and eventual husband Bertie Pelham, 7th Marquess of Hexham, is played byHarry Hadden-Paton. Downton Abbey's senior household staff are portrayed byJim Carteras Mr Carson, thebutler, andPhyllis Loganas Mrs Hughes, thehousekeeper. Tensions rise whenRob James-Collier, portraying Thomas Barrow, afootmanand later avaletandunder-butler, along withSiobhan Finneranas Miss O'Brien, the lady'smaidto the Countess of Grantham (up to series three), plot againstBrendan Coyleas Mr Bates, the valet to the Earl of Grantham, and his love interest and eventual wife, Anna (Joanne Froggatt), lady's maid to Lady Mary.Kevin Doyleplays the unlucky Mr Molesley, valet to Matthew Crawley.Thomas Howesportrays William Mason, the second footman.","the second footman. Other household staff areRose Leslieas Gwen Dawson, ahousemaidstudying to be asecretaryin series one.Amy Nuttallplays Ethel Parks, a maid, beginning in series two and three.Matt Milnejoined the cast as Alfred Nugent, O'Brien's nephew, the awkward new footman for series three and four, andRaquel Cassidyplays Baxter, Cora's new lady's maid, who was hired to replace Edna Braithwaithe, who was sacked.Ed Speleersplays the dashing James (Jimmy) Kent, the second footman, from series three to five. In series five and sixMichael Foxplays Andy Parker, a replacement footman for Jimmy. In series four, five, and sixAndrew Scarboroughplays Tim Drewe, a farmer of the estate, who helps Lady Edith conceal a big secret. The kitchen staff includeLesley Nicolas Mrs Patmore thecook, andSophie McSheraas Daisy, thescullery maidwho works her way up to assistant cook having earlier married William Mason.Cara Theoboldportrays Ivy Stuart, a kitchen maid, joining the cast for series three and four. Crawley family","Crawley family The series is set in Downton Abbey, aYorkshirecountry house, which is the home and seat of theEarlandCountessofGrantham, along with their three daughters and other family members. Each series follows the lives of thearistocraticCrawley family, their friends, and their servants during the reign of KingGeorge V. Production Gareth NeameofCarnival Filmsconceived the idea of anEdwardian-eraTV drama set in a country house and approached Fellowes, who had won anAcademy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)forGosford Park. The TV seriesDownton Abbey– written and created by Fellowes – was originally planned as a spin-off ofGosford Park, but instead was developed as a stand-alone property inspired by the film, set decades earlier.Although Fellowes was reluctant to work on another project resemblingGosford Park, within a few weeks he returned to Neame with an outline of the first series. Influenced by Edith Wharton'sThe Custom of the Country,Fellowes wrote the scripts; and his wife, Emma, acted as","Emma, acted as an informalstory editor. Filming locations Highclere Castle in northHampshireis used for exterior shots of Downton Abbey and most of the interior filming.The kitchen,servants' quartersand working areas, and some of the \"upstairs\" bedrooms were constructed and filmed atEaling Studios.Bridgewater Housein the St James area of London served as the family's London home. Outdoor scenes are filmed in the village ofBamptoninOxfordshire. Notable locations include the Church of St Mary the Virgin and the library, which served as the entrance to the cottage hospital.The old rectory in Bampton is used for exterior shots of Isobel Crawley's house, with interior scenes filmed at Hall Place nearBeaconsfieldinBuckinghamshire. The fictional Downton Abbey is said to be located inYorkshire. The towns ofEasingwold,Kirkby Malzeard,Kirkbymoorside,Malton,Middlesbrough,Ripon,RichmondandThirsk, each mentioned by characters in the series, lie inNorth Yorkshire, as does the city of York, whileLeeds—similarly","mentioned—lies inWest Yorkshire. Yorkshire media speculated the general location of the fictional Downton Abbey to be somewhere in the triangulated area between the towns of Easingwold, Ripon and Thirsk. First World Wartrench warfarescenes in France were filmed in a specially constructed replica battlefield for period war scenes near the village ofAkenhamin ruralSuffolk. Many historical locations and aristocratic mansions have been used to film various scenes: The fictional Haxby Park, the estate Sir Richard Carlisle intends to buy in series two, is part ofWaddesdon ManorinBuckinghamshire.Byfleet ManorinSurreyis the location for theDower house, home to Violet,DowagerCountess of Grantham,whileWest Wycombe ParkinBuckinghamshireis used for the interior scenes of Lady Rosamund (Samantha Bond)'sLondonresidence inBelgrave Square.A house in Belgrave Square is used for exterior shots. The farm scenes in series two in which Lady Edith learns to drive a tractor as part of the war effort were filmed on location at","on location at theChiltern Open Air Museumin Buckinghamshire. Inveraray CastleinArgyll, Scotland, doubled as \"Duneagle Castle\" in the 2012 Christmas special. Greys CourtnearHenley-on-ThamesinOxfordshirewas used as the family's secondary property, which they proposed moving into and calling \"Downton Place\" due to financial difficulties in series three. Also in the third series, Bates's prison scenes were filmed atLincoln CastleinLincolnshire. Horsted Keynes railway stationinSussexis used as Downton station.The station is part of the heritageBluebell Railway.St Pancrasstation inLondondoubled forKing's Crossstation in episode one of series four, in the scene where Lady Edith Crawley meets her lover Michael Gregson.The restaurant scene where Lady Edith meets Michael Gregson and where they share their kiss was filmed at theCriterion RestaurantinPiccadilly Circuswhich was originally opened in 1874. Bridgewater House in the St James area of London served as the family's London home. Outdoor scenes are filmed in the","are filmed in the village of Bampton in Oxfordshire. Notable locations include St Mary's the Virgin Church and the library, which served as the entrance to the cottage hospital. The old rectory in Bampton is used for exterior shots of Isobel Crawley's house, with interior scenes filmed atHall Barn, Hall Place near Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, featured as Loxley House, the home of Sir Anthony Strallan. Parts of series four were filmed atThe Historic Dockyard Chatham,Kent– The Tarred Yarn Store was used in episode one as a workhouse where Mrs Hughes (Phyllis Logan) visits Mr Grigg (Nicky Henson) and in episode two, streets atThe Historic Dockyard Chathamwere used for the scenes where Lady Rose MacClare (Lily James) is at the market with James Kent (Ed Speleers) watching her.The production had previously filmed inKentfor series one where the opening sequence of a train going through the countryside was filmed at theKent & East Sussex Railway. Other filming locations for series four include the ballroom of","the ballroom of The Savile Club inMayfair, London. Scenes for the 2013 Christmas special were filmed atRoyal Holloway, University of LondonnearEgham, Surrey,West Witteringbeach inWest Sussexand Berkshire'sBasildon ParknearStreatley.Lancaster Housein London stood in forBuckingham Palace. Alnwick Castle, inNorthumberland, was the filming location used for Brancaster Castle in the 2014 and 2015 Christmas specials, which included filming in Alnwick Castle'sState Rooms, as well as on the castle's grounds, and at the nearby semi-ruined Hulne Abbey on theDuke of Northumberland's parklands inAlnwick. In series five and six, Kingston Bagpuize House in Oxfordshire was used as the location for Cavenham Park, the home of Lord Merton.In series six, the scenes of motor racing atBrooklandswere filmed at theGoodwood Circuitin West Sussex. In 2015, Wayfair.co.uk published a map of 70+ Downton Abbey filming locations. The 2019 film ofDownton Abbeyuses many of the television locations such as Highclere Castle and Bampton, as","and Bampton, as well as exterior shots filmed atBeamish Museum.TheNorth York Moors Railwaywas used for railway scenes. Opening theme music The opening music ofDownton Abbey, titled \"Did I Make the Most of Loving You?\",was composed byJohn Lunn. A suite version was released on the soundtrack for the show on 19 September 2011 in the UK and later in the US on 13 December 2011. The soundtrack also included the song performed by singerMary-Jess Leaverland,with lyrics written byDon Black. Broadcasts The rights to broadcastDownton Abbeyhave been acquired in over 220 countries and territories, and the series has been viewed by a global audience of an estimated 120 million people. United Kingdom The series first aired on theITV networkin the United Kingdom beginning on 26 September 2010, and received its first Britain-wide broadcast when shown onITV3beginning in February 2011. STV, the ITV franchisee in central and northernScotland(including theOrkneyandShetlandislands), originally opted out of showingDownton Abbey,","Abbey, choosing instead to screen a brand-new six-part series ofTaggart, following a long practice of opting out of networked United Kingdom-wide programming on the ITV network.This led to backlash from Scottish viewers, who were frustrated at not being able to watch the programme. Many viewers with satellite or cable television tuned into other regional stations of the ITV network, for exampleITV London, with viewing figures showing this is also commonplace for other ITV programmes.STV announced in July 2011 that it would show the first and second series ofDownton Abbeyas part of its autumn schedule.Scottish cast membersPhyllis LoganandIain Glenwere both quoted as being pleased with the decision. United States In the United States,Downton Abbeywas first broadcast in January 2011 onPBS, as part of the 40th season ofMasterpiece.The programme was aired in four 90-minute episodes, controversially requiring PBS to alter the beginning and endpoints of each episode and make other small changes, slightly altering","slightly altering each episode's structure to fit the programme precisely into the allotted running-time.As part ofMasterpiece, episodes shown on PBS also featuredMasterpiecehost (Laura Linney), who introduced each episode, explaining matters such as \"theentail\" and \"Buccaneers\"for the benefit of American viewers; this was perceived as condescending by some American critics.PBS editing for broadcasts in the United States continued in the subsequent seasons.The final and sixth season aired in 2016. PBS continued to repeat episodes until 2020, whenNBC Universaltook over the US broadcasting rights for its streaming servicePeacock. The series became available onNetflixin 2021. The series also aired on the E! network in 2022. Canada In Canada,VisionTVbegan airing the programme on 7 September 2011;CBC Televisionrepeated the whole series in 2021; Downton Abbey was aired in French onIci Radio-Canada Télé. Australia and New Zealand In Australia, the first series was broadcast on theSeven Networkbeginning on 29 May","on 29 May 2011;the second series was broadcast beginning on 20 May 2012;and the third series beginning on 10 February 2013.In New Zealand,Primebegan airing the first series on 10 May 2011, the second series on 18 October 2011 and the third series on 18 October 2012. Ireland In Ireland, independent television channelTV3aired the first series in January and February 2011. France Downton Abbeywas broadcast onTMCin France beginning in 11 December 2011. Reception Critical response AtMetacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the first series received anaveragescore of 91, based on 16 reviews, which indicates \"universal acclaim\".This result earned the show a Guinness World Record in 2011 for \"Highest critical review ratings for a TV show\", makingDownton Abbeythe critically best received TV show in the world.Season 4 ofBreaking BadsurpassedDownton Abbey's record later in the year, with a score of 96, making the first series ofDownton Abbeythe second highest rated show of 2011.","rated show of 2011. The series has been noted for its relatively sympathetic portrayal of thearistocraticfamily and the class-based society of early 20th-century Britain. This has led to criticism from the political left and praise from the right.James Fentonwrote inThe New York Review of Books, \"it is noticeable that the aristocrats in the series, even the ones who are supposed to be the most ridiculous, never lapse into the most offensive kind of upper-class drawl one would expect of them. Great care has been taken to keep them pleasant and approachable, even when the things they say are sometimes shown to be class-bound and unfeeling.\"Jerry Bowyerargued inForbesthat the sympathy for aristocracy is over-stated, and that the show is simply more balanced than most period dramas, which he believes have had a tendency to demonise or ridicule upper class characters. He wrote thatDownton Abbeyshows \"there is no inherent need for good TV to be left of center. Stories sympathetic to virtue, preservation of","preservation of property and admiration of nobility and of wealth can be told beautifully and to wide audiences.\" Downton Abbeyhas been a commercial success and received general acclaim from critics, although some criticise it as superficial,melodramaticor unrealistic. Others defend these qualities as the reason for the show's appeal. David Kamp wrote inVanity Fairthat \"melodrama is an uncool thing to trade in these days, but then, that's precisely whyDownton Abbeyis so pleasurable. In its clear delineation between the goodies and the baddies, in its regulated dosages of highs and lows, the show is welcome counter-programming to the slow-burning despair and moral ambiguity of most quality drama on television right now.\"In September 2019,The Guardian,which ranked the show 50th on its list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century, stated that the show \"was TV drama as comfort blanket: at a time of austerity, Julian Fellowes's country house epic offered elegantly realised solace in the homilies of the","the homilies of the past\".Mary McNamara ofLos Angeles Timeswrote, \"Possibly the best series of the year.\"Jill Serjeant ofReuterswrote, \"There's a new darling in U.S. pop culture.\"The staff ofEntertainment Weeklywrote, \"It's the biggest PBS phenomenon since Sesame Street.\"David Hinckley ofNew York Daily Newswrote, \"Maintains its magic touch.\" James Parker, writing inThe Atlantic, said, \"Preposterous as history, preposterous as drama, the show succeeds magnificently as bad television. The dialogue spins light-operatically along in the service of multiplying plotlets, not too hard on the ear, although now and again a line lands like a tray of dropped spoons. The acting is superb—it has to be.\"Ben W. Heineman Jr. compared the series unfavourably toBrideshead Revisited, writing \"Downton Abbeyis entertainment. Its illustrious predecessor in television mega-success about the English upper class,Brideshead Revisited, is art.\"He noted the lack of character development in Downton. Writing inThe Sunday Times,A. A.","Sunday Times,A. A. Gillsaid that the show is \"everything I despise and despair of on British television:National Trustsentimentality, costumed comfort drama that flogs an embarrassing, demeaning, and bogus vision of the place I live in.\" Sam Wollaston ofThe Guardianwrote, It's beautifully made—handsome, artfully crafted and acted. Smith, who plays the formidable and disdainful Dowager Countess, has a lovely way of delivering words, always spaced to perfection. This is going to be a treat if you like a lavish period drama of a Sunday evening. While rumoured due to the departure of actorDan Stevens, the death of Matthew Crawley in the 2012 Christmas special drew criticism.Fellowes defended the decision stating that they 'didn't really have an option' once Stevens decided to leave.Stevens later said that he had no say in the manner of his character's departure but that he was 'sorry' his character had died on Christmas Day. The third episode of the fourth series, which aired on 6 October 2013, included a","2013, included a warning at the beginning: \"This episode contains violent scenes that some viewers may find upsetting.\"The episode content, in which Anna Bates was raped, led to more than 200 complaints by viewers to UK television regulatorOfcom,while ITV received 60 complaints directly.On 4 November 2013, Ofcom announced it would not be taking action over the controversy citing the warning given, that the episode was screened after 9 pm, and, that the rape took place 'off-screen'.Series four also introduced a recurring character, black jazz musician Jack Ross, who had a brief romantic affair with Lady Rose. The casting ofGary Carrdrew critical accusations ofpolitical correctnessin the media. The character of Ross was partially based onLeslie Hutchinson(\"Hutch\"), a real-life 1920s jazz singer who had an affair with a number of women in high society, among themEdwina Mountbatten. Ratings The first episode ofDownton Abbeyhad a consolidated British audience of 9.2 million viewers, a 32% audience share—making it","share—making it the most successful new drama on any channel sinceWhitechapelwas launched on ITV in February 2009. The total audience for the first episode, including repeats andITV Playerviewings, exceeded 11.6 million viewers. This was beaten by the next episode, with a total audience of 11.8 million viewers—including repeats and ITV Player views.Downton Abbeybroke the record for a single episode viewing onITV Player. The second series premiered in Britain on 18 September 2011 in the same 9 pm slot as the first series, with the first episode attracting an average audience of 9 million viewers on ITV1, a 34.6% share.The second episode attracted a similar following with an average of 9.3 million viewers.In January 2012, the PBS premiere attracted 4.2 million viewers, over double the network's average primetime audience of 2 million. The premiere audience was 18% higher than the first series premiere. The second series ofDownton Abbeygave PBS its highest ratings since 2009. The second series averaged 5.4","series averaged 5.4 million viewers, excluding station replays, DVR viewings and online streaming. The 5.4 million average improved on PBS first series numbers by 25%. Additionally, episodes of series two have been viewed 4.8 million times on PBS's digital portal, surpassing the online viewing numbers of series one by more than 400 per cent. Overall,Downton Abbey-related content has racked up more than 9 million streams across all platforms, with 1.5 million unique visitors, since series 2's 8 January premiere.In 2013,Downton Abbeywas ranked the 43rd most well-written TV show of all time by theWriters Guild of America. The third series premiered in the UK on 16 September 2012 with an average of 9 million viewers (or a 36% audience share). For the first time in the UK, episode three received an average of more than 10 million viewers (or a 38.2% audience share).Premiering in the US in January 2013, the third series had an average audience of 11.5 million viewers and the finale on 17 February 2013, drew 12.3","2013, drew 12.3 million viewers making it the night's highest rating show.Overall, during its seven-week run, the series had an audience of 24 million viewers making it PBS's highest-rated drama of all time. The fourth series premiered in the UK on 22 September 2013 with an average audience of 9.5 million viewers—the highest ever for one of the drama's debut episodes.It premiered in the US on 5 January 2014, to an audience of at least 10.2 million viewers, outperforming every other drama on that night; it was the largest audience forPBSsince the 1990 premiere of theKen BurnsdocumentaryThe Civil War.The second episode attracted an average of 9.6 million UK viewers. Awards and nominations Cultural reaction Although Julian Fellowes supports aunited Ireland,there has been criticism of the stereotypicalIrish charactersused in the show, specifically the character of Tom Branson's brother, Kieran, portrayed as a rude and boorish drunk.Allen Leech, who plays Tom Branson, defended the series, stating that the show","that the show did not portray Irish characters in a pejorative fashion.Branson's character took some criticism in Ireland fromThe Irish Times, which described the character as \"an Irish republican turned Downtonian toff.\" The character of the Earl of Grantham occasionally expresses negative views about Catholics and is described, byThe Washington Post, as \"xenophobic\" but \"at least historically accurate\".Episodes in Season 3 featured Lord Grantham using offensive derogatory terms against Catholics such as the phrase \"left-footer\" and mocking theCatholic Massby calling it a \"gymnastics display\". A dinner scene also features a Protestant minister calling Catholic practices \"pagan\". Fellowes, himself a Roman Catholic, explained that he chose to address this in terms of \"that casual, almost unconscious anti-Catholicism that was found among the upper classes, which lasted well into my growing up years\", adding that he \"thought it might be interesting\" to explore this in the series and described his own","described his own experiences where the aristocracy \"were happy for you to come to their dances or shoot their pheasants, but there were plenty who did not want you to marry their daughters and risk Catholic grandchildren.\" Authenticity Fellowes has said he tries to be as authentic in his depiction of the period as he can.Despite this, the show features many linguisticanachronisms.The accents of characters have also been questioned, with theReceived Pronunciationof the actors who play the wealthy characters described as \"slightly more contemporary\" than would be expected among early-20th-century aristocrats; however, this \"elicited more natural and unaffected performances from the cast\". In 2010, Fellowes hiredAlastair Bruce, an expert on state and court ritual, as historical adviser.Bruce explains his role as being \"here to guide the production and particularly the director as they bring Julian's words to life. That also involves getting the social conduct right, and giving actors a sense of surety in the","of surety in the way they deliver a performance.\"ActorJim Carter, who plays butler Carson, describes Bruce as the series \"etiquette watchdog\",and the UK'sDaily Telegraphfinished its 2011 profile of Bruce's role stating \"Downton's authenticity, it seems, is in safe hands.\"However, historianSimon Schamacriticised the show for historical inaccuracies and \"pandering toclichés\".Producer Gareth Neame defended the show, saying, \"Downton is a fictional drama. It is not a history programme, but a drama of social satire about a time when relationships, behaviour and hierarchy were very different from those we enjoy today.\" A \"tremendous amount of research\" went into recreating the servants' quarters atEaling StudiosbecauseHighclere Castle, where many of the upstairs scenes are filmed,was not adequate for representing the \"downstairs\" life at the fictional manor house.Researchers visited nearly 40 English country houses to help inform what the kitchen should look like, and production designer Donal Woods said of the","Woods said of the kitchen equipment that \"probably about 60 to 70 per cent of the stuff in there is from that period\".Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Managementis an important guide to the food served in the series, but Highclere owner, and author ofLady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle, Lady Carnarvon, states that dinner parties in the era \"would have been even more over the top\" than those shown.Lady Pamela Hicksagreed, stating that \"it is ridiculous to think that a weekend party would consist of only fourteen house guests, it would have consisted of at least 40!\"However, Carnarvon understood the compromises that must be made for television, and adds, \"It's a fun costume drama. It's not a social documentary. Because it's so popular, I think some people take it as historical fact.\" Home media Streaming The series was made available in its entirety on Netflix in June 2021. It has also been made available onAmazon Prime Video,Peacock, the PBS app and PBS.org with a PBS","PBS.org with a PBS Passport subscription. Blu-ray and DVD On 16 September 2011, two days before the UK premiere of the second series, it was reported byAmazon.comthat the first series ofDownton Abbeyhad become the highest selling DVD boxset of all time on the online retailer's website, surpassing popular American programmes such asThe Sopranos,FriendsandThe Wire. Books The World of Downton Abbey, a book featuring a behind-the-scenes look atDownton Abbeyand the era in which it is set, was released on 15 September 2011. It was written byJessica Fellowes(the niece ofJulian Fellowes) and published byHarperCollins. A second book, also written by Jessica Fellowes and published by HarperCollins,The Chronicles of Downton Abbey, was released on 13 September 2012. It is a guide to the show's characters through the early part of the third series. Four spin-off cookbooks have been published –The Official Downton Abbey Cookbook(2019), which features dishes from the Edwardian period researched by food historian Dr Annie","historian Dr Annie Gray,The Official Downton Abbey Christmas Cookbook(2020) by Regula Ysewijn,The Official Downton Abbey Cocktail Book(2019) and TheOfficial Downton Abbey Afternoon Tea Cookbook(2020). Soundtracks A soundtrack, featuring music from the series and also new songs, was released byDeccain September 2011. Music byJohn LunnandDon Blackfeatures, with vocals fromMary-Jess LeaverlandandAlfie Boe.A second soundtrack was released on 19 November 2012 entitledDownton Abbey: The Essential Collectionand a third and final soundtrack, containing two discs, was released on 15 January 2016 entitledDownton Abbey: The Ultimate Collectionand featured music spanning from all six seasons of the series including some from the first soundtrack. Cultural impact Some of the fashion items worn by characters on the show have seen a strong revival of interest in the UK and elsewhere during the show's run, includingstarched collars,midi skirts, beadedgowns, andhunting plaids. TheEquality (Titles) Billwas an unsuccessful","an unsuccessful piece of legislation introduced in theUK Parliamentin 2013 that would have allowed equal succession of female heirs tohereditary titles and peerages. It was nicknamed the \"Downton Abbeylaw\" because it addressed the same issue that affects Lady Mary Crawley, who cannot inherit the estate because it must pass to a male heir. The decor used onDownton AbbeyinspiredUS Representative Aaron Schockto redecorate his congressional offices in a more luxurious style.He repaid the $40,000 cost of redecoration following scrutiny of his expenses and questions about his use of public money for personal benefit,and subsequently resigned in March 2015. Other media Due to the show's popularity, there have been a number of references and spoofs on it, such asFamily Guyepisode \"Chap Stewie\", which has Stewie Griffin reborn in a household similar to Downton Abbey, andHow I Met Your Motherepisode \"The Fortress\", where the gang watch a television show calledWoodworthy Manor, which is remarkably similar toDownton","similar toDownton Abbey. A short scene featuring the characters of Sybil and Tom Branson made a screen-in-screen appearance in the movieIron Man 3. The Gilded Age Julian Fellowes'sThe Gilded Age, which debuted onHBOin 2022, portrays New York in the 1880s and how itsold New York societycoped with the influx of newly wealthy families.While a separate series, a young Violet, Countess of Grantham, couldmake an appearance on the new show. Film adaptations On 13 July 2018, a feature-length film was confirmed, with production commencing mid-2018.The film was written byJulian Fellowesand is a continuation of the TV series, with direction byBrian Percival. It was distributed byFocus FeaturesandUniversal Pictures International.The film was released in the United Kingdom on 13 September 2019, with the United States following one week later on 20 September 2019.Filming of a sequel began in April 2021.The film was finally released in the UK on 29 April 2022, and in the US on 20 May. In March 2024,Imelda Staunton, who","Staunton, who plays Lady Maud Bagshaw in the first two films, and is married toJim Carter(butler Mr Carson), revealed onBBC Radio 2that athird and final filmis in the pipeline.On 13 May 2024 it was announced on social media and the Focus Films website that a third film is planned, withPaul Giamatti,Joely Richardson,Alessandro Nivola,Simon Russell BealeandArty Froushanjoining the cast.On 26 June 2024 it was announced that the film would be released in cinemas on 12 September 2025. See also Notes References Further reading External links","Pernicious anemia Pernicious anemiais a disease where not enoughred blood cellsare produced due to a deficiency ofvitamin B12.Those affected often have a gradual onset.The most common initial symptoms arefeeling tiredand weak.Other symptoms may includeshortness of breath, feeling faint, a smooth red tongue,paleskin, chest pain,nauseaandvomiting, loss of appetite, heartburn, numbness in the hands and feet,difficulty walking, memory loss, muscle weakness, poorreflexes, blurred vision, clumsiness, depression, and confusion.Without treatment, some of these problems may become permanent. Pernicious anemia refers to a type ofvitamin B12deficiencyanemiathat results from lack ofintrinsic factor.Lack of intrinsic factor is most commonly due to anautoimmuneattack on thecellsthat create it in thestomach.It can also occur following the surgical removal of all or part of the stomach orsmall intestine; from an inherited disorder or illnesses that damage the stomach lining.When suspected, diagnosis is made byblood","is made byblood testsinitially acomplete blood count, and occasionally,bone marrow tests.Blood tests may showfewer but larger red blood cells, low numbers ofyoung red blood cells, low levels of vitamin B12, andantibodiesto intrinsic factor.Diagnosis is not always straightforward and can be challenging. Because pernicious anemia is due to a lack of intrinsic factor, it is not preventable.Pernicious anemia can be treated with injections of vitamin B12.If the symptoms are serious, frequent injections are typically recommended initially.There are not enough studies that pills are effective in improving or eliminating symptoms.Often, treatment may be needed for life. Pernicious anemia is the most common cause of clinically evident vitamin B12deficiency worldwide.Pernicious anemia due to autoimmune problems occurs in about one per 1000 people in the US. Among those over the age of 60, about 2% have the condition.It more commonly affects people of northern European descent.Women are more commonly affected than","affected than men.With proper treatment, most people live normal lives.Due to a higher risk ofstomach cancer, those with pernicious anemia should be checked regularly for this.The first clear description was byThomas Addisonin 1849.The term \"pernicious\" means \"deadly\", and this term came into use because, before the availability of treatment, the disease was often fatal. Signs and symptoms Pernicious anemia often presents slowly, and can cause harm insidiously and unnoticeably. Untreated, it can lead to neurological complications, and in serious cases, death.The onset may be vague and slow and the condition can be confused with other conditions, and there may be few to many symptoms without anemia.Pernicious anemia may be present without a person experiencing symptoms at first, over time,feeling tired and weak,lightheadedness,dizziness, headaches,rapidorirregularheartbeat, breathlessness,glossitis(a sore red tongue), poor ability to exercise,low blood pressure, cold hands and feet,paleoryellowskin, easy","easy bruising and bleeding, low-gradefevers, tremor,cold sensitivity,chest pain,upset stomach,nausea, loss of appetite, heartburn, weight loss,diarrhea,constipation, severejoint pain,feeling abnormal sensationsincluding tingling or numbness to the fingers and toes (pins and needles), and tinnitus, may occur.Anemia may present with a number of further common symptoms,including hair thinning and loss, early greying of the hair, mouth ulcers, bleeding gums,angular cheilitis, a look of exhaustion with pale and dehydrated or cracked lips and dark circles around the eyes, as well as brittle nails. In more severe or prolonged cases of pernicious anemia, nerve cell damage may occur. This is may result in sense loss, difficulty inproprioception,neuropathic pain, difficulty walking, poor balance, loss of sensation in the feet,muscle weakness, blurred vision (either due toretinopathyoroptic neuropathy), impaired urination, fertility problems, decreased sense of taste and smell,decreased level of consciousness, changes","changes in reflexes, memory loss, mood swings,depression,irritability, cognitive impairment, confusion, anxiety, clumsiness, psychosis, and, in more severe cases, dementia.Anemia may also lead to cardiac murmursand/or altered blood pressure (loworhigh). The deficiency may also present with thyroid disorders.In severe cases, the anemia may cause congestive heart failure.A complication of severe chronic PA issubacute combined degeneration of spinal cord, which leads to distal sensory loss (posterior column), absent ankle reflex, increased knee reflex response, and extensor plantar response.Other than anemia, hematological symptoms may includecytopenias, intramedullaryhemolysis, and pseudothrombotic microangiopathy.Vitamin B12deficiency, which is reversible, is occasionally confused withacute myeloid leukemia, which is an irreversible condition presenting with some of the same hematological symptoms, including hypercellular bone marrow with blastic differentiation and hypersegmented neutrophils.Pernicious","anemia can causeosteoporosisand may lead tobone fractures.Pernicious anemia can contribute to a delay in physical growth in children, and may also be a cause for delay in puberty for adolescents. Causes Vitamin B12cannot be produced by the human body, and must be obtained from the diet. When foods containing B12are eaten, the vitamin is usually bound to protein and is released by proteases released by the pancreas into the small bowel. Following its release, most B12is absorbed by the body in the small bowel (ileum) after binding to a protein known asintrinsic factor. Intrinsic factor is produced byparietal cellsof thegastric mucosa(stomach lining) and the intrinsic factor-B12-complex is absorbed by enterocytes in theileum'scubamreceptors.PA is characterised by B12deficiency caused by the absence of intrinsic factor.Other disorders that can disrupt the absorption of vitamin B12in the small intestine includeceliac disease, surgical removal ofcrohn's disease, andHIV. PA may be considered as an end stage of","as an end stage of autoimmuneatrophic gastritis, a disease characterised by stomach atrophy and the presence ofantibodiesto parietal cells and intrinsic factor.Autoimmune atrophic gastritis, is localised to the body of the stomach, where parietal cells are located.Antibodies to intrinsic factor and parietal cells cause the destruction of the oxyntic gastric mucosa, in which the parietal cells are located, leading to the subsequent loss of intrinsic factor synthesis. Without intrinsic factor, the ileum can no longer absorb the B12.Atrophic gastritis is often a precursor togastric cancer. Although the exact role ofHelicobacter pyloriinfection in PA remains controversial, evidence indicatesH. pyloriis involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. A long-standingH. pyloriinfection may cause gastric autoimmunity by a mechanism known asmolecular mimicry. Antibodies produced by the immune system can be cross-reactive and may bind to bothH. pyloriantigensand those found in thegastric mucosa. The antibodies are","The antibodies are produced by activatedB cellsthat recognise both pathogen and self-derived peptides. Theautoantigensbelieved to cause the autoreactivity are the alpha and beta subunits of thesodium-potassium pump.In a study, B12deficiency caused byHelicobacter pyloriwas positively correlated withCagApositivity and gastric inflammatory activity, rather than gastric atrophy.Less commonly,H. pyloriandZollinger-Ellison syndromemay cause a form of nonautoimmune gastritis that can lead to pernicious anemia. Impaired B12absorption can also occur following gastric removal (gastrectomy) or gastric bypass surgery. In these surgeries, either the parts of the stomach that produce gastric secretions are removed or they are bypassed. This means intrinsic factor, as well as other factors required for B12absorption, are not available. However, B12deficiency after gastric surgery does not usually become a clinical issue. This is probably because the body stores many years' worth of B12in the liver and gastric surgery","and gastric surgery patients are adequately supplemented with the vitamin. Although no specific PA susceptibility genes have been identified, a genetic factor likely is involved in the disease. Pernicious anemia is often found in conjunction with other autoimmune disorders, suggesting common autoimmune susceptibility genes may be a causative factor.In spite of that, previous family studies and case reports focusing on PA have suggested that there is a tendency of genetic heritance of PA in particular, and close relatives of the PA patients seem to have higher incidence of PA and associated PA conditions.Moreover, it was further indicated that the formation of antibodies to gastric cells was autosomal dominant gene determined, and the presence of antibodies to the gastric cells might not be necessarily related to the occurrence of atrophic gastritis related to PA. Pathophysiology Although the healthy body stores three to five years' worth of B12in the liver, the usually undetected autoimmune activity in one's","activity in one's gut over a prolonged period of time leads to B12depletion and the resulting anemia; pernicious anemia refers to one of the hematologic manifestations ofchronic auto-immune gastritis, in which the immune system targets the parietal cells of the stomach orintrinsic factoritself, leading to decreased absorption of vitamin B12. The body needs enough intrinsic factor to absorb and reabsorb vitamin B12from thebile, in which reduces the time needed to develop a deficiency. B12is required by enzymes for two reactions: the conversion ofmethylmalonyl-CoAtosuccinyl-CoA, and the conversion ofhomocysteinetomethionine. In the latter reaction, themethyl groupoflevomefolic acidis transferred to homocysteine to producetetrahydrofolateand methionine. This reaction is catalyzed by the enzymemethionine synthasewith B12as an essential cofactor. During B12deficiency, this reaction cannot proceed, which leads to the accumulation of levomefolic acid. This accumulation depletes the other types of folate required","of folate required forpurineandthymidylatesynthesis, which are required for the synthesis of DNA. Inhibition ofDNA replicationin maturing red blood cells results in the formation of large, fragile megaloblasticerythrocytes. The neurological aspects of the disease are thought to arise from the accumulation of methylmalonyl- CoA due to the requirement of B12as a cofactor to the enzyme methylmalonyl-CoA mutase. Diagnosis The insidious nature of PA may mean that diagnosis is delayed.Diagnosis is not always straightforward and can be challenging and can take up to several years to receive a diagnosis from the onset of symptoms and almost 60% of those affected are misdiagnosed or not initially diagnosed at all.PA may be suspected when a patient'sblood smearshows large, fragile, immature erythrocytes, known asmegaloblasts. A diagnosis of PA first requires demonstration ofmegaloblastic anemiaby conducting afull blood countand blood smear, which evaluates themean corpuscular volume(MCV), as well themean corpuscular","themean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration(MCHC).PA is identified with a high MCV (macrocytic anemia) and a normal MCHC (normochromicanemia).Ovalocytesare also typically seen on the blood smear, and apathognomonicfeature of megaloblastic anemias (which include PA and others) is hypersegmented neutrophils.Neuropsychiatric symptoms can precede hematological signs and are often the presenting manifestation of the disease. Vitamin B12serum levels are used to detect its deficiency, but do not distinguish its causes. Vitamin B12levels can be falsely high or low and data forsensitivity and specificityvary widely. Normal serum levels may be found in cases of deficiency wheremyeloproliferative disorders,liver disease,transcobalamin II, orsmall intestinal bacterial overgrowthare present.Low levels of serum vitamin B12may be caused by other factors than B12deficiency, such asfolate deficiency,pregnancy,oral contraceptiveuse,haptocorrindeficiency, andmyeloma.High serum levels may caused by supplementing with vitamin","with vitamin B12, present of antibodies to intrinsic factor, or due to underlying condition. The presence of antibodies to gastric parietal cells and intrinsic factor is common in PA. Parietal cell antibodies are found in other autoimmune disorders and also in up to 10% of healthy individuals. However, around 85% of PA patients have parietal cell antibodies, which means they are a sensitive marker for the disease. Intrinsic factor antibodies are much less sensitive than parietal cell antibodies, but they are much more specific. They are found in about half of PA patients and are very rarely found in other disorders. These antibody tests can distinguish between PA and food-B12malabsorption. A buildup of certain metabolites occurs in B12deficiency due to its role in metabolic processes and cellular functions.Methylmalonic acid(MMA) can be measured in both the blood and urine, whereashomocysteineis only measured in the blood. An increase in both MMA and homocysteine distinguishes B12deficiency from folate","from folate deficiency because homocysteine alone increases in the latter. Elevatedgastrinlevels can be found in around 80–90% of PA cases, but they may also be found in other forms of gastritis. Decreased pepsinogen I levels or a decreased pepsinogen I to pepsinogen II ratio may also be found, although these findings are less specific to PA and can be found in food-B12malabsorption and other forms of gastritis. The diagnosis of atrophic gastritis type A should be confirmed by gastroscopy and stepwise biopsy.About 90% of individuals with PA have antibodies for parietal cells; however, only 50% of all individuals in the general population with these antibodies have pernicious anemia. Differential diagnosis Forms of vitamin B12deficiency other than PA must be considered in thedifferential diagnosisof megaloblastic anemia. For example, a B12-deficient state which causes megaloblastic anemia and which may be mistaken for classical PA may be caused by infection with thetapewormDiphyllobothrium latum, possibly due","latum, possibly due to the parasite's competition with host for vitamin B12. The classic test for PA, theSchilling test, is no longer widely used, as more efficient methods are available. This historic test consisted, in its first step, of taking an oral dose ofradiolabelledvitamin B12, followed by quantitation of the vitamin in the patient's urine over a 24-hour period via measurement of theradioactivity. A second step of the test repeats the regimen and procedure of the first step, with the addition of oral intrinsic factor. A patient with PA presents lower than normal amounts of intrinsic factor; hence, addition of intrinsic factor in the second step results in an increase in vitamin B12absorption (over the baseline established in the first). The Schilling test distinguished PA from other forms of B12deficiency,specifically, fromImerslund–Gräsbeck syndrome, a B12-deficiency caused by mutations inCUBNthat codes forcubilinthe cobalamin receptor. Vitamin B12 deficiency is also prevalent in patients","in patients havingCrohn's disease(CD) so it should be differentiated. Treatment Pernicious anemia is usually easily treated by providing the necessary level of vitamin B12supplementation.Pernicious anemia can be treated with intramuscular injections of vitamin B12.Initially in high daily doses, followed by less frequent lower doses, as the condition improves.Activity may need to be limited during the course of treatment.As long as the body is saturated with vitamin B12expected to result in cessation of anemia-related symptoms and there are no other symptoms, unless there are irreversible neurological complications.There are not enough studies on whether pills are as effective in improving or eliminating symptoms as parenteral treatment.Folatesupplementation may affect the course and treatment of pernicious anemia if vitamin B12not replaced.In some severe cases of anemia, ablood transfusionmay be needed to resolve haematological effects.Treatment is lifelong. The treatment of PA varies by country and area.","country and area. Opinions vary over the efficacy of administration (parenteral/oral), the amount and time interval of the doses, or the forms of vitamin B12(e.g. cyanocobalamin/hydroxocobalamin). More comprehensive studies are still needed in order to validate the feasibility of a particular therapeutic method for PA in clinical practices. Prognosis A person with well-treated PA can live a healthy life. Failure to diagnose and treat in time, however, may result in permanent neurological damage, excessive fatigue, depression, memory loss, and other complications. In severe cases, the neurological complications of pernicious anemia can lead to death – hence the name, \"pernicious\", meaning deadly. There is an increased risk ofgastric cancerin those with pernicious anemia linked to the common feature of atrophic gastritis. Epidemiology PA is estimated to affect 0.1% of the general population and 1.9% of those over 60, accounting for 20–50% of B12deficiency in adults.A review of literature shows that the","shows that the prevalence of PA is higher in Northern Europe, especially in Scandinavian countries, and among people of African descent, and that increased awareness of the disease and better diagnostic tools might play a role in apparently higher rates of incidence. History A case of anemia with a first recognition of associatedatrophic gastritisa feature of pernicious anemia, was first described in 1824 byJames Combe. This was fully investigated in 1849, by British physicianThomas Addison, from which it acquired the common name ofAddison's anemia. In 1871, the first accurate description of the disease in continental Europe was made byMichael Anton Biermer, aGermanphysician who noted the insidious course of the condition. Because it was untreatable and fatal at the time, he first referred to it as \"pernicious\" anemia.Russellcoined the termsubacute combined degeneration of spinal cord. In 1907,Richard Clarke Cabotreported on a series of 1,200 patients with PA; their average survival was between one and three","one and three years.Pernicious anemia was a fatal disease before about the year 1920; until the importance of theliverinhematopoiesiswas recognized, the treatment of pernicious anemia was unsuccessful and arbitrary. It may have motivatedGeorge Whipple, who had a keen interest inliver diseases, to investigate the liver's role in hematopoiesis. Whipple began evaluating the effects of treatments for anemia caused by chronic blood loss. Whipple, Huber, and Robchett studied the effects onhemoglobinand blood regeneration of a variety of treatments, among which only raw liver showed real promise.Serendipity is said to have played a role in this discovery. Whipple observed that blood regeneration was poor in dogs fed cooked liver afterchronic blood loss. Had it not been that a lazy laboratory technician gave the dogs raw liver, the much more dramatic response might not have been discovered then. Around 1926,George MinotandWilliam P. Murphy, who learned of Whipple's discovery, sought raw liver as a treatment for","as a treatment for pernicious anemia. They later suggested a high-protein diet with high amounts of raw liver. This caused a rapid improvement in symptoms and a simultaneous rise inred blood cellcounts.Fruitandironwere also part of the diet, and it appears that at this point, Minot and Murphy were not quite sure that the liver was a very important factor. It was thought that iron in liver tissue, not liver juice-soluble factor, cured hemorrhagic anemia in dogs. Thus, the discovery of liver juice as a treatment for pernicious anemia had been by coincidence. However, Minot, Murphy, and Whipple received the joint Nobel Prize for discovering a cure for a previously fatal disease of unknown cause in 1934, becoming the first Americans to be awarded theNobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. It is not easy to eat uncooked liver, and extracts were developed as a concentrate of liver juice forintramuscular injection. In 1928, chemistEdwin Cohnprepared an extract that was 50 to 100 times stronger than obtained from","than obtained from raw liver. This became part of the standard management of pernicious anemia until the 1950s. The active ingredient in the liver remained unknown until 1948.The anti-pernicious anemia factor was only isolated from the liver by Smith, Rex, and others. The substance wascobalamin, which the discoverers called \"vitamin B12\".They showed that giving a few micrograms could prevent relapse in the disease.Dorothy Hodgkinand co-workers went on to useX-ray crystallographyto elucidate the structure of cobalamin for which she, too, was awarded aNobel Prize. Understanding of the pathogenesis of pernicious anaemia increased over subsequent decades. It had long been known that the disease was associated withdefects in the gastrointestinal tract: patients hadchronic gastritisand lack of acid secretion (achlorhydria). It is known that transport of physiological amounts of vitamin B12depends on the combined actions of gastric, ileal and pancreatic components. The gastric moiety was discovered and named","and named 'intrinsic factor' byWilliam Castlein 1930. A further important advance was made in the early 1960s by Doniach with the recognition that pernicious anemia is anautoimmune disease.Pernicious anemia is eventually treated with only injections of B12; injections are typically 1 mg every other day, or twice weekly. A medical author takes the view thatMary Todd Lincoln, the wife of American PresidentAbraham Lincoln, had pernicious anemia for decades and died from it in 1882. Research Permeation enhancers Treatment using oral drugs is an easier option in management but the bioavailabity of B12 is low. This is due to low absorption in the intestine, and breakdown by enzyme activity. Research continues to focus on the use of permeation enhancers or permeation absorbers in combination with the treatment. One of the better performing enhancers studied issalcoprozate sodium(SNAC).SNAC is able to form a noncovalent complex with cobalamin while preserving its chemical integrity and protect B12 from gastric","B12 from gastric acidity.This complex is much more lipophilic than the water-soluble vitamin B12, so is able to pass through cellular membranes with greater ease.Molecular dynamicsare used in experiments to gain an understanding of the molecular interactions involved in the different molecules used and the degree of ease achieved in absorption across the gastric epithelium. References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Downton Abbey Downton Abbeyis a Britishhistorical dramatelevision series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written byJulian Fellowes. It first aired in the United Kingdom onITVon 26 September 2010 and in the United States onPBS, which supported its production as part of itsMasterpiece Classicanthology, on 9 January 2011. The show ran for fifty-two episodes across six series, including five Christmas specials. The series, set on the fictionalYorkshirecountry estateof Downton Abbey between 1912 and 1926, depicts the lives of thearistocraticCrawley family and theirdomestic servantsin the post-Edwardian era, and the effects the great events of the time have on their lives and on theBritish social hierarchy. These events include news of thesinking of theTitanic(first series); the outbreak of theFirst World War, theSpanish influenza pandemicand theMarconi scandal(second series); theIrish War of Independenceleading to the formation of theIrish Free State(third series); theTeapot Dome scandal(fourth\",\n \"Dome scandal(fourth series); and theBritish general election of 1923and theBeer Hall Putsch(fifth series). The sixth and final series introduces the rise of the working class during theinterwar periodand hints at the eventual decline of theBritish aristocracy. Downton Abbeyhas received acclaim from television critics andnumerous accolades, including aGolden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Filmand aPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie. It was recognised byGuinness World Recordsas the most critically acclaimed English-language television series of 2011. It earned 27Primetime Emmy Awardnominations after its first two series, the most for any international television series in the awards' history.It was the most watched television series on both ITV and PBS, and became the most successful Britishcostume dramasince the 1981 television serial ofBrideshead Revisited. On 26 March 2015,Carnival Filmsand ITV announced that the sixth series would be the last; it aired on ITV between 20\",\n \"on ITV between 20 September 2015 and 8 November 2015. The final episode, the annual Christmas special, was broadcast on 25 December 2015. Afilm adaptation, a continuation of the series, was confirmed on 13 July 2018 and released in the United Kingdom on 13 September 2019, and in the United States on 20 September 2019. A second feature film,Downton Abbey: A New Era, was released in the United Kingdom on 29 April 2022 byUniversal Pictures, and in the United States and Canada on 20 May 2022 byFocus Features.A third film is in production. Plot overview Series 1 (2010) The first series, comprising seven episodes, explores the lives of the fictional Crawley family, the hereditary Earl of Grantham, and their domestic servants. The storyline centres on thefee tail, or \\\"entail\\\", governing the titled elite, which endows title and estate exclusively tomale heirs. As part of the backstory, the main character, Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, had resolved his father's past financial difficulties by marrying Cora\",\n \"by marrying Cora Levinson, an American heiress. Her considerabledowryis now contractually incorporated into the committal entail in perpetuity; however, Robert and Cora have three daughters and no son. As the eldest daughter, Lady Mary Crawley had agreed to marry her second cousin Patrick, the son of the then-heir presumptiveJames Crawley. The series begins the day after thesinking of RMSTitanicon 14/15 April 1912. The first episode starts as news reaches Downton Abbey that both James and Patrick have perished in the sinking of the ocean liner. The family then learns that a more distant and unknown male cousin, solicitor Matthew Crawley, the son of anupper-middle-classdoctor, has become the next heir presumptive. The story initially centres on the relationship between Lady Mary and Matthew, who resists embracing an aristocratic lifestyle, while Lady Mary resists her own attraction to the new heir presumptive. Of several subplots, one involves John Bates, Lord Grantham's newvaletand formerBoer Warbatman, and\",\n \"Warbatman, and Thomas Barrow, an ambitious youngfootman, who resents the former for taking a position he had desired for himself. Bates and Thomas remain at odds as Barrow works to sabotage Bates's every move. After learning Bates had recently been released from prison, Thomas and Miss O'Brien (Lady Grantham'slady's maid) begin a relentless pursuit that nearly ruins the Crawley family in scandal. Barrow – ahomosexualman in lateEdwardian England– and O'Brien create havoc for most of the staff and family. When Barrow is caught stealing, he hands in hisnoticeto join theRoyal Army Medical Corps. Matthew eventually does propose to Lady Mary, but she puts him off when Lady Grantham becomes pregnant, understanding that Matthew would no longer be heir if the baby is a boy. Cora loses the baby after O'Brien, believing she is soon to be fired, retaliates by leaving a bar of soap on the floor next to the bathtub, causing Cora to slip while getting out of the tub, and the fall resulting in a miscarriage. It is later\",\n \"It is later revealed that the miscarried foetus was a male. Although Lady Mary intends to accept Matthew, Matthew believes her reluctance is due to the earlier uncertainty of his heirship and emotionally rescinds his proposal, leaving Lady Mary devastated. The series ends just after theassassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinandand the outbreak of theFirst World Warin August 1914. Series 2 (2011) The second series comprises eight episodes and runs from theBattle of the Sommein 1916 to the1918 Spanish flu pandemic. During the war, Downton Abbey is temporarily converted into an officers'convalescent hospital. Matthew, having left Downton, is now aBritish Armyofficer and has become engaged. His fiancée is Lavinia Swire, the niece of aLiberalminister. William Mason, the second footman, is drafted, even after attempts by the Dowager Countess of Grantham to save him fromconscription. William is taken under Matthew's protection as his personalorderly. Enduring trench warfare and charging against machine guns and\",\n \"machine guns and artillery, both are injured by an exploding shell. William dies from his wounds, but only after a deathbed marriage to Daisy, thekitchen maid. While Daisy does not believe she loves William, she marries him in his last hours as his dying wish. It is not until a brief encounter with the Dowager Countess that she begins to realise that her love was real, but she could not admit it to herself. Matthew is now paralysed from the waist down by his battle injury, and seemingly unable to father children. Lavinia remains true to him despite his attempts to set her free, and he finally accepts her devotion. Mary, while acknowledging her feelings for Matthew, becomes engaged to Sir Richard Carlisle, a powerful and overbearing newspaper mogul, but their relationship is rocky. Bates's wife, Vera, repeatedly causes trouble for John and Anna, who are now engaged. Vera threatens to expose Mary's past scandalous indiscretion, but Carlisle agrees to purchase andkillher story. Embittered, Mrs Bates\",\n \"Mrs Bates mysteriously commits suicide with an arsenic pie after a visit by Bates, and he is arrested on suspicion of her murder. Matthew regains the use of his legs, and he and Mary realise they are still in love, but Matthew remains honourably committed to Lavinia after she stood by him during his misfortune. Unknown to them both, Lavinia, ill withSpanish flu, sees and overhears Matthew and Mary admit their love for one another while dancing to a song playing on thephonographgifted as a wedding present to Matthew and Lavinia. The Spanish influenza epidemic hits Downton Abbey further with Cora taken seriously ill, as well as Carson, thebutler. During the outbreak, Thomas attempts to make up for his inability to find other employment after the war by making himself as useful as possible and is made Lord Grantham's valet after Bates is arrested. Lavinia dies abruptly, which causes great guilt to both Matthew and Mary. Bates is found guilty of murder and sentenced to death but the sentence iscommutedto life in\",\n \"life in prison due to Lord Grantham's influence. After a talk with Robert, Mary realises that she must break off her engagement to Carlisle; he and Matthew fight in the drawing room, but in the end Carlisle goes quietly and is never heard from again. The annual Servants' Ball is held at Downton, and Mary and Matthew finally find their way to a marriage proposal on a snowy evening outside the Abbey. Lady Sybil, the youngest Crawley daughter, beginning to find her aristocratic life stifling, falls in love with Tom Branson, the new chauffeur ofIrishdescent with strongsocialistleanings. She is talked out ofelopementby her sisters, but her wayward marriage eventually receives Lord Grantham's reluctant blessing. Ethel Parks, a new housemaid, is seduced by a wounded officer, Major Bryant. Mrs Hughes, the housekeeper, finds them together in bed and dismisses Ethel, but takes pity on her and helps her when Ethel tells her she is pregnant. She has a baby boy and names him Charlie after his father, but Major Bryant\",\n \"but Major Bryant refuses to acknowledge his paternity. The filming location,Highclere Castle, in reality served as a convalescent home during World War I. Series 3 (2012) In episode one of the third series, covering 1920 to 1921, preparations are underway for Mary and Matthew's wedding. Tom and Sybil Branson arrive from Ireland, where they now live, to attend the wedding. Also arriving to attend the wedding of her granddaughter is Cora's mother, Martha Levinson, from America. Robert (Lord Grantham) learns that the bulk of the family's fortune (including Cora's dowry) has been lost due to his impetuous investment in theGrand Trunk Railway. Meanwhile Edith has fallen for Sir Anthony Strallan, whom Robert discourages from marrying Edith due to his age and crippled arm. At Edith's insistence, Robert gives in and welcomes Sir Anthony, but even though he loves her, Strallan cannot accept that the Grantham family disapproves of the match, and at the altar announces that he cannot go through with the wedding,\",\n \"with the wedding, devastating Edith. Strallan flees the church and is never heard from again. Meanwhile, Bates's cellmate plants a small surgical knife in his bedding, but Bates is informed by a fellow prisoner allowing him time to find and hide it (this same small knife is later used by Bates to threaten his cellmate when he had been using his connections through corrupt prison guards to keep a witness from testifying to Bates's innocence of the crime for which he is incarcerated). At Downton, Mrs Hughes finds out she may havebreast cancer, which only some of the household hear about, causing deep concern, but the tumour turns out to bebenign. Tom Branson and Lady Sybil, now pregnant, return to Downton after Tom is implicated in the burning of an Anglo-Irish aristocrat's house. After Matthew's reluctance to accept an inheritance from Lavinia's recently deceased father and then Robert's reluctance to accept that inheritance as a gift, Matthew and Robert reach a compromise in which Matthew accepts that the\",\n \"accepts that the inheritance will be used as an investment in the estate, giving Matthew an equal say in how it is run. However, as time goes on Robert repeatedly resists Matthew and Tom's efforts to modernise the running of the estate to make it profitable. Tragedy strikes when Sybil dies fromeclampsiashortly after giving birth. Tom, devastated, names his daughter Sybil after his late wife. Bates is released from prison after Anna uncovers evidence clearing him of his wife's murder. Tom becomes the newland agentat the suggestion of Violet, the Dowager Countess. Barrow and O'Brien have a falling out, after which O'Brien leads Barrow to believe that Jimmy, the new footman, is sexually attracted to him. Barrow enters Jimmy's room and kisses him while he is sleeping, which wakes him up shocked, confused, and very angry. In the end, Lord Grantham (familiar with homosexuality from Eton) defuses the situation. The family, except Branson, visits Violet's niece Susan, her husband \\\"Shrimpie\\\", theMarquessofFlintshire;\",\n \"and their daughter Rose, inScotland, accompanied by Matthew and a very pregnant Mary. The Marquess confides to Robert that his estate is bankrupt and will be sold, making Robert recognise that Downton has been saved through Matthew and Tom's efforts to modernise. At Downton, Edna Braithwaite, the new maid, enters Tom's room and kisses him, whereupon he asks her to leave, and she is eventually fired. Mary returns to Downton with Anna and gives birth to the new heir, but Matthew dies in a car crash while driving home from the hospital after seeing his newborn son. Series 4 (2013) In series four, covering 1922 to 1923, O'Brien leaves to serve Lady Flintshire inBritish India. Cora hires Edna Braithwaite, who had previously been fired for her interest in Tom. Eventually the situation blows up, and Edna is replaced by Phyllis Baxter. Mary deeply mourns Matthew's death. Matthew's newly-found letter states Mary is to be his soleheirand thus gives her management over his share of the estate until their son,\",\n \"until their son, George,comes of age. With Tom's encouragement, Mary assumes a more active role in running Downton. Two new suitors—Lord Gillingham and Charles Blake—arrive at Downton, though Mary, still grieving, is not interested. Edith, who has begun writing a weekly newspaper column, and Michael Gregson, a magazine editor, fall in love. Due to British law, he is unable todivorcehis wife, who is mentally ill and in an asylum. Gregson travels toGermanyto seekcitizenshipthere, enabling him to divorce, but is killed by Hitler'sBrownshirtsduring riots. Edith is left pregnant and decides to have an illegal abortion, but changes her mind at the last minute. With the help from her paternal aunt, Lady Rosamund, Edith secretly gives birth to a daughter while abroad, and places the baby with adoptive parents inSwitzerland, but reclaims her after arranging a new adoptive family on the estate. Mr and Mrs Drewe of Yew Tree Farm take the baby in and raise her as their own. Anna is raped by Lord Gillingham's valet Mr\",\n \"valet Mr Green, which Mr Bates later discovers. Subsequently, Green is killed in a London street accident. A local school teacher, Sarah Bunting, and Tom begin a friendship. In the Christmas special set mainly in London, Sampson, acard sharp, steals a letter written byEdward VIII, thenPrince of Wales, to his mistress, Rose's friendFreda Dudley Ward, which if made public would create a scandal; the entire Crawley family connives to retrieve it, although it is Bates who extracts the letter from Sampson's overcoat, and it is returned to Mrs Dudley Ward. The family hold adebutanteball for Lady Rose following her presentation at court, and the grateful Prince makes an appearance at the ball. Series 5 (2014) In series five, covering the year 1924, aRussian exile, Prince Kuragin, wishes to renew his past affections for the Dowager Countess (Violet). Violet instead locates his wife inBritish Hong Kongand reunites the Prince and his estranged wife.Scotland Yardand the local police investigate Green's death. Violet\",\n \"death. Violet learns that Marigold is Edith's daughter. Meanwhile, Mrs Drewe, not knowing Marigold's true parentage, resents Edith's constant visits. To increase his chances with Mary, Charles Blake plots to reunite Gillingham and his ex-fiancée, Mabel. After Edith inherits Michael Gregson's publishing company, she removes Marigold from the Drewes and relocates to London. Simon Bricker, an art expert interested in one of Downton's paintings, shows his true intentions toward Cora and is thrown out by Robert, causing a temporary rift between the couple. Mrs Patmore's decision to invest her inheritance in real estate inspires Mr Carson, Downton's butler, to do likewise. He suggests that head housekeeper Mrs Hughes invest with him; she confesses she has no money due to supporting a mentally incapacitated sister. The Crawleys' cousin, Lady Rose, daughter of Lord and Lady Flintshire, becomes engaged to Atticus Aldridge, son of Lord and Lady Sinderby. Lord Sinderby strongly objects to Atticus's marrying outside\",\n \"marrying outside theJewish faith. Lord Merton proposes to Isobel Crawley (Matthew's mother). She accepts, but later ends the engagement due to Lord Merton's sons' disparaging comments over her status as acommoner. Lady Flintshire employs underhanded schemes to derail Rose and Atticus's engagement, including announcing to everyone at the wedding that she and her husband are divorcing, intending to cause a scandal to stop Rose's marriage to Atticus; they are married anyway. When Anna is arrested on suspicion of Green's murder, Bates writes afalse confessionbefore fleeing toIreland. Baxter and Molesley, a footman and Matthew's former valet, are able to prove that Bates was inYorkat the time of the murder. This new information allows Anna to be released. Cora eventually learns the truth about Marigold, and wants her raised at Downton; Marigold is presented as Edith'sward, but Robert and Tom eventually discern the truth. Only Mary is unaware. When a war memorial is unveiled in the town, Robert arranges for a\",\n \"arranges for a separate plaque to honour the cook Mrs Patmore's late nephew, who was shot forcowardiceand excluded from his own village's memorial. The Crawleys are invited to Brancaster Castle, which Lord and Lady Sinderby have rented for a shooting party. While there, Lady Rose, with help from the Crawleys, defuses a personal near-disaster for Lord Sinderby, earning his gratitude and securing his approval of Rose. A second footman, Andy, is hired on Barrow's recommendation. During the annual Downton Abbey Christmas celebration, Tom announces he is moving toAmericato work for his cousin, taking daughter Sybil with him. Mr Carson proposes marriage to Mrs Hughes and she accepts. Series 6 (2015) In series six, changes are once again afoot at Downton Abbey as themiddle classrises and morebankrupted aristocratsare forced to sell off their large estates. Downton must do more to ensure its future survival;reductions in staffare considered, forcing Barrow to look for a job elsewhere. Having formed a close bond with\",\n \"a close bond with young George, Barrow realises that Downton has become the first real home he has ever had, but feels unwanted. Mary defies a blackmailer, who is thwarted by Robert. With Tom's departure to Boston, Mary becomes theestate agent. Edith is more hands-on in running her magazine and hires a female editor. Violet and Isobel once again draw battle lines as a government take-over of the local hospital is considered. Mary begins seeing Henry Talbot, a racing driver, and Edith begins seeing Bertie Pelham, a cousin of the owner of Brancaster Castle. Meanwhile, Anna suffers repeated miscarriages. Mary takes her to a specialist, who diagnoses a treatable condition, and she becomes pregnant again. Mr Carson and Mrs Hughes disagree on where to hold their wedding reception, but eventually choose to have it at the schoolhouse, during which Tom reappears with Sybil, having returned to Downton for good. Coyle, who tricked Baxter into stealing a previous employer's jewellery, is convicted after she and other\",\n \"after she and other witnesses are persuaded to testify. After Mrs Drewe kidnaps Marigold when Edith is not looking, the Drewes vacate Yew Tree Farm; Daisy convinces Tom to ask Robert to give her father-in-law, Mr Mason, the tenancy. Andy, a footman, offers to help Mr Mason so he can learn about farming, but Andy is held back by his illiteracy. Barrow offers to teach him to read, but Andy soon trades his help for that of a teacher at the local school. Robert suffers a near-fatal health crisis. Previous episodes alluded to health problems for Robert; hisulcerbursts and he is rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. The operation is successful, but Mary and Tom must take over Downton's operations. Larry Merton's fiancée, Amelia, encourages Lord Merton and Isobel to renew their engagement, but Violet rightly becomes suspicious. Violet discovers that Amelia wants Isobel, and not her, to be Lord Merton's caretaker in his old age.Daisy and Molesley score high marks on their academic exams; Molesley's are so\",\n \"Molesley's are so exceptional that he is offered a teaching position at the school. Mary breaks up with Henry, unable to live with the constant fear he could be killed in an accident like Matthew was. Bertie proposes to Edith, but she hesitates to accept because of Marigold. Violet, upset over Cora replacing her as hospital president, abruptly departs for a long cruise to restore her equanimity. Bertie unexpectedly succeeds his late second cousin as 7th Marquess of Hexham and moves into Brancaster Castle; Edith accepts him. Mary spitefully exposes Marigold's parentage, causing Bertie to walk out. Tom confronts Mary over her malicious behaviour and her true feelings for Henry. Despondent over his inability to find another job and his sense of being unloved, Barrow attemptssuicide, and is saved by Baxter and Andy. Realising the extent of Barrow's pain for the first time, Robert and Carson allow Barrow to stay at Downton while he recovers and searches for new employment. Mary and Henry reunite and are married.\",\n \"and are married. Edith returns to Downton for the wedding; she and Mary agree to work on improving their relationship. Mrs Patmore's newbed and breakfastbusiness is tainted by scandal, but saved when Robert, Cora and Rosamund appear there publicly to support her. Mary arranges a surprise meeting for Edith and Bertie with Bertie proposing again. Edith accepts. Edith tells Bertie's moralistic mother Mirada about Marigold; initially appalled, she is won over by Edith's honesty. Barrow, having decided to turn over a new leaf and become a kinder person, finds a position as butler and leaves Downton on good terms, but he is unhappy at his new post; the family and other servants also find themselves missing him. Lord Merton is diagnosed with terminalpernicious anaemiaand Amelia blocks Isobel from seeing him. Goaded by Violet, Isobel pushes into the Merton house and announces she will take Lord Merton to her house to care for and marry him, to his delight. Later, Lord Merton is correctly diagnosed with a non-fatal\",\n \"with a non-fatal form ofanaemia. Robert resents Cora's frequent absences as the hospital president, but comes to admire her ability after watching her chair a hospital meeting. Henry and Tom go into business together selling used cars, while Mary announces her pregnancy. Molesley accepts a permanent teaching position and he and Baxter promise to continue seeing each other. Daisy and Andy finally acknowledge their feelings; Daisy decides to move to the farm with Mr Mason, her father-in-law. Carson developspalsyand must retire. Following Robert and Mary's suggestion, Barrow happily returns to Downton as butler, with Carson in an overseeing role. Edith and Bertie are finally married in the series finale, set on New Year's Eve 1925. Anna goes into labour during the reception, and she and Bates become parents to a healthy son. Cast and characters The main cast of the Crawley family is led byHugh Bonnevilleas Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham, andElizabeth McGovernas his wife Cora Crawley, the Countess of\",\n \"the Countess of Grantham. Their three daughters are depicted byMichelle Dockeryas Lady Mary Crawley (Talbot),Laura Carmichaelas Lady Edith Crawley (Pelham) andJessica Brown Findlayas Lady Sybil Crawley (Branson).Maggie Smithis Robert Crawley's mother Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham.Samantha Bondportrays Lady Rosamund Painswick, Robert's sister who resides inBelgrave Square, London.Dan Stevensportrays Matthew Crawley, the new heir, along withPenelope Wiltonas his mother, Isobel Crawley, who are brought to Downton.Allen Leechas Tom Branson begins the series as the familychauffeur, but falls in love with Lady Sybil, marries her and later becomes theagentfor the estate.David Robbportrays Dr Richard Clarkson, the local town doctor. Joining the cast in series three isLily Jamesas Lady Rose MacClare, a cousin whose mother is Violet's niece Susan, the Marchioness of Flintshire, and who is sent to live with the Crawleys because her parents are serving the empire in India and, later, remains there because of\",\n \"there because of family problems. In series three and four,Shirley MacLaineportrays the mother of Cora Crawley, Martha Levinson. Suitors for Lady Mary's affections during the series includeTom Cullenas Lord Gillingham,Julian Ovendenas Charles Blake, andMatthew Goodeas Henry Talbot. Edith's fiancé and eventual husband Bertie Pelham, 7th Marquess of Hexham, is played byHarry Hadden-Paton. Downton Abbey's senior household staff are portrayed byJim Carteras Mr Carson, thebutler, andPhyllis Loganas Mrs Hughes, thehousekeeper. Tensions rise whenRob James-Collier, portraying Thomas Barrow, afootmanand later avaletandunder-butler, along withSiobhan Finneranas Miss O'Brien, the lady'smaidto the Countess of Grantham (up to series three), plot againstBrendan Coyleas Mr Bates, the valet to the Earl of Grantham, and his love interest and eventual wife, Anna (Joanne Froggatt), lady's maid to Lady Mary.Kevin Doyleplays the unlucky Mr Molesley, valet to Matthew Crawley.Thomas Howesportrays William Mason, the second footman.\",\n \"the second footman. Other household staff areRose Leslieas Gwen Dawson, ahousemaidstudying to be asecretaryin series one.Amy Nuttallplays Ethel Parks, a maid, beginning in series two and three.Matt Milnejoined the cast as Alfred Nugent, O'Brien's nephew, the awkward new footman for series three and four, andRaquel Cassidyplays Baxter, Cora's new lady's maid, who was hired to replace Edna Braithwaithe, who was sacked.Ed Speleersplays the dashing James (Jimmy) Kent, the second footman, from series three to five. In series five and sixMichael Foxplays Andy Parker, a replacement footman for Jimmy. In series four, five, and sixAndrew Scarboroughplays Tim Drewe, a farmer of the estate, who helps Lady Edith conceal a big secret. The kitchen staff includeLesley Nicolas Mrs Patmore thecook, andSophie McSheraas Daisy, thescullery maidwho works her way up to assistant cook having earlier married William Mason.Cara Theoboldportrays Ivy Stuart, a kitchen maid, joining the cast for series three and four. Crawley family\",\n \"Crawley family The series is set in Downton Abbey, aYorkshirecountry house, which is the home and seat of theEarlandCountessofGrantham, along with their three daughters and other family members. Each series follows the lives of thearistocraticCrawley family, their friends, and their servants during the reign of KingGeorge V. Production Gareth NeameofCarnival Filmsconceived the idea of anEdwardian-eraTV drama set in a country house and approached Fellowes, who had won anAcademy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)forGosford Park. The TV seriesDownton Abbey– written and created by Fellowes – was originally planned as a spin-off ofGosford Park, but instead was developed as a stand-alone property inspired by the film, set decades earlier.Although Fellowes was reluctant to work on another project resemblingGosford Park, within a few weeks he returned to Neame with an outline of the first series. Influenced by Edith Wharton'sThe Custom of the Country,Fellowes wrote the scripts; and his wife, Emma, acted as\",\n \"Emma, acted as an informalstory editor. Filming locations Highclere Castle in northHampshireis used for exterior shots of Downton Abbey and most of the interior filming.The kitchen,servants' quartersand working areas, and some of the \\\"upstairs\\\" bedrooms were constructed and filmed atEaling Studios.Bridgewater Housein the St James area of London served as the family's London home. Outdoor scenes are filmed in the village ofBamptoninOxfordshire. Notable locations include the Church of St Mary the Virgin and the library, which served as the entrance to the cottage hospital.The old rectory in Bampton is used for exterior shots of Isobel Crawley's house, with interior scenes filmed at Hall Place nearBeaconsfieldinBuckinghamshire. The fictional Downton Abbey is said to be located inYorkshire. The towns ofEasingwold,Kirkby Malzeard,Kirkbymoorside,Malton,Middlesbrough,Ripon,RichmondandThirsk, each mentioned by characters in the series, lie inNorth Yorkshire, as does the city of York, whileLeeds—similarly\",\n \"mentioned—lies inWest Yorkshire. Yorkshire media speculated the general location of the fictional Downton Abbey to be somewhere in the triangulated area between the towns of Easingwold, Ripon and Thirsk. First World Wartrench warfarescenes in France were filmed in a specially constructed replica battlefield for period war scenes near the village ofAkenhamin ruralSuffolk. Many historical locations and aristocratic mansions have been used to film various scenes: The fictional Haxby Park, the estate Sir Richard Carlisle intends to buy in series two, is part ofWaddesdon ManorinBuckinghamshire.Byfleet ManorinSurreyis the location for theDower house, home to Violet,DowagerCountess of Grantham,whileWest Wycombe ParkinBuckinghamshireis used for the interior scenes of Lady Rosamund (Samantha Bond)'sLondonresidence inBelgrave Square.A house in Belgrave Square is used for exterior shots. The farm scenes in series two in which Lady Edith learns to drive a tractor as part of the war effort were filmed on location at\",\n \"on location at theChiltern Open Air Museumin Buckinghamshire. Inveraray CastleinArgyll, Scotland, doubled as \\\"Duneagle Castle\\\" in the 2012 Christmas special. Greys CourtnearHenley-on-ThamesinOxfordshirewas used as the family's secondary property, which they proposed moving into and calling \\\"Downton Place\\\" due to financial difficulties in series three. Also in the third series, Bates's prison scenes were filmed atLincoln CastleinLincolnshire. Horsted Keynes railway stationinSussexis used as Downton station.The station is part of the heritageBluebell Railway.St Pancrasstation inLondondoubled forKing's Crossstation in episode one of series four, in the scene where Lady Edith Crawley meets her lover Michael Gregson.The restaurant scene where Lady Edith meets Michael Gregson and where they share their kiss was filmed at theCriterion RestaurantinPiccadilly Circuswhich was originally opened in 1874. Bridgewater House in the St James area of London served as the family's London home. Outdoor scenes are filmed in the\",\n \"are filmed in the village of Bampton in Oxfordshire. Notable locations include St Mary's the Virgin Church and the library, which served as the entrance to the cottage hospital. The old rectory in Bampton is used for exterior shots of Isobel Crawley's house, with interior scenes filmed atHall Barn, Hall Place near Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, featured as Loxley House, the home of Sir Anthony Strallan. Parts of series four were filmed atThe Historic Dockyard Chatham,Kent– The Tarred Yarn Store was used in episode one as a workhouse where Mrs Hughes (Phyllis Logan) visits Mr Grigg (Nicky Henson) and in episode two, streets atThe Historic Dockyard Chathamwere used for the scenes where Lady Rose MacClare (Lily James) is at the market with James Kent (Ed Speleers) watching her.The production had previously filmed inKentfor series one where the opening sequence of a train going through the countryside was filmed at theKent & East Sussex Railway. Other filming locations for series four include the ballroom of\",\n \"the ballroom of The Savile Club inMayfair, London. Scenes for the 2013 Christmas special were filmed atRoyal Holloway, University of LondonnearEgham, Surrey,West Witteringbeach inWest Sussexand Berkshire'sBasildon ParknearStreatley.Lancaster Housein London stood in forBuckingham Palace. Alnwick Castle, inNorthumberland, was the filming location used for Brancaster Castle in the 2014 and 2015 Christmas specials, which included filming in Alnwick Castle'sState Rooms, as well as on the castle's grounds, and at the nearby semi-ruined Hulne Abbey on theDuke of Northumberland's parklands inAlnwick. In series five and six, Kingston Bagpuize House in Oxfordshire was used as the location for Cavenham Park, the home of Lord Merton.In series six, the scenes of motor racing atBrooklandswere filmed at theGoodwood Circuitin West Sussex. In 2015, Wayfair.co.uk published a map of 70+ Downton Abbey filming locations. The 2019 film ofDownton Abbeyuses many of the television locations such as Highclere Castle and Bampton, as\",\n \"and Bampton, as well as exterior shots filmed atBeamish Museum.TheNorth York Moors Railwaywas used for railway scenes. Opening theme music The opening music ofDownton Abbey, titled \\\"Did I Make the Most of Loving You?\\\",was composed byJohn Lunn. A suite version was released on the soundtrack for the show on 19 September 2011 in the UK and later in the US on 13 December 2011. The soundtrack also included the song performed by singerMary-Jess Leaverland,with lyrics written byDon Black. Broadcasts The rights to broadcastDownton Abbeyhave been acquired in over 220 countries and territories, and the series has been viewed by a global audience of an estimated 120 million people. United Kingdom The series first aired on theITV networkin the United Kingdom beginning on 26 September 2010, and received its first Britain-wide broadcast when shown onITV3beginning in February 2011. STV, the ITV franchisee in central and northernScotland(including theOrkneyandShetlandislands), originally opted out of showingDownton Abbey,\",\n \"Abbey, choosing instead to screen a brand-new six-part series ofTaggart, following a long practice of opting out of networked United Kingdom-wide programming on the ITV network.This led to backlash from Scottish viewers, who were frustrated at not being able to watch the programme. Many viewers with satellite or cable television tuned into other regional stations of the ITV network, for exampleITV London, with viewing figures showing this is also commonplace for other ITV programmes.STV announced in July 2011 that it would show the first and second series ofDownton Abbeyas part of its autumn schedule.Scottish cast membersPhyllis LoganandIain Glenwere both quoted as being pleased with the decision. United States In the United States,Downton Abbeywas first broadcast in January 2011 onPBS, as part of the 40th season ofMasterpiece.The programme was aired in four 90-minute episodes, controversially requiring PBS to alter the beginning and endpoints of each episode and make other small changes, slightly altering\",\n \"slightly altering each episode's structure to fit the programme precisely into the allotted running-time.As part ofMasterpiece, episodes shown on PBS also featuredMasterpiecehost (Laura Linney), who introduced each episode, explaining matters such as \\\"theentail\\\" and \\\"Buccaneers\\\"for the benefit of American viewers; this was perceived as condescending by some American critics.PBS editing for broadcasts in the United States continued in the subsequent seasons.The final and sixth season aired in 2016. PBS continued to repeat episodes until 2020, whenNBC Universaltook over the US broadcasting rights for its streaming servicePeacock. The series became available onNetflixin 2021. The series also aired on the E! network in 2022. Canada In Canada,VisionTVbegan airing the programme on 7 September 2011;CBC Televisionrepeated the whole series in 2021; Downton Abbey was aired in French onIci Radio-Canada Télé. Australia and New Zealand In Australia, the first series was broadcast on theSeven Networkbeginning on 29 May\",\n \"on 29 May 2011;the second series was broadcast beginning on 20 May 2012;and the third series beginning on 10 February 2013.In New Zealand,Primebegan airing the first series on 10 May 2011, the second series on 18 October 2011 and the third series on 18 October 2012. Ireland In Ireland, independent television channelTV3aired the first series in January and February 2011. France Downton Abbeywas broadcast onTMCin France beginning in 11 December 2011. Reception Critical response AtMetacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the first series received anaveragescore of 91, based on 16 reviews, which indicates \\\"universal acclaim\\\".This result earned the show a Guinness World Record in 2011 for \\\"Highest critical review ratings for a TV show\\\", makingDownton Abbeythe critically best received TV show in the world.Season 4 ofBreaking BadsurpassedDownton Abbey's record later in the year, with a score of 96, making the first series ofDownton Abbeythe second highest rated show of 2011.\",\n \"rated show of 2011. The series has been noted for its relatively sympathetic portrayal of thearistocraticfamily and the class-based society of early 20th-century Britain. This has led to criticism from the political left and praise from the right.James Fentonwrote inThe New York Review of Books, \\\"it is noticeable that the aristocrats in the series, even the ones who are supposed to be the most ridiculous, never lapse into the most offensive kind of upper-class drawl one would expect of them. Great care has been taken to keep them pleasant and approachable, even when the things they say are sometimes shown to be class-bound and unfeeling.\\\"Jerry Bowyerargued inForbesthat the sympathy for aristocracy is over-stated, and that the show is simply more balanced than most period dramas, which he believes have had a tendency to demonise or ridicule upper class characters. He wrote thatDownton Abbeyshows \\\"there is no inherent need for good TV to be left of center. Stories sympathetic to virtue, preservation of\",\n \"preservation of property and admiration of nobility and of wealth can be told beautifully and to wide audiences.\\\" Downton Abbeyhas been a commercial success and received general acclaim from critics, although some criticise it as superficial,melodramaticor unrealistic. Others defend these qualities as the reason for the show's appeal. David Kamp wrote inVanity Fairthat \\\"melodrama is an uncool thing to trade in these days, but then, that's precisely whyDownton Abbeyis so pleasurable. In its clear delineation between the goodies and the baddies, in its regulated dosages of highs and lows, the show is welcome counter-programming to the slow-burning despair and moral ambiguity of most quality drama on television right now.\\\"In September 2019,The Guardian,which ranked the show 50th on its list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century, stated that the show \\\"was TV drama as comfort blanket: at a time of austerity, Julian Fellowes's country house epic offered elegantly realised solace in the homilies of the\",\n \"the homilies of the past\\\".Mary McNamara ofLos Angeles Timeswrote, \\\"Possibly the best series of the year.\\\"Jill Serjeant ofReuterswrote, \\\"There's a new darling in U.S. pop culture.\\\"The staff ofEntertainment Weeklywrote, \\\"It's the biggest PBS phenomenon since Sesame Street.\\\"David Hinckley ofNew York Daily Newswrote, \\\"Maintains its magic touch.\\\" James Parker, writing inThe Atlantic, said, \\\"Preposterous as history, preposterous as drama, the show succeeds magnificently as bad television. The dialogue spins light-operatically along in the service of multiplying plotlets, not too hard on the ear, although now and again a line lands like a tray of dropped spoons. The acting is superb—it has to be.\\\"Ben W. Heineman Jr. compared the series unfavourably toBrideshead Revisited, writing \\\"Downton Abbeyis entertainment. Its illustrious predecessor in television mega-success about the English upper class,Brideshead Revisited, is art.\\\"He noted the lack of character development in Downton. Writing inThe Sunday Times,A. A.\",\n \"Sunday Times,A. A. Gillsaid that the show is \\\"everything I despise and despair of on British television:National Trustsentimentality, costumed comfort drama that flogs an embarrassing, demeaning, and bogus vision of the place I live in.\\\" Sam Wollaston ofThe Guardianwrote, It's beautifully made—handsome, artfully crafted and acted. Smith, who plays the formidable and disdainful Dowager Countess, has a lovely way of delivering words, always spaced to perfection. This is going to be a treat if you like a lavish period drama of a Sunday evening. While rumoured due to the departure of actorDan Stevens, the death of Matthew Crawley in the 2012 Christmas special drew criticism.Fellowes defended the decision stating that they 'didn't really have an option' once Stevens decided to leave.Stevens later said that he had no say in the manner of his character's departure but that he was 'sorry' his character had died on Christmas Day. The third episode of the fourth series, which aired on 6 October 2013, included a\",\n \"2013, included a warning at the beginning: \\\"This episode contains violent scenes that some viewers may find upsetting.\\\"The episode content, in which Anna Bates was raped, led to more than 200 complaints by viewers to UK television regulatorOfcom,while ITV received 60 complaints directly.On 4 November 2013, Ofcom announced it would not be taking action over the controversy citing the warning given, that the episode was screened after 9 pm, and, that the rape took place 'off-screen'.Series four also introduced a recurring character, black jazz musician Jack Ross, who had a brief romantic affair with Lady Rose. The casting ofGary Carrdrew critical accusations ofpolitical correctnessin the media. The character of Ross was partially based onLeslie Hutchinson(\\\"Hutch\\\"), a real-life 1920s jazz singer who had an affair with a number of women in high society, among themEdwina Mountbatten. Ratings The first episode ofDownton Abbeyhad a consolidated British audience of 9.2 million viewers, a 32% audience share—making it\",\n \"share—making it the most successful new drama on any channel sinceWhitechapelwas launched on ITV in February 2009. The total audience for the first episode, including repeats andITV Playerviewings, exceeded 11.6 million viewers. This was beaten by the next episode, with a total audience of 11.8 million viewers—including repeats and ITV Player views.Downton Abbeybroke the record for a single episode viewing onITV Player. The second series premiered in Britain on 18 September 2011 in the same 9 pm slot as the first series, with the first episode attracting an average audience of 9 million viewers on ITV1, a 34.6% share.The second episode attracted a similar following with an average of 9.3 million viewers.In January 2012, the PBS premiere attracted 4.2 million viewers, over double the network's average primetime audience of 2 million. The premiere audience was 18% higher than the first series premiere. The second series ofDownton Abbeygave PBS its highest ratings since 2009. The second series averaged 5.4\",\n \"series averaged 5.4 million viewers, excluding station replays, DVR viewings and online streaming. The 5.4 million average improved on PBS first series numbers by 25%. Additionally, episodes of series two have been viewed 4.8 million times on PBS's digital portal, surpassing the online viewing numbers of series one by more than 400 per cent. Overall,Downton Abbey-related content has racked up more than 9 million streams across all platforms, with 1.5 million unique visitors, since series 2's 8 January premiere.In 2013,Downton Abbeywas ranked the 43rd most well-written TV show of all time by theWriters Guild of America. The third series premiered in the UK on 16 September 2012 with an average of 9 million viewers (or a 36% audience share). For the first time in the UK, episode three received an average of more than 10 million viewers (or a 38.2% audience share).Premiering in the US in January 2013, the third series had an average audience of 11.5 million viewers and the finale on 17 February 2013, drew 12.3\",\n \"2013, drew 12.3 million viewers making it the night's highest rating show.Overall, during its seven-week run, the series had an audience of 24 million viewers making it PBS's highest-rated drama of all time. The fourth series premiered in the UK on 22 September 2013 with an average audience of 9.5 million viewers—the highest ever for one of the drama's debut episodes.It premiered in the US on 5 January 2014, to an audience of at least 10.2 million viewers, outperforming every other drama on that night; it was the largest audience forPBSsince the 1990 premiere of theKen BurnsdocumentaryThe Civil War.The second episode attracted an average of 9.6 million UK viewers. Awards and nominations Cultural reaction Although Julian Fellowes supports aunited Ireland,there has been criticism of the stereotypicalIrish charactersused in the show, specifically the character of Tom Branson's brother, Kieran, portrayed as a rude and boorish drunk.Allen Leech, who plays Tom Branson, defended the series, stating that the show\",\n \"that the show did not portray Irish characters in a pejorative fashion.Branson's character took some criticism in Ireland fromThe Irish Times, which described the character as \\\"an Irish republican turned Downtonian toff.\\\" The character of the Earl of Grantham occasionally expresses negative views about Catholics and is described, byThe Washington Post, as \\\"xenophobic\\\" but \\\"at least historically accurate\\\".Episodes in Season 3 featured Lord Grantham using offensive derogatory terms against Catholics such as the phrase \\\"left-footer\\\" and mocking theCatholic Massby calling it a \\\"gymnastics display\\\". A dinner scene also features a Protestant minister calling Catholic practices \\\"pagan\\\". Fellowes, himself a Roman Catholic, explained that he chose to address this in terms of \\\"that casual, almost unconscious anti-Catholicism that was found among the upper classes, which lasted well into my growing up years\\\", adding that he \\\"thought it might be interesting\\\" to explore this in the series and described his own\",\n \"described his own experiences where the aristocracy \\\"were happy for you to come to their dances or shoot their pheasants, but there were plenty who did not want you to marry their daughters and risk Catholic grandchildren.\\\" Authenticity Fellowes has said he tries to be as authentic in his depiction of the period as he can.Despite this, the show features many linguisticanachronisms.The accents of characters have also been questioned, with theReceived Pronunciationof the actors who play the wealthy characters described as \\\"slightly more contemporary\\\" than would be expected among early-20th-century aristocrats; however, this \\\"elicited more natural and unaffected performances from the cast\\\". In 2010, Fellowes hiredAlastair Bruce, an expert on state and court ritual, as historical adviser.Bruce explains his role as being \\\"here to guide the production and particularly the director as they bring Julian's words to life. That also involves getting the social conduct right, and giving actors a sense of surety in the\",\n \"of surety in the way they deliver a performance.\\\"ActorJim Carter, who plays butler Carson, describes Bruce as the series \\\"etiquette watchdog\\\",and the UK'sDaily Telegraphfinished its 2011 profile of Bruce's role stating \\\"Downton's authenticity, it seems, is in safe hands.\\\"However, historianSimon Schamacriticised the show for historical inaccuracies and \\\"pandering toclichés\\\".Producer Gareth Neame defended the show, saying, \\\"Downton is a fictional drama. It is not a history programme, but a drama of social satire about a time when relationships, behaviour and hierarchy were very different from those we enjoy today.\\\" A \\\"tremendous amount of research\\\" went into recreating the servants' quarters atEaling StudiosbecauseHighclere Castle, where many of the upstairs scenes are filmed,was not adequate for representing the \\\"downstairs\\\" life at the fictional manor house.Researchers visited nearly 40 English country houses to help inform what the kitchen should look like, and production designer Donal Woods said of the\",\n \"Woods said of the kitchen equipment that \\\"probably about 60 to 70 per cent of the stuff in there is from that period\\\".Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Managementis an important guide to the food served in the series, but Highclere owner, and author ofLady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle, Lady Carnarvon, states that dinner parties in the era \\\"would have been even more over the top\\\" than those shown.Lady Pamela Hicksagreed, stating that \\\"it is ridiculous to think that a weekend party would consist of only fourteen house guests, it would have consisted of at least 40!\\\"However, Carnarvon understood the compromises that must be made for television, and adds, \\\"It's a fun costume drama. It's not a social documentary. Because it's so popular, I think some people take it as historical fact.\\\" Home media Streaming The series was made available in its entirety on Netflix in June 2021. It has also been made available onAmazon Prime Video,Peacock, the PBS app and PBS.org with a PBS\",\n \"PBS.org with a PBS Passport subscription. Blu-ray and DVD On 16 September 2011, two days before the UK premiere of the second series, it was reported byAmazon.comthat the first series ofDownton Abbeyhad become the highest selling DVD boxset of all time on the online retailer's website, surpassing popular American programmes such asThe Sopranos,FriendsandThe Wire. Books The World of Downton Abbey, a book featuring a behind-the-scenes look atDownton Abbeyand the era in which it is set, was released on 15 September 2011. It was written byJessica Fellowes(the niece ofJulian Fellowes) and published byHarperCollins. A second book, also written by Jessica Fellowes and published by HarperCollins,The Chronicles of Downton Abbey, was released on 13 September 2012. It is a guide to the show's characters through the early part of the third series. Four spin-off cookbooks have been published –The Official Downton Abbey Cookbook(2019), which features dishes from the Edwardian period researched by food historian Dr Annie\",\n \"historian Dr Annie Gray,The Official Downton Abbey Christmas Cookbook(2020) by Regula Ysewijn,The Official Downton Abbey Cocktail Book(2019) and TheOfficial Downton Abbey Afternoon Tea Cookbook(2020). Soundtracks A soundtrack, featuring music from the series and also new songs, was released byDeccain September 2011. Music byJohn LunnandDon Blackfeatures, with vocals fromMary-Jess LeaverlandandAlfie Boe.A second soundtrack was released on 19 November 2012 entitledDownton Abbey: The Essential Collectionand a third and final soundtrack, containing two discs, was released on 15 January 2016 entitledDownton Abbey: The Ultimate Collectionand featured music spanning from all six seasons of the series including some from the first soundtrack. Cultural impact Some of the fashion items worn by characters on the show have seen a strong revival of interest in the UK and elsewhere during the show's run, includingstarched collars,midi skirts, beadedgowns, andhunting plaids. TheEquality (Titles) Billwas an unsuccessful\",\n \"an unsuccessful piece of legislation introduced in theUK Parliamentin 2013 that would have allowed equal succession of female heirs tohereditary titles and peerages. It was nicknamed the \\\"Downton Abbeylaw\\\" because it addressed the same issue that affects Lady Mary Crawley, who cannot inherit the estate because it must pass to a male heir. The decor used onDownton AbbeyinspiredUS Representative Aaron Schockto redecorate his congressional offices in a more luxurious style.He repaid the $40,000 cost of redecoration following scrutiny of his expenses and questions about his use of public money for personal benefit,and subsequently resigned in March 2015. Other media Due to the show's popularity, there have been a number of references and spoofs on it, such asFamily Guyepisode \\\"Chap Stewie\\\", which has Stewie Griffin reborn in a household similar to Downton Abbey, andHow I Met Your Motherepisode \\\"The Fortress\\\", where the gang watch a television show calledWoodworthy Manor, which is remarkably similar toDownton\",\n \"similar toDownton Abbey. A short scene featuring the characters of Sybil and Tom Branson made a screen-in-screen appearance in the movieIron Man 3. The Gilded Age Julian Fellowes'sThe Gilded Age, which debuted onHBOin 2022, portrays New York in the 1880s and how itsold New York societycoped with the influx of newly wealthy families.While a separate series, a young Violet, Countess of Grantham, couldmake an appearance on the new show. Film adaptations On 13 July 2018, a feature-length film was confirmed, with production commencing mid-2018.The film was written byJulian Fellowesand is a continuation of the TV series, with direction byBrian Percival. It was distributed byFocus FeaturesandUniversal Pictures International.The film was released in the United Kingdom on 13 September 2019, with the United States following one week later on 20 September 2019.Filming of a sequel began in April 2021.The film was finally released in the UK on 29 April 2022, and in the US on 20 May. In March 2024,Imelda Staunton, who\",\n \"Staunton, who plays Lady Maud Bagshaw in the first two films, and is married toJim Carter(butler Mr Carson), revealed onBBC Radio 2that athird and final filmis in the pipeline.On 13 May 2024 it was announced on social media and the Focus Films website that a third film is planned, withPaul Giamatti,Joely Richardson,Alessandro Nivola,Simon Russell BealeandArty Froushanjoining the cast.On 26 June 2024 it was announced that the film would be released in cinemas on 12 September 2025. See also Notes References Further reading External links\",\n \"Pernicious anemia Pernicious anemiais a disease where not enoughred blood cellsare produced due to a deficiency ofvitamin B12.Those affected often have a gradual onset.The most common initial symptoms arefeeling tiredand weak.Other symptoms may includeshortness of breath, feeling faint, a smooth red tongue,paleskin, chest pain,nauseaandvomiting, loss of appetite, heartburn, numbness in the hands and feet,difficulty walking, memory loss, muscle weakness, poorreflexes, blurred vision, clumsiness, depression, and confusion.Without treatment, some of these problems may become permanent. Pernicious anemia refers to a type ofvitamin B12deficiencyanemiathat results from lack ofintrinsic factor.Lack of intrinsic factor is most commonly due to anautoimmuneattack on thecellsthat create it in thestomach.It can also occur following the surgical removal of all or part of the stomach orsmall intestine; from an inherited disorder or illnesses that damage the stomach lining.When suspected, diagnosis is made byblood\",\n \"is made byblood testsinitially acomplete blood count, and occasionally,bone marrow tests.Blood tests may showfewer but larger red blood cells, low numbers ofyoung red blood cells, low levels of vitamin B12, andantibodiesto intrinsic factor.Diagnosis is not always straightforward and can be challenging. Because pernicious anemia is due to a lack of intrinsic factor, it is not preventable.Pernicious anemia can be treated with injections of vitamin B12.If the symptoms are serious, frequent injections are typically recommended initially.There are not enough studies that pills are effective in improving or eliminating symptoms.Often, treatment may be needed for life. Pernicious anemia is the most common cause of clinically evident vitamin B12deficiency worldwide.Pernicious anemia due to autoimmune problems occurs in about one per 1000 people in the US. Among those over the age of 60, about 2% have the condition.It more commonly affects people of northern European descent.Women are more commonly affected than\",\n \"affected than men.With proper treatment, most people live normal lives.Due to a higher risk ofstomach cancer, those with pernicious anemia should be checked regularly for this.The first clear description was byThomas Addisonin 1849.The term \\\"pernicious\\\" means \\\"deadly\\\", and this term came into use because, before the availability of treatment, the disease was often fatal. Signs and symptoms Pernicious anemia often presents slowly, and can cause harm insidiously and unnoticeably. Untreated, it can lead to neurological complications, and in serious cases, death.The onset may be vague and slow and the condition can be confused with other conditions, and there may be few to many symptoms without anemia.Pernicious anemia may be present without a person experiencing symptoms at first, over time,feeling tired and weak,lightheadedness,dizziness, headaches,rapidorirregularheartbeat, breathlessness,glossitis(a sore red tongue), poor ability to exercise,low blood pressure, cold hands and feet,paleoryellowskin, easy\",\n \"easy bruising and bleeding, low-gradefevers, tremor,cold sensitivity,chest pain,upset stomach,nausea, loss of appetite, heartburn, weight loss,diarrhea,constipation, severejoint pain,feeling abnormal sensationsincluding tingling or numbness to the fingers and toes (pins and needles), and tinnitus, may occur.Anemia may present with a number of further common symptoms,including hair thinning and loss, early greying of the hair, mouth ulcers, bleeding gums,angular cheilitis, a look of exhaustion with pale and dehydrated or cracked lips and dark circles around the eyes, as well as brittle nails. In more severe or prolonged cases of pernicious anemia, nerve cell damage may occur. This is may result in sense loss, difficulty inproprioception,neuropathic pain, difficulty walking, poor balance, loss of sensation in the feet,muscle weakness, blurred vision (either due toretinopathyoroptic neuropathy), impaired urination, fertility problems, decreased sense of taste and smell,decreased level of consciousness, changes\",\n \"changes in reflexes, memory loss, mood swings,depression,irritability, cognitive impairment, confusion, anxiety, clumsiness, psychosis, and, in more severe cases, dementia.Anemia may also lead to cardiac murmursand/or altered blood pressure (loworhigh). The deficiency may also present with thyroid disorders.In severe cases, the anemia may cause congestive heart failure.A complication of severe chronic PA issubacute combined degeneration of spinal cord, which leads to distal sensory loss (posterior column), absent ankle reflex, increased knee reflex response, and extensor plantar response.Other than anemia, hematological symptoms may includecytopenias, intramedullaryhemolysis, and pseudothrombotic microangiopathy.Vitamin B12deficiency, which is reversible, is occasionally confused withacute myeloid leukemia, which is an irreversible condition presenting with some of the same hematological symptoms, including hypercellular bone marrow with blastic differentiation and hypersegmented neutrophils.Pernicious\",\n \"anemia can causeosteoporosisand may lead tobone fractures.Pernicious anemia can contribute to a delay in physical growth in children, and may also be a cause for delay in puberty for adolescents. Causes Vitamin B12cannot be produced by the human body, and must be obtained from the diet. When foods containing B12are eaten, the vitamin is usually bound to protein and is released by proteases released by the pancreas into the small bowel. Following its release, most B12is absorbed by the body in the small bowel (ileum) after binding to a protein known asintrinsic factor. Intrinsic factor is produced byparietal cellsof thegastric mucosa(stomach lining) and the intrinsic factor-B12-complex is absorbed by enterocytes in theileum'scubamreceptors.PA is characterised by B12deficiency caused by the absence of intrinsic factor.Other disorders that can disrupt the absorption of vitamin B12in the small intestine includeceliac disease, surgical removal ofcrohn's disease, andHIV. PA may be considered as an end stage of\",\n \"as an end stage of autoimmuneatrophic gastritis, a disease characterised by stomach atrophy and the presence ofantibodiesto parietal cells and intrinsic factor.Autoimmune atrophic gastritis, is localised to the body of the stomach, where parietal cells are located.Antibodies to intrinsic factor and parietal cells cause the destruction of the oxyntic gastric mucosa, in which the parietal cells are located, leading to the subsequent loss of intrinsic factor synthesis. Without intrinsic factor, the ileum can no longer absorb the B12.Atrophic gastritis is often a precursor togastric cancer. Although the exact role ofHelicobacter pyloriinfection in PA remains controversial, evidence indicatesH. pyloriis involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. A long-standingH. pyloriinfection may cause gastric autoimmunity by a mechanism known asmolecular mimicry. Antibodies produced by the immune system can be cross-reactive and may bind to bothH. pyloriantigensand those found in thegastric mucosa. The antibodies are\",\n \"The antibodies are produced by activatedB cellsthat recognise both pathogen and self-derived peptides. Theautoantigensbelieved to cause the autoreactivity are the alpha and beta subunits of thesodium-potassium pump.In a study, B12deficiency caused byHelicobacter pyloriwas positively correlated withCagApositivity and gastric inflammatory activity, rather than gastric atrophy.Less commonly,H. pyloriandZollinger-Ellison syndromemay cause a form of nonautoimmune gastritis that can lead to pernicious anemia. Impaired B12absorption can also occur following gastric removal (gastrectomy) or gastric bypass surgery. In these surgeries, either the parts of the stomach that produce gastric secretions are removed or they are bypassed. This means intrinsic factor, as well as other factors required for B12absorption, are not available. However, B12deficiency after gastric surgery does not usually become a clinical issue. This is probably because the body stores many years' worth of B12in the liver and gastric surgery\",\n \"and gastric surgery patients are adequately supplemented with the vitamin. Although no specific PA susceptibility genes have been identified, a genetic factor likely is involved in the disease. Pernicious anemia is often found in conjunction with other autoimmune disorders, suggesting common autoimmune susceptibility genes may be a causative factor.In spite of that, previous family studies and case reports focusing on PA have suggested that there is a tendency of genetic heritance of PA in particular, and close relatives of the PA patients seem to have higher incidence of PA and associated PA conditions.Moreover, it was further indicated that the formation of antibodies to gastric cells was autosomal dominant gene determined, and the presence of antibodies to the gastric cells might not be necessarily related to the occurrence of atrophic gastritis related to PA. Pathophysiology Although the healthy body stores three to five years' worth of B12in the liver, the usually undetected autoimmune activity in one's\",\n \"activity in one's gut over a prolonged period of time leads to B12depletion and the resulting anemia; pernicious anemia refers to one of the hematologic manifestations ofchronic auto-immune gastritis, in which the immune system targets the parietal cells of the stomach orintrinsic factoritself, leading to decreased absorption of vitamin B12. The body needs enough intrinsic factor to absorb and reabsorb vitamin B12from thebile, in which reduces the time needed to develop a deficiency. B12is required by enzymes for two reactions: the conversion ofmethylmalonyl-CoAtosuccinyl-CoA, and the conversion ofhomocysteinetomethionine. In the latter reaction, themethyl groupoflevomefolic acidis transferred to homocysteine to producetetrahydrofolateand methionine. This reaction is catalyzed by the enzymemethionine synthasewith B12as an essential cofactor. During B12deficiency, this reaction cannot proceed, which leads to the accumulation of levomefolic acid. This accumulation depletes the other types of folate required\",\n \"of folate required forpurineandthymidylatesynthesis, which are required for the synthesis of DNA. Inhibition ofDNA replicationin maturing red blood cells results in the formation of large, fragile megaloblasticerythrocytes. The neurological aspects of the disease are thought to arise from the accumulation of methylmalonyl- CoA due to the requirement of B12as a cofactor to the enzyme methylmalonyl-CoA mutase. Diagnosis The insidious nature of PA may mean that diagnosis is delayed.Diagnosis is not always straightforward and can be challenging and can take up to several years to receive a diagnosis from the onset of symptoms and almost 60% of those affected are misdiagnosed or not initially diagnosed at all.PA may be suspected when a patient'sblood smearshows large, fragile, immature erythrocytes, known asmegaloblasts. A diagnosis of PA first requires demonstration ofmegaloblastic anemiaby conducting afull blood countand blood smear, which evaluates themean corpuscular volume(MCV), as well themean corpuscular\",\n \"themean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration(MCHC).PA is identified with a high MCV (macrocytic anemia) and a normal MCHC (normochromicanemia).Ovalocytesare also typically seen on the blood smear, and apathognomonicfeature of megaloblastic anemias (which include PA and others) is hypersegmented neutrophils.Neuropsychiatric symptoms can precede hematological signs and are often the presenting manifestation of the disease. Vitamin B12serum levels are used to detect its deficiency, but do not distinguish its causes. Vitamin B12levels can be falsely high or low and data forsensitivity and specificityvary widely. Normal serum levels may be found in cases of deficiency wheremyeloproliferative disorders,liver disease,transcobalamin II, orsmall intestinal bacterial overgrowthare present.Low levels of serum vitamin B12may be caused by other factors than B12deficiency, such asfolate deficiency,pregnancy,oral contraceptiveuse,haptocorrindeficiency, andmyeloma.High serum levels may caused by supplementing with vitamin\",\n \"with vitamin B12, present of antibodies to intrinsic factor, or due to underlying condition. The presence of antibodies to gastric parietal cells and intrinsic factor is common in PA. Parietal cell antibodies are found in other autoimmune disorders and also in up to 10% of healthy individuals. However, around 85% of PA patients have parietal cell antibodies, which means they are a sensitive marker for the disease. Intrinsic factor antibodies are much less sensitive than parietal cell antibodies, but they are much more specific. They are found in about half of PA patients and are very rarely found in other disorders. These antibody tests can distinguish between PA and food-B12malabsorption. A buildup of certain metabolites occurs in B12deficiency due to its role in metabolic processes and cellular functions.Methylmalonic acid(MMA) can be measured in both the blood and urine, whereashomocysteineis only measured in the blood. An increase in both MMA and homocysteine distinguishes B12deficiency from folate\",\n \"from folate deficiency because homocysteine alone increases in the latter. Elevatedgastrinlevels can be found in around 80–90% of PA cases, but they may also be found in other forms of gastritis. Decreased pepsinogen I levels or a decreased pepsinogen I to pepsinogen II ratio may also be found, although these findings are less specific to PA and can be found in food-B12malabsorption and other forms of gastritis. The diagnosis of atrophic gastritis type A should be confirmed by gastroscopy and stepwise biopsy.About 90% of individuals with PA have antibodies for parietal cells; however, only 50% of all individuals in the general population with these antibodies have pernicious anemia. Differential diagnosis Forms of vitamin B12deficiency other than PA must be considered in thedifferential diagnosisof megaloblastic anemia. For example, a B12-deficient state which causes megaloblastic anemia and which may be mistaken for classical PA may be caused by infection with thetapewormDiphyllobothrium latum, possibly due\",\n \"latum, possibly due to the parasite's competition with host for vitamin B12. The classic test for PA, theSchilling test, is no longer widely used, as more efficient methods are available. This historic test consisted, in its first step, of taking an oral dose ofradiolabelledvitamin B12, followed by quantitation of the vitamin in the patient's urine over a 24-hour period via measurement of theradioactivity. A second step of the test repeats the regimen and procedure of the first step, with the addition of oral intrinsic factor. A patient with PA presents lower than normal amounts of intrinsic factor; hence, addition of intrinsic factor in the second step results in an increase in vitamin B12absorption (over the baseline established in the first). The Schilling test distinguished PA from other forms of B12deficiency,specifically, fromImerslund–Gräsbeck syndrome, a B12-deficiency caused by mutations inCUBNthat codes forcubilinthe cobalamin receptor. Vitamin B12 deficiency is also prevalent in patients\",\n \"in patients havingCrohn's disease(CD) so it should be differentiated. Treatment Pernicious anemia is usually easily treated by providing the necessary level of vitamin B12supplementation.Pernicious anemia can be treated with intramuscular injections of vitamin B12.Initially in high daily doses, followed by less frequent lower doses, as the condition improves.Activity may need to be limited during the course of treatment.As long as the body is saturated with vitamin B12expected to result in cessation of anemia-related symptoms and there are no other symptoms, unless there are irreversible neurological complications.There are not enough studies on whether pills are as effective in improving or eliminating symptoms as parenteral treatment.Folatesupplementation may affect the course and treatment of pernicious anemia if vitamin B12not replaced.In some severe cases of anemia, ablood transfusionmay be needed to resolve haematological effects.Treatment is lifelong. The treatment of PA varies by country and area.\",\n \"country and area. Opinions vary over the efficacy of administration (parenteral/oral), the amount and time interval of the doses, or the forms of vitamin B12(e.g. cyanocobalamin/hydroxocobalamin). More comprehensive studies are still needed in order to validate the feasibility of a particular therapeutic method for PA in clinical practices. Prognosis A person with well-treated PA can live a healthy life. Failure to diagnose and treat in time, however, may result in permanent neurological damage, excessive fatigue, depression, memory loss, and other complications. In severe cases, the neurological complications of pernicious anemia can lead to death – hence the name, \\\"pernicious\\\", meaning deadly. There is an increased risk ofgastric cancerin those with pernicious anemia linked to the common feature of atrophic gastritis. Epidemiology PA is estimated to affect 0.1% of the general population and 1.9% of those over 60, accounting for 20–50% of B12deficiency in adults.A review of literature shows that the\",\n \"shows that the prevalence of PA is higher in Northern Europe, especially in Scandinavian countries, and among people of African descent, and that increased awareness of the disease and better diagnostic tools might play a role in apparently higher rates of incidence. History A case of anemia with a first recognition of associatedatrophic gastritisa feature of pernicious anemia, was first described in 1824 byJames Combe. This was fully investigated in 1849, by British physicianThomas Addison, from which it acquired the common name ofAddison's anemia. In 1871, the first accurate description of the disease in continental Europe was made byMichael Anton Biermer, aGermanphysician who noted the insidious course of the condition. Because it was untreatable and fatal at the time, he first referred to it as \\\"pernicious\\\" anemia.Russellcoined the termsubacute combined degeneration of spinal cord. In 1907,Richard Clarke Cabotreported on a series of 1,200 patients with PA; their average survival was between one and three\",\n \"one and three years.Pernicious anemia was a fatal disease before about the year 1920; until the importance of theliverinhematopoiesiswas recognized, the treatment of pernicious anemia was unsuccessful and arbitrary. It may have motivatedGeorge Whipple, who had a keen interest inliver diseases, to investigate the liver's role in hematopoiesis. Whipple began evaluating the effects of treatments for anemia caused by chronic blood loss. Whipple, Huber, and Robchett studied the effects onhemoglobinand blood regeneration of a variety of treatments, among which only raw liver showed real promise.Serendipity is said to have played a role in this discovery. Whipple observed that blood regeneration was poor in dogs fed cooked liver afterchronic blood loss. Had it not been that a lazy laboratory technician gave the dogs raw liver, the much more dramatic response might not have been discovered then. Around 1926,George MinotandWilliam P. Murphy, who learned of Whipple's discovery, sought raw liver as a treatment for\",\n \"as a treatment for pernicious anemia. They later suggested a high-protein diet with high amounts of raw liver. This caused a rapid improvement in symptoms and a simultaneous rise inred blood cellcounts.Fruitandironwere also part of the diet, and it appears that at this point, Minot and Murphy were not quite sure that the liver was a very important factor. It was thought that iron in liver tissue, not liver juice-soluble factor, cured hemorrhagic anemia in dogs. Thus, the discovery of liver juice as a treatment for pernicious anemia had been by coincidence. However, Minot, Murphy, and Whipple received the joint Nobel Prize for discovering a cure for a previously fatal disease of unknown cause in 1934, becoming the first Americans to be awarded theNobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. It is not easy to eat uncooked liver, and extracts were developed as a concentrate of liver juice forintramuscular injection. In 1928, chemistEdwin Cohnprepared an extract that was 50 to 100 times stronger than obtained from\",\n \"than obtained from raw liver. This became part of the standard management of pernicious anemia until the 1950s. The active ingredient in the liver remained unknown until 1948.The anti-pernicious anemia factor was only isolated from the liver by Smith, Rex, and others. The substance wascobalamin, which the discoverers called \\\"vitamin B12\\\".They showed that giving a few micrograms could prevent relapse in the disease.Dorothy Hodgkinand co-workers went on to useX-ray crystallographyto elucidate the structure of cobalamin for which she, too, was awarded aNobel Prize. Understanding of the pathogenesis of pernicious anaemia increased over subsequent decades. It had long been known that the disease was associated withdefects in the gastrointestinal tract: patients hadchronic gastritisand lack of acid secretion (achlorhydria). It is known that transport of physiological amounts of vitamin B12depends on the combined actions of gastric, ileal and pancreatic components. The gastric moiety was discovered and named\",\n \"and named 'intrinsic factor' byWilliam Castlein 1930. A further important advance was made in the early 1960s by Doniach with the recognition that pernicious anemia is anautoimmune disease.Pernicious anemia is eventually treated with only injections of B12; injections are typically 1 mg every other day, or twice weekly. A medical author takes the view thatMary Todd Lincoln, the wife of American PresidentAbraham Lincoln, had pernicious anemia for decades and died from it in 1882. Research Permeation enhancers Treatment using oral drugs is an easier option in management but the bioavailabity of B12 is low. This is due to low absorption in the intestine, and breakdown by enzyme activity. Research continues to focus on the use of permeation enhancers or permeation absorbers in combination with the treatment. One of the better performing enhancers studied issalcoprozate sodium(SNAC).SNAC is able to form a noncovalent complex with cobalamin while preserving its chemical integrity and protect B12 from gastric\",\n \"B12 from gastric acidity.This complex is much more lipophilic than the water-soluble vitamin B12, so is able to pass through cellular membranes with greater ease.Molecular dynamicsare used in experiments to gain an understanding of the molecular interactions involved in the different molecules used and the degree of ease achieved in absorption across the gastric epithelium. References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":54,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"How many letters long is the title of the first movie composed by the composer of the first American Godzilla movie?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"17"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_(franchise)"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_(1998_film)"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Arnold"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Tabular reasoning | Multiple constraints | Post processing"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_(franchise)', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_(1998_film)', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Arnold']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_(franchise","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_(1998_film","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Arnold"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_(franchise\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_(1998_film\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Arnold\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_(franchise","Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_(1998_film","David Arnold David Arnold(born 23 January 1962) is an English film composer whose credits include scoring fiveJames Bondfilms (1997-2008), as well asStargate(1994),Independence Day(1996),Godzilla(1998),Shaft(2000),2 Fast 2 Furious(2003),Four Brothers(2005),Hot Fuzz(2007), and the television seriesLittle BritainandSherlock. ForIndependence Day, he received aGrammy Awardfor Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television, and forSherlock, he and co-composerMichael Pricewon aCreative Arts Emmyfor the score of \"His Last Vow\", the final episode in the third series. Arnold scored the BBC /Amazon PrimeseriesGood Omens(2019) adapted byNeil Gaimanfrom his bookGood Omens, written withTerry Pratchett.Arnold is a fellow of theBritish Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. Career While attending a Sixth Form College in Luton, Arnold became friends with directorDanny Cannon.Cannon initially created short films for which Arnold was asked to write the music. The two made their respective major film debuts withThe Young Americans. \"Play Dead\", a song from the film with singerBjörk, charted No. 12 in the UK. The following year he scoredStargateandLast of the Dogmen, with excerpts from the former ranking third in the most commonly used soundtrack cues for film trailers. Arnold then composed music forStargatedirectorRoland Emmerich's next two movies,Independence DayandGodzilla, as well as four movies for directorJohn Singleton. In addition, he has scored various comedies, dramas, and nineteenth-century period pieces, as well as providing music for several British television shows including the 2000 remake ofRandall and Hopkirk (Deceased)andLittle Britain. During film production, his compositions are conducted by Nicholas Dodd. In 2010, he composed the music forCome Fly With Me, a British television series from the producers ofLittle Britain. He is a member of theBritish Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors(BASCA).On Thursday 29 November 2012, Arnold received an honorary degree fromUniversity of West London.Now a university honorary, he will work closely with the University in particularLondon College of Music, a faculty within the institute. In 2014, he appeared as himself inThe Life of Rock with Brian Pern. Film music concerts Arnold performed his debut orchestral concert, showcasing his film and television music, on Sunday 6 July 2014 at London'sRoyal Festival Hall.The line-up featured Nicholas Dodd conducting,David McAlmontas surprise guest vocalist (\"My secret weapon!\" said Arnold) and the Urban Voices Collective choir, plusMark GatissandAmanda Abbingtonintroducing the suite ofSherlockmusic, for which Arnold's collaborator on the project,Michael Price, replaced Dodd. He performed his music in a series of orchestral concerts in 2015: Dublin) in January (with theRTÉ Concert Orchestra); Manchester(with theManchester Camerata) in April; and London(with theRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra), Birminghamand Nottingham(with theCity of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra(CBSO)) in June 2015. He was also the special guest at 'The music of David Arnold', a concert in Lucerne in October 2015, with Ludwig Wicki conducting the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. On 5 June 2016 Film Music Prague performed a concert of his work, with Arnold in attendance (and performing) as special guest.In February 2016 the Royal Albert Hall announcedthe premiere ofIndependence DayLive on 22 September 2016. This celebrated the 20th anniversary of the film's release with a live orchestral performance. David Arnold gave a pre-show talk about his work and theRoyal Philharmonic Concert Orchestraand Maida Vale Singers (conducted by Gavin Greenaway) performed the original music while the film screened. The Upcoming magazine gave the event a five star review noting that \"with unrivalled acoustics and a ceiling filled with floating UFO-shaped objects, the Hall set the ideal scene for the audience and the musicians alike\" and that the production \"kept the audience on the edge of their seats as if the film had just been released for the first time.\" Arnold hosted another two concerts of his music in Dublin, at theBord Gáis Energy Theatreon 19 and 20 May 2017, with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. The first concert showcased his career in writing music for film and television,the second wasIndependence DayLive with the film screened as the orchestra played the score alongside.The first James Bond film ever to be screened with a live orchestra wasCasino Royale in Concertwhich took place at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday 30 September 2017; David Arnold held a pre-concert question and answer session. James Bond Arnold was a Bond fan from an early age and also a fan of Bond composerJohn Barry. In 1997, Arnold producedShaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project, an album featuring new versions of the themes from various James Bond films. The album featured a variety of contemporary artists includingJarvis Cocker,Chrissie Hynde,David McAlmont,PropellerheadsandIggy Pop; a version ofYou Only Live TwicebyBjörkwas recorded but not included on the album. John Barry, the composer of many of the themes on the album, was complimentary about Arnold's interpretation of his work; \"He was very faithful to the melodic and harmonic content, but he's added a whole other rhythmic freshness and some interesting casting in terms of the artists chosen to do the songs. I think it's a terrific album. I'm very flattered.\"Barry contactedBarbara Broccoli, producer of the then-upcomingTomorrow Never Dies, to recommend Arnold as the film's composer.Arnold was hired to score the instalment and, returning the compliment to the man he refers to as \"The guvnor\",included musical references to Barry's score forFrom Russia with Love,as well as, of course, theJames Bond Themecomposed byMonty Normanwith Barry's arrangement. Arnold scored the four subsequent Bond films:The World Is Not Enough,Die Another Day(in which he included references to John Barry's score forOn Her Majesty's Secret Service),Casino RoyaleandQuantum of Solace.Arnold did not score the 23rd James Bond film,Skyfall, withThomas Newmantaking his place.Arnold commented that Newman had been selected by the film's director,Sam Mendes, because of their history of working together, rather than because of Arnold's commitment to working with directorDanny Boyleas composer for the Opening Ceremony of the2012 Summer Olympics. However, a part of Arnold's composition work onCasino Royalewas reused, with a credit, inSkyfalland again inSPECTRE. Arnold also co-wrote the main theme songs forThe World Is Not Enough(\"The World Is Not Enough\" byGarbage) andCasino Royale(\"You Know My Name\" byChris Cornell), as well as \"Surrender\" byk.d. langwhich appears during the end credits ofTomorrow Never Dieshaving been originally proposed as the opening theme. Arnold also contributed the main themes to Kevin Kiner's score for Activision'sGoldenEye 007, the remake of the 1997 game of the same name. In 2017, a part of a track entitled \"Vesper\" from Arnold's composition work on theCasino Royalesoundtrackwas reused in aSherlockepisode entitled \"The Final Problem\", the third episode of the fourth series, in a track entitled \"Pick Up\" composed by Arnold himselfandMichael Price. Other work Arnold has collaborated with such musical acts asCast,Kaiser Chiefs,Massive Attack, andPulp, and solo artistsNatasha Bedingfield,Melanie C,Björk,Chris Cornell,Shirley Manson,Mark Morriss,Nina Perssonand in 2009 producedShirley Bassey's albumThe Performance. In 2001, he provided a new arrangement ofRon Grainer'sDoctor Whotheme musicfor theEighth Doctoraudio dramas fromBig Finish Productions. His version was used as the Eighth Doctor theme starting with 2001'sStorm Warninguntil 2008, when it was replaced with a new version arranged byNicholas Briggsstarting withDead London. Arnold's theme returned to the Eighth Doctor releases with the 2012 box set,Dark Eyes. Arnold is the second cousin of Irish singer-songwriterDamien Rice, and is an ambassador for aid agencyCARE Internationalin the UK. He has made minor appearances in two different episodes ofLittle Britainas separate characters. In February 2011, it was announced that he had been appointed Musical Director for the2012 Olympic Gamesand the2012 Paralympic Gamesin London. In May 2011, he was part of the United Kingdom's jury for theEurovision Song Contest 2011. Arnold took part in a tribute toJohn Barryon 20 June 2011 at theRoyal Albert Hallin London, singing a song that was composed by Barry and playing the guitar part of the James Bond theme. In 2014, Arnold teamed up withRichard Thomas, to write the music and lyrics for the newWest EndmusicalMade in Dagenham. In October 2015 he collaborated withLethal BizzleandSinead Harnettto create a song combining orchestral,grimeand soul elements. The song, 'Come This Far', was performed liveat a special event at One Mayfair, as part ofBulmersCider's LiveColourful LIVE promotion, and made available as a free download from Bulmers' website. He andSherlockco-composerMichael Pricealso composed the music for ITV's Jekyll and Hyde television series which premiered in October 2015. In September 2016 the Royal Albert Hall hosted an orchestral performance ofIndependence Daywith the score performed live to picture, David Arnold gave a pre-show talk. In 2019, David Arnold provided additional production forSophie Ellis-Bextor's orchestral album,The Song Diaries. Later in 2020, he co-produced an orchestral cover of 'My Favourite Things' (fromThe Sound of Music) along withRichard Jones(ofThe Feeling) for Sophie's 2020 compilation albumSongs From The Kitchen Disco. In July 2023, it was announced that Arnold and Ellis-Bextor would collaborate with lyricistDon Blackfor the track toChannel 4andUniversal Picturesfilm, \"Mog's Christmas\", based uponthe children's book seriesbyJudith Kerr. The track, titled \"As Long As I Belong\", is about \"the importance of belonging\". The film is slated for a Q4 2023 release. Acting filmography Discography Films Television Video games Web series Singles in charts Awards References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_(franchise\",\n \"Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_(1998_film\",\n \"David Arnold David Arnold(born 23 January 1962) is an English film composer whose credits include scoring fiveJames Bondfilms (1997-2008), as well asStargate(1994),Independence Day(1996),Godzilla(1998),Shaft(2000),2 Fast 2 Furious(2003),Four Brothers(2005),Hot Fuzz(2007), and the television seriesLittle BritainandSherlock. ForIndependence Day, he received aGrammy Awardfor Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television, and forSherlock, he and co-composerMichael Pricewon aCreative Arts Emmyfor the score of \\\"His Last Vow\\\", the final episode in the third series. Arnold scored the BBC /Amazon PrimeseriesGood Omens(2019) adapted byNeil Gaimanfrom his bookGood Omens, written withTerry Pratchett.Arnold is a fellow of theBritish Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. Career While attending a Sixth Form College in Luton, Arnold became friends with directorDanny Cannon.Cannon initially created short films for which Arnold was asked to write the music. The two made their respective major film debuts withThe Young Americans. \\\"Play Dead\\\", a song from the film with singerBjörk, charted No. 12 in the UK. The following year he scoredStargateandLast of the Dogmen, with excerpts from the former ranking third in the most commonly used soundtrack cues for film trailers. Arnold then composed music forStargatedirectorRoland Emmerich's next two movies,Independence DayandGodzilla, as well as four movies for directorJohn Singleton. In addition, he has scored various comedies, dramas, and nineteenth-century period pieces, as well as providing music for several British television shows including the 2000 remake ofRandall and Hopkirk (Deceased)andLittle Britain. During film production, his compositions are conducted by Nicholas Dodd. In 2010, he composed the music forCome Fly With Me, a British television series from the producers ofLittle Britain. He is a member of theBritish Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors(BASCA).On Thursday 29 November 2012, Arnold received an honorary degree fromUniversity of West London.Now a university honorary, he will work closely with the University in particularLondon College of Music, a faculty within the institute. In 2014, he appeared as himself inThe Life of Rock with Brian Pern. Film music concerts Arnold performed his debut orchestral concert, showcasing his film and television music, on Sunday 6 July 2014 at London'sRoyal Festival Hall.The line-up featured Nicholas Dodd conducting,David McAlmontas surprise guest vocalist (\\\"My secret weapon!\\\" said Arnold) and the Urban Voices Collective choir, plusMark GatissandAmanda Abbingtonintroducing the suite ofSherlockmusic, for which Arnold's collaborator on the project,Michael Price, replaced Dodd. He performed his music in a series of orchestral concerts in 2015: Dublin) in January (with theRTÉ Concert Orchestra); Manchester(with theManchester Camerata) in April; and London(with theRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra), Birminghamand Nottingham(with theCity of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra(CBSO)) in June 2015. He was also the special guest at 'The music of David Arnold', a concert in Lucerne in October 2015, with Ludwig Wicki conducting the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. On 5 June 2016 Film Music Prague performed a concert of his work, with Arnold in attendance (and performing) as special guest.In February 2016 the Royal Albert Hall announcedthe premiere ofIndependence DayLive on 22 September 2016. This celebrated the 20th anniversary of the film's release with a live orchestral performance. David Arnold gave a pre-show talk about his work and theRoyal Philharmonic Concert Orchestraand Maida Vale Singers (conducted by Gavin Greenaway) performed the original music while the film screened. The Upcoming magazine gave the event a five star review noting that \\\"with unrivalled acoustics and a ceiling filled with floating UFO-shaped objects, the Hall set the ideal scene for the audience and the musicians alike\\\" and that the production \\\"kept the audience on the edge of their seats as if the film had just been released for the first time.\\\" Arnold hosted another two concerts of his music in Dublin, at theBord Gáis Energy Theatreon 19 and 20 May 2017, with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. The first concert showcased his career in writing music for film and television,the second wasIndependence DayLive with the film screened as the orchestra played the score alongside.The first James Bond film ever to be screened with a live orchestra wasCasino Royale in Concertwhich took place at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday 30 September 2017; David Arnold held a pre-concert question and answer session. James Bond Arnold was a Bond fan from an early age and also a fan of Bond composerJohn Barry. In 1997, Arnold producedShaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project, an album featuring new versions of the themes from various James Bond films. The album featured a variety of contemporary artists includingJarvis Cocker,Chrissie Hynde,David McAlmont,PropellerheadsandIggy Pop; a version ofYou Only Live TwicebyBjörkwas recorded but not included on the album. John Barry, the composer of many of the themes on the album, was complimentary about Arnold's interpretation of his work; \\\"He was very faithful to the melodic and harmonic content, but he's added a whole other rhythmic freshness and some interesting casting in terms of the artists chosen to do the songs. I think it's a terrific album. I'm very flattered.\\\"Barry contactedBarbara Broccoli, producer of the then-upcomingTomorrow Never Dies, to recommend Arnold as the film's composer.Arnold was hired to score the instalment and, returning the compliment to the man he refers to as \\\"The guvnor\\\",included musical references to Barry's score forFrom Russia with Love,as well as, of course, theJames Bond Themecomposed byMonty Normanwith Barry's arrangement. Arnold scored the four subsequent Bond films:The World Is Not Enough,Die Another Day(in which he included references to John Barry's score forOn Her Majesty's Secret Service),Casino RoyaleandQuantum of Solace.Arnold did not score the 23rd James Bond film,Skyfall, withThomas Newmantaking his place.Arnold commented that Newman had been selected by the film's director,Sam Mendes, because of their history of working together, rather than because of Arnold's commitment to working with directorDanny Boyleas composer for the Opening Ceremony of the2012 Summer Olympics. However, a part of Arnold's composition work onCasino Royalewas reused, with a credit, inSkyfalland again inSPECTRE. Arnold also co-wrote the main theme songs forThe World Is Not Enough(\\\"The World Is Not Enough\\\" byGarbage) andCasino Royale(\\\"You Know My Name\\\" byChris Cornell), as well as \\\"Surrender\\\" byk.d. langwhich appears during the end credits ofTomorrow Never Dieshaving been originally proposed as the opening theme. Arnold also contributed the main themes to Kevin Kiner's score for Activision'sGoldenEye 007, the remake of the 1997 game of the same name. In 2017, a part of a track entitled \\\"Vesper\\\" from Arnold's composition work on theCasino Royalesoundtrackwas reused in aSherlockepisode entitled \\\"The Final Problem\\\", the third episode of the fourth series, in a track entitled \\\"Pick Up\\\" composed by Arnold himselfandMichael Price. Other work Arnold has collaborated with such musical acts asCast,Kaiser Chiefs,Massive Attack, andPulp, and solo artistsNatasha Bedingfield,Melanie C,Björk,Chris Cornell,Shirley Manson,Mark Morriss,Nina Perssonand in 2009 producedShirley Bassey's albumThe Performance. In 2001, he provided a new arrangement ofRon Grainer'sDoctor Whotheme musicfor theEighth Doctoraudio dramas fromBig Finish Productions. His version was used as the Eighth Doctor theme starting with 2001'sStorm Warninguntil 2008, when it was replaced with a new version arranged byNicholas Briggsstarting withDead London. Arnold's theme returned to the Eighth Doctor releases with the 2012 box set,Dark Eyes. Arnold is the second cousin of Irish singer-songwriterDamien Rice, and is an ambassador for aid agencyCARE Internationalin the UK. He has made minor appearances in two different episodes ofLittle Britainas separate characters. In February 2011, it was announced that he had been appointed Musical Director for the2012 Olympic Gamesand the2012 Paralympic Gamesin London. In May 2011, he was part of the United Kingdom's jury for theEurovision Song Contest 2011. Arnold took part in a tribute toJohn Barryon 20 June 2011 at theRoyal Albert Hallin London, singing a song that was composed by Barry and playing the guitar part of the James Bond theme. In 2014, Arnold teamed up withRichard Thomas, to write the music and lyrics for the newWest EndmusicalMade in Dagenham. In October 2015 he collaborated withLethal BizzleandSinead Harnettto create a song combining orchestral,grimeand soul elements. The song, 'Come This Far', was performed liveat a special event at One Mayfair, as part ofBulmersCider's LiveColourful LIVE promotion, and made available as a free download from Bulmers' website. He andSherlockco-composerMichael Pricealso composed the music for ITV's Jekyll and Hyde television series which premiered in October 2015. In September 2016 the Royal Albert Hall hosted an orchestral performance ofIndependence Daywith the score performed live to picture, David Arnold gave a pre-show talk. In 2019, David Arnold provided additional production forSophie Ellis-Bextor's orchestral album,The Song Diaries. Later in 2020, he co-produced an orchestral cover of 'My Favourite Things' (fromThe Sound of Music) along withRichard Jones(ofThe Feeling) for Sophie's 2020 compilation albumSongs From The Kitchen Disco. In July 2023, it was announced that Arnold and Ellis-Bextor would collaborate with lyricistDon Blackfor the track toChannel 4andUniversal Picturesfilm, \\\"Mog's Christmas\\\", based uponthe children's book seriesbyJudith Kerr. The track, titled \\\"As Long As I Belong\\\", is about \\\"the importance of belonging\\\". The film is slated for a Q4 2023 release. Acting filmography Discography Films Television Video games Web series Singles in charts Awards References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_(franchise","Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_(1998_film","David Arnold David Arnold(born 23 January 1962) is an English film composer whose credits include scoring fiveJames Bondfilms (1997-2008), as well asStargate(1994),Independence Day(1996),Godzilla(1998),Shaft(2000),2 Fast 2 Furious(2003),Four Brothers(2005),Hot Fuzz(2007), and the television seriesLittle BritainandSherlock. ForIndependence Day, he received aGrammy Awardfor Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television, and forSherlock, he and co-composerMichael Pricewon aCreative Arts Emmyfor the score of \"His Last Vow\", the final episode in the third series. Arnold scored the BBC /Amazon PrimeseriesGood Omens(2019) adapted byNeil Gaimanfrom his bookGood Omens, written withTerry Pratchett.Arnold is a fellow of theBritish Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. Career While attending a Sixth Form College in Luton, Arnold became friends with directorDanny Cannon.Cannon initially created short films for which Arnold was asked to write the music. The two made their respective","their respective major film debuts withThe Young Americans. \"Play Dead\", a song from the film with singerBjörk, charted No. 12 in the UK. The following year he scoredStargateandLast of the Dogmen, with excerpts from the former ranking third in the most commonly used soundtrack cues for film trailers. Arnold then composed music forStargatedirectorRoland Emmerich's next two movies,Independence DayandGodzilla, as well as four movies for directorJohn Singleton. In addition, he has scored various comedies, dramas, and nineteenth-century period pieces, as well as providing music for several British television shows including the 2000 remake ofRandall and Hopkirk (Deceased)andLittle Britain. During film production, his compositions are conducted by Nicholas Dodd. In 2010, he composed the music forCome Fly With Me, a British television series from the producers ofLittle Britain. He is a member of theBritish Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors(BASCA).On Thursday 29 November 2012, Arnold received an honorary","an honorary degree fromUniversity of West London.Now a university honorary, he will work closely with the University in particularLondon College of Music, a faculty within the institute. In 2014, he appeared as himself inThe Life of Rock with Brian Pern. Film music concerts Arnold performed his debut orchestral concert, showcasing his film and television music, on Sunday 6 July 2014 at London'sRoyal Festival Hall.The line-up featured Nicholas Dodd conducting,David McAlmontas surprise guest vocalist (\"My secret weapon!\" said Arnold) and the Urban Voices Collective choir, plusMark GatissandAmanda Abbingtonintroducing the suite ofSherlockmusic, for which Arnold's collaborator on the project,Michael Price, replaced Dodd. He performed his music in a series of orchestral concerts in 2015: Dublin) in January (with theRTÉ Concert Orchestra); Manchester(with theManchester Camerata) in April; and London(with theRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra), Birminghamand Nottingham(with theCity of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra(CBSO))","Orchestra(CBSO)) in June 2015. He was also the special guest at 'The music of David Arnold', a concert in Lucerne in October 2015, with Ludwig Wicki conducting the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. On 5 June 2016 Film Music Prague performed a concert of his work, with Arnold in attendance (and performing) as special guest.In February 2016 the Royal Albert Hall announcedthe premiere ofIndependence DayLive on 22 September 2016. This celebrated the 20th anniversary of the film's release with a live orchestral performance. David Arnold gave a pre-show talk about his work and theRoyal Philharmonic Concert Orchestraand Maida Vale Singers (conducted by Gavin Greenaway) performed the original music while the film screened. The Upcoming magazine gave the event a five star review noting that \"with unrivalled acoustics and a ceiling filled with floating UFO-shaped objects, the Hall set the ideal scene for the audience and the musicians alike\" and that the production \"kept the audience on the edge of their","the edge of their seats as if the film had just been released for the first time.\" Arnold hosted another two concerts of his music in Dublin, at theBord Gáis Energy Theatreon 19 and 20 May 2017, with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. The first concert showcased his career in writing music for film and television,the second wasIndependence DayLive with the film screened as the orchestra played the score alongside.The first James Bond film ever to be screened with a live orchestra wasCasino Royale in Concertwhich took place at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday 30 September 2017; David Arnold held a pre-concert question and answer session. James Bond Arnold was a Bond fan from an early age and also a fan of Bond composerJohn Barry. In 1997, Arnold producedShaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project, an album featuring new versions of the themes from various James Bond films. The album featured a variety of contemporary artists includingJarvis Cocker,Chrissie Hynde,David McAlmont,PropellerheadsandIggy Pop;","Pop; a version ofYou Only Live TwicebyBjörkwas recorded but not included on the album. John Barry, the composer of many of the themes on the album, was complimentary about Arnold's interpretation of his work; \"He was very faithful to the melodic and harmonic content, but he's added a whole other rhythmic freshness and some interesting casting in terms of the artists chosen to do the songs. I think it's a terrific album. I'm very flattered.\"Barry contactedBarbara Broccoli, producer of the then-upcomingTomorrow Never Dies, to recommend Arnold as the film's composer.Arnold was hired to score the instalment and, returning the compliment to the man he refers to as \"The guvnor\",included musical references to Barry's score forFrom Russia with Love,as well as, of course, theJames Bond Themecomposed byMonty Normanwith Barry's arrangement. Arnold scored the four subsequent Bond films:The World Is Not Enough,Die Another Day(in which he included references to John Barry's score forOn Her Majesty's Secret Service),Casino","Service),Casino RoyaleandQuantum of Solace.Arnold did not score the 23rd James Bond film,Skyfall, withThomas Newmantaking his place.Arnold commented that Newman had been selected by the film's director,Sam Mendes, because of their history of working together, rather than because of Arnold's commitment to working with directorDanny Boyleas composer for the Opening Ceremony of the2012 Summer Olympics. However, a part of Arnold's composition work onCasino Royalewas reused, with a credit, inSkyfalland again inSPECTRE. Arnold also co-wrote the main theme songs forThe World Is Not Enough(\"The World Is Not Enough\" byGarbage) andCasino Royale(\"You Know My Name\" byChris Cornell), as well as \"Surrender\" byk.d. langwhich appears during the end credits ofTomorrow Never Dieshaving been originally proposed as the opening theme. Arnold also contributed the main themes to Kevin Kiner's score for Activision'sGoldenEye 007, the remake of the 1997 game of the same name. In 2017, a part of a track entitled \"Vesper\" from","\"Vesper\" from Arnold's composition work on theCasino Royalesoundtrackwas reused in aSherlockepisode entitled \"The Final Problem\", the third episode of the fourth series, in a track entitled \"Pick Up\" composed by Arnold himselfandMichael Price. Other work Arnold has collaborated with such musical acts asCast,Kaiser Chiefs,Massive Attack, andPulp, and solo artistsNatasha Bedingfield,Melanie C,Björk,Chris Cornell,Shirley Manson,Mark Morriss,Nina Perssonand in 2009 producedShirley Bassey's albumThe Performance. In 2001, he provided a new arrangement ofRon Grainer'sDoctor Whotheme musicfor theEighth Doctoraudio dramas fromBig Finish Productions. His version was used as the Eighth Doctor theme starting with 2001'sStorm Warninguntil 2008, when it was replaced with a new version arranged byNicholas Briggsstarting withDead London. Arnold's theme returned to the Eighth Doctor releases with the 2012 box set,Dark Eyes. Arnold is the second cousin of Irish singer-songwriterDamien Rice, and is an ambassador for aid","ambassador for aid agencyCARE Internationalin the UK. He has made minor appearances in two different episodes ofLittle Britainas separate characters. In February 2011, it was announced that he had been appointed Musical Director for the2012 Olympic Gamesand the2012 Paralympic Gamesin London. In May 2011, he was part of the United Kingdom's jury for theEurovision Song Contest 2011. Arnold took part in a tribute toJohn Barryon 20 June 2011 at theRoyal Albert Hallin London, singing a song that was composed by Barry and playing the guitar part of the James Bond theme. In 2014, Arnold teamed up withRichard Thomas, to write the music and lyrics for the newWest EndmusicalMade in Dagenham. In October 2015 he collaborated withLethal BizzleandSinead Harnettto create a song combining orchestral,grimeand soul elements. The song, 'Come This Far', was performed liveat a special event at One Mayfair, as part ofBulmersCider's LiveColourful LIVE promotion, and made available as a free download from Bulmers' website. He","website. He andSherlockco-composerMichael Pricealso composed the music for ITV's Jekyll and Hyde television series which premiered in October 2015. In September 2016 the Royal Albert Hall hosted an orchestral performance ofIndependence Daywith the score performed live to picture, David Arnold gave a pre-show talk. In 2019, David Arnold provided additional production forSophie Ellis-Bextor's orchestral album,The Song Diaries. Later in 2020, he co-produced an orchestral cover of 'My Favourite Things' (fromThe Sound of Music) along withRichard Jones(ofThe Feeling) for Sophie's 2020 compilation albumSongs From The Kitchen Disco. In July 2023, it was announced that Arnold and Ellis-Bextor would collaborate with lyricistDon Blackfor the track toChannel 4andUniversal Picturesfilm, \"Mog's Christmas\", based uponthe children's book seriesbyJudith Kerr. The track, titled \"As Long As I Belong\", is about \"the importance of belonging\". The film is slated for a Q4 2023 release. Acting filmography Discography Films","Discography Films Television Video games Web series Singles in charts Awards References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_(franchise\",\n \"Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_(1998_film\",\n \"David Arnold David Arnold(born 23 January 1962) is an English film composer whose credits include scoring fiveJames Bondfilms (1997-2008), as well asStargate(1994),Independence Day(1996),Godzilla(1998),Shaft(2000),2 Fast 2 Furious(2003),Four Brothers(2005),Hot Fuzz(2007), and the television seriesLittle BritainandSherlock. ForIndependence Day, he received aGrammy Awardfor Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television, and forSherlock, he and co-composerMichael Pricewon aCreative Arts Emmyfor the score of \\\"His Last Vow\\\", the final episode in the third series. Arnold scored the BBC /Amazon PrimeseriesGood Omens(2019) adapted byNeil Gaimanfrom his bookGood Omens, written withTerry Pratchett.Arnold is a fellow of theBritish Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. Career While attending a Sixth Form College in Luton, Arnold became friends with directorDanny Cannon.Cannon initially created short films for which Arnold was asked to write the music. The two made their respective\",\n \"their respective major film debuts withThe Young Americans. \\\"Play Dead\\\", a song from the film with singerBjörk, charted No. 12 in the UK. The following year he scoredStargateandLast of the Dogmen, with excerpts from the former ranking third in the most commonly used soundtrack cues for film trailers. Arnold then composed music forStargatedirectorRoland Emmerich's next two movies,Independence DayandGodzilla, as well as four movies for directorJohn Singleton. In addition, he has scored various comedies, dramas, and nineteenth-century period pieces, as well as providing music for several British television shows including the 2000 remake ofRandall and Hopkirk (Deceased)andLittle Britain. During film production, his compositions are conducted by Nicholas Dodd. In 2010, he composed the music forCome Fly With Me, a British television series from the producers ofLittle Britain. He is a member of theBritish Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors(BASCA).On Thursday 29 November 2012, Arnold received an honorary\",\n \"an honorary degree fromUniversity of West London.Now a university honorary, he will work closely with the University in particularLondon College of Music, a faculty within the institute. In 2014, he appeared as himself inThe Life of Rock with Brian Pern. Film music concerts Arnold performed his debut orchestral concert, showcasing his film and television music, on Sunday 6 July 2014 at London'sRoyal Festival Hall.The line-up featured Nicholas Dodd conducting,David McAlmontas surprise guest vocalist (\\\"My secret weapon!\\\" said Arnold) and the Urban Voices Collective choir, plusMark GatissandAmanda Abbingtonintroducing the suite ofSherlockmusic, for which Arnold's collaborator on the project,Michael Price, replaced Dodd. He performed his music in a series of orchestral concerts in 2015: Dublin) in January (with theRTÉ Concert Orchestra); Manchester(with theManchester Camerata) in April; and London(with theRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra), Birminghamand Nottingham(with theCity of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra(CBSO))\",\n \"Orchestra(CBSO)) in June 2015. He was also the special guest at 'The music of David Arnold', a concert in Lucerne in October 2015, with Ludwig Wicki conducting the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. On 5 June 2016 Film Music Prague performed a concert of his work, with Arnold in attendance (and performing) as special guest.In February 2016 the Royal Albert Hall announcedthe premiere ofIndependence DayLive on 22 September 2016. This celebrated the 20th anniversary of the film's release with a live orchestral performance. David Arnold gave a pre-show talk about his work and theRoyal Philharmonic Concert Orchestraand Maida Vale Singers (conducted by Gavin Greenaway) performed the original music while the film screened. The Upcoming magazine gave the event a five star review noting that \\\"with unrivalled acoustics and a ceiling filled with floating UFO-shaped objects, the Hall set the ideal scene for the audience and the musicians alike\\\" and that the production \\\"kept the audience on the edge of their\",\n \"the edge of their seats as if the film had just been released for the first time.\\\" Arnold hosted another two concerts of his music in Dublin, at theBord Gáis Energy Theatreon 19 and 20 May 2017, with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. The first concert showcased his career in writing music for film and television,the second wasIndependence DayLive with the film screened as the orchestra played the score alongside.The first James Bond film ever to be screened with a live orchestra wasCasino Royale in Concertwhich took place at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday 30 September 2017; David Arnold held a pre-concert question and answer session. James Bond Arnold was a Bond fan from an early age and also a fan of Bond composerJohn Barry. In 1997, Arnold producedShaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project, an album featuring new versions of the themes from various James Bond films. The album featured a variety of contemporary artists includingJarvis Cocker,Chrissie Hynde,David McAlmont,PropellerheadsandIggy Pop;\",\n \"Pop; a version ofYou Only Live TwicebyBjörkwas recorded but not included on the album. John Barry, the composer of many of the themes on the album, was complimentary about Arnold's interpretation of his work; \\\"He was very faithful to the melodic and harmonic content, but he's added a whole other rhythmic freshness and some interesting casting in terms of the artists chosen to do the songs. I think it's a terrific album. I'm very flattered.\\\"Barry contactedBarbara Broccoli, producer of the then-upcomingTomorrow Never Dies, to recommend Arnold as the film's composer.Arnold was hired to score the instalment and, returning the compliment to the man he refers to as \\\"The guvnor\\\",included musical references to Barry's score forFrom Russia with Love,as well as, of course, theJames Bond Themecomposed byMonty Normanwith Barry's arrangement. Arnold scored the four subsequent Bond films:The World Is Not Enough,Die Another Day(in which he included references to John Barry's score forOn Her Majesty's Secret Service),Casino\",\n \"Service),Casino RoyaleandQuantum of Solace.Arnold did not score the 23rd James Bond film,Skyfall, withThomas Newmantaking his place.Arnold commented that Newman had been selected by the film's director,Sam Mendes, because of their history of working together, rather than because of Arnold's commitment to working with directorDanny Boyleas composer for the Opening Ceremony of the2012 Summer Olympics. However, a part of Arnold's composition work onCasino Royalewas reused, with a credit, inSkyfalland again inSPECTRE. Arnold also co-wrote the main theme songs forThe World Is Not Enough(\\\"The World Is Not Enough\\\" byGarbage) andCasino Royale(\\\"You Know My Name\\\" byChris Cornell), as well as \\\"Surrender\\\" byk.d. langwhich appears during the end credits ofTomorrow Never Dieshaving been originally proposed as the opening theme. Arnold also contributed the main themes to Kevin Kiner's score for Activision'sGoldenEye 007, the remake of the 1997 game of the same name. In 2017, a part of a track entitled \\\"Vesper\\\" from\",\n \"\\\"Vesper\\\" from Arnold's composition work on theCasino Royalesoundtrackwas reused in aSherlockepisode entitled \\\"The Final Problem\\\", the third episode of the fourth series, in a track entitled \\\"Pick Up\\\" composed by Arnold himselfandMichael Price. Other work Arnold has collaborated with such musical acts asCast,Kaiser Chiefs,Massive Attack, andPulp, and solo artistsNatasha Bedingfield,Melanie C,Björk,Chris Cornell,Shirley Manson,Mark Morriss,Nina Perssonand in 2009 producedShirley Bassey's albumThe Performance. In 2001, he provided a new arrangement ofRon Grainer'sDoctor Whotheme musicfor theEighth Doctoraudio dramas fromBig Finish Productions. His version was used as the Eighth Doctor theme starting with 2001'sStorm Warninguntil 2008, when it was replaced with a new version arranged byNicholas Briggsstarting withDead London. Arnold's theme returned to the Eighth Doctor releases with the 2012 box set,Dark Eyes. Arnold is the second cousin of Irish singer-songwriterDamien Rice, and is an ambassador for aid\",\n \"ambassador for aid agencyCARE Internationalin the UK. He has made minor appearances in two different episodes ofLittle Britainas separate characters. In February 2011, it was announced that he had been appointed Musical Director for the2012 Olympic Gamesand the2012 Paralympic Gamesin London. In May 2011, he was part of the United Kingdom's jury for theEurovision Song Contest 2011. Arnold took part in a tribute toJohn Barryon 20 June 2011 at theRoyal Albert Hallin London, singing a song that was composed by Barry and playing the guitar part of the James Bond theme. In 2014, Arnold teamed up withRichard Thomas, to write the music and lyrics for the newWest EndmusicalMade in Dagenham. In October 2015 he collaborated withLethal BizzleandSinead Harnettto create a song combining orchestral,grimeand soul elements. The song, 'Come This Far', was performed liveat a special event at One Mayfair, as part ofBulmersCider's LiveColourful LIVE promotion, and made available as a free download from Bulmers' website. He\",\n \"website. He andSherlockco-composerMichael Pricealso composed the music for ITV's Jekyll and Hyde television series which premiered in October 2015. In September 2016 the Royal Albert Hall hosted an orchestral performance ofIndependence Daywith the score performed live to picture, David Arnold gave a pre-show talk. In 2019, David Arnold provided additional production forSophie Ellis-Bextor's orchestral album,The Song Diaries. Later in 2020, he co-produced an orchestral cover of 'My Favourite Things' (fromThe Sound of Music) along withRichard Jones(ofThe Feeling) for Sophie's 2020 compilation albumSongs From The Kitchen Disco. In July 2023, it was announced that Arnold and Ellis-Bextor would collaborate with lyricistDon Blackfor the track toChannel 4andUniversal Picturesfilm, \\\"Mog's Christmas\\\", based uponthe children's book seriesbyJudith Kerr. The track, titled \\\"As Long As I Belong\\\", is about \\\"the importance of belonging\\\". The film is slated for a Q4 2023 release. Acting filmography Discography Films\",\n \"Discography Films Television Video games Web series Singles in charts Awards References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":55,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"The author of the book \"A Good Woman\"'s author was married to a man in 2008, who resigned from the board of HP due to the actions taken by the board's chair. What types of cancer did the chair survive?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"Breast and skin"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Good_Woman_(novel)"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danielle_Steel"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Perkins_(businessman)"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_C._Dunn"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Multiple constraints"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Good_Woman_(novel)', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danielle_Steel', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Perkins_(businessman)', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_C._Dunn']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Good_Woman_(novel","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danielle_Steel","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Perkins_(businessman","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_C._Dunn"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Good_Woman_(novel\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danielle_Steel\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Perkins_(businessman\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_C._Dunn\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Good_Woman_(novel","Danielle Steel Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel(born August 14, 1947) is an American writer, best known for her romance novels. She is the bestselling living author and one of thebest-selling fiction authors of all time, with over 800 million copies sold.As of 2021, she has written190 books, including over 140novels. Based in California for most of her career, Steel has produced several books a year, often juggling up to five projects at once. All of her novels have been bestsellers, including those issued in hardback, despite \"a resounding lack of critical acclaim\" (Publishers Weekly).Her books often involve rich families facing a crisis, threatened by dark elements such as prison, fraud, blackmail, and suicide. Steel has also published children's fiction and poetry, as well as creating a foundation that funds mental illness-related organizations.Her books have been translated into 43 languages,with 22 adapted for television, including two that have receivedGolden Globenominations. Early life Steel was born Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel in New York City to a German father and a Portuguese mother. Her father, John Schuelein-Steel, was aGerman-Jewishimmigrant and a descendant of owners ofLöwenbräubeer. Her mother, Norma da Camara Stone dos Reis, was the daughter of a Portuguese diplomat.She spent much of her childhood inFrance,where from an early age she was included in her parents' dinner parties, giving her an opportunity to observe the habits and lives of the wealthy and famous.Her parents divorced when she was eight, and she was raised primarily by her father, rarely seeing her mother. Steel started writing stories as a child, and by her late teens had begun writing poetry.Raised Catholic, she thought of becoming anunduring her early years.A 1965 graduate of theLycée Français de New York,she studied literature design and fashion design,first atParsons School of Designand then atNew York University. Career 1965–1971: Career beginnings While still attending New York University, Steel began writing, completing her first manuscript at 19.Steel worked for a public-relations agency in New York called Supergirls. A client,Ladies' Home Journaleditor John Mack Carter, encouraged her to focus on writing,having been impressed with her freelance articles. He suggested she write a book, which she did. She later moved to San Francisco and worked as a copywriter forGrey Advertising. 1972–1981: First novels and growing success Her first novel,Going Home, was published in 1973. The novel contained many of the themes that her writing would become well known for, including a focus on family issues and human relationships. Her relationship with her second husband influencedPassion's PromiseandNow and Forever, the two novels that launched her career.With the success of her fourth book,The Promise, she became a participant inSan Franciscohigh society. 1981–1996: Fame and expansion to new genres Beginning in 1991, Steel had become a near-permanent fixture onThe New York Timeshardcover and paperback bestsellers lists. In 1999, she was listed in theGuinness Book of World Recordsfor having a book on theNew York Times Bestseller Listfor the most consecutive weeks of any author—456 consecutive weeks at that time.Steel is a prolific author, often releasing several books per year.Each book takes 2½ years to complete,so Steel has developed an ability to juggle up to five projects at once, researching one book while outlining another, then writing and editing additional books.Since her first book was published, every one of her novels has hit bestseller lists in paperback, and each one released in hardback has also been a hardback bestseller. During this time, Steel also expanded to non-fiction work.Having a Babywas published in 1968 and featured a chapter by Steel about suffering throughmiscarriage.The same year she published a book of poetry,Love: Poems.She also ventured into children's fiction, penning a series of 57 illustrated books for young readers. These books, known as the \"Max and Martha\" series, aim to help children face real-life problems: new baby, new school, loss of loved one, etc. In addition, Steel has authored the \"Freddie\" series. These four books address other real-life situations: first night away from home, trip to the doctor, etc. In 1993, Steel sued writer Lorenzo Bene, who had intended to disclose in his book that her son Nick was adopted by her then-current husband John Traina, despite the fact that adoption records are sealed inCalifornia.A San Francisco judge made a highly unusual ruling allowing the seal on Nick's adoption to be overturned, although he was still a minor. This order was confirmed by a California Appellate Judge, who ruled that because Steel was famous, her son's adoption did not have the same privacy right,and the book was allowed to be published. 1997–present: Continued success and awards After years of near-constant writing, in 2003 Steel opened an art gallery in San Francisco, Steel Gallery, which showed contemporary work and exhibited the paintings and sculptures of emerging artists. The gallery closed in 2007.She continues to curate shows a few times a year for the Andrea Schwartz Gallery in San Francisco. In 2002, Steel was decorated by the French government as anOfficierof theOrdre des Arts et des Lettres, for her contributions to world culture. She has additionally received: In 2006 Steel reached an agreement withElizabeth Ardento launch a new perfume, Danielle by Danielle Steel. In 2014, she wrote an article forSFGatewriting about her concern that San Francisco was losing its heart. Personal life Steel married French-American banker Claude-Eric Lazard in 1965 at age 18 and gave birth to their daughter Beatrix.Steel and Lazard separated in 1972. While still married to Lazard, Steel met Danny Zugelder while interviewing an inmate in a prison nearLompoc, California, where Zugelder was also incarcerated. He moved in with Steel when he was paroled in June 1973, but returned to prison in early 1974 on robbery andrapecharges. After receiving her divorce from Lazard in 1975, she married Zugelder in the prisoncanteen. During their relationship, Steel suffered multiple miscarriages. She divorced Zugelder in 1978. Steel married her third husband, William George Toth, in 1978, while pregnant with their son,Nick. They divorced in March 1981. Steel married for the fourth time in 1981, to John Traina, a shipping and cruise magnate and later vintner and art collector who was the ex-husband ofDede Wilsey.Together they had five children, Samantha, Victoria, Vanessa, Maxx, and Zara.Traina adopted Steel's son Nick and gave him his family name and Steel also became stepmother of Traina's sonsTrevorandTodd. Determined to spend as much time as possible with her children, Steel often wrote at night, making do with only four hours of sleep.Steel and Traina divorced in 1995. Her fear of flying created many challenges in the early 1980s; she went through an eight-week course based at the San Francisco airport to overcome her fear. Steel married for a fifth time, to Silicon Valley financierThomas James Perkins, but the marriage ended after four years in 2002.Steel has said that her novelThe Klone and Iwas inspired by a private joke between herself and Perkins.In 2006, Perkins dedicated his novelSex and the Single Zillionaireto Steel. Steel's longtime residence was inSan Francisco,but she now spends most of her time at a second home inParis.Her 55-room San Francisco home,Spreckels Mansion, was built in c.1912 as the mansion of sugar tycoonAdolph B. Spreckels. Despite her public image and varied pursuits, Steel is known to be shyand because of that and her desire to protect her children from the tabloids,she rarely grants interviews or makes public appearances. Nick Traina and Yo Angel Foundations Steel's son,Nick Traina, died bysuicidein 1997. Traina was the lead singer of San Francisco punk bandsLink 80and Knowledge. To honor his memory, Steel wrote the nonfiction bookHis Bright Light, about Nick's life and death. Proceeds of the book, which reachedThe New York TimesNon-Fiction Bestseller List,were used to found the Nick Traina Foundation, which Steel runs, to fund organizations dedicated to treating mental accessibility issues.To gain more recognition for children's mental health, Steel has lobbied for legislation in Washington, and previously held a fundraiser every two years (known as The Star Ball) in San Francisco.In 2002, she founded Yo Angel Foundation to assist the homeless. Writing style Steel's novels, often described as \"formulaic,\"tend to involve the characters in a crisis that threatens their relationship. The novels sometimes explore the world of the rich and famousand frequently deal with serious life issues like illness, death, loss, family crises, and relationships. There are claims that her popular story lines are based on the events of her life.Despite a reputation among critics for writing \"fluff\", Steel often delves into the less savory aspects of human nature, includingincest, suicide,divorce, war, and eventhe Holocaust.As time has progressed, Steel's writing has evolved. Her later heroines tend to be stronger and more authoritative, who, if they do not receive the level of respect and attention they desire from a man, move on to a new life.In recent years Steel has also been willing to take more risks with her plots.Ransomfocuses more on suspense than romance, and follows three sets of seemingly unconnected characters as their lives begin to intersect.Toxic Bachelorsdeparts from her usual style by telling the story through the eyes of the three title characters, men who are relationship phobic and ultimately discover their true loves. To avoid comparisons to her previous novels, Steel does not write sequels.Although many of her earliest books were released with initial print runs of 1 million copies, by 2004 her publisher had decreased the number of books initially printed to 650,000 due to the decline in book purchasing. However, her fan base was still extremely strong at that time, with Steel's books selling out atop charts worldwide. Adaptations Twenty-two of her books have been adapted for television,including two that have receivedGolden Globenominations. One isJewels, the story of the survival of a woman and her children inWorld War IIEurope, and the family's eventual rebirth as one of the greatest jewelry houses in Europe.Columbia Pictureswas the first movie studio to make an offer for one of her novels, purchasing the rights toThe Ghostin 1998.Steel also reached an agreement with New Line Home Entertainment in 2005 to sell the film rights to 30 of her novels for DVDs. Writing process Steel spends two to three years on each book, juggling multiple projects at once. According to Steel, once she has an idea for a story, her first step is to make notes, which are mostly about the characters. She toldThe New York Timesin 2018: \"I make notes for a while before I start work on the outline. The notes are usually more about the characters. I need to know the characters really well before I start — who they are, how they think, how they feel, what has happened to them, how they grew up.\"In a 2019 interview withThe Guardian, she reported often spending 20- to 30-hour periods on her typewriter, gaining her attention and criticism. Steel has written all of her novels on Olympia SG1 standard typewriters. She has two that she primarily writes on: one at her home in San Francisco and another at her home in Paris.Her typewriter at her home in San Francisco has been in her possession since she bought it while working on her first book. According to Steel, she bought it second hand for $20. Bibliography Danielle Steel has written more than 185 books, including over 141 novels.Her books have been translated into 43 languages and can be found in 69 countries across the globe. Her works consist of novels, non-fiction, picture books, and two series of children's books: the Max & Martha series and the Freddie series. Filmography See also References External links","Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Perkins_(businessman","Patricia C. Dunn Patricia C. Dunn(March 27, 1953 – December 4, 2011)was thenon-executivechairman of the board ofHewlett-Packard(HP) from February 2005 until September 22, 2006, when she resigned her position. On October 4, 2006,Bill Lockyer, the California attorney general, charged Dunn with four felonies for her role in theHP spying scandal. Some members of the press reported that Dunn had been scapegoated.On March 14, 2007,California Superior CourtJudge Ray Cunningham dismissed the charges against her. Early life Born inBurbank, California, Dunn grew up inLas Vegas, Nevada, where both her parents were involved in the casino industry. Her father was the entertainment manager for the Dunes and Tropicana hotel-casinos, and her mother was a model and entertainer.When Dunn was only eleven, her father died.Her mother subsequently moved the family to California. Education After graduating fromTerra Linda High Schoolin 1970, Dunn entered theUniversity of Oregon,but dropped out to support her mother by working as a housecleaner.She resumed college and graduated fromUC Berkeleyin 1975 with a B.A. in Journalism. Career After college Dunn began working as a temporary secretary atWells Fargo & Co.She eventually became CEO atBarclays Global Investors,the company that acquired the asset management division of Wells Fargo. In 1998 she joined the HP Board of Directors.In 2001 the Financial Women of San Francisco named Dunn the \"Financial Woman of the Year\". Dunn became non-executive chair of the HP board in February 2005 whenCarly Fiorina, the CEO and chair of the HP board, left the company.Dunn was also non-executive Vice Chairman of Barclays Global Investors from 2002 to October 2006. Additionally, she was Director and Executive Committee member of Larkin Street Youth Services inSan Francisco, on the board of the Conference Board's Global Corporate Governance Research Center, and an advisory board member ofUC BerkeleyHaas School of Business. Scandal Dunn was at the center of the2006 HP Spying Scandalbecause she directed investigations of board-level leaks of information to reporters in 2005–2006.HP hired companies which, while investigating the leaks, obtained the personal telephone records of HP board members and reporters who covered HP through a practice calledpretexting.It is illegal under California law to use deceit and trickery to obtain private records of individuals. HP announced on September 12, 2006, thatMark Hurd(the company's CEO) would replace Dunn as Chairman in January but she would continue as a board member. Ten days later, however, Dunn resigned (effective immediately) both from her position as chairmanandfrom the board. In an official statement, Dunn noted \"I accepted the responsibility to identify the sources of those leaks, but I did not propose the specific methods of the investigation... Unfortunately, the people HP relied upon to conduct this type of investigation let me and the company down. I continue to have the best interests of HP at heart and thus I have accepted the board's request to resign.\" On October 4, 2006, Dunn and four others were charged by Californiaattorney generalBill Lockyerwith fourfelonycounts:fraudulentuse of wire, radio or television transmissions; taking, copying, and using computer data without authorization;identity theft; andconspiracy. Lockyer issuedarrest warrantsfor all five of those so charged.Dunn was scheduled to have been arraigned on November 17, 2006. On March 14, 2007, the judge in the case dropped all criminal charges against her in the \"interests of justice\".The dropping of the criminal charges by Judge Cunningham came after Dunn refused to take a plea of one misdemeanor in exchange for four felonies before the preliminary hearing. Personal life Dunn married William Jahnke, a former head ofWells Fargo Investment Advisors.The couple owned awineryinAustralia,a home inHawaii,and a home inOrinda, California. Having survivedbreastandskin cancer, Dunn was diagnosed in January 2004 withadvanced ovarian cancer.Chemotherapyled to remission until August 2006, when she underwent surgery to removeliver metastases.On December 4, 2011, she died at home in Orinda– survived by her husband, three adult children, ten grandchildren, a brother, and a sister– at age 58. References Further reading External links"],"string":"[\n \"Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Good_Woman_(novel\",\n \"Danielle Steel Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel(born August 14, 1947) is an American writer, best known for her romance novels. She is the bestselling living author and one of thebest-selling fiction authors of all time, with over 800 million copies sold.As of 2021, she has written190 books, including over 140novels. Based in California for most of her career, Steel has produced several books a year, often juggling up to five projects at once. All of her novels have been bestsellers, including those issued in hardback, despite \\\"a resounding lack of critical acclaim\\\" (Publishers Weekly).Her books often involve rich families facing a crisis, threatened by dark elements such as prison, fraud, blackmail, and suicide. Steel has also published children's fiction and poetry, as well as creating a foundation that funds mental illness-related organizations.Her books have been translated into 43 languages,with 22 adapted for television, including two that have receivedGolden Globenominations. Early life Steel was born Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel in New York City to a German father and a Portuguese mother. Her father, John Schuelein-Steel, was aGerman-Jewishimmigrant and a descendant of owners ofLöwenbräubeer. Her mother, Norma da Camara Stone dos Reis, was the daughter of a Portuguese diplomat.She spent much of her childhood inFrance,where from an early age she was included in her parents' dinner parties, giving her an opportunity to observe the habits and lives of the wealthy and famous.Her parents divorced when she was eight, and she was raised primarily by her father, rarely seeing her mother. Steel started writing stories as a child, and by her late teens had begun writing poetry.Raised Catholic, she thought of becoming anunduring her early years.A 1965 graduate of theLycée Français de New York,she studied literature design and fashion design,first atParsons School of Designand then atNew York University. Career 1965–1971: Career beginnings While still attending New York University, Steel began writing, completing her first manuscript at 19.Steel worked for a public-relations agency in New York called Supergirls. A client,Ladies' Home Journaleditor John Mack Carter, encouraged her to focus on writing,having been impressed with her freelance articles. He suggested she write a book, which she did. She later moved to San Francisco and worked as a copywriter forGrey Advertising. 1972–1981: First novels and growing success Her first novel,Going Home, was published in 1973. The novel contained many of the themes that her writing would become well known for, including a focus on family issues and human relationships. Her relationship with her second husband influencedPassion's PromiseandNow and Forever, the two novels that launched her career.With the success of her fourth book,The Promise, she became a participant inSan Franciscohigh society. 1981–1996: Fame and expansion to new genres Beginning in 1991, Steel had become a near-permanent fixture onThe New York Timeshardcover and paperback bestsellers lists. In 1999, she was listed in theGuinness Book of World Recordsfor having a book on theNew York Times Bestseller Listfor the most consecutive weeks of any author—456 consecutive weeks at that time.Steel is a prolific author, often releasing several books per year.Each book takes 2½ years to complete,so Steel has developed an ability to juggle up to five projects at once, researching one book while outlining another, then writing and editing additional books.Since her first book was published, every one of her novels has hit bestseller lists in paperback, and each one released in hardback has also been a hardback bestseller. During this time, Steel also expanded to non-fiction work.Having a Babywas published in 1968 and featured a chapter by Steel about suffering throughmiscarriage.The same year she published a book of poetry,Love: Poems.She also ventured into children's fiction, penning a series of 57 illustrated books for young readers. These books, known as the \\\"Max and Martha\\\" series, aim to help children face real-life problems: new baby, new school, loss of loved one, etc. In addition, Steel has authored the \\\"Freddie\\\" series. These four books address other real-life situations: first night away from home, trip to the doctor, etc. In 1993, Steel sued writer Lorenzo Bene, who had intended to disclose in his book that her son Nick was adopted by her then-current husband John Traina, despite the fact that adoption records are sealed inCalifornia.A San Francisco judge made a highly unusual ruling allowing the seal on Nick's adoption to be overturned, although he was still a minor. This order was confirmed by a California Appellate Judge, who ruled that because Steel was famous, her son's adoption did not have the same privacy right,and the book was allowed to be published. 1997–present: Continued success and awards After years of near-constant writing, in 2003 Steel opened an art gallery in San Francisco, Steel Gallery, which showed contemporary work and exhibited the paintings and sculptures of emerging artists. The gallery closed in 2007.She continues to curate shows a few times a year for the Andrea Schwartz Gallery in San Francisco. In 2002, Steel was decorated by the French government as anOfficierof theOrdre des Arts et des Lettres, for her contributions to world culture. She has additionally received: In 2006 Steel reached an agreement withElizabeth Ardento launch a new perfume, Danielle by Danielle Steel. In 2014, she wrote an article forSFGatewriting about her concern that San Francisco was losing its heart. Personal life Steel married French-American banker Claude-Eric Lazard in 1965 at age 18 and gave birth to their daughter Beatrix.Steel and Lazard separated in 1972. While still married to Lazard, Steel met Danny Zugelder while interviewing an inmate in a prison nearLompoc, California, where Zugelder was also incarcerated. He moved in with Steel when he was paroled in June 1973, but returned to prison in early 1974 on robbery andrapecharges. After receiving her divorce from Lazard in 1975, she married Zugelder in the prisoncanteen. During their relationship, Steel suffered multiple miscarriages. She divorced Zugelder in 1978. Steel married her third husband, William George Toth, in 1978, while pregnant with their son,Nick. They divorced in March 1981. Steel married for the fourth time in 1981, to John Traina, a shipping and cruise magnate and later vintner and art collector who was the ex-husband ofDede Wilsey.Together they had five children, Samantha, Victoria, Vanessa, Maxx, and Zara.Traina adopted Steel's son Nick and gave him his family name and Steel also became stepmother of Traina's sonsTrevorandTodd. Determined to spend as much time as possible with her children, Steel often wrote at night, making do with only four hours of sleep.Steel and Traina divorced in 1995. Her fear of flying created many challenges in the early 1980s; she went through an eight-week course based at the San Francisco airport to overcome her fear. Steel married for a fifth time, to Silicon Valley financierThomas James Perkins, but the marriage ended after four years in 2002.Steel has said that her novelThe Klone and Iwas inspired by a private joke between herself and Perkins.In 2006, Perkins dedicated his novelSex and the Single Zillionaireto Steel. Steel's longtime residence was inSan Francisco,but she now spends most of her time at a second home inParis.Her 55-room San Francisco home,Spreckels Mansion, was built in c.1912 as the mansion of sugar tycoonAdolph B. Spreckels. Despite her public image and varied pursuits, Steel is known to be shyand because of that and her desire to protect her children from the tabloids,she rarely grants interviews or makes public appearances. Nick Traina and Yo Angel Foundations Steel's son,Nick Traina, died bysuicidein 1997. Traina was the lead singer of San Francisco punk bandsLink 80and Knowledge. To honor his memory, Steel wrote the nonfiction bookHis Bright Light, about Nick's life and death. Proceeds of the book, which reachedThe New York TimesNon-Fiction Bestseller List,were used to found the Nick Traina Foundation, which Steel runs, to fund organizations dedicated to treating mental accessibility issues.To gain more recognition for children's mental health, Steel has lobbied for legislation in Washington, and previously held a fundraiser every two years (known as The Star Ball) in San Francisco.In 2002, she founded Yo Angel Foundation to assist the homeless. Writing style Steel's novels, often described as \\\"formulaic,\\\"tend to involve the characters in a crisis that threatens their relationship. The novels sometimes explore the world of the rich and famousand frequently deal with serious life issues like illness, death, loss, family crises, and relationships. There are claims that her popular story lines are based on the events of her life.Despite a reputation among critics for writing \\\"fluff\\\", Steel often delves into the less savory aspects of human nature, includingincest, suicide,divorce, war, and eventhe Holocaust.As time has progressed, Steel's writing has evolved. Her later heroines tend to be stronger and more authoritative, who, if they do not receive the level of respect and attention they desire from a man, move on to a new life.In recent years Steel has also been willing to take more risks with her plots.Ransomfocuses more on suspense than romance, and follows three sets of seemingly unconnected characters as their lives begin to intersect.Toxic Bachelorsdeparts from her usual style by telling the story through the eyes of the three title characters, men who are relationship phobic and ultimately discover their true loves. To avoid comparisons to her previous novels, Steel does not write sequels.Although many of her earliest books were released with initial print runs of 1 million copies, by 2004 her publisher had decreased the number of books initially printed to 650,000 due to the decline in book purchasing. However, her fan base was still extremely strong at that time, with Steel's books selling out atop charts worldwide. Adaptations Twenty-two of her books have been adapted for television,including two that have receivedGolden Globenominations. One isJewels, the story of the survival of a woman and her children inWorld War IIEurope, and the family's eventual rebirth as one of the greatest jewelry houses in Europe.Columbia Pictureswas the first movie studio to make an offer for one of her novels, purchasing the rights toThe Ghostin 1998.Steel also reached an agreement with New Line Home Entertainment in 2005 to sell the film rights to 30 of her novels for DVDs. Writing process Steel spends two to three years on each book, juggling multiple projects at once. According to Steel, once she has an idea for a story, her first step is to make notes, which are mostly about the characters. She toldThe New York Timesin 2018: \\\"I make notes for a while before I start work on the outline. The notes are usually more about the characters. I need to know the characters really well before I start — who they are, how they think, how they feel, what has happened to them, how they grew up.\\\"In a 2019 interview withThe Guardian, she reported often spending 20- to 30-hour periods on her typewriter, gaining her attention and criticism. Steel has written all of her novels on Olympia SG1 standard typewriters. She has two that she primarily writes on: one at her home in San Francisco and another at her home in Paris.Her typewriter at her home in San Francisco has been in her possession since she bought it while working on her first book. According to Steel, she bought it second hand for $20. Bibliography Danielle Steel has written more than 185 books, including over 141 novels.Her books have been translated into 43 languages and can be found in 69 countries across the globe. Her works consist of novels, non-fiction, picture books, and two series of children's books: the Max & Martha series and the Freddie series. Filmography See also References External links\",\n \"Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Perkins_(businessman\",\n \"Patricia C. Dunn Patricia C. Dunn(March 27, 1953 – December 4, 2011)was thenon-executivechairman of the board ofHewlett-Packard(HP) from February 2005 until September 22, 2006, when she resigned her position. On October 4, 2006,Bill Lockyer, the California attorney general, charged Dunn with four felonies for her role in theHP spying scandal. Some members of the press reported that Dunn had been scapegoated.On March 14, 2007,California Superior CourtJudge Ray Cunningham dismissed the charges against her. Early life Born inBurbank, California, Dunn grew up inLas Vegas, Nevada, where both her parents were involved in the casino industry. Her father was the entertainment manager for the Dunes and Tropicana hotel-casinos, and her mother was a model and entertainer.When Dunn was only eleven, her father died.Her mother subsequently moved the family to California. Education After graduating fromTerra Linda High Schoolin 1970, Dunn entered theUniversity of Oregon,but dropped out to support her mother by working as a housecleaner.She resumed college and graduated fromUC Berkeleyin 1975 with a B.A. in Journalism. Career After college Dunn began working as a temporary secretary atWells Fargo & Co.She eventually became CEO atBarclays Global Investors,the company that acquired the asset management division of Wells Fargo. In 1998 she joined the HP Board of Directors.In 2001 the Financial Women of San Francisco named Dunn the \\\"Financial Woman of the Year\\\". Dunn became non-executive chair of the HP board in February 2005 whenCarly Fiorina, the CEO and chair of the HP board, left the company.Dunn was also non-executive Vice Chairman of Barclays Global Investors from 2002 to October 2006. Additionally, she was Director and Executive Committee member of Larkin Street Youth Services inSan Francisco, on the board of the Conference Board's Global Corporate Governance Research Center, and an advisory board member ofUC BerkeleyHaas School of Business. Scandal Dunn was at the center of the2006 HP Spying Scandalbecause she directed investigations of board-level leaks of information to reporters in 2005–2006.HP hired companies which, while investigating the leaks, obtained the personal telephone records of HP board members and reporters who covered HP through a practice calledpretexting.It is illegal under California law to use deceit and trickery to obtain private records of individuals. HP announced on September 12, 2006, thatMark Hurd(the company's CEO) would replace Dunn as Chairman in January but she would continue as a board member. Ten days later, however, Dunn resigned (effective immediately) both from her position as chairmanandfrom the board. In an official statement, Dunn noted \\\"I accepted the responsibility to identify the sources of those leaks, but I did not propose the specific methods of the investigation... Unfortunately, the people HP relied upon to conduct this type of investigation let me and the company down. I continue to have the best interests of HP at heart and thus I have accepted the board's request to resign.\\\" On October 4, 2006, Dunn and four others were charged by Californiaattorney generalBill Lockyerwith fourfelonycounts:fraudulentuse of wire, radio or television transmissions; taking, copying, and using computer data without authorization;identity theft; andconspiracy. Lockyer issuedarrest warrantsfor all five of those so charged.Dunn was scheduled to have been arraigned on November 17, 2006. On March 14, 2007, the judge in the case dropped all criminal charges against her in the \\\"interests of justice\\\".The dropping of the criminal charges by Judge Cunningham came after Dunn refused to take a plea of one misdemeanor in exchange for four felonies before the preliminary hearing. Personal life Dunn married William Jahnke, a former head ofWells Fargo Investment Advisors.The couple owned awineryinAustralia,a home inHawaii,and a home inOrinda, California. Having survivedbreastandskin cancer, Dunn was diagnosed in January 2004 withadvanced ovarian cancer.Chemotherapyled to remission until August 2006, when she underwent surgery to removeliver metastases.On December 4, 2011, she died at home in Orinda– survived by her husband, three adult children, ten grandchildren, a brother, and a sister– at age 58. References Further reading External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Good_Woman_(novel","Danielle Steel Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel(born August 14, 1947) is an American writer, best known for her romance novels. She is the bestselling living author and one of thebest-selling fiction authors of all time, with over 800 million copies sold.As of 2021, she has written190 books, including over 140novels. Based in California for most of her career, Steel has produced several books a year, often juggling up to five projects at once. All of her novels have been bestsellers, including those issued in hardback, despite \"a resounding lack of critical acclaim\" (Publishers Weekly).Her books often involve rich families facing a crisis, threatened by dark elements such as prison, fraud, blackmail, and suicide. Steel has also published children's fiction and poetry, as well as creating a foundation that funds mental illness-related organizations.Her books have been translated into 43 languages,with 22 adapted for television, including two that have receivedGolden Globenominations. Early life","Early life Steel was born Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel in New York City to a German father and a Portuguese mother. Her father, John Schuelein-Steel, was aGerman-Jewishimmigrant and a descendant of owners ofLöwenbräubeer. Her mother, Norma da Camara Stone dos Reis, was the daughter of a Portuguese diplomat.She spent much of her childhood inFrance,where from an early age she was included in her parents' dinner parties, giving her an opportunity to observe the habits and lives of the wealthy and famous.Her parents divorced when she was eight, and she was raised primarily by her father, rarely seeing her mother. Steel started writing stories as a child, and by her late teens had begun writing poetry.Raised Catholic, she thought of becoming anunduring her early years.A 1965 graduate of theLycée Français de New York,she studied literature design and fashion design,first atParsons School of Designand then atNew York University. Career 1965–1971: Career beginnings While still attending New York","attending New York University, Steel began writing, completing her first manuscript at 19.Steel worked for a public-relations agency in New York called Supergirls. A client,Ladies' Home Journaleditor John Mack Carter, encouraged her to focus on writing,having been impressed with her freelance articles. He suggested she write a book, which she did. She later moved to San Francisco and worked as a copywriter forGrey Advertising. 1972–1981: First novels and growing success Her first novel,Going Home, was published in 1973. The novel contained many of the themes that her writing would become well known for, including a focus on family issues and human relationships. Her relationship with her second husband influencedPassion's PromiseandNow and Forever, the two novels that launched her career.With the success of her fourth book,The Promise, she became a participant inSan Franciscohigh society. 1981–1996: Fame and expansion to new genres Beginning in 1991, Steel had become a near-permanent fixture onThe New York","onThe New York Timeshardcover and paperback bestsellers lists. In 1999, she was listed in theGuinness Book of World Recordsfor having a book on theNew York Times Bestseller Listfor the most consecutive weeks of any author—456 consecutive weeks at that time.Steel is a prolific author, often releasing several books per year.Each book takes 2½ years to complete,so Steel has developed an ability to juggle up to five projects at once, researching one book while outlining another, then writing and editing additional books.Since her first book was published, every one of her novels has hit bestseller lists in paperback, and each one released in hardback has also been a hardback bestseller. During this time, Steel also expanded to non-fiction work.Having a Babywas published in 1968 and featured a chapter by Steel about suffering throughmiscarriage.The same year she published a book of poetry,Love: Poems.She also ventured into children's fiction, penning a series of 57 illustrated books for young readers. These","readers. These books, known as the \"Max and Martha\" series, aim to help children face real-life problems: new baby, new school, loss of loved one, etc. In addition, Steel has authored the \"Freddie\" series. These four books address other real-life situations: first night away from home, trip to the doctor, etc. In 1993, Steel sued writer Lorenzo Bene, who had intended to disclose in his book that her son Nick was adopted by her then-current husband John Traina, despite the fact that adoption records are sealed inCalifornia.A San Francisco judge made a highly unusual ruling allowing the seal on Nick's adoption to be overturned, although he was still a minor. This order was confirmed by a California Appellate Judge, who ruled that because Steel was famous, her son's adoption did not have the same privacy right,and the book was allowed to be published. 1997–present: Continued success and awards After years of near-constant writing, in 2003 Steel opened an art gallery in San Francisco, Steel Gallery, which showed","which showed contemporary work and exhibited the paintings and sculptures of emerging artists. The gallery closed in 2007.She continues to curate shows a few times a year for the Andrea Schwartz Gallery in San Francisco. In 2002, Steel was decorated by the French government as anOfficierof theOrdre des Arts et des Lettres, for her contributions to world culture. She has additionally received: In 2006 Steel reached an agreement withElizabeth Ardento launch a new perfume, Danielle by Danielle Steel. In 2014, she wrote an article forSFGatewriting about her concern that San Francisco was losing its heart. Personal life Steel married French-American banker Claude-Eric Lazard in 1965 at age 18 and gave birth to their daughter Beatrix.Steel and Lazard separated in 1972. While still married to Lazard, Steel met Danny Zugelder while interviewing an inmate in a prison nearLompoc, California, where Zugelder was also incarcerated. He moved in with Steel when he was paroled in June 1973, but returned to prison in early","to prison in early 1974 on robbery andrapecharges. After receiving her divorce from Lazard in 1975, she married Zugelder in the prisoncanteen. During their relationship, Steel suffered multiple miscarriages. She divorced Zugelder in 1978. Steel married her third husband, William George Toth, in 1978, while pregnant with their son,Nick. They divorced in March 1981. Steel married for the fourth time in 1981, to John Traina, a shipping and cruise magnate and later vintner and art collector who was the ex-husband ofDede Wilsey.Together they had five children, Samantha, Victoria, Vanessa, Maxx, and Zara.Traina adopted Steel's son Nick and gave him his family name and Steel also became stepmother of Traina's sonsTrevorandTodd. Determined to spend as much time as possible with her children, Steel often wrote at night, making do with only four hours of sleep.Steel and Traina divorced in 1995. Her fear of flying created many challenges in the early 1980s; she went through an eight-week course based at the San","based at the San Francisco airport to overcome her fear. Steel married for a fifth time, to Silicon Valley financierThomas James Perkins, but the marriage ended after four years in 2002.Steel has said that her novelThe Klone and Iwas inspired by a private joke between herself and Perkins.In 2006, Perkins dedicated his novelSex and the Single Zillionaireto Steel. Steel's longtime residence was inSan Francisco,but she now spends most of her time at a second home inParis.Her 55-room San Francisco home,Spreckels Mansion, was built in c.1912 as the mansion of sugar tycoonAdolph B. Spreckels. Despite her public image and varied pursuits, Steel is known to be shyand because of that and her desire to protect her children from the tabloids,she rarely grants interviews or makes public appearances. Nick Traina and Yo Angel Foundations Steel's son,Nick Traina, died bysuicidein 1997. Traina was the lead singer of San Francisco punk bandsLink 80and Knowledge. To honor his memory, Steel wrote the nonfiction bookHis Bright","bookHis Bright Light, about Nick's life and death. Proceeds of the book, which reachedThe New York TimesNon-Fiction Bestseller List,were used to found the Nick Traina Foundation, which Steel runs, to fund organizations dedicated to treating mental accessibility issues.To gain more recognition for children's mental health, Steel has lobbied for legislation in Washington, and previously held a fundraiser every two years (known as The Star Ball) in San Francisco.In 2002, she founded Yo Angel Foundation to assist the homeless. Writing style Steel's novels, often described as \"formulaic,\"tend to involve the characters in a crisis that threatens their relationship. The novels sometimes explore the world of the rich and famousand frequently deal with serious life issues like illness, death, loss, family crises, and relationships. There are claims that her popular story lines are based on the events of her life.Despite a reputation among critics for writing \"fluff\", Steel often delves into the less savory aspects of","savory aspects of human nature, includingincest, suicide,divorce, war, and eventhe Holocaust.As time has progressed, Steel's writing has evolved. Her later heroines tend to be stronger and more authoritative, who, if they do not receive the level of respect and attention they desire from a man, move on to a new life.In recent years Steel has also been willing to take more risks with her plots.Ransomfocuses more on suspense than romance, and follows three sets of seemingly unconnected characters as their lives begin to intersect.Toxic Bachelorsdeparts from her usual style by telling the story through the eyes of the three title characters, men who are relationship phobic and ultimately discover their true loves. To avoid comparisons to her previous novels, Steel does not write sequels.Although many of her earliest books were released with initial print runs of 1 million copies, by 2004 her publisher had decreased the number of books initially printed to 650,000 due to the decline in book purchasing. However,","However, her fan base was still extremely strong at that time, with Steel's books selling out atop charts worldwide. Adaptations Twenty-two of her books have been adapted for television,including two that have receivedGolden Globenominations. One isJewels, the story of the survival of a woman and her children inWorld War IIEurope, and the family's eventual rebirth as one of the greatest jewelry houses in Europe.Columbia Pictureswas the first movie studio to make an offer for one of her novels, purchasing the rights toThe Ghostin 1998.Steel also reached an agreement with New Line Home Entertainment in 2005 to sell the film rights to 30 of her novels for DVDs. Writing process Steel spends two to three years on each book, juggling multiple projects at once. According to Steel, once she has an idea for a story, her first step is to make notes, which are mostly about the characters. She toldThe New York Timesin 2018: \"I make notes for a while before I start work on the outline. The notes are usually more about","usually more about the characters. I need to know the characters really well before I start — who they are, how they think, how they feel, what has happened to them, how they grew up.\"In a 2019 interview withThe Guardian, she reported often spending 20- to 30-hour periods on her typewriter, gaining her attention and criticism. Steel has written all of her novels on Olympia SG1 standard typewriters. She has two that she primarily writes on: one at her home in San Francisco and another at her home in Paris.Her typewriter at her home in San Francisco has been in her possession since she bought it while working on her first book. According to Steel, she bought it second hand for $20. Bibliography Danielle Steel has written more than 185 books, including over 141 novels.Her books have been translated into 43 languages and can be found in 69 countries across the globe. Her works consist of novels, non-fiction, picture books, and two series of children's books: the Max & Martha series and the Freddie series.","the Freddie series. Filmography See also References External links","Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Perkins_(businessman","Patricia C. Dunn Patricia C. Dunn(March 27, 1953 – December 4, 2011)was thenon-executivechairman of the board ofHewlett-Packard(HP) from February 2005 until September 22, 2006, when she resigned her position. On October 4, 2006,Bill Lockyer, the California attorney general, charged Dunn with four felonies for her role in theHP spying scandal. Some members of the press reported that Dunn had been scapegoated.On March 14, 2007,California Superior CourtJudge Ray Cunningham dismissed the charges against her. Early life Born inBurbank, California, Dunn grew up inLas Vegas, Nevada, where both her parents were involved in the casino industry. Her father was the entertainment manager for the Dunes and Tropicana hotel-casinos, and her mother was a model and entertainer.When Dunn was only eleven, her father died.Her mother subsequently moved the family to California. Education After graduating fromTerra Linda High Schoolin 1970, Dunn entered theUniversity of Oregon,but dropped out to support her mother by working as a","by working as a housecleaner.She resumed college and graduated fromUC Berkeleyin 1975 with a B.A. in Journalism. Career After college Dunn began working as a temporary secretary atWells Fargo & Co.She eventually became CEO atBarclays Global Investors,the company that acquired the asset management division of Wells Fargo. In 1998 she joined the HP Board of Directors.In 2001 the Financial Women of San Francisco named Dunn the \"Financial Woman of the Year\". Dunn became non-executive chair of the HP board in February 2005 whenCarly Fiorina, the CEO and chair of the HP board, left the company.Dunn was also non-executive Vice Chairman of Barclays Global Investors from 2002 to October 2006. Additionally, she was Director and Executive Committee member of Larkin Street Youth Services inSan Francisco, on the board of the Conference Board's Global Corporate Governance Research Center, and an advisory board member ofUC BerkeleyHaas School of Business. Scandal Dunn was at the center of the2006 HP Spying Scandalbecause","Scandalbecause she directed investigations of board-level leaks of information to reporters in 2005–2006.HP hired companies which, while investigating the leaks, obtained the personal telephone records of HP board members and reporters who covered HP through a practice calledpretexting.It is illegal under California law to use deceit and trickery to obtain private records of individuals. HP announced on September 12, 2006, thatMark Hurd(the company's CEO) would replace Dunn as Chairman in January but she would continue as a board member. Ten days later, however, Dunn resigned (effective immediately) both from her position as chairmanandfrom the board. In an official statement, Dunn noted \"I accepted the responsibility to identify the sources of those leaks, but I did not propose the specific methods of the investigation... Unfortunately, the people HP relied upon to conduct this type of investigation let me and the company down. I continue to have the best interests of HP at heart and thus I have accepted","I have accepted the board's request to resign.\" On October 4, 2006, Dunn and four others were charged by Californiaattorney generalBill Lockyerwith fourfelonycounts:fraudulentuse of wire, radio or television transmissions; taking, copying, and using computer data without authorization;identity theft; andconspiracy. Lockyer issuedarrest warrantsfor all five of those so charged.Dunn was scheduled to have been arraigned on November 17, 2006. On March 14, 2007, the judge in the case dropped all criminal charges against her in the \"interests of justice\".The dropping of the criminal charges by Judge Cunningham came after Dunn refused to take a plea of one misdemeanor in exchange for four felonies before the preliminary hearing. Personal life Dunn married William Jahnke, a former head ofWells Fargo Investment Advisors.The couple owned awineryinAustralia,a home inHawaii,and a home inOrinda, California. Having survivedbreastandskin cancer, Dunn was diagnosed in January 2004 withadvanced ovarian cancer.Chemotherapyled","to remission until August 2006, when she underwent surgery to removeliver metastases.On December 4, 2011, she died at home in Orinda– survived by her husband, three adult children, ten grandchildren, a brother, and a sister– at age 58. References Further reading External links"],"string":"[\n \"Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Good_Woman_(novel\",\n \"Danielle Steel Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel(born August 14, 1947) is an American writer, best known for her romance novels. She is the bestselling living author and one of thebest-selling fiction authors of all time, with over 800 million copies sold.As of 2021, she has written190 books, including over 140novels. Based in California for most of her career, Steel has produced several books a year, often juggling up to five projects at once. All of her novels have been bestsellers, including those issued in hardback, despite \\\"a resounding lack of critical acclaim\\\" (Publishers Weekly).Her books often involve rich families facing a crisis, threatened by dark elements such as prison, fraud, blackmail, and suicide. Steel has also published children's fiction and poetry, as well as creating a foundation that funds mental illness-related organizations.Her books have been translated into 43 languages,with 22 adapted for television, including two that have receivedGolden Globenominations. Early life\",\n \"Early life Steel was born Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel in New York City to a German father and a Portuguese mother. Her father, John Schuelein-Steel, was aGerman-Jewishimmigrant and a descendant of owners ofLöwenbräubeer. Her mother, Norma da Camara Stone dos Reis, was the daughter of a Portuguese diplomat.She spent much of her childhood inFrance,where from an early age she was included in her parents' dinner parties, giving her an opportunity to observe the habits and lives of the wealthy and famous.Her parents divorced when she was eight, and she was raised primarily by her father, rarely seeing her mother. Steel started writing stories as a child, and by her late teens had begun writing poetry.Raised Catholic, she thought of becoming anunduring her early years.A 1965 graduate of theLycée Français de New York,she studied literature design and fashion design,first atParsons School of Designand then atNew York University. Career 1965–1971: Career beginnings While still attending New York\",\n \"attending New York University, Steel began writing, completing her first manuscript at 19.Steel worked for a public-relations agency in New York called Supergirls. A client,Ladies' Home Journaleditor John Mack Carter, encouraged her to focus on writing,having been impressed with her freelance articles. He suggested she write a book, which she did. She later moved to San Francisco and worked as a copywriter forGrey Advertising. 1972–1981: First novels and growing success Her first novel,Going Home, was published in 1973. The novel contained many of the themes that her writing would become well known for, including a focus on family issues and human relationships. Her relationship with her second husband influencedPassion's PromiseandNow and Forever, the two novels that launched her career.With the success of her fourth book,The Promise, she became a participant inSan Franciscohigh society. 1981–1996: Fame and expansion to new genres Beginning in 1991, Steel had become a near-permanent fixture onThe New York\",\n \"onThe New York Timeshardcover and paperback bestsellers lists. In 1999, she was listed in theGuinness Book of World Recordsfor having a book on theNew York Times Bestseller Listfor the most consecutive weeks of any author—456 consecutive weeks at that time.Steel is a prolific author, often releasing several books per year.Each book takes 2½ years to complete,so Steel has developed an ability to juggle up to five projects at once, researching one book while outlining another, then writing and editing additional books.Since her first book was published, every one of her novels has hit bestseller lists in paperback, and each one released in hardback has also been a hardback bestseller. During this time, Steel also expanded to non-fiction work.Having a Babywas published in 1968 and featured a chapter by Steel about suffering throughmiscarriage.The same year she published a book of poetry,Love: Poems.She also ventured into children's fiction, penning a series of 57 illustrated books for young readers. These\",\n \"readers. These books, known as the \\\"Max and Martha\\\" series, aim to help children face real-life problems: new baby, new school, loss of loved one, etc. In addition, Steel has authored the \\\"Freddie\\\" series. These four books address other real-life situations: first night away from home, trip to the doctor, etc. In 1993, Steel sued writer Lorenzo Bene, who had intended to disclose in his book that her son Nick was adopted by her then-current husband John Traina, despite the fact that adoption records are sealed inCalifornia.A San Francisco judge made a highly unusual ruling allowing the seal on Nick's adoption to be overturned, although he was still a minor. This order was confirmed by a California Appellate Judge, who ruled that because Steel was famous, her son's adoption did not have the same privacy right,and the book was allowed to be published. 1997–present: Continued success and awards After years of near-constant writing, in 2003 Steel opened an art gallery in San Francisco, Steel Gallery, which showed\",\n \"which showed contemporary work and exhibited the paintings and sculptures of emerging artists. The gallery closed in 2007.She continues to curate shows a few times a year for the Andrea Schwartz Gallery in San Francisco. In 2002, Steel was decorated by the French government as anOfficierof theOrdre des Arts et des Lettres, for her contributions to world culture. She has additionally received: In 2006 Steel reached an agreement withElizabeth Ardento launch a new perfume, Danielle by Danielle Steel. In 2014, she wrote an article forSFGatewriting about her concern that San Francisco was losing its heart. Personal life Steel married French-American banker Claude-Eric Lazard in 1965 at age 18 and gave birth to their daughter Beatrix.Steel and Lazard separated in 1972. While still married to Lazard, Steel met Danny Zugelder while interviewing an inmate in a prison nearLompoc, California, where Zugelder was also incarcerated. He moved in with Steel when he was paroled in June 1973, but returned to prison in early\",\n \"to prison in early 1974 on robbery andrapecharges. After receiving her divorce from Lazard in 1975, she married Zugelder in the prisoncanteen. During their relationship, Steel suffered multiple miscarriages. She divorced Zugelder in 1978. Steel married her third husband, William George Toth, in 1978, while pregnant with their son,Nick. They divorced in March 1981. Steel married for the fourth time in 1981, to John Traina, a shipping and cruise magnate and later vintner and art collector who was the ex-husband ofDede Wilsey.Together they had five children, Samantha, Victoria, Vanessa, Maxx, and Zara.Traina adopted Steel's son Nick and gave him his family name and Steel also became stepmother of Traina's sonsTrevorandTodd. Determined to spend as much time as possible with her children, Steel often wrote at night, making do with only four hours of sleep.Steel and Traina divorced in 1995. Her fear of flying created many challenges in the early 1980s; she went through an eight-week course based at the San\",\n \"based at the San Francisco airport to overcome her fear. Steel married for a fifth time, to Silicon Valley financierThomas James Perkins, but the marriage ended after four years in 2002.Steel has said that her novelThe Klone and Iwas inspired by a private joke between herself and Perkins.In 2006, Perkins dedicated his novelSex and the Single Zillionaireto Steel. Steel's longtime residence was inSan Francisco,but she now spends most of her time at a second home inParis.Her 55-room San Francisco home,Spreckels Mansion, was built in c.1912 as the mansion of sugar tycoonAdolph B. Spreckels. Despite her public image and varied pursuits, Steel is known to be shyand because of that and her desire to protect her children from the tabloids,she rarely grants interviews or makes public appearances. Nick Traina and Yo Angel Foundations Steel's son,Nick Traina, died bysuicidein 1997. Traina was the lead singer of San Francisco punk bandsLink 80and Knowledge. To honor his memory, Steel wrote the nonfiction bookHis Bright\",\n \"bookHis Bright Light, about Nick's life and death. Proceeds of the book, which reachedThe New York TimesNon-Fiction Bestseller List,were used to found the Nick Traina Foundation, which Steel runs, to fund organizations dedicated to treating mental accessibility issues.To gain more recognition for children's mental health, Steel has lobbied for legislation in Washington, and previously held a fundraiser every two years (known as The Star Ball) in San Francisco.In 2002, she founded Yo Angel Foundation to assist the homeless. Writing style Steel's novels, often described as \\\"formulaic,\\\"tend to involve the characters in a crisis that threatens their relationship. The novels sometimes explore the world of the rich and famousand frequently deal with serious life issues like illness, death, loss, family crises, and relationships. There are claims that her popular story lines are based on the events of her life.Despite a reputation among critics for writing \\\"fluff\\\", Steel often delves into the less savory aspects of\",\n \"savory aspects of human nature, includingincest, suicide,divorce, war, and eventhe Holocaust.As time has progressed, Steel's writing has evolved. Her later heroines tend to be stronger and more authoritative, who, if they do not receive the level of respect and attention they desire from a man, move on to a new life.In recent years Steel has also been willing to take more risks with her plots.Ransomfocuses more on suspense than romance, and follows three sets of seemingly unconnected characters as their lives begin to intersect.Toxic Bachelorsdeparts from her usual style by telling the story through the eyes of the three title characters, men who are relationship phobic and ultimately discover their true loves. To avoid comparisons to her previous novels, Steel does not write sequels.Although many of her earliest books were released with initial print runs of 1 million copies, by 2004 her publisher had decreased the number of books initially printed to 650,000 due to the decline in book purchasing. However,\",\n \"However, her fan base was still extremely strong at that time, with Steel's books selling out atop charts worldwide. Adaptations Twenty-two of her books have been adapted for television,including two that have receivedGolden Globenominations. One isJewels, the story of the survival of a woman and her children inWorld War IIEurope, and the family's eventual rebirth as one of the greatest jewelry houses in Europe.Columbia Pictureswas the first movie studio to make an offer for one of her novels, purchasing the rights toThe Ghostin 1998.Steel also reached an agreement with New Line Home Entertainment in 2005 to sell the film rights to 30 of her novels for DVDs. Writing process Steel spends two to three years on each book, juggling multiple projects at once. According to Steel, once she has an idea for a story, her first step is to make notes, which are mostly about the characters. She toldThe New York Timesin 2018: \\\"I make notes for a while before I start work on the outline. The notes are usually more about\",\n \"usually more about the characters. I need to know the characters really well before I start — who they are, how they think, how they feel, what has happened to them, how they grew up.\\\"In a 2019 interview withThe Guardian, she reported often spending 20- to 30-hour periods on her typewriter, gaining her attention and criticism. Steel has written all of her novels on Olympia SG1 standard typewriters. She has two that she primarily writes on: one at her home in San Francisco and another at her home in Paris.Her typewriter at her home in San Francisco has been in her possession since she bought it while working on her first book. According to Steel, she bought it second hand for $20. Bibliography Danielle Steel has written more than 185 books, including over 141 novels.Her books have been translated into 43 languages and can be found in 69 countries across the globe. Her works consist of novels, non-fiction, picture books, and two series of children's books: the Max & Martha series and the Freddie series.\",\n \"the Freddie series. Filmography See also References External links\",\n \"Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Perkins_(businessman\",\n \"Patricia C. Dunn Patricia C. Dunn(March 27, 1953 – December 4, 2011)was thenon-executivechairman of the board ofHewlett-Packard(HP) from February 2005 until September 22, 2006, when she resigned her position. On October 4, 2006,Bill Lockyer, the California attorney general, charged Dunn with four felonies for her role in theHP spying scandal. Some members of the press reported that Dunn had been scapegoated.On March 14, 2007,California Superior CourtJudge Ray Cunningham dismissed the charges against her. Early life Born inBurbank, California, Dunn grew up inLas Vegas, Nevada, where both her parents were involved in the casino industry. Her father was the entertainment manager for the Dunes and Tropicana hotel-casinos, and her mother was a model and entertainer.When Dunn was only eleven, her father died.Her mother subsequently moved the family to California. Education After graduating fromTerra Linda High Schoolin 1970, Dunn entered theUniversity of Oregon,but dropped out to support her mother by working as a\",\n \"by working as a housecleaner.She resumed college and graduated fromUC Berkeleyin 1975 with a B.A. in Journalism. Career After college Dunn began working as a temporary secretary atWells Fargo & Co.She eventually became CEO atBarclays Global Investors,the company that acquired the asset management division of Wells Fargo. In 1998 she joined the HP Board of Directors.In 2001 the Financial Women of San Francisco named Dunn the \\\"Financial Woman of the Year\\\". Dunn became non-executive chair of the HP board in February 2005 whenCarly Fiorina, the CEO and chair of the HP board, left the company.Dunn was also non-executive Vice Chairman of Barclays Global Investors from 2002 to October 2006. Additionally, she was Director and Executive Committee member of Larkin Street Youth Services inSan Francisco, on the board of the Conference Board's Global Corporate Governance Research Center, and an advisory board member ofUC BerkeleyHaas School of Business. Scandal Dunn was at the center of the2006 HP Spying Scandalbecause\",\n \"Scandalbecause she directed investigations of board-level leaks of information to reporters in 2005–2006.HP hired companies which, while investigating the leaks, obtained the personal telephone records of HP board members and reporters who covered HP through a practice calledpretexting.It is illegal under California law to use deceit and trickery to obtain private records of individuals. HP announced on September 12, 2006, thatMark Hurd(the company's CEO) would replace Dunn as Chairman in January but she would continue as a board member. Ten days later, however, Dunn resigned (effective immediately) both from her position as chairmanandfrom the board. In an official statement, Dunn noted \\\"I accepted the responsibility to identify the sources of those leaks, but I did not propose the specific methods of the investigation... Unfortunately, the people HP relied upon to conduct this type of investigation let me and the company down. I continue to have the best interests of HP at heart and thus I have accepted\",\n \"I have accepted the board's request to resign.\\\" On October 4, 2006, Dunn and four others were charged by Californiaattorney generalBill Lockyerwith fourfelonycounts:fraudulentuse of wire, radio or television transmissions; taking, copying, and using computer data without authorization;identity theft; andconspiracy. Lockyer issuedarrest warrantsfor all five of those so charged.Dunn was scheduled to have been arraigned on November 17, 2006. On March 14, 2007, the judge in the case dropped all criminal charges against her in the \\\"interests of justice\\\".The dropping of the criminal charges by Judge Cunningham came after Dunn refused to take a plea of one misdemeanor in exchange for four felonies before the preliminary hearing. Personal life Dunn married William Jahnke, a former head ofWells Fargo Investment Advisors.The couple owned awineryinAustralia,a home inHawaii,and a home inOrinda, California. Having survivedbreastandskin cancer, Dunn was diagnosed in January 2004 withadvanced ovarian cancer.Chemotherapyled\",\n \"to remission until August 2006, when she underwent surgery to removeliver metastases.On December 4, 2011, she died at home in Orinda– survived by her husband, three adult children, ten grandchildren, a brother, and a sister– at age 58. References Further reading External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":56,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins was commissioned to sculpt a series of life-size dinosaurs between 1852-54. In this location, one species only had its head and back built with the rest of its body submerged underwater because they didn't know what it looked like then. Where is this display located in 2024, which dinosaur species was this, and what did the rest of its body look like after all? "},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"Crystal Palace Park. The dinosaur is Mosasaurus, it had a streamlined body, an elongated tail ending with a downturn supporting a two-lobed fin, and two pairs of flippers. "},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Waterhouse_Hawkins"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Palace_Dinosaurs"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosasaurus"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Multiple constraints"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Waterhouse_Hawkins', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Palace_Dinosaurs', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosasaurus']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Waterhouse_Hawkins","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Palace_Dinosaurs","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosasaurus"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Waterhouse_Hawkins\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Palace_Dinosaurs\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosasaurus\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins(8 February 1807 – 27 January 1894) was an Englishsculptorandnatural historyartist renowned for his work on the life-size models ofdinosaurs in the Crystal Palace Parkin south London. The models, accurately made using the latest scientific knowledge, created a sensation at the time. Hawkins was also a noted lecturer onzoologicaltopics. Education and early career Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins was born inBloomsbury, London on 8 February 1807, the son of Thomas Hawkins, an artist, and Louisa Anne Waterhouse, the daughter of a Jamaica plantation family of apparent Catholic sympathies. He studied at St. Aloysius College, and learned sculpture fromWilliam Behnes. At the age of 20, he began to study natural history and later geology. He contributed illustrations toThe Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Beagle. During the 1840s, he produced studies of living animals inKnowsleyPark, nearLiverpoolforEdward Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby. The park was one of the largest private menageries in Victorian England and Hawkins' work was later published withJohn Edward Gray's text as\"Gleanings from the Menagerie at Knowsley\". Over the same period Hawkins exhibited four sculptures at theRoyal Academybetween 1847 and 1849, and was elected a member of theSociety of Artsin 1846 and a fellow of theLinnean Societyin 1847. Fellowship of theGeological Society of Londonfollowed in 1854. Great Exhibition Meanwhile, possibly due to Derby's connections, Hawkins was appointed assistant superintendent of theGreat Exhibition of 1851in London. The following year, he was appointed by the Crystal Palace company to create 33life-size concrete models of extinct dinosaursto be placed in the south London park to which the great glass exhibition hall was to be relocated. In this work, which took some three years, he collaborated with SirRichard Owenand other leading scientific figures of the time: Owen estimated the size and overall shape of the animals, leaving Hawkins to sculpt the models according to Owen's directions. A dinner was held inside the mould used to make theIguanodon. The dinner party, hosted by Owen on 31 December 1853, garnered attention in the press. Most of the sculptures are still on display inCrystal Palace Park. United States In 1868, he traveled to theUnited Statesto deliver a series of lectures. Working with the scientistJoseph Leidy, Hawkins designed and cast an almost completeskeletonofHadrosaurusfoulkii which was then displayed at theAcademy of Natural SciencesinPhiladelphia. Supported on an iron framework in a lifelike pose, this was the world's first mounted dinosaur skeleton. Hawkins was later commissioned to produce models forNew York City'sCentral Parkmuseum similar to these he had created in Sydenham. He established a studio on the original site of theAmerican Museum of Natural HistoryinManhattan, and planned to create aPaleozoic Museum. During his ten years in America (1868–1878), Hawkins designed exhibit halls for theSmithsonian InstitutioninWashington, D.C., and began to create an enormous paleontological museum for New York City. The museum was to have been in Central Park. His work was all destroyed in 1871 byHenry Hilton, the corrupt and bizarre-acting Treasurer and VP of Central Park, but was for many decades thought to have been the work of Hilton's employer, William \"Boss\" Tweed, a corrupt politician who wasn't adequately compensated for his patronage. However, Tweed himself was fighting scandals regarding his corrupt dealings at the time, and was later proved innocent of the destruction of Hawkins' models in 2023, when the real culprit was revealed through reexamination of historical records and annual reports and minutes. Hilton's motivations towards the vandalism are largely unknown, but may have been personal, with Hilton being purported to have told Hawkins that he \"should not bother with \"dead animals\", as there was enough to do among the living\", and that Hilton had little understanding or appreciation for art or nature, with several instances being recorded of him whitewashing priceless relics, statues and artifacts in bizarre acts of vandalism. Furthermore, Hilton had been placed in charge of establishing the American Museum of Natural History, and it is possible he wanted to eliminate the planned Paleozoic Museum, which he saw as competition. Following the tragic loss of his studio through destruction of all of his dinosaur models at the hands of Hilton's vandals, he returned to England in 1874, but almost immediately returned, doing dinosaur reconstructions atPrinceton University(then called the College of New Jersey) in Princeton, New Jersey (where he also created paintings of dinosaurs). These paintings remain in the collection of thePrinceton University Art Museum. Hawkins also worked at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 in Philadelphia. He again returned to Britain in 1878. Family and death Hawkins had married in 1826 to Mary Selina Green, and by her had several children. In 1835, he met and fell in love with artist Frances 'Louisa' Keenan, and the next year he left his family and bigamously married her. He kept in touch with Mary and her children, but lived with Louisa, having two additional daughters. On his 1874 return to England, he seems to have become estranged from Louisa. He was living with his son by Mary, amidst what he described a \"climax of domestic troubles\" thought to indicate that Louisa had finally learned that their 38-year marriage had been invalid, and this may have led to his precipitous return to America in 1875. After his second return to England, he moved toWest Bromptonto be near his first wife, Mary, who was ill. Mary died in 1880. In 1883, Hawkins again married Louisa, although since they were not cohabitants at the time this was probably done for legalistic reasons (to legitimize their children), and they apparently never reconciled before her death the next year. Hawkins suffered a debilitating stroke in 1889, leading to erroneous reports of his death.He died inPutneyon 27 January 1894.There is ablue plaqueat 22 Belvedere Road (\"Fossil Villa\") inUpper Norwood, commemorating where he lived between 1856 and 1872. Legacy Robert J. Sawyer's 1994 novelEnd of an Eramentions the famous New Year's Eve 1853 dinner party inside theIguanodon, citing both Hawkins and Sir Richard Owen by name. Works list Gallery References Sources Further reading External links","Crystal Palace Dinosaurs 51°25′3″N0°4′2″W / 51.41750°N 0.06722°W /51.41750; -0.06722 TheCrystal Palace Dinosaursare a series of sculptures ofdinosaursand other extinct animals, inaccurate by modern standards, in theLondonborough ofBromley'sCrystal Palace Park. Commissioned in 1852 to accompany theCrystal Palaceafter its move from theGreat ExhibitioninHyde Park, they were unveiled in 1854 as the first dinosaur sculptures in the world. The models were designed and sculpted byBenjamin Waterhouse Hawkinsunder the scientific direction of SirRichard Owen, representing the latest scientific knowledge at the time. The models, also known as theGeological CourtorDinosaur Court, were classed asGrade II listed buildingsfrom 1973, extensively restored in 2002, and upgraded to Grade I listed in 2007. The models represent 15generaof extinct animals, only three of which are true dinosaurs. They are from a wide range of geological ages, and include true dinosaurs,ichthyosaurs, andplesiosaursmainly from theMesozoicera, and some mammals from the more recentCenozoicera. Today, the models are notable for representing the scientific inaccuracies of early palaeontology, the result of improperly reconstructed fossils and the nascent nature of the science in the 19th century,with theIguanodonandMegalosaurusmodels being particularly singled out. History Following the closure of theGreat Exhibitionin October 1851,Joseph Paxton'sCrystal Palacewas bought and moved toPengePlace atopSydenham Hill, South London, by the newly formed Crystal Palace Company.The grounds that surrounded it were then extensively renovated and turned into a public park with ornamental gardens, replicas of statues and two new man-made lakes. As part of this renovation,Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkinswas commissioned to build the first-ever life-sized models of extinct animals. He had originally planned to just re-createextinctmammalsbefore deciding on building dinosaurs as well, which he did with advice fromSir Richard Owen, a celebratedanatomistandpalaeontologistof the time. Hawkins set up a workshop on site at the park and built the models there. The dinosaurs were built full-size in clay, from which a mould was taken allowing cement sections to be cast. The larger sculptures are hollow with a brickwork interior.There was also a limestone cliff to illustrate different geological strata.The sculptures and the geological displays were originally called \"the Geological Court\", an extension of the set of exhibits made for the park that reconstructed historic art, including the Renaissance, Assyrian, and Egyptian Courts. The models were displayed on three islands acting as a rough timeline, the first island for thePalaeozoicera, a second for theMesozoic, and a third for theCenozoic. The models were given more realism by making the water level in the lake rise and fall, revealing different amounts of the dinosaurs.To mark the launch of the models, Hawkins held a dinner on New Year's Eve 1853 inside the mould of one of theIguanodonmodels. Hawkins benefited greatly from the public's reaction to the dinosaurs, which was so strong it allowed for the sale of sets of small versions of the dinosaur models, priced at £30 for educational use. But the building of the models was costly (having cost around £13,729) and in 1855, the Crystal Palace Company cut Hawkins's funding.Several planned models were never made, while those half finished were scrapped, despite protest from sources including the Sunday newspaper,The Observer. Hawkins later worked on a \"Palaeozoic Museum\" in New York'sCentral Park, an American equivalent to the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. In May 1871 many of the exhibits in Hawkins' workshop were destroyed by vandals and their fragments buried, possibly including elements of the originalElasmosaurusskeleton, which the American palaeontologistEdward Drinker Copehad loaned to Hawkins for preparation at the time. With progress in palaeontology, the reputation of the Crystal Palace models declined. In 1895, the American fossil hunterOthniel Charles Marshscorned the dinosaurs' friends as doing them a great injustice, and spoke angrily of the models.The models and the park fell into disrepair as the years went by, a process aided by the fire that destroyed the Crystal Palace itself in 1936, and the models became obscured by overgrown foliage. A full restoration of the animals was carried out in 1952 by Victor H.C. Martin,at which time the mammals on the third island were moved to less well-protected locations in the park, where they were exposed to wear and tear. The limestone cliff was blown up in the 1960s. In 2001, the display was totally renovated. The destroyed limestone cliff was completely replaced using 130 large blocks ofDerbyshirelimestone, many weighing over 1 tonne (0.98 long tons; 1.1 short tons), rebuilt according to a small model made from the same number of polystyrene blocks.Fibreglass replacements were created for the missing sculptures, and badly damaged parts of the surviving models were recast. For example, some of the animals' legs had been modelled in lead, fixed to the bodies with iron rods; the iron had rusted, splitting the lead open. The models and other elements of Crystal Palace Park were classed asGrade II listed buildingsfrom 1973. The models were extensively restored in 2001, and upgraded to Grade I listed in 2007. In 2018, the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs ran a crowd funding campaign, endorsed by the guitaristSlash, to build a permanent bridge to Dinosaur Island.The bridge was designed by Tonkin Liu with engineering by Arup. The bridge swings on a pivot so it can be parked when not in use, to prevent unauthorised access. It was installed in January 2021. In May 2021, the nose and mouth of theMegalosaurussculpture was given an emergency renovation, after it had fallen off the previous year.Twenty-two new teeth and a 'prosthetic jaw' were installed on the sculpture. The renovation was funded by a grant from the Cultural Recovery Fund and fundraising from Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. The Dinosaur Park Fifteengeneraof extinct animals, not all dinosaurs, are represented in the park. At least three other genera (Dinornis, amastodon, andGlyptodon) were planned, and Hawkins began to build at least the mastodon before the Crystal Palace Company cut his funding in 1855. An inaccurate map of the time shows planned locations of theDinornisand mastodon. Palaeozoic era ThePalaeozoicera is represented in the park by the model rock exposure showing a succession of beds, namely theCarboniferous(includingCoal Measuresand limestone) andPermian. Crystal Palace's twoDicynodonmodels are based on incompletePermianfossils found inSouth Africa, along with Owen's guess that they were similar toturtles. No evidence has been found to suggestDicynodonhad protective shells. Mesozoic era TheMesozoicera is represented in the park by the model rock exposure showing a succession of beds, namely theJurassicandCretaceous, by models of dinosaurs and other animals known from mesozoic fossils, and by suitable vegetation – both living plants and models. Curiously, it isHylaeosaurus, from the Cretaceous of England, notIguanodon, that most resembles the giantiguanastereotypeof early ideas of dinosaurs. TheHylaeosaurusin reality is much likeAnkylosaurus– smallish quadrupedal herbivore with a knobbled armoured back, and spines along its sides. Hawkins's depiction is of a large Iguana-like beast with long sharp spines along its back, which Owen noted were \"accurately given in the restoration necessarily at present conjectural\". TheIchthyosaurusmodels are based onTriassicor Jurassic fossils from Europe. Though the three ichthyosaurs are partly in water, they are implausibly shown basking on land likeseals. Owen supposed they resembled crocodiles or plesiosaurs. Better fossil evidence shows that they have more in common withsharksanddolphins, having adorsal finand fish-like tail, whereas in Hawkins's models the tail is a flat protuberance from a straight backbone. A further discrepancy is that the models' eyes have exposed bonysclerotic plates, Owen conjecturing that with such large eyes they had \"great powers of vision, especially in the dusk\".They became one of the three mascots of Crystal Palace Park, along with theIguanodonandMegalosaurus(although ichthyosaurs are not dinosaurs). Coincidentally, the models more closely resemble more basic ichthyosaurs such asCymbospondylus. TheIguanodonmodels represent fossils from the Jurassic and Cretaceous of Europe.Gideon Mantellsketched the original fossil, found in Sussex in 1822 by his wife, Mary Ann Mantell, as like a long slender lizard climbing a branch (on four legs), balancing with a whiplike tail; lacking a skull, he conjectured that the thumb bone was a nose horn.The nose horn in particular is used repeatedly in popular textbooks and documentaries about dinosaurs to make fun of Victorian inaccuracies;actually, even in 1854, Owen commented \"the horn more than doubtful\". ThreeLabyrinthodonmodels were made for Crystal Palace, based on Owen's guess that, being amphibian in lifestyle, the Triassic animals might have resembled frogs; he named them Batrachia, from the Greek 'Batrachios', frog. One is smooth skinned and is based on the species \"Labyrinthodon salamandroides\" (Mastodonsaurus jaegeri); the other two were based on \"Labyrinthodon pachygnathus\" (Cyclotosaurus pachygnathus). Casts ofChirotheriumfootprints that Owen thought were made by the animalswere included in the ground around the models. Gigantic and visually impressive, theMegalosaurusbecame one of the park's three 'mascot dinosaurs' along with theIguanodonand (less so) the Ichthyosaurs. Working from fragmentary evidence from Jurassic fossils found in England, consisting mainly of a hip and femur (thigh bone), with a rib and a few vertebrae, Owen conjectured the animal was quadrupedal; palaeontologists now believe it to have been bipedal (standing likeTyrannosaurus rex). The first suggestion that some dinosaurs might have been bipedal came in 1858, just too late to influence the model. When the models were built, only skulls of the Cretaceous fossilMosasaurushad been discovered in the Netherlands, so Hawkins only built the head and back of the animal. He submerged the model deep in the lake, leaving the body unseen and undefined.TheMosasaurusat Crystal Palace is positioned in an odd place near the secondary island that was originally a waterfall, and much of it is not visible from the lakeside path. The threePlesiosaurusmodels represents three species of marine reptile,P. macrocephalus,P. dolichoderiusandP. hawkinsii, from the Jurassic of England. Two of them have implausibly-flexible necks. Owen noted that thePterodactylusfossils from the Jurassic of Germany had scales, not feathers, and while \"somewhat bird-like\" they had conical teeth, suggesting they were predatory. The two surviving models are perched on a rock outcrop; there were originally two more 'pterodactyls of theOolite'.The surviving models representPterodactylus cuvieri(=Cimoliopteruscuvieri), whereas the two other lost pterodactyl models representPterodactylus bucklandi(=Dolicorhamphusbucklandi). The latter species was poorly known based on fossil remains and explains why their designs were more based onPterodactylus antiquus. Owen correctly identifiedTeleosaurusas similar togharials, being slender JurassicCrocodilianswith very long thin jaws and small eyes, inferring from the sediment in which they were found that they were \"more strictly marine than the crocodile of the Ganges .\" Cenozoic era Anoplotheriumcommuneis an extinct mammal species from the lateEoceneto earliestOligoceneepochs, first found near Paris. Hawkins's models draw on Owen's speculation about itscamel-like appearance. Three models were made, forming a small herd.Hawkins seemingly closely followedGeorge Cuvier's reconstructions ofA. commune, giving it short or naked hair following Cuvier's view that its anatomy implied an aquatic lifestyle. Hawkins deviated from Cuvier by making it look more camel-like with small lips, small and rounded ears, a sloping skull, and four toes on each foot. These errors are the result of Hawkins' overreliance on camelids as an analogue for anoplotheriids.Anoplotheriumis today thought to have used its robust build and long tail for bipedal browsing. Confusion between whether theA. communesculptures were ofA. gracile(=Xiphodongracilis) is common, resulting from 19th-century guidebooks listing both species as present on the Tertiary Island.A. gracilewas another fossil species studied by Cuvier; it was later determined to be of a distinct genusXiphodon. Today, the sculptures of the three animals are confirmed to be ofA. commune, but the \"Megaloceros\" fawn has been identified as a misplaced statue ofA. gracile. An 1854 illustration reveals that there were once fourA. gracilesculptures, three of which were lost and one of which remains. The body of the sculpture appears more heavily inspired by camelids thanA. communewith a gracile muscle build. Megaloceros giganteusor Irish Elk is a species from thePliocenetoPleistoceneepochs inEurasia. Hawkins built fourMegalocerossculptures, two male and two female. One sculpture of a doe was lost, leaving just three sculptures today. The adult male's antlers were made from actual fossil antlers, long since replaced. Moved from the third island, they had fallen into disrepair as they were easily reached by vandals. With their original but fragile antlers, the Irish Elks were the most accurate of the Cenozoic models; since they are of recent geological age (dying out 11,000 years ago), Hawkins was able to model them on livingdeer. The giant ground slothMegatheriumis from the Pliocene to Pleistocene epochs in South America, whereCharles Darwinhad excavated some fossils in 1835. The model was built hugging a live tree which subsequently grew and broke the model's arm. The arm was replaced and later the tree died. The model depicts the sloth as having a short trunk like atapir, something the real animal never had. This model used to be in the children's zoo which has now been demolished. The models ofPalaeotheriumrepresent an extinct Eocene mammal thought byGeorges Cuvierto be tapir-like. Three species were represented by each individual sculpture: the small-sizeP. minor(=Plagiolophusminor), the medium-sizeP. medium, and the largest and most robust-appearingP. magnum, all of which were studied by Cuvier. They have suffered the most wear and tear of all of the models, and the standing model no longer looked much like the original made by Hawkins. During the 1960s these models were lying discarded in the bushes about fifty yards from the original site and, prior to the 2002 restoration, they were in such bad shape that they were removed and put into store.Some sources state that these models were added at a later date, but anIllustrated London Newsillustration of Hawkins's workshop shows them in the background.A replica ofP. magnumwas commissioned by the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs and built bypalaeoartistBob Nicholls, and unveiled to the public on 2 July 2023. Models of the \"fearfully great bird\"Dinornisof New Zealand (extinct by 1500 AD), and of the extinct elephant-likeMastodon(orDeinotheriumof theMioceneand Pliocene of Eurasia and Africa), were planned for the 'Tertiary Islands' but not completed. In culture Charles Dickens's 1853 novel,Bleak House, begins with a description of muddy streets, whose primordial character is emphasized by a dinosaur in the streets of London: \"Implacable November weather. As much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddlinglike an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill.\" InH. G. Wells's 1905 novelKipps, Kipps and Ann visit Crystal Palace and sit \"in the presence of the green and gold Labyrinthodon that looms so splendidly above the lake\" to discuss their future. There is a brief description of the dinosaurs and their surroundings and the impact they have on the characters.Several of E. Nesbit's children's books feature the Crystal Palace dinosaur sculptures coming to life, includingThe Enchanted Castle(1907). The 1932 novelHave His Carcase, byDorothy L. Sayers, has the characterLord Peter Wimseymention the \"antediluvian monsters\" of the Crystal Palace.Ann Coates's 1970 children's bookDinosaurs Don't Die, illustrated byJohn Vernon Lord, tells the story of a young boy who lives near Crystal Palace Park and discovers that Hawkins' models come to life; he befriends one of theIguanodonand names it 'Rock' and they visit theNatural History Museum. Thetravel writerPaul Therouxmentions the dinosaurs in his 1989 novelMy Secret History. The novel's narrator, Andre Parent, accidentally learns of his wife's infidelity when his young son, Jack, reveals that he has visited the dinosaurs in the company of his mother's 'friend' during Andre's prolonged absence gathering material for a travel book.The title story inPenelope Lively's 1991 novelFanny and the Monstersis about a Victorian girl who visits the Crystal Palace dinosaurs and becomes fascinated by prehistoric creatures. George Baxter, a pioneer of colour printing, made a well-known engraving which imagines Crystal Palace, set in its landscaped grounds with tall fountains and the dinosaurs in the foreground, before the 1854 opening.In 2023,Historic Englandcreated three-dimensional photogrammetric models of the 29 sculptures.The models can be viewed online. See also Footnotes References Sources Further reading External links","Mosasaurus Mosasaurus(/ˌmoʊzəˈsɔːrəs/; \"lizard of theMeuse River\") is thetype genus(defining example) of themosasaurs, an extinct group of aquaticsquamate reptiles. It lived from about 82 to 66 million years ago during theCampanianandMaastrichtianstagesof theLate Cretaceous. The genus was one of the first Mesozoic marine reptiles known to science—the first fossils ofMosasauruswere found as skulls in a chalk quarry near the Dutch city ofMaastrichtin the late 18th century, and were initially thought to be crocodiles or whales. One skull discovered around 1780 was famously nicknamed the \"great animal of Maastricht\". In 1808, naturalistGeorges Cuvierconcluded that it belonged to a giant marine lizard with similarities tomonitor lizardsbut otherwise unlike any known living animal. This concept was revolutionary at the time and helped support the then-developing ideas ofextinction. Cuvier did not designate a scientific name for the animal; this was done byWilliam Daniel Conybearein 1822 when he named itMosasaurusin reference to its origin in fossil deposits near the Meuse River. The exact affinities ofMosasaurusas a squamate remain controversial, and scientists continue to debate whether its closest living relatives are monitor lizards orsnakes. The largest species,M. hoffmannii, is estimated to measure up to 12 meters (39 ft) in maximum length, making it one of the largest mosasaurs. The skull ofMosasaurushad robust jaws and strong muscles capable of powerful bites using dozens of large teeth adapted for cuttingprey. Its four limbs were shaped into paddles to steer the animal underwater. Its tail was long and ended in a downward bend and a paddle-like fluke.Mosasauruspossessed excellent vision to compensate for its poor sense of smell, and a high metabolic rate suggesting it wasendothermic(\"warm-blooded\"), an adaptation in squamates only found in mosasaurs. There is considerable morphological variability across the currently-recognized species inMosasaurus—from the robustly-builtM. hoffmanniito the slender and serpentineM. lemonnieri—but an uncleardiagnosis(description of distinguishing features) of the type speciesM. hoffmanniiled to a historically problematic classification. As a result, more than fifty species have been attributed to the genus in the past. A redescription of thetype specimenin 2017 helped resolve the taxonomy issue and confirmed at least five species to be within the genus. Another five species still nominally classified withinMosasaurusare planned to be reassessed. Fossil evidence suggestsMosasaurusinhabited much of the Atlantic Ocean and the adjacent seaways.Mosasaurusfossils have been found in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Western Asia, and Antarctica. This distribution encompassed a wide range of oceanic climates including tropical, subtropical, temperate, and subpolar.Mosasauruswas a common large predator in these oceans and was positioned at the top of thefood chain. Paleontologists believe its diet would have included virtually any animal; it likely preyed on bony fish, sharks,cephalopods, birds, and other marine reptiles includingsea turtlesand other mosasaurs. It likely preferred to hunt in open water near the surface. From an ecological standpoint,Mosasaurusprobably had a profound impact on the structuring of marine ecosystems; its arrival in some locations such as theWestern Interior Seawayin North America coincides with a complete turnover offaunal assemblagesand diversity.Mosasaurusfaced competition with other large predatory mosasaurs such asPrognathodonandTylosaurus—which were known to feed on similar prey—though they were able to coexist in the same ecosystems throughniche partitioning. There were still conflicts among them, as an instance ofTylosaurusattacking aMosasaurushas been documented. Several fossils document deliberate attacks onMosasaurusindividuals by members of the same species. In fighting likely took place in the form of snout grappling, as seen in modern crocodiles. Research history Discovery and identification The firstMosasaurusfossil known to science was discovered in 1764 in achalkquarry nearMaastrichtin the Netherlands in the form of a skull, which was initially identified as awhale.This specimen, cataloged as TM 7424, is now on display at theTeylers MuseuminHaarlem.Later around 1780,the quarry produced a second skull that caught the attention of the physicianJohann Leonard Hoffmann, who thought it was acrocodile. He contacted the prominent biologistPetrus Camper, and the skull gained international attention after Camper published a study identifying it as a whale.This caught the attention ofFrench revolutionaries, who looted the fossil following the capture of Maastricht during theFrench Revolutionary Warsin 1794.In a 1799 narrative of this event byBarthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond, the skull was allegedly retrieved by twelvegrenadiersin exchange for an offer of 600 bottles of wine.This story helped elevate the fossil into cultural fame, but historians agree that the narrative was exaggerated. After its seizure, the second skull was sent to theNational Museum of Natural History, Francein 1795 and later cataloged as MNHN AC 9648.By 1800, Camper's sonAdriaan Gilles Camperconcluded that the fossil, which by then was nicknamed the \"great animal of Maastricht\", belonged to amarine reptilesharing affinities tomonitor lizards, but otherwise unlike any modern animal.Georges Cuvierconfirmed the observations of Camper Jr. in a more in-depth study which was published in 1808.The skull became part of Cuvier's first speculations about the conception ofextinction, which later led to his theory ofcatastrophism, a precursor to the theory ofevolution. At the time, it was not believed that a species could go extinct, and fossils of animals were often interpreted as some form of anextantspecies.Cuvier's idea that there existed an animal unlike any today was revolutionary at the time, and in 1812 he proclaimed, \"Above all, the precise determination of the famous animal from Maastricht seems to us as important for the theory of zoological laws, as for the history of the globe.\"In a 1822 work byJames Parkinson,William Daniel Conybearecoined the genusMosasaurusfrom theLatinMosa\"Meuse\" and theAncient Greekσαῦρος (saûros, \"lizard\"), all literally meaning \"lizard of the Meuse\", in reference to the river where the holotype specimen was discovered nearby.In 1829,Gideon Mantelladded thespecific epithethoffmannii, in honor to Hoffmann.Cuvier later designated the second skull as the new species'holotype(defining example).: 3 Other species In 1804, theLewis and Clark Expeditiondiscovered a now-lost fossil skeleton alongside theMissouri River, which was identified as a 45-foot (14 m) long fish.Richard Ellisspeculated in 2003 that this may have been the earliest discovery of the second speciesM. missouriensis,although competing speculations exist.In 1818, a fossil fromMonmouth County, New Jerseybecame the first North American specimen to be correctly recognized as aMosasaurusby scientists of the time. Thetype specimenofM. missouriensiswas first described in 1834 byRichard Harlanbased on a snout fragment found along the river'sBig Bend.In reference to its discovery made in the river, he coined the specific epithet and initially identified it as a species ofIchthyosaurusbut later as anamphibiannamedBatrachiosaurus.The rest of the skull had been discovered earlier by a fur-trapper, and it eventually came under the possession of princeMaximilian of Weid-Neuwiedbetween 1832 and 1834. The fossil skull, now cataloged as RFWUIP 1327, was delivered toGeorg August GoldfussinBonnfor research, who published a study in 1845.The same year,Christian Erich Hermann von Meyersuspected that the skull and Harlan's snout were part of the same individual.This could not be confirmed at the time because the fossil snout became lost. The von Meyer's suggestion was confirmed in 2004, when the snout was found in the collections of the MNHN under the catalog number MNHN 958. The third species was described in 1881 byEdward Drinker Copefrom a fragmentary fossil skeleton having been discovered inNew Jersey,now cataloged as AMNH 1380.In his description, the Cope thought that it represented a giant species ofClidastesand named itClidastes conodon.In 1966, Donald Baird and Gerard R. Case reidentified it as a species ofMosasaurus.Although Cope did not provide theetymologyfor the specific epithetconodon,it is suggested that it could be aportmanteaumeaning \"conical tooth\", derived from theAncient Greekκῶνος (kônos, \"cone\") and ὀδών (odṓn, \"tooth\"), probably in reference to conical surface teeth smooth of the species. The fourth speciesM. lemonnieriwas first detected by Camper Jr. based on fossils from his father's collections, which he discussed with Cuvier during their 1799 correspondence, but Cuvier rejected the idea of anotherMosasaurusspecies.This species was re-introduced to science and formally described in 1889 byLouis Dollobased on a skull recovered by Alfred Lemonnier from aphosphatequarry in Belgium,a holotype since cataloged as IRSNB R28.Dollo names the species in his honor.Further mining of the quarry in subsequent years uncovered many additional well-preserved fossils, including multiple partial skeletons which collectively represented nearly the entire skeleton of the species. They were described by Dollo in later papers.: 136Despite being the best anatomically represented species,M. lemonnieriwas largely ignored in scientific literature. Theagarten Lingham-Soliar suggested two reasons for this neglect. First,M. lemonnierifossils are endemic to Belgium and the Netherlands, which despite the famous discovery of theM. hoffmanniiholotype attracted little attention from mosasaur paleontologists. Second, the species was overshadowed by the more famous and history-richtype species. M. lemonnieriis a controversial taxon, and there is debate on whether it is a distinct species or not.In 1967,Dale Russellargued thatM. lemonnieriandM. conodonare the same species and designated the former as ajunior synonymper theprinciple of priority.: 135In a 2000 study, Lingham-Soliar refuted this based on a comprehensive study of existingM. lemonnierispecimens,which was corroborated by a study on theM. conodonskull by Takehito Ikejiri andSpencer G. Lucasin 2014.In 2004, Eric Mulder, Dirk Cornelissen, and Louis Verding suggestedM. lemonniericould be a juvenile form ofM. hoffmanniibased on the argument that significant differences could be explained by age-based variation.However, the need for more research to confirm any hypotheses of synonymy was expressed. The fifth speciesM. beaugeiwas described byCamille Arambourgin 1952 from isolated teeth originating from phosphate deposits in theOulad Abdoun Basinand theGanntour Basinin Morocco,the holotype tooth being cataloged as MNHN PMC 7.The species is named in honor of Alfred Beaugé, director at the time of theOCP Group, who invited Arambourg to participate in the research project and helped him to provide local fossils. Early depictions Scientists during the early and mid-1800s initially imaginedMosasaurusas an amphibious marine reptile with webbed feet andlimbs for walking. This was based on fossils like theM. missouriensisholotype, which indicated an elastic vertebral column that Goldfuss in 1845 saw as evidence of an ability to walk and interpretations of somephalangesas claws.In 1854,Hermann Schlegelproved howMosasaurusactually had fully aquatic flippers. He clarified that earlier interpretations of claws were erroneous and demonstrated how the phalanges show no indication of muscle or tendon attachment, which would make walking impossible. They are also broad, flat, and form a paddle. Schlegel's hypothesis was largely ignored by contemporary scientists but became widely accepted by the 1870s whenOthniel Charles Marshand Cope uncovered more complete mosasaur remains in North America. One of the earliest depictions ofMosasaurusinpaleoartis a life-size concrete sculpture created byBenjamin Waterhouse Hawkinsbetween 1852 and 1854as part of thecollection of sculptures of prehistoric animalson display at theCrystal Palace ParkinLondon. The restoration was primarily informed byRichard Owen's interpretation of theM. hoffmanniiholotype and the anatomy of monitor lizards, so Hawkins depicted the animal as essentially a water-going monitor lizard. It was given a boxy head, nostrils at the side of the skull, large volumes of soft tissue around the eyes, lips reminiscent of monitor lizards, scales consistent with those in large monitors like theKomodo dragon, and a flipper. The model was deliberately sculpted incomplete, whichMark Wittonbelieved was likely to save time and money. Many elements of the sculpture can be considered inaccurate, even for the time. It did not take into account Golduss' 1845 study ofM. missouriensiswhich instead called for a narrower skull, nostrils at the top of the skull, and amphibious terrestrial limbs (the latter being incorrect in modern standards). Description Mosasauruswas a type ofderivedmosasaur, or a latecoming member with advanced evolutionary traits such as a fully aquatic lifestyle. As such, it had a streamlined body, an elongated tail ending with a downturn supporting a two-lobed fin, and two pairs of flippers. While in the past derived mosasaurs were depicted as akin to giant flipperedsea snakes, it is now understood that they were more similar in build to other large marine vertebrates such as ichthyosaurs,marine crocodylomorphs, andarchaeocete whalesthroughconvergent evolution. Size The type species,M. hoffmannii, is one of the largest marine reptiles known,though knowledge of its skeleton remains incomplete as it is mainly known from skulls.: 100Russell (1967) wrote that the length of the jaw equalled one tenth of the body length in the species.: 210Based on this ratio, Grigoriev (2014) used the largest lower jaw attributed toM. hoffmannii(CCMGE 10/2469, also known as thePenzaspecimen; measuring 171 centimeters (67 in) in length) to estimate a maximum length of 17.1 meters (56 ft).Using a smaller partial jaw (NHMM009002) measuring 90 centimeters (35 in) and \"reliably estimated at\" 160 centimeters (63 in) when complete, Lingham-Soliar (1995) estimated a larger maximum length of 17.6 meters (58 ft) via the same ratio.No explicit justification for the 1:10 ratio was provided in Russell (1967), and it has been considered to be probably overestimated by Clearyet al.(2018).In 2014, Federico Fanti and colleagues alternatively argued that the total length ofM. hoffmanniiwas more likely closer to seven times the length of the skull, which was based on a near-complete skeleton of the related speciesPrognathodon overtoni. The study estimated that anM. hoffmanniiindividual with a skull measuring more than 145 cm (57 in) would have been up to or more than 11 meters (36 ft) in length and weighed 10 metric tons (11 short tons) in body mass.Using the same ratio, Gayfordet al.(2024) calculated the total length for the Penza specimen to be 12 meters (39 ft). Isolated bones suggest someM. hoffmanniimay have exceeded the lengths of the Penza specimen. One such bone is aquadrate(NHMM 003892) which is 150% larger than the average size, which Everhart and colleagues in 2016 reported can be extrapolated to scale an individual around 18 meters (59 ft) in length. It was not stated whether they applied Russell's 1967 ratio,although Gayfordet al.(2024) suggested it was likely. M. missouriensisandM. lemonnieriare smaller thanM. hoffmanniibut are known from more complete fossils. Based on measurements of various Belgian skeletons, Dollo estimatedM. lemonnierigrew to around 7 to 10 meters (23 to 33 ft) in length.: 210He also measured the dimensions of IRSNB 3119 and recorded that the skull constituted approximately one-eleventh of the whole body.Polcynet al.(2014) estimated thatM. missouriensismay have measured up to 8–9 meters (26–30 ft) in length.Street (2016) noted that largeM. missouriensisindividuals typically had skulls exceeding lengths of 1 meter (3.3 ft).A particular near-complete skeleton ofM. missouriensisis reportedly measured at 6.5 meters (21 ft) in total length with a skull approaching 1 meter (3.3 ft) in length.Based on personal observations of various unpublished fossils from Morocco, Nathalie Bardetet al.(2015) estimated thatM. beaugeigrew to a total length of 8–10 meters (26–33 ft), their skulls typically measuring around 1 meter (3.3 ft) in length.With a referred skull measuring around 97.7 centimeters (38.5 in) in length,M. conodonhas been regarded as a small to medium-sized representative of the genus. Skull The skull ofMosasaurusis conical and tapers off to a shortsnoutwhich extends a little beyond the frontmost teeth.InM. hoffmannii, this snout is blunt,while inM. lemonnieriit is pointed.Above the gum line in both jaws, a single row of small pits known asforaminaare lined parallel to the jawline; they are used to hold the terminal branches of jaw nerves. The foramina along the snout form a pattern similar to the foramina inClidastesskulls.The upper jaws in most species are robustly built, broad, and deep except inM. conodon, where they are slender.The disparity is also reflected in thedentary, the lower jawbone,although all species share a long and straight dentary. InM. hoffmannii, the top margin of the dentary is slightly curved upwards;this is also the case with the largest specimens ofM. lemonnieri, although more typical skulls of the species have a near-perfectly straight jawline.The premaxillary bar,the long portion of the premaxillary bone extending behind the premaxillary teeth, is narrow and constricts near the middle inM. hoffmanniiandM. lemonnierilike in typical mosasaurs.InM. missouriensis, the bar is robust and does not constrict.The external nares (nostril openings) are moderately sized and measure around 21–24% of the skull's length inM. hoffmannii. They are placed further toward the back of the skull than in nearly all other mosasaurs (exceeded only byGoronyosaurus), and begin above the fourth or fifth maxillary teeth.As a result, the rear portions of themaxilla(the main tooth-bearing bone of the upper jaw) lack the dorsal concavity that would fit the nostrils in typical mosasaurs. Thepalate, which consists of the pterygoid bones,palatine bone, and nearbyprocessesof other bones, is tightly packed to provide greater cranial stability. Theneurocraniumhoused a brain which was narrow and relatively small compared to other mosasaurs. For example, the braincase of the mosasaurPlioplatecarpus marshiprovided for a brain around twice the size of that inM. hoffmanniidespite being only half the length of the latter. Spaces within the braincase for theoccipital lobeandcerebral hemisphereare narrow and shallow, suggesting such brain parts were relatively small. Theparietal forameninMosasaurus, which is associated with theparietal eye, is the smallest amongmosasaurids.The quadrate bone, which connected the lower jaw to the rest of the skull and formed the jaw joint, is tall and somewhat rectangular in shape, differing from the rounder quadrates found in typical mosasaurs.The quadrate also housed thehearing structures, with theeardrumresiding within a round and concave depression in the outer surface called the tympanic ala.Thetrachealikely stretched from theesophagusto below the back end of the lower jaw'scoronoid process, where it split into smaller pairs ofbronchiwhich extended parallel to each other. Teeth The features of teeth inMosasaurusvary across species, but unifying characteristics include a design specialized for cutting prey, highly prismatic surfaces (enamel circumference shaped by flat sides called prisms), and two opposite cutting edges.Mosasaurusteeth are large and robust except for those inM. conodonandM. lemonnieri, which instead have more slender teeth.The cutting edges ofMosasaurusdiffer by species. The cutting edges inM. hoffmanniiandM. missouriensisare finely serrated,while inM. conodonandM. lemonnieriserrations do not exist.The cutting edges ofM. beaugeiare neither serrated nor smooth, but instead possess minute wrinkles known as crenulations.The number of prisms inMosasaurusteeth can slightly vary between tooth types and general patterns differ between species—M. hoffmanniihad two to three prisms on the labial side (the side facing outwards) and no prisms on the lingual side (the side facing the tongue),M. missouriensishad four to six labial prisms and eight lingual prisms,M. lemonnierihad eight to ten labial prisms, andM. beaugeihad three to five labial prisms and eight to nine lingual prisms. Like all mosasaurs,Mosasaurushad four types of teeth, classified based on the jaw bones they were located on. On the upper jaw, there were three types: the premaxillary teeth, maxillary teeth, and pterygoid teeth. On the lower jaw, only one type, the dentary teeth, were present. In each jaw row, from front to back,Mosasaurushad: two premaxillary teeth, twelve to sixteen maxillary teeth, and eight to sixteen pterygoid teeth on the upper jaw and fourteen to seventeen dentary teeth on the lower jaw. The teeth were largely consistent in size and shape with only minor differences throughout the jaws (homodont) except for the smaller pterygoid teeth.The number of teeth in the maxillae, pterygoids, and dentaries vary between species and sometimes even individuals—M. hoffmanniihad fourteen to sixteen maxillary teeth, fourteen to fifteen dentary teeth, and eight pterygoid teeth;M. missouriensishad fourteen to fifteen maxillary teeth, fourteen to fifteen dentary teeth, and eight to nine pterygoid teeth;M. conodonhad fourteen to fifteen maxillary teeth, sixteen to seventeen dentary teeth, and eight pterygoid teeth;M. lemonnierihad fifteen maxillary teeth, fourteen to seventeen dentary teeth, and eleven to twelve pterygoid teeth;andM. beaugeihad twelve to thirteen maxillary teeth, fourteen to sixteen dentary teeth, and six or more pterygoid teeth.One indeterminate specimen ofMosasaurussimilar toM. conodonfrom thePembina Gorge State Recreation AreainNorth Dakotawas found to have an unusual count of sixteen pterygoid teeth, far greater than in known species. The dentition wasthecodont(tooth roots deeply cemented within the jaw bone). Teeth were constantly shed through a process where the replacement tooth developed within the root of the original tooth and then pushed it out of the jaw.Chemical studies conducted on aM. hoffmanniimaxillary tooth measured an average rate of deposition ofodontoblasts, the cells responsible for the formation ofdentin, at 10.9 micrometers (0.00043 in) per day. This was by observing thevon Ebner lines, incremental marks in dentin that form daily. It was approximated that it took the odontoblasts 511 days and dentin 233 days to develop to the extent observed in the tooth. Postcranial skeleton One of the most completeMosasaurusskeletons in terms of vertebral representation (Mosasaurussp.; SDSM 452)has sevencervical (neck) vertebrae, thirty-eight dorsal vertebrae (which includesthoracicandlumbar vertebrae) in the back, and eight pygal vertebrae (front tail vertebrae lackinghaemal arches) followed by sixty-eightcaudal vertebraein the tail. All species ofMosasaurushave seven cervical vertebrae, but other vertebral counts vary among them. Various partial skeletons ofM. conodon,M. hoffmannii, andM. missouriensissuggestM. conodonlikely had up to thirty-six dorsal vertebrae and nine pygal vertebrae;M. hoffmanniihad likely up to thirty-two dorsal vertebrae and ten pygal vertebrae;andM. missouriensisaround thirty-three dorsal vertebrae, eleven pygal vertebrae, and at least seventy-nine caudal vertebrae.M. lemmonierihad the most vertebrae in the genus, with up to around forty dorsal vertebrae, twenty-two pygal vertebrae, and ninety caudal vertebrae.: 155Compared to other mosasaurs, therib cageofMosasaurusis unusually deep and forms an almost perfect semicircle, giving it a barrel-shaped chest. Rather than being fused together, extensive cartilage likely connected the ribs with thesternum, which would have facilitated breathing movements and compression when in deeper waters.The texture of the bones is virtually identical with in modern whales, which indicatesMosasauruspossessed a high range of aquatic adaptation andneutral buoyancyas seen in cetaceans. The tail structure ofMosasaurusis similar to relatives likePrognathodon, in which soft tissue evidence for a two-lobed tail is known.The tail vertebrae gradually shorten around the center of the tail and lengthen behind the center, suggesting rigidness around the tail center and excellent flexibility behind it. Like most advanced mosasaurs, the tail bends slightly downwards as it approached the center, but this bend is offset from the dorsal plane at a small degree.Mosasaurusalso has large haemal arches located at the bottom of each caudal vertebra which bend near the middle of the tail, which contrasts with the reduction of haemal arches in other marine reptiles such asichthyosaurs. These and other features support a large and powerful paddle-like fluke inMosasaurus. The forelimbs ofMosasaurusare wide and robust.Thescapulaandhumerusare fan-shaped and wider than tall. Theradiusandulnaare short, but the former is taller and larger than the latter.Theiliumis rod-like and slender; inM. missouriensis, it is around 1.5 times longer than thefemur. The femur itself is about twice as long as it is wide and ends at the distal side in a pair of distinctarticular facets(of which one connects to theiliumand the other to the paddle bones) that meet at an angle of approximately 120°.Five sets ofmetacarpalsand phalanges (finger bones) were encased in and supported the paddles, with the fifth set being shorter and offset from the rest. The overall structure of the paddle is compressed, similar to inPlotosaurus, and was well-suited for faster swimming.In the hindlimbs, the paddle is supported by four sets of digits. Interactive skeletal reconstruction ofM. hoffmannii(hover over or click on each skeletal component to identify the structure) Classification History of taxonomy Because nomenclatural rules were not well-defined at the time, 19th century scientists did not giveMosasaurusa properdiagnosisduring its initial descriptions, which led to ambiguity in how the genus is defined. This ledMosasaurusto become awastebasket taxoncontaining as many as fifty different species. A 2017 study by Hallie Street and Michael Caldwell performed the first proper diagnosis and description of theM. hoffmanniiholotype, which allowed a major taxonomic cleanup confirming five species as likely valid—M. hoffmannii,M. missouriensis,M. conodon,M. lemonnieri, andM. beaugei. The study also held four additional species fromPacificdeposits—M. mokoroa,M. hobetsuensis,M. flemingi, andM. prismaticus—to be possibly valid, pending a future formal reassessment.Street & Caldwell (2017) was derived from Street's 2016 doctoral thesis, which contained aphylogeneticstudy proposing the constraining ofMosasaurusinto four species—M. hoffmannii,M. missouriensis,M. lemonnieri, and a proposed new species'M. glycys'—withM. conodonand the Pacific taxa recovered as belonging to different genera andM. beaugeiview as a junior synonymofM. hoffmannii.: 300 Systematics and evolution As thetype genusof the family Mosasauridae and the subfamily Mosasaurinae,Mosasaurusis a member of the orderSquamata(which compriseslizardsandsnakes). Relationships between mosasaurs and living squamates remain controversial as scientists still fiercely debate on whether the closest living relatives of mosasaurs are monitor lizards or snakes.Mosasaurus, along with mosasaur generaEremiasaurus,Plotosaurus,andMoanasaurustraditionally form a tribe within the Mosasaurinae variously calledMosasaurinior Plotosaurini.: 145–148 Phylogeny and evolution of the genus One of the earliest relevant attempts at an evolutionary study ofMosasauruswas done by Russell in 1967.He proposed thatMosasaurusevolved from aClidastes-like mosasaur, and diverged into two lineages, one giving rise toM. conodonand another siring achronospeciessequence which contained in order of successionM. ivoensis,M. missouriensis, andM. maximus-hoffmanni.: 202However, Russell used an early method of phylogenetics and did not use cladistics. In 1997, Bell published the first cladistical study of North American mosasaurs. Incorporating the speciesM. missouriensis,M. conodon,M. maximus, and an indeterminate specimen (UNSM77040), some of his findings agreed with Russell (1967), such asMosasaurusdescending from an ancestral group containingClidastesandM. conodonbeing the most basal of the genus. Contrary to Russell (1967), Bell also recoveredMosasaurusin a sister relationship with another group which includedGlobidensandPrognathodon, andM. maximusas a sister species toPlotosaurus. The latter renderedMosasaurusparaphyletic(an unnatural grouping), but Bell (1997) nevertheless recognizedPlotosaurusas a distinct genus. Bell's study served as a precedent for later studies that mostly left the systematics ofMosasaurusunchanged,: 214–215although some later studies have recovered the sister group toMosasaurusandPlotosaurusto instead beEremiasaurusorPlesiotylosaurusdepending on the method of data interpretation used,with at least one study also recoveringM. missouriensisto be the most basal species of the genus instead ofM. conodon.In 2014, Konishi and colleagues expressed a number of concerns with the reliance on Bell's study. First, the genus was severely underrepresented by incorporating only the three North American speciesM. hoffmannii/M. maximus,M. missouriensis, andM. conodon; by doing so, others likeM. lemonnieri, which is one of the most completely known species in the genus, were neglected, which affected phylogenetic results. Second, the studies relied on an unclean and shaky taxonomy of theMosasaurusgenus due to the lack of a clear holotype diagnosis, which may have been behind the genus's paraphyletic status.: 214–215Third, there was still a lack of comparative studies of the skeletal anatomy of large mosasaurines at the time.These problems were addressed in Street's 2016 thesis in an updated phylogenetic analysis.: 214–215 Conrad uniquely used onlyM. hoffmanniiandM. lemonnieriin his 2008 phylogenetic analysis, which recoveredM. hoffmanniias basal to a multitude of descendant clades containing (in order of most to least basal)Globidens,M. lemonnieri,Goronyosaurus, andPlotosaurus. This result indicated thatM. hoffmanniiandM. lemonnieriare not in the same genus.However, the study used a method unorthodox to traditional phylogenetic studies on mosasaur species because its focus was on the relationships of entire squamate groups rather than mosasaur classification. As a result, some paleontologists caution that lower-order classification results from Conrad's 2008 study such as the specific placement ofMosasaurusmay contain technical problems, making them inaccurate. The followingcladogramon the left (Topology A) is modified from amaximum clade credibility treeinferred by aBayesian analysisin the most recent major phylogenetic analysis of the Mosasaurinae subfamily by Madzia & Cau (2017), which was self-described as a refinement of a larger study by Simõeset al.(2017).The cladogram on the right (Topology B) is modified from Street's 2016 doctoral thesis proposing a revision to the Mosasaurinae, with proposed new taxa and renamings in single quotations.: 267 Dallasaurus turneri Clidastes liodontus Clidastes moorevillensis Clidastes propython Prognathodon overtoni Prognathodon rapax Prognathodon saturator Prognathodon currii Prognathodon solvayi Prognathodon waiparaensis Prognathodon kianda Eremiasaurus heterodontus Plesiotylosaurus crassidens Mosasaurus conodon Mosasaurus missouriensis Mosasaurus hoffmannii Plotosaurus bennisoni Globidens alabamaensis Globidens dakotensis Positions of groups Positions of individual taxa Prognathodon solvayi Clidastes propython Clidastes liodontus Clidastes moorevillensis Globidens alabamaensis Globidens dakotensis Prognathodon kianda Eremiasaurus heterodontus Prognathodon overtoni Prognathodon saturator Prognathodon currii Prognathodon rapax Plesiotylosaurus crassidens 'Marichimaera waiparaensis' 'Amblyrhynchosaurus wiffeni' 'Moanasaurus hobetsuensis' Moanasaurus mangahouange 'Moanasaurus longirostis' Mosasaurus missouriensis Mosasaurus lemonnieri Mosasaurus hoffmannii 'Mosasaurus glycys' 'Antipodinectes mokoroa' 'Umikosaurus prismaticus' 'Aktisaurus conodon' Plotosaurus bennisoni Paleobiology Head musculature and mechanics In 1995, Lingham-Soliar studied the head musculature ofM. hoffmannii. Because soft tissue like muscles do not easily fossilize, reconstruction of the musculature was largely based on the structure of the skull, muscle scarring on the skull, and the musculature in extant monitor lizards. In modern lizards, the mechanical build of the skull is characterized by a four-pivot geometric structure in thecraniumthat allows flexible movement of the jaws, possibly to allow the animals to better position them and prevent prey escape when hunting. In contrast, thefrontalandparietal bones, which in modern lizards connect to form a flexible pivot point, overlap in the skull ofM. hoffmannii. This creates a rigid three-pivot geometric cranial structure. These cranial structures are united by strong interlocking sutures formed to resist compression and shear forces caused by a downward thrust of the lower jaw muscles or an upward thrust of prey. This rigid but highly shock-absorbent structure of the cranium likely allowed a powerfulbite force. Like all mosasaurs, the lower jaws ofMosasauruscould swing forward and backward. In many mosasaurs likePrognathodonandM. lemonnieri, this function mainly served to allow ratchet feeding, in which the pterygoid and jaws would \"walk\" captured prey into the mouth like a conveyor belt. But especially compared to those inM. lemonnieri, the pterygoid teeth inM. hoffmanniiare relatively small, which indicates ratchet feeding was relatively unimportant to its hunting and feeding.Rather,M. hoffmanniilikely employed inertial feeding (in which the animal thrusts its head and neck backward to release a held prey item and immediately thrust the head and neck forward to close the jaws around the item) and used jaw adduction to assist in biting during prey seizure. Themagnus adductormuscles, which attach to the lower jaws to the cranium and have a major role in biting function, are massive, indicatingM. hoffmanniiwas capable of enormous bite forces. The long, narrow, and heavy nature of the lower jaws and attachment of tendons at the coronoid process would have allowed quick opening and closing of the mouth with little energy input underwater, which also contributed to the powerful bite force ofM. hoffmanniiand suggests it would not have needed the strongmagnus depressormuscles (jaw-opening muscles) seen in some plesiosaurs. Mobility and thermoregulation Mosasaurusswam using its tail. The swimming style was likelysub-carangiform, which is exemplified today bymackerels.Its elongated paddle-like limbs functioned ashydrofoilsfor maneuvering the animal. The paddles' steering function was enabled by large muscle attachments from the outwards-facing side of the humerus to the radius and ulna and modified joints allowed an enhanced ability ofrotating the flippers. The powerful forces resulting from utilization of the paddles may have sometimes resulted in bone damage, as evidenced by aM. hoffmanniiilium with significant separation of the bone'sheadfrom the rest of the bone likely caused by frequent shearing forces at the articulation joint. The tissue structure ofMosasaurus'bones suggests it had a metabolic rate much higher than modern squamates and itsresting metabolic ratewas between that of theleatherback sea turtleand that of ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs.Mosasauruswas likelyendothermicand maintained a constant body temperature independent of the external environment. Although there is no direct evidence specific to the genus, studies on the biochemistry of related mosasaur genera such asClidastessuggests that endothermy was likely present in all mosasaurs. Such a trait is unique among squamates, the only known exception being theArgentine black and white tegu, which can maintain partial endothermy.This adaptation would have given several advantages toMosasaurus, including increased stamina when foraging across larger areas and pursuing prey.It may have also been a factor that allowedMosasaurusto thrive in the colder climates of locations such asAntarctica. Sensory functions Mosasaurushad relatively largeeye socketswith largesclerotic ringsoccupying much of the sockets' diameter;the latter is correlated with eye size and suggests it had good vision. The eye sockets were located at the sides of the skull, which created a narrow field ofbinocular visionat around 28.5°but alternatively allowed excellent processing of a two-dimensional environment, such as the near-surface waters inhabited byMosasaurus. Brain castsmade from fossils ofMosasaurusshow that theolfactory bulbandvomeronasal organ, which both control the function of smell, are poorly developed and lack some structures inM. hoffmannii; this indicates the species had a poor sense of smell. InM. lemonnieri, these olfactory organs, although still small, are better developed and have some components lacking inM. hoffmannii. The lack of a strong sense of smell suggests that olfaction was not particularly important inMosasaurus; instead, other senses like vision may have been more useful. Feeding Paleontologists generally agree thatMosasauruswas likely an active predator of a variety of marine animals.Fauna likely preyed upon by the genus include bony fish, sharks, cephalopods, birds, and marine reptiles such as other mosasaursand turtles.It is unlikelyMosasauruswas a scavenger as it had a poor sense of smell.Mosasauruswas among the largest marine animals of its time,and with its large, robust cutting teeth, scientists believe larger members of the genus would have been able to handle virtually any animal.Lingham-Soliar (1995) suggested thatMosasaurushad a rather \"savage\" feeding behavior as demonstrated by large tooth marks on scutes of the giant sea turtleAllopleuron hoffmanniand fossils of re-healed fractured jaws inM. hoffmannii.The species likely hunted near the ocean surface as an ambush predator, using its large two-dimensionally adapted eyes to more effectively spot and capture prey.Chemical and structural data in the fossils ofM. lemonnieriandM. conodonsuggests they may have also hunted in deeper waters.: 152 Carbon isotope studies on fossils of multipleM. hoffmanniiindividuals have found extremely low values ofδ13C, the lowest in all mosasaurs for the largest individuals. Mosasaurs with lower δ13C values tended to occupy higher trophic levels, and one factor for this was dietary: a diet of prey rich in lipids such as sea turtles and other large marine reptiles can lower δ13C values.M. hoffmannii's low δ13C levels reinforces its likely position as an apex predator. Currently, there is only one known example of aMosasauruspreserved with stomach contents: a well-preserved partial skeleton of a smallM. missouriensisdated about 75 million years old with dismembered and punctured remains of a 1 meter (3.3 ft) long fish in its gut. This fish was much longer than the length of the mosasaur's skull, which measured 66 centimeters (26 in) in length, confirming thatM. missouriensisconsumed prey larger than its headby dismembering and consuming bits at a time. Due to coexistence with other large mosasaurs likePrognathodon, which specialized in robust prey,M. missouriensislikely specialized more on prey best consumed using cutting-adapted teeth in an example ofniche partitioning. Mosasaurusmay have taught their offspring how to hunt, as supported by a fossilnautiloidArgonautilus catarinaewith bite marks from two conspecific mosasaurs, one being from a juvenile and the other being from an adult. Analysis of the tooth marks by a 2004 study by Kauffman concluded that the mosasaurs were eitherMosasaurusorPlatecarpus. The positioning of both bite marks are at the direction the nautiloid's head would have been facing, indicating it was incapable of escaping and was thus already sick or dead during the attacks; it is possible this phenomenon was from a parent mosasaur teaching its offspring about cephalopods as an alternate source of prey and how to hunt one. An alternate explanation postulates the bite marks as from one individual mosasaur that lightly bit the nautiloid at first, then proceeded to bite again with greater force. However, there are differences in tooth spacing between both bites which indicate different jaw sizes. Behavior and paleopathology Intraspecific combat There is fossil evidence thatMosasaurusengaged in aggressive and lethal combat with others of its kind. One partial skeleton ofM. conodonbears multiple cuts, breaks, and punctures on various bones, particularly in the rear portions of the skull and neck, and a tooth from anotherM. conodonpiercing through the quadrate bone. No injuries on the fossil show signs of healing, suggesting that the mosasaur was killed by its attacker by a fatal blow in the skull.Likewise, anM. missouriensisskeleton has a tooth from anotherM. missouriensisembedded in the lower jaw underneath the eye. In this case, there were signs of healing around the wound, implying survival of the incident.Takuya Konishi suggested an alternative cause of this example being head-biting behavior duringcourtshipas seen in modern lizards.Attacks by anotherMosasaurusare a possible cause of physicalpathologiesin other skulls, but they could have instead arisen from other incidents like attempted biting on hard turtle shells. In 2004, Lingham-Soliar observed that if these injuries were indeed the result of an intraspecific attack, then there is a pattern of them concentrating in the skull region. Modern crocodiles commonly attack each other by grappling an opponent's head using their jaws, and Lingham-Soliar hypothesized thatMosasaurusemployed similar head-grappling behavior during intraspecific combat. Many of the fossils with injuries possibly attributable to intraspecific combat are of juvenile or sub-adultMosasaurus, leading to the possibility that attacks on smaller, weaker individuals may have been more common.However, the attacking mosasaurs of theM. conodonandM. missouriensisspecimens were likely similar in size to the victims.In 2006, Schulp and colleagues speculated thatMosasaurusmay have occasionally engaged incannibalismas a result of intraspecific aggression. Diseases There are someM. hoffmanniijaws with evidence of infectious diseases as a result of physical injuries. Two examples include IRSNB R25 and IRSNB R27, both having fractures and other pathologies in their dentaries. IRSNB R25 preserves acomplete fracturenear the sixthtooth socket. Extensive amounts of bonycallusalmost overgrowing the tooth socket are present around the fracture along with variousosteolytic cavities,abscesscanals, damages to thetrigeminal nerve, and inflamed erosions signifying severe bacterial infection. There are two finely ulcerated scratches on the bone callus, which may have developed as part of the healing process. IRSNB R27 has two fractures: one had almost fully healed and the other is an open fracture with nearby teeth broken off as a result. The fracture is covered with anonunionformation ofbony calluswith shallow scratch marks and a large pit connected to an abscess canal. Lingham-Soliar described this pit as resembling a tooth mark from a possible attacking mosasaur. Both specimens show signs of deep bacterial infection alongside the fractures; some bacteria may have spread to nearby damaged teeth and causedtooth decay, which may have entered deeper tissue from prior post-traumatic or secondary infections. The dentaries ahead of the fractures in both specimens are in good condition, suggesting that the arteries and trigeminal nerves had not been damaged; if they were, those areas would havenecrotizeddue to lack of blood. The dentaries' condition suggests that the species may have had an efficient process of immobilizing the fracture during healing, which helped prevent damage to vital blood vessels and nerves. This, along with signs of healing, indicates that the fractures were not imminently fatal. In 2006, Schulp and colleagues published a study describing a quadrate ofM. hoffmanniiwith multiple unnatural openings and an estimated 0.5 liters (0.13 U.S. gal) of tissue destroyed. This was likely a severebone infectioninitiated byseptic arthritis, which progressed to the point where a large portion of the quadrate was reduced to abscess. Extensive amounts of bone reparative tissue were also present, suggesting the infection and subsequent healing process may have progressed for a few months. This level of bone infection would have been tremendously painful and severely hampered the mosasaur's ability to use its jaws. The location of the infection may have also interfered with breathing. Considering how the individual was able to survive such conditions for an extended period of time, Schulp and colleagues speculated it switched to a foraging-type diet of soft-bodied prey like squid that could be swallowed whole to minimize jaw use. The cause of the infection remains unknown, but if it were a result of an intraspecific attack then it is possible one of the openings on the quadrate may have been the point of entry for an attacker's tooth from which the infection entered. Avascular necrosishas been reported by many studies to be present in every examined specimen ofM. lemonnieriandM. conodon.In examinations ofM. conodonfossils from Alabama and New Jersey andM. lemonnierifossils from Belgium, Rothschild and Martin in 2005 observed that the condition affected between 3-17% of the vertebrae in the mosasaurs' spines.Avascular necrosis is a common result ofdecompression illness; it involves bone damage caused by the formation of nitrogen bubbles from inhaled air decompressed during frequent deep-diving trips, or by intervals of repetitive diving and short breathing. This indicates that bothMosasaurusspecies may have either been habitual deep-divers or repetitive divers. Agnete Weinreich Carlsen considered it the simplest explanation that such conditions were a product of inadequate anatomical adaptation. Nevertheless, fossils of other mosasaurs with invariable avascular necrosis still exhibit substantial adaptations like eardrums that were well-protected from rapid changes in pressure. Unnatural fusion of tail vertebrae has been documented inMosasaurus, which occurs when the bonesremodelthemselves after damage from trauma or disease. A 2015 study by Rothschild and Everhart surveyed 15Mosasaurusspecimens from North America and Belgium and found cases of fused tail vertebrae in three of them.Two of these cases displayed irregular surface deformities around the fusion site caused by drainage of thevertebral sinuses, which is indicative of a bone infection. The causes of such infections are uncertain, but records of fused vertebrae in other mosasaurs suggest attacks by sharks and other predators as a possible candidate. The third case was determined to be caused by a form ofarthritisbased on the formation of smooth bridging between fused vertebrae. Life history It is likely thatMosasauruswasviviparous(giving live birth) like most modern mammals today. There is no evidence for live birth inMosasaurusitself, but it is known in a number of other mosasaurs;examples include a skeleton of a pregnantCarsosaurus,aPlioplatecarpusfossil associated with fossils of two mosasaur embryos,and fossils of newbornClidastesfrompelagic(open ocean) deposits.Such fossil records, along with a total absence of any evidence suggesting external egg-based reproduction, indicates the likeliness of viviparity inMosasaurus.Microanatomical studies on bones of juvenileMosasaurusand related genera have found that their bone structures are comparable to adults. They do not exhibit the bone mass increase found in juvenile primitive mosasauroids to support buoyancy associated with a lifestyle in shallow water, implying thatMosasauruswasprecocial: They were already efficient swimmers and lived fully functional lifestyles in open water at a very young age and did not require nursery areas to raise their young.Some areas in Europe and South Dakota have yielded concentrated assemblages of juvenileM. hoffmannii,M. missouriensisand/orM. lemonnieri. These localities are all shallow ocean deposits, suggesting that juvenileMosasaurusmay still have lived in shallow waters. Paleoecology Distribution, ecosystem, and ecological impact Mosasaurushad a transatlantic distribution, with its fossils having been found in marine deposits on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. These localities include theMidwestandEast Coastof the United States, Canada, Europe, Turkey, Russia, theLevant, the African coastline from Moroccoto South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, and Antarctica.During the Late Cretaceous, these regions made up the three seaways inhabited byMosasaurus: the Atlantic Ocean, theWestern Interior Seaway, and theMediterranean Tethys.Multiple oceanicclimate zonesencompassed the seaways, includingtropical,subtropical,temperate, andsubpolarclimates.The wide range of oceanic climates yielded a large diversity of fauna that coexisted withMosasaurus. Mediterranean Tethys The Mediterranean Tethys during theMaastrichtianstagewas located in what is now Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In recent studies, the confirmation of paleogeographical affinities extended this range to areas across the Atlantic including Brazil and the East Coast state of New Jersey. It is geographically subdivided into twobiogeographic provincesthat respectively include the northern and southern Tethyan margins. The two mosasaursMosasaurusandPrognathodonappear to have been the dominant taxa, being widespread and ecologically diversified throughout the seaway. The northern Tethyan margin was located around the paleolatitudes of30–40°N, consisting of what is now the European continent, Turkey, and New Jersey. At the time, Europe was a scattering of islands with most of the modern continental landmass being underwater. The margin provided a warm-temperate climate with habitats dominated by mosasaurs and sea turtles.M. hoffmanniiandPrognathodon sectoriuswere the dominant species in the northern province.In certain areas such as Belgium, otherMosasaurusspecies likeM. lemonnieriwere instead the dominant species, where its occurrences greatly outnumber those of other large mosasaurs.Other mosasaurs found in the European side of the northern Tethyan margin include smaller genera such asHalisaurus,Plioplatecarpus, andPlatecarpus; the shell-crusherCarinodens; and larger mosasaurs of similar trophic levels includingTylosaurus bernardiand four other species ofPrognathodon. Sea turtles such asAllopleurodon hoffmanniandGlyptochelone suickerbuyckiwere also prevalent in the area and other marine reptiles including indeterminateelasmosaurshave been occasionally found. Marine reptile assemblages in the New Jersey region of the province are generally equivalent with those in Europe; the mosasaur faunae are quite similar but excludeM. lemonnieri,Carinodens,Tylosaurus, and certain species ofHalisaurusandPrognathodon. In addition, they exclusively featureM. conodon,Halisaurus platyspondylusandPrognathodon rapax.Many types of sharks such asSqualicorax,Cretalamna,Serratolamna, andsand sharks,as well as bony fish such asCimolichthys, the saber-toothed herringEnchodus, and the swordfish-likeProtosphyraenaare represented in the northern Tethyan margin. The southern Tethyan margin was located along the equator between20°Nand20°S, resulting in warmer tropical climates. Seabeds bordering thecratonsin Africa and Arabia and extending to the Levant and Brazil provided vast shallow marine environments. These environments were dominated by mosasaurs andmarine side-necked turtles. Of the mosasaurs,Globidens phosphaticusis the characteristic species of the southern province; in the African and Arabian domain,Halisaurus arambourgiand'Platecarpus ptychodon'were also common mosasaurs alongsideGlobidens.Mosasauruswas not well-represented: the distribution ofM. beaugeiwas restricted to Morocco and Brazil and isolated teeth from Syria suggested a possible presence ofM. lemonnieri, althoughM. hoffmanniialso had some presence throughout the province.Other mosasaurs from the southern Tethyan margin include the enigmaticGoronyosaurus, the shell-crushersIgdamanosaurusandCarinodens,Eremiasaurus, four other species ofPrognathodon, and various other species ofHalisaurus. Other marine reptiles such as the marine monitor lizardPachyvaranusand the sea snakePalaeophisare known there. Aside fromZarafasaurain Morocco, plesiosaurs were scarce. As a tropical area, bony fish such asEnchodusandStratodusand various sharks were common throughout the southern Tethyan margin. Western Interior Seaway Many of the earliest fossils ofMosasauruswere found inCampanianstage deposits in North America, including the Western Interior Seaway, an inland sea which once flowed through what is now the central United States and Canada, and connected theArctic Oceanto the modern-dayGulf of Mexico. The region was shallow for a seaway, reaching a maximum depth of about 800–900 meters (2,600–3,000 ft).Extensive drainage from the neighboring continents,AppalachiaandLaramidia, brought in vast amounts of sediment. Together with the formation of a nutrient-rich deepwater mass from the mixing of continental freshwater, Arctic waters from the north, and warmer saline Tethyan waters from the south, this created a warm and productive seaway that supported a rich diversity of marine life. The biogeography of the region has been subdivided into two Interior Subprovinces characterized by different climates and faunal structures, and their borders are separated in modern-dayKansas. The oceanic climate of the Northern Interior Subprovince was likely a cool temperate one, while the Southern Interior Subprovince had warm temperate to subtropical climates.The fossil assemblages throughout these regions suggest a complete faunal turnover whenM. missouriensisandM. conodonappeared at 79.5 Ma, indicating that the presence ofMosasaurusin the Western Interior Seaway had a profound impact on the restructuring of marine ecosystems.The faunal structure of both provinces was generally much more diverse prior to the appearance ofMosasaurus, during afaunal stageknown as theNiobraran Age, than it was during the followingNavesinkan Age. In what is now Alabama within the Southern Interior Subprovince, most of the key genera including sharks likeCretoxyrhinaand the mosasaursClidastes,Tylosaurus,Globidens,Halisaurus, andPlatecarpusdisappeared and were replaced byMosasaurus.During the Navesinkan Age,Mosasaurusdominated the whole region, accounting for around two-thirds of all mosasaur diversity withPlioplatecarpusandPrognathodonsharing the remaining third. The Northern Interior Subprovince also saw a restructuring of mosasaur assemblages, characterized by the disappearance of mosasaurs likePlatecarpusand their replacement byMosasaurusandPlioplatecarpus.Some Niobraran genera such asTylosaurus,Cretoxyrhina,hesperornithids,and plesiosaurs including elasmosaurs such asTerminonatatorand polycotylids likeDolichorhynchopsmaintained their presence until around the end of the Campanian, during which the entire Western Interior Seaway started receding from the north.Mosasauruscontinued to be the dominant genus in the seaway until the end of the Navesinkan Age at the end of the Cretaceous.Contemporaneous fauna included sea turtles such asProtostegaandArchelon;many species of sea birds includingBaptornis,Ichthyornis, andHalimornis; sharks such as the mackerel sharksCretalamna,Squalicorax,Pseudocorax, andSerratolamna, the goblin sharkScapanorhynchus, the sand tigerOdontaspis, and the sawfish-likeIschyrhiza; and bony fish such asEnchodus,Protosphyraena,Stratodus, and theichthyodectidsXiphactinusandSaurodon. Antarctica Mosasaurusis known from late Maastrichtian deposits in theAntarctic Peninsula, specifically theLópez de Bertodano FormationinSeymour Island.Located within thepolar circleat around 65°S,temperatures at medium to large water depths would have been around 6 °C (43 °F) on average, while sea surface temperatures may have dropped below freezing and sea ice may have formed at times.Mosasaurusappears to be the most diverse mosasaur in the Maastrichtian Antarctica. At least two species ofMosasaurushave been described, but the true number of species is unknown as remains are often fragmentary and specimens are described inopen nomenclature. These species include one comparable withM. lemonnieri, and another that appears to be closely related toM. hoffmannii.M. sp.has also been described. However, it is possible that such specimens may actually representMoanasaurus, although this depends on the outcome of a pending revision of the genus.At least four other mosasaur genera have been reported in Antarctica, includingPlioplatecarpus, the mosasaurinesMoanasaurusandLiodon,andKaikaifilu. The validity of some of these genera is disputed as they are primarily based on isolated teeth.PrognathodonandGlobidensare also expected to be present based on distribution trends of both genera, although conclusive fossils have yet to be found.Other Antarctic marine reptiles included elasmosaurid plesiosaurs likeAristonectesand another indeterminate elasmosaurid.The fish assemblage of the López de Bertodano Formation was dominated byEnchodusand ichthyodectiformes. Habitat preference Known fossils ofMosasaurushave typically been recovered from deposits representing nearshore habitats during the Cretaceous period, with some fossils coming from deeper-water deposits.: 152, 178Lingham-Soliar (1995) elaborated on this, finding that Maastrichtian deposits in the Netherlands withM. hoffmanniioccurrences represented nearshore waters around 40–50 meters (130–160 ft) deep. Changing temperatures and an abundance in marine life were characteristic of these localities. The morphological build ofM. hoffmannii, nevertheless, was best adapted for a pelagic surface lifestyle. δ13C is also correlated with a marine animal's feeding habitat as isotope levels deplete when habitat is farther from the shoreline, so some scientists interpreted isotope levels as a proxy for habitat preference. Separate studies involving multipleMosasaurusspecimens have yielded consistently low δ13C levels of tooth enamel, indicating thatMosasaurusfed in more offshore or open waters. It has been pointed out how δ13C can be influenced by other factors in an animal's lifestyle, such as diet and diving behavior.: 122To account for this, a 2014 study by T. Lynn Harrell Jr. and Alberto Perez-Huerta examined the concentration ratios ofneodymium,gadolinium, andytterbiuminM. hoffmanniiandMosasaurussp. fossils from Alabama, theDemopolis Chalk, and theHornerstown Formation. Previous studies demonstrated that ratios of these three elements can act as a proxy for relative ocean depth of a fossil during earlydiagenesiswithout interference from biological processes, with each of the three elements signifying either shallow, deep, or fresh waters. The rare earth element ratios were very consistent throughout most of the examinedMosasaurusfossils, indicating consistent habitat preference, and clustered towards a ratio representing offshore habitats with ocean depths deeper than 50 meters (160 ft). Interspecific competition Mosasauruslived alongside other large predatory mosasaurs also considered apex predators, most prominent among them being the tylosaurines andPrognathodon.Tylosaurus bernardi, the only surviving species of the genus during the Maastrichtian, measured up to 12.2 meters (40 ft) in lengthwhile the largest coexisting species ofPrognathodonlikeP. saturatorexceeded 12 meters (39 ft).These three mosasaurs preyed on similar animals such as marine reptiles. A study published in 2013 by Schulp and colleagues specifically tested how mosasaurs such asM. hoffmanniiandP. saturatorwere able to coexist in the same localities through δ13C analysis. The scientists utilized an interpretation that differences in isotope values can help explain the level of resource partitioning because it is influenced by multiple environmental factors such as lifestyle, diet, and habitat preference. Comparisons between the δ13C levels in multiple teeth ofM. hoffmanniiandP. saturatorfrom the Maastrichtian-ageMaastricht Formationshowed that while there was some convergence between certain specimens, the average δ13C values between the two species were on average different. This is one indication of niche partitioning, where the two mosasaur genera likely foraged in different habitats or had different specific diets to coexist without direct competitive conflict. The teeth ofP. saturatorare much more robust than those ofM. hoffmanniiand were specifically equipped for preying on robust prey like turtles. WhileM. hoffmanniialso preyed on turtles, its teeth were built to handle a wider range of prey less suited forP. saturator. Another case of presumed niche partitioning betweenMosasaurusandPrognathodonfrom theBearpaw FormationinAlbertawas documented in a 2014 study by Konishi and colleagues. The study found a dietary divide betweenM. missouriensisandP. overtonibased on stomach contents. Stomach contents ofP. overtoniincluded turtles and ammonites, providing another example of a diet specialized for harder prey. In contrast,M. missouriensishad stomach contents consisting of fish, indicative of a diet specialized in softer prey. It was hypothesized that these adaptations helped maintain resource partitioning between the two mosasaurs. Nevertheless, competitive engagement evidently could not be entirely avoided. There is also evidence of aggressive interspecific combat betweenMosasaurusand other large mosasaur species. This is shown from a fossil skull of a subadultM. hoffmanniiwith fractures caused by a massive concentrated blow to the braincase; Lingham-Soliar (1998) argued that this blow was dealt by a ramming attack byT. bernardi, as the formation of the fractures were characteristic of a coordinated strike (and not an accident or fossilization damage), andT. bernardiwas the only known coexisting animal likely capable of causing such damage, using its robust arrow-like elongated snout. This sort of attack has been compared to the defensive behavior ofbottlenose dolphinsusing their beaks to kill or repellemon sharks, and it has been speculated thatT. bernardidealt the offensive attack via an ambush on an unsuspectingMosasaurus. Extinction By the end of the Cretaceous, mosasaurs were at the height of theirevolutionary radiation, and their extinction was a sudden event.During the late Maastrichtian, global sea levels dropped, draining the continents of their nutrient-rich seaways and altering circulation and nutrient patterns, and reducing the number of available habitats forMosasaurus. The genus adapted by accessing new habitats in more open waters.The last fossils ofMosasaurus, which include those ofM. hoffmanniiand indeterminate species, occur up to theCretaceous-Paleogene boundary(K-Pg boundary). The demise of the genus was likely a result of theCretaceous-Paleogene extinction eventwhich also wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs.Mosasaurusfossils have been found less than 15 meters (49 ft) below the boundary in the Maastricht Formation, theDavutlar Formationin Turkey, theJagüel Formationin Argentina,Stevns Klintin Denmark, Seymour Island, and Missouri. M. hoffmanniifossils have been found within the K-Pg boundary itself in southeastern Missouri between thePaleoceneClayton Formationand CretaceousOwl Creek Formation. Fossil vertebrae from the layer were found with fractures formed after death. The layer was likely deposited as atsunamite, alternatively nicknamed the \"Cretaceous cocktail deposit\". This formed through a combination of catastrophic seismic and geological disturbances, mega-hurricanes, and giant tsunamis caused by the impact of theChicxulub asteroidthat catalyzed the K-Pg extinction event.As well as physical destruction, the impact also blocked out sunlightleading to a collapse of marine food webs.AnyMosasaurussurviving the immediate cataclysms by taking refuge in deeper waters would have died out due to starvation from a loss of prey. One enigmatic occurrence ofMosasaurussp. fossils is in the Hornerstown Formation, a deposit typically dated to be from the PaleoceneDanianage, which was immediately after the Maastrichtian age. The fossils were found in association with fossils ofSqualicorax,Enchodus, and various ammonites within a uniquely fossil-rich bed at the base of the Hornerstown Formation known as the Main Fossiliferous Layer. This does not meanMosasaurusand its associated fauna survived the K-Pg extinction. According to one hypothesis, the fossils may have originated from an earlier Cretaceous deposit and werereworkedinto the Paleocene formation during its early deposition. Evidence of reworking typically comes from fossils worn down due to further erosion during their exposure at the time of redeposition. Many of theMosasaurusfossils from the Main Fossiliferous Layer consist of isolated bones commonly abraded and worn, but the layer also yielded better-preservedMosasaurusremains. Another explanation suggests the Main Fossiliferous Layer is a Maastrichtian time-averagedremaniédeposit, which means it originated from a Cretaceous deposit withwinnowedlow-sediment conditions. A third hypothesis proposes that the layer is alag depositof Cretaceous sediments forced out by a strong impact by a tsunami, and what remained was subsequently refilled with Cenozoic fossils. See also Notes References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins(8 February 1807 – 27 January 1894) was an Englishsculptorandnatural historyartist renowned for his work on the life-size models ofdinosaurs in the Crystal Palace Parkin south London. The models, accurately made using the latest scientific knowledge, created a sensation at the time. Hawkins was also a noted lecturer onzoologicaltopics. Education and early career Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins was born inBloomsbury, London on 8 February 1807, the son of Thomas Hawkins, an artist, and Louisa Anne Waterhouse, the daughter of a Jamaica plantation family of apparent Catholic sympathies. He studied at St. Aloysius College, and learned sculpture fromWilliam Behnes. At the age of 20, he began to study natural history and later geology. He contributed illustrations toThe Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Beagle. During the 1840s, he produced studies of living animals inKnowsleyPark, nearLiverpoolforEdward Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby. The park was one of the largest private menageries in Victorian England and Hawkins' work was later published withJohn Edward Gray's text as\\\"Gleanings from the Menagerie at Knowsley\\\". Over the same period Hawkins exhibited four sculptures at theRoyal Academybetween 1847 and 1849, and was elected a member of theSociety of Artsin 1846 and a fellow of theLinnean Societyin 1847. Fellowship of theGeological Society of Londonfollowed in 1854. Great Exhibition Meanwhile, possibly due to Derby's connections, Hawkins was appointed assistant superintendent of theGreat Exhibition of 1851in London. The following year, he was appointed by the Crystal Palace company to create 33life-size concrete models of extinct dinosaursto be placed in the south London park to which the great glass exhibition hall was to be relocated. In this work, which took some three years, he collaborated with SirRichard Owenand other leading scientific figures of the time: Owen estimated the size and overall shape of the animals, leaving Hawkins to sculpt the models according to Owen's directions. A dinner was held inside the mould used to make theIguanodon. The dinner party, hosted by Owen on 31 December 1853, garnered attention in the press. Most of the sculptures are still on display inCrystal Palace Park. United States In 1868, he traveled to theUnited Statesto deliver a series of lectures. Working with the scientistJoseph Leidy, Hawkins designed and cast an almost completeskeletonofHadrosaurusfoulkii which was then displayed at theAcademy of Natural SciencesinPhiladelphia. Supported on an iron framework in a lifelike pose, this was the world's first mounted dinosaur skeleton. Hawkins was later commissioned to produce models forNew York City'sCentral Parkmuseum similar to these he had created in Sydenham. He established a studio on the original site of theAmerican Museum of Natural HistoryinManhattan, and planned to create aPaleozoic Museum. During his ten years in America (1868–1878), Hawkins designed exhibit halls for theSmithsonian InstitutioninWashington, D.C., and began to create an enormous paleontological museum for New York City. The museum was to have been in Central Park. His work was all destroyed in 1871 byHenry Hilton, the corrupt and bizarre-acting Treasurer and VP of Central Park, but was for many decades thought to have been the work of Hilton's employer, William \\\"Boss\\\" Tweed, a corrupt politician who wasn't adequately compensated for his patronage. However, Tweed himself was fighting scandals regarding his corrupt dealings at the time, and was later proved innocent of the destruction of Hawkins' models in 2023, when the real culprit was revealed through reexamination of historical records and annual reports and minutes. Hilton's motivations towards the vandalism are largely unknown, but may have been personal, with Hilton being purported to have told Hawkins that he \\\"should not bother with \\\"dead animals\\\", as there was enough to do among the living\\\", and that Hilton had little understanding or appreciation for art or nature, with several instances being recorded of him whitewashing priceless relics, statues and artifacts in bizarre acts of vandalism. Furthermore, Hilton had been placed in charge of establishing the American Museum of Natural History, and it is possible he wanted to eliminate the planned Paleozoic Museum, which he saw as competition. Following the tragic loss of his studio through destruction of all of his dinosaur models at the hands of Hilton's vandals, he returned to England in 1874, but almost immediately returned, doing dinosaur reconstructions atPrinceton University(then called the College of New Jersey) in Princeton, New Jersey (where he also created paintings of dinosaurs). These paintings remain in the collection of thePrinceton University Art Museum. Hawkins also worked at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 in Philadelphia. He again returned to Britain in 1878. Family and death Hawkins had married in 1826 to Mary Selina Green, and by her had several children. In 1835, he met and fell in love with artist Frances 'Louisa' Keenan, and the next year he left his family and bigamously married her. He kept in touch with Mary and her children, but lived with Louisa, having two additional daughters. On his 1874 return to England, he seems to have become estranged from Louisa. He was living with his son by Mary, amidst what he described a \\\"climax of domestic troubles\\\" thought to indicate that Louisa had finally learned that their 38-year marriage had been invalid, and this may have led to his precipitous return to America in 1875. After his second return to England, he moved toWest Bromptonto be near his first wife, Mary, who was ill. Mary died in 1880. In 1883, Hawkins again married Louisa, although since they were not cohabitants at the time this was probably done for legalistic reasons (to legitimize their children), and they apparently never reconciled before her death the next year. Hawkins suffered a debilitating stroke in 1889, leading to erroneous reports of his death.He died inPutneyon 27 January 1894.There is ablue plaqueat 22 Belvedere Road (\\\"Fossil Villa\\\") inUpper Norwood, commemorating where he lived between 1856 and 1872. Legacy Robert J. Sawyer's 1994 novelEnd of an Eramentions the famous New Year's Eve 1853 dinner party inside theIguanodon, citing both Hawkins and Sir Richard Owen by name. Works list Gallery References Sources Further reading External links\",\n \"Crystal Palace Dinosaurs 51°25′3″N0°4′2″W / 51.41750°N 0.06722°W /51.41750; -0.06722 TheCrystal Palace Dinosaursare a series of sculptures ofdinosaursand other extinct animals, inaccurate by modern standards, in theLondonborough ofBromley'sCrystal Palace Park. Commissioned in 1852 to accompany theCrystal Palaceafter its move from theGreat ExhibitioninHyde Park, they were unveiled in 1854 as the first dinosaur sculptures in the world. The models were designed and sculpted byBenjamin Waterhouse Hawkinsunder the scientific direction of SirRichard Owen, representing the latest scientific knowledge at the time. The models, also known as theGeological CourtorDinosaur Court, were classed asGrade II listed buildingsfrom 1973, extensively restored in 2002, and upgraded to Grade I listed in 2007. The models represent 15generaof extinct animals, only three of which are true dinosaurs. They are from a wide range of geological ages, and include true dinosaurs,ichthyosaurs, andplesiosaursmainly from theMesozoicera, and some mammals from the more recentCenozoicera. Today, the models are notable for representing the scientific inaccuracies of early palaeontology, the result of improperly reconstructed fossils and the nascent nature of the science in the 19th century,with theIguanodonandMegalosaurusmodels being particularly singled out. History Following the closure of theGreat Exhibitionin October 1851,Joseph Paxton'sCrystal Palacewas bought and moved toPengePlace atopSydenham Hill, South London, by the newly formed Crystal Palace Company.The grounds that surrounded it were then extensively renovated and turned into a public park with ornamental gardens, replicas of statues and two new man-made lakes. As part of this renovation,Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkinswas commissioned to build the first-ever life-sized models of extinct animals. He had originally planned to just re-createextinctmammalsbefore deciding on building dinosaurs as well, which he did with advice fromSir Richard Owen, a celebratedanatomistandpalaeontologistof the time. Hawkins set up a workshop on site at the park and built the models there. The dinosaurs were built full-size in clay, from which a mould was taken allowing cement sections to be cast. The larger sculptures are hollow with a brickwork interior.There was also a limestone cliff to illustrate different geological strata.The sculptures and the geological displays were originally called \\\"the Geological Court\\\", an extension of the set of exhibits made for the park that reconstructed historic art, including the Renaissance, Assyrian, and Egyptian Courts. The models were displayed on three islands acting as a rough timeline, the first island for thePalaeozoicera, a second for theMesozoic, and a third for theCenozoic. The models were given more realism by making the water level in the lake rise and fall, revealing different amounts of the dinosaurs.To mark the launch of the models, Hawkins held a dinner on New Year's Eve 1853 inside the mould of one of theIguanodonmodels. Hawkins benefited greatly from the public's reaction to the dinosaurs, which was so strong it allowed for the sale of sets of small versions of the dinosaur models, priced at £30 for educational use. But the building of the models was costly (having cost around £13,729) and in 1855, the Crystal Palace Company cut Hawkins's funding.Several planned models were never made, while those half finished were scrapped, despite protest from sources including the Sunday newspaper,The Observer. Hawkins later worked on a \\\"Palaeozoic Museum\\\" in New York'sCentral Park, an American equivalent to the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. In May 1871 many of the exhibits in Hawkins' workshop were destroyed by vandals and their fragments buried, possibly including elements of the originalElasmosaurusskeleton, which the American palaeontologistEdward Drinker Copehad loaned to Hawkins for preparation at the time. With progress in palaeontology, the reputation of the Crystal Palace models declined. In 1895, the American fossil hunterOthniel Charles Marshscorned the dinosaurs' friends as doing them a great injustice, and spoke angrily of the models.The models and the park fell into disrepair as the years went by, a process aided by the fire that destroyed the Crystal Palace itself in 1936, and the models became obscured by overgrown foliage. A full restoration of the animals was carried out in 1952 by Victor H.C. Martin,at which time the mammals on the third island were moved to less well-protected locations in the park, where they were exposed to wear and tear. The limestone cliff was blown up in the 1960s. In 2001, the display was totally renovated. The destroyed limestone cliff was completely replaced using 130 large blocks ofDerbyshirelimestone, many weighing over 1 tonne (0.98 long tons; 1.1 short tons), rebuilt according to a small model made from the same number of polystyrene blocks.Fibreglass replacements were created for the missing sculptures, and badly damaged parts of the surviving models were recast. For example, some of the animals' legs had been modelled in lead, fixed to the bodies with iron rods; the iron had rusted, splitting the lead open. The models and other elements of Crystal Palace Park were classed asGrade II listed buildingsfrom 1973. The models were extensively restored in 2001, and upgraded to Grade I listed in 2007. In 2018, the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs ran a crowd funding campaign, endorsed by the guitaristSlash, to build a permanent bridge to Dinosaur Island.The bridge was designed by Tonkin Liu with engineering by Arup. The bridge swings on a pivot so it can be parked when not in use, to prevent unauthorised access. It was installed in January 2021. In May 2021, the nose and mouth of theMegalosaurussculpture was given an emergency renovation, after it had fallen off the previous year.Twenty-two new teeth and a 'prosthetic jaw' were installed on the sculpture. The renovation was funded by a grant from the Cultural Recovery Fund and fundraising from Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. The Dinosaur Park Fifteengeneraof extinct animals, not all dinosaurs, are represented in the park. At least three other genera (Dinornis, amastodon, andGlyptodon) were planned, and Hawkins began to build at least the mastodon before the Crystal Palace Company cut his funding in 1855. An inaccurate map of the time shows planned locations of theDinornisand mastodon. Palaeozoic era ThePalaeozoicera is represented in the park by the model rock exposure showing a succession of beds, namely theCarboniferous(includingCoal Measuresand limestone) andPermian. Crystal Palace's twoDicynodonmodels are based on incompletePermianfossils found inSouth Africa, along with Owen's guess that they were similar toturtles. No evidence has been found to suggestDicynodonhad protective shells. Mesozoic era TheMesozoicera is represented in the park by the model rock exposure showing a succession of beds, namely theJurassicandCretaceous, by models of dinosaurs and other animals known from mesozoic fossils, and by suitable vegetation – both living plants and models. Curiously, it isHylaeosaurus, from the Cretaceous of England, notIguanodon, that most resembles the giantiguanastereotypeof early ideas of dinosaurs. TheHylaeosaurusin reality is much likeAnkylosaurus– smallish quadrupedal herbivore with a knobbled armoured back, and spines along its sides. Hawkins's depiction is of a large Iguana-like beast with long sharp spines along its back, which Owen noted were \\\"accurately given in the restoration necessarily at present conjectural\\\". TheIchthyosaurusmodels are based onTriassicor Jurassic fossils from Europe. Though the three ichthyosaurs are partly in water, they are implausibly shown basking on land likeseals. Owen supposed they resembled crocodiles or plesiosaurs. Better fossil evidence shows that they have more in common withsharksanddolphins, having adorsal finand fish-like tail, whereas in Hawkins's models the tail is a flat protuberance from a straight backbone. A further discrepancy is that the models' eyes have exposed bonysclerotic plates, Owen conjecturing that with such large eyes they had \\\"great powers of vision, especially in the dusk\\\".They became one of the three mascots of Crystal Palace Park, along with theIguanodonandMegalosaurus(although ichthyosaurs are not dinosaurs). Coincidentally, the models more closely resemble more basic ichthyosaurs such asCymbospondylus. TheIguanodonmodels represent fossils from the Jurassic and Cretaceous of Europe.Gideon Mantellsketched the original fossil, found in Sussex in 1822 by his wife, Mary Ann Mantell, as like a long slender lizard climbing a branch (on four legs), balancing with a whiplike tail; lacking a skull, he conjectured that the thumb bone was a nose horn.The nose horn in particular is used repeatedly in popular textbooks and documentaries about dinosaurs to make fun of Victorian inaccuracies;actually, even in 1854, Owen commented \\\"the horn more than doubtful\\\". ThreeLabyrinthodonmodels were made for Crystal Palace, based on Owen's guess that, being amphibian in lifestyle, the Triassic animals might have resembled frogs; he named them Batrachia, from the Greek 'Batrachios', frog. One is smooth skinned and is based on the species \\\"Labyrinthodon salamandroides\\\" (Mastodonsaurus jaegeri); the other two were based on \\\"Labyrinthodon pachygnathus\\\" (Cyclotosaurus pachygnathus). Casts ofChirotheriumfootprints that Owen thought were made by the animalswere included in the ground around the models. Gigantic and visually impressive, theMegalosaurusbecame one of the park's three 'mascot dinosaurs' along with theIguanodonand (less so) the Ichthyosaurs. Working from fragmentary evidence from Jurassic fossils found in England, consisting mainly of a hip and femur (thigh bone), with a rib and a few vertebrae, Owen conjectured the animal was quadrupedal; palaeontologists now believe it to have been bipedal (standing likeTyrannosaurus rex). The first suggestion that some dinosaurs might have been bipedal came in 1858, just too late to influence the model. When the models were built, only skulls of the Cretaceous fossilMosasaurushad been discovered in the Netherlands, so Hawkins only built the head and back of the animal. He submerged the model deep in the lake, leaving the body unseen and undefined.TheMosasaurusat Crystal Palace is positioned in an odd place near the secondary island that was originally a waterfall, and much of it is not visible from the lakeside path. The threePlesiosaurusmodels represents three species of marine reptile,P. macrocephalus,P. dolichoderiusandP. hawkinsii, from the Jurassic of England. Two of them have implausibly-flexible necks. Owen noted that thePterodactylusfossils from the Jurassic of Germany had scales, not feathers, and while \\\"somewhat bird-like\\\" they had conical teeth, suggesting they were predatory. The two surviving models are perched on a rock outcrop; there were originally two more 'pterodactyls of theOolite'.The surviving models representPterodactylus cuvieri(=Cimoliopteruscuvieri), whereas the two other lost pterodactyl models representPterodactylus bucklandi(=Dolicorhamphusbucklandi). The latter species was poorly known based on fossil remains and explains why their designs were more based onPterodactylus antiquus. Owen correctly identifiedTeleosaurusas similar togharials, being slender JurassicCrocodilianswith very long thin jaws and small eyes, inferring from the sediment in which they were found that they were \\\"more strictly marine than the crocodile of the Ganges .\\\" Cenozoic era Anoplotheriumcommuneis an extinct mammal species from the lateEoceneto earliestOligoceneepochs, first found near Paris. Hawkins's models draw on Owen's speculation about itscamel-like appearance. Three models were made, forming a small herd.Hawkins seemingly closely followedGeorge Cuvier's reconstructions ofA. commune, giving it short or naked hair following Cuvier's view that its anatomy implied an aquatic lifestyle. Hawkins deviated from Cuvier by making it look more camel-like with small lips, small and rounded ears, a sloping skull, and four toes on each foot. These errors are the result of Hawkins' overreliance on camelids as an analogue for anoplotheriids.Anoplotheriumis today thought to have used its robust build and long tail for bipedal browsing. Confusion between whether theA. communesculptures were ofA. gracile(=Xiphodongracilis) is common, resulting from 19th-century guidebooks listing both species as present on the Tertiary Island.A. gracilewas another fossil species studied by Cuvier; it was later determined to be of a distinct genusXiphodon. Today, the sculptures of the three animals are confirmed to be ofA. commune, but the \\\"Megaloceros\\\" fawn has been identified as a misplaced statue ofA. gracile. An 1854 illustration reveals that there were once fourA. gracilesculptures, three of which were lost and one of which remains. The body of the sculpture appears more heavily inspired by camelids thanA. communewith a gracile muscle build. Megaloceros giganteusor Irish Elk is a species from thePliocenetoPleistoceneepochs inEurasia. Hawkins built fourMegalocerossculptures, two male and two female. One sculpture of a doe was lost, leaving just three sculptures today. The adult male's antlers were made from actual fossil antlers, long since replaced. Moved from the third island, they had fallen into disrepair as they were easily reached by vandals. With their original but fragile antlers, the Irish Elks were the most accurate of the Cenozoic models; since they are of recent geological age (dying out 11,000 years ago), Hawkins was able to model them on livingdeer. The giant ground slothMegatheriumis from the Pliocene to Pleistocene epochs in South America, whereCharles Darwinhad excavated some fossils in 1835. The model was built hugging a live tree which subsequently grew and broke the model's arm. The arm was replaced and later the tree died. The model depicts the sloth as having a short trunk like atapir, something the real animal never had. This model used to be in the children's zoo which has now been demolished. The models ofPalaeotheriumrepresent an extinct Eocene mammal thought byGeorges Cuvierto be tapir-like. Three species were represented by each individual sculpture: the small-sizeP. minor(=Plagiolophusminor), the medium-sizeP. medium, and the largest and most robust-appearingP. magnum, all of which were studied by Cuvier. They have suffered the most wear and tear of all of the models, and the standing model no longer looked much like the original made by Hawkins. During the 1960s these models were lying discarded in the bushes about fifty yards from the original site and, prior to the 2002 restoration, they were in such bad shape that they were removed and put into store.Some sources state that these models were added at a later date, but anIllustrated London Newsillustration of Hawkins's workshop shows them in the background.A replica ofP. magnumwas commissioned by the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs and built bypalaeoartistBob Nicholls, and unveiled to the public on 2 July 2023. Models of the \\\"fearfully great bird\\\"Dinornisof New Zealand (extinct by 1500 AD), and of the extinct elephant-likeMastodon(orDeinotheriumof theMioceneand Pliocene of Eurasia and Africa), were planned for the 'Tertiary Islands' but not completed. In culture Charles Dickens's 1853 novel,Bleak House, begins with a description of muddy streets, whose primordial character is emphasized by a dinosaur in the streets of London: \\\"Implacable November weather. As much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddlinglike an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill.\\\" InH. G. Wells's 1905 novelKipps, Kipps and Ann visit Crystal Palace and sit \\\"in the presence of the green and gold Labyrinthodon that looms so splendidly above the lake\\\" to discuss their future. There is a brief description of the dinosaurs and their surroundings and the impact they have on the characters.Several of E. Nesbit's children's books feature the Crystal Palace dinosaur sculptures coming to life, includingThe Enchanted Castle(1907). The 1932 novelHave His Carcase, byDorothy L. Sayers, has the characterLord Peter Wimseymention the \\\"antediluvian monsters\\\" of the Crystal Palace.Ann Coates's 1970 children's bookDinosaurs Don't Die, illustrated byJohn Vernon Lord, tells the story of a young boy who lives near Crystal Palace Park and discovers that Hawkins' models come to life; he befriends one of theIguanodonand names it 'Rock' and they visit theNatural History Museum. Thetravel writerPaul Therouxmentions the dinosaurs in his 1989 novelMy Secret History. The novel's narrator, Andre Parent, accidentally learns of his wife's infidelity when his young son, Jack, reveals that he has visited the dinosaurs in the company of his mother's 'friend' during Andre's prolonged absence gathering material for a travel book.The title story inPenelope Lively's 1991 novelFanny and the Monstersis about a Victorian girl who visits the Crystal Palace dinosaurs and becomes fascinated by prehistoric creatures. George Baxter, a pioneer of colour printing, made a well-known engraving which imagines Crystal Palace, set in its landscaped grounds with tall fountains and the dinosaurs in the foreground, before the 1854 opening.In 2023,Historic Englandcreated three-dimensional photogrammetric models of the 29 sculptures.The models can be viewed online. See also Footnotes References Sources Further reading External links\",\n \"Mosasaurus Mosasaurus(/ˌmoʊzəˈsɔːrəs/; \\\"lizard of theMeuse River\\\") is thetype genus(defining example) of themosasaurs, an extinct group of aquaticsquamate reptiles. It lived from about 82 to 66 million years ago during theCampanianandMaastrichtianstagesof theLate Cretaceous. The genus was one of the first Mesozoic marine reptiles known to science—the first fossils ofMosasauruswere found as skulls in a chalk quarry near the Dutch city ofMaastrichtin the late 18th century, and were initially thought to be crocodiles or whales. One skull discovered around 1780 was famously nicknamed the \\\"great animal of Maastricht\\\". In 1808, naturalistGeorges Cuvierconcluded that it belonged to a giant marine lizard with similarities tomonitor lizardsbut otherwise unlike any known living animal. This concept was revolutionary at the time and helped support the then-developing ideas ofextinction. Cuvier did not designate a scientific name for the animal; this was done byWilliam Daniel Conybearein 1822 when he named itMosasaurusin reference to its origin in fossil deposits near the Meuse River. The exact affinities ofMosasaurusas a squamate remain controversial, and scientists continue to debate whether its closest living relatives are monitor lizards orsnakes. The largest species,M. hoffmannii, is estimated to measure up to 12 meters (39 ft) in maximum length, making it one of the largest mosasaurs. The skull ofMosasaurushad robust jaws and strong muscles capable of powerful bites using dozens of large teeth adapted for cuttingprey. Its four limbs were shaped into paddles to steer the animal underwater. Its tail was long and ended in a downward bend and a paddle-like fluke.Mosasauruspossessed excellent vision to compensate for its poor sense of smell, and a high metabolic rate suggesting it wasendothermic(\\\"warm-blooded\\\"), an adaptation in squamates only found in mosasaurs. There is considerable morphological variability across the currently-recognized species inMosasaurus—from the robustly-builtM. hoffmanniito the slender and serpentineM. lemonnieri—but an uncleardiagnosis(description of distinguishing features) of the type speciesM. hoffmanniiled to a historically problematic classification. As a result, more than fifty species have been attributed to the genus in the past. A redescription of thetype specimenin 2017 helped resolve the taxonomy issue and confirmed at least five species to be within the genus. Another five species still nominally classified withinMosasaurusare planned to be reassessed. Fossil evidence suggestsMosasaurusinhabited much of the Atlantic Ocean and the adjacent seaways.Mosasaurusfossils have been found in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Western Asia, and Antarctica. This distribution encompassed a wide range of oceanic climates including tropical, subtropical, temperate, and subpolar.Mosasauruswas a common large predator in these oceans and was positioned at the top of thefood chain. Paleontologists believe its diet would have included virtually any animal; it likely preyed on bony fish, sharks,cephalopods, birds, and other marine reptiles includingsea turtlesand other mosasaurs. It likely preferred to hunt in open water near the surface. From an ecological standpoint,Mosasaurusprobably had a profound impact on the structuring of marine ecosystems; its arrival in some locations such as theWestern Interior Seawayin North America coincides with a complete turnover offaunal assemblagesand diversity.Mosasaurusfaced competition with other large predatory mosasaurs such asPrognathodonandTylosaurus—which were known to feed on similar prey—though they were able to coexist in the same ecosystems throughniche partitioning. There were still conflicts among them, as an instance ofTylosaurusattacking aMosasaurushas been documented. Several fossils document deliberate attacks onMosasaurusindividuals by members of the same species. In fighting likely took place in the form of snout grappling, as seen in modern crocodiles. Research history Discovery and identification The firstMosasaurusfossil known to science was discovered in 1764 in achalkquarry nearMaastrichtin the Netherlands in the form of a skull, which was initially identified as awhale.This specimen, cataloged as TM 7424, is now on display at theTeylers MuseuminHaarlem.Later around 1780,the quarry produced a second skull that caught the attention of the physicianJohann Leonard Hoffmann, who thought it was acrocodile. He contacted the prominent biologistPetrus Camper, and the skull gained international attention after Camper published a study identifying it as a whale.This caught the attention ofFrench revolutionaries, who looted the fossil following the capture of Maastricht during theFrench Revolutionary Warsin 1794.In a 1799 narrative of this event byBarthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond, the skull was allegedly retrieved by twelvegrenadiersin exchange for an offer of 600 bottles of wine.This story helped elevate the fossil into cultural fame, but historians agree that the narrative was exaggerated. After its seizure, the second skull was sent to theNational Museum of Natural History, Francein 1795 and later cataloged as MNHN AC 9648.By 1800, Camper's sonAdriaan Gilles Camperconcluded that the fossil, which by then was nicknamed the \\\"great animal of Maastricht\\\", belonged to amarine reptilesharing affinities tomonitor lizards, but otherwise unlike any modern animal.Georges Cuvierconfirmed the observations of Camper Jr. in a more in-depth study which was published in 1808.The skull became part of Cuvier's first speculations about the conception ofextinction, which later led to his theory ofcatastrophism, a precursor to the theory ofevolution. At the time, it was not believed that a species could go extinct, and fossils of animals were often interpreted as some form of anextantspecies.Cuvier's idea that there existed an animal unlike any today was revolutionary at the time, and in 1812 he proclaimed, \\\"Above all, the precise determination of the famous animal from Maastricht seems to us as important for the theory of zoological laws, as for the history of the globe.\\\"In a 1822 work byJames Parkinson,William Daniel Conybearecoined the genusMosasaurusfrom theLatinMosa\\\"Meuse\\\" and theAncient Greekσαῦρος (saûros, \\\"lizard\\\"), all literally meaning \\\"lizard of the Meuse\\\", in reference to the river where the holotype specimen was discovered nearby.In 1829,Gideon Mantelladded thespecific epithethoffmannii, in honor to Hoffmann.Cuvier later designated the second skull as the new species'holotype(defining example).: 3 Other species In 1804, theLewis and Clark Expeditiondiscovered a now-lost fossil skeleton alongside theMissouri River, which was identified as a 45-foot (14 m) long fish.Richard Ellisspeculated in 2003 that this may have been the earliest discovery of the second speciesM. missouriensis,although competing speculations exist.In 1818, a fossil fromMonmouth County, New Jerseybecame the first North American specimen to be correctly recognized as aMosasaurusby scientists of the time. Thetype specimenofM. missouriensiswas first described in 1834 byRichard Harlanbased on a snout fragment found along the river'sBig Bend.In reference to its discovery made in the river, he coined the specific epithet and initially identified it as a species ofIchthyosaurusbut later as anamphibiannamedBatrachiosaurus.The rest of the skull had been discovered earlier by a fur-trapper, and it eventually came under the possession of princeMaximilian of Weid-Neuwiedbetween 1832 and 1834. The fossil skull, now cataloged as RFWUIP 1327, was delivered toGeorg August GoldfussinBonnfor research, who published a study in 1845.The same year,Christian Erich Hermann von Meyersuspected that the skull and Harlan's snout were part of the same individual.This could not be confirmed at the time because the fossil snout became lost. The von Meyer's suggestion was confirmed in 2004, when the snout was found in the collections of the MNHN under the catalog number MNHN 958. The third species was described in 1881 byEdward Drinker Copefrom a fragmentary fossil skeleton having been discovered inNew Jersey,now cataloged as AMNH 1380.In his description, the Cope thought that it represented a giant species ofClidastesand named itClidastes conodon.In 1966, Donald Baird and Gerard R. Case reidentified it as a species ofMosasaurus.Although Cope did not provide theetymologyfor the specific epithetconodon,it is suggested that it could be aportmanteaumeaning \\\"conical tooth\\\", derived from theAncient Greekκῶνος (kônos, \\\"cone\\\") and ὀδών (odṓn, \\\"tooth\\\"), probably in reference to conical surface teeth smooth of the species. The fourth speciesM. lemonnieriwas first detected by Camper Jr. based on fossils from his father's collections, which he discussed with Cuvier during their 1799 correspondence, but Cuvier rejected the idea of anotherMosasaurusspecies.This species was re-introduced to science and formally described in 1889 byLouis Dollobased on a skull recovered by Alfred Lemonnier from aphosphatequarry in Belgium,a holotype since cataloged as IRSNB R28.Dollo names the species in his honor.Further mining of the quarry in subsequent years uncovered many additional well-preserved fossils, including multiple partial skeletons which collectively represented nearly the entire skeleton of the species. They were described by Dollo in later papers.: 136Despite being the best anatomically represented species,M. lemonnieriwas largely ignored in scientific literature. Theagarten Lingham-Soliar suggested two reasons for this neglect. First,M. lemonnierifossils are endemic to Belgium and the Netherlands, which despite the famous discovery of theM. hoffmanniiholotype attracted little attention from mosasaur paleontologists. Second, the species was overshadowed by the more famous and history-richtype species. M. lemonnieriis a controversial taxon, and there is debate on whether it is a distinct species or not.In 1967,Dale Russellargued thatM. lemonnieriandM. conodonare the same species and designated the former as ajunior synonymper theprinciple of priority.: 135In a 2000 study, Lingham-Soliar refuted this based on a comprehensive study of existingM. lemonnierispecimens,which was corroborated by a study on theM. conodonskull by Takehito Ikejiri andSpencer G. Lucasin 2014.In 2004, Eric Mulder, Dirk Cornelissen, and Louis Verding suggestedM. lemonniericould be a juvenile form ofM. hoffmanniibased on the argument that significant differences could be explained by age-based variation.However, the need for more research to confirm any hypotheses of synonymy was expressed. The fifth speciesM. beaugeiwas described byCamille Arambourgin 1952 from isolated teeth originating from phosphate deposits in theOulad Abdoun Basinand theGanntour Basinin Morocco,the holotype tooth being cataloged as MNHN PMC 7.The species is named in honor of Alfred Beaugé, director at the time of theOCP Group, who invited Arambourg to participate in the research project and helped him to provide local fossils. Early depictions Scientists during the early and mid-1800s initially imaginedMosasaurusas an amphibious marine reptile with webbed feet andlimbs for walking. This was based on fossils like theM. missouriensisholotype, which indicated an elastic vertebral column that Goldfuss in 1845 saw as evidence of an ability to walk and interpretations of somephalangesas claws.In 1854,Hermann Schlegelproved howMosasaurusactually had fully aquatic flippers. He clarified that earlier interpretations of claws were erroneous and demonstrated how the phalanges show no indication of muscle or tendon attachment, which would make walking impossible. They are also broad, flat, and form a paddle. Schlegel's hypothesis was largely ignored by contemporary scientists but became widely accepted by the 1870s whenOthniel Charles Marshand Cope uncovered more complete mosasaur remains in North America. One of the earliest depictions ofMosasaurusinpaleoartis a life-size concrete sculpture created byBenjamin Waterhouse Hawkinsbetween 1852 and 1854as part of thecollection of sculptures of prehistoric animalson display at theCrystal Palace ParkinLondon. The restoration was primarily informed byRichard Owen's interpretation of theM. hoffmanniiholotype and the anatomy of monitor lizards, so Hawkins depicted the animal as essentially a water-going monitor lizard. It was given a boxy head, nostrils at the side of the skull, large volumes of soft tissue around the eyes, lips reminiscent of monitor lizards, scales consistent with those in large monitors like theKomodo dragon, and a flipper. The model was deliberately sculpted incomplete, whichMark Wittonbelieved was likely to save time and money. Many elements of the sculpture can be considered inaccurate, even for the time. It did not take into account Golduss' 1845 study ofM. missouriensiswhich instead called for a narrower skull, nostrils at the top of the skull, and amphibious terrestrial limbs (the latter being incorrect in modern standards). Description Mosasauruswas a type ofderivedmosasaur, or a latecoming member with advanced evolutionary traits such as a fully aquatic lifestyle. As such, it had a streamlined body, an elongated tail ending with a downturn supporting a two-lobed fin, and two pairs of flippers. While in the past derived mosasaurs were depicted as akin to giant flipperedsea snakes, it is now understood that they were more similar in build to other large marine vertebrates such as ichthyosaurs,marine crocodylomorphs, andarchaeocete whalesthroughconvergent evolution. Size The type species,M. hoffmannii, is one of the largest marine reptiles known,though knowledge of its skeleton remains incomplete as it is mainly known from skulls.: 100Russell (1967) wrote that the length of the jaw equalled one tenth of the body length in the species.: 210Based on this ratio, Grigoriev (2014) used the largest lower jaw attributed toM. hoffmannii(CCMGE 10/2469, also known as thePenzaspecimen; measuring 171 centimeters (67 in) in length) to estimate a maximum length of 17.1 meters (56 ft).Using a smaller partial jaw (NHMM009002) measuring 90 centimeters (35 in) and \\\"reliably estimated at\\\" 160 centimeters (63 in) when complete, Lingham-Soliar (1995) estimated a larger maximum length of 17.6 meters (58 ft) via the same ratio.No explicit justification for the 1:10 ratio was provided in Russell (1967), and it has been considered to be probably overestimated by Clearyet al.(2018).In 2014, Federico Fanti and colleagues alternatively argued that the total length ofM. hoffmanniiwas more likely closer to seven times the length of the skull, which was based on a near-complete skeleton of the related speciesPrognathodon overtoni. The study estimated that anM. hoffmanniiindividual with a skull measuring more than 145 cm (57 in) would have been up to or more than 11 meters (36 ft) in length and weighed 10 metric tons (11 short tons) in body mass.Using the same ratio, Gayfordet al.(2024) calculated the total length for the Penza specimen to be 12 meters (39 ft). Isolated bones suggest someM. hoffmanniimay have exceeded the lengths of the Penza specimen. One such bone is aquadrate(NHMM 003892) which is 150% larger than the average size, which Everhart and colleagues in 2016 reported can be extrapolated to scale an individual around 18 meters (59 ft) in length. It was not stated whether they applied Russell's 1967 ratio,although Gayfordet al.(2024) suggested it was likely. M. missouriensisandM. lemonnieriare smaller thanM. hoffmanniibut are known from more complete fossils. Based on measurements of various Belgian skeletons, Dollo estimatedM. lemonnierigrew to around 7 to 10 meters (23 to 33 ft) in length.: 210He also measured the dimensions of IRSNB 3119 and recorded that the skull constituted approximately one-eleventh of the whole body.Polcynet al.(2014) estimated thatM. missouriensismay have measured up to 8–9 meters (26–30 ft) in length.Street (2016) noted that largeM. missouriensisindividuals typically had skulls exceeding lengths of 1 meter (3.3 ft).A particular near-complete skeleton ofM. missouriensisis reportedly measured at 6.5 meters (21 ft) in total length with a skull approaching 1 meter (3.3 ft) in length.Based on personal observations of various unpublished fossils from Morocco, Nathalie Bardetet al.(2015) estimated thatM. beaugeigrew to a total length of 8–10 meters (26–33 ft), their skulls typically measuring around 1 meter (3.3 ft) in length.With a referred skull measuring around 97.7 centimeters (38.5 in) in length,M. conodonhas been regarded as a small to medium-sized representative of the genus. Skull The skull ofMosasaurusis conical and tapers off to a shortsnoutwhich extends a little beyond the frontmost teeth.InM. hoffmannii, this snout is blunt,while inM. lemonnieriit is pointed.Above the gum line in both jaws, a single row of small pits known asforaminaare lined parallel to the jawline; they are used to hold the terminal branches of jaw nerves. The foramina along the snout form a pattern similar to the foramina inClidastesskulls.The upper jaws in most species are robustly built, broad, and deep except inM. conodon, where they are slender.The disparity is also reflected in thedentary, the lower jawbone,although all species share a long and straight dentary. InM. hoffmannii, the top margin of the dentary is slightly curved upwards;this is also the case with the largest specimens ofM. lemonnieri, although more typical skulls of the species have a near-perfectly straight jawline.The premaxillary bar,the long portion of the premaxillary bone extending behind the premaxillary teeth, is narrow and constricts near the middle inM. hoffmanniiandM. lemonnierilike in typical mosasaurs.InM. missouriensis, the bar is robust and does not constrict.The external nares (nostril openings) are moderately sized and measure around 21–24% of the skull's length inM. hoffmannii. They are placed further toward the back of the skull than in nearly all other mosasaurs (exceeded only byGoronyosaurus), and begin above the fourth or fifth maxillary teeth.As a result, the rear portions of themaxilla(the main tooth-bearing bone of the upper jaw) lack the dorsal concavity that would fit the nostrils in typical mosasaurs. Thepalate, which consists of the pterygoid bones,palatine bone, and nearbyprocessesof other bones, is tightly packed to provide greater cranial stability. Theneurocraniumhoused a brain which was narrow and relatively small compared to other mosasaurs. For example, the braincase of the mosasaurPlioplatecarpus marshiprovided for a brain around twice the size of that inM. hoffmanniidespite being only half the length of the latter. Spaces within the braincase for theoccipital lobeandcerebral hemisphereare narrow and shallow, suggesting such brain parts were relatively small. Theparietal forameninMosasaurus, which is associated with theparietal eye, is the smallest amongmosasaurids.The quadrate bone, which connected the lower jaw to the rest of the skull and formed the jaw joint, is tall and somewhat rectangular in shape, differing from the rounder quadrates found in typical mosasaurs.The quadrate also housed thehearing structures, with theeardrumresiding within a round and concave depression in the outer surface called the tympanic ala.Thetrachealikely stretched from theesophagusto below the back end of the lower jaw'scoronoid process, where it split into smaller pairs ofbronchiwhich extended parallel to each other. Teeth The features of teeth inMosasaurusvary across species, but unifying characteristics include a design specialized for cutting prey, highly prismatic surfaces (enamel circumference shaped by flat sides called prisms), and two opposite cutting edges.Mosasaurusteeth are large and robust except for those inM. conodonandM. lemonnieri, which instead have more slender teeth.The cutting edges ofMosasaurusdiffer by species. The cutting edges inM. hoffmanniiandM. missouriensisare finely serrated,while inM. conodonandM. lemonnieriserrations do not exist.The cutting edges ofM. beaugeiare neither serrated nor smooth, but instead possess minute wrinkles known as crenulations.The number of prisms inMosasaurusteeth can slightly vary between tooth types and general patterns differ between species—M. hoffmanniihad two to three prisms on the labial side (the side facing outwards) and no prisms on the lingual side (the side facing the tongue),M. missouriensishad four to six labial prisms and eight lingual prisms,M. lemonnierihad eight to ten labial prisms, andM. beaugeihad three to five labial prisms and eight to nine lingual prisms. Like all mosasaurs,Mosasaurushad four types of teeth, classified based on the jaw bones they were located on. On the upper jaw, there were three types: the premaxillary teeth, maxillary teeth, and pterygoid teeth. On the lower jaw, only one type, the dentary teeth, were present. In each jaw row, from front to back,Mosasaurushad: two premaxillary teeth, twelve to sixteen maxillary teeth, and eight to sixteen pterygoid teeth on the upper jaw and fourteen to seventeen dentary teeth on the lower jaw. The teeth were largely consistent in size and shape with only minor differences throughout the jaws (homodont) except for the smaller pterygoid teeth.The number of teeth in the maxillae, pterygoids, and dentaries vary between species and sometimes even individuals—M. hoffmanniihad fourteen to sixteen maxillary teeth, fourteen to fifteen dentary teeth, and eight pterygoid teeth;M. missouriensishad fourteen to fifteen maxillary teeth, fourteen to fifteen dentary teeth, and eight to nine pterygoid teeth;M. conodonhad fourteen to fifteen maxillary teeth, sixteen to seventeen dentary teeth, and eight pterygoid teeth;M. lemonnierihad fifteen maxillary teeth, fourteen to seventeen dentary teeth, and eleven to twelve pterygoid teeth;andM. beaugeihad twelve to thirteen maxillary teeth, fourteen to sixteen dentary teeth, and six or more pterygoid teeth.One indeterminate specimen ofMosasaurussimilar toM. conodonfrom thePembina Gorge State Recreation AreainNorth Dakotawas found to have an unusual count of sixteen pterygoid teeth, far greater than in known species. The dentition wasthecodont(tooth roots deeply cemented within the jaw bone). Teeth were constantly shed through a process where the replacement tooth developed within the root of the original tooth and then pushed it out of the jaw.Chemical studies conducted on aM. hoffmanniimaxillary tooth measured an average rate of deposition ofodontoblasts, the cells responsible for the formation ofdentin, at 10.9 micrometers (0.00043 in) per day. This was by observing thevon Ebner lines, incremental marks in dentin that form daily. It was approximated that it took the odontoblasts 511 days and dentin 233 days to develop to the extent observed in the tooth. Postcranial skeleton One of the most completeMosasaurusskeletons in terms of vertebral representation (Mosasaurussp.; SDSM 452)has sevencervical (neck) vertebrae, thirty-eight dorsal vertebrae (which includesthoracicandlumbar vertebrae) in the back, and eight pygal vertebrae (front tail vertebrae lackinghaemal arches) followed by sixty-eightcaudal vertebraein the tail. All species ofMosasaurushave seven cervical vertebrae, but other vertebral counts vary among them. Various partial skeletons ofM. conodon,M. hoffmannii, andM. missouriensissuggestM. conodonlikely had up to thirty-six dorsal vertebrae and nine pygal vertebrae;M. hoffmanniihad likely up to thirty-two dorsal vertebrae and ten pygal vertebrae;andM. missouriensisaround thirty-three dorsal vertebrae, eleven pygal vertebrae, and at least seventy-nine caudal vertebrae.M. lemmonierihad the most vertebrae in the genus, with up to around forty dorsal vertebrae, twenty-two pygal vertebrae, and ninety caudal vertebrae.: 155Compared to other mosasaurs, therib cageofMosasaurusis unusually deep and forms an almost perfect semicircle, giving it a barrel-shaped chest. Rather than being fused together, extensive cartilage likely connected the ribs with thesternum, which would have facilitated breathing movements and compression when in deeper waters.The texture of the bones is virtually identical with in modern whales, which indicatesMosasauruspossessed a high range of aquatic adaptation andneutral buoyancyas seen in cetaceans. The tail structure ofMosasaurusis similar to relatives likePrognathodon, in which soft tissue evidence for a two-lobed tail is known.The tail vertebrae gradually shorten around the center of the tail and lengthen behind the center, suggesting rigidness around the tail center and excellent flexibility behind it. Like most advanced mosasaurs, the tail bends slightly downwards as it approached the center, but this bend is offset from the dorsal plane at a small degree.Mosasaurusalso has large haemal arches located at the bottom of each caudal vertebra which bend near the middle of the tail, which contrasts with the reduction of haemal arches in other marine reptiles such asichthyosaurs. These and other features support a large and powerful paddle-like fluke inMosasaurus. The forelimbs ofMosasaurusare wide and robust.Thescapulaandhumerusare fan-shaped and wider than tall. Theradiusandulnaare short, but the former is taller and larger than the latter.Theiliumis rod-like and slender; inM. missouriensis, it is around 1.5 times longer than thefemur. The femur itself is about twice as long as it is wide and ends at the distal side in a pair of distinctarticular facets(of which one connects to theiliumand the other to the paddle bones) that meet at an angle of approximately 120°.Five sets ofmetacarpalsand phalanges (finger bones) were encased in and supported the paddles, with the fifth set being shorter and offset from the rest. The overall structure of the paddle is compressed, similar to inPlotosaurus, and was well-suited for faster swimming.In the hindlimbs, the paddle is supported by four sets of digits. Interactive skeletal reconstruction ofM. hoffmannii(hover over or click on each skeletal component to identify the structure) Classification History of taxonomy Because nomenclatural rules were not well-defined at the time, 19th century scientists did not giveMosasaurusa properdiagnosisduring its initial descriptions, which led to ambiguity in how the genus is defined. This ledMosasaurusto become awastebasket taxoncontaining as many as fifty different species. A 2017 study by Hallie Street and Michael Caldwell performed the first proper diagnosis and description of theM. hoffmanniiholotype, which allowed a major taxonomic cleanup confirming five species as likely valid—M. hoffmannii,M. missouriensis,M. conodon,M. lemonnieri, andM. beaugei. The study also held four additional species fromPacificdeposits—M. mokoroa,M. hobetsuensis,M. flemingi, andM. prismaticus—to be possibly valid, pending a future formal reassessment.Street & Caldwell (2017) was derived from Street's 2016 doctoral thesis, which contained aphylogeneticstudy proposing the constraining ofMosasaurusinto four species—M. hoffmannii,M. missouriensis,M. lemonnieri, and a proposed new species'M. glycys'—withM. conodonand the Pacific taxa recovered as belonging to different genera andM. beaugeiview as a junior synonymofM. hoffmannii.: 300 Systematics and evolution As thetype genusof the family Mosasauridae and the subfamily Mosasaurinae,Mosasaurusis a member of the orderSquamata(which compriseslizardsandsnakes). Relationships between mosasaurs and living squamates remain controversial as scientists still fiercely debate on whether the closest living relatives of mosasaurs are monitor lizards or snakes.Mosasaurus, along with mosasaur generaEremiasaurus,Plotosaurus,andMoanasaurustraditionally form a tribe within the Mosasaurinae variously calledMosasaurinior Plotosaurini.: 145–148 Phylogeny and evolution of the genus One of the earliest relevant attempts at an evolutionary study ofMosasauruswas done by Russell in 1967.He proposed thatMosasaurusevolved from aClidastes-like mosasaur, and diverged into two lineages, one giving rise toM. conodonand another siring achronospeciessequence which contained in order of successionM. ivoensis,M. missouriensis, andM. maximus-hoffmanni.: 202However, Russell used an early method of phylogenetics and did not use cladistics. In 1997, Bell published the first cladistical study of North American mosasaurs. Incorporating the speciesM. missouriensis,M. conodon,M. maximus, and an indeterminate specimen (UNSM77040), some of his findings agreed with Russell (1967), such asMosasaurusdescending from an ancestral group containingClidastesandM. conodonbeing the most basal of the genus. Contrary to Russell (1967), Bell also recoveredMosasaurusin a sister relationship with another group which includedGlobidensandPrognathodon, andM. maximusas a sister species toPlotosaurus. The latter renderedMosasaurusparaphyletic(an unnatural grouping), but Bell (1997) nevertheless recognizedPlotosaurusas a distinct genus. Bell's study served as a precedent for later studies that mostly left the systematics ofMosasaurusunchanged,: 214–215although some later studies have recovered the sister group toMosasaurusandPlotosaurusto instead beEremiasaurusorPlesiotylosaurusdepending on the method of data interpretation used,with at least one study also recoveringM. missouriensisto be the most basal species of the genus instead ofM. conodon.In 2014, Konishi and colleagues expressed a number of concerns with the reliance on Bell's study. First, the genus was severely underrepresented by incorporating only the three North American speciesM. hoffmannii/M. maximus,M. missouriensis, andM. conodon; by doing so, others likeM. lemonnieri, which is one of the most completely known species in the genus, were neglected, which affected phylogenetic results. Second, the studies relied on an unclean and shaky taxonomy of theMosasaurusgenus due to the lack of a clear holotype diagnosis, which may have been behind the genus's paraphyletic status.: 214–215Third, there was still a lack of comparative studies of the skeletal anatomy of large mosasaurines at the time.These problems were addressed in Street's 2016 thesis in an updated phylogenetic analysis.: 214–215 Conrad uniquely used onlyM. hoffmanniiandM. lemonnieriin his 2008 phylogenetic analysis, which recoveredM. hoffmanniias basal to a multitude of descendant clades containing (in order of most to least basal)Globidens,M. lemonnieri,Goronyosaurus, andPlotosaurus. This result indicated thatM. hoffmanniiandM. lemonnieriare not in the same genus.However, the study used a method unorthodox to traditional phylogenetic studies on mosasaur species because its focus was on the relationships of entire squamate groups rather than mosasaur classification. As a result, some paleontologists caution that lower-order classification results from Conrad's 2008 study such as the specific placement ofMosasaurusmay contain technical problems, making them inaccurate. The followingcladogramon the left (Topology A) is modified from amaximum clade credibility treeinferred by aBayesian analysisin the most recent major phylogenetic analysis of the Mosasaurinae subfamily by Madzia & Cau (2017), which was self-described as a refinement of a larger study by Simõeset al.(2017).The cladogram on the right (Topology B) is modified from Street's 2016 doctoral thesis proposing a revision to the Mosasaurinae, with proposed new taxa and renamings in single quotations.: 267 Dallasaurus turneri Clidastes liodontus Clidastes moorevillensis Clidastes propython Prognathodon overtoni Prognathodon rapax Prognathodon saturator Prognathodon currii Prognathodon solvayi Prognathodon waiparaensis Prognathodon kianda Eremiasaurus heterodontus Plesiotylosaurus crassidens Mosasaurus conodon Mosasaurus missouriensis Mosasaurus hoffmannii Plotosaurus bennisoni Globidens alabamaensis Globidens dakotensis Positions of groups Positions of individual taxa Prognathodon solvayi Clidastes propython Clidastes liodontus Clidastes moorevillensis Globidens alabamaensis Globidens dakotensis Prognathodon kianda Eremiasaurus heterodontus Prognathodon overtoni Prognathodon saturator Prognathodon currii Prognathodon rapax Plesiotylosaurus crassidens 'Marichimaera waiparaensis' 'Amblyrhynchosaurus wiffeni' 'Moanasaurus hobetsuensis' Moanasaurus mangahouange 'Moanasaurus longirostis' Mosasaurus missouriensis Mosasaurus lemonnieri Mosasaurus hoffmannii 'Mosasaurus glycys' 'Antipodinectes mokoroa' 'Umikosaurus prismaticus' 'Aktisaurus conodon' Plotosaurus bennisoni Paleobiology Head musculature and mechanics In 1995, Lingham-Soliar studied the head musculature ofM. hoffmannii. Because soft tissue like muscles do not easily fossilize, reconstruction of the musculature was largely based on the structure of the skull, muscle scarring on the skull, and the musculature in extant monitor lizards. In modern lizards, the mechanical build of the skull is characterized by a four-pivot geometric structure in thecraniumthat allows flexible movement of the jaws, possibly to allow the animals to better position them and prevent prey escape when hunting. In contrast, thefrontalandparietal bones, which in modern lizards connect to form a flexible pivot point, overlap in the skull ofM. hoffmannii. This creates a rigid three-pivot geometric cranial structure. These cranial structures are united by strong interlocking sutures formed to resist compression and shear forces caused by a downward thrust of the lower jaw muscles or an upward thrust of prey. This rigid but highly shock-absorbent structure of the cranium likely allowed a powerfulbite force. Like all mosasaurs, the lower jaws ofMosasauruscould swing forward and backward. In many mosasaurs likePrognathodonandM. lemonnieri, this function mainly served to allow ratchet feeding, in which the pterygoid and jaws would \\\"walk\\\" captured prey into the mouth like a conveyor belt. But especially compared to those inM. lemonnieri, the pterygoid teeth inM. hoffmanniiare relatively small, which indicates ratchet feeding was relatively unimportant to its hunting and feeding.Rather,M. hoffmanniilikely employed inertial feeding (in which the animal thrusts its head and neck backward to release a held prey item and immediately thrust the head and neck forward to close the jaws around the item) and used jaw adduction to assist in biting during prey seizure. Themagnus adductormuscles, which attach to the lower jaws to the cranium and have a major role in biting function, are massive, indicatingM. hoffmanniiwas capable of enormous bite forces. The long, narrow, and heavy nature of the lower jaws and attachment of tendons at the coronoid process would have allowed quick opening and closing of the mouth with little energy input underwater, which also contributed to the powerful bite force ofM. hoffmanniiand suggests it would not have needed the strongmagnus depressormuscles (jaw-opening muscles) seen in some plesiosaurs. Mobility and thermoregulation Mosasaurusswam using its tail. The swimming style was likelysub-carangiform, which is exemplified today bymackerels.Its elongated paddle-like limbs functioned ashydrofoilsfor maneuvering the animal. The paddles' steering function was enabled by large muscle attachments from the outwards-facing side of the humerus to the radius and ulna and modified joints allowed an enhanced ability ofrotating the flippers. The powerful forces resulting from utilization of the paddles may have sometimes resulted in bone damage, as evidenced by aM. hoffmanniiilium with significant separation of the bone'sheadfrom the rest of the bone likely caused by frequent shearing forces at the articulation joint. The tissue structure ofMosasaurus'bones suggests it had a metabolic rate much higher than modern squamates and itsresting metabolic ratewas between that of theleatherback sea turtleand that of ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs.Mosasauruswas likelyendothermicand maintained a constant body temperature independent of the external environment. Although there is no direct evidence specific to the genus, studies on the biochemistry of related mosasaur genera such asClidastessuggests that endothermy was likely present in all mosasaurs. Such a trait is unique among squamates, the only known exception being theArgentine black and white tegu, which can maintain partial endothermy.This adaptation would have given several advantages toMosasaurus, including increased stamina when foraging across larger areas and pursuing prey.It may have also been a factor that allowedMosasaurusto thrive in the colder climates of locations such asAntarctica. Sensory functions Mosasaurushad relatively largeeye socketswith largesclerotic ringsoccupying much of the sockets' diameter;the latter is correlated with eye size and suggests it had good vision. The eye sockets were located at the sides of the skull, which created a narrow field ofbinocular visionat around 28.5°but alternatively allowed excellent processing of a two-dimensional environment, such as the near-surface waters inhabited byMosasaurus. Brain castsmade from fossils ofMosasaurusshow that theolfactory bulbandvomeronasal organ, which both control the function of smell, are poorly developed and lack some structures inM. hoffmannii; this indicates the species had a poor sense of smell. InM. lemonnieri, these olfactory organs, although still small, are better developed and have some components lacking inM. hoffmannii. The lack of a strong sense of smell suggests that olfaction was not particularly important inMosasaurus; instead, other senses like vision may have been more useful. Feeding Paleontologists generally agree thatMosasauruswas likely an active predator of a variety of marine animals.Fauna likely preyed upon by the genus include bony fish, sharks, cephalopods, birds, and marine reptiles such as other mosasaursand turtles.It is unlikelyMosasauruswas a scavenger as it had a poor sense of smell.Mosasauruswas among the largest marine animals of its time,and with its large, robust cutting teeth, scientists believe larger members of the genus would have been able to handle virtually any animal.Lingham-Soliar (1995) suggested thatMosasaurushad a rather \\\"savage\\\" feeding behavior as demonstrated by large tooth marks on scutes of the giant sea turtleAllopleuron hoffmanniand fossils of re-healed fractured jaws inM. hoffmannii.The species likely hunted near the ocean surface as an ambush predator, using its large two-dimensionally adapted eyes to more effectively spot and capture prey.Chemical and structural data in the fossils ofM. lemonnieriandM. conodonsuggests they may have also hunted in deeper waters.: 152 Carbon isotope studies on fossils of multipleM. hoffmanniiindividuals have found extremely low values ofδ13C, the lowest in all mosasaurs for the largest individuals. Mosasaurs with lower δ13C values tended to occupy higher trophic levels, and one factor for this was dietary: a diet of prey rich in lipids such as sea turtles and other large marine reptiles can lower δ13C values.M. hoffmannii's low δ13C levels reinforces its likely position as an apex predator. Currently, there is only one known example of aMosasauruspreserved with stomach contents: a well-preserved partial skeleton of a smallM. missouriensisdated about 75 million years old with dismembered and punctured remains of a 1 meter (3.3 ft) long fish in its gut. This fish was much longer than the length of the mosasaur's skull, which measured 66 centimeters (26 in) in length, confirming thatM. missouriensisconsumed prey larger than its headby dismembering and consuming bits at a time. Due to coexistence with other large mosasaurs likePrognathodon, which specialized in robust prey,M. missouriensislikely specialized more on prey best consumed using cutting-adapted teeth in an example ofniche partitioning. Mosasaurusmay have taught their offspring how to hunt, as supported by a fossilnautiloidArgonautilus catarinaewith bite marks from two conspecific mosasaurs, one being from a juvenile and the other being from an adult. Analysis of the tooth marks by a 2004 study by Kauffman concluded that the mosasaurs were eitherMosasaurusorPlatecarpus. The positioning of both bite marks are at the direction the nautiloid's head would have been facing, indicating it was incapable of escaping and was thus already sick or dead during the attacks; it is possible this phenomenon was from a parent mosasaur teaching its offspring about cephalopods as an alternate source of prey and how to hunt one. An alternate explanation postulates the bite marks as from one individual mosasaur that lightly bit the nautiloid at first, then proceeded to bite again with greater force. However, there are differences in tooth spacing between both bites which indicate different jaw sizes. Behavior and paleopathology Intraspecific combat There is fossil evidence thatMosasaurusengaged in aggressive and lethal combat with others of its kind. One partial skeleton ofM. conodonbears multiple cuts, breaks, and punctures on various bones, particularly in the rear portions of the skull and neck, and a tooth from anotherM. conodonpiercing through the quadrate bone. No injuries on the fossil show signs of healing, suggesting that the mosasaur was killed by its attacker by a fatal blow in the skull.Likewise, anM. missouriensisskeleton has a tooth from anotherM. missouriensisembedded in the lower jaw underneath the eye. In this case, there were signs of healing around the wound, implying survival of the incident.Takuya Konishi suggested an alternative cause of this example being head-biting behavior duringcourtshipas seen in modern lizards.Attacks by anotherMosasaurusare a possible cause of physicalpathologiesin other skulls, but they could have instead arisen from other incidents like attempted biting on hard turtle shells. In 2004, Lingham-Soliar observed that if these injuries were indeed the result of an intraspecific attack, then there is a pattern of them concentrating in the skull region. Modern crocodiles commonly attack each other by grappling an opponent's head using their jaws, and Lingham-Soliar hypothesized thatMosasaurusemployed similar head-grappling behavior during intraspecific combat. Many of the fossils with injuries possibly attributable to intraspecific combat are of juvenile or sub-adultMosasaurus, leading to the possibility that attacks on smaller, weaker individuals may have been more common.However, the attacking mosasaurs of theM. conodonandM. missouriensisspecimens were likely similar in size to the victims.In 2006, Schulp and colleagues speculated thatMosasaurusmay have occasionally engaged incannibalismas a result of intraspecific aggression. Diseases There are someM. hoffmanniijaws with evidence of infectious diseases as a result of physical injuries. Two examples include IRSNB R25 and IRSNB R27, both having fractures and other pathologies in their dentaries. IRSNB R25 preserves acomplete fracturenear the sixthtooth socket. Extensive amounts of bonycallusalmost overgrowing the tooth socket are present around the fracture along with variousosteolytic cavities,abscesscanals, damages to thetrigeminal nerve, and inflamed erosions signifying severe bacterial infection. There are two finely ulcerated scratches on the bone callus, which may have developed as part of the healing process. IRSNB R27 has two fractures: one had almost fully healed and the other is an open fracture with nearby teeth broken off as a result. The fracture is covered with anonunionformation ofbony calluswith shallow scratch marks and a large pit connected to an abscess canal. Lingham-Soliar described this pit as resembling a tooth mark from a possible attacking mosasaur. Both specimens show signs of deep bacterial infection alongside the fractures; some bacteria may have spread to nearby damaged teeth and causedtooth decay, which may have entered deeper tissue from prior post-traumatic or secondary infections. The dentaries ahead of the fractures in both specimens are in good condition, suggesting that the arteries and trigeminal nerves had not been damaged; if they were, those areas would havenecrotizeddue to lack of blood. The dentaries' condition suggests that the species may have had an efficient process of immobilizing the fracture during healing, which helped prevent damage to vital blood vessels and nerves. This, along with signs of healing, indicates that the fractures were not imminently fatal. In 2006, Schulp and colleagues published a study describing a quadrate ofM. hoffmanniiwith multiple unnatural openings and an estimated 0.5 liters (0.13 U.S. gal) of tissue destroyed. This was likely a severebone infectioninitiated byseptic arthritis, which progressed to the point where a large portion of the quadrate was reduced to abscess. Extensive amounts of bone reparative tissue were also present, suggesting the infection and subsequent healing process may have progressed for a few months. This level of bone infection would have been tremendously painful and severely hampered the mosasaur's ability to use its jaws. The location of the infection may have also interfered with breathing. Considering how the individual was able to survive such conditions for an extended period of time, Schulp and colleagues speculated it switched to a foraging-type diet of soft-bodied prey like squid that could be swallowed whole to minimize jaw use. The cause of the infection remains unknown, but if it were a result of an intraspecific attack then it is possible one of the openings on the quadrate may have been the point of entry for an attacker's tooth from which the infection entered. Avascular necrosishas been reported by many studies to be present in every examined specimen ofM. lemonnieriandM. conodon.In examinations ofM. conodonfossils from Alabama and New Jersey andM. lemonnierifossils from Belgium, Rothschild and Martin in 2005 observed that the condition affected between 3-17% of the vertebrae in the mosasaurs' spines.Avascular necrosis is a common result ofdecompression illness; it involves bone damage caused by the formation of nitrogen bubbles from inhaled air decompressed during frequent deep-diving trips, or by intervals of repetitive diving and short breathing. This indicates that bothMosasaurusspecies may have either been habitual deep-divers or repetitive divers. Agnete Weinreich Carlsen considered it the simplest explanation that such conditions were a product of inadequate anatomical adaptation. Nevertheless, fossils of other mosasaurs with invariable avascular necrosis still exhibit substantial adaptations like eardrums that were well-protected from rapid changes in pressure. Unnatural fusion of tail vertebrae has been documented inMosasaurus, which occurs when the bonesremodelthemselves after damage from trauma or disease. A 2015 study by Rothschild and Everhart surveyed 15Mosasaurusspecimens from North America and Belgium and found cases of fused tail vertebrae in three of them.Two of these cases displayed irregular surface deformities around the fusion site caused by drainage of thevertebral sinuses, which is indicative of a bone infection. The causes of such infections are uncertain, but records of fused vertebrae in other mosasaurs suggest attacks by sharks and other predators as a possible candidate. The third case was determined to be caused by a form ofarthritisbased on the formation of smooth bridging between fused vertebrae. Life history It is likely thatMosasauruswasviviparous(giving live birth) like most modern mammals today. There is no evidence for live birth inMosasaurusitself, but it is known in a number of other mosasaurs;examples include a skeleton of a pregnantCarsosaurus,aPlioplatecarpusfossil associated with fossils of two mosasaur embryos,and fossils of newbornClidastesfrompelagic(open ocean) deposits.Such fossil records, along with a total absence of any evidence suggesting external egg-based reproduction, indicates the likeliness of viviparity inMosasaurus.Microanatomical studies on bones of juvenileMosasaurusand related genera have found that their bone structures are comparable to adults. They do not exhibit the bone mass increase found in juvenile primitive mosasauroids to support buoyancy associated with a lifestyle in shallow water, implying thatMosasauruswasprecocial: They were already efficient swimmers and lived fully functional lifestyles in open water at a very young age and did not require nursery areas to raise their young.Some areas in Europe and South Dakota have yielded concentrated assemblages of juvenileM. hoffmannii,M. missouriensisand/orM. lemonnieri. These localities are all shallow ocean deposits, suggesting that juvenileMosasaurusmay still have lived in shallow waters. Paleoecology Distribution, ecosystem, and ecological impact Mosasaurushad a transatlantic distribution, with its fossils having been found in marine deposits on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. These localities include theMidwestandEast Coastof the United States, Canada, Europe, Turkey, Russia, theLevant, the African coastline from Moroccoto South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, and Antarctica.During the Late Cretaceous, these regions made up the three seaways inhabited byMosasaurus: the Atlantic Ocean, theWestern Interior Seaway, and theMediterranean Tethys.Multiple oceanicclimate zonesencompassed the seaways, includingtropical,subtropical,temperate, andsubpolarclimates.The wide range of oceanic climates yielded a large diversity of fauna that coexisted withMosasaurus. Mediterranean Tethys The Mediterranean Tethys during theMaastrichtianstagewas located in what is now Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In recent studies, the confirmation of paleogeographical affinities extended this range to areas across the Atlantic including Brazil and the East Coast state of New Jersey. It is geographically subdivided into twobiogeographic provincesthat respectively include the northern and southern Tethyan margins. The two mosasaursMosasaurusandPrognathodonappear to have been the dominant taxa, being widespread and ecologically diversified throughout the seaway. The northern Tethyan margin was located around the paleolatitudes of30–40°N, consisting of what is now the European continent, Turkey, and New Jersey. At the time, Europe was a scattering of islands with most of the modern continental landmass being underwater. The margin provided a warm-temperate climate with habitats dominated by mosasaurs and sea turtles.M. hoffmanniiandPrognathodon sectoriuswere the dominant species in the northern province.In certain areas such as Belgium, otherMosasaurusspecies likeM. lemonnieriwere instead the dominant species, where its occurrences greatly outnumber those of other large mosasaurs.Other mosasaurs found in the European side of the northern Tethyan margin include smaller genera such asHalisaurus,Plioplatecarpus, andPlatecarpus; the shell-crusherCarinodens; and larger mosasaurs of similar trophic levels includingTylosaurus bernardiand four other species ofPrognathodon. Sea turtles such asAllopleurodon hoffmanniandGlyptochelone suickerbuyckiwere also prevalent in the area and other marine reptiles including indeterminateelasmosaurshave been occasionally found. Marine reptile assemblages in the New Jersey region of the province are generally equivalent with those in Europe; the mosasaur faunae are quite similar but excludeM. lemonnieri,Carinodens,Tylosaurus, and certain species ofHalisaurusandPrognathodon. In addition, they exclusively featureM. conodon,Halisaurus platyspondylusandPrognathodon rapax.Many types of sharks such asSqualicorax,Cretalamna,Serratolamna, andsand sharks,as well as bony fish such asCimolichthys, the saber-toothed herringEnchodus, and the swordfish-likeProtosphyraenaare represented in the northern Tethyan margin. The southern Tethyan margin was located along the equator between20°Nand20°S, resulting in warmer tropical climates. Seabeds bordering thecratonsin Africa and Arabia and extending to the Levant and Brazil provided vast shallow marine environments. These environments were dominated by mosasaurs andmarine side-necked turtles. Of the mosasaurs,Globidens phosphaticusis the characteristic species of the southern province; in the African and Arabian domain,Halisaurus arambourgiand'Platecarpus ptychodon'were also common mosasaurs alongsideGlobidens.Mosasauruswas not well-represented: the distribution ofM. beaugeiwas restricted to Morocco and Brazil and isolated teeth from Syria suggested a possible presence ofM. lemonnieri, althoughM. hoffmanniialso had some presence throughout the province.Other mosasaurs from the southern Tethyan margin include the enigmaticGoronyosaurus, the shell-crushersIgdamanosaurusandCarinodens,Eremiasaurus, four other species ofPrognathodon, and various other species ofHalisaurus. Other marine reptiles such as the marine monitor lizardPachyvaranusand the sea snakePalaeophisare known there. Aside fromZarafasaurain Morocco, plesiosaurs were scarce. As a tropical area, bony fish such asEnchodusandStratodusand various sharks were common throughout the southern Tethyan margin. Western Interior Seaway Many of the earliest fossils ofMosasauruswere found inCampanianstage deposits in North America, including the Western Interior Seaway, an inland sea which once flowed through what is now the central United States and Canada, and connected theArctic Oceanto the modern-dayGulf of Mexico. The region was shallow for a seaway, reaching a maximum depth of about 800–900 meters (2,600–3,000 ft).Extensive drainage from the neighboring continents,AppalachiaandLaramidia, brought in vast amounts of sediment. Together with the formation of a nutrient-rich deepwater mass from the mixing of continental freshwater, Arctic waters from the north, and warmer saline Tethyan waters from the south, this created a warm and productive seaway that supported a rich diversity of marine life. The biogeography of the region has been subdivided into two Interior Subprovinces characterized by different climates and faunal structures, and their borders are separated in modern-dayKansas. The oceanic climate of the Northern Interior Subprovince was likely a cool temperate one, while the Southern Interior Subprovince had warm temperate to subtropical climates.The fossil assemblages throughout these regions suggest a complete faunal turnover whenM. missouriensisandM. conodonappeared at 79.5 Ma, indicating that the presence ofMosasaurusin the Western Interior Seaway had a profound impact on the restructuring of marine ecosystems.The faunal structure of both provinces was generally much more diverse prior to the appearance ofMosasaurus, during afaunal stageknown as theNiobraran Age, than it was during the followingNavesinkan Age. In what is now Alabama within the Southern Interior Subprovince, most of the key genera including sharks likeCretoxyrhinaand the mosasaursClidastes,Tylosaurus,Globidens,Halisaurus, andPlatecarpusdisappeared and were replaced byMosasaurus.During the Navesinkan Age,Mosasaurusdominated the whole region, accounting for around two-thirds of all mosasaur diversity withPlioplatecarpusandPrognathodonsharing the remaining third. The Northern Interior Subprovince also saw a restructuring of mosasaur assemblages, characterized by the disappearance of mosasaurs likePlatecarpusand their replacement byMosasaurusandPlioplatecarpus.Some Niobraran genera such asTylosaurus,Cretoxyrhina,hesperornithids,and plesiosaurs including elasmosaurs such asTerminonatatorand polycotylids likeDolichorhynchopsmaintained their presence until around the end of the Campanian, during which the entire Western Interior Seaway started receding from the north.Mosasauruscontinued to be the dominant genus in the seaway until the end of the Navesinkan Age at the end of the Cretaceous.Contemporaneous fauna included sea turtles such asProtostegaandArchelon;many species of sea birds includingBaptornis,Ichthyornis, andHalimornis; sharks such as the mackerel sharksCretalamna,Squalicorax,Pseudocorax, andSerratolamna, the goblin sharkScapanorhynchus, the sand tigerOdontaspis, and the sawfish-likeIschyrhiza; and bony fish such asEnchodus,Protosphyraena,Stratodus, and theichthyodectidsXiphactinusandSaurodon. Antarctica Mosasaurusis known from late Maastrichtian deposits in theAntarctic Peninsula, specifically theLópez de Bertodano FormationinSeymour Island.Located within thepolar circleat around 65°S,temperatures at medium to large water depths would have been around 6 °C (43 °F) on average, while sea surface temperatures may have dropped below freezing and sea ice may have formed at times.Mosasaurusappears to be the most diverse mosasaur in the Maastrichtian Antarctica. At least two species ofMosasaurushave been described, but the true number of species is unknown as remains are often fragmentary and specimens are described inopen nomenclature. These species include one comparable withM. lemonnieri, and another that appears to be closely related toM. hoffmannii.M. sp.has also been described. However, it is possible that such specimens may actually representMoanasaurus, although this depends on the outcome of a pending revision of the genus.At least four other mosasaur genera have been reported in Antarctica, includingPlioplatecarpus, the mosasaurinesMoanasaurusandLiodon,andKaikaifilu. The validity of some of these genera is disputed as they are primarily based on isolated teeth.PrognathodonandGlobidensare also expected to be present based on distribution trends of both genera, although conclusive fossils have yet to be found.Other Antarctic marine reptiles included elasmosaurid plesiosaurs likeAristonectesand another indeterminate elasmosaurid.The fish assemblage of the López de Bertodano Formation was dominated byEnchodusand ichthyodectiformes. Habitat preference Known fossils ofMosasaurushave typically been recovered from deposits representing nearshore habitats during the Cretaceous period, with some fossils coming from deeper-water deposits.: 152, 178Lingham-Soliar (1995) elaborated on this, finding that Maastrichtian deposits in the Netherlands withM. hoffmanniioccurrences represented nearshore waters around 40–50 meters (130–160 ft) deep. Changing temperatures and an abundance in marine life were characteristic of these localities. The morphological build ofM. hoffmannii, nevertheless, was best adapted for a pelagic surface lifestyle. δ13C is also correlated with a marine animal's feeding habitat as isotope levels deplete when habitat is farther from the shoreline, so some scientists interpreted isotope levels as a proxy for habitat preference. Separate studies involving multipleMosasaurusspecimens have yielded consistently low δ13C levels of tooth enamel, indicating thatMosasaurusfed in more offshore or open waters. It has been pointed out how δ13C can be influenced by other factors in an animal's lifestyle, such as diet and diving behavior.: 122To account for this, a 2014 study by T. Lynn Harrell Jr. and Alberto Perez-Huerta examined the concentration ratios ofneodymium,gadolinium, andytterbiuminM. hoffmanniiandMosasaurussp. fossils from Alabama, theDemopolis Chalk, and theHornerstown Formation. Previous studies demonstrated that ratios of these three elements can act as a proxy for relative ocean depth of a fossil during earlydiagenesiswithout interference from biological processes, with each of the three elements signifying either shallow, deep, or fresh waters. The rare earth element ratios were very consistent throughout most of the examinedMosasaurusfossils, indicating consistent habitat preference, and clustered towards a ratio representing offshore habitats with ocean depths deeper than 50 meters (160 ft). Interspecific competition Mosasauruslived alongside other large predatory mosasaurs also considered apex predators, most prominent among them being the tylosaurines andPrognathodon.Tylosaurus bernardi, the only surviving species of the genus during the Maastrichtian, measured up to 12.2 meters (40 ft) in lengthwhile the largest coexisting species ofPrognathodonlikeP. saturatorexceeded 12 meters (39 ft).These three mosasaurs preyed on similar animals such as marine reptiles. A study published in 2013 by Schulp and colleagues specifically tested how mosasaurs such asM. hoffmanniiandP. saturatorwere able to coexist in the same localities through δ13C analysis. The scientists utilized an interpretation that differences in isotope values can help explain the level of resource partitioning because it is influenced by multiple environmental factors such as lifestyle, diet, and habitat preference. Comparisons between the δ13C levels in multiple teeth ofM. hoffmanniiandP. saturatorfrom the Maastrichtian-ageMaastricht Formationshowed that while there was some convergence between certain specimens, the average δ13C values between the two species were on average different. This is one indication of niche partitioning, where the two mosasaur genera likely foraged in different habitats or had different specific diets to coexist without direct competitive conflict. The teeth ofP. saturatorare much more robust than those ofM. hoffmanniiand were specifically equipped for preying on robust prey like turtles. WhileM. hoffmanniialso preyed on turtles, its teeth were built to handle a wider range of prey less suited forP. saturator. Another case of presumed niche partitioning betweenMosasaurusandPrognathodonfrom theBearpaw FormationinAlbertawas documented in a 2014 study by Konishi and colleagues. The study found a dietary divide betweenM. missouriensisandP. overtonibased on stomach contents. Stomach contents ofP. overtoniincluded turtles and ammonites, providing another example of a diet specialized for harder prey. In contrast,M. missouriensishad stomach contents consisting of fish, indicative of a diet specialized in softer prey. It was hypothesized that these adaptations helped maintain resource partitioning between the two mosasaurs. Nevertheless, competitive engagement evidently could not be entirely avoided. There is also evidence of aggressive interspecific combat betweenMosasaurusand other large mosasaur species. This is shown from a fossil skull of a subadultM. hoffmanniiwith fractures caused by a massive concentrated blow to the braincase; Lingham-Soliar (1998) argued that this blow was dealt by a ramming attack byT. bernardi, as the formation of the fractures were characteristic of a coordinated strike (and not an accident or fossilization damage), andT. bernardiwas the only known coexisting animal likely capable of causing such damage, using its robust arrow-like elongated snout. This sort of attack has been compared to the defensive behavior ofbottlenose dolphinsusing their beaks to kill or repellemon sharks, and it has been speculated thatT. bernardidealt the offensive attack via an ambush on an unsuspectingMosasaurus. Extinction By the end of the Cretaceous, mosasaurs were at the height of theirevolutionary radiation, and their extinction was a sudden event.During the late Maastrichtian, global sea levels dropped, draining the continents of their nutrient-rich seaways and altering circulation and nutrient patterns, and reducing the number of available habitats forMosasaurus. The genus adapted by accessing new habitats in more open waters.The last fossils ofMosasaurus, which include those ofM. hoffmanniiand indeterminate species, occur up to theCretaceous-Paleogene boundary(K-Pg boundary). The demise of the genus was likely a result of theCretaceous-Paleogene extinction eventwhich also wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs.Mosasaurusfossils have been found less than 15 meters (49 ft) below the boundary in the Maastricht Formation, theDavutlar Formationin Turkey, theJagüel Formationin Argentina,Stevns Klintin Denmark, Seymour Island, and Missouri. M. hoffmanniifossils have been found within the K-Pg boundary itself in southeastern Missouri between thePaleoceneClayton Formationand CretaceousOwl Creek Formation. Fossil vertebrae from the layer were found with fractures formed after death. The layer was likely deposited as atsunamite, alternatively nicknamed the \\\"Cretaceous cocktail deposit\\\". This formed through a combination of catastrophic seismic and geological disturbances, mega-hurricanes, and giant tsunamis caused by the impact of theChicxulub asteroidthat catalyzed the K-Pg extinction event.As well as physical destruction, the impact also blocked out sunlightleading to a collapse of marine food webs.AnyMosasaurussurviving the immediate cataclysms by taking refuge in deeper waters would have died out due to starvation from a loss of prey. One enigmatic occurrence ofMosasaurussp. fossils is in the Hornerstown Formation, a deposit typically dated to be from the PaleoceneDanianage, which was immediately after the Maastrichtian age. The fossils were found in association with fossils ofSqualicorax,Enchodus, and various ammonites within a uniquely fossil-rich bed at the base of the Hornerstown Formation known as the Main Fossiliferous Layer. This does not meanMosasaurusand its associated fauna survived the K-Pg extinction. According to one hypothesis, the fossils may have originated from an earlier Cretaceous deposit and werereworkedinto the Paleocene formation during its early deposition. Evidence of reworking typically comes from fossils worn down due to further erosion during their exposure at the time of redeposition. Many of theMosasaurusfossils from the Main Fossiliferous Layer consist of isolated bones commonly abraded and worn, but the layer also yielded better-preservedMosasaurusremains. Another explanation suggests the Main Fossiliferous Layer is a Maastrichtian time-averagedremaniédeposit, which means it originated from a Cretaceous deposit withwinnowedlow-sediment conditions. A third hypothesis proposes that the layer is alag depositof Cretaceous sediments forced out by a strong impact by a tsunami, and what remained was subsequently refilled with Cenozoic fossils. See also Notes References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins(8 February 1807 – 27 January 1894) was an Englishsculptorandnatural historyartist renowned for his work on the life-size models ofdinosaurs in the Crystal Palace Parkin south London. The models, accurately made using the latest scientific knowledge, created a sensation at the time. Hawkins was also a noted lecturer onzoologicaltopics. Education and early career Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins was born inBloomsbury, London on 8 February 1807, the son of Thomas Hawkins, an artist, and Louisa Anne Waterhouse, the daughter of a Jamaica plantation family of apparent Catholic sympathies. He studied at St. Aloysius College, and learned sculpture fromWilliam Behnes. At the age of 20, he began to study natural history and later geology. He contributed illustrations toThe Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Beagle. During the 1840s, he produced studies of living animals inKnowsleyPark, nearLiverpoolforEdward Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby. The park was one of the largest","one of the largest private menageries in Victorian England and Hawkins' work was later published withJohn Edward Gray's text as\"Gleanings from the Menagerie at Knowsley\". Over the same period Hawkins exhibited four sculptures at theRoyal Academybetween 1847 and 1849, and was elected a member of theSociety of Artsin 1846 and a fellow of theLinnean Societyin 1847. Fellowship of theGeological Society of Londonfollowed in 1854. Great Exhibition Meanwhile, possibly due to Derby's connections, Hawkins was appointed assistant superintendent of theGreat Exhibition of 1851in London. The following year, he was appointed by the Crystal Palace company to create 33life-size concrete models of extinct dinosaursto be placed in the south London park to which the great glass exhibition hall was to be relocated. In this work, which took some three years, he collaborated with SirRichard Owenand other leading scientific figures of the time: Owen estimated the size and overall shape of the animals, leaving Hawkins to sculpt the","to sculpt the models according to Owen's directions. A dinner was held inside the mould used to make theIguanodon. The dinner party, hosted by Owen on 31 December 1853, garnered attention in the press. Most of the sculptures are still on display inCrystal Palace Park. United States In 1868, he traveled to theUnited Statesto deliver a series of lectures. Working with the scientistJoseph Leidy, Hawkins designed and cast an almost completeskeletonofHadrosaurusfoulkii which was then displayed at theAcademy of Natural SciencesinPhiladelphia. Supported on an iron framework in a lifelike pose, this was the world's first mounted dinosaur skeleton. Hawkins was later commissioned to produce models forNew York City'sCentral Parkmuseum similar to these he had created in Sydenham. He established a studio on the original site of theAmerican Museum of Natural HistoryinManhattan, and planned to create aPaleozoic Museum. During his ten years in America (1868–1878), Hawkins designed exhibit halls for theSmithsonian","for theSmithsonian InstitutioninWashington, D.C., and began to create an enormous paleontological museum for New York City. The museum was to have been in Central Park. His work was all destroyed in 1871 byHenry Hilton, the corrupt and bizarre-acting Treasurer and VP of Central Park, but was for many decades thought to have been the work of Hilton's employer, William \"Boss\" Tweed, a corrupt politician who wasn't adequately compensated for his patronage. However, Tweed himself was fighting scandals regarding his corrupt dealings at the time, and was later proved innocent of the destruction of Hawkins' models in 2023, when the real culprit was revealed through reexamination of historical records and annual reports and minutes. Hilton's motivations towards the vandalism are largely unknown, but may have been personal, with Hilton being purported to have told Hawkins that he \"should not bother with \"dead animals\", as there was enough to do among the living\", and that Hilton had little understanding or","understanding or appreciation for art or nature, with several instances being recorded of him whitewashing priceless relics, statues and artifacts in bizarre acts of vandalism. Furthermore, Hilton had been placed in charge of establishing the American Museum of Natural History, and it is possible he wanted to eliminate the planned Paleozoic Museum, which he saw as competition. Following the tragic loss of his studio through destruction of all of his dinosaur models at the hands of Hilton's vandals, he returned to England in 1874, but almost immediately returned, doing dinosaur reconstructions atPrinceton University(then called the College of New Jersey) in Princeton, New Jersey (where he also created paintings of dinosaurs). These paintings remain in the collection of thePrinceton University Art Museum. Hawkins also worked at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 in Philadelphia. He again returned to Britain in 1878. Family and death Hawkins had married in 1826 to Mary Selina Green, and by her had several","by her had several children. In 1835, he met and fell in love with artist Frances 'Louisa' Keenan, and the next year he left his family and bigamously married her. He kept in touch with Mary and her children, but lived with Louisa, having two additional daughters. On his 1874 return to England, he seems to have become estranged from Louisa. He was living with his son by Mary, amidst what he described a \"climax of domestic troubles\" thought to indicate that Louisa had finally learned that their 38-year marriage had been invalid, and this may have led to his precipitous return to America in 1875. After his second return to England, he moved toWest Bromptonto be near his first wife, Mary, who was ill. Mary died in 1880. In 1883, Hawkins again married Louisa, although since they were not cohabitants at the time this was probably done for legalistic reasons (to legitimize their children), and they apparently never reconciled before her death the next year. Hawkins suffered a debilitating stroke in 1889, leading","in 1889, leading to erroneous reports of his death.He died inPutneyon 27 January 1894.There is ablue plaqueat 22 Belvedere Road (\"Fossil Villa\") inUpper Norwood, commemorating where he lived between 1856 and 1872. Legacy Robert J. Sawyer's 1994 novelEnd of an Eramentions the famous New Year's Eve 1853 dinner party inside theIguanodon, citing both Hawkins and Sir Richard Owen by name. Works list Gallery References Sources Further reading External links","Crystal Palace Dinosaurs 51°25′3″N0°4′2″W / 51.41750°N 0.06722°W /51.41750; -0.06722 TheCrystal Palace Dinosaursare a series of sculptures ofdinosaursand other extinct animals, inaccurate by modern standards, in theLondonborough ofBromley'sCrystal Palace Park. Commissioned in 1852 to accompany theCrystal Palaceafter its move from theGreat ExhibitioninHyde Park, they were unveiled in 1854 as the first dinosaur sculptures in the world. The models were designed and sculpted byBenjamin Waterhouse Hawkinsunder the scientific direction of SirRichard Owen, representing the latest scientific knowledge at the time. The models, also known as theGeological CourtorDinosaur Court, were classed asGrade II listed buildingsfrom 1973, extensively restored in 2002, and upgraded to Grade I listed in 2007. The models represent 15generaof extinct animals, only three of which are true dinosaurs. They are from a wide range of geological ages, and include true dinosaurs,ichthyosaurs, andplesiosaursmainly from theMesozoicera, and","theMesozoicera, and some mammals from the more recentCenozoicera. Today, the models are notable for representing the scientific inaccuracies of early palaeontology, the result of improperly reconstructed fossils and the nascent nature of the science in the 19th century,with theIguanodonandMegalosaurusmodels being particularly singled out. History Following the closure of theGreat Exhibitionin October 1851,Joseph Paxton'sCrystal Palacewas bought and moved toPengePlace atopSydenham Hill, South London, by the newly formed Crystal Palace Company.The grounds that surrounded it were then extensively renovated and turned into a public park with ornamental gardens, replicas of statues and two new man-made lakes. As part of this renovation,Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkinswas commissioned to build the first-ever life-sized models of extinct animals. He had originally planned to just re-createextinctmammalsbefore deciding on building dinosaurs as well, which he did with advice fromSir Richard Owen, a","Richard Owen, a celebratedanatomistandpalaeontologistof the time. Hawkins set up a workshop on site at the park and built the models there. The dinosaurs were built full-size in clay, from which a mould was taken allowing cement sections to be cast. The larger sculptures are hollow with a brickwork interior.There was also a limestone cliff to illustrate different geological strata.The sculptures and the geological displays were originally called \"the Geological Court\", an extension of the set of exhibits made for the park that reconstructed historic art, including the Renaissance, Assyrian, and Egyptian Courts. The models were displayed on three islands acting as a rough timeline, the first island for thePalaeozoicera, a second for theMesozoic, and a third for theCenozoic. The models were given more realism by making the water level in the lake rise and fall, revealing different amounts of the dinosaurs.To mark the launch of the models, Hawkins held a dinner on New Year's Eve 1853 inside the mould of one of","the mould of one of theIguanodonmodels. Hawkins benefited greatly from the public's reaction to the dinosaurs, which was so strong it allowed for the sale of sets of small versions of the dinosaur models, priced at £30 for educational use. But the building of the models was costly (having cost around £13,729) and in 1855, the Crystal Palace Company cut Hawkins's funding.Several planned models were never made, while those half finished were scrapped, despite protest from sources including the Sunday newspaper,The Observer. Hawkins later worked on a \"Palaeozoic Museum\" in New York'sCentral Park, an American equivalent to the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. In May 1871 many of the exhibits in Hawkins' workshop were destroyed by vandals and their fragments buried, possibly including elements of the originalElasmosaurusskeleton, which the American palaeontologistEdward Drinker Copehad loaned to Hawkins for preparation at the time. With progress in palaeontology, the reputation of the Crystal Palace models declined. In","models declined. In 1895, the American fossil hunterOthniel Charles Marshscorned the dinosaurs' friends as doing them a great injustice, and spoke angrily of the models.The models and the park fell into disrepair as the years went by, a process aided by the fire that destroyed the Crystal Palace itself in 1936, and the models became obscured by overgrown foliage. A full restoration of the animals was carried out in 1952 by Victor H.C. Martin,at which time the mammals on the third island were moved to less well-protected locations in the park, where they were exposed to wear and tear. The limestone cliff was blown up in the 1960s. In 2001, the display was totally renovated. The destroyed limestone cliff was completely replaced using 130 large blocks ofDerbyshirelimestone, many weighing over 1 tonne (0.98 long tons; 1.1 short tons), rebuilt according to a small model made from the same number of polystyrene blocks.Fibreglass replacements were created for the missing sculptures, and badly damaged parts of the","parts of the surviving models were recast. For example, some of the animals' legs had been modelled in lead, fixed to the bodies with iron rods; the iron had rusted, splitting the lead open. The models and other elements of Crystal Palace Park were classed asGrade II listed buildingsfrom 1973. The models were extensively restored in 2001, and upgraded to Grade I listed in 2007. In 2018, the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs ran a crowd funding campaign, endorsed by the guitaristSlash, to build a permanent bridge to Dinosaur Island.The bridge was designed by Tonkin Liu with engineering by Arup. The bridge swings on a pivot so it can be parked when not in use, to prevent unauthorised access. It was installed in January 2021. In May 2021, the nose and mouth of theMegalosaurussculpture was given an emergency renovation, after it had fallen off the previous year.Twenty-two new teeth and a 'prosthetic jaw' were installed on the sculpture. The renovation was funded by a grant from the Cultural Recovery Fund and","Recovery Fund and fundraising from Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. The Dinosaur Park Fifteengeneraof extinct animals, not all dinosaurs, are represented in the park. At least three other genera (Dinornis, amastodon, andGlyptodon) were planned, and Hawkins began to build at least the mastodon before the Crystal Palace Company cut his funding in 1855. An inaccurate map of the time shows planned locations of theDinornisand mastodon. Palaeozoic era ThePalaeozoicera is represented in the park by the model rock exposure showing a succession of beds, namely theCarboniferous(includingCoal Measuresand limestone) andPermian. Crystal Palace's twoDicynodonmodels are based on incompletePermianfossils found inSouth Africa, along with Owen's guess that they were similar toturtles. No evidence has been found to suggestDicynodonhad protective shells. Mesozoic era TheMesozoicera is represented in the park by the model rock exposure showing a succession of beds, namely theJurassicandCretaceous, by models of dinosaurs and","of dinosaurs and other animals known from mesozoic fossils, and by suitable vegetation – both living plants and models. Curiously, it isHylaeosaurus, from the Cretaceous of England, notIguanodon, that most resembles the giantiguanastereotypeof early ideas of dinosaurs. TheHylaeosaurusin reality is much likeAnkylosaurus– smallish quadrupedal herbivore with a knobbled armoured back, and spines along its sides. Hawkins's depiction is of a large Iguana-like beast with long sharp spines along its back, which Owen noted were \"accurately given in the restoration necessarily at present conjectural\". TheIchthyosaurusmodels are based onTriassicor Jurassic fossils from Europe. Though the three ichthyosaurs are partly in water, they are implausibly shown basking on land likeseals. Owen supposed they resembled crocodiles or plesiosaurs. Better fossil evidence shows that they have more in common withsharksanddolphins, having adorsal finand fish-like tail, whereas in Hawkins's models the tail is a flat protuberance from a","protuberance from a straight backbone. A further discrepancy is that the models' eyes have exposed bonysclerotic plates, Owen conjecturing that with such large eyes they had \"great powers of vision, especially in the dusk\".They became one of the three mascots of Crystal Palace Park, along with theIguanodonandMegalosaurus(although ichthyosaurs are not dinosaurs). Coincidentally, the models more closely resemble more basic ichthyosaurs such asCymbospondylus. TheIguanodonmodels represent fossils from the Jurassic and Cretaceous of Europe.Gideon Mantellsketched the original fossil, found in Sussex in 1822 by his wife, Mary Ann Mantell, as like a long slender lizard climbing a branch (on four legs), balancing with a whiplike tail; lacking a skull, he conjectured that the thumb bone was a nose horn.The nose horn in particular is used repeatedly in popular textbooks and documentaries about dinosaurs to make fun of Victorian inaccuracies;actually, even in 1854, Owen commented \"the horn more than doubtful\".","than doubtful\". ThreeLabyrinthodonmodels were made for Crystal Palace, based on Owen's guess that, being amphibian in lifestyle, the Triassic animals might have resembled frogs; he named them Batrachia, from the Greek 'Batrachios', frog. One is smooth skinned and is based on the species \"Labyrinthodon salamandroides\" (Mastodonsaurus jaegeri); the other two were based on \"Labyrinthodon pachygnathus\" (Cyclotosaurus pachygnathus). Casts ofChirotheriumfootprints that Owen thought were made by the animalswere included in the ground around the models. Gigantic and visually impressive, theMegalosaurusbecame one of the park's three 'mascot dinosaurs' along with theIguanodonand (less so) the Ichthyosaurs. Working from fragmentary evidence from Jurassic fossils found in England, consisting mainly of a hip and femur (thigh bone), with a rib and a few vertebrae, Owen conjectured the animal was quadrupedal; palaeontologists now believe it to have been bipedal (standing likeTyrannosaurus rex). The first suggestion that","suggestion that some dinosaurs might have been bipedal came in 1858, just too late to influence the model. When the models were built, only skulls of the Cretaceous fossilMosasaurushad been discovered in the Netherlands, so Hawkins only built the head and back of the animal. He submerged the model deep in the lake, leaving the body unseen and undefined.TheMosasaurusat Crystal Palace is positioned in an odd place near the secondary island that was originally a waterfall, and much of it is not visible from the lakeside path. The threePlesiosaurusmodels represents three species of marine reptile,P. macrocephalus,P. dolichoderiusandP. hawkinsii, from the Jurassic of England. Two of them have implausibly-flexible necks. Owen noted that thePterodactylusfossils from the Jurassic of Germany had scales, not feathers, and while \"somewhat bird-like\" they had conical teeth, suggesting they were predatory. The two surviving models are perched on a rock outcrop; there were originally two more 'pterodactyls of","'pterodactyls of theOolite'.The surviving models representPterodactylus cuvieri(=Cimoliopteruscuvieri), whereas the two other lost pterodactyl models representPterodactylus bucklandi(=Dolicorhamphusbucklandi). The latter species was poorly known based on fossil remains and explains why their designs were more based onPterodactylus antiquus. Owen correctly identifiedTeleosaurusas similar togharials, being slender JurassicCrocodilianswith very long thin jaws and small eyes, inferring from the sediment in which they were found that they were \"more strictly marine than the crocodile of the Ganges .\" Cenozoic era Anoplotheriumcommuneis an extinct mammal species from the lateEoceneto earliestOligoceneepochs, first found near Paris. Hawkins's models draw on Owen's speculation about itscamel-like appearance. Three models were made, forming a small herd.Hawkins seemingly closely followedGeorge Cuvier's reconstructions ofA. commune, giving it short or naked hair following Cuvier's view that its anatomy implied an","anatomy implied an aquatic lifestyle. Hawkins deviated from Cuvier by making it look more camel-like with small lips, small and rounded ears, a sloping skull, and four toes on each foot. These errors are the result of Hawkins' overreliance on camelids as an analogue for anoplotheriids.Anoplotheriumis today thought to have used its robust build and long tail for bipedal browsing. Confusion between whether theA. communesculptures were ofA. gracile(=Xiphodongracilis) is common, resulting from 19th-century guidebooks listing both species as present on the Tertiary Island.A. gracilewas another fossil species studied by Cuvier; it was later determined to be of a distinct genusXiphodon. Today, the sculptures of the three animals are confirmed to be ofA. commune, but the \"Megaloceros\" fawn has been identified as a misplaced statue ofA. gracile. An 1854 illustration reveals that there were once fourA. gracilesculptures, three of which were lost and one of which remains. The body of the sculpture appears more heavily","more heavily inspired by camelids thanA. communewith a gracile muscle build. Megaloceros giganteusor Irish Elk is a species from thePliocenetoPleistoceneepochs inEurasia. Hawkins built fourMegalocerossculptures, two male and two female. One sculpture of a doe was lost, leaving just three sculptures today. The adult male's antlers were made from actual fossil antlers, long since replaced. Moved from the third island, they had fallen into disrepair as they were easily reached by vandals. With their original but fragile antlers, the Irish Elks were the most accurate of the Cenozoic models; since they are of recent geological age (dying out 11,000 years ago), Hawkins was able to model them on livingdeer. The giant ground slothMegatheriumis from the Pliocene to Pleistocene epochs in South America, whereCharles Darwinhad excavated some fossils in 1835. The model was built hugging a live tree which subsequently grew and broke the model's arm. The arm was replaced and later the tree died. The model depicts the sloth","depicts the sloth as having a short trunk like atapir, something the real animal never had. This model used to be in the children's zoo which has now been demolished. The models ofPalaeotheriumrepresent an extinct Eocene mammal thought byGeorges Cuvierto be tapir-like. Three species were represented by each individual sculpture: the small-sizeP. minor(=Plagiolophusminor), the medium-sizeP. medium, and the largest and most robust-appearingP. magnum, all of which were studied by Cuvier. They have suffered the most wear and tear of all of the models, and the standing model no longer looked much like the original made by Hawkins. During the 1960s these models were lying discarded in the bushes about fifty yards from the original site and, prior to the 2002 restoration, they were in such bad shape that they were removed and put into store.Some sources state that these models were added at a later date, but anIllustrated London Newsillustration of Hawkins's workshop shows them in the background.A replica ofP.","replica ofP. magnumwas commissioned by the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs and built bypalaeoartistBob Nicholls, and unveiled to the public on 2 July 2023. Models of the \"fearfully great bird\"Dinornisof New Zealand (extinct by 1500 AD), and of the extinct elephant-likeMastodon(orDeinotheriumof theMioceneand Pliocene of Eurasia and Africa), were planned for the 'Tertiary Islands' but not completed. In culture Charles Dickens's 1853 novel,Bleak House, begins with a description of muddy streets, whose primordial character is emphasized by a dinosaur in the streets of London: \"Implacable November weather. As much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddlinglike an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill.\" InH. G. Wells's 1905 novelKipps, Kipps and Ann visit Crystal Palace and sit \"in the presence of the green and gold Labyrinthodon that looms so splendidly above the lake\" to discuss their","to discuss their future. There is a brief description of the dinosaurs and their surroundings and the impact they have on the characters.Several of E. Nesbit's children's books feature the Crystal Palace dinosaur sculptures coming to life, includingThe Enchanted Castle(1907). The 1932 novelHave His Carcase, byDorothy L. Sayers, has the characterLord Peter Wimseymention the \"antediluvian monsters\" of the Crystal Palace.Ann Coates's 1970 children's bookDinosaurs Don't Die, illustrated byJohn Vernon Lord, tells the story of a young boy who lives near Crystal Palace Park and discovers that Hawkins' models come to life; he befriends one of theIguanodonand names it 'Rock' and they visit theNatural History Museum. Thetravel writerPaul Therouxmentions the dinosaurs in his 1989 novelMy Secret History. The novel's narrator, Andre Parent, accidentally learns of his wife's infidelity when his young son, Jack, reveals that he has visited the dinosaurs in the company of his mother's 'friend' during Andre's prolonged","Andre's prolonged absence gathering material for a travel book.The title story inPenelope Lively's 1991 novelFanny and the Monstersis about a Victorian girl who visits the Crystal Palace dinosaurs and becomes fascinated by prehistoric creatures. George Baxter, a pioneer of colour printing, made a well-known engraving which imagines Crystal Palace, set in its landscaped grounds with tall fountains and the dinosaurs in the foreground, before the 1854 opening.In 2023,Historic Englandcreated three-dimensional photogrammetric models of the 29 sculptures.The models can be viewed online. See also Footnotes References Sources Further reading External links","Mosasaurus Mosasaurus(/ˌmoʊzəˈsɔːrəs/; \"lizard of theMeuse River\") is thetype genus(defining example) of themosasaurs, an extinct group of aquaticsquamate reptiles. It lived from about 82 to 66 million years ago during theCampanianandMaastrichtianstagesof theLate Cretaceous. The genus was one of the first Mesozoic marine reptiles known to science—the first fossils ofMosasauruswere found as skulls in a chalk quarry near the Dutch city ofMaastrichtin the late 18th century, and were initially thought to be crocodiles or whales. One skull discovered around 1780 was famously nicknamed the \"great animal of Maastricht\". In 1808, naturalistGeorges Cuvierconcluded that it belonged to a giant marine lizard with similarities tomonitor lizardsbut otherwise unlike any known living animal. This concept was revolutionary at the time and helped support the then-developing ideas ofextinction. Cuvier did not designate a scientific name for the animal; this was done byWilliam Daniel Conybearein 1822 when he named itMosasaurusin","itMosasaurusin reference to its origin in fossil deposits near the Meuse River. The exact affinities ofMosasaurusas a squamate remain controversial, and scientists continue to debate whether its closest living relatives are monitor lizards orsnakes. The largest species,M. hoffmannii, is estimated to measure up to 12 meters (39 ft) in maximum length, making it one of the largest mosasaurs. The skull ofMosasaurushad robust jaws and strong muscles capable of powerful bites using dozens of large teeth adapted for cuttingprey. Its four limbs were shaped into paddles to steer the animal underwater. Its tail was long and ended in a downward bend and a paddle-like fluke.Mosasauruspossessed excellent vision to compensate for its poor sense of smell, and a high metabolic rate suggesting it wasendothermic(\"warm-blooded\"), an adaptation in squamates only found in mosasaurs. There is considerable morphological variability across the currently-recognized species inMosasaurus—from the robustly-builtM. hoffmanniito the","hoffmanniito the slender and serpentineM. lemonnieri—but an uncleardiagnosis(description of distinguishing features) of the type speciesM. hoffmanniiled to a historically problematic classification. As a result, more than fifty species have been attributed to the genus in the past. A redescription of thetype specimenin 2017 helped resolve the taxonomy issue and confirmed at least five species to be within the genus. Another five species still nominally classified withinMosasaurusare planned to be reassessed. Fossil evidence suggestsMosasaurusinhabited much of the Atlantic Ocean and the adjacent seaways.Mosasaurusfossils have been found in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Western Asia, and Antarctica. This distribution encompassed a wide range of oceanic climates including tropical, subtropical, temperate, and subpolar.Mosasauruswas a common large predator in these oceans and was positioned at the top of thefood chain. Paleontologists believe its diet would have included virtually any animal; it","any animal; it likely preyed on bony fish, sharks,cephalopods, birds, and other marine reptiles includingsea turtlesand other mosasaurs. It likely preferred to hunt in open water near the surface. From an ecological standpoint,Mosasaurusprobably had a profound impact on the structuring of marine ecosystems; its arrival in some locations such as theWestern Interior Seawayin North America coincides with a complete turnover offaunal assemblagesand diversity.Mosasaurusfaced competition with other large predatory mosasaurs such asPrognathodonandTylosaurus—which were known to feed on similar prey—though they were able to coexist in the same ecosystems throughniche partitioning. There were still conflicts among them, as an instance ofTylosaurusattacking aMosasaurushas been documented. Several fossils document deliberate attacks onMosasaurusindividuals by members of the same species. In fighting likely took place in the form of snout grappling, as seen in modern crocodiles. Research history Discovery and","Discovery and identification The firstMosasaurusfossil known to science was discovered in 1764 in achalkquarry nearMaastrichtin the Netherlands in the form of a skull, which was initially identified as awhale.This specimen, cataloged as TM 7424, is now on display at theTeylers MuseuminHaarlem.Later around 1780,the quarry produced a second skull that caught the attention of the physicianJohann Leonard Hoffmann, who thought it was acrocodile. He contacted the prominent biologistPetrus Camper, and the skull gained international attention after Camper published a study identifying it as a whale.This caught the attention ofFrench revolutionaries, who looted the fossil following the capture of Maastricht during theFrench Revolutionary Warsin 1794.In a 1799 narrative of this event byBarthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond, the skull was allegedly retrieved by twelvegrenadiersin exchange for an offer of 600 bottles of wine.This story helped elevate the fossil into cultural fame, but historians agree that the narrative was","the narrative was exaggerated. After its seizure, the second skull was sent to theNational Museum of Natural History, Francein 1795 and later cataloged as MNHN AC 9648.By 1800, Camper's sonAdriaan Gilles Camperconcluded that the fossil, which by then was nicknamed the \"great animal of Maastricht\", belonged to amarine reptilesharing affinities tomonitor lizards, but otherwise unlike any modern animal.Georges Cuvierconfirmed the observations of Camper Jr. in a more in-depth study which was published in 1808.The skull became part of Cuvier's first speculations about the conception ofextinction, which later led to his theory ofcatastrophism, a precursor to the theory ofevolution. At the time, it was not believed that a species could go extinct, and fossils of animals were often interpreted as some form of anextantspecies.Cuvier's idea that there existed an animal unlike any today was revolutionary at the time, and in 1812 he proclaimed, \"Above all, the precise determination of the famous animal from Maastricht","from Maastricht seems to us as important for the theory of zoological laws, as for the history of the globe.\"In a 1822 work byJames Parkinson,William Daniel Conybearecoined the genusMosasaurusfrom theLatinMosa\"Meuse\" and theAncient Greekσαῦρος (saûros, \"lizard\"), all literally meaning \"lizard of the Meuse\", in reference to the river where the holotype specimen was discovered nearby.In 1829,Gideon Mantelladded thespecific epithethoffmannii, in honor to Hoffmann.Cuvier later designated the second skull as the new species'holotype(defining example).: 3 Other species In 1804, theLewis and Clark Expeditiondiscovered a now-lost fossil skeleton alongside theMissouri River, which was identified as a 45-foot (14 m) long fish.Richard Ellisspeculated in 2003 that this may have been the earliest discovery of the second speciesM. missouriensis,although competing speculations exist.In 1818, a fossil fromMonmouth County, New Jerseybecame the first North American specimen to be correctly recognized as aMosasaurusby","as aMosasaurusby scientists of the time. Thetype specimenofM. missouriensiswas first described in 1834 byRichard Harlanbased on a snout fragment found along the river'sBig Bend.In reference to its discovery made in the river, he coined the specific epithet and initially identified it as a species ofIchthyosaurusbut later as anamphibiannamedBatrachiosaurus.The rest of the skull had been discovered earlier by a fur-trapper, and it eventually came under the possession of princeMaximilian of Weid-Neuwiedbetween 1832 and 1834. The fossil skull, now cataloged as RFWUIP 1327, was delivered toGeorg August GoldfussinBonnfor research, who published a study in 1845.The same year,Christian Erich Hermann von Meyersuspected that the skull and Harlan's snout were part of the same individual.This could not be confirmed at the time because the fossil snout became lost. The von Meyer's suggestion was confirmed in 2004, when the snout was found in the collections of the MNHN under the catalog number MNHN 958. The third species","The third species was described in 1881 byEdward Drinker Copefrom a fragmentary fossil skeleton having been discovered inNew Jersey,now cataloged as AMNH 1380.In his description, the Cope thought that it represented a giant species ofClidastesand named itClidastes conodon.In 1966, Donald Baird and Gerard R. Case reidentified it as a species ofMosasaurus.Although Cope did not provide theetymologyfor the specific epithetconodon,it is suggested that it could be aportmanteaumeaning \"conical tooth\", derived from theAncient Greekκῶνος (kônos, \"cone\") and ὀδών (odṓn, \"tooth\"), probably in reference to conical surface teeth smooth of the species. The fourth speciesM. lemonnieriwas first detected by Camper Jr. based on fossils from his father's collections, which he discussed with Cuvier during their 1799 correspondence, but Cuvier rejected the idea of anotherMosasaurusspecies.This species was re-introduced to science and formally described in 1889 byLouis Dollobased on a skull recovered by Alfred Lemonnier from","Lemonnier from aphosphatequarry in Belgium,a holotype since cataloged as IRSNB R28.Dollo names the species in his honor.Further mining of the quarry in subsequent years uncovered many additional well-preserved fossils, including multiple partial skeletons which collectively represented nearly the entire skeleton of the species. They were described by Dollo in later papers.: 136Despite being the best anatomically represented species,M. lemonnieriwas largely ignored in scientific literature. Theagarten Lingham-Soliar suggested two reasons for this neglect. First,M. lemonnierifossils are endemic to Belgium and the Netherlands, which despite the famous discovery of theM. hoffmanniiholotype attracted little attention from mosasaur paleontologists. Second, the species was overshadowed by the more famous and history-richtype species. M. lemonnieriis a controversial taxon, and there is debate on whether it is a distinct species or not.In 1967,Dale Russellargued thatM. lemonnieriandM. conodonare the same species and","same species and designated the former as ajunior synonymper theprinciple of priority.: 135In a 2000 study, Lingham-Soliar refuted this based on a comprehensive study of existingM. lemonnierispecimens,which was corroborated by a study on theM. conodonskull by Takehito Ikejiri andSpencer G. Lucasin 2014.In 2004, Eric Mulder, Dirk Cornelissen, and Louis Verding suggestedM. lemonniericould be a juvenile form ofM. hoffmanniibased on the argument that significant differences could be explained by age-based variation.However, the need for more research to confirm any hypotheses of synonymy was expressed. The fifth speciesM. beaugeiwas described byCamille Arambourgin 1952 from isolated teeth originating from phosphate deposits in theOulad Abdoun Basinand theGanntour Basinin Morocco,the holotype tooth being cataloged as MNHN PMC 7.The species is named in honor of Alfred Beaugé, director at the time of theOCP Group, who invited Arambourg to participate in the research project and helped him to provide local fossils.","local fossils. Early depictions Scientists during the early and mid-1800s initially imaginedMosasaurusas an amphibious marine reptile with webbed feet andlimbs for walking. This was based on fossils like theM. missouriensisholotype, which indicated an elastic vertebral column that Goldfuss in 1845 saw as evidence of an ability to walk and interpretations of somephalangesas claws.In 1854,Hermann Schlegelproved howMosasaurusactually had fully aquatic flippers. He clarified that earlier interpretations of claws were erroneous and demonstrated how the phalanges show no indication of muscle or tendon attachment, which would make walking impossible. They are also broad, flat, and form a paddle. Schlegel's hypothesis was largely ignored by contemporary scientists but became widely accepted by the 1870s whenOthniel Charles Marshand Cope uncovered more complete mosasaur remains in North America. One of the earliest depictions ofMosasaurusinpaleoartis a life-size concrete sculpture created byBenjamin Waterhouse","Waterhouse Hawkinsbetween 1852 and 1854as part of thecollection of sculptures of prehistoric animalson display at theCrystal Palace ParkinLondon. The restoration was primarily informed byRichard Owen's interpretation of theM. hoffmanniiholotype and the anatomy of monitor lizards, so Hawkins depicted the animal as essentially a water-going monitor lizard. It was given a boxy head, nostrils at the side of the skull, large volumes of soft tissue around the eyes, lips reminiscent of monitor lizards, scales consistent with those in large monitors like theKomodo dragon, and a flipper. The model was deliberately sculpted incomplete, whichMark Wittonbelieved was likely to save time and money. Many elements of the sculpture can be considered inaccurate, even for the time. It did not take into account Golduss' 1845 study ofM. missouriensiswhich instead called for a narrower skull, nostrils at the top of the skull, and amphibious terrestrial limbs (the latter being incorrect in modern standards). Description","Description Mosasauruswas a type ofderivedmosasaur, or a latecoming member with advanced evolutionary traits such as a fully aquatic lifestyle. As such, it had a streamlined body, an elongated tail ending with a downturn supporting a two-lobed fin, and two pairs of flippers. While in the past derived mosasaurs were depicted as akin to giant flipperedsea snakes, it is now understood that they were more similar in build to other large marine vertebrates such as ichthyosaurs,marine crocodylomorphs, andarchaeocete whalesthroughconvergent evolution. Size The type species,M. hoffmannii, is one of the largest marine reptiles known,though knowledge of its skeleton remains incomplete as it is mainly known from skulls.: 100Russell (1967) wrote that the length of the jaw equalled one tenth of the body length in the species.: 210Based on this ratio, Grigoriev (2014) used the largest lower jaw attributed toM. hoffmannii(CCMGE 10/2469, also known as thePenzaspecimen; measuring 171 centimeters (67 in) in length) to","in) in length) to estimate a maximum length of 17.1 meters (56 ft).Using a smaller partial jaw (NHMM009002) measuring 90 centimeters (35 in) and \"reliably estimated at\" 160 centimeters (63 in) when complete, Lingham-Soliar (1995) estimated a larger maximum length of 17.6 meters (58 ft) via the same ratio.No explicit justification for the 1:10 ratio was provided in Russell (1967), and it has been considered to be probably overestimated by Clearyet al.(2018).In 2014, Federico Fanti and colleagues alternatively argued that the total length ofM. hoffmanniiwas more likely closer to seven times the length of the skull, which was based on a near-complete skeleton of the related speciesPrognathodon overtoni. The study estimated that anM. hoffmanniiindividual with a skull measuring more than 145 cm (57 in) would have been up to or more than 11 meters (36 ft) in length and weighed 10 metric tons (11 short tons) in body mass.Using the same ratio, Gayfordet al.(2024) calculated the total length for the Penza specimen to","Penza specimen to be 12 meters (39 ft). Isolated bones suggest someM. hoffmanniimay have exceeded the lengths of the Penza specimen. One such bone is aquadrate(NHMM 003892) which is 150% larger than the average size, which Everhart and colleagues in 2016 reported can be extrapolated to scale an individual around 18 meters (59 ft) in length. It was not stated whether they applied Russell's 1967 ratio,although Gayfordet al.(2024) suggested it was likely. M. missouriensisandM. lemonnieriare smaller thanM. hoffmanniibut are known from more complete fossils. Based on measurements of various Belgian skeletons, Dollo estimatedM. lemonnierigrew to around 7 to 10 meters (23 to 33 ft) in length.: 210He also measured the dimensions of IRSNB 3119 and recorded that the skull constituted approximately one-eleventh of the whole body.Polcynet al.(2014) estimated thatM. missouriensismay have measured up to 8–9 meters (26–30 ft) in length.Street (2016) noted that largeM. missouriensisindividuals typically had skulls exceeding","skulls exceeding lengths of 1 meter (3.3 ft).A particular near-complete skeleton ofM. missouriensisis reportedly measured at 6.5 meters (21 ft) in total length with a skull approaching 1 meter (3.3 ft) in length.Based on personal observations of various unpublished fossils from Morocco, Nathalie Bardetet al.(2015) estimated thatM. beaugeigrew to a total length of 8–10 meters (26–33 ft), their skulls typically measuring around 1 meter (3.3 ft) in length.With a referred skull measuring around 97.7 centimeters (38.5 in) in length,M. conodonhas been regarded as a small to medium-sized representative of the genus. Skull The skull ofMosasaurusis conical and tapers off to a shortsnoutwhich extends a little beyond the frontmost teeth.InM. hoffmannii, this snout is blunt,while inM. lemonnieriit is pointed.Above the gum line in both jaws, a single row of small pits known asforaminaare lined parallel to the jawline; they are used to hold the terminal branches of jaw nerves. The foramina along the snout form a pattern","form a pattern similar to the foramina inClidastesskulls.The upper jaws in most species are robustly built, broad, and deep except inM. conodon, where they are slender.The disparity is also reflected in thedentary, the lower jawbone,although all species share a long and straight dentary. InM. hoffmannii, the top margin of the dentary is slightly curved upwards;this is also the case with the largest specimens ofM. lemonnieri, although more typical skulls of the species have a near-perfectly straight jawline.The premaxillary bar,the long portion of the premaxillary bone extending behind the premaxillary teeth, is narrow and constricts near the middle inM. hoffmanniiandM. lemonnierilike in typical mosasaurs.InM. missouriensis, the bar is robust and does not constrict.The external nares (nostril openings) are moderately sized and measure around 21–24% of the skull's length inM. hoffmannii. They are placed further toward the back of the skull than in nearly all other mosasaurs (exceeded only byGoronyosaurus), and","and begin above the fourth or fifth maxillary teeth.As a result, the rear portions of themaxilla(the main tooth-bearing bone of the upper jaw) lack the dorsal concavity that would fit the nostrils in typical mosasaurs. Thepalate, which consists of the pterygoid bones,palatine bone, and nearbyprocessesof other bones, is tightly packed to provide greater cranial stability. Theneurocraniumhoused a brain which was narrow and relatively small compared to other mosasaurs. For example, the braincase of the mosasaurPlioplatecarpus marshiprovided for a brain around twice the size of that inM. hoffmanniidespite being only half the length of the latter. Spaces within the braincase for theoccipital lobeandcerebral hemisphereare narrow and shallow, suggesting such brain parts were relatively small. Theparietal forameninMosasaurus, which is associated with theparietal eye, is the smallest amongmosasaurids.The quadrate bone, which connected the lower jaw to the rest of the skull and formed the jaw joint, is tall and","joint, is tall and somewhat rectangular in shape, differing from the rounder quadrates found in typical mosasaurs.The quadrate also housed thehearing structures, with theeardrumresiding within a round and concave depression in the outer surface called the tympanic ala.Thetrachealikely stretched from theesophagusto below the back end of the lower jaw'scoronoid process, where it split into smaller pairs ofbronchiwhich extended parallel to each other. Teeth The features of teeth inMosasaurusvary across species, but unifying characteristics include a design specialized for cutting prey, highly prismatic surfaces (enamel circumference shaped by flat sides called prisms), and two opposite cutting edges.Mosasaurusteeth are large and robust except for those inM. conodonandM. lemonnieri, which instead have more slender teeth.The cutting edges ofMosasaurusdiffer by species. The cutting edges inM. hoffmanniiandM. missouriensisare finely serrated,while inM. conodonandM. lemonnieriserrations do not exist.The cutting","exist.The cutting edges ofM. beaugeiare neither serrated nor smooth, but instead possess minute wrinkles known as crenulations.The number of prisms inMosasaurusteeth can slightly vary between tooth types and general patterns differ between species—M. hoffmanniihad two to three prisms on the labial side (the side facing outwards) and no prisms on the lingual side (the side facing the tongue),M. missouriensishad four to six labial prisms and eight lingual prisms,M. lemonnierihad eight to ten labial prisms, andM. beaugeihad three to five labial prisms and eight to nine lingual prisms. Like all mosasaurs,Mosasaurushad four types of teeth, classified based on the jaw bones they were located on. On the upper jaw, there were three types: the premaxillary teeth, maxillary teeth, and pterygoid teeth. On the lower jaw, only one type, the dentary teeth, were present. In each jaw row, from front to back,Mosasaurushad: two premaxillary teeth, twelve to sixteen maxillary teeth, and eight to sixteen pterygoid teeth on the","teeth on the upper jaw and fourteen to seventeen dentary teeth on the lower jaw. The teeth were largely consistent in size and shape with only minor differences throughout the jaws (homodont) except for the smaller pterygoid teeth.The number of teeth in the maxillae, pterygoids, and dentaries vary between species and sometimes even individuals—M. hoffmanniihad fourteen to sixteen maxillary teeth, fourteen to fifteen dentary teeth, and eight pterygoid teeth;M. missouriensishad fourteen to fifteen maxillary teeth, fourteen to fifteen dentary teeth, and eight to nine pterygoid teeth;M. conodonhad fourteen to fifteen maxillary teeth, sixteen to seventeen dentary teeth, and eight pterygoid teeth;M. lemonnierihad fifteen maxillary teeth, fourteen to seventeen dentary teeth, and eleven to twelve pterygoid teeth;andM. beaugeihad twelve to thirteen maxillary teeth, fourteen to sixteen dentary teeth, and six or more pterygoid teeth.One indeterminate specimen ofMosasaurussimilar toM. conodonfrom thePembina Gorge State","Gorge State Recreation AreainNorth Dakotawas found to have an unusual count of sixteen pterygoid teeth, far greater than in known species. The dentition wasthecodont(tooth roots deeply cemented within the jaw bone). Teeth were constantly shed through a process where the replacement tooth developed within the root of the original tooth and then pushed it out of the jaw.Chemical studies conducted on aM. hoffmanniimaxillary tooth measured an average rate of deposition ofodontoblasts, the cells responsible for the formation ofdentin, at 10.9 micrometers (0.00043 in) per day. This was by observing thevon Ebner lines, incremental marks in dentin that form daily. It was approximated that it took the odontoblasts 511 days and dentin 233 days to develop to the extent observed in the tooth. Postcranial skeleton One of the most completeMosasaurusskeletons in terms of vertebral representation (Mosasaurussp.; SDSM 452)has sevencervical (neck) vertebrae, thirty-eight dorsal vertebrae (which includesthoracicandlumbar","vertebrae) in the back, and eight pygal vertebrae (front tail vertebrae lackinghaemal arches) followed by sixty-eightcaudal vertebraein the tail. All species ofMosasaurushave seven cervical vertebrae, but other vertebral counts vary among them. Various partial skeletons ofM. conodon,M. hoffmannii, andM. missouriensissuggestM. conodonlikely had up to thirty-six dorsal vertebrae and nine pygal vertebrae;M. hoffmanniihad likely up to thirty-two dorsal vertebrae and ten pygal vertebrae;andM. missouriensisaround thirty-three dorsal vertebrae, eleven pygal vertebrae, and at least seventy-nine caudal vertebrae.M. lemmonierihad the most vertebrae in the genus, with up to around forty dorsal vertebrae, twenty-two pygal vertebrae, and ninety caudal vertebrae.: 155Compared to other mosasaurs, therib cageofMosasaurusis unusually deep and forms an almost perfect semicircle, giving it a barrel-shaped chest. Rather than being fused together, extensive cartilage likely connected the ribs with thesternum, which would have","which would have facilitated breathing movements and compression when in deeper waters.The texture of the bones is virtually identical with in modern whales, which indicatesMosasauruspossessed a high range of aquatic adaptation andneutral buoyancyas seen in cetaceans. The tail structure ofMosasaurusis similar to relatives likePrognathodon, in which soft tissue evidence for a two-lobed tail is known.The tail vertebrae gradually shorten around the center of the tail and lengthen behind the center, suggesting rigidness around the tail center and excellent flexibility behind it. Like most advanced mosasaurs, the tail bends slightly downwards as it approached the center, but this bend is offset from the dorsal plane at a small degree.Mosasaurusalso has large haemal arches located at the bottom of each caudal vertebra which bend near the middle of the tail, which contrasts with the reduction of haemal arches in other marine reptiles such asichthyosaurs. These and other features support a large and powerful","large and powerful paddle-like fluke inMosasaurus. The forelimbs ofMosasaurusare wide and robust.Thescapulaandhumerusare fan-shaped and wider than tall. Theradiusandulnaare short, but the former is taller and larger than the latter.Theiliumis rod-like and slender; inM. missouriensis, it is around 1.5 times longer than thefemur. The femur itself is about twice as long as it is wide and ends at the distal side in a pair of distinctarticular facets(of which one connects to theiliumand the other to the paddle bones) that meet at an angle of approximately 120°.Five sets ofmetacarpalsand phalanges (finger bones) were encased in and supported the paddles, with the fifth set being shorter and offset from the rest. The overall structure of the paddle is compressed, similar to inPlotosaurus, and was well-suited for faster swimming.In the hindlimbs, the paddle is supported by four sets of digits. Interactive skeletal reconstruction ofM. hoffmannii(hover over or click on each skeletal component to identify the","to identify the structure) Classification History of taxonomy Because nomenclatural rules were not well-defined at the time, 19th century scientists did not giveMosasaurusa properdiagnosisduring its initial descriptions, which led to ambiguity in how the genus is defined. This ledMosasaurusto become awastebasket taxoncontaining as many as fifty different species. A 2017 study by Hallie Street and Michael Caldwell performed the first proper diagnosis and description of theM. hoffmanniiholotype, which allowed a major taxonomic cleanup confirming five species as likely valid—M. hoffmannii,M. missouriensis,M. conodon,M. lemonnieri, andM. beaugei. The study also held four additional species fromPacificdeposits—M. mokoroa,M. hobetsuensis,M. flemingi, andM. prismaticus—to be possibly valid, pending a future formal reassessment.Street & Caldwell (2017) was derived from Street's 2016 doctoral thesis, which contained aphylogeneticstudy proposing the constraining ofMosasaurusinto four species—M. hoffmannii,M.","hoffmannii,M. missouriensis,M. lemonnieri, and a proposed new species'M. glycys'—withM. conodonand the Pacific taxa recovered as belonging to different genera andM. beaugeiview as a junior synonymofM. hoffmannii.: 300 Systematics and evolution As thetype genusof the family Mosasauridae and the subfamily Mosasaurinae,Mosasaurusis a member of the orderSquamata(which compriseslizardsandsnakes). Relationships between mosasaurs and living squamates remain controversial as scientists still fiercely debate on whether the closest living relatives of mosasaurs are monitor lizards or snakes.Mosasaurus, along with mosasaur generaEremiasaurus,Plotosaurus,andMoanasaurustraditionally form a tribe within the Mosasaurinae variously calledMosasaurinior Plotosaurini.: 145–148 Phylogeny and evolution of the genus One of the earliest relevant attempts at an evolutionary study ofMosasauruswas done by Russell in 1967.He proposed thatMosasaurusevolved from aClidastes-like mosasaur, and diverged into two lineages, one giving rise","one giving rise toM. conodonand another siring achronospeciessequence which contained in order of successionM. ivoensis,M. missouriensis, andM. maximus-hoffmanni.: 202However, Russell used an early method of phylogenetics and did not use cladistics. In 1997, Bell published the first cladistical study of North American mosasaurs. Incorporating the speciesM. missouriensis,M. conodon,M. maximus, and an indeterminate specimen (UNSM77040), some of his findings agreed with Russell (1967), such asMosasaurusdescending from an ancestral group containingClidastesandM. conodonbeing the most basal of the genus. Contrary to Russell (1967), Bell also recoveredMosasaurusin a sister relationship with another group which includedGlobidensandPrognathodon, andM. maximusas a sister species toPlotosaurus. The latter renderedMosasaurusparaphyletic(an unnatural grouping), but Bell (1997) nevertheless recognizedPlotosaurusas a distinct genus. Bell's study served as a precedent for later studies that mostly left the systematics","the systematics ofMosasaurusunchanged,: 214–215although some later studies have recovered the sister group toMosasaurusandPlotosaurusto instead beEremiasaurusorPlesiotylosaurusdepending on the method of data interpretation used,with at least one study also recoveringM. missouriensisto be the most basal species of the genus instead ofM. conodon.In 2014, Konishi and colleagues expressed a number of concerns with the reliance on Bell's study. First, the genus was severely underrepresented by incorporating only the three North American speciesM. hoffmannii/M. maximus,M. missouriensis, andM. conodon; by doing so, others likeM. lemonnieri, which is one of the most completely known species in the genus, were neglected, which affected phylogenetic results. Second, the studies relied on an unclean and shaky taxonomy of theMosasaurusgenus due to the lack of a clear holotype diagnosis, which may have been behind the genus's paraphyletic status.: 214–215Third, there was still a lack of comparative studies of the","studies of the skeletal anatomy of large mosasaurines at the time.These problems were addressed in Street's 2016 thesis in an updated phylogenetic analysis.: 214–215 Conrad uniquely used onlyM. hoffmanniiandM. lemonnieriin his 2008 phylogenetic analysis, which recoveredM. hoffmanniias basal to a multitude of descendant clades containing (in order of most to least basal)Globidens,M. lemonnieri,Goronyosaurus, andPlotosaurus. This result indicated thatM. hoffmanniiandM. lemonnieriare not in the same genus.However, the study used a method unorthodox to traditional phylogenetic studies on mosasaur species because its focus was on the relationships of entire squamate groups rather than mosasaur classification. As a result, some paleontologists caution that lower-order classification results from Conrad's 2008 study such as the specific placement ofMosasaurusmay contain technical problems, making them inaccurate. The followingcladogramon the left (Topology A) is modified from amaximum clade credibility treeinferred","treeinferred by aBayesian analysisin the most recent major phylogenetic analysis of the Mosasaurinae subfamily by Madzia & Cau (2017), which was self-described as a refinement of a larger study by Simõeset al.(2017).The cladogram on the right (Topology B) is modified from Street's 2016 doctoral thesis proposing a revision to the Mosasaurinae, with proposed new taxa and renamings in single quotations.: 267 Dallasaurus turneri Clidastes liodontus Clidastes moorevillensis Clidastes propython Prognathodon overtoni Prognathodon rapax Prognathodon saturator Prognathodon currii Prognathodon solvayi Prognathodon waiparaensis Prognathodon kianda Eremiasaurus heterodontus Plesiotylosaurus crassidens Mosasaurus conodon Mosasaurus missouriensis Mosasaurus hoffmannii Plotosaurus bennisoni Globidens alabamaensis Globidens dakotensis Positions of groups Positions of individual taxa Prognathodon solvayi Clidastes propython Clidastes liodontus Clidastes moorevillensis Globidens alabamaensis Globidens dakotensis Prognathodon","Prognathodon kianda Eremiasaurus heterodontus Prognathodon overtoni Prognathodon saturator Prognathodon currii Prognathodon rapax Plesiotylosaurus crassidens 'Marichimaera waiparaensis' 'Amblyrhynchosaurus wiffeni' 'Moanasaurus hobetsuensis' Moanasaurus mangahouange 'Moanasaurus longirostis' Mosasaurus missouriensis Mosasaurus lemonnieri Mosasaurus hoffmannii 'Mosasaurus glycys' 'Antipodinectes mokoroa' 'Umikosaurus prismaticus' 'Aktisaurus conodon' Plotosaurus bennisoni Paleobiology Head musculature and mechanics In 1995, Lingham-Soliar studied the head musculature ofM. hoffmannii. Because soft tissue like muscles do not easily fossilize, reconstruction of the musculature was largely based on the structure of the skull, muscle scarring on the skull, and the musculature in extant monitor lizards. In modern lizards, the mechanical build of the skull is characterized by a four-pivot geometric structure in thecraniumthat allows flexible movement of the jaws, possibly to allow the animals to better position them","position them and prevent prey escape when hunting. In contrast, thefrontalandparietal bones, which in modern lizards connect to form a flexible pivot point, overlap in the skull ofM. hoffmannii. This creates a rigid three-pivot geometric cranial structure. These cranial structures are united by strong interlocking sutures formed to resist compression and shear forces caused by a downward thrust of the lower jaw muscles or an upward thrust of prey. This rigid but highly shock-absorbent structure of the cranium likely allowed a powerfulbite force. Like all mosasaurs, the lower jaws ofMosasauruscould swing forward and backward. In many mosasaurs likePrognathodonandM. lemonnieri, this function mainly served to allow ratchet feeding, in which the pterygoid and jaws would \"walk\" captured prey into the mouth like a conveyor belt. But especially compared to those inM. lemonnieri, the pterygoid teeth inM. hoffmanniiare relatively small, which indicates ratchet feeding was relatively unimportant to its hunting and","to its hunting and feeding.Rather,M. hoffmanniilikely employed inertial feeding (in which the animal thrusts its head and neck backward to release a held prey item and immediately thrust the head and neck forward to close the jaws around the item) and used jaw adduction to assist in biting during prey seizure. Themagnus adductormuscles, which attach to the lower jaws to the cranium and have a major role in biting function, are massive, indicatingM. hoffmanniiwas capable of enormous bite forces. The long, narrow, and heavy nature of the lower jaws and attachment of tendons at the coronoid process would have allowed quick opening and closing of the mouth with little energy input underwater, which also contributed to the powerful bite force ofM. hoffmanniiand suggests it would not have needed the strongmagnus depressormuscles (jaw-opening muscles) seen in some plesiosaurs. Mobility and thermoregulation Mosasaurusswam using its tail. The swimming style was likelysub-carangiform, which is exemplified today","exemplified today bymackerels.Its elongated paddle-like limbs functioned ashydrofoilsfor maneuvering the animal. The paddles' steering function was enabled by large muscle attachments from the outwards-facing side of the humerus to the radius and ulna and modified joints allowed an enhanced ability ofrotating the flippers. The powerful forces resulting from utilization of the paddles may have sometimes resulted in bone damage, as evidenced by aM. hoffmanniiilium with significant separation of the bone'sheadfrom the rest of the bone likely caused by frequent shearing forces at the articulation joint. The tissue structure ofMosasaurus'bones suggests it had a metabolic rate much higher than modern squamates and itsresting metabolic ratewas between that of theleatherback sea turtleand that of ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs.Mosasauruswas likelyendothermicand maintained a constant body temperature independent of the external environment. Although there is no direct evidence specific to the genus, studies on the","studies on the biochemistry of related mosasaur genera such asClidastessuggests that endothermy was likely present in all mosasaurs. Such a trait is unique among squamates, the only known exception being theArgentine black and white tegu, which can maintain partial endothermy.This adaptation would have given several advantages toMosasaurus, including increased stamina when foraging across larger areas and pursuing prey.It may have also been a factor that allowedMosasaurusto thrive in the colder climates of locations such asAntarctica. Sensory functions Mosasaurushad relatively largeeye socketswith largesclerotic ringsoccupying much of the sockets' diameter;the latter is correlated with eye size and suggests it had good vision. The eye sockets were located at the sides of the skull, which created a narrow field ofbinocular visionat around 28.5°but alternatively allowed excellent processing of a two-dimensional environment, such as the near-surface waters inhabited byMosasaurus. Brain castsmade from fossils","from fossils ofMosasaurusshow that theolfactory bulbandvomeronasal organ, which both control the function of smell, are poorly developed and lack some structures inM. hoffmannii; this indicates the species had a poor sense of smell. InM. lemonnieri, these olfactory organs, although still small, are better developed and have some components lacking inM. hoffmannii. The lack of a strong sense of smell suggests that olfaction was not particularly important inMosasaurus; instead, other senses like vision may have been more useful. Feeding Paleontologists generally agree thatMosasauruswas likely an active predator of a variety of marine animals.Fauna likely preyed upon by the genus include bony fish, sharks, cephalopods, birds, and marine reptiles such as other mosasaursand turtles.It is unlikelyMosasauruswas a scavenger as it had a poor sense of smell.Mosasauruswas among the largest marine animals of its time,and with its large, robust cutting teeth, scientists believe larger members of the genus would have been","would have been able to handle virtually any animal.Lingham-Soliar (1995) suggested thatMosasaurushad a rather \"savage\" feeding behavior as demonstrated by large tooth marks on scutes of the giant sea turtleAllopleuron hoffmanniand fossils of re-healed fractured jaws inM. hoffmannii.The species likely hunted near the ocean surface as an ambush predator, using its large two-dimensionally adapted eyes to more effectively spot and capture prey.Chemical and structural data in the fossils ofM. lemonnieriandM. conodonsuggests they may have also hunted in deeper waters.: 152 Carbon isotope studies on fossils of multipleM. hoffmanniiindividuals have found extremely low values ofδ13C, the lowest in all mosasaurs for the largest individuals. Mosasaurs with lower δ13C values tended to occupy higher trophic levels, and one factor for this was dietary: a diet of prey rich in lipids such as sea turtles and other large marine reptiles can lower δ13C values.M. hoffmannii's low δ13C levels reinforces its likely position as","likely position as an apex predator. Currently, there is only one known example of aMosasauruspreserved with stomach contents: a well-preserved partial skeleton of a smallM. missouriensisdated about 75 million years old with dismembered and punctured remains of a 1 meter (3.3 ft) long fish in its gut. This fish was much longer than the length of the mosasaur's skull, which measured 66 centimeters (26 in) in length, confirming thatM. missouriensisconsumed prey larger than its headby dismembering and consuming bits at a time. Due to coexistence with other large mosasaurs likePrognathodon, which specialized in robust prey,M. missouriensislikely specialized more on prey best consumed using cutting-adapted teeth in an example ofniche partitioning. Mosasaurusmay have taught their offspring how to hunt, as supported by a fossilnautiloidArgonautilus catarinaewith bite marks from two conspecific mosasaurs, one being from a juvenile and the other being from an adult. Analysis of the tooth marks by a 2004 study by","by a 2004 study by Kauffman concluded that the mosasaurs were eitherMosasaurusorPlatecarpus. The positioning of both bite marks are at the direction the nautiloid's head would have been facing, indicating it was incapable of escaping and was thus already sick or dead during the attacks; it is possible this phenomenon was from a parent mosasaur teaching its offspring about cephalopods as an alternate source of prey and how to hunt one. An alternate explanation postulates the bite marks as from one individual mosasaur that lightly bit the nautiloid at first, then proceeded to bite again with greater force. However, there are differences in tooth spacing between both bites which indicate different jaw sizes. Behavior and paleopathology Intraspecific combat There is fossil evidence thatMosasaurusengaged in aggressive and lethal combat with others of its kind. One partial skeleton ofM. conodonbears multiple cuts, breaks, and punctures on various bones, particularly in the rear portions of the skull and neck, and","skull and neck, and a tooth from anotherM. conodonpiercing through the quadrate bone. No injuries on the fossil show signs of healing, suggesting that the mosasaur was killed by its attacker by a fatal blow in the skull.Likewise, anM. missouriensisskeleton has a tooth from anotherM. missouriensisembedded in the lower jaw underneath the eye. In this case, there were signs of healing around the wound, implying survival of the incident.Takuya Konishi suggested an alternative cause of this example being head-biting behavior duringcourtshipas seen in modern lizards.Attacks by anotherMosasaurusare a possible cause of physicalpathologiesin other skulls, but they could have instead arisen from other incidents like attempted biting on hard turtle shells. In 2004, Lingham-Soliar observed that if these injuries were indeed the result of an intraspecific attack, then there is a pattern of them concentrating in the skull region. Modern crocodiles commonly attack each other by grappling an opponent's head using their","head using their jaws, and Lingham-Soliar hypothesized thatMosasaurusemployed similar head-grappling behavior during intraspecific combat. Many of the fossils with injuries possibly attributable to intraspecific combat are of juvenile or sub-adultMosasaurus, leading to the possibility that attacks on smaller, weaker individuals may have been more common.However, the attacking mosasaurs of theM. conodonandM. missouriensisspecimens were likely similar in size to the victims.In 2006, Schulp and colleagues speculated thatMosasaurusmay have occasionally engaged incannibalismas a result of intraspecific aggression. Diseases There are someM. hoffmanniijaws with evidence of infectious diseases as a result of physical injuries. Two examples include IRSNB R25 and IRSNB R27, both having fractures and other pathologies in their dentaries. IRSNB R25 preserves acomplete fracturenear the sixthtooth socket. Extensive amounts of bonycallusalmost overgrowing the tooth socket are present around the fracture along with","fracture along with variousosteolytic cavities,abscesscanals, damages to thetrigeminal nerve, and inflamed erosions signifying severe bacterial infection. There are two finely ulcerated scratches on the bone callus, which may have developed as part of the healing process. IRSNB R27 has two fractures: one had almost fully healed and the other is an open fracture with nearby teeth broken off as a result. The fracture is covered with anonunionformation ofbony calluswith shallow scratch marks and a large pit connected to an abscess canal. Lingham-Soliar described this pit as resembling a tooth mark from a possible attacking mosasaur. Both specimens show signs of deep bacterial infection alongside the fractures; some bacteria may have spread to nearby damaged teeth and causedtooth decay, which may have entered deeper tissue from prior post-traumatic or secondary infections. The dentaries ahead of the fractures in both specimens are in good condition, suggesting that the arteries and trigeminal nerves had not been","nerves had not been damaged; if they were, those areas would havenecrotizeddue to lack of blood. The dentaries' condition suggests that the species may have had an efficient process of immobilizing the fracture during healing, which helped prevent damage to vital blood vessels and nerves. This, along with signs of healing, indicates that the fractures were not imminently fatal. In 2006, Schulp and colleagues published a study describing a quadrate ofM. hoffmanniiwith multiple unnatural openings and an estimated 0.5 liters (0.13 U.S. gal) of tissue destroyed. This was likely a severebone infectioninitiated byseptic arthritis, which progressed to the point where a large portion of the quadrate was reduced to abscess. Extensive amounts of bone reparative tissue were also present, suggesting the infection and subsequent healing process may have progressed for a few months. This level of bone infection would have been tremendously painful and severely hampered the mosasaur's ability to use its jaws. The location","jaws. The location of the infection may have also interfered with breathing. Considering how the individual was able to survive such conditions for an extended period of time, Schulp and colleagues speculated it switched to a foraging-type diet of soft-bodied prey like squid that could be swallowed whole to minimize jaw use. The cause of the infection remains unknown, but if it were a result of an intraspecific attack then it is possible one of the openings on the quadrate may have been the point of entry for an attacker's tooth from which the infection entered. Avascular necrosishas been reported by many studies to be present in every examined specimen ofM. lemonnieriandM. conodon.In examinations ofM. conodonfossils from Alabama and New Jersey andM. lemonnierifossils from Belgium, Rothschild and Martin in 2005 observed that the condition affected between 3-17% of the vertebrae in the mosasaurs' spines.Avascular necrosis is a common result ofdecompression illness; it involves bone damage caused by the","caused by the formation of nitrogen bubbles from inhaled air decompressed during frequent deep-diving trips, or by intervals of repetitive diving and short breathing. This indicates that bothMosasaurusspecies may have either been habitual deep-divers or repetitive divers. Agnete Weinreich Carlsen considered it the simplest explanation that such conditions were a product of inadequate anatomical adaptation. Nevertheless, fossils of other mosasaurs with invariable avascular necrosis still exhibit substantial adaptations like eardrums that were well-protected from rapid changes in pressure. Unnatural fusion of tail vertebrae has been documented inMosasaurus, which occurs when the bonesremodelthemselves after damage from trauma or disease. A 2015 study by Rothschild and Everhart surveyed 15Mosasaurusspecimens from North America and Belgium and found cases of fused tail vertebrae in three of them.Two of these cases displayed irregular surface deformities around the fusion site caused by drainage of thevertebral","of thevertebral sinuses, which is indicative of a bone infection. The causes of such infections are uncertain, but records of fused vertebrae in other mosasaurs suggest attacks by sharks and other predators as a possible candidate. The third case was determined to be caused by a form ofarthritisbased on the formation of smooth bridging between fused vertebrae. Life history It is likely thatMosasauruswasviviparous(giving live birth) like most modern mammals today. There is no evidence for live birth inMosasaurusitself, but it is known in a number of other mosasaurs;examples include a skeleton of a pregnantCarsosaurus,aPlioplatecarpusfossil associated with fossils of two mosasaur embryos,and fossils of newbornClidastesfrompelagic(open ocean) deposits.Such fossil records, along with a total absence of any evidence suggesting external egg-based reproduction, indicates the likeliness of viviparity inMosasaurus.Microanatomical studies on bones of juvenileMosasaurusand related genera have found that their bone","that their bone structures are comparable to adults. They do not exhibit the bone mass increase found in juvenile primitive mosasauroids to support buoyancy associated with a lifestyle in shallow water, implying thatMosasauruswasprecocial: They were already efficient swimmers and lived fully functional lifestyles in open water at a very young age and did not require nursery areas to raise their young.Some areas in Europe and South Dakota have yielded concentrated assemblages of juvenileM. hoffmannii,M. missouriensisand/orM. lemonnieri. These localities are all shallow ocean deposits, suggesting that juvenileMosasaurusmay still have lived in shallow waters. Paleoecology Distribution, ecosystem, and ecological impact Mosasaurushad a transatlantic distribution, with its fossils having been found in marine deposits on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. These localities include theMidwestandEast Coastof the United States, Canada, Europe, Turkey, Russia, theLevant, the African coastline from Moroccoto South Africa,","South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, and Antarctica.During the Late Cretaceous, these regions made up the three seaways inhabited byMosasaurus: the Atlantic Ocean, theWestern Interior Seaway, and theMediterranean Tethys.Multiple oceanicclimate zonesencompassed the seaways, includingtropical,subtropical,temperate, andsubpolarclimates.The wide range of oceanic climates yielded a large diversity of fauna that coexisted withMosasaurus. Mediterranean Tethys The Mediterranean Tethys during theMaastrichtianstagewas located in what is now Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In recent studies, the confirmation of paleogeographical affinities extended this range to areas across the Atlantic including Brazil and the East Coast state of New Jersey. It is geographically subdivided into twobiogeographic provincesthat respectively include the northern and southern Tethyan margins. The two mosasaursMosasaurusandPrognathodonappear to have been the dominant taxa, being widespread and ecologically diversified throughout the","throughout the seaway. The northern Tethyan margin was located around the paleolatitudes of30–40°N, consisting of what is now the European continent, Turkey, and New Jersey. At the time, Europe was a scattering of islands with most of the modern continental landmass being underwater. The margin provided a warm-temperate climate with habitats dominated by mosasaurs and sea turtles.M. hoffmanniiandPrognathodon sectoriuswere the dominant species in the northern province.In certain areas such as Belgium, otherMosasaurusspecies likeM. lemonnieriwere instead the dominant species, where its occurrences greatly outnumber those of other large mosasaurs.Other mosasaurs found in the European side of the northern Tethyan margin include smaller genera such asHalisaurus,Plioplatecarpus, andPlatecarpus; the shell-crusherCarinodens; and larger mosasaurs of similar trophic levels includingTylosaurus bernardiand four other species ofPrognathodon. Sea turtles such asAllopleurodon hoffmanniandGlyptochelone suickerbuyckiwere","suickerbuyckiwere also prevalent in the area and other marine reptiles including indeterminateelasmosaurshave been occasionally found. Marine reptile assemblages in the New Jersey region of the province are generally equivalent with those in Europe; the mosasaur faunae are quite similar but excludeM. lemonnieri,Carinodens,Tylosaurus, and certain species ofHalisaurusandPrognathodon. In addition, they exclusively featureM. conodon,Halisaurus platyspondylusandPrognathodon rapax.Many types of sharks such asSqualicorax,Cretalamna,Serratolamna, andsand sharks,as well as bony fish such asCimolichthys, the saber-toothed herringEnchodus, and the swordfish-likeProtosphyraenaare represented in the northern Tethyan margin. The southern Tethyan margin was located along the equator between20°Nand20°S, resulting in warmer tropical climates. Seabeds bordering thecratonsin Africa and Arabia and extending to the Levant and Brazil provided vast shallow marine environments. These environments were dominated by mosasaurs","by mosasaurs andmarine side-necked turtles. Of the mosasaurs,Globidens phosphaticusis the characteristic species of the southern province; in the African and Arabian domain,Halisaurus arambourgiand'Platecarpus ptychodon'were also common mosasaurs alongsideGlobidens.Mosasauruswas not well-represented: the distribution ofM. beaugeiwas restricted to Morocco and Brazil and isolated teeth from Syria suggested a possible presence ofM. lemonnieri, althoughM. hoffmanniialso had some presence throughout the province.Other mosasaurs from the southern Tethyan margin include the enigmaticGoronyosaurus, the shell-crushersIgdamanosaurusandCarinodens,Eremiasaurus, four other species ofPrognathodon, and various other species ofHalisaurus. Other marine reptiles such as the marine monitor lizardPachyvaranusand the sea snakePalaeophisare known there. Aside fromZarafasaurain Morocco, plesiosaurs were scarce. As a tropical area, bony fish such asEnchodusandStratodusand various sharks were common throughout the southern Tethyan","southern Tethyan margin. Western Interior Seaway Many of the earliest fossils ofMosasauruswere found inCampanianstage deposits in North America, including the Western Interior Seaway, an inland sea which once flowed through what is now the central United States and Canada, and connected theArctic Oceanto the modern-dayGulf of Mexico. The region was shallow for a seaway, reaching a maximum depth of about 800–900 meters (2,600–3,000 ft).Extensive drainage from the neighboring continents,AppalachiaandLaramidia, brought in vast amounts of sediment. Together with the formation of a nutrient-rich deepwater mass from the mixing of continental freshwater, Arctic waters from the north, and warmer saline Tethyan waters from the south, this created a warm and productive seaway that supported a rich diversity of marine life. The biogeography of the region has been subdivided into two Interior Subprovinces characterized by different climates and faunal structures, and their borders are separated in modern-dayKansas. The","The oceanic climate of the Northern Interior Subprovince was likely a cool temperate one, while the Southern Interior Subprovince had warm temperate to subtropical climates.The fossil assemblages throughout these regions suggest a complete faunal turnover whenM. missouriensisandM. conodonappeared at 79.5 Ma, indicating that the presence ofMosasaurusin the Western Interior Seaway had a profound impact on the restructuring of marine ecosystems.The faunal structure of both provinces was generally much more diverse prior to the appearance ofMosasaurus, during afaunal stageknown as theNiobraran Age, than it was during the followingNavesinkan Age. In what is now Alabama within the Southern Interior Subprovince, most of the key genera including sharks likeCretoxyrhinaand the mosasaursClidastes,Tylosaurus,Globidens,Halisaurus, andPlatecarpusdisappeared and were replaced byMosasaurus.During the Navesinkan Age,Mosasaurusdominated the whole region, accounting for around two-thirds of all mosasaur diversity","mosasaur diversity withPlioplatecarpusandPrognathodonsharing the remaining third. The Northern Interior Subprovince also saw a restructuring of mosasaur assemblages, characterized by the disappearance of mosasaurs likePlatecarpusand their replacement byMosasaurusandPlioplatecarpus.Some Niobraran genera such asTylosaurus,Cretoxyrhina,hesperornithids,and plesiosaurs including elasmosaurs such asTerminonatatorand polycotylids likeDolichorhynchopsmaintained their presence until around the end of the Campanian, during which the entire Western Interior Seaway started receding from the north.Mosasauruscontinued to be the dominant genus in the seaway until the end of the Navesinkan Age at the end of the Cretaceous.Contemporaneous fauna included sea turtles such asProtostegaandArchelon;many species of sea birds includingBaptornis,Ichthyornis, andHalimornis; sharks such as the mackerel sharksCretalamna,Squalicorax,Pseudocorax, andSerratolamna, the goblin sharkScapanorhynchus, the sand tigerOdontaspis, and the","and the sawfish-likeIschyrhiza; and bony fish such asEnchodus,Protosphyraena,Stratodus, and theichthyodectidsXiphactinusandSaurodon. Antarctica Mosasaurusis known from late Maastrichtian deposits in theAntarctic Peninsula, specifically theLópez de Bertodano FormationinSeymour Island.Located within thepolar circleat around 65°S,temperatures at medium to large water depths would have been around 6 °C (43 °F) on average, while sea surface temperatures may have dropped below freezing and sea ice may have formed at times.Mosasaurusappears to be the most diverse mosasaur in the Maastrichtian Antarctica. At least two species ofMosasaurushave been described, but the true number of species is unknown as remains are often fragmentary and specimens are described inopen nomenclature. These species include one comparable withM. lemonnieri, and another that appears to be closely related toM. hoffmannii.M. sp.has also been described. However, it is possible that such specimens may actually representMoanasaurus, although","although this depends on the outcome of a pending revision of the genus.At least four other mosasaur genera have been reported in Antarctica, includingPlioplatecarpus, the mosasaurinesMoanasaurusandLiodon,andKaikaifilu. The validity of some of these genera is disputed as they are primarily based on isolated teeth.PrognathodonandGlobidensare also expected to be present based on distribution trends of both genera, although conclusive fossils have yet to be found.Other Antarctic marine reptiles included elasmosaurid plesiosaurs likeAristonectesand another indeterminate elasmosaurid.The fish assemblage of the López de Bertodano Formation was dominated byEnchodusand ichthyodectiformes. Habitat preference Known fossils ofMosasaurushave typically been recovered from deposits representing nearshore habitats during the Cretaceous period, with some fossils coming from deeper-water deposits.: 152, 178Lingham-Soliar (1995) elaborated on this, finding that Maastrichtian deposits in the Netherlands withM.","Netherlands withM. hoffmanniioccurrences represented nearshore waters around 40–50 meters (130–160 ft) deep. Changing temperatures and an abundance in marine life were characteristic of these localities. The morphological build ofM. hoffmannii, nevertheless, was best adapted for a pelagic surface lifestyle. δ13C is also correlated with a marine animal's feeding habitat as isotope levels deplete when habitat is farther from the shoreline, so some scientists interpreted isotope levels as a proxy for habitat preference. Separate studies involving multipleMosasaurusspecimens have yielded consistently low δ13C levels of tooth enamel, indicating thatMosasaurusfed in more offshore or open waters. It has been pointed out how δ13C can be influenced by other factors in an animal's lifestyle, such as diet and diving behavior.: 122To account for this, a 2014 study by T. Lynn Harrell Jr. and Alberto Perez-Huerta examined the concentration ratios ofneodymium,gadolinium, andytterbiuminM. hoffmanniiandMosasaurussp. fossils","fossils from Alabama, theDemopolis Chalk, and theHornerstown Formation. Previous studies demonstrated that ratios of these three elements can act as a proxy for relative ocean depth of a fossil during earlydiagenesiswithout interference from biological processes, with each of the three elements signifying either shallow, deep, or fresh waters. The rare earth element ratios were very consistent throughout most of the examinedMosasaurusfossils, indicating consistent habitat preference, and clustered towards a ratio representing offshore habitats with ocean depths deeper than 50 meters (160 ft). Interspecific competition Mosasauruslived alongside other large predatory mosasaurs also considered apex predators, most prominent among them being the tylosaurines andPrognathodon.Tylosaurus bernardi, the only surviving species of the genus during the Maastrichtian, measured up to 12.2 meters (40 ft) in lengthwhile the largest coexisting species ofPrognathodonlikeP. saturatorexceeded 12 meters (39 ft).These three","(39 ft).These three mosasaurs preyed on similar animals such as marine reptiles. A study published in 2013 by Schulp and colleagues specifically tested how mosasaurs such asM. hoffmanniiandP. saturatorwere able to coexist in the same localities through δ13C analysis. The scientists utilized an interpretation that differences in isotope values can help explain the level of resource partitioning because it is influenced by multiple environmental factors such as lifestyle, diet, and habitat preference. Comparisons between the δ13C levels in multiple teeth ofM. hoffmanniiandP. saturatorfrom the Maastrichtian-ageMaastricht Formationshowed that while there was some convergence between certain specimens, the average δ13C values between the two species were on average different. This is one indication of niche partitioning, where the two mosasaur genera likely foraged in different habitats or had different specific diets to coexist without direct competitive conflict. The teeth ofP. saturatorare much more robust","much more robust than those ofM. hoffmanniiand were specifically equipped for preying on robust prey like turtles. WhileM. hoffmanniialso preyed on turtles, its teeth were built to handle a wider range of prey less suited forP. saturator. Another case of presumed niche partitioning betweenMosasaurusandPrognathodonfrom theBearpaw FormationinAlbertawas documented in a 2014 study by Konishi and colleagues. The study found a dietary divide betweenM. missouriensisandP. overtonibased on stomach contents. Stomach contents ofP. overtoniincluded turtles and ammonites, providing another example of a diet specialized for harder prey. In contrast,M. missouriensishad stomach contents consisting of fish, indicative of a diet specialized in softer prey. It was hypothesized that these adaptations helped maintain resource partitioning between the two mosasaurs. Nevertheless, competitive engagement evidently could not be entirely avoided. There is also evidence of aggressive interspecific combat betweenMosasaurusand other","other large mosasaur species. This is shown from a fossil skull of a subadultM. hoffmanniiwith fractures caused by a massive concentrated blow to the braincase; Lingham-Soliar (1998) argued that this blow was dealt by a ramming attack byT. bernardi, as the formation of the fractures were characteristic of a coordinated strike (and not an accident or fossilization damage), andT. bernardiwas the only known coexisting animal likely capable of causing such damage, using its robust arrow-like elongated snout. This sort of attack has been compared to the defensive behavior ofbottlenose dolphinsusing their beaks to kill or repellemon sharks, and it has been speculated thatT. bernardidealt the offensive attack via an ambush on an unsuspectingMosasaurus. Extinction By the end of the Cretaceous, mosasaurs were at the height of theirevolutionary radiation, and their extinction was a sudden event.During the late Maastrichtian, global sea levels dropped, draining the continents of their nutrient-rich seaways and altering","and altering circulation and nutrient patterns, and reducing the number of available habitats forMosasaurus. The genus adapted by accessing new habitats in more open waters.The last fossils ofMosasaurus, which include those ofM. hoffmanniiand indeterminate species, occur up to theCretaceous-Paleogene boundary(K-Pg boundary). The demise of the genus was likely a result of theCretaceous-Paleogene extinction eventwhich also wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs.Mosasaurusfossils have been found less than 15 meters (49 ft) below the boundary in the Maastricht Formation, theDavutlar Formationin Turkey, theJagüel Formationin Argentina,Stevns Klintin Denmark, Seymour Island, and Missouri. M. hoffmanniifossils have been found within the K-Pg boundary itself in southeastern Missouri between thePaleoceneClayton Formationand CretaceousOwl Creek Formation. Fossil vertebrae from the layer were found with fractures formed after death. The layer was likely deposited as atsunamite, alternatively nicknamed the \"Cretaceous","the \"Cretaceous cocktail deposit\". This formed through a combination of catastrophic seismic and geological disturbances, mega-hurricanes, and giant tsunamis caused by the impact of theChicxulub asteroidthat catalyzed the K-Pg extinction event.As well as physical destruction, the impact also blocked out sunlightleading to a collapse of marine food webs.AnyMosasaurussurviving the immediate cataclysms by taking refuge in deeper waters would have died out due to starvation from a loss of prey. One enigmatic occurrence ofMosasaurussp. fossils is in the Hornerstown Formation, a deposit typically dated to be from the PaleoceneDanianage, which was immediately after the Maastrichtian age. The fossils were found in association with fossils ofSqualicorax,Enchodus, and various ammonites within a uniquely fossil-rich bed at the base of the Hornerstown Formation known as the Main Fossiliferous Layer. This does not meanMosasaurusand its associated fauna survived the K-Pg extinction. According to one hypothesis, the","one hypothesis, the fossils may have originated from an earlier Cretaceous deposit and werereworkedinto the Paleocene formation during its early deposition. Evidence of reworking typically comes from fossils worn down due to further erosion during their exposure at the time of redeposition. Many of theMosasaurusfossils from the Main Fossiliferous Layer consist of isolated bones commonly abraded and worn, but the layer also yielded better-preservedMosasaurusremains. Another explanation suggests the Main Fossiliferous Layer is a Maastrichtian time-averagedremaniédeposit, which means it originated from a Cretaceous deposit withwinnowedlow-sediment conditions. A third hypothesis proposes that the layer is alag depositof Cretaceous sediments forced out by a strong impact by a tsunami, and what remained was subsequently refilled with Cenozoic fossils. See also Notes References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins(8 February 1807 – 27 January 1894) was an Englishsculptorandnatural historyartist renowned for his work on the life-size models ofdinosaurs in the Crystal Palace Parkin south London. The models, accurately made using the latest scientific knowledge, created a sensation at the time. Hawkins was also a noted lecturer onzoologicaltopics. Education and early career Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins was born inBloomsbury, London on 8 February 1807, the son of Thomas Hawkins, an artist, and Louisa Anne Waterhouse, the daughter of a Jamaica plantation family of apparent Catholic sympathies. He studied at St. Aloysius College, and learned sculpture fromWilliam Behnes. At the age of 20, he began to study natural history and later geology. He contributed illustrations toThe Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Beagle. During the 1840s, he produced studies of living animals inKnowsleyPark, nearLiverpoolforEdward Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby. The park was one of the largest\",\n \"one of the largest private menageries in Victorian England and Hawkins' work was later published withJohn Edward Gray's text as\\\"Gleanings from the Menagerie at Knowsley\\\". Over the same period Hawkins exhibited four sculptures at theRoyal Academybetween 1847 and 1849, and was elected a member of theSociety of Artsin 1846 and a fellow of theLinnean Societyin 1847. Fellowship of theGeological Society of Londonfollowed in 1854. Great Exhibition Meanwhile, possibly due to Derby's connections, Hawkins was appointed assistant superintendent of theGreat Exhibition of 1851in London. The following year, he was appointed by the Crystal Palace company to create 33life-size concrete models of extinct dinosaursto be placed in the south London park to which the great glass exhibition hall was to be relocated. In this work, which took some three years, he collaborated with SirRichard Owenand other leading scientific figures of the time: Owen estimated the size and overall shape of the animals, leaving Hawkins to sculpt the\",\n \"to sculpt the models according to Owen's directions. A dinner was held inside the mould used to make theIguanodon. The dinner party, hosted by Owen on 31 December 1853, garnered attention in the press. Most of the sculptures are still on display inCrystal Palace Park. United States In 1868, he traveled to theUnited Statesto deliver a series of lectures. Working with the scientistJoseph Leidy, Hawkins designed and cast an almost completeskeletonofHadrosaurusfoulkii which was then displayed at theAcademy of Natural SciencesinPhiladelphia. Supported on an iron framework in a lifelike pose, this was the world's first mounted dinosaur skeleton. Hawkins was later commissioned to produce models forNew York City'sCentral Parkmuseum similar to these he had created in Sydenham. He established a studio on the original site of theAmerican Museum of Natural HistoryinManhattan, and planned to create aPaleozoic Museum. During his ten years in America (1868–1878), Hawkins designed exhibit halls for theSmithsonian\",\n \"for theSmithsonian InstitutioninWashington, D.C., and began to create an enormous paleontological museum for New York City. The museum was to have been in Central Park. His work was all destroyed in 1871 byHenry Hilton, the corrupt and bizarre-acting Treasurer and VP of Central Park, but was for many decades thought to have been the work of Hilton's employer, William \\\"Boss\\\" Tweed, a corrupt politician who wasn't adequately compensated for his patronage. However, Tweed himself was fighting scandals regarding his corrupt dealings at the time, and was later proved innocent of the destruction of Hawkins' models in 2023, when the real culprit was revealed through reexamination of historical records and annual reports and minutes. Hilton's motivations towards the vandalism are largely unknown, but may have been personal, with Hilton being purported to have told Hawkins that he \\\"should not bother with \\\"dead animals\\\", as there was enough to do among the living\\\", and that Hilton had little understanding or\",\n \"understanding or appreciation for art or nature, with several instances being recorded of him whitewashing priceless relics, statues and artifacts in bizarre acts of vandalism. Furthermore, Hilton had been placed in charge of establishing the American Museum of Natural History, and it is possible he wanted to eliminate the planned Paleozoic Museum, which he saw as competition. Following the tragic loss of his studio through destruction of all of his dinosaur models at the hands of Hilton's vandals, he returned to England in 1874, but almost immediately returned, doing dinosaur reconstructions atPrinceton University(then called the College of New Jersey) in Princeton, New Jersey (where he also created paintings of dinosaurs). These paintings remain in the collection of thePrinceton University Art Museum. Hawkins also worked at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 in Philadelphia. He again returned to Britain in 1878. Family and death Hawkins had married in 1826 to Mary Selina Green, and by her had several\",\n \"by her had several children. In 1835, he met and fell in love with artist Frances 'Louisa' Keenan, and the next year he left his family and bigamously married her. He kept in touch with Mary and her children, but lived with Louisa, having two additional daughters. On his 1874 return to England, he seems to have become estranged from Louisa. He was living with his son by Mary, amidst what he described a \\\"climax of domestic troubles\\\" thought to indicate that Louisa had finally learned that their 38-year marriage had been invalid, and this may have led to his precipitous return to America in 1875. After his second return to England, he moved toWest Bromptonto be near his first wife, Mary, who was ill. Mary died in 1880. In 1883, Hawkins again married Louisa, although since they were not cohabitants at the time this was probably done for legalistic reasons (to legitimize their children), and they apparently never reconciled before her death the next year. Hawkins suffered a debilitating stroke in 1889, leading\",\n \"in 1889, leading to erroneous reports of his death.He died inPutneyon 27 January 1894.There is ablue plaqueat 22 Belvedere Road (\\\"Fossil Villa\\\") inUpper Norwood, commemorating where he lived between 1856 and 1872. Legacy Robert J. Sawyer's 1994 novelEnd of an Eramentions the famous New Year's Eve 1853 dinner party inside theIguanodon, citing both Hawkins and Sir Richard Owen by name. Works list Gallery References Sources Further reading External links\",\n \"Crystal Palace Dinosaurs 51°25′3″N0°4′2″W / 51.41750°N 0.06722°W /51.41750; -0.06722 TheCrystal Palace Dinosaursare a series of sculptures ofdinosaursand other extinct animals, inaccurate by modern standards, in theLondonborough ofBromley'sCrystal Palace Park. Commissioned in 1852 to accompany theCrystal Palaceafter its move from theGreat ExhibitioninHyde Park, they were unveiled in 1854 as the first dinosaur sculptures in the world. The models were designed and sculpted byBenjamin Waterhouse Hawkinsunder the scientific direction of SirRichard Owen, representing the latest scientific knowledge at the time. The models, also known as theGeological CourtorDinosaur Court, were classed asGrade II listed buildingsfrom 1973, extensively restored in 2002, and upgraded to Grade I listed in 2007. The models represent 15generaof extinct animals, only three of which are true dinosaurs. They are from a wide range of geological ages, and include true dinosaurs,ichthyosaurs, andplesiosaursmainly from theMesozoicera, and\",\n \"theMesozoicera, and some mammals from the more recentCenozoicera. Today, the models are notable for representing the scientific inaccuracies of early palaeontology, the result of improperly reconstructed fossils and the nascent nature of the science in the 19th century,with theIguanodonandMegalosaurusmodels being particularly singled out. History Following the closure of theGreat Exhibitionin October 1851,Joseph Paxton'sCrystal Palacewas bought and moved toPengePlace atopSydenham Hill, South London, by the newly formed Crystal Palace Company.The grounds that surrounded it were then extensively renovated and turned into a public park with ornamental gardens, replicas of statues and two new man-made lakes. As part of this renovation,Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkinswas commissioned to build the first-ever life-sized models of extinct animals. He had originally planned to just re-createextinctmammalsbefore deciding on building dinosaurs as well, which he did with advice fromSir Richard Owen, a\",\n \"Richard Owen, a celebratedanatomistandpalaeontologistof the time. Hawkins set up a workshop on site at the park and built the models there. The dinosaurs were built full-size in clay, from which a mould was taken allowing cement sections to be cast. The larger sculptures are hollow with a brickwork interior.There was also a limestone cliff to illustrate different geological strata.The sculptures and the geological displays were originally called \\\"the Geological Court\\\", an extension of the set of exhibits made for the park that reconstructed historic art, including the Renaissance, Assyrian, and Egyptian Courts. The models were displayed on three islands acting as a rough timeline, the first island for thePalaeozoicera, a second for theMesozoic, and a third for theCenozoic. The models were given more realism by making the water level in the lake rise and fall, revealing different amounts of the dinosaurs.To mark the launch of the models, Hawkins held a dinner on New Year's Eve 1853 inside the mould of one of\",\n \"the mould of one of theIguanodonmodels. Hawkins benefited greatly from the public's reaction to the dinosaurs, which was so strong it allowed for the sale of sets of small versions of the dinosaur models, priced at £30 for educational use. But the building of the models was costly (having cost around £13,729) and in 1855, the Crystal Palace Company cut Hawkins's funding.Several planned models were never made, while those half finished were scrapped, despite protest from sources including the Sunday newspaper,The Observer. Hawkins later worked on a \\\"Palaeozoic Museum\\\" in New York'sCentral Park, an American equivalent to the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. In May 1871 many of the exhibits in Hawkins' workshop were destroyed by vandals and their fragments buried, possibly including elements of the originalElasmosaurusskeleton, which the American palaeontologistEdward Drinker Copehad loaned to Hawkins for preparation at the time. With progress in palaeontology, the reputation of the Crystal Palace models declined. In\",\n \"models declined. In 1895, the American fossil hunterOthniel Charles Marshscorned the dinosaurs' friends as doing them a great injustice, and spoke angrily of the models.The models and the park fell into disrepair as the years went by, a process aided by the fire that destroyed the Crystal Palace itself in 1936, and the models became obscured by overgrown foliage. A full restoration of the animals was carried out in 1952 by Victor H.C. Martin,at which time the mammals on the third island were moved to less well-protected locations in the park, where they were exposed to wear and tear. The limestone cliff was blown up in the 1960s. In 2001, the display was totally renovated. The destroyed limestone cliff was completely replaced using 130 large blocks ofDerbyshirelimestone, many weighing over 1 tonne (0.98 long tons; 1.1 short tons), rebuilt according to a small model made from the same number of polystyrene blocks.Fibreglass replacements were created for the missing sculptures, and badly damaged parts of the\",\n \"parts of the surviving models were recast. For example, some of the animals' legs had been modelled in lead, fixed to the bodies with iron rods; the iron had rusted, splitting the lead open. The models and other elements of Crystal Palace Park were classed asGrade II listed buildingsfrom 1973. The models were extensively restored in 2001, and upgraded to Grade I listed in 2007. In 2018, the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs ran a crowd funding campaign, endorsed by the guitaristSlash, to build a permanent bridge to Dinosaur Island.The bridge was designed by Tonkin Liu with engineering by Arup. The bridge swings on a pivot so it can be parked when not in use, to prevent unauthorised access. It was installed in January 2021. In May 2021, the nose and mouth of theMegalosaurussculpture was given an emergency renovation, after it had fallen off the previous year.Twenty-two new teeth and a 'prosthetic jaw' were installed on the sculpture. The renovation was funded by a grant from the Cultural Recovery Fund and\",\n \"Recovery Fund and fundraising from Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. The Dinosaur Park Fifteengeneraof extinct animals, not all dinosaurs, are represented in the park. At least three other genera (Dinornis, amastodon, andGlyptodon) were planned, and Hawkins began to build at least the mastodon before the Crystal Palace Company cut his funding in 1855. An inaccurate map of the time shows planned locations of theDinornisand mastodon. Palaeozoic era ThePalaeozoicera is represented in the park by the model rock exposure showing a succession of beds, namely theCarboniferous(includingCoal Measuresand limestone) andPermian. Crystal Palace's twoDicynodonmodels are based on incompletePermianfossils found inSouth Africa, along with Owen's guess that they were similar toturtles. No evidence has been found to suggestDicynodonhad protective shells. Mesozoic era TheMesozoicera is represented in the park by the model rock exposure showing a succession of beds, namely theJurassicandCretaceous, by models of dinosaurs and\",\n \"of dinosaurs and other animals known from mesozoic fossils, and by suitable vegetation – both living plants and models. Curiously, it isHylaeosaurus, from the Cretaceous of England, notIguanodon, that most resembles the giantiguanastereotypeof early ideas of dinosaurs. TheHylaeosaurusin reality is much likeAnkylosaurus– smallish quadrupedal herbivore with a knobbled armoured back, and spines along its sides. Hawkins's depiction is of a large Iguana-like beast with long sharp spines along its back, which Owen noted were \\\"accurately given in the restoration necessarily at present conjectural\\\". TheIchthyosaurusmodels are based onTriassicor Jurassic fossils from Europe. Though the three ichthyosaurs are partly in water, they are implausibly shown basking on land likeseals. Owen supposed they resembled crocodiles or plesiosaurs. Better fossil evidence shows that they have more in common withsharksanddolphins, having adorsal finand fish-like tail, whereas in Hawkins's models the tail is a flat protuberance from a\",\n \"protuberance from a straight backbone. A further discrepancy is that the models' eyes have exposed bonysclerotic plates, Owen conjecturing that with such large eyes they had \\\"great powers of vision, especially in the dusk\\\".They became one of the three mascots of Crystal Palace Park, along with theIguanodonandMegalosaurus(although ichthyosaurs are not dinosaurs). Coincidentally, the models more closely resemble more basic ichthyosaurs such asCymbospondylus. TheIguanodonmodels represent fossils from the Jurassic and Cretaceous of Europe.Gideon Mantellsketched the original fossil, found in Sussex in 1822 by his wife, Mary Ann Mantell, as like a long slender lizard climbing a branch (on four legs), balancing with a whiplike tail; lacking a skull, he conjectured that the thumb bone was a nose horn.The nose horn in particular is used repeatedly in popular textbooks and documentaries about dinosaurs to make fun of Victorian inaccuracies;actually, even in 1854, Owen commented \\\"the horn more than doubtful\\\".\",\n \"than doubtful\\\". ThreeLabyrinthodonmodels were made for Crystal Palace, based on Owen's guess that, being amphibian in lifestyle, the Triassic animals might have resembled frogs; he named them Batrachia, from the Greek 'Batrachios', frog. One is smooth skinned and is based on the species \\\"Labyrinthodon salamandroides\\\" (Mastodonsaurus jaegeri); the other two were based on \\\"Labyrinthodon pachygnathus\\\" (Cyclotosaurus pachygnathus). Casts ofChirotheriumfootprints that Owen thought were made by the animalswere included in the ground around the models. Gigantic and visually impressive, theMegalosaurusbecame one of the park's three 'mascot dinosaurs' along with theIguanodonand (less so) the Ichthyosaurs. Working from fragmentary evidence from Jurassic fossils found in England, consisting mainly of a hip and femur (thigh bone), with a rib and a few vertebrae, Owen conjectured the animal was quadrupedal; palaeontologists now believe it to have been bipedal (standing likeTyrannosaurus rex). The first suggestion that\",\n \"suggestion that some dinosaurs might have been bipedal came in 1858, just too late to influence the model. When the models were built, only skulls of the Cretaceous fossilMosasaurushad been discovered in the Netherlands, so Hawkins only built the head and back of the animal. He submerged the model deep in the lake, leaving the body unseen and undefined.TheMosasaurusat Crystal Palace is positioned in an odd place near the secondary island that was originally a waterfall, and much of it is not visible from the lakeside path. The threePlesiosaurusmodels represents three species of marine reptile,P. macrocephalus,P. dolichoderiusandP. hawkinsii, from the Jurassic of England. Two of them have implausibly-flexible necks. Owen noted that thePterodactylusfossils from the Jurassic of Germany had scales, not feathers, and while \\\"somewhat bird-like\\\" they had conical teeth, suggesting they were predatory. The two surviving models are perched on a rock outcrop; there were originally two more 'pterodactyls of\",\n \"'pterodactyls of theOolite'.The surviving models representPterodactylus cuvieri(=Cimoliopteruscuvieri), whereas the two other lost pterodactyl models representPterodactylus bucklandi(=Dolicorhamphusbucklandi). The latter species was poorly known based on fossil remains and explains why their designs were more based onPterodactylus antiquus. Owen correctly identifiedTeleosaurusas similar togharials, being slender JurassicCrocodilianswith very long thin jaws and small eyes, inferring from the sediment in which they were found that they were \\\"more strictly marine than the crocodile of the Ganges .\\\" Cenozoic era Anoplotheriumcommuneis an extinct mammal species from the lateEoceneto earliestOligoceneepochs, first found near Paris. Hawkins's models draw on Owen's speculation about itscamel-like appearance. Three models were made, forming a small herd.Hawkins seemingly closely followedGeorge Cuvier's reconstructions ofA. commune, giving it short or naked hair following Cuvier's view that its anatomy implied an\",\n \"anatomy implied an aquatic lifestyle. Hawkins deviated from Cuvier by making it look more camel-like with small lips, small and rounded ears, a sloping skull, and four toes on each foot. These errors are the result of Hawkins' overreliance on camelids as an analogue for anoplotheriids.Anoplotheriumis today thought to have used its robust build and long tail for bipedal browsing. Confusion between whether theA. communesculptures were ofA. gracile(=Xiphodongracilis) is common, resulting from 19th-century guidebooks listing both species as present on the Tertiary Island.A. gracilewas another fossil species studied by Cuvier; it was later determined to be of a distinct genusXiphodon. Today, the sculptures of the three animals are confirmed to be ofA. commune, but the \\\"Megaloceros\\\" fawn has been identified as a misplaced statue ofA. gracile. An 1854 illustration reveals that there were once fourA. gracilesculptures, three of which were lost and one of which remains. The body of the sculpture appears more heavily\",\n \"more heavily inspired by camelids thanA. communewith a gracile muscle build. Megaloceros giganteusor Irish Elk is a species from thePliocenetoPleistoceneepochs inEurasia. Hawkins built fourMegalocerossculptures, two male and two female. One sculpture of a doe was lost, leaving just three sculptures today. The adult male's antlers were made from actual fossil antlers, long since replaced. Moved from the third island, they had fallen into disrepair as they were easily reached by vandals. With their original but fragile antlers, the Irish Elks were the most accurate of the Cenozoic models; since they are of recent geological age (dying out 11,000 years ago), Hawkins was able to model them on livingdeer. The giant ground slothMegatheriumis from the Pliocene to Pleistocene epochs in South America, whereCharles Darwinhad excavated some fossils in 1835. The model was built hugging a live tree which subsequently grew and broke the model's arm. The arm was replaced and later the tree died. The model depicts the sloth\",\n \"depicts the sloth as having a short trunk like atapir, something the real animal never had. This model used to be in the children's zoo which has now been demolished. The models ofPalaeotheriumrepresent an extinct Eocene mammal thought byGeorges Cuvierto be tapir-like. Three species were represented by each individual sculpture: the small-sizeP. minor(=Plagiolophusminor), the medium-sizeP. medium, and the largest and most robust-appearingP. magnum, all of which were studied by Cuvier. They have suffered the most wear and tear of all of the models, and the standing model no longer looked much like the original made by Hawkins. During the 1960s these models were lying discarded in the bushes about fifty yards from the original site and, prior to the 2002 restoration, they were in such bad shape that they were removed and put into store.Some sources state that these models were added at a later date, but anIllustrated London Newsillustration of Hawkins's workshop shows them in the background.A replica ofP.\",\n \"replica ofP. magnumwas commissioned by the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs and built bypalaeoartistBob Nicholls, and unveiled to the public on 2 July 2023. Models of the \\\"fearfully great bird\\\"Dinornisof New Zealand (extinct by 1500 AD), and of the extinct elephant-likeMastodon(orDeinotheriumof theMioceneand Pliocene of Eurasia and Africa), were planned for the 'Tertiary Islands' but not completed. In culture Charles Dickens's 1853 novel,Bleak House, begins with a description of muddy streets, whose primordial character is emphasized by a dinosaur in the streets of London: \\\"Implacable November weather. As much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddlinglike an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill.\\\" InH. G. Wells's 1905 novelKipps, Kipps and Ann visit Crystal Palace and sit \\\"in the presence of the green and gold Labyrinthodon that looms so splendidly above the lake\\\" to discuss their\",\n \"to discuss their future. There is a brief description of the dinosaurs and their surroundings and the impact they have on the characters.Several of E. Nesbit's children's books feature the Crystal Palace dinosaur sculptures coming to life, includingThe Enchanted Castle(1907). The 1932 novelHave His Carcase, byDorothy L. Sayers, has the characterLord Peter Wimseymention the \\\"antediluvian monsters\\\" of the Crystal Palace.Ann Coates's 1970 children's bookDinosaurs Don't Die, illustrated byJohn Vernon Lord, tells the story of a young boy who lives near Crystal Palace Park and discovers that Hawkins' models come to life; he befriends one of theIguanodonand names it 'Rock' and they visit theNatural History Museum. Thetravel writerPaul Therouxmentions the dinosaurs in his 1989 novelMy Secret History. The novel's narrator, Andre Parent, accidentally learns of his wife's infidelity when his young son, Jack, reveals that he has visited the dinosaurs in the company of his mother's 'friend' during Andre's prolonged\",\n \"Andre's prolonged absence gathering material for a travel book.The title story inPenelope Lively's 1991 novelFanny and the Monstersis about a Victorian girl who visits the Crystal Palace dinosaurs and becomes fascinated by prehistoric creatures. George Baxter, a pioneer of colour printing, made a well-known engraving which imagines Crystal Palace, set in its landscaped grounds with tall fountains and the dinosaurs in the foreground, before the 1854 opening.In 2023,Historic Englandcreated three-dimensional photogrammetric models of the 29 sculptures.The models can be viewed online. See also Footnotes References Sources Further reading External links\",\n \"Mosasaurus Mosasaurus(/ˌmoʊzəˈsɔːrəs/; \\\"lizard of theMeuse River\\\") is thetype genus(defining example) of themosasaurs, an extinct group of aquaticsquamate reptiles. It lived from about 82 to 66 million years ago during theCampanianandMaastrichtianstagesof theLate Cretaceous. The genus was one of the first Mesozoic marine reptiles known to science—the first fossils ofMosasauruswere found as skulls in a chalk quarry near the Dutch city ofMaastrichtin the late 18th century, and were initially thought to be crocodiles or whales. One skull discovered around 1780 was famously nicknamed the \\\"great animal of Maastricht\\\". In 1808, naturalistGeorges Cuvierconcluded that it belonged to a giant marine lizard with similarities tomonitor lizardsbut otherwise unlike any known living animal. This concept was revolutionary at the time and helped support the then-developing ideas ofextinction. Cuvier did not designate a scientific name for the animal; this was done byWilliam Daniel Conybearein 1822 when he named itMosasaurusin\",\n \"itMosasaurusin reference to its origin in fossil deposits near the Meuse River. The exact affinities ofMosasaurusas a squamate remain controversial, and scientists continue to debate whether its closest living relatives are monitor lizards orsnakes. The largest species,M. hoffmannii, is estimated to measure up to 12 meters (39 ft) in maximum length, making it one of the largest mosasaurs. The skull ofMosasaurushad robust jaws and strong muscles capable of powerful bites using dozens of large teeth adapted for cuttingprey. Its four limbs were shaped into paddles to steer the animal underwater. Its tail was long and ended in a downward bend and a paddle-like fluke.Mosasauruspossessed excellent vision to compensate for its poor sense of smell, and a high metabolic rate suggesting it wasendothermic(\\\"warm-blooded\\\"), an adaptation in squamates only found in mosasaurs. There is considerable morphological variability across the currently-recognized species inMosasaurus—from the robustly-builtM. hoffmanniito the\",\n \"hoffmanniito the slender and serpentineM. lemonnieri—but an uncleardiagnosis(description of distinguishing features) of the type speciesM. hoffmanniiled to a historically problematic classification. As a result, more than fifty species have been attributed to the genus in the past. A redescription of thetype specimenin 2017 helped resolve the taxonomy issue and confirmed at least five species to be within the genus. Another five species still nominally classified withinMosasaurusare planned to be reassessed. Fossil evidence suggestsMosasaurusinhabited much of the Atlantic Ocean and the adjacent seaways.Mosasaurusfossils have been found in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Western Asia, and Antarctica. This distribution encompassed a wide range of oceanic climates including tropical, subtropical, temperate, and subpolar.Mosasauruswas a common large predator in these oceans and was positioned at the top of thefood chain. Paleontologists believe its diet would have included virtually any animal; it\",\n \"any animal; it likely preyed on bony fish, sharks,cephalopods, birds, and other marine reptiles includingsea turtlesand other mosasaurs. It likely preferred to hunt in open water near the surface. From an ecological standpoint,Mosasaurusprobably had a profound impact on the structuring of marine ecosystems; its arrival in some locations such as theWestern Interior Seawayin North America coincides with a complete turnover offaunal assemblagesand diversity.Mosasaurusfaced competition with other large predatory mosasaurs such asPrognathodonandTylosaurus—which were known to feed on similar prey—though they were able to coexist in the same ecosystems throughniche partitioning. There were still conflicts among them, as an instance ofTylosaurusattacking aMosasaurushas been documented. Several fossils document deliberate attacks onMosasaurusindividuals by members of the same species. In fighting likely took place in the form of snout grappling, as seen in modern crocodiles. Research history Discovery and\",\n \"Discovery and identification The firstMosasaurusfossil known to science was discovered in 1764 in achalkquarry nearMaastrichtin the Netherlands in the form of a skull, which was initially identified as awhale.This specimen, cataloged as TM 7424, is now on display at theTeylers MuseuminHaarlem.Later around 1780,the quarry produced a second skull that caught the attention of the physicianJohann Leonard Hoffmann, who thought it was acrocodile. He contacted the prominent biologistPetrus Camper, and the skull gained international attention after Camper published a study identifying it as a whale.This caught the attention ofFrench revolutionaries, who looted the fossil following the capture of Maastricht during theFrench Revolutionary Warsin 1794.In a 1799 narrative of this event byBarthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond, the skull was allegedly retrieved by twelvegrenadiersin exchange for an offer of 600 bottles of wine.This story helped elevate the fossil into cultural fame, but historians agree that the narrative was\",\n \"the narrative was exaggerated. After its seizure, the second skull was sent to theNational Museum of Natural History, Francein 1795 and later cataloged as MNHN AC 9648.By 1800, Camper's sonAdriaan Gilles Camperconcluded that the fossil, which by then was nicknamed the \\\"great animal of Maastricht\\\", belonged to amarine reptilesharing affinities tomonitor lizards, but otherwise unlike any modern animal.Georges Cuvierconfirmed the observations of Camper Jr. in a more in-depth study which was published in 1808.The skull became part of Cuvier's first speculations about the conception ofextinction, which later led to his theory ofcatastrophism, a precursor to the theory ofevolution. At the time, it was not believed that a species could go extinct, and fossils of animals were often interpreted as some form of anextantspecies.Cuvier's idea that there existed an animal unlike any today was revolutionary at the time, and in 1812 he proclaimed, \\\"Above all, the precise determination of the famous animal from Maastricht\",\n \"from Maastricht seems to us as important for the theory of zoological laws, as for the history of the globe.\\\"In a 1822 work byJames Parkinson,William Daniel Conybearecoined the genusMosasaurusfrom theLatinMosa\\\"Meuse\\\" and theAncient Greekσαῦρος (saûros, \\\"lizard\\\"), all literally meaning \\\"lizard of the Meuse\\\", in reference to the river where the holotype specimen was discovered nearby.In 1829,Gideon Mantelladded thespecific epithethoffmannii, in honor to Hoffmann.Cuvier later designated the second skull as the new species'holotype(defining example).: 3 Other species In 1804, theLewis and Clark Expeditiondiscovered a now-lost fossil skeleton alongside theMissouri River, which was identified as a 45-foot (14 m) long fish.Richard Ellisspeculated in 2003 that this may have been the earliest discovery of the second speciesM. missouriensis,although competing speculations exist.In 1818, a fossil fromMonmouth County, New Jerseybecame the first North American specimen to be correctly recognized as aMosasaurusby\",\n \"as aMosasaurusby scientists of the time. Thetype specimenofM. missouriensiswas first described in 1834 byRichard Harlanbased on a snout fragment found along the river'sBig Bend.In reference to its discovery made in the river, he coined the specific epithet and initially identified it as a species ofIchthyosaurusbut later as anamphibiannamedBatrachiosaurus.The rest of the skull had been discovered earlier by a fur-trapper, and it eventually came under the possession of princeMaximilian of Weid-Neuwiedbetween 1832 and 1834. The fossil skull, now cataloged as RFWUIP 1327, was delivered toGeorg August GoldfussinBonnfor research, who published a study in 1845.The same year,Christian Erich Hermann von Meyersuspected that the skull and Harlan's snout were part of the same individual.This could not be confirmed at the time because the fossil snout became lost. The von Meyer's suggestion was confirmed in 2004, when the snout was found in the collections of the MNHN under the catalog number MNHN 958. The third species\",\n \"The third species was described in 1881 byEdward Drinker Copefrom a fragmentary fossil skeleton having been discovered inNew Jersey,now cataloged as AMNH 1380.In his description, the Cope thought that it represented a giant species ofClidastesand named itClidastes conodon.In 1966, Donald Baird and Gerard R. Case reidentified it as a species ofMosasaurus.Although Cope did not provide theetymologyfor the specific epithetconodon,it is suggested that it could be aportmanteaumeaning \\\"conical tooth\\\", derived from theAncient Greekκῶνος (kônos, \\\"cone\\\") and ὀδών (odṓn, \\\"tooth\\\"), probably in reference to conical surface teeth smooth of the species. The fourth speciesM. lemonnieriwas first detected by Camper Jr. based on fossils from his father's collections, which he discussed with Cuvier during their 1799 correspondence, but Cuvier rejected the idea of anotherMosasaurusspecies.This species was re-introduced to science and formally described in 1889 byLouis Dollobased on a skull recovered by Alfred Lemonnier from\",\n \"Lemonnier from aphosphatequarry in Belgium,a holotype since cataloged as IRSNB R28.Dollo names the species in his honor.Further mining of the quarry in subsequent years uncovered many additional well-preserved fossils, including multiple partial skeletons which collectively represented nearly the entire skeleton of the species. They were described by Dollo in later papers.: 136Despite being the best anatomically represented species,M. lemonnieriwas largely ignored in scientific literature. Theagarten Lingham-Soliar suggested two reasons for this neglect. First,M. lemonnierifossils are endemic to Belgium and the Netherlands, which despite the famous discovery of theM. hoffmanniiholotype attracted little attention from mosasaur paleontologists. Second, the species was overshadowed by the more famous and history-richtype species. M. lemonnieriis a controversial taxon, and there is debate on whether it is a distinct species or not.In 1967,Dale Russellargued thatM. lemonnieriandM. conodonare the same species and\",\n \"same species and designated the former as ajunior synonymper theprinciple of priority.: 135In a 2000 study, Lingham-Soliar refuted this based on a comprehensive study of existingM. lemonnierispecimens,which was corroborated by a study on theM. conodonskull by Takehito Ikejiri andSpencer G. Lucasin 2014.In 2004, Eric Mulder, Dirk Cornelissen, and Louis Verding suggestedM. lemonniericould be a juvenile form ofM. hoffmanniibased on the argument that significant differences could be explained by age-based variation.However, the need for more research to confirm any hypotheses of synonymy was expressed. The fifth speciesM. beaugeiwas described byCamille Arambourgin 1952 from isolated teeth originating from phosphate deposits in theOulad Abdoun Basinand theGanntour Basinin Morocco,the holotype tooth being cataloged as MNHN PMC 7.The species is named in honor of Alfred Beaugé, director at the time of theOCP Group, who invited Arambourg to participate in the research project and helped him to provide local fossils.\",\n \"local fossils. Early depictions Scientists during the early and mid-1800s initially imaginedMosasaurusas an amphibious marine reptile with webbed feet andlimbs for walking. This was based on fossils like theM. missouriensisholotype, which indicated an elastic vertebral column that Goldfuss in 1845 saw as evidence of an ability to walk and interpretations of somephalangesas claws.In 1854,Hermann Schlegelproved howMosasaurusactually had fully aquatic flippers. He clarified that earlier interpretations of claws were erroneous and demonstrated how the phalanges show no indication of muscle or tendon attachment, which would make walking impossible. They are also broad, flat, and form a paddle. Schlegel's hypothesis was largely ignored by contemporary scientists but became widely accepted by the 1870s whenOthniel Charles Marshand Cope uncovered more complete mosasaur remains in North America. One of the earliest depictions ofMosasaurusinpaleoartis a life-size concrete sculpture created byBenjamin Waterhouse\",\n \"Waterhouse Hawkinsbetween 1852 and 1854as part of thecollection of sculptures of prehistoric animalson display at theCrystal Palace ParkinLondon. The restoration was primarily informed byRichard Owen's interpretation of theM. hoffmanniiholotype and the anatomy of monitor lizards, so Hawkins depicted the animal as essentially a water-going monitor lizard. It was given a boxy head, nostrils at the side of the skull, large volumes of soft tissue around the eyes, lips reminiscent of monitor lizards, scales consistent with those in large monitors like theKomodo dragon, and a flipper. The model was deliberately sculpted incomplete, whichMark Wittonbelieved was likely to save time and money. Many elements of the sculpture can be considered inaccurate, even for the time. It did not take into account Golduss' 1845 study ofM. missouriensiswhich instead called for a narrower skull, nostrils at the top of the skull, and amphibious terrestrial limbs (the latter being incorrect in modern standards). Description\",\n \"Description Mosasauruswas a type ofderivedmosasaur, or a latecoming member with advanced evolutionary traits such as a fully aquatic lifestyle. As such, it had a streamlined body, an elongated tail ending with a downturn supporting a two-lobed fin, and two pairs of flippers. While in the past derived mosasaurs were depicted as akin to giant flipperedsea snakes, it is now understood that they were more similar in build to other large marine vertebrates such as ichthyosaurs,marine crocodylomorphs, andarchaeocete whalesthroughconvergent evolution. Size The type species,M. hoffmannii, is one of the largest marine reptiles known,though knowledge of its skeleton remains incomplete as it is mainly known from skulls.: 100Russell (1967) wrote that the length of the jaw equalled one tenth of the body length in the species.: 210Based on this ratio, Grigoriev (2014) used the largest lower jaw attributed toM. hoffmannii(CCMGE 10/2469, also known as thePenzaspecimen; measuring 171 centimeters (67 in) in length) to\",\n \"in) in length) to estimate a maximum length of 17.1 meters (56 ft).Using a smaller partial jaw (NHMM009002) measuring 90 centimeters (35 in) and \\\"reliably estimated at\\\" 160 centimeters (63 in) when complete, Lingham-Soliar (1995) estimated a larger maximum length of 17.6 meters (58 ft) via the same ratio.No explicit justification for the 1:10 ratio was provided in Russell (1967), and it has been considered to be probably overestimated by Clearyet al.(2018).In 2014, Federico Fanti and colleagues alternatively argued that the total length ofM. hoffmanniiwas more likely closer to seven times the length of the skull, which was based on a near-complete skeleton of the related speciesPrognathodon overtoni. The study estimated that anM. hoffmanniiindividual with a skull measuring more than 145 cm (57 in) would have been up to or more than 11 meters (36 ft) in length and weighed 10 metric tons (11 short tons) in body mass.Using the same ratio, Gayfordet al.(2024) calculated the total length for the Penza specimen to\",\n \"Penza specimen to be 12 meters (39 ft). Isolated bones suggest someM. hoffmanniimay have exceeded the lengths of the Penza specimen. One such bone is aquadrate(NHMM 003892) which is 150% larger than the average size, which Everhart and colleagues in 2016 reported can be extrapolated to scale an individual around 18 meters (59 ft) in length. It was not stated whether they applied Russell's 1967 ratio,although Gayfordet al.(2024) suggested it was likely. M. missouriensisandM. lemonnieriare smaller thanM. hoffmanniibut are known from more complete fossils. Based on measurements of various Belgian skeletons, Dollo estimatedM. lemonnierigrew to around 7 to 10 meters (23 to 33 ft) in length.: 210He also measured the dimensions of IRSNB 3119 and recorded that the skull constituted approximately one-eleventh of the whole body.Polcynet al.(2014) estimated thatM. missouriensismay have measured up to 8–9 meters (26–30 ft) in length.Street (2016) noted that largeM. missouriensisindividuals typically had skulls exceeding\",\n \"skulls exceeding lengths of 1 meter (3.3 ft).A particular near-complete skeleton ofM. missouriensisis reportedly measured at 6.5 meters (21 ft) in total length with a skull approaching 1 meter (3.3 ft) in length.Based on personal observations of various unpublished fossils from Morocco, Nathalie Bardetet al.(2015) estimated thatM. beaugeigrew to a total length of 8–10 meters (26–33 ft), their skulls typically measuring around 1 meter (3.3 ft) in length.With a referred skull measuring around 97.7 centimeters (38.5 in) in length,M. conodonhas been regarded as a small to medium-sized representative of the genus. Skull The skull ofMosasaurusis conical and tapers off to a shortsnoutwhich extends a little beyond the frontmost teeth.InM. hoffmannii, this snout is blunt,while inM. lemonnieriit is pointed.Above the gum line in both jaws, a single row of small pits known asforaminaare lined parallel to the jawline; they are used to hold the terminal branches of jaw nerves. The foramina along the snout form a pattern\",\n \"form a pattern similar to the foramina inClidastesskulls.The upper jaws in most species are robustly built, broad, and deep except inM. conodon, where they are slender.The disparity is also reflected in thedentary, the lower jawbone,although all species share a long and straight dentary. InM. hoffmannii, the top margin of the dentary is slightly curved upwards;this is also the case with the largest specimens ofM. lemonnieri, although more typical skulls of the species have a near-perfectly straight jawline.The premaxillary bar,the long portion of the premaxillary bone extending behind the premaxillary teeth, is narrow and constricts near the middle inM. hoffmanniiandM. lemonnierilike in typical mosasaurs.InM. missouriensis, the bar is robust and does not constrict.The external nares (nostril openings) are moderately sized and measure around 21–24% of the skull's length inM. hoffmannii. They are placed further toward the back of the skull than in nearly all other mosasaurs (exceeded only byGoronyosaurus), and\",\n \"and begin above the fourth or fifth maxillary teeth.As a result, the rear portions of themaxilla(the main tooth-bearing bone of the upper jaw) lack the dorsal concavity that would fit the nostrils in typical mosasaurs. Thepalate, which consists of the pterygoid bones,palatine bone, and nearbyprocessesof other bones, is tightly packed to provide greater cranial stability. Theneurocraniumhoused a brain which was narrow and relatively small compared to other mosasaurs. For example, the braincase of the mosasaurPlioplatecarpus marshiprovided for a brain around twice the size of that inM. hoffmanniidespite being only half the length of the latter. Spaces within the braincase for theoccipital lobeandcerebral hemisphereare narrow and shallow, suggesting such brain parts were relatively small. Theparietal forameninMosasaurus, which is associated with theparietal eye, is the smallest amongmosasaurids.The quadrate bone, which connected the lower jaw to the rest of the skull and formed the jaw joint, is tall and\",\n \"joint, is tall and somewhat rectangular in shape, differing from the rounder quadrates found in typical mosasaurs.The quadrate also housed thehearing structures, with theeardrumresiding within a round and concave depression in the outer surface called the tympanic ala.Thetrachealikely stretched from theesophagusto below the back end of the lower jaw'scoronoid process, where it split into smaller pairs ofbronchiwhich extended parallel to each other. Teeth The features of teeth inMosasaurusvary across species, but unifying characteristics include a design specialized for cutting prey, highly prismatic surfaces (enamel circumference shaped by flat sides called prisms), and two opposite cutting edges.Mosasaurusteeth are large and robust except for those inM. conodonandM. lemonnieri, which instead have more slender teeth.The cutting edges ofMosasaurusdiffer by species. The cutting edges inM. hoffmanniiandM. missouriensisare finely serrated,while inM. conodonandM. lemonnieriserrations do not exist.The cutting\",\n \"exist.The cutting edges ofM. beaugeiare neither serrated nor smooth, but instead possess minute wrinkles known as crenulations.The number of prisms inMosasaurusteeth can slightly vary between tooth types and general patterns differ between species—M. hoffmanniihad two to three prisms on the labial side (the side facing outwards) and no prisms on the lingual side (the side facing the tongue),M. missouriensishad four to six labial prisms and eight lingual prisms,M. lemonnierihad eight to ten labial prisms, andM. beaugeihad three to five labial prisms and eight to nine lingual prisms. Like all mosasaurs,Mosasaurushad four types of teeth, classified based on the jaw bones they were located on. On the upper jaw, there were three types: the premaxillary teeth, maxillary teeth, and pterygoid teeth. On the lower jaw, only one type, the dentary teeth, were present. In each jaw row, from front to back,Mosasaurushad: two premaxillary teeth, twelve to sixteen maxillary teeth, and eight to sixteen pterygoid teeth on the\",\n \"teeth on the upper jaw and fourteen to seventeen dentary teeth on the lower jaw. The teeth were largely consistent in size and shape with only minor differences throughout the jaws (homodont) except for the smaller pterygoid teeth.The number of teeth in the maxillae, pterygoids, and dentaries vary between species and sometimes even individuals—M. hoffmanniihad fourteen to sixteen maxillary teeth, fourteen to fifteen dentary teeth, and eight pterygoid teeth;M. missouriensishad fourteen to fifteen maxillary teeth, fourteen to fifteen dentary teeth, and eight to nine pterygoid teeth;M. conodonhad fourteen to fifteen maxillary teeth, sixteen to seventeen dentary teeth, and eight pterygoid teeth;M. lemonnierihad fifteen maxillary teeth, fourteen to seventeen dentary teeth, and eleven to twelve pterygoid teeth;andM. beaugeihad twelve to thirteen maxillary teeth, fourteen to sixteen dentary teeth, and six or more pterygoid teeth.One indeterminate specimen ofMosasaurussimilar toM. conodonfrom thePembina Gorge State\",\n \"Gorge State Recreation AreainNorth Dakotawas found to have an unusual count of sixteen pterygoid teeth, far greater than in known species. The dentition wasthecodont(tooth roots deeply cemented within the jaw bone). Teeth were constantly shed through a process where the replacement tooth developed within the root of the original tooth and then pushed it out of the jaw.Chemical studies conducted on aM. hoffmanniimaxillary tooth measured an average rate of deposition ofodontoblasts, the cells responsible for the formation ofdentin, at 10.9 micrometers (0.00043 in) per day. This was by observing thevon Ebner lines, incremental marks in dentin that form daily. It was approximated that it took the odontoblasts 511 days and dentin 233 days to develop to the extent observed in the tooth. Postcranial skeleton One of the most completeMosasaurusskeletons in terms of vertebral representation (Mosasaurussp.; SDSM 452)has sevencervical (neck) vertebrae, thirty-eight dorsal vertebrae (which includesthoracicandlumbar\",\n \"vertebrae) in the back, and eight pygal vertebrae (front tail vertebrae lackinghaemal arches) followed by sixty-eightcaudal vertebraein the tail. All species ofMosasaurushave seven cervical vertebrae, but other vertebral counts vary among them. Various partial skeletons ofM. conodon,M. hoffmannii, andM. missouriensissuggestM. conodonlikely had up to thirty-six dorsal vertebrae and nine pygal vertebrae;M. hoffmanniihad likely up to thirty-two dorsal vertebrae and ten pygal vertebrae;andM. missouriensisaround thirty-three dorsal vertebrae, eleven pygal vertebrae, and at least seventy-nine caudal vertebrae.M. lemmonierihad the most vertebrae in the genus, with up to around forty dorsal vertebrae, twenty-two pygal vertebrae, and ninety caudal vertebrae.: 155Compared to other mosasaurs, therib cageofMosasaurusis unusually deep and forms an almost perfect semicircle, giving it a barrel-shaped chest. Rather than being fused together, extensive cartilage likely connected the ribs with thesternum, which would have\",\n \"which would have facilitated breathing movements and compression when in deeper waters.The texture of the bones is virtually identical with in modern whales, which indicatesMosasauruspossessed a high range of aquatic adaptation andneutral buoyancyas seen in cetaceans. The tail structure ofMosasaurusis similar to relatives likePrognathodon, in which soft tissue evidence for a two-lobed tail is known.The tail vertebrae gradually shorten around the center of the tail and lengthen behind the center, suggesting rigidness around the tail center and excellent flexibility behind it. Like most advanced mosasaurs, the tail bends slightly downwards as it approached the center, but this bend is offset from the dorsal plane at a small degree.Mosasaurusalso has large haemal arches located at the bottom of each caudal vertebra which bend near the middle of the tail, which contrasts with the reduction of haemal arches in other marine reptiles such asichthyosaurs. These and other features support a large and powerful\",\n \"large and powerful paddle-like fluke inMosasaurus. The forelimbs ofMosasaurusare wide and robust.Thescapulaandhumerusare fan-shaped and wider than tall. Theradiusandulnaare short, but the former is taller and larger than the latter.Theiliumis rod-like and slender; inM. missouriensis, it is around 1.5 times longer than thefemur. The femur itself is about twice as long as it is wide and ends at the distal side in a pair of distinctarticular facets(of which one connects to theiliumand the other to the paddle bones) that meet at an angle of approximately 120°.Five sets ofmetacarpalsand phalanges (finger bones) were encased in and supported the paddles, with the fifth set being shorter and offset from the rest. The overall structure of the paddle is compressed, similar to inPlotosaurus, and was well-suited for faster swimming.In the hindlimbs, the paddle is supported by four sets of digits. Interactive skeletal reconstruction ofM. hoffmannii(hover over or click on each skeletal component to identify the\",\n \"to identify the structure) Classification History of taxonomy Because nomenclatural rules were not well-defined at the time, 19th century scientists did not giveMosasaurusa properdiagnosisduring its initial descriptions, which led to ambiguity in how the genus is defined. This ledMosasaurusto become awastebasket taxoncontaining as many as fifty different species. A 2017 study by Hallie Street and Michael Caldwell performed the first proper diagnosis and description of theM. hoffmanniiholotype, which allowed a major taxonomic cleanup confirming five species as likely valid—M. hoffmannii,M. missouriensis,M. conodon,M. lemonnieri, andM. beaugei. The study also held four additional species fromPacificdeposits—M. mokoroa,M. hobetsuensis,M. flemingi, andM. prismaticus—to be possibly valid, pending a future formal reassessment.Street & Caldwell (2017) was derived from Street's 2016 doctoral thesis, which contained aphylogeneticstudy proposing the constraining ofMosasaurusinto four species—M. hoffmannii,M.\",\n \"hoffmannii,M. missouriensis,M. lemonnieri, and a proposed new species'M. glycys'—withM. conodonand the Pacific taxa recovered as belonging to different genera andM. beaugeiview as a junior synonymofM. hoffmannii.: 300 Systematics and evolution As thetype genusof the family Mosasauridae and the subfamily Mosasaurinae,Mosasaurusis a member of the orderSquamata(which compriseslizardsandsnakes). Relationships between mosasaurs and living squamates remain controversial as scientists still fiercely debate on whether the closest living relatives of mosasaurs are monitor lizards or snakes.Mosasaurus, along with mosasaur generaEremiasaurus,Plotosaurus,andMoanasaurustraditionally form a tribe within the Mosasaurinae variously calledMosasaurinior Plotosaurini.: 145–148 Phylogeny and evolution of the genus One of the earliest relevant attempts at an evolutionary study ofMosasauruswas done by Russell in 1967.He proposed thatMosasaurusevolved from aClidastes-like mosasaur, and diverged into two lineages, one giving rise\",\n \"one giving rise toM. conodonand another siring achronospeciessequence which contained in order of successionM. ivoensis,M. missouriensis, andM. maximus-hoffmanni.: 202However, Russell used an early method of phylogenetics and did not use cladistics. In 1997, Bell published the first cladistical study of North American mosasaurs. Incorporating the speciesM. missouriensis,M. conodon,M. maximus, and an indeterminate specimen (UNSM77040), some of his findings agreed with Russell (1967), such asMosasaurusdescending from an ancestral group containingClidastesandM. conodonbeing the most basal of the genus. Contrary to Russell (1967), Bell also recoveredMosasaurusin a sister relationship with another group which includedGlobidensandPrognathodon, andM. maximusas a sister species toPlotosaurus. The latter renderedMosasaurusparaphyletic(an unnatural grouping), but Bell (1997) nevertheless recognizedPlotosaurusas a distinct genus. Bell's study served as a precedent for later studies that mostly left the systematics\",\n \"the systematics ofMosasaurusunchanged,: 214–215although some later studies have recovered the sister group toMosasaurusandPlotosaurusto instead beEremiasaurusorPlesiotylosaurusdepending on the method of data interpretation used,with at least one study also recoveringM. missouriensisto be the most basal species of the genus instead ofM. conodon.In 2014, Konishi and colleagues expressed a number of concerns with the reliance on Bell's study. First, the genus was severely underrepresented by incorporating only the three North American speciesM. hoffmannii/M. maximus,M. missouriensis, andM. conodon; by doing so, others likeM. lemonnieri, which is one of the most completely known species in the genus, were neglected, which affected phylogenetic results. Second, the studies relied on an unclean and shaky taxonomy of theMosasaurusgenus due to the lack of a clear holotype diagnosis, which may have been behind the genus's paraphyletic status.: 214–215Third, there was still a lack of comparative studies of the\",\n \"studies of the skeletal anatomy of large mosasaurines at the time.These problems were addressed in Street's 2016 thesis in an updated phylogenetic analysis.: 214–215 Conrad uniquely used onlyM. hoffmanniiandM. lemonnieriin his 2008 phylogenetic analysis, which recoveredM. hoffmanniias basal to a multitude of descendant clades containing (in order of most to least basal)Globidens,M. lemonnieri,Goronyosaurus, andPlotosaurus. This result indicated thatM. hoffmanniiandM. lemonnieriare not in the same genus.However, the study used a method unorthodox to traditional phylogenetic studies on mosasaur species because its focus was on the relationships of entire squamate groups rather than mosasaur classification. As a result, some paleontologists caution that lower-order classification results from Conrad's 2008 study such as the specific placement ofMosasaurusmay contain technical problems, making them inaccurate. The followingcladogramon the left (Topology A) is modified from amaximum clade credibility treeinferred\",\n \"treeinferred by aBayesian analysisin the most recent major phylogenetic analysis of the Mosasaurinae subfamily by Madzia & Cau (2017), which was self-described as a refinement of a larger study by Simõeset al.(2017).The cladogram on the right (Topology B) is modified from Street's 2016 doctoral thesis proposing a revision to the Mosasaurinae, with proposed new taxa and renamings in single quotations.: 267 Dallasaurus turneri Clidastes liodontus Clidastes moorevillensis Clidastes propython Prognathodon overtoni Prognathodon rapax Prognathodon saturator Prognathodon currii Prognathodon solvayi Prognathodon waiparaensis Prognathodon kianda Eremiasaurus heterodontus Plesiotylosaurus crassidens Mosasaurus conodon Mosasaurus missouriensis Mosasaurus hoffmannii Plotosaurus bennisoni Globidens alabamaensis Globidens dakotensis Positions of groups Positions of individual taxa Prognathodon solvayi Clidastes propython Clidastes liodontus Clidastes moorevillensis Globidens alabamaensis Globidens dakotensis Prognathodon\",\n \"Prognathodon kianda Eremiasaurus heterodontus Prognathodon overtoni Prognathodon saturator Prognathodon currii Prognathodon rapax Plesiotylosaurus crassidens 'Marichimaera waiparaensis' 'Amblyrhynchosaurus wiffeni' 'Moanasaurus hobetsuensis' Moanasaurus mangahouange 'Moanasaurus longirostis' Mosasaurus missouriensis Mosasaurus lemonnieri Mosasaurus hoffmannii 'Mosasaurus glycys' 'Antipodinectes mokoroa' 'Umikosaurus prismaticus' 'Aktisaurus conodon' Plotosaurus bennisoni Paleobiology Head musculature and mechanics In 1995, Lingham-Soliar studied the head musculature ofM. hoffmannii. Because soft tissue like muscles do not easily fossilize, reconstruction of the musculature was largely based on the structure of the skull, muscle scarring on the skull, and the musculature in extant monitor lizards. In modern lizards, the mechanical build of the skull is characterized by a four-pivot geometric structure in thecraniumthat allows flexible movement of the jaws, possibly to allow the animals to better position them\",\n \"position them and prevent prey escape when hunting. In contrast, thefrontalandparietal bones, which in modern lizards connect to form a flexible pivot point, overlap in the skull ofM. hoffmannii. This creates a rigid three-pivot geometric cranial structure. These cranial structures are united by strong interlocking sutures formed to resist compression and shear forces caused by a downward thrust of the lower jaw muscles or an upward thrust of prey. This rigid but highly shock-absorbent structure of the cranium likely allowed a powerfulbite force. Like all mosasaurs, the lower jaws ofMosasauruscould swing forward and backward. In many mosasaurs likePrognathodonandM. lemonnieri, this function mainly served to allow ratchet feeding, in which the pterygoid and jaws would \\\"walk\\\" captured prey into the mouth like a conveyor belt. But especially compared to those inM. lemonnieri, the pterygoid teeth inM. hoffmanniiare relatively small, which indicates ratchet feeding was relatively unimportant to its hunting and\",\n \"to its hunting and feeding.Rather,M. hoffmanniilikely employed inertial feeding (in which the animal thrusts its head and neck backward to release a held prey item and immediately thrust the head and neck forward to close the jaws around the item) and used jaw adduction to assist in biting during prey seizure. Themagnus adductormuscles, which attach to the lower jaws to the cranium and have a major role in biting function, are massive, indicatingM. hoffmanniiwas capable of enormous bite forces. The long, narrow, and heavy nature of the lower jaws and attachment of tendons at the coronoid process would have allowed quick opening and closing of the mouth with little energy input underwater, which also contributed to the powerful bite force ofM. hoffmanniiand suggests it would not have needed the strongmagnus depressormuscles (jaw-opening muscles) seen in some plesiosaurs. Mobility and thermoregulation Mosasaurusswam using its tail. The swimming style was likelysub-carangiform, which is exemplified today\",\n \"exemplified today bymackerels.Its elongated paddle-like limbs functioned ashydrofoilsfor maneuvering the animal. The paddles' steering function was enabled by large muscle attachments from the outwards-facing side of the humerus to the radius and ulna and modified joints allowed an enhanced ability ofrotating the flippers. The powerful forces resulting from utilization of the paddles may have sometimes resulted in bone damage, as evidenced by aM. hoffmanniiilium with significant separation of the bone'sheadfrom the rest of the bone likely caused by frequent shearing forces at the articulation joint. The tissue structure ofMosasaurus'bones suggests it had a metabolic rate much higher than modern squamates and itsresting metabolic ratewas between that of theleatherback sea turtleand that of ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs.Mosasauruswas likelyendothermicand maintained a constant body temperature independent of the external environment. Although there is no direct evidence specific to the genus, studies on the\",\n \"studies on the biochemistry of related mosasaur genera such asClidastessuggests that endothermy was likely present in all mosasaurs. Such a trait is unique among squamates, the only known exception being theArgentine black and white tegu, which can maintain partial endothermy.This adaptation would have given several advantages toMosasaurus, including increased stamina when foraging across larger areas and pursuing prey.It may have also been a factor that allowedMosasaurusto thrive in the colder climates of locations such asAntarctica. Sensory functions Mosasaurushad relatively largeeye socketswith largesclerotic ringsoccupying much of the sockets' diameter;the latter is correlated with eye size and suggests it had good vision. The eye sockets were located at the sides of the skull, which created a narrow field ofbinocular visionat around 28.5°but alternatively allowed excellent processing of a two-dimensional environment, such as the near-surface waters inhabited byMosasaurus. Brain castsmade from fossils\",\n \"from fossils ofMosasaurusshow that theolfactory bulbandvomeronasal organ, which both control the function of smell, are poorly developed and lack some structures inM. hoffmannii; this indicates the species had a poor sense of smell. InM. lemonnieri, these olfactory organs, although still small, are better developed and have some components lacking inM. hoffmannii. The lack of a strong sense of smell suggests that olfaction was not particularly important inMosasaurus; instead, other senses like vision may have been more useful. Feeding Paleontologists generally agree thatMosasauruswas likely an active predator of a variety of marine animals.Fauna likely preyed upon by the genus include bony fish, sharks, cephalopods, birds, and marine reptiles such as other mosasaursand turtles.It is unlikelyMosasauruswas a scavenger as it had a poor sense of smell.Mosasauruswas among the largest marine animals of its time,and with its large, robust cutting teeth, scientists believe larger members of the genus would have been\",\n \"would have been able to handle virtually any animal.Lingham-Soliar (1995) suggested thatMosasaurushad a rather \\\"savage\\\" feeding behavior as demonstrated by large tooth marks on scutes of the giant sea turtleAllopleuron hoffmanniand fossils of re-healed fractured jaws inM. hoffmannii.The species likely hunted near the ocean surface as an ambush predator, using its large two-dimensionally adapted eyes to more effectively spot and capture prey.Chemical and structural data in the fossils ofM. lemonnieriandM. conodonsuggests they may have also hunted in deeper waters.: 152 Carbon isotope studies on fossils of multipleM. hoffmanniiindividuals have found extremely low values ofδ13C, the lowest in all mosasaurs for the largest individuals. Mosasaurs with lower δ13C values tended to occupy higher trophic levels, and one factor for this was dietary: a diet of prey rich in lipids such as sea turtles and other large marine reptiles can lower δ13C values.M. hoffmannii's low δ13C levels reinforces its likely position as\",\n \"likely position as an apex predator. Currently, there is only one known example of aMosasauruspreserved with stomach contents: a well-preserved partial skeleton of a smallM. missouriensisdated about 75 million years old with dismembered and punctured remains of a 1 meter (3.3 ft) long fish in its gut. This fish was much longer than the length of the mosasaur's skull, which measured 66 centimeters (26 in) in length, confirming thatM. missouriensisconsumed prey larger than its headby dismembering and consuming bits at a time. Due to coexistence with other large mosasaurs likePrognathodon, which specialized in robust prey,M. missouriensislikely specialized more on prey best consumed using cutting-adapted teeth in an example ofniche partitioning. Mosasaurusmay have taught their offspring how to hunt, as supported by a fossilnautiloidArgonautilus catarinaewith bite marks from two conspecific mosasaurs, one being from a juvenile and the other being from an adult. Analysis of the tooth marks by a 2004 study by\",\n \"by a 2004 study by Kauffman concluded that the mosasaurs were eitherMosasaurusorPlatecarpus. The positioning of both bite marks are at the direction the nautiloid's head would have been facing, indicating it was incapable of escaping and was thus already sick or dead during the attacks; it is possible this phenomenon was from a parent mosasaur teaching its offspring about cephalopods as an alternate source of prey and how to hunt one. An alternate explanation postulates the bite marks as from one individual mosasaur that lightly bit the nautiloid at first, then proceeded to bite again with greater force. However, there are differences in tooth spacing between both bites which indicate different jaw sizes. Behavior and paleopathology Intraspecific combat There is fossil evidence thatMosasaurusengaged in aggressive and lethal combat with others of its kind. One partial skeleton ofM. conodonbears multiple cuts, breaks, and punctures on various bones, particularly in the rear portions of the skull and neck, and\",\n \"skull and neck, and a tooth from anotherM. conodonpiercing through the quadrate bone. No injuries on the fossil show signs of healing, suggesting that the mosasaur was killed by its attacker by a fatal blow in the skull.Likewise, anM. missouriensisskeleton has a tooth from anotherM. missouriensisembedded in the lower jaw underneath the eye. In this case, there were signs of healing around the wound, implying survival of the incident.Takuya Konishi suggested an alternative cause of this example being head-biting behavior duringcourtshipas seen in modern lizards.Attacks by anotherMosasaurusare a possible cause of physicalpathologiesin other skulls, but they could have instead arisen from other incidents like attempted biting on hard turtle shells. In 2004, Lingham-Soliar observed that if these injuries were indeed the result of an intraspecific attack, then there is a pattern of them concentrating in the skull region. Modern crocodiles commonly attack each other by grappling an opponent's head using their\",\n \"head using their jaws, and Lingham-Soliar hypothesized thatMosasaurusemployed similar head-grappling behavior during intraspecific combat. Many of the fossils with injuries possibly attributable to intraspecific combat are of juvenile or sub-adultMosasaurus, leading to the possibility that attacks on smaller, weaker individuals may have been more common.However, the attacking mosasaurs of theM. conodonandM. missouriensisspecimens were likely similar in size to the victims.In 2006, Schulp and colleagues speculated thatMosasaurusmay have occasionally engaged incannibalismas a result of intraspecific aggression. Diseases There are someM. hoffmanniijaws with evidence of infectious diseases as a result of physical injuries. Two examples include IRSNB R25 and IRSNB R27, both having fractures and other pathologies in their dentaries. IRSNB R25 preserves acomplete fracturenear the sixthtooth socket. Extensive amounts of bonycallusalmost overgrowing the tooth socket are present around the fracture along with\",\n \"fracture along with variousosteolytic cavities,abscesscanals, damages to thetrigeminal nerve, and inflamed erosions signifying severe bacterial infection. There are two finely ulcerated scratches on the bone callus, which may have developed as part of the healing process. IRSNB R27 has two fractures: one had almost fully healed and the other is an open fracture with nearby teeth broken off as a result. The fracture is covered with anonunionformation ofbony calluswith shallow scratch marks and a large pit connected to an abscess canal. Lingham-Soliar described this pit as resembling a tooth mark from a possible attacking mosasaur. Both specimens show signs of deep bacterial infection alongside the fractures; some bacteria may have spread to nearby damaged teeth and causedtooth decay, which may have entered deeper tissue from prior post-traumatic or secondary infections. The dentaries ahead of the fractures in both specimens are in good condition, suggesting that the arteries and trigeminal nerves had not been\",\n \"nerves had not been damaged; if they were, those areas would havenecrotizeddue to lack of blood. The dentaries' condition suggests that the species may have had an efficient process of immobilizing the fracture during healing, which helped prevent damage to vital blood vessels and nerves. This, along with signs of healing, indicates that the fractures were not imminently fatal. In 2006, Schulp and colleagues published a study describing a quadrate ofM. hoffmanniiwith multiple unnatural openings and an estimated 0.5 liters (0.13 U.S. gal) of tissue destroyed. This was likely a severebone infectioninitiated byseptic arthritis, which progressed to the point where a large portion of the quadrate was reduced to abscess. Extensive amounts of bone reparative tissue were also present, suggesting the infection and subsequent healing process may have progressed for a few months. This level of bone infection would have been tremendously painful and severely hampered the mosasaur's ability to use its jaws. The location\",\n \"jaws. The location of the infection may have also interfered with breathing. Considering how the individual was able to survive such conditions for an extended period of time, Schulp and colleagues speculated it switched to a foraging-type diet of soft-bodied prey like squid that could be swallowed whole to minimize jaw use. The cause of the infection remains unknown, but if it were a result of an intraspecific attack then it is possible one of the openings on the quadrate may have been the point of entry for an attacker's tooth from which the infection entered. Avascular necrosishas been reported by many studies to be present in every examined specimen ofM. lemonnieriandM. conodon.In examinations ofM. conodonfossils from Alabama and New Jersey andM. lemonnierifossils from Belgium, Rothschild and Martin in 2005 observed that the condition affected between 3-17% of the vertebrae in the mosasaurs' spines.Avascular necrosis is a common result ofdecompression illness; it involves bone damage caused by the\",\n \"caused by the formation of nitrogen bubbles from inhaled air decompressed during frequent deep-diving trips, or by intervals of repetitive diving and short breathing. This indicates that bothMosasaurusspecies may have either been habitual deep-divers or repetitive divers. Agnete Weinreich Carlsen considered it the simplest explanation that such conditions were a product of inadequate anatomical adaptation. Nevertheless, fossils of other mosasaurs with invariable avascular necrosis still exhibit substantial adaptations like eardrums that were well-protected from rapid changes in pressure. Unnatural fusion of tail vertebrae has been documented inMosasaurus, which occurs when the bonesremodelthemselves after damage from trauma or disease. A 2015 study by Rothschild and Everhart surveyed 15Mosasaurusspecimens from North America and Belgium and found cases of fused tail vertebrae in three of them.Two of these cases displayed irregular surface deformities around the fusion site caused by drainage of thevertebral\",\n \"of thevertebral sinuses, which is indicative of a bone infection. The causes of such infections are uncertain, but records of fused vertebrae in other mosasaurs suggest attacks by sharks and other predators as a possible candidate. The third case was determined to be caused by a form ofarthritisbased on the formation of smooth bridging between fused vertebrae. Life history It is likely thatMosasauruswasviviparous(giving live birth) like most modern mammals today. There is no evidence for live birth inMosasaurusitself, but it is known in a number of other mosasaurs;examples include a skeleton of a pregnantCarsosaurus,aPlioplatecarpusfossil associated with fossils of two mosasaur embryos,and fossils of newbornClidastesfrompelagic(open ocean) deposits.Such fossil records, along with a total absence of any evidence suggesting external egg-based reproduction, indicates the likeliness of viviparity inMosasaurus.Microanatomical studies on bones of juvenileMosasaurusand related genera have found that their bone\",\n \"that their bone structures are comparable to adults. They do not exhibit the bone mass increase found in juvenile primitive mosasauroids to support buoyancy associated with a lifestyle in shallow water, implying thatMosasauruswasprecocial: They were already efficient swimmers and lived fully functional lifestyles in open water at a very young age and did not require nursery areas to raise their young.Some areas in Europe and South Dakota have yielded concentrated assemblages of juvenileM. hoffmannii,M. missouriensisand/orM. lemonnieri. These localities are all shallow ocean deposits, suggesting that juvenileMosasaurusmay still have lived in shallow waters. Paleoecology Distribution, ecosystem, and ecological impact Mosasaurushad a transatlantic distribution, with its fossils having been found in marine deposits on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. These localities include theMidwestandEast Coastof the United States, Canada, Europe, Turkey, Russia, theLevant, the African coastline from Moroccoto South Africa,\",\n \"South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, and Antarctica.During the Late Cretaceous, these regions made up the three seaways inhabited byMosasaurus: the Atlantic Ocean, theWestern Interior Seaway, and theMediterranean Tethys.Multiple oceanicclimate zonesencompassed the seaways, includingtropical,subtropical,temperate, andsubpolarclimates.The wide range of oceanic climates yielded a large diversity of fauna that coexisted withMosasaurus. Mediterranean Tethys The Mediterranean Tethys during theMaastrichtianstagewas located in what is now Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In recent studies, the confirmation of paleogeographical affinities extended this range to areas across the Atlantic including Brazil and the East Coast state of New Jersey. It is geographically subdivided into twobiogeographic provincesthat respectively include the northern and southern Tethyan margins. The two mosasaursMosasaurusandPrognathodonappear to have been the dominant taxa, being widespread and ecologically diversified throughout the\",\n \"throughout the seaway. The northern Tethyan margin was located around the paleolatitudes of30–40°N, consisting of what is now the European continent, Turkey, and New Jersey. At the time, Europe was a scattering of islands with most of the modern continental landmass being underwater. The margin provided a warm-temperate climate with habitats dominated by mosasaurs and sea turtles.M. hoffmanniiandPrognathodon sectoriuswere the dominant species in the northern province.In certain areas such as Belgium, otherMosasaurusspecies likeM. lemonnieriwere instead the dominant species, where its occurrences greatly outnumber those of other large mosasaurs.Other mosasaurs found in the European side of the northern Tethyan margin include smaller genera such asHalisaurus,Plioplatecarpus, andPlatecarpus; the shell-crusherCarinodens; and larger mosasaurs of similar trophic levels includingTylosaurus bernardiand four other species ofPrognathodon. Sea turtles such asAllopleurodon hoffmanniandGlyptochelone suickerbuyckiwere\",\n \"suickerbuyckiwere also prevalent in the area and other marine reptiles including indeterminateelasmosaurshave been occasionally found. Marine reptile assemblages in the New Jersey region of the province are generally equivalent with those in Europe; the mosasaur faunae are quite similar but excludeM. lemonnieri,Carinodens,Tylosaurus, and certain species ofHalisaurusandPrognathodon. In addition, they exclusively featureM. conodon,Halisaurus platyspondylusandPrognathodon rapax.Many types of sharks such asSqualicorax,Cretalamna,Serratolamna, andsand sharks,as well as bony fish such asCimolichthys, the saber-toothed herringEnchodus, and the swordfish-likeProtosphyraenaare represented in the northern Tethyan margin. The southern Tethyan margin was located along the equator between20°Nand20°S, resulting in warmer tropical climates. Seabeds bordering thecratonsin Africa and Arabia and extending to the Levant and Brazil provided vast shallow marine environments. These environments were dominated by mosasaurs\",\n \"by mosasaurs andmarine side-necked turtles. Of the mosasaurs,Globidens phosphaticusis the characteristic species of the southern province; in the African and Arabian domain,Halisaurus arambourgiand'Platecarpus ptychodon'were also common mosasaurs alongsideGlobidens.Mosasauruswas not well-represented: the distribution ofM. beaugeiwas restricted to Morocco and Brazil and isolated teeth from Syria suggested a possible presence ofM. lemonnieri, althoughM. hoffmanniialso had some presence throughout the province.Other mosasaurs from the southern Tethyan margin include the enigmaticGoronyosaurus, the shell-crushersIgdamanosaurusandCarinodens,Eremiasaurus, four other species ofPrognathodon, and various other species ofHalisaurus. Other marine reptiles such as the marine monitor lizardPachyvaranusand the sea snakePalaeophisare known there. Aside fromZarafasaurain Morocco, plesiosaurs were scarce. As a tropical area, bony fish such asEnchodusandStratodusand various sharks were common throughout the southern Tethyan\",\n \"southern Tethyan margin. Western Interior Seaway Many of the earliest fossils ofMosasauruswere found inCampanianstage deposits in North America, including the Western Interior Seaway, an inland sea which once flowed through what is now the central United States and Canada, and connected theArctic Oceanto the modern-dayGulf of Mexico. The region was shallow for a seaway, reaching a maximum depth of about 800–900 meters (2,600–3,000 ft).Extensive drainage from the neighboring continents,AppalachiaandLaramidia, brought in vast amounts of sediment. Together with the formation of a nutrient-rich deepwater mass from the mixing of continental freshwater, Arctic waters from the north, and warmer saline Tethyan waters from the south, this created a warm and productive seaway that supported a rich diversity of marine life. The biogeography of the region has been subdivided into two Interior Subprovinces characterized by different climates and faunal structures, and their borders are separated in modern-dayKansas. The\",\n \"The oceanic climate of the Northern Interior Subprovince was likely a cool temperate one, while the Southern Interior Subprovince had warm temperate to subtropical climates.The fossil assemblages throughout these regions suggest a complete faunal turnover whenM. missouriensisandM. conodonappeared at 79.5 Ma, indicating that the presence ofMosasaurusin the Western Interior Seaway had a profound impact on the restructuring of marine ecosystems.The faunal structure of both provinces was generally much more diverse prior to the appearance ofMosasaurus, during afaunal stageknown as theNiobraran Age, than it was during the followingNavesinkan Age. In what is now Alabama within the Southern Interior Subprovince, most of the key genera including sharks likeCretoxyrhinaand the mosasaursClidastes,Tylosaurus,Globidens,Halisaurus, andPlatecarpusdisappeared and were replaced byMosasaurus.During the Navesinkan Age,Mosasaurusdominated the whole region, accounting for around two-thirds of all mosasaur diversity\",\n \"mosasaur diversity withPlioplatecarpusandPrognathodonsharing the remaining third. The Northern Interior Subprovince also saw a restructuring of mosasaur assemblages, characterized by the disappearance of mosasaurs likePlatecarpusand their replacement byMosasaurusandPlioplatecarpus.Some Niobraran genera such asTylosaurus,Cretoxyrhina,hesperornithids,and plesiosaurs including elasmosaurs such asTerminonatatorand polycotylids likeDolichorhynchopsmaintained their presence until around the end of the Campanian, during which the entire Western Interior Seaway started receding from the north.Mosasauruscontinued to be the dominant genus in the seaway until the end of the Navesinkan Age at the end of the Cretaceous.Contemporaneous fauna included sea turtles such asProtostegaandArchelon;many species of sea birds includingBaptornis,Ichthyornis, andHalimornis; sharks such as the mackerel sharksCretalamna,Squalicorax,Pseudocorax, andSerratolamna, the goblin sharkScapanorhynchus, the sand tigerOdontaspis, and the\",\n \"and the sawfish-likeIschyrhiza; and bony fish such asEnchodus,Protosphyraena,Stratodus, and theichthyodectidsXiphactinusandSaurodon. Antarctica Mosasaurusis known from late Maastrichtian deposits in theAntarctic Peninsula, specifically theLópez de Bertodano FormationinSeymour Island.Located within thepolar circleat around 65°S,temperatures at medium to large water depths would have been around 6 °C (43 °F) on average, while sea surface temperatures may have dropped below freezing and sea ice may have formed at times.Mosasaurusappears to be the most diverse mosasaur in the Maastrichtian Antarctica. At least two species ofMosasaurushave been described, but the true number of species is unknown as remains are often fragmentary and specimens are described inopen nomenclature. These species include one comparable withM. lemonnieri, and another that appears to be closely related toM. hoffmannii.M. sp.has also been described. However, it is possible that such specimens may actually representMoanasaurus, although\",\n \"although this depends on the outcome of a pending revision of the genus.At least four other mosasaur genera have been reported in Antarctica, includingPlioplatecarpus, the mosasaurinesMoanasaurusandLiodon,andKaikaifilu. The validity of some of these genera is disputed as they are primarily based on isolated teeth.PrognathodonandGlobidensare also expected to be present based on distribution trends of both genera, although conclusive fossils have yet to be found.Other Antarctic marine reptiles included elasmosaurid plesiosaurs likeAristonectesand another indeterminate elasmosaurid.The fish assemblage of the López de Bertodano Formation was dominated byEnchodusand ichthyodectiformes. Habitat preference Known fossils ofMosasaurushave typically been recovered from deposits representing nearshore habitats during the Cretaceous period, with some fossils coming from deeper-water deposits.: 152, 178Lingham-Soliar (1995) elaborated on this, finding that Maastrichtian deposits in the Netherlands withM.\",\n \"Netherlands withM. hoffmanniioccurrences represented nearshore waters around 40–50 meters (130–160 ft) deep. Changing temperatures and an abundance in marine life were characteristic of these localities. The morphological build ofM. hoffmannii, nevertheless, was best adapted for a pelagic surface lifestyle. δ13C is also correlated with a marine animal's feeding habitat as isotope levels deplete when habitat is farther from the shoreline, so some scientists interpreted isotope levels as a proxy for habitat preference. Separate studies involving multipleMosasaurusspecimens have yielded consistently low δ13C levels of tooth enamel, indicating thatMosasaurusfed in more offshore or open waters. It has been pointed out how δ13C can be influenced by other factors in an animal's lifestyle, such as diet and diving behavior.: 122To account for this, a 2014 study by T. Lynn Harrell Jr. and Alberto Perez-Huerta examined the concentration ratios ofneodymium,gadolinium, andytterbiuminM. hoffmanniiandMosasaurussp. fossils\",\n \"fossils from Alabama, theDemopolis Chalk, and theHornerstown Formation. Previous studies demonstrated that ratios of these three elements can act as a proxy for relative ocean depth of a fossil during earlydiagenesiswithout interference from biological processes, with each of the three elements signifying either shallow, deep, or fresh waters. The rare earth element ratios were very consistent throughout most of the examinedMosasaurusfossils, indicating consistent habitat preference, and clustered towards a ratio representing offshore habitats with ocean depths deeper than 50 meters (160 ft). Interspecific competition Mosasauruslived alongside other large predatory mosasaurs also considered apex predators, most prominent among them being the tylosaurines andPrognathodon.Tylosaurus bernardi, the only surviving species of the genus during the Maastrichtian, measured up to 12.2 meters (40 ft) in lengthwhile the largest coexisting species ofPrognathodonlikeP. saturatorexceeded 12 meters (39 ft).These three\",\n \"(39 ft).These three mosasaurs preyed on similar animals such as marine reptiles. A study published in 2013 by Schulp and colleagues specifically tested how mosasaurs such asM. hoffmanniiandP. saturatorwere able to coexist in the same localities through δ13C analysis. The scientists utilized an interpretation that differences in isotope values can help explain the level of resource partitioning because it is influenced by multiple environmental factors such as lifestyle, diet, and habitat preference. Comparisons between the δ13C levels in multiple teeth ofM. hoffmanniiandP. saturatorfrom the Maastrichtian-ageMaastricht Formationshowed that while there was some convergence between certain specimens, the average δ13C values between the two species were on average different. This is one indication of niche partitioning, where the two mosasaur genera likely foraged in different habitats or had different specific diets to coexist without direct competitive conflict. The teeth ofP. saturatorare much more robust\",\n \"much more robust than those ofM. hoffmanniiand were specifically equipped for preying on robust prey like turtles. WhileM. hoffmanniialso preyed on turtles, its teeth were built to handle a wider range of prey less suited forP. saturator. Another case of presumed niche partitioning betweenMosasaurusandPrognathodonfrom theBearpaw FormationinAlbertawas documented in a 2014 study by Konishi and colleagues. The study found a dietary divide betweenM. missouriensisandP. overtonibased on stomach contents. Stomach contents ofP. overtoniincluded turtles and ammonites, providing another example of a diet specialized for harder prey. In contrast,M. missouriensishad stomach contents consisting of fish, indicative of a diet specialized in softer prey. It was hypothesized that these adaptations helped maintain resource partitioning between the two mosasaurs. Nevertheless, competitive engagement evidently could not be entirely avoided. There is also evidence of aggressive interspecific combat betweenMosasaurusand other\",\n \"other large mosasaur species. This is shown from a fossil skull of a subadultM. hoffmanniiwith fractures caused by a massive concentrated blow to the braincase; Lingham-Soliar (1998) argued that this blow was dealt by a ramming attack byT. bernardi, as the formation of the fractures were characteristic of a coordinated strike (and not an accident or fossilization damage), andT. bernardiwas the only known coexisting animal likely capable of causing such damage, using its robust arrow-like elongated snout. This sort of attack has been compared to the defensive behavior ofbottlenose dolphinsusing their beaks to kill or repellemon sharks, and it has been speculated thatT. bernardidealt the offensive attack via an ambush on an unsuspectingMosasaurus. Extinction By the end of the Cretaceous, mosasaurs were at the height of theirevolutionary radiation, and their extinction was a sudden event.During the late Maastrichtian, global sea levels dropped, draining the continents of their nutrient-rich seaways and altering\",\n \"and altering circulation and nutrient patterns, and reducing the number of available habitats forMosasaurus. The genus adapted by accessing new habitats in more open waters.The last fossils ofMosasaurus, which include those ofM. hoffmanniiand indeterminate species, occur up to theCretaceous-Paleogene boundary(K-Pg boundary). The demise of the genus was likely a result of theCretaceous-Paleogene extinction eventwhich also wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs.Mosasaurusfossils have been found less than 15 meters (49 ft) below the boundary in the Maastricht Formation, theDavutlar Formationin Turkey, theJagüel Formationin Argentina,Stevns Klintin Denmark, Seymour Island, and Missouri. M. hoffmanniifossils have been found within the K-Pg boundary itself in southeastern Missouri between thePaleoceneClayton Formationand CretaceousOwl Creek Formation. Fossil vertebrae from the layer were found with fractures formed after death. The layer was likely deposited as atsunamite, alternatively nicknamed the \\\"Cretaceous\",\n \"the \\\"Cretaceous cocktail deposit\\\". This formed through a combination of catastrophic seismic and geological disturbances, mega-hurricanes, and giant tsunamis caused by the impact of theChicxulub asteroidthat catalyzed the K-Pg extinction event.As well as physical destruction, the impact also blocked out sunlightleading to a collapse of marine food webs.AnyMosasaurussurviving the immediate cataclysms by taking refuge in deeper waters would have died out due to starvation from a loss of prey. One enigmatic occurrence ofMosasaurussp. fossils is in the Hornerstown Formation, a deposit typically dated to be from the PaleoceneDanianage, which was immediately after the Maastrichtian age. The fossils were found in association with fossils ofSqualicorax,Enchodus, and various ammonites within a uniquely fossil-rich bed at the base of the Hornerstown Formation known as the Main Fossiliferous Layer. This does not meanMosasaurusand its associated fauna survived the K-Pg extinction. According to one hypothesis, the\",\n \"one hypothesis, the fossils may have originated from an earlier Cretaceous deposit and werereworkedinto the Paleocene formation during its early deposition. Evidence of reworking typically comes from fossils worn down due to further erosion during their exposure at the time of redeposition. Many of theMosasaurusfossils from the Main Fossiliferous Layer consist of isolated bones commonly abraded and worn, but the layer also yielded better-preservedMosasaurusremains. Another explanation suggests the Main Fossiliferous Layer is a Maastrichtian time-averagedremaniédeposit, which means it originated from a Cretaceous deposit withwinnowedlow-sediment conditions. A third hypothesis proposes that the layer is alag depositof Cretaceous sediments forced out by a strong impact by a tsunami, and what remained was subsequently refilled with Cenozoic fossils. See also Notes References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":57,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"The Assistant to the Regional Manager on The Office TV show (US version) has a farm. You can obtain what food colorant from the crop he grows?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"Betanin"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Office"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_Schrute"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beetroot"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Multiple constraints"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Office', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_Schrute', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beetroot']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Office","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_Schrute","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beetroot"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Office\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_Schrute\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beetroot\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["The Office The Officeis the title of severalmockumentarysitcoms based on a British series originally created byRicky GervaisandStephen MerchantasThe Officein 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as the boss and main character. The two series were broadcast onBBC Twoin 2001 and 2002, totalling 12 episodes, with two special episodes concluding the series in 2003.Versions of the original were subsequently made in Germany, the United States, and many other countries. The longest-running version of the series, theAmerican adaptation, ran for nine seasons on theNBC Television Networkfrom 2005 to 2013, with a total of 201 episodes. According toNielsen Ratingsas of April 2019, the American version ofThe Officewas the No. 1 streamed show onNetflixin the United States.Afollow-up of the American versionwas announced in 2024 for release onPeacock;2024 also sawAmazon Prime Videodebut an Australian version ofThe Office, featuring the franchise's first female lead character. Versions In addition to those listed below, aRussian languageversion for Channel One Russia with an initial run of 24 episodes was announced in 2008, but never produced. December 17, 2004 Counterparts Roles are recorded as of each character's first appearance. Neil Godwin(Patrick Baladi) (Marcelo Maldonado) Selected major awards Notes References External links","Dwight Schrute Dwight Kurt Schrute III(/ˈʃruːt/) is a character on the American television seriesThe Officeand is portrayed by American actorRainn Wilson. Dwight is a salesman and assistant toMichael Scott,at the fictional paper distribution companyDunder Mifflin, before his promotions in later seasons of the show. He also runs abed and breakfastat Schrute Farms, is a beet plantation owner, and in Season 7, becomes the owner of the business park in which Dunder Mifflin is located. Throughout the series, Dwight repeatedly attempts to become regional manager of the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin by serving dutifully under the regional manager characterMichael Scott. The character is based onGareth Keenanfromthe original British version of the show, who was played by actorMackenzie Crook. Notably, Dwight is the only character who has both appeared and had dialogue in every episode of the series. Actor Rainn Wilson received three nominations for thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Seriesfor his portrayal of the character. Casting Dwight Schrute is portrayed by American actorRainn Wilson. Other actors that auditioned for the part wereSeth Rogen,Matt Besser,Judah FriedlanderandPatton Oswalt. All original series characters from the UK version ofThe Officewere adapted for the US version of the show. Wilson watched every episode of the original British series, and was a fan before he auditioned for the U.S. version.Wilson had originally auditioned forMichael Scott, a performance he described as a \"terribleGervaisimpersonation\".However, the casting directors liked his audition as Dwight much better and hired him for the role. Wilson based Dwight's hairstyle on the style he himself had when at the age of sixteen.In an interview, he said that he went to abarberto get \"the worst haircut possible\". Character information When the series begins, Dwight Schrute is a competent salesman at theScrantonbranch of Dunder Mifflin. Dwight formally holds the title of \"Assistant to the Regional Manager\"but constantly refers to himself as \"Assistant Regional Manager\", attempting to elevate himself to second-in-command to branch manager Michael Scott. Dwight craves authority over his co-workers and relishes any minor task that Michael or anyone else will give him. Although Dwight acts superior to many individuals and is often good in crisis, he is shown to actually be quite gullible, ignorant, and naive.For this reason, he is easily tricked and pranked by his coworkerJim Halpert.Dwight often speaks in a halting, intense manner, even in casual conversations.At the office, his most recurring business wear is a mustard-colored, short-sleeved shirt with a dark necktie and a brown suit jacket. He often usesone-upmanshipto better himself over his peers, such as boasting about how he trains specific parts of his body. Dwight will sometimes engage in jokes and games in attempts to please Michael, but often fails to do so because of Michael's perception of himself as the jokester of the workplace. Dwight is a formervolunteer sheriff deputy,but had had to step down after breaking his pledge to help his boss, Michael, illegally pass adrug testby giving him his urine in the episode \"Drug Testing.\" He is also anotary public; this creates difficulties when Angela desires to send him a notarized letter regarding their break-up. He lives on his family'sbeetfarm alongside his cousin,Mose(played by producer/writerMichael Schur). Dwight has affinities forpaintball,ping pong,survivalism,Goju Ryukarateand weapons. Dwight also shows affinity for variousscience fictionandfantasyworks; notablyBattlestar Galactica,Star Wars,Lord of the RingsandHarry Potter. In an episode commentary on theseason 1DVD, Wilson refers to Dwight as a \"fascistnerd.\" In a feature on theseason 3DVD, Wilson describes Dwight as \"someone who does not hate the system but has a deep and abiding love for it\". Family and childhood In \"Lecture Circuit\", Dwight claims to remember his own birth, and his father, Dwight Schrute II, delivering him from thewomb, and his mother biting off herumbilical cord.In \"Grief Counseling\", Dwight states that he was born a twin, but he \"resorbed\" his twin while still in his mother's womb (this occurrence is calledtwin embolization syndrome), causing him to believe that he now has \"the strength of a grown man and a little baby\". He also claims to have been born weighing 13 lb 5 oz (6.0 kg), rendering his mother incapable of walking for three months and two days,and in \"Baby Shower\", he claims to have performed his owncircumcision. Little is known about Dwight's parents, except that his father used to take himhunting, cheated in games, made his siblings and him biscuits for breakfast every morning, and that he battledobesity, highblood pressure, and highcholesterol. Dwight lives in a nine-bedroom, one-bathroom farmhouse (with the single bathroom located under the porch), as revealed in \"Office Olympics\" on his family's 60-acre (24 ha)beetfarm with his cousin Mose. The cousins sell beets to local stores, restaurants, and roadside beet stands.Dwight uses part of his farm to growhemp.Dwight and Mose have also turned Schrute Farms into a ramshacklebed and breakfast. According to one of Dwight's web logs on NBC.com's \"Schrute-Space\", he had an uncle, named Gunther, a goat farmer, who fled the Allied invasion of Germany and married aFinnishwoman, with whom he had 17 children.He also had an Uncle Girt, who revealed that the Schrute family has an ongoing hatred ofHarry S. Truman, because they were staunch supporters ofThomas Dewey. In another blog, he mentions a cousin named Heindl, who has received numerous injuries and infections from an attack by a small dog. Interests Dwight is trained in the art ofsurveillanceand served as a volunteer 's deputy inLackawanna County.He has a black belt inGoju-Ryukarate, and is thesenpaiat his dojo.Dwight is apop cultureandsci-fienthusiast. In the episode \"The Fire\", he mentioned the movieThe Crowas being his favorite film. He hints at belief in fictional creatures such asandroids,zombiesandvampires.He enjoys playingtable tennis, and states that many of his heroes are table tennis players.His musical tastes vary, butheavy metalseems to be recurring. He plays guitar andrecorder, and sings.He is fascinated with cars; he usually checks a car's suspension, especiallymuscle cars. His technological talents are limited, but he shows a passion for the online role-playing gameSecond Life. He also shows an interest intrains. In \"Todd Packer\", it is revealed that Dwight does not know whoJustin Bieberis, asking Jim \"Who is Justice Beaver?\", leaving Jim to answer \"A crime-fightingbeaver.\" Dwight owns an impressive array of weaponry. In addition toLaser Tagandpaintballequipment, he has acrossbowrange at his farm (\"Office Olympics\") and, when he was named official Security Supervisor of the Scranton branch,hinted that he might bring abo staffto work. He maintained a hidden arsenal of weapons around the office, includingpepper spray,nunchucks,throwing stars, astun gun, aboomerang,handcuffs, anightstick, a pair ofbrass knucklesand aChinese sword, all of which were confiscated by Toby. Dwight is vocal about his views on justice, which is reflected in his television viewing habits, as he enjoys watching and has great admiration forJudge Judy, as well asVic MackeyonThe Shield. In \"The Negotiation\",Roy Andersonattacks Jim, because he kissed Roy'sfiancee, Pam, but Dwight intercepts the attack withpepper spray.Throughout the episode, Jim attempts to show his appreciation, but Dwight refuses to accept his gifts, simply stating \"Citizensdo not accept prizes for being citizens\".In \"Drug Testing\", Dwight finds half of ajointin the parking lot, which incites him to carry out a severe, and thorough, investigation.When he discovers that Michael might have been exposed to illegal drugs at aconcert, he substitutes his ownurineduring the mandatory drug test.Dwight then resigns from his volunteer position at the Sheriff's Department, because he feels that he is no longer worthy of working there. In \"Frame Toby\", Dwight states that he is skilled at framing people, as well as animals, revealing that he once framed araccoonfor opening a Christmas gift, and a bear for eating out of thegarbage, although he had made it obvious to the police that he wanted Toby to be imprisoned.In the episode \"Women's Appreciation\", he is quoted as saying \"Better a thousand innocent men are locked up than one guilty man roam free.\" In \"Conflict Resolution\", Dwight states that he does not like to smile, as showing one's teeth is a submission signal inprimates, and that whenever someone smiles at him, \"all sees is achimpanzeebegging for its life.\" Dwight owns many exotic pets includingpiranhas, frogs, anarctic wolf, araccoon, a porcupine named Henrietta, and anopossum, although the wolf escaped due to poor restraints and he flushed his piranhas down the toilet. He also has an interest in bears, and is ready to debate the habits and characteristics of different species of bears. He also has expressed a surprisingly large affection towards baby otters, as shown in the cold opening of \"Whistleblower\". In \"Costume Contest\", Dwight claims to be able to sit on a fence, and that he is even able to sleep on one, stating that \"The trick is to do it face down, with the post in your mouth\". It is revealed in the \"Suit Warehouse\" episode that as a child Dwight collected cat feces. Relationships In \"Drug Testing\", Dwight states that he likes his co-workers, \"with four exceptions\", leaving it up to the audience to make educated guesses about whom these four exceptions are. Angela Martin Towards the middle of season 2, Dwight develops a secret relationship with Angela Martin. Pam begins to suspect a relationship between the two, in \"E-mail Surveillance\", by observing their interactions, suspicions that are strengthened in \"The Injury\" and \"Conflict Resolution\", and confirmed by \"Traveling Salesmen\", during which Angela confides in Pam about her relationship, using code names.In \"Michael's Birthday\", Ryan discovers the relationship between the two when he overhears a coded conversation between them in the kitchen, while in \"The Negotiation\" Jim discovers the relationship while coming out of the office bathroom after quitting time, to find Dwight and Angela kissing (he then tells the documentary crew that, with his silence, the debt he feels to Dwight is repaid). In the episode \"Fun Run\", Angela asks Dwight to care for her sick cat, Sprinkles. Instead of caring for the feline, Dwight feels he should kill it as a waste of resources, and then tells Angela Sprinkles was dead when he arrived.When he lets the truth slip out shortly after, Angela terminates their relationship. Jim, on a visit to Dwight's beet farm, finds Dwight sitting alone at night, contemplating Angela'scherubfigurine and moaning in anguish. In thefourth seasonfinale \"Goodbye, Toby\", Dwight is obviously hurt when Angela's boyfriend, Andy, proposes to her. However, in the final scene of the episode, Phyllis catches Dwight having sex with Angela in the office. In thefifth seasonpremiere, \"Weight Loss\", Dwight and Angela have resumed a covert relationship, using a storage room in the warehouse to have sex. In \"Crime Aid\", Andy and Angela set a date for their wedding. After some advice from Phyllis, Dwight gives Angela an ultimatum: call off the engagement, or he will no longer be with her. She chooses to marry Andy. When Andy learns about Angela's affair with Dwight,a duelbetween Dwight and Andy takes place, but both realize that Angela has been lying to them and break up with her. For quite some time afterwards, Dwight and Angela avoid each other. In theseason 6episode \"The Delivery\", Dwight, witnessing Jim and Pam talk to customers about their unborn child, decides that he wants a child, and asks Angela to be the mother. They sign an elaborate contract, including eating guidelines for Angela to follow when she is pregnant, and how the baby will be raised. While Angela is excited by the reconciliation, Dwight doesn't share her romantic feelings. When Dwight develops an interest in Pam's friend Isabel, he tells Angela to forget about the contract; this infuriates Angela, and she sues him in small-claims court. When an arbitrator tells them that the contract is valid and would involve a $30,000 settlement (because it would be illegal to force Dwight and Angela to procreate), Dwight cuts a deal with Angela for five sessions of sex. He then proceeds to abuse his genitals in an effort to sterilize himself and fends off Angela's efforts to be romantic. Inseason 7, after Angela meets astate senatorwhom she finds much more personable than Dwight, she voids the pact in \"WUPHF.com\". In \"Jury Duty\", it is revealed that, a month before her wedding to the state senator,Robert Lipton, Dwight and Angela had sex, as Robert was not fulfilling Angela's sexual needs, so Dwight believes that he is the baby's biological father.In \"New Guys\", it is revealed that he is not the father. In season 9, they become close again first when Dwight finds out that Robert is cheating on Angela with Oscar, and later in \"Moving On\" when Angela helps him take care of his elderly aunt. They share a kiss, but afterwards both say that she should remain faithful to her husband. After inheriting his aunt's beet farm, Dwight starts a relationship with neighboring Brussels sprout farmer Esther Bruegger (Nora Kirkpatrick). When Dwight seems to be getting serious with Esther and the Senator has publicly dumped Angela, Angela breaks down and admits toOscar Martinezthat she still loves Dwight. On the day that he intends to ask Esther to marry him, Dwight instead proposes to Angela. She says yes, finally admitting that he is the father of her son Phillip (\"A.A.R.M.\"). Michael Scott Dwight holds a high level of respect for Michael, viewing him as a model for success, and often participating with Michael's ill-conceived schemes.However, he betrays Michael numerous times, such as when he goes over Michael's head to vie for the manager's job in \"The Coup\". Despite this, Michael frequently dismisses Dwight and often appears embarrassed by his antics; for much of the series, he also refuses to promote Dwight from \"Assistant to the Regional Manager\" to \"Assistant Regional Manager\". In later seasons, Dwight was shown to return the favor, such as Dwight telling Michael that he would have a better career if he'd taken a job at Home Depot. Several times throughout the series, however, it is revealed that Michael does care about Dwight's feelings, and the two sometimes share bonding moments. In \"Training Day\", Dwight is unhappy when the open branch manager position goes toDeangelo Vickers, and when he learns that Michael did not recommend him for the job, as he led him to believe, he snubs Michael and goes to a meeting Vickers has called, leaving Michael standing outside, by himself. In \"Goodbye, Michael\", Dwight is still frustrated with Michael, but his hostility turns into heartfelt appreciation as Michael hands him the recommendation letter. At first, the letter does not seem to impress him, but, as he reads through, he realizes that Michael really does respect him. They are later seen engaging in a friendly paintball fight, and Dwight's loyalty to Michael is once again restored. After Michael left, Dwight did not have the same respect for Deangelo and Andy that Dwight previously had for Michael, implying that Dwight truly respects and values Michael. In a deleted scene from \"Finale\", Dwight stated that Michael sent him his \"World's Best Boss\" mug when he became Regional Manager. In the episode \"Finale\", as Jim explains that the \"Bestest Mensch\" (best man) in Dwight's wedding must be older than him, Dwight is disappointed. The camera then pans over to reveal that Michael returned, much to Dwight's surprise and delight, and Jim has arranged for him to fill in as best man. Michael watches as his \"family\" is sitting together and is last seen dancing with Dwight. Jim Halpert Dwight is frequently the victim of practical jokes by co-workers Jim Halpert and Pam Beesly, including putting his desk supplies in the snack machine, putting his stapler into Jello, and moving his desk into the men's restroom, and replacing Dwight's desk with breakway giftwrap replica, although it appears that he remains oblivious to Pam's involvement; these pranks tend to exploit his stubborn and gullible nature. Dwight's frustration with Jim's pranks reaches a crisis point in \"Conflict Resolution\", when Dwight threatens to quit unless Jim is transferred.Dwight occasionally pulls successful pranks on Jim in turn, most prominently in \"Classy Christmas\" where he subjects Jim to a barrage of pranks revolving around snowballs. Professionally, Dwight wins the 2005 Salesman of the Year Award, although, this is likely due to, at least in part, his theft of Jim's largest client. During \"Initiation\", Dwight tells Ryan he regrets that he and Jim never got along. In \"Traveling Salesmen\", Dwight quits and hugs Jim as a farewell which surprises Jim as he does not know that Dwight quit. Later, Jim is irritated when Andy replaces Dwight and even says that he misses Dwight. Earlier in the same episode, Jim and Dwight make an incredibly efficient sales team, functioning well as a duo and thinking similarly in their tactics. The two were paired together when they began as traveling salesmen at the company. In \"Company Picnic\" the two embrace in celebration after Dwight sets Jim up to score the final point in volleyball. Dwight plans to demote Jim from the Assistant Regional Manager spot, and make him miserable, during \"The Job\". Dwight's relationship with Jim mellows somewhat in later seasons, and they, at times, cooperate effectively on sales calls or running the office in Michael's absence, sometimes even socializing together. Jim often supports Dwight when he is genuinely hurt or in danger (such as in \"Money\" and \"Last Day in Florida\") and occasionally compliments his successes (such as in \"Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting) Manager\"). In \"The Negotiation\", Dwight saves Jim fromRoy Andersonwho was attempting to punch Jim by pepper spraying Roy. However, continually refuses Jim's gestures of appreciation, stating that he only acted in the line of duty. However, when Jim is promoted to co-manager, Dwight's enmity returns to full force, and he conducts an ongoing campaign to depose Jim, who eventually resumes his old job as sales representative in \"Manager and Salesman\". In the final episode of the series, \"Finale\", Dwight asks Jim to be the best man at his wedding. Jim throws Dwight a commendable bachelor party rife with surprises (which Jim refers to as \"guten pranken\"). Before the wedding Jim informs Dwight that, under Schrute tradition, he is not allowed to be best man as he is younger than him. Jim surprises him with the arrival ofMichael Scott. The wedding proceeds in Schrute tradition with Michael as Dwight's new best man. Later in the episode Jim and Pam tell Dwight they are quitting so Jim can rejoin his sports marketing firm now based in Austin, but Dwight fires them instead so he can give them heftyseverance packages. Pam Beesly Although she is often involved in Jim's pranks on Dwight, Dwight has, at certain times, displayed a curious sense of protectiveness towards her. In \"Back from Vacation\" and \"Diwali\", he comforts a tearful Pam, and in \"China\", he secretly allows Pam tosave facewhen she feels vulnerable about her job abilities. In \"The Job\", Dwight offers Pam the position of \"Secret Assistant to the Regional Manager\", and following Jim's advice concerning any offers from Dwight to be involved in something secret, she accepts. Though Jim presumably meant this as the opening move of a prank, Pam instead uses it as a bonding opportunity between her and Dwight. The two briefly become best friends while he suffers aconcussionin the season 2 episode \"The Injury\". In the season 6 episode \"The Delivery\", Dwight shows more signs of his begrudging friendship with Jim and Pam during Pam's pregnancy. In the episode, he is sent to the Halperts' house to retrieve Pam'siPod, while they are at the hospital. Instead of finding the iPod and bringing it back to her, Dwight completely rebuilds and repaints their kitchen, after discoveringmold. He also advises Pam on how to keep her daughter, Cece, from crying, during \"Viewing Party\", by relating his child rearing experiences. Dwight's odd friendship with Pam is explored again in \"Doomsday\". At this point, Pam is the only one in the office who is able to understand Dwight's inner feelings, as she successfully convinces him to deactivate his doomsday machine. It is implied at the end of the episode that Dwight, despite his outward contempt for his co-workers, feels a sense of responsibility (and possibly even affection) towards them. In a talking-head interview, in the episode \"Tallahassee\", Dwight talks about how first impressions last forever. He recalls that, when he first met Pam, she said something to him that \"slightly rubbed the wrong way\", and while he has since loved working with her, even stating that she is wonderful, due to that first impression, he hates her. In the episode \"The Whale\", Dwight openly tells Pam that he considers her his friend. In the final episode of the series, Dwight refers to Pam as his \"best friend\", and he ensures that she and Jim get a large severance as they leave Dunder Mifflin. Andy Bernard As a result of the Scranton-Stamford merger, Dwight loses his number two position to Jim and engages in an ongoing battle with new salesmanAndy Bernard, to gain Michael's favor for \"third-in-command\". The struggle comes to a climax in \"Traveling Salesmen\".In Season 4, Andy and Dwight are shown to work well together as a sales team, but Andy's successful pursuit of Angela, after she broke up with Dwight, was irritating to him. When Andy gets engaged to Angela, Dwight is greatly upset by this, and embarks on an affair with her. This affair culminates in a short-lived fight between Andy and Dwight, when they discover Angela has lied to both of them, about not having had sex with the other. However, by the end of the fifth season, Andy and Dwight become friends, and discover they both share a mutual interest in music and hunting. Ryan Howard In the beginning of the series, Dwight feels threatened byRyan Howard, to whom Michael often assigns personal tasks. He continues to resent Ryan, throughout the second season, often addressing him as \"Temp\",even after Ryan takes over Jim's position.In the beginning of season 2, Dwight's friendship with Michael was slightly torn during \"The Fire\", when Michael seems to be viewing Ryan more favorably than Dwight, and in \"Performance Review\", in which Michael must evaluate Ryan.In \"Initiation\", Dwight decides to assist Ryan, during his first sales call, although the two get off to a rough start when Dwighthazeshim in a series of bizarre initiation rituals. Soon afterwards, Dwight takes Ryan on his first meeting, which ends in disaster. Ryan then eggs the potential customer's building out of spite, and Dwight develops some respect for him. During season 4, Dwight, along with Michael, comes to Ryan's rescue when they visit him in New York City, when he gets into a scuffle. Ryan and Dwight later team up again in season 6, when Dwight plans to sabotage Jim's occupation, as branch co-manager. Romantic relationships A subtle running joke throughout the series is Dwight's surprising success with attractive women, with Michael often failing to \"hook up\" at the same time. Despite Dwight's unusual appearance and mannerisms, he manages to attract women, who usually develop stronger feelings for him than vice versa. Michael has even pointed out how socially weird Dwight is acting, only for the woman to brush it off. In « dinner party », he arrives with a date to Michael’s house, the date being his former babysitter. In \"Night Out\", Dwight hooks up with a femalebasketballplayer, while Michael fails in his attempts with other women. As Michael and Dwight leave the club, the woman calls out for Dwight to call her, which he says to Michael that he will not do. In \"Niagara\", Michael and Dwight compete for the attention of Pam's best friend, Isabel. When Dwight starts talking about his farm, Michael tries to explain that no one can connect with his experiences as farmer, only for Isabel to become interested in Dwight's horses. Dwight ultimately manages to have sex with her, and she begins to develop deeper feelings for him which he does not return, although it is finally hinted in \"The Delivery\" that Dwight might have more intimate feelings for her than he originally let on. They meet again at the bar in \"Happy Hour\", and bond further, kissing at the end of the episode. In season 9, he begins to date an attractive neighboring farmer named Esther (Nora Kirkpatrick). He ultimately ends his relationship with her in \"A.A.R.M.\". In the final episode, Dwight marriesAngela Martin. Character reception The Dwight Schrute character has had a very positive reception, and is often cited as one of the most popular characters on the show. According toEntertainment Weekly, he is one of the \"greatest sidekicks\".InTV Guide's list of the top 100 characters in television history, Dwight was ranked 85th. In anABC Newsinterview with Rainn Wilson, the interviewer commented that \"Words barely describe Dwight Schrute, the suck-up salesman and assistant to the regional manager of the Scranton branch for the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company...\"and \"Dwight, as played by the 41-year-old Wilson, has become one of the breakout characters in television comedy. Dwight is a survivalist geek, a student of karate who likes to shoot a crossbow and watch \"Battlestar Galactica\" on television. And he takes himself very, very seriously...\"E! Newscommented that Rainn Wilson should be nominated for anEmmy Awardfor his performance of Dwight, commenting: \"...Who's laughing now? Who's laughing now, Dwight Schrute? Oh, only the ten million-plus people who watched as you pepper sprayed the living daylights out of Roy for trying to pop Jim in the face last night. My God, have I missed you, man. Mr. Schrute, you are the reason I love my job, my friend. It is the selflessly heroic actions of a man such as you that make television a nice place to be on a Thursday night. You may just be an everyday citizen who does not accept prizes for being a citizen, but you'd best be accepting a supporting actor Emmy nod this year, because, hot damn if you don't deserve it.\" Another positive review of the character was given byPopMatters, an online entertainment news site. The review stated: \"One of the show's ironies is that Michael and Dwight, hapless though they might be within the office or in most social settings, are actually top salesmen\". Dwight approaches sales with the same militaristic fervor as everything else in his life, and it pays off for him (maybe that's one of the reasons why, when Jim gives Dwight one of Benito Mussolini's speeches to deliver when he accepts a sales award in Season Two, Dwight delivers it so enthusiastically that he gets a standing ovation)\".MetalcorebandThe Devil Wears Pradanamed a song \"Assistant to the Regional Manager,\" alluding to Dwight's position. In addition, the band created a T-shirt design that indirectly associates itself with Dwight by strongly resembling him. It is named \"Guy Wearing Tie.\" Outside ofThe Office Bobblehead doll In the episode \"Valentine's Day\", Dwight is given abobblehead dollas a Valentine's gift, from Angela. Following the episode, fans of the show petitioned NBC to make the bobblehead doll available for purchase on their online store.NBC responded by creating an initial run of 4,000 bobblehead dolls, which sold out almost immediately.The creator of the show,Greg Daniels, joked about the bobbleheads, saying \"Yes, they are fun, but they also serve a business purpose. People who want to manage by consensus can buy six and keep them nodding all the time to whatever they say.\"In 2010 Hallmark released a smaller talking version of the doll as part of their 2010 Christmas Keepsake Ornament selection. Résumé In \"Halloween\", Jim and Pam uploaded Dwight's resume to \"Monster.com,Craigslist, and Google.\"A producer actually did create a Monster account for Dwight and uploaded his résumé a month before the episode aired. It can be found by employers with resumedatabaseaccess who search for salesmen inScranton, Pennsylvania.The résumé stated that he was willing to relocate to another state,wanted a salary close to $30,000 (USD),desired the job title of \"Regional Manager\",was currently \"Assistant to the Regional Manager\",and had abachelor's degree.The posted résumé also stated: \"My time spent at Dunder Mifflin was very enjoying. I had the opportunity to learn from an experienced and talented boss. My branch consistently was one of the top sellers of the company...\" Schrute Farms In the episode titled \"Money\", Pam refers to aTripAdvisorpage for Dwight'sbed and breakfast. This can be found by searching for Schrute Farms.Jim and Pam discover that Dwight is running the Schrute Farm as an \"agritourism\" bed and breakfast. They spend the night there, taking part in table-making demonstrations, beet wine-making, and distributingmanure. That night, however, Jim hears an unnerving moaning sound throughout the night, later shown to be Dwight in his room crying over his breakup with Angela. The TripAdvisor page said: \"Schrute Farms is the number one beet-relatedagritourismdestination in Northeastern Pennsylvania. We offer the finest accommodations for the casual traveller and/or radish enthusiast. Come join us and experience majestic Schrute Farms.\" Jim and Pam (\"JandP2\") also posted a review, which can be seen on the reviews page. It read: \"The architecture reminds one of a quaint Tuscan beet farm, and the natural aroma of the beets drifts into the bedrooms and makes you dream of simpler times. You will never want to leave your room. The informative lecture will satisfy all your beet curiosity, and the dawn goose walk will tug at your heart strings. Table making never seemed so possible. Great story to tell your friends. Plenty of parking! The staff's attention to detail and devotion to cleanliness was limitless. From their enthusiastic welcome to the last wave good-bye, Schrute Farms delivers.\" An angry Angela also put a review up, and mentioned the death of her cat as a main cause for the review. It said: \"I have to warn people about the proprietor of Schrute Farms—he may portray himself as a gentleman farmer, but he is not what he seems! He killed my cat, Sprinkles! Who knows what he might do to you or your loved ones...\" According to Dwight, during theCivil War, while theBattle of Gettysburgwas known for having the most deaths, the battle of Schrute Farms was known for having the highest DPA (deaths per acre). He also claimed it was the northernmost battle during the Civil War. However, in reality, it was actually a safe haven for men who wanted relief from the war to focus on artistic lifestyles. It is insinuated that this was a camp for homosexual soldiers. Melvin Fifer Garris is the only known soldier to write home from Schrute Farms during the Civil War. In a deleted scene from the Season 3 DVD set, it is shown that Dwight won his farm in a game of Blackjack. Vice presidential bid joke On the May 7, 2008, episode ofThe Daily Show with Jon Stewart,US SenatorandRepublican Partypresidential nomineeJohn McCainjoked that Dwight Schrute would be his vice presidential candidate choice.Rainn Wilsonappeared onThe Tonight Showon May 14, 2008, and read toJay Lenoa list of demands from Dwight in exchange for being vice president.Included in this list was being able to pilotAir Force Oneat any time, and only to be addressed as \"Iceman\" while piloting.He also demanded thatJack Bauerbe immediately promoted toUnited States Secretary of Defense, hisbunkerto include afoosballtable and bezombie-proof, and that theSecret Servicemembers be armed withnunchakus,throwing stars, andflamethrowers.Finally, he demanded a flamethrower, anIron Mansuit, and thatMichael Scottbe an \"ambassador to Hawaii.\" In academic research Researchers atBrigham Young University,StanfordandNorthwestern Universitydemonstrated that social outsiders, similar to Dwight's character, lead to better group decision making. Media accounts of their published study reported that having a Dwight Schrute around is good for business. Dwight was included in articles about the research byTimemagazine,The Globe and Mail,TheSalt Lake TribuneandBrigham Young University. Possible spin-off series and departure fromThe Office On January 25, 2012, news broke that NBC was planning a spin-off series, starring Wilson as Dwight, that would be set at Schrute Farms, Dwight's bed-and-breakfast and beet farm.The spin-off was to have been created by Wilson and executive producerPaul Lieberstein, butOfficedeveloperGreg Danielswould not have been involved.The series was in the works for a premiere in early 2013, and would have caused Wilson to leaveThe Officeduring the ninth season.The spin-off was scheduled to have been introduced as abackdoor pilotin a later episode of the ninth season.Despite the news report, Wilsontweeted\"Don't believe everything you read in the press, OK?\"In October 2012, NBC announced that it was not accepting the spin-off series.The pilot episode was still aired during the ninth season ofThe Office, however, as episode 17, ‘The Farm’. References External links","Beetroot Thebeetroot(British English) orbeet(North American English) is thetaprootportion of aBeta vulgarissubsp.vulgarisplant in the ConditivaGroup.The plant is also known as thetable beet,garden beet,red beet,dinner beetorgolden beet. Beetroot can be eaten raw, roasted, or boiled. Beetroot can also be canned, either whole or cut up, and often are pickled, spiced, or served in a sweet-and-sour sauce. It is one of several cultivated varieties ofBeta vulgarisgrown for their edible taproots andleaves(calledbeet greens); they have beenclassifiedasB. vulgarissubsp.vulgarisConditivaGroup. Other cultivars of the same species include thesugar beet, the leaf vegetable known aschardor spinach beet, andmangelwurzel, which is afoddercrop. Threesubspeciesare typically recognized. Etymology Betais the ancient Latin name for beetroot,possibly ofCeltic origin, becomingbeteinOld English.Rootderives from the late Old Englishrōt, itself fromOld Norserót. History The domestication of beetroot can be traced to the emergence of anallelethat enablesbiennialharvesting of leaves and taproot.Beetroot was domesticated in the ancient Middle East, primarily for their greens, and were grown by the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. By the Roman era, it is thought that they were also cultivated for their roots. From theMiddle Ages, beetroot was used to treat various conditions, especially illnesses relating to digestion and the blood.Bartolomeo Platinarecommended taking beetroot withgarlicto nullify the effects of \"garlic-breath\". During the middle of the 17th century,wineoften was colored with beetroot juice. Food shortages in Europefollowing World War Icaused great hardships, including cases ofmangelwurzeldisease, as relief workers called it. It was symptomatic of eating only beetroot. Culinary use Usually, the deep purple roots of beetroot are eaten boiled, roasted, or raw, and either alone or combined with any salad vegetable. The green, leafy portion of the beetroot is also edible. The young leaves can be added raw to salads, while the mature leaves are most commonly served boiled or steamed, in which case they have a taste and texture similar tospinach. Beetroot can be roasted, boiled or steamed, peeled, and then eaten warm with or without butter; cooked, pickled, and then eaten cold as acondiment; or peeled, shredded raw, and then eaten as a salad. Pickled beetroot is a traditional food in many countries. Australia and New Zealand InAustraliaandNew Zealand, sliced pickled beetroot is a common ingredient in traditionalhamburgers. Eastern Europe InEastern Europe, beetroot soup, such asborscht and barszcz czerwony , is common. InPolandandUkraine, beetroot is combined withhorseradishto formćwikłaorбурячки(buryachky), which is traditionally used with cold cuts and sandwiches, but often also added to a meal consisting of meat and potatoes. Similarly, inSerbia, beetroot (referred to by the local namecvekla) is used as winter salad, seasoned with salt and vinegar, with meat dishes. As an addition to horseradish, it is also used to produce the \"red\" variety ofchrain, a condiment inAshkenazi Jewish,Hungarian,Polish,Lithuanian,Russian, andUkrainiancuisine. Cold beetroot soup called \"Šaltibarščiai\" is very popular in Lithuania. Traditionally it consists of kefir, boiled beetroot, cucumber, dill, spring onions and can be eaten with boiled eggs and potatoes. Botvinyais an old-time traditional Russiancold soupmade from leftover beet greens and chopped beetroots, typically with bread andkvassadded. Botvinya got its name from the Russianbotva, which means \"root vegetable greens\", referring to beet plant leaves. Svekolnik, orsvyokolnik, is yet another Russian beet-based soup, typically distinguished from borscht in that vegetables for svekolnik are cooked raw and not sauteed, while many types of borscht typically include sauteed carrots and other vegetables. Svekolnik got its name fromsvyokla, Russian word for \"beet.\" Sometimes, various types of cold borscht are also called \"svekolnik\". India InIndian cuisine, chopped, cooked, spiced beetroot is a common side dish. Yellow-colored beetroots are grown on a very small scale for home consumption. North America Besides standard fruit and vegetable dishes, certain varieties of beets are sometimes used as a garnish to atart. Northern Europe A common dish in Sweden and elsewhere in the Nordic countries isBiff à la Lindström, a variant of meatballs or burgers, with chopped or grated beetroot added to theminced meat. InNorthern Germany, beetroot is mashed withLabskausor added as its side order. Industrial production and other uses A large proportion of commercial production is processed into boiled and sterilized beetroot orpickles. Betanin, obtained from the roots, is used industrially as redfood colorantto enhance the color and flavor oftomato paste, sauces, desserts,jamsand jellies,ice cream, candy, andbreakfast cereals.When beetroot juice is used, it is most stable in foods with low water content, such as frozen novelties and fruit fillings. Beetroot can be used to make wine. Nutrition Raw beetroot is 88% water, 10%carbohydrates, 2%protein, and less than 1%fat(see table). In a100-gram (3+1⁄2-ounce) amount providing 180 kilojoules (43 kilocalories) offood energy, raw beetroot is a rich source (27% of theDaily Value( DV)) offolateand a moderate source (16% DV) ofmanganese, with other nutrients having insignificant content (table). Health effects A clinical trial review reported that consumption of beetroot juice modestly reduced systolicblood pressurebut not diastolic blood pressure. Pigment The red color compoundbetaninis not broken down in the body, and in higher concentrations, may temporarily cause urine or stools to assume a reddish color, in the case of urine a condition calledbeeturia. Although harmless, this effect may cause initial concern due to the visual similarity to what appears to beblood in the stool,hematochezia(blood passing through the anus, usually in or with stool) orhematuria(blood in the urine). Nitrosamineformation in beetroot juice can reliably be prevented by addingascorbic acid. Cultivars Below is a list of several commonly availablecultivarsof beetroot. Generally, 55 to 65 days are needed from germination to harvest of the root. All cultivars can be harvested earlier for use as greens. Unless otherwise noted, the root colors are shades of red and dark red, with different degrees of zoning noticeable in slices. Gallery References External links"],"string":"[\n \"The Office The Officeis the title of severalmockumentarysitcoms based on a British series originally created byRicky GervaisandStephen MerchantasThe Officein 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as the boss and main character. The two series were broadcast onBBC Twoin 2001 and 2002, totalling 12 episodes, with two special episodes concluding the series in 2003.Versions of the original were subsequently made in Germany, the United States, and many other countries. The longest-running version of the series, theAmerican adaptation, ran for nine seasons on theNBC Television Networkfrom 2005 to 2013, with a total of 201 episodes. According toNielsen Ratingsas of April 2019, the American version ofThe Officewas the No. 1 streamed show onNetflixin the United States.Afollow-up of the American versionwas announced in 2024 for release onPeacock;2024 also sawAmazon Prime Videodebut an Australian version ofThe Office, featuring the franchise's first female lead character. Versions In addition to those listed below, aRussian languageversion for Channel One Russia with an initial run of 24 episodes was announced in 2008, but never produced. December 17, 2004 Counterparts Roles are recorded as of each character's first appearance. Neil Godwin(Patrick Baladi) (Marcelo Maldonado) Selected major awards Notes References External links\",\n \"Dwight Schrute Dwight Kurt Schrute III(/ˈʃruːt/) is a character on the American television seriesThe Officeand is portrayed by American actorRainn Wilson. Dwight is a salesman and assistant toMichael Scott,at the fictional paper distribution companyDunder Mifflin, before his promotions in later seasons of the show. He also runs abed and breakfastat Schrute Farms, is a beet plantation owner, and in Season 7, becomes the owner of the business park in which Dunder Mifflin is located. Throughout the series, Dwight repeatedly attempts to become regional manager of the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin by serving dutifully under the regional manager characterMichael Scott. The character is based onGareth Keenanfromthe original British version of the show, who was played by actorMackenzie Crook. Notably, Dwight is the only character who has both appeared and had dialogue in every episode of the series. Actor Rainn Wilson received three nominations for thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Seriesfor his portrayal of the character. Casting Dwight Schrute is portrayed by American actorRainn Wilson. Other actors that auditioned for the part wereSeth Rogen,Matt Besser,Judah FriedlanderandPatton Oswalt. All original series characters from the UK version ofThe Officewere adapted for the US version of the show. Wilson watched every episode of the original British series, and was a fan before he auditioned for the U.S. version.Wilson had originally auditioned forMichael Scott, a performance he described as a \\\"terribleGervaisimpersonation\\\".However, the casting directors liked his audition as Dwight much better and hired him for the role. Wilson based Dwight's hairstyle on the style he himself had when at the age of sixteen.In an interview, he said that he went to abarberto get \\\"the worst haircut possible\\\". Character information When the series begins, Dwight Schrute is a competent salesman at theScrantonbranch of Dunder Mifflin. Dwight formally holds the title of \\\"Assistant to the Regional Manager\\\"but constantly refers to himself as \\\"Assistant Regional Manager\\\", attempting to elevate himself to second-in-command to branch manager Michael Scott. Dwight craves authority over his co-workers and relishes any minor task that Michael or anyone else will give him. Although Dwight acts superior to many individuals and is often good in crisis, he is shown to actually be quite gullible, ignorant, and naive.For this reason, he is easily tricked and pranked by his coworkerJim Halpert.Dwight often speaks in a halting, intense manner, even in casual conversations.At the office, his most recurring business wear is a mustard-colored, short-sleeved shirt with a dark necktie and a brown suit jacket. He often usesone-upmanshipto better himself over his peers, such as boasting about how he trains specific parts of his body. Dwight will sometimes engage in jokes and games in attempts to please Michael, but often fails to do so because of Michael's perception of himself as the jokester of the workplace. Dwight is a formervolunteer sheriff deputy,but had had to step down after breaking his pledge to help his boss, Michael, illegally pass adrug testby giving him his urine in the episode \\\"Drug Testing.\\\" He is also anotary public; this creates difficulties when Angela desires to send him a notarized letter regarding their break-up. He lives on his family'sbeetfarm alongside his cousin,Mose(played by producer/writerMichael Schur). Dwight has affinities forpaintball,ping pong,survivalism,Goju Ryukarateand weapons. Dwight also shows affinity for variousscience fictionandfantasyworks; notablyBattlestar Galactica,Star Wars,Lord of the RingsandHarry Potter. In an episode commentary on theseason 1DVD, Wilson refers to Dwight as a \\\"fascistnerd.\\\" In a feature on theseason 3DVD, Wilson describes Dwight as \\\"someone who does not hate the system but has a deep and abiding love for it\\\". Family and childhood In \\\"Lecture Circuit\\\", Dwight claims to remember his own birth, and his father, Dwight Schrute II, delivering him from thewomb, and his mother biting off herumbilical cord.In \\\"Grief Counseling\\\", Dwight states that he was born a twin, but he \\\"resorbed\\\" his twin while still in his mother's womb (this occurrence is calledtwin embolization syndrome), causing him to believe that he now has \\\"the strength of a grown man and a little baby\\\". He also claims to have been born weighing 13 lb 5 oz (6.0 kg), rendering his mother incapable of walking for three months and two days,and in \\\"Baby Shower\\\", he claims to have performed his owncircumcision. Little is known about Dwight's parents, except that his father used to take himhunting, cheated in games, made his siblings and him biscuits for breakfast every morning, and that he battledobesity, highblood pressure, and highcholesterol. Dwight lives in a nine-bedroom, one-bathroom farmhouse (with the single bathroom located under the porch), as revealed in \\\"Office Olympics\\\" on his family's 60-acre (24 ha)beetfarm with his cousin Mose. The cousins sell beets to local stores, restaurants, and roadside beet stands.Dwight uses part of his farm to growhemp.Dwight and Mose have also turned Schrute Farms into a ramshacklebed and breakfast. According to one of Dwight's web logs on NBC.com's \\\"Schrute-Space\\\", he had an uncle, named Gunther, a goat farmer, who fled the Allied invasion of Germany and married aFinnishwoman, with whom he had 17 children.He also had an Uncle Girt, who revealed that the Schrute family has an ongoing hatred ofHarry S. Truman, because they were staunch supporters ofThomas Dewey. In another blog, he mentions a cousin named Heindl, who has received numerous injuries and infections from an attack by a small dog. Interests Dwight is trained in the art ofsurveillanceand served as a volunteer 's deputy inLackawanna County.He has a black belt inGoju-Ryukarate, and is thesenpaiat his dojo.Dwight is apop cultureandsci-fienthusiast. In the episode \\\"The Fire\\\", he mentioned the movieThe Crowas being his favorite film. He hints at belief in fictional creatures such asandroids,zombiesandvampires.He enjoys playingtable tennis, and states that many of his heroes are table tennis players.His musical tastes vary, butheavy metalseems to be recurring. He plays guitar andrecorder, and sings.He is fascinated with cars; he usually checks a car's suspension, especiallymuscle cars. His technological talents are limited, but he shows a passion for the online role-playing gameSecond Life. He also shows an interest intrains. In \\\"Todd Packer\\\", it is revealed that Dwight does not know whoJustin Bieberis, asking Jim \\\"Who is Justice Beaver?\\\", leaving Jim to answer \\\"A crime-fightingbeaver.\\\" Dwight owns an impressive array of weaponry. In addition toLaser Tagandpaintballequipment, he has acrossbowrange at his farm (\\\"Office Olympics\\\") and, when he was named official Security Supervisor of the Scranton branch,hinted that he might bring abo staffto work. He maintained a hidden arsenal of weapons around the office, includingpepper spray,nunchucks,throwing stars, astun gun, aboomerang,handcuffs, anightstick, a pair ofbrass knucklesand aChinese sword, all of which were confiscated by Toby. Dwight is vocal about his views on justice, which is reflected in his television viewing habits, as he enjoys watching and has great admiration forJudge Judy, as well asVic MackeyonThe Shield. In \\\"The Negotiation\\\",Roy Andersonattacks Jim, because he kissed Roy'sfiancee, Pam, but Dwight intercepts the attack withpepper spray.Throughout the episode, Jim attempts to show his appreciation, but Dwight refuses to accept his gifts, simply stating \\\"Citizensdo not accept prizes for being citizens\\\".In \\\"Drug Testing\\\", Dwight finds half of ajointin the parking lot, which incites him to carry out a severe, and thorough, investigation.When he discovers that Michael might have been exposed to illegal drugs at aconcert, he substitutes his ownurineduring the mandatory drug test.Dwight then resigns from his volunteer position at the Sheriff's Department, because he feels that he is no longer worthy of working there. In \\\"Frame Toby\\\", Dwight states that he is skilled at framing people, as well as animals, revealing that he once framed araccoonfor opening a Christmas gift, and a bear for eating out of thegarbage, although he had made it obvious to the police that he wanted Toby to be imprisoned.In the episode \\\"Women's Appreciation\\\", he is quoted as saying \\\"Better a thousand innocent men are locked up than one guilty man roam free.\\\" In \\\"Conflict Resolution\\\", Dwight states that he does not like to smile, as showing one's teeth is a submission signal inprimates, and that whenever someone smiles at him, \\\"all sees is achimpanzeebegging for its life.\\\" Dwight owns many exotic pets includingpiranhas, frogs, anarctic wolf, araccoon, a porcupine named Henrietta, and anopossum, although the wolf escaped due to poor restraints and he flushed his piranhas down the toilet. He also has an interest in bears, and is ready to debate the habits and characteristics of different species of bears. He also has expressed a surprisingly large affection towards baby otters, as shown in the cold opening of \\\"Whistleblower\\\". In \\\"Costume Contest\\\", Dwight claims to be able to sit on a fence, and that he is even able to sleep on one, stating that \\\"The trick is to do it face down, with the post in your mouth\\\". It is revealed in the \\\"Suit Warehouse\\\" episode that as a child Dwight collected cat feces. Relationships In \\\"Drug Testing\\\", Dwight states that he likes his co-workers, \\\"with four exceptions\\\", leaving it up to the audience to make educated guesses about whom these four exceptions are. Angela Martin Towards the middle of season 2, Dwight develops a secret relationship with Angela Martin. Pam begins to suspect a relationship between the two, in \\\"E-mail Surveillance\\\", by observing their interactions, suspicions that are strengthened in \\\"The Injury\\\" and \\\"Conflict Resolution\\\", and confirmed by \\\"Traveling Salesmen\\\", during which Angela confides in Pam about her relationship, using code names.In \\\"Michael's Birthday\\\", Ryan discovers the relationship between the two when he overhears a coded conversation between them in the kitchen, while in \\\"The Negotiation\\\" Jim discovers the relationship while coming out of the office bathroom after quitting time, to find Dwight and Angela kissing (he then tells the documentary crew that, with his silence, the debt he feels to Dwight is repaid). In the episode \\\"Fun Run\\\", Angela asks Dwight to care for her sick cat, Sprinkles. Instead of caring for the feline, Dwight feels he should kill it as a waste of resources, and then tells Angela Sprinkles was dead when he arrived.When he lets the truth slip out shortly after, Angela terminates their relationship. Jim, on a visit to Dwight's beet farm, finds Dwight sitting alone at night, contemplating Angela'scherubfigurine and moaning in anguish. In thefourth seasonfinale \\\"Goodbye, Toby\\\", Dwight is obviously hurt when Angela's boyfriend, Andy, proposes to her. However, in the final scene of the episode, Phyllis catches Dwight having sex with Angela in the office. In thefifth seasonpremiere, \\\"Weight Loss\\\", Dwight and Angela have resumed a covert relationship, using a storage room in the warehouse to have sex. In \\\"Crime Aid\\\", Andy and Angela set a date for their wedding. After some advice from Phyllis, Dwight gives Angela an ultimatum: call off the engagement, or he will no longer be with her. She chooses to marry Andy. When Andy learns about Angela's affair with Dwight,a duelbetween Dwight and Andy takes place, but both realize that Angela has been lying to them and break up with her. For quite some time afterwards, Dwight and Angela avoid each other. In theseason 6episode \\\"The Delivery\\\", Dwight, witnessing Jim and Pam talk to customers about their unborn child, decides that he wants a child, and asks Angela to be the mother. They sign an elaborate contract, including eating guidelines for Angela to follow when she is pregnant, and how the baby will be raised. While Angela is excited by the reconciliation, Dwight doesn't share her romantic feelings. When Dwight develops an interest in Pam's friend Isabel, he tells Angela to forget about the contract; this infuriates Angela, and she sues him in small-claims court. When an arbitrator tells them that the contract is valid and would involve a $30,000 settlement (because it would be illegal to force Dwight and Angela to procreate), Dwight cuts a deal with Angela for five sessions of sex. He then proceeds to abuse his genitals in an effort to sterilize himself and fends off Angela's efforts to be romantic. Inseason 7, after Angela meets astate senatorwhom she finds much more personable than Dwight, she voids the pact in \\\"WUPHF.com\\\". In \\\"Jury Duty\\\", it is revealed that, a month before her wedding to the state senator,Robert Lipton, Dwight and Angela had sex, as Robert was not fulfilling Angela's sexual needs, so Dwight believes that he is the baby's biological father.In \\\"New Guys\\\", it is revealed that he is not the father. In season 9, they become close again first when Dwight finds out that Robert is cheating on Angela with Oscar, and later in \\\"Moving On\\\" when Angela helps him take care of his elderly aunt. They share a kiss, but afterwards both say that she should remain faithful to her husband. After inheriting his aunt's beet farm, Dwight starts a relationship with neighboring Brussels sprout farmer Esther Bruegger (Nora Kirkpatrick). When Dwight seems to be getting serious with Esther and the Senator has publicly dumped Angela, Angela breaks down and admits toOscar Martinezthat she still loves Dwight. On the day that he intends to ask Esther to marry him, Dwight instead proposes to Angela. She says yes, finally admitting that he is the father of her son Phillip (\\\"A.A.R.M.\\\"). Michael Scott Dwight holds a high level of respect for Michael, viewing him as a model for success, and often participating with Michael's ill-conceived schemes.However, he betrays Michael numerous times, such as when he goes over Michael's head to vie for the manager's job in \\\"The Coup\\\". Despite this, Michael frequently dismisses Dwight and often appears embarrassed by his antics; for much of the series, he also refuses to promote Dwight from \\\"Assistant to the Regional Manager\\\" to \\\"Assistant Regional Manager\\\". In later seasons, Dwight was shown to return the favor, such as Dwight telling Michael that he would have a better career if he'd taken a job at Home Depot. Several times throughout the series, however, it is revealed that Michael does care about Dwight's feelings, and the two sometimes share bonding moments. In \\\"Training Day\\\", Dwight is unhappy when the open branch manager position goes toDeangelo Vickers, and when he learns that Michael did not recommend him for the job, as he led him to believe, he snubs Michael and goes to a meeting Vickers has called, leaving Michael standing outside, by himself. In \\\"Goodbye, Michael\\\", Dwight is still frustrated with Michael, but his hostility turns into heartfelt appreciation as Michael hands him the recommendation letter. At first, the letter does not seem to impress him, but, as he reads through, he realizes that Michael really does respect him. They are later seen engaging in a friendly paintball fight, and Dwight's loyalty to Michael is once again restored. After Michael left, Dwight did not have the same respect for Deangelo and Andy that Dwight previously had for Michael, implying that Dwight truly respects and values Michael. In a deleted scene from \\\"Finale\\\", Dwight stated that Michael sent him his \\\"World's Best Boss\\\" mug when he became Regional Manager. In the episode \\\"Finale\\\", as Jim explains that the \\\"Bestest Mensch\\\" (best man) in Dwight's wedding must be older than him, Dwight is disappointed. The camera then pans over to reveal that Michael returned, much to Dwight's surprise and delight, and Jim has arranged for him to fill in as best man. Michael watches as his \\\"family\\\" is sitting together and is last seen dancing with Dwight. Jim Halpert Dwight is frequently the victim of practical jokes by co-workers Jim Halpert and Pam Beesly, including putting his desk supplies in the snack machine, putting his stapler into Jello, and moving his desk into the men's restroom, and replacing Dwight's desk with breakway giftwrap replica, although it appears that he remains oblivious to Pam's involvement; these pranks tend to exploit his stubborn and gullible nature. Dwight's frustration with Jim's pranks reaches a crisis point in \\\"Conflict Resolution\\\", when Dwight threatens to quit unless Jim is transferred.Dwight occasionally pulls successful pranks on Jim in turn, most prominently in \\\"Classy Christmas\\\" where he subjects Jim to a barrage of pranks revolving around snowballs. Professionally, Dwight wins the 2005 Salesman of the Year Award, although, this is likely due to, at least in part, his theft of Jim's largest client. During \\\"Initiation\\\", Dwight tells Ryan he regrets that he and Jim never got along. In \\\"Traveling Salesmen\\\", Dwight quits and hugs Jim as a farewell which surprises Jim as he does not know that Dwight quit. Later, Jim is irritated when Andy replaces Dwight and even says that he misses Dwight. Earlier in the same episode, Jim and Dwight make an incredibly efficient sales team, functioning well as a duo and thinking similarly in their tactics. The two were paired together when they began as traveling salesmen at the company. In \\\"Company Picnic\\\" the two embrace in celebration after Dwight sets Jim up to score the final point in volleyball. Dwight plans to demote Jim from the Assistant Regional Manager spot, and make him miserable, during \\\"The Job\\\". Dwight's relationship with Jim mellows somewhat in later seasons, and they, at times, cooperate effectively on sales calls or running the office in Michael's absence, sometimes even socializing together. Jim often supports Dwight when he is genuinely hurt or in danger (such as in \\\"Money\\\" and \\\"Last Day in Florida\\\") and occasionally compliments his successes (such as in \\\"Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting) Manager\\\"). In \\\"The Negotiation\\\", Dwight saves Jim fromRoy Andersonwho was attempting to punch Jim by pepper spraying Roy. However, continually refuses Jim's gestures of appreciation, stating that he only acted in the line of duty. However, when Jim is promoted to co-manager, Dwight's enmity returns to full force, and he conducts an ongoing campaign to depose Jim, who eventually resumes his old job as sales representative in \\\"Manager and Salesman\\\". In the final episode of the series, \\\"Finale\\\", Dwight asks Jim to be the best man at his wedding. Jim throws Dwight a commendable bachelor party rife with surprises (which Jim refers to as \\\"guten pranken\\\"). Before the wedding Jim informs Dwight that, under Schrute tradition, he is not allowed to be best man as he is younger than him. Jim surprises him with the arrival ofMichael Scott. The wedding proceeds in Schrute tradition with Michael as Dwight's new best man. Later in the episode Jim and Pam tell Dwight they are quitting so Jim can rejoin his sports marketing firm now based in Austin, but Dwight fires them instead so he can give them heftyseverance packages. Pam Beesly Although she is often involved in Jim's pranks on Dwight, Dwight has, at certain times, displayed a curious sense of protectiveness towards her. In \\\"Back from Vacation\\\" and \\\"Diwali\\\", he comforts a tearful Pam, and in \\\"China\\\", he secretly allows Pam tosave facewhen she feels vulnerable about her job abilities. In \\\"The Job\\\", Dwight offers Pam the position of \\\"Secret Assistant to the Regional Manager\\\", and following Jim's advice concerning any offers from Dwight to be involved in something secret, she accepts. Though Jim presumably meant this as the opening move of a prank, Pam instead uses it as a bonding opportunity between her and Dwight. The two briefly become best friends while he suffers aconcussionin the season 2 episode \\\"The Injury\\\". In the season 6 episode \\\"The Delivery\\\", Dwight shows more signs of his begrudging friendship with Jim and Pam during Pam's pregnancy. In the episode, he is sent to the Halperts' house to retrieve Pam'siPod, while they are at the hospital. Instead of finding the iPod and bringing it back to her, Dwight completely rebuilds and repaints their kitchen, after discoveringmold. He also advises Pam on how to keep her daughter, Cece, from crying, during \\\"Viewing Party\\\", by relating his child rearing experiences. Dwight's odd friendship with Pam is explored again in \\\"Doomsday\\\". At this point, Pam is the only one in the office who is able to understand Dwight's inner feelings, as she successfully convinces him to deactivate his doomsday machine. It is implied at the end of the episode that Dwight, despite his outward contempt for his co-workers, feels a sense of responsibility (and possibly even affection) towards them. In a talking-head interview, in the episode \\\"Tallahassee\\\", Dwight talks about how first impressions last forever. He recalls that, when he first met Pam, she said something to him that \\\"slightly rubbed the wrong way\\\", and while he has since loved working with her, even stating that she is wonderful, due to that first impression, he hates her. In the episode \\\"The Whale\\\", Dwight openly tells Pam that he considers her his friend. In the final episode of the series, Dwight refers to Pam as his \\\"best friend\\\", and he ensures that she and Jim get a large severance as they leave Dunder Mifflin. Andy Bernard As a result of the Scranton-Stamford merger, Dwight loses his number two position to Jim and engages in an ongoing battle with new salesmanAndy Bernard, to gain Michael's favor for \\\"third-in-command\\\". The struggle comes to a climax in \\\"Traveling Salesmen\\\".In Season 4, Andy and Dwight are shown to work well together as a sales team, but Andy's successful pursuit of Angela, after she broke up with Dwight, was irritating to him. When Andy gets engaged to Angela, Dwight is greatly upset by this, and embarks on an affair with her. This affair culminates in a short-lived fight between Andy and Dwight, when they discover Angela has lied to both of them, about not having had sex with the other. However, by the end of the fifth season, Andy and Dwight become friends, and discover they both share a mutual interest in music and hunting. Ryan Howard In the beginning of the series, Dwight feels threatened byRyan Howard, to whom Michael often assigns personal tasks. He continues to resent Ryan, throughout the second season, often addressing him as \\\"Temp\\\",even after Ryan takes over Jim's position.In the beginning of season 2, Dwight's friendship with Michael was slightly torn during \\\"The Fire\\\", when Michael seems to be viewing Ryan more favorably than Dwight, and in \\\"Performance Review\\\", in which Michael must evaluate Ryan.In \\\"Initiation\\\", Dwight decides to assist Ryan, during his first sales call, although the two get off to a rough start when Dwighthazeshim in a series of bizarre initiation rituals. Soon afterwards, Dwight takes Ryan on his first meeting, which ends in disaster. Ryan then eggs the potential customer's building out of spite, and Dwight develops some respect for him. During season 4, Dwight, along with Michael, comes to Ryan's rescue when they visit him in New York City, when he gets into a scuffle. Ryan and Dwight later team up again in season 6, when Dwight plans to sabotage Jim's occupation, as branch co-manager. Romantic relationships A subtle running joke throughout the series is Dwight's surprising success with attractive women, with Michael often failing to \\\"hook up\\\" at the same time. Despite Dwight's unusual appearance and mannerisms, he manages to attract women, who usually develop stronger feelings for him than vice versa. Michael has even pointed out how socially weird Dwight is acting, only for the woman to brush it off. In « dinner party », he arrives with a date to Michael’s house, the date being his former babysitter. In \\\"Night Out\\\", Dwight hooks up with a femalebasketballplayer, while Michael fails in his attempts with other women. As Michael and Dwight leave the club, the woman calls out for Dwight to call her, which he says to Michael that he will not do. In \\\"Niagara\\\", Michael and Dwight compete for the attention of Pam's best friend, Isabel. When Dwight starts talking about his farm, Michael tries to explain that no one can connect with his experiences as farmer, only for Isabel to become interested in Dwight's horses. Dwight ultimately manages to have sex with her, and she begins to develop deeper feelings for him which he does not return, although it is finally hinted in \\\"The Delivery\\\" that Dwight might have more intimate feelings for her than he originally let on. They meet again at the bar in \\\"Happy Hour\\\", and bond further, kissing at the end of the episode. In season 9, he begins to date an attractive neighboring farmer named Esther (Nora Kirkpatrick). He ultimately ends his relationship with her in \\\"A.A.R.M.\\\". In the final episode, Dwight marriesAngela Martin. Character reception The Dwight Schrute character has had a very positive reception, and is often cited as one of the most popular characters on the show. According toEntertainment Weekly, he is one of the \\\"greatest sidekicks\\\".InTV Guide's list of the top 100 characters in television history, Dwight was ranked 85th. In anABC Newsinterview with Rainn Wilson, the interviewer commented that \\\"Words barely describe Dwight Schrute, the suck-up salesman and assistant to the regional manager of the Scranton branch for the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company...\\\"and \\\"Dwight, as played by the 41-year-old Wilson, has become one of the breakout characters in television comedy. Dwight is a survivalist geek, a student of karate who likes to shoot a crossbow and watch \\\"Battlestar Galactica\\\" on television. And he takes himself very, very seriously...\\\"E! Newscommented that Rainn Wilson should be nominated for anEmmy Awardfor his performance of Dwight, commenting: \\\"...Who's laughing now? Who's laughing now, Dwight Schrute? Oh, only the ten million-plus people who watched as you pepper sprayed the living daylights out of Roy for trying to pop Jim in the face last night. My God, have I missed you, man. Mr. Schrute, you are the reason I love my job, my friend. It is the selflessly heroic actions of a man such as you that make television a nice place to be on a Thursday night. You may just be an everyday citizen who does not accept prizes for being a citizen, but you'd best be accepting a supporting actor Emmy nod this year, because, hot damn if you don't deserve it.\\\" Another positive review of the character was given byPopMatters, an online entertainment news site. The review stated: \\\"One of the show's ironies is that Michael and Dwight, hapless though they might be within the office or in most social settings, are actually top salesmen\\\". Dwight approaches sales with the same militaristic fervor as everything else in his life, and it pays off for him (maybe that's one of the reasons why, when Jim gives Dwight one of Benito Mussolini's speeches to deliver when he accepts a sales award in Season Two, Dwight delivers it so enthusiastically that he gets a standing ovation)\\\".MetalcorebandThe Devil Wears Pradanamed a song \\\"Assistant to the Regional Manager,\\\" alluding to Dwight's position. In addition, the band created a T-shirt design that indirectly associates itself with Dwight by strongly resembling him. It is named \\\"Guy Wearing Tie.\\\" Outside ofThe Office Bobblehead doll In the episode \\\"Valentine's Day\\\", Dwight is given abobblehead dollas a Valentine's gift, from Angela. Following the episode, fans of the show petitioned NBC to make the bobblehead doll available for purchase on their online store.NBC responded by creating an initial run of 4,000 bobblehead dolls, which sold out almost immediately.The creator of the show,Greg Daniels, joked about the bobbleheads, saying \\\"Yes, they are fun, but they also serve a business purpose. People who want to manage by consensus can buy six and keep them nodding all the time to whatever they say.\\\"In 2010 Hallmark released a smaller talking version of the doll as part of their 2010 Christmas Keepsake Ornament selection. Résumé In \\\"Halloween\\\", Jim and Pam uploaded Dwight's resume to \\\"Monster.com,Craigslist, and Google.\\\"A producer actually did create a Monster account for Dwight and uploaded his résumé a month before the episode aired. It can be found by employers with resumedatabaseaccess who search for salesmen inScranton, Pennsylvania.The résumé stated that he was willing to relocate to another state,wanted a salary close to $30,000 (USD),desired the job title of \\\"Regional Manager\\\",was currently \\\"Assistant to the Regional Manager\\\",and had abachelor's degree.The posted résumé also stated: \\\"My time spent at Dunder Mifflin was very enjoying. I had the opportunity to learn from an experienced and talented boss. My branch consistently was one of the top sellers of the company...\\\" Schrute Farms In the episode titled \\\"Money\\\", Pam refers to aTripAdvisorpage for Dwight'sbed and breakfast. This can be found by searching for Schrute Farms.Jim and Pam discover that Dwight is running the Schrute Farm as an \\\"agritourism\\\" bed and breakfast. They spend the night there, taking part in table-making demonstrations, beet wine-making, and distributingmanure. That night, however, Jim hears an unnerving moaning sound throughout the night, later shown to be Dwight in his room crying over his breakup with Angela. The TripAdvisor page said: \\\"Schrute Farms is the number one beet-relatedagritourismdestination in Northeastern Pennsylvania. We offer the finest accommodations for the casual traveller and/or radish enthusiast. Come join us and experience majestic Schrute Farms.\\\" Jim and Pam (\\\"JandP2\\\") also posted a review, which can be seen on the reviews page. It read: \\\"The architecture reminds one of a quaint Tuscan beet farm, and the natural aroma of the beets drifts into the bedrooms and makes you dream of simpler times. You will never want to leave your room. The informative lecture will satisfy all your beet curiosity, and the dawn goose walk will tug at your heart strings. Table making never seemed so possible. Great story to tell your friends. Plenty of parking! The staff's attention to detail and devotion to cleanliness was limitless. From their enthusiastic welcome to the last wave good-bye, Schrute Farms delivers.\\\" An angry Angela also put a review up, and mentioned the death of her cat as a main cause for the review. It said: \\\"I have to warn people about the proprietor of Schrute Farms—he may portray himself as a gentleman farmer, but he is not what he seems! He killed my cat, Sprinkles! Who knows what he might do to you or your loved ones...\\\" According to Dwight, during theCivil War, while theBattle of Gettysburgwas known for having the most deaths, the battle of Schrute Farms was known for having the highest DPA (deaths per acre). He also claimed it was the northernmost battle during the Civil War. However, in reality, it was actually a safe haven for men who wanted relief from the war to focus on artistic lifestyles. It is insinuated that this was a camp for homosexual soldiers. Melvin Fifer Garris is the only known soldier to write home from Schrute Farms during the Civil War. In a deleted scene from the Season 3 DVD set, it is shown that Dwight won his farm in a game of Blackjack. Vice presidential bid joke On the May 7, 2008, episode ofThe Daily Show with Jon Stewart,US SenatorandRepublican Partypresidential nomineeJohn McCainjoked that Dwight Schrute would be his vice presidential candidate choice.Rainn Wilsonappeared onThe Tonight Showon May 14, 2008, and read toJay Lenoa list of demands from Dwight in exchange for being vice president.Included in this list was being able to pilotAir Force Oneat any time, and only to be addressed as \\\"Iceman\\\" while piloting.He also demanded thatJack Bauerbe immediately promoted toUnited States Secretary of Defense, hisbunkerto include afoosballtable and bezombie-proof, and that theSecret Servicemembers be armed withnunchakus,throwing stars, andflamethrowers.Finally, he demanded a flamethrower, anIron Mansuit, and thatMichael Scottbe an \\\"ambassador to Hawaii.\\\" In academic research Researchers atBrigham Young University,StanfordandNorthwestern Universitydemonstrated that social outsiders, similar to Dwight's character, lead to better group decision making. Media accounts of their published study reported that having a Dwight Schrute around is good for business. Dwight was included in articles about the research byTimemagazine,The Globe and Mail,TheSalt Lake TribuneandBrigham Young University. Possible spin-off series and departure fromThe Office On January 25, 2012, news broke that NBC was planning a spin-off series, starring Wilson as Dwight, that would be set at Schrute Farms, Dwight's bed-and-breakfast and beet farm.The spin-off was to have been created by Wilson and executive producerPaul Lieberstein, butOfficedeveloperGreg Danielswould not have been involved.The series was in the works for a premiere in early 2013, and would have caused Wilson to leaveThe Officeduring the ninth season.The spin-off was scheduled to have been introduced as abackdoor pilotin a later episode of the ninth season.Despite the news report, Wilsontweeted\\\"Don't believe everything you read in the press, OK?\\\"In October 2012, NBC announced that it was not accepting the spin-off series.The pilot episode was still aired during the ninth season ofThe Office, however, as episode 17, ‘The Farm’. References External links\",\n \"Beetroot Thebeetroot(British English) orbeet(North American English) is thetaprootportion of aBeta vulgarissubsp.vulgarisplant in the ConditivaGroup.The plant is also known as thetable beet,garden beet,red beet,dinner beetorgolden beet. Beetroot can be eaten raw, roasted, or boiled. Beetroot can also be canned, either whole or cut up, and often are pickled, spiced, or served in a sweet-and-sour sauce. It is one of several cultivated varieties ofBeta vulgarisgrown for their edible taproots andleaves(calledbeet greens); they have beenclassifiedasB. vulgarissubsp.vulgarisConditivaGroup. Other cultivars of the same species include thesugar beet, the leaf vegetable known aschardor spinach beet, andmangelwurzel, which is afoddercrop. Threesubspeciesare typically recognized. Etymology Betais the ancient Latin name for beetroot,possibly ofCeltic origin, becomingbeteinOld English.Rootderives from the late Old Englishrōt, itself fromOld Norserót. History The domestication of beetroot can be traced to the emergence of anallelethat enablesbiennialharvesting of leaves and taproot.Beetroot was domesticated in the ancient Middle East, primarily for their greens, and were grown by the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. By the Roman era, it is thought that they were also cultivated for their roots. From theMiddle Ages, beetroot was used to treat various conditions, especially illnesses relating to digestion and the blood.Bartolomeo Platinarecommended taking beetroot withgarlicto nullify the effects of \\\"garlic-breath\\\". During the middle of the 17th century,wineoften was colored with beetroot juice. Food shortages in Europefollowing World War Icaused great hardships, including cases ofmangelwurzeldisease, as relief workers called it. It was symptomatic of eating only beetroot. Culinary use Usually, the deep purple roots of beetroot are eaten boiled, roasted, or raw, and either alone or combined with any salad vegetable. The green, leafy portion of the beetroot is also edible. The young leaves can be added raw to salads, while the mature leaves are most commonly served boiled or steamed, in which case they have a taste and texture similar tospinach. Beetroot can be roasted, boiled or steamed, peeled, and then eaten warm with or without butter; cooked, pickled, and then eaten cold as acondiment; or peeled, shredded raw, and then eaten as a salad. Pickled beetroot is a traditional food in many countries. Australia and New Zealand InAustraliaandNew Zealand, sliced pickled beetroot is a common ingredient in traditionalhamburgers. Eastern Europe InEastern Europe, beetroot soup, such asborscht and barszcz czerwony , is common. InPolandandUkraine, beetroot is combined withhorseradishto formćwikłaorбурячки(buryachky), which is traditionally used with cold cuts and sandwiches, but often also added to a meal consisting of meat and potatoes. Similarly, inSerbia, beetroot (referred to by the local namecvekla) is used as winter salad, seasoned with salt and vinegar, with meat dishes. As an addition to horseradish, it is also used to produce the \\\"red\\\" variety ofchrain, a condiment inAshkenazi Jewish,Hungarian,Polish,Lithuanian,Russian, andUkrainiancuisine. Cold beetroot soup called \\\"Šaltibarščiai\\\" is very popular in Lithuania. Traditionally it consists of kefir, boiled beetroot, cucumber, dill, spring onions and can be eaten with boiled eggs and potatoes. Botvinyais an old-time traditional Russiancold soupmade from leftover beet greens and chopped beetroots, typically with bread andkvassadded. Botvinya got its name from the Russianbotva, which means \\\"root vegetable greens\\\", referring to beet plant leaves. Svekolnik, orsvyokolnik, is yet another Russian beet-based soup, typically distinguished from borscht in that vegetables for svekolnik are cooked raw and not sauteed, while many types of borscht typically include sauteed carrots and other vegetables. Svekolnik got its name fromsvyokla, Russian word for \\\"beet.\\\" Sometimes, various types of cold borscht are also called \\\"svekolnik\\\". India InIndian cuisine, chopped, cooked, spiced beetroot is a common side dish. Yellow-colored beetroots are grown on a very small scale for home consumption. North America Besides standard fruit and vegetable dishes, certain varieties of beets are sometimes used as a garnish to atart. Northern Europe A common dish in Sweden and elsewhere in the Nordic countries isBiff à la Lindström, a variant of meatballs or burgers, with chopped or grated beetroot added to theminced meat. InNorthern Germany, beetroot is mashed withLabskausor added as its side order. Industrial production and other uses A large proportion of commercial production is processed into boiled and sterilized beetroot orpickles. Betanin, obtained from the roots, is used industrially as redfood colorantto enhance the color and flavor oftomato paste, sauces, desserts,jamsand jellies,ice cream, candy, andbreakfast cereals.When beetroot juice is used, it is most stable in foods with low water content, such as frozen novelties and fruit fillings. Beetroot can be used to make wine. Nutrition Raw beetroot is 88% water, 10%carbohydrates, 2%protein, and less than 1%fat(see table). In a100-gram (3+1⁄2-ounce) amount providing 180 kilojoules (43 kilocalories) offood energy, raw beetroot is a rich source (27% of theDaily Value( DV)) offolateand a moderate source (16% DV) ofmanganese, with other nutrients having insignificant content (table). Health effects A clinical trial review reported that consumption of beetroot juice modestly reduced systolicblood pressurebut not diastolic blood pressure. Pigment The red color compoundbetaninis not broken down in the body, and in higher concentrations, may temporarily cause urine or stools to assume a reddish color, in the case of urine a condition calledbeeturia. Although harmless, this effect may cause initial concern due to the visual similarity to what appears to beblood in the stool,hematochezia(blood passing through the anus, usually in or with stool) orhematuria(blood in the urine). Nitrosamineformation in beetroot juice can reliably be prevented by addingascorbic acid. Cultivars Below is a list of several commonly availablecultivarsof beetroot. Generally, 55 to 65 days are needed from germination to harvest of the root. All cultivars can be harvested earlier for use as greens. Unless otherwise noted, the root colors are shades of red and dark red, with different degrees of zoning noticeable in slices. Gallery References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["The Office The Officeis the title of severalmockumentarysitcoms based on a British series originally created byRicky GervaisandStephen MerchantasThe Officein 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as the boss and main character. The two series were broadcast onBBC Twoin 2001 and 2002, totalling 12 episodes, with two special episodes concluding the series in 2003.Versions of the original were subsequently made in Germany, the United States, and many other countries. The longest-running version of the series, theAmerican adaptation, ran for nine seasons on theNBC Television Networkfrom 2005 to 2013, with a total of 201 episodes. According toNielsen Ratingsas of April 2019, the American version ofThe Officewas the No. 1 streamed show onNetflixin the United States.Afollow-up of the American versionwas announced in 2024 for release onPeacock;2024 also sawAmazon Prime Videodebut an Australian version ofThe Office, featuring the franchise's first female lead character. Versions In addition to those listed","to those listed below, aRussian languageversion for Channel One Russia with an initial run of 24 episodes was announced in 2008, but never produced. December 17, 2004 Counterparts Roles are recorded as of each character's first appearance. Neil Godwin(Patrick Baladi) (Marcelo Maldonado) Selected major awards Notes References External links","Dwight Schrute Dwight Kurt Schrute III(/ˈʃruːt/) is a character on the American television seriesThe Officeand is portrayed by American actorRainn Wilson. Dwight is a salesman and assistant toMichael Scott,at the fictional paper distribution companyDunder Mifflin, before his promotions in later seasons of the show. He also runs abed and breakfastat Schrute Farms, is a beet plantation owner, and in Season 7, becomes the owner of the business park in which Dunder Mifflin is located. Throughout the series, Dwight repeatedly attempts to become regional manager of the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin by serving dutifully under the regional manager characterMichael Scott. The character is based onGareth Keenanfromthe original British version of the show, who was played by actorMackenzie Crook. Notably, Dwight is the only character who has both appeared and had dialogue in every episode of the series. Actor Rainn Wilson received three nominations for thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a","Actor in a Comedy Seriesfor his portrayal of the character. Casting Dwight Schrute is portrayed by American actorRainn Wilson. Other actors that auditioned for the part wereSeth Rogen,Matt Besser,Judah FriedlanderandPatton Oswalt. All original series characters from the UK version ofThe Officewere adapted for the US version of the show. Wilson watched every episode of the original British series, and was a fan before he auditioned for the U.S. version.Wilson had originally auditioned forMichael Scott, a performance he described as a \"terribleGervaisimpersonation\".However, the casting directors liked his audition as Dwight much better and hired him for the role. Wilson based Dwight's hairstyle on the style he himself had when at the age of sixteen.In an interview, he said that he went to abarberto get \"the worst haircut possible\". Character information When the series begins, Dwight Schrute is a competent salesman at theScrantonbranch of Dunder Mifflin. Dwight formally holds the title of \"Assistant to the","\"Assistant to the Regional Manager\"but constantly refers to himself as \"Assistant Regional Manager\", attempting to elevate himself to second-in-command to branch manager Michael Scott. Dwight craves authority over his co-workers and relishes any minor task that Michael or anyone else will give him. Although Dwight acts superior to many individuals and is often good in crisis, he is shown to actually be quite gullible, ignorant, and naive.For this reason, he is easily tricked and pranked by his coworkerJim Halpert.Dwight often speaks in a halting, intense manner, even in casual conversations.At the office, his most recurring business wear is a mustard-colored, short-sleeved shirt with a dark necktie and a brown suit jacket. He often usesone-upmanshipto better himself over his peers, such as boasting about how he trains specific parts of his body. Dwight will sometimes engage in jokes and games in attempts to please Michael, but often fails to do so because of Michael's perception of himself as the jokester of","as the jokester of the workplace. Dwight is a formervolunteer sheriff deputy,but had had to step down after breaking his pledge to help his boss, Michael, illegally pass adrug testby giving him his urine in the episode \"Drug Testing.\" He is also anotary public; this creates difficulties when Angela desires to send him a notarized letter regarding their break-up. He lives on his family'sbeetfarm alongside his cousin,Mose(played by producer/writerMichael Schur). Dwight has affinities forpaintball,ping pong,survivalism,Goju Ryukarateand weapons. Dwight also shows affinity for variousscience fictionandfantasyworks; notablyBattlestar Galactica,Star Wars,Lord of the RingsandHarry Potter. In an episode commentary on theseason 1DVD, Wilson refers to Dwight as a \"fascistnerd.\" In a feature on theseason 3DVD, Wilson describes Dwight as \"someone who does not hate the system but has a deep and abiding love for it\". Family and childhood In \"Lecture Circuit\", Dwight claims to remember his own birth, and his father, Dwight","his father, Dwight Schrute II, delivering him from thewomb, and his mother biting off herumbilical cord.In \"Grief Counseling\", Dwight states that he was born a twin, but he \"resorbed\" his twin while still in his mother's womb (this occurrence is calledtwin embolization syndrome), causing him to believe that he now has \"the strength of a grown man and a little baby\". He also claims to have been born weighing 13 lb 5 oz (6.0 kg), rendering his mother incapable of walking for three months and two days,and in \"Baby Shower\", he claims to have performed his owncircumcision. Little is known about Dwight's parents, except that his father used to take himhunting, cheated in games, made his siblings and him biscuits for breakfast every morning, and that he battledobesity, highblood pressure, and highcholesterol. Dwight lives in a nine-bedroom, one-bathroom farmhouse (with the single bathroom located under the porch), as revealed in \"Office Olympics\" on his family's 60-acre (24 ha)beetfarm with his cousin Mose. The","cousin Mose. The cousins sell beets to local stores, restaurants, and roadside beet stands.Dwight uses part of his farm to growhemp.Dwight and Mose have also turned Schrute Farms into a ramshacklebed and breakfast. According to one of Dwight's web logs on NBC.com's \"Schrute-Space\", he had an uncle, named Gunther, a goat farmer, who fled the Allied invasion of Germany and married aFinnishwoman, with whom he had 17 children.He also had an Uncle Girt, who revealed that the Schrute family has an ongoing hatred ofHarry S. Truman, because they were staunch supporters ofThomas Dewey. In another blog, he mentions a cousin named Heindl, who has received numerous injuries and infections from an attack by a small dog. Interests Dwight is trained in the art ofsurveillanceand served as a volunteer 's deputy inLackawanna County.He has a black belt inGoju-Ryukarate, and is thesenpaiat his dojo.Dwight is apop cultureandsci-fienthusiast. In the episode \"The Fire\", he mentioned the movieThe Crowas being his favorite film. He","favorite film. He hints at belief in fictional creatures such asandroids,zombiesandvampires.He enjoys playingtable tennis, and states that many of his heroes are table tennis players.His musical tastes vary, butheavy metalseems to be recurring. He plays guitar andrecorder, and sings.He is fascinated with cars; he usually checks a car's suspension, especiallymuscle cars. His technological talents are limited, but he shows a passion for the online role-playing gameSecond Life. He also shows an interest intrains. In \"Todd Packer\", it is revealed that Dwight does not know whoJustin Bieberis, asking Jim \"Who is Justice Beaver?\", leaving Jim to answer \"A crime-fightingbeaver.\" Dwight owns an impressive array of weaponry. In addition toLaser Tagandpaintballequipment, he has acrossbowrange at his farm (\"Office Olympics\") and, when he was named official Security Supervisor of the Scranton branch,hinted that he might bring abo staffto work. He maintained a hidden arsenal of weapons around the office, includingpepper","includingpepper spray,nunchucks,throwing stars, astun gun, aboomerang,handcuffs, anightstick, a pair ofbrass knucklesand aChinese sword, all of which were confiscated by Toby. Dwight is vocal about his views on justice, which is reflected in his television viewing habits, as he enjoys watching and has great admiration forJudge Judy, as well asVic MackeyonThe Shield. In \"The Negotiation\",Roy Andersonattacks Jim, because he kissed Roy'sfiancee, Pam, but Dwight intercepts the attack withpepper spray.Throughout the episode, Jim attempts to show his appreciation, but Dwight refuses to accept his gifts, simply stating \"Citizensdo not accept prizes for being citizens\".In \"Drug Testing\", Dwight finds half of ajointin the parking lot, which incites him to carry out a severe, and thorough, investigation.When he discovers that Michael might have been exposed to illegal drugs at aconcert, he substitutes his ownurineduring the mandatory drug test.Dwight then resigns from his volunteer position at the Sheriff's","at the Sheriff's Department, because he feels that he is no longer worthy of working there. In \"Frame Toby\", Dwight states that he is skilled at framing people, as well as animals, revealing that he once framed araccoonfor opening a Christmas gift, and a bear for eating out of thegarbage, although he had made it obvious to the police that he wanted Toby to be imprisoned.In the episode \"Women's Appreciation\", he is quoted as saying \"Better a thousand innocent men are locked up than one guilty man roam free.\" In \"Conflict Resolution\", Dwight states that he does not like to smile, as showing one's teeth is a submission signal inprimates, and that whenever someone smiles at him, \"all sees is achimpanzeebegging for its life.\" Dwight owns many exotic pets includingpiranhas, frogs, anarctic wolf, araccoon, a porcupine named Henrietta, and anopossum, although the wolf escaped due to poor restraints and he flushed his piranhas down the toilet. He also has an interest in bears, and is ready to debate the habits and","the habits and characteristics of different species of bears. He also has expressed a surprisingly large affection towards baby otters, as shown in the cold opening of \"Whistleblower\". In \"Costume Contest\", Dwight claims to be able to sit on a fence, and that he is even able to sleep on one, stating that \"The trick is to do it face down, with the post in your mouth\". It is revealed in the \"Suit Warehouse\" episode that as a child Dwight collected cat feces. Relationships In \"Drug Testing\", Dwight states that he likes his co-workers, \"with four exceptions\", leaving it up to the audience to make educated guesses about whom these four exceptions are. Angela Martin Towards the middle of season 2, Dwight develops a secret relationship with Angela Martin. Pam begins to suspect a relationship between the two, in \"E-mail Surveillance\", by observing their interactions, suspicions that are strengthened in \"The Injury\" and \"Conflict Resolution\", and confirmed by \"Traveling Salesmen\", during which Angela confides in Pam","confides in Pam about her relationship, using code names.In \"Michael's Birthday\", Ryan discovers the relationship between the two when he overhears a coded conversation between them in the kitchen, while in \"The Negotiation\" Jim discovers the relationship while coming out of the office bathroom after quitting time, to find Dwight and Angela kissing (he then tells the documentary crew that, with his silence, the debt he feels to Dwight is repaid). In the episode \"Fun Run\", Angela asks Dwight to care for her sick cat, Sprinkles. Instead of caring for the feline, Dwight feels he should kill it as a waste of resources, and then tells Angela Sprinkles was dead when he arrived.When he lets the truth slip out shortly after, Angela terminates their relationship. Jim, on a visit to Dwight's beet farm, finds Dwight sitting alone at night, contemplating Angela'scherubfigurine and moaning in anguish. In thefourth seasonfinale \"Goodbye, Toby\", Dwight is obviously hurt when Angela's boyfriend, Andy, proposes to her.","proposes to her. However, in the final scene of the episode, Phyllis catches Dwight having sex with Angela in the office. In thefifth seasonpremiere, \"Weight Loss\", Dwight and Angela have resumed a covert relationship, using a storage room in the warehouse to have sex. In \"Crime Aid\", Andy and Angela set a date for their wedding. After some advice from Phyllis, Dwight gives Angela an ultimatum: call off the engagement, or he will no longer be with her. She chooses to marry Andy. When Andy learns about Angela's affair with Dwight,a duelbetween Dwight and Andy takes place, but both realize that Angela has been lying to them and break up with her. For quite some time afterwards, Dwight and Angela avoid each other. In theseason 6episode \"The Delivery\", Dwight, witnessing Jim and Pam talk to customers about their unborn child, decides that he wants a child, and asks Angela to be the mother. They sign an elaborate contract, including eating guidelines for Angela to follow when she is pregnant, and how the baby","and how the baby will be raised. While Angela is excited by the reconciliation, Dwight doesn't share her romantic feelings. When Dwight develops an interest in Pam's friend Isabel, he tells Angela to forget about the contract; this infuriates Angela, and she sues him in small-claims court. When an arbitrator tells them that the contract is valid and would involve a $30,000 settlement (because it would be illegal to force Dwight and Angela to procreate), Dwight cuts a deal with Angela for five sessions of sex. He then proceeds to abuse his genitals in an effort to sterilize himself and fends off Angela's efforts to be romantic. Inseason 7, after Angela meets astate senatorwhom she finds much more personable than Dwight, she voids the pact in \"WUPHF.com\". In \"Jury Duty\", it is revealed that, a month before her wedding to the state senator,Robert Lipton, Dwight and Angela had sex, as Robert was not fulfilling Angela's sexual needs, so Dwight believes that he is the baby's biological father.In \"New Guys\", it is","\"New Guys\", it is revealed that he is not the father. In season 9, they become close again first when Dwight finds out that Robert is cheating on Angela with Oscar, and later in \"Moving On\" when Angela helps him take care of his elderly aunt. They share a kiss, but afterwards both say that she should remain faithful to her husband. After inheriting his aunt's beet farm, Dwight starts a relationship with neighboring Brussels sprout farmer Esther Bruegger (Nora Kirkpatrick). When Dwight seems to be getting serious with Esther and the Senator has publicly dumped Angela, Angela breaks down and admits toOscar Martinezthat she still loves Dwight. On the day that he intends to ask Esther to marry him, Dwight instead proposes to Angela. She says yes, finally admitting that he is the father of her son Phillip (\"A.A.R.M.\"). Michael Scott Dwight holds a high level of respect for Michael, viewing him as a model for success, and often participating with Michael's ill-conceived schemes.However, he betrays Michael numerous","Michael numerous times, such as when he goes over Michael's head to vie for the manager's job in \"The Coup\". Despite this, Michael frequently dismisses Dwight and often appears embarrassed by his antics; for much of the series, he also refuses to promote Dwight from \"Assistant to the Regional Manager\" to \"Assistant Regional Manager\". In later seasons, Dwight was shown to return the favor, such as Dwight telling Michael that he would have a better career if he'd taken a job at Home Depot. Several times throughout the series, however, it is revealed that Michael does care about Dwight's feelings, and the two sometimes share bonding moments. In \"Training Day\", Dwight is unhappy when the open branch manager position goes toDeangelo Vickers, and when he learns that Michael did not recommend him for the job, as he led him to believe, he snubs Michael and goes to a meeting Vickers has called, leaving Michael standing outside, by himself. In \"Goodbye, Michael\", Dwight is still frustrated with Michael, but his","Michael, but his hostility turns into heartfelt appreciation as Michael hands him the recommendation letter. At first, the letter does not seem to impress him, but, as he reads through, he realizes that Michael really does respect him. They are later seen engaging in a friendly paintball fight, and Dwight's loyalty to Michael is once again restored. After Michael left, Dwight did not have the same respect for Deangelo and Andy that Dwight previously had for Michael, implying that Dwight truly respects and values Michael. In a deleted scene from \"Finale\", Dwight stated that Michael sent him his \"World's Best Boss\" mug when he became Regional Manager. In the episode \"Finale\", as Jim explains that the \"Bestest Mensch\" (best man) in Dwight's wedding must be older than him, Dwight is disappointed. The camera then pans over to reveal that Michael returned, much to Dwight's surprise and delight, and Jim has arranged for him to fill in as best man. Michael watches as his \"family\" is sitting together and is last","and is last seen dancing with Dwight. Jim Halpert Dwight is frequently the victim of practical jokes by co-workers Jim Halpert and Pam Beesly, including putting his desk supplies in the snack machine, putting his stapler into Jello, and moving his desk into the men's restroom, and replacing Dwight's desk with breakway giftwrap replica, although it appears that he remains oblivious to Pam's involvement; these pranks tend to exploit his stubborn and gullible nature. Dwight's frustration with Jim's pranks reaches a crisis point in \"Conflict Resolution\", when Dwight threatens to quit unless Jim is transferred.Dwight occasionally pulls successful pranks on Jim in turn, most prominently in \"Classy Christmas\" where he subjects Jim to a barrage of pranks revolving around snowballs. Professionally, Dwight wins the 2005 Salesman of the Year Award, although, this is likely due to, at least in part, his theft of Jim's largest client. During \"Initiation\", Dwight tells Ryan he regrets that he and Jim never got along. In","never got along. In \"Traveling Salesmen\", Dwight quits and hugs Jim as a farewell which surprises Jim as he does not know that Dwight quit. Later, Jim is irritated when Andy replaces Dwight and even says that he misses Dwight. Earlier in the same episode, Jim and Dwight make an incredibly efficient sales team, functioning well as a duo and thinking similarly in their tactics. The two were paired together when they began as traveling salesmen at the company. In \"Company Picnic\" the two embrace in celebration after Dwight sets Jim up to score the final point in volleyball. Dwight plans to demote Jim from the Assistant Regional Manager spot, and make him miserable, during \"The Job\". Dwight's relationship with Jim mellows somewhat in later seasons, and they, at times, cooperate effectively on sales calls or running the office in Michael's absence, sometimes even socializing together. Jim often supports Dwight when he is genuinely hurt or in danger (such as in \"Money\" and \"Last Day in Florida\") and occasionally","and occasionally compliments his successes (such as in \"Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting) Manager\"). In \"The Negotiation\", Dwight saves Jim fromRoy Andersonwho was attempting to punch Jim by pepper spraying Roy. However, continually refuses Jim's gestures of appreciation, stating that he only acted in the line of duty. However, when Jim is promoted to co-manager, Dwight's enmity returns to full force, and he conducts an ongoing campaign to depose Jim, who eventually resumes his old job as sales representative in \"Manager and Salesman\". In the final episode of the series, \"Finale\", Dwight asks Jim to be the best man at his wedding. Jim throws Dwight a commendable bachelor party rife with surprises (which Jim refers to as \"guten pranken\"). Before the wedding Jim informs Dwight that, under Schrute tradition, he is not allowed to be best man as he is younger than him. Jim surprises him with the arrival ofMichael Scott. The wedding proceeds in Schrute tradition with Michael as Dwight's new best man. Later in the","man. Later in the episode Jim and Pam tell Dwight they are quitting so Jim can rejoin his sports marketing firm now based in Austin, but Dwight fires them instead so he can give them heftyseverance packages. Pam Beesly Although she is often involved in Jim's pranks on Dwight, Dwight has, at certain times, displayed a curious sense of protectiveness towards her. In \"Back from Vacation\" and \"Diwali\", he comforts a tearful Pam, and in \"China\", he secretly allows Pam tosave facewhen she feels vulnerable about her job abilities. In \"The Job\", Dwight offers Pam the position of \"Secret Assistant to the Regional Manager\", and following Jim's advice concerning any offers from Dwight to be involved in something secret, she accepts. Though Jim presumably meant this as the opening move of a prank, Pam instead uses it as a bonding opportunity between her and Dwight. The two briefly become best friends while he suffers aconcussionin the season 2 episode \"The Injury\". In the season 6 episode \"The Delivery\", Dwight shows","Dwight shows more signs of his begrudging friendship with Jim and Pam during Pam's pregnancy. In the episode, he is sent to the Halperts' house to retrieve Pam'siPod, while they are at the hospital. Instead of finding the iPod and bringing it back to her, Dwight completely rebuilds and repaints their kitchen, after discoveringmold. He also advises Pam on how to keep her daughter, Cece, from crying, during \"Viewing Party\", by relating his child rearing experiences. Dwight's odd friendship with Pam is explored again in \"Doomsday\". At this point, Pam is the only one in the office who is able to understand Dwight's inner feelings, as she successfully convinces him to deactivate his doomsday machine. It is implied at the end of the episode that Dwight, despite his outward contempt for his co-workers, feels a sense of responsibility (and possibly even affection) towards them. In a talking-head interview, in the episode \"Tallahassee\", Dwight talks about how first impressions last forever. He recalls that, when he","that, when he first met Pam, she said something to him that \"slightly rubbed the wrong way\", and while he has since loved working with her, even stating that she is wonderful, due to that first impression, he hates her. In the episode \"The Whale\", Dwight openly tells Pam that he considers her his friend. In the final episode of the series, Dwight refers to Pam as his \"best friend\", and he ensures that she and Jim get a large severance as they leave Dunder Mifflin. Andy Bernard As a result of the Scranton-Stamford merger, Dwight loses his number two position to Jim and engages in an ongoing battle with new salesmanAndy Bernard, to gain Michael's favor for \"third-in-command\". The struggle comes to a climax in \"Traveling Salesmen\".In Season 4, Andy and Dwight are shown to work well together as a sales team, but Andy's successful pursuit of Angela, after she broke up with Dwight, was irritating to him. When Andy gets engaged to Angela, Dwight is greatly upset by this, and embarks on an affair with her. This","with her. This affair culminates in a short-lived fight between Andy and Dwight, when they discover Angela has lied to both of them, about not having had sex with the other. However, by the end of the fifth season, Andy and Dwight become friends, and discover they both share a mutual interest in music and hunting. Ryan Howard In the beginning of the series, Dwight feels threatened byRyan Howard, to whom Michael often assigns personal tasks. He continues to resent Ryan, throughout the second season, often addressing him as \"Temp\",even after Ryan takes over Jim's position.In the beginning of season 2, Dwight's friendship with Michael was slightly torn during \"The Fire\", when Michael seems to be viewing Ryan more favorably than Dwight, and in \"Performance Review\", in which Michael must evaluate Ryan.In \"Initiation\", Dwight decides to assist Ryan, during his first sales call, although the two get off to a rough start when Dwighthazeshim in a series of bizarre initiation rituals. Soon afterwards, Dwight takes","Dwight takes Ryan on his first meeting, which ends in disaster. Ryan then eggs the potential customer's building out of spite, and Dwight develops some respect for him. During season 4, Dwight, along with Michael, comes to Ryan's rescue when they visit him in New York City, when he gets into a scuffle. Ryan and Dwight later team up again in season 6, when Dwight plans to sabotage Jim's occupation, as branch co-manager. Romantic relationships A subtle running joke throughout the series is Dwight's surprising success with attractive women, with Michael often failing to \"hook up\" at the same time. Despite Dwight's unusual appearance and mannerisms, he manages to attract women, who usually develop stronger feelings for him than vice versa. Michael has even pointed out how socially weird Dwight is acting, only for the woman to brush it off. In « dinner party », he arrives with a date to Michael’s house, the date being his former babysitter. In \"Night Out\", Dwight hooks up with a femalebasketballplayer, while","while Michael fails in his attempts with other women. As Michael and Dwight leave the club, the woman calls out for Dwight to call her, which he says to Michael that he will not do. In \"Niagara\", Michael and Dwight compete for the attention of Pam's best friend, Isabel. When Dwight starts talking about his farm, Michael tries to explain that no one can connect with his experiences as farmer, only for Isabel to become interested in Dwight's horses. Dwight ultimately manages to have sex with her, and she begins to develop deeper feelings for him which he does not return, although it is finally hinted in \"The Delivery\" that Dwight might have more intimate feelings for her than he originally let on. They meet again at the bar in \"Happy Hour\", and bond further, kissing at the end of the episode. In season 9, he begins to date an attractive neighboring farmer named Esther (Nora Kirkpatrick). He ultimately ends his relationship with her in \"A.A.R.M.\". In the final episode, Dwight marriesAngela Martin. Character","Martin. Character reception The Dwight Schrute character has had a very positive reception, and is often cited as one of the most popular characters on the show. According toEntertainment Weekly, he is one of the \"greatest sidekicks\".InTV Guide's list of the top 100 characters in television history, Dwight was ranked 85th. In anABC Newsinterview with Rainn Wilson, the interviewer commented that \"Words barely describe Dwight Schrute, the suck-up salesman and assistant to the regional manager of the Scranton branch for the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company...\"and \"Dwight, as played by the 41-year-old Wilson, has become one of the breakout characters in television comedy. Dwight is a survivalist geek, a student of karate who likes to shoot a crossbow and watch \"Battlestar Galactica\" on television. And he takes himself very, very seriously...\"E! Newscommented that Rainn Wilson should be nominated for anEmmy Awardfor his performance of Dwight, commenting: \"...Who's laughing now? Who's laughing now, Dwight Schrute? Oh,","Dwight Schrute? Oh, only the ten million-plus people who watched as you pepper sprayed the living daylights out of Roy for trying to pop Jim in the face last night. My God, have I missed you, man. Mr. Schrute, you are the reason I love my job, my friend. It is the selflessly heroic actions of a man such as you that make television a nice place to be on a Thursday night. You may just be an everyday citizen who does not accept prizes for being a citizen, but you'd best be accepting a supporting actor Emmy nod this year, because, hot damn if you don't deserve it.\" Another positive review of the character was given byPopMatters, an online entertainment news site. The review stated: \"One of the show's ironies is that Michael and Dwight, hapless though they might be within the office or in most social settings, are actually top salesmen\". Dwight approaches sales with the same militaristic fervor as everything else in his life, and it pays off for him (maybe that's one of the reasons why, when Jim gives Dwight one","gives Dwight one of Benito Mussolini's speeches to deliver when he accepts a sales award in Season Two, Dwight delivers it so enthusiastically that he gets a standing ovation)\".MetalcorebandThe Devil Wears Pradanamed a song \"Assistant to the Regional Manager,\" alluding to Dwight's position. In addition, the band created a T-shirt design that indirectly associates itself with Dwight by strongly resembling him. It is named \"Guy Wearing Tie.\" Outside ofThe Office Bobblehead doll In the episode \"Valentine's Day\", Dwight is given abobblehead dollas a Valentine's gift, from Angela. Following the episode, fans of the show petitioned NBC to make the bobblehead doll available for purchase on their online store.NBC responded by creating an initial run of 4,000 bobblehead dolls, which sold out almost immediately.The creator of the show,Greg Daniels, joked about the bobbleheads, saying \"Yes, they are fun, but they also serve a business purpose. People who want to manage by consensus can buy six and keep them nodding all","them nodding all the time to whatever they say.\"In 2010 Hallmark released a smaller talking version of the doll as part of their 2010 Christmas Keepsake Ornament selection. Résumé In \"Halloween\", Jim and Pam uploaded Dwight's resume to \"Monster.com,Craigslist, and Google.\"A producer actually did create a Monster account for Dwight and uploaded his résumé a month before the episode aired. It can be found by employers with resumedatabaseaccess who search for salesmen inScranton, Pennsylvania.The résumé stated that he was willing to relocate to another state,wanted a salary close to $30,000 (USD),desired the job title of \"Regional Manager\",was currently \"Assistant to the Regional Manager\",and had abachelor's degree.The posted résumé also stated: \"My time spent at Dunder Mifflin was very enjoying. I had the opportunity to learn from an experienced and talented boss. My branch consistently was one of the top sellers of the company...\" Schrute Farms In the episode titled \"Money\", Pam refers to aTripAdvisorpage for","for Dwight'sbed and breakfast. This can be found by searching for Schrute Farms.Jim and Pam discover that Dwight is running the Schrute Farm as an \"agritourism\" bed and breakfast. They spend the night there, taking part in table-making demonstrations, beet wine-making, and distributingmanure. That night, however, Jim hears an unnerving moaning sound throughout the night, later shown to be Dwight in his room crying over his breakup with Angela. The TripAdvisor page said: \"Schrute Farms is the number one beet-relatedagritourismdestination in Northeastern Pennsylvania. We offer the finest accommodations for the casual traveller and/or radish enthusiast. Come join us and experience majestic Schrute Farms.\" Jim and Pam (\"JandP2\") also posted a review, which can be seen on the reviews page. It read: \"The architecture reminds one of a quaint Tuscan beet farm, and the natural aroma of the beets drifts into the bedrooms and makes you dream of simpler times. You will never want to leave your room. The informative","The informative lecture will satisfy all your beet curiosity, and the dawn goose walk will tug at your heart strings. Table making never seemed so possible. Great story to tell your friends. Plenty of parking! The staff's attention to detail and devotion to cleanliness was limitless. From their enthusiastic welcome to the last wave good-bye, Schrute Farms delivers.\" An angry Angela also put a review up, and mentioned the death of her cat as a main cause for the review. It said: \"I have to warn people about the proprietor of Schrute Farms—he may portray himself as a gentleman farmer, but he is not what he seems! He killed my cat, Sprinkles! Who knows what he might do to you or your loved ones...\" According to Dwight, during theCivil War, while theBattle of Gettysburgwas known for having the most deaths, the battle of Schrute Farms was known for having the highest DPA (deaths per acre). He also claimed it was the northernmost battle during the Civil War. However, in reality, it was actually a safe haven for","a safe haven for men who wanted relief from the war to focus on artistic lifestyles. It is insinuated that this was a camp for homosexual soldiers. Melvin Fifer Garris is the only known soldier to write home from Schrute Farms during the Civil War. In a deleted scene from the Season 3 DVD set, it is shown that Dwight won his farm in a game of Blackjack. Vice presidential bid joke On the May 7, 2008, episode ofThe Daily Show with Jon Stewart,US SenatorandRepublican Partypresidential nomineeJohn McCainjoked that Dwight Schrute would be his vice presidential candidate choice.Rainn Wilsonappeared onThe Tonight Showon May 14, 2008, and read toJay Lenoa list of demands from Dwight in exchange for being vice president.Included in this list was being able to pilotAir Force Oneat any time, and only to be addressed as \"Iceman\" while piloting.He also demanded thatJack Bauerbe immediately promoted toUnited States Secretary of Defense, hisbunkerto include afoosballtable and bezombie-proof, and that theSecret","and that theSecret Servicemembers be armed withnunchakus,throwing stars, andflamethrowers.Finally, he demanded a flamethrower, anIron Mansuit, and thatMichael Scottbe an \"ambassador to Hawaii.\" In academic research Researchers atBrigham Young University,StanfordandNorthwestern Universitydemonstrated that social outsiders, similar to Dwight's character, lead to better group decision making. Media accounts of their published study reported that having a Dwight Schrute around is good for business. Dwight was included in articles about the research byTimemagazine,The Globe and Mail,TheSalt Lake TribuneandBrigham Young University. Possible spin-off series and departure fromThe Office On January 25, 2012, news broke that NBC was planning a spin-off series, starring Wilson as Dwight, that would be set at Schrute Farms, Dwight's bed-and-breakfast and beet farm.The spin-off was to have been created by Wilson and executive producerPaul Lieberstein, butOfficedeveloperGreg Danielswould not have been involved.The series","involved.The series was in the works for a premiere in early 2013, and would have caused Wilson to leaveThe Officeduring the ninth season.The spin-off was scheduled to have been introduced as abackdoor pilotin a later episode of the ninth season.Despite the news report, Wilsontweeted\"Don't believe everything you read in the press, OK?\"In October 2012, NBC announced that it was not accepting the spin-off series.The pilot episode was still aired during the ninth season ofThe Office, however, as episode 17, ‘The Farm’. References External links","Beetroot Thebeetroot(British English) orbeet(North American English) is thetaprootportion of aBeta vulgarissubsp.vulgarisplant in the ConditivaGroup.The plant is also known as thetable beet,garden beet,red beet,dinner beetorgolden beet. Beetroot can be eaten raw, roasted, or boiled. Beetroot can also be canned, either whole or cut up, and often are pickled, spiced, or served in a sweet-and-sour sauce. It is one of several cultivated varieties ofBeta vulgarisgrown for their edible taproots andleaves(calledbeet greens); they have beenclassifiedasB. vulgarissubsp.vulgarisConditivaGroup. Other cultivars of the same species include thesugar beet, the leaf vegetable known aschardor spinach beet, andmangelwurzel, which is afoddercrop. Threesubspeciesare typically recognized. Etymology Betais the ancient Latin name for beetroot,possibly ofCeltic origin, becomingbeteinOld English.Rootderives from the late Old Englishrōt, itself fromOld Norserót. History The domestication of beetroot can be traced to the emergence of","to the emergence of anallelethat enablesbiennialharvesting of leaves and taproot.Beetroot was domesticated in the ancient Middle East, primarily for their greens, and were grown by the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. By the Roman era, it is thought that they were also cultivated for their roots. From theMiddle Ages, beetroot was used to treat various conditions, especially illnesses relating to digestion and the blood.Bartolomeo Platinarecommended taking beetroot withgarlicto nullify the effects of \"garlic-breath\". During the middle of the 17th century,wineoften was colored with beetroot juice. Food shortages in Europefollowing World War Icaused great hardships, including cases ofmangelwurzeldisease, as relief workers called it. It was symptomatic of eating only beetroot. Culinary use Usually, the deep purple roots of beetroot are eaten boiled, roasted, or raw, and either alone or combined with any salad vegetable. The green, leafy portion of the beetroot is also edible. The young leaves can be added","leaves can be added raw to salads, while the mature leaves are most commonly served boiled or steamed, in which case they have a taste and texture similar tospinach. Beetroot can be roasted, boiled or steamed, peeled, and then eaten warm with or without butter; cooked, pickled, and then eaten cold as acondiment; or peeled, shredded raw, and then eaten as a salad. Pickled beetroot is a traditional food in many countries. Australia and New Zealand InAustraliaandNew Zealand, sliced pickled beetroot is a common ingredient in traditionalhamburgers. Eastern Europe InEastern Europe, beetroot soup, such asborscht and barszcz czerwony , is common. InPolandandUkraine, beetroot is combined withhorseradishto formćwikłaorбурячки(buryachky), which is traditionally used with cold cuts and sandwiches, but often also added to a meal consisting of meat and potatoes. Similarly, inSerbia, beetroot (referred to by the local namecvekla) is used as winter salad, seasoned with salt and vinegar, with meat dishes. As an addition to","As an addition to horseradish, it is also used to produce the \"red\" variety ofchrain, a condiment inAshkenazi Jewish,Hungarian,Polish,Lithuanian,Russian, andUkrainiancuisine. Cold beetroot soup called \"Šaltibarščiai\" is very popular in Lithuania. Traditionally it consists of kefir, boiled beetroot, cucumber, dill, spring onions and can be eaten with boiled eggs and potatoes. Botvinyais an old-time traditional Russiancold soupmade from leftover beet greens and chopped beetroots, typically with bread andkvassadded. Botvinya got its name from the Russianbotva, which means \"root vegetable greens\", referring to beet plant leaves. Svekolnik, orsvyokolnik, is yet another Russian beet-based soup, typically distinguished from borscht in that vegetables for svekolnik are cooked raw and not sauteed, while many types of borscht typically include sauteed carrots and other vegetables. Svekolnik got its name fromsvyokla, Russian word for \"beet.\" Sometimes, various types of cold borscht are also called \"svekolnik\". India","\"svekolnik\". India InIndian cuisine, chopped, cooked, spiced beetroot is a common side dish. Yellow-colored beetroots are grown on a very small scale for home consumption. North America Besides standard fruit and vegetable dishes, certain varieties of beets are sometimes used as a garnish to atart. Northern Europe A common dish in Sweden and elsewhere in the Nordic countries isBiff à la Lindström, a variant of meatballs or burgers, with chopped or grated beetroot added to theminced meat. InNorthern Germany, beetroot is mashed withLabskausor added as its side order. Industrial production and other uses A large proportion of commercial production is processed into boiled and sterilized beetroot orpickles. Betanin, obtained from the roots, is used industrially as redfood colorantto enhance the color and flavor oftomato paste, sauces, desserts,jamsand jellies,ice cream, candy, andbreakfast cereals.When beetroot juice is used, it is most stable in foods with low water content, such as frozen novelties and fruit","novelties and fruit fillings. Beetroot can be used to make wine. Nutrition Raw beetroot is 88% water, 10%carbohydrates, 2%protein, and less than 1%fat(see table). In a100-gram (3+1⁄2-ounce) amount providing 180 kilojoules (43 kilocalories) offood energy, raw beetroot is a rich source (27% of theDaily Value( DV)) offolateand a moderate source (16% DV) ofmanganese, with other nutrients having insignificant content (table). Health effects A clinical trial review reported that consumption of beetroot juice modestly reduced systolicblood pressurebut not diastolic blood pressure. Pigment The red color compoundbetaninis not broken down in the body, and in higher concentrations, may temporarily cause urine or stools to assume a reddish color, in the case of urine a condition calledbeeturia. Although harmless, this effect may cause initial concern due to the visual similarity to what appears to beblood in the stool,hematochezia(blood passing through the anus, usually in or with stool) orhematuria(blood in the urine).","in the urine). Nitrosamineformation in beetroot juice can reliably be prevented by addingascorbic acid. Cultivars Below is a list of several commonly availablecultivarsof beetroot. Generally, 55 to 65 days are needed from germination to harvest of the root. All cultivars can be harvested earlier for use as greens. Unless otherwise noted, the root colors are shades of red and dark red, with different degrees of zoning noticeable in slices. Gallery References External links"],"string":"[\n \"The Office The Officeis the title of severalmockumentarysitcoms based on a British series originally created byRicky GervaisandStephen MerchantasThe Officein 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as the boss and main character. The two series were broadcast onBBC Twoin 2001 and 2002, totalling 12 episodes, with two special episodes concluding the series in 2003.Versions of the original were subsequently made in Germany, the United States, and many other countries. The longest-running version of the series, theAmerican adaptation, ran for nine seasons on theNBC Television Networkfrom 2005 to 2013, with a total of 201 episodes. According toNielsen Ratingsas of April 2019, the American version ofThe Officewas the No. 1 streamed show onNetflixin the United States.Afollow-up of the American versionwas announced in 2024 for release onPeacock;2024 also sawAmazon Prime Videodebut an Australian version ofThe Office, featuring the franchise's first female lead character. Versions In addition to those listed\",\n \"to those listed below, aRussian languageversion for Channel One Russia with an initial run of 24 episodes was announced in 2008, but never produced. December 17, 2004 Counterparts Roles are recorded as of each character's first appearance. Neil Godwin(Patrick Baladi) (Marcelo Maldonado) Selected major awards Notes References External links\",\n \"Dwight Schrute Dwight Kurt Schrute III(/ˈʃruːt/) is a character on the American television seriesThe Officeand is portrayed by American actorRainn Wilson. Dwight is a salesman and assistant toMichael Scott,at the fictional paper distribution companyDunder Mifflin, before his promotions in later seasons of the show. He also runs abed and breakfastat Schrute Farms, is a beet plantation owner, and in Season 7, becomes the owner of the business park in which Dunder Mifflin is located. Throughout the series, Dwight repeatedly attempts to become regional manager of the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin by serving dutifully under the regional manager characterMichael Scott. The character is based onGareth Keenanfromthe original British version of the show, who was played by actorMackenzie Crook. Notably, Dwight is the only character who has both appeared and had dialogue in every episode of the series. Actor Rainn Wilson received three nominations for thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a\",\n \"Actor in a Comedy Seriesfor his portrayal of the character. Casting Dwight Schrute is portrayed by American actorRainn Wilson. Other actors that auditioned for the part wereSeth Rogen,Matt Besser,Judah FriedlanderandPatton Oswalt. All original series characters from the UK version ofThe Officewere adapted for the US version of the show. Wilson watched every episode of the original British series, and was a fan before he auditioned for the U.S. version.Wilson had originally auditioned forMichael Scott, a performance he described as a \\\"terribleGervaisimpersonation\\\".However, the casting directors liked his audition as Dwight much better and hired him for the role. Wilson based Dwight's hairstyle on the style he himself had when at the age of sixteen.In an interview, he said that he went to abarberto get \\\"the worst haircut possible\\\". Character information When the series begins, Dwight Schrute is a competent salesman at theScrantonbranch of Dunder Mifflin. Dwight formally holds the title of \\\"Assistant to the\",\n \"\\\"Assistant to the Regional Manager\\\"but constantly refers to himself as \\\"Assistant Regional Manager\\\", attempting to elevate himself to second-in-command to branch manager Michael Scott. Dwight craves authority over his co-workers and relishes any minor task that Michael or anyone else will give him. Although Dwight acts superior to many individuals and is often good in crisis, he is shown to actually be quite gullible, ignorant, and naive.For this reason, he is easily tricked and pranked by his coworkerJim Halpert.Dwight often speaks in a halting, intense manner, even in casual conversations.At the office, his most recurring business wear is a mustard-colored, short-sleeved shirt with a dark necktie and a brown suit jacket. He often usesone-upmanshipto better himself over his peers, such as boasting about how he trains specific parts of his body. Dwight will sometimes engage in jokes and games in attempts to please Michael, but often fails to do so because of Michael's perception of himself as the jokester of\",\n \"as the jokester of the workplace. Dwight is a formervolunteer sheriff deputy,but had had to step down after breaking his pledge to help his boss, Michael, illegally pass adrug testby giving him his urine in the episode \\\"Drug Testing.\\\" He is also anotary public; this creates difficulties when Angela desires to send him a notarized letter regarding their break-up. He lives on his family'sbeetfarm alongside his cousin,Mose(played by producer/writerMichael Schur). Dwight has affinities forpaintball,ping pong,survivalism,Goju Ryukarateand weapons. Dwight also shows affinity for variousscience fictionandfantasyworks; notablyBattlestar Galactica,Star Wars,Lord of the RingsandHarry Potter. In an episode commentary on theseason 1DVD, Wilson refers to Dwight as a \\\"fascistnerd.\\\" In a feature on theseason 3DVD, Wilson describes Dwight as \\\"someone who does not hate the system but has a deep and abiding love for it\\\". Family and childhood In \\\"Lecture Circuit\\\", Dwight claims to remember his own birth, and his father, Dwight\",\n \"his father, Dwight Schrute II, delivering him from thewomb, and his mother biting off herumbilical cord.In \\\"Grief Counseling\\\", Dwight states that he was born a twin, but he \\\"resorbed\\\" his twin while still in his mother's womb (this occurrence is calledtwin embolization syndrome), causing him to believe that he now has \\\"the strength of a grown man and a little baby\\\". He also claims to have been born weighing 13 lb 5 oz (6.0 kg), rendering his mother incapable of walking for three months and two days,and in \\\"Baby Shower\\\", he claims to have performed his owncircumcision. Little is known about Dwight's parents, except that his father used to take himhunting, cheated in games, made his siblings and him biscuits for breakfast every morning, and that he battledobesity, highblood pressure, and highcholesterol. Dwight lives in a nine-bedroom, one-bathroom farmhouse (with the single bathroom located under the porch), as revealed in \\\"Office Olympics\\\" on his family's 60-acre (24 ha)beetfarm with his cousin Mose. The\",\n \"cousin Mose. The cousins sell beets to local stores, restaurants, and roadside beet stands.Dwight uses part of his farm to growhemp.Dwight and Mose have also turned Schrute Farms into a ramshacklebed and breakfast. According to one of Dwight's web logs on NBC.com's \\\"Schrute-Space\\\", he had an uncle, named Gunther, a goat farmer, who fled the Allied invasion of Germany and married aFinnishwoman, with whom he had 17 children.He also had an Uncle Girt, who revealed that the Schrute family has an ongoing hatred ofHarry S. Truman, because they were staunch supporters ofThomas Dewey. In another blog, he mentions a cousin named Heindl, who has received numerous injuries and infections from an attack by a small dog. Interests Dwight is trained in the art ofsurveillanceand served as a volunteer 's deputy inLackawanna County.He has a black belt inGoju-Ryukarate, and is thesenpaiat his dojo.Dwight is apop cultureandsci-fienthusiast. In the episode \\\"The Fire\\\", he mentioned the movieThe Crowas being his favorite film. He\",\n \"favorite film. He hints at belief in fictional creatures such asandroids,zombiesandvampires.He enjoys playingtable tennis, and states that many of his heroes are table tennis players.His musical tastes vary, butheavy metalseems to be recurring. He plays guitar andrecorder, and sings.He is fascinated with cars; he usually checks a car's suspension, especiallymuscle cars. His technological talents are limited, but he shows a passion for the online role-playing gameSecond Life. He also shows an interest intrains. In \\\"Todd Packer\\\", it is revealed that Dwight does not know whoJustin Bieberis, asking Jim \\\"Who is Justice Beaver?\\\", leaving Jim to answer \\\"A crime-fightingbeaver.\\\" Dwight owns an impressive array of weaponry. In addition toLaser Tagandpaintballequipment, he has acrossbowrange at his farm (\\\"Office Olympics\\\") and, when he was named official Security Supervisor of the Scranton branch,hinted that he might bring abo staffto work. He maintained a hidden arsenal of weapons around the office, includingpepper\",\n \"includingpepper spray,nunchucks,throwing stars, astun gun, aboomerang,handcuffs, anightstick, a pair ofbrass knucklesand aChinese sword, all of which were confiscated by Toby. Dwight is vocal about his views on justice, which is reflected in his television viewing habits, as he enjoys watching and has great admiration forJudge Judy, as well asVic MackeyonThe Shield. In \\\"The Negotiation\\\",Roy Andersonattacks Jim, because he kissed Roy'sfiancee, Pam, but Dwight intercepts the attack withpepper spray.Throughout the episode, Jim attempts to show his appreciation, but Dwight refuses to accept his gifts, simply stating \\\"Citizensdo not accept prizes for being citizens\\\".In \\\"Drug Testing\\\", Dwight finds half of ajointin the parking lot, which incites him to carry out a severe, and thorough, investigation.When he discovers that Michael might have been exposed to illegal drugs at aconcert, he substitutes his ownurineduring the mandatory drug test.Dwight then resigns from his volunteer position at the Sheriff's\",\n \"at the Sheriff's Department, because he feels that he is no longer worthy of working there. In \\\"Frame Toby\\\", Dwight states that he is skilled at framing people, as well as animals, revealing that he once framed araccoonfor opening a Christmas gift, and a bear for eating out of thegarbage, although he had made it obvious to the police that he wanted Toby to be imprisoned.In the episode \\\"Women's Appreciation\\\", he is quoted as saying \\\"Better a thousand innocent men are locked up than one guilty man roam free.\\\" In \\\"Conflict Resolution\\\", Dwight states that he does not like to smile, as showing one's teeth is a submission signal inprimates, and that whenever someone smiles at him, \\\"all sees is achimpanzeebegging for its life.\\\" Dwight owns many exotic pets includingpiranhas, frogs, anarctic wolf, araccoon, a porcupine named Henrietta, and anopossum, although the wolf escaped due to poor restraints and he flushed his piranhas down the toilet. He also has an interest in bears, and is ready to debate the habits and\",\n \"the habits and characteristics of different species of bears. He also has expressed a surprisingly large affection towards baby otters, as shown in the cold opening of \\\"Whistleblower\\\". In \\\"Costume Contest\\\", Dwight claims to be able to sit on a fence, and that he is even able to sleep on one, stating that \\\"The trick is to do it face down, with the post in your mouth\\\". It is revealed in the \\\"Suit Warehouse\\\" episode that as a child Dwight collected cat feces. Relationships In \\\"Drug Testing\\\", Dwight states that he likes his co-workers, \\\"with four exceptions\\\", leaving it up to the audience to make educated guesses about whom these four exceptions are. Angela Martin Towards the middle of season 2, Dwight develops a secret relationship with Angela Martin. Pam begins to suspect a relationship between the two, in \\\"E-mail Surveillance\\\", by observing their interactions, suspicions that are strengthened in \\\"The Injury\\\" and \\\"Conflict Resolution\\\", and confirmed by \\\"Traveling Salesmen\\\", during which Angela confides in Pam\",\n \"confides in Pam about her relationship, using code names.In \\\"Michael's Birthday\\\", Ryan discovers the relationship between the two when he overhears a coded conversation between them in the kitchen, while in \\\"The Negotiation\\\" Jim discovers the relationship while coming out of the office bathroom after quitting time, to find Dwight and Angela kissing (he then tells the documentary crew that, with his silence, the debt he feels to Dwight is repaid). In the episode \\\"Fun Run\\\", Angela asks Dwight to care for her sick cat, Sprinkles. Instead of caring for the feline, Dwight feels he should kill it as a waste of resources, and then tells Angela Sprinkles was dead when he arrived.When he lets the truth slip out shortly after, Angela terminates their relationship. Jim, on a visit to Dwight's beet farm, finds Dwight sitting alone at night, contemplating Angela'scherubfigurine and moaning in anguish. In thefourth seasonfinale \\\"Goodbye, Toby\\\", Dwight is obviously hurt when Angela's boyfriend, Andy, proposes to her.\",\n \"proposes to her. However, in the final scene of the episode, Phyllis catches Dwight having sex with Angela in the office. In thefifth seasonpremiere, \\\"Weight Loss\\\", Dwight and Angela have resumed a covert relationship, using a storage room in the warehouse to have sex. In \\\"Crime Aid\\\", Andy and Angela set a date for their wedding. After some advice from Phyllis, Dwight gives Angela an ultimatum: call off the engagement, or he will no longer be with her. She chooses to marry Andy. When Andy learns about Angela's affair with Dwight,a duelbetween Dwight and Andy takes place, but both realize that Angela has been lying to them and break up with her. For quite some time afterwards, Dwight and Angela avoid each other. In theseason 6episode \\\"The Delivery\\\", Dwight, witnessing Jim and Pam talk to customers about their unborn child, decides that he wants a child, and asks Angela to be the mother. They sign an elaborate contract, including eating guidelines for Angela to follow when she is pregnant, and how the baby\",\n \"and how the baby will be raised. While Angela is excited by the reconciliation, Dwight doesn't share her romantic feelings. When Dwight develops an interest in Pam's friend Isabel, he tells Angela to forget about the contract; this infuriates Angela, and she sues him in small-claims court. When an arbitrator tells them that the contract is valid and would involve a $30,000 settlement (because it would be illegal to force Dwight and Angela to procreate), Dwight cuts a deal with Angela for five sessions of sex. He then proceeds to abuse his genitals in an effort to sterilize himself and fends off Angela's efforts to be romantic. Inseason 7, after Angela meets astate senatorwhom she finds much more personable than Dwight, she voids the pact in \\\"WUPHF.com\\\". In \\\"Jury Duty\\\", it is revealed that, a month before her wedding to the state senator,Robert Lipton, Dwight and Angela had sex, as Robert was not fulfilling Angela's sexual needs, so Dwight believes that he is the baby's biological father.In \\\"New Guys\\\", it is\",\n \"\\\"New Guys\\\", it is revealed that he is not the father. In season 9, they become close again first when Dwight finds out that Robert is cheating on Angela with Oscar, and later in \\\"Moving On\\\" when Angela helps him take care of his elderly aunt. They share a kiss, but afterwards both say that she should remain faithful to her husband. After inheriting his aunt's beet farm, Dwight starts a relationship with neighboring Brussels sprout farmer Esther Bruegger (Nora Kirkpatrick). When Dwight seems to be getting serious with Esther and the Senator has publicly dumped Angela, Angela breaks down and admits toOscar Martinezthat she still loves Dwight. On the day that he intends to ask Esther to marry him, Dwight instead proposes to Angela. She says yes, finally admitting that he is the father of her son Phillip (\\\"A.A.R.M.\\\"). Michael Scott Dwight holds a high level of respect for Michael, viewing him as a model for success, and often participating with Michael's ill-conceived schemes.However, he betrays Michael numerous\",\n \"Michael numerous times, such as when he goes over Michael's head to vie for the manager's job in \\\"The Coup\\\". Despite this, Michael frequently dismisses Dwight and often appears embarrassed by his antics; for much of the series, he also refuses to promote Dwight from \\\"Assistant to the Regional Manager\\\" to \\\"Assistant Regional Manager\\\". In later seasons, Dwight was shown to return the favor, such as Dwight telling Michael that he would have a better career if he'd taken a job at Home Depot. Several times throughout the series, however, it is revealed that Michael does care about Dwight's feelings, and the two sometimes share bonding moments. In \\\"Training Day\\\", Dwight is unhappy when the open branch manager position goes toDeangelo Vickers, and when he learns that Michael did not recommend him for the job, as he led him to believe, he snubs Michael and goes to a meeting Vickers has called, leaving Michael standing outside, by himself. In \\\"Goodbye, Michael\\\", Dwight is still frustrated with Michael, but his\",\n \"Michael, but his hostility turns into heartfelt appreciation as Michael hands him the recommendation letter. At first, the letter does not seem to impress him, but, as he reads through, he realizes that Michael really does respect him. They are later seen engaging in a friendly paintball fight, and Dwight's loyalty to Michael is once again restored. After Michael left, Dwight did not have the same respect for Deangelo and Andy that Dwight previously had for Michael, implying that Dwight truly respects and values Michael. In a deleted scene from \\\"Finale\\\", Dwight stated that Michael sent him his \\\"World's Best Boss\\\" mug when he became Regional Manager. In the episode \\\"Finale\\\", as Jim explains that the \\\"Bestest Mensch\\\" (best man) in Dwight's wedding must be older than him, Dwight is disappointed. The camera then pans over to reveal that Michael returned, much to Dwight's surprise and delight, and Jim has arranged for him to fill in as best man. Michael watches as his \\\"family\\\" is sitting together and is last\",\n \"and is last seen dancing with Dwight. Jim Halpert Dwight is frequently the victim of practical jokes by co-workers Jim Halpert and Pam Beesly, including putting his desk supplies in the snack machine, putting his stapler into Jello, and moving his desk into the men's restroom, and replacing Dwight's desk with breakway giftwrap replica, although it appears that he remains oblivious to Pam's involvement; these pranks tend to exploit his stubborn and gullible nature. Dwight's frustration with Jim's pranks reaches a crisis point in \\\"Conflict Resolution\\\", when Dwight threatens to quit unless Jim is transferred.Dwight occasionally pulls successful pranks on Jim in turn, most prominently in \\\"Classy Christmas\\\" where he subjects Jim to a barrage of pranks revolving around snowballs. Professionally, Dwight wins the 2005 Salesman of the Year Award, although, this is likely due to, at least in part, his theft of Jim's largest client. During \\\"Initiation\\\", Dwight tells Ryan he regrets that he and Jim never got along. In\",\n \"never got along. In \\\"Traveling Salesmen\\\", Dwight quits and hugs Jim as a farewell which surprises Jim as he does not know that Dwight quit. Later, Jim is irritated when Andy replaces Dwight and even says that he misses Dwight. Earlier in the same episode, Jim and Dwight make an incredibly efficient sales team, functioning well as a duo and thinking similarly in their tactics. The two were paired together when they began as traveling salesmen at the company. In \\\"Company Picnic\\\" the two embrace in celebration after Dwight sets Jim up to score the final point in volleyball. Dwight plans to demote Jim from the Assistant Regional Manager spot, and make him miserable, during \\\"The Job\\\". Dwight's relationship with Jim mellows somewhat in later seasons, and they, at times, cooperate effectively on sales calls or running the office in Michael's absence, sometimes even socializing together. Jim often supports Dwight when he is genuinely hurt or in danger (such as in \\\"Money\\\" and \\\"Last Day in Florida\\\") and occasionally\",\n \"and occasionally compliments his successes (such as in \\\"Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting) Manager\\\"). In \\\"The Negotiation\\\", Dwight saves Jim fromRoy Andersonwho was attempting to punch Jim by pepper spraying Roy. However, continually refuses Jim's gestures of appreciation, stating that he only acted in the line of duty. However, when Jim is promoted to co-manager, Dwight's enmity returns to full force, and he conducts an ongoing campaign to depose Jim, who eventually resumes his old job as sales representative in \\\"Manager and Salesman\\\". In the final episode of the series, \\\"Finale\\\", Dwight asks Jim to be the best man at his wedding. Jim throws Dwight a commendable bachelor party rife with surprises (which Jim refers to as \\\"guten pranken\\\"). Before the wedding Jim informs Dwight that, under Schrute tradition, he is not allowed to be best man as he is younger than him. Jim surprises him with the arrival ofMichael Scott. The wedding proceeds in Schrute tradition with Michael as Dwight's new best man. Later in the\",\n \"man. Later in the episode Jim and Pam tell Dwight they are quitting so Jim can rejoin his sports marketing firm now based in Austin, but Dwight fires them instead so he can give them heftyseverance packages. Pam Beesly Although she is often involved in Jim's pranks on Dwight, Dwight has, at certain times, displayed a curious sense of protectiveness towards her. In \\\"Back from Vacation\\\" and \\\"Diwali\\\", he comforts a tearful Pam, and in \\\"China\\\", he secretly allows Pam tosave facewhen she feels vulnerable about her job abilities. In \\\"The Job\\\", Dwight offers Pam the position of \\\"Secret Assistant to the Regional Manager\\\", and following Jim's advice concerning any offers from Dwight to be involved in something secret, she accepts. Though Jim presumably meant this as the opening move of a prank, Pam instead uses it as a bonding opportunity between her and Dwight. The two briefly become best friends while he suffers aconcussionin the season 2 episode \\\"The Injury\\\". In the season 6 episode \\\"The Delivery\\\", Dwight shows\",\n \"Dwight shows more signs of his begrudging friendship with Jim and Pam during Pam's pregnancy. In the episode, he is sent to the Halperts' house to retrieve Pam'siPod, while they are at the hospital. Instead of finding the iPod and bringing it back to her, Dwight completely rebuilds and repaints their kitchen, after discoveringmold. He also advises Pam on how to keep her daughter, Cece, from crying, during \\\"Viewing Party\\\", by relating his child rearing experiences. Dwight's odd friendship with Pam is explored again in \\\"Doomsday\\\". At this point, Pam is the only one in the office who is able to understand Dwight's inner feelings, as she successfully convinces him to deactivate his doomsday machine. It is implied at the end of the episode that Dwight, despite his outward contempt for his co-workers, feels a sense of responsibility (and possibly even affection) towards them. In a talking-head interview, in the episode \\\"Tallahassee\\\", Dwight talks about how first impressions last forever. He recalls that, when he\",\n \"that, when he first met Pam, she said something to him that \\\"slightly rubbed the wrong way\\\", and while he has since loved working with her, even stating that she is wonderful, due to that first impression, he hates her. In the episode \\\"The Whale\\\", Dwight openly tells Pam that he considers her his friend. In the final episode of the series, Dwight refers to Pam as his \\\"best friend\\\", and he ensures that she and Jim get a large severance as they leave Dunder Mifflin. Andy Bernard As a result of the Scranton-Stamford merger, Dwight loses his number two position to Jim and engages in an ongoing battle with new salesmanAndy Bernard, to gain Michael's favor for \\\"third-in-command\\\". The struggle comes to a climax in \\\"Traveling Salesmen\\\".In Season 4, Andy and Dwight are shown to work well together as a sales team, but Andy's successful pursuit of Angela, after she broke up with Dwight, was irritating to him. When Andy gets engaged to Angela, Dwight is greatly upset by this, and embarks on an affair with her. This\",\n \"with her. This affair culminates in a short-lived fight between Andy and Dwight, when they discover Angela has lied to both of them, about not having had sex with the other. However, by the end of the fifth season, Andy and Dwight become friends, and discover they both share a mutual interest in music and hunting. Ryan Howard In the beginning of the series, Dwight feels threatened byRyan Howard, to whom Michael often assigns personal tasks. He continues to resent Ryan, throughout the second season, often addressing him as \\\"Temp\\\",even after Ryan takes over Jim's position.In the beginning of season 2, Dwight's friendship with Michael was slightly torn during \\\"The Fire\\\", when Michael seems to be viewing Ryan more favorably than Dwight, and in \\\"Performance Review\\\", in which Michael must evaluate Ryan.In \\\"Initiation\\\", Dwight decides to assist Ryan, during his first sales call, although the two get off to a rough start when Dwighthazeshim in a series of bizarre initiation rituals. Soon afterwards, Dwight takes\",\n \"Dwight takes Ryan on his first meeting, which ends in disaster. Ryan then eggs the potential customer's building out of spite, and Dwight develops some respect for him. During season 4, Dwight, along with Michael, comes to Ryan's rescue when they visit him in New York City, when he gets into a scuffle. Ryan and Dwight later team up again in season 6, when Dwight plans to sabotage Jim's occupation, as branch co-manager. Romantic relationships A subtle running joke throughout the series is Dwight's surprising success with attractive women, with Michael often failing to \\\"hook up\\\" at the same time. Despite Dwight's unusual appearance and mannerisms, he manages to attract women, who usually develop stronger feelings for him than vice versa. Michael has even pointed out how socially weird Dwight is acting, only for the woman to brush it off. In « dinner party », he arrives with a date to Michael’s house, the date being his former babysitter. In \\\"Night Out\\\", Dwight hooks up with a femalebasketballplayer, while\",\n \"while Michael fails in his attempts with other women. As Michael and Dwight leave the club, the woman calls out for Dwight to call her, which he says to Michael that he will not do. In \\\"Niagara\\\", Michael and Dwight compete for the attention of Pam's best friend, Isabel. When Dwight starts talking about his farm, Michael tries to explain that no one can connect with his experiences as farmer, only for Isabel to become interested in Dwight's horses. Dwight ultimately manages to have sex with her, and she begins to develop deeper feelings for him which he does not return, although it is finally hinted in \\\"The Delivery\\\" that Dwight might have more intimate feelings for her than he originally let on. They meet again at the bar in \\\"Happy Hour\\\", and bond further, kissing at the end of the episode. In season 9, he begins to date an attractive neighboring farmer named Esther (Nora Kirkpatrick). He ultimately ends his relationship with her in \\\"A.A.R.M.\\\". In the final episode, Dwight marriesAngela Martin. Character\",\n \"Martin. Character reception The Dwight Schrute character has had a very positive reception, and is often cited as one of the most popular characters on the show. According toEntertainment Weekly, he is one of the \\\"greatest sidekicks\\\".InTV Guide's list of the top 100 characters in television history, Dwight was ranked 85th. In anABC Newsinterview with Rainn Wilson, the interviewer commented that \\\"Words barely describe Dwight Schrute, the suck-up salesman and assistant to the regional manager of the Scranton branch for the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company...\\\"and \\\"Dwight, as played by the 41-year-old Wilson, has become one of the breakout characters in television comedy. Dwight is a survivalist geek, a student of karate who likes to shoot a crossbow and watch \\\"Battlestar Galactica\\\" on television. And he takes himself very, very seriously...\\\"E! Newscommented that Rainn Wilson should be nominated for anEmmy Awardfor his performance of Dwight, commenting: \\\"...Who's laughing now? Who's laughing now, Dwight Schrute? Oh,\",\n \"Dwight Schrute? Oh, only the ten million-plus people who watched as you pepper sprayed the living daylights out of Roy for trying to pop Jim in the face last night. My God, have I missed you, man. Mr. Schrute, you are the reason I love my job, my friend. It is the selflessly heroic actions of a man such as you that make television a nice place to be on a Thursday night. You may just be an everyday citizen who does not accept prizes for being a citizen, but you'd best be accepting a supporting actor Emmy nod this year, because, hot damn if you don't deserve it.\\\" Another positive review of the character was given byPopMatters, an online entertainment news site. The review stated: \\\"One of the show's ironies is that Michael and Dwight, hapless though they might be within the office or in most social settings, are actually top salesmen\\\". Dwight approaches sales with the same militaristic fervor as everything else in his life, and it pays off for him (maybe that's one of the reasons why, when Jim gives Dwight one\",\n \"gives Dwight one of Benito Mussolini's speeches to deliver when he accepts a sales award in Season Two, Dwight delivers it so enthusiastically that he gets a standing ovation)\\\".MetalcorebandThe Devil Wears Pradanamed a song \\\"Assistant to the Regional Manager,\\\" alluding to Dwight's position. In addition, the band created a T-shirt design that indirectly associates itself with Dwight by strongly resembling him. It is named \\\"Guy Wearing Tie.\\\" Outside ofThe Office Bobblehead doll In the episode \\\"Valentine's Day\\\", Dwight is given abobblehead dollas a Valentine's gift, from Angela. Following the episode, fans of the show petitioned NBC to make the bobblehead doll available for purchase on their online store.NBC responded by creating an initial run of 4,000 bobblehead dolls, which sold out almost immediately.The creator of the show,Greg Daniels, joked about the bobbleheads, saying \\\"Yes, they are fun, but they also serve a business purpose. People who want to manage by consensus can buy six and keep them nodding all\",\n \"them nodding all the time to whatever they say.\\\"In 2010 Hallmark released a smaller talking version of the doll as part of their 2010 Christmas Keepsake Ornament selection. Résumé In \\\"Halloween\\\", Jim and Pam uploaded Dwight's resume to \\\"Monster.com,Craigslist, and Google.\\\"A producer actually did create a Monster account for Dwight and uploaded his résumé a month before the episode aired. It can be found by employers with resumedatabaseaccess who search for salesmen inScranton, Pennsylvania.The résumé stated that he was willing to relocate to another state,wanted a salary close to $30,000 (USD),desired the job title of \\\"Regional Manager\\\",was currently \\\"Assistant to the Regional Manager\\\",and had abachelor's degree.The posted résumé also stated: \\\"My time spent at Dunder Mifflin was very enjoying. I had the opportunity to learn from an experienced and talented boss. My branch consistently was one of the top sellers of the company...\\\" Schrute Farms In the episode titled \\\"Money\\\", Pam refers to aTripAdvisorpage for\",\n \"for Dwight'sbed and breakfast. This can be found by searching for Schrute Farms.Jim and Pam discover that Dwight is running the Schrute Farm as an \\\"agritourism\\\" bed and breakfast. They spend the night there, taking part in table-making demonstrations, beet wine-making, and distributingmanure. That night, however, Jim hears an unnerving moaning sound throughout the night, later shown to be Dwight in his room crying over his breakup with Angela. The TripAdvisor page said: \\\"Schrute Farms is the number one beet-relatedagritourismdestination in Northeastern Pennsylvania. We offer the finest accommodations for the casual traveller and/or radish enthusiast. Come join us and experience majestic Schrute Farms.\\\" Jim and Pam (\\\"JandP2\\\") also posted a review, which can be seen on the reviews page. It read: \\\"The architecture reminds one of a quaint Tuscan beet farm, and the natural aroma of the beets drifts into the bedrooms and makes you dream of simpler times. You will never want to leave your room. The informative\",\n \"The informative lecture will satisfy all your beet curiosity, and the dawn goose walk will tug at your heart strings. Table making never seemed so possible. Great story to tell your friends. Plenty of parking! The staff's attention to detail and devotion to cleanliness was limitless. From their enthusiastic welcome to the last wave good-bye, Schrute Farms delivers.\\\" An angry Angela also put a review up, and mentioned the death of her cat as a main cause for the review. It said: \\\"I have to warn people about the proprietor of Schrute Farms—he may portray himself as a gentleman farmer, but he is not what he seems! He killed my cat, Sprinkles! Who knows what he might do to you or your loved ones...\\\" According to Dwight, during theCivil War, while theBattle of Gettysburgwas known for having the most deaths, the battle of Schrute Farms was known for having the highest DPA (deaths per acre). He also claimed it was the northernmost battle during the Civil War. However, in reality, it was actually a safe haven for\",\n \"a safe haven for men who wanted relief from the war to focus on artistic lifestyles. It is insinuated that this was a camp for homosexual soldiers. Melvin Fifer Garris is the only known soldier to write home from Schrute Farms during the Civil War. In a deleted scene from the Season 3 DVD set, it is shown that Dwight won his farm in a game of Blackjack. Vice presidential bid joke On the May 7, 2008, episode ofThe Daily Show with Jon Stewart,US SenatorandRepublican Partypresidential nomineeJohn McCainjoked that Dwight Schrute would be his vice presidential candidate choice.Rainn Wilsonappeared onThe Tonight Showon May 14, 2008, and read toJay Lenoa list of demands from Dwight in exchange for being vice president.Included in this list was being able to pilotAir Force Oneat any time, and only to be addressed as \\\"Iceman\\\" while piloting.He also demanded thatJack Bauerbe immediately promoted toUnited States Secretary of Defense, hisbunkerto include afoosballtable and bezombie-proof, and that theSecret\",\n \"and that theSecret Servicemembers be armed withnunchakus,throwing stars, andflamethrowers.Finally, he demanded a flamethrower, anIron Mansuit, and thatMichael Scottbe an \\\"ambassador to Hawaii.\\\" In academic research Researchers atBrigham Young University,StanfordandNorthwestern Universitydemonstrated that social outsiders, similar to Dwight's character, lead to better group decision making. Media accounts of their published study reported that having a Dwight Schrute around is good for business. Dwight was included in articles about the research byTimemagazine,The Globe and Mail,TheSalt Lake TribuneandBrigham Young University. Possible spin-off series and departure fromThe Office On January 25, 2012, news broke that NBC was planning a spin-off series, starring Wilson as Dwight, that would be set at Schrute Farms, Dwight's bed-and-breakfast and beet farm.The spin-off was to have been created by Wilson and executive producerPaul Lieberstein, butOfficedeveloperGreg Danielswould not have been involved.The series\",\n \"involved.The series was in the works for a premiere in early 2013, and would have caused Wilson to leaveThe Officeduring the ninth season.The spin-off was scheduled to have been introduced as abackdoor pilotin a later episode of the ninth season.Despite the news report, Wilsontweeted\\\"Don't believe everything you read in the press, OK?\\\"In October 2012, NBC announced that it was not accepting the spin-off series.The pilot episode was still aired during the ninth season ofThe Office, however, as episode 17, ‘The Farm’. References External links\",\n \"Beetroot Thebeetroot(British English) orbeet(North American English) is thetaprootportion of aBeta vulgarissubsp.vulgarisplant in the ConditivaGroup.The plant is also known as thetable beet,garden beet,red beet,dinner beetorgolden beet. Beetroot can be eaten raw, roasted, or boiled. Beetroot can also be canned, either whole or cut up, and often are pickled, spiced, or served in a sweet-and-sour sauce. It is one of several cultivated varieties ofBeta vulgarisgrown for their edible taproots andleaves(calledbeet greens); they have beenclassifiedasB. vulgarissubsp.vulgarisConditivaGroup. Other cultivars of the same species include thesugar beet, the leaf vegetable known aschardor spinach beet, andmangelwurzel, which is afoddercrop. Threesubspeciesare typically recognized. Etymology Betais the ancient Latin name for beetroot,possibly ofCeltic origin, becomingbeteinOld English.Rootderives from the late Old Englishrōt, itself fromOld Norserót. History The domestication of beetroot can be traced to the emergence of\",\n \"to the emergence of anallelethat enablesbiennialharvesting of leaves and taproot.Beetroot was domesticated in the ancient Middle East, primarily for their greens, and were grown by the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. By the Roman era, it is thought that they were also cultivated for their roots. From theMiddle Ages, beetroot was used to treat various conditions, especially illnesses relating to digestion and the blood.Bartolomeo Platinarecommended taking beetroot withgarlicto nullify the effects of \\\"garlic-breath\\\". During the middle of the 17th century,wineoften was colored with beetroot juice. Food shortages in Europefollowing World War Icaused great hardships, including cases ofmangelwurzeldisease, as relief workers called it. It was symptomatic of eating only beetroot. Culinary use Usually, the deep purple roots of beetroot are eaten boiled, roasted, or raw, and either alone or combined with any salad vegetable. The green, leafy portion of the beetroot is also edible. The young leaves can be added\",\n \"leaves can be added raw to salads, while the mature leaves are most commonly served boiled or steamed, in which case they have a taste and texture similar tospinach. Beetroot can be roasted, boiled or steamed, peeled, and then eaten warm with or without butter; cooked, pickled, and then eaten cold as acondiment; or peeled, shredded raw, and then eaten as a salad. Pickled beetroot is a traditional food in many countries. Australia and New Zealand InAustraliaandNew Zealand, sliced pickled beetroot is a common ingredient in traditionalhamburgers. Eastern Europe InEastern Europe, beetroot soup, such asborscht and barszcz czerwony , is common. InPolandandUkraine, beetroot is combined withhorseradishto formćwikłaorбурячки(buryachky), which is traditionally used with cold cuts and sandwiches, but often also added to a meal consisting of meat and potatoes. Similarly, inSerbia, beetroot (referred to by the local namecvekla) is used as winter salad, seasoned with salt and vinegar, with meat dishes. As an addition to\",\n \"As an addition to horseradish, it is also used to produce the \\\"red\\\" variety ofchrain, a condiment inAshkenazi Jewish,Hungarian,Polish,Lithuanian,Russian, andUkrainiancuisine. Cold beetroot soup called \\\"Šaltibarščiai\\\" is very popular in Lithuania. Traditionally it consists of kefir, boiled beetroot, cucumber, dill, spring onions and can be eaten with boiled eggs and potatoes. Botvinyais an old-time traditional Russiancold soupmade from leftover beet greens and chopped beetroots, typically with bread andkvassadded. Botvinya got its name from the Russianbotva, which means \\\"root vegetable greens\\\", referring to beet plant leaves. Svekolnik, orsvyokolnik, is yet another Russian beet-based soup, typically distinguished from borscht in that vegetables for svekolnik are cooked raw and not sauteed, while many types of borscht typically include sauteed carrots and other vegetables. Svekolnik got its name fromsvyokla, Russian word for \\\"beet.\\\" Sometimes, various types of cold borscht are also called \\\"svekolnik\\\". India\",\n \"\\\"svekolnik\\\". India InIndian cuisine, chopped, cooked, spiced beetroot is a common side dish. Yellow-colored beetroots are grown on a very small scale for home consumption. North America Besides standard fruit and vegetable dishes, certain varieties of beets are sometimes used as a garnish to atart. Northern Europe A common dish in Sweden and elsewhere in the Nordic countries isBiff à la Lindström, a variant of meatballs or burgers, with chopped or grated beetroot added to theminced meat. InNorthern Germany, beetroot is mashed withLabskausor added as its side order. Industrial production and other uses A large proportion of commercial production is processed into boiled and sterilized beetroot orpickles. Betanin, obtained from the roots, is used industrially as redfood colorantto enhance the color and flavor oftomato paste, sauces, desserts,jamsand jellies,ice cream, candy, andbreakfast cereals.When beetroot juice is used, it is most stable in foods with low water content, such as frozen novelties and fruit\",\n \"novelties and fruit fillings. Beetroot can be used to make wine. Nutrition Raw beetroot is 88% water, 10%carbohydrates, 2%protein, and less than 1%fat(see table). In a100-gram (3+1⁄2-ounce) amount providing 180 kilojoules (43 kilocalories) offood energy, raw beetroot is a rich source (27% of theDaily Value( DV)) offolateand a moderate source (16% DV) ofmanganese, with other nutrients having insignificant content (table). Health effects A clinical trial review reported that consumption of beetroot juice modestly reduced systolicblood pressurebut not diastolic blood pressure. Pigment The red color compoundbetaninis not broken down in the body, and in higher concentrations, may temporarily cause urine or stools to assume a reddish color, in the case of urine a condition calledbeeturia. Although harmless, this effect may cause initial concern due to the visual similarity to what appears to beblood in the stool,hematochezia(blood passing through the anus, usually in or with stool) orhematuria(blood in the urine).\",\n \"in the urine). Nitrosamineformation in beetroot juice can reliably be prevented by addingascorbic acid. Cultivars Below is a list of several commonly availablecultivarsof beetroot. Generally, 55 to 65 days are needed from germination to harvest of the root. All cultivars can be harvested earlier for use as greens. Unless otherwise noted, the root colors are shades of red and dark red, with different degrees of zoning noticeable in slices. Gallery References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":58,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"How many Pokemon World Championships occurred in the contiguous United States during the presidency of Barack Obama?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"- Five Pokemon World Championships took place in the contiguous United States during Barack Obama's presidency - The championships tournaments were 2009 (San Diego, California), 2011 (San Diego, California), 2014 (Washington, D.C.), 2015 (Boston, Massachusetts) and 2016 (San Francisco, California)"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_World_Championships"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contiguous_United_States"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Multiple constraints | Temporal reasoning"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_World_Championships', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contiguous_United_States']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_World_Championships","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contiguous_United_States"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_World_Championships\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contiguous_United_States\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["Pokémon World Championships ThePokémon World Championshipsis an invite-onlyesportsevent organized byPlay! Pokémon. It is held annually in August and features games from thePokémonseries such as thePokémonvideo games,Pokémon Trading Card Game,Pokémon Go,Pokémon UniteandPokkén Tournament(until its 2022 edition). Players earn invitations to the World Championships based on their performance in qualifiers and other tournaments held throughout the season and compete for scholarship money, prizes and the title of World Champion. With the exception ofAsia, invitations to the World Championships are administered by thePlay! Pokémonprogram. History The Pokémon World Championships first began with thePokémon Trading Card Game(TCG) in 2004, which was around the time that the franchise was regaining its popularity.In 2009, Play! Pokémon began to organize competitive tournaments for thePokémonvideo game series alongside the TCG, which is collectively known as the Video Game Championships (VGC). Like the TCG Championships, players compete with other players in their own age divisions (i.e. Junior, Senior and Masters) in different Premier Tournaments, and the season culminates with the best players earning an invitation to play the Pokémon World Championships in August. The tournaments in VGC are played with a different game each year, mainly, the latestPokémongame from its main series. In 2016, Play! Pokémon announced thatPokkén Tournamentwould have its own championship series and would be played at the Pokémon World Championships.From 2018 onward,Pokkén Tournament DXwas used to support its qualifiers and competitions. In 2019, it was announced that the 2020 Pokémon World Championships would take place inLondon, United Kingdom,the first time in which the World Championships would be held in a location outside ofNorth America. This is likely due to the setting ofPokémon Sword and Shield, which takes place in a region inspired by the United Kingdom known as Galar, and it is the set of games that would be played by the video game division of the World Championships. On March 31, 2020,Play! Pokémoncancelled the 2020 Pokémon World Championships and suspended its 2020 season due to health concerns over theCOVID-19 pandemic.This came after earlier announcements in March which saw the cancellation of the 2020 European International Championshipsand part of its season between March and June 2020.On February 9, 2021, it was announced that the 2021 Pokémon World Championships would postponed till 2022 for the same reasons. In early January 2022, it was confirmed thatPokémon Unitewould be played at the World Championships, making it the newestMOBAgame to have an official esports tournament, afterLeague of Legends. In May 2022, after six seasons, Play! Pokémon announced the end of thePokkén TournamentChampionship Series after the 2022 season. At the 2022 edition of the event, it was announced that the 2023 World Championships will take place inYokohama, Japan (the basis of Vermilion City in the Kanto region). When the 2023 event took place, it was the first time that the World Championships visited the franchise's country of origin, as well as the first World Championships to take place in Asia. At the end of the 2023 event, The Pokémon Company announced that the Pokémon World Championships will return toHawaiifor the first time since the previous World Championships in the state was held back in 2012. World Championship locations Despite Pokémon being a Japanese product, only one World Championship (2023) was held in Japan. Almost all of the remaining events were held in the United States. Qualification The qualifying process for the Pokémon World Championships varies each year and is dependent on a player's age division and the country in which they are located in. Players may also qualify to play on different days of the World Championships based on their performance in their respective qualifying programs; the best performing players will immediately advance to the second day of the World Championships playoffs (i.e. \"Day 2\") instead of playing through the first day (i.e. \"Day 1\"). Play! Pokémon program Players located in a country with aPlay! Pokémonprogram (i.e. inNorth America,Europe,Latin AmericaandOceania) compete in a regular schedule of tournaments for Championship Points and receive invitations when they meet a predetermined threshold of points at the end of the season. In 2015, the Play! Pokémon program expanded to include countries from the continents ofLatin AmericaandAsia(except Japan and South Korea). However, on June 10, 2020, it was announced thatAsiawould no longer be part of the Play! Pokémon program and will have its own qualifying system towards the Pokémon World Championships. Pokémon GO Championship Series Pokémon announced in October 2021 thatPokémon GOwould be added during the 2022 World Championships,along with it a qualification system through the Pokémon GO Championship Series, where the top two head to the World Championships.Any trainer who reached Legend rank during Season 9 of thePokémon GO Battle Leaguewould qualify for the GO Championship Series. Pokémon Unite Championship Series In January 2022,Pokémon Uniteproducer Masaaki Hoshino confirmed that the game would be part of the roster of games to be played at the World Championships in London.For the first season of the Pokémon Unite Championship Series, there will be eleven supported Regional Zones: North America, Central America, South America-East, South America-West, Europe, Oceania, Japan, South Korea, India, and the Asia-Pacific region. These events will only be open to players aged 16 or 18, depending on the region or country they are from. In each month, a series of tournaments in each Regional Zone will be held. Like other games in the World Championships, players will earn Championship Points based on their finishing position in that month's tournament. The CP can be retained by players to allow for team changes as the season carries on. The team with the most points qualifies for the Regional Championships, and the top teams from the Regional Championships qualify for a chance to compete at the Pokémon World Championships. In January 2023, there were changes to the competitive structure and Regional Zones. Pokémon World Championships nearly doubled available spots from 16, to 31 teams. Regional Zones controlled by TPCi were also changed, with Central America, South America-East and South America West being changed to LATAM North, LATAM South, and Brazil. TPC had also taken control of the India and Asia-Pacific Regional Zones, and split Asia-Pacific into 2 regions; Asia-Pacific East and Asia-Pacific West. For TPCi controlled regions, the previous month's top 4 did not auto qualify for the next month's tournament finals. Additionally, an extra monthly tournament was added, the April Cup. Championship Points were also changed to include top CP earners an invite to Pokémon World Championships, ranging from top 1 to 3 in top CP earners depending on how many invites were given for a region. For TPC controlled regions, their tournament circuit began in April, with 3 monthly qualifiers. The winners of these qualifiers then participated in Regionals to earn a spot for Pokémon World Championships. Among those changes, both North America and Europe were also given their first regional LAN event. Europe had a LAN event for their Aeos Cup series at European International Championships. North America were given a regional LAN event at the North America International Championships. In 2023, competing countries were divided into eight groups of four teams (groups A to H). Teams in each group play each another in a best-of-three seriesround-robin, with the top team advancing to the Top 8 knockout stage. The final draw took place virtually on thePokémon UniteYouTubechannel on July 28, 2023. The prize pool is $500,000 in USD will be distributed among the Top 16 finishers in the championship. Japan & South Korea Tournaments inJapanandSouth Koreaare organised independently from Play! Pokémon, and as such, players from these countries have a different system of qualification. In Japan, players compete for an invite to theJapan National Championshipsby playing in major qualifier or online tournaments held throughout the season.The best performing players of theJapan National Championshipswill then be selected to represent Japan in the Pokémon World Championships. In South Korea, the style of qualification for the World Championships changes frequently. For example, in 2015, players would compete in theKorean National Championshipsand earn a World Championships invitation based on their standing in the tournament. However, in 2019, players would compete in tournaments organized by theKorean Leagueand earn an invite based on the number of points they had accumulated by the end of the season. Other There are other less common methods of qualifying for the World Championships which include finishing at least top 4 or better in the prior year's World Championships or by participating in asingle-elimination tournamentknown as the Last Chance Qualifierat the location of the World Championships itself. List of World Champions Trading Card Game (TCG) Video Game Championships (VGC) Pokémon Go The under-17 age division was discontinued after the 2022 season. All participants of any age now compete in the same tournament. All tournament battles use the Great League battle format (all Pokémon must be below 1,500 Combat Power.) Pokémon Unite Retired games Pokkén Tournament & Pokkén Tournament DX 2014 World Championships The2014 Pokémon World Championshipswas the sixth annual edition of the championships. The event took place in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center onWashington, D.C., alongside the 2014Pokémon Trading Card GameWorld Championship who were in their eleventh edition. The tournament was streamed viaTwitchfor the first time in the tournament history and reached a viewership of more than 800,000. The defending Video Game champions wereArash OmmatifromItaly(Masters Division), Hayden McTavish from theUnited States(Senior Division), and Brendan Zheng from theUnited States(Junior Division). The opening ceremony of the event was attended byJunichi Masuda, the video game designer for thePokémonfranchise and a member of the board of directors ofGame Freak. The finals match of the Masters division is best known and remembered within the Pokémon community forSe Jun Park's victory with the inclusion and use of aPachirisuon his team. 2014 qualification The qualification process for the 2014 Pokémon World Championships was primarily based on Championship Points accumulated by players from official Play! Pokémon tournaments such as Premier Challenges, Regional Championships and National Championships. In addition, the top 4 players of the 2013 Pokémon World Championships in each division, and the top 4 players of a tournament known as the 'Last Chance Qualifier' will also receive an invitation to play in the World Championships. The invitations for the Masters Division of the tournament were distributed in the following manner: Most of the invitations did not include a fully paid trip to the tournament, and as a result several players could not attend the tournament. 2014 tournament structure Players per country Results Six rounds of Swiss was played by 60 players in the tournament, and each round was played with a set of best-of-three matches. The top 8 players after the Swiss rounds advances to the best-of-three Single Elimination matches. The defending World Champion Arash Ommati and former three-time World ChampionRay Rizzodid not advance to the single elimination rounds. Final standings 2015 World Championships The2015 Pokémon World Championshipswas the seventh annual edition of the championships. The event was held alongside thePokémon Trading Card GameWorld Championships at theHynes Convention CenterinBoston, Massachusetts. The tournament was transmitted with live streaming from the official PokémonTwitchchannel. The defending Video Game champions for the year wereSe Jun ParkfromSouth Korea(Masters Division), Nikolai Zielinsky from theUnited States(Senior Division) and Kota Yamamoto fromJapan(Junior Division). 2015 qualification Players could only gain an invitation to play in the Video Game World Championships by either being the2014 Pokémon World Champions, or by obtaining enough Championship Points in their respective geographic zone designated byPlay! Pokémon. However, the only exception to this rule are for players from Japan and South Korea, as their tournaments are not overseen by Play! Pokémon and their invites are governed through a different system of qualification. Since 2014, players were able to earn Championship Points from various tournaments within their geographical region. The tournaments vary in scale, ranging from local Premier Challenges to state-level Regional Championships and finally the large-scale National Championships. The number of points awarded varies with scale, and players who earn these points are ranked and divided into zones such as North America, Europe and South Africa. This year, two new zones (Latin America and Asia-Pacific) were introduced. The 2015 Pokémon Video Game World Championship was intended to be played under two Swiss tournaments and one single-elimination tournament which would then determine the 2015 World Champions. As such, there are two types of invites: As an example, the invitations for the Masters Division were distributed as follows: 2015 tournament structure TheVideo GameChampionships consisted of twoSwiss tournamentsand one single elimination tournament played across three days. On Friday (Day 1), all players who earned an invitation without a Day 1 bye were entered into a Swiss tournament, where players with two or fewer losses would advance onto the next round. The second Swiss tournament was then played on Saturday (Day 2), where players who advanced from Day 1 were joined by players who received an invitation with a Day 1 bye. At the end of the Day 2 Swiss tournament, the top eight players played in single elimination rounds until the last two remain. The finals took place on Sunday (Day 3). Final standings (Video Game Championships) Weapons controversy During the 2015 World Championships, two Trading Card Game competitors fromIowa(Kevin Norton, 18, and James Stumbo, 27) brought weapons in their vehicle, which were recovered by the police. The two posted status updates and images of their weaponry on social media, which were noticed by variousPokémonfans who treated them as supposed threats against the tournament. The updates were reported to theBoston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC), who promptly seized their automobile and then stopped them at the door and barred them from entering the Hynes Convention Center on Thursday evening. Police executed a search warrant on Friday and Norton and Stumbo were arrested at their Red Roof Inn room in Saugus just after midnight on Saturday, August 22, 2015.The two were arrested on charges of unlicensed possession of firearms and ammunition, and were initially held without bail.The weapons recovered were a recently purchasedRemingtonshotgun, anAR-15, a hunting knife and several hundred rounds of ammunition.They pleaded not guilty at their arraignment on November 10, 2015, and their bail was set at $150,000.On December 2, 2015, their trial was set for May 9, 2016, however, in early April 2016, their trial was postponed to November 2016.Following the release ofPokémon Goin July 2016, Stumbo's attorney indicated that the case would be resolved soon.Norton and Stumbo were later sentenced to two years in prison with an additional two years probation once their prison term ends. 2016 World Championships The2016 Pokémon World Championshipswas the eighth annual edition of the championships. The event was held at theSan Francisco Marriott MarquisinSan Francisco, California, from August 19 to August 21.For the first time in the tournament history, thePokkén Tournamentinvitational was featured alongside the Video Game Championships (VGC) and Trading Card Game (TCG) tournaments. Side events and an official store with event merchandise occurred alongside the event. The defending Video Game champions were Shoma Honami fromJapan(Masters Division), Mark McQuillan from theUnited Kingdom(Senior Division) and Kotone Yasue from Japan (Junior Division).The defending Trading Card Game champions were Jacob Van Wagner from theUnited States(Masters Division), Patrick Martinez from the United States (Senior Division), and Rowan Stavenow fromCanada. Age divisions and qualifications Both the Pokémon VGC and TCG were divided into three age divisions: theJunior Division(born 2005 or later), theSenior Division(born between 2001 and 2004), and theMasters Division(born 2000 or earlier). For thePokkén Tournamentinvitational, players were grouped into either theSenior Division(born 2001 or later) orMasters Division(born 2000 or earlier). The process of obtaining an invitation is primarily based on Championship Points.Players could earn Championship Points by performing in select online and live tournaments held throughout the 2016 season (between September 2015 and July 2016). Players from Japan andSouth Koreawere excluded from this rule as these countries had their own method of qualification not based on Championship Points. Play! Pokémondivided players into five different rating zones: US andCanada,Europe,Latin America,Asia-PacificandSouth Africa. Different zones had different Championship Points requirements due to the distribution of events around the world. There are two possible invitations players could obtain: 'Day Two' invites were usually accompanied by travel awards and stipends paid by Play! Pokémon. Trading Card Game Championship qualifications The following table shows the Championship Pointsrequirement for an invitation to the 2016 World Championships: Players in Japan and South Korea were awarded invitations based on each country's organized play system. Video Game Championship qualifications For the Masters Division, the following table lists the Championship Points requirement for an invitation to the 2016 World Championships: 2016 tournament structure The Video Game Championships consisted of two Swiss tournaments and one single elimination tournament played across three days. On Friday (Day 1), all players who earned an invitation without a Day 1 bye were entered into a Swiss tournament, where players with two or fewer losses would advance onto the next round. The second Swiss tournament was then played on Saturday (Day 2), where players who advanced from Day 1 were joined by players who received an invitation with a Day 1 bye. At the end of the Day 2 Swiss tournament, players with two or fewer losses advanced to play in single elimination rounds until the last two remain. The finals took place on Sunday (Day 3). Final standings (Video Game Championships) Final standings (Trading Card Game) References","Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II(born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44thpresident of the United Statesfrom 2009 to 2017. As a member of theDemocratic Party, he was the firstAfrican-Americanpresident in U.S. history. Obama previously served as aU.S. senatorrepresentingIllinoisfrom 2005 to 2008 and as anIllinois state senatorfrom 1997 to 2004. Obama was born inHonolulu,Hawaii. He graduated fromColumbia Universityin 1983 with aBachelor of Artsdegree in political science and later worked as acommunity organizerinChicago. In 1988, Obama enrolled inHarvard Law School, where he was the first black president of theHarvard Law Review. He became a civil rights attorney and an academic, teachingconstitutional lawat theUniversity of Chicago Law Schoolfrom 1992 to 2004. He also went into elective politics; Obamarepresented the 13th district in the Illinois Senatefrom 1997 until 2004, when hesuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate. In the2008 presidential election, aftera close primary campaignagainstHillary Clinton, he was nominated by the Democratic Party for president. Obama selectedJoe Bidenas his running mate and defeatedRepublicannomineeJohn McCain. Obama was named the2009 Nobel Peace Prizelaureate, a decision that drew a mixture of criticism and praise. His first-term actions addressed theglobal financial crisisand includeda major stimulus packageto guide the economy in recovering from theGreat Recession, a partial extension ofGeorge W. Bush'stax cuts,legislation to reform health care,a major financial regulation reform bill, and the end of a major U.S.military presence in Iraq. Obama also appointedSupreme CourtjusticesSonia SotomayorandElena Kagan, the former being the firstHispanic Americanon the Supreme Court. He orderedOperation Neptune Spear, the raid that killedOsama bin Laden, who was responsible for theSeptember 11 attacks. Obama downplayed Bush'scounterinsurgency model, expandingair strikesand making extensive use of special forces, while encouraging greater reliance on host-government militaries. He also orderedmilitary involvement in Libyain order to implementUN Security Council Resolution 1973, contributing to the overthrow ofMuammar Gaddafi. Obama defeated Republican opponentMitt Romneyin the2012 presidential election. In his second term, Obama took steps tocombat climate change, signinga major international climate agreementand anexecutive orderto limitcarbon emissions. Obama also presided over the implementation of theAffordable Care Actand other legislation passed in his first term. He negotiateda nuclear agreement with Iranandnormalized relations with Cuba. The number ofAmerican soldiers in Afghanistandecreased during Obama's second term, though U.S. soldiers remained in the country throughout Obama's presidency. Obama promoted inclusion forLGBT Americans, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to publicly supportsame-sex marriage. Obama left office on January 20, 2017, and continues to reside in Washington, D.C. Historians and political scientists rank him among the upper tier inhistorical rankings of American presidents.His presidential libraryin theSouth Side of Chicagobegan construction in 2021. Since leaving office, Obama has remained politically active, campaigning for candidates in various American elections, including Biden'ssuccessful presidential bidin2020. Outside of politics,Obama has published three books:Dreams from My Father(1995),The Audacity of Hope(2006), andA Promised Land(2020). Early life and career Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961,atKapiolani Medical Center for Women and ChildreninHonolulu, Hawaii.He is the only president born outside thecontiguous 48 states.He was born to an 18-year-old American mother and a 27-year-old Kenyan father. His mother,Ann Dunham(1942–1995), was born inWichita, Kansas, and was of English, Welsh, German, Swiss, and Irish descent. In 2007 it was discovered her great-great-grandfather Falmouth Kearney emigrated from the village ofMoneygall, Irelandto the U.S. in 1850.In July 2012,Ancestry.comfound a strong likelihood that Dunham was descended fromJohn Punch, an enslaved African man who lived in theColony of Virginiaduring the seventeenth century.Obama's father,Barack Obama Sr.(1934–1982),was a marriedLuo KenyanfromNyang'oma Kogelo.His last name, Obama, was derived from his Luo descent.Obama's parents met in 1960 in a Russian language class at theUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where his father was a foreign student on a scholarship.The couple married inWailuku, Hawaii, on February 2, 1961, six months before Obama was born. In late August 1961, a few weeks after he was born, Barack and his mother moved to theUniversity of WashingtoninSeattle, where they lived for a year. During that time, Barack's father completed his undergraduate degree in economics in Hawaii, graduating in June 1962. He left to attend graduate school on a scholarship atHarvard University, where he earned anM.A.in economics. Obama's parents divorced in March 1964.Obama Sr. returned toKenyain 1964, where he married for a third time and worked for the Kenyan government as the Senior Economic Analyst in the Ministry of Finance.He visited his son in Hawaii only once, at Christmas 1971,before he was killed in an automobile accident in 1982, when Obama was 21 years old.Recalling his early childhood, Obama said: \"That my father looked nothing like the people around me—that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk—barely registered in my mind.\"He described his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage. In 1963, Dunham metLolo Soetoroat theUniversity of Hawaii; he was anIndonesianEast–West Centergraduate studentingeography. The couple married onMolokaion March 15, 1965.After two one-year extensions of hisJ-1 visa, Lolo returned toIndonesiain 1966. His wife and stepson followed sixteen months later in 1967. The family initially lived in the Menteng Dalam neighborhood in theTebetdistrict ofSouth Jakarta. From 1970, they lived in a wealthier neighborhood in theMentengdistrict ofCentral Jakarta. Education At the age of six, Obama and his mother had moved to Indonesia to join his stepfather. From age six to ten, he was registered in school as \"Barry\"and attended localIndonesian-languageschools:Sekolah Dasar Katolik Santo Fransiskus Asisi(St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Elementary School) for two years andSekolah Dasar Negeri Menteng 01(State Elementary School Menteng 01) for one and a half years, supplemented by English-languageCalvert Schoolhomeschooling by his mother.As a result of his four years inJakarta, he was able to speakIndonesianfluently as a child.During his time in Indonesia, Obama's stepfather taught him to be resilient and gave him \"a pretty hardheaded assessment of how the world works\". In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents,MadelynandStanley Dunham. He attendedPunahou School—a privatecollege preparatory school—with the aid of a scholarship from fifth grade until he graduated from high school in 1979.In high school, Obama continued to use the nickname \"Barry\" which he kept until making a visit to Kenya in 1980.Obama lived with his mother and half-sister,Maya Soetoro, in Hawaii for three years from 1972 to 1975 while his mother was a graduate student inanthropologyat the University of Hawaii.Obama chose to stay in Hawaii when his mother and half-sister returned to Indonesia in 1975, so his mother could begin anthropology field work.His mother spent most of the next two decades in Indonesia, divorcing Lolo Soetoro in 1980 and earning a PhD degree in 1992, before dying in 1995 in Hawaii following unsuccessful treatment forovariananduterine cancer. Of his years in Honolulu, Obama wrote: \"The opportunity that Hawaii offered — to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect — became an integral part of my world view, and a basis for the values that I hold most dear.\"Obama has also written and talked about usingalcohol,marijuana, andcocaineduring his teenage years to \"push questions of who I was out of my mind\".Obama was also a member of the \"Choom Gang\" (the slang term for smoking marijuana), a self-named group of friends who spent time together and smoked marijuana. College and research jobs After graduating from high school in 1979, Obama moved to Los Angeles to attendOccidental Collegeon a full scholarship. In February 1981, Obama made his first public speech, calling for Occidental to participate in thedisinvestment from South Africain response to that nation's policy ofapartheid.In mid-1981, Obama traveled to Indonesia to visit his mother and half-sister Maya and visited the families of college friends inPakistanfor three weeks.Later in 1981, hetransferredtoColumbia Universityin New York City as ajunior, where he majored inpolitical sciencewith a specialty ininternational relationsand inEnglish literatureand lived off-campus on West 109th Street.He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983 and a 3.7GPA. After graduating, Obama worked for about a year at theBusiness International Corporation, where he was a financial researcher and writer,then as a project coordinator for theNew York Public Interest Research Groupon theCity College of New Yorkcampus for three months in 1985. Community organizer and Harvard Law School Two years after graduating from Columbia, Obama moved from New York to Chicago when he was hired as director of theDeveloping Communities Project, a faith-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes inRoseland,West Pullman, andRiverdaleon Chicago'sSouth Side. He worked there as a community organizer from June 1985 to May 1988.He helped set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization inAltgeld Gardens.Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for theGamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time inEuropefor three weeks and then for five weeks in Kenya, where he met many of hispaternal relativesfor the first time. Despite being offered a full scholarship toNorthwestern University School of Law, Obama enrolled atHarvard Law Schoolin the fall of 1988, living in nearbySomerville, Massachusetts.He was selected as an editor of theHarvard Law Reviewat the end of his first year,president of the journal in his second year,and research assistant to the constitutional scholarLaurence Tribewhile at Harvard.During his summers, he returned to Chicago, where he worked as asummer associateat the law firms ofSidley Austinin 1989 andHopkins & Sutterin 1990.Obama's election as thefirst black president of theHarvard Law Reviewgained national media attentionand led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race relations,which evolved into a personal memoir. The manuscript was published in mid-1995 asDreams from My Father.Obama graduated from Harvard Law in 1991 with aJuris Doctormagna cum laude. University of Chicago Law School In 1991, Obama accepted a two-year position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at theUniversity of Chicago Law Schoolto work on his first book.He then taughtconstitutional lawat the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years, first as a lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and then as a senior lecturer from 1996 to 2004. From April to October 1992, Obama directed Illinois'sProject Vote, avoter registration campaignwith ten staffers and seven hundred volunteer registrars; it achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African Americans in the state, leadingCrain's Chicago Businessto name Obama to its 1993 list of \"40 under Forty\" powers to be. Family and personal life In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity ofhis extended family: \"It's like a little mini-United Nations,\" he said. \"I've got relatives who look likeBernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look likeMargaret Thatcher.\"Obama has a half-sister with whom he was raised (Maya Soetoro-Ng) and seven other half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family, six of them living.Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham,until her death on November 2, 2008,two days before his election to the presidency. Obama also has roots in Ireland; he met with his Irish cousins inMoneygallin May 2011.InDreams from My Father, Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives ofJefferson Davis,President of the Confederate States of Americaduring theAmerican Civil War. He also shares distant ancestors in common withGeorge W. BushandDick Cheney, among others. Obama lived with anthropologistSheila Miyoshi Jagerwhile he was a community organizer in Chicago in the 1980s.He proposed to her twice, but both Jager and her parents turned him down.The relationship was not made public until May 2017, several months after his presidency had ended. In June 1989, Obama metMichelle Robinsonwhen he was employed atSidley Austin.Robinson was assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, and she joined him at several group social functions but declined his initial requests to date.They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992.After suffering a miscarriage, Michelle underwentin vitro fertilizationto conceive their children.The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born in 1998,followed by a second daughter, Natasha (\"Sasha\"), in 2001.The Obama daughters attended theUniversity of Chicago Laboratory Schools. When they moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2009, the girls started at theSidwell Friends School.The Obamas had twoPortuguese Water Dogs; the first, a male namedBo, was a gift from SenatorTed Kennedy.In 2013, Bo was joined bySunny, a female.Bo died of cancer on May 8, 2021. Obama is a supporter of theChicago White Sox, and he threw out the first pitch at the2005 ALCSwhen he was still a senator.In 2009, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at theAll-Star Gamewhile wearing a White Sox jacket.He is also primarily aChicago Bearsfootball fan in theNFL, but in his childhood and adolescence was afan of the Pittsburgh Steelersand rooted for them ahead of their victory inSuper Bowl XLIII12 days after he took office as president.In 2011, Obama invited the1985 Chicago Bearsto the White House; the team had not visited the White House after theirSuper Bowl winin 1986 due to theSpace Shuttle Challenger disaster.He playsbasketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team,and he is left-handed. In 2005, the Obama family applied the proceeds of a book deal and moved from aHyde Park, Chicagocondominium to a $1.6million house (equivalent to $2.5million in 2023) in neighboringKenwood, Chicago.The purchase of an adjacent lot—and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer, campaign donor and friendTony Rezko—attracted media attention because of Rezko's subsequent indictment and conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to Obama. In December 2007,Money Magazineestimated Obama's net worth at $1.3million (equivalent to $1.9million in 2023).Their 2009 tax return showed a household income of $5.5million—up from about $4.2million in 2007 and $1.6million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books.On his 2010 income of $1.7million, he gave 14 percent to non-profit organizations, including $131,000 toFisher House Foundation, a charity assisting wounded veterans' families, allowing them to reside near where the veteran is receiving medical treatments.Per his 2012 financial disclosure, Obama may be worth as much as $10million. Religious views Obama is aProtestantChristian whose religious views developed in his adult life.He wrote inThe Audacity of Hopethat he \"was not raised in a religious household.\" He described his mother, raised by non-religious parents, as being detached from religion, yet \"in many ways the most spiritually awakened person... I have ever known\", and \"a lonely witness forsecular humanism.\" He described his father as a \"confirmedatheist\" by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as \"a man who saw religion as not particularly useful.\" Obama explained how, through working withblack churchesas acommunity organizerwhile in his twenties, he came to understand \"the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change.\" In January 2008, Obama toldChristianity Today: \"I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in theredemptive deathandresurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life.\"On September 27, 2010, Obama released a statement commenting on his religious views, saying: I'm a Christian by choice. My family didn't—frankly, they weren't folks who went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn't raise me in the church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts ofJesus Christspoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead—being my brothers' and sisters' keeper,treating others as they would treat me. Obama metTrinity United Church of ChristpastorJeremiah Wrightin October 1987 and became a member of Trinity in 1992.During Obama's first presidential campaign in May 2008, he resigned from Trinity aftersome of Wright's statements were criticized.Since moving to Washington, D.C., in 2009, the Obama family has attended several Protestant churches, includingShiloh Baptist ChurchandSt. John's Episcopal Church, as well as Evergreen Chapel atCamp David, but the members of the family do not attend church on a regular basis. In 2016, he said that he gets inspiration from a few items that remind him \"of all the different people I've met along the way\", adding: \"I carry these around all the time. I'm not that superstitious, so it's not like I think I necessarily have to have them on me at all times.\" The items, \"a whole bowl full\", include rosary beads given to him byPope Francis, a figurine of the Hindu deityHanuman, aCoptic crossfrom Ethiopia, a smallBuddha statuegiven by a monk, and a metal poker chip that used to be the lucky charm of a motorcyclist in Iowa. Legal career Civil rights attorney He joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a 13-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was anassociatefor three years from 1993 to 1996, thenof counselfrom 1996 to 2004. In 1994, he was listed as one of the lawyers inBuycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank, 94 C 4094 (N.D. Ill.). Thisclass action lawsuitwas filed in 1994 with Selma Buycks-Roberson as lead plaintiff and alleged that Citibank Federal Savings Bank had engaged in practices forbidden under theEqual Credit Opportunity Actand theFair Housing Act. The case was settled out of court. From 1994 to 2002, Obama served on the boards of directors of theWoods Fund of Chicago—which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund the Developing Communities Project—and of theJoyce Foundation.He served on the board of directors of theChicago Annenberg Challengefrom 1995 to 2002, as founding president and chairman of the board of directors from 1995 to 1999.Obama's law license became inactive in 2007. Legislative career Illinois Senate (1997–2004) Obama was elected to theIllinois Senatein 1996, succeeding Democratic State SenatorAlice PalmerfromIllinois's 13th District, which, at that time, spanned Chicago South Side neighborhoods from Hyde Park–Kenwood south toSouth Shoreand west toChicago Lawn.Once elected, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation that reformed ethics and health care laws.He sponsored a law that increasedtax creditsfor low-income workers, negotiatedwelfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare.In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican GovernorGeorge Ryan'spayday loanregulations andpredatory mortgage lendingregulations aimed at averting homeforeclosures. He was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998, defeating Republican Yesse Yehudah in the general election, and was re-elected again in 2002.In 2000, he lost aDemocratic primary raceforIllinois's 1st congressional districtin theUnited States House of Representativesto four-term incumbentBobby Rushby a margin of two to one. In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after a decade in the minority, regained a majority.He sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitorracial profilingby requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained, and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations.During his 2004 general election campaign for the U.S. Senate, police representatives credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enactingdeath penaltyreforms.Obama resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the U.S. Senate. 2004 U.S. Senate campaign in Illinois In May 2002, Obama commissioned a poll to assess his prospects in a 2004 U.S. Senate race. He created a campaign committee, began raising funds, and lined up political media consultantDavid Axelrodby August 2002. Obama formally announced his candidacy in January 2003. Obama was an early opponent of the George W. Bush administration's2003 invasion of Iraq.On October 2, 2002, the day President Bush and Congress agreed on thejoint resolutionauthorizing theIraq War,Obama addressed the first high-profile Chicagoanti-Iraq War rally,and spoke out against the war.He addressed another anti-war rally in March 2003 and told the crowd \"it's not too late\" to stop the war. Decisions by Republican incumbentPeter Fitzgeraldand his Democratic predecessorCarol Moseley Braunnot to participate in the election resulted in wide-open Democratic and Republican primary contests involving 15 candidates.In the March 2004 primary election, Obama won in an unexpected landslide—which overnight made him a rising star within thenational Democratic Party, started speculation about a presidential future, and led to the reissue of his memoir,Dreams from My Father.In July 2004, Obama deliveredthe keynote addressat the2004 Democratic National Convention,seen by nine million viewers. His speech was well received and elevated his status within the Democratic Party. Obama's expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary winnerJack Ryan, withdrew from the race in June 2004.Six weeks later,Alan Keyesaccepted the Republican nomination to replace Ryan.In theNovember 2004 general election, Obama won with 70 percent of the vote, the largest margin of victory for a Senate candidate in Illinois history.He took 92 of the state's 102 counties, including several where Democrats traditionally do not do well. U.S. Senate (2005–2008) Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 3, 2005,becoming the only Senate member of theCongressional Black Caucus.He introduced two initiatives that bore his name: Lugar–Obama, which expanded theNunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reductionconcept to conventional weapons;and theFederal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which authorized the establishment of USAspending.gov, a web search engine on federal spending.On June 3, 2008, Senator Obama—along with SenatorsTom Carper,Tom Coburn, andJohn McCain—introduced follow-up legislation: Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008.He alsocosponsoredtheSecure America and Orderly Immigration Act. In December 2006, President Bush signed into law theDemocratic Republic of the CongoRelief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, marking the first federal legislation to be enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor.In January 2007, Obama and Senator Feingold introduced a corporate jet provision to theHonest Leadership and Open Government Act, which was signed into law in September 2007. Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act to add safeguards for personality-disorder military discharges.This amendment passed the full Senate in the spring of 2008.He sponsored the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act supporting divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry, which was never enacted but later incorporated in theComprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010;and co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism.Obama also sponsored a Senate amendment to theState Children's Health Insurance Program, providing one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries. Obama held assignments on the Senate Committees forForeign Relations,Environment and Public Works, andVeterans' Affairsthrough December 2006.In January 2007, he left the Environment and Public Works committee and took additional assignments withHealth, Education, Labor and PensionsandHomeland Security and Governmental Affairs.He also became Chairman of the Senate's subcommittee onEuropean Affairs.As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa. He met withMahmoud Abbasbefore Abbas becamePresident of the Palestinian National Authorityand gave a speech at theUniversity of Nairobiin which he condemned corruption within the Kenyan government. Obamaresigned his Senate seaton November 16, 2008, to focus on his transition period for the presidency. Presidential campaigns 2008 On February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States in front of theOld State Capitolbuilding inSpringfield, Illinois.The choice of the announcement site was viewed as symbolic, as it was also whereAbraham Lincolndelivered his\"House Divided\"speech in 1858.Obama emphasized issues of rapidly ending the Iraq War, increasingenergy independence, andreforming the health care system. Numerous candidates entered theDemocratic Party presidential primaries. The field narrowed to Obama and SenatorHillary Clintonafter early contests, with the race remaining close throughout the primary process, but Obama gained a steady lead in pledgeddelegatesdue to better long-range planning, superior fundraising, dominant organizing incaucusstates, and better exploitation of delegate allocation rules.On June 2, 2008, Obama had received enough votes to clinch his nomination. After an initial hesitation to concede, on June 7, Clinton ended her campaign and endorsed Obama.On August 23, 2008, Obama announced hisselectionofDelawareSenatorJoe Bidenas his vice presidential running mate.Obama selected Biden from a field speculated to include former Indiana Governor and SenatorEvan Bayhand Virginia GovernorTim Kaine.At theDemocratic National ConventioninDenver, Colorado, Hillary Clinton called for her supporters to endorse Obama, and she andBill Clintongave convention speeches in his support.Obama delivered his acceptance speech atInvesco Field at Mile Highstadium to a crowd of about eighty-four thousand; the speech was viewed by over three million people worldwide.During both the primary process and the general election, Obama's campaign set numerous fundraising records, particularly in the quantity of small donations.On June 19, 2008, Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate to turn downpublic financingin the general election since the system was created in 1976. John McCain was nominated as the Republican candidate, and he selectedSarah Palinas his running mate. Obama and McCain engaged in threepresidential debatesin September and October 2008.On November 4, Obama won the presidency with 365electoral votesto 173 received by McCain.Obama won 52.9 percent of thepopular voteto McCain's 45.7 percent.He became the first African-American to be elected president.Obama deliveredhis victory speechbefore hundreds of thousands of supporters in Chicago'sGrant Park.He is one of the three United States senators moved directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House, the others beingWarren G. HardingandJohn F. Kennedy. 2012 On April 4, 2011, Obama filed election papers with theFederal Election Commissionand then announced his reelection campaign for 2012 in a video titled \"It Begins with Us\" that he posted on his website.As the incumbent president, he ran virtually unopposed in theDemocratic Party presidential primaries,and on April 3, 2012, Obama secured the 2778conventiondelegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.At theDemocratic National ConventioninCharlotte, North Carolina, Obama and Joe Biden were formally nominated by former President Bill Clinton as the Democratic Party candidates for president and vice president in the general election. Their main opponents were RepublicansMitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, and RepresentativePaul Ryanof Wisconsin. On November 6, 2012, Obama won 332 electoral votes, exceeding the 270 required for him to be reelected as president.With 51.1 percent of the popular vote,Obama became the first Democratic president sinceFranklin D. Rooseveltto win themajority of the popular votetwice.Obama addressed supporters and volunteers at Chicago'sMcCormick Placeafter his reelection and said: \"Tonight you voted for action, not politics as usual. You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours. And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties.\" Presidency (2009–2017) First 100 days Theinauguration of Barack Obamaas the 44th president took place on January 20, 2009. In his first few days in office, Obama issuedexecutive ordersandpresidential memorandadirecting the U.S. military to develop plans to withdraw troops from Iraq.He ordered the closing of theGuantanamo Bay detention camp,but Congress prevented the closure by refusing to appropriate the required fundsand preventing moving any Guantanamo detainee.Obama reduced the secrecy given to presidential records.He also revoked President George W. Bush's restoration of PresidentRonald Reagan'sMexico City policywhich prohibited federal aid to internationalfamily planningorganizations that perform or provide counseling about abortion. Domestic policy The first bill signed into law by Obama was theLilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, relaxing thestatute of limitationsfor equal-pay lawsuits.Five days later, he signed the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program to cover an additional four million uninsured children.In March 2009, Obama reversed a Bush-era policy that had limited funding ofembryonic stem cellresearch and pledged to develop \"strict guidelines\" on the research. Obama appointed two women to serve on the Supreme Court in the first two years of his presidency. He nominatedSonia Sotomayoron May 26, 2009, to replace retiringAssociate JusticeDavid Souter. She was confirmed on August 6, 2009,becoming the first Supreme Court Justice ofHispanicdescent.Obama nominatedElena Kaganon May 10, 2010, to replace retiring Associate JusticeJohn Paul Stevens. She was confirmed on August 5, 2010, bringing the number of women sitting simultaneously on the Court to three for the first time in American history. On March 11, 2009, Obama created theWhite House Council on Women and Girls, which formed part of theOffice of Intergovernmental Affairs, having been established byExecutive Order13506with a broad mandate to advise him on issues relating to the welfare of American women and girls. The council was chaired bySenior Advisor to the PresidentValerie Jarrett. Obama also established theWhite House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assaultthrough a government memorandum on January 22, 2014, with a broad mandate to advise him on issues relating to sexual assault on college and university campuses throughout the United States. The co-chairs of the Task Force were Vice President Joe Biden and Jarrett. The Task Force was a development out of the White House Council on Women and Girls andOffice of the Vice President of the United States, and prior to that the 1994Violence Against Women Actfirst drafted by Biden. In July 2009, Obama launched thePriority Enforcement Program, an immigration enforcement program that had been pioneered by George W. Bush, and theSecure Communitiesfingerprinting and immigration status data-sharing program. In amajor space policy speechin April 2010, Obama announced a planned change in direction atNASA, the U.S. space agency. He ended plans for a return ofhuman spaceflightto the moon and development of theAres Irocket,Ares Vrocket andConstellation program, in favor of fundingearth scienceprojects, a new rocket type, research and development for an eventual crewed mission to Mars, and ongoing missions to theInternational Space Station. On January 16, 2013, one month after theSandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Obama signed 23 executive orders and outlined a series of sweeping proposals regardinggun control.He urged Congress to reintroduce anexpired banon military-styleassault weapons, such as those used in several recent mass shootings, impose limits on ammunition magazines to 10 rounds, introduce background checks on all gun sales, pass a ban on possession and sale of armor-piercing bullets, introduce harsher penalties for gun-traffickers, especially unlicensed dealers who buy arms for criminals and approving the appointment of the head of the federalBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosivesfor the first time since 2006.On January 5, 2016, Obama announced new executive actions extending background check requirements to more gun sellers.In a 2016 editorial inThe New York Times, Obama compared the struggle for what he termed \"common-sense gun reform\" towomen's suffrageand othercivil rights movementsin American history. In 2011, Obama signed a four-year renewal of the Patriot Act.Following the2013 global surveillance disclosuresbywhistleblowerEdward Snowden, Obama condemned the leak as unpatriotic,but called for increased restrictions on theNational Security Agency(NSA) to address violations of privacy.Obama continued and expanded surveillance programs set up by George W. Bush, while implementing some reforms.He supported legislation that would have limited the NSA's ability to collect phone records in bulk under a single program and supported bringing more transparency to theForeign Intelligence Surveillance Court(FISC). Racial issues In his speeches as president, Obama did not make more overt references to race relations than his predecessors,but according to one study, he implemented stronger policy action on behalf of African-Americans than any president since the Nixon era. Following Obama's election, many pondered the existence of a \"postracial America\".However, lingering racial tensions quickly became apparent,and many African-Americans expressed outrage over what they saw as an intense racial animosity directed at Obama.TheacquittalofGeorge Zimmermanfollowing thekilling of Trayvon Martinsparked national outrage, leading to Obama giving a speech in which he noted that \"Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.\"The shooting ofMichael BrowninFerguson, Missourisparked a wave of protests.These and other events led to the birth of theBlack Lives Mattermovement, which campaigns against violence andsystemic racismtowardblack people.Though Obama entered office reluctant to talk about race, by 2014 he began openly discussing the disadvantages faced by many members of minority groups. Several incidents during Obama's presidency generated disapproval from the African-American community and with law enforcement, and Obama sought to build trust between law enforcement officials and civil rights activists, with mixed results. Some in law enforcement criticized Obama's condemnation of racial bias after incidents in which police action led to the death of African-American men, while some racial justice activists criticized Obama's expressions of empathy for the police.In a March 2016 Gallup poll, nearly one third of Americans said they worried \"a great deal\" about race relations, a higher figure than in any previous Gallup poll since 2001. LGBT rights On October 8, 2009, Obama signed theMatthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a measure that expanded the1969 United States federal hate-crime lawto include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.On October 30, 2009, Obama lifted the ban on travel to the United States by those infected with HIV. The lifting of the ban was celebrated byImmigration Equality.On December 22, 2010, Obama signed theDon't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, which fulfilled a promise made in the 2008 presidential campaignto end thedon't ask, don't tellpolicy of 1993 that had prevented gay and lesbian people from serving openly in theUnited States Armed Forces. In 2016, the Pentagon ended the policy that barredtransgender people from serving openly in the military. Same-sex marriage As a candidate for the Illinois state senate in 1996, Obama stated he favored legalizingsame-sex marriage.During his Senate run in 2004, he said he supported civil unions and domestic partnerships for same-sex partners but opposed same-sex marriages.In 2008, he reaffirmed this position by stating \"I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage.\"On May 9, 2012, shortly after the official launch of his campaign for re-election as president, Obama said his views had evolved, and he publicly affirmed his personal support for the legalization of same-sex marriage, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to do so.During his secondinaugural addresson January 21, 2013,Obama became the first U.S. president in office to call for full equality for gay Americans, and the first to mentiongay rightsor the word \"gay\" in an inaugural address.In 2013, the Obama administration filed briefs that urged theSupreme Courtto rule in favor of same-sex couples in the cases ofHollingsworth v. Perry(regarding same-sex marriage)andUnited States v. Windsor(regarding theDefense of Marriage Act). Economic policy On February 17, 2009, Obama signed theAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a $787billion (equivalent to $1118 billion in 2023)economic stimuluspackage aimed at helping the economy recover from thedeepening worldwide recession.The act includes increased federal spending for health care, infrastructure, education, various tax breaks andincentives, and direct assistance to individuals.In March 2009, Obama's Treasury Secretary,Timothy Geithner, took further steps to manage thefinancial crisis, including introducing thePublic–Private Investment Program for Legacy Assets, which contains provisions for buying up to $2trillion in depreciated real estate assets. Obama intervened in thetroubled automotive industryin March 2009, renewing loans forGeneral Motors(GM) andChryslerto continue operations while reorganizing. Over the following months the White House set terms for both firms' bankruptcies, including thesale of Chryslerto Italian automakerFiatand areorganization of GMgiving the U.S. government a temporary 60 percent equity stake in the company.In June 2009, dissatisfied with the pace of economic stimulus, Obama called on his cabinet to accelerate the investment.He signed into law theCar Allowance Rebate System, known colloquially as \"Cash for Clunkers\", which temporarily boosted the economy. The Bush and Obama administrations authorized spending and loan guarantees from theFederal Reserveand theDepartment of the Treasury. These guarantees totaled about $11.5trillion, but only $3trillion had been spent by the end of November 2009.On August 2, 2011, after a lengthy congressional debate over whether to raise the nation's debt limit, Obama signed the bipartisanBudget Control Act of 2011. The legislation enforced limits on discretionary spending until 2021, established a procedure to increase the debt limit, created a Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to propose further deficit reduction with a stated goal of achieving at least $1.5trillion in budgetary savings over 10 years, and established automatic procedures for reducing spending by as much as $1.2trillion if legislation originating with the new joint select committee did not achieve such savings.By passing the legislation, Congress was able to prevent aU.S. governmentdefaulton its obligations. The unemployment rate rose in 2009, reaching a peak in October at 10.0 percent and averaging 10.0 percent in the fourth quarter. Following a decrease to 9.7 percent in the first quarter of 2010, the unemployment rate fell to 9.6 percent in the second quarter, where it remained for the rest of the year.Between February and December 2010, employment rose by 0.8 percent, which was less than the average of 1.9 percent experienced during comparable periods in the past four employment recoveries.By November 2012, the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent,decreasing to 6.7 percent in the last month of 2013.During 2014, the unemployment rate continued to decline, falling to 6.3 percent in the first quarter.GDP growth returned in the third quarter of 2009, expanding at a rate of 1.6 percent, followed by a 5.0 percent increase in the fourth quarter.Growth continued in 2010, posting an increase of 3.7 percent in the first quarter, with lesser gains throughout the rest of the year.In July 2010, the Federal Reserve noted that economic activity continued to increase, but its pace had slowed, and chairmanBen Bernankesaid the economic outlook was \"unusually uncertain\".Overall, the economy expanded at a rate of 2.9 percent in 2010. TheCongressional Budget Office(CBO) and a broad range of economists credit Obama's stimulus plan for economic growth.The CBO released a report stating that the stimulus bill increased employment by 1–2.1million,while conceding that \"it is impossible to determine how many of the reported jobs would have existed in the absence of the stimulus package.\"Although an April 2010, survey of members of theNational Association for Business Economicsshowed an increase in job creation (over a similar January survey) for the first time in two years, 73 percent of 68 respondents believed the stimulus bill has had no impact on employment.The economy of the United States has grown faster than the other originalNATOmembers by a wider margin under President Obama than it has anytime since the end ofWorld War II.TheOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Developmentcredits the much faster growth in the United States to the stimulus plan of the U.S. and the austerity measures in the European Union. Within a month of the2010 midterm elections, Obama announced a compromise deal with the Congressional Republican leadership that included a temporary, two-year extension of the2001 and 2003 income tax rates, a one-yearpayroll taxreduction, continuation of unemployment benefits, and a new rate and exemption amount forestate taxes.The compromise overcame opposition from some in both parties, and the resulting $858billion (equivalent to $1.2 trillion in 2023)Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010passed with bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress before Obama signed it on December 17, 2010. In December 2013, Obama declared that growingincome inequalityis a \"defining challenge of our time\" and called on Congress to bolster the safety net and raise wages. This came on the heels of thenationwide strikes of fast-food workersand Pope Francis' criticism of inequality andtrickle-down economics.Obama urged Congress to ratify a 12-nation free trade pact called theTrans-Pacific Partnership. Environmental policy On April 20, 2010, an explosion destroyed an offshoredrilling rigat theMacondo Prospectin theGulf of Mexico, causing amajor sustained oil leak. Obama visited the Gulf, announced a federal investigation, and formed a bipartisan commission to recommend new safety standards, after a review bySecretary of the InteriorKen Salazarand concurrent Congressional hearings. He then announced a six-month moratorium on newdeepwater drillingpermits and leases, pending regulatory review.As multiple efforts by BP failed, some in the media and public expressed confusion and criticism over various aspects of the incident, and stated a desire for more involvement by Obama and the federal government.Prior to the oil spill, on March 31, 2010, Obama ended a ban on oil and gas drilling along the majority of theEast Coast of the United Statesand along the coast ofnorthern Alaskain an effort to win support for an energy and climate bill and to reduce foreign imports of oil and gas. In July 2013, Obama expressed reservations and said he \"would reject theKeystone XL pipelineif it increased carbon pollution greenhouse emissions.\"On February 24, 2015, Obama vetoed a bill that would have authorized the pipeline.It was the third veto of Obama's presidency and his first major veto. In December 2016, Obama permanently banned new offshore oil and gas drilling in most United States-owned waters in theAtlanticand Arctic Oceans using the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Act. Obama emphasized theconservationoffederal landsduring his term in office. He used his power under theAntiquities Actto create 25 newnational monumentsduring his presidency and expand four others, protecting a total of 553,000,000 acres (224,000,000 ha) of federal lands and waters, more than any other U.S. president. Health care reform Obama called forCongressto pass legislation reforminghealth care in the United States, a key campaign promise and a top legislative goal.He proposed an expansion of health insurance coverage to cover the uninsured, cap premium increases, and allow people to retain their coverage when they leave or change jobs. His proposal was to spend $900billion over ten years and include a government insurance plan, also known as thepublic option, to compete with the corporate insurance sector as a main component to lowering costs and improving quality of health care. It would also make it illegal for insurers to drop sick people or deny them coverage forpre-existing conditions, and require every American to carry health coverage. The plan also includes medical spending cuts and taxes on insurance companies that offer expensive plans. On July 14, 2009, House Democratic leaders introduced a 1,017-page plan for overhauling the U.S. health care system, which Obama wanted Congress to approve by the end of 2009.After public debate during the Congressional summer recess of 2009, Obama delivereda speech to a joint session of Congresson September 9 where he addressed concerns over the proposals.In March 2009, Obama lifted a ban on using federal funds for stem cell research. On November 7, 2009, a health care bill featuring the public option was passed in the House.On December 24, 2009, the Senate passed its own bill—without a public option—on a party-line vote of 60–39.On March 21, 2010, thePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act(ACA, colloquially \"Obamacare\") passed by the Senate in December was passed in the House by a vote of 219 to 212. Obama signed the bill into law on March 23, 2010. The ACA includeshealth-related provisions, most of which took effect in 2014, including expandingMedicaideligibility for people making up to 133 percentof thefederal poverty level(FPL) starting in 2014,subsidizing insurance premiums for people making up to 400 percentof the FPL ($88,000 for family of four in 2010) so their maximum \"out-of-pocket\" payment for annual premiums will be from 2 percent to 9.5 percent of income,providing incentives for businesses to provide health care benefits, prohibiting denial of coverage and denial of claims based on pre-existing conditions, establishinghealth insurance exchanges, prohibiting annual coverage caps, and support for medical research. According to White House and CBO figures, the maximum share of income that enrollees would have to pay would vary depending on their income relative to the federal poverty level. The costs of these provisions are offset by taxes, fees, and cost-saving measures, such as new Medicare taxes for those in high-incomebrackets, taxes onindoor tanning, cuts to theMedicare Advantageprogram in favor of traditional Medicare, and fees on medical devices and pharmaceutical companies;there is also a tax penalty for those who do not obtain health insurance, unless they are exempt due to low income or other reasons.In March 2010, the CBO estimated that the net effect of both laws will be a reduction in the federal deficit by $143billion over the first decade. The law faced several legal challenges, primarily based on the argument that an individual mandate requiring Americans to buy health insurance was unconstitutional. On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court ruled by a 5–4 vote inNational Federation of Independent Business v. Sebeliusthat the mandate was constitutional under the U.S. Congress's taxing authority.InBurwell v. Hobby Lobbythe Court ruled that \"closely-held\" for-profit corporations could be exempt on religious grounds under theReligious Freedom Restoration Actfrom regulations adopted under the ACA that would have required them to pay for insurance that covered certain contraceptives. In June 2015, the Court ruled 6–3 inKing v. Burwellthat subsidies to help individuals and families purchase health insurance were authorized for those doing so on both the federal exchange and state exchanges, not only those purchasing plans \"established by the State\", as the statute reads. Foreign policy In February and March 2009, Vice President Joe Biden andSecretary of StateHillary Clinton made separate overseas trips to announce a \"new era\" in U.S. foreign relations with Russia and Europe, using the terms \"break\" and \"reset\" to signal major changes from the policies of the preceding administration.Obama attempted to reach out to Arab leaders by granting his first interview to an Arab satellite TV network,Al Arabiya.On March 19, Obama continued his outreach to the Muslim world, releasing a New Year's video message to the people and government of Iran.On June 4, 2009, Obama delivered a speech atCairo Universityin Egypt calling for \"A New Beginning\" in relations between the Islamic world and the United States and promoting Middle East peace.On June 26, 2009, Obama condemned the Iranian government's actions towards protesters followingIran's 2009 presidential election. In 2011, Obama ordered a drone strike in Yemen which targeted and killedAnwar al-Awlaki, an American imam suspected of being a leadingAl-Qaedaorganizer. al-Awlaki became the firstU.S. citizento be targeted and killed by aU.S. drone strike. The Department of Justice released a memo justifying al-Awlaki's death as a lawful act of war,while civil liberties advocates described it as a violation of al-Awlaki's constitutional right todue process. The killing led to significant controversy.Histeenage sonandyoung daughter, also Americans, were later killed in separateUS military actions, although they were not targeted specifically. In March 2015, Obama declared that he had authorized U.S. forces to provide logistical and intelligence support to the Saudis in theirmilitary intervention in Yemen, establishing a \"Joint Planning Cell\" with Saudi Arabia.In 2016, the Obama administration proposed a series ofarms deals with Saudi Arabiaworth $115billion.Obama halted the sale of guided munition technology toSaudi Arabiaafter Saudi warplanestargeted a funeralin Yemen's capital Sanaa, killing more than 140 people. In September 2016 Obama was snubbed byXi Jinpingand theChinese Communist Partyas he descended fromAir Force Oneto the tarmac ofHangzhou International Airportfor the2016 G20 Hangzhou summitwithout the usual red carpet welcome. War in Iraq On February 27, 2009, Obama announced that combat operations in Iraq would end within 18 months.The Obama administration scheduled the withdrawal of combat troops to be completed by August 2010, decreasing troop's levels from 142,000 while leaving a transitional force of about 50,000 in Iraq until the end of 2011. On August 19, 2010, the last U.S. combat brigade exited Iraq. Remaining troops transitioned from combat operations tocounter-terrorismand the training, equipping, and advising of Iraqi security forces.On August 31, 2010, Obama announced that the United States combat mission in Iraq was over.On October 21, 2011, President Obama announced that all U.S. troops would leave Iraq in time to be \"home for the holidays.\" In June 2014, following thecapture of MosulbyISIL, Obama sent 275 troops to provide support and security for U.S. personnel and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. ISIS continued to gain ground and to commitwidespread massacres and ethnic cleansing.In August 2014, during theSinjar massacre, Obama ordered acampaign of U.S. airstrikes against ISIL.By the end of 2014, 3,100 American ground troops were committed to the conflictand 16,000 sorties were flown over the battlefield, primarily by U.S. Air Force and Navy pilots.In early 2015, with the addition of the \"Panther Brigade\" of the82nd Airborne Divisionthe number of U.S. ground troops in Iraq increased to 4,400,and by July American-led coalition air forces counted 44,000 sorties over the battlefield. Afghanistan and Pakistan In his election campaign, Obama called the war in Iraq a \"dangerous distraction\" and that emphasis should instead be put on the war in Afghanistan,the region he cites as being most likely where an attack against the United States could be launched again.Early in his presidency, Obama moved to bolster U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan. He announced an increase in U.S. troop levels to 17,000 military personnel in February 2009 to \"stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan\", an area he said had not received the \"strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires.\"He replaced the military commander in Afghanistan, GeneralDavid D. McKiernan, with formerSpecial Forcescommander Lt. Gen.Stanley A. McChrystalin May 2009, indicating that McChrystal's Special Forces experience would facilitate the use of counterinsurgency tactics in the war.On December 1, 2009, Obama announced the deployment of an additional 30,000 military personnel to Afghanistan and proposed to begin troop withdrawals 18 months from that date;this took place in July 2011.David Petraeusreplaced McChrystal in June 2010, after McChrystal's staff criticized White House personnel in a magazine article.In February 2013, Obama said the U.S. military would reduce the troop level in Afghanistan from 68,000 to 34,000 U.S. troops by February 2014.In October 2015, the White House announced a plan to keep U.S. Forces in Afghanistan indefinitely in light of the deteriorating security situation. Regarding neighboring Pakistan, Obama called its tribal border region the \"greatest threat\" to the security of Afghanistan and Americans, saying that he \"cannot tolerate a terrorist sanctuary.\" In the same speech, Obama claimed that the U.S. \"cannot succeed in Afghanistan or secure our homeland unless we change our Pakistan policy.\" Death of Osama bin Laden Starting with information received from Central Intelligence Agency operatives in July 2010, the CIA developed intelligence over the next several months that determined what they believed to be the hideout ofOsama bin Laden. He was living in seclusion ina large compoundinAbbottabad, Pakistan, a suburban area 35 miles (56 km) fromIslamabad.CIA headLeon Panettareported this intelligence to President Obama in March 2011.Meeting with his national security advisers over the course of the next six weeks, Obama rejected a plan to bomb the compound, and authorized a \"surgical raid\" to be conducted byUnited States Navy SEALs.The operation took place on May 1, 2011, and resulted in the shooting death of bin Laden and the seizure of papers, computer drives and disks from the compound.DNA testing was one of five methods used to positively identify bin Laden's corpse,which was buried at sea several hours later.Within minutes of the President's announcement from Washington, DC, late in the evening on May 1, there were spontaneous celebrations around the country as crowds gathered outside the White House, and at New York City'sGround ZeroandTimes Square.Reaction to the announcementwas positive across party lines, including from former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Relations with Cuba Since the spring of 2013, secret meetings were conducted between the United States and Cuba in the neutral locations of Canada andVatican City.The Vatican first became involved in 2013 when Pope Francis advised the U.S. and Cuba toexchange prisonersas a gesture of goodwill.On December 10, 2013, Cuban PresidentRaúl Castro, in a significant public moment, greeted and shook hands with Obama at theNelson Mandela memorial serviceinJohannesburg. In December 2014, after the secret meetings, it was announced that Obama, with Pope Francis as an intermediary, had negotiated a restoration of relations with Cuba, after nearly sixty years of détente.Popularly dubbed theCuban Thaw,The New Republicdeemed the Cuban Thaw to be \"Obama's finest foreign policy achievement.\"On July 1, 2015, President Obama announced that formal diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States would resume, and embassies would be opened in Washington andHavana.The countries' respective \"interests sections\" in one another's capitals were upgraded to embassies on July 20 and August 13, 2015, respectively.Obama visited Havana, Cuba for two days in March 2016, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to arrive sinceCalvin Coolidgein 1928. Israel During the initial years of the Obama administration, the U.S. increased military cooperation with Israel, including increased military aid, re-establishment of theU.S.-Israeli Joint Political Military Groupand the Defense Policy Advisory Group, and an increase in visits among high-level military officials of both countries.The Obama administration asked Congress to allocate money toward funding theIron Domeprogram in response to the waves ofPalestinian rocket attacks on Israel.In March 2010, Obama took a public stance against plans by the government of Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahuto continue building Jewish housing projects in predominantly Arab neighborhoods ofEast Jerusalem.In 2011, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution condemningIsraeli settlements, with the United States being the only nation to do so.Obama supports thetwo-state solutionto theArab–Israeli conflictbased on the 1967 borders with land swaps. In 2013,Jeffrey Goldbergreported that, in Obama's view, \"with each new settlement announcement, Netanyahu is moving his country down a path toward near-total isolation.\"In 2014, Obama likened theZionist movementto thecivil rights movementin the United States. He said both movements seek to bring justice and equal rights to historically persecuted peoples, explaining: \"To me, being pro-Israel and pro-Jewish is part and parcel with the values that I've been fighting for since I was politically conscious and started getting involved in politics.\"Obama expressed support for Israel's right to defend itself during the2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.In 2015, Obama was harshly criticized by Israel for advocating and signing theIran Nuclear Deal; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had advocated the U.S. congress to oppose it, said the deal was \"dangerous\" and \"bad.\" On December 23, 2016, under the Obama Administration, the United States abstained fromUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemned Israeli settlement building in the occupiedPalestinian territoriesas a violation of international law, effectively allowing it to pass.Netanyahu strongly criticized the Obama administration's actions,and the Israeli government withdrew its annual dues from the organization, which totaled $6million, on January 6, 2017.On January 5, 2017, the United States House of Representatives voted 342–80 to condemn the UN Resolution. Libya In February 2011, protests in Libya began against long-time dictatorMuammar Gaddafias part of theArab Spring. They soon turned violent. In March, as forces loyal to Gaddafi advanced on rebels across Libya, calls for a no-fly zone came from around the world, including Europe, theArab League, and a resolutionpassed unanimously by the U.S. Senate.In response to the passage ofUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 1973on March 17, the Foreign Minister of Libya Moussa Koussa announced a ceasefire. However Gaddafi's forces continued to attack the rebels. On March 19 a multinational coalition lead by France and the United Kingdom with Italian and U.S. support, approved by Obama, took part in air strikes to destroy the Libyan government's air defense capabilities to protect civilians and enforce a no-fly-zone,including the use ofTomahawk missiles,B-2 Spirits, and fighter jets.Six days later, on March 25, by unanimous vote of all its 28 members, NATO took over leadership of the effort, dubbedOperation Unified Protector.Some members of Congressquestioned whether Obama had the constitutional authority to order military action in addition to questioning its cost, structure and aftermath.In 2016 Obama said \"Our coalition could have and should have done more to fill a vacuum left behind\" and that it was \"a mess\".He has stated that the lack of preparation surrounding the days following the government's overthrow was the \"worst mistake\" of his presidency. Syrian civil war On August 18, 2011, several months after the start of theSyrian civil war, Obama issued a written statement that said: \"The time has come forPresident Assadto step aside.\"This stance was reaffirmed in November 2015.In 2012, Obama authorized multipleprograms run by the CIAand the Pentagon to train anti-Assad rebels.The Pentagon-run program was later found to have failed and was formally abandoned in October 2015. In the wake of achemical weapons attackin Syria,formally blamedby the Obama administration on the Assad government, Obama chose not to enforce the \"red line\" he had pledgedand, rather than authorize the promised military action against Assad, went along with the Russia-brokered deal that led to Assadgiving up chemical weapons; however attacks withchlorine gascontinued.In 2014, Obama authorized anair campaign aimed primarily at ISIL. Iran nuclear talks On October 1, 2009, the Obama administration went ahead with a Bush administration program, increasing nuclear weapons production. The \"Complex Modernization\" initiative expanded two existing nuclear sites to produce new bomb parts. In November 2013, the Obama administration openednegotiationswith Iran to prevent it from acquiringnuclear weapons, which included aninterim agreement. Negotiations took two years with numerous delays, with a deal being announced on July 14, 2015. The deal titled the \"Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action\" saw sanctions removed in exchange for measures that would prevent Iran from producing nuclear weapons. While Obama hailed the agreement as being a step towards a more hopeful world, the deal drew strong criticism from Republican and conservative quarters, and from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.In addition, the transfer of $1.7billion in cash to Iran shortly after the deal was announced was criticized by the Republican party. The Obama administration said that the payment in cash was because of the \"effectiveness of U.S. and international sanctions.\"In order to advance the deal, the Obama administration shieldedHezbollahfrom theDrug Enforcement Administration'sProject Cassandrainvestigation regarding drug smuggling and from theCentral Intelligence Agency.On a side note, the very same year, in December 2015, Obama started a $348billion worth program to back the biggest U.S. buildup of nuclear arms since Ronald Reagan left the White House. Russia In March 2010, an agreement was reached with the administration of Russian PresidentDmitry Medvedevto replace the1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treatywith a new pact reducing the number of long-range nuclear weapons in the arsenals of both countries by about a third.Obama and Medvedev signed theNew STARTtreaty in April 2010, and theU.S. Senateratified it in December 2010.In December 2011, Obama instructed agencies to considerLGBT rightswhen issuing financial aid to foreign countries.In August 2013, he criticized Russia's law that discriminates against gays,but he stopped short of advocating a boycott of the upcoming2014 Winter OlympicsinSochi, Russia. AfterRussia's invasion of Crimeain 2014,military intervention in Syriain 2015, andthe interferencein the2016 U.S. presidential election,George Robertson, a former UK defense secretary and NATO secretary-general, said Obama had \"allowed Putin to jump back on the world stage and test the resolve of the West\", adding that the legacy of this disaster would last. Cultural and political image Obama's family history, upbringing, andIvy Leagueeducation differ markedly from those of African-American politicians who launched their careers in the 1960s through participation in the civil rights movement.Expressing puzzlement over questions about whether he is \"black enough\", Obama told an August 2007 meeting of theNational Association of Black Journaliststhat \"we're still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong.\"Obama acknowledged his youthful image in an October 2007 campaign speech, saying: \"I wouldn't be here if, time and again, the torch had not been passed to a new generation.\"Additionally, Obama has frequently been referred to as an exceptional orator.During his pre-inauguration transition period and continuing into his presidency, Obama delivered a series of weekly Internet video addresses. Job approval According to theGallup Organization, Obama began his presidency with a 68 percentapproval rating,the fifth highest for a president following their swearing in.His ratings remained above the majority level until November 2009and by August 2010 his approval was in the low 40s,a trend similar to Ronald Reagan's and Bill Clinton's first years in office.Following thedeath of Osama bin Ladenon May 2, 2011, Obama experienced a small poll bounce and steadily maintained 50–53 percent approval for about a month, until his approval numbers dropped back to the low 40s. His approval rating fell to 38 percent on several occasions in late 2011before recovering in mid-2012 with polls showing an average approval of 50 percent.After his second inauguration in 2013, Obama's approval ratings remained stable around 52 percentbefore declining for the rest of the year and eventually bottoming out at 39 percent in December.In polling conducted before the2014 midterm elections, Obama's approval ratings were at their lowestwith his disapproval rating reaching a high of 57 percent.His approval rating continued to lag throughout most of 2015 but began to reach the high 40s by the end of the year.According to Gallup, Obama's approval rating reached 50 percent in March 2016, a level unseen since May 2013.In polling conducted January 16–19, 2017, Obama's final approval rating was 59 percent, which placed him on par withGeorge H. W. BushandDwight D. Eisenhower, whose final Gallup ratings also measured in the high 50s. Obama has maintained relatively positive public perceptions after his presidency.In Gallup's retrospective approval polls of former presidents, Obama garnered a 63 percent approval rating in 2018 and again in 2023, ranking him the fourth most popular president since World War II. Foreign perceptions Polls showed strong support for Obama in other countries both before and during his presidency.In a February 2009 poll conducted in Western Europe and the U.S. byHarris InteractiveforFrance 24and theInternational Herald Tribune, Obama was rated as the most respected world leader, as well as the most powerful.In a similar poll conducted by Harris in May 2009, Obama was rated as the most popular world leader, as well as the one figure most people would pin their hopes on for pulling the world out of the economic downturn. On October 9, 2009—only nine months into his first term—theNorwegian Nobel Committeeannounced that Obama had won the2009 Nobel Peace Prize\"for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples\",which drew a mixture of praise and criticism from world leaders and media figures.He became the fourth U.S. president to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and the third to become a Nobel laureate while in office.He himself called it a \"call to action\" and remarked: \"I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments but rather an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations\". Thanks, Obama In 2009 the saying \"thanks, Obama\" first appeared in aTwitter hashtag\"#thanks Obama\" and was later used in a demotivational poster. It was later adopted satirically to blame Obama for any socio-economic ills. Obama himself used the phrase in video in 2015 and 2016. In 2017 the phrase was used byStephen Colbertto express gratitude to Obama on his last day in office. In 2022, President Joe Biden's Twitter account posted the phrase. Post-presidency (2017–present) Obama's presidency ended on January 20, 2017, upon theinaugurationof his successor,Donald Trump.The family moved to a house they rented inKalorama, Washington, D.C.On March 2, theJohn F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museumawarded theProfile in Courage Awardto Obama \"for his enduring commitment to democratic ideals and elevating the standard of political courage.\"His first public appearance since leaving the office was a seminar at theUniversity of Chicagoon April 24, where he appealed for a new generation to participate in politics.On September 7, Obama partnered with former presidents Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush to work withOne America Appealto help the victims ofHurricane HarveyandHurricane Irmain theGulf CoastandTexascommunities.From October 31 to November 1, Obama hosted the inaugural summit of theObama Foundation,which he intended to be the central focus of his post-presidency and part of his ambitions for his subsequent activities following his presidency to be more consequential than his time in office. Barack and Michelle Obama signed a deal on May 22, 2018, to produce docu-series, documentaries and features forNetflixunder the Obamas' newly formed production company,Higher Ground Productions.Higher Ground's first film,American Factory, won theAcademy Award for Best Documentary Featurein 2020.On October 24, a pipe bomb addressed to Obama was intercepted by the Secret Service. It was one of several pipe-bombs that had beenmailed out to Democratic lawmakers and officials.In 2019, Barack and Michelle Obama bought a home onMartha's VineyardfromWyc Grousbeck.On October 29, Obama criticized \"wokeness\" andcall-out cultureat the Obama Foundation's annual summit. Obama was reluctant to make an endorsement in the2020 Democratic presidential primariesbecause he wanted to position himself to unify the party, regardless of the nominee.On April 14, 2020, Obama endorsed Biden, the presumptive nominee, for president inthe presidential election, stating that he has \"all the qualities we need in a president right now.\"In May, Obama criticized President Trump forhis handlingof theCOVID-19 pandemic, calling his response to the crisis \"an absolute chaotic disaster\", and stating that the consequences of theTrump presidencyhave been \"our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never before.\"On November 17, Obama's presidential memoir,A Promised Land, was released. In February 2021, Obama and musicianBruce Springsteenstarted a podcast calledRenegades: Born in the USAwhere the two talk about \"their backgrounds, music and their 'enduring love of America.'\"Later that year, Regina Hicks had signed a deal withNetflix, in a venture with his and Michelle's Higher Ground to develop comedy projects. On March 4, 2022, Obama won an Audio Publishers Association (APA) Award in the best narration by the author category for the narration of his memoirA Promised Land.On April 5, Obama visited the White House for the first time since leaving office, in an event celebrating the 12th annual anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act.In June, it was announced that the Obamas and their podcast production company, Higher Ground, signed a multi-year deal withAudible.In September, Obama visited the White House to unveil his and Michelle's official White House portraits.Around the same time, he won aPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Narratorfor his narration in the Netflix documentary seriesOur Great National Parks. In 2022, Obama opposed expanding the Supreme Court beyond the present nine Justices. In March 2023, Obama traveled to Australia as a part of his speaking tour of the country. During the trip, Obama met with Australian Prime MinisterAnthony Albaneseand visitedMelbournefor the first time.Obama was reportedly paid more than $1 million for two speeches. In October 2023, during the Israel–Hamas war, Obama declared thatIsraelmust dismantleHamasin the wake of the2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.Weeks later, Obama warnedIsraelthat its actions could \"harden Palestinian attitudes for generations\" and weaken international support for Israel; any military strategy that ignored the war's human costs \"could ultimately backfire.\" In July 2024, Obama expressed concerns about Biden's campaign viability. Legacy and recognition He has been described as one of the most effective campaigners in American history (his 2008 campaign being particularly highlighted) as well as one of the most talented political orators of the 21st century.HistorianJulian Zelizercredits Obama with \"a keen sense of how the institutions of government work and the ways that his team could design policy proposals.\" Zeitzer notes Obama's policy successes included the economic stimulus package which ended theGreat Recessionand theDodd-Frankfinancial and consumer protection reforms, as well as theAffordable Care Act. Zeitzer also notes the Democratic Party lost power and numbers of elected officials during Obama's term, saying that the consensus among historians is that Obama \"turned out to be a very effective policymaker but not a tremendously successful party builder.\" Zeitzer calls this the \"defining paradox of Obama's presidency\". TheBrookings Institutionnoted that Obama passed \"only one major legislative achievement (Obamacare)—and a fragile one at that—the legacy of Obama's presidency mainly rests on its tremendous symbolic importance and the fate of a patchwork of executive actions.\"David W. Wise noted that Obama fell short \"in areas many Progressives hold dear\", including the continuation of drone strikes, not going after big banks during the Great Recession, and failing to strengthen his coalition before pushing for Obamacare. Wise called Obama's legacy that of \"a disappointingly conventional president\". Obama's most significant accomplishment is generally considered to be the Affordable Care Act (ACA), provisions of which went into effect from 2010 to 2020. Many attempts by Senate Republicans to repeal the ACA, including a \"skinny repeal\", have thus far failed.However, in 2017, the penalty for violating the individual mandate was repealed effective 2019.Together with theHealth Care and Education Reconciliation Actamendment, it represents the U.S. healthcare system's most significant regulatory overhaul and expansion of coverage since the passage ofMedicareand Medicaid in 1965. Many commentators credit Obama with averting a threateneddepressionand pulling the economy back from the Great Recession.According to theU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, theObama administrationcreated 11.3 million jobs from the month after his first inauguration to the end of his second term.In 2010, Obama signed into effect the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Passed as a response to thefinancial crisis of 2007–2008, it brought the most significant changes tofinancial regulationin the United States since the regulatory reform that followed theGreat Depressionunder Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 2009, Obama signed into law theNational Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, which contained in it the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the first addition to existing federal hate crime law in the United States since Democratic President Bill Clinton signed into law the Church Arson Prevention Act of 1996. The act expandedexisting federal hate crime laws in the United States, and made it a federal crime to assault people based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. As president, Obama advanced LGBT rights.In 2010, he signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act, which brought an end to \"don't ask, don't tell\" policy in the U.S. armed forces that banned open service fromLGBTpeople; the law went into effect the following year.In 2016, his administration brought an end to the ban ontransgenderpeople serving openly in the U.S. armed forces.AGallup poll, taken in the final days of Obama's term, showed that 68 percent of Americans believed the U.S. had made progress on LGBT rights during Obama's eight years in office. Obama substantially escalated the use ofdrone strikesagainst suspected militants and terrorists associated with al-Qaeda and theTaliban.In 2016, the last year of his presidency, the U.S. dropped 26,171 bombs on seven different countries.Obama left about 8,400 U.S. troops inAfghanistan, 5,262 in Iraq, 503 in Syria, 133 in Pakistan, 106 in Somalia, seven in Yemen, and two in Libya at the end of his presidency. According toPew Research CenterandUnited States Bureau of Justice Statistics, from December 31, 2009, to December 31, 2015, inmates sentenced in U.S. federal custody declined by five percent. This is the largest decline in sentenced inmates in U.S. federal custody since Democratic PresidentJimmy Carter. By contrast, the federal prison population increased significantly under presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. Human Rights Watch(HRW) called Obama's human rights record \"mixed\", adding that \"he has often treated human rights as a secondary interest—nice to support when the cost was not too high, but nothing like a top priority he championed.\" Obama left office in January 2017 with a 60 percent approval rating.He gained 10 spots from the same survey in 2015 from the Brookings Institution that ranked him the 18th-greatest American president.In Gallup's 2018 job approval poll for the past 10 U.S. presidents, he received a 63 percent approval rating. Presidential library The Barack Obama Presidential Center is Obama's plannedpresidential library. It will be hosted by the University of Chicago and located inJackson Parkon the South Side of Chicago. Awards and honors Obama received theNorwegian Nobel Committee'sNobel Peace Prizein 2009,The Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education's Ambassador of Humanity Awardin 2014, theJohn F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Awardin 2017, and theRobert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights Ripple of Hope Awardin 2018. He was namedTIMEMagazine'sTimePerson of the Yearin 2008 and 2012. He also received twoGrammy Awards for Best Spoken Word AlbumforDreams from My Father(2006), andThe Audacity of Hope(2008) as well as twoPrimetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding NarratorforOur Great National Parks(2022), andWorking: What We Do All Day(2023). He also won twoChildren's and Family Emmy Awards. Eponymy Bibliography Books Audiobooks Articles See also Politics Other Lists Notes References Bibliography Further reading External links Official Other","Contiguous United States Thecontiguous United States(officially theconterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoiningU.S. statesand theDistrict of Columbiaof theUnited States of Americain centralNorth America.The term excludes the only two non-contiguousstates, which areAlaskaandHawaii(they are also the last two states to beadmitted to the Union), and all other offshoreinsular areas, such as theU.S. territoriesofAmerican Samoa,Guam, theNorthern Mariana Islands,Puerto Rico, and theU.S. Virgin Islands.The colloquial term \"Lower48\"is also used, especially in relation to Alaska. The related but distinct termcontinental United Statesincludes Alaska, which is also on North America, but separated from the 48 states byBritish Columbiain Canada, but excludes Hawaii and all the insular areas in theCaribbeanand thePacific. The greatest distance (on agreat-circleroute) entirely within the contiguous U.S. is 2,802 miles (4,509 km), coast-to-coast betweenFloridaand theState of Washington;the greatest north–south line is 1,650 miles (2,660 km).The contiguous United States occupies an area of 3,119,884.69 square miles (8,080,464.3 km2). Of this area, 2,959,064.44 square miles (7,663,941.7 km2) is actual land, composing 83.65 percent of the country's total land area, and is comparable in size to the area of Australia.Officially, 160,820.25 square miles (416,522.5 km2) of the contiguous United States is water area, composing 62.66 percent of the nation's total water area. The contiguous United States, if it were a country, would be fifth on thelist of countries and dependencies by area, behindRussia,Canada,China, andBrazil. However, the total area of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, ranks third or fourth. Brazil is 431,000 square kilometers (166,000 sq mi) larger than the contiguous United States, but smaller than the entire United States including Alaska, Hawaii and overseas territories. The2020 U.S. censuspopulation of the area was 328,571,074, comprising 99.13 percent of the nation's total population, and a density of 111.04 inhabitants/sq mi (42.872/km2), compared to 93.844/sq mi (36.233/km2) for the nation as a whole. Other terms Whileconterminous U.S.has the precise meaning ofcontiguous U.S.(both adjectives meaning \"sharing a common boundary\"), other terms commonly used to describe the 48 contiguous states have a greater degree of ambiguity. Continental and mainland United States BecauseAlaskais also a part ofNorth America, the termcontinental United Statesalso includes that state, so the term is qualified with the explicit inclusion of Alaska to resolve any ambiguity.On May 14, 1959, theUnited States Board on Geographic Namesissued the following definitions based partially on the reference in the Alaska Omnibus Bill, which defined the continental United States as \"the 49 States on the North American Continent and the District of Columbia...\" The Board reaffirmed these definitions on May 13, 1999.However, even before Alaska became a state, it was properly included within the continental U.S. due to being anincorporated territory. The termmainland United Statesis sometimes used synonymously withcontinental United States, but technically refers only to those parts of states connected to the landmass of North America, thereby excluding not onlyHawaiiand overseasinsular areas, but also islands which are part of continental states but separated from the mainland, such as theAleutian Islands(Alaska),San Juan Islands(Washington), theChannel Islands(California),the Keys(Florida), thebarrier islands(GulfandEast Coaststates), andLong Island(New York). CONUS and OCONUS CONUS, a technical term used by theU.S. Department of Defense,General Services Administration,NOAA/National Weather Service, and others, has been defined both as the continental United States, and as the 48 contiguous states.The District of Columbia is not always specifically mentioned as being part ofCONUS. OCONUSis derived from CONUS withOfor outside added, thus referring to Outside of Continental United States. The lower 48 The termlower 48is also used to refer to the conterminous United States. TheNational Geographicstyle guide recommends the use ofcontiguousorconterminous United Statesinstead oflower 48when the 48 states are meant, unless used in the context of Alaska.Almost all of Hawaii is south of the southernmost point of the conterminous United States in Florida. Zone of the Interior DuringWorld War II, the first fournumbered Air Forcesof theUnited States Army Air Forces(USAAF) were said to be assigned to theZone of the Interiorby the American military organizations of the time—the future states ofAlaskaandHawaii, then each onlyorganized incorporated territoriesof the Union, were respectively covered by theEleventh Air ForceandSeventh Air Forceduring the war. Terms used in the non-contiguous U.S. jurisdictions Residents of Alaska, Hawaii and off-shoreU.S. territorieshave unique labels for the contiguous United States because of their own locations relative to them. Alaska The vast territory ofAlaskabecame the 49th state of the United States on January 3, 1959. Alaska is the northwest extremity of the North American continent, separated from theU.S. West Coastby theCanadian provinceofBritish Columbia. The termLower 48has, for many years, been a common Alaskan equivalent for \"contiguous United States\";today, many Alaskans use the term\"Outside\"for those states, though some may use \"Outside\" to refer toanylocation not within Alaska. Hawaii The territory ofHawaii, consisting of the entireHawaiian Islandsarchipelago except forMidway Atoll,became the 50th state of the United States on August 21, 1959. It is the southernmost U.S. state, and the latest one to join the Union. Not part of any continent, Hawaii is located in thePacific Ocean, about 2,200 miles (3,541 km) from North America and almost halfway between North America andAsia. In Hawaii andoverseas American territories, for instance, the termsthe MainlandorU.S. Mainlandare often used to refer to the 49 states in North America. Puerto Rico Puerto Rico is anunincorporated territoryof the United States located in the northeastCaribbean Sea, approximately 1,000 miles (1,609 km) southeast ofMiami,Florida. Puerto Ricans born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens and are free to move to the mainland United States. The termStateside Puerto Ricanrefers to residents of any U.S. state or the District of Columbia who were born in, or can trace their family ancestry to, Puerto Rico. U.S. Virgin Islands TheU.S. Virgin Islandsis aU.S. territorylocated directly to the east of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea.The term \"stateside\" is used to refer to the mainland, in relation to the U.S. Virgin Islands(seeStateside Virgin Islands Americans). American Samoa American Samoais aU.S. territorylocated in theSouth Pacific OceaninPolynesia, south of the equator — it is 2,200 miles (3,500 km) southwest ofHawaii.In American Samoa, the contiguous United States is called the \"mainland United States\" or \"the states\"; those not from American Samoa are calledpalagi(outsiders). Non-contiguous areas within the contiguous United States Apart from off-shoreU.S. islands, a few continental portions of the contiguous United States are accessible by road only by traveling through Canada.Point Roberts, Washington;Elm Point, Minnesota; and theNorthwest AngleinMinnesotaare three such places.Alburgh, Vermont, is not directly connected by land, but is accessible by road via bridges from within Vermont and from New York.By contrast,Hyder, Alaska, is physically part of contiguous Alaska and its easternmost town, but the only practical access is by road through Canada or by seaplane. List of contiguous U.S. states The 48 contiguous states are: In addition, theDistrict of Columbiais within the contiguous United States. See also Notes References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Pokémon World Championships ThePokémon World Championshipsis an invite-onlyesportsevent organized byPlay! Pokémon. It is held annually in August and features games from thePokémonseries such as thePokémonvideo games,Pokémon Trading Card Game,Pokémon Go,Pokémon UniteandPokkén Tournament(until its 2022 edition). Players earn invitations to the World Championships based on their performance in qualifiers and other tournaments held throughout the season and compete for scholarship money, prizes and the title of World Champion. With the exception ofAsia, invitations to the World Championships are administered by thePlay! Pokémonprogram. History The Pokémon World Championships first began with thePokémon Trading Card Game(TCG) in 2004, which was around the time that the franchise was regaining its popularity.In 2009, Play! Pokémon began to organize competitive tournaments for thePokémonvideo game series alongside the TCG, which is collectively known as the Video Game Championships (VGC). Like the TCG Championships, players compete with other players in their own age divisions (i.e. Junior, Senior and Masters) in different Premier Tournaments, and the season culminates with the best players earning an invitation to play the Pokémon World Championships in August. The tournaments in VGC are played with a different game each year, mainly, the latestPokémongame from its main series. In 2016, Play! Pokémon announced thatPokkén Tournamentwould have its own championship series and would be played at the Pokémon World Championships.From 2018 onward,Pokkén Tournament DXwas used to support its qualifiers and competitions. In 2019, it was announced that the 2020 Pokémon World Championships would take place inLondon, United Kingdom,the first time in which the World Championships would be held in a location outside ofNorth America. This is likely due to the setting ofPokémon Sword and Shield, which takes place in a region inspired by the United Kingdom known as Galar, and it is the set of games that would be played by the video game division of the World Championships. On March 31, 2020,Play! Pokémoncancelled the 2020 Pokémon World Championships and suspended its 2020 season due to health concerns over theCOVID-19 pandemic.This came after earlier announcements in March which saw the cancellation of the 2020 European International Championshipsand part of its season between March and June 2020.On February 9, 2021, it was announced that the 2021 Pokémon World Championships would postponed till 2022 for the same reasons. In early January 2022, it was confirmed thatPokémon Unitewould be played at the World Championships, making it the newestMOBAgame to have an official esports tournament, afterLeague of Legends. In May 2022, after six seasons, Play! Pokémon announced the end of thePokkén TournamentChampionship Series after the 2022 season. At the 2022 edition of the event, it was announced that the 2023 World Championships will take place inYokohama, Japan (the basis of Vermilion City in the Kanto region). When the 2023 event took place, it was the first time that the World Championships visited the franchise's country of origin, as well as the first World Championships to take place in Asia. At the end of the 2023 event, The Pokémon Company announced that the Pokémon World Championships will return toHawaiifor the first time since the previous World Championships in the state was held back in 2012. World Championship locations Despite Pokémon being a Japanese product, only one World Championship (2023) was held in Japan. Almost all of the remaining events were held in the United States. Qualification The qualifying process for the Pokémon World Championships varies each year and is dependent on a player's age division and the country in which they are located in. Players may also qualify to play on different days of the World Championships based on their performance in their respective qualifying programs; the best performing players will immediately advance to the second day of the World Championships playoffs (i.e. \\\"Day 2\\\") instead of playing through the first day (i.e. \\\"Day 1\\\"). Play! Pokémon program Players located in a country with aPlay! Pokémonprogram (i.e. inNorth America,Europe,Latin AmericaandOceania) compete in a regular schedule of tournaments for Championship Points and receive invitations when they meet a predetermined threshold of points at the end of the season. In 2015, the Play! Pokémon program expanded to include countries from the continents ofLatin AmericaandAsia(except Japan and South Korea). However, on June 10, 2020, it was announced thatAsiawould no longer be part of the Play! Pokémon program and will have its own qualifying system towards the Pokémon World Championships. Pokémon GO Championship Series Pokémon announced in October 2021 thatPokémon GOwould be added during the 2022 World Championships,along with it a qualification system through the Pokémon GO Championship Series, where the top two head to the World Championships.Any trainer who reached Legend rank during Season 9 of thePokémon GO Battle Leaguewould qualify for the GO Championship Series. Pokémon Unite Championship Series In January 2022,Pokémon Uniteproducer Masaaki Hoshino confirmed that the game would be part of the roster of games to be played at the World Championships in London.For the first season of the Pokémon Unite Championship Series, there will be eleven supported Regional Zones: North America, Central America, South America-East, South America-West, Europe, Oceania, Japan, South Korea, India, and the Asia-Pacific region. These events will only be open to players aged 16 or 18, depending on the region or country they are from. In each month, a series of tournaments in each Regional Zone will be held. Like other games in the World Championships, players will earn Championship Points based on their finishing position in that month's tournament. The CP can be retained by players to allow for team changes as the season carries on. The team with the most points qualifies for the Regional Championships, and the top teams from the Regional Championships qualify for a chance to compete at the Pokémon World Championships. In January 2023, there were changes to the competitive structure and Regional Zones. Pokémon World Championships nearly doubled available spots from 16, to 31 teams. Regional Zones controlled by TPCi were also changed, with Central America, South America-East and South America West being changed to LATAM North, LATAM South, and Brazil. TPC had also taken control of the India and Asia-Pacific Regional Zones, and split Asia-Pacific into 2 regions; Asia-Pacific East and Asia-Pacific West. For TPCi controlled regions, the previous month's top 4 did not auto qualify for the next month's tournament finals. Additionally, an extra monthly tournament was added, the April Cup. Championship Points were also changed to include top CP earners an invite to Pokémon World Championships, ranging from top 1 to 3 in top CP earners depending on how many invites were given for a region. For TPC controlled regions, their tournament circuit began in April, with 3 monthly qualifiers. The winners of these qualifiers then participated in Regionals to earn a spot for Pokémon World Championships. Among those changes, both North America and Europe were also given their first regional LAN event. Europe had a LAN event for their Aeos Cup series at European International Championships. North America were given a regional LAN event at the North America International Championships. In 2023, competing countries were divided into eight groups of four teams (groups A to H). Teams in each group play each another in a best-of-three seriesround-robin, with the top team advancing to the Top 8 knockout stage. The final draw took place virtually on thePokémon UniteYouTubechannel on July 28, 2023. The prize pool is $500,000 in USD will be distributed among the Top 16 finishers in the championship. Japan & South Korea Tournaments inJapanandSouth Koreaare organised independently from Play! Pokémon, and as such, players from these countries have a different system of qualification. In Japan, players compete for an invite to theJapan National Championshipsby playing in major qualifier or online tournaments held throughout the season.The best performing players of theJapan National Championshipswill then be selected to represent Japan in the Pokémon World Championships. In South Korea, the style of qualification for the World Championships changes frequently. For example, in 2015, players would compete in theKorean National Championshipsand earn a World Championships invitation based on their standing in the tournament. However, in 2019, players would compete in tournaments organized by theKorean Leagueand earn an invite based on the number of points they had accumulated by the end of the season. Other There are other less common methods of qualifying for the World Championships which include finishing at least top 4 or better in the prior year's World Championships or by participating in asingle-elimination tournamentknown as the Last Chance Qualifierat the location of the World Championships itself. List of World Champions Trading Card Game (TCG) Video Game Championships (VGC) Pokémon Go The under-17 age division was discontinued after the 2022 season. All participants of any age now compete in the same tournament. All tournament battles use the Great League battle format (all Pokémon must be below 1,500 Combat Power.) Pokémon Unite Retired games Pokkén Tournament & Pokkén Tournament DX 2014 World Championships The2014 Pokémon World Championshipswas the sixth annual edition of the championships. The event took place in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center onWashington, D.C., alongside the 2014Pokémon Trading Card GameWorld Championship who were in their eleventh edition. The tournament was streamed viaTwitchfor the first time in the tournament history and reached a viewership of more than 800,000. The defending Video Game champions wereArash OmmatifromItaly(Masters Division), Hayden McTavish from theUnited States(Senior Division), and Brendan Zheng from theUnited States(Junior Division). The opening ceremony of the event was attended byJunichi Masuda, the video game designer for thePokémonfranchise and a member of the board of directors ofGame Freak. The finals match of the Masters division is best known and remembered within the Pokémon community forSe Jun Park's victory with the inclusion and use of aPachirisuon his team. 2014 qualification The qualification process for the 2014 Pokémon World Championships was primarily based on Championship Points accumulated by players from official Play! Pokémon tournaments such as Premier Challenges, Regional Championships and National Championships. In addition, the top 4 players of the 2013 Pokémon World Championships in each division, and the top 4 players of a tournament known as the 'Last Chance Qualifier' will also receive an invitation to play in the World Championships. The invitations for the Masters Division of the tournament were distributed in the following manner: Most of the invitations did not include a fully paid trip to the tournament, and as a result several players could not attend the tournament. 2014 tournament structure Players per country Results Six rounds of Swiss was played by 60 players in the tournament, and each round was played with a set of best-of-three matches. The top 8 players after the Swiss rounds advances to the best-of-three Single Elimination matches. The defending World Champion Arash Ommati and former three-time World ChampionRay Rizzodid not advance to the single elimination rounds. Final standings 2015 World Championships The2015 Pokémon World Championshipswas the seventh annual edition of the championships. The event was held alongside thePokémon Trading Card GameWorld Championships at theHynes Convention CenterinBoston, Massachusetts. The tournament was transmitted with live streaming from the official PokémonTwitchchannel. The defending Video Game champions for the year wereSe Jun ParkfromSouth Korea(Masters Division), Nikolai Zielinsky from theUnited States(Senior Division) and Kota Yamamoto fromJapan(Junior Division). 2015 qualification Players could only gain an invitation to play in the Video Game World Championships by either being the2014 Pokémon World Champions, or by obtaining enough Championship Points in their respective geographic zone designated byPlay! Pokémon. However, the only exception to this rule are for players from Japan and South Korea, as their tournaments are not overseen by Play! Pokémon and their invites are governed through a different system of qualification. Since 2014, players were able to earn Championship Points from various tournaments within their geographical region. The tournaments vary in scale, ranging from local Premier Challenges to state-level Regional Championships and finally the large-scale National Championships. The number of points awarded varies with scale, and players who earn these points are ranked and divided into zones such as North America, Europe and South Africa. This year, two new zones (Latin America and Asia-Pacific) were introduced. The 2015 Pokémon Video Game World Championship was intended to be played under two Swiss tournaments and one single-elimination tournament which would then determine the 2015 World Champions. As such, there are two types of invites: As an example, the invitations for the Masters Division were distributed as follows: 2015 tournament structure TheVideo GameChampionships consisted of twoSwiss tournamentsand one single elimination tournament played across three days. On Friday (Day 1), all players who earned an invitation without a Day 1 bye were entered into a Swiss tournament, where players with two or fewer losses would advance onto the next round. The second Swiss tournament was then played on Saturday (Day 2), where players who advanced from Day 1 were joined by players who received an invitation with a Day 1 bye. At the end of the Day 2 Swiss tournament, the top eight players played in single elimination rounds until the last two remain. The finals took place on Sunday (Day 3). Final standings (Video Game Championships) Weapons controversy During the 2015 World Championships, two Trading Card Game competitors fromIowa(Kevin Norton, 18, and James Stumbo, 27) brought weapons in their vehicle, which were recovered by the police. The two posted status updates and images of their weaponry on social media, which were noticed by variousPokémonfans who treated them as supposed threats against the tournament. The updates were reported to theBoston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC), who promptly seized their automobile and then stopped them at the door and barred them from entering the Hynes Convention Center on Thursday evening. Police executed a search warrant on Friday and Norton and Stumbo were arrested at their Red Roof Inn room in Saugus just after midnight on Saturday, August 22, 2015.The two were arrested on charges of unlicensed possession of firearms and ammunition, and were initially held without bail.The weapons recovered were a recently purchasedRemingtonshotgun, anAR-15, a hunting knife and several hundred rounds of ammunition.They pleaded not guilty at their arraignment on November 10, 2015, and their bail was set at $150,000.On December 2, 2015, their trial was set for May 9, 2016, however, in early April 2016, their trial was postponed to November 2016.Following the release ofPokémon Goin July 2016, Stumbo's attorney indicated that the case would be resolved soon.Norton and Stumbo were later sentenced to two years in prison with an additional two years probation once their prison term ends. 2016 World Championships The2016 Pokémon World Championshipswas the eighth annual edition of the championships. The event was held at theSan Francisco Marriott MarquisinSan Francisco, California, from August 19 to August 21.For the first time in the tournament history, thePokkén Tournamentinvitational was featured alongside the Video Game Championships (VGC) and Trading Card Game (TCG) tournaments. Side events and an official store with event merchandise occurred alongside the event. The defending Video Game champions were Shoma Honami fromJapan(Masters Division), Mark McQuillan from theUnited Kingdom(Senior Division) and Kotone Yasue from Japan (Junior Division).The defending Trading Card Game champions were Jacob Van Wagner from theUnited States(Masters Division), Patrick Martinez from the United States (Senior Division), and Rowan Stavenow fromCanada. Age divisions and qualifications Both the Pokémon VGC and TCG were divided into three age divisions: theJunior Division(born 2005 or later), theSenior Division(born between 2001 and 2004), and theMasters Division(born 2000 or earlier). For thePokkén Tournamentinvitational, players were grouped into either theSenior Division(born 2001 or later) orMasters Division(born 2000 or earlier). The process of obtaining an invitation is primarily based on Championship Points.Players could earn Championship Points by performing in select online and live tournaments held throughout the 2016 season (between September 2015 and July 2016). Players from Japan andSouth Koreawere excluded from this rule as these countries had their own method of qualification not based on Championship Points. Play! Pokémondivided players into five different rating zones: US andCanada,Europe,Latin America,Asia-PacificandSouth Africa. Different zones had different Championship Points requirements due to the distribution of events around the world. There are two possible invitations players could obtain: 'Day Two' invites were usually accompanied by travel awards and stipends paid by Play! Pokémon. Trading Card Game Championship qualifications The following table shows the Championship Pointsrequirement for an invitation to the 2016 World Championships: Players in Japan and South Korea were awarded invitations based on each country's organized play system. Video Game Championship qualifications For the Masters Division, the following table lists the Championship Points requirement for an invitation to the 2016 World Championships: 2016 tournament structure The Video Game Championships consisted of two Swiss tournaments and one single elimination tournament played across three days. On Friday (Day 1), all players who earned an invitation without a Day 1 bye were entered into a Swiss tournament, where players with two or fewer losses would advance onto the next round. The second Swiss tournament was then played on Saturday (Day 2), where players who advanced from Day 1 were joined by players who received an invitation with a Day 1 bye. At the end of the Day 2 Swiss tournament, players with two or fewer losses advanced to play in single elimination rounds until the last two remain. The finals took place on Sunday (Day 3). Final standings (Video Game Championships) Final standings (Trading Card Game) References\",\n \"Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II(born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44thpresident of the United Statesfrom 2009 to 2017. As a member of theDemocratic Party, he was the firstAfrican-Americanpresident in U.S. history. Obama previously served as aU.S. senatorrepresentingIllinoisfrom 2005 to 2008 and as anIllinois state senatorfrom 1997 to 2004. Obama was born inHonolulu,Hawaii. He graduated fromColumbia Universityin 1983 with aBachelor of Artsdegree in political science and later worked as acommunity organizerinChicago. In 1988, Obama enrolled inHarvard Law School, where he was the first black president of theHarvard Law Review. He became a civil rights attorney and an academic, teachingconstitutional lawat theUniversity of Chicago Law Schoolfrom 1992 to 2004. He also went into elective politics; Obamarepresented the 13th district in the Illinois Senatefrom 1997 until 2004, when hesuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate. In the2008 presidential election, aftera close primary campaignagainstHillary Clinton, he was nominated by the Democratic Party for president. Obama selectedJoe Bidenas his running mate and defeatedRepublicannomineeJohn McCain. Obama was named the2009 Nobel Peace Prizelaureate, a decision that drew a mixture of criticism and praise. His first-term actions addressed theglobal financial crisisand includeda major stimulus packageto guide the economy in recovering from theGreat Recession, a partial extension ofGeorge W. Bush'stax cuts,legislation to reform health care,a major financial regulation reform bill, and the end of a major U.S.military presence in Iraq. Obama also appointedSupreme CourtjusticesSonia SotomayorandElena Kagan, the former being the firstHispanic Americanon the Supreme Court. He orderedOperation Neptune Spear, the raid that killedOsama bin Laden, who was responsible for theSeptember 11 attacks. Obama downplayed Bush'scounterinsurgency model, expandingair strikesand making extensive use of special forces, while encouraging greater reliance on host-government militaries. He also orderedmilitary involvement in Libyain order to implementUN Security Council Resolution 1973, contributing to the overthrow ofMuammar Gaddafi. Obama defeated Republican opponentMitt Romneyin the2012 presidential election. In his second term, Obama took steps tocombat climate change, signinga major international climate agreementand anexecutive orderto limitcarbon emissions. Obama also presided over the implementation of theAffordable Care Actand other legislation passed in his first term. He negotiateda nuclear agreement with Iranandnormalized relations with Cuba. The number ofAmerican soldiers in Afghanistandecreased during Obama's second term, though U.S. soldiers remained in the country throughout Obama's presidency. Obama promoted inclusion forLGBT Americans, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to publicly supportsame-sex marriage. Obama left office on January 20, 2017, and continues to reside in Washington, D.C. Historians and political scientists rank him among the upper tier inhistorical rankings of American presidents.His presidential libraryin theSouth Side of Chicagobegan construction in 2021. Since leaving office, Obama has remained politically active, campaigning for candidates in various American elections, including Biden'ssuccessful presidential bidin2020. Outside of politics,Obama has published three books:Dreams from My Father(1995),The Audacity of Hope(2006), andA Promised Land(2020). Early life and career Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961,atKapiolani Medical Center for Women and ChildreninHonolulu, Hawaii.He is the only president born outside thecontiguous 48 states.He was born to an 18-year-old American mother and a 27-year-old Kenyan father. His mother,Ann Dunham(1942–1995), was born inWichita, Kansas, and was of English, Welsh, German, Swiss, and Irish descent. In 2007 it was discovered her great-great-grandfather Falmouth Kearney emigrated from the village ofMoneygall, Irelandto the U.S. in 1850.In July 2012,Ancestry.comfound a strong likelihood that Dunham was descended fromJohn Punch, an enslaved African man who lived in theColony of Virginiaduring the seventeenth century.Obama's father,Barack Obama Sr.(1934–1982),was a marriedLuo KenyanfromNyang'oma Kogelo.His last name, Obama, was derived from his Luo descent.Obama's parents met in 1960 in a Russian language class at theUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where his father was a foreign student on a scholarship.The couple married inWailuku, Hawaii, on February 2, 1961, six months before Obama was born. In late August 1961, a few weeks after he was born, Barack and his mother moved to theUniversity of WashingtoninSeattle, where they lived for a year. During that time, Barack's father completed his undergraduate degree in economics in Hawaii, graduating in June 1962. He left to attend graduate school on a scholarship atHarvard University, where he earned anM.A.in economics. Obama's parents divorced in March 1964.Obama Sr. returned toKenyain 1964, where he married for a third time and worked for the Kenyan government as the Senior Economic Analyst in the Ministry of Finance.He visited his son in Hawaii only once, at Christmas 1971,before he was killed in an automobile accident in 1982, when Obama was 21 years old.Recalling his early childhood, Obama said: \\\"That my father looked nothing like the people around me—that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk—barely registered in my mind.\\\"He described his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage. In 1963, Dunham metLolo Soetoroat theUniversity of Hawaii; he was anIndonesianEast–West Centergraduate studentingeography. The couple married onMolokaion March 15, 1965.After two one-year extensions of hisJ-1 visa, Lolo returned toIndonesiain 1966. His wife and stepson followed sixteen months later in 1967. The family initially lived in the Menteng Dalam neighborhood in theTebetdistrict ofSouth Jakarta. From 1970, they lived in a wealthier neighborhood in theMentengdistrict ofCentral Jakarta. Education At the age of six, Obama and his mother had moved to Indonesia to join his stepfather. From age six to ten, he was registered in school as \\\"Barry\\\"and attended localIndonesian-languageschools:Sekolah Dasar Katolik Santo Fransiskus Asisi(St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Elementary School) for two years andSekolah Dasar Negeri Menteng 01(State Elementary School Menteng 01) for one and a half years, supplemented by English-languageCalvert Schoolhomeschooling by his mother.As a result of his four years inJakarta, he was able to speakIndonesianfluently as a child.During his time in Indonesia, Obama's stepfather taught him to be resilient and gave him \\\"a pretty hardheaded assessment of how the world works\\\". In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents,MadelynandStanley Dunham. He attendedPunahou School—a privatecollege preparatory school—with the aid of a scholarship from fifth grade until he graduated from high school in 1979.In high school, Obama continued to use the nickname \\\"Barry\\\" which he kept until making a visit to Kenya in 1980.Obama lived with his mother and half-sister,Maya Soetoro, in Hawaii for three years from 1972 to 1975 while his mother was a graduate student inanthropologyat the University of Hawaii.Obama chose to stay in Hawaii when his mother and half-sister returned to Indonesia in 1975, so his mother could begin anthropology field work.His mother spent most of the next two decades in Indonesia, divorcing Lolo Soetoro in 1980 and earning a PhD degree in 1992, before dying in 1995 in Hawaii following unsuccessful treatment forovariananduterine cancer. Of his years in Honolulu, Obama wrote: \\\"The opportunity that Hawaii offered — to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect — became an integral part of my world view, and a basis for the values that I hold most dear.\\\"Obama has also written and talked about usingalcohol,marijuana, andcocaineduring his teenage years to \\\"push questions of who I was out of my mind\\\".Obama was also a member of the \\\"Choom Gang\\\" (the slang term for smoking marijuana), a self-named group of friends who spent time together and smoked marijuana. College and research jobs After graduating from high school in 1979, Obama moved to Los Angeles to attendOccidental Collegeon a full scholarship. In February 1981, Obama made his first public speech, calling for Occidental to participate in thedisinvestment from South Africain response to that nation's policy ofapartheid.In mid-1981, Obama traveled to Indonesia to visit his mother and half-sister Maya and visited the families of college friends inPakistanfor three weeks.Later in 1981, hetransferredtoColumbia Universityin New York City as ajunior, where he majored inpolitical sciencewith a specialty ininternational relationsand inEnglish literatureand lived off-campus on West 109th Street.He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983 and a 3.7GPA. After graduating, Obama worked for about a year at theBusiness International Corporation, where he was a financial researcher and writer,then as a project coordinator for theNew York Public Interest Research Groupon theCity College of New Yorkcampus for three months in 1985. Community organizer and Harvard Law School Two years after graduating from Columbia, Obama moved from New York to Chicago when he was hired as director of theDeveloping Communities Project, a faith-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes inRoseland,West Pullman, andRiverdaleon Chicago'sSouth Side. He worked there as a community organizer from June 1985 to May 1988.He helped set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization inAltgeld Gardens.Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for theGamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time inEuropefor three weeks and then for five weeks in Kenya, where he met many of hispaternal relativesfor the first time. Despite being offered a full scholarship toNorthwestern University School of Law, Obama enrolled atHarvard Law Schoolin the fall of 1988, living in nearbySomerville, Massachusetts.He was selected as an editor of theHarvard Law Reviewat the end of his first year,president of the journal in his second year,and research assistant to the constitutional scholarLaurence Tribewhile at Harvard.During his summers, he returned to Chicago, where he worked as asummer associateat the law firms ofSidley Austinin 1989 andHopkins & Sutterin 1990.Obama's election as thefirst black president of theHarvard Law Reviewgained national media attentionand led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race relations,which evolved into a personal memoir. The manuscript was published in mid-1995 asDreams from My Father.Obama graduated from Harvard Law in 1991 with aJuris Doctormagna cum laude. University of Chicago Law School In 1991, Obama accepted a two-year position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at theUniversity of Chicago Law Schoolto work on his first book.He then taughtconstitutional lawat the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years, first as a lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and then as a senior lecturer from 1996 to 2004. From April to October 1992, Obama directed Illinois'sProject Vote, avoter registration campaignwith ten staffers and seven hundred volunteer registrars; it achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African Americans in the state, leadingCrain's Chicago Businessto name Obama to its 1993 list of \\\"40 under Forty\\\" powers to be. Family and personal life In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity ofhis extended family: \\\"It's like a little mini-United Nations,\\\" he said. \\\"I've got relatives who look likeBernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look likeMargaret Thatcher.\\\"Obama has a half-sister with whom he was raised (Maya Soetoro-Ng) and seven other half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family, six of them living.Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham,until her death on November 2, 2008,two days before his election to the presidency. Obama also has roots in Ireland; he met with his Irish cousins inMoneygallin May 2011.InDreams from My Father, Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives ofJefferson Davis,President of the Confederate States of Americaduring theAmerican Civil War. He also shares distant ancestors in common withGeorge W. BushandDick Cheney, among others. Obama lived with anthropologistSheila Miyoshi Jagerwhile he was a community organizer in Chicago in the 1980s.He proposed to her twice, but both Jager and her parents turned him down.The relationship was not made public until May 2017, several months after his presidency had ended. In June 1989, Obama metMichelle Robinsonwhen he was employed atSidley Austin.Robinson was assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, and she joined him at several group social functions but declined his initial requests to date.They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992.After suffering a miscarriage, Michelle underwentin vitro fertilizationto conceive their children.The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born in 1998,followed by a second daughter, Natasha (\\\"Sasha\\\"), in 2001.The Obama daughters attended theUniversity of Chicago Laboratory Schools. When they moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2009, the girls started at theSidwell Friends School.The Obamas had twoPortuguese Water Dogs; the first, a male namedBo, was a gift from SenatorTed Kennedy.In 2013, Bo was joined bySunny, a female.Bo died of cancer on May 8, 2021. Obama is a supporter of theChicago White Sox, and he threw out the first pitch at the2005 ALCSwhen he was still a senator.In 2009, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at theAll-Star Gamewhile wearing a White Sox jacket.He is also primarily aChicago Bearsfootball fan in theNFL, but in his childhood and adolescence was afan of the Pittsburgh Steelersand rooted for them ahead of their victory inSuper Bowl XLIII12 days after he took office as president.In 2011, Obama invited the1985 Chicago Bearsto the White House; the team had not visited the White House after theirSuper Bowl winin 1986 due to theSpace Shuttle Challenger disaster.He playsbasketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team,and he is left-handed. In 2005, the Obama family applied the proceeds of a book deal and moved from aHyde Park, Chicagocondominium to a $1.6million house (equivalent to $2.5million in 2023) in neighboringKenwood, Chicago.The purchase of an adjacent lot—and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer, campaign donor and friendTony Rezko—attracted media attention because of Rezko's subsequent indictment and conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to Obama. In December 2007,Money Magazineestimated Obama's net worth at $1.3million (equivalent to $1.9million in 2023).Their 2009 tax return showed a household income of $5.5million—up from about $4.2million in 2007 and $1.6million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books.On his 2010 income of $1.7million, he gave 14 percent to non-profit organizations, including $131,000 toFisher House Foundation, a charity assisting wounded veterans' families, allowing them to reside near where the veteran is receiving medical treatments.Per his 2012 financial disclosure, Obama may be worth as much as $10million. Religious views Obama is aProtestantChristian whose religious views developed in his adult life.He wrote inThe Audacity of Hopethat he \\\"was not raised in a religious household.\\\" He described his mother, raised by non-religious parents, as being detached from religion, yet \\\"in many ways the most spiritually awakened person... I have ever known\\\", and \\\"a lonely witness forsecular humanism.\\\" He described his father as a \\\"confirmedatheist\\\" by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as \\\"a man who saw religion as not particularly useful.\\\" Obama explained how, through working withblack churchesas acommunity organizerwhile in his twenties, he came to understand \\\"the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change.\\\" In January 2008, Obama toldChristianity Today: \\\"I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in theredemptive deathandresurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life.\\\"On September 27, 2010, Obama released a statement commenting on his religious views, saying: I'm a Christian by choice. My family didn't—frankly, they weren't folks who went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn't raise me in the church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts ofJesus Christspoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead—being my brothers' and sisters' keeper,treating others as they would treat me. Obama metTrinity United Church of ChristpastorJeremiah Wrightin October 1987 and became a member of Trinity in 1992.During Obama's first presidential campaign in May 2008, he resigned from Trinity aftersome of Wright's statements were criticized.Since moving to Washington, D.C., in 2009, the Obama family has attended several Protestant churches, includingShiloh Baptist ChurchandSt. John's Episcopal Church, as well as Evergreen Chapel atCamp David, but the members of the family do not attend church on a regular basis. In 2016, he said that he gets inspiration from a few items that remind him \\\"of all the different people I've met along the way\\\", adding: \\\"I carry these around all the time. I'm not that superstitious, so it's not like I think I necessarily have to have them on me at all times.\\\" The items, \\\"a whole bowl full\\\", include rosary beads given to him byPope Francis, a figurine of the Hindu deityHanuman, aCoptic crossfrom Ethiopia, a smallBuddha statuegiven by a monk, and a metal poker chip that used to be the lucky charm of a motorcyclist in Iowa. Legal career Civil rights attorney He joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a 13-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was anassociatefor three years from 1993 to 1996, thenof counselfrom 1996 to 2004. In 1994, he was listed as one of the lawyers inBuycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank, 94 C 4094 (N.D. Ill.). Thisclass action lawsuitwas filed in 1994 with Selma Buycks-Roberson as lead plaintiff and alleged that Citibank Federal Savings Bank had engaged in practices forbidden under theEqual Credit Opportunity Actand theFair Housing Act. The case was settled out of court. From 1994 to 2002, Obama served on the boards of directors of theWoods Fund of Chicago—which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund the Developing Communities Project—and of theJoyce Foundation.He served on the board of directors of theChicago Annenberg Challengefrom 1995 to 2002, as founding president and chairman of the board of directors from 1995 to 1999.Obama's law license became inactive in 2007. Legislative career Illinois Senate (1997–2004) Obama was elected to theIllinois Senatein 1996, succeeding Democratic State SenatorAlice PalmerfromIllinois's 13th District, which, at that time, spanned Chicago South Side neighborhoods from Hyde Park–Kenwood south toSouth Shoreand west toChicago Lawn.Once elected, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation that reformed ethics and health care laws.He sponsored a law that increasedtax creditsfor low-income workers, negotiatedwelfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare.In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican GovernorGeorge Ryan'spayday loanregulations andpredatory mortgage lendingregulations aimed at averting homeforeclosures. He was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998, defeating Republican Yesse Yehudah in the general election, and was re-elected again in 2002.In 2000, he lost aDemocratic primary raceforIllinois's 1st congressional districtin theUnited States House of Representativesto four-term incumbentBobby Rushby a margin of two to one. In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after a decade in the minority, regained a majority.He sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitorracial profilingby requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained, and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations.During his 2004 general election campaign for the U.S. Senate, police representatives credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enactingdeath penaltyreforms.Obama resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the U.S. Senate. 2004 U.S. Senate campaign in Illinois In May 2002, Obama commissioned a poll to assess his prospects in a 2004 U.S. Senate race. He created a campaign committee, began raising funds, and lined up political media consultantDavid Axelrodby August 2002. Obama formally announced his candidacy in January 2003. Obama was an early opponent of the George W. Bush administration's2003 invasion of Iraq.On October 2, 2002, the day President Bush and Congress agreed on thejoint resolutionauthorizing theIraq War,Obama addressed the first high-profile Chicagoanti-Iraq War rally,and spoke out against the war.He addressed another anti-war rally in March 2003 and told the crowd \\\"it's not too late\\\" to stop the war. Decisions by Republican incumbentPeter Fitzgeraldand his Democratic predecessorCarol Moseley Braunnot to participate in the election resulted in wide-open Democratic and Republican primary contests involving 15 candidates.In the March 2004 primary election, Obama won in an unexpected landslide—which overnight made him a rising star within thenational Democratic Party, started speculation about a presidential future, and led to the reissue of his memoir,Dreams from My Father.In July 2004, Obama deliveredthe keynote addressat the2004 Democratic National Convention,seen by nine million viewers. His speech was well received and elevated his status within the Democratic Party. Obama's expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary winnerJack Ryan, withdrew from the race in June 2004.Six weeks later,Alan Keyesaccepted the Republican nomination to replace Ryan.In theNovember 2004 general election, Obama won with 70 percent of the vote, the largest margin of victory for a Senate candidate in Illinois history.He took 92 of the state's 102 counties, including several where Democrats traditionally do not do well. U.S. Senate (2005–2008) Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 3, 2005,becoming the only Senate member of theCongressional Black Caucus.He introduced two initiatives that bore his name: Lugar–Obama, which expanded theNunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reductionconcept to conventional weapons;and theFederal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which authorized the establishment of USAspending.gov, a web search engine on federal spending.On June 3, 2008, Senator Obama—along with SenatorsTom Carper,Tom Coburn, andJohn McCain—introduced follow-up legislation: Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008.He alsocosponsoredtheSecure America and Orderly Immigration Act. In December 2006, President Bush signed into law theDemocratic Republic of the CongoRelief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, marking the first federal legislation to be enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor.In January 2007, Obama and Senator Feingold introduced a corporate jet provision to theHonest Leadership and Open Government Act, which was signed into law in September 2007. Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act to add safeguards for personality-disorder military discharges.This amendment passed the full Senate in the spring of 2008.He sponsored the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act supporting divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry, which was never enacted but later incorporated in theComprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010;and co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism.Obama also sponsored a Senate amendment to theState Children's Health Insurance Program, providing one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries. Obama held assignments on the Senate Committees forForeign Relations,Environment and Public Works, andVeterans' Affairsthrough December 2006.In January 2007, he left the Environment and Public Works committee and took additional assignments withHealth, Education, Labor and PensionsandHomeland Security and Governmental Affairs.He also became Chairman of the Senate's subcommittee onEuropean Affairs.As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa. He met withMahmoud Abbasbefore Abbas becamePresident of the Palestinian National Authorityand gave a speech at theUniversity of Nairobiin which he condemned corruption within the Kenyan government. Obamaresigned his Senate seaton November 16, 2008, to focus on his transition period for the presidency. Presidential campaigns 2008 On February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States in front of theOld State Capitolbuilding inSpringfield, Illinois.The choice of the announcement site was viewed as symbolic, as it was also whereAbraham Lincolndelivered his\\\"House Divided\\\"speech in 1858.Obama emphasized issues of rapidly ending the Iraq War, increasingenergy independence, andreforming the health care system. Numerous candidates entered theDemocratic Party presidential primaries. The field narrowed to Obama and SenatorHillary Clintonafter early contests, with the race remaining close throughout the primary process, but Obama gained a steady lead in pledgeddelegatesdue to better long-range planning, superior fundraising, dominant organizing incaucusstates, and better exploitation of delegate allocation rules.On June 2, 2008, Obama had received enough votes to clinch his nomination. After an initial hesitation to concede, on June 7, Clinton ended her campaign and endorsed Obama.On August 23, 2008, Obama announced hisselectionofDelawareSenatorJoe Bidenas his vice presidential running mate.Obama selected Biden from a field speculated to include former Indiana Governor and SenatorEvan Bayhand Virginia GovernorTim Kaine.At theDemocratic National ConventioninDenver, Colorado, Hillary Clinton called for her supporters to endorse Obama, and she andBill Clintongave convention speeches in his support.Obama delivered his acceptance speech atInvesco Field at Mile Highstadium to a crowd of about eighty-four thousand; the speech was viewed by over three million people worldwide.During both the primary process and the general election, Obama's campaign set numerous fundraising records, particularly in the quantity of small donations.On June 19, 2008, Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate to turn downpublic financingin the general election since the system was created in 1976. John McCain was nominated as the Republican candidate, and he selectedSarah Palinas his running mate. Obama and McCain engaged in threepresidential debatesin September and October 2008.On November 4, Obama won the presidency with 365electoral votesto 173 received by McCain.Obama won 52.9 percent of thepopular voteto McCain's 45.7 percent.He became the first African-American to be elected president.Obama deliveredhis victory speechbefore hundreds of thousands of supporters in Chicago'sGrant Park.He is one of the three United States senators moved directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House, the others beingWarren G. HardingandJohn F. Kennedy. 2012 On April 4, 2011, Obama filed election papers with theFederal Election Commissionand then announced his reelection campaign for 2012 in a video titled \\\"It Begins with Us\\\" that he posted on his website.As the incumbent president, he ran virtually unopposed in theDemocratic Party presidential primaries,and on April 3, 2012, Obama secured the 2778conventiondelegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.At theDemocratic National ConventioninCharlotte, North Carolina, Obama and Joe Biden were formally nominated by former President Bill Clinton as the Democratic Party candidates for president and vice president in the general election. Their main opponents were RepublicansMitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, and RepresentativePaul Ryanof Wisconsin. On November 6, 2012, Obama won 332 electoral votes, exceeding the 270 required for him to be reelected as president.With 51.1 percent of the popular vote,Obama became the first Democratic president sinceFranklin D. Rooseveltto win themajority of the popular votetwice.Obama addressed supporters and volunteers at Chicago'sMcCormick Placeafter his reelection and said: \\\"Tonight you voted for action, not politics as usual. You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours. And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties.\\\" Presidency (2009–2017) First 100 days Theinauguration of Barack Obamaas the 44th president took place on January 20, 2009. In his first few days in office, Obama issuedexecutive ordersandpresidential memorandadirecting the U.S. military to develop plans to withdraw troops from Iraq.He ordered the closing of theGuantanamo Bay detention camp,but Congress prevented the closure by refusing to appropriate the required fundsand preventing moving any Guantanamo detainee.Obama reduced the secrecy given to presidential records.He also revoked President George W. Bush's restoration of PresidentRonald Reagan'sMexico City policywhich prohibited federal aid to internationalfamily planningorganizations that perform or provide counseling about abortion. Domestic policy The first bill signed into law by Obama was theLilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, relaxing thestatute of limitationsfor equal-pay lawsuits.Five days later, he signed the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program to cover an additional four million uninsured children.In March 2009, Obama reversed a Bush-era policy that had limited funding ofembryonic stem cellresearch and pledged to develop \\\"strict guidelines\\\" on the research. Obama appointed two women to serve on the Supreme Court in the first two years of his presidency. He nominatedSonia Sotomayoron May 26, 2009, to replace retiringAssociate JusticeDavid Souter. She was confirmed on August 6, 2009,becoming the first Supreme Court Justice ofHispanicdescent.Obama nominatedElena Kaganon May 10, 2010, to replace retiring Associate JusticeJohn Paul Stevens. She was confirmed on August 5, 2010, bringing the number of women sitting simultaneously on the Court to three for the first time in American history. On March 11, 2009, Obama created theWhite House Council on Women and Girls, which formed part of theOffice of Intergovernmental Affairs, having been established byExecutive Order13506with a broad mandate to advise him on issues relating to the welfare of American women and girls. The council was chaired bySenior Advisor to the PresidentValerie Jarrett. Obama also established theWhite House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assaultthrough a government memorandum on January 22, 2014, with a broad mandate to advise him on issues relating to sexual assault on college and university campuses throughout the United States. The co-chairs of the Task Force were Vice President Joe Biden and Jarrett. The Task Force was a development out of the White House Council on Women and Girls andOffice of the Vice President of the United States, and prior to that the 1994Violence Against Women Actfirst drafted by Biden. In July 2009, Obama launched thePriority Enforcement Program, an immigration enforcement program that had been pioneered by George W. Bush, and theSecure Communitiesfingerprinting and immigration status data-sharing program. In amajor space policy speechin April 2010, Obama announced a planned change in direction atNASA, the U.S. space agency. He ended plans for a return ofhuman spaceflightto the moon and development of theAres Irocket,Ares Vrocket andConstellation program, in favor of fundingearth scienceprojects, a new rocket type, research and development for an eventual crewed mission to Mars, and ongoing missions to theInternational Space Station. On January 16, 2013, one month after theSandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Obama signed 23 executive orders and outlined a series of sweeping proposals regardinggun control.He urged Congress to reintroduce anexpired banon military-styleassault weapons, such as those used in several recent mass shootings, impose limits on ammunition magazines to 10 rounds, introduce background checks on all gun sales, pass a ban on possession and sale of armor-piercing bullets, introduce harsher penalties for gun-traffickers, especially unlicensed dealers who buy arms for criminals and approving the appointment of the head of the federalBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosivesfor the first time since 2006.On January 5, 2016, Obama announced new executive actions extending background check requirements to more gun sellers.In a 2016 editorial inThe New York Times, Obama compared the struggle for what he termed \\\"common-sense gun reform\\\" towomen's suffrageand othercivil rights movementsin American history. In 2011, Obama signed a four-year renewal of the Patriot Act.Following the2013 global surveillance disclosuresbywhistleblowerEdward Snowden, Obama condemned the leak as unpatriotic,but called for increased restrictions on theNational Security Agency(NSA) to address violations of privacy.Obama continued and expanded surveillance programs set up by George W. Bush, while implementing some reforms.He supported legislation that would have limited the NSA's ability to collect phone records in bulk under a single program and supported bringing more transparency to theForeign Intelligence Surveillance Court(FISC). Racial issues In his speeches as president, Obama did not make more overt references to race relations than his predecessors,but according to one study, he implemented stronger policy action on behalf of African-Americans than any president since the Nixon era. Following Obama's election, many pondered the existence of a \\\"postracial America\\\".However, lingering racial tensions quickly became apparent,and many African-Americans expressed outrage over what they saw as an intense racial animosity directed at Obama.TheacquittalofGeorge Zimmermanfollowing thekilling of Trayvon Martinsparked national outrage, leading to Obama giving a speech in which he noted that \\\"Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.\\\"The shooting ofMichael BrowninFerguson, Missourisparked a wave of protests.These and other events led to the birth of theBlack Lives Mattermovement, which campaigns against violence andsystemic racismtowardblack people.Though Obama entered office reluctant to talk about race, by 2014 he began openly discussing the disadvantages faced by many members of minority groups. Several incidents during Obama's presidency generated disapproval from the African-American community and with law enforcement, and Obama sought to build trust between law enforcement officials and civil rights activists, with mixed results. Some in law enforcement criticized Obama's condemnation of racial bias after incidents in which police action led to the death of African-American men, while some racial justice activists criticized Obama's expressions of empathy for the police.In a March 2016 Gallup poll, nearly one third of Americans said they worried \\\"a great deal\\\" about race relations, a higher figure than in any previous Gallup poll since 2001. LGBT rights On October 8, 2009, Obama signed theMatthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a measure that expanded the1969 United States federal hate-crime lawto include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.On October 30, 2009, Obama lifted the ban on travel to the United States by those infected with HIV. The lifting of the ban was celebrated byImmigration Equality.On December 22, 2010, Obama signed theDon't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, which fulfilled a promise made in the 2008 presidential campaignto end thedon't ask, don't tellpolicy of 1993 that had prevented gay and lesbian people from serving openly in theUnited States Armed Forces. In 2016, the Pentagon ended the policy that barredtransgender people from serving openly in the military. Same-sex marriage As a candidate for the Illinois state senate in 1996, Obama stated he favored legalizingsame-sex marriage.During his Senate run in 2004, he said he supported civil unions and domestic partnerships for same-sex partners but opposed same-sex marriages.In 2008, he reaffirmed this position by stating \\\"I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage.\\\"On May 9, 2012, shortly after the official launch of his campaign for re-election as president, Obama said his views had evolved, and he publicly affirmed his personal support for the legalization of same-sex marriage, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to do so.During his secondinaugural addresson January 21, 2013,Obama became the first U.S. president in office to call for full equality for gay Americans, and the first to mentiongay rightsor the word \\\"gay\\\" in an inaugural address.In 2013, the Obama administration filed briefs that urged theSupreme Courtto rule in favor of same-sex couples in the cases ofHollingsworth v. Perry(regarding same-sex marriage)andUnited States v. Windsor(regarding theDefense of Marriage Act). Economic policy On February 17, 2009, Obama signed theAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a $787billion (equivalent to $1118 billion in 2023)economic stimuluspackage aimed at helping the economy recover from thedeepening worldwide recession.The act includes increased federal spending for health care, infrastructure, education, various tax breaks andincentives, and direct assistance to individuals.In March 2009, Obama's Treasury Secretary,Timothy Geithner, took further steps to manage thefinancial crisis, including introducing thePublic–Private Investment Program for Legacy Assets, which contains provisions for buying up to $2trillion in depreciated real estate assets. Obama intervened in thetroubled automotive industryin March 2009, renewing loans forGeneral Motors(GM) andChryslerto continue operations while reorganizing. Over the following months the White House set terms for both firms' bankruptcies, including thesale of Chryslerto Italian automakerFiatand areorganization of GMgiving the U.S. government a temporary 60 percent equity stake in the company.In June 2009, dissatisfied with the pace of economic stimulus, Obama called on his cabinet to accelerate the investment.He signed into law theCar Allowance Rebate System, known colloquially as \\\"Cash for Clunkers\\\", which temporarily boosted the economy. The Bush and Obama administrations authorized spending and loan guarantees from theFederal Reserveand theDepartment of the Treasury. These guarantees totaled about $11.5trillion, but only $3trillion had been spent by the end of November 2009.On August 2, 2011, after a lengthy congressional debate over whether to raise the nation's debt limit, Obama signed the bipartisanBudget Control Act of 2011. The legislation enforced limits on discretionary spending until 2021, established a procedure to increase the debt limit, created a Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to propose further deficit reduction with a stated goal of achieving at least $1.5trillion in budgetary savings over 10 years, and established automatic procedures for reducing spending by as much as $1.2trillion if legislation originating with the new joint select committee did not achieve such savings.By passing the legislation, Congress was able to prevent aU.S. governmentdefaulton its obligations. The unemployment rate rose in 2009, reaching a peak in October at 10.0 percent and averaging 10.0 percent in the fourth quarter. Following a decrease to 9.7 percent in the first quarter of 2010, the unemployment rate fell to 9.6 percent in the second quarter, where it remained for the rest of the year.Between February and December 2010, employment rose by 0.8 percent, which was less than the average of 1.9 percent experienced during comparable periods in the past four employment recoveries.By November 2012, the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent,decreasing to 6.7 percent in the last month of 2013.During 2014, the unemployment rate continued to decline, falling to 6.3 percent in the first quarter.GDP growth returned in the third quarter of 2009, expanding at a rate of 1.6 percent, followed by a 5.0 percent increase in the fourth quarter.Growth continued in 2010, posting an increase of 3.7 percent in the first quarter, with lesser gains throughout the rest of the year.In July 2010, the Federal Reserve noted that economic activity continued to increase, but its pace had slowed, and chairmanBen Bernankesaid the economic outlook was \\\"unusually uncertain\\\".Overall, the economy expanded at a rate of 2.9 percent in 2010. TheCongressional Budget Office(CBO) and a broad range of economists credit Obama's stimulus plan for economic growth.The CBO released a report stating that the stimulus bill increased employment by 1–2.1million,while conceding that \\\"it is impossible to determine how many of the reported jobs would have existed in the absence of the stimulus package.\\\"Although an April 2010, survey of members of theNational Association for Business Economicsshowed an increase in job creation (over a similar January survey) for the first time in two years, 73 percent of 68 respondents believed the stimulus bill has had no impact on employment.The economy of the United States has grown faster than the other originalNATOmembers by a wider margin under President Obama than it has anytime since the end ofWorld War II.TheOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Developmentcredits the much faster growth in the United States to the stimulus plan of the U.S. and the austerity measures in the European Union. Within a month of the2010 midterm elections, Obama announced a compromise deal with the Congressional Republican leadership that included a temporary, two-year extension of the2001 and 2003 income tax rates, a one-yearpayroll taxreduction, continuation of unemployment benefits, and a new rate and exemption amount forestate taxes.The compromise overcame opposition from some in both parties, and the resulting $858billion (equivalent to $1.2 trillion in 2023)Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010passed with bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress before Obama signed it on December 17, 2010. In December 2013, Obama declared that growingincome inequalityis a \\\"defining challenge of our time\\\" and called on Congress to bolster the safety net and raise wages. This came on the heels of thenationwide strikes of fast-food workersand Pope Francis' criticism of inequality andtrickle-down economics.Obama urged Congress to ratify a 12-nation free trade pact called theTrans-Pacific Partnership. Environmental policy On April 20, 2010, an explosion destroyed an offshoredrilling rigat theMacondo Prospectin theGulf of Mexico, causing amajor sustained oil leak. Obama visited the Gulf, announced a federal investigation, and formed a bipartisan commission to recommend new safety standards, after a review bySecretary of the InteriorKen Salazarand concurrent Congressional hearings. He then announced a six-month moratorium on newdeepwater drillingpermits and leases, pending regulatory review.As multiple efforts by BP failed, some in the media and public expressed confusion and criticism over various aspects of the incident, and stated a desire for more involvement by Obama and the federal government.Prior to the oil spill, on March 31, 2010, Obama ended a ban on oil and gas drilling along the majority of theEast Coast of the United Statesand along the coast ofnorthern Alaskain an effort to win support for an energy and climate bill and to reduce foreign imports of oil and gas. In July 2013, Obama expressed reservations and said he \\\"would reject theKeystone XL pipelineif it increased carbon pollution greenhouse emissions.\\\"On February 24, 2015, Obama vetoed a bill that would have authorized the pipeline.It was the third veto of Obama's presidency and his first major veto. In December 2016, Obama permanently banned new offshore oil and gas drilling in most United States-owned waters in theAtlanticand Arctic Oceans using the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Act. Obama emphasized theconservationoffederal landsduring his term in office. He used his power under theAntiquities Actto create 25 newnational monumentsduring his presidency and expand four others, protecting a total of 553,000,000 acres (224,000,000 ha) of federal lands and waters, more than any other U.S. president. Health care reform Obama called forCongressto pass legislation reforminghealth care in the United States, a key campaign promise and a top legislative goal.He proposed an expansion of health insurance coverage to cover the uninsured, cap premium increases, and allow people to retain their coverage when they leave or change jobs. His proposal was to spend $900billion over ten years and include a government insurance plan, also known as thepublic option, to compete with the corporate insurance sector as a main component to lowering costs and improving quality of health care. It would also make it illegal for insurers to drop sick people or deny them coverage forpre-existing conditions, and require every American to carry health coverage. The plan also includes medical spending cuts and taxes on insurance companies that offer expensive plans. On July 14, 2009, House Democratic leaders introduced a 1,017-page plan for overhauling the U.S. health care system, which Obama wanted Congress to approve by the end of 2009.After public debate during the Congressional summer recess of 2009, Obama delivereda speech to a joint session of Congresson September 9 where he addressed concerns over the proposals.In March 2009, Obama lifted a ban on using federal funds for stem cell research. On November 7, 2009, a health care bill featuring the public option was passed in the House.On December 24, 2009, the Senate passed its own bill—without a public option—on a party-line vote of 60–39.On March 21, 2010, thePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act(ACA, colloquially \\\"Obamacare\\\") passed by the Senate in December was passed in the House by a vote of 219 to 212. Obama signed the bill into law on March 23, 2010. The ACA includeshealth-related provisions, most of which took effect in 2014, including expandingMedicaideligibility for people making up to 133 percentof thefederal poverty level(FPL) starting in 2014,subsidizing insurance premiums for people making up to 400 percentof the FPL ($88,000 for family of four in 2010) so their maximum \\\"out-of-pocket\\\" payment for annual premiums will be from 2 percent to 9.5 percent of income,providing incentives for businesses to provide health care benefits, prohibiting denial of coverage and denial of claims based on pre-existing conditions, establishinghealth insurance exchanges, prohibiting annual coverage caps, and support for medical research. According to White House and CBO figures, the maximum share of income that enrollees would have to pay would vary depending on their income relative to the federal poverty level. The costs of these provisions are offset by taxes, fees, and cost-saving measures, such as new Medicare taxes for those in high-incomebrackets, taxes onindoor tanning, cuts to theMedicare Advantageprogram in favor of traditional Medicare, and fees on medical devices and pharmaceutical companies;there is also a tax penalty for those who do not obtain health insurance, unless they are exempt due to low income or other reasons.In March 2010, the CBO estimated that the net effect of both laws will be a reduction in the federal deficit by $143billion over the first decade. The law faced several legal challenges, primarily based on the argument that an individual mandate requiring Americans to buy health insurance was unconstitutional. On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court ruled by a 5–4 vote inNational Federation of Independent Business v. Sebeliusthat the mandate was constitutional under the U.S. Congress's taxing authority.InBurwell v. Hobby Lobbythe Court ruled that \\\"closely-held\\\" for-profit corporations could be exempt on religious grounds under theReligious Freedom Restoration Actfrom regulations adopted under the ACA that would have required them to pay for insurance that covered certain contraceptives. In June 2015, the Court ruled 6–3 inKing v. Burwellthat subsidies to help individuals and families purchase health insurance were authorized for those doing so on both the federal exchange and state exchanges, not only those purchasing plans \\\"established by the State\\\", as the statute reads. Foreign policy In February and March 2009, Vice President Joe Biden andSecretary of StateHillary Clinton made separate overseas trips to announce a \\\"new era\\\" in U.S. foreign relations with Russia and Europe, using the terms \\\"break\\\" and \\\"reset\\\" to signal major changes from the policies of the preceding administration.Obama attempted to reach out to Arab leaders by granting his first interview to an Arab satellite TV network,Al Arabiya.On March 19, Obama continued his outreach to the Muslim world, releasing a New Year's video message to the people and government of Iran.On June 4, 2009, Obama delivered a speech atCairo Universityin Egypt calling for \\\"A New Beginning\\\" in relations between the Islamic world and the United States and promoting Middle East peace.On June 26, 2009, Obama condemned the Iranian government's actions towards protesters followingIran's 2009 presidential election. In 2011, Obama ordered a drone strike in Yemen which targeted and killedAnwar al-Awlaki, an American imam suspected of being a leadingAl-Qaedaorganizer. al-Awlaki became the firstU.S. citizento be targeted and killed by aU.S. drone strike. The Department of Justice released a memo justifying al-Awlaki's death as a lawful act of war,while civil liberties advocates described it as a violation of al-Awlaki's constitutional right todue process. The killing led to significant controversy.Histeenage sonandyoung daughter, also Americans, were later killed in separateUS military actions, although they were not targeted specifically. In March 2015, Obama declared that he had authorized U.S. forces to provide logistical and intelligence support to the Saudis in theirmilitary intervention in Yemen, establishing a \\\"Joint Planning Cell\\\" with Saudi Arabia.In 2016, the Obama administration proposed a series ofarms deals with Saudi Arabiaworth $115billion.Obama halted the sale of guided munition technology toSaudi Arabiaafter Saudi warplanestargeted a funeralin Yemen's capital Sanaa, killing more than 140 people. In September 2016 Obama was snubbed byXi Jinpingand theChinese Communist Partyas he descended fromAir Force Oneto the tarmac ofHangzhou International Airportfor the2016 G20 Hangzhou summitwithout the usual red carpet welcome. War in Iraq On February 27, 2009, Obama announced that combat operations in Iraq would end within 18 months.The Obama administration scheduled the withdrawal of combat troops to be completed by August 2010, decreasing troop's levels from 142,000 while leaving a transitional force of about 50,000 in Iraq until the end of 2011. On August 19, 2010, the last U.S. combat brigade exited Iraq. Remaining troops transitioned from combat operations tocounter-terrorismand the training, equipping, and advising of Iraqi security forces.On August 31, 2010, Obama announced that the United States combat mission in Iraq was over.On October 21, 2011, President Obama announced that all U.S. troops would leave Iraq in time to be \\\"home for the holidays.\\\" In June 2014, following thecapture of MosulbyISIL, Obama sent 275 troops to provide support and security for U.S. personnel and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. ISIS continued to gain ground and to commitwidespread massacres and ethnic cleansing.In August 2014, during theSinjar massacre, Obama ordered acampaign of U.S. airstrikes against ISIL.By the end of 2014, 3,100 American ground troops were committed to the conflictand 16,000 sorties were flown over the battlefield, primarily by U.S. Air Force and Navy pilots.In early 2015, with the addition of the \\\"Panther Brigade\\\" of the82nd Airborne Divisionthe number of U.S. ground troops in Iraq increased to 4,400,and by July American-led coalition air forces counted 44,000 sorties over the battlefield. Afghanistan and Pakistan In his election campaign, Obama called the war in Iraq a \\\"dangerous distraction\\\" and that emphasis should instead be put on the war in Afghanistan,the region he cites as being most likely where an attack against the United States could be launched again.Early in his presidency, Obama moved to bolster U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan. He announced an increase in U.S. troop levels to 17,000 military personnel in February 2009 to \\\"stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan\\\", an area he said had not received the \\\"strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires.\\\"He replaced the military commander in Afghanistan, GeneralDavid D. McKiernan, with formerSpecial Forcescommander Lt. Gen.Stanley A. McChrystalin May 2009, indicating that McChrystal's Special Forces experience would facilitate the use of counterinsurgency tactics in the war.On December 1, 2009, Obama announced the deployment of an additional 30,000 military personnel to Afghanistan and proposed to begin troop withdrawals 18 months from that date;this took place in July 2011.David Petraeusreplaced McChrystal in June 2010, after McChrystal's staff criticized White House personnel in a magazine article.In February 2013, Obama said the U.S. military would reduce the troop level in Afghanistan from 68,000 to 34,000 U.S. troops by February 2014.In October 2015, the White House announced a plan to keep U.S. Forces in Afghanistan indefinitely in light of the deteriorating security situation. Regarding neighboring Pakistan, Obama called its tribal border region the \\\"greatest threat\\\" to the security of Afghanistan and Americans, saying that he \\\"cannot tolerate a terrorist sanctuary.\\\" In the same speech, Obama claimed that the U.S. \\\"cannot succeed in Afghanistan or secure our homeland unless we change our Pakistan policy.\\\" Death of Osama bin Laden Starting with information received from Central Intelligence Agency operatives in July 2010, the CIA developed intelligence over the next several months that determined what they believed to be the hideout ofOsama bin Laden. He was living in seclusion ina large compoundinAbbottabad, Pakistan, a suburban area 35 miles (56 km) fromIslamabad.CIA headLeon Panettareported this intelligence to President Obama in March 2011.Meeting with his national security advisers over the course of the next six weeks, Obama rejected a plan to bomb the compound, and authorized a \\\"surgical raid\\\" to be conducted byUnited States Navy SEALs.The operation took place on May 1, 2011, and resulted in the shooting death of bin Laden and the seizure of papers, computer drives and disks from the compound.DNA testing was one of five methods used to positively identify bin Laden's corpse,which was buried at sea several hours later.Within minutes of the President's announcement from Washington, DC, late in the evening on May 1, there were spontaneous celebrations around the country as crowds gathered outside the White House, and at New York City'sGround ZeroandTimes Square.Reaction to the announcementwas positive across party lines, including from former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Relations with Cuba Since the spring of 2013, secret meetings were conducted between the United States and Cuba in the neutral locations of Canada andVatican City.The Vatican first became involved in 2013 when Pope Francis advised the U.S. and Cuba toexchange prisonersas a gesture of goodwill.On December 10, 2013, Cuban PresidentRaúl Castro, in a significant public moment, greeted and shook hands with Obama at theNelson Mandela memorial serviceinJohannesburg. In December 2014, after the secret meetings, it was announced that Obama, with Pope Francis as an intermediary, had negotiated a restoration of relations with Cuba, after nearly sixty years of détente.Popularly dubbed theCuban Thaw,The New Republicdeemed the Cuban Thaw to be \\\"Obama's finest foreign policy achievement.\\\"On July 1, 2015, President Obama announced that formal diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States would resume, and embassies would be opened in Washington andHavana.The countries' respective \\\"interests sections\\\" in one another's capitals were upgraded to embassies on July 20 and August 13, 2015, respectively.Obama visited Havana, Cuba for two days in March 2016, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to arrive sinceCalvin Coolidgein 1928. Israel During the initial years of the Obama administration, the U.S. increased military cooperation with Israel, including increased military aid, re-establishment of theU.S.-Israeli Joint Political Military Groupand the Defense Policy Advisory Group, and an increase in visits among high-level military officials of both countries.The Obama administration asked Congress to allocate money toward funding theIron Domeprogram in response to the waves ofPalestinian rocket attacks on Israel.In March 2010, Obama took a public stance against plans by the government of Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahuto continue building Jewish housing projects in predominantly Arab neighborhoods ofEast Jerusalem.In 2011, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution condemningIsraeli settlements, with the United States being the only nation to do so.Obama supports thetwo-state solutionto theArab–Israeli conflictbased on the 1967 borders with land swaps. In 2013,Jeffrey Goldbergreported that, in Obama's view, \\\"with each new settlement announcement, Netanyahu is moving his country down a path toward near-total isolation.\\\"In 2014, Obama likened theZionist movementto thecivil rights movementin the United States. He said both movements seek to bring justice and equal rights to historically persecuted peoples, explaining: \\\"To me, being pro-Israel and pro-Jewish is part and parcel with the values that I've been fighting for since I was politically conscious and started getting involved in politics.\\\"Obama expressed support for Israel's right to defend itself during the2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.In 2015, Obama was harshly criticized by Israel for advocating and signing theIran Nuclear Deal; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had advocated the U.S. congress to oppose it, said the deal was \\\"dangerous\\\" and \\\"bad.\\\" On December 23, 2016, under the Obama Administration, the United States abstained fromUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemned Israeli settlement building in the occupiedPalestinian territoriesas a violation of international law, effectively allowing it to pass.Netanyahu strongly criticized the Obama administration's actions,and the Israeli government withdrew its annual dues from the organization, which totaled $6million, on January 6, 2017.On January 5, 2017, the United States House of Representatives voted 342–80 to condemn the UN Resolution. Libya In February 2011, protests in Libya began against long-time dictatorMuammar Gaddafias part of theArab Spring. They soon turned violent. In March, as forces loyal to Gaddafi advanced on rebels across Libya, calls for a no-fly zone came from around the world, including Europe, theArab League, and a resolutionpassed unanimously by the U.S. Senate.In response to the passage ofUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 1973on March 17, the Foreign Minister of Libya Moussa Koussa announced a ceasefire. However Gaddafi's forces continued to attack the rebels. On March 19 a multinational coalition lead by France and the United Kingdom with Italian and U.S. support, approved by Obama, took part in air strikes to destroy the Libyan government's air defense capabilities to protect civilians and enforce a no-fly-zone,including the use ofTomahawk missiles,B-2 Spirits, and fighter jets.Six days later, on March 25, by unanimous vote of all its 28 members, NATO took over leadership of the effort, dubbedOperation Unified Protector.Some members of Congressquestioned whether Obama had the constitutional authority to order military action in addition to questioning its cost, structure and aftermath.In 2016 Obama said \\\"Our coalition could have and should have done more to fill a vacuum left behind\\\" and that it was \\\"a mess\\\".He has stated that the lack of preparation surrounding the days following the government's overthrow was the \\\"worst mistake\\\" of his presidency. Syrian civil war On August 18, 2011, several months after the start of theSyrian civil war, Obama issued a written statement that said: \\\"The time has come forPresident Assadto step aside.\\\"This stance was reaffirmed in November 2015.In 2012, Obama authorized multipleprograms run by the CIAand the Pentagon to train anti-Assad rebels.The Pentagon-run program was later found to have failed and was formally abandoned in October 2015. In the wake of achemical weapons attackin Syria,formally blamedby the Obama administration on the Assad government, Obama chose not to enforce the \\\"red line\\\" he had pledgedand, rather than authorize the promised military action against Assad, went along with the Russia-brokered deal that led to Assadgiving up chemical weapons; however attacks withchlorine gascontinued.In 2014, Obama authorized anair campaign aimed primarily at ISIL. Iran nuclear talks On October 1, 2009, the Obama administration went ahead with a Bush administration program, increasing nuclear weapons production. The \\\"Complex Modernization\\\" initiative expanded two existing nuclear sites to produce new bomb parts. In November 2013, the Obama administration openednegotiationswith Iran to prevent it from acquiringnuclear weapons, which included aninterim agreement. Negotiations took two years with numerous delays, with a deal being announced on July 14, 2015. The deal titled the \\\"Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action\\\" saw sanctions removed in exchange for measures that would prevent Iran from producing nuclear weapons. While Obama hailed the agreement as being a step towards a more hopeful world, the deal drew strong criticism from Republican and conservative quarters, and from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.In addition, the transfer of $1.7billion in cash to Iran shortly after the deal was announced was criticized by the Republican party. The Obama administration said that the payment in cash was because of the \\\"effectiveness of U.S. and international sanctions.\\\"In order to advance the deal, the Obama administration shieldedHezbollahfrom theDrug Enforcement Administration'sProject Cassandrainvestigation regarding drug smuggling and from theCentral Intelligence Agency.On a side note, the very same year, in December 2015, Obama started a $348billion worth program to back the biggest U.S. buildup of nuclear arms since Ronald Reagan left the White House. Russia In March 2010, an agreement was reached with the administration of Russian PresidentDmitry Medvedevto replace the1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treatywith a new pact reducing the number of long-range nuclear weapons in the arsenals of both countries by about a third.Obama and Medvedev signed theNew STARTtreaty in April 2010, and theU.S. Senateratified it in December 2010.In December 2011, Obama instructed agencies to considerLGBT rightswhen issuing financial aid to foreign countries.In August 2013, he criticized Russia's law that discriminates against gays,but he stopped short of advocating a boycott of the upcoming2014 Winter OlympicsinSochi, Russia. AfterRussia's invasion of Crimeain 2014,military intervention in Syriain 2015, andthe interferencein the2016 U.S. presidential election,George Robertson, a former UK defense secretary and NATO secretary-general, said Obama had \\\"allowed Putin to jump back on the world stage and test the resolve of the West\\\", adding that the legacy of this disaster would last. Cultural and political image Obama's family history, upbringing, andIvy Leagueeducation differ markedly from those of African-American politicians who launched their careers in the 1960s through participation in the civil rights movement.Expressing puzzlement over questions about whether he is \\\"black enough\\\", Obama told an August 2007 meeting of theNational Association of Black Journaliststhat \\\"we're still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong.\\\"Obama acknowledged his youthful image in an October 2007 campaign speech, saying: \\\"I wouldn't be here if, time and again, the torch had not been passed to a new generation.\\\"Additionally, Obama has frequently been referred to as an exceptional orator.During his pre-inauguration transition period and continuing into his presidency, Obama delivered a series of weekly Internet video addresses. Job approval According to theGallup Organization, Obama began his presidency with a 68 percentapproval rating,the fifth highest for a president following their swearing in.His ratings remained above the majority level until November 2009and by August 2010 his approval was in the low 40s,a trend similar to Ronald Reagan's and Bill Clinton's first years in office.Following thedeath of Osama bin Ladenon May 2, 2011, Obama experienced a small poll bounce and steadily maintained 50–53 percent approval for about a month, until his approval numbers dropped back to the low 40s. His approval rating fell to 38 percent on several occasions in late 2011before recovering in mid-2012 with polls showing an average approval of 50 percent.After his second inauguration in 2013, Obama's approval ratings remained stable around 52 percentbefore declining for the rest of the year and eventually bottoming out at 39 percent in December.In polling conducted before the2014 midterm elections, Obama's approval ratings were at their lowestwith his disapproval rating reaching a high of 57 percent.His approval rating continued to lag throughout most of 2015 but began to reach the high 40s by the end of the year.According to Gallup, Obama's approval rating reached 50 percent in March 2016, a level unseen since May 2013.In polling conducted January 16–19, 2017, Obama's final approval rating was 59 percent, which placed him on par withGeorge H. W. BushandDwight D. Eisenhower, whose final Gallup ratings also measured in the high 50s. Obama has maintained relatively positive public perceptions after his presidency.In Gallup's retrospective approval polls of former presidents, Obama garnered a 63 percent approval rating in 2018 and again in 2023, ranking him the fourth most popular president since World War II. Foreign perceptions Polls showed strong support for Obama in other countries both before and during his presidency.In a February 2009 poll conducted in Western Europe and the U.S. byHarris InteractiveforFrance 24and theInternational Herald Tribune, Obama was rated as the most respected world leader, as well as the most powerful.In a similar poll conducted by Harris in May 2009, Obama was rated as the most popular world leader, as well as the one figure most people would pin their hopes on for pulling the world out of the economic downturn. On October 9, 2009—only nine months into his first term—theNorwegian Nobel Committeeannounced that Obama had won the2009 Nobel Peace Prize\\\"for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples\\\",which drew a mixture of praise and criticism from world leaders and media figures.He became the fourth U.S. president to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and the third to become a Nobel laureate while in office.He himself called it a \\\"call to action\\\" and remarked: \\\"I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments but rather an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations\\\". Thanks, Obama In 2009 the saying \\\"thanks, Obama\\\" first appeared in aTwitter hashtag\\\"#thanks Obama\\\" and was later used in a demotivational poster. It was later adopted satirically to blame Obama for any socio-economic ills. Obama himself used the phrase in video in 2015 and 2016. In 2017 the phrase was used byStephen Colbertto express gratitude to Obama on his last day in office. In 2022, President Joe Biden's Twitter account posted the phrase. Post-presidency (2017–present) Obama's presidency ended on January 20, 2017, upon theinaugurationof his successor,Donald Trump.The family moved to a house they rented inKalorama, Washington, D.C.On March 2, theJohn F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museumawarded theProfile in Courage Awardto Obama \\\"for his enduring commitment to democratic ideals and elevating the standard of political courage.\\\"His first public appearance since leaving the office was a seminar at theUniversity of Chicagoon April 24, where he appealed for a new generation to participate in politics.On September 7, Obama partnered with former presidents Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush to work withOne America Appealto help the victims ofHurricane HarveyandHurricane Irmain theGulf CoastandTexascommunities.From October 31 to November 1, Obama hosted the inaugural summit of theObama Foundation,which he intended to be the central focus of his post-presidency and part of his ambitions for his subsequent activities following his presidency to be more consequential than his time in office. Barack and Michelle Obama signed a deal on May 22, 2018, to produce docu-series, documentaries and features forNetflixunder the Obamas' newly formed production company,Higher Ground Productions.Higher Ground's first film,American Factory, won theAcademy Award for Best Documentary Featurein 2020.On October 24, a pipe bomb addressed to Obama was intercepted by the Secret Service. It was one of several pipe-bombs that had beenmailed out to Democratic lawmakers and officials.In 2019, Barack and Michelle Obama bought a home onMartha's VineyardfromWyc Grousbeck.On October 29, Obama criticized \\\"wokeness\\\" andcall-out cultureat the Obama Foundation's annual summit. Obama was reluctant to make an endorsement in the2020 Democratic presidential primariesbecause he wanted to position himself to unify the party, regardless of the nominee.On April 14, 2020, Obama endorsed Biden, the presumptive nominee, for president inthe presidential election, stating that he has \\\"all the qualities we need in a president right now.\\\"In May, Obama criticized President Trump forhis handlingof theCOVID-19 pandemic, calling his response to the crisis \\\"an absolute chaotic disaster\\\", and stating that the consequences of theTrump presidencyhave been \\\"our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never before.\\\"On November 17, Obama's presidential memoir,A Promised Land, was released. In February 2021, Obama and musicianBruce Springsteenstarted a podcast calledRenegades: Born in the USAwhere the two talk about \\\"their backgrounds, music and their 'enduring love of America.'\\\"Later that year, Regina Hicks had signed a deal withNetflix, in a venture with his and Michelle's Higher Ground to develop comedy projects. On March 4, 2022, Obama won an Audio Publishers Association (APA) Award in the best narration by the author category for the narration of his memoirA Promised Land.On April 5, Obama visited the White House for the first time since leaving office, in an event celebrating the 12th annual anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act.In June, it was announced that the Obamas and their podcast production company, Higher Ground, signed a multi-year deal withAudible.In September, Obama visited the White House to unveil his and Michelle's official White House portraits.Around the same time, he won aPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Narratorfor his narration in the Netflix documentary seriesOur Great National Parks. In 2022, Obama opposed expanding the Supreme Court beyond the present nine Justices. In March 2023, Obama traveled to Australia as a part of his speaking tour of the country. During the trip, Obama met with Australian Prime MinisterAnthony Albaneseand visitedMelbournefor the first time.Obama was reportedly paid more than $1 million for two speeches. In October 2023, during the Israel–Hamas war, Obama declared thatIsraelmust dismantleHamasin the wake of the2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.Weeks later, Obama warnedIsraelthat its actions could \\\"harden Palestinian attitudes for generations\\\" and weaken international support for Israel; any military strategy that ignored the war's human costs \\\"could ultimately backfire.\\\" In July 2024, Obama expressed concerns about Biden's campaign viability. Legacy and recognition He has been described as one of the most effective campaigners in American history (his 2008 campaign being particularly highlighted) as well as one of the most talented political orators of the 21st century.HistorianJulian Zelizercredits Obama with \\\"a keen sense of how the institutions of government work and the ways that his team could design policy proposals.\\\" Zeitzer notes Obama's policy successes included the economic stimulus package which ended theGreat Recessionand theDodd-Frankfinancial and consumer protection reforms, as well as theAffordable Care Act. Zeitzer also notes the Democratic Party lost power and numbers of elected officials during Obama's term, saying that the consensus among historians is that Obama \\\"turned out to be a very effective policymaker but not a tremendously successful party builder.\\\" Zeitzer calls this the \\\"defining paradox of Obama's presidency\\\". TheBrookings Institutionnoted that Obama passed \\\"only one major legislative achievement (Obamacare)—and a fragile one at that—the legacy of Obama's presidency mainly rests on its tremendous symbolic importance and the fate of a patchwork of executive actions.\\\"David W. Wise noted that Obama fell short \\\"in areas many Progressives hold dear\\\", including the continuation of drone strikes, not going after big banks during the Great Recession, and failing to strengthen his coalition before pushing for Obamacare. Wise called Obama's legacy that of \\\"a disappointingly conventional president\\\". Obama's most significant accomplishment is generally considered to be the Affordable Care Act (ACA), provisions of which went into effect from 2010 to 2020. Many attempts by Senate Republicans to repeal the ACA, including a \\\"skinny repeal\\\", have thus far failed.However, in 2017, the penalty for violating the individual mandate was repealed effective 2019.Together with theHealth Care and Education Reconciliation Actamendment, it represents the U.S. healthcare system's most significant regulatory overhaul and expansion of coverage since the passage ofMedicareand Medicaid in 1965. Many commentators credit Obama with averting a threateneddepressionand pulling the economy back from the Great Recession.According to theU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, theObama administrationcreated 11.3 million jobs from the month after his first inauguration to the end of his second term.In 2010, Obama signed into effect the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Passed as a response to thefinancial crisis of 2007–2008, it brought the most significant changes tofinancial regulationin the United States since the regulatory reform that followed theGreat Depressionunder Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 2009, Obama signed into law theNational Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, which contained in it the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the first addition to existing federal hate crime law in the United States since Democratic President Bill Clinton signed into law the Church Arson Prevention Act of 1996. The act expandedexisting federal hate crime laws in the United States, and made it a federal crime to assault people based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. As president, Obama advanced LGBT rights.In 2010, he signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act, which brought an end to \\\"don't ask, don't tell\\\" policy in the U.S. armed forces that banned open service fromLGBTpeople; the law went into effect the following year.In 2016, his administration brought an end to the ban ontransgenderpeople serving openly in the U.S. armed forces.AGallup poll, taken in the final days of Obama's term, showed that 68 percent of Americans believed the U.S. had made progress on LGBT rights during Obama's eight years in office. Obama substantially escalated the use ofdrone strikesagainst suspected militants and terrorists associated with al-Qaeda and theTaliban.In 2016, the last year of his presidency, the U.S. dropped 26,171 bombs on seven different countries.Obama left about 8,400 U.S. troops inAfghanistan, 5,262 in Iraq, 503 in Syria, 133 in Pakistan, 106 in Somalia, seven in Yemen, and two in Libya at the end of his presidency. According toPew Research CenterandUnited States Bureau of Justice Statistics, from December 31, 2009, to December 31, 2015, inmates sentenced in U.S. federal custody declined by five percent. This is the largest decline in sentenced inmates in U.S. federal custody since Democratic PresidentJimmy Carter. By contrast, the federal prison population increased significantly under presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. Human Rights Watch(HRW) called Obama's human rights record \\\"mixed\\\", adding that \\\"he has often treated human rights as a secondary interest—nice to support when the cost was not too high, but nothing like a top priority he championed.\\\" Obama left office in January 2017 with a 60 percent approval rating.He gained 10 spots from the same survey in 2015 from the Brookings Institution that ranked him the 18th-greatest American president.In Gallup's 2018 job approval poll for the past 10 U.S. presidents, he received a 63 percent approval rating. Presidential library The Barack Obama Presidential Center is Obama's plannedpresidential library. It will be hosted by the University of Chicago and located inJackson Parkon the South Side of Chicago. Awards and honors Obama received theNorwegian Nobel Committee'sNobel Peace Prizein 2009,The Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education's Ambassador of Humanity Awardin 2014, theJohn F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Awardin 2017, and theRobert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights Ripple of Hope Awardin 2018. He was namedTIMEMagazine'sTimePerson of the Yearin 2008 and 2012. He also received twoGrammy Awards for Best Spoken Word AlbumforDreams from My Father(2006), andThe Audacity of Hope(2008) as well as twoPrimetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding NarratorforOur Great National Parks(2022), andWorking: What We Do All Day(2023). He also won twoChildren's and Family Emmy Awards. Eponymy Bibliography Books Audiobooks Articles See also Politics Other Lists Notes References Bibliography Further reading External links Official Other\",\n \"Contiguous United States Thecontiguous United States(officially theconterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoiningU.S. statesand theDistrict of Columbiaof theUnited States of Americain centralNorth America.The term excludes the only two non-contiguousstates, which areAlaskaandHawaii(they are also the last two states to beadmitted to the Union), and all other offshoreinsular areas, such as theU.S. territoriesofAmerican Samoa,Guam, theNorthern Mariana Islands,Puerto Rico, and theU.S. Virgin Islands.The colloquial term \\\"Lower48\\\"is also used, especially in relation to Alaska. The related but distinct termcontinental United Statesincludes Alaska, which is also on North America, but separated from the 48 states byBritish Columbiain Canada, but excludes Hawaii and all the insular areas in theCaribbeanand thePacific. The greatest distance (on agreat-circleroute) entirely within the contiguous U.S. is 2,802 miles (4,509 km), coast-to-coast betweenFloridaand theState of Washington;the greatest north–south line is 1,650 miles (2,660 km).The contiguous United States occupies an area of 3,119,884.69 square miles (8,080,464.3 km2). Of this area, 2,959,064.44 square miles (7,663,941.7 km2) is actual land, composing 83.65 percent of the country's total land area, and is comparable in size to the area of Australia.Officially, 160,820.25 square miles (416,522.5 km2) of the contiguous United States is water area, composing 62.66 percent of the nation's total water area. The contiguous United States, if it were a country, would be fifth on thelist of countries and dependencies by area, behindRussia,Canada,China, andBrazil. However, the total area of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, ranks third or fourth. Brazil is 431,000 square kilometers (166,000 sq mi) larger than the contiguous United States, but smaller than the entire United States including Alaska, Hawaii and overseas territories. The2020 U.S. censuspopulation of the area was 328,571,074, comprising 99.13 percent of the nation's total population, and a density of 111.04 inhabitants/sq mi (42.872/km2), compared to 93.844/sq mi (36.233/km2) for the nation as a whole. Other terms Whileconterminous U.S.has the precise meaning ofcontiguous U.S.(both adjectives meaning \\\"sharing a common boundary\\\"), other terms commonly used to describe the 48 contiguous states have a greater degree of ambiguity. Continental and mainland United States BecauseAlaskais also a part ofNorth America, the termcontinental United Statesalso includes that state, so the term is qualified with the explicit inclusion of Alaska to resolve any ambiguity.On May 14, 1959, theUnited States Board on Geographic Namesissued the following definitions based partially on the reference in the Alaska Omnibus Bill, which defined the continental United States as \\\"the 49 States on the North American Continent and the District of Columbia...\\\" The Board reaffirmed these definitions on May 13, 1999.However, even before Alaska became a state, it was properly included within the continental U.S. due to being anincorporated territory. The termmainland United Statesis sometimes used synonymously withcontinental United States, but technically refers only to those parts of states connected to the landmass of North America, thereby excluding not onlyHawaiiand overseasinsular areas, but also islands which are part of continental states but separated from the mainland, such as theAleutian Islands(Alaska),San Juan Islands(Washington), theChannel Islands(California),the Keys(Florida), thebarrier islands(GulfandEast Coaststates), andLong Island(New York). CONUS and OCONUS CONUS, a technical term used by theU.S. Department of Defense,General Services Administration,NOAA/National Weather Service, and others, has been defined both as the continental United States, and as the 48 contiguous states.The District of Columbia is not always specifically mentioned as being part ofCONUS. OCONUSis derived from CONUS withOfor outside added, thus referring to Outside of Continental United States. The lower 48 The termlower 48is also used to refer to the conterminous United States. TheNational Geographicstyle guide recommends the use ofcontiguousorconterminous United Statesinstead oflower 48when the 48 states are meant, unless used in the context of Alaska.Almost all of Hawaii is south of the southernmost point of the conterminous United States in Florida. Zone of the Interior DuringWorld War II, the first fournumbered Air Forcesof theUnited States Army Air Forces(USAAF) were said to be assigned to theZone of the Interiorby the American military organizations of the time—the future states ofAlaskaandHawaii, then each onlyorganized incorporated territoriesof the Union, were respectively covered by theEleventh Air ForceandSeventh Air Forceduring the war. Terms used in the non-contiguous U.S. jurisdictions Residents of Alaska, Hawaii and off-shoreU.S. territorieshave unique labels for the contiguous United States because of their own locations relative to them. Alaska The vast territory ofAlaskabecame the 49th state of the United States on January 3, 1959. Alaska is the northwest extremity of the North American continent, separated from theU.S. West Coastby theCanadian provinceofBritish Columbia. The termLower 48has, for many years, been a common Alaskan equivalent for \\\"contiguous United States\\\";today, many Alaskans use the term\\\"Outside\\\"for those states, though some may use \\\"Outside\\\" to refer toanylocation not within Alaska. Hawaii The territory ofHawaii, consisting of the entireHawaiian Islandsarchipelago except forMidway Atoll,became the 50th state of the United States on August 21, 1959. It is the southernmost U.S. state, and the latest one to join the Union. Not part of any continent, Hawaii is located in thePacific Ocean, about 2,200 miles (3,541 km) from North America and almost halfway between North America andAsia. In Hawaii andoverseas American territories, for instance, the termsthe MainlandorU.S. Mainlandare often used to refer to the 49 states in North America. Puerto Rico Puerto Rico is anunincorporated territoryof the United States located in the northeastCaribbean Sea, approximately 1,000 miles (1,609 km) southeast ofMiami,Florida. Puerto Ricans born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens and are free to move to the mainland United States. The termStateside Puerto Ricanrefers to residents of any U.S. state or the District of Columbia who were born in, or can trace their family ancestry to, Puerto Rico. U.S. Virgin Islands TheU.S. Virgin Islandsis aU.S. territorylocated directly to the east of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea.The term \\\"stateside\\\" is used to refer to the mainland, in relation to the U.S. Virgin Islands(seeStateside Virgin Islands Americans). American Samoa American Samoais aU.S. territorylocated in theSouth Pacific OceaninPolynesia, south of the equator — it is 2,200 miles (3,500 km) southwest ofHawaii.In American Samoa, the contiguous United States is called the \\\"mainland United States\\\" or \\\"the states\\\"; those not from American Samoa are calledpalagi(outsiders). Non-contiguous areas within the contiguous United States Apart from off-shoreU.S. islands, a few continental portions of the contiguous United States are accessible by road only by traveling through Canada.Point Roberts, Washington;Elm Point, Minnesota; and theNorthwest AngleinMinnesotaare three such places.Alburgh, Vermont, is not directly connected by land, but is accessible by road via bridges from within Vermont and from New York.By contrast,Hyder, Alaska, is physically part of contiguous Alaska and its easternmost town, but the only practical access is by road through Canada or by seaplane. List of contiguous U.S. states The 48 contiguous states are: In addition, theDistrict of Columbiais within the contiguous United States. See also Notes References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Pokémon World Championships ThePokémon World Championshipsis an invite-onlyesportsevent organized byPlay! Pokémon. It is held annually in August and features games from thePokémonseries such as thePokémonvideo games,Pokémon Trading Card Game,Pokémon Go,Pokémon UniteandPokkén Tournament(until its 2022 edition). Players earn invitations to the World Championships based on their performance in qualifiers and other tournaments held throughout the season and compete for scholarship money, prizes and the title of World Champion. With the exception ofAsia, invitations to the World Championships are administered by thePlay! Pokémonprogram. History The Pokémon World Championships first began with thePokémon Trading Card Game(TCG) in 2004, which was around the time that the franchise was regaining its popularity.In 2009, Play! Pokémon began to organize competitive tournaments for thePokémonvideo game series alongside the TCG, which is collectively known as the Video Game Championships (VGC). Like the TCG Championships,","TCG Championships, players compete with other players in their own age divisions (i.e. Junior, Senior and Masters) in different Premier Tournaments, and the season culminates with the best players earning an invitation to play the Pokémon World Championships in August. The tournaments in VGC are played with a different game each year, mainly, the latestPokémongame from its main series. In 2016, Play! Pokémon announced thatPokkén Tournamentwould have its own championship series and would be played at the Pokémon World Championships.From 2018 onward,Pokkén Tournament DXwas used to support its qualifiers and competitions. In 2019, it was announced that the 2020 Pokémon World Championships would take place inLondon, United Kingdom,the first time in which the World Championships would be held in a location outside ofNorth America. This is likely due to the setting ofPokémon Sword and Shield, which takes place in a region inspired by the United Kingdom known as Galar, and it is the set of games that would be","games that would be played by the video game division of the World Championships. On March 31, 2020,Play! Pokémoncancelled the 2020 Pokémon World Championships and suspended its 2020 season due to health concerns over theCOVID-19 pandemic.This came after earlier announcements in March which saw the cancellation of the 2020 European International Championshipsand part of its season between March and June 2020.On February 9, 2021, it was announced that the 2021 Pokémon World Championships would postponed till 2022 for the same reasons. In early January 2022, it was confirmed thatPokémon Unitewould be played at the World Championships, making it the newestMOBAgame to have an official esports tournament, afterLeague of Legends. In May 2022, after six seasons, Play! Pokémon announced the end of thePokkén TournamentChampionship Series after the 2022 season. At the 2022 edition of the event, it was announced that the 2023 World Championships will take place inYokohama, Japan (the basis of Vermilion City in the","City in the Kanto region). When the 2023 event took place, it was the first time that the World Championships visited the franchise's country of origin, as well as the first World Championships to take place in Asia. At the end of the 2023 event, The Pokémon Company announced that the Pokémon World Championships will return toHawaiifor the first time since the previous World Championships in the state was held back in 2012. World Championship locations Despite Pokémon being a Japanese product, only one World Championship (2023) was held in Japan. Almost all of the remaining events were held in the United States. Qualification The qualifying process for the Pokémon World Championships varies each year and is dependent on a player's age division and the country in which they are located in. Players may also qualify to play on different days of the World Championships based on their performance in their respective qualifying programs; the best performing players will immediately advance to the second day of the","second day of the World Championships playoffs (i.e. \"Day 2\") instead of playing through the first day (i.e. \"Day 1\"). Play! Pokémon program Players located in a country with aPlay! Pokémonprogram (i.e. inNorth America,Europe,Latin AmericaandOceania) compete in a regular schedule of tournaments for Championship Points and receive invitations when they meet a predetermined threshold of points at the end of the season. In 2015, the Play! Pokémon program expanded to include countries from the continents ofLatin AmericaandAsia(except Japan and South Korea). However, on June 10, 2020, it was announced thatAsiawould no longer be part of the Play! Pokémon program and will have its own qualifying system towards the Pokémon World Championships. Pokémon GO Championship Series Pokémon announced in October 2021 thatPokémon GOwould be added during the 2022 World Championships,along with it a qualification system through the Pokémon GO Championship Series, where the top two head to the World Championships.Any trainer who","trainer who reached Legend rank during Season 9 of thePokémon GO Battle Leaguewould qualify for the GO Championship Series. Pokémon Unite Championship Series In January 2022,Pokémon Uniteproducer Masaaki Hoshino confirmed that the game would be part of the roster of games to be played at the World Championships in London.For the first season of the Pokémon Unite Championship Series, there will be eleven supported Regional Zones: North America, Central America, South America-East, South America-West, Europe, Oceania, Japan, South Korea, India, and the Asia-Pacific region. These events will only be open to players aged 16 or 18, depending on the region or country they are from. In each month, a series of tournaments in each Regional Zone will be held. Like other games in the World Championships, players will earn Championship Points based on their finishing position in that month's tournament. The CP can be retained by players to allow for team changes as the season carries on. The team with the most points","the most points qualifies for the Regional Championships, and the top teams from the Regional Championships qualify for a chance to compete at the Pokémon World Championships. In January 2023, there were changes to the competitive structure and Regional Zones. Pokémon World Championships nearly doubled available spots from 16, to 31 teams. Regional Zones controlled by TPCi were also changed, with Central America, South America-East and South America West being changed to LATAM North, LATAM South, and Brazil. TPC had also taken control of the India and Asia-Pacific Regional Zones, and split Asia-Pacific into 2 regions; Asia-Pacific East and Asia-Pacific West. For TPCi controlled regions, the previous month's top 4 did not auto qualify for the next month's tournament finals. Additionally, an extra monthly tournament was added, the April Cup. Championship Points were also changed to include top CP earners an invite to Pokémon World Championships, ranging from top 1 to 3 in top CP earners depending on how many","on how many invites were given for a region. For TPC controlled regions, their tournament circuit began in April, with 3 monthly qualifiers. The winners of these qualifiers then participated in Regionals to earn a spot for Pokémon World Championships. Among those changes, both North America and Europe were also given their first regional LAN event. Europe had a LAN event for their Aeos Cup series at European International Championships. North America were given a regional LAN event at the North America International Championships. In 2023, competing countries were divided into eight groups of four teams (groups A to H). Teams in each group play each another in a best-of-three seriesround-robin, with the top team advancing to the Top 8 knockout stage. The final draw took place virtually on thePokémon UniteYouTubechannel on July 28, 2023. The prize pool is $500,000 in USD will be distributed among the Top 16 finishers in the championship. Japan & South Korea Tournaments inJapanandSouth Koreaare organised","Koreaare organised independently from Play! Pokémon, and as such, players from these countries have a different system of qualification. In Japan, players compete for an invite to theJapan National Championshipsby playing in major qualifier or online tournaments held throughout the season.The best performing players of theJapan National Championshipswill then be selected to represent Japan in the Pokémon World Championships. In South Korea, the style of qualification for the World Championships changes frequently. For example, in 2015, players would compete in theKorean National Championshipsand earn a World Championships invitation based on their standing in the tournament. However, in 2019, players would compete in tournaments organized by theKorean Leagueand earn an invite based on the number of points they had accumulated by the end of the season. Other There are other less common methods of qualifying for the World Championships which include finishing at least top 4 or better in the prior year's World","prior year's World Championships or by participating in asingle-elimination tournamentknown as the Last Chance Qualifierat the location of the World Championships itself. List of World Champions Trading Card Game (TCG) Video Game Championships (VGC) Pokémon Go The under-17 age division was discontinued after the 2022 season. All participants of any age now compete in the same tournament. All tournament battles use the Great League battle format (all Pokémon must be below 1,500 Combat Power.) Pokémon Unite Retired games Pokkén Tournament & Pokkén Tournament DX 2014 World Championships The2014 Pokémon World Championshipswas the sixth annual edition of the championships. The event took place in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center onWashington, D.C., alongside the 2014Pokémon Trading Card GameWorld Championship who were in their eleventh edition. The tournament was streamed viaTwitchfor the first time in the tournament history and reached a viewership of more than 800,000. The defending Video Game","Video Game champions wereArash OmmatifromItaly(Masters Division), Hayden McTavish from theUnited States(Senior Division), and Brendan Zheng from theUnited States(Junior Division). The opening ceremony of the event was attended byJunichi Masuda, the video game designer for thePokémonfranchise and a member of the board of directors ofGame Freak. The finals match of the Masters division is best known and remembered within the Pokémon community forSe Jun Park's victory with the inclusion and use of aPachirisuon his team. 2014 qualification The qualification process for the 2014 Pokémon World Championships was primarily based on Championship Points accumulated by players from official Play! Pokémon tournaments such as Premier Challenges, Regional Championships and National Championships. In addition, the top 4 players of the 2013 Pokémon World Championships in each division, and the top 4 players of a tournament known as the 'Last Chance Qualifier' will also receive an invitation to play in the World","play in the World Championships. The invitations for the Masters Division of the tournament were distributed in the following manner: Most of the invitations did not include a fully paid trip to the tournament, and as a result several players could not attend the tournament. 2014 tournament structure Players per country Results Six rounds of Swiss was played by 60 players in the tournament, and each round was played with a set of best-of-three matches. The top 8 players after the Swiss rounds advances to the best-of-three Single Elimination matches. The defending World Champion Arash Ommati and former three-time World ChampionRay Rizzodid not advance to the single elimination rounds. Final standings 2015 World Championships The2015 Pokémon World Championshipswas the seventh annual edition of the championships. The event was held alongside thePokémon Trading Card GameWorld Championships at theHynes Convention CenterinBoston, Massachusetts. The tournament was transmitted with live streaming from the official","from the official PokémonTwitchchannel. The defending Video Game champions for the year wereSe Jun ParkfromSouth Korea(Masters Division), Nikolai Zielinsky from theUnited States(Senior Division) and Kota Yamamoto fromJapan(Junior Division). 2015 qualification Players could only gain an invitation to play in the Video Game World Championships by either being the2014 Pokémon World Champions, or by obtaining enough Championship Points in their respective geographic zone designated byPlay! Pokémon. However, the only exception to this rule are for players from Japan and South Korea, as their tournaments are not overseen by Play! Pokémon and their invites are governed through a different system of qualification. Since 2014, players were able to earn Championship Points from various tournaments within their geographical region. The tournaments vary in scale, ranging from local Premier Challenges to state-level Regional Championships and finally the large-scale National Championships. The number of points awarded","of points awarded varies with scale, and players who earn these points are ranked and divided into zones such as North America, Europe and South Africa. This year, two new zones (Latin America and Asia-Pacific) were introduced. The 2015 Pokémon Video Game World Championship was intended to be played under two Swiss tournaments and one single-elimination tournament which would then determine the 2015 World Champions. As such, there are two types of invites: As an example, the invitations for the Masters Division were distributed as follows: 2015 tournament structure TheVideo GameChampionships consisted of twoSwiss tournamentsand one single elimination tournament played across three days. On Friday (Day 1), all players who earned an invitation without a Day 1 bye were entered into a Swiss tournament, where players with two or fewer losses would advance onto the next round. The second Swiss tournament was then played on Saturday (Day 2), where players who advanced from Day 1 were joined by players who received","who received an invitation with a Day 1 bye. At the end of the Day 2 Swiss tournament, the top eight players played in single elimination rounds until the last two remain. The finals took place on Sunday (Day 3). Final standings (Video Game Championships) Weapons controversy During the 2015 World Championships, two Trading Card Game competitors fromIowa(Kevin Norton, 18, and James Stumbo, 27) brought weapons in their vehicle, which were recovered by the police. The two posted status updates and images of their weaponry on social media, which were noticed by variousPokémonfans who treated them as supposed threats against the tournament. The updates were reported to theBoston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC), who promptly seized their automobile and then stopped them at the door and barred them from entering the Hynes Convention Center on Thursday evening. Police executed a search warrant on Friday and Norton and Stumbo were arrested at their Red Roof Inn room in Saugus just after midnight on Saturday,","on Saturday, August 22, 2015.The two were arrested on charges of unlicensed possession of firearms and ammunition, and were initially held without bail.The weapons recovered were a recently purchasedRemingtonshotgun, anAR-15, a hunting knife and several hundred rounds of ammunition.They pleaded not guilty at their arraignment on November 10, 2015, and their bail was set at $150,000.On December 2, 2015, their trial was set for May 9, 2016, however, in early April 2016, their trial was postponed to November 2016.Following the release ofPokémon Goin July 2016, Stumbo's attorney indicated that the case would be resolved soon.Norton and Stumbo were later sentenced to two years in prison with an additional two years probation once their prison term ends. 2016 World Championships The2016 Pokémon World Championshipswas the eighth annual edition of the championships. The event was held at theSan Francisco Marriott MarquisinSan Francisco, California, from August 19 to August 21.For the first time in the tournament","in the tournament history, thePokkén Tournamentinvitational was featured alongside the Video Game Championships (VGC) and Trading Card Game (TCG) tournaments. Side events and an official store with event merchandise occurred alongside the event. The defending Video Game champions were Shoma Honami fromJapan(Masters Division), Mark McQuillan from theUnited Kingdom(Senior Division) and Kotone Yasue from Japan (Junior Division).The defending Trading Card Game champions were Jacob Van Wagner from theUnited States(Masters Division), Patrick Martinez from the United States (Senior Division), and Rowan Stavenow fromCanada. Age divisions and qualifications Both the Pokémon VGC and TCG were divided into three age divisions: theJunior Division(born 2005 or later), theSenior Division(born between 2001 and 2004), and theMasters Division(born 2000 or earlier). For thePokkén Tournamentinvitational, players were grouped into either theSenior Division(born 2001 or later) orMasters Division(born 2000 or earlier). The process","The process of obtaining an invitation is primarily based on Championship Points.Players could earn Championship Points by performing in select online and live tournaments held throughout the 2016 season (between September 2015 and July 2016). Players from Japan andSouth Koreawere excluded from this rule as these countries had their own method of qualification not based on Championship Points. Play! Pokémondivided players into five different rating zones: US andCanada,Europe,Latin America,Asia-PacificandSouth Africa. Different zones had different Championship Points requirements due to the distribution of events around the world. There are two possible invitations players could obtain: 'Day Two' invites were usually accompanied by travel awards and stipends paid by Play! Pokémon. Trading Card Game Championship qualifications The following table shows the Championship Pointsrequirement for an invitation to the 2016 World Championships: Players in Japan and South Korea were awarded invitations based on each","based on each country's organized play system. Video Game Championship qualifications For the Masters Division, the following table lists the Championship Points requirement for an invitation to the 2016 World Championships: 2016 tournament structure The Video Game Championships consisted of two Swiss tournaments and one single elimination tournament played across three days. On Friday (Day 1), all players who earned an invitation without a Day 1 bye were entered into a Swiss tournament, where players with two or fewer losses would advance onto the next round. The second Swiss tournament was then played on Saturday (Day 2), where players who advanced from Day 1 were joined by players who received an invitation with a Day 1 bye. At the end of the Day 2 Swiss tournament, players with two or fewer losses advanced to play in single elimination rounds until the last two remain. The finals took place on Sunday (Day 3). Final standings (Video Game Championships) Final standings (Trading Card Game) References","Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II(born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44thpresident of the United Statesfrom 2009 to 2017. As a member of theDemocratic Party, he was the firstAfrican-Americanpresident in U.S. history. Obama previously served as aU.S. senatorrepresentingIllinoisfrom 2005 to 2008 and as anIllinois state senatorfrom 1997 to 2004. Obama was born inHonolulu,Hawaii. He graduated fromColumbia Universityin 1983 with aBachelor of Artsdegree in political science and later worked as acommunity organizerinChicago. In 1988, Obama enrolled inHarvard Law School, where he was the first black president of theHarvard Law Review. He became a civil rights attorney and an academic, teachingconstitutional lawat theUniversity of Chicago Law Schoolfrom 1992 to 2004. He also went into elective politics; Obamarepresented the 13th district in the Illinois Senatefrom 1997 until 2004, when hesuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate. In the2008 presidential election, aftera close primary","close primary campaignagainstHillary Clinton, he was nominated by the Democratic Party for president. Obama selectedJoe Bidenas his running mate and defeatedRepublicannomineeJohn McCain. Obama was named the2009 Nobel Peace Prizelaureate, a decision that drew a mixture of criticism and praise. His first-term actions addressed theglobal financial crisisand includeda major stimulus packageto guide the economy in recovering from theGreat Recession, a partial extension ofGeorge W. Bush'stax cuts,legislation to reform health care,a major financial regulation reform bill, and the end of a major U.S.military presence in Iraq. Obama also appointedSupreme CourtjusticesSonia SotomayorandElena Kagan, the former being the firstHispanic Americanon the Supreme Court. He orderedOperation Neptune Spear, the raid that killedOsama bin Laden, who was responsible for theSeptember 11 attacks. Obama downplayed Bush'scounterinsurgency model, expandingair strikesand making extensive use of special forces, while encouraging greater","encouraging greater reliance on host-government militaries. He also orderedmilitary involvement in Libyain order to implementUN Security Council Resolution 1973, contributing to the overthrow ofMuammar Gaddafi. Obama defeated Republican opponentMitt Romneyin the2012 presidential election. In his second term, Obama took steps tocombat climate change, signinga major international climate agreementand anexecutive orderto limitcarbon emissions. Obama also presided over the implementation of theAffordable Care Actand other legislation passed in his first term. He negotiateda nuclear agreement with Iranandnormalized relations with Cuba. The number ofAmerican soldiers in Afghanistandecreased during Obama's second term, though U.S. soldiers remained in the country throughout Obama's presidency. Obama promoted inclusion forLGBT Americans, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to publicly supportsame-sex marriage. Obama left office on January 20, 2017, and continues to reside in Washington, D.C. Historians and","D.C. Historians and political scientists rank him among the upper tier inhistorical rankings of American presidents.His presidential libraryin theSouth Side of Chicagobegan construction in 2021. Since leaving office, Obama has remained politically active, campaigning for candidates in various American elections, including Biden'ssuccessful presidential bidin2020. Outside of politics,Obama has published three books:Dreams from My Father(1995),The Audacity of Hope(2006), andA Promised Land(2020). Early life and career Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961,atKapiolani Medical Center for Women and ChildreninHonolulu, Hawaii.He is the only president born outside thecontiguous 48 states.He was born to an 18-year-old American mother and a 27-year-old Kenyan father. His mother,Ann Dunham(1942–1995), was born inWichita, Kansas, and was of English, Welsh, German, Swiss, and Irish descent. In 2007 it was discovered her great-great-grandfather Falmouth Kearney emigrated from the village ofMoneygall, Irelandto the U.S.","Irelandto the U.S. in 1850.In July 2012,Ancestry.comfound a strong likelihood that Dunham was descended fromJohn Punch, an enslaved African man who lived in theColony of Virginiaduring the seventeenth century.Obama's father,Barack Obama Sr.(1934–1982),was a marriedLuo KenyanfromNyang'oma Kogelo.His last name, Obama, was derived from his Luo descent.Obama's parents met in 1960 in a Russian language class at theUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where his father was a foreign student on a scholarship.The couple married inWailuku, Hawaii, on February 2, 1961, six months before Obama was born. In late August 1961, a few weeks after he was born, Barack and his mother moved to theUniversity of WashingtoninSeattle, where they lived for a year. During that time, Barack's father completed his undergraduate degree in economics in Hawaii, graduating in June 1962. He left to attend graduate school on a scholarship atHarvard University, where he earned anM.A.in economics. Obama's parents divorced in March 1964.Obama Sr.","1964.Obama Sr. returned toKenyain 1964, where he married for a third time and worked for the Kenyan government as the Senior Economic Analyst in the Ministry of Finance.He visited his son in Hawaii only once, at Christmas 1971,before he was killed in an automobile accident in 1982, when Obama was 21 years old.Recalling his early childhood, Obama said: \"That my father looked nothing like the people around me—that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk—barely registered in my mind.\"He described his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage. In 1963, Dunham metLolo Soetoroat theUniversity of Hawaii; he was anIndonesianEast–West Centergraduate studentingeography. The couple married onMolokaion March 15, 1965.After two one-year extensions of hisJ-1 visa, Lolo returned toIndonesiain 1966. His wife and stepson followed sixteen months later in 1967. The family initially lived in the Menteng Dalam neighborhood in theTebetdistrict ofSouth Jakarta. From 1970, they","From 1970, they lived in a wealthier neighborhood in theMentengdistrict ofCentral Jakarta. Education At the age of six, Obama and his mother had moved to Indonesia to join his stepfather. From age six to ten, he was registered in school as \"Barry\"and attended localIndonesian-languageschools:Sekolah Dasar Katolik Santo Fransiskus Asisi(St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Elementary School) for two years andSekolah Dasar Negeri Menteng 01(State Elementary School Menteng 01) for one and a half years, supplemented by English-languageCalvert Schoolhomeschooling by his mother.As a result of his four years inJakarta, he was able to speakIndonesianfluently as a child.During his time in Indonesia, Obama's stepfather taught him to be resilient and gave him \"a pretty hardheaded assessment of how the world works\". In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents,MadelynandStanley Dunham. He attendedPunahou School—a privatecollege preparatory school—with the aid of a scholarship from fifth grade","from fifth grade until he graduated from high school in 1979.In high school, Obama continued to use the nickname \"Barry\" which he kept until making a visit to Kenya in 1980.Obama lived with his mother and half-sister,Maya Soetoro, in Hawaii for three years from 1972 to 1975 while his mother was a graduate student inanthropologyat the University of Hawaii.Obama chose to stay in Hawaii when his mother and half-sister returned to Indonesia in 1975, so his mother could begin anthropology field work.His mother spent most of the next two decades in Indonesia, divorcing Lolo Soetoro in 1980 and earning a PhD degree in 1992, before dying in 1995 in Hawaii following unsuccessful treatment forovariananduterine cancer. Of his years in Honolulu, Obama wrote: \"The opportunity that Hawaii offered — to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect — became an integral part of my world view, and a basis for the values that I hold most dear.\"Obama has also written and talked about usingalcohol,marijuana,","andcocaineduring his teenage years to \"push questions of who I was out of my mind\".Obama was also a member of the \"Choom Gang\" (the slang term for smoking marijuana), a self-named group of friends who spent time together and smoked marijuana. College and research jobs After graduating from high school in 1979, Obama moved to Los Angeles to attendOccidental Collegeon a full scholarship. In February 1981, Obama made his first public speech, calling for Occidental to participate in thedisinvestment from South Africain response to that nation's policy ofapartheid.In mid-1981, Obama traveled to Indonesia to visit his mother and half-sister Maya and visited the families of college friends inPakistanfor three weeks.Later in 1981, hetransferredtoColumbia Universityin New York City as ajunior, where he majored inpolitical sciencewith a specialty ininternational relationsand inEnglish literatureand lived off-campus on West 109th Street.He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983 and a 3.7GPA. After graduating,","After graduating, Obama worked for about a year at theBusiness International Corporation, where he was a financial researcher and writer,then as a project coordinator for theNew York Public Interest Research Groupon theCity College of New Yorkcampus for three months in 1985. Community organizer and Harvard Law School Two years after graduating from Columbia, Obama moved from New York to Chicago when he was hired as director of theDeveloping Communities Project, a faith-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes inRoseland,West Pullman, andRiverdaleon Chicago'sSouth Side. He worked there as a community organizer from June 1985 to May 1988.He helped set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization inAltgeld Gardens.Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for theGamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time inEuropefor three weeks and then for five weeks in Kenya,","weeks in Kenya, where he met many of hispaternal relativesfor the first time. Despite being offered a full scholarship toNorthwestern University School of Law, Obama enrolled atHarvard Law Schoolin the fall of 1988, living in nearbySomerville, Massachusetts.He was selected as an editor of theHarvard Law Reviewat the end of his first year,president of the journal in his second year,and research assistant to the constitutional scholarLaurence Tribewhile at Harvard.During his summers, he returned to Chicago, where he worked as asummer associateat the law firms ofSidley Austinin 1989 andHopkins & Sutterin 1990.Obama's election as thefirst black president of theHarvard Law Reviewgained national media attentionand led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race relations,which evolved into a personal memoir. The manuscript was published in mid-1995 asDreams from My Father.Obama graduated from Harvard Law in 1991 with aJuris Doctormagna cum laude. University of Chicago Law School In 1991, Obama","In 1991, Obama accepted a two-year position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at theUniversity of Chicago Law Schoolto work on his first book.He then taughtconstitutional lawat the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years, first as a lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and then as a senior lecturer from 1996 to 2004. From April to October 1992, Obama directed Illinois'sProject Vote, avoter registration campaignwith ten staffers and seven hundred volunteer registrars; it achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African Americans in the state, leadingCrain's Chicago Businessto name Obama to its 1993 list of \"40 under Forty\" powers to be. Family and personal life In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity ofhis extended family: \"It's like a little mini-United Nations,\" he said. \"I've got relatives who look likeBernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look likeMargaret Thatcher.\"Obama has a half-sister with whom he was raised (Maya Soetoro-Ng) and seven other half-siblings","other half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family, six of them living.Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham,until her death on November 2, 2008,two days before his election to the presidency. Obama also has roots in Ireland; he met with his Irish cousins inMoneygallin May 2011.InDreams from My Father, Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives ofJefferson Davis,President of the Confederate States of Americaduring theAmerican Civil War. He also shares distant ancestors in common withGeorge W. BushandDick Cheney, among others. Obama lived with anthropologistSheila Miyoshi Jagerwhile he was a community organizer in Chicago in the 1980s.He proposed to her twice, but both Jager and her parents turned him down.The relationship was not made public until May 2017, several months after his presidency had ended. In June 1989, Obama metMichelle Robinsonwhen he was employed atSidley Austin.Robinson was assigned for three months as","for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, and she joined him at several group social functions but declined his initial requests to date.They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992.After suffering a miscarriage, Michelle underwentin vitro fertilizationto conceive their children.The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born in 1998,followed by a second daughter, Natasha (\"Sasha\"), in 2001.The Obama daughters attended theUniversity of Chicago Laboratory Schools. When they moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2009, the girls started at theSidwell Friends School.The Obamas had twoPortuguese Water Dogs; the first, a male namedBo, was a gift from SenatorTed Kennedy.In 2013, Bo was joined bySunny, a female.Bo died of cancer on May 8, 2021. Obama is a supporter of theChicago White Sox, and he threw out the first pitch at the2005 ALCSwhen he was still a senator.In 2009, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at theAll-Star Gamewhile wearing a White Sox","wearing a White Sox jacket.He is also primarily aChicago Bearsfootball fan in theNFL, but in his childhood and adolescence was afan of the Pittsburgh Steelersand rooted for them ahead of their victory inSuper Bowl XLIII12 days after he took office as president.In 2011, Obama invited the1985 Chicago Bearsto the White House; the team had not visited the White House after theirSuper Bowl winin 1986 due to theSpace Shuttle Challenger disaster.He playsbasketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team,and he is left-handed. In 2005, the Obama family applied the proceeds of a book deal and moved from aHyde Park, Chicagocondominium to a $1.6million house (equivalent to $2.5million in 2023) in neighboringKenwood, Chicago.The purchase of an adjacent lot—and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer, campaign donor and friendTony Rezko—attracted media attention because of Rezko's subsequent indictment and conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to","were unrelated to Obama. In December 2007,Money Magazineestimated Obama's net worth at $1.3million (equivalent to $1.9million in 2023).Their 2009 tax return showed a household income of $5.5million—up from about $4.2million in 2007 and $1.6million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books.On his 2010 income of $1.7million, he gave 14 percent to non-profit organizations, including $131,000 toFisher House Foundation, a charity assisting wounded veterans' families, allowing them to reside near where the veteran is receiving medical treatments.Per his 2012 financial disclosure, Obama may be worth as much as $10million. Religious views Obama is aProtestantChristian whose religious views developed in his adult life.He wrote inThe Audacity of Hopethat he \"was not raised in a religious household.\" He described his mother, raised by non-religious parents, as being detached from religion, yet \"in many ways the most spiritually awakened person... I have ever known\", and \"a lonely witness forsecular humanism.\" He described","He described his father as a \"confirmedatheist\" by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as \"a man who saw religion as not particularly useful.\" Obama explained how, through working withblack churchesas acommunity organizerwhile in his twenties, he came to understand \"the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change.\" In January 2008, Obama toldChristianity Today: \"I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in theredemptive deathandresurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life.\"On September 27, 2010, Obama released a statement commenting on his religious views, saying: I'm a Christian by choice. My family didn't—frankly, they weren't folks who went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn't raise me in the church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts ofJesus Christspoke to me in terms of the kind of life","of the kind of life that I would want to lead—being my brothers' and sisters' keeper,treating others as they would treat me. Obama metTrinity United Church of ChristpastorJeremiah Wrightin October 1987 and became a member of Trinity in 1992.During Obama's first presidential campaign in May 2008, he resigned from Trinity aftersome of Wright's statements were criticized.Since moving to Washington, D.C., in 2009, the Obama family has attended several Protestant churches, includingShiloh Baptist ChurchandSt. John's Episcopal Church, as well as Evergreen Chapel atCamp David, but the members of the family do not attend church on a regular basis. In 2016, he said that he gets inspiration from a few items that remind him \"of all the different people I've met along the way\", adding: \"I carry these around all the time. I'm not that superstitious, so it's not like I think I necessarily have to have them on me at all times.\" The items, \"a whole bowl full\", include rosary beads given to him byPope Francis, a figurine of","a figurine of the Hindu deityHanuman, aCoptic crossfrom Ethiopia, a smallBuddha statuegiven by a monk, and a metal poker chip that used to be the lucky charm of a motorcyclist in Iowa. Legal career Civil rights attorney He joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a 13-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was anassociatefor three years from 1993 to 1996, thenof counselfrom 1996 to 2004. In 1994, he was listed as one of the lawyers inBuycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank, 94 C 4094 (N.D. Ill.). Thisclass action lawsuitwas filed in 1994 with Selma Buycks-Roberson as lead plaintiff and alleged that Citibank Federal Savings Bank had engaged in practices forbidden under theEqual Credit Opportunity Actand theFair Housing Act. The case was settled out of court. From 1994 to 2002, Obama served on the boards of directors of theWoods Fund of Chicago—which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund the Developing Communities Project—and of","Project—and of theJoyce Foundation.He served on the board of directors of theChicago Annenberg Challengefrom 1995 to 2002, as founding president and chairman of the board of directors from 1995 to 1999.Obama's law license became inactive in 2007. Legislative career Illinois Senate (1997–2004) Obama was elected to theIllinois Senatein 1996, succeeding Democratic State SenatorAlice PalmerfromIllinois's 13th District, which, at that time, spanned Chicago South Side neighborhoods from Hyde Park–Kenwood south toSouth Shoreand west toChicago Lawn.Once elected, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation that reformed ethics and health care laws.He sponsored a law that increasedtax creditsfor low-income workers, negotiatedwelfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare.In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican GovernorGeorge Ryan'spayday loanregulations andpredatory mortgage lendingregulations aimed at averting homeforeclosures.","homeforeclosures. He was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998, defeating Republican Yesse Yehudah in the general election, and was re-elected again in 2002.In 2000, he lost aDemocratic primary raceforIllinois's 1st congressional districtin theUnited States House of Representativesto four-term incumbentBobby Rushby a margin of two to one. In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after a decade in the minority, regained a majority.He sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitorracial profilingby requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained, and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations.During his 2004 general election campaign for the U.S. Senate, police representatives credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enactingdeath penaltyreforms.Obama resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his","2004 following his election to the U.S. Senate. 2004 U.S. Senate campaign in Illinois In May 2002, Obama commissioned a poll to assess his prospects in a 2004 U.S. Senate race. He created a campaign committee, began raising funds, and lined up political media consultantDavid Axelrodby August 2002. Obama formally announced his candidacy in January 2003. Obama was an early opponent of the George W. Bush administration's2003 invasion of Iraq.On October 2, 2002, the day President Bush and Congress agreed on thejoint resolutionauthorizing theIraq War,Obama addressed the first high-profile Chicagoanti-Iraq War rally,and spoke out against the war.He addressed another anti-war rally in March 2003 and told the crowd \"it's not too late\" to stop the war. Decisions by Republican incumbentPeter Fitzgeraldand his Democratic predecessorCarol Moseley Braunnot to participate in the election resulted in wide-open Democratic and Republican primary contests involving 15 candidates.In the March 2004 primary election, Obama won","election, Obama won in an unexpected landslide—which overnight made him a rising star within thenational Democratic Party, started speculation about a presidential future, and led to the reissue of his memoir,Dreams from My Father.In July 2004, Obama deliveredthe keynote addressat the2004 Democratic National Convention,seen by nine million viewers. His speech was well received and elevated his status within the Democratic Party. Obama's expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary winnerJack Ryan, withdrew from the race in June 2004.Six weeks later,Alan Keyesaccepted the Republican nomination to replace Ryan.In theNovember 2004 general election, Obama won with 70 percent of the vote, the largest margin of victory for a Senate candidate in Illinois history.He took 92 of the state's 102 counties, including several where Democrats traditionally do not do well. U.S. Senate (2005–2008) Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 3, 2005,becoming the only Senate member of theCongressional Black","Black Caucus.He introduced two initiatives that bore his name: Lugar–Obama, which expanded theNunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reductionconcept to conventional weapons;and theFederal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which authorized the establishment of USAspending.gov, a web search engine on federal spending.On June 3, 2008, Senator Obama—along with SenatorsTom Carper,Tom Coburn, andJohn McCain—introduced follow-up legislation: Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008.He alsocosponsoredtheSecure America and Orderly Immigration Act. In December 2006, President Bush signed into law theDemocratic Republic of the CongoRelief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, marking the first federal legislation to be enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor.In January 2007, Obama and Senator Feingold introduced a corporate jet provision to theHonest Leadership and Open Government Act, which was signed into law in September 2007. Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an","Obama sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act to add safeguards for personality-disorder military discharges.This amendment passed the full Senate in the spring of 2008.He sponsored the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act supporting divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry, which was never enacted but later incorporated in theComprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010;and co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism.Obama also sponsored a Senate amendment to theState Children's Health Insurance Program, providing one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries. Obama held assignments on the Senate Committees forForeign Relations,Environment and Public Works, andVeterans' Affairsthrough December 2006.In January 2007, he left the Environment and Public Works committee and took additional assignments withHealth, Education, Labor and PensionsandHomeland Security and Governmental","and Governmental Affairs.He also became Chairman of the Senate's subcommittee onEuropean Affairs.As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa. He met withMahmoud Abbasbefore Abbas becamePresident of the Palestinian National Authorityand gave a speech at theUniversity of Nairobiin which he condemned corruption within the Kenyan government. Obamaresigned his Senate seaton November 16, 2008, to focus on his transition period for the presidency. Presidential campaigns 2008 On February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States in front of theOld State Capitolbuilding inSpringfield, Illinois.The choice of the announcement site was viewed as symbolic, as it was also whereAbraham Lincolndelivered his\"House Divided\"speech in 1858.Obama emphasized issues of rapidly ending the Iraq War, increasingenergy independence, andreforming the health care system. Numerous candidates entered","candidates entered theDemocratic Party presidential primaries. The field narrowed to Obama and SenatorHillary Clintonafter early contests, with the race remaining close throughout the primary process, but Obama gained a steady lead in pledgeddelegatesdue to better long-range planning, superior fundraising, dominant organizing incaucusstates, and better exploitation of delegate allocation rules.On June 2, 2008, Obama had received enough votes to clinch his nomination. After an initial hesitation to concede, on June 7, Clinton ended her campaign and endorsed Obama.On August 23, 2008, Obama announced hisselectionofDelawareSenatorJoe Bidenas his vice presidential running mate.Obama selected Biden from a field speculated to include former Indiana Governor and SenatorEvan Bayhand Virginia GovernorTim Kaine.At theDemocratic National ConventioninDenver, Colorado, Hillary Clinton called for her supporters to endorse Obama, and she andBill Clintongave convention speeches in his support.Obama delivered his acceptance","his acceptance speech atInvesco Field at Mile Highstadium to a crowd of about eighty-four thousand; the speech was viewed by over three million people worldwide.During both the primary process and the general election, Obama's campaign set numerous fundraising records, particularly in the quantity of small donations.On June 19, 2008, Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate to turn downpublic financingin the general election since the system was created in 1976. John McCain was nominated as the Republican candidate, and he selectedSarah Palinas his running mate. Obama and McCain engaged in threepresidential debatesin September and October 2008.On November 4, Obama won the presidency with 365electoral votesto 173 received by McCain.Obama won 52.9 percent of thepopular voteto McCain's 45.7 percent.He became the first African-American to be elected president.Obama deliveredhis victory speechbefore hundreds of thousands of supporters in Chicago'sGrant Park.He is one of the three United States","three United States senators moved directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House, the others beingWarren G. HardingandJohn F. Kennedy. 2012 On April 4, 2011, Obama filed election papers with theFederal Election Commissionand then announced his reelection campaign for 2012 in a video titled \"It Begins with Us\" that he posted on his website.As the incumbent president, he ran virtually unopposed in theDemocratic Party presidential primaries,and on April 3, 2012, Obama secured the 2778conventiondelegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.At theDemocratic National ConventioninCharlotte, North Carolina, Obama and Joe Biden were formally nominated by former President Bill Clinton as the Democratic Party candidates for president and vice president in the general election. Their main opponents were RepublicansMitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, and RepresentativePaul Ryanof Wisconsin. On November 6, 2012, Obama won 332 electoral votes, exceeding the 270 required for him to be reelected as","to be reelected as president.With 51.1 percent of the popular vote,Obama became the first Democratic president sinceFranklin D. Rooseveltto win themajority of the popular votetwice.Obama addressed supporters and volunteers at Chicago'sMcCormick Placeafter his reelection and said: \"Tonight you voted for action, not politics as usual. You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours. And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties.\" Presidency (2009–2017) First 100 days Theinauguration of Barack Obamaas the 44th president took place on January 20, 2009. In his first few days in office, Obama issuedexecutive ordersandpresidential memorandadirecting the U.S. military to develop plans to withdraw troops from Iraq.He ordered the closing of theGuantanamo Bay detention camp,but Congress prevented the closure by refusing to appropriate the required fundsand preventing moving any Guantanamo detainee.Obama reduced the secrecy given to presidential","to presidential records.He also revoked President George W. Bush's restoration of PresidentRonald Reagan'sMexico City policywhich prohibited federal aid to internationalfamily planningorganizations that perform or provide counseling about abortion. Domestic policy The first bill signed into law by Obama was theLilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, relaxing thestatute of limitationsfor equal-pay lawsuits.Five days later, he signed the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program to cover an additional four million uninsured children.In March 2009, Obama reversed a Bush-era policy that had limited funding ofembryonic stem cellresearch and pledged to develop \"strict guidelines\" on the research. Obama appointed two women to serve on the Supreme Court in the first two years of his presidency. He nominatedSonia Sotomayoron May 26, 2009, to replace retiringAssociate JusticeDavid Souter. She was confirmed on August 6, 2009,becoming the first Supreme Court Justice ofHispanicdescent.Obama","nominatedElena Kaganon May 10, 2010, to replace retiring Associate JusticeJohn Paul Stevens. She was confirmed on August 5, 2010, bringing the number of women sitting simultaneously on the Court to three for the first time in American history. On March 11, 2009, Obama created theWhite House Council on Women and Girls, which formed part of theOffice of Intergovernmental Affairs, having been established byExecutive Order13506with a broad mandate to advise him on issues relating to the welfare of American women and girls. The council was chaired bySenior Advisor to the PresidentValerie Jarrett. Obama also established theWhite House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assaultthrough a government memorandum on January 22, 2014, with a broad mandate to advise him on issues relating to sexual assault on college and university campuses throughout the United States. The co-chairs of the Task Force were Vice President Joe Biden and Jarrett. The Task Force was a development out of the White House Council on","House Council on Women and Girls andOffice of the Vice President of the United States, and prior to that the 1994Violence Against Women Actfirst drafted by Biden. In July 2009, Obama launched thePriority Enforcement Program, an immigration enforcement program that had been pioneered by George W. Bush, and theSecure Communitiesfingerprinting and immigration status data-sharing program. In amajor space policy speechin April 2010, Obama announced a planned change in direction atNASA, the U.S. space agency. He ended plans for a return ofhuman spaceflightto the moon and development of theAres Irocket,Ares Vrocket andConstellation program, in favor of fundingearth scienceprojects, a new rocket type, research and development for an eventual crewed mission to Mars, and ongoing missions to theInternational Space Station. On January 16, 2013, one month after theSandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Obama signed 23 executive orders and outlined a series of sweeping proposals regardinggun control.He urged Congress to","urged Congress to reintroduce anexpired banon military-styleassault weapons, such as those used in several recent mass shootings, impose limits on ammunition magazines to 10 rounds, introduce background checks on all gun sales, pass a ban on possession and sale of armor-piercing bullets, introduce harsher penalties for gun-traffickers, especially unlicensed dealers who buy arms for criminals and approving the appointment of the head of the federalBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosivesfor the first time since 2006.On January 5, 2016, Obama announced new executive actions extending background check requirements to more gun sellers.In a 2016 editorial inThe New York Times, Obama compared the struggle for what he termed \"common-sense gun reform\" towomen's suffrageand othercivil rights movementsin American history. In 2011, Obama signed a four-year renewal of the Patriot Act.Following the2013 global surveillance disclosuresbywhistleblowerEdward Snowden, Obama condemned the leak as unpatriotic,but","as unpatriotic,but called for increased restrictions on theNational Security Agency(NSA) to address violations of privacy.Obama continued and expanded surveillance programs set up by George W. Bush, while implementing some reforms.He supported legislation that would have limited the NSA's ability to collect phone records in bulk under a single program and supported bringing more transparency to theForeign Intelligence Surveillance Court(FISC). Racial issues In his speeches as president, Obama did not make more overt references to race relations than his predecessors,but according to one study, he implemented stronger policy action on behalf of African-Americans than any president since the Nixon era. Following Obama's election, many pondered the existence of a \"postracial America\".However, lingering racial tensions quickly became apparent,and many African-Americans expressed outrage over what they saw as an intense racial animosity directed at Obama.TheacquittalofGeorge Zimmermanfollowing thekilling of","thekilling of Trayvon Martinsparked national outrage, leading to Obama giving a speech in which he noted that \"Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.\"The shooting ofMichael BrowninFerguson, Missourisparked a wave of protests.These and other events led to the birth of theBlack Lives Mattermovement, which campaigns against violence andsystemic racismtowardblack people.Though Obama entered office reluctant to talk about race, by 2014 he began openly discussing the disadvantages faced by many members of minority groups. Several incidents during Obama's presidency generated disapproval from the African-American community and with law enforcement, and Obama sought to build trust between law enforcement officials and civil rights activists, with mixed results. Some in law enforcement criticized Obama's condemnation of racial bias after incidents in which police action led to the death of African-American men, while some racial justice activists criticized Obama's expressions of empathy for the police.In a","for the police.In a March 2016 Gallup poll, nearly one third of Americans said they worried \"a great deal\" about race relations, a higher figure than in any previous Gallup poll since 2001. LGBT rights On October 8, 2009, Obama signed theMatthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a measure that expanded the1969 United States federal hate-crime lawto include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.On October 30, 2009, Obama lifted the ban on travel to the United States by those infected with HIV. The lifting of the ban was celebrated byImmigration Equality.On December 22, 2010, Obama signed theDon't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, which fulfilled a promise made in the 2008 presidential campaignto end thedon't ask, don't tellpolicy of 1993 that had prevented gay and lesbian people from serving openly in theUnited States Armed Forces. In 2016, the Pentagon ended the policy that barredtransgender people from serving","people from serving openly in the military. Same-sex marriage As a candidate for the Illinois state senate in 1996, Obama stated he favored legalizingsame-sex marriage.During his Senate run in 2004, he said he supported civil unions and domestic partnerships for same-sex partners but opposed same-sex marriages.In 2008, he reaffirmed this position by stating \"I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage.\"On May 9, 2012, shortly after the official launch of his campaign for re-election as president, Obama said his views had evolved, and he publicly affirmed his personal support for the legalization of same-sex marriage, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to do so.During his secondinaugural addresson January 21, 2013,Obama became the first U.S. president in office to call for full equality for gay Americans, and the first to mentiongay rightsor the word \"gay\" in an inaugural address.In 2013, the Obama administration filed briefs that urged theSupreme Courtto rule in","Courtto rule in favor of same-sex couples in the cases ofHollingsworth v. Perry(regarding same-sex marriage)andUnited States v. Windsor(regarding theDefense of Marriage Act). Economic policy On February 17, 2009, Obama signed theAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a $787billion (equivalent to $1118 billion in 2023)economic stimuluspackage aimed at helping the economy recover from thedeepening worldwide recession.The act includes increased federal spending for health care, infrastructure, education, various tax breaks andincentives, and direct assistance to individuals.In March 2009, Obama's Treasury Secretary,Timothy Geithner, took further steps to manage thefinancial crisis, including introducing thePublic–Private Investment Program for Legacy Assets, which contains provisions for buying up to $2trillion in depreciated real estate assets. Obama intervened in thetroubled automotive industryin March 2009, renewing loans forGeneral Motors(GM) andChryslerto continue operations while reorganizing.","while reorganizing. Over the following months the White House set terms for both firms' bankruptcies, including thesale of Chryslerto Italian automakerFiatand areorganization of GMgiving the U.S. government a temporary 60 percent equity stake in the company.In June 2009, dissatisfied with the pace of economic stimulus, Obama called on his cabinet to accelerate the investment.He signed into law theCar Allowance Rebate System, known colloquially as \"Cash for Clunkers\", which temporarily boosted the economy. The Bush and Obama administrations authorized spending and loan guarantees from theFederal Reserveand theDepartment of the Treasury. These guarantees totaled about $11.5trillion, but only $3trillion had been spent by the end of November 2009.On August 2, 2011, after a lengthy congressional debate over whether to raise the nation's debt limit, Obama signed the bipartisanBudget Control Act of 2011. The legislation enforced limits on discretionary spending until 2021, established a procedure to increase the","to increase the debt limit, created a Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to propose further deficit reduction with a stated goal of achieving at least $1.5trillion in budgetary savings over 10 years, and established automatic procedures for reducing spending by as much as $1.2trillion if legislation originating with the new joint select committee did not achieve such savings.By passing the legislation, Congress was able to prevent aU.S. governmentdefaulton its obligations. The unemployment rate rose in 2009, reaching a peak in October at 10.0 percent and averaging 10.0 percent in the fourth quarter. Following a decrease to 9.7 percent in the first quarter of 2010, the unemployment rate fell to 9.6 percent in the second quarter, where it remained for the rest of the year.Between February and December 2010, employment rose by 0.8 percent, which was less than the average of 1.9 percent experienced during comparable periods in the past four employment recoveries.By November 2012, the","November 2012, the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent,decreasing to 6.7 percent in the last month of 2013.During 2014, the unemployment rate continued to decline, falling to 6.3 percent in the first quarter.GDP growth returned in the third quarter of 2009, expanding at a rate of 1.6 percent, followed by a 5.0 percent increase in the fourth quarter.Growth continued in 2010, posting an increase of 3.7 percent in the first quarter, with lesser gains throughout the rest of the year.In July 2010, the Federal Reserve noted that economic activity continued to increase, but its pace had slowed, and chairmanBen Bernankesaid the economic outlook was \"unusually uncertain\".Overall, the economy expanded at a rate of 2.9 percent in 2010. TheCongressional Budget Office(CBO) and a broad range of economists credit Obama's stimulus plan for economic growth.The CBO released a report stating that the stimulus bill increased employment by 1–2.1million,while conceding that \"it is impossible to determine how many of the","how many of the reported jobs would have existed in the absence of the stimulus package.\"Although an April 2010, survey of members of theNational Association for Business Economicsshowed an increase in job creation (over a similar January survey) for the first time in two years, 73 percent of 68 respondents believed the stimulus bill has had no impact on employment.The economy of the United States has grown faster than the other originalNATOmembers by a wider margin under President Obama than it has anytime since the end ofWorld War II.TheOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Developmentcredits the much faster growth in the United States to the stimulus plan of the U.S. and the austerity measures in the European Union. Within a month of the2010 midterm elections, Obama announced a compromise deal with the Congressional Republican leadership that included a temporary, two-year extension of the2001 and 2003 income tax rates, a one-yearpayroll taxreduction, continuation of unemployment benefits, and a new","benefits, and a new rate and exemption amount forestate taxes.The compromise overcame opposition from some in both parties, and the resulting $858billion (equivalent to $1.2 trillion in 2023)Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010passed with bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress before Obama signed it on December 17, 2010. In December 2013, Obama declared that growingincome inequalityis a \"defining challenge of our time\" and called on Congress to bolster the safety net and raise wages. This came on the heels of thenationwide strikes of fast-food workersand Pope Francis' criticism of inequality andtrickle-down economics.Obama urged Congress to ratify a 12-nation free trade pact called theTrans-Pacific Partnership. Environmental policy On April 20, 2010, an explosion destroyed an offshoredrilling rigat theMacondo Prospectin theGulf of Mexico, causing amajor sustained oil leak. Obama visited the Gulf, announced a federal investigation, and formed a bipartisan","formed a bipartisan commission to recommend new safety standards, after a review bySecretary of the InteriorKen Salazarand concurrent Congressional hearings. He then announced a six-month moratorium on newdeepwater drillingpermits and leases, pending regulatory review.As multiple efforts by BP failed, some in the media and public expressed confusion and criticism over various aspects of the incident, and stated a desire for more involvement by Obama and the federal government.Prior to the oil spill, on March 31, 2010, Obama ended a ban on oil and gas drilling along the majority of theEast Coast of the United Statesand along the coast ofnorthern Alaskain an effort to win support for an energy and climate bill and to reduce foreign imports of oil and gas. In July 2013, Obama expressed reservations and said he \"would reject theKeystone XL pipelineif it increased carbon pollution greenhouse emissions.\"On February 24, 2015, Obama vetoed a bill that would have authorized the pipeline.It was the third veto of","the third veto of Obama's presidency and his first major veto. In December 2016, Obama permanently banned new offshore oil and gas drilling in most United States-owned waters in theAtlanticand Arctic Oceans using the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Act. Obama emphasized theconservationoffederal landsduring his term in office. He used his power under theAntiquities Actto create 25 newnational monumentsduring his presidency and expand four others, protecting a total of 553,000,000 acres (224,000,000 ha) of federal lands and waters, more than any other U.S. president. Health care reform Obama called forCongressto pass legislation reforminghealth care in the United States, a key campaign promise and a top legislative goal.He proposed an expansion of health insurance coverage to cover the uninsured, cap premium increases, and allow people to retain their coverage when they leave or change jobs. His proposal was to spend $900billion over ten years and include a government insurance plan, also known as thepublic","known as thepublic option, to compete with the corporate insurance sector as a main component to lowering costs and improving quality of health care. It would also make it illegal for insurers to drop sick people or deny them coverage forpre-existing conditions, and require every American to carry health coverage. The plan also includes medical spending cuts and taxes on insurance companies that offer expensive plans. On July 14, 2009, House Democratic leaders introduced a 1,017-page plan for overhauling the U.S. health care system, which Obama wanted Congress to approve by the end of 2009.After public debate during the Congressional summer recess of 2009, Obama delivereda speech to a joint session of Congresson September 9 where he addressed concerns over the proposals.In March 2009, Obama lifted a ban on using federal funds for stem cell research. On November 7, 2009, a health care bill featuring the public option was passed in the House.On December 24, 2009, the Senate passed its own bill—without a public","a public option—on a party-line vote of 60–39.On March 21, 2010, thePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act(ACA, colloquially \"Obamacare\") passed by the Senate in December was passed in the House by a vote of 219 to 212. Obama signed the bill into law on March 23, 2010. The ACA includeshealth-related provisions, most of which took effect in 2014, including expandingMedicaideligibility for people making up to 133 percentof thefederal poverty level(FPL) starting in 2014,subsidizing insurance premiums for people making up to 400 percentof the FPL ($88,000 for family of four in 2010) so their maximum \"out-of-pocket\" payment for annual premiums will be from 2 percent to 9.5 percent of income,providing incentives for businesses to provide health care benefits, prohibiting denial of coverage and denial of claims based on pre-existing conditions, establishinghealth insurance exchanges, prohibiting annual coverage caps, and support for medical research. According to White House and CBO figures, the maximum share","the maximum share of income that enrollees would have to pay would vary depending on their income relative to the federal poverty level. The costs of these provisions are offset by taxes, fees, and cost-saving measures, such as new Medicare taxes for those in high-incomebrackets, taxes onindoor tanning, cuts to theMedicare Advantageprogram in favor of traditional Medicare, and fees on medical devices and pharmaceutical companies;there is also a tax penalty for those who do not obtain health insurance, unless they are exempt due to low income or other reasons.In March 2010, the CBO estimated that the net effect of both laws will be a reduction in the federal deficit by $143billion over the first decade. The law faced several legal challenges, primarily based on the argument that an individual mandate requiring Americans to buy health insurance was unconstitutional. On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court ruled by a 5–4 vote inNational Federation of Independent Business v. Sebeliusthat the mandate was","the mandate was constitutional under the U.S. Congress's taxing authority.InBurwell v. Hobby Lobbythe Court ruled that \"closely-held\" for-profit corporations could be exempt on religious grounds under theReligious Freedom Restoration Actfrom regulations adopted under the ACA that would have required them to pay for insurance that covered certain contraceptives. In June 2015, the Court ruled 6–3 inKing v. Burwellthat subsidies to help individuals and families purchase health insurance were authorized for those doing so on both the federal exchange and state exchanges, not only those purchasing plans \"established by the State\", as the statute reads. Foreign policy In February and March 2009, Vice President Joe Biden andSecretary of StateHillary Clinton made separate overseas trips to announce a \"new era\" in U.S. foreign relations with Russia and Europe, using the terms \"break\" and \"reset\" to signal major changes from the policies of the preceding administration.Obama attempted to reach out to Arab leaders by","to Arab leaders by granting his first interview to an Arab satellite TV network,Al Arabiya.On March 19, Obama continued his outreach to the Muslim world, releasing a New Year's video message to the people and government of Iran.On June 4, 2009, Obama delivered a speech atCairo Universityin Egypt calling for \"A New Beginning\" in relations between the Islamic world and the United States and promoting Middle East peace.On June 26, 2009, Obama condemned the Iranian government's actions towards protesters followingIran's 2009 presidential election. In 2011, Obama ordered a drone strike in Yemen which targeted and killedAnwar al-Awlaki, an American imam suspected of being a leadingAl-Qaedaorganizer. al-Awlaki became the firstU.S. citizento be targeted and killed by aU.S. drone strike. The Department of Justice released a memo justifying al-Awlaki's death as a lawful act of war,while civil liberties advocates described it as a violation of al-Awlaki's constitutional right todue process. The killing led to","The killing led to significant controversy.Histeenage sonandyoung daughter, also Americans, were later killed in separateUS military actions, although they were not targeted specifically. In March 2015, Obama declared that he had authorized U.S. forces to provide logistical and intelligence support to the Saudis in theirmilitary intervention in Yemen, establishing a \"Joint Planning Cell\" with Saudi Arabia.In 2016, the Obama administration proposed a series ofarms deals with Saudi Arabiaworth $115billion.Obama halted the sale of guided munition technology toSaudi Arabiaafter Saudi warplanestargeted a funeralin Yemen's capital Sanaa, killing more than 140 people. In September 2016 Obama was snubbed byXi Jinpingand theChinese Communist Partyas he descended fromAir Force Oneto the tarmac ofHangzhou International Airportfor the2016 G20 Hangzhou summitwithout the usual red carpet welcome. War in Iraq On February 27, 2009, Obama announced that combat operations in Iraq would end within 18 months.The Obama","18 months.The Obama administration scheduled the withdrawal of combat troops to be completed by August 2010, decreasing troop's levels from 142,000 while leaving a transitional force of about 50,000 in Iraq until the end of 2011. On August 19, 2010, the last U.S. combat brigade exited Iraq. Remaining troops transitioned from combat operations tocounter-terrorismand the training, equipping, and advising of Iraqi security forces.On August 31, 2010, Obama announced that the United States combat mission in Iraq was over.On October 21, 2011, President Obama announced that all U.S. troops would leave Iraq in time to be \"home for the holidays.\" In June 2014, following thecapture of MosulbyISIL, Obama sent 275 troops to provide support and security for U.S. personnel and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. ISIS continued to gain ground and to commitwidespread massacres and ethnic cleansing.In August 2014, during theSinjar massacre, Obama ordered acampaign of U.S. airstrikes against ISIL.By the end of 2014, 3,100 American","3,100 American ground troops were committed to the conflictand 16,000 sorties were flown over the battlefield, primarily by U.S. Air Force and Navy pilots.In early 2015, with the addition of the \"Panther Brigade\" of the82nd Airborne Divisionthe number of U.S. ground troops in Iraq increased to 4,400,and by July American-led coalition air forces counted 44,000 sorties over the battlefield. Afghanistan and Pakistan In his election campaign, Obama called the war in Iraq a \"dangerous distraction\" and that emphasis should instead be put on the war in Afghanistan,the region he cites as being most likely where an attack against the United States could be launched again.Early in his presidency, Obama moved to bolster U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan. He announced an increase in U.S. troop levels to 17,000 military personnel in February 2009 to \"stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan\", an area he said had not received the \"strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires.\"He replaced","replaced the military commander in Afghanistan, GeneralDavid D. McKiernan, with formerSpecial Forcescommander Lt. Gen.Stanley A. McChrystalin May 2009, indicating that McChrystal's Special Forces experience would facilitate the use of counterinsurgency tactics in the war.On December 1, 2009, Obama announced the deployment of an additional 30,000 military personnel to Afghanistan and proposed to begin troop withdrawals 18 months from that date;this took place in July 2011.David Petraeusreplaced McChrystal in June 2010, after McChrystal's staff criticized White House personnel in a magazine article.In February 2013, Obama said the U.S. military would reduce the troop level in Afghanistan from 68,000 to 34,000 U.S. troops by February 2014.In October 2015, the White House announced a plan to keep U.S. Forces in Afghanistan indefinitely in light of the deteriorating security situation. Regarding neighboring Pakistan, Obama called its tribal border region the \"greatest threat\" to the security of Afghanistan and","of Afghanistan and Americans, saying that he \"cannot tolerate a terrorist sanctuary.\" In the same speech, Obama claimed that the U.S. \"cannot succeed in Afghanistan or secure our homeland unless we change our Pakistan policy.\" Death of Osama bin Laden Starting with information received from Central Intelligence Agency operatives in July 2010, the CIA developed intelligence over the next several months that determined what they believed to be the hideout ofOsama bin Laden. He was living in seclusion ina large compoundinAbbottabad, Pakistan, a suburban area 35 miles (56 km) fromIslamabad.CIA headLeon Panettareported this intelligence to President Obama in March 2011.Meeting with his national security advisers over the course of the next six weeks, Obama rejected a plan to bomb the compound, and authorized a \"surgical raid\" to be conducted byUnited States Navy SEALs.The operation took place on May 1, 2011, and resulted in the shooting death of bin Laden and the seizure of papers, computer drives and disks from","and disks from the compound.DNA testing was one of five methods used to positively identify bin Laden's corpse,which was buried at sea several hours later.Within minutes of the President's announcement from Washington, DC, late in the evening on May 1, there were spontaneous celebrations around the country as crowds gathered outside the White House, and at New York City'sGround ZeroandTimes Square.Reaction to the announcementwas positive across party lines, including from former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Relations with Cuba Since the spring of 2013, secret meetings were conducted between the United States and Cuba in the neutral locations of Canada andVatican City.The Vatican first became involved in 2013 when Pope Francis advised the U.S. and Cuba toexchange prisonersas a gesture of goodwill.On December 10, 2013, Cuban PresidentRaúl Castro, in a significant public moment, greeted and shook hands with Obama at theNelson Mandela memorial serviceinJohannesburg. In December 2014, after the","2014, after the secret meetings, it was announced that Obama, with Pope Francis as an intermediary, had negotiated a restoration of relations with Cuba, after nearly sixty years of détente.Popularly dubbed theCuban Thaw,The New Republicdeemed the Cuban Thaw to be \"Obama's finest foreign policy achievement.\"On July 1, 2015, President Obama announced that formal diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States would resume, and embassies would be opened in Washington andHavana.The countries' respective \"interests sections\" in one another's capitals were upgraded to embassies on July 20 and August 13, 2015, respectively.Obama visited Havana, Cuba for two days in March 2016, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to arrive sinceCalvin Coolidgein 1928. Israel During the initial years of the Obama administration, the U.S. increased military cooperation with Israel, including increased military aid, re-establishment of theU.S.-Israeli Joint Political Military Groupand the Defense Policy Advisory Group,","Advisory Group, and an increase in visits among high-level military officials of both countries.The Obama administration asked Congress to allocate money toward funding theIron Domeprogram in response to the waves ofPalestinian rocket attacks on Israel.In March 2010, Obama took a public stance against plans by the government of Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahuto continue building Jewish housing projects in predominantly Arab neighborhoods ofEast Jerusalem.In 2011, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution condemningIsraeli settlements, with the United States being the only nation to do so.Obama supports thetwo-state solutionto theArab–Israeli conflictbased on the 1967 borders with land swaps. In 2013,Jeffrey Goldbergreported that, in Obama's view, \"with each new settlement announcement, Netanyahu is moving his country down a path toward near-total isolation.\"In 2014, Obama likened theZionist movementto thecivil rights movementin the United States. He said both movements seek to bring","seek to bring justice and equal rights to historically persecuted peoples, explaining: \"To me, being pro-Israel and pro-Jewish is part and parcel with the values that I've been fighting for since I was politically conscious and started getting involved in politics.\"Obama expressed support for Israel's right to defend itself during the2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.In 2015, Obama was harshly criticized by Israel for advocating and signing theIran Nuclear Deal; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had advocated the U.S. congress to oppose it, said the deal was \"dangerous\" and \"bad.\" On December 23, 2016, under the Obama Administration, the United States abstained fromUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemned Israeli settlement building in the occupiedPalestinian territoriesas a violation of international law, effectively allowing it to pass.Netanyahu strongly criticized the Obama administration's actions,and the Israeli government withdrew its annual dues from the organization,","the organization, which totaled $6million, on January 6, 2017.On January 5, 2017, the United States House of Representatives voted 342–80 to condemn the UN Resolution. Libya In February 2011, protests in Libya began against long-time dictatorMuammar Gaddafias part of theArab Spring. They soon turned violent. In March, as forces loyal to Gaddafi advanced on rebels across Libya, calls for a no-fly zone came from around the world, including Europe, theArab League, and a resolutionpassed unanimously by the U.S. Senate.In response to the passage ofUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 1973on March 17, the Foreign Minister of Libya Moussa Koussa announced a ceasefire. However Gaddafi's forces continued to attack the rebels. On March 19 a multinational coalition lead by France and the United Kingdom with Italian and U.S. support, approved by Obama, took part in air strikes to destroy the Libyan government's air defense capabilities to protect civilians and enforce a no-fly-zone,including the use ofTomahawk","the use ofTomahawk missiles,B-2 Spirits, and fighter jets.Six days later, on March 25, by unanimous vote of all its 28 members, NATO took over leadership of the effort, dubbedOperation Unified Protector.Some members of Congressquestioned whether Obama had the constitutional authority to order military action in addition to questioning its cost, structure and aftermath.In 2016 Obama said \"Our coalition could have and should have done more to fill a vacuum left behind\" and that it was \"a mess\".He has stated that the lack of preparation surrounding the days following the government's overthrow was the \"worst mistake\" of his presidency. Syrian civil war On August 18, 2011, several months after the start of theSyrian civil war, Obama issued a written statement that said: \"The time has come forPresident Assadto step aside.\"This stance was reaffirmed in November 2015.In 2012, Obama authorized multipleprograms run by the CIAand the Pentagon to train anti-Assad rebels.The Pentagon-run program was later found to have","later found to have failed and was formally abandoned in October 2015. In the wake of achemical weapons attackin Syria,formally blamedby the Obama administration on the Assad government, Obama chose not to enforce the \"red line\" he had pledgedand, rather than authorize the promised military action against Assad, went along with the Russia-brokered deal that led to Assadgiving up chemical weapons; however attacks withchlorine gascontinued.In 2014, Obama authorized anair campaign aimed primarily at ISIL. Iran nuclear talks On October 1, 2009, the Obama administration went ahead with a Bush administration program, increasing nuclear weapons production. The \"Complex Modernization\" initiative expanded two existing nuclear sites to produce new bomb parts. In November 2013, the Obama administration openednegotiationswith Iran to prevent it from acquiringnuclear weapons, which included aninterim agreement. Negotiations took two years with numerous delays, with a deal being announced on July 14, 2015. The deal titled","The deal titled the \"Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action\" saw sanctions removed in exchange for measures that would prevent Iran from producing nuclear weapons. While Obama hailed the agreement as being a step towards a more hopeful world, the deal drew strong criticism from Republican and conservative quarters, and from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.In addition, the transfer of $1.7billion in cash to Iran shortly after the deal was announced was criticized by the Republican party. The Obama administration said that the payment in cash was because of the \"effectiveness of U.S. and international sanctions.\"In order to advance the deal, the Obama administration shieldedHezbollahfrom theDrug Enforcement Administration'sProject Cassandrainvestigation regarding drug smuggling and from theCentral Intelligence Agency.On a side note, the very same year, in December 2015, Obama started a $348billion worth program to back the biggest U.S. buildup of nuclear arms since Ronald Reagan left the White House.","the White House. Russia In March 2010, an agreement was reached with the administration of Russian PresidentDmitry Medvedevto replace the1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treatywith a new pact reducing the number of long-range nuclear weapons in the arsenals of both countries by about a third.Obama and Medvedev signed theNew STARTtreaty in April 2010, and theU.S. Senateratified it in December 2010.In December 2011, Obama instructed agencies to considerLGBT rightswhen issuing financial aid to foreign countries.In August 2013, he criticized Russia's law that discriminates against gays,but he stopped short of advocating a boycott of the upcoming2014 Winter OlympicsinSochi, Russia. AfterRussia's invasion of Crimeain 2014,military intervention in Syriain 2015, andthe interferencein the2016 U.S. presidential election,George Robertson, a former UK defense secretary and NATO secretary-general, said Obama had \"allowed Putin to jump back on the world stage and test the resolve of the West\", adding that the legacy of this","the legacy of this disaster would last. Cultural and political image Obama's family history, upbringing, andIvy Leagueeducation differ markedly from those of African-American politicians who launched their careers in the 1960s through participation in the civil rights movement.Expressing puzzlement over questions about whether he is \"black enough\", Obama told an August 2007 meeting of theNational Association of Black Journaliststhat \"we're still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong.\"Obama acknowledged his youthful image in an October 2007 campaign speech, saying: \"I wouldn't be here if, time and again, the torch had not been passed to a new generation.\"Additionally, Obama has frequently been referred to as an exceptional orator.During his pre-inauguration transition period and continuing into his presidency, Obama delivered a series of weekly Internet video addresses. Job approval According to theGallup Organization, Obama began his presidency with a 68","with a 68 percentapproval rating,the fifth highest for a president following their swearing in.His ratings remained above the majority level until November 2009and by August 2010 his approval was in the low 40s,a trend similar to Ronald Reagan's and Bill Clinton's first years in office.Following thedeath of Osama bin Ladenon May 2, 2011, Obama experienced a small poll bounce and steadily maintained 50–53 percent approval for about a month, until his approval numbers dropped back to the low 40s. His approval rating fell to 38 percent on several occasions in late 2011before recovering in mid-2012 with polls showing an average approval of 50 percent.After his second inauguration in 2013, Obama's approval ratings remained stable around 52 percentbefore declining for the rest of the year and eventually bottoming out at 39 percent in December.In polling conducted before the2014 midterm elections, Obama's approval ratings were at their lowestwith his disapproval rating reaching a high of 57 percent.His approval","approval rating continued to lag throughout most of 2015 but began to reach the high 40s by the end of the year.According to Gallup, Obama's approval rating reached 50 percent in March 2016, a level unseen since May 2013.In polling conducted January 16–19, 2017, Obama's final approval rating was 59 percent, which placed him on par withGeorge H. W. BushandDwight D. Eisenhower, whose final Gallup ratings also measured in the high 50s. Obama has maintained relatively positive public perceptions after his presidency.In Gallup's retrospective approval polls of former presidents, Obama garnered a 63 percent approval rating in 2018 and again in 2023, ranking him the fourth most popular president since World War II. Foreign perceptions Polls showed strong support for Obama in other countries both before and during his presidency.In a February 2009 poll conducted in Western Europe and the U.S. byHarris InteractiveforFrance 24and theInternational Herald Tribune, Obama was rated as the most respected world leader, as","world leader, as well as the most powerful.In a similar poll conducted by Harris in May 2009, Obama was rated as the most popular world leader, as well as the one figure most people would pin their hopes on for pulling the world out of the economic downturn. On October 9, 2009—only nine months into his first term—theNorwegian Nobel Committeeannounced that Obama had won the2009 Nobel Peace Prize\"for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples\",which drew a mixture of praise and criticism from world leaders and media figures.He became the fourth U.S. president to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and the third to become a Nobel laureate while in office.He himself called it a \"call to action\" and remarked: \"I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments but rather an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations\". Thanks, Obama In 2009 the saying \"thanks, Obama\" first appeared in aTwitter hashtag\"#thanks","hashtag\"#thanks Obama\" and was later used in a demotivational poster. It was later adopted satirically to blame Obama for any socio-economic ills. Obama himself used the phrase in video in 2015 and 2016. In 2017 the phrase was used byStephen Colbertto express gratitude to Obama on his last day in office. In 2022, President Joe Biden's Twitter account posted the phrase. Post-presidency (2017–present) Obama's presidency ended on January 20, 2017, upon theinaugurationof his successor,Donald Trump.The family moved to a house they rented inKalorama, Washington, D.C.On March 2, theJohn F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museumawarded theProfile in Courage Awardto Obama \"for his enduring commitment to democratic ideals and elevating the standard of political courage.\"His first public appearance since leaving the office was a seminar at theUniversity of Chicagoon April 24, where he appealed for a new generation to participate in politics.On September 7, Obama partnered with former presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.","Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush to work withOne America Appealto help the victims ofHurricane HarveyandHurricane Irmain theGulf CoastandTexascommunities.From October 31 to November 1, Obama hosted the inaugural summit of theObama Foundation,which he intended to be the central focus of his post-presidency and part of his ambitions for his subsequent activities following his presidency to be more consequential than his time in office. Barack and Michelle Obama signed a deal on May 22, 2018, to produce docu-series, documentaries and features forNetflixunder the Obamas' newly formed production company,Higher Ground Productions.Higher Ground's first film,American Factory, won theAcademy Award for Best Documentary Featurein 2020.On October 24, a pipe bomb addressed to Obama was intercepted by the Secret Service. It was one of several pipe-bombs that had beenmailed out to Democratic lawmakers and officials.In 2019, Barack and Michelle Obama bought a home onMartha's VineyardfromWyc","VineyardfromWyc Grousbeck.On October 29, Obama criticized \"wokeness\" andcall-out cultureat the Obama Foundation's annual summit. Obama was reluctant to make an endorsement in the2020 Democratic presidential primariesbecause he wanted to position himself to unify the party, regardless of the nominee.On April 14, 2020, Obama endorsed Biden, the presumptive nominee, for president inthe presidential election, stating that he has \"all the qualities we need in a president right now.\"In May, Obama criticized President Trump forhis handlingof theCOVID-19 pandemic, calling his response to the crisis \"an absolute chaotic disaster\", and stating that the consequences of theTrump presidencyhave been \"our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never before.\"On November 17, Obama's presidential memoir,A Promised Land, was released. In February 2021, Obama and musicianBruce Springsteenstarted a podcast calledRenegades: Born in the","Born in the USAwhere the two talk about \"their backgrounds, music and their 'enduring love of America.'\"Later that year, Regina Hicks had signed a deal withNetflix, in a venture with his and Michelle's Higher Ground to develop comedy projects. On March 4, 2022, Obama won an Audio Publishers Association (APA) Award in the best narration by the author category for the narration of his memoirA Promised Land.On April 5, Obama visited the White House for the first time since leaving office, in an event celebrating the 12th annual anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act.In June, it was announced that the Obamas and their podcast production company, Higher Ground, signed a multi-year deal withAudible.In September, Obama visited the White House to unveil his and Michelle's official White House portraits.Around the same time, he won aPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Narratorfor his narration in the Netflix documentary seriesOur Great National Parks. In 2022, Obama opposed expanding the Supreme Court","the Supreme Court beyond the present nine Justices. In March 2023, Obama traveled to Australia as a part of his speaking tour of the country. During the trip, Obama met with Australian Prime MinisterAnthony Albaneseand visitedMelbournefor the first time.Obama was reportedly paid more than $1 million for two speeches. In October 2023, during the Israel–Hamas war, Obama declared thatIsraelmust dismantleHamasin the wake of the2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.Weeks later, Obama warnedIsraelthat its actions could \"harden Palestinian attitudes for generations\" and weaken international support for Israel; any military strategy that ignored the war's human costs \"could ultimately backfire.\" In July 2024, Obama expressed concerns about Biden's campaign viability. Legacy and recognition He has been described as one of the most effective campaigners in American history (his 2008 campaign being particularly highlighted) as well as one of the most talented political orators of the 21st century.HistorianJulian","Zelizercredits Obama with \"a keen sense of how the institutions of government work and the ways that his team could design policy proposals.\" Zeitzer notes Obama's policy successes included the economic stimulus package which ended theGreat Recessionand theDodd-Frankfinancial and consumer protection reforms, as well as theAffordable Care Act. Zeitzer also notes the Democratic Party lost power and numbers of elected officials during Obama's term, saying that the consensus among historians is that Obama \"turned out to be a very effective policymaker but not a tremendously successful party builder.\" Zeitzer calls this the \"defining paradox of Obama's presidency\". TheBrookings Institutionnoted that Obama passed \"only one major legislative achievement (Obamacare)—and a fragile one at that—the legacy of Obama's presidency mainly rests on its tremendous symbolic importance and the fate of a patchwork of executive actions.\"David W. Wise noted that Obama fell short \"in areas many Progressives hold dear\", including","dear\", including the continuation of drone strikes, not going after big banks during the Great Recession, and failing to strengthen his coalition before pushing for Obamacare. Wise called Obama's legacy that of \"a disappointingly conventional president\". Obama's most significant accomplishment is generally considered to be the Affordable Care Act (ACA), provisions of which went into effect from 2010 to 2020. Many attempts by Senate Republicans to repeal the ACA, including a \"skinny repeal\", have thus far failed.However, in 2017, the penalty for violating the individual mandate was repealed effective 2019.Together with theHealth Care and Education Reconciliation Actamendment, it represents the U.S. healthcare system's most significant regulatory overhaul and expansion of coverage since the passage ofMedicareand Medicaid in 1965. Many commentators credit Obama with averting a threateneddepressionand pulling the economy back from the Great Recession.According to theU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, theObama","theObama administrationcreated 11.3 million jobs from the month after his first inauguration to the end of his second term.In 2010, Obama signed into effect the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Passed as a response to thefinancial crisis of 2007–2008, it brought the most significant changes tofinancial regulationin the United States since the regulatory reform that followed theGreat Depressionunder Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 2009, Obama signed into law theNational Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, which contained in it the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the first addition to existing federal hate crime law in the United States since Democratic President Bill Clinton signed into law the Church Arson Prevention Act of 1996. The act expandedexisting federal hate crime laws in the United States, and made it a federal crime to assault people based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. As president, Obama","As president, Obama advanced LGBT rights.In 2010, he signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act, which brought an end to \"don't ask, don't tell\" policy in the U.S. armed forces that banned open service fromLGBTpeople; the law went into effect the following year.In 2016, his administration brought an end to the ban ontransgenderpeople serving openly in the U.S. armed forces.AGallup poll, taken in the final days of Obama's term, showed that 68 percent of Americans believed the U.S. had made progress on LGBT rights during Obama's eight years in office. Obama substantially escalated the use ofdrone strikesagainst suspected militants and terrorists associated with al-Qaeda and theTaliban.In 2016, the last year of his presidency, the U.S. dropped 26,171 bombs on seven different countries.Obama left about 8,400 U.S. troops inAfghanistan, 5,262 in Iraq, 503 in Syria, 133 in Pakistan, 106 in Somalia, seven in Yemen, and two in Libya at the end of his presidency. According toPew Research CenterandUnited States Bureau","States Bureau of Justice Statistics, from December 31, 2009, to December 31, 2015, inmates sentenced in U.S. federal custody declined by five percent. This is the largest decline in sentenced inmates in U.S. federal custody since Democratic PresidentJimmy Carter. By contrast, the federal prison population increased significantly under presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. Human Rights Watch(HRW) called Obama's human rights record \"mixed\", adding that \"he has often treated human rights as a secondary interest—nice to support when the cost was not too high, but nothing like a top priority he championed.\" Obama left office in January 2017 with a 60 percent approval rating.He gained 10 spots from the same survey in 2015 from the Brookings Institution that ranked him the 18th-greatest American president.In Gallup's 2018 job approval poll for the past 10 U.S. presidents, he received a 63 percent approval rating. Presidential library The Barack Obama Presidential Center is","Center is Obama's plannedpresidential library. It will be hosted by the University of Chicago and located inJackson Parkon the South Side of Chicago. Awards and honors Obama received theNorwegian Nobel Committee'sNobel Peace Prizein 2009,The Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education's Ambassador of Humanity Awardin 2014, theJohn F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Awardin 2017, and theRobert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights Ripple of Hope Awardin 2018. He was namedTIMEMagazine'sTimePerson of the Yearin 2008 and 2012. He also received twoGrammy Awards for Best Spoken Word AlbumforDreams from My Father(2006), andThe Audacity of Hope(2008) as well as twoPrimetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding NarratorforOur Great National Parks(2022), andWorking: What We Do All Day(2023). He also won twoChildren's and Family Emmy Awards. Eponymy Bibliography Books Audiobooks Articles See also Politics Other Lists Notes References Bibliography Further reading External links Official Other","Contiguous United States Thecontiguous United States(officially theconterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoiningU.S. statesand theDistrict of Columbiaof theUnited States of Americain centralNorth America.The term excludes the only two non-contiguousstates, which areAlaskaandHawaii(they are also the last two states to beadmitted to the Union), and all other offshoreinsular areas, such as theU.S. territoriesofAmerican Samoa,Guam, theNorthern Mariana Islands,Puerto Rico, and theU.S. Virgin Islands.The colloquial term \"Lower48\"is also used, especially in relation to Alaska. The related but distinct termcontinental United Statesincludes Alaska, which is also on North America, but separated from the 48 states byBritish Columbiain Canada, but excludes Hawaii and all the insular areas in theCaribbeanand thePacific. The greatest distance (on agreat-circleroute) entirely within the contiguous U.S. is 2,802 miles (4,509 km), coast-to-coast betweenFloridaand theState of Washington;the greatest north–south line","north–south line is 1,650 miles (2,660 km).The contiguous United States occupies an area of 3,119,884.69 square miles (8,080,464.3 km2). Of this area, 2,959,064.44 square miles (7,663,941.7 km2) is actual land, composing 83.65 percent of the country's total land area, and is comparable in size to the area of Australia.Officially, 160,820.25 square miles (416,522.5 km2) of the contiguous United States is water area, composing 62.66 percent of the nation's total water area. The contiguous United States, if it were a country, would be fifth on thelist of countries and dependencies by area, behindRussia,Canada,China, andBrazil. However, the total area of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, ranks third or fourth. Brazil is 431,000 square kilometers (166,000 sq mi) larger than the contiguous United States, but smaller than the entire United States including Alaska, Hawaii and overseas territories. The2020 U.S. censuspopulation of the area was 328,571,074, comprising 99.13 percent of the nation's total","the nation's total population, and a density of 111.04 inhabitants/sq mi (42.872/km2), compared to 93.844/sq mi (36.233/km2) for the nation as a whole. Other terms Whileconterminous U.S.has the precise meaning ofcontiguous U.S.(both adjectives meaning \"sharing a common boundary\"), other terms commonly used to describe the 48 contiguous states have a greater degree of ambiguity. Continental and mainland United States BecauseAlaskais also a part ofNorth America, the termcontinental United Statesalso includes that state, so the term is qualified with the explicit inclusion of Alaska to resolve any ambiguity.On May 14, 1959, theUnited States Board on Geographic Namesissued the following definitions based partially on the reference in the Alaska Omnibus Bill, which defined the continental United States as \"the 49 States on the North American Continent and the District of Columbia...\" The Board reaffirmed these definitions on May 13, 1999.However, even before Alaska became a state, it was properly included within","included within the continental U.S. due to being anincorporated territory. The termmainland United Statesis sometimes used synonymously withcontinental United States, but technically refers only to those parts of states connected to the landmass of North America, thereby excluding not onlyHawaiiand overseasinsular areas, but also islands which are part of continental states but separated from the mainland, such as theAleutian Islands(Alaska),San Juan Islands(Washington), theChannel Islands(California),the Keys(Florida), thebarrier islands(GulfandEast Coaststates), andLong Island(New York). CONUS and OCONUS CONUS, a technical term used by theU.S. Department of Defense,General Services Administration,NOAA/National Weather Service, and others, has been defined both as the continental United States, and as the 48 contiguous states.The District of Columbia is not always specifically mentioned as being part ofCONUS. OCONUSis derived from CONUS withOfor outside added, thus referring to Outside of Continental","of Continental United States. The lower 48 The termlower 48is also used to refer to the conterminous United States. TheNational Geographicstyle guide recommends the use ofcontiguousorconterminous United Statesinstead oflower 48when the 48 states are meant, unless used in the context of Alaska.Almost all of Hawaii is south of the southernmost point of the conterminous United States in Florida. Zone of the Interior DuringWorld War II, the first fournumbered Air Forcesof theUnited States Army Air Forces(USAAF) were said to be assigned to theZone of the Interiorby the American military organizations of the time—the future states ofAlaskaandHawaii, then each onlyorganized incorporated territoriesof the Union, were respectively covered by theEleventh Air ForceandSeventh Air Forceduring the war. Terms used in the non-contiguous U.S. jurisdictions Residents of Alaska, Hawaii and off-shoreU.S. territorieshave unique labels for the contiguous United States because of their own locations relative to them. Alaska The","to them. Alaska The vast territory ofAlaskabecame the 49th state of the United States on January 3, 1959. Alaska is the northwest extremity of the North American continent, separated from theU.S. West Coastby theCanadian provinceofBritish Columbia. The termLower 48has, for many years, been a common Alaskan equivalent for \"contiguous United States\";today, many Alaskans use the term\"Outside\"for those states, though some may use \"Outside\" to refer toanylocation not within Alaska. Hawaii The territory ofHawaii, consisting of the entireHawaiian Islandsarchipelago except forMidway Atoll,became the 50th state of the United States on August 21, 1959. It is the southernmost U.S. state, and the latest one to join the Union. Not part of any continent, Hawaii is located in thePacific Ocean, about 2,200 miles (3,541 km) from North America and almost halfway between North America andAsia. In Hawaii andoverseas American territories, for instance, the termsthe MainlandorU.S. Mainlandare often used to refer to the 49 states","to the 49 states in North America. Puerto Rico Puerto Rico is anunincorporated territoryof the United States located in the northeastCaribbean Sea, approximately 1,000 miles (1,609 km) southeast ofMiami,Florida. Puerto Ricans born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens and are free to move to the mainland United States. The termStateside Puerto Ricanrefers to residents of any U.S. state or the District of Columbia who were born in, or can trace their family ancestry to, Puerto Rico. U.S. Virgin Islands TheU.S. Virgin Islandsis aU.S. territorylocated directly to the east of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea.The term \"stateside\" is used to refer to the mainland, in relation to the U.S. Virgin Islands(seeStateside Virgin Islands Americans). American Samoa American Samoais aU.S. territorylocated in theSouth Pacific OceaninPolynesia, south of the equator — it is 2,200 miles (3,500 km) southwest ofHawaii.In American Samoa, the contiguous United States is called the \"mainland United States\" or \"the states\"; those not from","those not from American Samoa are calledpalagi(outsiders). Non-contiguous areas within the contiguous United States Apart from off-shoreU.S. islands, a few continental portions of the contiguous United States are accessible by road only by traveling through Canada.Point Roberts, Washington;Elm Point, Minnesota; and theNorthwest AngleinMinnesotaare three such places.Alburgh, Vermont, is not directly connected by land, but is accessible by road via bridges from within Vermont and from New York.By contrast,Hyder, Alaska, is physically part of contiguous Alaska and its easternmost town, but the only practical access is by road through Canada or by seaplane. List of contiguous U.S. states The 48 contiguous states are: In addition, theDistrict of Columbiais within the contiguous United States. See also Notes References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Pokémon World Championships ThePokémon World Championshipsis an invite-onlyesportsevent organized byPlay! Pokémon. It is held annually in August and features games from thePokémonseries such as thePokémonvideo games,Pokémon Trading Card Game,Pokémon Go,Pokémon UniteandPokkén Tournament(until its 2022 edition). Players earn invitations to the World Championships based on their performance in qualifiers and other tournaments held throughout the season and compete for scholarship money, prizes and the title of World Champion. With the exception ofAsia, invitations to the World Championships are administered by thePlay! Pokémonprogram. History The Pokémon World Championships first began with thePokémon Trading Card Game(TCG) in 2004, which was around the time that the franchise was regaining its popularity.In 2009, Play! Pokémon began to organize competitive tournaments for thePokémonvideo game series alongside the TCG, which is collectively known as the Video Game Championships (VGC). Like the TCG Championships,\",\n \"TCG Championships, players compete with other players in their own age divisions (i.e. Junior, Senior and Masters) in different Premier Tournaments, and the season culminates with the best players earning an invitation to play the Pokémon World Championships in August. The tournaments in VGC are played with a different game each year, mainly, the latestPokémongame from its main series. In 2016, Play! Pokémon announced thatPokkén Tournamentwould have its own championship series and would be played at the Pokémon World Championships.From 2018 onward,Pokkén Tournament DXwas used to support its qualifiers and competitions. In 2019, it was announced that the 2020 Pokémon World Championships would take place inLondon, United Kingdom,the first time in which the World Championships would be held in a location outside ofNorth America. This is likely due to the setting ofPokémon Sword and Shield, which takes place in a region inspired by the United Kingdom known as Galar, and it is the set of games that would be\",\n \"games that would be played by the video game division of the World Championships. On March 31, 2020,Play! Pokémoncancelled the 2020 Pokémon World Championships and suspended its 2020 season due to health concerns over theCOVID-19 pandemic.This came after earlier announcements in March which saw the cancellation of the 2020 European International Championshipsand part of its season between March and June 2020.On February 9, 2021, it was announced that the 2021 Pokémon World Championships would postponed till 2022 for the same reasons. In early January 2022, it was confirmed thatPokémon Unitewould be played at the World Championships, making it the newestMOBAgame to have an official esports tournament, afterLeague of Legends. In May 2022, after six seasons, Play! Pokémon announced the end of thePokkén TournamentChampionship Series after the 2022 season. At the 2022 edition of the event, it was announced that the 2023 World Championships will take place inYokohama, Japan (the basis of Vermilion City in the\",\n \"City in the Kanto region). When the 2023 event took place, it was the first time that the World Championships visited the franchise's country of origin, as well as the first World Championships to take place in Asia. At the end of the 2023 event, The Pokémon Company announced that the Pokémon World Championships will return toHawaiifor the first time since the previous World Championships in the state was held back in 2012. World Championship locations Despite Pokémon being a Japanese product, only one World Championship (2023) was held in Japan. Almost all of the remaining events were held in the United States. Qualification The qualifying process for the Pokémon World Championships varies each year and is dependent on a player's age division and the country in which they are located in. Players may also qualify to play on different days of the World Championships based on their performance in their respective qualifying programs; the best performing players will immediately advance to the second day of the\",\n \"second day of the World Championships playoffs (i.e. \\\"Day 2\\\") instead of playing through the first day (i.e. \\\"Day 1\\\"). Play! Pokémon program Players located in a country with aPlay! Pokémonprogram (i.e. inNorth America,Europe,Latin AmericaandOceania) compete in a regular schedule of tournaments for Championship Points and receive invitations when they meet a predetermined threshold of points at the end of the season. In 2015, the Play! Pokémon program expanded to include countries from the continents ofLatin AmericaandAsia(except Japan and South Korea). However, on June 10, 2020, it was announced thatAsiawould no longer be part of the Play! Pokémon program and will have its own qualifying system towards the Pokémon World Championships. Pokémon GO Championship Series Pokémon announced in October 2021 thatPokémon GOwould be added during the 2022 World Championships,along with it a qualification system through the Pokémon GO Championship Series, where the top two head to the World Championships.Any trainer who\",\n \"trainer who reached Legend rank during Season 9 of thePokémon GO Battle Leaguewould qualify for the GO Championship Series. Pokémon Unite Championship Series In January 2022,Pokémon Uniteproducer Masaaki Hoshino confirmed that the game would be part of the roster of games to be played at the World Championships in London.For the first season of the Pokémon Unite Championship Series, there will be eleven supported Regional Zones: North America, Central America, South America-East, South America-West, Europe, Oceania, Japan, South Korea, India, and the Asia-Pacific region. These events will only be open to players aged 16 or 18, depending on the region or country they are from. In each month, a series of tournaments in each Regional Zone will be held. Like other games in the World Championships, players will earn Championship Points based on their finishing position in that month's tournament. The CP can be retained by players to allow for team changes as the season carries on. The team with the most points\",\n \"the most points qualifies for the Regional Championships, and the top teams from the Regional Championships qualify for a chance to compete at the Pokémon World Championships. In January 2023, there were changes to the competitive structure and Regional Zones. Pokémon World Championships nearly doubled available spots from 16, to 31 teams. Regional Zones controlled by TPCi were also changed, with Central America, South America-East and South America West being changed to LATAM North, LATAM South, and Brazil. TPC had also taken control of the India and Asia-Pacific Regional Zones, and split Asia-Pacific into 2 regions; Asia-Pacific East and Asia-Pacific West. For TPCi controlled regions, the previous month's top 4 did not auto qualify for the next month's tournament finals. Additionally, an extra monthly tournament was added, the April Cup. Championship Points were also changed to include top CP earners an invite to Pokémon World Championships, ranging from top 1 to 3 in top CP earners depending on how many\",\n \"on how many invites were given for a region. For TPC controlled regions, their tournament circuit began in April, with 3 monthly qualifiers. The winners of these qualifiers then participated in Regionals to earn a spot for Pokémon World Championships. Among those changes, both North America and Europe were also given their first regional LAN event. Europe had a LAN event for their Aeos Cup series at European International Championships. North America were given a regional LAN event at the North America International Championships. In 2023, competing countries were divided into eight groups of four teams (groups A to H). Teams in each group play each another in a best-of-three seriesround-robin, with the top team advancing to the Top 8 knockout stage. The final draw took place virtually on thePokémon UniteYouTubechannel on July 28, 2023. The prize pool is $500,000 in USD will be distributed among the Top 16 finishers in the championship. Japan & South Korea Tournaments inJapanandSouth Koreaare organised\",\n \"Koreaare organised independently from Play! Pokémon, and as such, players from these countries have a different system of qualification. In Japan, players compete for an invite to theJapan National Championshipsby playing in major qualifier or online tournaments held throughout the season.The best performing players of theJapan National Championshipswill then be selected to represent Japan in the Pokémon World Championships. In South Korea, the style of qualification for the World Championships changes frequently. For example, in 2015, players would compete in theKorean National Championshipsand earn a World Championships invitation based on their standing in the tournament. However, in 2019, players would compete in tournaments organized by theKorean Leagueand earn an invite based on the number of points they had accumulated by the end of the season. Other There are other less common methods of qualifying for the World Championships which include finishing at least top 4 or better in the prior year's World\",\n \"prior year's World Championships or by participating in asingle-elimination tournamentknown as the Last Chance Qualifierat the location of the World Championships itself. List of World Champions Trading Card Game (TCG) Video Game Championships (VGC) Pokémon Go The under-17 age division was discontinued after the 2022 season. All participants of any age now compete in the same tournament. All tournament battles use the Great League battle format (all Pokémon must be below 1,500 Combat Power.) Pokémon Unite Retired games Pokkén Tournament & Pokkén Tournament DX 2014 World Championships The2014 Pokémon World Championshipswas the sixth annual edition of the championships. The event took place in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center onWashington, D.C., alongside the 2014Pokémon Trading Card GameWorld Championship who were in their eleventh edition. The tournament was streamed viaTwitchfor the first time in the tournament history and reached a viewership of more than 800,000. The defending Video Game\",\n \"Video Game champions wereArash OmmatifromItaly(Masters Division), Hayden McTavish from theUnited States(Senior Division), and Brendan Zheng from theUnited States(Junior Division). The opening ceremony of the event was attended byJunichi Masuda, the video game designer for thePokémonfranchise and a member of the board of directors ofGame Freak. The finals match of the Masters division is best known and remembered within the Pokémon community forSe Jun Park's victory with the inclusion and use of aPachirisuon his team. 2014 qualification The qualification process for the 2014 Pokémon World Championships was primarily based on Championship Points accumulated by players from official Play! Pokémon tournaments such as Premier Challenges, Regional Championships and National Championships. In addition, the top 4 players of the 2013 Pokémon World Championships in each division, and the top 4 players of a tournament known as the 'Last Chance Qualifier' will also receive an invitation to play in the World\",\n \"play in the World Championships. The invitations for the Masters Division of the tournament were distributed in the following manner: Most of the invitations did not include a fully paid trip to the tournament, and as a result several players could not attend the tournament. 2014 tournament structure Players per country Results Six rounds of Swiss was played by 60 players in the tournament, and each round was played with a set of best-of-three matches. The top 8 players after the Swiss rounds advances to the best-of-three Single Elimination matches. The defending World Champion Arash Ommati and former three-time World ChampionRay Rizzodid not advance to the single elimination rounds. Final standings 2015 World Championships The2015 Pokémon World Championshipswas the seventh annual edition of the championships. The event was held alongside thePokémon Trading Card GameWorld Championships at theHynes Convention CenterinBoston, Massachusetts. The tournament was transmitted with live streaming from the official\",\n \"from the official PokémonTwitchchannel. The defending Video Game champions for the year wereSe Jun ParkfromSouth Korea(Masters Division), Nikolai Zielinsky from theUnited States(Senior Division) and Kota Yamamoto fromJapan(Junior Division). 2015 qualification Players could only gain an invitation to play in the Video Game World Championships by either being the2014 Pokémon World Champions, or by obtaining enough Championship Points in their respective geographic zone designated byPlay! Pokémon. However, the only exception to this rule are for players from Japan and South Korea, as their tournaments are not overseen by Play! Pokémon and their invites are governed through a different system of qualification. Since 2014, players were able to earn Championship Points from various tournaments within their geographical region. The tournaments vary in scale, ranging from local Premier Challenges to state-level Regional Championships and finally the large-scale National Championships. The number of points awarded\",\n \"of points awarded varies with scale, and players who earn these points are ranked and divided into zones such as North America, Europe and South Africa. This year, two new zones (Latin America and Asia-Pacific) were introduced. The 2015 Pokémon Video Game World Championship was intended to be played under two Swiss tournaments and one single-elimination tournament which would then determine the 2015 World Champions. As such, there are two types of invites: As an example, the invitations for the Masters Division were distributed as follows: 2015 tournament structure TheVideo GameChampionships consisted of twoSwiss tournamentsand one single elimination tournament played across three days. On Friday (Day 1), all players who earned an invitation without a Day 1 bye were entered into a Swiss tournament, where players with two or fewer losses would advance onto the next round. The second Swiss tournament was then played on Saturday (Day 2), where players who advanced from Day 1 were joined by players who received\",\n \"who received an invitation with a Day 1 bye. At the end of the Day 2 Swiss tournament, the top eight players played in single elimination rounds until the last two remain. The finals took place on Sunday (Day 3). Final standings (Video Game Championships) Weapons controversy During the 2015 World Championships, two Trading Card Game competitors fromIowa(Kevin Norton, 18, and James Stumbo, 27) brought weapons in their vehicle, which were recovered by the police. The two posted status updates and images of their weaponry on social media, which were noticed by variousPokémonfans who treated them as supposed threats against the tournament. The updates were reported to theBoston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC), who promptly seized their automobile and then stopped them at the door and barred them from entering the Hynes Convention Center on Thursday evening. Police executed a search warrant on Friday and Norton and Stumbo were arrested at their Red Roof Inn room in Saugus just after midnight on Saturday,\",\n \"on Saturday, August 22, 2015.The two were arrested on charges of unlicensed possession of firearms and ammunition, and were initially held without bail.The weapons recovered were a recently purchasedRemingtonshotgun, anAR-15, a hunting knife and several hundred rounds of ammunition.They pleaded not guilty at their arraignment on November 10, 2015, and their bail was set at $150,000.On December 2, 2015, their trial was set for May 9, 2016, however, in early April 2016, their trial was postponed to November 2016.Following the release ofPokémon Goin July 2016, Stumbo's attorney indicated that the case would be resolved soon.Norton and Stumbo were later sentenced to two years in prison with an additional two years probation once their prison term ends. 2016 World Championships The2016 Pokémon World Championshipswas the eighth annual edition of the championships. The event was held at theSan Francisco Marriott MarquisinSan Francisco, California, from August 19 to August 21.For the first time in the tournament\",\n \"in the tournament history, thePokkén Tournamentinvitational was featured alongside the Video Game Championships (VGC) and Trading Card Game (TCG) tournaments. Side events and an official store with event merchandise occurred alongside the event. The defending Video Game champions were Shoma Honami fromJapan(Masters Division), Mark McQuillan from theUnited Kingdom(Senior Division) and Kotone Yasue from Japan (Junior Division).The defending Trading Card Game champions were Jacob Van Wagner from theUnited States(Masters Division), Patrick Martinez from the United States (Senior Division), and Rowan Stavenow fromCanada. Age divisions and qualifications Both the Pokémon VGC and TCG were divided into three age divisions: theJunior Division(born 2005 or later), theSenior Division(born between 2001 and 2004), and theMasters Division(born 2000 or earlier). For thePokkén Tournamentinvitational, players were grouped into either theSenior Division(born 2001 or later) orMasters Division(born 2000 or earlier). The process\",\n \"The process of obtaining an invitation is primarily based on Championship Points.Players could earn Championship Points by performing in select online and live tournaments held throughout the 2016 season (between September 2015 and July 2016). Players from Japan andSouth Koreawere excluded from this rule as these countries had their own method of qualification not based on Championship Points. Play! Pokémondivided players into five different rating zones: US andCanada,Europe,Latin America,Asia-PacificandSouth Africa. Different zones had different Championship Points requirements due to the distribution of events around the world. There are two possible invitations players could obtain: 'Day Two' invites were usually accompanied by travel awards and stipends paid by Play! Pokémon. Trading Card Game Championship qualifications The following table shows the Championship Pointsrequirement for an invitation to the 2016 World Championships: Players in Japan and South Korea were awarded invitations based on each\",\n \"based on each country's organized play system. Video Game Championship qualifications For the Masters Division, the following table lists the Championship Points requirement for an invitation to the 2016 World Championships: 2016 tournament structure The Video Game Championships consisted of two Swiss tournaments and one single elimination tournament played across three days. On Friday (Day 1), all players who earned an invitation without a Day 1 bye were entered into a Swiss tournament, where players with two or fewer losses would advance onto the next round. The second Swiss tournament was then played on Saturday (Day 2), where players who advanced from Day 1 were joined by players who received an invitation with a Day 1 bye. At the end of the Day 2 Swiss tournament, players with two or fewer losses advanced to play in single elimination rounds until the last two remain. The finals took place on Sunday (Day 3). Final standings (Video Game Championships) Final standings (Trading Card Game) References\",\n \"Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II(born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44thpresident of the United Statesfrom 2009 to 2017. As a member of theDemocratic Party, he was the firstAfrican-Americanpresident in U.S. history. Obama previously served as aU.S. senatorrepresentingIllinoisfrom 2005 to 2008 and as anIllinois state senatorfrom 1997 to 2004. Obama was born inHonolulu,Hawaii. He graduated fromColumbia Universityin 1983 with aBachelor of Artsdegree in political science and later worked as acommunity organizerinChicago. In 1988, Obama enrolled inHarvard Law School, where he was the first black president of theHarvard Law Review. He became a civil rights attorney and an academic, teachingconstitutional lawat theUniversity of Chicago Law Schoolfrom 1992 to 2004. He also went into elective politics; Obamarepresented the 13th district in the Illinois Senatefrom 1997 until 2004, when hesuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate. In the2008 presidential election, aftera close primary\",\n \"close primary campaignagainstHillary Clinton, he was nominated by the Democratic Party for president. Obama selectedJoe Bidenas his running mate and defeatedRepublicannomineeJohn McCain. Obama was named the2009 Nobel Peace Prizelaureate, a decision that drew a mixture of criticism and praise. His first-term actions addressed theglobal financial crisisand includeda major stimulus packageto guide the economy in recovering from theGreat Recession, a partial extension ofGeorge W. Bush'stax cuts,legislation to reform health care,a major financial regulation reform bill, and the end of a major U.S.military presence in Iraq. Obama also appointedSupreme CourtjusticesSonia SotomayorandElena Kagan, the former being the firstHispanic Americanon the Supreme Court. He orderedOperation Neptune Spear, the raid that killedOsama bin Laden, who was responsible for theSeptember 11 attacks. Obama downplayed Bush'scounterinsurgency model, expandingair strikesand making extensive use of special forces, while encouraging greater\",\n \"encouraging greater reliance on host-government militaries. He also orderedmilitary involvement in Libyain order to implementUN Security Council Resolution 1973, contributing to the overthrow ofMuammar Gaddafi. Obama defeated Republican opponentMitt Romneyin the2012 presidential election. In his second term, Obama took steps tocombat climate change, signinga major international climate agreementand anexecutive orderto limitcarbon emissions. Obama also presided over the implementation of theAffordable Care Actand other legislation passed in his first term. He negotiateda nuclear agreement with Iranandnormalized relations with Cuba. The number ofAmerican soldiers in Afghanistandecreased during Obama's second term, though U.S. soldiers remained in the country throughout Obama's presidency. Obama promoted inclusion forLGBT Americans, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to publicly supportsame-sex marriage. Obama left office on January 20, 2017, and continues to reside in Washington, D.C. Historians and\",\n \"D.C. Historians and political scientists rank him among the upper tier inhistorical rankings of American presidents.His presidential libraryin theSouth Side of Chicagobegan construction in 2021. Since leaving office, Obama has remained politically active, campaigning for candidates in various American elections, including Biden'ssuccessful presidential bidin2020. Outside of politics,Obama has published three books:Dreams from My Father(1995),The Audacity of Hope(2006), andA Promised Land(2020). Early life and career Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961,atKapiolani Medical Center for Women and ChildreninHonolulu, Hawaii.He is the only president born outside thecontiguous 48 states.He was born to an 18-year-old American mother and a 27-year-old Kenyan father. His mother,Ann Dunham(1942–1995), was born inWichita, Kansas, and was of English, Welsh, German, Swiss, and Irish descent. In 2007 it was discovered her great-great-grandfather Falmouth Kearney emigrated from the village ofMoneygall, Irelandto the U.S.\",\n \"Irelandto the U.S. in 1850.In July 2012,Ancestry.comfound a strong likelihood that Dunham was descended fromJohn Punch, an enslaved African man who lived in theColony of Virginiaduring the seventeenth century.Obama's father,Barack Obama Sr.(1934–1982),was a marriedLuo KenyanfromNyang'oma Kogelo.His last name, Obama, was derived from his Luo descent.Obama's parents met in 1960 in a Russian language class at theUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where his father was a foreign student on a scholarship.The couple married inWailuku, Hawaii, on February 2, 1961, six months before Obama was born. In late August 1961, a few weeks after he was born, Barack and his mother moved to theUniversity of WashingtoninSeattle, where they lived for a year. During that time, Barack's father completed his undergraduate degree in economics in Hawaii, graduating in June 1962. He left to attend graduate school on a scholarship atHarvard University, where he earned anM.A.in economics. Obama's parents divorced in March 1964.Obama Sr.\",\n \"1964.Obama Sr. returned toKenyain 1964, where he married for a third time and worked for the Kenyan government as the Senior Economic Analyst in the Ministry of Finance.He visited his son in Hawaii only once, at Christmas 1971,before he was killed in an automobile accident in 1982, when Obama was 21 years old.Recalling his early childhood, Obama said: \\\"That my father looked nothing like the people around me—that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk—barely registered in my mind.\\\"He described his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage. In 1963, Dunham metLolo Soetoroat theUniversity of Hawaii; he was anIndonesianEast–West Centergraduate studentingeography. The couple married onMolokaion March 15, 1965.After two one-year extensions of hisJ-1 visa, Lolo returned toIndonesiain 1966. His wife and stepson followed sixteen months later in 1967. The family initially lived in the Menteng Dalam neighborhood in theTebetdistrict ofSouth Jakarta. From 1970, they\",\n \"From 1970, they lived in a wealthier neighborhood in theMentengdistrict ofCentral Jakarta. Education At the age of six, Obama and his mother had moved to Indonesia to join his stepfather. From age six to ten, he was registered in school as \\\"Barry\\\"and attended localIndonesian-languageschools:Sekolah Dasar Katolik Santo Fransiskus Asisi(St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Elementary School) for two years andSekolah Dasar Negeri Menteng 01(State Elementary School Menteng 01) for one and a half years, supplemented by English-languageCalvert Schoolhomeschooling by his mother.As a result of his four years inJakarta, he was able to speakIndonesianfluently as a child.During his time in Indonesia, Obama's stepfather taught him to be resilient and gave him \\\"a pretty hardheaded assessment of how the world works\\\". In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents,MadelynandStanley Dunham. He attendedPunahou School—a privatecollege preparatory school—with the aid of a scholarship from fifth grade\",\n \"from fifth grade until he graduated from high school in 1979.In high school, Obama continued to use the nickname \\\"Barry\\\" which he kept until making a visit to Kenya in 1980.Obama lived with his mother and half-sister,Maya Soetoro, in Hawaii for three years from 1972 to 1975 while his mother was a graduate student inanthropologyat the University of Hawaii.Obama chose to stay in Hawaii when his mother and half-sister returned to Indonesia in 1975, so his mother could begin anthropology field work.His mother spent most of the next two decades in Indonesia, divorcing Lolo Soetoro in 1980 and earning a PhD degree in 1992, before dying in 1995 in Hawaii following unsuccessful treatment forovariananduterine cancer. Of his years in Honolulu, Obama wrote: \\\"The opportunity that Hawaii offered — to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect — became an integral part of my world view, and a basis for the values that I hold most dear.\\\"Obama has also written and talked about usingalcohol,marijuana,\",\n \"andcocaineduring his teenage years to \\\"push questions of who I was out of my mind\\\".Obama was also a member of the \\\"Choom Gang\\\" (the slang term for smoking marijuana), a self-named group of friends who spent time together and smoked marijuana. College and research jobs After graduating from high school in 1979, Obama moved to Los Angeles to attendOccidental Collegeon a full scholarship. In February 1981, Obama made his first public speech, calling for Occidental to participate in thedisinvestment from South Africain response to that nation's policy ofapartheid.In mid-1981, Obama traveled to Indonesia to visit his mother and half-sister Maya and visited the families of college friends inPakistanfor three weeks.Later in 1981, hetransferredtoColumbia Universityin New York City as ajunior, where he majored inpolitical sciencewith a specialty ininternational relationsand inEnglish literatureand lived off-campus on West 109th Street.He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983 and a 3.7GPA. After graduating,\",\n \"After graduating, Obama worked for about a year at theBusiness International Corporation, where he was a financial researcher and writer,then as a project coordinator for theNew York Public Interest Research Groupon theCity College of New Yorkcampus for three months in 1985. Community organizer and Harvard Law School Two years after graduating from Columbia, Obama moved from New York to Chicago when he was hired as director of theDeveloping Communities Project, a faith-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes inRoseland,West Pullman, andRiverdaleon Chicago'sSouth Side. He worked there as a community organizer from June 1985 to May 1988.He helped set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization inAltgeld Gardens.Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for theGamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time inEuropefor three weeks and then for five weeks in Kenya,\",\n \"weeks in Kenya, where he met many of hispaternal relativesfor the first time. Despite being offered a full scholarship toNorthwestern University School of Law, Obama enrolled atHarvard Law Schoolin the fall of 1988, living in nearbySomerville, Massachusetts.He was selected as an editor of theHarvard Law Reviewat the end of his first year,president of the journal in his second year,and research assistant to the constitutional scholarLaurence Tribewhile at Harvard.During his summers, he returned to Chicago, where he worked as asummer associateat the law firms ofSidley Austinin 1989 andHopkins & Sutterin 1990.Obama's election as thefirst black president of theHarvard Law Reviewgained national media attentionand led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race relations,which evolved into a personal memoir. The manuscript was published in mid-1995 asDreams from My Father.Obama graduated from Harvard Law in 1991 with aJuris Doctormagna cum laude. University of Chicago Law School In 1991, Obama\",\n \"In 1991, Obama accepted a two-year position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at theUniversity of Chicago Law Schoolto work on his first book.He then taughtconstitutional lawat the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years, first as a lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and then as a senior lecturer from 1996 to 2004. From April to October 1992, Obama directed Illinois'sProject Vote, avoter registration campaignwith ten staffers and seven hundred volunteer registrars; it achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African Americans in the state, leadingCrain's Chicago Businessto name Obama to its 1993 list of \\\"40 under Forty\\\" powers to be. Family and personal life In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity ofhis extended family: \\\"It's like a little mini-United Nations,\\\" he said. \\\"I've got relatives who look likeBernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look likeMargaret Thatcher.\\\"Obama has a half-sister with whom he was raised (Maya Soetoro-Ng) and seven other half-siblings\",\n \"other half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family, six of them living.Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham,until her death on November 2, 2008,two days before his election to the presidency. Obama also has roots in Ireland; he met with his Irish cousins inMoneygallin May 2011.InDreams from My Father, Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives ofJefferson Davis,President of the Confederate States of Americaduring theAmerican Civil War. He also shares distant ancestors in common withGeorge W. BushandDick Cheney, among others. Obama lived with anthropologistSheila Miyoshi Jagerwhile he was a community organizer in Chicago in the 1980s.He proposed to her twice, but both Jager and her parents turned him down.The relationship was not made public until May 2017, several months after his presidency had ended. In June 1989, Obama metMichelle Robinsonwhen he was employed atSidley Austin.Robinson was assigned for three months as\",\n \"for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, and she joined him at several group social functions but declined his initial requests to date.They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992.After suffering a miscarriage, Michelle underwentin vitro fertilizationto conceive their children.The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born in 1998,followed by a second daughter, Natasha (\\\"Sasha\\\"), in 2001.The Obama daughters attended theUniversity of Chicago Laboratory Schools. When they moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2009, the girls started at theSidwell Friends School.The Obamas had twoPortuguese Water Dogs; the first, a male namedBo, was a gift from SenatorTed Kennedy.In 2013, Bo was joined bySunny, a female.Bo died of cancer on May 8, 2021. Obama is a supporter of theChicago White Sox, and he threw out the first pitch at the2005 ALCSwhen he was still a senator.In 2009, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at theAll-Star Gamewhile wearing a White Sox\",\n \"wearing a White Sox jacket.He is also primarily aChicago Bearsfootball fan in theNFL, but in his childhood and adolescence was afan of the Pittsburgh Steelersand rooted for them ahead of their victory inSuper Bowl XLIII12 days after he took office as president.In 2011, Obama invited the1985 Chicago Bearsto the White House; the team had not visited the White House after theirSuper Bowl winin 1986 due to theSpace Shuttle Challenger disaster.He playsbasketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team,and he is left-handed. In 2005, the Obama family applied the proceeds of a book deal and moved from aHyde Park, Chicagocondominium to a $1.6million house (equivalent to $2.5million in 2023) in neighboringKenwood, Chicago.The purchase of an adjacent lot—and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer, campaign donor and friendTony Rezko—attracted media attention because of Rezko's subsequent indictment and conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to\",\n \"were unrelated to Obama. In December 2007,Money Magazineestimated Obama's net worth at $1.3million (equivalent to $1.9million in 2023).Their 2009 tax return showed a household income of $5.5million—up from about $4.2million in 2007 and $1.6million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books.On his 2010 income of $1.7million, he gave 14 percent to non-profit organizations, including $131,000 toFisher House Foundation, a charity assisting wounded veterans' families, allowing them to reside near where the veteran is receiving medical treatments.Per his 2012 financial disclosure, Obama may be worth as much as $10million. Religious views Obama is aProtestantChristian whose religious views developed in his adult life.He wrote inThe Audacity of Hopethat he \\\"was not raised in a religious household.\\\" He described his mother, raised by non-religious parents, as being detached from religion, yet \\\"in many ways the most spiritually awakened person... I have ever known\\\", and \\\"a lonely witness forsecular humanism.\\\" He described\",\n \"He described his father as a \\\"confirmedatheist\\\" by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as \\\"a man who saw religion as not particularly useful.\\\" Obama explained how, through working withblack churchesas acommunity organizerwhile in his twenties, he came to understand \\\"the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change.\\\" In January 2008, Obama toldChristianity Today: \\\"I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in theredemptive deathandresurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life.\\\"On September 27, 2010, Obama released a statement commenting on his religious views, saying: I'm a Christian by choice. My family didn't—frankly, they weren't folks who went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn't raise me in the church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts ofJesus Christspoke to me in terms of the kind of life\",\n \"of the kind of life that I would want to lead—being my brothers' and sisters' keeper,treating others as they would treat me. Obama metTrinity United Church of ChristpastorJeremiah Wrightin October 1987 and became a member of Trinity in 1992.During Obama's first presidential campaign in May 2008, he resigned from Trinity aftersome of Wright's statements were criticized.Since moving to Washington, D.C., in 2009, the Obama family has attended several Protestant churches, includingShiloh Baptist ChurchandSt. John's Episcopal Church, as well as Evergreen Chapel atCamp David, but the members of the family do not attend church on a regular basis. In 2016, he said that he gets inspiration from a few items that remind him \\\"of all the different people I've met along the way\\\", adding: \\\"I carry these around all the time. I'm not that superstitious, so it's not like I think I necessarily have to have them on me at all times.\\\" The items, \\\"a whole bowl full\\\", include rosary beads given to him byPope Francis, a figurine of\",\n \"a figurine of the Hindu deityHanuman, aCoptic crossfrom Ethiopia, a smallBuddha statuegiven by a monk, and a metal poker chip that used to be the lucky charm of a motorcyclist in Iowa. Legal career Civil rights attorney He joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a 13-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was anassociatefor three years from 1993 to 1996, thenof counselfrom 1996 to 2004. In 1994, he was listed as one of the lawyers inBuycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank, 94 C 4094 (N.D. Ill.). Thisclass action lawsuitwas filed in 1994 with Selma Buycks-Roberson as lead plaintiff and alleged that Citibank Federal Savings Bank had engaged in practices forbidden under theEqual Credit Opportunity Actand theFair Housing Act. The case was settled out of court. From 1994 to 2002, Obama served on the boards of directors of theWoods Fund of Chicago—which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund the Developing Communities Project—and of\",\n \"Project—and of theJoyce Foundation.He served on the board of directors of theChicago Annenberg Challengefrom 1995 to 2002, as founding president and chairman of the board of directors from 1995 to 1999.Obama's law license became inactive in 2007. Legislative career Illinois Senate (1997–2004) Obama was elected to theIllinois Senatein 1996, succeeding Democratic State SenatorAlice PalmerfromIllinois's 13th District, which, at that time, spanned Chicago South Side neighborhoods from Hyde Park–Kenwood south toSouth Shoreand west toChicago Lawn.Once elected, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation that reformed ethics and health care laws.He sponsored a law that increasedtax creditsfor low-income workers, negotiatedwelfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare.In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican GovernorGeorge Ryan'spayday loanregulations andpredatory mortgage lendingregulations aimed at averting homeforeclosures.\",\n \"homeforeclosures. He was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998, defeating Republican Yesse Yehudah in the general election, and was re-elected again in 2002.In 2000, he lost aDemocratic primary raceforIllinois's 1st congressional districtin theUnited States House of Representativesto four-term incumbentBobby Rushby a margin of two to one. In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after a decade in the minority, regained a majority.He sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitorracial profilingby requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained, and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations.During his 2004 general election campaign for the U.S. Senate, police representatives credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enactingdeath penaltyreforms.Obama resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his\",\n \"2004 following his election to the U.S. Senate. 2004 U.S. Senate campaign in Illinois In May 2002, Obama commissioned a poll to assess his prospects in a 2004 U.S. Senate race. He created a campaign committee, began raising funds, and lined up political media consultantDavid Axelrodby August 2002. Obama formally announced his candidacy in January 2003. Obama was an early opponent of the George W. Bush administration's2003 invasion of Iraq.On October 2, 2002, the day President Bush and Congress agreed on thejoint resolutionauthorizing theIraq War,Obama addressed the first high-profile Chicagoanti-Iraq War rally,and spoke out against the war.He addressed another anti-war rally in March 2003 and told the crowd \\\"it's not too late\\\" to stop the war. Decisions by Republican incumbentPeter Fitzgeraldand his Democratic predecessorCarol Moseley Braunnot to participate in the election resulted in wide-open Democratic and Republican primary contests involving 15 candidates.In the March 2004 primary election, Obama won\",\n \"election, Obama won in an unexpected landslide—which overnight made him a rising star within thenational Democratic Party, started speculation about a presidential future, and led to the reissue of his memoir,Dreams from My Father.In July 2004, Obama deliveredthe keynote addressat the2004 Democratic National Convention,seen by nine million viewers. His speech was well received and elevated his status within the Democratic Party. Obama's expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary winnerJack Ryan, withdrew from the race in June 2004.Six weeks later,Alan Keyesaccepted the Republican nomination to replace Ryan.In theNovember 2004 general election, Obama won with 70 percent of the vote, the largest margin of victory for a Senate candidate in Illinois history.He took 92 of the state's 102 counties, including several where Democrats traditionally do not do well. U.S. Senate (2005–2008) Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 3, 2005,becoming the only Senate member of theCongressional Black\",\n \"Black Caucus.He introduced two initiatives that bore his name: Lugar–Obama, which expanded theNunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reductionconcept to conventional weapons;and theFederal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which authorized the establishment of USAspending.gov, a web search engine on federal spending.On June 3, 2008, Senator Obama—along with SenatorsTom Carper,Tom Coburn, andJohn McCain—introduced follow-up legislation: Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008.He alsocosponsoredtheSecure America and Orderly Immigration Act. In December 2006, President Bush signed into law theDemocratic Republic of the CongoRelief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, marking the first federal legislation to be enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor.In January 2007, Obama and Senator Feingold introduced a corporate jet provision to theHonest Leadership and Open Government Act, which was signed into law in September 2007. Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an\",\n \"Obama sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act to add safeguards for personality-disorder military discharges.This amendment passed the full Senate in the spring of 2008.He sponsored the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act supporting divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry, which was never enacted but later incorporated in theComprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010;and co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism.Obama also sponsored a Senate amendment to theState Children's Health Insurance Program, providing one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries. Obama held assignments on the Senate Committees forForeign Relations,Environment and Public Works, andVeterans' Affairsthrough December 2006.In January 2007, he left the Environment and Public Works committee and took additional assignments withHealth, Education, Labor and PensionsandHomeland Security and Governmental\",\n \"and Governmental Affairs.He also became Chairman of the Senate's subcommittee onEuropean Affairs.As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa. He met withMahmoud Abbasbefore Abbas becamePresident of the Palestinian National Authorityand gave a speech at theUniversity of Nairobiin which he condemned corruption within the Kenyan government. Obamaresigned his Senate seaton November 16, 2008, to focus on his transition period for the presidency. Presidential campaigns 2008 On February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States in front of theOld State Capitolbuilding inSpringfield, Illinois.The choice of the announcement site was viewed as symbolic, as it was also whereAbraham Lincolndelivered his\\\"House Divided\\\"speech in 1858.Obama emphasized issues of rapidly ending the Iraq War, increasingenergy independence, andreforming the health care system. Numerous candidates entered\",\n \"candidates entered theDemocratic Party presidential primaries. The field narrowed to Obama and SenatorHillary Clintonafter early contests, with the race remaining close throughout the primary process, but Obama gained a steady lead in pledgeddelegatesdue to better long-range planning, superior fundraising, dominant organizing incaucusstates, and better exploitation of delegate allocation rules.On June 2, 2008, Obama had received enough votes to clinch his nomination. After an initial hesitation to concede, on June 7, Clinton ended her campaign and endorsed Obama.On August 23, 2008, Obama announced hisselectionofDelawareSenatorJoe Bidenas his vice presidential running mate.Obama selected Biden from a field speculated to include former Indiana Governor and SenatorEvan Bayhand Virginia GovernorTim Kaine.At theDemocratic National ConventioninDenver, Colorado, Hillary Clinton called for her supporters to endorse Obama, and she andBill Clintongave convention speeches in his support.Obama delivered his acceptance\",\n \"his acceptance speech atInvesco Field at Mile Highstadium to a crowd of about eighty-four thousand; the speech was viewed by over three million people worldwide.During both the primary process and the general election, Obama's campaign set numerous fundraising records, particularly in the quantity of small donations.On June 19, 2008, Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate to turn downpublic financingin the general election since the system was created in 1976. John McCain was nominated as the Republican candidate, and he selectedSarah Palinas his running mate. Obama and McCain engaged in threepresidential debatesin September and October 2008.On November 4, Obama won the presidency with 365electoral votesto 173 received by McCain.Obama won 52.9 percent of thepopular voteto McCain's 45.7 percent.He became the first African-American to be elected president.Obama deliveredhis victory speechbefore hundreds of thousands of supporters in Chicago'sGrant Park.He is one of the three United States\",\n \"three United States senators moved directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House, the others beingWarren G. HardingandJohn F. Kennedy. 2012 On April 4, 2011, Obama filed election papers with theFederal Election Commissionand then announced his reelection campaign for 2012 in a video titled \\\"It Begins with Us\\\" that he posted on his website.As the incumbent president, he ran virtually unopposed in theDemocratic Party presidential primaries,and on April 3, 2012, Obama secured the 2778conventiondelegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.At theDemocratic National ConventioninCharlotte, North Carolina, Obama and Joe Biden were formally nominated by former President Bill Clinton as the Democratic Party candidates for president and vice president in the general election. Their main opponents were RepublicansMitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, and RepresentativePaul Ryanof Wisconsin. On November 6, 2012, Obama won 332 electoral votes, exceeding the 270 required for him to be reelected as\",\n \"to be reelected as president.With 51.1 percent of the popular vote,Obama became the first Democratic president sinceFranklin D. Rooseveltto win themajority of the popular votetwice.Obama addressed supporters and volunteers at Chicago'sMcCormick Placeafter his reelection and said: \\\"Tonight you voted for action, not politics as usual. You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours. And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties.\\\" Presidency (2009–2017) First 100 days Theinauguration of Barack Obamaas the 44th president took place on January 20, 2009. In his first few days in office, Obama issuedexecutive ordersandpresidential memorandadirecting the U.S. military to develop plans to withdraw troops from Iraq.He ordered the closing of theGuantanamo Bay detention camp,but Congress prevented the closure by refusing to appropriate the required fundsand preventing moving any Guantanamo detainee.Obama reduced the secrecy given to presidential\",\n \"to presidential records.He also revoked President George W. Bush's restoration of PresidentRonald Reagan'sMexico City policywhich prohibited federal aid to internationalfamily planningorganizations that perform or provide counseling about abortion. Domestic policy The first bill signed into law by Obama was theLilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, relaxing thestatute of limitationsfor equal-pay lawsuits.Five days later, he signed the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program to cover an additional four million uninsured children.In March 2009, Obama reversed a Bush-era policy that had limited funding ofembryonic stem cellresearch and pledged to develop \\\"strict guidelines\\\" on the research. Obama appointed two women to serve on the Supreme Court in the first two years of his presidency. He nominatedSonia Sotomayoron May 26, 2009, to replace retiringAssociate JusticeDavid Souter. She was confirmed on August 6, 2009,becoming the first Supreme Court Justice ofHispanicdescent.Obama\",\n \"nominatedElena Kaganon May 10, 2010, to replace retiring Associate JusticeJohn Paul Stevens. She was confirmed on August 5, 2010, bringing the number of women sitting simultaneously on the Court to three for the first time in American history. On March 11, 2009, Obama created theWhite House Council on Women and Girls, which formed part of theOffice of Intergovernmental Affairs, having been established byExecutive Order13506with a broad mandate to advise him on issues relating to the welfare of American women and girls. The council was chaired bySenior Advisor to the PresidentValerie Jarrett. Obama also established theWhite House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assaultthrough a government memorandum on January 22, 2014, with a broad mandate to advise him on issues relating to sexual assault on college and university campuses throughout the United States. The co-chairs of the Task Force were Vice President Joe Biden and Jarrett. The Task Force was a development out of the White House Council on\",\n \"House Council on Women and Girls andOffice of the Vice President of the United States, and prior to that the 1994Violence Against Women Actfirst drafted by Biden. In July 2009, Obama launched thePriority Enforcement Program, an immigration enforcement program that had been pioneered by George W. Bush, and theSecure Communitiesfingerprinting and immigration status data-sharing program. In amajor space policy speechin April 2010, Obama announced a planned change in direction atNASA, the U.S. space agency. He ended plans for a return ofhuman spaceflightto the moon and development of theAres Irocket,Ares Vrocket andConstellation program, in favor of fundingearth scienceprojects, a new rocket type, research and development for an eventual crewed mission to Mars, and ongoing missions to theInternational Space Station. On January 16, 2013, one month after theSandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Obama signed 23 executive orders and outlined a series of sweeping proposals regardinggun control.He urged Congress to\",\n \"urged Congress to reintroduce anexpired banon military-styleassault weapons, such as those used in several recent mass shootings, impose limits on ammunition magazines to 10 rounds, introduce background checks on all gun sales, pass a ban on possession and sale of armor-piercing bullets, introduce harsher penalties for gun-traffickers, especially unlicensed dealers who buy arms for criminals and approving the appointment of the head of the federalBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosivesfor the first time since 2006.On January 5, 2016, Obama announced new executive actions extending background check requirements to more gun sellers.In a 2016 editorial inThe New York Times, Obama compared the struggle for what he termed \\\"common-sense gun reform\\\" towomen's suffrageand othercivil rights movementsin American history. In 2011, Obama signed a four-year renewal of the Patriot Act.Following the2013 global surveillance disclosuresbywhistleblowerEdward Snowden, Obama condemned the leak as unpatriotic,but\",\n \"as unpatriotic,but called for increased restrictions on theNational Security Agency(NSA) to address violations of privacy.Obama continued and expanded surveillance programs set up by George W. Bush, while implementing some reforms.He supported legislation that would have limited the NSA's ability to collect phone records in bulk under a single program and supported bringing more transparency to theForeign Intelligence Surveillance Court(FISC). Racial issues In his speeches as president, Obama did not make more overt references to race relations than his predecessors,but according to one study, he implemented stronger policy action on behalf of African-Americans than any president since the Nixon era. Following Obama's election, many pondered the existence of a \\\"postracial America\\\".However, lingering racial tensions quickly became apparent,and many African-Americans expressed outrage over what they saw as an intense racial animosity directed at Obama.TheacquittalofGeorge Zimmermanfollowing thekilling of\",\n \"thekilling of Trayvon Martinsparked national outrage, leading to Obama giving a speech in which he noted that \\\"Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.\\\"The shooting ofMichael BrowninFerguson, Missourisparked a wave of protests.These and other events led to the birth of theBlack Lives Mattermovement, which campaigns against violence andsystemic racismtowardblack people.Though Obama entered office reluctant to talk about race, by 2014 he began openly discussing the disadvantages faced by many members of minority groups. Several incidents during Obama's presidency generated disapproval from the African-American community and with law enforcement, and Obama sought to build trust between law enforcement officials and civil rights activists, with mixed results. Some in law enforcement criticized Obama's condemnation of racial bias after incidents in which police action led to the death of African-American men, while some racial justice activists criticized Obama's expressions of empathy for the police.In a\",\n \"for the police.In a March 2016 Gallup poll, nearly one third of Americans said they worried \\\"a great deal\\\" about race relations, a higher figure than in any previous Gallup poll since 2001. LGBT rights On October 8, 2009, Obama signed theMatthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a measure that expanded the1969 United States federal hate-crime lawto include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.On October 30, 2009, Obama lifted the ban on travel to the United States by those infected with HIV. The lifting of the ban was celebrated byImmigration Equality.On December 22, 2010, Obama signed theDon't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, which fulfilled a promise made in the 2008 presidential campaignto end thedon't ask, don't tellpolicy of 1993 that had prevented gay and lesbian people from serving openly in theUnited States Armed Forces. In 2016, the Pentagon ended the policy that barredtransgender people from serving\",\n \"people from serving openly in the military. Same-sex marriage As a candidate for the Illinois state senate in 1996, Obama stated he favored legalizingsame-sex marriage.During his Senate run in 2004, he said he supported civil unions and domestic partnerships for same-sex partners but opposed same-sex marriages.In 2008, he reaffirmed this position by stating \\\"I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage.\\\"On May 9, 2012, shortly after the official launch of his campaign for re-election as president, Obama said his views had evolved, and he publicly affirmed his personal support for the legalization of same-sex marriage, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to do so.During his secondinaugural addresson January 21, 2013,Obama became the first U.S. president in office to call for full equality for gay Americans, and the first to mentiongay rightsor the word \\\"gay\\\" in an inaugural address.In 2013, the Obama administration filed briefs that urged theSupreme Courtto rule in\",\n \"Courtto rule in favor of same-sex couples in the cases ofHollingsworth v. Perry(regarding same-sex marriage)andUnited States v. Windsor(regarding theDefense of Marriage Act). Economic policy On February 17, 2009, Obama signed theAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a $787billion (equivalent to $1118 billion in 2023)economic stimuluspackage aimed at helping the economy recover from thedeepening worldwide recession.The act includes increased federal spending for health care, infrastructure, education, various tax breaks andincentives, and direct assistance to individuals.In March 2009, Obama's Treasury Secretary,Timothy Geithner, took further steps to manage thefinancial crisis, including introducing thePublic–Private Investment Program for Legacy Assets, which contains provisions for buying up to $2trillion in depreciated real estate assets. Obama intervened in thetroubled automotive industryin March 2009, renewing loans forGeneral Motors(GM) andChryslerto continue operations while reorganizing.\",\n \"while reorganizing. Over the following months the White House set terms for both firms' bankruptcies, including thesale of Chryslerto Italian automakerFiatand areorganization of GMgiving the U.S. government a temporary 60 percent equity stake in the company.In June 2009, dissatisfied with the pace of economic stimulus, Obama called on his cabinet to accelerate the investment.He signed into law theCar Allowance Rebate System, known colloquially as \\\"Cash for Clunkers\\\", which temporarily boosted the economy. The Bush and Obama administrations authorized spending and loan guarantees from theFederal Reserveand theDepartment of the Treasury. These guarantees totaled about $11.5trillion, but only $3trillion had been spent by the end of November 2009.On August 2, 2011, after a lengthy congressional debate over whether to raise the nation's debt limit, Obama signed the bipartisanBudget Control Act of 2011. The legislation enforced limits on discretionary spending until 2021, established a procedure to increase the\",\n \"to increase the debt limit, created a Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to propose further deficit reduction with a stated goal of achieving at least $1.5trillion in budgetary savings over 10 years, and established automatic procedures for reducing spending by as much as $1.2trillion if legislation originating with the new joint select committee did not achieve such savings.By passing the legislation, Congress was able to prevent aU.S. governmentdefaulton its obligations. The unemployment rate rose in 2009, reaching a peak in October at 10.0 percent and averaging 10.0 percent in the fourth quarter. Following a decrease to 9.7 percent in the first quarter of 2010, the unemployment rate fell to 9.6 percent in the second quarter, where it remained for the rest of the year.Between February and December 2010, employment rose by 0.8 percent, which was less than the average of 1.9 percent experienced during comparable periods in the past four employment recoveries.By November 2012, the\",\n \"November 2012, the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent,decreasing to 6.7 percent in the last month of 2013.During 2014, the unemployment rate continued to decline, falling to 6.3 percent in the first quarter.GDP growth returned in the third quarter of 2009, expanding at a rate of 1.6 percent, followed by a 5.0 percent increase in the fourth quarter.Growth continued in 2010, posting an increase of 3.7 percent in the first quarter, with lesser gains throughout the rest of the year.In July 2010, the Federal Reserve noted that economic activity continued to increase, but its pace had slowed, and chairmanBen Bernankesaid the economic outlook was \\\"unusually uncertain\\\".Overall, the economy expanded at a rate of 2.9 percent in 2010. TheCongressional Budget Office(CBO) and a broad range of economists credit Obama's stimulus plan for economic growth.The CBO released a report stating that the stimulus bill increased employment by 1–2.1million,while conceding that \\\"it is impossible to determine how many of the\",\n \"how many of the reported jobs would have existed in the absence of the stimulus package.\\\"Although an April 2010, survey of members of theNational Association for Business Economicsshowed an increase in job creation (over a similar January survey) for the first time in two years, 73 percent of 68 respondents believed the stimulus bill has had no impact on employment.The economy of the United States has grown faster than the other originalNATOmembers by a wider margin under President Obama than it has anytime since the end ofWorld War II.TheOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Developmentcredits the much faster growth in the United States to the stimulus plan of the U.S. and the austerity measures in the European Union. Within a month of the2010 midterm elections, Obama announced a compromise deal with the Congressional Republican leadership that included a temporary, two-year extension of the2001 and 2003 income tax rates, a one-yearpayroll taxreduction, continuation of unemployment benefits, and a new\",\n \"benefits, and a new rate and exemption amount forestate taxes.The compromise overcame opposition from some in both parties, and the resulting $858billion (equivalent to $1.2 trillion in 2023)Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010passed with bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress before Obama signed it on December 17, 2010. In December 2013, Obama declared that growingincome inequalityis a \\\"defining challenge of our time\\\" and called on Congress to bolster the safety net and raise wages. This came on the heels of thenationwide strikes of fast-food workersand Pope Francis' criticism of inequality andtrickle-down economics.Obama urged Congress to ratify a 12-nation free trade pact called theTrans-Pacific Partnership. Environmental policy On April 20, 2010, an explosion destroyed an offshoredrilling rigat theMacondo Prospectin theGulf of Mexico, causing amajor sustained oil leak. Obama visited the Gulf, announced a federal investigation, and formed a bipartisan\",\n \"formed a bipartisan commission to recommend new safety standards, after a review bySecretary of the InteriorKen Salazarand concurrent Congressional hearings. He then announced a six-month moratorium on newdeepwater drillingpermits and leases, pending regulatory review.As multiple efforts by BP failed, some in the media and public expressed confusion and criticism over various aspects of the incident, and stated a desire for more involvement by Obama and the federal government.Prior to the oil spill, on March 31, 2010, Obama ended a ban on oil and gas drilling along the majority of theEast Coast of the United Statesand along the coast ofnorthern Alaskain an effort to win support for an energy and climate bill and to reduce foreign imports of oil and gas. In July 2013, Obama expressed reservations and said he \\\"would reject theKeystone XL pipelineif it increased carbon pollution greenhouse emissions.\\\"On February 24, 2015, Obama vetoed a bill that would have authorized the pipeline.It was the third veto of\",\n \"the third veto of Obama's presidency and his first major veto. In December 2016, Obama permanently banned new offshore oil and gas drilling in most United States-owned waters in theAtlanticand Arctic Oceans using the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Act. Obama emphasized theconservationoffederal landsduring his term in office. He used his power under theAntiquities Actto create 25 newnational monumentsduring his presidency and expand four others, protecting a total of 553,000,000 acres (224,000,000 ha) of federal lands and waters, more than any other U.S. president. Health care reform Obama called forCongressto pass legislation reforminghealth care in the United States, a key campaign promise and a top legislative goal.He proposed an expansion of health insurance coverage to cover the uninsured, cap premium increases, and allow people to retain their coverage when they leave or change jobs. His proposal was to spend $900billion over ten years and include a government insurance plan, also known as thepublic\",\n \"known as thepublic option, to compete with the corporate insurance sector as a main component to lowering costs and improving quality of health care. It would also make it illegal for insurers to drop sick people or deny them coverage forpre-existing conditions, and require every American to carry health coverage. The plan also includes medical spending cuts and taxes on insurance companies that offer expensive plans. On July 14, 2009, House Democratic leaders introduced a 1,017-page plan for overhauling the U.S. health care system, which Obama wanted Congress to approve by the end of 2009.After public debate during the Congressional summer recess of 2009, Obama delivereda speech to a joint session of Congresson September 9 where he addressed concerns over the proposals.In March 2009, Obama lifted a ban on using federal funds for stem cell research. On November 7, 2009, a health care bill featuring the public option was passed in the House.On December 24, 2009, the Senate passed its own bill—without a public\",\n \"a public option—on a party-line vote of 60–39.On March 21, 2010, thePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act(ACA, colloquially \\\"Obamacare\\\") passed by the Senate in December was passed in the House by a vote of 219 to 212. Obama signed the bill into law on March 23, 2010. The ACA includeshealth-related provisions, most of which took effect in 2014, including expandingMedicaideligibility for people making up to 133 percentof thefederal poverty level(FPL) starting in 2014,subsidizing insurance premiums for people making up to 400 percentof the FPL ($88,000 for family of four in 2010) so their maximum \\\"out-of-pocket\\\" payment for annual premiums will be from 2 percent to 9.5 percent of income,providing incentives for businesses to provide health care benefits, prohibiting denial of coverage and denial of claims based on pre-existing conditions, establishinghealth insurance exchanges, prohibiting annual coverage caps, and support for medical research. According to White House and CBO figures, the maximum share\",\n \"the maximum share of income that enrollees would have to pay would vary depending on their income relative to the federal poverty level. The costs of these provisions are offset by taxes, fees, and cost-saving measures, such as new Medicare taxes for those in high-incomebrackets, taxes onindoor tanning, cuts to theMedicare Advantageprogram in favor of traditional Medicare, and fees on medical devices and pharmaceutical companies;there is also a tax penalty for those who do not obtain health insurance, unless they are exempt due to low income or other reasons.In March 2010, the CBO estimated that the net effect of both laws will be a reduction in the federal deficit by $143billion over the first decade. The law faced several legal challenges, primarily based on the argument that an individual mandate requiring Americans to buy health insurance was unconstitutional. On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court ruled by a 5–4 vote inNational Federation of Independent Business v. Sebeliusthat the mandate was\",\n \"the mandate was constitutional under the U.S. Congress's taxing authority.InBurwell v. Hobby Lobbythe Court ruled that \\\"closely-held\\\" for-profit corporations could be exempt on religious grounds under theReligious Freedom Restoration Actfrom regulations adopted under the ACA that would have required them to pay for insurance that covered certain contraceptives. In June 2015, the Court ruled 6–3 inKing v. Burwellthat subsidies to help individuals and families purchase health insurance were authorized for those doing so on both the federal exchange and state exchanges, not only those purchasing plans \\\"established by the State\\\", as the statute reads. Foreign policy In February and March 2009, Vice President Joe Biden andSecretary of StateHillary Clinton made separate overseas trips to announce a \\\"new era\\\" in U.S. foreign relations with Russia and Europe, using the terms \\\"break\\\" and \\\"reset\\\" to signal major changes from the policies of the preceding administration.Obama attempted to reach out to Arab leaders by\",\n \"to Arab leaders by granting his first interview to an Arab satellite TV network,Al Arabiya.On March 19, Obama continued his outreach to the Muslim world, releasing a New Year's video message to the people and government of Iran.On June 4, 2009, Obama delivered a speech atCairo Universityin Egypt calling for \\\"A New Beginning\\\" in relations between the Islamic world and the United States and promoting Middle East peace.On June 26, 2009, Obama condemned the Iranian government's actions towards protesters followingIran's 2009 presidential election. In 2011, Obama ordered a drone strike in Yemen which targeted and killedAnwar al-Awlaki, an American imam suspected of being a leadingAl-Qaedaorganizer. al-Awlaki became the firstU.S. citizento be targeted and killed by aU.S. drone strike. The Department of Justice released a memo justifying al-Awlaki's death as a lawful act of war,while civil liberties advocates described it as a violation of al-Awlaki's constitutional right todue process. The killing led to\",\n \"The killing led to significant controversy.Histeenage sonandyoung daughter, also Americans, were later killed in separateUS military actions, although they were not targeted specifically. In March 2015, Obama declared that he had authorized U.S. forces to provide logistical and intelligence support to the Saudis in theirmilitary intervention in Yemen, establishing a \\\"Joint Planning Cell\\\" with Saudi Arabia.In 2016, the Obama administration proposed a series ofarms deals with Saudi Arabiaworth $115billion.Obama halted the sale of guided munition technology toSaudi Arabiaafter Saudi warplanestargeted a funeralin Yemen's capital Sanaa, killing more than 140 people. In September 2016 Obama was snubbed byXi Jinpingand theChinese Communist Partyas he descended fromAir Force Oneto the tarmac ofHangzhou International Airportfor the2016 G20 Hangzhou summitwithout the usual red carpet welcome. War in Iraq On February 27, 2009, Obama announced that combat operations in Iraq would end within 18 months.The Obama\",\n \"18 months.The Obama administration scheduled the withdrawal of combat troops to be completed by August 2010, decreasing troop's levels from 142,000 while leaving a transitional force of about 50,000 in Iraq until the end of 2011. On August 19, 2010, the last U.S. combat brigade exited Iraq. Remaining troops transitioned from combat operations tocounter-terrorismand the training, equipping, and advising of Iraqi security forces.On August 31, 2010, Obama announced that the United States combat mission in Iraq was over.On October 21, 2011, President Obama announced that all U.S. troops would leave Iraq in time to be \\\"home for the holidays.\\\" In June 2014, following thecapture of MosulbyISIL, Obama sent 275 troops to provide support and security for U.S. personnel and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. ISIS continued to gain ground and to commitwidespread massacres and ethnic cleansing.In August 2014, during theSinjar massacre, Obama ordered acampaign of U.S. airstrikes against ISIL.By the end of 2014, 3,100 American\",\n \"3,100 American ground troops were committed to the conflictand 16,000 sorties were flown over the battlefield, primarily by U.S. Air Force and Navy pilots.In early 2015, with the addition of the \\\"Panther Brigade\\\" of the82nd Airborne Divisionthe number of U.S. ground troops in Iraq increased to 4,400,and by July American-led coalition air forces counted 44,000 sorties over the battlefield. Afghanistan and Pakistan In his election campaign, Obama called the war in Iraq a \\\"dangerous distraction\\\" and that emphasis should instead be put on the war in Afghanistan,the region he cites as being most likely where an attack against the United States could be launched again.Early in his presidency, Obama moved to bolster U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan. He announced an increase in U.S. troop levels to 17,000 military personnel in February 2009 to \\\"stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan\\\", an area he said had not received the \\\"strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires.\\\"He replaced\",\n \"replaced the military commander in Afghanistan, GeneralDavid D. McKiernan, with formerSpecial Forcescommander Lt. Gen.Stanley A. McChrystalin May 2009, indicating that McChrystal's Special Forces experience would facilitate the use of counterinsurgency tactics in the war.On December 1, 2009, Obama announced the deployment of an additional 30,000 military personnel to Afghanistan and proposed to begin troop withdrawals 18 months from that date;this took place in July 2011.David Petraeusreplaced McChrystal in June 2010, after McChrystal's staff criticized White House personnel in a magazine article.In February 2013, Obama said the U.S. military would reduce the troop level in Afghanistan from 68,000 to 34,000 U.S. troops by February 2014.In October 2015, the White House announced a plan to keep U.S. Forces in Afghanistan indefinitely in light of the deteriorating security situation. Regarding neighboring Pakistan, Obama called its tribal border region the \\\"greatest threat\\\" to the security of Afghanistan and\",\n \"of Afghanistan and Americans, saying that he \\\"cannot tolerate a terrorist sanctuary.\\\" In the same speech, Obama claimed that the U.S. \\\"cannot succeed in Afghanistan or secure our homeland unless we change our Pakistan policy.\\\" Death of Osama bin Laden Starting with information received from Central Intelligence Agency operatives in July 2010, the CIA developed intelligence over the next several months that determined what they believed to be the hideout ofOsama bin Laden. He was living in seclusion ina large compoundinAbbottabad, Pakistan, a suburban area 35 miles (56 km) fromIslamabad.CIA headLeon Panettareported this intelligence to President Obama in March 2011.Meeting with his national security advisers over the course of the next six weeks, Obama rejected a plan to bomb the compound, and authorized a \\\"surgical raid\\\" to be conducted byUnited States Navy SEALs.The operation took place on May 1, 2011, and resulted in the shooting death of bin Laden and the seizure of papers, computer drives and disks from\",\n \"and disks from the compound.DNA testing was one of five methods used to positively identify bin Laden's corpse,which was buried at sea several hours later.Within minutes of the President's announcement from Washington, DC, late in the evening on May 1, there were spontaneous celebrations around the country as crowds gathered outside the White House, and at New York City'sGround ZeroandTimes Square.Reaction to the announcementwas positive across party lines, including from former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Relations with Cuba Since the spring of 2013, secret meetings were conducted between the United States and Cuba in the neutral locations of Canada andVatican City.The Vatican first became involved in 2013 when Pope Francis advised the U.S. and Cuba toexchange prisonersas a gesture of goodwill.On December 10, 2013, Cuban PresidentRaúl Castro, in a significant public moment, greeted and shook hands with Obama at theNelson Mandela memorial serviceinJohannesburg. In December 2014, after the\",\n \"2014, after the secret meetings, it was announced that Obama, with Pope Francis as an intermediary, had negotiated a restoration of relations with Cuba, after nearly sixty years of détente.Popularly dubbed theCuban Thaw,The New Republicdeemed the Cuban Thaw to be \\\"Obama's finest foreign policy achievement.\\\"On July 1, 2015, President Obama announced that formal diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States would resume, and embassies would be opened in Washington andHavana.The countries' respective \\\"interests sections\\\" in one another's capitals were upgraded to embassies on July 20 and August 13, 2015, respectively.Obama visited Havana, Cuba for two days in March 2016, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to arrive sinceCalvin Coolidgein 1928. Israel During the initial years of the Obama administration, the U.S. increased military cooperation with Israel, including increased military aid, re-establishment of theU.S.-Israeli Joint Political Military Groupand the Defense Policy Advisory Group,\",\n \"Advisory Group, and an increase in visits among high-level military officials of both countries.The Obama administration asked Congress to allocate money toward funding theIron Domeprogram in response to the waves ofPalestinian rocket attacks on Israel.In March 2010, Obama took a public stance against plans by the government of Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahuto continue building Jewish housing projects in predominantly Arab neighborhoods ofEast Jerusalem.In 2011, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution condemningIsraeli settlements, with the United States being the only nation to do so.Obama supports thetwo-state solutionto theArab–Israeli conflictbased on the 1967 borders with land swaps. In 2013,Jeffrey Goldbergreported that, in Obama's view, \\\"with each new settlement announcement, Netanyahu is moving his country down a path toward near-total isolation.\\\"In 2014, Obama likened theZionist movementto thecivil rights movementin the United States. He said both movements seek to bring\",\n \"seek to bring justice and equal rights to historically persecuted peoples, explaining: \\\"To me, being pro-Israel and pro-Jewish is part and parcel with the values that I've been fighting for since I was politically conscious and started getting involved in politics.\\\"Obama expressed support for Israel's right to defend itself during the2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.In 2015, Obama was harshly criticized by Israel for advocating and signing theIran Nuclear Deal; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had advocated the U.S. congress to oppose it, said the deal was \\\"dangerous\\\" and \\\"bad.\\\" On December 23, 2016, under the Obama Administration, the United States abstained fromUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemned Israeli settlement building in the occupiedPalestinian territoriesas a violation of international law, effectively allowing it to pass.Netanyahu strongly criticized the Obama administration's actions,and the Israeli government withdrew its annual dues from the organization,\",\n \"the organization, which totaled $6million, on January 6, 2017.On January 5, 2017, the United States House of Representatives voted 342–80 to condemn the UN Resolution. Libya In February 2011, protests in Libya began against long-time dictatorMuammar Gaddafias part of theArab Spring. They soon turned violent. In March, as forces loyal to Gaddafi advanced on rebels across Libya, calls for a no-fly zone came from around the world, including Europe, theArab League, and a resolutionpassed unanimously by the U.S. Senate.In response to the passage ofUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 1973on March 17, the Foreign Minister of Libya Moussa Koussa announced a ceasefire. However Gaddafi's forces continued to attack the rebels. On March 19 a multinational coalition lead by France and the United Kingdom with Italian and U.S. support, approved by Obama, took part in air strikes to destroy the Libyan government's air defense capabilities to protect civilians and enforce a no-fly-zone,including the use ofTomahawk\",\n \"the use ofTomahawk missiles,B-2 Spirits, and fighter jets.Six days later, on March 25, by unanimous vote of all its 28 members, NATO took over leadership of the effort, dubbedOperation Unified Protector.Some members of Congressquestioned whether Obama had the constitutional authority to order military action in addition to questioning its cost, structure and aftermath.In 2016 Obama said \\\"Our coalition could have and should have done more to fill a vacuum left behind\\\" and that it was \\\"a mess\\\".He has stated that the lack of preparation surrounding the days following the government's overthrow was the \\\"worst mistake\\\" of his presidency. Syrian civil war On August 18, 2011, several months after the start of theSyrian civil war, Obama issued a written statement that said: \\\"The time has come forPresident Assadto step aside.\\\"This stance was reaffirmed in November 2015.In 2012, Obama authorized multipleprograms run by the CIAand the Pentagon to train anti-Assad rebels.The Pentagon-run program was later found to have\",\n \"later found to have failed and was formally abandoned in October 2015. In the wake of achemical weapons attackin Syria,formally blamedby the Obama administration on the Assad government, Obama chose not to enforce the \\\"red line\\\" he had pledgedand, rather than authorize the promised military action against Assad, went along with the Russia-brokered deal that led to Assadgiving up chemical weapons; however attacks withchlorine gascontinued.In 2014, Obama authorized anair campaign aimed primarily at ISIL. Iran nuclear talks On October 1, 2009, the Obama administration went ahead with a Bush administration program, increasing nuclear weapons production. The \\\"Complex Modernization\\\" initiative expanded two existing nuclear sites to produce new bomb parts. In November 2013, the Obama administration openednegotiationswith Iran to prevent it from acquiringnuclear weapons, which included aninterim agreement. Negotiations took two years with numerous delays, with a deal being announced on July 14, 2015. The deal titled\",\n \"The deal titled the \\\"Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action\\\" saw sanctions removed in exchange for measures that would prevent Iran from producing nuclear weapons. While Obama hailed the agreement as being a step towards a more hopeful world, the deal drew strong criticism from Republican and conservative quarters, and from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.In addition, the transfer of $1.7billion in cash to Iran shortly after the deal was announced was criticized by the Republican party. The Obama administration said that the payment in cash was because of the \\\"effectiveness of U.S. and international sanctions.\\\"In order to advance the deal, the Obama administration shieldedHezbollahfrom theDrug Enforcement Administration'sProject Cassandrainvestigation regarding drug smuggling and from theCentral Intelligence Agency.On a side note, the very same year, in December 2015, Obama started a $348billion worth program to back the biggest U.S. buildup of nuclear arms since Ronald Reagan left the White House.\",\n \"the White House. Russia In March 2010, an agreement was reached with the administration of Russian PresidentDmitry Medvedevto replace the1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treatywith a new pact reducing the number of long-range nuclear weapons in the arsenals of both countries by about a third.Obama and Medvedev signed theNew STARTtreaty in April 2010, and theU.S. Senateratified it in December 2010.In December 2011, Obama instructed agencies to considerLGBT rightswhen issuing financial aid to foreign countries.In August 2013, he criticized Russia's law that discriminates against gays,but he stopped short of advocating a boycott of the upcoming2014 Winter OlympicsinSochi, Russia. AfterRussia's invasion of Crimeain 2014,military intervention in Syriain 2015, andthe interferencein the2016 U.S. presidential election,George Robertson, a former UK defense secretary and NATO secretary-general, said Obama had \\\"allowed Putin to jump back on the world stage and test the resolve of the West\\\", adding that the legacy of this\",\n \"the legacy of this disaster would last. Cultural and political image Obama's family history, upbringing, andIvy Leagueeducation differ markedly from those of African-American politicians who launched their careers in the 1960s through participation in the civil rights movement.Expressing puzzlement over questions about whether he is \\\"black enough\\\", Obama told an August 2007 meeting of theNational Association of Black Journaliststhat \\\"we're still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong.\\\"Obama acknowledged his youthful image in an October 2007 campaign speech, saying: \\\"I wouldn't be here if, time and again, the torch had not been passed to a new generation.\\\"Additionally, Obama has frequently been referred to as an exceptional orator.During his pre-inauguration transition period and continuing into his presidency, Obama delivered a series of weekly Internet video addresses. Job approval According to theGallup Organization, Obama began his presidency with a 68\",\n \"with a 68 percentapproval rating,the fifth highest for a president following their swearing in.His ratings remained above the majority level until November 2009and by August 2010 his approval was in the low 40s,a trend similar to Ronald Reagan's and Bill Clinton's first years in office.Following thedeath of Osama bin Ladenon May 2, 2011, Obama experienced a small poll bounce and steadily maintained 50–53 percent approval for about a month, until his approval numbers dropped back to the low 40s. His approval rating fell to 38 percent on several occasions in late 2011before recovering in mid-2012 with polls showing an average approval of 50 percent.After his second inauguration in 2013, Obama's approval ratings remained stable around 52 percentbefore declining for the rest of the year and eventually bottoming out at 39 percent in December.In polling conducted before the2014 midterm elections, Obama's approval ratings were at their lowestwith his disapproval rating reaching a high of 57 percent.His approval\",\n \"approval rating continued to lag throughout most of 2015 but began to reach the high 40s by the end of the year.According to Gallup, Obama's approval rating reached 50 percent in March 2016, a level unseen since May 2013.In polling conducted January 16–19, 2017, Obama's final approval rating was 59 percent, which placed him on par withGeorge H. W. BushandDwight D. Eisenhower, whose final Gallup ratings also measured in the high 50s. Obama has maintained relatively positive public perceptions after his presidency.In Gallup's retrospective approval polls of former presidents, Obama garnered a 63 percent approval rating in 2018 and again in 2023, ranking him the fourth most popular president since World War II. Foreign perceptions Polls showed strong support for Obama in other countries both before and during his presidency.In a February 2009 poll conducted in Western Europe and the U.S. byHarris InteractiveforFrance 24and theInternational Herald Tribune, Obama was rated as the most respected world leader, as\",\n \"world leader, as well as the most powerful.In a similar poll conducted by Harris in May 2009, Obama was rated as the most popular world leader, as well as the one figure most people would pin their hopes on for pulling the world out of the economic downturn. On October 9, 2009—only nine months into his first term—theNorwegian Nobel Committeeannounced that Obama had won the2009 Nobel Peace Prize\\\"for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples\\\",which drew a mixture of praise and criticism from world leaders and media figures.He became the fourth U.S. president to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and the third to become a Nobel laureate while in office.He himself called it a \\\"call to action\\\" and remarked: \\\"I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments but rather an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations\\\". Thanks, Obama In 2009 the saying \\\"thanks, Obama\\\" first appeared in aTwitter hashtag\\\"#thanks\",\n \"hashtag\\\"#thanks Obama\\\" and was later used in a demotivational poster. It was later adopted satirically to blame Obama for any socio-economic ills. Obama himself used the phrase in video in 2015 and 2016. In 2017 the phrase was used byStephen Colbertto express gratitude to Obama on his last day in office. In 2022, President Joe Biden's Twitter account posted the phrase. Post-presidency (2017–present) Obama's presidency ended on January 20, 2017, upon theinaugurationof his successor,Donald Trump.The family moved to a house they rented inKalorama, Washington, D.C.On March 2, theJohn F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museumawarded theProfile in Courage Awardto Obama \\\"for his enduring commitment to democratic ideals and elevating the standard of political courage.\\\"His first public appearance since leaving the office was a seminar at theUniversity of Chicagoon April 24, where he appealed for a new generation to participate in politics.On September 7, Obama partnered with former presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.\",\n \"Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush to work withOne America Appealto help the victims ofHurricane HarveyandHurricane Irmain theGulf CoastandTexascommunities.From October 31 to November 1, Obama hosted the inaugural summit of theObama Foundation,which he intended to be the central focus of his post-presidency and part of his ambitions for his subsequent activities following his presidency to be more consequential than his time in office. Barack and Michelle Obama signed a deal on May 22, 2018, to produce docu-series, documentaries and features forNetflixunder the Obamas' newly formed production company,Higher Ground Productions.Higher Ground's first film,American Factory, won theAcademy Award for Best Documentary Featurein 2020.On October 24, a pipe bomb addressed to Obama was intercepted by the Secret Service. It was one of several pipe-bombs that had beenmailed out to Democratic lawmakers and officials.In 2019, Barack and Michelle Obama bought a home onMartha's VineyardfromWyc\",\n \"VineyardfromWyc Grousbeck.On October 29, Obama criticized \\\"wokeness\\\" andcall-out cultureat the Obama Foundation's annual summit. Obama was reluctant to make an endorsement in the2020 Democratic presidential primariesbecause he wanted to position himself to unify the party, regardless of the nominee.On April 14, 2020, Obama endorsed Biden, the presumptive nominee, for president inthe presidential election, stating that he has \\\"all the qualities we need in a president right now.\\\"In May, Obama criticized President Trump forhis handlingof theCOVID-19 pandemic, calling his response to the crisis \\\"an absolute chaotic disaster\\\", and stating that the consequences of theTrump presidencyhave been \\\"our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never before.\\\"On November 17, Obama's presidential memoir,A Promised Land, was released. In February 2021, Obama and musicianBruce Springsteenstarted a podcast calledRenegades: Born in the\",\n \"Born in the USAwhere the two talk about \\\"their backgrounds, music and their 'enduring love of America.'\\\"Later that year, Regina Hicks had signed a deal withNetflix, in a venture with his and Michelle's Higher Ground to develop comedy projects. On March 4, 2022, Obama won an Audio Publishers Association (APA) Award in the best narration by the author category for the narration of his memoirA Promised Land.On April 5, Obama visited the White House for the first time since leaving office, in an event celebrating the 12th annual anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act.In June, it was announced that the Obamas and their podcast production company, Higher Ground, signed a multi-year deal withAudible.In September, Obama visited the White House to unveil his and Michelle's official White House portraits.Around the same time, he won aPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Narratorfor his narration in the Netflix documentary seriesOur Great National Parks. In 2022, Obama opposed expanding the Supreme Court\",\n \"the Supreme Court beyond the present nine Justices. In March 2023, Obama traveled to Australia as a part of his speaking tour of the country. During the trip, Obama met with Australian Prime MinisterAnthony Albaneseand visitedMelbournefor the first time.Obama was reportedly paid more than $1 million for two speeches. In October 2023, during the Israel–Hamas war, Obama declared thatIsraelmust dismantleHamasin the wake of the2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.Weeks later, Obama warnedIsraelthat its actions could \\\"harden Palestinian attitudes for generations\\\" and weaken international support for Israel; any military strategy that ignored the war's human costs \\\"could ultimately backfire.\\\" In July 2024, Obama expressed concerns about Biden's campaign viability. Legacy and recognition He has been described as one of the most effective campaigners in American history (his 2008 campaign being particularly highlighted) as well as one of the most talented political orators of the 21st century.HistorianJulian\",\n \"Zelizercredits Obama with \\\"a keen sense of how the institutions of government work and the ways that his team could design policy proposals.\\\" Zeitzer notes Obama's policy successes included the economic stimulus package which ended theGreat Recessionand theDodd-Frankfinancial and consumer protection reforms, as well as theAffordable Care Act. Zeitzer also notes the Democratic Party lost power and numbers of elected officials during Obama's term, saying that the consensus among historians is that Obama \\\"turned out to be a very effective policymaker but not a tremendously successful party builder.\\\" Zeitzer calls this the \\\"defining paradox of Obama's presidency\\\". TheBrookings Institutionnoted that Obama passed \\\"only one major legislative achievement (Obamacare)—and a fragile one at that—the legacy of Obama's presidency mainly rests on its tremendous symbolic importance and the fate of a patchwork of executive actions.\\\"David W. Wise noted that Obama fell short \\\"in areas many Progressives hold dear\\\", including\",\n \"dear\\\", including the continuation of drone strikes, not going after big banks during the Great Recession, and failing to strengthen his coalition before pushing for Obamacare. Wise called Obama's legacy that of \\\"a disappointingly conventional president\\\". Obama's most significant accomplishment is generally considered to be the Affordable Care Act (ACA), provisions of which went into effect from 2010 to 2020. Many attempts by Senate Republicans to repeal the ACA, including a \\\"skinny repeal\\\", have thus far failed.However, in 2017, the penalty for violating the individual mandate was repealed effective 2019.Together with theHealth Care and Education Reconciliation Actamendment, it represents the U.S. healthcare system's most significant regulatory overhaul and expansion of coverage since the passage ofMedicareand Medicaid in 1965. Many commentators credit Obama with averting a threateneddepressionand pulling the economy back from the Great Recession.According to theU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, theObama\",\n \"theObama administrationcreated 11.3 million jobs from the month after his first inauguration to the end of his second term.In 2010, Obama signed into effect the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Passed as a response to thefinancial crisis of 2007–2008, it brought the most significant changes tofinancial regulationin the United States since the regulatory reform that followed theGreat Depressionunder Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 2009, Obama signed into law theNational Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, which contained in it the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the first addition to existing federal hate crime law in the United States since Democratic President Bill Clinton signed into law the Church Arson Prevention Act of 1996. The act expandedexisting federal hate crime laws in the United States, and made it a federal crime to assault people based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. As president, Obama\",\n \"As president, Obama advanced LGBT rights.In 2010, he signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act, which brought an end to \\\"don't ask, don't tell\\\" policy in the U.S. armed forces that banned open service fromLGBTpeople; the law went into effect the following year.In 2016, his administration brought an end to the ban ontransgenderpeople serving openly in the U.S. armed forces.AGallup poll, taken in the final days of Obama's term, showed that 68 percent of Americans believed the U.S. had made progress on LGBT rights during Obama's eight years in office. Obama substantially escalated the use ofdrone strikesagainst suspected militants and terrorists associated with al-Qaeda and theTaliban.In 2016, the last year of his presidency, the U.S. dropped 26,171 bombs on seven different countries.Obama left about 8,400 U.S. troops inAfghanistan, 5,262 in Iraq, 503 in Syria, 133 in Pakistan, 106 in Somalia, seven in Yemen, and two in Libya at the end of his presidency. According toPew Research CenterandUnited States Bureau\",\n \"States Bureau of Justice Statistics, from December 31, 2009, to December 31, 2015, inmates sentenced in U.S. federal custody declined by five percent. This is the largest decline in sentenced inmates in U.S. federal custody since Democratic PresidentJimmy Carter. By contrast, the federal prison population increased significantly under presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. Human Rights Watch(HRW) called Obama's human rights record \\\"mixed\\\", adding that \\\"he has often treated human rights as a secondary interest—nice to support when the cost was not too high, but nothing like a top priority he championed.\\\" Obama left office in January 2017 with a 60 percent approval rating.He gained 10 spots from the same survey in 2015 from the Brookings Institution that ranked him the 18th-greatest American president.In Gallup's 2018 job approval poll for the past 10 U.S. presidents, he received a 63 percent approval rating. Presidential library The Barack Obama Presidential Center is\",\n \"Center is Obama's plannedpresidential library. It will be hosted by the University of Chicago and located inJackson Parkon the South Side of Chicago. Awards and honors Obama received theNorwegian Nobel Committee'sNobel Peace Prizein 2009,The Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education's Ambassador of Humanity Awardin 2014, theJohn F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Awardin 2017, and theRobert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights Ripple of Hope Awardin 2018. He was namedTIMEMagazine'sTimePerson of the Yearin 2008 and 2012. He also received twoGrammy Awards for Best Spoken Word AlbumforDreams from My Father(2006), andThe Audacity of Hope(2008) as well as twoPrimetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding NarratorforOur Great National Parks(2022), andWorking: What We Do All Day(2023). He also won twoChildren's and Family Emmy Awards. Eponymy Bibliography Books Audiobooks Articles See also Politics Other Lists Notes References Bibliography Further reading External links Official Other\",\n \"Contiguous United States Thecontiguous United States(officially theconterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoiningU.S. statesand theDistrict of Columbiaof theUnited States of Americain centralNorth America.The term excludes the only two non-contiguousstates, which areAlaskaandHawaii(they are also the last two states to beadmitted to the Union), and all other offshoreinsular areas, such as theU.S. territoriesofAmerican Samoa,Guam, theNorthern Mariana Islands,Puerto Rico, and theU.S. Virgin Islands.The colloquial term \\\"Lower48\\\"is also used, especially in relation to Alaska. The related but distinct termcontinental United Statesincludes Alaska, which is also on North America, but separated from the 48 states byBritish Columbiain Canada, but excludes Hawaii and all the insular areas in theCaribbeanand thePacific. The greatest distance (on agreat-circleroute) entirely within the contiguous U.S. is 2,802 miles (4,509 km), coast-to-coast betweenFloridaand theState of Washington;the greatest north–south line\",\n \"north–south line is 1,650 miles (2,660 km).The contiguous United States occupies an area of 3,119,884.69 square miles (8,080,464.3 km2). Of this area, 2,959,064.44 square miles (7,663,941.7 km2) is actual land, composing 83.65 percent of the country's total land area, and is comparable in size to the area of Australia.Officially, 160,820.25 square miles (416,522.5 km2) of the contiguous United States is water area, composing 62.66 percent of the nation's total water area. The contiguous United States, if it were a country, would be fifth on thelist of countries and dependencies by area, behindRussia,Canada,China, andBrazil. However, the total area of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, ranks third or fourth. Brazil is 431,000 square kilometers (166,000 sq mi) larger than the contiguous United States, but smaller than the entire United States including Alaska, Hawaii and overseas territories. The2020 U.S. censuspopulation of the area was 328,571,074, comprising 99.13 percent of the nation's total\",\n \"the nation's total population, and a density of 111.04 inhabitants/sq mi (42.872/km2), compared to 93.844/sq mi (36.233/km2) for the nation as a whole. Other terms Whileconterminous U.S.has the precise meaning ofcontiguous U.S.(both adjectives meaning \\\"sharing a common boundary\\\"), other terms commonly used to describe the 48 contiguous states have a greater degree of ambiguity. Continental and mainland United States BecauseAlaskais also a part ofNorth America, the termcontinental United Statesalso includes that state, so the term is qualified with the explicit inclusion of Alaska to resolve any ambiguity.On May 14, 1959, theUnited States Board on Geographic Namesissued the following definitions based partially on the reference in the Alaska Omnibus Bill, which defined the continental United States as \\\"the 49 States on the North American Continent and the District of Columbia...\\\" The Board reaffirmed these definitions on May 13, 1999.However, even before Alaska became a state, it was properly included within\",\n \"included within the continental U.S. due to being anincorporated territory. The termmainland United Statesis sometimes used synonymously withcontinental United States, but technically refers only to those parts of states connected to the landmass of North America, thereby excluding not onlyHawaiiand overseasinsular areas, but also islands which are part of continental states but separated from the mainland, such as theAleutian Islands(Alaska),San Juan Islands(Washington), theChannel Islands(California),the Keys(Florida), thebarrier islands(GulfandEast Coaststates), andLong Island(New York). CONUS and OCONUS CONUS, a technical term used by theU.S. Department of Defense,General Services Administration,NOAA/National Weather Service, and others, has been defined both as the continental United States, and as the 48 contiguous states.The District of Columbia is not always specifically mentioned as being part ofCONUS. OCONUSis derived from CONUS withOfor outside added, thus referring to Outside of Continental\",\n \"of Continental United States. The lower 48 The termlower 48is also used to refer to the conterminous United States. TheNational Geographicstyle guide recommends the use ofcontiguousorconterminous United Statesinstead oflower 48when the 48 states are meant, unless used in the context of Alaska.Almost all of Hawaii is south of the southernmost point of the conterminous United States in Florida. Zone of the Interior DuringWorld War II, the first fournumbered Air Forcesof theUnited States Army Air Forces(USAAF) were said to be assigned to theZone of the Interiorby the American military organizations of the time—the future states ofAlaskaandHawaii, then each onlyorganized incorporated territoriesof the Union, were respectively covered by theEleventh Air ForceandSeventh Air Forceduring the war. Terms used in the non-contiguous U.S. jurisdictions Residents of Alaska, Hawaii and off-shoreU.S. territorieshave unique labels for the contiguous United States because of their own locations relative to them. Alaska The\",\n \"to them. Alaska The vast territory ofAlaskabecame the 49th state of the United States on January 3, 1959. Alaska is the northwest extremity of the North American continent, separated from theU.S. West Coastby theCanadian provinceofBritish Columbia. The termLower 48has, for many years, been a common Alaskan equivalent for \\\"contiguous United States\\\";today, many Alaskans use the term\\\"Outside\\\"for those states, though some may use \\\"Outside\\\" to refer toanylocation not within Alaska. Hawaii The territory ofHawaii, consisting of the entireHawaiian Islandsarchipelago except forMidway Atoll,became the 50th state of the United States on August 21, 1959. It is the southernmost U.S. state, and the latest one to join the Union. Not part of any continent, Hawaii is located in thePacific Ocean, about 2,200 miles (3,541 km) from North America and almost halfway between North America andAsia. In Hawaii andoverseas American territories, for instance, the termsthe MainlandorU.S. Mainlandare often used to refer to the 49 states\",\n \"to the 49 states in North America. Puerto Rico Puerto Rico is anunincorporated territoryof the United States located in the northeastCaribbean Sea, approximately 1,000 miles (1,609 km) southeast ofMiami,Florida. Puerto Ricans born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens and are free to move to the mainland United States. The termStateside Puerto Ricanrefers to residents of any U.S. state or the District of Columbia who were born in, or can trace their family ancestry to, Puerto Rico. U.S. Virgin Islands TheU.S. Virgin Islandsis aU.S. territorylocated directly to the east of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea.The term \\\"stateside\\\" is used to refer to the mainland, in relation to the U.S. Virgin Islands(seeStateside Virgin Islands Americans). American Samoa American Samoais aU.S. territorylocated in theSouth Pacific OceaninPolynesia, south of the equator — it is 2,200 miles (3,500 km) southwest ofHawaii.In American Samoa, the contiguous United States is called the \\\"mainland United States\\\" or \\\"the states\\\"; those not from\",\n \"those not from American Samoa are calledpalagi(outsiders). Non-contiguous areas within the contiguous United States Apart from off-shoreU.S. islands, a few continental portions of the contiguous United States are accessible by road only by traveling through Canada.Point Roberts, Washington;Elm Point, Minnesota; and theNorthwest AngleinMinnesotaare three such places.Alburgh, Vermont, is not directly connected by land, but is accessible by road via bridges from within Vermont and from New York.By contrast,Hyder, Alaska, is physically part of contiguous Alaska and its easternmost town, but the only practical access is by road through Canada or by seaplane. List of contiguous U.S. states The 48 contiguous states are: In addition, theDistrict of Columbiais within the contiguous United States. See also Notes References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":59,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Put these historical events in chronological order, starting with the earliest: The Beatles play Ed Sullivan, the fall of the Berlin Wall, The Great Depression, Atlanta Summer Games, World War I. "},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"World War I, The Great Depression, The Beatles play Ed Sullivan, the fall of the Berlin Wall, Atlanta Summer Games. "},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Summer_Olympics"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_the_Berlin_Wall#:~:text=The%20fall%20of%20the%20Berlin,restrictions%20were%20overwhelmed%20and%20discarded."},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Temporal reasoning"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Summer_Olympics', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_the_Berlin_Wall#:~:text=The%20fall%20of%20the%20Berlin,restrictions%20were%20overwhelmed%20and%20discarded.', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Summer_Olympics","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_the_Berlin_Wall#:~:text=The%20fall%20of%20the%20Berlin,restrictions%20were%20overwhelmed%20and%20discarded.","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Summer_Olympics\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_the_Berlin_Wall#:~:text=The%20fall%20of%20the%20Berlin,restrictions%20were%20overwhelmed%20and%20discarded.\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["World War I World War Ior theFirst World War(28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as theGreat War, was aglobal conflictbetween two coalitions: theAllies(or Entente) and theCentral Powers. Fighting took place mainly inEuropeand theMiddle East, as well as in parts ofAfricaand theAsia-Pacific, and in Europe was characterised bytrench warfareand the use ofartillery, machine guns, andchemical weapons(gas). World War I was one of thedeadliest conflicts in history, resulting in an estimated9 million military dead and 23 million wounded, plus up to 8 million civilian deaths from causes includinggenocide. The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in theSpanish flupandemic, which killed millions. Thecauses of World War Iincluded the rise ofGermanyanddecline of the Ottoman Empire, which disturbed the long-standingbalance of powerin Europe, as well as economic competition between nations triggered byindustrialisationandimperialism. Growing tensions between thegreat powersand in theBalkansreacheda breaking pointon 28 June 1914, when aBosnian SerbnamedGavrilo Principassassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to theAustro-Hungarianthrone. Austria-Hungary heldSerbiaresponsible, and declared war on 28 July. AfterRussiamobilised in Serbia's defence, Germany declared war on Russia; by 4 August,Franceand theUnited Kingdomwere drawn in, with the Ottomans joining in November.Germany's strategy in 1914was to quickly defeat France, then to transfer its forces to the east. However, this failed, and by the end of the year theWestern Frontconsisted of a continuous line of trenches stretching from the English Channel to Switzerland. TheEastern Frontwas more dynamic, but neither side gained a decisive advantage, despite costly offensives.Italy,Bulgaria,Romania,Greeceand others joined in from 1915 onward. In April 1917, theUnited States entered the waron the Allied side following Germany's resumption ofunrestricted submarine warfareagainst Atlantic shipping. Later that year, theBolsheviksseized power in the RussianOctober Revolution;Soviet Russiasignedan armisticewith the Central Powers in December, followed bya separate peacein March 1918. That month, Germany launchedan offensive in the west, which despite initial successes left theGerman Armyexhausted and demoralised.A successful Allied counter-offensivefrom August 1918 caused a collapse of the German front line. By early November, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary had each signed armistices with the Allies, leaving Germany isolated. Facinga revolution at home,Kaiser WilhelmIIabdicated on 9 November, and the war ended with theArmistice of 11 November 1918. TheParis Peace Conferenceof 1919–1920 imposed settlements on the defeated powers, most notably theTreaty of Versailles, by which Germany lost significant territories, was disarmed, and was required to pay largewar reparationsto the Allies. The dissolution of the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires redrew national boundaries and resulted in the creation of new independent states, includingPoland,Finland, theBaltic states,Czechoslovakia, andYugoslavia. TheLeague of Nationswas established to maintain world peace, but its failure to manage instability during theinterwar periodcontributed to the outbreak ofWorld War IIin 1939. Names BeforeWorld War II, the events of 1914–1918 were generally known as theGreat Waror simply theWorld War.In August 1914, the magazineThe Independentwrote \"This is the Great War. It names itself\".In October 1914, the Canadian magazineMaclean'ssimilarly wrote, \"Some wars name themselves. This is the Great War.\"Contemporary Europeans also referred to it as \"the war to end war\" and it was also described as \"the war to end all wars\" due to their perception of its unparalleled scale, devastation, and loss of life.The first recorded use of the termFirst World Warwas in September 1914 by German biologist and philosopherErnst Haeckelwho stated, \"There is no doubt that the course and character of the feared 'European War' ... will become the first world war in the full sense of the word.\" Background Political and military alliances For much of the 19th century, the major European powers maintained a tenuousbalance of power, known as theConcert of Europe.After 1848, this was challenged by Britain's withdrawal into so-calledsplendid isolation, thedecline of the Ottoman Empire,New Imperialism, and the rise ofPrussiaunderOtto von Bismarck. Victory in the 1870–1871Franco-Prussian Warallowed Bismarck toconsolidateaGerman Empire. Post-1871, the primary aim of French policy was toavengethis defeat,but by the early 1890s, this had switched to the expansion of theFrench colonial empire. In 1873, Bismarck negotiated theLeague of the Three Emperors, which includedAustria-Hungary,Russiaand Germany. After the 1877–1878Russo-Turkish War, the League was dissolved due to Austrian concerns over the expansion of Russian influence in theBalkans, an area they considered to be of vital strategic interest.Germanyand Austria-Hungary then formed the 1879Dual Alliance, which became theTriple Alliancewhen Italy joined in 1882.For Bismarck, the purpose of these agreements was to isolate France by ensuring the three Empires resolve any disputes between themselves. In 1887, Bismarck set up theReinsurance Treaty, a secret agreement between Germany and Russia to remain neutral if either were attacked by France or Austria-Hungary. For Bismarck, peace with Russia was the foundation of German foreign policy but in 1890, he was forced to retire byWilhelm II. The latter was persuaded not to renew the Reinsurance Treaty by his newChancellor,Leo von Caprivi.This gave France an opening to agree theFranco-Russian Alliancein 1894, which was then followed by the 1904Entente Cordialewith Britain. TheTriple Ententewas completed by the 1907Anglo-Russian Convention. While not formal alliances, by settlinglong-standing colonial disputes in Asiaand Africa, British support for France or Russia in any future conflict became a possibility.This was accentuated by British and Russian support for France against Germany during the 1911Agadir Crisis. Arms race German economic and industrial strength continued to expand rapidly post-1871. Backed by Wilhelm II, AdmiralAlfred von Tirpitzsought to use this growth to build anImperial German Navy, that could compete with the BritishRoyal Navy.This policy was based on the work of US naval authorAlfred Thayer Mahan, who argued that possession of ablue-water navywas vital for global power projection; Tirpitz had his books translated into German, while Wilhelm made them required reading for his advisors and senior military personnel. However, it was also an emotional decision, driven by Wilhelm's simultaneous admiration for the Royal Navy and desire to surpass it. Bismarck thought that the British would not interfere in Europe, as long as its maritime supremacy remained secure, but his dismissal in 1890 led to a change in policy and anAnglo-German naval arms racebegan.Despite the vast sums spent by Tirpitz, the launch ofHMSDreadnoughtin 1906 gave the British a technological advantage.Ultimately, the race diverted huge resources into creating a German navy large enough to antagonise Britain, but not defeat it; in 1911, ChancellorTheobald von Bethmann Hollwegacknowledged defeat, leading to theRüstungswendeor 'armaments turning point', when he switched expenditure from the navy to the army. This decision was not driven by a reduction in political tensions but by German concern over Russia's quick recovery from its defeat in theRusso-Japanese Warand subsequent1905 Russian Revolution. Economic reforms led to a significant post-1908 expansion of railways and transportation infrastructure, particularly in its western border regions.Since Germany and Austria-Hungary relied on faster mobilisation to compensate for their numerical inferiority compared to Russia, the threat posed by the closing of this gap was more important than competing with the Royal Navy. After Germany expanded its standing army by 170,000 troops in 1913, France extended compulsory military service from two to three years; similar measures were taken by theBalkan powersand Italy, which led to increased expenditure by theOttomansand Austria-Hungary. Absolute figures are difficult to calculate due to differences in categorising expenditure since they often omit civilian infrastructure projects like railways which had logistical importance and military use. It is known, however, that from 1908 to 1913, military spending by the six major European powers increased by over 50% in real terms. Conflicts in the Balkans The years before 1914 were marked by a series of crises in the Balkans, as other powers sought to benefit from the Ottoman decline. WhilePan-SlavicandOrthodoxRussia considered itself the protector ofSerbiaand otherSlavstates, they preferred the strategically vitalBosporusstraits to be controlled by a weak Ottoman government, rather than an ambitious Slav power likeBulgaria. Russia had ambitions in northeasternAnatoliawhile its clients had overlapping claims in the Balkans. These competing interests divided Russian policy-makers and added to regional instability. Austrian statesmen viewed the Balkans as essential for the continued existence of their Empire and saw Serbian expansion as a direct threat. The 1908–1909Bosnian Crisisbegan when Austria annexed the former Ottoman territory ofBosnia and Herzegovina, which ithad occupiedsince 1878. Timed to coincide with theBulgarian Declaration of Independencefrom the Ottoman Empire, this unilateral action was denounced by the European powers, but accepted as there was no consensus on how to resolve the situation. Some historians see this as a significant escalation, ending any chance of Austria cooperating with Russia in the Balkans, while also damaging diplomatic relations between Serbia and Italy. Tensions increased after the 1911–1912Italo-Turkish Wardemonstrated Ottoman weakness and led to the formation of theBalkan League, an alliance of Serbia, Bulgaria,Montenegro, andGreece.The League quickly overran most of the Ottomans' territory in the Balkans during the 1912–1913First Balkan War, much to the surprise of outside observers.The Serbian capture of ports on theAdriaticresulted in partial Austrian mobilisation, starting on 21 November 1912, including units along the Russian border inGalicia. TheRussian governmentdecided not to mobilise in response, unprepared to precipitate a war. The Great Powers sought to re-assert control through the 1913Treaty of London, which had created an independentAlbaniawhile enlarging the territories of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece. However, disputes between the victors sparked the 33-daySecond Balkan War, when Bulgaria attacked Serbia and Greece on 16 June 1913; it was defeated, losing most ofMacedoniato Serbia and Greece, andSouthern Dobrujato Romania.The result was that even countries which benefited from the Balkan Wars, such as Serbia and Greece, felt cheated of their \"rightful gains\", while for Austria it demonstrated the apparent indifference with which other powers viewed their concerns, including Germany.This complex mix of resentment, nationalism and insecurity helps explain why the pre-1914 Balkans became known as the \"powder keg of Europe\". Prelude Sarajevo assassination On 28 June 1914,Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to EmperorFranz Joseph I of Austria, visitedSarajevo, the capital of the recently annexedBosnia and Herzegovina.Cvjetko Popović,Gavrilo Princip,Nedeljko Čabrinović,Trifko Grabež,Vaso Čubrilović(Bosnian Serbs) andMuhamed Mehmedbašić(from theBosniakscommunity),from the movement known asYoung Bosnia, took up positions along the Archduke's motorcade route, to assassinate him. Supplied with arms by extremists within the SerbianBlack Handintelligence organisation, they hoped his death would free Bosnia from Austrian rule. Čabrinović threw agrenadeat the Archduke's car and injured two of his aides. The other assassins were also unsuccessful. An hour later, as Ferdinand was returning from visiting the injured officers in hospital, his car took a wrong turn into a street whereGavrilo Principwas standing. He fired two pistol shots, fatally wounding Ferdinand and his wifeSophie. According to historianZbyněk Zeman, in Vienna \"the event almost failed to make any impression whatsoever. On 28 and 29 June, the crowds listened to music and drank wine, as if nothing had happened.\"Nevertheless, the impact of the murder of the heir to the throne was significant, and has been described by historianChristopher Clarkas a \"9/11 effect, a terrorist event charged with historic meaning, transforming the political chemistry in Vienna\". Expansion of violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina Austro-Hungarian authorities encouraged subsequentanti-Serb riots in Sarajevo.Violent actions against ethnic Serbs were also organised outside Sarajevo, in other cities in Austro-Hungarian-controlled Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. Austro-Hungarian authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina imprisoned approximately 5,500 prominent Serbs, 700 to 2,200 of whom died in prison. A further 460 Serbs were sentenced to death. A predominantly Bosniak special militia known as theSchutzkorpswas established, and carried out the persecution of Serbs. July Crisis The assassination initiated the July Crisis, a month of diplomatic manoeuvring between Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, France and Britain. Believing that Serbian intelligence helped organise Franz Ferdinand's murder, Austrian officials wanted to use the opportunity to end their interference in Bosnia and saw war as the best way of achieving this.However, theForeign Ministryhad no solid proof of Serbian involvement.On 23July, Austria delivered anultimatumto Serbia, listing ten demands made intentionally unacceptable to provide an excuse for starting hostilities. Serbia ordered generalmobilizationon 25July, but accepted all the terms, except for those empowering Austrian representatives to suppress \"subversive elements\" inside Serbia, and take part in the investigation and trial of Serbians linked to the assassination.Claiming this amounted to rejection, Austria broke off diplomatic relations and ordered partial mobilisation the next day; on 28 July, they declared war on Serbia and began shellingBelgrade. Russia ordered general mobilization in support of Serbia on 30 July. Anxious to ensure backing from theSPDpolitical opposition by presenting Russia as the aggressor, German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg delayed the commencement of war preparations until 31 July.That afternoon, the Russian government were handed a note requiring them to \"cease all war measures against Germany and Austria-Hungary\" within 12 hours.A further German demand for neutrality was refused by the French who ordered general mobilization but delayed declaring war.TheGerman General Staffhad long assumed they faced a war on two fronts; theSchlieffen Planenvisaged using 80% of the army to defeat France, then switching to Russia. Since this required them to move quickly, mobilization orders were issued that afternoon.Once the German ultimatum to Russia expired on the morning of 1 August, the two countries were at war. At a meeting on 29 July, the British cabinet had narrowly decided its obligations to Belgium under the 1839Treaty of Londondid not require it to oppose a German invasion with military force; however, Prime MinisterAsquithand his senior Cabinet ministers were already committed to supporting France, the Royal Navy had been mobilised, and public opinion was strongly in favour of intervention.On 31 July, Britain sent notes to Germany and France, asking them to respect Belgian neutrality; France pledged to do so, but Germany did not reply.Aware of German plans to attack through Belgium, French Commander-in-ChiefJoseph Joffreasked his government for permission to cross the border and pre-empt such a move. To avoid violating Belgian neutrality, he was told any advance could come only after a German invasion.Instead, the French cabinet ordered its Army to withdraw 10 km behind the German frontier, to avoid provoking war. On 2 August,Germany occupied Luxembourgand exchanged fire with French units when German patrols entered French territory; on 3August, they declared war on France and demanded free passage across Belgium, which was refused. Early on the morning of 4August, the Germans invaded, andAlbert I of Belgiumcalled for assistance under theTreaty of London.Britain sent Germany an ultimatum demanding they withdraw from Belgium; when this expired at midnight, without a response, the two empires were at war. Progress of the war Opening hostilities Confusion among the Central Powers Germany promised to support Austria-Hungary's invasion of Serbia, but interpretations of what this meant differed. Previously tested deployment plans had been replaced early in 1914, but those had never been tested in exercises. Austro-Hungarian leaders believed Germany would cover its northern flank against Russia. Serbian campaign Beginning on 12 August, the Austrians and Serbs clashed at the battles of theCerandKolubara; over the next two weeks, Austrian attacks were repulsed with heavy losses. As a result, Austria had to keep sizeable forces on the Serbian front, weakening their efforts against Russia.Serbia's victory against Austria-Hungary in the 1914 invasion has been called one of the major upset victories of the twentieth century.In 1915, the campaign saw the first use ofanti-aircraft warfareafter an Austrian plane was shot down withground-to-airfire, as well as the firstmedical evacuationby the Serbian army. German offensive in Belgium and France Upon mobilisation, in accordance with theSchlieffen Plan, 80% of theGerman Armywas located on the Western Front, with the remainder acting as a screening force in the East. Rather than a direct attack across their shared frontier, the German right wing would sweep through theNetherlandsandBelgium, then swing south, encircling Paris and trapping the French army against the Swiss border. The plan's creator,Alfred von Schlieffen, head of theGerman General Stafffrom 1891 to 1906, estimated that this would take six weeks, after which the German army would transfer to the East and defeat the Russians. The plan was substantially modified by his successor,Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. Under Schlieffen, 85% of German forces in the west were assigned to the right wing, with the remainder holding along the frontier. By keeping his left-wing deliberately weak, he hoped to lure the French into an offensive into the \"lost provinces\" ofAlsace-Lorraine, which was the strategy envisaged by theirPlan XVII.However, Moltke grew concerned that the French might push too hard on his left flank and as the German Army increased in size from 1908 to 1914, he changed the allocation of forces between the two wings to 70:30.He also considered Dutch neutrality essential for German trade and cancelled the incursion into the Netherlands, which meant any delays in Belgium threatened the viability of the plan.HistorianRichard Holmesargues that these changes meant the right wing was not strong enough to achieve decisive success. The initial German advance in the West was very successful. By the end of August, the Allied left, which included theBritish Expeditionary Force(BEF), was infull retreat, and the French offensive in Alsace-Lorraine was a disastrous failure, with casualties exceeding 260,000.German planning provided broad strategic instructions while allowing army commanders considerable freedom in carrying them out at the front, butvon Kluckused this freedom to disobey orders, opening a gap between the German armies as they closed on Paris.The French army, reinforced by the British expeditionary corps, seized this opportunity to counter-attack and pushed the German army 40 to 80 km back. Both armies were then so exhausted that no decisive move could be implemented, so they settled in trenches, with the vain hope of breaking through as soon as they could build local superiority. In 1911, the RussianStavkaagreed with the French to attack Germany within fifteen days of mobilisation, ten days before the Germans had anticipated, although it meant the two Russian armies that enteredEast Prussiaon 17 August did so without many of their support elements. By the end of 1914, German troops held strong defensive positions inside France, controlled the bulk of France's domestic coalfields, and inflicted 230,000 more casualties than it lost itself. However, communications problems and questionable command decisions cost Germany the chance of a decisive outcome, while it had failed to achieve the primary objective of avoiding a long, two-front war.As was apparent to several German leaders, this amounted to a strategic defeat; shortly after theFirst Battle of the Marne,Crown Prince Wilhelmtold an American reporter \"We have lost the war. It will go on for a long time but lost it is already.\" Asia and the Pacific On 30 August 1914, New Zealandoccupied German Samoa(nowSamoa). On 11 September, theAustralian Naval and Military Expeditionary Forcelanded on the island ofNew Britain, then part ofGerman New Guinea. On 28 October, the German cruiserSMSEmdensank theRussian cruiserZhemchugin theBattle of Penang. Japan declared war on Germany before seizing territories in the Pacific, which later became theSouth Seas Mandate, as well as GermanTreaty portson the ChineseShandongpeninsula atTsingtao. After Vienna refused to withdraw its cruiserSMSKaiserin Elisabethfrom Tsingtao, Japan declared war on Austria-Hungary, and the ship was sunk in November 1914.Within a few months, Allied forces had seized all German territories in the Pacific, leaving only isolated commerce raiders and a few holdouts in New Guinea. African campaigns Some of the first clashes of the war involved British, French, and German colonial forces in Africa. On 6–7 August, French and British troops invaded the German protectorates ofTogolandandKamerun. On 10 August, German forces inSouth-West Africaattacked South Africa; sporadic and fierce fighting continued for the rest of the war. The German colonial forces inGerman East Africa, led by ColonelPaul von Lettow-Vorbeck, fought aguerrilla warfarecampaign and only surrendered two weeks after the armistice took effect in Europe. Indian support for the Allies Before the war, Germany had attempted to use Indian nationalism and pan-Islamism to its advantage, a policy continued post-1914 byinstigating uprisings in India, while theNiedermayer–Hentig Expeditionurged Afghanistan to join the war on the side of Central Powers. However, contrary to British fears of a revolt in India, the outbreak of the war saw a reduction in nationalist activity.Leaders from theIndian National Congressand other groups believed support for the British war effort would hastenIndian Home Rule, a promise allegedly made explicit in 1917 byEdwin Montagu, theSecretary of State for India. In 1914, theBritish Indian Armywas larger than the British Army itself, and between 1914 and 1918 an estimated 1.3 million Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In all, 140,000 soldiers served on the Western Front and nearly 700,000 in the Middle East, with 47,746 killed and 65,126 wounded.The suffering engendered by the war, as well as the failure of the British government to grant self-government to India afterward, bred disillusionment, resulting inthe campaign for full independenceled byMahatma Gandhi. Western Front 1914 to 1916 Trench warfare begins Pre-war military tactics that had emphasised open warfare and individual riflemen proved obsolete when confronted with conditions prevailing in 1914. Technological advances allowed the creation of strong defensive systems largely impervious to massed infantry advances, such asbarbed wire, machine guns and above all far more powerfulartillery, which dominated the battlefield and made crossing open ground extremely difficult.Both sides struggled to develop tactics for breaching entrenched positions without heavy casualties. In time, technology enabled the production of new offensive weapons, such asgas warfareand thetank. After theFirst Battle of the Marnein September 1914, Allied and German forces unsuccessfully tried to outflank each other, a series of manoeuvres later known as the \"Race to the Sea\". By the end of 1914, the opposing forces confronted each other along an uninterrupted line of entrenched positions from theChannelto the Swiss border.Since the Germans were normally able to choose where to stand, they generally held the high ground, while their trenches tended to be better built; those constructed by the French and English were initially considered \"temporary\", only needed until an offensive would destroy the German defences.Both sides tried to break the stalemate using scientific and technological advances. On 22 April 1915, at theSecond Battle of Ypres, the Germans (violating theHague Convention) usedchlorinegas for the first time on the Western Front. Several types of gas soon became widely used by both sides and though it never proved a decisive, battle-winning weapon, it became one of the most feared and best-remembered horrors of the war. Continuation of trench warfare In February 1916, the Germans attacked French defensive positions at theBattle of Verdun, lasting until December 1916. Casualties were greater for the French, but the Germans bled heavily as well, with anywhere from 700,000to 975,000casualties between the two combatants. Verdun became a symbol of French determination and self-sacrifice. TheBattle of the Sommewas an Anglo-French offensive from July to November 1916. Theopening dayon 1 July 1916 was the bloodiest single day in the history of theBritish Army, which suffered 57,500 casualties, including 19,200 dead. As a whole, the Somme offensive led to an estimated 420,000 British casualties, along with 200,000 French and 500,000 Germans.The diseases that emerged in the trenches were a major killer on both sides. The living conditions led to disease and infection, such astrench foot,lice,typhus,trench fever, and the 'Spanish flu'. Naval war At the start of the war, Germancruiserswere scattered across the globe, some of which were subsequently used to attack Alliedmerchant shipping. These were systematically hunted down by the Royal Navy, though not before causing considerable damage. One of the most successful was theSMSEmden, part of the GermanEast Asia Squadronstationed atQingdao, which seized or sank 15 merchantmen, a Russian cruiser and a French destroyer. Most of the squadron was returning to Germany when it sank two British armoured cruisers at theBattle of Coronelin November 1914, before being virtually destroyed at theBattle of the Falkland Islandsin December. TheSMSDresdenescaped with a few auxiliaries, but after theBattle of Más a Tierra, these too were either destroyed or interned. Soon after the outbreak of hostilities, Britain began a navalblockade of Germany. This proved effective in cutting off vital supplies, though it violated accepted international law.Britain also mined international waters which closed off entire sections of the ocean, even to neutral ships.Since there was limited response to this tactic, Germany expected a similar response to its unrestricted submarine warfare. TheBattle of Jutlandin May/June 1916 was the only full-scale clash of battleships during the war, and one of the largest in history. The clash was indecisive, though the Germans inflicted more damage than they received; thereafter the bulk of the GermanHigh Seas Fleetwas confined to port. GermanU-boatsattempted to cut the supply lines between North America and Britain.The nature ofsubmarine warfaremeant that attacks often came without warning, giving the crews of the merchant ships little hope of survival.The United States launched a protest, and Germany changed its rules of engagement. After the sinking of the passenger shipRMSLusitaniain 1915, Germany promised not to target passenger liners, while Britain armed its merchant ships, placing them beyond the protection of the \"cruiser rules\", which demanded warning and movement of crews to \"a place of safety\" (a standard that lifeboats did not meet).Finally, in early 1917, Germany adopted a policy ofunrestricted submarine warfare, realising the Americans would eventually enter the war.Germany sought to strangle Alliedsea lanesbefore the United States could transport a large army overseas, but, after initial successes, eventually failed to do so. The U-boat threat lessened in 1917, when merchant ships began travelling inconvoys, escorted bydestroyers. This tactic made it difficult for U-boats to find targets, which significantly lessened losses; after thehydrophoneanddepth chargeswere introduced, destroyers could potentially successfully attack a submerged submarine. Convoys slowed the flow of supplies since ships had to wait as convoys were assembled; the solution was an extensive program of building new freighters. Troopships were too fast for the submarines and did not travel the North Atlantic in convoys.The U-boats sunk more than 5,000 Allied ships, at the cost of 199 submarines. World War I also saw the first use ofaircraft carriersin combat, withHMSFuriouslaunchingSopwith Camelsin a successful raid against theZeppelinhangars atTondernin July 1918, as well asblimpsfor antisubmarine patrol. Southern theatres War in the Balkans Faced with Russia in the east, Austria-Hungary could spare only one-third of its army to attack Serbia. After suffering heavy losses, the Austrians briefly occupied the Serbian capital,Belgrade. A Serbian counter-attack in the Battle of Kolubara succeeded in driving them from the country by the end of 1914. For the first 10 months of 1915, Austria-Hungary used most of its military reserves to fight Italy. German and Austro-Hungarian diplomats scored a coup by persuading Bulgaria to join the attack on Serbia.The Austro-Hungarian provinces ofSlovenia, Croatia andBosniaprovided troops for Austria-Hungary. Montenegro allied itself with Serbia. Bulgaria declared war on Serbia on 14 October 1915 and joined in the attack by the Austro-Hungarian army under Mackensen's army of 250,000 that was already underway. Serbia was conquered in a little more than a month, as the Central Powers, now including Bulgaria, sent in 600,000 troops in total. The Serbian army, fighting on two fronts and facing certain defeat, retreated into northernAlbania. The Serbs suffered defeat in theBattle of Kosovo. Montenegro covered the Serbian retreat toward the Adriatic coast in theBattle of Mojkovacon 6–7 January 1916, but ultimately the Austrians also conquered Montenegro. The surviving Serbian soldiers were evacuated to Greece.After the conquest, Serbia was divided between Austro-Hungary and Bulgaria. In late 1915, a Franco-British force landed atSalonicain Greece to offer assistance and to pressure its government to declare war against the Central Powers. However, the pro-GermanKing Constantine Idismissed the pro-Allied government ofEleftherios Venizelosbefore the Allied expeditionary force arrived. The Macedonian front was at first mostly static. French and Serbian forces retook limited areas of Macedonia by recapturingBitolaon 19 November 1916 following the costlyMonastir offensive, which brought stabilisation of the front. Serbian and French troops finally made a breakthrough in September 1918 in theVardar offensive, after most German and Austro-Hungarian troops had been withdrawn. The Bulgarians were defeated at theBattle of Dobro Pole, and by 25 September British and French troops had crossed the border into Bulgaria proper as the Bulgarian army collapsed. Bulgaria capitulated four days later, on 29 September 1918.The German high command responded by despatching troops to hold the line, but these forces were too weak to re-establish a front. The disappearance of the Macedonian front meant that the road toBudapestand Vienna was now opened to Allied forces. Hindenburg and Ludendorff concluded that the strategic and operational balance had now shifted decidedly against theCentral Powersand, a day after the Bulgarian collapse, insisted on an immediate peace settlement. Ottoman Empire The Ottomans threatened Russia'sCaucasianterritories and Britain's communications with India via theSuez Canal. The Ottoman Empire took advantage of the European powers' preoccupation with the war and conducted large-scale ethnic cleansing of theArmenian,Greek, andAssyrianChristian populations—theArmenian genocide,Greek genocide, andSayforespectively. The British and French opened overseas fronts with theGallipoli(1915) andMesopotamian campaigns(1914). In Gallipoli, the Ottoman Empire successfully repelled the British, French, andAustralian and New Zealand Army Corps(ANZACs). InMesopotamia, by contrast, after the defeat of the British defenders in thesiege of Kutby the Ottomans (1915–1916), British Imperial forces reorganised and capturedBaghdadin March 1917. The British were aided in Mesopotamia by local Arab and Assyrian fighters, while the Ottomans employed localKurdishandTurcomantribes. TheSuez Canalwas defended from Ottoman attacks in 1915 and 1916; in August 1916, a German and Ottoman force was defeated at theBattle of Romaniby theANZAC Mounted Divisionand the52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division. Following this victory, anEgyptian Expeditionary Forceadvanced across theSinai Peninsula, pushing Ottoman forces back in theBattle of Magdhabain December and theBattle of Rafaon the border between the EgyptianSinaiand Ottoman Palestine in January 1917. Russian armies generally had success in theCaucasus campaign.Enver Pasha, supreme commander of the Ottoman armed forces, dreamed of re-conquering central Asia and areas that had been previously lost to Russia. He was, however, a poor commander.He launched an offensive against the Russians in the Caucasus in December 1914 with 100,000 troops, insisting on a frontal attack against mountainous Russian positions in winter. He lost 86% of his force at theBattle of Sarikamish.GeneralYudenich, the Russian commander from 1915 to 1916, drove the Turks out of most of the southernCaucasus. The Ottoman Empire, with German support, invaded Persia (modernIran) in December 1914 to cut off British and Russian access topetroleum reservoirsaroundBaku.Persia, ostensibly neutral, had long been under British and Russian influence. The Ottomans and Germans were aided byKurdishandAzeriforces, together with a large number of major Iranian tribes, while the Russians and British had the support of Armenian and Assyrian forces. ThePersian campaignlasted until 1918 and ended in failure for the Ottomans and their allies. However, the Russian withdrawal from the war in 1917 led Armenian and Assyrian forces to be cut off from supply lines, outnumbered, outgunned and isolated, forcing them to fight and flee towards British lines in northern Mesopotamia. TheArab Revolt, instigated by the BritishForeign Office, started in June 1916 with theBattle of Mecca, led bySharif Hussein. The Sharif declared the independence of theKingdom of Hejazand, with British assistance, conquered much of Ottoman-held Arabia, resulting finally in the Ottoman surrender of Damascus.Fakhri Pasha, the Ottoman commander ofMedina, resisted for more than2+1⁄2years during thesiege of Medinabefore surrendering in January 1919. TheSenussitribe, along the border ofItalian LibyaandBritish Egypt, incited and armed by the Turks, waged a small-scaleguerrilla waragainst Allied troops. The British were forced to dispatch 12,000 troops to oppose them in theSenussi campaign. Their rebellion was finally crushed in mid-1916. Total Allied casualties on the Ottoman fronts amounted to 650,000 men. Total Ottoman casualties were 725,000, with 325,000 dead and 400,000 wounded. Italian Front Though Italy joined the Triple Alliance in 1882, a treaty with its traditional Austrian enemy was so controversial that subsequent governments denied its existence and the terms were only made public in 1915.This arose fromnationalistdesigns on Austro-Hungarian territory inTrentino, theAustrian Littoral,RijekaandDalmatia, considered vital to secure the borders established in1866.In 1902, Rome secretly had agreed with France to remain neutral if the latter was attacked by Germany, effectively nullifying its role in the Triple Alliance. When the war began in 1914, Italy argued the Triple Alliance was defensive and it was not obliged to support an Austrian attack on Serbia. Opposition to joining the Central Powers increased when Turkey became a member in September, since in1911Italy had occupied Ottoman possessions inLibyaand theDodecaneseislands.To secure Italian neutrality, the Central Powers offered themTunisia, while in return for an immediate entry into the war, the Allies agreed to their demands for Austrian territory and sovereignty over the Dodecanese.Although they remained secret, these provisions were incorporated into the April 1915Treaty of London; Italy joined the Triple Entente and, on 23 May, declared war on Austria-Hungary,followed by Germany fifteen months later. The pre-1914 Italian army was short of officers, trained men, adequate transport and modern weapons; by April 1915, some of these deficiencies had been remedied but it was still unprepared for the major offensive required by the Treaty of London.The advantage of superior numbers was offset by the difficult terrain; much of the fighting took place high in theAlpsandDolomites, where trench lines had to be cut through rock and ice and keeping troops supplied was a major challenge. These issues were exacerbated by unimaginative strategies and tactics.Between 1915 and 1917, the Italian commander,Luigi Cadorna, undertooka series of frontal assaults along the Isonzo, which made little progress and cost many lives; by the end of the war, Italian combat deaths totalled around 548,000. In the spring of 1916, the Austro-Hungarians counterattacked inAsiagoin theStrafexpedition, but made little progress and were pushed by the Italians back to Tyrol.Although Italy occupied southernAlbaniain May 1916, their main focus was the Isonzo front which, after thecapture of Goriziain August 1916, remained static until October 1917. After a combined Austro-German force won a major victory atCaporetto, Cadorna was replaced byArmando Diazwho retreated more than 100 kilometres (62 mi) before holding positions along thePiave River.A second Austrianoffensive was repulsedin June 1918. On 24 October, Diaz launched theBattle of Vittorio Venetoand initially met stubborn resistance,but with Austria-Hungary collapsing, Hungarian divisions in Italy demanded they be sent home.When this was granted, many others followed and the Imperial army disintegrated, the Italians taking over 300,000 prisoners.On 3November, theArmistice of Villa Giustiended hostilities between Austria-Hungary and Italy which occupiedTriesteand areas along theAdriatic Seaawarded to it in 1915. Eastern Front Initial actions As previously agreed with French presidentRaymond Poincaré, Russian plans at the start of the war were to simultaneously advance intoAustrian Galiciaand East Prussia as soon as possible. Although theirattack on Galiciawas largely successful, and the invasions achieved their aim of forcing Germany to divert troops from the Western Front, the speed of mobilisation meant they did so without much of their heavy equipment and support functions. These weaknesses contributed to Russian defeats atTannenbergand theMasurian Lakesin August and September 1914, forcing them to withdraw from East Prussia with heavy losses.By spring 1915, they had also retreated from Galicia, and the May 1915Gorlice–Tarnów offensiveallowed the Central Powers to invadeRussian-occupied Poland. Despite the successful June 1916Brusilov offensiveagainst the Austrians in eastern Galicia,shortages of supplies, heavy losses and command failures prevented the Russians from fully exploiting their victory. However, it was one of the most significant offensives of the war, diverting German resources fromVerdun, relieving Austro-Hungarian pressure on the Italians, and convincing Romania to enter the war on the side of the Allies on 27 August. It also fatally weakened both the Austrian and Russian armies, whose offensive capabilities were badly affected by their losses and increased disillusion with the war that ultimately led to the Russian revolutions. Meanwhile, unrest grew in Russia asthe Tsarremained at the front, with the home front controlled byEmpress Alexandra. Her increasingly incompetent rule and food shortages in urban areas led to widespread protests and the murder of her favourite,Grigori Rasputin, at the end of 1916. Romanian participation Despite secretly agreeing to support the Triple Alliance in 1883, Romania increasingly found itself at odds with the Central Powers over their support for Bulgaria in the Balkan Wars and the status of ethnic Romanian communities inHungarian-controlledTransylvania,which comprised an estimated 2.8 million of the 5.0 million population.With the ruling elite split into pro-German and pro-Entente factions,Romania remained neutral for two years while allowing Germany and Austria to transport military supplies and advisors across Romanian territory. In September 1914, Russia acknowledged Romanian rights to Austro-Hungarian territories including Transylvania andBanat, whose acquisition had widespread popular support,and Russian success against Austria led Romania to join the Entente in the August 1916Treaty of Bucharest.Under the strategic plan known asHypothesis Z, the Romanian army planned an offensive into Transylvania, while defending SouthernDobrujaandGiurgiuagainst a possible Bulgarian counterattack.On 27 August 1916, theyattacked Transylvaniaand occupied substantial parts of the province before being driven back by the recently formedGerman 9th Army, led by former Chief of StaffErich von Falkenhayn.A combined German-Bulgarian-Turkish offensive captured Dobruja and Giurgiu, although the bulk of the Romanian army managed to escape encirclement and retreated toBucharest, whichsurrenderedto the Central Powers on 6 December 1916. In the summer of 1917, a Central Powers offensive began in Romania under the command of August von Mackensen to knock Romania out of the war, resulting in the battles ofOituz,MărăștiandMărășeștiwhere up to 1,000,000 Central Powers troops were present. The battles lasted from 22 July to 3 September and eventually, the Romanian army was victorious advancing 500 km2. August von Mackensen could not plan for another offensive as he had to transfer troops to the Italian Front.Following the Russian revolution, Romania found itself alone on the Eastern Front and signed theTreaty of Bucharestwith the Central Powers, which recognised Romanian sovereignty overBessarabiain return for ceding control of passes in the Carpathian Mountains to Austria-Hungary and leasing its oil wells to Germany. Although approved byParliament,King Ferdinand Irefused to sign it, hoping for an Allied victory in the west.Romania re-entered the war on 10 November 1918 on the side of the Allies and the Treaty of Bucharest was formally annulled by the Armistice of 11 November 1918. Central Powers peace overtures On 12 December 1916, after ten brutal months of theBattle of Verdunand asuccessful offensive against Romania, Germany attempted to negotiate a peace with the Allies.However, this attempt was rejected out of hand as a \"duplicitous war ruse\". US presidentWoodrow Wilsonattempted to intervene as a peacemaker, asking for both sides to state their demands.Lloyd George'sWar Cabinet considered the German offer to be a ploy to create divisions among the Allies. After initial outrage and much deliberation, they took Wilson's note as a separate effort, signalling that the US was on the verge of entering the war against Germany following the \"submarine outrages\". While the Allies debated a response to Wilson's offer, the Germans chose to rebuff it in favour of \"a direct exchange of views\". Learning of the German response, the Allied governments were free to make clear demands in their response of 14 January. They sought restoration of damages, the evacuation of occupied territories, reparations for France, Russia and Romania, and a recognition of the principle of nationalities.The Allies sought guarantees that would prevent or limit future wars.The negotiations failed and the Entente powers rejected the German offer on the grounds of honour, and noted Germany had not put forward any specific proposals. Final years of the war Russian Revolution and withdrawal By the end of 1916, Russian casualties totalled nearly five million killed, wounded or captured, with major urban areas affected by food shortages and high prices. In March 1917, Tsar Nicholas ordered the military to forcibly suppress strikes inPetrogradbut the troops refused to fire on the crowds.Revolutionaries set up thePetrograd Sovietand fearing a left-wing takeover, theState Dumaforced Nicholas to abdicate and established theRussian Provisional Government, which confirmed Russia's willingness to continue the war. However, the Petrograd Soviet refused to disband, creatingcompeting power centresand causing confusion and chaos, with frontline soldiers becoming increasingly demoralised. Following the Tsar's abdication,Vladimir Lenin—with the help of the German government—was ushered from Switzerland into Russia on 16 April 1917. Discontent and the weaknesses of the Provisional Government led to a rise in the popularity of the Bolshevik Party, led by Lenin, which demanded an immediate end to the war. The Revolution of November was followed in December by an armistice and negotiations with Germany. At first, the Bolsheviks refused the German terms, but when German troops began marching across Ukraine unopposed, they acceded to theTreaty of Brest-Litovskon 3March 1918. The treaty ceded vast territories, including Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and parts of Poland and Ukraine to the Central Powers. With theRussian Empireout of the war, Romania found itself alone on the Eastern Front and signed theTreaty of Bucharestwith the Central Powers in May 1918. Under the terms of the treaty, Romania ceded territory to Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria and leased its oil reserves to Germany. However, the terms also included the Central Powers' recognition of the union ofBessarabiawith Romania. United States enters the war The United States was a major supplier of war material to the Allies but remained neutral in 1914, in large part due to domestic opposition.The most significant factor in creating the support Wilson needed was the German submarine offensive, which not only cost American lives but paralysed trade as ships were reluctant to put to sea. On 6 April 1917, Congressdeclared war on Germanyas an \"Associated Power\" of the Allies.TheUS Navysent abattleship grouptoScapa Flowto join the Grand Fleet, and provided convoy escorts. In April 1917, theUS Armyhad fewer than 300,000 men, includingNational Guardunits, compared to British and French armies of 4.1 and 8.3 million respectively. TheSelective Service Act of 1917drafted 2.8 million men, though training and equipping such numbers was a huge logistical challenge. By June 1918, over 667,000 members of theAmerican Expeditionary Forces(AEF) were transported to France, a figure which reached 2 million by the end of November. Despite his conviction that Germany must be defeated, Wilson went to war to ensure the US played a leading role in shaping the peace, which meant preserving the AEF as a separate military force, rather than being absorbed into British or French units as his Allies wanted.He was strongly supported by AEF commander GeneralJohn J. Pershing, a proponent of pre-1914 \"open warfare\" who considered the French and British emphasis on artillery misguided and incompatible with American \"offensive spirit\".Much to the frustration of his Allies, who had suffered heavy losses in 1917, he insisted on retaining control of American troops, and refused to commit them to the front line until able to operate as independent units. As a result, the first significant US involvement was theMeuse–Argonne offensivein late September 1918. Nivelle Offensive (April–May 1917) In December 1916,Robert Nivellereplaced Pétain as commander of French armies on the Western Front and began planning aspring attackinChampagne, part of a joint Franco-British operation.Poor security meant German intelligence was well informed on tactics and timetables, but despite this, when the attack began on 16 April the French made substantial gains, before being brought to a halt by the newly built and extremely strong defences of the Hindenburg Line. Nivelle persisted with frontal assaults and, by 25 April, the French had suffered nearly 135,000 casualties, including 30,000 dead, most incurred in the first two days. Concurrent British attacks atArraswere more successful, though ultimately of little strategic value.Operating as a separate unit for the first time, theCanadian Corps' capture ofVimy Ridgeis viewed by many Canadians as a defining moment in creating a sense of national identity.Though Nivelle continued the offensive, on 3 May the21st Division, which had been involved in some of the heaviest fighting at Verdun, refused orders to go into battle, initiating theFrench Army mutinies; within days, \"collective indiscipline\" had spread to 54 divisions, while over 20,000 deserted. Sinai and Palestine campaign (1917–1918) In March and April 1917, at theFirstandSecond Battles of Gaza, German and Ottoman forces stopped the advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, which had begun in August 1916 at the Battle of Romani.At the end of October 1917, theSinai and Palestine campaignresumed, when GeneralEdmund Allenby'sXXth Corps,XXI CorpsandDesert Mounted Corpswon theBattle of Beersheba.Two Ottoman armies were defeated a few weeks later at theBattle of Mughar Ridgeand, early in December,Jerusalemhad been captured following another Ottoman defeat at theBattle of Jerusalem.About this time,Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressensteinwas relieved of his duties as the Eighth Army's commander, replaced byDjevad Pasha, and a few months later the commander of theOttoman Armyin Palestine,Erich von Falkenhayn, was replaced byOtto Liman von Sanders. In early 1918, the front line wasextendedand theJordan Valleywas occupied, following theFirst Transjordanand theSecond Transjordanattacks by British Empire forces in March and April 1918. German offensive and Allied counter-offensive (March–November 1918) In December 1917, the Central Powers signed an armistice with Russia, thus freeing large numbers of German troops for use in the West. With German reinforcements and new American troops pouring in, the outcome was to be decided on the Western Front. The Central Powers knew that they could not win a protracted war, but they held high hopes for success in a final quick offensive.Ludendorff drew up plans (Operation Michael) for the 1918 offensive on the Western Front. The operation commenced on 21 March 1918, with an attack on British forces nearSaint-Quentin. German forces achieved an unprecedented advance of 60 kilometres (37 mi).The initial offensive was a success; after heavy fighting, however, the offensive was halted. Lacking tanks ormotorised artillery, the Germans were unable to consolidate their gains. The problems of re-supply were also exacerbated by increasing distances that now stretched over terrain that was shell-torn and often impassable to traffic.Germany launchedOperation Georgetteagainst the northernEnglish Channelports. The Allies halted the drive after limited territorial gains by Germany. The German Army to the south then conductedOperations Blücher and Yorck, pushing broadly towards Paris. Germany launched Operation Marne (Second Battle of the Marne) on 15 July, in an attempt to encircleReims. The resulting counter-attack, which started theHundred Days Offensiveon 8 August,led to a marked collapse in German morale. Allied advance to the Hindenburg Line By September, the Germans had fallen back to the Hindenburg Line. The Allies hadadvanced to the Hindenburg Linein the north and centre. German forces launched numerous counterattacks, but positions and outposts of the Line continued falling, with the BEF alone taking 30,441 prisoners in the last week of September. On 24 September, the Supreme Army Command informed the leaders in Berlin that armistice talks were inevitable. Thefinal assaulton the Hindenburg Line began with theMeuse-Argonne offensive, launched by American and French troops on 26 September. Two days later the Belgians, French and Britishattacked around Ypres, and the day after the British at St Quentin in the centre of the line. The following week, cooperating American and French units broke through inChampagneat theBattle of Blanc Mont Ridge(3–27 October), forcing the Germans off the commanding heights, and closing towards the Belgian frontier.On 8October, the Hindenburg Line was pierced by British and Dominion troops of the First and Third British Armies at theSecond Battle of Cambrai. Breakthrough of Macedonian front (September 1918) Allied forces started theVardar offensiveon 15 September at two key points:Dobro Poleand nearDojran Lake. In theBattle of Dobro Pole, the Serbian and French armies had success after a three-day-long battle with relatively small casualties, and subsequently made a breakthrough in the front, something which was rarely seen in World War I. After the front was broken, Allied forces started to liberate Serbia and reachedSkopjeat 29 September, after whichBulgariasigned an armistice with the Allies on 30 September. Armistices and capitulations The collapse of the Central Powers came swiftly. Bulgaria was the first to sign an armistice, theArmistice of Salonicaon 29 September 1918.German EmperorWilhelm IIin a telegram toBulgarian Tsar Ferdinand Idescribed the situation thus: \"Disgraceful! 62,000 Serbs decided the war!\".On the same day, theGerman Supreme Army Commandinformed Kaiser Wilhelm II and theImperial ChancellorCountGeorg von Hertling, that the military situation facing Germany was hopeless. On 24 October, the Italians began a push that rapidly recovered territory lost after the Battle of Caporetto. This culminated in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, marking the end of the Austro-Hungarian Army as an effective fighting force. The offensive also triggered the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During the last week of October, declarations of independence were made in Budapest, Prague, and Zagreb. On 29 October, the imperial authorities asked Italy for an armistice, but the Italians continued advancing, reaching Trento, Udine, and Trieste. On 3November, Austria-Hungary sent aflag of truceand accepted theArmistice of Villa Giusti, arranged with the Allied Authorities in Paris. Austria and Hungary signed separate armistices following the overthrow of theHabsburg monarchy. In the following days, the Italian Army occupiedInnsbruckand allTyrol, with over 20,000 soldiers. On 30 October, the Ottoman Empire capitulated, and signed the Armistice of Mudros. German government surrenders With the military faltering and with widespread loss of confidence in the Kaiser leading to his abdication and fleeing of the country, Germany moved towards surrender. Prince Maximilian of Baden took charge on October 3 as Chancellor of Germany. Negotiations with President Wilson began immediately, in the hope that he would offer better terms than the British and French. Wilson demanded a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary control over the German military. TheGerman Revolution of 1918–1919began at the end of October 1918. Units of the German Navy refused to set sail for a last, large-scale operation in a war they believed to be as good as lost. Thesailors' revolt, which then ensued in the naval ports ofWilhelmshavenandKiel, spread across the whole country within days and led to theproclamation of a republicon 9November 1918, shortly thereafter to theabdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and German surrender. Aftermath In the aftermath of the war, the German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian empires disappeared.Numerous nations regained their former independence, and new ones were created. Four dynasties fell as a result of the war: theRomanovs, theHohenzollerns, theHabsburgs, and theOttomans. Belgium and Serbia were badly damaged, as was France, with 1.4 million soldiers dead,not counting other casualties. Germany and Russia were similarly affected. Formal end of the war A formal state of war between the two sides persisted for another seven months, until the signing of theTreaty of Versailleswith Germany on 28 June 1919. The US Senate did not ratify the treaty despite public support for it,and did not formally end its involvement in the war until theKnox–Porter Resolutionwas signed on 2July 1921 by PresidentWarren G. Harding.For the British Empire, the state of war ceased under the provisions of theTermination of the Present War (Definition) Act 1918concerning: Somewar memorialsdate the end of the war as being when the Versailles Treaty was signed in 1919, which was when many of the troops serving abroad finally returned home; by contrast, most commemorations of the war's end concentrate on the armistice of 11 November 1918. Peace treaties and national boundaries TheParis Peace Conferenceimposed a series of peace treaties on the Central Powers officially ending the war. The 1919Treaty of Versaillesdealt with Germany and, building onWilson's 14th point, established theLeague of Nationson 28 June 1919. The Central Powers had to acknowledge responsibility for \"all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by\" their aggression. In the Treaty of Versailles, this statement wasArticle 231. This article became known as the \"War Guilt Clause\", as the majority of Germans felt humiliated and resentful.The Germans felt they had been unjustly dealt with by what they called the \"diktatof Versailles\". German historian Hagen Schulze said the Treaty placed Germany \"under legal sanctions, deprived of military power, economically ruined, and politically humiliated.\"Belgian historian Laurence Van Ypersele emphasises the central role played by memory of the war and the Versailles Treaty in German politics in the 1920s and 1930s: Active denial of war guilt in Germany and German resentment at both reparations and continued Allied occupation of the Rhineland made widespread revision of the meaning and memory of the war problematic. The legend of the \"stab in the back\" and the wish to revise the \"Versailles diktat\", and the belief in an international threat aimed at the elimination of the German nation persisted at the heart of German politics. Even a man of peace such as Stresemann publicly rejected German guilt. As for the Nazis, they waved the banners of domestic treason and international conspiracy in an attempt to galvanise the German nation into a spirit of revenge. Like a Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany sought to redirect the memory of the war to the benefit of its policies. Meanwhile, new nations liberated from German rule viewed the treaty as a recognition of wrongs committed against small nations by much larger aggressive neighbours. Austria-Hungary was partitioned into several successor states, largely but not entirely along ethnic lines. Apart from Austria and Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia received territories from the Dual Monarchy (the formerly separate and autonomousKingdom of Croatia-Slavoniawas incorporated into Yugoslavia). The details were contained in the treaties ofSaint-Germain-en-LayeandTrianon. As a result, Hungary lost 64% of its total population, decreasing from 20.9 million to 7.6 million, and losing 31% (3.3 out of 10.7 million) of its ethnicHungarians.According to the 1910 census, speakers of the Hungarian language included approximately 54% of the entire population of theKingdom of Hungary. Within the country, numerous ethnic minorities were present: 16.1%Romanians, 10.5%Slovaks, 10.4%Germans, 2.5%Ruthenians, 2.5%Serbsand 8% others.Between 1920 and 1924, 354,000 Hungarians fled former Hungarian territories attached to Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. The Russian Empire lost much of its western frontier as the newly independent nations ofEstonia,Finland,Latvia,Lithuania, andPolandwere carved from it. Romania took control of Bessarabia in April 1918. National identities After 123 years, Poland re-emerged as an independent country. The Kingdom of Serbia and its dynasty, as a \"minor Entente nation\" and the country with the most casualties per capita,became the backbone of a new multinational state, theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later renamed Yugoslavia. Czechoslovakia, combining theKingdom of Bohemiawith parts of the Kingdom of Hungary, became a new nation. Romania woulduniteall Romanian-speaking people under a single state, leading toGreater Romania. In Australia and New Zealand, the Battle of Gallipoli became known as those nations' \"Baptism of Fire\". It was the first major war in which the newly established countries fought, and it was one of the first times that Australian troops fought as Australians, not just subjects of theBritish Crown, and independent national identities for these nations took hold.Anzac Day, commemorating the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), celebrates this defining moment. In the aftermath of World War I, Greecefoughtagainst Turkish nationalists led byMustafa Kemal, a war that eventually resulted in amassive population exchange between the two countriesunder the Treaty of Lausanne.According to various sources,several hundred thousand Greeks died during this period, which was tied in with the Greek genocide. Casualties Of the 60 million European military personnel who were mobilised from 1914 to 1918, an estimated8 million were killed, 7 million were permanently disabled, and 15 million were seriously injured. Germany lost 15.1% of its active male population, Austria-Hungary lost 17.1%, and France lost 10.5%.France mobilised 7.8 million men, of which 1.4 million died and 3.2 million were injured.Approximately 15,000 deployed men sustained gruesome facial injuries, causing social stigma and marginalisation; they were called thegueules cassées(broken faces). In Germany, civilian deaths were 474,000 higher than in peacetime, due in large part to food shortages and malnutrition that had weakened disease resistance. These excess deaths are estimated as 271,000 in 1918, plus another 71,000 in the first half of 1919 when the blockade was still in effect.Starvation caused by famine killed approximately 100,000 people in Lebanon. Diseases flourished in the chaotic wartime conditions. In 1914 alone, louse-borneepidemic typhuskilled 200,000 in Serbia.Starting in early 1918, a major influenza epidemic known asSpanish fluspread across the world, accelerated by the movement of large numbers of soldiers, often crammed together in camps and transport ships with poor sanitation. The Spanish flu killed at least 17 to 25 million people,including an estimated 2.64 million Europeans and as many as 675,000 Americans.Between 1915 and 1926, an epidemic ofencephalitis lethargicaaffected nearly five million people worldwide. Eight millionequinesmostlyhorses,donkeysandmulesdied, three-quarters of them from the extreme conditions they worked in. War crimes Chemical weapons in warfare The German army was the first to successfully deploy chemical weapons during the Second Battle of Ypres (April–May 1915), after German scientists under the direction ofFritz Haberat theKaiser Wilhelm Institutedeveloped a method to weaponizechlorine.The use of chemical weapons had been sanctioned by the German High Command to force Allied soldiers out of their entrenched positions, complementing rather than supplanting more lethal conventional weapons.Chemical weapons were deployed by all major belligerents throughout the war, inflicting approximately 1.3 million casualties, of which about 90,000 were fatal.The use of chemical weapons in warfare was a direct violation of the1899 Hague Declaration Concerning Asphyxiating Gasesand the1907 Hague Convention on Land Warfare, which prohibited their use. Genocides by the Ottoman Empire Theethnic cleansingof the Ottoman Empire's Armenian population, including mass deportations and executions, during the final years of the Ottoman Empire is consideredgenocide.The Ottomans carried out organised and systematic massacres of the Armenian population at the beginning of the war and manipulated acts of Armenian resistance by portraying them as rebellions to justify further extermination.In early 1915, several Armenians volunteered to join the Russian forces and the Ottoman government used this as a pretext to issue theTehcir Law(Law on Deportation), which authorised the deportation of Armenians from the Empire's eastern provinces to Syria between 1915 and 1918. The Armenians were intentionallymarched to deathand a number were attacked by Ottoman brigands.While the exact number of deaths is unknown, theInternational Association of Genocide Scholarsestimates around 1.5 million.The government of Turkey continues todeny the genocideto the present day, arguing that those who died were victims of inter-ethnic fighting, famine, or disease during World WarI; these claims are rejected by most historians. Other ethnic groups were similarly attacked by the Ottoman Empire during this period, including Assyrians andGreeks, and some scholars consider those events to be part of the same policy of extermination.At least 250,000 Assyrian Christians, about half of the population, and 350,000–750,000AnatolianandPontic Greekswere killed between 1915 and 1922. Prisoners of war About 8 million soldiers surrendered and were held inPOW campsduring the war. All nations pledged to follow theHague Conventionson fair treatment ofprisoners of war, and the survival rate for POWs was generally much higher than that of combatants at the front. Around 25–31% of Russian losses (as a proportion of those captured, wounded, or killed) were to prisoner status; for Austria-Hungary 32%; for Italy 26%; for France 12%; for Germany 9%; for Britain 7%. Prisoners from the Allied armies totalled about 1.4 million (not including Russia, which lost 2.5–3.5 million soldiers as prisoners). From the Central Powers, about 3.3 million soldiers became prisoners; most of them surrendered to Russians. Soldiers' experiences Allied personnel was around 42,928,000, while Central personnel was near 25,248,000.British soldiers of the war were initially volunteers but were increasinglyconscripted. Surviving veterans returning home often found they could discuss their experiences only among themselves, so formed \"veterans' associations\" or \"Legions\". Conscription Conscription was common in most European countries. However, it was controversial in English-speaking countries,It was especially unpopular among minority ethnicities—especially the Irish Catholics in Ireland,Australia,and the French Catholics in Canada. In the US, conscription began in 1917 and was generally well-received, with a few pockets of opposition in isolated rural areas.The administration decided to rely primarily on conscription, rather than voluntary enlistment, to raise military manpower after only 73,000 volunteers enlisted out of the initial 1 million target in the first six weeks of war. Military attachés and war correspondents Military and civilian observers from every major power closely followed the course of the war.Many were able to report on events from a perspective somewhat akin to modern \"embedded\" positions within the opposing land and naval forces. Economic effects Macro- and micro-economic consequences devolved from the war. Families were altered by the departure of many men. With the death or absence of the primary wage earner, women were forced into the workforce in unprecedented numbers. At the same time, the industry needed to replace the lost labourers sent to war. This aided the struggle forvoting rights for women. In all nations, the government's share of GDP increased, surpassing 50% in both Germany and France and nearly reaching that level in Britain. To pay for purchases in the US, Britain cashed in its extensive investments in American railroads and then began borrowing heavily fromWall Street. President Wilson was on the verge of cutting off the loans in late 1916 but allowed a great increase inUS governmentlending to the Allies. After 1919, the US demanded repayment of these loans. The repayments were, in part, funded by German reparations that, in turn, were supported by American loans to Germany. This circular system collapsed in 1931 and some loans were never repaid. Britain still owed the United States $4.4billionof World WarI debt in 1934; the last installment was finally paid in 2015. Britain turned to her colonies for help in obtaining essential war materials whose supply from traditional sources had become difficult. Geologists such asAlbert Kitsonwere called on to find new resources of precious minerals in the African colonies. Kitson discovered important new deposits ofmanganese, used in munitions production, in theGold Coast. Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles (the so-called \"war guilt\" clause) stated Germany accepted responsibility for \"all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies.\"It was worded as such to lay a legal basis for reparations, and a similar clause was inserted in the treaties with Austria and Hungary. However, neither of them interpreted it as an admission of war guilt.In 1921, the total reparation sum was placed at 132 billion gold marks. However, \"Allied experts knew that Germany could not pay\" this sum. The total sum was divided into three categories, with the third being \"deliberately designed to be chimerical\" and its \"primary function was to mislead public opinion ... into believing the 'total sum was being maintained.'\"Thus, 50 billion gold marks (12.5 billion dollars) \"represented the actual Allied assessment of German capacity to pay\" and \"therefore ... represented the total German reparations\" figure that had to be paid. This figure could be paid in cash or in-kind (coal, timber, chemical dyes, etc.). Some of the territory lost—via the Treaty of Versailles—was credited towards the reparation figure as were other acts such as helping to restore the Library of Louvain.By 1929, theGreat Depressioncaused political chaos throughout the world.In 1932 the payment of reparations was suspended by the international community, by which point Germany had paid only the equivalent of 20.598 billion gold marks.With the rise of Adolf Hitler, all bonds and loans that had been issued and taken out during the 1920s and early 1930s were cancelled.David Andelmannotes \"Refusing to pay doesn't make an agreement null and void. The bonds, the agreement, still exist.\" Thus, following the Second World War, at theLondon Conferencein 1953, Germany agreed to resume payment on the money borrowed. On 3October 2010, Germany made the final payment on these bonds. The Australian prime minister,Billy Hughes, wrote to the British prime minister,David Lloyd George, \"You have assured us that you cannot get better terms. I much regret it, and hope even now that some way may be found of securing agreement for demanding reparation commensurate with the tremendous sacrifices made by the British Empire and her Allies.\" Australia received £5,571,720 in war reparations, but the direct cost of the war to Australia had been £376,993,052, and, by the mid-1930s, repatriation pensions, war gratuities, interest and sinking fund charges were £831,280,947. Support and opposition for the war Support In the Balkans,Yugoslav nationalistssuch as the leader,Ante Trumbić, strongly supported the war, desiring the freedom ofYugoslavsfrom Austria-Hungary and other foreign powers and the creation of an independent Yugoslavia. TheYugoslav Committee, led by Trumbić, was formed in Paris on 30 April 1915 but shortly moved its office to London.In April 1918, the Rome Congress of Oppressed Nationalities met, includingCzechoslovak, Italian,Polish,Transylvanian, and Yugoslav representatives who urged the Allies to support nationalself-determinationfor the peoples residing within Austria-Hungary. In the Middle East,Arab nationalismsoared in Ottoman territories in response to the rise of Turkish nationalism during the war, with Arab nationalist leaders advocating the creation of apan-Arabstate. In 1916, the Arab Revolt began in Ottoman-controlled territories of the Middle East to achieve independence. In East Africa,Iyasu VofEthiopiawas supporting theDervish statewho were at war with the British in theSomaliland campaign.Von Syburg, the German envoy inAddis Ababa, said, \"now the time has come for Ethiopia to regain the coast of the Red Sea driving the Italians home, to restore the Empire to its ancient size.\" The Ethiopian Empire was on the verge of entering World WarI on the side of the Central Powers before Iyasu's overthrow at theBattle of Segaledue to Allied pressure on the Ethiopian aristocracy. Several socialist parties initially supported the war when it began in August 1914.But European socialists split on national lines, with the concept ofclass conflictheld by radical socialists such as Marxists andsyndicalistsbeing overborne by their patriotic support for the war.Once the war began, Austrian, British, French, German, and Russian socialists followed the rising nationalist current by supporting their countries' intervention in the war. Italian nationalismwas stirred by the outbreak of the war and was initially strongly supported by a variety of political factions. One of the most prominent and popular Italian nationalist supporters of the war wasGabriele D'Annunzio, who promotedItalian irredentismand helped sway the Italian public to support intervention in the war.TheItalian Liberal Party, under the leadership ofPaolo Boselli, promoted intervention in the war on the side of the Allies and used the Dante Alighieri Society to promote Italian nationalism.Italian socialists were divided on whether to support the war or oppose it; some were militant supporters of the war, includingBenito MussoliniandLeonida Bissolati.However, theItalian Socialist Partydecided to oppose the war after anti-militarist protestors were killed, resulting in ageneral strikecalledRed Week.The Italian Socialist Party purged itself of pro-war nationalist members, including Mussolini.Mussolini formed the pro-interventionistIl Popolo d'Italiaand theFasci Rivoluzionario d'Azione Internazionalista(\"RevolutionaryFascifor International Action\") in October 1914 that later developed into theFasci Italiani di Combattimentoin 1919, the origin of fascism.Mussolini's nationalism enabled him to raise funds fromAnsaldo(an armaments firm) and other companies to createIl Popolo d'Italiato convince socialists and revolutionaries to support the war. Patriotic funds On both sides, there was large-scale fundraising for soldiers' welfare, their dependents and those injured. TheNail Menwere a German example. Around the British Empire, there were many patriotic funds, including theRoyal Patriotic Fund Corporation,Canadian Patriotic Fund,Queensland Patriotic Fundand, by 1919, there were 983 funds in New Zealand.At the start of the next world war the New Zealand funds were reformed, having been criticised as overlapping, wasteful and abused,but 11 were still functioning in 2002. Opposition Many countries jailed those who spoke out against the conflict. These includedEugene Debsin the US andBertrand Russellin Britain. In the US, theEspionage Act of 1917andSedition Act of 1918made it a federal crime to oppose military recruitment or make any statements deemed \"disloyal\". Publications at all critical of the government were removed from circulation by postal censors,and many served long prison sentences for statements of fact deemed unpatriotic. Several nationalists opposed intervention, particularly within states that the nationalists were hostile to. Although the vast majority of Irish people consented to participate in the war in 1914 and 1915, a minority of advancedIrish nationalistshad staunchly opposed taking part.The war began amid the Home Rule crisis in Ireland that had resurfaced in 1912, and by July 1914 there was a serious possibility of an outbreak of civil war in Ireland. Irish nationalists and Marxists attempted to pursue Irish independence, culminating in theEaster Risingof 1916, with Germany sending 20,000 rifles to Ireland to stir unrest in Britain.The British government placed Ireland undermartial lawin response to the Easter Rising, though once the immediate threat of revolution had dissipated, the authorities did try to make concessions to nationalist feeling.However, opposition to involvement in the war increased in Ireland, resulting in theConscription Crisis of 1918. Other opposition came fromconscientious objectors—some socialist, some religious—who had refused to fight. In Britain, 16,000 people asked for conscientious objector status.Some of them, most notably prominent peace activistStephen Hobhouse, refused both military andalternative service.Many suffered years of prison, includingsolitary confinement. Even after the war, in Britain, many job advertisements were marked \"No conscientious objectors need to apply\". On 1–4 May 1917, about 100,000 workers and soldiers ofPetrograd, and after them, the workers and soldiers of other Russian cities, led by the Bolsheviks, demonstrated under banners reading \"Down with the war!\" and \"all power to the Soviets!\". The mass demonstrations resulted in a crisis for theRussian Provisional Government.InMilan, in May 1917, Bolshevik revolutionaries organised and engaged in rioting calling for an end to the war, and managed to close down factories and stop public transportation.The Italian army was forced to enter Milan with tanks and machine guns to face Bolsheviks andanarchists, who fought violently until May 23 when the army gained control of the city. Almost 50 people (including three Italian soldiers) were killed and over 800 people were arrested. Technology World War I began as a clash of 20th-century technology and 19th-centurytactics, with the inevitably large ensuing casualties. By the end of 1917, however, the major armies had modernised and were making use of telephone,wireless communication,armoured cars,tanks(especially with the advent of the prototype tank,Little Willie), and aircraft. Artillery also underwent a revolution. In 1914, cannons were positioned in the front line and fired directly at their targets. By 1917,indirect firewith guns (as well as mortars and even machine guns) was commonplace, using new techniques for spotting and ranging, notably, aircraft and thefield telephone. Fixed-wing aircraftwere initially used forreconnaissanceandground attack. To shoot down enemy planes,anti-aircraft gunsandfighter aircraftwere developed.Strategic bomberswere created, principally by the Germans and British, though the former usedZeppelinsas well.Towards the end of the conflict,aircraft carrierswere used for the first time, with HMSFuriouslaunchingSopwith Camelsin a raid to destroy the Zeppelin hangars atTønderin 1918. Diplomacy The non-military diplomatic and propaganda interactions among the nations were designed to build support for the cause or to undermine support for the enemy. For the most part, wartime diplomacy focused on five issues:propaganda campaigns; defining and redefining the war goals, which became harsher as the war went on; luring neutral nations (Italy, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, Romania) into the coalition by offering slices of enemy territory; and encouragement by the Allies of nationalistic minority movements inside the Central Powers, especially among Czechs, Poles, and Arabs. In addition, multiple peace proposals were coming from neutrals, or one side or the other; none of them progressed very far. Legacy and memory Memorials Memorials were built in thousands of villages and towns. Close to battlefields, those buried in improvised burial grounds were gradually moved to formal graveyards under the care of organisations such as theCommonwealth War Graves Commission, theAmerican Battle Monuments Commission, theGerman War Graves Commission, andLe Souvenir français. Many of these graveyards also have monuments to the missing orunidentifieddead, such as theMenin Gate Memorial to the Missingand theThiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. In 1915,John McCrae, a Canadian army doctor, wrote the poemIn Flanders Fieldsas a salute to those who perished in the war. It is still recited today, especially onRemembrance DayandMemorial Day. National World War I Museum and MemorialinKansas City, Missouri, is a memorial dedicated to all Americans who served in World WarI. TheLiberty Memorialwas dedicated on 1 November 1921. The British government budgeted substantial resources tothe commemoration of the war during the period 2014 to 2018. The lead body is theImperial War Museum.On 3August 2014, French PresidentFrançois Hollandeand German PresidentJoachim Gaucktogether markedthe centenary of Germany's declaration of war on Franceby laying the first stone of a memorial in Vieil Armand, known in German asHartmannswillerkopf, for French and German soldiers killed in the war.As part of commemorations for thecentenary of the 1918 Armistice, French PresidentEmmanuel Macronand German ChancellorAngela Merkelvisited the site of the signing of the Armistice of Compiègne and unveiled a plaque to reconciliation. Historiography ... \"Strange, friend,\" I said, \"Here is no cause to mourn.\"\"None,\" said the other, \"Save the undone years\"... The first efforts to comprehend the meaning and consequences ofmodern warfarebegan during the initial phases of the war and are still underway more than a century later. Teaching World War I has presented special challenges. When compared withWorld War II, the First World War is often thought to be \"a wrong war fought for the wrong reasons\"; it lacks themetanarrativeofgood versus evilthat characterizes retellings of the Second World War. Lacking recognizable heroes and villains, it is often taught thematically, invoking simplifiedtropesthat obscure the complexity of the conflict. Historian Heather Jones argues that thehistoriographyhas been reinvigorated by a cultural turn in the 21st century. Scholars have raised entirely new questions regardingmilitary occupation,radicalisationof politics,race,medical science,genderandmental health. Among the major subjects that historians have long debated regarding the war include:Why the war began; why theAllieswon; whether generals were responsible forhigh casualty rates; how soldiers endured the poor conditions oftrench warfare; and to what extent the civilianhome frontaccepted and endorsed the war effort. Unexploded ordnance As late as 2007,unexploded ordnanceat battlefield sites likeVerdunandSommecontinued to pose a danger. In France and Belgium, locals who discover caches of unexploded munitions are assisted by weapons disposal units. In some places, plant life has still not recovered from the effects of the war. See also Footnotes References Bibliography External links Library guides","1996 Summer Olympics The1996 Summer Olympics(officially theGames of the XXVI Olympiad, also known asAtlanta 1996and commonly referred to as theCentennial Olympic Games)were an internationalmulti-sport eventheld from July 19 to August 4, 1996, inAtlanta,Georgia,United States. These were the fourthSummer Olympicsto be hosted by the United States, making it the first country to have three different cities host the Summer Olympics.It also marked the 100th anniversary of the1896 Summer Olympicsin Athens, the inaugural edition of the modernOlympic Games. These were also the first Summer Olympics to be held in a different year than theWinter Olympicssince theWinter Olympicscommenced in 1924, as part of a newIOCpractice implemented in 1994 to hold the Summer and Winter Games in alternating, even-numbered years. The 1996 Games were the first of the two consecutive Summer Olympics to be held in a predominantlyEnglish-speaking country, preceding the2000 Summer Olympicsin Sydney, Australia. These were also the last Summer Olympics to be held in North America until2028, whenLos Angeleswill host the games for the third time. 10,318 athletes from 197National Olympic Committeescompeted in 26 sports, including the Olympic debuts ofbeach volleyball,mountain bikingandsoftball, as well as the new disciplines oflightweight rowing, women's swimming4 x 200 freestyle relay, women'sfencing, teamrhythmic gymnastics, and women'sassociation football. A total of 24 countries made their Summer Olympic debuts in Atlanta, including 11 formerSoviet republicsparticipating for the first time as independent nations. With a total of 101 medals, theUnited Statestopped both the gold and overallmedal countfor the first time since 1984 (and for the first time since 1968 in a non-boycotted Summer Olympics), also winning the most gold (44) and silver (32) medals out of all the participating nations. Notable performances during the competition included those ofAndre Agassi, whose gold medal in these Games would be followed up with the French Open title in 1999, making him the first men's singles tennis player to complete theGolden Slam;Donovan Bailey, who set a new world record of 9.84 for themen's 100 meters;Lilia Podkopayeva, who became the second gymnast to win an individual event gold medal after winning the all-around title in the same Olympics; and theMagnificent Seven, who dramatically won the first ever U.S. gold medal in theWomen's artistic gymnastics team all-around. The Games were marred by violence on July 27, 1996, whena pipe bomb was detonatedatCentennial Olympic Park(which had been built to serve as a public focal point for the festivities), killing two and injuring 111. Years later,Eric Rudolphconfessed to the bombing and a series of related terrorist attacks, and was sentenced to life in prison. Nonetheless, the 1996 Olympics turned a profit, helped by record revenue from sponsorship deals and broadcast rights, and a reliance on private funding, among other factors. There were 8.3 million tickets sold for events at this Olympics, a record broken only in 2024. There was some criticism of the perceived over-commercialization of the Games, with other issues raised by European officials, such as the availability of food and transport. The event had a lasting impact on the city; Centennial Olympic Park led a revitalization of Atlanta'sdowntown area, and has served as a symbol of the legacy of the 1996 Games; theOlympic Villagebuildings have since been used as residential housing for area universities; and theCentennial Olympic Stadiumhas since been redeveloped twice, first as theTurner Fieldbaseball stadium, then as theCenter ParcAmerican footballstadium. Bidding process Atlanta was selected on September 18, 1990, inTokyo, Japan, over Athens, Belgrade, Manchester, Melbourne, and Toronto at the96th IOC Session. The city entered the competition as adark horse, being up against stiff competition.The US media also criticized Atlanta as a second-tier city and complained ofGeorgia'sConfederate history. However, the IOC Evaluation Commission ranked Atlanta's infrastructure and facilities the highest, while IOC members said that it could guarantee large television revenues similar to the success of the1984 Summer OlympicsinLos Angeles, the most recent Olympics in the United States.Additionally, former US ambassador to the UN and Atlanta mayorAndrew Youngtouted Atlanta's civil rights history and reputation for racial harmony. Young also wanted to showcase a reformedAmerican South. The strong economy of Atlanta and improved race relations in the South helped to impress the IOC officials.Coca-Cola, a long-standing partner of the Olympics, was also a strong advocate to bring the Games to its hometown.The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) also proposed a substantial revenue-sharing with the IOC, USOC, and other NOCs.Atlanta's main rivals were Toronto, whose front-running bid that began in 1986 had chances to succeed after Canada had held a successful1988 Winter Olympicsin Calgary, and Melbourne, Australia, who hosted the1956 Summer Olympicsand afterBrisbane, Australia's failed bid for the 1992 games (which were awarded toBarcelona) and prior toSydney, Australia's successful2000 Summer Olympicsbid. This would be Toronto's fourth failed attempt since 1960 (tried in 1960, 1964, and 1976, but was defeated by Rome, Tokyo and Montreal). Greece, the home of theancientandfirst modern Olympics, was considered by many observers the \"natural choice\" for the Centennial Games,due to its \"divine right\" in history.Athens bid chairman Spyros Metaxas gave repeated warnings to the IOC and demanded to give them the games to mark the centennial, saying \"You don't hold a 100th birthday in someone else's home. The Centenary Games should be held in Athens.\"He also warned that \"if we don't get the Olympics in 1996 we will never bid again to host them.\" However, the Athens bid was described as \"arrogant and poorly prepared,\" being regarded as \"not being up to the task of coping with the modern and risk-prone extravaganza\" of the current Games. Athens faced numerous obstacles, including \"political instability, potential security problems, air pollution, traffic congestion and the fact that it would have to spend about US$3 billion to improve its infrastructure of airports, roads, rail lines and other amenities.\"Athens would later be selected to host the2004 Summer Olympicsseven years later on September 5, 1997. Development and preparation Budget The total cost of the 1996 Summer Olympics was estimated to be around US$1.7 billion.The venues and the Games themselves were funded entirely via private investment,and the only public funding came from the U.S. government for security, and around $500 million of public money used on physical public infrastructure including streetscaping, road improvements, Centennial Olympic Park (alongside $75 million in private funding), expansion of the airport, improvements in public transportation, and redevelopment of public housing projects.$420 million worth of tickets were sold, sale of sponsorship rights accounted for $540 million, and sale of the domestic broadcast rights toNBCaccounted for $456 million. In total, the Games turned a profit of $19 million. The cost for Atlanta 1996 compares with costs of $4.6 billion for Rio 2016, $40–44 billion for Beijing 2008, and $51 billion for Sochi 2014 (the most expensive Olympics in history). The average cost for the Summer Games since 1960 is $5.2 billion. Unlike Atlanta 1996, Beijing and Sochi were primarily funded by their respective governments. Venues and infrastructure Events of the 1996 Games were held in a variety of areas. A number were held within the Olympic Ring, a 3 mi (4.8 km) circle from the center of Atlanta. Others were held atStone Mountain, about 20 miles (32 km) outside of the city. To broaden ticket sales, other events, such asAssociation football(soccer), were staged in various cities in the Southeast. Marketing The Olympiad's official theme, \"Summon the Heroes\", was written byJohn Williams, making it the third Olympiad at that point for which he had composed (official composer in 1984, NBC's coverage composer in 1988). Theopening ceremonyfeaturedCéline Dionsinging \"The Power of the Dream\", the theme song of the 1996 Olympics. Theclosing ceremonyfeaturedGloria Estefansinging \"Reach\", the official theme song of the 1996 Olympics. Themascotfor the Olympiad was an abstract, animated character namedIzzy. In contrast to the standing tradition of mascots of national or regional significance in the city hosting the Olympiad, Izzy was an amorphous, fantasy figure. A video game featuring the Games' mascot,Izzy's Quest for the Olympic Rings, was also released. Atlanta's Olympic slogan \"Come Celebrate Our Dream\" was written by Jack Arogeti, a managing director atMcCann-Ericksonin Atlanta at the time. The slogan was selected from more than 5,000submitted by the public to the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau.Billy Paynenoted that Jack \"captured the spirit and our true motivation for the Olympic games.\" The city ofSavannah, Georgia, host of the yachting events, held its own local festivities, including a local cauldron lighting event on the first day of the Games (headlined by a performance by country musicianTrisha Yearwood). In 1994, African-American artistKevin Colewas commissioned to create the Coca-Cola Centennial Olympic Mural, and the 15-story mural took two years to complete. Calendar Games Opening ceremony The ceremony began with a 60-second countdown, which included footage from all of the previous Olympic Games at twenty-two seconds. There was then a flashback to the closing ceremony of the1992 Olympics in Barcelona, showing the thenpresident of the IOC,Juan Antonio Samaranch, inviting the athletes to compete in Atlanta in 1996. Then, spirits ascended in the northwest corner of the stadium, each representing one of the colors in the Olympic rings. The spirits called the tribes of the world which, after mixed percussion, formed the Olympic rings while the youth of Atlanta formed the number 100. Famed film score composerJohn Williamswrote the official overture for the 1996 Olympics, called \"Summon the Heroes\"; this was his second overture for Olympic games, the first being \"Olympic Fanfare and Theme\" written for the1984 Summer Olympics.Céline DionperformedDavid Foster's official 1996 Olympics song \"The Power of the Dream\", accompanied by Foster on the piano, theAtlanta Symphony Orchestraand the Centennial Choir (comprisingMorehouse College Glee Club,Spelman College Glee Cluband the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus).Gladys Knightsang Georgia's officialstate song, \"Georgia on My Mind\". There was a showcase entitled \"Welcome To The World\", featuringcheerleaders,Chevroletpick-up trucks,marching bands, andsteppers, which highlighted the American youth and a typical Saturday college football game in the South, including thewavecommonly produced by spectators in sporting events around the world. There was another showcase entitled \"Summertime\" which focused on Atlanta and theOld South, emphasizing its beauty, spirit, music, history, culture, and rebirth after theAmerican Civil War. The ceremony also featured a memorable dance tribute to the athletes and to the goddesses of victory of the ancient Greek Olympics, using silhouette imagery. The accompanying music, \"The Tradition of the Games\", was composed byBasil Poledouris. Muhammad Alilit theOlympic cauldronand later received a replacement gold medal for his boxing victory in the1960 Summer Olympics. For the torch ceremony, more than 10,000Olympic torcheswere manufactured by the American Meter Company and electroplated byErie Plating Company. Each torch weighed about 3.5 pounds (1.6 kg) and was made primarily of aluminum, with a Georgiapecanwood handle and gold ornamentation. Closing ceremony Sports The 1996 Summer Olympic program featured 271 events in 26 sports.Softball,beach volleyballandmountain bikingdebuted on the Olympic program, together with women'sfootball, lightweightrowing, women'sswimming, women'sfencing, and a teamrhythmic gymnasticsevent. In women's gymnastics, UkrainianLilia Podkopayevabecame the all-around Olympic champion. Podkopayeva also won a second gold medal in the floor exercise final and a silver on the beam – becoming the only female gymnast sinceNadia Comănecito win an individual event gold after winning the all-around title in the same Olympics.Kerri Strugof the United States women's gymnastics team vaulted with an injured ankle and landed on one foot, winning the first women's team gold medal for the US.Shannon Millerwon the gold medal on the balance beam event, the first time an American gymnast had won an individual gold medal in non-boycotted Olympic games. The Spanish team won the first gold medal in the new competition ofwomen's rhythmic group all-around. The team was formed byEstela Giménez,Marta Baldó,Nuria Cabanillas,Lorena Guréndez,Estíbaliz MartínezandTania Lamarca. Amy Van Dykenwon four gold medals in the Olympicswimmingpool, the first American woman to win four titles in a single Olympiad.Penny Heyns, swimmer of South Africa, won the gold medals in both the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke events.Michelle Smithof Ireland won three gold medals and a bronze in swimming. She remains her nation's most decorated Olympian. However, her victories were overshadowed bydopingallegations even though she did not test positive in 1996. She received a four-year suspension in 1998 for tampering with a urine sample, though her medals and records were allowed to stand. In track and field,Donovan Baileyof Canada won the men's 100 m, setting a new world record of 9.84 seconds at that time.He also anchored his team's gold in the4 × 100 m relay.Michael Johnsonwon gold in both the 200 m and 400 m, setting a new world record of 19.32 seconds in the 200 m.Marie-José Pérecequaled Johnson's performance, although without a world record, by winning the rare 200 m/400 m double.Carl Lewiswon his 4th long jump gold medal at the age of 35. In tennis,Andre Agassiwon the gold medal, which would eventually make him the first man and second singles player overall (after his eventual wife,Steffi Graf) to win the careerGolden Slam, which consists of an Olympic gold medal and victories in the singles tournaments held at professional tennis' four major events (Australian Open,French Open,Wimbledon, andUS Open). There were a series of national firsts realized during the Games.Deon Hemmingsbecame the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal forJamaicaand the English-speakingWest Indies.Lee Lai Shanwon a gold medal in sailing, the only Olympic medal thatHong Kongever won as a British colony (1842–1997). This meant that for the only time, the colonial flag of Hong Kong was raised to the accompaniment of the British national anthem \"God Save the Queen\", as Hong Kong'ssovereigntywas later transferred to China in 1997. The U.S. women's soccer team won the gold medal in the first-ever women's football event. For the first time, Olympic medals were won by athletes fromArmenia,Azerbaijan,Belarus,Burundi,Czech Republic,Ecuador,Georgia,Hong Kong,Kazakhstan,Moldova,Mozambique,Slovakia,Tonga,Ukraine, andUzbekistan. Another first in Atlanta was that this was the first Summer Olympics ever that not a single nation swept all three medals in a single event. Records Medal table These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1996 Games. *Host nation (United States) Participating National Olympic Committees A total of 197 nations, all of the then-existing and recognized National Olympic Committees, were represented at the 1996 Games, and the combined total of athletes was about 10,318.Twenty-four countries made their Olympic debut this year, including eleven of the ex-Soviet countries that competed as part of theUnified Team in 1992.Russiaparticipated in the Summer Olympics separately from the other countries of the formerSoviet Unionfor the first time since 1912 (when it was theRussian Empire). Russia had been a member of theUnified Team at the 1992 Summer Olympicstogether with 11 post-Soviet states. TheFederal Republic of Yugoslaviacompeted asYugoslavia. After missing the 1992 Summer GamesAfghanistanandCambodiareturned to send delegations to Atlanta. The 14 countries making their Olympic debut were:Azerbaijan,Burundi,Cape Verde,Comoros,Dominica,Guinea-Bissau,Macedonia,Nauru,Palestinian Authority,Saint Kitts and Nevis,Saint Lucia,São Tomé and Príncipe,TajikistanandTurkmenistan. The ten countries making their Summer Olympic debut (after competing at the1994 Winter OlympicsinLillehammer) were:Armenia,Belarus,Czech Republic,Georgia,Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan,Moldova,Slovakia,UkraineandUzbekistan. The Czech Republic and Slovakia attended the games as independent nations for the first time since the breakup ofCzechoslovakia, while the rest of the nations that made their Summer Olympic debut were formerly part of theSoviet Union. Number of athletes by National Olympic Committee 10,339athletesfrom 197NOCsparticipated in the 1996 Summer Olympics. Centennial Olympic Park bombing The 1996 Olympics were marred by theCentennial Olympic Park bombing, which occurred on July 27. Security guardRichard Jewelldiscovered the pipe bomb and immediately notified law enforcement, helping to evacuate as many people as possible from the area before it exploded. Although Jewell's quick actions are credited for saving many lives, the bombing killed spectator Alice Hawthorne, wounded 111 others, and caused the death of Melih Uzunyol by a heart attack. Jewell was later considered a suspect in the bombing but was never charged, and he was cleared in October 1996. FugitiveEric Rudolphwas arrested in May 2003 and charged with the Olympic Park bombing as well as the bombings of twoabortion clinicsand agay nightclub.At his trial two years later, he confessed to all charges and afterwards released a statement, saying: \"the purpose of the attack on July 27th was to confound, anger and embarrass the Washington government in the eyes of the world for its abominable sanctioning of abortion on demand.\"He received fourlife sentenceswithoutparole,to be served atUSP Florence ADMAXnearFlorence, Colorado. Legacy Preparations for the Olympics lasted more than seven years and had an economic impact of at least US$5.14 billion. Over two million visitors came to Atlanta, and approximately 3.5 billion people around the world watched at least some of the events on television. Although marred by the tragedy of theCentennial Olympic Park bombing, the Games were a financial success, due in part to TV rights contracts and sponsorships at record levels.Atlanta also set a new record for the most tickets sold at a single Games (8.3 million), and held it until 2024. Beyond international recognition, the Games resulted in many modern infrastructure improvements. The mid-rise dormitories built for the Olympic Village, which became the first residential housing forGeorgia State University(Georgia State Village), are now used by theGeorgia Institute of Technology(North Avenue Apartments). As designed, the Centennial Olympic Stadium was converted intoTurner Fieldafter the Paralympics, which became the home of theAtlanta BravesMajor League Baseballteam from 1997 to 2016. The Braves' former home,Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, was demolished in 1997 and the site became a parking lot for Turner Field; theOmni Coliseumwas demolished the same year to make way forState Farm Arena. The city's permanent memorial to the 1996 Olympics isCentennial Olympic Park, which was built as a focal point for the Games. The park initiated a revitalization of the surrounding area and now serves as the hub for Atlanta's tourism district. In November 2016, acommemorative plaquewas unveiled for Centennial Olympic Park to honor the 20th anniversary of the Games. Following the Braves' departure from Turner Field toTruist Parkin 2017, Georgia State University acquired the former Olympic Stadium and surrounding parking lots. It reconfigured the stadium for a second time intoCenter Parc Stadiumfor itscollege football team. The 1996 Olympic cauldron was originally built and placed at the intersection of Fulton Street and Capitol Avenue, near the Centennial Olympic Stadium. After the Paralympics, in order to make room for the stadium conversion, the Olympic cauldron was moved (except its ramp, which was demolished) to the intersection of Capitol Avenue and Fulton Street in 1997, where it has stayed since. Since Georgia State University's acquisition of the former Olympic Stadium and surrounding lots, there has been proposals and growing calls to move the Olympic cauldron toCentennial Olympic Park. The Olympic cauldron was re-lit in February 2020 for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. The 1996 Olympics are the most recent edition of the Summer Olympics to be held in the United States.Los Angeleswill host the2028 Summer Olympics, 32 years after the Games were held in Atlanta. Sponsors The 1996 Summer Olympics relied heavily on commercial sponsorship. The Atlanta-basedCoca-Cola Companywas the exclusive provider of soft drinks at Olympics venues, and built an attraction known asCoca-Cola Olympic Cityfor the Games.As part of a sponsorship agreement withColumbia TriStar Television, thesyndicatedgame showsJeopardy!andWheel of Fortuneboth produced episodes with Olympics tie-ins (including branded memorabilia and contests) for broadcast between April and July 1996. These included aJeopardy!international tournament, and three weeks ofWheel of Fortuneepisodes filmed on-location at Atlanta'sFox Theatre. The Games were affected by several instances ofambush marketing—in which companies attempt to use the Games as a means to promote their brand, in competition with the exclusive, category-based sponsorship rights issued by the Atlanta organizing committee and the IOC (which grants the rights to use Olympics-related terms and emblems in marketing). The Atlanta organizing committee threatened legal actions against advertisers whose marketing implied an official association with the Games. Several non-sponsors set up marketing activities in areas near venues, such asSamsung(competing withMotorola), which ambushed the Games with its \"96 Expo\".The city of Atlanta had also licensed street vendors to sell products from competitors to Olympic sponsors. The most controversial ambush campaign was undertaken byNike, Inc., which had begun an advertising campaign with aggressive slogans that mocked the Games' values, such as \"Faster, Higher, Stronger, Badder\", \"If you're not here to win, you're a tourist\", and \"You don't win silver, you lose gold.\" The slogans were featured on magazine ads andbillboardsit purchased in Atlanta.Nike also opened apop-up storeknown as the Nike Center near the Athletes' Village, which distributed Nike-branded flags to visitors (presumably to be used at events).IOC marketing directorMichael Payneexpressed concern for the campaign, believing that athletes could perceive them as being an insult to their accomplishments.Payne and theUnited States Olympic Committee's marketing director, John Krimsky, met with Howard Slusher, a subordinate of Nike co-founderPhil Knight. The meeting quickly turned aggressive, with Payne warning that the IOC could pull accreditation for Nike employees and ban the display of its logos on equipment; he also threatened to organize a press conference where silver medallists from the Games, as well as prominent Nike-sponsored athleteMichael Johnson(who attracted attention during the Games for wearing custom, gold-colored Nike shoes), would denounce the company. Faced with these threats, Nike agreed to retract most of its negative advertising andpublic relationsstunts. Reception At theclosing ceremony,IOC PresidentJuan Antonio Samaranchsaid in his closing speech, \"Well done, Atlanta\" and simply called the Games \"most exceptional.\" This broke precedent for Samaranch, who had traditionally labeled each Games \"the best Olympics ever\" at each closing ceremony, a practice he resumed at the subsequentWinter Games in Nagano in 1998. A report prepared after the Games by European Olympic officials was critical of Atlanta's performance in several key areas, including the level of crowding in the Olympic Village, the quality of available food, the accessibility and convenience of transportation, and the Games' general atmosphere of commercialism.IOC vice-presidentDick Poundresponded to criticism of the commercialization of these Games, stating that they still adhered to a historic policy barring the display of advertising within venues, and that \"you have to look to the private sector for at least a portion of the funding, and unless you're looking for handouts, you're dealing with people who are investing business assets, and they have to get a return.\" In 1997,Athenswas awarded the2004 Summer Olympics. Along with addressing the shortcomings of its 1996 bid, it was lauded for its efforts to promote the traditional values of the Olympic Games, which some IOC observers felt had been lost due to the over-commercialization of the 1996 Games. However, the 2004 Games heavily relied on public funding and eventually failed to make a profit, which some have claimed contributed to thefinancial crisis in Greece. The financial struggles faced by many later Games, such as the2006 Winter Olympicsin Turin and the2016 Summer Olympicsin Rio de Janeiro, have caused some to offer more positive reappraisals of the management of the 1996 Summer Games. FormerJPMorgan Chasepresident (and torchbearer)Kabir Sehgalnoted that in contrast to many later Olympics, those of 1996 were financially viable, had a positive economic impact on the city, and most of the facilities constructed continued to be used after the Games. Sehgal contrasted the 1996 Games' \"grassroots\" effort backed almost entirely by private funding, with the only significant public spending coming from infrastructure associated with the Games, to modern \"top-down\" bids, instigated by local governments and reliant on taxpayer funding, making them unpopular among citizens who may not necessarily be interested.The2028 Summer Olympicsin Los Angeles will rely almost entirely on private funding, with the city of Los Angeles and state of California each intending to provide up to $250 million in funding in the event of shortfalls, and the U.S. federal government providing funding solely for security. See also References External links","Fall of the Berlin Wall Thefall of the Berlin Wall(German:Mauerfall,pronouncedⓘ) on9 November1989, during thePeaceful Revolution, marked the beginning of the destruction of theBerlin Walland the figurativeIron Curtain, asEast Berlintransit restrictions were overwhelmed and discarded. Sections of the wall were breached, and planned deconstruction began the following June. It was one of the series of events that started thefall of communisminCentral and Eastern Europe. Thefall of the inner German bordertook place shortly afterward. An end to theCold Warwas declared at theMalta Summitin early December, andGerman reunificationtook place in October the following year. Background Opening of the Iron Curtain The opening of theIron Curtainbetween Austria and Hungary at thePan-European Picnicon 19 August 1989 set in motion a peaceful chain reaction, at the end of which there was no longer anEast Germanyand theEastern Blochad disintegrated. After the picnic, which was based on an idea byOtto von Habsburgto test the reaction of theUSSRandMikhail Gorbachevto an opening of the border, tens of thousands of media-informed East Germans set off for Hungary.Erich Honeckerdictated to theDaily Mirrorfor the Pan-European Picnic: \"Habsburg distributed leaflets far into Poland, on which the East German holidaymakers were invited to a picnic. When they came to the picnic, they were given gifts, food andDeutsche Mark, and then they were persuaded to come to the West.\" The leadership of the GDR in East Berlin did not dare to completely block the borders of their own country and the USSR did not respond at all. Thus the bracket of the Eastern Bloc was broken. Following the summer of 1989, by early November refugees were finding their way toHungaryvia Czechoslovakia or via theWest German embassy in Prague. On 30 September, following negotiations with East Germany and the Soviet Union, the West GermanForeign MinisterHans-Dietrich Genscherwent to the Prague embassy to personally inform the thousands of refugees that they were allowed to leave for West Germany. His speech from the embassy's balcony, which included the line,\"Wir sind zu Ihnen gekommen, um Ihnen mitzuteilen, dass heute Ihre Ausreise...\"(\"We came to you, to let you know that today, your departure...\") was met with loud cheers and jubilations. The next day, the first of the embassy refugees leftPragueforBavaria. The emigration was initially tolerated because of long-standing agreements with the communist Czechoslovak government, allowing free travel across their common border. However, this movement of people grew so large it caused difficulties for both countries. In addition, East Germany was struggling to meet loan payments on foreign borrowings;Egon KrenzsentAlexander Schalck-Golodkowskito unsuccessfully ask West Germany for a short-term loan to make interest payments.: 344 Protection of the wall The Berlin Wall was made up of two walls instead of one. Both walls were 4 metres tall, had a length of 155 kilometres and were separated by a mine corridor called the 'death strip.' It was heavily guarded and included 302 watchtowers; its guards had authorisation to shoot anyone who attempted to escape to West Berlin. Political changes in East Germany On 18 October 1989, longtimeSocialist Unity Party of Germany(SED) leaderErich Honeckerstepped down in favor of Krenz. Honecker had been seriously ill, and those looking to replace him were initially willing to wait for a \"biological solution\", but by October were convinced that the political and economic situation was too grave.: 339Honecker approved the choice, naming Krenz in his resignation speech,and theVolkskammerduly elected him. Although Krenz promised reforms in his first public speech,he was considered by the East German public to be following his predecessor's policies, and public protests demanding his resignation continued.: 347Despite promises of reform, public opposition to the regime continued to grow. On 1 November, Krenz authorized the reopening of the border withCzechoslovakia, which had been sealed to prevent East Germans from fleeing to West Germany.On 4 November, theAlexanderplatz demonstrationtook place. On 6 November, the Interior Ministry published a draft of new travel regulations, which made cosmetic changes to Honecker-era rules, leaving the approval process opaque and maintaining uncertainty regarding access to foreign currency. The draft enraged ordinary citizens, and was denounced as \"complete trash\" byWest Berlin MayorWalter Momper.Hundreds of refugees crowded onto the steps of the West German embassy in Prague, enraging the Czechoslovaks, who threatened to seal off the East German-Czechoslovak border. On 7 November, Krenz approved the resignation of Prime MinisterWilli Stophand two-thirds of the Politburo; however, Krenz was unanimously re-elected as General Secretary by the Central Committee.: 341 New East German immigration policy On 19 October, Krenz askedGerhard Lauterto draft a new travel policy.Lauter was a formerPeople's Policeofficer. After rising rapidly through the ranks he had recently been promoted to a position with theInterior Ministry (\"Home Office\" / \"Department of the Interior\")as head of the department responsible for issuing passports and the registration of citizens. On 8 November, the East GermanPolitburoenacted a portion of the draft travel regulations addressing permanent emigration immediately. Initially, the Politburo planned to create a special border crossing nearSchirndingspecifically for this emigration.However,Interior Ministry officialsandStasibureaucrats charged with drafting the new text concluded the proposal was not feasible, and instead crafted new text relating to both emigration and temporary travel. The revised text stipulated East German citizens could apply for permission to travel abroad, without having to meet the previous requirements for those trips.To ease the difficulties, the Krenz-led Politburo decided on 9 November refugees could exit directly through crossing points between East Germany and West Germany, including between East and West Berlin. Later the same day, the ministerial administration modified the proposal to include private, round-trip, travel. The new regulations would take effect the next day. VVS b2-937/89 Zur Veränderung der Situation der ständigen Ausreise von DDR-Bürgern nach der BRD über die CSSR wird festgelegt: 1) Die Verordnung vom 30. November 1988 über Reisen von Bürgern der DDR in das Ausland (GBl. I Nr. 25 S. 271) findet bis zur Inkraftsetzung des neuen Reisegesetzes keine Anwendung mehr. 2) Ab sofort treten folgende zeitweilige Übergangsregelungen für Reisen und ständige Ausreisen aus der DDR in das Ausland in Kraft: a. Privatreisen nach dem Ausland können ohne Vorliegen von Voraussetzungen (Reiseanlässe und Verwandtschaftsverhältnisse) beantragt werden. Die Genehmigungen werden kurzfristig erteilt. Versagungsgründe werden nur in besonderen Ausnahmefällen angewandt. b. Die zuständigen Abteilungen Paß- und Meldewesen der VPKÄ in der DDR sind angewiesen, Visa zur ständigen Ausreise unverzüglich zu erteilen, ohne daß dafür noch geltende Voraussetzungen für eine ständige Ausreise vorliegen müssen. Die Antragstellung auf ständige Ausreise ist wie bisher auch bei den Abteilungen Innere Angelegenheiten möglich. c. Ständige Ausreisen können über alle Grenzübergangsstellen der DDR zur BRD bzw. zu Berlin (West) erfolgen. d. Damit entfällt die vorübergehend ermöglichte Erteilung von entsprechenden Genehmigungen in Auslandsvertretungen der DDR bzw. die ständige Ausreise mit dem Personalausweis der DDR über Drittstaaten. 3) Über die zeitweiligen Übergangsregelungen ist die beigefügte Pressemitteilung am 10. November 1989 zu veröffentlichen. 1. The decree from 30 November 1988 about travel abroad of East German citizens will no longer be applied until the new travel law comes into force. 2. Starting immediately, the following temporary transition regulations for travel abroad and permanent exits from East Germany are in effect: a) Applications by private individuals for travel abroad can now be made without the previously existing requirements (of demonstrating a need to travel or proving familial relationships). The travel authorizations will be issued within a short period of time. Grounds for denial will only be applied in particularly exceptional cases. b) The responsible departments of passport and registration control in thePeople's Policedistrict offices in East Germany are instructed to issue visas for permanent exit without delays and presentation of the existing requirements for permanent exit. It is still possible to apply for permanent exit in the departments for internal affairs . c) Permanent exits are possible via all East German border crossings to West Germany and (West) Berlin. d) The temporary practice of issuing (travel) authorizations through East German consulates and permanent exit with only an East German personal identity card via third countries ceases. 3. The attached press release explaining the temporary transition regulation will be issued on 10 November. Verantwortlich: Regierungssprecher beim Ministerrat der DDR Berlin (ADN) Wie die Presseabteilung des Ministeriums des Innern mitteilt, hat der Ministerrat der DDR beschlossen, daß bis zum Inkrafttreten einer entsprechenden gesetzlichen Regelung durch die Volkskammer folgende zeitweilige Übergangsregelung für Reisen und ständige Ausreisen aus der DDR ins Ausland in Kraft gesetzt wird: 1. Privatreisen nach dem Ausland können ohne Vorliegen von Voraussetzungen (Reiseanlässe und Verwandtschaftsverhältnisse) beantragt werden. Die Genehmigungen werden kurzfristig erteilt. Versagungsgründe werden nur in besonderen Ausnahmefällen angewandt. 2. Die zuständigen Abteilungen Paß- und Meldewesen der VPKÄ in der DDR sind angewiesen, Visa zur ständigen Ausreise unverzüglich zu erteilen, ohne daß dafür noch geltende Voraussetzungen für eine ständige Ausreise vorliegen müssen. Die Antragstellung auf ständige Ausreise ist wie bisher auch bei den Abteilungen Innere Angelegenheiten möglich. 3. Ständige Ausreisen können über alle Grenzübergangsstellen der DDR zur BRD bzw. zu Berlin (West) erfolgen. 4. Damit entfällt die vorübergehend ermöglichte Erteilung von entsprechenden Genehmigungen in Auslandsvertretungen der DDR bzw. die ständige Ausreise mit dem Personalausweis der DDR über Drittstaaten. Responsible: Government spokesman of East Germany; Council of Ministers Berlin (ADN) As the Press Office of the Ministry of the Interior has announced, the East German Council of Ministers has decided that the following temporary transition regulation for travel abroad and permanent exit from East Germany will be effective until a corresponding law is put into effect by theVolkskammer: 1) Applications by private individuals for travel abroad can now be made without the previously existing requirements (of demonstrating a need to travel or proving familial relationships). The travel authorizations will be issued within a short period of time. Grounds for denial will only be applied in particularly exceptional cases. 2) The responsible departments of passport and registration control in the People's Police district offices in East Germany are instructed to issue visas for permanent exit without delays and without presentation of the existing requirements for permanent exit. It is still possible to apply for permanent exit in the departments for internal affairs . 3) Permanent exits are possible via all East German border crossings to West Germany and (West) Berlin. 4) This decision revokes the temporary practice of issuing (travel) authorizations through East German consulates and permanent exit with only an East German personal identity card via third countries ceases. Events Misinformed public announcements The announcement of the regulations which brought down the Wall took place at an hour-long press conference led byGünter Schabowski, the party leader in East Berlin and the top government spokesman, beginning at 18:00 CET on 9 November and broadcast live onEast German televisionandradio. Schabowski was joined by Minister of Foreign TradeGerhard BeilandCentral CommitteemembersHelga LabsandManfred Banaschak.: 352 Schabowski had not been involved in the discussions about the new regulations and had not been fully updated.Shortly before the press conference, he was handed a note from Krenz announcing the changes, but given no further instructions on how to handle the information. The text stipulated that East German citizens could apply for permission to travel abroad without having to meet the previous requirements for those trips, and also allowed for permanent emigration between all border crossings—including those between East and West Berlin. At 18:53, near the end of the press conference,ANSA'sRiccardo Ehrmanasked if the draft travel law of 6 November was a mistake. Schabowski gave a confusing answer that asserted it was necessary because West Germany had exhausted its capacity to accept fleeing East Germans, then remembered the note he had been given and added that a new regulation had been drafted to allow permanent emigration at any border crossing. This caused a stir in the room; amid several questions at once, Schabowski expressed surprise that the reporters had not yet seen this regulation, and started reading from the note.After this, a reporter, either Ehrman orBild-Zeitungreporter Peter Brinkmann, both of whom were sitting in the front row at the press conference,asked when the regulations would take effect.After a few seconds' hesitation, Schabowski replied, \"As far as I know, it takes effect immediately, without delay\" (German:Das tritt nach meiner Kenntnis ... ist das sofort ... unverzüglich).: 352This was an apparent assumption based on the note's opening paragraph; as Beil attempted to interject that it was up to theCouncil of Ministersto decide when it took effect, Schabowski proceeded to read this clause, which stated it was in effect until a law on the matter was passed by theVolkskammer. Crucially, a journalist then asked if the regulation also applied to the crossings toWest Berlin. Schabowski shrugged and read item 3 of the note, which confirmed that it did. After this exchange,Daniel JohnsonofThe Daily Telegraphasked what this law meant for the Berlin Wall. Schabowski sat frozen before giving a rambling statement about the Wall being tied to the larger disarmament question.He then ended the press conference promptly at 19:00 as journalists hurried from the room. After the press conference, Schabowski sat for an interview withNBC NewsanchorTom Brokawin which he repeated that East Germans would be able to emigrate through the border and the regulations would go into effect immediately. The news spread The news began spreading immediately: the West GermanDeutsche Presse-Agenturissued a bulletin at 19:04 which reported that East German citizens would be able to cross the inner German border \"immediately\". Excerpts from Schabowski's press conference were broadcast on West Germany's two main news programs that night—at 19:17 onZDF'sheute, which came on the air as the press conference was ending, and as the lead story at 20:00 onARD'sTagesschau. As ARD and ZDF had broadcast tonearly all of East Germanysince the late 1950s, were far more widely viewed than the East German channels, and had become accepted by the East German authorities, this is how most of the population heard the news. Later that night, on ARD'sTagesthemen, anchormanHanns Joachim Friedrichsproclaimed, \"This 9 November is a historic day. The GDR has announced that, starting immediately, its borders are open to everyone. The gates in the Wall stand open wide.\": 353 In 2009, Ehrman claimed that a member of the Central Committee had called him and urged him to ask about the travel law during the press conference, but Schabowski called that absurd.Ehrman later recanted this statement in a 2014 interview with an Austrian journalist, admitting that the caller wasGünter Pötschke, head of the East German news agencyADN, and he only asked if Ehrman would attend the press conference. Peace prayers at Nikolai Church Despite the policy ofstate atheismin East Germany, Christian pastorChristian Führerregularly met with his congregation atSt. Nicholas Churchfor prayer since 1982.Over the next seven years the church's congregation grew, despite authorities' barricading the adjacent streets, and peaceful candlelit marches took place following its services.The secret police issued death threats and even attacked some of the marchers, but the crowds still continued to gather.On 9 October 1989, the police and army units were given permission to use force against those assembled, but this did not deter the church service and march from taking place, which gathered 70,000 people and in which not a single shot was fired. Crowding of the border After hearing the 9 November broadcast, East Germans began gathering at the Wall, at thesix checkpoints between East and West Berlin, demanding thatborder guardsimmediately open the gates.The surprised and overwhelmed guards made many hectic telephone calls to their superiors about the problem. At first, they were ordered to find the \"more aggressive\" people gathered at the gates and stamp their passports with a special stamp that barred them from returning to East Germany—in effect, revoking their citizenship. However, this still left thousands of people demanding to be let through \"as Schabowski said we can\".: 353It soon became clear that no one among the East German authorities would take personal responsibility for issuing orders to use lethal force, so the vastly outnumbered soldiers had no way to hold back the huge crowd of East German citizens.Mary Elise Sarottein a 2009Washington Poststory characterized the series of events leading to the fall of the Wall as an accident, saying \"One of the most momentous events of the past century was, in fact, an accident, a semicomical and bureaucratic mistake that owes as much to the Western media as to the tides of history.\" Border openings Finally, at 22:45 (alternatively given as 23:30) on 9 November,Harald Jäger, commander of theBornholmer Straße border crossing, yielded, allowing guards to open the checkpoints and letting people through with little or no identity-checking.As theOssisswarmed through, they were greeted byWessiswaiting with flowers and champagne amid wild rejoicing. Soon afterward, a crowd of West Berliners jumped on top of the Wall and were soon joined by East German youngsters.The evening of 9 November 1989 is known as the night the Wall came down. Another border crossing to the south may have been opened earlier. An account byHeinz Schäferindicates that he also acted independently and ordered the opening of the gate at Waltersdorf-Rudow a couple of hours earlier.This may explain reports of East Berliners appearing in West Berlin earlier than the opening of the Bornholmer Straße border crossing. \"Wallpeckers\" demolition Removal of the Wall began on the evening of 9 November 1989 and continued over the following days and weeks, with people nicknamedMauerspechte(wallpeckers) using various tools to chip off souvenirs, demolishing lengthy parts in the process, and creating several unofficial border crossings.In the season holidays this became a sort of international action. People from all over the western world went to West Berlin and local youth provided a range of appropriate demolition tools. Television coverage of citizens demolishing sections of the Wall on 9 November was soon followed by the East German regime announcing ten newborder crossings, including the historically significant locations ofPotsdamer Platz,Glienicker Brücke, andBernauer Straße. Crowds gathered on both sides of the historic crossings waiting for hours to cheer the bulldozers that tore down portions of the Wall to reconnect the divided roads. While the Wall officially remained guarded at a decreasing intensity, new border crossings continued for some time. Initially theEast German Border Troopsattempted repairing the damage done by the \"wallpeckers\"; gradually these attempts ceased, and guards became laxer, tolerating the increasing demolitions and \"unauthorized\" border crossing through the holes. Prime ministers meet TheBrandenburg Gatein the Berlin Wall was opened on 22 December 1989; on that date, West German ChancellorHelmut Kohlwalked through the gate and was greeted by East German Prime MinisterHans Modrow.West Germans and West Berliners were allowed visa-free travel starting 23 December.Until then, they could only visit East Germany and East Berlin under restrictive conditions that involved application for a visa several days or weeks in advance and obligatory exchange of at least 25DMper day of their planned stay, all of which hindered spontaneous visits. Thus, in the weeks between 9 November and 23 December, East Germans could actually travel more freely than Westerners. Official demolition On 13 June 1990, the East German Border Troops officially began dismantling the Wall,beginning inBernauer Straßeand around the Mitte district. From there, demolition continued through Prenzlauer Berg/Gesundbrunnen, Heiligensee and throughout the city of Berlin until December 1990. According to estimates by the border troops, a total of around 1.7 million tonnes of building rubble was produced by the demolition. Unofficially, the demolition of the Bornholmer Straße crossing began because of construction work on the railway. This involved a total of 300 GDR border guards and—after 3 October 1990—600 Pioneers of the Bundeswehr. These were equipped with 175 trucks, 65 cranes, 55 excavators and 13 bulldozers. Virtually every road that was severed by the Berlin Wall, every road that once linked from West Berlin to East Berlin, was reconstructed and reopened by 1 August 1990. In Berlin alone, 184 km (114 mi) of wall, 154 km (96 mi) border fence, 144 km (89 mi) signal systems and 87 km (54 mi) barrier ditches were removed. What remained were six sections that were to be preserved as a memorial. Various military units dismantled the Berlin/Brandenburg border wall, completing the job in November 1991. Painted wall segments with artistically valuable motifs were put up for auction in 1990 inBerlinandMonte Carlo. On 1 July 1990, the day East Germany adopted theWest German currency, allde jureborder controls ceased, although the inter-German border had become meaningless for some time before that.The demolition of the Wall was completed in 1994. The fall of the Wall marked the first critical step towardsGerman reunification, which formally concluded a mere 339 days later on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of East Germany and the official reunification of the German state along the democratic lines of the West GermanBasic Law. International opposition French PresidentFrançois Mitterrandand British Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcherboth opposed the fall of the Berlin Wall and the eventual reunification of Germany, fearing potential German designs on its neighbours using its increased strength. In September 1989, Margaret Thatcher privately confided toSoviet General SecretaryMikhail Gorbachevthat she wanted the Soviet leader to do what he could to stop it. We do not want a united Germany. This would lead to a change to postwar borders and we cannot allow that because such a development would undermine the stability of the whole international situation and could endanger our security, Thatcher told Gorbachev. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, François Mitterrand warned Thatcher that a unified Germany could make more ground thanAdolf Hitlerever had and that Europe would have to bear the consequences. Legacy Celebrations and anniversaries On 21 November 1989,Crosby, Stills & Nashperformed the song \"Chippin' Away\" fromGraham Nash's 1986 solo albumInnocent Eyesin front of the Brandenburg Gate. On 25 December 1989,Leonard Bernsteingave a concert in Berlin celebrating the end of the Wall, includingBeethoven's9th symphony(Ode to Joy) with the word \"Joy\"(Freude)changed to \"Freedom\"(Freiheit)in the lyrics sung. The poetSchillermay have originally written \"Freedom\" and changed it to \"Joy\" out of fear. The orchestra and choir were drawn from both East and West Germany, as well as the United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States.On New Year's Eve 1989,David Hasselhoffperformed his song \"Looking for Freedom\" while standing atop the partly demolished Wall in front of 200 000 people.Roger WatersperformedthePink FloydalbumThe Walljust north ofPotsdamer Platzon 21 July 1990, with guests includingScorpions,Bryan Adams,Sinéad O'Connor,Cyndi Lauper,Thomas Dolby,Joni Mitchell,Marianne Faithfull,Levon Helm,Rick DankoandVan Morrison. Over the years, there has been a repeated controversial debateas to whether9 Novemberwould make a suitable German national holiday, often initiated by former members of political opposition in East Germany, such asWerner Schulz.Besides being the emotional apogee of East Germany's peaceful revolution, 9 November is also the date of the 1918 abdication of KaiserWilhelm IIand declaration of theWeimar Republic, the first German republic. However, 9 November is also the anniversary of the execution ofRobert Blumfollowing the1848 Vienna revolts, the 1923Beer Hall Putschand the infamousKristallnachtpogromsof the Nazis in 1938.NobelLaureateElie Wieselcriticised the first euphoria, noting that \"they forgot that 9 November has already entered into history—51 years earlier it marked the Kristallnacht.\"As reunification was not official and complete until 3 October (1990), that day was finally chosen asGerman Unity Day. 10th anniversary celebrations On 9 November 1999, the 10th anniversary was observed with a concert and fireworks at the vidBrandenburg Gate. Russian cellistMstislav Rostropovichplayed music byJohann Sebastian Bach, while German rock bandScorpionsperformed their 1990 songWind of Change. Wreaths were placed for victims shot down when theyattempted to escape to the west, and politicians delivered speeches. 20th anniversary celebrations On 9 November 2009, Berlin celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with a \"Festival of Freedom\" with dignitaries from around the world in attendance for an evening celebration around the Brandenburg Gate. A high point was when over 1,000 colourfully designed foam domino tiles, each over 8 feet (2.4 m) tall, that were stacked along the former route of the Wall in the city center were toppled in stages, converging in front of the Brandenburg Gate. A Berlin Twitter Wall was set up to allow Twitter users to post messages commemorating the 20th anniversary. TheChinese governmentquickly shut down access to the Twitter Wall after internet users in China began using it to protest theGreat Firewall. In the United States, the German Embassy coordinated a public diplomacy campaign with the motto \"Freedom Without Walls\", to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The campaign was focused on promoting awareness of the fall of the Berlin Wall among current college students. Students at over 30 universities participated in \"Freedom Without Walls\" events in late 2009. First place winner of the Freedom Without Walls Speaking ContestRobert Cannon received a free trip to Berlin for 2010. An international project calledMauerreise(Journey of the Wall) took place in various countries. Twenty symbolic Wall bricks were sent from Berlin starting in May 2009, with the destinations being Korea, Cyprus, Yemen, and other places where everyday life is characterised by division and border experience. In these places, the bricks would become a blank canvas for artists, intellectuals and young people to tackle the \"Wall\" phenomenon. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the 3D online virtual worldTwinityreconstructed a true-to-scale section of the Wall in virtual Berlin.TheMTV Europe Music Awards, on 5 November, hadU2andTokio Hotelperform songs dedicated to and about the Berlin Wall. U2 performed at the Brandenburg Gate, and Tokio Hotel performed \"World Behind My Wall\". Palestiniansin the town ofKalandia,West Bankpulled down parts of theIsraeli West Bank barrier, in a demonstration marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. TheInternational Spy Museumin Washington D.C., hosted aTrabantcar rally where 20 Trabants gathered in recognition of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Rides were raffled every half-hour and a Trabant crashed through a Berlin Wall mock up. The Trabant was the East German people's car that many used to leave DDR after the collapse. TheAllied Museumin theDahlemdistrict of Berlin hosted a number of events to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The museum held a Special Exhibition entitled \"Wall Patrol – The Western Powers and the Berlin Wall 1961–1990\" which focused on the daily patrols deployed by the Western powers to observe the situation along the Berlin Wall and the fortifications on theGDRborder.A sheet of \"Americans in Berlin\" CommemorativeCinderella stampsdesigned byT.H.E. Hillwas presented to the Museum by David Guerra, Berlin veteran and webmaster of the sitewww.berlinbrigade.com. 30th anniversary celebrations Berlin planned a week-long arts festival from 4 to 10 November 2019 and a citywide music festival on 9 November to celebrate the 30th anniversary.On 4 November, outdoor exhibits opened at Alexanderplatz, the Brandenburg Gate, the East Side Gallery, Gethsemane Church, Kurfürstendamm, Schlossplatz, and the former Stasi headquarters in Lichtenberg. Polling A small minority still support the wall or even support rebuilding the wall back up. In 2008 a poll found that 11% of participants from the former West Berlin and 12% form the former East Berlin said it would be better if the wall was still in place. A November 2009 poll found that 12% of Germans said the wall should be rebuilt. The poll also found that in the formerWest German statessupport was at 12% and in the formerEast German statesit was 13%. A September 2009 poll found 15% of Germans supported a wall, while in the west it was 16% and in the east it was at 10%. A 2010 poll from Emnid forBild, found that 24% of West germans and 23% of East Germans wished for the wall still being in place. A 2019 poll fromBerliner Zeitungon the 30th anniversary, found that 8% of Berliners supported the idea if the wall was still standing, The overwhelming majority of Berliners at 87% however supported the fall of the wall. The poll also found that 28% of theAlternative for Germany(AfD) and 16% ofFree Democratic Party(FDP) supporters supported bringing back the wall.A 2019 Yougov poll found that 13% of Germans wanted the wall back, in the West support was at 14% and in the East it was 13%. A 2019 poll fromForsafound 35% of Berliners thought the construction of the Wall was not so wrong with supporters of theleft partyDie Linke at 74%. References Bibliography External links","The Beatles The Beatleswere an Englishrockband formed inLiverpoolin 1960. The core lineup of the band comprisedJohn Lennon,Paul McCartney,George HarrisonandRingo Starr. They are widely regarded as themost influential band of all timeand were integral to the development of1960s countercultureand the recognition ofpopular musicas an art form.Rooted inskiffle,beatand 1950srock 'n' roll, their sound incorporated elements ofclassical musicandtraditional popin innovative ways. The band also explored music styles ranging fromfolkandIndian musictopsychedeliaandhard rock. Aspioneers in recording, songwriting and artistic presentation, the Beatles revolutionized many aspects of the music industry and were often publicized as leaders of theera's youthand sociocultural movements. Led by primary songwritersLennon and McCartney, the Beatles evolved from Lennon's previous group,the Quarrymen, and built their reputation by playing clubs in Liverpool andHamburg, Germany, over three years from 1960, initially withStuart Sutcliffeplayingbass. The core trio of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, together since 1958, went through a succession of drummers, includingPete Best, before inviting Starr to join them in 1962. ManagerBrian Epsteinmoulded them into a professional act, and producerGeorge Martinguided and developed their recordings, greatly expanding their domestic success after they signed withEMI Recordsand achieved their first hit, \"Love Me Do\", in late 1962. As their popularity grew into the intense fan frenzy dubbed \"Beatlemania\", the band acquired the nickname \"the Fab Four\". Epstein, Martin or other members of the band's entourage were sometimes informally referred to as a \"fifth Beatle\". By early 1964, the Beatles were international stars and had achieved unprecedented levels of critical and commercial success. They became a leading force in Britain's cultural resurgence, ushering in theBritish Invasionof the United States pop market. They soon made their film debut withA Hard Day's Night(1964). A growing desire to refine their studio efforts, coupled with the challenging nature of their concert tours, led to the band's retirement from live performances in 1966. During this time, they produced albums of greater sophistication, includingRubber Soul(1965),Revolver(1966) andSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band(1967). They enjoyed further commercial success withThe Beatles(also known as \"the White Album\", 1968) andAbbey Road(1969). The success of these records heralded thealbum era, as albums became the dominant form of record use oversingles. These records also increased public interest inpsychedelic drugsand Eastern spirituality and furthered advancements inelectronic music,album artandmusic videos. In 1968, they foundedApple Corps, a multi-armed multimedia corporation that continues to oversee projects related to the band's legacy. Afterthe group's break-upin 1970, all principal former members enjoyed success as solo artists, and somepartial reunionsoccurred. Lennonwas murderedin 1980, and Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001. McCartney and Starr remain musically active. The Beatles are thebest-selling music act of all time, with estimated sales of 600 million units worldwide.They are the most successful act in the history of the USBillboardcharts,holding the record for most number-one albums on theUK Albums Chart(15),most number-one hitson the USBillboardHot 100chart (20), and most singles sold in the UK (21.9 million). The band receivedmany accolades, including sevenGrammy Awards, fourBrit Awards, anAcademy Award(forBest Original Song Scorefor the 1970 documentary filmLet It Be) and fifteenIvor Novello Awards. They were inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Famein their first year of eligibility, 1988, and each principal member was individually inducted between 1994 and 2015. In 2004 and 2011, the group toppedRolling Stone's lists ofthe greatest artists in history.Timemagazine named them among the20th century's 100 most important people. History 1956–1963: Formation The Quarrymen and name changes In November 1956, sixteen-year-oldJohn Lennonformed askifflegroup with several friends fromQuarry Bank High SchoolinLiverpool. They were calledthe Quarrymen, a reference to their school song \"Quarry men old before our birth.\"Fifteen-year-oldPaul McCartneymet Lennon on 6 July 1957, and joined as arhythm guitaristshortly after.In February 1958, McCartney invited his friendGeorge Harrison, then aged fifteen, to watch the band. Harrison auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, but Lennon initially thought Harrison was too young. After a month's persistence, during a second meeting (arranged by McCartney), Harrison performed the lead guitar part of the instrumental song \"Raunchy\" on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus,and they enlisted him aslead guitarist. By January 1959, Lennon's Quarry Bank friends had left the group, and he began his studies at theLiverpool College of Art.The three guitarists, billing themselves as Johnny and the Moondogs,were playingrock and rollwhenever they could find a drummer.They also performed as the Rainbows. Paul McCartney later toldNew Musical Expressthat they called themselves that \"because we all had different coloured shirts and we couldn't afford any others!\" Lennon's art school friendStuart Sutcliffe, who had just sold one of his paintings and was persuaded to purchase a bass guitar with the proceeds, joined in January 1960. He suggested changing the band's name toBeatals, as a tribute toBuddy Hollyandthe Crickets.They used this name until May, when they becamethe Silver Beetles, before undertaking a brieftour of Scotlandas the backing group for pop singer and fellowLiverpudlianJohnny Gentle. By early July, they had refashioned themselves asthe Silver Beatles, and by the middle of August simplythe Beatles. Early residencies and UK popularity Allan Williams, the Beatles' unofficial manager, arranged a residency for themin Hamburg. They auditioned and hired drummerPete Bestin mid-August 1960. The band, now a five-piece, departed Liverpool for Hamburg four days later, contracted to club ownerBruno Koschmiderfor what would be a3+1⁄2-month residency.Beatles historianMark Lewisohnwrites: \"They pulled into Hamburg at dusk on 17 August, the time when thered-light areacomes to life ... flashing neon lights screamed out the various entertainment on offer, while scantily clad women sat unabashed in shop windows waiting for business opportunities.\" Koschmider had converted a couple of strip clubs in the district into music venues, and he initially placed the Beatles at theIndra Club. After closing Indra due to noise complaints, he moved them to theKaiserkellerin October.When he learned they had been performing at the rivalTop Ten Clubin breach of their contract, he gave them one month's termination notice,and reported the underage Harrison, who had obtained permission to stay in Hamburg by lying to the German authorities about his age.The authorities arranged for Harrison's deportation in late November.One week later, Koschmider had McCartney and Best arrested for arson after they set fire to a condom in a concrete corridor; the authorities deported them.Lennon returned to Liverpool in early December, while Sutcliffe remained in Hamburg until late February with his German fiancéeAstrid Kirchherr,who took the first semi-professional photos of the Beatles. During the next two years, the Beatles were resident for periods in Hamburg, where they usedPreludinboth recreationally and to maintain their energy through all-night performances.In 1961, during their second Hamburg engagement, Kirchherr cut Sutcliffe's hair in the \"exi\" (existentialist) style, later adopted by the other Beatles.Later on, Sutcliffe decided to leave the band early that year and resume his art studies in Germany. McCartney took over bass.ProducerBert Kaempfertcontracted what was now a four-piece group until June 1962, and he used them asTony Sheridan'sbacking bandon a series of recordings forPolydor Records.As part of the sessions, the Beatles were signed to Polydor for one year.Credited to \"Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers\", the single \"My Bonnie\", recorded in June 1961 and released four months later, reached number 32 on theMusikmarktchart. After the Beatles completed their second Hamburg residency, they enjoyed increasing popularity in Liverpool with the growingMerseybeatmovement. However, they were growing tired of the monotony of numerous appearances at the same clubs night after night.In November 1961, during one of the group's frequent performances atthe Cavern Club, they encounteredBrian Epstein, a local record-store owner and music columnist.He later recalled: \"I immediately liked what I heard. They were fresh, and they were honest, and they had what I thought was a sort of presence ... star quality.\" First EMI recordings Epstein courted the band over the next couple of months, and they appointed him as their manager in January 1962.Throughout early and mid-1962, Epstein sought to free the Beatles from their contractual obligations to Bert Kaempfert Productions. He eventually negotiated a one-month early release in exchange for one last recording session in Hamburg.On their return to Germany in April, a distraught Kirchherr met them at the airport with news of Sutcliffe's death the previous day from abrain haemorrhage.Epstein began negotiations with record labels for a recording contract. To secure a UK record contract, Epstein negotiated an early end to the band's contract with Polydor, in exchange for more recordings backing Tony Sheridan.After a New Year's Day audition,Decca Records rejected the band, saying, \"Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein.\"However, three months later, producerGeorge Martinsigned the Beatles toEMI'sParlophonelabel. Martin's first recording session with the Beatles took place atEMI Recording Studios(later Abbey Road Studios) in London on 6 June 1962.He immediately complained to Epstein about Best's drumming and suggested they use asession drummerin his place.Already contemplating Best's dismissal,the Beatles replaced him in mid-August withRingo Starr, who leftRory Storm and the Hurricanesto join them.A 4 September session at EMI yielded a recording of \"Love Me Do\" featuring Starr on drums, but a dissatisfied Martin hired drummerAndy Whitefor the band's third session a week later, which produced recordings of \"Love Me Do\", \"Please Please Me\" and \"P.S. I Love You\". Martin initially selected the Starr version of \"Love Me Do\" for the band's first single, though subsequent re-pressings featured the White version, with Starr on tambourine.Released in early October, \"Love Me Do\" peaked at number seventeen on theRecord Retailerchart.Their television debut came later that month with a live performance on the regional news programmePeople and Places.After Martin suggested rerecording \"Please Please Me\" at a faster tempo,a studio session in late November yielded that recording,of which Martin accurately predicted, \"You've just made your first No. 1.\" In December 1962, the Beatles concluded their fifth and final Hamburg residency.By 1963, they had agreed that all four band members would contribute vocals to their albums – including Starr, despite his restricted vocal range, to validate his standing in the group.Lennon and McCartney had establisheda songwriting partnership, and as the band's success grew, their dominant collaboration limited Harrison's opportunities as alead vocalist.Epstein, to maximise the Beatles' commercial potential, encouraged them to adopt a professional approach to performing.Lennon recalled him saying, \"Look, if you really want to get in these bigger places, you're going to have to change – stop eating on stage, stop swearing, stop smoking ....\" 1963–1966: Beatlemania and touring years Please Please MeandWith the Beatles On 11 February 1963, the Beatles recorded ten songs during a single studio session for their debut LP,Please Please Me. It was supplemented by the four tracks already released on their first two singles. Martin considered recording the LP live at The Cavern Club, but after deciding that the building's acoustics were inadequate, he elected to simulate a \"live\" album with minimal production in \"a single marathon session at Abbey Road\".After the moderate success of \"Love Me Do\", the single \"Please Please Me\" was released in January 1963, two months ahead of the album. It reached number one on every UK chart exceptRecord Retailer, where it peaked at number two. Recalling how the Beatles \"rushed to deliver a debut album, bashing outPlease Please Mein a day\",AllMusiccriticStephen Thomas Erlewinewrote: \"Decades after its release, the album still sounds fresh, precisely because of its intense origins.\"Lennon said little thought went into composition at the time; he and McCartney were \"just writing songsà laEverly Brothers,à laBuddy Holly, pop songs with no more thought of them than that – to create a sound. And the words were almost irrelevant.\" Released in March 1963,Please Please Mewas the first of eleven consecutive Beatles albums released in the United Kingdom to reach number one.The band's third single, \"From Me to You\", came out in April and began an almost unbroken string of seventeen British number-one singles, including all but one of the eighteen they released over the next six years.Issued in August, their fourth single, \"She Loves You\", achieved the fastest sales of any record in the UK up to that time, selling three-quarters of a million copies in under four weeks.It became their first single to sell a million copies, and remained the biggest-selling record in the UK until 1978. The success brought increased media exposure, to which the Beatles responded with an irreverent and comical attitude that defied the expectations of pop musicians at the time, inspiring even more interest.The band toured the UK three times in the first half of the year: a four-week tour that began in February, the Beatles' first nationwide, preceded three-week tours in March and May–June.As their popularity spread, a frenzied adulation of the group took hold. On 13 October, the Beatles starred onSunday Night at the London Palladium, the UK's top variety show.Their performance was televised live and watched by 15 million viewers. One national paper's headlines in the following days coined the term \"Beatlemania\" to describe the riotous enthusiasm by screaming fans who greeted the band – and it stuck.Although not billed as tour leaders, the Beatles overshadowed American actsTommy RoeandChris Montezduring the February engagements and assumed top billing \"by audience demand\", something no British act had previously accomplished while touring with artists from the US.A similar situation arose during their May–Junetour with Roy Orbison. In late October, the Beatles began a five-day tour of Sweden, their first time abroad since the final Hamburg engagement of December 1962.On their return to the UK on 31 October, several hundred screaming fans greeted them in heavy rain atHeathrow Airport. Around 50 to 100 journalists and photographers, as well as representatives from theBBC, also joined the airport reception, the first of more than 100 such events.The next day, the band began its fourth tour of Britain within nine months, this one scheduled for six weeks.In mid-November, as Beatlemania intensified, police resorted to using high-pressure water hoses to control the crowd before a concert in Plymouth.On 4 November, they played in front ofThe Queen MotherandPrincess Margaretduring theRoyal Variety Performanceat thePrince of Wales Theatre. Please Please Memaintained the top position on theRecord Retailerchart for 30 weeks, only to be displaced by its follow-up,With the Beatles,which EMI released on 22 November to record advance orders of 270,000 copies. The LP topped a half-million albums sold in one week.Recorded between July and October,With the Beatlesmade better use of studio production techniques than its predecessor.It held the top spot for 21 weeks with a chart life of 40 weeks.Erlewine described the LP as \"a sequel of the highest order – one that betters the original\". In a reversal of then standard practice, EMI released the album ahead of the impending single \"I Want to Hold Your Hand\", with the song excluded to maximise the single's sales.The album caught the attention of music criticWilliam MannofThe Times, who suggested that Lennon and McCartney were \"the outstanding English composers of 1963\".The newspaper published a series of articles in which Mann offered detailed analyses of the music, lending it respectability.With the Beatlesbecame the second album in UK chart history to sell a million copies, a figure previously reached only by the 1958South Pacificsoundtrack.When writing thesleeve notesfor the album, the band's press officer,Tony Barrow, used the superlative the \"fabulous foursome\", which the media widely adopted as \"the Fab Four\". First visit to the United States and the British Invasion EMI's American subsidiary,Capitol Records, hindered the Beatles' releases in the United States for more than a year by initially declining to issue their music, including their first three singles. Concurrent negotiations with the independent US labelVee-Jayled to the release of some, but not all, of the songs in 1963.Vee-Jay finished preparation for the albumIntroducing... The Beatles, comprising most of the songs of Parlophone'sPlease Please Me, but a management shake-up led to the album not being released.After it emerged that the label did not report royalties on their sales, the licence that Vee-Jay had signed with EMI was voided.A new licence was granted to theSwanlabel for the single \"She Loves You\". The record received some airplay in theTidewater areaof Virginia from Gene Loving of radio stationWGHand was featured on the \"Rate-a-Record\" segment ofAmerican Bandstand, but it failed to catch on nationally. Epstein brought a demo copy of \"I Want to Hold Your Hand\" to Capitol'sBrown Meggs, who signed the band and arranged for a $40,000 US marketing campaign. American chart success began after disc jockey Carroll James of AM radio stationWWDC, in Washington, DC, obtained a copy of the British single \"I Want to Hold Your Hand\" in mid-December 1963 and began playing it on-air.Taped copies of the song soon circulated among other radio stations throughout the US. This caused an increase in demand, leading Capitol to bring forward the release of \"I Want to Hold Your Hand\" by three weeks.Issued on 26 December, with the band's previously scheduled debut there just weeks away, \"I Want to Hold Your Hand\" sold a million copies, becoming a number-one hit in the US by mid-January.In its wake Vee-Jay releasedIntroducing... The Beatlesalong with Capitol's debut album,Meet the Beatles!, while Swan reactivated production of \"She Loves You\". On 7 February 1964, the Beatles departed from Heathrow with an estimated 4,000 fans waving and screaming as the aircraft took off.Upon landing at New York'sJohn F. Kennedy Airport, an uproarious crowd estimated at 3,000 greeted them.They gave their first live US television performance two days later onThe Ed Sullivan Show, watched by approximately 73 million viewers in over 23 million households,or 34 per cent of the American population. Biographer Jonathan Gould writes that, according to theNielsenrating service, it was \"the largest audience that had ever been recorded for an American televisionprogram\".The next morning, the Beatles awoke to a largely negative critical consensus in the US,but a day later at their first US concert, Beatlemania erupted at theWashington Coliseum.Back in New York the following day, the Beatles met with another strong reception during two shows atCarnegie Hall.The band flew to Florida, where they appeared onThe Ed Sullivan Showa second time, again before 70 million viewers, before returning to the UK on 22 February. The Beatles' first visit to the US took place when the nation was still mourning theassassination of President John F. Kennedythe previous November.Commentators often suggest that for many, particularly the young, the Beatles' performances reignited the sense of excitement and possibility that momentarily faded in the wake of the assassination, and helped pave the way for the revolutionary social changes to come later in the decade.Their hairstyle, unusually long for the era and mocked by many adults,became an emblem of rebellion to the burgeoning youth culture. The group's popularity generated unprecedented interest in British music, and many other UK acts subsequently made their American debuts, successfully touring over the next three years in what was termed theBritish Invasion.The Beatles' success in the US opened the door for a successive string of Britishbeat groupsandpopacts such asthe Dave Clark Five,the Animals,Petula Clark,the Kinks, andthe Rolling Stonesto achieve success in America.During the week of 4 April 1964, the Beatles held twelve positions on theBillboardHot 100singles chart, including the top five. A Hard Day's Night Capitol Records' lack of interest throughout 1963 did not go unnoticed, and a competitor,United Artists Records, encouragedits film divisionto offer the Beatles a three-motion-picture deal, primarily for the commercial potential of the soundtracks in the US.Directed byRichard Lester,A Hard Day's Nightinvolved the band for six weeks in March–April 1964 as they played themselves in a musical comedy.The film premiered in London and New York in July and August, respectively, and was an international success, with some critics drawing a comparison with theMarx Brothers. United Artists released afull soundtrack albumfor the North American market, combining Beatles songs and Martin's orchestral score; elsewhere, the group's third studio LP,A Hard Day's Night, contained songs from the film on side one and other new recordings on side two.According to Erlewine, the album saw them \"truly coming into their own as a band. All of the disparate influences on their first two albums coalesced into a bright, joyous, original sound, filled with ringing guitars and irresistible melodies.\"That \"ringing guitar\" sound was primarily the product of Harrison's12-string electric Rickenbacker, a prototype given to him by the manufacturer, which made its debut on the record. 1964 world tour, meeting Bob Dylan, and stand on civil rights Touring internationally in June and July, the Beatles staged 37 shows over 27 days in Denmark, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.In August and September, they returned to the US, with a 30-concert tour of 23 cities.Generating intense interest once again, the month-long tour attracted between 10,000 and 20,000 fans to each 30-minute performance in cities from San Francisco to New York. In August, journalistAl Aronowitzarranged for the Beatles to meetBob Dylan.Visiting the band in their New York hotel suite, Dylan introduced them tocannabis.Gould points out the musical and cultural significance of this meeting, before which the musicians' respective fanbases were \"perceived as inhabiting two separate subcultural worlds\": Dylan's audience of \"college kids with artistic or intellectual leanings, a dawning political and social idealism, and a mildlybohemian style\" contrasted with their fans, \"veritable 'teenyboppers' – kids in high school or grade school whose lives were totally wrapped up in the commercialised popular culture of television, radio, pop records, fan magazines, and teen fashion. To many of Dylan's followers in thefolk musicscene, the Beatles were seen as idolaters, not idealists.\" Within six months of the meeting, according to Gould, \"Lennon would be making records on which he openly imitated Dylan's nasal drone, brittle strum, and introspective vocal persona\"; and six months after that, Dylan began performing with a backing band andelectric instrumentation, and \"dressed in the height of Mod fashion\".As a result, Gould continues, the traditional division between folk and rock enthusiasts \"nearly evaporated\", as the Beatles' fans began to mature in their outlook and Dylan's audience embraced the new, youth-driven pop culture. Duringthe 1964 US tour, the group were confronted withracial segregationin the country at the time.When informed that the venue for their 11 September concert, theGator BowlinJacksonville, Florida, was segregated, the Beatles said they would refuse to perform unless the audience was integrated.Lennon stated: \"We never play to segregated audiences and we aren't going to start now ... I'd sooner lose our appearance money.\"City officials relented and agreed to allow an integrated show.The group also cancelled their reservations at the whites-onlyHotel George Washingtonin Jacksonville.For their subsequent US tours in 1965 and 1966, the Beatles included clauses in contracts stipulating that shows be integrated. Beatles for Sale,Help!andRubber Soul According to Gould, the Beatles' fourth studio LP,Beatles for Sale, evidenced a growing conflict between the commercial pressures of their global success and their creative ambitions.They had intended the album, recorded between August and October 1964,to continue the format established byA Hard Day's Nightwhich, unlike their first two LPs, contained only original songs.They had nearly exhausted their backlog of songs on the previous album, however, and given the challenges constant international touring posed to their songwriting efforts, Lennon admitted, \"Material's becoming a hell of a problem\".As a result, six covers from their extensive repertoire were chosen to complete the album. Released in early December, its eight original compositions stood out, demonstrating the growing maturity of theLennon–McCartneysongwriting partnership. In early 1965, following a dinner with Lennon, Harrison and their wives, Harrison's dentist, John Riley, secretly addedLSDto their coffee.Lennon described the experience: \"It was just terrifying, but it was fantastic. I was pretty stunned for a month or two.\"He and Harrison subsequently became regular users of the drug, joined by Starr on at least one occasion. Harrison's use ofpsychedelic drugsencouraged his path to meditation and Hinduism. He commented: \"For me, it was like a flash. The first time I hadacid, it just opened up something in my head that was inside of me, and I realised a lot of things. I didn't learn them because I already knew them, but that happened to be the key that opened the door to reveal them. From the moment I had that, I wanted to have it all the time – these thoughts about the yogis and the Himalayas, andRavi's music.\"McCartney was initially reluctant to try it, but eventually did so in late 1966.He became the first Beatle to discuss LSD publicly, declaring in a magazine interview that \"it opened my eyes\" and \"made me a better, more honest, more tolerant member of society\". Controversy erupted in June 1965 when QueenElizabeth IIappointed all four Beatles Members of theOrder of the British Empire(MBE) after Prime MinisterHarold Wilsonnominated them for the award.In protest – the honour was at that time primarily bestowed upon military veterans and civic leaders – some conservative MBE recipients returned their insignia. In July, the Beatles' second film,Help!, was released, again directed by Lester. Described as \"mainly a relentless spoof ofBond\",it inspired a mixed response among both reviewers and the band. McCartney said: \"Help!was great but it wasn't our film – we were sort of guest stars. It was fun, but basically, as an idea for a film, it was a bit wrong.\"The soundtrack was dominated by Lennon, who wrote and sang lead on most of its songs, including the two singles: \"Help!\" and \"Ticket to Ride\". TheHelp!album, the group's fifth studio LP, mirroredA Hard Day's Nightby featuring soundtrack songs on side one and additional songs from the same sessions on side two.The LP contained all original material save for two covers, \"Act Naturally\" and \"Dizzy Miss Lizzy\"; they were the last covers the band would include on an album untilLet It Be'sbrief rendition of the traditional Liverpool folk song \"Maggie Mae\".The band expanded their use of vocal overdubs onHelp!and incorporated classical instruments into some arrangements, including a string quartet on the pop ballad \"Yesterday\".Composed and sung by McCartney – none of the other Beatles perform on the recording– \"Yesterday\" has inspired the most cover versions of any song ever written.WithHelp!, the Beatles became the first rock group to be nominated for aGrammy Award for Album of the Year. The group's third US tour opened with a performance before a world-record crowd of 55,600 at New York'sShea Stadiumon 15 August – \"perhaps the most famous of all Beatles' concerts\", in Lewisohn's description.A further nine successful concerts followed in other American cities. At a show in Atlanta, the Beatles gave one of the first live performances ever to make use of afoldbacksystem of on-stage monitor speakers.Towards the end of the tour, they met withElvis Presley, a foundational musical influence on the band, who invited them to his home inBeverly Hills.Presley later said the band was an example of a trend of anti-Americanism and drug abuse. September 1965 saw the launch of an AmericanSaturday-morning cartoonseries,The Beatles, that echoedA Hard Day's Night'sslapstick antics over its two-year original run.The series was the first weekly television series to feature animated versions of real, living people. In mid-October, the Beatles entered the recording studio; for the first time when making an album, they had an extended period without other major commitments.Until this time, according to George Martin, \"we had been making albums rather like a collection of singles. Now we were really beginning to think about albums as a bit of art on their own.\"Released in December,Rubber Soulwas hailed by critics as a major step forward in the maturity and complexity of the band's music.Their thematic reach was beginning to expand as they embraced deeper aspects of romance and philosophy, a development that NEMS executivePeter Brownattributed to the band members' \"now habitual use of marijuana\".Lennon referred toRubber Soulas \"the pot album\"and Starr said: \"Grass was really influential in a lot of our changes, especially with the writers. And because they were writing different material, we were playing differently.\"AfterHelp!'s foray into classical music with flutes and strings, Harrison's introduction of asitaron \"Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)\" marked a further progression outside the traditional boundaries of popular music. As the lyrics grew more artful, fans began to study them for deeper meaning. While some ofRubber Soul's songs were the product of Lennon and McCartney's collaborative songwriting,the album also included distinct compositions from each,though they continued to share official credit. \"In My Life\", of which each later claimed lead authorship, is considered a highlight of the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue.Harrison calledRubber Soulhis \"favourite album\",and Starr referred to it as \"the departure record\".McCartney has said, \"We'd had our cute period, and now it was time to expand.\"However, recording engineerNorman Smithlater stated that the studio sessions revealed signs of growing conflict within the group – \"the clash between John and Paul was becoming obvious\", he wrote, and \"as far as Paul was concerned, George could do no right\". Controversies,Revolverand final tour Capitol Records, from December 1963 when it began issuing Beatles recordings for the US market, exercised complete control over format,compiling distinct US albums from the band's recordings and issuing songs of their choosing as singles.In June 1966, the Capitol LPYesterday and Todaycaused an uproar with its cover, which portrayed the grinning Beatles dressed in butcher's overalls, accompanied by raw meat and mutilated plastic baby dolls. According to Beatles biographerBill Harry, it has been incorrectly suggested that this was meant as a satirical response to the way Capitol had \"butchered\" the US versions of the band's albums.Thousands of copies of the LP had a new cover pasted over the original; an unpeeled \"first-state\" copy fetched $10,500 at a December 2005 auction.In England, meanwhile, Harrison met sitar maestroRavi Shankar, who agreed to train him on the instrument. During a tour of the Philippines the month after theYesterday and Todayfurore, the Beatles unintentionally snubbed the nation's first lady,Imelda Marcos, who had expected them to attend a breakfast reception at thePresidential Palace.When presented with the invitation, Epstein politely declined on the band members' behalf, as it had never been his policy to accept such official invitations.They soon found that theMarcos regimewas unaccustomed to taking no for an answer. The resulting riots endangered the group and they escaped the country with difficulty.Immediately afterwards, the band members visited India for the first time. We'remore popular than Jesusnow; I don't know which will go first – rock 'n' roll or Christianity. – John Lennon, 1966 Almost as soon as they returned home, the Beatles faced a fierce backlash from US religious and social conservatives (as well as theKu Klux Klan) over a comment Lennon had made in a March interview with British reporterMaureen Cleave.\"Christianity will go\", Lennon had said. \"It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right ...Jesuswas alright but hisdiscipleswere thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me.\"His comments went virtually unnoticed in England, but when US teenage fan magazineDatebookprinted them five months later, it sparked a controversy with Christians in America's conservativeBible Beltregion.TheVaticanissued a protest, and bans on Beatles records were imposed by Spanish and Dutch stations and South Africa'snational broadcasting service.Epstein accusedDatebookof having taken Lennon's words out of context. At a press conference, Lennon pointed out, \"If I'd said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it.\"He claimed that he was referring to how other people viewed their success, but at the prompting of reporters, he concluded: \"If you want me to apologise, if that will make you happy, then okay, I'm sorry.\" Released in August 1966, a week before the Beatles' final tour,Revolvermarked another artistic step forward for the group.The album featured sophisticated songwriting, studio experimentation, and a greatly expanded repertoire of musical styles, ranging from innovative classical string arrangements topsychedelia.Abandoning the customary group photograph, itsAubrey Beardsley-inspired cover – designed byKlaus Voormann, a friend of the band since their Hamburg days – was a monochrome collage and line drawing caricature of the group.The album was preceded by the single \"Paperback Writer\", backed by \"Rain\".Short promotional films were made for both songs; described by cultural historian Saul Austerlitz as \"among the first true music videos\",they aired onThe Ed Sullivan ShowandTop of the Popsin June. Among the experimental songs onRevolverwas \"Tomorrow Never Knows\", the lyrics for which Lennon drew fromTimothy Leary'sThe Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Its creation involved eight tape decks distributed about the EMI building, each staffed by an engineer or band member, who randomly varied the movement of atape loopwhile Martin created a composite recording by sampling the incoming data.McCartney's \"Eleanor Rigby\" made prominent use of astring octet; Gould describes it as \"a true hybrid, conforming to no recognisable style or genre of song\".Harrison's emergence as a songwriter was reflected in three of his compositions appearing on the record.Among these, \"Taxman\", which opened the album, marked the first example of the Beatles making a political statement through their music. As preparations were made for a tour of the US, the Beatles knew that their music would hardly be heard. Having originally usedVox AC30amplifiers, they later acquired more powerful 100-watt amplifiers, specially designed for them byVox, as they moved into larger venues in 1964; however, these were still inadequate. Struggling to compete with the volume of sound generated by screaming fans, the band had grown increasingly bored with the routine of performing live.Recognising that their shows were no longer about the music, they decided to make the August tour their last. The band performed none of their new songs on the tour.In Chris Ingham's description, they were very much \"studio creations ... and there was no way a four-piece rock 'n' roll group could do them justice, particularly through the desensitising wall of the fans' screams. 'Live Beatles' and 'Studio Beatles' had become entirely different beasts.\"The band's concert at San Francisco'sCandlestick Parkon 29 August was their last commercial concert.It marked the end of four years dominated by almost non-stop touring that included over 1,400 concert appearances internationally. 1966–1970: Studio years Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Freed from the burden of touring, the Beatles embraced an increasingly experimental approach as they recordedSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, beginning in late November 1966.According to engineerGeoff Emerick, the album's recording took over 700 hours.He recalled the band's insistence \"that everything onSgt. Pepperhad to be different. We had microphones right down in the bells of brass instruments and headphones turned into microphones attached to violins. We used giant primitive oscillators to vary the speed of instruments and vocals and we had tapes chopped to pieces and stuck together upside down and the wrong way around.\"Parts of \"A Day in the Life\" featured a 40-piece orchestra.The sessions initially yielded the non-albumdouble A-sidesingle \"Strawberry Fields Forever\"/\"Penny Lane\" in February 1967;theSgt. PepperLP followed with a rush-release in May.The musical complexity of the records, created using relatively primitivefour-trackrecording technology, astounded contemporary artists.Among music critics, acclaim for the album was virtually universal.Gould writes: The overwhelming consensus is that the Beatles had created a popular masterpiece: a rich, sustained, and overflowing work of collaborative genius whose bold ambition and startling originality dramatically enlarged the possibilities and raised the expectations of what the experience of listening to popular music on record could be. On the basis of this perception,Sgt. Pepperbecame the catalyst for an explosion of mass enthusiasm for album-formatted rock that would revolutionise both the aesthetics and the economics of the record business in ways that far outstripped the earlier pop explosions triggered by the Elvis phenomenon of 1956 and the Beatlemania phenomenon of 1963. In the wake ofSgt. Pepper, the underground and mainstream press widely publicised the Beatles as leaders of youth culture, as well as \"lifestyle revolutionaries\".The album was the first major pop/rock LP to include its complete lyrics, which appeared on the back cover.Those lyrics were the subject of critical analysis; for instance, in late 1967 the album was the subject of a scholarly inquiry by American literary critic and professor of EnglishRichard Poirier, who observed that his students were \"listening to the group's music with a degree of engagement that he, as a teacher of literature, could only envy\".The elaborate cover also attracted considerable interest and study.A collage designed bypop artistsPeter BlakeandJann Haworth, it depicted the group as the fictional band referred to in the album'stitle trackstanding in front ofa crowd of famous people.The heavy moustaches worn by the group reflected the growing influence of thehippiemovement,while cultural historian Jonathan Harris describes their \"brightly coloured parodies of military uniforms\" as a knowingly \"anti-authoritarian and anti-establishment\" display. Sgt. Peppertopped the UK charts for 23 consecutive weeks, with a further four weeks at number one in the period through to February 1968.With 2.5 million copies sold within three months of its release,Sgt. Pepper's initial commercial success exceeded that of all previous Beatles albums.It was the first rock album to win theGrammy Award for Album of the Year.It sustained its immense popularity into the 21st century while breaking numerous sales records. Magical Mystery TourandYellow Submarine Two Beatles film projects were conceived within weeks of completingSgt. Pepper:Magical Mystery Tour, a one-hour television film, andYellow Submarine, an animated feature-length film produced byUnited Artists.The group began recording music for the former in late April 1967, but the project then lay dormant as they focused on recording songs for the latter.On 25 June, the Beatles performed their forthcoming single \"All You Need Is Love\" to an estimated 350 million viewers onOur World, the first live global television link.Released a week later, during theSummer of Love, the song was adopted as aflower poweranthem.The Beatles' use of psychedelic drugs was at its height during that summer.In July and August, the group pursued interests related to similar utopian-based ideology, including a week-long investigation into the possibility of starting an island-basedcommuneoff the coast of Greece. On 24 August, the group were introduced toMaharishi Mahesh Yogiin London. The next day, they travelled toBangorfor hisTranscendental Meditationretreat. On 27 August, their manager's assistant, Peter Brown, phoned to inform them that Epstein had died.The coroner ruled the death an accidentalcarbitoloverdose, although it was widely rumoured to be a suicide.His death left the group disoriented and fearful about the future.Lennon recalled: \"We collapsed. I knew that we were in trouble then. I didn't really have any misconceptions about our ability to do anything other than play music, and I was scared. I thought, 'We've fuckin' had it now.'\"Harrison's then-wifePattie Boydremembered that \"Paul and George were in complete shock. I don't think it could have been worse if they had heard that their own fathers had dropped dead.\"During a band meeting in September, McCartney recommended that the band proceed withMagical Mystery Tour. TheMagical Mystery Toursoundtrackwas released in the UK as a six-track doubleextended play(EP) in early December 1967.It was the first example of a double EP in the UK.The record carried on the psychedelic vein ofSgt. Pepper,though in line with the band's wishes, the packaging reinforced the idea that the release was a film soundtrack rather than a follow-up toSgt. Pepper.In the US, the soundtrack appeared as an identically titled LP that also included five tracks from the band's recent singles.In its first three weeks, the album set a record for the highest initial sales of any Capitol LP, and it is the only Capitol compilation later to be adopted in the band's official canon of studio albums. Magical Mystery Tourfirst aired onBoxing Dayto an audience of approximately 15 million.Largely directed by McCartney, the film was the band's first critical failure in the UK.It was dismissed as \"blatant rubbish\" by theDaily Express; theDaily Mailcalled it \"a colossal conceit\"; andThe Guardianlabelled the film \"a kind of fantasy morality play about the grossness and warmth and stupidity of the audience\".Gould describes it as \"a great deal of raw footage showing a group of people getting on, getting off, and riding on a bus\".Although the viewership figures were respectable, its slating in the press led US television networks to lose interest in broadcasting the film. The group were less involved withYellow Submarine, which featured the band appearing as themselves for only a short live-action segment.Premiering in July 1968, the film featured cartoon versions of the band members and a soundtrack with eleven of their songs, including four unreleased studio recordings that made their debut in the film.Critics praised the film for its music, humour and innovative visual style.Asoundtrack LPwas issued seven months later; it contained those four new songs, the title track (already issued onRevolver), \"All You Need Is Love\" (already issued as a single and on the USMagical Mystery TourLP) and seven instrumental pieces composed by Martin. India retreat, Apple Corps and the White Album In February 1968, the Beatles travelled to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi'sashraminRishikesh, India, to take part in a three-month meditation \"Guide Course\". Theirtime in Indiamarked one of the band's most prolific periods, yielding numerous songs, including a majority of those on their next album.However, Starr left after only ten days, unable to stomach the food, and McCartney eventually grew bored and departed a month later.For Lennon and Harrison, creativity turned to question when an electronics technician known asMagic Alexsuggested that the Maharishi was attempting to manipulate them.When he alleged that the Maharishi had made sexual advances to women attendees, a persuaded Lennon left abruptly just two months into the course, bringing an unconvinced Harrison and the remainder of the group's entourage with him.In anger, Lennon wrote a scathing song titled \"Maharishi\", renamed \"Sexy Sadie\" to avoid potential legal issues. McCartney said, \"We made a mistake. We thought there was more to him than there was.\" In May, Lennon and McCartney travelled to New York for the public unveiling of the Beatles' new business venture,Apple Corps.It was initially formed several months earlier as part of a plan to create a tax-effective business structure, but the band then desired to extend the corporation to other pursuits, including record distribution, peace activism, and education.McCartney described Apple as \"rather like a Western communism\".The enterprise drained the group financially with a series of unsuccessful projectshandled largely by members of the Beatles' entourage, who were given their jobs regardless of talent and experience.Among its numerous subsidiaries wereApple Electronics, established to foster technological innovations with Magic Alex at the head, and Apple Retailing, which opened the short-livedApple Boutiquein London.Harrison later said, \"Basically, it was chaos ... John and Paul got carried away with the idea and blew millions, and Ringo and I just had to go along with it.\" From late May to mid-October 1968, the group recorded what becameThe Beatles, a double LP commonly known as \"the White Album\" for its virtually featureless cover.During this time, relations between the members grew openly divisive.Starr quit for two weeks, leaving his bandmates to record \"Back in the U.S.S.R.\" and \"Dear Prudence\" as a trio, with McCartney filling in on drums.Lennon had lost interest in collaborating with McCartney,whose contribution \"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da\" he scorned as \"granny music shit\".Tensions were further aggravated by Lennon's romantic preoccupation withavant-gardeartistYoko Ono, whom he insisted on bringing to the sessions despite the group's well-established understanding that girlfriends were not allowed in the studio.McCartney has recalled that the album \"wasn't a pleasant one to make\".He and Lennon identified the sessions as the start of the band's break-up. With the record, the band executed a wider range of musical stylesand broke with their recent tradition of incorporating several musical styles in one song by keeping each piece of music consistently faithful to a select genre.During the sessions, the group upgraded to an eight-track tape console, which made it easier for them to layer tracks piecemeal, while the members often recorded independently of each other, affording the album a reputation as a collection of solo recordings rather than a unified group effort.Describing the double album, Lennon later said: \"Every track is an individual track; there isn't any Beatle music on it. John and the band, Paul and the band, George and the band.\"The sessions also produced the Beatles' longest song yet, \"Hey Jude\", released in August as a non-album single with \"Revolution\". Issued in November, the White Album was the band's firstApple Recordsalbum release, although EMI continued to own their recordings.The record attracted more than 2 million advance orders, selling nearly 4 million copies in the US in little over a month, and its tracks dominated the playlists of American radio stations.Its lyrical content was the focus of much analysis by the counterculture.Despite its popularity, reviewers were largely confused by the album's content, and it failed to inspire the level of critical writing thatSgt. Pepperhad. Abbey Road,Let It Beand separation AlthoughLet It Bewas the Beatles' final album release, it was largely recorded beforeAbbey Road. The project's impetus came from an idea Martin attributes to McCartney, who suggested they \"record an album of new material and rehearse it, then perform it before a live audience for the very first time – on record and on film\".Originally intended for a one-hour television programme to be calledBeatles at Work, in the event much of the album's content came from studio work beginning in January 1969, many hours of which were captured on film by directorMichael Lindsay-Hogg.Martin said that the project was \"not at all a happy recording experience. It was a time when relations between the Beatles were at their lowest ebb.\"Lennon described the largely impromptu sessions as \"hell ... the most miserable ... on Earth\", and Harrison, \"the low of all-time\".Irritated by McCartney and Lennon, Harrison walked out for five days. Upon returning, he threatened to leave the band unless they \"abandon all talk of live performance\" and instead focused on finishing a new album, initially titledGet Back, using songs recorded for the TV special.He also demanded they cease work atTwickenham Film Studios, where the sessions had begun, and relocate to the newly finishedApple Studio. His bandmates agreed, and it was decided to salvage the footage shot for the TV production for use in a feature film. To alleviate tensions within the band and improve the quality of their live sound, Harrison invited keyboardistBilly Prestonto participate in the last nine days of sessions.Preston received label billing on the \"Get Back\" single – the only musician ever to receive that acknowledgment on an official Beatles release.After the rehearsals, the band could not agree on a location to film a concert, rejecting several ideas, including a boat at sea, a lunatic asylum, the Libyan desert, and theColosseum.Ultimately, what would be theirfinal live performancewas filmed on the rooftop of the Apple Corps building at 3Savile Row, London, on 30 January 1969.Five weeks later, engineerGlyn Johns, whom Lewisohn describes asGet Back's \"uncredited producer\", began work assembling an album, given \"free rein\" as the band \"all but washed their hands of the entire project\". New strains developed between the band members regarding the appointment of a financial adviser, the need for which had become evident without Epstein to manage business affairs. Lennon, Harrison and Starr favouredAllen Klein, who had managedthe Rolling StonesandSam Cooke;McCartney wantedLeeand John Eastman – father and brother, respectively, ofLinda Eastman,whom McCartney married on 12 March.Agreement could not be reached, so both Klein and the Eastmans were temporarily appointed: Klein as the Beatles' business manager and the Eastmans as their lawyers.Further conflict ensued, however, and financial opportunities were lost.On 8 May, Klein was named sole manager of the band,the Eastmans having previously been dismissed as the Beatles' lawyers. McCartney refused to sign the management contract with Klein, but he was out-voted by the other Beatles. Martin stated that he was surprised when McCartney asked him to produce another album, as theGet Backsessions had been \"a miserable experience\" and he had \"thought it was the end of the road for all of us\".The primary recording sessions forAbbey Roadbegan on 2 July.Lennon, who rejected Martin's proposed format of a \"continuously moving piece of music\", wanted his and McCartney's songs to occupy separate sides of the album.The eventual format, with individually composed songs on the first side and the second consisting largely of amedley, was McCartney's suggested compromise.Emerick noted that the replacement of the studio'svalve-based mixing console with a transistorised one yielded a less punchy sound, leaving the group frustrated at the thinner tone and lack of impact and contributing to its \"kinder, gentler\" feel relative to their previous albums. On 4 July, the first solo single by a Beatle was released: Lennon's \"Give Peace a Chance\", credited to thePlastic Ono Band. The completion and mixing of \"I Want You (She's So Heavy)\" on 20 August was the last occasion on which all four Beatles were together in the same studio.On 8 September, while Starr was in hospital, the other band members met to discuss recording a new album. They considered a different approach to songwriting by ending theLennon–McCartneypretence and having four compositions apiece from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, with two from Starr and a lead single around Christmas.On 20 September, Lennon announced his departure to the rest of the group but agreed to withhold a public announcement to avoid undermining sales of the forthcoming album. Released on 26 September,Abbey Roadsold four million copies within three months and topped the UK charts for a total of seventeen weeks.Its second track, the ballad \"Something\", was issued as a single – the only Harrison composition that appeared as a Beatles A-side.Abbey Roadreceived mixed reviews, although the medley met with general acclaim.Unterberger considers it \"a fitting swan song for the group\", containing \"some of the greatest harmonies to be heard on any rock record\".Musicologistand authorIan MacDonaldcalls the album \"erratic and often hollow\", despite the \"semblance of unity and coherence\" offered by the medley.Martin singled it out as his favourite Beatles album; Lennon said it was \"competent\" but had \"no life in it\". For the still unfinishedGet Backalbum, one last song, Harrison's \"I Me Mine\", was recorded on 3 January 1970. Lennon, in Denmark at the time, did not participate.In March, rejecting the work Johns had done on the project, now retitledLet It Be, Klein gave the session tapes to American producerPhil Spector, who had recently produced Lennon's solo single \"Instant Karma!\"In addition to remixing the material, Spector edited, spliced and overdubbed several of the recordings that had been intended as \"live\". McCartney was unhappy with the producer's approach and particularly dissatisfied with the lavish orchestration on \"The Long and Winding Road\", which involved a fourteen-voice choir and 36-piece instrumental ensemble.McCartney's demands that the alterations to the song be reverted were ignored,and he publicly announced his departure from the band on 10 April, a week before the release of his firstself-titled solo album. On 8 May 1970,Let It Bewas released. Its accompanying single, \"The Long and Winding Road\", was expected to be the Beatles' last; it was released in the US, but not in the UK.TheLet It Bedocumentary film followed later that month, and would win the 1970 Academy Award forBest Original Song Score.Sunday TelegraphcriticPenelope Gilliattcalled it \"a very bad film and a touching one ... about the breaking apart of this reassuring, geometrically perfect, once apparently ageless family of siblings\".Several reviewers stated that some of the performances in the film sounded better than their analogous album tracks.DescribingLet It Beas the \"only Beatles album to occasion negative, even hostile reviews\", Unterberger calls it \"on the whole underrated\"; he singles out \"some good moments of straight hard rock in 'I've Got a Feeling' and 'Dig a Pony'\" and praises \"Let It Be\", \"Get Back\", and \"the folky 'Two of Us', with John and Paul harmonising together\". McCartney filed suit for the dissolution of the Beatles' contractual partnership on 31 December 1970.Legal disputes continued long after their break-up, and the dissolution was not formalised until 29 December 1974,when Lennon signed the paperwork terminating the partnership while on vacation with his family atWalt Disney World Resortin Florida. After the breakup 1970s Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr all released solo albums in 1970. Their solo records sometimes involved one or more of the other members;Starr'sRingo(1973) was the only album to include compositions and performances by all four ex-Beatles, albeit on separate songs. With Starr's participation, Harrison stagedthe Concert for Bangladeshin New York City in August 1971.Other than an unreleased jam session in 1974, laterbootleggedasA Toot and a Snore in '74, Lennon and McCartney never recorded together again. Two double-LP sets of the Beatles' greatest hits, compiled by Klein,1962–1966and1967–1970, were released in 1973, at first under the Apple Records imprint.Commonly known as the \"Red Album\" and \"Blue Album\", respectively, each has earned aMulti-Platinum certificationin the US and a Platinum certification in the UK.Between 1976 and 1982, EMI/Capitol released a wave of compilation albums without input from the ex-Beatles, starting with the double-disc compilationRock 'n' Roll Music.The only one to feature previously unreleased material wasThe Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl(1977); the first officially issued concert recordings by the group, it contained selections from two shows they played during their 1964 and 1965 US tours. The music and enduring fame of the Beatles were commercially exploited in various other ways, again often outside their creative control. In April 1974, the musicalJohn, Paul, George, Ringo ... and Bert, written byWilly Russelland featuring singerBarbara Dickson, opened in London. It included, with permission from Northern Songs, eleven Lennon–McCartney compositions and one by Harrison, \"Here Comes the Sun\". Displeased with the production's use of his song, Harrison withdrew his permission to use it.Later that year, the off-Broadway musicalSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Roadopened.All This and World War II(1976) was an unorthodox nonfiction film that combined newsreel footage with covers of Beatles songs by performers ranging fromElton JohnandKeith Moonto theLondon Symphony Orchestra.The Broadway musicalBeatlemania, an unauthorised nostalgia revue, opened in early 1977 and proved popular, spinning off five separate touring productions.In 1979, the band sued the producers, settling for several million dollars in damages.Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band(1978), a musical film starring theBee GeesandPeter Frampton, was a commercial failure and an \"artistic fiasco\", according to Ingham. Accompanying the wave of Beatles nostalgia and persistent reunion rumours in the US during the 1970s, several entrepreneurs made public offers to the Beatles for a reunion concert.Promoter Bill Sargent first offered the Beatles $10 million for a reunion concert in 1974. He raised his offer to $30 million in January 1976 and then to $50 million the following month.On 24 April 1976, during a broadcast ofSaturday Night Live, producerLorne Michaelsjokingly offered the Beatles $3,000 to reunite on the show. Lennon and McCartney were watching the live broadcast at Lennon's apartment atthe Dakotain New York, which was within driving distance of theNBC studiowhere the show was being broadcast. The former bandmates briefly entertained the idea of going to the studio and surprising Michaels by accepting his offer, but decided not to. 1980s In December 1980, Lennon wasshot and killedoutside his New York City apartment. Harrison rewrote the lyrics of his song \"All Those Years Ago\" in Lennon's honour. With Starr on drums and McCartney and his wife,Linda, contributing backing vocals, the song was released as a single in May 1981.McCartney's own tribute, \"Here Today\", appeared on hisTug of Waralbum in April 1982.In 1984, Starr co-starred in McCartney's filmGive My Regards to Broad Street,and played with McCartney on several of the songs on thesoundtrack.In 1987, Harrison'sCloud Ninealbum included \"When We Was Fab\", a song about the Beatlemania era. When the Beatles' studio albums were released on CD by EMI and Apple Corps in 1987, their catalogue was standardised throughout the world, establishing a canon of the twelve original studio LPs as issued in the UK plus the US LP version ofMagical Mystery Tour.All the remaining material from the singles and EPs that had not appeared on these thirteen studio albums was gathered on the two-volume compilationPast Masters(1988). Except for theRedandBluealbums, EMI deleted all its other Beatles compilations – including theHollywood Bowlrecord – from its catalogue. In 1988, the Beatles were inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame, their first year of eligibility. Harrison and Starr attended the ceremony with Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and his two sons,JulianandSean.McCartney declined to attend, citing unresolved \"business differences\" that would make him \"feel like a complete hypocrite waving and smiling with them at a fake reunion\".The following year, EMI/Capitol settled a decade-long lawsuit filed by the band over royalties, clearing the way to commercially package previously unreleased material. 1990s Live at the BBC, the first official release of unissued Beatles performances in seventeen years, appeared in 1994.That same year McCartney, Harrison and Starr collaborated on theAnthologyproject.Anthologywas the culmination of work begun in 1970, when Apple Corps directorNeil Aspinall, their former road manager and personal assistant, had started to gather material for a documentary with the working titleThe Long and Winding Road. During 1995–96, the project yielded a television miniseries, an eight-volume video set, and three two-CD/three-LP box sets featuring artwork byKlaus Voormann. Documenting their history in the band's own words, theAnthologyproject included the release of several unissued Beatles recordings. Alongside producerJeff Lynne, McCartney, Harrison and Starr also added new instrumental and vocal parts to songs recorded as demos by Lennon in the late 1970s,resulting in the release of two \"new\" Beatles singles, \"Free as a Bird\" and \"Real Love\". A third Lennon demo, \"Now and Then\", was also attempted, but abandoned due to the low quality of the recording.TheAnthologyreleases were commercially successful and the television series was viewed by an estimated 400 million people.A book,The Beatles Anthology, followed in October 2000. In 1999, to coincide with the re-release of the 1968 filmYellow Submarine, an expanded soundtrack album,Yellow Submarine Songtrack, was issued. 2000s The Beatles'1, a compilation album of the band's British and American number-one hits, was released on 13 November 2000. It became the fastest-selling album of all time, with 3.6 million sold in its first weekand 13 million within a month.It topped albums charts in at least 28 countries.The compilation had sold 31 million copies globally by April 2009. Harrison died frommetastaticlung cancer in November 2001.McCartney and Starr were among the musicians who performed at theConcert for George, organised byEric Claptonand Harrison's widow,Olivia. The tribute event took place at theRoyal Albert Hallon the first anniversary of Harrison's death. In 2003,Let It Be... Naked, a reconceived version of theLet It Bealbum, with McCartney supervising production, was released. One of the main differences from the Spector-produced version was the omission of the original string arrangements.It was a top-ten hit in both Britain and America. The US album configurations from 1964 to 1965 were released as box sets in 2004 and 2006;The Capitol Albums, Volume 1andVolume 2included both stereo and mono versions based on the mixes that were prepared for vinyl at the time of the music's original American release. As a soundtrack forCirque du Soleil'sLas VegasBeatles stage revue,Love, George Martin and his sonGilesremixed andblended130 of the band's recordings to create what Martin called \"a way of re-living the whole Beatles musical lifespan in a very condensed period\".The show premiered in June 2006, and theLovealbum was released that November.In April 2009, Starr performed three songs with McCartney at a benefit concert held at New York'sRadio City Music Halland organised by McCartney. On 9 September 2009, the Beatles' entire back catalogue was reissued following an extensive digital remastering process that lasted four years.Stereo editions of all twelve original UK studio albums, along withMagical Mystery Tourand thePast Masterscompilation, were released on compact disc both individually andas a box set.A second collection,The Beatles in Mono, included remastered versions of every Beatles album released in true mono along with the original 1965 stereo mixes ofHelp!andRubber Soul(both of which Martin had remixed for the 1987 editions).The Beatles: Rock Band, a music video game in theRock Bandseries, was issued on the same day.In December 2009, the band's catalogue was officially released inFLACandMP3format ina limited edition of 30,000 USB flash drives. 2010s Owing to a long-running royalty disagreement, the Beatles were among the last major artists to sign deals with online music services.Residual disagreement emanating fromApple Corps' dispute with Apple, Inc.,iTunes' owners, over the use of the name \"Apple\" was also partly responsible for the delay, although in 2008, McCartney stated that the main obstacle to making the Beatles' catalogue available online was that EMI \"want something we're not prepared to give them\".In 2010, the official canon of thirteen Beatles studio albums,Past Masters, and the \"Red\" and \"Blue\" greatest-hits albums were made available on iTunes. In 2012, EMI's recorded music operations were sold toUniversal Music Group. In order for Universal Music to acquire EMI, theEuropean Union, forantitrustreasons, forced EMI to spin off assets including Parlophone. Universal was allowed to keep the Beatles' recorded music catalogue, managed byCapitol Recordsunder itsCapitol Music Groupdivision.The entire original Beatles album catalogue was also reissued on vinyl in 2012; available either individually or as a box set. In 2013, a second volume of BBC recordings,On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2, was released. That December saw the release of another 59 Beatles recordings on iTunes. The set, titledThe Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963, had the opportunity to gain a 70-year copyright extension conditional on the songs being published at least once before the end of 2013. Apple Records released the recordings on 17 December to prevent them from going into the public domain and had them taken down from iTunes later that same day. Fan reactions to the release were mixed, with one blogger saying \"the hardcore Beatles collectors who are trying to obtain everything will already have these.\" On 26 January 2014, McCartney and Starr performed together at the56th Annual Grammy Awards, held at theStaples Centerin Los Angeles.The following day,The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatlestelevision special was taped in theLos Angeles Convention Center's West Hall. It aired on 9 February, the exact date of – and at the same time, and on the same network as – the original broadcast of the Beatles' first US television appearance onThe Ed Sullivan Show, 50 years earlier. The special included performances of Beatles songs by current artists as well as by McCartney and Starr, archival footage, and interviews with the two surviving ex-Beatles carried out byDavid Lettermanat theEd Sullivan Theater.In December 2015, the Beatles released their catalogue for streaming on various streaming music services includingSpotifyandApple Music. In September 2016, the documentary filmThe Beatles: Eight Days a Weekwas released. Directed byRon Howard, it chronicled the Beatles' career during their touring years from 1961 to 1966, from their performances in Liverpool's the Cavern Club in 1961 to their final concert in San Francisco in 1966. The film was released theatrically on 15 September in the UK and the US, and started streaming onHuluon 17 September. It received several awards and nominations, including for Best Documentary at the 70th British Academy Film Awards and the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.An expanded, remixed and remastered version ofThe Beatles at the Hollywood Bowlwas released on 9 September, to coincide with the release of the film. On 18 May 2017,Sirius XM Radiolaunched a 24/7 radio channel, The Beatles Channel. A week later,Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Bandwas reissued with new stereo mixes and unreleased material for the album's 50th anniversary.Similar box sets were released forThe Beatlesin November 2018,andAbbey Roadin September 2019.On the first week of October 2019,Abbey Roadreturned to number one on the UK Albums Chart. The Beatles broke their own record for the album with the longest gap between topping the charts asAbbey Roadhit the top spot 50 years after its original release. 2020s In November 2021,The Beatles: Get Back, a documentary directed byPeter Jacksonusing footage captured for theLet It Befilm, was released onDisney+as a three-partminiseries.A book also titledThe Beatles: Get Backwas released on 12 October, ahead of the documentary.Asuper deluxe versionof theLet It Bealbum was released on 15 October.In January 2022, the albumGet Back (Rooftop Performance), consisting of newly mixed audio of theBeatles' rooftop performance, was released on streaming services. In 2022, McCartney and Starr collaborated on a new recording of \"Let It Be\" withDolly Parton,Peter FramptonandMick Fleetwood, which was released on Parton's albumRockstarin November 2023.In October, aspecial editionofRevolverwas released, featuring unreleased demos, studio outtakes, the original mono mix and a new stereo remix usingAIde-mixing technology developed by Peter Jackson'sWingNut Films, which had previously been used to restore audio for the documentaryGet Back.New music videos were produced for \"Here, There and Everywhere\" and \"I'm Only Sleeping\", the latter of which won theGrammy Award for Best Music Videoat the66th Annual Grammy Awards. In June 2023, McCartney announced plans to release \"the final Beatles record\" later in the year, using Jackson's de-mixing technology to extract Lennon's voice from an old demo of a song that he had written as a solo artist.In October 2023, the song was revealed to be \"Now and Then\", with a physical and digital release date of 2 November 2023.The official music video for \"Now and Then\" was released the following day, garnering upwards of 8 million views in its first 12 hours,as the song arrived on Spotify's rankings as one of the most-streamed current songs.\"Now and Then\" debuted simultaneously across music, alternative, news/talk and sports stations. The song's premiere achieved the record for the most radio stations to simulcast a music track.The song became their first UK number one single since 1969. On 8 May 2024 the 1970 filmLet It Be, digitally restored byPeter Jackson'sPark Road Post, was released onDisney+, marking the first time it has been publicly screened since its original theatrical release. Artistry Development InIcons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever, Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz describe the Beatles' musical evolution: In their initial incarnation as cheerful, wisecracking moptops, the Fab Four revolutionised the sound, style, and attitude of popular music and opened rock and roll's doors to a tidal wave of British rock acts. Their initial impact would have been enough to establish the Beatles as one of their era's most influential cultural forces, but they didn't stop there. Although their initial style was a highly original, irresistibly catchy synthesis of early American rock and roll and R&B, the Beatles spent the rest of the 1960s expanding rock's stylistic frontiers, consistently staking out new musical territory on each release. The band's increasingly sophisticated experimentation encompassed a variety of genres, includingfolk-rock,country,psychedelia, andbaroque pop, without sacrificing the effortless mass appeal of their early work. InThe Beatles as Musicians,Walter Everettdescribes Lennon and McCartney's contrasting motivations and approaches to composition: \"McCartney may be said to have constantly developed – as a means to entertain – a focused musical talent with an ear for counterpoint and other aspects of craft in the demonstration of a universally agreed-upon common language that he did much to enrich. Conversely, Lennon's mature music is best appreciated as the daring product of a largely unconscious, searching but undisciplined artistic sensibility.\" Ian MacDonald describes McCartney as \"a natural melodist – a creator of tunes capable of existing apart from their harmony\". His melody lines are characterised as primarily \"vertical\", employing wide,consonantintervals which express his \"extrovert energy and optimism\". Conversely, Lennon's \"sedentary, ironic personality\" is reflected in a \"horizontal\" approach featuring minimal, dissonant intervals and repetitive melodies which rely on their harmonic accompaniment for interest: \"Basically a realist, he instinctively kept his melodies close to the rhythms and cadences of speech, colouring his lyrics with bluesy tone and harmony rather than creating tunes that made striking shapes of their own.\"MacDonald praises Harrison's lead guitar work for the role his \"characterful lines and textural colourings\" play in supporting Lennon and McCartney's parts and describes Starr as \"the father of modern pop/rock drumming\". Influences The Beatles' earliest influences include Elvis Presley,Carl Perkins,Little Richard,Chuck BerryandGene Vincent.During the Beatles' co-residency with Little Richard at theStar-Clubin Hamburg, from April to May 1962, he advised them on the proper technique for performing his songs.Of Presley, Lennon said, \"Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there hadn't been Elvis, there would not have been the Beatles.\"Chuck Berry was particularly influential in terms of songwriting and lyrics. Lennon noted, \"He was well advanced of his time lyric-wise. We all owe a lot to him.\"Other early influences include Buddy Holly,Eddie Cochran,Roy Orbison,the Everly BrothersandJerry Lee Lewis. The Beatles continued to absorb influences long after their initial success, often finding new musical and lyrical avenues by listening to their contemporaries, includingBob Dylan,Smokey Robinson and the Miracles,the Who,Frank Zappa,the Lovin' Spoonful,the Byrdsandthe Beach Boys, whose 1966 albumPet Soundsamazed and inspired McCartney.Referring to the Beach Boys' creative leader, Martin later stated: \"No one made a greater impact on the Beatles than Brian .\"Ravi Shankar, with whom Harrison studied for six weeks in India in late 1966, had a significant effect on his musical development during the band's later years. Genres Originating as a skiffle group, the Beatles quickly embraced 1950s rock and roll and helped pioneer the Merseybeat genre,and their repertoire ultimately expanded to include a broad variety of pop music.Reflecting the range of styles they explored, Lennon said ofBeatles for Sale, \"You could call our new one a Beatles country-and-western LP\",while Gould creditsRubber Soulas \"the instrument by which legions of folk-music enthusiasts were coaxed into the camp of pop\". Although the 1965 song \"Yesterday\" was not the first pop record to employ orchestral strings, it marked the group's first recorded use of classical music elements. Gould observes, \"The more traditional sound of strings allowed for a fresh appreciation of their talent as composers by listeners who were otherwise allergic to the din of drums and electric guitars.\"They continued to experiment with string arrangements to various effect;Sgt. Pepper's \"She's Leaving Home\", for instance, is \"cast in themoldof a sentimental Victorian ballad\", Gould writes, \"its words and music filled with the clichés of musical melodrama\". The band's stylistic range expanded in another direction with their 1966 B-side \"Rain\", described byMartin Strongas \"the first overtly psychedelic Beatles record\".Other psychedelic numbers followed, such as \"Tomorrow Never Knows\" (recorded before \"Rain\"), \"Strawberry Fields Forever\", \"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds\", and \"I Am the Walrus\". The influence ofIndian classical musicwas evident in Harrison's \"The Inner Light\", \"Love You To\", and \"Within You Without You\" – Gould describes the latter two as attempts \"to replicate theragaform in miniature\". Innovation was the most striking feature of their creative evolution, according to music historian and pianist Michael Campbell:\"'A Day in the Life' encapsulates the art and achievement of the Beatles as well as any single track can. It highlights key features of their music: the sound imagination, the persistence of tuneful melody, and the close coordination between words and music. It represents a new category of song – more sophisticated than pop ... and uniquely innovative. There literally had never before been a song – classical or vernacular – that had blended so many disparate elements so imaginatively.\"Philosophy professor Bruce Ellis Benson agrees: \"The Beatles ... give us a wonderful example of how such far-ranging influences as Celtic music, rhythm and blues, and country and western could be put together in a new way.\" Author Dominic Pedler describes the way they crossed musical styles: \"Far from moving sequentially from one genre to another (as is sometimes conveniently suggested) the group maintainedin paralleltheir mastery of the traditional, catchy chart hit while simultaneously forging rock and dabbling with a wide range of peripheral influences from country to vaudeville. One of these threads was their take on folk music, which would form such essential groundwork for their later collisions with Indian music and philosophy.\"As the personal relationships between the band members grew increasingly strained, their individual tastes became more apparent. The minimalistic cover artwork for the White Album contrasted with the complexity and diversity of its music, which encompassed Lennon's \"Revolution 9\" (whosemusique concrèteapproach was influenced by Yoko Ono), Starr'scountrysong \"Don't Pass Me By\", Harrison'srock ballad\"While My Guitar Gently Weeps\", and the \"proto-metalroar\" of McCartney's \"Helter Skelter\". Contribution of George Martin George Martin's close involvement in his role as producer made him one of the leading candidates for the informal title of the \"fifth Beatle\".He applied his classical musical training in various ways, and functioned as \"an informal music teacher\" to the progressing songwriters, according to Gould.Martin suggested to a sceptical McCartney that the arrangement of \"Yesterday\" should feature a string quartet accompaniment, thereby introducing the Beatles to a \"hitherto unsuspected world of classical instrumental colour\", in MacDonald's description.Their creative development was also facilitated by Martin's willingness to experiment in response to their suggestions, such as adding \"somethingbaroque\" to a particular recording.In addition to scoring orchestral arrangements for recordings, Martin often performed on them, playing instruments including piano, organ andbrass. Collaborating with Lennon and McCartney required Martin to adapt to their different approaches to songwriting and recording. MacDonald comments, \"while worked more naturally with the conventionally articulate McCartney, the challenge of catering to Lennon's intuitive approach generally spurred him to his more original arrangements, of which \"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!\" is an outstanding example.\"Martin said of the two composers' distinct songwriting styles and his stabilising influence: Compared with Paul's songs, all of which seemed to keep in some sort of touch with reality, John's had a psychedelic, almost mystical quality ... John's imagery is one of the best things about his work – 'tangerine trees', 'marmalade skies', 'cellophane flowers' ... I always saw him as an auralSalvador Dalí, rather than some drug-ridden record artist. On the other hand, I would be stupid to pretend that drugs didn't figure quite heavily in the Beatles' lives at that time ... they knew that I, in my schoolmasterly role, didn't approve ... Not only was I not into it myself, I couldn't see the need for it; and there's no doubt that, if I too had been on dope,Pepperwould never have been the album it was. Perhaps it was the combination of dope and no dope that worked, who knows? Harrison echoed Martin's description of his stabilising role: \"I think we just grew through those years together, him as the straight man and us as the loonies; but he was always there for us to interpret our madness – we used to be slightly avant-garde on certain days of the week, and he would be there as the anchor person, to communicate that through the engineers and on to the tape.\" In the studio Making innovative use of technology while expanding the possibilities of recorded music, the Beatles urged experimentation by Martin and his recording engineers. Seeking ways to put chance occurrences to creative use, accidental guitar feedback, a resonating glass bottle, a tape loaded the wrong way round so that it played backwards – any of these might be incorporated into their music.Their desire to create new sounds on every new recording, combined with Martin's arranging abilities and the studio expertise of EMI staff engineers Norman Smith,Ken Townsendand Geoff Emerick, all contributed significantly to their records fromRubber Souland, especially,Revolveronwards. Along with innovative studio techniques such assound effects, unconventional microphone placements, tape loops,double tracking, andvari-speedrecording, the Beatles augmented their songs with instruments that were unconventional in rock music at the time. These included string and brass ensembles as well as Indian instruments such as the sitar in \"Norwegian Wood\" and theswarmandalin \"Strawberry Fields Forever\".They also used novel electronic instruments such as the Mellotron, with which McCartney supplied the flute voices on the \"Strawberry Fields Forever\" intro,and theclavioline, an electronic keyboard that created the unusual oboe-like sound on \"Baby, You're a Rich Man\". Legacy FormerRolling Stonemagazine associate editorRobert Greenfieldcompared the Beatles toPicasso, as \"artists who broke through the constraints of their time period to come up with something that was unique and original ... n the form of popular music, no one will ever be more revolutionary, more creative and more distinctive ...\"The British poetPhilip Larkindescribed their work as \"an enchanting and intoxicating hybrid of Negro rock-and-roll with their own adolescent romanticism\" and \"the first advance in popular music since the War\". In 1964, the Beatles' arrival in the U.S. is credited with initiating thealbum era;the music historianJoel Whitburnsays that LP sales soon \"exploded and eventually outpaced the sales and releases of singles\" in the music industry.They not only sparked the British Invasion of the US,they became a globally influential phenomenon as well.From the 1920s, the US had dominated popular entertainment culture throughout much of the world, viaHollywoodfilms,jazz, the music of Broadway andTin Pan Alley, and later, the rock and roll that first emerged inMemphis, Tennessee.The Beatles are regarded as British cultural icons, with young adults from abroad naming the band among a group of people whom they most associated with UK culture. Their musical innovations and commercial success inspired musicians worldwide.Many artists have acknowledged the Beatles' influence and enjoyed chart success withcovers of their songs.On radio, their arrival marked the beginning of a new era; in 1968 the programme director of New York'sWABCradio station forbade his DJs from playing any \"pre-Beatles\" music, marking the defining line of what would be consideredoldieson American radio.They helped to redefine the album as something more than just a few hits padded out with \"filler\",and they were primary innovators of the modern music video.The Shea Stadium show with which they opened their1965 North American tourattracted an estimated 55,600 people,then the largest audience in concert history; Spitz describes the event as a \"major breakthrough ... a giant step toward reshaping the concert business\".Emulation of their clothing and especially their hairstyles, which became a mark of rebellion, had a global impact on fashion. According to Gould, the Beatles changed the way people listened to popular music and experienced its role in their lives. From what began as the Beatlemania fad, the group's popularity grew into what was seen as an embodiment of sociocultural movements of the decade. As icons of the1960s counterculture, Gould continues, they became a catalyst forbohemianismand activism in various social and political arenas, fuelling movements such aswomen's liberation,gay liberationandenvironmentalism.According to Peter Lavezzoli, after the \"more popular than Jesus\" controversy in 1966, the Beatles felt considerable pressure to say the right things and \"began a concerted effort to spread a message of wisdom and higher consciousness\". Other commentators such as Mikal Gilmore and Todd Leopold have traced the inception of their sociocultural impact earlier, interpreting even the Beatlemania period, particularly on their first visit to the US, as a key moment in the development of generational awareness.Referring to their appearance onthe Ed Sullivan ShowLeopold states: \"In many ways, the Sullivan appearance marked the beginning of a cultural revolution ... The Beatles were like aliens dropped into the United States of 1964.\"According to Gilmore: Elvis Presley had shown us how rebellion could be fashioned into eye-opening style; the Beatles were showing us how style could have the impact of cultural revelation – or at least how a pop vision might be forged into an unimpeachable consensus. Established in 2009,Global Beatles Dayis an annual holiday on 25 June each year that honours and celebrates the ideals of the Beatles.The date was chosen to commemorate the date the group participated in theBBCprogrammeOur Worldin 1967, performing \"All You Need Is Love\" broadcast to an international audience. Awards and achievements In 1965, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr Members of theOrder of the British Empire(MBE).The Beatles won the 1971 Academy Award forBest Original Song Scorefor the filmLet It Be(1970).The recipients of seven Grammy Awardsand fifteenIvor Novello Awards,the Beatles have sixDiamond albums, as well as 20 Multi-Platinum albums, 16 Platinum albums and six Gold albums in the US.In the UK, the Beatles have fourMulti-Platinum albums, fourPlatinum albums, eightGold albumsand oneSilver album.They were inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Famein 1988. Thebest-selling bandin history, the Beatles have sold more than 600 million units as of 2012.From 1991 to 2009 the Beatles sold 57 million albums in United States, according to Nielsen Soundscan.They have had morenumber-one albums on the UK charts, fifteen,and sold more singles in the UK, 21.9 million, than any other act.In 2004,Rolling Stoneranked the Beatles as the most significant and influential rock music artists of the last 50 years.They ranked number one onBillboardmagazine's list of the all-time most successful Hot 100 artists, released in 2008 to celebrate the US singles chart's 50th anniversary.As of 2017, they hold the record for most number-one hits on theBillboardHot 100, with twenty.TheRecording Industry Association of Americacertifies that the Beatles have sold 183 million units in the US, more than any other artist.They were collectively included inTimemagazine's compilation of the20th century's 100 most influential people.In 2014, they received theGrammy Lifetime Achievement Award. On 16 January each year, beginning in 2001, people celebrate World Beatles Day underUNESCO. This date has direct relation to the opening ofthe Cavern Clubin 1957.In 2007, the Beatles became the first band to feature on aseries of UK postage stampsissued by theRoyal Mail.Earlier in 1999, theUnited States Postal Serviceissued a stamp dedicated to the Beatles andYellow Submarine.In 2004 and 2011,Rolling Stonenamed them the greatest artist of all time. Personnel Principal members Early members Touring musicians Timeline Discography The Beatles' core catalogue consists of thirteen studio albums and one compilation album which collects all the UK non-album singles andEPtracks: Song catalogue Until 1969, the Beatles' catalogue was published almost exclusively byNorthern Songs Ltd, a company formed in February 1963 by music publisherDick Jamesspecifically for Lennon and McCartney, though it later acquired songs by other artists. The company was organised with James and his partner, Emmanuel Silver, owning a controlling interest, variously described as 51% or 50% plus one share. McCartney had 20%. Reports again vary concerning Lennon's portion – 19 or 20% – and Brian Epstein's – 9 or 10% – which he received in lieu of a 25% band management fee.In 1965, the company went public. Five million shares were created, of which the original principals retained 3.75 million. James and Silver each received 937,500 shares (18.75% of 5 million); Lennon and McCartney each received 750,000 shares (15%); and Epstein's management company, NEMS Enterprises, received 375,000 shares (7.5%). Of the 1.25 million shares put up for sale, Harrison and Starr each acquired 40,000.At the time of the stock offering, Lennon and McCartney renewed their three-year publishing contracts, binding them to Northern Songs until 1973. Harrison createdHarrisongsto represent his Beatles compositions, but signed a three-year contract with Northern Songs that gave it the copyright to his work through March 1968, which included \"Taxman\" and \"Within You Without You\".The songs on which Starr received co-writing credit before 1968, such as \"What Goes On\" and \"Flying\", were also Northern Songs copyrights.Harrison did not renew his contract with Northern Songs when it ended, signing instead withApple Publishingwhile retaining the copyright to his work from that point on. Harrison thus owned the rights to his later Beatles songs such as \"While My Guitar Gently Weeps\" and \"Something\". That year, as well, Starr createdStartling Music, which holds the rights to his Beatles compositions, \"Don't Pass Me By\" and \"Octopus's Garden\". In March 1969, James arranged to sell his and his partner's shares of Northern Songs to the British broadcasting companyAssociated Television(ATV), founded by impresarioLew Grade, without first informing the Beatles. The band then made a bid to gain a controlling interest by attempting to work out a deal with a consortium of London brokerage firms that had accumulated a 14% holding.The deal collapsed over the objections of Lennon, who declared, \"I'm sick of being fucked about by men in suits sitting on their fat arses inthe City.\"By the end of May, ATV had acquired a majority stake in Northern Songs, controlling nearly the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue, as well as any future material until 1973.In frustration, Lennon and McCartney sold their shares to ATV in late October 1969. In 1981, financial losses by ATV's parent company,Associated Communications Corporation(ACC), led it to attempt to sell its music division. According to authors Brian Southall and Rupert Perry, Grade contacted McCartney, offering ATV Music and Northern Songs for $30 million.According to an account McCartney gave in 1995, he met with Grade and explained he was interested solely in the Northern Songs catalogue if Grade were ever willing to \"separate off\" that portion of ATV Music. Soon afterwards, Grade offered to sell him Northern Songs for £20 million, giving the ex-Beatle \"a week or so\" to decide. By McCartney's account, he and Ono countered with a £5 million bid that was rejected.According to reports at the time, Grade refused to separate Northern Songs and turned down an offer of £21–25 million from McCartney and Ono for Northern Songs. In 1982, ACC was acquired in atakeoverby Australian business magnateRobert Holmes à Courtfor £60 million. In 1985,Michael Jacksonpurchased ATV for a reported $47.5 million. The acquisition gave him control over the publishing rights to more than 200 Beatles songs, as well as 40,000 other copyrights.In 1995, in a deal that earned him a reported $110 million, Jackson merged his music publishing business withSony, creating a new company,Sony/ATV Music Publishing, in which he held a 50% stake. The merger made the new company, then valued at over half a billion dollars, the third-largest music publisher in the world.In 2016, Sony acquired Jackson's share of Sony/ATV from the Jackson estate for $750 million. Despite the lack of publishing rights to most of their songs, Lennon's estate and McCartney continue to receive their respective shares of the writers' royalties, which together are 331⁄3% of total commercial proceeds in the US and which vary elsewhere around the world between 50 and 55%.Two of Lennon and McCartney's earliest songs – \"Love Me Do\" and \"P.S. I Love You\" – were published by an EMI subsidiary, Ardmore & Beechwood, before they signed with James. McCartney acquired their publishing rights from Ardmorein 1978,and they are the only two Beatles songs owned by McCartney's company MPL Communications.On 18 January 2017, McCartney filed a suit in theUnited States district courtagainst Sony/ATV Music Publishing seeking to reclaim ownership of his share of the Lennon–McCartney song catalogue beginning in 2018. Under US copyright law, for works published before 1978 the author can reclaim copyrights assigned to a publisher after 56 years.McCartney and Sony agreed to a confidential settlement in June 2017. Selected filmography Fictionalised Documentaries and filmed performances Concert tours Headlining Co-headlining See also Notes References Citations Sources Further reading External links","Great Depression TheGreat Depressionwas a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939 that affected many countries across the world. It became evident after a sharp decline instockprices in theUnited States, the largest economy in the world at the time, leading to a period ofeconomic depression.Theeconomic contagionbegan around September 1929 and led to theWall Street stock market crashof October (Black Tuesday). This crisis marked the start of a prolonged period of economic hardship characterized by high unemployment rates and widespread business failures. Between 1929 and 1932, worldwidegross domestic product(GDP) fell by an estimated 15%. By comparison, worldwide GDP fell by less than 1% from 2008 to 2009 during theGreat Recession.Some economies started to recover by the mid-1930s. However, in many countries,the negative effects of the Great Depression lasted until the beginning ofWorld War II. Devastating effects were seen in both rich and poor countries with fallingpersonal income, prices, tax revenues, and profits. International trade fell by more than 50%, unemployment in the U.S. rose to 23% and in some countries rose as high as 33%.Cities around the world were severely affected, especially those dependent onheavy industry. Construction was virtually halted in many countries. Farming communities and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by about 60%.Faced with plummeting demand and few job alternatives, areas dependent onprimary sector industriessuffered the most. Economic historians usually consider the catalyst of the Great Depression to be the devastating Wall Street Crash. However, some dispute this, seeing the crash less as a cause of the Depression and more a symptom of the rising nervousness of investors partly due to gradual price declines caused by falling sales of consumer goods (as a result of overproduction because of new production techniques, falling exports and income inequality, among other factors) that had already been underway as part of a gradual depression. Overview After theWall Street Crash of 1929, where theDow Jones Industrial Averagedropped from 381 to 198 over the course of two months, optimism persisted for some time. The stock market rose in early 1930, with the Dow returning to 294 (pre-depression levels) in April 1930, before steadily declining for years, to a low of 41 in 1932. At the beginning, governments and businesses spent more in the first half of 1930 than in the corresponding period of the previous year. On the other hand, consumers, many of whom suffered severe losses in the stock market the previous year, cut expenditures by 10%. In addition, beginning in the mid-1930s, asevere droughtravaged the agricultural heartland of the U.S. Interest rates dropped to low levels by mid-1930, but expecteddeflationand the continuing reluctance of people to borrow meant that consumer spending and investment remained low.By May 1930, automobile sales declined to below the levels of 1928. Prices, in general, began to decline, although wages held steady in 1930. Then adeflationary spiralstarted in 1931. Farmers faced a worse outlook; declining crop prices and a Great Plains drought crippled their economic outlook. At its peak, the Great Depression saw nearly 10% of all Great Plains farms change hands despite federal assistance. The decline in theU.S. economywas the factor that pulled down most other countries at first; then, internal weaknesses or strengths in each country made conditions worse or better.Frantic attempts by individual countries to shore up their economies throughprotectionistpolicies – such as the 1930 U.S.Smoot–Hawley Tariff Actand retaliatory tariffs in other countries – exacerbated the collapse in global trade, contributing to the depression.By 1933, the economic decline pushed world trade to one third of its level compared to four years earlier. Economic indicators Course Origins Because the Great Depression began in the United States and then spread around the world, the origins of the Great Depression are examined in the context of the United States economy. In the aftermath ofWorld War I, theRoaring Twentieshad brought considerable wealth to the United States and Western Europe.The year 1929 dawned with considerable economic progress in the American economy. A small stock crash occurred on 25 March 1929, but the crash was stabilized. Despite signs of economic trouble, the market continued to improve through September. Stock prices began to slump in September, and were volatile at the end of September.A large sell-off of stocks began in mid-October. Finally, on 24 October,Black Thursday, the American stock market crashed 11% at the opening bell. Actions to stabilize the market failed, and on 28 October, Black Monday, the market crashed another 12%. The panic peaked the next day on Black Tuesday, when the market saw another 11% drop.Thousands of investors were ruined, and billions of dollars had been lost; many stocks could not be sold at any price.The market recovered 12% on Wednesday, but the damage had been done. Though the market recovered from 14 November until 17 April 1930, it entered a prolonged slump. From 17 April 1930 until 8 July 1932, the market continued to lose 89% of its value. Despite the crash, the worst of the crisis did not reverberate around the world until after 1929. The crisis hit panic levels again in December 1930, with abank runon theBank of United States(privately run, no relation to the government). Unable to pay out to all of its creditors, the bank failed.Among the 608 American banks that closed in November and December 1930, the Bank of United States accounted for a third of the total $550 million deposits lost and, with its closure, bank failures reached a critical mass. The Smoot–Hawley act and the breakdown of international trade TheSmoot–Hawley Tariff Actwas passed in the United States on 17 June 1930, having been proposed the year prior. Ostensibly aimed at protecting the American economy as the Depression began to take root, it backfired enormously and may have even caused the Depression. The consensus view amongeconomistsand economic historians (includingKeynesians,MonetaristsandAustrian economists) is that the passage of the Smoot–Hawley Tariff exacerbated the Great Depression,although there is disagreement as to how much. In the popular view, the Smoot–Hawley Tariff was a leading cause of the depression.In a 1995 survey of American economic historians, two-thirds agreed that theSmoot–Hawley Tariff Actat least worsened the Great Depression.According to the U.S. Senate website, the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act is among the most catastrophic acts in congressional history. Many economists have argued that the sharp decline in international trade after 1930 helped to worsen the depression, especially for countries significantly dependent on foreign trade. Most historians and economists blame the Act for worsening the depression by seriously reducing international trade and causing retaliatory tariffs in other countries. While foreign trade was a small part of overall economic activity in the U.S. and was concentrated in a few businesses like farming, it was a much larger factor in many other countries.The averagead valorem(value based) rate of duties on dutiable imports for 1921–1925 was 25.9% but under the new tariff it jumped to 50% during 1931–1935. In dollar terms, American exports declined over the next four years from about $5.2 billion in 1929 to $1.7 billion in 1933; so, not only did the physical volume of exports fall, but also the prices fell by about1⁄3as written. Hardest hit were farm commodities such as wheat, cotton, tobacco, and lumber. Governments around the world took various steps into spending less money on foreign goods such as: \"imposing tariffs, import quotas, and exchange controls\". These restrictions triggered much tension among countries that had large amounts of bilateral trade, causing major export-import reductions during the depression. Not all governments enforced the same measures of protectionism. Some countries raised tariffs drastically and enforced severe restrictions on foreign exchange transactions, while other countries reduced \"trade and exchange restrictions only marginally\": The gold standard and the spreading of global depression Thegold standardwas the primary transmission mechanism of the Great Depression. Even countries that did not face bank failures and a monetary contraction first-hand were forced to join the deflationary policy since higher interest rates in countries that performed a deflationary policy led to a gold outflow in countries with lower interest rates. Under the gold standard'sprice–specie flow mechanism, countries that lost gold but nevertheless wanted to maintain the gold standard had to permit their money supply to decrease and the domestic price level to decline (deflation). There is also consensus that protectionist policies, and primarily the passage of theSmoot–Hawley Tariff Act, helped to exacerbate, or even cause the Great Depression. Gold standard Some economic studies have indicated that the rigidities of thegold standardnot only spread the downturn worldwide, but also suspended gold convertibility (devaluing the currency in gold terms) that did the most to make recovery possible. Every major currency left the gold standard during the Great Depression. The UK was the first to do so. Facingspeculative attackson thepoundand depletinggold reserves, in September 1931 theBank of Englandceased exchanging pound notes for gold and the pound was floated on foreign exchange markets. Japan and the Scandinavian countries followed in 1931. Other countries, such as Italy and the United States, remained on the gold standard into 1932 or 1933, while a few countries in the so-called \"gold bloc\", led by France and including Poland, Belgium and Switzerland, stayed on the standard until 1935–36. According to later analysis, the earliness with which a country left the gold standard reliably predicted its economic recovery. For example, The UK and Scandinavia, which left the gold standard in 1931, recovered much earlier than France and Belgium, which remained on gold much longer. Countries such as China, which had asilver standard, almost avoided the depression entirely. The connection between leaving the gold standard as a strong predictor of that country's severity of its depression and the length of time of its recovery has been shown to be consistent for dozens of countries, includingdeveloping countries. This partly explains why the experience and length of the depression differed between regions and states around the world. German banking crisis of 1931 and British crisis The financial crisis escalated out of control in mid-1931, starting with the collapse of theCredit Anstaltin Vienna in May.This put heavy pressure on Germany, which was already in political turmoil. With the rise in violence of National Socialist ('Nazi') and Communist movements, as well as investor nervousness at harsh government financial policies,investors withdrew their short-term money from Germany as confidence spiraled downward. The Reichsbank lost 150 million marks in the first week of June, 540 million in the second, and 150 million in two days, 19–20 June. Collapse was at hand. U.S. President Herbert Hoover called for amoratorium on payment of war reparations. This angered Paris, which depended on a steady flow of German payments, but it slowed the crisis down, and the moratorium was agreed to in July 1931. An International conference in London later in July produced no agreements but on 19 August a standstill agreement froze Germany's foreign liabilities for six months. Germany received emergency funding from private banks in New York as well as the Bank of International Settlements and the Bank of England. The funding only slowed the process. Industrial failures began in Germany, a major bank closed in July and a two-day holiday for all German banks was declared. Business failures were more frequent in July, and spread toRomaniaand Hungary. The crisis continued to get worse in Germany, bringing political upheaval that finally led to thecoming to power of Hitler's Nazi regimein January 1933. The world financial crisis now began to overwhelm Britain; investors around the world started withdrawing their gold from London at the rate of £2.5 million per day.Credits of £25 million each from the Bank of France and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and an issue of £15 million fiduciary note slowed, but did not reverse, the British crisis. The financial crisis now caused a major political crisis in Britain in August 1931. With deficits mounting, the bankers demanded a balanced budget; the divided cabinet of Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald's Labour government agreed; it proposed to raise taxes, cut spending, and most controversially, to cut unemployment benefits 20%. The attack on welfare was unacceptable to the Labour movement. MacDonald wanted to resign, but King George V insisted he remain and form an all-party coalition \"National Government\". The Conservative and Liberals parties signed on, along with a small cadre of Labour, but the vast majority of Labour leaders denounced MacDonald as a traitor for leading the new government. Britain went off thegold standard, and suffered relatively less than other major countries in the Great Depression. In the 1931 British election, the Labour Party was virtually destroyed, leaving MacDonald as prime minister for a largely Conservative coalition. Turning point and recovery In most countries of the world, recovery from the Great Depression began in 1933.In the U.S., recovery began in early 1933,but the U.S. did not return to 1929 GNP for over a decade and still had an unemployment rate of about 15% in 1940, albeit down from the high of 25% in 1933. There is no consensus among economists regarding the motive force for the U.S. economic expansion that continued through most of theRoosevelt years(and the 1937 recession that interrupted it). The common view among most economists is that Roosevelt'sNew Dealpolicies either caused or accelerated the recovery, although his policies were never aggressive enough to bring the economy completely out of recession. Some economists have also called attention to the positive effects from expectations ofreflationand rising nominal interest rates that Roosevelt's words and actions portended.It was the rollback of those same reflationary policies that led to the interruption of a recession beginning in late 1937.One contributing policy that reversed reflation was theBanking Act of 1935, which effectively raised reserve requirements, causing a monetary contraction that helped to thwart the recovery.GDP returned to its upward trend in 1938.A revisionist view among some economists holds that the New Deal prolonged the Great Depression, as they argue thatNational Industrial Recovery Act of 1933andNational Labor Relations Act of 1935restricted competition and established price fixing.John Maynard Keynesdid not think that the New Deal under Roosevelt single-handedly ended the Great Depression: \"It is, it seems, politically impossible for a capitalistic democracy to organize expenditure on the scale necessary to make the grand experiments which would prove my case—except in war conditions.\" According toChristina Romer, the money supply growth caused by huge international gold inflows was a crucial source of the recovery of the United States economy, and that the economy showed little sign of self-correction. The gold inflows were partly due todevaluation of the U.S. dollarand partly due to deterioration of the political situation in Europe.In their book,A Monetary History of the United States,Milton FriedmanandAnna J. Schwartzalso attributed the recovery to monetary factors, and contended that it was much slowed by poor management of money by theFederal Reserve System.Chairman of the Federal Reserve(2006–2014)Ben Bernankeagreed that monetary factors played important roles both in the worldwide economic decline and eventual recovery.Bernanke also saw a strong role for institutional factors, particularly the rebuilding and restructuring of the financial system,and pointed out that the Depression should be examined in an international perspective. Role of women and household economics Women's primary role was as housewives; without a steady flow of family income, their work became much harder in dealing with food and clothing and medical care. Birthrates fell everywhere, as children were postponed until families could financially support them. The average birthrate for 14 major countries fell 12% from 19.3 births per thousand population in 1930, to 17.0 in 1935.In Canada, half of Roman Catholic women defied Church teachings and used contraception to postpone births. Among the few women in the labor force, layoffs were less common in the white-collar jobs and they were typically found in light manufacturing work. However, there was a widespread demand to limit families to one paid job, so that wives might lose employment if their husband was employed.Across Britain, there was a tendency for married women to join the labor force, competing for part-time jobs especially. In France, very slow population growth, especially in comparison to Germany continued to be a serious issue in the 1930s. Support for increasing welfare programs during the depression included a focus on women in the family. The Conseil Supérieur de la Natalité campaigned for provisions enacted in the Code de la Famille (1939) that increased state assistance to families with children and required employers to protect the jobs of fathers, even if they were immigrants. In rural and small-town areas, women expanded their operation of vegetable gardens to include as much food production as possible. In the United States, agricultural organizations sponsored programs to teach housewives how to optimize their gardens and to raise poultry for meat and eggs.Rural women madefeed sack dressesand other items for themselves and their families and homes from feed sacks.In American cities, African American women quiltmakers enlarged their activities, promoted collaboration, and trained neophytes. Quilts were created for practical use from various inexpensive materials and increased social interaction for women and promoted camaraderie and personal fulfillment. Oral history provides evidence for how housewives in a modern industrial city handled shortages of money and resources. Often they updated strategies their mothers used when they were growing up in poor families. Cheap foods were used, such as soups, beans and noodles. They purchased the cheapest cuts of meat—sometimes even horse meat—and recycled theSunday roastinto sandwiches and soups. They sewed and patched clothing, traded with their neighbors for outgrown items, and made do with colder homes. New furniture and appliances were postponed until better days. Many women also worked outside the home, or took boarders, did laundry for trade or cash, and did sewing for neighbors in exchange for something they could offer. Extended families used mutual aid—extra food, spare rooms, repair-work, cash loans—to help cousins and in-laws. In Japan, official government policy was deflationary and the opposite of Keynesian spending. Consequently, the government launched a campaign across the country to induce households to reduce their consumption, focusing attention on spending by housewives. In Germany, the government tried to reshape private household consumption under the Four-Year Plan of 1936 to achieve German economic self-sufficiency. The Nazi women's organizations, other propaganda agencies and the authorities all attempted to shape such consumption as economic self-sufficiency was needed to prepare for and to sustain the coming war. The organizations, propaganda agencies and authorities employed slogans that called up traditional values of thrift and healthy living. However, these efforts were only partly successful in changing the behavior of housewives. World War II and recovery The common view among economic historians is that the Great Depression ended with the advent ofWorld War II. Many economists believe that government spending on the war caused or at least accelerated recovery from the Great Depression, though some consider that it did not play a very large role in the recovery, though it did help in reducing unemployment. The rearmament policies leading up to World War II helped stimulate the economies of Europe in 1937–1939. By 1937, unemployment in Britain had fallen to 1.5 million. Themobilizationof manpower following the outbreak of war in 1939 ended unemployment. The American mobilization forWorld War IIat the end of 1941 moved approximately ten million people out of the civilian labor force and into the war.This finally eliminated the last effects from the Great Depression and brought the U.S. unemployment rate down below 10%. World War II had a dramatic effect on many parts of the American economy.Government-financed capital spending accounted for only 5% of the annual U.S. investment in industrial capital in 1940; by 1943, the government accounted for 67% of U.S. capital investment.The massive war spending doubled economic growth rates, either masking the effects of the Depression or essentially ending the Depression. Businessmen ignored the mountingnational debtand heavy new taxes, redoubling their efforts for greater output to take advantage of generous government contracts. Causes Trying to return to the Gold Standard DuringWorld War Imany countries suspended theirgold standardin varying ways. There was high inflation from WWI, and in the 1920s in theWeimar Republic,Austria, and throughout Europe. In the late 1920s there was a scramble to deflate prices to get the gold standard's conversation rates back on track to pre-WWI levels, by causingdeflationand high unemployment through monetary policy. In 1933FDRsignedExecutive Order 6102and in 1934 signed theGold Reserve Act. Keynesian vs Monetarist view The two classic competing economic theories of the Great Depression are theKeynesian(demand-driven) and theMonetaristexplanation.There are also variousheterodox theoriesthat downplay or reject the explanations of the Keynesians and monetarists. The consensus among demand-driven theories is that a large-scale loss of confidence led to a sudden reduction in consumption and investment spending. Once panic and deflation set in, many people believed they could avoid further losses by keeping clear of the markets. Holding money became profitable as prices dropped lower and a given amount of money bought ever more goods, exacerbating the drop in demand.Monetarists believe that the Great Depression started as an ordinary recession, but the shrinking of themoney supplygreatly exacerbated the economic situation, causing a recession to descend into the Great Depression. Economists and economic historians are almost evenly split as to whether the traditional monetary explanation that monetary forces were the primary cause of the Great Depression is right, or the traditional Keynesian explanation that a fall in autonomous spending, particularly investment, is the primary explanation for the onset of the Great Depression.Today there is also significant academic support for thedebt deflationtheory and theexpectations hypothesisthat – building on the monetary explanation ofMilton FriedmanandAnna Schwartz– add non-monetary explanations. There is a consensus that theFederal Reserve Systemshould have cut short the process of monetary deflation and banking collapse, by expanding the money supply and acting aslender of last resort. If they had done this, the economic downturn would have been far less severe and much shorter. Mainstream explanations Modern mainstream economists see the reasons in Insufficient spending, the money supply reduction, and debt on margin led to falling prices and further bankruptcies (Irving Fisher's debt deflation). Monetarist view The monetarist explanation was given by American economistsMilton FriedmanandAnna J. Schwartz.They argued that the Great Depression was caused by the banking crisis that caused one-third of all banks to vanish, a reduction of bank shareholder wealth and more importantlymonetary contractionof 35%, which they called \"TheGreat Contraction\". This caused a price drop of 33% (deflation).By not lowering interest rates, by not increasing the monetary base and by not injecting liquidity into the banking system to prevent it from crumbling, the Federal Reserve passively watched the transformation of a normal recession into the Great Depression. Friedman and Schwartz argued that the downward turn in the economy, starting with the stock market crash, would merely have been an ordinary recession if the Federal Reserve had taken aggressive action.This view was endorsed in 2002 byFederal Reserve GovernorBen Bernankein a speech honoring Friedman and Schwartz with this statement: Let me end my talk by abusing slightly my status as an official representative of the Federal Reserve. I would like to say to Milton and Anna: Regarding the Great Depression, you're right. We did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again. The Federal Reserve allowed some large public bank failures – particularly that of theNew York Bank of United States– which produced panic and widespread runs on local banks, and the Federal Reserve sat idly by while banks collapsed. Friedman and Schwartz argued that, if the Fed had provided emergency lending to these key banks, or simply boughtgovernment bondson theopen marketto provide liquidity and increase the quantity of money after the key banks fell, all the rest of the banks would not have fallen after the large ones did, and the money supply would not have fallen as far and as fast as it did. With significantly less money to go around, businesses could not get new loans and could not even get their old loans renewed, forcing many to stop investing. This interpretation blames the Federal Reserve for inaction, especially theNew York branch. One reason why the Federal Reserve did not act to limit the decline of the money supply was thegold standard. At that time, the amount of credit the Federal Reserve could issue was limited by theFederal Reserve Act, which required 40% gold backing of Federal Reserve Notes issued. By the late 1920s, the Federal Reserve had almost hit the limit of allowable credit that could be backed by the gold in its possession. This credit was in the form of Federal Reserve demand notes.A \"promise of gold\" is not as good as \"gold in the hand\", particularly when they only had enough gold to cover 40% of the Federal Reserve Notes outstanding. During the bank panics, a portion of those demand notes was redeemed for Federal Reserve gold. Since the Federal Reserve had hit its limit on allowable credit, any reduction in gold in its vaults had to be accompanied by a greater reduction in credit. On 5 April 1933, President Roosevelt signedExecutive Order 6102making the private ownership ofgold certificates, coins and bullion illegal, reducing the pressure on Federal Reserve gold. Keynesian view British economistJohn Maynard Keynesargued inThe General Theory of Employment, Interest and Moneythat loweraggregate expendituresin the economy contributed to a massive decline in income and to employment that was well below the average. In such a situation, the economy reached equilibrium at low levels of economic activity and high unemployment. Keynes's basic idea was simple: to keep people fully employed, governments have to run deficits when the economy is slowing, as the private sector would not invest enough to keep production at the normal level and bring the economy out of recession. Keynesian economists called on governments during times ofeconomic crisisto pick up the slack by increasinggovernment spendingor cutting taxes. As the Depression wore on,Franklin D. Roosevelttriedpublic works,farm subsidies, and other devices to restart the U.S. economy, but never completely gave up trying to balance the budget. According to the Keynesians, this improved the economy, but Roosevelt never spent enough to bring the economy out of recession until the start ofWorld War II. Debt deflation Irving Fisherargued that the predominant factor leading to the Great Depression was a vicious circle of deflation and growing over-indebtedness.He outlined nine factors interacting with one another under conditions of debt and deflation to create the mechanics of boom to bust. The chain of events proceeded as follows: During the Crash of 1929 preceding the Great Depression, margin requirements were only 10%.Brokerage firms, in other words, would lend $9 for every $1 an investor had deposited. When the market fell, brokerscalled in these loans, which could not be paid back.Banks began to fail as debtors defaulted on debt and depositors attempted to withdraw their depositsen masse, triggering multiplebank runs. Government guarantees and Federal Reserve banking regulations to prevent such panics were ineffective or not used. Bank failures led to the loss of billions of dollars in assets. Outstanding debts became heavier, because prices and incomes fell by 20–50% but the debts remained at the same dollar amount. After the panic of 1929 and during the first 10 months of 1930, 744 U.S. banks failed. (In all, 9,000 banks failed during the 1930s.) By April 1933, around $7 billion in deposits had been frozen in failed banks or those left unlicensed after theMarch Bank Holiday.Bank failures snowballed as desperate bankers called in loans that borrowers did not have time or money to repay. With future profits looking poor,capital investmentand construction slowed or completely ceased. In the face of bad loans and worsening future prospects, the surviving banks became even more conservative in their lending.Banks built up their capital reserves and made fewer loans, which intensified deflationary pressures. Avicious cycledeveloped and the downward spiral accelerated. The liquidation of debt could not keep up with the fall of prices that it caused. The mass effect of the stampede to liquidate increased the value of each dollar owed, relative to the value of declining asset holdings. The very effort of individuals to lessen their burden of debt effectively increased it. Paradoxically, the more the debtors paid, the more they owed.This self-aggravating process turned a 1930 recession into a 1933 great depression. Fisher's debt-deflation theory initially lacked mainstream influence because of the counter-argument that debt-deflation represented no more than a redistribution from one group (debtors) to another (creditors). Pure re-distributions should have no significant macroeconomic effects. Building on both the monetary hypothesis of Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz and the debt deflation hypothesis of Irving Fisher,Ben Bernankedeveloped an alternative way in which the financial crisis affected output. He builds on Fisher's argument that dramatic declines in the price level and nominal incomes lead to increasing real debt burdens, which in turn leads to debtor insolvency and consequently lowersaggregate demand; a further price level decline would then result in a debt deflationary spiral. According to Bernanke, a small decline in the price level simply reallocates wealth from debtors to creditors without doing damage to the economy. But when the deflation is severe, falling asset prices along with debtor bankruptcies lead to a decline in the nominal value of assets on bank balance sheets. Banks will react by tightening their credit conditions, which in turn leads to acredit crunchthat seriously harms the economy. A credit crunch lowers investment and consumption, which results in declining aggregate demand and additionally contributes to the deflationary spiral. Expectations hypothesis Since economic mainstream turned to thenew neoclassical synthesis, expectations are a central element of macroeconomic models. According toPeter Temin, Barry Wigmore, Gauti B. Eggertsson andChristina Romer, the key to recovery and to ending the Great Depression was brought about by a successful management of public expectations. The thesis is based on the observation that after years of deflation and a very severe recession important economic indicators turned positive in March 1933 whenFranklin D. Roosevelttook office. Consumer prices turned from deflation to a mild inflation, industrial production bottomed out in March 1933, and investment doubled in 1933 with a turnaround in March 1933. There were no monetary forces to explain that turnaround. Money supply was still falling and short-term interest rates remained close to zero. Before March 1933, people expected further deflation and a recession so that even interest rates at zero did not stimulate investment. But when Roosevelt announced major regime changes, people began to expect inflation and an economic expansion. With these positive expectations, interest rates at zero began to stimulate investment just as they were expected to do. Roosevelt's fiscal and monetary policy regime change helped make his policy objectives credible. The expectation of higher future income and higher future inflation stimulated demand and investment. The analysis suggests that the elimination of the policy dogmas of the gold standard, a balanced budget in times of crisis and small government led endogenously to a large shift in expectation that accounts for about 70–80% of the recovery of output and prices from 1933 to 1937. If the regime change had not happened and the Hoover policy had continued, the economy would have continued its free fall in 1933, and output would have been 30% lower in 1937 than in 1933. Therecession of 1937–1938, which slowed down economic recovery from the Great Depression, is explained by fears of the population that the moderate tightening of the monetary and fiscal policy in 1937 were first steps to a restoration of the pre-1933 policy regime. Common position There is common consensus among economists today that the government and the central bank should work to keep the interconnected macroeconomic aggregates ofgross domestic productandmoney supplyon a stable growth path. When threatened by expectations of a depression,central banksshould expand liquidity in the banking system and the government should cut taxes and accelerate spending in order to prevent a collapse in money supply andaggregate demand. At the beginning of the Great Depression, most economists believed inSay's lawand the equilibrating powers of the market, and failed to understand the severity of the Depression. Outright leave-it-aloneliquidationismwas a common position, and was universally held byAustrian Schooleconomists.The liquidationist position held that a depression worked to liquidate failed businesses and investments that had been made obsolete by technological development – releasingfactors of production(capital and labor) to be redeployed in other more productive sectors of the dynamic economy. They argued that even if self-adjustment of the economy caused mass bankruptcies, it was still the best course. Economists likeBarry EichengreenandJ. Bradford DeLongnote that PresidentHerbert Hoovertried to keep the federal budget balanced until 1932, when he lost confidence in his Secretary of the TreasuryAndrew Mellonand replaced him.An increasingly common view among economic historians is that the adherence of many Federal Reserve policymakers to the liquidationist position led to disastrous consequences.Unlike what liquidationists expected, a large proportion of the capital stock was not redeployed but vanished during the first years of the Great Depression. According to a study byOlivier BlanchardandLawrence Summers, the recession caused a drop of netcapital accumulationto pre-1924 levels by 1933.Milton Friedman called leave-it-alone liquidationism \"dangerous nonsense\".He wrote: I think the Austrian business-cycle theory has done the world a great deal of harm. If you go back to the 1930s, which is a key point, here you had the Austrians sitting in London, Hayek and Lionel Robbins, and saying you just have to let the bottom drop out of the world. You've just got to let it cure itself. You can't do anything about it. You will only make it worse. ... I think by encouraging that kind of do-nothing policy both in Britain and in the United States, they did harm. Heterodox theories Austrian School Two prominent theorists in theAustrian Schoolon the Great Depression include Austrian economistFriedrich Hayekand American economistMurray Rothbard, who wroteAmerica's Great Depression(1963). In their view, much like the monetarists, theFederal Reserve(created in 1913) shoulders much of the blame; however, unlike theMonetarists, they argue that the key cause of the Depression was the expansion of themoney supplyin the 1920s which led to an unsustainable credit-driven boom. In the Austrian view, it was this inflation of the money supply that led to an unsustainable boom in both asset prices (stocks and bonds) andcapital goods. Therefore, by the time the Federal Reserve tightened in 1928 it was far too late to prevent an economic contraction.In February 1929Hayekpublished a paper predicting the Federal Reserve's actions would lead to a crisis starting in thestockandcreditmarkets. According to Rothbard, the government support for failed enterprises and efforts to keep wages above their market values actually prolonged the Depression.UnlikeRothbard, after 1970Hayekbelieved that the Federal Reserve had further contributed to the problems of the Depression by permitting the money supply to shrink during the earliest years of the Depression.However, during the Depression (in 1932and in 1934)Hayek had criticized both theFederal Reserveand theBank of Englandfor not taking a more contractionary stance. Hans Sennholzargued that mostboom and buststhat plagued the American economy, such as those in1819–20,1839–1843,1857–1860,1873–1878,1893–1897, and1920–21, were generated by government creating a boom through easy money and credit, which was soon followed by the inevitable bust. Ludwig von Miseswrote in the 1930s: \"Credit expansion cannot increase the supply of real goods. It merely brings about a rearrangement. It diverts capital investment away from the course prescribed by the state of economic wealth and market conditions. It causes production to pursue paths which it would not follow unless the economy were to acquire an increase in material goods. As a result, the upswing lacks a solid base. It is not real prosperity. It is illusory prosperity. It did not develop from an increase in economic wealth, i.e. the accumulation of savings made available for productive investment. Rather, it arose because the credit expansion created the illusion of such an increase. Sooner or later, it must become apparent that this economic situation is built on sand.\" Marxist Marxistsgenerally argue that the Great Depression was the result of the inherent instability of thecapitalist mode of production.According toForbes, \"The idea that capitalism caused the Great Depression was widely held among intellectuals and the general public for many decades.\" Inequality Two economists of the 1920s,Waddill CatchingsandWilliam Trufant Foster, popularized a theory that influenced many policy makers, includingHerbert Hoover,Henry A. Wallace,Paul Douglas, andMarriner Eccles. It held the economy produced more than it consumed, because the consumers did not have enough income. Thus the unequaldistribution of wealththroughout the 1920s caused the Great Depression. According to this view, the root cause of the Great Depression was a global over-investment in heavy industry capacity compared to wages and earnings from independent businesses, such as farms. The proposed solution was for the government to pump money into the consumers' pockets. That is, it must redistribute purchasing power, maintaining the industrial base, and re-inflating prices and wages to force as much of the inflationary increase in purchasing power intoconsumer spending. The economy was overbuilt, and new factories were not needed. Foster and Catchings recommendedfederal and state governments to start large construction projects, a program followed by Hoover and Roosevelt. Productivity shock It cannot be emphasized too strongly that the trends we are describing are long-time trends and were thoroughly evident before 1929. These trends are in nowise the result of the present depression, nor are they the result of the World War. On the contrary, the present depression is a collapse resulting from these long-term trends. The first three decades of the 20th century saw economic output surge withelectrification,mass production, and motorized farm machinery, and because of the rapid growth in productivity there was a lot of excess production capacity and the work week was being reduced. The dramatic rise inproductivityof major industries in the U.S. and the effects of productivity on output, wages and the workweek are discussed by Spurgeon Bell in his bookProductivity, Wages, and National Income(1940). Effects by country The majority of countries set up relief programs and most underwent some sort of political upheaval, pushing them to theright. Many of the countries in Europe and Latin America, that were democracies, saw their democratic governments overthrown by some form of dictatorship or authoritarian rule, most famouslyin Germany in 1933.The Dominion of Newfoundland abandoneditsautonomy within the British Empire, becoming the only region ever to voluntarily relinquish democracy. There, too, were severe impacts across the Middle East and North Africa, including economic decline which led to social unrest. Argentina Decline in foreign trade hit Argentina hard. The British decision to stop importing Argentine beef led to the signing of theRoca–Runciman Treaty, which preserved a quota in exchange for significant concessions to British exports. By 1935, the economy had recovered to 1929 levels, and the same year, theCentral Bank of Argentinawas formed.However, the Great Depression was the last time when Argentina was one of the richer countries of the world, as it stopped growing in the decades thereafter, and became underdeveloped. Australia Australia's dependence on agricultural and industrial exports meant it was one of the hardest-hit developed countries.Falling export demand and commodity prices placed massive downward pressures on wages. Unemployment reached a record high of 29% in 1932,with incidents ofcivil unrestbecoming common.After 1932, an increase in wool and meat prices led to a gradual recovery. Canada Harshly affected by both the global economic downturn and theDust Bowl, Canadian industrial production had by 1932 fallen to only 58% of its 1929 figure, the second-lowest level in the world after the United States, and well behind countries such as Britain, which fell to only 83% of the 1929 level. Totalnational incomefell to 56% of the 1929 level, again worse than any country apart from the United States. Unemployment reached 27% at the depth of the Depression in 1933. Chile TheLeague of NationslabeledChilethe country hardest-hit by the Great Depression, because 80% of government revenue came from exports of copper and nitrates, which were in low demand. Chile initially felt the impact of the Great Depression in 1930, when GDP dropped 14%, mining income declined 27%, and export earnings fell 28%. By 1932, GDP had shrunk to less than half of what it had been in 1929, exacting a terrible toll in unemployment and business failures. Influenced profoundly by the Great Depression, many government leaders promoted the development of local industry in an effort to insulate the economy from future external shocks. After six years of governmentausterity measures, which succeeded in reestablishing Chile's creditworthiness, Chileans elected to office during the 1938–58 period a succession of center and left-of-center governments interested in promoting economic growth through government intervention. Prompted in part by the devastating1939 Chillán earthquake, thePopular Frontgovernment ofPedro Aguirre Cerdacreated the Production Development Corporation (Corporación de Fomento de la Producción,CORFO) to encourage with subsidies and direct investments — an ambitious program ofimport substitution industrialization. Consequently, as in other Latin American countries,protectionismbecame an entrenched aspect of the Chilean economy. China China was largely unaffected by the Depression, mainly by having stuck to theSilver standard. However, the U.S. silver purchase act of 1934 created an intolerable demand on China's silver coins, and so, in the end, the silver standard was officially abandoned in 1935 in favor of the four Chinese national banks'\"legal note\" issues. China and theBritish colony of Hong Kong, which followed suit in this regard in September 1935, would be the last to abandon the silver standard. In addition, theNationalist Governmentalso acted energetically to modernize the legal and penal systems, stabilize prices, amortize debts, reform the banking and currency systems, build railroads and highways, improve public health facilities, legislate against traffic in narcotics, and augment industrial and agricultural production. On 3 November 1935, the government instituted the fiat currency (fapi) reform, immediately stabilizing prices and also raising revenues for the government. European African colonies The sharp fall in commodity prices and the steep decline in exports hurt the economies of the European colonies in Africa and Asia.The agricultural sector was especially hard-hit. For example,sisalhad recently become a major export crop in Kenya and Tanganyika. During the depression, it suffered severely from low prices and marketing problems that affected all colonial commodities in Africa. Sisal producers established centralized controls for the export of their fibre.There was widespread unemployment and hardship among peasants, labourers, colonial auxiliaries, and artisans.The budgets of colonial governments were cut, which forced the reduction in ongoing infrastructure projects, such as the building and upgrading of roads, ports, and communications.The budget cuts delayed the schedule for creating systems of higher education. The depression severely hurt the export-basedBelgian Congoeconomy because of the drop in international demand for raw materials and for agricultural products. For example, the price of peanuts fell from 125 to 25 centimes. In some areas, as in theKatangamining region, employment declined by 70%. In the country as a whole, the wage labour force decreased by 72,000 people, and many men returned to their villages. In Leopoldville, the population decreased by 33% because of this labour migration. Political protests were not common. However, there was a growing demand, that the paternalistic claims be honored by colonial governments to respond vigorously. The theme was, that economic reforms were more urgently needed than political reforms.French West Africa launched an extensive program of educational reform, in which \"rural schools\", designed to modernize agriculture, would stem the flow of under-employed farm workers to cities where unemployment was high. Students were trained in traditional arts, crafts, and farming techniques and were then expected to return to their own villages and towns. France The crisis affected France a bit later than other countries, hitting hard around 1931.While the 1920s grew at the very strong rate of 4.43% per year, the 1930s rate fell to only 0.63%. The depression was relatively mild: unemployment peaked under 5%, the fall in production was at most 20% below the 1929 output; there was no banking crisis. However, the depression had drastic effects on the local economy, and partly explains theFebruary 6, 1934 riotsand even more the formation of thePopular Front, led bySFIO socialist leaderLéon Blum, which won the elections in 1936. Ultra-nationalist groups also saw increased popularity, though democracy prevailed intoWorld War II. France's relatively high degree of self-sufficiency meant the damage was considerably less than in neighbouring states like Germany. Germany The Great Depression hit Germany hard. The impact of theWall Street Crashforced American banks to end the new loans that had been funding the repayments under theDawes Planand theYoung Plan. The financial crisis escalated out of control in mid-1931, starting with the collapse of theCredit Anstaltin Vienna in May.This put heavy pressure on Germany, which was already in political turmoil with the rise in violence ofnational socialistandcommunistmovements, as well as with investor nervousness at harsh government financial policies,investors withdrew their short-term money from Germany as confidence spiraled downward. The Reichsbank lost 150 million marks in the first week of June, 540 million in the second, and 150 million in two days, 19–20 June. Collapse was at hand. U.S. President Herbert Hoover called for a moratorium on payment of war reparations. This angered Paris, which depended on a steady flow of German payments, but it slowed the crisis down, and the moratorium was agreed to in July 1931. An international conference in London later in July produced no agreements, but on 19 August, a standstill agreement froze Germany's foreign liabilities for six months. Germany received emergency funding from private banks in New York as well as the Bank of International Settlements and the Bank of England. The funding only slowed the process. Industrial failures began in Germany, a major bank closed in July, and a two-day holiday for all German banks was declared. Business failures became more frequent in July, and spread to Romania and Hungary. In 1932, 90% of German reparation payments were cancelled (in the 1950s, Germany repaid all its missed reparations debts). Widespread unemployment reached 25%, as every sector was hurt. The government did not increase government spending to deal with Germany's growing crisis, as they were afraid, that a high-spending policy could lead to a return of thehyperinflationthat had affected Germany in 1923. Germany'sWeimar Republicwas hit hard by the depression, as American loans to help rebuild the German economy now stopped.The unemployment rate reached nearly 30% in 1932. The German political landscape was dramatically altered, leading toAdolf Hitler's rise to power. TheNazi Partyrose from being peripheral to winning 18.3% of the vote in theSeptember 1930 election, and theCommunist Partyalso made gains, while moderate forces, like theSocial Democratic Party, theDemocratic Party, and thePeople's Partylost seats. The next two years were marked by increased street violence between Nazis and Communists, while governments under PresidentPaul von Hindenburgincreasingly relied onrule by decree, bypassing theReichstag.Hitler ran for the Presidency in 1932, and while he lost to the incumbent Hindenburg in the election, it marked a point during which both Nazi Party and the Communist parties rose in the years following the crash to altogether possess a Reichstag majority following thegeneral election in July 1932.Although the Nazis lost seats inNovember 1932 election, they remained the largest party, and Hitler was appointed as Chancellor the following January. The government formation deal was designed to give Hitler's conservative coalition partners many checks on his power, but over the next few months, the Nazis manoeuvred to consolidate a single-party dictatorship. Hitler followed an economic policy ofautarky, creating a network of client states and economic allies in central Europe and Latin America. By cutting wages and taking control of labor unions, plus public works spending, unemployment fell significantly by 1935. Large-scale military spending played a major role in the recovery.The policies had the effect of driving up the cost of food imports and depleting foreign currency reserves, leading to economic impasse by 1936. Nazi Germany faced a choice of either reversing course or pressing ahead with rearmament and autarky. Hitler chose the latter route, which, according toIan Kershaw, \"could only be partially accomplished without territorial expansion\" and therefore war. Greece The reverberations of the Great Depression hit Greece in 1932. TheBank of Greecetried to adopt deflationary policies to stave off the crises that were going on in other countries, but these largely failed. For a brief period, the drachma was pegged to the U.S. dollar, but this was unsustainable given the country's large trade deficit and the only long-term effects of this were Greece's foreign exchange reserves being almost totally wiped out in 1932. Remittances from abroad declined sharply, and the value of the drachma began to plummet from 77 drachmas to the dollar in March 1931 to 111 drachmas to the dollar in April 1931. This was especially harmful to Greece, as the country relied on imports from the UK, France, and the Middle East for many necessities. Greece went off the gold standard in April 1932, and declared a moratorium on all interest payments. The country also adopted protectionist policies, such as import quotas, which several European countries also did during the period. Protectionist policies coupled with a weak drachma and the stifling of imports allowed the Greek industry to expand during the Great Depression. In 1939, the Greek industrial output was 179% that of 1928. These industries were for the most part \"built on sand\", as one report of the Bank of Greece put it, as without massive protection, they would not have been able to survive. Despite the global depression, Greece managed to suffer comparatively little, averaging an average growth rate of 3.5% from 1932 to 1939. The dictatorial regime ofIoannis Metaxastook over the Greek government in 1936, and economic growth was strong in the years leading up to the Second World War. Iceland Icelandic post-World War I prosperity came to an end with the outbreak of the Great Depression. The Depression hit Iceland hard, as the value of exports plummeted. The total value of Icelandic exports fell from 74 million kronur in 1929 to 48 million in 1932, and was not to rise again to the pre-1930 level until after 1939.Government interference in the economy increased: \"Imports were regulated, trade with foreign currency was monopolized by state-owned banks, and loan capital was largely distributed by state-regulated funds\".Due to the outbreak of theSpanish Civil War, which cut Iceland's exports of saltfish by half, the Depression lasted in Iceland until the outbreak of World War II (when prices for fish exports soared). India How much India was affected, has been hotly debated. Historians have argued, that the Great Depression slowed long-term industrial development.Apart from two sectors —juteand coal — the economy was little-affected. However, there were major negative impacts on the jute industry, as world demand fell and prices plunged.Otherwise, conditions were fairly stable. Local markets in agriculture and small-scale industry showed modest gains. Ireland Frank Barry andMary E. Dalyhave argued that: Italy The Great Depression hitItalyvery hard.As industries came close to failure they were bought out by the banks in a largely illusionary bail-out—the assets used to fund the purchases were largely worthless. This led to a financial crisis peaking in 1932 and major government intervention. TheIndustrial Reconstruction Institute(IRI) was formed in January 1933 and took control of the bank-owned companies, suddenly giving Italy the largest state-owned industrial sector in Europe (excluding the USSR). IRI did rather well with its new responsibilities—restructuring, modernising and rationalising as much as it could. It was a significant factor in post-1945 development. But it took the Italian economy until 1935 to recover the manufacturing levels of 1930—a position that was only 60% better than that of 1913. Japan The Great Depression did not strongly affect Japan. The Japanese economy shrank by 8% during 1929–31. Japan's Finance MinisterTakahashi Korekiyowas the first to implement what have come to be identified asKeynesianeconomic policies: first, by large fiscal stimulus involvingdeficit spending; and second, by devaluingthe currency. Takahashi used the Bank of Japan to sterilize the deficit spending and minimize resulting inflationary pressures. Econometric studies have identified the fiscal stimulus as especially effective. The devaluation of the currency had an immediate effect. Japanese textiles began to displace British textiles in export markets. The deficit spending proved to be most profound and went into the purchase of munitions for the armed forces. By 1933, Japan was already out of the depression. By 1934, Takahashi realized that the economy was in danger of overheating, and to avoid inflation, moved to reduce the deficit spending that went towards armaments and munitions. This resulted in a strong and swift negative reaction from nationalists, especially those in the army, culminating in his assassination in the course of theFebruary 26 Incident. This had achilling effecton all civilian bureaucrats in the Japanese government. From 1934, the military's dominance of the government continued to grow. Instead of reducing deficit spending, the government introduced price controls and rationing schemes that reduced, but did not eliminate inflation, which remained a problem until the end of World War II. The deficit spending had a transformative effect on Japan. Japan's industrial production doubled during the 1930s. Further, in 1929 the list of the largest firms in Japan was dominated by light industries, especially textile companies (many of Japan's automakers, such asToyota, have their roots in the textile industry). By 1940light industryhad been displaced by heavy industry as the largest firms inside the Japanese economy. Latin America Because of high levels of U.S. investment in Latin American economies, they were severely damaged by the Depression. Within the region,Chile,BoliviaandPeruwere particularly badly affected. Before the 1929 crisis, links between the world economy andLatin Americaneconomies had been established through American and British investment in Latin American exports to the world. As a result, Latin Americans export industries felt the depression quickly. World prices for commodities such as wheat, coffee and copper plunged. Exports from all of Latin America to the U.S. fell in value from $1.2 billion in 1929 to $335 million in 1933, rising to $660 million in 1940. But on the other hand, the depression led the area governments to develop new local industries and expand consumption and production. Following the example of the New Deal, governments in the area approved regulations and created or improved welfare institutions that helped millions of new industrial workers to achieve a better standard of living. Netherlands From roughly 1931 to 1937, theNetherlandssuffered a deep and exceptionally long depression. This depression was partly caused by the after-effects of the American stock-market crash of 1929, and partly by internal factors in the Netherlands. Government policy, especially the very late dropping of the Gold Standard, played a role in prolonging the depression. The Great Depression in the Netherlands led to some political instability and riots, and can be linked to the rise of the Dutch fascist political partyNSB. The depression in the Netherlands eased off somewhat at the end of 1936, when the government finally dropped the Gold Standard, but real economic stability did not return until after World War II. New Zealand New Zealandwas especially vulnerable to worldwide depression, as it relied almost entirely on agricultural exports to the United Kingdom for its economy. The drop in exports led to a lack of disposable income from the farmers, who were the mainstay of the local economy. Jobs disappeared and wages plummeted, leaving people desperate and charities unable to cope. Work relief schemes were the only government support available to the unemployed, the rate of which by the early 1930s was officially around 15%, but unofficially nearly twice that level (official figures excluded Māori and women). In 1932, riots occurred among the unemployed in three of the country's main cities (Auckland,Dunedin, andWellington). Many were arrested or injured through the tough official handling of these riots by police and volunteer \"special constables\". Persia In Iran, then known as theImperial State of Persia, the Great Depression had negative impacts on its exports. In 1933 a new concession was signed with theAnglo-Persian Oil Company. Poland Poland was affected by the Great Depression longer and stronger than other countries due to inadequate economic response of the government and the pre-existing economic circumstances of the country. At that time, Poland was under the authoritarian rule ofSanacja, whose leader,Józef Piłsudski, was opposed to leaving thegold standarduntil his death in 1935. As a result, Poland was unable to perform a more active monetary and budget policy. Additionally, Poland was a relatively young country that emerged merely 10 years earlier after being partitioned betweenGerman,Russianand theAustro-Hungarian Empiresfor over a century. Prior to independence, the Russian part exported 91% of its exports to Russia proper, while the German part exported 68% to Germany proper. After independence, these markets were largely lost, as Russia transformed intoUSSRthat was mostly a closed economy, and Germany was in a tariff war with Poland throughout the 1920s. Industrial productionfell significantly: in 1932hard coalproduction was down 27% compared to 1928,steelproduction was down 61%, andiron oreproduction noted an 89% decrease.On the other hand, electrotechnical, leather, and paper industries noted marginal increases in production output. Overall, industrial production decreased by 41%.A distinct feature of the Great Depression in Poland was the de-concentration of industry, as larger conglomerates were less flexible and paid their workers more than smaller ones. Unemployment raterose significantly (up to 43%) while nominalwagesfell by 51% in 1933 and 56% in 1934, relative to 1928. However, real wages fell less due to the government's policy of decreasing cost of living, particularly food expenditures (food prices were down by 65% in 1935 compared to 1928 price levels). Material conditions deprivation led to strikes, some of them violent or violently pacified – like inSanok(March of the Hungry in Sanok6 March 1930),Lesko county(Lesko uprising21 June – 9 July 1932) andZawiercie(Bloody Friday (1930)18 April 1930). To adapt to the crisis, Polish government employed deflation methods such as highinterest rates, credit limits and budgetausterityto keep afixed exchange ratewith currencies tied to the gold standard. Only in late 1932 did the government effect a plan to fight the economic crisis.Part of the plan was masspublic worksscheme, employing up to 100,000 people in 1935.After Piłsudski's death, in 1936 the gold standard regime was relaxed, and launching the development of theCentral Industrial Regionkicked off the economy, to over 10% annual growth rate in the 1936–1938 period. Portugal Already under the rule of a dictatorial junta, theDitadura Nacional, Portugal suffered no turbulent political effects of the Depression, althoughAntónio de Oliveira Salazar, already appointed Minister of Finance in 1928 greatly expanded his powers and in 1932 rose toPrime Minister of Portugalto found theEstado Novo, anauthoritariancorporatistdictatorship. With the budget balanced in 1929, the effects of the depression were relaxed through harsh measures towardsbudget balanceandautarky, causing social discontent but stability and, eventually, an impressive economic growth. Puerto Rico In the years immediately preceding the depression, negative developments in the island and world economies perpetuated an unsustainable cycle of subsistence for many Puerto Rican workers. The 1920s brought a dramatic drop in Puerto Rico's two primary exports, raw sugar and coffee, due to a devastating hurricane in 1928 and the plummeting demand from global markets in the latter half of the decade. 1930 unemployment on the island was roughly 36% and by 1933 Puerto Rico's per capita income dropped 30% (by comparison, unemployment in the United States in 1930 was approximately 8% reaching a height of 25% in 1933).To provide relief and economic reform, the United States government and Puerto Rican politicians such asCarlos ChardonandLuis Muñoz Maríncreated and administered first the Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration (PRERA) 1933 and then in 1935, thePuerto Rico Reconstruction Administration(PRRA). Romania Romania was also affected by the Great Depression. South Africa As world trade slumped, demand for South African agricultural and mineral exports fell drastically. TheCarnegie Commission on Poor Whiteshad concluded in 1931 that nearly one-third ofAfrikanerslived as paupers. The social discomfort caused by the depression was a contributing factor in the 1933 split between the \"gesuiwerde\" (purified) and \"smelter\" (fusionist) factions within theNational Partyand the National Party's subsequent fusion with theSouth African Party.Unemployment programs were begun that focused primarily on the white population. Soviet Union The Soviet Union was the only majorsocialist statein the world and had very little international trade. Its economy was not tied to the rest of the world and was mostly unaffected by the Great Depression. At the time of the Depression, the Soviet economy was growing steadily, fuelled by intensive investment in heavy industry. The apparent economic success of the Soviet Union at a time when the capitalist world was in crisis led many Western intellectuals to view the Soviet system favorably. Jennifer Burns wrote: As the Great Depression ground on and unemployment soared, intellectuals began unfavorably comparing their faltering capitalist economy to Russian Communism. Karl Marx had predicted that capitalism would fall under the weight of its own contradictions, and now with the economic crisis gripping the West, his predictions seem to be coming true. By contrast Russia seemed an emblematic modern nation, making the staggering leap from a feudal past to an industrial future with ease. The early years of the Great Depression caused mass immigration to the Soviet Union, including 10,000 to 15,000 from Finland and thousands more from Poland, Sweden, Germany, and other nearby countries. The Kremlin was at first happy to help these immigrants settle, believing that they were victims of capitalism who had come to help the Soviet cause. However, by 1933, the worst of the Depression had come to an end in many countries, and word had been received that illegal migrants to the Soviet Union were being sent to Siberia. These factors caused immigration to the Soviet Union to slow significantly, and roughly a tenth of Finnish migrants returned to Finland, either legally or illegally. Spain Spain had a relatively isolated economy, with high protective tariffs and was not one of the main countries affected by the Depression. The banking system held up well, as did agriculture. By far the most serious negative impact came after 1936 from the heavy destruction of infrastructure and manpower by thecivil war, 1936–39. Many talented workers were forced into permanent exile. By staying neutral in the Second World War, and selling to both sides, the economy avoided further disasters. Sweden By the 1930s, Sweden had what America'sLife magazinecalled in 1938 the \"world's highest standard of living\". Sweden was also the first country worldwide to recover completely from the Great Depression. Taking place amid a short-lived government and a less-than-a-decade old Swedish democracy, events such as those surroundingIvar Kreuger(who eventually committed suicide) remain infamous in Swedish history. TheSocial DemocratsunderPer Albin Hanssonformed their first long-lived government in 1932 based on stronginterventionistandwelfare statepolicies, monopolizing the office ofPrime Ministeruntil 1976 with the sole and short-lived exception ofAxel Pehrsson-Bramstorp's \"summer cabinet\" in 1936. During forty years of hegemony, it was the most successful political party in the history of Western liberal democracy. Thailand In Thailand, then known as theKingdom of Siam, the Great Depression contributed to the end of theabsolute monarchy of King Rama VIIin theSiamese revolution of 1932. Turkey Turkey was badly affected by the Great Depression and it came at a time when the state was still reforming its economic policy following the end of theOttomanera. Exports ofgrapes, which held an important share, were down considerably which had already started beforehand due to drought. United Kingdom The World Depression broke at a time when the United Kingdom had still not fully recovered from the effects of theFirst World Warmore than a decade earlier. The country was driven off thegold standardin 1931. The world financial crisis began to overwhelm Britain in 1931; investors around the world started withdrawing their gold from London at the rate of £2.5 million per day.Credits of £25 million each from the Bank of France and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and an issue of £15 million fiduciary note slowed, but did not reverse the British crisis. The financial crisis now caused a major political crisis in Britain in August 1931. With deficits mounting, the bankers demanded a balanced budget; the divided cabinet of Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald's Labour government agreed; it proposed to raise taxes, cut spending and most controversially, to cut unemployment benefits by 20%. The attack on welfare was totally unacceptable to the Labour movement. MacDonald wanted to resign, but King George V insisted he remain and form an all-party coalition \"National Government\". The Conservative and Liberals parties signed on, along with a small cadre of Labour, but the vast majority of Labour leaders denounced MacDonald as a traitor for leading the new government. Britain went off the gold standard, and suffered relatively less than other major countries in the Great Depression. In the 1931 British election, the Labour Party was virtually destroyed, leaving MacDonald as prime minister for a largely Conservative coalition. The effects on the northern industrial areas of Britain were immediate and devastating, as demand for traditional industrial products collapsed. By the end of 1930 unemployment had more than doubled from 1 million to 2.5 million (20% of the insured workforce), and exports had fallen in value by 50%. In 1933, 30% ofGlaswegianswere unemployed due to the severe decline in heavy industry. In some towns and cities in the north east, unemployment reached as high as 70% as shipbuilding fell by 90%.TheNational Hunger Marchof September–October 1932 was the largestof a series ofhunger marchesin Britain in the 1920s and 1930s. About 200,000 unemployed men were sent to the work camps, which continued in operation until 1939. In the less industrialMidlandsandSouthern England, the effects were short-lived and the later 1930s were a prosperous time. Growth in modern manufacture of electrical goods and a boom in the motor car industry was helped by a growing southern population and an expandingmiddle class. Agriculture also saw a boom during this period. United States Hoover's first measures to combat the depression were based on encouraging businesses not to reduce their workforce or cut wages but businesses had little choice: wages were reduced, workers were laid off, and investments postponed. In June 1930, Congress approved theSmoot–Hawley Tariff Actwhich raised tariffs on thousands of imported items. The intent of the Act was to encourage the purchase of American-made products by increasing the cost of imported goods, while raising revenue for the federal government and protecting farmers. Most countries that traded with the U.S. increased tariffs on American-made goods in retaliation, reducing international trade, and worsening the Depression. In 1931, Hoover urged bankers to set up theNational Credit Corporationso that big banks could help failing banks survive. But bankers were reluctant to invest in failing banks, and the National Credit Corporation did almost nothing to address the problem. By 1932, unemployment had reached 23.6%, peaking in early 1933 at 25%.Those releasing from prison during this period had an especially difficult time finding employment given the stigma of their criminal records, which often led to recidivism out of economic desperation.Drought persisted in the agricultural heartland, businesses and families defaulted on record numbers of loans, and more than 5,000 banks had failed.Hundreds of thousands of Americans found themselves homeless, and began congregating inshanty towns– dubbed \"Hoovervilles\" – that began to appear across the country.In response, President Hoover and Congress approved theFederal Home Loan Bank Act, to spur new home construction, and reduce foreclosures. The final attempt of the Hoover Administration to stimulate the economy was the passage of theEmergency Relief and Construction Act(ERA) which included funds forpublic worksprograms such as dams and the creation of theReconstruction Finance Corporation(RFC) in 1932. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was a Federal agency with the authority to lend up to $2 billion to rescue banks and restore confidence in financial institutions. But $2 billion was not enough to save all the banks, andbank runsand bank failures continued.Quarter by quarter the economy went downhill, as prices, profits and employment fell, leading to thepolitical realignmentin 1932 that brought to powerFranklin Delano Roosevelt. Shortly after PresidentFranklin Delano Rooseveltwas inaugurated in 1933, drought and erosion combined to cause theDust Bowl, shifting hundreds of thousands ofdisplaced personsoff their farms in the Midwest. From his inauguration onward, Roosevelt argued that restructuring of the economy would be needed to prevent another depression or avoid prolonging the current one. New Deal programs sought to stimulatedemandand provide work and relief for the impoverished through increased government spending and the institution of financial reforms. During a \"bank holiday\" that lasted five days, theEmergency Banking Actwas signed into law. It provided for a system of reopening sound banks underTreasurysupervision, with federal loans available if needed. TheSecurities Act of 1933comprehensively regulated the securities industry. This was followed by theSecurities Exchange Act of 1934which created theSecurities and Exchange Commission. Although amended, key provisions of both Acts are still in force. Federal insurance ofbank depositswas provided by theFDIC, and theGlass–Steagall Act. TheAgricultural Adjustment Actprovided incentives to cut farm production in order to raise farming prices. TheNational Recovery Administration(NRA) made a number of sweeping changes to the American economy. It forced businesses to work with government to set price codes through the NRA to fightdeflationary\"cut-throat competition\" by the setting of minimum prices andwages, labor standards, and competitive conditions in all industries. It encouraged unions that would raise wages, to increase thepurchasing powerof theworking class. The NRAwas deemed unconstitutionalby theSupreme Court of the United Statesin 1935. These reforms, together with several other relief and recovery measures, are called theFirst New Deal. Economic stimulus was attempted through a newalphabet soup of agenciesset up in 1933 and 1934 and previously extant agencies such as theReconstruction Finance Corporation. By 1935, the \"Second New Deal\" addedSocial Security(which was later considerably extended through theFair Deal), a jobs program for the unemployed (theWorks Progress Administration, WPA) and, through theNational Labor Relations Board, a strong stimulus to the growth of labor unions. In 1929, federal expenditures constituted only 3% of theGDP. The national debt as a proportion of GNP rose under Hoover from 20% to 40%. Roosevelt kept it at 40% until the war began, when it soared to 128%. By 1936, the maineconomic indicatorshad regained the levels of the late 1920s, except for unemployment, which remained high at 11%, although this was considerably lower than the 25% unemployment rate seen in 1933. In the spring of 1937, American industrial production exceeded that of 1929 and remained level until June 1937. In June 1937, the Roosevelt administration cut spending and increased taxation in an attempt to balance the federal budget.The American economy then took a sharp downturn, lasting for 13 months through most of 1938. Industrial production fell almost 30 per cent within a few months and production ofdurable goodsfell even faster. Unemployment jumped from 14.3% in 1937 to 19.0% in 1938, rising from 5 million to more than 12 million in early 1938.Manufacturing output fell by 37% from the 1937 peak and was back to 1934 levels. Producers reduced their expenditures on durable goods, and inventories declined, but personal income was only 15% lower than it had been at the peak in 1937. As unemployment rose, consumers' expenditures declined, leading to further cutbacks in production. By May 1938 retail sales began to increase, employment improved, and industrial production turned up after June 1938.After the recovery from the Recession of 1937–38, conservatives were able to form a bipartisanconservative coalitionto stop further expansion of the New Deal and, when unemployment dropped to 2% in the early 1940s, they abolished WPA, CCC and the PWA relief programs. Social Security remained in place. Between 1933 and 1939, federal expenditure tripled, and Roosevelt's critics charged that he was turning America into asocialiststate.The Great Depression was a main factor in the implementation ofsocial democracyandplanned economiesin European countries after World War II (seeMarshall Plan).Keynesianismgenerally remained the most influential economic school in the United States and in parts of Europe until the periods between the 1970s and the 1980s, whenMilton Friedmanand otherneoliberaleconomists formulated and propagated the newly created theories ofneoliberalismand incorporated them into theChicago School of Economicsas an alternative approach to the study of economics. Neoliberalism went on to challenge the dominance of the Keynesian school of Economics in the mainstream academia and policy-making in the United States, having reached its peak in popularity in the election of the presidency ofRonald Reaganin the United States, andMargaret Thatcherin theUnited Kingdom. Literature And the great owners, who must lose their land in an upheaval, the great owners with access to history, with eyes to read history and to know the great fact: when property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. And that companion fact: when a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need. And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed. –John Steinbeck,The Grapes of Wrath The Great Depression has been the subject of much writing, as authors have sought to evaluate an era that caused both financial and emotional trauma. Perhaps the most noteworthy and famous novel written on the subject isThe Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and written byJohn Steinbeck, who was awarded thePulitzer Prizefor the work, and in 1962 was awarded theNobel Prizefor literature. The novel focuses on a poor family of sharecroppers who are forced from their home as drought, economic hardship, and changes in theagricultural industryoccur during the Great Depression. Steinbeck'sOf Mice and Menis another important novella about a journey during the Great Depression. Additionally, Harper Lee'sTo Kill a Mockingbirdis set during the Great Depression. Margaret Atwood's Booker prize-winningThe Blind Assassinis likewise set in the Great Depression, centering on a privileged socialite's love affair with a Marxist revolutionary. The era spurred the resurgence of social realism, practiced by many who started their writing careers on relief programs, especially theFederal Writers' Projectin the U.S.Nonfiction works from this time also capture important themes. The 1933 memoirPrison Days and NightsbyVictor Folke Nelsonprovides insight into criminal justice ramifications of the Great Depression, especially in regard to patterns of recidivism due to lack of economic opportunity. A number of works for younger audiences are also set during the Great Depression, among them theKit Kittredgeseries ofAmerican Girlbooks written byValerie Trippand illustrated byWalter Rane, released to tie in with the dolls and playsets sold by the company. The stories, which take place during the early to mid 1930s inCincinnati, focuses on the changes brought by the Depression to the titular character's family and how the Kittredges dealt with it.A theatrical adaptation of the series entitledKit Kittredge: An American Girlwas later released in 2008 to positive reviews.Similarly,Christmas After All, part of theDear Americaseries of books for older girls, take place in 1930sIndianapolis; whileKit Kittredgeis told in a third-person viewpoint,Christmas After Allis in the form of a fictional journal as told by the protagonist Minnie Swift as she recounts her experiences during the era, especially when her family takes in an orphan cousin from Texas. Naming The term \"The Great Depression\" is most frequently attributed to British economistLionel Robbins, whose 1934 bookThe Great Depressionis credited with formalizing the phrase,though Hoover is widely credited with popularizing the term,informally referring to the downturn as a depression, with such uses as \"Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement\" (December 1930, Message to Congress), and \"I need not recount to you that the world is passing through a great depression\" (1931). The term \"depression\" to refer to an economic downturn dates to the 19th century, when it was used by varied Americans and British politicians and economists. The first major American economic crisis, thePanic of 1819, was described by then-presidentJames Monroeas \"a depression\",and the most recent economic crisis, theDepression of 1920–21, had been referred to as a \"depression\" by then-presidentCalvin Coolidge. Financial crises were traditionally referred to as \"panics\", most recently the majorPanic of 1907, and the minorPanic of 1910–11, though the 1929 crisis was called \"The Crash\", and the term \"panic\" has since fallen out of use. At the time of the Great Depression, the term \"The Great Depression\" was already used to refer to the period 1873–96 (in the United Kingdom), or more narrowly 1873–79 (in the United States), which has retroactively been renamed theLong Depression. Other \"great depressions\" Thecollapse of the Soviet Union, and the breakdown of economic ties which followed, led to a severe economic crisis and catastrophic fall in thestandards of livingin the 1990s inpost-Soviet statesand the formerEastern Bloc,which was even worse than the Great Depression.Even before Russia'sfinancial crisisof 1998, Russia's GDP was half of what it had been in the early 1990s. Comparison with the Great Recession Theworldwide economic decline after 2008has been compared to the 1930s. Thecauses of the Great Recessionseem similar to the Great Depression, but significant differences exist. The then-chairman of theFederal Reserve,Ben Bernanke, had extensively studied the Great Depression as part of his doctoral work at MIT, and implemented policies to manipulate the money supply and interest rates in ways that were not done in the 1930s. Bernanke's policies will undoubtedly be analyzed and scrutinized in the years to come, as economists debate the wisdom of his choices. In 2011, one journalist contrasted the Great Depression of the 1930s as opposed to thelate-2000s recession. If we contrast the 1930s with the Crash of 2008 where gold went through the roof, it is clear that the U.S. dollar on the gold standard was a completely different animal in comparison to the fiat free-floating U.S. dollar currency we have today. Both currencies in 1929 and 2008 were the U.S. dollar, but analogously it is as if one was aSaber-toothed tigerand the other is aBengal tiger; they are two completely different animals. Where we have experienced inflation since the Crash of 2008, the situation was much different in the 1930s when deflation set in. Unlike the deflation of the early 1930s, the U.S. economy currently appears to be in a \"liquidity trap\", or a situation where monetary policy is unable to stimulate an economy back to health.In terms of the stock market, nearly three years after the 1929 crash, theDJIAdropped 8.4% on 12 August 1932. Where we have experienced great volatility with large intraday swings in the past two months, in 2011, we have not experienced any record-shattering daily percentage drops to the tune of the 1930s. Where many of us may have that '30s feeling, in light of the DJIA, the CPI, and the national unemployment rate, we are simply not living in the '30s. Some individuals may feel as if we are living in a depression, but for many others the currentglobal financial crisissimply does not feel like a depression akin to the 1930s. 1928 and 1929 were the times in the 20th century that thewealth gapreached such skewed extremes;half the unemployed had been out of work for over six months, something that was not repeated until the late-2000s recession. 2007 and 2008 eventually saw the world reach new levels of wealth gap inequality that rivalled the years of 1928 and 1929. See also General References Further reading Global Europe United States and Canada Other areas Focus on economic theory or econometrics Comprehensive Employment and Training Act"],"string":"[\n \"World War I World War Ior theFirst World War(28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as theGreat War, was aglobal conflictbetween two coalitions: theAllies(or Entente) and theCentral Powers. Fighting took place mainly inEuropeand theMiddle East, as well as in parts ofAfricaand theAsia-Pacific, and in Europe was characterised bytrench warfareand the use ofartillery, machine guns, andchemical weapons(gas). World War I was one of thedeadliest conflicts in history, resulting in an estimated9 million military dead and 23 million wounded, plus up to 8 million civilian deaths from causes includinggenocide. The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in theSpanish flupandemic, which killed millions. Thecauses of World War Iincluded the rise ofGermanyanddecline of the Ottoman Empire, which disturbed the long-standingbalance of powerin Europe, as well as economic competition between nations triggered byindustrialisationandimperialism. Growing tensions between thegreat powersand in theBalkansreacheda breaking pointon 28 June 1914, when aBosnian SerbnamedGavrilo Principassassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to theAustro-Hungarianthrone. Austria-Hungary heldSerbiaresponsible, and declared war on 28 July. AfterRussiamobilised in Serbia's defence, Germany declared war on Russia; by 4 August,Franceand theUnited Kingdomwere drawn in, with the Ottomans joining in November.Germany's strategy in 1914was to quickly defeat France, then to transfer its forces to the east. However, this failed, and by the end of the year theWestern Frontconsisted of a continuous line of trenches stretching from the English Channel to Switzerland. TheEastern Frontwas more dynamic, but neither side gained a decisive advantage, despite costly offensives.Italy,Bulgaria,Romania,Greeceand others joined in from 1915 onward. In April 1917, theUnited States entered the waron the Allied side following Germany's resumption ofunrestricted submarine warfareagainst Atlantic shipping. Later that year, theBolsheviksseized power in the RussianOctober Revolution;Soviet Russiasignedan armisticewith the Central Powers in December, followed bya separate peacein March 1918. That month, Germany launchedan offensive in the west, which despite initial successes left theGerman Armyexhausted and demoralised.A successful Allied counter-offensivefrom August 1918 caused a collapse of the German front line. By early November, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary had each signed armistices with the Allies, leaving Germany isolated. Facinga revolution at home,Kaiser WilhelmIIabdicated on 9 November, and the war ended with theArmistice of 11 November 1918. TheParis Peace Conferenceof 1919–1920 imposed settlements on the defeated powers, most notably theTreaty of Versailles, by which Germany lost significant territories, was disarmed, and was required to pay largewar reparationsto the Allies. The dissolution of the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires redrew national boundaries and resulted in the creation of new independent states, includingPoland,Finland, theBaltic states,Czechoslovakia, andYugoslavia. TheLeague of Nationswas established to maintain world peace, but its failure to manage instability during theinterwar periodcontributed to the outbreak ofWorld War IIin 1939. Names BeforeWorld War II, the events of 1914–1918 were generally known as theGreat Waror simply theWorld War.In August 1914, the magazineThe Independentwrote \\\"This is the Great War. It names itself\\\".In October 1914, the Canadian magazineMaclean'ssimilarly wrote, \\\"Some wars name themselves. This is the Great War.\\\"Contemporary Europeans also referred to it as \\\"the war to end war\\\" and it was also described as \\\"the war to end all wars\\\" due to their perception of its unparalleled scale, devastation, and loss of life.The first recorded use of the termFirst World Warwas in September 1914 by German biologist and philosopherErnst Haeckelwho stated, \\\"There is no doubt that the course and character of the feared 'European War' ... will become the first world war in the full sense of the word.\\\" Background Political and military alliances For much of the 19th century, the major European powers maintained a tenuousbalance of power, known as theConcert of Europe.After 1848, this was challenged by Britain's withdrawal into so-calledsplendid isolation, thedecline of the Ottoman Empire,New Imperialism, and the rise ofPrussiaunderOtto von Bismarck. Victory in the 1870–1871Franco-Prussian Warallowed Bismarck toconsolidateaGerman Empire. Post-1871, the primary aim of French policy was toavengethis defeat,but by the early 1890s, this had switched to the expansion of theFrench colonial empire. In 1873, Bismarck negotiated theLeague of the Three Emperors, which includedAustria-Hungary,Russiaand Germany. After the 1877–1878Russo-Turkish War, the League was dissolved due to Austrian concerns over the expansion of Russian influence in theBalkans, an area they considered to be of vital strategic interest.Germanyand Austria-Hungary then formed the 1879Dual Alliance, which became theTriple Alliancewhen Italy joined in 1882.For Bismarck, the purpose of these agreements was to isolate France by ensuring the three Empires resolve any disputes between themselves. In 1887, Bismarck set up theReinsurance Treaty, a secret agreement between Germany and Russia to remain neutral if either were attacked by France or Austria-Hungary. For Bismarck, peace with Russia was the foundation of German foreign policy but in 1890, he was forced to retire byWilhelm II. The latter was persuaded not to renew the Reinsurance Treaty by his newChancellor,Leo von Caprivi.This gave France an opening to agree theFranco-Russian Alliancein 1894, which was then followed by the 1904Entente Cordialewith Britain. TheTriple Ententewas completed by the 1907Anglo-Russian Convention. While not formal alliances, by settlinglong-standing colonial disputes in Asiaand Africa, British support for France or Russia in any future conflict became a possibility.This was accentuated by British and Russian support for France against Germany during the 1911Agadir Crisis. Arms race German economic and industrial strength continued to expand rapidly post-1871. Backed by Wilhelm II, AdmiralAlfred von Tirpitzsought to use this growth to build anImperial German Navy, that could compete with the BritishRoyal Navy.This policy was based on the work of US naval authorAlfred Thayer Mahan, who argued that possession of ablue-water navywas vital for global power projection; Tirpitz had his books translated into German, while Wilhelm made them required reading for his advisors and senior military personnel. However, it was also an emotional decision, driven by Wilhelm's simultaneous admiration for the Royal Navy and desire to surpass it. Bismarck thought that the British would not interfere in Europe, as long as its maritime supremacy remained secure, but his dismissal in 1890 led to a change in policy and anAnglo-German naval arms racebegan.Despite the vast sums spent by Tirpitz, the launch ofHMSDreadnoughtin 1906 gave the British a technological advantage.Ultimately, the race diverted huge resources into creating a German navy large enough to antagonise Britain, but not defeat it; in 1911, ChancellorTheobald von Bethmann Hollwegacknowledged defeat, leading to theRüstungswendeor 'armaments turning point', when he switched expenditure from the navy to the army. This decision was not driven by a reduction in political tensions but by German concern over Russia's quick recovery from its defeat in theRusso-Japanese Warand subsequent1905 Russian Revolution. Economic reforms led to a significant post-1908 expansion of railways and transportation infrastructure, particularly in its western border regions.Since Germany and Austria-Hungary relied on faster mobilisation to compensate for their numerical inferiority compared to Russia, the threat posed by the closing of this gap was more important than competing with the Royal Navy. After Germany expanded its standing army by 170,000 troops in 1913, France extended compulsory military service from two to three years; similar measures were taken by theBalkan powersand Italy, which led to increased expenditure by theOttomansand Austria-Hungary. Absolute figures are difficult to calculate due to differences in categorising expenditure since they often omit civilian infrastructure projects like railways which had logistical importance and military use. It is known, however, that from 1908 to 1913, military spending by the six major European powers increased by over 50% in real terms. Conflicts in the Balkans The years before 1914 were marked by a series of crises in the Balkans, as other powers sought to benefit from the Ottoman decline. WhilePan-SlavicandOrthodoxRussia considered itself the protector ofSerbiaand otherSlavstates, they preferred the strategically vitalBosporusstraits to be controlled by a weak Ottoman government, rather than an ambitious Slav power likeBulgaria. Russia had ambitions in northeasternAnatoliawhile its clients had overlapping claims in the Balkans. These competing interests divided Russian policy-makers and added to regional instability. Austrian statesmen viewed the Balkans as essential for the continued existence of their Empire and saw Serbian expansion as a direct threat. The 1908–1909Bosnian Crisisbegan when Austria annexed the former Ottoman territory ofBosnia and Herzegovina, which ithad occupiedsince 1878. Timed to coincide with theBulgarian Declaration of Independencefrom the Ottoman Empire, this unilateral action was denounced by the European powers, but accepted as there was no consensus on how to resolve the situation. Some historians see this as a significant escalation, ending any chance of Austria cooperating with Russia in the Balkans, while also damaging diplomatic relations between Serbia and Italy. Tensions increased after the 1911–1912Italo-Turkish Wardemonstrated Ottoman weakness and led to the formation of theBalkan League, an alliance of Serbia, Bulgaria,Montenegro, andGreece.The League quickly overran most of the Ottomans' territory in the Balkans during the 1912–1913First Balkan War, much to the surprise of outside observers.The Serbian capture of ports on theAdriaticresulted in partial Austrian mobilisation, starting on 21 November 1912, including units along the Russian border inGalicia. TheRussian governmentdecided not to mobilise in response, unprepared to precipitate a war. The Great Powers sought to re-assert control through the 1913Treaty of London, which had created an independentAlbaniawhile enlarging the territories of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece. However, disputes between the victors sparked the 33-daySecond Balkan War, when Bulgaria attacked Serbia and Greece on 16 June 1913; it was defeated, losing most ofMacedoniato Serbia and Greece, andSouthern Dobrujato Romania.The result was that even countries which benefited from the Balkan Wars, such as Serbia and Greece, felt cheated of their \\\"rightful gains\\\", while for Austria it demonstrated the apparent indifference with which other powers viewed their concerns, including Germany.This complex mix of resentment, nationalism and insecurity helps explain why the pre-1914 Balkans became known as the \\\"powder keg of Europe\\\". Prelude Sarajevo assassination On 28 June 1914,Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to EmperorFranz Joseph I of Austria, visitedSarajevo, the capital of the recently annexedBosnia and Herzegovina.Cvjetko Popović,Gavrilo Princip,Nedeljko Čabrinović,Trifko Grabež,Vaso Čubrilović(Bosnian Serbs) andMuhamed Mehmedbašić(from theBosniakscommunity),from the movement known asYoung Bosnia, took up positions along the Archduke's motorcade route, to assassinate him. Supplied with arms by extremists within the SerbianBlack Handintelligence organisation, they hoped his death would free Bosnia from Austrian rule. Čabrinović threw agrenadeat the Archduke's car and injured two of his aides. The other assassins were also unsuccessful. An hour later, as Ferdinand was returning from visiting the injured officers in hospital, his car took a wrong turn into a street whereGavrilo Principwas standing. He fired two pistol shots, fatally wounding Ferdinand and his wifeSophie. According to historianZbyněk Zeman, in Vienna \\\"the event almost failed to make any impression whatsoever. On 28 and 29 June, the crowds listened to music and drank wine, as if nothing had happened.\\\"Nevertheless, the impact of the murder of the heir to the throne was significant, and has been described by historianChristopher Clarkas a \\\"9/11 effect, a terrorist event charged with historic meaning, transforming the political chemistry in Vienna\\\". Expansion of violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina Austro-Hungarian authorities encouraged subsequentanti-Serb riots in Sarajevo.Violent actions against ethnic Serbs were also organised outside Sarajevo, in other cities in Austro-Hungarian-controlled Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. Austro-Hungarian authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina imprisoned approximately 5,500 prominent Serbs, 700 to 2,200 of whom died in prison. A further 460 Serbs were sentenced to death. A predominantly Bosniak special militia known as theSchutzkorpswas established, and carried out the persecution of Serbs. July Crisis The assassination initiated the July Crisis, a month of diplomatic manoeuvring between Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, France and Britain. Believing that Serbian intelligence helped organise Franz Ferdinand's murder, Austrian officials wanted to use the opportunity to end their interference in Bosnia and saw war as the best way of achieving this.However, theForeign Ministryhad no solid proof of Serbian involvement.On 23July, Austria delivered anultimatumto Serbia, listing ten demands made intentionally unacceptable to provide an excuse for starting hostilities. Serbia ordered generalmobilizationon 25July, but accepted all the terms, except for those empowering Austrian representatives to suppress \\\"subversive elements\\\" inside Serbia, and take part in the investigation and trial of Serbians linked to the assassination.Claiming this amounted to rejection, Austria broke off diplomatic relations and ordered partial mobilisation the next day; on 28 July, they declared war on Serbia and began shellingBelgrade. Russia ordered general mobilization in support of Serbia on 30 July. Anxious to ensure backing from theSPDpolitical opposition by presenting Russia as the aggressor, German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg delayed the commencement of war preparations until 31 July.That afternoon, the Russian government were handed a note requiring them to \\\"cease all war measures against Germany and Austria-Hungary\\\" within 12 hours.A further German demand for neutrality was refused by the French who ordered general mobilization but delayed declaring war.TheGerman General Staffhad long assumed they faced a war on two fronts; theSchlieffen Planenvisaged using 80% of the army to defeat France, then switching to Russia. Since this required them to move quickly, mobilization orders were issued that afternoon.Once the German ultimatum to Russia expired on the morning of 1 August, the two countries were at war. At a meeting on 29 July, the British cabinet had narrowly decided its obligations to Belgium under the 1839Treaty of Londondid not require it to oppose a German invasion with military force; however, Prime MinisterAsquithand his senior Cabinet ministers were already committed to supporting France, the Royal Navy had been mobilised, and public opinion was strongly in favour of intervention.On 31 July, Britain sent notes to Germany and France, asking them to respect Belgian neutrality; France pledged to do so, but Germany did not reply.Aware of German plans to attack through Belgium, French Commander-in-ChiefJoseph Joffreasked his government for permission to cross the border and pre-empt such a move. To avoid violating Belgian neutrality, he was told any advance could come only after a German invasion.Instead, the French cabinet ordered its Army to withdraw 10 km behind the German frontier, to avoid provoking war. On 2 August,Germany occupied Luxembourgand exchanged fire with French units when German patrols entered French territory; on 3August, they declared war on France and demanded free passage across Belgium, which was refused. Early on the morning of 4August, the Germans invaded, andAlbert I of Belgiumcalled for assistance under theTreaty of London.Britain sent Germany an ultimatum demanding they withdraw from Belgium; when this expired at midnight, without a response, the two empires were at war. Progress of the war Opening hostilities Confusion among the Central Powers Germany promised to support Austria-Hungary's invasion of Serbia, but interpretations of what this meant differed. Previously tested deployment plans had been replaced early in 1914, but those had never been tested in exercises. Austro-Hungarian leaders believed Germany would cover its northern flank against Russia. Serbian campaign Beginning on 12 August, the Austrians and Serbs clashed at the battles of theCerandKolubara; over the next two weeks, Austrian attacks were repulsed with heavy losses. As a result, Austria had to keep sizeable forces on the Serbian front, weakening their efforts against Russia.Serbia's victory against Austria-Hungary in the 1914 invasion has been called one of the major upset victories of the twentieth century.In 1915, the campaign saw the first use ofanti-aircraft warfareafter an Austrian plane was shot down withground-to-airfire, as well as the firstmedical evacuationby the Serbian army. German offensive in Belgium and France Upon mobilisation, in accordance with theSchlieffen Plan, 80% of theGerman Armywas located on the Western Front, with the remainder acting as a screening force in the East. Rather than a direct attack across their shared frontier, the German right wing would sweep through theNetherlandsandBelgium, then swing south, encircling Paris and trapping the French army against the Swiss border. The plan's creator,Alfred von Schlieffen, head of theGerman General Stafffrom 1891 to 1906, estimated that this would take six weeks, after which the German army would transfer to the East and defeat the Russians. The plan was substantially modified by his successor,Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. Under Schlieffen, 85% of German forces in the west were assigned to the right wing, with the remainder holding along the frontier. By keeping his left-wing deliberately weak, he hoped to lure the French into an offensive into the \\\"lost provinces\\\" ofAlsace-Lorraine, which was the strategy envisaged by theirPlan XVII.However, Moltke grew concerned that the French might push too hard on his left flank and as the German Army increased in size from 1908 to 1914, he changed the allocation of forces between the two wings to 70:30.He also considered Dutch neutrality essential for German trade and cancelled the incursion into the Netherlands, which meant any delays in Belgium threatened the viability of the plan.HistorianRichard Holmesargues that these changes meant the right wing was not strong enough to achieve decisive success. The initial German advance in the West was very successful. By the end of August, the Allied left, which included theBritish Expeditionary Force(BEF), was infull retreat, and the French offensive in Alsace-Lorraine was a disastrous failure, with casualties exceeding 260,000.German planning provided broad strategic instructions while allowing army commanders considerable freedom in carrying them out at the front, butvon Kluckused this freedom to disobey orders, opening a gap between the German armies as they closed on Paris.The French army, reinforced by the British expeditionary corps, seized this opportunity to counter-attack and pushed the German army 40 to 80 km back. Both armies were then so exhausted that no decisive move could be implemented, so they settled in trenches, with the vain hope of breaking through as soon as they could build local superiority. In 1911, the RussianStavkaagreed with the French to attack Germany within fifteen days of mobilisation, ten days before the Germans had anticipated, although it meant the two Russian armies that enteredEast Prussiaon 17 August did so without many of their support elements. By the end of 1914, German troops held strong defensive positions inside France, controlled the bulk of France's domestic coalfields, and inflicted 230,000 more casualties than it lost itself. However, communications problems and questionable command decisions cost Germany the chance of a decisive outcome, while it had failed to achieve the primary objective of avoiding a long, two-front war.As was apparent to several German leaders, this amounted to a strategic defeat; shortly after theFirst Battle of the Marne,Crown Prince Wilhelmtold an American reporter \\\"We have lost the war. It will go on for a long time but lost it is already.\\\" Asia and the Pacific On 30 August 1914, New Zealandoccupied German Samoa(nowSamoa). On 11 September, theAustralian Naval and Military Expeditionary Forcelanded on the island ofNew Britain, then part ofGerman New Guinea. On 28 October, the German cruiserSMSEmdensank theRussian cruiserZhemchugin theBattle of Penang. Japan declared war on Germany before seizing territories in the Pacific, which later became theSouth Seas Mandate, as well as GermanTreaty portson the ChineseShandongpeninsula atTsingtao. After Vienna refused to withdraw its cruiserSMSKaiserin Elisabethfrom Tsingtao, Japan declared war on Austria-Hungary, and the ship was sunk in November 1914.Within a few months, Allied forces had seized all German territories in the Pacific, leaving only isolated commerce raiders and a few holdouts in New Guinea. African campaigns Some of the first clashes of the war involved British, French, and German colonial forces in Africa. On 6–7 August, French and British troops invaded the German protectorates ofTogolandandKamerun. On 10 August, German forces inSouth-West Africaattacked South Africa; sporadic and fierce fighting continued for the rest of the war. The German colonial forces inGerman East Africa, led by ColonelPaul von Lettow-Vorbeck, fought aguerrilla warfarecampaign and only surrendered two weeks after the armistice took effect in Europe. Indian support for the Allies Before the war, Germany had attempted to use Indian nationalism and pan-Islamism to its advantage, a policy continued post-1914 byinstigating uprisings in India, while theNiedermayer–Hentig Expeditionurged Afghanistan to join the war on the side of Central Powers. However, contrary to British fears of a revolt in India, the outbreak of the war saw a reduction in nationalist activity.Leaders from theIndian National Congressand other groups believed support for the British war effort would hastenIndian Home Rule, a promise allegedly made explicit in 1917 byEdwin Montagu, theSecretary of State for India. In 1914, theBritish Indian Armywas larger than the British Army itself, and between 1914 and 1918 an estimated 1.3 million Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In all, 140,000 soldiers served on the Western Front and nearly 700,000 in the Middle East, with 47,746 killed and 65,126 wounded.The suffering engendered by the war, as well as the failure of the British government to grant self-government to India afterward, bred disillusionment, resulting inthe campaign for full independenceled byMahatma Gandhi. Western Front 1914 to 1916 Trench warfare begins Pre-war military tactics that had emphasised open warfare and individual riflemen proved obsolete when confronted with conditions prevailing in 1914. Technological advances allowed the creation of strong defensive systems largely impervious to massed infantry advances, such asbarbed wire, machine guns and above all far more powerfulartillery, which dominated the battlefield and made crossing open ground extremely difficult.Both sides struggled to develop tactics for breaching entrenched positions without heavy casualties. In time, technology enabled the production of new offensive weapons, such asgas warfareand thetank. After theFirst Battle of the Marnein September 1914, Allied and German forces unsuccessfully tried to outflank each other, a series of manoeuvres later known as the \\\"Race to the Sea\\\". By the end of 1914, the opposing forces confronted each other along an uninterrupted line of entrenched positions from theChannelto the Swiss border.Since the Germans were normally able to choose where to stand, they generally held the high ground, while their trenches tended to be better built; those constructed by the French and English were initially considered \\\"temporary\\\", only needed until an offensive would destroy the German defences.Both sides tried to break the stalemate using scientific and technological advances. On 22 April 1915, at theSecond Battle of Ypres, the Germans (violating theHague Convention) usedchlorinegas for the first time on the Western Front. Several types of gas soon became widely used by both sides and though it never proved a decisive, battle-winning weapon, it became one of the most feared and best-remembered horrors of the war. Continuation of trench warfare In February 1916, the Germans attacked French defensive positions at theBattle of Verdun, lasting until December 1916. Casualties were greater for the French, but the Germans bled heavily as well, with anywhere from 700,000to 975,000casualties between the two combatants. Verdun became a symbol of French determination and self-sacrifice. TheBattle of the Sommewas an Anglo-French offensive from July to November 1916. Theopening dayon 1 July 1916 was the bloodiest single day in the history of theBritish Army, which suffered 57,500 casualties, including 19,200 dead. As a whole, the Somme offensive led to an estimated 420,000 British casualties, along with 200,000 French and 500,000 Germans.The diseases that emerged in the trenches were a major killer on both sides. The living conditions led to disease and infection, such astrench foot,lice,typhus,trench fever, and the 'Spanish flu'. Naval war At the start of the war, Germancruiserswere scattered across the globe, some of which were subsequently used to attack Alliedmerchant shipping. These were systematically hunted down by the Royal Navy, though not before causing considerable damage. One of the most successful was theSMSEmden, part of the GermanEast Asia Squadronstationed atQingdao, which seized or sank 15 merchantmen, a Russian cruiser and a French destroyer. Most of the squadron was returning to Germany when it sank two British armoured cruisers at theBattle of Coronelin November 1914, before being virtually destroyed at theBattle of the Falkland Islandsin December. TheSMSDresdenescaped with a few auxiliaries, but after theBattle of Más a Tierra, these too were either destroyed or interned. Soon after the outbreak of hostilities, Britain began a navalblockade of Germany. This proved effective in cutting off vital supplies, though it violated accepted international law.Britain also mined international waters which closed off entire sections of the ocean, even to neutral ships.Since there was limited response to this tactic, Germany expected a similar response to its unrestricted submarine warfare. TheBattle of Jutlandin May/June 1916 was the only full-scale clash of battleships during the war, and one of the largest in history. The clash was indecisive, though the Germans inflicted more damage than they received; thereafter the bulk of the GermanHigh Seas Fleetwas confined to port. GermanU-boatsattempted to cut the supply lines between North America and Britain.The nature ofsubmarine warfaremeant that attacks often came without warning, giving the crews of the merchant ships little hope of survival.The United States launched a protest, and Germany changed its rules of engagement. After the sinking of the passenger shipRMSLusitaniain 1915, Germany promised not to target passenger liners, while Britain armed its merchant ships, placing them beyond the protection of the \\\"cruiser rules\\\", which demanded warning and movement of crews to \\\"a place of safety\\\" (a standard that lifeboats did not meet).Finally, in early 1917, Germany adopted a policy ofunrestricted submarine warfare, realising the Americans would eventually enter the war.Germany sought to strangle Alliedsea lanesbefore the United States could transport a large army overseas, but, after initial successes, eventually failed to do so. The U-boat threat lessened in 1917, when merchant ships began travelling inconvoys, escorted bydestroyers. This tactic made it difficult for U-boats to find targets, which significantly lessened losses; after thehydrophoneanddepth chargeswere introduced, destroyers could potentially successfully attack a submerged submarine. Convoys slowed the flow of supplies since ships had to wait as convoys were assembled; the solution was an extensive program of building new freighters. Troopships were too fast for the submarines and did not travel the North Atlantic in convoys.The U-boats sunk more than 5,000 Allied ships, at the cost of 199 submarines. World War I also saw the first use ofaircraft carriersin combat, withHMSFuriouslaunchingSopwith Camelsin a successful raid against theZeppelinhangars atTondernin July 1918, as well asblimpsfor antisubmarine patrol. Southern theatres War in the Balkans Faced with Russia in the east, Austria-Hungary could spare only one-third of its army to attack Serbia. After suffering heavy losses, the Austrians briefly occupied the Serbian capital,Belgrade. A Serbian counter-attack in the Battle of Kolubara succeeded in driving them from the country by the end of 1914. For the first 10 months of 1915, Austria-Hungary used most of its military reserves to fight Italy. German and Austro-Hungarian diplomats scored a coup by persuading Bulgaria to join the attack on Serbia.The Austro-Hungarian provinces ofSlovenia, Croatia andBosniaprovided troops for Austria-Hungary. Montenegro allied itself with Serbia. Bulgaria declared war on Serbia on 14 October 1915 and joined in the attack by the Austro-Hungarian army under Mackensen's army of 250,000 that was already underway. Serbia was conquered in a little more than a month, as the Central Powers, now including Bulgaria, sent in 600,000 troops in total. The Serbian army, fighting on two fronts and facing certain defeat, retreated into northernAlbania. The Serbs suffered defeat in theBattle of Kosovo. Montenegro covered the Serbian retreat toward the Adriatic coast in theBattle of Mojkovacon 6–7 January 1916, but ultimately the Austrians also conquered Montenegro. The surviving Serbian soldiers were evacuated to Greece.After the conquest, Serbia was divided between Austro-Hungary and Bulgaria. In late 1915, a Franco-British force landed atSalonicain Greece to offer assistance and to pressure its government to declare war against the Central Powers. However, the pro-GermanKing Constantine Idismissed the pro-Allied government ofEleftherios Venizelosbefore the Allied expeditionary force arrived. The Macedonian front was at first mostly static. French and Serbian forces retook limited areas of Macedonia by recapturingBitolaon 19 November 1916 following the costlyMonastir offensive, which brought stabilisation of the front. Serbian and French troops finally made a breakthrough in September 1918 in theVardar offensive, after most German and Austro-Hungarian troops had been withdrawn. The Bulgarians were defeated at theBattle of Dobro Pole, and by 25 September British and French troops had crossed the border into Bulgaria proper as the Bulgarian army collapsed. Bulgaria capitulated four days later, on 29 September 1918.The German high command responded by despatching troops to hold the line, but these forces were too weak to re-establish a front. The disappearance of the Macedonian front meant that the road toBudapestand Vienna was now opened to Allied forces. Hindenburg and Ludendorff concluded that the strategic and operational balance had now shifted decidedly against theCentral Powersand, a day after the Bulgarian collapse, insisted on an immediate peace settlement. Ottoman Empire The Ottomans threatened Russia'sCaucasianterritories and Britain's communications with India via theSuez Canal. The Ottoman Empire took advantage of the European powers' preoccupation with the war and conducted large-scale ethnic cleansing of theArmenian,Greek, andAssyrianChristian populations—theArmenian genocide,Greek genocide, andSayforespectively. The British and French opened overseas fronts with theGallipoli(1915) andMesopotamian campaigns(1914). In Gallipoli, the Ottoman Empire successfully repelled the British, French, andAustralian and New Zealand Army Corps(ANZACs). InMesopotamia, by contrast, after the defeat of the British defenders in thesiege of Kutby the Ottomans (1915–1916), British Imperial forces reorganised and capturedBaghdadin March 1917. The British were aided in Mesopotamia by local Arab and Assyrian fighters, while the Ottomans employed localKurdishandTurcomantribes. TheSuez Canalwas defended from Ottoman attacks in 1915 and 1916; in August 1916, a German and Ottoman force was defeated at theBattle of Romaniby theANZAC Mounted Divisionand the52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division. Following this victory, anEgyptian Expeditionary Forceadvanced across theSinai Peninsula, pushing Ottoman forces back in theBattle of Magdhabain December and theBattle of Rafaon the border between the EgyptianSinaiand Ottoman Palestine in January 1917. Russian armies generally had success in theCaucasus campaign.Enver Pasha, supreme commander of the Ottoman armed forces, dreamed of re-conquering central Asia and areas that had been previously lost to Russia. He was, however, a poor commander.He launched an offensive against the Russians in the Caucasus in December 1914 with 100,000 troops, insisting on a frontal attack against mountainous Russian positions in winter. He lost 86% of his force at theBattle of Sarikamish.GeneralYudenich, the Russian commander from 1915 to 1916, drove the Turks out of most of the southernCaucasus. The Ottoman Empire, with German support, invaded Persia (modernIran) in December 1914 to cut off British and Russian access topetroleum reservoirsaroundBaku.Persia, ostensibly neutral, had long been under British and Russian influence. The Ottomans and Germans were aided byKurdishandAzeriforces, together with a large number of major Iranian tribes, while the Russians and British had the support of Armenian and Assyrian forces. ThePersian campaignlasted until 1918 and ended in failure for the Ottomans and their allies. However, the Russian withdrawal from the war in 1917 led Armenian and Assyrian forces to be cut off from supply lines, outnumbered, outgunned and isolated, forcing them to fight and flee towards British lines in northern Mesopotamia. TheArab Revolt, instigated by the BritishForeign Office, started in June 1916 with theBattle of Mecca, led bySharif Hussein. The Sharif declared the independence of theKingdom of Hejazand, with British assistance, conquered much of Ottoman-held Arabia, resulting finally in the Ottoman surrender of Damascus.Fakhri Pasha, the Ottoman commander ofMedina, resisted for more than2+1⁄2years during thesiege of Medinabefore surrendering in January 1919. TheSenussitribe, along the border ofItalian LibyaandBritish Egypt, incited and armed by the Turks, waged a small-scaleguerrilla waragainst Allied troops. The British were forced to dispatch 12,000 troops to oppose them in theSenussi campaign. Their rebellion was finally crushed in mid-1916. Total Allied casualties on the Ottoman fronts amounted to 650,000 men. Total Ottoman casualties were 725,000, with 325,000 dead and 400,000 wounded. Italian Front Though Italy joined the Triple Alliance in 1882, a treaty with its traditional Austrian enemy was so controversial that subsequent governments denied its existence and the terms were only made public in 1915.This arose fromnationalistdesigns on Austro-Hungarian territory inTrentino, theAustrian Littoral,RijekaandDalmatia, considered vital to secure the borders established in1866.In 1902, Rome secretly had agreed with France to remain neutral if the latter was attacked by Germany, effectively nullifying its role in the Triple Alliance. When the war began in 1914, Italy argued the Triple Alliance was defensive and it was not obliged to support an Austrian attack on Serbia. Opposition to joining the Central Powers increased when Turkey became a member in September, since in1911Italy had occupied Ottoman possessions inLibyaand theDodecaneseislands.To secure Italian neutrality, the Central Powers offered themTunisia, while in return for an immediate entry into the war, the Allies agreed to their demands for Austrian territory and sovereignty over the Dodecanese.Although they remained secret, these provisions were incorporated into the April 1915Treaty of London; Italy joined the Triple Entente and, on 23 May, declared war on Austria-Hungary,followed by Germany fifteen months later. The pre-1914 Italian army was short of officers, trained men, adequate transport and modern weapons; by April 1915, some of these deficiencies had been remedied but it was still unprepared for the major offensive required by the Treaty of London.The advantage of superior numbers was offset by the difficult terrain; much of the fighting took place high in theAlpsandDolomites, where trench lines had to be cut through rock and ice and keeping troops supplied was a major challenge. These issues were exacerbated by unimaginative strategies and tactics.Between 1915 and 1917, the Italian commander,Luigi Cadorna, undertooka series of frontal assaults along the Isonzo, which made little progress and cost many lives; by the end of the war, Italian combat deaths totalled around 548,000. In the spring of 1916, the Austro-Hungarians counterattacked inAsiagoin theStrafexpedition, but made little progress and were pushed by the Italians back to Tyrol.Although Italy occupied southernAlbaniain May 1916, their main focus was the Isonzo front which, after thecapture of Goriziain August 1916, remained static until October 1917. After a combined Austro-German force won a major victory atCaporetto, Cadorna was replaced byArmando Diazwho retreated more than 100 kilometres (62 mi) before holding positions along thePiave River.A second Austrianoffensive was repulsedin June 1918. On 24 October, Diaz launched theBattle of Vittorio Venetoand initially met stubborn resistance,but with Austria-Hungary collapsing, Hungarian divisions in Italy demanded they be sent home.When this was granted, many others followed and the Imperial army disintegrated, the Italians taking over 300,000 prisoners.On 3November, theArmistice of Villa Giustiended hostilities between Austria-Hungary and Italy which occupiedTriesteand areas along theAdriatic Seaawarded to it in 1915. Eastern Front Initial actions As previously agreed with French presidentRaymond Poincaré, Russian plans at the start of the war were to simultaneously advance intoAustrian Galiciaand East Prussia as soon as possible. Although theirattack on Galiciawas largely successful, and the invasions achieved their aim of forcing Germany to divert troops from the Western Front, the speed of mobilisation meant they did so without much of their heavy equipment and support functions. These weaknesses contributed to Russian defeats atTannenbergand theMasurian Lakesin August and September 1914, forcing them to withdraw from East Prussia with heavy losses.By spring 1915, they had also retreated from Galicia, and the May 1915Gorlice–Tarnów offensiveallowed the Central Powers to invadeRussian-occupied Poland. Despite the successful June 1916Brusilov offensiveagainst the Austrians in eastern Galicia,shortages of supplies, heavy losses and command failures prevented the Russians from fully exploiting their victory. However, it was one of the most significant offensives of the war, diverting German resources fromVerdun, relieving Austro-Hungarian pressure on the Italians, and convincing Romania to enter the war on the side of the Allies on 27 August. It also fatally weakened both the Austrian and Russian armies, whose offensive capabilities were badly affected by their losses and increased disillusion with the war that ultimately led to the Russian revolutions. Meanwhile, unrest grew in Russia asthe Tsarremained at the front, with the home front controlled byEmpress Alexandra. Her increasingly incompetent rule and food shortages in urban areas led to widespread protests and the murder of her favourite,Grigori Rasputin, at the end of 1916. Romanian participation Despite secretly agreeing to support the Triple Alliance in 1883, Romania increasingly found itself at odds with the Central Powers over their support for Bulgaria in the Balkan Wars and the status of ethnic Romanian communities inHungarian-controlledTransylvania,which comprised an estimated 2.8 million of the 5.0 million population.With the ruling elite split into pro-German and pro-Entente factions,Romania remained neutral for two years while allowing Germany and Austria to transport military supplies and advisors across Romanian territory. In September 1914, Russia acknowledged Romanian rights to Austro-Hungarian territories including Transylvania andBanat, whose acquisition had widespread popular support,and Russian success against Austria led Romania to join the Entente in the August 1916Treaty of Bucharest.Under the strategic plan known asHypothesis Z, the Romanian army planned an offensive into Transylvania, while defending SouthernDobrujaandGiurgiuagainst a possible Bulgarian counterattack.On 27 August 1916, theyattacked Transylvaniaand occupied substantial parts of the province before being driven back by the recently formedGerman 9th Army, led by former Chief of StaffErich von Falkenhayn.A combined German-Bulgarian-Turkish offensive captured Dobruja and Giurgiu, although the bulk of the Romanian army managed to escape encirclement and retreated toBucharest, whichsurrenderedto the Central Powers on 6 December 1916. In the summer of 1917, a Central Powers offensive began in Romania under the command of August von Mackensen to knock Romania out of the war, resulting in the battles ofOituz,MărăștiandMărășeștiwhere up to 1,000,000 Central Powers troops were present. The battles lasted from 22 July to 3 September and eventually, the Romanian army was victorious advancing 500 km2. August von Mackensen could not plan for another offensive as he had to transfer troops to the Italian Front.Following the Russian revolution, Romania found itself alone on the Eastern Front and signed theTreaty of Bucharestwith the Central Powers, which recognised Romanian sovereignty overBessarabiain return for ceding control of passes in the Carpathian Mountains to Austria-Hungary and leasing its oil wells to Germany. Although approved byParliament,King Ferdinand Irefused to sign it, hoping for an Allied victory in the west.Romania re-entered the war on 10 November 1918 on the side of the Allies and the Treaty of Bucharest was formally annulled by the Armistice of 11 November 1918. Central Powers peace overtures On 12 December 1916, after ten brutal months of theBattle of Verdunand asuccessful offensive against Romania, Germany attempted to negotiate a peace with the Allies.However, this attempt was rejected out of hand as a \\\"duplicitous war ruse\\\". US presidentWoodrow Wilsonattempted to intervene as a peacemaker, asking for both sides to state their demands.Lloyd George'sWar Cabinet considered the German offer to be a ploy to create divisions among the Allies. After initial outrage and much deliberation, they took Wilson's note as a separate effort, signalling that the US was on the verge of entering the war against Germany following the \\\"submarine outrages\\\". While the Allies debated a response to Wilson's offer, the Germans chose to rebuff it in favour of \\\"a direct exchange of views\\\". Learning of the German response, the Allied governments were free to make clear demands in their response of 14 January. They sought restoration of damages, the evacuation of occupied territories, reparations for France, Russia and Romania, and a recognition of the principle of nationalities.The Allies sought guarantees that would prevent or limit future wars.The negotiations failed and the Entente powers rejected the German offer on the grounds of honour, and noted Germany had not put forward any specific proposals. Final years of the war Russian Revolution and withdrawal By the end of 1916, Russian casualties totalled nearly five million killed, wounded or captured, with major urban areas affected by food shortages and high prices. In March 1917, Tsar Nicholas ordered the military to forcibly suppress strikes inPetrogradbut the troops refused to fire on the crowds.Revolutionaries set up thePetrograd Sovietand fearing a left-wing takeover, theState Dumaforced Nicholas to abdicate and established theRussian Provisional Government, which confirmed Russia's willingness to continue the war. However, the Petrograd Soviet refused to disband, creatingcompeting power centresand causing confusion and chaos, with frontline soldiers becoming increasingly demoralised. Following the Tsar's abdication,Vladimir Lenin—with the help of the German government—was ushered from Switzerland into Russia on 16 April 1917. Discontent and the weaknesses of the Provisional Government led to a rise in the popularity of the Bolshevik Party, led by Lenin, which demanded an immediate end to the war. The Revolution of November was followed in December by an armistice and negotiations with Germany. At first, the Bolsheviks refused the German terms, but when German troops began marching across Ukraine unopposed, they acceded to theTreaty of Brest-Litovskon 3March 1918. The treaty ceded vast territories, including Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and parts of Poland and Ukraine to the Central Powers. With theRussian Empireout of the war, Romania found itself alone on the Eastern Front and signed theTreaty of Bucharestwith the Central Powers in May 1918. Under the terms of the treaty, Romania ceded territory to Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria and leased its oil reserves to Germany. However, the terms also included the Central Powers' recognition of the union ofBessarabiawith Romania. United States enters the war The United States was a major supplier of war material to the Allies but remained neutral in 1914, in large part due to domestic opposition.The most significant factor in creating the support Wilson needed was the German submarine offensive, which not only cost American lives but paralysed trade as ships were reluctant to put to sea. On 6 April 1917, Congressdeclared war on Germanyas an \\\"Associated Power\\\" of the Allies.TheUS Navysent abattleship grouptoScapa Flowto join the Grand Fleet, and provided convoy escorts. In April 1917, theUS Armyhad fewer than 300,000 men, includingNational Guardunits, compared to British and French armies of 4.1 and 8.3 million respectively. TheSelective Service Act of 1917drafted 2.8 million men, though training and equipping such numbers was a huge logistical challenge. By June 1918, over 667,000 members of theAmerican Expeditionary Forces(AEF) were transported to France, a figure which reached 2 million by the end of November. Despite his conviction that Germany must be defeated, Wilson went to war to ensure the US played a leading role in shaping the peace, which meant preserving the AEF as a separate military force, rather than being absorbed into British or French units as his Allies wanted.He was strongly supported by AEF commander GeneralJohn J. Pershing, a proponent of pre-1914 \\\"open warfare\\\" who considered the French and British emphasis on artillery misguided and incompatible with American \\\"offensive spirit\\\".Much to the frustration of his Allies, who had suffered heavy losses in 1917, he insisted on retaining control of American troops, and refused to commit them to the front line until able to operate as independent units. As a result, the first significant US involvement was theMeuse–Argonne offensivein late September 1918. Nivelle Offensive (April–May 1917) In December 1916,Robert Nivellereplaced Pétain as commander of French armies on the Western Front and began planning aspring attackinChampagne, part of a joint Franco-British operation.Poor security meant German intelligence was well informed on tactics and timetables, but despite this, when the attack began on 16 April the French made substantial gains, before being brought to a halt by the newly built and extremely strong defences of the Hindenburg Line. Nivelle persisted with frontal assaults and, by 25 April, the French had suffered nearly 135,000 casualties, including 30,000 dead, most incurred in the first two days. Concurrent British attacks atArraswere more successful, though ultimately of little strategic value.Operating as a separate unit for the first time, theCanadian Corps' capture ofVimy Ridgeis viewed by many Canadians as a defining moment in creating a sense of national identity.Though Nivelle continued the offensive, on 3 May the21st Division, which had been involved in some of the heaviest fighting at Verdun, refused orders to go into battle, initiating theFrench Army mutinies; within days, \\\"collective indiscipline\\\" had spread to 54 divisions, while over 20,000 deserted. Sinai and Palestine campaign (1917–1918) In March and April 1917, at theFirstandSecond Battles of Gaza, German and Ottoman forces stopped the advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, which had begun in August 1916 at the Battle of Romani.At the end of October 1917, theSinai and Palestine campaignresumed, when GeneralEdmund Allenby'sXXth Corps,XXI CorpsandDesert Mounted Corpswon theBattle of Beersheba.Two Ottoman armies were defeated a few weeks later at theBattle of Mughar Ridgeand, early in December,Jerusalemhad been captured following another Ottoman defeat at theBattle of Jerusalem.About this time,Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressensteinwas relieved of his duties as the Eighth Army's commander, replaced byDjevad Pasha, and a few months later the commander of theOttoman Armyin Palestine,Erich von Falkenhayn, was replaced byOtto Liman von Sanders. In early 1918, the front line wasextendedand theJordan Valleywas occupied, following theFirst Transjordanand theSecond Transjordanattacks by British Empire forces in March and April 1918. German offensive and Allied counter-offensive (March–November 1918) In December 1917, the Central Powers signed an armistice with Russia, thus freeing large numbers of German troops for use in the West. With German reinforcements and new American troops pouring in, the outcome was to be decided on the Western Front. The Central Powers knew that they could not win a protracted war, but they held high hopes for success in a final quick offensive.Ludendorff drew up plans (Operation Michael) for the 1918 offensive on the Western Front. The operation commenced on 21 March 1918, with an attack on British forces nearSaint-Quentin. German forces achieved an unprecedented advance of 60 kilometres (37 mi).The initial offensive was a success; after heavy fighting, however, the offensive was halted. Lacking tanks ormotorised artillery, the Germans were unable to consolidate their gains. The problems of re-supply were also exacerbated by increasing distances that now stretched over terrain that was shell-torn and often impassable to traffic.Germany launchedOperation Georgetteagainst the northernEnglish Channelports. The Allies halted the drive after limited territorial gains by Germany. The German Army to the south then conductedOperations Blücher and Yorck, pushing broadly towards Paris. Germany launched Operation Marne (Second Battle of the Marne) on 15 July, in an attempt to encircleReims. The resulting counter-attack, which started theHundred Days Offensiveon 8 August,led to a marked collapse in German morale. Allied advance to the Hindenburg Line By September, the Germans had fallen back to the Hindenburg Line. The Allies hadadvanced to the Hindenburg Linein the north and centre. German forces launched numerous counterattacks, but positions and outposts of the Line continued falling, with the BEF alone taking 30,441 prisoners in the last week of September. On 24 September, the Supreme Army Command informed the leaders in Berlin that armistice talks were inevitable. Thefinal assaulton the Hindenburg Line began with theMeuse-Argonne offensive, launched by American and French troops on 26 September. Two days later the Belgians, French and Britishattacked around Ypres, and the day after the British at St Quentin in the centre of the line. The following week, cooperating American and French units broke through inChampagneat theBattle of Blanc Mont Ridge(3–27 October), forcing the Germans off the commanding heights, and closing towards the Belgian frontier.On 8October, the Hindenburg Line was pierced by British and Dominion troops of the First and Third British Armies at theSecond Battle of Cambrai. Breakthrough of Macedonian front (September 1918) Allied forces started theVardar offensiveon 15 September at two key points:Dobro Poleand nearDojran Lake. In theBattle of Dobro Pole, the Serbian and French armies had success after a three-day-long battle with relatively small casualties, and subsequently made a breakthrough in the front, something which was rarely seen in World War I. After the front was broken, Allied forces started to liberate Serbia and reachedSkopjeat 29 September, after whichBulgariasigned an armistice with the Allies on 30 September. Armistices and capitulations The collapse of the Central Powers came swiftly. Bulgaria was the first to sign an armistice, theArmistice of Salonicaon 29 September 1918.German EmperorWilhelm IIin a telegram toBulgarian Tsar Ferdinand Idescribed the situation thus: \\\"Disgraceful! 62,000 Serbs decided the war!\\\".On the same day, theGerman Supreme Army Commandinformed Kaiser Wilhelm II and theImperial ChancellorCountGeorg von Hertling, that the military situation facing Germany was hopeless. On 24 October, the Italians began a push that rapidly recovered territory lost after the Battle of Caporetto. This culminated in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, marking the end of the Austro-Hungarian Army as an effective fighting force. The offensive also triggered the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During the last week of October, declarations of independence were made in Budapest, Prague, and Zagreb. On 29 October, the imperial authorities asked Italy for an armistice, but the Italians continued advancing, reaching Trento, Udine, and Trieste. On 3November, Austria-Hungary sent aflag of truceand accepted theArmistice of Villa Giusti, arranged with the Allied Authorities in Paris. Austria and Hungary signed separate armistices following the overthrow of theHabsburg monarchy. In the following days, the Italian Army occupiedInnsbruckand allTyrol, with over 20,000 soldiers. On 30 October, the Ottoman Empire capitulated, and signed the Armistice of Mudros. German government surrenders With the military faltering and with widespread loss of confidence in the Kaiser leading to his abdication and fleeing of the country, Germany moved towards surrender. Prince Maximilian of Baden took charge on October 3 as Chancellor of Germany. Negotiations with President Wilson began immediately, in the hope that he would offer better terms than the British and French. Wilson demanded a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary control over the German military. TheGerman Revolution of 1918–1919began at the end of October 1918. Units of the German Navy refused to set sail for a last, large-scale operation in a war they believed to be as good as lost. Thesailors' revolt, which then ensued in the naval ports ofWilhelmshavenandKiel, spread across the whole country within days and led to theproclamation of a republicon 9November 1918, shortly thereafter to theabdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and German surrender. Aftermath In the aftermath of the war, the German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian empires disappeared.Numerous nations regained their former independence, and new ones were created. Four dynasties fell as a result of the war: theRomanovs, theHohenzollerns, theHabsburgs, and theOttomans. Belgium and Serbia were badly damaged, as was France, with 1.4 million soldiers dead,not counting other casualties. Germany and Russia were similarly affected. Formal end of the war A formal state of war between the two sides persisted for another seven months, until the signing of theTreaty of Versailleswith Germany on 28 June 1919. The US Senate did not ratify the treaty despite public support for it,and did not formally end its involvement in the war until theKnox–Porter Resolutionwas signed on 2July 1921 by PresidentWarren G. Harding.For the British Empire, the state of war ceased under the provisions of theTermination of the Present War (Definition) Act 1918concerning: Somewar memorialsdate the end of the war as being when the Versailles Treaty was signed in 1919, which was when many of the troops serving abroad finally returned home; by contrast, most commemorations of the war's end concentrate on the armistice of 11 November 1918. Peace treaties and national boundaries TheParis Peace Conferenceimposed a series of peace treaties on the Central Powers officially ending the war. The 1919Treaty of Versaillesdealt with Germany and, building onWilson's 14th point, established theLeague of Nationson 28 June 1919. The Central Powers had to acknowledge responsibility for \\\"all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by\\\" their aggression. In the Treaty of Versailles, this statement wasArticle 231. This article became known as the \\\"War Guilt Clause\\\", as the majority of Germans felt humiliated and resentful.The Germans felt they had been unjustly dealt with by what they called the \\\"diktatof Versailles\\\". German historian Hagen Schulze said the Treaty placed Germany \\\"under legal sanctions, deprived of military power, economically ruined, and politically humiliated.\\\"Belgian historian Laurence Van Ypersele emphasises the central role played by memory of the war and the Versailles Treaty in German politics in the 1920s and 1930s: Active denial of war guilt in Germany and German resentment at both reparations and continued Allied occupation of the Rhineland made widespread revision of the meaning and memory of the war problematic. The legend of the \\\"stab in the back\\\" and the wish to revise the \\\"Versailles diktat\\\", and the belief in an international threat aimed at the elimination of the German nation persisted at the heart of German politics. Even a man of peace such as Stresemann publicly rejected German guilt. As for the Nazis, they waved the banners of domestic treason and international conspiracy in an attempt to galvanise the German nation into a spirit of revenge. Like a Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany sought to redirect the memory of the war to the benefit of its policies. Meanwhile, new nations liberated from German rule viewed the treaty as a recognition of wrongs committed against small nations by much larger aggressive neighbours. Austria-Hungary was partitioned into several successor states, largely but not entirely along ethnic lines. Apart from Austria and Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia received territories from the Dual Monarchy (the formerly separate and autonomousKingdom of Croatia-Slavoniawas incorporated into Yugoslavia). The details were contained in the treaties ofSaint-Germain-en-LayeandTrianon. As a result, Hungary lost 64% of its total population, decreasing from 20.9 million to 7.6 million, and losing 31% (3.3 out of 10.7 million) of its ethnicHungarians.According to the 1910 census, speakers of the Hungarian language included approximately 54% of the entire population of theKingdom of Hungary. Within the country, numerous ethnic minorities were present: 16.1%Romanians, 10.5%Slovaks, 10.4%Germans, 2.5%Ruthenians, 2.5%Serbsand 8% others.Between 1920 and 1924, 354,000 Hungarians fled former Hungarian territories attached to Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. The Russian Empire lost much of its western frontier as the newly independent nations ofEstonia,Finland,Latvia,Lithuania, andPolandwere carved from it. Romania took control of Bessarabia in April 1918. National identities After 123 years, Poland re-emerged as an independent country. The Kingdom of Serbia and its dynasty, as a \\\"minor Entente nation\\\" and the country with the most casualties per capita,became the backbone of a new multinational state, theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later renamed Yugoslavia. Czechoslovakia, combining theKingdom of Bohemiawith parts of the Kingdom of Hungary, became a new nation. Romania woulduniteall Romanian-speaking people under a single state, leading toGreater Romania. In Australia and New Zealand, the Battle of Gallipoli became known as those nations' \\\"Baptism of Fire\\\". It was the first major war in which the newly established countries fought, and it was one of the first times that Australian troops fought as Australians, not just subjects of theBritish Crown, and independent national identities for these nations took hold.Anzac Day, commemorating the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), celebrates this defining moment. In the aftermath of World War I, Greecefoughtagainst Turkish nationalists led byMustafa Kemal, a war that eventually resulted in amassive population exchange between the two countriesunder the Treaty of Lausanne.According to various sources,several hundred thousand Greeks died during this period, which was tied in with the Greek genocide. Casualties Of the 60 million European military personnel who were mobilised from 1914 to 1918, an estimated8 million were killed, 7 million were permanently disabled, and 15 million were seriously injured. Germany lost 15.1% of its active male population, Austria-Hungary lost 17.1%, and France lost 10.5%.France mobilised 7.8 million men, of which 1.4 million died and 3.2 million were injured.Approximately 15,000 deployed men sustained gruesome facial injuries, causing social stigma and marginalisation; they were called thegueules cassées(broken faces). In Germany, civilian deaths were 474,000 higher than in peacetime, due in large part to food shortages and malnutrition that had weakened disease resistance. These excess deaths are estimated as 271,000 in 1918, plus another 71,000 in the first half of 1919 when the blockade was still in effect.Starvation caused by famine killed approximately 100,000 people in Lebanon. Diseases flourished in the chaotic wartime conditions. In 1914 alone, louse-borneepidemic typhuskilled 200,000 in Serbia.Starting in early 1918, a major influenza epidemic known asSpanish fluspread across the world, accelerated by the movement of large numbers of soldiers, often crammed together in camps and transport ships with poor sanitation. The Spanish flu killed at least 17 to 25 million people,including an estimated 2.64 million Europeans and as many as 675,000 Americans.Between 1915 and 1926, an epidemic ofencephalitis lethargicaaffected nearly five million people worldwide. Eight millionequinesmostlyhorses,donkeysandmulesdied, three-quarters of them from the extreme conditions they worked in. War crimes Chemical weapons in warfare The German army was the first to successfully deploy chemical weapons during the Second Battle of Ypres (April–May 1915), after German scientists under the direction ofFritz Haberat theKaiser Wilhelm Institutedeveloped a method to weaponizechlorine.The use of chemical weapons had been sanctioned by the German High Command to force Allied soldiers out of their entrenched positions, complementing rather than supplanting more lethal conventional weapons.Chemical weapons were deployed by all major belligerents throughout the war, inflicting approximately 1.3 million casualties, of which about 90,000 were fatal.The use of chemical weapons in warfare was a direct violation of the1899 Hague Declaration Concerning Asphyxiating Gasesand the1907 Hague Convention on Land Warfare, which prohibited their use. Genocides by the Ottoman Empire Theethnic cleansingof the Ottoman Empire's Armenian population, including mass deportations and executions, during the final years of the Ottoman Empire is consideredgenocide.The Ottomans carried out organised and systematic massacres of the Armenian population at the beginning of the war and manipulated acts of Armenian resistance by portraying them as rebellions to justify further extermination.In early 1915, several Armenians volunteered to join the Russian forces and the Ottoman government used this as a pretext to issue theTehcir Law(Law on Deportation), which authorised the deportation of Armenians from the Empire's eastern provinces to Syria between 1915 and 1918. The Armenians were intentionallymarched to deathand a number were attacked by Ottoman brigands.While the exact number of deaths is unknown, theInternational Association of Genocide Scholarsestimates around 1.5 million.The government of Turkey continues todeny the genocideto the present day, arguing that those who died were victims of inter-ethnic fighting, famine, or disease during World WarI; these claims are rejected by most historians. Other ethnic groups were similarly attacked by the Ottoman Empire during this period, including Assyrians andGreeks, and some scholars consider those events to be part of the same policy of extermination.At least 250,000 Assyrian Christians, about half of the population, and 350,000–750,000AnatolianandPontic Greekswere killed between 1915 and 1922. Prisoners of war About 8 million soldiers surrendered and were held inPOW campsduring the war. All nations pledged to follow theHague Conventionson fair treatment ofprisoners of war, and the survival rate for POWs was generally much higher than that of combatants at the front. Around 25–31% of Russian losses (as a proportion of those captured, wounded, or killed) were to prisoner status; for Austria-Hungary 32%; for Italy 26%; for France 12%; for Germany 9%; for Britain 7%. Prisoners from the Allied armies totalled about 1.4 million (not including Russia, which lost 2.5–3.5 million soldiers as prisoners). From the Central Powers, about 3.3 million soldiers became prisoners; most of them surrendered to Russians. Soldiers' experiences Allied personnel was around 42,928,000, while Central personnel was near 25,248,000.British soldiers of the war were initially volunteers but were increasinglyconscripted. Surviving veterans returning home often found they could discuss their experiences only among themselves, so formed \\\"veterans' associations\\\" or \\\"Legions\\\". Conscription Conscription was common in most European countries. However, it was controversial in English-speaking countries,It was especially unpopular among minority ethnicities—especially the Irish Catholics in Ireland,Australia,and the French Catholics in Canada. In the US, conscription began in 1917 and was generally well-received, with a few pockets of opposition in isolated rural areas.The administration decided to rely primarily on conscription, rather than voluntary enlistment, to raise military manpower after only 73,000 volunteers enlisted out of the initial 1 million target in the first six weeks of war. Military attachés and war correspondents Military and civilian observers from every major power closely followed the course of the war.Many were able to report on events from a perspective somewhat akin to modern \\\"embedded\\\" positions within the opposing land and naval forces. Economic effects Macro- and micro-economic consequences devolved from the war. Families were altered by the departure of many men. With the death or absence of the primary wage earner, women were forced into the workforce in unprecedented numbers. At the same time, the industry needed to replace the lost labourers sent to war. This aided the struggle forvoting rights for women. In all nations, the government's share of GDP increased, surpassing 50% in both Germany and France and nearly reaching that level in Britain. To pay for purchases in the US, Britain cashed in its extensive investments in American railroads and then began borrowing heavily fromWall Street. President Wilson was on the verge of cutting off the loans in late 1916 but allowed a great increase inUS governmentlending to the Allies. After 1919, the US demanded repayment of these loans. The repayments were, in part, funded by German reparations that, in turn, were supported by American loans to Germany. This circular system collapsed in 1931 and some loans were never repaid. Britain still owed the United States $4.4billionof World WarI debt in 1934; the last installment was finally paid in 2015. Britain turned to her colonies for help in obtaining essential war materials whose supply from traditional sources had become difficult. Geologists such asAlbert Kitsonwere called on to find new resources of precious minerals in the African colonies. Kitson discovered important new deposits ofmanganese, used in munitions production, in theGold Coast. Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles (the so-called \\\"war guilt\\\" clause) stated Germany accepted responsibility for \\\"all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies.\\\"It was worded as such to lay a legal basis for reparations, and a similar clause was inserted in the treaties with Austria and Hungary. However, neither of them interpreted it as an admission of war guilt.In 1921, the total reparation sum was placed at 132 billion gold marks. However, \\\"Allied experts knew that Germany could not pay\\\" this sum. The total sum was divided into three categories, with the third being \\\"deliberately designed to be chimerical\\\" and its \\\"primary function was to mislead public opinion ... into believing the 'total sum was being maintained.'\\\"Thus, 50 billion gold marks (12.5 billion dollars) \\\"represented the actual Allied assessment of German capacity to pay\\\" and \\\"therefore ... represented the total German reparations\\\" figure that had to be paid. This figure could be paid in cash or in-kind (coal, timber, chemical dyes, etc.). Some of the territory lost—via the Treaty of Versailles—was credited towards the reparation figure as were other acts such as helping to restore the Library of Louvain.By 1929, theGreat Depressioncaused political chaos throughout the world.In 1932 the payment of reparations was suspended by the international community, by which point Germany had paid only the equivalent of 20.598 billion gold marks.With the rise of Adolf Hitler, all bonds and loans that had been issued and taken out during the 1920s and early 1930s were cancelled.David Andelmannotes \\\"Refusing to pay doesn't make an agreement null and void. The bonds, the agreement, still exist.\\\" Thus, following the Second World War, at theLondon Conferencein 1953, Germany agreed to resume payment on the money borrowed. On 3October 2010, Germany made the final payment on these bonds. The Australian prime minister,Billy Hughes, wrote to the British prime minister,David Lloyd George, \\\"You have assured us that you cannot get better terms. I much regret it, and hope even now that some way may be found of securing agreement for demanding reparation commensurate with the tremendous sacrifices made by the British Empire and her Allies.\\\" Australia received £5,571,720 in war reparations, but the direct cost of the war to Australia had been £376,993,052, and, by the mid-1930s, repatriation pensions, war gratuities, interest and sinking fund charges were £831,280,947. Support and opposition for the war Support In the Balkans,Yugoslav nationalistssuch as the leader,Ante Trumbić, strongly supported the war, desiring the freedom ofYugoslavsfrom Austria-Hungary and other foreign powers and the creation of an independent Yugoslavia. TheYugoslav Committee, led by Trumbić, was formed in Paris on 30 April 1915 but shortly moved its office to London.In April 1918, the Rome Congress of Oppressed Nationalities met, includingCzechoslovak, Italian,Polish,Transylvanian, and Yugoslav representatives who urged the Allies to support nationalself-determinationfor the peoples residing within Austria-Hungary. In the Middle East,Arab nationalismsoared in Ottoman territories in response to the rise of Turkish nationalism during the war, with Arab nationalist leaders advocating the creation of apan-Arabstate. In 1916, the Arab Revolt began in Ottoman-controlled territories of the Middle East to achieve independence. In East Africa,Iyasu VofEthiopiawas supporting theDervish statewho were at war with the British in theSomaliland campaign.Von Syburg, the German envoy inAddis Ababa, said, \\\"now the time has come for Ethiopia to regain the coast of the Red Sea driving the Italians home, to restore the Empire to its ancient size.\\\" The Ethiopian Empire was on the verge of entering World WarI on the side of the Central Powers before Iyasu's overthrow at theBattle of Segaledue to Allied pressure on the Ethiopian aristocracy. Several socialist parties initially supported the war when it began in August 1914.But European socialists split on national lines, with the concept ofclass conflictheld by radical socialists such as Marxists andsyndicalistsbeing overborne by their patriotic support for the war.Once the war began, Austrian, British, French, German, and Russian socialists followed the rising nationalist current by supporting their countries' intervention in the war. Italian nationalismwas stirred by the outbreak of the war and was initially strongly supported by a variety of political factions. One of the most prominent and popular Italian nationalist supporters of the war wasGabriele D'Annunzio, who promotedItalian irredentismand helped sway the Italian public to support intervention in the war.TheItalian Liberal Party, under the leadership ofPaolo Boselli, promoted intervention in the war on the side of the Allies and used the Dante Alighieri Society to promote Italian nationalism.Italian socialists were divided on whether to support the war or oppose it; some were militant supporters of the war, includingBenito MussoliniandLeonida Bissolati.However, theItalian Socialist Partydecided to oppose the war after anti-militarist protestors were killed, resulting in ageneral strikecalledRed Week.The Italian Socialist Party purged itself of pro-war nationalist members, including Mussolini.Mussolini formed the pro-interventionistIl Popolo d'Italiaand theFasci Rivoluzionario d'Azione Internazionalista(\\\"RevolutionaryFascifor International Action\\\") in October 1914 that later developed into theFasci Italiani di Combattimentoin 1919, the origin of fascism.Mussolini's nationalism enabled him to raise funds fromAnsaldo(an armaments firm) and other companies to createIl Popolo d'Italiato convince socialists and revolutionaries to support the war. Patriotic funds On both sides, there was large-scale fundraising for soldiers' welfare, their dependents and those injured. TheNail Menwere a German example. Around the British Empire, there were many patriotic funds, including theRoyal Patriotic Fund Corporation,Canadian Patriotic Fund,Queensland Patriotic Fundand, by 1919, there were 983 funds in New Zealand.At the start of the next world war the New Zealand funds were reformed, having been criticised as overlapping, wasteful and abused,but 11 were still functioning in 2002. Opposition Many countries jailed those who spoke out against the conflict. These includedEugene Debsin the US andBertrand Russellin Britain. In the US, theEspionage Act of 1917andSedition Act of 1918made it a federal crime to oppose military recruitment or make any statements deemed \\\"disloyal\\\". Publications at all critical of the government were removed from circulation by postal censors,and many served long prison sentences for statements of fact deemed unpatriotic. Several nationalists opposed intervention, particularly within states that the nationalists were hostile to. Although the vast majority of Irish people consented to participate in the war in 1914 and 1915, a minority of advancedIrish nationalistshad staunchly opposed taking part.The war began amid the Home Rule crisis in Ireland that had resurfaced in 1912, and by July 1914 there was a serious possibility of an outbreak of civil war in Ireland. Irish nationalists and Marxists attempted to pursue Irish independence, culminating in theEaster Risingof 1916, with Germany sending 20,000 rifles to Ireland to stir unrest in Britain.The British government placed Ireland undermartial lawin response to the Easter Rising, though once the immediate threat of revolution had dissipated, the authorities did try to make concessions to nationalist feeling.However, opposition to involvement in the war increased in Ireland, resulting in theConscription Crisis of 1918. Other opposition came fromconscientious objectors—some socialist, some religious—who had refused to fight. In Britain, 16,000 people asked for conscientious objector status.Some of them, most notably prominent peace activistStephen Hobhouse, refused both military andalternative service.Many suffered years of prison, includingsolitary confinement. Even after the war, in Britain, many job advertisements were marked \\\"No conscientious objectors need to apply\\\". On 1–4 May 1917, about 100,000 workers and soldiers ofPetrograd, and after them, the workers and soldiers of other Russian cities, led by the Bolsheviks, demonstrated under banners reading \\\"Down with the war!\\\" and \\\"all power to the Soviets!\\\". The mass demonstrations resulted in a crisis for theRussian Provisional Government.InMilan, in May 1917, Bolshevik revolutionaries organised and engaged in rioting calling for an end to the war, and managed to close down factories and stop public transportation.The Italian army was forced to enter Milan with tanks and machine guns to face Bolsheviks andanarchists, who fought violently until May 23 when the army gained control of the city. Almost 50 people (including three Italian soldiers) were killed and over 800 people were arrested. Technology World War I began as a clash of 20th-century technology and 19th-centurytactics, with the inevitably large ensuing casualties. By the end of 1917, however, the major armies had modernised and were making use of telephone,wireless communication,armoured cars,tanks(especially with the advent of the prototype tank,Little Willie), and aircraft. Artillery also underwent a revolution. In 1914, cannons were positioned in the front line and fired directly at their targets. By 1917,indirect firewith guns (as well as mortars and even machine guns) was commonplace, using new techniques for spotting and ranging, notably, aircraft and thefield telephone. Fixed-wing aircraftwere initially used forreconnaissanceandground attack. To shoot down enemy planes,anti-aircraft gunsandfighter aircraftwere developed.Strategic bomberswere created, principally by the Germans and British, though the former usedZeppelinsas well.Towards the end of the conflict,aircraft carrierswere used for the first time, with HMSFuriouslaunchingSopwith Camelsin a raid to destroy the Zeppelin hangars atTønderin 1918. Diplomacy The non-military diplomatic and propaganda interactions among the nations were designed to build support for the cause or to undermine support for the enemy. For the most part, wartime diplomacy focused on five issues:propaganda campaigns; defining and redefining the war goals, which became harsher as the war went on; luring neutral nations (Italy, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, Romania) into the coalition by offering slices of enemy territory; and encouragement by the Allies of nationalistic minority movements inside the Central Powers, especially among Czechs, Poles, and Arabs. In addition, multiple peace proposals were coming from neutrals, or one side or the other; none of them progressed very far. Legacy and memory Memorials Memorials were built in thousands of villages and towns. Close to battlefields, those buried in improvised burial grounds were gradually moved to formal graveyards under the care of organisations such as theCommonwealth War Graves Commission, theAmerican Battle Monuments Commission, theGerman War Graves Commission, andLe Souvenir français. Many of these graveyards also have monuments to the missing orunidentifieddead, such as theMenin Gate Memorial to the Missingand theThiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. In 1915,John McCrae, a Canadian army doctor, wrote the poemIn Flanders Fieldsas a salute to those who perished in the war. It is still recited today, especially onRemembrance DayandMemorial Day. National World War I Museum and MemorialinKansas City, Missouri, is a memorial dedicated to all Americans who served in World WarI. TheLiberty Memorialwas dedicated on 1 November 1921. The British government budgeted substantial resources tothe commemoration of the war during the period 2014 to 2018. The lead body is theImperial War Museum.On 3August 2014, French PresidentFrançois Hollandeand German PresidentJoachim Gaucktogether markedthe centenary of Germany's declaration of war on Franceby laying the first stone of a memorial in Vieil Armand, known in German asHartmannswillerkopf, for French and German soldiers killed in the war.As part of commemorations for thecentenary of the 1918 Armistice, French PresidentEmmanuel Macronand German ChancellorAngela Merkelvisited the site of the signing of the Armistice of Compiègne and unveiled a plaque to reconciliation. Historiography ... \\\"Strange, friend,\\\" I said, \\\"Here is no cause to mourn.\\\"\\\"None,\\\" said the other, \\\"Save the undone years\\\"... The first efforts to comprehend the meaning and consequences ofmodern warfarebegan during the initial phases of the war and are still underway more than a century later. Teaching World War I has presented special challenges. When compared withWorld War II, the First World War is often thought to be \\\"a wrong war fought for the wrong reasons\\\"; it lacks themetanarrativeofgood versus evilthat characterizes retellings of the Second World War. Lacking recognizable heroes and villains, it is often taught thematically, invoking simplifiedtropesthat obscure the complexity of the conflict. Historian Heather Jones argues that thehistoriographyhas been reinvigorated by a cultural turn in the 21st century. Scholars have raised entirely new questions regardingmilitary occupation,radicalisationof politics,race,medical science,genderandmental health. Among the major subjects that historians have long debated regarding the war include:Why the war began; why theAllieswon; whether generals were responsible forhigh casualty rates; how soldiers endured the poor conditions oftrench warfare; and to what extent the civilianhome frontaccepted and endorsed the war effort. Unexploded ordnance As late as 2007,unexploded ordnanceat battlefield sites likeVerdunandSommecontinued to pose a danger. In France and Belgium, locals who discover caches of unexploded munitions are assisted by weapons disposal units. In some places, plant life has still not recovered from the effects of the war. See also Footnotes References Bibliography External links Library guides\",\n \"1996 Summer Olympics The1996 Summer Olympics(officially theGames of the XXVI Olympiad, also known asAtlanta 1996and commonly referred to as theCentennial Olympic Games)were an internationalmulti-sport eventheld from July 19 to August 4, 1996, inAtlanta,Georgia,United States. These were the fourthSummer Olympicsto be hosted by the United States, making it the first country to have three different cities host the Summer Olympics.It also marked the 100th anniversary of the1896 Summer Olympicsin Athens, the inaugural edition of the modernOlympic Games. These were also the first Summer Olympics to be held in a different year than theWinter Olympicssince theWinter Olympicscommenced in 1924, as part of a newIOCpractice implemented in 1994 to hold the Summer and Winter Games in alternating, even-numbered years. The 1996 Games were the first of the two consecutive Summer Olympics to be held in a predominantlyEnglish-speaking country, preceding the2000 Summer Olympicsin Sydney, Australia. These were also the last Summer Olympics to be held in North America until2028, whenLos Angeleswill host the games for the third time. 10,318 athletes from 197National Olympic Committeescompeted in 26 sports, including the Olympic debuts ofbeach volleyball,mountain bikingandsoftball, as well as the new disciplines oflightweight rowing, women's swimming4 x 200 freestyle relay, women'sfencing, teamrhythmic gymnastics, and women'sassociation football. A total of 24 countries made their Summer Olympic debuts in Atlanta, including 11 formerSoviet republicsparticipating for the first time as independent nations. With a total of 101 medals, theUnited Statestopped both the gold and overallmedal countfor the first time since 1984 (and for the first time since 1968 in a non-boycotted Summer Olympics), also winning the most gold (44) and silver (32) medals out of all the participating nations. Notable performances during the competition included those ofAndre Agassi, whose gold medal in these Games would be followed up with the French Open title in 1999, making him the first men's singles tennis player to complete theGolden Slam;Donovan Bailey, who set a new world record of 9.84 for themen's 100 meters;Lilia Podkopayeva, who became the second gymnast to win an individual event gold medal after winning the all-around title in the same Olympics; and theMagnificent Seven, who dramatically won the first ever U.S. gold medal in theWomen's artistic gymnastics team all-around. The Games were marred by violence on July 27, 1996, whena pipe bomb was detonatedatCentennial Olympic Park(which had been built to serve as a public focal point for the festivities), killing two and injuring 111. Years later,Eric Rudolphconfessed to the bombing and a series of related terrorist attacks, and was sentenced to life in prison. Nonetheless, the 1996 Olympics turned a profit, helped by record revenue from sponsorship deals and broadcast rights, and a reliance on private funding, among other factors. There were 8.3 million tickets sold for events at this Olympics, a record broken only in 2024. There was some criticism of the perceived over-commercialization of the Games, with other issues raised by European officials, such as the availability of food and transport. The event had a lasting impact on the city; Centennial Olympic Park led a revitalization of Atlanta'sdowntown area, and has served as a symbol of the legacy of the 1996 Games; theOlympic Villagebuildings have since been used as residential housing for area universities; and theCentennial Olympic Stadiumhas since been redeveloped twice, first as theTurner Fieldbaseball stadium, then as theCenter ParcAmerican footballstadium. Bidding process Atlanta was selected on September 18, 1990, inTokyo, Japan, over Athens, Belgrade, Manchester, Melbourne, and Toronto at the96th IOC Session. The city entered the competition as adark horse, being up against stiff competition.The US media also criticized Atlanta as a second-tier city and complained ofGeorgia'sConfederate history. However, the IOC Evaluation Commission ranked Atlanta's infrastructure and facilities the highest, while IOC members said that it could guarantee large television revenues similar to the success of the1984 Summer OlympicsinLos Angeles, the most recent Olympics in the United States.Additionally, former US ambassador to the UN and Atlanta mayorAndrew Youngtouted Atlanta's civil rights history and reputation for racial harmony. Young also wanted to showcase a reformedAmerican South. The strong economy of Atlanta and improved race relations in the South helped to impress the IOC officials.Coca-Cola, a long-standing partner of the Olympics, was also a strong advocate to bring the Games to its hometown.The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) also proposed a substantial revenue-sharing with the IOC, USOC, and other NOCs.Atlanta's main rivals were Toronto, whose front-running bid that began in 1986 had chances to succeed after Canada had held a successful1988 Winter Olympicsin Calgary, and Melbourne, Australia, who hosted the1956 Summer Olympicsand afterBrisbane, Australia's failed bid for the 1992 games (which were awarded toBarcelona) and prior toSydney, Australia's successful2000 Summer Olympicsbid. This would be Toronto's fourth failed attempt since 1960 (tried in 1960, 1964, and 1976, but was defeated by Rome, Tokyo and Montreal). Greece, the home of theancientandfirst modern Olympics, was considered by many observers the \\\"natural choice\\\" for the Centennial Games,due to its \\\"divine right\\\" in history.Athens bid chairman Spyros Metaxas gave repeated warnings to the IOC and demanded to give them the games to mark the centennial, saying \\\"You don't hold a 100th birthday in someone else's home. The Centenary Games should be held in Athens.\\\"He also warned that \\\"if we don't get the Olympics in 1996 we will never bid again to host them.\\\" However, the Athens bid was described as \\\"arrogant and poorly prepared,\\\" being regarded as \\\"not being up to the task of coping with the modern and risk-prone extravaganza\\\" of the current Games. Athens faced numerous obstacles, including \\\"political instability, potential security problems, air pollution, traffic congestion and the fact that it would have to spend about US$3 billion to improve its infrastructure of airports, roads, rail lines and other amenities.\\\"Athens would later be selected to host the2004 Summer Olympicsseven years later on September 5, 1997. Development and preparation Budget The total cost of the 1996 Summer Olympics was estimated to be around US$1.7 billion.The venues and the Games themselves were funded entirely via private investment,and the only public funding came from the U.S. government for security, and around $500 million of public money used on physical public infrastructure including streetscaping, road improvements, Centennial Olympic Park (alongside $75 million in private funding), expansion of the airport, improvements in public transportation, and redevelopment of public housing projects.$420 million worth of tickets were sold, sale of sponsorship rights accounted for $540 million, and sale of the domestic broadcast rights toNBCaccounted for $456 million. In total, the Games turned a profit of $19 million. The cost for Atlanta 1996 compares with costs of $4.6 billion for Rio 2016, $40–44 billion for Beijing 2008, and $51 billion for Sochi 2014 (the most expensive Olympics in history). The average cost for the Summer Games since 1960 is $5.2 billion. Unlike Atlanta 1996, Beijing and Sochi were primarily funded by their respective governments. Venues and infrastructure Events of the 1996 Games were held in a variety of areas. A number were held within the Olympic Ring, a 3 mi (4.8 km) circle from the center of Atlanta. Others were held atStone Mountain, about 20 miles (32 km) outside of the city. To broaden ticket sales, other events, such asAssociation football(soccer), were staged in various cities in the Southeast. Marketing The Olympiad's official theme, \\\"Summon the Heroes\\\", was written byJohn Williams, making it the third Olympiad at that point for which he had composed (official composer in 1984, NBC's coverage composer in 1988). Theopening ceremonyfeaturedCéline Dionsinging \\\"The Power of the Dream\\\", the theme song of the 1996 Olympics. Theclosing ceremonyfeaturedGloria Estefansinging \\\"Reach\\\", the official theme song of the 1996 Olympics. Themascotfor the Olympiad was an abstract, animated character namedIzzy. In contrast to the standing tradition of mascots of national or regional significance in the city hosting the Olympiad, Izzy was an amorphous, fantasy figure. A video game featuring the Games' mascot,Izzy's Quest for the Olympic Rings, was also released. Atlanta's Olympic slogan \\\"Come Celebrate Our Dream\\\" was written by Jack Arogeti, a managing director atMcCann-Ericksonin Atlanta at the time. The slogan was selected from more than 5,000submitted by the public to the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau.Billy Paynenoted that Jack \\\"captured the spirit and our true motivation for the Olympic games.\\\" The city ofSavannah, Georgia, host of the yachting events, held its own local festivities, including a local cauldron lighting event on the first day of the Games (headlined by a performance by country musicianTrisha Yearwood). In 1994, African-American artistKevin Colewas commissioned to create the Coca-Cola Centennial Olympic Mural, and the 15-story mural took two years to complete. Calendar Games Opening ceremony The ceremony began with a 60-second countdown, which included footage from all of the previous Olympic Games at twenty-two seconds. There was then a flashback to the closing ceremony of the1992 Olympics in Barcelona, showing the thenpresident of the IOC,Juan Antonio Samaranch, inviting the athletes to compete in Atlanta in 1996. Then, spirits ascended in the northwest corner of the stadium, each representing one of the colors in the Olympic rings. The spirits called the tribes of the world which, after mixed percussion, formed the Olympic rings while the youth of Atlanta formed the number 100. Famed film score composerJohn Williamswrote the official overture for the 1996 Olympics, called \\\"Summon the Heroes\\\"; this was his second overture for Olympic games, the first being \\\"Olympic Fanfare and Theme\\\" written for the1984 Summer Olympics.Céline DionperformedDavid Foster's official 1996 Olympics song \\\"The Power of the Dream\\\", accompanied by Foster on the piano, theAtlanta Symphony Orchestraand the Centennial Choir (comprisingMorehouse College Glee Club,Spelman College Glee Cluband the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus).Gladys Knightsang Georgia's officialstate song, \\\"Georgia on My Mind\\\". There was a showcase entitled \\\"Welcome To The World\\\", featuringcheerleaders,Chevroletpick-up trucks,marching bands, andsteppers, which highlighted the American youth and a typical Saturday college football game in the South, including thewavecommonly produced by spectators in sporting events around the world. There was another showcase entitled \\\"Summertime\\\" which focused on Atlanta and theOld South, emphasizing its beauty, spirit, music, history, culture, and rebirth after theAmerican Civil War. The ceremony also featured a memorable dance tribute to the athletes and to the goddesses of victory of the ancient Greek Olympics, using silhouette imagery. The accompanying music, \\\"The Tradition of the Games\\\", was composed byBasil Poledouris. Muhammad Alilit theOlympic cauldronand later received a replacement gold medal for his boxing victory in the1960 Summer Olympics. For the torch ceremony, more than 10,000Olympic torcheswere manufactured by the American Meter Company and electroplated byErie Plating Company. Each torch weighed about 3.5 pounds (1.6 kg) and was made primarily of aluminum, with a Georgiapecanwood handle and gold ornamentation. Closing ceremony Sports The 1996 Summer Olympic program featured 271 events in 26 sports.Softball,beach volleyballandmountain bikingdebuted on the Olympic program, together with women'sfootball, lightweightrowing, women'sswimming, women'sfencing, and a teamrhythmic gymnasticsevent. In women's gymnastics, UkrainianLilia Podkopayevabecame the all-around Olympic champion. Podkopayeva also won a second gold medal in the floor exercise final and a silver on the beam – becoming the only female gymnast sinceNadia Comănecito win an individual event gold after winning the all-around title in the same Olympics.Kerri Strugof the United States women's gymnastics team vaulted with an injured ankle and landed on one foot, winning the first women's team gold medal for the US.Shannon Millerwon the gold medal on the balance beam event, the first time an American gymnast had won an individual gold medal in non-boycotted Olympic games. The Spanish team won the first gold medal in the new competition ofwomen's rhythmic group all-around. The team was formed byEstela Giménez,Marta Baldó,Nuria Cabanillas,Lorena Guréndez,Estíbaliz MartínezandTania Lamarca. Amy Van Dykenwon four gold medals in the Olympicswimmingpool, the first American woman to win four titles in a single Olympiad.Penny Heyns, swimmer of South Africa, won the gold medals in both the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke events.Michelle Smithof Ireland won three gold medals and a bronze in swimming. She remains her nation's most decorated Olympian. However, her victories were overshadowed bydopingallegations even though she did not test positive in 1996. She received a four-year suspension in 1998 for tampering with a urine sample, though her medals and records were allowed to stand. In track and field,Donovan Baileyof Canada won the men's 100 m, setting a new world record of 9.84 seconds at that time.He also anchored his team's gold in the4 × 100 m relay.Michael Johnsonwon gold in both the 200 m and 400 m, setting a new world record of 19.32 seconds in the 200 m.Marie-José Pérecequaled Johnson's performance, although without a world record, by winning the rare 200 m/400 m double.Carl Lewiswon his 4th long jump gold medal at the age of 35. In tennis,Andre Agassiwon the gold medal, which would eventually make him the first man and second singles player overall (after his eventual wife,Steffi Graf) to win the careerGolden Slam, which consists of an Olympic gold medal and victories in the singles tournaments held at professional tennis' four major events (Australian Open,French Open,Wimbledon, andUS Open). There were a series of national firsts realized during the Games.Deon Hemmingsbecame the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal forJamaicaand the English-speakingWest Indies.Lee Lai Shanwon a gold medal in sailing, the only Olympic medal thatHong Kongever won as a British colony (1842–1997). This meant that for the only time, the colonial flag of Hong Kong was raised to the accompaniment of the British national anthem \\\"God Save the Queen\\\", as Hong Kong'ssovereigntywas later transferred to China in 1997. The U.S. women's soccer team won the gold medal in the first-ever women's football event. For the first time, Olympic medals were won by athletes fromArmenia,Azerbaijan,Belarus,Burundi,Czech Republic,Ecuador,Georgia,Hong Kong,Kazakhstan,Moldova,Mozambique,Slovakia,Tonga,Ukraine, andUzbekistan. Another first in Atlanta was that this was the first Summer Olympics ever that not a single nation swept all three medals in a single event. Records Medal table These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1996 Games. *Host nation (United States) Participating National Olympic Committees A total of 197 nations, all of the then-existing and recognized National Olympic Committees, were represented at the 1996 Games, and the combined total of athletes was about 10,318.Twenty-four countries made their Olympic debut this year, including eleven of the ex-Soviet countries that competed as part of theUnified Team in 1992.Russiaparticipated in the Summer Olympics separately from the other countries of the formerSoviet Unionfor the first time since 1912 (when it was theRussian Empire). Russia had been a member of theUnified Team at the 1992 Summer Olympicstogether with 11 post-Soviet states. TheFederal Republic of Yugoslaviacompeted asYugoslavia. After missing the 1992 Summer GamesAfghanistanandCambodiareturned to send delegations to Atlanta. The 14 countries making their Olympic debut were:Azerbaijan,Burundi,Cape Verde,Comoros,Dominica,Guinea-Bissau,Macedonia,Nauru,Palestinian Authority,Saint Kitts and Nevis,Saint Lucia,São Tomé and Príncipe,TajikistanandTurkmenistan. The ten countries making their Summer Olympic debut (after competing at the1994 Winter OlympicsinLillehammer) were:Armenia,Belarus,Czech Republic,Georgia,Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan,Moldova,Slovakia,UkraineandUzbekistan. The Czech Republic and Slovakia attended the games as independent nations for the first time since the breakup ofCzechoslovakia, while the rest of the nations that made their Summer Olympic debut were formerly part of theSoviet Union. Number of athletes by National Olympic Committee 10,339athletesfrom 197NOCsparticipated in the 1996 Summer Olympics. Centennial Olympic Park bombing The 1996 Olympics were marred by theCentennial Olympic Park bombing, which occurred on July 27. Security guardRichard Jewelldiscovered the pipe bomb and immediately notified law enforcement, helping to evacuate as many people as possible from the area before it exploded. Although Jewell's quick actions are credited for saving many lives, the bombing killed spectator Alice Hawthorne, wounded 111 others, and caused the death of Melih Uzunyol by a heart attack. Jewell was later considered a suspect in the bombing but was never charged, and he was cleared in October 1996. FugitiveEric Rudolphwas arrested in May 2003 and charged with the Olympic Park bombing as well as the bombings of twoabortion clinicsand agay nightclub.At his trial two years later, he confessed to all charges and afterwards released a statement, saying: \\\"the purpose of the attack on July 27th was to confound, anger and embarrass the Washington government in the eyes of the world for its abominable sanctioning of abortion on demand.\\\"He received fourlife sentenceswithoutparole,to be served atUSP Florence ADMAXnearFlorence, Colorado. Legacy Preparations for the Olympics lasted more than seven years and had an economic impact of at least US$5.14 billion. Over two million visitors came to Atlanta, and approximately 3.5 billion people around the world watched at least some of the events on television. Although marred by the tragedy of theCentennial Olympic Park bombing, the Games were a financial success, due in part to TV rights contracts and sponsorships at record levels.Atlanta also set a new record for the most tickets sold at a single Games (8.3 million), and held it until 2024. Beyond international recognition, the Games resulted in many modern infrastructure improvements. The mid-rise dormitories built for the Olympic Village, which became the first residential housing forGeorgia State University(Georgia State Village), are now used by theGeorgia Institute of Technology(North Avenue Apartments). As designed, the Centennial Olympic Stadium was converted intoTurner Fieldafter the Paralympics, which became the home of theAtlanta BravesMajor League Baseballteam from 1997 to 2016. The Braves' former home,Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, was demolished in 1997 and the site became a parking lot for Turner Field; theOmni Coliseumwas demolished the same year to make way forState Farm Arena. The city's permanent memorial to the 1996 Olympics isCentennial Olympic Park, which was built as a focal point for the Games. The park initiated a revitalization of the surrounding area and now serves as the hub for Atlanta's tourism district. In November 2016, acommemorative plaquewas unveiled for Centennial Olympic Park to honor the 20th anniversary of the Games. Following the Braves' departure from Turner Field toTruist Parkin 2017, Georgia State University acquired the former Olympic Stadium and surrounding parking lots. It reconfigured the stadium for a second time intoCenter Parc Stadiumfor itscollege football team. The 1996 Olympic cauldron was originally built and placed at the intersection of Fulton Street and Capitol Avenue, near the Centennial Olympic Stadium. After the Paralympics, in order to make room for the stadium conversion, the Olympic cauldron was moved (except its ramp, which was demolished) to the intersection of Capitol Avenue and Fulton Street in 1997, where it has stayed since. Since Georgia State University's acquisition of the former Olympic Stadium and surrounding lots, there has been proposals and growing calls to move the Olympic cauldron toCentennial Olympic Park. The Olympic cauldron was re-lit in February 2020 for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. The 1996 Olympics are the most recent edition of the Summer Olympics to be held in the United States.Los Angeleswill host the2028 Summer Olympics, 32 years after the Games were held in Atlanta. Sponsors The 1996 Summer Olympics relied heavily on commercial sponsorship. The Atlanta-basedCoca-Cola Companywas the exclusive provider of soft drinks at Olympics venues, and built an attraction known asCoca-Cola Olympic Cityfor the Games.As part of a sponsorship agreement withColumbia TriStar Television, thesyndicatedgame showsJeopardy!andWheel of Fortuneboth produced episodes with Olympics tie-ins (including branded memorabilia and contests) for broadcast between April and July 1996. These included aJeopardy!international tournament, and three weeks ofWheel of Fortuneepisodes filmed on-location at Atlanta'sFox Theatre. The Games were affected by several instances ofambush marketing—in which companies attempt to use the Games as a means to promote their brand, in competition with the exclusive, category-based sponsorship rights issued by the Atlanta organizing committee and the IOC (which grants the rights to use Olympics-related terms and emblems in marketing). The Atlanta organizing committee threatened legal actions against advertisers whose marketing implied an official association with the Games. Several non-sponsors set up marketing activities in areas near venues, such asSamsung(competing withMotorola), which ambushed the Games with its \\\"96 Expo\\\".The city of Atlanta had also licensed street vendors to sell products from competitors to Olympic sponsors. The most controversial ambush campaign was undertaken byNike, Inc., which had begun an advertising campaign with aggressive slogans that mocked the Games' values, such as \\\"Faster, Higher, Stronger, Badder\\\", \\\"If you're not here to win, you're a tourist\\\", and \\\"You don't win silver, you lose gold.\\\" The slogans were featured on magazine ads andbillboardsit purchased in Atlanta.Nike also opened apop-up storeknown as the Nike Center near the Athletes' Village, which distributed Nike-branded flags to visitors (presumably to be used at events).IOC marketing directorMichael Payneexpressed concern for the campaign, believing that athletes could perceive them as being an insult to their accomplishments.Payne and theUnited States Olympic Committee's marketing director, John Krimsky, met with Howard Slusher, a subordinate of Nike co-founderPhil Knight. The meeting quickly turned aggressive, with Payne warning that the IOC could pull accreditation for Nike employees and ban the display of its logos on equipment; he also threatened to organize a press conference where silver medallists from the Games, as well as prominent Nike-sponsored athleteMichael Johnson(who attracted attention during the Games for wearing custom, gold-colored Nike shoes), would denounce the company. Faced with these threats, Nike agreed to retract most of its negative advertising andpublic relationsstunts. Reception At theclosing ceremony,IOC PresidentJuan Antonio Samaranchsaid in his closing speech, \\\"Well done, Atlanta\\\" and simply called the Games \\\"most exceptional.\\\" This broke precedent for Samaranch, who had traditionally labeled each Games \\\"the best Olympics ever\\\" at each closing ceremony, a practice he resumed at the subsequentWinter Games in Nagano in 1998. A report prepared after the Games by European Olympic officials was critical of Atlanta's performance in several key areas, including the level of crowding in the Olympic Village, the quality of available food, the accessibility and convenience of transportation, and the Games' general atmosphere of commercialism.IOC vice-presidentDick Poundresponded to criticism of the commercialization of these Games, stating that they still adhered to a historic policy barring the display of advertising within venues, and that \\\"you have to look to the private sector for at least a portion of the funding, and unless you're looking for handouts, you're dealing with people who are investing business assets, and they have to get a return.\\\" In 1997,Athenswas awarded the2004 Summer Olympics. Along with addressing the shortcomings of its 1996 bid, it was lauded for its efforts to promote the traditional values of the Olympic Games, which some IOC observers felt had been lost due to the over-commercialization of the 1996 Games. However, the 2004 Games heavily relied on public funding and eventually failed to make a profit, which some have claimed contributed to thefinancial crisis in Greece. The financial struggles faced by many later Games, such as the2006 Winter Olympicsin Turin and the2016 Summer Olympicsin Rio de Janeiro, have caused some to offer more positive reappraisals of the management of the 1996 Summer Games. FormerJPMorgan Chasepresident (and torchbearer)Kabir Sehgalnoted that in contrast to many later Olympics, those of 1996 were financially viable, had a positive economic impact on the city, and most of the facilities constructed continued to be used after the Games. Sehgal contrasted the 1996 Games' \\\"grassroots\\\" effort backed almost entirely by private funding, with the only significant public spending coming from infrastructure associated with the Games, to modern \\\"top-down\\\" bids, instigated by local governments and reliant on taxpayer funding, making them unpopular among citizens who may not necessarily be interested.The2028 Summer Olympicsin Los Angeles will rely almost entirely on private funding, with the city of Los Angeles and state of California each intending to provide up to $250 million in funding in the event of shortfalls, and the U.S. federal government providing funding solely for security. See also References External links\",\n \"Fall of the Berlin Wall Thefall of the Berlin Wall(German:Mauerfall,pronouncedⓘ) on9 November1989, during thePeaceful Revolution, marked the beginning of the destruction of theBerlin Walland the figurativeIron Curtain, asEast Berlintransit restrictions were overwhelmed and discarded. Sections of the wall were breached, and planned deconstruction began the following June. It was one of the series of events that started thefall of communisminCentral and Eastern Europe. Thefall of the inner German bordertook place shortly afterward. An end to theCold Warwas declared at theMalta Summitin early December, andGerman reunificationtook place in October the following year. Background Opening of the Iron Curtain The opening of theIron Curtainbetween Austria and Hungary at thePan-European Picnicon 19 August 1989 set in motion a peaceful chain reaction, at the end of which there was no longer anEast Germanyand theEastern Blochad disintegrated. After the picnic, which was based on an idea byOtto von Habsburgto test the reaction of theUSSRandMikhail Gorbachevto an opening of the border, tens of thousands of media-informed East Germans set off for Hungary.Erich Honeckerdictated to theDaily Mirrorfor the Pan-European Picnic: \\\"Habsburg distributed leaflets far into Poland, on which the East German holidaymakers were invited to a picnic. When they came to the picnic, they were given gifts, food andDeutsche Mark, and then they were persuaded to come to the West.\\\" The leadership of the GDR in East Berlin did not dare to completely block the borders of their own country and the USSR did not respond at all. Thus the bracket of the Eastern Bloc was broken. Following the summer of 1989, by early November refugees were finding their way toHungaryvia Czechoslovakia or via theWest German embassy in Prague. On 30 September, following negotiations with East Germany and the Soviet Union, the West GermanForeign MinisterHans-Dietrich Genscherwent to the Prague embassy to personally inform the thousands of refugees that they were allowed to leave for West Germany. His speech from the embassy's balcony, which included the line,\\\"Wir sind zu Ihnen gekommen, um Ihnen mitzuteilen, dass heute Ihre Ausreise...\\\"(\\\"We came to you, to let you know that today, your departure...\\\") was met with loud cheers and jubilations. The next day, the first of the embassy refugees leftPragueforBavaria. The emigration was initially tolerated because of long-standing agreements with the communist Czechoslovak government, allowing free travel across their common border. However, this movement of people grew so large it caused difficulties for both countries. In addition, East Germany was struggling to meet loan payments on foreign borrowings;Egon KrenzsentAlexander Schalck-Golodkowskito unsuccessfully ask West Germany for a short-term loan to make interest payments.: 344 Protection of the wall The Berlin Wall was made up of two walls instead of one. Both walls were 4 metres tall, had a length of 155 kilometres and were separated by a mine corridor called the 'death strip.' It was heavily guarded and included 302 watchtowers; its guards had authorisation to shoot anyone who attempted to escape to West Berlin. Political changes in East Germany On 18 October 1989, longtimeSocialist Unity Party of Germany(SED) leaderErich Honeckerstepped down in favor of Krenz. Honecker had been seriously ill, and those looking to replace him were initially willing to wait for a \\\"biological solution\\\", but by October were convinced that the political and economic situation was too grave.: 339Honecker approved the choice, naming Krenz in his resignation speech,and theVolkskammerduly elected him. Although Krenz promised reforms in his first public speech,he was considered by the East German public to be following his predecessor's policies, and public protests demanding his resignation continued.: 347Despite promises of reform, public opposition to the regime continued to grow. On 1 November, Krenz authorized the reopening of the border withCzechoslovakia, which had been sealed to prevent East Germans from fleeing to West Germany.On 4 November, theAlexanderplatz demonstrationtook place. On 6 November, the Interior Ministry published a draft of new travel regulations, which made cosmetic changes to Honecker-era rules, leaving the approval process opaque and maintaining uncertainty regarding access to foreign currency. The draft enraged ordinary citizens, and was denounced as \\\"complete trash\\\" byWest Berlin MayorWalter Momper.Hundreds of refugees crowded onto the steps of the West German embassy in Prague, enraging the Czechoslovaks, who threatened to seal off the East German-Czechoslovak border. On 7 November, Krenz approved the resignation of Prime MinisterWilli Stophand two-thirds of the Politburo; however, Krenz was unanimously re-elected as General Secretary by the Central Committee.: 341 New East German immigration policy On 19 October, Krenz askedGerhard Lauterto draft a new travel policy.Lauter was a formerPeople's Policeofficer. After rising rapidly through the ranks he had recently been promoted to a position with theInterior Ministry (\\\"Home Office\\\" / \\\"Department of the Interior\\\")as head of the department responsible for issuing passports and the registration of citizens. On 8 November, the East GermanPolitburoenacted a portion of the draft travel regulations addressing permanent emigration immediately. Initially, the Politburo planned to create a special border crossing nearSchirndingspecifically for this emigration.However,Interior Ministry officialsandStasibureaucrats charged with drafting the new text concluded the proposal was not feasible, and instead crafted new text relating to both emigration and temporary travel. The revised text stipulated East German citizens could apply for permission to travel abroad, without having to meet the previous requirements for those trips.To ease the difficulties, the Krenz-led Politburo decided on 9 November refugees could exit directly through crossing points between East Germany and West Germany, including between East and West Berlin. Later the same day, the ministerial administration modified the proposal to include private, round-trip, travel. The new regulations would take effect the next day. VVS b2-937/89 Zur Veränderung der Situation der ständigen Ausreise von DDR-Bürgern nach der BRD über die CSSR wird festgelegt: 1) Die Verordnung vom 30. November 1988 über Reisen von Bürgern der DDR in das Ausland (GBl. I Nr. 25 S. 271) findet bis zur Inkraftsetzung des neuen Reisegesetzes keine Anwendung mehr. 2) Ab sofort treten folgende zeitweilige Übergangsregelungen für Reisen und ständige Ausreisen aus der DDR in das Ausland in Kraft: a. Privatreisen nach dem Ausland können ohne Vorliegen von Voraussetzungen (Reiseanlässe und Verwandtschaftsverhältnisse) beantragt werden. Die Genehmigungen werden kurzfristig erteilt. Versagungsgründe werden nur in besonderen Ausnahmefällen angewandt. b. Die zuständigen Abteilungen Paß- und Meldewesen der VPKÄ in der DDR sind angewiesen, Visa zur ständigen Ausreise unverzüglich zu erteilen, ohne daß dafür noch geltende Voraussetzungen für eine ständige Ausreise vorliegen müssen. Die Antragstellung auf ständige Ausreise ist wie bisher auch bei den Abteilungen Innere Angelegenheiten möglich. c. Ständige Ausreisen können über alle Grenzübergangsstellen der DDR zur BRD bzw. zu Berlin (West) erfolgen. d. Damit entfällt die vorübergehend ermöglichte Erteilung von entsprechenden Genehmigungen in Auslandsvertretungen der DDR bzw. die ständige Ausreise mit dem Personalausweis der DDR über Drittstaaten. 3) Über die zeitweiligen Übergangsregelungen ist die beigefügte Pressemitteilung am 10. November 1989 zu veröffentlichen. 1. The decree from 30 November 1988 about travel abroad of East German citizens will no longer be applied until the new travel law comes into force. 2. Starting immediately, the following temporary transition regulations for travel abroad and permanent exits from East Germany are in effect: a) Applications by private individuals for travel abroad can now be made without the previously existing requirements (of demonstrating a need to travel or proving familial relationships). The travel authorizations will be issued within a short period of time. Grounds for denial will only be applied in particularly exceptional cases. b) The responsible departments of passport and registration control in thePeople's Policedistrict offices in East Germany are instructed to issue visas for permanent exit without delays and presentation of the existing requirements for permanent exit. It is still possible to apply for permanent exit in the departments for internal affairs . c) Permanent exits are possible via all East German border crossings to West Germany and (West) Berlin. d) The temporary practice of issuing (travel) authorizations through East German consulates and permanent exit with only an East German personal identity card via third countries ceases. 3. The attached press release explaining the temporary transition regulation will be issued on 10 November. Verantwortlich: Regierungssprecher beim Ministerrat der DDR Berlin (ADN) Wie die Presseabteilung des Ministeriums des Innern mitteilt, hat der Ministerrat der DDR beschlossen, daß bis zum Inkrafttreten einer entsprechenden gesetzlichen Regelung durch die Volkskammer folgende zeitweilige Übergangsregelung für Reisen und ständige Ausreisen aus der DDR ins Ausland in Kraft gesetzt wird: 1. Privatreisen nach dem Ausland können ohne Vorliegen von Voraussetzungen (Reiseanlässe und Verwandtschaftsverhältnisse) beantragt werden. Die Genehmigungen werden kurzfristig erteilt. Versagungsgründe werden nur in besonderen Ausnahmefällen angewandt. 2. Die zuständigen Abteilungen Paß- und Meldewesen der VPKÄ in der DDR sind angewiesen, Visa zur ständigen Ausreise unverzüglich zu erteilen, ohne daß dafür noch geltende Voraussetzungen für eine ständige Ausreise vorliegen müssen. Die Antragstellung auf ständige Ausreise ist wie bisher auch bei den Abteilungen Innere Angelegenheiten möglich. 3. Ständige Ausreisen können über alle Grenzübergangsstellen der DDR zur BRD bzw. zu Berlin (West) erfolgen. 4. Damit entfällt die vorübergehend ermöglichte Erteilung von entsprechenden Genehmigungen in Auslandsvertretungen der DDR bzw. die ständige Ausreise mit dem Personalausweis der DDR über Drittstaaten. Responsible: Government spokesman of East Germany; Council of Ministers Berlin (ADN) As the Press Office of the Ministry of the Interior has announced, the East German Council of Ministers has decided that the following temporary transition regulation for travel abroad and permanent exit from East Germany will be effective until a corresponding law is put into effect by theVolkskammer: 1) Applications by private individuals for travel abroad can now be made without the previously existing requirements (of demonstrating a need to travel or proving familial relationships). The travel authorizations will be issued within a short period of time. Grounds for denial will only be applied in particularly exceptional cases. 2) The responsible departments of passport and registration control in the People's Police district offices in East Germany are instructed to issue visas for permanent exit without delays and without presentation of the existing requirements for permanent exit. It is still possible to apply for permanent exit in the departments for internal affairs . 3) Permanent exits are possible via all East German border crossings to West Germany and (West) Berlin. 4) This decision revokes the temporary practice of issuing (travel) authorizations through East German consulates and permanent exit with only an East German personal identity card via third countries ceases. Events Misinformed public announcements The announcement of the regulations which brought down the Wall took place at an hour-long press conference led byGünter Schabowski, the party leader in East Berlin and the top government spokesman, beginning at 18:00 CET on 9 November and broadcast live onEast German televisionandradio. Schabowski was joined by Minister of Foreign TradeGerhard BeilandCentral CommitteemembersHelga LabsandManfred Banaschak.: 352 Schabowski had not been involved in the discussions about the new regulations and had not been fully updated.Shortly before the press conference, he was handed a note from Krenz announcing the changes, but given no further instructions on how to handle the information. The text stipulated that East German citizens could apply for permission to travel abroad without having to meet the previous requirements for those trips, and also allowed for permanent emigration between all border crossings—including those between East and West Berlin. At 18:53, near the end of the press conference,ANSA'sRiccardo Ehrmanasked if the draft travel law of 6 November was a mistake. Schabowski gave a confusing answer that asserted it was necessary because West Germany had exhausted its capacity to accept fleeing East Germans, then remembered the note he had been given and added that a new regulation had been drafted to allow permanent emigration at any border crossing. This caused a stir in the room; amid several questions at once, Schabowski expressed surprise that the reporters had not yet seen this regulation, and started reading from the note.After this, a reporter, either Ehrman orBild-Zeitungreporter Peter Brinkmann, both of whom were sitting in the front row at the press conference,asked when the regulations would take effect.After a few seconds' hesitation, Schabowski replied, \\\"As far as I know, it takes effect immediately, without delay\\\" (German:Das tritt nach meiner Kenntnis ... ist das sofort ... unverzüglich).: 352This was an apparent assumption based on the note's opening paragraph; as Beil attempted to interject that it was up to theCouncil of Ministersto decide when it took effect, Schabowski proceeded to read this clause, which stated it was in effect until a law on the matter was passed by theVolkskammer. Crucially, a journalist then asked if the regulation also applied to the crossings toWest Berlin. Schabowski shrugged and read item 3 of the note, which confirmed that it did. After this exchange,Daniel JohnsonofThe Daily Telegraphasked what this law meant for the Berlin Wall. Schabowski sat frozen before giving a rambling statement about the Wall being tied to the larger disarmament question.He then ended the press conference promptly at 19:00 as journalists hurried from the room. After the press conference, Schabowski sat for an interview withNBC NewsanchorTom Brokawin which he repeated that East Germans would be able to emigrate through the border and the regulations would go into effect immediately. The news spread The news began spreading immediately: the West GermanDeutsche Presse-Agenturissued a bulletin at 19:04 which reported that East German citizens would be able to cross the inner German border \\\"immediately\\\". Excerpts from Schabowski's press conference were broadcast on West Germany's two main news programs that night—at 19:17 onZDF'sheute, which came on the air as the press conference was ending, and as the lead story at 20:00 onARD'sTagesschau. As ARD and ZDF had broadcast tonearly all of East Germanysince the late 1950s, were far more widely viewed than the East German channels, and had become accepted by the East German authorities, this is how most of the population heard the news. Later that night, on ARD'sTagesthemen, anchormanHanns Joachim Friedrichsproclaimed, \\\"This 9 November is a historic day. The GDR has announced that, starting immediately, its borders are open to everyone. The gates in the Wall stand open wide.\\\": 353 In 2009, Ehrman claimed that a member of the Central Committee had called him and urged him to ask about the travel law during the press conference, but Schabowski called that absurd.Ehrman later recanted this statement in a 2014 interview with an Austrian journalist, admitting that the caller wasGünter Pötschke, head of the East German news agencyADN, and he only asked if Ehrman would attend the press conference. Peace prayers at Nikolai Church Despite the policy ofstate atheismin East Germany, Christian pastorChristian Führerregularly met with his congregation atSt. Nicholas Churchfor prayer since 1982.Over the next seven years the church's congregation grew, despite authorities' barricading the adjacent streets, and peaceful candlelit marches took place following its services.The secret police issued death threats and even attacked some of the marchers, but the crowds still continued to gather.On 9 October 1989, the police and army units were given permission to use force against those assembled, but this did not deter the church service and march from taking place, which gathered 70,000 people and in which not a single shot was fired. Crowding of the border After hearing the 9 November broadcast, East Germans began gathering at the Wall, at thesix checkpoints between East and West Berlin, demanding thatborder guardsimmediately open the gates.The surprised and overwhelmed guards made many hectic telephone calls to their superiors about the problem. At first, they were ordered to find the \\\"more aggressive\\\" people gathered at the gates and stamp their passports with a special stamp that barred them from returning to East Germany—in effect, revoking their citizenship. However, this still left thousands of people demanding to be let through \\\"as Schabowski said we can\\\".: 353It soon became clear that no one among the East German authorities would take personal responsibility for issuing orders to use lethal force, so the vastly outnumbered soldiers had no way to hold back the huge crowd of East German citizens.Mary Elise Sarottein a 2009Washington Poststory characterized the series of events leading to the fall of the Wall as an accident, saying \\\"One of the most momentous events of the past century was, in fact, an accident, a semicomical and bureaucratic mistake that owes as much to the Western media as to the tides of history.\\\" Border openings Finally, at 22:45 (alternatively given as 23:30) on 9 November,Harald Jäger, commander of theBornholmer Straße border crossing, yielded, allowing guards to open the checkpoints and letting people through with little or no identity-checking.As theOssisswarmed through, they were greeted byWessiswaiting with flowers and champagne amid wild rejoicing. Soon afterward, a crowd of West Berliners jumped on top of the Wall and were soon joined by East German youngsters.The evening of 9 November 1989 is known as the night the Wall came down. Another border crossing to the south may have been opened earlier. An account byHeinz Schäferindicates that he also acted independently and ordered the opening of the gate at Waltersdorf-Rudow a couple of hours earlier.This may explain reports of East Berliners appearing in West Berlin earlier than the opening of the Bornholmer Straße border crossing. \\\"Wallpeckers\\\" demolition Removal of the Wall began on the evening of 9 November 1989 and continued over the following days and weeks, with people nicknamedMauerspechte(wallpeckers) using various tools to chip off souvenirs, demolishing lengthy parts in the process, and creating several unofficial border crossings.In the season holidays this became a sort of international action. People from all over the western world went to West Berlin and local youth provided a range of appropriate demolition tools. Television coverage of citizens demolishing sections of the Wall on 9 November was soon followed by the East German regime announcing ten newborder crossings, including the historically significant locations ofPotsdamer Platz,Glienicker Brücke, andBernauer Straße. Crowds gathered on both sides of the historic crossings waiting for hours to cheer the bulldozers that tore down portions of the Wall to reconnect the divided roads. While the Wall officially remained guarded at a decreasing intensity, new border crossings continued for some time. Initially theEast German Border Troopsattempted repairing the damage done by the \\\"wallpeckers\\\"; gradually these attempts ceased, and guards became laxer, tolerating the increasing demolitions and \\\"unauthorized\\\" border crossing through the holes. Prime ministers meet TheBrandenburg Gatein the Berlin Wall was opened on 22 December 1989; on that date, West German ChancellorHelmut Kohlwalked through the gate and was greeted by East German Prime MinisterHans Modrow.West Germans and West Berliners were allowed visa-free travel starting 23 December.Until then, they could only visit East Germany and East Berlin under restrictive conditions that involved application for a visa several days or weeks in advance and obligatory exchange of at least 25DMper day of their planned stay, all of which hindered spontaneous visits. Thus, in the weeks between 9 November and 23 December, East Germans could actually travel more freely than Westerners. Official demolition On 13 June 1990, the East German Border Troops officially began dismantling the Wall,beginning inBernauer Straßeand around the Mitte district. From there, demolition continued through Prenzlauer Berg/Gesundbrunnen, Heiligensee and throughout the city of Berlin until December 1990. According to estimates by the border troops, a total of around 1.7 million tonnes of building rubble was produced by the demolition. Unofficially, the demolition of the Bornholmer Straße crossing began because of construction work on the railway. This involved a total of 300 GDR border guards and—after 3 October 1990—600 Pioneers of the Bundeswehr. These were equipped with 175 trucks, 65 cranes, 55 excavators and 13 bulldozers. Virtually every road that was severed by the Berlin Wall, every road that once linked from West Berlin to East Berlin, was reconstructed and reopened by 1 August 1990. In Berlin alone, 184 km (114 mi) of wall, 154 km (96 mi) border fence, 144 km (89 mi) signal systems and 87 km (54 mi) barrier ditches were removed. What remained were six sections that were to be preserved as a memorial. Various military units dismantled the Berlin/Brandenburg border wall, completing the job in November 1991. Painted wall segments with artistically valuable motifs were put up for auction in 1990 inBerlinandMonte Carlo. On 1 July 1990, the day East Germany adopted theWest German currency, allde jureborder controls ceased, although the inter-German border had become meaningless for some time before that.The demolition of the Wall was completed in 1994. The fall of the Wall marked the first critical step towardsGerman reunification, which formally concluded a mere 339 days later on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of East Germany and the official reunification of the German state along the democratic lines of the West GermanBasic Law. International opposition French PresidentFrançois Mitterrandand British Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcherboth opposed the fall of the Berlin Wall and the eventual reunification of Germany, fearing potential German designs on its neighbours using its increased strength. In September 1989, Margaret Thatcher privately confided toSoviet General SecretaryMikhail Gorbachevthat she wanted the Soviet leader to do what he could to stop it. We do not want a united Germany. This would lead to a change to postwar borders and we cannot allow that because such a development would undermine the stability of the whole international situation and could endanger our security, Thatcher told Gorbachev. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, François Mitterrand warned Thatcher that a unified Germany could make more ground thanAdolf Hitlerever had and that Europe would have to bear the consequences. Legacy Celebrations and anniversaries On 21 November 1989,Crosby, Stills & Nashperformed the song \\\"Chippin' Away\\\" fromGraham Nash's 1986 solo albumInnocent Eyesin front of the Brandenburg Gate. On 25 December 1989,Leonard Bernsteingave a concert in Berlin celebrating the end of the Wall, includingBeethoven's9th symphony(Ode to Joy) with the word \\\"Joy\\\"(Freude)changed to \\\"Freedom\\\"(Freiheit)in the lyrics sung. The poetSchillermay have originally written \\\"Freedom\\\" and changed it to \\\"Joy\\\" out of fear. The orchestra and choir were drawn from both East and West Germany, as well as the United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States.On New Year's Eve 1989,David Hasselhoffperformed his song \\\"Looking for Freedom\\\" while standing atop the partly demolished Wall in front of 200 000 people.Roger WatersperformedthePink FloydalbumThe Walljust north ofPotsdamer Platzon 21 July 1990, with guests includingScorpions,Bryan Adams,Sinéad O'Connor,Cyndi Lauper,Thomas Dolby,Joni Mitchell,Marianne Faithfull,Levon Helm,Rick DankoandVan Morrison. Over the years, there has been a repeated controversial debateas to whether9 Novemberwould make a suitable German national holiday, often initiated by former members of political opposition in East Germany, such asWerner Schulz.Besides being the emotional apogee of East Germany's peaceful revolution, 9 November is also the date of the 1918 abdication of KaiserWilhelm IIand declaration of theWeimar Republic, the first German republic. However, 9 November is also the anniversary of the execution ofRobert Blumfollowing the1848 Vienna revolts, the 1923Beer Hall Putschand the infamousKristallnachtpogromsof the Nazis in 1938.NobelLaureateElie Wieselcriticised the first euphoria, noting that \\\"they forgot that 9 November has already entered into history—51 years earlier it marked the Kristallnacht.\\\"As reunification was not official and complete until 3 October (1990), that day was finally chosen asGerman Unity Day. 10th anniversary celebrations On 9 November 1999, the 10th anniversary was observed with a concert and fireworks at the vidBrandenburg Gate. Russian cellistMstislav Rostropovichplayed music byJohann Sebastian Bach, while German rock bandScorpionsperformed their 1990 songWind of Change. Wreaths were placed for victims shot down when theyattempted to escape to the west, and politicians delivered speeches. 20th anniversary celebrations On 9 November 2009, Berlin celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with a \\\"Festival of Freedom\\\" with dignitaries from around the world in attendance for an evening celebration around the Brandenburg Gate. A high point was when over 1,000 colourfully designed foam domino tiles, each over 8 feet (2.4 m) tall, that were stacked along the former route of the Wall in the city center were toppled in stages, converging in front of the Brandenburg Gate. A Berlin Twitter Wall was set up to allow Twitter users to post messages commemorating the 20th anniversary. TheChinese governmentquickly shut down access to the Twitter Wall after internet users in China began using it to protest theGreat Firewall. In the United States, the German Embassy coordinated a public diplomacy campaign with the motto \\\"Freedom Without Walls\\\", to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The campaign was focused on promoting awareness of the fall of the Berlin Wall among current college students. Students at over 30 universities participated in \\\"Freedom Without Walls\\\" events in late 2009. First place winner of the Freedom Without Walls Speaking ContestRobert Cannon received a free trip to Berlin for 2010. An international project calledMauerreise(Journey of the Wall) took place in various countries. Twenty symbolic Wall bricks were sent from Berlin starting in May 2009, with the destinations being Korea, Cyprus, Yemen, and other places where everyday life is characterised by division and border experience. In these places, the bricks would become a blank canvas for artists, intellectuals and young people to tackle the \\\"Wall\\\" phenomenon. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the 3D online virtual worldTwinityreconstructed a true-to-scale section of the Wall in virtual Berlin.TheMTV Europe Music Awards, on 5 November, hadU2andTokio Hotelperform songs dedicated to and about the Berlin Wall. U2 performed at the Brandenburg Gate, and Tokio Hotel performed \\\"World Behind My Wall\\\". Palestiniansin the town ofKalandia,West Bankpulled down parts of theIsraeli West Bank barrier, in a demonstration marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. TheInternational Spy Museumin Washington D.C., hosted aTrabantcar rally where 20 Trabants gathered in recognition of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Rides were raffled every half-hour and a Trabant crashed through a Berlin Wall mock up. The Trabant was the East German people's car that many used to leave DDR after the collapse. TheAllied Museumin theDahlemdistrict of Berlin hosted a number of events to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The museum held a Special Exhibition entitled \\\"Wall Patrol – The Western Powers and the Berlin Wall 1961–1990\\\" which focused on the daily patrols deployed by the Western powers to observe the situation along the Berlin Wall and the fortifications on theGDRborder.A sheet of \\\"Americans in Berlin\\\" CommemorativeCinderella stampsdesigned byT.H.E. Hillwas presented to the Museum by David Guerra, Berlin veteran and webmaster of the sitewww.berlinbrigade.com. 30th anniversary celebrations Berlin planned a week-long arts festival from 4 to 10 November 2019 and a citywide music festival on 9 November to celebrate the 30th anniversary.On 4 November, outdoor exhibits opened at Alexanderplatz, the Brandenburg Gate, the East Side Gallery, Gethsemane Church, Kurfürstendamm, Schlossplatz, and the former Stasi headquarters in Lichtenberg. Polling A small minority still support the wall or even support rebuilding the wall back up. In 2008 a poll found that 11% of participants from the former West Berlin and 12% form the former East Berlin said it would be better if the wall was still in place. A November 2009 poll found that 12% of Germans said the wall should be rebuilt. The poll also found that in the formerWest German statessupport was at 12% and in the formerEast German statesit was 13%. A September 2009 poll found 15% of Germans supported a wall, while in the west it was 16% and in the east it was at 10%. A 2010 poll from Emnid forBild, found that 24% of West germans and 23% of East Germans wished for the wall still being in place. A 2019 poll fromBerliner Zeitungon the 30th anniversary, found that 8% of Berliners supported the idea if the wall was still standing, The overwhelming majority of Berliners at 87% however supported the fall of the wall. The poll also found that 28% of theAlternative for Germany(AfD) and 16% ofFree Democratic Party(FDP) supporters supported bringing back the wall.A 2019 Yougov poll found that 13% of Germans wanted the wall back, in the West support was at 14% and in the East it was 13%. A 2019 poll fromForsafound 35% of Berliners thought the construction of the Wall was not so wrong with supporters of theleft partyDie Linke at 74%. References Bibliography External links\",\n \"The Beatles The Beatleswere an Englishrockband formed inLiverpoolin 1960. The core lineup of the band comprisedJohn Lennon,Paul McCartney,George HarrisonandRingo Starr. They are widely regarded as themost influential band of all timeand were integral to the development of1960s countercultureand the recognition ofpopular musicas an art form.Rooted inskiffle,beatand 1950srock 'n' roll, their sound incorporated elements ofclassical musicandtraditional popin innovative ways. The band also explored music styles ranging fromfolkandIndian musictopsychedeliaandhard rock. Aspioneers in recording, songwriting and artistic presentation, the Beatles revolutionized many aspects of the music industry and were often publicized as leaders of theera's youthand sociocultural movements. Led by primary songwritersLennon and McCartney, the Beatles evolved from Lennon's previous group,the Quarrymen, and built their reputation by playing clubs in Liverpool andHamburg, Germany, over three years from 1960, initially withStuart Sutcliffeplayingbass. The core trio of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, together since 1958, went through a succession of drummers, includingPete Best, before inviting Starr to join them in 1962. ManagerBrian Epsteinmoulded them into a professional act, and producerGeorge Martinguided and developed their recordings, greatly expanding their domestic success after they signed withEMI Recordsand achieved their first hit, \\\"Love Me Do\\\", in late 1962. As their popularity grew into the intense fan frenzy dubbed \\\"Beatlemania\\\", the band acquired the nickname \\\"the Fab Four\\\". Epstein, Martin or other members of the band's entourage were sometimes informally referred to as a \\\"fifth Beatle\\\". By early 1964, the Beatles were international stars and had achieved unprecedented levels of critical and commercial success. They became a leading force in Britain's cultural resurgence, ushering in theBritish Invasionof the United States pop market. They soon made their film debut withA Hard Day's Night(1964). A growing desire to refine their studio efforts, coupled with the challenging nature of their concert tours, led to the band's retirement from live performances in 1966. During this time, they produced albums of greater sophistication, includingRubber Soul(1965),Revolver(1966) andSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band(1967). They enjoyed further commercial success withThe Beatles(also known as \\\"the White Album\\\", 1968) andAbbey Road(1969). The success of these records heralded thealbum era, as albums became the dominant form of record use oversingles. These records also increased public interest inpsychedelic drugsand Eastern spirituality and furthered advancements inelectronic music,album artandmusic videos. In 1968, they foundedApple Corps, a multi-armed multimedia corporation that continues to oversee projects related to the band's legacy. Afterthe group's break-upin 1970, all principal former members enjoyed success as solo artists, and somepartial reunionsoccurred. Lennonwas murderedin 1980, and Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001. McCartney and Starr remain musically active. The Beatles are thebest-selling music act of all time, with estimated sales of 600 million units worldwide.They are the most successful act in the history of the USBillboardcharts,holding the record for most number-one albums on theUK Albums Chart(15),most number-one hitson the USBillboardHot 100chart (20), and most singles sold in the UK (21.9 million). The band receivedmany accolades, including sevenGrammy Awards, fourBrit Awards, anAcademy Award(forBest Original Song Scorefor the 1970 documentary filmLet It Be) and fifteenIvor Novello Awards. They were inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Famein their first year of eligibility, 1988, and each principal member was individually inducted between 1994 and 2015. In 2004 and 2011, the group toppedRolling Stone's lists ofthe greatest artists in history.Timemagazine named them among the20th century's 100 most important people. History 1956–1963: Formation The Quarrymen and name changes In November 1956, sixteen-year-oldJohn Lennonformed askifflegroup with several friends fromQuarry Bank High SchoolinLiverpool. They were calledthe Quarrymen, a reference to their school song \\\"Quarry men old before our birth.\\\"Fifteen-year-oldPaul McCartneymet Lennon on 6 July 1957, and joined as arhythm guitaristshortly after.In February 1958, McCartney invited his friendGeorge Harrison, then aged fifteen, to watch the band. Harrison auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, but Lennon initially thought Harrison was too young. After a month's persistence, during a second meeting (arranged by McCartney), Harrison performed the lead guitar part of the instrumental song \\\"Raunchy\\\" on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus,and they enlisted him aslead guitarist. By January 1959, Lennon's Quarry Bank friends had left the group, and he began his studies at theLiverpool College of Art.The three guitarists, billing themselves as Johnny and the Moondogs,were playingrock and rollwhenever they could find a drummer.They also performed as the Rainbows. Paul McCartney later toldNew Musical Expressthat they called themselves that \\\"because we all had different coloured shirts and we couldn't afford any others!\\\" Lennon's art school friendStuart Sutcliffe, who had just sold one of his paintings and was persuaded to purchase a bass guitar with the proceeds, joined in January 1960. He suggested changing the band's name toBeatals, as a tribute toBuddy Hollyandthe Crickets.They used this name until May, when they becamethe Silver Beetles, before undertaking a brieftour of Scotlandas the backing group for pop singer and fellowLiverpudlianJohnny Gentle. By early July, they had refashioned themselves asthe Silver Beatles, and by the middle of August simplythe Beatles. Early residencies and UK popularity Allan Williams, the Beatles' unofficial manager, arranged a residency for themin Hamburg. They auditioned and hired drummerPete Bestin mid-August 1960. The band, now a five-piece, departed Liverpool for Hamburg four days later, contracted to club ownerBruno Koschmiderfor what would be a3+1⁄2-month residency.Beatles historianMark Lewisohnwrites: \\\"They pulled into Hamburg at dusk on 17 August, the time when thered-light areacomes to life ... flashing neon lights screamed out the various entertainment on offer, while scantily clad women sat unabashed in shop windows waiting for business opportunities.\\\" Koschmider had converted a couple of strip clubs in the district into music venues, and he initially placed the Beatles at theIndra Club. After closing Indra due to noise complaints, he moved them to theKaiserkellerin October.When he learned they had been performing at the rivalTop Ten Clubin breach of their contract, he gave them one month's termination notice,and reported the underage Harrison, who had obtained permission to stay in Hamburg by lying to the German authorities about his age.The authorities arranged for Harrison's deportation in late November.One week later, Koschmider had McCartney and Best arrested for arson after they set fire to a condom in a concrete corridor; the authorities deported them.Lennon returned to Liverpool in early December, while Sutcliffe remained in Hamburg until late February with his German fiancéeAstrid Kirchherr,who took the first semi-professional photos of the Beatles. During the next two years, the Beatles were resident for periods in Hamburg, where they usedPreludinboth recreationally and to maintain their energy through all-night performances.In 1961, during their second Hamburg engagement, Kirchherr cut Sutcliffe's hair in the \\\"exi\\\" (existentialist) style, later adopted by the other Beatles.Later on, Sutcliffe decided to leave the band early that year and resume his art studies in Germany. McCartney took over bass.ProducerBert Kaempfertcontracted what was now a four-piece group until June 1962, and he used them asTony Sheridan'sbacking bandon a series of recordings forPolydor Records.As part of the sessions, the Beatles were signed to Polydor for one year.Credited to \\\"Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers\\\", the single \\\"My Bonnie\\\", recorded in June 1961 and released four months later, reached number 32 on theMusikmarktchart. After the Beatles completed their second Hamburg residency, they enjoyed increasing popularity in Liverpool with the growingMerseybeatmovement. However, they were growing tired of the monotony of numerous appearances at the same clubs night after night.In November 1961, during one of the group's frequent performances atthe Cavern Club, they encounteredBrian Epstein, a local record-store owner and music columnist.He later recalled: \\\"I immediately liked what I heard. They were fresh, and they were honest, and they had what I thought was a sort of presence ... star quality.\\\" First EMI recordings Epstein courted the band over the next couple of months, and they appointed him as their manager in January 1962.Throughout early and mid-1962, Epstein sought to free the Beatles from their contractual obligations to Bert Kaempfert Productions. He eventually negotiated a one-month early release in exchange for one last recording session in Hamburg.On their return to Germany in April, a distraught Kirchherr met them at the airport with news of Sutcliffe's death the previous day from abrain haemorrhage.Epstein began negotiations with record labels for a recording contract. To secure a UK record contract, Epstein negotiated an early end to the band's contract with Polydor, in exchange for more recordings backing Tony Sheridan.After a New Year's Day audition,Decca Records rejected the band, saying, \\\"Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein.\\\"However, three months later, producerGeorge Martinsigned the Beatles toEMI'sParlophonelabel. Martin's first recording session with the Beatles took place atEMI Recording Studios(later Abbey Road Studios) in London on 6 June 1962.He immediately complained to Epstein about Best's drumming and suggested they use asession drummerin his place.Already contemplating Best's dismissal,the Beatles replaced him in mid-August withRingo Starr, who leftRory Storm and the Hurricanesto join them.A 4 September session at EMI yielded a recording of \\\"Love Me Do\\\" featuring Starr on drums, but a dissatisfied Martin hired drummerAndy Whitefor the band's third session a week later, which produced recordings of \\\"Love Me Do\\\", \\\"Please Please Me\\\" and \\\"P.S. I Love You\\\". Martin initially selected the Starr version of \\\"Love Me Do\\\" for the band's first single, though subsequent re-pressings featured the White version, with Starr on tambourine.Released in early October, \\\"Love Me Do\\\" peaked at number seventeen on theRecord Retailerchart.Their television debut came later that month with a live performance on the regional news programmePeople and Places.After Martin suggested rerecording \\\"Please Please Me\\\" at a faster tempo,a studio session in late November yielded that recording,of which Martin accurately predicted, \\\"You've just made your first No. 1.\\\" In December 1962, the Beatles concluded their fifth and final Hamburg residency.By 1963, they had agreed that all four band members would contribute vocals to their albums – including Starr, despite his restricted vocal range, to validate his standing in the group.Lennon and McCartney had establisheda songwriting partnership, and as the band's success grew, their dominant collaboration limited Harrison's opportunities as alead vocalist.Epstein, to maximise the Beatles' commercial potential, encouraged them to adopt a professional approach to performing.Lennon recalled him saying, \\\"Look, if you really want to get in these bigger places, you're going to have to change – stop eating on stage, stop swearing, stop smoking ....\\\" 1963–1966: Beatlemania and touring years Please Please MeandWith the Beatles On 11 February 1963, the Beatles recorded ten songs during a single studio session for their debut LP,Please Please Me. It was supplemented by the four tracks already released on their first two singles. Martin considered recording the LP live at The Cavern Club, but after deciding that the building's acoustics were inadequate, he elected to simulate a \\\"live\\\" album with minimal production in \\\"a single marathon session at Abbey Road\\\".After the moderate success of \\\"Love Me Do\\\", the single \\\"Please Please Me\\\" was released in January 1963, two months ahead of the album. It reached number one on every UK chart exceptRecord Retailer, where it peaked at number two. Recalling how the Beatles \\\"rushed to deliver a debut album, bashing outPlease Please Mein a day\\\",AllMusiccriticStephen Thomas Erlewinewrote: \\\"Decades after its release, the album still sounds fresh, precisely because of its intense origins.\\\"Lennon said little thought went into composition at the time; he and McCartney were \\\"just writing songsà laEverly Brothers,à laBuddy Holly, pop songs with no more thought of them than that – to create a sound. And the words were almost irrelevant.\\\" Released in March 1963,Please Please Mewas the first of eleven consecutive Beatles albums released in the United Kingdom to reach number one.The band's third single, \\\"From Me to You\\\", came out in April and began an almost unbroken string of seventeen British number-one singles, including all but one of the eighteen they released over the next six years.Issued in August, their fourth single, \\\"She Loves You\\\", achieved the fastest sales of any record in the UK up to that time, selling three-quarters of a million copies in under four weeks.It became their first single to sell a million copies, and remained the biggest-selling record in the UK until 1978. The success brought increased media exposure, to which the Beatles responded with an irreverent and comical attitude that defied the expectations of pop musicians at the time, inspiring even more interest.The band toured the UK three times in the first half of the year: a four-week tour that began in February, the Beatles' first nationwide, preceded three-week tours in March and May–June.As their popularity spread, a frenzied adulation of the group took hold. On 13 October, the Beatles starred onSunday Night at the London Palladium, the UK's top variety show.Their performance was televised live and watched by 15 million viewers. One national paper's headlines in the following days coined the term \\\"Beatlemania\\\" to describe the riotous enthusiasm by screaming fans who greeted the band – and it stuck.Although not billed as tour leaders, the Beatles overshadowed American actsTommy RoeandChris Montezduring the February engagements and assumed top billing \\\"by audience demand\\\", something no British act had previously accomplished while touring with artists from the US.A similar situation arose during their May–Junetour with Roy Orbison. In late October, the Beatles began a five-day tour of Sweden, their first time abroad since the final Hamburg engagement of December 1962.On their return to the UK on 31 October, several hundred screaming fans greeted them in heavy rain atHeathrow Airport. Around 50 to 100 journalists and photographers, as well as representatives from theBBC, also joined the airport reception, the first of more than 100 such events.The next day, the band began its fourth tour of Britain within nine months, this one scheduled for six weeks.In mid-November, as Beatlemania intensified, police resorted to using high-pressure water hoses to control the crowd before a concert in Plymouth.On 4 November, they played in front ofThe Queen MotherandPrincess Margaretduring theRoyal Variety Performanceat thePrince of Wales Theatre. Please Please Memaintained the top position on theRecord Retailerchart for 30 weeks, only to be displaced by its follow-up,With the Beatles,which EMI released on 22 November to record advance orders of 270,000 copies. The LP topped a half-million albums sold in one week.Recorded between July and October,With the Beatlesmade better use of studio production techniques than its predecessor.It held the top spot for 21 weeks with a chart life of 40 weeks.Erlewine described the LP as \\\"a sequel of the highest order – one that betters the original\\\". In a reversal of then standard practice, EMI released the album ahead of the impending single \\\"I Want to Hold Your Hand\\\", with the song excluded to maximise the single's sales.The album caught the attention of music criticWilliam MannofThe Times, who suggested that Lennon and McCartney were \\\"the outstanding English composers of 1963\\\".The newspaper published a series of articles in which Mann offered detailed analyses of the music, lending it respectability.With the Beatlesbecame the second album in UK chart history to sell a million copies, a figure previously reached only by the 1958South Pacificsoundtrack.When writing thesleeve notesfor the album, the band's press officer,Tony Barrow, used the superlative the \\\"fabulous foursome\\\", which the media widely adopted as \\\"the Fab Four\\\". First visit to the United States and the British Invasion EMI's American subsidiary,Capitol Records, hindered the Beatles' releases in the United States for more than a year by initially declining to issue their music, including their first three singles. Concurrent negotiations with the independent US labelVee-Jayled to the release of some, but not all, of the songs in 1963.Vee-Jay finished preparation for the albumIntroducing... The Beatles, comprising most of the songs of Parlophone'sPlease Please Me, but a management shake-up led to the album not being released.After it emerged that the label did not report royalties on their sales, the licence that Vee-Jay had signed with EMI was voided.A new licence was granted to theSwanlabel for the single \\\"She Loves You\\\". The record received some airplay in theTidewater areaof Virginia from Gene Loving of radio stationWGHand was featured on the \\\"Rate-a-Record\\\" segment ofAmerican Bandstand, but it failed to catch on nationally. Epstein brought a demo copy of \\\"I Want to Hold Your Hand\\\" to Capitol'sBrown Meggs, who signed the band and arranged for a $40,000 US marketing campaign. American chart success began after disc jockey Carroll James of AM radio stationWWDC, in Washington, DC, obtained a copy of the British single \\\"I Want to Hold Your Hand\\\" in mid-December 1963 and began playing it on-air.Taped copies of the song soon circulated among other radio stations throughout the US. This caused an increase in demand, leading Capitol to bring forward the release of \\\"I Want to Hold Your Hand\\\" by three weeks.Issued on 26 December, with the band's previously scheduled debut there just weeks away, \\\"I Want to Hold Your Hand\\\" sold a million copies, becoming a number-one hit in the US by mid-January.In its wake Vee-Jay releasedIntroducing... The Beatlesalong with Capitol's debut album,Meet the Beatles!, while Swan reactivated production of \\\"She Loves You\\\". On 7 February 1964, the Beatles departed from Heathrow with an estimated 4,000 fans waving and screaming as the aircraft took off.Upon landing at New York'sJohn F. Kennedy Airport, an uproarious crowd estimated at 3,000 greeted them.They gave their first live US television performance two days later onThe Ed Sullivan Show, watched by approximately 73 million viewers in over 23 million households,or 34 per cent of the American population. Biographer Jonathan Gould writes that, according to theNielsenrating service, it was \\\"the largest audience that had ever been recorded for an American televisionprogram\\\".The next morning, the Beatles awoke to a largely negative critical consensus in the US,but a day later at their first US concert, Beatlemania erupted at theWashington Coliseum.Back in New York the following day, the Beatles met with another strong reception during two shows atCarnegie Hall.The band flew to Florida, where they appeared onThe Ed Sullivan Showa second time, again before 70 million viewers, before returning to the UK on 22 February. The Beatles' first visit to the US took place when the nation was still mourning theassassination of President John F. Kennedythe previous November.Commentators often suggest that for many, particularly the young, the Beatles' performances reignited the sense of excitement and possibility that momentarily faded in the wake of the assassination, and helped pave the way for the revolutionary social changes to come later in the decade.Their hairstyle, unusually long for the era and mocked by many adults,became an emblem of rebellion to the burgeoning youth culture. The group's popularity generated unprecedented interest in British music, and many other UK acts subsequently made their American debuts, successfully touring over the next three years in what was termed theBritish Invasion.The Beatles' success in the US opened the door for a successive string of Britishbeat groupsandpopacts such asthe Dave Clark Five,the Animals,Petula Clark,the Kinks, andthe Rolling Stonesto achieve success in America.During the week of 4 April 1964, the Beatles held twelve positions on theBillboardHot 100singles chart, including the top five. A Hard Day's Night Capitol Records' lack of interest throughout 1963 did not go unnoticed, and a competitor,United Artists Records, encouragedits film divisionto offer the Beatles a three-motion-picture deal, primarily for the commercial potential of the soundtracks in the US.Directed byRichard Lester,A Hard Day's Nightinvolved the band for six weeks in March–April 1964 as they played themselves in a musical comedy.The film premiered in London and New York in July and August, respectively, and was an international success, with some critics drawing a comparison with theMarx Brothers. United Artists released afull soundtrack albumfor the North American market, combining Beatles songs and Martin's orchestral score; elsewhere, the group's third studio LP,A Hard Day's Night, contained songs from the film on side one and other new recordings on side two.According to Erlewine, the album saw them \\\"truly coming into their own as a band. All of the disparate influences on their first two albums coalesced into a bright, joyous, original sound, filled with ringing guitars and irresistible melodies.\\\"That \\\"ringing guitar\\\" sound was primarily the product of Harrison's12-string electric Rickenbacker, a prototype given to him by the manufacturer, which made its debut on the record. 1964 world tour, meeting Bob Dylan, and stand on civil rights Touring internationally in June and July, the Beatles staged 37 shows over 27 days in Denmark, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.In August and September, they returned to the US, with a 30-concert tour of 23 cities.Generating intense interest once again, the month-long tour attracted between 10,000 and 20,000 fans to each 30-minute performance in cities from San Francisco to New York. In August, journalistAl Aronowitzarranged for the Beatles to meetBob Dylan.Visiting the band in their New York hotel suite, Dylan introduced them tocannabis.Gould points out the musical and cultural significance of this meeting, before which the musicians' respective fanbases were \\\"perceived as inhabiting two separate subcultural worlds\\\": Dylan's audience of \\\"college kids with artistic or intellectual leanings, a dawning political and social idealism, and a mildlybohemian style\\\" contrasted with their fans, \\\"veritable 'teenyboppers' – kids in high school or grade school whose lives were totally wrapped up in the commercialised popular culture of television, radio, pop records, fan magazines, and teen fashion. To many of Dylan's followers in thefolk musicscene, the Beatles were seen as idolaters, not idealists.\\\" Within six months of the meeting, according to Gould, \\\"Lennon would be making records on which he openly imitated Dylan's nasal drone, brittle strum, and introspective vocal persona\\\"; and six months after that, Dylan began performing with a backing band andelectric instrumentation, and \\\"dressed in the height of Mod fashion\\\".As a result, Gould continues, the traditional division between folk and rock enthusiasts \\\"nearly evaporated\\\", as the Beatles' fans began to mature in their outlook and Dylan's audience embraced the new, youth-driven pop culture. Duringthe 1964 US tour, the group were confronted withracial segregationin the country at the time.When informed that the venue for their 11 September concert, theGator BowlinJacksonville, Florida, was segregated, the Beatles said they would refuse to perform unless the audience was integrated.Lennon stated: \\\"We never play to segregated audiences and we aren't going to start now ... I'd sooner lose our appearance money.\\\"City officials relented and agreed to allow an integrated show.The group also cancelled their reservations at the whites-onlyHotel George Washingtonin Jacksonville.For their subsequent US tours in 1965 and 1966, the Beatles included clauses in contracts stipulating that shows be integrated. Beatles for Sale,Help!andRubber Soul According to Gould, the Beatles' fourth studio LP,Beatles for Sale, evidenced a growing conflict between the commercial pressures of their global success and their creative ambitions.They had intended the album, recorded between August and October 1964,to continue the format established byA Hard Day's Nightwhich, unlike their first two LPs, contained only original songs.They had nearly exhausted their backlog of songs on the previous album, however, and given the challenges constant international touring posed to their songwriting efforts, Lennon admitted, \\\"Material's becoming a hell of a problem\\\".As a result, six covers from their extensive repertoire were chosen to complete the album. Released in early December, its eight original compositions stood out, demonstrating the growing maturity of theLennon–McCartneysongwriting partnership. In early 1965, following a dinner with Lennon, Harrison and their wives, Harrison's dentist, John Riley, secretly addedLSDto their coffee.Lennon described the experience: \\\"It was just terrifying, but it was fantastic. I was pretty stunned for a month or two.\\\"He and Harrison subsequently became regular users of the drug, joined by Starr on at least one occasion. Harrison's use ofpsychedelic drugsencouraged his path to meditation and Hinduism. He commented: \\\"For me, it was like a flash. The first time I hadacid, it just opened up something in my head that was inside of me, and I realised a lot of things. I didn't learn them because I already knew them, but that happened to be the key that opened the door to reveal them. From the moment I had that, I wanted to have it all the time – these thoughts about the yogis and the Himalayas, andRavi's music.\\\"McCartney was initially reluctant to try it, but eventually did so in late 1966.He became the first Beatle to discuss LSD publicly, declaring in a magazine interview that \\\"it opened my eyes\\\" and \\\"made me a better, more honest, more tolerant member of society\\\". Controversy erupted in June 1965 when QueenElizabeth IIappointed all four Beatles Members of theOrder of the British Empire(MBE) after Prime MinisterHarold Wilsonnominated them for the award.In protest – the honour was at that time primarily bestowed upon military veterans and civic leaders – some conservative MBE recipients returned their insignia. In July, the Beatles' second film,Help!, was released, again directed by Lester. Described as \\\"mainly a relentless spoof ofBond\\\",it inspired a mixed response among both reviewers and the band. McCartney said: \\\"Help!was great but it wasn't our film – we were sort of guest stars. It was fun, but basically, as an idea for a film, it was a bit wrong.\\\"The soundtrack was dominated by Lennon, who wrote and sang lead on most of its songs, including the two singles: \\\"Help!\\\" and \\\"Ticket to Ride\\\". TheHelp!album, the group's fifth studio LP, mirroredA Hard Day's Nightby featuring soundtrack songs on side one and additional songs from the same sessions on side two.The LP contained all original material save for two covers, \\\"Act Naturally\\\" and \\\"Dizzy Miss Lizzy\\\"; they were the last covers the band would include on an album untilLet It Be'sbrief rendition of the traditional Liverpool folk song \\\"Maggie Mae\\\".The band expanded their use of vocal overdubs onHelp!and incorporated classical instruments into some arrangements, including a string quartet on the pop ballad \\\"Yesterday\\\".Composed and sung by McCartney – none of the other Beatles perform on the recording– \\\"Yesterday\\\" has inspired the most cover versions of any song ever written.WithHelp!, the Beatles became the first rock group to be nominated for aGrammy Award for Album of the Year. The group's third US tour opened with a performance before a world-record crowd of 55,600 at New York'sShea Stadiumon 15 August – \\\"perhaps the most famous of all Beatles' concerts\\\", in Lewisohn's description.A further nine successful concerts followed in other American cities. At a show in Atlanta, the Beatles gave one of the first live performances ever to make use of afoldbacksystem of on-stage monitor speakers.Towards the end of the tour, they met withElvis Presley, a foundational musical influence on the band, who invited them to his home inBeverly Hills.Presley later said the band was an example of a trend of anti-Americanism and drug abuse. September 1965 saw the launch of an AmericanSaturday-morning cartoonseries,The Beatles, that echoedA Hard Day's Night'sslapstick antics over its two-year original run.The series was the first weekly television series to feature animated versions of real, living people. In mid-October, the Beatles entered the recording studio; for the first time when making an album, they had an extended period without other major commitments.Until this time, according to George Martin, \\\"we had been making albums rather like a collection of singles. Now we were really beginning to think about albums as a bit of art on their own.\\\"Released in December,Rubber Soulwas hailed by critics as a major step forward in the maturity and complexity of the band's music.Their thematic reach was beginning to expand as they embraced deeper aspects of romance and philosophy, a development that NEMS executivePeter Brownattributed to the band members' \\\"now habitual use of marijuana\\\".Lennon referred toRubber Soulas \\\"the pot album\\\"and Starr said: \\\"Grass was really influential in a lot of our changes, especially with the writers. And because they were writing different material, we were playing differently.\\\"AfterHelp!'s foray into classical music with flutes and strings, Harrison's introduction of asitaron \\\"Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)\\\" marked a further progression outside the traditional boundaries of popular music. As the lyrics grew more artful, fans began to study them for deeper meaning. While some ofRubber Soul's songs were the product of Lennon and McCartney's collaborative songwriting,the album also included distinct compositions from each,though they continued to share official credit. \\\"In My Life\\\", of which each later claimed lead authorship, is considered a highlight of the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue.Harrison calledRubber Soulhis \\\"favourite album\\\",and Starr referred to it as \\\"the departure record\\\".McCartney has said, \\\"We'd had our cute period, and now it was time to expand.\\\"However, recording engineerNorman Smithlater stated that the studio sessions revealed signs of growing conflict within the group – \\\"the clash between John and Paul was becoming obvious\\\", he wrote, and \\\"as far as Paul was concerned, George could do no right\\\". Controversies,Revolverand final tour Capitol Records, from December 1963 when it began issuing Beatles recordings for the US market, exercised complete control over format,compiling distinct US albums from the band's recordings and issuing songs of their choosing as singles.In June 1966, the Capitol LPYesterday and Todaycaused an uproar with its cover, which portrayed the grinning Beatles dressed in butcher's overalls, accompanied by raw meat and mutilated plastic baby dolls. According to Beatles biographerBill Harry, it has been incorrectly suggested that this was meant as a satirical response to the way Capitol had \\\"butchered\\\" the US versions of the band's albums.Thousands of copies of the LP had a new cover pasted over the original; an unpeeled \\\"first-state\\\" copy fetched $10,500 at a December 2005 auction.In England, meanwhile, Harrison met sitar maestroRavi Shankar, who agreed to train him on the instrument. During a tour of the Philippines the month after theYesterday and Todayfurore, the Beatles unintentionally snubbed the nation's first lady,Imelda Marcos, who had expected them to attend a breakfast reception at thePresidential Palace.When presented with the invitation, Epstein politely declined on the band members' behalf, as it had never been his policy to accept such official invitations.They soon found that theMarcos regimewas unaccustomed to taking no for an answer. The resulting riots endangered the group and they escaped the country with difficulty.Immediately afterwards, the band members visited India for the first time. We'remore popular than Jesusnow; I don't know which will go first – rock 'n' roll or Christianity. – John Lennon, 1966 Almost as soon as they returned home, the Beatles faced a fierce backlash from US religious and social conservatives (as well as theKu Klux Klan) over a comment Lennon had made in a March interview with British reporterMaureen Cleave.\\\"Christianity will go\\\", Lennon had said. \\\"It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right ...Jesuswas alright but hisdiscipleswere thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me.\\\"His comments went virtually unnoticed in England, but when US teenage fan magazineDatebookprinted them five months later, it sparked a controversy with Christians in America's conservativeBible Beltregion.TheVaticanissued a protest, and bans on Beatles records were imposed by Spanish and Dutch stations and South Africa'snational broadcasting service.Epstein accusedDatebookof having taken Lennon's words out of context. At a press conference, Lennon pointed out, \\\"If I'd said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it.\\\"He claimed that he was referring to how other people viewed their success, but at the prompting of reporters, he concluded: \\\"If you want me to apologise, if that will make you happy, then okay, I'm sorry.\\\" Released in August 1966, a week before the Beatles' final tour,Revolvermarked another artistic step forward for the group.The album featured sophisticated songwriting, studio experimentation, and a greatly expanded repertoire of musical styles, ranging from innovative classical string arrangements topsychedelia.Abandoning the customary group photograph, itsAubrey Beardsley-inspired cover – designed byKlaus Voormann, a friend of the band since their Hamburg days – was a monochrome collage and line drawing caricature of the group.The album was preceded by the single \\\"Paperback Writer\\\", backed by \\\"Rain\\\".Short promotional films were made for both songs; described by cultural historian Saul Austerlitz as \\\"among the first true music videos\\\",they aired onThe Ed Sullivan ShowandTop of the Popsin June. Among the experimental songs onRevolverwas \\\"Tomorrow Never Knows\\\", the lyrics for which Lennon drew fromTimothy Leary'sThe Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Its creation involved eight tape decks distributed about the EMI building, each staffed by an engineer or band member, who randomly varied the movement of atape loopwhile Martin created a composite recording by sampling the incoming data.McCartney's \\\"Eleanor Rigby\\\" made prominent use of astring octet; Gould describes it as \\\"a true hybrid, conforming to no recognisable style or genre of song\\\".Harrison's emergence as a songwriter was reflected in three of his compositions appearing on the record.Among these, \\\"Taxman\\\", which opened the album, marked the first example of the Beatles making a political statement through their music. As preparations were made for a tour of the US, the Beatles knew that their music would hardly be heard. Having originally usedVox AC30amplifiers, they later acquired more powerful 100-watt amplifiers, specially designed for them byVox, as they moved into larger venues in 1964; however, these were still inadequate. Struggling to compete with the volume of sound generated by screaming fans, the band had grown increasingly bored with the routine of performing live.Recognising that their shows were no longer about the music, they decided to make the August tour their last. The band performed none of their new songs on the tour.In Chris Ingham's description, they were very much \\\"studio creations ... and there was no way a four-piece rock 'n' roll group could do them justice, particularly through the desensitising wall of the fans' screams. 'Live Beatles' and 'Studio Beatles' had become entirely different beasts.\\\"The band's concert at San Francisco'sCandlestick Parkon 29 August was their last commercial concert.It marked the end of four years dominated by almost non-stop touring that included over 1,400 concert appearances internationally. 1966–1970: Studio years Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Freed from the burden of touring, the Beatles embraced an increasingly experimental approach as they recordedSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, beginning in late November 1966.According to engineerGeoff Emerick, the album's recording took over 700 hours.He recalled the band's insistence \\\"that everything onSgt. Pepperhad to be different. We had microphones right down in the bells of brass instruments and headphones turned into microphones attached to violins. We used giant primitive oscillators to vary the speed of instruments and vocals and we had tapes chopped to pieces and stuck together upside down and the wrong way around.\\\"Parts of \\\"A Day in the Life\\\" featured a 40-piece orchestra.The sessions initially yielded the non-albumdouble A-sidesingle \\\"Strawberry Fields Forever\\\"/\\\"Penny Lane\\\" in February 1967;theSgt. PepperLP followed with a rush-release in May.The musical complexity of the records, created using relatively primitivefour-trackrecording technology, astounded contemporary artists.Among music critics, acclaim for the album was virtually universal.Gould writes: The overwhelming consensus is that the Beatles had created a popular masterpiece: a rich, sustained, and overflowing work of collaborative genius whose bold ambition and startling originality dramatically enlarged the possibilities and raised the expectations of what the experience of listening to popular music on record could be. On the basis of this perception,Sgt. Pepperbecame the catalyst for an explosion of mass enthusiasm for album-formatted rock that would revolutionise both the aesthetics and the economics of the record business in ways that far outstripped the earlier pop explosions triggered by the Elvis phenomenon of 1956 and the Beatlemania phenomenon of 1963. In the wake ofSgt. Pepper, the underground and mainstream press widely publicised the Beatles as leaders of youth culture, as well as \\\"lifestyle revolutionaries\\\".The album was the first major pop/rock LP to include its complete lyrics, which appeared on the back cover.Those lyrics were the subject of critical analysis; for instance, in late 1967 the album was the subject of a scholarly inquiry by American literary critic and professor of EnglishRichard Poirier, who observed that his students were \\\"listening to the group's music with a degree of engagement that he, as a teacher of literature, could only envy\\\".The elaborate cover also attracted considerable interest and study.A collage designed bypop artistsPeter BlakeandJann Haworth, it depicted the group as the fictional band referred to in the album'stitle trackstanding in front ofa crowd of famous people.The heavy moustaches worn by the group reflected the growing influence of thehippiemovement,while cultural historian Jonathan Harris describes their \\\"brightly coloured parodies of military uniforms\\\" as a knowingly \\\"anti-authoritarian and anti-establishment\\\" display. Sgt. Peppertopped the UK charts for 23 consecutive weeks, with a further four weeks at number one in the period through to February 1968.With 2.5 million copies sold within three months of its release,Sgt. Pepper's initial commercial success exceeded that of all previous Beatles albums.It was the first rock album to win theGrammy Award for Album of the Year.It sustained its immense popularity into the 21st century while breaking numerous sales records. Magical Mystery TourandYellow Submarine Two Beatles film projects were conceived within weeks of completingSgt. Pepper:Magical Mystery Tour, a one-hour television film, andYellow Submarine, an animated feature-length film produced byUnited Artists.The group began recording music for the former in late April 1967, but the project then lay dormant as they focused on recording songs for the latter.On 25 June, the Beatles performed their forthcoming single \\\"All You Need Is Love\\\" to an estimated 350 million viewers onOur World, the first live global television link.Released a week later, during theSummer of Love, the song was adopted as aflower poweranthem.The Beatles' use of psychedelic drugs was at its height during that summer.In July and August, the group pursued interests related to similar utopian-based ideology, including a week-long investigation into the possibility of starting an island-basedcommuneoff the coast of Greece. On 24 August, the group were introduced toMaharishi Mahesh Yogiin London. The next day, they travelled toBangorfor hisTranscendental Meditationretreat. On 27 August, their manager's assistant, Peter Brown, phoned to inform them that Epstein had died.The coroner ruled the death an accidentalcarbitoloverdose, although it was widely rumoured to be a suicide.His death left the group disoriented and fearful about the future.Lennon recalled: \\\"We collapsed. I knew that we were in trouble then. I didn't really have any misconceptions about our ability to do anything other than play music, and I was scared. I thought, 'We've fuckin' had it now.'\\\"Harrison's then-wifePattie Boydremembered that \\\"Paul and George were in complete shock. I don't think it could have been worse if they had heard that their own fathers had dropped dead.\\\"During a band meeting in September, McCartney recommended that the band proceed withMagical Mystery Tour. TheMagical Mystery Toursoundtrackwas released in the UK as a six-track doubleextended play(EP) in early December 1967.It was the first example of a double EP in the UK.The record carried on the psychedelic vein ofSgt. Pepper,though in line with the band's wishes, the packaging reinforced the idea that the release was a film soundtrack rather than a follow-up toSgt. Pepper.In the US, the soundtrack appeared as an identically titled LP that also included five tracks from the band's recent singles.In its first three weeks, the album set a record for the highest initial sales of any Capitol LP, and it is the only Capitol compilation later to be adopted in the band's official canon of studio albums. Magical Mystery Tourfirst aired onBoxing Dayto an audience of approximately 15 million.Largely directed by McCartney, the film was the band's first critical failure in the UK.It was dismissed as \\\"blatant rubbish\\\" by theDaily Express; theDaily Mailcalled it \\\"a colossal conceit\\\"; andThe Guardianlabelled the film \\\"a kind of fantasy morality play about the grossness and warmth and stupidity of the audience\\\".Gould describes it as \\\"a great deal of raw footage showing a group of people getting on, getting off, and riding on a bus\\\".Although the viewership figures were respectable, its slating in the press led US television networks to lose interest in broadcasting the film. The group were less involved withYellow Submarine, which featured the band appearing as themselves for only a short live-action segment.Premiering in July 1968, the film featured cartoon versions of the band members and a soundtrack with eleven of their songs, including four unreleased studio recordings that made their debut in the film.Critics praised the film for its music, humour and innovative visual style.Asoundtrack LPwas issued seven months later; it contained those four new songs, the title track (already issued onRevolver), \\\"All You Need Is Love\\\" (already issued as a single and on the USMagical Mystery TourLP) and seven instrumental pieces composed by Martin. India retreat, Apple Corps and the White Album In February 1968, the Beatles travelled to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi'sashraminRishikesh, India, to take part in a three-month meditation \\\"Guide Course\\\". Theirtime in Indiamarked one of the band's most prolific periods, yielding numerous songs, including a majority of those on their next album.However, Starr left after only ten days, unable to stomach the food, and McCartney eventually grew bored and departed a month later.For Lennon and Harrison, creativity turned to question when an electronics technician known asMagic Alexsuggested that the Maharishi was attempting to manipulate them.When he alleged that the Maharishi had made sexual advances to women attendees, a persuaded Lennon left abruptly just two months into the course, bringing an unconvinced Harrison and the remainder of the group's entourage with him.In anger, Lennon wrote a scathing song titled \\\"Maharishi\\\", renamed \\\"Sexy Sadie\\\" to avoid potential legal issues. McCartney said, \\\"We made a mistake. We thought there was more to him than there was.\\\" In May, Lennon and McCartney travelled to New York for the public unveiling of the Beatles' new business venture,Apple Corps.It was initially formed several months earlier as part of a plan to create a tax-effective business structure, but the band then desired to extend the corporation to other pursuits, including record distribution, peace activism, and education.McCartney described Apple as \\\"rather like a Western communism\\\".The enterprise drained the group financially with a series of unsuccessful projectshandled largely by members of the Beatles' entourage, who were given their jobs regardless of talent and experience.Among its numerous subsidiaries wereApple Electronics, established to foster technological innovations with Magic Alex at the head, and Apple Retailing, which opened the short-livedApple Boutiquein London.Harrison later said, \\\"Basically, it was chaos ... John and Paul got carried away with the idea and blew millions, and Ringo and I just had to go along with it.\\\" From late May to mid-October 1968, the group recorded what becameThe Beatles, a double LP commonly known as \\\"the White Album\\\" for its virtually featureless cover.During this time, relations between the members grew openly divisive.Starr quit for two weeks, leaving his bandmates to record \\\"Back in the U.S.S.R.\\\" and \\\"Dear Prudence\\\" as a trio, with McCartney filling in on drums.Lennon had lost interest in collaborating with McCartney,whose contribution \\\"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da\\\" he scorned as \\\"granny music shit\\\".Tensions were further aggravated by Lennon's romantic preoccupation withavant-gardeartistYoko Ono, whom he insisted on bringing to the sessions despite the group's well-established understanding that girlfriends were not allowed in the studio.McCartney has recalled that the album \\\"wasn't a pleasant one to make\\\".He and Lennon identified the sessions as the start of the band's break-up. With the record, the band executed a wider range of musical stylesand broke with their recent tradition of incorporating several musical styles in one song by keeping each piece of music consistently faithful to a select genre.During the sessions, the group upgraded to an eight-track tape console, which made it easier for them to layer tracks piecemeal, while the members often recorded independently of each other, affording the album a reputation as a collection of solo recordings rather than a unified group effort.Describing the double album, Lennon later said: \\\"Every track is an individual track; there isn't any Beatle music on it. John and the band, Paul and the band, George and the band.\\\"The sessions also produced the Beatles' longest song yet, \\\"Hey Jude\\\", released in August as a non-album single with \\\"Revolution\\\". Issued in November, the White Album was the band's firstApple Recordsalbum release, although EMI continued to own their recordings.The record attracted more than 2 million advance orders, selling nearly 4 million copies in the US in little over a month, and its tracks dominated the playlists of American radio stations.Its lyrical content was the focus of much analysis by the counterculture.Despite its popularity, reviewers were largely confused by the album's content, and it failed to inspire the level of critical writing thatSgt. Pepperhad. Abbey Road,Let It Beand separation AlthoughLet It Bewas the Beatles' final album release, it was largely recorded beforeAbbey Road. The project's impetus came from an idea Martin attributes to McCartney, who suggested they \\\"record an album of new material and rehearse it, then perform it before a live audience for the very first time – on record and on film\\\".Originally intended for a one-hour television programme to be calledBeatles at Work, in the event much of the album's content came from studio work beginning in January 1969, many hours of which were captured on film by directorMichael Lindsay-Hogg.Martin said that the project was \\\"not at all a happy recording experience. It was a time when relations between the Beatles were at their lowest ebb.\\\"Lennon described the largely impromptu sessions as \\\"hell ... the most miserable ... on Earth\\\", and Harrison, \\\"the low of all-time\\\".Irritated by McCartney and Lennon, Harrison walked out for five days. Upon returning, he threatened to leave the band unless they \\\"abandon all talk of live performance\\\" and instead focused on finishing a new album, initially titledGet Back, using songs recorded for the TV special.He also demanded they cease work atTwickenham Film Studios, where the sessions had begun, and relocate to the newly finishedApple Studio. His bandmates agreed, and it was decided to salvage the footage shot for the TV production for use in a feature film. To alleviate tensions within the band and improve the quality of their live sound, Harrison invited keyboardistBilly Prestonto participate in the last nine days of sessions.Preston received label billing on the \\\"Get Back\\\" single – the only musician ever to receive that acknowledgment on an official Beatles release.After the rehearsals, the band could not agree on a location to film a concert, rejecting several ideas, including a boat at sea, a lunatic asylum, the Libyan desert, and theColosseum.Ultimately, what would be theirfinal live performancewas filmed on the rooftop of the Apple Corps building at 3Savile Row, London, on 30 January 1969.Five weeks later, engineerGlyn Johns, whom Lewisohn describes asGet Back's \\\"uncredited producer\\\", began work assembling an album, given \\\"free rein\\\" as the band \\\"all but washed their hands of the entire project\\\". New strains developed between the band members regarding the appointment of a financial adviser, the need for which had become evident without Epstein to manage business affairs. Lennon, Harrison and Starr favouredAllen Klein, who had managedthe Rolling StonesandSam Cooke;McCartney wantedLeeand John Eastman – father and brother, respectively, ofLinda Eastman,whom McCartney married on 12 March.Agreement could not be reached, so both Klein and the Eastmans were temporarily appointed: Klein as the Beatles' business manager and the Eastmans as their lawyers.Further conflict ensued, however, and financial opportunities were lost.On 8 May, Klein was named sole manager of the band,the Eastmans having previously been dismissed as the Beatles' lawyers. McCartney refused to sign the management contract with Klein, but he was out-voted by the other Beatles. Martin stated that he was surprised when McCartney asked him to produce another album, as theGet Backsessions had been \\\"a miserable experience\\\" and he had \\\"thought it was the end of the road for all of us\\\".The primary recording sessions forAbbey Roadbegan on 2 July.Lennon, who rejected Martin's proposed format of a \\\"continuously moving piece of music\\\", wanted his and McCartney's songs to occupy separate sides of the album.The eventual format, with individually composed songs on the first side and the second consisting largely of amedley, was McCartney's suggested compromise.Emerick noted that the replacement of the studio'svalve-based mixing console with a transistorised one yielded a less punchy sound, leaving the group frustrated at the thinner tone and lack of impact and contributing to its \\\"kinder, gentler\\\" feel relative to their previous albums. On 4 July, the first solo single by a Beatle was released: Lennon's \\\"Give Peace a Chance\\\", credited to thePlastic Ono Band. The completion and mixing of \\\"I Want You (She's So Heavy)\\\" on 20 August was the last occasion on which all four Beatles were together in the same studio.On 8 September, while Starr was in hospital, the other band members met to discuss recording a new album. They considered a different approach to songwriting by ending theLennon–McCartneypretence and having four compositions apiece from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, with two from Starr and a lead single around Christmas.On 20 September, Lennon announced his departure to the rest of the group but agreed to withhold a public announcement to avoid undermining sales of the forthcoming album. Released on 26 September,Abbey Roadsold four million copies within three months and topped the UK charts for a total of seventeen weeks.Its second track, the ballad \\\"Something\\\", was issued as a single – the only Harrison composition that appeared as a Beatles A-side.Abbey Roadreceived mixed reviews, although the medley met with general acclaim.Unterberger considers it \\\"a fitting swan song for the group\\\", containing \\\"some of the greatest harmonies to be heard on any rock record\\\".Musicologistand authorIan MacDonaldcalls the album \\\"erratic and often hollow\\\", despite the \\\"semblance of unity and coherence\\\" offered by the medley.Martin singled it out as his favourite Beatles album; Lennon said it was \\\"competent\\\" but had \\\"no life in it\\\". For the still unfinishedGet Backalbum, one last song, Harrison's \\\"I Me Mine\\\", was recorded on 3 January 1970. Lennon, in Denmark at the time, did not participate.In March, rejecting the work Johns had done on the project, now retitledLet It Be, Klein gave the session tapes to American producerPhil Spector, who had recently produced Lennon's solo single \\\"Instant Karma!\\\"In addition to remixing the material, Spector edited, spliced and overdubbed several of the recordings that had been intended as \\\"live\\\". McCartney was unhappy with the producer's approach and particularly dissatisfied with the lavish orchestration on \\\"The Long and Winding Road\\\", which involved a fourteen-voice choir and 36-piece instrumental ensemble.McCartney's demands that the alterations to the song be reverted were ignored,and he publicly announced his departure from the band on 10 April, a week before the release of his firstself-titled solo album. On 8 May 1970,Let It Bewas released. Its accompanying single, \\\"The Long and Winding Road\\\", was expected to be the Beatles' last; it was released in the US, but not in the UK.TheLet It Bedocumentary film followed later that month, and would win the 1970 Academy Award forBest Original Song Score.Sunday TelegraphcriticPenelope Gilliattcalled it \\\"a very bad film and a touching one ... about the breaking apart of this reassuring, geometrically perfect, once apparently ageless family of siblings\\\".Several reviewers stated that some of the performances in the film sounded better than their analogous album tracks.DescribingLet It Beas the \\\"only Beatles album to occasion negative, even hostile reviews\\\", Unterberger calls it \\\"on the whole underrated\\\"; he singles out \\\"some good moments of straight hard rock in 'I've Got a Feeling' and 'Dig a Pony'\\\" and praises \\\"Let It Be\\\", \\\"Get Back\\\", and \\\"the folky 'Two of Us', with John and Paul harmonising together\\\". McCartney filed suit for the dissolution of the Beatles' contractual partnership on 31 December 1970.Legal disputes continued long after their break-up, and the dissolution was not formalised until 29 December 1974,when Lennon signed the paperwork terminating the partnership while on vacation with his family atWalt Disney World Resortin Florida. After the breakup 1970s Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr all released solo albums in 1970. Their solo records sometimes involved one or more of the other members;Starr'sRingo(1973) was the only album to include compositions and performances by all four ex-Beatles, albeit on separate songs. With Starr's participation, Harrison stagedthe Concert for Bangladeshin New York City in August 1971.Other than an unreleased jam session in 1974, laterbootleggedasA Toot and a Snore in '74, Lennon and McCartney never recorded together again. Two double-LP sets of the Beatles' greatest hits, compiled by Klein,1962–1966and1967–1970, were released in 1973, at first under the Apple Records imprint.Commonly known as the \\\"Red Album\\\" and \\\"Blue Album\\\", respectively, each has earned aMulti-Platinum certificationin the US and a Platinum certification in the UK.Between 1976 and 1982, EMI/Capitol released a wave of compilation albums without input from the ex-Beatles, starting with the double-disc compilationRock 'n' Roll Music.The only one to feature previously unreleased material wasThe Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl(1977); the first officially issued concert recordings by the group, it contained selections from two shows they played during their 1964 and 1965 US tours. The music and enduring fame of the Beatles were commercially exploited in various other ways, again often outside their creative control. In April 1974, the musicalJohn, Paul, George, Ringo ... and Bert, written byWilly Russelland featuring singerBarbara Dickson, opened in London. It included, with permission from Northern Songs, eleven Lennon–McCartney compositions and one by Harrison, \\\"Here Comes the Sun\\\". Displeased with the production's use of his song, Harrison withdrew his permission to use it.Later that year, the off-Broadway musicalSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Roadopened.All This and World War II(1976) was an unorthodox nonfiction film that combined newsreel footage with covers of Beatles songs by performers ranging fromElton JohnandKeith Moonto theLondon Symphony Orchestra.The Broadway musicalBeatlemania, an unauthorised nostalgia revue, opened in early 1977 and proved popular, spinning off five separate touring productions.In 1979, the band sued the producers, settling for several million dollars in damages.Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band(1978), a musical film starring theBee GeesandPeter Frampton, was a commercial failure and an \\\"artistic fiasco\\\", according to Ingham. Accompanying the wave of Beatles nostalgia and persistent reunion rumours in the US during the 1970s, several entrepreneurs made public offers to the Beatles for a reunion concert.Promoter Bill Sargent first offered the Beatles $10 million for a reunion concert in 1974. He raised his offer to $30 million in January 1976 and then to $50 million the following month.On 24 April 1976, during a broadcast ofSaturday Night Live, producerLorne Michaelsjokingly offered the Beatles $3,000 to reunite on the show. Lennon and McCartney were watching the live broadcast at Lennon's apartment atthe Dakotain New York, which was within driving distance of theNBC studiowhere the show was being broadcast. The former bandmates briefly entertained the idea of going to the studio and surprising Michaels by accepting his offer, but decided not to. 1980s In December 1980, Lennon wasshot and killedoutside his New York City apartment. Harrison rewrote the lyrics of his song \\\"All Those Years Ago\\\" in Lennon's honour. With Starr on drums and McCartney and his wife,Linda, contributing backing vocals, the song was released as a single in May 1981.McCartney's own tribute, \\\"Here Today\\\", appeared on hisTug of Waralbum in April 1982.In 1984, Starr co-starred in McCartney's filmGive My Regards to Broad Street,and played with McCartney on several of the songs on thesoundtrack.In 1987, Harrison'sCloud Ninealbum included \\\"When We Was Fab\\\", a song about the Beatlemania era. When the Beatles' studio albums were released on CD by EMI and Apple Corps in 1987, their catalogue was standardised throughout the world, establishing a canon of the twelve original studio LPs as issued in the UK plus the US LP version ofMagical Mystery Tour.All the remaining material from the singles and EPs that had not appeared on these thirteen studio albums was gathered on the two-volume compilationPast Masters(1988). Except for theRedandBluealbums, EMI deleted all its other Beatles compilations – including theHollywood Bowlrecord – from its catalogue. In 1988, the Beatles were inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame, their first year of eligibility. Harrison and Starr attended the ceremony with Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and his two sons,JulianandSean.McCartney declined to attend, citing unresolved \\\"business differences\\\" that would make him \\\"feel like a complete hypocrite waving and smiling with them at a fake reunion\\\".The following year, EMI/Capitol settled a decade-long lawsuit filed by the band over royalties, clearing the way to commercially package previously unreleased material. 1990s Live at the BBC, the first official release of unissued Beatles performances in seventeen years, appeared in 1994.That same year McCartney, Harrison and Starr collaborated on theAnthologyproject.Anthologywas the culmination of work begun in 1970, when Apple Corps directorNeil Aspinall, their former road manager and personal assistant, had started to gather material for a documentary with the working titleThe Long and Winding Road. During 1995–96, the project yielded a television miniseries, an eight-volume video set, and three two-CD/three-LP box sets featuring artwork byKlaus Voormann. Documenting their history in the band's own words, theAnthologyproject included the release of several unissued Beatles recordings. Alongside producerJeff Lynne, McCartney, Harrison and Starr also added new instrumental and vocal parts to songs recorded as demos by Lennon in the late 1970s,resulting in the release of two \\\"new\\\" Beatles singles, \\\"Free as a Bird\\\" and \\\"Real Love\\\". A third Lennon demo, \\\"Now and Then\\\", was also attempted, but abandoned due to the low quality of the recording.TheAnthologyreleases were commercially successful and the television series was viewed by an estimated 400 million people.A book,The Beatles Anthology, followed in October 2000. In 1999, to coincide with the re-release of the 1968 filmYellow Submarine, an expanded soundtrack album,Yellow Submarine Songtrack, was issued. 2000s The Beatles'1, a compilation album of the band's British and American number-one hits, was released on 13 November 2000. It became the fastest-selling album of all time, with 3.6 million sold in its first weekand 13 million within a month.It topped albums charts in at least 28 countries.The compilation had sold 31 million copies globally by April 2009. Harrison died frommetastaticlung cancer in November 2001.McCartney and Starr were among the musicians who performed at theConcert for George, organised byEric Claptonand Harrison's widow,Olivia. The tribute event took place at theRoyal Albert Hallon the first anniversary of Harrison's death. In 2003,Let It Be... Naked, a reconceived version of theLet It Bealbum, with McCartney supervising production, was released. One of the main differences from the Spector-produced version was the omission of the original string arrangements.It was a top-ten hit in both Britain and America. The US album configurations from 1964 to 1965 were released as box sets in 2004 and 2006;The Capitol Albums, Volume 1andVolume 2included both stereo and mono versions based on the mixes that were prepared for vinyl at the time of the music's original American release. As a soundtrack forCirque du Soleil'sLas VegasBeatles stage revue,Love, George Martin and his sonGilesremixed andblended130 of the band's recordings to create what Martin called \\\"a way of re-living the whole Beatles musical lifespan in a very condensed period\\\".The show premiered in June 2006, and theLovealbum was released that November.In April 2009, Starr performed three songs with McCartney at a benefit concert held at New York'sRadio City Music Halland organised by McCartney. On 9 September 2009, the Beatles' entire back catalogue was reissued following an extensive digital remastering process that lasted four years.Stereo editions of all twelve original UK studio albums, along withMagical Mystery Tourand thePast Masterscompilation, were released on compact disc both individually andas a box set.A second collection,The Beatles in Mono, included remastered versions of every Beatles album released in true mono along with the original 1965 stereo mixes ofHelp!andRubber Soul(both of which Martin had remixed for the 1987 editions).The Beatles: Rock Band, a music video game in theRock Bandseries, was issued on the same day.In December 2009, the band's catalogue was officially released inFLACandMP3format ina limited edition of 30,000 USB flash drives. 2010s Owing to a long-running royalty disagreement, the Beatles were among the last major artists to sign deals with online music services.Residual disagreement emanating fromApple Corps' dispute with Apple, Inc.,iTunes' owners, over the use of the name \\\"Apple\\\" was also partly responsible for the delay, although in 2008, McCartney stated that the main obstacle to making the Beatles' catalogue available online was that EMI \\\"want something we're not prepared to give them\\\".In 2010, the official canon of thirteen Beatles studio albums,Past Masters, and the \\\"Red\\\" and \\\"Blue\\\" greatest-hits albums were made available on iTunes. In 2012, EMI's recorded music operations were sold toUniversal Music Group. In order for Universal Music to acquire EMI, theEuropean Union, forantitrustreasons, forced EMI to spin off assets including Parlophone. Universal was allowed to keep the Beatles' recorded music catalogue, managed byCapitol Recordsunder itsCapitol Music Groupdivision.The entire original Beatles album catalogue was also reissued on vinyl in 2012; available either individually or as a box set. In 2013, a second volume of BBC recordings,On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2, was released. That December saw the release of another 59 Beatles recordings on iTunes. The set, titledThe Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963, had the opportunity to gain a 70-year copyright extension conditional on the songs being published at least once before the end of 2013. Apple Records released the recordings on 17 December to prevent them from going into the public domain and had them taken down from iTunes later that same day. Fan reactions to the release were mixed, with one blogger saying \\\"the hardcore Beatles collectors who are trying to obtain everything will already have these.\\\" On 26 January 2014, McCartney and Starr performed together at the56th Annual Grammy Awards, held at theStaples Centerin Los Angeles.The following day,The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatlestelevision special was taped in theLos Angeles Convention Center's West Hall. It aired on 9 February, the exact date of – and at the same time, and on the same network as – the original broadcast of the Beatles' first US television appearance onThe Ed Sullivan Show, 50 years earlier. The special included performances of Beatles songs by current artists as well as by McCartney and Starr, archival footage, and interviews with the two surviving ex-Beatles carried out byDavid Lettermanat theEd Sullivan Theater.In December 2015, the Beatles released their catalogue for streaming on various streaming music services includingSpotifyandApple Music. In September 2016, the documentary filmThe Beatles: Eight Days a Weekwas released. Directed byRon Howard, it chronicled the Beatles' career during their touring years from 1961 to 1966, from their performances in Liverpool's the Cavern Club in 1961 to their final concert in San Francisco in 1966. The film was released theatrically on 15 September in the UK and the US, and started streaming onHuluon 17 September. It received several awards and nominations, including for Best Documentary at the 70th British Academy Film Awards and the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.An expanded, remixed and remastered version ofThe Beatles at the Hollywood Bowlwas released on 9 September, to coincide with the release of the film. On 18 May 2017,Sirius XM Radiolaunched a 24/7 radio channel, The Beatles Channel. A week later,Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Bandwas reissued with new stereo mixes and unreleased material for the album's 50th anniversary.Similar box sets were released forThe Beatlesin November 2018,andAbbey Roadin September 2019.On the first week of October 2019,Abbey Roadreturned to number one on the UK Albums Chart. The Beatles broke their own record for the album with the longest gap between topping the charts asAbbey Roadhit the top spot 50 years after its original release. 2020s In November 2021,The Beatles: Get Back, a documentary directed byPeter Jacksonusing footage captured for theLet It Befilm, was released onDisney+as a three-partminiseries.A book also titledThe Beatles: Get Backwas released on 12 October, ahead of the documentary.Asuper deluxe versionof theLet It Bealbum was released on 15 October.In January 2022, the albumGet Back (Rooftop Performance), consisting of newly mixed audio of theBeatles' rooftop performance, was released on streaming services. In 2022, McCartney and Starr collaborated on a new recording of \\\"Let It Be\\\" withDolly Parton,Peter FramptonandMick Fleetwood, which was released on Parton's albumRockstarin November 2023.In October, aspecial editionofRevolverwas released, featuring unreleased demos, studio outtakes, the original mono mix and a new stereo remix usingAIde-mixing technology developed by Peter Jackson'sWingNut Films, which had previously been used to restore audio for the documentaryGet Back.New music videos were produced for \\\"Here, There and Everywhere\\\" and \\\"I'm Only Sleeping\\\", the latter of which won theGrammy Award for Best Music Videoat the66th Annual Grammy Awards. In June 2023, McCartney announced plans to release \\\"the final Beatles record\\\" later in the year, using Jackson's de-mixing technology to extract Lennon's voice from an old demo of a song that he had written as a solo artist.In October 2023, the song was revealed to be \\\"Now and Then\\\", with a physical and digital release date of 2 November 2023.The official music video for \\\"Now and Then\\\" was released the following day, garnering upwards of 8 million views in its first 12 hours,as the song arrived on Spotify's rankings as one of the most-streamed current songs.\\\"Now and Then\\\" debuted simultaneously across music, alternative, news/talk and sports stations. The song's premiere achieved the record for the most radio stations to simulcast a music track.The song became their first UK number one single since 1969. On 8 May 2024 the 1970 filmLet It Be, digitally restored byPeter Jackson'sPark Road Post, was released onDisney+, marking the first time it has been publicly screened since its original theatrical release. Artistry Development InIcons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever, Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz describe the Beatles' musical evolution: In their initial incarnation as cheerful, wisecracking moptops, the Fab Four revolutionised the sound, style, and attitude of popular music and opened rock and roll's doors to a tidal wave of British rock acts. Their initial impact would have been enough to establish the Beatles as one of their era's most influential cultural forces, but they didn't stop there. Although their initial style was a highly original, irresistibly catchy synthesis of early American rock and roll and R&B, the Beatles spent the rest of the 1960s expanding rock's stylistic frontiers, consistently staking out new musical territory on each release. The band's increasingly sophisticated experimentation encompassed a variety of genres, includingfolk-rock,country,psychedelia, andbaroque pop, without sacrificing the effortless mass appeal of their early work. InThe Beatles as Musicians,Walter Everettdescribes Lennon and McCartney's contrasting motivations and approaches to composition: \\\"McCartney may be said to have constantly developed – as a means to entertain – a focused musical talent with an ear for counterpoint and other aspects of craft in the demonstration of a universally agreed-upon common language that he did much to enrich. Conversely, Lennon's mature music is best appreciated as the daring product of a largely unconscious, searching but undisciplined artistic sensibility.\\\" Ian MacDonald describes McCartney as \\\"a natural melodist – a creator of tunes capable of existing apart from their harmony\\\". His melody lines are characterised as primarily \\\"vertical\\\", employing wide,consonantintervals which express his \\\"extrovert energy and optimism\\\". Conversely, Lennon's \\\"sedentary, ironic personality\\\" is reflected in a \\\"horizontal\\\" approach featuring minimal, dissonant intervals and repetitive melodies which rely on their harmonic accompaniment for interest: \\\"Basically a realist, he instinctively kept his melodies close to the rhythms and cadences of speech, colouring his lyrics with bluesy tone and harmony rather than creating tunes that made striking shapes of their own.\\\"MacDonald praises Harrison's lead guitar work for the role his \\\"characterful lines and textural colourings\\\" play in supporting Lennon and McCartney's parts and describes Starr as \\\"the father of modern pop/rock drumming\\\". Influences The Beatles' earliest influences include Elvis Presley,Carl Perkins,Little Richard,Chuck BerryandGene Vincent.During the Beatles' co-residency with Little Richard at theStar-Clubin Hamburg, from April to May 1962, he advised them on the proper technique for performing his songs.Of Presley, Lennon said, \\\"Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there hadn't been Elvis, there would not have been the Beatles.\\\"Chuck Berry was particularly influential in terms of songwriting and lyrics. Lennon noted, \\\"He was well advanced of his time lyric-wise. We all owe a lot to him.\\\"Other early influences include Buddy Holly,Eddie Cochran,Roy Orbison,the Everly BrothersandJerry Lee Lewis. The Beatles continued to absorb influences long after their initial success, often finding new musical and lyrical avenues by listening to their contemporaries, includingBob Dylan,Smokey Robinson and the Miracles,the Who,Frank Zappa,the Lovin' Spoonful,the Byrdsandthe Beach Boys, whose 1966 albumPet Soundsamazed and inspired McCartney.Referring to the Beach Boys' creative leader, Martin later stated: \\\"No one made a greater impact on the Beatles than Brian .\\\"Ravi Shankar, with whom Harrison studied for six weeks in India in late 1966, had a significant effect on his musical development during the band's later years. Genres Originating as a skiffle group, the Beatles quickly embraced 1950s rock and roll and helped pioneer the Merseybeat genre,and their repertoire ultimately expanded to include a broad variety of pop music.Reflecting the range of styles they explored, Lennon said ofBeatles for Sale, \\\"You could call our new one a Beatles country-and-western LP\\\",while Gould creditsRubber Soulas \\\"the instrument by which legions of folk-music enthusiasts were coaxed into the camp of pop\\\". Although the 1965 song \\\"Yesterday\\\" was not the first pop record to employ orchestral strings, it marked the group's first recorded use of classical music elements. Gould observes, \\\"The more traditional sound of strings allowed for a fresh appreciation of their talent as composers by listeners who were otherwise allergic to the din of drums and electric guitars.\\\"They continued to experiment with string arrangements to various effect;Sgt. Pepper's \\\"She's Leaving Home\\\", for instance, is \\\"cast in themoldof a sentimental Victorian ballad\\\", Gould writes, \\\"its words and music filled with the clichés of musical melodrama\\\". The band's stylistic range expanded in another direction with their 1966 B-side \\\"Rain\\\", described byMartin Strongas \\\"the first overtly psychedelic Beatles record\\\".Other psychedelic numbers followed, such as \\\"Tomorrow Never Knows\\\" (recorded before \\\"Rain\\\"), \\\"Strawberry Fields Forever\\\", \\\"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds\\\", and \\\"I Am the Walrus\\\". The influence ofIndian classical musicwas evident in Harrison's \\\"The Inner Light\\\", \\\"Love You To\\\", and \\\"Within You Without You\\\" – Gould describes the latter two as attempts \\\"to replicate theragaform in miniature\\\". Innovation was the most striking feature of their creative evolution, according to music historian and pianist Michael Campbell:\\\"'A Day in the Life' encapsulates the art and achievement of the Beatles as well as any single track can. It highlights key features of their music: the sound imagination, the persistence of tuneful melody, and the close coordination between words and music. It represents a new category of song – more sophisticated than pop ... and uniquely innovative. There literally had never before been a song – classical or vernacular – that had blended so many disparate elements so imaginatively.\\\"Philosophy professor Bruce Ellis Benson agrees: \\\"The Beatles ... give us a wonderful example of how such far-ranging influences as Celtic music, rhythm and blues, and country and western could be put together in a new way.\\\" Author Dominic Pedler describes the way they crossed musical styles: \\\"Far from moving sequentially from one genre to another (as is sometimes conveniently suggested) the group maintainedin paralleltheir mastery of the traditional, catchy chart hit while simultaneously forging rock and dabbling with a wide range of peripheral influences from country to vaudeville. One of these threads was their take on folk music, which would form such essential groundwork for their later collisions with Indian music and philosophy.\\\"As the personal relationships between the band members grew increasingly strained, their individual tastes became more apparent. The minimalistic cover artwork for the White Album contrasted with the complexity and diversity of its music, which encompassed Lennon's \\\"Revolution 9\\\" (whosemusique concrèteapproach was influenced by Yoko Ono), Starr'scountrysong \\\"Don't Pass Me By\\\", Harrison'srock ballad\\\"While My Guitar Gently Weeps\\\", and the \\\"proto-metalroar\\\" of McCartney's \\\"Helter Skelter\\\". Contribution of George Martin George Martin's close involvement in his role as producer made him one of the leading candidates for the informal title of the \\\"fifth Beatle\\\".He applied his classical musical training in various ways, and functioned as \\\"an informal music teacher\\\" to the progressing songwriters, according to Gould.Martin suggested to a sceptical McCartney that the arrangement of \\\"Yesterday\\\" should feature a string quartet accompaniment, thereby introducing the Beatles to a \\\"hitherto unsuspected world of classical instrumental colour\\\", in MacDonald's description.Their creative development was also facilitated by Martin's willingness to experiment in response to their suggestions, such as adding \\\"somethingbaroque\\\" to a particular recording.In addition to scoring orchestral arrangements for recordings, Martin often performed on them, playing instruments including piano, organ andbrass. Collaborating with Lennon and McCartney required Martin to adapt to their different approaches to songwriting and recording. MacDonald comments, \\\"while worked more naturally with the conventionally articulate McCartney, the challenge of catering to Lennon's intuitive approach generally spurred him to his more original arrangements, of which \\\"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!\\\" is an outstanding example.\\\"Martin said of the two composers' distinct songwriting styles and his stabilising influence: Compared with Paul's songs, all of which seemed to keep in some sort of touch with reality, John's had a psychedelic, almost mystical quality ... John's imagery is one of the best things about his work – 'tangerine trees', 'marmalade skies', 'cellophane flowers' ... I always saw him as an auralSalvador Dalí, rather than some drug-ridden record artist. On the other hand, I would be stupid to pretend that drugs didn't figure quite heavily in the Beatles' lives at that time ... they knew that I, in my schoolmasterly role, didn't approve ... Not only was I not into it myself, I couldn't see the need for it; and there's no doubt that, if I too had been on dope,Pepperwould never have been the album it was. Perhaps it was the combination of dope and no dope that worked, who knows? Harrison echoed Martin's description of his stabilising role: \\\"I think we just grew through those years together, him as the straight man and us as the loonies; but he was always there for us to interpret our madness – we used to be slightly avant-garde on certain days of the week, and he would be there as the anchor person, to communicate that through the engineers and on to the tape.\\\" In the studio Making innovative use of technology while expanding the possibilities of recorded music, the Beatles urged experimentation by Martin and his recording engineers. Seeking ways to put chance occurrences to creative use, accidental guitar feedback, a resonating glass bottle, a tape loaded the wrong way round so that it played backwards – any of these might be incorporated into their music.Their desire to create new sounds on every new recording, combined with Martin's arranging abilities and the studio expertise of EMI staff engineers Norman Smith,Ken Townsendand Geoff Emerick, all contributed significantly to their records fromRubber Souland, especially,Revolveronwards. Along with innovative studio techniques such assound effects, unconventional microphone placements, tape loops,double tracking, andvari-speedrecording, the Beatles augmented their songs with instruments that were unconventional in rock music at the time. These included string and brass ensembles as well as Indian instruments such as the sitar in \\\"Norwegian Wood\\\" and theswarmandalin \\\"Strawberry Fields Forever\\\".They also used novel electronic instruments such as the Mellotron, with which McCartney supplied the flute voices on the \\\"Strawberry Fields Forever\\\" intro,and theclavioline, an electronic keyboard that created the unusual oboe-like sound on \\\"Baby, You're a Rich Man\\\". Legacy FormerRolling Stonemagazine associate editorRobert Greenfieldcompared the Beatles toPicasso, as \\\"artists who broke through the constraints of their time period to come up with something that was unique and original ... n the form of popular music, no one will ever be more revolutionary, more creative and more distinctive ...\\\"The British poetPhilip Larkindescribed their work as \\\"an enchanting and intoxicating hybrid of Negro rock-and-roll with their own adolescent romanticism\\\" and \\\"the first advance in popular music since the War\\\". In 1964, the Beatles' arrival in the U.S. is credited with initiating thealbum era;the music historianJoel Whitburnsays that LP sales soon \\\"exploded and eventually outpaced the sales and releases of singles\\\" in the music industry.They not only sparked the British Invasion of the US,they became a globally influential phenomenon as well.From the 1920s, the US had dominated popular entertainment culture throughout much of the world, viaHollywoodfilms,jazz, the music of Broadway andTin Pan Alley, and later, the rock and roll that first emerged inMemphis, Tennessee.The Beatles are regarded as British cultural icons, with young adults from abroad naming the band among a group of people whom they most associated with UK culture. Their musical innovations and commercial success inspired musicians worldwide.Many artists have acknowledged the Beatles' influence and enjoyed chart success withcovers of their songs.On radio, their arrival marked the beginning of a new era; in 1968 the programme director of New York'sWABCradio station forbade his DJs from playing any \\\"pre-Beatles\\\" music, marking the defining line of what would be consideredoldieson American radio.They helped to redefine the album as something more than just a few hits padded out with \\\"filler\\\",and they were primary innovators of the modern music video.The Shea Stadium show with which they opened their1965 North American tourattracted an estimated 55,600 people,then the largest audience in concert history; Spitz describes the event as a \\\"major breakthrough ... a giant step toward reshaping the concert business\\\".Emulation of their clothing and especially their hairstyles, which became a mark of rebellion, had a global impact on fashion. According to Gould, the Beatles changed the way people listened to popular music and experienced its role in their lives. From what began as the Beatlemania fad, the group's popularity grew into what was seen as an embodiment of sociocultural movements of the decade. As icons of the1960s counterculture, Gould continues, they became a catalyst forbohemianismand activism in various social and political arenas, fuelling movements such aswomen's liberation,gay liberationandenvironmentalism.According to Peter Lavezzoli, after the \\\"more popular than Jesus\\\" controversy in 1966, the Beatles felt considerable pressure to say the right things and \\\"began a concerted effort to spread a message of wisdom and higher consciousness\\\". Other commentators such as Mikal Gilmore and Todd Leopold have traced the inception of their sociocultural impact earlier, interpreting even the Beatlemania period, particularly on their first visit to the US, as a key moment in the development of generational awareness.Referring to their appearance onthe Ed Sullivan ShowLeopold states: \\\"In many ways, the Sullivan appearance marked the beginning of a cultural revolution ... The Beatles were like aliens dropped into the United States of 1964.\\\"According to Gilmore: Elvis Presley had shown us how rebellion could be fashioned into eye-opening style; the Beatles were showing us how style could have the impact of cultural revelation – or at least how a pop vision might be forged into an unimpeachable consensus. Established in 2009,Global Beatles Dayis an annual holiday on 25 June each year that honours and celebrates the ideals of the Beatles.The date was chosen to commemorate the date the group participated in theBBCprogrammeOur Worldin 1967, performing \\\"All You Need Is Love\\\" broadcast to an international audience. Awards and achievements In 1965, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr Members of theOrder of the British Empire(MBE).The Beatles won the 1971 Academy Award forBest Original Song Scorefor the filmLet It Be(1970).The recipients of seven Grammy Awardsand fifteenIvor Novello Awards,the Beatles have sixDiamond albums, as well as 20 Multi-Platinum albums, 16 Platinum albums and six Gold albums in the US.In the UK, the Beatles have fourMulti-Platinum albums, fourPlatinum albums, eightGold albumsand oneSilver album.They were inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Famein 1988. Thebest-selling bandin history, the Beatles have sold more than 600 million units as of 2012.From 1991 to 2009 the Beatles sold 57 million albums in United States, according to Nielsen Soundscan.They have had morenumber-one albums on the UK charts, fifteen,and sold more singles in the UK, 21.9 million, than any other act.In 2004,Rolling Stoneranked the Beatles as the most significant and influential rock music artists of the last 50 years.They ranked number one onBillboardmagazine's list of the all-time most successful Hot 100 artists, released in 2008 to celebrate the US singles chart's 50th anniversary.As of 2017, they hold the record for most number-one hits on theBillboardHot 100, with twenty.TheRecording Industry Association of Americacertifies that the Beatles have sold 183 million units in the US, more than any other artist.They were collectively included inTimemagazine's compilation of the20th century's 100 most influential people.In 2014, they received theGrammy Lifetime Achievement Award. On 16 January each year, beginning in 2001, people celebrate World Beatles Day underUNESCO. This date has direct relation to the opening ofthe Cavern Clubin 1957.In 2007, the Beatles became the first band to feature on aseries of UK postage stampsissued by theRoyal Mail.Earlier in 1999, theUnited States Postal Serviceissued a stamp dedicated to the Beatles andYellow Submarine.In 2004 and 2011,Rolling Stonenamed them the greatest artist of all time. Personnel Principal members Early members Touring musicians Timeline Discography The Beatles' core catalogue consists of thirteen studio albums and one compilation album which collects all the UK non-album singles andEPtracks: Song catalogue Until 1969, the Beatles' catalogue was published almost exclusively byNorthern Songs Ltd, a company formed in February 1963 by music publisherDick Jamesspecifically for Lennon and McCartney, though it later acquired songs by other artists. The company was organised with James and his partner, Emmanuel Silver, owning a controlling interest, variously described as 51% or 50% plus one share. McCartney had 20%. Reports again vary concerning Lennon's portion – 19 or 20% – and Brian Epstein's – 9 or 10% – which he received in lieu of a 25% band management fee.In 1965, the company went public. Five million shares were created, of which the original principals retained 3.75 million. James and Silver each received 937,500 shares (18.75% of 5 million); Lennon and McCartney each received 750,000 shares (15%); and Epstein's management company, NEMS Enterprises, received 375,000 shares (7.5%). Of the 1.25 million shares put up for sale, Harrison and Starr each acquired 40,000.At the time of the stock offering, Lennon and McCartney renewed their three-year publishing contracts, binding them to Northern Songs until 1973. Harrison createdHarrisongsto represent his Beatles compositions, but signed a three-year contract with Northern Songs that gave it the copyright to his work through March 1968, which included \\\"Taxman\\\" and \\\"Within You Without You\\\".The songs on which Starr received co-writing credit before 1968, such as \\\"What Goes On\\\" and \\\"Flying\\\", were also Northern Songs copyrights.Harrison did not renew his contract with Northern Songs when it ended, signing instead withApple Publishingwhile retaining the copyright to his work from that point on. Harrison thus owned the rights to his later Beatles songs such as \\\"While My Guitar Gently Weeps\\\" and \\\"Something\\\". That year, as well, Starr createdStartling Music, which holds the rights to his Beatles compositions, \\\"Don't Pass Me By\\\" and \\\"Octopus's Garden\\\". In March 1969, James arranged to sell his and his partner's shares of Northern Songs to the British broadcasting companyAssociated Television(ATV), founded by impresarioLew Grade, without first informing the Beatles. The band then made a bid to gain a controlling interest by attempting to work out a deal with a consortium of London brokerage firms that had accumulated a 14% holding.The deal collapsed over the objections of Lennon, who declared, \\\"I'm sick of being fucked about by men in suits sitting on their fat arses inthe City.\\\"By the end of May, ATV had acquired a majority stake in Northern Songs, controlling nearly the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue, as well as any future material until 1973.In frustration, Lennon and McCartney sold their shares to ATV in late October 1969. In 1981, financial losses by ATV's parent company,Associated Communications Corporation(ACC), led it to attempt to sell its music division. According to authors Brian Southall and Rupert Perry, Grade contacted McCartney, offering ATV Music and Northern Songs for $30 million.According to an account McCartney gave in 1995, he met with Grade and explained he was interested solely in the Northern Songs catalogue if Grade were ever willing to \\\"separate off\\\" that portion of ATV Music. Soon afterwards, Grade offered to sell him Northern Songs for £20 million, giving the ex-Beatle \\\"a week or so\\\" to decide. By McCartney's account, he and Ono countered with a £5 million bid that was rejected.According to reports at the time, Grade refused to separate Northern Songs and turned down an offer of £21–25 million from McCartney and Ono for Northern Songs. In 1982, ACC was acquired in atakeoverby Australian business magnateRobert Holmes à Courtfor £60 million. In 1985,Michael Jacksonpurchased ATV for a reported $47.5 million. The acquisition gave him control over the publishing rights to more than 200 Beatles songs, as well as 40,000 other copyrights.In 1995, in a deal that earned him a reported $110 million, Jackson merged his music publishing business withSony, creating a new company,Sony/ATV Music Publishing, in which he held a 50% stake. The merger made the new company, then valued at over half a billion dollars, the third-largest music publisher in the world.In 2016, Sony acquired Jackson's share of Sony/ATV from the Jackson estate for $750 million. Despite the lack of publishing rights to most of their songs, Lennon's estate and McCartney continue to receive their respective shares of the writers' royalties, which together are 331⁄3% of total commercial proceeds in the US and which vary elsewhere around the world between 50 and 55%.Two of Lennon and McCartney's earliest songs – \\\"Love Me Do\\\" and \\\"P.S. I Love You\\\" – were published by an EMI subsidiary, Ardmore & Beechwood, before they signed with James. McCartney acquired their publishing rights from Ardmorein 1978,and they are the only two Beatles songs owned by McCartney's company MPL Communications.On 18 January 2017, McCartney filed a suit in theUnited States district courtagainst Sony/ATV Music Publishing seeking to reclaim ownership of his share of the Lennon–McCartney song catalogue beginning in 2018. Under US copyright law, for works published before 1978 the author can reclaim copyrights assigned to a publisher after 56 years.McCartney and Sony agreed to a confidential settlement in June 2017. Selected filmography Fictionalised Documentaries and filmed performances Concert tours Headlining Co-headlining See also Notes References Citations Sources Further reading External links\",\n \"Great Depression TheGreat Depressionwas a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939 that affected many countries across the world. It became evident after a sharp decline instockprices in theUnited States, the largest economy in the world at the time, leading to a period ofeconomic depression.Theeconomic contagionbegan around September 1929 and led to theWall Street stock market crashof October (Black Tuesday). This crisis marked the start of a prolonged period of economic hardship characterized by high unemployment rates and widespread business failures. Between 1929 and 1932, worldwidegross domestic product(GDP) fell by an estimated 15%. By comparison, worldwide GDP fell by less than 1% from 2008 to 2009 during theGreat Recession.Some economies started to recover by the mid-1930s. However, in many countries,the negative effects of the Great Depression lasted until the beginning ofWorld War II. Devastating effects were seen in both rich and poor countries with fallingpersonal income, prices, tax revenues, and profits. International trade fell by more than 50%, unemployment in the U.S. rose to 23% and in some countries rose as high as 33%.Cities around the world were severely affected, especially those dependent onheavy industry. Construction was virtually halted in many countries. Farming communities and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by about 60%.Faced with plummeting demand and few job alternatives, areas dependent onprimary sector industriessuffered the most. Economic historians usually consider the catalyst of the Great Depression to be the devastating Wall Street Crash. However, some dispute this, seeing the crash less as a cause of the Depression and more a symptom of the rising nervousness of investors partly due to gradual price declines caused by falling sales of consumer goods (as a result of overproduction because of new production techniques, falling exports and income inequality, among other factors) that had already been underway as part of a gradual depression. Overview After theWall Street Crash of 1929, where theDow Jones Industrial Averagedropped from 381 to 198 over the course of two months, optimism persisted for some time. The stock market rose in early 1930, with the Dow returning to 294 (pre-depression levels) in April 1930, before steadily declining for years, to a low of 41 in 1932. At the beginning, governments and businesses spent more in the first half of 1930 than in the corresponding period of the previous year. On the other hand, consumers, many of whom suffered severe losses in the stock market the previous year, cut expenditures by 10%. In addition, beginning in the mid-1930s, asevere droughtravaged the agricultural heartland of the U.S. Interest rates dropped to low levels by mid-1930, but expecteddeflationand the continuing reluctance of people to borrow meant that consumer spending and investment remained low.By May 1930, automobile sales declined to below the levels of 1928. Prices, in general, began to decline, although wages held steady in 1930. Then adeflationary spiralstarted in 1931. Farmers faced a worse outlook; declining crop prices and a Great Plains drought crippled their economic outlook. At its peak, the Great Depression saw nearly 10% of all Great Plains farms change hands despite federal assistance. The decline in theU.S. economywas the factor that pulled down most other countries at first; then, internal weaknesses or strengths in each country made conditions worse or better.Frantic attempts by individual countries to shore up their economies throughprotectionistpolicies – such as the 1930 U.S.Smoot–Hawley Tariff Actand retaliatory tariffs in other countries – exacerbated the collapse in global trade, contributing to the depression.By 1933, the economic decline pushed world trade to one third of its level compared to four years earlier. Economic indicators Course Origins Because the Great Depression began in the United States and then spread around the world, the origins of the Great Depression are examined in the context of the United States economy. In the aftermath ofWorld War I, theRoaring Twentieshad brought considerable wealth to the United States and Western Europe.The year 1929 dawned with considerable economic progress in the American economy. A small stock crash occurred on 25 March 1929, but the crash was stabilized. Despite signs of economic trouble, the market continued to improve through September. Stock prices began to slump in September, and were volatile at the end of September.A large sell-off of stocks began in mid-October. Finally, on 24 October,Black Thursday, the American stock market crashed 11% at the opening bell. Actions to stabilize the market failed, and on 28 October, Black Monday, the market crashed another 12%. The panic peaked the next day on Black Tuesday, when the market saw another 11% drop.Thousands of investors were ruined, and billions of dollars had been lost; many stocks could not be sold at any price.The market recovered 12% on Wednesday, but the damage had been done. Though the market recovered from 14 November until 17 April 1930, it entered a prolonged slump. From 17 April 1930 until 8 July 1932, the market continued to lose 89% of its value. Despite the crash, the worst of the crisis did not reverberate around the world until after 1929. The crisis hit panic levels again in December 1930, with abank runon theBank of United States(privately run, no relation to the government). Unable to pay out to all of its creditors, the bank failed.Among the 608 American banks that closed in November and December 1930, the Bank of United States accounted for a third of the total $550 million deposits lost and, with its closure, bank failures reached a critical mass. The Smoot–Hawley act and the breakdown of international trade TheSmoot–Hawley Tariff Actwas passed in the United States on 17 June 1930, having been proposed the year prior. Ostensibly aimed at protecting the American economy as the Depression began to take root, it backfired enormously and may have even caused the Depression. The consensus view amongeconomistsand economic historians (includingKeynesians,MonetaristsandAustrian economists) is that the passage of the Smoot–Hawley Tariff exacerbated the Great Depression,although there is disagreement as to how much. In the popular view, the Smoot–Hawley Tariff was a leading cause of the depression.In a 1995 survey of American economic historians, two-thirds agreed that theSmoot–Hawley Tariff Actat least worsened the Great Depression.According to the U.S. Senate website, the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act is among the most catastrophic acts in congressional history. Many economists have argued that the sharp decline in international trade after 1930 helped to worsen the depression, especially for countries significantly dependent on foreign trade. Most historians and economists blame the Act for worsening the depression by seriously reducing international trade and causing retaliatory tariffs in other countries. While foreign trade was a small part of overall economic activity in the U.S. and was concentrated in a few businesses like farming, it was a much larger factor in many other countries.The averagead valorem(value based) rate of duties on dutiable imports for 1921–1925 was 25.9% but under the new tariff it jumped to 50% during 1931–1935. In dollar terms, American exports declined over the next four years from about $5.2 billion in 1929 to $1.7 billion in 1933; so, not only did the physical volume of exports fall, but also the prices fell by about1⁄3as written. Hardest hit were farm commodities such as wheat, cotton, tobacco, and lumber. Governments around the world took various steps into spending less money on foreign goods such as: \\\"imposing tariffs, import quotas, and exchange controls\\\". These restrictions triggered much tension among countries that had large amounts of bilateral trade, causing major export-import reductions during the depression. Not all governments enforced the same measures of protectionism. Some countries raised tariffs drastically and enforced severe restrictions on foreign exchange transactions, while other countries reduced \\\"trade and exchange restrictions only marginally\\\": The gold standard and the spreading of global depression Thegold standardwas the primary transmission mechanism of the Great Depression. Even countries that did not face bank failures and a monetary contraction first-hand were forced to join the deflationary policy since higher interest rates in countries that performed a deflationary policy led to a gold outflow in countries with lower interest rates. Under the gold standard'sprice–specie flow mechanism, countries that lost gold but nevertheless wanted to maintain the gold standard had to permit their money supply to decrease and the domestic price level to decline (deflation). There is also consensus that protectionist policies, and primarily the passage of theSmoot–Hawley Tariff Act, helped to exacerbate, or even cause the Great Depression. Gold standard Some economic studies have indicated that the rigidities of thegold standardnot only spread the downturn worldwide, but also suspended gold convertibility (devaluing the currency in gold terms) that did the most to make recovery possible. Every major currency left the gold standard during the Great Depression. The UK was the first to do so. Facingspeculative attackson thepoundand depletinggold reserves, in September 1931 theBank of Englandceased exchanging pound notes for gold and the pound was floated on foreign exchange markets. Japan and the Scandinavian countries followed in 1931. Other countries, such as Italy and the United States, remained on the gold standard into 1932 or 1933, while a few countries in the so-called \\\"gold bloc\\\", led by France and including Poland, Belgium and Switzerland, stayed on the standard until 1935–36. According to later analysis, the earliness with which a country left the gold standard reliably predicted its economic recovery. For example, The UK and Scandinavia, which left the gold standard in 1931, recovered much earlier than France and Belgium, which remained on gold much longer. Countries such as China, which had asilver standard, almost avoided the depression entirely. The connection between leaving the gold standard as a strong predictor of that country's severity of its depression and the length of time of its recovery has been shown to be consistent for dozens of countries, includingdeveloping countries. This partly explains why the experience and length of the depression differed between regions and states around the world. German banking crisis of 1931 and British crisis The financial crisis escalated out of control in mid-1931, starting with the collapse of theCredit Anstaltin Vienna in May.This put heavy pressure on Germany, which was already in political turmoil. With the rise in violence of National Socialist ('Nazi') and Communist movements, as well as investor nervousness at harsh government financial policies,investors withdrew their short-term money from Germany as confidence spiraled downward. The Reichsbank lost 150 million marks in the first week of June, 540 million in the second, and 150 million in two days, 19–20 June. Collapse was at hand. U.S. President Herbert Hoover called for amoratorium on payment of war reparations. This angered Paris, which depended on a steady flow of German payments, but it slowed the crisis down, and the moratorium was agreed to in July 1931. An International conference in London later in July produced no agreements but on 19 August a standstill agreement froze Germany's foreign liabilities for six months. Germany received emergency funding from private banks in New York as well as the Bank of International Settlements and the Bank of England. The funding only slowed the process. Industrial failures began in Germany, a major bank closed in July and a two-day holiday for all German banks was declared. Business failures were more frequent in July, and spread toRomaniaand Hungary. The crisis continued to get worse in Germany, bringing political upheaval that finally led to thecoming to power of Hitler's Nazi regimein January 1933. The world financial crisis now began to overwhelm Britain; investors around the world started withdrawing their gold from London at the rate of £2.5 million per day.Credits of £25 million each from the Bank of France and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and an issue of £15 million fiduciary note slowed, but did not reverse, the British crisis. The financial crisis now caused a major political crisis in Britain in August 1931. With deficits mounting, the bankers demanded a balanced budget; the divided cabinet of Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald's Labour government agreed; it proposed to raise taxes, cut spending, and most controversially, to cut unemployment benefits 20%. The attack on welfare was unacceptable to the Labour movement. MacDonald wanted to resign, but King George V insisted he remain and form an all-party coalition \\\"National Government\\\". The Conservative and Liberals parties signed on, along with a small cadre of Labour, but the vast majority of Labour leaders denounced MacDonald as a traitor for leading the new government. Britain went off thegold standard, and suffered relatively less than other major countries in the Great Depression. In the 1931 British election, the Labour Party was virtually destroyed, leaving MacDonald as prime minister for a largely Conservative coalition. Turning point and recovery In most countries of the world, recovery from the Great Depression began in 1933.In the U.S., recovery began in early 1933,but the U.S. did not return to 1929 GNP for over a decade and still had an unemployment rate of about 15% in 1940, albeit down from the high of 25% in 1933. There is no consensus among economists regarding the motive force for the U.S. economic expansion that continued through most of theRoosevelt years(and the 1937 recession that interrupted it). The common view among most economists is that Roosevelt'sNew Dealpolicies either caused or accelerated the recovery, although his policies were never aggressive enough to bring the economy completely out of recession. Some economists have also called attention to the positive effects from expectations ofreflationand rising nominal interest rates that Roosevelt's words and actions portended.It was the rollback of those same reflationary policies that led to the interruption of a recession beginning in late 1937.One contributing policy that reversed reflation was theBanking Act of 1935, which effectively raised reserve requirements, causing a monetary contraction that helped to thwart the recovery.GDP returned to its upward trend in 1938.A revisionist view among some economists holds that the New Deal prolonged the Great Depression, as they argue thatNational Industrial Recovery Act of 1933andNational Labor Relations Act of 1935restricted competition and established price fixing.John Maynard Keynesdid not think that the New Deal under Roosevelt single-handedly ended the Great Depression: \\\"It is, it seems, politically impossible for a capitalistic democracy to organize expenditure on the scale necessary to make the grand experiments which would prove my case—except in war conditions.\\\" According toChristina Romer, the money supply growth caused by huge international gold inflows was a crucial source of the recovery of the United States economy, and that the economy showed little sign of self-correction. The gold inflows were partly due todevaluation of the U.S. dollarand partly due to deterioration of the political situation in Europe.In their book,A Monetary History of the United States,Milton FriedmanandAnna J. Schwartzalso attributed the recovery to monetary factors, and contended that it was much slowed by poor management of money by theFederal Reserve System.Chairman of the Federal Reserve(2006–2014)Ben Bernankeagreed that monetary factors played important roles both in the worldwide economic decline and eventual recovery.Bernanke also saw a strong role for institutional factors, particularly the rebuilding and restructuring of the financial system,and pointed out that the Depression should be examined in an international perspective. Role of women and household economics Women's primary role was as housewives; without a steady flow of family income, their work became much harder in dealing with food and clothing and medical care. Birthrates fell everywhere, as children were postponed until families could financially support them. The average birthrate for 14 major countries fell 12% from 19.3 births per thousand population in 1930, to 17.0 in 1935.In Canada, half of Roman Catholic women defied Church teachings and used contraception to postpone births. Among the few women in the labor force, layoffs were less common in the white-collar jobs and they were typically found in light manufacturing work. However, there was a widespread demand to limit families to one paid job, so that wives might lose employment if their husband was employed.Across Britain, there was a tendency for married women to join the labor force, competing for part-time jobs especially. In France, very slow population growth, especially in comparison to Germany continued to be a serious issue in the 1930s. Support for increasing welfare programs during the depression included a focus on women in the family. The Conseil Supérieur de la Natalité campaigned for provisions enacted in the Code de la Famille (1939) that increased state assistance to families with children and required employers to protect the jobs of fathers, even if they were immigrants. In rural and small-town areas, women expanded their operation of vegetable gardens to include as much food production as possible. In the United States, agricultural organizations sponsored programs to teach housewives how to optimize their gardens and to raise poultry for meat and eggs.Rural women madefeed sack dressesand other items for themselves and their families and homes from feed sacks.In American cities, African American women quiltmakers enlarged their activities, promoted collaboration, and trained neophytes. Quilts were created for practical use from various inexpensive materials and increased social interaction for women and promoted camaraderie and personal fulfillment. Oral history provides evidence for how housewives in a modern industrial city handled shortages of money and resources. Often they updated strategies their mothers used when they were growing up in poor families. Cheap foods were used, such as soups, beans and noodles. They purchased the cheapest cuts of meat—sometimes even horse meat—and recycled theSunday roastinto sandwiches and soups. They sewed and patched clothing, traded with their neighbors for outgrown items, and made do with colder homes. New furniture and appliances were postponed until better days. Many women also worked outside the home, or took boarders, did laundry for trade or cash, and did sewing for neighbors in exchange for something they could offer. Extended families used mutual aid—extra food, spare rooms, repair-work, cash loans—to help cousins and in-laws. In Japan, official government policy was deflationary and the opposite of Keynesian spending. Consequently, the government launched a campaign across the country to induce households to reduce their consumption, focusing attention on spending by housewives. In Germany, the government tried to reshape private household consumption under the Four-Year Plan of 1936 to achieve German economic self-sufficiency. The Nazi women's organizations, other propaganda agencies and the authorities all attempted to shape such consumption as economic self-sufficiency was needed to prepare for and to sustain the coming war. The organizations, propaganda agencies and authorities employed slogans that called up traditional values of thrift and healthy living. However, these efforts were only partly successful in changing the behavior of housewives. World War II and recovery The common view among economic historians is that the Great Depression ended with the advent ofWorld War II. Many economists believe that government spending on the war caused or at least accelerated recovery from the Great Depression, though some consider that it did not play a very large role in the recovery, though it did help in reducing unemployment. The rearmament policies leading up to World War II helped stimulate the economies of Europe in 1937–1939. By 1937, unemployment in Britain had fallen to 1.5 million. Themobilizationof manpower following the outbreak of war in 1939 ended unemployment. The American mobilization forWorld War IIat the end of 1941 moved approximately ten million people out of the civilian labor force and into the war.This finally eliminated the last effects from the Great Depression and brought the U.S. unemployment rate down below 10%. World War II had a dramatic effect on many parts of the American economy.Government-financed capital spending accounted for only 5% of the annual U.S. investment in industrial capital in 1940; by 1943, the government accounted for 67% of U.S. capital investment.The massive war spending doubled economic growth rates, either masking the effects of the Depression or essentially ending the Depression. Businessmen ignored the mountingnational debtand heavy new taxes, redoubling their efforts for greater output to take advantage of generous government contracts. Causes Trying to return to the Gold Standard DuringWorld War Imany countries suspended theirgold standardin varying ways. There was high inflation from WWI, and in the 1920s in theWeimar Republic,Austria, and throughout Europe. In the late 1920s there was a scramble to deflate prices to get the gold standard's conversation rates back on track to pre-WWI levels, by causingdeflationand high unemployment through monetary policy. In 1933FDRsignedExecutive Order 6102and in 1934 signed theGold Reserve Act. Keynesian vs Monetarist view The two classic competing economic theories of the Great Depression are theKeynesian(demand-driven) and theMonetaristexplanation.There are also variousheterodox theoriesthat downplay or reject the explanations of the Keynesians and monetarists. The consensus among demand-driven theories is that a large-scale loss of confidence led to a sudden reduction in consumption and investment spending. Once panic and deflation set in, many people believed they could avoid further losses by keeping clear of the markets. Holding money became profitable as prices dropped lower and a given amount of money bought ever more goods, exacerbating the drop in demand.Monetarists believe that the Great Depression started as an ordinary recession, but the shrinking of themoney supplygreatly exacerbated the economic situation, causing a recession to descend into the Great Depression. Economists and economic historians are almost evenly split as to whether the traditional monetary explanation that monetary forces were the primary cause of the Great Depression is right, or the traditional Keynesian explanation that a fall in autonomous spending, particularly investment, is the primary explanation for the onset of the Great Depression.Today there is also significant academic support for thedebt deflationtheory and theexpectations hypothesisthat – building on the monetary explanation ofMilton FriedmanandAnna Schwartz– add non-monetary explanations. There is a consensus that theFederal Reserve Systemshould have cut short the process of monetary deflation and banking collapse, by expanding the money supply and acting aslender of last resort. If they had done this, the economic downturn would have been far less severe and much shorter. Mainstream explanations Modern mainstream economists see the reasons in Insufficient spending, the money supply reduction, and debt on margin led to falling prices and further bankruptcies (Irving Fisher's debt deflation). Monetarist view The monetarist explanation was given by American economistsMilton FriedmanandAnna J. Schwartz.They argued that the Great Depression was caused by the banking crisis that caused one-third of all banks to vanish, a reduction of bank shareholder wealth and more importantlymonetary contractionof 35%, which they called \\\"TheGreat Contraction\\\". This caused a price drop of 33% (deflation).By not lowering interest rates, by not increasing the monetary base and by not injecting liquidity into the banking system to prevent it from crumbling, the Federal Reserve passively watched the transformation of a normal recession into the Great Depression. Friedman and Schwartz argued that the downward turn in the economy, starting with the stock market crash, would merely have been an ordinary recession if the Federal Reserve had taken aggressive action.This view was endorsed in 2002 byFederal Reserve GovernorBen Bernankein a speech honoring Friedman and Schwartz with this statement: Let me end my talk by abusing slightly my status as an official representative of the Federal Reserve. I would like to say to Milton and Anna: Regarding the Great Depression, you're right. We did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again. The Federal Reserve allowed some large public bank failures – particularly that of theNew York Bank of United States– which produced panic and widespread runs on local banks, and the Federal Reserve sat idly by while banks collapsed. Friedman and Schwartz argued that, if the Fed had provided emergency lending to these key banks, or simply boughtgovernment bondson theopen marketto provide liquidity and increase the quantity of money after the key banks fell, all the rest of the banks would not have fallen after the large ones did, and the money supply would not have fallen as far and as fast as it did. With significantly less money to go around, businesses could not get new loans and could not even get their old loans renewed, forcing many to stop investing. This interpretation blames the Federal Reserve for inaction, especially theNew York branch. One reason why the Federal Reserve did not act to limit the decline of the money supply was thegold standard. At that time, the amount of credit the Federal Reserve could issue was limited by theFederal Reserve Act, which required 40% gold backing of Federal Reserve Notes issued. By the late 1920s, the Federal Reserve had almost hit the limit of allowable credit that could be backed by the gold in its possession. This credit was in the form of Federal Reserve demand notes.A \\\"promise of gold\\\" is not as good as \\\"gold in the hand\\\", particularly when they only had enough gold to cover 40% of the Federal Reserve Notes outstanding. During the bank panics, a portion of those demand notes was redeemed for Federal Reserve gold. Since the Federal Reserve had hit its limit on allowable credit, any reduction in gold in its vaults had to be accompanied by a greater reduction in credit. On 5 April 1933, President Roosevelt signedExecutive Order 6102making the private ownership ofgold certificates, coins and bullion illegal, reducing the pressure on Federal Reserve gold. Keynesian view British economistJohn Maynard Keynesargued inThe General Theory of Employment, Interest and Moneythat loweraggregate expendituresin the economy contributed to a massive decline in income and to employment that was well below the average. In such a situation, the economy reached equilibrium at low levels of economic activity and high unemployment. Keynes's basic idea was simple: to keep people fully employed, governments have to run deficits when the economy is slowing, as the private sector would not invest enough to keep production at the normal level and bring the economy out of recession. Keynesian economists called on governments during times ofeconomic crisisto pick up the slack by increasinggovernment spendingor cutting taxes. As the Depression wore on,Franklin D. Roosevelttriedpublic works,farm subsidies, and other devices to restart the U.S. economy, but never completely gave up trying to balance the budget. According to the Keynesians, this improved the economy, but Roosevelt never spent enough to bring the economy out of recession until the start ofWorld War II. Debt deflation Irving Fisherargued that the predominant factor leading to the Great Depression was a vicious circle of deflation and growing over-indebtedness.He outlined nine factors interacting with one another under conditions of debt and deflation to create the mechanics of boom to bust. The chain of events proceeded as follows: During the Crash of 1929 preceding the Great Depression, margin requirements were only 10%.Brokerage firms, in other words, would lend $9 for every $1 an investor had deposited. When the market fell, brokerscalled in these loans, which could not be paid back.Banks began to fail as debtors defaulted on debt and depositors attempted to withdraw their depositsen masse, triggering multiplebank runs. Government guarantees and Federal Reserve banking regulations to prevent such panics were ineffective or not used. Bank failures led to the loss of billions of dollars in assets. Outstanding debts became heavier, because prices and incomes fell by 20–50% but the debts remained at the same dollar amount. After the panic of 1929 and during the first 10 months of 1930, 744 U.S. banks failed. (In all, 9,000 banks failed during the 1930s.) By April 1933, around $7 billion in deposits had been frozen in failed banks or those left unlicensed after theMarch Bank Holiday.Bank failures snowballed as desperate bankers called in loans that borrowers did not have time or money to repay. With future profits looking poor,capital investmentand construction slowed or completely ceased. In the face of bad loans and worsening future prospects, the surviving banks became even more conservative in their lending.Banks built up their capital reserves and made fewer loans, which intensified deflationary pressures. Avicious cycledeveloped and the downward spiral accelerated. The liquidation of debt could not keep up with the fall of prices that it caused. The mass effect of the stampede to liquidate increased the value of each dollar owed, relative to the value of declining asset holdings. The very effort of individuals to lessen their burden of debt effectively increased it. Paradoxically, the more the debtors paid, the more they owed.This self-aggravating process turned a 1930 recession into a 1933 great depression. Fisher's debt-deflation theory initially lacked mainstream influence because of the counter-argument that debt-deflation represented no more than a redistribution from one group (debtors) to another (creditors). Pure re-distributions should have no significant macroeconomic effects. Building on both the monetary hypothesis of Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz and the debt deflation hypothesis of Irving Fisher,Ben Bernankedeveloped an alternative way in which the financial crisis affected output. He builds on Fisher's argument that dramatic declines in the price level and nominal incomes lead to increasing real debt burdens, which in turn leads to debtor insolvency and consequently lowersaggregate demand; a further price level decline would then result in a debt deflationary spiral. According to Bernanke, a small decline in the price level simply reallocates wealth from debtors to creditors without doing damage to the economy. But when the deflation is severe, falling asset prices along with debtor bankruptcies lead to a decline in the nominal value of assets on bank balance sheets. Banks will react by tightening their credit conditions, which in turn leads to acredit crunchthat seriously harms the economy. A credit crunch lowers investment and consumption, which results in declining aggregate demand and additionally contributes to the deflationary spiral. Expectations hypothesis Since economic mainstream turned to thenew neoclassical synthesis, expectations are a central element of macroeconomic models. According toPeter Temin, Barry Wigmore, Gauti B. Eggertsson andChristina Romer, the key to recovery and to ending the Great Depression was brought about by a successful management of public expectations. The thesis is based on the observation that after years of deflation and a very severe recession important economic indicators turned positive in March 1933 whenFranklin D. Roosevelttook office. Consumer prices turned from deflation to a mild inflation, industrial production bottomed out in March 1933, and investment doubled in 1933 with a turnaround in March 1933. There were no monetary forces to explain that turnaround. Money supply was still falling and short-term interest rates remained close to zero. Before March 1933, people expected further deflation and a recession so that even interest rates at zero did not stimulate investment. But when Roosevelt announced major regime changes, people began to expect inflation and an economic expansion. With these positive expectations, interest rates at zero began to stimulate investment just as they were expected to do. Roosevelt's fiscal and monetary policy regime change helped make his policy objectives credible. The expectation of higher future income and higher future inflation stimulated demand and investment. The analysis suggests that the elimination of the policy dogmas of the gold standard, a balanced budget in times of crisis and small government led endogenously to a large shift in expectation that accounts for about 70–80% of the recovery of output and prices from 1933 to 1937. If the regime change had not happened and the Hoover policy had continued, the economy would have continued its free fall in 1933, and output would have been 30% lower in 1937 than in 1933. Therecession of 1937–1938, which slowed down economic recovery from the Great Depression, is explained by fears of the population that the moderate tightening of the monetary and fiscal policy in 1937 were first steps to a restoration of the pre-1933 policy regime. Common position There is common consensus among economists today that the government and the central bank should work to keep the interconnected macroeconomic aggregates ofgross domestic productandmoney supplyon a stable growth path. When threatened by expectations of a depression,central banksshould expand liquidity in the banking system and the government should cut taxes and accelerate spending in order to prevent a collapse in money supply andaggregate demand. At the beginning of the Great Depression, most economists believed inSay's lawand the equilibrating powers of the market, and failed to understand the severity of the Depression. Outright leave-it-aloneliquidationismwas a common position, and was universally held byAustrian Schooleconomists.The liquidationist position held that a depression worked to liquidate failed businesses and investments that had been made obsolete by technological development – releasingfactors of production(capital and labor) to be redeployed in other more productive sectors of the dynamic economy. They argued that even if self-adjustment of the economy caused mass bankruptcies, it was still the best course. Economists likeBarry EichengreenandJ. Bradford DeLongnote that PresidentHerbert Hoovertried to keep the federal budget balanced until 1932, when he lost confidence in his Secretary of the TreasuryAndrew Mellonand replaced him.An increasingly common view among economic historians is that the adherence of many Federal Reserve policymakers to the liquidationist position led to disastrous consequences.Unlike what liquidationists expected, a large proportion of the capital stock was not redeployed but vanished during the first years of the Great Depression. According to a study byOlivier BlanchardandLawrence Summers, the recession caused a drop of netcapital accumulationto pre-1924 levels by 1933.Milton Friedman called leave-it-alone liquidationism \\\"dangerous nonsense\\\".He wrote: I think the Austrian business-cycle theory has done the world a great deal of harm. If you go back to the 1930s, which is a key point, here you had the Austrians sitting in London, Hayek and Lionel Robbins, and saying you just have to let the bottom drop out of the world. You've just got to let it cure itself. You can't do anything about it. You will only make it worse. ... I think by encouraging that kind of do-nothing policy both in Britain and in the United States, they did harm. Heterodox theories Austrian School Two prominent theorists in theAustrian Schoolon the Great Depression include Austrian economistFriedrich Hayekand American economistMurray Rothbard, who wroteAmerica's Great Depression(1963). In their view, much like the monetarists, theFederal Reserve(created in 1913) shoulders much of the blame; however, unlike theMonetarists, they argue that the key cause of the Depression was the expansion of themoney supplyin the 1920s which led to an unsustainable credit-driven boom. In the Austrian view, it was this inflation of the money supply that led to an unsustainable boom in both asset prices (stocks and bonds) andcapital goods. Therefore, by the time the Federal Reserve tightened in 1928 it was far too late to prevent an economic contraction.In February 1929Hayekpublished a paper predicting the Federal Reserve's actions would lead to a crisis starting in thestockandcreditmarkets. According to Rothbard, the government support for failed enterprises and efforts to keep wages above their market values actually prolonged the Depression.UnlikeRothbard, after 1970Hayekbelieved that the Federal Reserve had further contributed to the problems of the Depression by permitting the money supply to shrink during the earliest years of the Depression.However, during the Depression (in 1932and in 1934)Hayek had criticized both theFederal Reserveand theBank of Englandfor not taking a more contractionary stance. Hans Sennholzargued that mostboom and buststhat plagued the American economy, such as those in1819–20,1839–1843,1857–1860,1873–1878,1893–1897, and1920–21, were generated by government creating a boom through easy money and credit, which was soon followed by the inevitable bust. Ludwig von Miseswrote in the 1930s: \\\"Credit expansion cannot increase the supply of real goods. It merely brings about a rearrangement. It diverts capital investment away from the course prescribed by the state of economic wealth and market conditions. It causes production to pursue paths which it would not follow unless the economy were to acquire an increase in material goods. As a result, the upswing lacks a solid base. It is not real prosperity. It is illusory prosperity. It did not develop from an increase in economic wealth, i.e. the accumulation of savings made available for productive investment. Rather, it arose because the credit expansion created the illusion of such an increase. Sooner or later, it must become apparent that this economic situation is built on sand.\\\" Marxist Marxistsgenerally argue that the Great Depression was the result of the inherent instability of thecapitalist mode of production.According toForbes, \\\"The idea that capitalism caused the Great Depression was widely held among intellectuals and the general public for many decades.\\\" Inequality Two economists of the 1920s,Waddill CatchingsandWilliam Trufant Foster, popularized a theory that influenced many policy makers, includingHerbert Hoover,Henry A. Wallace,Paul Douglas, andMarriner Eccles. It held the economy produced more than it consumed, because the consumers did not have enough income. Thus the unequaldistribution of wealththroughout the 1920s caused the Great Depression. According to this view, the root cause of the Great Depression was a global over-investment in heavy industry capacity compared to wages and earnings from independent businesses, such as farms. The proposed solution was for the government to pump money into the consumers' pockets. That is, it must redistribute purchasing power, maintaining the industrial base, and re-inflating prices and wages to force as much of the inflationary increase in purchasing power intoconsumer spending. The economy was overbuilt, and new factories were not needed. Foster and Catchings recommendedfederal and state governments to start large construction projects, a program followed by Hoover and Roosevelt. Productivity shock It cannot be emphasized too strongly that the trends we are describing are long-time trends and were thoroughly evident before 1929. These trends are in nowise the result of the present depression, nor are they the result of the World War. On the contrary, the present depression is a collapse resulting from these long-term trends. The first three decades of the 20th century saw economic output surge withelectrification,mass production, and motorized farm machinery, and because of the rapid growth in productivity there was a lot of excess production capacity and the work week was being reduced. The dramatic rise inproductivityof major industries in the U.S. and the effects of productivity on output, wages and the workweek are discussed by Spurgeon Bell in his bookProductivity, Wages, and National Income(1940). Effects by country The majority of countries set up relief programs and most underwent some sort of political upheaval, pushing them to theright. Many of the countries in Europe and Latin America, that were democracies, saw their democratic governments overthrown by some form of dictatorship or authoritarian rule, most famouslyin Germany in 1933.The Dominion of Newfoundland abandoneditsautonomy within the British Empire, becoming the only region ever to voluntarily relinquish democracy. There, too, were severe impacts across the Middle East and North Africa, including economic decline which led to social unrest. Argentina Decline in foreign trade hit Argentina hard. The British decision to stop importing Argentine beef led to the signing of theRoca–Runciman Treaty, which preserved a quota in exchange for significant concessions to British exports. By 1935, the economy had recovered to 1929 levels, and the same year, theCentral Bank of Argentinawas formed.However, the Great Depression was the last time when Argentina was one of the richer countries of the world, as it stopped growing in the decades thereafter, and became underdeveloped. Australia Australia's dependence on agricultural and industrial exports meant it was one of the hardest-hit developed countries.Falling export demand and commodity prices placed massive downward pressures on wages. Unemployment reached a record high of 29% in 1932,with incidents ofcivil unrestbecoming common.After 1932, an increase in wool and meat prices led to a gradual recovery. Canada Harshly affected by both the global economic downturn and theDust Bowl, Canadian industrial production had by 1932 fallen to only 58% of its 1929 figure, the second-lowest level in the world after the United States, and well behind countries such as Britain, which fell to only 83% of the 1929 level. Totalnational incomefell to 56% of the 1929 level, again worse than any country apart from the United States. Unemployment reached 27% at the depth of the Depression in 1933. Chile TheLeague of NationslabeledChilethe country hardest-hit by the Great Depression, because 80% of government revenue came from exports of copper and nitrates, which were in low demand. Chile initially felt the impact of the Great Depression in 1930, when GDP dropped 14%, mining income declined 27%, and export earnings fell 28%. By 1932, GDP had shrunk to less than half of what it had been in 1929, exacting a terrible toll in unemployment and business failures. Influenced profoundly by the Great Depression, many government leaders promoted the development of local industry in an effort to insulate the economy from future external shocks. After six years of governmentausterity measures, which succeeded in reestablishing Chile's creditworthiness, Chileans elected to office during the 1938–58 period a succession of center and left-of-center governments interested in promoting economic growth through government intervention. Prompted in part by the devastating1939 Chillán earthquake, thePopular Frontgovernment ofPedro Aguirre Cerdacreated the Production Development Corporation (Corporación de Fomento de la Producción,CORFO) to encourage with subsidies and direct investments — an ambitious program ofimport substitution industrialization. Consequently, as in other Latin American countries,protectionismbecame an entrenched aspect of the Chilean economy. China China was largely unaffected by the Depression, mainly by having stuck to theSilver standard. However, the U.S. silver purchase act of 1934 created an intolerable demand on China's silver coins, and so, in the end, the silver standard was officially abandoned in 1935 in favor of the four Chinese national banks'\\\"legal note\\\" issues. China and theBritish colony of Hong Kong, which followed suit in this regard in September 1935, would be the last to abandon the silver standard. In addition, theNationalist Governmentalso acted energetically to modernize the legal and penal systems, stabilize prices, amortize debts, reform the banking and currency systems, build railroads and highways, improve public health facilities, legislate against traffic in narcotics, and augment industrial and agricultural production. On 3 November 1935, the government instituted the fiat currency (fapi) reform, immediately stabilizing prices and also raising revenues for the government. European African colonies The sharp fall in commodity prices and the steep decline in exports hurt the economies of the European colonies in Africa and Asia.The agricultural sector was especially hard-hit. For example,sisalhad recently become a major export crop in Kenya and Tanganyika. During the depression, it suffered severely from low prices and marketing problems that affected all colonial commodities in Africa. Sisal producers established centralized controls for the export of their fibre.There was widespread unemployment and hardship among peasants, labourers, colonial auxiliaries, and artisans.The budgets of colonial governments were cut, which forced the reduction in ongoing infrastructure projects, such as the building and upgrading of roads, ports, and communications.The budget cuts delayed the schedule for creating systems of higher education. The depression severely hurt the export-basedBelgian Congoeconomy because of the drop in international demand for raw materials and for agricultural products. For example, the price of peanuts fell from 125 to 25 centimes. In some areas, as in theKatangamining region, employment declined by 70%. In the country as a whole, the wage labour force decreased by 72,000 people, and many men returned to their villages. In Leopoldville, the population decreased by 33% because of this labour migration. Political protests were not common. However, there was a growing demand, that the paternalistic claims be honored by colonial governments to respond vigorously. The theme was, that economic reforms were more urgently needed than political reforms.French West Africa launched an extensive program of educational reform, in which \\\"rural schools\\\", designed to modernize agriculture, would stem the flow of under-employed farm workers to cities where unemployment was high. Students were trained in traditional arts, crafts, and farming techniques and were then expected to return to their own villages and towns. France The crisis affected France a bit later than other countries, hitting hard around 1931.While the 1920s grew at the very strong rate of 4.43% per year, the 1930s rate fell to only 0.63%. The depression was relatively mild: unemployment peaked under 5%, the fall in production was at most 20% below the 1929 output; there was no banking crisis. However, the depression had drastic effects on the local economy, and partly explains theFebruary 6, 1934 riotsand even more the formation of thePopular Front, led bySFIO socialist leaderLéon Blum, which won the elections in 1936. Ultra-nationalist groups also saw increased popularity, though democracy prevailed intoWorld War II. France's relatively high degree of self-sufficiency meant the damage was considerably less than in neighbouring states like Germany. Germany The Great Depression hit Germany hard. The impact of theWall Street Crashforced American banks to end the new loans that had been funding the repayments under theDawes Planand theYoung Plan. The financial crisis escalated out of control in mid-1931, starting with the collapse of theCredit Anstaltin Vienna in May.This put heavy pressure on Germany, which was already in political turmoil with the rise in violence ofnational socialistandcommunistmovements, as well as with investor nervousness at harsh government financial policies,investors withdrew their short-term money from Germany as confidence spiraled downward. The Reichsbank lost 150 million marks in the first week of June, 540 million in the second, and 150 million in two days, 19–20 June. Collapse was at hand. U.S. President Herbert Hoover called for a moratorium on payment of war reparations. This angered Paris, which depended on a steady flow of German payments, but it slowed the crisis down, and the moratorium was agreed to in July 1931. An international conference in London later in July produced no agreements, but on 19 August, a standstill agreement froze Germany's foreign liabilities for six months. Germany received emergency funding from private banks in New York as well as the Bank of International Settlements and the Bank of England. The funding only slowed the process. Industrial failures began in Germany, a major bank closed in July, and a two-day holiday for all German banks was declared. Business failures became more frequent in July, and spread to Romania and Hungary. In 1932, 90% of German reparation payments were cancelled (in the 1950s, Germany repaid all its missed reparations debts). Widespread unemployment reached 25%, as every sector was hurt. The government did not increase government spending to deal with Germany's growing crisis, as they were afraid, that a high-spending policy could lead to a return of thehyperinflationthat had affected Germany in 1923. Germany'sWeimar Republicwas hit hard by the depression, as American loans to help rebuild the German economy now stopped.The unemployment rate reached nearly 30% in 1932. The German political landscape was dramatically altered, leading toAdolf Hitler's rise to power. TheNazi Partyrose from being peripheral to winning 18.3% of the vote in theSeptember 1930 election, and theCommunist Partyalso made gains, while moderate forces, like theSocial Democratic Party, theDemocratic Party, and thePeople's Partylost seats. The next two years were marked by increased street violence between Nazis and Communists, while governments under PresidentPaul von Hindenburgincreasingly relied onrule by decree, bypassing theReichstag.Hitler ran for the Presidency in 1932, and while he lost to the incumbent Hindenburg in the election, it marked a point during which both Nazi Party and the Communist parties rose in the years following the crash to altogether possess a Reichstag majority following thegeneral election in July 1932.Although the Nazis lost seats inNovember 1932 election, they remained the largest party, and Hitler was appointed as Chancellor the following January. The government formation deal was designed to give Hitler's conservative coalition partners many checks on his power, but over the next few months, the Nazis manoeuvred to consolidate a single-party dictatorship. Hitler followed an economic policy ofautarky, creating a network of client states and economic allies in central Europe and Latin America. By cutting wages and taking control of labor unions, plus public works spending, unemployment fell significantly by 1935. Large-scale military spending played a major role in the recovery.The policies had the effect of driving up the cost of food imports and depleting foreign currency reserves, leading to economic impasse by 1936. Nazi Germany faced a choice of either reversing course or pressing ahead with rearmament and autarky. Hitler chose the latter route, which, according toIan Kershaw, \\\"could only be partially accomplished without territorial expansion\\\" and therefore war. Greece The reverberations of the Great Depression hit Greece in 1932. TheBank of Greecetried to adopt deflationary policies to stave off the crises that were going on in other countries, but these largely failed. For a brief period, the drachma was pegged to the U.S. dollar, but this was unsustainable given the country's large trade deficit and the only long-term effects of this were Greece's foreign exchange reserves being almost totally wiped out in 1932. Remittances from abroad declined sharply, and the value of the drachma began to plummet from 77 drachmas to the dollar in March 1931 to 111 drachmas to the dollar in April 1931. This was especially harmful to Greece, as the country relied on imports from the UK, France, and the Middle East for many necessities. Greece went off the gold standard in April 1932, and declared a moratorium on all interest payments. The country also adopted protectionist policies, such as import quotas, which several European countries also did during the period. Protectionist policies coupled with a weak drachma and the stifling of imports allowed the Greek industry to expand during the Great Depression. In 1939, the Greek industrial output was 179% that of 1928. These industries were for the most part \\\"built on sand\\\", as one report of the Bank of Greece put it, as without massive protection, they would not have been able to survive. Despite the global depression, Greece managed to suffer comparatively little, averaging an average growth rate of 3.5% from 1932 to 1939. The dictatorial regime ofIoannis Metaxastook over the Greek government in 1936, and economic growth was strong in the years leading up to the Second World War. Iceland Icelandic post-World War I prosperity came to an end with the outbreak of the Great Depression. The Depression hit Iceland hard, as the value of exports plummeted. The total value of Icelandic exports fell from 74 million kronur in 1929 to 48 million in 1932, and was not to rise again to the pre-1930 level until after 1939.Government interference in the economy increased: \\\"Imports were regulated, trade with foreign currency was monopolized by state-owned banks, and loan capital was largely distributed by state-regulated funds\\\".Due to the outbreak of theSpanish Civil War, which cut Iceland's exports of saltfish by half, the Depression lasted in Iceland until the outbreak of World War II (when prices for fish exports soared). India How much India was affected, has been hotly debated. Historians have argued, that the Great Depression slowed long-term industrial development.Apart from two sectors —juteand coal — the economy was little-affected. However, there were major negative impacts on the jute industry, as world demand fell and prices plunged.Otherwise, conditions were fairly stable. Local markets in agriculture and small-scale industry showed modest gains. Ireland Frank Barry andMary E. Dalyhave argued that: Italy The Great Depression hitItalyvery hard.As industries came close to failure they were bought out by the banks in a largely illusionary bail-out—the assets used to fund the purchases were largely worthless. This led to a financial crisis peaking in 1932 and major government intervention. TheIndustrial Reconstruction Institute(IRI) was formed in January 1933 and took control of the bank-owned companies, suddenly giving Italy the largest state-owned industrial sector in Europe (excluding the USSR). IRI did rather well with its new responsibilities—restructuring, modernising and rationalising as much as it could. It was a significant factor in post-1945 development. But it took the Italian economy until 1935 to recover the manufacturing levels of 1930—a position that was only 60% better than that of 1913. Japan The Great Depression did not strongly affect Japan. The Japanese economy shrank by 8% during 1929–31. Japan's Finance MinisterTakahashi Korekiyowas the first to implement what have come to be identified asKeynesianeconomic policies: first, by large fiscal stimulus involvingdeficit spending; and second, by devaluingthe currency. Takahashi used the Bank of Japan to sterilize the deficit spending and minimize resulting inflationary pressures. Econometric studies have identified the fiscal stimulus as especially effective. The devaluation of the currency had an immediate effect. Japanese textiles began to displace British textiles in export markets. The deficit spending proved to be most profound and went into the purchase of munitions for the armed forces. By 1933, Japan was already out of the depression. By 1934, Takahashi realized that the economy was in danger of overheating, and to avoid inflation, moved to reduce the deficit spending that went towards armaments and munitions. This resulted in a strong and swift negative reaction from nationalists, especially those in the army, culminating in his assassination in the course of theFebruary 26 Incident. This had achilling effecton all civilian bureaucrats in the Japanese government. From 1934, the military's dominance of the government continued to grow. Instead of reducing deficit spending, the government introduced price controls and rationing schemes that reduced, but did not eliminate inflation, which remained a problem until the end of World War II. The deficit spending had a transformative effect on Japan. Japan's industrial production doubled during the 1930s. Further, in 1929 the list of the largest firms in Japan was dominated by light industries, especially textile companies (many of Japan's automakers, such asToyota, have their roots in the textile industry). By 1940light industryhad been displaced by heavy industry as the largest firms inside the Japanese economy. Latin America Because of high levels of U.S. investment in Latin American economies, they were severely damaged by the Depression. Within the region,Chile,BoliviaandPeruwere particularly badly affected. Before the 1929 crisis, links between the world economy andLatin Americaneconomies had been established through American and British investment in Latin American exports to the world. As a result, Latin Americans export industries felt the depression quickly. World prices for commodities such as wheat, coffee and copper plunged. Exports from all of Latin America to the U.S. fell in value from $1.2 billion in 1929 to $335 million in 1933, rising to $660 million in 1940. But on the other hand, the depression led the area governments to develop new local industries and expand consumption and production. Following the example of the New Deal, governments in the area approved regulations and created or improved welfare institutions that helped millions of new industrial workers to achieve a better standard of living. Netherlands From roughly 1931 to 1937, theNetherlandssuffered a deep and exceptionally long depression. This depression was partly caused by the after-effects of the American stock-market crash of 1929, and partly by internal factors in the Netherlands. Government policy, especially the very late dropping of the Gold Standard, played a role in prolonging the depression. The Great Depression in the Netherlands led to some political instability and riots, and can be linked to the rise of the Dutch fascist political partyNSB. The depression in the Netherlands eased off somewhat at the end of 1936, when the government finally dropped the Gold Standard, but real economic stability did not return until after World War II. New Zealand New Zealandwas especially vulnerable to worldwide depression, as it relied almost entirely on agricultural exports to the United Kingdom for its economy. The drop in exports led to a lack of disposable income from the farmers, who were the mainstay of the local economy. Jobs disappeared and wages plummeted, leaving people desperate and charities unable to cope. Work relief schemes were the only government support available to the unemployed, the rate of which by the early 1930s was officially around 15%, but unofficially nearly twice that level (official figures excluded Māori and women). In 1932, riots occurred among the unemployed in three of the country's main cities (Auckland,Dunedin, andWellington). Many were arrested or injured through the tough official handling of these riots by police and volunteer \\\"special constables\\\". Persia In Iran, then known as theImperial State of Persia, the Great Depression had negative impacts on its exports. In 1933 a new concession was signed with theAnglo-Persian Oil Company. Poland Poland was affected by the Great Depression longer and stronger than other countries due to inadequate economic response of the government and the pre-existing economic circumstances of the country. At that time, Poland was under the authoritarian rule ofSanacja, whose leader,Józef Piłsudski, was opposed to leaving thegold standarduntil his death in 1935. As a result, Poland was unable to perform a more active monetary and budget policy. Additionally, Poland was a relatively young country that emerged merely 10 years earlier after being partitioned betweenGerman,Russianand theAustro-Hungarian Empiresfor over a century. Prior to independence, the Russian part exported 91% of its exports to Russia proper, while the German part exported 68% to Germany proper. After independence, these markets were largely lost, as Russia transformed intoUSSRthat was mostly a closed economy, and Germany was in a tariff war with Poland throughout the 1920s. Industrial productionfell significantly: in 1932hard coalproduction was down 27% compared to 1928,steelproduction was down 61%, andiron oreproduction noted an 89% decrease.On the other hand, electrotechnical, leather, and paper industries noted marginal increases in production output. Overall, industrial production decreased by 41%.A distinct feature of the Great Depression in Poland was the de-concentration of industry, as larger conglomerates were less flexible and paid their workers more than smaller ones. Unemployment raterose significantly (up to 43%) while nominalwagesfell by 51% in 1933 and 56% in 1934, relative to 1928. However, real wages fell less due to the government's policy of decreasing cost of living, particularly food expenditures (food prices were down by 65% in 1935 compared to 1928 price levels). Material conditions deprivation led to strikes, some of them violent or violently pacified – like inSanok(March of the Hungry in Sanok6 March 1930),Lesko county(Lesko uprising21 June – 9 July 1932) andZawiercie(Bloody Friday (1930)18 April 1930). To adapt to the crisis, Polish government employed deflation methods such as highinterest rates, credit limits and budgetausterityto keep afixed exchange ratewith currencies tied to the gold standard. Only in late 1932 did the government effect a plan to fight the economic crisis.Part of the plan was masspublic worksscheme, employing up to 100,000 people in 1935.After Piłsudski's death, in 1936 the gold standard regime was relaxed, and launching the development of theCentral Industrial Regionkicked off the economy, to over 10% annual growth rate in the 1936–1938 period. Portugal Already under the rule of a dictatorial junta, theDitadura Nacional, Portugal suffered no turbulent political effects of the Depression, althoughAntónio de Oliveira Salazar, already appointed Minister of Finance in 1928 greatly expanded his powers and in 1932 rose toPrime Minister of Portugalto found theEstado Novo, anauthoritariancorporatistdictatorship. With the budget balanced in 1929, the effects of the depression were relaxed through harsh measures towardsbudget balanceandautarky, causing social discontent but stability and, eventually, an impressive economic growth. Puerto Rico In the years immediately preceding the depression, negative developments in the island and world economies perpetuated an unsustainable cycle of subsistence for many Puerto Rican workers. The 1920s brought a dramatic drop in Puerto Rico's two primary exports, raw sugar and coffee, due to a devastating hurricane in 1928 and the plummeting demand from global markets in the latter half of the decade. 1930 unemployment on the island was roughly 36% and by 1933 Puerto Rico's per capita income dropped 30% (by comparison, unemployment in the United States in 1930 was approximately 8% reaching a height of 25% in 1933).To provide relief and economic reform, the United States government and Puerto Rican politicians such asCarlos ChardonandLuis Muñoz Maríncreated and administered first the Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration (PRERA) 1933 and then in 1935, thePuerto Rico Reconstruction Administration(PRRA). Romania Romania was also affected by the Great Depression. South Africa As world trade slumped, demand for South African agricultural and mineral exports fell drastically. TheCarnegie Commission on Poor Whiteshad concluded in 1931 that nearly one-third ofAfrikanerslived as paupers. The social discomfort caused by the depression was a contributing factor in the 1933 split between the \\\"gesuiwerde\\\" (purified) and \\\"smelter\\\" (fusionist) factions within theNational Partyand the National Party's subsequent fusion with theSouth African Party.Unemployment programs were begun that focused primarily on the white population. Soviet Union The Soviet Union was the only majorsocialist statein the world and had very little international trade. Its economy was not tied to the rest of the world and was mostly unaffected by the Great Depression. At the time of the Depression, the Soviet economy was growing steadily, fuelled by intensive investment in heavy industry. The apparent economic success of the Soviet Union at a time when the capitalist world was in crisis led many Western intellectuals to view the Soviet system favorably. Jennifer Burns wrote: As the Great Depression ground on and unemployment soared, intellectuals began unfavorably comparing their faltering capitalist economy to Russian Communism. Karl Marx had predicted that capitalism would fall under the weight of its own contradictions, and now with the economic crisis gripping the West, his predictions seem to be coming true. By contrast Russia seemed an emblematic modern nation, making the staggering leap from a feudal past to an industrial future with ease. The early years of the Great Depression caused mass immigration to the Soviet Union, including 10,000 to 15,000 from Finland and thousands more from Poland, Sweden, Germany, and other nearby countries. The Kremlin was at first happy to help these immigrants settle, believing that they were victims of capitalism who had come to help the Soviet cause. However, by 1933, the worst of the Depression had come to an end in many countries, and word had been received that illegal migrants to the Soviet Union were being sent to Siberia. These factors caused immigration to the Soviet Union to slow significantly, and roughly a tenth of Finnish migrants returned to Finland, either legally or illegally. Spain Spain had a relatively isolated economy, with high protective tariffs and was not one of the main countries affected by the Depression. The banking system held up well, as did agriculture. By far the most serious negative impact came after 1936 from the heavy destruction of infrastructure and manpower by thecivil war, 1936–39. Many talented workers were forced into permanent exile. By staying neutral in the Second World War, and selling to both sides, the economy avoided further disasters. Sweden By the 1930s, Sweden had what America'sLife magazinecalled in 1938 the \\\"world's highest standard of living\\\". Sweden was also the first country worldwide to recover completely from the Great Depression. Taking place amid a short-lived government and a less-than-a-decade old Swedish democracy, events such as those surroundingIvar Kreuger(who eventually committed suicide) remain infamous in Swedish history. TheSocial DemocratsunderPer Albin Hanssonformed their first long-lived government in 1932 based on stronginterventionistandwelfare statepolicies, monopolizing the office ofPrime Ministeruntil 1976 with the sole and short-lived exception ofAxel Pehrsson-Bramstorp's \\\"summer cabinet\\\" in 1936. During forty years of hegemony, it was the most successful political party in the history of Western liberal democracy. Thailand In Thailand, then known as theKingdom of Siam, the Great Depression contributed to the end of theabsolute monarchy of King Rama VIIin theSiamese revolution of 1932. Turkey Turkey was badly affected by the Great Depression and it came at a time when the state was still reforming its economic policy following the end of theOttomanera. Exports ofgrapes, which held an important share, were down considerably which had already started beforehand due to drought. United Kingdom The World Depression broke at a time when the United Kingdom had still not fully recovered from the effects of theFirst World Warmore than a decade earlier. The country was driven off thegold standardin 1931. The world financial crisis began to overwhelm Britain in 1931; investors around the world started withdrawing their gold from London at the rate of £2.5 million per day.Credits of £25 million each from the Bank of France and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and an issue of £15 million fiduciary note slowed, but did not reverse the British crisis. The financial crisis now caused a major political crisis in Britain in August 1931. With deficits mounting, the bankers demanded a balanced budget; the divided cabinet of Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald's Labour government agreed; it proposed to raise taxes, cut spending and most controversially, to cut unemployment benefits by 20%. The attack on welfare was totally unacceptable to the Labour movement. MacDonald wanted to resign, but King George V insisted he remain and form an all-party coalition \\\"National Government\\\". The Conservative and Liberals parties signed on, along with a small cadre of Labour, but the vast majority of Labour leaders denounced MacDonald as a traitor for leading the new government. Britain went off the gold standard, and suffered relatively less than other major countries in the Great Depression. In the 1931 British election, the Labour Party was virtually destroyed, leaving MacDonald as prime minister for a largely Conservative coalition. The effects on the northern industrial areas of Britain were immediate and devastating, as demand for traditional industrial products collapsed. By the end of 1930 unemployment had more than doubled from 1 million to 2.5 million (20% of the insured workforce), and exports had fallen in value by 50%. In 1933, 30% ofGlaswegianswere unemployed due to the severe decline in heavy industry. In some towns and cities in the north east, unemployment reached as high as 70% as shipbuilding fell by 90%.TheNational Hunger Marchof September–October 1932 was the largestof a series ofhunger marchesin Britain in the 1920s and 1930s. About 200,000 unemployed men were sent to the work camps, which continued in operation until 1939. In the less industrialMidlandsandSouthern England, the effects were short-lived and the later 1930s were a prosperous time. Growth in modern manufacture of electrical goods and a boom in the motor car industry was helped by a growing southern population and an expandingmiddle class. Agriculture also saw a boom during this period. United States Hoover's first measures to combat the depression were based on encouraging businesses not to reduce their workforce or cut wages but businesses had little choice: wages were reduced, workers were laid off, and investments postponed. In June 1930, Congress approved theSmoot–Hawley Tariff Actwhich raised tariffs on thousands of imported items. The intent of the Act was to encourage the purchase of American-made products by increasing the cost of imported goods, while raising revenue for the federal government and protecting farmers. Most countries that traded with the U.S. increased tariffs on American-made goods in retaliation, reducing international trade, and worsening the Depression. In 1931, Hoover urged bankers to set up theNational Credit Corporationso that big banks could help failing banks survive. But bankers were reluctant to invest in failing banks, and the National Credit Corporation did almost nothing to address the problem. By 1932, unemployment had reached 23.6%, peaking in early 1933 at 25%.Those releasing from prison during this period had an especially difficult time finding employment given the stigma of their criminal records, which often led to recidivism out of economic desperation.Drought persisted in the agricultural heartland, businesses and families defaulted on record numbers of loans, and more than 5,000 banks had failed.Hundreds of thousands of Americans found themselves homeless, and began congregating inshanty towns– dubbed \\\"Hoovervilles\\\" – that began to appear across the country.In response, President Hoover and Congress approved theFederal Home Loan Bank Act, to spur new home construction, and reduce foreclosures. The final attempt of the Hoover Administration to stimulate the economy was the passage of theEmergency Relief and Construction Act(ERA) which included funds forpublic worksprograms such as dams and the creation of theReconstruction Finance Corporation(RFC) in 1932. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was a Federal agency with the authority to lend up to $2 billion to rescue banks and restore confidence in financial institutions. But $2 billion was not enough to save all the banks, andbank runsand bank failures continued.Quarter by quarter the economy went downhill, as prices, profits and employment fell, leading to thepolitical realignmentin 1932 that brought to powerFranklin Delano Roosevelt. Shortly after PresidentFranklin Delano Rooseveltwas inaugurated in 1933, drought and erosion combined to cause theDust Bowl, shifting hundreds of thousands ofdisplaced personsoff their farms in the Midwest. From his inauguration onward, Roosevelt argued that restructuring of the economy would be needed to prevent another depression or avoid prolonging the current one. New Deal programs sought to stimulatedemandand provide work and relief for the impoverished through increased government spending and the institution of financial reforms. During a \\\"bank holiday\\\" that lasted five days, theEmergency Banking Actwas signed into law. It provided for a system of reopening sound banks underTreasurysupervision, with federal loans available if needed. TheSecurities Act of 1933comprehensively regulated the securities industry. This was followed by theSecurities Exchange Act of 1934which created theSecurities and Exchange Commission. Although amended, key provisions of both Acts are still in force. Federal insurance ofbank depositswas provided by theFDIC, and theGlass–Steagall Act. TheAgricultural Adjustment Actprovided incentives to cut farm production in order to raise farming prices. TheNational Recovery Administration(NRA) made a number of sweeping changes to the American economy. It forced businesses to work with government to set price codes through the NRA to fightdeflationary\\\"cut-throat competition\\\" by the setting of minimum prices andwages, labor standards, and competitive conditions in all industries. It encouraged unions that would raise wages, to increase thepurchasing powerof theworking class. The NRAwas deemed unconstitutionalby theSupreme Court of the United Statesin 1935. These reforms, together with several other relief and recovery measures, are called theFirst New Deal. Economic stimulus was attempted through a newalphabet soup of agenciesset up in 1933 and 1934 and previously extant agencies such as theReconstruction Finance Corporation. By 1935, the \\\"Second New Deal\\\" addedSocial Security(which was later considerably extended through theFair Deal), a jobs program for the unemployed (theWorks Progress Administration, WPA) and, through theNational Labor Relations Board, a strong stimulus to the growth of labor unions. In 1929, federal expenditures constituted only 3% of theGDP. The national debt as a proportion of GNP rose under Hoover from 20% to 40%. Roosevelt kept it at 40% until the war began, when it soared to 128%. By 1936, the maineconomic indicatorshad regained the levels of the late 1920s, except for unemployment, which remained high at 11%, although this was considerably lower than the 25% unemployment rate seen in 1933. In the spring of 1937, American industrial production exceeded that of 1929 and remained level until June 1937. In June 1937, the Roosevelt administration cut spending and increased taxation in an attempt to balance the federal budget.The American economy then took a sharp downturn, lasting for 13 months through most of 1938. Industrial production fell almost 30 per cent within a few months and production ofdurable goodsfell even faster. Unemployment jumped from 14.3% in 1937 to 19.0% in 1938, rising from 5 million to more than 12 million in early 1938.Manufacturing output fell by 37% from the 1937 peak and was back to 1934 levels. Producers reduced their expenditures on durable goods, and inventories declined, but personal income was only 15% lower than it had been at the peak in 1937. As unemployment rose, consumers' expenditures declined, leading to further cutbacks in production. By May 1938 retail sales began to increase, employment improved, and industrial production turned up after June 1938.After the recovery from the Recession of 1937–38, conservatives were able to form a bipartisanconservative coalitionto stop further expansion of the New Deal and, when unemployment dropped to 2% in the early 1940s, they abolished WPA, CCC and the PWA relief programs. Social Security remained in place. Between 1933 and 1939, federal expenditure tripled, and Roosevelt's critics charged that he was turning America into asocialiststate.The Great Depression was a main factor in the implementation ofsocial democracyandplanned economiesin European countries after World War II (seeMarshall Plan).Keynesianismgenerally remained the most influential economic school in the United States and in parts of Europe until the periods between the 1970s and the 1980s, whenMilton Friedmanand otherneoliberaleconomists formulated and propagated the newly created theories ofneoliberalismand incorporated them into theChicago School of Economicsas an alternative approach to the study of economics. Neoliberalism went on to challenge the dominance of the Keynesian school of Economics in the mainstream academia and policy-making in the United States, having reached its peak in popularity in the election of the presidency ofRonald Reaganin the United States, andMargaret Thatcherin theUnited Kingdom. Literature And the great owners, who must lose their land in an upheaval, the great owners with access to history, with eyes to read history and to know the great fact: when property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. And that companion fact: when a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need. And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed. –John Steinbeck,The Grapes of Wrath The Great Depression has been the subject of much writing, as authors have sought to evaluate an era that caused both financial and emotional trauma. Perhaps the most noteworthy and famous novel written on the subject isThe Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and written byJohn Steinbeck, who was awarded thePulitzer Prizefor the work, and in 1962 was awarded theNobel Prizefor literature. The novel focuses on a poor family of sharecroppers who are forced from their home as drought, economic hardship, and changes in theagricultural industryoccur during the Great Depression. Steinbeck'sOf Mice and Menis another important novella about a journey during the Great Depression. Additionally, Harper Lee'sTo Kill a Mockingbirdis set during the Great Depression. Margaret Atwood's Booker prize-winningThe Blind Assassinis likewise set in the Great Depression, centering on a privileged socialite's love affair with a Marxist revolutionary. The era spurred the resurgence of social realism, practiced by many who started their writing careers on relief programs, especially theFederal Writers' Projectin the U.S.Nonfiction works from this time also capture important themes. The 1933 memoirPrison Days and NightsbyVictor Folke Nelsonprovides insight into criminal justice ramifications of the Great Depression, especially in regard to patterns of recidivism due to lack of economic opportunity. A number of works for younger audiences are also set during the Great Depression, among them theKit Kittredgeseries ofAmerican Girlbooks written byValerie Trippand illustrated byWalter Rane, released to tie in with the dolls and playsets sold by the company. The stories, which take place during the early to mid 1930s inCincinnati, focuses on the changes brought by the Depression to the titular character's family and how the Kittredges dealt with it.A theatrical adaptation of the series entitledKit Kittredge: An American Girlwas later released in 2008 to positive reviews.Similarly,Christmas After All, part of theDear Americaseries of books for older girls, take place in 1930sIndianapolis; whileKit Kittredgeis told in a third-person viewpoint,Christmas After Allis in the form of a fictional journal as told by the protagonist Minnie Swift as she recounts her experiences during the era, especially when her family takes in an orphan cousin from Texas. Naming The term \\\"The Great Depression\\\" is most frequently attributed to British economistLionel Robbins, whose 1934 bookThe Great Depressionis credited with formalizing the phrase,though Hoover is widely credited with popularizing the term,informally referring to the downturn as a depression, with such uses as \\\"Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement\\\" (December 1930, Message to Congress), and \\\"I need not recount to you that the world is passing through a great depression\\\" (1931). The term \\\"depression\\\" to refer to an economic downturn dates to the 19th century, when it was used by varied Americans and British politicians and economists. The first major American economic crisis, thePanic of 1819, was described by then-presidentJames Monroeas \\\"a depression\\\",and the most recent economic crisis, theDepression of 1920–21, had been referred to as a \\\"depression\\\" by then-presidentCalvin Coolidge. Financial crises were traditionally referred to as \\\"panics\\\", most recently the majorPanic of 1907, and the minorPanic of 1910–11, though the 1929 crisis was called \\\"The Crash\\\", and the term \\\"panic\\\" has since fallen out of use. At the time of the Great Depression, the term \\\"The Great Depression\\\" was already used to refer to the period 1873–96 (in the United Kingdom), or more narrowly 1873–79 (in the United States), which has retroactively been renamed theLong Depression. Other \\\"great depressions\\\" Thecollapse of the Soviet Union, and the breakdown of economic ties which followed, led to a severe economic crisis and catastrophic fall in thestandards of livingin the 1990s inpost-Soviet statesand the formerEastern Bloc,which was even worse than the Great Depression.Even before Russia'sfinancial crisisof 1998, Russia's GDP was half of what it had been in the early 1990s. Comparison with the Great Recession Theworldwide economic decline after 2008has been compared to the 1930s. Thecauses of the Great Recessionseem similar to the Great Depression, but significant differences exist. The then-chairman of theFederal Reserve,Ben Bernanke, had extensively studied the Great Depression as part of his doctoral work at MIT, and implemented policies to manipulate the money supply and interest rates in ways that were not done in the 1930s. Bernanke's policies will undoubtedly be analyzed and scrutinized in the years to come, as economists debate the wisdom of his choices. In 2011, one journalist contrasted the Great Depression of the 1930s as opposed to thelate-2000s recession. If we contrast the 1930s with the Crash of 2008 where gold went through the roof, it is clear that the U.S. dollar on the gold standard was a completely different animal in comparison to the fiat free-floating U.S. dollar currency we have today. Both currencies in 1929 and 2008 were the U.S. dollar, but analogously it is as if one was aSaber-toothed tigerand the other is aBengal tiger; they are two completely different animals. Where we have experienced inflation since the Crash of 2008, the situation was much different in the 1930s when deflation set in. Unlike the deflation of the early 1930s, the U.S. economy currently appears to be in a \\\"liquidity trap\\\", or a situation where monetary policy is unable to stimulate an economy back to health.In terms of the stock market, nearly three years after the 1929 crash, theDJIAdropped 8.4% on 12 August 1932. Where we have experienced great volatility with large intraday swings in the past two months, in 2011, we have not experienced any record-shattering daily percentage drops to the tune of the 1930s. Where many of us may have that '30s feeling, in light of the DJIA, the CPI, and the national unemployment rate, we are simply not living in the '30s. Some individuals may feel as if we are living in a depression, but for many others the currentglobal financial crisissimply does not feel like a depression akin to the 1930s. 1928 and 1929 were the times in the 20th century that thewealth gapreached such skewed extremes;half the unemployed had been out of work for over six months, something that was not repeated until the late-2000s recession. 2007 and 2008 eventually saw the world reach new levels of wealth gap inequality that rivalled the years of 1928 and 1929. See also General References Further reading Global Europe United States and Canada Other areas Focus on economic theory or econometrics Comprehensive Employment and Training Act\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["World War I World War Ior theFirst World War(28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as theGreat War, was aglobal conflictbetween two coalitions: theAllies(or Entente) and theCentral Powers. Fighting took place mainly inEuropeand theMiddle East, as well as in parts ofAfricaand theAsia-Pacific, and in Europe was characterised bytrench warfareand the use ofartillery, machine guns, andchemical weapons(gas). World War I was one of thedeadliest conflicts in history, resulting in an estimated9 million military dead and 23 million wounded, plus up to 8 million civilian deaths from causes includinggenocide. The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in theSpanish flupandemic, which killed millions. Thecauses of World War Iincluded the rise ofGermanyanddecline of the Ottoman Empire, which disturbed the long-standingbalance of powerin Europe, as well as economic competition between nations triggered byindustrialisationandimperialism. Growing tensions between thegreat powersand in theBalkansreacheda","theBalkansreacheda breaking pointon 28 June 1914, when aBosnian SerbnamedGavrilo Principassassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to theAustro-Hungarianthrone. Austria-Hungary heldSerbiaresponsible, and declared war on 28 July. AfterRussiamobilised in Serbia's defence, Germany declared war on Russia; by 4 August,Franceand theUnited Kingdomwere drawn in, with the Ottomans joining in November.Germany's strategy in 1914was to quickly defeat France, then to transfer its forces to the east. However, this failed, and by the end of the year theWestern Frontconsisted of a continuous line of trenches stretching from the English Channel to Switzerland. TheEastern Frontwas more dynamic, but neither side gained a decisive advantage, despite costly offensives.Italy,Bulgaria,Romania,Greeceand others joined in from 1915 onward. In April 1917, theUnited States entered the waron the Allied side following Germany's resumption ofunrestricted submarine warfareagainst Atlantic shipping. Later that year, theBolsheviksseized","theBolsheviksseized power in the RussianOctober Revolution;Soviet Russiasignedan armisticewith the Central Powers in December, followed bya separate peacein March 1918. That month, Germany launchedan offensive in the west, which despite initial successes left theGerman Armyexhausted and demoralised.A successful Allied counter-offensivefrom August 1918 caused a collapse of the German front line. By early November, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary had each signed armistices with the Allies, leaving Germany isolated. Facinga revolution at home,Kaiser WilhelmIIabdicated on 9 November, and the war ended with theArmistice of 11 November 1918. TheParis Peace Conferenceof 1919–1920 imposed settlements on the defeated powers, most notably theTreaty of Versailles, by which Germany lost significant territories, was disarmed, and was required to pay largewar reparationsto the Allies. The dissolution of the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires redrew national boundaries and resulted in","and resulted in the creation of new independent states, includingPoland,Finland, theBaltic states,Czechoslovakia, andYugoslavia. TheLeague of Nationswas established to maintain world peace, but its failure to manage instability during theinterwar periodcontributed to the outbreak ofWorld War IIin 1939. Names BeforeWorld War II, the events of 1914–1918 were generally known as theGreat Waror simply theWorld War.In August 1914, the magazineThe Independentwrote \"This is the Great War. It names itself\".In October 1914, the Canadian magazineMaclean'ssimilarly wrote, \"Some wars name themselves. This is the Great War.\"Contemporary Europeans also referred to it as \"the war to end war\" and it was also described as \"the war to end all wars\" due to their perception of its unparalleled scale, devastation, and loss of life.The first recorded use of the termFirst World Warwas in September 1914 by German biologist and philosopherErnst Haeckelwho stated, \"There is no doubt that the course and character of the feared","of the feared 'European War' ... will become the first world war in the full sense of the word.\" Background Political and military alliances For much of the 19th century, the major European powers maintained a tenuousbalance of power, known as theConcert of Europe.After 1848, this was challenged by Britain's withdrawal into so-calledsplendid isolation, thedecline of the Ottoman Empire,New Imperialism, and the rise ofPrussiaunderOtto von Bismarck. Victory in the 1870–1871Franco-Prussian Warallowed Bismarck toconsolidateaGerman Empire. Post-1871, the primary aim of French policy was toavengethis defeat,but by the early 1890s, this had switched to the expansion of theFrench colonial empire. In 1873, Bismarck negotiated theLeague of the Three Emperors, which includedAustria-Hungary,Russiaand Germany. After the 1877–1878Russo-Turkish War, the League was dissolved due to Austrian concerns over the expansion of Russian influence in theBalkans, an area they considered to be of vital strategic interest.Germanyand","interest.Germanyand Austria-Hungary then formed the 1879Dual Alliance, which became theTriple Alliancewhen Italy joined in 1882.For Bismarck, the purpose of these agreements was to isolate France by ensuring the three Empires resolve any disputes between themselves. In 1887, Bismarck set up theReinsurance Treaty, a secret agreement between Germany and Russia to remain neutral if either were attacked by France or Austria-Hungary. For Bismarck, peace with Russia was the foundation of German foreign policy but in 1890, he was forced to retire byWilhelm II. The latter was persuaded not to renew the Reinsurance Treaty by his newChancellor,Leo von Caprivi.This gave France an opening to agree theFranco-Russian Alliancein 1894, which was then followed by the 1904Entente Cordialewith Britain. TheTriple Ententewas completed by the 1907Anglo-Russian Convention. While not formal alliances, by settlinglong-standing colonial disputes in Asiaand Africa, British support for France or Russia in any future conflict became a","conflict became a possibility.This was accentuated by British and Russian support for France against Germany during the 1911Agadir Crisis. Arms race German economic and industrial strength continued to expand rapidly post-1871. Backed by Wilhelm II, AdmiralAlfred von Tirpitzsought to use this growth to build anImperial German Navy, that could compete with the BritishRoyal Navy.This policy was based on the work of US naval authorAlfred Thayer Mahan, who argued that possession of ablue-water navywas vital for global power projection; Tirpitz had his books translated into German, while Wilhelm made them required reading for his advisors and senior military personnel. However, it was also an emotional decision, driven by Wilhelm's simultaneous admiration for the Royal Navy and desire to surpass it. Bismarck thought that the British would not interfere in Europe, as long as its maritime supremacy remained secure, but his dismissal in 1890 led to a change in policy and anAnglo-German naval arms racebegan.Despite","racebegan.Despite the vast sums spent by Tirpitz, the launch ofHMSDreadnoughtin 1906 gave the British a technological advantage.Ultimately, the race diverted huge resources into creating a German navy large enough to antagonise Britain, but not defeat it; in 1911, ChancellorTheobald von Bethmann Hollwegacknowledged defeat, leading to theRüstungswendeor 'armaments turning point', when he switched expenditure from the navy to the army. This decision was not driven by a reduction in political tensions but by German concern over Russia's quick recovery from its defeat in theRusso-Japanese Warand subsequent1905 Russian Revolution. Economic reforms led to a significant post-1908 expansion of railways and transportation infrastructure, particularly in its western border regions.Since Germany and Austria-Hungary relied on faster mobilisation to compensate for their numerical inferiority compared to Russia, the threat posed by the closing of this gap was more important than competing with the Royal Navy. After","Royal Navy. After Germany expanded its standing army by 170,000 troops in 1913, France extended compulsory military service from two to three years; similar measures were taken by theBalkan powersand Italy, which led to increased expenditure by theOttomansand Austria-Hungary. Absolute figures are difficult to calculate due to differences in categorising expenditure since they often omit civilian infrastructure projects like railways which had logistical importance and military use. It is known, however, that from 1908 to 1913, military spending by the six major European powers increased by over 50% in real terms. Conflicts in the Balkans The years before 1914 were marked by a series of crises in the Balkans, as other powers sought to benefit from the Ottoman decline. WhilePan-SlavicandOrthodoxRussia considered itself the protector ofSerbiaand otherSlavstates, they preferred the strategically vitalBosporusstraits to be controlled by a weak Ottoman government, rather than an ambitious Slav power likeBulgaria.","power likeBulgaria. Russia had ambitions in northeasternAnatoliawhile its clients had overlapping claims in the Balkans. These competing interests divided Russian policy-makers and added to regional instability. Austrian statesmen viewed the Balkans as essential for the continued existence of their Empire and saw Serbian expansion as a direct threat. The 1908–1909Bosnian Crisisbegan when Austria annexed the former Ottoman territory ofBosnia and Herzegovina, which ithad occupiedsince 1878. Timed to coincide with theBulgarian Declaration of Independencefrom the Ottoman Empire, this unilateral action was denounced by the European powers, but accepted as there was no consensus on how to resolve the situation. Some historians see this as a significant escalation, ending any chance of Austria cooperating with Russia in the Balkans, while also damaging diplomatic relations between Serbia and Italy. Tensions increased after the 1911–1912Italo-Turkish Wardemonstrated Ottoman weakness and led to the formation of","to the formation of theBalkan League, an alliance of Serbia, Bulgaria,Montenegro, andGreece.The League quickly overran most of the Ottomans' territory in the Balkans during the 1912–1913First Balkan War, much to the surprise of outside observers.The Serbian capture of ports on theAdriaticresulted in partial Austrian mobilisation, starting on 21 November 1912, including units along the Russian border inGalicia. TheRussian governmentdecided not to mobilise in response, unprepared to precipitate a war. The Great Powers sought to re-assert control through the 1913Treaty of London, which had created an independentAlbaniawhile enlarging the territories of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece. However, disputes between the victors sparked the 33-daySecond Balkan War, when Bulgaria attacked Serbia and Greece on 16 June 1913; it was defeated, losing most ofMacedoniato Serbia and Greece, andSouthern Dobrujato Romania.The result was that even countries which benefited from the Balkan Wars, such as Serbia and Greece,","Serbia and Greece, felt cheated of their \"rightful gains\", while for Austria it demonstrated the apparent indifference with which other powers viewed their concerns, including Germany.This complex mix of resentment, nationalism and insecurity helps explain why the pre-1914 Balkans became known as the \"powder keg of Europe\". Prelude Sarajevo assassination On 28 June 1914,Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to EmperorFranz Joseph I of Austria, visitedSarajevo, the capital of the recently annexedBosnia and Herzegovina.Cvjetko Popović,Gavrilo Princip,Nedeljko Čabrinović,Trifko Grabež,Vaso Čubrilović(Bosnian Serbs) andMuhamed Mehmedbašić(from theBosniakscommunity),from the movement known asYoung Bosnia, took up positions along the Archduke's motorcade route, to assassinate him. Supplied with arms by extremists within the SerbianBlack Handintelligence organisation, they hoped his death would free Bosnia from Austrian rule. Čabrinović threw agrenadeat the Archduke's car and injured two of his","injured two of his aides. The other assassins were also unsuccessful. An hour later, as Ferdinand was returning from visiting the injured officers in hospital, his car took a wrong turn into a street whereGavrilo Principwas standing. He fired two pistol shots, fatally wounding Ferdinand and his wifeSophie. According to historianZbyněk Zeman, in Vienna \"the event almost failed to make any impression whatsoever. On 28 and 29 June, the crowds listened to music and drank wine, as if nothing had happened.\"Nevertheless, the impact of the murder of the heir to the throne was significant, and has been described by historianChristopher Clarkas a \"9/11 effect, a terrorist event charged with historic meaning, transforming the political chemistry in Vienna\". Expansion of violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina Austro-Hungarian authorities encouraged subsequentanti-Serb riots in Sarajevo.Violent actions against ethnic Serbs were also organised outside Sarajevo, in other cities in Austro-Hungarian-controlled Bosnia and","Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. Austro-Hungarian authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina imprisoned approximately 5,500 prominent Serbs, 700 to 2,200 of whom died in prison. A further 460 Serbs were sentenced to death. A predominantly Bosniak special militia known as theSchutzkorpswas established, and carried out the persecution of Serbs. July Crisis The assassination initiated the July Crisis, a month of diplomatic manoeuvring between Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, France and Britain. Believing that Serbian intelligence helped organise Franz Ferdinand's murder, Austrian officials wanted to use the opportunity to end their interference in Bosnia and saw war as the best way of achieving this.However, theForeign Ministryhad no solid proof of Serbian involvement.On 23July, Austria delivered anultimatumto Serbia, listing ten demands made intentionally unacceptable to provide an excuse for starting hostilities. Serbia ordered generalmobilizationon 25July, but accepted all the terms, except for","terms, except for those empowering Austrian representatives to suppress \"subversive elements\" inside Serbia, and take part in the investigation and trial of Serbians linked to the assassination.Claiming this amounted to rejection, Austria broke off diplomatic relations and ordered partial mobilisation the next day; on 28 July, they declared war on Serbia and began shellingBelgrade. Russia ordered general mobilization in support of Serbia on 30 July. Anxious to ensure backing from theSPDpolitical opposition by presenting Russia as the aggressor, German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg delayed the commencement of war preparations until 31 July.That afternoon, the Russian government were handed a note requiring them to \"cease all war measures against Germany and Austria-Hungary\" within 12 hours.A further German demand for neutrality was refused by the French who ordered general mobilization but delayed declaring war.TheGerman General Staffhad long assumed they faced a war on two fronts; theSchlieffen Planenvisaged","Planenvisaged using 80% of the army to defeat France, then switching to Russia. Since this required them to move quickly, mobilization orders were issued that afternoon.Once the German ultimatum to Russia expired on the morning of 1 August, the two countries were at war. At a meeting on 29 July, the British cabinet had narrowly decided its obligations to Belgium under the 1839Treaty of Londondid not require it to oppose a German invasion with military force; however, Prime MinisterAsquithand his senior Cabinet ministers were already committed to supporting France, the Royal Navy had been mobilised, and public opinion was strongly in favour of intervention.On 31 July, Britain sent notes to Germany and France, asking them to respect Belgian neutrality; France pledged to do so, but Germany did not reply.Aware of German plans to attack through Belgium, French Commander-in-ChiefJoseph Joffreasked his government for permission to cross the border and pre-empt such a move. To avoid violating Belgian neutrality, he","neutrality, he was told any advance could come only after a German invasion.Instead, the French cabinet ordered its Army to withdraw 10 km behind the German frontier, to avoid provoking war. On 2 August,Germany occupied Luxembourgand exchanged fire with French units when German patrols entered French territory; on 3August, they declared war on France and demanded free passage across Belgium, which was refused. Early on the morning of 4August, the Germans invaded, andAlbert I of Belgiumcalled for assistance under theTreaty of London.Britain sent Germany an ultimatum demanding they withdraw from Belgium; when this expired at midnight, without a response, the two empires were at war. Progress of the war Opening hostilities Confusion among the Central Powers Germany promised to support Austria-Hungary's invasion of Serbia, but interpretations of what this meant differed. Previously tested deployment plans had been replaced early in 1914, but those had never been tested in exercises. Austro-Hungarian leaders","leaders believed Germany would cover its northern flank against Russia. Serbian campaign Beginning on 12 August, the Austrians and Serbs clashed at the battles of theCerandKolubara; over the next two weeks, Austrian attacks were repulsed with heavy losses. As a result, Austria had to keep sizeable forces on the Serbian front, weakening their efforts against Russia.Serbia's victory against Austria-Hungary in the 1914 invasion has been called one of the major upset victories of the twentieth century.In 1915, the campaign saw the first use ofanti-aircraft warfareafter an Austrian plane was shot down withground-to-airfire, as well as the firstmedical evacuationby the Serbian army. German offensive in Belgium and France Upon mobilisation, in accordance with theSchlieffen Plan, 80% of theGerman Armywas located on the Western Front, with the remainder acting as a screening force in the East. Rather than a direct attack across their shared frontier, the German right wing would sweep through theNetherlandsandBelgium,","then swing south, encircling Paris and trapping the French army against the Swiss border. The plan's creator,Alfred von Schlieffen, head of theGerman General Stafffrom 1891 to 1906, estimated that this would take six weeks, after which the German army would transfer to the East and defeat the Russians. The plan was substantially modified by his successor,Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. Under Schlieffen, 85% of German forces in the west were assigned to the right wing, with the remainder holding along the frontier. By keeping his left-wing deliberately weak, he hoped to lure the French into an offensive into the \"lost provinces\" ofAlsace-Lorraine, which was the strategy envisaged by theirPlan XVII.However, Moltke grew concerned that the French might push too hard on his left flank and as the German Army increased in size from 1908 to 1914, he changed the allocation of forces between the two wings to 70:30.He also considered Dutch neutrality essential for German trade and cancelled the incursion into the","incursion into the Netherlands, which meant any delays in Belgium threatened the viability of the plan.HistorianRichard Holmesargues that these changes meant the right wing was not strong enough to achieve decisive success. The initial German advance in the West was very successful. By the end of August, the Allied left, which included theBritish Expeditionary Force(BEF), was infull retreat, and the French offensive in Alsace-Lorraine was a disastrous failure, with casualties exceeding 260,000.German planning provided broad strategic instructions while allowing army commanders considerable freedom in carrying them out at the front, butvon Kluckused this freedom to disobey orders, opening a gap between the German armies as they closed on Paris.The French army, reinforced by the British expeditionary corps, seized this opportunity to counter-attack and pushed the German army 40 to 80 km back. Both armies were then so exhausted that no decisive move could be implemented, so they settled in trenches, with the","trenches, with the vain hope of breaking through as soon as they could build local superiority. In 1911, the RussianStavkaagreed with the French to attack Germany within fifteen days of mobilisation, ten days before the Germans had anticipated, although it meant the two Russian armies that enteredEast Prussiaon 17 August did so without many of their support elements. By the end of 1914, German troops held strong defensive positions inside France, controlled the bulk of France's domestic coalfields, and inflicted 230,000 more casualties than it lost itself. However, communications problems and questionable command decisions cost Germany the chance of a decisive outcome, while it had failed to achieve the primary objective of avoiding a long, two-front war.As was apparent to several German leaders, this amounted to a strategic defeat; shortly after theFirst Battle of the Marne,Crown Prince Wilhelmtold an American reporter \"We have lost the war. It will go on for a long time but lost it is already.\" Asia and","already.\" Asia and the Pacific On 30 August 1914, New Zealandoccupied German Samoa(nowSamoa). On 11 September, theAustralian Naval and Military Expeditionary Forcelanded on the island ofNew Britain, then part ofGerman New Guinea. On 28 October, the German cruiserSMSEmdensank theRussian cruiserZhemchugin theBattle of Penang. Japan declared war on Germany before seizing territories in the Pacific, which later became theSouth Seas Mandate, as well as GermanTreaty portson the ChineseShandongpeninsula atTsingtao. After Vienna refused to withdraw its cruiserSMSKaiserin Elisabethfrom Tsingtao, Japan declared war on Austria-Hungary, and the ship was sunk in November 1914.Within a few months, Allied forces had seized all German territories in the Pacific, leaving only isolated commerce raiders and a few holdouts in New Guinea. African campaigns Some of the first clashes of the war involved British, French, and German colonial forces in Africa. On 6–7 August, French and British troops invaded the German protectorates","protectorates ofTogolandandKamerun. On 10 August, German forces inSouth-West Africaattacked South Africa; sporadic and fierce fighting continued for the rest of the war. The German colonial forces inGerman East Africa, led by ColonelPaul von Lettow-Vorbeck, fought aguerrilla warfarecampaign and only surrendered two weeks after the armistice took effect in Europe. Indian support for the Allies Before the war, Germany had attempted to use Indian nationalism and pan-Islamism to its advantage, a policy continued post-1914 byinstigating uprisings in India, while theNiedermayer–Hentig Expeditionurged Afghanistan to join the war on the side of Central Powers. However, contrary to British fears of a revolt in India, the outbreak of the war saw a reduction in nationalist activity.Leaders from theIndian National Congressand other groups believed support for the British war effort would hastenIndian Home Rule, a promise allegedly made explicit in 1917 byEdwin Montagu, theSecretary of State for India. In 1914,","for India. In 1914, theBritish Indian Armywas larger than the British Army itself, and between 1914 and 1918 an estimated 1.3 million Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In all, 140,000 soldiers served on the Western Front and nearly 700,000 in the Middle East, with 47,746 killed and 65,126 wounded.The suffering engendered by the war, as well as the failure of the British government to grant self-government to India afterward, bred disillusionment, resulting inthe campaign for full independenceled byMahatma Gandhi. Western Front 1914 to 1916 Trench warfare begins Pre-war military tactics that had emphasised open warfare and individual riflemen proved obsolete when confronted with conditions prevailing in 1914. Technological advances allowed the creation of strong defensive systems largely impervious to massed infantry advances, such asbarbed wire, machine guns and above all far more powerfulartillery, which dominated the battlefield and made crossing open ground","open ground extremely difficult.Both sides struggled to develop tactics for breaching entrenched positions without heavy casualties. In time, technology enabled the production of new offensive weapons, such asgas warfareand thetank. After theFirst Battle of the Marnein September 1914, Allied and German forces unsuccessfully tried to outflank each other, a series of manoeuvres later known as the \"Race to the Sea\". By the end of 1914, the opposing forces confronted each other along an uninterrupted line of entrenched positions from theChannelto the Swiss border.Since the Germans were normally able to choose where to stand, they generally held the high ground, while their trenches tended to be better built; those constructed by the French and English were initially considered \"temporary\", only needed until an offensive would destroy the German defences.Both sides tried to break the stalemate using scientific and technological advances. On 22 April 1915, at theSecond Battle of Ypres, the Germans (violating","Germans (violating theHague Convention) usedchlorinegas for the first time on the Western Front. Several types of gas soon became widely used by both sides and though it never proved a decisive, battle-winning weapon, it became one of the most feared and best-remembered horrors of the war. Continuation of trench warfare In February 1916, the Germans attacked French defensive positions at theBattle of Verdun, lasting until December 1916. Casualties were greater for the French, but the Germans bled heavily as well, with anywhere from 700,000to 975,000casualties between the two combatants. Verdun became a symbol of French determination and self-sacrifice. TheBattle of the Sommewas an Anglo-French offensive from July to November 1916. Theopening dayon 1 July 1916 was the bloodiest single day in the history of theBritish Army, which suffered 57,500 casualties, including 19,200 dead. As a whole, the Somme offensive led to an estimated 420,000 British casualties, along with 200,000 French and 500,000 Germans.The","500,000 Germans.The diseases that emerged in the trenches were a major killer on both sides. The living conditions led to disease and infection, such astrench foot,lice,typhus,trench fever, and the 'Spanish flu'. Naval war At the start of the war, Germancruiserswere scattered across the globe, some of which were subsequently used to attack Alliedmerchant shipping. These were systematically hunted down by the Royal Navy, though not before causing considerable damage. One of the most successful was theSMSEmden, part of the GermanEast Asia Squadronstationed atQingdao, which seized or sank 15 merchantmen, a Russian cruiser and a French destroyer. Most of the squadron was returning to Germany when it sank two British armoured cruisers at theBattle of Coronelin November 1914, before being virtually destroyed at theBattle of the Falkland Islandsin December. TheSMSDresdenescaped with a few auxiliaries, but after theBattle of Más a Tierra, these too were either destroyed or interned. Soon after the outbreak of","the outbreak of hostilities, Britain began a navalblockade of Germany. This proved effective in cutting off vital supplies, though it violated accepted international law.Britain also mined international waters which closed off entire sections of the ocean, even to neutral ships.Since there was limited response to this tactic, Germany expected a similar response to its unrestricted submarine warfare. TheBattle of Jutlandin May/June 1916 was the only full-scale clash of battleships during the war, and one of the largest in history. The clash was indecisive, though the Germans inflicted more damage than they received; thereafter the bulk of the GermanHigh Seas Fleetwas confined to port. GermanU-boatsattempted to cut the supply lines between North America and Britain.The nature ofsubmarine warfaremeant that attacks often came without warning, giving the crews of the merchant ships little hope of survival.The United States launched a protest, and Germany changed its rules of engagement. After the sinking of the","the sinking of the passenger shipRMSLusitaniain 1915, Germany promised not to target passenger liners, while Britain armed its merchant ships, placing them beyond the protection of the \"cruiser rules\", which demanded warning and movement of crews to \"a place of safety\" (a standard that lifeboats did not meet).Finally, in early 1917, Germany adopted a policy ofunrestricted submarine warfare, realising the Americans would eventually enter the war.Germany sought to strangle Alliedsea lanesbefore the United States could transport a large army overseas, but, after initial successes, eventually failed to do so. The U-boat threat lessened in 1917, when merchant ships began travelling inconvoys, escorted bydestroyers. This tactic made it difficult for U-boats to find targets, which significantly lessened losses; after thehydrophoneanddepth chargeswere introduced, destroyers could potentially successfully attack a submerged submarine. Convoys slowed the flow of supplies since ships had to wait as convoys were","as convoys were assembled; the solution was an extensive program of building new freighters. Troopships were too fast for the submarines and did not travel the North Atlantic in convoys.The U-boats sunk more than 5,000 Allied ships, at the cost of 199 submarines. World War I also saw the first use ofaircraft carriersin combat, withHMSFuriouslaunchingSopwith Camelsin a successful raid against theZeppelinhangars atTondernin July 1918, as well asblimpsfor antisubmarine patrol. Southern theatres War in the Balkans Faced with Russia in the east, Austria-Hungary could spare only one-third of its army to attack Serbia. After suffering heavy losses, the Austrians briefly occupied the Serbian capital,Belgrade. A Serbian counter-attack in the Battle of Kolubara succeeded in driving them from the country by the end of 1914. For the first 10 months of 1915, Austria-Hungary used most of its military reserves to fight Italy. German and Austro-Hungarian diplomats scored a coup by persuading Bulgaria to join the attack on","join the attack on Serbia.The Austro-Hungarian provinces ofSlovenia, Croatia andBosniaprovided troops for Austria-Hungary. Montenegro allied itself with Serbia. Bulgaria declared war on Serbia on 14 October 1915 and joined in the attack by the Austro-Hungarian army under Mackensen's army of 250,000 that was already underway. Serbia was conquered in a little more than a month, as the Central Powers, now including Bulgaria, sent in 600,000 troops in total. The Serbian army, fighting on two fronts and facing certain defeat, retreated into northernAlbania. The Serbs suffered defeat in theBattle of Kosovo. Montenegro covered the Serbian retreat toward the Adriatic coast in theBattle of Mojkovacon 6–7 January 1916, but ultimately the Austrians also conquered Montenegro. The surviving Serbian soldiers were evacuated to Greece.After the conquest, Serbia was divided between Austro-Hungary and Bulgaria. In late 1915, a Franco-British force landed atSalonicain Greece to offer assistance and to pressure its government","its government to declare war against the Central Powers. However, the pro-GermanKing Constantine Idismissed the pro-Allied government ofEleftherios Venizelosbefore the Allied expeditionary force arrived. The Macedonian front was at first mostly static. French and Serbian forces retook limited areas of Macedonia by recapturingBitolaon 19 November 1916 following the costlyMonastir offensive, which brought stabilisation of the front. Serbian and French troops finally made a breakthrough in September 1918 in theVardar offensive, after most German and Austro-Hungarian troops had been withdrawn. The Bulgarians were defeated at theBattle of Dobro Pole, and by 25 September British and French troops had crossed the border into Bulgaria proper as the Bulgarian army collapsed. Bulgaria capitulated four days later, on 29 September 1918.The German high command responded by despatching troops to hold the line, but these forces were too weak to re-establish a front. The disappearance of the Macedonian front meant that the","meant that the road toBudapestand Vienna was now opened to Allied forces. Hindenburg and Ludendorff concluded that the strategic and operational balance had now shifted decidedly against theCentral Powersand, a day after the Bulgarian collapse, insisted on an immediate peace settlement. Ottoman Empire The Ottomans threatened Russia'sCaucasianterritories and Britain's communications with India via theSuez Canal. The Ottoman Empire took advantage of the European powers' preoccupation with the war and conducted large-scale ethnic cleansing of theArmenian,Greek, andAssyrianChristian populations—theArmenian genocide,Greek genocide, andSayforespectively. The British and French opened overseas fronts with theGallipoli(1915) andMesopotamian campaigns(1914). In Gallipoli, the Ottoman Empire successfully repelled the British, French, andAustralian and New Zealand Army Corps(ANZACs). InMesopotamia, by contrast, after the defeat of the British defenders in thesiege of Kutby the Ottomans (1915–1916), British Imperial","British Imperial forces reorganised and capturedBaghdadin March 1917. The British were aided in Mesopotamia by local Arab and Assyrian fighters, while the Ottomans employed localKurdishandTurcomantribes. TheSuez Canalwas defended from Ottoman attacks in 1915 and 1916; in August 1916, a German and Ottoman force was defeated at theBattle of Romaniby theANZAC Mounted Divisionand the52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division. Following this victory, anEgyptian Expeditionary Forceadvanced across theSinai Peninsula, pushing Ottoman forces back in theBattle of Magdhabain December and theBattle of Rafaon the border between the EgyptianSinaiand Ottoman Palestine in January 1917. Russian armies generally had success in theCaucasus campaign.Enver Pasha, supreme commander of the Ottoman armed forces, dreamed of re-conquering central Asia and areas that had been previously lost to Russia. He was, however, a poor commander.He launched an offensive against the Russians in the Caucasus in December 1914 with 100,000 troops, insisting","troops, insisting on a frontal attack against mountainous Russian positions in winter. He lost 86% of his force at theBattle of Sarikamish.GeneralYudenich, the Russian commander from 1915 to 1916, drove the Turks out of most of the southernCaucasus. The Ottoman Empire, with German support, invaded Persia (modernIran) in December 1914 to cut off British and Russian access topetroleum reservoirsaroundBaku.Persia, ostensibly neutral, had long been under British and Russian influence. The Ottomans and Germans were aided byKurdishandAzeriforces, together with a large number of major Iranian tribes, while the Russians and British had the support of Armenian and Assyrian forces. ThePersian campaignlasted until 1918 and ended in failure for the Ottomans and their allies. However, the Russian withdrawal from the war in 1917 led Armenian and Assyrian forces to be cut off from supply lines, outnumbered, outgunned and isolated, forcing them to fight and flee towards British lines in northern Mesopotamia. TheArab Revolt,","TheArab Revolt, instigated by the BritishForeign Office, started in June 1916 with theBattle of Mecca, led bySharif Hussein. The Sharif declared the independence of theKingdom of Hejazand, with British assistance, conquered much of Ottoman-held Arabia, resulting finally in the Ottoman surrender of Damascus.Fakhri Pasha, the Ottoman commander ofMedina, resisted for more than2+1⁄2years during thesiege of Medinabefore surrendering in January 1919. TheSenussitribe, along the border ofItalian LibyaandBritish Egypt, incited and armed by the Turks, waged a small-scaleguerrilla waragainst Allied troops. The British were forced to dispatch 12,000 troops to oppose them in theSenussi campaign. Their rebellion was finally crushed in mid-1916. Total Allied casualties on the Ottoman fronts amounted to 650,000 men. Total Ottoman casualties were 725,000, with 325,000 dead and 400,000 wounded. Italian Front Though Italy joined the Triple Alliance in 1882, a treaty with its traditional Austrian enemy was so controversial that","controversial that subsequent governments denied its existence and the terms were only made public in 1915.This arose fromnationalistdesigns on Austro-Hungarian territory inTrentino, theAustrian Littoral,RijekaandDalmatia, considered vital to secure the borders established in1866.In 1902, Rome secretly had agreed with France to remain neutral if the latter was attacked by Germany, effectively nullifying its role in the Triple Alliance. When the war began in 1914, Italy argued the Triple Alliance was defensive and it was not obliged to support an Austrian attack on Serbia. Opposition to joining the Central Powers increased when Turkey became a member in September, since in1911Italy had occupied Ottoman possessions inLibyaand theDodecaneseislands.To secure Italian neutrality, the Central Powers offered themTunisia, while in return for an immediate entry into the war, the Allies agreed to their demands for Austrian territory and sovereignty over the Dodecanese.Although they remained secret, these provisions","these provisions were incorporated into the April 1915Treaty of London; Italy joined the Triple Entente and, on 23 May, declared war on Austria-Hungary,followed by Germany fifteen months later. The pre-1914 Italian army was short of officers, trained men, adequate transport and modern weapons; by April 1915, some of these deficiencies had been remedied but it was still unprepared for the major offensive required by the Treaty of London.The advantage of superior numbers was offset by the difficult terrain; much of the fighting took place high in theAlpsandDolomites, where trench lines had to be cut through rock and ice and keeping troops supplied was a major challenge. These issues were exacerbated by unimaginative strategies and tactics.Between 1915 and 1917, the Italian commander,Luigi Cadorna, undertooka series of frontal assaults along the Isonzo, which made little progress and cost many lives; by the end of the war, Italian combat deaths totalled around 548,000. In the spring of 1916, the","spring of 1916, the Austro-Hungarians counterattacked inAsiagoin theStrafexpedition, but made little progress and were pushed by the Italians back to Tyrol.Although Italy occupied southernAlbaniain May 1916, their main focus was the Isonzo front which, after thecapture of Goriziain August 1916, remained static until October 1917. After a combined Austro-German force won a major victory atCaporetto, Cadorna was replaced byArmando Diazwho retreated more than 100 kilometres (62 mi) before holding positions along thePiave River.A second Austrianoffensive was repulsedin June 1918. On 24 October, Diaz launched theBattle of Vittorio Venetoand initially met stubborn resistance,but with Austria-Hungary collapsing, Hungarian divisions in Italy demanded they be sent home.When this was granted, many others followed and the Imperial army disintegrated, the Italians taking over 300,000 prisoners.On 3November, theArmistice of Villa Giustiended hostilities between Austria-Hungary and Italy which occupiedTriesteand areas","areas along theAdriatic Seaawarded to it in 1915. Eastern Front Initial actions As previously agreed with French presidentRaymond Poincaré, Russian plans at the start of the war were to simultaneously advance intoAustrian Galiciaand East Prussia as soon as possible. Although theirattack on Galiciawas largely successful, and the invasions achieved their aim of forcing Germany to divert troops from the Western Front, the speed of mobilisation meant they did so without much of their heavy equipment and support functions. These weaknesses contributed to Russian defeats atTannenbergand theMasurian Lakesin August and September 1914, forcing them to withdraw from East Prussia with heavy losses.By spring 1915, they had also retreated from Galicia, and the May 1915Gorlice–Tarnów offensiveallowed the Central Powers to invadeRussian-occupied Poland. Despite the successful June 1916Brusilov offensiveagainst the Austrians in eastern Galicia,shortages of supplies, heavy losses and command failures prevented the Russians","the Russians from fully exploiting their victory. However, it was one of the most significant offensives of the war, diverting German resources fromVerdun, relieving Austro-Hungarian pressure on the Italians, and convincing Romania to enter the war on the side of the Allies on 27 August. It also fatally weakened both the Austrian and Russian armies, whose offensive capabilities were badly affected by their losses and increased disillusion with the war that ultimately led to the Russian revolutions. Meanwhile, unrest grew in Russia asthe Tsarremained at the front, with the home front controlled byEmpress Alexandra. Her increasingly incompetent rule and food shortages in urban areas led to widespread protests and the murder of her favourite,Grigori Rasputin, at the end of 1916. Romanian participation Despite secretly agreeing to support the Triple Alliance in 1883, Romania increasingly found itself at odds with the Central Powers over their support for Bulgaria in the Balkan Wars and the status of ethnic","status of ethnic Romanian communities inHungarian-controlledTransylvania,which comprised an estimated 2.8 million of the 5.0 million population.With the ruling elite split into pro-German and pro-Entente factions,Romania remained neutral for two years while allowing Germany and Austria to transport military supplies and advisors across Romanian territory. In September 1914, Russia acknowledged Romanian rights to Austro-Hungarian territories including Transylvania andBanat, whose acquisition had widespread popular support,and Russian success against Austria led Romania to join the Entente in the August 1916Treaty of Bucharest.Under the strategic plan known asHypothesis Z, the Romanian army planned an offensive into Transylvania, while defending SouthernDobrujaandGiurgiuagainst a possible Bulgarian counterattack.On 27 August 1916, theyattacked Transylvaniaand occupied substantial parts of the province before being driven back by the recently formedGerman 9th Army, led by former Chief of StaffErich von","of StaffErich von Falkenhayn.A combined German-Bulgarian-Turkish offensive captured Dobruja and Giurgiu, although the bulk of the Romanian army managed to escape encirclement and retreated toBucharest, whichsurrenderedto the Central Powers on 6 December 1916. In the summer of 1917, a Central Powers offensive began in Romania under the command of August von Mackensen to knock Romania out of the war, resulting in the battles ofOituz,MărăștiandMărășeștiwhere up to 1,000,000 Central Powers troops were present. The battles lasted from 22 July to 3 September and eventually, the Romanian army was victorious advancing 500 km2. August von Mackensen could not plan for another offensive as he had to transfer troops to the Italian Front.Following the Russian revolution, Romania found itself alone on the Eastern Front and signed theTreaty of Bucharestwith the Central Powers, which recognised Romanian sovereignty overBessarabiain return for ceding control of passes in the Carpathian Mountains to Austria-Hungary and","Austria-Hungary and leasing its oil wells to Germany. Although approved byParliament,King Ferdinand Irefused to sign it, hoping for an Allied victory in the west.Romania re-entered the war on 10 November 1918 on the side of the Allies and the Treaty of Bucharest was formally annulled by the Armistice of 11 November 1918. Central Powers peace overtures On 12 December 1916, after ten brutal months of theBattle of Verdunand asuccessful offensive against Romania, Germany attempted to negotiate a peace with the Allies.However, this attempt was rejected out of hand as a \"duplicitous war ruse\". US presidentWoodrow Wilsonattempted to intervene as a peacemaker, asking for both sides to state their demands.Lloyd George'sWar Cabinet considered the German offer to be a ploy to create divisions among the Allies. After initial outrage and much deliberation, they took Wilson's note as a separate effort, signalling that the US was on the verge of entering the war against Germany following the \"submarine outrages\". While the","While the Allies debated a response to Wilson's offer, the Germans chose to rebuff it in favour of \"a direct exchange of views\". Learning of the German response, the Allied governments were free to make clear demands in their response of 14 January. They sought restoration of damages, the evacuation of occupied territories, reparations for France, Russia and Romania, and a recognition of the principle of nationalities.The Allies sought guarantees that would prevent or limit future wars.The negotiations failed and the Entente powers rejected the German offer on the grounds of honour, and noted Germany had not put forward any specific proposals. Final years of the war Russian Revolution and withdrawal By the end of 1916, Russian casualties totalled nearly five million killed, wounded or captured, with major urban areas affected by food shortages and high prices. In March 1917, Tsar Nicholas ordered the military to forcibly suppress strikes inPetrogradbut the troops refused to fire on the crowds.Revolutionaries","set up thePetrograd Sovietand fearing a left-wing takeover, theState Dumaforced Nicholas to abdicate and established theRussian Provisional Government, which confirmed Russia's willingness to continue the war. However, the Petrograd Soviet refused to disband, creatingcompeting power centresand causing confusion and chaos, with frontline soldiers becoming increasingly demoralised. Following the Tsar's abdication,Vladimir Lenin—with the help of the German government—was ushered from Switzerland into Russia on 16 April 1917. Discontent and the weaknesses of the Provisional Government led to a rise in the popularity of the Bolshevik Party, led by Lenin, which demanded an immediate end to the war. The Revolution of November was followed in December by an armistice and negotiations with Germany. At first, the Bolsheviks refused the German terms, but when German troops began marching across Ukraine unopposed, they acceded to theTreaty of Brest-Litovskon 3March 1918. The treaty ceded vast territories, including","including Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and parts of Poland and Ukraine to the Central Powers. With theRussian Empireout of the war, Romania found itself alone on the Eastern Front and signed theTreaty of Bucharestwith the Central Powers in May 1918. Under the terms of the treaty, Romania ceded territory to Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria and leased its oil reserves to Germany. However, the terms also included the Central Powers' recognition of the union ofBessarabiawith Romania. United States enters the war The United States was a major supplier of war material to the Allies but remained neutral in 1914, in large part due to domestic opposition.The most significant factor in creating the support Wilson needed was the German submarine offensive, which not only cost American lives but paralysed trade as ships were reluctant to put to sea. On 6 April 1917, Congressdeclared war on Germanyas an \"Associated Power\" of the Allies.TheUS Navysent abattleship grouptoScapa Flowto join the Grand Fleet, and provided","Fleet, and provided convoy escorts. In April 1917, theUS Armyhad fewer than 300,000 men, includingNational Guardunits, compared to British and French armies of 4.1 and 8.3 million respectively. TheSelective Service Act of 1917drafted 2.8 million men, though training and equipping such numbers was a huge logistical challenge. By June 1918, over 667,000 members of theAmerican Expeditionary Forces(AEF) were transported to France, a figure which reached 2 million by the end of November. Despite his conviction that Germany must be defeated, Wilson went to war to ensure the US played a leading role in shaping the peace, which meant preserving the AEF as a separate military force, rather than being absorbed into British or French units as his Allies wanted.He was strongly supported by AEF commander GeneralJohn J. Pershing, a proponent of pre-1914 \"open warfare\" who considered the French and British emphasis on artillery misguided and incompatible with American \"offensive spirit\".Much to the frustration of his","frustration of his Allies, who had suffered heavy losses in 1917, he insisted on retaining control of American troops, and refused to commit them to the front line until able to operate as independent units. As a result, the first significant US involvement was theMeuse–Argonne offensivein late September 1918. Nivelle Offensive (April–May 1917) In December 1916,Robert Nivellereplaced Pétain as commander of French armies on the Western Front and began planning aspring attackinChampagne, part of a joint Franco-British operation.Poor security meant German intelligence was well informed on tactics and timetables, but despite this, when the attack began on 16 April the French made substantial gains, before being brought to a halt by the newly built and extremely strong defences of the Hindenburg Line. Nivelle persisted with frontal assaults and, by 25 April, the French had suffered nearly 135,000 casualties, including 30,000 dead, most incurred in the first two days. Concurrent British attacks atArraswere more","atArraswere more successful, though ultimately of little strategic value.Operating as a separate unit for the first time, theCanadian Corps' capture ofVimy Ridgeis viewed by many Canadians as a defining moment in creating a sense of national identity.Though Nivelle continued the offensive, on 3 May the21st Division, which had been involved in some of the heaviest fighting at Verdun, refused orders to go into battle, initiating theFrench Army mutinies; within days, \"collective indiscipline\" had spread to 54 divisions, while over 20,000 deserted. Sinai and Palestine campaign (1917–1918) In March and April 1917, at theFirstandSecond Battles of Gaza, German and Ottoman forces stopped the advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, which had begun in August 1916 at the Battle of Romani.At the end of October 1917, theSinai and Palestine campaignresumed, when GeneralEdmund Allenby'sXXth Corps,XXI CorpsandDesert Mounted Corpswon theBattle of Beersheba.Two Ottoman armies were defeated a few weeks later at theBattle","later at theBattle of Mughar Ridgeand, early in December,Jerusalemhad been captured following another Ottoman defeat at theBattle of Jerusalem.About this time,Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressensteinwas relieved of his duties as the Eighth Army's commander, replaced byDjevad Pasha, and a few months later the commander of theOttoman Armyin Palestine,Erich von Falkenhayn, was replaced byOtto Liman von Sanders. In early 1918, the front line wasextendedand theJordan Valleywas occupied, following theFirst Transjordanand theSecond Transjordanattacks by British Empire forces in March and April 1918. German offensive and Allied counter-offensive (March–November 1918) In December 1917, the Central Powers signed an armistice with Russia, thus freeing large numbers of German troops for use in the West. With German reinforcements and new American troops pouring in, the outcome was to be decided on the Western Front. The Central Powers knew that they could not win a protracted war, but they held high hopes for success","hopes for success in a final quick offensive.Ludendorff drew up plans (Operation Michael) for the 1918 offensive on the Western Front. The operation commenced on 21 March 1918, with an attack on British forces nearSaint-Quentin. German forces achieved an unprecedented advance of 60 kilometres (37 mi).The initial offensive was a success; after heavy fighting, however, the offensive was halted. Lacking tanks ormotorised artillery, the Germans were unable to consolidate their gains. The problems of re-supply were also exacerbated by increasing distances that now stretched over terrain that was shell-torn and often impassable to traffic.Germany launchedOperation Georgetteagainst the northernEnglish Channelports. The Allies halted the drive after limited territorial gains by Germany. The German Army to the south then conductedOperations Blücher and Yorck, pushing broadly towards Paris. Germany launched Operation Marne (Second Battle of the Marne) on 15 July, in an attempt to encircleReims. The resulting","The resulting counter-attack, which started theHundred Days Offensiveon 8 August,led to a marked collapse in German morale. Allied advance to the Hindenburg Line By September, the Germans had fallen back to the Hindenburg Line. The Allies hadadvanced to the Hindenburg Linein the north and centre. German forces launched numerous counterattacks, but positions and outposts of the Line continued falling, with the BEF alone taking 30,441 prisoners in the last week of September. On 24 September, the Supreme Army Command informed the leaders in Berlin that armistice talks were inevitable. Thefinal assaulton the Hindenburg Line began with theMeuse-Argonne offensive, launched by American and French troops on 26 September. Two days later the Belgians, French and Britishattacked around Ypres, and the day after the British at St Quentin in the centre of the line. The following week, cooperating American and French units broke through inChampagneat theBattle of Blanc Mont Ridge(3–27 October), forcing the Germans off the","the Germans off the commanding heights, and closing towards the Belgian frontier.On 8October, the Hindenburg Line was pierced by British and Dominion troops of the First and Third British Armies at theSecond Battle of Cambrai. Breakthrough of Macedonian front (September 1918) Allied forces started theVardar offensiveon 15 September at two key points:Dobro Poleand nearDojran Lake. In theBattle of Dobro Pole, the Serbian and French armies had success after a three-day-long battle with relatively small casualties, and subsequently made a breakthrough in the front, something which was rarely seen in World War I. After the front was broken, Allied forces started to liberate Serbia and reachedSkopjeat 29 September, after whichBulgariasigned an armistice with the Allies on 30 September. Armistices and capitulations The collapse of the Central Powers came swiftly. Bulgaria was the first to sign an armistice, theArmistice of Salonicaon 29 September 1918.German EmperorWilhelm IIin a telegram toBulgarian Tsar Ferdinand","Tsar Ferdinand Idescribed the situation thus: \"Disgraceful! 62,000 Serbs decided the war!\".On the same day, theGerman Supreme Army Commandinformed Kaiser Wilhelm II and theImperial ChancellorCountGeorg von Hertling, that the military situation facing Germany was hopeless. On 24 October, the Italians began a push that rapidly recovered territory lost after the Battle of Caporetto. This culminated in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, marking the end of the Austro-Hungarian Army as an effective fighting force. The offensive also triggered the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During the last week of October, declarations of independence were made in Budapest, Prague, and Zagreb. On 29 October, the imperial authorities asked Italy for an armistice, but the Italians continued advancing, reaching Trento, Udine, and Trieste. On 3November, Austria-Hungary sent aflag of truceand accepted theArmistice of Villa Giusti, arranged with the Allied Authorities in Paris. Austria and Hungary signed separate","signed separate armistices following the overthrow of theHabsburg monarchy. In the following days, the Italian Army occupiedInnsbruckand allTyrol, with over 20,000 soldiers. On 30 October, the Ottoman Empire capitulated, and signed the Armistice of Mudros. German government surrenders With the military faltering and with widespread loss of confidence in the Kaiser leading to his abdication and fleeing of the country, Germany moved towards surrender. Prince Maximilian of Baden took charge on October 3 as Chancellor of Germany. Negotiations with President Wilson began immediately, in the hope that he would offer better terms than the British and French. Wilson demanded a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary control over the German military. TheGerman Revolution of 1918–1919began at the end of October 1918. Units of the German Navy refused to set sail for a last, large-scale operation in a war they believed to be as good as lost. Thesailors' revolt, which then ensued in the naval ports","in the naval ports ofWilhelmshavenandKiel, spread across the whole country within days and led to theproclamation of a republicon 9November 1918, shortly thereafter to theabdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and German surrender. Aftermath In the aftermath of the war, the German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian empires disappeared.Numerous nations regained their former independence, and new ones were created. Four dynasties fell as a result of the war: theRomanovs, theHohenzollerns, theHabsburgs, and theOttomans. Belgium and Serbia were badly damaged, as was France, with 1.4 million soldiers dead,not counting other casualties. Germany and Russia were similarly affected. Formal end of the war A formal state of war between the two sides persisted for another seven months, until the signing of theTreaty of Versailleswith Germany on 28 June 1919. The US Senate did not ratify the treaty despite public support for it,and did not formally end its involvement in the war until theKnox–Porter Resolutionwas signed","signed on 2July 1921 by PresidentWarren G. Harding.For the British Empire, the state of war ceased under the provisions of theTermination of the Present War (Definition) Act 1918concerning: Somewar memorialsdate the end of the war as being when the Versailles Treaty was signed in 1919, which was when many of the troops serving abroad finally returned home; by contrast, most commemorations of the war's end concentrate on the armistice of 11 November 1918. Peace treaties and national boundaries TheParis Peace Conferenceimposed a series of peace treaties on the Central Powers officially ending the war. The 1919Treaty of Versaillesdealt with Germany and, building onWilson's 14th point, established theLeague of Nationson 28 June 1919. The Central Powers had to acknowledge responsibility for \"all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by\" their aggression. In the Treaty of Versailles, this statement","this statement wasArticle 231. This article became known as the \"War Guilt Clause\", as the majority of Germans felt humiliated and resentful.The Germans felt they had been unjustly dealt with by what they called the \"diktatof Versailles\". German historian Hagen Schulze said the Treaty placed Germany \"under legal sanctions, deprived of military power, economically ruined, and politically humiliated.\"Belgian historian Laurence Van Ypersele emphasises the central role played by memory of the war and the Versailles Treaty in German politics in the 1920s and 1930s: Active denial of war guilt in Germany and German resentment at both reparations and continued Allied occupation of the Rhineland made widespread revision of the meaning and memory of the war problematic. The legend of the \"stab in the back\" and the wish to revise the \"Versailles diktat\", and the belief in an international threat aimed at the elimination of the German nation persisted at the heart of German politics. Even a man of peace such as","of peace such as Stresemann publicly rejected German guilt. As for the Nazis, they waved the banners of domestic treason and international conspiracy in an attempt to galvanise the German nation into a spirit of revenge. Like a Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany sought to redirect the memory of the war to the benefit of its policies. Meanwhile, new nations liberated from German rule viewed the treaty as a recognition of wrongs committed against small nations by much larger aggressive neighbours. Austria-Hungary was partitioned into several successor states, largely but not entirely along ethnic lines. Apart from Austria and Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia received territories from the Dual Monarchy (the formerly separate and autonomousKingdom of Croatia-Slavoniawas incorporated into Yugoslavia). The details were contained in the treaties ofSaint-Germain-en-LayeandTrianon. As a result, Hungary lost 64% of its total population, decreasing from 20.9 million to 7.6 million, and losing","million, and losing 31% (3.3 out of 10.7 million) of its ethnicHungarians.According to the 1910 census, speakers of the Hungarian language included approximately 54% of the entire population of theKingdom of Hungary. Within the country, numerous ethnic minorities were present: 16.1%Romanians, 10.5%Slovaks, 10.4%Germans, 2.5%Ruthenians, 2.5%Serbsand 8% others.Between 1920 and 1924, 354,000 Hungarians fled former Hungarian territories attached to Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. The Russian Empire lost much of its western frontier as the newly independent nations ofEstonia,Finland,Latvia,Lithuania, andPolandwere carved from it. Romania took control of Bessarabia in April 1918. National identities After 123 years, Poland re-emerged as an independent country. The Kingdom of Serbia and its dynasty, as a \"minor Entente nation\" and the country with the most casualties per capita,became the backbone of a new multinational state, theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later renamed Yugoslavia.","renamed Yugoslavia. Czechoslovakia, combining theKingdom of Bohemiawith parts of the Kingdom of Hungary, became a new nation. Romania woulduniteall Romanian-speaking people under a single state, leading toGreater Romania. In Australia and New Zealand, the Battle of Gallipoli became known as those nations' \"Baptism of Fire\". It was the first major war in which the newly established countries fought, and it was one of the first times that Australian troops fought as Australians, not just subjects of theBritish Crown, and independent national identities for these nations took hold.Anzac Day, commemorating the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), celebrates this defining moment. In the aftermath of World War I, Greecefoughtagainst Turkish nationalists led byMustafa Kemal, a war that eventually resulted in amassive population exchange between the two countriesunder the Treaty of Lausanne.According to various sources,several hundred thousand Greeks died during this period, which was tied in with the","tied in with the Greek genocide. Casualties Of the 60 million European military personnel who were mobilised from 1914 to 1918, an estimated8 million were killed, 7 million were permanently disabled, and 15 million were seriously injured. Germany lost 15.1% of its active male population, Austria-Hungary lost 17.1%, and France lost 10.5%.France mobilised 7.8 million men, of which 1.4 million died and 3.2 million were injured.Approximately 15,000 deployed men sustained gruesome facial injuries, causing social stigma and marginalisation; they were called thegueules cassées(broken faces). In Germany, civilian deaths were 474,000 higher than in peacetime, due in large part to food shortages and malnutrition that had weakened disease resistance. These excess deaths are estimated as 271,000 in 1918, plus another 71,000 in the first half of 1919 when the blockade was still in effect.Starvation caused by famine killed approximately 100,000 people in Lebanon. Diseases flourished in the chaotic wartime conditions. In","conditions. In 1914 alone, louse-borneepidemic typhuskilled 200,000 in Serbia.Starting in early 1918, a major influenza epidemic known asSpanish fluspread across the world, accelerated by the movement of large numbers of soldiers, often crammed together in camps and transport ships with poor sanitation. The Spanish flu killed at least 17 to 25 million people,including an estimated 2.64 million Europeans and as many as 675,000 Americans.Between 1915 and 1926, an epidemic ofencephalitis lethargicaaffected nearly five million people worldwide. Eight millionequinesmostlyhorses,donkeysandmulesdied, three-quarters of them from the extreme conditions they worked in. War crimes Chemical weapons in warfare The German army was the first to successfully deploy chemical weapons during the Second Battle of Ypres (April–May 1915), after German scientists under the direction ofFritz Haberat theKaiser Wilhelm Institutedeveloped a method to weaponizechlorine.The use of chemical weapons had been sanctioned by the German High","by the German High Command to force Allied soldiers out of their entrenched positions, complementing rather than supplanting more lethal conventional weapons.Chemical weapons were deployed by all major belligerents throughout the war, inflicting approximately 1.3 million casualties, of which about 90,000 were fatal.The use of chemical weapons in warfare was a direct violation of the1899 Hague Declaration Concerning Asphyxiating Gasesand the1907 Hague Convention on Land Warfare, which prohibited their use. Genocides by the Ottoman Empire Theethnic cleansingof the Ottoman Empire's Armenian population, including mass deportations and executions, during the final years of the Ottoman Empire is consideredgenocide.The Ottomans carried out organised and systematic massacres of the Armenian population at the beginning of the war and manipulated acts of Armenian resistance by portraying them as rebellions to justify further extermination.In early 1915, several Armenians volunteered to join the Russian forces and the","forces and the Ottoman government used this as a pretext to issue theTehcir Law(Law on Deportation), which authorised the deportation of Armenians from the Empire's eastern provinces to Syria between 1915 and 1918. The Armenians were intentionallymarched to deathand a number were attacked by Ottoman brigands.While the exact number of deaths is unknown, theInternational Association of Genocide Scholarsestimates around 1.5 million.The government of Turkey continues todeny the genocideto the present day, arguing that those who died were victims of inter-ethnic fighting, famine, or disease during World WarI; these claims are rejected by most historians. Other ethnic groups were similarly attacked by the Ottoman Empire during this period, including Assyrians andGreeks, and some scholars consider those events to be part of the same policy of extermination.At least 250,000 Assyrian Christians, about half of the population, and 350,000–750,000AnatolianandPontic Greekswere killed between 1915 and 1922. Prisoners of","1922. Prisoners of war About 8 million soldiers surrendered and were held inPOW campsduring the war. All nations pledged to follow theHague Conventionson fair treatment ofprisoners of war, and the survival rate for POWs was generally much higher than that of combatants at the front. Around 25–31% of Russian losses (as a proportion of those captured, wounded, or killed) were to prisoner status; for Austria-Hungary 32%; for Italy 26%; for France 12%; for Germany 9%; for Britain 7%. Prisoners from the Allied armies totalled about 1.4 million (not including Russia, which lost 2.5–3.5 million soldiers as prisoners). From the Central Powers, about 3.3 million soldiers became prisoners; most of them surrendered to Russians. Soldiers' experiences Allied personnel was around 42,928,000, while Central personnel was near 25,248,000.British soldiers of the war were initially volunteers but were increasinglyconscripted. Surviving veterans returning home often found they could discuss their experiences only among","only among themselves, so formed \"veterans' associations\" or \"Legions\". Conscription Conscription was common in most European countries. However, it was controversial in English-speaking countries,It was especially unpopular among minority ethnicities—especially the Irish Catholics in Ireland,Australia,and the French Catholics in Canada. In the US, conscription began in 1917 and was generally well-received, with a few pockets of opposition in isolated rural areas.The administration decided to rely primarily on conscription, rather than voluntary enlistment, to raise military manpower after only 73,000 volunteers enlisted out of the initial 1 million target in the first six weeks of war. Military attachés and war correspondents Military and civilian observers from every major power closely followed the course of the war.Many were able to report on events from a perspective somewhat akin to modern \"embedded\" positions within the opposing land and naval forces. Economic effects Macro- and micro-economic","and micro-economic consequences devolved from the war. Families were altered by the departure of many men. With the death or absence of the primary wage earner, women were forced into the workforce in unprecedented numbers. At the same time, the industry needed to replace the lost labourers sent to war. This aided the struggle forvoting rights for women. In all nations, the government's share of GDP increased, surpassing 50% in both Germany and France and nearly reaching that level in Britain. To pay for purchases in the US, Britain cashed in its extensive investments in American railroads and then began borrowing heavily fromWall Street. President Wilson was on the verge of cutting off the loans in late 1916 but allowed a great increase inUS governmentlending to the Allies. After 1919, the US demanded repayment of these loans. The repayments were, in part, funded by German reparations that, in turn, were supported by American loans to Germany. This circular system collapsed in 1931 and some loans were never","loans were never repaid. Britain still owed the United States $4.4billionof World WarI debt in 1934; the last installment was finally paid in 2015. Britain turned to her colonies for help in obtaining essential war materials whose supply from traditional sources had become difficult. Geologists such asAlbert Kitsonwere called on to find new resources of precious minerals in the African colonies. Kitson discovered important new deposits ofmanganese, used in munitions production, in theGold Coast. Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles (the so-called \"war guilt\" clause) stated Germany accepted responsibility for \"all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies.\"It was worded as such to lay a legal basis for reparations, and a similar clause was inserted in the treaties with Austria and Hungary. However, neither of them interpreted it as an admission of war","an admission of war guilt.In 1921, the total reparation sum was placed at 132 billion gold marks. However, \"Allied experts knew that Germany could not pay\" this sum. The total sum was divided into three categories, with the third being \"deliberately designed to be chimerical\" and its \"primary function was to mislead public opinion ... into believing the 'total sum was being maintained.'\"Thus, 50 billion gold marks (12.5 billion dollars) \"represented the actual Allied assessment of German capacity to pay\" and \"therefore ... represented the total German reparations\" figure that had to be paid. This figure could be paid in cash or in-kind (coal, timber, chemical dyes, etc.). Some of the territory lost—via the Treaty of Versailles—was credited towards the reparation figure as were other acts such as helping to restore the Library of Louvain.By 1929, theGreat Depressioncaused political chaos throughout the world.In 1932 the payment of reparations was suspended by the international community, by which point","by which point Germany had paid only the equivalent of 20.598 billion gold marks.With the rise of Adolf Hitler, all bonds and loans that had been issued and taken out during the 1920s and early 1930s were cancelled.David Andelmannotes \"Refusing to pay doesn't make an agreement null and void. The bonds, the agreement, still exist.\" Thus, following the Second World War, at theLondon Conferencein 1953, Germany agreed to resume payment on the money borrowed. On 3October 2010, Germany made the final payment on these bonds. The Australian prime minister,Billy Hughes, wrote to the British prime minister,David Lloyd George, \"You have assured us that you cannot get better terms. I much regret it, and hope even now that some way may be found of securing agreement for demanding reparation commensurate with the tremendous sacrifices made by the British Empire and her Allies.\" Australia received £5,571,720 in war reparations, but the direct cost of the war to Australia had been £376,993,052, and, by the mid-1930s,","by the mid-1930s, repatriation pensions, war gratuities, interest and sinking fund charges were £831,280,947. Support and opposition for the war Support In the Balkans,Yugoslav nationalistssuch as the leader,Ante Trumbić, strongly supported the war, desiring the freedom ofYugoslavsfrom Austria-Hungary and other foreign powers and the creation of an independent Yugoslavia. TheYugoslav Committee, led by Trumbić, was formed in Paris on 30 April 1915 but shortly moved its office to London.In April 1918, the Rome Congress of Oppressed Nationalities met, includingCzechoslovak, Italian,Polish,Transylvanian, and Yugoslav representatives who urged the Allies to support nationalself-determinationfor the peoples residing within Austria-Hungary. In the Middle East,Arab nationalismsoared in Ottoman territories in response to the rise of Turkish nationalism during the war, with Arab nationalist leaders advocating the creation of apan-Arabstate. In 1916, the Arab Revolt began in Ottoman-controlled territories of the Middle","of the Middle East to achieve independence. In East Africa,Iyasu VofEthiopiawas supporting theDervish statewho were at war with the British in theSomaliland campaign.Von Syburg, the German envoy inAddis Ababa, said, \"now the time has come for Ethiopia to regain the coast of the Red Sea driving the Italians home, to restore the Empire to its ancient size.\" The Ethiopian Empire was on the verge of entering World WarI on the side of the Central Powers before Iyasu's overthrow at theBattle of Segaledue to Allied pressure on the Ethiopian aristocracy. Several socialist parties initially supported the war when it began in August 1914.But European socialists split on national lines, with the concept ofclass conflictheld by radical socialists such as Marxists andsyndicalistsbeing overborne by their patriotic support for the war.Once the war began, Austrian, British, French, German, and Russian socialists followed the rising nationalist current by supporting their countries' intervention in the war. Italian","in the war. Italian nationalismwas stirred by the outbreak of the war and was initially strongly supported by a variety of political factions. One of the most prominent and popular Italian nationalist supporters of the war wasGabriele D'Annunzio, who promotedItalian irredentismand helped sway the Italian public to support intervention in the war.TheItalian Liberal Party, under the leadership ofPaolo Boselli, promoted intervention in the war on the side of the Allies and used the Dante Alighieri Society to promote Italian nationalism.Italian socialists were divided on whether to support the war or oppose it; some were militant supporters of the war, includingBenito MussoliniandLeonida Bissolati.However, theItalian Socialist Partydecided to oppose the war after anti-militarist protestors were killed, resulting in ageneral strikecalledRed Week.The Italian Socialist Party purged itself of pro-war nationalist members, including Mussolini.Mussolini formed the pro-interventionistIl Popolo d'Italiaand theFasci","theFasci Rivoluzionario d'Azione Internazionalista(\"RevolutionaryFascifor International Action\") in October 1914 that later developed into theFasci Italiani di Combattimentoin 1919, the origin of fascism.Mussolini's nationalism enabled him to raise funds fromAnsaldo(an armaments firm) and other companies to createIl Popolo d'Italiato convince socialists and revolutionaries to support the war. Patriotic funds On both sides, there was large-scale fundraising for soldiers' welfare, their dependents and those injured. TheNail Menwere a German example. Around the British Empire, there were many patriotic funds, including theRoyal Patriotic Fund Corporation,Canadian Patriotic Fund,Queensland Patriotic Fundand, by 1919, there were 983 funds in New Zealand.At the start of the next world war the New Zealand funds were reformed, having been criticised as overlapping, wasteful and abused,but 11 were still functioning in 2002. Opposition Many countries jailed those who spoke out against the conflict. These","the conflict. These includedEugene Debsin the US andBertrand Russellin Britain. In the US, theEspionage Act of 1917andSedition Act of 1918made it a federal crime to oppose military recruitment or make any statements deemed \"disloyal\". Publications at all critical of the government were removed from circulation by postal censors,and many served long prison sentences for statements of fact deemed unpatriotic. Several nationalists opposed intervention, particularly within states that the nationalists were hostile to. Although the vast majority of Irish people consented to participate in the war in 1914 and 1915, a minority of advancedIrish nationalistshad staunchly opposed taking part.The war began amid the Home Rule crisis in Ireland that had resurfaced in 1912, and by July 1914 there was a serious possibility of an outbreak of civil war in Ireland. Irish nationalists and Marxists attempted to pursue Irish independence, culminating in theEaster Risingof 1916, with Germany sending 20,000 rifles to Ireland to","to Ireland to stir unrest in Britain.The British government placed Ireland undermartial lawin response to the Easter Rising, though once the immediate threat of revolution had dissipated, the authorities did try to make concessions to nationalist feeling.However, opposition to involvement in the war increased in Ireland, resulting in theConscription Crisis of 1918. Other opposition came fromconscientious objectors—some socialist, some religious—who had refused to fight. In Britain, 16,000 people asked for conscientious objector status.Some of them, most notably prominent peace activistStephen Hobhouse, refused both military andalternative service.Many suffered years of prison, includingsolitary confinement. Even after the war, in Britain, many job advertisements were marked \"No conscientious objectors need to apply\". On 1–4 May 1917, about 100,000 workers and soldiers ofPetrograd, and after them, the workers and soldiers of other Russian cities, led by the Bolsheviks, demonstrated under banners reading \"Down","reading \"Down with the war!\" and \"all power to the Soviets!\". The mass demonstrations resulted in a crisis for theRussian Provisional Government.InMilan, in May 1917, Bolshevik revolutionaries organised and engaged in rioting calling for an end to the war, and managed to close down factories and stop public transportation.The Italian army was forced to enter Milan with tanks and machine guns to face Bolsheviks andanarchists, who fought violently until May 23 when the army gained control of the city. Almost 50 people (including three Italian soldiers) were killed and over 800 people were arrested. Technology World War I began as a clash of 20th-century technology and 19th-centurytactics, with the inevitably large ensuing casualties. By the end of 1917, however, the major armies had modernised and were making use of telephone,wireless communication,armoured cars,tanks(especially with the advent of the prototype tank,Little Willie), and aircraft. Artillery also underwent a revolution. In 1914, cannons were","1914, cannons were positioned in the front line and fired directly at their targets. By 1917,indirect firewith guns (as well as mortars and even machine guns) was commonplace, using new techniques for spotting and ranging, notably, aircraft and thefield telephone. Fixed-wing aircraftwere initially used forreconnaissanceandground attack. To shoot down enemy planes,anti-aircraft gunsandfighter aircraftwere developed.Strategic bomberswere created, principally by the Germans and British, though the former usedZeppelinsas well.Towards the end of the conflict,aircraft carrierswere used for the first time, with HMSFuriouslaunchingSopwith Camelsin a raid to destroy the Zeppelin hangars atTønderin 1918. Diplomacy The non-military diplomatic and propaganda interactions among the nations were designed to build support for the cause or to undermine support for the enemy. For the most part, wartime diplomacy focused on five issues:propaganda campaigns; defining and redefining the war goals, which became harsher as the","harsher as the war went on; luring neutral nations (Italy, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, Romania) into the coalition by offering slices of enemy territory; and encouragement by the Allies of nationalistic minority movements inside the Central Powers, especially among Czechs, Poles, and Arabs. In addition, multiple peace proposals were coming from neutrals, or one side or the other; none of them progressed very far. Legacy and memory Memorials Memorials were built in thousands of villages and towns. Close to battlefields, those buried in improvised burial grounds were gradually moved to formal graveyards under the care of organisations such as theCommonwealth War Graves Commission, theAmerican Battle Monuments Commission, theGerman War Graves Commission, andLe Souvenir français. Many of these graveyards also have monuments to the missing orunidentifieddead, such as theMenin Gate Memorial to the Missingand theThiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. In 1915,John McCrae, a Canadian army doctor, wrote the","doctor, wrote the poemIn Flanders Fieldsas a salute to those who perished in the war. It is still recited today, especially onRemembrance DayandMemorial Day. National World War I Museum and MemorialinKansas City, Missouri, is a memorial dedicated to all Americans who served in World WarI. TheLiberty Memorialwas dedicated on 1 November 1921. The British government budgeted substantial resources tothe commemoration of the war during the period 2014 to 2018. The lead body is theImperial War Museum.On 3August 2014, French PresidentFrançois Hollandeand German PresidentJoachim Gaucktogether markedthe centenary of Germany's declaration of war on Franceby laying the first stone of a memorial in Vieil Armand, known in German asHartmannswillerkopf, for French and German soldiers killed in the war.As part of commemorations for thecentenary of the 1918 Armistice, French PresidentEmmanuel Macronand German ChancellorAngela Merkelvisited the site of the signing of the Armistice of Compiègne and unveiled a plaque to","a plaque to reconciliation. Historiography ... \"Strange, friend,\" I said, \"Here is no cause to mourn.\"\"None,\" said the other, \"Save the undone years\"... The first efforts to comprehend the meaning and consequences ofmodern warfarebegan during the initial phases of the war and are still underway more than a century later. Teaching World War I has presented special challenges. When compared withWorld War II, the First World War is often thought to be \"a wrong war fought for the wrong reasons\"; it lacks themetanarrativeofgood versus evilthat characterizes retellings of the Second World War. Lacking recognizable heroes and villains, it is often taught thematically, invoking simplifiedtropesthat obscure the complexity of the conflict. Historian Heather Jones argues that thehistoriographyhas been reinvigorated by a cultural turn in the 21st century. Scholars have raised entirely new questions regardingmilitary occupation,radicalisationof politics,race,medical science,genderandmental health. Among the major","Among the major subjects that historians have long debated regarding the war include:Why the war began; why theAllieswon; whether generals were responsible forhigh casualty rates; how soldiers endured the poor conditions oftrench warfare; and to what extent the civilianhome frontaccepted and endorsed the war effort. Unexploded ordnance As late as 2007,unexploded ordnanceat battlefield sites likeVerdunandSommecontinued to pose a danger. In France and Belgium, locals who discover caches of unexploded munitions are assisted by weapons disposal units. In some places, plant life has still not recovered from the effects of the war. See also Footnotes References Bibliography External links Library guides","1996 Summer Olympics The1996 Summer Olympics(officially theGames of the XXVI Olympiad, also known asAtlanta 1996and commonly referred to as theCentennial Olympic Games)were an internationalmulti-sport eventheld from July 19 to August 4, 1996, inAtlanta,Georgia,United States. These were the fourthSummer Olympicsto be hosted by the United States, making it the first country to have three different cities host the Summer Olympics.It also marked the 100th anniversary of the1896 Summer Olympicsin Athens, the inaugural edition of the modernOlympic Games. These were also the first Summer Olympics to be held in a different year than theWinter Olympicssince theWinter Olympicscommenced in 1924, as part of a newIOCpractice implemented in 1994 to hold the Summer and Winter Games in alternating, even-numbered years. The 1996 Games were the first of the two consecutive Summer Olympics to be held in a predominantlyEnglish-speaking country, preceding the2000 Summer Olympicsin Sydney, Australia. These were also the last","were also the last Summer Olympics to be held in North America until2028, whenLos Angeleswill host the games for the third time. 10,318 athletes from 197National Olympic Committeescompeted in 26 sports, including the Olympic debuts ofbeach volleyball,mountain bikingandsoftball, as well as the new disciplines oflightweight rowing, women's swimming4 x 200 freestyle relay, women'sfencing, teamrhythmic gymnastics, and women'sassociation football. A total of 24 countries made their Summer Olympic debuts in Atlanta, including 11 formerSoviet republicsparticipating for the first time as independent nations. With a total of 101 medals, theUnited Statestopped both the gold and overallmedal countfor the first time since 1984 (and for the first time since 1968 in a non-boycotted Summer Olympics), also winning the most gold (44) and silver (32) medals out of all the participating nations. Notable performances during the competition included those ofAndre Agassi, whose gold medal in these Games would be followed up with","be followed up with the French Open title in 1999, making him the first men's singles tennis player to complete theGolden Slam;Donovan Bailey, who set a new world record of 9.84 for themen's 100 meters;Lilia Podkopayeva, who became the second gymnast to win an individual event gold medal after winning the all-around title in the same Olympics; and theMagnificent Seven, who dramatically won the first ever U.S. gold medal in theWomen's artistic gymnastics team all-around. The Games were marred by violence on July 27, 1996, whena pipe bomb was detonatedatCentennial Olympic Park(which had been built to serve as a public focal point for the festivities), killing two and injuring 111. Years later,Eric Rudolphconfessed to the bombing and a series of related terrorist attacks, and was sentenced to life in prison. Nonetheless, the 1996 Olympics turned a profit, helped by record revenue from sponsorship deals and broadcast rights, and a reliance on private funding, among other factors. There were 8.3 million tickets","8.3 million tickets sold for events at this Olympics, a record broken only in 2024. There was some criticism of the perceived over-commercialization of the Games, with other issues raised by European officials, such as the availability of food and transport. The event had a lasting impact on the city; Centennial Olympic Park led a revitalization of Atlanta'sdowntown area, and has served as a symbol of the legacy of the 1996 Games; theOlympic Villagebuildings have since been used as residential housing for area universities; and theCentennial Olympic Stadiumhas since been redeveloped twice, first as theTurner Fieldbaseball stadium, then as theCenter ParcAmerican footballstadium. Bidding process Atlanta was selected on September 18, 1990, inTokyo, Japan, over Athens, Belgrade, Manchester, Melbourne, and Toronto at the96th IOC Session. The city entered the competition as adark horse, being up against stiff competition.The US media also criticized Atlanta as a second-tier city and complained","city and complained ofGeorgia'sConfederate history. However, the IOC Evaluation Commission ranked Atlanta's infrastructure and facilities the highest, while IOC members said that it could guarantee large television revenues similar to the success of the1984 Summer OlympicsinLos Angeles, the most recent Olympics in the United States.Additionally, former US ambassador to the UN and Atlanta mayorAndrew Youngtouted Atlanta's civil rights history and reputation for racial harmony. Young also wanted to showcase a reformedAmerican South. The strong economy of Atlanta and improved race relations in the South helped to impress the IOC officials.Coca-Cola, a long-standing partner of the Olympics, was also a strong advocate to bring the Games to its hometown.The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) also proposed a substantial revenue-sharing with the IOC, USOC, and other NOCs.Atlanta's main rivals were Toronto, whose front-running bid that began in 1986 had chances to succeed after Canada had held a","Canada had held a successful1988 Winter Olympicsin Calgary, and Melbourne, Australia, who hosted the1956 Summer Olympicsand afterBrisbane, Australia's failed bid for the 1992 games (which were awarded toBarcelona) and prior toSydney, Australia's successful2000 Summer Olympicsbid. This would be Toronto's fourth failed attempt since 1960 (tried in 1960, 1964, and 1976, but was defeated by Rome, Tokyo and Montreal). Greece, the home of theancientandfirst modern Olympics, was considered by many observers the \"natural choice\" for the Centennial Games,due to its \"divine right\" in history.Athens bid chairman Spyros Metaxas gave repeated warnings to the IOC and demanded to give them the games to mark the centennial, saying \"You don't hold a 100th birthday in someone else's home. The Centenary Games should be held in Athens.\"He also warned that \"if we don't get the Olympics in 1996 we will never bid again to host them.\" However, the Athens bid was described as \"arrogant and poorly prepared,\" being regarded as \"not","regarded as \"not being up to the task of coping with the modern and risk-prone extravaganza\" of the current Games. Athens faced numerous obstacles, including \"political instability, potential security problems, air pollution, traffic congestion and the fact that it would have to spend about US$3 billion to improve its infrastructure of airports, roads, rail lines and other amenities.\"Athens would later be selected to host the2004 Summer Olympicsseven years later on September 5, 1997. Development and preparation Budget The total cost of the 1996 Summer Olympics was estimated to be around US$1.7 billion.The venues and the Games themselves were funded entirely via private investment,and the only public funding came from the U.S. government for security, and around $500 million of public money used on physical public infrastructure including streetscaping, road improvements, Centennial Olympic Park (alongside $75 million in private funding), expansion of the airport, improvements in public transportation, and","transportation, and redevelopment of public housing projects.$420 million worth of tickets were sold, sale of sponsorship rights accounted for $540 million, and sale of the domestic broadcast rights toNBCaccounted for $456 million. In total, the Games turned a profit of $19 million. The cost for Atlanta 1996 compares with costs of $4.6 billion for Rio 2016, $40–44 billion for Beijing 2008, and $51 billion for Sochi 2014 (the most expensive Olympics in history). The average cost for the Summer Games since 1960 is $5.2 billion. Unlike Atlanta 1996, Beijing and Sochi were primarily funded by their respective governments. Venues and infrastructure Events of the 1996 Games were held in a variety of areas. A number were held within the Olympic Ring, a 3 mi (4.8 km) circle from the center of Atlanta. Others were held atStone Mountain, about 20 miles (32 km) outside of the city. To broaden ticket sales, other events, such asAssociation football(soccer), were staged in various cities in the Southeast. Marketing The","Marketing The Olympiad's official theme, \"Summon the Heroes\", was written byJohn Williams, making it the third Olympiad at that point for which he had composed (official composer in 1984, NBC's coverage composer in 1988). Theopening ceremonyfeaturedCéline Dionsinging \"The Power of the Dream\", the theme song of the 1996 Olympics. Theclosing ceremonyfeaturedGloria Estefansinging \"Reach\", the official theme song of the 1996 Olympics. Themascotfor the Olympiad was an abstract, animated character namedIzzy. In contrast to the standing tradition of mascots of national or regional significance in the city hosting the Olympiad, Izzy was an amorphous, fantasy figure. A video game featuring the Games' mascot,Izzy's Quest for the Olympic Rings, was also released. Atlanta's Olympic slogan \"Come Celebrate Our Dream\" was written by Jack Arogeti, a managing director atMcCann-Ericksonin Atlanta at the time. The slogan was selected from more than 5,000submitted by the public to the Atlanta Convention and Visitors","and Visitors Bureau.Billy Paynenoted that Jack \"captured the spirit and our true motivation for the Olympic games.\" The city ofSavannah, Georgia, host of the yachting events, held its own local festivities, including a local cauldron lighting event on the first day of the Games (headlined by a performance by country musicianTrisha Yearwood). In 1994, African-American artistKevin Colewas commissioned to create the Coca-Cola Centennial Olympic Mural, and the 15-story mural took two years to complete. Calendar Games Opening ceremony The ceremony began with a 60-second countdown, which included footage from all of the previous Olympic Games at twenty-two seconds. There was then a flashback to the closing ceremony of the1992 Olympics in Barcelona, showing the thenpresident of the IOC,Juan Antonio Samaranch, inviting the athletes to compete in Atlanta in 1996. Then, spirits ascended in the northwest corner of the stadium, each representing one of the colors in the Olympic rings. The spirits called the tribes of","the tribes of the world which, after mixed percussion, formed the Olympic rings while the youth of Atlanta formed the number 100. Famed film score composerJohn Williamswrote the official overture for the 1996 Olympics, called \"Summon the Heroes\"; this was his second overture for Olympic games, the first being \"Olympic Fanfare and Theme\" written for the1984 Summer Olympics.Céline DionperformedDavid Foster's official 1996 Olympics song \"The Power of the Dream\", accompanied by Foster on the piano, theAtlanta Symphony Orchestraand the Centennial Choir (comprisingMorehouse College Glee Club,Spelman College Glee Cluband the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus).Gladys Knightsang Georgia's officialstate song, \"Georgia on My Mind\". There was a showcase entitled \"Welcome To The World\", featuringcheerleaders,Chevroletpick-up trucks,marching bands, andsteppers, which highlighted the American youth and a typical Saturday college football game in the South, including thewavecommonly produced by spectators in sporting events","in sporting events around the world. There was another showcase entitled \"Summertime\" which focused on Atlanta and theOld South, emphasizing its beauty, spirit, music, history, culture, and rebirth after theAmerican Civil War. The ceremony also featured a memorable dance tribute to the athletes and to the goddesses of victory of the ancient Greek Olympics, using silhouette imagery. The accompanying music, \"The Tradition of the Games\", was composed byBasil Poledouris. Muhammad Alilit theOlympic cauldronand later received a replacement gold medal for his boxing victory in the1960 Summer Olympics. For the torch ceremony, more than 10,000Olympic torcheswere manufactured by the American Meter Company and electroplated byErie Plating Company. Each torch weighed about 3.5 pounds (1.6 kg) and was made primarily of aluminum, with a Georgiapecanwood handle and gold ornamentation. Closing ceremony Sports The 1996 Summer Olympic program featured 271 events in 26 sports.Softball,beach volleyballandmountain bikingdebuted","bikingdebuted on the Olympic program, together with women'sfootball, lightweightrowing, women'sswimming, women'sfencing, and a teamrhythmic gymnasticsevent. In women's gymnastics, UkrainianLilia Podkopayevabecame the all-around Olympic champion. Podkopayeva also won a second gold medal in the floor exercise final and a silver on the beam – becoming the only female gymnast sinceNadia Comănecito win an individual event gold after winning the all-around title in the same Olympics.Kerri Strugof the United States women's gymnastics team vaulted with an injured ankle and landed on one foot, winning the first women's team gold medal for the US.Shannon Millerwon the gold medal on the balance beam event, the first time an American gymnast had won an individual gold medal in non-boycotted Olympic games. The Spanish team won the first gold medal in the new competition ofwomen's rhythmic group all-around. The team was formed byEstela Giménez,Marta Baldó,Nuria Cabanillas,Lorena Guréndez,Estíbaliz MartínezandTania","MartínezandTania Lamarca. Amy Van Dykenwon four gold medals in the Olympicswimmingpool, the first American woman to win four titles in a single Olympiad.Penny Heyns, swimmer of South Africa, won the gold medals in both the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke events.Michelle Smithof Ireland won three gold medals and a bronze in swimming. She remains her nation's most decorated Olympian. However, her victories were overshadowed bydopingallegations even though she did not test positive in 1996. She received a four-year suspension in 1998 for tampering with a urine sample, though her medals and records were allowed to stand. In track and field,Donovan Baileyof Canada won the men's 100 m, setting a new world record of 9.84 seconds at that time.He also anchored his team's gold in the4 × 100 m relay.Michael Johnsonwon gold in both the 200 m and 400 m, setting a new world record of 19.32 seconds in the 200 m.Marie-José Pérecequaled Johnson's performance, although without a world record, by winning the rare 200","the rare 200 m/400 m double.Carl Lewiswon his 4th long jump gold medal at the age of 35. In tennis,Andre Agassiwon the gold medal, which would eventually make him the first man and second singles player overall (after his eventual wife,Steffi Graf) to win the careerGolden Slam, which consists of an Olympic gold medal and victories in the singles tournaments held at professional tennis' four major events (Australian Open,French Open,Wimbledon, andUS Open). There were a series of national firsts realized during the Games.Deon Hemmingsbecame the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal forJamaicaand the English-speakingWest Indies.Lee Lai Shanwon a gold medal in sailing, the only Olympic medal thatHong Kongever won as a British colony (1842–1997). This meant that for the only time, the colonial flag of Hong Kong was raised to the accompaniment of the British national anthem \"God Save the Queen\", as Hong Kong'ssovereigntywas later transferred to China in 1997. The U.S. women's soccer team won the gold medal in","the gold medal in the first-ever women's football event. For the first time, Olympic medals were won by athletes fromArmenia,Azerbaijan,Belarus,Burundi,Czech Republic,Ecuador,Georgia,Hong Kong,Kazakhstan,Moldova,Mozambique,Slovakia,Tonga,Ukraine, andUzbekistan. Another first in Atlanta was that this was the first Summer Olympics ever that not a single nation swept all three medals in a single event. Records Medal table These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1996 Games. *Host nation (United States) Participating National Olympic Committees A total of 197 nations, all of the then-existing and recognized National Olympic Committees, were represented at the 1996 Games, and the combined total of athletes was about 10,318.Twenty-four countries made their Olympic debut this year, including eleven of the ex-Soviet countries that competed as part of theUnified Team in 1992.Russiaparticipated in the Summer Olympics separately from the other countries of the formerSoviet Unionfor the first time since 1912","time since 1912 (when it was theRussian Empire). Russia had been a member of theUnified Team at the 1992 Summer Olympicstogether with 11 post-Soviet states. TheFederal Republic of Yugoslaviacompeted asYugoslavia. After missing the 1992 Summer GamesAfghanistanandCambodiareturned to send delegations to Atlanta. The 14 countries making their Olympic debut were:Azerbaijan,Burundi,Cape Verde,Comoros,Dominica,Guinea-Bissau,Macedonia,Nauru,Palestinian Authority,Saint Kitts and Nevis,Saint Lucia,São Tomé and Príncipe,TajikistanandTurkmenistan. The ten countries making their Summer Olympic debut (after competing at the1994 Winter OlympicsinLillehammer) were:Armenia,Belarus,Czech Republic,Georgia,Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan,Moldova,Slovakia,UkraineandUzbekistan. The Czech Republic and Slovakia attended the games as independent nations for the first time since the breakup ofCzechoslovakia, while the rest of the nations that made their Summer Olympic debut were formerly part of theSoviet Union. Number of athletes by National","by National Olympic Committee 10,339athletesfrom 197NOCsparticipated in the 1996 Summer Olympics. Centennial Olympic Park bombing The 1996 Olympics were marred by theCentennial Olympic Park bombing, which occurred on July 27. Security guardRichard Jewelldiscovered the pipe bomb and immediately notified law enforcement, helping to evacuate as many people as possible from the area before it exploded. Although Jewell's quick actions are credited for saving many lives, the bombing killed spectator Alice Hawthorne, wounded 111 others, and caused the death of Melih Uzunyol by a heart attack. Jewell was later considered a suspect in the bombing but was never charged, and he was cleared in October 1996. FugitiveEric Rudolphwas arrested in May 2003 and charged with the Olympic Park bombing as well as the bombings of twoabortion clinicsand agay nightclub.At his trial two years later, he confessed to all charges and afterwards released a statement, saying: \"the purpose of the attack on July 27th was to confound, anger","to confound, anger and embarrass the Washington government in the eyes of the world for its abominable sanctioning of abortion on demand.\"He received fourlife sentenceswithoutparole,to be served atUSP Florence ADMAXnearFlorence, Colorado. Legacy Preparations for the Olympics lasted more than seven years and had an economic impact of at least US$5.14 billion. Over two million visitors came to Atlanta, and approximately 3.5 billion people around the world watched at least some of the events on television. Although marred by the tragedy of theCentennial Olympic Park bombing, the Games were a financial success, due in part to TV rights contracts and sponsorships at record levels.Atlanta also set a new record for the most tickets sold at a single Games (8.3 million), and held it until 2024. Beyond international recognition, the Games resulted in many modern infrastructure improvements. The mid-rise dormitories built for the Olympic Village, which became the first residential housing forGeorgia State","forGeorgia State University(Georgia State Village), are now used by theGeorgia Institute of Technology(North Avenue Apartments). As designed, the Centennial Olympic Stadium was converted intoTurner Fieldafter the Paralympics, which became the home of theAtlanta BravesMajor League Baseballteam from 1997 to 2016. The Braves' former home,Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, was demolished in 1997 and the site became a parking lot for Turner Field; theOmni Coliseumwas demolished the same year to make way forState Farm Arena. The city's permanent memorial to the 1996 Olympics isCentennial Olympic Park, which was built as a focal point for the Games. The park initiated a revitalization of the surrounding area and now serves as the hub for Atlanta's tourism district. In November 2016, acommemorative plaquewas unveiled for Centennial Olympic Park to honor the 20th anniversary of the Games. Following the Braves' departure from Turner Field toTruist Parkin 2017, Georgia State University acquired the former Olympic Stadium","Olympic Stadium and surrounding parking lots. It reconfigured the stadium for a second time intoCenter Parc Stadiumfor itscollege football team. The 1996 Olympic cauldron was originally built and placed at the intersection of Fulton Street and Capitol Avenue, near the Centennial Olympic Stadium. After the Paralympics, in order to make room for the stadium conversion, the Olympic cauldron was moved (except its ramp, which was demolished) to the intersection of Capitol Avenue and Fulton Street in 1997, where it has stayed since. Since Georgia State University's acquisition of the former Olympic Stadium and surrounding lots, there has been proposals and growing calls to move the Olympic cauldron toCentennial Olympic Park. The Olympic cauldron was re-lit in February 2020 for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. The 1996 Olympics are the most recent edition of the Summer Olympics to be held in the United States.Los Angeleswill host the2028 Summer Olympics, 32 years after the Games were held in Atlanta. Sponsors","Atlanta. Sponsors The 1996 Summer Olympics relied heavily on commercial sponsorship. The Atlanta-basedCoca-Cola Companywas the exclusive provider of soft drinks at Olympics venues, and built an attraction known asCoca-Cola Olympic Cityfor the Games.As part of a sponsorship agreement withColumbia TriStar Television, thesyndicatedgame showsJeopardy!andWheel of Fortuneboth produced episodes with Olympics tie-ins (including branded memorabilia and contests) for broadcast between April and July 1996. These included aJeopardy!international tournament, and three weeks ofWheel of Fortuneepisodes filmed on-location at Atlanta'sFox Theatre. The Games were affected by several instances ofambush marketing—in which companies attempt to use the Games as a means to promote their brand, in competition with the exclusive, category-based sponsorship rights issued by the Atlanta organizing committee and the IOC (which grants the rights to use Olympics-related terms and emblems in marketing). The Atlanta organizing committee","committee threatened legal actions against advertisers whose marketing implied an official association with the Games. Several non-sponsors set up marketing activities in areas near venues, such asSamsung(competing withMotorola), which ambushed the Games with its \"96 Expo\".The city of Atlanta had also licensed street vendors to sell products from competitors to Olympic sponsors. The most controversial ambush campaign was undertaken byNike, Inc., which had begun an advertising campaign with aggressive slogans that mocked the Games' values, such as \"Faster, Higher, Stronger, Badder\", \"If you're not here to win, you're a tourist\", and \"You don't win silver, you lose gold.\" The slogans were featured on magazine ads andbillboardsit purchased in Atlanta.Nike also opened apop-up storeknown as the Nike Center near the Athletes' Village, which distributed Nike-branded flags to visitors (presumably to be used at events).IOC marketing directorMichael Payneexpressed concern for the campaign, believing that athletes","that athletes could perceive them as being an insult to their accomplishments.Payne and theUnited States Olympic Committee's marketing director, John Krimsky, met with Howard Slusher, a subordinate of Nike co-founderPhil Knight. The meeting quickly turned aggressive, with Payne warning that the IOC could pull accreditation for Nike employees and ban the display of its logos on equipment; he also threatened to organize a press conference where silver medallists from the Games, as well as prominent Nike-sponsored athleteMichael Johnson(who attracted attention during the Games for wearing custom, gold-colored Nike shoes), would denounce the company. Faced with these threats, Nike agreed to retract most of its negative advertising andpublic relationsstunts. Reception At theclosing ceremony,IOC PresidentJuan Antonio Samaranchsaid in his closing speech, \"Well done, Atlanta\" and simply called the Games \"most exceptional.\" This broke precedent for Samaranch, who had traditionally labeled each Games \"the best","Games \"the best Olympics ever\" at each closing ceremony, a practice he resumed at the subsequentWinter Games in Nagano in 1998. A report prepared after the Games by European Olympic officials was critical of Atlanta's performance in several key areas, including the level of crowding in the Olympic Village, the quality of available food, the accessibility and convenience of transportation, and the Games' general atmosphere of commercialism.IOC vice-presidentDick Poundresponded to criticism of the commercialization of these Games, stating that they still adhered to a historic policy barring the display of advertising within venues, and that \"you have to look to the private sector for at least a portion of the funding, and unless you're looking for handouts, you're dealing with people who are investing business assets, and they have to get a return.\" In 1997,Athenswas awarded the2004 Summer Olympics. Along with addressing the shortcomings of its 1996 bid, it was lauded for its efforts to promote the traditional","the traditional values of the Olympic Games, which some IOC observers felt had been lost due to the over-commercialization of the 1996 Games. However, the 2004 Games heavily relied on public funding and eventually failed to make a profit, which some have claimed contributed to thefinancial crisis in Greece. The financial struggles faced by many later Games, such as the2006 Winter Olympicsin Turin and the2016 Summer Olympicsin Rio de Janeiro, have caused some to offer more positive reappraisals of the management of the 1996 Summer Games. FormerJPMorgan Chasepresident (and torchbearer)Kabir Sehgalnoted that in contrast to many later Olympics, those of 1996 were financially viable, had a positive economic impact on the city, and most of the facilities constructed continued to be used after the Games. Sehgal contrasted the 1996 Games' \"grassroots\" effort backed almost entirely by private funding, with the only significant public spending coming from infrastructure associated with the Games, to modern \"top-down\"","modern \"top-down\" bids, instigated by local governments and reliant on taxpayer funding, making them unpopular among citizens who may not necessarily be interested.The2028 Summer Olympicsin Los Angeles will rely almost entirely on private funding, with the city of Los Angeles and state of California each intending to provide up to $250 million in funding in the event of shortfalls, and the U.S. federal government providing funding solely for security. See also References External links","Fall of the Berlin Wall Thefall of the Berlin Wall(German:Mauerfall,pronouncedⓘ) on9 November1989, during thePeaceful Revolution, marked the beginning of the destruction of theBerlin Walland the figurativeIron Curtain, asEast Berlintransit restrictions were overwhelmed and discarded. Sections of the wall were breached, and planned deconstruction began the following June. It was one of the series of events that started thefall of communisminCentral and Eastern Europe. Thefall of the inner German bordertook place shortly afterward. An end to theCold Warwas declared at theMalta Summitin early December, andGerman reunificationtook place in October the following year. Background Opening of the Iron Curtain The opening of theIron Curtainbetween Austria and Hungary at thePan-European Picnicon 19 August 1989 set in motion a peaceful chain reaction, at the end of which there was no longer anEast Germanyand theEastern Blochad disintegrated. After the picnic, which was based on an idea byOtto von Habsburgto test the","Habsburgto test the reaction of theUSSRandMikhail Gorbachevto an opening of the border, tens of thousands of media-informed East Germans set off for Hungary.Erich Honeckerdictated to theDaily Mirrorfor the Pan-European Picnic: \"Habsburg distributed leaflets far into Poland, on which the East German holidaymakers were invited to a picnic. When they came to the picnic, they were given gifts, food andDeutsche Mark, and then they were persuaded to come to the West.\" The leadership of the GDR in East Berlin did not dare to completely block the borders of their own country and the USSR did not respond at all. Thus the bracket of the Eastern Bloc was broken. Following the summer of 1989, by early November refugees were finding their way toHungaryvia Czechoslovakia or via theWest German embassy in Prague. On 30 September, following negotiations with East Germany and the Soviet Union, the West GermanForeign MinisterHans-Dietrich Genscherwent to the Prague embassy to personally inform the thousands of refugees that","of refugees that they were allowed to leave for West Germany. His speech from the embassy's balcony, which included the line,\"Wir sind zu Ihnen gekommen, um Ihnen mitzuteilen, dass heute Ihre Ausreise...\"(\"We came to you, to let you know that today, your departure...\") was met with loud cheers and jubilations. The next day, the first of the embassy refugees leftPragueforBavaria. The emigration was initially tolerated because of long-standing agreements with the communist Czechoslovak government, allowing free travel across their common border. However, this movement of people grew so large it caused difficulties for both countries. In addition, East Germany was struggling to meet loan payments on foreign borrowings;Egon KrenzsentAlexander Schalck-Golodkowskito unsuccessfully ask West Germany for a short-term loan to make interest payments.: 344 Protection of the wall The Berlin Wall was made up of two walls instead of one. Both walls were 4 metres tall, had a length of 155 kilometres and were separated by a","were separated by a mine corridor called the 'death strip.' It was heavily guarded and included 302 watchtowers; its guards had authorisation to shoot anyone who attempted to escape to West Berlin. Political changes in East Germany On 18 October 1989, longtimeSocialist Unity Party of Germany(SED) leaderErich Honeckerstepped down in favor of Krenz. Honecker had been seriously ill, and those looking to replace him were initially willing to wait for a \"biological solution\", but by October were convinced that the political and economic situation was too grave.: 339Honecker approved the choice, naming Krenz in his resignation speech,and theVolkskammerduly elected him. Although Krenz promised reforms in his first public speech,he was considered by the East German public to be following his predecessor's policies, and public protests demanding his resignation continued.: 347Despite promises of reform, public opposition to the regime continued to grow. On 1 November, Krenz authorized the reopening of the border","of the border withCzechoslovakia, which had been sealed to prevent East Germans from fleeing to West Germany.On 4 November, theAlexanderplatz demonstrationtook place. On 6 November, the Interior Ministry published a draft of new travel regulations, which made cosmetic changes to Honecker-era rules, leaving the approval process opaque and maintaining uncertainty regarding access to foreign currency. The draft enraged ordinary citizens, and was denounced as \"complete trash\" byWest Berlin MayorWalter Momper.Hundreds of refugees crowded onto the steps of the West German embassy in Prague, enraging the Czechoslovaks, who threatened to seal off the East German-Czechoslovak border. On 7 November, Krenz approved the resignation of Prime MinisterWilli Stophand two-thirds of the Politburo; however, Krenz was unanimously re-elected as General Secretary by the Central Committee.: 341 New East German immigration policy On 19 October, Krenz askedGerhard Lauterto draft a new travel policy.Lauter was a formerPeople's","a formerPeople's Policeofficer. After rising rapidly through the ranks he had recently been promoted to a position with theInterior Ministry (\"Home Office\" / \"Department of the Interior\")as head of the department responsible for issuing passports and the registration of citizens. On 8 November, the East GermanPolitburoenacted a portion of the draft travel regulations addressing permanent emigration immediately. Initially, the Politburo planned to create a special border crossing nearSchirndingspecifically for this emigration.However,Interior Ministry officialsandStasibureaucrats charged with drafting the new text concluded the proposal was not feasible, and instead crafted new text relating to both emigration and temporary travel. The revised text stipulated East German citizens could apply for permission to travel abroad, without having to meet the previous requirements for those trips.To ease the difficulties, the Krenz-led Politburo decided on 9 November refugees could exit directly through crossing","through crossing points between East Germany and West Germany, including between East and West Berlin. Later the same day, the ministerial administration modified the proposal to include private, round-trip, travel. The new regulations would take effect the next day. VVS b2-937/89 Zur Veränderung der Situation der ständigen Ausreise von DDR-Bürgern nach der BRD über die CSSR wird festgelegt: 1) Die Verordnung vom 30. November 1988 über Reisen von Bürgern der DDR in das Ausland (GBl. I Nr. 25 S. 271) findet bis zur Inkraftsetzung des neuen Reisegesetzes keine Anwendung mehr. 2) Ab sofort treten folgende zeitweilige Übergangsregelungen für Reisen und ständige Ausreisen aus der DDR in das Ausland in Kraft: a. Privatreisen nach dem Ausland können ohne Vorliegen von Voraussetzungen (Reiseanlässe und Verwandtschaftsverhältnisse) beantragt werden. Die Genehmigungen werden kurzfristig erteilt. Versagungsgründe werden nur in besonderen Ausnahmefällen angewandt. b. Die zuständigen Abteilungen Paß- und Meldewesen der","und Meldewesen der VPKÄ in der DDR sind angewiesen, Visa zur ständigen Ausreise unverzüglich zu erteilen, ohne daß dafür noch geltende Voraussetzungen für eine ständige Ausreise vorliegen müssen. Die Antragstellung auf ständige Ausreise ist wie bisher auch bei den Abteilungen Innere Angelegenheiten möglich. c. Ständige Ausreisen können über alle Grenzübergangsstellen der DDR zur BRD bzw. zu Berlin (West) erfolgen. d. Damit entfällt die vorübergehend ermöglichte Erteilung von entsprechenden Genehmigungen in Auslandsvertretungen der DDR bzw. die ständige Ausreise mit dem Personalausweis der DDR über Drittstaaten. 3) Über die zeitweiligen Übergangsregelungen ist die beigefügte Pressemitteilung am 10. November 1989 zu veröffentlichen. 1. The decree from 30 November 1988 about travel abroad of East German citizens will no longer be applied until the new travel law comes into force. 2. Starting immediately, the following temporary transition regulations for travel abroad and permanent exits from East Germany are","East Germany are in effect: a) Applications by private individuals for travel abroad can now be made without the previously existing requirements (of demonstrating a need to travel or proving familial relationships). The travel authorizations will be issued within a short period of time. Grounds for denial will only be applied in particularly exceptional cases. b) The responsible departments of passport and registration control in thePeople's Policedistrict offices in East Germany are instructed to issue visas for permanent exit without delays and presentation of the existing requirements for permanent exit. It is still possible to apply for permanent exit in the departments for internal affairs . c) Permanent exits are possible via all East German border crossings to West Germany and (West) Berlin. d) The temporary practice of issuing (travel) authorizations through East German consulates and permanent exit with only an East German personal identity card via third countries ceases. 3. The attached press","The attached press release explaining the temporary transition regulation will be issued on 10 November. Verantwortlich: Regierungssprecher beim Ministerrat der DDR Berlin (ADN) Wie die Presseabteilung des Ministeriums des Innern mitteilt, hat der Ministerrat der DDR beschlossen, daß bis zum Inkrafttreten einer entsprechenden gesetzlichen Regelung durch die Volkskammer folgende zeitweilige Übergangsregelung für Reisen und ständige Ausreisen aus der DDR ins Ausland in Kraft gesetzt wird: 1. Privatreisen nach dem Ausland können ohne Vorliegen von Voraussetzungen (Reiseanlässe und Verwandtschaftsverhältnisse) beantragt werden. Die Genehmigungen werden kurzfristig erteilt. Versagungsgründe werden nur in besonderen Ausnahmefällen angewandt. 2. Die zuständigen Abteilungen Paß- und Meldewesen der VPKÄ in der DDR sind angewiesen, Visa zur ständigen Ausreise unverzüglich zu erteilen, ohne daß dafür noch geltende Voraussetzungen für eine ständige Ausreise vorliegen müssen. Die Antragstellung auf ständige Ausreise ist","Ausreise ist wie bisher auch bei den Abteilungen Innere Angelegenheiten möglich. 3. Ständige Ausreisen können über alle Grenzübergangsstellen der DDR zur BRD bzw. zu Berlin (West) erfolgen. 4. Damit entfällt die vorübergehend ermöglichte Erteilung von entsprechenden Genehmigungen in Auslandsvertretungen der DDR bzw. die ständige Ausreise mit dem Personalausweis der DDR über Drittstaaten. Responsible: Government spokesman of East Germany; Council of Ministers Berlin (ADN) As the Press Office of the Ministry of the Interior has announced, the East German Council of Ministers has decided that the following temporary transition regulation for travel abroad and permanent exit from East Germany will be effective until a corresponding law is put into effect by theVolkskammer: 1) Applications by private individuals for travel abroad can now be made without the previously existing requirements (of demonstrating a need to travel or proving familial relationships). The travel authorizations will be issued within a","be issued within a short period of time. Grounds for denial will only be applied in particularly exceptional cases. 2) The responsible departments of passport and registration control in the People's Police district offices in East Germany are instructed to issue visas for permanent exit without delays and without presentation of the existing requirements for permanent exit. It is still possible to apply for permanent exit in the departments for internal affairs . 3) Permanent exits are possible via all East German border crossings to West Germany and (West) Berlin. 4) This decision revokes the temporary practice of issuing (travel) authorizations through East German consulates and permanent exit with only an East German personal identity card via third countries ceases. Events Misinformed public announcements The announcement of the regulations which brought down the Wall took place at an hour-long press conference led byGünter Schabowski, the party leader in East Berlin and the top government spokesman,","spokesman, beginning at 18:00 CET on 9 November and broadcast live onEast German televisionandradio. Schabowski was joined by Minister of Foreign TradeGerhard BeilandCentral CommitteemembersHelga LabsandManfred Banaschak.: 352 Schabowski had not been involved in the discussions about the new regulations and had not been fully updated.Shortly before the press conference, he was handed a note from Krenz announcing the changes, but given no further instructions on how to handle the information. The text stipulated that East German citizens could apply for permission to travel abroad without having to meet the previous requirements for those trips, and also allowed for permanent emigration between all border crossings—including those between East and West Berlin. At 18:53, near the end of the press conference,ANSA'sRiccardo Ehrmanasked if the draft travel law of 6 November was a mistake. Schabowski gave a confusing answer that asserted it was necessary because West Germany had exhausted its capacity to accept","capacity to accept fleeing East Germans, then remembered the note he had been given and added that a new regulation had been drafted to allow permanent emigration at any border crossing. This caused a stir in the room; amid several questions at once, Schabowski expressed surprise that the reporters had not yet seen this regulation, and started reading from the note.After this, a reporter, either Ehrman orBild-Zeitungreporter Peter Brinkmann, both of whom were sitting in the front row at the press conference,asked when the regulations would take effect.After a few seconds' hesitation, Schabowski replied, \"As far as I know, it takes effect immediately, without delay\" (German:Das tritt nach meiner Kenntnis ... ist das sofort ... unverzüglich).: 352This was an apparent assumption based on the note's opening paragraph; as Beil attempted to interject that it was up to theCouncil of Ministersto decide when it took effect, Schabowski proceeded to read this clause, which stated it was in effect until a law on the","until a law on the matter was passed by theVolkskammer. Crucially, a journalist then asked if the regulation also applied to the crossings toWest Berlin. Schabowski shrugged and read item 3 of the note, which confirmed that it did. After this exchange,Daniel JohnsonofThe Daily Telegraphasked what this law meant for the Berlin Wall. Schabowski sat frozen before giving a rambling statement about the Wall being tied to the larger disarmament question.He then ended the press conference promptly at 19:00 as journalists hurried from the room. After the press conference, Schabowski sat for an interview withNBC NewsanchorTom Brokawin which he repeated that East Germans would be able to emigrate through the border and the regulations would go into effect immediately. The news spread The news began spreading immediately: the West GermanDeutsche Presse-Agenturissued a bulletin at 19:04 which reported that East German citizens would be able to cross the inner German border \"immediately\". Excerpts from Schabowski's press","Schabowski's press conference were broadcast on West Germany's two main news programs that night—at 19:17 onZDF'sheute, which came on the air as the press conference was ending, and as the lead story at 20:00 onARD'sTagesschau. As ARD and ZDF had broadcast tonearly all of East Germanysince the late 1950s, were far more widely viewed than the East German channels, and had become accepted by the East German authorities, this is how most of the population heard the news. Later that night, on ARD'sTagesthemen, anchormanHanns Joachim Friedrichsproclaimed, \"This 9 November is a historic day. The GDR has announced that, starting immediately, its borders are open to everyone. The gates in the Wall stand open wide.\": 353 In 2009, Ehrman claimed that a member of the Central Committee had called him and urged him to ask about the travel law during the press conference, but Schabowski called that absurd.Ehrman later recanted this statement in a 2014 interview with an Austrian journalist, admitting that the caller","that the caller wasGünter Pötschke, head of the East German news agencyADN, and he only asked if Ehrman would attend the press conference. Peace prayers at Nikolai Church Despite the policy ofstate atheismin East Germany, Christian pastorChristian Führerregularly met with his congregation atSt. Nicholas Churchfor prayer since 1982.Over the next seven years the church's congregation grew, despite authorities' barricading the adjacent streets, and peaceful candlelit marches took place following its services.The secret police issued death threats and even attacked some of the marchers, but the crowds still continued to gather.On 9 October 1989, the police and army units were given permission to use force against those assembled, but this did not deter the church service and march from taking place, which gathered 70,000 people and in which not a single shot was fired. Crowding of the border After hearing the 9 November broadcast, East Germans began gathering at the Wall, at thesix checkpoints between East and","between East and West Berlin, demanding thatborder guardsimmediately open the gates.The surprised and overwhelmed guards made many hectic telephone calls to their superiors about the problem. At first, they were ordered to find the \"more aggressive\" people gathered at the gates and stamp their passports with a special stamp that barred them from returning to East Germany—in effect, revoking their citizenship. However, this still left thousands of people demanding to be let through \"as Schabowski said we can\".: 353It soon became clear that no one among the East German authorities would take personal responsibility for issuing orders to use lethal force, so the vastly outnumbered soldiers had no way to hold back the huge crowd of East German citizens.Mary Elise Sarottein a 2009Washington Poststory characterized the series of events leading to the fall of the Wall as an accident, saying \"One of the most momentous events of the past century was, in fact, an accident, a semicomical and bureaucratic mistake that","mistake that owes as much to the Western media as to the tides of history.\" Border openings Finally, at 22:45 (alternatively given as 23:30) on 9 November,Harald Jäger, commander of theBornholmer Straße border crossing, yielded, allowing guards to open the checkpoints and letting people through with little or no identity-checking.As theOssisswarmed through, they were greeted byWessiswaiting with flowers and champagne amid wild rejoicing. Soon afterward, a crowd of West Berliners jumped on top of the Wall and were soon joined by East German youngsters.The evening of 9 November 1989 is known as the night the Wall came down. Another border crossing to the south may have been opened earlier. An account byHeinz Schäferindicates that he also acted independently and ordered the opening of the gate at Waltersdorf-Rudow a couple of hours earlier.This may explain reports of East Berliners appearing in West Berlin earlier than the opening of the Bornholmer Straße border crossing. \"Wallpeckers\" demolition Removal of the","Removal of the Wall began on the evening of 9 November 1989 and continued over the following days and weeks, with people nicknamedMauerspechte(wallpeckers) using various tools to chip off souvenirs, demolishing lengthy parts in the process, and creating several unofficial border crossings.In the season holidays this became a sort of international action. People from all over the western world went to West Berlin and local youth provided a range of appropriate demolition tools. Television coverage of citizens demolishing sections of the Wall on 9 November was soon followed by the East German regime announcing ten newborder crossings, including the historically significant locations ofPotsdamer Platz,Glienicker Brücke, andBernauer Straße. Crowds gathered on both sides of the historic crossings waiting for hours to cheer the bulldozers that tore down portions of the Wall to reconnect the divided roads. While the Wall officially remained guarded at a decreasing intensity, new border crossings continued for some","continued for some time. Initially theEast German Border Troopsattempted repairing the damage done by the \"wallpeckers\"; gradually these attempts ceased, and guards became laxer, tolerating the increasing demolitions and \"unauthorized\" border crossing through the holes. Prime ministers meet TheBrandenburg Gatein the Berlin Wall was opened on 22 December 1989; on that date, West German ChancellorHelmut Kohlwalked through the gate and was greeted by East German Prime MinisterHans Modrow.West Germans and West Berliners were allowed visa-free travel starting 23 December.Until then, they could only visit East Germany and East Berlin under restrictive conditions that involved application for a visa several days or weeks in advance and obligatory exchange of at least 25DMper day of their planned stay, all of which hindered spontaneous visits. Thus, in the weeks between 9 November and 23 December, East Germans could actually travel more freely than Westerners. Official demolition On 13 June 1990, the East German","the East German Border Troops officially began dismantling the Wall,beginning inBernauer Straßeand around the Mitte district. From there, demolition continued through Prenzlauer Berg/Gesundbrunnen, Heiligensee and throughout the city of Berlin until December 1990. According to estimates by the border troops, a total of around 1.7 million tonnes of building rubble was produced by the demolition. Unofficially, the demolition of the Bornholmer Straße crossing began because of construction work on the railway. This involved a total of 300 GDR border guards and—after 3 October 1990—600 Pioneers of the Bundeswehr. These were equipped with 175 trucks, 65 cranes, 55 excavators and 13 bulldozers. Virtually every road that was severed by the Berlin Wall, every road that once linked from West Berlin to East Berlin, was reconstructed and reopened by 1 August 1990. In Berlin alone, 184 km (114 mi) of wall, 154 km (96 mi) border fence, 144 km (89 mi) signal systems and 87 km (54 mi) barrier ditches were removed. What","were removed. What remained were six sections that were to be preserved as a memorial. Various military units dismantled the Berlin/Brandenburg border wall, completing the job in November 1991. Painted wall segments with artistically valuable motifs were put up for auction in 1990 inBerlinandMonte Carlo. On 1 July 1990, the day East Germany adopted theWest German currency, allde jureborder controls ceased, although the inter-German border had become meaningless for some time before that.The demolition of the Wall was completed in 1994. The fall of the Wall marked the first critical step towardsGerman reunification, which formally concluded a mere 339 days later on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of East Germany and the official reunification of the German state along the democratic lines of the West GermanBasic Law. International opposition French PresidentFrançois Mitterrandand British Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcherboth opposed the fall of the Berlin Wall and the eventual reunification of Germany,","of Germany, fearing potential German designs on its neighbours using its increased strength. In September 1989, Margaret Thatcher privately confided toSoviet General SecretaryMikhail Gorbachevthat she wanted the Soviet leader to do what he could to stop it. We do not want a united Germany. This would lead to a change to postwar borders and we cannot allow that because such a development would undermine the stability of the whole international situation and could endanger our security, Thatcher told Gorbachev. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, François Mitterrand warned Thatcher that a unified Germany could make more ground thanAdolf Hitlerever had and that Europe would have to bear the consequences. Legacy Celebrations and anniversaries On 21 November 1989,Crosby, Stills & Nashperformed the song \"Chippin' Away\" fromGraham Nash's 1986 solo albumInnocent Eyesin front of the Brandenburg Gate. On 25 December 1989,Leonard Bernsteingave a concert in Berlin celebrating the end of the Wall, includingBeethoven's9th","symphony(Ode to Joy) with the word \"Joy\"(Freude)changed to \"Freedom\"(Freiheit)in the lyrics sung. The poetSchillermay have originally written \"Freedom\" and changed it to \"Joy\" out of fear. The orchestra and choir were drawn from both East and West Germany, as well as the United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States.On New Year's Eve 1989,David Hasselhoffperformed his song \"Looking for Freedom\" while standing atop the partly demolished Wall in front of 200 000 people.Roger WatersperformedthePink FloydalbumThe Walljust north ofPotsdamer Platzon 21 July 1990, with guests includingScorpions,Bryan Adams,Sinéad O'Connor,Cyndi Lauper,Thomas Dolby,Joni Mitchell,Marianne Faithfull,Levon Helm,Rick DankoandVan Morrison. Over the years, there has been a repeated controversial debateas to whether9 Novemberwould make a suitable German national holiday, often initiated by former members of political opposition in East Germany, such asWerner Schulz.Besides being the emotional apogee of East Germany's","of East Germany's peaceful revolution, 9 November is also the date of the 1918 abdication of KaiserWilhelm IIand declaration of theWeimar Republic, the first German republic. However, 9 November is also the anniversary of the execution ofRobert Blumfollowing the1848 Vienna revolts, the 1923Beer Hall Putschand the infamousKristallnachtpogromsof the Nazis in 1938.NobelLaureateElie Wieselcriticised the first euphoria, noting that \"they forgot that 9 November has already entered into history—51 years earlier it marked the Kristallnacht.\"As reunification was not official and complete until 3 October (1990), that day was finally chosen asGerman Unity Day. 10th anniversary celebrations On 9 November 1999, the 10th anniversary was observed with a concert and fireworks at the vidBrandenburg Gate. Russian cellistMstislav Rostropovichplayed music byJohann Sebastian Bach, while German rock bandScorpionsperformed their 1990 songWind of Change. Wreaths were placed for victims shot down when theyattempted to escape to the","to escape to the west, and politicians delivered speeches. 20th anniversary celebrations On 9 November 2009, Berlin celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with a \"Festival of Freedom\" with dignitaries from around the world in attendance for an evening celebration around the Brandenburg Gate. A high point was when over 1,000 colourfully designed foam domino tiles, each over 8 feet (2.4 m) tall, that were stacked along the former route of the Wall in the city center were toppled in stages, converging in front of the Brandenburg Gate. A Berlin Twitter Wall was set up to allow Twitter users to post messages commemorating the 20th anniversary. TheChinese governmentquickly shut down access to the Twitter Wall after internet users in China began using it to protest theGreat Firewall. In the United States, the German Embassy coordinated a public diplomacy campaign with the motto \"Freedom Without Walls\", to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The campaign was","The campaign was focused on promoting awareness of the fall of the Berlin Wall among current college students. Students at over 30 universities participated in \"Freedom Without Walls\" events in late 2009. First place winner of the Freedom Without Walls Speaking ContestRobert Cannon received a free trip to Berlin for 2010. An international project calledMauerreise(Journey of the Wall) took place in various countries. Twenty symbolic Wall bricks were sent from Berlin starting in May 2009, with the destinations being Korea, Cyprus, Yemen, and other places where everyday life is characterised by division and border experience. In these places, the bricks would become a blank canvas for artists, intellectuals and young people to tackle the \"Wall\" phenomenon. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the 3D online virtual worldTwinityreconstructed a true-to-scale section of the Wall in virtual Berlin.TheMTV Europe Music Awards, on 5 November, hadU2andTokio Hotelperform songs dedicated to","songs dedicated to and about the Berlin Wall. U2 performed at the Brandenburg Gate, and Tokio Hotel performed \"World Behind My Wall\". Palestiniansin the town ofKalandia,West Bankpulled down parts of theIsraeli West Bank barrier, in a demonstration marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. TheInternational Spy Museumin Washington D.C., hosted aTrabantcar rally where 20 Trabants gathered in recognition of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Rides were raffled every half-hour and a Trabant crashed through a Berlin Wall mock up. The Trabant was the East German people's car that many used to leave DDR after the collapse. TheAllied Museumin theDahlemdistrict of Berlin hosted a number of events to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The museum held a Special Exhibition entitled \"Wall Patrol – The Western Powers and the Berlin Wall 1961–1990\" which focused on the daily patrols deployed by the Western powers to observe the situation along the Berlin Wall and","the Berlin Wall and the fortifications on theGDRborder.A sheet of \"Americans in Berlin\" CommemorativeCinderella stampsdesigned byT.H.E. Hillwas presented to the Museum by David Guerra, Berlin veteran and webmaster of the sitewww.berlinbrigade.com. 30th anniversary celebrations Berlin planned a week-long arts festival from 4 to 10 November 2019 and a citywide music festival on 9 November to celebrate the 30th anniversary.On 4 November, outdoor exhibits opened at Alexanderplatz, the Brandenburg Gate, the East Side Gallery, Gethsemane Church, Kurfürstendamm, Schlossplatz, and the former Stasi headquarters in Lichtenberg. Polling A small minority still support the wall or even support rebuilding the wall back up. In 2008 a poll found that 11% of participants from the former West Berlin and 12% form the former East Berlin said it would be better if the wall was still in place. A November 2009 poll found that 12% of Germans said the wall should be rebuilt. The poll also found that in the formerWest German","formerWest German statessupport was at 12% and in the formerEast German statesit was 13%. A September 2009 poll found 15% of Germans supported a wall, while in the west it was 16% and in the east it was at 10%. A 2010 poll from Emnid forBild, found that 24% of West germans and 23% of East Germans wished for the wall still being in place. A 2019 poll fromBerliner Zeitungon the 30th anniversary, found that 8% of Berliners supported the idea if the wall was still standing, The overwhelming majority of Berliners at 87% however supported the fall of the wall. The poll also found that 28% of theAlternative for Germany(AfD) and 16% ofFree Democratic Party(FDP) supporters supported bringing back the wall.A 2019 Yougov poll found that 13% of Germans wanted the wall back, in the West support was at 14% and in the East it was 13%. A 2019 poll fromForsafound 35% of Berliners thought the construction of the Wall was not so wrong with supporters of theleft partyDie Linke at 74%. References Bibliography External links","The Beatles The Beatleswere an Englishrockband formed inLiverpoolin 1960. The core lineup of the band comprisedJohn Lennon,Paul McCartney,George HarrisonandRingo Starr. They are widely regarded as themost influential band of all timeand were integral to the development of1960s countercultureand the recognition ofpopular musicas an art form.Rooted inskiffle,beatand 1950srock 'n' roll, their sound incorporated elements ofclassical musicandtraditional popin innovative ways. The band also explored music styles ranging fromfolkandIndian musictopsychedeliaandhard rock. Aspioneers in recording, songwriting and artistic presentation, the Beatles revolutionized many aspects of the music industry and were often publicized as leaders of theera's youthand sociocultural movements. Led by primary songwritersLennon and McCartney, the Beatles evolved from Lennon's previous group,the Quarrymen, and built their reputation by playing clubs in Liverpool andHamburg, Germany, over three years from 1960, initially withStuart","withStuart Sutcliffeplayingbass. The core trio of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, together since 1958, went through a succession of drummers, includingPete Best, before inviting Starr to join them in 1962. ManagerBrian Epsteinmoulded them into a professional act, and producerGeorge Martinguided and developed their recordings, greatly expanding their domestic success after they signed withEMI Recordsand achieved their first hit, \"Love Me Do\", in late 1962. As their popularity grew into the intense fan frenzy dubbed \"Beatlemania\", the band acquired the nickname \"the Fab Four\". Epstein, Martin or other members of the band's entourage were sometimes informally referred to as a \"fifth Beatle\". By early 1964, the Beatles were international stars and had achieved unprecedented levels of critical and commercial success. They became a leading force in Britain's cultural resurgence, ushering in theBritish Invasionof the United States pop market. They soon made their film debut withA Hard Day's Night(1964). A growing","A growing desire to refine their studio efforts, coupled with the challenging nature of their concert tours, led to the band's retirement from live performances in 1966. During this time, they produced albums of greater sophistication, includingRubber Soul(1965),Revolver(1966) andSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band(1967). They enjoyed further commercial success withThe Beatles(also known as \"the White Album\", 1968) andAbbey Road(1969). The success of these records heralded thealbum era, as albums became the dominant form of record use oversingles. These records also increased public interest inpsychedelic drugsand Eastern spirituality and furthered advancements inelectronic music,album artandmusic videos. In 1968, they foundedApple Corps, a multi-armed multimedia corporation that continues to oversee projects related to the band's legacy. Afterthe group's break-upin 1970, all principal former members enjoyed success as solo artists, and somepartial reunionsoccurred. Lennonwas murderedin 1980, and Harrison","1980, and Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001. McCartney and Starr remain musically active. The Beatles are thebest-selling music act of all time, with estimated sales of 600 million units worldwide.They are the most successful act in the history of the USBillboardcharts,holding the record for most number-one albums on theUK Albums Chart(15),most number-one hitson the USBillboardHot 100chart (20), and most singles sold in the UK (21.9 million). The band receivedmany accolades, including sevenGrammy Awards, fourBrit Awards, anAcademy Award(forBest Original Song Scorefor the 1970 documentary filmLet It Be) and fifteenIvor Novello Awards. They were inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Famein their first year of eligibility, 1988, and each principal member was individually inducted between 1994 and 2015. In 2004 and 2011, the group toppedRolling Stone's lists ofthe greatest artists in history.Timemagazine named them among the20th century's 100 most important people. History 1956–1963: Formation The Quarrymen","The Quarrymen and name changes In November 1956, sixteen-year-oldJohn Lennonformed askifflegroup with several friends fromQuarry Bank High SchoolinLiverpool. They were calledthe Quarrymen, a reference to their school song \"Quarry men old before our birth.\"Fifteen-year-oldPaul McCartneymet Lennon on 6 July 1957, and joined as arhythm guitaristshortly after.In February 1958, McCartney invited his friendGeorge Harrison, then aged fifteen, to watch the band. Harrison auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, but Lennon initially thought Harrison was too young. After a month's persistence, during a second meeting (arranged by McCartney), Harrison performed the lead guitar part of the instrumental song \"Raunchy\" on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus,and they enlisted him aslead guitarist. By January 1959, Lennon's Quarry Bank friends had left the group, and he began his studies at theLiverpool College of Art.The three guitarists, billing themselves as Johnny and the Moondogs,were playingrock and","playingrock and rollwhenever they could find a drummer.They also performed as the Rainbows. Paul McCartney later toldNew Musical Expressthat they called themselves that \"because we all had different coloured shirts and we couldn't afford any others!\" Lennon's art school friendStuart Sutcliffe, who had just sold one of his paintings and was persuaded to purchase a bass guitar with the proceeds, joined in January 1960. He suggested changing the band's name toBeatals, as a tribute toBuddy Hollyandthe Crickets.They used this name until May, when they becamethe Silver Beetles, before undertaking a brieftour of Scotlandas the backing group for pop singer and fellowLiverpudlianJohnny Gentle. By early July, they had refashioned themselves asthe Silver Beatles, and by the middle of August simplythe Beatles. Early residencies and UK popularity Allan Williams, the Beatles' unofficial manager, arranged a residency for themin Hamburg. They auditioned and hired drummerPete Bestin mid-August 1960. The band, now a","The band, now a five-piece, departed Liverpool for Hamburg four days later, contracted to club ownerBruno Koschmiderfor what would be a3+1⁄2-month residency.Beatles historianMark Lewisohnwrites: \"They pulled into Hamburg at dusk on 17 August, the time when thered-light areacomes to life ... flashing neon lights screamed out the various entertainment on offer, while scantily clad women sat unabashed in shop windows waiting for business opportunities.\" Koschmider had converted a couple of strip clubs in the district into music venues, and he initially placed the Beatles at theIndra Club. After closing Indra due to noise complaints, he moved them to theKaiserkellerin October.When he learned they had been performing at the rivalTop Ten Clubin breach of their contract, he gave them one month's termination notice,and reported the underage Harrison, who had obtained permission to stay in Hamburg by lying to the German authorities about his age.The authorities arranged for Harrison's deportation in late November.One","late November.One week later, Koschmider had McCartney and Best arrested for arson after they set fire to a condom in a concrete corridor; the authorities deported them.Lennon returned to Liverpool in early December, while Sutcliffe remained in Hamburg until late February with his German fiancéeAstrid Kirchherr,who took the first semi-professional photos of the Beatles. During the next two years, the Beatles were resident for periods in Hamburg, where they usedPreludinboth recreationally and to maintain their energy through all-night performances.In 1961, during their second Hamburg engagement, Kirchherr cut Sutcliffe's hair in the \"exi\" (existentialist) style, later adopted by the other Beatles.Later on, Sutcliffe decided to leave the band early that year and resume his art studies in Germany. McCartney took over bass.ProducerBert Kaempfertcontracted what was now a four-piece group until June 1962, and he used them asTony Sheridan'sbacking bandon a series of recordings forPolydor Records.As part of the","part of the sessions, the Beatles were signed to Polydor for one year.Credited to \"Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers\", the single \"My Bonnie\", recorded in June 1961 and released four months later, reached number 32 on theMusikmarktchart. After the Beatles completed their second Hamburg residency, they enjoyed increasing popularity in Liverpool with the growingMerseybeatmovement. However, they were growing tired of the monotony of numerous appearances at the same clubs night after night.In November 1961, during one of the group's frequent performances atthe Cavern Club, they encounteredBrian Epstein, a local record-store owner and music columnist.He later recalled: \"I immediately liked what I heard. They were fresh, and they were honest, and they had what I thought was a sort of presence ... star quality.\" First EMI recordings Epstein courted the band over the next couple of months, and they appointed him as their manager in January 1962.Throughout early and mid-1962, Epstein sought to free the Beatles from","the Beatles from their contractual obligations to Bert Kaempfert Productions. He eventually negotiated a one-month early release in exchange for one last recording session in Hamburg.On their return to Germany in April, a distraught Kirchherr met them at the airport with news of Sutcliffe's death the previous day from abrain haemorrhage.Epstein began negotiations with record labels for a recording contract. To secure a UK record contract, Epstein negotiated an early end to the band's contract with Polydor, in exchange for more recordings backing Tony Sheridan.After a New Year's Day audition,Decca Records rejected the band, saying, \"Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein.\"However, three months later, producerGeorge Martinsigned the Beatles toEMI'sParlophonelabel. Martin's first recording session with the Beatles took place atEMI Recording Studios(later Abbey Road Studios) in London on 6 June 1962.He immediately complained to Epstein about Best's drumming and suggested they use asession drummerin his","drummerin his place.Already contemplating Best's dismissal,the Beatles replaced him in mid-August withRingo Starr, who leftRory Storm and the Hurricanesto join them.A 4 September session at EMI yielded a recording of \"Love Me Do\" featuring Starr on drums, but a dissatisfied Martin hired drummerAndy Whitefor the band's third session a week later, which produced recordings of \"Love Me Do\", \"Please Please Me\" and \"P.S. I Love You\". Martin initially selected the Starr version of \"Love Me Do\" for the band's first single, though subsequent re-pressings featured the White version, with Starr on tambourine.Released in early October, \"Love Me Do\" peaked at number seventeen on theRecord Retailerchart.Their television debut came later that month with a live performance on the regional news programmePeople and Places.After Martin suggested rerecording \"Please Please Me\" at a faster tempo,a studio session in late November yielded that recording,of which Martin accurately predicted, \"You've just made your first No. 1.\" In","first No. 1.\" In December 1962, the Beatles concluded their fifth and final Hamburg residency.By 1963, they had agreed that all four band members would contribute vocals to their albums – including Starr, despite his restricted vocal range, to validate his standing in the group.Lennon and McCartney had establisheda songwriting partnership, and as the band's success grew, their dominant collaboration limited Harrison's opportunities as alead vocalist.Epstein, to maximise the Beatles' commercial potential, encouraged them to adopt a professional approach to performing.Lennon recalled him saying, \"Look, if you really want to get in these bigger places, you're going to have to change – stop eating on stage, stop swearing, stop smoking ....\" 1963–1966: Beatlemania and touring years Please Please MeandWith the Beatles On 11 February 1963, the Beatles recorded ten songs during a single studio session for their debut LP,Please Please Me. It was supplemented by the four tracks already released on their first two","on their first two singles. Martin considered recording the LP live at The Cavern Club, but after deciding that the building's acoustics were inadequate, he elected to simulate a \"live\" album with minimal production in \"a single marathon session at Abbey Road\".After the moderate success of \"Love Me Do\", the single \"Please Please Me\" was released in January 1963, two months ahead of the album. It reached number one on every UK chart exceptRecord Retailer, where it peaked at number two. Recalling how the Beatles \"rushed to deliver a debut album, bashing outPlease Please Mein a day\",AllMusiccriticStephen Thomas Erlewinewrote: \"Decades after its release, the album still sounds fresh, precisely because of its intense origins.\"Lennon said little thought went into composition at the time; he and McCartney were \"just writing songsà laEverly Brothers,à laBuddy Holly, pop songs with no more thought of them than that – to create a sound. And the words were almost irrelevant.\" Released in March 1963,Please Please Mewas","Please Mewas the first of eleven consecutive Beatles albums released in the United Kingdom to reach number one.The band's third single, \"From Me to You\", came out in April and began an almost unbroken string of seventeen British number-one singles, including all but one of the eighteen they released over the next six years.Issued in August, their fourth single, \"She Loves You\", achieved the fastest sales of any record in the UK up to that time, selling three-quarters of a million copies in under four weeks.It became their first single to sell a million copies, and remained the biggest-selling record in the UK until 1978. The success brought increased media exposure, to which the Beatles responded with an irreverent and comical attitude that defied the expectations of pop musicians at the time, inspiring even more interest.The band toured the UK three times in the first half of the year: a four-week tour that began in February, the Beatles' first nationwide, preceded three-week tours in March and May–June.As","and May–June.As their popularity spread, a frenzied adulation of the group took hold. On 13 October, the Beatles starred onSunday Night at the London Palladium, the UK's top variety show.Their performance was televised live and watched by 15 million viewers. One national paper's headlines in the following days coined the term \"Beatlemania\" to describe the riotous enthusiasm by screaming fans who greeted the band – and it stuck.Although not billed as tour leaders, the Beatles overshadowed American actsTommy RoeandChris Montezduring the February engagements and assumed top billing \"by audience demand\", something no British act had previously accomplished while touring with artists from the US.A similar situation arose during their May–Junetour with Roy Orbison. In late October, the Beatles began a five-day tour of Sweden, their first time abroad since the final Hamburg engagement of December 1962.On their return to the UK on 31 October, several hundred screaming fans greeted them in heavy rain atHeathrow","rain atHeathrow Airport. Around 50 to 100 journalists and photographers, as well as representatives from theBBC, also joined the airport reception, the first of more than 100 such events.The next day, the band began its fourth tour of Britain within nine months, this one scheduled for six weeks.In mid-November, as Beatlemania intensified, police resorted to using high-pressure water hoses to control the crowd before a concert in Plymouth.On 4 November, they played in front ofThe Queen MotherandPrincess Margaretduring theRoyal Variety Performanceat thePrince of Wales Theatre. Please Please Memaintained the top position on theRecord Retailerchart for 30 weeks, only to be displaced by its follow-up,With the Beatles,which EMI released on 22 November to record advance orders of 270,000 copies. The LP topped a half-million albums sold in one week.Recorded between July and October,With the Beatlesmade better use of studio production techniques than its predecessor.It held the top spot for 21 weeks with a chart life","with a chart life of 40 weeks.Erlewine described the LP as \"a sequel of the highest order – one that betters the original\". In a reversal of then standard practice, EMI released the album ahead of the impending single \"I Want to Hold Your Hand\", with the song excluded to maximise the single's sales.The album caught the attention of music criticWilliam MannofThe Times, who suggested that Lennon and McCartney were \"the outstanding English composers of 1963\".The newspaper published a series of articles in which Mann offered detailed analyses of the music, lending it respectability.With the Beatlesbecame the second album in UK chart history to sell a million copies, a figure previously reached only by the 1958South Pacificsoundtrack.When writing thesleeve notesfor the album, the band's press officer,Tony Barrow, used the superlative the \"fabulous foursome\", which the media widely adopted as \"the Fab Four\". First visit to the United States and the British Invasion EMI's American subsidiary,Capitol Records,","Records, hindered the Beatles' releases in the United States for more than a year by initially declining to issue their music, including their first three singles. Concurrent negotiations with the independent US labelVee-Jayled to the release of some, but not all, of the songs in 1963.Vee-Jay finished preparation for the albumIntroducing... The Beatles, comprising most of the songs of Parlophone'sPlease Please Me, but a management shake-up led to the album not being released.After it emerged that the label did not report royalties on their sales, the licence that Vee-Jay had signed with EMI was voided.A new licence was granted to theSwanlabel for the single \"She Loves You\". The record received some airplay in theTidewater areaof Virginia from Gene Loving of radio stationWGHand was featured on the \"Rate-a-Record\" segment ofAmerican Bandstand, but it failed to catch on nationally. Epstein brought a demo copy of \"I Want to Hold Your Hand\" to Capitol'sBrown Meggs, who signed the band and arranged for a $40,000","for a $40,000 US marketing campaign. American chart success began after disc jockey Carroll James of AM radio stationWWDC, in Washington, DC, obtained a copy of the British single \"I Want to Hold Your Hand\" in mid-December 1963 and began playing it on-air.Taped copies of the song soon circulated among other radio stations throughout the US. This caused an increase in demand, leading Capitol to bring forward the release of \"I Want to Hold Your Hand\" by three weeks.Issued on 26 December, with the band's previously scheduled debut there just weeks away, \"I Want to Hold Your Hand\" sold a million copies, becoming a number-one hit in the US by mid-January.In its wake Vee-Jay releasedIntroducing... The Beatlesalong with Capitol's debut album,Meet the Beatles!, while Swan reactivated production of \"She Loves You\". On 7 February 1964, the Beatles departed from Heathrow with an estimated 4,000 fans waving and screaming as the aircraft took off.Upon landing at New York'sJohn F. Kennedy Airport, an uproarious crowd","an uproarious crowd estimated at 3,000 greeted them.They gave their first live US television performance two days later onThe Ed Sullivan Show, watched by approximately 73 million viewers in over 23 million households,or 34 per cent of the American population. Biographer Jonathan Gould writes that, according to theNielsenrating service, it was \"the largest audience that had ever been recorded for an American televisionprogram\".The next morning, the Beatles awoke to a largely negative critical consensus in the US,but a day later at their first US concert, Beatlemania erupted at theWashington Coliseum.Back in New York the following day, the Beatles met with another strong reception during two shows atCarnegie Hall.The band flew to Florida, where they appeared onThe Ed Sullivan Showa second time, again before 70 million viewers, before returning to the UK on 22 February. The Beatles' first visit to the US took place when the nation was still mourning theassassination of President John F. Kennedythe previous","Kennedythe previous November.Commentators often suggest that for many, particularly the young, the Beatles' performances reignited the sense of excitement and possibility that momentarily faded in the wake of the assassination, and helped pave the way for the revolutionary social changes to come later in the decade.Their hairstyle, unusually long for the era and mocked by many adults,became an emblem of rebellion to the burgeoning youth culture. The group's popularity generated unprecedented interest in British music, and many other UK acts subsequently made their American debuts, successfully touring over the next three years in what was termed theBritish Invasion.The Beatles' success in the US opened the door for a successive string of Britishbeat groupsandpopacts such asthe Dave Clark Five,the Animals,Petula Clark,the Kinks, andthe Rolling Stonesto achieve success in America.During the week of 4 April 1964, the Beatles held twelve positions on theBillboardHot 100singles chart, including the top five. A","the top five. A Hard Day's Night Capitol Records' lack of interest throughout 1963 did not go unnoticed, and a competitor,United Artists Records, encouragedits film divisionto offer the Beatles a three-motion-picture deal, primarily for the commercial potential of the soundtracks in the US.Directed byRichard Lester,A Hard Day's Nightinvolved the band for six weeks in March–April 1964 as they played themselves in a musical comedy.The film premiered in London and New York in July and August, respectively, and was an international success, with some critics drawing a comparison with theMarx Brothers. United Artists released afull soundtrack albumfor the North American market, combining Beatles songs and Martin's orchestral score; elsewhere, the group's third studio LP,A Hard Day's Night, contained songs from the film on side one and other new recordings on side two.According to Erlewine, the album saw them \"truly coming into their own as a band. All of the disparate influences on their first two albums","first two albums coalesced into a bright, joyous, original sound, filled with ringing guitars and irresistible melodies.\"That \"ringing guitar\" sound was primarily the product of Harrison's12-string electric Rickenbacker, a prototype given to him by the manufacturer, which made its debut on the record. 1964 world tour, meeting Bob Dylan, and stand on civil rights Touring internationally in June and July, the Beatles staged 37 shows over 27 days in Denmark, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.In August and September, they returned to the US, with a 30-concert tour of 23 cities.Generating intense interest once again, the month-long tour attracted between 10,000 and 20,000 fans to each 30-minute performance in cities from San Francisco to New York. In August, journalistAl Aronowitzarranged for the Beatles to meetBob Dylan.Visiting the band in their New York hotel suite, Dylan introduced them tocannabis.Gould points out the musical and cultural significance of this meeting, before which the","before which the musicians' respective fanbases were \"perceived as inhabiting two separate subcultural worlds\": Dylan's audience of \"college kids with artistic or intellectual leanings, a dawning political and social idealism, and a mildlybohemian style\" contrasted with their fans, \"veritable 'teenyboppers' – kids in high school or grade school whose lives were totally wrapped up in the commercialised popular culture of television, radio, pop records, fan magazines, and teen fashion. To many of Dylan's followers in thefolk musicscene, the Beatles were seen as idolaters, not idealists.\" Within six months of the meeting, according to Gould, \"Lennon would be making records on which he openly imitated Dylan's nasal drone, brittle strum, and introspective vocal persona\"; and six months after that, Dylan began performing with a backing band andelectric instrumentation, and \"dressed in the height of Mod fashion\".As a result, Gould continues, the traditional division between folk and rock enthusiasts \"nearly","enthusiasts \"nearly evaporated\", as the Beatles' fans began to mature in their outlook and Dylan's audience embraced the new, youth-driven pop culture. Duringthe 1964 US tour, the group were confronted withracial segregationin the country at the time.When informed that the venue for their 11 September concert, theGator BowlinJacksonville, Florida, was segregated, the Beatles said they would refuse to perform unless the audience was integrated.Lennon stated: \"We never play to segregated audiences and we aren't going to start now ... I'd sooner lose our appearance money.\"City officials relented and agreed to allow an integrated show.The group also cancelled their reservations at the whites-onlyHotel George Washingtonin Jacksonville.For their subsequent US tours in 1965 and 1966, the Beatles included clauses in contracts stipulating that shows be integrated. Beatles for Sale,Help!andRubber Soul According to Gould, the Beatles' fourth studio LP,Beatles for Sale, evidenced a growing conflict between the","between the commercial pressures of their global success and their creative ambitions.They had intended the album, recorded between August and October 1964,to continue the format established byA Hard Day's Nightwhich, unlike their first two LPs, contained only original songs.They had nearly exhausted their backlog of songs on the previous album, however, and given the challenges constant international touring posed to their songwriting efforts, Lennon admitted, \"Material's becoming a hell of a problem\".As a result, six covers from their extensive repertoire were chosen to complete the album. Released in early December, its eight original compositions stood out, demonstrating the growing maturity of theLennon–McCartneysongwriting partnership. In early 1965, following a dinner with Lennon, Harrison and their wives, Harrison's dentist, John Riley, secretly addedLSDto their coffee.Lennon described the experience: \"It was just terrifying, but it was fantastic. I was pretty stunned for a month or two.\"He and","or two.\"He and Harrison subsequently became regular users of the drug, joined by Starr on at least one occasion. Harrison's use ofpsychedelic drugsencouraged his path to meditation and Hinduism. He commented: \"For me, it was like a flash. The first time I hadacid, it just opened up something in my head that was inside of me, and I realised a lot of things. I didn't learn them because I already knew them, but that happened to be the key that opened the door to reveal them. From the moment I had that, I wanted to have it all the time – these thoughts about the yogis and the Himalayas, andRavi's music.\"McCartney was initially reluctant to try it, but eventually did so in late 1966.He became the first Beatle to discuss LSD publicly, declaring in a magazine interview that \"it opened my eyes\" and \"made me a better, more honest, more tolerant member of society\". Controversy erupted in June 1965 when QueenElizabeth IIappointed all four Beatles Members of theOrder of the British Empire(MBE) after Prime MinisterHarold","MinisterHarold Wilsonnominated them for the award.In protest – the honour was at that time primarily bestowed upon military veterans and civic leaders – some conservative MBE recipients returned their insignia. In July, the Beatles' second film,Help!, was released, again directed by Lester. Described as \"mainly a relentless spoof ofBond\",it inspired a mixed response among both reviewers and the band. McCartney said: \"Help!was great but it wasn't our film – we were sort of guest stars. It was fun, but basically, as an idea for a film, it was a bit wrong.\"The soundtrack was dominated by Lennon, who wrote and sang lead on most of its songs, including the two singles: \"Help!\" and \"Ticket to Ride\". TheHelp!album, the group's fifth studio LP, mirroredA Hard Day's Nightby featuring soundtrack songs on side one and additional songs from the same sessions on side two.The LP contained all original material save for two covers, \"Act Naturally\" and \"Dizzy Miss Lizzy\"; they were the last covers the band would include on","would include on an album untilLet It Be'sbrief rendition of the traditional Liverpool folk song \"Maggie Mae\".The band expanded their use of vocal overdubs onHelp!and incorporated classical instruments into some arrangements, including a string quartet on the pop ballad \"Yesterday\".Composed and sung by McCartney – none of the other Beatles perform on the recording– \"Yesterday\" has inspired the most cover versions of any song ever written.WithHelp!, the Beatles became the first rock group to be nominated for aGrammy Award for Album of the Year. The group's third US tour opened with a performance before a world-record crowd of 55,600 at New York'sShea Stadiumon 15 August – \"perhaps the most famous of all Beatles' concerts\", in Lewisohn's description.A further nine successful concerts followed in other American cities. At a show in Atlanta, the Beatles gave one of the first live performances ever to make use of afoldbacksystem of on-stage monitor speakers.Towards the end of the tour, they met withElvis Presley,","withElvis Presley, a foundational musical influence on the band, who invited them to his home inBeverly Hills.Presley later said the band was an example of a trend of anti-Americanism and drug abuse. September 1965 saw the launch of an AmericanSaturday-morning cartoonseries,The Beatles, that echoedA Hard Day's Night'sslapstick antics over its two-year original run.The series was the first weekly television series to feature animated versions of real, living people. In mid-October, the Beatles entered the recording studio; for the first time when making an album, they had an extended period without other major commitments.Until this time, according to George Martin, \"we had been making albums rather like a collection of singles. Now we were really beginning to think about albums as a bit of art on their own.\"Released in December,Rubber Soulwas hailed by critics as a major step forward in the maturity and complexity of the band's music.Their thematic reach was beginning to expand as they embraced deeper","embraced deeper aspects of romance and philosophy, a development that NEMS executivePeter Brownattributed to the band members' \"now habitual use of marijuana\".Lennon referred toRubber Soulas \"the pot album\"and Starr said: \"Grass was really influential in a lot of our changes, especially with the writers. And because they were writing different material, we were playing differently.\"AfterHelp!'s foray into classical music with flutes and strings, Harrison's introduction of asitaron \"Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)\" marked a further progression outside the traditional boundaries of popular music. As the lyrics grew more artful, fans began to study them for deeper meaning. While some ofRubber Soul's songs were the product of Lennon and McCartney's collaborative songwriting,the album also included distinct compositions from each,though they continued to share official credit. \"In My Life\", of which each later claimed lead authorship, is considered a highlight of the entire Lennon–McCartney","Lennon–McCartney catalogue.Harrison calledRubber Soulhis \"favourite album\",and Starr referred to it as \"the departure record\".McCartney has said, \"We'd had our cute period, and now it was time to expand.\"However, recording engineerNorman Smithlater stated that the studio sessions revealed signs of growing conflict within the group – \"the clash between John and Paul was becoming obvious\", he wrote, and \"as far as Paul was concerned, George could do no right\". Controversies,Revolverand final tour Capitol Records, from December 1963 when it began issuing Beatles recordings for the US market, exercised complete control over format,compiling distinct US albums from the band's recordings and issuing songs of their choosing as singles.In June 1966, the Capitol LPYesterday and Todaycaused an uproar with its cover, which portrayed the grinning Beatles dressed in butcher's overalls, accompanied by raw meat and mutilated plastic baby dolls. According to Beatles biographerBill Harry, it has been incorrectly suggested","suggested that this was meant as a satirical response to the way Capitol had \"butchered\" the US versions of the band's albums.Thousands of copies of the LP had a new cover pasted over the original; an unpeeled \"first-state\" copy fetched $10,500 at a December 2005 auction.In England, meanwhile, Harrison met sitar maestroRavi Shankar, who agreed to train him on the instrument. During a tour of the Philippines the month after theYesterday and Todayfurore, the Beatles unintentionally snubbed the nation's first lady,Imelda Marcos, who had expected them to attend a breakfast reception at thePresidential Palace.When presented with the invitation, Epstein politely declined on the band members' behalf, as it had never been his policy to accept such official invitations.They soon found that theMarcos regimewas unaccustomed to taking no for an answer. The resulting riots endangered the group and they escaped the country with difficulty.Immediately afterwards, the band members visited India for the first time. We'remore","time. We'remore popular than Jesusnow; I don't know which will go first – rock 'n' roll or Christianity. – John Lennon, 1966 Almost as soon as they returned home, the Beatles faced a fierce backlash from US religious and social conservatives (as well as theKu Klux Klan) over a comment Lennon had made in a March interview with British reporterMaureen Cleave.\"Christianity will go\", Lennon had said. \"It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right ...Jesuswas alright but hisdiscipleswere thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me.\"His comments went virtually unnoticed in England, but when US teenage fan magazineDatebookprinted them five months later, it sparked a controversy with Christians in America's conservativeBible Beltregion.TheVaticanissued a protest, and bans on Beatles records were imposed by Spanish and Dutch stations and South Africa'snational broadcasting service.Epstein accusedDatebookof having taken Lennon's words out of context. At","out of context. At a press conference, Lennon pointed out, \"If I'd said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it.\"He claimed that he was referring to how other people viewed their success, but at the prompting of reporters, he concluded: \"If you want me to apologise, if that will make you happy, then okay, I'm sorry.\" Released in August 1966, a week before the Beatles' final tour,Revolvermarked another artistic step forward for the group.The album featured sophisticated songwriting, studio experimentation, and a greatly expanded repertoire of musical styles, ranging from innovative classical string arrangements topsychedelia.Abandoning the customary group photograph, itsAubrey Beardsley-inspired cover – designed byKlaus Voormann, a friend of the band since their Hamburg days – was a monochrome collage and line drawing caricature of the group.The album was preceded by the single \"Paperback Writer\", backed by \"Rain\".Short promotional films were made for both songs; described by","songs; described by cultural historian Saul Austerlitz as \"among the first true music videos\",they aired onThe Ed Sullivan ShowandTop of the Popsin June. Among the experimental songs onRevolverwas \"Tomorrow Never Knows\", the lyrics for which Lennon drew fromTimothy Leary'sThe Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Its creation involved eight tape decks distributed about the EMI building, each staffed by an engineer or band member, who randomly varied the movement of atape loopwhile Martin created a composite recording by sampling the incoming data.McCartney's \"Eleanor Rigby\" made prominent use of astring octet; Gould describes it as \"a true hybrid, conforming to no recognisable style or genre of song\".Harrison's emergence as a songwriter was reflected in three of his compositions appearing on the record.Among these, \"Taxman\", which opened the album, marked the first example of the Beatles making a political statement through their music. As preparations were made for a tour","made for a tour of the US, the Beatles knew that their music would hardly be heard. Having originally usedVox AC30amplifiers, they later acquired more powerful 100-watt amplifiers, specially designed for them byVox, as they moved into larger venues in 1964; however, these were still inadequate. Struggling to compete with the volume of sound generated by screaming fans, the band had grown increasingly bored with the routine of performing live.Recognising that their shows were no longer about the music, they decided to make the August tour their last. The band performed none of their new songs on the tour.In Chris Ingham's description, they were very much \"studio creations ... and there was no way a four-piece rock 'n' roll group could do them justice, particularly through the desensitising wall of the fans' screams. 'Live Beatles' and 'Studio Beatles' had become entirely different beasts.\"The band's concert at San Francisco'sCandlestick Parkon 29 August was their last commercial concert.It marked the end of","marked the end of four years dominated by almost non-stop touring that included over 1,400 concert appearances internationally. 1966–1970: Studio years Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Freed from the burden of touring, the Beatles embraced an increasingly experimental approach as they recordedSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, beginning in late November 1966.According to engineerGeoff Emerick, the album's recording took over 700 hours.He recalled the band's insistence \"that everything onSgt. Pepperhad to be different. We had microphones right down in the bells of brass instruments and headphones turned into microphones attached to violins. We used giant primitive oscillators to vary the speed of instruments and vocals and we had tapes chopped to pieces and stuck together upside down and the wrong way around.\"Parts of \"A Day in the Life\" featured a 40-piece orchestra.The sessions initially yielded the non-albumdouble A-sidesingle \"Strawberry Fields Forever\"/\"Penny Lane\" in February 1967;theSgt.","1967;theSgt. PepperLP followed with a rush-release in May.The musical complexity of the records, created using relatively primitivefour-trackrecording technology, astounded contemporary artists.Among music critics, acclaim for the album was virtually universal.Gould writes: The overwhelming consensus is that the Beatles had created a popular masterpiece: a rich, sustained, and overflowing work of collaborative genius whose bold ambition and startling originality dramatically enlarged the possibilities and raised the expectations of what the experience of listening to popular music on record could be. On the basis of this perception,Sgt. Pepperbecame the catalyst for an explosion of mass enthusiasm for album-formatted rock that would revolutionise both the aesthetics and the economics of the record business in ways that far outstripped the earlier pop explosions triggered by the Elvis phenomenon of 1956 and the Beatlemania phenomenon of 1963. In the wake ofSgt. Pepper, the underground and mainstream press","mainstream press widely publicised the Beatles as leaders of youth culture, as well as \"lifestyle revolutionaries\".The album was the first major pop/rock LP to include its complete lyrics, which appeared on the back cover.Those lyrics were the subject of critical analysis; for instance, in late 1967 the album was the subject of a scholarly inquiry by American literary critic and professor of EnglishRichard Poirier, who observed that his students were \"listening to the group's music with a degree of engagement that he, as a teacher of literature, could only envy\".The elaborate cover also attracted considerable interest and study.A collage designed bypop artistsPeter BlakeandJann Haworth, it depicted the group as the fictional band referred to in the album'stitle trackstanding in front ofa crowd of famous people.The heavy moustaches worn by the group reflected the growing influence of thehippiemovement,while cultural historian Jonathan Harris describes their \"brightly coloured parodies of military uniforms\" as","uniforms\" as a knowingly \"anti-authoritarian and anti-establishment\" display. Sgt. Peppertopped the UK charts for 23 consecutive weeks, with a further four weeks at number one in the period through to February 1968.With 2.5 million copies sold within three months of its release,Sgt. Pepper's initial commercial success exceeded that of all previous Beatles albums.It was the first rock album to win theGrammy Award for Album of the Year.It sustained its immense popularity into the 21st century while breaking numerous sales records. Magical Mystery TourandYellow Submarine Two Beatles film projects were conceived within weeks of completingSgt. Pepper:Magical Mystery Tour, a one-hour television film, andYellow Submarine, an animated feature-length film produced byUnited Artists.The group began recording music for the former in late April 1967, but the project then lay dormant as they focused on recording songs for the latter.On 25 June, the Beatles performed their forthcoming single \"All You Need Is Love\" to an","Need Is Love\" to an estimated 350 million viewers onOur World, the first live global television link.Released a week later, during theSummer of Love, the song was adopted as aflower poweranthem.The Beatles' use of psychedelic drugs was at its height during that summer.In July and August, the group pursued interests related to similar utopian-based ideology, including a week-long investigation into the possibility of starting an island-basedcommuneoff the coast of Greece. On 24 August, the group were introduced toMaharishi Mahesh Yogiin London. The next day, they travelled toBangorfor hisTranscendental Meditationretreat. On 27 August, their manager's assistant, Peter Brown, phoned to inform them that Epstein had died.The coroner ruled the death an accidentalcarbitoloverdose, although it was widely rumoured to be a suicide.His death left the group disoriented and fearful about the future.Lennon recalled: \"We collapsed. I knew that we were in trouble then. I didn't really have any misconceptions about our","about our ability to do anything other than play music, and I was scared. I thought, 'We've fuckin' had it now.'\"Harrison's then-wifePattie Boydremembered that \"Paul and George were in complete shock. I don't think it could have been worse if they had heard that their own fathers had dropped dead.\"During a band meeting in September, McCartney recommended that the band proceed withMagical Mystery Tour. TheMagical Mystery Toursoundtrackwas released in the UK as a six-track doubleextended play(EP) in early December 1967.It was the first example of a double EP in the UK.The record carried on the psychedelic vein ofSgt. Pepper,though in line with the band's wishes, the packaging reinforced the idea that the release was a film soundtrack rather than a follow-up toSgt. Pepper.In the US, the soundtrack appeared as an identically titled LP that also included five tracks from the band's recent singles.In its first three weeks, the album set a record for the highest initial sales of any Capitol LP, and it is the only","and it is the only Capitol compilation later to be adopted in the band's official canon of studio albums. Magical Mystery Tourfirst aired onBoxing Dayto an audience of approximately 15 million.Largely directed by McCartney, the film was the band's first critical failure in the UK.It was dismissed as \"blatant rubbish\" by theDaily Express; theDaily Mailcalled it \"a colossal conceit\"; andThe Guardianlabelled the film \"a kind of fantasy morality play about the grossness and warmth and stupidity of the audience\".Gould describes it as \"a great deal of raw footage showing a group of people getting on, getting off, and riding on a bus\".Although the viewership figures were respectable, its slating in the press led US television networks to lose interest in broadcasting the film. The group were less involved withYellow Submarine, which featured the band appearing as themselves for only a short live-action segment.Premiering in July 1968, the film featured cartoon versions of the band members and a soundtrack with","a soundtrack with eleven of their songs, including four unreleased studio recordings that made their debut in the film.Critics praised the film for its music, humour and innovative visual style.Asoundtrack LPwas issued seven months later; it contained those four new songs, the title track (already issued onRevolver), \"All You Need Is Love\" (already issued as a single and on the USMagical Mystery TourLP) and seven instrumental pieces composed by Martin. India retreat, Apple Corps and the White Album In February 1968, the Beatles travelled to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi'sashraminRishikesh, India, to take part in a three-month meditation \"Guide Course\". Theirtime in Indiamarked one of the band's most prolific periods, yielding numerous songs, including a majority of those on their next album.However, Starr left after only ten days, unable to stomach the food, and McCartney eventually grew bored and departed a month later.For Lennon and Harrison, creativity turned to question when an electronics technician known","technician known asMagic Alexsuggested that the Maharishi was attempting to manipulate them.When he alleged that the Maharishi had made sexual advances to women attendees, a persuaded Lennon left abruptly just two months into the course, bringing an unconvinced Harrison and the remainder of the group's entourage with him.In anger, Lennon wrote a scathing song titled \"Maharishi\", renamed \"Sexy Sadie\" to avoid potential legal issues. McCartney said, \"We made a mistake. We thought there was more to him than there was.\" In May, Lennon and McCartney travelled to New York for the public unveiling of the Beatles' new business venture,Apple Corps.It was initially formed several months earlier as part of a plan to create a tax-effective business structure, but the band then desired to extend the corporation to other pursuits, including record distribution, peace activism, and education.McCartney described Apple as \"rather like a Western communism\".The enterprise drained the group financially with a series of","with a series of unsuccessful projectshandled largely by members of the Beatles' entourage, who were given their jobs regardless of talent and experience.Among its numerous subsidiaries wereApple Electronics, established to foster technological innovations with Magic Alex at the head, and Apple Retailing, which opened the short-livedApple Boutiquein London.Harrison later said, \"Basically, it was chaos ... John and Paul got carried away with the idea and blew millions, and Ringo and I just had to go along with it.\" From late May to mid-October 1968, the group recorded what becameThe Beatles, a double LP commonly known as \"the White Album\" for its virtually featureless cover.During this time, relations between the members grew openly divisive.Starr quit for two weeks, leaving his bandmates to record \"Back in the U.S.S.R.\" and \"Dear Prudence\" as a trio, with McCartney filling in on drums.Lennon had lost interest in collaborating with McCartney,whose contribution \"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da\" he scorned as \"granny music","as \"granny music shit\".Tensions were further aggravated by Lennon's romantic preoccupation withavant-gardeartistYoko Ono, whom he insisted on bringing to the sessions despite the group's well-established understanding that girlfriends were not allowed in the studio.McCartney has recalled that the album \"wasn't a pleasant one to make\".He and Lennon identified the sessions as the start of the band's break-up. With the record, the band executed a wider range of musical stylesand broke with their recent tradition of incorporating several musical styles in one song by keeping each piece of music consistently faithful to a select genre.During the sessions, the group upgraded to an eight-track tape console, which made it easier for them to layer tracks piecemeal, while the members often recorded independently of each other, affording the album a reputation as a collection of solo recordings rather than a unified group effort.Describing the double album, Lennon later said: \"Every track is an individual track; there","track; there isn't any Beatle music on it. John and the band, Paul and the band, George and the band.\"The sessions also produced the Beatles' longest song yet, \"Hey Jude\", released in August as a non-album single with \"Revolution\". Issued in November, the White Album was the band's firstApple Recordsalbum release, although EMI continued to own their recordings.The record attracted more than 2 million advance orders, selling nearly 4 million copies in the US in little over a month, and its tracks dominated the playlists of American radio stations.Its lyrical content was the focus of much analysis by the counterculture.Despite its popularity, reviewers were largely confused by the album's content, and it failed to inspire the level of critical writing thatSgt. Pepperhad. Abbey Road,Let It Beand separation AlthoughLet It Bewas the Beatles' final album release, it was largely recorded beforeAbbey Road. The project's impetus came from an idea Martin attributes to McCartney, who suggested they \"record an album of","\"record an album of new material and rehearse it, then perform it before a live audience for the very first time – on record and on film\".Originally intended for a one-hour television programme to be calledBeatles at Work, in the event much of the album's content came from studio work beginning in January 1969, many hours of which were captured on film by directorMichael Lindsay-Hogg.Martin said that the project was \"not at all a happy recording experience. It was a time when relations between the Beatles were at their lowest ebb.\"Lennon described the largely impromptu sessions as \"hell ... the most miserable ... on Earth\", and Harrison, \"the low of all-time\".Irritated by McCartney and Lennon, Harrison walked out for five days. Upon returning, he threatened to leave the band unless they \"abandon all talk of live performance\" and instead focused on finishing a new album, initially titledGet Back, using songs recorded for the TV special.He also demanded they cease work atTwickenham Film Studios, where the","Studios, where the sessions had begun, and relocate to the newly finishedApple Studio. His bandmates agreed, and it was decided to salvage the footage shot for the TV production for use in a feature film. To alleviate tensions within the band and improve the quality of their live sound, Harrison invited keyboardistBilly Prestonto participate in the last nine days of sessions.Preston received label billing on the \"Get Back\" single – the only musician ever to receive that acknowledgment on an official Beatles release.After the rehearsals, the band could not agree on a location to film a concert, rejecting several ideas, including a boat at sea, a lunatic asylum, the Libyan desert, and theColosseum.Ultimately, what would be theirfinal live performancewas filmed on the rooftop of the Apple Corps building at 3Savile Row, London, on 30 January 1969.Five weeks later, engineerGlyn Johns, whom Lewisohn describes asGet Back's \"uncredited producer\", began work assembling an album, given \"free rein\" as the band \"all but","the band \"all but washed their hands of the entire project\". New strains developed between the band members regarding the appointment of a financial adviser, the need for which had become evident without Epstein to manage business affairs. Lennon, Harrison and Starr favouredAllen Klein, who had managedthe Rolling StonesandSam Cooke;McCartney wantedLeeand John Eastman – father and brother, respectively, ofLinda Eastman,whom McCartney married on 12 March.Agreement could not be reached, so both Klein and the Eastmans were temporarily appointed: Klein as the Beatles' business manager and the Eastmans as their lawyers.Further conflict ensued, however, and financial opportunities were lost.On 8 May, Klein was named sole manager of the band,the Eastmans having previously been dismissed as the Beatles' lawyers. McCartney refused to sign the management contract with Klein, but he was out-voted by the other Beatles. Martin stated that he was surprised when McCartney asked him to produce another album, as theGet","album, as theGet Backsessions had been \"a miserable experience\" and he had \"thought it was the end of the road for all of us\".The primary recording sessions forAbbey Roadbegan on 2 July.Lennon, who rejected Martin's proposed format of a \"continuously moving piece of music\", wanted his and McCartney's songs to occupy separate sides of the album.The eventual format, with individually composed songs on the first side and the second consisting largely of amedley, was McCartney's suggested compromise.Emerick noted that the replacement of the studio'svalve-based mixing console with a transistorised one yielded a less punchy sound, leaving the group frustrated at the thinner tone and lack of impact and contributing to its \"kinder, gentler\" feel relative to their previous albums. On 4 July, the first solo single by a Beatle was released: Lennon's \"Give Peace a Chance\", credited to thePlastic Ono Band. The completion and mixing of \"I Want You (She's So Heavy)\" on 20 August was the last occasion on which all four","on which all four Beatles were together in the same studio.On 8 September, while Starr was in hospital, the other band members met to discuss recording a new album. They considered a different approach to songwriting by ending theLennon–McCartneypretence and having four compositions apiece from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, with two from Starr and a lead single around Christmas.On 20 September, Lennon announced his departure to the rest of the group but agreed to withhold a public announcement to avoid undermining sales of the forthcoming album. Released on 26 September,Abbey Roadsold four million copies within three months and topped the UK charts for a total of seventeen weeks.Its second track, the ballad \"Something\", was issued as a single – the only Harrison composition that appeared as a Beatles A-side.Abbey Roadreceived mixed reviews, although the medley met with general acclaim.Unterberger considers it \"a fitting swan song for the group\", containing \"some of the greatest harmonies to be heard on any","to be heard on any rock record\".Musicologistand authorIan MacDonaldcalls the album \"erratic and often hollow\", despite the \"semblance of unity and coherence\" offered by the medley.Martin singled it out as his favourite Beatles album; Lennon said it was \"competent\" but had \"no life in it\". For the still unfinishedGet Backalbum, one last song, Harrison's \"I Me Mine\", was recorded on 3 January 1970. Lennon, in Denmark at the time, did not participate.In March, rejecting the work Johns had done on the project, now retitledLet It Be, Klein gave the session tapes to American producerPhil Spector, who had recently produced Lennon's solo single \"Instant Karma!\"In addition to remixing the material, Spector edited, spliced and overdubbed several of the recordings that had been intended as \"live\". McCartney was unhappy with the producer's approach and particularly dissatisfied with the lavish orchestration on \"The Long and Winding Road\", which involved a fourteen-voice choir and 36-piece instrumental","instrumental ensemble.McCartney's demands that the alterations to the song be reverted were ignored,and he publicly announced his departure from the band on 10 April, a week before the release of his firstself-titled solo album. On 8 May 1970,Let It Bewas released. Its accompanying single, \"The Long and Winding Road\", was expected to be the Beatles' last; it was released in the US, but not in the UK.TheLet It Bedocumentary film followed later that month, and would win the 1970 Academy Award forBest Original Song Score.Sunday TelegraphcriticPenelope Gilliattcalled it \"a very bad film and a touching one ... about the breaking apart of this reassuring, geometrically perfect, once apparently ageless family of siblings\".Several reviewers stated that some of the performances in the film sounded better than their analogous album tracks.DescribingLet It Beas the \"only Beatles album to occasion negative, even hostile reviews\", Unterberger calls it \"on the whole underrated\"; he singles out \"some good moments of","good moments of straight hard rock in 'I've Got a Feeling' and 'Dig a Pony'\" and praises \"Let It Be\", \"Get Back\", and \"the folky 'Two of Us', with John and Paul harmonising together\". McCartney filed suit for the dissolution of the Beatles' contractual partnership on 31 December 1970.Legal disputes continued long after their break-up, and the dissolution was not formalised until 29 December 1974,when Lennon signed the paperwork terminating the partnership while on vacation with his family atWalt Disney World Resortin Florida. After the breakup 1970s Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr all released solo albums in 1970. Their solo records sometimes involved one or more of the other members;Starr'sRingo(1973) was the only album to include compositions and performances by all four ex-Beatles, albeit on separate songs. With Starr's participation, Harrison stagedthe Concert for Bangladeshin New York City in August 1971.Other than an unreleased jam session in 1974, laterbootleggedasA Toot and a Snore in '74,","and a Snore in '74, Lennon and McCartney never recorded together again. Two double-LP sets of the Beatles' greatest hits, compiled by Klein,1962–1966and1967–1970, were released in 1973, at first under the Apple Records imprint.Commonly known as the \"Red Album\" and \"Blue Album\", respectively, each has earned aMulti-Platinum certificationin the US and a Platinum certification in the UK.Between 1976 and 1982, EMI/Capitol released a wave of compilation albums without input from the ex-Beatles, starting with the double-disc compilationRock 'n' Roll Music.The only one to feature previously unreleased material wasThe Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl(1977); the first officially issued concert recordings by the group, it contained selections from two shows they played during their 1964 and 1965 US tours. The music and enduring fame of the Beatles were commercially exploited in various other ways, again often outside their creative control. In April 1974, the musicalJohn, Paul, George, Ringo ... and Bert, written byWilly","written byWilly Russelland featuring singerBarbara Dickson, opened in London. It included, with permission from Northern Songs, eleven Lennon–McCartney compositions and one by Harrison, \"Here Comes the Sun\". Displeased with the production's use of his song, Harrison withdrew his permission to use it.Later that year, the off-Broadway musicalSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Roadopened.All This and World War II(1976) was an unorthodox nonfiction film that combined newsreel footage with covers of Beatles songs by performers ranging fromElton JohnandKeith Moonto theLondon Symphony Orchestra.The Broadway musicalBeatlemania, an unauthorised nostalgia revue, opened in early 1977 and proved popular, spinning off five separate touring productions.In 1979, the band sued the producers, settling for several million dollars in damages.Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band(1978), a musical film starring theBee GeesandPeter Frampton, was a commercial failure and an \"artistic fiasco\", according to Ingham.","to Ingham. Accompanying the wave of Beatles nostalgia and persistent reunion rumours in the US during the 1970s, several entrepreneurs made public offers to the Beatles for a reunion concert.Promoter Bill Sargent first offered the Beatles $10 million for a reunion concert in 1974. He raised his offer to $30 million in January 1976 and then to $50 million the following month.On 24 April 1976, during a broadcast ofSaturday Night Live, producerLorne Michaelsjokingly offered the Beatles $3,000 to reunite on the show. Lennon and McCartney were watching the live broadcast at Lennon's apartment atthe Dakotain New York, which was within driving distance of theNBC studiowhere the show was being broadcast. The former bandmates briefly entertained the idea of going to the studio and surprising Michaels by accepting his offer, but decided not to. 1980s In December 1980, Lennon wasshot and killedoutside his New York City apartment. Harrison rewrote the lyrics of his song \"All Those Years Ago\" in Lennon's honour. With","honour. With Starr on drums and McCartney and his wife,Linda, contributing backing vocals, the song was released as a single in May 1981.McCartney's own tribute, \"Here Today\", appeared on hisTug of Waralbum in April 1982.In 1984, Starr co-starred in McCartney's filmGive My Regards to Broad Street,and played with McCartney on several of the songs on thesoundtrack.In 1987, Harrison'sCloud Ninealbum included \"When We Was Fab\", a song about the Beatlemania era. When the Beatles' studio albums were released on CD by EMI and Apple Corps in 1987, their catalogue was standardised throughout the world, establishing a canon of the twelve original studio LPs as issued in the UK plus the US LP version ofMagical Mystery Tour.All the remaining material from the singles and EPs that had not appeared on these thirteen studio albums was gathered on the two-volume compilationPast Masters(1988). Except for theRedandBluealbums, EMI deleted all its other Beatles compilations – including theHollywood Bowlrecord – from its","– from its catalogue. In 1988, the Beatles were inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame, their first year of eligibility. Harrison and Starr attended the ceremony with Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and his two sons,JulianandSean.McCartney declined to attend, citing unresolved \"business differences\" that would make him \"feel like a complete hypocrite waving and smiling with them at a fake reunion\".The following year, EMI/Capitol settled a decade-long lawsuit filed by the band over royalties, clearing the way to commercially package previously unreleased material. 1990s Live at the BBC, the first official release of unissued Beatles performances in seventeen years, appeared in 1994.That same year McCartney, Harrison and Starr collaborated on theAnthologyproject.Anthologywas the culmination of work begun in 1970, when Apple Corps directorNeil Aspinall, their former road manager and personal assistant, had started to gather material for a documentary with the working titleThe Long and Winding Road. During","Road. During 1995–96, the project yielded a television miniseries, an eight-volume video set, and three two-CD/three-LP box sets featuring artwork byKlaus Voormann. Documenting their history in the band's own words, theAnthologyproject included the release of several unissued Beatles recordings. Alongside producerJeff Lynne, McCartney, Harrison and Starr also added new instrumental and vocal parts to songs recorded as demos by Lennon in the late 1970s,resulting in the release of two \"new\" Beatles singles, \"Free as a Bird\" and \"Real Love\". A third Lennon demo, \"Now and Then\", was also attempted, but abandoned due to the low quality of the recording.TheAnthologyreleases were commercially successful and the television series was viewed by an estimated 400 million people.A book,The Beatles Anthology, followed in October 2000. In 1999, to coincide with the re-release of the 1968 filmYellow Submarine, an expanded soundtrack album,Yellow Submarine Songtrack, was issued. 2000s The Beatles'1, a compilation album of","album of the band's British and American number-one hits, was released on 13 November 2000. It became the fastest-selling album of all time, with 3.6 million sold in its first weekand 13 million within a month.It topped albums charts in at least 28 countries.The compilation had sold 31 million copies globally by April 2009. Harrison died frommetastaticlung cancer in November 2001.McCartney and Starr were among the musicians who performed at theConcert for George, organised byEric Claptonand Harrison's widow,Olivia. The tribute event took place at theRoyal Albert Hallon the first anniversary of Harrison's death. In 2003,Let It Be... Naked, a reconceived version of theLet It Bealbum, with McCartney supervising production, was released. One of the main differences from the Spector-produced version was the omission of the original string arrangements.It was a top-ten hit in both Britain and America. The US album configurations from 1964 to 1965 were released as box sets in 2004 and 2006;The Capitol Albums,","Capitol Albums, Volume 1andVolume 2included both stereo and mono versions based on the mixes that were prepared for vinyl at the time of the music's original American release. As a soundtrack forCirque du Soleil'sLas VegasBeatles stage revue,Love, George Martin and his sonGilesremixed andblended130 of the band's recordings to create what Martin called \"a way of re-living the whole Beatles musical lifespan in a very condensed period\".The show premiered in June 2006, and theLovealbum was released that November.In April 2009, Starr performed three songs with McCartney at a benefit concert held at New York'sRadio City Music Halland organised by McCartney. On 9 September 2009, the Beatles' entire back catalogue was reissued following an extensive digital remastering process that lasted four years.Stereo editions of all twelve original UK studio albums, along withMagical Mystery Tourand thePast Masterscompilation, were released on compact disc both individually andas a box set.A second collection,The Beatles in","Beatles in Mono, included remastered versions of every Beatles album released in true mono along with the original 1965 stereo mixes ofHelp!andRubber Soul(both of which Martin had remixed for the 1987 editions).The Beatles: Rock Band, a music video game in theRock Bandseries, was issued on the same day.In December 2009, the band's catalogue was officially released inFLACandMP3format ina limited edition of 30,000 USB flash drives. 2010s Owing to a long-running royalty disagreement, the Beatles were among the last major artists to sign deals with online music services.Residual disagreement emanating fromApple Corps' dispute with Apple, Inc.,iTunes' owners, over the use of the name \"Apple\" was also partly responsible for the delay, although in 2008, McCartney stated that the main obstacle to making the Beatles' catalogue available online was that EMI \"want something we're not prepared to give them\".In 2010, the official canon of thirteen Beatles studio albums,Past Masters, and the \"Red\" and \"Blue\" greatest-hits","greatest-hits albums were made available on iTunes. In 2012, EMI's recorded music operations were sold toUniversal Music Group. In order for Universal Music to acquire EMI, theEuropean Union, forantitrustreasons, forced EMI to spin off assets including Parlophone. Universal was allowed to keep the Beatles' recorded music catalogue, managed byCapitol Recordsunder itsCapitol Music Groupdivision.The entire original Beatles album catalogue was also reissued on vinyl in 2012; available either individually or as a box set. In 2013, a second volume of BBC recordings,On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2, was released. That December saw the release of another 59 Beatles recordings on iTunes. The set, titledThe Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963, had the opportunity to gain a 70-year copyright extension conditional on the songs being published at least once before the end of 2013. Apple Records released the recordings on 17 December to prevent them from going into the public domain and had them taken down from iTunes later","from iTunes later that same day. Fan reactions to the release were mixed, with one blogger saying \"the hardcore Beatles collectors who are trying to obtain everything will already have these.\" On 26 January 2014, McCartney and Starr performed together at the56th Annual Grammy Awards, held at theStaples Centerin Los Angeles.The following day,The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatlestelevision special was taped in theLos Angeles Convention Center's West Hall. It aired on 9 February, the exact date of – and at the same time, and on the same network as – the original broadcast of the Beatles' first US television appearance onThe Ed Sullivan Show, 50 years earlier. The special included performances of Beatles songs by current artists as well as by McCartney and Starr, archival footage, and interviews with the two surviving ex-Beatles carried out byDavid Lettermanat theEd Sullivan Theater.In December 2015, the Beatles released their catalogue for streaming on various streaming music services","music services includingSpotifyandApple Music. In September 2016, the documentary filmThe Beatles: Eight Days a Weekwas released. Directed byRon Howard, it chronicled the Beatles' career during their touring years from 1961 to 1966, from their performances in Liverpool's the Cavern Club in 1961 to their final concert in San Francisco in 1966. The film was released theatrically on 15 September in the UK and the US, and started streaming onHuluon 17 September. It received several awards and nominations, including for Best Documentary at the 70th British Academy Film Awards and the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.An expanded, remixed and remastered version ofThe Beatles at the Hollywood Bowlwas released on 9 September, to coincide with the release of the film. On 18 May 2017,Sirius XM Radiolaunched a 24/7 radio channel, The Beatles Channel. A week later,Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Bandwas reissued with new stereo mixes and unreleased material","unreleased material for the album's 50th anniversary.Similar box sets were released forThe Beatlesin November 2018,andAbbey Roadin September 2019.On the first week of October 2019,Abbey Roadreturned to number one on the UK Albums Chart. The Beatles broke their own record for the album with the longest gap between topping the charts asAbbey Roadhit the top spot 50 years after its original release. 2020s In November 2021,The Beatles: Get Back, a documentary directed byPeter Jacksonusing footage captured for theLet It Befilm, was released onDisney+as a three-partminiseries.A book also titledThe Beatles: Get Backwas released on 12 October, ahead of the documentary.Asuper deluxe versionof theLet It Bealbum was released on 15 October.In January 2022, the albumGet Back (Rooftop Performance), consisting of newly mixed audio of theBeatles' rooftop performance, was released on streaming services. In 2022, McCartney and Starr collaborated on a new recording of \"Let It Be\" withDolly Parton,Peter FramptonandMick","FramptonandMick Fleetwood, which was released on Parton's albumRockstarin November 2023.In October, aspecial editionofRevolverwas released, featuring unreleased demos, studio outtakes, the original mono mix and a new stereo remix usingAIde-mixing technology developed by Peter Jackson'sWingNut Films, which had previously been used to restore audio for the documentaryGet Back.New music videos were produced for \"Here, There and Everywhere\" and \"I'm Only Sleeping\", the latter of which won theGrammy Award for Best Music Videoat the66th Annual Grammy Awards. In June 2023, McCartney announced plans to release \"the final Beatles record\" later in the year, using Jackson's de-mixing technology to extract Lennon's voice from an old demo of a song that he had written as a solo artist.In October 2023, the song was revealed to be \"Now and Then\", with a physical and digital release date of 2 November 2023.The official music video for \"Now and Then\" was released the following day, garnering upwards of 8 million views in its","views in its first 12 hours,as the song arrived on Spotify's rankings as one of the most-streamed current songs.\"Now and Then\" debuted simultaneously across music, alternative, news/talk and sports stations. The song's premiere achieved the record for the most radio stations to simulcast a music track.The song became their first UK number one single since 1969. On 8 May 2024 the 1970 filmLet It Be, digitally restored byPeter Jackson'sPark Road Post, was released onDisney+, marking the first time it has been publicly screened since its original theatrical release. Artistry Development InIcons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever, Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz describe the Beatles' musical evolution: In their initial incarnation as cheerful, wisecracking moptops, the Fab Four revolutionised the sound, style, and attitude of popular music and opened rock and roll's doors to a tidal wave of British rock acts. Their initial impact would have been enough to establish the Beatles as","the Beatles as one of their era's most influential cultural forces, but they didn't stop there. Although their initial style was a highly original, irresistibly catchy synthesis of early American rock and roll and R&B, the Beatles spent the rest of the 1960s expanding rock's stylistic frontiers, consistently staking out new musical territory on each release. The band's increasingly sophisticated experimentation encompassed a variety of genres, includingfolk-rock,country,psychedelia, andbaroque pop, without sacrificing the effortless mass appeal of their early work. InThe Beatles as Musicians,Walter Everettdescribes Lennon and McCartney's contrasting motivations and approaches to composition: \"McCartney may be said to have constantly developed – as a means to entertain – a focused musical talent with an ear for counterpoint and other aspects of craft in the demonstration of a universally agreed-upon common language that he did much to enrich. Conversely, Lennon's mature music is best appreciated as the daring","as the daring product of a largely unconscious, searching but undisciplined artistic sensibility.\" Ian MacDonald describes McCartney as \"a natural melodist – a creator of tunes capable of existing apart from their harmony\". His melody lines are characterised as primarily \"vertical\", employing wide,consonantintervals which express his \"extrovert energy and optimism\". Conversely, Lennon's \"sedentary, ironic personality\" is reflected in a \"horizontal\" approach featuring minimal, dissonant intervals and repetitive melodies which rely on their harmonic accompaniment for interest: \"Basically a realist, he instinctively kept his melodies close to the rhythms and cadences of speech, colouring his lyrics with bluesy tone and harmony rather than creating tunes that made striking shapes of their own.\"MacDonald praises Harrison's lead guitar work for the role his \"characterful lines and textural colourings\" play in supporting Lennon and McCartney's parts and describes Starr as \"the father of modern pop/rock drumming\".","pop/rock drumming\". Influences The Beatles' earliest influences include Elvis Presley,Carl Perkins,Little Richard,Chuck BerryandGene Vincent.During the Beatles' co-residency with Little Richard at theStar-Clubin Hamburg, from April to May 1962, he advised them on the proper technique for performing his songs.Of Presley, Lennon said, \"Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there hadn't been Elvis, there would not have been the Beatles.\"Chuck Berry was particularly influential in terms of songwriting and lyrics. Lennon noted, \"He was well advanced of his time lyric-wise. We all owe a lot to him.\"Other early influences include Buddy Holly,Eddie Cochran,Roy Orbison,the Everly BrothersandJerry Lee Lewis. The Beatles continued to absorb influences long after their initial success, often finding new musical and lyrical avenues by listening to their contemporaries, includingBob Dylan,Smokey Robinson and the Miracles,the Who,Frank Zappa,the Lovin' Spoonful,the Byrdsandthe Beach Boys, whose 1966 albumPet","whose 1966 albumPet Soundsamazed and inspired McCartney.Referring to the Beach Boys' creative leader, Martin later stated: \"No one made a greater impact on the Beatles than Brian .\"Ravi Shankar, with whom Harrison studied for six weeks in India in late 1966, had a significant effect on his musical development during the band's later years. Genres Originating as a skiffle group, the Beatles quickly embraced 1950s rock and roll and helped pioneer the Merseybeat genre,and their repertoire ultimately expanded to include a broad variety of pop music.Reflecting the range of styles they explored, Lennon said ofBeatles for Sale, \"You could call our new one a Beatles country-and-western LP\",while Gould creditsRubber Soulas \"the instrument by which legions of folk-music enthusiasts were coaxed into the camp of pop\". Although the 1965 song \"Yesterday\" was not the first pop record to employ orchestral strings, it marked the group's first recorded use of classical music elements. Gould observes, \"The more traditional","more traditional sound of strings allowed for a fresh appreciation of their talent as composers by listeners who were otherwise allergic to the din of drums and electric guitars.\"They continued to experiment with string arrangements to various effect;Sgt. Pepper's \"She's Leaving Home\", for instance, is \"cast in themoldof a sentimental Victorian ballad\", Gould writes, \"its words and music filled with the clichés of musical melodrama\". The band's stylistic range expanded in another direction with their 1966 B-side \"Rain\", described byMartin Strongas \"the first overtly psychedelic Beatles record\".Other psychedelic numbers followed, such as \"Tomorrow Never Knows\" (recorded before \"Rain\"), \"Strawberry Fields Forever\", \"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds\", and \"I Am the Walrus\". The influence ofIndian classical musicwas evident in Harrison's \"The Inner Light\", \"Love You To\", and \"Within You Without You\" – Gould describes the latter two as attempts \"to replicate theragaform in miniature\". Innovation was the most","was the most striking feature of their creative evolution, according to music historian and pianist Michael Campbell:\"'A Day in the Life' encapsulates the art and achievement of the Beatles as well as any single track can. It highlights key features of their music: the sound imagination, the persistence of tuneful melody, and the close coordination between words and music. It represents a new category of song – more sophisticated than pop ... and uniquely innovative. There literally had never before been a song – classical or vernacular – that had blended so many disparate elements so imaginatively.\"Philosophy professor Bruce Ellis Benson agrees: \"The Beatles ... give us a wonderful example of how such far-ranging influences as Celtic music, rhythm and blues, and country and western could be put together in a new way.\" Author Dominic Pedler describes the way they crossed musical styles: \"Far from moving sequentially from one genre to another (as is sometimes conveniently suggested) the group maintainedin","group maintainedin paralleltheir mastery of the traditional, catchy chart hit while simultaneously forging rock and dabbling with a wide range of peripheral influences from country to vaudeville. One of these threads was their take on folk music, which would form such essential groundwork for their later collisions with Indian music and philosophy.\"As the personal relationships between the band members grew increasingly strained, their individual tastes became more apparent. The minimalistic cover artwork for the White Album contrasted with the complexity and diversity of its music, which encompassed Lennon's \"Revolution 9\" (whosemusique concrèteapproach was influenced by Yoko Ono), Starr'scountrysong \"Don't Pass Me By\", Harrison'srock ballad\"While My Guitar Gently Weeps\", and the \"proto-metalroar\" of McCartney's \"Helter Skelter\". Contribution of George Martin George Martin's close involvement in his role as producer made him one of the leading candidates for the informal title of the \"fifth Beatle\".He","\"fifth Beatle\".He applied his classical musical training in various ways, and functioned as \"an informal music teacher\" to the progressing songwriters, according to Gould.Martin suggested to a sceptical McCartney that the arrangement of \"Yesterday\" should feature a string quartet accompaniment, thereby introducing the Beatles to a \"hitherto unsuspected world of classical instrumental colour\", in MacDonald's description.Their creative development was also facilitated by Martin's willingness to experiment in response to their suggestions, such as adding \"somethingbaroque\" to a particular recording.In addition to scoring orchestral arrangements for recordings, Martin often performed on them, playing instruments including piano, organ andbrass. Collaborating with Lennon and McCartney required Martin to adapt to their different approaches to songwriting and recording. MacDonald comments, \"while worked more naturally with the conventionally articulate McCartney, the challenge of catering to Lennon's intuitive","Lennon's intuitive approach generally spurred him to his more original arrangements, of which \"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!\" is an outstanding example.\"Martin said of the two composers' distinct songwriting styles and his stabilising influence: Compared with Paul's songs, all of which seemed to keep in some sort of touch with reality, John's had a psychedelic, almost mystical quality ... John's imagery is one of the best things about his work – 'tangerine trees', 'marmalade skies', 'cellophane flowers' ... I always saw him as an auralSalvador Dalí, rather than some drug-ridden record artist. On the other hand, I would be stupid to pretend that drugs didn't figure quite heavily in the Beatles' lives at that time ... they knew that I, in my schoolmasterly role, didn't approve ... Not only was I not into it myself, I couldn't see the need for it; and there's no doubt that, if I too had been on dope,Pepperwould never have been the album it was. Perhaps it was the combination of dope and no dope that","and no dope that worked, who knows? Harrison echoed Martin's description of his stabilising role: \"I think we just grew through those years together, him as the straight man and us as the loonies; but he was always there for us to interpret our madness – we used to be slightly avant-garde on certain days of the week, and he would be there as the anchor person, to communicate that through the engineers and on to the tape.\" In the studio Making innovative use of technology while expanding the possibilities of recorded music, the Beatles urged experimentation by Martin and his recording engineers. Seeking ways to put chance occurrences to creative use, accidental guitar feedback, a resonating glass bottle, a tape loaded the wrong way round so that it played backwards – any of these might be incorporated into their music.Their desire to create new sounds on every new recording, combined with Martin's arranging abilities and the studio expertise of EMI staff engineers Norman Smith,Ken Townsendand Geoff Emerick,","Geoff Emerick, all contributed significantly to their records fromRubber Souland, especially,Revolveronwards. Along with innovative studio techniques such assound effects, unconventional microphone placements, tape loops,double tracking, andvari-speedrecording, the Beatles augmented their songs with instruments that were unconventional in rock music at the time. These included string and brass ensembles as well as Indian instruments such as the sitar in \"Norwegian Wood\" and theswarmandalin \"Strawberry Fields Forever\".They also used novel electronic instruments such as the Mellotron, with which McCartney supplied the flute voices on the \"Strawberry Fields Forever\" intro,and theclavioline, an electronic keyboard that created the unusual oboe-like sound on \"Baby, You're a Rich Man\". Legacy FormerRolling Stonemagazine associate editorRobert Greenfieldcompared the Beatles toPicasso, as \"artists who broke through the constraints of their time period to come up with something that was unique and original ... n the","original ... n the form of popular music, no one will ever be more revolutionary, more creative and more distinctive ...\"The British poetPhilip Larkindescribed their work as \"an enchanting and intoxicating hybrid of Negro rock-and-roll with their own adolescent romanticism\" and \"the first advance in popular music since the War\". In 1964, the Beatles' arrival in the U.S. is credited with initiating thealbum era;the music historianJoel Whitburnsays that LP sales soon \"exploded and eventually outpaced the sales and releases of singles\" in the music industry.They not only sparked the British Invasion of the US,they became a globally influential phenomenon as well.From the 1920s, the US had dominated popular entertainment culture throughout much of the world, viaHollywoodfilms,jazz, the music of Broadway andTin Pan Alley, and later, the rock and roll that first emerged inMemphis, Tennessee.The Beatles are regarded as British cultural icons, with young adults from abroad naming the band among a group of people","a group of people whom they most associated with UK culture. Their musical innovations and commercial success inspired musicians worldwide.Many artists have acknowledged the Beatles' influence and enjoyed chart success withcovers of their songs.On radio, their arrival marked the beginning of a new era; in 1968 the programme director of New York'sWABCradio station forbade his DJs from playing any \"pre-Beatles\" music, marking the defining line of what would be consideredoldieson American radio.They helped to redefine the album as something more than just a few hits padded out with \"filler\",and they were primary innovators of the modern music video.The Shea Stadium show with which they opened their1965 North American tourattracted an estimated 55,600 people,then the largest audience in concert history; Spitz describes the event as a \"major breakthrough ... a giant step toward reshaping the concert business\".Emulation of their clothing and especially their hairstyles, which became a mark of rebellion, had a","of rebellion, had a global impact on fashion. According to Gould, the Beatles changed the way people listened to popular music and experienced its role in their lives. From what began as the Beatlemania fad, the group's popularity grew into what was seen as an embodiment of sociocultural movements of the decade. As icons of the1960s counterculture, Gould continues, they became a catalyst forbohemianismand activism in various social and political arenas, fuelling movements such aswomen's liberation,gay liberationandenvironmentalism.According to Peter Lavezzoli, after the \"more popular than Jesus\" controversy in 1966, the Beatles felt considerable pressure to say the right things and \"began a concerted effort to spread a message of wisdom and higher consciousness\". Other commentators such as Mikal Gilmore and Todd Leopold have traced the inception of their sociocultural impact earlier, interpreting even the Beatlemania period, particularly on their first visit to the US, as a key moment in the development of","the development of generational awareness.Referring to their appearance onthe Ed Sullivan ShowLeopold states: \"In many ways, the Sullivan appearance marked the beginning of a cultural revolution ... The Beatles were like aliens dropped into the United States of 1964.\"According to Gilmore: Elvis Presley had shown us how rebellion could be fashioned into eye-opening style; the Beatles were showing us how style could have the impact of cultural revelation – or at least how a pop vision might be forged into an unimpeachable consensus. Established in 2009,Global Beatles Dayis an annual holiday on 25 June each year that honours and celebrates the ideals of the Beatles.The date was chosen to commemorate the date the group participated in theBBCprogrammeOur Worldin 1967, performing \"All You Need Is Love\" broadcast to an international audience. Awards and achievements In 1965, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr Members of theOrder of the British Empire(MBE).The Beatles won the 1971","won the 1971 Academy Award forBest Original Song Scorefor the filmLet It Be(1970).The recipients of seven Grammy Awardsand fifteenIvor Novello Awards,the Beatles have sixDiamond albums, as well as 20 Multi-Platinum albums, 16 Platinum albums and six Gold albums in the US.In the UK, the Beatles have fourMulti-Platinum albums, fourPlatinum albums, eightGold albumsand oneSilver album.They were inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Famein 1988. Thebest-selling bandin history, the Beatles have sold more than 600 million units as of 2012.From 1991 to 2009 the Beatles sold 57 million albums in United States, according to Nielsen Soundscan.They have had morenumber-one albums on the UK charts, fifteen,and sold more singles in the UK, 21.9 million, than any other act.In 2004,Rolling Stoneranked the Beatles as the most significant and influential rock music artists of the last 50 years.They ranked number one onBillboardmagazine's list of the all-time most successful Hot 100 artists, released in 2008 to celebrate the","to celebrate the US singles chart's 50th anniversary.As of 2017, they hold the record for most number-one hits on theBillboardHot 100, with twenty.TheRecording Industry Association of Americacertifies that the Beatles have sold 183 million units in the US, more than any other artist.They were collectively included inTimemagazine's compilation of the20th century's 100 most influential people.In 2014, they received theGrammy Lifetime Achievement Award. On 16 January each year, beginning in 2001, people celebrate World Beatles Day underUNESCO. This date has direct relation to the opening ofthe Cavern Clubin 1957.In 2007, the Beatles became the first band to feature on aseries of UK postage stampsissued by theRoyal Mail.Earlier in 1999, theUnited States Postal Serviceissued a stamp dedicated to the Beatles andYellow Submarine.In 2004 and 2011,Rolling Stonenamed them the greatest artist of all time. Personnel Principal members Early members Touring musicians Timeline Discography The Beatles' core catalogue","core catalogue consists of thirteen studio albums and one compilation album which collects all the UK non-album singles andEPtracks: Song catalogue Until 1969, the Beatles' catalogue was published almost exclusively byNorthern Songs Ltd, a company formed in February 1963 by music publisherDick Jamesspecifically for Lennon and McCartney, though it later acquired songs by other artists. The company was organised with James and his partner, Emmanuel Silver, owning a controlling interest, variously described as 51% or 50% plus one share. McCartney had 20%. Reports again vary concerning Lennon's portion – 19 or 20% – and Brian Epstein's – 9 or 10% – which he received in lieu of a 25% band management fee.In 1965, the company went public. Five million shares were created, of which the original principals retained 3.75 million. James and Silver each received 937,500 shares (18.75% of 5 million); Lennon and McCartney each received 750,000 shares (15%); and Epstein's management company, NEMS Enterprises, received","received 375,000 shares (7.5%). Of the 1.25 million shares put up for sale, Harrison and Starr each acquired 40,000.At the time of the stock offering, Lennon and McCartney renewed their three-year publishing contracts, binding them to Northern Songs until 1973. Harrison createdHarrisongsto represent his Beatles compositions, but signed a three-year contract with Northern Songs that gave it the copyright to his work through March 1968, which included \"Taxman\" and \"Within You Without You\".The songs on which Starr received co-writing credit before 1968, such as \"What Goes On\" and \"Flying\", were also Northern Songs copyrights.Harrison did not renew his contract with Northern Songs when it ended, signing instead withApple Publishingwhile retaining the copyright to his work from that point on. Harrison thus owned the rights to his later Beatles songs such as \"While My Guitar Gently Weeps\" and \"Something\". That year, as well, Starr createdStartling Music, which holds the rights to his Beatles compositions, \"Don't","\"Don't Pass Me By\" and \"Octopus's Garden\". In March 1969, James arranged to sell his and his partner's shares of Northern Songs to the British broadcasting companyAssociated Television(ATV), founded by impresarioLew Grade, without first informing the Beatles. The band then made a bid to gain a controlling interest by attempting to work out a deal with a consortium of London brokerage firms that had accumulated a 14% holding.The deal collapsed over the objections of Lennon, who declared, \"I'm sick of being fucked about by men in suits sitting on their fat arses inthe City.\"By the end of May, ATV had acquired a majority stake in Northern Songs, controlling nearly the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue, as well as any future material until 1973.In frustration, Lennon and McCartney sold their shares to ATV in late October 1969. In 1981, financial losses by ATV's parent company,Associated Communications Corporation(ACC), led it to attempt to sell its music division. According to authors Brian Southall and Rupert","Southall and Rupert Perry, Grade contacted McCartney, offering ATV Music and Northern Songs for $30 million.According to an account McCartney gave in 1995, he met with Grade and explained he was interested solely in the Northern Songs catalogue if Grade were ever willing to \"separate off\" that portion of ATV Music. Soon afterwards, Grade offered to sell him Northern Songs for £20 million, giving the ex-Beatle \"a week or so\" to decide. By McCartney's account, he and Ono countered with a £5 million bid that was rejected.According to reports at the time, Grade refused to separate Northern Songs and turned down an offer of £21–25 million from McCartney and Ono for Northern Songs. In 1982, ACC was acquired in atakeoverby Australian business magnateRobert Holmes à Courtfor £60 million. In 1985,Michael Jacksonpurchased ATV for a reported $47.5 million. The acquisition gave him control over the publishing rights to more than 200 Beatles songs, as well as 40,000 other copyrights.In 1995, in a deal that earned him a","that earned him a reported $110 million, Jackson merged his music publishing business withSony, creating a new company,Sony/ATV Music Publishing, in which he held a 50% stake. The merger made the new company, then valued at over half a billion dollars, the third-largest music publisher in the world.In 2016, Sony acquired Jackson's share of Sony/ATV from the Jackson estate for $750 million. Despite the lack of publishing rights to most of their songs, Lennon's estate and McCartney continue to receive their respective shares of the writers' royalties, which together are 331⁄3% of total commercial proceeds in the US and which vary elsewhere around the world between 50 and 55%.Two of Lennon and McCartney's earliest songs – \"Love Me Do\" and \"P.S. I Love You\" – were published by an EMI subsidiary, Ardmore & Beechwood, before they signed with James. McCartney acquired their publishing rights from Ardmorein 1978,and they are the only two Beatles songs owned by McCartney's company MPL Communications.On 18 January","18 January 2017, McCartney filed a suit in theUnited States district courtagainst Sony/ATV Music Publishing seeking to reclaim ownership of his share of the Lennon–McCartney song catalogue beginning in 2018. Under US copyright law, for works published before 1978 the author can reclaim copyrights assigned to a publisher after 56 years.McCartney and Sony agreed to a confidential settlement in June 2017. Selected filmography Fictionalised Documentaries and filmed performances Concert tours Headlining Co-headlining See also Notes References Citations Sources Further reading External links","Great Depression TheGreat Depressionwas a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939 that affected many countries across the world. It became evident after a sharp decline instockprices in theUnited States, the largest economy in the world at the time, leading to a period ofeconomic depression.Theeconomic contagionbegan around September 1929 and led to theWall Street stock market crashof October (Black Tuesday). This crisis marked the start of a prolonged period of economic hardship characterized by high unemployment rates and widespread business failures. Between 1929 and 1932, worldwidegross domestic product(GDP) fell by an estimated 15%. By comparison, worldwide GDP fell by less than 1% from 2008 to 2009 during theGreat Recession.Some economies started to recover by the mid-1930s. However, in many countries,the negative effects of the Great Depression lasted until the beginning ofWorld War II. Devastating effects were seen in both rich and poor countries with fallingpersonal income, prices, tax","income, prices, tax revenues, and profits. International trade fell by more than 50%, unemployment in the U.S. rose to 23% and in some countries rose as high as 33%.Cities around the world were severely affected, especially those dependent onheavy industry. Construction was virtually halted in many countries. Farming communities and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by about 60%.Faced with plummeting demand and few job alternatives, areas dependent onprimary sector industriessuffered the most. Economic historians usually consider the catalyst of the Great Depression to be the devastating Wall Street Crash. However, some dispute this, seeing the crash less as a cause of the Depression and more a symptom of the rising nervousness of investors partly due to gradual price declines caused by falling sales of consumer goods (as a result of overproduction because of new production techniques, falling exports and income inequality, among other factors) that had already been underway as part of a gradual","part of a gradual depression. Overview After theWall Street Crash of 1929, where theDow Jones Industrial Averagedropped from 381 to 198 over the course of two months, optimism persisted for some time. The stock market rose in early 1930, with the Dow returning to 294 (pre-depression levels) in April 1930, before steadily declining for years, to a low of 41 in 1932. At the beginning, governments and businesses spent more in the first half of 1930 than in the corresponding period of the previous year. On the other hand, consumers, many of whom suffered severe losses in the stock market the previous year, cut expenditures by 10%. In addition, beginning in the mid-1930s, asevere droughtravaged the agricultural heartland of the U.S. Interest rates dropped to low levels by mid-1930, but expecteddeflationand the continuing reluctance of people to borrow meant that consumer spending and investment remained low.By May 1930, automobile sales declined to below the levels of 1928. Prices, in general, began to decline,","began to decline, although wages held steady in 1930. Then adeflationary spiralstarted in 1931. Farmers faced a worse outlook; declining crop prices and a Great Plains drought crippled their economic outlook. At its peak, the Great Depression saw nearly 10% of all Great Plains farms change hands despite federal assistance. The decline in theU.S. economywas the factor that pulled down most other countries at first; then, internal weaknesses or strengths in each country made conditions worse or better.Frantic attempts by individual countries to shore up their economies throughprotectionistpolicies – such as the 1930 U.S.Smoot–Hawley Tariff Actand retaliatory tariffs in other countries – exacerbated the collapse in global trade, contributing to the depression.By 1933, the economic decline pushed world trade to one third of its level compared to four years earlier. Economic indicators Course Origins Because the Great Depression began in the United States and then spread around the world, the origins of the Great","of the Great Depression are examined in the context of the United States economy. In the aftermath ofWorld War I, theRoaring Twentieshad brought considerable wealth to the United States and Western Europe.The year 1929 dawned with considerable economic progress in the American economy. A small stock crash occurred on 25 March 1929, but the crash was stabilized. Despite signs of economic trouble, the market continued to improve through September. Stock prices began to slump in September, and were volatile at the end of September.A large sell-off of stocks began in mid-October. Finally, on 24 October,Black Thursday, the American stock market crashed 11% at the opening bell. Actions to stabilize the market failed, and on 28 October, Black Monday, the market crashed another 12%. The panic peaked the next day on Black Tuesday, when the market saw another 11% drop.Thousands of investors were ruined, and billions of dollars had been lost; many stocks could not be sold at any price.The market recovered 12% on","recovered 12% on Wednesday, but the damage had been done. Though the market recovered from 14 November until 17 April 1930, it entered a prolonged slump. From 17 April 1930 until 8 July 1932, the market continued to lose 89% of its value. Despite the crash, the worst of the crisis did not reverberate around the world until after 1929. The crisis hit panic levels again in December 1930, with abank runon theBank of United States(privately run, no relation to the government). Unable to pay out to all of its creditors, the bank failed.Among the 608 American banks that closed in November and December 1930, the Bank of United States accounted for a third of the total $550 million deposits lost and, with its closure, bank failures reached a critical mass. The Smoot–Hawley act and the breakdown of international trade TheSmoot–Hawley Tariff Actwas passed in the United States on 17 June 1930, having been proposed the year prior. Ostensibly aimed at protecting the American economy as the Depression began to take root,","began to take root, it backfired enormously and may have even caused the Depression. The consensus view amongeconomistsand economic historians (includingKeynesians,MonetaristsandAustrian economists) is that the passage of the Smoot–Hawley Tariff exacerbated the Great Depression,although there is disagreement as to how much. In the popular view, the Smoot–Hawley Tariff was a leading cause of the depression.In a 1995 survey of American economic historians, two-thirds agreed that theSmoot–Hawley Tariff Actat least worsened the Great Depression.According to the U.S. Senate website, the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act is among the most catastrophic acts in congressional history. Many economists have argued that the sharp decline in international trade after 1930 helped to worsen the depression, especially for countries significantly dependent on foreign trade. Most historians and economists blame the Act for worsening the depression by seriously reducing international trade and causing retaliatory tariffs in other","tariffs in other countries. While foreign trade was a small part of overall economic activity in the U.S. and was concentrated in a few businesses like farming, it was a much larger factor in many other countries.The averagead valorem(value based) rate of duties on dutiable imports for 1921–1925 was 25.9% but under the new tariff it jumped to 50% during 1931–1935. In dollar terms, American exports declined over the next four years from about $5.2 billion in 1929 to $1.7 billion in 1933; so, not only did the physical volume of exports fall, but also the prices fell by about1⁄3as written. Hardest hit were farm commodities such as wheat, cotton, tobacco, and lumber. Governments around the world took various steps into spending less money on foreign goods such as: \"imposing tariffs, import quotas, and exchange controls\". These restrictions triggered much tension among countries that had large amounts of bilateral trade, causing major export-import reductions during the depression. Not all governments enforced","enforced the same measures of protectionism. Some countries raised tariffs drastically and enforced severe restrictions on foreign exchange transactions, while other countries reduced \"trade and exchange restrictions only marginally\": The gold standard and the spreading of global depression Thegold standardwas the primary transmission mechanism of the Great Depression. Even countries that did not face bank failures and a monetary contraction first-hand were forced to join the deflationary policy since higher interest rates in countries that performed a deflationary policy led to a gold outflow in countries with lower interest rates. Under the gold standard'sprice–specie flow mechanism, countries that lost gold but nevertheless wanted to maintain the gold standard had to permit their money supply to decrease and the domestic price level to decline (deflation). There is also consensus that protectionist policies, and primarily the passage of theSmoot–Hawley Tariff Act, helped to exacerbate, or even cause the","or even cause the Great Depression. Gold standard Some economic studies have indicated that the rigidities of thegold standardnot only spread the downturn worldwide, but also suspended gold convertibility (devaluing the currency in gold terms) that did the most to make recovery possible. Every major currency left the gold standard during the Great Depression. The UK was the first to do so. Facingspeculative attackson thepoundand depletinggold reserves, in September 1931 theBank of Englandceased exchanging pound notes for gold and the pound was floated on foreign exchange markets. Japan and the Scandinavian countries followed in 1931. Other countries, such as Italy and the United States, remained on the gold standard into 1932 or 1933, while a few countries in the so-called \"gold bloc\", led by France and including Poland, Belgium and Switzerland, stayed on the standard until 1935–36. According to later analysis, the earliness with which a country left the gold standard reliably predicted its economic","its economic recovery. For example, The UK and Scandinavia, which left the gold standard in 1931, recovered much earlier than France and Belgium, which remained on gold much longer. Countries such as China, which had asilver standard, almost avoided the depression entirely. The connection between leaving the gold standard as a strong predictor of that country's severity of its depression and the length of time of its recovery has been shown to be consistent for dozens of countries, includingdeveloping countries. This partly explains why the experience and length of the depression differed between regions and states around the world. German banking crisis of 1931 and British crisis The financial crisis escalated out of control in mid-1931, starting with the collapse of theCredit Anstaltin Vienna in May.This put heavy pressure on Germany, which was already in political turmoil. With the rise in violence of National Socialist ('Nazi') and Communist movements, as well as investor nervousness at harsh government","at harsh government financial policies,investors withdrew their short-term money from Germany as confidence spiraled downward. The Reichsbank lost 150 million marks in the first week of June, 540 million in the second, and 150 million in two days, 19–20 June. Collapse was at hand. U.S. President Herbert Hoover called for amoratorium on payment of war reparations. This angered Paris, which depended on a steady flow of German payments, but it slowed the crisis down, and the moratorium was agreed to in July 1931. An International conference in London later in July produced no agreements but on 19 August a standstill agreement froze Germany's foreign liabilities for six months. Germany received emergency funding from private banks in New York as well as the Bank of International Settlements and the Bank of England. The funding only slowed the process. Industrial failures began in Germany, a major bank closed in July and a two-day holiday for all German banks was declared. Business failures were more frequent in","more frequent in July, and spread toRomaniaand Hungary. The crisis continued to get worse in Germany, bringing political upheaval that finally led to thecoming to power of Hitler's Nazi regimein January 1933. The world financial crisis now began to overwhelm Britain; investors around the world started withdrawing their gold from London at the rate of £2.5 million per day.Credits of £25 million each from the Bank of France and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and an issue of £15 million fiduciary note slowed, but did not reverse, the British crisis. The financial crisis now caused a major political crisis in Britain in August 1931. With deficits mounting, the bankers demanded a balanced budget; the divided cabinet of Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald's Labour government agreed; it proposed to raise taxes, cut spending, and most controversially, to cut unemployment benefits 20%. The attack on welfare was unacceptable to the Labour movement. MacDonald wanted to resign, but King George V insisted he remain and","he remain and form an all-party coalition \"National Government\". The Conservative and Liberals parties signed on, along with a small cadre of Labour, but the vast majority of Labour leaders denounced MacDonald as a traitor for leading the new government. Britain went off thegold standard, and suffered relatively less than other major countries in the Great Depression. In the 1931 British election, the Labour Party was virtually destroyed, leaving MacDonald as prime minister for a largely Conservative coalition. Turning point and recovery In most countries of the world, recovery from the Great Depression began in 1933.In the U.S., recovery began in early 1933,but the U.S. did not return to 1929 GNP for over a decade and still had an unemployment rate of about 15% in 1940, albeit down from the high of 25% in 1933. There is no consensus among economists regarding the motive force for the U.S. economic expansion that continued through most of theRoosevelt years(and the 1937 recession that interrupted it). The","it). The common view among most economists is that Roosevelt'sNew Dealpolicies either caused or accelerated the recovery, although his policies were never aggressive enough to bring the economy completely out of recession. Some economists have also called attention to the positive effects from expectations ofreflationand rising nominal interest rates that Roosevelt's words and actions portended.It was the rollback of those same reflationary policies that led to the interruption of a recession beginning in late 1937.One contributing policy that reversed reflation was theBanking Act of 1935, which effectively raised reserve requirements, causing a monetary contraction that helped to thwart the recovery.GDP returned to its upward trend in 1938.A revisionist view among some economists holds that the New Deal prolonged the Great Depression, as they argue thatNational Industrial Recovery Act of 1933andNational Labor Relations Act of 1935restricted competition and established price fixing.John Maynard Keynesdid not","Keynesdid not think that the New Deal under Roosevelt single-handedly ended the Great Depression: \"It is, it seems, politically impossible for a capitalistic democracy to organize expenditure on the scale necessary to make the grand experiments which would prove my case—except in war conditions.\" According toChristina Romer, the money supply growth caused by huge international gold inflows was a crucial source of the recovery of the United States economy, and that the economy showed little sign of self-correction. The gold inflows were partly due todevaluation of the U.S. dollarand partly due to deterioration of the political situation in Europe.In their book,A Monetary History of the United States,Milton FriedmanandAnna J. Schwartzalso attributed the recovery to monetary factors, and contended that it was much slowed by poor management of money by theFederal Reserve System.Chairman of the Federal Reserve(2006–2014)Ben Bernankeagreed that monetary factors played important roles both in the worldwide economic","worldwide economic decline and eventual recovery.Bernanke also saw a strong role for institutional factors, particularly the rebuilding and restructuring of the financial system,and pointed out that the Depression should be examined in an international perspective. Role of women and household economics Women's primary role was as housewives; without a steady flow of family income, their work became much harder in dealing with food and clothing and medical care. Birthrates fell everywhere, as children were postponed until families could financially support them. The average birthrate for 14 major countries fell 12% from 19.3 births per thousand population in 1930, to 17.0 in 1935.In Canada, half of Roman Catholic women defied Church teachings and used contraception to postpone births. Among the few women in the labor force, layoffs were less common in the white-collar jobs and they were typically found in light manufacturing work. However, there was a widespread demand to limit families to one paid job, so","to one paid job, so that wives might lose employment if their husband was employed.Across Britain, there was a tendency for married women to join the labor force, competing for part-time jobs especially. In France, very slow population growth, especially in comparison to Germany continued to be a serious issue in the 1930s. Support for increasing welfare programs during the depression included a focus on women in the family. The Conseil Supérieur de la Natalité campaigned for provisions enacted in the Code de la Famille (1939) that increased state assistance to families with children and required employers to protect the jobs of fathers, even if they were immigrants. In rural and small-town areas, women expanded their operation of vegetable gardens to include as much food production as possible. In the United States, agricultural organizations sponsored programs to teach housewives how to optimize their gardens and to raise poultry for meat and eggs.Rural women madefeed sack dressesand other items for","other items for themselves and their families and homes from feed sacks.In American cities, African American women quiltmakers enlarged their activities, promoted collaboration, and trained neophytes. Quilts were created for practical use from various inexpensive materials and increased social interaction for women and promoted camaraderie and personal fulfillment. Oral history provides evidence for how housewives in a modern industrial city handled shortages of money and resources. Often they updated strategies their mothers used when they were growing up in poor families. Cheap foods were used, such as soups, beans and noodles. They purchased the cheapest cuts of meat—sometimes even horse meat—and recycled theSunday roastinto sandwiches and soups. They sewed and patched clothing, traded with their neighbors for outgrown items, and made do with colder homes. New furniture and appliances were postponed until better days. Many women also worked outside the home, or took boarders, did laundry for trade or","for trade or cash, and did sewing for neighbors in exchange for something they could offer. Extended families used mutual aid—extra food, spare rooms, repair-work, cash loans—to help cousins and in-laws. In Japan, official government policy was deflationary and the opposite of Keynesian spending. Consequently, the government launched a campaign across the country to induce households to reduce their consumption, focusing attention on spending by housewives. In Germany, the government tried to reshape private household consumption under the Four-Year Plan of 1936 to achieve German economic self-sufficiency. The Nazi women's organizations, other propaganda agencies and the authorities all attempted to shape such consumption as economic self-sufficiency was needed to prepare for and to sustain the coming war. The organizations, propaganda agencies and authorities employed slogans that called up traditional values of thrift and healthy living. However, these efforts were only partly successful in changing the","in changing the behavior of housewives. World War II and recovery The common view among economic historians is that the Great Depression ended with the advent ofWorld War II. Many economists believe that government spending on the war caused or at least accelerated recovery from the Great Depression, though some consider that it did not play a very large role in the recovery, though it did help in reducing unemployment. The rearmament policies leading up to World War II helped stimulate the economies of Europe in 1937–1939. By 1937, unemployment in Britain had fallen to 1.5 million. Themobilizationof manpower following the outbreak of war in 1939 ended unemployment. The American mobilization forWorld War IIat the end of 1941 moved approximately ten million people out of the civilian labor force and into the war.This finally eliminated the last effects from the Great Depression and brought the U.S. unemployment rate down below 10%. World War II had a dramatic effect on many parts of the American","of the American economy.Government-financed capital spending accounted for only 5% of the annual U.S. investment in industrial capital in 1940; by 1943, the government accounted for 67% of U.S. capital investment.The massive war spending doubled economic growth rates, either masking the effects of the Depression or essentially ending the Depression. Businessmen ignored the mountingnational debtand heavy new taxes, redoubling their efforts for greater output to take advantage of generous government contracts. Causes Trying to return to the Gold Standard DuringWorld War Imany countries suspended theirgold standardin varying ways. There was high inflation from WWI, and in the 1920s in theWeimar Republic,Austria, and throughout Europe. In the late 1920s there was a scramble to deflate prices to get the gold standard's conversation rates back on track to pre-WWI levels, by causingdeflationand high unemployment through monetary policy. In 1933FDRsignedExecutive Order 6102and in 1934 signed theGold Reserve Act.","Reserve Act. Keynesian vs Monetarist view The two classic competing economic theories of the Great Depression are theKeynesian(demand-driven) and theMonetaristexplanation.There are also variousheterodox theoriesthat downplay or reject the explanations of the Keynesians and monetarists. The consensus among demand-driven theories is that a large-scale loss of confidence led to a sudden reduction in consumption and investment spending. Once panic and deflation set in, many people believed they could avoid further losses by keeping clear of the markets. Holding money became profitable as prices dropped lower and a given amount of money bought ever more goods, exacerbating the drop in demand.Monetarists believe that the Great Depression started as an ordinary recession, but the shrinking of themoney supplygreatly exacerbated the economic situation, causing a recession to descend into the Great Depression. Economists and economic historians are almost evenly split as to whether the traditional monetary explanation","explanation that monetary forces were the primary cause of the Great Depression is right, or the traditional Keynesian explanation that a fall in autonomous spending, particularly investment, is the primary explanation for the onset of the Great Depression.Today there is also significant academic support for thedebt deflationtheory and theexpectations hypothesisthat – building on the monetary explanation ofMilton FriedmanandAnna Schwartz– add non-monetary explanations. There is a consensus that theFederal Reserve Systemshould have cut short the process of monetary deflation and banking collapse, by expanding the money supply and acting aslender of last resort. If they had done this, the economic downturn would have been far less severe and much shorter. Mainstream explanations Modern mainstream economists see the reasons in Insufficient spending, the money supply reduction, and debt on margin led to falling prices and further bankruptcies (Irving Fisher's debt deflation). Monetarist view The monetarist","view The monetarist explanation was given by American economistsMilton FriedmanandAnna J. Schwartz.They argued that the Great Depression was caused by the banking crisis that caused one-third of all banks to vanish, a reduction of bank shareholder wealth and more importantlymonetary contractionof 35%, which they called \"TheGreat Contraction\". This caused a price drop of 33% (deflation).By not lowering interest rates, by not increasing the monetary base and by not injecting liquidity into the banking system to prevent it from crumbling, the Federal Reserve passively watched the transformation of a normal recession into the Great Depression. Friedman and Schwartz argued that the downward turn in the economy, starting with the stock market crash, would merely have been an ordinary recession if the Federal Reserve had taken aggressive action.This view was endorsed in 2002 byFederal Reserve GovernorBen Bernankein a speech honoring Friedman and Schwartz with this statement: Let me end my talk by abusing slightly","by abusing slightly my status as an official representative of the Federal Reserve. I would like to say to Milton and Anna: Regarding the Great Depression, you're right. We did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again. The Federal Reserve allowed some large public bank failures – particularly that of theNew York Bank of United States– which produced panic and widespread runs on local banks, and the Federal Reserve sat idly by while banks collapsed. Friedman and Schwartz argued that, if the Fed had provided emergency lending to these key banks, or simply boughtgovernment bondson theopen marketto provide liquidity and increase the quantity of money after the key banks fell, all the rest of the banks would not have fallen after the large ones did, and the money supply would not have fallen as far and as fast as it did. With significantly less money to go around, businesses could not get new loans and could not even get their old loans renewed, forcing many to stop investing. This","investing. This interpretation blames the Federal Reserve for inaction, especially theNew York branch. One reason why the Federal Reserve did not act to limit the decline of the money supply was thegold standard. At that time, the amount of credit the Federal Reserve could issue was limited by theFederal Reserve Act, which required 40% gold backing of Federal Reserve Notes issued. By the late 1920s, the Federal Reserve had almost hit the limit of allowable credit that could be backed by the gold in its possession. This credit was in the form of Federal Reserve demand notes.A \"promise of gold\" is not as good as \"gold in the hand\", particularly when they only had enough gold to cover 40% of the Federal Reserve Notes outstanding. During the bank panics, a portion of those demand notes was redeemed for Federal Reserve gold. Since the Federal Reserve had hit its limit on allowable credit, any reduction in gold in its vaults had to be accompanied by a greater reduction in credit. On 5 April 1933, President","1933, President Roosevelt signedExecutive Order 6102making the private ownership ofgold certificates, coins and bullion illegal, reducing the pressure on Federal Reserve gold. Keynesian view British economistJohn Maynard Keynesargued inThe General Theory of Employment, Interest and Moneythat loweraggregate expendituresin the economy contributed to a massive decline in income and to employment that was well below the average. In such a situation, the economy reached equilibrium at low levels of economic activity and high unemployment. Keynes's basic idea was simple: to keep people fully employed, governments have to run deficits when the economy is slowing, as the private sector would not invest enough to keep production at the normal level and bring the economy out of recession. Keynesian economists called on governments during times ofeconomic crisisto pick up the slack by increasinggovernment spendingor cutting taxes. As the Depression wore on,Franklin D. Roosevelttriedpublic works,farm subsidies, and","subsidies, and other devices to restart the U.S. economy, but never completely gave up trying to balance the budget. According to the Keynesians, this improved the economy, but Roosevelt never spent enough to bring the economy out of recession until the start ofWorld War II. Debt deflation Irving Fisherargued that the predominant factor leading to the Great Depression was a vicious circle of deflation and growing over-indebtedness.He outlined nine factors interacting with one another under conditions of debt and deflation to create the mechanics of boom to bust. The chain of events proceeded as follows: During the Crash of 1929 preceding the Great Depression, margin requirements were only 10%.Brokerage firms, in other words, would lend $9 for every $1 an investor had deposited. When the market fell, brokerscalled in these loans, which could not be paid back.Banks began to fail as debtors defaulted on debt and depositors attempted to withdraw their depositsen masse, triggering multiplebank runs. Government","runs. Government guarantees and Federal Reserve banking regulations to prevent such panics were ineffective or not used. Bank failures led to the loss of billions of dollars in assets. Outstanding debts became heavier, because prices and incomes fell by 20–50% but the debts remained at the same dollar amount. After the panic of 1929 and during the first 10 months of 1930, 744 U.S. banks failed. (In all, 9,000 banks failed during the 1930s.) By April 1933, around $7 billion in deposits had been frozen in failed banks or those left unlicensed after theMarch Bank Holiday.Bank failures snowballed as desperate bankers called in loans that borrowers did not have time or money to repay. With future profits looking poor,capital investmentand construction slowed or completely ceased. In the face of bad loans and worsening future prospects, the surviving banks became even more conservative in their lending.Banks built up their capital reserves and made fewer loans, which intensified deflationary pressures. Avicious","pressures. Avicious cycledeveloped and the downward spiral accelerated. The liquidation of debt could not keep up with the fall of prices that it caused. The mass effect of the stampede to liquidate increased the value of each dollar owed, relative to the value of declining asset holdings. The very effort of individuals to lessen their burden of debt effectively increased it. Paradoxically, the more the debtors paid, the more they owed.This self-aggravating process turned a 1930 recession into a 1933 great depression. Fisher's debt-deflation theory initially lacked mainstream influence because of the counter-argument that debt-deflation represented no more than a redistribution from one group (debtors) to another (creditors). Pure re-distributions should have no significant macroeconomic effects. Building on both the monetary hypothesis of Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz and the debt deflation hypothesis of Irving Fisher,Ben Bernankedeveloped an alternative way in which the financial crisis affected","crisis affected output. He builds on Fisher's argument that dramatic declines in the price level and nominal incomes lead to increasing real debt burdens, which in turn leads to debtor insolvency and consequently lowersaggregate demand; a further price level decline would then result in a debt deflationary spiral. According to Bernanke, a small decline in the price level simply reallocates wealth from debtors to creditors without doing damage to the economy. But when the deflation is severe, falling asset prices along with debtor bankruptcies lead to a decline in the nominal value of assets on bank balance sheets. Banks will react by tightening their credit conditions, which in turn leads to acredit crunchthat seriously harms the economy. A credit crunch lowers investment and consumption, which results in declining aggregate demand and additionally contributes to the deflationary spiral. Expectations hypothesis Since economic mainstream turned to thenew neoclassical synthesis, expectations are a central","are a central element of macroeconomic models. According toPeter Temin, Barry Wigmore, Gauti B. Eggertsson andChristina Romer, the key to recovery and to ending the Great Depression was brought about by a successful management of public expectations. The thesis is based on the observation that after years of deflation and a very severe recession important economic indicators turned positive in March 1933 whenFranklin D. Roosevelttook office. Consumer prices turned from deflation to a mild inflation, industrial production bottomed out in March 1933, and investment doubled in 1933 with a turnaround in March 1933. There were no monetary forces to explain that turnaround. Money supply was still falling and short-term interest rates remained close to zero. Before March 1933, people expected further deflation and a recession so that even interest rates at zero did not stimulate investment. But when Roosevelt announced major regime changes, people began to expect inflation and an economic expansion. With these","With these positive expectations, interest rates at zero began to stimulate investment just as they were expected to do. Roosevelt's fiscal and monetary policy regime change helped make his policy objectives credible. The expectation of higher future income and higher future inflation stimulated demand and investment. The analysis suggests that the elimination of the policy dogmas of the gold standard, a balanced budget in times of crisis and small government led endogenously to a large shift in expectation that accounts for about 70–80% of the recovery of output and prices from 1933 to 1937. If the regime change had not happened and the Hoover policy had continued, the economy would have continued its free fall in 1933, and output would have been 30% lower in 1937 than in 1933. Therecession of 1937–1938, which slowed down economic recovery from the Great Depression, is explained by fears of the population that the moderate tightening of the monetary and fiscal policy in 1937 were first steps to a","first steps to a restoration of the pre-1933 policy regime. Common position There is common consensus among economists today that the government and the central bank should work to keep the interconnected macroeconomic aggregates ofgross domestic productandmoney supplyon a stable growth path. When threatened by expectations of a depression,central banksshould expand liquidity in the banking system and the government should cut taxes and accelerate spending in order to prevent a collapse in money supply andaggregate demand. At the beginning of the Great Depression, most economists believed inSay's lawand the equilibrating powers of the market, and failed to understand the severity of the Depression. Outright leave-it-aloneliquidationismwas a common position, and was universally held byAustrian Schooleconomists.The liquidationist position held that a depression worked to liquidate failed businesses and investments that had been made obsolete by technological development – releasingfactors of production(capital","production(capital and labor) to be redeployed in other more productive sectors of the dynamic economy. They argued that even if self-adjustment of the economy caused mass bankruptcies, it was still the best course. Economists likeBarry EichengreenandJ. Bradford DeLongnote that PresidentHerbert Hoovertried to keep the federal budget balanced until 1932, when he lost confidence in his Secretary of the TreasuryAndrew Mellonand replaced him.An increasingly common view among economic historians is that the adherence of many Federal Reserve policymakers to the liquidationist position led to disastrous consequences.Unlike what liquidationists expected, a large proportion of the capital stock was not redeployed but vanished during the first years of the Great Depression. According to a study byOlivier BlanchardandLawrence Summers, the recession caused a drop of netcapital accumulationto pre-1924 levels by 1933.Milton Friedman called leave-it-alone liquidationism \"dangerous nonsense\".He wrote: I think the Austrian","think the Austrian business-cycle theory has done the world a great deal of harm. If you go back to the 1930s, which is a key point, here you had the Austrians sitting in London, Hayek and Lionel Robbins, and saying you just have to let the bottom drop out of the world. You've just got to let it cure itself. You can't do anything about it. You will only make it worse. ... I think by encouraging that kind of do-nothing policy both in Britain and in the United States, they did harm. Heterodox theories Austrian School Two prominent theorists in theAustrian Schoolon the Great Depression include Austrian economistFriedrich Hayekand American economistMurray Rothbard, who wroteAmerica's Great Depression(1963). In their view, much like the monetarists, theFederal Reserve(created in 1913) shoulders much of the blame; however, unlike theMonetarists, they argue that the key cause of the Depression was the expansion of themoney supplyin the 1920s which led to an unsustainable credit-driven boom. In the Austrian view, it","Austrian view, it was this inflation of the money supply that led to an unsustainable boom in both asset prices (stocks and bonds) andcapital goods. Therefore, by the time the Federal Reserve tightened in 1928 it was far too late to prevent an economic contraction.In February 1929Hayekpublished a paper predicting the Federal Reserve's actions would lead to a crisis starting in thestockandcreditmarkets. According to Rothbard, the government support for failed enterprises and efforts to keep wages above their market values actually prolonged the Depression.UnlikeRothbard, after 1970Hayekbelieved that the Federal Reserve had further contributed to the problems of the Depression by permitting the money supply to shrink during the earliest years of the Depression.However, during the Depression (in 1932and in 1934)Hayek had criticized both theFederal Reserveand theBank of Englandfor not taking a more contractionary stance. Hans Sennholzargued that mostboom and buststhat plagued the American economy, such as those","such as those in1819–20,1839–1843,1857–1860,1873–1878,1893–1897, and1920–21, were generated by government creating a boom through easy money and credit, which was soon followed by the inevitable bust. Ludwig von Miseswrote in the 1930s: \"Credit expansion cannot increase the supply of real goods. It merely brings about a rearrangement. It diverts capital investment away from the course prescribed by the state of economic wealth and market conditions. It causes production to pursue paths which it would not follow unless the economy were to acquire an increase in material goods. As a result, the upswing lacks a solid base. It is not real prosperity. It is illusory prosperity. It did not develop from an increase in economic wealth, i.e. the accumulation of savings made available for productive investment. Rather, it arose because the credit expansion created the illusion of such an increase. Sooner or later, it must become apparent that this economic situation is built on sand.\" Marxist Marxistsgenerally argue","argue that the Great Depression was the result of the inherent instability of thecapitalist mode of production.According toForbes, \"The idea that capitalism caused the Great Depression was widely held among intellectuals and the general public for many decades.\" Inequality Two economists of the 1920s,Waddill CatchingsandWilliam Trufant Foster, popularized a theory that influenced many policy makers, includingHerbert Hoover,Henry A. Wallace,Paul Douglas, andMarriner Eccles. It held the economy produced more than it consumed, because the consumers did not have enough income. Thus the unequaldistribution of wealththroughout the 1920s caused the Great Depression. According to this view, the root cause of the Great Depression was a global over-investment in heavy industry capacity compared to wages and earnings from independent businesses, such as farms. The proposed solution was for the government to pump money into the consumers' pockets. That is, it must redistribute purchasing power, maintaining the","maintaining the industrial base, and re-inflating prices and wages to force as much of the inflationary increase in purchasing power intoconsumer spending. The economy was overbuilt, and new factories were not needed. Foster and Catchings recommendedfederal and state governments to start large construction projects, a program followed by Hoover and Roosevelt. Productivity shock It cannot be emphasized too strongly that the trends we are describing are long-time trends and were thoroughly evident before 1929. These trends are in nowise the result of the present depression, nor are they the result of the World War. On the contrary, the present depression is a collapse resulting from these long-term trends. The first three decades of the 20th century saw economic output surge withelectrification,mass production, and motorized farm machinery, and because of the rapid growth in productivity there was a lot of excess production capacity and the work week was being reduced. The dramatic rise inproductivityof major","major industries in the U.S. and the effects of productivity on output, wages and the workweek are discussed by Spurgeon Bell in his bookProductivity, Wages, and National Income(1940). Effects by country The majority of countries set up relief programs and most underwent some sort of political upheaval, pushing them to theright. Many of the countries in Europe and Latin America, that were democracies, saw their democratic governments overthrown by some form of dictatorship or authoritarian rule, most famouslyin Germany in 1933.The Dominion of Newfoundland abandoneditsautonomy within the British Empire, becoming the only region ever to voluntarily relinquish democracy. There, too, were severe impacts across the Middle East and North Africa, including economic decline which led to social unrest. Argentina Decline in foreign trade hit Argentina hard. The British decision to stop importing Argentine beef led to the signing of theRoca–Runciman Treaty, which preserved a quota in exchange for significant","for significant concessions to British exports. By 1935, the economy had recovered to 1929 levels, and the same year, theCentral Bank of Argentinawas formed.However, the Great Depression was the last time when Argentina was one of the richer countries of the world, as it stopped growing in the decades thereafter, and became underdeveloped. Australia Australia's dependence on agricultural and industrial exports meant it was one of the hardest-hit developed countries.Falling export demand and commodity prices placed massive downward pressures on wages. Unemployment reached a record high of 29% in 1932,with incidents ofcivil unrestbecoming common.After 1932, an increase in wool and meat prices led to a gradual recovery. Canada Harshly affected by both the global economic downturn and theDust Bowl, Canadian industrial production had by 1932 fallen to only 58% of its 1929 figure, the second-lowest level in the world after the United States, and well behind countries such as Britain, which fell to only 83% of the","to only 83% of the 1929 level. Totalnational incomefell to 56% of the 1929 level, again worse than any country apart from the United States. Unemployment reached 27% at the depth of the Depression in 1933. Chile TheLeague of NationslabeledChilethe country hardest-hit by the Great Depression, because 80% of government revenue came from exports of copper and nitrates, which were in low demand. Chile initially felt the impact of the Great Depression in 1930, when GDP dropped 14%, mining income declined 27%, and export earnings fell 28%. By 1932, GDP had shrunk to less than half of what it had been in 1929, exacting a terrible toll in unemployment and business failures. Influenced profoundly by the Great Depression, many government leaders promoted the development of local industry in an effort to insulate the economy from future external shocks. After six years of governmentausterity measures, which succeeded in reestablishing Chile's creditworthiness, Chileans elected to office during the 1938–58 period a","1938–58 period a succession of center and left-of-center governments interested in promoting economic growth through government intervention. Prompted in part by the devastating1939 Chillán earthquake, thePopular Frontgovernment ofPedro Aguirre Cerdacreated the Production Development Corporation (Corporación de Fomento de la Producción,CORFO) to encourage with subsidies and direct investments — an ambitious program ofimport substitution industrialization. Consequently, as in other Latin American countries,protectionismbecame an entrenched aspect of the Chilean economy. China China was largely unaffected by the Depression, mainly by having stuck to theSilver standard. However, the U.S. silver purchase act of 1934 created an intolerable demand on China's silver coins, and so, in the end, the silver standard was officially abandoned in 1935 in favor of the four Chinese national banks'\"legal note\" issues. China and theBritish colony of Hong Kong, which followed suit in this regard in September 1935, would be the","1935, would be the last to abandon the silver standard. In addition, theNationalist Governmentalso acted energetically to modernize the legal and penal systems, stabilize prices, amortize debts, reform the banking and currency systems, build railroads and highways, improve public health facilities, legislate against traffic in narcotics, and augment industrial and agricultural production. On 3 November 1935, the government instituted the fiat currency (fapi) reform, immediately stabilizing prices and also raising revenues for the government. European African colonies The sharp fall in commodity prices and the steep decline in exports hurt the economies of the European colonies in Africa and Asia.The agricultural sector was especially hard-hit. For example,sisalhad recently become a major export crop in Kenya and Tanganyika. During the depression, it suffered severely from low prices and marketing problems that affected all colonial commodities in Africa. Sisal producers established centralized controls for","controls for the export of their fibre.There was widespread unemployment and hardship among peasants, labourers, colonial auxiliaries, and artisans.The budgets of colonial governments were cut, which forced the reduction in ongoing infrastructure projects, such as the building and upgrading of roads, ports, and communications.The budget cuts delayed the schedule for creating systems of higher education. The depression severely hurt the export-basedBelgian Congoeconomy because of the drop in international demand for raw materials and for agricultural products. For example, the price of peanuts fell from 125 to 25 centimes. In some areas, as in theKatangamining region, employment declined by 70%. In the country as a whole, the wage labour force decreased by 72,000 people, and many men returned to their villages. In Leopoldville, the population decreased by 33% because of this labour migration. Political protests were not common. However, there was a growing demand, that the paternalistic claims be honored by","be honored by colonial governments to respond vigorously. The theme was, that economic reforms were more urgently needed than political reforms.French West Africa launched an extensive program of educational reform, in which \"rural schools\", designed to modernize agriculture, would stem the flow of under-employed farm workers to cities where unemployment was high. Students were trained in traditional arts, crafts, and farming techniques and were then expected to return to their own villages and towns. France The crisis affected France a bit later than other countries, hitting hard around 1931.While the 1920s grew at the very strong rate of 4.43% per year, the 1930s rate fell to only 0.63%. The depression was relatively mild: unemployment peaked under 5%, the fall in production was at most 20% below the 1929 output; there was no banking crisis. However, the depression had drastic effects on the local economy, and partly explains theFebruary 6, 1934 riotsand even more the formation of thePopular Front, led","Front, led bySFIO socialist leaderLéon Blum, which won the elections in 1936. Ultra-nationalist groups also saw increased popularity, though democracy prevailed intoWorld War II. France's relatively high degree of self-sufficiency meant the damage was considerably less than in neighbouring states like Germany. Germany The Great Depression hit Germany hard. The impact of theWall Street Crashforced American banks to end the new loans that had been funding the repayments under theDawes Planand theYoung Plan. The financial crisis escalated out of control in mid-1931, starting with the collapse of theCredit Anstaltin Vienna in May.This put heavy pressure on Germany, which was already in political turmoil with the rise in violence ofnational socialistandcommunistmovements, as well as with investor nervousness at harsh government financial policies,investors withdrew their short-term money from Germany as confidence spiraled downward. The Reichsbank lost 150 million marks in the first week of June, 540 million in","540 million in the second, and 150 million in two days, 19–20 June. Collapse was at hand. U.S. President Herbert Hoover called for a moratorium on payment of war reparations. This angered Paris, which depended on a steady flow of German payments, but it slowed the crisis down, and the moratorium was agreed to in July 1931. An international conference in London later in July produced no agreements, but on 19 August, a standstill agreement froze Germany's foreign liabilities for six months. Germany received emergency funding from private banks in New York as well as the Bank of International Settlements and the Bank of England. The funding only slowed the process. Industrial failures began in Germany, a major bank closed in July, and a two-day holiday for all German banks was declared. Business failures became more frequent in July, and spread to Romania and Hungary. In 1932, 90% of German reparation payments were cancelled (in the 1950s, Germany repaid all its missed reparations debts). Widespread","debts). Widespread unemployment reached 25%, as every sector was hurt. The government did not increase government spending to deal with Germany's growing crisis, as they were afraid, that a high-spending policy could lead to a return of thehyperinflationthat had affected Germany in 1923. Germany'sWeimar Republicwas hit hard by the depression, as American loans to help rebuild the German economy now stopped.The unemployment rate reached nearly 30% in 1932. The German political landscape was dramatically altered, leading toAdolf Hitler's rise to power. TheNazi Partyrose from being peripheral to winning 18.3% of the vote in theSeptember 1930 election, and theCommunist Partyalso made gains, while moderate forces, like theSocial Democratic Party, theDemocratic Party, and thePeople's Partylost seats. The next two years were marked by increased street violence between Nazis and Communists, while governments under PresidentPaul von Hindenburgincreasingly relied onrule by decree, bypassing theReichstag.Hitler ran for","ran for the Presidency in 1932, and while he lost to the incumbent Hindenburg in the election, it marked a point during which both Nazi Party and the Communist parties rose in the years following the crash to altogether possess a Reichstag majority following thegeneral election in July 1932.Although the Nazis lost seats inNovember 1932 election, they remained the largest party, and Hitler was appointed as Chancellor the following January. The government formation deal was designed to give Hitler's conservative coalition partners many checks on his power, but over the next few months, the Nazis manoeuvred to consolidate a single-party dictatorship. Hitler followed an economic policy ofautarky, creating a network of client states and economic allies in central Europe and Latin America. By cutting wages and taking control of labor unions, plus public works spending, unemployment fell significantly by 1935. Large-scale military spending played a major role in the recovery.The policies had the effect of driving","effect of driving up the cost of food imports and depleting foreign currency reserves, leading to economic impasse by 1936. Nazi Germany faced a choice of either reversing course or pressing ahead with rearmament and autarky. Hitler chose the latter route, which, according toIan Kershaw, \"could only be partially accomplished without territorial expansion\" and therefore war. Greece The reverberations of the Great Depression hit Greece in 1932. TheBank of Greecetried to adopt deflationary policies to stave off the crises that were going on in other countries, but these largely failed. For a brief period, the drachma was pegged to the U.S. dollar, but this was unsustainable given the country's large trade deficit and the only long-term effects of this were Greece's foreign exchange reserves being almost totally wiped out in 1932. Remittances from abroad declined sharply, and the value of the drachma began to plummet from 77 drachmas to the dollar in March 1931 to 111 drachmas to the dollar in April 1931. This","in April 1931. This was especially harmful to Greece, as the country relied on imports from the UK, France, and the Middle East for many necessities. Greece went off the gold standard in April 1932, and declared a moratorium on all interest payments. The country also adopted protectionist policies, such as import quotas, which several European countries also did during the period. Protectionist policies coupled with a weak drachma and the stifling of imports allowed the Greek industry to expand during the Great Depression. In 1939, the Greek industrial output was 179% that of 1928. These industries were for the most part \"built on sand\", as one report of the Bank of Greece put it, as without massive protection, they would not have been able to survive. Despite the global depression, Greece managed to suffer comparatively little, averaging an average growth rate of 3.5% from 1932 to 1939. The dictatorial regime ofIoannis Metaxastook over the Greek government in 1936, and economic growth was strong in the","was strong in the years leading up to the Second World War. Iceland Icelandic post-World War I prosperity came to an end with the outbreak of the Great Depression. The Depression hit Iceland hard, as the value of exports plummeted. The total value of Icelandic exports fell from 74 million kronur in 1929 to 48 million in 1932, and was not to rise again to the pre-1930 level until after 1939.Government interference in the economy increased: \"Imports were regulated, trade with foreign currency was monopolized by state-owned banks, and loan capital was largely distributed by state-regulated funds\".Due to the outbreak of theSpanish Civil War, which cut Iceland's exports of saltfish by half, the Depression lasted in Iceland until the outbreak of World War II (when prices for fish exports soared). India How much India was affected, has been hotly debated. Historians have argued, that the Great Depression slowed long-term industrial development.Apart from two sectors —juteand coal — the economy was little-affected.","little-affected. However, there were major negative impacts on the jute industry, as world demand fell and prices plunged.Otherwise, conditions were fairly stable. Local markets in agriculture and small-scale industry showed modest gains. Ireland Frank Barry andMary E. Dalyhave argued that: Italy The Great Depression hitItalyvery hard.As industries came close to failure they were bought out by the banks in a largely illusionary bail-out—the assets used to fund the purchases were largely worthless. This led to a financial crisis peaking in 1932 and major government intervention. TheIndustrial Reconstruction Institute(IRI) was formed in January 1933 and took control of the bank-owned companies, suddenly giving Italy the largest state-owned industrial sector in Europe (excluding the USSR). IRI did rather well with its new responsibilities—restructuring, modernising and rationalising as much as it could. It was a significant factor in post-1945 development. But it took the Italian economy until 1935 to recover","1935 to recover the manufacturing levels of 1930—a position that was only 60% better than that of 1913. Japan The Great Depression did not strongly affect Japan. The Japanese economy shrank by 8% during 1929–31. Japan's Finance MinisterTakahashi Korekiyowas the first to implement what have come to be identified asKeynesianeconomic policies: first, by large fiscal stimulus involvingdeficit spending; and second, by devaluingthe currency. Takahashi used the Bank of Japan to sterilize the deficit spending and minimize resulting inflationary pressures. Econometric studies have identified the fiscal stimulus as especially effective. The devaluation of the currency had an immediate effect. Japanese textiles began to displace British textiles in export markets. The deficit spending proved to be most profound and went into the purchase of munitions for the armed forces. By 1933, Japan was already out of the depression. By 1934, Takahashi realized that the economy was in danger of overheating, and to avoid inflation,","to avoid inflation, moved to reduce the deficit spending that went towards armaments and munitions. This resulted in a strong and swift negative reaction from nationalists, especially those in the army, culminating in his assassination in the course of theFebruary 26 Incident. This had achilling effecton all civilian bureaucrats in the Japanese government. From 1934, the military's dominance of the government continued to grow. Instead of reducing deficit spending, the government introduced price controls and rationing schemes that reduced, but did not eliminate inflation, which remained a problem until the end of World War II. The deficit spending had a transformative effect on Japan. Japan's industrial production doubled during the 1930s. Further, in 1929 the list of the largest firms in Japan was dominated by light industries, especially textile companies (many of Japan's automakers, such asToyota, have their roots in the textile industry). By 1940light industryhad been displaced by heavy industry as the","industry as the largest firms inside the Japanese economy. Latin America Because of high levels of U.S. investment in Latin American economies, they were severely damaged by the Depression. Within the region,Chile,BoliviaandPeruwere particularly badly affected. Before the 1929 crisis, links between the world economy andLatin Americaneconomies had been established through American and British investment in Latin American exports to the world. As a result, Latin Americans export industries felt the depression quickly. World prices for commodities such as wheat, coffee and copper plunged. Exports from all of Latin America to the U.S. fell in value from $1.2 billion in 1929 to $335 million in 1933, rising to $660 million in 1940. But on the other hand, the depression led the area governments to develop new local industries and expand consumption and production. Following the example of the New Deal, governments in the area approved regulations and created or improved welfare institutions that helped millions of","helped millions of new industrial workers to achieve a better standard of living. Netherlands From roughly 1931 to 1937, theNetherlandssuffered a deep and exceptionally long depression. This depression was partly caused by the after-effects of the American stock-market crash of 1929, and partly by internal factors in the Netherlands. Government policy, especially the very late dropping of the Gold Standard, played a role in prolonging the depression. The Great Depression in the Netherlands led to some political instability and riots, and can be linked to the rise of the Dutch fascist political partyNSB. The depression in the Netherlands eased off somewhat at the end of 1936, when the government finally dropped the Gold Standard, but real economic stability did not return until after World War II. New Zealand New Zealandwas especially vulnerable to worldwide depression, as it relied almost entirely on agricultural exports to the United Kingdom for its economy. The drop in exports led to a lack of disposable","lack of disposable income from the farmers, who were the mainstay of the local economy. Jobs disappeared and wages plummeted, leaving people desperate and charities unable to cope. Work relief schemes were the only government support available to the unemployed, the rate of which by the early 1930s was officially around 15%, but unofficially nearly twice that level (official figures excluded Māori and women). In 1932, riots occurred among the unemployed in three of the country's main cities (Auckland,Dunedin, andWellington). Many were arrested or injured through the tough official handling of these riots by police and volunteer \"special constables\". Persia In Iran, then known as theImperial State of Persia, the Great Depression had negative impacts on its exports. In 1933 a new concession was signed with theAnglo-Persian Oil Company. Poland Poland was affected by the Great Depression longer and stronger than other countries due to inadequate economic response of the government and the pre-existing economic","economic circumstances of the country. At that time, Poland was under the authoritarian rule ofSanacja, whose leader,Józef Piłsudski, was opposed to leaving thegold standarduntil his death in 1935. As a result, Poland was unable to perform a more active monetary and budget policy. Additionally, Poland was a relatively young country that emerged merely 10 years earlier after being partitioned betweenGerman,Russianand theAustro-Hungarian Empiresfor over a century. Prior to independence, the Russian part exported 91% of its exports to Russia proper, while the German part exported 68% to Germany proper. After independence, these markets were largely lost, as Russia transformed intoUSSRthat was mostly a closed economy, and Germany was in a tariff war with Poland throughout the 1920s. Industrial productionfell significantly: in 1932hard coalproduction was down 27% compared to 1928,steelproduction was down 61%, andiron oreproduction noted an 89% decrease.On the other hand, electrotechnical, leather, and paper","leather, and paper industries noted marginal increases in production output. Overall, industrial production decreased by 41%.A distinct feature of the Great Depression in Poland was the de-concentration of industry, as larger conglomerates were less flexible and paid their workers more than smaller ones. Unemployment raterose significantly (up to 43%) while nominalwagesfell by 51% in 1933 and 56% in 1934, relative to 1928. However, real wages fell less due to the government's policy of decreasing cost of living, particularly food expenditures (food prices were down by 65% in 1935 compared to 1928 price levels). Material conditions deprivation led to strikes, some of them violent or violently pacified – like inSanok(March of the Hungry in Sanok6 March 1930),Lesko county(Lesko uprising21 June – 9 July 1932) andZawiercie(Bloody Friday (1930)18 April 1930). To adapt to the crisis, Polish government employed deflation methods such as highinterest rates, credit limits and budgetausterityto keep afixed exchange","afixed exchange ratewith currencies tied to the gold standard. Only in late 1932 did the government effect a plan to fight the economic crisis.Part of the plan was masspublic worksscheme, employing up to 100,000 people in 1935.After Piłsudski's death, in 1936 the gold standard regime was relaxed, and launching the development of theCentral Industrial Regionkicked off the economy, to over 10% annual growth rate in the 1936–1938 period. Portugal Already under the rule of a dictatorial junta, theDitadura Nacional, Portugal suffered no turbulent political effects of the Depression, althoughAntónio de Oliveira Salazar, already appointed Minister of Finance in 1928 greatly expanded his powers and in 1932 rose toPrime Minister of Portugalto found theEstado Novo, anauthoritariancorporatistdictatorship. With the budget balanced in 1929, the effects of the depression were relaxed through harsh measures towardsbudget balanceandautarky, causing social discontent but stability and, eventually, an impressive economic","impressive economic growth. Puerto Rico In the years immediately preceding the depression, negative developments in the island and world economies perpetuated an unsustainable cycle of subsistence for many Puerto Rican workers. The 1920s brought a dramatic drop in Puerto Rico's two primary exports, raw sugar and coffee, due to a devastating hurricane in 1928 and the plummeting demand from global markets in the latter half of the decade. 1930 unemployment on the island was roughly 36% and by 1933 Puerto Rico's per capita income dropped 30% (by comparison, unemployment in the United States in 1930 was approximately 8% reaching a height of 25% in 1933).To provide relief and economic reform, the United States government and Puerto Rican politicians such asCarlos ChardonandLuis Muñoz Maríncreated and administered first the Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration (PRERA) 1933 and then in 1935, thePuerto Rico Reconstruction Administration(PRRA). Romania Romania was also affected by the Great Depression. South","Depression. South Africa As world trade slumped, demand for South African agricultural and mineral exports fell drastically. TheCarnegie Commission on Poor Whiteshad concluded in 1931 that nearly one-third ofAfrikanerslived as paupers. The social discomfort caused by the depression was a contributing factor in the 1933 split between the \"gesuiwerde\" (purified) and \"smelter\" (fusionist) factions within theNational Partyand the National Party's subsequent fusion with theSouth African Party.Unemployment programs were begun that focused primarily on the white population. Soviet Union The Soviet Union was the only majorsocialist statein the world and had very little international trade. Its economy was not tied to the rest of the world and was mostly unaffected by the Great Depression. At the time of the Depression, the Soviet economy was growing steadily, fuelled by intensive investment in heavy industry. The apparent economic success of the Soviet Union at a time when the capitalist world was in crisis led many","in crisis led many Western intellectuals to view the Soviet system favorably. Jennifer Burns wrote: As the Great Depression ground on and unemployment soared, intellectuals began unfavorably comparing their faltering capitalist economy to Russian Communism. Karl Marx had predicted that capitalism would fall under the weight of its own contradictions, and now with the economic crisis gripping the West, his predictions seem to be coming true. By contrast Russia seemed an emblematic modern nation, making the staggering leap from a feudal past to an industrial future with ease. The early years of the Great Depression caused mass immigration to the Soviet Union, including 10,000 to 15,000 from Finland and thousands more from Poland, Sweden, Germany, and other nearby countries. The Kremlin was at first happy to help these immigrants settle, believing that they were victims of capitalism who had come to help the Soviet cause. However, by 1933, the worst of the Depression had come to an end in many countries, and","many countries, and word had been received that illegal migrants to the Soviet Union were being sent to Siberia. These factors caused immigration to the Soviet Union to slow significantly, and roughly a tenth of Finnish migrants returned to Finland, either legally or illegally. Spain Spain had a relatively isolated economy, with high protective tariffs and was not one of the main countries affected by the Depression. The banking system held up well, as did agriculture. By far the most serious negative impact came after 1936 from the heavy destruction of infrastructure and manpower by thecivil war, 1936–39. Many talented workers were forced into permanent exile. By staying neutral in the Second World War, and selling to both sides, the economy avoided further disasters. Sweden By the 1930s, Sweden had what America'sLife magazinecalled in 1938 the \"world's highest standard of living\". Sweden was also the first country worldwide to recover completely from the Great Depression. Taking place amid a short-lived","amid a short-lived government and a less-than-a-decade old Swedish democracy, events such as those surroundingIvar Kreuger(who eventually committed suicide) remain infamous in Swedish history. TheSocial DemocratsunderPer Albin Hanssonformed their first long-lived government in 1932 based on stronginterventionistandwelfare statepolicies, monopolizing the office ofPrime Ministeruntil 1976 with the sole and short-lived exception ofAxel Pehrsson-Bramstorp's \"summer cabinet\" in 1936. During forty years of hegemony, it was the most successful political party in the history of Western liberal democracy. Thailand In Thailand, then known as theKingdom of Siam, the Great Depression contributed to the end of theabsolute monarchy of King Rama VIIin theSiamese revolution of 1932. Turkey Turkey was badly affected by the Great Depression and it came at a time when the state was still reforming its economic policy following the end of theOttomanera. Exports ofgrapes, which held an important share, were down considerably","down considerably which had already started beforehand due to drought. United Kingdom The World Depression broke at a time when the United Kingdom had still not fully recovered from the effects of theFirst World Warmore than a decade earlier. The country was driven off thegold standardin 1931. The world financial crisis began to overwhelm Britain in 1931; investors around the world started withdrawing their gold from London at the rate of £2.5 million per day.Credits of £25 million each from the Bank of France and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and an issue of £15 million fiduciary note slowed, but did not reverse the British crisis. The financial crisis now caused a major political crisis in Britain in August 1931. With deficits mounting, the bankers demanded a balanced budget; the divided cabinet of Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald's Labour government agreed; it proposed to raise taxes, cut spending and most controversially, to cut unemployment benefits by 20%. The attack on welfare was totally","welfare was totally unacceptable to the Labour movement. MacDonald wanted to resign, but King George V insisted he remain and form an all-party coalition \"National Government\". The Conservative and Liberals parties signed on, along with a small cadre of Labour, but the vast majority of Labour leaders denounced MacDonald as a traitor for leading the new government. Britain went off the gold standard, and suffered relatively less than other major countries in the Great Depression. In the 1931 British election, the Labour Party was virtually destroyed, leaving MacDonald as prime minister for a largely Conservative coalition. The effects on the northern industrial areas of Britain were immediate and devastating, as demand for traditional industrial products collapsed. By the end of 1930 unemployment had more than doubled from 1 million to 2.5 million (20% of the insured workforce), and exports had fallen in value by 50%. In 1933, 30% ofGlaswegianswere unemployed due to the severe decline in heavy industry. In","heavy industry. In some towns and cities in the north east, unemployment reached as high as 70% as shipbuilding fell by 90%.TheNational Hunger Marchof September–October 1932 was the largestof a series ofhunger marchesin Britain in the 1920s and 1930s. About 200,000 unemployed men were sent to the work camps, which continued in operation until 1939. In the less industrialMidlandsandSouthern England, the effects were short-lived and the later 1930s were a prosperous time. Growth in modern manufacture of electrical goods and a boom in the motor car industry was helped by a growing southern population and an expandingmiddle class. Agriculture also saw a boom during this period. United States Hoover's first measures to combat the depression were based on encouraging businesses not to reduce their workforce or cut wages but businesses had little choice: wages were reduced, workers were laid off, and investments postponed. In June 1930, Congress approved theSmoot–Hawley Tariff Actwhich raised tariffs on thousands","on thousands of imported items. The intent of the Act was to encourage the purchase of American-made products by increasing the cost of imported goods, while raising revenue for the federal government and protecting farmers. Most countries that traded with the U.S. increased tariffs on American-made goods in retaliation, reducing international trade, and worsening the Depression. In 1931, Hoover urged bankers to set up theNational Credit Corporationso that big banks could help failing banks survive. But bankers were reluctant to invest in failing banks, and the National Credit Corporation did almost nothing to address the problem. By 1932, unemployment had reached 23.6%, peaking in early 1933 at 25%.Those releasing from prison during this period had an especially difficult time finding employment given the stigma of their criminal records, which often led to recidivism out of economic desperation.Drought persisted in the agricultural heartland, businesses and families defaulted on record numbers of loans,","numbers of loans, and more than 5,000 banks had failed.Hundreds of thousands of Americans found themselves homeless, and began congregating inshanty towns– dubbed \"Hoovervilles\" – that began to appear across the country.In response, President Hoover and Congress approved theFederal Home Loan Bank Act, to spur new home construction, and reduce foreclosures. The final attempt of the Hoover Administration to stimulate the economy was the passage of theEmergency Relief and Construction Act(ERA) which included funds forpublic worksprograms such as dams and the creation of theReconstruction Finance Corporation(RFC) in 1932. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was a Federal agency with the authority to lend up to $2 billion to rescue banks and restore confidence in financial institutions. But $2 billion was not enough to save all the banks, andbank runsand bank failures continued.Quarter by quarter the economy went downhill, as prices, profits and employment fell, leading to thepolitical realignmentin 1932 that","1932 that brought to powerFranklin Delano Roosevelt. Shortly after PresidentFranklin Delano Rooseveltwas inaugurated in 1933, drought and erosion combined to cause theDust Bowl, shifting hundreds of thousands ofdisplaced personsoff their farms in the Midwest. From his inauguration onward, Roosevelt argued that restructuring of the economy would be needed to prevent another depression or avoid prolonging the current one. New Deal programs sought to stimulatedemandand provide work and relief for the impoverished through increased government spending and the institution of financial reforms. During a \"bank holiday\" that lasted five days, theEmergency Banking Actwas signed into law. It provided for a system of reopening sound banks underTreasurysupervision, with federal loans available if needed. TheSecurities Act of 1933comprehensively regulated the securities industry. This was followed by theSecurities Exchange Act of 1934which created theSecurities and Exchange Commission. Although amended, key provisions of","key provisions of both Acts are still in force. Federal insurance ofbank depositswas provided by theFDIC, and theGlass–Steagall Act. TheAgricultural Adjustment Actprovided incentives to cut farm production in order to raise farming prices. TheNational Recovery Administration(NRA) made a number of sweeping changes to the American economy. It forced businesses to work with government to set price codes through the NRA to fightdeflationary\"cut-throat competition\" by the setting of minimum prices andwages, labor standards, and competitive conditions in all industries. It encouraged unions that would raise wages, to increase thepurchasing powerof theworking class. The NRAwas deemed unconstitutionalby theSupreme Court of the United Statesin 1935. These reforms, together with several other relief and recovery measures, are called theFirst New Deal. Economic stimulus was attempted through a newalphabet soup of agenciesset up in 1933 and 1934 and previously extant agencies such as theReconstruction Finance","Finance Corporation. By 1935, the \"Second New Deal\" addedSocial Security(which was later considerably extended through theFair Deal), a jobs program for the unemployed (theWorks Progress Administration, WPA) and, through theNational Labor Relations Board, a strong stimulus to the growth of labor unions. In 1929, federal expenditures constituted only 3% of theGDP. The national debt as a proportion of GNP rose under Hoover from 20% to 40%. Roosevelt kept it at 40% until the war began, when it soared to 128%. By 1936, the maineconomic indicatorshad regained the levels of the late 1920s, except for unemployment, which remained high at 11%, although this was considerably lower than the 25% unemployment rate seen in 1933. In the spring of 1937, American industrial production exceeded that of 1929 and remained level until June 1937. In June 1937, the Roosevelt administration cut spending and increased taxation in an attempt to balance the federal budget.The American economy then took a sharp downturn, lasting for","lasting for 13 months through most of 1938. Industrial production fell almost 30 per cent within a few months and production ofdurable goodsfell even faster. Unemployment jumped from 14.3% in 1937 to 19.0% in 1938, rising from 5 million to more than 12 million in early 1938.Manufacturing output fell by 37% from the 1937 peak and was back to 1934 levels. Producers reduced their expenditures on durable goods, and inventories declined, but personal income was only 15% lower than it had been at the peak in 1937. As unemployment rose, consumers' expenditures declined, leading to further cutbacks in production. By May 1938 retail sales began to increase, employment improved, and industrial production turned up after June 1938.After the recovery from the Recession of 1937–38, conservatives were able to form a bipartisanconservative coalitionto stop further expansion of the New Deal and, when unemployment dropped to 2% in the early 1940s, they abolished WPA, CCC and the PWA relief programs. Social Security remained","Security remained in place. Between 1933 and 1939, federal expenditure tripled, and Roosevelt's critics charged that he was turning America into asocialiststate.The Great Depression was a main factor in the implementation ofsocial democracyandplanned economiesin European countries after World War II (seeMarshall Plan).Keynesianismgenerally remained the most influential economic school in the United States and in parts of Europe until the periods between the 1970s and the 1980s, whenMilton Friedmanand otherneoliberaleconomists formulated and propagated the newly created theories ofneoliberalismand incorporated them into theChicago School of Economicsas an alternative approach to the study of economics. Neoliberalism went on to challenge the dominance of the Keynesian school of Economics in the mainstream academia and policy-making in the United States, having reached its peak in popularity in the election of the presidency ofRonald Reaganin the United States, andMargaret Thatcherin theUnited Kingdom.","theUnited Kingdom. Literature And the great owners, who must lose their land in an upheaval, the great owners with access to history, with eyes to read history and to know the great fact: when property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. And that companion fact: when a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need. And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed. –John Steinbeck,The Grapes of Wrath The Great Depression has been the subject of much writing, as authors have sought to evaluate an era that caused both financial and emotional trauma. Perhaps the most noteworthy and famous novel written on the subject isThe Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and written byJohn Steinbeck, who was awarded thePulitzer Prizefor the work, and in 1962 was awarded theNobel Prizefor literature. The novel focuses on a poor family of sharecroppers who are forced from their home as drought, economic","drought, economic hardship, and changes in theagricultural industryoccur during the Great Depression. Steinbeck'sOf Mice and Menis another important novella about a journey during the Great Depression. Additionally, Harper Lee'sTo Kill a Mockingbirdis set during the Great Depression. Margaret Atwood's Booker prize-winningThe Blind Assassinis likewise set in the Great Depression, centering on a privileged socialite's love affair with a Marxist revolutionary. The era spurred the resurgence of social realism, practiced by many who started their writing careers on relief programs, especially theFederal Writers' Projectin the U.S.Nonfiction works from this time also capture important themes. The 1933 memoirPrison Days and NightsbyVictor Folke Nelsonprovides insight into criminal justice ramifications of the Great Depression, especially in regard to patterns of recidivism due to lack of economic opportunity. A number of works for younger audiences are also set during the Great Depression, among them theKit","among them theKit Kittredgeseries ofAmerican Girlbooks written byValerie Trippand illustrated byWalter Rane, released to tie in with the dolls and playsets sold by the company. The stories, which take place during the early to mid 1930s inCincinnati, focuses on the changes brought by the Depression to the titular character's family and how the Kittredges dealt with it.A theatrical adaptation of the series entitledKit Kittredge: An American Girlwas later released in 2008 to positive reviews.Similarly,Christmas After All, part of theDear Americaseries of books for older girls, take place in 1930sIndianapolis; whileKit Kittredgeis told in a third-person viewpoint,Christmas After Allis in the form of a fictional journal as told by the protagonist Minnie Swift as she recounts her experiences during the era, especially when her family takes in an orphan cousin from Texas. Naming The term \"The Great Depression\" is most frequently attributed to British economistLionel Robbins, whose 1934 bookThe Great Depressionis","Great Depressionis credited with formalizing the phrase,though Hoover is widely credited with popularizing the term,informally referring to the downturn as a depression, with such uses as \"Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement\" (December 1930, Message to Congress), and \"I need not recount to you that the world is passing through a great depression\" (1931). The term \"depression\" to refer to an economic downturn dates to the 19th century, when it was used by varied Americans and British politicians and economists. The first major American economic crisis, thePanic of 1819, was described by then-presidentJames Monroeas \"a depression\",and the most recent economic crisis, theDepression of 1920–21, had been referred to as a \"depression\" by then-presidentCalvin Coolidge. Financial crises were traditionally referred to as \"panics\", most recently the majorPanic of 1907, and the minorPanic of 1910–11, though the 1929 crisis was called \"The Crash\", and the term \"panic\" has","term \"panic\" has since fallen out of use. At the time of the Great Depression, the term \"The Great Depression\" was already used to refer to the period 1873–96 (in the United Kingdom), or more narrowly 1873–79 (in the United States), which has retroactively been renamed theLong Depression. Other \"great depressions\" Thecollapse of the Soviet Union, and the breakdown of economic ties which followed, led to a severe economic crisis and catastrophic fall in thestandards of livingin the 1990s inpost-Soviet statesand the formerEastern Bloc,which was even worse than the Great Depression.Even before Russia'sfinancial crisisof 1998, Russia's GDP was half of what it had been in the early 1990s. Comparison with the Great Recession Theworldwide economic decline after 2008has been compared to the 1930s. Thecauses of the Great Recessionseem similar to the Great Depression, but significant differences exist. The then-chairman of theFederal Reserve,Ben Bernanke, had extensively studied the Great Depression as part of his","as part of his doctoral work at MIT, and implemented policies to manipulate the money supply and interest rates in ways that were not done in the 1930s. Bernanke's policies will undoubtedly be analyzed and scrutinized in the years to come, as economists debate the wisdom of his choices. In 2011, one journalist contrasted the Great Depression of the 1930s as opposed to thelate-2000s recession. If we contrast the 1930s with the Crash of 2008 where gold went through the roof, it is clear that the U.S. dollar on the gold standard was a completely different animal in comparison to the fiat free-floating U.S. dollar currency we have today. Both currencies in 1929 and 2008 were the U.S. dollar, but analogously it is as if one was aSaber-toothed tigerand the other is aBengal tiger; they are two completely different animals. Where we have experienced inflation since the Crash of 2008, the situation was much different in the 1930s when deflation set in. Unlike the deflation of the early 1930s, the U.S. economy","the U.S. economy currently appears to be in a \"liquidity trap\", or a situation where monetary policy is unable to stimulate an economy back to health.In terms of the stock market, nearly three years after the 1929 crash, theDJIAdropped 8.4% on 12 August 1932. Where we have experienced great volatility with large intraday swings in the past two months, in 2011, we have not experienced any record-shattering daily percentage drops to the tune of the 1930s. Where many of us may have that '30s feeling, in light of the DJIA, the CPI, and the national unemployment rate, we are simply not living in the '30s. Some individuals may feel as if we are living in a depression, but for many others the currentglobal financial crisissimply does not feel like a depression akin to the 1930s. 1928 and 1929 were the times in the 20th century that thewealth gapreached such skewed extremes;half the unemployed had been out of work for over six months, something that was not repeated until the late-2000s recession. 2007 and 2008","2007 and 2008 eventually saw the world reach new levels of wealth gap inequality that rivalled the years of 1928 and 1929. See also General References Further reading Global Europe United States and Canada Other areas Focus on economic theory or econometrics Comprehensive Employment and Training Act"],"string":"[\n \"World War I World War Ior theFirst World War(28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as theGreat War, was aglobal conflictbetween two coalitions: theAllies(or Entente) and theCentral Powers. Fighting took place mainly inEuropeand theMiddle East, as well as in parts ofAfricaand theAsia-Pacific, and in Europe was characterised bytrench warfareand the use ofartillery, machine guns, andchemical weapons(gas). World War I was one of thedeadliest conflicts in history, resulting in an estimated9 million military dead and 23 million wounded, plus up to 8 million civilian deaths from causes includinggenocide. The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in theSpanish flupandemic, which killed millions. Thecauses of World War Iincluded the rise ofGermanyanddecline of the Ottoman Empire, which disturbed the long-standingbalance of powerin Europe, as well as economic competition between nations triggered byindustrialisationandimperialism. Growing tensions between thegreat powersand in theBalkansreacheda\",\n \"theBalkansreacheda breaking pointon 28 June 1914, when aBosnian SerbnamedGavrilo Principassassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to theAustro-Hungarianthrone. Austria-Hungary heldSerbiaresponsible, and declared war on 28 July. AfterRussiamobilised in Serbia's defence, Germany declared war on Russia; by 4 August,Franceand theUnited Kingdomwere drawn in, with the Ottomans joining in November.Germany's strategy in 1914was to quickly defeat France, then to transfer its forces to the east. However, this failed, and by the end of the year theWestern Frontconsisted of a continuous line of trenches stretching from the English Channel to Switzerland. TheEastern Frontwas more dynamic, but neither side gained a decisive advantage, despite costly offensives.Italy,Bulgaria,Romania,Greeceand others joined in from 1915 onward. In April 1917, theUnited States entered the waron the Allied side following Germany's resumption ofunrestricted submarine warfareagainst Atlantic shipping. Later that year, theBolsheviksseized\",\n \"theBolsheviksseized power in the RussianOctober Revolution;Soviet Russiasignedan armisticewith the Central Powers in December, followed bya separate peacein March 1918. That month, Germany launchedan offensive in the west, which despite initial successes left theGerman Armyexhausted and demoralised.A successful Allied counter-offensivefrom August 1918 caused a collapse of the German front line. By early November, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary had each signed armistices with the Allies, leaving Germany isolated. Facinga revolution at home,Kaiser WilhelmIIabdicated on 9 November, and the war ended with theArmistice of 11 November 1918. TheParis Peace Conferenceof 1919–1920 imposed settlements on the defeated powers, most notably theTreaty of Versailles, by which Germany lost significant territories, was disarmed, and was required to pay largewar reparationsto the Allies. The dissolution of the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires redrew national boundaries and resulted in\",\n \"and resulted in the creation of new independent states, includingPoland,Finland, theBaltic states,Czechoslovakia, andYugoslavia. TheLeague of Nationswas established to maintain world peace, but its failure to manage instability during theinterwar periodcontributed to the outbreak ofWorld War IIin 1939. Names BeforeWorld War II, the events of 1914–1918 were generally known as theGreat Waror simply theWorld War.In August 1914, the magazineThe Independentwrote \\\"This is the Great War. It names itself\\\".In October 1914, the Canadian magazineMaclean'ssimilarly wrote, \\\"Some wars name themselves. This is the Great War.\\\"Contemporary Europeans also referred to it as \\\"the war to end war\\\" and it was also described as \\\"the war to end all wars\\\" due to their perception of its unparalleled scale, devastation, and loss of life.The first recorded use of the termFirst World Warwas in September 1914 by German biologist and philosopherErnst Haeckelwho stated, \\\"There is no doubt that the course and character of the feared\",\n \"of the feared 'European War' ... will become the first world war in the full sense of the word.\\\" Background Political and military alliances For much of the 19th century, the major European powers maintained a tenuousbalance of power, known as theConcert of Europe.After 1848, this was challenged by Britain's withdrawal into so-calledsplendid isolation, thedecline of the Ottoman Empire,New Imperialism, and the rise ofPrussiaunderOtto von Bismarck. Victory in the 1870–1871Franco-Prussian Warallowed Bismarck toconsolidateaGerman Empire. Post-1871, the primary aim of French policy was toavengethis defeat,but by the early 1890s, this had switched to the expansion of theFrench colonial empire. In 1873, Bismarck negotiated theLeague of the Three Emperors, which includedAustria-Hungary,Russiaand Germany. After the 1877–1878Russo-Turkish War, the League was dissolved due to Austrian concerns over the expansion of Russian influence in theBalkans, an area they considered to be of vital strategic interest.Germanyand\",\n \"interest.Germanyand Austria-Hungary then formed the 1879Dual Alliance, which became theTriple Alliancewhen Italy joined in 1882.For Bismarck, the purpose of these agreements was to isolate France by ensuring the three Empires resolve any disputes between themselves. In 1887, Bismarck set up theReinsurance Treaty, a secret agreement between Germany and Russia to remain neutral if either were attacked by France or Austria-Hungary. For Bismarck, peace with Russia was the foundation of German foreign policy but in 1890, he was forced to retire byWilhelm II. The latter was persuaded not to renew the Reinsurance Treaty by his newChancellor,Leo von Caprivi.This gave France an opening to agree theFranco-Russian Alliancein 1894, which was then followed by the 1904Entente Cordialewith Britain. TheTriple Ententewas completed by the 1907Anglo-Russian Convention. While not formal alliances, by settlinglong-standing colonial disputes in Asiaand Africa, British support for France or Russia in any future conflict became a\",\n \"conflict became a possibility.This was accentuated by British and Russian support for France against Germany during the 1911Agadir Crisis. Arms race German economic and industrial strength continued to expand rapidly post-1871. Backed by Wilhelm II, AdmiralAlfred von Tirpitzsought to use this growth to build anImperial German Navy, that could compete with the BritishRoyal Navy.This policy was based on the work of US naval authorAlfred Thayer Mahan, who argued that possession of ablue-water navywas vital for global power projection; Tirpitz had his books translated into German, while Wilhelm made them required reading for his advisors and senior military personnel. However, it was also an emotional decision, driven by Wilhelm's simultaneous admiration for the Royal Navy and desire to surpass it. Bismarck thought that the British would not interfere in Europe, as long as its maritime supremacy remained secure, but his dismissal in 1890 led to a change in policy and anAnglo-German naval arms racebegan.Despite\",\n \"racebegan.Despite the vast sums spent by Tirpitz, the launch ofHMSDreadnoughtin 1906 gave the British a technological advantage.Ultimately, the race diverted huge resources into creating a German navy large enough to antagonise Britain, but not defeat it; in 1911, ChancellorTheobald von Bethmann Hollwegacknowledged defeat, leading to theRüstungswendeor 'armaments turning point', when he switched expenditure from the navy to the army. This decision was not driven by a reduction in political tensions but by German concern over Russia's quick recovery from its defeat in theRusso-Japanese Warand subsequent1905 Russian Revolution. Economic reforms led to a significant post-1908 expansion of railways and transportation infrastructure, particularly in its western border regions.Since Germany and Austria-Hungary relied on faster mobilisation to compensate for their numerical inferiority compared to Russia, the threat posed by the closing of this gap was more important than competing with the Royal Navy. After\",\n \"Royal Navy. After Germany expanded its standing army by 170,000 troops in 1913, France extended compulsory military service from two to three years; similar measures were taken by theBalkan powersand Italy, which led to increased expenditure by theOttomansand Austria-Hungary. Absolute figures are difficult to calculate due to differences in categorising expenditure since they often omit civilian infrastructure projects like railways which had logistical importance and military use. It is known, however, that from 1908 to 1913, military spending by the six major European powers increased by over 50% in real terms. Conflicts in the Balkans The years before 1914 were marked by a series of crises in the Balkans, as other powers sought to benefit from the Ottoman decline. WhilePan-SlavicandOrthodoxRussia considered itself the protector ofSerbiaand otherSlavstates, they preferred the strategically vitalBosporusstraits to be controlled by a weak Ottoman government, rather than an ambitious Slav power likeBulgaria.\",\n \"power likeBulgaria. Russia had ambitions in northeasternAnatoliawhile its clients had overlapping claims in the Balkans. These competing interests divided Russian policy-makers and added to regional instability. Austrian statesmen viewed the Balkans as essential for the continued existence of their Empire and saw Serbian expansion as a direct threat. The 1908–1909Bosnian Crisisbegan when Austria annexed the former Ottoman territory ofBosnia and Herzegovina, which ithad occupiedsince 1878. Timed to coincide with theBulgarian Declaration of Independencefrom the Ottoman Empire, this unilateral action was denounced by the European powers, but accepted as there was no consensus on how to resolve the situation. Some historians see this as a significant escalation, ending any chance of Austria cooperating with Russia in the Balkans, while also damaging diplomatic relations between Serbia and Italy. Tensions increased after the 1911–1912Italo-Turkish Wardemonstrated Ottoman weakness and led to the formation of\",\n \"to the formation of theBalkan League, an alliance of Serbia, Bulgaria,Montenegro, andGreece.The League quickly overran most of the Ottomans' territory in the Balkans during the 1912–1913First Balkan War, much to the surprise of outside observers.The Serbian capture of ports on theAdriaticresulted in partial Austrian mobilisation, starting on 21 November 1912, including units along the Russian border inGalicia. TheRussian governmentdecided not to mobilise in response, unprepared to precipitate a war. The Great Powers sought to re-assert control through the 1913Treaty of London, which had created an independentAlbaniawhile enlarging the territories of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece. However, disputes between the victors sparked the 33-daySecond Balkan War, when Bulgaria attacked Serbia and Greece on 16 June 1913; it was defeated, losing most ofMacedoniato Serbia and Greece, andSouthern Dobrujato Romania.The result was that even countries which benefited from the Balkan Wars, such as Serbia and Greece,\",\n \"Serbia and Greece, felt cheated of their \\\"rightful gains\\\", while for Austria it demonstrated the apparent indifference with which other powers viewed their concerns, including Germany.This complex mix of resentment, nationalism and insecurity helps explain why the pre-1914 Balkans became known as the \\\"powder keg of Europe\\\". Prelude Sarajevo assassination On 28 June 1914,Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to EmperorFranz Joseph I of Austria, visitedSarajevo, the capital of the recently annexedBosnia and Herzegovina.Cvjetko Popović,Gavrilo Princip,Nedeljko Čabrinović,Trifko Grabež,Vaso Čubrilović(Bosnian Serbs) andMuhamed Mehmedbašić(from theBosniakscommunity),from the movement known asYoung Bosnia, took up positions along the Archduke's motorcade route, to assassinate him. Supplied with arms by extremists within the SerbianBlack Handintelligence organisation, they hoped his death would free Bosnia from Austrian rule. Čabrinović threw agrenadeat the Archduke's car and injured two of his\",\n \"injured two of his aides. The other assassins were also unsuccessful. An hour later, as Ferdinand was returning from visiting the injured officers in hospital, his car took a wrong turn into a street whereGavrilo Principwas standing. He fired two pistol shots, fatally wounding Ferdinand and his wifeSophie. According to historianZbyněk Zeman, in Vienna \\\"the event almost failed to make any impression whatsoever. On 28 and 29 June, the crowds listened to music and drank wine, as if nothing had happened.\\\"Nevertheless, the impact of the murder of the heir to the throne was significant, and has been described by historianChristopher Clarkas a \\\"9/11 effect, a terrorist event charged with historic meaning, transforming the political chemistry in Vienna\\\". Expansion of violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina Austro-Hungarian authorities encouraged subsequentanti-Serb riots in Sarajevo.Violent actions against ethnic Serbs were also organised outside Sarajevo, in other cities in Austro-Hungarian-controlled Bosnia and\",\n \"Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. Austro-Hungarian authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina imprisoned approximately 5,500 prominent Serbs, 700 to 2,200 of whom died in prison. A further 460 Serbs were sentenced to death. A predominantly Bosniak special militia known as theSchutzkorpswas established, and carried out the persecution of Serbs. July Crisis The assassination initiated the July Crisis, a month of diplomatic manoeuvring between Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, France and Britain. Believing that Serbian intelligence helped organise Franz Ferdinand's murder, Austrian officials wanted to use the opportunity to end their interference in Bosnia and saw war as the best way of achieving this.However, theForeign Ministryhad no solid proof of Serbian involvement.On 23July, Austria delivered anultimatumto Serbia, listing ten demands made intentionally unacceptable to provide an excuse for starting hostilities. Serbia ordered generalmobilizationon 25July, but accepted all the terms, except for\",\n \"terms, except for those empowering Austrian representatives to suppress \\\"subversive elements\\\" inside Serbia, and take part in the investigation and trial of Serbians linked to the assassination.Claiming this amounted to rejection, Austria broke off diplomatic relations and ordered partial mobilisation the next day; on 28 July, they declared war on Serbia and began shellingBelgrade. Russia ordered general mobilization in support of Serbia on 30 July. Anxious to ensure backing from theSPDpolitical opposition by presenting Russia as the aggressor, German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg delayed the commencement of war preparations until 31 July.That afternoon, the Russian government were handed a note requiring them to \\\"cease all war measures against Germany and Austria-Hungary\\\" within 12 hours.A further German demand for neutrality was refused by the French who ordered general mobilization but delayed declaring war.TheGerman General Staffhad long assumed they faced a war on two fronts; theSchlieffen Planenvisaged\",\n \"Planenvisaged using 80% of the army to defeat France, then switching to Russia. Since this required them to move quickly, mobilization orders were issued that afternoon.Once the German ultimatum to Russia expired on the morning of 1 August, the two countries were at war. At a meeting on 29 July, the British cabinet had narrowly decided its obligations to Belgium under the 1839Treaty of Londondid not require it to oppose a German invasion with military force; however, Prime MinisterAsquithand his senior Cabinet ministers were already committed to supporting France, the Royal Navy had been mobilised, and public opinion was strongly in favour of intervention.On 31 July, Britain sent notes to Germany and France, asking them to respect Belgian neutrality; France pledged to do so, but Germany did not reply.Aware of German plans to attack through Belgium, French Commander-in-ChiefJoseph Joffreasked his government for permission to cross the border and pre-empt such a move. To avoid violating Belgian neutrality, he\",\n \"neutrality, he was told any advance could come only after a German invasion.Instead, the French cabinet ordered its Army to withdraw 10 km behind the German frontier, to avoid provoking war. On 2 August,Germany occupied Luxembourgand exchanged fire with French units when German patrols entered French territory; on 3August, they declared war on France and demanded free passage across Belgium, which was refused. Early on the morning of 4August, the Germans invaded, andAlbert I of Belgiumcalled for assistance under theTreaty of London.Britain sent Germany an ultimatum demanding they withdraw from Belgium; when this expired at midnight, without a response, the two empires were at war. Progress of the war Opening hostilities Confusion among the Central Powers Germany promised to support Austria-Hungary's invasion of Serbia, but interpretations of what this meant differed. Previously tested deployment plans had been replaced early in 1914, but those had never been tested in exercises. Austro-Hungarian leaders\",\n \"leaders believed Germany would cover its northern flank against Russia. Serbian campaign Beginning on 12 August, the Austrians and Serbs clashed at the battles of theCerandKolubara; over the next two weeks, Austrian attacks were repulsed with heavy losses. As a result, Austria had to keep sizeable forces on the Serbian front, weakening their efforts against Russia.Serbia's victory against Austria-Hungary in the 1914 invasion has been called one of the major upset victories of the twentieth century.In 1915, the campaign saw the first use ofanti-aircraft warfareafter an Austrian plane was shot down withground-to-airfire, as well as the firstmedical evacuationby the Serbian army. German offensive in Belgium and France Upon mobilisation, in accordance with theSchlieffen Plan, 80% of theGerman Armywas located on the Western Front, with the remainder acting as a screening force in the East. Rather than a direct attack across their shared frontier, the German right wing would sweep through theNetherlandsandBelgium,\",\n \"then swing south, encircling Paris and trapping the French army against the Swiss border. The plan's creator,Alfred von Schlieffen, head of theGerman General Stafffrom 1891 to 1906, estimated that this would take six weeks, after which the German army would transfer to the East and defeat the Russians. The plan was substantially modified by his successor,Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. Under Schlieffen, 85% of German forces in the west were assigned to the right wing, with the remainder holding along the frontier. By keeping his left-wing deliberately weak, he hoped to lure the French into an offensive into the \\\"lost provinces\\\" ofAlsace-Lorraine, which was the strategy envisaged by theirPlan XVII.However, Moltke grew concerned that the French might push too hard on his left flank and as the German Army increased in size from 1908 to 1914, he changed the allocation of forces between the two wings to 70:30.He also considered Dutch neutrality essential for German trade and cancelled the incursion into the\",\n \"incursion into the Netherlands, which meant any delays in Belgium threatened the viability of the plan.HistorianRichard Holmesargues that these changes meant the right wing was not strong enough to achieve decisive success. The initial German advance in the West was very successful. By the end of August, the Allied left, which included theBritish Expeditionary Force(BEF), was infull retreat, and the French offensive in Alsace-Lorraine was a disastrous failure, with casualties exceeding 260,000.German planning provided broad strategic instructions while allowing army commanders considerable freedom in carrying them out at the front, butvon Kluckused this freedom to disobey orders, opening a gap between the German armies as they closed on Paris.The French army, reinforced by the British expeditionary corps, seized this opportunity to counter-attack and pushed the German army 40 to 80 km back. Both armies were then so exhausted that no decisive move could be implemented, so they settled in trenches, with the\",\n \"trenches, with the vain hope of breaking through as soon as they could build local superiority. In 1911, the RussianStavkaagreed with the French to attack Germany within fifteen days of mobilisation, ten days before the Germans had anticipated, although it meant the two Russian armies that enteredEast Prussiaon 17 August did so without many of their support elements. By the end of 1914, German troops held strong defensive positions inside France, controlled the bulk of France's domestic coalfields, and inflicted 230,000 more casualties than it lost itself. However, communications problems and questionable command decisions cost Germany the chance of a decisive outcome, while it had failed to achieve the primary objective of avoiding a long, two-front war.As was apparent to several German leaders, this amounted to a strategic defeat; shortly after theFirst Battle of the Marne,Crown Prince Wilhelmtold an American reporter \\\"We have lost the war. It will go on for a long time but lost it is already.\\\" Asia and\",\n \"already.\\\" Asia and the Pacific On 30 August 1914, New Zealandoccupied German Samoa(nowSamoa). On 11 September, theAustralian Naval and Military Expeditionary Forcelanded on the island ofNew Britain, then part ofGerman New Guinea. On 28 October, the German cruiserSMSEmdensank theRussian cruiserZhemchugin theBattle of Penang. Japan declared war on Germany before seizing territories in the Pacific, which later became theSouth Seas Mandate, as well as GermanTreaty portson the ChineseShandongpeninsula atTsingtao. After Vienna refused to withdraw its cruiserSMSKaiserin Elisabethfrom Tsingtao, Japan declared war on Austria-Hungary, and the ship was sunk in November 1914.Within a few months, Allied forces had seized all German territories in the Pacific, leaving only isolated commerce raiders and a few holdouts in New Guinea. African campaigns Some of the first clashes of the war involved British, French, and German colonial forces in Africa. On 6–7 August, French and British troops invaded the German protectorates\",\n \"protectorates ofTogolandandKamerun. On 10 August, German forces inSouth-West Africaattacked South Africa; sporadic and fierce fighting continued for the rest of the war. The German colonial forces inGerman East Africa, led by ColonelPaul von Lettow-Vorbeck, fought aguerrilla warfarecampaign and only surrendered two weeks after the armistice took effect in Europe. Indian support for the Allies Before the war, Germany had attempted to use Indian nationalism and pan-Islamism to its advantage, a policy continued post-1914 byinstigating uprisings in India, while theNiedermayer–Hentig Expeditionurged Afghanistan to join the war on the side of Central Powers. However, contrary to British fears of a revolt in India, the outbreak of the war saw a reduction in nationalist activity.Leaders from theIndian National Congressand other groups believed support for the British war effort would hastenIndian Home Rule, a promise allegedly made explicit in 1917 byEdwin Montagu, theSecretary of State for India. In 1914,\",\n \"for India. In 1914, theBritish Indian Armywas larger than the British Army itself, and between 1914 and 1918 an estimated 1.3 million Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In all, 140,000 soldiers served on the Western Front and nearly 700,000 in the Middle East, with 47,746 killed and 65,126 wounded.The suffering engendered by the war, as well as the failure of the British government to grant self-government to India afterward, bred disillusionment, resulting inthe campaign for full independenceled byMahatma Gandhi. Western Front 1914 to 1916 Trench warfare begins Pre-war military tactics that had emphasised open warfare and individual riflemen proved obsolete when confronted with conditions prevailing in 1914. Technological advances allowed the creation of strong defensive systems largely impervious to massed infantry advances, such asbarbed wire, machine guns and above all far more powerfulartillery, which dominated the battlefield and made crossing open ground\",\n \"open ground extremely difficult.Both sides struggled to develop tactics for breaching entrenched positions without heavy casualties. In time, technology enabled the production of new offensive weapons, such asgas warfareand thetank. After theFirst Battle of the Marnein September 1914, Allied and German forces unsuccessfully tried to outflank each other, a series of manoeuvres later known as the \\\"Race to the Sea\\\". By the end of 1914, the opposing forces confronted each other along an uninterrupted line of entrenched positions from theChannelto the Swiss border.Since the Germans were normally able to choose where to stand, they generally held the high ground, while their trenches tended to be better built; those constructed by the French and English were initially considered \\\"temporary\\\", only needed until an offensive would destroy the German defences.Both sides tried to break the stalemate using scientific and technological advances. On 22 April 1915, at theSecond Battle of Ypres, the Germans (violating\",\n \"Germans (violating theHague Convention) usedchlorinegas for the first time on the Western Front. Several types of gas soon became widely used by both sides and though it never proved a decisive, battle-winning weapon, it became one of the most feared and best-remembered horrors of the war. Continuation of trench warfare In February 1916, the Germans attacked French defensive positions at theBattle of Verdun, lasting until December 1916. Casualties were greater for the French, but the Germans bled heavily as well, with anywhere from 700,000to 975,000casualties between the two combatants. Verdun became a symbol of French determination and self-sacrifice. TheBattle of the Sommewas an Anglo-French offensive from July to November 1916. Theopening dayon 1 July 1916 was the bloodiest single day in the history of theBritish Army, which suffered 57,500 casualties, including 19,200 dead. As a whole, the Somme offensive led to an estimated 420,000 British casualties, along with 200,000 French and 500,000 Germans.The\",\n \"500,000 Germans.The diseases that emerged in the trenches were a major killer on both sides. The living conditions led to disease and infection, such astrench foot,lice,typhus,trench fever, and the 'Spanish flu'. Naval war At the start of the war, Germancruiserswere scattered across the globe, some of which were subsequently used to attack Alliedmerchant shipping. These were systematically hunted down by the Royal Navy, though not before causing considerable damage. One of the most successful was theSMSEmden, part of the GermanEast Asia Squadronstationed atQingdao, which seized or sank 15 merchantmen, a Russian cruiser and a French destroyer. Most of the squadron was returning to Germany when it sank two British armoured cruisers at theBattle of Coronelin November 1914, before being virtually destroyed at theBattle of the Falkland Islandsin December. TheSMSDresdenescaped with a few auxiliaries, but after theBattle of Más a Tierra, these too were either destroyed or interned. Soon after the outbreak of\",\n \"the outbreak of hostilities, Britain began a navalblockade of Germany. This proved effective in cutting off vital supplies, though it violated accepted international law.Britain also mined international waters which closed off entire sections of the ocean, even to neutral ships.Since there was limited response to this tactic, Germany expected a similar response to its unrestricted submarine warfare. TheBattle of Jutlandin May/June 1916 was the only full-scale clash of battleships during the war, and one of the largest in history. The clash was indecisive, though the Germans inflicted more damage than they received; thereafter the bulk of the GermanHigh Seas Fleetwas confined to port. GermanU-boatsattempted to cut the supply lines between North America and Britain.The nature ofsubmarine warfaremeant that attacks often came without warning, giving the crews of the merchant ships little hope of survival.The United States launched a protest, and Germany changed its rules of engagement. After the sinking of the\",\n \"the sinking of the passenger shipRMSLusitaniain 1915, Germany promised not to target passenger liners, while Britain armed its merchant ships, placing them beyond the protection of the \\\"cruiser rules\\\", which demanded warning and movement of crews to \\\"a place of safety\\\" (a standard that lifeboats did not meet).Finally, in early 1917, Germany adopted a policy ofunrestricted submarine warfare, realising the Americans would eventually enter the war.Germany sought to strangle Alliedsea lanesbefore the United States could transport a large army overseas, but, after initial successes, eventually failed to do so. The U-boat threat lessened in 1917, when merchant ships began travelling inconvoys, escorted bydestroyers. This tactic made it difficult for U-boats to find targets, which significantly lessened losses; after thehydrophoneanddepth chargeswere introduced, destroyers could potentially successfully attack a submerged submarine. Convoys slowed the flow of supplies since ships had to wait as convoys were\",\n \"as convoys were assembled; the solution was an extensive program of building new freighters. Troopships were too fast for the submarines and did not travel the North Atlantic in convoys.The U-boats sunk more than 5,000 Allied ships, at the cost of 199 submarines. World War I also saw the first use ofaircraft carriersin combat, withHMSFuriouslaunchingSopwith Camelsin a successful raid against theZeppelinhangars atTondernin July 1918, as well asblimpsfor antisubmarine patrol. Southern theatres War in the Balkans Faced with Russia in the east, Austria-Hungary could spare only one-third of its army to attack Serbia. After suffering heavy losses, the Austrians briefly occupied the Serbian capital,Belgrade. A Serbian counter-attack in the Battle of Kolubara succeeded in driving them from the country by the end of 1914. For the first 10 months of 1915, Austria-Hungary used most of its military reserves to fight Italy. German and Austro-Hungarian diplomats scored a coup by persuading Bulgaria to join the attack on\",\n \"join the attack on Serbia.The Austro-Hungarian provinces ofSlovenia, Croatia andBosniaprovided troops for Austria-Hungary. Montenegro allied itself with Serbia. Bulgaria declared war on Serbia on 14 October 1915 and joined in the attack by the Austro-Hungarian army under Mackensen's army of 250,000 that was already underway. Serbia was conquered in a little more than a month, as the Central Powers, now including Bulgaria, sent in 600,000 troops in total. The Serbian army, fighting on two fronts and facing certain defeat, retreated into northernAlbania. The Serbs suffered defeat in theBattle of Kosovo. Montenegro covered the Serbian retreat toward the Adriatic coast in theBattle of Mojkovacon 6–7 January 1916, but ultimately the Austrians also conquered Montenegro. The surviving Serbian soldiers were evacuated to Greece.After the conquest, Serbia was divided between Austro-Hungary and Bulgaria. In late 1915, a Franco-British force landed atSalonicain Greece to offer assistance and to pressure its government\",\n \"its government to declare war against the Central Powers. However, the pro-GermanKing Constantine Idismissed the pro-Allied government ofEleftherios Venizelosbefore the Allied expeditionary force arrived. The Macedonian front was at first mostly static. French and Serbian forces retook limited areas of Macedonia by recapturingBitolaon 19 November 1916 following the costlyMonastir offensive, which brought stabilisation of the front. Serbian and French troops finally made a breakthrough in September 1918 in theVardar offensive, after most German and Austro-Hungarian troops had been withdrawn. The Bulgarians were defeated at theBattle of Dobro Pole, and by 25 September British and French troops had crossed the border into Bulgaria proper as the Bulgarian army collapsed. Bulgaria capitulated four days later, on 29 September 1918.The German high command responded by despatching troops to hold the line, but these forces were too weak to re-establish a front. The disappearance of the Macedonian front meant that the\",\n \"meant that the road toBudapestand Vienna was now opened to Allied forces. Hindenburg and Ludendorff concluded that the strategic and operational balance had now shifted decidedly against theCentral Powersand, a day after the Bulgarian collapse, insisted on an immediate peace settlement. Ottoman Empire The Ottomans threatened Russia'sCaucasianterritories and Britain's communications with India via theSuez Canal. The Ottoman Empire took advantage of the European powers' preoccupation with the war and conducted large-scale ethnic cleansing of theArmenian,Greek, andAssyrianChristian populations—theArmenian genocide,Greek genocide, andSayforespectively. The British and French opened overseas fronts with theGallipoli(1915) andMesopotamian campaigns(1914). In Gallipoli, the Ottoman Empire successfully repelled the British, French, andAustralian and New Zealand Army Corps(ANZACs). InMesopotamia, by contrast, after the defeat of the British defenders in thesiege of Kutby the Ottomans (1915–1916), British Imperial\",\n \"British Imperial forces reorganised and capturedBaghdadin March 1917. The British were aided in Mesopotamia by local Arab and Assyrian fighters, while the Ottomans employed localKurdishandTurcomantribes. TheSuez Canalwas defended from Ottoman attacks in 1915 and 1916; in August 1916, a German and Ottoman force was defeated at theBattle of Romaniby theANZAC Mounted Divisionand the52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division. Following this victory, anEgyptian Expeditionary Forceadvanced across theSinai Peninsula, pushing Ottoman forces back in theBattle of Magdhabain December and theBattle of Rafaon the border between the EgyptianSinaiand Ottoman Palestine in January 1917. Russian armies generally had success in theCaucasus campaign.Enver Pasha, supreme commander of the Ottoman armed forces, dreamed of re-conquering central Asia and areas that had been previously lost to Russia. He was, however, a poor commander.He launched an offensive against the Russians in the Caucasus in December 1914 with 100,000 troops, insisting\",\n \"troops, insisting on a frontal attack against mountainous Russian positions in winter. He lost 86% of his force at theBattle of Sarikamish.GeneralYudenich, the Russian commander from 1915 to 1916, drove the Turks out of most of the southernCaucasus. The Ottoman Empire, with German support, invaded Persia (modernIran) in December 1914 to cut off British and Russian access topetroleum reservoirsaroundBaku.Persia, ostensibly neutral, had long been under British and Russian influence. The Ottomans and Germans were aided byKurdishandAzeriforces, together with a large number of major Iranian tribes, while the Russians and British had the support of Armenian and Assyrian forces. ThePersian campaignlasted until 1918 and ended in failure for the Ottomans and their allies. However, the Russian withdrawal from the war in 1917 led Armenian and Assyrian forces to be cut off from supply lines, outnumbered, outgunned and isolated, forcing them to fight and flee towards British lines in northern Mesopotamia. TheArab Revolt,\",\n \"TheArab Revolt, instigated by the BritishForeign Office, started in June 1916 with theBattle of Mecca, led bySharif Hussein. The Sharif declared the independence of theKingdom of Hejazand, with British assistance, conquered much of Ottoman-held Arabia, resulting finally in the Ottoman surrender of Damascus.Fakhri Pasha, the Ottoman commander ofMedina, resisted for more than2+1⁄2years during thesiege of Medinabefore surrendering in January 1919. TheSenussitribe, along the border ofItalian LibyaandBritish Egypt, incited and armed by the Turks, waged a small-scaleguerrilla waragainst Allied troops. The British were forced to dispatch 12,000 troops to oppose them in theSenussi campaign. Their rebellion was finally crushed in mid-1916. Total Allied casualties on the Ottoman fronts amounted to 650,000 men. Total Ottoman casualties were 725,000, with 325,000 dead and 400,000 wounded. Italian Front Though Italy joined the Triple Alliance in 1882, a treaty with its traditional Austrian enemy was so controversial that\",\n \"controversial that subsequent governments denied its existence and the terms were only made public in 1915.This arose fromnationalistdesigns on Austro-Hungarian territory inTrentino, theAustrian Littoral,RijekaandDalmatia, considered vital to secure the borders established in1866.In 1902, Rome secretly had agreed with France to remain neutral if the latter was attacked by Germany, effectively nullifying its role in the Triple Alliance. When the war began in 1914, Italy argued the Triple Alliance was defensive and it was not obliged to support an Austrian attack on Serbia. Opposition to joining the Central Powers increased when Turkey became a member in September, since in1911Italy had occupied Ottoman possessions inLibyaand theDodecaneseislands.To secure Italian neutrality, the Central Powers offered themTunisia, while in return for an immediate entry into the war, the Allies agreed to their demands for Austrian territory and sovereignty over the Dodecanese.Although they remained secret, these provisions\",\n \"these provisions were incorporated into the April 1915Treaty of London; Italy joined the Triple Entente and, on 23 May, declared war on Austria-Hungary,followed by Germany fifteen months later. The pre-1914 Italian army was short of officers, trained men, adequate transport and modern weapons; by April 1915, some of these deficiencies had been remedied but it was still unprepared for the major offensive required by the Treaty of London.The advantage of superior numbers was offset by the difficult terrain; much of the fighting took place high in theAlpsandDolomites, where trench lines had to be cut through rock and ice and keeping troops supplied was a major challenge. These issues were exacerbated by unimaginative strategies and tactics.Between 1915 and 1917, the Italian commander,Luigi Cadorna, undertooka series of frontal assaults along the Isonzo, which made little progress and cost many lives; by the end of the war, Italian combat deaths totalled around 548,000. In the spring of 1916, the\",\n \"spring of 1916, the Austro-Hungarians counterattacked inAsiagoin theStrafexpedition, but made little progress and were pushed by the Italians back to Tyrol.Although Italy occupied southernAlbaniain May 1916, their main focus was the Isonzo front which, after thecapture of Goriziain August 1916, remained static until October 1917. After a combined Austro-German force won a major victory atCaporetto, Cadorna was replaced byArmando Diazwho retreated more than 100 kilometres (62 mi) before holding positions along thePiave River.A second Austrianoffensive was repulsedin June 1918. On 24 October, Diaz launched theBattle of Vittorio Venetoand initially met stubborn resistance,but with Austria-Hungary collapsing, Hungarian divisions in Italy demanded they be sent home.When this was granted, many others followed and the Imperial army disintegrated, the Italians taking over 300,000 prisoners.On 3November, theArmistice of Villa Giustiended hostilities between Austria-Hungary and Italy which occupiedTriesteand areas\",\n \"areas along theAdriatic Seaawarded to it in 1915. Eastern Front Initial actions As previously agreed with French presidentRaymond Poincaré, Russian plans at the start of the war were to simultaneously advance intoAustrian Galiciaand East Prussia as soon as possible. Although theirattack on Galiciawas largely successful, and the invasions achieved their aim of forcing Germany to divert troops from the Western Front, the speed of mobilisation meant they did so without much of their heavy equipment and support functions. These weaknesses contributed to Russian defeats atTannenbergand theMasurian Lakesin August and September 1914, forcing them to withdraw from East Prussia with heavy losses.By spring 1915, they had also retreated from Galicia, and the May 1915Gorlice–Tarnów offensiveallowed the Central Powers to invadeRussian-occupied Poland. Despite the successful June 1916Brusilov offensiveagainst the Austrians in eastern Galicia,shortages of supplies, heavy losses and command failures prevented the Russians\",\n \"the Russians from fully exploiting their victory. However, it was one of the most significant offensives of the war, diverting German resources fromVerdun, relieving Austro-Hungarian pressure on the Italians, and convincing Romania to enter the war on the side of the Allies on 27 August. It also fatally weakened both the Austrian and Russian armies, whose offensive capabilities were badly affected by their losses and increased disillusion with the war that ultimately led to the Russian revolutions. Meanwhile, unrest grew in Russia asthe Tsarremained at the front, with the home front controlled byEmpress Alexandra. Her increasingly incompetent rule and food shortages in urban areas led to widespread protests and the murder of her favourite,Grigori Rasputin, at the end of 1916. Romanian participation Despite secretly agreeing to support the Triple Alliance in 1883, Romania increasingly found itself at odds with the Central Powers over their support for Bulgaria in the Balkan Wars and the status of ethnic\",\n \"status of ethnic Romanian communities inHungarian-controlledTransylvania,which comprised an estimated 2.8 million of the 5.0 million population.With the ruling elite split into pro-German and pro-Entente factions,Romania remained neutral for two years while allowing Germany and Austria to transport military supplies and advisors across Romanian territory. In September 1914, Russia acknowledged Romanian rights to Austro-Hungarian territories including Transylvania andBanat, whose acquisition had widespread popular support,and Russian success against Austria led Romania to join the Entente in the August 1916Treaty of Bucharest.Under the strategic plan known asHypothesis Z, the Romanian army planned an offensive into Transylvania, while defending SouthernDobrujaandGiurgiuagainst a possible Bulgarian counterattack.On 27 August 1916, theyattacked Transylvaniaand occupied substantial parts of the province before being driven back by the recently formedGerman 9th Army, led by former Chief of StaffErich von\",\n \"of StaffErich von Falkenhayn.A combined German-Bulgarian-Turkish offensive captured Dobruja and Giurgiu, although the bulk of the Romanian army managed to escape encirclement and retreated toBucharest, whichsurrenderedto the Central Powers on 6 December 1916. In the summer of 1917, a Central Powers offensive began in Romania under the command of August von Mackensen to knock Romania out of the war, resulting in the battles ofOituz,MărăștiandMărășeștiwhere up to 1,000,000 Central Powers troops were present. The battles lasted from 22 July to 3 September and eventually, the Romanian army was victorious advancing 500 km2. August von Mackensen could not plan for another offensive as he had to transfer troops to the Italian Front.Following the Russian revolution, Romania found itself alone on the Eastern Front and signed theTreaty of Bucharestwith the Central Powers, which recognised Romanian sovereignty overBessarabiain return for ceding control of passes in the Carpathian Mountains to Austria-Hungary and\",\n \"Austria-Hungary and leasing its oil wells to Germany. Although approved byParliament,King Ferdinand Irefused to sign it, hoping for an Allied victory in the west.Romania re-entered the war on 10 November 1918 on the side of the Allies and the Treaty of Bucharest was formally annulled by the Armistice of 11 November 1918. Central Powers peace overtures On 12 December 1916, after ten brutal months of theBattle of Verdunand asuccessful offensive against Romania, Germany attempted to negotiate a peace with the Allies.However, this attempt was rejected out of hand as a \\\"duplicitous war ruse\\\". US presidentWoodrow Wilsonattempted to intervene as a peacemaker, asking for both sides to state their demands.Lloyd George'sWar Cabinet considered the German offer to be a ploy to create divisions among the Allies. After initial outrage and much deliberation, they took Wilson's note as a separate effort, signalling that the US was on the verge of entering the war against Germany following the \\\"submarine outrages\\\". While the\",\n \"While the Allies debated a response to Wilson's offer, the Germans chose to rebuff it in favour of \\\"a direct exchange of views\\\". Learning of the German response, the Allied governments were free to make clear demands in their response of 14 January. They sought restoration of damages, the evacuation of occupied territories, reparations for France, Russia and Romania, and a recognition of the principle of nationalities.The Allies sought guarantees that would prevent or limit future wars.The negotiations failed and the Entente powers rejected the German offer on the grounds of honour, and noted Germany had not put forward any specific proposals. Final years of the war Russian Revolution and withdrawal By the end of 1916, Russian casualties totalled nearly five million killed, wounded or captured, with major urban areas affected by food shortages and high prices. In March 1917, Tsar Nicholas ordered the military to forcibly suppress strikes inPetrogradbut the troops refused to fire on the crowds.Revolutionaries\",\n \"set up thePetrograd Sovietand fearing a left-wing takeover, theState Dumaforced Nicholas to abdicate and established theRussian Provisional Government, which confirmed Russia's willingness to continue the war. However, the Petrograd Soviet refused to disband, creatingcompeting power centresand causing confusion and chaos, with frontline soldiers becoming increasingly demoralised. Following the Tsar's abdication,Vladimir Lenin—with the help of the German government—was ushered from Switzerland into Russia on 16 April 1917. Discontent and the weaknesses of the Provisional Government led to a rise in the popularity of the Bolshevik Party, led by Lenin, which demanded an immediate end to the war. The Revolution of November was followed in December by an armistice and negotiations with Germany. At first, the Bolsheviks refused the German terms, but when German troops began marching across Ukraine unopposed, they acceded to theTreaty of Brest-Litovskon 3March 1918. The treaty ceded vast territories, including\",\n \"including Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and parts of Poland and Ukraine to the Central Powers. With theRussian Empireout of the war, Romania found itself alone on the Eastern Front and signed theTreaty of Bucharestwith the Central Powers in May 1918. Under the terms of the treaty, Romania ceded territory to Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria and leased its oil reserves to Germany. However, the terms also included the Central Powers' recognition of the union ofBessarabiawith Romania. United States enters the war The United States was a major supplier of war material to the Allies but remained neutral in 1914, in large part due to domestic opposition.The most significant factor in creating the support Wilson needed was the German submarine offensive, which not only cost American lives but paralysed trade as ships were reluctant to put to sea. On 6 April 1917, Congressdeclared war on Germanyas an \\\"Associated Power\\\" of the Allies.TheUS Navysent abattleship grouptoScapa Flowto join the Grand Fleet, and provided\",\n \"Fleet, and provided convoy escorts. In April 1917, theUS Armyhad fewer than 300,000 men, includingNational Guardunits, compared to British and French armies of 4.1 and 8.3 million respectively. TheSelective Service Act of 1917drafted 2.8 million men, though training and equipping such numbers was a huge logistical challenge. By June 1918, over 667,000 members of theAmerican Expeditionary Forces(AEF) were transported to France, a figure which reached 2 million by the end of November. Despite his conviction that Germany must be defeated, Wilson went to war to ensure the US played a leading role in shaping the peace, which meant preserving the AEF as a separate military force, rather than being absorbed into British or French units as his Allies wanted.He was strongly supported by AEF commander GeneralJohn J. Pershing, a proponent of pre-1914 \\\"open warfare\\\" who considered the French and British emphasis on artillery misguided and incompatible with American \\\"offensive spirit\\\".Much to the frustration of his\",\n \"frustration of his Allies, who had suffered heavy losses in 1917, he insisted on retaining control of American troops, and refused to commit them to the front line until able to operate as independent units. As a result, the first significant US involvement was theMeuse–Argonne offensivein late September 1918. Nivelle Offensive (April–May 1917) In December 1916,Robert Nivellereplaced Pétain as commander of French armies on the Western Front and began planning aspring attackinChampagne, part of a joint Franco-British operation.Poor security meant German intelligence was well informed on tactics and timetables, but despite this, when the attack began on 16 April the French made substantial gains, before being brought to a halt by the newly built and extremely strong defences of the Hindenburg Line. Nivelle persisted with frontal assaults and, by 25 April, the French had suffered nearly 135,000 casualties, including 30,000 dead, most incurred in the first two days. Concurrent British attacks atArraswere more\",\n \"atArraswere more successful, though ultimately of little strategic value.Operating as a separate unit for the first time, theCanadian Corps' capture ofVimy Ridgeis viewed by many Canadians as a defining moment in creating a sense of national identity.Though Nivelle continued the offensive, on 3 May the21st Division, which had been involved in some of the heaviest fighting at Verdun, refused orders to go into battle, initiating theFrench Army mutinies; within days, \\\"collective indiscipline\\\" had spread to 54 divisions, while over 20,000 deserted. Sinai and Palestine campaign (1917–1918) In March and April 1917, at theFirstandSecond Battles of Gaza, German and Ottoman forces stopped the advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, which had begun in August 1916 at the Battle of Romani.At the end of October 1917, theSinai and Palestine campaignresumed, when GeneralEdmund Allenby'sXXth Corps,XXI CorpsandDesert Mounted Corpswon theBattle of Beersheba.Two Ottoman armies were defeated a few weeks later at theBattle\",\n \"later at theBattle of Mughar Ridgeand, early in December,Jerusalemhad been captured following another Ottoman defeat at theBattle of Jerusalem.About this time,Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressensteinwas relieved of his duties as the Eighth Army's commander, replaced byDjevad Pasha, and a few months later the commander of theOttoman Armyin Palestine,Erich von Falkenhayn, was replaced byOtto Liman von Sanders. In early 1918, the front line wasextendedand theJordan Valleywas occupied, following theFirst Transjordanand theSecond Transjordanattacks by British Empire forces in March and April 1918. German offensive and Allied counter-offensive (March–November 1918) In December 1917, the Central Powers signed an armistice with Russia, thus freeing large numbers of German troops for use in the West. With German reinforcements and new American troops pouring in, the outcome was to be decided on the Western Front. The Central Powers knew that they could not win a protracted war, but they held high hopes for success\",\n \"hopes for success in a final quick offensive.Ludendorff drew up plans (Operation Michael) for the 1918 offensive on the Western Front. The operation commenced on 21 March 1918, with an attack on British forces nearSaint-Quentin. German forces achieved an unprecedented advance of 60 kilometres (37 mi).The initial offensive was a success; after heavy fighting, however, the offensive was halted. Lacking tanks ormotorised artillery, the Germans were unable to consolidate their gains. The problems of re-supply were also exacerbated by increasing distances that now stretched over terrain that was shell-torn and often impassable to traffic.Germany launchedOperation Georgetteagainst the northernEnglish Channelports. The Allies halted the drive after limited territorial gains by Germany. The German Army to the south then conductedOperations Blücher and Yorck, pushing broadly towards Paris. Germany launched Operation Marne (Second Battle of the Marne) on 15 July, in an attempt to encircleReims. The resulting\",\n \"The resulting counter-attack, which started theHundred Days Offensiveon 8 August,led to a marked collapse in German morale. Allied advance to the Hindenburg Line By September, the Germans had fallen back to the Hindenburg Line. The Allies hadadvanced to the Hindenburg Linein the north and centre. German forces launched numerous counterattacks, but positions and outposts of the Line continued falling, with the BEF alone taking 30,441 prisoners in the last week of September. On 24 September, the Supreme Army Command informed the leaders in Berlin that armistice talks were inevitable. Thefinal assaulton the Hindenburg Line began with theMeuse-Argonne offensive, launched by American and French troops on 26 September. Two days later the Belgians, French and Britishattacked around Ypres, and the day after the British at St Quentin in the centre of the line. The following week, cooperating American and French units broke through inChampagneat theBattle of Blanc Mont Ridge(3–27 October), forcing the Germans off the\",\n \"the Germans off the commanding heights, and closing towards the Belgian frontier.On 8October, the Hindenburg Line was pierced by British and Dominion troops of the First and Third British Armies at theSecond Battle of Cambrai. Breakthrough of Macedonian front (September 1918) Allied forces started theVardar offensiveon 15 September at two key points:Dobro Poleand nearDojran Lake. In theBattle of Dobro Pole, the Serbian and French armies had success after a three-day-long battle with relatively small casualties, and subsequently made a breakthrough in the front, something which was rarely seen in World War I. After the front was broken, Allied forces started to liberate Serbia and reachedSkopjeat 29 September, after whichBulgariasigned an armistice with the Allies on 30 September. Armistices and capitulations The collapse of the Central Powers came swiftly. Bulgaria was the first to sign an armistice, theArmistice of Salonicaon 29 September 1918.German EmperorWilhelm IIin a telegram toBulgarian Tsar Ferdinand\",\n \"Tsar Ferdinand Idescribed the situation thus: \\\"Disgraceful! 62,000 Serbs decided the war!\\\".On the same day, theGerman Supreme Army Commandinformed Kaiser Wilhelm II and theImperial ChancellorCountGeorg von Hertling, that the military situation facing Germany was hopeless. On 24 October, the Italians began a push that rapidly recovered territory lost after the Battle of Caporetto. This culminated in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, marking the end of the Austro-Hungarian Army as an effective fighting force. The offensive also triggered the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During the last week of October, declarations of independence were made in Budapest, Prague, and Zagreb. On 29 October, the imperial authorities asked Italy for an armistice, but the Italians continued advancing, reaching Trento, Udine, and Trieste. On 3November, Austria-Hungary sent aflag of truceand accepted theArmistice of Villa Giusti, arranged with the Allied Authorities in Paris. Austria and Hungary signed separate\",\n \"signed separate armistices following the overthrow of theHabsburg monarchy. In the following days, the Italian Army occupiedInnsbruckand allTyrol, with over 20,000 soldiers. On 30 October, the Ottoman Empire capitulated, and signed the Armistice of Mudros. German government surrenders With the military faltering and with widespread loss of confidence in the Kaiser leading to his abdication and fleeing of the country, Germany moved towards surrender. Prince Maximilian of Baden took charge on October 3 as Chancellor of Germany. Negotiations with President Wilson began immediately, in the hope that he would offer better terms than the British and French. Wilson demanded a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary control over the German military. TheGerman Revolution of 1918–1919began at the end of October 1918. Units of the German Navy refused to set sail for a last, large-scale operation in a war they believed to be as good as lost. Thesailors' revolt, which then ensued in the naval ports\",\n \"in the naval ports ofWilhelmshavenandKiel, spread across the whole country within days and led to theproclamation of a republicon 9November 1918, shortly thereafter to theabdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and German surrender. Aftermath In the aftermath of the war, the German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian empires disappeared.Numerous nations regained their former independence, and new ones were created. Four dynasties fell as a result of the war: theRomanovs, theHohenzollerns, theHabsburgs, and theOttomans. Belgium and Serbia were badly damaged, as was France, with 1.4 million soldiers dead,not counting other casualties. Germany and Russia were similarly affected. Formal end of the war A formal state of war between the two sides persisted for another seven months, until the signing of theTreaty of Versailleswith Germany on 28 June 1919. The US Senate did not ratify the treaty despite public support for it,and did not formally end its involvement in the war until theKnox–Porter Resolutionwas signed\",\n \"signed on 2July 1921 by PresidentWarren G. Harding.For the British Empire, the state of war ceased under the provisions of theTermination of the Present War (Definition) Act 1918concerning: Somewar memorialsdate the end of the war as being when the Versailles Treaty was signed in 1919, which was when many of the troops serving abroad finally returned home; by contrast, most commemorations of the war's end concentrate on the armistice of 11 November 1918. Peace treaties and national boundaries TheParis Peace Conferenceimposed a series of peace treaties on the Central Powers officially ending the war. The 1919Treaty of Versaillesdealt with Germany and, building onWilson's 14th point, established theLeague of Nationson 28 June 1919. The Central Powers had to acknowledge responsibility for \\\"all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by\\\" their aggression. In the Treaty of Versailles, this statement\",\n \"this statement wasArticle 231. This article became known as the \\\"War Guilt Clause\\\", as the majority of Germans felt humiliated and resentful.The Germans felt they had been unjustly dealt with by what they called the \\\"diktatof Versailles\\\". German historian Hagen Schulze said the Treaty placed Germany \\\"under legal sanctions, deprived of military power, economically ruined, and politically humiliated.\\\"Belgian historian Laurence Van Ypersele emphasises the central role played by memory of the war and the Versailles Treaty in German politics in the 1920s and 1930s: Active denial of war guilt in Germany and German resentment at both reparations and continued Allied occupation of the Rhineland made widespread revision of the meaning and memory of the war problematic. The legend of the \\\"stab in the back\\\" and the wish to revise the \\\"Versailles diktat\\\", and the belief in an international threat aimed at the elimination of the German nation persisted at the heart of German politics. Even a man of peace such as\",\n \"of peace such as Stresemann publicly rejected German guilt. As for the Nazis, they waved the banners of domestic treason and international conspiracy in an attempt to galvanise the German nation into a spirit of revenge. Like a Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany sought to redirect the memory of the war to the benefit of its policies. Meanwhile, new nations liberated from German rule viewed the treaty as a recognition of wrongs committed against small nations by much larger aggressive neighbours. Austria-Hungary was partitioned into several successor states, largely but not entirely along ethnic lines. Apart from Austria and Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia received territories from the Dual Monarchy (the formerly separate and autonomousKingdom of Croatia-Slavoniawas incorporated into Yugoslavia). The details were contained in the treaties ofSaint-Germain-en-LayeandTrianon. As a result, Hungary lost 64% of its total population, decreasing from 20.9 million to 7.6 million, and losing\",\n \"million, and losing 31% (3.3 out of 10.7 million) of its ethnicHungarians.According to the 1910 census, speakers of the Hungarian language included approximately 54% of the entire population of theKingdom of Hungary. Within the country, numerous ethnic minorities were present: 16.1%Romanians, 10.5%Slovaks, 10.4%Germans, 2.5%Ruthenians, 2.5%Serbsand 8% others.Between 1920 and 1924, 354,000 Hungarians fled former Hungarian territories attached to Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. The Russian Empire lost much of its western frontier as the newly independent nations ofEstonia,Finland,Latvia,Lithuania, andPolandwere carved from it. Romania took control of Bessarabia in April 1918. National identities After 123 years, Poland re-emerged as an independent country. The Kingdom of Serbia and its dynasty, as a \\\"minor Entente nation\\\" and the country with the most casualties per capita,became the backbone of a new multinational state, theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later renamed Yugoslavia.\",\n \"renamed Yugoslavia. Czechoslovakia, combining theKingdom of Bohemiawith parts of the Kingdom of Hungary, became a new nation. Romania woulduniteall Romanian-speaking people under a single state, leading toGreater Romania. In Australia and New Zealand, the Battle of Gallipoli became known as those nations' \\\"Baptism of Fire\\\". It was the first major war in which the newly established countries fought, and it was one of the first times that Australian troops fought as Australians, not just subjects of theBritish Crown, and independent national identities for these nations took hold.Anzac Day, commemorating the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), celebrates this defining moment. In the aftermath of World War I, Greecefoughtagainst Turkish nationalists led byMustafa Kemal, a war that eventually resulted in amassive population exchange between the two countriesunder the Treaty of Lausanne.According to various sources,several hundred thousand Greeks died during this period, which was tied in with the\",\n \"tied in with the Greek genocide. Casualties Of the 60 million European military personnel who were mobilised from 1914 to 1918, an estimated8 million were killed, 7 million were permanently disabled, and 15 million were seriously injured. Germany lost 15.1% of its active male population, Austria-Hungary lost 17.1%, and France lost 10.5%.France mobilised 7.8 million men, of which 1.4 million died and 3.2 million were injured.Approximately 15,000 deployed men sustained gruesome facial injuries, causing social stigma and marginalisation; they were called thegueules cassées(broken faces). In Germany, civilian deaths were 474,000 higher than in peacetime, due in large part to food shortages and malnutrition that had weakened disease resistance. These excess deaths are estimated as 271,000 in 1918, plus another 71,000 in the first half of 1919 when the blockade was still in effect.Starvation caused by famine killed approximately 100,000 people in Lebanon. Diseases flourished in the chaotic wartime conditions. In\",\n \"conditions. In 1914 alone, louse-borneepidemic typhuskilled 200,000 in Serbia.Starting in early 1918, a major influenza epidemic known asSpanish fluspread across the world, accelerated by the movement of large numbers of soldiers, often crammed together in camps and transport ships with poor sanitation. The Spanish flu killed at least 17 to 25 million people,including an estimated 2.64 million Europeans and as many as 675,000 Americans.Between 1915 and 1926, an epidemic ofencephalitis lethargicaaffected nearly five million people worldwide. Eight millionequinesmostlyhorses,donkeysandmulesdied, three-quarters of them from the extreme conditions they worked in. War crimes Chemical weapons in warfare The German army was the first to successfully deploy chemical weapons during the Second Battle of Ypres (April–May 1915), after German scientists under the direction ofFritz Haberat theKaiser Wilhelm Institutedeveloped a method to weaponizechlorine.The use of chemical weapons had been sanctioned by the German High\",\n \"by the German High Command to force Allied soldiers out of their entrenched positions, complementing rather than supplanting more lethal conventional weapons.Chemical weapons were deployed by all major belligerents throughout the war, inflicting approximately 1.3 million casualties, of which about 90,000 were fatal.The use of chemical weapons in warfare was a direct violation of the1899 Hague Declaration Concerning Asphyxiating Gasesand the1907 Hague Convention on Land Warfare, which prohibited their use. Genocides by the Ottoman Empire Theethnic cleansingof the Ottoman Empire's Armenian population, including mass deportations and executions, during the final years of the Ottoman Empire is consideredgenocide.The Ottomans carried out organised and systematic massacres of the Armenian population at the beginning of the war and manipulated acts of Armenian resistance by portraying them as rebellions to justify further extermination.In early 1915, several Armenians volunteered to join the Russian forces and the\",\n \"forces and the Ottoman government used this as a pretext to issue theTehcir Law(Law on Deportation), which authorised the deportation of Armenians from the Empire's eastern provinces to Syria between 1915 and 1918. The Armenians were intentionallymarched to deathand a number were attacked by Ottoman brigands.While the exact number of deaths is unknown, theInternational Association of Genocide Scholarsestimates around 1.5 million.The government of Turkey continues todeny the genocideto the present day, arguing that those who died were victims of inter-ethnic fighting, famine, or disease during World WarI; these claims are rejected by most historians. Other ethnic groups were similarly attacked by the Ottoman Empire during this period, including Assyrians andGreeks, and some scholars consider those events to be part of the same policy of extermination.At least 250,000 Assyrian Christians, about half of the population, and 350,000–750,000AnatolianandPontic Greekswere killed between 1915 and 1922. Prisoners of\",\n \"1922. Prisoners of war About 8 million soldiers surrendered and were held inPOW campsduring the war. All nations pledged to follow theHague Conventionson fair treatment ofprisoners of war, and the survival rate for POWs was generally much higher than that of combatants at the front. Around 25–31% of Russian losses (as a proportion of those captured, wounded, or killed) were to prisoner status; for Austria-Hungary 32%; for Italy 26%; for France 12%; for Germany 9%; for Britain 7%. Prisoners from the Allied armies totalled about 1.4 million (not including Russia, which lost 2.5–3.5 million soldiers as prisoners). From the Central Powers, about 3.3 million soldiers became prisoners; most of them surrendered to Russians. Soldiers' experiences Allied personnel was around 42,928,000, while Central personnel was near 25,248,000.British soldiers of the war were initially volunteers but were increasinglyconscripted. Surviving veterans returning home often found they could discuss their experiences only among\",\n \"only among themselves, so formed \\\"veterans' associations\\\" or \\\"Legions\\\". Conscription Conscription was common in most European countries. However, it was controversial in English-speaking countries,It was especially unpopular among minority ethnicities—especially the Irish Catholics in Ireland,Australia,and the French Catholics in Canada. In the US, conscription began in 1917 and was generally well-received, with a few pockets of opposition in isolated rural areas.The administration decided to rely primarily on conscription, rather than voluntary enlistment, to raise military manpower after only 73,000 volunteers enlisted out of the initial 1 million target in the first six weeks of war. Military attachés and war correspondents Military and civilian observers from every major power closely followed the course of the war.Many were able to report on events from a perspective somewhat akin to modern \\\"embedded\\\" positions within the opposing land and naval forces. Economic effects Macro- and micro-economic\",\n \"and micro-economic consequences devolved from the war. Families were altered by the departure of many men. With the death or absence of the primary wage earner, women were forced into the workforce in unprecedented numbers. At the same time, the industry needed to replace the lost labourers sent to war. This aided the struggle forvoting rights for women. In all nations, the government's share of GDP increased, surpassing 50% in both Germany and France and nearly reaching that level in Britain. To pay for purchases in the US, Britain cashed in its extensive investments in American railroads and then began borrowing heavily fromWall Street. President Wilson was on the verge of cutting off the loans in late 1916 but allowed a great increase inUS governmentlending to the Allies. After 1919, the US demanded repayment of these loans. The repayments were, in part, funded by German reparations that, in turn, were supported by American loans to Germany. This circular system collapsed in 1931 and some loans were never\",\n \"loans were never repaid. Britain still owed the United States $4.4billionof World WarI debt in 1934; the last installment was finally paid in 2015. Britain turned to her colonies for help in obtaining essential war materials whose supply from traditional sources had become difficult. Geologists such asAlbert Kitsonwere called on to find new resources of precious minerals in the African colonies. Kitson discovered important new deposits ofmanganese, used in munitions production, in theGold Coast. Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles (the so-called \\\"war guilt\\\" clause) stated Germany accepted responsibility for \\\"all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies.\\\"It was worded as such to lay a legal basis for reparations, and a similar clause was inserted in the treaties with Austria and Hungary. However, neither of them interpreted it as an admission of war\",\n \"an admission of war guilt.In 1921, the total reparation sum was placed at 132 billion gold marks. However, \\\"Allied experts knew that Germany could not pay\\\" this sum. The total sum was divided into three categories, with the third being \\\"deliberately designed to be chimerical\\\" and its \\\"primary function was to mislead public opinion ... into believing the 'total sum was being maintained.'\\\"Thus, 50 billion gold marks (12.5 billion dollars) \\\"represented the actual Allied assessment of German capacity to pay\\\" and \\\"therefore ... represented the total German reparations\\\" figure that had to be paid. This figure could be paid in cash or in-kind (coal, timber, chemical dyes, etc.). Some of the territory lost—via the Treaty of Versailles—was credited towards the reparation figure as were other acts such as helping to restore the Library of Louvain.By 1929, theGreat Depressioncaused political chaos throughout the world.In 1932 the payment of reparations was suspended by the international community, by which point\",\n \"by which point Germany had paid only the equivalent of 20.598 billion gold marks.With the rise of Adolf Hitler, all bonds and loans that had been issued and taken out during the 1920s and early 1930s were cancelled.David Andelmannotes \\\"Refusing to pay doesn't make an agreement null and void. The bonds, the agreement, still exist.\\\" Thus, following the Second World War, at theLondon Conferencein 1953, Germany agreed to resume payment on the money borrowed. On 3October 2010, Germany made the final payment on these bonds. The Australian prime minister,Billy Hughes, wrote to the British prime minister,David Lloyd George, \\\"You have assured us that you cannot get better terms. I much regret it, and hope even now that some way may be found of securing agreement for demanding reparation commensurate with the tremendous sacrifices made by the British Empire and her Allies.\\\" Australia received £5,571,720 in war reparations, but the direct cost of the war to Australia had been £376,993,052, and, by the mid-1930s,\",\n \"by the mid-1930s, repatriation pensions, war gratuities, interest and sinking fund charges were £831,280,947. Support and opposition for the war Support In the Balkans,Yugoslav nationalistssuch as the leader,Ante Trumbić, strongly supported the war, desiring the freedom ofYugoslavsfrom Austria-Hungary and other foreign powers and the creation of an independent Yugoslavia. TheYugoslav Committee, led by Trumbić, was formed in Paris on 30 April 1915 but shortly moved its office to London.In April 1918, the Rome Congress of Oppressed Nationalities met, includingCzechoslovak, Italian,Polish,Transylvanian, and Yugoslav representatives who urged the Allies to support nationalself-determinationfor the peoples residing within Austria-Hungary. In the Middle East,Arab nationalismsoared in Ottoman territories in response to the rise of Turkish nationalism during the war, with Arab nationalist leaders advocating the creation of apan-Arabstate. In 1916, the Arab Revolt began in Ottoman-controlled territories of the Middle\",\n \"of the Middle East to achieve independence. In East Africa,Iyasu VofEthiopiawas supporting theDervish statewho were at war with the British in theSomaliland campaign.Von Syburg, the German envoy inAddis Ababa, said, \\\"now the time has come for Ethiopia to regain the coast of the Red Sea driving the Italians home, to restore the Empire to its ancient size.\\\" The Ethiopian Empire was on the verge of entering World WarI on the side of the Central Powers before Iyasu's overthrow at theBattle of Segaledue to Allied pressure on the Ethiopian aristocracy. Several socialist parties initially supported the war when it began in August 1914.But European socialists split on national lines, with the concept ofclass conflictheld by radical socialists such as Marxists andsyndicalistsbeing overborne by their patriotic support for the war.Once the war began, Austrian, British, French, German, and Russian socialists followed the rising nationalist current by supporting their countries' intervention in the war. Italian\",\n \"in the war. Italian nationalismwas stirred by the outbreak of the war and was initially strongly supported by a variety of political factions. One of the most prominent and popular Italian nationalist supporters of the war wasGabriele D'Annunzio, who promotedItalian irredentismand helped sway the Italian public to support intervention in the war.TheItalian Liberal Party, under the leadership ofPaolo Boselli, promoted intervention in the war on the side of the Allies and used the Dante Alighieri Society to promote Italian nationalism.Italian socialists were divided on whether to support the war or oppose it; some were militant supporters of the war, includingBenito MussoliniandLeonida Bissolati.However, theItalian Socialist Partydecided to oppose the war after anti-militarist protestors were killed, resulting in ageneral strikecalledRed Week.The Italian Socialist Party purged itself of pro-war nationalist members, including Mussolini.Mussolini formed the pro-interventionistIl Popolo d'Italiaand theFasci\",\n \"theFasci Rivoluzionario d'Azione Internazionalista(\\\"RevolutionaryFascifor International Action\\\") in October 1914 that later developed into theFasci Italiani di Combattimentoin 1919, the origin of fascism.Mussolini's nationalism enabled him to raise funds fromAnsaldo(an armaments firm) and other companies to createIl Popolo d'Italiato convince socialists and revolutionaries to support the war. Patriotic funds On both sides, there was large-scale fundraising for soldiers' welfare, their dependents and those injured. TheNail Menwere a German example. Around the British Empire, there were many patriotic funds, including theRoyal Patriotic Fund Corporation,Canadian Patriotic Fund,Queensland Patriotic Fundand, by 1919, there were 983 funds in New Zealand.At the start of the next world war the New Zealand funds were reformed, having been criticised as overlapping, wasteful and abused,but 11 were still functioning in 2002. Opposition Many countries jailed those who spoke out against the conflict. These\",\n \"the conflict. These includedEugene Debsin the US andBertrand Russellin Britain. In the US, theEspionage Act of 1917andSedition Act of 1918made it a federal crime to oppose military recruitment or make any statements deemed \\\"disloyal\\\". Publications at all critical of the government were removed from circulation by postal censors,and many served long prison sentences for statements of fact deemed unpatriotic. Several nationalists opposed intervention, particularly within states that the nationalists were hostile to. Although the vast majority of Irish people consented to participate in the war in 1914 and 1915, a minority of advancedIrish nationalistshad staunchly opposed taking part.The war began amid the Home Rule crisis in Ireland that had resurfaced in 1912, and by July 1914 there was a serious possibility of an outbreak of civil war in Ireland. Irish nationalists and Marxists attempted to pursue Irish independence, culminating in theEaster Risingof 1916, with Germany sending 20,000 rifles to Ireland to\",\n \"to Ireland to stir unrest in Britain.The British government placed Ireland undermartial lawin response to the Easter Rising, though once the immediate threat of revolution had dissipated, the authorities did try to make concessions to nationalist feeling.However, opposition to involvement in the war increased in Ireland, resulting in theConscription Crisis of 1918. Other opposition came fromconscientious objectors—some socialist, some religious—who had refused to fight. In Britain, 16,000 people asked for conscientious objector status.Some of them, most notably prominent peace activistStephen Hobhouse, refused both military andalternative service.Many suffered years of prison, includingsolitary confinement. Even after the war, in Britain, many job advertisements were marked \\\"No conscientious objectors need to apply\\\". On 1–4 May 1917, about 100,000 workers and soldiers ofPetrograd, and after them, the workers and soldiers of other Russian cities, led by the Bolsheviks, demonstrated under banners reading \\\"Down\",\n \"reading \\\"Down with the war!\\\" and \\\"all power to the Soviets!\\\". The mass demonstrations resulted in a crisis for theRussian Provisional Government.InMilan, in May 1917, Bolshevik revolutionaries organised and engaged in rioting calling for an end to the war, and managed to close down factories and stop public transportation.The Italian army was forced to enter Milan with tanks and machine guns to face Bolsheviks andanarchists, who fought violently until May 23 when the army gained control of the city. Almost 50 people (including three Italian soldiers) were killed and over 800 people were arrested. Technology World War I began as a clash of 20th-century technology and 19th-centurytactics, with the inevitably large ensuing casualties. By the end of 1917, however, the major armies had modernised and were making use of telephone,wireless communication,armoured cars,tanks(especially with the advent of the prototype tank,Little Willie), and aircraft. Artillery also underwent a revolution. In 1914, cannons were\",\n \"1914, cannons were positioned in the front line and fired directly at their targets. By 1917,indirect firewith guns (as well as mortars and even machine guns) was commonplace, using new techniques for spotting and ranging, notably, aircraft and thefield telephone. Fixed-wing aircraftwere initially used forreconnaissanceandground attack. To shoot down enemy planes,anti-aircraft gunsandfighter aircraftwere developed.Strategic bomberswere created, principally by the Germans and British, though the former usedZeppelinsas well.Towards the end of the conflict,aircraft carrierswere used for the first time, with HMSFuriouslaunchingSopwith Camelsin a raid to destroy the Zeppelin hangars atTønderin 1918. Diplomacy The non-military diplomatic and propaganda interactions among the nations were designed to build support for the cause or to undermine support for the enemy. For the most part, wartime diplomacy focused on five issues:propaganda campaigns; defining and redefining the war goals, which became harsher as the\",\n \"harsher as the war went on; luring neutral nations (Italy, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, Romania) into the coalition by offering slices of enemy territory; and encouragement by the Allies of nationalistic minority movements inside the Central Powers, especially among Czechs, Poles, and Arabs. In addition, multiple peace proposals were coming from neutrals, or one side or the other; none of them progressed very far. Legacy and memory Memorials Memorials were built in thousands of villages and towns. Close to battlefields, those buried in improvised burial grounds were gradually moved to formal graveyards under the care of organisations such as theCommonwealth War Graves Commission, theAmerican Battle Monuments Commission, theGerman War Graves Commission, andLe Souvenir français. Many of these graveyards also have monuments to the missing orunidentifieddead, such as theMenin Gate Memorial to the Missingand theThiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. In 1915,John McCrae, a Canadian army doctor, wrote the\",\n \"doctor, wrote the poemIn Flanders Fieldsas a salute to those who perished in the war. It is still recited today, especially onRemembrance DayandMemorial Day. National World War I Museum and MemorialinKansas City, Missouri, is a memorial dedicated to all Americans who served in World WarI. TheLiberty Memorialwas dedicated on 1 November 1921. The British government budgeted substantial resources tothe commemoration of the war during the period 2014 to 2018. The lead body is theImperial War Museum.On 3August 2014, French PresidentFrançois Hollandeand German PresidentJoachim Gaucktogether markedthe centenary of Germany's declaration of war on Franceby laying the first stone of a memorial in Vieil Armand, known in German asHartmannswillerkopf, for French and German soldiers killed in the war.As part of commemorations for thecentenary of the 1918 Armistice, French PresidentEmmanuel Macronand German ChancellorAngela Merkelvisited the site of the signing of the Armistice of Compiègne and unveiled a plaque to\",\n \"a plaque to reconciliation. Historiography ... \\\"Strange, friend,\\\" I said, \\\"Here is no cause to mourn.\\\"\\\"None,\\\" said the other, \\\"Save the undone years\\\"... The first efforts to comprehend the meaning and consequences ofmodern warfarebegan during the initial phases of the war and are still underway more than a century later. Teaching World War I has presented special challenges. When compared withWorld War II, the First World War is often thought to be \\\"a wrong war fought for the wrong reasons\\\"; it lacks themetanarrativeofgood versus evilthat characterizes retellings of the Second World War. Lacking recognizable heroes and villains, it is often taught thematically, invoking simplifiedtropesthat obscure the complexity of the conflict. Historian Heather Jones argues that thehistoriographyhas been reinvigorated by a cultural turn in the 21st century. Scholars have raised entirely new questions regardingmilitary occupation,radicalisationof politics,race,medical science,genderandmental health. Among the major\",\n \"Among the major subjects that historians have long debated regarding the war include:Why the war began; why theAllieswon; whether generals were responsible forhigh casualty rates; how soldiers endured the poor conditions oftrench warfare; and to what extent the civilianhome frontaccepted and endorsed the war effort. Unexploded ordnance As late as 2007,unexploded ordnanceat battlefield sites likeVerdunandSommecontinued to pose a danger. In France and Belgium, locals who discover caches of unexploded munitions are assisted by weapons disposal units. In some places, plant life has still not recovered from the effects of the war. See also Footnotes References Bibliography External links Library guides\",\n \"1996 Summer Olympics The1996 Summer Olympics(officially theGames of the XXVI Olympiad, also known asAtlanta 1996and commonly referred to as theCentennial Olympic Games)were an internationalmulti-sport eventheld from July 19 to August 4, 1996, inAtlanta,Georgia,United States. These were the fourthSummer Olympicsto be hosted by the United States, making it the first country to have three different cities host the Summer Olympics.It also marked the 100th anniversary of the1896 Summer Olympicsin Athens, the inaugural edition of the modernOlympic Games. These were also the first Summer Olympics to be held in a different year than theWinter Olympicssince theWinter Olympicscommenced in 1924, as part of a newIOCpractice implemented in 1994 to hold the Summer and Winter Games in alternating, even-numbered years. The 1996 Games were the first of the two consecutive Summer Olympics to be held in a predominantlyEnglish-speaking country, preceding the2000 Summer Olympicsin Sydney, Australia. These were also the last\",\n \"were also the last Summer Olympics to be held in North America until2028, whenLos Angeleswill host the games for the third time. 10,318 athletes from 197National Olympic Committeescompeted in 26 sports, including the Olympic debuts ofbeach volleyball,mountain bikingandsoftball, as well as the new disciplines oflightweight rowing, women's swimming4 x 200 freestyle relay, women'sfencing, teamrhythmic gymnastics, and women'sassociation football. A total of 24 countries made their Summer Olympic debuts in Atlanta, including 11 formerSoviet republicsparticipating for the first time as independent nations. With a total of 101 medals, theUnited Statestopped both the gold and overallmedal countfor the first time since 1984 (and for the first time since 1968 in a non-boycotted Summer Olympics), also winning the most gold (44) and silver (32) medals out of all the participating nations. Notable performances during the competition included those ofAndre Agassi, whose gold medal in these Games would be followed up with\",\n \"be followed up with the French Open title in 1999, making him the first men's singles tennis player to complete theGolden Slam;Donovan Bailey, who set a new world record of 9.84 for themen's 100 meters;Lilia Podkopayeva, who became the second gymnast to win an individual event gold medal after winning the all-around title in the same Olympics; and theMagnificent Seven, who dramatically won the first ever U.S. gold medal in theWomen's artistic gymnastics team all-around. The Games were marred by violence on July 27, 1996, whena pipe bomb was detonatedatCentennial Olympic Park(which had been built to serve as a public focal point for the festivities), killing two and injuring 111. Years later,Eric Rudolphconfessed to the bombing and a series of related terrorist attacks, and was sentenced to life in prison. Nonetheless, the 1996 Olympics turned a profit, helped by record revenue from sponsorship deals and broadcast rights, and a reliance on private funding, among other factors. There were 8.3 million tickets\",\n \"8.3 million tickets sold for events at this Olympics, a record broken only in 2024. There was some criticism of the perceived over-commercialization of the Games, with other issues raised by European officials, such as the availability of food and transport. The event had a lasting impact on the city; Centennial Olympic Park led a revitalization of Atlanta'sdowntown area, and has served as a symbol of the legacy of the 1996 Games; theOlympic Villagebuildings have since been used as residential housing for area universities; and theCentennial Olympic Stadiumhas since been redeveloped twice, first as theTurner Fieldbaseball stadium, then as theCenter ParcAmerican footballstadium. Bidding process Atlanta was selected on September 18, 1990, inTokyo, Japan, over Athens, Belgrade, Manchester, Melbourne, and Toronto at the96th IOC Session. The city entered the competition as adark horse, being up against stiff competition.The US media also criticized Atlanta as a second-tier city and complained\",\n \"city and complained ofGeorgia'sConfederate history. However, the IOC Evaluation Commission ranked Atlanta's infrastructure and facilities the highest, while IOC members said that it could guarantee large television revenues similar to the success of the1984 Summer OlympicsinLos Angeles, the most recent Olympics in the United States.Additionally, former US ambassador to the UN and Atlanta mayorAndrew Youngtouted Atlanta's civil rights history and reputation for racial harmony. Young also wanted to showcase a reformedAmerican South. The strong economy of Atlanta and improved race relations in the South helped to impress the IOC officials.Coca-Cola, a long-standing partner of the Olympics, was also a strong advocate to bring the Games to its hometown.The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) also proposed a substantial revenue-sharing with the IOC, USOC, and other NOCs.Atlanta's main rivals were Toronto, whose front-running bid that began in 1986 had chances to succeed after Canada had held a\",\n \"Canada had held a successful1988 Winter Olympicsin Calgary, and Melbourne, Australia, who hosted the1956 Summer Olympicsand afterBrisbane, Australia's failed bid for the 1992 games (which were awarded toBarcelona) and prior toSydney, Australia's successful2000 Summer Olympicsbid. This would be Toronto's fourth failed attempt since 1960 (tried in 1960, 1964, and 1976, but was defeated by Rome, Tokyo and Montreal). Greece, the home of theancientandfirst modern Olympics, was considered by many observers the \\\"natural choice\\\" for the Centennial Games,due to its \\\"divine right\\\" in history.Athens bid chairman Spyros Metaxas gave repeated warnings to the IOC and demanded to give them the games to mark the centennial, saying \\\"You don't hold a 100th birthday in someone else's home. The Centenary Games should be held in Athens.\\\"He also warned that \\\"if we don't get the Olympics in 1996 we will never bid again to host them.\\\" However, the Athens bid was described as \\\"arrogant and poorly prepared,\\\" being regarded as \\\"not\",\n \"regarded as \\\"not being up to the task of coping with the modern and risk-prone extravaganza\\\" of the current Games. Athens faced numerous obstacles, including \\\"political instability, potential security problems, air pollution, traffic congestion and the fact that it would have to spend about US$3 billion to improve its infrastructure of airports, roads, rail lines and other amenities.\\\"Athens would later be selected to host the2004 Summer Olympicsseven years later on September 5, 1997. Development and preparation Budget The total cost of the 1996 Summer Olympics was estimated to be around US$1.7 billion.The venues and the Games themselves were funded entirely via private investment,and the only public funding came from the U.S. government for security, and around $500 million of public money used on physical public infrastructure including streetscaping, road improvements, Centennial Olympic Park (alongside $75 million in private funding), expansion of the airport, improvements in public transportation, and\",\n \"transportation, and redevelopment of public housing projects.$420 million worth of tickets were sold, sale of sponsorship rights accounted for $540 million, and sale of the domestic broadcast rights toNBCaccounted for $456 million. In total, the Games turned a profit of $19 million. The cost for Atlanta 1996 compares with costs of $4.6 billion for Rio 2016, $40–44 billion for Beijing 2008, and $51 billion for Sochi 2014 (the most expensive Olympics in history). The average cost for the Summer Games since 1960 is $5.2 billion. Unlike Atlanta 1996, Beijing and Sochi were primarily funded by their respective governments. Venues and infrastructure Events of the 1996 Games were held in a variety of areas. A number were held within the Olympic Ring, a 3 mi (4.8 km) circle from the center of Atlanta. Others were held atStone Mountain, about 20 miles (32 km) outside of the city. To broaden ticket sales, other events, such asAssociation football(soccer), were staged in various cities in the Southeast. Marketing The\",\n \"Marketing The Olympiad's official theme, \\\"Summon the Heroes\\\", was written byJohn Williams, making it the third Olympiad at that point for which he had composed (official composer in 1984, NBC's coverage composer in 1988). Theopening ceremonyfeaturedCéline Dionsinging \\\"The Power of the Dream\\\", the theme song of the 1996 Olympics. Theclosing ceremonyfeaturedGloria Estefansinging \\\"Reach\\\", the official theme song of the 1996 Olympics. Themascotfor the Olympiad was an abstract, animated character namedIzzy. In contrast to the standing tradition of mascots of national or regional significance in the city hosting the Olympiad, Izzy was an amorphous, fantasy figure. A video game featuring the Games' mascot,Izzy's Quest for the Olympic Rings, was also released. Atlanta's Olympic slogan \\\"Come Celebrate Our Dream\\\" was written by Jack Arogeti, a managing director atMcCann-Ericksonin Atlanta at the time. The slogan was selected from more than 5,000submitted by the public to the Atlanta Convention and Visitors\",\n \"and Visitors Bureau.Billy Paynenoted that Jack \\\"captured the spirit and our true motivation for the Olympic games.\\\" The city ofSavannah, Georgia, host of the yachting events, held its own local festivities, including a local cauldron lighting event on the first day of the Games (headlined by a performance by country musicianTrisha Yearwood). In 1994, African-American artistKevin Colewas commissioned to create the Coca-Cola Centennial Olympic Mural, and the 15-story mural took two years to complete. Calendar Games Opening ceremony The ceremony began with a 60-second countdown, which included footage from all of the previous Olympic Games at twenty-two seconds. There was then a flashback to the closing ceremony of the1992 Olympics in Barcelona, showing the thenpresident of the IOC,Juan Antonio Samaranch, inviting the athletes to compete in Atlanta in 1996. Then, spirits ascended in the northwest corner of the stadium, each representing one of the colors in the Olympic rings. The spirits called the tribes of\",\n \"the tribes of the world which, after mixed percussion, formed the Olympic rings while the youth of Atlanta formed the number 100. Famed film score composerJohn Williamswrote the official overture for the 1996 Olympics, called \\\"Summon the Heroes\\\"; this was his second overture for Olympic games, the first being \\\"Olympic Fanfare and Theme\\\" written for the1984 Summer Olympics.Céline DionperformedDavid Foster's official 1996 Olympics song \\\"The Power of the Dream\\\", accompanied by Foster on the piano, theAtlanta Symphony Orchestraand the Centennial Choir (comprisingMorehouse College Glee Club,Spelman College Glee Cluband the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus).Gladys Knightsang Georgia's officialstate song, \\\"Georgia on My Mind\\\". There was a showcase entitled \\\"Welcome To The World\\\", featuringcheerleaders,Chevroletpick-up trucks,marching bands, andsteppers, which highlighted the American youth and a typical Saturday college football game in the South, including thewavecommonly produced by spectators in sporting events\",\n \"in sporting events around the world. There was another showcase entitled \\\"Summertime\\\" which focused on Atlanta and theOld South, emphasizing its beauty, spirit, music, history, culture, and rebirth after theAmerican Civil War. The ceremony also featured a memorable dance tribute to the athletes and to the goddesses of victory of the ancient Greek Olympics, using silhouette imagery. The accompanying music, \\\"The Tradition of the Games\\\", was composed byBasil Poledouris. Muhammad Alilit theOlympic cauldronand later received a replacement gold medal for his boxing victory in the1960 Summer Olympics. For the torch ceremony, more than 10,000Olympic torcheswere manufactured by the American Meter Company and electroplated byErie Plating Company. Each torch weighed about 3.5 pounds (1.6 kg) and was made primarily of aluminum, with a Georgiapecanwood handle and gold ornamentation. Closing ceremony Sports The 1996 Summer Olympic program featured 271 events in 26 sports.Softball,beach volleyballandmountain bikingdebuted\",\n \"bikingdebuted on the Olympic program, together with women'sfootball, lightweightrowing, women'sswimming, women'sfencing, and a teamrhythmic gymnasticsevent. In women's gymnastics, UkrainianLilia Podkopayevabecame the all-around Olympic champion. Podkopayeva also won a second gold medal in the floor exercise final and a silver on the beam – becoming the only female gymnast sinceNadia Comănecito win an individual event gold after winning the all-around title in the same Olympics.Kerri Strugof the United States women's gymnastics team vaulted with an injured ankle and landed on one foot, winning the first women's team gold medal for the US.Shannon Millerwon the gold medal on the balance beam event, the first time an American gymnast had won an individual gold medal in non-boycotted Olympic games. The Spanish team won the first gold medal in the new competition ofwomen's rhythmic group all-around. The team was formed byEstela Giménez,Marta Baldó,Nuria Cabanillas,Lorena Guréndez,Estíbaliz MartínezandTania\",\n \"MartínezandTania Lamarca. Amy Van Dykenwon four gold medals in the Olympicswimmingpool, the first American woman to win four titles in a single Olympiad.Penny Heyns, swimmer of South Africa, won the gold medals in both the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke events.Michelle Smithof Ireland won three gold medals and a bronze in swimming. She remains her nation's most decorated Olympian. However, her victories were overshadowed bydopingallegations even though she did not test positive in 1996. She received a four-year suspension in 1998 for tampering with a urine sample, though her medals and records were allowed to stand. In track and field,Donovan Baileyof Canada won the men's 100 m, setting a new world record of 9.84 seconds at that time.He also anchored his team's gold in the4 × 100 m relay.Michael Johnsonwon gold in both the 200 m and 400 m, setting a new world record of 19.32 seconds in the 200 m.Marie-José Pérecequaled Johnson's performance, although without a world record, by winning the rare 200\",\n \"the rare 200 m/400 m double.Carl Lewiswon his 4th long jump gold medal at the age of 35. In tennis,Andre Agassiwon the gold medal, which would eventually make him the first man and second singles player overall (after his eventual wife,Steffi Graf) to win the careerGolden Slam, which consists of an Olympic gold medal and victories in the singles tournaments held at professional tennis' four major events (Australian Open,French Open,Wimbledon, andUS Open). There were a series of national firsts realized during the Games.Deon Hemmingsbecame the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal forJamaicaand the English-speakingWest Indies.Lee Lai Shanwon a gold medal in sailing, the only Olympic medal thatHong Kongever won as a British colony (1842–1997). This meant that for the only time, the colonial flag of Hong Kong was raised to the accompaniment of the British national anthem \\\"God Save the Queen\\\", as Hong Kong'ssovereigntywas later transferred to China in 1997. The U.S. women's soccer team won the gold medal in\",\n \"the gold medal in the first-ever women's football event. For the first time, Olympic medals were won by athletes fromArmenia,Azerbaijan,Belarus,Burundi,Czech Republic,Ecuador,Georgia,Hong Kong,Kazakhstan,Moldova,Mozambique,Slovakia,Tonga,Ukraine, andUzbekistan. Another first in Atlanta was that this was the first Summer Olympics ever that not a single nation swept all three medals in a single event. Records Medal table These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1996 Games. *Host nation (United States) Participating National Olympic Committees A total of 197 nations, all of the then-existing and recognized National Olympic Committees, were represented at the 1996 Games, and the combined total of athletes was about 10,318.Twenty-four countries made their Olympic debut this year, including eleven of the ex-Soviet countries that competed as part of theUnified Team in 1992.Russiaparticipated in the Summer Olympics separately from the other countries of the formerSoviet Unionfor the first time since 1912\",\n \"time since 1912 (when it was theRussian Empire). Russia had been a member of theUnified Team at the 1992 Summer Olympicstogether with 11 post-Soviet states. TheFederal Republic of Yugoslaviacompeted asYugoslavia. After missing the 1992 Summer GamesAfghanistanandCambodiareturned to send delegations to Atlanta. The 14 countries making their Olympic debut were:Azerbaijan,Burundi,Cape Verde,Comoros,Dominica,Guinea-Bissau,Macedonia,Nauru,Palestinian Authority,Saint Kitts and Nevis,Saint Lucia,São Tomé and Príncipe,TajikistanandTurkmenistan. The ten countries making their Summer Olympic debut (after competing at the1994 Winter OlympicsinLillehammer) were:Armenia,Belarus,Czech Republic,Georgia,Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan,Moldova,Slovakia,UkraineandUzbekistan. The Czech Republic and Slovakia attended the games as independent nations for the first time since the breakup ofCzechoslovakia, while the rest of the nations that made their Summer Olympic debut were formerly part of theSoviet Union. Number of athletes by National\",\n \"by National Olympic Committee 10,339athletesfrom 197NOCsparticipated in the 1996 Summer Olympics. Centennial Olympic Park bombing The 1996 Olympics were marred by theCentennial Olympic Park bombing, which occurred on July 27. Security guardRichard Jewelldiscovered the pipe bomb and immediately notified law enforcement, helping to evacuate as many people as possible from the area before it exploded. Although Jewell's quick actions are credited for saving many lives, the bombing killed spectator Alice Hawthorne, wounded 111 others, and caused the death of Melih Uzunyol by a heart attack. Jewell was later considered a suspect in the bombing but was never charged, and he was cleared in October 1996. FugitiveEric Rudolphwas arrested in May 2003 and charged with the Olympic Park bombing as well as the bombings of twoabortion clinicsand agay nightclub.At his trial two years later, he confessed to all charges and afterwards released a statement, saying: \\\"the purpose of the attack on July 27th was to confound, anger\",\n \"to confound, anger and embarrass the Washington government in the eyes of the world for its abominable sanctioning of abortion on demand.\\\"He received fourlife sentenceswithoutparole,to be served atUSP Florence ADMAXnearFlorence, Colorado. Legacy Preparations for the Olympics lasted more than seven years and had an economic impact of at least US$5.14 billion. Over two million visitors came to Atlanta, and approximately 3.5 billion people around the world watched at least some of the events on television. Although marred by the tragedy of theCentennial Olympic Park bombing, the Games were a financial success, due in part to TV rights contracts and sponsorships at record levels.Atlanta also set a new record for the most tickets sold at a single Games (8.3 million), and held it until 2024. Beyond international recognition, the Games resulted in many modern infrastructure improvements. The mid-rise dormitories built for the Olympic Village, which became the first residential housing forGeorgia State\",\n \"forGeorgia State University(Georgia State Village), are now used by theGeorgia Institute of Technology(North Avenue Apartments). As designed, the Centennial Olympic Stadium was converted intoTurner Fieldafter the Paralympics, which became the home of theAtlanta BravesMajor League Baseballteam from 1997 to 2016. The Braves' former home,Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, was demolished in 1997 and the site became a parking lot for Turner Field; theOmni Coliseumwas demolished the same year to make way forState Farm Arena. The city's permanent memorial to the 1996 Olympics isCentennial Olympic Park, which was built as a focal point for the Games. The park initiated a revitalization of the surrounding area and now serves as the hub for Atlanta's tourism district. In November 2016, acommemorative plaquewas unveiled for Centennial Olympic Park to honor the 20th anniversary of the Games. Following the Braves' departure from Turner Field toTruist Parkin 2017, Georgia State University acquired the former Olympic Stadium\",\n \"Olympic Stadium and surrounding parking lots. It reconfigured the stadium for a second time intoCenter Parc Stadiumfor itscollege football team. The 1996 Olympic cauldron was originally built and placed at the intersection of Fulton Street and Capitol Avenue, near the Centennial Olympic Stadium. After the Paralympics, in order to make room for the stadium conversion, the Olympic cauldron was moved (except its ramp, which was demolished) to the intersection of Capitol Avenue and Fulton Street in 1997, where it has stayed since. Since Georgia State University's acquisition of the former Olympic Stadium and surrounding lots, there has been proposals and growing calls to move the Olympic cauldron toCentennial Olympic Park. The Olympic cauldron was re-lit in February 2020 for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. The 1996 Olympics are the most recent edition of the Summer Olympics to be held in the United States.Los Angeleswill host the2028 Summer Olympics, 32 years after the Games were held in Atlanta. Sponsors\",\n \"Atlanta. Sponsors The 1996 Summer Olympics relied heavily on commercial sponsorship. The Atlanta-basedCoca-Cola Companywas the exclusive provider of soft drinks at Olympics venues, and built an attraction known asCoca-Cola Olympic Cityfor the Games.As part of a sponsorship agreement withColumbia TriStar Television, thesyndicatedgame showsJeopardy!andWheel of Fortuneboth produced episodes with Olympics tie-ins (including branded memorabilia and contests) for broadcast between April and July 1996. These included aJeopardy!international tournament, and three weeks ofWheel of Fortuneepisodes filmed on-location at Atlanta'sFox Theatre. The Games were affected by several instances ofambush marketing—in which companies attempt to use the Games as a means to promote their brand, in competition with the exclusive, category-based sponsorship rights issued by the Atlanta organizing committee and the IOC (which grants the rights to use Olympics-related terms and emblems in marketing). The Atlanta organizing committee\",\n \"committee threatened legal actions against advertisers whose marketing implied an official association with the Games. Several non-sponsors set up marketing activities in areas near venues, such asSamsung(competing withMotorola), which ambushed the Games with its \\\"96 Expo\\\".The city of Atlanta had also licensed street vendors to sell products from competitors to Olympic sponsors. The most controversial ambush campaign was undertaken byNike, Inc., which had begun an advertising campaign with aggressive slogans that mocked the Games' values, such as \\\"Faster, Higher, Stronger, Badder\\\", \\\"If you're not here to win, you're a tourist\\\", and \\\"You don't win silver, you lose gold.\\\" The slogans were featured on magazine ads andbillboardsit purchased in Atlanta.Nike also opened apop-up storeknown as the Nike Center near the Athletes' Village, which distributed Nike-branded flags to visitors (presumably to be used at events).IOC marketing directorMichael Payneexpressed concern for the campaign, believing that athletes\",\n \"that athletes could perceive them as being an insult to their accomplishments.Payne and theUnited States Olympic Committee's marketing director, John Krimsky, met with Howard Slusher, a subordinate of Nike co-founderPhil Knight. The meeting quickly turned aggressive, with Payne warning that the IOC could pull accreditation for Nike employees and ban the display of its logos on equipment; he also threatened to organize a press conference where silver medallists from the Games, as well as prominent Nike-sponsored athleteMichael Johnson(who attracted attention during the Games for wearing custom, gold-colored Nike shoes), would denounce the company. Faced with these threats, Nike agreed to retract most of its negative advertising andpublic relationsstunts. Reception At theclosing ceremony,IOC PresidentJuan Antonio Samaranchsaid in his closing speech, \\\"Well done, Atlanta\\\" and simply called the Games \\\"most exceptional.\\\" This broke precedent for Samaranch, who had traditionally labeled each Games \\\"the best\",\n \"Games \\\"the best Olympics ever\\\" at each closing ceremony, a practice he resumed at the subsequentWinter Games in Nagano in 1998. A report prepared after the Games by European Olympic officials was critical of Atlanta's performance in several key areas, including the level of crowding in the Olympic Village, the quality of available food, the accessibility and convenience of transportation, and the Games' general atmosphere of commercialism.IOC vice-presidentDick Poundresponded to criticism of the commercialization of these Games, stating that they still adhered to a historic policy barring the display of advertising within venues, and that \\\"you have to look to the private sector for at least a portion of the funding, and unless you're looking for handouts, you're dealing with people who are investing business assets, and they have to get a return.\\\" In 1997,Athenswas awarded the2004 Summer Olympics. Along with addressing the shortcomings of its 1996 bid, it was lauded for its efforts to promote the traditional\",\n \"the traditional values of the Olympic Games, which some IOC observers felt had been lost due to the over-commercialization of the 1996 Games. However, the 2004 Games heavily relied on public funding and eventually failed to make a profit, which some have claimed contributed to thefinancial crisis in Greece. The financial struggles faced by many later Games, such as the2006 Winter Olympicsin Turin and the2016 Summer Olympicsin Rio de Janeiro, have caused some to offer more positive reappraisals of the management of the 1996 Summer Games. FormerJPMorgan Chasepresident (and torchbearer)Kabir Sehgalnoted that in contrast to many later Olympics, those of 1996 were financially viable, had a positive economic impact on the city, and most of the facilities constructed continued to be used after the Games. Sehgal contrasted the 1996 Games' \\\"grassroots\\\" effort backed almost entirely by private funding, with the only significant public spending coming from infrastructure associated with the Games, to modern \\\"top-down\\\"\",\n \"modern \\\"top-down\\\" bids, instigated by local governments and reliant on taxpayer funding, making them unpopular among citizens who may not necessarily be interested.The2028 Summer Olympicsin Los Angeles will rely almost entirely on private funding, with the city of Los Angeles and state of California each intending to provide up to $250 million in funding in the event of shortfalls, and the U.S. federal government providing funding solely for security. See also References External links\",\n \"Fall of the Berlin Wall Thefall of the Berlin Wall(German:Mauerfall,pronouncedⓘ) on9 November1989, during thePeaceful Revolution, marked the beginning of the destruction of theBerlin Walland the figurativeIron Curtain, asEast Berlintransit restrictions were overwhelmed and discarded. Sections of the wall were breached, and planned deconstruction began the following June. It was one of the series of events that started thefall of communisminCentral and Eastern Europe. Thefall of the inner German bordertook place shortly afterward. An end to theCold Warwas declared at theMalta Summitin early December, andGerman reunificationtook place in October the following year. Background Opening of the Iron Curtain The opening of theIron Curtainbetween Austria and Hungary at thePan-European Picnicon 19 August 1989 set in motion a peaceful chain reaction, at the end of which there was no longer anEast Germanyand theEastern Blochad disintegrated. After the picnic, which was based on an idea byOtto von Habsburgto test the\",\n \"Habsburgto test the reaction of theUSSRandMikhail Gorbachevto an opening of the border, tens of thousands of media-informed East Germans set off for Hungary.Erich Honeckerdictated to theDaily Mirrorfor the Pan-European Picnic: \\\"Habsburg distributed leaflets far into Poland, on which the East German holidaymakers were invited to a picnic. When they came to the picnic, they were given gifts, food andDeutsche Mark, and then they were persuaded to come to the West.\\\" The leadership of the GDR in East Berlin did not dare to completely block the borders of their own country and the USSR did not respond at all. Thus the bracket of the Eastern Bloc was broken. Following the summer of 1989, by early November refugees were finding their way toHungaryvia Czechoslovakia or via theWest German embassy in Prague. On 30 September, following negotiations with East Germany and the Soviet Union, the West GermanForeign MinisterHans-Dietrich Genscherwent to the Prague embassy to personally inform the thousands of refugees that\",\n \"of refugees that they were allowed to leave for West Germany. His speech from the embassy's balcony, which included the line,\\\"Wir sind zu Ihnen gekommen, um Ihnen mitzuteilen, dass heute Ihre Ausreise...\\\"(\\\"We came to you, to let you know that today, your departure...\\\") was met with loud cheers and jubilations. The next day, the first of the embassy refugees leftPragueforBavaria. The emigration was initially tolerated because of long-standing agreements with the communist Czechoslovak government, allowing free travel across their common border. However, this movement of people grew so large it caused difficulties for both countries. In addition, East Germany was struggling to meet loan payments on foreign borrowings;Egon KrenzsentAlexander Schalck-Golodkowskito unsuccessfully ask West Germany for a short-term loan to make interest payments.: 344 Protection of the wall The Berlin Wall was made up of two walls instead of one. Both walls were 4 metres tall, had a length of 155 kilometres and were separated by a\",\n \"were separated by a mine corridor called the 'death strip.' It was heavily guarded and included 302 watchtowers; its guards had authorisation to shoot anyone who attempted to escape to West Berlin. Political changes in East Germany On 18 October 1989, longtimeSocialist Unity Party of Germany(SED) leaderErich Honeckerstepped down in favor of Krenz. Honecker had been seriously ill, and those looking to replace him were initially willing to wait for a \\\"biological solution\\\", but by October were convinced that the political and economic situation was too grave.: 339Honecker approved the choice, naming Krenz in his resignation speech,and theVolkskammerduly elected him. Although Krenz promised reforms in his first public speech,he was considered by the East German public to be following his predecessor's policies, and public protests demanding his resignation continued.: 347Despite promises of reform, public opposition to the regime continued to grow. On 1 November, Krenz authorized the reopening of the border\",\n \"of the border withCzechoslovakia, which had been sealed to prevent East Germans from fleeing to West Germany.On 4 November, theAlexanderplatz demonstrationtook place. On 6 November, the Interior Ministry published a draft of new travel regulations, which made cosmetic changes to Honecker-era rules, leaving the approval process opaque and maintaining uncertainty regarding access to foreign currency. The draft enraged ordinary citizens, and was denounced as \\\"complete trash\\\" byWest Berlin MayorWalter Momper.Hundreds of refugees crowded onto the steps of the West German embassy in Prague, enraging the Czechoslovaks, who threatened to seal off the East German-Czechoslovak border. On 7 November, Krenz approved the resignation of Prime MinisterWilli Stophand two-thirds of the Politburo; however, Krenz was unanimously re-elected as General Secretary by the Central Committee.: 341 New East German immigration policy On 19 October, Krenz askedGerhard Lauterto draft a new travel policy.Lauter was a formerPeople's\",\n \"a formerPeople's Policeofficer. After rising rapidly through the ranks he had recently been promoted to a position with theInterior Ministry (\\\"Home Office\\\" / \\\"Department of the Interior\\\")as head of the department responsible for issuing passports and the registration of citizens. On 8 November, the East GermanPolitburoenacted a portion of the draft travel regulations addressing permanent emigration immediately. Initially, the Politburo planned to create a special border crossing nearSchirndingspecifically for this emigration.However,Interior Ministry officialsandStasibureaucrats charged with drafting the new text concluded the proposal was not feasible, and instead crafted new text relating to both emigration and temporary travel. The revised text stipulated East German citizens could apply for permission to travel abroad, without having to meet the previous requirements for those trips.To ease the difficulties, the Krenz-led Politburo decided on 9 November refugees could exit directly through crossing\",\n \"through crossing points between East Germany and West Germany, including between East and West Berlin. Later the same day, the ministerial administration modified the proposal to include private, round-trip, travel. The new regulations would take effect the next day. VVS b2-937/89 Zur Veränderung der Situation der ständigen Ausreise von DDR-Bürgern nach der BRD über die CSSR wird festgelegt: 1) Die Verordnung vom 30. November 1988 über Reisen von Bürgern der DDR in das Ausland (GBl. I Nr. 25 S. 271) findet bis zur Inkraftsetzung des neuen Reisegesetzes keine Anwendung mehr. 2) Ab sofort treten folgende zeitweilige Übergangsregelungen für Reisen und ständige Ausreisen aus der DDR in das Ausland in Kraft: a. Privatreisen nach dem Ausland können ohne Vorliegen von Voraussetzungen (Reiseanlässe und Verwandtschaftsverhältnisse) beantragt werden. Die Genehmigungen werden kurzfristig erteilt. Versagungsgründe werden nur in besonderen Ausnahmefällen angewandt. b. Die zuständigen Abteilungen Paß- und Meldewesen der\",\n \"und Meldewesen der VPKÄ in der DDR sind angewiesen, Visa zur ständigen Ausreise unverzüglich zu erteilen, ohne daß dafür noch geltende Voraussetzungen für eine ständige Ausreise vorliegen müssen. Die Antragstellung auf ständige Ausreise ist wie bisher auch bei den Abteilungen Innere Angelegenheiten möglich. c. Ständige Ausreisen können über alle Grenzübergangsstellen der DDR zur BRD bzw. zu Berlin (West) erfolgen. d. Damit entfällt die vorübergehend ermöglichte Erteilung von entsprechenden Genehmigungen in Auslandsvertretungen der DDR bzw. die ständige Ausreise mit dem Personalausweis der DDR über Drittstaaten. 3) Über die zeitweiligen Übergangsregelungen ist die beigefügte Pressemitteilung am 10. November 1989 zu veröffentlichen. 1. The decree from 30 November 1988 about travel abroad of East German citizens will no longer be applied until the new travel law comes into force. 2. Starting immediately, the following temporary transition regulations for travel abroad and permanent exits from East Germany are\",\n \"East Germany are in effect: a) Applications by private individuals for travel abroad can now be made without the previously existing requirements (of demonstrating a need to travel or proving familial relationships). The travel authorizations will be issued within a short period of time. Grounds for denial will only be applied in particularly exceptional cases. b) The responsible departments of passport and registration control in thePeople's Policedistrict offices in East Germany are instructed to issue visas for permanent exit without delays and presentation of the existing requirements for permanent exit. It is still possible to apply for permanent exit in the departments for internal affairs . c) Permanent exits are possible via all East German border crossings to West Germany and (West) Berlin. d) The temporary practice of issuing (travel) authorizations through East German consulates and permanent exit with only an East German personal identity card via third countries ceases. 3. The attached press\",\n \"The attached press release explaining the temporary transition regulation will be issued on 10 November. Verantwortlich: Regierungssprecher beim Ministerrat der DDR Berlin (ADN) Wie die Presseabteilung des Ministeriums des Innern mitteilt, hat der Ministerrat der DDR beschlossen, daß bis zum Inkrafttreten einer entsprechenden gesetzlichen Regelung durch die Volkskammer folgende zeitweilige Übergangsregelung für Reisen und ständige Ausreisen aus der DDR ins Ausland in Kraft gesetzt wird: 1. Privatreisen nach dem Ausland können ohne Vorliegen von Voraussetzungen (Reiseanlässe und Verwandtschaftsverhältnisse) beantragt werden. Die Genehmigungen werden kurzfristig erteilt. Versagungsgründe werden nur in besonderen Ausnahmefällen angewandt. 2. Die zuständigen Abteilungen Paß- und Meldewesen der VPKÄ in der DDR sind angewiesen, Visa zur ständigen Ausreise unverzüglich zu erteilen, ohne daß dafür noch geltende Voraussetzungen für eine ständige Ausreise vorliegen müssen. Die Antragstellung auf ständige Ausreise ist\",\n \"Ausreise ist wie bisher auch bei den Abteilungen Innere Angelegenheiten möglich. 3. Ständige Ausreisen können über alle Grenzübergangsstellen der DDR zur BRD bzw. zu Berlin (West) erfolgen. 4. Damit entfällt die vorübergehend ermöglichte Erteilung von entsprechenden Genehmigungen in Auslandsvertretungen der DDR bzw. die ständige Ausreise mit dem Personalausweis der DDR über Drittstaaten. Responsible: Government spokesman of East Germany; Council of Ministers Berlin (ADN) As the Press Office of the Ministry of the Interior has announced, the East German Council of Ministers has decided that the following temporary transition regulation for travel abroad and permanent exit from East Germany will be effective until a corresponding law is put into effect by theVolkskammer: 1) Applications by private individuals for travel abroad can now be made without the previously existing requirements (of demonstrating a need to travel or proving familial relationships). The travel authorizations will be issued within a\",\n \"be issued within a short period of time. Grounds for denial will only be applied in particularly exceptional cases. 2) The responsible departments of passport and registration control in the People's Police district offices in East Germany are instructed to issue visas for permanent exit without delays and without presentation of the existing requirements for permanent exit. It is still possible to apply for permanent exit in the departments for internal affairs . 3) Permanent exits are possible via all East German border crossings to West Germany and (West) Berlin. 4) This decision revokes the temporary practice of issuing (travel) authorizations through East German consulates and permanent exit with only an East German personal identity card via third countries ceases. Events Misinformed public announcements The announcement of the regulations which brought down the Wall took place at an hour-long press conference led byGünter Schabowski, the party leader in East Berlin and the top government spokesman,\",\n \"spokesman, beginning at 18:00 CET on 9 November and broadcast live onEast German televisionandradio. Schabowski was joined by Minister of Foreign TradeGerhard BeilandCentral CommitteemembersHelga LabsandManfred Banaschak.: 352 Schabowski had not been involved in the discussions about the new regulations and had not been fully updated.Shortly before the press conference, he was handed a note from Krenz announcing the changes, but given no further instructions on how to handle the information. The text stipulated that East German citizens could apply for permission to travel abroad without having to meet the previous requirements for those trips, and also allowed for permanent emigration between all border crossings—including those between East and West Berlin. At 18:53, near the end of the press conference,ANSA'sRiccardo Ehrmanasked if the draft travel law of 6 November was a mistake. Schabowski gave a confusing answer that asserted it was necessary because West Germany had exhausted its capacity to accept\",\n \"capacity to accept fleeing East Germans, then remembered the note he had been given and added that a new regulation had been drafted to allow permanent emigration at any border crossing. This caused a stir in the room; amid several questions at once, Schabowski expressed surprise that the reporters had not yet seen this regulation, and started reading from the note.After this, a reporter, either Ehrman orBild-Zeitungreporter Peter Brinkmann, both of whom were sitting in the front row at the press conference,asked when the regulations would take effect.After a few seconds' hesitation, Schabowski replied, \\\"As far as I know, it takes effect immediately, without delay\\\" (German:Das tritt nach meiner Kenntnis ... ist das sofort ... unverzüglich).: 352This was an apparent assumption based on the note's opening paragraph; as Beil attempted to interject that it was up to theCouncil of Ministersto decide when it took effect, Schabowski proceeded to read this clause, which stated it was in effect until a law on the\",\n \"until a law on the matter was passed by theVolkskammer. Crucially, a journalist then asked if the regulation also applied to the crossings toWest Berlin. Schabowski shrugged and read item 3 of the note, which confirmed that it did. After this exchange,Daniel JohnsonofThe Daily Telegraphasked what this law meant for the Berlin Wall. Schabowski sat frozen before giving a rambling statement about the Wall being tied to the larger disarmament question.He then ended the press conference promptly at 19:00 as journalists hurried from the room. After the press conference, Schabowski sat for an interview withNBC NewsanchorTom Brokawin which he repeated that East Germans would be able to emigrate through the border and the regulations would go into effect immediately. The news spread The news began spreading immediately: the West GermanDeutsche Presse-Agenturissued a bulletin at 19:04 which reported that East German citizens would be able to cross the inner German border \\\"immediately\\\". Excerpts from Schabowski's press\",\n \"Schabowski's press conference were broadcast on West Germany's two main news programs that night—at 19:17 onZDF'sheute, which came on the air as the press conference was ending, and as the lead story at 20:00 onARD'sTagesschau. As ARD and ZDF had broadcast tonearly all of East Germanysince the late 1950s, were far more widely viewed than the East German channels, and had become accepted by the East German authorities, this is how most of the population heard the news. Later that night, on ARD'sTagesthemen, anchormanHanns Joachim Friedrichsproclaimed, \\\"This 9 November is a historic day. The GDR has announced that, starting immediately, its borders are open to everyone. The gates in the Wall stand open wide.\\\": 353 In 2009, Ehrman claimed that a member of the Central Committee had called him and urged him to ask about the travel law during the press conference, but Schabowski called that absurd.Ehrman later recanted this statement in a 2014 interview with an Austrian journalist, admitting that the caller\",\n \"that the caller wasGünter Pötschke, head of the East German news agencyADN, and he only asked if Ehrman would attend the press conference. Peace prayers at Nikolai Church Despite the policy ofstate atheismin East Germany, Christian pastorChristian Führerregularly met with his congregation atSt. Nicholas Churchfor prayer since 1982.Over the next seven years the church's congregation grew, despite authorities' barricading the adjacent streets, and peaceful candlelit marches took place following its services.The secret police issued death threats and even attacked some of the marchers, but the crowds still continued to gather.On 9 October 1989, the police and army units were given permission to use force against those assembled, but this did not deter the church service and march from taking place, which gathered 70,000 people and in which not a single shot was fired. Crowding of the border After hearing the 9 November broadcast, East Germans began gathering at the Wall, at thesix checkpoints between East and\",\n \"between East and West Berlin, demanding thatborder guardsimmediately open the gates.The surprised and overwhelmed guards made many hectic telephone calls to their superiors about the problem. At first, they were ordered to find the \\\"more aggressive\\\" people gathered at the gates and stamp their passports with a special stamp that barred them from returning to East Germany—in effect, revoking their citizenship. However, this still left thousands of people demanding to be let through \\\"as Schabowski said we can\\\".: 353It soon became clear that no one among the East German authorities would take personal responsibility for issuing orders to use lethal force, so the vastly outnumbered soldiers had no way to hold back the huge crowd of East German citizens.Mary Elise Sarottein a 2009Washington Poststory characterized the series of events leading to the fall of the Wall as an accident, saying \\\"One of the most momentous events of the past century was, in fact, an accident, a semicomical and bureaucratic mistake that\",\n \"mistake that owes as much to the Western media as to the tides of history.\\\" Border openings Finally, at 22:45 (alternatively given as 23:30) on 9 November,Harald Jäger, commander of theBornholmer Straße border crossing, yielded, allowing guards to open the checkpoints and letting people through with little or no identity-checking.As theOssisswarmed through, they were greeted byWessiswaiting with flowers and champagne amid wild rejoicing. Soon afterward, a crowd of West Berliners jumped on top of the Wall and were soon joined by East German youngsters.The evening of 9 November 1989 is known as the night the Wall came down. Another border crossing to the south may have been opened earlier. An account byHeinz Schäferindicates that he also acted independently and ordered the opening of the gate at Waltersdorf-Rudow a couple of hours earlier.This may explain reports of East Berliners appearing in West Berlin earlier than the opening of the Bornholmer Straße border crossing. \\\"Wallpeckers\\\" demolition Removal of the\",\n \"Removal of the Wall began on the evening of 9 November 1989 and continued over the following days and weeks, with people nicknamedMauerspechte(wallpeckers) using various tools to chip off souvenirs, demolishing lengthy parts in the process, and creating several unofficial border crossings.In the season holidays this became a sort of international action. People from all over the western world went to West Berlin and local youth provided a range of appropriate demolition tools. Television coverage of citizens demolishing sections of the Wall on 9 November was soon followed by the East German regime announcing ten newborder crossings, including the historically significant locations ofPotsdamer Platz,Glienicker Brücke, andBernauer Straße. Crowds gathered on both sides of the historic crossings waiting for hours to cheer the bulldozers that tore down portions of the Wall to reconnect the divided roads. While the Wall officially remained guarded at a decreasing intensity, new border crossings continued for some\",\n \"continued for some time. Initially theEast German Border Troopsattempted repairing the damage done by the \\\"wallpeckers\\\"; gradually these attempts ceased, and guards became laxer, tolerating the increasing demolitions and \\\"unauthorized\\\" border crossing through the holes. Prime ministers meet TheBrandenburg Gatein the Berlin Wall was opened on 22 December 1989; on that date, West German ChancellorHelmut Kohlwalked through the gate and was greeted by East German Prime MinisterHans Modrow.West Germans and West Berliners were allowed visa-free travel starting 23 December.Until then, they could only visit East Germany and East Berlin under restrictive conditions that involved application for a visa several days or weeks in advance and obligatory exchange of at least 25DMper day of their planned stay, all of which hindered spontaneous visits. Thus, in the weeks between 9 November and 23 December, East Germans could actually travel more freely than Westerners. Official demolition On 13 June 1990, the East German\",\n \"the East German Border Troops officially began dismantling the Wall,beginning inBernauer Straßeand around the Mitte district. From there, demolition continued through Prenzlauer Berg/Gesundbrunnen, Heiligensee and throughout the city of Berlin until December 1990. According to estimates by the border troops, a total of around 1.7 million tonnes of building rubble was produced by the demolition. Unofficially, the demolition of the Bornholmer Straße crossing began because of construction work on the railway. This involved a total of 300 GDR border guards and—after 3 October 1990—600 Pioneers of the Bundeswehr. These were equipped with 175 trucks, 65 cranes, 55 excavators and 13 bulldozers. Virtually every road that was severed by the Berlin Wall, every road that once linked from West Berlin to East Berlin, was reconstructed and reopened by 1 August 1990. In Berlin alone, 184 km (114 mi) of wall, 154 km (96 mi) border fence, 144 km (89 mi) signal systems and 87 km (54 mi) barrier ditches were removed. What\",\n \"were removed. What remained were six sections that were to be preserved as a memorial. Various military units dismantled the Berlin/Brandenburg border wall, completing the job in November 1991. Painted wall segments with artistically valuable motifs were put up for auction in 1990 inBerlinandMonte Carlo. On 1 July 1990, the day East Germany adopted theWest German currency, allde jureborder controls ceased, although the inter-German border had become meaningless for some time before that.The demolition of the Wall was completed in 1994. The fall of the Wall marked the first critical step towardsGerman reunification, which formally concluded a mere 339 days later on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of East Germany and the official reunification of the German state along the democratic lines of the West GermanBasic Law. International opposition French PresidentFrançois Mitterrandand British Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcherboth opposed the fall of the Berlin Wall and the eventual reunification of Germany,\",\n \"of Germany, fearing potential German designs on its neighbours using its increased strength. In September 1989, Margaret Thatcher privately confided toSoviet General SecretaryMikhail Gorbachevthat she wanted the Soviet leader to do what he could to stop it. We do not want a united Germany. This would lead to a change to postwar borders and we cannot allow that because such a development would undermine the stability of the whole international situation and could endanger our security, Thatcher told Gorbachev. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, François Mitterrand warned Thatcher that a unified Germany could make more ground thanAdolf Hitlerever had and that Europe would have to bear the consequences. Legacy Celebrations and anniversaries On 21 November 1989,Crosby, Stills & Nashperformed the song \\\"Chippin' Away\\\" fromGraham Nash's 1986 solo albumInnocent Eyesin front of the Brandenburg Gate. On 25 December 1989,Leonard Bernsteingave a concert in Berlin celebrating the end of the Wall, includingBeethoven's9th\",\n \"symphony(Ode to Joy) with the word \\\"Joy\\\"(Freude)changed to \\\"Freedom\\\"(Freiheit)in the lyrics sung. The poetSchillermay have originally written \\\"Freedom\\\" and changed it to \\\"Joy\\\" out of fear. The orchestra and choir were drawn from both East and West Germany, as well as the United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States.On New Year's Eve 1989,David Hasselhoffperformed his song \\\"Looking for Freedom\\\" while standing atop the partly demolished Wall in front of 200 000 people.Roger WatersperformedthePink FloydalbumThe Walljust north ofPotsdamer Platzon 21 July 1990, with guests includingScorpions,Bryan Adams,Sinéad O'Connor,Cyndi Lauper,Thomas Dolby,Joni Mitchell,Marianne Faithfull,Levon Helm,Rick DankoandVan Morrison. Over the years, there has been a repeated controversial debateas to whether9 Novemberwould make a suitable German national holiday, often initiated by former members of political opposition in East Germany, such asWerner Schulz.Besides being the emotional apogee of East Germany's\",\n \"of East Germany's peaceful revolution, 9 November is also the date of the 1918 abdication of KaiserWilhelm IIand declaration of theWeimar Republic, the first German republic. However, 9 November is also the anniversary of the execution ofRobert Blumfollowing the1848 Vienna revolts, the 1923Beer Hall Putschand the infamousKristallnachtpogromsof the Nazis in 1938.NobelLaureateElie Wieselcriticised the first euphoria, noting that \\\"they forgot that 9 November has already entered into history—51 years earlier it marked the Kristallnacht.\\\"As reunification was not official and complete until 3 October (1990), that day was finally chosen asGerman Unity Day. 10th anniversary celebrations On 9 November 1999, the 10th anniversary was observed with a concert and fireworks at the vidBrandenburg Gate. Russian cellistMstislav Rostropovichplayed music byJohann Sebastian Bach, while German rock bandScorpionsperformed their 1990 songWind of Change. Wreaths were placed for victims shot down when theyattempted to escape to the\",\n \"to escape to the west, and politicians delivered speeches. 20th anniversary celebrations On 9 November 2009, Berlin celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with a \\\"Festival of Freedom\\\" with dignitaries from around the world in attendance for an evening celebration around the Brandenburg Gate. A high point was when over 1,000 colourfully designed foam domino tiles, each over 8 feet (2.4 m) tall, that were stacked along the former route of the Wall in the city center were toppled in stages, converging in front of the Brandenburg Gate. A Berlin Twitter Wall was set up to allow Twitter users to post messages commemorating the 20th anniversary. TheChinese governmentquickly shut down access to the Twitter Wall after internet users in China began using it to protest theGreat Firewall. In the United States, the German Embassy coordinated a public diplomacy campaign with the motto \\\"Freedom Without Walls\\\", to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The campaign was\",\n \"The campaign was focused on promoting awareness of the fall of the Berlin Wall among current college students. Students at over 30 universities participated in \\\"Freedom Without Walls\\\" events in late 2009. First place winner of the Freedom Without Walls Speaking ContestRobert Cannon received a free trip to Berlin for 2010. An international project calledMauerreise(Journey of the Wall) took place in various countries. Twenty symbolic Wall bricks were sent from Berlin starting in May 2009, with the destinations being Korea, Cyprus, Yemen, and other places where everyday life is characterised by division and border experience. In these places, the bricks would become a blank canvas for artists, intellectuals and young people to tackle the \\\"Wall\\\" phenomenon. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the 3D online virtual worldTwinityreconstructed a true-to-scale section of the Wall in virtual Berlin.TheMTV Europe Music Awards, on 5 November, hadU2andTokio Hotelperform songs dedicated to\",\n \"songs dedicated to and about the Berlin Wall. U2 performed at the Brandenburg Gate, and Tokio Hotel performed \\\"World Behind My Wall\\\". Palestiniansin the town ofKalandia,West Bankpulled down parts of theIsraeli West Bank barrier, in a demonstration marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. TheInternational Spy Museumin Washington D.C., hosted aTrabantcar rally where 20 Trabants gathered in recognition of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Rides were raffled every half-hour and a Trabant crashed through a Berlin Wall mock up. The Trabant was the East German people's car that many used to leave DDR after the collapse. TheAllied Museumin theDahlemdistrict of Berlin hosted a number of events to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The museum held a Special Exhibition entitled \\\"Wall Patrol – The Western Powers and the Berlin Wall 1961–1990\\\" which focused on the daily patrols deployed by the Western powers to observe the situation along the Berlin Wall and\",\n \"the Berlin Wall and the fortifications on theGDRborder.A sheet of \\\"Americans in Berlin\\\" CommemorativeCinderella stampsdesigned byT.H.E. Hillwas presented to the Museum by David Guerra, Berlin veteran and webmaster of the sitewww.berlinbrigade.com. 30th anniversary celebrations Berlin planned a week-long arts festival from 4 to 10 November 2019 and a citywide music festival on 9 November to celebrate the 30th anniversary.On 4 November, outdoor exhibits opened at Alexanderplatz, the Brandenburg Gate, the East Side Gallery, Gethsemane Church, Kurfürstendamm, Schlossplatz, and the former Stasi headquarters in Lichtenberg. Polling A small minority still support the wall or even support rebuilding the wall back up. In 2008 a poll found that 11% of participants from the former West Berlin and 12% form the former East Berlin said it would be better if the wall was still in place. A November 2009 poll found that 12% of Germans said the wall should be rebuilt. The poll also found that in the formerWest German\",\n \"formerWest German statessupport was at 12% and in the formerEast German statesit was 13%. A September 2009 poll found 15% of Germans supported a wall, while in the west it was 16% and in the east it was at 10%. A 2010 poll from Emnid forBild, found that 24% of West germans and 23% of East Germans wished for the wall still being in place. A 2019 poll fromBerliner Zeitungon the 30th anniversary, found that 8% of Berliners supported the idea if the wall was still standing, The overwhelming majority of Berliners at 87% however supported the fall of the wall. The poll also found that 28% of theAlternative for Germany(AfD) and 16% ofFree Democratic Party(FDP) supporters supported bringing back the wall.A 2019 Yougov poll found that 13% of Germans wanted the wall back, in the West support was at 14% and in the East it was 13%. A 2019 poll fromForsafound 35% of Berliners thought the construction of the Wall was not so wrong with supporters of theleft partyDie Linke at 74%. References Bibliography External links\",\n \"The Beatles The Beatleswere an Englishrockband formed inLiverpoolin 1960. The core lineup of the band comprisedJohn Lennon,Paul McCartney,George HarrisonandRingo Starr. They are widely regarded as themost influential band of all timeand were integral to the development of1960s countercultureand the recognition ofpopular musicas an art form.Rooted inskiffle,beatand 1950srock 'n' roll, their sound incorporated elements ofclassical musicandtraditional popin innovative ways. The band also explored music styles ranging fromfolkandIndian musictopsychedeliaandhard rock. Aspioneers in recording, songwriting and artistic presentation, the Beatles revolutionized many aspects of the music industry and were often publicized as leaders of theera's youthand sociocultural movements. Led by primary songwritersLennon and McCartney, the Beatles evolved from Lennon's previous group,the Quarrymen, and built their reputation by playing clubs in Liverpool andHamburg, Germany, over three years from 1960, initially withStuart\",\n \"withStuart Sutcliffeplayingbass. The core trio of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, together since 1958, went through a succession of drummers, includingPete Best, before inviting Starr to join them in 1962. ManagerBrian Epsteinmoulded them into a professional act, and producerGeorge Martinguided and developed their recordings, greatly expanding their domestic success after they signed withEMI Recordsand achieved their first hit, \\\"Love Me Do\\\", in late 1962. As their popularity grew into the intense fan frenzy dubbed \\\"Beatlemania\\\", the band acquired the nickname \\\"the Fab Four\\\". Epstein, Martin or other members of the band's entourage were sometimes informally referred to as a \\\"fifth Beatle\\\". By early 1964, the Beatles were international stars and had achieved unprecedented levels of critical and commercial success. They became a leading force in Britain's cultural resurgence, ushering in theBritish Invasionof the United States pop market. They soon made their film debut withA Hard Day's Night(1964). A growing\",\n \"A growing desire to refine their studio efforts, coupled with the challenging nature of their concert tours, led to the band's retirement from live performances in 1966. During this time, they produced albums of greater sophistication, includingRubber Soul(1965),Revolver(1966) andSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band(1967). They enjoyed further commercial success withThe Beatles(also known as \\\"the White Album\\\", 1968) andAbbey Road(1969). The success of these records heralded thealbum era, as albums became the dominant form of record use oversingles. These records also increased public interest inpsychedelic drugsand Eastern spirituality and furthered advancements inelectronic music,album artandmusic videos. In 1968, they foundedApple Corps, a multi-armed multimedia corporation that continues to oversee projects related to the band's legacy. Afterthe group's break-upin 1970, all principal former members enjoyed success as solo artists, and somepartial reunionsoccurred. Lennonwas murderedin 1980, and Harrison\",\n \"1980, and Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001. McCartney and Starr remain musically active. The Beatles are thebest-selling music act of all time, with estimated sales of 600 million units worldwide.They are the most successful act in the history of the USBillboardcharts,holding the record for most number-one albums on theUK Albums Chart(15),most number-one hitson the USBillboardHot 100chart (20), and most singles sold in the UK (21.9 million). The band receivedmany accolades, including sevenGrammy Awards, fourBrit Awards, anAcademy Award(forBest Original Song Scorefor the 1970 documentary filmLet It Be) and fifteenIvor Novello Awards. They were inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Famein their first year of eligibility, 1988, and each principal member was individually inducted between 1994 and 2015. In 2004 and 2011, the group toppedRolling Stone's lists ofthe greatest artists in history.Timemagazine named them among the20th century's 100 most important people. History 1956–1963: Formation The Quarrymen\",\n \"The Quarrymen and name changes In November 1956, sixteen-year-oldJohn Lennonformed askifflegroup with several friends fromQuarry Bank High SchoolinLiverpool. They were calledthe Quarrymen, a reference to their school song \\\"Quarry men old before our birth.\\\"Fifteen-year-oldPaul McCartneymet Lennon on 6 July 1957, and joined as arhythm guitaristshortly after.In February 1958, McCartney invited his friendGeorge Harrison, then aged fifteen, to watch the band. Harrison auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, but Lennon initially thought Harrison was too young. After a month's persistence, during a second meeting (arranged by McCartney), Harrison performed the lead guitar part of the instrumental song \\\"Raunchy\\\" on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus,and they enlisted him aslead guitarist. By January 1959, Lennon's Quarry Bank friends had left the group, and he began his studies at theLiverpool College of Art.The three guitarists, billing themselves as Johnny and the Moondogs,were playingrock and\",\n \"playingrock and rollwhenever they could find a drummer.They also performed as the Rainbows. Paul McCartney later toldNew Musical Expressthat they called themselves that \\\"because we all had different coloured shirts and we couldn't afford any others!\\\" Lennon's art school friendStuart Sutcliffe, who had just sold one of his paintings and was persuaded to purchase a bass guitar with the proceeds, joined in January 1960. He suggested changing the band's name toBeatals, as a tribute toBuddy Hollyandthe Crickets.They used this name until May, when they becamethe Silver Beetles, before undertaking a brieftour of Scotlandas the backing group for pop singer and fellowLiverpudlianJohnny Gentle. By early July, they had refashioned themselves asthe Silver Beatles, and by the middle of August simplythe Beatles. Early residencies and UK popularity Allan Williams, the Beatles' unofficial manager, arranged a residency for themin Hamburg. They auditioned and hired drummerPete Bestin mid-August 1960. The band, now a\",\n \"The band, now a five-piece, departed Liverpool for Hamburg four days later, contracted to club ownerBruno Koschmiderfor what would be a3+1⁄2-month residency.Beatles historianMark Lewisohnwrites: \\\"They pulled into Hamburg at dusk on 17 August, the time when thered-light areacomes to life ... flashing neon lights screamed out the various entertainment on offer, while scantily clad women sat unabashed in shop windows waiting for business opportunities.\\\" Koschmider had converted a couple of strip clubs in the district into music venues, and he initially placed the Beatles at theIndra Club. After closing Indra due to noise complaints, he moved them to theKaiserkellerin October.When he learned they had been performing at the rivalTop Ten Clubin breach of their contract, he gave them one month's termination notice,and reported the underage Harrison, who had obtained permission to stay in Hamburg by lying to the German authorities about his age.The authorities arranged for Harrison's deportation in late November.One\",\n \"late November.One week later, Koschmider had McCartney and Best arrested for arson after they set fire to a condom in a concrete corridor; the authorities deported them.Lennon returned to Liverpool in early December, while Sutcliffe remained in Hamburg until late February with his German fiancéeAstrid Kirchherr,who took the first semi-professional photos of the Beatles. During the next two years, the Beatles were resident for periods in Hamburg, where they usedPreludinboth recreationally and to maintain their energy through all-night performances.In 1961, during their second Hamburg engagement, Kirchherr cut Sutcliffe's hair in the \\\"exi\\\" (existentialist) style, later adopted by the other Beatles.Later on, Sutcliffe decided to leave the band early that year and resume his art studies in Germany. McCartney took over bass.ProducerBert Kaempfertcontracted what was now a four-piece group until June 1962, and he used them asTony Sheridan'sbacking bandon a series of recordings forPolydor Records.As part of the\",\n \"part of the sessions, the Beatles were signed to Polydor for one year.Credited to \\\"Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers\\\", the single \\\"My Bonnie\\\", recorded in June 1961 and released four months later, reached number 32 on theMusikmarktchart. After the Beatles completed their second Hamburg residency, they enjoyed increasing popularity in Liverpool with the growingMerseybeatmovement. However, they were growing tired of the monotony of numerous appearances at the same clubs night after night.In November 1961, during one of the group's frequent performances atthe Cavern Club, they encounteredBrian Epstein, a local record-store owner and music columnist.He later recalled: \\\"I immediately liked what I heard. They were fresh, and they were honest, and they had what I thought was a sort of presence ... star quality.\\\" First EMI recordings Epstein courted the band over the next couple of months, and they appointed him as their manager in January 1962.Throughout early and mid-1962, Epstein sought to free the Beatles from\",\n \"the Beatles from their contractual obligations to Bert Kaempfert Productions. He eventually negotiated a one-month early release in exchange for one last recording session in Hamburg.On their return to Germany in April, a distraught Kirchherr met them at the airport with news of Sutcliffe's death the previous day from abrain haemorrhage.Epstein began negotiations with record labels for a recording contract. To secure a UK record contract, Epstein negotiated an early end to the band's contract with Polydor, in exchange for more recordings backing Tony Sheridan.After a New Year's Day audition,Decca Records rejected the band, saying, \\\"Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein.\\\"However, three months later, producerGeorge Martinsigned the Beatles toEMI'sParlophonelabel. Martin's first recording session with the Beatles took place atEMI Recording Studios(later Abbey Road Studios) in London on 6 June 1962.He immediately complained to Epstein about Best's drumming and suggested they use asession drummerin his\",\n \"drummerin his place.Already contemplating Best's dismissal,the Beatles replaced him in mid-August withRingo Starr, who leftRory Storm and the Hurricanesto join them.A 4 September session at EMI yielded a recording of \\\"Love Me Do\\\" featuring Starr on drums, but a dissatisfied Martin hired drummerAndy Whitefor the band's third session a week later, which produced recordings of \\\"Love Me Do\\\", \\\"Please Please Me\\\" and \\\"P.S. I Love You\\\". Martin initially selected the Starr version of \\\"Love Me Do\\\" for the band's first single, though subsequent re-pressings featured the White version, with Starr on tambourine.Released in early October, \\\"Love Me Do\\\" peaked at number seventeen on theRecord Retailerchart.Their television debut came later that month with a live performance on the regional news programmePeople and Places.After Martin suggested rerecording \\\"Please Please Me\\\" at a faster tempo,a studio session in late November yielded that recording,of which Martin accurately predicted, \\\"You've just made your first No. 1.\\\" In\",\n \"first No. 1.\\\" In December 1962, the Beatles concluded their fifth and final Hamburg residency.By 1963, they had agreed that all four band members would contribute vocals to their albums – including Starr, despite his restricted vocal range, to validate his standing in the group.Lennon and McCartney had establisheda songwriting partnership, and as the band's success grew, their dominant collaboration limited Harrison's opportunities as alead vocalist.Epstein, to maximise the Beatles' commercial potential, encouraged them to adopt a professional approach to performing.Lennon recalled him saying, \\\"Look, if you really want to get in these bigger places, you're going to have to change – stop eating on stage, stop swearing, stop smoking ....\\\" 1963–1966: Beatlemania and touring years Please Please MeandWith the Beatles On 11 February 1963, the Beatles recorded ten songs during a single studio session for their debut LP,Please Please Me. It was supplemented by the four tracks already released on their first two\",\n \"on their first two singles. Martin considered recording the LP live at The Cavern Club, but after deciding that the building's acoustics were inadequate, he elected to simulate a \\\"live\\\" album with minimal production in \\\"a single marathon session at Abbey Road\\\".After the moderate success of \\\"Love Me Do\\\", the single \\\"Please Please Me\\\" was released in January 1963, two months ahead of the album. It reached number one on every UK chart exceptRecord Retailer, where it peaked at number two. Recalling how the Beatles \\\"rushed to deliver a debut album, bashing outPlease Please Mein a day\\\",AllMusiccriticStephen Thomas Erlewinewrote: \\\"Decades after its release, the album still sounds fresh, precisely because of its intense origins.\\\"Lennon said little thought went into composition at the time; he and McCartney were \\\"just writing songsà laEverly Brothers,à laBuddy Holly, pop songs with no more thought of them than that – to create a sound. And the words were almost irrelevant.\\\" Released in March 1963,Please Please Mewas\",\n \"Please Mewas the first of eleven consecutive Beatles albums released in the United Kingdom to reach number one.The band's third single, \\\"From Me to You\\\", came out in April and began an almost unbroken string of seventeen British number-one singles, including all but one of the eighteen they released over the next six years.Issued in August, their fourth single, \\\"She Loves You\\\", achieved the fastest sales of any record in the UK up to that time, selling three-quarters of a million copies in under four weeks.It became their first single to sell a million copies, and remained the biggest-selling record in the UK until 1978. The success brought increased media exposure, to which the Beatles responded with an irreverent and comical attitude that defied the expectations of pop musicians at the time, inspiring even more interest.The band toured the UK three times in the first half of the year: a four-week tour that began in February, the Beatles' first nationwide, preceded three-week tours in March and May–June.As\",\n \"and May–June.As their popularity spread, a frenzied adulation of the group took hold. On 13 October, the Beatles starred onSunday Night at the London Palladium, the UK's top variety show.Their performance was televised live and watched by 15 million viewers. One national paper's headlines in the following days coined the term \\\"Beatlemania\\\" to describe the riotous enthusiasm by screaming fans who greeted the band – and it stuck.Although not billed as tour leaders, the Beatles overshadowed American actsTommy RoeandChris Montezduring the February engagements and assumed top billing \\\"by audience demand\\\", something no British act had previously accomplished while touring with artists from the US.A similar situation arose during their May–Junetour with Roy Orbison. In late October, the Beatles began a five-day tour of Sweden, their first time abroad since the final Hamburg engagement of December 1962.On their return to the UK on 31 October, several hundred screaming fans greeted them in heavy rain atHeathrow\",\n \"rain atHeathrow Airport. Around 50 to 100 journalists and photographers, as well as representatives from theBBC, also joined the airport reception, the first of more than 100 such events.The next day, the band began its fourth tour of Britain within nine months, this one scheduled for six weeks.In mid-November, as Beatlemania intensified, police resorted to using high-pressure water hoses to control the crowd before a concert in Plymouth.On 4 November, they played in front ofThe Queen MotherandPrincess Margaretduring theRoyal Variety Performanceat thePrince of Wales Theatre. Please Please Memaintained the top position on theRecord Retailerchart for 30 weeks, only to be displaced by its follow-up,With the Beatles,which EMI released on 22 November to record advance orders of 270,000 copies. The LP topped a half-million albums sold in one week.Recorded between July and October,With the Beatlesmade better use of studio production techniques than its predecessor.It held the top spot for 21 weeks with a chart life\",\n \"with a chart life of 40 weeks.Erlewine described the LP as \\\"a sequel of the highest order – one that betters the original\\\". In a reversal of then standard practice, EMI released the album ahead of the impending single \\\"I Want to Hold Your Hand\\\", with the song excluded to maximise the single's sales.The album caught the attention of music criticWilliam MannofThe Times, who suggested that Lennon and McCartney were \\\"the outstanding English composers of 1963\\\".The newspaper published a series of articles in which Mann offered detailed analyses of the music, lending it respectability.With the Beatlesbecame the second album in UK chart history to sell a million copies, a figure previously reached only by the 1958South Pacificsoundtrack.When writing thesleeve notesfor the album, the band's press officer,Tony Barrow, used the superlative the \\\"fabulous foursome\\\", which the media widely adopted as \\\"the Fab Four\\\". First visit to the United States and the British Invasion EMI's American subsidiary,Capitol Records,\",\n \"Records, hindered the Beatles' releases in the United States for more than a year by initially declining to issue their music, including their first three singles. Concurrent negotiations with the independent US labelVee-Jayled to the release of some, but not all, of the songs in 1963.Vee-Jay finished preparation for the albumIntroducing... The Beatles, comprising most of the songs of Parlophone'sPlease Please Me, but a management shake-up led to the album not being released.After it emerged that the label did not report royalties on their sales, the licence that Vee-Jay had signed with EMI was voided.A new licence was granted to theSwanlabel for the single \\\"She Loves You\\\". The record received some airplay in theTidewater areaof Virginia from Gene Loving of radio stationWGHand was featured on the \\\"Rate-a-Record\\\" segment ofAmerican Bandstand, but it failed to catch on nationally. Epstein brought a demo copy of \\\"I Want to Hold Your Hand\\\" to Capitol'sBrown Meggs, who signed the band and arranged for a $40,000\",\n \"for a $40,000 US marketing campaign. American chart success began after disc jockey Carroll James of AM radio stationWWDC, in Washington, DC, obtained a copy of the British single \\\"I Want to Hold Your Hand\\\" in mid-December 1963 and began playing it on-air.Taped copies of the song soon circulated among other radio stations throughout the US. This caused an increase in demand, leading Capitol to bring forward the release of \\\"I Want to Hold Your Hand\\\" by three weeks.Issued on 26 December, with the band's previously scheduled debut there just weeks away, \\\"I Want to Hold Your Hand\\\" sold a million copies, becoming a number-one hit in the US by mid-January.In its wake Vee-Jay releasedIntroducing... The Beatlesalong with Capitol's debut album,Meet the Beatles!, while Swan reactivated production of \\\"She Loves You\\\". On 7 February 1964, the Beatles departed from Heathrow with an estimated 4,000 fans waving and screaming as the aircraft took off.Upon landing at New York'sJohn F. Kennedy Airport, an uproarious crowd\",\n \"an uproarious crowd estimated at 3,000 greeted them.They gave their first live US television performance two days later onThe Ed Sullivan Show, watched by approximately 73 million viewers in over 23 million households,or 34 per cent of the American population. Biographer Jonathan Gould writes that, according to theNielsenrating service, it was \\\"the largest audience that had ever been recorded for an American televisionprogram\\\".The next morning, the Beatles awoke to a largely negative critical consensus in the US,but a day later at their first US concert, Beatlemania erupted at theWashington Coliseum.Back in New York the following day, the Beatles met with another strong reception during two shows atCarnegie Hall.The band flew to Florida, where they appeared onThe Ed Sullivan Showa second time, again before 70 million viewers, before returning to the UK on 22 February. The Beatles' first visit to the US took place when the nation was still mourning theassassination of President John F. Kennedythe previous\",\n \"Kennedythe previous November.Commentators often suggest that for many, particularly the young, the Beatles' performances reignited the sense of excitement and possibility that momentarily faded in the wake of the assassination, and helped pave the way for the revolutionary social changes to come later in the decade.Their hairstyle, unusually long for the era and mocked by many adults,became an emblem of rebellion to the burgeoning youth culture. The group's popularity generated unprecedented interest in British music, and many other UK acts subsequently made their American debuts, successfully touring over the next three years in what was termed theBritish Invasion.The Beatles' success in the US opened the door for a successive string of Britishbeat groupsandpopacts such asthe Dave Clark Five,the Animals,Petula Clark,the Kinks, andthe Rolling Stonesto achieve success in America.During the week of 4 April 1964, the Beatles held twelve positions on theBillboardHot 100singles chart, including the top five. A\",\n \"the top five. A Hard Day's Night Capitol Records' lack of interest throughout 1963 did not go unnoticed, and a competitor,United Artists Records, encouragedits film divisionto offer the Beatles a three-motion-picture deal, primarily for the commercial potential of the soundtracks in the US.Directed byRichard Lester,A Hard Day's Nightinvolved the band for six weeks in March–April 1964 as they played themselves in a musical comedy.The film premiered in London and New York in July and August, respectively, and was an international success, with some critics drawing a comparison with theMarx Brothers. United Artists released afull soundtrack albumfor the North American market, combining Beatles songs and Martin's orchestral score; elsewhere, the group's third studio LP,A Hard Day's Night, contained songs from the film on side one and other new recordings on side two.According to Erlewine, the album saw them \\\"truly coming into their own as a band. All of the disparate influences on their first two albums\",\n \"first two albums coalesced into a bright, joyous, original sound, filled with ringing guitars and irresistible melodies.\\\"That \\\"ringing guitar\\\" sound was primarily the product of Harrison's12-string electric Rickenbacker, a prototype given to him by the manufacturer, which made its debut on the record. 1964 world tour, meeting Bob Dylan, and stand on civil rights Touring internationally in June and July, the Beatles staged 37 shows over 27 days in Denmark, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.In August and September, they returned to the US, with a 30-concert tour of 23 cities.Generating intense interest once again, the month-long tour attracted between 10,000 and 20,000 fans to each 30-minute performance in cities from San Francisco to New York. In August, journalistAl Aronowitzarranged for the Beatles to meetBob Dylan.Visiting the band in their New York hotel suite, Dylan introduced them tocannabis.Gould points out the musical and cultural significance of this meeting, before which the\",\n \"before which the musicians' respective fanbases were \\\"perceived as inhabiting two separate subcultural worlds\\\": Dylan's audience of \\\"college kids with artistic or intellectual leanings, a dawning political and social idealism, and a mildlybohemian style\\\" contrasted with their fans, \\\"veritable 'teenyboppers' – kids in high school or grade school whose lives were totally wrapped up in the commercialised popular culture of television, radio, pop records, fan magazines, and teen fashion. To many of Dylan's followers in thefolk musicscene, the Beatles were seen as idolaters, not idealists.\\\" Within six months of the meeting, according to Gould, \\\"Lennon would be making records on which he openly imitated Dylan's nasal drone, brittle strum, and introspective vocal persona\\\"; and six months after that, Dylan began performing with a backing band andelectric instrumentation, and \\\"dressed in the height of Mod fashion\\\".As a result, Gould continues, the traditional division between folk and rock enthusiasts \\\"nearly\",\n \"enthusiasts \\\"nearly evaporated\\\", as the Beatles' fans began to mature in their outlook and Dylan's audience embraced the new, youth-driven pop culture. Duringthe 1964 US tour, the group were confronted withracial segregationin the country at the time.When informed that the venue for their 11 September concert, theGator BowlinJacksonville, Florida, was segregated, the Beatles said they would refuse to perform unless the audience was integrated.Lennon stated: \\\"We never play to segregated audiences and we aren't going to start now ... I'd sooner lose our appearance money.\\\"City officials relented and agreed to allow an integrated show.The group also cancelled their reservations at the whites-onlyHotel George Washingtonin Jacksonville.For their subsequent US tours in 1965 and 1966, the Beatles included clauses in contracts stipulating that shows be integrated. Beatles for Sale,Help!andRubber Soul According to Gould, the Beatles' fourth studio LP,Beatles for Sale, evidenced a growing conflict between the\",\n \"between the commercial pressures of their global success and their creative ambitions.They had intended the album, recorded between August and October 1964,to continue the format established byA Hard Day's Nightwhich, unlike their first two LPs, contained only original songs.They had nearly exhausted their backlog of songs on the previous album, however, and given the challenges constant international touring posed to their songwriting efforts, Lennon admitted, \\\"Material's becoming a hell of a problem\\\".As a result, six covers from their extensive repertoire were chosen to complete the album. Released in early December, its eight original compositions stood out, demonstrating the growing maturity of theLennon–McCartneysongwriting partnership. In early 1965, following a dinner with Lennon, Harrison and their wives, Harrison's dentist, John Riley, secretly addedLSDto their coffee.Lennon described the experience: \\\"It was just terrifying, but it was fantastic. I was pretty stunned for a month or two.\\\"He and\",\n \"or two.\\\"He and Harrison subsequently became regular users of the drug, joined by Starr on at least one occasion. Harrison's use ofpsychedelic drugsencouraged his path to meditation and Hinduism. He commented: \\\"For me, it was like a flash. The first time I hadacid, it just opened up something in my head that was inside of me, and I realised a lot of things. I didn't learn them because I already knew them, but that happened to be the key that opened the door to reveal them. From the moment I had that, I wanted to have it all the time – these thoughts about the yogis and the Himalayas, andRavi's music.\\\"McCartney was initially reluctant to try it, but eventually did so in late 1966.He became the first Beatle to discuss LSD publicly, declaring in a magazine interview that \\\"it opened my eyes\\\" and \\\"made me a better, more honest, more tolerant member of society\\\". Controversy erupted in June 1965 when QueenElizabeth IIappointed all four Beatles Members of theOrder of the British Empire(MBE) after Prime MinisterHarold\",\n \"MinisterHarold Wilsonnominated them for the award.In protest – the honour was at that time primarily bestowed upon military veterans and civic leaders – some conservative MBE recipients returned their insignia. In July, the Beatles' second film,Help!, was released, again directed by Lester. Described as \\\"mainly a relentless spoof ofBond\\\",it inspired a mixed response among both reviewers and the band. McCartney said: \\\"Help!was great but it wasn't our film – we were sort of guest stars. It was fun, but basically, as an idea for a film, it was a bit wrong.\\\"The soundtrack was dominated by Lennon, who wrote and sang lead on most of its songs, including the two singles: \\\"Help!\\\" and \\\"Ticket to Ride\\\". TheHelp!album, the group's fifth studio LP, mirroredA Hard Day's Nightby featuring soundtrack songs on side one and additional songs from the same sessions on side two.The LP contained all original material save for two covers, \\\"Act Naturally\\\" and \\\"Dizzy Miss Lizzy\\\"; they were the last covers the band would include on\",\n \"would include on an album untilLet It Be'sbrief rendition of the traditional Liverpool folk song \\\"Maggie Mae\\\".The band expanded their use of vocal overdubs onHelp!and incorporated classical instruments into some arrangements, including a string quartet on the pop ballad \\\"Yesterday\\\".Composed and sung by McCartney – none of the other Beatles perform on the recording– \\\"Yesterday\\\" has inspired the most cover versions of any song ever written.WithHelp!, the Beatles became the first rock group to be nominated for aGrammy Award for Album of the Year. The group's third US tour opened with a performance before a world-record crowd of 55,600 at New York'sShea Stadiumon 15 August – \\\"perhaps the most famous of all Beatles' concerts\\\", in Lewisohn's description.A further nine successful concerts followed in other American cities. At a show in Atlanta, the Beatles gave one of the first live performances ever to make use of afoldbacksystem of on-stage monitor speakers.Towards the end of the tour, they met withElvis Presley,\",\n \"withElvis Presley, a foundational musical influence on the band, who invited them to his home inBeverly Hills.Presley later said the band was an example of a trend of anti-Americanism and drug abuse. September 1965 saw the launch of an AmericanSaturday-morning cartoonseries,The Beatles, that echoedA Hard Day's Night'sslapstick antics over its two-year original run.The series was the first weekly television series to feature animated versions of real, living people. In mid-October, the Beatles entered the recording studio; for the first time when making an album, they had an extended period without other major commitments.Until this time, according to George Martin, \\\"we had been making albums rather like a collection of singles. Now we were really beginning to think about albums as a bit of art on their own.\\\"Released in December,Rubber Soulwas hailed by critics as a major step forward in the maturity and complexity of the band's music.Their thematic reach was beginning to expand as they embraced deeper\",\n \"embraced deeper aspects of romance and philosophy, a development that NEMS executivePeter Brownattributed to the band members' \\\"now habitual use of marijuana\\\".Lennon referred toRubber Soulas \\\"the pot album\\\"and Starr said: \\\"Grass was really influential in a lot of our changes, especially with the writers. And because they were writing different material, we were playing differently.\\\"AfterHelp!'s foray into classical music with flutes and strings, Harrison's introduction of asitaron \\\"Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)\\\" marked a further progression outside the traditional boundaries of popular music. As the lyrics grew more artful, fans began to study them for deeper meaning. While some ofRubber Soul's songs were the product of Lennon and McCartney's collaborative songwriting,the album also included distinct compositions from each,though they continued to share official credit. \\\"In My Life\\\", of which each later claimed lead authorship, is considered a highlight of the entire Lennon–McCartney\",\n \"Lennon–McCartney catalogue.Harrison calledRubber Soulhis \\\"favourite album\\\",and Starr referred to it as \\\"the departure record\\\".McCartney has said, \\\"We'd had our cute period, and now it was time to expand.\\\"However, recording engineerNorman Smithlater stated that the studio sessions revealed signs of growing conflict within the group – \\\"the clash between John and Paul was becoming obvious\\\", he wrote, and \\\"as far as Paul was concerned, George could do no right\\\". Controversies,Revolverand final tour Capitol Records, from December 1963 when it began issuing Beatles recordings for the US market, exercised complete control over format,compiling distinct US albums from the band's recordings and issuing songs of their choosing as singles.In June 1966, the Capitol LPYesterday and Todaycaused an uproar with its cover, which portrayed the grinning Beatles dressed in butcher's overalls, accompanied by raw meat and mutilated plastic baby dolls. According to Beatles biographerBill Harry, it has been incorrectly suggested\",\n \"suggested that this was meant as a satirical response to the way Capitol had \\\"butchered\\\" the US versions of the band's albums.Thousands of copies of the LP had a new cover pasted over the original; an unpeeled \\\"first-state\\\" copy fetched $10,500 at a December 2005 auction.In England, meanwhile, Harrison met sitar maestroRavi Shankar, who agreed to train him on the instrument. During a tour of the Philippines the month after theYesterday and Todayfurore, the Beatles unintentionally snubbed the nation's first lady,Imelda Marcos, who had expected them to attend a breakfast reception at thePresidential Palace.When presented with the invitation, Epstein politely declined on the band members' behalf, as it had never been his policy to accept such official invitations.They soon found that theMarcos regimewas unaccustomed to taking no for an answer. The resulting riots endangered the group and they escaped the country with difficulty.Immediately afterwards, the band members visited India for the first time. We'remore\",\n \"time. We'remore popular than Jesusnow; I don't know which will go first – rock 'n' roll or Christianity. – John Lennon, 1966 Almost as soon as they returned home, the Beatles faced a fierce backlash from US religious and social conservatives (as well as theKu Klux Klan) over a comment Lennon had made in a March interview with British reporterMaureen Cleave.\\\"Christianity will go\\\", Lennon had said. \\\"It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right ...Jesuswas alright but hisdiscipleswere thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me.\\\"His comments went virtually unnoticed in England, but when US teenage fan magazineDatebookprinted them five months later, it sparked a controversy with Christians in America's conservativeBible Beltregion.TheVaticanissued a protest, and bans on Beatles records were imposed by Spanish and Dutch stations and South Africa'snational broadcasting service.Epstein accusedDatebookof having taken Lennon's words out of context. At\",\n \"out of context. At a press conference, Lennon pointed out, \\\"If I'd said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it.\\\"He claimed that he was referring to how other people viewed their success, but at the prompting of reporters, he concluded: \\\"If you want me to apologise, if that will make you happy, then okay, I'm sorry.\\\" Released in August 1966, a week before the Beatles' final tour,Revolvermarked another artistic step forward for the group.The album featured sophisticated songwriting, studio experimentation, and a greatly expanded repertoire of musical styles, ranging from innovative classical string arrangements topsychedelia.Abandoning the customary group photograph, itsAubrey Beardsley-inspired cover – designed byKlaus Voormann, a friend of the band since their Hamburg days – was a monochrome collage and line drawing caricature of the group.The album was preceded by the single \\\"Paperback Writer\\\", backed by \\\"Rain\\\".Short promotional films were made for both songs; described by\",\n \"songs; described by cultural historian Saul Austerlitz as \\\"among the first true music videos\\\",they aired onThe Ed Sullivan ShowandTop of the Popsin June. Among the experimental songs onRevolverwas \\\"Tomorrow Never Knows\\\", the lyrics for which Lennon drew fromTimothy Leary'sThe Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Its creation involved eight tape decks distributed about the EMI building, each staffed by an engineer or band member, who randomly varied the movement of atape loopwhile Martin created a composite recording by sampling the incoming data.McCartney's \\\"Eleanor Rigby\\\" made prominent use of astring octet; Gould describes it as \\\"a true hybrid, conforming to no recognisable style or genre of song\\\".Harrison's emergence as a songwriter was reflected in three of his compositions appearing on the record.Among these, \\\"Taxman\\\", which opened the album, marked the first example of the Beatles making a political statement through their music. As preparations were made for a tour\",\n \"made for a tour of the US, the Beatles knew that their music would hardly be heard. Having originally usedVox AC30amplifiers, they later acquired more powerful 100-watt amplifiers, specially designed for them byVox, as they moved into larger venues in 1964; however, these were still inadequate. Struggling to compete with the volume of sound generated by screaming fans, the band had grown increasingly bored with the routine of performing live.Recognising that their shows were no longer about the music, they decided to make the August tour their last. The band performed none of their new songs on the tour.In Chris Ingham's description, they were very much \\\"studio creations ... and there was no way a four-piece rock 'n' roll group could do them justice, particularly through the desensitising wall of the fans' screams. 'Live Beatles' and 'Studio Beatles' had become entirely different beasts.\\\"The band's concert at San Francisco'sCandlestick Parkon 29 August was their last commercial concert.It marked the end of\",\n \"marked the end of four years dominated by almost non-stop touring that included over 1,400 concert appearances internationally. 1966–1970: Studio years Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Freed from the burden of touring, the Beatles embraced an increasingly experimental approach as they recordedSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, beginning in late November 1966.According to engineerGeoff Emerick, the album's recording took over 700 hours.He recalled the band's insistence \\\"that everything onSgt. Pepperhad to be different. We had microphones right down in the bells of brass instruments and headphones turned into microphones attached to violins. We used giant primitive oscillators to vary the speed of instruments and vocals and we had tapes chopped to pieces and stuck together upside down and the wrong way around.\\\"Parts of \\\"A Day in the Life\\\" featured a 40-piece orchestra.The sessions initially yielded the non-albumdouble A-sidesingle \\\"Strawberry Fields Forever\\\"/\\\"Penny Lane\\\" in February 1967;theSgt.\",\n \"1967;theSgt. PepperLP followed with a rush-release in May.The musical complexity of the records, created using relatively primitivefour-trackrecording technology, astounded contemporary artists.Among music critics, acclaim for the album was virtually universal.Gould writes: The overwhelming consensus is that the Beatles had created a popular masterpiece: a rich, sustained, and overflowing work of collaborative genius whose bold ambition and startling originality dramatically enlarged the possibilities and raised the expectations of what the experience of listening to popular music on record could be. On the basis of this perception,Sgt. Pepperbecame the catalyst for an explosion of mass enthusiasm for album-formatted rock that would revolutionise both the aesthetics and the economics of the record business in ways that far outstripped the earlier pop explosions triggered by the Elvis phenomenon of 1956 and the Beatlemania phenomenon of 1963. In the wake ofSgt. Pepper, the underground and mainstream press\",\n \"mainstream press widely publicised the Beatles as leaders of youth culture, as well as \\\"lifestyle revolutionaries\\\".The album was the first major pop/rock LP to include its complete lyrics, which appeared on the back cover.Those lyrics were the subject of critical analysis; for instance, in late 1967 the album was the subject of a scholarly inquiry by American literary critic and professor of EnglishRichard Poirier, who observed that his students were \\\"listening to the group's music with a degree of engagement that he, as a teacher of literature, could only envy\\\".The elaborate cover also attracted considerable interest and study.A collage designed bypop artistsPeter BlakeandJann Haworth, it depicted the group as the fictional band referred to in the album'stitle trackstanding in front ofa crowd of famous people.The heavy moustaches worn by the group reflected the growing influence of thehippiemovement,while cultural historian Jonathan Harris describes their \\\"brightly coloured parodies of military uniforms\\\" as\",\n \"uniforms\\\" as a knowingly \\\"anti-authoritarian and anti-establishment\\\" display. Sgt. Peppertopped the UK charts for 23 consecutive weeks, with a further four weeks at number one in the period through to February 1968.With 2.5 million copies sold within three months of its release,Sgt. Pepper's initial commercial success exceeded that of all previous Beatles albums.It was the first rock album to win theGrammy Award for Album of the Year.It sustained its immense popularity into the 21st century while breaking numerous sales records. Magical Mystery TourandYellow Submarine Two Beatles film projects were conceived within weeks of completingSgt. Pepper:Magical Mystery Tour, a one-hour television film, andYellow Submarine, an animated feature-length film produced byUnited Artists.The group began recording music for the former in late April 1967, but the project then lay dormant as they focused on recording songs for the latter.On 25 June, the Beatles performed their forthcoming single \\\"All You Need Is Love\\\" to an\",\n \"Need Is Love\\\" to an estimated 350 million viewers onOur World, the first live global television link.Released a week later, during theSummer of Love, the song was adopted as aflower poweranthem.The Beatles' use of psychedelic drugs was at its height during that summer.In July and August, the group pursued interests related to similar utopian-based ideology, including a week-long investigation into the possibility of starting an island-basedcommuneoff the coast of Greece. On 24 August, the group were introduced toMaharishi Mahesh Yogiin London. The next day, they travelled toBangorfor hisTranscendental Meditationretreat. On 27 August, their manager's assistant, Peter Brown, phoned to inform them that Epstein had died.The coroner ruled the death an accidentalcarbitoloverdose, although it was widely rumoured to be a suicide.His death left the group disoriented and fearful about the future.Lennon recalled: \\\"We collapsed. I knew that we were in trouble then. I didn't really have any misconceptions about our\",\n \"about our ability to do anything other than play music, and I was scared. I thought, 'We've fuckin' had it now.'\\\"Harrison's then-wifePattie Boydremembered that \\\"Paul and George were in complete shock. I don't think it could have been worse if they had heard that their own fathers had dropped dead.\\\"During a band meeting in September, McCartney recommended that the band proceed withMagical Mystery Tour. TheMagical Mystery Toursoundtrackwas released in the UK as a six-track doubleextended play(EP) in early December 1967.It was the first example of a double EP in the UK.The record carried on the psychedelic vein ofSgt. Pepper,though in line with the band's wishes, the packaging reinforced the idea that the release was a film soundtrack rather than a follow-up toSgt. Pepper.In the US, the soundtrack appeared as an identically titled LP that also included five tracks from the band's recent singles.In its first three weeks, the album set a record for the highest initial sales of any Capitol LP, and it is the only\",\n \"and it is the only Capitol compilation later to be adopted in the band's official canon of studio albums. Magical Mystery Tourfirst aired onBoxing Dayto an audience of approximately 15 million.Largely directed by McCartney, the film was the band's first critical failure in the UK.It was dismissed as \\\"blatant rubbish\\\" by theDaily Express; theDaily Mailcalled it \\\"a colossal conceit\\\"; andThe Guardianlabelled the film \\\"a kind of fantasy morality play about the grossness and warmth and stupidity of the audience\\\".Gould describes it as \\\"a great deal of raw footage showing a group of people getting on, getting off, and riding on a bus\\\".Although the viewership figures were respectable, its slating in the press led US television networks to lose interest in broadcasting the film. The group were less involved withYellow Submarine, which featured the band appearing as themselves for only a short live-action segment.Premiering in July 1968, the film featured cartoon versions of the band members and a soundtrack with\",\n \"a soundtrack with eleven of their songs, including four unreleased studio recordings that made their debut in the film.Critics praised the film for its music, humour and innovative visual style.Asoundtrack LPwas issued seven months later; it contained those four new songs, the title track (already issued onRevolver), \\\"All You Need Is Love\\\" (already issued as a single and on the USMagical Mystery TourLP) and seven instrumental pieces composed by Martin. India retreat, Apple Corps and the White Album In February 1968, the Beatles travelled to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi'sashraminRishikesh, India, to take part in a three-month meditation \\\"Guide Course\\\". Theirtime in Indiamarked one of the band's most prolific periods, yielding numerous songs, including a majority of those on their next album.However, Starr left after only ten days, unable to stomach the food, and McCartney eventually grew bored and departed a month later.For Lennon and Harrison, creativity turned to question when an electronics technician known\",\n \"technician known asMagic Alexsuggested that the Maharishi was attempting to manipulate them.When he alleged that the Maharishi had made sexual advances to women attendees, a persuaded Lennon left abruptly just two months into the course, bringing an unconvinced Harrison and the remainder of the group's entourage with him.In anger, Lennon wrote a scathing song titled \\\"Maharishi\\\", renamed \\\"Sexy Sadie\\\" to avoid potential legal issues. McCartney said, \\\"We made a mistake. We thought there was more to him than there was.\\\" In May, Lennon and McCartney travelled to New York for the public unveiling of the Beatles' new business venture,Apple Corps.It was initially formed several months earlier as part of a plan to create a tax-effective business structure, but the band then desired to extend the corporation to other pursuits, including record distribution, peace activism, and education.McCartney described Apple as \\\"rather like a Western communism\\\".The enterprise drained the group financially with a series of\",\n \"with a series of unsuccessful projectshandled largely by members of the Beatles' entourage, who were given their jobs regardless of talent and experience.Among its numerous subsidiaries wereApple Electronics, established to foster technological innovations with Magic Alex at the head, and Apple Retailing, which opened the short-livedApple Boutiquein London.Harrison later said, \\\"Basically, it was chaos ... John and Paul got carried away with the idea and blew millions, and Ringo and I just had to go along with it.\\\" From late May to mid-October 1968, the group recorded what becameThe Beatles, a double LP commonly known as \\\"the White Album\\\" for its virtually featureless cover.During this time, relations between the members grew openly divisive.Starr quit for two weeks, leaving his bandmates to record \\\"Back in the U.S.S.R.\\\" and \\\"Dear Prudence\\\" as a trio, with McCartney filling in on drums.Lennon had lost interest in collaborating with McCartney,whose contribution \\\"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da\\\" he scorned as \\\"granny music\",\n \"as \\\"granny music shit\\\".Tensions were further aggravated by Lennon's romantic preoccupation withavant-gardeartistYoko Ono, whom he insisted on bringing to the sessions despite the group's well-established understanding that girlfriends were not allowed in the studio.McCartney has recalled that the album \\\"wasn't a pleasant one to make\\\".He and Lennon identified the sessions as the start of the band's break-up. With the record, the band executed a wider range of musical stylesand broke with their recent tradition of incorporating several musical styles in one song by keeping each piece of music consistently faithful to a select genre.During the sessions, the group upgraded to an eight-track tape console, which made it easier for them to layer tracks piecemeal, while the members often recorded independently of each other, affording the album a reputation as a collection of solo recordings rather than a unified group effort.Describing the double album, Lennon later said: \\\"Every track is an individual track; there\",\n \"track; there isn't any Beatle music on it. John and the band, Paul and the band, George and the band.\\\"The sessions also produced the Beatles' longest song yet, \\\"Hey Jude\\\", released in August as a non-album single with \\\"Revolution\\\". Issued in November, the White Album was the band's firstApple Recordsalbum release, although EMI continued to own their recordings.The record attracted more than 2 million advance orders, selling nearly 4 million copies in the US in little over a month, and its tracks dominated the playlists of American radio stations.Its lyrical content was the focus of much analysis by the counterculture.Despite its popularity, reviewers were largely confused by the album's content, and it failed to inspire the level of critical writing thatSgt. Pepperhad. Abbey Road,Let It Beand separation AlthoughLet It Bewas the Beatles' final album release, it was largely recorded beforeAbbey Road. The project's impetus came from an idea Martin attributes to McCartney, who suggested they \\\"record an album of\",\n \"\\\"record an album of new material and rehearse it, then perform it before a live audience for the very first time – on record and on film\\\".Originally intended for a one-hour television programme to be calledBeatles at Work, in the event much of the album's content came from studio work beginning in January 1969, many hours of which were captured on film by directorMichael Lindsay-Hogg.Martin said that the project was \\\"not at all a happy recording experience. It was a time when relations between the Beatles were at their lowest ebb.\\\"Lennon described the largely impromptu sessions as \\\"hell ... the most miserable ... on Earth\\\", and Harrison, \\\"the low of all-time\\\".Irritated by McCartney and Lennon, Harrison walked out for five days. Upon returning, he threatened to leave the band unless they \\\"abandon all talk of live performance\\\" and instead focused on finishing a new album, initially titledGet Back, using songs recorded for the TV special.He also demanded they cease work atTwickenham Film Studios, where the\",\n \"Studios, where the sessions had begun, and relocate to the newly finishedApple Studio. His bandmates agreed, and it was decided to salvage the footage shot for the TV production for use in a feature film. To alleviate tensions within the band and improve the quality of their live sound, Harrison invited keyboardistBilly Prestonto participate in the last nine days of sessions.Preston received label billing on the \\\"Get Back\\\" single – the only musician ever to receive that acknowledgment on an official Beatles release.After the rehearsals, the band could not agree on a location to film a concert, rejecting several ideas, including a boat at sea, a lunatic asylum, the Libyan desert, and theColosseum.Ultimately, what would be theirfinal live performancewas filmed on the rooftop of the Apple Corps building at 3Savile Row, London, on 30 January 1969.Five weeks later, engineerGlyn Johns, whom Lewisohn describes asGet Back's \\\"uncredited producer\\\", began work assembling an album, given \\\"free rein\\\" as the band \\\"all but\",\n \"the band \\\"all but washed their hands of the entire project\\\". New strains developed between the band members regarding the appointment of a financial adviser, the need for which had become evident without Epstein to manage business affairs. Lennon, Harrison and Starr favouredAllen Klein, who had managedthe Rolling StonesandSam Cooke;McCartney wantedLeeand John Eastman – father and brother, respectively, ofLinda Eastman,whom McCartney married on 12 March.Agreement could not be reached, so both Klein and the Eastmans were temporarily appointed: Klein as the Beatles' business manager and the Eastmans as their lawyers.Further conflict ensued, however, and financial opportunities were lost.On 8 May, Klein was named sole manager of the band,the Eastmans having previously been dismissed as the Beatles' lawyers. McCartney refused to sign the management contract with Klein, but he was out-voted by the other Beatles. Martin stated that he was surprised when McCartney asked him to produce another album, as theGet\",\n \"album, as theGet Backsessions had been \\\"a miserable experience\\\" and he had \\\"thought it was the end of the road for all of us\\\".The primary recording sessions forAbbey Roadbegan on 2 July.Lennon, who rejected Martin's proposed format of a \\\"continuously moving piece of music\\\", wanted his and McCartney's songs to occupy separate sides of the album.The eventual format, with individually composed songs on the first side and the second consisting largely of amedley, was McCartney's suggested compromise.Emerick noted that the replacement of the studio'svalve-based mixing console with a transistorised one yielded a less punchy sound, leaving the group frustrated at the thinner tone and lack of impact and contributing to its \\\"kinder, gentler\\\" feel relative to their previous albums. On 4 July, the first solo single by a Beatle was released: Lennon's \\\"Give Peace a Chance\\\", credited to thePlastic Ono Band. The completion and mixing of \\\"I Want You (She's So Heavy)\\\" on 20 August was the last occasion on which all four\",\n \"on which all four Beatles were together in the same studio.On 8 September, while Starr was in hospital, the other band members met to discuss recording a new album. They considered a different approach to songwriting by ending theLennon–McCartneypretence and having four compositions apiece from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, with two from Starr and a lead single around Christmas.On 20 September, Lennon announced his departure to the rest of the group but agreed to withhold a public announcement to avoid undermining sales of the forthcoming album. Released on 26 September,Abbey Roadsold four million copies within three months and topped the UK charts for a total of seventeen weeks.Its second track, the ballad \\\"Something\\\", was issued as a single – the only Harrison composition that appeared as a Beatles A-side.Abbey Roadreceived mixed reviews, although the medley met with general acclaim.Unterberger considers it \\\"a fitting swan song for the group\\\", containing \\\"some of the greatest harmonies to be heard on any\",\n \"to be heard on any rock record\\\".Musicologistand authorIan MacDonaldcalls the album \\\"erratic and often hollow\\\", despite the \\\"semblance of unity and coherence\\\" offered by the medley.Martin singled it out as his favourite Beatles album; Lennon said it was \\\"competent\\\" but had \\\"no life in it\\\". For the still unfinishedGet Backalbum, one last song, Harrison's \\\"I Me Mine\\\", was recorded on 3 January 1970. Lennon, in Denmark at the time, did not participate.In March, rejecting the work Johns had done on the project, now retitledLet It Be, Klein gave the session tapes to American producerPhil Spector, who had recently produced Lennon's solo single \\\"Instant Karma!\\\"In addition to remixing the material, Spector edited, spliced and overdubbed several of the recordings that had been intended as \\\"live\\\". McCartney was unhappy with the producer's approach and particularly dissatisfied with the lavish orchestration on \\\"The Long and Winding Road\\\", which involved a fourteen-voice choir and 36-piece instrumental\",\n \"instrumental ensemble.McCartney's demands that the alterations to the song be reverted were ignored,and he publicly announced his departure from the band on 10 April, a week before the release of his firstself-titled solo album. On 8 May 1970,Let It Bewas released. Its accompanying single, \\\"The Long and Winding Road\\\", was expected to be the Beatles' last; it was released in the US, but not in the UK.TheLet It Bedocumentary film followed later that month, and would win the 1970 Academy Award forBest Original Song Score.Sunday TelegraphcriticPenelope Gilliattcalled it \\\"a very bad film and a touching one ... about the breaking apart of this reassuring, geometrically perfect, once apparently ageless family of siblings\\\".Several reviewers stated that some of the performances in the film sounded better than their analogous album tracks.DescribingLet It Beas the \\\"only Beatles album to occasion negative, even hostile reviews\\\", Unterberger calls it \\\"on the whole underrated\\\"; he singles out \\\"some good moments of\",\n \"good moments of straight hard rock in 'I've Got a Feeling' and 'Dig a Pony'\\\" and praises \\\"Let It Be\\\", \\\"Get Back\\\", and \\\"the folky 'Two of Us', with John and Paul harmonising together\\\". McCartney filed suit for the dissolution of the Beatles' contractual partnership on 31 December 1970.Legal disputes continued long after their break-up, and the dissolution was not formalised until 29 December 1974,when Lennon signed the paperwork terminating the partnership while on vacation with his family atWalt Disney World Resortin Florida. After the breakup 1970s Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr all released solo albums in 1970. Their solo records sometimes involved one or more of the other members;Starr'sRingo(1973) was the only album to include compositions and performances by all four ex-Beatles, albeit on separate songs. With Starr's participation, Harrison stagedthe Concert for Bangladeshin New York City in August 1971.Other than an unreleased jam session in 1974, laterbootleggedasA Toot and a Snore in '74,\",\n \"and a Snore in '74, Lennon and McCartney never recorded together again. Two double-LP sets of the Beatles' greatest hits, compiled by Klein,1962–1966and1967–1970, were released in 1973, at first under the Apple Records imprint.Commonly known as the \\\"Red Album\\\" and \\\"Blue Album\\\", respectively, each has earned aMulti-Platinum certificationin the US and a Platinum certification in the UK.Between 1976 and 1982, EMI/Capitol released a wave of compilation albums without input from the ex-Beatles, starting with the double-disc compilationRock 'n' Roll Music.The only one to feature previously unreleased material wasThe Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl(1977); the first officially issued concert recordings by the group, it contained selections from two shows they played during their 1964 and 1965 US tours. The music and enduring fame of the Beatles were commercially exploited in various other ways, again often outside their creative control. In April 1974, the musicalJohn, Paul, George, Ringo ... and Bert, written byWilly\",\n \"written byWilly Russelland featuring singerBarbara Dickson, opened in London. It included, with permission from Northern Songs, eleven Lennon–McCartney compositions and one by Harrison, \\\"Here Comes the Sun\\\". Displeased with the production's use of his song, Harrison withdrew his permission to use it.Later that year, the off-Broadway musicalSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Roadopened.All This and World War II(1976) was an unorthodox nonfiction film that combined newsreel footage with covers of Beatles songs by performers ranging fromElton JohnandKeith Moonto theLondon Symphony Orchestra.The Broadway musicalBeatlemania, an unauthorised nostalgia revue, opened in early 1977 and proved popular, spinning off five separate touring productions.In 1979, the band sued the producers, settling for several million dollars in damages.Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band(1978), a musical film starring theBee GeesandPeter Frampton, was a commercial failure and an \\\"artistic fiasco\\\", according to Ingham.\",\n \"to Ingham. Accompanying the wave of Beatles nostalgia and persistent reunion rumours in the US during the 1970s, several entrepreneurs made public offers to the Beatles for a reunion concert.Promoter Bill Sargent first offered the Beatles $10 million for a reunion concert in 1974. He raised his offer to $30 million in January 1976 and then to $50 million the following month.On 24 April 1976, during a broadcast ofSaturday Night Live, producerLorne Michaelsjokingly offered the Beatles $3,000 to reunite on the show. Lennon and McCartney were watching the live broadcast at Lennon's apartment atthe Dakotain New York, which was within driving distance of theNBC studiowhere the show was being broadcast. The former bandmates briefly entertained the idea of going to the studio and surprising Michaels by accepting his offer, but decided not to. 1980s In December 1980, Lennon wasshot and killedoutside his New York City apartment. Harrison rewrote the lyrics of his song \\\"All Those Years Ago\\\" in Lennon's honour. With\",\n \"honour. With Starr on drums and McCartney and his wife,Linda, contributing backing vocals, the song was released as a single in May 1981.McCartney's own tribute, \\\"Here Today\\\", appeared on hisTug of Waralbum in April 1982.In 1984, Starr co-starred in McCartney's filmGive My Regards to Broad Street,and played with McCartney on several of the songs on thesoundtrack.In 1987, Harrison'sCloud Ninealbum included \\\"When We Was Fab\\\", a song about the Beatlemania era. When the Beatles' studio albums were released on CD by EMI and Apple Corps in 1987, their catalogue was standardised throughout the world, establishing a canon of the twelve original studio LPs as issued in the UK plus the US LP version ofMagical Mystery Tour.All the remaining material from the singles and EPs that had not appeared on these thirteen studio albums was gathered on the two-volume compilationPast Masters(1988). Except for theRedandBluealbums, EMI deleted all its other Beatles compilations – including theHollywood Bowlrecord – from its\",\n \"– from its catalogue. In 1988, the Beatles were inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame, their first year of eligibility. Harrison and Starr attended the ceremony with Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and his two sons,JulianandSean.McCartney declined to attend, citing unresolved \\\"business differences\\\" that would make him \\\"feel like a complete hypocrite waving and smiling with them at a fake reunion\\\".The following year, EMI/Capitol settled a decade-long lawsuit filed by the band over royalties, clearing the way to commercially package previously unreleased material. 1990s Live at the BBC, the first official release of unissued Beatles performances in seventeen years, appeared in 1994.That same year McCartney, Harrison and Starr collaborated on theAnthologyproject.Anthologywas the culmination of work begun in 1970, when Apple Corps directorNeil Aspinall, their former road manager and personal assistant, had started to gather material for a documentary with the working titleThe Long and Winding Road. During\",\n \"Road. During 1995–96, the project yielded a television miniseries, an eight-volume video set, and three two-CD/three-LP box sets featuring artwork byKlaus Voormann. Documenting their history in the band's own words, theAnthologyproject included the release of several unissued Beatles recordings. Alongside producerJeff Lynne, McCartney, Harrison and Starr also added new instrumental and vocal parts to songs recorded as demos by Lennon in the late 1970s,resulting in the release of two \\\"new\\\" Beatles singles, \\\"Free as a Bird\\\" and \\\"Real Love\\\". A third Lennon demo, \\\"Now and Then\\\", was also attempted, but abandoned due to the low quality of the recording.TheAnthologyreleases were commercially successful and the television series was viewed by an estimated 400 million people.A book,The Beatles Anthology, followed in October 2000. In 1999, to coincide with the re-release of the 1968 filmYellow Submarine, an expanded soundtrack album,Yellow Submarine Songtrack, was issued. 2000s The Beatles'1, a compilation album of\",\n \"album of the band's British and American number-one hits, was released on 13 November 2000. It became the fastest-selling album of all time, with 3.6 million sold in its first weekand 13 million within a month.It topped albums charts in at least 28 countries.The compilation had sold 31 million copies globally by April 2009. Harrison died frommetastaticlung cancer in November 2001.McCartney and Starr were among the musicians who performed at theConcert for George, organised byEric Claptonand Harrison's widow,Olivia. The tribute event took place at theRoyal Albert Hallon the first anniversary of Harrison's death. In 2003,Let It Be... Naked, a reconceived version of theLet It Bealbum, with McCartney supervising production, was released. One of the main differences from the Spector-produced version was the omission of the original string arrangements.It was a top-ten hit in both Britain and America. The US album configurations from 1964 to 1965 were released as box sets in 2004 and 2006;The Capitol Albums,\",\n \"Capitol Albums, Volume 1andVolume 2included both stereo and mono versions based on the mixes that were prepared for vinyl at the time of the music's original American release. As a soundtrack forCirque du Soleil'sLas VegasBeatles stage revue,Love, George Martin and his sonGilesremixed andblended130 of the band's recordings to create what Martin called \\\"a way of re-living the whole Beatles musical lifespan in a very condensed period\\\".The show premiered in June 2006, and theLovealbum was released that November.In April 2009, Starr performed three songs with McCartney at a benefit concert held at New York'sRadio City Music Halland organised by McCartney. On 9 September 2009, the Beatles' entire back catalogue was reissued following an extensive digital remastering process that lasted four years.Stereo editions of all twelve original UK studio albums, along withMagical Mystery Tourand thePast Masterscompilation, were released on compact disc both individually andas a box set.A second collection,The Beatles in\",\n \"Beatles in Mono, included remastered versions of every Beatles album released in true mono along with the original 1965 stereo mixes ofHelp!andRubber Soul(both of which Martin had remixed for the 1987 editions).The Beatles: Rock Band, a music video game in theRock Bandseries, was issued on the same day.In December 2009, the band's catalogue was officially released inFLACandMP3format ina limited edition of 30,000 USB flash drives. 2010s Owing to a long-running royalty disagreement, the Beatles were among the last major artists to sign deals with online music services.Residual disagreement emanating fromApple Corps' dispute with Apple, Inc.,iTunes' owners, over the use of the name \\\"Apple\\\" was also partly responsible for the delay, although in 2008, McCartney stated that the main obstacle to making the Beatles' catalogue available online was that EMI \\\"want something we're not prepared to give them\\\".In 2010, the official canon of thirteen Beatles studio albums,Past Masters, and the \\\"Red\\\" and \\\"Blue\\\" greatest-hits\",\n \"greatest-hits albums were made available on iTunes. In 2012, EMI's recorded music operations were sold toUniversal Music Group. In order for Universal Music to acquire EMI, theEuropean Union, forantitrustreasons, forced EMI to spin off assets including Parlophone. Universal was allowed to keep the Beatles' recorded music catalogue, managed byCapitol Recordsunder itsCapitol Music Groupdivision.The entire original Beatles album catalogue was also reissued on vinyl in 2012; available either individually or as a box set. In 2013, a second volume of BBC recordings,On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2, was released. That December saw the release of another 59 Beatles recordings on iTunes. The set, titledThe Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963, had the opportunity to gain a 70-year copyright extension conditional on the songs being published at least once before the end of 2013. Apple Records released the recordings on 17 December to prevent them from going into the public domain and had them taken down from iTunes later\",\n \"from iTunes later that same day. Fan reactions to the release were mixed, with one blogger saying \\\"the hardcore Beatles collectors who are trying to obtain everything will already have these.\\\" On 26 January 2014, McCartney and Starr performed together at the56th Annual Grammy Awards, held at theStaples Centerin Los Angeles.The following day,The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatlestelevision special was taped in theLos Angeles Convention Center's West Hall. It aired on 9 February, the exact date of – and at the same time, and on the same network as – the original broadcast of the Beatles' first US television appearance onThe Ed Sullivan Show, 50 years earlier. The special included performances of Beatles songs by current artists as well as by McCartney and Starr, archival footage, and interviews with the two surviving ex-Beatles carried out byDavid Lettermanat theEd Sullivan Theater.In December 2015, the Beatles released their catalogue for streaming on various streaming music services\",\n \"music services includingSpotifyandApple Music. In September 2016, the documentary filmThe Beatles: Eight Days a Weekwas released. Directed byRon Howard, it chronicled the Beatles' career during their touring years from 1961 to 1966, from their performances in Liverpool's the Cavern Club in 1961 to their final concert in San Francisco in 1966. The film was released theatrically on 15 September in the UK and the US, and started streaming onHuluon 17 September. It received several awards and nominations, including for Best Documentary at the 70th British Academy Film Awards and the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.An expanded, remixed and remastered version ofThe Beatles at the Hollywood Bowlwas released on 9 September, to coincide with the release of the film. On 18 May 2017,Sirius XM Radiolaunched a 24/7 radio channel, The Beatles Channel. A week later,Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Bandwas reissued with new stereo mixes and unreleased material\",\n \"unreleased material for the album's 50th anniversary.Similar box sets were released forThe Beatlesin November 2018,andAbbey Roadin September 2019.On the first week of October 2019,Abbey Roadreturned to number one on the UK Albums Chart. The Beatles broke their own record for the album with the longest gap between topping the charts asAbbey Roadhit the top spot 50 years after its original release. 2020s In November 2021,The Beatles: Get Back, a documentary directed byPeter Jacksonusing footage captured for theLet It Befilm, was released onDisney+as a three-partminiseries.A book also titledThe Beatles: Get Backwas released on 12 October, ahead of the documentary.Asuper deluxe versionof theLet It Bealbum was released on 15 October.In January 2022, the albumGet Back (Rooftop Performance), consisting of newly mixed audio of theBeatles' rooftop performance, was released on streaming services. In 2022, McCartney and Starr collaborated on a new recording of \\\"Let It Be\\\" withDolly Parton,Peter FramptonandMick\",\n \"FramptonandMick Fleetwood, which was released on Parton's albumRockstarin November 2023.In October, aspecial editionofRevolverwas released, featuring unreleased demos, studio outtakes, the original mono mix and a new stereo remix usingAIde-mixing technology developed by Peter Jackson'sWingNut Films, which had previously been used to restore audio for the documentaryGet Back.New music videos were produced for \\\"Here, There and Everywhere\\\" and \\\"I'm Only Sleeping\\\", the latter of which won theGrammy Award for Best Music Videoat the66th Annual Grammy Awards. In June 2023, McCartney announced plans to release \\\"the final Beatles record\\\" later in the year, using Jackson's de-mixing technology to extract Lennon's voice from an old demo of a song that he had written as a solo artist.In October 2023, the song was revealed to be \\\"Now and Then\\\", with a physical and digital release date of 2 November 2023.The official music video for \\\"Now and Then\\\" was released the following day, garnering upwards of 8 million views in its\",\n \"views in its first 12 hours,as the song arrived on Spotify's rankings as one of the most-streamed current songs.\\\"Now and Then\\\" debuted simultaneously across music, alternative, news/talk and sports stations. The song's premiere achieved the record for the most radio stations to simulcast a music track.The song became their first UK number one single since 1969. On 8 May 2024 the 1970 filmLet It Be, digitally restored byPeter Jackson'sPark Road Post, was released onDisney+, marking the first time it has been publicly screened since its original theatrical release. Artistry Development InIcons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever, Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz describe the Beatles' musical evolution: In their initial incarnation as cheerful, wisecracking moptops, the Fab Four revolutionised the sound, style, and attitude of popular music and opened rock and roll's doors to a tidal wave of British rock acts. Their initial impact would have been enough to establish the Beatles as\",\n \"the Beatles as one of their era's most influential cultural forces, but they didn't stop there. Although their initial style was a highly original, irresistibly catchy synthesis of early American rock and roll and R&B, the Beatles spent the rest of the 1960s expanding rock's stylistic frontiers, consistently staking out new musical territory on each release. The band's increasingly sophisticated experimentation encompassed a variety of genres, includingfolk-rock,country,psychedelia, andbaroque pop, without sacrificing the effortless mass appeal of their early work. InThe Beatles as Musicians,Walter Everettdescribes Lennon and McCartney's contrasting motivations and approaches to composition: \\\"McCartney may be said to have constantly developed – as a means to entertain – a focused musical talent with an ear for counterpoint and other aspects of craft in the demonstration of a universally agreed-upon common language that he did much to enrich. Conversely, Lennon's mature music is best appreciated as the daring\",\n \"as the daring product of a largely unconscious, searching but undisciplined artistic sensibility.\\\" Ian MacDonald describes McCartney as \\\"a natural melodist – a creator of tunes capable of existing apart from their harmony\\\". His melody lines are characterised as primarily \\\"vertical\\\", employing wide,consonantintervals which express his \\\"extrovert energy and optimism\\\". Conversely, Lennon's \\\"sedentary, ironic personality\\\" is reflected in a \\\"horizontal\\\" approach featuring minimal, dissonant intervals and repetitive melodies which rely on their harmonic accompaniment for interest: \\\"Basically a realist, he instinctively kept his melodies close to the rhythms and cadences of speech, colouring his lyrics with bluesy tone and harmony rather than creating tunes that made striking shapes of their own.\\\"MacDonald praises Harrison's lead guitar work for the role his \\\"characterful lines and textural colourings\\\" play in supporting Lennon and McCartney's parts and describes Starr as \\\"the father of modern pop/rock drumming\\\".\",\n \"pop/rock drumming\\\". Influences The Beatles' earliest influences include Elvis Presley,Carl Perkins,Little Richard,Chuck BerryandGene Vincent.During the Beatles' co-residency with Little Richard at theStar-Clubin Hamburg, from April to May 1962, he advised them on the proper technique for performing his songs.Of Presley, Lennon said, \\\"Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there hadn't been Elvis, there would not have been the Beatles.\\\"Chuck Berry was particularly influential in terms of songwriting and lyrics. Lennon noted, \\\"He was well advanced of his time lyric-wise. We all owe a lot to him.\\\"Other early influences include Buddy Holly,Eddie Cochran,Roy Orbison,the Everly BrothersandJerry Lee Lewis. The Beatles continued to absorb influences long after their initial success, often finding new musical and lyrical avenues by listening to their contemporaries, includingBob Dylan,Smokey Robinson and the Miracles,the Who,Frank Zappa,the Lovin' Spoonful,the Byrdsandthe Beach Boys, whose 1966 albumPet\",\n \"whose 1966 albumPet Soundsamazed and inspired McCartney.Referring to the Beach Boys' creative leader, Martin later stated: \\\"No one made a greater impact on the Beatles than Brian .\\\"Ravi Shankar, with whom Harrison studied for six weeks in India in late 1966, had a significant effect on his musical development during the band's later years. Genres Originating as a skiffle group, the Beatles quickly embraced 1950s rock and roll and helped pioneer the Merseybeat genre,and their repertoire ultimately expanded to include a broad variety of pop music.Reflecting the range of styles they explored, Lennon said ofBeatles for Sale, \\\"You could call our new one a Beatles country-and-western LP\\\",while Gould creditsRubber Soulas \\\"the instrument by which legions of folk-music enthusiasts were coaxed into the camp of pop\\\". Although the 1965 song \\\"Yesterday\\\" was not the first pop record to employ orchestral strings, it marked the group's first recorded use of classical music elements. Gould observes, \\\"The more traditional\",\n \"more traditional sound of strings allowed for a fresh appreciation of their talent as composers by listeners who were otherwise allergic to the din of drums and electric guitars.\\\"They continued to experiment with string arrangements to various effect;Sgt. Pepper's \\\"She's Leaving Home\\\", for instance, is \\\"cast in themoldof a sentimental Victorian ballad\\\", Gould writes, \\\"its words and music filled with the clichés of musical melodrama\\\". The band's stylistic range expanded in another direction with their 1966 B-side \\\"Rain\\\", described byMartin Strongas \\\"the first overtly psychedelic Beatles record\\\".Other psychedelic numbers followed, such as \\\"Tomorrow Never Knows\\\" (recorded before \\\"Rain\\\"), \\\"Strawberry Fields Forever\\\", \\\"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds\\\", and \\\"I Am the Walrus\\\". The influence ofIndian classical musicwas evident in Harrison's \\\"The Inner Light\\\", \\\"Love You To\\\", and \\\"Within You Without You\\\" – Gould describes the latter two as attempts \\\"to replicate theragaform in miniature\\\". Innovation was the most\",\n \"was the most striking feature of their creative evolution, according to music historian and pianist Michael Campbell:\\\"'A Day in the Life' encapsulates the art and achievement of the Beatles as well as any single track can. It highlights key features of their music: the sound imagination, the persistence of tuneful melody, and the close coordination between words and music. It represents a new category of song – more sophisticated than pop ... and uniquely innovative. There literally had never before been a song – classical or vernacular – that had blended so many disparate elements so imaginatively.\\\"Philosophy professor Bruce Ellis Benson agrees: \\\"The Beatles ... give us a wonderful example of how such far-ranging influences as Celtic music, rhythm and blues, and country and western could be put together in a new way.\\\" Author Dominic Pedler describes the way they crossed musical styles: \\\"Far from moving sequentially from one genre to another (as is sometimes conveniently suggested) the group maintainedin\",\n \"group maintainedin paralleltheir mastery of the traditional, catchy chart hit while simultaneously forging rock and dabbling with a wide range of peripheral influences from country to vaudeville. One of these threads was their take on folk music, which would form such essential groundwork for their later collisions with Indian music and philosophy.\\\"As the personal relationships between the band members grew increasingly strained, their individual tastes became more apparent. The minimalistic cover artwork for the White Album contrasted with the complexity and diversity of its music, which encompassed Lennon's \\\"Revolution 9\\\" (whosemusique concrèteapproach was influenced by Yoko Ono), Starr'scountrysong \\\"Don't Pass Me By\\\", Harrison'srock ballad\\\"While My Guitar Gently Weeps\\\", and the \\\"proto-metalroar\\\" of McCartney's \\\"Helter Skelter\\\". Contribution of George Martin George Martin's close involvement in his role as producer made him one of the leading candidates for the informal title of the \\\"fifth Beatle\\\".He\",\n \"\\\"fifth Beatle\\\".He applied his classical musical training in various ways, and functioned as \\\"an informal music teacher\\\" to the progressing songwriters, according to Gould.Martin suggested to a sceptical McCartney that the arrangement of \\\"Yesterday\\\" should feature a string quartet accompaniment, thereby introducing the Beatles to a \\\"hitherto unsuspected world of classical instrumental colour\\\", in MacDonald's description.Their creative development was also facilitated by Martin's willingness to experiment in response to their suggestions, such as adding \\\"somethingbaroque\\\" to a particular recording.In addition to scoring orchestral arrangements for recordings, Martin often performed on them, playing instruments including piano, organ andbrass. Collaborating with Lennon and McCartney required Martin to adapt to their different approaches to songwriting and recording. MacDonald comments, \\\"while worked more naturally with the conventionally articulate McCartney, the challenge of catering to Lennon's intuitive\",\n \"Lennon's intuitive approach generally spurred him to his more original arrangements, of which \\\"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!\\\" is an outstanding example.\\\"Martin said of the two composers' distinct songwriting styles and his stabilising influence: Compared with Paul's songs, all of which seemed to keep in some sort of touch with reality, John's had a psychedelic, almost mystical quality ... John's imagery is one of the best things about his work – 'tangerine trees', 'marmalade skies', 'cellophane flowers' ... I always saw him as an auralSalvador Dalí, rather than some drug-ridden record artist. On the other hand, I would be stupid to pretend that drugs didn't figure quite heavily in the Beatles' lives at that time ... they knew that I, in my schoolmasterly role, didn't approve ... Not only was I not into it myself, I couldn't see the need for it; and there's no doubt that, if I too had been on dope,Pepperwould never have been the album it was. Perhaps it was the combination of dope and no dope that\",\n \"and no dope that worked, who knows? Harrison echoed Martin's description of his stabilising role: \\\"I think we just grew through those years together, him as the straight man and us as the loonies; but he was always there for us to interpret our madness – we used to be slightly avant-garde on certain days of the week, and he would be there as the anchor person, to communicate that through the engineers and on to the tape.\\\" In the studio Making innovative use of technology while expanding the possibilities of recorded music, the Beatles urged experimentation by Martin and his recording engineers. Seeking ways to put chance occurrences to creative use, accidental guitar feedback, a resonating glass bottle, a tape loaded the wrong way round so that it played backwards – any of these might be incorporated into their music.Their desire to create new sounds on every new recording, combined with Martin's arranging abilities and the studio expertise of EMI staff engineers Norman Smith,Ken Townsendand Geoff Emerick,\",\n \"Geoff Emerick, all contributed significantly to their records fromRubber Souland, especially,Revolveronwards. Along with innovative studio techniques such assound effects, unconventional microphone placements, tape loops,double tracking, andvari-speedrecording, the Beatles augmented their songs with instruments that were unconventional in rock music at the time. These included string and brass ensembles as well as Indian instruments such as the sitar in \\\"Norwegian Wood\\\" and theswarmandalin \\\"Strawberry Fields Forever\\\".They also used novel electronic instruments such as the Mellotron, with which McCartney supplied the flute voices on the \\\"Strawberry Fields Forever\\\" intro,and theclavioline, an electronic keyboard that created the unusual oboe-like sound on \\\"Baby, You're a Rich Man\\\". Legacy FormerRolling Stonemagazine associate editorRobert Greenfieldcompared the Beatles toPicasso, as \\\"artists who broke through the constraints of their time period to come up with something that was unique and original ... n the\",\n \"original ... n the form of popular music, no one will ever be more revolutionary, more creative and more distinctive ...\\\"The British poetPhilip Larkindescribed their work as \\\"an enchanting and intoxicating hybrid of Negro rock-and-roll with their own adolescent romanticism\\\" and \\\"the first advance in popular music since the War\\\". In 1964, the Beatles' arrival in the U.S. is credited with initiating thealbum era;the music historianJoel Whitburnsays that LP sales soon \\\"exploded and eventually outpaced the sales and releases of singles\\\" in the music industry.They not only sparked the British Invasion of the US,they became a globally influential phenomenon as well.From the 1920s, the US had dominated popular entertainment culture throughout much of the world, viaHollywoodfilms,jazz, the music of Broadway andTin Pan Alley, and later, the rock and roll that first emerged inMemphis, Tennessee.The Beatles are regarded as British cultural icons, with young adults from abroad naming the band among a group of people\",\n \"a group of people whom they most associated with UK culture. Their musical innovations and commercial success inspired musicians worldwide.Many artists have acknowledged the Beatles' influence and enjoyed chart success withcovers of their songs.On radio, their arrival marked the beginning of a new era; in 1968 the programme director of New York'sWABCradio station forbade his DJs from playing any \\\"pre-Beatles\\\" music, marking the defining line of what would be consideredoldieson American radio.They helped to redefine the album as something more than just a few hits padded out with \\\"filler\\\",and they were primary innovators of the modern music video.The Shea Stadium show with which they opened their1965 North American tourattracted an estimated 55,600 people,then the largest audience in concert history; Spitz describes the event as a \\\"major breakthrough ... a giant step toward reshaping the concert business\\\".Emulation of their clothing and especially their hairstyles, which became a mark of rebellion, had a\",\n \"of rebellion, had a global impact on fashion. According to Gould, the Beatles changed the way people listened to popular music and experienced its role in their lives. From what began as the Beatlemania fad, the group's popularity grew into what was seen as an embodiment of sociocultural movements of the decade. As icons of the1960s counterculture, Gould continues, they became a catalyst forbohemianismand activism in various social and political arenas, fuelling movements such aswomen's liberation,gay liberationandenvironmentalism.According to Peter Lavezzoli, after the \\\"more popular than Jesus\\\" controversy in 1966, the Beatles felt considerable pressure to say the right things and \\\"began a concerted effort to spread a message of wisdom and higher consciousness\\\". Other commentators such as Mikal Gilmore and Todd Leopold have traced the inception of their sociocultural impact earlier, interpreting even the Beatlemania period, particularly on their first visit to the US, as a key moment in the development of\",\n \"the development of generational awareness.Referring to their appearance onthe Ed Sullivan ShowLeopold states: \\\"In many ways, the Sullivan appearance marked the beginning of a cultural revolution ... The Beatles were like aliens dropped into the United States of 1964.\\\"According to Gilmore: Elvis Presley had shown us how rebellion could be fashioned into eye-opening style; the Beatles were showing us how style could have the impact of cultural revelation – or at least how a pop vision might be forged into an unimpeachable consensus. Established in 2009,Global Beatles Dayis an annual holiday on 25 June each year that honours and celebrates the ideals of the Beatles.The date was chosen to commemorate the date the group participated in theBBCprogrammeOur Worldin 1967, performing \\\"All You Need Is Love\\\" broadcast to an international audience. Awards and achievements In 1965, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr Members of theOrder of the British Empire(MBE).The Beatles won the 1971\",\n \"won the 1971 Academy Award forBest Original Song Scorefor the filmLet It Be(1970).The recipients of seven Grammy Awardsand fifteenIvor Novello Awards,the Beatles have sixDiamond albums, as well as 20 Multi-Platinum albums, 16 Platinum albums and six Gold albums in the US.In the UK, the Beatles have fourMulti-Platinum albums, fourPlatinum albums, eightGold albumsand oneSilver album.They were inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Famein 1988. Thebest-selling bandin history, the Beatles have sold more than 600 million units as of 2012.From 1991 to 2009 the Beatles sold 57 million albums in United States, according to Nielsen Soundscan.They have had morenumber-one albums on the UK charts, fifteen,and sold more singles in the UK, 21.9 million, than any other act.In 2004,Rolling Stoneranked the Beatles as the most significant and influential rock music artists of the last 50 years.They ranked number one onBillboardmagazine's list of the all-time most successful Hot 100 artists, released in 2008 to celebrate the\",\n \"to celebrate the US singles chart's 50th anniversary.As of 2017, they hold the record for most number-one hits on theBillboardHot 100, with twenty.TheRecording Industry Association of Americacertifies that the Beatles have sold 183 million units in the US, more than any other artist.They were collectively included inTimemagazine's compilation of the20th century's 100 most influential people.In 2014, they received theGrammy Lifetime Achievement Award. On 16 January each year, beginning in 2001, people celebrate World Beatles Day underUNESCO. This date has direct relation to the opening ofthe Cavern Clubin 1957.In 2007, the Beatles became the first band to feature on aseries of UK postage stampsissued by theRoyal Mail.Earlier in 1999, theUnited States Postal Serviceissued a stamp dedicated to the Beatles andYellow Submarine.In 2004 and 2011,Rolling Stonenamed them the greatest artist of all time. Personnel Principal members Early members Touring musicians Timeline Discography The Beatles' core catalogue\",\n \"core catalogue consists of thirteen studio albums and one compilation album which collects all the UK non-album singles andEPtracks: Song catalogue Until 1969, the Beatles' catalogue was published almost exclusively byNorthern Songs Ltd, a company formed in February 1963 by music publisherDick Jamesspecifically for Lennon and McCartney, though it later acquired songs by other artists. The company was organised with James and his partner, Emmanuel Silver, owning a controlling interest, variously described as 51% or 50% plus one share. McCartney had 20%. Reports again vary concerning Lennon's portion – 19 or 20% – and Brian Epstein's – 9 or 10% – which he received in lieu of a 25% band management fee.In 1965, the company went public. Five million shares were created, of which the original principals retained 3.75 million. James and Silver each received 937,500 shares (18.75% of 5 million); Lennon and McCartney each received 750,000 shares (15%); and Epstein's management company, NEMS Enterprises, received\",\n \"received 375,000 shares (7.5%). Of the 1.25 million shares put up for sale, Harrison and Starr each acquired 40,000.At the time of the stock offering, Lennon and McCartney renewed their three-year publishing contracts, binding them to Northern Songs until 1973. Harrison createdHarrisongsto represent his Beatles compositions, but signed a three-year contract with Northern Songs that gave it the copyright to his work through March 1968, which included \\\"Taxman\\\" and \\\"Within You Without You\\\".The songs on which Starr received co-writing credit before 1968, such as \\\"What Goes On\\\" and \\\"Flying\\\", were also Northern Songs copyrights.Harrison did not renew his contract with Northern Songs when it ended, signing instead withApple Publishingwhile retaining the copyright to his work from that point on. Harrison thus owned the rights to his later Beatles songs such as \\\"While My Guitar Gently Weeps\\\" and \\\"Something\\\". That year, as well, Starr createdStartling Music, which holds the rights to his Beatles compositions, \\\"Don't\",\n \"\\\"Don't Pass Me By\\\" and \\\"Octopus's Garden\\\". In March 1969, James arranged to sell his and his partner's shares of Northern Songs to the British broadcasting companyAssociated Television(ATV), founded by impresarioLew Grade, without first informing the Beatles. The band then made a bid to gain a controlling interest by attempting to work out a deal with a consortium of London brokerage firms that had accumulated a 14% holding.The deal collapsed over the objections of Lennon, who declared, \\\"I'm sick of being fucked about by men in suits sitting on their fat arses inthe City.\\\"By the end of May, ATV had acquired a majority stake in Northern Songs, controlling nearly the entire Lennon–McCartney catalogue, as well as any future material until 1973.In frustration, Lennon and McCartney sold their shares to ATV in late October 1969. In 1981, financial losses by ATV's parent company,Associated Communications Corporation(ACC), led it to attempt to sell its music division. According to authors Brian Southall and Rupert\",\n \"Southall and Rupert Perry, Grade contacted McCartney, offering ATV Music and Northern Songs for $30 million.According to an account McCartney gave in 1995, he met with Grade and explained he was interested solely in the Northern Songs catalogue if Grade were ever willing to \\\"separate off\\\" that portion of ATV Music. Soon afterwards, Grade offered to sell him Northern Songs for £20 million, giving the ex-Beatle \\\"a week or so\\\" to decide. By McCartney's account, he and Ono countered with a £5 million bid that was rejected.According to reports at the time, Grade refused to separate Northern Songs and turned down an offer of £21–25 million from McCartney and Ono for Northern Songs. In 1982, ACC was acquired in atakeoverby Australian business magnateRobert Holmes à Courtfor £60 million. In 1985,Michael Jacksonpurchased ATV for a reported $47.5 million. The acquisition gave him control over the publishing rights to more than 200 Beatles songs, as well as 40,000 other copyrights.In 1995, in a deal that earned him a\",\n \"that earned him a reported $110 million, Jackson merged his music publishing business withSony, creating a new company,Sony/ATV Music Publishing, in which he held a 50% stake. The merger made the new company, then valued at over half a billion dollars, the third-largest music publisher in the world.In 2016, Sony acquired Jackson's share of Sony/ATV from the Jackson estate for $750 million. Despite the lack of publishing rights to most of their songs, Lennon's estate and McCartney continue to receive their respective shares of the writers' royalties, which together are 331⁄3% of total commercial proceeds in the US and which vary elsewhere around the world between 50 and 55%.Two of Lennon and McCartney's earliest songs – \\\"Love Me Do\\\" and \\\"P.S. I Love You\\\" – were published by an EMI subsidiary, Ardmore & Beechwood, before they signed with James. McCartney acquired their publishing rights from Ardmorein 1978,and they are the only two Beatles songs owned by McCartney's company MPL Communications.On 18 January\",\n \"18 January 2017, McCartney filed a suit in theUnited States district courtagainst Sony/ATV Music Publishing seeking to reclaim ownership of his share of the Lennon–McCartney song catalogue beginning in 2018. Under US copyright law, for works published before 1978 the author can reclaim copyrights assigned to a publisher after 56 years.McCartney and Sony agreed to a confidential settlement in June 2017. Selected filmography Fictionalised Documentaries and filmed performances Concert tours Headlining Co-headlining See also Notes References Citations Sources Further reading External links\",\n \"Great Depression TheGreat Depressionwas a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939 that affected many countries across the world. It became evident after a sharp decline instockprices in theUnited States, the largest economy in the world at the time, leading to a period ofeconomic depression.Theeconomic contagionbegan around September 1929 and led to theWall Street stock market crashof October (Black Tuesday). This crisis marked the start of a prolonged period of economic hardship characterized by high unemployment rates and widespread business failures. Between 1929 and 1932, worldwidegross domestic product(GDP) fell by an estimated 15%. By comparison, worldwide GDP fell by less than 1% from 2008 to 2009 during theGreat Recession.Some economies started to recover by the mid-1930s. However, in many countries,the negative effects of the Great Depression lasted until the beginning ofWorld War II. Devastating effects were seen in both rich and poor countries with fallingpersonal income, prices, tax\",\n \"income, prices, tax revenues, and profits. International trade fell by more than 50%, unemployment in the U.S. rose to 23% and in some countries rose as high as 33%.Cities around the world were severely affected, especially those dependent onheavy industry. Construction was virtually halted in many countries. Farming communities and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by about 60%.Faced with plummeting demand and few job alternatives, areas dependent onprimary sector industriessuffered the most. Economic historians usually consider the catalyst of the Great Depression to be the devastating Wall Street Crash. However, some dispute this, seeing the crash less as a cause of the Depression and more a symptom of the rising nervousness of investors partly due to gradual price declines caused by falling sales of consumer goods (as a result of overproduction because of new production techniques, falling exports and income inequality, among other factors) that had already been underway as part of a gradual\",\n \"part of a gradual depression. Overview After theWall Street Crash of 1929, where theDow Jones Industrial Averagedropped from 381 to 198 over the course of two months, optimism persisted for some time. The stock market rose in early 1930, with the Dow returning to 294 (pre-depression levels) in April 1930, before steadily declining for years, to a low of 41 in 1932. At the beginning, governments and businesses spent more in the first half of 1930 than in the corresponding period of the previous year. On the other hand, consumers, many of whom suffered severe losses in the stock market the previous year, cut expenditures by 10%. In addition, beginning in the mid-1930s, asevere droughtravaged the agricultural heartland of the U.S. Interest rates dropped to low levels by mid-1930, but expecteddeflationand the continuing reluctance of people to borrow meant that consumer spending and investment remained low.By May 1930, automobile sales declined to below the levels of 1928. Prices, in general, began to decline,\",\n \"began to decline, although wages held steady in 1930. Then adeflationary spiralstarted in 1931. Farmers faced a worse outlook; declining crop prices and a Great Plains drought crippled their economic outlook. At its peak, the Great Depression saw nearly 10% of all Great Plains farms change hands despite federal assistance. The decline in theU.S. economywas the factor that pulled down most other countries at first; then, internal weaknesses or strengths in each country made conditions worse or better.Frantic attempts by individual countries to shore up their economies throughprotectionistpolicies – such as the 1930 U.S.Smoot–Hawley Tariff Actand retaliatory tariffs in other countries – exacerbated the collapse in global trade, contributing to the depression.By 1933, the economic decline pushed world trade to one third of its level compared to four years earlier. Economic indicators Course Origins Because the Great Depression began in the United States and then spread around the world, the origins of the Great\",\n \"of the Great Depression are examined in the context of the United States economy. In the aftermath ofWorld War I, theRoaring Twentieshad brought considerable wealth to the United States and Western Europe.The year 1929 dawned with considerable economic progress in the American economy. A small stock crash occurred on 25 March 1929, but the crash was stabilized. Despite signs of economic trouble, the market continued to improve through September. Stock prices began to slump in September, and were volatile at the end of September.A large sell-off of stocks began in mid-October. Finally, on 24 October,Black Thursday, the American stock market crashed 11% at the opening bell. Actions to stabilize the market failed, and on 28 October, Black Monday, the market crashed another 12%. The panic peaked the next day on Black Tuesday, when the market saw another 11% drop.Thousands of investors were ruined, and billions of dollars had been lost; many stocks could not be sold at any price.The market recovered 12% on\",\n \"recovered 12% on Wednesday, but the damage had been done. Though the market recovered from 14 November until 17 April 1930, it entered a prolonged slump. From 17 April 1930 until 8 July 1932, the market continued to lose 89% of its value. Despite the crash, the worst of the crisis did not reverberate around the world until after 1929. The crisis hit panic levels again in December 1930, with abank runon theBank of United States(privately run, no relation to the government). Unable to pay out to all of its creditors, the bank failed.Among the 608 American banks that closed in November and December 1930, the Bank of United States accounted for a third of the total $550 million deposits lost and, with its closure, bank failures reached a critical mass. The Smoot–Hawley act and the breakdown of international trade TheSmoot–Hawley Tariff Actwas passed in the United States on 17 June 1930, having been proposed the year prior. Ostensibly aimed at protecting the American economy as the Depression began to take root,\",\n \"began to take root, it backfired enormously and may have even caused the Depression. The consensus view amongeconomistsand economic historians (includingKeynesians,MonetaristsandAustrian economists) is that the passage of the Smoot–Hawley Tariff exacerbated the Great Depression,although there is disagreement as to how much. In the popular view, the Smoot–Hawley Tariff was a leading cause of the depression.In a 1995 survey of American economic historians, two-thirds agreed that theSmoot–Hawley Tariff Actat least worsened the Great Depression.According to the U.S. Senate website, the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act is among the most catastrophic acts in congressional history. Many economists have argued that the sharp decline in international trade after 1930 helped to worsen the depression, especially for countries significantly dependent on foreign trade. Most historians and economists blame the Act for worsening the depression by seriously reducing international trade and causing retaliatory tariffs in other\",\n \"tariffs in other countries. While foreign trade was a small part of overall economic activity in the U.S. and was concentrated in a few businesses like farming, it was a much larger factor in many other countries.The averagead valorem(value based) rate of duties on dutiable imports for 1921–1925 was 25.9% but under the new tariff it jumped to 50% during 1931–1935. In dollar terms, American exports declined over the next four years from about $5.2 billion in 1929 to $1.7 billion in 1933; so, not only did the physical volume of exports fall, but also the prices fell by about1⁄3as written. Hardest hit were farm commodities such as wheat, cotton, tobacco, and lumber. Governments around the world took various steps into spending less money on foreign goods such as: \\\"imposing tariffs, import quotas, and exchange controls\\\". These restrictions triggered much tension among countries that had large amounts of bilateral trade, causing major export-import reductions during the depression. Not all governments enforced\",\n \"enforced the same measures of protectionism. Some countries raised tariffs drastically and enforced severe restrictions on foreign exchange transactions, while other countries reduced \\\"trade and exchange restrictions only marginally\\\": The gold standard and the spreading of global depression Thegold standardwas the primary transmission mechanism of the Great Depression. Even countries that did not face bank failures and a monetary contraction first-hand were forced to join the deflationary policy since higher interest rates in countries that performed a deflationary policy led to a gold outflow in countries with lower interest rates. Under the gold standard'sprice–specie flow mechanism, countries that lost gold but nevertheless wanted to maintain the gold standard had to permit their money supply to decrease and the domestic price level to decline (deflation). There is also consensus that protectionist policies, and primarily the passage of theSmoot–Hawley Tariff Act, helped to exacerbate, or even cause the\",\n \"or even cause the Great Depression. Gold standard Some economic studies have indicated that the rigidities of thegold standardnot only spread the downturn worldwide, but also suspended gold convertibility (devaluing the currency in gold terms) that did the most to make recovery possible. Every major currency left the gold standard during the Great Depression. The UK was the first to do so. Facingspeculative attackson thepoundand depletinggold reserves, in September 1931 theBank of Englandceased exchanging pound notes for gold and the pound was floated on foreign exchange markets. Japan and the Scandinavian countries followed in 1931. Other countries, such as Italy and the United States, remained on the gold standard into 1932 or 1933, while a few countries in the so-called \\\"gold bloc\\\", led by France and including Poland, Belgium and Switzerland, stayed on the standard until 1935–36. According to later analysis, the earliness with which a country left the gold standard reliably predicted its economic\",\n \"its economic recovery. For example, The UK and Scandinavia, which left the gold standard in 1931, recovered much earlier than France and Belgium, which remained on gold much longer. Countries such as China, which had asilver standard, almost avoided the depression entirely. The connection between leaving the gold standard as a strong predictor of that country's severity of its depression and the length of time of its recovery has been shown to be consistent for dozens of countries, includingdeveloping countries. This partly explains why the experience and length of the depression differed between regions and states around the world. German banking crisis of 1931 and British crisis The financial crisis escalated out of control in mid-1931, starting with the collapse of theCredit Anstaltin Vienna in May.This put heavy pressure on Germany, which was already in political turmoil. With the rise in violence of National Socialist ('Nazi') and Communist movements, as well as investor nervousness at harsh government\",\n \"at harsh government financial policies,investors withdrew their short-term money from Germany as confidence spiraled downward. The Reichsbank lost 150 million marks in the first week of June, 540 million in the second, and 150 million in two days, 19–20 June. Collapse was at hand. U.S. President Herbert Hoover called for amoratorium on payment of war reparations. This angered Paris, which depended on a steady flow of German payments, but it slowed the crisis down, and the moratorium was agreed to in July 1931. An International conference in London later in July produced no agreements but on 19 August a standstill agreement froze Germany's foreign liabilities for six months. Germany received emergency funding from private banks in New York as well as the Bank of International Settlements and the Bank of England. The funding only slowed the process. Industrial failures began in Germany, a major bank closed in July and a two-day holiday for all German banks was declared. Business failures were more frequent in\",\n \"more frequent in July, and spread toRomaniaand Hungary. The crisis continued to get worse in Germany, bringing political upheaval that finally led to thecoming to power of Hitler's Nazi regimein January 1933. The world financial crisis now began to overwhelm Britain; investors around the world started withdrawing their gold from London at the rate of £2.5 million per day.Credits of £25 million each from the Bank of France and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and an issue of £15 million fiduciary note slowed, but did not reverse, the British crisis. The financial crisis now caused a major political crisis in Britain in August 1931. With deficits mounting, the bankers demanded a balanced budget; the divided cabinet of Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald's Labour government agreed; it proposed to raise taxes, cut spending, and most controversially, to cut unemployment benefits 20%. The attack on welfare was unacceptable to the Labour movement. MacDonald wanted to resign, but King George V insisted he remain and\",\n \"he remain and form an all-party coalition \\\"National Government\\\". The Conservative and Liberals parties signed on, along with a small cadre of Labour, but the vast majority of Labour leaders denounced MacDonald as a traitor for leading the new government. Britain went off thegold standard, and suffered relatively less than other major countries in the Great Depression. In the 1931 British election, the Labour Party was virtually destroyed, leaving MacDonald as prime minister for a largely Conservative coalition. Turning point and recovery In most countries of the world, recovery from the Great Depression began in 1933.In the U.S., recovery began in early 1933,but the U.S. did not return to 1929 GNP for over a decade and still had an unemployment rate of about 15% in 1940, albeit down from the high of 25% in 1933. There is no consensus among economists regarding the motive force for the U.S. economic expansion that continued through most of theRoosevelt years(and the 1937 recession that interrupted it). The\",\n \"it). The common view among most economists is that Roosevelt'sNew Dealpolicies either caused or accelerated the recovery, although his policies were never aggressive enough to bring the economy completely out of recession. Some economists have also called attention to the positive effects from expectations ofreflationand rising nominal interest rates that Roosevelt's words and actions portended.It was the rollback of those same reflationary policies that led to the interruption of a recession beginning in late 1937.One contributing policy that reversed reflation was theBanking Act of 1935, which effectively raised reserve requirements, causing a monetary contraction that helped to thwart the recovery.GDP returned to its upward trend in 1938.A revisionist view among some economists holds that the New Deal prolonged the Great Depression, as they argue thatNational Industrial Recovery Act of 1933andNational Labor Relations Act of 1935restricted competition and established price fixing.John Maynard Keynesdid not\",\n \"Keynesdid not think that the New Deal under Roosevelt single-handedly ended the Great Depression: \\\"It is, it seems, politically impossible for a capitalistic democracy to organize expenditure on the scale necessary to make the grand experiments which would prove my case—except in war conditions.\\\" According toChristina Romer, the money supply growth caused by huge international gold inflows was a crucial source of the recovery of the United States economy, and that the economy showed little sign of self-correction. The gold inflows were partly due todevaluation of the U.S. dollarand partly due to deterioration of the political situation in Europe.In their book,A Monetary History of the United States,Milton FriedmanandAnna J. Schwartzalso attributed the recovery to monetary factors, and contended that it was much slowed by poor management of money by theFederal Reserve System.Chairman of the Federal Reserve(2006–2014)Ben Bernankeagreed that monetary factors played important roles both in the worldwide economic\",\n \"worldwide economic decline and eventual recovery.Bernanke also saw a strong role for institutional factors, particularly the rebuilding and restructuring of the financial system,and pointed out that the Depression should be examined in an international perspective. Role of women and household economics Women's primary role was as housewives; without a steady flow of family income, their work became much harder in dealing with food and clothing and medical care. Birthrates fell everywhere, as children were postponed until families could financially support them. The average birthrate for 14 major countries fell 12% from 19.3 births per thousand population in 1930, to 17.0 in 1935.In Canada, half of Roman Catholic women defied Church teachings and used contraception to postpone births. Among the few women in the labor force, layoffs were less common in the white-collar jobs and they were typically found in light manufacturing work. However, there was a widespread demand to limit families to one paid job, so\",\n \"to one paid job, so that wives might lose employment if their husband was employed.Across Britain, there was a tendency for married women to join the labor force, competing for part-time jobs especially. In France, very slow population growth, especially in comparison to Germany continued to be a serious issue in the 1930s. Support for increasing welfare programs during the depression included a focus on women in the family. The Conseil Supérieur de la Natalité campaigned for provisions enacted in the Code de la Famille (1939) that increased state assistance to families with children and required employers to protect the jobs of fathers, even if they were immigrants. In rural and small-town areas, women expanded their operation of vegetable gardens to include as much food production as possible. In the United States, agricultural organizations sponsored programs to teach housewives how to optimize their gardens and to raise poultry for meat and eggs.Rural women madefeed sack dressesand other items for\",\n \"other items for themselves and their families and homes from feed sacks.In American cities, African American women quiltmakers enlarged their activities, promoted collaboration, and trained neophytes. Quilts were created for practical use from various inexpensive materials and increased social interaction for women and promoted camaraderie and personal fulfillment. Oral history provides evidence for how housewives in a modern industrial city handled shortages of money and resources. Often they updated strategies their mothers used when they were growing up in poor families. Cheap foods were used, such as soups, beans and noodles. They purchased the cheapest cuts of meat—sometimes even horse meat—and recycled theSunday roastinto sandwiches and soups. They sewed and patched clothing, traded with their neighbors for outgrown items, and made do with colder homes. New furniture and appliances were postponed until better days. Many women also worked outside the home, or took boarders, did laundry for trade or\",\n \"for trade or cash, and did sewing for neighbors in exchange for something they could offer. Extended families used mutual aid—extra food, spare rooms, repair-work, cash loans—to help cousins and in-laws. In Japan, official government policy was deflationary and the opposite of Keynesian spending. Consequently, the government launched a campaign across the country to induce households to reduce their consumption, focusing attention on spending by housewives. In Germany, the government tried to reshape private household consumption under the Four-Year Plan of 1936 to achieve German economic self-sufficiency. The Nazi women's organizations, other propaganda agencies and the authorities all attempted to shape such consumption as economic self-sufficiency was needed to prepare for and to sustain the coming war. The organizations, propaganda agencies and authorities employed slogans that called up traditional values of thrift and healthy living. However, these efforts were only partly successful in changing the\",\n \"in changing the behavior of housewives. World War II and recovery The common view among economic historians is that the Great Depression ended with the advent ofWorld War II. Many economists believe that government spending on the war caused or at least accelerated recovery from the Great Depression, though some consider that it did not play a very large role in the recovery, though it did help in reducing unemployment. The rearmament policies leading up to World War II helped stimulate the economies of Europe in 1937–1939. By 1937, unemployment in Britain had fallen to 1.5 million. Themobilizationof manpower following the outbreak of war in 1939 ended unemployment. The American mobilization forWorld War IIat the end of 1941 moved approximately ten million people out of the civilian labor force and into the war.This finally eliminated the last effects from the Great Depression and brought the U.S. unemployment rate down below 10%. World War II had a dramatic effect on many parts of the American\",\n \"of the American economy.Government-financed capital spending accounted for only 5% of the annual U.S. investment in industrial capital in 1940; by 1943, the government accounted for 67% of U.S. capital investment.The massive war spending doubled economic growth rates, either masking the effects of the Depression or essentially ending the Depression. Businessmen ignored the mountingnational debtand heavy new taxes, redoubling their efforts for greater output to take advantage of generous government contracts. Causes Trying to return to the Gold Standard DuringWorld War Imany countries suspended theirgold standardin varying ways. There was high inflation from WWI, and in the 1920s in theWeimar Republic,Austria, and throughout Europe. In the late 1920s there was a scramble to deflate prices to get the gold standard's conversation rates back on track to pre-WWI levels, by causingdeflationand high unemployment through monetary policy. In 1933FDRsignedExecutive Order 6102and in 1934 signed theGold Reserve Act.\",\n \"Reserve Act. Keynesian vs Monetarist view The two classic competing economic theories of the Great Depression are theKeynesian(demand-driven) and theMonetaristexplanation.There are also variousheterodox theoriesthat downplay or reject the explanations of the Keynesians and monetarists. The consensus among demand-driven theories is that a large-scale loss of confidence led to a sudden reduction in consumption and investment spending. Once panic and deflation set in, many people believed they could avoid further losses by keeping clear of the markets. Holding money became profitable as prices dropped lower and a given amount of money bought ever more goods, exacerbating the drop in demand.Monetarists believe that the Great Depression started as an ordinary recession, but the shrinking of themoney supplygreatly exacerbated the economic situation, causing a recession to descend into the Great Depression. Economists and economic historians are almost evenly split as to whether the traditional monetary explanation\",\n \"explanation that monetary forces were the primary cause of the Great Depression is right, or the traditional Keynesian explanation that a fall in autonomous spending, particularly investment, is the primary explanation for the onset of the Great Depression.Today there is also significant academic support for thedebt deflationtheory and theexpectations hypothesisthat – building on the monetary explanation ofMilton FriedmanandAnna Schwartz– add non-monetary explanations. There is a consensus that theFederal Reserve Systemshould have cut short the process of monetary deflation and banking collapse, by expanding the money supply and acting aslender of last resort. If they had done this, the economic downturn would have been far less severe and much shorter. Mainstream explanations Modern mainstream economists see the reasons in Insufficient spending, the money supply reduction, and debt on margin led to falling prices and further bankruptcies (Irving Fisher's debt deflation). Monetarist view The monetarist\",\n \"view The monetarist explanation was given by American economistsMilton FriedmanandAnna J. Schwartz.They argued that the Great Depression was caused by the banking crisis that caused one-third of all banks to vanish, a reduction of bank shareholder wealth and more importantlymonetary contractionof 35%, which they called \\\"TheGreat Contraction\\\". This caused a price drop of 33% (deflation).By not lowering interest rates, by not increasing the monetary base and by not injecting liquidity into the banking system to prevent it from crumbling, the Federal Reserve passively watched the transformation of a normal recession into the Great Depression. Friedman and Schwartz argued that the downward turn in the economy, starting with the stock market crash, would merely have been an ordinary recession if the Federal Reserve had taken aggressive action.This view was endorsed in 2002 byFederal Reserve GovernorBen Bernankein a speech honoring Friedman and Schwartz with this statement: Let me end my talk by abusing slightly\",\n \"by abusing slightly my status as an official representative of the Federal Reserve. I would like to say to Milton and Anna: Regarding the Great Depression, you're right. We did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again. The Federal Reserve allowed some large public bank failures – particularly that of theNew York Bank of United States– which produced panic and widespread runs on local banks, and the Federal Reserve sat idly by while banks collapsed. Friedman and Schwartz argued that, if the Fed had provided emergency lending to these key banks, or simply boughtgovernment bondson theopen marketto provide liquidity and increase the quantity of money after the key banks fell, all the rest of the banks would not have fallen after the large ones did, and the money supply would not have fallen as far and as fast as it did. With significantly less money to go around, businesses could not get new loans and could not even get their old loans renewed, forcing many to stop investing. This\",\n \"investing. This interpretation blames the Federal Reserve for inaction, especially theNew York branch. One reason why the Federal Reserve did not act to limit the decline of the money supply was thegold standard. At that time, the amount of credit the Federal Reserve could issue was limited by theFederal Reserve Act, which required 40% gold backing of Federal Reserve Notes issued. By the late 1920s, the Federal Reserve had almost hit the limit of allowable credit that could be backed by the gold in its possession. This credit was in the form of Federal Reserve demand notes.A \\\"promise of gold\\\" is not as good as \\\"gold in the hand\\\", particularly when they only had enough gold to cover 40% of the Federal Reserve Notes outstanding. During the bank panics, a portion of those demand notes was redeemed for Federal Reserve gold. Since the Federal Reserve had hit its limit on allowable credit, any reduction in gold in its vaults had to be accompanied by a greater reduction in credit. On 5 April 1933, President\",\n \"1933, President Roosevelt signedExecutive Order 6102making the private ownership ofgold certificates, coins and bullion illegal, reducing the pressure on Federal Reserve gold. Keynesian view British economistJohn Maynard Keynesargued inThe General Theory of Employment, Interest and Moneythat loweraggregate expendituresin the economy contributed to a massive decline in income and to employment that was well below the average. In such a situation, the economy reached equilibrium at low levels of economic activity and high unemployment. Keynes's basic idea was simple: to keep people fully employed, governments have to run deficits when the economy is slowing, as the private sector would not invest enough to keep production at the normal level and bring the economy out of recession. Keynesian economists called on governments during times ofeconomic crisisto pick up the slack by increasinggovernment spendingor cutting taxes. As the Depression wore on,Franklin D. Roosevelttriedpublic works,farm subsidies, and\",\n \"subsidies, and other devices to restart the U.S. economy, but never completely gave up trying to balance the budget. According to the Keynesians, this improved the economy, but Roosevelt never spent enough to bring the economy out of recession until the start ofWorld War II. Debt deflation Irving Fisherargued that the predominant factor leading to the Great Depression was a vicious circle of deflation and growing over-indebtedness.He outlined nine factors interacting with one another under conditions of debt and deflation to create the mechanics of boom to bust. The chain of events proceeded as follows: During the Crash of 1929 preceding the Great Depression, margin requirements were only 10%.Brokerage firms, in other words, would lend $9 for every $1 an investor had deposited. When the market fell, brokerscalled in these loans, which could not be paid back.Banks began to fail as debtors defaulted on debt and depositors attempted to withdraw their depositsen masse, triggering multiplebank runs. Government\",\n \"runs. Government guarantees and Federal Reserve banking regulations to prevent such panics were ineffective or not used. Bank failures led to the loss of billions of dollars in assets. Outstanding debts became heavier, because prices and incomes fell by 20–50% but the debts remained at the same dollar amount. After the panic of 1929 and during the first 10 months of 1930, 744 U.S. banks failed. (In all, 9,000 banks failed during the 1930s.) By April 1933, around $7 billion in deposits had been frozen in failed banks or those left unlicensed after theMarch Bank Holiday.Bank failures snowballed as desperate bankers called in loans that borrowers did not have time or money to repay. With future profits looking poor,capital investmentand construction slowed or completely ceased. In the face of bad loans and worsening future prospects, the surviving banks became even more conservative in their lending.Banks built up their capital reserves and made fewer loans, which intensified deflationary pressures. Avicious\",\n \"pressures. Avicious cycledeveloped and the downward spiral accelerated. The liquidation of debt could not keep up with the fall of prices that it caused. The mass effect of the stampede to liquidate increased the value of each dollar owed, relative to the value of declining asset holdings. The very effort of individuals to lessen their burden of debt effectively increased it. Paradoxically, the more the debtors paid, the more they owed.This self-aggravating process turned a 1930 recession into a 1933 great depression. Fisher's debt-deflation theory initially lacked mainstream influence because of the counter-argument that debt-deflation represented no more than a redistribution from one group (debtors) to another (creditors). Pure re-distributions should have no significant macroeconomic effects. Building on both the monetary hypothesis of Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz and the debt deflation hypothesis of Irving Fisher,Ben Bernankedeveloped an alternative way in which the financial crisis affected\",\n \"crisis affected output. He builds on Fisher's argument that dramatic declines in the price level and nominal incomes lead to increasing real debt burdens, which in turn leads to debtor insolvency and consequently lowersaggregate demand; a further price level decline would then result in a debt deflationary spiral. According to Bernanke, a small decline in the price level simply reallocates wealth from debtors to creditors without doing damage to the economy. But when the deflation is severe, falling asset prices along with debtor bankruptcies lead to a decline in the nominal value of assets on bank balance sheets. Banks will react by tightening their credit conditions, which in turn leads to acredit crunchthat seriously harms the economy. A credit crunch lowers investment and consumption, which results in declining aggregate demand and additionally contributes to the deflationary spiral. Expectations hypothesis Since economic mainstream turned to thenew neoclassical synthesis, expectations are a central\",\n \"are a central element of macroeconomic models. According toPeter Temin, Barry Wigmore, Gauti B. Eggertsson andChristina Romer, the key to recovery and to ending the Great Depression was brought about by a successful management of public expectations. The thesis is based on the observation that after years of deflation and a very severe recession important economic indicators turned positive in March 1933 whenFranklin D. Roosevelttook office. Consumer prices turned from deflation to a mild inflation, industrial production bottomed out in March 1933, and investment doubled in 1933 with a turnaround in March 1933. There were no monetary forces to explain that turnaround. Money supply was still falling and short-term interest rates remained close to zero. Before March 1933, people expected further deflation and a recession so that even interest rates at zero did not stimulate investment. But when Roosevelt announced major regime changes, people began to expect inflation and an economic expansion. With these\",\n \"With these positive expectations, interest rates at zero began to stimulate investment just as they were expected to do. Roosevelt's fiscal and monetary policy regime change helped make his policy objectives credible. The expectation of higher future income and higher future inflation stimulated demand and investment. The analysis suggests that the elimination of the policy dogmas of the gold standard, a balanced budget in times of crisis and small government led endogenously to a large shift in expectation that accounts for about 70–80% of the recovery of output and prices from 1933 to 1937. If the regime change had not happened and the Hoover policy had continued, the economy would have continued its free fall in 1933, and output would have been 30% lower in 1937 than in 1933. Therecession of 1937–1938, which slowed down economic recovery from the Great Depression, is explained by fears of the population that the moderate tightening of the monetary and fiscal policy in 1937 were first steps to a\",\n \"first steps to a restoration of the pre-1933 policy regime. Common position There is common consensus among economists today that the government and the central bank should work to keep the interconnected macroeconomic aggregates ofgross domestic productandmoney supplyon a stable growth path. When threatened by expectations of a depression,central banksshould expand liquidity in the banking system and the government should cut taxes and accelerate spending in order to prevent a collapse in money supply andaggregate demand. At the beginning of the Great Depression, most economists believed inSay's lawand the equilibrating powers of the market, and failed to understand the severity of the Depression. Outright leave-it-aloneliquidationismwas a common position, and was universally held byAustrian Schooleconomists.The liquidationist position held that a depression worked to liquidate failed businesses and investments that had been made obsolete by technological development – releasingfactors of production(capital\",\n \"production(capital and labor) to be redeployed in other more productive sectors of the dynamic economy. They argued that even if self-adjustment of the economy caused mass bankruptcies, it was still the best course. Economists likeBarry EichengreenandJ. Bradford DeLongnote that PresidentHerbert Hoovertried to keep the federal budget balanced until 1932, when he lost confidence in his Secretary of the TreasuryAndrew Mellonand replaced him.An increasingly common view among economic historians is that the adherence of many Federal Reserve policymakers to the liquidationist position led to disastrous consequences.Unlike what liquidationists expected, a large proportion of the capital stock was not redeployed but vanished during the first years of the Great Depression. According to a study byOlivier BlanchardandLawrence Summers, the recession caused a drop of netcapital accumulationto pre-1924 levels by 1933.Milton Friedman called leave-it-alone liquidationism \\\"dangerous nonsense\\\".He wrote: I think the Austrian\",\n \"think the Austrian business-cycle theory has done the world a great deal of harm. If you go back to the 1930s, which is a key point, here you had the Austrians sitting in London, Hayek and Lionel Robbins, and saying you just have to let the bottom drop out of the world. You've just got to let it cure itself. You can't do anything about it. You will only make it worse. ... I think by encouraging that kind of do-nothing policy both in Britain and in the United States, they did harm. Heterodox theories Austrian School Two prominent theorists in theAustrian Schoolon the Great Depression include Austrian economistFriedrich Hayekand American economistMurray Rothbard, who wroteAmerica's Great Depression(1963). In their view, much like the monetarists, theFederal Reserve(created in 1913) shoulders much of the blame; however, unlike theMonetarists, they argue that the key cause of the Depression was the expansion of themoney supplyin the 1920s which led to an unsustainable credit-driven boom. In the Austrian view, it\",\n \"Austrian view, it was this inflation of the money supply that led to an unsustainable boom in both asset prices (stocks and bonds) andcapital goods. Therefore, by the time the Federal Reserve tightened in 1928 it was far too late to prevent an economic contraction.In February 1929Hayekpublished a paper predicting the Federal Reserve's actions would lead to a crisis starting in thestockandcreditmarkets. According to Rothbard, the government support for failed enterprises and efforts to keep wages above their market values actually prolonged the Depression.UnlikeRothbard, after 1970Hayekbelieved that the Federal Reserve had further contributed to the problems of the Depression by permitting the money supply to shrink during the earliest years of the Depression.However, during the Depression (in 1932and in 1934)Hayek had criticized both theFederal Reserveand theBank of Englandfor not taking a more contractionary stance. Hans Sennholzargued that mostboom and buststhat plagued the American economy, such as those\",\n \"such as those in1819–20,1839–1843,1857–1860,1873–1878,1893–1897, and1920–21, were generated by government creating a boom through easy money and credit, which was soon followed by the inevitable bust. Ludwig von Miseswrote in the 1930s: \\\"Credit expansion cannot increase the supply of real goods. It merely brings about a rearrangement. It diverts capital investment away from the course prescribed by the state of economic wealth and market conditions. It causes production to pursue paths which it would not follow unless the economy were to acquire an increase in material goods. As a result, the upswing lacks a solid base. It is not real prosperity. It is illusory prosperity. It did not develop from an increase in economic wealth, i.e. the accumulation of savings made available for productive investment. Rather, it arose because the credit expansion created the illusion of such an increase. Sooner or later, it must become apparent that this economic situation is built on sand.\\\" Marxist Marxistsgenerally argue\",\n \"argue that the Great Depression was the result of the inherent instability of thecapitalist mode of production.According toForbes, \\\"The idea that capitalism caused the Great Depression was widely held among intellectuals and the general public for many decades.\\\" Inequality Two economists of the 1920s,Waddill CatchingsandWilliam Trufant Foster, popularized a theory that influenced many policy makers, includingHerbert Hoover,Henry A. Wallace,Paul Douglas, andMarriner Eccles. It held the economy produced more than it consumed, because the consumers did not have enough income. Thus the unequaldistribution of wealththroughout the 1920s caused the Great Depression. According to this view, the root cause of the Great Depression was a global over-investment in heavy industry capacity compared to wages and earnings from independent businesses, such as farms. The proposed solution was for the government to pump money into the consumers' pockets. That is, it must redistribute purchasing power, maintaining the\",\n \"maintaining the industrial base, and re-inflating prices and wages to force as much of the inflationary increase in purchasing power intoconsumer spending. The economy was overbuilt, and new factories were not needed. Foster and Catchings recommendedfederal and state governments to start large construction projects, a program followed by Hoover and Roosevelt. Productivity shock It cannot be emphasized too strongly that the trends we are describing are long-time trends and were thoroughly evident before 1929. These trends are in nowise the result of the present depression, nor are they the result of the World War. On the contrary, the present depression is a collapse resulting from these long-term trends. The first three decades of the 20th century saw economic output surge withelectrification,mass production, and motorized farm machinery, and because of the rapid growth in productivity there was a lot of excess production capacity and the work week was being reduced. The dramatic rise inproductivityof major\",\n \"major industries in the U.S. and the effects of productivity on output, wages and the workweek are discussed by Spurgeon Bell in his bookProductivity, Wages, and National Income(1940). Effects by country The majority of countries set up relief programs and most underwent some sort of political upheaval, pushing them to theright. Many of the countries in Europe and Latin America, that were democracies, saw their democratic governments overthrown by some form of dictatorship or authoritarian rule, most famouslyin Germany in 1933.The Dominion of Newfoundland abandoneditsautonomy within the British Empire, becoming the only region ever to voluntarily relinquish democracy. There, too, were severe impacts across the Middle East and North Africa, including economic decline which led to social unrest. Argentina Decline in foreign trade hit Argentina hard. The British decision to stop importing Argentine beef led to the signing of theRoca–Runciman Treaty, which preserved a quota in exchange for significant\",\n \"for significant concessions to British exports. By 1935, the economy had recovered to 1929 levels, and the same year, theCentral Bank of Argentinawas formed.However, the Great Depression was the last time when Argentina was one of the richer countries of the world, as it stopped growing in the decades thereafter, and became underdeveloped. Australia Australia's dependence on agricultural and industrial exports meant it was one of the hardest-hit developed countries.Falling export demand and commodity prices placed massive downward pressures on wages. Unemployment reached a record high of 29% in 1932,with incidents ofcivil unrestbecoming common.After 1932, an increase in wool and meat prices led to a gradual recovery. Canada Harshly affected by both the global economic downturn and theDust Bowl, Canadian industrial production had by 1932 fallen to only 58% of its 1929 figure, the second-lowest level in the world after the United States, and well behind countries such as Britain, which fell to only 83% of the\",\n \"to only 83% of the 1929 level. Totalnational incomefell to 56% of the 1929 level, again worse than any country apart from the United States. Unemployment reached 27% at the depth of the Depression in 1933. Chile TheLeague of NationslabeledChilethe country hardest-hit by the Great Depression, because 80% of government revenue came from exports of copper and nitrates, which were in low demand. Chile initially felt the impact of the Great Depression in 1930, when GDP dropped 14%, mining income declined 27%, and export earnings fell 28%. By 1932, GDP had shrunk to less than half of what it had been in 1929, exacting a terrible toll in unemployment and business failures. Influenced profoundly by the Great Depression, many government leaders promoted the development of local industry in an effort to insulate the economy from future external shocks. After six years of governmentausterity measures, which succeeded in reestablishing Chile's creditworthiness, Chileans elected to office during the 1938–58 period a\",\n \"1938–58 period a succession of center and left-of-center governments interested in promoting economic growth through government intervention. Prompted in part by the devastating1939 Chillán earthquake, thePopular Frontgovernment ofPedro Aguirre Cerdacreated the Production Development Corporation (Corporación de Fomento de la Producción,CORFO) to encourage with subsidies and direct investments — an ambitious program ofimport substitution industrialization. Consequently, as in other Latin American countries,protectionismbecame an entrenched aspect of the Chilean economy. China China was largely unaffected by the Depression, mainly by having stuck to theSilver standard. However, the U.S. silver purchase act of 1934 created an intolerable demand on China's silver coins, and so, in the end, the silver standard was officially abandoned in 1935 in favor of the four Chinese national banks'\\\"legal note\\\" issues. China and theBritish colony of Hong Kong, which followed suit in this regard in September 1935, would be the\",\n \"1935, would be the last to abandon the silver standard. In addition, theNationalist Governmentalso acted energetically to modernize the legal and penal systems, stabilize prices, amortize debts, reform the banking and currency systems, build railroads and highways, improve public health facilities, legislate against traffic in narcotics, and augment industrial and agricultural production. On 3 November 1935, the government instituted the fiat currency (fapi) reform, immediately stabilizing prices and also raising revenues for the government. European African colonies The sharp fall in commodity prices and the steep decline in exports hurt the economies of the European colonies in Africa and Asia.The agricultural sector was especially hard-hit. For example,sisalhad recently become a major export crop in Kenya and Tanganyika. During the depression, it suffered severely from low prices and marketing problems that affected all colonial commodities in Africa. Sisal producers established centralized controls for\",\n \"controls for the export of their fibre.There was widespread unemployment and hardship among peasants, labourers, colonial auxiliaries, and artisans.The budgets of colonial governments were cut, which forced the reduction in ongoing infrastructure projects, such as the building and upgrading of roads, ports, and communications.The budget cuts delayed the schedule for creating systems of higher education. The depression severely hurt the export-basedBelgian Congoeconomy because of the drop in international demand for raw materials and for agricultural products. For example, the price of peanuts fell from 125 to 25 centimes. In some areas, as in theKatangamining region, employment declined by 70%. In the country as a whole, the wage labour force decreased by 72,000 people, and many men returned to their villages. In Leopoldville, the population decreased by 33% because of this labour migration. Political protests were not common. However, there was a growing demand, that the paternalistic claims be honored by\",\n \"be honored by colonial governments to respond vigorously. The theme was, that economic reforms were more urgently needed than political reforms.French West Africa launched an extensive program of educational reform, in which \\\"rural schools\\\", designed to modernize agriculture, would stem the flow of under-employed farm workers to cities where unemployment was high. Students were trained in traditional arts, crafts, and farming techniques and were then expected to return to their own villages and towns. France The crisis affected France a bit later than other countries, hitting hard around 1931.While the 1920s grew at the very strong rate of 4.43% per year, the 1930s rate fell to only 0.63%. The depression was relatively mild: unemployment peaked under 5%, the fall in production was at most 20% below the 1929 output; there was no banking crisis. However, the depression had drastic effects on the local economy, and partly explains theFebruary 6, 1934 riotsand even more the formation of thePopular Front, led\",\n \"Front, led bySFIO socialist leaderLéon Blum, which won the elections in 1936. Ultra-nationalist groups also saw increased popularity, though democracy prevailed intoWorld War II. France's relatively high degree of self-sufficiency meant the damage was considerably less than in neighbouring states like Germany. Germany The Great Depression hit Germany hard. The impact of theWall Street Crashforced American banks to end the new loans that had been funding the repayments under theDawes Planand theYoung Plan. The financial crisis escalated out of control in mid-1931, starting with the collapse of theCredit Anstaltin Vienna in May.This put heavy pressure on Germany, which was already in political turmoil with the rise in violence ofnational socialistandcommunistmovements, as well as with investor nervousness at harsh government financial policies,investors withdrew their short-term money from Germany as confidence spiraled downward. The Reichsbank lost 150 million marks in the first week of June, 540 million in\",\n \"540 million in the second, and 150 million in two days, 19–20 June. Collapse was at hand. U.S. President Herbert Hoover called for a moratorium on payment of war reparations. This angered Paris, which depended on a steady flow of German payments, but it slowed the crisis down, and the moratorium was agreed to in July 1931. An international conference in London later in July produced no agreements, but on 19 August, a standstill agreement froze Germany's foreign liabilities for six months. Germany received emergency funding from private banks in New York as well as the Bank of International Settlements and the Bank of England. The funding only slowed the process. Industrial failures began in Germany, a major bank closed in July, and a two-day holiday for all German banks was declared. Business failures became more frequent in July, and spread to Romania and Hungary. In 1932, 90% of German reparation payments were cancelled (in the 1950s, Germany repaid all its missed reparations debts). Widespread\",\n \"debts). Widespread unemployment reached 25%, as every sector was hurt. The government did not increase government spending to deal with Germany's growing crisis, as they were afraid, that a high-spending policy could lead to a return of thehyperinflationthat had affected Germany in 1923. Germany'sWeimar Republicwas hit hard by the depression, as American loans to help rebuild the German economy now stopped.The unemployment rate reached nearly 30% in 1932. The German political landscape was dramatically altered, leading toAdolf Hitler's rise to power. TheNazi Partyrose from being peripheral to winning 18.3% of the vote in theSeptember 1930 election, and theCommunist Partyalso made gains, while moderate forces, like theSocial Democratic Party, theDemocratic Party, and thePeople's Partylost seats. The next two years were marked by increased street violence between Nazis and Communists, while governments under PresidentPaul von Hindenburgincreasingly relied onrule by decree, bypassing theReichstag.Hitler ran for\",\n \"ran for the Presidency in 1932, and while he lost to the incumbent Hindenburg in the election, it marked a point during which both Nazi Party and the Communist parties rose in the years following the crash to altogether possess a Reichstag majority following thegeneral election in July 1932.Although the Nazis lost seats inNovember 1932 election, they remained the largest party, and Hitler was appointed as Chancellor the following January. The government formation deal was designed to give Hitler's conservative coalition partners many checks on his power, but over the next few months, the Nazis manoeuvred to consolidate a single-party dictatorship. Hitler followed an economic policy ofautarky, creating a network of client states and economic allies in central Europe and Latin America. By cutting wages and taking control of labor unions, plus public works spending, unemployment fell significantly by 1935. Large-scale military spending played a major role in the recovery.The policies had the effect of driving\",\n \"effect of driving up the cost of food imports and depleting foreign currency reserves, leading to economic impasse by 1936. Nazi Germany faced a choice of either reversing course or pressing ahead with rearmament and autarky. Hitler chose the latter route, which, according toIan Kershaw, \\\"could only be partially accomplished without territorial expansion\\\" and therefore war. Greece The reverberations of the Great Depression hit Greece in 1932. TheBank of Greecetried to adopt deflationary policies to stave off the crises that were going on in other countries, but these largely failed. For a brief period, the drachma was pegged to the U.S. dollar, but this was unsustainable given the country's large trade deficit and the only long-term effects of this were Greece's foreign exchange reserves being almost totally wiped out in 1932. Remittances from abroad declined sharply, and the value of the drachma began to plummet from 77 drachmas to the dollar in March 1931 to 111 drachmas to the dollar in April 1931. This\",\n \"in April 1931. This was especially harmful to Greece, as the country relied on imports from the UK, France, and the Middle East for many necessities. Greece went off the gold standard in April 1932, and declared a moratorium on all interest payments. The country also adopted protectionist policies, such as import quotas, which several European countries also did during the period. Protectionist policies coupled with a weak drachma and the stifling of imports allowed the Greek industry to expand during the Great Depression. In 1939, the Greek industrial output was 179% that of 1928. These industries were for the most part \\\"built on sand\\\", as one report of the Bank of Greece put it, as without massive protection, they would not have been able to survive. Despite the global depression, Greece managed to suffer comparatively little, averaging an average growth rate of 3.5% from 1932 to 1939. The dictatorial regime ofIoannis Metaxastook over the Greek government in 1936, and economic growth was strong in the\",\n \"was strong in the years leading up to the Second World War. Iceland Icelandic post-World War I prosperity came to an end with the outbreak of the Great Depression. The Depression hit Iceland hard, as the value of exports plummeted. The total value of Icelandic exports fell from 74 million kronur in 1929 to 48 million in 1932, and was not to rise again to the pre-1930 level until after 1939.Government interference in the economy increased: \\\"Imports were regulated, trade with foreign currency was monopolized by state-owned banks, and loan capital was largely distributed by state-regulated funds\\\".Due to the outbreak of theSpanish Civil War, which cut Iceland's exports of saltfish by half, the Depression lasted in Iceland until the outbreak of World War II (when prices for fish exports soared). India How much India was affected, has been hotly debated. Historians have argued, that the Great Depression slowed long-term industrial development.Apart from two sectors —juteand coal — the economy was little-affected.\",\n \"little-affected. However, there were major negative impacts on the jute industry, as world demand fell and prices plunged.Otherwise, conditions were fairly stable. Local markets in agriculture and small-scale industry showed modest gains. Ireland Frank Barry andMary E. Dalyhave argued that: Italy The Great Depression hitItalyvery hard.As industries came close to failure they were bought out by the banks in a largely illusionary bail-out—the assets used to fund the purchases were largely worthless. This led to a financial crisis peaking in 1932 and major government intervention. TheIndustrial Reconstruction Institute(IRI) was formed in January 1933 and took control of the bank-owned companies, suddenly giving Italy the largest state-owned industrial sector in Europe (excluding the USSR). IRI did rather well with its new responsibilities—restructuring, modernising and rationalising as much as it could. It was a significant factor in post-1945 development. But it took the Italian economy until 1935 to recover\",\n \"1935 to recover the manufacturing levels of 1930—a position that was only 60% better than that of 1913. Japan The Great Depression did not strongly affect Japan. The Japanese economy shrank by 8% during 1929–31. Japan's Finance MinisterTakahashi Korekiyowas the first to implement what have come to be identified asKeynesianeconomic policies: first, by large fiscal stimulus involvingdeficit spending; and second, by devaluingthe currency. Takahashi used the Bank of Japan to sterilize the deficit spending and minimize resulting inflationary pressures. Econometric studies have identified the fiscal stimulus as especially effective. The devaluation of the currency had an immediate effect. Japanese textiles began to displace British textiles in export markets. The deficit spending proved to be most profound and went into the purchase of munitions for the armed forces. By 1933, Japan was already out of the depression. By 1934, Takahashi realized that the economy was in danger of overheating, and to avoid inflation,\",\n \"to avoid inflation, moved to reduce the deficit spending that went towards armaments and munitions. This resulted in a strong and swift negative reaction from nationalists, especially those in the army, culminating in his assassination in the course of theFebruary 26 Incident. This had achilling effecton all civilian bureaucrats in the Japanese government. From 1934, the military's dominance of the government continued to grow. Instead of reducing deficit spending, the government introduced price controls and rationing schemes that reduced, but did not eliminate inflation, which remained a problem until the end of World War II. The deficit spending had a transformative effect on Japan. Japan's industrial production doubled during the 1930s. Further, in 1929 the list of the largest firms in Japan was dominated by light industries, especially textile companies (many of Japan's automakers, such asToyota, have their roots in the textile industry). By 1940light industryhad been displaced by heavy industry as the\",\n \"industry as the largest firms inside the Japanese economy. Latin America Because of high levels of U.S. investment in Latin American economies, they were severely damaged by the Depression. Within the region,Chile,BoliviaandPeruwere particularly badly affected. Before the 1929 crisis, links between the world economy andLatin Americaneconomies had been established through American and British investment in Latin American exports to the world. As a result, Latin Americans export industries felt the depression quickly. World prices for commodities such as wheat, coffee and copper plunged. Exports from all of Latin America to the U.S. fell in value from $1.2 billion in 1929 to $335 million in 1933, rising to $660 million in 1940. But on the other hand, the depression led the area governments to develop new local industries and expand consumption and production. Following the example of the New Deal, governments in the area approved regulations and created or improved welfare institutions that helped millions of\",\n \"helped millions of new industrial workers to achieve a better standard of living. Netherlands From roughly 1931 to 1937, theNetherlandssuffered a deep and exceptionally long depression. This depression was partly caused by the after-effects of the American stock-market crash of 1929, and partly by internal factors in the Netherlands. Government policy, especially the very late dropping of the Gold Standard, played a role in prolonging the depression. The Great Depression in the Netherlands led to some political instability and riots, and can be linked to the rise of the Dutch fascist political partyNSB. The depression in the Netherlands eased off somewhat at the end of 1936, when the government finally dropped the Gold Standard, but real economic stability did not return until after World War II. New Zealand New Zealandwas especially vulnerable to worldwide depression, as it relied almost entirely on agricultural exports to the United Kingdom for its economy. The drop in exports led to a lack of disposable\",\n \"lack of disposable income from the farmers, who were the mainstay of the local economy. Jobs disappeared and wages plummeted, leaving people desperate and charities unable to cope. Work relief schemes were the only government support available to the unemployed, the rate of which by the early 1930s was officially around 15%, but unofficially nearly twice that level (official figures excluded Māori and women). In 1932, riots occurred among the unemployed in three of the country's main cities (Auckland,Dunedin, andWellington). Many were arrested or injured through the tough official handling of these riots by police and volunteer \\\"special constables\\\". Persia In Iran, then known as theImperial State of Persia, the Great Depression had negative impacts on its exports. In 1933 a new concession was signed with theAnglo-Persian Oil Company. Poland Poland was affected by the Great Depression longer and stronger than other countries due to inadequate economic response of the government and the pre-existing economic\",\n \"economic circumstances of the country. At that time, Poland was under the authoritarian rule ofSanacja, whose leader,Józef Piłsudski, was opposed to leaving thegold standarduntil his death in 1935. As a result, Poland was unable to perform a more active monetary and budget policy. Additionally, Poland was a relatively young country that emerged merely 10 years earlier after being partitioned betweenGerman,Russianand theAustro-Hungarian Empiresfor over a century. Prior to independence, the Russian part exported 91% of its exports to Russia proper, while the German part exported 68% to Germany proper. After independence, these markets were largely lost, as Russia transformed intoUSSRthat was mostly a closed economy, and Germany was in a tariff war with Poland throughout the 1920s. Industrial productionfell significantly: in 1932hard coalproduction was down 27% compared to 1928,steelproduction was down 61%, andiron oreproduction noted an 89% decrease.On the other hand, electrotechnical, leather, and paper\",\n \"leather, and paper industries noted marginal increases in production output. Overall, industrial production decreased by 41%.A distinct feature of the Great Depression in Poland was the de-concentration of industry, as larger conglomerates were less flexible and paid their workers more than smaller ones. Unemployment raterose significantly (up to 43%) while nominalwagesfell by 51% in 1933 and 56% in 1934, relative to 1928. However, real wages fell less due to the government's policy of decreasing cost of living, particularly food expenditures (food prices were down by 65% in 1935 compared to 1928 price levels). Material conditions deprivation led to strikes, some of them violent or violently pacified – like inSanok(March of the Hungry in Sanok6 March 1930),Lesko county(Lesko uprising21 June – 9 July 1932) andZawiercie(Bloody Friday (1930)18 April 1930). To adapt to the crisis, Polish government employed deflation methods such as highinterest rates, credit limits and budgetausterityto keep afixed exchange\",\n \"afixed exchange ratewith currencies tied to the gold standard. Only in late 1932 did the government effect a plan to fight the economic crisis.Part of the plan was masspublic worksscheme, employing up to 100,000 people in 1935.After Piłsudski's death, in 1936 the gold standard regime was relaxed, and launching the development of theCentral Industrial Regionkicked off the economy, to over 10% annual growth rate in the 1936–1938 period. Portugal Already under the rule of a dictatorial junta, theDitadura Nacional, Portugal suffered no turbulent political effects of the Depression, althoughAntónio de Oliveira Salazar, already appointed Minister of Finance in 1928 greatly expanded his powers and in 1932 rose toPrime Minister of Portugalto found theEstado Novo, anauthoritariancorporatistdictatorship. With the budget balanced in 1929, the effects of the depression were relaxed through harsh measures towardsbudget balanceandautarky, causing social discontent but stability and, eventually, an impressive economic\",\n \"impressive economic growth. Puerto Rico In the years immediately preceding the depression, negative developments in the island and world economies perpetuated an unsustainable cycle of subsistence for many Puerto Rican workers. The 1920s brought a dramatic drop in Puerto Rico's two primary exports, raw sugar and coffee, due to a devastating hurricane in 1928 and the plummeting demand from global markets in the latter half of the decade. 1930 unemployment on the island was roughly 36% and by 1933 Puerto Rico's per capita income dropped 30% (by comparison, unemployment in the United States in 1930 was approximately 8% reaching a height of 25% in 1933).To provide relief and economic reform, the United States government and Puerto Rican politicians such asCarlos ChardonandLuis Muñoz Maríncreated and administered first the Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration (PRERA) 1933 and then in 1935, thePuerto Rico Reconstruction Administration(PRRA). Romania Romania was also affected by the Great Depression. South\",\n \"Depression. South Africa As world trade slumped, demand for South African agricultural and mineral exports fell drastically. TheCarnegie Commission on Poor Whiteshad concluded in 1931 that nearly one-third ofAfrikanerslived as paupers. The social discomfort caused by the depression was a contributing factor in the 1933 split between the \\\"gesuiwerde\\\" (purified) and \\\"smelter\\\" (fusionist) factions within theNational Partyand the National Party's subsequent fusion with theSouth African Party.Unemployment programs were begun that focused primarily on the white population. Soviet Union The Soviet Union was the only majorsocialist statein the world and had very little international trade. Its economy was not tied to the rest of the world and was mostly unaffected by the Great Depression. At the time of the Depression, the Soviet economy was growing steadily, fuelled by intensive investment in heavy industry. The apparent economic success of the Soviet Union at a time when the capitalist world was in crisis led many\",\n \"in crisis led many Western intellectuals to view the Soviet system favorably. Jennifer Burns wrote: As the Great Depression ground on and unemployment soared, intellectuals began unfavorably comparing their faltering capitalist economy to Russian Communism. Karl Marx had predicted that capitalism would fall under the weight of its own contradictions, and now with the economic crisis gripping the West, his predictions seem to be coming true. By contrast Russia seemed an emblematic modern nation, making the staggering leap from a feudal past to an industrial future with ease. The early years of the Great Depression caused mass immigration to the Soviet Union, including 10,000 to 15,000 from Finland and thousands more from Poland, Sweden, Germany, and other nearby countries. The Kremlin was at first happy to help these immigrants settle, believing that they were victims of capitalism who had come to help the Soviet cause. However, by 1933, the worst of the Depression had come to an end in many countries, and\",\n \"many countries, and word had been received that illegal migrants to the Soviet Union were being sent to Siberia. These factors caused immigration to the Soviet Union to slow significantly, and roughly a tenth of Finnish migrants returned to Finland, either legally or illegally. Spain Spain had a relatively isolated economy, with high protective tariffs and was not one of the main countries affected by the Depression. The banking system held up well, as did agriculture. By far the most serious negative impact came after 1936 from the heavy destruction of infrastructure and manpower by thecivil war, 1936–39. Many talented workers were forced into permanent exile. By staying neutral in the Second World War, and selling to both sides, the economy avoided further disasters. Sweden By the 1930s, Sweden had what America'sLife magazinecalled in 1938 the \\\"world's highest standard of living\\\". Sweden was also the first country worldwide to recover completely from the Great Depression. Taking place amid a short-lived\",\n \"amid a short-lived government and a less-than-a-decade old Swedish democracy, events such as those surroundingIvar Kreuger(who eventually committed suicide) remain infamous in Swedish history. TheSocial DemocratsunderPer Albin Hanssonformed their first long-lived government in 1932 based on stronginterventionistandwelfare statepolicies, monopolizing the office ofPrime Ministeruntil 1976 with the sole and short-lived exception ofAxel Pehrsson-Bramstorp's \\\"summer cabinet\\\" in 1936. During forty years of hegemony, it was the most successful political party in the history of Western liberal democracy. Thailand In Thailand, then known as theKingdom of Siam, the Great Depression contributed to the end of theabsolute monarchy of King Rama VIIin theSiamese revolution of 1932. Turkey Turkey was badly affected by the Great Depression and it came at a time when the state was still reforming its economic policy following the end of theOttomanera. Exports ofgrapes, which held an important share, were down considerably\",\n \"down considerably which had already started beforehand due to drought. United Kingdom The World Depression broke at a time when the United Kingdom had still not fully recovered from the effects of theFirst World Warmore than a decade earlier. The country was driven off thegold standardin 1931. The world financial crisis began to overwhelm Britain in 1931; investors around the world started withdrawing their gold from London at the rate of £2.5 million per day.Credits of £25 million each from the Bank of France and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and an issue of £15 million fiduciary note slowed, but did not reverse the British crisis. The financial crisis now caused a major political crisis in Britain in August 1931. With deficits mounting, the bankers demanded a balanced budget; the divided cabinet of Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald's Labour government agreed; it proposed to raise taxes, cut spending and most controversially, to cut unemployment benefits by 20%. The attack on welfare was totally\",\n \"welfare was totally unacceptable to the Labour movement. MacDonald wanted to resign, but King George V insisted he remain and form an all-party coalition \\\"National Government\\\". The Conservative and Liberals parties signed on, along with a small cadre of Labour, but the vast majority of Labour leaders denounced MacDonald as a traitor for leading the new government. Britain went off the gold standard, and suffered relatively less than other major countries in the Great Depression. In the 1931 British election, the Labour Party was virtually destroyed, leaving MacDonald as prime minister for a largely Conservative coalition. The effects on the northern industrial areas of Britain were immediate and devastating, as demand for traditional industrial products collapsed. By the end of 1930 unemployment had more than doubled from 1 million to 2.5 million (20% of the insured workforce), and exports had fallen in value by 50%. In 1933, 30% ofGlaswegianswere unemployed due to the severe decline in heavy industry. In\",\n \"heavy industry. In some towns and cities in the north east, unemployment reached as high as 70% as shipbuilding fell by 90%.TheNational Hunger Marchof September–October 1932 was the largestof a series ofhunger marchesin Britain in the 1920s and 1930s. About 200,000 unemployed men were sent to the work camps, which continued in operation until 1939. In the less industrialMidlandsandSouthern England, the effects were short-lived and the later 1930s were a prosperous time. Growth in modern manufacture of electrical goods and a boom in the motor car industry was helped by a growing southern population and an expandingmiddle class. Agriculture also saw a boom during this period. United States Hoover's first measures to combat the depression were based on encouraging businesses not to reduce their workforce or cut wages but businesses had little choice: wages were reduced, workers were laid off, and investments postponed. In June 1930, Congress approved theSmoot–Hawley Tariff Actwhich raised tariffs on thousands\",\n \"on thousands of imported items. The intent of the Act was to encourage the purchase of American-made products by increasing the cost of imported goods, while raising revenue for the federal government and protecting farmers. Most countries that traded with the U.S. increased tariffs on American-made goods in retaliation, reducing international trade, and worsening the Depression. In 1931, Hoover urged bankers to set up theNational Credit Corporationso that big banks could help failing banks survive. But bankers were reluctant to invest in failing banks, and the National Credit Corporation did almost nothing to address the problem. By 1932, unemployment had reached 23.6%, peaking in early 1933 at 25%.Those releasing from prison during this period had an especially difficult time finding employment given the stigma of their criminal records, which often led to recidivism out of economic desperation.Drought persisted in the agricultural heartland, businesses and families defaulted on record numbers of loans,\",\n \"numbers of loans, and more than 5,000 banks had failed.Hundreds of thousands of Americans found themselves homeless, and began congregating inshanty towns– dubbed \\\"Hoovervilles\\\" – that began to appear across the country.In response, President Hoover and Congress approved theFederal Home Loan Bank Act, to spur new home construction, and reduce foreclosures. The final attempt of the Hoover Administration to stimulate the economy was the passage of theEmergency Relief and Construction Act(ERA) which included funds forpublic worksprograms such as dams and the creation of theReconstruction Finance Corporation(RFC) in 1932. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was a Federal agency with the authority to lend up to $2 billion to rescue banks and restore confidence in financial institutions. But $2 billion was not enough to save all the banks, andbank runsand bank failures continued.Quarter by quarter the economy went downhill, as prices, profits and employment fell, leading to thepolitical realignmentin 1932 that\",\n \"1932 that brought to powerFranklin Delano Roosevelt. Shortly after PresidentFranklin Delano Rooseveltwas inaugurated in 1933, drought and erosion combined to cause theDust Bowl, shifting hundreds of thousands ofdisplaced personsoff their farms in the Midwest. From his inauguration onward, Roosevelt argued that restructuring of the economy would be needed to prevent another depression or avoid prolonging the current one. New Deal programs sought to stimulatedemandand provide work and relief for the impoverished through increased government spending and the institution of financial reforms. During a \\\"bank holiday\\\" that lasted five days, theEmergency Banking Actwas signed into law. It provided for a system of reopening sound banks underTreasurysupervision, with federal loans available if needed. TheSecurities Act of 1933comprehensively regulated the securities industry. This was followed by theSecurities Exchange Act of 1934which created theSecurities and Exchange Commission. Although amended, key provisions of\",\n \"key provisions of both Acts are still in force. Federal insurance ofbank depositswas provided by theFDIC, and theGlass–Steagall Act. TheAgricultural Adjustment Actprovided incentives to cut farm production in order to raise farming prices. TheNational Recovery Administration(NRA) made a number of sweeping changes to the American economy. It forced businesses to work with government to set price codes through the NRA to fightdeflationary\\\"cut-throat competition\\\" by the setting of minimum prices andwages, labor standards, and competitive conditions in all industries. It encouraged unions that would raise wages, to increase thepurchasing powerof theworking class. The NRAwas deemed unconstitutionalby theSupreme Court of the United Statesin 1935. These reforms, together with several other relief and recovery measures, are called theFirst New Deal. Economic stimulus was attempted through a newalphabet soup of agenciesset up in 1933 and 1934 and previously extant agencies such as theReconstruction Finance\",\n \"Finance Corporation. By 1935, the \\\"Second New Deal\\\" addedSocial Security(which was later considerably extended through theFair Deal), a jobs program for the unemployed (theWorks Progress Administration, WPA) and, through theNational Labor Relations Board, a strong stimulus to the growth of labor unions. In 1929, federal expenditures constituted only 3% of theGDP. The national debt as a proportion of GNP rose under Hoover from 20% to 40%. Roosevelt kept it at 40% until the war began, when it soared to 128%. By 1936, the maineconomic indicatorshad regained the levels of the late 1920s, except for unemployment, which remained high at 11%, although this was considerably lower than the 25% unemployment rate seen in 1933. In the spring of 1937, American industrial production exceeded that of 1929 and remained level until June 1937. In June 1937, the Roosevelt administration cut spending and increased taxation in an attempt to balance the federal budget.The American economy then took a sharp downturn, lasting for\",\n \"lasting for 13 months through most of 1938. Industrial production fell almost 30 per cent within a few months and production ofdurable goodsfell even faster. Unemployment jumped from 14.3% in 1937 to 19.0% in 1938, rising from 5 million to more than 12 million in early 1938.Manufacturing output fell by 37% from the 1937 peak and was back to 1934 levels. Producers reduced their expenditures on durable goods, and inventories declined, but personal income was only 15% lower than it had been at the peak in 1937. As unemployment rose, consumers' expenditures declined, leading to further cutbacks in production. By May 1938 retail sales began to increase, employment improved, and industrial production turned up after June 1938.After the recovery from the Recession of 1937–38, conservatives were able to form a bipartisanconservative coalitionto stop further expansion of the New Deal and, when unemployment dropped to 2% in the early 1940s, they abolished WPA, CCC and the PWA relief programs. Social Security remained\",\n \"Security remained in place. Between 1933 and 1939, federal expenditure tripled, and Roosevelt's critics charged that he was turning America into asocialiststate.The Great Depression was a main factor in the implementation ofsocial democracyandplanned economiesin European countries after World War II (seeMarshall Plan).Keynesianismgenerally remained the most influential economic school in the United States and in parts of Europe until the periods between the 1970s and the 1980s, whenMilton Friedmanand otherneoliberaleconomists formulated and propagated the newly created theories ofneoliberalismand incorporated them into theChicago School of Economicsas an alternative approach to the study of economics. Neoliberalism went on to challenge the dominance of the Keynesian school of Economics in the mainstream academia and policy-making in the United States, having reached its peak in popularity in the election of the presidency ofRonald Reaganin the United States, andMargaret Thatcherin theUnited Kingdom.\",\n \"theUnited Kingdom. Literature And the great owners, who must lose their land in an upheaval, the great owners with access to history, with eyes to read history and to know the great fact: when property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. And that companion fact: when a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need. And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed. –John Steinbeck,The Grapes of Wrath The Great Depression has been the subject of much writing, as authors have sought to evaluate an era that caused both financial and emotional trauma. Perhaps the most noteworthy and famous novel written on the subject isThe Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and written byJohn Steinbeck, who was awarded thePulitzer Prizefor the work, and in 1962 was awarded theNobel Prizefor literature. The novel focuses on a poor family of sharecroppers who are forced from their home as drought, economic\",\n \"drought, economic hardship, and changes in theagricultural industryoccur during the Great Depression. Steinbeck'sOf Mice and Menis another important novella about a journey during the Great Depression. Additionally, Harper Lee'sTo Kill a Mockingbirdis set during the Great Depression. Margaret Atwood's Booker prize-winningThe Blind Assassinis likewise set in the Great Depression, centering on a privileged socialite's love affair with a Marxist revolutionary. The era spurred the resurgence of social realism, practiced by many who started their writing careers on relief programs, especially theFederal Writers' Projectin the U.S.Nonfiction works from this time also capture important themes. The 1933 memoirPrison Days and NightsbyVictor Folke Nelsonprovides insight into criminal justice ramifications of the Great Depression, especially in regard to patterns of recidivism due to lack of economic opportunity. A number of works for younger audiences are also set during the Great Depression, among them theKit\",\n \"among them theKit Kittredgeseries ofAmerican Girlbooks written byValerie Trippand illustrated byWalter Rane, released to tie in with the dolls and playsets sold by the company. The stories, which take place during the early to mid 1930s inCincinnati, focuses on the changes brought by the Depression to the titular character's family and how the Kittredges dealt with it.A theatrical adaptation of the series entitledKit Kittredge: An American Girlwas later released in 2008 to positive reviews.Similarly,Christmas After All, part of theDear Americaseries of books for older girls, take place in 1930sIndianapolis; whileKit Kittredgeis told in a third-person viewpoint,Christmas After Allis in the form of a fictional journal as told by the protagonist Minnie Swift as she recounts her experiences during the era, especially when her family takes in an orphan cousin from Texas. Naming The term \\\"The Great Depression\\\" is most frequently attributed to British economistLionel Robbins, whose 1934 bookThe Great Depressionis\",\n \"Great Depressionis credited with formalizing the phrase,though Hoover is widely credited with popularizing the term,informally referring to the downturn as a depression, with such uses as \\\"Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement\\\" (December 1930, Message to Congress), and \\\"I need not recount to you that the world is passing through a great depression\\\" (1931). The term \\\"depression\\\" to refer to an economic downturn dates to the 19th century, when it was used by varied Americans and British politicians and economists. The first major American economic crisis, thePanic of 1819, was described by then-presidentJames Monroeas \\\"a depression\\\",and the most recent economic crisis, theDepression of 1920–21, had been referred to as a \\\"depression\\\" by then-presidentCalvin Coolidge. Financial crises were traditionally referred to as \\\"panics\\\", most recently the majorPanic of 1907, and the minorPanic of 1910–11, though the 1929 crisis was called \\\"The Crash\\\", and the term \\\"panic\\\" has\",\n \"term \\\"panic\\\" has since fallen out of use. At the time of the Great Depression, the term \\\"The Great Depression\\\" was already used to refer to the period 1873–96 (in the United Kingdom), or more narrowly 1873–79 (in the United States), which has retroactively been renamed theLong Depression. Other \\\"great depressions\\\" Thecollapse of the Soviet Union, and the breakdown of economic ties which followed, led to a severe economic crisis and catastrophic fall in thestandards of livingin the 1990s inpost-Soviet statesand the formerEastern Bloc,which was even worse than the Great Depression.Even before Russia'sfinancial crisisof 1998, Russia's GDP was half of what it had been in the early 1990s. Comparison with the Great Recession Theworldwide economic decline after 2008has been compared to the 1930s. Thecauses of the Great Recessionseem similar to the Great Depression, but significant differences exist. The then-chairman of theFederal Reserve,Ben Bernanke, had extensively studied the Great Depression as part of his\",\n \"as part of his doctoral work at MIT, and implemented policies to manipulate the money supply and interest rates in ways that were not done in the 1930s. Bernanke's policies will undoubtedly be analyzed and scrutinized in the years to come, as economists debate the wisdom of his choices. In 2011, one journalist contrasted the Great Depression of the 1930s as opposed to thelate-2000s recession. If we contrast the 1930s with the Crash of 2008 where gold went through the roof, it is clear that the U.S. dollar on the gold standard was a completely different animal in comparison to the fiat free-floating U.S. dollar currency we have today. Both currencies in 1929 and 2008 were the U.S. dollar, but analogously it is as if one was aSaber-toothed tigerand the other is aBengal tiger; they are two completely different animals. Where we have experienced inflation since the Crash of 2008, the situation was much different in the 1930s when deflation set in. Unlike the deflation of the early 1930s, the U.S. economy\",\n \"the U.S. economy currently appears to be in a \\\"liquidity trap\\\", or a situation where monetary policy is unable to stimulate an economy back to health.In terms of the stock market, nearly three years after the 1929 crash, theDJIAdropped 8.4% on 12 August 1932. Where we have experienced great volatility with large intraday swings in the past two months, in 2011, we have not experienced any record-shattering daily percentage drops to the tune of the 1930s. Where many of us may have that '30s feeling, in light of the DJIA, the CPI, and the national unemployment rate, we are simply not living in the '30s. Some individuals may feel as if we are living in a depression, but for many others the currentglobal financial crisissimply does not feel like a depression akin to the 1930s. 1928 and 1929 were the times in the 20th century that thewealth gapreached such skewed extremes;half the unemployed had been out of work for over six months, something that was not repeated until the late-2000s recession. 2007 and 2008\",\n \"2007 and 2008 eventually saw the world reach new levels of wealth gap inequality that rivalled the years of 1928 and 1929. See also General References Further reading Global Europe United States and Canada Other areas Focus on economic theory or econometrics Comprehensive Employment and Training Act\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":60,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"This individual won a Best Director Award at the 33rd Japan Academy Prize ceremony and is known for having directed a film that briefly surpassed the Godfather as the highest-grossing film in Japan for a short time. Which film was longer - The Godfather or his film - and by how many minutes?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"The Godfather (1972) was longer than Submersion in Japan (1973) by 32 minutes."},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Academy_Film_Prize"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisaku_Kimura"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submersion_of_Japan"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Godfather"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Numerical reasoning | Tabular reasoning | Multiple constraints"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Academy_Film_Prize', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisaku_Kimura', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submersion_of_Japan', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Godfather']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Academy_Film_Prize","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisaku_Kimura","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submersion_of_Japan","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Godfather"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Academy_Film_Prize\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisaku_Kimura\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submersion_of_Japan\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Godfather\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["Japan Academy Film Prize TheJapan Academy Film Prize(日本アカデミー賞,Nippon Akademii-shou), often called theJapan Academy Prize, theJapan Academy Awards, and theJapanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本アカデミー賞協会,Nippon Akademii-shou Kyoukai) for excellence in Japanese film. Award categories are similar to theAcademy Awards. Venue Since 1998, the venue is regularly held at the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa ofPrince HotelsinTakanawa,Minato-ku, Tokyo. Admission tickets for this award ceremony are also sold to regular customers. As of 2015, there is a charge of 40,000 Yen which includes a French cuisine course dinner named after the award ceremony. Spectators are expected to attend in semi-formal attire. Elementary school students and younger are not permitted. Award The winners are selected from the recipients of the Award for Excellence.The award statue of the winner measures 27 cm × 11 cm × 11 cm (10.7 in × 4.4 in × 4.4 in).The recipients of the Award for Excellence receive a smaller statue. Categories Award winners Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoji Yamada-\"Yellow Handkerchief of Happiness\", \"Otoko wa Tsurai yo\" series Yoji Yamada/ Yoshitaka Asama - \"Otoko wa Tsurai yo\" series, \"The Yellow Handkerchief(1977 film)\" Ken Takakura- “The Yellow Handkerchief(1977 film)”, “Mount Hakkoda(1977 film)” Shima Iwashita- \"Ballad of Orin\" Tetsuya Takeda-\"The Yellow Handkerchief(1977 film)\" Kaori Momoi- \"The Yellow Handkerchief(1977 film)\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoshitaro Nomura- \"The Incident(1978 film)\", \"The Demon(1978 film)\" Shinto Kaneto-The Incident(1978 film) Ken Ogata-The Demon(1978 film) Shinobu Otake-The Incident(1978 film) Tsunehiko Watase-The Incident(1978 film) Shinobu Otake- \"The Incident(1978 film)\", \"Monument of priesthood\" (聖職の碑) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Shohei Imamura- “Vengeance Is Mine(1979 film)” Baba Masaru - \"Vengeance Is Mine(1979 film)\" Tomisaburo Wakayama-\"Impulse Murder Son\" (衝動殺人 息子よ) Kaori Momoi- \"A baby given by God\" (神様のくれた赤ん坊) “No More Easy Life” Bunta Sugawara- \"Taiyō o Nusunda Otoko\" (The Man who Stole the Sun) Mayumi Ogawa-\"Three letters not delivered\" (配達されない三通の手紙) “Revenge is on me” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Seijun Suzuki- \"Zigeunerweisen(film)\" Yoshitaka Asama,Yoji Yamada- \"A Distant Cry from Spring\" \"Tora-san's Tropical Fever\" Ken Takakura- \"Disturbance\" (動乱), \"A Distant Cry from Spring\" Chieko Baisho- \"A Distant Cry from Spring\" \"Tora-san's Tropical Fever\" Tetsuro Tamba- \"203 Highlands\" (二百三高地) Michiyo Ōkusu- “Zigeunerweisen(film)” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kohei Oguri- \"Muddy River(film)\" Sō Kuramoto- \"Station(1981 film)\" Ken Takakura- \"Station(1981 film)\" Keiko Matsuzaka- “Youth Gate” (青春の門) Tora-san's Love in Osaka Katsuo Nakamura- “Kagero-za”, “Love Letter” (ラブレター (1981年の映画), \"In-process Umeyasu\" (仕掛人梅安), \"Tin Medal\" (ブリキの勲章) Yuko Tanaka- “Edo Porn”, \"Eijanaika(film)\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kinji Fukasaku-\"Fall Guy\", \"Dotonbori River\" Kōhei Tsuka- \"Fall Guy\" Mitsuru Hirata- \"Fall Guy\" Keiko Matsuzaka- \"Fall Guy\", \"Dotonbori River\" Morio Kazama- \"Fall Guy\" Rumiko Koyanagi-\"To Trap a Kidnapper\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Hideo Gosha-“The Geisha(1983 film)” Koji Takahashi- “The Geisha(1983 film)” Ken Ogata- “The Ballad of Narayama(1983 film)”, “The Geisha(1983 film)”, “The Catch(1983 film)” Rumiko Koyanagi-Hakujasho Morio Kazama- \"The Geisha(1983 film)\", \"Life Theater\" (人生劇場) Atsuko Asano-\"The Geisha(1983 film)\", \"Dirty Hero\" (汚れた英雄) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Juzo Itami- \"The Funeral(1984 film)\" Juzo Itami- \"The Funeral(1984 film)\" Tsutomu Yamazaki- \"The Funeral(1984 film)\", \"Farewell to the Ark\" Sayuri Yoshinaga- \"Ohan(film)\", \"Station to Heaven\" Kaku Takashina- “Mahjong hōrōki” Kin Sugai- \"The Funeral(1984 film)\", \"Hissatsu: Sure Death\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Shinichiro Sawai- \"Early Spring Story\", \"W's Tragedy\" Hiro Matsuda (松田寛夫) - \"Gray Sunset\" Minoru Chiaki- \"Gray Sunset\" Mitsuko Baisho- \"The flowers in my life are flowers until death” (生きているうちが花なのよ死んだらそれまでよ党宣言), “Love Letter(1985 film)”, \"Friend, meditate quietly\" (友よ、静かに瞑れ) Kaoru Kobayashi- \"Love Letter(1985 film)\", \"Sorekara\" Yoshiko Mita- \"W's Tragedy\", \"Haru no Kane\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kinji Fukasaku- “House on Fire(film)” Fumio Konami,Kinji Fukasaku- “House on Fire(film)” Ken Ogata- \"House on Fire(film)\" Ayumi Ishida- “House on Fire(film)”, “Tokei – Adieu l'hiver” Hitoshi Ueki-\"Congratulations\" (祝辞), \"New years of joy and sorrow\" (新・喜びも悲しみも幾歳月) Mieko Harada- “House on Fire(film)”, “Kokushi Musou” (国士無双), \"Portrait of Prussian Blue\" (プルシアンブルーの肖像) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Juzo Itami- \"A Taxing Woman\" Juzo Itami- \"A Taxing Woman\" Tsutomu Yamazaki- \"A Taxing Woman\" Nobuko Miyamoto- \"A Taxing Woman\" Masahiko Tsugawa- \"A Taxing Woman\", \"Night Train\" Rino Katase- \"The Polar Wife II\" (極道の妻たち II), \"Yoshiwara Enjyo\" (吉原炎上) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Junya Sato- \"The Silk Road(film)\" Ichikawa Shinichi (市川森一 ) - \"The Discarnates\" Toshiyuki Nishida- \"The Silk Road(film)\" Sayuri Yoshinaga- \"Tsuru-Crane-\" (つる-鶴-), \"A Chaos of Flowers\" Tsurutaro Kataoka- \"The Discarnates\", \"Age of Witches\" (妖女の時代) Eri Ishida- “Wuthering Heights(1988 film)”, “Hope and Pain”, \"A Chaos of Flowers\" / Heisei 1) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Shohei Imamura-\"Black Rain\" Toshiro Ishido (石堂淑朗),Shohei Imamura- \"Black Rain\" Rentaro Mikuni- “Tsuribaka Nisshi”, “Sen no Rikyū” Yoshiko Tanaka- \"Black Rain\" Bando Eiji - “Ah yes” (あ・うん) Etsuko Ichihara- “Black Rain” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Masahiro Shinoda-Childhood Days Taichi Yamada- \"Childhood Days\" Ittoku Kishibe- \"The Sting of Death\" Keiko Matsuzaka- \"The Sting of Death\" Renji Ishibashi- “Park Street Cats” (公園通りの猫たち), “Roningai”, \"Ready to shoot me\" (われに撃つ用意あり) Eri Ishida- “Tsuribaka Nisshi 2”, “Tsuribaka Nisshi 3” “I haven't dreamed of flying for a while” (飛ぶ夢をしばらく見ない) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kihachi Okamoto- \"Rainbow Kids\" Kihachi Okamoto- \"Rainbow Kids\" Rentaro Mikuni- “Tsuribaka Nisshi 4”, “My Sons” Tanie Kitabayashi- \"Rainbow Kids\" Masatoshi Nagase- \"My Sons\", \"Mourning Work\" (喪の仕事) Emi Wakui- “No Worries on the Recruit Front”, “My Sons” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Masayuki Suo- “Sumo Do, Sumo Don't\" Masayuki Suo- “Sumo Do, Sumo Don't\" Masahiro Motoki- “Sumo Do, Sumo Don't\" Yoshiko Mita- \"Tōki Rakujitsu\" Naoto Takenaka- “Sumo Do, Sumo Don't\",“Original Sin(1992 film)” Miwako Fujitani- \"The Oil-Hell Murder\", Sobered Sosuke (寝盗られ宗介) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoji Yamada- \"Tora-san's Matchmaker\", \"School\" (学校 (映画) Yoji Yamada, Yoshitaka Asama - \"Tora-san's Matchmaker\", \"School\" (学校 (映画) Toshiyuki Nishida- \"School\" (学校 (映画), “Tsuribaka Nisshi 6” Emi Wakui- \"Rainbow Bridge\" (虹の橋) Kunie Tanaka- \"School\" (学校 (映画), \"Lone Wolf and Cub: Final Conflict\", \"Rainbow Bridge\" (虹の橋) Kyoko Kagawa- \"Madadayo\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kinji Fukasaku- “Crest of Betrayal”” Motomu Furuta (古田求) /Kinji Fukasaku- “Crest of Betrayal”” Kōichi Satō (actor)- “Crest of Betrayal”” Saki Takaoka- “Crest of Betrayal”” Kiichi Nakai- \"47 Ronin(1994 film)\" Shigeru Muroi- \"Ghost Pub\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kaneto Shindo- \"A Last Note\" Kaneto Shindo- \"A Last Note\" Rentaro Mikuni- \"Three times straits\" (三たびの海峡) Yuko Asano- \"Kura(film)\" Naoto Takenaka- \"East Meets West(1995 film)\" Nobuko Otowa- \"A Last Note\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Masayuki Suo- “Shall We Dance?” Masayuki Suo- “Shall We Dance?” Koji Yakusho- “Shall We Dance?” Tamiyo Kusakari- “Shall We Dance?” Naoto Takenaka- “Shall We Dance?” Eriko Watanabe- “Shall We Dance?” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Shohei Imamura-\"The Eel(film)\" Koki Mitani- “Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald” Koji Yakusho-\"The Eel(film)\" Hitomi Kuroki-A Lost Paradise Masahiko Nishimura- “Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald” Mitsuko Baisho-\"The Eel(film)\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Hideyuki Hirayama- \"Begging for Love\" Yoshinobu Tei (鄭 義信) - \"Begging for Love\" Akira Emoto- \"Dr. Akagi\" Mieko Harada- \"Begging for Love\" Chosuke Ikariya- \"Bayside Shakedown(film)\" Kumiko Aso- \"Dr. Akagi\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yasuo Furuhata- \"Poppoya\" Yoshiki Iwama (岩間芳樹),Yasuo Furuhata- \"Poppoya\" Ken Takakura- \"Poppoya\" Shinobu Otake- \"Poppoya\" Jun Kobayashi- \"Poppoya\" Kishimoto Kayoko- \"Kikujiro\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Junji Sakamoto- \"Face(2000 film)\" Akira Kurosawa- “After the Rain(film)” Akira Terao- \"After the Rain(film)\" Sayuri Yoshinaga- \"Nagasaki Hanging out\" (長崎ぶらぶら節) Kōichi Satō (actor)- \"Whiteout(2000 film)\" Mieko Harada- \"After the Rain(film)\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Isao Yukisada- \"Go(Kaneshiro novel)\" Kankurō Kudō- “Go” Yosuke Kubozuka- “Go” Keiko Kishi-\"Kaa-chan\" (かあちゃん) Tsutomu Yamazaki- “Go” Ko Shibasaki- “Go” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoji Yamada- “The Twilight Samurai” Yoji Yamada, Yoshitaka Asama (朝間 義隆) - \"The Twilight Samurai\" Hiroyuki Sanada- \"The Twilight Samurai\" Rie Miyazawa- \"The Twilight Samurai\" Min Tanaka- \"The Twilight Samurai\" Tanie Kitabayashi- “Letters from the Mountains(2002) ” (阿弥陀堂だより) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoshimitsu Morita- “Like Asura” Tomomi Tsutsui (筒井 ともみ) - \"Like Asura\" Kiichi Nakai- \"When the Last Sword Is Drawn\" Shinobu Terajima- \"Akame 48 Waterfalls\" Kōichi Satō (actor)- \"When the Last Sword Is Drawn\" Eri Fukatsu- “Like Asura” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoichi Sai-Blood and Bones Shinobu Yaguchi- \"Swing Girls\" Akira Terao- \"Half a Confession\" (半落ち) Kyoka Suzuki-Blood and Bones Odagiri Joe-Blood and Bones Masami Nagasawa- \"Socrates in Love\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Takashi Yamazaki- \"Always Sanchōme no Yūhi\" Takashi Yamazaki, Ryota Kosawa (古沢良太) - \"Always Sanchōme no Yūhi\" Hidetaka Yoshioka-\"Always Sanchōme no Yūhi\" Sayuri Yoshinaga- \"Year One in the North\" (北の零年) Shinichi Tsutsumi- \"Always Sanchōme no Yūhi\" Hiroko Yakushimaru- \"Always Sanchōme no Yūhi\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” (Mamoru Hosoda) Lee Sang-il- “Hula Girls” Lee Sang-il, Daisuke Habara - “Hula Girls” Ken Watanabe- \"Memories of Tomorrow\" Miki Nakatani- \"Memories of Matsuko\" Takashi Sasano- \"Love and Honor(2006 film)\" Yū Aoi- “Hula Girls” Takuya Kimura, “Love and Honor(2006 film)”, declined the Best Actor Award. In addition, “Hula Girl” (production / distribution: Cinekanon) won the Best Film Award since “Zigeunerweisen(film)” (4th) as an independent production and distribution. Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award (Joji Matsuoka) \"Tekkonkinkreet\" (Michael Arias) Joji Matsuoka- \"Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad\" Suzuki Matsuo- \"Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad\" Hidetaka Yoshioka- \"Always Zoku Sanchōme no Yūhi\" Kirin Kiki- \"Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad\" Kaoru Kobayashi- \"Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad\" Masako Motai - “I Just Didn't Do It” Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \"Ponyo\" (Hayao Miyazaki) Yōjirō Takita- \"Departures\" Kundō Koyama- \"Departures\" Masahiro Motoki- \"Departures\" Tae Kimura- \"All Around Us\" Tsutomu Yamazaki- \"Departures\" Kimiko Yo- \"Departures\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “Summer Wars” (Mamoru Hosoda) Daisaku Kimura- \"Mt. Tsurugidake\" Miwa Nishikawa- \"Dear Doctor(film)\" Ken Watanabe-Shizumanu Taiyō Takako Matsu- \"Villon's Wife(film)\" Teruyuki Kagawa- “Mt. Tsurugidake\" Kimiko Yo- \"Dear Doctor(film)\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \"Arrietty\" (Hiromasa Yonebayashi) Tetsuya Nakashima-\"Confessions(2010 film)\" Tetsuya Nakashima-\"Confessions(2010 film)\" Satoshi Tsumabuki-Villain(2010 film) Eri Fukatsu-Villain(2010 film) Akira Emoto-Villain(2010 film) Kirin Kiki-Villain(2010 film) Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “From Up on Poppy Hill” (Gorō Miyazaki) Izuru Narushima- \"Yō kame no semi (八日目の蟬)\" Satoko Okudera- \"Yō kame no semi (八日目の蟬)\" Yoshio Harada- \"Someday(2011 film)\" Mao Inoue- \"Yō kame no semi (八日目の蟬)\" Denden- \"Cold Fish\" Hiromi Nagasaku- \"Yō kame no semi (八日目の蟬)\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “Wolf Children” (Mamoru Hosoda) Daihachi Yoshida- “The Kirishima Thing” Kenji Uchida (film director)- \"The Kirishima Thing\" Hiroshi Abe- \"Thermae Romae\" Kirin Kiki- \"Chronicle of My Mother\" Hideji Ōtaki- \"Anata e\" Kimiko Yo- \"Anata e\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \"The Wind Rises\" (Hayao Miyazaki) Yuya Ishii- “The Great Passage” Kensaku Watanabe- “The Great Passage” Ryuhei Matsuda- “The Great Passage” Yōko Maki- \"The Ravine of Goodbye\" Lily Franky- \"Like Father, Like Son(2013 film)\" Yōko Maki- \"Like Father, Like Son(2013 film)\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \"Stand by Me Doraemon\" (Takashi Yamazaki) Takashi Yamazaki- “The Eternal Zero” Akihiro Dobashi(土橋章宏) - \"Samurai Hustle\" Junichi Okada- “The Eternal Zero” Rie Miyazawa-Pale Moon(film) Junichi Okada- \"A Samurai Chronicle\" Haru Kuroki- “The Little House(film)” Additionally,Junichi Okadawon the Best Actor inThe Eternal Zeroand Best Supporting Actor inA Samurai Chronicle. Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \"The Boy and the Beast\" (Mamoru Hosoda) Hirokazu Kore-eda- “Our Little Sister” Shin Adachi(足立紳) - \"100 Yen Love\" Kazunari Ninomiya- “Nagasaki: Memories of My Son” Sakura Ando- \"100 Yen Love\" Masahiro Motoki- “The Emperor in August” Haru Kuroki- “Nagasaki: Memories of My Son” Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “In This Corner of the World(film)” (Sunao Katabuchi) Hideaki AnnoandShinji Higuchi- \"Shin Godzilla\" Makoto Shinkai- \"Your Name\" Kōichi Satō- \"64: Part I\" Rie Miyazawa- \"Her Love Boils Bathwater\" Satoshi Tsumabuki-Rage(2016 film) Hana Sugisaki- \"Her Love Boils Bathwater\" For the first time at the 40th time, an animation work won the Best Screenplay Award. Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \"Night Is Short, Walk On Girl\" (夜は短し歩けよ乙女) (Masaaki Yuasa) Hirokazu Kore-eda- \"The Third Murder\" Hirokazu Kore-eda- \"The Third Murder\" Masaki Suda-\"Wilderness: Part One\" (あゝ、荒野前編) Yū Aoi- \"Birds Without Names\" Kōji Yakusho- \"The Third Murder\" Suzu Hirose- \"The Third Murder\" DirectorHirokazu Kore-edaof \"The Third Murder\" won the Best Editorial Award, Best Editing Award and Best Screenplay Award at the same time. Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “Shoplifters”” (Hirokazu Kore-eda) “Mirai(film)” (Mamoru Hosoda) Hirokazu Kore-eda- “Shoplifters” Hirokazu Kore-eda- “Shoplifters” Kōji Yakusho- \"The Blood of Wolves\" Sakura Ando- “Shoplifters” Tori Matsuzaka- \"The Blood of Wolves\" Kirin Kiki- “Shoplifters” / Reiwa 1) Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “The Journalist” (Michihito Fuji) “Weathering with You” (Makoto Shinkai) Hideki Takeuchi - “Fly Me to the Saitama” Yūichi Tokunaga - “Fly Me to the Saitama” Tori Matsuzaka- \"The Journalist\" Shim Eun-kyung- “The Journalist” Ryo Yoshizawa- \"Kingdom\" Masami Nagasawa- \"Kingdom\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Award Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Midnight Swan Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train Setsurō Wakamatsu -Fukushima 50 Akiko Nogi –The Voice of Sin Tsuyoshi Kusanagi-Midnight Swan Masami Nagasawa–Mother Ken Watanabe-Fukushima 50 Haru Kuroki-The Asadas Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Award Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Drive My Car Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time Ryusuke Hamaguchi-Drive My Car Ryusuke HamaguchiandTakamasa Ōe-Drive My Car Hidetoshi Nishijima-Drive My Car Kasumi Arimura–We Made a Beautiful Bouquet Ryohei Suzuki-Last of the Wolves Kaya Kiyohara-In The Wake Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Award Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award A Man The First Slam Dunk Kei Ishikawa -A Man Kōsuke Mukai -A Man Satoshi Tsumabuki-A Man Yukino Kishii- Small, Slow but Steady Masataka Kubota-A Man Sakura Ando-A Man Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Award Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award The Boy and the Heron Wim Wenders-Perfect Days Takashi Yamazaki-Godzilla Minus One Koji Yakusho-Perfect Days Sakura Ando-Monster Hayato Isomura-The Moon Sakura Ando-Godzilla Minus One References External links","Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Daisaku_Kimura (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b92b46470>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))","Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Submersion_of_Japan (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b93755990>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))","Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/The_Godfather (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b95de3220>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))"],"string":"[\n \"Japan Academy Film Prize TheJapan Academy Film Prize(日本アカデミー賞,Nippon Akademii-shou), often called theJapan Academy Prize, theJapan Academy Awards, and theJapanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本アカデミー賞協会,Nippon Akademii-shou Kyoukai) for excellence in Japanese film. Award categories are similar to theAcademy Awards. Venue Since 1998, the venue is regularly held at the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa ofPrince HotelsinTakanawa,Minato-ku, Tokyo. Admission tickets for this award ceremony are also sold to regular customers. As of 2015, there is a charge of 40,000 Yen which includes a French cuisine course dinner named after the award ceremony. Spectators are expected to attend in semi-formal attire. Elementary school students and younger are not permitted. Award The winners are selected from the recipients of the Award for Excellence.The award statue of the winner measures 27 cm × 11 cm × 11 cm (10.7 in × 4.4 in × 4.4 in).The recipients of the Award for Excellence receive a smaller statue. Categories Award winners Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoji Yamada-\\\"Yellow Handkerchief of Happiness\\\", \\\"Otoko wa Tsurai yo\\\" series Yoji Yamada/ Yoshitaka Asama - \\\"Otoko wa Tsurai yo\\\" series, \\\"The Yellow Handkerchief(1977 film)\\\" Ken Takakura- “The Yellow Handkerchief(1977 film)”, “Mount Hakkoda(1977 film)” Shima Iwashita- \\\"Ballad of Orin\\\" Tetsuya Takeda-\\\"The Yellow Handkerchief(1977 film)\\\" Kaori Momoi- \\\"The Yellow Handkerchief(1977 film)\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoshitaro Nomura- \\\"The Incident(1978 film)\\\", \\\"The Demon(1978 film)\\\" Shinto Kaneto-The Incident(1978 film) Ken Ogata-The Demon(1978 film) Shinobu Otake-The Incident(1978 film) Tsunehiko Watase-The Incident(1978 film) Shinobu Otake- \\\"The Incident(1978 film)\\\", \\\"Monument of priesthood\\\" (聖職の碑) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Shohei Imamura- “Vengeance Is Mine(1979 film)” Baba Masaru - \\\"Vengeance Is Mine(1979 film)\\\" Tomisaburo Wakayama-\\\"Impulse Murder Son\\\" (衝動殺人 息子よ) Kaori Momoi- \\\"A baby given by God\\\" (神様のくれた赤ん坊) “No More Easy Life” Bunta Sugawara- \\\"Taiyō o Nusunda Otoko\\\" (The Man who Stole the Sun) Mayumi Ogawa-\\\"Three letters not delivered\\\" (配達されない三通の手紙) “Revenge is on me” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Seijun Suzuki- \\\"Zigeunerweisen(film)\\\" Yoshitaka Asama,Yoji Yamada- \\\"A Distant Cry from Spring\\\" \\\"Tora-san's Tropical Fever\\\" Ken Takakura- \\\"Disturbance\\\" (動乱), \\\"A Distant Cry from Spring\\\" Chieko Baisho- \\\"A Distant Cry from Spring\\\" \\\"Tora-san's Tropical Fever\\\" Tetsuro Tamba- \\\"203 Highlands\\\" (二百三高地) Michiyo Ōkusu- “Zigeunerweisen(film)” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kohei Oguri- \\\"Muddy River(film)\\\" Sō Kuramoto- \\\"Station(1981 film)\\\" Ken Takakura- \\\"Station(1981 film)\\\" Keiko Matsuzaka- “Youth Gate” (青春の門) Tora-san's Love in Osaka Katsuo Nakamura- “Kagero-za”, “Love Letter” (ラブレター (1981年の映画), \\\"In-process Umeyasu\\\" (仕掛人梅安), \\\"Tin Medal\\\" (ブリキの勲章) Yuko Tanaka- “Edo Porn”, \\\"Eijanaika(film)\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kinji Fukasaku-\\\"Fall Guy\\\", \\\"Dotonbori River\\\" Kōhei Tsuka- \\\"Fall Guy\\\" Mitsuru Hirata- \\\"Fall Guy\\\" Keiko Matsuzaka- \\\"Fall Guy\\\", \\\"Dotonbori River\\\" Morio Kazama- \\\"Fall Guy\\\" Rumiko Koyanagi-\\\"To Trap a Kidnapper\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Hideo Gosha-“The Geisha(1983 film)” Koji Takahashi- “The Geisha(1983 film)” Ken Ogata- “The Ballad of Narayama(1983 film)”, “The Geisha(1983 film)”, “The Catch(1983 film)” Rumiko Koyanagi-Hakujasho Morio Kazama- \\\"The Geisha(1983 film)\\\", \\\"Life Theater\\\" (人生劇場) Atsuko Asano-\\\"The Geisha(1983 film)\\\", \\\"Dirty Hero\\\" (汚れた英雄) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Juzo Itami- \\\"The Funeral(1984 film)\\\" Juzo Itami- \\\"The Funeral(1984 film)\\\" Tsutomu Yamazaki- \\\"The Funeral(1984 film)\\\", \\\"Farewell to the Ark\\\" Sayuri Yoshinaga- \\\"Ohan(film)\\\", \\\"Station to Heaven\\\" Kaku Takashina- “Mahjong hōrōki” Kin Sugai- \\\"The Funeral(1984 film)\\\", \\\"Hissatsu: Sure Death\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Shinichiro Sawai- \\\"Early Spring Story\\\", \\\"W's Tragedy\\\" Hiro Matsuda (松田寛夫) - \\\"Gray Sunset\\\" Minoru Chiaki- \\\"Gray Sunset\\\" Mitsuko Baisho- \\\"The flowers in my life are flowers until death” (生きているうちが花なのよ死んだらそれまでよ党宣言), “Love Letter(1985 film)”, \\\"Friend, meditate quietly\\\" (友よ、静かに瞑れ) Kaoru Kobayashi- \\\"Love Letter(1985 film)\\\", \\\"Sorekara\\\" Yoshiko Mita- \\\"W's Tragedy\\\", \\\"Haru no Kane\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kinji Fukasaku- “House on Fire(film)” Fumio Konami,Kinji Fukasaku- “House on Fire(film)” Ken Ogata- \\\"House on Fire(film)\\\" Ayumi Ishida- “House on Fire(film)”, “Tokei – Adieu l'hiver” Hitoshi Ueki-\\\"Congratulations\\\" (祝辞), \\\"New years of joy and sorrow\\\" (新・喜びも悲しみも幾歳月) Mieko Harada- “House on Fire(film)”, “Kokushi Musou” (国士無双), \\\"Portrait of Prussian Blue\\\" (プルシアンブルーの肖像) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Juzo Itami- \\\"A Taxing Woman\\\" Juzo Itami- \\\"A Taxing Woman\\\" Tsutomu Yamazaki- \\\"A Taxing Woman\\\" Nobuko Miyamoto- \\\"A Taxing Woman\\\" Masahiko Tsugawa- \\\"A Taxing Woman\\\", \\\"Night Train\\\" Rino Katase- \\\"The Polar Wife II\\\" (極道の妻たち II), \\\"Yoshiwara Enjyo\\\" (吉原炎上) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Junya Sato- \\\"The Silk Road(film)\\\" Ichikawa Shinichi (市川森一 ) - \\\"The Discarnates\\\" Toshiyuki Nishida- \\\"The Silk Road(film)\\\" Sayuri Yoshinaga- \\\"Tsuru-Crane-\\\" (つる-鶴-), \\\"A Chaos of Flowers\\\" Tsurutaro Kataoka- \\\"The Discarnates\\\", \\\"Age of Witches\\\" (妖女の時代) Eri Ishida- “Wuthering Heights(1988 film)”, “Hope and Pain”, \\\"A Chaos of Flowers\\\" / Heisei 1) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Shohei Imamura-\\\"Black Rain\\\" Toshiro Ishido (石堂淑朗),Shohei Imamura- \\\"Black Rain\\\" Rentaro Mikuni- “Tsuribaka Nisshi”, “Sen no Rikyū” Yoshiko Tanaka- \\\"Black Rain\\\" Bando Eiji - “Ah yes” (あ・うん) Etsuko Ichihara- “Black Rain” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Masahiro Shinoda-Childhood Days Taichi Yamada- \\\"Childhood Days\\\" Ittoku Kishibe- \\\"The Sting of Death\\\" Keiko Matsuzaka- \\\"The Sting of Death\\\" Renji Ishibashi- “Park Street Cats” (公園通りの猫たち), “Roningai”, \\\"Ready to shoot me\\\" (われに撃つ用意あり) Eri Ishida- “Tsuribaka Nisshi 2”, “Tsuribaka Nisshi 3” “I haven't dreamed of flying for a while” (飛ぶ夢をしばらく見ない) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kihachi Okamoto- \\\"Rainbow Kids\\\" Kihachi Okamoto- \\\"Rainbow Kids\\\" Rentaro Mikuni- “Tsuribaka Nisshi 4”, “My Sons” Tanie Kitabayashi- \\\"Rainbow Kids\\\" Masatoshi Nagase- \\\"My Sons\\\", \\\"Mourning Work\\\" (喪の仕事) Emi Wakui- “No Worries on the Recruit Front”, “My Sons” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Masayuki Suo- “Sumo Do, Sumo Don't\\\" Masayuki Suo- “Sumo Do, Sumo Don't\\\" Masahiro Motoki- “Sumo Do, Sumo Don't\\\" Yoshiko Mita- \\\"Tōki Rakujitsu\\\" Naoto Takenaka- “Sumo Do, Sumo Don't\\\",“Original Sin(1992 film)” Miwako Fujitani- \\\"The Oil-Hell Murder\\\", Sobered Sosuke (寝盗られ宗介) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoji Yamada- \\\"Tora-san's Matchmaker\\\", \\\"School\\\" (学校 (映画) Yoji Yamada, Yoshitaka Asama - \\\"Tora-san's Matchmaker\\\", \\\"School\\\" (学校 (映画) Toshiyuki Nishida- \\\"School\\\" (学校 (映画), “Tsuribaka Nisshi 6” Emi Wakui- \\\"Rainbow Bridge\\\" (虹の橋) Kunie Tanaka- \\\"School\\\" (学校 (映画), \\\"Lone Wolf and Cub: Final Conflict\\\", \\\"Rainbow Bridge\\\" (虹の橋) Kyoko Kagawa- \\\"Madadayo\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kinji Fukasaku- “Crest of Betrayal”” Motomu Furuta (古田求) /Kinji Fukasaku- “Crest of Betrayal”” Kōichi Satō (actor)- “Crest of Betrayal”” Saki Takaoka- “Crest of Betrayal”” Kiichi Nakai- \\\"47 Ronin(1994 film)\\\" Shigeru Muroi- \\\"Ghost Pub\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kaneto Shindo- \\\"A Last Note\\\" Kaneto Shindo- \\\"A Last Note\\\" Rentaro Mikuni- \\\"Three times straits\\\" (三たびの海峡) Yuko Asano- \\\"Kura(film)\\\" Naoto Takenaka- \\\"East Meets West(1995 film)\\\" Nobuko Otowa- \\\"A Last Note\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Masayuki Suo- “Shall We Dance?” Masayuki Suo- “Shall We Dance?” Koji Yakusho- “Shall We Dance?” Tamiyo Kusakari- “Shall We Dance?” Naoto Takenaka- “Shall We Dance?” Eriko Watanabe- “Shall We Dance?” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Shohei Imamura-\\\"The Eel(film)\\\" Koki Mitani- “Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald” Koji Yakusho-\\\"The Eel(film)\\\" Hitomi Kuroki-A Lost Paradise Masahiko Nishimura- “Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald” Mitsuko Baisho-\\\"The Eel(film)\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Hideyuki Hirayama- \\\"Begging for Love\\\" Yoshinobu Tei (鄭 義信) - \\\"Begging for Love\\\" Akira Emoto- \\\"Dr. Akagi\\\" Mieko Harada- \\\"Begging for Love\\\" Chosuke Ikariya- \\\"Bayside Shakedown(film)\\\" Kumiko Aso- \\\"Dr. Akagi\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yasuo Furuhata- \\\"Poppoya\\\" Yoshiki Iwama (岩間芳樹),Yasuo Furuhata- \\\"Poppoya\\\" Ken Takakura- \\\"Poppoya\\\" Shinobu Otake- \\\"Poppoya\\\" Jun Kobayashi- \\\"Poppoya\\\" Kishimoto Kayoko- \\\"Kikujiro\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Junji Sakamoto- \\\"Face(2000 film)\\\" Akira Kurosawa- “After the Rain(film)” Akira Terao- \\\"After the Rain(film)\\\" Sayuri Yoshinaga- \\\"Nagasaki Hanging out\\\" (長崎ぶらぶら節) Kōichi Satō (actor)- \\\"Whiteout(2000 film)\\\" Mieko Harada- \\\"After the Rain(film)\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Isao Yukisada- \\\"Go(Kaneshiro novel)\\\" Kankurō Kudō- “Go” Yosuke Kubozuka- “Go” Keiko Kishi-\\\"Kaa-chan\\\" (かあちゃん) Tsutomu Yamazaki- “Go” Ko Shibasaki- “Go” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoji Yamada- “The Twilight Samurai” Yoji Yamada, Yoshitaka Asama (朝間 義隆) - \\\"The Twilight Samurai\\\" Hiroyuki Sanada- \\\"The Twilight Samurai\\\" Rie Miyazawa- \\\"The Twilight Samurai\\\" Min Tanaka- \\\"The Twilight Samurai\\\" Tanie Kitabayashi- “Letters from the Mountains(2002) ” (阿弥陀堂だより) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoshimitsu Morita- “Like Asura” Tomomi Tsutsui (筒井 ともみ) - \\\"Like Asura\\\" Kiichi Nakai- \\\"When the Last Sword Is Drawn\\\" Shinobu Terajima- \\\"Akame 48 Waterfalls\\\" Kōichi Satō (actor)- \\\"When the Last Sword Is Drawn\\\" Eri Fukatsu- “Like Asura” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoichi Sai-Blood and Bones Shinobu Yaguchi- \\\"Swing Girls\\\" Akira Terao- \\\"Half a Confession\\\" (半落ち) Kyoka Suzuki-Blood and Bones Odagiri Joe-Blood and Bones Masami Nagasawa- \\\"Socrates in Love\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Takashi Yamazaki- \\\"Always Sanchōme no Yūhi\\\" Takashi Yamazaki, Ryota Kosawa (古沢良太) - \\\"Always Sanchōme no Yūhi\\\" Hidetaka Yoshioka-\\\"Always Sanchōme no Yūhi\\\" Sayuri Yoshinaga- \\\"Year One in the North\\\" (北の零年) Shinichi Tsutsumi- \\\"Always Sanchōme no Yūhi\\\" Hiroko Yakushimaru- \\\"Always Sanchōme no Yūhi\\\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” (Mamoru Hosoda) Lee Sang-il- “Hula Girls” Lee Sang-il, Daisuke Habara - “Hula Girls” Ken Watanabe- \\\"Memories of Tomorrow\\\" Miki Nakatani- \\\"Memories of Matsuko\\\" Takashi Sasano- \\\"Love and Honor(2006 film)\\\" Yū Aoi- “Hula Girls” Takuya Kimura, “Love and Honor(2006 film)”, declined the Best Actor Award. In addition, “Hula Girl” (production / distribution: Cinekanon) won the Best Film Award since “Zigeunerweisen(film)” (4th) as an independent production and distribution. Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award (Joji Matsuoka) \\\"Tekkonkinkreet\\\" (Michael Arias) Joji Matsuoka- \\\"Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad\\\" Suzuki Matsuo- \\\"Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad\\\" Hidetaka Yoshioka- \\\"Always Zoku Sanchōme no Yūhi\\\" Kirin Kiki- \\\"Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad\\\" Kaoru Kobayashi- \\\"Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad\\\" Masako Motai - “I Just Didn't Do It” Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \\\"Ponyo\\\" (Hayao Miyazaki) Yōjirō Takita- \\\"Departures\\\" Kundō Koyama- \\\"Departures\\\" Masahiro Motoki- \\\"Departures\\\" Tae Kimura- \\\"All Around Us\\\" Tsutomu Yamazaki- \\\"Departures\\\" Kimiko Yo- \\\"Departures\\\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “Summer Wars” (Mamoru Hosoda) Daisaku Kimura- \\\"Mt. Tsurugidake\\\" Miwa Nishikawa- \\\"Dear Doctor(film)\\\" Ken Watanabe-Shizumanu Taiyō Takako Matsu- \\\"Villon's Wife(film)\\\" Teruyuki Kagawa- “Mt. Tsurugidake\\\" Kimiko Yo- \\\"Dear Doctor(film)\\\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \\\"Arrietty\\\" (Hiromasa Yonebayashi) Tetsuya Nakashima-\\\"Confessions(2010 film)\\\" Tetsuya Nakashima-\\\"Confessions(2010 film)\\\" Satoshi Tsumabuki-Villain(2010 film) Eri Fukatsu-Villain(2010 film) Akira Emoto-Villain(2010 film) Kirin Kiki-Villain(2010 film) Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “From Up on Poppy Hill” (Gorō Miyazaki) Izuru Narushima- \\\"Yō kame no semi (八日目の蟬)\\\" Satoko Okudera- \\\"Yō kame no semi (八日目の蟬)\\\" Yoshio Harada- \\\"Someday(2011 film)\\\" Mao Inoue- \\\"Yō kame no semi (八日目の蟬)\\\" Denden- \\\"Cold Fish\\\" Hiromi Nagasaku- \\\"Yō kame no semi (八日目の蟬)\\\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “Wolf Children” (Mamoru Hosoda) Daihachi Yoshida- “The Kirishima Thing” Kenji Uchida (film director)- \\\"The Kirishima Thing\\\" Hiroshi Abe- \\\"Thermae Romae\\\" Kirin Kiki- \\\"Chronicle of My Mother\\\" Hideji Ōtaki- \\\"Anata e\\\" Kimiko Yo- \\\"Anata e\\\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \\\"The Wind Rises\\\" (Hayao Miyazaki) Yuya Ishii- “The Great Passage” Kensaku Watanabe- “The Great Passage” Ryuhei Matsuda- “The Great Passage” Yōko Maki- \\\"The Ravine of Goodbye\\\" Lily Franky- \\\"Like Father, Like Son(2013 film)\\\" Yōko Maki- \\\"Like Father, Like Son(2013 film)\\\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \\\"Stand by Me Doraemon\\\" (Takashi Yamazaki) Takashi Yamazaki- “The Eternal Zero” Akihiro Dobashi(土橋章宏) - \\\"Samurai Hustle\\\" Junichi Okada- “The Eternal Zero” Rie Miyazawa-Pale Moon(film) Junichi Okada- \\\"A Samurai Chronicle\\\" Haru Kuroki- “The Little House(film)” Additionally,Junichi Okadawon the Best Actor inThe Eternal Zeroand Best Supporting Actor inA Samurai Chronicle. Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \\\"The Boy and the Beast\\\" (Mamoru Hosoda) Hirokazu Kore-eda- “Our Little Sister” Shin Adachi(足立紳) - \\\"100 Yen Love\\\" Kazunari Ninomiya- “Nagasaki: Memories of My Son” Sakura Ando- \\\"100 Yen Love\\\" Masahiro Motoki- “The Emperor in August” Haru Kuroki- “Nagasaki: Memories of My Son” Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “In This Corner of the World(film)” (Sunao Katabuchi) Hideaki AnnoandShinji Higuchi- \\\"Shin Godzilla\\\" Makoto Shinkai- \\\"Your Name\\\" Kōichi Satō- \\\"64: Part I\\\" Rie Miyazawa- \\\"Her Love Boils Bathwater\\\" Satoshi Tsumabuki-Rage(2016 film) Hana Sugisaki- \\\"Her Love Boils Bathwater\\\" For the first time at the 40th time, an animation work won the Best Screenplay Award. Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \\\"Night Is Short, Walk On Girl\\\" (夜は短し歩けよ乙女) (Masaaki Yuasa) Hirokazu Kore-eda- \\\"The Third Murder\\\" Hirokazu Kore-eda- \\\"The Third Murder\\\" Masaki Suda-\\\"Wilderness: Part One\\\" (あゝ、荒野前編) Yū Aoi- \\\"Birds Without Names\\\" Kōji Yakusho- \\\"The Third Murder\\\" Suzu Hirose- \\\"The Third Murder\\\" DirectorHirokazu Kore-edaof \\\"The Third Murder\\\" won the Best Editorial Award, Best Editing Award and Best Screenplay Award at the same time. Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “Shoplifters”” (Hirokazu Kore-eda) “Mirai(film)” (Mamoru Hosoda) Hirokazu Kore-eda- “Shoplifters” Hirokazu Kore-eda- “Shoplifters” Kōji Yakusho- \\\"The Blood of Wolves\\\" Sakura Ando- “Shoplifters” Tori Matsuzaka- \\\"The Blood of Wolves\\\" Kirin Kiki- “Shoplifters” / Reiwa 1) Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “The Journalist” (Michihito Fuji) “Weathering with You” (Makoto Shinkai) Hideki Takeuchi - “Fly Me to the Saitama” Yūichi Tokunaga - “Fly Me to the Saitama” Tori Matsuzaka- \\\"The Journalist\\\" Shim Eun-kyung- “The Journalist” Ryo Yoshizawa- \\\"Kingdom\\\" Masami Nagasawa- \\\"Kingdom\\\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Award Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Midnight Swan Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train Setsurō Wakamatsu -Fukushima 50 Akiko Nogi –The Voice of Sin Tsuyoshi Kusanagi-Midnight Swan Masami Nagasawa–Mother Ken Watanabe-Fukushima 50 Haru Kuroki-The Asadas Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Award Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Drive My Car Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time Ryusuke Hamaguchi-Drive My Car Ryusuke HamaguchiandTakamasa Ōe-Drive My Car Hidetoshi Nishijima-Drive My Car Kasumi Arimura–We Made a Beautiful Bouquet Ryohei Suzuki-Last of the Wolves Kaya Kiyohara-In The Wake Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Award Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award A Man The First Slam Dunk Kei Ishikawa -A Man Kōsuke Mukai -A Man Satoshi Tsumabuki-A Man Yukino Kishii- Small, Slow but Steady Masataka Kubota-A Man Sakura Ando-A Man Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Award Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award The Boy and the Heron Wim Wenders-Perfect Days Takashi Yamazaki-Godzilla Minus One Koji Yakusho-Perfect Days Sakura Ando-Monster Hayato Isomura-The Moon Sakura Ando-Godzilla Minus One References External links\",\n \"Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Daisaku_Kimura (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b92b46470>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))\",\n \"Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Submersion_of_Japan (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b93755990>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))\",\n \"Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/The_Godfather (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b95de3220>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Japan Academy Film Prize TheJapan Academy Film Prize(日本アカデミー賞,Nippon Akademii-shou), often called theJapan Academy Prize, theJapan Academy Awards, and theJapanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本アカデミー賞協会,Nippon Akademii-shou Kyoukai) for excellence in Japanese film. Award categories are similar to theAcademy Awards. Venue Since 1998, the venue is regularly held at the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa ofPrince HotelsinTakanawa,Minato-ku, Tokyo. Admission tickets for this award ceremony are also sold to regular customers. As of 2015, there is a charge of 40,000 Yen which includes a French cuisine course dinner named after the award ceremony. Spectators are expected to attend in semi-formal attire. Elementary school students and younger are not permitted. Award The winners are selected from the recipients of the Award for Excellence.The award statue of the winner measures 27 cm × 11 cm × 11 cm (10.7 in × 4.4 in × 4.4 in).The recipients","in).The recipients of the Award for Excellence receive a smaller statue. Categories Award winners Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoji Yamada-\"Yellow Handkerchief of Happiness\", \"Otoko wa Tsurai yo\" series Yoji Yamada/ Yoshitaka Asama - \"Otoko wa Tsurai yo\" series, \"The Yellow Handkerchief(1977 film)\" Ken Takakura- “The Yellow Handkerchief(1977 film)”, “Mount Hakkoda(1977 film)” Shima Iwashita- \"Ballad of Orin\" Tetsuya Takeda-\"The Yellow Handkerchief(1977 film)\" Kaori Momoi- \"The Yellow Handkerchief(1977 film)\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoshitaro Nomura- \"The Incident(1978 film)\", \"The Demon(1978 film)\" Shinto Kaneto-The Incident(1978 film) Ken Ogata-The Demon(1978 film) Shinobu Otake-The Incident(1978 film) Tsunehiko Watase-The Incident(1978 film) Shinobu Otake- \"The Incident(1978 film)\", \"Monument of","\"Monument of priesthood\" (聖職の碑) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Shohei Imamura- “Vengeance Is Mine(1979 film)” Baba Masaru - \"Vengeance Is Mine(1979 film)\" Tomisaburo Wakayama-\"Impulse Murder Son\" (衝動殺人 息子よ) Kaori Momoi- \"A baby given by God\" (神様のくれた赤ん坊) “No More Easy Life” Bunta Sugawara- \"Taiyō o Nusunda Otoko\" (The Man who Stole the Sun) Mayumi Ogawa-\"Three letters not delivered\" (配達されない三通の手紙) “Revenge is on me” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Seijun Suzuki- \"Zigeunerweisen(film)\" Yoshitaka Asama,Yoji Yamada- \"A Distant Cry from Spring\" \"Tora-san's Tropical Fever\" Ken Takakura- \"Disturbance\" (動乱), \"A Distant Cry from Spring\" Chieko Baisho- \"A Distant Cry from Spring\" \"Tora-san's Tropical Fever\" Tetsuro Tamba- \"203 Highlands\" (二百三高地) Michiyo Ōkusu- “Zigeunerweisen(film)” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award","Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kohei Oguri- \"Muddy River(film)\" Sō Kuramoto- \"Station(1981 film)\" Ken Takakura- \"Station(1981 film)\" Keiko Matsuzaka- “Youth Gate” (青春の門) Tora-san's Love in Osaka Katsuo Nakamura- “Kagero-za”, “Love Letter” (ラブレター (1981年の映画), \"In-process Umeyasu\" (仕掛人梅安), \"Tin Medal\" (ブリキの勲章) Yuko Tanaka- “Edo Porn”, \"Eijanaika(film)\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kinji Fukasaku-\"Fall Guy\", \"Dotonbori River\" Kōhei Tsuka- \"Fall Guy\" Mitsuru Hirata- \"Fall Guy\" Keiko Matsuzaka- \"Fall Guy\", \"Dotonbori River\" Morio Kazama- \"Fall Guy\" Rumiko Koyanagi-\"To Trap a Kidnapper\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Hideo Gosha-“The Geisha(1983 film)” Koji Takahashi- “The Geisha(1983 film)” Ken Ogata- “The Ballad of Narayama(1983 film)”, “The","film)”, “The Geisha(1983 film)”, “The Catch(1983 film)” Rumiko Koyanagi-Hakujasho Morio Kazama- \"The Geisha(1983 film)\", \"Life Theater\" (人生劇場) Atsuko Asano-\"The Geisha(1983 film)\", \"Dirty Hero\" (汚れた英雄) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Juzo Itami- \"The Funeral(1984 film)\" Juzo Itami- \"The Funeral(1984 film)\" Tsutomu Yamazaki- \"The Funeral(1984 film)\", \"Farewell to the Ark\" Sayuri Yoshinaga- \"Ohan(film)\", \"Station to Heaven\" Kaku Takashina- “Mahjong hōrōki” Kin Sugai- \"The Funeral(1984 film)\", \"Hissatsu: Sure Death\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Shinichiro Sawai- \"Early Spring Story\", \"W's Tragedy\" Hiro Matsuda (松田寛夫) - \"Gray Sunset\" Minoru Chiaki- \"Gray Sunset\" Mitsuko Baisho- \"The flowers in my life are flowers until death” (生きているうちが花なのよ死んだらそれまでよ党宣言), “Love Letter(1985 film)”, \"Friend, meditate quietly\" (友よ、静かに瞑れ)","quietly\" (友よ、静かに瞑れ) Kaoru Kobayashi- \"Love Letter(1985 film)\", \"Sorekara\" Yoshiko Mita- \"W's Tragedy\", \"Haru no Kane\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kinji Fukasaku- “House on Fire(film)” Fumio Konami,Kinji Fukasaku- “House on Fire(film)” Ken Ogata- \"House on Fire(film)\" Ayumi Ishida- “House on Fire(film)”, “Tokei – Adieu l'hiver” Hitoshi Ueki-\"Congratulations\" (祝辞), \"New years of joy and sorrow\" (新・喜びも悲しみも幾歳月) Mieko Harada- “House on Fire(film)”, “Kokushi Musou” (国士無双), \"Portrait of Prussian Blue\" (プルシアンブルーの肖像) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Juzo Itami- \"A Taxing Woman\" Juzo Itami- \"A Taxing Woman\" Tsutomu Yamazaki- \"A Taxing Woman\" Nobuko Miyamoto- \"A Taxing Woman\" Masahiko Tsugawa- \"A Taxing Woman\", \"Night Train\" Rino Katase- \"The Polar Wife II\" (極道の妻たち II), \"Yoshiwara Enjyo\" (吉原炎上) Best Director Award Best","Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Junya Sato- \"The Silk Road(film)\" Ichikawa Shinichi (市川森一 ) - \"The Discarnates\" Toshiyuki Nishida- \"The Silk Road(film)\" Sayuri Yoshinaga- \"Tsuru-Crane-\" (つる-鶴-), \"A Chaos of Flowers\" Tsurutaro Kataoka- \"The Discarnates\", \"Age of Witches\" (妖女の時代) Eri Ishida- “Wuthering Heights(1988 film)”, “Hope and Pain”, \"A Chaos of Flowers\" / Heisei 1) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Shohei Imamura-\"Black Rain\" Toshiro Ishido (石堂淑朗),Shohei Imamura- \"Black Rain\" Rentaro Mikuni- “Tsuribaka Nisshi”, “Sen no Rikyū” Yoshiko Tanaka- \"Black Rain\" Bando Eiji - “Ah yes” (あ・うん) Etsuko Ichihara- “Black Rain” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Masahiro Shinoda-Childhood Days Taichi Yamada- \"Childhood Days\" Ittoku Kishibe-","Ittoku Kishibe- \"The Sting of Death\" Keiko Matsuzaka- \"The Sting of Death\" Renji Ishibashi- “Park Street Cats” (公園通りの猫たち), “Roningai”, \"Ready to shoot me\" (われに撃つ用意あり) Eri Ishida- “Tsuribaka Nisshi 2”, “Tsuribaka Nisshi 3” “I haven't dreamed of flying for a while” (飛ぶ夢をしばらく見ない) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kihachi Okamoto- \"Rainbow Kids\" Kihachi Okamoto- \"Rainbow Kids\" Rentaro Mikuni- “Tsuribaka Nisshi 4”, “My Sons” Tanie Kitabayashi- \"Rainbow Kids\" Masatoshi Nagase- \"My Sons\", \"Mourning Work\" (喪の仕事) Emi Wakui- “No Worries on the Recruit Front”, “My Sons” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Masayuki Suo- “Sumo Do, Sumo Don't\" Masayuki Suo- “Sumo Do, Sumo Don't\" Masahiro Motoki- “Sumo Do, Sumo Don't\" Yoshiko Mita- \"Tōki Rakujitsu\" Naoto Takenaka- “Sumo Do, Sumo Don't\",“Original Sin(1992 film)” Miwako Fujitani- \"The","Fujitani- \"The Oil-Hell Murder\", Sobered Sosuke (寝盗られ宗介) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoji Yamada- \"Tora-san's Matchmaker\", \"School\" (学校 (映画) Yoji Yamada, Yoshitaka Asama - \"Tora-san's Matchmaker\", \"School\" (学校 (映画) Toshiyuki Nishida- \"School\" (学校 (映画), “Tsuribaka Nisshi 6” Emi Wakui- \"Rainbow Bridge\" (虹の橋) Kunie Tanaka- \"School\" (学校 (映画), \"Lone Wolf and Cub: Final Conflict\", \"Rainbow Bridge\" (虹の橋) Kyoko Kagawa- \"Madadayo\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kinji Fukasaku- “Crest of Betrayal”” Motomu Furuta (古田求) /Kinji Fukasaku- “Crest of Betrayal”” Kōichi Satō (actor)- “Crest of Betrayal”” Saki Takaoka- “Crest of Betrayal”” Kiichi Nakai- \"47 Ronin(1994 film)\" Shigeru Muroi- \"Ghost Pub\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award","Actress Award Kaneto Shindo- \"A Last Note\" Kaneto Shindo- \"A Last Note\" Rentaro Mikuni- \"Three times straits\" (三たびの海峡) Yuko Asano- \"Kura(film)\" Naoto Takenaka- \"East Meets West(1995 film)\" Nobuko Otowa- \"A Last Note\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Masayuki Suo- “Shall We Dance?” Masayuki Suo- “Shall We Dance?” Koji Yakusho- “Shall We Dance?” Tamiyo Kusakari- “Shall We Dance?” Naoto Takenaka- “Shall We Dance?” Eriko Watanabe- “Shall We Dance?” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Shohei Imamura-\"The Eel(film)\" Koki Mitani- “Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald” Koji Yakusho-\"The Eel(film)\" Hitomi Kuroki-A Lost Paradise Masahiko Nishimura- “Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald” Mitsuko Baisho-\"The Eel(film)\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award","Actress Award Hideyuki Hirayama- \"Begging for Love\" Yoshinobu Tei (鄭 義信) - \"Begging for Love\" Akira Emoto- \"Dr. Akagi\" Mieko Harada- \"Begging for Love\" Chosuke Ikariya- \"Bayside Shakedown(film)\" Kumiko Aso- \"Dr. Akagi\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yasuo Furuhata- \"Poppoya\" Yoshiki Iwama (岩間芳樹),Yasuo Furuhata- \"Poppoya\" Ken Takakura- \"Poppoya\" Shinobu Otake- \"Poppoya\" Jun Kobayashi- \"Poppoya\" Kishimoto Kayoko- \"Kikujiro\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Junji Sakamoto- \"Face(2000 film)\" Akira Kurosawa- “After the Rain(film)” Akira Terao- \"After the Rain(film)\" Sayuri Yoshinaga- \"Nagasaki Hanging out\" (長崎ぶらぶら節) Kōichi Satō (actor)- \"Whiteout(2000 film)\" Mieko Harada- \"After the Rain(film)\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress","Supporting Actress Award Isao Yukisada- \"Go(Kaneshiro novel)\" Kankurō Kudō- “Go” Yosuke Kubozuka- “Go” Keiko Kishi-\"Kaa-chan\" (かあちゃん) Tsutomu Yamazaki- “Go” Ko Shibasaki- “Go” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoji Yamada- “The Twilight Samurai” Yoji Yamada, Yoshitaka Asama (朝間 義隆) - \"The Twilight Samurai\" Hiroyuki Sanada- \"The Twilight Samurai\" Rie Miyazawa- \"The Twilight Samurai\" Min Tanaka- \"The Twilight Samurai\" Tanie Kitabayashi- “Letters from the Mountains(2002) ” (阿弥陀堂だより) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoshimitsu Morita- “Like Asura” Tomomi Tsutsui (筒井 ともみ) - \"Like Asura\" Kiichi Nakai- \"When the Last Sword Is Drawn\" Shinobu Terajima- \"Akame 48 Waterfalls\" Kōichi Satō (actor)- \"When the Last Sword Is Drawn\" Eri Fukatsu- “Like Asura” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best","Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoichi Sai-Blood and Bones Shinobu Yaguchi- \"Swing Girls\" Akira Terao- \"Half a Confession\" (半落ち) Kyoka Suzuki-Blood and Bones Odagiri Joe-Blood and Bones Masami Nagasawa- \"Socrates in Love\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Takashi Yamazaki- \"Always Sanchōme no Yūhi\" Takashi Yamazaki, Ryota Kosawa (古沢良太) - \"Always Sanchōme no Yūhi\" Hidetaka Yoshioka-\"Always Sanchōme no Yūhi\" Sayuri Yoshinaga- \"Year One in the North\" (北の零年) Shinichi Tsutsumi- \"Always Sanchōme no Yūhi\" Hiroko Yakushimaru- \"Always Sanchōme no Yūhi\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” (Mamoru Hosoda) Lee Sang-il- “Hula Girls” Lee Sang-il, Daisuke Habara - “Hula Girls” Ken Watanabe- \"Memories of Tomorrow\" Miki Nakatani- \"Memories of","\"Memories of Matsuko\" Takashi Sasano- \"Love and Honor(2006 film)\" Yū Aoi- “Hula Girls” Takuya Kimura, “Love and Honor(2006 film)”, declined the Best Actor Award. In addition, “Hula Girl” (production / distribution: Cinekanon) won the Best Film Award since “Zigeunerweisen(film)” (4th) as an independent production and distribution. Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award (Joji Matsuoka) \"Tekkonkinkreet\" (Michael Arias) Joji Matsuoka- \"Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad\" Suzuki Matsuo- \"Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad\" Hidetaka Yoshioka- \"Always Zoku Sanchōme no Yūhi\" Kirin Kiki- \"Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad\" Kaoru Kobayashi- \"Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad\" Masako Motai - “I Just Didn't Do It” Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \"Ponyo\" (Hayao","\"Ponyo\" (Hayao Miyazaki) Yōjirō Takita- \"Departures\" Kundō Koyama- \"Departures\" Masahiro Motoki- \"Departures\" Tae Kimura- \"All Around Us\" Tsutomu Yamazaki- \"Departures\" Kimiko Yo- \"Departures\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “Summer Wars” (Mamoru Hosoda) Daisaku Kimura- \"Mt. Tsurugidake\" Miwa Nishikawa- \"Dear Doctor(film)\" Ken Watanabe-Shizumanu Taiyō Takako Matsu- \"Villon's Wife(film)\" Teruyuki Kagawa- “Mt. Tsurugidake\" Kimiko Yo- \"Dear Doctor(film)\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \"Arrietty\" (Hiromasa Yonebayashi) Tetsuya Nakashima-\"Confessions(2010 film)\" Tetsuya Nakashima-\"Confessions(2010 film)\" Satoshi Tsumabuki-Villain(2010 film) Eri Fukatsu-Villain(2010 film) Akira Emoto-Villain(2010 film) Kirin Kiki-Villain(2010 film) Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best","Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “From Up on Poppy Hill” (Gorō Miyazaki) Izuru Narushima- \"Yō kame no semi (八日目の蟬)\" Satoko Okudera- \"Yō kame no semi (八日目の蟬)\" Yoshio Harada- \"Someday(2011 film)\" Mao Inoue- \"Yō kame no semi (八日目の蟬)\" Denden- \"Cold Fish\" Hiromi Nagasaku- \"Yō kame no semi (八日目の蟬)\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “Wolf Children” (Mamoru Hosoda) Daihachi Yoshida- “The Kirishima Thing” Kenji Uchida (film director)- \"The Kirishima Thing\" Hiroshi Abe- \"Thermae Romae\" Kirin Kiki- \"Chronicle of My Mother\" Hideji Ōtaki- \"Anata e\" Kimiko Yo- \"Anata e\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \"The Wind Rises\" (Hayao Miyazaki) Yuya Ishii- “The Great Passage” Kensaku Watanabe- “The Great","“The Great Passage” Ryuhei Matsuda- “The Great Passage” Yōko Maki- \"The Ravine of Goodbye\" Lily Franky- \"Like Father, Like Son(2013 film)\" Yōko Maki- \"Like Father, Like Son(2013 film)\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \"Stand by Me Doraemon\" (Takashi Yamazaki) Takashi Yamazaki- “The Eternal Zero” Akihiro Dobashi(土橋章宏) - \"Samurai Hustle\" Junichi Okada- “The Eternal Zero” Rie Miyazawa-Pale Moon(film) Junichi Okada- \"A Samurai Chronicle\" Haru Kuroki- “The Little House(film)” Additionally,Junichi Okadawon the Best Actor inThe Eternal Zeroand Best Supporting Actor inA Samurai Chronicle. Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \"The Boy and the Beast\" (Mamoru Hosoda) Hirokazu Kore-eda- “Our Little Sister” Shin Adachi(足立紳) - \"100 Yen Love\" Kazunari Ninomiya- “Nagasaki: Memories of My Son”","Memories of My Son” Sakura Ando- \"100 Yen Love\" Masahiro Motoki- “The Emperor in August” Haru Kuroki- “Nagasaki: Memories of My Son” Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “In This Corner of the World(film)” (Sunao Katabuchi) Hideaki AnnoandShinji Higuchi- \"Shin Godzilla\" Makoto Shinkai- \"Your Name\" Kōichi Satō- \"64: Part I\" Rie Miyazawa- \"Her Love Boils Bathwater\" Satoshi Tsumabuki-Rage(2016 film) Hana Sugisaki- \"Her Love Boils Bathwater\" For the first time at the 40th time, an animation work won the Best Screenplay Award. Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \"Night Is Short, Walk On Girl\" (夜は短し歩けよ乙女) (Masaaki Yuasa) Hirokazu Kore-eda- \"The Third Murder\" Hirokazu Kore-eda- \"The Third Murder\" Masaki Suda-\"Wilderness: Part One\" (あゝ、荒野前編) Yū Aoi- \"Birds Without Names\" Kōji Yakusho- \"The","Kōji Yakusho- \"The Third Murder\" Suzu Hirose- \"The Third Murder\" DirectorHirokazu Kore-edaof \"The Third Murder\" won the Best Editorial Award, Best Editing Award and Best Screenplay Award at the same time. Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “Shoplifters”” (Hirokazu Kore-eda) “Mirai(film)” (Mamoru Hosoda) Hirokazu Kore-eda- “Shoplifters” Hirokazu Kore-eda- “Shoplifters” Kōji Yakusho- \"The Blood of Wolves\" Sakura Ando- “Shoplifters” Tori Matsuzaka- \"The Blood of Wolves\" Kirin Kiki- “Shoplifters” / Reiwa 1) Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “The Journalist” (Michihito Fuji) “Weathering with You” (Makoto Shinkai) Hideki Takeuchi - “Fly Me to the Saitama” Yūichi Tokunaga - “Fly Me to the Saitama” Tori Matsuzaka- \"The Journalist\" Shim Eun-kyung- “The Journalist” Ryo Yoshizawa- \"Kingdom\"","\"Kingdom\" Masami Nagasawa- \"Kingdom\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Award Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Midnight Swan Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train Setsurō Wakamatsu -Fukushima 50 Akiko Nogi –The Voice of Sin Tsuyoshi Kusanagi-Midnight Swan Masami Nagasawa–Mother Ken Watanabe-Fukushima 50 Haru Kuroki-The Asadas Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Award Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Drive My Car Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time Ryusuke Hamaguchi-Drive My Car Ryusuke HamaguchiandTakamasa Ōe-Drive My Car Hidetoshi Nishijima-Drive My Car Kasumi Arimura–We Made a Beautiful Bouquet Ryohei Suzuki-Last of the Wolves Kaya Kiyohara-In The Wake Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Award Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award A Man The First","A Man The First Slam Dunk Kei Ishikawa -A Man Kōsuke Mukai -A Man Satoshi Tsumabuki-A Man Yukino Kishii- Small, Slow but Steady Masataka Kubota-A Man Sakura Ando-A Man Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Award Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award The Boy and the Heron Wim Wenders-Perfect Days Takashi Yamazaki-Godzilla Minus One Koji Yakusho-Perfect Days Sakura Ando-Monster Hayato Isomura-The Moon Sakura Ando-Godzilla Minus One References External links","Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Daisaku_Kimura (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b92b46470>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))","Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Submersion_of_Japan (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b93755990>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))","Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/The_Godfather (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b95de3220>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))"],"string":"[\n \"Japan Academy Film Prize TheJapan Academy Film Prize(日本アカデミー賞,Nippon Akademii-shou), often called theJapan Academy Prize, theJapan Academy Awards, and theJapanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本アカデミー賞協会,Nippon Akademii-shou Kyoukai) for excellence in Japanese film. Award categories are similar to theAcademy Awards. Venue Since 1998, the venue is regularly held at the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa ofPrince HotelsinTakanawa,Minato-ku, Tokyo. Admission tickets for this award ceremony are also sold to regular customers. As of 2015, there is a charge of 40,000 Yen which includes a French cuisine course dinner named after the award ceremony. Spectators are expected to attend in semi-formal attire. Elementary school students and younger are not permitted. Award The winners are selected from the recipients of the Award for Excellence.The award statue of the winner measures 27 cm × 11 cm × 11 cm (10.7 in × 4.4 in × 4.4 in).The recipients\",\n \"in).The recipients of the Award for Excellence receive a smaller statue. Categories Award winners Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoji Yamada-\\\"Yellow Handkerchief of Happiness\\\", \\\"Otoko wa Tsurai yo\\\" series Yoji Yamada/ Yoshitaka Asama - \\\"Otoko wa Tsurai yo\\\" series, \\\"The Yellow Handkerchief(1977 film)\\\" Ken Takakura- “The Yellow Handkerchief(1977 film)”, “Mount Hakkoda(1977 film)” Shima Iwashita- \\\"Ballad of Orin\\\" Tetsuya Takeda-\\\"The Yellow Handkerchief(1977 film)\\\" Kaori Momoi- \\\"The Yellow Handkerchief(1977 film)\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoshitaro Nomura- \\\"The Incident(1978 film)\\\", \\\"The Demon(1978 film)\\\" Shinto Kaneto-The Incident(1978 film) Ken Ogata-The Demon(1978 film) Shinobu Otake-The Incident(1978 film) Tsunehiko Watase-The Incident(1978 film) Shinobu Otake- \\\"The Incident(1978 film)\\\", \\\"Monument of\",\n \"\\\"Monument of priesthood\\\" (聖職の碑) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Shohei Imamura- “Vengeance Is Mine(1979 film)” Baba Masaru - \\\"Vengeance Is Mine(1979 film)\\\" Tomisaburo Wakayama-\\\"Impulse Murder Son\\\" (衝動殺人 息子よ) Kaori Momoi- \\\"A baby given by God\\\" (神様のくれた赤ん坊) “No More Easy Life” Bunta Sugawara- \\\"Taiyō o Nusunda Otoko\\\" (The Man who Stole the Sun) Mayumi Ogawa-\\\"Three letters not delivered\\\" (配達されない三通の手紙) “Revenge is on me” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Seijun Suzuki- \\\"Zigeunerweisen(film)\\\" Yoshitaka Asama,Yoji Yamada- \\\"A Distant Cry from Spring\\\" \\\"Tora-san's Tropical Fever\\\" Ken Takakura- \\\"Disturbance\\\" (動乱), \\\"A Distant Cry from Spring\\\" Chieko Baisho- \\\"A Distant Cry from Spring\\\" \\\"Tora-san's Tropical Fever\\\" Tetsuro Tamba- \\\"203 Highlands\\\" (二百三高地) Michiyo Ōkusu- “Zigeunerweisen(film)” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award\",\n \"Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kohei Oguri- \\\"Muddy River(film)\\\" Sō Kuramoto- \\\"Station(1981 film)\\\" Ken Takakura- \\\"Station(1981 film)\\\" Keiko Matsuzaka- “Youth Gate” (青春の門) Tora-san's Love in Osaka Katsuo Nakamura- “Kagero-za”, “Love Letter” (ラブレター (1981年の映画), \\\"In-process Umeyasu\\\" (仕掛人梅安), \\\"Tin Medal\\\" (ブリキの勲章) Yuko Tanaka- “Edo Porn”, \\\"Eijanaika(film)\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kinji Fukasaku-\\\"Fall Guy\\\", \\\"Dotonbori River\\\" Kōhei Tsuka- \\\"Fall Guy\\\" Mitsuru Hirata- \\\"Fall Guy\\\" Keiko Matsuzaka- \\\"Fall Guy\\\", \\\"Dotonbori River\\\" Morio Kazama- \\\"Fall Guy\\\" Rumiko Koyanagi-\\\"To Trap a Kidnapper\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Hideo Gosha-“The Geisha(1983 film)” Koji Takahashi- “The Geisha(1983 film)” Ken Ogata- “The Ballad of Narayama(1983 film)”, “The\",\n \"film)”, “The Geisha(1983 film)”, “The Catch(1983 film)” Rumiko Koyanagi-Hakujasho Morio Kazama- \\\"The Geisha(1983 film)\\\", \\\"Life Theater\\\" (人生劇場) Atsuko Asano-\\\"The Geisha(1983 film)\\\", \\\"Dirty Hero\\\" (汚れた英雄) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Juzo Itami- \\\"The Funeral(1984 film)\\\" Juzo Itami- \\\"The Funeral(1984 film)\\\" Tsutomu Yamazaki- \\\"The Funeral(1984 film)\\\", \\\"Farewell to the Ark\\\" Sayuri Yoshinaga- \\\"Ohan(film)\\\", \\\"Station to Heaven\\\" Kaku Takashina- “Mahjong hōrōki” Kin Sugai- \\\"The Funeral(1984 film)\\\", \\\"Hissatsu: Sure Death\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Shinichiro Sawai- \\\"Early Spring Story\\\", \\\"W's Tragedy\\\" Hiro Matsuda (松田寛夫) - \\\"Gray Sunset\\\" Minoru Chiaki- \\\"Gray Sunset\\\" Mitsuko Baisho- \\\"The flowers in my life are flowers until death” (生きているうちが花なのよ死んだらそれまでよ党宣言), “Love Letter(1985 film)”, \\\"Friend, meditate quietly\\\" (友よ、静かに瞑れ)\",\n \"quietly\\\" (友よ、静かに瞑れ) Kaoru Kobayashi- \\\"Love Letter(1985 film)\\\", \\\"Sorekara\\\" Yoshiko Mita- \\\"W's Tragedy\\\", \\\"Haru no Kane\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kinji Fukasaku- “House on Fire(film)” Fumio Konami,Kinji Fukasaku- “House on Fire(film)” Ken Ogata- \\\"House on Fire(film)\\\" Ayumi Ishida- “House on Fire(film)”, “Tokei – Adieu l'hiver” Hitoshi Ueki-\\\"Congratulations\\\" (祝辞), \\\"New years of joy and sorrow\\\" (新・喜びも悲しみも幾歳月) Mieko Harada- “House on Fire(film)”, “Kokushi Musou” (国士無双), \\\"Portrait of Prussian Blue\\\" (プルシアンブルーの肖像) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Juzo Itami- \\\"A Taxing Woman\\\" Juzo Itami- \\\"A Taxing Woman\\\" Tsutomu Yamazaki- \\\"A Taxing Woman\\\" Nobuko Miyamoto- \\\"A Taxing Woman\\\" Masahiko Tsugawa- \\\"A Taxing Woman\\\", \\\"Night Train\\\" Rino Katase- \\\"The Polar Wife II\\\" (極道の妻たち II), \\\"Yoshiwara Enjyo\\\" (吉原炎上) Best Director Award Best\",\n \"Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Junya Sato- \\\"The Silk Road(film)\\\" Ichikawa Shinichi (市川森一 ) - \\\"The Discarnates\\\" Toshiyuki Nishida- \\\"The Silk Road(film)\\\" Sayuri Yoshinaga- \\\"Tsuru-Crane-\\\" (つる-鶴-), \\\"A Chaos of Flowers\\\" Tsurutaro Kataoka- \\\"The Discarnates\\\", \\\"Age of Witches\\\" (妖女の時代) Eri Ishida- “Wuthering Heights(1988 film)”, “Hope and Pain”, \\\"A Chaos of Flowers\\\" / Heisei 1) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Shohei Imamura-\\\"Black Rain\\\" Toshiro Ishido (石堂淑朗),Shohei Imamura- \\\"Black Rain\\\" Rentaro Mikuni- “Tsuribaka Nisshi”, “Sen no Rikyū” Yoshiko Tanaka- \\\"Black Rain\\\" Bando Eiji - “Ah yes” (あ・うん) Etsuko Ichihara- “Black Rain” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Masahiro Shinoda-Childhood Days Taichi Yamada- \\\"Childhood Days\\\" Ittoku Kishibe-\",\n \"Ittoku Kishibe- \\\"The Sting of Death\\\" Keiko Matsuzaka- \\\"The Sting of Death\\\" Renji Ishibashi- “Park Street Cats” (公園通りの猫たち), “Roningai”, \\\"Ready to shoot me\\\" (われに撃つ用意あり) Eri Ishida- “Tsuribaka Nisshi 2”, “Tsuribaka Nisshi 3” “I haven't dreamed of flying for a while” (飛ぶ夢をしばらく見ない) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kihachi Okamoto- \\\"Rainbow Kids\\\" Kihachi Okamoto- \\\"Rainbow Kids\\\" Rentaro Mikuni- “Tsuribaka Nisshi 4”, “My Sons” Tanie Kitabayashi- \\\"Rainbow Kids\\\" Masatoshi Nagase- \\\"My Sons\\\", \\\"Mourning Work\\\" (喪の仕事) Emi Wakui- “No Worries on the Recruit Front”, “My Sons” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Masayuki Suo- “Sumo Do, Sumo Don't\\\" Masayuki Suo- “Sumo Do, Sumo Don't\\\" Masahiro Motoki- “Sumo Do, Sumo Don't\\\" Yoshiko Mita- \\\"Tōki Rakujitsu\\\" Naoto Takenaka- “Sumo Do, Sumo Don't\\\",“Original Sin(1992 film)” Miwako Fujitani- \\\"The\",\n \"Fujitani- \\\"The Oil-Hell Murder\\\", Sobered Sosuke (寝盗られ宗介) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoji Yamada- \\\"Tora-san's Matchmaker\\\", \\\"School\\\" (学校 (映画) Yoji Yamada, Yoshitaka Asama - \\\"Tora-san's Matchmaker\\\", \\\"School\\\" (学校 (映画) Toshiyuki Nishida- \\\"School\\\" (学校 (映画), “Tsuribaka Nisshi 6” Emi Wakui- \\\"Rainbow Bridge\\\" (虹の橋) Kunie Tanaka- \\\"School\\\" (学校 (映画), \\\"Lone Wolf and Cub: Final Conflict\\\", \\\"Rainbow Bridge\\\" (虹の橋) Kyoko Kagawa- \\\"Madadayo\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Kinji Fukasaku- “Crest of Betrayal”” Motomu Furuta (古田求) /Kinji Fukasaku- “Crest of Betrayal”” Kōichi Satō (actor)- “Crest of Betrayal”” Saki Takaoka- “Crest of Betrayal”” Kiichi Nakai- \\\"47 Ronin(1994 film)\\\" Shigeru Muroi- \\\"Ghost Pub\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award\",\n \"Actress Award Kaneto Shindo- \\\"A Last Note\\\" Kaneto Shindo- \\\"A Last Note\\\" Rentaro Mikuni- \\\"Three times straits\\\" (三たびの海峡) Yuko Asano- \\\"Kura(film)\\\" Naoto Takenaka- \\\"East Meets West(1995 film)\\\" Nobuko Otowa- \\\"A Last Note\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Masayuki Suo- “Shall We Dance?” Masayuki Suo- “Shall We Dance?” Koji Yakusho- “Shall We Dance?” Tamiyo Kusakari- “Shall We Dance?” Naoto Takenaka- “Shall We Dance?” Eriko Watanabe- “Shall We Dance?” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Shohei Imamura-\\\"The Eel(film)\\\" Koki Mitani- “Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald” Koji Yakusho-\\\"The Eel(film)\\\" Hitomi Kuroki-A Lost Paradise Masahiko Nishimura- “Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald” Mitsuko Baisho-\\\"The Eel(film)\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award\",\n \"Actress Award Hideyuki Hirayama- \\\"Begging for Love\\\" Yoshinobu Tei (鄭 義信) - \\\"Begging for Love\\\" Akira Emoto- \\\"Dr. Akagi\\\" Mieko Harada- \\\"Begging for Love\\\" Chosuke Ikariya- \\\"Bayside Shakedown(film)\\\" Kumiko Aso- \\\"Dr. Akagi\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yasuo Furuhata- \\\"Poppoya\\\" Yoshiki Iwama (岩間芳樹),Yasuo Furuhata- \\\"Poppoya\\\" Ken Takakura- \\\"Poppoya\\\" Shinobu Otake- \\\"Poppoya\\\" Jun Kobayashi- \\\"Poppoya\\\" Kishimoto Kayoko- \\\"Kikujiro\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Junji Sakamoto- \\\"Face(2000 film)\\\" Akira Kurosawa- “After the Rain(film)” Akira Terao- \\\"After the Rain(film)\\\" Sayuri Yoshinaga- \\\"Nagasaki Hanging out\\\" (長崎ぶらぶら節) Kōichi Satō (actor)- \\\"Whiteout(2000 film)\\\" Mieko Harada- \\\"After the Rain(film)\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress\",\n \"Supporting Actress Award Isao Yukisada- \\\"Go(Kaneshiro novel)\\\" Kankurō Kudō- “Go” Yosuke Kubozuka- “Go” Keiko Kishi-\\\"Kaa-chan\\\" (かあちゃん) Tsutomu Yamazaki- “Go” Ko Shibasaki- “Go” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoji Yamada- “The Twilight Samurai” Yoji Yamada, Yoshitaka Asama (朝間 義隆) - \\\"The Twilight Samurai\\\" Hiroyuki Sanada- \\\"The Twilight Samurai\\\" Rie Miyazawa- \\\"The Twilight Samurai\\\" Min Tanaka- \\\"The Twilight Samurai\\\" Tanie Kitabayashi- “Letters from the Mountains(2002) ” (阿弥陀堂だより) Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoshimitsu Morita- “Like Asura” Tomomi Tsutsui (筒井 ともみ) - \\\"Like Asura\\\" Kiichi Nakai- \\\"When the Last Sword Is Drawn\\\" Shinobu Terajima- \\\"Akame 48 Waterfalls\\\" Kōichi Satō (actor)- \\\"When the Last Sword Is Drawn\\\" Eri Fukatsu- “Like Asura” Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best\",\n \"Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Yoichi Sai-Blood and Bones Shinobu Yaguchi- \\\"Swing Girls\\\" Akira Terao- \\\"Half a Confession\\\" (半落ち) Kyoka Suzuki-Blood and Bones Odagiri Joe-Blood and Bones Masami Nagasawa- \\\"Socrates in Love\\\" Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Takashi Yamazaki- \\\"Always Sanchōme no Yūhi\\\" Takashi Yamazaki, Ryota Kosawa (古沢良太) - \\\"Always Sanchōme no Yūhi\\\" Hidetaka Yoshioka-\\\"Always Sanchōme no Yūhi\\\" Sayuri Yoshinaga- \\\"Year One in the North\\\" (北の零年) Shinichi Tsutsumi- \\\"Always Sanchōme no Yūhi\\\" Hiroko Yakushimaru- \\\"Always Sanchōme no Yūhi\\\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” (Mamoru Hosoda) Lee Sang-il- “Hula Girls” Lee Sang-il, Daisuke Habara - “Hula Girls” Ken Watanabe- \\\"Memories of Tomorrow\\\" Miki Nakatani- \\\"Memories of\",\n \"\\\"Memories of Matsuko\\\" Takashi Sasano- \\\"Love and Honor(2006 film)\\\" Yū Aoi- “Hula Girls” Takuya Kimura, “Love and Honor(2006 film)”, declined the Best Actor Award. In addition, “Hula Girl” (production / distribution: Cinekanon) won the Best Film Award since “Zigeunerweisen(film)” (4th) as an independent production and distribution. Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award (Joji Matsuoka) \\\"Tekkonkinkreet\\\" (Michael Arias) Joji Matsuoka- \\\"Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad\\\" Suzuki Matsuo- \\\"Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad\\\" Hidetaka Yoshioka- \\\"Always Zoku Sanchōme no Yūhi\\\" Kirin Kiki- \\\"Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad\\\" Kaoru Kobayashi- \\\"Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad\\\" Masako Motai - “I Just Didn't Do It” Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \\\"Ponyo\\\" (Hayao\",\n \"\\\"Ponyo\\\" (Hayao Miyazaki) Yōjirō Takita- \\\"Departures\\\" Kundō Koyama- \\\"Departures\\\" Masahiro Motoki- \\\"Departures\\\" Tae Kimura- \\\"All Around Us\\\" Tsutomu Yamazaki- \\\"Departures\\\" Kimiko Yo- \\\"Departures\\\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “Summer Wars” (Mamoru Hosoda) Daisaku Kimura- \\\"Mt. Tsurugidake\\\" Miwa Nishikawa- \\\"Dear Doctor(film)\\\" Ken Watanabe-Shizumanu Taiyō Takako Matsu- \\\"Villon's Wife(film)\\\" Teruyuki Kagawa- “Mt. Tsurugidake\\\" Kimiko Yo- \\\"Dear Doctor(film)\\\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \\\"Arrietty\\\" (Hiromasa Yonebayashi) Tetsuya Nakashima-\\\"Confessions(2010 film)\\\" Tetsuya Nakashima-\\\"Confessions(2010 film)\\\" Satoshi Tsumabuki-Villain(2010 film) Eri Fukatsu-Villain(2010 film) Akira Emoto-Villain(2010 film) Kirin Kiki-Villain(2010 film) Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best\",\n \"Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “From Up on Poppy Hill” (Gorō Miyazaki) Izuru Narushima- \\\"Yō kame no semi (八日目の蟬)\\\" Satoko Okudera- \\\"Yō kame no semi (八日目の蟬)\\\" Yoshio Harada- \\\"Someday(2011 film)\\\" Mao Inoue- \\\"Yō kame no semi (八日目の蟬)\\\" Denden- \\\"Cold Fish\\\" Hiromi Nagasaku- \\\"Yō kame no semi (八日目の蟬)\\\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “Wolf Children” (Mamoru Hosoda) Daihachi Yoshida- “The Kirishima Thing” Kenji Uchida (film director)- \\\"The Kirishima Thing\\\" Hiroshi Abe- \\\"Thermae Romae\\\" Kirin Kiki- \\\"Chronicle of My Mother\\\" Hideji Ōtaki- \\\"Anata e\\\" Kimiko Yo- \\\"Anata e\\\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \\\"The Wind Rises\\\" (Hayao Miyazaki) Yuya Ishii- “The Great Passage” Kensaku Watanabe- “The Great\",\n \"“The Great Passage” Ryuhei Matsuda- “The Great Passage” Yōko Maki- \\\"The Ravine of Goodbye\\\" Lily Franky- \\\"Like Father, Like Son(2013 film)\\\" Yōko Maki- \\\"Like Father, Like Son(2013 film)\\\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \\\"Stand by Me Doraemon\\\" (Takashi Yamazaki) Takashi Yamazaki- “The Eternal Zero” Akihiro Dobashi(土橋章宏) - \\\"Samurai Hustle\\\" Junichi Okada- “The Eternal Zero” Rie Miyazawa-Pale Moon(film) Junichi Okada- \\\"A Samurai Chronicle\\\" Haru Kuroki- “The Little House(film)” Additionally,Junichi Okadawon the Best Actor inThe Eternal Zeroand Best Supporting Actor inA Samurai Chronicle. Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \\\"The Boy and the Beast\\\" (Mamoru Hosoda) Hirokazu Kore-eda- “Our Little Sister” Shin Adachi(足立紳) - \\\"100 Yen Love\\\" Kazunari Ninomiya- “Nagasaki: Memories of My Son”\",\n \"Memories of My Son” Sakura Ando- \\\"100 Yen Love\\\" Masahiro Motoki- “The Emperor in August” Haru Kuroki- “Nagasaki: Memories of My Son” Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “In This Corner of the World(film)” (Sunao Katabuchi) Hideaki AnnoandShinji Higuchi- \\\"Shin Godzilla\\\" Makoto Shinkai- \\\"Your Name\\\" Kōichi Satō- \\\"64: Part I\\\" Rie Miyazawa- \\\"Her Love Boils Bathwater\\\" Satoshi Tsumabuki-Rage(2016 film) Hana Sugisaki- \\\"Her Love Boils Bathwater\\\" For the first time at the 40th time, an animation work won the Best Screenplay Award. Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award \\\"Night Is Short, Walk On Girl\\\" (夜は短し歩けよ乙女) (Masaaki Yuasa) Hirokazu Kore-eda- \\\"The Third Murder\\\" Hirokazu Kore-eda- \\\"The Third Murder\\\" Masaki Suda-\\\"Wilderness: Part One\\\" (あゝ、荒野前編) Yū Aoi- \\\"Birds Without Names\\\" Kōji Yakusho- \\\"The\",\n \"Kōji Yakusho- \\\"The Third Murder\\\" Suzu Hirose- \\\"The Third Murder\\\" DirectorHirokazu Kore-edaof \\\"The Third Murder\\\" won the Best Editorial Award, Best Editing Award and Best Screenplay Award at the same time. Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “Shoplifters”” (Hirokazu Kore-eda) “Mirai(film)” (Mamoru Hosoda) Hirokazu Kore-eda- “Shoplifters” Hirokazu Kore-eda- “Shoplifters” Kōji Yakusho- \\\"The Blood of Wolves\\\" Sakura Ando- “Shoplifters” Tori Matsuzaka- \\\"The Blood of Wolves\\\" Kirin Kiki- “Shoplifters” / Reiwa 1) Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award “The Journalist” (Michihito Fuji) “Weathering with You” (Makoto Shinkai) Hideki Takeuchi - “Fly Me to the Saitama” Yūichi Tokunaga - “Fly Me to the Saitama” Tori Matsuzaka- \\\"The Journalist\\\" Shim Eun-kyung- “The Journalist” Ryo Yoshizawa- \\\"Kingdom\\\"\",\n \"\\\"Kingdom\\\" Masami Nagasawa- \\\"Kingdom\\\" Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Award Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Midnight Swan Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train Setsurō Wakamatsu -Fukushima 50 Akiko Nogi –The Voice of Sin Tsuyoshi Kusanagi-Midnight Swan Masami Nagasawa–Mother Ken Watanabe-Fukushima 50 Haru Kuroki-The Asadas Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Award Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award Drive My Car Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time Ryusuke Hamaguchi-Drive My Car Ryusuke HamaguchiandTakamasa Ōe-Drive My Car Hidetoshi Nishijima-Drive My Car Kasumi Arimura–We Made a Beautiful Bouquet Ryohei Suzuki-Last of the Wolves Kaya Kiyohara-In The Wake Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Award Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award A Man The First\",\n \"A Man The First Slam Dunk Kei Ishikawa -A Man Kōsuke Mukai -A Man Satoshi Tsumabuki-A Man Yukino Kishii- Small, Slow but Steady Masataka Kubota-A Man Sakura Ando-A Man Best Animation Award Best Director Award Best Screenplay Award Best Actor Award Best Actress Award Best Supporting Actor Award Best Supporting Actress Award The Boy and the Heron Wim Wenders-Perfect Days Takashi Yamazaki-Godzilla Minus One Koji Yakusho-Perfect Days Sakura Ando-Monster Hayato Isomura-The Moon Sakura Ando-Godzilla Minus One References External links\",\n \"Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Daisaku_Kimura (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b92b46470>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))\",\n \"Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Submersion_of_Japan (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b93755990>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))\",\n \"Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/The_Godfather (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b95de3220>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":61,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"The manga 'Sailor Moon' was authored by a woman. 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University"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Truman"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Tabular reasoning | Multiple constraints | Temporal reasoning"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Truman']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Truman"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Truman\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/World_War_II (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b943b87c0>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))","Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/United_States_presidential_election (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b943b9d80>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))","Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Harry_S._Truman (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b9404ce20>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))","Margaret Truman Mary Margaret Truman Daniel(February 17, 1924 – January 29, 2008) was an American classicalsoprano, actress, journalist, radio and television personality, writer, and New York socialite. She was the only child of PresidentHarry S. Trumanand First LadyBess Truman. While her father was president during the years 1945 to 1953, Margaret regularly accompanied him on campaign trips, such as the 1948 countrywidewhistle-stopcampaign lasting several weeks. She also appeared at important White House and political events during those years, being a favorite with the media. After graduating fromGeorge Washington Universityin 1946, she embarked on a career as acoloratura soprano, beginning with a concert appearance with theDetroit Symphony Orchestrain 1947. She appeared in concerts with orchestras throughout the United States and in recitals throughout the U.S. through 1956. She made recordings forRCA Victor, and made television appearances on programs likeWhat's My Line?andThe Bell Telephone Hour. In 1957, one year after her marriage, Truman abandoned her singing career to pursue a career as a journalist and radio personality, when she became the co-host of the programWeekdaywithMike Wallace. She also wrote articles as an independent journalist, for a variety of publications in the 1960s and 1970s. She later became the successful author of a series of murder mysteries, and a number of works on U.S. First Ladies and First Families, including well-received biographies of her father, PresidentHarry S. Trumanand motherBess Truman. She was married to journalistClifton Daniel, managing editor ofThe New York Times. The couple had four sons, and were prominent New York socialites who often hosted events for the New York elite. Early life Mary Margaret was born at 219 North Delaware Street inIndependence, Missouri, on February 17, 1924,and was christened Mary Margaret Truman (for her aunt Mary Jane Truman and maternal grandmother Margaret Gates Wallace), but was called Margaret from early childhood. She took voice and piano lessons as a child (at the encouragement of her father, who famously played piano) and attended public school in Independence until her father's1934 electionto theUnited States Senate, after which her education was split between public schools in Independence andGunston Hall School, a private school for girls in Washington, D.C. In 1942, she matriculated atGeorge Washington University, where she was a member ofPi Beta Phi,and earned aBachelor of Artsdegree inhistoryandinternational relationsin 1946.In June 1944, she christened the battleshipUSSMissouriatBrooklyn Navy Yard, and spoke again in 1986 at the ship's recommissioning. She studied singing withEstelle Liebling, the voice teacher ofBeverly Sills, in New York City. On April 12, 1945, PresidentFranklin D. Rooseveltdied. His Vice President Harry Truman assumed the presidency when Margaret was 21. Career Singing When Truman was 16 years old, she began taking voice lessons in Independence from Mrs. Thomas J. Strickler, a family friend. After classical vocal training, Truman's singing career began with a debut radio recital in March 1947, followed shortly thereafter with her professional concert debut with theDetroit Symphony Orchestra. She sang professionally for the next decade, appearing with major American orchestras and giving several national concert tours.Some of her credits include concert appearances with theLos Angeles Philharmonicat theHollywood Bowl, theNational Symphony Orchestra, theNBC Symphony Orchestra, thePittsburgh Symphony, thePhiladelphia Orchestra, and theSaint Louis Symphonyamong others. While she never performed in staged operas, she did perform opera arias in concert. Her performances were mainly of both sacred and secular art songs,lieder, and works from the concert soprano repertoire. In 1951 and 1952,RCA Victorissued two albums by Truman, one of classical selections, the other of American art songs.She also made recordings of German lieder forNBC. A 1951Time Magazinecoverfeatured Truman with a single musical note floating by her head. She performed on stage, radio, and television through 1956. At the beginning of her career, critical reviews of Truman's singing were positive, polite or diplomatic in tone, with some later reviewers speculating that negative opinions were held back out of deference for her father as a current sitting United States President.This practice was broken in 1950 whenWashington Postmusic criticPaul Humewrote that Truman was \"extremely attractive on the stage... cannot sing very well. She is flat a good deal of the time. And still cannot sing with anything approaching professional finish.\" The review angered President Truman (who was dealing that same day with the sudden death of his childhood friend and White House Press SecretaryCharlie Ross), who wrote to Hume, \"Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below!\"Hume wanted to publish the letter, butWashington PostpublisherPhilip Grahamvetoed the idea. However, Hume showed the letter to a number of his colleagues, includingMilton Berliner, music critic of the rivalWashington Times Herald, which published a story. ThePostwas then forced to acknowledge the letter, which drew international headlines, becoming a minor scandal for the Truman administration. Reviewers after that felt more free to be honest in their reviews of her performances, with mixed criticism for her singing thereafter. Acting, radio, and journalism Truman's professional acting debut occurred April 26, 1951. She co-starred withJames Stewartin the \"Jackpot\" episode ofScreen Directors PlayhouseonNBCradio.On March 17, 1952, Truman was guest soloist onThe Railroad Hourin a presentation of the operettaSari. Truman also performed on the NBC Radio programThe Big Show. There she met writerGoodman Ace, who gave her advice and pointers; Ace became a lifelong friend, advising Truman even afterThe Big Show.She became part of the team ofNBC Radio'sWeekdayshow that premiered in 1955, shortly after itsMonitorprogram made its debut.Paired withMike Wallace, she presented news and interviews aimed at a female listening audience. She appeared several times as a panelist (and twice as a mystery guest) on the game showWhat's My Line?and guest-starredmore than once onNBC'sTheMartha RayeShow. In 1957, she sang and played piano onThe Gisele MacKenzie Show. Writing Truman's full-length biography of her father, published shortly before his 1972 death, was critically acclaimed. She also wrote a personal biography of her mother and histories of theWhite Houseand its inhabitants (includingfirst ladiesandpets). Truman published regularly into her eighties. Novels From 1980 to 2011, 25 books in the Capital Crimes series of murder mysteries, most set in and around Washington, D.C., were published under Margaret Truman's name. ProfessionalghostwriterDonald Bain(1935–2017) acknowledged in the March 14, 2014, issue ofPublishers Weeklythat he had written \"27 novels in the Margaret Truman Capital Crimes series (mostly bylined by Truman, my close collaborator – my name is on only the most recent entries, released after her death).\" In 2000, another ghostwriter, William Harrington, had claimed in a self-written obituary before his apparent suicide that Margaret Truman and others were his clients. Institutions She served on the board of directors for theHarry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museumand the Board of Governors of theRoosevelt Institute, and served as a Trustee for her alma mater. Personal life On April 21, 1956, Truman marriedClifton Daniel, a reporter forThe New York Timesand later its managing editor, atTrinity Episcopal Churchin Independence; he died in 2000. They had four sons: Popular culture Italian dress designerMicol Fontana, who designed Truman’s wedding gown, was invited to be a surprise guest on the TV showWhat's My Line?in New York City, just six days before the Truman/Daniel wedding on April 21, 1956, in Independence, Missouri. Later years and death In later life, Truman lived in herPark Avenuehome.She died on January 29, 2008, in Chicago (to which she was relocating to be closer to her son Clifton). She was said to have been suffering from \"a simple infection\" and had been breathing with the assistance of a respirator.Her ashes and those of her husband were interred in Independence in her parents' burial plot on the grounds of the Truman Library. Bibliography Non-fiction Fiction The Capital Crimes series: As of 2021, six further novels in the series had been published under Truman's name as \"with Donald Bain\" or \"with John Land.\" References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/World_War_II (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b943b87c0>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))\",\n \"Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/United_States_presidential_election (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b943b9d80>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))\",\n \"Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Harry_S._Truman (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b9404ce20>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))\",\n \"Margaret Truman Mary Margaret Truman Daniel(February 17, 1924 – January 29, 2008) was an American classicalsoprano, actress, journalist, radio and television personality, writer, and New York socialite. She was the only child of PresidentHarry S. Trumanand First LadyBess Truman. While her father was president during the years 1945 to 1953, Margaret regularly accompanied him on campaign trips, such as the 1948 countrywidewhistle-stopcampaign lasting several weeks. She also appeared at important White House and political events during those years, being a favorite with the media. After graduating fromGeorge Washington Universityin 1946, she embarked on a career as acoloratura soprano, beginning with a concert appearance with theDetroit Symphony Orchestrain 1947. She appeared in concerts with orchestras throughout the United States and in recitals throughout the U.S. through 1956. She made recordings forRCA Victor, and made television appearances on programs likeWhat's My Line?andThe Bell Telephone Hour. In 1957, one year after her marriage, Truman abandoned her singing career to pursue a career as a journalist and radio personality, when she became the co-host of the programWeekdaywithMike Wallace. She also wrote articles as an independent journalist, for a variety of publications in the 1960s and 1970s. She later became the successful author of a series of murder mysteries, and a number of works on U.S. First Ladies and First Families, including well-received biographies of her father, PresidentHarry S. Trumanand motherBess Truman. She was married to journalistClifton Daniel, managing editor ofThe New York Times. The couple had four sons, and were prominent New York socialites who often hosted events for the New York elite. Early life Mary Margaret was born at 219 North Delaware Street inIndependence, Missouri, on February 17, 1924,and was christened Mary Margaret Truman (for her aunt Mary Jane Truman and maternal grandmother Margaret Gates Wallace), but was called Margaret from early childhood. She took voice and piano lessons as a child (at the encouragement of her father, who famously played piano) and attended public school in Independence until her father's1934 electionto theUnited States Senate, after which her education was split between public schools in Independence andGunston Hall School, a private school for girls in Washington, D.C. In 1942, she matriculated atGeorge Washington University, where she was a member ofPi Beta Phi,and earned aBachelor of Artsdegree inhistoryandinternational relationsin 1946.In June 1944, she christened the battleshipUSSMissouriatBrooklyn Navy Yard, and spoke again in 1986 at the ship's recommissioning. She studied singing withEstelle Liebling, the voice teacher ofBeverly Sills, in New York City. On April 12, 1945, PresidentFranklin D. Rooseveltdied. His Vice President Harry Truman assumed the presidency when Margaret was 21. Career Singing When Truman was 16 years old, she began taking voice lessons in Independence from Mrs. Thomas J. Strickler, a family friend. After classical vocal training, Truman's singing career began with a debut radio recital in March 1947, followed shortly thereafter with her professional concert debut with theDetroit Symphony Orchestra. She sang professionally for the next decade, appearing with major American orchestras and giving several national concert tours.Some of her credits include concert appearances with theLos Angeles Philharmonicat theHollywood Bowl, theNational Symphony Orchestra, theNBC Symphony Orchestra, thePittsburgh Symphony, thePhiladelphia Orchestra, and theSaint Louis Symphonyamong others. While she never performed in staged operas, she did perform opera arias in concert. Her performances were mainly of both sacred and secular art songs,lieder, and works from the concert soprano repertoire. In 1951 and 1952,RCA Victorissued two albums by Truman, one of classical selections, the other of American art songs.She also made recordings of German lieder forNBC. A 1951Time Magazinecoverfeatured Truman with a single musical note floating by her head. She performed on stage, radio, and television through 1956. At the beginning of her career, critical reviews of Truman's singing were positive, polite or diplomatic in tone, with some later reviewers speculating that negative opinions were held back out of deference for her father as a current sitting United States President.This practice was broken in 1950 whenWashington Postmusic criticPaul Humewrote that Truman was \\\"extremely attractive on the stage... cannot sing very well. She is flat a good deal of the time. And still cannot sing with anything approaching professional finish.\\\" The review angered President Truman (who was dealing that same day with the sudden death of his childhood friend and White House Press SecretaryCharlie Ross), who wrote to Hume, \\\"Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below!\\\"Hume wanted to publish the letter, butWashington PostpublisherPhilip Grahamvetoed the idea. However, Hume showed the letter to a number of his colleagues, includingMilton Berliner, music critic of the rivalWashington Times Herald, which published a story. ThePostwas then forced to acknowledge the letter, which drew international headlines, becoming a minor scandal for the Truman administration. Reviewers after that felt more free to be honest in their reviews of her performances, with mixed criticism for her singing thereafter. Acting, radio, and journalism Truman's professional acting debut occurred April 26, 1951. She co-starred withJames Stewartin the \\\"Jackpot\\\" episode ofScreen Directors PlayhouseonNBCradio.On March 17, 1952, Truman was guest soloist onThe Railroad Hourin a presentation of the operettaSari. Truman also performed on the NBC Radio programThe Big Show. There she met writerGoodman Ace, who gave her advice and pointers; Ace became a lifelong friend, advising Truman even afterThe Big Show.She became part of the team ofNBC Radio'sWeekdayshow that premiered in 1955, shortly after itsMonitorprogram made its debut.Paired withMike Wallace, she presented news and interviews aimed at a female listening audience. She appeared several times as a panelist (and twice as a mystery guest) on the game showWhat's My Line?and guest-starredmore than once onNBC'sTheMartha RayeShow. In 1957, she sang and played piano onThe Gisele MacKenzie Show. Writing Truman's full-length biography of her father, published shortly before his 1972 death, was critically acclaimed. She also wrote a personal biography of her mother and histories of theWhite Houseand its inhabitants (includingfirst ladiesandpets). Truman published regularly into her eighties. Novels From 1980 to 2011, 25 books in the Capital Crimes series of murder mysteries, most set in and around Washington, D.C., were published under Margaret Truman's name. ProfessionalghostwriterDonald Bain(1935–2017) acknowledged in the March 14, 2014, issue ofPublishers Weeklythat he had written \\\"27 novels in the Margaret Truman Capital Crimes series (mostly bylined by Truman, my close collaborator – my name is on only the most recent entries, released after her death).\\\" In 2000, another ghostwriter, William Harrington, had claimed in a self-written obituary before his apparent suicide that Margaret Truman and others were his clients. Institutions She served on the board of directors for theHarry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museumand the Board of Governors of theRoosevelt Institute, and served as a Trustee for her alma mater. Personal life On April 21, 1956, Truman marriedClifton Daniel, a reporter forThe New York Timesand later its managing editor, atTrinity Episcopal Churchin Independence; he died in 2000. They had four sons: Popular culture Italian dress designerMicol Fontana, who designed Truman’s wedding gown, was invited to be a surprise guest on the TV showWhat's My Line?in New York City, just six days before the Truman/Daniel wedding on April 21, 1956, in Independence, Missouri. Later years and death In later life, Truman lived in herPark Avenuehome.She died on January 29, 2008, in Chicago (to which she was relocating to be closer to her son Clifton). She was said to have been suffering from \\\"a simple infection\\\" and had been breathing with the assistance of a respirator.Her ashes and those of her husband were interred in Independence in her parents' burial plot on the grounds of the Truman Library. Bibliography Non-fiction Fiction The Capital Crimes series: As of 2021, six further novels in the series had been published under Truman's name as \\\"with Donald Bain\\\" or \\\"with John Land.\\\" References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/World_War_II (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b943b87c0>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))","Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/United_States_presidential_election (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b943b9d80>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))","Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Harry_S._Truman (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b9404ce20>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))","Margaret Truman Mary Margaret Truman Daniel(February 17, 1924 – January 29, 2008) was an American classicalsoprano, actress, journalist, radio and television personality, writer, and New York socialite. She was the only child of PresidentHarry S. Trumanand First LadyBess Truman. While her father was president during the years 1945 to 1953, Margaret regularly accompanied him on campaign trips, such as the 1948 countrywidewhistle-stopcampaign lasting several weeks. She also appeared at important White House and political events during those years, being a favorite with the media. After graduating fromGeorge Washington Universityin 1946, she embarked on a career as acoloratura soprano, beginning with a concert appearance with theDetroit Symphony Orchestrain 1947. She appeared in concerts with orchestras throughout the United States and in recitals throughout the U.S. through 1956. She made recordings forRCA Victor, and made television appearances on programs likeWhat's My Line?andThe Bell Telephone Hour. In","Telephone Hour. In 1957, one year after her marriage, Truman abandoned her singing career to pursue a career as a journalist and radio personality, when she became the co-host of the programWeekdaywithMike Wallace. She also wrote articles as an independent journalist, for a variety of publications in the 1960s and 1970s. She later became the successful author of a series of murder mysteries, and a number of works on U.S. First Ladies and First Families, including well-received biographies of her father, PresidentHarry S. Trumanand motherBess Truman. She was married to journalistClifton Daniel, managing editor ofThe New York Times. The couple had four sons, and were prominent New York socialites who often hosted events for the New York elite. Early life Mary Margaret was born at 219 North Delaware Street inIndependence, Missouri, on February 17, 1924,and was christened Mary Margaret Truman (for her aunt Mary Jane Truman and maternal grandmother Margaret Gates Wallace), but was called Margaret from early","Margaret from early childhood. She took voice and piano lessons as a child (at the encouragement of her father, who famously played piano) and attended public school in Independence until her father's1934 electionto theUnited States Senate, after which her education was split between public schools in Independence andGunston Hall School, a private school for girls in Washington, D.C. In 1942, she matriculated atGeorge Washington University, where she was a member ofPi Beta Phi,and earned aBachelor of Artsdegree inhistoryandinternational relationsin 1946.In June 1944, she christened the battleshipUSSMissouriatBrooklyn Navy Yard, and spoke again in 1986 at the ship's recommissioning. She studied singing withEstelle Liebling, the voice teacher ofBeverly Sills, in New York City. On April 12, 1945, PresidentFranklin D. Rooseveltdied. His Vice President Harry Truman assumed the presidency when Margaret was 21. Career Singing When Truman was 16 years old, she began taking voice lessons in Independence from Mrs.","from Mrs. Thomas J. Strickler, a family friend. After classical vocal training, Truman's singing career began with a debut radio recital in March 1947, followed shortly thereafter with her professional concert debut with theDetroit Symphony Orchestra. She sang professionally for the next decade, appearing with major American orchestras and giving several national concert tours.Some of her credits include concert appearances with theLos Angeles Philharmonicat theHollywood Bowl, theNational Symphony Orchestra, theNBC Symphony Orchestra, thePittsburgh Symphony, thePhiladelphia Orchestra, and theSaint Louis Symphonyamong others. While she never performed in staged operas, she did perform opera arias in concert. Her performances were mainly of both sacred and secular art songs,lieder, and works from the concert soprano repertoire. In 1951 and 1952,RCA Victorissued two albums by Truman, one of classical selections, the other of American art songs.She also made recordings of German lieder forNBC. A 1951Time","forNBC. A 1951Time Magazinecoverfeatured Truman with a single musical note floating by her head. She performed on stage, radio, and television through 1956. At the beginning of her career, critical reviews of Truman's singing were positive, polite or diplomatic in tone, with some later reviewers speculating that negative opinions were held back out of deference for her father as a current sitting United States President.This practice was broken in 1950 whenWashington Postmusic criticPaul Humewrote that Truman was \"extremely attractive on the stage... cannot sing very well. She is flat a good deal of the time. And still cannot sing with anything approaching professional finish.\" The review angered President Truman (who was dealing that same day with the sudden death of his childhood friend and White House Press SecretaryCharlie Ross), who wrote to Hume, \"Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below!\"Hume wanted to","wanted to publish the letter, butWashington PostpublisherPhilip Grahamvetoed the idea. However, Hume showed the letter to a number of his colleagues, includingMilton Berliner, music critic of the rivalWashington Times Herald, which published a story. ThePostwas then forced to acknowledge the letter, which drew international headlines, becoming a minor scandal for the Truman administration. Reviewers after that felt more free to be honest in their reviews of her performances, with mixed criticism for her singing thereafter. Acting, radio, and journalism Truman's professional acting debut occurred April 26, 1951. She co-starred withJames Stewartin the \"Jackpot\" episode ofScreen Directors PlayhouseonNBCradio.On March 17, 1952, Truman was guest soloist onThe Railroad Hourin a presentation of the operettaSari. Truman also performed on the NBC Radio programThe Big Show. There she met writerGoodman Ace, who gave her advice and pointers; Ace became a lifelong friend, advising Truman even afterThe Big Show.She became","Big Show.She became part of the team ofNBC Radio'sWeekdayshow that premiered in 1955, shortly after itsMonitorprogram made its debut.Paired withMike Wallace, she presented news and interviews aimed at a female listening audience. She appeared several times as a panelist (and twice as a mystery guest) on the game showWhat's My Line?and guest-starredmore than once onNBC'sTheMartha RayeShow. In 1957, she sang and played piano onThe Gisele MacKenzie Show. Writing Truman's full-length biography of her father, published shortly before his 1972 death, was critically acclaimed. She also wrote a personal biography of her mother and histories of theWhite Houseand its inhabitants (includingfirst ladiesandpets). Truman published regularly into her eighties. Novels From 1980 to 2011, 25 books in the Capital Crimes series of murder mysteries, most set in and around Washington, D.C., were published under Margaret Truman's name. ProfessionalghostwriterDonald Bain(1935–2017) acknowledged in the March 14, 2014, issue","14, 2014, issue ofPublishers Weeklythat he had written \"27 novels in the Margaret Truman Capital Crimes series (mostly bylined by Truman, my close collaborator – my name is on only the most recent entries, released after her death).\" In 2000, another ghostwriter, William Harrington, had claimed in a self-written obituary before his apparent suicide that Margaret Truman and others were his clients. Institutions She served on the board of directors for theHarry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museumand the Board of Governors of theRoosevelt Institute, and served as a Trustee for her alma mater. Personal life On April 21, 1956, Truman marriedClifton Daniel, a reporter forThe New York Timesand later its managing editor, atTrinity Episcopal Churchin Independence; he died in 2000. They had four sons: Popular culture Italian dress designerMicol Fontana, who designed Truman’s wedding gown, was invited to be a surprise guest on the TV showWhat's My Line?in New York City, just six days before the Truman/Daniel","the Truman/Daniel wedding on April 21, 1956, in Independence, Missouri. Later years and death In later life, Truman lived in herPark Avenuehome.She died on January 29, 2008, in Chicago (to which she was relocating to be closer to her son Clifton). She was said to have been suffering from \"a simple infection\" and had been breathing with the assistance of a respirator.Her ashes and those of her husband were interred in Independence in her parents' burial plot on the grounds of the Truman Library. Bibliography Non-fiction Fiction The Capital Crimes series: As of 2021, six further novels in the series had been published under Truman's name as \"with Donald Bain\" or \"with John Land.\" References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/World_War_II (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b943b87c0>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))\",\n \"Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/United_States_presidential_election (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b943b9d80>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))\",\n \"Error fetching content: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='en.wikipedia.org', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wiki/Harry_S._Truman (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPSConnection object at 0x7f4b9404ce20>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 101] Network is unreachable'))\",\n \"Margaret Truman Mary Margaret Truman Daniel(February 17, 1924 – January 29, 2008) was an American classicalsoprano, actress, journalist, radio and television personality, writer, and New York socialite. She was the only child of PresidentHarry S. Trumanand First LadyBess Truman. While her father was president during the years 1945 to 1953, Margaret regularly accompanied him on campaign trips, such as the 1948 countrywidewhistle-stopcampaign lasting several weeks. She also appeared at important White House and political events during those years, being a favorite with the media. After graduating fromGeorge Washington Universityin 1946, she embarked on a career as acoloratura soprano, beginning with a concert appearance with theDetroit Symphony Orchestrain 1947. She appeared in concerts with orchestras throughout the United States and in recitals throughout the U.S. through 1956. She made recordings forRCA Victor, and made television appearances on programs likeWhat's My Line?andThe Bell Telephone Hour. In\",\n \"Telephone Hour. In 1957, one year after her marriage, Truman abandoned her singing career to pursue a career as a journalist and radio personality, when she became the co-host of the programWeekdaywithMike Wallace. She also wrote articles as an independent journalist, for a variety of publications in the 1960s and 1970s. She later became the successful author of a series of murder mysteries, and a number of works on U.S. First Ladies and First Families, including well-received biographies of her father, PresidentHarry S. Trumanand motherBess Truman. She was married to journalistClifton Daniel, managing editor ofThe New York Times. The couple had four sons, and were prominent New York socialites who often hosted events for the New York elite. Early life Mary Margaret was born at 219 North Delaware Street inIndependence, Missouri, on February 17, 1924,and was christened Mary Margaret Truman (for her aunt Mary Jane Truman and maternal grandmother Margaret Gates Wallace), but was called Margaret from early\",\n \"Margaret from early childhood. She took voice and piano lessons as a child (at the encouragement of her father, who famously played piano) and attended public school in Independence until her father's1934 electionto theUnited States Senate, after which her education was split between public schools in Independence andGunston Hall School, a private school for girls in Washington, D.C. In 1942, she matriculated atGeorge Washington University, where she was a member ofPi Beta Phi,and earned aBachelor of Artsdegree inhistoryandinternational relationsin 1946.In June 1944, she christened the battleshipUSSMissouriatBrooklyn Navy Yard, and spoke again in 1986 at the ship's recommissioning. She studied singing withEstelle Liebling, the voice teacher ofBeverly Sills, in New York City. On April 12, 1945, PresidentFranklin D. Rooseveltdied. His Vice President Harry Truman assumed the presidency when Margaret was 21. Career Singing When Truman was 16 years old, she began taking voice lessons in Independence from Mrs.\",\n \"from Mrs. Thomas J. Strickler, a family friend. After classical vocal training, Truman's singing career began with a debut radio recital in March 1947, followed shortly thereafter with her professional concert debut with theDetroit Symphony Orchestra. She sang professionally for the next decade, appearing with major American orchestras and giving several national concert tours.Some of her credits include concert appearances with theLos Angeles Philharmonicat theHollywood Bowl, theNational Symphony Orchestra, theNBC Symphony Orchestra, thePittsburgh Symphony, thePhiladelphia Orchestra, and theSaint Louis Symphonyamong others. While she never performed in staged operas, she did perform opera arias in concert. Her performances were mainly of both sacred and secular art songs,lieder, and works from the concert soprano repertoire. In 1951 and 1952,RCA Victorissued two albums by Truman, one of classical selections, the other of American art songs.She also made recordings of German lieder forNBC. A 1951Time\",\n \"forNBC. A 1951Time Magazinecoverfeatured Truman with a single musical note floating by her head. She performed on stage, radio, and television through 1956. At the beginning of her career, critical reviews of Truman's singing were positive, polite or diplomatic in tone, with some later reviewers speculating that negative opinions were held back out of deference for her father as a current sitting United States President.This practice was broken in 1950 whenWashington Postmusic criticPaul Humewrote that Truman was \\\"extremely attractive on the stage... cannot sing very well. She is flat a good deal of the time. And still cannot sing with anything approaching professional finish.\\\" The review angered President Truman (who was dealing that same day with the sudden death of his childhood friend and White House Press SecretaryCharlie Ross), who wrote to Hume, \\\"Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below!\\\"Hume wanted to\",\n \"wanted to publish the letter, butWashington PostpublisherPhilip Grahamvetoed the idea. However, Hume showed the letter to a number of his colleagues, includingMilton Berliner, music critic of the rivalWashington Times Herald, which published a story. ThePostwas then forced to acknowledge the letter, which drew international headlines, becoming a minor scandal for the Truman administration. Reviewers after that felt more free to be honest in their reviews of her performances, with mixed criticism for her singing thereafter. Acting, radio, and journalism Truman's professional acting debut occurred April 26, 1951. She co-starred withJames Stewartin the \\\"Jackpot\\\" episode ofScreen Directors PlayhouseonNBCradio.On March 17, 1952, Truman was guest soloist onThe Railroad Hourin a presentation of the operettaSari. Truman also performed on the NBC Radio programThe Big Show. There she met writerGoodman Ace, who gave her advice and pointers; Ace became a lifelong friend, advising Truman even afterThe Big Show.She became\",\n \"Big Show.She became part of the team ofNBC Radio'sWeekdayshow that premiered in 1955, shortly after itsMonitorprogram made its debut.Paired withMike Wallace, she presented news and interviews aimed at a female listening audience. She appeared several times as a panelist (and twice as a mystery guest) on the game showWhat's My Line?and guest-starredmore than once onNBC'sTheMartha RayeShow. In 1957, she sang and played piano onThe Gisele MacKenzie Show. Writing Truman's full-length biography of her father, published shortly before his 1972 death, was critically acclaimed. She also wrote a personal biography of her mother and histories of theWhite Houseand its inhabitants (includingfirst ladiesandpets). Truman published regularly into her eighties. Novels From 1980 to 2011, 25 books in the Capital Crimes series of murder mysteries, most set in and around Washington, D.C., were published under Margaret Truman's name. ProfessionalghostwriterDonald Bain(1935–2017) acknowledged in the March 14, 2014, issue\",\n \"14, 2014, issue ofPublishers Weeklythat he had written \\\"27 novels in the Margaret Truman Capital Crimes series (mostly bylined by Truman, my close collaborator – my name is on only the most recent entries, released after her death).\\\" In 2000, another ghostwriter, William Harrington, had claimed in a self-written obituary before his apparent suicide that Margaret Truman and others were his clients. Institutions She served on the board of directors for theHarry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museumand the Board of Governors of theRoosevelt Institute, and served as a Trustee for her alma mater. Personal life On April 21, 1956, Truman marriedClifton Daniel, a reporter forThe New York Timesand later its managing editor, atTrinity Episcopal Churchin Independence; he died in 2000. They had four sons: Popular culture Italian dress designerMicol Fontana, who designed Truman’s wedding gown, was invited to be a surprise guest on the TV showWhat's My Line?in New York City, just six days before the Truman/Daniel\",\n \"the Truman/Daniel wedding on April 21, 1956, in Independence, Missouri. Later years and death In later life, Truman lived in herPark Avenuehome.She died on January 29, 2008, in Chicago (to which she was relocating to be closer to her son Clifton). She was said to have been suffering from \\\"a simple infection\\\" and had been breathing with the assistance of a respirator.Her ashes and those of her husband were interred in Independence in her parents' burial plot on the grounds of the Truman Library. Bibliography Non-fiction Fiction The Capital Crimes series: As of 2021, six further novels in the series had been published under Truman's name as \\\"with Donald Bain\\\" or \\\"with John Land.\\\" References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":63,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"In the style of wrestling performed by former Greek wrestler Mikhail Theodoropoulos, who won the inaugural olympic medal?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"Carl Schuhmann."},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Theodoropoulos"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrestling_at_the_1960_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_Greco-Roman_bantamweight"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Roman_wrestling"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_and_Olympic_Champions_in_Greco-Roman_wrestling"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Multiple constraints"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Theodoropoulos', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrestling_at_the_1960_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_Greco-Roman_bantamweight', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Roman_wrestling', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_and_Olympic_Champions_in_Greco-Roman_wrestling']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Theodoropoulos","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrestling_at_the_1960_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_Greco-Roman_bantamweight","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Roman_wrestling","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_and_Olympic_Champions_in_Greco-Roman_wrestling"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Theodoropoulos\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrestling_at_the_1960_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_Greco-Roman_bantamweight\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Roman_wrestling\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_and_Olympic_Champions_in_Greco-Roman_wrestling\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["Mikhail Theodoropoulos Mikhail Theodoropoulos(born 1933) is a Greekwrestler. He competed in themen's Greco-Roman bantamweightat the1960 Summer Olympics. References This biographical article relating to a Greeksport wrestleror wrestling coach is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.","Wrestling at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's Greco-Roman bantamweight Themen's Greco-Roman bantamweightcompetition at the1960 Summer OlympicsinRometook place from 26 to 31 August at theBasilica of Maxentius. Nations were limited to one competitor.Bantamweightwas the second-lightest category, including wrestlers weighing 52 to 57 kilograms (114.6 to 125.7 lb). Competition format ThisGreco-Roman wrestlingcompetition continued to use the \"bad points\" elimination system introduced at the1928 Summer Olympicsfor Greco-Roman and at the1932 Summer Olympicsfor freestyle wrestling, though adjusted the point values slightly. Wins by fall continued to be worth 0 points and wins by decision continued to be worth 1 point. Losses by fall, however, were now worth 4 points (up from 3). Losses by decision were worth 3 points (consistent with most prior years, though in some losses by split decision had been worth only 2 points). Ties were now allowed, worth 2 points for each wrestler. The elimination threshold was also increased from 5 points to 6 points. The medal round concept, used in 1952 and 1956 requiring a round-robin amongst the medalists even if one or more finished a round with enough points for elimination, was used only if exactly three wrestlers remained after a round—if two competitors remained, they faced off head-to-head; if only one, he was the gold medalist. Results Round 1 Cañete withdrew after his bout. Schlechter was injured and could not continue. Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 The Official Report shows Vesterby (correctly) at 5 points after round 3, following 2 wins by decision and a loss by decision. After round 4, however, Vesterby is shown at 4 points even though his win by fall should have kept him at 5. There is no explanation for a wrestler receiving a reduction in bad points. Round 5 Vesterby's inexplicably reduced point total put him in a tie with Petrov for the bronze medal at 6 points. This tie was broken on head-to-head results; Petrov had defeated Vesterby in round 3. Vesterby would have finished in 4th place even were it not for the point reduction. Švec and Yılmaz were the ones ultimately affected by it, as they would have finished tied with Vesterby for 4th rather than tied only with each other for 5th. Round 6 References General","Greco-Roman wrestling Greco-Roman(American English),Graeco-Roman(British English), orclassic wrestling(Euro-English)is a style ofwrestlingthat is practiced worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first modernOlympic Gamesin 1896 and has been in every edition of the summer Olympics held since1904.This style of wrestling forbidsholdsbelow the waist, which is the main feature that differentiates it fromfreestyle wrestling(the other form of wrestling contested at the Olympics). This restriction results in an emphasis onthrows, because a wrestler cannot use trips tobring an opponent to the groundor hook/grab the opponent's leg to avoid being thrown. Greco-Roman wrestling is one of several forms of amateur competitive wrestling practiced internationally. The other wrestling disciplines sanctioned byUnited World Wrestlingare: men's freestyle wrestling, women's freestyle wrestling,grappling(submission wrestling),pankration,Alysh(belt wrestling), Pahlavani wrestling, andbeach wrestling. History The name \"Greco-Roman\" applied to this style of wrestling as a way of purporting it to be similar to the wrestling formerly found in the ancient civilizations surrounding theMediterranean Seaespecially at theancient GreekOlympics. At that time, the athletes initially wore skintight shorts but later wrestled each other naked. It is speculated that many styles of Europeanfolk wrestlingmay have spurred the origins of Greco-Roman wrestling.According toUnited World Wrestling, aNapoleonicsoldier named Jean Exbrayat first developed the style.Exbrayat performed in fairs and called his style of wrestling \"flat hand wrestling\" to distinguish it from other forms of hand-to-hand combat that allowed striking. In 1848, Exbrayat established the rule that no holds below the waist were to be allowed; neither were painful holds or torsions that would hurt the opponent. \"Flat hand wrestling\" or \"French wrestling\" (as the style became known) developed all throughout Europe and became a popular sport. The Italian wrestler Basilio Bartoletti first coined the term \"Greco-Roman\" for the sport to underline the interest in \"ancient values.\"Many others in the 18th and 20th centuries sought to add value to their contemporary athletic practices by finding some connections with ancient counterparts. The 18th century workGymnastics for YouthbyJohann Friedrich Guts Muthsdescribed a form of schoolboy wrestling called \"orthopale\" (used byPlatoto describe the standing part of wrestling) that did not mention any lower-body holds.Real ancient wrestling was quite different;seeGreek wrestling. The British never really enjoyed Greco-Roman wrestling in comparison to its less restrictive counterpart,freestyle wrestling, and neither did the Americans, despite the efforts ofWilliam Muldoon(a successful New York barroom freestyle wrestler who served in theFranco-Prussian Warand learned the style in France) to promote it in the United States after theCivil War.However, on the continent ofEurope, the style was highly promoted. Almost all the continental European capital cities hosted international Greco-Roman tournaments in the 19th century, with much prize money given to the place winners. For example, theCzarof Russia paid 500 francs for wrestlers to train and compete in his tournament, with 5,000 francs awarded as a prize to the tournament winner. Greco-Roman wrestling soon became prestigious in continental Europe.It was the first style registered at the modernOlympic Games, beginning inAthensin 1896 with one heavyweight bout,and grew in popularity during the 20th century. It has always been featured in the Olympic Games, except during theParis Olympic Games in 1900and theSt. Louis Olympic Gamesof 1904, when freestyle first emerged as an Olympic sport. Perhaps the most well-known of Greco-Roman wrestlers in the 19th century wasGeorg Hackenschmidtborn inDorpat,Russian Empire, and nicknamed \"The Russian Lion\". Hackenschmidt in 1898 at the age of 21 and with 15 months of training defeated the experienced Paul Pons in a match inSaint Petersburg, Russia. In 1900, he won professional tournaments in Moscow and St. Petersburg and a series of international tournaments after that. After defeatingTom Jenkins(from the United States) in both freestyle and Greco-Roman matches in England, Georg Hackenschmidt wrestled exclusively freestyle in order to compete better against English, Australian, and American opponents. Winning more than 2,000 victories in Greco-Roman and freestyle, Hackenschmidt served as thephysical educationadviser to theHouse of Lordsafter his retirement. Professional matches in Greco-Roman wrestling were known for their great brutality. Body slams, choke-holds, and head-butting was allowed, and even caustic substances were used to weaken the opponent. By the end of the 19th century, gouging with the nails, punching, and violently slamming the arms together around the opponent's stomach were forbidden. Greco-Roman matches were also famous for their length. Professionally, it was not uncommon for there to be matches lasting two or three hours. William Muldoon's bout withClarence Whistlerat the Terrace Garden Theater in New York lasted eight hours before ending in a draw. Even in the 1912 Olympics, a match betweenMartin Kleinof Russia (Estonia) andAlfred Asikainenof Finland lasted for eleven hours and forty minutes beforeMartin Kleinwon. He received the silver medal because he was too tired to compete in final match next day.That record was later published atGuinness World Records. TheInternational Amateur Wrestling Federation (IAWF)took over the regulation of Greco-Roman wrestling in 1921. Since then matches have been dramatically cut short, and today all movements that put the life or limb of the wrestler in jeopardy are forbidden.Professional wrestlerLou Thesz, who initially trained extensively in Greco-Roman, popularised the Greco-Romanbackdropduring early televised professional matches. In Olympic competition, countries of the formerSoviet Union,Bulgaria,Turkey,South Korea,Romania,Japan,Sweden, andFinlandhave had great success.Carl Westergrenof Sweden won three Greco-Roman gold medals in 1920, 1924, and 1932, and was the first Greco-Roman wrestler to do so.Alexander Karelindid the same in 1988, 1992, and 1996.Ivar Johanssonof Sweden won gold medals in Greco-Roman in 1932 and 1936 and also a gold medal in freestyle in 1932. The United States Olympic delegation (exclusively wrestling freestyle before) first entered Greco-Roman wrestling in 1952 and has taken three gold medals, won bySteve FraserandJeffrey Blatnickin the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, and byRulon Gardnerat the 2000 Olympic Games inSydney, Australia. Weight classes Currently, international Greco-Roman wrestling is divided into five main age categories: U15, U17 (Cadets), U20 (Juniors), Seniors U23, or Seniors.For men, there is also a special category for some Greco-Roman competitions, \"Veterans\", for men ages 35 and older, presumably featuring the same weight classes as seniors.Also, all of the men's age categories and weight classes can be applied tofreestyle wrestling.Wrestlers after weigh-in may only wrestle in their own weight class. Wrestlers in the senior age category may wrestle up a weight class except for the heavyweight division (which starts at a weight more than 96 kg for the men).Different nations may have different weight classes and different age categories for their levels of Greco-Roman competition. Structure of tournament A typical international wrestling tournament takes place by direct elimination with an ideal number of wrestlers (4, 8, 16, 32, 64, etc.) in each weight class and age category competing for placement. The competition in each weight class takes place in one day.The day before the wrestling in a scheduled weight class and age category takes place, all the applicable wrestlers are examined by a physician and weighed-in. Each wrestler after being weighed on the scale then draws a token randomly that gives a certain number. If an ideal number is not reached to begin elimination rounds, aqualification roundwill take place to eliminate the excess number of wrestlers. For example, 22 wrestlers may weigh-in over the ideal number of 16 wrestlers. The six wrestlers who drew the highest numbers after 16 and the six wrestlers who drew the six numbers immediately before 17 would then wrestle in six matches in the qualification round. The winners of those matches would then go on to the elimination round. In the \"elimination round\", the ideal number of wrestlers then pair off and compete in matches until two victors emerge who will compete in the finals for first and second place. All of the wrestlers who lost to the two finals then have the chance to wrestle in a \"repechageround\". The repechage round begins with the wrestlers who lost to the two finalists at the lowest level of competition in the elimination round. The matches are paired off by the wrestlers who lost to one finalist and the wrestlers who lost to the other. The two wrestlers who win after every level of competition are the victors of the repechage round. In the \"finals\", the two victors of the elimination round compete for first and second place. In all rounds of the tournament, the wrestlers compete in matches paired off in the order of the numbers they drew after the weigh-in. After the finals match, the awards ceremony will take place. The first place and second place wrestlers will receive a gold and silver medal, respectively. (At the FILA World Championships, the first place wrestler will receive the World Championship Belt.) The two repechage round winners will each be awarded third place with a bronze medal. The two wrestlers who lost in the finals for the third place are awarded fifth place. From seventh place down, the wrestlers are ranked according to the classification points earned for their victories or losses. If there is a tie among wrestlers for classification points, the ranking is determined in this order from the highest to the lowest: Wrestlers who remained tied after that will be awarded placementsex aequo. Wrestlers classified from the fifth to the 10th place will receive a special diploma. The wrestling tournaments in theOlympic Gamesand the Senior and Junior World Championships are designed to take place over three days on three mats. Layout of the mat The match takes place on a thick rubber circular mat that is shock-absorbing to ensure safety. For the Olympic Games, all World Championships, and World Cups, the mat has to be new. The main wrestling area has a nine-meter diameter and is surrounded by a 1.5 meter border of the same thickness known as the \"protection area\". Inside the nine meter in diameter circle is a red band of one meter in width that is on the outer edge of the circle and is known as the \"red zone\". The red zone is used to help indicate passivity on the part of a wrestler; thus, it is also known as the \"passivity zone\". Inside the red zone is the \"central wrestling area\" which is seven meters in diameter. In the middle of the central wrestling area is the \"central circle\", which is one meter in diameter. The central circle is surrounded by a band 10 centimeters wide and is divided in half by a red line eight centimeters in width. The diagonally opposite corners of the mat are marked with the wrestlers' colors, red and blue. For competition in theOlympic Games, the World Championships, and the Continental Championships, the mat is installed on a platform no greater than 1.1 meters in height. If the mat lies on a podium and the protection margin (covering and free space around the mat) does not reach two meters, then the sides of the podium are covered with 45° (degree) inclined panels. In all cases, the color of the protection area is different from the color of the mat. Equipment The match A match is a competition between two individual wrestlers of the same weight class. In Greco-Roman wrestling, a jury (or team) of three officials (referees) is used. The referee controls the action in the center, blowing the whistle to start and stop the action, and supervises the scoring of holds and infractions. The judge sits at the side of the mat, keeps score, and occasionally gives his approval when needed by the referee for various decisions. The mat chairman sits at the scoring table, keeps time, is responsible for declaring technical superiority, and supervises the work of the referee and judge. To call a fall, two of the three officials must agree (usually, the referee and either the judge or the mat chairman). Modern format In modern Greco-Roman wrestling, matches are contested over two three-minute halves with the winner being decided by fall, technical superiority or cumulative points across both periods (decision). The modern format emphasizes wrestling on the feet instead of mat wrestling (par terre); in contrast to the older format, par terre now only occurs as a result of a takedown/throw or when a wrestler commits an infraction (eg: passivity). Before each match, each wrestler's name is called, and the wrestler takes his place at the corner of the mat assigned to his color. The referee then calls them to his side at the center of the mat, shakes hands with them, inspects their apparel, and checks for any perspiration, oily or greasy substances, and any other infractions. The two wrestlers then greet each other, shake hands, and the referee blows his whistle to start the period.Upon conclusion of the match, the referee stands at the center of the mat facing the officials' table. Both wrestlers then shake hands, and stand on either side of the referee to await the decision. The referee then proclaims the winner by raising the winner's hand. Each wrestler then shakes hands with the referee and their opponent's coach. Old format Prior to recent rule changes, a wrestler wins the match when he has won the majority of periods. For example, if one competitor were to win the first period 1–0 and the second period 1–0, the match would be over. However, if the other competitor were to win the second period, then a third and deciding period would result. Only a fall, injury default, or disqualification terminates the match; all other modes of victory result only in period termination. One side effect of this format is that it is possible for the losing wrestler to outscore the winner. For example, periods may be scored 3–2, 0–4, 1–0, leading to a total score of 4–6 but a win for the wrestler scoring fewer points.This format was changed Each Greco-Roman period is broken up into a phase for wrestling from the neutral position and a maximum of two par terre (ground wrestling) phases. During the wrestling phase from the neutral position, both wrestlers compete for takedowns and points for 60 seconds as usual. At the end of the first minute, in general, the wrestler who has scored the most points will receive the advantage in an Olympic lift from an open par terre position on the other wrestler. This position is known as \"par terre\". If neither wrestler at this point has any points, the referee will toss a colored disk, with a red-colored side and a blue-colored side. The wrestler who won the colored disk toss will receive the advantage in the Olympic lift. The wrestler who lost the colored disk toss then places his hands and knees in the center circle, with the hands and knees at least 20 centimeters apart and the distance between the hands a maximum of 30 centimeters. The arms of that wrestler would be stretched out, the feet would not be crossed, and the thighs would be stretched out forming a 90-degree angle with the mat. The wrestler who won the colored disk toss would then be allowed to step beside the wrestler on the bottom, not touching him with his legs. If the wrestler who won the colored disk toss wished, he could place one knee on the mat. The top wrestler would then wrap his hands and arms around the bottom wrestler's waist and execute the Olympic lift (called an upside-down belt hold) at the beginning of the first 30 seconds. The bottom wrestler could then attempt to defend himself. At the end of first thirty seconds, the clinch position is reversed with the other wrestler receiving the Olympic lift, and the period continuing for the remaining 30 seconds. The period is decided by who accumulated the most points during both standing and ground phases. During each ground phase, if the top wrestler cannot score, the other wrestler is awarded one point. In the case of no scoring moves being executed during either ground phase the score will be 1–1, and in this case generally the wrestler to score last will be awarded the period. Scoring In Greco-Roman wrestling, as well as in freestyle wrestling, points are awarded mostly on the basis of explosive action and risk. For example, when one wrestler performs a grand amplitude throw that brings his opponent into the danger position, he is awarded the greatest number of points that can be scored in one instance. Also, a wrestler who takes the risk to briefly roll on the mat (with his shoulders in contact with the mat) could give a certain number of points to his opponent. Scoring can be accomplished in the following ways: Classification points are also awarded in an international wrestling tournament, which give most points to the winner and in some cases, one point to the loser depending on the outcome of the match and how the victory was attained. For example, a victory by fall would give the winner five classification points and the loser no points, while a match won by technical superiority with the loser scoring technical points would award three points to the winner and one point to loser. The full determinations for scoring are found inthe UWW International Wrestling Rules Victory conditions A match can be won in the following ways: Team scoring in tournaments In an international wrestling tournament, teams enter one wrestler at each weight class and score points based on the individual performances. For example, if a wrestler at the 60 kg weight class finishes in first place, then his team will receive 10 points. If he were to finish in tenth place, then the team would only receive one. At the end of the tournament, each team's score is tallied, and the teams are then placed first, second, third, etc. Team competition Ateam competitionordual meetis a meeting between (typically two) teams in which individual wrestlers at a given weight class compete against each other. A team receives one point for each victory in a weight class regardless of the outcome. The team that scores the most points at the end of the matches wins the team competition. If there are two sets of competitions with one team winning thehomecompetition and one winning theawaycompetition, a third competition may take place to determine the winner for ranking purposes, or the ranking may take place by assessing in order: 1) the most victories by adding the points of the two matches; 2) the most points by fall, default, forfeit, or disqualification; 3) the most matches won by technical superiority; 4) the most periods won by technical superiority; 5) the most technical points won in all the competition; 6) the least technical points won in all the competition. This works similarly when more than two teams are involved in this predicament. Notable practitioners Olympic and world champions Mixed martial arts Professional wrestling See also References Further reading External links","List of World and Olympic Champions in Greco-Roman wrestling Listed arewrestlerswho were World or Olympic Champions inGreco-Roman wrestling. Greco-Roman wrestling competition was held at the first modernOlympicsin 1896. The Greco-RomanWorld Championshipswas first held in 1904. The World Championships takes place during non Olympic years. At the World Championships team scoring is kept, while no official team statistics are kept for the Olympics. World Level Champions in Greco-Roman Wrestling by Year and Weight Olympic Champions and Olympic competition years in Greco-Roman wrestling are highlighted in gold. 1896 1898 1904 1905 1906–1907 1908–1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1920 1921–1928 1932–1936 1948–1968 1969–1996 1997–2001 2002–2013 2014–2017 2018–2019 2021 2021–2024 Individual Multiple-Time World Level Champions 12 World Level Championships Aleksandr Karelin, 1988–1999 10 World Level Championships Mijaín López, 2005–2024 7 World Level Championships Valery Rezantsev, 1970–1976 Hamid Sourian, 2005–2014 6 World Level Championships Nikolai Balboshin, 1973–1979 5 World Level Championships István Kozma, 1962–1968 Roman Rurua, 1966–1970 Viktor Igumenov, 1966–1971 Petar Kirov, 1968–1974 Aleksandar Tomov, 1971–1979 Gogi Koguashvili, 1993–1999 Hamza Yerlikaya, 1993–2005 Armen Nazaryan, 1996–2005 Roman Vlasov, 2011–2021 Rıza Kayaalp, 2011–2022 Artur Aleksanyan, 2014–2022 Team Championships The list below includes unofficial championships won during the Olympic Games, although no official team statistics are kept during Olympic years. 54 World Level Championships ////1952–2021 7 World Level Championships 1908–1950 5 World Level Championships /1904–1920 /1911–1924 4 World Level Championships /1896–1928 3 World Level Championships 2001–2021 2006–2022 2012–2024 2 World Level Championships 1984–2007 1 World Level Championship 1907 1971 1996 2003 2005 2023 See also References Links"],"string":"[\n \"Mikhail Theodoropoulos Mikhail Theodoropoulos(born 1933) is a Greekwrestler. He competed in themen's Greco-Roman bantamweightat the1960 Summer Olympics. References This biographical article relating to a Greeksport wrestleror wrestling coach is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.\",\n \"Wrestling at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's Greco-Roman bantamweight Themen's Greco-Roman bantamweightcompetition at the1960 Summer OlympicsinRometook place from 26 to 31 August at theBasilica of Maxentius. Nations were limited to one competitor.Bantamweightwas the second-lightest category, including wrestlers weighing 52 to 57 kilograms (114.6 to 125.7 lb). Competition format ThisGreco-Roman wrestlingcompetition continued to use the \\\"bad points\\\" elimination system introduced at the1928 Summer Olympicsfor Greco-Roman and at the1932 Summer Olympicsfor freestyle wrestling, though adjusted the point values slightly. Wins by fall continued to be worth 0 points and wins by decision continued to be worth 1 point. Losses by fall, however, were now worth 4 points (up from 3). Losses by decision were worth 3 points (consistent with most prior years, though in some losses by split decision had been worth only 2 points). Ties were now allowed, worth 2 points for each wrestler. The elimination threshold was also increased from 5 points to 6 points. The medal round concept, used in 1952 and 1956 requiring a round-robin amongst the medalists even if one or more finished a round with enough points for elimination, was used only if exactly three wrestlers remained after a round—if two competitors remained, they faced off head-to-head; if only one, he was the gold medalist. Results Round 1 Cañete withdrew after his bout. Schlechter was injured and could not continue. Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 The Official Report shows Vesterby (correctly) at 5 points after round 3, following 2 wins by decision and a loss by decision. After round 4, however, Vesterby is shown at 4 points even though his win by fall should have kept him at 5. There is no explanation for a wrestler receiving a reduction in bad points. Round 5 Vesterby's inexplicably reduced point total put him in a tie with Petrov for the bronze medal at 6 points. This tie was broken on head-to-head results; Petrov had defeated Vesterby in round 3. Vesterby would have finished in 4th place even were it not for the point reduction. Švec and Yılmaz were the ones ultimately affected by it, as they would have finished tied with Vesterby for 4th rather than tied only with each other for 5th. Round 6 References General\",\n \"Greco-Roman wrestling Greco-Roman(American English),Graeco-Roman(British English), orclassic wrestling(Euro-English)is a style ofwrestlingthat is practiced worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first modernOlympic Gamesin 1896 and has been in every edition of the summer Olympics held since1904.This style of wrestling forbidsholdsbelow the waist, which is the main feature that differentiates it fromfreestyle wrestling(the other form of wrestling contested at the Olympics). This restriction results in an emphasis onthrows, because a wrestler cannot use trips tobring an opponent to the groundor hook/grab the opponent's leg to avoid being thrown. Greco-Roman wrestling is one of several forms of amateur competitive wrestling practiced internationally. The other wrestling disciplines sanctioned byUnited World Wrestlingare: men's freestyle wrestling, women's freestyle wrestling,grappling(submission wrestling),pankration,Alysh(belt wrestling), Pahlavani wrestling, andbeach wrestling. History The name \\\"Greco-Roman\\\" applied to this style of wrestling as a way of purporting it to be similar to the wrestling formerly found in the ancient civilizations surrounding theMediterranean Seaespecially at theancient GreekOlympics. At that time, the athletes initially wore skintight shorts but later wrestled each other naked. It is speculated that many styles of Europeanfolk wrestlingmay have spurred the origins of Greco-Roman wrestling.According toUnited World Wrestling, aNapoleonicsoldier named Jean Exbrayat first developed the style.Exbrayat performed in fairs and called his style of wrestling \\\"flat hand wrestling\\\" to distinguish it from other forms of hand-to-hand combat that allowed striking. In 1848, Exbrayat established the rule that no holds below the waist were to be allowed; neither were painful holds or torsions that would hurt the opponent. \\\"Flat hand wrestling\\\" or \\\"French wrestling\\\" (as the style became known) developed all throughout Europe and became a popular sport. The Italian wrestler Basilio Bartoletti first coined the term \\\"Greco-Roman\\\" for the sport to underline the interest in \\\"ancient values.\\\"Many others in the 18th and 20th centuries sought to add value to their contemporary athletic practices by finding some connections with ancient counterparts. The 18th century workGymnastics for YouthbyJohann Friedrich Guts Muthsdescribed a form of schoolboy wrestling called \\\"orthopale\\\" (used byPlatoto describe the standing part of wrestling) that did not mention any lower-body holds.Real ancient wrestling was quite different;seeGreek wrestling. The British never really enjoyed Greco-Roman wrestling in comparison to its less restrictive counterpart,freestyle wrestling, and neither did the Americans, despite the efforts ofWilliam Muldoon(a successful New York barroom freestyle wrestler who served in theFranco-Prussian Warand learned the style in France) to promote it in the United States after theCivil War.However, on the continent ofEurope, the style was highly promoted. Almost all the continental European capital cities hosted international Greco-Roman tournaments in the 19th century, with much prize money given to the place winners. For example, theCzarof Russia paid 500 francs for wrestlers to train and compete in his tournament, with 5,000 francs awarded as a prize to the tournament winner. Greco-Roman wrestling soon became prestigious in continental Europe.It was the first style registered at the modernOlympic Games, beginning inAthensin 1896 with one heavyweight bout,and grew in popularity during the 20th century. It has always been featured in the Olympic Games, except during theParis Olympic Games in 1900and theSt. Louis Olympic Gamesof 1904, when freestyle first emerged as an Olympic sport. Perhaps the most well-known of Greco-Roman wrestlers in the 19th century wasGeorg Hackenschmidtborn inDorpat,Russian Empire, and nicknamed \\\"The Russian Lion\\\". Hackenschmidt in 1898 at the age of 21 and with 15 months of training defeated the experienced Paul Pons in a match inSaint Petersburg, Russia. In 1900, he won professional tournaments in Moscow and St. Petersburg and a series of international tournaments after that. After defeatingTom Jenkins(from the United States) in both freestyle and Greco-Roman matches in England, Georg Hackenschmidt wrestled exclusively freestyle in order to compete better against English, Australian, and American opponents. Winning more than 2,000 victories in Greco-Roman and freestyle, Hackenschmidt served as thephysical educationadviser to theHouse of Lordsafter his retirement. Professional matches in Greco-Roman wrestling were known for their great brutality. Body slams, choke-holds, and head-butting was allowed, and even caustic substances were used to weaken the opponent. By the end of the 19th century, gouging with the nails, punching, and violently slamming the arms together around the opponent's stomach were forbidden. Greco-Roman matches were also famous for their length. Professionally, it was not uncommon for there to be matches lasting two or three hours. William Muldoon's bout withClarence Whistlerat the Terrace Garden Theater in New York lasted eight hours before ending in a draw. Even in the 1912 Olympics, a match betweenMartin Kleinof Russia (Estonia) andAlfred Asikainenof Finland lasted for eleven hours and forty minutes beforeMartin Kleinwon. He received the silver medal because he was too tired to compete in final match next day.That record was later published atGuinness World Records. TheInternational Amateur Wrestling Federation (IAWF)took over the regulation of Greco-Roman wrestling in 1921. Since then matches have been dramatically cut short, and today all movements that put the life or limb of the wrestler in jeopardy are forbidden.Professional wrestlerLou Thesz, who initially trained extensively in Greco-Roman, popularised the Greco-Romanbackdropduring early televised professional matches. In Olympic competition, countries of the formerSoviet Union,Bulgaria,Turkey,South Korea,Romania,Japan,Sweden, andFinlandhave had great success.Carl Westergrenof Sweden won three Greco-Roman gold medals in 1920, 1924, and 1932, and was the first Greco-Roman wrestler to do so.Alexander Karelindid the same in 1988, 1992, and 1996.Ivar Johanssonof Sweden won gold medals in Greco-Roman in 1932 and 1936 and also a gold medal in freestyle in 1932. The United States Olympic delegation (exclusively wrestling freestyle before) first entered Greco-Roman wrestling in 1952 and has taken three gold medals, won bySteve FraserandJeffrey Blatnickin the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, and byRulon Gardnerat the 2000 Olympic Games inSydney, Australia. Weight classes Currently, international Greco-Roman wrestling is divided into five main age categories: U15, U17 (Cadets), U20 (Juniors), Seniors U23, or Seniors.For men, there is also a special category for some Greco-Roman competitions, \\\"Veterans\\\", for men ages 35 and older, presumably featuring the same weight classes as seniors.Also, all of the men's age categories and weight classes can be applied tofreestyle wrestling.Wrestlers after weigh-in may only wrestle in their own weight class. Wrestlers in the senior age category may wrestle up a weight class except for the heavyweight division (which starts at a weight more than 96 kg for the men).Different nations may have different weight classes and different age categories for their levels of Greco-Roman competition. Structure of tournament A typical international wrestling tournament takes place by direct elimination with an ideal number of wrestlers (4, 8, 16, 32, 64, etc.) in each weight class and age category competing for placement. The competition in each weight class takes place in one day.The day before the wrestling in a scheduled weight class and age category takes place, all the applicable wrestlers are examined by a physician and weighed-in. Each wrestler after being weighed on the scale then draws a token randomly that gives a certain number. If an ideal number is not reached to begin elimination rounds, aqualification roundwill take place to eliminate the excess number of wrestlers. For example, 22 wrestlers may weigh-in over the ideal number of 16 wrestlers. The six wrestlers who drew the highest numbers after 16 and the six wrestlers who drew the six numbers immediately before 17 would then wrestle in six matches in the qualification round. The winners of those matches would then go on to the elimination round. In the \\\"elimination round\\\", the ideal number of wrestlers then pair off and compete in matches until two victors emerge who will compete in the finals for first and second place. All of the wrestlers who lost to the two finals then have the chance to wrestle in a \\\"repechageround\\\". The repechage round begins with the wrestlers who lost to the two finalists at the lowest level of competition in the elimination round. The matches are paired off by the wrestlers who lost to one finalist and the wrestlers who lost to the other. The two wrestlers who win after every level of competition are the victors of the repechage round. In the \\\"finals\\\", the two victors of the elimination round compete for first and second place. In all rounds of the tournament, the wrestlers compete in matches paired off in the order of the numbers they drew after the weigh-in. After the finals match, the awards ceremony will take place. The first place and second place wrestlers will receive a gold and silver medal, respectively. (At the FILA World Championships, the first place wrestler will receive the World Championship Belt.) The two repechage round winners will each be awarded third place with a bronze medal. The two wrestlers who lost in the finals for the third place are awarded fifth place. From seventh place down, the wrestlers are ranked according to the classification points earned for their victories or losses. If there is a tie among wrestlers for classification points, the ranking is determined in this order from the highest to the lowest: Wrestlers who remained tied after that will be awarded placementsex aequo. Wrestlers classified from the fifth to the 10th place will receive a special diploma. The wrestling tournaments in theOlympic Gamesand the Senior and Junior World Championships are designed to take place over three days on three mats. Layout of the mat The match takes place on a thick rubber circular mat that is shock-absorbing to ensure safety. For the Olympic Games, all World Championships, and World Cups, the mat has to be new. The main wrestling area has a nine-meter diameter and is surrounded by a 1.5 meter border of the same thickness known as the \\\"protection area\\\". Inside the nine meter in diameter circle is a red band of one meter in width that is on the outer edge of the circle and is known as the \\\"red zone\\\". The red zone is used to help indicate passivity on the part of a wrestler; thus, it is also known as the \\\"passivity zone\\\". Inside the red zone is the \\\"central wrestling area\\\" which is seven meters in diameter. In the middle of the central wrestling area is the \\\"central circle\\\", which is one meter in diameter. The central circle is surrounded by a band 10 centimeters wide and is divided in half by a red line eight centimeters in width. The diagonally opposite corners of the mat are marked with the wrestlers' colors, red and blue. For competition in theOlympic Games, the World Championships, and the Continental Championships, the mat is installed on a platform no greater than 1.1 meters in height. If the mat lies on a podium and the protection margin (covering and free space around the mat) does not reach two meters, then the sides of the podium are covered with 45° (degree) inclined panels. In all cases, the color of the protection area is different from the color of the mat. Equipment The match A match is a competition between two individual wrestlers of the same weight class. In Greco-Roman wrestling, a jury (or team) of three officials (referees) is used. The referee controls the action in the center, blowing the whistle to start and stop the action, and supervises the scoring of holds and infractions. The judge sits at the side of the mat, keeps score, and occasionally gives his approval when needed by the referee for various decisions. The mat chairman sits at the scoring table, keeps time, is responsible for declaring technical superiority, and supervises the work of the referee and judge. To call a fall, two of the three officials must agree (usually, the referee and either the judge or the mat chairman). Modern format In modern Greco-Roman wrestling, matches are contested over two three-minute halves with the winner being decided by fall, technical superiority or cumulative points across both periods (decision). The modern format emphasizes wrestling on the feet instead of mat wrestling (par terre); in contrast to the older format, par terre now only occurs as a result of a takedown/throw or when a wrestler commits an infraction (eg: passivity). Before each match, each wrestler's name is called, and the wrestler takes his place at the corner of the mat assigned to his color. The referee then calls them to his side at the center of the mat, shakes hands with them, inspects their apparel, and checks for any perspiration, oily or greasy substances, and any other infractions. The two wrestlers then greet each other, shake hands, and the referee blows his whistle to start the period.Upon conclusion of the match, the referee stands at the center of the mat facing the officials' table. Both wrestlers then shake hands, and stand on either side of the referee to await the decision. The referee then proclaims the winner by raising the winner's hand. Each wrestler then shakes hands with the referee and their opponent's coach. Old format Prior to recent rule changes, a wrestler wins the match when he has won the majority of periods. For example, if one competitor were to win the first period 1–0 and the second period 1–0, the match would be over. However, if the other competitor were to win the second period, then a third and deciding period would result. Only a fall, injury default, or disqualification terminates the match; all other modes of victory result only in period termination. One side effect of this format is that it is possible for the losing wrestler to outscore the winner. For example, periods may be scored 3–2, 0–4, 1–0, leading to a total score of 4–6 but a win for the wrestler scoring fewer points.This format was changed Each Greco-Roman period is broken up into a phase for wrestling from the neutral position and a maximum of two par terre (ground wrestling) phases. During the wrestling phase from the neutral position, both wrestlers compete for takedowns and points for 60 seconds as usual. At the end of the first minute, in general, the wrestler who has scored the most points will receive the advantage in an Olympic lift from an open par terre position on the other wrestler. This position is known as \\\"par terre\\\". If neither wrestler at this point has any points, the referee will toss a colored disk, with a red-colored side and a blue-colored side. The wrestler who won the colored disk toss will receive the advantage in the Olympic lift. The wrestler who lost the colored disk toss then places his hands and knees in the center circle, with the hands and knees at least 20 centimeters apart and the distance between the hands a maximum of 30 centimeters. The arms of that wrestler would be stretched out, the feet would not be crossed, and the thighs would be stretched out forming a 90-degree angle with the mat. The wrestler who won the colored disk toss would then be allowed to step beside the wrestler on the bottom, not touching him with his legs. If the wrestler who won the colored disk toss wished, he could place one knee on the mat. The top wrestler would then wrap his hands and arms around the bottom wrestler's waist and execute the Olympic lift (called an upside-down belt hold) at the beginning of the first 30 seconds. The bottom wrestler could then attempt to defend himself. At the end of first thirty seconds, the clinch position is reversed with the other wrestler receiving the Olympic lift, and the period continuing for the remaining 30 seconds. The period is decided by who accumulated the most points during both standing and ground phases. During each ground phase, if the top wrestler cannot score, the other wrestler is awarded one point. In the case of no scoring moves being executed during either ground phase the score will be 1–1, and in this case generally the wrestler to score last will be awarded the period. Scoring In Greco-Roman wrestling, as well as in freestyle wrestling, points are awarded mostly on the basis of explosive action and risk. For example, when one wrestler performs a grand amplitude throw that brings his opponent into the danger position, he is awarded the greatest number of points that can be scored in one instance. Also, a wrestler who takes the risk to briefly roll on the mat (with his shoulders in contact with the mat) could give a certain number of points to his opponent. Scoring can be accomplished in the following ways: Classification points are also awarded in an international wrestling tournament, which give most points to the winner and in some cases, one point to the loser depending on the outcome of the match and how the victory was attained. For example, a victory by fall would give the winner five classification points and the loser no points, while a match won by technical superiority with the loser scoring technical points would award three points to the winner and one point to loser. The full determinations for scoring are found inthe UWW International Wrestling Rules Victory conditions A match can be won in the following ways: Team scoring in tournaments In an international wrestling tournament, teams enter one wrestler at each weight class and score points based on the individual performances. For example, if a wrestler at the 60 kg weight class finishes in first place, then his team will receive 10 points. If he were to finish in tenth place, then the team would only receive one. At the end of the tournament, each team's score is tallied, and the teams are then placed first, second, third, etc. Team competition Ateam competitionordual meetis a meeting between (typically two) teams in which individual wrestlers at a given weight class compete against each other. A team receives one point for each victory in a weight class regardless of the outcome. The team that scores the most points at the end of the matches wins the team competition. If there are two sets of competitions with one team winning thehomecompetition and one winning theawaycompetition, a third competition may take place to determine the winner for ranking purposes, or the ranking may take place by assessing in order: 1) the most victories by adding the points of the two matches; 2) the most points by fall, default, forfeit, or disqualification; 3) the most matches won by technical superiority; 4) the most periods won by technical superiority; 5) the most technical points won in all the competition; 6) the least technical points won in all the competition. This works similarly when more than two teams are involved in this predicament. Notable practitioners Olympic and world champions Mixed martial arts Professional wrestling See also References Further reading External links\",\n \"List of World and Olympic Champions in Greco-Roman wrestling Listed arewrestlerswho were World or Olympic Champions inGreco-Roman wrestling. Greco-Roman wrestling competition was held at the first modernOlympicsin 1896. The Greco-RomanWorld Championshipswas first held in 1904. The World Championships takes place during non Olympic years. At the World Championships team scoring is kept, while no official team statistics are kept for the Olympics. World Level Champions in Greco-Roman Wrestling by Year and Weight Olympic Champions and Olympic competition years in Greco-Roman wrestling are highlighted in gold. 1896 1898 1904 1905 1906–1907 1908–1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1920 1921–1928 1932–1936 1948–1968 1969–1996 1997–2001 2002–2013 2014–2017 2018–2019 2021 2021–2024 Individual Multiple-Time World Level Champions 12 World Level Championships Aleksandr Karelin, 1988–1999 10 World Level Championships Mijaín López, 2005–2024 7 World Level Championships Valery Rezantsev, 1970–1976 Hamid Sourian, 2005–2014 6 World Level Championships Nikolai Balboshin, 1973–1979 5 World Level Championships István Kozma, 1962–1968 Roman Rurua, 1966–1970 Viktor Igumenov, 1966–1971 Petar Kirov, 1968–1974 Aleksandar Tomov, 1971–1979 Gogi Koguashvili, 1993–1999 Hamza Yerlikaya, 1993–2005 Armen Nazaryan, 1996–2005 Roman Vlasov, 2011–2021 Rıza Kayaalp, 2011–2022 Artur Aleksanyan, 2014–2022 Team Championships The list below includes unofficial championships won during the Olympic Games, although no official team statistics are kept during Olympic years. 54 World Level Championships ////1952–2021 7 World Level Championships 1908–1950 5 World Level Championships /1904–1920 /1911–1924 4 World Level Championships /1896–1928 3 World Level Championships 2001–2021 2006–2022 2012–2024 2 World Level Championships 1984–2007 1 World Level Championship 1907 1971 1996 2003 2005 2023 See also References Links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Mikhail Theodoropoulos Mikhail Theodoropoulos(born 1933) is a Greekwrestler. He competed in themen's Greco-Roman bantamweightat the1960 Summer Olympics. References This biographical article relating to a Greeksport wrestleror wrestling coach is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.","Wrestling at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's Greco-Roman bantamweight Themen's Greco-Roman bantamweightcompetition at the1960 Summer OlympicsinRometook place from 26 to 31 August at theBasilica of Maxentius. Nations were limited to one competitor.Bantamweightwas the second-lightest category, including wrestlers weighing 52 to 57 kilograms (114.6 to 125.7 lb). Competition format ThisGreco-Roman wrestlingcompetition continued to use the \"bad points\" elimination system introduced at the1928 Summer Olympicsfor Greco-Roman and at the1932 Summer Olympicsfor freestyle wrestling, though adjusted the point values slightly. Wins by fall continued to be worth 0 points and wins by decision continued to be worth 1 point. Losses by fall, however, were now worth 4 points (up from 3). Losses by decision were worth 3 points (consistent with most prior years, though in some losses by split decision had been worth only 2 points). Ties were now allowed, worth 2 points for each wrestler. The elimination threshold was also","threshold was also increased from 5 points to 6 points. The medal round concept, used in 1952 and 1956 requiring a round-robin amongst the medalists even if one or more finished a round with enough points for elimination, was used only if exactly three wrestlers remained after a round—if two competitors remained, they faced off head-to-head; if only one, he was the gold medalist. Results Round 1 Cañete withdrew after his bout. Schlechter was injured and could not continue. Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 The Official Report shows Vesterby (correctly) at 5 points after round 3, following 2 wins by decision and a loss by decision. After round 4, however, Vesterby is shown at 4 points even though his win by fall should have kept him at 5. There is no explanation for a wrestler receiving a reduction in bad points. Round 5 Vesterby's inexplicably reduced point total put him in a tie with Petrov for the bronze medal at 6 points. This tie was broken on head-to-head results; Petrov had defeated Vesterby in round 3. Vesterby","round 3. Vesterby would have finished in 4th place even were it not for the point reduction. Švec and Yılmaz were the ones ultimately affected by it, as they would have finished tied with Vesterby for 4th rather than tied only with each other for 5th. Round 6 References General","Greco-Roman wrestling Greco-Roman(American English),Graeco-Roman(British English), orclassic wrestling(Euro-English)is a style ofwrestlingthat is practiced worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first modernOlympic Gamesin 1896 and has been in every edition of the summer Olympics held since1904.This style of wrestling forbidsholdsbelow the waist, which is the main feature that differentiates it fromfreestyle wrestling(the other form of wrestling contested at the Olympics). This restriction results in an emphasis onthrows, because a wrestler cannot use trips tobring an opponent to the groundor hook/grab the opponent's leg to avoid being thrown. Greco-Roman wrestling is one of several forms of amateur competitive wrestling practiced internationally. The other wrestling disciplines sanctioned byUnited World Wrestlingare: men's freestyle wrestling, women's freestyle wrestling,grappling(submission wrestling),pankration,Alysh(belt wrestling), Pahlavani wrestling, andbeach wrestling. History The name","History The name \"Greco-Roman\" applied to this style of wrestling as a way of purporting it to be similar to the wrestling formerly found in the ancient civilizations surrounding theMediterranean Seaespecially at theancient GreekOlympics. At that time, the athletes initially wore skintight shorts but later wrestled each other naked. It is speculated that many styles of Europeanfolk wrestlingmay have spurred the origins of Greco-Roman wrestling.According toUnited World Wrestling, aNapoleonicsoldier named Jean Exbrayat first developed the style.Exbrayat performed in fairs and called his style of wrestling \"flat hand wrestling\" to distinguish it from other forms of hand-to-hand combat that allowed striking. In 1848, Exbrayat established the rule that no holds below the waist were to be allowed; neither were painful holds or torsions that would hurt the opponent. \"Flat hand wrestling\" or \"French wrestling\" (as the style became known) developed all throughout Europe and became a popular sport. The Italian","sport. The Italian wrestler Basilio Bartoletti first coined the term \"Greco-Roman\" for the sport to underline the interest in \"ancient values.\"Many others in the 18th and 20th centuries sought to add value to their contemporary athletic practices by finding some connections with ancient counterparts. The 18th century workGymnastics for YouthbyJohann Friedrich Guts Muthsdescribed a form of schoolboy wrestling called \"orthopale\" (used byPlatoto describe the standing part of wrestling) that did not mention any lower-body holds.Real ancient wrestling was quite different;seeGreek wrestling. The British never really enjoyed Greco-Roman wrestling in comparison to its less restrictive counterpart,freestyle wrestling, and neither did the Americans, despite the efforts ofWilliam Muldoon(a successful New York barroom freestyle wrestler who served in theFranco-Prussian Warand learned the style in France) to promote it in the United States after theCivil War.However, on the continent ofEurope, the style was highly","style was highly promoted. Almost all the continental European capital cities hosted international Greco-Roman tournaments in the 19th century, with much prize money given to the place winners. For example, theCzarof Russia paid 500 francs for wrestlers to train and compete in his tournament, with 5,000 francs awarded as a prize to the tournament winner. Greco-Roman wrestling soon became prestigious in continental Europe.It was the first style registered at the modernOlympic Games, beginning inAthensin 1896 with one heavyweight bout,and grew in popularity during the 20th century. It has always been featured in the Olympic Games, except during theParis Olympic Games in 1900and theSt. Louis Olympic Gamesof 1904, when freestyle first emerged as an Olympic sport. Perhaps the most well-known of Greco-Roman wrestlers in the 19th century wasGeorg Hackenschmidtborn inDorpat,Russian Empire, and nicknamed \"The Russian Lion\". Hackenschmidt in 1898 at the age of 21 and with 15 months of training defeated the experienced","the experienced Paul Pons in a match inSaint Petersburg, Russia. In 1900, he won professional tournaments in Moscow and St. Petersburg and a series of international tournaments after that. After defeatingTom Jenkins(from the United States) in both freestyle and Greco-Roman matches in England, Georg Hackenschmidt wrestled exclusively freestyle in order to compete better against English, Australian, and American opponents. Winning more than 2,000 victories in Greco-Roman and freestyle, Hackenschmidt served as thephysical educationadviser to theHouse of Lordsafter his retirement. Professional matches in Greco-Roman wrestling were known for their great brutality. Body slams, choke-holds, and head-butting was allowed, and even caustic substances were used to weaken the opponent. By the end of the 19th century, gouging with the nails, punching, and violently slamming the arms together around the opponent's stomach were forbidden. Greco-Roman matches were also famous for their length. Professionally, it was not","it was not uncommon for there to be matches lasting two or three hours. William Muldoon's bout withClarence Whistlerat the Terrace Garden Theater in New York lasted eight hours before ending in a draw. Even in the 1912 Olympics, a match betweenMartin Kleinof Russia (Estonia) andAlfred Asikainenof Finland lasted for eleven hours and forty minutes beforeMartin Kleinwon. He received the silver medal because he was too tired to compete in final match next day.That record was later published atGuinness World Records. TheInternational Amateur Wrestling Federation (IAWF)took over the regulation of Greco-Roman wrestling in 1921. Since then matches have been dramatically cut short, and today all movements that put the life or limb of the wrestler in jeopardy are forbidden.Professional wrestlerLou Thesz, who initially trained extensively in Greco-Roman, popularised the Greco-Romanbackdropduring early televised professional matches. In Olympic competition, countries of the formerSoviet Union,Bulgaria,Turkey,South","Korea,Romania,Japan,Sweden, andFinlandhave had great success.Carl Westergrenof Sweden won three Greco-Roman gold medals in 1920, 1924, and 1932, and was the first Greco-Roman wrestler to do so.Alexander Karelindid the same in 1988, 1992, and 1996.Ivar Johanssonof Sweden won gold medals in Greco-Roman in 1932 and 1936 and also a gold medal in freestyle in 1932. The United States Olympic delegation (exclusively wrestling freestyle before) first entered Greco-Roman wrestling in 1952 and has taken three gold medals, won bySteve FraserandJeffrey Blatnickin the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, and byRulon Gardnerat the 2000 Olympic Games inSydney, Australia. Weight classes Currently, international Greco-Roman wrestling is divided into five main age categories: U15, U17 (Cadets), U20 (Juniors), Seniors U23, or Seniors.For men, there is also a special category for some Greco-Roman competitions, \"Veterans\", for men ages 35 and older, presumably featuring the same weight classes as seniors.Also, all of the men's age","of the men's age categories and weight classes can be applied tofreestyle wrestling.Wrestlers after weigh-in may only wrestle in their own weight class. Wrestlers in the senior age category may wrestle up a weight class except for the heavyweight division (which starts at a weight more than 96 kg for the men).Different nations may have different weight classes and different age categories for their levels of Greco-Roman competition. Structure of tournament A typical international wrestling tournament takes place by direct elimination with an ideal number of wrestlers (4, 8, 16, 32, 64, etc.) in each weight class and age category competing for placement. The competition in each weight class takes place in one day.The day before the wrestling in a scheduled weight class and age category takes place, all the applicable wrestlers are examined by a physician and weighed-in. Each wrestler after being weighed on the scale then draws a token randomly that gives a certain number. If an ideal number is not reached to","is not reached to begin elimination rounds, aqualification roundwill take place to eliminate the excess number of wrestlers. For example, 22 wrestlers may weigh-in over the ideal number of 16 wrestlers. The six wrestlers who drew the highest numbers after 16 and the six wrestlers who drew the six numbers immediately before 17 would then wrestle in six matches in the qualification round. The winners of those matches would then go on to the elimination round. In the \"elimination round\", the ideal number of wrestlers then pair off and compete in matches until two victors emerge who will compete in the finals for first and second place. All of the wrestlers who lost to the two finals then have the chance to wrestle in a \"repechageround\". The repechage round begins with the wrestlers who lost to the two finalists at the lowest level of competition in the elimination round. The matches are paired off by the wrestlers who lost to one finalist and the wrestlers who lost to the other. The two wrestlers who win after","who win after every level of competition are the victors of the repechage round. In the \"finals\", the two victors of the elimination round compete for first and second place. In all rounds of the tournament, the wrestlers compete in matches paired off in the order of the numbers they drew after the weigh-in. After the finals match, the awards ceremony will take place. The first place and second place wrestlers will receive a gold and silver medal, respectively. (At the FILA World Championships, the first place wrestler will receive the World Championship Belt.) The two repechage round winners will each be awarded third place with a bronze medal. The two wrestlers who lost in the finals for the third place are awarded fifth place. From seventh place down, the wrestlers are ranked according to the classification points earned for their victories or losses. If there is a tie among wrestlers for classification points, the ranking is determined in this order from the highest to the lowest: Wrestlers who remained","who remained tied after that will be awarded placementsex aequo. Wrestlers classified from the fifth to the 10th place will receive a special diploma. The wrestling tournaments in theOlympic Gamesand the Senior and Junior World Championships are designed to take place over three days on three mats. Layout of the mat The match takes place on a thick rubber circular mat that is shock-absorbing to ensure safety. For the Olympic Games, all World Championships, and World Cups, the mat has to be new. The main wrestling area has a nine-meter diameter and is surrounded by a 1.5 meter border of the same thickness known as the \"protection area\". Inside the nine meter in diameter circle is a red band of one meter in width that is on the outer edge of the circle and is known as the \"red zone\". The red zone is used to help indicate passivity on the part of a wrestler; thus, it is also known as the \"passivity zone\". Inside the red zone is the \"central wrestling area\" which is seven meters in diameter. In the middle of the","the middle of the central wrestling area is the \"central circle\", which is one meter in diameter. The central circle is surrounded by a band 10 centimeters wide and is divided in half by a red line eight centimeters in width. The diagonally opposite corners of the mat are marked with the wrestlers' colors, red and blue. For competition in theOlympic Games, the World Championships, and the Continental Championships, the mat is installed on a platform no greater than 1.1 meters in height. If the mat lies on a podium and the protection margin (covering and free space around the mat) does not reach two meters, then the sides of the podium are covered with 45° (degree) inclined panels. In all cases, the color of the protection area is different from the color of the mat. Equipment The match A match is a competition between two individual wrestlers of the same weight class. In Greco-Roman wrestling, a jury (or team) of three officials (referees) is used. The referee controls the action in the center, blowing the","center, blowing the whistle to start and stop the action, and supervises the scoring of holds and infractions. The judge sits at the side of the mat, keeps score, and occasionally gives his approval when needed by the referee for various decisions. The mat chairman sits at the scoring table, keeps time, is responsible for declaring technical superiority, and supervises the work of the referee and judge. To call a fall, two of the three officials must agree (usually, the referee and either the judge or the mat chairman). Modern format In modern Greco-Roman wrestling, matches are contested over two three-minute halves with the winner being decided by fall, technical superiority or cumulative points across both periods (decision). The modern format emphasizes wrestling on the feet instead of mat wrestling (par terre); in contrast to the older format, par terre now only occurs as a result of a takedown/throw or when a wrestler commits an infraction (eg: passivity). Before each match, each wrestler's name is","wrestler's name is called, and the wrestler takes his place at the corner of the mat assigned to his color. The referee then calls them to his side at the center of the mat, shakes hands with them, inspects their apparel, and checks for any perspiration, oily or greasy substances, and any other infractions. The two wrestlers then greet each other, shake hands, and the referee blows his whistle to start the period.Upon conclusion of the match, the referee stands at the center of the mat facing the officials' table. Both wrestlers then shake hands, and stand on either side of the referee to await the decision. The referee then proclaims the winner by raising the winner's hand. Each wrestler then shakes hands with the referee and their opponent's coach. Old format Prior to recent rule changes, a wrestler wins the match when he has won the majority of periods. For example, if one competitor were to win the first period 1–0 and the second period 1–0, the match would be over. However, if the other competitor were","competitor were to win the second period, then a third and deciding period would result. Only a fall, injury default, or disqualification terminates the match; all other modes of victory result only in period termination. One side effect of this format is that it is possible for the losing wrestler to outscore the winner. For example, periods may be scored 3–2, 0–4, 1–0, leading to a total score of 4–6 but a win for the wrestler scoring fewer points.This format was changed Each Greco-Roman period is broken up into a phase for wrestling from the neutral position and a maximum of two par terre (ground wrestling) phases. During the wrestling phase from the neutral position, both wrestlers compete for takedowns and points for 60 seconds as usual. At the end of the first minute, in general, the wrestler who has scored the most points will receive the advantage in an Olympic lift from an open par terre position on the other wrestler. This position is known as \"par terre\". If neither wrestler at this point has any","this point has any points, the referee will toss a colored disk, with a red-colored side and a blue-colored side. The wrestler who won the colored disk toss will receive the advantage in the Olympic lift. The wrestler who lost the colored disk toss then places his hands and knees in the center circle, with the hands and knees at least 20 centimeters apart and the distance between the hands a maximum of 30 centimeters. The arms of that wrestler would be stretched out, the feet would not be crossed, and the thighs would be stretched out forming a 90-degree angle with the mat. The wrestler who won the colored disk toss would then be allowed to step beside the wrestler on the bottom, not touching him with his legs. If the wrestler who won the colored disk toss wished, he could place one knee on the mat. The top wrestler would then wrap his hands and arms around the bottom wrestler's waist and execute the Olympic lift (called an upside-down belt hold) at the beginning of the first 30 seconds. The bottom wrestler","The bottom wrestler could then attempt to defend himself. At the end of first thirty seconds, the clinch position is reversed with the other wrestler receiving the Olympic lift, and the period continuing for the remaining 30 seconds. The period is decided by who accumulated the most points during both standing and ground phases. During each ground phase, if the top wrestler cannot score, the other wrestler is awarded one point. In the case of no scoring moves being executed during either ground phase the score will be 1–1, and in this case generally the wrestler to score last will be awarded the period. Scoring In Greco-Roman wrestling, as well as in freestyle wrestling, points are awarded mostly on the basis of explosive action and risk. For example, when one wrestler performs a grand amplitude throw that brings his opponent into the danger position, he is awarded the greatest number of points that can be scored in one instance. Also, a wrestler who takes the risk to briefly roll on the mat (with his","the mat (with his shoulders in contact with the mat) could give a certain number of points to his opponent. Scoring can be accomplished in the following ways: Classification points are also awarded in an international wrestling tournament, which give most points to the winner and in some cases, one point to the loser depending on the outcome of the match and how the victory was attained. For example, a victory by fall would give the winner five classification points and the loser no points, while a match won by technical superiority with the loser scoring technical points would award three points to the winner and one point to loser. The full determinations for scoring are found inthe UWW International Wrestling Rules Victory conditions A match can be won in the following ways: Team scoring in tournaments In an international wrestling tournament, teams enter one wrestler at each weight class and score points based on the individual performances. For example, if a wrestler at the 60 kg weight class finishes","class finishes in first place, then his team will receive 10 points. If he were to finish in tenth place, then the team would only receive one. At the end of the tournament, each team's score is tallied, and the teams are then placed first, second, third, etc. Team competition Ateam competitionordual meetis a meeting between (typically two) teams in which individual wrestlers at a given weight class compete against each other. A team receives one point for each victory in a weight class regardless of the outcome. The team that scores the most points at the end of the matches wins the team competition. If there are two sets of competitions with one team winning thehomecompetition and one winning theawaycompetition, a third competition may take place to determine the winner for ranking purposes, or the ranking may take place by assessing in order: 1) the most victories by adding the points of the two matches; 2) the most points by fall, default, forfeit, or disqualification; 3) the most matches won by","most matches won by technical superiority; 4) the most periods won by technical superiority; 5) the most technical points won in all the competition; 6) the least technical points won in all the competition. This works similarly when more than two teams are involved in this predicament. Notable practitioners Olympic and world champions Mixed martial arts Professional wrestling See also References Further reading External links","List of World and Olympic Champions in Greco-Roman wrestling Listed arewrestlerswho were World or Olympic Champions inGreco-Roman wrestling. Greco-Roman wrestling competition was held at the first modernOlympicsin 1896. The Greco-RomanWorld Championshipswas first held in 1904. The World Championships takes place during non Olympic years. At the World Championships team scoring is kept, while no official team statistics are kept for the Olympics. World Level Champions in Greco-Roman Wrestling by Year and Weight Olympic Champions and Olympic competition years in Greco-Roman wrestling are highlighted in gold. 1896 1898 1904 1905 1906–1907 1908–1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1920 1921–1928 1932–1936 1948–1968 1969–1996 1997–2001 2002–2013 2014–2017 2018–2019 2021 2021–2024 Individual Multiple-Time World Level Champions 12 World Level Championships Aleksandr Karelin, 1988–1999 10 World Level Championships Mijaín López, 2005–2024 7 World Level Championships Valery Rezantsev, 1970–1976 Hamid Sourian, 2005–2014 6 World","2005–2014 6 World Level Championships Nikolai Balboshin, 1973–1979 5 World Level Championships István Kozma, 1962–1968 Roman Rurua, 1966–1970 Viktor Igumenov, 1966–1971 Petar Kirov, 1968–1974 Aleksandar Tomov, 1971–1979 Gogi Koguashvili, 1993–1999 Hamza Yerlikaya, 1993–2005 Armen Nazaryan, 1996–2005 Roman Vlasov, 2011–2021 Rıza Kayaalp, 2011–2022 Artur Aleksanyan, 2014–2022 Team Championships The list below includes unofficial championships won during the Olympic Games, although no official team statistics are kept during Olympic years. 54 World Level Championships ////1952–2021 7 World Level Championships 1908–1950 5 World Level Championships /1904–1920 /1911–1924 4 World Level Championships /1896–1928 3 World Level Championships 2001–2021 2006–2022 2012–2024 2 World Level Championships 1984–2007 1 World Level Championship 1907 1971 1996 2003 2005 2023 See also References Links"],"string":"[\n \"Mikhail Theodoropoulos Mikhail Theodoropoulos(born 1933) is a Greekwrestler. He competed in themen's Greco-Roman bantamweightat the1960 Summer Olympics. References This biographical article relating to a Greeksport wrestleror wrestling coach is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.\",\n \"Wrestling at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's Greco-Roman bantamweight Themen's Greco-Roman bantamweightcompetition at the1960 Summer OlympicsinRometook place from 26 to 31 August at theBasilica of Maxentius. Nations were limited to one competitor.Bantamweightwas the second-lightest category, including wrestlers weighing 52 to 57 kilograms (114.6 to 125.7 lb). Competition format ThisGreco-Roman wrestlingcompetition continued to use the \\\"bad points\\\" elimination system introduced at the1928 Summer Olympicsfor Greco-Roman and at the1932 Summer Olympicsfor freestyle wrestling, though adjusted the point values slightly. Wins by fall continued to be worth 0 points and wins by decision continued to be worth 1 point. Losses by fall, however, were now worth 4 points (up from 3). Losses by decision were worth 3 points (consistent with most prior years, though in some losses by split decision had been worth only 2 points). Ties were now allowed, worth 2 points for each wrestler. The elimination threshold was also\",\n \"threshold was also increased from 5 points to 6 points. The medal round concept, used in 1952 and 1956 requiring a round-robin amongst the medalists even if one or more finished a round with enough points for elimination, was used only if exactly three wrestlers remained after a round—if two competitors remained, they faced off head-to-head; if only one, he was the gold medalist. Results Round 1 Cañete withdrew after his bout. Schlechter was injured and could not continue. Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 The Official Report shows Vesterby (correctly) at 5 points after round 3, following 2 wins by decision and a loss by decision. After round 4, however, Vesterby is shown at 4 points even though his win by fall should have kept him at 5. There is no explanation for a wrestler receiving a reduction in bad points. Round 5 Vesterby's inexplicably reduced point total put him in a tie with Petrov for the bronze medal at 6 points. This tie was broken on head-to-head results; Petrov had defeated Vesterby in round 3. Vesterby\",\n \"round 3. Vesterby would have finished in 4th place even were it not for the point reduction. Švec and Yılmaz were the ones ultimately affected by it, as they would have finished tied with Vesterby for 4th rather than tied only with each other for 5th. Round 6 References General\",\n \"Greco-Roman wrestling Greco-Roman(American English),Graeco-Roman(British English), orclassic wrestling(Euro-English)is a style ofwrestlingthat is practiced worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first modernOlympic Gamesin 1896 and has been in every edition of the summer Olympics held since1904.This style of wrestling forbidsholdsbelow the waist, which is the main feature that differentiates it fromfreestyle wrestling(the other form of wrestling contested at the Olympics). This restriction results in an emphasis onthrows, because a wrestler cannot use trips tobring an opponent to the groundor hook/grab the opponent's leg to avoid being thrown. Greco-Roman wrestling is one of several forms of amateur competitive wrestling practiced internationally. The other wrestling disciplines sanctioned byUnited World Wrestlingare: men's freestyle wrestling, women's freestyle wrestling,grappling(submission wrestling),pankration,Alysh(belt wrestling), Pahlavani wrestling, andbeach wrestling. History The name\",\n \"History The name \\\"Greco-Roman\\\" applied to this style of wrestling as a way of purporting it to be similar to the wrestling formerly found in the ancient civilizations surrounding theMediterranean Seaespecially at theancient GreekOlympics. At that time, the athletes initially wore skintight shorts but later wrestled each other naked. It is speculated that many styles of Europeanfolk wrestlingmay have spurred the origins of Greco-Roman wrestling.According toUnited World Wrestling, aNapoleonicsoldier named Jean Exbrayat first developed the style.Exbrayat performed in fairs and called his style of wrestling \\\"flat hand wrestling\\\" to distinguish it from other forms of hand-to-hand combat that allowed striking. In 1848, Exbrayat established the rule that no holds below the waist were to be allowed; neither were painful holds or torsions that would hurt the opponent. \\\"Flat hand wrestling\\\" or \\\"French wrestling\\\" (as the style became known) developed all throughout Europe and became a popular sport. The Italian\",\n \"sport. The Italian wrestler Basilio Bartoletti first coined the term \\\"Greco-Roman\\\" for the sport to underline the interest in \\\"ancient values.\\\"Many others in the 18th and 20th centuries sought to add value to their contemporary athletic practices by finding some connections with ancient counterparts. The 18th century workGymnastics for YouthbyJohann Friedrich Guts Muthsdescribed a form of schoolboy wrestling called \\\"orthopale\\\" (used byPlatoto describe the standing part of wrestling) that did not mention any lower-body holds.Real ancient wrestling was quite different;seeGreek wrestling. The British never really enjoyed Greco-Roman wrestling in comparison to its less restrictive counterpart,freestyle wrestling, and neither did the Americans, despite the efforts ofWilliam Muldoon(a successful New York barroom freestyle wrestler who served in theFranco-Prussian Warand learned the style in France) to promote it in the United States after theCivil War.However, on the continent ofEurope, the style was highly\",\n \"style was highly promoted. Almost all the continental European capital cities hosted international Greco-Roman tournaments in the 19th century, with much prize money given to the place winners. For example, theCzarof Russia paid 500 francs for wrestlers to train and compete in his tournament, with 5,000 francs awarded as a prize to the tournament winner. Greco-Roman wrestling soon became prestigious in continental Europe.It was the first style registered at the modernOlympic Games, beginning inAthensin 1896 with one heavyweight bout,and grew in popularity during the 20th century. It has always been featured in the Olympic Games, except during theParis Olympic Games in 1900and theSt. Louis Olympic Gamesof 1904, when freestyle first emerged as an Olympic sport. Perhaps the most well-known of Greco-Roman wrestlers in the 19th century wasGeorg Hackenschmidtborn inDorpat,Russian Empire, and nicknamed \\\"The Russian Lion\\\". Hackenschmidt in 1898 at the age of 21 and with 15 months of training defeated the experienced\",\n \"the experienced Paul Pons in a match inSaint Petersburg, Russia. In 1900, he won professional tournaments in Moscow and St. Petersburg and a series of international tournaments after that. After defeatingTom Jenkins(from the United States) in both freestyle and Greco-Roman matches in England, Georg Hackenschmidt wrestled exclusively freestyle in order to compete better against English, Australian, and American opponents. Winning more than 2,000 victories in Greco-Roman and freestyle, Hackenschmidt served as thephysical educationadviser to theHouse of Lordsafter his retirement. Professional matches in Greco-Roman wrestling were known for their great brutality. Body slams, choke-holds, and head-butting was allowed, and even caustic substances were used to weaken the opponent. By the end of the 19th century, gouging with the nails, punching, and violently slamming the arms together around the opponent's stomach were forbidden. Greco-Roman matches were also famous for their length. Professionally, it was not\",\n \"it was not uncommon for there to be matches lasting two or three hours. William Muldoon's bout withClarence Whistlerat the Terrace Garden Theater in New York lasted eight hours before ending in a draw. Even in the 1912 Olympics, a match betweenMartin Kleinof Russia (Estonia) andAlfred Asikainenof Finland lasted for eleven hours and forty minutes beforeMartin Kleinwon. He received the silver medal because he was too tired to compete in final match next day.That record was later published atGuinness World Records. TheInternational Amateur Wrestling Federation (IAWF)took over the regulation of Greco-Roman wrestling in 1921. Since then matches have been dramatically cut short, and today all movements that put the life or limb of the wrestler in jeopardy are forbidden.Professional wrestlerLou Thesz, who initially trained extensively in Greco-Roman, popularised the Greco-Romanbackdropduring early televised professional matches. In Olympic competition, countries of the formerSoviet Union,Bulgaria,Turkey,South\",\n \"Korea,Romania,Japan,Sweden, andFinlandhave had great success.Carl Westergrenof Sweden won three Greco-Roman gold medals in 1920, 1924, and 1932, and was the first Greco-Roman wrestler to do so.Alexander Karelindid the same in 1988, 1992, and 1996.Ivar Johanssonof Sweden won gold medals in Greco-Roman in 1932 and 1936 and also a gold medal in freestyle in 1932. The United States Olympic delegation (exclusively wrestling freestyle before) first entered Greco-Roman wrestling in 1952 and has taken three gold medals, won bySteve FraserandJeffrey Blatnickin the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, and byRulon Gardnerat the 2000 Olympic Games inSydney, Australia. Weight classes Currently, international Greco-Roman wrestling is divided into five main age categories: U15, U17 (Cadets), U20 (Juniors), Seniors U23, or Seniors.For men, there is also a special category for some Greco-Roman competitions, \\\"Veterans\\\", for men ages 35 and older, presumably featuring the same weight classes as seniors.Also, all of the men's age\",\n \"of the men's age categories and weight classes can be applied tofreestyle wrestling.Wrestlers after weigh-in may only wrestle in their own weight class. Wrestlers in the senior age category may wrestle up a weight class except for the heavyweight division (which starts at a weight more than 96 kg for the men).Different nations may have different weight classes and different age categories for their levels of Greco-Roman competition. Structure of tournament A typical international wrestling tournament takes place by direct elimination with an ideal number of wrestlers (4, 8, 16, 32, 64, etc.) in each weight class and age category competing for placement. The competition in each weight class takes place in one day.The day before the wrestling in a scheduled weight class and age category takes place, all the applicable wrestlers are examined by a physician and weighed-in. Each wrestler after being weighed on the scale then draws a token randomly that gives a certain number. If an ideal number is not reached to\",\n \"is not reached to begin elimination rounds, aqualification roundwill take place to eliminate the excess number of wrestlers. For example, 22 wrestlers may weigh-in over the ideal number of 16 wrestlers. The six wrestlers who drew the highest numbers after 16 and the six wrestlers who drew the six numbers immediately before 17 would then wrestle in six matches in the qualification round. The winners of those matches would then go on to the elimination round. In the \\\"elimination round\\\", the ideal number of wrestlers then pair off and compete in matches until two victors emerge who will compete in the finals for first and second place. All of the wrestlers who lost to the two finals then have the chance to wrestle in a \\\"repechageround\\\". The repechage round begins with the wrestlers who lost to the two finalists at the lowest level of competition in the elimination round. The matches are paired off by the wrestlers who lost to one finalist and the wrestlers who lost to the other. The two wrestlers who win after\",\n \"who win after every level of competition are the victors of the repechage round. In the \\\"finals\\\", the two victors of the elimination round compete for first and second place. In all rounds of the tournament, the wrestlers compete in matches paired off in the order of the numbers they drew after the weigh-in. After the finals match, the awards ceremony will take place. The first place and second place wrestlers will receive a gold and silver medal, respectively. (At the FILA World Championships, the first place wrestler will receive the World Championship Belt.) The two repechage round winners will each be awarded third place with a bronze medal. The two wrestlers who lost in the finals for the third place are awarded fifth place. From seventh place down, the wrestlers are ranked according to the classification points earned for their victories or losses. If there is a tie among wrestlers for classification points, the ranking is determined in this order from the highest to the lowest: Wrestlers who remained\",\n \"who remained tied after that will be awarded placementsex aequo. Wrestlers classified from the fifth to the 10th place will receive a special diploma. The wrestling tournaments in theOlympic Gamesand the Senior and Junior World Championships are designed to take place over three days on three mats. Layout of the mat The match takes place on a thick rubber circular mat that is shock-absorbing to ensure safety. For the Olympic Games, all World Championships, and World Cups, the mat has to be new. The main wrestling area has a nine-meter diameter and is surrounded by a 1.5 meter border of the same thickness known as the \\\"protection area\\\". Inside the nine meter in diameter circle is a red band of one meter in width that is on the outer edge of the circle and is known as the \\\"red zone\\\". The red zone is used to help indicate passivity on the part of a wrestler; thus, it is also known as the \\\"passivity zone\\\". Inside the red zone is the \\\"central wrestling area\\\" which is seven meters in diameter. In the middle of the\",\n \"the middle of the central wrestling area is the \\\"central circle\\\", which is one meter in diameter. The central circle is surrounded by a band 10 centimeters wide and is divided in half by a red line eight centimeters in width. The diagonally opposite corners of the mat are marked with the wrestlers' colors, red and blue. For competition in theOlympic Games, the World Championships, and the Continental Championships, the mat is installed on a platform no greater than 1.1 meters in height. If the mat lies on a podium and the protection margin (covering and free space around the mat) does not reach two meters, then the sides of the podium are covered with 45° (degree) inclined panels. In all cases, the color of the protection area is different from the color of the mat. Equipment The match A match is a competition between two individual wrestlers of the same weight class. In Greco-Roman wrestling, a jury (or team) of three officials (referees) is used. The referee controls the action in the center, blowing the\",\n \"center, blowing the whistle to start and stop the action, and supervises the scoring of holds and infractions. The judge sits at the side of the mat, keeps score, and occasionally gives his approval when needed by the referee for various decisions. The mat chairman sits at the scoring table, keeps time, is responsible for declaring technical superiority, and supervises the work of the referee and judge. To call a fall, two of the three officials must agree (usually, the referee and either the judge or the mat chairman). Modern format In modern Greco-Roman wrestling, matches are contested over two three-minute halves with the winner being decided by fall, technical superiority or cumulative points across both periods (decision). The modern format emphasizes wrestling on the feet instead of mat wrestling (par terre); in contrast to the older format, par terre now only occurs as a result of a takedown/throw or when a wrestler commits an infraction (eg: passivity). Before each match, each wrestler's name is\",\n \"wrestler's name is called, and the wrestler takes his place at the corner of the mat assigned to his color. The referee then calls them to his side at the center of the mat, shakes hands with them, inspects their apparel, and checks for any perspiration, oily or greasy substances, and any other infractions. The two wrestlers then greet each other, shake hands, and the referee blows his whistle to start the period.Upon conclusion of the match, the referee stands at the center of the mat facing the officials' table. Both wrestlers then shake hands, and stand on either side of the referee to await the decision. The referee then proclaims the winner by raising the winner's hand. Each wrestler then shakes hands with the referee and their opponent's coach. Old format Prior to recent rule changes, a wrestler wins the match when he has won the majority of periods. For example, if one competitor were to win the first period 1–0 and the second period 1–0, the match would be over. However, if the other competitor were\",\n \"competitor were to win the second period, then a third and deciding period would result. Only a fall, injury default, or disqualification terminates the match; all other modes of victory result only in period termination. One side effect of this format is that it is possible for the losing wrestler to outscore the winner. For example, periods may be scored 3–2, 0–4, 1–0, leading to a total score of 4–6 but a win for the wrestler scoring fewer points.This format was changed Each Greco-Roman period is broken up into a phase for wrestling from the neutral position and a maximum of two par terre (ground wrestling) phases. During the wrestling phase from the neutral position, both wrestlers compete for takedowns and points for 60 seconds as usual. At the end of the first minute, in general, the wrestler who has scored the most points will receive the advantage in an Olympic lift from an open par terre position on the other wrestler. This position is known as \\\"par terre\\\". If neither wrestler at this point has any\",\n \"this point has any points, the referee will toss a colored disk, with a red-colored side and a blue-colored side. The wrestler who won the colored disk toss will receive the advantage in the Olympic lift. The wrestler who lost the colored disk toss then places his hands and knees in the center circle, with the hands and knees at least 20 centimeters apart and the distance between the hands a maximum of 30 centimeters. The arms of that wrestler would be stretched out, the feet would not be crossed, and the thighs would be stretched out forming a 90-degree angle with the mat. The wrestler who won the colored disk toss would then be allowed to step beside the wrestler on the bottom, not touching him with his legs. If the wrestler who won the colored disk toss wished, he could place one knee on the mat. The top wrestler would then wrap his hands and arms around the bottom wrestler's waist and execute the Olympic lift (called an upside-down belt hold) at the beginning of the first 30 seconds. The bottom wrestler\",\n \"The bottom wrestler could then attempt to defend himself. At the end of first thirty seconds, the clinch position is reversed with the other wrestler receiving the Olympic lift, and the period continuing for the remaining 30 seconds. The period is decided by who accumulated the most points during both standing and ground phases. During each ground phase, if the top wrestler cannot score, the other wrestler is awarded one point. In the case of no scoring moves being executed during either ground phase the score will be 1–1, and in this case generally the wrestler to score last will be awarded the period. Scoring In Greco-Roman wrestling, as well as in freestyle wrestling, points are awarded mostly on the basis of explosive action and risk. For example, when one wrestler performs a grand amplitude throw that brings his opponent into the danger position, he is awarded the greatest number of points that can be scored in one instance. Also, a wrestler who takes the risk to briefly roll on the mat (with his\",\n \"the mat (with his shoulders in contact with the mat) could give a certain number of points to his opponent. Scoring can be accomplished in the following ways: Classification points are also awarded in an international wrestling tournament, which give most points to the winner and in some cases, one point to the loser depending on the outcome of the match and how the victory was attained. For example, a victory by fall would give the winner five classification points and the loser no points, while a match won by technical superiority with the loser scoring technical points would award three points to the winner and one point to loser. The full determinations for scoring are found inthe UWW International Wrestling Rules Victory conditions A match can be won in the following ways: Team scoring in tournaments In an international wrestling tournament, teams enter one wrestler at each weight class and score points based on the individual performances. For example, if a wrestler at the 60 kg weight class finishes\",\n \"class finishes in first place, then his team will receive 10 points. If he were to finish in tenth place, then the team would only receive one. At the end of the tournament, each team's score is tallied, and the teams are then placed first, second, third, etc. Team competition Ateam competitionordual meetis a meeting between (typically two) teams in which individual wrestlers at a given weight class compete against each other. A team receives one point for each victory in a weight class regardless of the outcome. The team that scores the most points at the end of the matches wins the team competition. If there are two sets of competitions with one team winning thehomecompetition and one winning theawaycompetition, a third competition may take place to determine the winner for ranking purposes, or the ranking may take place by assessing in order: 1) the most victories by adding the points of the two matches; 2) the most points by fall, default, forfeit, or disqualification; 3) the most matches won by\",\n \"most matches won by technical superiority; 4) the most periods won by technical superiority; 5) the most technical points won in all the competition; 6) the least technical points won in all the competition. This works similarly when more than two teams are involved in this predicament. Notable practitioners Olympic and world champions Mixed martial arts Professional wrestling See also References Further reading External links\",\n \"List of World and Olympic Champions in Greco-Roman wrestling Listed arewrestlerswho were World or Olympic Champions inGreco-Roman wrestling. Greco-Roman wrestling competition was held at the first modernOlympicsin 1896. The Greco-RomanWorld Championshipswas first held in 1904. The World Championships takes place during non Olympic years. At the World Championships team scoring is kept, while no official team statistics are kept for the Olympics. World Level Champions in Greco-Roman Wrestling by Year and Weight Olympic Champions and Olympic competition years in Greco-Roman wrestling are highlighted in gold. 1896 1898 1904 1905 1906–1907 1908–1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1920 1921–1928 1932–1936 1948–1968 1969–1996 1997–2001 2002–2013 2014–2017 2018–2019 2021 2021–2024 Individual Multiple-Time World Level Champions 12 World Level Championships Aleksandr Karelin, 1988–1999 10 World Level Championships Mijaín López, 2005–2024 7 World Level Championships Valery Rezantsev, 1970–1976 Hamid Sourian, 2005–2014 6 World\",\n \"2005–2014 6 World Level Championships Nikolai Balboshin, 1973–1979 5 World Level Championships István Kozma, 1962–1968 Roman Rurua, 1966–1970 Viktor Igumenov, 1966–1971 Petar Kirov, 1968–1974 Aleksandar Tomov, 1971–1979 Gogi Koguashvili, 1993–1999 Hamza Yerlikaya, 1993–2005 Armen Nazaryan, 1996–2005 Roman Vlasov, 2011–2021 Rıza Kayaalp, 2011–2022 Artur Aleksanyan, 2014–2022 Team Championships The list below includes unofficial championships won during the Olympic Games, although no official team statistics are kept during Olympic years. 54 World Level Championships ////1952–2021 7 World Level Championships 1908–1950 5 World Level Championships /1904–1920 /1911–1924 4 World Level Championships /1896–1928 3 World Level Championships 2001–2021 2006–2022 2012–2024 2 World Level Championships 1984–2007 1 World Level Championship 1907 1971 1996 2003 2005 2023 See also References Links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":64,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"What is the difference in elevation between the respective peaks of Eggstock (Uri Alps) and Eggstock (Schwyzer Alps) in Switzerland? 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Produced byColumbia Pictures,Bona Film Group,Heyday Films, and Visiona Romantica and distributed bySony Pictures, it is a co-production between the United States, United Kingdom, and China. It features a largeensemble castled byLeonardo DiCaprio,Brad Pitt, andMargot Robbie. Set in 1969 Los Angeles, the film follows a fading actor and hisstunt doubleas they navigate therapidly changing film industry, with the threat of theTate murderslooming. Announced in July 2017, it is the first Tarantino film not to involveBobandHarvey Weinstein, as Tarantino ended his partnership with the brothers following thesexual abuse allegations against the latter. After a bidding war, the film was distributed bySony Pictures, which met Tarantino's demands includingfinal cut privilege. Pitt, DiCaprio, Robbie,Zoë Bell,Kurt Russell, and others joined the cast between January and June 2018.Principal photographylasted from June through November around Los Angeles.Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodis the final film to featureLuke Perry, who died on March 4, 2019, and it is dedicated to his memory. Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodpremiered at the2019 Cannes Film Festivalon May 21, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 26, 2019, and in the United Kingdom on August 14. It grossed $374 million worldwide and received acclaim from critics, with praise for Tarantino's direction and screenplay, the performances (particularly from DiCaprio and Pitt), cinematography, soundtrack, sound design, costume design, and production values. TheNational Board of Reviewand theAmerican Film InstitutenamedOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodone of the top-ten films of 2019.Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodwas nominated for ten awards at the92nd Academy Awards, winning two (Best Supporting Actorfor Pitt andBest Production Design), and receivednumerous other accolades.A novelization, written by Tarantino in his debut as an author, was published in 2021. Plot In February 1969,Hollywoodactor Rick Dalton, the former star of the 1950sWestern showBounty Law, copes with a fading career, his most recent roles beingguest appearancesas TV villains. Agent Marvin Schwarz advises him to makespaghetti Westernsin Italy, which Dalton considers beneath him. Dalton's best friend,stunt double, personal assistant, and driver is Cliff Booth – a World War II veteran, living in atrailerwith hispit bull, Brandy. Booth struggles to find stunt work amid rumors he murdered his wife. Meanwhile, Dalton hopes to revive his career by befriending young actressSharon Tateand her husband, directorRoman Polanski, who livenext door. While fixing the TV antenna atop Dalton's roof, Booth notices a hippie man,Charles Manson, arriving at the Polanski residence. Manson says he is looking for music producerTerry Melcher, who once lived there, but Tate's friendJay Sebringturns him away. While Tate watches herself inThe Wrecking Crewat theFox Bruin Theater, Booth gives a hitchhiker namedPussycata ride toSpahn Ranch, a former Western film set where Booth did stunt work. Booth checks onGeorge Spahn, the ranch's nearly blind owner, making sure thehippies living thereare not exploiting him. After discovering his car's tire has been punctured, Booth physically forces ranch hippieClemto change it. The hippies' leaderTexis summoned to deal with the situation but arrives as Booth is driving away. While filming a guest star role as a TV villain onLancer, Dalton forgets his lines. After berating himself, he returns to set and delivers a performance that impresses his young co-star, Trudi Frazer, and the director,Sam Wanamaker. Meanwhile, Schwarz books Dalton to star inSergio Corbucci's spaghetti western. Booth accompanies Dalton for the six month shoot in Italy, where Dalton films three additional movies and marries Italian starlet Francesca Capucci. Before returning to the US, Dalton tells Booth that he can no longer afford his salary, which Booth amicably understands. Returning to Los Angeles on August 8, 1969, Dalton and Booth go out drinking to commemorate their time together. Returning to Dalton's house, Booth smokes anLSD-laced cigarette and takes Brandy for a walk while Dalton makes margaritas. Manson's followers Tex,Sadie,Katie, andFlowerChildarrive tomurder the Tate house occupants. Hearing a car's loudmuffler, an enraged Dalton orders the group off the private street. Recognizing him, the Family members decide to kill him instead, after Sadie reasons that Hollywood has \"taught them to murder\". Flowerchild deserts them, speeding off with their car. Breaking into Dalton's house, they confront Capucci and Booth. Booth recognizes them from Spahn Ranch and orders Brandy to attack. Together they kill Tex and injure Sadie, though Booth is stabbed in the thigh and passes out after killing Katie. Sadie stumbles outside, alarming Dalton, who was in his pool, oblivious to the melee inside. Dalton retrieves a flamethrower movie prop from his shed and incinerates Sadie. After Booth is taken away in an ambulance, Sebring and Tate invite Dalton in for a drink. Cast Quentin Tarantinoportrays the director of Dalton's Red Apples cigarettes commercialand the voice ofBounty Law.MusicianToni Basilappears in the opening creditsPan Amscene dancing with Sharon Tate.Margot Robbie also briefly reprises her role as Laura Cameron, a stewardess from the TV seriesPan Am. Although her face is not seen, she makes and serves Dalton a cocktail on his flight home from Italy. Additionally, the film features appearances fromClifton Collins Jr.as Ernesto \"The Mexican\" Vaquero, a character onLancer,Omar Doomas Donnie, a biker onSpahn Ranch,Clu Gulager(in his last film role) as a book store owner,Perla Haney-Jardineas anLSD-selling hippie,Martin KoveandJames Remaras a Sheriff and \"Ugly Owl Hoot\", two characters onBounty Law,Brenda Vaccaroas Schwarz's wife Mary Alice, Tarantino's wifeDaniella Pickas Daphna Ben-Cobo, Dalton's co-star inNebraska Jim,Lew Temple,Vincent Laresca,JLouis Mills, andMaurice Compteas Land Pirates,Gabriela Floresas Maralu the Fiddle Player, andCorey BurtonasBounty LawPromo Announcer (voice).Ex–UFCstarKeith Jardineperformed stunts on the movie. An extended cut, released theatrically in October 2019, included an appearance byJames MarsdenasBurt Reynoldsand a voice over byWalton Goggins.Danny StrongandTim Rothshot scenes that were cut. Strong portrayedDean Martinand Paul Barabuta (based on Rudolph Altobelli), the homeowner of10050 Cielo Drive, while Roth portrayed Raymond,: page 123Sebring's English butler.Sebring had a butler in real life named Amos Russell who was interviewed by the police while investigating theTate murders.Despite being removed from the final theatrical cut of the film, Roth still received credit for acting in the film. Character details Fictional characters Rick Dalton Cliff Booth Other fictional characters Historical characters The Manson Family Production Writing and development The screenplay forOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodwas developed slowly over several years by Quentin Tarantino. While he knew he wanted it to be titledOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, evoking the idea of afairy tale, he publicly referred to the project asMagnum opus.The life of the work for the first five years was as anovel,which Tarantino considered to be an exploratory approach to the story, not yet having decided if it would be a screenplay. Tarantino tried other writing approaches: the early scene between Rick Dalton and Marvin Schwarz was originally written as a one-act play. Tarantino discovered the centerpiece for the work about 10 years previously while filmingDeath ProofwithKurt Russellwho had been working with the same stunt double, John Casino, for several years. Even though there was only a small bit for Casino to do, Tarantino was asked to use him, and agreed. The relationship fascinated Tarantino and inspired him to make a film about Hollywood.Tarantino stated, while Casino may have been a perfect double for Russell years earlier, when he met them, \"this was maybe the last or second-to-last thing they'd be doing together\". Tarantino first created stuntman Cliff Booth, giving him a massive backstory. Next, he created actorRick Daltonfor whom Booth would stunt double. Tarantino decided to have them beSharon Tate's next-door neighbors in 1969. The first plot point he developed was the ending, moving backwards from there, this being the first time Tarantino had worked this way. He thought of doing anElmore Leonard-type story, but realized he was confident enough in his characters to let them drive the film and let it be aday in the lifeof Booth, Dalton, and Tate. He would use sequences from Dalton's films for the action, inspired byRichard Rush's 1980 filmThe Stunt Man, which used the scenes from theWWImovie they were making within the film as the action.Further, to get his mind into Dalton, Tarantino wrote five episodes of the fictional television showBounty Law, in which Dalton had starred, having become fascinated with the amount of story crammed into half-hour episodes of 1950s western shows. Tarantino kept the only copy of the third act of the script in a safe to prevent it from being prematurely released.DiCaprio, Robbie, and Pitt were the only other people who read the entire script.In an interview withAdam Sandler, Pitt revealed that the only other copy of the script was burned by Tarantino. Pre-production and casting On July 11, 2017, it was reported that Tarantino's next film would be about theManson murders.HarveyandBob Weinsteinwould be involved,but it was not known whetherThe Weinstein Companywould distribute the film, as Tarantino sought to cast before sending a package to studios.Tarantino approachedBrad PittandJennifer Lawrencefor roles andMargot Robbiewas being considered for the role ofSharon Tate. After theHarvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations, Tarantino cut ties with Weinstein and sought a new distributor, after having worked with Weinstein for his entire career. At this point,Leonardo DiCapriowas revealed to be among a short list of actors Tarantino was considering.A short time later, reports circulated that studios were bidding for the film, and thatDavid Heymanhad joined as a producer, along with Tarantino andShannon McIntosh. On November 11, 2017,Sony Picturesannounced they would distribute the film, beatingWarner Bros.,Universal Pictures,Paramount Pictures,Annapurna PicturesandLionsgate.Tarantino's demands included a $95 million budget,final cut privilege, \"extraordinary creative controls\", 25% offirst-dollar gross, and the stipulation that the rights revert to him after 10 to 20 years. In January 2018, DiCaprio signed on, taking a pay cut to collaborate with Tarantino again.Al Pacinowas being considered for a role.On February 28, 2018, the film was titledOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, with Pitt cast as Cliff Booth.DiCaprio and Pitt were each paid $10 million.In March 2018, Robbie, who had expressed interest in working with Tarantino,signed to co-star as Sharon Tate,whileZoë Bellconfirmed she would appear.In May 2018,Tim Roth,Kurt Russell, andMichael Madsenjoined the cast.Timothy Olyphantwas also cast.In June 2018,Damian Lewis,Luke Perry,Emile Hirsch,Dakota Fanning,Clifton Collins Jr., Keith Jefferson,Nicholas Hammond, Pacino, andScoot McNairyjoined the cast.Spencer Garrett,James Remar, andMike Mohwere announced in July.In August 2018,Damon HerrimanasCharles Manson, andLena Dunham,Austin Butler,Danny Strong,Rafał Zawierucha,Rumer Willis,Dreama Walker, andMargaret Qualleywere cast. When Butler auditioned for the film, he was not aware of which character he was being considered for. Tarantino told him it was for a villain or a hero onLancer, when in fact it was forTex Watson. To prepare for her audition,Maya Hawkepracticed with her father,Ethan Hawke. She stated, \"He (Tarantino) actually organized a really amazing callback process that was unlike anything I've ever been through... except maybe auditioning for drama school.\" Willis auditioned for two roles, neither of which she got, but was later offered the part ofJoanna Pettet.Sydney Sweeneysaid everyone she auditioned with did so for the same character, then were told they could do extra credit. Some did artwork, and she wrote a letter in character.Julia Butterssays her sitcomAmerican Housewifewas on while Tarantino was writing her character, Trudi Frazer. He looked up and said, \"Maybe she can try this.\" Burt Reynoldswas cast asGeorge Spahnin May 2018, but died in September before he was able to film his scenes and was replaced byBruce Dern.Reynolds did a rehearsal and script reading, his last performance. After reading the script and learning that Pitt would be portraying Booth, Reynolds told Tarantino, \"You gotta have somebody say, 'You're pretty for a stunt guy.'\" The line appears in the film, spoken to Booth by Bruce Lee.The last thing Reynolds did before he died was run lines with his assistant forOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood. Tarantino initially approachedJennifer Lawrenceto portray Manson Family memberSqueaky Fromme, saying \"She was interested but something just didn't work out.\"Tarantino had also spoken toTom Cruiseabout playing Cliff Booth, who was being considered for the role.Charlie Daywas offered to audition for the part of Manson. Day did not show up to audition because he did not want to see himself in that role.Macaulay Culkinauditioned for an undisclosed role. It was his first audition in eight years.It was also initially reported that frequent Tarantino collaboratorSamuel L. Jacksonwas in talks for a role as the villain of aBounty Lawepisode. Filming and design When it came to the look of 1969 Hollywood in the film a large part of it was told through the memory of a child. Tarantino stated: the jumping off point was going to be my memory – as a six-year old sitting in the passenger seat of my stepfather'sKarmann Ghia. And even that shot, that kind of looks up at Cliff as he drives by theEarl Scheib, and all those signs, that's pretty much my perspective, being a little kid... Principal photographybegan on June 18, 2018, in Los Angeles, California, andwrappedon November 1, 2018.Tarantino's directive was to turn Los Angeles of 2018 into Los Angeles of 1969 withoutcomputer-generated imagery.For this, he tapped into previous collaborators for production: editorFred Raskin, cinematographerRobert Richardson, sound editorWylie Statemanand makeup artist Heba Thorisdottir. He also brought first-time collaborators, production designerBarbara Ling, based on her work recreating historical settings inThe Doors, and costume designerArianne Phillips.Despite Tarantino's intent, the production wound up using more than 75 digital visual effects shots byLuma PicturesandLola VFX, mainly to cover up modern billboards and erasing non-1960s buildings from driving shots. To film at thePussycat Theater, production designer Barbara Ling and her team coveredthe building'sLEDsignage and reattached the theater's iconic logo, rebuilding the letters and neon. Ling said the lettering on every marquee in the film is historically accurate. To restoreLarry Edmunds Bookshop, she reproduced the original storefront sign and tracked down period-appropriate merchandise, even recreating book covers. Her team restored theBruinandFox Villagetheaters, including their marquees, and the storefronts around them. Stan's Donuts, across the street from the Bruin, got a complete makeover. ThePlayboy Mansionscene was shot at the actual mansion.Tarantino was adamant about filming there, but it took a while to obtain permission since the mansion had been sold to a private owner followingHugh Hefner's death. Tarantino and Ling met with the new owner to discuss the parts they wanted to use, but he was reluctant since the property was in the middle of a renovation. After long negotiations he agreed, and Ling was able to dress the vacant mansion, front courtyard, and backyard for the party scene, evoking as much of the 1960s appearance of the mansion as possible.The dance sequence for the scene was choreographed byToni Basilwho knew Sharon Tate and once dated Jay Sebring.She also choreographed Dalton'sHullabalooscene.Though the film is set in 1969, the mansion was actually not acquired by Playboy until 1971, resulting in an obvious anachronism. Several important scenes were shot at theMusso & Frank Grill, which was a \"must have\" location for Tarantino according to Rick Schuler, supervising location manager. \"I feel so lucky that there's a place like the Musso & Frank Grill, one that exists now exactly how it has always been,\" Tarantino said. \"It was fantastic being able to shoot at an iconic landmark that is so authentic and connected to Hollywood.\" The scenes involving theTate–Polanski housewere not filmed at Cielo Drive, the winding street where the 3,200 square-foot house once stood. The house was razed in 1994 and replaced with a mansion nearly six times the size. Scenes involving the house were filmed at three different locations around Los Angeles: one for the interior, one for the exterior, and aUniversal Citylocation for the scenes depicting the iconic cul-de-sac driveway. Movie poster artistSteven Chorneycreated the poster forOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodas a reference toThe Mod Squad.He andRenato Casarocreated the posters for the movies within the film,Nebraska Jim,Operation Dyn-O-Mite,Uccidimi Subito Ringo Disse il Gringo,Hell-Fire Texas, andComanche Uprising, which was reprinted for Dalton's home parking spot.Madmagazine caricaturistTom Richmondcreated the covers ofMadandTV Guidefeaturing Dalton's Jake Cahill modeled after the art ofJack Davis. Tarantino told Richardson, \"I want to feel retro but I want to be contemporary.\" Richardson shot inKodak35mmwithPanavisioncameras and lenses, in order to weave time periods. ForBounty Lawthey shot in black and white, and brief sequences inSuper 8and16mmEktachrome. In the film,Lancerwas shot on a retrofitted Western Street backlot atUniversal Studios, designed by Ling. Richardson crossedLancerwithAlias Smith and Jonesfor the retro-future look Tarantino wanted. The way they filmedLancerwas not possible in 1969, but Tarantino wanted his personal touch on it. Richardson said that filming the movie touched him personally: \"The film speaks to all of us... We are all fragile beings with a limited time to achieve whatever it is we desire... that at any moment that place will shift... so take stock in life and have the courage to believe in yourself.\"In order to build theLancerset Ling watched \"Enormous amounts of episodes\" of the series. She built a western town filled withadobebuildings. ForBounty Law, she went for a dusty, dirty, earlyDeadwoodlook, to separate it from the \"MoneyedLancerworld\". Spahn Ranchwas recreated in detail over about a three-month period.A wildfire completely destroyed the ranch in 1970 so the scenes for the movie were filmed at nearbyCorriganville Movie RanchinSimi Valley, which was also amovie ranchat one time.Tarantino made sure to use a lot of dogs in the scenes. He said in real life many dogs lived on the ranch and made it feel alive. He even made sure there were dogs moving around in every shot. He was inspired to use the dogs in this manner from the wayFrancis Ford Coppolaused helicopters inApocalypse Nowduring theRobert Duvallscenes. To improve the use ofpractical effects, Leonardo DiCaprio was allowed to lightstunt coordinatorson fire while shooting scenes with a flamethrower.The exterior of theVan NuysDrive-in theaterscene was filmed at theParamountDrive-in theater since the Van Nuys Drive-in theater no longer exists.As the camera rises up over the theater, the shot transitions to a miniature set with toy cars.: 36:00–39:00For some of the driving scenes, theHollywood FreewayandMarina Freewayin Los Angeles were shut down for hours in order to fill them with vintage cars.The scene depicting Bruce Lee training Jay Sebring was filmed at Sebring's actual house. The scene in which Rick Dalton flubs his lines inLancerwas not in the screenplay but rather an idea DiCaprio had on set while filming. Afterwards Tarantino came up with the idea for Dalton's \"freakout\" scene in his trailer, taking inspiration fromRobert De Niro's performance inMartin Scorsese'sTaxi Driver. Tarantino stated, \"It's got to be likeTravis Bicklewhen he's in his apartment by himself.\" DiCaprio improvised the entire scene. Music The soundtrack from the film is a compilation album ofclassic rock, which includes multiple tracks fromPaul Revere & the Raiders, as well as 1960s radio ads and DJ patter. The film also contains numerous songs and scores not included on the soundtrack, including from artiststhe Mamas & the PapasandElmer Bernstein. Release Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodpremiered at theCannes Film Festivalon May 21, 2019, the 25th anniversary of Tarantino's premiere ofPulp Fictionat the festival.It was released theatrically in the United States on July 26, 2019, bySony Pictures Releasingunder itsColumbia Pictureslabel.The film was originally scheduled for release on August 9, 2019, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of theTate–LaBianca murders. Ateaser trailerwas released on March 20, 2019, featuring 1960s music bythe Mamas and the Papas(\"Straight Shooter\") and byLos Bravos(\"Bring a Little Lovin'\").The official trailer was released on May 21, 2019, featuring the songs \"Good Thing\" byPaul Revere & the Raiders, and \"Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show\" byNeil Diamond.The studio spent around $110 million marketing the film.An extended cut of the film featuring four additional scenes was released in theaters on October 25, 2019. Home media The film was released through digital retailers on November 22, 2019, and onBlu-ray,4K Ultra HD, andDVDon December 10. The 4K version is available as a regular version and a collector's edition.In April 2020,Media Play Newsmagazine announcedOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodearned Title of the Year and Best Theatrical Home release in the 10th annual Home Media Awards.Both the DVD and Blu-ray contain a deleted scene, in which Charles Manson confronts Paul Barabuta, portrayed byDanny Strong, the homeowner and caretaker of theTate-Polanski residence. Barabuta is based on the home's owner, Rudolph Altobelli, and its caretaker, William Garretson. Reception Box office Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodgrossed $142.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $232.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $374.6 million.By some estimates, the film needed to gross around $250 million worldwide in order tobreak-even,with others estimating it would need to make $400 million in order to turn a profit. In the United States and Canada, the film was projected to gross $30–40 million from 3,659 theaters in its opening weekend, with some projections having it as high as $50 million or as low as $25 million.The week of its release,Fandangoreported the film was the highest pre-seller of any Tarantino film.The film made $16.9 million on its first day, including $5.8 million from Thursday night previews (the highest total of Tarantino's career). It went on to debut to $41.1 million, finishing second behind holdoverThe Lion Kingand marking Tarantino's largest opening.Comscorereported that 47% of audience members went to see the film because of who the director was (compared to the typical 7%) and 37% went because of the cast (compared to normally 18%).The film grossed $20 million in its second weekend, representing a \"nice\" drop of just 51% and finishing third, and then made $11.6 million and $7.6 million the subsequent weekends.In its fifth weekend the film made $5 million, bringing its running domestic total to $123.1 million, becoming the second-highest of Tarantino's career behindDjango Unchained.In its ninth weekend, its global total earnings reached $329.4 million, surpassingInglourious Basterdsto become Tarantino's second-highest global grosser behindDjango Unchained. Critical response On thereview aggregatorwebsiteRotten Tomatoes, 86% of 584 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's consensus reads: \"Thrillingly unrestrained yet solidly crafted,Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodtempers Tarantino's provocative impulses with the clarity of a mature filmmaker's vision.\"Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 84 out of 100, based on 62 critics, indicating \"universal acclaim\".Audiences polled byCinemaScoregave it an average grade of \"B\" on an A+ to F scale, while those atPostTrakgave it an average of 4 out of 5 stars and a 58% \"definite recommend\". The Hollywood Reportersaid critics had \"an overall positive view\", with some calling it \"Tarantino's love letter to '60s L.A.,\" praising its cast and setting, while others were \"divided on its ending.\"ReelViews'James Berardinelliawarded the film 3.5 stars out of 4, saying it was \"made by a movie-lover for movie-lovers. And even those who don't qualify may still enjoy the hell out of it.\"RogerEbert.com's Brian Tallerico gave it four out of four stars, calling it \"layered and ambitious, the product of a confident filmmaker working with collaborators completely in tune with his vision\".TheChicago Sun-Times,Richard Roeperdescribed it as \"a brilliant and sometimes outrageously fantastic mash-up of real-life events and characters with pure fiction\", giving it full marks. Peter BradshawofThe Guardiangave it five out of five stars, praising Pitt and DiCaprio's performances and calling it \"Tarantino's dazzling LA redemption song\".Steve Pond ofTheWrapsaid: \"Big, brash, ridiculous, too long, and in the end invigorating, the film is a grand playground for its director to fetishize old pop culture and bring his gleeful perversity to the craft of moviemaking.\"Peter TraversofRolling Stoneawarded the film 4.5 out of 5 stars, remarking that \"All the actors, in roles large and small, bring their A games to the film. Two hours and 40 minutes can feel long for some. I wouldn't change a frame.\"Katie Rife ofThe A.V. Clubgave it a B+, noting \"The relationship between Rick and Cliff is at the emotional heart ofOnce Upon A Time... In Hollywood\" and calling it Tarantino's \"wistful midlife crisis movie\". InLittle White Lies,Christopher Hootondescribed it as \"occasionally tedious\" but \"constantly awe-inspiring\", noting it did not seem to be a \"love letter to Hollywood\" but an \"obituary for a moment in culture that looks unlikely to ever be resurrected.\"Writing forVariety,Owen Gleibermancalled it a \"heady engrossing collage of a film—but not, in the end, a masterpiece.\" Richard BrodyofThe New Yorkercalled it an \"obscenely regressive vision of the sixties\" that \"celebrates white-male stardom (and behind-the-scenes command) at the expense of everyone else.\"Caspar Salmon ofThe Guardiantook issue with the violence in the film, writing, \"Tarantino's filmography reveals a director in search of increasingly gruesome settings to validate his revenge fantasies and...blood-thirst.\" Accolades At the92nd Academy Awards,Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodreceived nominations forBest Picture,Best Director,Best Actor,Best Original Screenplay,Best Cinematography,Best Costume Design,Best Sound Editing, andBest Sound Mixing; and wonBest Supporting ActorandBest Production Design.The film's other nominations include tenBritish Academy Film Awards(winning one),twelveCritics' Choice Movie Awards(winning four),and fiveGolden Globe Awards(winning three).TheNational Board of Reviewincluded the film as one of thetop 10 films of the yearand awarded TarantinoBest Directorand PittBest Supporting Actor.TheAmerican Film Instituteincluded it as one of thetop 10 films of 2019.In December 2021, the film's screenplay was listed number twenty-two on theWriters Guild of America's \"101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century (So Far)\". Analysis Story, themes and character symbolism Dan Schindel ofHyperallergicwrote of the symbolism in the film'snostalgia. He wrote the detail is almost \"microscopic\", in its use of \"hundreds of periodephemera\" across various mediums, most of which is unrecognizable to most viewers. Schindel writes that these forgotten memories surround the character of Rick Dalton because he too is a piece of forgotten nostalgia. Schindel also writes about the dynamics between the characters. Dalton and Booth represent thedualityof attitudes towards \"their seeming impendingobsolesce.\" Booth being relaxed and accepting it and Dalton being fragile and insecure about it. As Dalton's whole life is about how he is perceived, he is obsessed with how he wishes to be perceived.Sharon Tate, also an actor, is filled with joy when she is able to see herself entertain a theater audience. But, Schindel says, that scene also humanizes her, making her a person, rather than the \"victim\" she has become. He also expresses that Dalton and Booth representOld Hollywood, while Tate representsNew Hollywoodand the future. Schindel states that Tarantino uses darkness, both for Booth and his questionable past as well as in theManson Family. While Booth's possible crimes shade the nostalgia, the Manson clan shades the future. In the end, however, not only are Booth and Dalton able to save the future, but Dalton becomes the hero he always wanted to be. Travis Woods also wrote of what the three characters represent and how it is demonstrated in the film. He states that the three leads represent the past, present, and future. Dalton is the past, stuck in a fading world and afraid to let go. Booth is the present, always living in the moment, and Tate the promise of a future on the rise. They also represent three class levels of Hollywood with Booth literally living in the shadows of the movie industry. His home is a trailer in the shadows of the Van Nuys Drive-In Theater. Woods also construes how Booth being the stunt double of Dalton is illustrated throughout. Dalton struggles with an emotional arc and change, while Booth clashes with danger and physical obstacles. Woods points out the actor's job is to provide the audience with the emotional arc, while the stuntman's job is to step in for the physicality and danger, as told to us in the first scene. This is shown when Dalton faces hisexistential fearson the set ofLancerby taking on a new acting challenge on a Western set and overcoming his fears and inner struggles. Meanwhile, Booth comes in to handle the dangerous stuff on another Western set where he also triumphs. While they both have their victories, Tate has hers as well by not only simply living her life but also by watching herself in a movie with an audience. Woods writes the finale ties it all together; \"How a stunt works, and fantasy is made real: the actor performs a scene all the way up to a threat of violence. There's a cut, and the stunt double enters the scene, stands in for the actor and cheats death.\" And so, Dalton fearlessly confronts the would-be killers outside of his home. After a cut, \"Booth enters the scene... cheats death,\" and handles the physical danger. At the end, Dalton re-enters and gets the glory. A feat that could not have been achieved by either the actor or stuntman alone, but only together. Woods concludes, this also represents the past and present \"uniting to allow for a better future\". \"The past leads to the present, and the present leads to the future, and all three are required for the narrative to continue.\" David G. Hughes wrote of the symbolized fantasy. He noted that Tate is a \"symbol ofeffervescent life, unadulterated joy, and graceful innocence,\"whileMichael Phillipsof theChicago Tribunesaw the character as aGoddess.However Hughes was much more interested in what Booth represents. He wrote how Dalton's stress and psychological issues prevent him from being a symbol of fantasy for the audience. Booth is the film's hero and simultaneously works loyally for Dalton from a place of low social standing. Hughes states this could be \"aMarxistpoint about invisible labor and theSubstructure.\" However, Hughes feels this does not work to engage the audience. He draws onSigmund Freudand hisPsychopathic Characters on the Stage. He says what makes Booth interesting and particularly Brad Pitt's portrayal of him issex appeal. Being handsome, strong, loyal, and courageous makes him desirable. Hughes states that Booth isLaura Mulvey's \"...perfect, ...complete, more powerful ideal ego.\" Tarantino has Booth fightBruce Leeto create themythof Booth. Hughes also writes that Booth embodies theBuddha's teachings onZen, but also that he is capable of \"barbaric violence\". These qualities make him the \"fantasy of righteous male power\". Hughes compares Booth toCharles Manson, saying both are violent outcasts who sit between the worlds of WesternRenaissanceandEastern philosophy. However, he says they are theantithesisof each other. While Booth has a code, Manson only serves himself. Manson \"is Hollywood's monster from theid is itsego idealand savior.\"ALos Angeles Catholic bishop,Robert Barron, praised the character of Cliff Booth as embodying the fourcardinal virtues. Naomi Fry ofThe New Yorkerwrote how the film is about the disposability of people in Hollywood. She sees Dalton and Tate as needing to be seen as their livelihoods depend on it and \"an actor onscreen as a conduit for own fantasies and those of others.\" Dalton feels he is no longer able to do this, and is tortured by the feeling. Booth has also been discarded by Hollywood to the point of Dalton having to beg for him to be used. Fry says of Dalton's career that there is \"a sense of the ruthlessness of Hollywood, whose denizens are devastated when the industry almost inevitably turns away its gaze.\" She also notes how Tarantino \"pulls a neat trick by casting DiCaprio and Pitt,\" two of the biggest movie stars as a has-been and a nobody. Armond WhiteandKyle SmithofNational Review, in separate reviews, interpreted and praised the film as being politicallyconservative, with Smith writing that \"It mercilessly sends up leftist values. In its foundations, it's so breathtakingly right-wing it could have been made byMel Gibson.\" The finale and the Manson Family TheologianDavid Bentley Hartwrote thatOnce Upon a Time\"exhibit a genuine ethicalpathos\" for its portrayal of \"cosmic justice\". Hart wrote how he was a child when the Tate murders occurred and that the Manson Family were \"the first monsters who ever truly terrified me and tormented me with nightmares.\" He remembers how the children at his school would tell the stories of the Manson Family murders. Hart praised the revisionism when \"Tarantino's version of the story unexpectedly veered away into some other, dreamlike, better world, where the monsters inadvertently passed through the wrong door and met the end they deserved.\" Hart states \"the artistic masterstroke\" comes in the end when Tate is heard \"as a disembodied voice... speaking from thatalternative reality, thatterrestrial paradisethat evil could not enter.\" Av Sinensky wrote about the ending of the film whenSusan Atkinsconcludes that the Manson Family members should kill Dalton because he played a character who killed people on TV, he \"taught them to kill.\" Sinensky notes that Tarantino is putting \"the words of his critics into the mouth of a Manson murderer,\" regarding his use offictional gratuitous violence.While David G. Hughes opined that Tarantino is using the scene to say that those who crusade against fictional violence are hypocrites and complicit in real violence. Hughes wrote that by switching the real-life violence by Manson Family members with movie violence instead directed at them, \"Tarantino is making a firm distinction between cruel real-world violence and ethical,catharticfantasy violence.\" Priscilla Page wrote how the Manson Family murders have become a myth and \"framed our understanding of what was happening in America and the world,\" and in the film Spahn Ranch represents the intersection of Hollywood fantasy \"and the dark underbelly of Los Angeles.\"Michael Phillips likened the Manson girls to \"strung outSirens,\"while Page stated how the Manson Family \"are ghosts haunting Spahn Ranch... Demons to beexorcised.\" Page notes how the final act accomplishes this exorcism and also the symbolism of Booth andTex Watsonpointing guns at each other. Watson's is real, just as the Manson Family's violence was. Booth's is not but rather a finger, as his violence is fictional. Through the fictional violence the myth of the Manson Family is purged. She writes the exorcism and revenge of the film are not only through the violence but also because \"the film denies Manson a meaningful presence,\" demythologizing him and \"reduc him to a cameo, expos the Manson Family as inept, and mak Sharon Tate the story's beating heart.\" Steven Boone referred to Dalton going to Tate's house as \"entering thegatesofCielo Drive'sHollywood heaven.\" Something his colleague Simon Abrams also alluded to when he commented, \"Jay Sebringinvites in for a drink like a hipperSt. Peter.\"Dan Schindel also saw Dalton's walk up Tate's driveway as \"anascent to heaven\", based on the \"rising camera movement\".Naomi Fry compared Dalton going through the gates as him entering theGarden of Eden. Writing in the academic journalAnimation,Jason Barkerdraws fromAristotle'sPoeticsto analyze in detail the film's use of \"cartoon violence\", speculating that such violence \"is more or less inversely related to the film's dramatic content\". Barker concludes that: \"Through self-indulgent, inane, insane and tyrannical cartoonism,Once Upon a Time. . . in Hollywoodpresents not so much a measure of contemporary violence, as a measure of indifference to violence: dramatic indifference and, perhaps, social indifference to a cartoon violence that is real in more ways than one.\" Booth's fantasy Multiple critics interpreted Cliff Booth as anunreliable narratorwhen it came to him remembering his fight with Bruce Lee. \"In the span of seconds\" the fight \"goes from being viewed by dozens of people to absolutely no one.\" The crowd just disappears which some believe shows the flashback to be a \"false memory\". The interpretation is that Booth is only remembering what he wants to and \"the purpose of that scene is to show us we can't trust Cliff.\" Steven HydenofUproxxinterpreted the ending of the film as a vision of Cliff Booth brought on through his consumption ofLSD. Hyden proposes that when Booth smokes the acid-cigarette and says, \"And away we go,\" it marks the beginning of his vision. He then leaves to take his dog Brandy for a walk, walking by the car of killers down the street who Hyden believes Booth sees in the car and recognizes fromSpahn Ranch. This allows Booth's imagination to run wild thanks to the acid. He imagines the killers in the car talking about his and Dalton's show,Bounty Law. He then imagines a scenario that lets him play out hisviolent fantasiesand allows Dalton to be a hero, using a flamethrower from a film he would never actually still own but which occupies a place in Booth's memory. Hyden writes that the ending is Booth'shallucinatory fantasythat allows him to stay employed by Dalton, while also allowing Dalton to be accepted by the New Hollywood elite, Sharon Tate. Also that in this fantasy Tate and members of the Manson Family are fans of Dalton, just as Booth is. Steven Boone ofThe Hollywood Reporteralso commented on the ending feeling like Booth's fantasy. About the ending, he wrote \"It's as if stuntman Cliff, a serene Hollywood foot soldier...was the editor here.\"Kyle Anderson theorized the ending is not only Booth's fantasy but Dalton's as well. He states that Booth's memory of fighting Lee is \"his twisted recollection of an event that probably didn't happen.\" Anderson notes that \"Cliff is a completepsychopath\" whose life has amounted to menial labor, while \"Rick a washed-up loser.\" The ending is not \"just a dream of what might have happened,\" it is Booth's and Dalton's dream. Booth gets to fulfill his hero fantasy and instead of Dalton losing his house and career he gets to be idolized and accepted by the \"cool kids\". Billie Booth Anna Swanson wrote about the death of Billie and how it is used to frame the rest of the film. She writes how Tarantino not showing us what happens is a deliberate decision and also an homage to the death of Marvin (Phil LaMarr) inPulp Fictionand the fact we do not know why Vincent Vega's (John Travolta) gun goes off and shoots Marvin. Within the film one can interpret Billie's death as Cliff's speargun accidentally going off in the same vein as Vincent's gun, or as a cold-blooded murder by Cliff and a cover up, or in a number of other scenarios. Swanson argues that which interpretation the individual viewer has will lead them to view the rest of the film through that lens and have a completely different experience than someone who views it alternatively. She notes we do not even know whose perspective the Billie Booth scene is from. It is a flashback within a flashback and so could be Cliff's memory but as it is told by Randy it could be his perspective based on what he heard. It could be what Cliff is imagining Randy is saying to Rick. It could even be an \"omniscientperspective\". If one views Cliff as innocent it makes him easier to like, and could be \"suggesting an innocent man's life can be ruined by unfortunate circumstances beyond his control.\" However, if one views Cliff as guilty, \"It's a depiction of the extent to which someone can literally get away with murder.\" In referencing the ending of the film, Swanson asks if Cliff is guilty, \"Are we supposed to forgive one death he caused because of the lives he saved?\" Swanson concludes that another purpose of the scene is to build up the theme of \"Hollywood mythology\". Referring to the scene's allusion toNatalie Wood, she writes \"the myths last, while the truth is lost in an ocean vaster than the rolling neon streets of the Hollywood of yore.\" Lindsey Romain says the scene is \"aRorschach Testfor the audience\". She argues that how the viewer interprets the scene changes the interpretation of the ending of the film. If Cliff murdered Billie then he is despicable and the killings he commits at the end are self-serving. However, if he is innocent then he is a hero. Romain writes \"either read is accurate, and both feel purposeful.\" By leaving Billie's death open-ended, Romain believes Tarantino is asking, \"IsOnce Upon a Time... in Hollywooda touchingfableabout reclaiming relevance, or a horror story about a business that forgives heinous acts the second righteousness is procured?\" Romain concludes that \"maybe it's both,\" and \"about art...about violence and how we participate in and consume it.\" Red Apple ad Writing forThe Washington Post, Sonny Bunch commented on the mid-credits Red Apple cigarettes advertisement scene. He believes it is a commentary of current filmmaking and a \"pitch-perfect parody of the films that have dominated box office charts in recent history.\" Bunch compares the fake ad to the real ones used as mid-credit scenes in theDC,Marvel, andFast & Furiousfranchises. The scenes in those films are used to advertise the next film in their franchise. He also notes how those ads tie their franchises' universes together just as Red Apple does with the Tarantino universe. Cultural references The title is a reference to directorSergio Leone'sOnce Upon a Time in the WestandOnce Upon a Time in America.On the poster of Dalton's filmRed Blood Red Skin, inspired byLand Raiders, he appears withTelly Savalas. The posters for the two films are the same, except with Dalton replacingGeorge Maharis.The movie Voytek Frykowski is watching isTeenage Monster, presented byhorror hostSeymour. Archive footage from many films is included inOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, includingC.C. and Company,Lady in Cement,Three in the Attic, andThe Wrecking Crew, in whichSharon Tateappears as Freya Carlson.Three scenes were digitally altered, replacing the original actors with Rick Dalton. One from an episode ofThe F.B.I., entitled \"All the Streets Are Silent\", in which Dalton appears as the character portrayed byBurt Reynoldsin the actual episode.Another fromDeath on the Run, with Dalton's face imposed overTy Hardin's.The third is fromThe Great Escape, with Dalton appearing asVirgil Hilts, the role made famous bySteve McQueen.ForThe 14 Fists of McCluskey, a World War IIfilm-within-the-filmstarring Dalton, footage and music fromHell Riveris used. Connections to other Tarantino films Cliff Booth is a reference to Brad Pitt's character in Tarantino'sInglourious Basterds, Lt.Aldo Raine, a special forces WWII veteran who takes the cover of a stuntman.One of Rick Dalton's Italian films in the movie is directed by real-life directorAntonio Margheriti. Antonio Margheriti is also used as an alias for Sgt.Donny Donowitz(Eli Roth) inInglourious Basterds.The scene involving Dalton playing a character who burns Nazis with a flamethrower is similar to the ending ofInglourious Basterds, which ends with Nazi leadership being burned to death. The final scene features Dalton in a commercial for fictional Red Apple cigarettes, which appear in many Tarantino films.Additionally another common Tarantino brandBig Kahuna Burgeris advertised on a billboard.When Dalton and Booth get back from Italy they walk by the blue mosaic wall inLAX, the same wall that the title character in Tarantino'sJackie Brown(Pam Grier) moves past in the opening credits of that film.The characters of stunt coordinator husband and wife, Randy (Kurt Russell) and Janet Lloyd (Zoë Bell) are an homage to characters in Tarantino'sDeath Proof; Stuntman Mike McKay (Russell) and Zoë Bell who plays herself, a stunt woman. In the film, Bruce Lee engages in a fight with Cliff Booth on the set ofThe Green Hornet.TheGreen Hornettheme songis featured in Tarantino'sKill Bill: Volume 1.The masks worn by the Crazy 88 gang in that film are the same as Lee's mask as Kato inThe Green Hornet.The car Booth drives is a 1964 blueVolkswagen Karmann Ghiaconvertible. It is the same year, color, make and model of the car thatBeatrix \"the Bride\" Kiddo(Uma Thurman) drives inKill Bill: Volume 2.Similarly, Rick Dalton's 1966Cadillac de Villeis the same car driven by Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) inReservoir Dogs. It was owned by Madsen. Historical accuracy and influence In a scene,Sharon Tategoes into Larry Edmunds Bookshop and purchases a copy ofTess of the d'Urbervilles.In real life, Tate gave a copy toRoman Polanskishortly before her death. In 1978 Polanski directed the film adaptation,Tess(1979), dedicating it to Tate. Tate and Polanski'sYorkie Terrierin the film is named \"Dr. Sapirstein\",as was Tate's Yorkie in real life, named after the doctor portrayed byRalph BellamyinRosemary's Baby.The carrier she puts the dog in is the one that Tate actually owned. In the film, Tate goes to seeThe Wrecking Crewat theFox Bruin Theater. She convinces the theater's employees that she stars in the movie after they fail to recognize her. Tarantino stated the scene came from a personal experience. WhenTrue Romancewas released, he saw it at the same theater, where he eventually convinced its employees that he wrote the script.: 39:00–42:00The outfitMargot Robbiewears in the scene is based on the one Tate wore inEye of the Devil. On the set ofBatman, for a crossover episode withThe Green Hornet,a fight was scripted withKato(Bruce Lee) losing toDick Grayson'sRobin(Burt Ward). When Lee received the script, he refused to do it, so it was changed to a draw. When the cameras rolled, Lee stalked Ward until Ward backed away. Lee laughed and told him he was \"lucky it is a TV show.\"StuntmanGene LeBellcarried Lee around in a Fireman's Carry when he first arrived onThe Green Hornetset in response to Lee being tough on stuntmen.In the film, stuntman Cliff Booth fights Lee on the set ofThe Green Hornet; the fight ends in a draw. Booth refers to Lee as \"Kato\". According to Rudolph Altobelli, who rentedthe houseto Polanski and Tate, in March 1969,Charles Mansonshowed up. Polanski's friend, Iranian photographer Shahrokh Hatami (who directed the short documentaryMia and Roman) also said he saw Manson enter the grounds. Hatami approached Manson, asking him what he wanted. He told Hatami he was looking forTerry Melcher. Hatami responded the house was the Polanski residence and perhaps Melcher lived in the guest house. Altobelli told Manson that Melcher no longer lived there.This happens in the film, withJay Sebringin place of Altobelli and Hatami. On the night ofAugust 8, 1969,Patricia Krenwinkel,Tex Watson, andSusan Atkinsbroke into Tate's house, murdering her and four others.: 176–180In the film, they go to Tate's house to commit the murders but instead end up breaking into Dalton's house after he interrupts them.Linda Kasabianwent along that night, though she did not murder anyone and stayed outside the whole time as a lookout. In the film, she goes along and does not murder anyone but takes off and does not stay.Watson told his victims, \"I'm the Devil, and I'm here to do the Devil's business.\" In the film, he says it to Cliff Booth. In the film, Atkins convinces the others to seek revenge by killing Rick Dalton, star of a TV western. Since TV taught them to kill, it is fitting they kill the guy from TV, and \"My idea is to kill the people who taught us to kill!\"In real life,Manson FamilymemberNancy Pitmansaid: \"We are what you have made us. We were brought up on your TV. We were brought up watchingGunsmokeandHave Gun – Will Travel.\"Sandra Goodsaid: \"You want to talk about devils and demonic and immorals and evil, go to Hollywood. We don't touch the evil of that world. We don't even skim it.\"In the film when the four Manson Family members who drive to Tate's house are sitting outside in their car, Rick Dalton comes out of his house and yells at them to leave. In real-life the four members stopped at the house of Rudolf Weber, down the street from Tate's house. Weber came out and yelled at them to leave. Weber told the police he was tired of hippies on his street. Clem Groganwas convicted of the murder of stuntmanDonald Sheaon Spahn Ranch, whom he repeatedly beat with a lead pipe.In the film, Grogan is instead beaten by stuntman Cliff Booth.The 1959Ford Galaxiedriven by the Manson Family is a detailed replica of the car used in the Tate–LaBianca murders. Car coordinator Steven Butcher found the actual car, but after a meeting with Tarantino, they decided using it would be \"too creepy\".Boeing 747sare used in several airliner scenes, but were not incommercial useuntil 1970;the film is set in 1969. Character controversies Bruce Lee The film's depiction ofBruce Leedrew criticism. In the film, Lee is asked on a film set whether he could defeatMuhammad Aliin a fight, to which he responds that he would \"make him a cripple\". Cliff responds with laughter, causing Lee to challenge him to a fight. Although Lee initially kicks Cliff to the ground, Cliff manages to throw Lee into the side of a car. Fans and contemporaries of Lee, including his protégéDan Inosanto, criticized the portrayal.Lee's daughterShannondescribed the depiction as \"an arrogant asshole who was full of hot air\" and that \"they didn't need to treat him in the way White Hollywood did when he was alive.\"Lee's student and friendKareem Abdul-Jabbar,who starred with Lee inGame of Death, stated that Tarantino's portrayal of Lee was \"sloppy and somewhat racist\". Mike Moh, who played Lee, said he was conflicted at first: \"Bruce in my mind was literally a God. didn't always have the most affection for stuntmen; he didn't respect all of them.\"He stated, \"Tarantino loves Bruce Lee; he reveres him.\"Brad Pitt and stunt coordinator Robert Alonzo objected to an extended version of the fight in which Lee loses.According to Lee's friend andThe Green HornetstuntmanGene LeBell, Lee had a reputation for \"kicking the shit out of the stuntmen. They couldn't convince him that he could go easy and it would still look great on film.\"In the 2018Bruce Lee: A Life, Lee's biographerMatthew Pollywrote, Lee would jump-kick people on the set. According to Lee's co-starVan Williams, it stopped when \"He dislocated jaw.\" Polly continued, \"Bruce insisted on close quarters combat. The stuntmen hated it.\" Williams said, \" ... didn't want to work on the show. They were tired of getting hurt.\" LeBell was tasked with \"calming Bruce down.\"According to Williams, Lee's treatment of stuntmen drove the show's stunt coordinatorBennie Dobbinsto want to fight . Tarantino responded, saying Lee was \"kind of an arrogant guy,\" and that Lee's widow,Linda, wrote in her 1975 bookBruce Lee: The Man Only I Knewthat he could beat Muhammad Ali.She wrote, \"Even the most scathing critics admitted that Bruce'sGung fuwas sensational. One critic wrote, 'Those who watched him would bet on Lee to render Cassius Clay (Ali) senseless if they were put in a room and told anything goes.'\"In 1972, Lee himself stated: \"Everybody says I must fight Ali some day. ... Look at my hand. That's a little Chinese hand. He'd kill me.\" Shannon filed a complaint with theChina Film Administrationaffecting the film's release in China unless alterations were made. After Tarantino refused to remove the scene, China cancelled the release of the film on October 18, 2019, one week before its release date there. Sharon Tate After being contacted over concerns, Tarantino invited a representative ofRoman Polanski,Sharon Tate'swidower, over to his house to read the script and report back to Polanski, to assure him \"he didn't have anything to worry about\". Tarantino stated: \"When it comes to Polanski, we're talking about a tragedy that would be unfathomable for most human beings,\" and that he did not contact him while writing it, as he did not want to cause him anxiety. Despite this, Polanski's wife,Emmanuelle Seigner, criticized Tarantino for using Polanski's likeness after the film's premiere. Debra Tate, Sharon's sister, initially opposed the film, saying it was exploitative and perpetuated mistruths: \"To celebrate the killers and the darkest portion of society as being sexy or acceptable in any way, shape or form is just perpetuating the worst of our society.\" After Tarantino contacted her and showed her the script, she withdrew her opposition, saying: \"This movie is not what people would expect it to be when you combine the Tarantino and Manson names.\" She felt that Tarantino was a \"very stand-up guy\"; after visiting the set, she was impressed by Robbie and lent her some of Sharon's jewelry and perfume to wear in the film. After the premiere, journalist Farah Nayeri asked Tarantino why Robbie had so few lines. Tarantino responded, \"I reject your hypothesis.\" Robbie elaborated, \"I think the moments on screen show those wonderful sides of could be adequately done without speaking.\"Tarantino said, \"I thought it would both be touching and pleasurable and also sad and melancholy to just spend a little time with , just existing... I wanted you to see Sharon a lot.\" Manson Family Charles Manson was convicted of the murders of Tate and four others, despite not being present, due mostly to a theory presented byprosecutorVincent Bugliosithat Manson was trying to instigate anapocalypticrace war, leaving only Black Muslims: 246and the Family. According to the theory, the Black Muslims: 246would eventually look to Manson to lead them. According to members of the Family –Paul Watkins,Juan FlynnandBarbara Hoyt– Manson referred to the race war asHelter Skelter, getting the name from thesong of the same name.: 244–247, 334, 361–362 Musician and filmmakerBoots Rileycriticized Tarantino's film for not portraying Bugliosi's Helter Skelter narrative, or depicting the Family aswhite supremacists,as didLorraine Aliof theLos Angeles Times, in which she wrote that portraying the Manson Family as hippies is \"a more bankable image than Manson the ignorant white supremacist.\" However, according to members of The Family –Susan Atkins,Leslie Van Houten,Patricia Krenwinkel,Catherine Share, andRuth Ann Moorehouse– theTate murderswere not perpetrated to start Helter Skelter, but as copycat murders mirroring that ofGary Hinman, in an attempt to convince police the killer was still at large,: 426–435and getBobby Beausoleilreleased from jail, as he was charged with Hinman's murder. He stated the murders had nothing to do with race. According toJay Sebring's protégé and business partnerJim Markham, who provided original Sebring hair products forOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, the murders were instigated by a drug deal gone bad, not a race war. He believes Manson was at Tate's house the day before the murders to sell drugs to Sebring and Voytek Frykowski, which resulted in the two beating Manson up.In his interview withTruman Capote, Beausoleil said, \"They burned people on dope deals. Sharon Tate and that gang.\" OnThe Joe Rogan Experience, Tarantino said he thought Bugliosi's theory was \"bullshit\". He believes Manson never sent anyone over to Tate's house to murder anyone, and that the murders happened spontaneously. Related projects Novels Once Upon a Time in Hollywood In November 2020, Tarantino signed a two-book deal withHarperCollins. On June 29, 2021, he published his first novel, an adaptation ofOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood.Theaudiobookis narrated byJennifer Jason Leighwho previously starred in Tarantino'sThe Hateful Eight.According to Tarantino, herHateful Eightcharacter Daisy Domergue was \"A Manson girl out west, likeSusan Atkinsor something.\" According to Tarantino, the novel is \"a complete rethinking of the entire story,\" and adds details to various sequences and characters, including multiple chapters dedicated to the backstory of Cliff Booth.The novel also departs from the film, the film's finale occurs towards the beginning of the novel, and its aftermath includes Rick Dalton earning newfound fame as a regular onThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.It also focuses onCharles Manson's pursuit of a music career,the \"inner worlds\" of Sharon Tate and Trudi Frazer,and has a whole chapter focused on actorAldo Ray.: 337–349 The Films of Rick Dalton In June 2021, Tarantino revealed he wrote and plans to publish a second novel connected toOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodabout the films of Rick Dalton.: 45:00–47:00The book details every film and TV series of Dalton's entire career, some of which are completely fictional but the majority of Dalton's work are real, with Dalton replacing the actors who actually starred in the films.: 46:00–48:00In it, Cliff Booth writes a film for Dalton featuring a flamethrower, which they produce and Dalton directs.: 47:00–49:00 Film and television Extended cut On August 5, 2019, it was announced that a four-hour cut of the film may be coming toNetflix.On January 3, 2020,Colliderconfirmed the statement in an interview with Quentin Tarantino, revealing the extended-cut ofOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodwould probably be available in approximately one year.In June 2021 Tarantino said the extended cut would probably be released \"in a couple of years.\" It will be around three hours and 20 minutes and be released theatrically.: 38:00–40:00 Bounty Law Also in 2019, Tarantino expressed interest in creating aBounty Lawtelevision series based on five half-hour scripts he wrote in preparation for the film and that he plans on writing three more episodes.Tarantino said he does not know who would play Jake Cahill, the lead but added \"if wants to do it that'd be great.\"The series would be shot inblack and whiteand follow the half-hour format ofWestern television showsfrom the 1950s.Scenes from the episodes already written appear inOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood. Tarantino plans on directing all episodes of the series. Lancer Tarantino hopesRobert Rodriguezwill turn Tarantino's version ofLancerinOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodinto a film.: 37:00–38:00 Stage In June 2021 Tarantino announced his plan to produce a stage adaptation ofOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood. He already wrote the play, which takes place inItaly. The entire second act consists of Rick Dalton, Marvin Schwarz, andSergio Corbuccihaving dinner inRome. In popular culture On August 6, 2021, the rock bandTwin Atlanticreleased aOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood-themedmusic videofor their song \"Bang On the Gong,\" with lead singer, Sam McTrusty taking inspiration from Rick Dalton. During the opening credits of the Japanese anime,Chainsaw Man, the opening scene of the movie has been referenced. See also Notes References External links","Julia Butters Julia Butters(born April 15, 2009) is an American actress. She is known for her role in the filmOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood(2019), for which she was nominated for theCritics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Actor/Actress, and for her role as Reggie Fabelman inThe Fabelmans(2022). Early life Butters was born inLos Angeles, California, to parents Lorelei and Darrin; her father is aDisney animatorwho has worked on films such asFrozenandRalph Breaks the Internet. Career Julia Butters began her career doing commercials. Her first speaking role was the role of Gabby inCriminal Minds.In 2016, Butters portrayed the recurring role of Ella in theAmazon Prime VideoseriesTransparent.Later that year, she began starring in theABCsitcomAmerican Housewifeas Anna-Kat Otto.WhenQuentin Tarantinowas writing the script of his ninth filmOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, he spotted Butters on television, and later cast her in the role of precocious child actress Trudi Fraser.After she received critical acclaim for this role, Butters decided to pursue similar opportunities, leading her to leaveAmerican Housewifeafter four seasons.In December 2020, Butters was cast inNetflix’sThe Gray Man.In June 2021, it was announced that Butters was cast inThe Fabelmans,Steven Spielberg's semi-autobiographical coming-of-age film as Reggie Fabelman, a character based on Spielberg's sisterAnne.In August 2022, Butters was cast as Lily in the filmQueen of Bones. Filmography Film Television Awards and nominations References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Once Upon a Time...in Hollywoodis a 2019comedy dramafilm written and directed byQuentin Tarantino. Produced byColumbia Pictures,Bona Film Group,Heyday Films, and Visiona Romantica and distributed bySony Pictures, it is a co-production between the United States, United Kingdom, and China. It features a largeensemble castled byLeonardo DiCaprio,Brad Pitt, andMargot Robbie. Set in 1969 Los Angeles, the film follows a fading actor and hisstunt doubleas they navigate therapidly changing film industry, with the threat of theTate murderslooming. Announced in July 2017, it is the first Tarantino film not to involveBobandHarvey Weinstein, as Tarantino ended his partnership with the brothers following thesexual abuse allegations against the latter. After a bidding war, the film was distributed bySony Pictures, which met Tarantino's demands includingfinal cut privilege. Pitt, DiCaprio, Robbie,Zoë Bell,Kurt Russell, and others joined the cast between January and June 2018.Principal photographylasted from June through November around Los Angeles.Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodis the final film to featureLuke Perry, who died on March 4, 2019, and it is dedicated to his memory. Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodpremiered at the2019 Cannes Film Festivalon May 21, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 26, 2019, and in the United Kingdom on August 14. It grossed $374 million worldwide and received acclaim from critics, with praise for Tarantino's direction and screenplay, the performances (particularly from DiCaprio and Pitt), cinematography, soundtrack, sound design, costume design, and production values. TheNational Board of Reviewand theAmerican Film InstitutenamedOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodone of the top-ten films of 2019.Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodwas nominated for ten awards at the92nd Academy Awards, winning two (Best Supporting Actorfor Pitt andBest Production Design), and receivednumerous other accolades.A novelization, written by Tarantino in his debut as an author, was published in 2021. Plot In February 1969,Hollywoodactor Rick Dalton, the former star of the 1950sWestern showBounty Law, copes with a fading career, his most recent roles beingguest appearancesas TV villains. Agent Marvin Schwarz advises him to makespaghetti Westernsin Italy, which Dalton considers beneath him. Dalton's best friend,stunt double, personal assistant, and driver is Cliff Booth – a World War II veteran, living in atrailerwith hispit bull, Brandy. Booth struggles to find stunt work amid rumors he murdered his wife. Meanwhile, Dalton hopes to revive his career by befriending young actressSharon Tateand her husband, directorRoman Polanski, who livenext door. While fixing the TV antenna atop Dalton's roof, Booth notices a hippie man,Charles Manson, arriving at the Polanski residence. Manson says he is looking for music producerTerry Melcher, who once lived there, but Tate's friendJay Sebringturns him away. While Tate watches herself inThe Wrecking Crewat theFox Bruin Theater, Booth gives a hitchhiker namedPussycata ride toSpahn Ranch, a former Western film set where Booth did stunt work. Booth checks onGeorge Spahn, the ranch's nearly blind owner, making sure thehippies living thereare not exploiting him. After discovering his car's tire has been punctured, Booth physically forces ranch hippieClemto change it. The hippies' leaderTexis summoned to deal with the situation but arrives as Booth is driving away. While filming a guest star role as a TV villain onLancer, Dalton forgets his lines. After berating himself, he returns to set and delivers a performance that impresses his young co-star, Trudi Frazer, and the director,Sam Wanamaker. Meanwhile, Schwarz books Dalton to star inSergio Corbucci's spaghetti western. Booth accompanies Dalton for the six month shoot in Italy, where Dalton films three additional movies and marries Italian starlet Francesca Capucci. Before returning to the US, Dalton tells Booth that he can no longer afford his salary, which Booth amicably understands. Returning to Los Angeles on August 8, 1969, Dalton and Booth go out drinking to commemorate their time together. Returning to Dalton's house, Booth smokes anLSD-laced cigarette and takes Brandy for a walk while Dalton makes margaritas. Manson's followers Tex,Sadie,Katie, andFlowerChildarrive tomurder the Tate house occupants. Hearing a car's loudmuffler, an enraged Dalton orders the group off the private street. Recognizing him, the Family members decide to kill him instead, after Sadie reasons that Hollywood has \\\"taught them to murder\\\". Flowerchild deserts them, speeding off with their car. Breaking into Dalton's house, they confront Capucci and Booth. Booth recognizes them from Spahn Ranch and orders Brandy to attack. Together they kill Tex and injure Sadie, though Booth is stabbed in the thigh and passes out after killing Katie. Sadie stumbles outside, alarming Dalton, who was in his pool, oblivious to the melee inside. Dalton retrieves a flamethrower movie prop from his shed and incinerates Sadie. After Booth is taken away in an ambulance, Sebring and Tate invite Dalton in for a drink. Cast Quentin Tarantinoportrays the director of Dalton's Red Apples cigarettes commercialand the voice ofBounty Law.MusicianToni Basilappears in the opening creditsPan Amscene dancing with Sharon Tate.Margot Robbie also briefly reprises her role as Laura Cameron, a stewardess from the TV seriesPan Am. Although her face is not seen, she makes and serves Dalton a cocktail on his flight home from Italy. Additionally, the film features appearances fromClifton Collins Jr.as Ernesto \\\"The Mexican\\\" Vaquero, a character onLancer,Omar Doomas Donnie, a biker onSpahn Ranch,Clu Gulager(in his last film role) as a book store owner,Perla Haney-Jardineas anLSD-selling hippie,Martin KoveandJames Remaras a Sheriff and \\\"Ugly Owl Hoot\\\", two characters onBounty Law,Brenda Vaccaroas Schwarz's wife Mary Alice, Tarantino's wifeDaniella Pickas Daphna Ben-Cobo, Dalton's co-star inNebraska Jim,Lew Temple,Vincent Laresca,JLouis Mills, andMaurice Compteas Land Pirates,Gabriela Floresas Maralu the Fiddle Player, andCorey BurtonasBounty LawPromo Announcer (voice).Ex–UFCstarKeith Jardineperformed stunts on the movie. An extended cut, released theatrically in October 2019, included an appearance byJames MarsdenasBurt Reynoldsand a voice over byWalton Goggins.Danny StrongandTim Rothshot scenes that were cut. Strong portrayedDean Martinand Paul Barabuta (based on Rudolph Altobelli), the homeowner of10050 Cielo Drive, while Roth portrayed Raymond,: page 123Sebring's English butler.Sebring had a butler in real life named Amos Russell who was interviewed by the police while investigating theTate murders.Despite being removed from the final theatrical cut of the film, Roth still received credit for acting in the film. Character details Fictional characters Rick Dalton Cliff Booth Other fictional characters Historical characters The Manson Family Production Writing and development The screenplay forOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodwas developed slowly over several years by Quentin Tarantino. While he knew he wanted it to be titledOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, evoking the idea of afairy tale, he publicly referred to the project asMagnum opus.The life of the work for the first five years was as anovel,which Tarantino considered to be an exploratory approach to the story, not yet having decided if it would be a screenplay. Tarantino tried other writing approaches: the early scene between Rick Dalton and Marvin Schwarz was originally written as a one-act play. Tarantino discovered the centerpiece for the work about 10 years previously while filmingDeath ProofwithKurt Russellwho had been working with the same stunt double, John Casino, for several years. Even though there was only a small bit for Casino to do, Tarantino was asked to use him, and agreed. The relationship fascinated Tarantino and inspired him to make a film about Hollywood.Tarantino stated, while Casino may have been a perfect double for Russell years earlier, when he met them, \\\"this was maybe the last or second-to-last thing they'd be doing together\\\". Tarantino first created stuntman Cliff Booth, giving him a massive backstory. Next, he created actorRick Daltonfor whom Booth would stunt double. Tarantino decided to have them beSharon Tate's next-door neighbors in 1969. The first plot point he developed was the ending, moving backwards from there, this being the first time Tarantino had worked this way. He thought of doing anElmore Leonard-type story, but realized he was confident enough in his characters to let them drive the film and let it be aday in the lifeof Booth, Dalton, and Tate. He would use sequences from Dalton's films for the action, inspired byRichard Rush's 1980 filmThe Stunt Man, which used the scenes from theWWImovie they were making within the film as the action.Further, to get his mind into Dalton, Tarantino wrote five episodes of the fictional television showBounty Law, in which Dalton had starred, having become fascinated with the amount of story crammed into half-hour episodes of 1950s western shows. Tarantino kept the only copy of the third act of the script in a safe to prevent it from being prematurely released.DiCaprio, Robbie, and Pitt were the only other people who read the entire script.In an interview withAdam Sandler, Pitt revealed that the only other copy of the script was burned by Tarantino. Pre-production and casting On July 11, 2017, it was reported that Tarantino's next film would be about theManson murders.HarveyandBob Weinsteinwould be involved,but it was not known whetherThe Weinstein Companywould distribute the film, as Tarantino sought to cast before sending a package to studios.Tarantino approachedBrad PittandJennifer Lawrencefor roles andMargot Robbiewas being considered for the role ofSharon Tate. After theHarvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations, Tarantino cut ties with Weinstein and sought a new distributor, after having worked with Weinstein for his entire career. At this point,Leonardo DiCapriowas revealed to be among a short list of actors Tarantino was considering.A short time later, reports circulated that studios were bidding for the film, and thatDavid Heymanhad joined as a producer, along with Tarantino andShannon McIntosh. On November 11, 2017,Sony Picturesannounced they would distribute the film, beatingWarner Bros.,Universal Pictures,Paramount Pictures,Annapurna PicturesandLionsgate.Tarantino's demands included a $95 million budget,final cut privilege, \\\"extraordinary creative controls\\\", 25% offirst-dollar gross, and the stipulation that the rights revert to him after 10 to 20 years. In January 2018, DiCaprio signed on, taking a pay cut to collaborate with Tarantino again.Al Pacinowas being considered for a role.On February 28, 2018, the film was titledOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, with Pitt cast as Cliff Booth.DiCaprio and Pitt were each paid $10 million.In March 2018, Robbie, who had expressed interest in working with Tarantino,signed to co-star as Sharon Tate,whileZoë Bellconfirmed she would appear.In May 2018,Tim Roth,Kurt Russell, andMichael Madsenjoined the cast.Timothy Olyphantwas also cast.In June 2018,Damian Lewis,Luke Perry,Emile Hirsch,Dakota Fanning,Clifton Collins Jr., Keith Jefferson,Nicholas Hammond, Pacino, andScoot McNairyjoined the cast.Spencer Garrett,James Remar, andMike Mohwere announced in July.In August 2018,Damon HerrimanasCharles Manson, andLena Dunham,Austin Butler,Danny Strong,Rafał Zawierucha,Rumer Willis,Dreama Walker, andMargaret Qualleywere cast. When Butler auditioned for the film, he was not aware of which character he was being considered for. Tarantino told him it was for a villain or a hero onLancer, when in fact it was forTex Watson. To prepare for her audition,Maya Hawkepracticed with her father,Ethan Hawke. She stated, \\\"He (Tarantino) actually organized a really amazing callback process that was unlike anything I've ever been through... except maybe auditioning for drama school.\\\" Willis auditioned for two roles, neither of which she got, but was later offered the part ofJoanna Pettet.Sydney Sweeneysaid everyone she auditioned with did so for the same character, then were told they could do extra credit. Some did artwork, and she wrote a letter in character.Julia Butterssays her sitcomAmerican Housewifewas on while Tarantino was writing her character, Trudi Frazer. He looked up and said, \\\"Maybe she can try this.\\\" Burt Reynoldswas cast asGeorge Spahnin May 2018, but died in September before he was able to film his scenes and was replaced byBruce Dern.Reynolds did a rehearsal and script reading, his last performance. After reading the script and learning that Pitt would be portraying Booth, Reynolds told Tarantino, \\\"You gotta have somebody say, 'You're pretty for a stunt guy.'\\\" The line appears in the film, spoken to Booth by Bruce Lee.The last thing Reynolds did before he died was run lines with his assistant forOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood. Tarantino initially approachedJennifer Lawrenceto portray Manson Family memberSqueaky Fromme, saying \\\"She was interested but something just didn't work out.\\\"Tarantino had also spoken toTom Cruiseabout playing Cliff Booth, who was being considered for the role.Charlie Daywas offered to audition for the part of Manson. Day did not show up to audition because he did not want to see himself in that role.Macaulay Culkinauditioned for an undisclosed role. It was his first audition in eight years.It was also initially reported that frequent Tarantino collaboratorSamuel L. Jacksonwas in talks for a role as the villain of aBounty Lawepisode. Filming and design When it came to the look of 1969 Hollywood in the film a large part of it was told through the memory of a child. Tarantino stated: the jumping off point was going to be my memory – as a six-year old sitting in the passenger seat of my stepfather'sKarmann Ghia. And even that shot, that kind of looks up at Cliff as he drives by theEarl Scheib, and all those signs, that's pretty much my perspective, being a little kid... Principal photographybegan on June 18, 2018, in Los Angeles, California, andwrappedon November 1, 2018.Tarantino's directive was to turn Los Angeles of 2018 into Los Angeles of 1969 withoutcomputer-generated imagery.For this, he tapped into previous collaborators for production: editorFred Raskin, cinematographerRobert Richardson, sound editorWylie Statemanand makeup artist Heba Thorisdottir. He also brought first-time collaborators, production designerBarbara Ling, based on her work recreating historical settings inThe Doors, and costume designerArianne Phillips.Despite Tarantino's intent, the production wound up using more than 75 digital visual effects shots byLuma PicturesandLola VFX, mainly to cover up modern billboards and erasing non-1960s buildings from driving shots. To film at thePussycat Theater, production designer Barbara Ling and her team coveredthe building'sLEDsignage and reattached the theater's iconic logo, rebuilding the letters and neon. Ling said the lettering on every marquee in the film is historically accurate. To restoreLarry Edmunds Bookshop, she reproduced the original storefront sign and tracked down period-appropriate merchandise, even recreating book covers. Her team restored theBruinandFox Villagetheaters, including their marquees, and the storefronts around them. Stan's Donuts, across the street from the Bruin, got a complete makeover. ThePlayboy Mansionscene was shot at the actual mansion.Tarantino was adamant about filming there, but it took a while to obtain permission since the mansion had been sold to a private owner followingHugh Hefner's death. Tarantino and Ling met with the new owner to discuss the parts they wanted to use, but he was reluctant since the property was in the middle of a renovation. After long negotiations he agreed, and Ling was able to dress the vacant mansion, front courtyard, and backyard for the party scene, evoking as much of the 1960s appearance of the mansion as possible.The dance sequence for the scene was choreographed byToni Basilwho knew Sharon Tate and once dated Jay Sebring.She also choreographed Dalton'sHullabalooscene.Though the film is set in 1969, the mansion was actually not acquired by Playboy until 1971, resulting in an obvious anachronism. Several important scenes were shot at theMusso & Frank Grill, which was a \\\"must have\\\" location for Tarantino according to Rick Schuler, supervising location manager. \\\"I feel so lucky that there's a place like the Musso & Frank Grill, one that exists now exactly how it has always been,\\\" Tarantino said. \\\"It was fantastic being able to shoot at an iconic landmark that is so authentic and connected to Hollywood.\\\" The scenes involving theTate–Polanski housewere not filmed at Cielo Drive, the winding street where the 3,200 square-foot house once stood. The house was razed in 1994 and replaced with a mansion nearly six times the size. Scenes involving the house were filmed at three different locations around Los Angeles: one for the interior, one for the exterior, and aUniversal Citylocation for the scenes depicting the iconic cul-de-sac driveway. Movie poster artistSteven Chorneycreated the poster forOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodas a reference toThe Mod Squad.He andRenato Casarocreated the posters for the movies within the film,Nebraska Jim,Operation Dyn-O-Mite,Uccidimi Subito Ringo Disse il Gringo,Hell-Fire Texas, andComanche Uprising, which was reprinted for Dalton's home parking spot.Madmagazine caricaturistTom Richmondcreated the covers ofMadandTV Guidefeaturing Dalton's Jake Cahill modeled after the art ofJack Davis. Tarantino told Richardson, \\\"I want to feel retro but I want to be contemporary.\\\" Richardson shot inKodak35mmwithPanavisioncameras and lenses, in order to weave time periods. ForBounty Lawthey shot in black and white, and brief sequences inSuper 8and16mmEktachrome. In the film,Lancerwas shot on a retrofitted Western Street backlot atUniversal Studios, designed by Ling. Richardson crossedLancerwithAlias Smith and Jonesfor the retro-future look Tarantino wanted. The way they filmedLancerwas not possible in 1969, but Tarantino wanted his personal touch on it. Richardson said that filming the movie touched him personally: \\\"The film speaks to all of us... We are all fragile beings with a limited time to achieve whatever it is we desire... that at any moment that place will shift... so take stock in life and have the courage to believe in yourself.\\\"In order to build theLancerset Ling watched \\\"Enormous amounts of episodes\\\" of the series. She built a western town filled withadobebuildings. ForBounty Law, she went for a dusty, dirty, earlyDeadwoodlook, to separate it from the \\\"MoneyedLancerworld\\\". Spahn Ranchwas recreated in detail over about a three-month period.A wildfire completely destroyed the ranch in 1970 so the scenes for the movie were filmed at nearbyCorriganville Movie RanchinSimi Valley, which was also amovie ranchat one time.Tarantino made sure to use a lot of dogs in the scenes. He said in real life many dogs lived on the ranch and made it feel alive. He even made sure there were dogs moving around in every shot. He was inspired to use the dogs in this manner from the wayFrancis Ford Coppolaused helicopters inApocalypse Nowduring theRobert Duvallscenes. To improve the use ofpractical effects, Leonardo DiCaprio was allowed to lightstunt coordinatorson fire while shooting scenes with a flamethrower.The exterior of theVan NuysDrive-in theaterscene was filmed at theParamountDrive-in theater since the Van Nuys Drive-in theater no longer exists.As the camera rises up over the theater, the shot transitions to a miniature set with toy cars.: 36:00–39:00For some of the driving scenes, theHollywood FreewayandMarina Freewayin Los Angeles were shut down for hours in order to fill them with vintage cars.The scene depicting Bruce Lee training Jay Sebring was filmed at Sebring's actual house. The scene in which Rick Dalton flubs his lines inLancerwas not in the screenplay but rather an idea DiCaprio had on set while filming. Afterwards Tarantino came up with the idea for Dalton's \\\"freakout\\\" scene in his trailer, taking inspiration fromRobert De Niro's performance inMartin Scorsese'sTaxi Driver. Tarantino stated, \\\"It's got to be likeTravis Bicklewhen he's in his apartment by himself.\\\" DiCaprio improvised the entire scene. Music The soundtrack from the film is a compilation album ofclassic rock, which includes multiple tracks fromPaul Revere & the Raiders, as well as 1960s radio ads and DJ patter. The film also contains numerous songs and scores not included on the soundtrack, including from artiststhe Mamas & the PapasandElmer Bernstein. Release Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodpremiered at theCannes Film Festivalon May 21, 2019, the 25th anniversary of Tarantino's premiere ofPulp Fictionat the festival.It was released theatrically in the United States on July 26, 2019, bySony Pictures Releasingunder itsColumbia Pictureslabel.The film was originally scheduled for release on August 9, 2019, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of theTate–LaBianca murders. Ateaser trailerwas released on March 20, 2019, featuring 1960s music bythe Mamas and the Papas(\\\"Straight Shooter\\\") and byLos Bravos(\\\"Bring a Little Lovin'\\\").The official trailer was released on May 21, 2019, featuring the songs \\\"Good Thing\\\" byPaul Revere & the Raiders, and \\\"Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show\\\" byNeil Diamond.The studio spent around $110 million marketing the film.An extended cut of the film featuring four additional scenes was released in theaters on October 25, 2019. Home media The film was released through digital retailers on November 22, 2019, and onBlu-ray,4K Ultra HD, andDVDon December 10. The 4K version is available as a regular version and a collector's edition.In April 2020,Media Play Newsmagazine announcedOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodearned Title of the Year and Best Theatrical Home release in the 10th annual Home Media Awards.Both the DVD and Blu-ray contain a deleted scene, in which Charles Manson confronts Paul Barabuta, portrayed byDanny Strong, the homeowner and caretaker of theTate-Polanski residence. Barabuta is based on the home's owner, Rudolph Altobelli, and its caretaker, William Garretson. Reception Box office Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodgrossed $142.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $232.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $374.6 million.By some estimates, the film needed to gross around $250 million worldwide in order tobreak-even,with others estimating it would need to make $400 million in order to turn a profit. In the United States and Canada, the film was projected to gross $30–40 million from 3,659 theaters in its opening weekend, with some projections having it as high as $50 million or as low as $25 million.The week of its release,Fandangoreported the film was the highest pre-seller of any Tarantino film.The film made $16.9 million on its first day, including $5.8 million from Thursday night previews (the highest total of Tarantino's career). It went on to debut to $41.1 million, finishing second behind holdoverThe Lion Kingand marking Tarantino's largest opening.Comscorereported that 47% of audience members went to see the film because of who the director was (compared to the typical 7%) and 37% went because of the cast (compared to normally 18%).The film grossed $20 million in its second weekend, representing a \\\"nice\\\" drop of just 51% and finishing third, and then made $11.6 million and $7.6 million the subsequent weekends.In its fifth weekend the film made $5 million, bringing its running domestic total to $123.1 million, becoming the second-highest of Tarantino's career behindDjango Unchained.In its ninth weekend, its global total earnings reached $329.4 million, surpassingInglourious Basterdsto become Tarantino's second-highest global grosser behindDjango Unchained. Critical response On thereview aggregatorwebsiteRotten Tomatoes, 86% of 584 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's consensus reads: \\\"Thrillingly unrestrained yet solidly crafted,Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodtempers Tarantino's provocative impulses with the clarity of a mature filmmaker's vision.\\\"Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 84 out of 100, based on 62 critics, indicating \\\"universal acclaim\\\".Audiences polled byCinemaScoregave it an average grade of \\\"B\\\" on an A+ to F scale, while those atPostTrakgave it an average of 4 out of 5 stars and a 58% \\\"definite recommend\\\". The Hollywood Reportersaid critics had \\\"an overall positive view\\\", with some calling it \\\"Tarantino's love letter to '60s L.A.,\\\" praising its cast and setting, while others were \\\"divided on its ending.\\\"ReelViews'James Berardinelliawarded the film 3.5 stars out of 4, saying it was \\\"made by a movie-lover for movie-lovers. And even those who don't qualify may still enjoy the hell out of it.\\\"RogerEbert.com's Brian Tallerico gave it four out of four stars, calling it \\\"layered and ambitious, the product of a confident filmmaker working with collaborators completely in tune with his vision\\\".TheChicago Sun-Times,Richard Roeperdescribed it as \\\"a brilliant and sometimes outrageously fantastic mash-up of real-life events and characters with pure fiction\\\", giving it full marks. Peter BradshawofThe Guardiangave it five out of five stars, praising Pitt and DiCaprio's performances and calling it \\\"Tarantino's dazzling LA redemption song\\\".Steve Pond ofTheWrapsaid: \\\"Big, brash, ridiculous, too long, and in the end invigorating, the film is a grand playground for its director to fetishize old pop culture and bring his gleeful perversity to the craft of moviemaking.\\\"Peter TraversofRolling Stoneawarded the film 4.5 out of 5 stars, remarking that \\\"All the actors, in roles large and small, bring their A games to the film. Two hours and 40 minutes can feel long for some. I wouldn't change a frame.\\\"Katie Rife ofThe A.V. Clubgave it a B+, noting \\\"The relationship between Rick and Cliff is at the emotional heart ofOnce Upon A Time... In Hollywood\\\" and calling it Tarantino's \\\"wistful midlife crisis movie\\\". InLittle White Lies,Christopher Hootondescribed it as \\\"occasionally tedious\\\" but \\\"constantly awe-inspiring\\\", noting it did not seem to be a \\\"love letter to Hollywood\\\" but an \\\"obituary for a moment in culture that looks unlikely to ever be resurrected.\\\"Writing forVariety,Owen Gleibermancalled it a \\\"heady engrossing collage of a film—but not, in the end, a masterpiece.\\\" Richard BrodyofThe New Yorkercalled it an \\\"obscenely regressive vision of the sixties\\\" that \\\"celebrates white-male stardom (and behind-the-scenes command) at the expense of everyone else.\\\"Caspar Salmon ofThe Guardiantook issue with the violence in the film, writing, \\\"Tarantino's filmography reveals a director in search of increasingly gruesome settings to validate his revenge fantasies and...blood-thirst.\\\" Accolades At the92nd Academy Awards,Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodreceived nominations forBest Picture,Best Director,Best Actor,Best Original Screenplay,Best Cinematography,Best Costume Design,Best Sound Editing, andBest Sound Mixing; and wonBest Supporting ActorandBest Production Design.The film's other nominations include tenBritish Academy Film Awards(winning one),twelveCritics' Choice Movie Awards(winning four),and fiveGolden Globe Awards(winning three).TheNational Board of Reviewincluded the film as one of thetop 10 films of the yearand awarded TarantinoBest Directorand PittBest Supporting Actor.TheAmerican Film Instituteincluded it as one of thetop 10 films of 2019.In December 2021, the film's screenplay was listed number twenty-two on theWriters Guild of America's \\\"101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century (So Far)\\\". Analysis Story, themes and character symbolism Dan Schindel ofHyperallergicwrote of the symbolism in the film'snostalgia. He wrote the detail is almost \\\"microscopic\\\", in its use of \\\"hundreds of periodephemera\\\" across various mediums, most of which is unrecognizable to most viewers. Schindel writes that these forgotten memories surround the character of Rick Dalton because he too is a piece of forgotten nostalgia. Schindel also writes about the dynamics between the characters. Dalton and Booth represent thedualityof attitudes towards \\\"their seeming impendingobsolesce.\\\" Booth being relaxed and accepting it and Dalton being fragile and insecure about it. As Dalton's whole life is about how he is perceived, he is obsessed with how he wishes to be perceived.Sharon Tate, also an actor, is filled with joy when she is able to see herself entertain a theater audience. But, Schindel says, that scene also humanizes her, making her a person, rather than the \\\"victim\\\" she has become. He also expresses that Dalton and Booth representOld Hollywood, while Tate representsNew Hollywoodand the future. Schindel states that Tarantino uses darkness, both for Booth and his questionable past as well as in theManson Family. While Booth's possible crimes shade the nostalgia, the Manson clan shades the future. In the end, however, not only are Booth and Dalton able to save the future, but Dalton becomes the hero he always wanted to be. Travis Woods also wrote of what the three characters represent and how it is demonstrated in the film. He states that the three leads represent the past, present, and future. Dalton is the past, stuck in a fading world and afraid to let go. Booth is the present, always living in the moment, and Tate the promise of a future on the rise. They also represent three class levels of Hollywood with Booth literally living in the shadows of the movie industry. His home is a trailer in the shadows of the Van Nuys Drive-In Theater. Woods also construes how Booth being the stunt double of Dalton is illustrated throughout. Dalton struggles with an emotional arc and change, while Booth clashes with danger and physical obstacles. Woods points out the actor's job is to provide the audience with the emotional arc, while the stuntman's job is to step in for the physicality and danger, as told to us in the first scene. This is shown when Dalton faces hisexistential fearson the set ofLancerby taking on a new acting challenge on a Western set and overcoming his fears and inner struggles. Meanwhile, Booth comes in to handle the dangerous stuff on another Western set where he also triumphs. While they both have their victories, Tate has hers as well by not only simply living her life but also by watching herself in a movie with an audience. Woods writes the finale ties it all together; \\\"How a stunt works, and fantasy is made real: the actor performs a scene all the way up to a threat of violence. There's a cut, and the stunt double enters the scene, stands in for the actor and cheats death.\\\" And so, Dalton fearlessly confronts the would-be killers outside of his home. After a cut, \\\"Booth enters the scene... cheats death,\\\" and handles the physical danger. At the end, Dalton re-enters and gets the glory. A feat that could not have been achieved by either the actor or stuntman alone, but only together. Woods concludes, this also represents the past and present \\\"uniting to allow for a better future\\\". \\\"The past leads to the present, and the present leads to the future, and all three are required for the narrative to continue.\\\" David G. Hughes wrote of the symbolized fantasy. He noted that Tate is a \\\"symbol ofeffervescent life, unadulterated joy, and graceful innocence,\\\"whileMichael Phillipsof theChicago Tribunesaw the character as aGoddess.However Hughes was much more interested in what Booth represents. He wrote how Dalton's stress and psychological issues prevent him from being a symbol of fantasy for the audience. Booth is the film's hero and simultaneously works loyally for Dalton from a place of low social standing. Hughes states this could be \\\"aMarxistpoint about invisible labor and theSubstructure.\\\" However, Hughes feels this does not work to engage the audience. He draws onSigmund Freudand hisPsychopathic Characters on the Stage. He says what makes Booth interesting and particularly Brad Pitt's portrayal of him issex appeal. Being handsome, strong, loyal, and courageous makes him desirable. Hughes states that Booth isLaura Mulvey's \\\"...perfect, ...complete, more powerful ideal ego.\\\" Tarantino has Booth fightBruce Leeto create themythof Booth. Hughes also writes that Booth embodies theBuddha's teachings onZen, but also that he is capable of \\\"barbaric violence\\\". These qualities make him the \\\"fantasy of righteous male power\\\". Hughes compares Booth toCharles Manson, saying both are violent outcasts who sit between the worlds of WesternRenaissanceandEastern philosophy. However, he says they are theantithesisof each other. While Booth has a code, Manson only serves himself. Manson \\\"is Hollywood's monster from theid is itsego idealand savior.\\\"ALos Angeles Catholic bishop,Robert Barron, praised the character of Cliff Booth as embodying the fourcardinal virtues. Naomi Fry ofThe New Yorkerwrote how the film is about the disposability of people in Hollywood. She sees Dalton and Tate as needing to be seen as their livelihoods depend on it and \\\"an actor onscreen as a conduit for own fantasies and those of others.\\\" Dalton feels he is no longer able to do this, and is tortured by the feeling. Booth has also been discarded by Hollywood to the point of Dalton having to beg for him to be used. Fry says of Dalton's career that there is \\\"a sense of the ruthlessness of Hollywood, whose denizens are devastated when the industry almost inevitably turns away its gaze.\\\" She also notes how Tarantino \\\"pulls a neat trick by casting DiCaprio and Pitt,\\\" two of the biggest movie stars as a has-been and a nobody. Armond WhiteandKyle SmithofNational Review, in separate reviews, interpreted and praised the film as being politicallyconservative, with Smith writing that \\\"It mercilessly sends up leftist values. In its foundations, it's so breathtakingly right-wing it could have been made byMel Gibson.\\\" The finale and the Manson Family TheologianDavid Bentley Hartwrote thatOnce Upon a Time\\\"exhibit a genuine ethicalpathos\\\" for its portrayal of \\\"cosmic justice\\\". Hart wrote how he was a child when the Tate murders occurred and that the Manson Family were \\\"the first monsters who ever truly terrified me and tormented me with nightmares.\\\" He remembers how the children at his school would tell the stories of the Manson Family murders. Hart praised the revisionism when \\\"Tarantino's version of the story unexpectedly veered away into some other, dreamlike, better world, where the monsters inadvertently passed through the wrong door and met the end they deserved.\\\" Hart states \\\"the artistic masterstroke\\\" comes in the end when Tate is heard \\\"as a disembodied voice... speaking from thatalternative reality, thatterrestrial paradisethat evil could not enter.\\\" Av Sinensky wrote about the ending of the film whenSusan Atkinsconcludes that the Manson Family members should kill Dalton because he played a character who killed people on TV, he \\\"taught them to kill.\\\" Sinensky notes that Tarantino is putting \\\"the words of his critics into the mouth of a Manson murderer,\\\" regarding his use offictional gratuitous violence.While David G. Hughes opined that Tarantino is using the scene to say that those who crusade against fictional violence are hypocrites and complicit in real violence. Hughes wrote that by switching the real-life violence by Manson Family members with movie violence instead directed at them, \\\"Tarantino is making a firm distinction between cruel real-world violence and ethical,catharticfantasy violence.\\\" Priscilla Page wrote how the Manson Family murders have become a myth and \\\"framed our understanding of what was happening in America and the world,\\\" and in the film Spahn Ranch represents the intersection of Hollywood fantasy \\\"and the dark underbelly of Los Angeles.\\\"Michael Phillips likened the Manson girls to \\\"strung outSirens,\\\"while Page stated how the Manson Family \\\"are ghosts haunting Spahn Ranch... Demons to beexorcised.\\\" Page notes how the final act accomplishes this exorcism and also the symbolism of Booth andTex Watsonpointing guns at each other. Watson's is real, just as the Manson Family's violence was. Booth's is not but rather a finger, as his violence is fictional. Through the fictional violence the myth of the Manson Family is purged. She writes the exorcism and revenge of the film are not only through the violence but also because \\\"the film denies Manson a meaningful presence,\\\" demythologizing him and \\\"reduc him to a cameo, expos the Manson Family as inept, and mak Sharon Tate the story's beating heart.\\\" Steven Boone referred to Dalton going to Tate's house as \\\"entering thegatesofCielo Drive'sHollywood heaven.\\\" Something his colleague Simon Abrams also alluded to when he commented, \\\"Jay Sebringinvites in for a drink like a hipperSt. Peter.\\\"Dan Schindel also saw Dalton's walk up Tate's driveway as \\\"anascent to heaven\\\", based on the \\\"rising camera movement\\\".Naomi Fry compared Dalton going through the gates as him entering theGarden of Eden. Writing in the academic journalAnimation,Jason Barkerdraws fromAristotle'sPoeticsto analyze in detail the film's use of \\\"cartoon violence\\\", speculating that such violence \\\"is more or less inversely related to the film's dramatic content\\\". Barker concludes that: \\\"Through self-indulgent, inane, insane and tyrannical cartoonism,Once Upon a Time. . . in Hollywoodpresents not so much a measure of contemporary violence, as a measure of indifference to violence: dramatic indifference and, perhaps, social indifference to a cartoon violence that is real in more ways than one.\\\" Booth's fantasy Multiple critics interpreted Cliff Booth as anunreliable narratorwhen it came to him remembering his fight with Bruce Lee. \\\"In the span of seconds\\\" the fight \\\"goes from being viewed by dozens of people to absolutely no one.\\\" The crowd just disappears which some believe shows the flashback to be a \\\"false memory\\\". The interpretation is that Booth is only remembering what he wants to and \\\"the purpose of that scene is to show us we can't trust Cliff.\\\" Steven HydenofUproxxinterpreted the ending of the film as a vision of Cliff Booth brought on through his consumption ofLSD. Hyden proposes that when Booth smokes the acid-cigarette and says, \\\"And away we go,\\\" it marks the beginning of his vision. He then leaves to take his dog Brandy for a walk, walking by the car of killers down the street who Hyden believes Booth sees in the car and recognizes fromSpahn Ranch. This allows Booth's imagination to run wild thanks to the acid. He imagines the killers in the car talking about his and Dalton's show,Bounty Law. He then imagines a scenario that lets him play out hisviolent fantasiesand allows Dalton to be a hero, using a flamethrower from a film he would never actually still own but which occupies a place in Booth's memory. Hyden writes that the ending is Booth'shallucinatory fantasythat allows him to stay employed by Dalton, while also allowing Dalton to be accepted by the New Hollywood elite, Sharon Tate. Also that in this fantasy Tate and members of the Manson Family are fans of Dalton, just as Booth is. Steven Boone ofThe Hollywood Reporteralso commented on the ending feeling like Booth's fantasy. About the ending, he wrote \\\"It's as if stuntman Cliff, a serene Hollywood foot soldier...was the editor here.\\\"Kyle Anderson theorized the ending is not only Booth's fantasy but Dalton's as well. He states that Booth's memory of fighting Lee is \\\"his twisted recollection of an event that probably didn't happen.\\\" Anderson notes that \\\"Cliff is a completepsychopath\\\" whose life has amounted to menial labor, while \\\"Rick a washed-up loser.\\\" The ending is not \\\"just a dream of what might have happened,\\\" it is Booth's and Dalton's dream. Booth gets to fulfill his hero fantasy and instead of Dalton losing his house and career he gets to be idolized and accepted by the \\\"cool kids\\\". Billie Booth Anna Swanson wrote about the death of Billie and how it is used to frame the rest of the film. She writes how Tarantino not showing us what happens is a deliberate decision and also an homage to the death of Marvin (Phil LaMarr) inPulp Fictionand the fact we do not know why Vincent Vega's (John Travolta) gun goes off and shoots Marvin. Within the film one can interpret Billie's death as Cliff's speargun accidentally going off in the same vein as Vincent's gun, or as a cold-blooded murder by Cliff and a cover up, or in a number of other scenarios. Swanson argues that which interpretation the individual viewer has will lead them to view the rest of the film through that lens and have a completely different experience than someone who views it alternatively. She notes we do not even know whose perspective the Billie Booth scene is from. It is a flashback within a flashback and so could be Cliff's memory but as it is told by Randy it could be his perspective based on what he heard. It could be what Cliff is imagining Randy is saying to Rick. It could even be an \\\"omniscientperspective\\\". If one views Cliff as innocent it makes him easier to like, and could be \\\"suggesting an innocent man's life can be ruined by unfortunate circumstances beyond his control.\\\" However, if one views Cliff as guilty, \\\"It's a depiction of the extent to which someone can literally get away with murder.\\\" In referencing the ending of the film, Swanson asks if Cliff is guilty, \\\"Are we supposed to forgive one death he caused because of the lives he saved?\\\" Swanson concludes that another purpose of the scene is to build up the theme of \\\"Hollywood mythology\\\". Referring to the scene's allusion toNatalie Wood, she writes \\\"the myths last, while the truth is lost in an ocean vaster than the rolling neon streets of the Hollywood of yore.\\\" Lindsey Romain says the scene is \\\"aRorschach Testfor the audience\\\". She argues that how the viewer interprets the scene changes the interpretation of the ending of the film. If Cliff murdered Billie then he is despicable and the killings he commits at the end are self-serving. However, if he is innocent then he is a hero. Romain writes \\\"either read is accurate, and both feel purposeful.\\\" By leaving Billie's death open-ended, Romain believes Tarantino is asking, \\\"IsOnce Upon a Time... in Hollywooda touchingfableabout reclaiming relevance, or a horror story about a business that forgives heinous acts the second righteousness is procured?\\\" Romain concludes that \\\"maybe it's both,\\\" and \\\"about art...about violence and how we participate in and consume it.\\\" Red Apple ad Writing forThe Washington Post, Sonny Bunch commented on the mid-credits Red Apple cigarettes advertisement scene. He believes it is a commentary of current filmmaking and a \\\"pitch-perfect parody of the films that have dominated box office charts in recent history.\\\" Bunch compares the fake ad to the real ones used as mid-credit scenes in theDC,Marvel, andFast & Furiousfranchises. The scenes in those films are used to advertise the next film in their franchise. He also notes how those ads tie their franchises' universes together just as Red Apple does with the Tarantino universe. Cultural references The title is a reference to directorSergio Leone'sOnce Upon a Time in the WestandOnce Upon a Time in America.On the poster of Dalton's filmRed Blood Red Skin, inspired byLand Raiders, he appears withTelly Savalas. The posters for the two films are the same, except with Dalton replacingGeorge Maharis.The movie Voytek Frykowski is watching isTeenage Monster, presented byhorror hostSeymour. Archive footage from many films is included inOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, includingC.C. and Company,Lady in Cement,Three in the Attic, andThe Wrecking Crew, in whichSharon Tateappears as Freya Carlson.Three scenes were digitally altered, replacing the original actors with Rick Dalton. One from an episode ofThe F.B.I., entitled \\\"All the Streets Are Silent\\\", in which Dalton appears as the character portrayed byBurt Reynoldsin the actual episode.Another fromDeath on the Run, with Dalton's face imposed overTy Hardin's.The third is fromThe Great Escape, with Dalton appearing asVirgil Hilts, the role made famous bySteve McQueen.ForThe 14 Fists of McCluskey, a World War IIfilm-within-the-filmstarring Dalton, footage and music fromHell Riveris used. Connections to other Tarantino films Cliff Booth is a reference to Brad Pitt's character in Tarantino'sInglourious Basterds, Lt.Aldo Raine, a special forces WWII veteran who takes the cover of a stuntman.One of Rick Dalton's Italian films in the movie is directed by real-life directorAntonio Margheriti. Antonio Margheriti is also used as an alias for Sgt.Donny Donowitz(Eli Roth) inInglourious Basterds.The scene involving Dalton playing a character who burns Nazis with a flamethrower is similar to the ending ofInglourious Basterds, which ends with Nazi leadership being burned to death. The final scene features Dalton in a commercial for fictional Red Apple cigarettes, which appear in many Tarantino films.Additionally another common Tarantino brandBig Kahuna Burgeris advertised on a billboard.When Dalton and Booth get back from Italy they walk by the blue mosaic wall inLAX, the same wall that the title character in Tarantino'sJackie Brown(Pam Grier) moves past in the opening credits of that film.The characters of stunt coordinator husband and wife, Randy (Kurt Russell) and Janet Lloyd (Zoë Bell) are an homage to characters in Tarantino'sDeath Proof; Stuntman Mike McKay (Russell) and Zoë Bell who plays herself, a stunt woman. In the film, Bruce Lee engages in a fight with Cliff Booth on the set ofThe Green Hornet.TheGreen Hornettheme songis featured in Tarantino'sKill Bill: Volume 1.The masks worn by the Crazy 88 gang in that film are the same as Lee's mask as Kato inThe Green Hornet.The car Booth drives is a 1964 blueVolkswagen Karmann Ghiaconvertible. It is the same year, color, make and model of the car thatBeatrix \\\"the Bride\\\" Kiddo(Uma Thurman) drives inKill Bill: Volume 2.Similarly, Rick Dalton's 1966Cadillac de Villeis the same car driven by Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) inReservoir Dogs. It was owned by Madsen. Historical accuracy and influence In a scene,Sharon Tategoes into Larry Edmunds Bookshop and purchases a copy ofTess of the d'Urbervilles.In real life, Tate gave a copy toRoman Polanskishortly before her death. In 1978 Polanski directed the film adaptation,Tess(1979), dedicating it to Tate. Tate and Polanski'sYorkie Terrierin the film is named \\\"Dr. Sapirstein\\\",as was Tate's Yorkie in real life, named after the doctor portrayed byRalph BellamyinRosemary's Baby.The carrier she puts the dog in is the one that Tate actually owned. In the film, Tate goes to seeThe Wrecking Crewat theFox Bruin Theater. She convinces the theater's employees that she stars in the movie after they fail to recognize her. Tarantino stated the scene came from a personal experience. WhenTrue Romancewas released, he saw it at the same theater, where he eventually convinced its employees that he wrote the script.: 39:00–42:00The outfitMargot Robbiewears in the scene is based on the one Tate wore inEye of the Devil. On the set ofBatman, for a crossover episode withThe Green Hornet,a fight was scripted withKato(Bruce Lee) losing toDick Grayson'sRobin(Burt Ward). When Lee received the script, he refused to do it, so it was changed to a draw. When the cameras rolled, Lee stalked Ward until Ward backed away. Lee laughed and told him he was \\\"lucky it is a TV show.\\\"StuntmanGene LeBellcarried Lee around in a Fireman's Carry when he first arrived onThe Green Hornetset in response to Lee being tough on stuntmen.In the film, stuntman Cliff Booth fights Lee on the set ofThe Green Hornet; the fight ends in a draw. Booth refers to Lee as \\\"Kato\\\". According to Rudolph Altobelli, who rentedthe houseto Polanski and Tate, in March 1969,Charles Mansonshowed up. Polanski's friend, Iranian photographer Shahrokh Hatami (who directed the short documentaryMia and Roman) also said he saw Manson enter the grounds. Hatami approached Manson, asking him what he wanted. He told Hatami he was looking forTerry Melcher. Hatami responded the house was the Polanski residence and perhaps Melcher lived in the guest house. Altobelli told Manson that Melcher no longer lived there.This happens in the film, withJay Sebringin place of Altobelli and Hatami. On the night ofAugust 8, 1969,Patricia Krenwinkel,Tex Watson, andSusan Atkinsbroke into Tate's house, murdering her and four others.: 176–180In the film, they go to Tate's house to commit the murders but instead end up breaking into Dalton's house after he interrupts them.Linda Kasabianwent along that night, though she did not murder anyone and stayed outside the whole time as a lookout. In the film, she goes along and does not murder anyone but takes off and does not stay.Watson told his victims, \\\"I'm the Devil, and I'm here to do the Devil's business.\\\" In the film, he says it to Cliff Booth. In the film, Atkins convinces the others to seek revenge by killing Rick Dalton, star of a TV western. Since TV taught them to kill, it is fitting they kill the guy from TV, and \\\"My idea is to kill the people who taught us to kill!\\\"In real life,Manson FamilymemberNancy Pitmansaid: \\\"We are what you have made us. We were brought up on your TV. We were brought up watchingGunsmokeandHave Gun – Will Travel.\\\"Sandra Goodsaid: \\\"You want to talk about devils and demonic and immorals and evil, go to Hollywood. We don't touch the evil of that world. We don't even skim it.\\\"In the film when the four Manson Family members who drive to Tate's house are sitting outside in their car, Rick Dalton comes out of his house and yells at them to leave. In real-life the four members stopped at the house of Rudolf Weber, down the street from Tate's house. Weber came out and yelled at them to leave. Weber told the police he was tired of hippies on his street. Clem Groganwas convicted of the murder of stuntmanDonald Sheaon Spahn Ranch, whom he repeatedly beat with a lead pipe.In the film, Grogan is instead beaten by stuntman Cliff Booth.The 1959Ford Galaxiedriven by the Manson Family is a detailed replica of the car used in the Tate–LaBianca murders. Car coordinator Steven Butcher found the actual car, but after a meeting with Tarantino, they decided using it would be \\\"too creepy\\\".Boeing 747sare used in several airliner scenes, but were not incommercial useuntil 1970;the film is set in 1969. Character controversies Bruce Lee The film's depiction ofBruce Leedrew criticism. In the film, Lee is asked on a film set whether he could defeatMuhammad Aliin a fight, to which he responds that he would \\\"make him a cripple\\\". Cliff responds with laughter, causing Lee to challenge him to a fight. Although Lee initially kicks Cliff to the ground, Cliff manages to throw Lee into the side of a car. Fans and contemporaries of Lee, including his protégéDan Inosanto, criticized the portrayal.Lee's daughterShannondescribed the depiction as \\\"an arrogant asshole who was full of hot air\\\" and that \\\"they didn't need to treat him in the way White Hollywood did when he was alive.\\\"Lee's student and friendKareem Abdul-Jabbar,who starred with Lee inGame of Death, stated that Tarantino's portrayal of Lee was \\\"sloppy and somewhat racist\\\". Mike Moh, who played Lee, said he was conflicted at first: \\\"Bruce in my mind was literally a God. didn't always have the most affection for stuntmen; he didn't respect all of them.\\\"He stated, \\\"Tarantino loves Bruce Lee; he reveres him.\\\"Brad Pitt and stunt coordinator Robert Alonzo objected to an extended version of the fight in which Lee loses.According to Lee's friend andThe Green HornetstuntmanGene LeBell, Lee had a reputation for \\\"kicking the shit out of the stuntmen. They couldn't convince him that he could go easy and it would still look great on film.\\\"In the 2018Bruce Lee: A Life, Lee's biographerMatthew Pollywrote, Lee would jump-kick people on the set. According to Lee's co-starVan Williams, it stopped when \\\"He dislocated jaw.\\\" Polly continued, \\\"Bruce insisted on close quarters combat. The stuntmen hated it.\\\" Williams said, \\\" ... didn't want to work on the show. They were tired of getting hurt.\\\" LeBell was tasked with \\\"calming Bruce down.\\\"According to Williams, Lee's treatment of stuntmen drove the show's stunt coordinatorBennie Dobbinsto want to fight . Tarantino responded, saying Lee was \\\"kind of an arrogant guy,\\\" and that Lee's widow,Linda, wrote in her 1975 bookBruce Lee: The Man Only I Knewthat he could beat Muhammad Ali.She wrote, \\\"Even the most scathing critics admitted that Bruce'sGung fuwas sensational. One critic wrote, 'Those who watched him would bet on Lee to render Cassius Clay (Ali) senseless if they were put in a room and told anything goes.'\\\"In 1972, Lee himself stated: \\\"Everybody says I must fight Ali some day. ... Look at my hand. That's a little Chinese hand. He'd kill me.\\\" Shannon filed a complaint with theChina Film Administrationaffecting the film's release in China unless alterations were made. After Tarantino refused to remove the scene, China cancelled the release of the film on October 18, 2019, one week before its release date there. Sharon Tate After being contacted over concerns, Tarantino invited a representative ofRoman Polanski,Sharon Tate'swidower, over to his house to read the script and report back to Polanski, to assure him \\\"he didn't have anything to worry about\\\". Tarantino stated: \\\"When it comes to Polanski, we're talking about a tragedy that would be unfathomable for most human beings,\\\" and that he did not contact him while writing it, as he did not want to cause him anxiety. Despite this, Polanski's wife,Emmanuelle Seigner, criticized Tarantino for using Polanski's likeness after the film's premiere. Debra Tate, Sharon's sister, initially opposed the film, saying it was exploitative and perpetuated mistruths: \\\"To celebrate the killers and the darkest portion of society as being sexy or acceptable in any way, shape or form is just perpetuating the worst of our society.\\\" After Tarantino contacted her and showed her the script, she withdrew her opposition, saying: \\\"This movie is not what people would expect it to be when you combine the Tarantino and Manson names.\\\" She felt that Tarantino was a \\\"very stand-up guy\\\"; after visiting the set, she was impressed by Robbie and lent her some of Sharon's jewelry and perfume to wear in the film. After the premiere, journalist Farah Nayeri asked Tarantino why Robbie had so few lines. Tarantino responded, \\\"I reject your hypothesis.\\\" Robbie elaborated, \\\"I think the moments on screen show those wonderful sides of could be adequately done without speaking.\\\"Tarantino said, \\\"I thought it would both be touching and pleasurable and also sad and melancholy to just spend a little time with , just existing... I wanted you to see Sharon a lot.\\\" Manson Family Charles Manson was convicted of the murders of Tate and four others, despite not being present, due mostly to a theory presented byprosecutorVincent Bugliosithat Manson was trying to instigate anapocalypticrace war, leaving only Black Muslims: 246and the Family. According to the theory, the Black Muslims: 246would eventually look to Manson to lead them. According to members of the Family –Paul Watkins,Juan FlynnandBarbara Hoyt– Manson referred to the race war asHelter Skelter, getting the name from thesong of the same name.: 244–247, 334, 361–362 Musician and filmmakerBoots Rileycriticized Tarantino's film for not portraying Bugliosi's Helter Skelter narrative, or depicting the Family aswhite supremacists,as didLorraine Aliof theLos Angeles Times, in which she wrote that portraying the Manson Family as hippies is \\\"a more bankable image than Manson the ignorant white supremacist.\\\" However, according to members of The Family –Susan Atkins,Leslie Van Houten,Patricia Krenwinkel,Catherine Share, andRuth Ann Moorehouse– theTate murderswere not perpetrated to start Helter Skelter, but as copycat murders mirroring that ofGary Hinman, in an attempt to convince police the killer was still at large,: 426–435and getBobby Beausoleilreleased from jail, as he was charged with Hinman's murder. He stated the murders had nothing to do with race. According toJay Sebring's protégé and business partnerJim Markham, who provided original Sebring hair products forOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, the murders were instigated by a drug deal gone bad, not a race war. He believes Manson was at Tate's house the day before the murders to sell drugs to Sebring and Voytek Frykowski, which resulted in the two beating Manson up.In his interview withTruman Capote, Beausoleil said, \\\"They burned people on dope deals. Sharon Tate and that gang.\\\" OnThe Joe Rogan Experience, Tarantino said he thought Bugliosi's theory was \\\"bullshit\\\". He believes Manson never sent anyone over to Tate's house to murder anyone, and that the murders happened spontaneously. Related projects Novels Once Upon a Time in Hollywood In November 2020, Tarantino signed a two-book deal withHarperCollins. On June 29, 2021, he published his first novel, an adaptation ofOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood.Theaudiobookis narrated byJennifer Jason Leighwho previously starred in Tarantino'sThe Hateful Eight.According to Tarantino, herHateful Eightcharacter Daisy Domergue was \\\"A Manson girl out west, likeSusan Atkinsor something.\\\" According to Tarantino, the novel is \\\"a complete rethinking of the entire story,\\\" and adds details to various sequences and characters, including multiple chapters dedicated to the backstory of Cliff Booth.The novel also departs from the film, the film's finale occurs towards the beginning of the novel, and its aftermath includes Rick Dalton earning newfound fame as a regular onThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.It also focuses onCharles Manson's pursuit of a music career,the \\\"inner worlds\\\" of Sharon Tate and Trudi Frazer,and has a whole chapter focused on actorAldo Ray.: 337–349 The Films of Rick Dalton In June 2021, Tarantino revealed he wrote and plans to publish a second novel connected toOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodabout the films of Rick Dalton.: 45:00–47:00The book details every film and TV series of Dalton's entire career, some of which are completely fictional but the majority of Dalton's work are real, with Dalton replacing the actors who actually starred in the films.: 46:00–48:00In it, Cliff Booth writes a film for Dalton featuring a flamethrower, which they produce and Dalton directs.: 47:00–49:00 Film and television Extended cut On August 5, 2019, it was announced that a four-hour cut of the film may be coming toNetflix.On January 3, 2020,Colliderconfirmed the statement in an interview with Quentin Tarantino, revealing the extended-cut ofOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodwould probably be available in approximately one year.In June 2021 Tarantino said the extended cut would probably be released \\\"in a couple of years.\\\" It will be around three hours and 20 minutes and be released theatrically.: 38:00–40:00 Bounty Law Also in 2019, Tarantino expressed interest in creating aBounty Lawtelevision series based on five half-hour scripts he wrote in preparation for the film and that he plans on writing three more episodes.Tarantino said he does not know who would play Jake Cahill, the lead but added \\\"if wants to do it that'd be great.\\\"The series would be shot inblack and whiteand follow the half-hour format ofWestern television showsfrom the 1950s.Scenes from the episodes already written appear inOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood. Tarantino plans on directing all episodes of the series. Lancer Tarantino hopesRobert Rodriguezwill turn Tarantino's version ofLancerinOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodinto a film.: 37:00–38:00 Stage In June 2021 Tarantino announced his plan to produce a stage adaptation ofOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood. He already wrote the play, which takes place inItaly. The entire second act consists of Rick Dalton, Marvin Schwarz, andSergio Corbuccihaving dinner inRome. In popular culture On August 6, 2021, the rock bandTwin Atlanticreleased aOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood-themedmusic videofor their song \\\"Bang On the Gong,\\\" with lead singer, Sam McTrusty taking inspiration from Rick Dalton. During the opening credits of the Japanese anime,Chainsaw Man, the opening scene of the movie has been referenced. See also Notes References External links\",\n \"Julia Butters Julia Butters(born April 15, 2009) is an American actress. She is known for her role in the filmOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood(2019), for which she was nominated for theCritics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Actor/Actress, and for her role as Reggie Fabelman inThe Fabelmans(2022). Early life Butters was born inLos Angeles, California, to parents Lorelei and Darrin; her father is aDisney animatorwho has worked on films such asFrozenandRalph Breaks the Internet. Career Julia Butters began her career doing commercials. Her first speaking role was the role of Gabby inCriminal Minds.In 2016, Butters portrayed the recurring role of Ella in theAmazon Prime VideoseriesTransparent.Later that year, she began starring in theABCsitcomAmerican Housewifeas Anna-Kat Otto.WhenQuentin Tarantinowas writing the script of his ninth filmOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, he spotted Butters on television, and later cast her in the role of precocious child actress Trudi Fraser.After she received critical acclaim for this role, Butters decided to pursue similar opportunities, leading her to leaveAmerican Housewifeafter four seasons.In December 2020, Butters was cast inNetflix’sThe Gray Man.In June 2021, it was announced that Butters was cast inThe Fabelmans,Steven Spielberg's semi-autobiographical coming-of-age film as Reggie Fabelman, a character based on Spielberg's sisterAnne.In August 2022, Butters was cast as Lily in the filmQueen of Bones. Filmography Film Television Awards and nominations References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Once Upon a Time...in Hollywoodis a 2019comedy dramafilm written and directed byQuentin Tarantino. Produced byColumbia Pictures,Bona Film Group,Heyday Films, and Visiona Romantica and distributed bySony Pictures, it is a co-production between the United States, United Kingdom, and China. It features a largeensemble castled byLeonardo DiCaprio,Brad Pitt, andMargot Robbie. Set in 1969 Los Angeles, the film follows a fading actor and hisstunt doubleas they navigate therapidly changing film industry, with the threat of theTate murderslooming. Announced in July 2017, it is the first Tarantino film not to involveBobandHarvey Weinstein, as Tarantino ended his partnership with the brothers following thesexual abuse allegations against the latter. After a bidding war, the film was distributed bySony Pictures, which met Tarantino's demands includingfinal cut privilege. Pitt, DiCaprio, Robbie,Zoë Bell,Kurt Russell, and others joined the cast between January and June 2018.Principal","June 2018.Principal photographylasted from June through November around Los Angeles.Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodis the final film to featureLuke Perry, who died on March 4, 2019, and it is dedicated to his memory. Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodpremiered at the2019 Cannes Film Festivalon May 21, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 26, 2019, and in the United Kingdom on August 14. It grossed $374 million worldwide and received acclaim from critics, with praise for Tarantino's direction and screenplay, the performances (particularly from DiCaprio and Pitt), cinematography, soundtrack, sound design, costume design, and production values. TheNational Board of Reviewand theAmerican Film InstitutenamedOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodone of the top-ten films of 2019.Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodwas nominated for ten awards at the92nd Academy Awards, winning two (Best Supporting Actorfor Pitt andBest Production Design), and receivednumerous other accolades.A novelization, written by","written by Tarantino in his debut as an author, was published in 2021. Plot In February 1969,Hollywoodactor Rick Dalton, the former star of the 1950sWestern showBounty Law, copes with a fading career, his most recent roles beingguest appearancesas TV villains. Agent Marvin Schwarz advises him to makespaghetti Westernsin Italy, which Dalton considers beneath him. Dalton's best friend,stunt double, personal assistant, and driver is Cliff Booth – a World War II veteran, living in atrailerwith hispit bull, Brandy. Booth struggles to find stunt work amid rumors he murdered his wife. Meanwhile, Dalton hopes to revive his career by befriending young actressSharon Tateand her husband, directorRoman Polanski, who livenext door. While fixing the TV antenna atop Dalton's roof, Booth notices a hippie man,Charles Manson, arriving at the Polanski residence. Manson says he is looking for music producerTerry Melcher, who once lived there, but Tate's friendJay Sebringturns him away. While Tate watches herself inThe Wrecking","inThe Wrecking Crewat theFox Bruin Theater, Booth gives a hitchhiker namedPussycata ride toSpahn Ranch, a former Western film set where Booth did stunt work. Booth checks onGeorge Spahn, the ranch's nearly blind owner, making sure thehippies living thereare not exploiting him. After discovering his car's tire has been punctured, Booth physically forces ranch hippieClemto change it. The hippies' leaderTexis summoned to deal with the situation but arrives as Booth is driving away. While filming a guest star role as a TV villain onLancer, Dalton forgets his lines. After berating himself, he returns to set and delivers a performance that impresses his young co-star, Trudi Frazer, and the director,Sam Wanamaker. Meanwhile, Schwarz books Dalton to star inSergio Corbucci's spaghetti western. Booth accompanies Dalton for the six month shoot in Italy, where Dalton films three additional movies and marries Italian starlet Francesca Capucci. Before returning to the US, Dalton tells Booth that he can no longer afford","no longer afford his salary, which Booth amicably understands. Returning to Los Angeles on August 8, 1969, Dalton and Booth go out drinking to commemorate their time together. Returning to Dalton's house, Booth smokes anLSD-laced cigarette and takes Brandy for a walk while Dalton makes margaritas. Manson's followers Tex,Sadie,Katie, andFlowerChildarrive tomurder the Tate house occupants. Hearing a car's loudmuffler, an enraged Dalton orders the group off the private street. Recognizing him, the Family members decide to kill him instead, after Sadie reasons that Hollywood has \"taught them to murder\". Flowerchild deserts them, speeding off with their car. Breaking into Dalton's house, they confront Capucci and Booth. Booth recognizes them from Spahn Ranch and orders Brandy to attack. Together they kill Tex and injure Sadie, though Booth is stabbed in the thigh and passes out after killing Katie. Sadie stumbles outside, alarming Dalton, who was in his pool, oblivious to the melee inside. Dalton retrieves a","Dalton retrieves a flamethrower movie prop from his shed and incinerates Sadie. After Booth is taken away in an ambulance, Sebring and Tate invite Dalton in for a drink. Cast Quentin Tarantinoportrays the director of Dalton's Red Apples cigarettes commercialand the voice ofBounty Law.MusicianToni Basilappears in the opening creditsPan Amscene dancing with Sharon Tate.Margot Robbie also briefly reprises her role as Laura Cameron, a stewardess from the TV seriesPan Am. Although her face is not seen, she makes and serves Dalton a cocktail on his flight home from Italy. Additionally, the film features appearances fromClifton Collins Jr.as Ernesto \"The Mexican\" Vaquero, a character onLancer,Omar Doomas Donnie, a biker onSpahn Ranch,Clu Gulager(in his last film role) as a book store owner,Perla Haney-Jardineas anLSD-selling hippie,Martin KoveandJames Remaras a Sheriff and \"Ugly Owl Hoot\", two characters onBounty Law,Brenda Vaccaroas Schwarz's wife Mary Alice, Tarantino's wifeDaniella Pickas Daphna Ben-Cobo,","Daphna Ben-Cobo, Dalton's co-star inNebraska Jim,Lew Temple,Vincent Laresca,JLouis Mills, andMaurice Compteas Land Pirates,Gabriela Floresas Maralu the Fiddle Player, andCorey BurtonasBounty LawPromo Announcer (voice).Ex–UFCstarKeith Jardineperformed stunts on the movie. An extended cut, released theatrically in October 2019, included an appearance byJames MarsdenasBurt Reynoldsand a voice over byWalton Goggins.Danny StrongandTim Rothshot scenes that were cut. Strong portrayedDean Martinand Paul Barabuta (based on Rudolph Altobelli), the homeowner of10050 Cielo Drive, while Roth portrayed Raymond,: page 123Sebring's English butler.Sebring had a butler in real life named Amos Russell who was interviewed by the police while investigating theTate murders.Despite being removed from the final theatrical cut of the film, Roth still received credit for acting in the film. Character details Fictional characters Rick Dalton Cliff Booth Other fictional characters Historical characters The Manson Family Production","Family Production Writing and development The screenplay forOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodwas developed slowly over several years by Quentin Tarantino. While he knew he wanted it to be titledOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, evoking the idea of afairy tale, he publicly referred to the project asMagnum opus.The life of the work for the first five years was as anovel,which Tarantino considered to be an exploratory approach to the story, not yet having decided if it would be a screenplay. Tarantino tried other writing approaches: the early scene between Rick Dalton and Marvin Schwarz was originally written as a one-act play. Tarantino discovered the centerpiece for the work about 10 years previously while filmingDeath ProofwithKurt Russellwho had been working with the same stunt double, John Casino, for several years. Even though there was only a small bit for Casino to do, Tarantino was asked to use him, and agreed. The relationship fascinated Tarantino and inspired him to make a film about Hollywood.Tarantino","Hollywood.Tarantino stated, while Casino may have been a perfect double for Russell years earlier, when he met them, \"this was maybe the last or second-to-last thing they'd be doing together\". Tarantino first created stuntman Cliff Booth, giving him a massive backstory. Next, he created actorRick Daltonfor whom Booth would stunt double. Tarantino decided to have them beSharon Tate's next-door neighbors in 1969. The first plot point he developed was the ending, moving backwards from there, this being the first time Tarantino had worked this way. He thought of doing anElmore Leonard-type story, but realized he was confident enough in his characters to let them drive the film and let it be aday in the lifeof Booth, Dalton, and Tate. He would use sequences from Dalton's films for the action, inspired byRichard Rush's 1980 filmThe Stunt Man, which used the scenes from theWWImovie they were making within the film as the action.Further, to get his mind into Dalton, Tarantino wrote five episodes of the fictional","of the fictional television showBounty Law, in which Dalton had starred, having become fascinated with the amount of story crammed into half-hour episodes of 1950s western shows. Tarantino kept the only copy of the third act of the script in a safe to prevent it from being prematurely released.DiCaprio, Robbie, and Pitt were the only other people who read the entire script.In an interview withAdam Sandler, Pitt revealed that the only other copy of the script was burned by Tarantino. Pre-production and casting On July 11, 2017, it was reported that Tarantino's next film would be about theManson murders.HarveyandBob Weinsteinwould be involved,but it was not known whetherThe Weinstein Companywould distribute the film, as Tarantino sought to cast before sending a package to studios.Tarantino approachedBrad PittandJennifer Lawrencefor roles andMargot Robbiewas being considered for the role ofSharon Tate. After theHarvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations, Tarantino cut ties with Weinstein and sought a new","and sought a new distributor, after having worked with Weinstein for his entire career. At this point,Leonardo DiCapriowas revealed to be among a short list of actors Tarantino was considering.A short time later, reports circulated that studios were bidding for the film, and thatDavid Heymanhad joined as a producer, along with Tarantino andShannon McIntosh. On November 11, 2017,Sony Picturesannounced they would distribute the film, beatingWarner Bros.,Universal Pictures,Paramount Pictures,Annapurna PicturesandLionsgate.Tarantino's demands included a $95 million budget,final cut privilege, \"extraordinary creative controls\", 25% offirst-dollar gross, and the stipulation that the rights revert to him after 10 to 20 years. In January 2018, DiCaprio signed on, taking a pay cut to collaborate with Tarantino again.Al Pacinowas being considered for a role.On February 28, 2018, the film was titledOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, with Pitt cast as Cliff Booth.DiCaprio and Pitt were each paid $10 million.In March 2018,","March 2018, Robbie, who had expressed interest in working with Tarantino,signed to co-star as Sharon Tate,whileZoë Bellconfirmed she would appear.In May 2018,Tim Roth,Kurt Russell, andMichael Madsenjoined the cast.Timothy Olyphantwas also cast.In June 2018,Damian Lewis,Luke Perry,Emile Hirsch,Dakota Fanning,Clifton Collins Jr., Keith Jefferson,Nicholas Hammond, Pacino, andScoot McNairyjoined the cast.Spencer Garrett,James Remar, andMike Mohwere announced in July.In August 2018,Damon HerrimanasCharles Manson, andLena Dunham,Austin Butler,Danny Strong,Rafał Zawierucha,Rumer Willis,Dreama Walker, andMargaret Qualleywere cast. When Butler auditioned for the film, he was not aware of which character he was being considered for. Tarantino told him it was for a villain or a hero onLancer, when in fact it was forTex Watson. To prepare for her audition,Maya Hawkepracticed with her father,Ethan Hawke. She stated, \"He (Tarantino) actually organized a really amazing callback process that was unlike anything I've ever","anything I've ever been through... except maybe auditioning for drama school.\" Willis auditioned for two roles, neither of which she got, but was later offered the part ofJoanna Pettet.Sydney Sweeneysaid everyone she auditioned with did so for the same character, then were told they could do extra credit. Some did artwork, and she wrote a letter in character.Julia Butterssays her sitcomAmerican Housewifewas on while Tarantino was writing her character, Trudi Frazer. He looked up and said, \"Maybe she can try this.\" Burt Reynoldswas cast asGeorge Spahnin May 2018, but died in September before he was able to film his scenes and was replaced byBruce Dern.Reynolds did a rehearsal and script reading, his last performance. After reading the script and learning that Pitt would be portraying Booth, Reynolds told Tarantino, \"You gotta have somebody say, 'You're pretty for a stunt guy.'\" The line appears in the film, spoken to Booth by Bruce Lee.The last thing Reynolds did before he died was run lines with his","run lines with his assistant forOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood. Tarantino initially approachedJennifer Lawrenceto portray Manson Family memberSqueaky Fromme, saying \"She was interested but something just didn't work out.\"Tarantino had also spoken toTom Cruiseabout playing Cliff Booth, who was being considered for the role.Charlie Daywas offered to audition for the part of Manson. Day did not show up to audition because he did not want to see himself in that role.Macaulay Culkinauditioned for an undisclosed role. It was his first audition in eight years.It was also initially reported that frequent Tarantino collaboratorSamuel L. Jacksonwas in talks for a role as the villain of aBounty Lawepisode. Filming and design When it came to the look of 1969 Hollywood in the film a large part of it was told through the memory of a child. Tarantino stated: the jumping off point was going to be my memory – as a six-year old sitting in the passenger seat of my stepfather'sKarmann Ghia. And even that shot, that kind of looks","that kind of looks up at Cliff as he drives by theEarl Scheib, and all those signs, that's pretty much my perspective, being a little kid... Principal photographybegan on June 18, 2018, in Los Angeles, California, andwrappedon November 1, 2018.Tarantino's directive was to turn Los Angeles of 2018 into Los Angeles of 1969 withoutcomputer-generated imagery.For this, he tapped into previous collaborators for production: editorFred Raskin, cinematographerRobert Richardson, sound editorWylie Statemanand makeup artist Heba Thorisdottir. He also brought first-time collaborators, production designerBarbara Ling, based on her work recreating historical settings inThe Doors, and costume designerArianne Phillips.Despite Tarantino's intent, the production wound up using more than 75 digital visual effects shots byLuma PicturesandLola VFX, mainly to cover up modern billboards and erasing non-1960s buildings from driving shots. To film at thePussycat Theater, production designer Barbara Ling and her team coveredthe","her team coveredthe building'sLEDsignage and reattached the theater's iconic logo, rebuilding the letters and neon. Ling said the lettering on every marquee in the film is historically accurate. To restoreLarry Edmunds Bookshop, she reproduced the original storefront sign and tracked down period-appropriate merchandise, even recreating book covers. Her team restored theBruinandFox Villagetheaters, including their marquees, and the storefronts around them. Stan's Donuts, across the street from the Bruin, got a complete makeover. ThePlayboy Mansionscene was shot at the actual mansion.Tarantino was adamant about filming there, but it took a while to obtain permission since the mansion had been sold to a private owner followingHugh Hefner's death. Tarantino and Ling met with the new owner to discuss the parts they wanted to use, but he was reluctant since the property was in the middle of a renovation. After long negotiations he agreed, and Ling was able to dress the vacant mansion, front courtyard, and backyard","and backyard for the party scene, evoking as much of the 1960s appearance of the mansion as possible.The dance sequence for the scene was choreographed byToni Basilwho knew Sharon Tate and once dated Jay Sebring.She also choreographed Dalton'sHullabalooscene.Though the film is set in 1969, the mansion was actually not acquired by Playboy until 1971, resulting in an obvious anachronism. Several important scenes were shot at theMusso & Frank Grill, which was a \"must have\" location for Tarantino according to Rick Schuler, supervising location manager. \"I feel so lucky that there's a place like the Musso & Frank Grill, one that exists now exactly how it has always been,\" Tarantino said. \"It was fantastic being able to shoot at an iconic landmark that is so authentic and connected to Hollywood.\" The scenes involving theTate–Polanski housewere not filmed at Cielo Drive, the winding street where the 3,200 square-foot house once stood. The house was razed in 1994 and replaced with a mansion nearly six times the","six times the size. Scenes involving the house were filmed at three different locations around Los Angeles: one for the interior, one for the exterior, and aUniversal Citylocation for the scenes depicting the iconic cul-de-sac driveway. Movie poster artistSteven Chorneycreated the poster forOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodas a reference toThe Mod Squad.He andRenato Casarocreated the posters for the movies within the film,Nebraska Jim,Operation Dyn-O-Mite,Uccidimi Subito Ringo Disse il Gringo,Hell-Fire Texas, andComanche Uprising, which was reprinted for Dalton's home parking spot.Madmagazine caricaturistTom Richmondcreated the covers ofMadandTV Guidefeaturing Dalton's Jake Cahill modeled after the art ofJack Davis. Tarantino told Richardson, \"I want to feel retro but I want to be contemporary.\" Richardson shot inKodak35mmwithPanavisioncameras and lenses, in order to weave time periods. ForBounty Lawthey shot in black and white, and brief sequences inSuper 8and16mmEktachrome. In the film,Lancerwas shot on a","shot on a retrofitted Western Street backlot atUniversal Studios, designed by Ling. Richardson crossedLancerwithAlias Smith and Jonesfor the retro-future look Tarantino wanted. The way they filmedLancerwas not possible in 1969, but Tarantino wanted his personal touch on it. Richardson said that filming the movie touched him personally: \"The film speaks to all of us... We are all fragile beings with a limited time to achieve whatever it is we desire... that at any moment that place will shift... so take stock in life and have the courage to believe in yourself.\"In order to build theLancerset Ling watched \"Enormous amounts of episodes\" of the series. She built a western town filled withadobebuildings. ForBounty Law, she went for a dusty, dirty, earlyDeadwoodlook, to separate it from the \"MoneyedLancerworld\". Spahn Ranchwas recreated in detail over about a three-month period.A wildfire completely destroyed the ranch in 1970 so the scenes for the movie were filmed at nearbyCorriganville Movie RanchinSimi Valley,","RanchinSimi Valley, which was also amovie ranchat one time.Tarantino made sure to use a lot of dogs in the scenes. He said in real life many dogs lived on the ranch and made it feel alive. He even made sure there were dogs moving around in every shot. He was inspired to use the dogs in this manner from the wayFrancis Ford Coppolaused helicopters inApocalypse Nowduring theRobert Duvallscenes. To improve the use ofpractical effects, Leonardo DiCaprio was allowed to lightstunt coordinatorson fire while shooting scenes with a flamethrower.The exterior of theVan NuysDrive-in theaterscene was filmed at theParamountDrive-in theater since the Van Nuys Drive-in theater no longer exists.As the camera rises up over the theater, the shot transitions to a miniature set with toy cars.: 36:00–39:00For some of the driving scenes, theHollywood FreewayandMarina Freewayin Los Angeles were shut down for hours in order to fill them with vintage cars.The scene depicting Bruce Lee training Jay Sebring was filmed at Sebring's","filmed at Sebring's actual house. The scene in which Rick Dalton flubs his lines inLancerwas not in the screenplay but rather an idea DiCaprio had on set while filming. Afterwards Tarantino came up with the idea for Dalton's \"freakout\" scene in his trailer, taking inspiration fromRobert De Niro's performance inMartin Scorsese'sTaxi Driver. Tarantino stated, \"It's got to be likeTravis Bicklewhen he's in his apartment by himself.\" DiCaprio improvised the entire scene. Music The soundtrack from the film is a compilation album ofclassic rock, which includes multiple tracks fromPaul Revere & the Raiders, as well as 1960s radio ads and DJ patter. The film also contains numerous songs and scores not included on the soundtrack, including from artiststhe Mamas & the PapasandElmer Bernstein. Release Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodpremiered at theCannes Film Festivalon May 21, 2019, the 25th anniversary of Tarantino's premiere ofPulp Fictionat the festival.It was released theatrically in the United States on July 26,","States on July 26, 2019, bySony Pictures Releasingunder itsColumbia Pictureslabel.The film was originally scheduled for release on August 9, 2019, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of theTate–LaBianca murders. Ateaser trailerwas released on March 20, 2019, featuring 1960s music bythe Mamas and the Papas(\"Straight Shooter\") and byLos Bravos(\"Bring a Little Lovin'\").The official trailer was released on May 21, 2019, featuring the songs \"Good Thing\" byPaul Revere & the Raiders, and \"Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show\" byNeil Diamond.The studio spent around $110 million marketing the film.An extended cut of the film featuring four additional scenes was released in theaters on October 25, 2019. Home media The film was released through digital retailers on November 22, 2019, and onBlu-ray,4K Ultra HD, andDVDon December 10. The 4K version is available as a regular version and a collector's edition.In April 2020,Media Play Newsmagazine announcedOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodearned Title of the Year and Best","the Year and Best Theatrical Home release in the 10th annual Home Media Awards.Both the DVD and Blu-ray contain a deleted scene, in which Charles Manson confronts Paul Barabuta, portrayed byDanny Strong, the homeowner and caretaker of theTate-Polanski residence. Barabuta is based on the home's owner, Rudolph Altobelli, and its caretaker, William Garretson. Reception Box office Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodgrossed $142.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $232.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $374.6 million.By some estimates, the film needed to gross around $250 million worldwide in order tobreak-even,with others estimating it would need to make $400 million in order to turn a profit. In the United States and Canada, the film was projected to gross $30–40 million from 3,659 theaters in its opening weekend, with some projections having it as high as $50 million or as low as $25 million.The week of its release,Fandangoreported the film was the highest pre-seller of any","pre-seller of any Tarantino film.The film made $16.9 million on its first day, including $5.8 million from Thursday night previews (the highest total of Tarantino's career). It went on to debut to $41.1 million, finishing second behind holdoverThe Lion Kingand marking Tarantino's largest opening.Comscorereported that 47% of audience members went to see the film because of who the director was (compared to the typical 7%) and 37% went because of the cast (compared to normally 18%).The film grossed $20 million in its second weekend, representing a \"nice\" drop of just 51% and finishing third, and then made $11.6 million and $7.6 million the subsequent weekends.In its fifth weekend the film made $5 million, bringing its running domestic total to $123.1 million, becoming the second-highest of Tarantino's career behindDjango Unchained.In its ninth weekend, its global total earnings reached $329.4 million, surpassingInglourious Basterdsto become Tarantino's second-highest global grosser behindDjango Unchained.","Unchained. Critical response On thereview aggregatorwebsiteRotten Tomatoes, 86% of 584 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's consensus reads: \"Thrillingly unrestrained yet solidly crafted,Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodtempers Tarantino's provocative impulses with the clarity of a mature filmmaker's vision.\"Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 84 out of 100, based on 62 critics, indicating \"universal acclaim\".Audiences polled byCinemaScoregave it an average grade of \"B\" on an A+ to F scale, while those atPostTrakgave it an average of 4 out of 5 stars and a 58% \"definite recommend\". The Hollywood Reportersaid critics had \"an overall positive view\", with some calling it \"Tarantino's love letter to '60s L.A.,\" praising its cast and setting, while others were \"divided on its ending.\"ReelViews'James Berardinelliawarded the film 3.5 stars out of 4, saying it was \"made by a movie-lover for movie-lovers. And even those who don't qualify may","don't qualify may still enjoy the hell out of it.\"RogerEbert.com's Brian Tallerico gave it four out of four stars, calling it \"layered and ambitious, the product of a confident filmmaker working with collaborators completely in tune with his vision\".TheChicago Sun-Times,Richard Roeperdescribed it as \"a brilliant and sometimes outrageously fantastic mash-up of real-life events and characters with pure fiction\", giving it full marks. Peter BradshawofThe Guardiangave it five out of five stars, praising Pitt and DiCaprio's performances and calling it \"Tarantino's dazzling LA redemption song\".Steve Pond ofTheWrapsaid: \"Big, brash, ridiculous, too long, and in the end invigorating, the film is a grand playground for its director to fetishize old pop culture and bring his gleeful perversity to the craft of moviemaking.\"Peter TraversofRolling Stoneawarded the film 4.5 out of 5 stars, remarking that \"All the actors, in roles large and small, bring their A games to the film. Two hours and 40 minutes can feel long for","can feel long for some. I wouldn't change a frame.\"Katie Rife ofThe A.V. Clubgave it a B+, noting \"The relationship between Rick and Cliff is at the emotional heart ofOnce Upon A Time... In Hollywood\" and calling it Tarantino's \"wistful midlife crisis movie\". InLittle White Lies,Christopher Hootondescribed it as \"occasionally tedious\" but \"constantly awe-inspiring\", noting it did not seem to be a \"love letter to Hollywood\" but an \"obituary for a moment in culture that looks unlikely to ever be resurrected.\"Writing forVariety,Owen Gleibermancalled it a \"heady engrossing collage of a film—but not, in the end, a masterpiece.\" Richard BrodyofThe New Yorkercalled it an \"obscenely regressive vision of the sixties\" that \"celebrates white-male stardom (and behind-the-scenes command) at the expense of everyone else.\"Caspar Salmon ofThe Guardiantook issue with the violence in the film, writing, \"Tarantino's filmography reveals a director in search of increasingly gruesome settings to validate his revenge fantasies","revenge fantasies and...blood-thirst.\" Accolades At the92nd Academy Awards,Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodreceived nominations forBest Picture,Best Director,Best Actor,Best Original Screenplay,Best Cinematography,Best Costume Design,Best Sound Editing, andBest Sound Mixing; and wonBest Supporting ActorandBest Production Design.The film's other nominations include tenBritish Academy Film Awards(winning one),twelveCritics' Choice Movie Awards(winning four),and fiveGolden Globe Awards(winning three).TheNational Board of Reviewincluded the film as one of thetop 10 films of the yearand awarded TarantinoBest Directorand PittBest Supporting Actor.TheAmerican Film Instituteincluded it as one of thetop 10 films of 2019.In December 2021, the film's screenplay was listed number twenty-two on theWriters Guild of America's \"101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century (So Far)\". Analysis Story, themes and character symbolism Dan Schindel ofHyperallergicwrote of the symbolism in the film'snostalgia. He wrote the detail is","wrote the detail is almost \"microscopic\", in its use of \"hundreds of periodephemera\" across various mediums, most of which is unrecognizable to most viewers. Schindel writes that these forgotten memories surround the character of Rick Dalton because he too is a piece of forgotten nostalgia. Schindel also writes about the dynamics between the characters. Dalton and Booth represent thedualityof attitudes towards \"their seeming impendingobsolesce.\" Booth being relaxed and accepting it and Dalton being fragile and insecure about it. As Dalton's whole life is about how he is perceived, he is obsessed with how he wishes to be perceived.Sharon Tate, also an actor, is filled with joy when she is able to see herself entertain a theater audience. But, Schindel says, that scene also humanizes her, making her a person, rather than the \"victim\" she has become. He also expresses that Dalton and Booth representOld Hollywood, while Tate representsNew Hollywoodand the future. Schindel states that Tarantino uses darkness,","uses darkness, both for Booth and his questionable past as well as in theManson Family. While Booth's possible crimes shade the nostalgia, the Manson clan shades the future. In the end, however, not only are Booth and Dalton able to save the future, but Dalton becomes the hero he always wanted to be. Travis Woods also wrote of what the three characters represent and how it is demonstrated in the film. He states that the three leads represent the past, present, and future. Dalton is the past, stuck in a fading world and afraid to let go. Booth is the present, always living in the moment, and Tate the promise of a future on the rise. They also represent three class levels of Hollywood with Booth literally living in the shadows of the movie industry. His home is a trailer in the shadows of the Van Nuys Drive-In Theater. Woods also construes how Booth being the stunt double of Dalton is illustrated throughout. Dalton struggles with an emotional arc and change, while Booth clashes with danger and physical","danger and physical obstacles. Woods points out the actor's job is to provide the audience with the emotional arc, while the stuntman's job is to step in for the physicality and danger, as told to us in the first scene. This is shown when Dalton faces hisexistential fearson the set ofLancerby taking on a new acting challenge on a Western set and overcoming his fears and inner struggles. Meanwhile, Booth comes in to handle the dangerous stuff on another Western set where he also triumphs. While they both have their victories, Tate has hers as well by not only simply living her life but also by watching herself in a movie with an audience. Woods writes the finale ties it all together; \"How a stunt works, and fantasy is made real: the actor performs a scene all the way up to a threat of violence. There's a cut, and the stunt double enters the scene, stands in for the actor and cheats death.\" And so, Dalton fearlessly confronts the would-be killers outside of his home. After a cut, \"Booth enters the scene...","enters the scene... cheats death,\" and handles the physical danger. At the end, Dalton re-enters and gets the glory. A feat that could not have been achieved by either the actor or stuntman alone, but only together. Woods concludes, this also represents the past and present \"uniting to allow for a better future\". \"The past leads to the present, and the present leads to the future, and all three are required for the narrative to continue.\" David G. Hughes wrote of the symbolized fantasy. He noted that Tate is a \"symbol ofeffervescent life, unadulterated joy, and graceful innocence,\"whileMichael Phillipsof theChicago Tribunesaw the character as aGoddess.However Hughes was much more interested in what Booth represents. He wrote how Dalton's stress and psychological issues prevent him from being a symbol of fantasy for the audience. Booth is the film's hero and simultaneously works loyally for Dalton from a place of low social standing. Hughes states this could be \"aMarxistpoint about invisible labor and","invisible labor and theSubstructure.\" However, Hughes feels this does not work to engage the audience. He draws onSigmund Freudand hisPsychopathic Characters on the Stage. He says what makes Booth interesting and particularly Brad Pitt's portrayal of him issex appeal. Being handsome, strong, loyal, and courageous makes him desirable. Hughes states that Booth isLaura Mulvey's \"...perfect, ...complete, more powerful ideal ego.\" Tarantino has Booth fightBruce Leeto create themythof Booth. Hughes also writes that Booth embodies theBuddha's teachings onZen, but also that he is capable of \"barbaric violence\". These qualities make him the \"fantasy of righteous male power\". Hughes compares Booth toCharles Manson, saying both are violent outcasts who sit between the worlds of WesternRenaissanceandEastern philosophy. However, he says they are theantithesisof each other. While Booth has a code, Manson only serves himself. Manson \"is Hollywood's monster from theid is itsego idealand savior.\"ALos Angeles Catholic","Angeles Catholic bishop,Robert Barron, praised the character of Cliff Booth as embodying the fourcardinal virtues. Naomi Fry ofThe New Yorkerwrote how the film is about the disposability of people in Hollywood. She sees Dalton and Tate as needing to be seen as their livelihoods depend on it and \"an actor onscreen as a conduit for own fantasies and those of others.\" Dalton feels he is no longer able to do this, and is tortured by the feeling. Booth has also been discarded by Hollywood to the point of Dalton having to beg for him to be used. Fry says of Dalton's career that there is \"a sense of the ruthlessness of Hollywood, whose denizens are devastated when the industry almost inevitably turns away its gaze.\" She also notes how Tarantino \"pulls a neat trick by casting DiCaprio and Pitt,\" two of the biggest movie stars as a has-been and a nobody. Armond WhiteandKyle SmithofNational Review, in separate reviews, interpreted and praised the film as being politicallyconservative, with Smith writing that \"It","writing that \"It mercilessly sends up leftist values. In its foundations, it's so breathtakingly right-wing it could have been made byMel Gibson.\" The finale and the Manson Family TheologianDavid Bentley Hartwrote thatOnce Upon a Time\"exhibit a genuine ethicalpathos\" for its portrayal of \"cosmic justice\". Hart wrote how he was a child when the Tate murders occurred and that the Manson Family were \"the first monsters who ever truly terrified me and tormented me with nightmares.\" He remembers how the children at his school would tell the stories of the Manson Family murders. Hart praised the revisionism when \"Tarantino's version of the story unexpectedly veered away into some other, dreamlike, better world, where the monsters inadvertently passed through the wrong door and met the end they deserved.\" Hart states \"the artistic masterstroke\" comes in the end when Tate is heard \"as a disembodied voice... speaking from thatalternative reality, thatterrestrial paradisethat evil could not enter.\" Av Sinensky wrote","Av Sinensky wrote about the ending of the film whenSusan Atkinsconcludes that the Manson Family members should kill Dalton because he played a character who killed people on TV, he \"taught them to kill.\" Sinensky notes that Tarantino is putting \"the words of his critics into the mouth of a Manson murderer,\" regarding his use offictional gratuitous violence.While David G. Hughes opined that Tarantino is using the scene to say that those who crusade against fictional violence are hypocrites and complicit in real violence. Hughes wrote that by switching the real-life violence by Manson Family members with movie violence instead directed at them, \"Tarantino is making a firm distinction between cruel real-world violence and ethical,catharticfantasy violence.\" Priscilla Page wrote how the Manson Family murders have become a myth and \"framed our understanding of what was happening in America and the world,\" and in the film Spahn Ranch represents the intersection of Hollywood fantasy \"and the dark underbelly of Los","underbelly of Los Angeles.\"Michael Phillips likened the Manson girls to \"strung outSirens,\"while Page stated how the Manson Family \"are ghosts haunting Spahn Ranch... Demons to beexorcised.\" Page notes how the final act accomplishes this exorcism and also the symbolism of Booth andTex Watsonpointing guns at each other. Watson's is real, just as the Manson Family's violence was. Booth's is not but rather a finger, as his violence is fictional. Through the fictional violence the myth of the Manson Family is purged. She writes the exorcism and revenge of the film are not only through the violence but also because \"the film denies Manson a meaningful presence,\" demythologizing him and \"reduc him to a cameo, expos the Manson Family as inept, and mak Sharon Tate the story's beating heart.\" Steven Boone referred to Dalton going to Tate's house as \"entering thegatesofCielo Drive'sHollywood heaven.\" Something his colleague Simon Abrams also alluded to when he commented, \"Jay Sebringinvites in for a drink like a","for a drink like a hipperSt. Peter.\"Dan Schindel also saw Dalton's walk up Tate's driveway as \"anascent to heaven\", based on the \"rising camera movement\".Naomi Fry compared Dalton going through the gates as him entering theGarden of Eden. Writing in the academic journalAnimation,Jason Barkerdraws fromAristotle'sPoeticsto analyze in detail the film's use of \"cartoon violence\", speculating that such violence \"is more or less inversely related to the film's dramatic content\". Barker concludes that: \"Through self-indulgent, inane, insane and tyrannical cartoonism,Once Upon a Time. . . in Hollywoodpresents not so much a measure of contemporary violence, as a measure of indifference to violence: dramatic indifference and, perhaps, social indifference to a cartoon violence that is real in more ways than one.\" Booth's fantasy Multiple critics interpreted Cliff Booth as anunreliable narratorwhen it came to him remembering his fight with Bruce Lee. \"In the span of seconds\" the fight \"goes from being viewed by dozens","viewed by dozens of people to absolutely no one.\" The crowd just disappears which some believe shows the flashback to be a \"false memory\". The interpretation is that Booth is only remembering what he wants to and \"the purpose of that scene is to show us we can't trust Cliff.\" Steven HydenofUproxxinterpreted the ending of the film as a vision of Cliff Booth brought on through his consumption ofLSD. Hyden proposes that when Booth smokes the acid-cigarette and says, \"And away we go,\" it marks the beginning of his vision. He then leaves to take his dog Brandy for a walk, walking by the car of killers down the street who Hyden believes Booth sees in the car and recognizes fromSpahn Ranch. This allows Booth's imagination to run wild thanks to the acid. He imagines the killers in the car talking about his and Dalton's show,Bounty Law. He then imagines a scenario that lets him play out hisviolent fantasiesand allows Dalton to be a hero, using a flamethrower from a film he would never actually still own but which","still own but which occupies a place in Booth's memory. Hyden writes that the ending is Booth'shallucinatory fantasythat allows him to stay employed by Dalton, while also allowing Dalton to be accepted by the New Hollywood elite, Sharon Tate. Also that in this fantasy Tate and members of the Manson Family are fans of Dalton, just as Booth is. Steven Boone ofThe Hollywood Reporteralso commented on the ending feeling like Booth's fantasy. About the ending, he wrote \"It's as if stuntman Cliff, a serene Hollywood foot soldier...was the editor here.\"Kyle Anderson theorized the ending is not only Booth's fantasy but Dalton's as well. He states that Booth's memory of fighting Lee is \"his twisted recollection of an event that probably didn't happen.\" Anderson notes that \"Cliff is a completepsychopath\" whose life has amounted to menial labor, while \"Rick a washed-up loser.\" The ending is not \"just a dream of what might have happened,\" it is Booth's and Dalton's dream. Booth gets to fulfill his hero fantasy and","hero fantasy and instead of Dalton losing his house and career he gets to be idolized and accepted by the \"cool kids\". Billie Booth Anna Swanson wrote about the death of Billie and how it is used to frame the rest of the film. She writes how Tarantino not showing us what happens is a deliberate decision and also an homage to the death of Marvin (Phil LaMarr) inPulp Fictionand the fact we do not know why Vincent Vega's (John Travolta) gun goes off and shoots Marvin. Within the film one can interpret Billie's death as Cliff's speargun accidentally going off in the same vein as Vincent's gun, or as a cold-blooded murder by Cliff and a cover up, or in a number of other scenarios. Swanson argues that which interpretation the individual viewer has will lead them to view the rest of the film through that lens and have a completely different experience than someone who views it alternatively. She notes we do not even know whose perspective the Billie Booth scene is from. It is a flashback within a flashback and so","a flashback and so could be Cliff's memory but as it is told by Randy it could be his perspective based on what he heard. It could be what Cliff is imagining Randy is saying to Rick. It could even be an \"omniscientperspective\". If one views Cliff as innocent it makes him easier to like, and could be \"suggesting an innocent man's life can be ruined by unfortunate circumstances beyond his control.\" However, if one views Cliff as guilty, \"It's a depiction of the extent to which someone can literally get away with murder.\" In referencing the ending of the film, Swanson asks if Cliff is guilty, \"Are we supposed to forgive one death he caused because of the lives he saved?\" Swanson concludes that another purpose of the scene is to build up the theme of \"Hollywood mythology\". Referring to the scene's allusion toNatalie Wood, she writes \"the myths last, while the truth is lost in an ocean vaster than the rolling neon streets of the Hollywood of yore.\" Lindsey Romain says the scene is \"aRorschach Testfor the","Testfor the audience\". She argues that how the viewer interprets the scene changes the interpretation of the ending of the film. If Cliff murdered Billie then he is despicable and the killings he commits at the end are self-serving. However, if he is innocent then he is a hero. Romain writes \"either read is accurate, and both feel purposeful.\" By leaving Billie's death open-ended, Romain believes Tarantino is asking, \"IsOnce Upon a Time... in Hollywooda touchingfableabout reclaiming relevance, or a horror story about a business that forgives heinous acts the second righteousness is procured?\" Romain concludes that \"maybe it's both,\" and \"about art...about violence and how we participate in and consume it.\" Red Apple ad Writing forThe Washington Post, Sonny Bunch commented on the mid-credits Red Apple cigarettes advertisement scene. He believes it is a commentary of current filmmaking and a \"pitch-perfect parody of the films that have dominated box office charts in recent history.\" Bunch compares the fake ad","the fake ad to the real ones used as mid-credit scenes in theDC,Marvel, andFast & Furiousfranchises. The scenes in those films are used to advertise the next film in their franchise. He also notes how those ads tie their franchises' universes together just as Red Apple does with the Tarantino universe. Cultural references The title is a reference to directorSergio Leone'sOnce Upon a Time in the WestandOnce Upon a Time in America.On the poster of Dalton's filmRed Blood Red Skin, inspired byLand Raiders, he appears withTelly Savalas. The posters for the two films are the same, except with Dalton replacingGeorge Maharis.The movie Voytek Frykowski is watching isTeenage Monster, presented byhorror hostSeymour. Archive footage from many films is included inOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, includingC.C. and Company,Lady in Cement,Three in the Attic, andThe Wrecking Crew, in whichSharon Tateappears as Freya Carlson.Three scenes were digitally altered, replacing the original actors with Rick Dalton. One from an episode","One from an episode ofThe F.B.I., entitled \"All the Streets Are Silent\", in which Dalton appears as the character portrayed byBurt Reynoldsin the actual episode.Another fromDeath on the Run, with Dalton's face imposed overTy Hardin's.The third is fromThe Great Escape, with Dalton appearing asVirgil Hilts, the role made famous bySteve McQueen.ForThe 14 Fists of McCluskey, a World War IIfilm-within-the-filmstarring Dalton, footage and music fromHell Riveris used. Connections to other Tarantino films Cliff Booth is a reference to Brad Pitt's character in Tarantino'sInglourious Basterds, Lt.Aldo Raine, a special forces WWII veteran who takes the cover of a stuntman.One of Rick Dalton's Italian films in the movie is directed by real-life directorAntonio Margheriti. Antonio Margheriti is also used as an alias for Sgt.Donny Donowitz(Eli Roth) inInglourious Basterds.The scene involving Dalton playing a character who burns Nazis with a flamethrower is similar to the ending ofInglourious Basterds, which ends with Nazi","ends with Nazi leadership being burned to death. The final scene features Dalton in a commercial for fictional Red Apple cigarettes, which appear in many Tarantino films.Additionally another common Tarantino brandBig Kahuna Burgeris advertised on a billboard.When Dalton and Booth get back from Italy they walk by the blue mosaic wall inLAX, the same wall that the title character in Tarantino'sJackie Brown(Pam Grier) moves past in the opening credits of that film.The characters of stunt coordinator husband and wife, Randy (Kurt Russell) and Janet Lloyd (Zoë Bell) are an homage to characters in Tarantino'sDeath Proof; Stuntman Mike McKay (Russell) and Zoë Bell who plays herself, a stunt woman. In the film, Bruce Lee engages in a fight with Cliff Booth on the set ofThe Green Hornet.TheGreen Hornettheme songis featured in Tarantino'sKill Bill: Volume 1.The masks worn by the Crazy 88 gang in that film are the same as Lee's mask as Kato inThe Green Hornet.The car Booth drives is a 1964 blueVolkswagen Karmann","Karmann Ghiaconvertible. It is the same year, color, make and model of the car thatBeatrix \"the Bride\" Kiddo(Uma Thurman) drives inKill Bill: Volume 2.Similarly, Rick Dalton's 1966Cadillac de Villeis the same car driven by Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) inReservoir Dogs. It was owned by Madsen. Historical accuracy and influence In a scene,Sharon Tategoes into Larry Edmunds Bookshop and purchases a copy ofTess of the d'Urbervilles.In real life, Tate gave a copy toRoman Polanskishortly before her death. In 1978 Polanski directed the film adaptation,Tess(1979), dedicating it to Tate. Tate and Polanski'sYorkie Terrierin the film is named \"Dr. Sapirstein\",as was Tate's Yorkie in real life, named after the doctor portrayed byRalph BellamyinRosemary's Baby.The carrier she puts the dog in is the one that Tate actually owned. In the film, Tate goes to seeThe Wrecking Crewat theFox Bruin Theater. She convinces the theater's employees that she stars in the movie after they fail to recognize her. Tarantino stated the scene","stated the scene came from a personal experience. WhenTrue Romancewas released, he saw it at the same theater, where he eventually convinced its employees that he wrote the script.: 39:00–42:00The outfitMargot Robbiewears in the scene is based on the one Tate wore inEye of the Devil. On the set ofBatman, for a crossover episode withThe Green Hornet,a fight was scripted withKato(Bruce Lee) losing toDick Grayson'sRobin(Burt Ward). When Lee received the script, he refused to do it, so it was changed to a draw. When the cameras rolled, Lee stalked Ward until Ward backed away. Lee laughed and told him he was \"lucky it is a TV show.\"StuntmanGene LeBellcarried Lee around in a Fireman's Carry when he first arrived onThe Green Hornetset in response to Lee being tough on stuntmen.In the film, stuntman Cliff Booth fights Lee on the set ofThe Green Hornet; the fight ends in a draw. Booth refers to Lee as \"Kato\". According to Rudolph Altobelli, who rentedthe houseto Polanski and Tate, in March 1969,Charles Mansonshowed","Mansonshowed up. Polanski's friend, Iranian photographer Shahrokh Hatami (who directed the short documentaryMia and Roman) also said he saw Manson enter the grounds. Hatami approached Manson, asking him what he wanted. He told Hatami he was looking forTerry Melcher. Hatami responded the house was the Polanski residence and perhaps Melcher lived in the guest house. Altobelli told Manson that Melcher no longer lived there.This happens in the film, withJay Sebringin place of Altobelli and Hatami. On the night ofAugust 8, 1969,Patricia Krenwinkel,Tex Watson, andSusan Atkinsbroke into Tate's house, murdering her and four others.: 176–180In the film, they go to Tate's house to commit the murders but instead end up breaking into Dalton's house after he interrupts them.Linda Kasabianwent along that night, though she did not murder anyone and stayed outside the whole time as a lookout. In the film, she goes along and does not murder anyone but takes off and does not stay.Watson told his victims, \"I'm the Devil, and","\"I'm the Devil, and I'm here to do the Devil's business.\" In the film, he says it to Cliff Booth. In the film, Atkins convinces the others to seek revenge by killing Rick Dalton, star of a TV western. Since TV taught them to kill, it is fitting they kill the guy from TV, and \"My idea is to kill the people who taught us to kill!\"In real life,Manson FamilymemberNancy Pitmansaid: \"We are what you have made us. We were brought up on your TV. We were brought up watchingGunsmokeandHave Gun – Will Travel.\"Sandra Goodsaid: \"You want to talk about devils and demonic and immorals and evil, go to Hollywood. We don't touch the evil of that world. We don't even skim it.\"In the film when the four Manson Family members who drive to Tate's house are sitting outside in their car, Rick Dalton comes out of his house and yells at them to leave. In real-life the four members stopped at the house of Rudolf Weber, down the street from Tate's house. Weber came out and yelled at them to leave. Weber told the police he was tired of","he was tired of hippies on his street. Clem Groganwas convicted of the murder of stuntmanDonald Sheaon Spahn Ranch, whom he repeatedly beat with a lead pipe.In the film, Grogan is instead beaten by stuntman Cliff Booth.The 1959Ford Galaxiedriven by the Manson Family is a detailed replica of the car used in the Tate–LaBianca murders. Car coordinator Steven Butcher found the actual car, but after a meeting with Tarantino, they decided using it would be \"too creepy\".Boeing 747sare used in several airliner scenes, but were not incommercial useuntil 1970;the film is set in 1969. Character controversies Bruce Lee The film's depiction ofBruce Leedrew criticism. In the film, Lee is asked on a film set whether he could defeatMuhammad Aliin a fight, to which he responds that he would \"make him a cripple\". Cliff responds with laughter, causing Lee to challenge him to a fight. Although Lee initially kicks Cliff to the ground, Cliff manages to throw Lee into the side of a car. Fans and contemporaries of Lee, including","of Lee, including his protégéDan Inosanto, criticized the portrayal.Lee's daughterShannondescribed the depiction as \"an arrogant asshole who was full of hot air\" and that \"they didn't need to treat him in the way White Hollywood did when he was alive.\"Lee's student and friendKareem Abdul-Jabbar,who starred with Lee inGame of Death, stated that Tarantino's portrayal of Lee was \"sloppy and somewhat racist\". Mike Moh, who played Lee, said he was conflicted at first: \"Bruce in my mind was literally a God. didn't always have the most affection for stuntmen; he didn't respect all of them.\"He stated, \"Tarantino loves Bruce Lee; he reveres him.\"Brad Pitt and stunt coordinator Robert Alonzo objected to an extended version of the fight in which Lee loses.According to Lee's friend andThe Green HornetstuntmanGene LeBell, Lee had a reputation for \"kicking the shit out of the stuntmen. They couldn't convince him that he could go easy and it would still look great on film.\"In the 2018Bruce Lee: A Life, Lee's","Lee: A Life, Lee's biographerMatthew Pollywrote, Lee would jump-kick people on the set. According to Lee's co-starVan Williams, it stopped when \"He dislocated jaw.\" Polly continued, \"Bruce insisted on close quarters combat. The stuntmen hated it.\" Williams said, \" ... didn't want to work on the show. They were tired of getting hurt.\" LeBell was tasked with \"calming Bruce down.\"According to Williams, Lee's treatment of stuntmen drove the show's stunt coordinatorBennie Dobbinsto want to fight . Tarantino responded, saying Lee was \"kind of an arrogant guy,\" and that Lee's widow,Linda, wrote in her 1975 bookBruce Lee: The Man Only I Knewthat he could beat Muhammad Ali.She wrote, \"Even the most scathing critics admitted that Bruce'sGung fuwas sensational. One critic wrote, 'Those who watched him would bet on Lee to render Cassius Clay (Ali) senseless if they were put in a room and told anything goes.'\"In 1972, Lee himself stated: \"Everybody says I must fight Ali some day. ... Look at my hand. That's a little","That's a little Chinese hand. He'd kill me.\" Shannon filed a complaint with theChina Film Administrationaffecting the film's release in China unless alterations were made. After Tarantino refused to remove the scene, China cancelled the release of the film on October 18, 2019, one week before its release date there. Sharon Tate After being contacted over concerns, Tarantino invited a representative ofRoman Polanski,Sharon Tate'swidower, over to his house to read the script and report back to Polanski, to assure him \"he didn't have anything to worry about\". Tarantino stated: \"When it comes to Polanski, we're talking about a tragedy that would be unfathomable for most human beings,\" and that he did not contact him while writing it, as he did not want to cause him anxiety. Despite this, Polanski's wife,Emmanuelle Seigner, criticized Tarantino for using Polanski's likeness after the film's premiere. Debra Tate, Sharon's sister, initially opposed the film, saying it was exploitative and perpetuated mistruths: \"To","mistruths: \"To celebrate the killers and the darkest portion of society as being sexy or acceptable in any way, shape or form is just perpetuating the worst of our society.\" After Tarantino contacted her and showed her the script, she withdrew her opposition, saying: \"This movie is not what people would expect it to be when you combine the Tarantino and Manson names.\" She felt that Tarantino was a \"very stand-up guy\"; after visiting the set, she was impressed by Robbie and lent her some of Sharon's jewelry and perfume to wear in the film. After the premiere, journalist Farah Nayeri asked Tarantino why Robbie had so few lines. Tarantino responded, \"I reject your hypothesis.\" Robbie elaborated, \"I think the moments on screen show those wonderful sides of could be adequately done without speaking.\"Tarantino said, \"I thought it would both be touching and pleasurable and also sad and melancholy to just spend a little time with , just existing... I wanted you to see Sharon a lot.\" Manson Family Charles Manson was","Charles Manson was convicted of the murders of Tate and four others, despite not being present, due mostly to a theory presented byprosecutorVincent Bugliosithat Manson was trying to instigate anapocalypticrace war, leaving only Black Muslims: 246and the Family. According to the theory, the Black Muslims: 246would eventually look to Manson to lead them. According to members of the Family –Paul Watkins,Juan FlynnandBarbara Hoyt– Manson referred to the race war asHelter Skelter, getting the name from thesong of the same name.: 244–247, 334, 361–362 Musician and filmmakerBoots Rileycriticized Tarantino's film for not portraying Bugliosi's Helter Skelter narrative, or depicting the Family aswhite supremacists,as didLorraine Aliof theLos Angeles Times, in which she wrote that portraying the Manson Family as hippies is \"a more bankable image than Manson the ignorant white supremacist.\" However, according to members of The Family –Susan Atkins,Leslie Van Houten,Patricia Krenwinkel,Catherine Share, andRuth Ann","Share, andRuth Ann Moorehouse– theTate murderswere not perpetrated to start Helter Skelter, but as copycat murders mirroring that ofGary Hinman, in an attempt to convince police the killer was still at large,: 426–435and getBobby Beausoleilreleased from jail, as he was charged with Hinman's murder. He stated the murders had nothing to do with race. According toJay Sebring's protégé and business partnerJim Markham, who provided original Sebring hair products forOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, the murders were instigated by a drug deal gone bad, not a race war. He believes Manson was at Tate's house the day before the murders to sell drugs to Sebring and Voytek Frykowski, which resulted in the two beating Manson up.In his interview withTruman Capote, Beausoleil said, \"They burned people on dope deals. Sharon Tate and that gang.\" OnThe Joe Rogan Experience, Tarantino said he thought Bugliosi's theory was \"bullshit\". He believes Manson never sent anyone over to Tate's house to murder anyone, and that the murders","that the murders happened spontaneously. Related projects Novels Once Upon a Time in Hollywood In November 2020, Tarantino signed a two-book deal withHarperCollins. On June 29, 2021, he published his first novel, an adaptation ofOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood.Theaudiobookis narrated byJennifer Jason Leighwho previously starred in Tarantino'sThe Hateful Eight.According to Tarantino, herHateful Eightcharacter Daisy Domergue was \"A Manson girl out west, likeSusan Atkinsor something.\" According to Tarantino, the novel is \"a complete rethinking of the entire story,\" and adds details to various sequences and characters, including multiple chapters dedicated to the backstory of Cliff Booth.The novel also departs from the film, the film's finale occurs towards the beginning of the novel, and its aftermath includes Rick Dalton earning newfound fame as a regular onThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.It also focuses onCharles Manson's pursuit of a music career,the \"inner worlds\" of Sharon Tate and Trudi Frazer,and","Trudi Frazer,and has a whole chapter focused on actorAldo Ray.: 337–349 The Films of Rick Dalton In June 2021, Tarantino revealed he wrote and plans to publish a second novel connected toOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodabout the films of Rick Dalton.: 45:00–47:00The book details every film and TV series of Dalton's entire career, some of which are completely fictional but the majority of Dalton's work are real, with Dalton replacing the actors who actually starred in the films.: 46:00–48:00In it, Cliff Booth writes a film for Dalton featuring a flamethrower, which they produce and Dalton directs.: 47:00–49:00 Film and television Extended cut On August 5, 2019, it was announced that a four-hour cut of the film may be coming toNetflix.On January 3, 2020,Colliderconfirmed the statement in an interview with Quentin Tarantino, revealing the extended-cut ofOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodwould probably be available in approximately one year.In June 2021 Tarantino said the extended cut would probably be released \"in a","be released \"in a couple of years.\" It will be around three hours and 20 minutes and be released theatrically.: 38:00–40:00 Bounty Law Also in 2019, Tarantino expressed interest in creating aBounty Lawtelevision series based on five half-hour scripts he wrote in preparation for the film and that he plans on writing three more episodes.Tarantino said he does not know who would play Jake Cahill, the lead but added \"if wants to do it that'd be great.\"The series would be shot inblack and whiteand follow the half-hour format ofWestern television showsfrom the 1950s.Scenes from the episodes already written appear inOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood. Tarantino plans on directing all episodes of the series. Lancer Tarantino hopesRobert Rodriguezwill turn Tarantino's version ofLancerinOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodinto a film.: 37:00–38:00 Stage In June 2021 Tarantino announced his plan to produce a stage adaptation ofOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood. He already wrote the play, which takes place inItaly. The entire second","The entire second act consists of Rick Dalton, Marvin Schwarz, andSergio Corbuccihaving dinner inRome. In popular culture On August 6, 2021, the rock bandTwin Atlanticreleased aOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood-themedmusic videofor their song \"Bang On the Gong,\" with lead singer, Sam McTrusty taking inspiration from Rick Dalton. During the opening credits of the Japanese anime,Chainsaw Man, the opening scene of the movie has been referenced. See also Notes References External links","Julia Butters Julia Butters(born April 15, 2009) is an American actress. She is known for her role in the filmOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood(2019), for which she was nominated for theCritics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Actor/Actress, and for her role as Reggie Fabelman inThe Fabelmans(2022). Early life Butters was born inLos Angeles, California, to parents Lorelei and Darrin; her father is aDisney animatorwho has worked on films such asFrozenandRalph Breaks the Internet. Career Julia Butters began her career doing commercials. Her first speaking role was the role of Gabby inCriminal Minds.In 2016, Butters portrayed the recurring role of Ella in theAmazon Prime VideoseriesTransparent.Later that year, she began starring in theABCsitcomAmerican Housewifeas Anna-Kat Otto.WhenQuentin Tarantinowas writing the script of his ninth filmOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, he spotted Butters on television, and later cast her in the role of precocious child actress Trudi Fraser.After she received critical acclaim for","acclaim for this role, Butters decided to pursue similar opportunities, leading her to leaveAmerican Housewifeafter four seasons.In December 2020, Butters was cast inNetflix’sThe Gray Man.In June 2021, it was announced that Butters was cast inThe Fabelmans,Steven Spielberg's semi-autobiographical coming-of-age film as Reggie Fabelman, a character based on Spielberg's sisterAnne.In August 2022, Butters was cast as Lily in the filmQueen of Bones. Filmography Film Television Awards and nominations References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Once Upon a Time...in Hollywoodis a 2019comedy dramafilm written and directed byQuentin Tarantino. Produced byColumbia Pictures,Bona Film Group,Heyday Films, and Visiona Romantica and distributed bySony Pictures, it is a co-production between the United States, United Kingdom, and China. It features a largeensemble castled byLeonardo DiCaprio,Brad Pitt, andMargot Robbie. Set in 1969 Los Angeles, the film follows a fading actor and hisstunt doubleas they navigate therapidly changing film industry, with the threat of theTate murderslooming. Announced in July 2017, it is the first Tarantino film not to involveBobandHarvey Weinstein, as Tarantino ended his partnership with the brothers following thesexual abuse allegations against the latter. After a bidding war, the film was distributed bySony Pictures, which met Tarantino's demands includingfinal cut privilege. Pitt, DiCaprio, Robbie,Zoë Bell,Kurt Russell, and others joined the cast between January and June 2018.Principal\",\n \"June 2018.Principal photographylasted from June through November around Los Angeles.Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodis the final film to featureLuke Perry, who died on March 4, 2019, and it is dedicated to his memory. Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodpremiered at the2019 Cannes Film Festivalon May 21, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 26, 2019, and in the United Kingdom on August 14. It grossed $374 million worldwide and received acclaim from critics, with praise for Tarantino's direction and screenplay, the performances (particularly from DiCaprio and Pitt), cinematography, soundtrack, sound design, costume design, and production values. TheNational Board of Reviewand theAmerican Film InstitutenamedOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodone of the top-ten films of 2019.Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodwas nominated for ten awards at the92nd Academy Awards, winning two (Best Supporting Actorfor Pitt andBest Production Design), and receivednumerous other accolades.A novelization, written by\",\n \"written by Tarantino in his debut as an author, was published in 2021. Plot In February 1969,Hollywoodactor Rick Dalton, the former star of the 1950sWestern showBounty Law, copes with a fading career, his most recent roles beingguest appearancesas TV villains. Agent Marvin Schwarz advises him to makespaghetti Westernsin Italy, which Dalton considers beneath him. Dalton's best friend,stunt double, personal assistant, and driver is Cliff Booth – a World War II veteran, living in atrailerwith hispit bull, Brandy. Booth struggles to find stunt work amid rumors he murdered his wife. Meanwhile, Dalton hopes to revive his career by befriending young actressSharon Tateand her husband, directorRoman Polanski, who livenext door. While fixing the TV antenna atop Dalton's roof, Booth notices a hippie man,Charles Manson, arriving at the Polanski residence. Manson says he is looking for music producerTerry Melcher, who once lived there, but Tate's friendJay Sebringturns him away. While Tate watches herself inThe Wrecking\",\n \"inThe Wrecking Crewat theFox Bruin Theater, Booth gives a hitchhiker namedPussycata ride toSpahn Ranch, a former Western film set where Booth did stunt work. Booth checks onGeorge Spahn, the ranch's nearly blind owner, making sure thehippies living thereare not exploiting him. After discovering his car's tire has been punctured, Booth physically forces ranch hippieClemto change it. The hippies' leaderTexis summoned to deal with the situation but arrives as Booth is driving away. While filming a guest star role as a TV villain onLancer, Dalton forgets his lines. After berating himself, he returns to set and delivers a performance that impresses his young co-star, Trudi Frazer, and the director,Sam Wanamaker. Meanwhile, Schwarz books Dalton to star inSergio Corbucci's spaghetti western. Booth accompanies Dalton for the six month shoot in Italy, where Dalton films three additional movies and marries Italian starlet Francesca Capucci. Before returning to the US, Dalton tells Booth that he can no longer afford\",\n \"no longer afford his salary, which Booth amicably understands. Returning to Los Angeles on August 8, 1969, Dalton and Booth go out drinking to commemorate their time together. Returning to Dalton's house, Booth smokes anLSD-laced cigarette and takes Brandy for a walk while Dalton makes margaritas. Manson's followers Tex,Sadie,Katie, andFlowerChildarrive tomurder the Tate house occupants. Hearing a car's loudmuffler, an enraged Dalton orders the group off the private street. Recognizing him, the Family members decide to kill him instead, after Sadie reasons that Hollywood has \\\"taught them to murder\\\". Flowerchild deserts them, speeding off with their car. Breaking into Dalton's house, they confront Capucci and Booth. Booth recognizes them from Spahn Ranch and orders Brandy to attack. Together they kill Tex and injure Sadie, though Booth is stabbed in the thigh and passes out after killing Katie. Sadie stumbles outside, alarming Dalton, who was in his pool, oblivious to the melee inside. Dalton retrieves a\",\n \"Dalton retrieves a flamethrower movie prop from his shed and incinerates Sadie. After Booth is taken away in an ambulance, Sebring and Tate invite Dalton in for a drink. Cast Quentin Tarantinoportrays the director of Dalton's Red Apples cigarettes commercialand the voice ofBounty Law.MusicianToni Basilappears in the opening creditsPan Amscene dancing with Sharon Tate.Margot Robbie also briefly reprises her role as Laura Cameron, a stewardess from the TV seriesPan Am. Although her face is not seen, she makes and serves Dalton a cocktail on his flight home from Italy. Additionally, the film features appearances fromClifton Collins Jr.as Ernesto \\\"The Mexican\\\" Vaquero, a character onLancer,Omar Doomas Donnie, a biker onSpahn Ranch,Clu Gulager(in his last film role) as a book store owner,Perla Haney-Jardineas anLSD-selling hippie,Martin KoveandJames Remaras a Sheriff and \\\"Ugly Owl Hoot\\\", two characters onBounty Law,Brenda Vaccaroas Schwarz's wife Mary Alice, Tarantino's wifeDaniella Pickas Daphna Ben-Cobo,\",\n \"Daphna Ben-Cobo, Dalton's co-star inNebraska Jim,Lew Temple,Vincent Laresca,JLouis Mills, andMaurice Compteas Land Pirates,Gabriela Floresas Maralu the Fiddle Player, andCorey BurtonasBounty LawPromo Announcer (voice).Ex–UFCstarKeith Jardineperformed stunts on the movie. An extended cut, released theatrically in October 2019, included an appearance byJames MarsdenasBurt Reynoldsand a voice over byWalton Goggins.Danny StrongandTim Rothshot scenes that were cut. Strong portrayedDean Martinand Paul Barabuta (based on Rudolph Altobelli), the homeowner of10050 Cielo Drive, while Roth portrayed Raymond,: page 123Sebring's English butler.Sebring had a butler in real life named Amos Russell who was interviewed by the police while investigating theTate murders.Despite being removed from the final theatrical cut of the film, Roth still received credit for acting in the film. Character details Fictional characters Rick Dalton Cliff Booth Other fictional characters Historical characters The Manson Family Production\",\n \"Family Production Writing and development The screenplay forOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodwas developed slowly over several years by Quentin Tarantino. While he knew he wanted it to be titledOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, evoking the idea of afairy tale, he publicly referred to the project asMagnum opus.The life of the work for the first five years was as anovel,which Tarantino considered to be an exploratory approach to the story, not yet having decided if it would be a screenplay. Tarantino tried other writing approaches: the early scene between Rick Dalton and Marvin Schwarz was originally written as a one-act play. Tarantino discovered the centerpiece for the work about 10 years previously while filmingDeath ProofwithKurt Russellwho had been working with the same stunt double, John Casino, for several years. Even though there was only a small bit for Casino to do, Tarantino was asked to use him, and agreed. The relationship fascinated Tarantino and inspired him to make a film about Hollywood.Tarantino\",\n \"Hollywood.Tarantino stated, while Casino may have been a perfect double for Russell years earlier, when he met them, \\\"this was maybe the last or second-to-last thing they'd be doing together\\\". Tarantino first created stuntman Cliff Booth, giving him a massive backstory. Next, he created actorRick Daltonfor whom Booth would stunt double. Tarantino decided to have them beSharon Tate's next-door neighbors in 1969. The first plot point he developed was the ending, moving backwards from there, this being the first time Tarantino had worked this way. He thought of doing anElmore Leonard-type story, but realized he was confident enough in his characters to let them drive the film and let it be aday in the lifeof Booth, Dalton, and Tate. He would use sequences from Dalton's films for the action, inspired byRichard Rush's 1980 filmThe Stunt Man, which used the scenes from theWWImovie they were making within the film as the action.Further, to get his mind into Dalton, Tarantino wrote five episodes of the fictional\",\n \"of the fictional television showBounty Law, in which Dalton had starred, having become fascinated with the amount of story crammed into half-hour episodes of 1950s western shows. Tarantino kept the only copy of the third act of the script in a safe to prevent it from being prematurely released.DiCaprio, Robbie, and Pitt were the only other people who read the entire script.In an interview withAdam Sandler, Pitt revealed that the only other copy of the script was burned by Tarantino. Pre-production and casting On July 11, 2017, it was reported that Tarantino's next film would be about theManson murders.HarveyandBob Weinsteinwould be involved,but it was not known whetherThe Weinstein Companywould distribute the film, as Tarantino sought to cast before sending a package to studios.Tarantino approachedBrad PittandJennifer Lawrencefor roles andMargot Robbiewas being considered for the role ofSharon Tate. After theHarvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations, Tarantino cut ties with Weinstein and sought a new\",\n \"and sought a new distributor, after having worked with Weinstein for his entire career. At this point,Leonardo DiCapriowas revealed to be among a short list of actors Tarantino was considering.A short time later, reports circulated that studios were bidding for the film, and thatDavid Heymanhad joined as a producer, along with Tarantino andShannon McIntosh. On November 11, 2017,Sony Picturesannounced they would distribute the film, beatingWarner Bros.,Universal Pictures,Paramount Pictures,Annapurna PicturesandLionsgate.Tarantino's demands included a $95 million budget,final cut privilege, \\\"extraordinary creative controls\\\", 25% offirst-dollar gross, and the stipulation that the rights revert to him after 10 to 20 years. In January 2018, DiCaprio signed on, taking a pay cut to collaborate with Tarantino again.Al Pacinowas being considered for a role.On February 28, 2018, the film was titledOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, with Pitt cast as Cliff Booth.DiCaprio and Pitt were each paid $10 million.In March 2018,\",\n \"March 2018, Robbie, who had expressed interest in working with Tarantino,signed to co-star as Sharon Tate,whileZoë Bellconfirmed she would appear.In May 2018,Tim Roth,Kurt Russell, andMichael Madsenjoined the cast.Timothy Olyphantwas also cast.In June 2018,Damian Lewis,Luke Perry,Emile Hirsch,Dakota Fanning,Clifton Collins Jr., Keith Jefferson,Nicholas Hammond, Pacino, andScoot McNairyjoined the cast.Spencer Garrett,James Remar, andMike Mohwere announced in July.In August 2018,Damon HerrimanasCharles Manson, andLena Dunham,Austin Butler,Danny Strong,Rafał Zawierucha,Rumer Willis,Dreama Walker, andMargaret Qualleywere cast. When Butler auditioned for the film, he was not aware of which character he was being considered for. Tarantino told him it was for a villain or a hero onLancer, when in fact it was forTex Watson. To prepare for her audition,Maya Hawkepracticed with her father,Ethan Hawke. She stated, \\\"He (Tarantino) actually organized a really amazing callback process that was unlike anything I've ever\",\n \"anything I've ever been through... except maybe auditioning for drama school.\\\" Willis auditioned for two roles, neither of which she got, but was later offered the part ofJoanna Pettet.Sydney Sweeneysaid everyone she auditioned with did so for the same character, then were told they could do extra credit. Some did artwork, and she wrote a letter in character.Julia Butterssays her sitcomAmerican Housewifewas on while Tarantino was writing her character, Trudi Frazer. He looked up and said, \\\"Maybe she can try this.\\\" Burt Reynoldswas cast asGeorge Spahnin May 2018, but died in September before he was able to film his scenes and was replaced byBruce Dern.Reynolds did a rehearsal and script reading, his last performance. After reading the script and learning that Pitt would be portraying Booth, Reynolds told Tarantino, \\\"You gotta have somebody say, 'You're pretty for a stunt guy.'\\\" The line appears in the film, spoken to Booth by Bruce Lee.The last thing Reynolds did before he died was run lines with his\",\n \"run lines with his assistant forOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood. Tarantino initially approachedJennifer Lawrenceto portray Manson Family memberSqueaky Fromme, saying \\\"She was interested but something just didn't work out.\\\"Tarantino had also spoken toTom Cruiseabout playing Cliff Booth, who was being considered for the role.Charlie Daywas offered to audition for the part of Manson. Day did not show up to audition because he did not want to see himself in that role.Macaulay Culkinauditioned for an undisclosed role. It was his first audition in eight years.It was also initially reported that frequent Tarantino collaboratorSamuel L. Jacksonwas in talks for a role as the villain of aBounty Lawepisode. Filming and design When it came to the look of 1969 Hollywood in the film a large part of it was told through the memory of a child. Tarantino stated: the jumping off point was going to be my memory – as a six-year old sitting in the passenger seat of my stepfather'sKarmann Ghia. And even that shot, that kind of looks\",\n \"that kind of looks up at Cliff as he drives by theEarl Scheib, and all those signs, that's pretty much my perspective, being a little kid... Principal photographybegan on June 18, 2018, in Los Angeles, California, andwrappedon November 1, 2018.Tarantino's directive was to turn Los Angeles of 2018 into Los Angeles of 1969 withoutcomputer-generated imagery.For this, he tapped into previous collaborators for production: editorFred Raskin, cinematographerRobert Richardson, sound editorWylie Statemanand makeup artist Heba Thorisdottir. He also brought first-time collaborators, production designerBarbara Ling, based on her work recreating historical settings inThe Doors, and costume designerArianne Phillips.Despite Tarantino's intent, the production wound up using more than 75 digital visual effects shots byLuma PicturesandLola VFX, mainly to cover up modern billboards and erasing non-1960s buildings from driving shots. To film at thePussycat Theater, production designer Barbara Ling and her team coveredthe\",\n \"her team coveredthe building'sLEDsignage and reattached the theater's iconic logo, rebuilding the letters and neon. Ling said the lettering on every marquee in the film is historically accurate. To restoreLarry Edmunds Bookshop, she reproduced the original storefront sign and tracked down period-appropriate merchandise, even recreating book covers. Her team restored theBruinandFox Villagetheaters, including their marquees, and the storefronts around them. Stan's Donuts, across the street from the Bruin, got a complete makeover. ThePlayboy Mansionscene was shot at the actual mansion.Tarantino was adamant about filming there, but it took a while to obtain permission since the mansion had been sold to a private owner followingHugh Hefner's death. Tarantino and Ling met with the new owner to discuss the parts they wanted to use, but he was reluctant since the property was in the middle of a renovation. After long negotiations he agreed, and Ling was able to dress the vacant mansion, front courtyard, and backyard\",\n \"and backyard for the party scene, evoking as much of the 1960s appearance of the mansion as possible.The dance sequence for the scene was choreographed byToni Basilwho knew Sharon Tate and once dated Jay Sebring.She also choreographed Dalton'sHullabalooscene.Though the film is set in 1969, the mansion was actually not acquired by Playboy until 1971, resulting in an obvious anachronism. Several important scenes were shot at theMusso & Frank Grill, which was a \\\"must have\\\" location for Tarantino according to Rick Schuler, supervising location manager. \\\"I feel so lucky that there's a place like the Musso & Frank Grill, one that exists now exactly how it has always been,\\\" Tarantino said. \\\"It was fantastic being able to shoot at an iconic landmark that is so authentic and connected to Hollywood.\\\" The scenes involving theTate–Polanski housewere not filmed at Cielo Drive, the winding street where the 3,200 square-foot house once stood. The house was razed in 1994 and replaced with a mansion nearly six times the\",\n \"six times the size. Scenes involving the house were filmed at three different locations around Los Angeles: one for the interior, one for the exterior, and aUniversal Citylocation for the scenes depicting the iconic cul-de-sac driveway. Movie poster artistSteven Chorneycreated the poster forOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodas a reference toThe Mod Squad.He andRenato Casarocreated the posters for the movies within the film,Nebraska Jim,Operation Dyn-O-Mite,Uccidimi Subito Ringo Disse il Gringo,Hell-Fire Texas, andComanche Uprising, which was reprinted for Dalton's home parking spot.Madmagazine caricaturistTom Richmondcreated the covers ofMadandTV Guidefeaturing Dalton's Jake Cahill modeled after the art ofJack Davis. Tarantino told Richardson, \\\"I want to feel retro but I want to be contemporary.\\\" Richardson shot inKodak35mmwithPanavisioncameras and lenses, in order to weave time periods. ForBounty Lawthey shot in black and white, and brief sequences inSuper 8and16mmEktachrome. In the film,Lancerwas shot on a\",\n \"shot on a retrofitted Western Street backlot atUniversal Studios, designed by Ling. Richardson crossedLancerwithAlias Smith and Jonesfor the retro-future look Tarantino wanted. The way they filmedLancerwas not possible in 1969, but Tarantino wanted his personal touch on it. Richardson said that filming the movie touched him personally: \\\"The film speaks to all of us... We are all fragile beings with a limited time to achieve whatever it is we desire... that at any moment that place will shift... so take stock in life and have the courage to believe in yourself.\\\"In order to build theLancerset Ling watched \\\"Enormous amounts of episodes\\\" of the series. She built a western town filled withadobebuildings. ForBounty Law, she went for a dusty, dirty, earlyDeadwoodlook, to separate it from the \\\"MoneyedLancerworld\\\". Spahn Ranchwas recreated in detail over about a three-month period.A wildfire completely destroyed the ranch in 1970 so the scenes for the movie were filmed at nearbyCorriganville Movie RanchinSimi Valley,\",\n \"RanchinSimi Valley, which was also amovie ranchat one time.Tarantino made sure to use a lot of dogs in the scenes. He said in real life many dogs lived on the ranch and made it feel alive. He even made sure there were dogs moving around in every shot. He was inspired to use the dogs in this manner from the wayFrancis Ford Coppolaused helicopters inApocalypse Nowduring theRobert Duvallscenes. To improve the use ofpractical effects, Leonardo DiCaprio was allowed to lightstunt coordinatorson fire while shooting scenes with a flamethrower.The exterior of theVan NuysDrive-in theaterscene was filmed at theParamountDrive-in theater since the Van Nuys Drive-in theater no longer exists.As the camera rises up over the theater, the shot transitions to a miniature set with toy cars.: 36:00–39:00For some of the driving scenes, theHollywood FreewayandMarina Freewayin Los Angeles were shut down for hours in order to fill them with vintage cars.The scene depicting Bruce Lee training Jay Sebring was filmed at Sebring's\",\n \"filmed at Sebring's actual house. The scene in which Rick Dalton flubs his lines inLancerwas not in the screenplay but rather an idea DiCaprio had on set while filming. Afterwards Tarantino came up with the idea for Dalton's \\\"freakout\\\" scene in his trailer, taking inspiration fromRobert De Niro's performance inMartin Scorsese'sTaxi Driver. Tarantino stated, \\\"It's got to be likeTravis Bicklewhen he's in his apartment by himself.\\\" DiCaprio improvised the entire scene. Music The soundtrack from the film is a compilation album ofclassic rock, which includes multiple tracks fromPaul Revere & the Raiders, as well as 1960s radio ads and DJ patter. The film also contains numerous songs and scores not included on the soundtrack, including from artiststhe Mamas & the PapasandElmer Bernstein. Release Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodpremiered at theCannes Film Festivalon May 21, 2019, the 25th anniversary of Tarantino's premiere ofPulp Fictionat the festival.It was released theatrically in the United States on July 26,\",\n \"States on July 26, 2019, bySony Pictures Releasingunder itsColumbia Pictureslabel.The film was originally scheduled for release on August 9, 2019, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of theTate–LaBianca murders. Ateaser trailerwas released on March 20, 2019, featuring 1960s music bythe Mamas and the Papas(\\\"Straight Shooter\\\") and byLos Bravos(\\\"Bring a Little Lovin'\\\").The official trailer was released on May 21, 2019, featuring the songs \\\"Good Thing\\\" byPaul Revere & the Raiders, and \\\"Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show\\\" byNeil Diamond.The studio spent around $110 million marketing the film.An extended cut of the film featuring four additional scenes was released in theaters on October 25, 2019. Home media The film was released through digital retailers on November 22, 2019, and onBlu-ray,4K Ultra HD, andDVDon December 10. The 4K version is available as a regular version and a collector's edition.In April 2020,Media Play Newsmagazine announcedOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodearned Title of the Year and Best\",\n \"the Year and Best Theatrical Home release in the 10th annual Home Media Awards.Both the DVD and Blu-ray contain a deleted scene, in which Charles Manson confronts Paul Barabuta, portrayed byDanny Strong, the homeowner and caretaker of theTate-Polanski residence. Barabuta is based on the home's owner, Rudolph Altobelli, and its caretaker, William Garretson. Reception Box office Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodgrossed $142.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $232.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $374.6 million.By some estimates, the film needed to gross around $250 million worldwide in order tobreak-even,with others estimating it would need to make $400 million in order to turn a profit. In the United States and Canada, the film was projected to gross $30–40 million from 3,659 theaters in its opening weekend, with some projections having it as high as $50 million or as low as $25 million.The week of its release,Fandangoreported the film was the highest pre-seller of any\",\n \"pre-seller of any Tarantino film.The film made $16.9 million on its first day, including $5.8 million from Thursday night previews (the highest total of Tarantino's career). It went on to debut to $41.1 million, finishing second behind holdoverThe Lion Kingand marking Tarantino's largest opening.Comscorereported that 47% of audience members went to see the film because of who the director was (compared to the typical 7%) and 37% went because of the cast (compared to normally 18%).The film grossed $20 million in its second weekend, representing a \\\"nice\\\" drop of just 51% and finishing third, and then made $11.6 million and $7.6 million the subsequent weekends.In its fifth weekend the film made $5 million, bringing its running domestic total to $123.1 million, becoming the second-highest of Tarantino's career behindDjango Unchained.In its ninth weekend, its global total earnings reached $329.4 million, surpassingInglourious Basterdsto become Tarantino's second-highest global grosser behindDjango Unchained.\",\n \"Unchained. Critical response On thereview aggregatorwebsiteRotten Tomatoes, 86% of 584 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's consensus reads: \\\"Thrillingly unrestrained yet solidly crafted,Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodtempers Tarantino's provocative impulses with the clarity of a mature filmmaker's vision.\\\"Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 84 out of 100, based on 62 critics, indicating \\\"universal acclaim\\\".Audiences polled byCinemaScoregave it an average grade of \\\"B\\\" on an A+ to F scale, while those atPostTrakgave it an average of 4 out of 5 stars and a 58% \\\"definite recommend\\\". The Hollywood Reportersaid critics had \\\"an overall positive view\\\", with some calling it \\\"Tarantino's love letter to '60s L.A.,\\\" praising its cast and setting, while others were \\\"divided on its ending.\\\"ReelViews'James Berardinelliawarded the film 3.5 stars out of 4, saying it was \\\"made by a movie-lover for movie-lovers. And even those who don't qualify may\",\n \"don't qualify may still enjoy the hell out of it.\\\"RogerEbert.com's Brian Tallerico gave it four out of four stars, calling it \\\"layered and ambitious, the product of a confident filmmaker working with collaborators completely in tune with his vision\\\".TheChicago Sun-Times,Richard Roeperdescribed it as \\\"a brilliant and sometimes outrageously fantastic mash-up of real-life events and characters with pure fiction\\\", giving it full marks. Peter BradshawofThe Guardiangave it five out of five stars, praising Pitt and DiCaprio's performances and calling it \\\"Tarantino's dazzling LA redemption song\\\".Steve Pond ofTheWrapsaid: \\\"Big, brash, ridiculous, too long, and in the end invigorating, the film is a grand playground for its director to fetishize old pop culture and bring his gleeful perversity to the craft of moviemaking.\\\"Peter TraversofRolling Stoneawarded the film 4.5 out of 5 stars, remarking that \\\"All the actors, in roles large and small, bring their A games to the film. Two hours and 40 minutes can feel long for\",\n \"can feel long for some. I wouldn't change a frame.\\\"Katie Rife ofThe A.V. Clubgave it a B+, noting \\\"The relationship between Rick and Cliff is at the emotional heart ofOnce Upon A Time... In Hollywood\\\" and calling it Tarantino's \\\"wistful midlife crisis movie\\\". InLittle White Lies,Christopher Hootondescribed it as \\\"occasionally tedious\\\" but \\\"constantly awe-inspiring\\\", noting it did not seem to be a \\\"love letter to Hollywood\\\" but an \\\"obituary for a moment in culture that looks unlikely to ever be resurrected.\\\"Writing forVariety,Owen Gleibermancalled it a \\\"heady engrossing collage of a film—but not, in the end, a masterpiece.\\\" Richard BrodyofThe New Yorkercalled it an \\\"obscenely regressive vision of the sixties\\\" that \\\"celebrates white-male stardom (and behind-the-scenes command) at the expense of everyone else.\\\"Caspar Salmon ofThe Guardiantook issue with the violence in the film, writing, \\\"Tarantino's filmography reveals a director in search of increasingly gruesome settings to validate his revenge fantasies\",\n \"revenge fantasies and...blood-thirst.\\\" Accolades At the92nd Academy Awards,Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodreceived nominations forBest Picture,Best Director,Best Actor,Best Original Screenplay,Best Cinematography,Best Costume Design,Best Sound Editing, andBest Sound Mixing; and wonBest Supporting ActorandBest Production Design.The film's other nominations include tenBritish Academy Film Awards(winning one),twelveCritics' Choice Movie Awards(winning four),and fiveGolden Globe Awards(winning three).TheNational Board of Reviewincluded the film as one of thetop 10 films of the yearand awarded TarantinoBest Directorand PittBest Supporting Actor.TheAmerican Film Instituteincluded it as one of thetop 10 films of 2019.In December 2021, the film's screenplay was listed number twenty-two on theWriters Guild of America's \\\"101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century (So Far)\\\". Analysis Story, themes and character symbolism Dan Schindel ofHyperallergicwrote of the symbolism in the film'snostalgia. He wrote the detail is\",\n \"wrote the detail is almost \\\"microscopic\\\", in its use of \\\"hundreds of periodephemera\\\" across various mediums, most of which is unrecognizable to most viewers. Schindel writes that these forgotten memories surround the character of Rick Dalton because he too is a piece of forgotten nostalgia. Schindel also writes about the dynamics between the characters. Dalton and Booth represent thedualityof attitudes towards \\\"their seeming impendingobsolesce.\\\" Booth being relaxed and accepting it and Dalton being fragile and insecure about it. As Dalton's whole life is about how he is perceived, he is obsessed with how he wishes to be perceived.Sharon Tate, also an actor, is filled with joy when she is able to see herself entertain a theater audience. But, Schindel says, that scene also humanizes her, making her a person, rather than the \\\"victim\\\" she has become. He also expresses that Dalton and Booth representOld Hollywood, while Tate representsNew Hollywoodand the future. Schindel states that Tarantino uses darkness,\",\n \"uses darkness, both for Booth and his questionable past as well as in theManson Family. While Booth's possible crimes shade the nostalgia, the Manson clan shades the future. In the end, however, not only are Booth and Dalton able to save the future, but Dalton becomes the hero he always wanted to be. Travis Woods also wrote of what the three characters represent and how it is demonstrated in the film. He states that the three leads represent the past, present, and future. Dalton is the past, stuck in a fading world and afraid to let go. Booth is the present, always living in the moment, and Tate the promise of a future on the rise. They also represent three class levels of Hollywood with Booth literally living in the shadows of the movie industry. His home is a trailer in the shadows of the Van Nuys Drive-In Theater. Woods also construes how Booth being the stunt double of Dalton is illustrated throughout. Dalton struggles with an emotional arc and change, while Booth clashes with danger and physical\",\n \"danger and physical obstacles. Woods points out the actor's job is to provide the audience with the emotional arc, while the stuntman's job is to step in for the physicality and danger, as told to us in the first scene. This is shown when Dalton faces hisexistential fearson the set ofLancerby taking on a new acting challenge on a Western set and overcoming his fears and inner struggles. Meanwhile, Booth comes in to handle the dangerous stuff on another Western set where he also triumphs. While they both have their victories, Tate has hers as well by not only simply living her life but also by watching herself in a movie with an audience. Woods writes the finale ties it all together; \\\"How a stunt works, and fantasy is made real: the actor performs a scene all the way up to a threat of violence. There's a cut, and the stunt double enters the scene, stands in for the actor and cheats death.\\\" And so, Dalton fearlessly confronts the would-be killers outside of his home. After a cut, \\\"Booth enters the scene...\",\n \"enters the scene... cheats death,\\\" and handles the physical danger. At the end, Dalton re-enters and gets the glory. A feat that could not have been achieved by either the actor or stuntman alone, but only together. Woods concludes, this also represents the past and present \\\"uniting to allow for a better future\\\". \\\"The past leads to the present, and the present leads to the future, and all three are required for the narrative to continue.\\\" David G. Hughes wrote of the symbolized fantasy. He noted that Tate is a \\\"symbol ofeffervescent life, unadulterated joy, and graceful innocence,\\\"whileMichael Phillipsof theChicago Tribunesaw the character as aGoddess.However Hughes was much more interested in what Booth represents. He wrote how Dalton's stress and psychological issues prevent him from being a symbol of fantasy for the audience. Booth is the film's hero and simultaneously works loyally for Dalton from a place of low social standing. Hughes states this could be \\\"aMarxistpoint about invisible labor and\",\n \"invisible labor and theSubstructure.\\\" However, Hughes feels this does not work to engage the audience. He draws onSigmund Freudand hisPsychopathic Characters on the Stage. He says what makes Booth interesting and particularly Brad Pitt's portrayal of him issex appeal. Being handsome, strong, loyal, and courageous makes him desirable. Hughes states that Booth isLaura Mulvey's \\\"...perfect, ...complete, more powerful ideal ego.\\\" Tarantino has Booth fightBruce Leeto create themythof Booth. Hughes also writes that Booth embodies theBuddha's teachings onZen, but also that he is capable of \\\"barbaric violence\\\". These qualities make him the \\\"fantasy of righteous male power\\\". Hughes compares Booth toCharles Manson, saying both are violent outcasts who sit between the worlds of WesternRenaissanceandEastern philosophy. However, he says they are theantithesisof each other. While Booth has a code, Manson only serves himself. Manson \\\"is Hollywood's monster from theid is itsego idealand savior.\\\"ALos Angeles Catholic\",\n \"Angeles Catholic bishop,Robert Barron, praised the character of Cliff Booth as embodying the fourcardinal virtues. Naomi Fry ofThe New Yorkerwrote how the film is about the disposability of people in Hollywood. She sees Dalton and Tate as needing to be seen as their livelihoods depend on it and \\\"an actor onscreen as a conduit for own fantasies and those of others.\\\" Dalton feels he is no longer able to do this, and is tortured by the feeling. Booth has also been discarded by Hollywood to the point of Dalton having to beg for him to be used. Fry says of Dalton's career that there is \\\"a sense of the ruthlessness of Hollywood, whose denizens are devastated when the industry almost inevitably turns away its gaze.\\\" She also notes how Tarantino \\\"pulls a neat trick by casting DiCaprio and Pitt,\\\" two of the biggest movie stars as a has-been and a nobody. Armond WhiteandKyle SmithofNational Review, in separate reviews, interpreted and praised the film as being politicallyconservative, with Smith writing that \\\"It\",\n \"writing that \\\"It mercilessly sends up leftist values. In its foundations, it's so breathtakingly right-wing it could have been made byMel Gibson.\\\" The finale and the Manson Family TheologianDavid Bentley Hartwrote thatOnce Upon a Time\\\"exhibit a genuine ethicalpathos\\\" for its portrayal of \\\"cosmic justice\\\". Hart wrote how he was a child when the Tate murders occurred and that the Manson Family were \\\"the first monsters who ever truly terrified me and tormented me with nightmares.\\\" He remembers how the children at his school would tell the stories of the Manson Family murders. Hart praised the revisionism when \\\"Tarantino's version of the story unexpectedly veered away into some other, dreamlike, better world, where the monsters inadvertently passed through the wrong door and met the end they deserved.\\\" Hart states \\\"the artistic masterstroke\\\" comes in the end when Tate is heard \\\"as a disembodied voice... speaking from thatalternative reality, thatterrestrial paradisethat evil could not enter.\\\" Av Sinensky wrote\",\n \"Av Sinensky wrote about the ending of the film whenSusan Atkinsconcludes that the Manson Family members should kill Dalton because he played a character who killed people on TV, he \\\"taught them to kill.\\\" Sinensky notes that Tarantino is putting \\\"the words of his critics into the mouth of a Manson murderer,\\\" regarding his use offictional gratuitous violence.While David G. Hughes opined that Tarantino is using the scene to say that those who crusade against fictional violence are hypocrites and complicit in real violence. Hughes wrote that by switching the real-life violence by Manson Family members with movie violence instead directed at them, \\\"Tarantino is making a firm distinction between cruel real-world violence and ethical,catharticfantasy violence.\\\" Priscilla Page wrote how the Manson Family murders have become a myth and \\\"framed our understanding of what was happening in America and the world,\\\" and in the film Spahn Ranch represents the intersection of Hollywood fantasy \\\"and the dark underbelly of Los\",\n \"underbelly of Los Angeles.\\\"Michael Phillips likened the Manson girls to \\\"strung outSirens,\\\"while Page stated how the Manson Family \\\"are ghosts haunting Spahn Ranch... Demons to beexorcised.\\\" Page notes how the final act accomplishes this exorcism and also the symbolism of Booth andTex Watsonpointing guns at each other. Watson's is real, just as the Manson Family's violence was. Booth's is not but rather a finger, as his violence is fictional. Through the fictional violence the myth of the Manson Family is purged. She writes the exorcism and revenge of the film are not only through the violence but also because \\\"the film denies Manson a meaningful presence,\\\" demythologizing him and \\\"reduc him to a cameo, expos the Manson Family as inept, and mak Sharon Tate the story's beating heart.\\\" Steven Boone referred to Dalton going to Tate's house as \\\"entering thegatesofCielo Drive'sHollywood heaven.\\\" Something his colleague Simon Abrams also alluded to when he commented, \\\"Jay Sebringinvites in for a drink like a\",\n \"for a drink like a hipperSt. Peter.\\\"Dan Schindel also saw Dalton's walk up Tate's driveway as \\\"anascent to heaven\\\", based on the \\\"rising camera movement\\\".Naomi Fry compared Dalton going through the gates as him entering theGarden of Eden. Writing in the academic journalAnimation,Jason Barkerdraws fromAristotle'sPoeticsto analyze in detail the film's use of \\\"cartoon violence\\\", speculating that such violence \\\"is more or less inversely related to the film's dramatic content\\\". Barker concludes that: \\\"Through self-indulgent, inane, insane and tyrannical cartoonism,Once Upon a Time. . . in Hollywoodpresents not so much a measure of contemporary violence, as a measure of indifference to violence: dramatic indifference and, perhaps, social indifference to a cartoon violence that is real in more ways than one.\\\" Booth's fantasy Multiple critics interpreted Cliff Booth as anunreliable narratorwhen it came to him remembering his fight with Bruce Lee. \\\"In the span of seconds\\\" the fight \\\"goes from being viewed by dozens\",\n \"viewed by dozens of people to absolutely no one.\\\" The crowd just disappears which some believe shows the flashback to be a \\\"false memory\\\". The interpretation is that Booth is only remembering what he wants to and \\\"the purpose of that scene is to show us we can't trust Cliff.\\\" Steven HydenofUproxxinterpreted the ending of the film as a vision of Cliff Booth brought on through his consumption ofLSD. Hyden proposes that when Booth smokes the acid-cigarette and says, \\\"And away we go,\\\" it marks the beginning of his vision. He then leaves to take his dog Brandy for a walk, walking by the car of killers down the street who Hyden believes Booth sees in the car and recognizes fromSpahn Ranch. This allows Booth's imagination to run wild thanks to the acid. He imagines the killers in the car talking about his and Dalton's show,Bounty Law. He then imagines a scenario that lets him play out hisviolent fantasiesand allows Dalton to be a hero, using a flamethrower from a film he would never actually still own but which\",\n \"still own but which occupies a place in Booth's memory. Hyden writes that the ending is Booth'shallucinatory fantasythat allows him to stay employed by Dalton, while also allowing Dalton to be accepted by the New Hollywood elite, Sharon Tate. Also that in this fantasy Tate and members of the Manson Family are fans of Dalton, just as Booth is. Steven Boone ofThe Hollywood Reporteralso commented on the ending feeling like Booth's fantasy. About the ending, he wrote \\\"It's as if stuntman Cliff, a serene Hollywood foot soldier...was the editor here.\\\"Kyle Anderson theorized the ending is not only Booth's fantasy but Dalton's as well. He states that Booth's memory of fighting Lee is \\\"his twisted recollection of an event that probably didn't happen.\\\" Anderson notes that \\\"Cliff is a completepsychopath\\\" whose life has amounted to menial labor, while \\\"Rick a washed-up loser.\\\" The ending is not \\\"just a dream of what might have happened,\\\" it is Booth's and Dalton's dream. Booth gets to fulfill his hero fantasy and\",\n \"hero fantasy and instead of Dalton losing his house and career he gets to be idolized and accepted by the \\\"cool kids\\\". Billie Booth Anna Swanson wrote about the death of Billie and how it is used to frame the rest of the film. She writes how Tarantino not showing us what happens is a deliberate decision and also an homage to the death of Marvin (Phil LaMarr) inPulp Fictionand the fact we do not know why Vincent Vega's (John Travolta) gun goes off and shoots Marvin. Within the film one can interpret Billie's death as Cliff's speargun accidentally going off in the same vein as Vincent's gun, or as a cold-blooded murder by Cliff and a cover up, or in a number of other scenarios. Swanson argues that which interpretation the individual viewer has will lead them to view the rest of the film through that lens and have a completely different experience than someone who views it alternatively. She notes we do not even know whose perspective the Billie Booth scene is from. It is a flashback within a flashback and so\",\n \"a flashback and so could be Cliff's memory but as it is told by Randy it could be his perspective based on what he heard. It could be what Cliff is imagining Randy is saying to Rick. It could even be an \\\"omniscientperspective\\\". If one views Cliff as innocent it makes him easier to like, and could be \\\"suggesting an innocent man's life can be ruined by unfortunate circumstances beyond his control.\\\" However, if one views Cliff as guilty, \\\"It's a depiction of the extent to which someone can literally get away with murder.\\\" In referencing the ending of the film, Swanson asks if Cliff is guilty, \\\"Are we supposed to forgive one death he caused because of the lives he saved?\\\" Swanson concludes that another purpose of the scene is to build up the theme of \\\"Hollywood mythology\\\". Referring to the scene's allusion toNatalie Wood, she writes \\\"the myths last, while the truth is lost in an ocean vaster than the rolling neon streets of the Hollywood of yore.\\\" Lindsey Romain says the scene is \\\"aRorschach Testfor the\",\n \"Testfor the audience\\\". She argues that how the viewer interprets the scene changes the interpretation of the ending of the film. If Cliff murdered Billie then he is despicable and the killings he commits at the end are self-serving. However, if he is innocent then he is a hero. Romain writes \\\"either read is accurate, and both feel purposeful.\\\" By leaving Billie's death open-ended, Romain believes Tarantino is asking, \\\"IsOnce Upon a Time... in Hollywooda touchingfableabout reclaiming relevance, or a horror story about a business that forgives heinous acts the second righteousness is procured?\\\" Romain concludes that \\\"maybe it's both,\\\" and \\\"about art...about violence and how we participate in and consume it.\\\" Red Apple ad Writing forThe Washington Post, Sonny Bunch commented on the mid-credits Red Apple cigarettes advertisement scene. He believes it is a commentary of current filmmaking and a \\\"pitch-perfect parody of the films that have dominated box office charts in recent history.\\\" Bunch compares the fake ad\",\n \"the fake ad to the real ones used as mid-credit scenes in theDC,Marvel, andFast & Furiousfranchises. The scenes in those films are used to advertise the next film in their franchise. He also notes how those ads tie their franchises' universes together just as Red Apple does with the Tarantino universe. Cultural references The title is a reference to directorSergio Leone'sOnce Upon a Time in the WestandOnce Upon a Time in America.On the poster of Dalton's filmRed Blood Red Skin, inspired byLand Raiders, he appears withTelly Savalas. The posters for the two films are the same, except with Dalton replacingGeorge Maharis.The movie Voytek Frykowski is watching isTeenage Monster, presented byhorror hostSeymour. Archive footage from many films is included inOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, includingC.C. and Company,Lady in Cement,Three in the Attic, andThe Wrecking Crew, in whichSharon Tateappears as Freya Carlson.Three scenes were digitally altered, replacing the original actors with Rick Dalton. One from an episode\",\n \"One from an episode ofThe F.B.I., entitled \\\"All the Streets Are Silent\\\", in which Dalton appears as the character portrayed byBurt Reynoldsin the actual episode.Another fromDeath on the Run, with Dalton's face imposed overTy Hardin's.The third is fromThe Great Escape, with Dalton appearing asVirgil Hilts, the role made famous bySteve McQueen.ForThe 14 Fists of McCluskey, a World War IIfilm-within-the-filmstarring Dalton, footage and music fromHell Riveris used. Connections to other Tarantino films Cliff Booth is a reference to Brad Pitt's character in Tarantino'sInglourious Basterds, Lt.Aldo Raine, a special forces WWII veteran who takes the cover of a stuntman.One of Rick Dalton's Italian films in the movie is directed by real-life directorAntonio Margheriti. Antonio Margheriti is also used as an alias for Sgt.Donny Donowitz(Eli Roth) inInglourious Basterds.The scene involving Dalton playing a character who burns Nazis with a flamethrower is similar to the ending ofInglourious Basterds, which ends with Nazi\",\n \"ends with Nazi leadership being burned to death. The final scene features Dalton in a commercial for fictional Red Apple cigarettes, which appear in many Tarantino films.Additionally another common Tarantino brandBig Kahuna Burgeris advertised on a billboard.When Dalton and Booth get back from Italy they walk by the blue mosaic wall inLAX, the same wall that the title character in Tarantino'sJackie Brown(Pam Grier) moves past in the opening credits of that film.The characters of stunt coordinator husband and wife, Randy (Kurt Russell) and Janet Lloyd (Zoë Bell) are an homage to characters in Tarantino'sDeath Proof; Stuntman Mike McKay (Russell) and Zoë Bell who plays herself, a stunt woman. In the film, Bruce Lee engages in a fight with Cliff Booth on the set ofThe Green Hornet.TheGreen Hornettheme songis featured in Tarantino'sKill Bill: Volume 1.The masks worn by the Crazy 88 gang in that film are the same as Lee's mask as Kato inThe Green Hornet.The car Booth drives is a 1964 blueVolkswagen Karmann\",\n \"Karmann Ghiaconvertible. It is the same year, color, make and model of the car thatBeatrix \\\"the Bride\\\" Kiddo(Uma Thurman) drives inKill Bill: Volume 2.Similarly, Rick Dalton's 1966Cadillac de Villeis the same car driven by Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) inReservoir Dogs. It was owned by Madsen. Historical accuracy and influence In a scene,Sharon Tategoes into Larry Edmunds Bookshop and purchases a copy ofTess of the d'Urbervilles.In real life, Tate gave a copy toRoman Polanskishortly before her death. In 1978 Polanski directed the film adaptation,Tess(1979), dedicating it to Tate. Tate and Polanski'sYorkie Terrierin the film is named \\\"Dr. Sapirstein\\\",as was Tate's Yorkie in real life, named after the doctor portrayed byRalph BellamyinRosemary's Baby.The carrier she puts the dog in is the one that Tate actually owned. In the film, Tate goes to seeThe Wrecking Crewat theFox Bruin Theater. She convinces the theater's employees that she stars in the movie after they fail to recognize her. Tarantino stated the scene\",\n \"stated the scene came from a personal experience. WhenTrue Romancewas released, he saw it at the same theater, where he eventually convinced its employees that he wrote the script.: 39:00–42:00The outfitMargot Robbiewears in the scene is based on the one Tate wore inEye of the Devil. On the set ofBatman, for a crossover episode withThe Green Hornet,a fight was scripted withKato(Bruce Lee) losing toDick Grayson'sRobin(Burt Ward). When Lee received the script, he refused to do it, so it was changed to a draw. When the cameras rolled, Lee stalked Ward until Ward backed away. Lee laughed and told him he was \\\"lucky it is a TV show.\\\"StuntmanGene LeBellcarried Lee around in a Fireman's Carry when he first arrived onThe Green Hornetset in response to Lee being tough on stuntmen.In the film, stuntman Cliff Booth fights Lee on the set ofThe Green Hornet; the fight ends in a draw. Booth refers to Lee as \\\"Kato\\\". According to Rudolph Altobelli, who rentedthe houseto Polanski and Tate, in March 1969,Charles Mansonshowed\",\n \"Mansonshowed up. Polanski's friend, Iranian photographer Shahrokh Hatami (who directed the short documentaryMia and Roman) also said he saw Manson enter the grounds. Hatami approached Manson, asking him what he wanted. He told Hatami he was looking forTerry Melcher. Hatami responded the house was the Polanski residence and perhaps Melcher lived in the guest house. Altobelli told Manson that Melcher no longer lived there.This happens in the film, withJay Sebringin place of Altobelli and Hatami. On the night ofAugust 8, 1969,Patricia Krenwinkel,Tex Watson, andSusan Atkinsbroke into Tate's house, murdering her and four others.: 176–180In the film, they go to Tate's house to commit the murders but instead end up breaking into Dalton's house after he interrupts them.Linda Kasabianwent along that night, though she did not murder anyone and stayed outside the whole time as a lookout. In the film, she goes along and does not murder anyone but takes off and does not stay.Watson told his victims, \\\"I'm the Devil, and\",\n \"\\\"I'm the Devil, and I'm here to do the Devil's business.\\\" In the film, he says it to Cliff Booth. In the film, Atkins convinces the others to seek revenge by killing Rick Dalton, star of a TV western. Since TV taught them to kill, it is fitting they kill the guy from TV, and \\\"My idea is to kill the people who taught us to kill!\\\"In real life,Manson FamilymemberNancy Pitmansaid: \\\"We are what you have made us. We were brought up on your TV. We were brought up watchingGunsmokeandHave Gun – Will Travel.\\\"Sandra Goodsaid: \\\"You want to talk about devils and demonic and immorals and evil, go to Hollywood. We don't touch the evil of that world. We don't even skim it.\\\"In the film when the four Manson Family members who drive to Tate's house are sitting outside in their car, Rick Dalton comes out of his house and yells at them to leave. In real-life the four members stopped at the house of Rudolf Weber, down the street from Tate's house. Weber came out and yelled at them to leave. Weber told the police he was tired of\",\n \"he was tired of hippies on his street. Clem Groganwas convicted of the murder of stuntmanDonald Sheaon Spahn Ranch, whom he repeatedly beat with a lead pipe.In the film, Grogan is instead beaten by stuntman Cliff Booth.The 1959Ford Galaxiedriven by the Manson Family is a detailed replica of the car used in the Tate–LaBianca murders. Car coordinator Steven Butcher found the actual car, but after a meeting with Tarantino, they decided using it would be \\\"too creepy\\\".Boeing 747sare used in several airliner scenes, but were not incommercial useuntil 1970;the film is set in 1969. Character controversies Bruce Lee The film's depiction ofBruce Leedrew criticism. In the film, Lee is asked on a film set whether he could defeatMuhammad Aliin a fight, to which he responds that he would \\\"make him a cripple\\\". Cliff responds with laughter, causing Lee to challenge him to a fight. Although Lee initially kicks Cliff to the ground, Cliff manages to throw Lee into the side of a car. Fans and contemporaries of Lee, including\",\n \"of Lee, including his protégéDan Inosanto, criticized the portrayal.Lee's daughterShannondescribed the depiction as \\\"an arrogant asshole who was full of hot air\\\" and that \\\"they didn't need to treat him in the way White Hollywood did when he was alive.\\\"Lee's student and friendKareem Abdul-Jabbar,who starred with Lee inGame of Death, stated that Tarantino's portrayal of Lee was \\\"sloppy and somewhat racist\\\". Mike Moh, who played Lee, said he was conflicted at first: \\\"Bruce in my mind was literally a God. didn't always have the most affection for stuntmen; he didn't respect all of them.\\\"He stated, \\\"Tarantino loves Bruce Lee; he reveres him.\\\"Brad Pitt and stunt coordinator Robert Alonzo objected to an extended version of the fight in which Lee loses.According to Lee's friend andThe Green HornetstuntmanGene LeBell, Lee had a reputation for \\\"kicking the shit out of the stuntmen. They couldn't convince him that he could go easy and it would still look great on film.\\\"In the 2018Bruce Lee: A Life, Lee's\",\n \"Lee: A Life, Lee's biographerMatthew Pollywrote, Lee would jump-kick people on the set. According to Lee's co-starVan Williams, it stopped when \\\"He dislocated jaw.\\\" Polly continued, \\\"Bruce insisted on close quarters combat. The stuntmen hated it.\\\" Williams said, \\\" ... didn't want to work on the show. They were tired of getting hurt.\\\" LeBell was tasked with \\\"calming Bruce down.\\\"According to Williams, Lee's treatment of stuntmen drove the show's stunt coordinatorBennie Dobbinsto want to fight . Tarantino responded, saying Lee was \\\"kind of an arrogant guy,\\\" and that Lee's widow,Linda, wrote in her 1975 bookBruce Lee: The Man Only I Knewthat he could beat Muhammad Ali.She wrote, \\\"Even the most scathing critics admitted that Bruce'sGung fuwas sensational. One critic wrote, 'Those who watched him would bet on Lee to render Cassius Clay (Ali) senseless if they were put in a room and told anything goes.'\\\"In 1972, Lee himself stated: \\\"Everybody says I must fight Ali some day. ... Look at my hand. That's a little\",\n \"That's a little Chinese hand. He'd kill me.\\\" Shannon filed a complaint with theChina Film Administrationaffecting the film's release in China unless alterations were made. After Tarantino refused to remove the scene, China cancelled the release of the film on October 18, 2019, one week before its release date there. Sharon Tate After being contacted over concerns, Tarantino invited a representative ofRoman Polanski,Sharon Tate'swidower, over to his house to read the script and report back to Polanski, to assure him \\\"he didn't have anything to worry about\\\". Tarantino stated: \\\"When it comes to Polanski, we're talking about a tragedy that would be unfathomable for most human beings,\\\" and that he did not contact him while writing it, as he did not want to cause him anxiety. Despite this, Polanski's wife,Emmanuelle Seigner, criticized Tarantino for using Polanski's likeness after the film's premiere. Debra Tate, Sharon's sister, initially opposed the film, saying it was exploitative and perpetuated mistruths: \\\"To\",\n \"mistruths: \\\"To celebrate the killers and the darkest portion of society as being sexy or acceptable in any way, shape or form is just perpetuating the worst of our society.\\\" After Tarantino contacted her and showed her the script, she withdrew her opposition, saying: \\\"This movie is not what people would expect it to be when you combine the Tarantino and Manson names.\\\" She felt that Tarantino was a \\\"very stand-up guy\\\"; after visiting the set, she was impressed by Robbie and lent her some of Sharon's jewelry and perfume to wear in the film. After the premiere, journalist Farah Nayeri asked Tarantino why Robbie had so few lines. Tarantino responded, \\\"I reject your hypothesis.\\\" Robbie elaborated, \\\"I think the moments on screen show those wonderful sides of could be adequately done without speaking.\\\"Tarantino said, \\\"I thought it would both be touching and pleasurable and also sad and melancholy to just spend a little time with , just existing... I wanted you to see Sharon a lot.\\\" Manson Family Charles Manson was\",\n \"Charles Manson was convicted of the murders of Tate and four others, despite not being present, due mostly to a theory presented byprosecutorVincent Bugliosithat Manson was trying to instigate anapocalypticrace war, leaving only Black Muslims: 246and the Family. According to the theory, the Black Muslims: 246would eventually look to Manson to lead them. According to members of the Family –Paul Watkins,Juan FlynnandBarbara Hoyt– Manson referred to the race war asHelter Skelter, getting the name from thesong of the same name.: 244–247, 334, 361–362 Musician and filmmakerBoots Rileycriticized Tarantino's film for not portraying Bugliosi's Helter Skelter narrative, or depicting the Family aswhite supremacists,as didLorraine Aliof theLos Angeles Times, in which she wrote that portraying the Manson Family as hippies is \\\"a more bankable image than Manson the ignorant white supremacist.\\\" However, according to members of The Family –Susan Atkins,Leslie Van Houten,Patricia Krenwinkel,Catherine Share, andRuth Ann\",\n \"Share, andRuth Ann Moorehouse– theTate murderswere not perpetrated to start Helter Skelter, but as copycat murders mirroring that ofGary Hinman, in an attempt to convince police the killer was still at large,: 426–435and getBobby Beausoleilreleased from jail, as he was charged with Hinman's murder. He stated the murders had nothing to do with race. According toJay Sebring's protégé and business partnerJim Markham, who provided original Sebring hair products forOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, the murders were instigated by a drug deal gone bad, not a race war. He believes Manson was at Tate's house the day before the murders to sell drugs to Sebring and Voytek Frykowski, which resulted in the two beating Manson up.In his interview withTruman Capote, Beausoleil said, \\\"They burned people on dope deals. Sharon Tate and that gang.\\\" OnThe Joe Rogan Experience, Tarantino said he thought Bugliosi's theory was \\\"bullshit\\\". He believes Manson never sent anyone over to Tate's house to murder anyone, and that the murders\",\n \"that the murders happened spontaneously. Related projects Novels Once Upon a Time in Hollywood In November 2020, Tarantino signed a two-book deal withHarperCollins. On June 29, 2021, he published his first novel, an adaptation ofOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood.Theaudiobookis narrated byJennifer Jason Leighwho previously starred in Tarantino'sThe Hateful Eight.According to Tarantino, herHateful Eightcharacter Daisy Domergue was \\\"A Manson girl out west, likeSusan Atkinsor something.\\\" According to Tarantino, the novel is \\\"a complete rethinking of the entire story,\\\" and adds details to various sequences and characters, including multiple chapters dedicated to the backstory of Cliff Booth.The novel also departs from the film, the film's finale occurs towards the beginning of the novel, and its aftermath includes Rick Dalton earning newfound fame as a regular onThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.It also focuses onCharles Manson's pursuit of a music career,the \\\"inner worlds\\\" of Sharon Tate and Trudi Frazer,and\",\n \"Trudi Frazer,and has a whole chapter focused on actorAldo Ray.: 337–349 The Films of Rick Dalton In June 2021, Tarantino revealed he wrote and plans to publish a second novel connected toOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodabout the films of Rick Dalton.: 45:00–47:00The book details every film and TV series of Dalton's entire career, some of which are completely fictional but the majority of Dalton's work are real, with Dalton replacing the actors who actually starred in the films.: 46:00–48:00In it, Cliff Booth writes a film for Dalton featuring a flamethrower, which they produce and Dalton directs.: 47:00–49:00 Film and television Extended cut On August 5, 2019, it was announced that a four-hour cut of the film may be coming toNetflix.On January 3, 2020,Colliderconfirmed the statement in an interview with Quentin Tarantino, revealing the extended-cut ofOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodwould probably be available in approximately one year.In June 2021 Tarantino said the extended cut would probably be released \\\"in a\",\n \"be released \\\"in a couple of years.\\\" It will be around three hours and 20 minutes and be released theatrically.: 38:00–40:00 Bounty Law Also in 2019, Tarantino expressed interest in creating aBounty Lawtelevision series based on five half-hour scripts he wrote in preparation for the film and that he plans on writing three more episodes.Tarantino said he does not know who would play Jake Cahill, the lead but added \\\"if wants to do it that'd be great.\\\"The series would be shot inblack and whiteand follow the half-hour format ofWestern television showsfrom the 1950s.Scenes from the episodes already written appear inOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood. Tarantino plans on directing all episodes of the series. Lancer Tarantino hopesRobert Rodriguezwill turn Tarantino's version ofLancerinOnce Upon a Time in Hollywoodinto a film.: 37:00–38:00 Stage In June 2021 Tarantino announced his plan to produce a stage adaptation ofOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood. He already wrote the play, which takes place inItaly. The entire second\",\n \"The entire second act consists of Rick Dalton, Marvin Schwarz, andSergio Corbuccihaving dinner inRome. In popular culture On August 6, 2021, the rock bandTwin Atlanticreleased aOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood-themedmusic videofor their song \\\"Bang On the Gong,\\\" with lead singer, Sam McTrusty taking inspiration from Rick Dalton. During the opening credits of the Japanese anime,Chainsaw Man, the opening scene of the movie has been referenced. See also Notes References External links\",\n \"Julia Butters Julia Butters(born April 15, 2009) is an American actress. She is known for her role in the filmOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood(2019), for which she was nominated for theCritics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Actor/Actress, and for her role as Reggie Fabelman inThe Fabelmans(2022). Early life Butters was born inLos Angeles, California, to parents Lorelei and Darrin; her father is aDisney animatorwho has worked on films such asFrozenandRalph Breaks the Internet. Career Julia Butters began her career doing commercials. Her first speaking role was the role of Gabby inCriminal Minds.In 2016, Butters portrayed the recurring role of Ella in theAmazon Prime VideoseriesTransparent.Later that year, she began starring in theABCsitcomAmerican Housewifeas Anna-Kat Otto.WhenQuentin Tarantinowas writing the script of his ninth filmOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood, he spotted Butters on television, and later cast her in the role of precocious child actress Trudi Fraser.After she received critical acclaim for\",\n \"acclaim for this role, Butters decided to pursue similar opportunities, leading her to leaveAmerican Housewifeafter four seasons.In December 2020, Butters was cast inNetflix’sThe Gray Man.In June 2021, it was announced that Butters was cast inThe Fabelmans,Steven Spielberg's semi-autobiographical coming-of-age film as Reggie Fabelman, a character based on Spielberg's sisterAnne.In August 2022, Butters was cast as Lily in the filmQueen of Bones. Filmography Film Television Awards and nominations References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":66,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"The founder of the production company at which Tim Allsop and Stewart Williams met received a bachelor's degree from a college in the state of New York. In what year was this college's sibling institution founded?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"1701"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Allsop_&_Stewart_Williams"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Murdoch_(businesswoman)"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vassar_College"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_University"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Multiple constraints"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Allsop_&_Stewart_Williams', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Murdoch_(businesswoman)', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vassar_College', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_University']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Allsop_&_Stewart_Williams","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Murdoch_(businesswoman","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vassar_College","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_University"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Allsop_&_Stewart_Williams\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Murdoch_(businesswoman\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vassar_College\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_University\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["Tim Allsop & Stewart Williams Tim AllsopandStewart Williamsare a British writing and directing duo. They met in 2005 working forElisabeth Murdoch’s production companyShine Limited. Their first joint work was aComedy LabforChannel 4starring Alex Zane which they wrote, produced, and directed. Since then they have written for a variety of comedy and entertainment shows for theBBC,ITVandChannel 4, as well directingmusic videosandcommercials– most recently for theGuitar Herobrand. In 2007 they began working on apilotfor Plus One in theComedy Showcasestrand for Channel 4 which they made with production companyKudos. They have also written episodes forThe Amazing World of Gumballand recently and written episodes forSpace Chickens in Space, as well as developed the bible forDisney EMEAfor the show as well. Tim Allsop is currently a producer onWho Is Americaand Stewart Williams recently wrote an episode ofFamalam. References External links This article about a writer or poet from the United Kingdom is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.","Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Murdoch_(businesswoman","Vassar College Vassar College(/ˈvæsər/VASS-ər) is aprivateliberal arts collegeinPoughkeepsie,New York, United States. Founded in 1861 byMatthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college becamecoeducationalin 1969. The college offersBAdegrees in more than fifty majors. Vassar College's varsity sports teams, known as the Brewers, play in theNCAA'sDivision IIIas members of theLiberty League. Currently, there are close to 2,500 students. The college is one of the historicSeven Sisters. The Vassar campus comprises over 1,000 acres (400 ha) and more than 100 buildings. A designatedarboretum, the campus features more than 200 species of trees, a native plant preserve, and a 530-acre (210 ha)ecological preserve. History Vassar was founded as awomen's schoolunder the nameVassar Female Collegein 1861.Its first president was Milo P. Jewett, who had previously been first president of another women's school,Judson College;he led a staff of ten professors and twenty-one instructors.After one year, its founder,Matthew Vassar, had the wordFemaleremoved from the name, prompting some local residents ofPoughkeepsie, New York, to quip that its founder believed it might one day admit male students. The college becamecoeducationalin 1969. Vassar was the second of theSeven Sisterscolleges, higher education schools that were strictly for women, and historically sister institutions to the all-maleIvy Leaguecolleges. It was chartered by its namesake, brewerMatthew Vassar, in 1861 in theHudson Valley, about 70 miles (110 km) north ofNew York City. The first person appointed to the Vassar faculty wasastronomerMaria Mitchell, in 1865. Vassar adopted coeducation in 1969. Immediately followingWorld War II, Vassar accepted a small number of male students on theG.I. Bill.The formal decision to become co-ed came after its trustees declined an offer to merge withYale University, its sibling institution, in the wave of mergers between the historically all-male colleges of the Ivy League and their Seven Sisters counterparts. In its early years, Vassar was associated with the social elite of the Protestant establishment.E. Digby Baltzellwrites that \"upper-classWASPfamilies educated their children at colleges such asHarvard,Princeton,Yale, and Vassar.\"A select and elite few of Vassar's students were allowed entry into the school's secret society Delta Sigma Rho, founded in 1922.Before becoming President of the United States,Franklin Delano Rooseveltwas a Trustee. Approximately 2,450 students attend Vassar, and 98% live on campus.About 60% come from public high schools, and 40% come fromprivate schools(both independent and religious).Vassar is currently 56% women and 44% men, at national average for national liberal arts colleges.Students are taught by more than 336 faculty members, virtually all holding the doctorate degree or its equivalent.The student-faculty ratio is 8:1, average class size, 17. In recent freshman classes, students of color constituted 32–38% of matriculants.International students from over 60 countries make up 8-10% of the student body.In May 2007, Vassar returned to aneed-blindadmissions policy without regard to a student's financial status. Vassar presidentCatharine Bond Hilldeparted in 2016. She was succeeded byElizabeth Howe Bradleyin 2017. The college was listed as a census-designated place (Vassar College CDP) in 2019. Presidents Campus The campus is inPoughkeepsie Town, adjacent toPoughkeepsie City.The area around the campus appeared as acensus-designated place(CDP) in the2020 U.S. Census,with a population of 2,472. Architecture Vassar's campus, also anarboretum,is 1,000 acres (400 ha) and has more than 100 buildings, ranging in style fromCollegiate GothictoInternational, with several buildings of architectural interest. At the center of campus standsMain Building, one of the best examples ofSecond Empire architecturein the United States. When it was opened, Main Building was the largest building in the U.S. in terms of floor space. It formerly housed the entire college, including classrooms, dormitories, museum, library, and dining halls.The building was designed by Smithsonian architectJames Renwick Jr.and was completed in 1865. It was preceded on campus by the originalobservatory. Both buildings areNational Historic Landmarks.Rombout Housewas purchased by the college in 1915 and added to theNational Register of Historic Placesin 1982. Eero Saarinenmade designs for several Vassar dormitories, but only one, the Emma Hartman Noyes House, was completed in 1958. Built for roughly 160 students, it was the first part of a circular construction that was to be continued in \"Noyes II.\" The starkly modernist building's high cost and structural difficulties with the windows, however, led administrators to leave it at one.The dorm's common area is famous for its futuristic design; readings and concerts are held there regularly.The Noyes building was also the home of an all-female football team, the Noyes Nymphs, who competed against Ivy League teams in the 1960s and 1970s. Libraries Vassar is home to one of the largest undergraduate library collections in the U.S. The library collection today – which actually encompasses eight libraries at Vassar – contains about 1 million volumes and 7,500 serial, periodical and newspaper titles, as well as an extensive collection of microfilm and microfiche, with special collections ofEllen Swallow Richards,Albert Einstein,Mary McCarthy, andElizabeth Bishop.Vassar has been a Federal Depository library for selected U.S. Government documents since 1943 and currently receives approximately 25% of the titles available through the Federal Depository Program. The interior and exterior of the Van Ingen Art Library was renovated from June 2008 – May 2009 in an effort to restore its original design and appearance. This was the library's first major renovation since its construction in 1937. Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center In November 2016, the gallery opened the Hoene Hoy Photography gallery on the second floor, named after Anne Hoene Hoy from the class of 1963. Capital improvements In 2011, Vassar embarked on a $120 million project to improve science facilities at the college, centering on the construction of a newBridge for Laboratory Sciences. Housing The majority of students in their first three years live on campus in the nineresidence halls.Main House occupies the upper floors of Main Building, constructed at the college's founding.To accommodate a growing student body,Strong Housewas constructed in 1893.Strong was made all-women's housing after the college went coeducational in 1969; the house now also acceptsnonbinaryand othergender-nonconformingstudents.SimilarElizabethan-style houses—Raymond,Lathrop, andDavison—were built from 1897 to 1902 to form a residentialquadrangle.A nine-story Tudor-style dormitory,Jewett House, was constructed in 1907 on the north end of the quadrangle.The second largest dormitory,Josselyn House, was built in 1912 to Jewett's east.Cushing Housewas constructed outside of the quadrangle in 1927.In a departure from the architecture of the other dormitories,Noyes Housewas built in 1958 in a distinct modernist style, curved around a largegreen. Most fourth-year students live in groups of four or five in on-campus apartments.Vassar has three apartment complexes: the Terrace Apartments, the Town Houses, and the South Commons.Acooperativehouse, Ferry House, opened in 1951 and houses 20 students.Vassar guarantees housing to all full-time students. As part of a master plan to renovate all the dormitories, Jewett, Davison, and Josselyn were renovated from 2002 to 2011.The college opted for minor improvements to the rest of the dorms due to cost. Vassar maintains housing for faculty;the current complex opened in 2023.The previous faculty housing facility,Williams House, was to be demolished after 2020.School-age dependents living on the Vassar faculty complex, as well as other areas in the Vassar College CDP, are within theArlington Central School District,which operatesArlington High School. Academics The most popular undergraduate majors, based on 2021 graduates, were: Admissions For the class of 2027 (enrolling fall 2023), Vassar received 12,145 applications and accepted 17.7%. The combined average SAT scores of those who opted to submit their testing data was 1489 and the ACT composite average was 33.The middle 50% ranges for the SAT were 1450-1530 and 33-35 for the ACT. Of the matriculants whose high schools provided rankings, 79% were in the top ten percent of their class.For the class of 2026 (enrolling fall 2022), Vassar received 11,412 applications and accepted 18.7%.For the class of 2025 (enrolling fall 2021), Vassar received 10,884 applications, a 25% increase over the previous year, and accepted 2,068 (19%).For the class of 2023 (enrolling fall 2019), Vassar received 8,961 applications and accepted 2,127 (23.7%), with 691 enrolling.For the class of 2025 (enrolling fall 2021),the middle 50% range ofSATscores for enrolling freshmen was 710-760 for evidence-based reading and writing, 710-780 for math, and 1420-1540 for the composite.The middle 50%ACTscore range was 28-33 for math, 32-34 for English, and 32-34 for the composite. Students of color (including non-citizens) made up 45.5% of the incoming class;international students were 8.8% of enrolling freshmen. Rankings The 2025 edition ofU.S. News & World Report's \"Best Colleges\" ranked Vassar as tied for the 12th best liberal arts college in the U.S. out of 211 rated. In previous years the college was ranked byU.S. News & World Reportas high as tenth. In 2024,U.S. News & World Reportranked Vassar second for \"Best Colleges for Veterans\", 29th for \"Best Value\", 15th for \"Top Performers on Social Mobility\", and tied for 20th in \"Best Undergraduate Teaching\".It also ranked Vassar tied for fourth among top liberal arts colleges for economic diversity as measured by low-income students receiving federalPell Grants. In its 2021 edition,Washington Monthlyranked Vassar 11th among 215 liberal arts colleges in the U.S. based on its contribution to the public good, as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service. In its 2020 edition,The Princeton Reviewrated Vassar first for \"Best Financial Aid\" of all colleges and universities in the United States.In its 2018 edition,The Princeton Reviewrated Vassar second best for financial aid and 41st best for \"best value\".In 2019,Forbesrated Vassar 27th among liberal arts colleges and 61st overall in its America's Top Colleges ranking, which includes 650 military academies, national universities, and liberal arts colleges.Kiplinger's Personal Financeplaces Vassar 11th in its 2019 ranking of the 149 best value liberal arts colleges in the United States.Moneymagazine ranked Vassar 145th in the country out of 739 schools evaluated for its 2020 \"Best Colleges for Your Money\" edition. In an article inThe Christian Science Monitor, Vassar president emeritusCatharine Bond Hillargued that rankings \"will always be limited in what they can tell consumers. Part of higher education's role about the rankings should be to remind students and their families that these are only one piece of information that they should take into account in deciding where to go to college. Intangibles will and should play a role in these decisions, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't also look at the tangibles\". Post-graduation outcomes Over half of Vassar graduates pursue advanced study within five years of graduation, including one-fifth immediately post-graduation.Of the seniors who applied to medical school in 2017, 76% were accepted; to law school, 96% were accepted. Student life Traditions Founder's Day is an annual campus festival at Vassar College that usually takes place in late April or early May. It started as a surprise birthday party for college founderMatthew Vassar's seventy-fourth birthday and evolved into an annual celebration.Originally, Founder's Day was a spontaneous event consisting of lectures, but was soon replaced with plays, pageants, and more recreational activities. Circus and fair activities followed, with the eventual addition of the modern day music events over the course of two days. More recently themes have been added, includingAlice in Wonderland,Dinosaurs,Vintage 1800s Vassar,Nickelodeon,Nintendo, andCandyland.Recent artists at Founder's Day have includedThe Walkmen,Edan,DJ /rupture,Odd Nosdam,Jel,Toro y Moi,andOdesza. Extracurricular organizations Campus publications Radio station WVKR-FM, 91.3 FM, is the college's radio station, established in 1971. Student government In March 2016, in a 15–2 vote, the Vassar Student Association (VSA) passed a resolution calling for the support of theBoycott, Divestment and Sanctionsmovement and the boycott of Israel.In April 2016, the BDS resolution went to a school-wide referendum, where it was defeated 573–503. Athletics Vassar teams, known as the Brewers, compete inDivision IIIof theNCAA, as a member of theLiberty League. The nickname originates from the college's founder and namesakeMatthew Vassar, whose family ran abreweryin Poughkeepsie and would later amass a sizable fortune in the industry. In 2008, the Vassar men's volleyball team made the school's first appearance in a national championship game, beatingUC Santa Cruz3–0 in the semifinal before falling to Springfield in the championship game. In 2007, the Vassar cycling team hosted the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Championship in Poughkeepsie and New Paltz, New York. The competition included a 100-mile (160 km) road race over the Shawangunk Mountains in New Paltz as well as a criterium in Poughkeepsie just blocks from the school's campus. In a controversial move, on November 5, 2009, the athletics department leaders decided the men's and women'srowingteam would transition over a two-year period from a varsity to a club sport as a cost-saving measure. In 1940, 1941 and 1942, Vassar athletes won nationalintercollegiate women's tennis championshipseach year in both singles (Katharine Hubbell) and doubles (Hubbell, Carolyn \"Lonny\" Myers). In 2018, the Vassar women's rugby team won the school's first team national championship, beatingWinona State50–13 in the final of the USA Rugby Women's Division 2. Notable people Notable Vassar alumni include: Notable attendees who did not graduate from Vassar include: Notable Vassar faculty include: See also References Further reading External links","Yale University Yale Universityis aprivateIvy Leagueresearch universityinNew Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is thethird-oldest institutionofhigher education in the United States, and one of the ninecolonial collegeschartered before theAmerican Revolution. Yale was established as theCollegiate Schoolin 1701 byCongregationalistclergy of theConnecticut Colony. Originally restricted to instructing ministers in theology andsacred languages, the school's curriculum expanded, incorporating humanities and sciences by the time of theAmerican Revolution. In the 19th century, the college expanded into graduate and professional instruction, awarding the firstPhDin the United States in 1861 and organizing as a university in 1887. Yale's faculty and student populations grew rapidly after 1890 due to the expansion of the physical campus and its scientific research programs. Yale is organized into fourteen constituent schools, including the originalundergraduate college, theYale Graduate School of Arts and SciencesandYale Law School.While the university is governed by theYale Corporation, each school'sfacultyoversees its curriculum and degree programs. In addition to a central campus indowntown New Haven, the university owns athletic facilities in western New Haven, a campus inWest Haven, and forests and nature preserves throughoutNew England. As of 2023,the university's endowmentwas valued at $40.7 billion, thethird largest of any educational institution.TheYale University Library, serving all constituent schools, holds more than 15 million volumes and is the third-largest academic library in the United States.Student athletes compete in intercollegiate sports as theYale Bulldogsin theNCAADivision IIvy Leagueconference. As of October 2020, 65Nobellaureates, 5Fields medalists, 4Abel Prizelaureates, and 3Turing Awardwinners have been affiliated with Yale University. In addition, Yale has graduated manynotable alumni, including 5U.S. presidents, 10Founding Fathers, 19U.S. Supreme Court Justices, 31living billionaires,54college founders and presidents, manyheads of state,cabinetmembers andgovernors. Hundreds ofmembers of Congressand manyU.S. diplomats, 78MacArthur Fellows, 263Rhodes Scholars, 123Marshall Scholars, 81Gates Cambridge Scholars, 102Guggenheim Fellowsand 9Mitchell Scholarshave been affiliated with the university. Yale's current faculty include 67 members of theNational Academy of Sciences,55 members of theNational Academy of Medicine,8 members of theNational Academy of Engineering,and 187 members of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences. History Early history of Yale College Origins Yale traces its beginnings to \"An Act for Liberty to Erect a Collegiate School\", a would-be charter passed inNew Havenby the General Court of theColony of Connecticuton October 9, 1701. The Act was an effort to create an institution to train ministers and lay leadership. Soon after, a group of tenCongregationalministers,Samuel Andrew, Thomas Buckingham, Israel Chauncy, Samuel Mather (nephew ofIncrease Mather), Rev. James Noyes II (son ofJames Noyes),James Pierpont,Abraham Pierson,Noadiah Russell, Joseph Webb, andTimothy Woodbridge, allHarvardalumni, met in the study of ReverendSamuel Russell, inBranford, to donate books to form the school's library.The group, led byJames Pierpont, is now known as \"The Founders\". Known from its origin as the \"Collegiate School\", the institution opened in the home of its firstrector, Abraham Pierson, who is considered Yale's first president. Pierson lived inKillingworth. The school moved toSaybrookin 1703, when the first treasurer of Yale, Nathaniel Lynde, donated land and a building. In 1716, it moved to New Haven. Meanwhile, there was a rift forming at Harvard between its sixth president, Increase Mather, and the rest of the Harvard clergy, whom Mather viewed as increasingly liberal, ecclesiastically lax, and overly broad inChurch polity. The feud caused the Mathers to champion the Collegiate School in the hope it would maintain thePuritanreligious orthodoxy in a way Harvard had not.Rev.Jason Haven, minister at theFirst Church and Parish in Dedham, Massachusetts, had been considered for the presidency on account of his orthodox theology and \"Neatness dignity and purity of Style surpass those of all that have been mentioned\", but was passed over due to his \"very Valetudinary and infirm State of Health\". Naming and development In 1718, at the behest of either RectorSamuel Andrewor the colony's GovernorGurdon Saltonstall,Cotton Mathercontacted the Boston-born businessmanElihu Yaleto ask for money to construct a new building for the college. Through the persuasion ofJeremiah Dummer, Yale, who had made a fortune inMadraswhile working for theEast India Companyas the first president ofFort St. George, donated nine bales of goods, which were sold for more than £560, a substantial sum of money. Cotton Mather suggested the school change its name to \"Yale College\".The name Yale is the Anglicized spelling of theWelshnameIâl, which had been used for the family estate at Plas yn Iâl, nearLlandegla, Wales. Meanwhile, a Harvard graduate working in England convinced 180 prominent intellectuals to donate books to Yale. The 1714 shipment of 500 books represented the best of modern English literature, science, philosophy and theology.It had a profound effect on intellectuals at Yale. UndergraduateJonathan EdwardsdiscoveredJohn Locke's works and developed his \"new divinity\". In 1722 the rector and six friends, who had a study group to discuss the new ideas, announced they had given upCalvinism, becomeArminians, and joined theChurch of England. They were ordained in England and returned to the colonies as missionaries for theAnglicanfaith.Thomas Clappbecame president in 1745, and while he attempted to return the college to Calvinist orthodoxy, did not close the library. Other students foundDeistbooks in the library. Curriculum Yale College undergraduates follow aliberal artscurriculum with departmentalmajorsand is organized into a social system ofresidential colleges. Yale was swept up by the great intellectual movements of the period—theGreat AwakeningandEnlightenment—due to the religious and scientific interests of presidentsThomas ClapandEzra Stiles. They were instrumental in developing the scientific curriculum while dealing with wars, student tumults, graffiti, \"irrelevance\" of curricula, desperate need for endowment and disagreements with theConnecticut legislature. Serious American students of theology and divinity, particularly in New England, regardedHebrewas aclassical language, along with Greek andLatin, and essential for study of theOld Testamentin the original. Reverend Stiles, president from 1778 to 1795, brought with him his interest in Hebrew as a vehicle for studying ancientBiblical textsin their original language, requiring all freshmen to study Hebrew (in contrast to Harvard, where only upperclassmen were required to study it) and is responsible for the Hebrew phrase אורים ותמים (Urim and Thummim) on the Yale seal. A 1746 graduate of Yale, Stiles came to the college with experience in education, having played an integral role in foundingBrown University.Stiles' greatest challenge occurred in 1779 when British forces occupied New Haven and threatened to raze the college. However, Yale graduateEdmund Fanning, secretary to the British general in command of the occupation, intervened and the college was saved. In 1803, Fanning was granted an honorary degreeLL.D.. Students As the only college in Connecticut from 1701 to 1823, Yale educated the sons of the elite.Punishable offenses includedcardplaying, tavern-going, destruction of college property, and acts of disobedience. Harvard was distinctive for the stability and maturity of its tutor corps, while Yale had youth and zeal. The emphasis on classics gave rise to private student societies, open only by invitation, which arose as forums for discussions of scholarship, literature and politics. The first were debating societies:Crotoniain 1738,Linoniain 1753 andBrothers in Unityin 1768. Linonia and Brothers in Unity continue to exist; commemorations to them can be found with names given to campus structures, like Brothers in Unity Courtyard in Branford College. 19th century TheYale Report of 1828was a dogmatic defense of the Latin and Greek curriculum against critics who wanted more courses in modern languages, math and science. Unlikehigher education in Europe, there was nonational curriculumfor US colleges and universities. In the competition for students and financial support, college leaders strove to keep current with demands for innovation. At the same time, they realized a significant portion of students and prospective students demanded a classical background. The report meant the classics would not be abandoned. During this period, institutions experimented with changes in the curriculum, often resulting in a dual-track curriculum. In the decentralized environment of US higher education, balancing change with tradition was a common challenge.A group of professors at Yale and New Haven Congregationalist ministers articulated a conservative response to the changes brought byVictorian culture. They concentrated on developing a person possessed of religious values strong enough to sufficiently resist temptations from within, yet flexible enough to adjust to the 'isms' (professionalism,materialism,individualism, andconsumerism) tempting them from without.William Graham Sumner, professor from 1872 to 1909, taught in the emerging disciplines of economics and sociology to overflowing classrooms. Sumner bested PresidentNoah Porter, who disliked the social sciences and wanted Yale to lock into its traditions of classical education. Porter objected to Sumner's use of a textbook byHerbert Spencerthat espoused agnostic materialism because it might harm students. Until 1887, the legal name of the university was \"The President and Fellows of Yale College, in New Haven.\" In 1887, under an act passed by theConnecticut General Assembly, Yale was renamed \"Yale University\". Sports and debate The Revolutionary War soldierNathan Hale(Yale 1773) was the archetype of the Yale ideal in the early 19th century: a manly yet aristocratic scholar, well-versed in knowledge and sports, and a patriot who \"regretted\" that he \"had but one life to lose\" for his country. Western painterFrederic Remington(Yale 1900) was an artist whose heroes gloried in the combat and tests of strength in the Wild West. The fictional, turn-of-the-20th-century Yale manFrank Merriwellembodied this same heroic ideal without racial prejudice, and his fictional successor Dink Stover in the novelStover at Yale(1912) questioned the business mentality that had become prevalent at the school. Increasingly students turned to athletic stars as their heroes, especially since winning the big game became the goal of the student body, the alumni, and the team itself. Along withHarvardandPrinceton, Yale students rejected British concepts about 'amateurism' and constructed athletic programs that were uniquely American.TheHarvard–Yale football rivalrybegan in 1875. Between 1892, when Harvard and Yale met in one of the firstintercollegiate debates,and in 1909 (year of the first Triangular Debate of Harvard/Yale/Princeton) the rhetoric, symbolism, and metaphors used in athletics were used to frame these debates. Debates were covered on front pages ofcollege newspapersand emphasized inyearbooks, and team members received the equivalent ofathletic lettersfor their jackets. There were rallies to send off teams to matches, but they never attained the broad appeal athletics enjoyed. One reason may be that debates do not have a clear winner, because scoring is subjective. With late 19th-century concerns about the impact of modern life on the body, athletics offered hope that neither the individual nor society was coming apart. In 1909–10, football faced a crisis resulting from the failure of the reforms of 1905–06, which sought to solve the problem of serious injuries. There was a mood of alarm and mistrust, and, while the crisis was developing, the presidents of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton developed a project to reform the sport and forestall possible radical changes forced by government. PresidentsArthur Hadleyof Yale,A. Lawrence Lowellof Harvard, andWoodrow Wilsonof Princeton worked to develop moderate reforms to reduce injuries. Their attempts, however, were reduced by rebellion against the rules committee and formation of theIntercollegiate Athletic Association. While the big three had attempted to operate independently of the majority, the changes pushed did reduce injuries. Expansion Starting with the addition of theYale School of Medicinein 1810, the college expanded gradually, establishing theYale Divinity Schoolin 1822,Yale Law Schoolin 1822, theYale Graduate School of Arts and Sciencesin 1847, the now-defunctSheffield Scientific Schoolin 1847,and theYale School of Fine Artsin 1869. In 1887, under the presidency ofTimothy Dwight V, Yale College was renamed to Yale University, and the former name was applied only to theundergraduate college. The university would continue to expand into the 20th and 21st centuries, adding theYale School of Musicin 1894, theYale School of Forestry & Environmental Studiesin 1900, theYale School of Public Healthin 1915, theYale School of Architecturein 1916, theYale School of Nursing1923, theYale School of Dramain 1955, theYale School of Managementin 1976, and theJackson School of Global Affairsin 2022.The Sheffield Scientific School would also reorganize its relationship with the university to teach only undergraduate courses. Expansion caused controversy about Yale's new roles.Noah Porter, a moral philosopher, was president from 1871 to 1886. During an age of expansion in higher education, Porter resisted the rise of the new research university, claiming an eager embrace of its ideals would corrupt undergraduate education. Historian George Levesque argues Porter was not a simple-minded reactionary, uncritically committed to tradition, but a principled and selective conservative.Levesque says he did not endorse everything old or reject everything new; rather, he sought to apply long-established ethical and pedagogical principles to a changing culture. Levesque concludes, noting he may have misunderstood some of the challenges, but he correctly anticipated the enduring tensions that have accompanied the emergence of the modern university. 20th century Medicine Milton Winternitz led theYale School of Medicineas its dean from 1920 to 1935. Dedicated to the new scientific medicine established in Germany, he was equally fervent about \"social medicine\" and the study of humans in their environment. He established the \"Yale System\" of teaching, with few lectures and fewer exams, and strengthened the full-time faculty system; he created the graduate-level Yale School of Nursing and the psychiatry department and built new buildings. Progress toward his plans for an Institute of Human Relations, envisioned as a refuge where social scientists would collaborate with biological scientists in a holistic study of humankind, lasted only a few years before resentful antisemitic colleagues drove him to resign. Faculty BeforeWorld War II, most elite university faculties counted among their numbers few, if any, Jews, blacks, women, or other minorities; Yale was no exception. By 1980, this condition had been altered dramatically, as numerous members of those groups held faculty positions.Almost all members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences—and some members of other faculties—teach undergraduate courses, more than 2,000 of which are offered annually. Women In 1793,Lucinda Footepassed the entrance exams for Yale College, but was rejected by the president on the basis of her gender.Women studied at Yale from 1892, in graduate-level programs at theYale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.The first seven women to earn PhDs received their degrees in 1894:Elizabeth Deering Hanscom, Cornelia H. B. Rogers, Sara Bulkley Rogers,Margaretta Palmer,Mary Augusta Scott, Laura Johnson Wylie, andCharlotte Fitch Roberts. There is a portrait of them inSterling Memorial Library, painted byBrenda Zlamany. In 1966, Yale began discussions with itssister schoolVassar Collegeabout merging to foster coeducation at the undergraduate level. Vassar, then all-female and part of theSeven Sisters—elite higher education schools that served as sister institutions to theIvy Leaguewhen nearly all Ivy League institutions still only admitted men—tentatively accepted, but then declined the invitation. Both schools introduced coeducation independently in 1969.Amy Solomon was the first woman to register as a Yale undergraduate;she was the first woman at Yale to join an undergraduate society,St. Anthony Hall. The undergraduate class of 1973 was the first to have women starting from freshman year;all undergraduate women were housed in Vanderbilt Hall. A decade into co-education, student assault and harassment by faculty became the impetus for the trailblazing lawsuitAlexander v. Yale. In the 1970s, a group of students and a faculty member sued Yale for its failure to curtail sexual harassment, especially by male faculty. The case was partly built from a 1977 report authored by plaintiffAnn Olivarius, \"A report to the Yale Corporation from the Yale Undergraduate Women's Caucus.\"This case was the first to useTitle IXto argue and establish that sexual harassment of female students can be considered illegal sex discrimination. The plaintiffs were Olivarius, Ronni Alexander, Margery Reifler, Pamela Price,and Lisa E. Stone. They were joined by Yale classics professor John \"Jack\" J. Winkler. The lawsuit, brought partly byCatharine MacKinnon, alleged rape, fondling, and offers of higher grades for sex by faculty, includingKeith Brion, professor of flute and director of bands, political science professor Raymond Duvall,English professorMichael Cooke, and coach of the field hockey team, Richard Kentwell. While unsuccessful in the courts, the legal reasoning changed the landscape of sex discrimination law and resulted in the establishment of Yale's Grievance Board and Women's Center.In 2011 a Title IX complaint was filed against Yale by students and graduates, including editors of Yale's feminist magazineBroad Recognition, alleging the university had a hostile sexual climate.In response, the university formed a Title IX steering committee to address complaints of sexual misconduct.Afterwards, universities and colleges throughout the US also established sexual harassment grievance procedures. Class Yale instituted policies in the early 20th century designed to maintain the proportion of white Protestants from notable families in the student body (seenumerus clausus) and eliminated such preferences, beginning with the class of 1970. 21st century In 2006, Yale andPeking University(PKU) established a Joint Undergraduate Program in Beijing, an exchange program allowing Yale students to spend a semester living and studying with PKU honor students.In July 2012, the Yale University-PKU Program ended due to weak participation. In 2007 outgoing Yale PresidentRick Levincharacterized Yale's institutional priorities: \"First, among the nation's finest research universities, Yale is distinctively committed to excellence in undergraduate education. Second, in our graduate and professional schools, as well as in Yale College, we are committed to the education of leaders.\" In 2009, formerBritish Prime MinisterTony Blairpicked Yale as one location – the others being Britain'sDurham UniversityandUniversiti Teknologi Mara– for theTony Blair Faith Foundation's United States Faith and Globalization Initiative.As of 2009, former Mexican PresidentErnesto Zedillois the director of theYale Center for the Study of Globalizationand teaches an undergraduate seminar, \"Debating Globalization\".As of 2009, former presidential candidate and DNC chairHoward Deanteaches a residential college seminar, \"Understanding Politics and Politicians\".Also in 2009, an alliance was formed among Yale,University College London, and both schools' affiliated hospital complexes to conduct research focused on the direct improvement of patient care—a field known astranslational medicine. President Richard Levin noted that Yale has hundreds of other partnerships across the world, but \"no existing collaboration matches the scale of the new partnership with UCL\".In August 2013, a new partnership with theNational University of Singaporeled to the opening ofYale-NUS Collegein Singapore, a joint effort to create a new liberal arts college in Asia featuring a curriculum including Western and Asian traditions. In 2017, having been suggested for decades,Yale University renamed Calhoun College, named forslave owner,anti-abolitionist, andwhite supremacistVice PresidentJohn C. Calhoun. It is now Hopper College, afterGrace Hopper. In 2020, in the wake of theGeorge Floyd protests, the #CancelYale tag was used on social media to demand that Elihu Yale's name be removed from Yale University. Much of the support originated from right-wing pundits such asMike CernovichandAnn Coulter, who intended to satirize what they perceived as the excesses ofcancel culture.Yale spent most of his professional career in the employ of theEast India Company(EIC), serving as thegovernorof thePresidency of Fort St. Georgein modern-dayChennai. The EIC, including Yale himself, was involved in theIndian Ocean slave trade, though the extent of Yale's involvement in slavery remains debated.His singularly large donation led critics to argue Yale University relied on money derived from slavery for its first scholarships and endowments. In 2020, the USJustice Departmentsued Yale for alleged discrimination against Asian and white candidates, through affirmative action admission policies.In 2021, under the new Biden administration, the Justice Department withdrew the lawsuit. The group,Students for Fair Admissions, later won a similarlawsuit against Harvard. In April 2024, Yale students joinedother campuses across the United Statesin protests against theIsrael–Hamas war.The student protestors demanded that Yale Universitydivest from companies with ties to Israel's war on Gaza.Protests continued during the summer and in the new academic year starting September 2024. Alumni in politics TheBoston Globewrote in 2002 that \"if there's one school that can lay claim to educating the nation's top national leaders over the past three decades, it's Yale\".Yale alumniwere represented on theDemocraticorRepublicanticket in every U.S. presidential election between 1972 and 2004.Yale-educated presidents since the end of theVietnam WarincludeGerald Ford,George H. W. Bush,Bill Clinton, andGeorge W. Bush, and major-party nominees includeHillary Clinton(2016),John Kerry(2004),Joseph Lieberman(vice president, 2000), andSargent Shriver(vice president, 1972). Other alumni who have made serious bids for the presidency includeAmy Klobuchar(2020),Tom Steyer(2020),Ben Carson(2016),Howard Dean(2004),Gary Hart(1984 and 1988),Paul Tsongas(1992),Pat Robertson(1988) andJerry Brown(1976, 1980, 1992). Several explanations have been offered for Yale's representation since the end of the Vietnam War. Sources note the spirit of campus activism that has existed at Yale since the 1960s, and the intellectual influence of ReverendWilliam Sloane Coffinon future candidates.Yale President Levin attributes the run to Yale's focus on creating \"a laboratory for future leaders\", an institutional priority that began during the tenure of Yale PresidentsAlfred Whitney GriswoldandKingman Brewster.Richard H. Brodhead, former dean of Yale College and now president ofDuke University, stated: \"We do give very significant attention to orientation to the community in our admissions, and there is a very strong tradition ofvolunteerismat Yale.\"Yale historianGaddis Smithnotes \"an ethos of organized activity\" at Yale during the 20th century that led Kerry to lead theYale Political Union's Liberal Party,George Patakithe Conservative Party, and Lieberman to manage theYale Daily News.Camille Pagliapoints to a history of networking and elitism: \"It has to do with a web of friendships and affiliations built up in school.\"CNN suggests that George W. Bush benefited from preferential admissions policies for the \"son and grandson of alumni\", and for a \"member of a politically influential family\".Elisabeth BumillerandJames Fallowscredit the culture of community that exists between students, faculty, and administration, which downplays self-interest and reinforces commitment to others. During the 1988 presidential election,George H. W. Bush(Yale '48) deridedMichael Dukakisfor having \"foreign-policy views born in Harvard Yard's boutique\". When challenged on the distinction between Dukakis's Harvard connection and his Yale background, he said that, unlike Harvard, Yale's reputation was \"so diffuse, there isn't a symbol, I don't think, in the Yale situation, any symbolism in it\" and said Yale did not share Harvard's reputation for \"liberalism and elitism\".In 2004Howard Deanstated, \"In some ways, I consider myself separate from the other three (Yale) candidates of 2004. Yale changed so much between the class of '68 and the class of '71. My class was the first class to have women in it; it was the first class to have a significant effort to recruit African Americans. It was an extraordinary time, and in that span of time is the change of an entire generation\". Administration and organization Leadership ThePresident and Fellows of Yale College, also known as the Yale Corporation, or board of trustees, is the governing body of the university and consists of thirteen standing committees with separate responsibilities outlined in the by-laws. The corporation has 19 members: threeex officiomembers, ten successor trustees, and six elected alumni fellows.The university has three major academic components: Yale College (the undergraduate program), the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the twelve professional schools. Yale's former presidentRichard C. Levinwas, at the time, one of the highest paid university presidents in the United States with a 2008 salary of $1.5 million.Yale's succeeding president Peter Salovey ranks 40th with a 2020 salary of $1.16 million. The Yale Provost's Office and similar executive positions have launched several women into prominent university executive positions. In 1977, ProvostHanna Holborn Graywas appointed interim president of Yale and later went on to become president of the University of Chicago, being the first woman to hold either position at each respective school.In 1994, ProvostJudith Rodinbecame the first permanent female president of an Ivy League institution at theUniversity of Pennsylvania.In 2002, ProvostAlison Richardbecame the vice-chancellor of theUniversity of Cambridge.In 2003, the dean of the Divinity School,Rebecca Chopp, was appointed president ofColgate Universityand later went on to serve as the president ofSwarthmore Collegein 2009, and then the first female chancellor of theUniversity of Denverin 2014.In 2004, ProvostDr. Susan Hockfieldbecame the president of theMassachusetts Institute of Technology.In 2004, Dean of the Nursing school, Catherine Gilliss, was appointed the dean of Duke University's School of Nursing and vice chancellor for nursing affairs.In 2007, Deputy ProvostH. Kim Bottomlywas named president ofWellesley College. Similar examples for men who have served in Yale leadership positions can also be found. In 2004, Dean of Yale CollegeRichard H. Brodheadwas appointed as the president ofDuke University.In 2008, ProvostAndrew Hamiltonwas confirmed to be the vice chancellor of the University of Oxford. Staff and labor unions Yale University staff are represented by several different unions. Clerical and technical workers are represented by Local 34, and service and maintenance workers are represented by Local 35, both of the same union affiliateUNITE HERE.Unlike similar institutions, Yale has consistently refused to recognize its graduate student union, Local 33 (another affiliate of UNITE HERE), citing claims that the union's elections were undemocratic and how graduate students are not employees;the move to not recognize the union has been criticized by theAmerican Federation of Teachers.In addition, officers of the Yale University Police Department are represented by the Yale Police Benevolent Association, which affiliated in 2005 with the Connecticut Organization for Public Safety Employees.Yale security officers joined the International Union of Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America in late 2010,even though the Yale administration contested the election.In October 2014, after deliberation,Yale security decided to form a new union, the Yale University Security Officers Association, which has since represented the campus security officers. Yale has a history of difficult and prolonged labor negotiations, often culminating in strikes.There have been at least eight strikes since 1968, andThe New York Timeswrote that Yale has a reputation as having the worst record of labor tension of any university in the U.S.Moreover, Yale has been accused by theAFL–CIOof failing to treat workers with respect,as well as not renewing contracts with professors over involvement in campus labor issues.Yale has responded to strikes with claims over mediocre union participation and the benefits of their contracts. Campus Yale's central campus indowntown New Havencovers 260 acres (1.1 km2) and comprises its main, historic campus and a medical campus adjacent to theYale–New Haven Hospital. In western New Haven, the university holds 500 acres (2.0 km2) of athletic facilities, including theYale Golf Course.In 2008, Yale purchased the 17-building, 136-acre (0.55 km2) formerBayer HealthCarecomplex inWest Haven, Connecticut,the buildings of which are now used as laboratory and research space.Yale also owns seven forests in Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire—the largest of which is the 7,840-acre (31.7 km2)Yale-Myers Forestin Connecticut'sQuiet Corner—and nature preserves includingHorse Island. Yale is noted for its largelyCollegiate Gothiccampusas well as several iconic modern buildings commonly discussed in architectural history survey courses:Louis Kahn's Yale Art Galleryand Center for British Art,Eero Saarinen's Ingalls Rink and Ezra Stiles and Morse Colleges, andPaul Rudolph'sArt & Architecture Building. Yale also owns and has restored many noteworthy 19th-century mansions alongHillhouse Avenue, which was considered the most beautiful street in America byCharles Dickenswhen he visited the United States in the 1840s.In 2011,Travel + Leisurelisted the Yale campus as one of the most beautiful in the United States. Many of Yale's buildings were constructed in theCollegiate Gothicarchitecture style from 1917 to 1931, financed largely byEdward S. Harkness, including theYale Drama School.Stone sculpture built into the walls of the buildings portray contemporary college personalities, such as a writer, an athlete, a tea-drinking socialite, and a student who has fallen asleep while reading. Similarly, the decorativefriezeson the buildings depict contemporary scenes, like a policemen chasing a robber and arresting a prostitute (on the wall of the Law School), or a student relaxing with a mug of beer and a cigarette. The architect,James Gamble Rogers, faux-aged these buildings by splashing the walls with acid,deliberately breaking theirleaded glasswindows and repairing them in the style of theMiddle Ages, and creating niches for decorative statuary but leaving them empty to simulate loss or theft over the ages. In fact, the buildings merely simulate Middle Ages architecture, for though they appear to be constructed of solid stone blocks in the authentic manner, most actually have steel framing as was commonly used in 1930. One exception isHarkness Tower, 216 feet (66 m) tall, which was originally a free-standing stone structure. It was reinforced in 1964 to allow the installation of theYale Memorial Carillon. Other examples of the Gothic style are on theOld Campusby architects likeHenry Austin,Charles C. HaightandRussell Sturgis. Several are associated with members of theVanderbilt family, including Vanderbilt Hall,Phelps Hall,St. Anthony Hall(a commission for memberFrederick William Vanderbilt), the Mason, Sloane and Osborn laboratories, dormitories for theSheffield Scientific School(the engineering and sciences school at Yale until 1956) and elements ofSilliman College, the largest residential college. The oldest building on campus,Connecticut Hall(built in 1750), is in theGeorgian style. Georgian-style buildings erected from 1929 to 1933 includeTimothy Dwight College,Pierson College, andDavenport College, except the latter's east, York Street façade, which was constructed in theGothic styleto coordinate with adjacent structures. TheBeinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, designed byGordon BunshaftofSkidmore, Owings & Merrill, is one of the largest buildings in the world reserved exclusively for the preservation of rare books and manuscripts. The library includes a six-story above-ground tower of book stacks, filled with 180,000 volumes, that is surrounded by large translucent Vermont marble panels and a steel and granite truss. The panels act as windows and subdue direct sunlight while also diffusing the light in warm hues throughout the interior.Near the library is a sunken courtyard with sculptures by Isamu Noguchi that are said to represent time (the pyramid), the sun (the circle), and chance (the cube).The library is located near the center of the university inHewitt Quadrangle, which is now more commonly referred to as \"Beinecke Plaza\". AlumnusEero Saarinen, Finnish-American architect of such notable structures as theGateway Archin St. Louis,Washington Dulles International Airportmain terminal,Bell Labs Holmdel Complexand theCBS Buildingin Manhattan, designedIngalls Rink, dedicated in 1959,as well as the residential colleges Ezra Stiles and Morse.These latter were modeled after the medievalItalian hill townofSan Gimignano– a prototype chosen for the town's pedestrian-friendly milieu and fortress-like stone towers.These tower forms at Yale act in counterpoint to the college's many Gothic spires and Georgian cupolas. The athletic field complex is partially in New Haven, and partially inWest Haven. Notable nonresidential campus buildings Notable nonresidential campus buildings and landmarks includeBattell Chapel,Beinecke Rare Book Library,Harkness Tower,Humanities Quadrangle,Ingalls Rink, Kline Biology Tower,Osborne Memorial Laboratories,Payne Whitney Gymnasium,Peabody Museum of Natural History, Sterling Hall of Medicine,Sterling Law Buildings,Sterling Memorial Library,Woolsey Hall,Yale Center for British Art,Yale University Art Gallery,Yale Art & Architecture Building, and thePaul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Artin London. Yale's secret society buildings (some of which are called \"tombs\") were built to be private yet unmistakable. A diversity of architectural styles is represented:Berzelius,Donn Barberin an austere cube with classical detailing (erected in 1908 or 1910);Book and Snake, Louis R. Metcalfe in aGreek Ionicstyle (erected in 1901);Elihu, architect unknown but built in aColonialstyle (constructed on an early 17th-century foundation although the building is from the 18th century);Mace and Chain, in a late colonial, earlyVictorian style(built in 1823). (Interior moulding is said to have belonged toBenedict Arnold);Manuscript Society,King-lui WuwithDan Kileyresponsible for landscaping andJosef Albersfor the brickwork intaglio mural. Building constructed in amid-century modernstyle;Scroll and Key,Richard Morris Huntin a Moorish- or Islamic-inspiredBeaux-Arts style(erected 1869–70);Skull and Bones, possiblyAlexander Jackson DavisorHenry Austinin anEgypto-Doric styleutilizingBrownstone(in 1856 the first wing was completed, in 1903 the second wing, 1911 theNeo-Gothictowers in rear garden were completed);St. Elmo, (former tomb)Kenneth M. Murchison, 1912, designs inspired by Elizabethan manor. Current location, brick colonial; andWolf's Head,Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, erected 1923–1924, Collegiate Gothic. Sustainability Yale's Office of Sustainability develops and implements sustainability practices at Yale.Yale is committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 10% below 1990 levels by 2020. As part of this commitment, the university allocates renewable energy credits to offset some of the energy used by residential colleges.Eleven campus buildings are candidates for LEED design and certification.Yale Sustainable Food Project initiated the introduction of local, organic vegetables, fruits, and beef to all residential college dining halls.Yale was listed as a Campus Sustainability Leader on the Sustainable Endowments Institute's College Sustainability Report Card 2008, and received a \"B+\" grade overall.Yale is a member of the Ivy Plus Sustainability Consortium, through which it has committed to best-practice sharing and the ongoing exchange of campus sustainability solutions along with other member institutions. Relationship with New Haven Yale is the largest taxpayer and employer in the City ofNew Haven,and has often buoyed the city's economy and communities. Yale, however, has consistently opposed paying a tax on its academic property.Yale'sArt Galleries, along with many other university resources, are free and openly accessible. Yale also funds theNew Haven Promiseprogram, paying full tuition for eligible students from New Haven public schools. Town–gown relations Yale has a complicated relationship with its home city; for example, thousands of students volunteer every year in myriad community organizations, but city officials, who decry Yale's exemption from local property taxes, have long pressed the university to do more to help. Under President Levin, Yale has financially supported many of New Haven's efforts to reinvigorate the city. Evidence suggests that thetown and gownrelationships are mutually beneficial. Still, the economic power of the university increased dramatically with its financial success amid a decline in the local economy. Campus safety Several campus safety strategies have been pioneered at Yale. The first campus police force was founded at Yale in 1894, when the university contracted city police officers to exclusively cover the campus.Later hired by the university, the officers were originally brought in to quell unrest between students and city residents and curb destructive student behavior.In addition to the Yale Police Department, a variety of safety services are available including blue phones, asafety escort, and 24-hour shuttle service. In the 1970s and 1980s,povertyandviolent crimerose in New Haven, dampening Yale's student and faculty recruiting efforts.Between 1990 and 2006, New Haven's crime rate fell by half, helped by acommunity policing strategyby theNew Haven Policeand Yale's campus became the safest among peer schools. In 2004, the national non-profit watchdog group Security on Campus filed a complaint with theU.S. Department of Education, accusing Yale of under-reporting rape and sexual assaults. In April 2021, Yale announced that it will require students to receive aCOVID-19 vaccineas a condition of being on campus during the fall 2021 term. Academics Admissions Undergraduate admission to Yale College is considered \"most selective\" byU.S. News.In 2022, Yale accepted 2,234 students to the Class of 2026 out of 50,015 applicants, for an acceptance rate of 4.46%.98% of students graduate within six years. Through its program of need-based financial aid, Yale commits to meet the full demonstrated financial need of all applicants, and the university isneed-blindfor both domestic and international applicants.Most financial aid is in the form of grants and scholarships that do not need to be paid back to the university, and the average need-based aid grant for the Class of 2017 was $46,395.15% of Yale College students are expected to have no parental contribution, and about 50% receive some form of financial aid.About 16% of the Class of 2013 had some form of student loan debt at graduation, with an average debt of $13,000 among borrowers.For 2019, Yale ranked second in enrollment of recipients of theNational Merit $2,500 Scholarship(140 scholars). Half of all Yale undergraduates are women, more than 39% areethnic minorityU.S. citizens (19% are underrepresented minorities), and 10.5% areinternational students.55% attended public schools and 45% attended private, religious, or international schools, and 97% of students were in the top 10% of their high school class.Every year, Yale College also admits a small group ofnon-traditional studentsthrough the Eli Whitney Students Program. Collections Yale University Library, which holds over 15 million volumes, is the third-largest university collection in the United States.The main library,Sterling Memorial Library, contains about 4 million volumes, and other holdings are dispersed at subject and location libraries. Rare books are found in several Yale collections. TheBeinecke Rare Book Libraryhas a large collection of rare books and manuscripts. TheHarvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Libraryincludes important historical medical texts, including an impressive collection of rare books, as well as historical medical instruments. TheLewis Walpole Librarycontains the largest collection of 18th‑century British literary works. TheElizabethan Club, technically a private organization, makes its Elizabethan folios and first editions available to qualified researchers through Yale. Yale's museum collections are also of international stature. TheYale University Art Gallery, the country's first university-affiliated art museum, contains more than 200,000 works, including Old Masters and important collections of modern art, in the Swartwout and Kahn buildings. The latter,Louis Kahn's first large-scale American work (1953), was renovated and reopened in December 2006. TheYale Center for British Art, the largest collection of British art outside of the UK, grew from a gift ofPaul Mellonand is housed in another Kahn-designed building. ThePeabody Museum of Natural Historyin New Haven is used by school children and contains research collections in anthropology, archaeology, and the natural environment. TheYale University Collection of Musical Instruments, affiliated with the Yale School of Music, is perhaps the least-known of Yale's collections because its hours of opening are restricted. The museums once housed the artifacts brought to the United States fromPeruby Yale history professorHiram Binghamin his Yale-financed expedition toMachu Picchuin 1912 – when the removal of such artifacts was legal. The artifacts were restored to Peru in 2012. Rankings TheU.S. News & World Reportranked Yale third among U.S. national universities for 2016,as it had for each of the previous sixteen years. Yale University isaccreditedby theNew England Commission of Higher Education. Internationally, Yale was ranked 11th in the 2016Academic Ranking of World Universities, tenth in the 2016–17 Nature Indexfor quality of scientific research output, and tenth in the 2016 CWUR World University Rankings.The university was also ranked sixth in the 2016 Times Higher Education (THE) Global University Employability Rankingsand eighth in the Academic World Reputation Rankings.In 2019, it ranked 27th among the universities around the world bySCImago Institutions Rankings. Faculty, research, and intellectual traditions Yale is a member of theAssociation of American Universities(AAU) and isclassifiedamong \"R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity\".TheNational Science Foundationranked Yale 15th among American universities for research and development expenditures in 2021 with $1.16 billion. Yale's current faculty include 67 members of theNational Academy of Sciences,55 members of theNational Academy of Medicine,8 members of theNational Academy of Engineering,and 187 members of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.The college is, after normalization for institution size, the tenth-largest baccalaureate source ofdoctoral degreerecipients in the United States, and the largest such source within the Ivy League.It also is a top 10 (ranked seventh) baccalaureate source (after normalization for the number of graduates) of some of the most notable scientists (Nobel,Fields,Turingprizes, or membership inNational Academy of Sciences,National Academy of Engineering, orNational Academy of Medicine). Yale's English and Comparative Literature departments were part of theNew Criticismmovement. Of the New Critics,Robert Penn Warren,W.K. Wimsatt, andCleanth Brookswere all Yale faculty. Later, the Yale Comparative literature department became a center of Americandeconstruction.Jacques Derrida, the father of deconstruction, taught at the department of comparative literature from the late 1970s to mid-1980s. Several other Yale faculty members were also associated with deconstruction, forming the so-called \"Yale School\". These includedPaul de Manwho taught in the Departments of Comparative Literature and French,J. Hillis Miller,Geoffrey Hartman(both taught in the Departments of English and Comparative Literature), andHarold Bloom(English), whose theoretical position was always somewhat specific, and who ultimately took a very different path from the rest of this group. Yale's history department has also originated important intellectual trends. HistoriansC. Vann WoodwardandDavid Brion Davisare credited with beginning in the 1960s and 1970s an important stream ofsouthernhistorians; likewise,David Montgomery, a labor historian, advised many of the current generation of labor historians in the country. Yale's Music School and department fostered the growth of Music Theory in the latter half of the 20th century. TheJournal of Music Theorywas founded there in 1957;Allen ForteandDavid Lewinwere influential teachers and scholars. Since the late 1960s, Yale produces social sciences and policy research through its Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS). In addition to eminent faculty members, Yale research relies heavily on the presence of roughly 1200Postdocsfrom various national and international origin working in the multiple laboratories in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and professional schools of the university. The university progressively recognized this working force with the recent creation of the Office for Postdoctoral Affairs and theYale Postdoctoral Association. Campus life Yale is a research university, with the majority of its students in thegraduateandprofessionalschools.Undergraduates, orYale Collegestudents, come from a variety of ethnic, national, socioeconomic, and personal backgrounds. Of the 2010–2011 freshman class, 10% are non‑U.S. citizens, while 54% went to public high schools.The median family income of Yale students is $192,600, with 57% of students coming from the top 10% highest-earning families and 16% from the bottom 60%. Residential colleges Yale'sresidential collegesystem was established in 1933 byEdward S. Harkness, who admired the social intimacy of Oxford and Cambridge and donated significant funds to found similarcollegesat Yale and Harvard. Though Yale's colleges resemble their English precursors organizationally and architecturally, they aredependent entitiesof Yale College and have limited autonomy. The colleges are led by a head and an academic dean, who reside in the college, and university faculty and affiliates constitute each college's fellowship. Colleges offer their own seminars, social events, and speaking engagements known as \"Master's Teas\", but do not contain programs of study or academic departments. All other undergraduate courses are taught by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and are open to members of any college. All undergraduates are members of a college, to which they are assigned before their freshman year, and 85 percent live in the college quadrangle or a college-affiliated dormitory.While the majority of upperclassman live in the colleges, most on-campus freshmen live on theOld Campus, the university's oldest precinct. While Harkness' original colleges wereGeorgian RevivalorCollegiate Gothicin style, two colleges constructed in the 1960s,MorseandEzra StilesColleges, have modernist designs. All twelve college quadrangles are organized around a courtyard, and each has a dining hall, courtyard, library, common room, and a range of student facilities. The twelve colleges are named for important alumni or significant places in university history. In 2017, the university opened two new colleges nearScience Hill. Calhoun College Since the 1960s,John C. Calhoun'swhite supremacistbeliefs and pro-slavery leadershiphad prompted calls to rename the college or remove its tributes to Calhoun. The racially motivatedchurch shootinginCharleston, South Carolina, led to renewed calls in the summer of 2015 forCalhoun College, one of 12 residential colleges at the time, to be renamed. In July 2015 students signed a petition calling for the name change.They argued in the petition that—while Calhoun was respected in the 19th century as an \"extraordinary American statesman\"—he was \"one of the most prolific defenders of slavery and white supremacy\" in the history of the United States.In August 2015, Yale President Peter Salovey addressed the Freshman Class of 2019 in which he responded to the racial tensions but explained why the college would not be renamed.He described Calhoun as \"a notable political theorist, a vice president to two different U.S. presidents, a secretary of war and of state, and a congressman and senator representing South Carolina\".He acknowledged that Calhoun also \"believed that the highest forms of civilization depend on involuntary servitude. Not only that, but he also believed that the races he thought to be inferior, black people in particular, ought to be subjected to it for the sake of their own best interests.\"Student activism about this issue increased in the fall of 2015, and included further protests sparked by controversy surrounding an administrator's comments on the potential positive and negative implications of students who wearHalloween costumesthat areculturally sensitive.Campus-wide discussions expanded to include critical discussion of the experiences of women of color on campus, and the realities of racism in undergraduate life.The protests were sensationalized by the media and led to the labelling of some students as being members ofGeneration Snowflake. In April 2016, Salovey announced that \"despite decades of vigorous alumni and student protests\", Calhoun's name will remain on the Yale residential collegeexplaining that it is preferable for Yale students to live in Calhoun's \"shadow\" so they will be \"better prepared to rise to the challenges of the present and the future\". He claimed that if they removed Calhoun's name, it would \"obscure\" his \"legacy of slavery rather than addressing it\".\"Yale is part of that history\" and \"We cannot erase American history, but we can confront it, teach it and learn from it.\" One change that will be issued is the title of \"master\" for faculty members who serve as residential college leaders will be renamed to \"head of college\" due to its connotation of slavery. Despite this apparently conclusive reasoning, Salovey announced that Calhoun College would be renamed for groundbreaking computer scientistGrace Hopperin February 2017.This renaming decision received a range of responses from Yale students and alumni.In his 2019 bookAssault on American Excellence, formerDean of Yale Law SchoolAnthony T. Kronmancriticized the title and name changes and the lack of support from Salovey forthe Christakises, who were targeted by the student activists. Other members of the university community disagreed with Kronman's positions. Student organizations In 2024, Yale had 526 registered undergraduate student organizations, plus hundreds of others for graduate students. The university hosts a variety of student journals, magazines, and newspapers. TheYale Literary Magazine, founded in February 1836, is the oldest student literary magazine in the United States.Established in 1872,The Yale Recordis the world's oldest collegehumor magazine. Newspapers include theYale Daily News, which was first published in 1878, and the weeklyYale Herald, which was first published in 1986. TheYale Journal of Medicine & Lawis a biannual magazine that explores the intersection oflaw and medicine. Dwight Hall, an independent, non-profit community service organization, oversees more than 2,000 Yale undergraduates working on more than 70 community service initiatives in New Haven. The Yale College Council runs several agencies that oversee campus wide activities and student services. TheYale Dramatic Associationand Bulldog Productions cater to the theater and film communities, respectively. In addition, the Yale Drama Coalitionserves to coordinate between and provide resources for the various Sudler Fund sponsored theater productions which run each weekend. WYBC Yale Radiois the campus's radio station, owned and operated by students. While students used to broadcast on AM and FM frequencies, they now have an Internet-only stream. TheYale College Council(YCC) serves as the campus's undergraduate student government. All registered student organizations are regulated and funded by a subsidiary organization of the YCC, known as the Undergraduate Organizations Funding Committee (UOFC).The Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) serves as Yale's graduate and professional student government. The Yale Political Union(YPU) is a debate society founded in 1934 to host student discussions on a wide variety of topics. It is advised by alumni political leaders such asJohn KerryandGeorge Pataki. TheYale International Relations Association(YIRA) functions as the umbrella organization for the university's top-ranked Model UN team. YIRA also has a Europe-based offshoot,Yale Model Government Europe, other Model UN conferences such as YMUN, YMUN Korea, YMUN Taiwan and Yale Model African Union (YMAU), and educational programs such as the Yale Review of International Studies (YRIS), Yale International Relations Leadership Institute, and Hemispheres. The campus includes severalfraternities and sororities. The campus features at least 18a cappellagroups, the most famous of which isThe Whiffenpoofs, which from its founding in 1909 until 2018 was made up solely of senior men. TheElizabethan Club, a social club, has a membership of undergraduates, graduates, faculty and staff with literary or artistic interests. Membership is by invitation. Members and their guests may enter the \"Lizzie's\" premises for conversation and tea. The club owns first editions of a Shakespeare Folio, several Shakespeare Quartos, and a first edition of Milton'sParadise Lost, among other important literary texts. Secret societies Yale'ssecret societiesincludeSkull and Bones,Scroll and Key,Wolf's Head,Book and Snake,Elihu,Berzelius,St. Elmo,Manuscript,Brothers in Unity,Linonia,St. Anthony Hall,Shabtai,Myth and Sword, Daughters of Sovereign Government (DSG),Mace and Chain, ISO,Spade and Grave, andSage and Chalice, among others. The two oldest existing honor societies are theAurelian(1910) and theTorch Honor Society(1916). These are akin toHarvard finals clubs,Princeton eating clubs, andsenior societies at University of Pennsylvania. Traditions Yale seniors at graduation smash clay pipes underfoot to symbolize passage from their \"bright college years\", though in recent history the pipes have been replaced with \"bubble pipes\".(\"Bright College Years\", the university's alma mater, was penned in 1881 byHenry Durand, Class of 1881, to the tune ofDie Wacht am Rhein.) Yale's student tour guides tell visitors that students consider it good luck to rub the toe of the statue ofTheodore Dwight Woolseyon Old Campus; however, actual students rarely do so.In the second half of the 20th centuryBladderball, a campus-wide game played with a large inflatable ball, became a popular tradition but was banned by administration due to safety concerns. In spite of administration opposition, students revived the game in 2009, 2011, and 2014. Athletics Yale supports 35 varsity athletic teams that compete in theIvy LeagueConference, theEastern College Athletic Conference, and theNew England Intercollegiate Sailing Association. Yale athletic teams compete intercollegiately at theNCAADivision I level. Like other members of the Ivy League, Yale does not offer athletic scholarships. Yale has numerous athletic facilities, including theYale Bowl(the nation's first natural \"bowl\" stadium, and prototype for such stadiums as theLos Angeles Memorial Coliseumand theRose Bowl), located at TheWalter CampField athletic complex, and thePayne Whitney Gymnasium, the second-largest indoor athletic complex in the world. In 1970, the NCAA banned Yale from participating in all NCAA sports for two years, in reaction to Yale – against the wishes of the NCAA – playing its Jewish centerJack Langerin college games after Langer had played for Team United States at the1969 Maccabiah Gamesin Israel with the approval of Yale PresidentKingman Brewster.The decision impacted 300 Yale students, every Yale student on its sports teams, over the next two years. In 2016, the men's basketball team won the Ivy League Championship title for the first time in 54 years, earning a spot in theNCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. In the first round of the tournament, the Bulldogs beat theBaylor Bears79–75 in the school's first-ever tournament win. In May 2018, the men's lacrosse team defeated theDuke Blue Devilsto claim their first-everNCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship,and were the first Ivy League school to win the title since thePrinceton Tigersin 2001. Yale crew is the oldest collegiate athletic team in America, and wonOlympic GamesGold Medalfor men's eights in 1924 and 1956. TheYale Corinthian Yacht Club, founded in 1881, is the oldest collegiatesailingclub in the world. October 21, 2000, marked the dedication of Yale's fourth new boathouse in 157 years of collegiate rowing. TheGilder Boathouseis named to honor former Olympic rower Virginia Gilder '79 and her fatherRichard Gilder'54, who gave $4 million towards the $7.5 million project. Yale also maintains theGales Ferrysite where the heavyweight men's team trains for theYale-Harvard Boat Race. In 1896, Yale andJohns Hopkinsplayed the first knownice hockeygame in the United States. Since 2006, the school's ice hockey clubs have played a commemorative game. Yale students claim to have inventedFrisbee, by tossing emptyFrisbie Pie Companytins. Yale athletics are supported by theYale Precision Marching Band. \"Precision\" is used here ironically; the band is a scatter-style band that runs wildly between formations rather than actually marching.The band attends every home football game and many away, as well as most hockey and basketball games throughout the winter. Yale intramural sports are also a significant aspect of student life. Students compete for their respective residential colleges, fostering a friendly rivalry. The year is divided into fall, winter, and spring seasons, each of which includes about 10 different sports. About half the sports are coeducational. At the end of the year, the residential college with the most points (not all sports count equally) wins the Tyng Cup. Song Notable among the songs commonly played and sung at events such ascommencement,convocation, alumni gatherings, and athletic games is the alma mater, \"Bright College Years\". Despite its popularity, \"Boola Boola\" is not the officialfight song, albeit being the origin of the university's unofficial motto. The official Yale fight song, \"Bulldog\" was written byCole Porterduring his undergraduate days and is sung after touchdowns during a football game.Additionally, two other songs, \"Down the Field\" by C.W. O'Conner, and \"Bingo Eli Yale\", also by Cole Porter, are still sung at football games. According toCollege Fight Songs: An Annotated Anthologypublished in 1998, \"Down the Field\" ranks as the fourth-greatest fight song of all time. Mascot The schoolmascotis \"Handsome Dan\", the Yalebulldog, and the Yale fight song contains the refrain, \"Bulldog, bulldog, bow wow wow.\" The school color, since 1894, isYale Blue.Yale's Handsome Dan is believed to be the first college mascot in America, having been established in 1889. Mental health Yale has faced significant criticism for its handling ofstudent mental healthon campus.Suicidal and depressed students say that Yale forced them to medically withdraw rather than provide them with academic accommodations under theAmericans with Disabilities Act, and in 2018 theRuderman Family Foundationranked Yale as having the worst mental health policies in the Ivy League. Dear Yale, I loved being here. I only wish I could've had some time. I needed time to work things out and to wait for new medication to kick in, but I couldn't do it in school, and I couldn't bear the thought of having to leave for a full year, or of leaving and never being readmitted. Love, Luchang. Luchang Wang, posted on Facebook in 2015 shortly before her death Students at Yale say that the university's policies force them to hide their depression and avoid seeking help, for fear of being forced to leave.One prominent case was the suicide of Luchang Wang in 2015, who died by suicide after making a Facebook post saying that she needed time to deal with her mental health issues, but could not deal with being forced to medically withdraw for an entire year with an uncertain chance of being readmitted.Wang had previously withdrawn from school due to mental health issues, and was afraid of being forced to withdraw again, as a second readmission attempt would be considerably more difficult for her.A friend of Wang said that she routinely lied to her university therapist to avoid being kicked out,and another student said that many at Yale lie to their counselors as \"there's no clear standard established that says exactly what students will get involuntarily hospitalized or withdrawn for\".In response, the university convened a commission to evaluate their readmission policies after a mental health withdrawal, renaming the process to \"reinstatement\" as well as eliminating the $50 reapplication fee. For students that do seek help, waitlists for therapy can be months long, with individual counselling sessions only 30 minutes in length.In 2022, after a Washington Post article about their medical withdrawal policies, the school increased the number of mental health clinicians on campus from 51 to 60 as well as promised further changes.In 2023, after a lawsuit was filed against the school for what the plaintiffs described as discrimination, the university changed the name of a \"medical withdrawal\" to a \"medical leave of absence\" saying that the \"leave of absence\" terminology would allow students to remain on Yale's insurance while away from the school.The new policy also allowed for students on a leave of absence to participate in extracurricular clubs and visit campus,something a student on medical withdrawal was banned from doing.A representative of Yale also said that the criticism of their policies \"misrepresents our efforts and unwavering commitment to supporting our students, whose well-being and success are our primary focus\" and that \"the mental health of our students is a very, very high priority\". After the death of undergraduate student Rachael Shaw Rosenbaum by suicide, an organization called Elis for Rachael was formed, advocating for mental health-related reforms. The group has sued Yale, demanding changes. Notable people Benefactors Yale has had many financial supporters, but some stand out by the magnitude or timeliness of their contributions. Among those who have made large donations commemorated at the university are:Elihu Yale,Jeremiah Dummer, theVanderbiltfamily, theHarknessfamily (Edward,Anna, andWilliam), theBeineckefamily (Edwin,Frederick, and Walter),John William Sterling,Payne Whitney,Joseph Earl Sheffield,Paul Mellon,Charles B. G. Murphy,Joseph Tsai,William K. Lanman, andStephen Schwarzman. The Yale Class of 1954, led byRichard Gilder, donated $70 million in commemoration of their 50th reunion.Charles B. Johnson, a 1954 graduate of Yale College, pledged a $250 million gift in 2013 to support the construction of two new residential colleges.The colleges have been named respectively in honor ofPauli MurrayandBenjamin Franklin. A $100 million contributionbyStephen Adamsenabled theYale School of Musicto become tuition-free and the Adams Center for Musical Arts to be built, while a $150 million contributionbyDavid Geffenenabled the Yale School of Drama (renamed theDavid Geffen School of Drama at Yale) to become tuition-free as well. Notable alumni Yale has produced many distinguished alumni in various fields, from the public to private sector. According to 2020 data, around 71% of undergraduates join the workforce, while 17% attend graduate or professional schools.Yale graduates have been recipients of 263Rhodes Scholarships,123Marshall Scholarships,67Truman Scholarships,21Churchill Scholarships,and 9Mitchell Scholarships.The university is the 2nd largest producer ofFulbright Scholars, with 1,244 in its historyand 89MacArthur Fellows.The U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs ranked Yale fifth among research institutions producing the most 2020–2021 Fulbright Scholars.31living billionairesare alumni. One of the most popular undergraduate majors is political science, with many going on to serve in government and politics.Former presidents who attended for undergrad includeWilliam Howard Taft,George H. W. Bush, andGeorge W. Bushwhile former presidentsGerald FordandBill Clintonattended Yale Law School.Former vice-president and influentialantebellum erapoliticianJohn C. Calhounalso graduated from Yale. Former world leaders include Italian prime ministerMario Monti,Turkish prime ministerTansu Çiller,South Korean prime ministerLee Hong-koo,Mexican presidentErnesto Zedillo,German presidentKarl Carstens,Philippine presidentJosé Paciano Laurel,Latvian presidentValdis Zatlers,Taiwanese premierJiang Yi-huah,and Malawian presidentPeter Mutharika,among others. Prominent royals who graduated areCrown Princess Victoria of Sweden,andOlympia Bonaparte, Princess Napoléon. Alumni have had considerable presence in U.S. government in all three branches. On theU.S. Supreme Court, 19 justices have been alumni, including currentAssociate JusticesSonia Sotomayor,Samuel Alito,Clarence Thomas,andBrett Kavanaugh.Alumni have beenU.S. Senators, including current senatorsMichael Bennet,Richard Blumenthal,Cory Booker,Sherrod Brown,Chris Coons,Amy Klobuchar,Sheldon Whitehouse,andJD Vance.Current and former cabinet members include Secretaries of StateJohn Kerry,Hillary Clinton,Cyrus Vance,andDean Acheson;U.S. Secretaries of the TreasuryOliver Wolcott,Robert Rubin,Nicholas F. Brady,Steven Mnuchin,andJanet Yellen;U.S. Attorneys GeneralNicholas Katzenbach,Edwin Meese,John Ashcroft,andEdward H. Levi;and many others. Peace Corps founder and American diplomatSargent Shriverand public official and urban plannerRobert Mosesare Yale alumni. Yale has produced numerous award-winning authors and influential writers,likeNobel Prize in LiteraturelaureateSinclair LewisandPulitzer PrizewinnersStephen Vincent Benét,Thornton Wilder,Doug Wright,andDavid McCullough.Academy Awardwinning actors, actresses, and directors includeJodie Foster,Paul Newman,Meryl Streep,Elia Kazan,George Roy Hill,Lupita Nyong'o,Oliver Stone,andFrances McDormand.Alumni from Yale have also made notable contributions to both music and the arts. Leading American composer from the 20th centuryCharles Ives,Broadway composerCole Porter,Grammy awardwinnerDavid Lang,multi-Tony Awardwinner Composer and MusicologistMaury Yeston,and award-winning jazz pianist and composerVijay Iyerall hail from Yale.Hugo Boss PrizewinnerMatthew Barney,famed American sculptorRichard Serra,President Barack Obama presidential portrait painterKehinde Wiley,MacArthur Fellowsand contemporary artistsTschabalala Self,Titus Kaphar,Richard Whitten, andSarah Sze,Pulitzer Prizewinning cartoonistGarry Trudeau,andNational Medal of Artsphotorealist painterChuck Closeall graduated from Yale. Additional alumni include architect andPresidential Medal of FreedomwinnerMaya Lin,Pritzker PrizewinnerNorman Foster,andGateway ArchdesignerEero Saarinen.Journalists and pundits includeDick Cavett,Chris Cuomo,Anderson Cooper,William F. Buckley Jr.,Blake Hounshell,andFareed Zakaria. In business, Yale has had numerous alumni and former students go on to become founders of influential business, likeWilliam Boeing(Boeing,United Airlines),Briton HaddenandHenry Luce(Time Magazine),Stephen A. Schwarzman(Blackstone Group),Frederick W. Smith(FedEx),Juan Trippe(Pan Am),Harold Stanley(Morgan Stanley),Bing Gordon(Electronic Arts), andBen Silbermann(Pinterest). Other business people from Yale include former chairman and CEO ofSears HoldingsEdward Lampert,formerTime WarnerpresidentJeffrey Bewkes,formerPepsiCochairperson and CEOIndra Nooyi,sports agentDonald Dell,and investor/philanthropist SirJohn Templeton, Alumni distinguished in academia include literary critic and historianHenry Louis Gates,economistsIrving Fischer,Mahbub ul Haq,and Nobel Prize laureatePaul Krugman;Nobel Prize in PhysicslaureatesErnest LawrenceandMurray Gell-Mann;Fields MedalistJohn G. Thompson;Human Genome Projectleader andNational Institutes of HealthdirectorFrancis S. Collins;brain surgery pioneerHarvey Cushing;pioneering computer scientistGrace Hopper;influential mathematician and chemistJosiah Willard Gibbs;National Women's Hall of Fameinductee and biochemistFlorence B. Seibert;Turing AwardrecipientRon Rivest;inventorsSamuel F.B. MorseandEli Whitney;Nobel Prize in ChemistrylaureateJohn B. Goodenough;lexicographerNoah Webster;and theologiansJonathan EdwardsandReinhold Niebuhr. In the sporting arena, alumni include baseball playersRon DarlingandCraig Breslowwho in the major leagues played with fellow Yale alumRyan Lavarnwayand baseball executivesTheo EpsteinandGeorge Weiss;football playersCalvin Hill,Gary Fenick,Amos Alonzo Stagg,and \"the Father of American Football\"Walter Camp;ice hockey playersChris Higginsand OlympianHelen Resor;Olympic figure skating championsSarah HughesandNathan Chen;nine-timeU.S. Squashmen's championJulian Illingworth;Olympic swimmerDon Schollander;Olympic rowersJosh WestandRusty Wailes;Olympic sailorStuart McNay;Olympic runnerFrank Shorter;and others. In fiction and popular culture Yale University is a cultural referent as an institution that produces some of the most elite members of societyand its grounds, alumni, and students have been prominently portrayed in fiction and U.S. popular culture. For example,Owen Johnson's novelStover at Yalefollows the college career of Dink Stover,andFrank Merriwell, the model for all later juvenile sports fiction, plays football, baseball, crew, and track at Yale while solving mysteries and righting wrongs.Yale University also is mentioned in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novelThe Great Gatsby. The narrator, Nick Carraway, wrote a series of editorials for theYale News, and Tom Buchanan was \"one of the most powerfulendsthat ever played football\" for Yale. Notes References Further reading External links"],"string":"[\n \"Tim Allsop & Stewart Williams Tim AllsopandStewart Williamsare a British writing and directing duo. They met in 2005 working forElisabeth Murdoch’s production companyShine Limited. Their first joint work was aComedy LabforChannel 4starring Alex Zane which they wrote, produced, and directed. Since then they have written for a variety of comedy and entertainment shows for theBBC,ITVandChannel 4, as well directingmusic videosandcommercials– most recently for theGuitar Herobrand. In 2007 they began working on apilotfor Plus One in theComedy Showcasestrand for Channel 4 which they made with production companyKudos. They have also written episodes forThe Amazing World of Gumballand recently and written episodes forSpace Chickens in Space, as well as developed the bible forDisney EMEAfor the show as well. Tim Allsop is currently a producer onWho Is Americaand Stewart Williams recently wrote an episode ofFamalam. References External links This article about a writer or poet from the United Kingdom is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.\",\n \"Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Murdoch_(businesswoman\",\n \"Vassar College Vassar College(/ˈvæsər/VASS-ər) is aprivateliberal arts collegeinPoughkeepsie,New York, United States. Founded in 1861 byMatthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college becamecoeducationalin 1969. The college offersBAdegrees in more than fifty majors. Vassar College's varsity sports teams, known as the Brewers, play in theNCAA'sDivision IIIas members of theLiberty League. Currently, there are close to 2,500 students. The college is one of the historicSeven Sisters. The Vassar campus comprises over 1,000 acres (400 ha) and more than 100 buildings. A designatedarboretum, the campus features more than 200 species of trees, a native plant preserve, and a 530-acre (210 ha)ecological preserve. History Vassar was founded as awomen's schoolunder the nameVassar Female Collegein 1861.Its first president was Milo P. Jewett, who had previously been first president of another women's school,Judson College;he led a staff of ten professors and twenty-one instructors.After one year, its founder,Matthew Vassar, had the wordFemaleremoved from the name, prompting some local residents ofPoughkeepsie, New York, to quip that its founder believed it might one day admit male students. The college becamecoeducationalin 1969. Vassar was the second of theSeven Sisterscolleges, higher education schools that were strictly for women, and historically sister institutions to the all-maleIvy Leaguecolleges. It was chartered by its namesake, brewerMatthew Vassar, in 1861 in theHudson Valley, about 70 miles (110 km) north ofNew York City. The first person appointed to the Vassar faculty wasastronomerMaria Mitchell, in 1865. Vassar adopted coeducation in 1969. Immediately followingWorld War II, Vassar accepted a small number of male students on theG.I. Bill.The formal decision to become co-ed came after its trustees declined an offer to merge withYale University, its sibling institution, in the wave of mergers between the historically all-male colleges of the Ivy League and their Seven Sisters counterparts. In its early years, Vassar was associated with the social elite of the Protestant establishment.E. Digby Baltzellwrites that \\\"upper-classWASPfamilies educated their children at colleges such asHarvard,Princeton,Yale, and Vassar.\\\"A select and elite few of Vassar's students were allowed entry into the school's secret society Delta Sigma Rho, founded in 1922.Before becoming President of the United States,Franklin Delano Rooseveltwas a Trustee. Approximately 2,450 students attend Vassar, and 98% live on campus.About 60% come from public high schools, and 40% come fromprivate schools(both independent and religious).Vassar is currently 56% women and 44% men, at national average for national liberal arts colleges.Students are taught by more than 336 faculty members, virtually all holding the doctorate degree or its equivalent.The student-faculty ratio is 8:1, average class size, 17. In recent freshman classes, students of color constituted 32–38% of matriculants.International students from over 60 countries make up 8-10% of the student body.In May 2007, Vassar returned to aneed-blindadmissions policy without regard to a student's financial status. Vassar presidentCatharine Bond Hilldeparted in 2016. She was succeeded byElizabeth Howe Bradleyin 2017. The college was listed as a census-designated place (Vassar College CDP) in 2019. Presidents Campus The campus is inPoughkeepsie Town, adjacent toPoughkeepsie City.The area around the campus appeared as acensus-designated place(CDP) in the2020 U.S. Census,with a population of 2,472. Architecture Vassar's campus, also anarboretum,is 1,000 acres (400 ha) and has more than 100 buildings, ranging in style fromCollegiate GothictoInternational, with several buildings of architectural interest. At the center of campus standsMain Building, one of the best examples ofSecond Empire architecturein the United States. When it was opened, Main Building was the largest building in the U.S. in terms of floor space. It formerly housed the entire college, including classrooms, dormitories, museum, library, and dining halls.The building was designed by Smithsonian architectJames Renwick Jr.and was completed in 1865. It was preceded on campus by the originalobservatory. Both buildings areNational Historic Landmarks.Rombout Housewas purchased by the college in 1915 and added to theNational Register of Historic Placesin 1982. Eero Saarinenmade designs for several Vassar dormitories, but only one, the Emma Hartman Noyes House, was completed in 1958. Built for roughly 160 students, it was the first part of a circular construction that was to be continued in \\\"Noyes II.\\\" The starkly modernist building's high cost and structural difficulties with the windows, however, led administrators to leave it at one.The dorm's common area is famous for its futuristic design; readings and concerts are held there regularly.The Noyes building was also the home of an all-female football team, the Noyes Nymphs, who competed against Ivy League teams in the 1960s and 1970s. Libraries Vassar is home to one of the largest undergraduate library collections in the U.S. The library collection today – which actually encompasses eight libraries at Vassar – contains about 1 million volumes and 7,500 serial, periodical and newspaper titles, as well as an extensive collection of microfilm and microfiche, with special collections ofEllen Swallow Richards,Albert Einstein,Mary McCarthy, andElizabeth Bishop.Vassar has been a Federal Depository library for selected U.S. Government documents since 1943 and currently receives approximately 25% of the titles available through the Federal Depository Program. The interior and exterior of the Van Ingen Art Library was renovated from June 2008 – May 2009 in an effort to restore its original design and appearance. This was the library's first major renovation since its construction in 1937. Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center In November 2016, the gallery opened the Hoene Hoy Photography gallery on the second floor, named after Anne Hoene Hoy from the class of 1963. Capital improvements In 2011, Vassar embarked on a $120 million project to improve science facilities at the college, centering on the construction of a newBridge for Laboratory Sciences. Housing The majority of students in their first three years live on campus in the nineresidence halls.Main House occupies the upper floors of Main Building, constructed at the college's founding.To accommodate a growing student body,Strong Housewas constructed in 1893.Strong was made all-women's housing after the college went coeducational in 1969; the house now also acceptsnonbinaryand othergender-nonconformingstudents.SimilarElizabethan-style houses—Raymond,Lathrop, andDavison—were built from 1897 to 1902 to form a residentialquadrangle.A nine-story Tudor-style dormitory,Jewett House, was constructed in 1907 on the north end of the quadrangle.The second largest dormitory,Josselyn House, was built in 1912 to Jewett's east.Cushing Housewas constructed outside of the quadrangle in 1927.In a departure from the architecture of the other dormitories,Noyes Housewas built in 1958 in a distinct modernist style, curved around a largegreen. Most fourth-year students live in groups of four or five in on-campus apartments.Vassar has three apartment complexes: the Terrace Apartments, the Town Houses, and the South Commons.Acooperativehouse, Ferry House, opened in 1951 and houses 20 students.Vassar guarantees housing to all full-time students. As part of a master plan to renovate all the dormitories, Jewett, Davison, and Josselyn were renovated from 2002 to 2011.The college opted for minor improvements to the rest of the dorms due to cost. Vassar maintains housing for faculty;the current complex opened in 2023.The previous faculty housing facility,Williams House, was to be demolished after 2020.School-age dependents living on the Vassar faculty complex, as well as other areas in the Vassar College CDP, are within theArlington Central School District,which operatesArlington High School. Academics The most popular undergraduate majors, based on 2021 graduates, were: Admissions For the class of 2027 (enrolling fall 2023), Vassar received 12,145 applications and accepted 17.7%. The combined average SAT scores of those who opted to submit their testing data was 1489 and the ACT composite average was 33.The middle 50% ranges for the SAT were 1450-1530 and 33-35 for the ACT. Of the matriculants whose high schools provided rankings, 79% were in the top ten percent of their class.For the class of 2026 (enrolling fall 2022), Vassar received 11,412 applications and accepted 18.7%.For the class of 2025 (enrolling fall 2021), Vassar received 10,884 applications, a 25% increase over the previous year, and accepted 2,068 (19%).For the class of 2023 (enrolling fall 2019), Vassar received 8,961 applications and accepted 2,127 (23.7%), with 691 enrolling.For the class of 2025 (enrolling fall 2021),the middle 50% range ofSATscores for enrolling freshmen was 710-760 for evidence-based reading and writing, 710-780 for math, and 1420-1540 for the composite.The middle 50%ACTscore range was 28-33 for math, 32-34 for English, and 32-34 for the composite. Students of color (including non-citizens) made up 45.5% of the incoming class;international students were 8.8% of enrolling freshmen. Rankings The 2025 edition ofU.S. News & World Report's \\\"Best Colleges\\\" ranked Vassar as tied for the 12th best liberal arts college in the U.S. out of 211 rated. In previous years the college was ranked byU.S. News & World Reportas high as tenth. In 2024,U.S. News & World Reportranked Vassar second for \\\"Best Colleges for Veterans\\\", 29th for \\\"Best Value\\\", 15th for \\\"Top Performers on Social Mobility\\\", and tied for 20th in \\\"Best Undergraduate Teaching\\\".It also ranked Vassar tied for fourth among top liberal arts colleges for economic diversity as measured by low-income students receiving federalPell Grants. In its 2021 edition,Washington Monthlyranked Vassar 11th among 215 liberal arts colleges in the U.S. based on its contribution to the public good, as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service. In its 2020 edition,The Princeton Reviewrated Vassar first for \\\"Best Financial Aid\\\" of all colleges and universities in the United States.In its 2018 edition,The Princeton Reviewrated Vassar second best for financial aid and 41st best for \\\"best value\\\".In 2019,Forbesrated Vassar 27th among liberal arts colleges and 61st overall in its America's Top Colleges ranking, which includes 650 military academies, national universities, and liberal arts colleges.Kiplinger's Personal Financeplaces Vassar 11th in its 2019 ranking of the 149 best value liberal arts colleges in the United States.Moneymagazine ranked Vassar 145th in the country out of 739 schools evaluated for its 2020 \\\"Best Colleges for Your Money\\\" edition. In an article inThe Christian Science Monitor, Vassar president emeritusCatharine Bond Hillargued that rankings \\\"will always be limited in what they can tell consumers. Part of higher education's role about the rankings should be to remind students and their families that these are only one piece of information that they should take into account in deciding where to go to college. Intangibles will and should play a role in these decisions, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't also look at the tangibles\\\". Post-graduation outcomes Over half of Vassar graduates pursue advanced study within five years of graduation, including one-fifth immediately post-graduation.Of the seniors who applied to medical school in 2017, 76% were accepted; to law school, 96% were accepted. Student life Traditions Founder's Day is an annual campus festival at Vassar College that usually takes place in late April or early May. It started as a surprise birthday party for college founderMatthew Vassar's seventy-fourth birthday and evolved into an annual celebration.Originally, Founder's Day was a spontaneous event consisting of lectures, but was soon replaced with plays, pageants, and more recreational activities. Circus and fair activities followed, with the eventual addition of the modern day music events over the course of two days. More recently themes have been added, includingAlice in Wonderland,Dinosaurs,Vintage 1800s Vassar,Nickelodeon,Nintendo, andCandyland.Recent artists at Founder's Day have includedThe Walkmen,Edan,DJ /rupture,Odd Nosdam,Jel,Toro y Moi,andOdesza. Extracurricular organizations Campus publications Radio station WVKR-FM, 91.3 FM, is the college's radio station, established in 1971. Student government In March 2016, in a 15–2 vote, the Vassar Student Association (VSA) passed a resolution calling for the support of theBoycott, Divestment and Sanctionsmovement and the boycott of Israel.In April 2016, the BDS resolution went to a school-wide referendum, where it was defeated 573–503. Athletics Vassar teams, known as the Brewers, compete inDivision IIIof theNCAA, as a member of theLiberty League. The nickname originates from the college's founder and namesakeMatthew Vassar, whose family ran abreweryin Poughkeepsie and would later amass a sizable fortune in the industry. In 2008, the Vassar men's volleyball team made the school's first appearance in a national championship game, beatingUC Santa Cruz3–0 in the semifinal before falling to Springfield in the championship game. In 2007, the Vassar cycling team hosted the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Championship in Poughkeepsie and New Paltz, New York. The competition included a 100-mile (160 km) road race over the Shawangunk Mountains in New Paltz as well as a criterium in Poughkeepsie just blocks from the school's campus. In a controversial move, on November 5, 2009, the athletics department leaders decided the men's and women'srowingteam would transition over a two-year period from a varsity to a club sport as a cost-saving measure. In 1940, 1941 and 1942, Vassar athletes won nationalintercollegiate women's tennis championshipseach year in both singles (Katharine Hubbell) and doubles (Hubbell, Carolyn \\\"Lonny\\\" Myers). In 2018, the Vassar women's rugby team won the school's first team national championship, beatingWinona State50–13 in the final of the USA Rugby Women's Division 2. Notable people Notable Vassar alumni include: Notable attendees who did not graduate from Vassar include: Notable Vassar faculty include: See also References Further reading External links\",\n \"Yale University Yale Universityis aprivateIvy Leagueresearch universityinNew Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is thethird-oldest institutionofhigher education in the United States, and one of the ninecolonial collegeschartered before theAmerican Revolution. Yale was established as theCollegiate Schoolin 1701 byCongregationalistclergy of theConnecticut Colony. Originally restricted to instructing ministers in theology andsacred languages, the school's curriculum expanded, incorporating humanities and sciences by the time of theAmerican Revolution. In the 19th century, the college expanded into graduate and professional instruction, awarding the firstPhDin the United States in 1861 and organizing as a university in 1887. Yale's faculty and student populations grew rapidly after 1890 due to the expansion of the physical campus and its scientific research programs. Yale is organized into fourteen constituent schools, including the originalundergraduate college, theYale Graduate School of Arts and SciencesandYale Law School.While the university is governed by theYale Corporation, each school'sfacultyoversees its curriculum and degree programs. In addition to a central campus indowntown New Haven, the university owns athletic facilities in western New Haven, a campus inWest Haven, and forests and nature preserves throughoutNew England. As of 2023,the university's endowmentwas valued at $40.7 billion, thethird largest of any educational institution.TheYale University Library, serving all constituent schools, holds more than 15 million volumes and is the third-largest academic library in the United States.Student athletes compete in intercollegiate sports as theYale Bulldogsin theNCAADivision IIvy Leagueconference. As of October 2020, 65Nobellaureates, 5Fields medalists, 4Abel Prizelaureates, and 3Turing Awardwinners have been affiliated with Yale University. In addition, Yale has graduated manynotable alumni, including 5U.S. presidents, 10Founding Fathers, 19U.S. Supreme Court Justices, 31living billionaires,54college founders and presidents, manyheads of state,cabinetmembers andgovernors. Hundreds ofmembers of Congressand manyU.S. diplomats, 78MacArthur Fellows, 263Rhodes Scholars, 123Marshall Scholars, 81Gates Cambridge Scholars, 102Guggenheim Fellowsand 9Mitchell Scholarshave been affiliated with the university. Yale's current faculty include 67 members of theNational Academy of Sciences,55 members of theNational Academy of Medicine,8 members of theNational Academy of Engineering,and 187 members of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences. History Early history of Yale College Origins Yale traces its beginnings to \\\"An Act for Liberty to Erect a Collegiate School\\\", a would-be charter passed inNew Havenby the General Court of theColony of Connecticuton October 9, 1701. The Act was an effort to create an institution to train ministers and lay leadership. Soon after, a group of tenCongregationalministers,Samuel Andrew, Thomas Buckingham, Israel Chauncy, Samuel Mather (nephew ofIncrease Mather), Rev. James Noyes II (son ofJames Noyes),James Pierpont,Abraham Pierson,Noadiah Russell, Joseph Webb, andTimothy Woodbridge, allHarvardalumni, met in the study of ReverendSamuel Russell, inBranford, to donate books to form the school's library.The group, led byJames Pierpont, is now known as \\\"The Founders\\\". Known from its origin as the \\\"Collegiate School\\\", the institution opened in the home of its firstrector, Abraham Pierson, who is considered Yale's first president. Pierson lived inKillingworth. The school moved toSaybrookin 1703, when the first treasurer of Yale, Nathaniel Lynde, donated land and a building. In 1716, it moved to New Haven. Meanwhile, there was a rift forming at Harvard between its sixth president, Increase Mather, and the rest of the Harvard clergy, whom Mather viewed as increasingly liberal, ecclesiastically lax, and overly broad inChurch polity. The feud caused the Mathers to champion the Collegiate School in the hope it would maintain thePuritanreligious orthodoxy in a way Harvard had not.Rev.Jason Haven, minister at theFirst Church and Parish in Dedham, Massachusetts, had been considered for the presidency on account of his orthodox theology and \\\"Neatness dignity and purity of Style surpass those of all that have been mentioned\\\", but was passed over due to his \\\"very Valetudinary and infirm State of Health\\\". Naming and development In 1718, at the behest of either RectorSamuel Andrewor the colony's GovernorGurdon Saltonstall,Cotton Mathercontacted the Boston-born businessmanElihu Yaleto ask for money to construct a new building for the college. Through the persuasion ofJeremiah Dummer, Yale, who had made a fortune inMadraswhile working for theEast India Companyas the first president ofFort St. George, donated nine bales of goods, which were sold for more than £560, a substantial sum of money. Cotton Mather suggested the school change its name to \\\"Yale College\\\".The name Yale is the Anglicized spelling of theWelshnameIâl, which had been used for the family estate at Plas yn Iâl, nearLlandegla, Wales. Meanwhile, a Harvard graduate working in England convinced 180 prominent intellectuals to donate books to Yale. The 1714 shipment of 500 books represented the best of modern English literature, science, philosophy and theology.It had a profound effect on intellectuals at Yale. UndergraduateJonathan EdwardsdiscoveredJohn Locke's works and developed his \\\"new divinity\\\". In 1722 the rector and six friends, who had a study group to discuss the new ideas, announced they had given upCalvinism, becomeArminians, and joined theChurch of England. They were ordained in England and returned to the colonies as missionaries for theAnglicanfaith.Thomas Clappbecame president in 1745, and while he attempted to return the college to Calvinist orthodoxy, did not close the library. Other students foundDeistbooks in the library. Curriculum Yale College undergraduates follow aliberal artscurriculum with departmentalmajorsand is organized into a social system ofresidential colleges. Yale was swept up by the great intellectual movements of the period—theGreat AwakeningandEnlightenment—due to the religious and scientific interests of presidentsThomas ClapandEzra Stiles. They were instrumental in developing the scientific curriculum while dealing with wars, student tumults, graffiti, \\\"irrelevance\\\" of curricula, desperate need for endowment and disagreements with theConnecticut legislature. Serious American students of theology and divinity, particularly in New England, regardedHebrewas aclassical language, along with Greek andLatin, and essential for study of theOld Testamentin the original. Reverend Stiles, president from 1778 to 1795, brought with him his interest in Hebrew as a vehicle for studying ancientBiblical textsin their original language, requiring all freshmen to study Hebrew (in contrast to Harvard, where only upperclassmen were required to study it) and is responsible for the Hebrew phrase אורים ותמים (Urim and Thummim) on the Yale seal. A 1746 graduate of Yale, Stiles came to the college with experience in education, having played an integral role in foundingBrown University.Stiles' greatest challenge occurred in 1779 when British forces occupied New Haven and threatened to raze the college. However, Yale graduateEdmund Fanning, secretary to the British general in command of the occupation, intervened and the college was saved. In 1803, Fanning was granted an honorary degreeLL.D.. Students As the only college in Connecticut from 1701 to 1823, Yale educated the sons of the elite.Punishable offenses includedcardplaying, tavern-going, destruction of college property, and acts of disobedience. Harvard was distinctive for the stability and maturity of its tutor corps, while Yale had youth and zeal. The emphasis on classics gave rise to private student societies, open only by invitation, which arose as forums for discussions of scholarship, literature and politics. The first were debating societies:Crotoniain 1738,Linoniain 1753 andBrothers in Unityin 1768. Linonia and Brothers in Unity continue to exist; commemorations to them can be found with names given to campus structures, like Brothers in Unity Courtyard in Branford College. 19th century TheYale Report of 1828was a dogmatic defense of the Latin and Greek curriculum against critics who wanted more courses in modern languages, math and science. Unlikehigher education in Europe, there was nonational curriculumfor US colleges and universities. In the competition for students and financial support, college leaders strove to keep current with demands for innovation. At the same time, they realized a significant portion of students and prospective students demanded a classical background. The report meant the classics would not be abandoned. During this period, institutions experimented with changes in the curriculum, often resulting in a dual-track curriculum. In the decentralized environment of US higher education, balancing change with tradition was a common challenge.A group of professors at Yale and New Haven Congregationalist ministers articulated a conservative response to the changes brought byVictorian culture. They concentrated on developing a person possessed of religious values strong enough to sufficiently resist temptations from within, yet flexible enough to adjust to the 'isms' (professionalism,materialism,individualism, andconsumerism) tempting them from without.William Graham Sumner, professor from 1872 to 1909, taught in the emerging disciplines of economics and sociology to overflowing classrooms. Sumner bested PresidentNoah Porter, who disliked the social sciences and wanted Yale to lock into its traditions of classical education. Porter objected to Sumner's use of a textbook byHerbert Spencerthat espoused agnostic materialism because it might harm students. Until 1887, the legal name of the university was \\\"The President and Fellows of Yale College, in New Haven.\\\" In 1887, under an act passed by theConnecticut General Assembly, Yale was renamed \\\"Yale University\\\". Sports and debate The Revolutionary War soldierNathan Hale(Yale 1773) was the archetype of the Yale ideal in the early 19th century: a manly yet aristocratic scholar, well-versed in knowledge and sports, and a patriot who \\\"regretted\\\" that he \\\"had but one life to lose\\\" for his country. Western painterFrederic Remington(Yale 1900) was an artist whose heroes gloried in the combat and tests of strength in the Wild West. The fictional, turn-of-the-20th-century Yale manFrank Merriwellembodied this same heroic ideal without racial prejudice, and his fictional successor Dink Stover in the novelStover at Yale(1912) questioned the business mentality that had become prevalent at the school. Increasingly students turned to athletic stars as their heroes, especially since winning the big game became the goal of the student body, the alumni, and the team itself. Along withHarvardandPrinceton, Yale students rejected British concepts about 'amateurism' and constructed athletic programs that were uniquely American.TheHarvard–Yale football rivalrybegan in 1875. Between 1892, when Harvard and Yale met in one of the firstintercollegiate debates,and in 1909 (year of the first Triangular Debate of Harvard/Yale/Princeton) the rhetoric, symbolism, and metaphors used in athletics were used to frame these debates. Debates were covered on front pages ofcollege newspapersand emphasized inyearbooks, and team members received the equivalent ofathletic lettersfor their jackets. There were rallies to send off teams to matches, but they never attained the broad appeal athletics enjoyed. One reason may be that debates do not have a clear winner, because scoring is subjective. With late 19th-century concerns about the impact of modern life on the body, athletics offered hope that neither the individual nor society was coming apart. In 1909–10, football faced a crisis resulting from the failure of the reforms of 1905–06, which sought to solve the problem of serious injuries. There was a mood of alarm and mistrust, and, while the crisis was developing, the presidents of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton developed a project to reform the sport and forestall possible radical changes forced by government. PresidentsArthur Hadleyof Yale,A. Lawrence Lowellof Harvard, andWoodrow Wilsonof Princeton worked to develop moderate reforms to reduce injuries. Their attempts, however, were reduced by rebellion against the rules committee and formation of theIntercollegiate Athletic Association. While the big three had attempted to operate independently of the majority, the changes pushed did reduce injuries. Expansion Starting with the addition of theYale School of Medicinein 1810, the college expanded gradually, establishing theYale Divinity Schoolin 1822,Yale Law Schoolin 1822, theYale Graduate School of Arts and Sciencesin 1847, the now-defunctSheffield Scientific Schoolin 1847,and theYale School of Fine Artsin 1869. In 1887, under the presidency ofTimothy Dwight V, Yale College was renamed to Yale University, and the former name was applied only to theundergraduate college. The university would continue to expand into the 20th and 21st centuries, adding theYale School of Musicin 1894, theYale School of Forestry & Environmental Studiesin 1900, theYale School of Public Healthin 1915, theYale School of Architecturein 1916, theYale School of Nursing1923, theYale School of Dramain 1955, theYale School of Managementin 1976, and theJackson School of Global Affairsin 2022.The Sheffield Scientific School would also reorganize its relationship with the university to teach only undergraduate courses. Expansion caused controversy about Yale's new roles.Noah Porter, a moral philosopher, was president from 1871 to 1886. During an age of expansion in higher education, Porter resisted the rise of the new research university, claiming an eager embrace of its ideals would corrupt undergraduate education. Historian George Levesque argues Porter was not a simple-minded reactionary, uncritically committed to tradition, but a principled and selective conservative.Levesque says he did not endorse everything old or reject everything new; rather, he sought to apply long-established ethical and pedagogical principles to a changing culture. Levesque concludes, noting he may have misunderstood some of the challenges, but he correctly anticipated the enduring tensions that have accompanied the emergence of the modern university. 20th century Medicine Milton Winternitz led theYale School of Medicineas its dean from 1920 to 1935. Dedicated to the new scientific medicine established in Germany, he was equally fervent about \\\"social medicine\\\" and the study of humans in their environment. He established the \\\"Yale System\\\" of teaching, with few lectures and fewer exams, and strengthened the full-time faculty system; he created the graduate-level Yale School of Nursing and the psychiatry department and built new buildings. Progress toward his plans for an Institute of Human Relations, envisioned as a refuge where social scientists would collaborate with biological scientists in a holistic study of humankind, lasted only a few years before resentful antisemitic colleagues drove him to resign. Faculty BeforeWorld War II, most elite university faculties counted among their numbers few, if any, Jews, blacks, women, or other minorities; Yale was no exception. By 1980, this condition had been altered dramatically, as numerous members of those groups held faculty positions.Almost all members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences—and some members of other faculties—teach undergraduate courses, more than 2,000 of which are offered annually. Women In 1793,Lucinda Footepassed the entrance exams for Yale College, but was rejected by the president on the basis of her gender.Women studied at Yale from 1892, in graduate-level programs at theYale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.The first seven women to earn PhDs received their degrees in 1894:Elizabeth Deering Hanscom, Cornelia H. B. Rogers, Sara Bulkley Rogers,Margaretta Palmer,Mary Augusta Scott, Laura Johnson Wylie, andCharlotte Fitch Roberts. There is a portrait of them inSterling Memorial Library, painted byBrenda Zlamany. In 1966, Yale began discussions with itssister schoolVassar Collegeabout merging to foster coeducation at the undergraduate level. Vassar, then all-female and part of theSeven Sisters—elite higher education schools that served as sister institutions to theIvy Leaguewhen nearly all Ivy League institutions still only admitted men—tentatively accepted, but then declined the invitation. Both schools introduced coeducation independently in 1969.Amy Solomon was the first woman to register as a Yale undergraduate;she was the first woman at Yale to join an undergraduate society,St. Anthony Hall. The undergraduate class of 1973 was the first to have women starting from freshman year;all undergraduate women were housed in Vanderbilt Hall. A decade into co-education, student assault and harassment by faculty became the impetus for the trailblazing lawsuitAlexander v. Yale. In the 1970s, a group of students and a faculty member sued Yale for its failure to curtail sexual harassment, especially by male faculty. The case was partly built from a 1977 report authored by plaintiffAnn Olivarius, \\\"A report to the Yale Corporation from the Yale Undergraduate Women's Caucus.\\\"This case was the first to useTitle IXto argue and establish that sexual harassment of female students can be considered illegal sex discrimination. The plaintiffs were Olivarius, Ronni Alexander, Margery Reifler, Pamela Price,and Lisa E. Stone. They were joined by Yale classics professor John \\\"Jack\\\" J. Winkler. The lawsuit, brought partly byCatharine MacKinnon, alleged rape, fondling, and offers of higher grades for sex by faculty, includingKeith Brion, professor of flute and director of bands, political science professor Raymond Duvall,English professorMichael Cooke, and coach of the field hockey team, Richard Kentwell. While unsuccessful in the courts, the legal reasoning changed the landscape of sex discrimination law and resulted in the establishment of Yale's Grievance Board and Women's Center.In 2011 a Title IX complaint was filed against Yale by students and graduates, including editors of Yale's feminist magazineBroad Recognition, alleging the university had a hostile sexual climate.In response, the university formed a Title IX steering committee to address complaints of sexual misconduct.Afterwards, universities and colleges throughout the US also established sexual harassment grievance procedures. Class Yale instituted policies in the early 20th century designed to maintain the proportion of white Protestants from notable families in the student body (seenumerus clausus) and eliminated such preferences, beginning with the class of 1970. 21st century In 2006, Yale andPeking University(PKU) established a Joint Undergraduate Program in Beijing, an exchange program allowing Yale students to spend a semester living and studying with PKU honor students.In July 2012, the Yale University-PKU Program ended due to weak participation. In 2007 outgoing Yale PresidentRick Levincharacterized Yale's institutional priorities: \\\"First, among the nation's finest research universities, Yale is distinctively committed to excellence in undergraduate education. Second, in our graduate and professional schools, as well as in Yale College, we are committed to the education of leaders.\\\" In 2009, formerBritish Prime MinisterTony Blairpicked Yale as one location – the others being Britain'sDurham UniversityandUniversiti Teknologi Mara– for theTony Blair Faith Foundation's United States Faith and Globalization Initiative.As of 2009, former Mexican PresidentErnesto Zedillois the director of theYale Center for the Study of Globalizationand teaches an undergraduate seminar, \\\"Debating Globalization\\\".As of 2009, former presidential candidate and DNC chairHoward Deanteaches a residential college seminar, \\\"Understanding Politics and Politicians\\\".Also in 2009, an alliance was formed among Yale,University College London, and both schools' affiliated hospital complexes to conduct research focused on the direct improvement of patient care—a field known astranslational medicine. President Richard Levin noted that Yale has hundreds of other partnerships across the world, but \\\"no existing collaboration matches the scale of the new partnership with UCL\\\".In August 2013, a new partnership with theNational University of Singaporeled to the opening ofYale-NUS Collegein Singapore, a joint effort to create a new liberal arts college in Asia featuring a curriculum including Western and Asian traditions. In 2017, having been suggested for decades,Yale University renamed Calhoun College, named forslave owner,anti-abolitionist, andwhite supremacistVice PresidentJohn C. Calhoun. It is now Hopper College, afterGrace Hopper. In 2020, in the wake of theGeorge Floyd protests, the #CancelYale tag was used on social media to demand that Elihu Yale's name be removed from Yale University. Much of the support originated from right-wing pundits such asMike CernovichandAnn Coulter, who intended to satirize what they perceived as the excesses ofcancel culture.Yale spent most of his professional career in the employ of theEast India Company(EIC), serving as thegovernorof thePresidency of Fort St. Georgein modern-dayChennai. The EIC, including Yale himself, was involved in theIndian Ocean slave trade, though the extent of Yale's involvement in slavery remains debated.His singularly large donation led critics to argue Yale University relied on money derived from slavery for its first scholarships and endowments. In 2020, the USJustice Departmentsued Yale for alleged discrimination against Asian and white candidates, through affirmative action admission policies.In 2021, under the new Biden administration, the Justice Department withdrew the lawsuit. The group,Students for Fair Admissions, later won a similarlawsuit against Harvard. In April 2024, Yale students joinedother campuses across the United Statesin protests against theIsrael–Hamas war.The student protestors demanded that Yale Universitydivest from companies with ties to Israel's war on Gaza.Protests continued during the summer and in the new academic year starting September 2024. Alumni in politics TheBoston Globewrote in 2002 that \\\"if there's one school that can lay claim to educating the nation's top national leaders over the past three decades, it's Yale\\\".Yale alumniwere represented on theDemocraticorRepublicanticket in every U.S. presidential election between 1972 and 2004.Yale-educated presidents since the end of theVietnam WarincludeGerald Ford,George H. W. Bush,Bill Clinton, andGeorge W. Bush, and major-party nominees includeHillary Clinton(2016),John Kerry(2004),Joseph Lieberman(vice president, 2000), andSargent Shriver(vice president, 1972). Other alumni who have made serious bids for the presidency includeAmy Klobuchar(2020),Tom Steyer(2020),Ben Carson(2016),Howard Dean(2004),Gary Hart(1984 and 1988),Paul Tsongas(1992),Pat Robertson(1988) andJerry Brown(1976, 1980, 1992). Several explanations have been offered for Yale's representation since the end of the Vietnam War. Sources note the spirit of campus activism that has existed at Yale since the 1960s, and the intellectual influence of ReverendWilliam Sloane Coffinon future candidates.Yale President Levin attributes the run to Yale's focus on creating \\\"a laboratory for future leaders\\\", an institutional priority that began during the tenure of Yale PresidentsAlfred Whitney GriswoldandKingman Brewster.Richard H. Brodhead, former dean of Yale College and now president ofDuke University, stated: \\\"We do give very significant attention to orientation to the community in our admissions, and there is a very strong tradition ofvolunteerismat Yale.\\\"Yale historianGaddis Smithnotes \\\"an ethos of organized activity\\\" at Yale during the 20th century that led Kerry to lead theYale Political Union's Liberal Party,George Patakithe Conservative Party, and Lieberman to manage theYale Daily News.Camille Pagliapoints to a history of networking and elitism: \\\"It has to do with a web of friendships and affiliations built up in school.\\\"CNN suggests that George W. Bush benefited from preferential admissions policies for the \\\"son and grandson of alumni\\\", and for a \\\"member of a politically influential family\\\".Elisabeth BumillerandJames Fallowscredit the culture of community that exists between students, faculty, and administration, which downplays self-interest and reinforces commitment to others. During the 1988 presidential election,George H. W. Bush(Yale '48) deridedMichael Dukakisfor having \\\"foreign-policy views born in Harvard Yard's boutique\\\". When challenged on the distinction between Dukakis's Harvard connection and his Yale background, he said that, unlike Harvard, Yale's reputation was \\\"so diffuse, there isn't a symbol, I don't think, in the Yale situation, any symbolism in it\\\" and said Yale did not share Harvard's reputation for \\\"liberalism and elitism\\\".In 2004Howard Deanstated, \\\"In some ways, I consider myself separate from the other three (Yale) candidates of 2004. Yale changed so much between the class of '68 and the class of '71. My class was the first class to have women in it; it was the first class to have a significant effort to recruit African Americans. It was an extraordinary time, and in that span of time is the change of an entire generation\\\". Administration and organization Leadership ThePresident and Fellows of Yale College, also known as the Yale Corporation, or board of trustees, is the governing body of the university and consists of thirteen standing committees with separate responsibilities outlined in the by-laws. The corporation has 19 members: threeex officiomembers, ten successor trustees, and six elected alumni fellows.The university has three major academic components: Yale College (the undergraduate program), the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the twelve professional schools. Yale's former presidentRichard C. Levinwas, at the time, one of the highest paid university presidents in the United States with a 2008 salary of $1.5 million.Yale's succeeding president Peter Salovey ranks 40th with a 2020 salary of $1.16 million. The Yale Provost's Office and similar executive positions have launched several women into prominent university executive positions. In 1977, ProvostHanna Holborn Graywas appointed interim president of Yale and later went on to become president of the University of Chicago, being the first woman to hold either position at each respective school.In 1994, ProvostJudith Rodinbecame the first permanent female president of an Ivy League institution at theUniversity of Pennsylvania.In 2002, ProvostAlison Richardbecame the vice-chancellor of theUniversity of Cambridge.In 2003, the dean of the Divinity School,Rebecca Chopp, was appointed president ofColgate Universityand later went on to serve as the president ofSwarthmore Collegein 2009, and then the first female chancellor of theUniversity of Denverin 2014.In 2004, ProvostDr. Susan Hockfieldbecame the president of theMassachusetts Institute of Technology.In 2004, Dean of the Nursing school, Catherine Gilliss, was appointed the dean of Duke University's School of Nursing and vice chancellor for nursing affairs.In 2007, Deputy ProvostH. Kim Bottomlywas named president ofWellesley College. Similar examples for men who have served in Yale leadership positions can also be found. In 2004, Dean of Yale CollegeRichard H. Brodheadwas appointed as the president ofDuke University.In 2008, ProvostAndrew Hamiltonwas confirmed to be the vice chancellor of the University of Oxford. Staff and labor unions Yale University staff are represented by several different unions. Clerical and technical workers are represented by Local 34, and service and maintenance workers are represented by Local 35, both of the same union affiliateUNITE HERE.Unlike similar institutions, Yale has consistently refused to recognize its graduate student union, Local 33 (another affiliate of UNITE HERE), citing claims that the union's elections were undemocratic and how graduate students are not employees;the move to not recognize the union has been criticized by theAmerican Federation of Teachers.In addition, officers of the Yale University Police Department are represented by the Yale Police Benevolent Association, which affiliated in 2005 with the Connecticut Organization for Public Safety Employees.Yale security officers joined the International Union of Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America in late 2010,even though the Yale administration contested the election.In October 2014, after deliberation,Yale security decided to form a new union, the Yale University Security Officers Association, which has since represented the campus security officers. Yale has a history of difficult and prolonged labor negotiations, often culminating in strikes.There have been at least eight strikes since 1968, andThe New York Timeswrote that Yale has a reputation as having the worst record of labor tension of any university in the U.S.Moreover, Yale has been accused by theAFL–CIOof failing to treat workers with respect,as well as not renewing contracts with professors over involvement in campus labor issues.Yale has responded to strikes with claims over mediocre union participation and the benefits of their contracts. Campus Yale's central campus indowntown New Havencovers 260 acres (1.1 km2) and comprises its main, historic campus and a medical campus adjacent to theYale–New Haven Hospital. In western New Haven, the university holds 500 acres (2.0 km2) of athletic facilities, including theYale Golf Course.In 2008, Yale purchased the 17-building, 136-acre (0.55 km2) formerBayer HealthCarecomplex inWest Haven, Connecticut,the buildings of which are now used as laboratory and research space.Yale also owns seven forests in Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire—the largest of which is the 7,840-acre (31.7 km2)Yale-Myers Forestin Connecticut'sQuiet Corner—and nature preserves includingHorse Island. Yale is noted for its largelyCollegiate Gothiccampusas well as several iconic modern buildings commonly discussed in architectural history survey courses:Louis Kahn's Yale Art Galleryand Center for British Art,Eero Saarinen's Ingalls Rink and Ezra Stiles and Morse Colleges, andPaul Rudolph'sArt & Architecture Building. Yale also owns and has restored many noteworthy 19th-century mansions alongHillhouse Avenue, which was considered the most beautiful street in America byCharles Dickenswhen he visited the United States in the 1840s.In 2011,Travel + Leisurelisted the Yale campus as one of the most beautiful in the United States. Many of Yale's buildings were constructed in theCollegiate Gothicarchitecture style from 1917 to 1931, financed largely byEdward S. Harkness, including theYale Drama School.Stone sculpture built into the walls of the buildings portray contemporary college personalities, such as a writer, an athlete, a tea-drinking socialite, and a student who has fallen asleep while reading. Similarly, the decorativefriezeson the buildings depict contemporary scenes, like a policemen chasing a robber and arresting a prostitute (on the wall of the Law School), or a student relaxing with a mug of beer and a cigarette. The architect,James Gamble Rogers, faux-aged these buildings by splashing the walls with acid,deliberately breaking theirleaded glasswindows and repairing them in the style of theMiddle Ages, and creating niches for decorative statuary but leaving them empty to simulate loss or theft over the ages. In fact, the buildings merely simulate Middle Ages architecture, for though they appear to be constructed of solid stone blocks in the authentic manner, most actually have steel framing as was commonly used in 1930. One exception isHarkness Tower, 216 feet (66 m) tall, which was originally a free-standing stone structure. It was reinforced in 1964 to allow the installation of theYale Memorial Carillon. Other examples of the Gothic style are on theOld Campusby architects likeHenry Austin,Charles C. HaightandRussell Sturgis. Several are associated with members of theVanderbilt family, including Vanderbilt Hall,Phelps Hall,St. Anthony Hall(a commission for memberFrederick William Vanderbilt), the Mason, Sloane and Osborn laboratories, dormitories for theSheffield Scientific School(the engineering and sciences school at Yale until 1956) and elements ofSilliman College, the largest residential college. The oldest building on campus,Connecticut Hall(built in 1750), is in theGeorgian style. Georgian-style buildings erected from 1929 to 1933 includeTimothy Dwight College,Pierson College, andDavenport College, except the latter's east, York Street façade, which was constructed in theGothic styleto coordinate with adjacent structures. TheBeinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, designed byGordon BunshaftofSkidmore, Owings & Merrill, is one of the largest buildings in the world reserved exclusively for the preservation of rare books and manuscripts. The library includes a six-story above-ground tower of book stacks, filled with 180,000 volumes, that is surrounded by large translucent Vermont marble panels and a steel and granite truss. The panels act as windows and subdue direct sunlight while also diffusing the light in warm hues throughout the interior.Near the library is a sunken courtyard with sculptures by Isamu Noguchi that are said to represent time (the pyramid), the sun (the circle), and chance (the cube).The library is located near the center of the university inHewitt Quadrangle, which is now more commonly referred to as \\\"Beinecke Plaza\\\". AlumnusEero Saarinen, Finnish-American architect of such notable structures as theGateway Archin St. Louis,Washington Dulles International Airportmain terminal,Bell Labs Holmdel Complexand theCBS Buildingin Manhattan, designedIngalls Rink, dedicated in 1959,as well as the residential colleges Ezra Stiles and Morse.These latter were modeled after the medievalItalian hill townofSan Gimignano– a prototype chosen for the town's pedestrian-friendly milieu and fortress-like stone towers.These tower forms at Yale act in counterpoint to the college's many Gothic spires and Georgian cupolas. The athletic field complex is partially in New Haven, and partially inWest Haven. Notable nonresidential campus buildings Notable nonresidential campus buildings and landmarks includeBattell Chapel,Beinecke Rare Book Library,Harkness Tower,Humanities Quadrangle,Ingalls Rink, Kline Biology Tower,Osborne Memorial Laboratories,Payne Whitney Gymnasium,Peabody Museum of Natural History, Sterling Hall of Medicine,Sterling Law Buildings,Sterling Memorial Library,Woolsey Hall,Yale Center for British Art,Yale University Art Gallery,Yale Art & Architecture Building, and thePaul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Artin London. Yale's secret society buildings (some of which are called \\\"tombs\\\") were built to be private yet unmistakable. A diversity of architectural styles is represented:Berzelius,Donn Barberin an austere cube with classical detailing (erected in 1908 or 1910);Book and Snake, Louis R. Metcalfe in aGreek Ionicstyle (erected in 1901);Elihu, architect unknown but built in aColonialstyle (constructed on an early 17th-century foundation although the building is from the 18th century);Mace and Chain, in a late colonial, earlyVictorian style(built in 1823). (Interior moulding is said to have belonged toBenedict Arnold);Manuscript Society,King-lui WuwithDan Kileyresponsible for landscaping andJosef Albersfor the brickwork intaglio mural. Building constructed in amid-century modernstyle;Scroll and Key,Richard Morris Huntin a Moorish- or Islamic-inspiredBeaux-Arts style(erected 1869–70);Skull and Bones, possiblyAlexander Jackson DavisorHenry Austinin anEgypto-Doric styleutilizingBrownstone(in 1856 the first wing was completed, in 1903 the second wing, 1911 theNeo-Gothictowers in rear garden were completed);St. Elmo, (former tomb)Kenneth M. Murchison, 1912, designs inspired by Elizabethan manor. Current location, brick colonial; andWolf's Head,Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, erected 1923–1924, Collegiate Gothic. Sustainability Yale's Office of Sustainability develops and implements sustainability practices at Yale.Yale is committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 10% below 1990 levels by 2020. As part of this commitment, the university allocates renewable energy credits to offset some of the energy used by residential colleges.Eleven campus buildings are candidates for LEED design and certification.Yale Sustainable Food Project initiated the introduction of local, organic vegetables, fruits, and beef to all residential college dining halls.Yale was listed as a Campus Sustainability Leader on the Sustainable Endowments Institute's College Sustainability Report Card 2008, and received a \\\"B+\\\" grade overall.Yale is a member of the Ivy Plus Sustainability Consortium, through which it has committed to best-practice sharing and the ongoing exchange of campus sustainability solutions along with other member institutions. Relationship with New Haven Yale is the largest taxpayer and employer in the City ofNew Haven,and has often buoyed the city's economy and communities. Yale, however, has consistently opposed paying a tax on its academic property.Yale'sArt Galleries, along with many other university resources, are free and openly accessible. Yale also funds theNew Haven Promiseprogram, paying full tuition for eligible students from New Haven public schools. Town–gown relations Yale has a complicated relationship with its home city; for example, thousands of students volunteer every year in myriad community organizations, but city officials, who decry Yale's exemption from local property taxes, have long pressed the university to do more to help. Under President Levin, Yale has financially supported many of New Haven's efforts to reinvigorate the city. Evidence suggests that thetown and gownrelationships are mutually beneficial. Still, the economic power of the university increased dramatically with its financial success amid a decline in the local economy. Campus safety Several campus safety strategies have been pioneered at Yale. The first campus police force was founded at Yale in 1894, when the university contracted city police officers to exclusively cover the campus.Later hired by the university, the officers were originally brought in to quell unrest between students and city residents and curb destructive student behavior.In addition to the Yale Police Department, a variety of safety services are available including blue phones, asafety escort, and 24-hour shuttle service. In the 1970s and 1980s,povertyandviolent crimerose in New Haven, dampening Yale's student and faculty recruiting efforts.Between 1990 and 2006, New Haven's crime rate fell by half, helped by acommunity policing strategyby theNew Haven Policeand Yale's campus became the safest among peer schools. In 2004, the national non-profit watchdog group Security on Campus filed a complaint with theU.S. Department of Education, accusing Yale of under-reporting rape and sexual assaults. In April 2021, Yale announced that it will require students to receive aCOVID-19 vaccineas a condition of being on campus during the fall 2021 term. Academics Admissions Undergraduate admission to Yale College is considered \\\"most selective\\\" byU.S. News.In 2022, Yale accepted 2,234 students to the Class of 2026 out of 50,015 applicants, for an acceptance rate of 4.46%.98% of students graduate within six years. Through its program of need-based financial aid, Yale commits to meet the full demonstrated financial need of all applicants, and the university isneed-blindfor both domestic and international applicants.Most financial aid is in the form of grants and scholarships that do not need to be paid back to the university, and the average need-based aid grant for the Class of 2017 was $46,395.15% of Yale College students are expected to have no parental contribution, and about 50% receive some form of financial aid.About 16% of the Class of 2013 had some form of student loan debt at graduation, with an average debt of $13,000 among borrowers.For 2019, Yale ranked second in enrollment of recipients of theNational Merit $2,500 Scholarship(140 scholars). Half of all Yale undergraduates are women, more than 39% areethnic minorityU.S. citizens (19% are underrepresented minorities), and 10.5% areinternational students.55% attended public schools and 45% attended private, religious, or international schools, and 97% of students were in the top 10% of their high school class.Every year, Yale College also admits a small group ofnon-traditional studentsthrough the Eli Whitney Students Program. Collections Yale University Library, which holds over 15 million volumes, is the third-largest university collection in the United States.The main library,Sterling Memorial Library, contains about 4 million volumes, and other holdings are dispersed at subject and location libraries. Rare books are found in several Yale collections. TheBeinecke Rare Book Libraryhas a large collection of rare books and manuscripts. TheHarvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Libraryincludes important historical medical texts, including an impressive collection of rare books, as well as historical medical instruments. TheLewis Walpole Librarycontains the largest collection of 18th‑century British literary works. TheElizabethan Club, technically a private organization, makes its Elizabethan folios and first editions available to qualified researchers through Yale. Yale's museum collections are also of international stature. TheYale University Art Gallery, the country's first university-affiliated art museum, contains more than 200,000 works, including Old Masters and important collections of modern art, in the Swartwout and Kahn buildings. The latter,Louis Kahn's first large-scale American work (1953), was renovated and reopened in December 2006. TheYale Center for British Art, the largest collection of British art outside of the UK, grew from a gift ofPaul Mellonand is housed in another Kahn-designed building. ThePeabody Museum of Natural Historyin New Haven is used by school children and contains research collections in anthropology, archaeology, and the natural environment. TheYale University Collection of Musical Instruments, affiliated with the Yale School of Music, is perhaps the least-known of Yale's collections because its hours of opening are restricted. The museums once housed the artifacts brought to the United States fromPeruby Yale history professorHiram Binghamin his Yale-financed expedition toMachu Picchuin 1912 – when the removal of such artifacts was legal. The artifacts were restored to Peru in 2012. Rankings TheU.S. News & World Reportranked Yale third among U.S. national universities for 2016,as it had for each of the previous sixteen years. Yale University isaccreditedby theNew England Commission of Higher Education. Internationally, Yale was ranked 11th in the 2016Academic Ranking of World Universities, tenth in the 2016–17 Nature Indexfor quality of scientific research output, and tenth in the 2016 CWUR World University Rankings.The university was also ranked sixth in the 2016 Times Higher Education (THE) Global University Employability Rankingsand eighth in the Academic World Reputation Rankings.In 2019, it ranked 27th among the universities around the world bySCImago Institutions Rankings. Faculty, research, and intellectual traditions Yale is a member of theAssociation of American Universities(AAU) and isclassifiedamong \\\"R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity\\\".TheNational Science Foundationranked Yale 15th among American universities for research and development expenditures in 2021 with $1.16 billion. Yale's current faculty include 67 members of theNational Academy of Sciences,55 members of theNational Academy of Medicine,8 members of theNational Academy of Engineering,and 187 members of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.The college is, after normalization for institution size, the tenth-largest baccalaureate source ofdoctoral degreerecipients in the United States, and the largest such source within the Ivy League.It also is a top 10 (ranked seventh) baccalaureate source (after normalization for the number of graduates) of some of the most notable scientists (Nobel,Fields,Turingprizes, or membership inNational Academy of Sciences,National Academy of Engineering, orNational Academy of Medicine). Yale's English and Comparative Literature departments were part of theNew Criticismmovement. Of the New Critics,Robert Penn Warren,W.K. Wimsatt, andCleanth Brookswere all Yale faculty. Later, the Yale Comparative literature department became a center of Americandeconstruction.Jacques Derrida, the father of deconstruction, taught at the department of comparative literature from the late 1970s to mid-1980s. Several other Yale faculty members were also associated with deconstruction, forming the so-called \\\"Yale School\\\". These includedPaul de Manwho taught in the Departments of Comparative Literature and French,J. Hillis Miller,Geoffrey Hartman(both taught in the Departments of English and Comparative Literature), andHarold Bloom(English), whose theoretical position was always somewhat specific, and who ultimately took a very different path from the rest of this group. Yale's history department has also originated important intellectual trends. HistoriansC. Vann WoodwardandDavid Brion Davisare credited with beginning in the 1960s and 1970s an important stream ofsouthernhistorians; likewise,David Montgomery, a labor historian, advised many of the current generation of labor historians in the country. Yale's Music School and department fostered the growth of Music Theory in the latter half of the 20th century. TheJournal of Music Theorywas founded there in 1957;Allen ForteandDavid Lewinwere influential teachers and scholars. Since the late 1960s, Yale produces social sciences and policy research through its Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS). In addition to eminent faculty members, Yale research relies heavily on the presence of roughly 1200Postdocsfrom various national and international origin working in the multiple laboratories in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and professional schools of the university. The university progressively recognized this working force with the recent creation of the Office for Postdoctoral Affairs and theYale Postdoctoral Association. Campus life Yale is a research university, with the majority of its students in thegraduateandprofessionalschools.Undergraduates, orYale Collegestudents, come from a variety of ethnic, national, socioeconomic, and personal backgrounds. Of the 2010–2011 freshman class, 10% are non‑U.S. citizens, while 54% went to public high schools.The median family income of Yale students is $192,600, with 57% of students coming from the top 10% highest-earning families and 16% from the bottom 60%. Residential colleges Yale'sresidential collegesystem was established in 1933 byEdward S. Harkness, who admired the social intimacy of Oxford and Cambridge and donated significant funds to found similarcollegesat Yale and Harvard. Though Yale's colleges resemble their English precursors organizationally and architecturally, they aredependent entitiesof Yale College and have limited autonomy. The colleges are led by a head and an academic dean, who reside in the college, and university faculty and affiliates constitute each college's fellowship. Colleges offer their own seminars, social events, and speaking engagements known as \\\"Master's Teas\\\", but do not contain programs of study or academic departments. All other undergraduate courses are taught by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and are open to members of any college. All undergraduates are members of a college, to which they are assigned before their freshman year, and 85 percent live in the college quadrangle or a college-affiliated dormitory.While the majority of upperclassman live in the colleges, most on-campus freshmen live on theOld Campus, the university's oldest precinct. While Harkness' original colleges wereGeorgian RevivalorCollegiate Gothicin style, two colleges constructed in the 1960s,MorseandEzra StilesColleges, have modernist designs. All twelve college quadrangles are organized around a courtyard, and each has a dining hall, courtyard, library, common room, and a range of student facilities. The twelve colleges are named for important alumni or significant places in university history. In 2017, the university opened two new colleges nearScience Hill. Calhoun College Since the 1960s,John C. Calhoun'swhite supremacistbeliefs and pro-slavery leadershiphad prompted calls to rename the college or remove its tributes to Calhoun. The racially motivatedchurch shootinginCharleston, South Carolina, led to renewed calls in the summer of 2015 forCalhoun College, one of 12 residential colleges at the time, to be renamed. In July 2015 students signed a petition calling for the name change.They argued in the petition that—while Calhoun was respected in the 19th century as an \\\"extraordinary American statesman\\\"—he was \\\"one of the most prolific defenders of slavery and white supremacy\\\" in the history of the United States.In August 2015, Yale President Peter Salovey addressed the Freshman Class of 2019 in which he responded to the racial tensions but explained why the college would not be renamed.He described Calhoun as \\\"a notable political theorist, a vice president to two different U.S. presidents, a secretary of war and of state, and a congressman and senator representing South Carolina\\\".He acknowledged that Calhoun also \\\"believed that the highest forms of civilization depend on involuntary servitude. Not only that, but he also believed that the races he thought to be inferior, black people in particular, ought to be subjected to it for the sake of their own best interests.\\\"Student activism about this issue increased in the fall of 2015, and included further protests sparked by controversy surrounding an administrator's comments on the potential positive and negative implications of students who wearHalloween costumesthat areculturally sensitive.Campus-wide discussions expanded to include critical discussion of the experiences of women of color on campus, and the realities of racism in undergraduate life.The protests were sensationalized by the media and led to the labelling of some students as being members ofGeneration Snowflake. In April 2016, Salovey announced that \\\"despite decades of vigorous alumni and student protests\\\", Calhoun's name will remain on the Yale residential collegeexplaining that it is preferable for Yale students to live in Calhoun's \\\"shadow\\\" so they will be \\\"better prepared to rise to the challenges of the present and the future\\\". He claimed that if they removed Calhoun's name, it would \\\"obscure\\\" his \\\"legacy of slavery rather than addressing it\\\".\\\"Yale is part of that history\\\" and \\\"We cannot erase American history, but we can confront it, teach it and learn from it.\\\" One change that will be issued is the title of \\\"master\\\" for faculty members who serve as residential college leaders will be renamed to \\\"head of college\\\" due to its connotation of slavery. Despite this apparently conclusive reasoning, Salovey announced that Calhoun College would be renamed for groundbreaking computer scientistGrace Hopperin February 2017.This renaming decision received a range of responses from Yale students and alumni.In his 2019 bookAssault on American Excellence, formerDean of Yale Law SchoolAnthony T. Kronmancriticized the title and name changes and the lack of support from Salovey forthe Christakises, who were targeted by the student activists. Other members of the university community disagreed with Kronman's positions. Student organizations In 2024, Yale had 526 registered undergraduate student organizations, plus hundreds of others for graduate students. The university hosts a variety of student journals, magazines, and newspapers. TheYale Literary Magazine, founded in February 1836, is the oldest student literary magazine in the United States.Established in 1872,The Yale Recordis the world's oldest collegehumor magazine. Newspapers include theYale Daily News, which was first published in 1878, and the weeklyYale Herald, which was first published in 1986. TheYale Journal of Medicine & Lawis a biannual magazine that explores the intersection oflaw and medicine. Dwight Hall, an independent, non-profit community service organization, oversees more than 2,000 Yale undergraduates working on more than 70 community service initiatives in New Haven. The Yale College Council runs several agencies that oversee campus wide activities and student services. TheYale Dramatic Associationand Bulldog Productions cater to the theater and film communities, respectively. In addition, the Yale Drama Coalitionserves to coordinate between and provide resources for the various Sudler Fund sponsored theater productions which run each weekend. WYBC Yale Radiois the campus's radio station, owned and operated by students. While students used to broadcast on AM and FM frequencies, they now have an Internet-only stream. TheYale College Council(YCC) serves as the campus's undergraduate student government. All registered student organizations are regulated and funded by a subsidiary organization of the YCC, known as the Undergraduate Organizations Funding Committee (UOFC).The Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) serves as Yale's graduate and professional student government. The Yale Political Union(YPU) is a debate society founded in 1934 to host student discussions on a wide variety of topics. It is advised by alumni political leaders such asJohn KerryandGeorge Pataki. TheYale International Relations Association(YIRA) functions as the umbrella organization for the university's top-ranked Model UN team. YIRA also has a Europe-based offshoot,Yale Model Government Europe, other Model UN conferences such as YMUN, YMUN Korea, YMUN Taiwan and Yale Model African Union (YMAU), and educational programs such as the Yale Review of International Studies (YRIS), Yale International Relations Leadership Institute, and Hemispheres. The campus includes severalfraternities and sororities. The campus features at least 18a cappellagroups, the most famous of which isThe Whiffenpoofs, which from its founding in 1909 until 2018 was made up solely of senior men. TheElizabethan Club, a social club, has a membership of undergraduates, graduates, faculty and staff with literary or artistic interests. Membership is by invitation. Members and their guests may enter the \\\"Lizzie's\\\" premises for conversation and tea. The club owns first editions of a Shakespeare Folio, several Shakespeare Quartos, and a first edition of Milton'sParadise Lost, among other important literary texts. Secret societies Yale'ssecret societiesincludeSkull and Bones,Scroll and Key,Wolf's Head,Book and Snake,Elihu,Berzelius,St. Elmo,Manuscript,Brothers in Unity,Linonia,St. Anthony Hall,Shabtai,Myth and Sword, Daughters of Sovereign Government (DSG),Mace and Chain, ISO,Spade and Grave, andSage and Chalice, among others. The two oldest existing honor societies are theAurelian(1910) and theTorch Honor Society(1916). These are akin toHarvard finals clubs,Princeton eating clubs, andsenior societies at University of Pennsylvania. Traditions Yale seniors at graduation smash clay pipes underfoot to symbolize passage from their \\\"bright college years\\\", though in recent history the pipes have been replaced with \\\"bubble pipes\\\".(\\\"Bright College Years\\\", the university's alma mater, was penned in 1881 byHenry Durand, Class of 1881, to the tune ofDie Wacht am Rhein.) Yale's student tour guides tell visitors that students consider it good luck to rub the toe of the statue ofTheodore Dwight Woolseyon Old Campus; however, actual students rarely do so.In the second half of the 20th centuryBladderball, a campus-wide game played with a large inflatable ball, became a popular tradition but was banned by administration due to safety concerns. In spite of administration opposition, students revived the game in 2009, 2011, and 2014. Athletics Yale supports 35 varsity athletic teams that compete in theIvy LeagueConference, theEastern College Athletic Conference, and theNew England Intercollegiate Sailing Association. Yale athletic teams compete intercollegiately at theNCAADivision I level. Like other members of the Ivy League, Yale does not offer athletic scholarships. Yale has numerous athletic facilities, including theYale Bowl(the nation's first natural \\\"bowl\\\" stadium, and prototype for such stadiums as theLos Angeles Memorial Coliseumand theRose Bowl), located at TheWalter CampField athletic complex, and thePayne Whitney Gymnasium, the second-largest indoor athletic complex in the world. In 1970, the NCAA banned Yale from participating in all NCAA sports for two years, in reaction to Yale – against the wishes of the NCAA – playing its Jewish centerJack Langerin college games after Langer had played for Team United States at the1969 Maccabiah Gamesin Israel with the approval of Yale PresidentKingman Brewster.The decision impacted 300 Yale students, every Yale student on its sports teams, over the next two years. In 2016, the men's basketball team won the Ivy League Championship title for the first time in 54 years, earning a spot in theNCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. In the first round of the tournament, the Bulldogs beat theBaylor Bears79–75 in the school's first-ever tournament win. In May 2018, the men's lacrosse team defeated theDuke Blue Devilsto claim their first-everNCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship,and were the first Ivy League school to win the title since thePrinceton Tigersin 2001. Yale crew is the oldest collegiate athletic team in America, and wonOlympic GamesGold Medalfor men's eights in 1924 and 1956. TheYale Corinthian Yacht Club, founded in 1881, is the oldest collegiatesailingclub in the world. October 21, 2000, marked the dedication of Yale's fourth new boathouse in 157 years of collegiate rowing. TheGilder Boathouseis named to honor former Olympic rower Virginia Gilder '79 and her fatherRichard Gilder'54, who gave $4 million towards the $7.5 million project. Yale also maintains theGales Ferrysite where the heavyweight men's team trains for theYale-Harvard Boat Race. In 1896, Yale andJohns Hopkinsplayed the first knownice hockeygame in the United States. Since 2006, the school's ice hockey clubs have played a commemorative game. Yale students claim to have inventedFrisbee, by tossing emptyFrisbie Pie Companytins. Yale athletics are supported by theYale Precision Marching Band. \\\"Precision\\\" is used here ironically; the band is a scatter-style band that runs wildly between formations rather than actually marching.The band attends every home football game and many away, as well as most hockey and basketball games throughout the winter. Yale intramural sports are also a significant aspect of student life. Students compete for their respective residential colleges, fostering a friendly rivalry. The year is divided into fall, winter, and spring seasons, each of which includes about 10 different sports. About half the sports are coeducational. At the end of the year, the residential college with the most points (not all sports count equally) wins the Tyng Cup. Song Notable among the songs commonly played and sung at events such ascommencement,convocation, alumni gatherings, and athletic games is the alma mater, \\\"Bright College Years\\\". Despite its popularity, \\\"Boola Boola\\\" is not the officialfight song, albeit being the origin of the university's unofficial motto. The official Yale fight song, \\\"Bulldog\\\" was written byCole Porterduring his undergraduate days and is sung after touchdowns during a football game.Additionally, two other songs, \\\"Down the Field\\\" by C.W. O'Conner, and \\\"Bingo Eli Yale\\\", also by Cole Porter, are still sung at football games. According toCollege Fight Songs: An Annotated Anthologypublished in 1998, \\\"Down the Field\\\" ranks as the fourth-greatest fight song of all time. Mascot The schoolmascotis \\\"Handsome Dan\\\", the Yalebulldog, and the Yale fight song contains the refrain, \\\"Bulldog, bulldog, bow wow wow.\\\" The school color, since 1894, isYale Blue.Yale's Handsome Dan is believed to be the first college mascot in America, having been established in 1889. Mental health Yale has faced significant criticism for its handling ofstudent mental healthon campus.Suicidal and depressed students say that Yale forced them to medically withdraw rather than provide them with academic accommodations under theAmericans with Disabilities Act, and in 2018 theRuderman Family Foundationranked Yale as having the worst mental health policies in the Ivy League. Dear Yale, I loved being here. I only wish I could've had some time. I needed time to work things out and to wait for new medication to kick in, but I couldn't do it in school, and I couldn't bear the thought of having to leave for a full year, or of leaving and never being readmitted. Love, Luchang. Luchang Wang, posted on Facebook in 2015 shortly before her death Students at Yale say that the university's policies force them to hide their depression and avoid seeking help, for fear of being forced to leave.One prominent case was the suicide of Luchang Wang in 2015, who died by suicide after making a Facebook post saying that she needed time to deal with her mental health issues, but could not deal with being forced to medically withdraw for an entire year with an uncertain chance of being readmitted.Wang had previously withdrawn from school due to mental health issues, and was afraid of being forced to withdraw again, as a second readmission attempt would be considerably more difficult for her.A friend of Wang said that she routinely lied to her university therapist to avoid being kicked out,and another student said that many at Yale lie to their counselors as \\\"there's no clear standard established that says exactly what students will get involuntarily hospitalized or withdrawn for\\\".In response, the university convened a commission to evaluate their readmission policies after a mental health withdrawal, renaming the process to \\\"reinstatement\\\" as well as eliminating the $50 reapplication fee. For students that do seek help, waitlists for therapy can be months long, with individual counselling sessions only 30 minutes in length.In 2022, after a Washington Post article about their medical withdrawal policies, the school increased the number of mental health clinicians on campus from 51 to 60 as well as promised further changes.In 2023, after a lawsuit was filed against the school for what the plaintiffs described as discrimination, the university changed the name of a \\\"medical withdrawal\\\" to a \\\"medical leave of absence\\\" saying that the \\\"leave of absence\\\" terminology would allow students to remain on Yale's insurance while away from the school.The new policy also allowed for students on a leave of absence to participate in extracurricular clubs and visit campus,something a student on medical withdrawal was banned from doing.A representative of Yale also said that the criticism of their policies \\\"misrepresents our efforts and unwavering commitment to supporting our students, whose well-being and success are our primary focus\\\" and that \\\"the mental health of our students is a very, very high priority\\\". After the death of undergraduate student Rachael Shaw Rosenbaum by suicide, an organization called Elis for Rachael was formed, advocating for mental health-related reforms. The group has sued Yale, demanding changes. Notable people Benefactors Yale has had many financial supporters, but some stand out by the magnitude or timeliness of their contributions. Among those who have made large donations commemorated at the university are:Elihu Yale,Jeremiah Dummer, theVanderbiltfamily, theHarknessfamily (Edward,Anna, andWilliam), theBeineckefamily (Edwin,Frederick, and Walter),John William Sterling,Payne Whitney,Joseph Earl Sheffield,Paul Mellon,Charles B. G. Murphy,Joseph Tsai,William K. Lanman, andStephen Schwarzman. The Yale Class of 1954, led byRichard Gilder, donated $70 million in commemoration of their 50th reunion.Charles B. Johnson, a 1954 graduate of Yale College, pledged a $250 million gift in 2013 to support the construction of two new residential colleges.The colleges have been named respectively in honor ofPauli MurrayandBenjamin Franklin. A $100 million contributionbyStephen Adamsenabled theYale School of Musicto become tuition-free and the Adams Center for Musical Arts to be built, while a $150 million contributionbyDavid Geffenenabled the Yale School of Drama (renamed theDavid Geffen School of Drama at Yale) to become tuition-free as well. Notable alumni Yale has produced many distinguished alumni in various fields, from the public to private sector. According to 2020 data, around 71% of undergraduates join the workforce, while 17% attend graduate or professional schools.Yale graduates have been recipients of 263Rhodes Scholarships,123Marshall Scholarships,67Truman Scholarships,21Churchill Scholarships,and 9Mitchell Scholarships.The university is the 2nd largest producer ofFulbright Scholars, with 1,244 in its historyand 89MacArthur Fellows.The U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs ranked Yale fifth among research institutions producing the most 2020–2021 Fulbright Scholars.31living billionairesare alumni. One of the most popular undergraduate majors is political science, with many going on to serve in government and politics.Former presidents who attended for undergrad includeWilliam Howard Taft,George H. W. Bush, andGeorge W. Bushwhile former presidentsGerald FordandBill Clintonattended Yale Law School.Former vice-president and influentialantebellum erapoliticianJohn C. Calhounalso graduated from Yale. Former world leaders include Italian prime ministerMario Monti,Turkish prime ministerTansu Çiller,South Korean prime ministerLee Hong-koo,Mexican presidentErnesto Zedillo,German presidentKarl Carstens,Philippine presidentJosé Paciano Laurel,Latvian presidentValdis Zatlers,Taiwanese premierJiang Yi-huah,and Malawian presidentPeter Mutharika,among others. Prominent royals who graduated areCrown Princess Victoria of Sweden,andOlympia Bonaparte, Princess Napoléon. Alumni have had considerable presence in U.S. government in all three branches. On theU.S. Supreme Court, 19 justices have been alumni, including currentAssociate JusticesSonia Sotomayor,Samuel Alito,Clarence Thomas,andBrett Kavanaugh.Alumni have beenU.S. Senators, including current senatorsMichael Bennet,Richard Blumenthal,Cory Booker,Sherrod Brown,Chris Coons,Amy Klobuchar,Sheldon Whitehouse,andJD Vance.Current and former cabinet members include Secretaries of StateJohn Kerry,Hillary Clinton,Cyrus Vance,andDean Acheson;U.S. Secretaries of the TreasuryOliver Wolcott,Robert Rubin,Nicholas F. Brady,Steven Mnuchin,andJanet Yellen;U.S. Attorneys GeneralNicholas Katzenbach,Edwin Meese,John Ashcroft,andEdward H. Levi;and many others. Peace Corps founder and American diplomatSargent Shriverand public official and urban plannerRobert Mosesare Yale alumni. Yale has produced numerous award-winning authors and influential writers,likeNobel Prize in LiteraturelaureateSinclair LewisandPulitzer PrizewinnersStephen Vincent Benét,Thornton Wilder,Doug Wright,andDavid McCullough.Academy Awardwinning actors, actresses, and directors includeJodie Foster,Paul Newman,Meryl Streep,Elia Kazan,George Roy Hill,Lupita Nyong'o,Oliver Stone,andFrances McDormand.Alumni from Yale have also made notable contributions to both music and the arts. Leading American composer from the 20th centuryCharles Ives,Broadway composerCole Porter,Grammy awardwinnerDavid Lang,multi-Tony Awardwinner Composer and MusicologistMaury Yeston,and award-winning jazz pianist and composerVijay Iyerall hail from Yale.Hugo Boss PrizewinnerMatthew Barney,famed American sculptorRichard Serra,President Barack Obama presidential portrait painterKehinde Wiley,MacArthur Fellowsand contemporary artistsTschabalala Self,Titus Kaphar,Richard Whitten, andSarah Sze,Pulitzer Prizewinning cartoonistGarry Trudeau,andNational Medal of Artsphotorealist painterChuck Closeall graduated from Yale. Additional alumni include architect andPresidential Medal of FreedomwinnerMaya Lin,Pritzker PrizewinnerNorman Foster,andGateway ArchdesignerEero Saarinen.Journalists and pundits includeDick Cavett,Chris Cuomo,Anderson Cooper,William F. Buckley Jr.,Blake Hounshell,andFareed Zakaria. In business, Yale has had numerous alumni and former students go on to become founders of influential business, likeWilliam Boeing(Boeing,United Airlines),Briton HaddenandHenry Luce(Time Magazine),Stephen A. Schwarzman(Blackstone Group),Frederick W. Smith(FedEx),Juan Trippe(Pan Am),Harold Stanley(Morgan Stanley),Bing Gordon(Electronic Arts), andBen Silbermann(Pinterest). Other business people from Yale include former chairman and CEO ofSears HoldingsEdward Lampert,formerTime WarnerpresidentJeffrey Bewkes,formerPepsiCochairperson and CEOIndra Nooyi,sports agentDonald Dell,and investor/philanthropist SirJohn Templeton, Alumni distinguished in academia include literary critic and historianHenry Louis Gates,economistsIrving Fischer,Mahbub ul Haq,and Nobel Prize laureatePaul Krugman;Nobel Prize in PhysicslaureatesErnest LawrenceandMurray Gell-Mann;Fields MedalistJohn G. Thompson;Human Genome Projectleader andNational Institutes of HealthdirectorFrancis S. Collins;brain surgery pioneerHarvey Cushing;pioneering computer scientistGrace Hopper;influential mathematician and chemistJosiah Willard Gibbs;National Women's Hall of Fameinductee and biochemistFlorence B. Seibert;Turing AwardrecipientRon Rivest;inventorsSamuel F.B. MorseandEli Whitney;Nobel Prize in ChemistrylaureateJohn B. Goodenough;lexicographerNoah Webster;and theologiansJonathan EdwardsandReinhold Niebuhr. In the sporting arena, alumni include baseball playersRon DarlingandCraig Breslowwho in the major leagues played with fellow Yale alumRyan Lavarnwayand baseball executivesTheo EpsteinandGeorge Weiss;football playersCalvin Hill,Gary Fenick,Amos Alonzo Stagg,and \\\"the Father of American Football\\\"Walter Camp;ice hockey playersChris Higginsand OlympianHelen Resor;Olympic figure skating championsSarah HughesandNathan Chen;nine-timeU.S. Squashmen's championJulian Illingworth;Olympic swimmerDon Schollander;Olympic rowersJosh WestandRusty Wailes;Olympic sailorStuart McNay;Olympic runnerFrank Shorter;and others. In fiction and popular culture Yale University is a cultural referent as an institution that produces some of the most elite members of societyand its grounds, alumni, and students have been prominently portrayed in fiction and U.S. popular culture. For example,Owen Johnson's novelStover at Yalefollows the college career of Dink Stover,andFrank Merriwell, the model for all later juvenile sports fiction, plays football, baseball, crew, and track at Yale while solving mysteries and righting wrongs.Yale University also is mentioned in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novelThe Great Gatsby. The narrator, Nick Carraway, wrote a series of editorials for theYale News, and Tom Buchanan was \\\"one of the most powerfulendsthat ever played football\\\" for Yale. Notes References Further reading External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Tim Allsop & Stewart Williams Tim AllsopandStewart Williamsare a British writing and directing duo. They met in 2005 working forElisabeth Murdoch’s production companyShine Limited. Their first joint work was aComedy LabforChannel 4starring Alex Zane which they wrote, produced, and directed. Since then they have written for a variety of comedy and entertainment shows for theBBC,ITVandChannel 4, as well directingmusic videosandcommercials– most recently for theGuitar Herobrand. In 2007 they began working on apilotfor Plus One in theComedy Showcasestrand for Channel 4 which they made with production companyKudos. They have also written episodes forThe Amazing World of Gumballand recently and written episodes forSpace Chickens in Space, as well as developed the bible forDisney EMEAfor the show as well. Tim Allsop is currently a producer onWho Is Americaand Stewart Williams recently wrote an episode ofFamalam. References External links This article about a writer or poet from the United Kingdom is astub. You can","is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.","Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Murdoch_(businesswoman","Vassar College Vassar College(/ˈvæsər/VASS-ər) is aprivateliberal arts collegeinPoughkeepsie,New York, United States. Founded in 1861 byMatthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college becamecoeducationalin 1969. The college offersBAdegrees in more than fifty majors. Vassar College's varsity sports teams, known as the Brewers, play in theNCAA'sDivision IIIas members of theLiberty League. Currently, there are close to 2,500 students. The college is one of the historicSeven Sisters. The Vassar campus comprises over 1,000 acres (400 ha) and more than 100 buildings. A designatedarboretum, the campus features more than 200 species of trees, a native plant preserve, and a 530-acre (210 ha)ecological preserve. History Vassar was founded as awomen's schoolunder the nameVassar Female Collegein 1861.Its first president was Milo P. Jewett, who had previously been first president of another women's school,Judson College;he led a staff of ten","led a staff of ten professors and twenty-one instructors.After one year, its founder,Matthew Vassar, had the wordFemaleremoved from the name, prompting some local residents ofPoughkeepsie, New York, to quip that its founder believed it might one day admit male students. The college becamecoeducationalin 1969. Vassar was the second of theSeven Sisterscolleges, higher education schools that were strictly for women, and historically sister institutions to the all-maleIvy Leaguecolleges. It was chartered by its namesake, brewerMatthew Vassar, in 1861 in theHudson Valley, about 70 miles (110 km) north ofNew York City. The first person appointed to the Vassar faculty wasastronomerMaria Mitchell, in 1865. Vassar adopted coeducation in 1969. Immediately followingWorld War II, Vassar accepted a small number of male students on theG.I. Bill.The formal decision to become co-ed came after its trustees declined an offer to merge withYale University, its sibling institution, in the wave of mergers between the historically","the historically all-male colleges of the Ivy League and their Seven Sisters counterparts. In its early years, Vassar was associated with the social elite of the Protestant establishment.E. Digby Baltzellwrites that \"upper-classWASPfamilies educated their children at colleges such asHarvard,Princeton,Yale, and Vassar.\"A select and elite few of Vassar's students were allowed entry into the school's secret society Delta Sigma Rho, founded in 1922.Before becoming President of the United States,Franklin Delano Rooseveltwas a Trustee. Approximately 2,450 students attend Vassar, and 98% live on campus.About 60% come from public high schools, and 40% come fromprivate schools(both independent and religious).Vassar is currently 56% women and 44% men, at national average for national liberal arts colleges.Students are taught by more than 336 faculty members, virtually all holding the doctorate degree or its equivalent.The student-faculty ratio is 8:1, average class size, 17. In recent freshman classes, students of","students of color constituted 32–38% of matriculants.International students from over 60 countries make up 8-10% of the student body.In May 2007, Vassar returned to aneed-blindadmissions policy without regard to a student's financial status. Vassar presidentCatharine Bond Hilldeparted in 2016. She was succeeded byElizabeth Howe Bradleyin 2017. The college was listed as a census-designated place (Vassar College CDP) in 2019. Presidents Campus The campus is inPoughkeepsie Town, adjacent toPoughkeepsie City.The area around the campus appeared as acensus-designated place(CDP) in the2020 U.S. Census,with a population of 2,472. Architecture Vassar's campus, also anarboretum,is 1,000 acres (400 ha) and has more than 100 buildings, ranging in style fromCollegiate GothictoInternational, with several buildings of architectural interest. At the center of campus standsMain Building, one of the best examples ofSecond Empire architecturein the United States. When it was opened, Main Building was the largest building in","largest building in the U.S. in terms of floor space. It formerly housed the entire college, including classrooms, dormitories, museum, library, and dining halls.The building was designed by Smithsonian architectJames Renwick Jr.and was completed in 1865. It was preceded on campus by the originalobservatory. Both buildings areNational Historic Landmarks.Rombout Housewas purchased by the college in 1915 and added to theNational Register of Historic Placesin 1982. Eero Saarinenmade designs for several Vassar dormitories, but only one, the Emma Hartman Noyes House, was completed in 1958. Built for roughly 160 students, it was the first part of a circular construction that was to be continued in \"Noyes II.\" The starkly modernist building's high cost and structural difficulties with the windows, however, led administrators to leave it at one.The dorm's common area is famous for its futuristic design; readings and concerts are held there regularly.The Noyes building was also the home of an all-female football","all-female football team, the Noyes Nymphs, who competed against Ivy League teams in the 1960s and 1970s. Libraries Vassar is home to one of the largest undergraduate library collections in the U.S. The library collection today – which actually encompasses eight libraries at Vassar – contains about 1 million volumes and 7,500 serial, periodical and newspaper titles, as well as an extensive collection of microfilm and microfiche, with special collections ofEllen Swallow Richards,Albert Einstein,Mary McCarthy, andElizabeth Bishop.Vassar has been a Federal Depository library for selected U.S. Government documents since 1943 and currently receives approximately 25% of the titles available through the Federal Depository Program. The interior and exterior of the Van Ingen Art Library was renovated from June 2008 – May 2009 in an effort to restore its original design and appearance. This was the library's first major renovation since its construction in 1937. Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center In November 2016, the","November 2016, the gallery opened the Hoene Hoy Photography gallery on the second floor, named after Anne Hoene Hoy from the class of 1963. Capital improvements In 2011, Vassar embarked on a $120 million project to improve science facilities at the college, centering on the construction of a newBridge for Laboratory Sciences. Housing The majority of students in their first three years live on campus in the nineresidence halls.Main House occupies the upper floors of Main Building, constructed at the college's founding.To accommodate a growing student body,Strong Housewas constructed in 1893.Strong was made all-women's housing after the college went coeducational in 1969; the house now also acceptsnonbinaryand othergender-nonconformingstudents.SimilarElizabethan-style houses—Raymond,Lathrop, andDavison—were built from 1897 to 1902 to form a residentialquadrangle.A nine-story Tudor-style dormitory,Jewett House, was constructed in 1907 on the north end of the quadrangle.The second largest dormitory,Josselyn","dormitory,Josselyn House, was built in 1912 to Jewett's east.Cushing Housewas constructed outside of the quadrangle in 1927.In a departure from the architecture of the other dormitories,Noyes Housewas built in 1958 in a distinct modernist style, curved around a largegreen. Most fourth-year students live in groups of four or five in on-campus apartments.Vassar has three apartment complexes: the Terrace Apartments, the Town Houses, and the South Commons.Acooperativehouse, Ferry House, opened in 1951 and houses 20 students.Vassar guarantees housing to all full-time students. As part of a master plan to renovate all the dormitories, Jewett, Davison, and Josselyn were renovated from 2002 to 2011.The college opted for minor improvements to the rest of the dorms due to cost. Vassar maintains housing for faculty;the current complex opened in 2023.The previous faculty housing facility,Williams House, was to be demolished after 2020.School-age dependents living on the Vassar faculty complex, as well as other areas in","as other areas in the Vassar College CDP, are within theArlington Central School District,which operatesArlington High School. Academics The most popular undergraduate majors, based on 2021 graduates, were: Admissions For the class of 2027 (enrolling fall 2023), Vassar received 12,145 applications and accepted 17.7%. The combined average SAT scores of those who opted to submit their testing data was 1489 and the ACT composite average was 33.The middle 50% ranges for the SAT were 1450-1530 and 33-35 for the ACT. Of the matriculants whose high schools provided rankings, 79% were in the top ten percent of their class.For the class of 2026 (enrolling fall 2022), Vassar received 11,412 applications and accepted 18.7%.For the class of 2025 (enrolling fall 2021), Vassar received 10,884 applications, a 25% increase over the previous year, and accepted 2,068 (19%).For the class of 2023 (enrolling fall 2019), Vassar received 8,961 applications and accepted 2,127 (23.7%), with 691 enrolling.For the class of 2025","the class of 2025 (enrolling fall 2021),the middle 50% range ofSATscores for enrolling freshmen was 710-760 for evidence-based reading and writing, 710-780 for math, and 1420-1540 for the composite.The middle 50%ACTscore range was 28-33 for math, 32-34 for English, and 32-34 for the composite. Students of color (including non-citizens) made up 45.5% of the incoming class;international students were 8.8% of enrolling freshmen. Rankings The 2025 edition ofU.S. News & World Report's \"Best Colleges\" ranked Vassar as tied for the 12th best liberal arts college in the U.S. out of 211 rated. In previous years the college was ranked byU.S. News & World Reportas high as tenth. In 2024,U.S. News & World Reportranked Vassar second for \"Best Colleges for Veterans\", 29th for \"Best Value\", 15th for \"Top Performers on Social Mobility\", and tied for 20th in \"Best Undergraduate Teaching\".It also ranked Vassar tied for fourth among top liberal arts colleges for economic diversity as measured by low-income students receiving","students receiving federalPell Grants. In its 2021 edition,Washington Monthlyranked Vassar 11th among 215 liberal arts colleges in the U.S. based on its contribution to the public good, as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service. In its 2020 edition,The Princeton Reviewrated Vassar first for \"Best Financial Aid\" of all colleges and universities in the United States.In its 2018 edition,The Princeton Reviewrated Vassar second best for financial aid and 41st best for \"best value\".In 2019,Forbesrated Vassar 27th among liberal arts colleges and 61st overall in its America's Top Colleges ranking, which includes 650 military academies, national universities, and liberal arts colleges.Kiplinger's Personal Financeplaces Vassar 11th in its 2019 ranking of the 149 best value liberal arts colleges in the United States.Moneymagazine ranked Vassar 145th in the country out of 739 schools evaluated for its 2020 \"Best Colleges for Your Money\" edition. In an article inThe Christian Science Monitor,","Science Monitor, Vassar president emeritusCatharine Bond Hillargued that rankings \"will always be limited in what they can tell consumers. Part of higher education's role about the rankings should be to remind students and their families that these are only one piece of information that they should take into account in deciding where to go to college. Intangibles will and should play a role in these decisions, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't also look at the tangibles\". Post-graduation outcomes Over half of Vassar graduates pursue advanced study within five years of graduation, including one-fifth immediately post-graduation.Of the seniors who applied to medical school in 2017, 76% were accepted; to law school, 96% were accepted. Student life Traditions Founder's Day is an annual campus festival at Vassar College that usually takes place in late April or early May. It started as a surprise birthday party for college founderMatthew Vassar's seventy-fourth birthday and evolved into an annual","into an annual celebration.Originally, Founder's Day was a spontaneous event consisting of lectures, but was soon replaced with plays, pageants, and more recreational activities. Circus and fair activities followed, with the eventual addition of the modern day music events over the course of two days. More recently themes have been added, includingAlice in Wonderland,Dinosaurs,Vintage 1800s Vassar,Nickelodeon,Nintendo, andCandyland.Recent artists at Founder's Day have includedThe Walkmen,Edan,DJ /rupture,Odd Nosdam,Jel,Toro y Moi,andOdesza. Extracurricular organizations Campus publications Radio station WVKR-FM, 91.3 FM, is the college's radio station, established in 1971. Student government In March 2016, in a 15–2 vote, the Vassar Student Association (VSA) passed a resolution calling for the support of theBoycott, Divestment and Sanctionsmovement and the boycott of Israel.In April 2016, the BDS resolution went to a school-wide referendum, where it was defeated 573–503. Athletics Vassar teams, known as the","teams, known as the Brewers, compete inDivision IIIof theNCAA, as a member of theLiberty League. The nickname originates from the college's founder and namesakeMatthew Vassar, whose family ran abreweryin Poughkeepsie and would later amass a sizable fortune in the industry. In 2008, the Vassar men's volleyball team made the school's first appearance in a national championship game, beatingUC Santa Cruz3–0 in the semifinal before falling to Springfield in the championship game. In 2007, the Vassar cycling team hosted the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Championship in Poughkeepsie and New Paltz, New York. The competition included a 100-mile (160 km) road race over the Shawangunk Mountains in New Paltz as well as a criterium in Poughkeepsie just blocks from the school's campus. In a controversial move, on November 5, 2009, the athletics department leaders decided the men's and women'srowingteam would transition over a two-year period from a varsity to a club sport as a cost-saving measure. In 1940, 1941 and 1942,","1941 and 1942, Vassar athletes won nationalintercollegiate women's tennis championshipseach year in both singles (Katharine Hubbell) and doubles (Hubbell, Carolyn \"Lonny\" Myers). In 2018, the Vassar women's rugby team won the school's first team national championship, beatingWinona State50–13 in the final of the USA Rugby Women's Division 2. Notable people Notable Vassar alumni include: Notable attendees who did not graduate from Vassar include: Notable Vassar faculty include: See also References Further reading External links","Yale University Yale Universityis aprivateIvy Leagueresearch universityinNew Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is thethird-oldest institutionofhigher education in the United States, and one of the ninecolonial collegeschartered before theAmerican Revolution. Yale was established as theCollegiate Schoolin 1701 byCongregationalistclergy of theConnecticut Colony. Originally restricted to instructing ministers in theology andsacred languages, the school's curriculum expanded, incorporating humanities and sciences by the time of theAmerican Revolution. In the 19th century, the college expanded into graduate and professional instruction, awarding the firstPhDin the United States in 1861 and organizing as a university in 1887. Yale's faculty and student populations grew rapidly after 1890 due to the expansion of the physical campus and its scientific research programs. Yale is organized into fourteen constituent schools, including the originalundergraduate college, theYale Graduate School of","Graduate School of Arts and SciencesandYale Law School.While the university is governed by theYale Corporation, each school'sfacultyoversees its curriculum and degree programs. In addition to a central campus indowntown New Haven, the university owns athletic facilities in western New Haven, a campus inWest Haven, and forests and nature preserves throughoutNew England. As of 2023,the university's endowmentwas valued at $40.7 billion, thethird largest of any educational institution.TheYale University Library, serving all constituent schools, holds more than 15 million volumes and is the third-largest academic library in the United States.Student athletes compete in intercollegiate sports as theYale Bulldogsin theNCAADivision IIvy Leagueconference. As of October 2020, 65Nobellaureates, 5Fields medalists, 4Abel Prizelaureates, and 3Turing Awardwinners have been affiliated with Yale University. In addition, Yale has graduated manynotable alumni, including 5U.S. presidents, 10Founding Fathers, 19U.S. Supreme","19U.S. Supreme Court Justices, 31living billionaires,54college founders and presidents, manyheads of state,cabinetmembers andgovernors. Hundreds ofmembers of Congressand manyU.S. diplomats, 78MacArthur Fellows, 263Rhodes Scholars, 123Marshall Scholars, 81Gates Cambridge Scholars, 102Guggenheim Fellowsand 9Mitchell Scholarshave been affiliated with the university. Yale's current faculty include 67 members of theNational Academy of Sciences,55 members of theNational Academy of Medicine,8 members of theNational Academy of Engineering,and 187 members of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences. History Early history of Yale College Origins Yale traces its beginnings to \"An Act for Liberty to Erect a Collegiate School\", a would-be charter passed inNew Havenby the General Court of theColony of Connecticuton October 9, 1701. The Act was an effort to create an institution to train ministers and lay leadership. Soon after, a group of tenCongregationalministers,Samuel Andrew, Thomas Buckingham, Israel Chauncy, Samuel","Chauncy, Samuel Mather (nephew ofIncrease Mather), Rev. James Noyes II (son ofJames Noyes),James Pierpont,Abraham Pierson,Noadiah Russell, Joseph Webb, andTimothy Woodbridge, allHarvardalumni, met in the study of ReverendSamuel Russell, inBranford, to donate books to form the school's library.The group, led byJames Pierpont, is now known as \"The Founders\". Known from its origin as the \"Collegiate School\", the institution opened in the home of its firstrector, Abraham Pierson, who is considered Yale's first president. Pierson lived inKillingworth. The school moved toSaybrookin 1703, when the first treasurer of Yale, Nathaniel Lynde, donated land and a building. In 1716, it moved to New Haven. Meanwhile, there was a rift forming at Harvard between its sixth president, Increase Mather, and the rest of the Harvard clergy, whom Mather viewed as increasingly liberal, ecclesiastically lax, and overly broad inChurch polity. The feud caused the Mathers to champion the Collegiate School in the hope it would maintain","it would maintain thePuritanreligious orthodoxy in a way Harvard had not.Rev.Jason Haven, minister at theFirst Church and Parish in Dedham, Massachusetts, had been considered for the presidency on account of his orthodox theology and \"Neatness dignity and purity of Style surpass those of all that have been mentioned\", but was passed over due to his \"very Valetudinary and infirm State of Health\". Naming and development In 1718, at the behest of either RectorSamuel Andrewor the colony's GovernorGurdon Saltonstall,Cotton Mathercontacted the Boston-born businessmanElihu Yaleto ask for money to construct a new building for the college. Through the persuasion ofJeremiah Dummer, Yale, who had made a fortune inMadraswhile working for theEast India Companyas the first president ofFort St. George, donated nine bales of goods, which were sold for more than £560, a substantial sum of money. Cotton Mather suggested the school change its name to \"Yale College\".The name Yale is the Anglicized spelling of theWelshnameIâl,","of theWelshnameIâl, which had been used for the family estate at Plas yn Iâl, nearLlandegla, Wales. Meanwhile, a Harvard graduate working in England convinced 180 prominent intellectuals to donate books to Yale. The 1714 shipment of 500 books represented the best of modern English literature, science, philosophy and theology.It had a profound effect on intellectuals at Yale. UndergraduateJonathan EdwardsdiscoveredJohn Locke's works and developed his \"new divinity\". In 1722 the rector and six friends, who had a study group to discuss the new ideas, announced they had given upCalvinism, becomeArminians, and joined theChurch of England. They were ordained in England and returned to the colonies as missionaries for theAnglicanfaith.Thomas Clappbecame president in 1745, and while he attempted to return the college to Calvinist orthodoxy, did not close the library. Other students foundDeistbooks in the library. Curriculum Yale College undergraduates follow aliberal artscurriculum with departmentalmajorsand is","is organized into a social system ofresidential colleges. Yale was swept up by the great intellectual movements of the period—theGreat AwakeningandEnlightenment—due to the religious and scientific interests of presidentsThomas ClapandEzra Stiles. They were instrumental in developing the scientific curriculum while dealing with wars, student tumults, graffiti, \"irrelevance\" of curricula, desperate need for endowment and disagreements with theConnecticut legislature. Serious American students of theology and divinity, particularly in New England, regardedHebrewas aclassical language, along with Greek andLatin, and essential for study of theOld Testamentin the original. Reverend Stiles, president from 1778 to 1795, brought with him his interest in Hebrew as a vehicle for studying ancientBiblical textsin their original language, requiring all freshmen to study Hebrew (in contrast to Harvard, where only upperclassmen were required to study it) and is responsible for the Hebrew phrase אורים ותמים (Urim and","ותמים (Urim and Thummim) on the Yale seal. A 1746 graduate of Yale, Stiles came to the college with experience in education, having played an integral role in foundingBrown University.Stiles' greatest challenge occurred in 1779 when British forces occupied New Haven and threatened to raze the college. However, Yale graduateEdmund Fanning, secretary to the British general in command of the occupation, intervened and the college was saved. In 1803, Fanning was granted an honorary degreeLL.D.. Students As the only college in Connecticut from 1701 to 1823, Yale educated the sons of the elite.Punishable offenses includedcardplaying, tavern-going, destruction of college property, and acts of disobedience. Harvard was distinctive for the stability and maturity of its tutor corps, while Yale had youth and zeal. The emphasis on classics gave rise to private student societies, open only by invitation, which arose as forums for discussions of scholarship, literature and politics. The first were debating","first were debating societies:Crotoniain 1738,Linoniain 1753 andBrothers in Unityin 1768. Linonia and Brothers in Unity continue to exist; commemorations to them can be found with names given to campus structures, like Brothers in Unity Courtyard in Branford College. 19th century TheYale Report of 1828was a dogmatic defense of the Latin and Greek curriculum against critics who wanted more courses in modern languages, math and science. Unlikehigher education in Europe, there was nonational curriculumfor US colleges and universities. In the competition for students and financial support, college leaders strove to keep current with demands for innovation. At the same time, they realized a significant portion of students and prospective students demanded a classical background. The report meant the classics would not be abandoned. During this period, institutions experimented with changes in the curriculum, often resulting in a dual-track curriculum. In the decentralized environment of US higher education,","higher education, balancing change with tradition was a common challenge.A group of professors at Yale and New Haven Congregationalist ministers articulated a conservative response to the changes brought byVictorian culture. They concentrated on developing a person possessed of religious values strong enough to sufficiently resist temptations from within, yet flexible enough to adjust to the 'isms' (professionalism,materialism,individualism, andconsumerism) tempting them from without.William Graham Sumner, professor from 1872 to 1909, taught in the emerging disciplines of economics and sociology to overflowing classrooms. Sumner bested PresidentNoah Porter, who disliked the social sciences and wanted Yale to lock into its traditions of classical education. Porter objected to Sumner's use of a textbook byHerbert Spencerthat espoused agnostic materialism because it might harm students. Until 1887, the legal name of the university was \"The President and Fellows of Yale College, in New Haven.\" In 1887, under an","In 1887, under an act passed by theConnecticut General Assembly, Yale was renamed \"Yale University\". Sports and debate The Revolutionary War soldierNathan Hale(Yale 1773) was the archetype of the Yale ideal in the early 19th century: a manly yet aristocratic scholar, well-versed in knowledge and sports, and a patriot who \"regretted\" that he \"had but one life to lose\" for his country. Western painterFrederic Remington(Yale 1900) was an artist whose heroes gloried in the combat and tests of strength in the Wild West. The fictional, turn-of-the-20th-century Yale manFrank Merriwellembodied this same heroic ideal without racial prejudice, and his fictional successor Dink Stover in the novelStover at Yale(1912) questioned the business mentality that had become prevalent at the school. Increasingly students turned to athletic stars as their heroes, especially since winning the big game became the goal of the student body, the alumni, and the team itself. Along withHarvardandPrinceton, Yale students rejected British","rejected British concepts about 'amateurism' and constructed athletic programs that were uniquely American.TheHarvard–Yale football rivalrybegan in 1875. Between 1892, when Harvard and Yale met in one of the firstintercollegiate debates,and in 1909 (year of the first Triangular Debate of Harvard/Yale/Princeton) the rhetoric, symbolism, and metaphors used in athletics were used to frame these debates. Debates were covered on front pages ofcollege newspapersand emphasized inyearbooks, and team members received the equivalent ofathletic lettersfor their jackets. There were rallies to send off teams to matches, but they never attained the broad appeal athletics enjoyed. One reason may be that debates do not have a clear winner, because scoring is subjective. With late 19th-century concerns about the impact of modern life on the body, athletics offered hope that neither the individual nor society was coming apart. In 1909–10, football faced a crisis resulting from the failure of the reforms of 1905–06, which","of 1905–06, which sought to solve the problem of serious injuries. There was a mood of alarm and mistrust, and, while the crisis was developing, the presidents of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton developed a project to reform the sport and forestall possible radical changes forced by government. PresidentsArthur Hadleyof Yale,A. Lawrence Lowellof Harvard, andWoodrow Wilsonof Princeton worked to develop moderate reforms to reduce injuries. Their attempts, however, were reduced by rebellion against the rules committee and formation of theIntercollegiate Athletic Association. While the big three had attempted to operate independently of the majority, the changes pushed did reduce injuries. Expansion Starting with the addition of theYale School of Medicinein 1810, the college expanded gradually, establishing theYale Divinity Schoolin 1822,Yale Law Schoolin 1822, theYale Graduate School of Arts and Sciencesin 1847, the now-defunctSheffield Scientific Schoolin 1847,and theYale School of Fine Artsin 1869. In 1887,","1869. In 1887, under the presidency ofTimothy Dwight V, Yale College was renamed to Yale University, and the former name was applied only to theundergraduate college. The university would continue to expand into the 20th and 21st centuries, adding theYale School of Musicin 1894, theYale School of Forestry & Environmental Studiesin 1900, theYale School of Public Healthin 1915, theYale School of Architecturein 1916, theYale School of Nursing1923, theYale School of Dramain 1955, theYale School of Managementin 1976, and theJackson School of Global Affairsin 2022.The Sheffield Scientific School would also reorganize its relationship with the university to teach only undergraduate courses. Expansion caused controversy about Yale's new roles.Noah Porter, a moral philosopher, was president from 1871 to 1886. During an age of expansion in higher education, Porter resisted the rise of the new research university, claiming an eager embrace of its ideals would corrupt undergraduate education. Historian George Levesque","George Levesque argues Porter was not a simple-minded reactionary, uncritically committed to tradition, but a principled and selective conservative.Levesque says he did not endorse everything old or reject everything new; rather, he sought to apply long-established ethical and pedagogical principles to a changing culture. Levesque concludes, noting he may have misunderstood some of the challenges, but he correctly anticipated the enduring tensions that have accompanied the emergence of the modern university. 20th century Medicine Milton Winternitz led theYale School of Medicineas its dean from 1920 to 1935. Dedicated to the new scientific medicine established in Germany, he was equally fervent about \"social medicine\" and the study of humans in their environment. He established the \"Yale System\" of teaching, with few lectures and fewer exams, and strengthened the full-time faculty system; he created the graduate-level Yale School of Nursing and the psychiatry department and built new buildings. Progress","buildings. Progress toward his plans for an Institute of Human Relations, envisioned as a refuge where social scientists would collaborate with biological scientists in a holistic study of humankind, lasted only a few years before resentful antisemitic colleagues drove him to resign. Faculty BeforeWorld War II, most elite university faculties counted among their numbers few, if any, Jews, blacks, women, or other minorities; Yale was no exception. By 1980, this condition had been altered dramatically, as numerous members of those groups held faculty positions.Almost all members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences—and some members of other faculties—teach undergraduate courses, more than 2,000 of which are offered annually. Women In 1793,Lucinda Footepassed the entrance exams for Yale College, but was rejected by the president on the basis of her gender.Women studied at Yale from 1892, in graduate-level programs at theYale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.The first seven women to earn PhDs received their","PhDs received their degrees in 1894:Elizabeth Deering Hanscom, Cornelia H. B. Rogers, Sara Bulkley Rogers,Margaretta Palmer,Mary Augusta Scott, Laura Johnson Wylie, andCharlotte Fitch Roberts. There is a portrait of them inSterling Memorial Library, painted byBrenda Zlamany. In 1966, Yale began discussions with itssister schoolVassar Collegeabout merging to foster coeducation at the undergraduate level. Vassar, then all-female and part of theSeven Sisters—elite higher education schools that served as sister institutions to theIvy Leaguewhen nearly all Ivy League institutions still only admitted men—tentatively accepted, but then declined the invitation. Both schools introduced coeducation independently in 1969.Amy Solomon was the first woman to register as a Yale undergraduate;she was the first woman at Yale to join an undergraduate society,St. Anthony Hall. The undergraduate class of 1973 was the first to have women starting from freshman year;all undergraduate women were housed in Vanderbilt Hall. A decade","Hall. A decade into co-education, student assault and harassment by faculty became the impetus for the trailblazing lawsuitAlexander v. Yale. In the 1970s, a group of students and a faculty member sued Yale for its failure to curtail sexual harassment, especially by male faculty. The case was partly built from a 1977 report authored by plaintiffAnn Olivarius, \"A report to the Yale Corporation from the Yale Undergraduate Women's Caucus.\"This case was the first to useTitle IXto argue and establish that sexual harassment of female students can be considered illegal sex discrimination. The plaintiffs were Olivarius, Ronni Alexander, Margery Reifler, Pamela Price,and Lisa E. Stone. They were joined by Yale classics professor John \"Jack\" J. Winkler. The lawsuit, brought partly byCatharine MacKinnon, alleged rape, fondling, and offers of higher grades for sex by faculty, includingKeith Brion, professor of flute and director of bands, political science professor Raymond Duvall,English professorMichael Cooke, and","Cooke, and coach of the field hockey team, Richard Kentwell. While unsuccessful in the courts, the legal reasoning changed the landscape of sex discrimination law and resulted in the establishment of Yale's Grievance Board and Women's Center.In 2011 a Title IX complaint was filed against Yale by students and graduates, including editors of Yale's feminist magazineBroad Recognition, alleging the university had a hostile sexual climate.In response, the university formed a Title IX steering committee to address complaints of sexual misconduct.Afterwards, universities and colleges throughout the US also established sexual harassment grievance procedures. Class Yale instituted policies in the early 20th century designed to maintain the proportion of white Protestants from notable families in the student body (seenumerus clausus) and eliminated such preferences, beginning with the class of 1970. 21st century In 2006, Yale andPeking University(PKU) established a Joint Undergraduate Program in Beijing, an exchange","an exchange program allowing Yale students to spend a semester living and studying with PKU honor students.In July 2012, the Yale University-PKU Program ended due to weak participation. In 2007 outgoing Yale PresidentRick Levincharacterized Yale's institutional priorities: \"First, among the nation's finest research universities, Yale is distinctively committed to excellence in undergraduate education. Second, in our graduate and professional schools, as well as in Yale College, we are committed to the education of leaders.\" In 2009, formerBritish Prime MinisterTony Blairpicked Yale as one location – the others being Britain'sDurham UniversityandUniversiti Teknologi Mara– for theTony Blair Faith Foundation's United States Faith and Globalization Initiative.As of 2009, former Mexican PresidentErnesto Zedillois the director of theYale Center for the Study of Globalizationand teaches an undergraduate seminar, \"Debating Globalization\".As of 2009, former presidential candidate and DNC chairHoward Deanteaches a","Deanteaches a residential college seminar, \"Understanding Politics and Politicians\".Also in 2009, an alliance was formed among Yale,University College London, and both schools' affiliated hospital complexes to conduct research focused on the direct improvement of patient care—a field known astranslational medicine. President Richard Levin noted that Yale has hundreds of other partnerships across the world, but \"no existing collaboration matches the scale of the new partnership with UCL\".In August 2013, a new partnership with theNational University of Singaporeled to the opening ofYale-NUS Collegein Singapore, a joint effort to create a new liberal arts college in Asia featuring a curriculum including Western and Asian traditions. In 2017, having been suggested for decades,Yale University renamed Calhoun College, named forslave owner,anti-abolitionist, andwhite supremacistVice PresidentJohn C. Calhoun. It is now Hopper College, afterGrace Hopper. In 2020, in the wake of theGeorge Floyd protests, the","Floyd protests, the #CancelYale tag was used on social media to demand that Elihu Yale's name be removed from Yale University. Much of the support originated from right-wing pundits such asMike CernovichandAnn Coulter, who intended to satirize what they perceived as the excesses ofcancel culture.Yale spent most of his professional career in the employ of theEast India Company(EIC), serving as thegovernorof thePresidency of Fort St. Georgein modern-dayChennai. The EIC, including Yale himself, was involved in theIndian Ocean slave trade, though the extent of Yale's involvement in slavery remains debated.His singularly large donation led critics to argue Yale University relied on money derived from slavery for its first scholarships and endowments. In 2020, the USJustice Departmentsued Yale for alleged discrimination against Asian and white candidates, through affirmative action admission policies.In 2021, under the new Biden administration, the Justice Department withdrew the lawsuit. The group,Students for","group,Students for Fair Admissions, later won a similarlawsuit against Harvard. In April 2024, Yale students joinedother campuses across the United Statesin protests against theIsrael–Hamas war.The student protestors demanded that Yale Universitydivest from companies with ties to Israel's war on Gaza.Protests continued during the summer and in the new academic year starting September 2024. Alumni in politics TheBoston Globewrote in 2002 that \"if there's one school that can lay claim to educating the nation's top national leaders over the past three decades, it's Yale\".Yale alumniwere represented on theDemocraticorRepublicanticket in every U.S. presidential election between 1972 and 2004.Yale-educated presidents since the end of theVietnam WarincludeGerald Ford,George H. W. Bush,Bill Clinton, andGeorge W. Bush, and major-party nominees includeHillary Clinton(2016),John Kerry(2004),Joseph Lieberman(vice president, 2000), andSargent Shriver(vice president, 1972). Other alumni who have made serious bids for the","bids for the presidency includeAmy Klobuchar(2020),Tom Steyer(2020),Ben Carson(2016),Howard Dean(2004),Gary Hart(1984 and 1988),Paul Tsongas(1992),Pat Robertson(1988) andJerry Brown(1976, 1980, 1992). Several explanations have been offered for Yale's representation since the end of the Vietnam War. Sources note the spirit of campus activism that has existed at Yale since the 1960s, and the intellectual influence of ReverendWilliam Sloane Coffinon future candidates.Yale President Levin attributes the run to Yale's focus on creating \"a laboratory for future leaders\", an institutional priority that began during the tenure of Yale PresidentsAlfred Whitney GriswoldandKingman Brewster.Richard H. Brodhead, former dean of Yale College and now president ofDuke University, stated: \"We do give very significant attention to orientation to the community in our admissions, and there is a very strong tradition ofvolunteerismat Yale.\"Yale historianGaddis Smithnotes \"an ethos of organized activity\" at Yale during the 20th","during the 20th century that led Kerry to lead theYale Political Union's Liberal Party,George Patakithe Conservative Party, and Lieberman to manage theYale Daily News.Camille Pagliapoints to a history of networking and elitism: \"It has to do with a web of friendships and affiliations built up in school.\"CNN suggests that George W. Bush benefited from preferential admissions policies for the \"son and grandson of alumni\", and for a \"member of a politically influential family\".Elisabeth BumillerandJames Fallowscredit the culture of community that exists between students, faculty, and administration, which downplays self-interest and reinforces commitment to others. During the 1988 presidential election,George H. W. Bush(Yale '48) deridedMichael Dukakisfor having \"foreign-policy views born in Harvard Yard's boutique\". When challenged on the distinction between Dukakis's Harvard connection and his Yale background, he said that, unlike Harvard, Yale's reputation was \"so diffuse, there isn't a symbol, I don't","a symbol, I don't think, in the Yale situation, any symbolism in it\" and said Yale did not share Harvard's reputation for \"liberalism and elitism\".In 2004Howard Deanstated, \"In some ways, I consider myself separate from the other three (Yale) candidates of 2004. Yale changed so much between the class of '68 and the class of '71. My class was the first class to have women in it; it was the first class to have a significant effort to recruit African Americans. It was an extraordinary time, and in that span of time is the change of an entire generation\". Administration and organization Leadership ThePresident and Fellows of Yale College, also known as the Yale Corporation, or board of trustees, is the governing body of the university and consists of thirteen standing committees with separate responsibilities outlined in the by-laws. The corporation has 19 members: threeex officiomembers, ten successor trustees, and six elected alumni fellows.The university has three major academic components: Yale College (the","Yale College (the undergraduate program), the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the twelve professional schools. Yale's former presidentRichard C. Levinwas, at the time, one of the highest paid university presidents in the United States with a 2008 salary of $1.5 million.Yale's succeeding president Peter Salovey ranks 40th with a 2020 salary of $1.16 million. The Yale Provost's Office and similar executive positions have launched several women into prominent university executive positions. In 1977, ProvostHanna Holborn Graywas appointed interim president of Yale and later went on to become president of the University of Chicago, being the first woman to hold either position at each respective school.In 1994, ProvostJudith Rodinbecame the first permanent female president of an Ivy League institution at theUniversity of Pennsylvania.In 2002, ProvostAlison Richardbecame the vice-chancellor of theUniversity of Cambridge.In 2003, the dean of the Divinity School,Rebecca Chopp, was appointed president","appointed president ofColgate Universityand later went on to serve as the president ofSwarthmore Collegein 2009, and then the first female chancellor of theUniversity of Denverin 2014.In 2004, ProvostDr. Susan Hockfieldbecame the president of theMassachusetts Institute of Technology.In 2004, Dean of the Nursing school, Catherine Gilliss, was appointed the dean of Duke University's School of Nursing and vice chancellor for nursing affairs.In 2007, Deputy ProvostH. Kim Bottomlywas named president ofWellesley College. Similar examples for men who have served in Yale leadership positions can also be found. In 2004, Dean of Yale CollegeRichard H. Brodheadwas appointed as the president ofDuke University.In 2008, ProvostAndrew Hamiltonwas confirmed to be the vice chancellor of the University of Oxford. Staff and labor unions Yale University staff are represented by several different unions. Clerical and technical workers are represented by Local 34, and service and maintenance workers are represented by Local 35,","by Local 35, both of the same union affiliateUNITE HERE.Unlike similar institutions, Yale has consistently refused to recognize its graduate student union, Local 33 (another affiliate of UNITE HERE), citing claims that the union's elections were undemocratic and how graduate students are not employees;the move to not recognize the union has been criticized by theAmerican Federation of Teachers.In addition, officers of the Yale University Police Department are represented by the Yale Police Benevolent Association, which affiliated in 2005 with the Connecticut Organization for Public Safety Employees.Yale security officers joined the International Union of Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America in late 2010,even though the Yale administration contested the election.In October 2014, after deliberation,Yale security decided to form a new union, the Yale University Security Officers Association, which has since represented the campus security officers. Yale has a history of difficult and prolonged","and prolonged labor negotiations, often culminating in strikes.There have been at least eight strikes since 1968, andThe New York Timeswrote that Yale has a reputation as having the worst record of labor tension of any university in the U.S.Moreover, Yale has been accused by theAFL–CIOof failing to treat workers with respect,as well as not renewing contracts with professors over involvement in campus labor issues.Yale has responded to strikes with claims over mediocre union participation and the benefits of their contracts. Campus Yale's central campus indowntown New Havencovers 260 acres (1.1 km2) and comprises its main, historic campus and a medical campus adjacent to theYale–New Haven Hospital. In western New Haven, the university holds 500 acres (2.0 km2) of athletic facilities, including theYale Golf Course.In 2008, Yale purchased the 17-building, 136-acre (0.55 km2) formerBayer HealthCarecomplex inWest Haven, Connecticut,the buildings of which are now used as laboratory and research space.Yale also","space.Yale also owns seven forests in Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire—the largest of which is the 7,840-acre (31.7 km2)Yale-Myers Forestin Connecticut'sQuiet Corner—and nature preserves includingHorse Island. Yale is noted for its largelyCollegiate Gothiccampusas well as several iconic modern buildings commonly discussed in architectural history survey courses:Louis Kahn's Yale Art Galleryand Center for British Art,Eero Saarinen's Ingalls Rink and Ezra Stiles and Morse Colleges, andPaul Rudolph'sArt & Architecture Building. Yale also owns and has restored many noteworthy 19th-century mansions alongHillhouse Avenue, which was considered the most beautiful street in America byCharles Dickenswhen he visited the United States in the 1840s.In 2011,Travel + Leisurelisted the Yale campus as one of the most beautiful in the United States. Many of Yale's buildings were constructed in theCollegiate Gothicarchitecture style from 1917 to 1931, financed largely byEdward S. Harkness, including theYale Drama","theYale Drama School.Stone sculpture built into the walls of the buildings portray contemporary college personalities, such as a writer, an athlete, a tea-drinking socialite, and a student who has fallen asleep while reading. Similarly, the decorativefriezeson the buildings depict contemporary scenes, like a policemen chasing a robber and arresting a prostitute (on the wall of the Law School), or a student relaxing with a mug of beer and a cigarette. The architect,James Gamble Rogers, faux-aged these buildings by splashing the walls with acid,deliberately breaking theirleaded glasswindows and repairing them in the style of theMiddle Ages, and creating niches for decorative statuary but leaving them empty to simulate loss or theft over the ages. In fact, the buildings merely simulate Middle Ages architecture, for though they appear to be constructed of solid stone blocks in the authentic manner, most actually have steel framing as was commonly used in 1930. One exception isHarkness Tower, 216 feet (66 m)","216 feet (66 m) tall, which was originally a free-standing stone structure. It was reinforced in 1964 to allow the installation of theYale Memorial Carillon. Other examples of the Gothic style are on theOld Campusby architects likeHenry Austin,Charles C. HaightandRussell Sturgis. Several are associated with members of theVanderbilt family, including Vanderbilt Hall,Phelps Hall,St. Anthony Hall(a commission for memberFrederick William Vanderbilt), the Mason, Sloane and Osborn laboratories, dormitories for theSheffield Scientific School(the engineering and sciences school at Yale until 1956) and elements ofSilliman College, the largest residential college. The oldest building on campus,Connecticut Hall(built in 1750), is in theGeorgian style. Georgian-style buildings erected from 1929 to 1933 includeTimothy Dwight College,Pierson College, andDavenport College, except the latter's east, York Street façade, which was constructed in theGothic styleto coordinate with adjacent structures. TheBeinecke Rare Book and","Rare Book and Manuscript Library, designed byGordon BunshaftofSkidmore, Owings & Merrill, is one of the largest buildings in the world reserved exclusively for the preservation of rare books and manuscripts. The library includes a six-story above-ground tower of book stacks, filled with 180,000 volumes, that is surrounded by large translucent Vermont marble panels and a steel and granite truss. The panels act as windows and subdue direct sunlight while also diffusing the light in warm hues throughout the interior.Near the library is a sunken courtyard with sculptures by Isamu Noguchi that are said to represent time (the pyramid), the sun (the circle), and chance (the cube).The library is located near the center of the university inHewitt Quadrangle, which is now more commonly referred to as \"Beinecke Plaza\". AlumnusEero Saarinen, Finnish-American architect of such notable structures as theGateway Archin St. Louis,Washington Dulles International Airportmain terminal,Bell Labs Holmdel Complexand theCBS","Complexand theCBS Buildingin Manhattan, designedIngalls Rink, dedicated in 1959,as well as the residential colleges Ezra Stiles and Morse.These latter were modeled after the medievalItalian hill townofSan Gimignano– a prototype chosen for the town's pedestrian-friendly milieu and fortress-like stone towers.These tower forms at Yale act in counterpoint to the college's many Gothic spires and Georgian cupolas. The athletic field complex is partially in New Haven, and partially inWest Haven. Notable nonresidential campus buildings Notable nonresidential campus buildings and landmarks includeBattell Chapel,Beinecke Rare Book Library,Harkness Tower,Humanities Quadrangle,Ingalls Rink, Kline Biology Tower,Osborne Memorial Laboratories,Payne Whitney Gymnasium,Peabody Museum of Natural History, Sterling Hall of Medicine,Sterling Law Buildings,Sterling Memorial Library,Woolsey Hall,Yale Center for British Art,Yale University Art Gallery,Yale Art & Architecture Building, and thePaul Mellon Centre for Studies in British","Studies in British Artin London. Yale's secret society buildings (some of which are called \"tombs\") were built to be private yet unmistakable. A diversity of architectural styles is represented:Berzelius,Donn Barberin an austere cube with classical detailing (erected in 1908 or 1910);Book and Snake, Louis R. Metcalfe in aGreek Ionicstyle (erected in 1901);Elihu, architect unknown but built in aColonialstyle (constructed on an early 17th-century foundation although the building is from the 18th century);Mace and Chain, in a late colonial, earlyVictorian style(built in 1823). (Interior moulding is said to have belonged toBenedict Arnold);Manuscript Society,King-lui WuwithDan Kileyresponsible for landscaping andJosef Albersfor the brickwork intaglio mural. Building constructed in amid-century modernstyle;Scroll and Key,Richard Morris Huntin a Moorish- or Islamic-inspiredBeaux-Arts style(erected 1869–70);Skull and Bones, possiblyAlexander Jackson DavisorHenry Austinin anEgypto-Doric styleutilizingBrownstone(in","1856 the first wing was completed, in 1903 the second wing, 1911 theNeo-Gothictowers in rear garden were completed);St. Elmo, (former tomb)Kenneth M. Murchison, 1912, designs inspired by Elizabethan manor. Current location, brick colonial; andWolf's Head,Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, erected 1923–1924, Collegiate Gothic. Sustainability Yale's Office of Sustainability develops and implements sustainability practices at Yale.Yale is committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 10% below 1990 levels by 2020. As part of this commitment, the university allocates renewable energy credits to offset some of the energy used by residential colleges.Eleven campus buildings are candidates for LEED design and certification.Yale Sustainable Food Project initiated the introduction of local, organic vegetables, fruits, and beef to all residential college dining halls.Yale was listed as a Campus Sustainability Leader on the Sustainable Endowments Institute's College Sustainability Report Card 2008, and received a \"B+\" grade","a \"B+\" grade overall.Yale is a member of the Ivy Plus Sustainability Consortium, through which it has committed to best-practice sharing and the ongoing exchange of campus sustainability solutions along with other member institutions. Relationship with New Haven Yale is the largest taxpayer and employer in the City ofNew Haven,and has often buoyed the city's economy and communities. Yale, however, has consistently opposed paying a tax on its academic property.Yale'sArt Galleries, along with many other university resources, are free and openly accessible. Yale also funds theNew Haven Promiseprogram, paying full tuition for eligible students from New Haven public schools. Town–gown relations Yale has a complicated relationship with its home city; for example, thousands of students volunteer every year in myriad community organizations, but city officials, who decry Yale's exemption from local property taxes, have long pressed the university to do more to help. Under President Levin, Yale has financially","has financially supported many of New Haven's efforts to reinvigorate the city. Evidence suggests that thetown and gownrelationships are mutually beneficial. Still, the economic power of the university increased dramatically with its financial success amid a decline in the local economy. Campus safety Several campus safety strategies have been pioneered at Yale. The first campus police force was founded at Yale in 1894, when the university contracted city police officers to exclusively cover the campus.Later hired by the university, the officers were originally brought in to quell unrest between students and city residents and curb destructive student behavior.In addition to the Yale Police Department, a variety of safety services are available including blue phones, asafety escort, and 24-hour shuttle service. In the 1970s and 1980s,povertyandviolent crimerose in New Haven, dampening Yale's student and faculty recruiting efforts.Between 1990 and 2006, New Haven's crime rate fell by half, helped by","by half, helped by acommunity policing strategyby theNew Haven Policeand Yale's campus became the safest among peer schools. In 2004, the national non-profit watchdog group Security on Campus filed a complaint with theU.S. Department of Education, accusing Yale of under-reporting rape and sexual assaults. In April 2021, Yale announced that it will require students to receive aCOVID-19 vaccineas a condition of being on campus during the fall 2021 term. Academics Admissions Undergraduate admission to Yale College is considered \"most selective\" byU.S. News.In 2022, Yale accepted 2,234 students to the Class of 2026 out of 50,015 applicants, for an acceptance rate of 4.46%.98% of students graduate within six years. Through its program of need-based financial aid, Yale commits to meet the full demonstrated financial need of all applicants, and the university isneed-blindfor both domestic and international applicants.Most financial aid is in the form of grants and scholarships that do not need to be paid back to","to be paid back to the university, and the average need-based aid grant for the Class of 2017 was $46,395.15% of Yale College students are expected to have no parental contribution, and about 50% receive some form of financial aid.About 16% of the Class of 2013 had some form of student loan debt at graduation, with an average debt of $13,000 among borrowers.For 2019, Yale ranked second in enrollment of recipients of theNational Merit $2,500 Scholarship(140 scholars). Half of all Yale undergraduates are women, more than 39% areethnic minorityU.S. citizens (19% are underrepresented minorities), and 10.5% areinternational students.55% attended public schools and 45% attended private, religious, or international schools, and 97% of students were in the top 10% of their high school class.Every year, Yale College also admits a small group ofnon-traditional studentsthrough the Eli Whitney Students Program. Collections Yale University Library, which holds over 15 million volumes, is the third-largest university","university collection in the United States.The main library,Sterling Memorial Library, contains about 4 million volumes, and other holdings are dispersed at subject and location libraries. Rare books are found in several Yale collections. TheBeinecke Rare Book Libraryhas a large collection of rare books and manuscripts. TheHarvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Libraryincludes important historical medical texts, including an impressive collection of rare books, as well as historical medical instruments. TheLewis Walpole Librarycontains the largest collection of 18th‑century British literary works. TheElizabethan Club, technically a private organization, makes its Elizabethan folios and first editions available to qualified researchers through Yale. Yale's museum collections are also of international stature. TheYale University Art Gallery, the country's first university-affiliated art museum, contains more than 200,000 works, including Old Masters and important collections of modern art, in the Swartwout","in the Swartwout and Kahn buildings. The latter,Louis Kahn's first large-scale American work (1953), was renovated and reopened in December 2006. TheYale Center for British Art, the largest collection of British art outside of the UK, grew from a gift ofPaul Mellonand is housed in another Kahn-designed building. ThePeabody Museum of Natural Historyin New Haven is used by school children and contains research collections in anthropology, archaeology, and the natural environment. TheYale University Collection of Musical Instruments, affiliated with the Yale School of Music, is perhaps the least-known of Yale's collections because its hours of opening are restricted. The museums once housed the artifacts brought to the United States fromPeruby Yale history professorHiram Binghamin his Yale-financed expedition toMachu Picchuin 1912 – when the removal of such artifacts was legal. The artifacts were restored to Peru in 2012. Rankings TheU.S. News & World Reportranked Yale third among U.S. national universities for","universities for 2016,as it had for each of the previous sixteen years. Yale University isaccreditedby theNew England Commission of Higher Education. Internationally, Yale was ranked 11th in the 2016Academic Ranking of World Universities, tenth in the 2016–17 Nature Indexfor quality of scientific research output, and tenth in the 2016 CWUR World University Rankings.The university was also ranked sixth in the 2016 Times Higher Education (THE) Global University Employability Rankingsand eighth in the Academic World Reputation Rankings.In 2019, it ranked 27th among the universities around the world bySCImago Institutions Rankings. Faculty, research, and intellectual traditions Yale is a member of theAssociation of American Universities(AAU) and isclassifiedamong \"R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity\".TheNational Science Foundationranked Yale 15th among American universities for research and development expenditures in 2021 with $1.16 billion. Yale's current faculty include 67 members of","67 members of theNational Academy of Sciences,55 members of theNational Academy of Medicine,8 members of theNational Academy of Engineering,and 187 members of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.The college is, after normalization for institution size, the tenth-largest baccalaureate source ofdoctoral degreerecipients in the United States, and the largest such source within the Ivy League.It also is a top 10 (ranked seventh) baccalaureate source (after normalization for the number of graduates) of some of the most notable scientists (Nobel,Fields,Turingprizes, or membership inNational Academy of Sciences,National Academy of Engineering, orNational Academy of Medicine). Yale's English and Comparative Literature departments were part of theNew Criticismmovement. Of the New Critics,Robert Penn Warren,W.K. Wimsatt, andCleanth Brookswere all Yale faculty. Later, the Yale Comparative literature department became a center of Americandeconstruction.Jacques Derrida, the father of deconstruction, taught at the","taught at the department of comparative literature from the late 1970s to mid-1980s. Several other Yale faculty members were also associated with deconstruction, forming the so-called \"Yale School\". These includedPaul de Manwho taught in the Departments of Comparative Literature and French,J. Hillis Miller,Geoffrey Hartman(both taught in the Departments of English and Comparative Literature), andHarold Bloom(English), whose theoretical position was always somewhat specific, and who ultimately took a very different path from the rest of this group. Yale's history department has also originated important intellectual trends. HistoriansC. Vann WoodwardandDavid Brion Davisare credited with beginning in the 1960s and 1970s an important stream ofsouthernhistorians; likewise,David Montgomery, a labor historian, advised many of the current generation of labor historians in the country. Yale's Music School and department fostered the growth of Music Theory in the latter half of the 20th century. TheJournal of Music","TheJournal of Music Theorywas founded there in 1957;Allen ForteandDavid Lewinwere influential teachers and scholars. Since the late 1960s, Yale produces social sciences and policy research through its Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS). In addition to eminent faculty members, Yale research relies heavily on the presence of roughly 1200Postdocsfrom various national and international origin working in the multiple laboratories in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and professional schools of the university. The university progressively recognized this working force with the recent creation of the Office for Postdoctoral Affairs and theYale Postdoctoral Association. Campus life Yale is a research university, with the majority of its students in thegraduateandprofessionalschools.Undergraduates, orYale Collegestudents, come from a variety of ethnic, national, socioeconomic, and personal backgrounds. Of the 2010–2011 freshman class, 10% are non‑U.S. citizens, while 54% went to public","54% went to public high schools.The median family income of Yale students is $192,600, with 57% of students coming from the top 10% highest-earning families and 16% from the bottom 60%. Residential colleges Yale'sresidential collegesystem was established in 1933 byEdward S. Harkness, who admired the social intimacy of Oxford and Cambridge and donated significant funds to found similarcollegesat Yale and Harvard. Though Yale's colleges resemble their English precursors organizationally and architecturally, they aredependent entitiesof Yale College and have limited autonomy. The colleges are led by a head and an academic dean, who reside in the college, and university faculty and affiliates constitute each college's fellowship. Colleges offer their own seminars, social events, and speaking engagements known as \"Master's Teas\", but do not contain programs of study or academic departments. All other undergraduate courses are taught by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and are open to members of any college. All","of any college. All undergraduates are members of a college, to which they are assigned before their freshman year, and 85 percent live in the college quadrangle or a college-affiliated dormitory.While the majority of upperclassman live in the colleges, most on-campus freshmen live on theOld Campus, the university's oldest precinct. While Harkness' original colleges wereGeorgian RevivalorCollegiate Gothicin style, two colleges constructed in the 1960s,MorseandEzra StilesColleges, have modernist designs. All twelve college quadrangles are organized around a courtyard, and each has a dining hall, courtyard, library, common room, and a range of student facilities. The twelve colleges are named for important alumni or significant places in university history. In 2017, the university opened two new colleges nearScience Hill. Calhoun College Since the 1960s,John C. Calhoun'swhite supremacistbeliefs and pro-slavery leadershiphad prompted calls to rename the college or remove its tributes to Calhoun. The racially","The racially motivatedchurch shootinginCharleston, South Carolina, led to renewed calls in the summer of 2015 forCalhoun College, one of 12 residential colleges at the time, to be renamed. In July 2015 students signed a petition calling for the name change.They argued in the petition that—while Calhoun was respected in the 19th century as an \"extraordinary American statesman\"—he was \"one of the most prolific defenders of slavery and white supremacy\" in the history of the United States.In August 2015, Yale President Peter Salovey addressed the Freshman Class of 2019 in which he responded to the racial tensions but explained why the college would not be renamed.He described Calhoun as \"a notable political theorist, a vice president to two different U.S. presidents, a secretary of war and of state, and a congressman and senator representing South Carolina\".He acknowledged that Calhoun also \"believed that the highest forms of civilization depend on involuntary servitude. Not only that, but he also believed that","also believed that the races he thought to be inferior, black people in particular, ought to be subjected to it for the sake of their own best interests.\"Student activism about this issue increased in the fall of 2015, and included further protests sparked by controversy surrounding an administrator's comments on the potential positive and negative implications of students who wearHalloween costumesthat areculturally sensitive.Campus-wide discussions expanded to include critical discussion of the experiences of women of color on campus, and the realities of racism in undergraduate life.The protests were sensationalized by the media and led to the labelling of some students as being members ofGeneration Snowflake. In April 2016, Salovey announced that \"despite decades of vigorous alumni and student protests\", Calhoun's name will remain on the Yale residential collegeexplaining that it is preferable for Yale students to live in Calhoun's \"shadow\" so they will be \"better prepared to rise to the challenges of","the challenges of the present and the future\". He claimed that if they removed Calhoun's name, it would \"obscure\" his \"legacy of slavery rather than addressing it\".\"Yale is part of that history\" and \"We cannot erase American history, but we can confront it, teach it and learn from it.\" One change that will be issued is the title of \"master\" for faculty members who serve as residential college leaders will be renamed to \"head of college\" due to its connotation of slavery. Despite this apparently conclusive reasoning, Salovey announced that Calhoun College would be renamed for groundbreaking computer scientistGrace Hopperin February 2017.This renaming decision received a range of responses from Yale students and alumni.In his 2019 bookAssault on American Excellence, formerDean of Yale Law SchoolAnthony T. Kronmancriticized the title and name changes and the lack of support from Salovey forthe Christakises, who were targeted by the student activists. Other members of the university community disagreed with","disagreed with Kronman's positions. Student organizations In 2024, Yale had 526 registered undergraduate student organizations, plus hundreds of others for graduate students. The university hosts a variety of student journals, magazines, and newspapers. TheYale Literary Magazine, founded in February 1836, is the oldest student literary magazine in the United States.Established in 1872,The Yale Recordis the world's oldest collegehumor magazine. Newspapers include theYale Daily News, which was first published in 1878, and the weeklyYale Herald, which was first published in 1986. TheYale Journal of Medicine & Lawis a biannual magazine that explores the intersection oflaw and medicine. Dwight Hall, an independent, non-profit community service organization, oversees more than 2,000 Yale undergraduates working on more than 70 community service initiatives in New Haven. The Yale College Council runs several agencies that oversee campus wide activities and student services. TheYale Dramatic Associationand Bulldog","Bulldog Productions cater to the theater and film communities, respectively. In addition, the Yale Drama Coalitionserves to coordinate between and provide resources for the various Sudler Fund sponsored theater productions which run each weekend. WYBC Yale Radiois the campus's radio station, owned and operated by students. While students used to broadcast on AM and FM frequencies, they now have an Internet-only stream. TheYale College Council(YCC) serves as the campus's undergraduate student government. All registered student organizations are regulated and funded by a subsidiary organization of the YCC, known as the Undergraduate Organizations Funding Committee (UOFC).The Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) serves as Yale's graduate and professional student government. The Yale Political Union(YPU) is a debate society founded in 1934 to host student discussions on a wide variety of topics. It is advised by alumni political leaders such asJohn KerryandGeorge Pataki. TheYale International","International Relations Association(YIRA) functions as the umbrella organization for the university's top-ranked Model UN team. YIRA also has a Europe-based offshoot,Yale Model Government Europe, other Model UN conferences such as YMUN, YMUN Korea, YMUN Taiwan and Yale Model African Union (YMAU), and educational programs such as the Yale Review of International Studies (YRIS), Yale International Relations Leadership Institute, and Hemispheres. The campus includes severalfraternities and sororities. The campus features at least 18a cappellagroups, the most famous of which isThe Whiffenpoofs, which from its founding in 1909 until 2018 was made up solely of senior men. TheElizabethan Club, a social club, has a membership of undergraduates, graduates, faculty and staff with literary or artistic interests. Membership is by invitation. Members and their guests may enter the \"Lizzie's\" premises for conversation and tea. The club owns first editions of a Shakespeare Folio, several Shakespeare Quartos, and a first","and a first edition of Milton'sParadise Lost, among other important literary texts. Secret societies Yale'ssecret societiesincludeSkull and Bones,Scroll and Key,Wolf's Head,Book and Snake,Elihu,Berzelius,St. Elmo,Manuscript,Brothers in Unity,Linonia,St. Anthony Hall,Shabtai,Myth and Sword, Daughters of Sovereign Government (DSG),Mace and Chain, ISO,Spade and Grave, andSage and Chalice, among others. The two oldest existing honor societies are theAurelian(1910) and theTorch Honor Society(1916). These are akin toHarvard finals clubs,Princeton eating clubs, andsenior societies at University of Pennsylvania. Traditions Yale seniors at graduation smash clay pipes underfoot to symbolize passage from their \"bright college years\", though in recent history the pipes have been replaced with \"bubble pipes\".(\"Bright College Years\", the university's alma mater, was penned in 1881 byHenry Durand, Class of 1881, to the tune ofDie Wacht am Rhein.) Yale's student tour guides tell visitors that students consider it good luck","it good luck to rub the toe of the statue ofTheodore Dwight Woolseyon Old Campus; however, actual students rarely do so.In the second half of the 20th centuryBladderball, a campus-wide game played with a large inflatable ball, became a popular tradition but was banned by administration due to safety concerns. In spite of administration opposition, students revived the game in 2009, 2011, and 2014. Athletics Yale supports 35 varsity athletic teams that compete in theIvy LeagueConference, theEastern College Athletic Conference, and theNew England Intercollegiate Sailing Association. Yale athletic teams compete intercollegiately at theNCAADivision I level. Like other members of the Ivy League, Yale does not offer athletic scholarships. Yale has numerous athletic facilities, including theYale Bowl(the nation's first natural \"bowl\" stadium, and prototype for such stadiums as theLos Angeles Memorial Coliseumand theRose Bowl), located at TheWalter CampField athletic complex, and thePayne Whitney Gymnasium, the","Gymnasium, the second-largest indoor athletic complex in the world. In 1970, the NCAA banned Yale from participating in all NCAA sports for two years, in reaction to Yale – against the wishes of the NCAA – playing its Jewish centerJack Langerin college games after Langer had played for Team United States at the1969 Maccabiah Gamesin Israel with the approval of Yale PresidentKingman Brewster.The decision impacted 300 Yale students, every Yale student on its sports teams, over the next two years. In 2016, the men's basketball team won the Ivy League Championship title for the first time in 54 years, earning a spot in theNCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. In the first round of the tournament, the Bulldogs beat theBaylor Bears79–75 in the school's first-ever tournament win. In May 2018, the men's lacrosse team defeated theDuke Blue Devilsto claim their first-everNCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship,and were the first Ivy League school to win the title since thePrinceton Tigersin 2001. Yale crew","2001. Yale crew is the oldest collegiate athletic team in America, and wonOlympic GamesGold Medalfor men's eights in 1924 and 1956. TheYale Corinthian Yacht Club, founded in 1881, is the oldest collegiatesailingclub in the world. October 21, 2000, marked the dedication of Yale's fourth new boathouse in 157 years of collegiate rowing. TheGilder Boathouseis named to honor former Olympic rower Virginia Gilder '79 and her fatherRichard Gilder'54, who gave $4 million towards the $7.5 million project. Yale also maintains theGales Ferrysite where the heavyweight men's team trains for theYale-Harvard Boat Race. In 1896, Yale andJohns Hopkinsplayed the first knownice hockeygame in the United States. Since 2006, the school's ice hockey clubs have played a commemorative game. Yale students claim to have inventedFrisbee, by tossing emptyFrisbie Pie Companytins. Yale athletics are supported by theYale Precision Marching Band. \"Precision\" is used here ironically; the band is a scatter-style band that runs wildly between","runs wildly between formations rather than actually marching.The band attends every home football game and many away, as well as most hockey and basketball games throughout the winter. Yale intramural sports are also a significant aspect of student life. Students compete for their respective residential colleges, fostering a friendly rivalry. The year is divided into fall, winter, and spring seasons, each of which includes about 10 different sports. About half the sports are coeducational. At the end of the year, the residential college with the most points (not all sports count equally) wins the Tyng Cup. Song Notable among the songs commonly played and sung at events such ascommencement,convocation, alumni gatherings, and athletic games is the alma mater, \"Bright College Years\". Despite its popularity, \"Boola Boola\" is not the officialfight song, albeit being the origin of the university's unofficial motto. The official Yale fight song, \"Bulldog\" was written byCole Porterduring his undergraduate days and","days and is sung after touchdowns during a football game.Additionally, two other songs, \"Down the Field\" by C.W. O'Conner, and \"Bingo Eli Yale\", also by Cole Porter, are still sung at football games. According toCollege Fight Songs: An Annotated Anthologypublished in 1998, \"Down the Field\" ranks as the fourth-greatest fight song of all time. Mascot The schoolmascotis \"Handsome Dan\", the Yalebulldog, and the Yale fight song contains the refrain, \"Bulldog, bulldog, bow wow wow.\" The school color, since 1894, isYale Blue.Yale's Handsome Dan is believed to be the first college mascot in America, having been established in 1889. Mental health Yale has faced significant criticism for its handling ofstudent mental healthon campus.Suicidal and depressed students say that Yale forced them to medically withdraw rather than provide them with academic accommodations under theAmericans with Disabilities Act, and in 2018 theRuderman Family Foundationranked Yale as having the worst mental health policies in the Ivy League.","in the Ivy League. Dear Yale, I loved being here. I only wish I could've had some time. I needed time to work things out and to wait for new medication to kick in, but I couldn't do it in school, and I couldn't bear the thought of having to leave for a full year, or of leaving and never being readmitted. Love, Luchang. Luchang Wang, posted on Facebook in 2015 shortly before her death Students at Yale say that the university's policies force them to hide their depression and avoid seeking help, for fear of being forced to leave.One prominent case was the suicide of Luchang Wang in 2015, who died by suicide after making a Facebook post saying that she needed time to deal with her mental health issues, but could not deal with being forced to medically withdraw for an entire year with an uncertain chance of being readmitted.Wang had previously withdrawn from school due to mental health issues, and was afraid of being forced to withdraw again, as a second readmission attempt would be considerably more difficult","more difficult for her.A friend of Wang said that she routinely lied to her university therapist to avoid being kicked out,and another student said that many at Yale lie to their counselors as \"there's no clear standard established that says exactly what students will get involuntarily hospitalized or withdrawn for\".In response, the university convened a commission to evaluate their readmission policies after a mental health withdrawal, renaming the process to \"reinstatement\" as well as eliminating the $50 reapplication fee. For students that do seek help, waitlists for therapy can be months long, with individual counselling sessions only 30 minutes in length.In 2022, after a Washington Post article about their medical withdrawal policies, the school increased the number of mental health clinicians on campus from 51 to 60 as well as promised further changes.In 2023, after a lawsuit was filed against the school for what the plaintiffs described as discrimination, the university changed the name of a \"medical","name of a \"medical withdrawal\" to a \"medical leave of absence\" saying that the \"leave of absence\" terminology would allow students to remain on Yale's insurance while away from the school.The new policy also allowed for students on a leave of absence to participate in extracurricular clubs and visit campus,something a student on medical withdrawal was banned from doing.A representative of Yale also said that the criticism of their policies \"misrepresents our efforts and unwavering commitment to supporting our students, whose well-being and success are our primary focus\" and that \"the mental health of our students is a very, very high priority\". After the death of undergraduate student Rachael Shaw Rosenbaum by suicide, an organization called Elis for Rachael was formed, advocating for mental health-related reforms. The group has sued Yale, demanding changes. Notable people Benefactors Yale has had many financial supporters, but some stand out by the magnitude or timeliness of their contributions. Among those","Among those who have made large donations commemorated at the university are:Elihu Yale,Jeremiah Dummer, theVanderbiltfamily, theHarknessfamily (Edward,Anna, andWilliam), theBeineckefamily (Edwin,Frederick, and Walter),John William Sterling,Payne Whitney,Joseph Earl Sheffield,Paul Mellon,Charles B. G. Murphy,Joseph Tsai,William K. Lanman, andStephen Schwarzman. The Yale Class of 1954, led byRichard Gilder, donated $70 million in commemoration of their 50th reunion.Charles B. Johnson, a 1954 graduate of Yale College, pledged a $250 million gift in 2013 to support the construction of two new residential colleges.The colleges have been named respectively in honor ofPauli MurrayandBenjamin Franklin. A $100 million contributionbyStephen Adamsenabled theYale School of Musicto become tuition-free and the Adams Center for Musical Arts to be built, while a $150 million contributionbyDavid Geffenenabled the Yale School of Drama (renamed theDavid Geffen School of Drama at Yale) to become tuition-free as well. Notable","as well. Notable alumni Yale has produced many distinguished alumni in various fields, from the public to private sector. According to 2020 data, around 71% of undergraduates join the workforce, while 17% attend graduate or professional schools.Yale graduates have been recipients of 263Rhodes Scholarships,123Marshall Scholarships,67Truman Scholarships,21Churchill Scholarships,and 9Mitchell Scholarships.The university is the 2nd largest producer ofFulbright Scholars, with 1,244 in its historyand 89MacArthur Fellows.The U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs ranked Yale fifth among research institutions producing the most 2020–2021 Fulbright Scholars.31living billionairesare alumni. One of the most popular undergraduate majors is political science, with many going on to serve in government and politics.Former presidents who attended for undergrad includeWilliam Howard Taft,George H. W. Bush, andGeorge W. Bushwhile former presidentsGerald FordandBill Clintonattended Yale Law","Yale Law School.Former vice-president and influentialantebellum erapoliticianJohn C. Calhounalso graduated from Yale. Former world leaders include Italian prime ministerMario Monti,Turkish prime ministerTansu Çiller,South Korean prime ministerLee Hong-koo,Mexican presidentErnesto Zedillo,German presidentKarl Carstens,Philippine presidentJosé Paciano Laurel,Latvian presidentValdis Zatlers,Taiwanese premierJiang Yi-huah,and Malawian presidentPeter Mutharika,among others. Prominent royals who graduated areCrown Princess Victoria of Sweden,andOlympia Bonaparte, Princess Napoléon. Alumni have had considerable presence in U.S. government in all three branches. On theU.S. Supreme Court, 19 justices have been alumni, including currentAssociate JusticesSonia Sotomayor,Samuel Alito,Clarence Thomas,andBrett Kavanaugh.Alumni have beenU.S. Senators, including current senatorsMichael Bennet,Richard Blumenthal,Cory Booker,Sherrod Brown,Chris Coons,Amy Klobuchar,Sheldon Whitehouse,andJD Vance.Current and former cabinet","and former cabinet members include Secretaries of StateJohn Kerry,Hillary Clinton,Cyrus Vance,andDean Acheson;U.S. Secretaries of the TreasuryOliver Wolcott,Robert Rubin,Nicholas F. Brady,Steven Mnuchin,andJanet Yellen;U.S. Attorneys GeneralNicholas Katzenbach,Edwin Meese,John Ashcroft,andEdward H. Levi;and many others. Peace Corps founder and American diplomatSargent Shriverand public official and urban plannerRobert Mosesare Yale alumni. Yale has produced numerous award-winning authors and influential writers,likeNobel Prize in LiteraturelaureateSinclair LewisandPulitzer PrizewinnersStephen Vincent Benét,Thornton Wilder,Doug Wright,andDavid McCullough.Academy Awardwinning actors, actresses, and directors includeJodie Foster,Paul Newman,Meryl Streep,Elia Kazan,George Roy Hill,Lupita Nyong'o,Oliver Stone,andFrances McDormand.Alumni from Yale have also made notable contributions to both music and the arts. Leading American composer from the 20th centuryCharles Ives,Broadway composerCole Porter,Grammy","Porter,Grammy awardwinnerDavid Lang,multi-Tony Awardwinner Composer and MusicologistMaury Yeston,and award-winning jazz pianist and composerVijay Iyerall hail from Yale.Hugo Boss PrizewinnerMatthew Barney,famed American sculptorRichard Serra,President Barack Obama presidential portrait painterKehinde Wiley,MacArthur Fellowsand contemporary artistsTschabalala Self,Titus Kaphar,Richard Whitten, andSarah Sze,Pulitzer Prizewinning cartoonistGarry Trudeau,andNational Medal of Artsphotorealist painterChuck Closeall graduated from Yale. Additional alumni include architect andPresidential Medal of FreedomwinnerMaya Lin,Pritzker PrizewinnerNorman Foster,andGateway ArchdesignerEero Saarinen.Journalists and pundits includeDick Cavett,Chris Cuomo,Anderson Cooper,William F. Buckley Jr.,Blake Hounshell,andFareed Zakaria. In business, Yale has had numerous alumni and former students go on to become founders of influential business, likeWilliam Boeing(Boeing,United Airlines),Briton HaddenandHenry Luce(Time Magazine),Stephen","Magazine),Stephen A. Schwarzman(Blackstone Group),Frederick W. Smith(FedEx),Juan Trippe(Pan Am),Harold Stanley(Morgan Stanley),Bing Gordon(Electronic Arts), andBen Silbermann(Pinterest). Other business people from Yale include former chairman and CEO ofSears HoldingsEdward Lampert,formerTime WarnerpresidentJeffrey Bewkes,formerPepsiCochairperson and CEOIndra Nooyi,sports agentDonald Dell,and investor/philanthropist SirJohn Templeton, Alumni distinguished in academia include literary critic and historianHenry Louis Gates,economistsIrving Fischer,Mahbub ul Haq,and Nobel Prize laureatePaul Krugman;Nobel Prize in PhysicslaureatesErnest LawrenceandMurray Gell-Mann;Fields MedalistJohn G. Thompson;Human Genome Projectleader andNational Institutes of HealthdirectorFrancis S. Collins;brain surgery pioneerHarvey Cushing;pioneering computer scientistGrace Hopper;influential mathematician and chemistJosiah Willard Gibbs;National Women's Hall of Fameinductee and biochemistFlorence B. Seibert;Turing AwardrecipientRon","AwardrecipientRon Rivest;inventorsSamuel F.B. MorseandEli Whitney;Nobel Prize in ChemistrylaureateJohn B. Goodenough;lexicographerNoah Webster;and theologiansJonathan EdwardsandReinhold Niebuhr. In the sporting arena, alumni include baseball playersRon DarlingandCraig Breslowwho in the major leagues played with fellow Yale alumRyan Lavarnwayand baseball executivesTheo EpsteinandGeorge Weiss;football playersCalvin Hill,Gary Fenick,Amos Alonzo Stagg,and \"the Father of American Football\"Walter Camp;ice hockey playersChris Higginsand OlympianHelen Resor;Olympic figure skating championsSarah HughesandNathan Chen;nine-timeU.S. Squashmen's championJulian Illingworth;Olympic swimmerDon Schollander;Olympic rowersJosh WestandRusty Wailes;Olympic sailorStuart McNay;Olympic runnerFrank Shorter;and others. In fiction and popular culture Yale University is a cultural referent as an institution that produces some of the most elite members of societyand its grounds, alumni, and students have been prominently portrayed in","portrayed in fiction and U.S. popular culture. For example,Owen Johnson's novelStover at Yalefollows the college career of Dink Stover,andFrank Merriwell, the model for all later juvenile sports fiction, plays football, baseball, crew, and track at Yale while solving mysteries and righting wrongs.Yale University also is mentioned in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novelThe Great Gatsby. The narrator, Nick Carraway, wrote a series of editorials for theYale News, and Tom Buchanan was \"one of the most powerfulendsthat ever played football\" for Yale. Notes References Further reading External links"],"string":"[\n \"Tim Allsop & Stewart Williams Tim AllsopandStewart Williamsare a British writing and directing duo. They met in 2005 working forElisabeth Murdoch’s production companyShine Limited. Their first joint work was aComedy LabforChannel 4starring Alex Zane which they wrote, produced, and directed. Since then they have written for a variety of comedy and entertainment shows for theBBC,ITVandChannel 4, as well directingmusic videosandcommercials– most recently for theGuitar Herobrand. In 2007 they began working on apilotfor Plus One in theComedy Showcasestrand for Channel 4 which they made with production companyKudos. They have also written episodes forThe Amazing World of Gumballand recently and written episodes forSpace Chickens in Space, as well as developed the bible forDisney EMEAfor the show as well. Tim Allsop is currently a producer onWho Is Americaand Stewart Williams recently wrote an episode ofFamalam. References External links This article about a writer or poet from the United Kingdom is astub. You can\",\n \"is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.\",\n \"Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Murdoch_(businesswoman\",\n \"Vassar College Vassar College(/ˈvæsər/VASS-ər) is aprivateliberal arts collegeinPoughkeepsie,New York, United States. Founded in 1861 byMatthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college becamecoeducationalin 1969. The college offersBAdegrees in more than fifty majors. Vassar College's varsity sports teams, known as the Brewers, play in theNCAA'sDivision IIIas members of theLiberty League. Currently, there are close to 2,500 students. The college is one of the historicSeven Sisters. The Vassar campus comprises over 1,000 acres (400 ha) and more than 100 buildings. A designatedarboretum, the campus features more than 200 species of trees, a native plant preserve, and a 530-acre (210 ha)ecological preserve. History Vassar was founded as awomen's schoolunder the nameVassar Female Collegein 1861.Its first president was Milo P. Jewett, who had previously been first president of another women's school,Judson College;he led a staff of ten\",\n \"led a staff of ten professors and twenty-one instructors.After one year, its founder,Matthew Vassar, had the wordFemaleremoved from the name, prompting some local residents ofPoughkeepsie, New York, to quip that its founder believed it might one day admit male students. The college becamecoeducationalin 1969. Vassar was the second of theSeven Sisterscolleges, higher education schools that were strictly for women, and historically sister institutions to the all-maleIvy Leaguecolleges. It was chartered by its namesake, brewerMatthew Vassar, in 1861 in theHudson Valley, about 70 miles (110 km) north ofNew York City. The first person appointed to the Vassar faculty wasastronomerMaria Mitchell, in 1865. Vassar adopted coeducation in 1969. Immediately followingWorld War II, Vassar accepted a small number of male students on theG.I. Bill.The formal decision to become co-ed came after its trustees declined an offer to merge withYale University, its sibling institution, in the wave of mergers between the historically\",\n \"the historically all-male colleges of the Ivy League and their Seven Sisters counterparts. In its early years, Vassar was associated with the social elite of the Protestant establishment.E. Digby Baltzellwrites that \\\"upper-classWASPfamilies educated their children at colleges such asHarvard,Princeton,Yale, and Vassar.\\\"A select and elite few of Vassar's students were allowed entry into the school's secret society Delta Sigma Rho, founded in 1922.Before becoming President of the United States,Franklin Delano Rooseveltwas a Trustee. Approximately 2,450 students attend Vassar, and 98% live on campus.About 60% come from public high schools, and 40% come fromprivate schools(both independent and religious).Vassar is currently 56% women and 44% men, at national average for national liberal arts colleges.Students are taught by more than 336 faculty members, virtually all holding the doctorate degree or its equivalent.The student-faculty ratio is 8:1, average class size, 17. In recent freshman classes, students of\",\n \"students of color constituted 32–38% of matriculants.International students from over 60 countries make up 8-10% of the student body.In May 2007, Vassar returned to aneed-blindadmissions policy without regard to a student's financial status. Vassar presidentCatharine Bond Hilldeparted in 2016. She was succeeded byElizabeth Howe Bradleyin 2017. The college was listed as a census-designated place (Vassar College CDP) in 2019. Presidents Campus The campus is inPoughkeepsie Town, adjacent toPoughkeepsie City.The area around the campus appeared as acensus-designated place(CDP) in the2020 U.S. Census,with a population of 2,472. Architecture Vassar's campus, also anarboretum,is 1,000 acres (400 ha) and has more than 100 buildings, ranging in style fromCollegiate GothictoInternational, with several buildings of architectural interest. At the center of campus standsMain Building, one of the best examples ofSecond Empire architecturein the United States. When it was opened, Main Building was the largest building in\",\n \"largest building in the U.S. in terms of floor space. It formerly housed the entire college, including classrooms, dormitories, museum, library, and dining halls.The building was designed by Smithsonian architectJames Renwick Jr.and was completed in 1865. It was preceded on campus by the originalobservatory. Both buildings areNational Historic Landmarks.Rombout Housewas purchased by the college in 1915 and added to theNational Register of Historic Placesin 1982. Eero Saarinenmade designs for several Vassar dormitories, but only one, the Emma Hartman Noyes House, was completed in 1958. Built for roughly 160 students, it was the first part of a circular construction that was to be continued in \\\"Noyes II.\\\" The starkly modernist building's high cost and structural difficulties with the windows, however, led administrators to leave it at one.The dorm's common area is famous for its futuristic design; readings and concerts are held there regularly.The Noyes building was also the home of an all-female football\",\n \"all-female football team, the Noyes Nymphs, who competed against Ivy League teams in the 1960s and 1970s. Libraries Vassar is home to one of the largest undergraduate library collections in the U.S. The library collection today – which actually encompasses eight libraries at Vassar – contains about 1 million volumes and 7,500 serial, periodical and newspaper titles, as well as an extensive collection of microfilm and microfiche, with special collections ofEllen Swallow Richards,Albert Einstein,Mary McCarthy, andElizabeth Bishop.Vassar has been a Federal Depository library for selected U.S. Government documents since 1943 and currently receives approximately 25% of the titles available through the Federal Depository Program. The interior and exterior of the Van Ingen Art Library was renovated from June 2008 – May 2009 in an effort to restore its original design and appearance. This was the library's first major renovation since its construction in 1937. Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center In November 2016, the\",\n \"November 2016, the gallery opened the Hoene Hoy Photography gallery on the second floor, named after Anne Hoene Hoy from the class of 1963. Capital improvements In 2011, Vassar embarked on a $120 million project to improve science facilities at the college, centering on the construction of a newBridge for Laboratory Sciences. Housing The majority of students in their first three years live on campus in the nineresidence halls.Main House occupies the upper floors of Main Building, constructed at the college's founding.To accommodate a growing student body,Strong Housewas constructed in 1893.Strong was made all-women's housing after the college went coeducational in 1969; the house now also acceptsnonbinaryand othergender-nonconformingstudents.SimilarElizabethan-style houses—Raymond,Lathrop, andDavison—were built from 1897 to 1902 to form a residentialquadrangle.A nine-story Tudor-style dormitory,Jewett House, was constructed in 1907 on the north end of the quadrangle.The second largest dormitory,Josselyn\",\n \"dormitory,Josselyn House, was built in 1912 to Jewett's east.Cushing Housewas constructed outside of the quadrangle in 1927.In a departure from the architecture of the other dormitories,Noyes Housewas built in 1958 in a distinct modernist style, curved around a largegreen. Most fourth-year students live in groups of four or five in on-campus apartments.Vassar has three apartment complexes: the Terrace Apartments, the Town Houses, and the South Commons.Acooperativehouse, Ferry House, opened in 1951 and houses 20 students.Vassar guarantees housing to all full-time students. As part of a master plan to renovate all the dormitories, Jewett, Davison, and Josselyn were renovated from 2002 to 2011.The college opted for minor improvements to the rest of the dorms due to cost. Vassar maintains housing for faculty;the current complex opened in 2023.The previous faculty housing facility,Williams House, was to be demolished after 2020.School-age dependents living on the Vassar faculty complex, as well as other areas in\",\n \"as other areas in the Vassar College CDP, are within theArlington Central School District,which operatesArlington High School. Academics The most popular undergraduate majors, based on 2021 graduates, were: Admissions For the class of 2027 (enrolling fall 2023), Vassar received 12,145 applications and accepted 17.7%. The combined average SAT scores of those who opted to submit their testing data was 1489 and the ACT composite average was 33.The middle 50% ranges for the SAT were 1450-1530 and 33-35 for the ACT. Of the matriculants whose high schools provided rankings, 79% were in the top ten percent of their class.For the class of 2026 (enrolling fall 2022), Vassar received 11,412 applications and accepted 18.7%.For the class of 2025 (enrolling fall 2021), Vassar received 10,884 applications, a 25% increase over the previous year, and accepted 2,068 (19%).For the class of 2023 (enrolling fall 2019), Vassar received 8,961 applications and accepted 2,127 (23.7%), with 691 enrolling.For the class of 2025\",\n \"the class of 2025 (enrolling fall 2021),the middle 50% range ofSATscores for enrolling freshmen was 710-760 for evidence-based reading and writing, 710-780 for math, and 1420-1540 for the composite.The middle 50%ACTscore range was 28-33 for math, 32-34 for English, and 32-34 for the composite. Students of color (including non-citizens) made up 45.5% of the incoming class;international students were 8.8% of enrolling freshmen. Rankings The 2025 edition ofU.S. News & World Report's \\\"Best Colleges\\\" ranked Vassar as tied for the 12th best liberal arts college in the U.S. out of 211 rated. In previous years the college was ranked byU.S. News & World Reportas high as tenth. In 2024,U.S. News & World Reportranked Vassar second for \\\"Best Colleges for Veterans\\\", 29th for \\\"Best Value\\\", 15th for \\\"Top Performers on Social Mobility\\\", and tied for 20th in \\\"Best Undergraduate Teaching\\\".It also ranked Vassar tied for fourth among top liberal arts colleges for economic diversity as measured by low-income students receiving\",\n \"students receiving federalPell Grants. In its 2021 edition,Washington Monthlyranked Vassar 11th among 215 liberal arts colleges in the U.S. based on its contribution to the public good, as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service. In its 2020 edition,The Princeton Reviewrated Vassar first for \\\"Best Financial Aid\\\" of all colleges and universities in the United States.In its 2018 edition,The Princeton Reviewrated Vassar second best for financial aid and 41st best for \\\"best value\\\".In 2019,Forbesrated Vassar 27th among liberal arts colleges and 61st overall in its America's Top Colleges ranking, which includes 650 military academies, national universities, and liberal arts colleges.Kiplinger's Personal Financeplaces Vassar 11th in its 2019 ranking of the 149 best value liberal arts colleges in the United States.Moneymagazine ranked Vassar 145th in the country out of 739 schools evaluated for its 2020 \\\"Best Colleges for Your Money\\\" edition. In an article inThe Christian Science Monitor,\",\n \"Science Monitor, Vassar president emeritusCatharine Bond Hillargued that rankings \\\"will always be limited in what they can tell consumers. Part of higher education's role about the rankings should be to remind students and their families that these are only one piece of information that they should take into account in deciding where to go to college. Intangibles will and should play a role in these decisions, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't also look at the tangibles\\\". Post-graduation outcomes Over half of Vassar graduates pursue advanced study within five years of graduation, including one-fifth immediately post-graduation.Of the seniors who applied to medical school in 2017, 76% were accepted; to law school, 96% were accepted. Student life Traditions Founder's Day is an annual campus festival at Vassar College that usually takes place in late April or early May. It started as a surprise birthday party for college founderMatthew Vassar's seventy-fourth birthday and evolved into an annual\",\n \"into an annual celebration.Originally, Founder's Day was a spontaneous event consisting of lectures, but was soon replaced with plays, pageants, and more recreational activities. Circus and fair activities followed, with the eventual addition of the modern day music events over the course of two days. More recently themes have been added, includingAlice in Wonderland,Dinosaurs,Vintage 1800s Vassar,Nickelodeon,Nintendo, andCandyland.Recent artists at Founder's Day have includedThe Walkmen,Edan,DJ /rupture,Odd Nosdam,Jel,Toro y Moi,andOdesza. Extracurricular organizations Campus publications Radio station WVKR-FM, 91.3 FM, is the college's radio station, established in 1971. Student government In March 2016, in a 15–2 vote, the Vassar Student Association (VSA) passed a resolution calling for the support of theBoycott, Divestment and Sanctionsmovement and the boycott of Israel.In April 2016, the BDS resolution went to a school-wide referendum, where it was defeated 573–503. Athletics Vassar teams, known as the\",\n \"teams, known as the Brewers, compete inDivision IIIof theNCAA, as a member of theLiberty League. The nickname originates from the college's founder and namesakeMatthew Vassar, whose family ran abreweryin Poughkeepsie and would later amass a sizable fortune in the industry. In 2008, the Vassar men's volleyball team made the school's first appearance in a national championship game, beatingUC Santa Cruz3–0 in the semifinal before falling to Springfield in the championship game. In 2007, the Vassar cycling team hosted the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Championship in Poughkeepsie and New Paltz, New York. The competition included a 100-mile (160 km) road race over the Shawangunk Mountains in New Paltz as well as a criterium in Poughkeepsie just blocks from the school's campus. In a controversial move, on November 5, 2009, the athletics department leaders decided the men's and women'srowingteam would transition over a two-year period from a varsity to a club sport as a cost-saving measure. In 1940, 1941 and 1942,\",\n \"1941 and 1942, Vassar athletes won nationalintercollegiate women's tennis championshipseach year in both singles (Katharine Hubbell) and doubles (Hubbell, Carolyn \\\"Lonny\\\" Myers). In 2018, the Vassar women's rugby team won the school's first team national championship, beatingWinona State50–13 in the final of the USA Rugby Women's Division 2. Notable people Notable Vassar alumni include: Notable attendees who did not graduate from Vassar include: Notable Vassar faculty include: See also References Further reading External links\",\n \"Yale University Yale Universityis aprivateIvy Leagueresearch universityinNew Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is thethird-oldest institutionofhigher education in the United States, and one of the ninecolonial collegeschartered before theAmerican Revolution. Yale was established as theCollegiate Schoolin 1701 byCongregationalistclergy of theConnecticut Colony. Originally restricted to instructing ministers in theology andsacred languages, the school's curriculum expanded, incorporating humanities and sciences by the time of theAmerican Revolution. In the 19th century, the college expanded into graduate and professional instruction, awarding the firstPhDin the United States in 1861 and organizing as a university in 1887. Yale's faculty and student populations grew rapidly after 1890 due to the expansion of the physical campus and its scientific research programs. Yale is organized into fourteen constituent schools, including the originalundergraduate college, theYale Graduate School of\",\n \"Graduate School of Arts and SciencesandYale Law School.While the university is governed by theYale Corporation, each school'sfacultyoversees its curriculum and degree programs. In addition to a central campus indowntown New Haven, the university owns athletic facilities in western New Haven, a campus inWest Haven, and forests and nature preserves throughoutNew England. As of 2023,the university's endowmentwas valued at $40.7 billion, thethird largest of any educational institution.TheYale University Library, serving all constituent schools, holds more than 15 million volumes and is the third-largest academic library in the United States.Student athletes compete in intercollegiate sports as theYale Bulldogsin theNCAADivision IIvy Leagueconference. As of October 2020, 65Nobellaureates, 5Fields medalists, 4Abel Prizelaureates, and 3Turing Awardwinners have been affiliated with Yale University. In addition, Yale has graduated manynotable alumni, including 5U.S. presidents, 10Founding Fathers, 19U.S. Supreme\",\n \"19U.S. Supreme Court Justices, 31living billionaires,54college founders and presidents, manyheads of state,cabinetmembers andgovernors. Hundreds ofmembers of Congressand manyU.S. diplomats, 78MacArthur Fellows, 263Rhodes Scholars, 123Marshall Scholars, 81Gates Cambridge Scholars, 102Guggenheim Fellowsand 9Mitchell Scholarshave been affiliated with the university. Yale's current faculty include 67 members of theNational Academy of Sciences,55 members of theNational Academy of Medicine,8 members of theNational Academy of Engineering,and 187 members of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences. History Early history of Yale College Origins Yale traces its beginnings to \\\"An Act for Liberty to Erect a Collegiate School\\\", a would-be charter passed inNew Havenby the General Court of theColony of Connecticuton October 9, 1701. The Act was an effort to create an institution to train ministers and lay leadership. Soon after, a group of tenCongregationalministers,Samuel Andrew, Thomas Buckingham, Israel Chauncy, Samuel\",\n \"Chauncy, Samuel Mather (nephew ofIncrease Mather), Rev. James Noyes II (son ofJames Noyes),James Pierpont,Abraham Pierson,Noadiah Russell, Joseph Webb, andTimothy Woodbridge, allHarvardalumni, met in the study of ReverendSamuel Russell, inBranford, to donate books to form the school's library.The group, led byJames Pierpont, is now known as \\\"The Founders\\\". Known from its origin as the \\\"Collegiate School\\\", the institution opened in the home of its firstrector, Abraham Pierson, who is considered Yale's first president. Pierson lived inKillingworth. The school moved toSaybrookin 1703, when the first treasurer of Yale, Nathaniel Lynde, donated land and a building. In 1716, it moved to New Haven. Meanwhile, there was a rift forming at Harvard between its sixth president, Increase Mather, and the rest of the Harvard clergy, whom Mather viewed as increasingly liberal, ecclesiastically lax, and overly broad inChurch polity. The feud caused the Mathers to champion the Collegiate School in the hope it would maintain\",\n \"it would maintain thePuritanreligious orthodoxy in a way Harvard had not.Rev.Jason Haven, minister at theFirst Church and Parish in Dedham, Massachusetts, had been considered for the presidency on account of his orthodox theology and \\\"Neatness dignity and purity of Style surpass those of all that have been mentioned\\\", but was passed over due to his \\\"very Valetudinary and infirm State of Health\\\". Naming and development In 1718, at the behest of either RectorSamuel Andrewor the colony's GovernorGurdon Saltonstall,Cotton Mathercontacted the Boston-born businessmanElihu Yaleto ask for money to construct a new building for the college. Through the persuasion ofJeremiah Dummer, Yale, who had made a fortune inMadraswhile working for theEast India Companyas the first president ofFort St. George, donated nine bales of goods, which were sold for more than £560, a substantial sum of money. Cotton Mather suggested the school change its name to \\\"Yale College\\\".The name Yale is the Anglicized spelling of theWelshnameIâl,\",\n \"of theWelshnameIâl, which had been used for the family estate at Plas yn Iâl, nearLlandegla, Wales. Meanwhile, a Harvard graduate working in England convinced 180 prominent intellectuals to donate books to Yale. The 1714 shipment of 500 books represented the best of modern English literature, science, philosophy and theology.It had a profound effect on intellectuals at Yale. UndergraduateJonathan EdwardsdiscoveredJohn Locke's works and developed his \\\"new divinity\\\". In 1722 the rector and six friends, who had a study group to discuss the new ideas, announced they had given upCalvinism, becomeArminians, and joined theChurch of England. They were ordained in England and returned to the colonies as missionaries for theAnglicanfaith.Thomas Clappbecame president in 1745, and while he attempted to return the college to Calvinist orthodoxy, did not close the library. Other students foundDeistbooks in the library. Curriculum Yale College undergraduates follow aliberal artscurriculum with departmentalmajorsand is\",\n \"is organized into a social system ofresidential colleges. Yale was swept up by the great intellectual movements of the period—theGreat AwakeningandEnlightenment—due to the religious and scientific interests of presidentsThomas ClapandEzra Stiles. They were instrumental in developing the scientific curriculum while dealing with wars, student tumults, graffiti, \\\"irrelevance\\\" of curricula, desperate need for endowment and disagreements with theConnecticut legislature. Serious American students of theology and divinity, particularly in New England, regardedHebrewas aclassical language, along with Greek andLatin, and essential for study of theOld Testamentin the original. Reverend Stiles, president from 1778 to 1795, brought with him his interest in Hebrew as a vehicle for studying ancientBiblical textsin their original language, requiring all freshmen to study Hebrew (in contrast to Harvard, where only upperclassmen were required to study it) and is responsible for the Hebrew phrase אורים ותמים (Urim and\",\n \"ותמים (Urim and Thummim) on the Yale seal. A 1746 graduate of Yale, Stiles came to the college with experience in education, having played an integral role in foundingBrown University.Stiles' greatest challenge occurred in 1779 when British forces occupied New Haven and threatened to raze the college. However, Yale graduateEdmund Fanning, secretary to the British general in command of the occupation, intervened and the college was saved. In 1803, Fanning was granted an honorary degreeLL.D.. Students As the only college in Connecticut from 1701 to 1823, Yale educated the sons of the elite.Punishable offenses includedcardplaying, tavern-going, destruction of college property, and acts of disobedience. Harvard was distinctive for the stability and maturity of its tutor corps, while Yale had youth and zeal. The emphasis on classics gave rise to private student societies, open only by invitation, which arose as forums for discussions of scholarship, literature and politics. The first were debating\",\n \"first were debating societies:Crotoniain 1738,Linoniain 1753 andBrothers in Unityin 1768. Linonia and Brothers in Unity continue to exist; commemorations to them can be found with names given to campus structures, like Brothers in Unity Courtyard in Branford College. 19th century TheYale Report of 1828was a dogmatic defense of the Latin and Greek curriculum against critics who wanted more courses in modern languages, math and science. Unlikehigher education in Europe, there was nonational curriculumfor US colleges and universities. In the competition for students and financial support, college leaders strove to keep current with demands for innovation. At the same time, they realized a significant portion of students and prospective students demanded a classical background. The report meant the classics would not be abandoned. During this period, institutions experimented with changes in the curriculum, often resulting in a dual-track curriculum. In the decentralized environment of US higher education,\",\n \"higher education, balancing change with tradition was a common challenge.A group of professors at Yale and New Haven Congregationalist ministers articulated a conservative response to the changes brought byVictorian culture. They concentrated on developing a person possessed of religious values strong enough to sufficiently resist temptations from within, yet flexible enough to adjust to the 'isms' (professionalism,materialism,individualism, andconsumerism) tempting them from without.William Graham Sumner, professor from 1872 to 1909, taught in the emerging disciplines of economics and sociology to overflowing classrooms. Sumner bested PresidentNoah Porter, who disliked the social sciences and wanted Yale to lock into its traditions of classical education. Porter objected to Sumner's use of a textbook byHerbert Spencerthat espoused agnostic materialism because it might harm students. Until 1887, the legal name of the university was \\\"The President and Fellows of Yale College, in New Haven.\\\" In 1887, under an\",\n \"In 1887, under an act passed by theConnecticut General Assembly, Yale was renamed \\\"Yale University\\\". Sports and debate The Revolutionary War soldierNathan Hale(Yale 1773) was the archetype of the Yale ideal in the early 19th century: a manly yet aristocratic scholar, well-versed in knowledge and sports, and a patriot who \\\"regretted\\\" that he \\\"had but one life to lose\\\" for his country. Western painterFrederic Remington(Yale 1900) was an artist whose heroes gloried in the combat and tests of strength in the Wild West. The fictional, turn-of-the-20th-century Yale manFrank Merriwellembodied this same heroic ideal without racial prejudice, and his fictional successor Dink Stover in the novelStover at Yale(1912) questioned the business mentality that had become prevalent at the school. Increasingly students turned to athletic stars as their heroes, especially since winning the big game became the goal of the student body, the alumni, and the team itself. Along withHarvardandPrinceton, Yale students rejected British\",\n \"rejected British concepts about 'amateurism' and constructed athletic programs that were uniquely American.TheHarvard–Yale football rivalrybegan in 1875. Between 1892, when Harvard and Yale met in one of the firstintercollegiate debates,and in 1909 (year of the first Triangular Debate of Harvard/Yale/Princeton) the rhetoric, symbolism, and metaphors used in athletics were used to frame these debates. Debates were covered on front pages ofcollege newspapersand emphasized inyearbooks, and team members received the equivalent ofathletic lettersfor their jackets. There were rallies to send off teams to matches, but they never attained the broad appeal athletics enjoyed. One reason may be that debates do not have a clear winner, because scoring is subjective. With late 19th-century concerns about the impact of modern life on the body, athletics offered hope that neither the individual nor society was coming apart. In 1909–10, football faced a crisis resulting from the failure of the reforms of 1905–06, which\",\n \"of 1905–06, which sought to solve the problem of serious injuries. There was a mood of alarm and mistrust, and, while the crisis was developing, the presidents of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton developed a project to reform the sport and forestall possible radical changes forced by government. PresidentsArthur Hadleyof Yale,A. Lawrence Lowellof Harvard, andWoodrow Wilsonof Princeton worked to develop moderate reforms to reduce injuries. Their attempts, however, were reduced by rebellion against the rules committee and formation of theIntercollegiate Athletic Association. While the big three had attempted to operate independently of the majority, the changes pushed did reduce injuries. Expansion Starting with the addition of theYale School of Medicinein 1810, the college expanded gradually, establishing theYale Divinity Schoolin 1822,Yale Law Schoolin 1822, theYale Graduate School of Arts and Sciencesin 1847, the now-defunctSheffield Scientific Schoolin 1847,and theYale School of Fine Artsin 1869. In 1887,\",\n \"1869. In 1887, under the presidency ofTimothy Dwight V, Yale College was renamed to Yale University, and the former name was applied only to theundergraduate college. The university would continue to expand into the 20th and 21st centuries, adding theYale School of Musicin 1894, theYale School of Forestry & Environmental Studiesin 1900, theYale School of Public Healthin 1915, theYale School of Architecturein 1916, theYale School of Nursing1923, theYale School of Dramain 1955, theYale School of Managementin 1976, and theJackson School of Global Affairsin 2022.The Sheffield Scientific School would also reorganize its relationship with the university to teach only undergraduate courses. Expansion caused controversy about Yale's new roles.Noah Porter, a moral philosopher, was president from 1871 to 1886. During an age of expansion in higher education, Porter resisted the rise of the new research university, claiming an eager embrace of its ideals would corrupt undergraduate education. Historian George Levesque\",\n \"George Levesque argues Porter was not a simple-minded reactionary, uncritically committed to tradition, but a principled and selective conservative.Levesque says he did not endorse everything old or reject everything new; rather, he sought to apply long-established ethical and pedagogical principles to a changing culture. Levesque concludes, noting he may have misunderstood some of the challenges, but he correctly anticipated the enduring tensions that have accompanied the emergence of the modern university. 20th century Medicine Milton Winternitz led theYale School of Medicineas its dean from 1920 to 1935. Dedicated to the new scientific medicine established in Germany, he was equally fervent about \\\"social medicine\\\" and the study of humans in their environment. He established the \\\"Yale System\\\" of teaching, with few lectures and fewer exams, and strengthened the full-time faculty system; he created the graduate-level Yale School of Nursing and the psychiatry department and built new buildings. Progress\",\n \"buildings. Progress toward his plans for an Institute of Human Relations, envisioned as a refuge where social scientists would collaborate with biological scientists in a holistic study of humankind, lasted only a few years before resentful antisemitic colleagues drove him to resign. Faculty BeforeWorld War II, most elite university faculties counted among their numbers few, if any, Jews, blacks, women, or other minorities; Yale was no exception. By 1980, this condition had been altered dramatically, as numerous members of those groups held faculty positions.Almost all members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences—and some members of other faculties—teach undergraduate courses, more than 2,000 of which are offered annually. Women In 1793,Lucinda Footepassed the entrance exams for Yale College, but was rejected by the president on the basis of her gender.Women studied at Yale from 1892, in graduate-level programs at theYale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.The first seven women to earn PhDs received their\",\n \"PhDs received their degrees in 1894:Elizabeth Deering Hanscom, Cornelia H. B. Rogers, Sara Bulkley Rogers,Margaretta Palmer,Mary Augusta Scott, Laura Johnson Wylie, andCharlotte Fitch Roberts. There is a portrait of them inSterling Memorial Library, painted byBrenda Zlamany. In 1966, Yale began discussions with itssister schoolVassar Collegeabout merging to foster coeducation at the undergraduate level. Vassar, then all-female and part of theSeven Sisters—elite higher education schools that served as sister institutions to theIvy Leaguewhen nearly all Ivy League institutions still only admitted men—tentatively accepted, but then declined the invitation. Both schools introduced coeducation independently in 1969.Amy Solomon was the first woman to register as a Yale undergraduate;she was the first woman at Yale to join an undergraduate society,St. Anthony Hall. The undergraduate class of 1973 was the first to have women starting from freshman year;all undergraduate women were housed in Vanderbilt Hall. A decade\",\n \"Hall. A decade into co-education, student assault and harassment by faculty became the impetus for the trailblazing lawsuitAlexander v. Yale. In the 1970s, a group of students and a faculty member sued Yale for its failure to curtail sexual harassment, especially by male faculty. The case was partly built from a 1977 report authored by plaintiffAnn Olivarius, \\\"A report to the Yale Corporation from the Yale Undergraduate Women's Caucus.\\\"This case was the first to useTitle IXto argue and establish that sexual harassment of female students can be considered illegal sex discrimination. The plaintiffs were Olivarius, Ronni Alexander, Margery Reifler, Pamela Price,and Lisa E. Stone. They were joined by Yale classics professor John \\\"Jack\\\" J. Winkler. The lawsuit, brought partly byCatharine MacKinnon, alleged rape, fondling, and offers of higher grades for sex by faculty, includingKeith Brion, professor of flute and director of bands, political science professor Raymond Duvall,English professorMichael Cooke, and\",\n \"Cooke, and coach of the field hockey team, Richard Kentwell. While unsuccessful in the courts, the legal reasoning changed the landscape of sex discrimination law and resulted in the establishment of Yale's Grievance Board and Women's Center.In 2011 a Title IX complaint was filed against Yale by students and graduates, including editors of Yale's feminist magazineBroad Recognition, alleging the university had a hostile sexual climate.In response, the university formed a Title IX steering committee to address complaints of sexual misconduct.Afterwards, universities and colleges throughout the US also established sexual harassment grievance procedures. Class Yale instituted policies in the early 20th century designed to maintain the proportion of white Protestants from notable families in the student body (seenumerus clausus) and eliminated such preferences, beginning with the class of 1970. 21st century In 2006, Yale andPeking University(PKU) established a Joint Undergraduate Program in Beijing, an exchange\",\n \"an exchange program allowing Yale students to spend a semester living and studying with PKU honor students.In July 2012, the Yale University-PKU Program ended due to weak participation. In 2007 outgoing Yale PresidentRick Levincharacterized Yale's institutional priorities: \\\"First, among the nation's finest research universities, Yale is distinctively committed to excellence in undergraduate education. Second, in our graduate and professional schools, as well as in Yale College, we are committed to the education of leaders.\\\" In 2009, formerBritish Prime MinisterTony Blairpicked Yale as one location – the others being Britain'sDurham UniversityandUniversiti Teknologi Mara– for theTony Blair Faith Foundation's United States Faith and Globalization Initiative.As of 2009, former Mexican PresidentErnesto Zedillois the director of theYale Center for the Study of Globalizationand teaches an undergraduate seminar, \\\"Debating Globalization\\\".As of 2009, former presidential candidate and DNC chairHoward Deanteaches a\",\n \"Deanteaches a residential college seminar, \\\"Understanding Politics and Politicians\\\".Also in 2009, an alliance was formed among Yale,University College London, and both schools' affiliated hospital complexes to conduct research focused on the direct improvement of patient care—a field known astranslational medicine. President Richard Levin noted that Yale has hundreds of other partnerships across the world, but \\\"no existing collaboration matches the scale of the new partnership with UCL\\\".In August 2013, a new partnership with theNational University of Singaporeled to the opening ofYale-NUS Collegein Singapore, a joint effort to create a new liberal arts college in Asia featuring a curriculum including Western and Asian traditions. In 2017, having been suggested for decades,Yale University renamed Calhoun College, named forslave owner,anti-abolitionist, andwhite supremacistVice PresidentJohn C. Calhoun. It is now Hopper College, afterGrace Hopper. In 2020, in the wake of theGeorge Floyd protests, the\",\n \"Floyd protests, the #CancelYale tag was used on social media to demand that Elihu Yale's name be removed from Yale University. Much of the support originated from right-wing pundits such asMike CernovichandAnn Coulter, who intended to satirize what they perceived as the excesses ofcancel culture.Yale spent most of his professional career in the employ of theEast India Company(EIC), serving as thegovernorof thePresidency of Fort St. Georgein modern-dayChennai. The EIC, including Yale himself, was involved in theIndian Ocean slave trade, though the extent of Yale's involvement in slavery remains debated.His singularly large donation led critics to argue Yale University relied on money derived from slavery for its first scholarships and endowments. In 2020, the USJustice Departmentsued Yale for alleged discrimination against Asian and white candidates, through affirmative action admission policies.In 2021, under the new Biden administration, the Justice Department withdrew the lawsuit. The group,Students for\",\n \"group,Students for Fair Admissions, later won a similarlawsuit against Harvard. In April 2024, Yale students joinedother campuses across the United Statesin protests against theIsrael–Hamas war.The student protestors demanded that Yale Universitydivest from companies with ties to Israel's war on Gaza.Protests continued during the summer and in the new academic year starting September 2024. Alumni in politics TheBoston Globewrote in 2002 that \\\"if there's one school that can lay claim to educating the nation's top national leaders over the past three decades, it's Yale\\\".Yale alumniwere represented on theDemocraticorRepublicanticket in every U.S. presidential election between 1972 and 2004.Yale-educated presidents since the end of theVietnam WarincludeGerald Ford,George H. W. Bush,Bill Clinton, andGeorge W. Bush, and major-party nominees includeHillary Clinton(2016),John Kerry(2004),Joseph Lieberman(vice president, 2000), andSargent Shriver(vice president, 1972). Other alumni who have made serious bids for the\",\n \"bids for the presidency includeAmy Klobuchar(2020),Tom Steyer(2020),Ben Carson(2016),Howard Dean(2004),Gary Hart(1984 and 1988),Paul Tsongas(1992),Pat Robertson(1988) andJerry Brown(1976, 1980, 1992). Several explanations have been offered for Yale's representation since the end of the Vietnam War. Sources note the spirit of campus activism that has existed at Yale since the 1960s, and the intellectual influence of ReverendWilliam Sloane Coffinon future candidates.Yale President Levin attributes the run to Yale's focus on creating \\\"a laboratory for future leaders\\\", an institutional priority that began during the tenure of Yale PresidentsAlfred Whitney GriswoldandKingman Brewster.Richard H. Brodhead, former dean of Yale College and now president ofDuke University, stated: \\\"We do give very significant attention to orientation to the community in our admissions, and there is a very strong tradition ofvolunteerismat Yale.\\\"Yale historianGaddis Smithnotes \\\"an ethos of organized activity\\\" at Yale during the 20th\",\n \"during the 20th century that led Kerry to lead theYale Political Union's Liberal Party,George Patakithe Conservative Party, and Lieberman to manage theYale Daily News.Camille Pagliapoints to a history of networking and elitism: \\\"It has to do with a web of friendships and affiliations built up in school.\\\"CNN suggests that George W. Bush benefited from preferential admissions policies for the \\\"son and grandson of alumni\\\", and for a \\\"member of a politically influential family\\\".Elisabeth BumillerandJames Fallowscredit the culture of community that exists between students, faculty, and administration, which downplays self-interest and reinforces commitment to others. During the 1988 presidential election,George H. W. Bush(Yale '48) deridedMichael Dukakisfor having \\\"foreign-policy views born in Harvard Yard's boutique\\\". When challenged on the distinction between Dukakis's Harvard connection and his Yale background, he said that, unlike Harvard, Yale's reputation was \\\"so diffuse, there isn't a symbol, I don't\",\n \"a symbol, I don't think, in the Yale situation, any symbolism in it\\\" and said Yale did not share Harvard's reputation for \\\"liberalism and elitism\\\".In 2004Howard Deanstated, \\\"In some ways, I consider myself separate from the other three (Yale) candidates of 2004. Yale changed so much between the class of '68 and the class of '71. My class was the first class to have women in it; it was the first class to have a significant effort to recruit African Americans. It was an extraordinary time, and in that span of time is the change of an entire generation\\\". Administration and organization Leadership ThePresident and Fellows of Yale College, also known as the Yale Corporation, or board of trustees, is the governing body of the university and consists of thirteen standing committees with separate responsibilities outlined in the by-laws. The corporation has 19 members: threeex officiomembers, ten successor trustees, and six elected alumni fellows.The university has three major academic components: Yale College (the\",\n \"Yale College (the undergraduate program), the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the twelve professional schools. Yale's former presidentRichard C. Levinwas, at the time, one of the highest paid university presidents in the United States with a 2008 salary of $1.5 million.Yale's succeeding president Peter Salovey ranks 40th with a 2020 salary of $1.16 million. The Yale Provost's Office and similar executive positions have launched several women into prominent university executive positions. In 1977, ProvostHanna Holborn Graywas appointed interim president of Yale and later went on to become president of the University of Chicago, being the first woman to hold either position at each respective school.In 1994, ProvostJudith Rodinbecame the first permanent female president of an Ivy League institution at theUniversity of Pennsylvania.In 2002, ProvostAlison Richardbecame the vice-chancellor of theUniversity of Cambridge.In 2003, the dean of the Divinity School,Rebecca Chopp, was appointed president\",\n \"appointed president ofColgate Universityand later went on to serve as the president ofSwarthmore Collegein 2009, and then the first female chancellor of theUniversity of Denverin 2014.In 2004, ProvostDr. Susan Hockfieldbecame the president of theMassachusetts Institute of Technology.In 2004, Dean of the Nursing school, Catherine Gilliss, was appointed the dean of Duke University's School of Nursing and vice chancellor for nursing affairs.In 2007, Deputy ProvostH. Kim Bottomlywas named president ofWellesley College. Similar examples for men who have served in Yale leadership positions can also be found. In 2004, Dean of Yale CollegeRichard H. Brodheadwas appointed as the president ofDuke University.In 2008, ProvostAndrew Hamiltonwas confirmed to be the vice chancellor of the University of Oxford. Staff and labor unions Yale University staff are represented by several different unions. Clerical and technical workers are represented by Local 34, and service and maintenance workers are represented by Local 35,\",\n \"by Local 35, both of the same union affiliateUNITE HERE.Unlike similar institutions, Yale has consistently refused to recognize its graduate student union, Local 33 (another affiliate of UNITE HERE), citing claims that the union's elections were undemocratic and how graduate students are not employees;the move to not recognize the union has been criticized by theAmerican Federation of Teachers.In addition, officers of the Yale University Police Department are represented by the Yale Police Benevolent Association, which affiliated in 2005 with the Connecticut Organization for Public Safety Employees.Yale security officers joined the International Union of Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America in late 2010,even though the Yale administration contested the election.In October 2014, after deliberation,Yale security decided to form a new union, the Yale University Security Officers Association, which has since represented the campus security officers. Yale has a history of difficult and prolonged\",\n \"and prolonged labor negotiations, often culminating in strikes.There have been at least eight strikes since 1968, andThe New York Timeswrote that Yale has a reputation as having the worst record of labor tension of any university in the U.S.Moreover, Yale has been accused by theAFL–CIOof failing to treat workers with respect,as well as not renewing contracts with professors over involvement in campus labor issues.Yale has responded to strikes with claims over mediocre union participation and the benefits of their contracts. Campus Yale's central campus indowntown New Havencovers 260 acres (1.1 km2) and comprises its main, historic campus and a medical campus adjacent to theYale–New Haven Hospital. In western New Haven, the university holds 500 acres (2.0 km2) of athletic facilities, including theYale Golf Course.In 2008, Yale purchased the 17-building, 136-acre (0.55 km2) formerBayer HealthCarecomplex inWest Haven, Connecticut,the buildings of which are now used as laboratory and research space.Yale also\",\n \"space.Yale also owns seven forests in Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire—the largest of which is the 7,840-acre (31.7 km2)Yale-Myers Forestin Connecticut'sQuiet Corner—and nature preserves includingHorse Island. Yale is noted for its largelyCollegiate Gothiccampusas well as several iconic modern buildings commonly discussed in architectural history survey courses:Louis Kahn's Yale Art Galleryand Center for British Art,Eero Saarinen's Ingalls Rink and Ezra Stiles and Morse Colleges, andPaul Rudolph'sArt & Architecture Building. Yale also owns and has restored many noteworthy 19th-century mansions alongHillhouse Avenue, which was considered the most beautiful street in America byCharles Dickenswhen he visited the United States in the 1840s.In 2011,Travel + Leisurelisted the Yale campus as one of the most beautiful in the United States. Many of Yale's buildings were constructed in theCollegiate Gothicarchitecture style from 1917 to 1931, financed largely byEdward S. Harkness, including theYale Drama\",\n \"theYale Drama School.Stone sculpture built into the walls of the buildings portray contemporary college personalities, such as a writer, an athlete, a tea-drinking socialite, and a student who has fallen asleep while reading. Similarly, the decorativefriezeson the buildings depict contemporary scenes, like a policemen chasing a robber and arresting a prostitute (on the wall of the Law School), or a student relaxing with a mug of beer and a cigarette. The architect,James Gamble Rogers, faux-aged these buildings by splashing the walls with acid,deliberately breaking theirleaded glasswindows and repairing them in the style of theMiddle Ages, and creating niches for decorative statuary but leaving them empty to simulate loss or theft over the ages. In fact, the buildings merely simulate Middle Ages architecture, for though they appear to be constructed of solid stone blocks in the authentic manner, most actually have steel framing as was commonly used in 1930. One exception isHarkness Tower, 216 feet (66 m)\",\n \"216 feet (66 m) tall, which was originally a free-standing stone structure. It was reinforced in 1964 to allow the installation of theYale Memorial Carillon. Other examples of the Gothic style are on theOld Campusby architects likeHenry Austin,Charles C. HaightandRussell Sturgis. Several are associated with members of theVanderbilt family, including Vanderbilt Hall,Phelps Hall,St. Anthony Hall(a commission for memberFrederick William Vanderbilt), the Mason, Sloane and Osborn laboratories, dormitories for theSheffield Scientific School(the engineering and sciences school at Yale until 1956) and elements ofSilliman College, the largest residential college. The oldest building on campus,Connecticut Hall(built in 1750), is in theGeorgian style. Georgian-style buildings erected from 1929 to 1933 includeTimothy Dwight College,Pierson College, andDavenport College, except the latter's east, York Street façade, which was constructed in theGothic styleto coordinate with adjacent structures. TheBeinecke Rare Book and\",\n \"Rare Book and Manuscript Library, designed byGordon BunshaftofSkidmore, Owings & Merrill, is one of the largest buildings in the world reserved exclusively for the preservation of rare books and manuscripts. The library includes a six-story above-ground tower of book stacks, filled with 180,000 volumes, that is surrounded by large translucent Vermont marble panels and a steel and granite truss. The panels act as windows and subdue direct sunlight while also diffusing the light in warm hues throughout the interior.Near the library is a sunken courtyard with sculptures by Isamu Noguchi that are said to represent time (the pyramid), the sun (the circle), and chance (the cube).The library is located near the center of the university inHewitt Quadrangle, which is now more commonly referred to as \\\"Beinecke Plaza\\\". AlumnusEero Saarinen, Finnish-American architect of such notable structures as theGateway Archin St. Louis,Washington Dulles International Airportmain terminal,Bell Labs Holmdel Complexand theCBS\",\n \"Complexand theCBS Buildingin Manhattan, designedIngalls Rink, dedicated in 1959,as well as the residential colleges Ezra Stiles and Morse.These latter were modeled after the medievalItalian hill townofSan Gimignano– a prototype chosen for the town's pedestrian-friendly milieu and fortress-like stone towers.These tower forms at Yale act in counterpoint to the college's many Gothic spires and Georgian cupolas. The athletic field complex is partially in New Haven, and partially inWest Haven. Notable nonresidential campus buildings Notable nonresidential campus buildings and landmarks includeBattell Chapel,Beinecke Rare Book Library,Harkness Tower,Humanities Quadrangle,Ingalls Rink, Kline Biology Tower,Osborne Memorial Laboratories,Payne Whitney Gymnasium,Peabody Museum of Natural History, Sterling Hall of Medicine,Sterling Law Buildings,Sterling Memorial Library,Woolsey Hall,Yale Center for British Art,Yale University Art Gallery,Yale Art & Architecture Building, and thePaul Mellon Centre for Studies in British\",\n \"Studies in British Artin London. Yale's secret society buildings (some of which are called \\\"tombs\\\") were built to be private yet unmistakable. A diversity of architectural styles is represented:Berzelius,Donn Barberin an austere cube with classical detailing (erected in 1908 or 1910);Book and Snake, Louis R. Metcalfe in aGreek Ionicstyle (erected in 1901);Elihu, architect unknown but built in aColonialstyle (constructed on an early 17th-century foundation although the building is from the 18th century);Mace and Chain, in a late colonial, earlyVictorian style(built in 1823). (Interior moulding is said to have belonged toBenedict Arnold);Manuscript Society,King-lui WuwithDan Kileyresponsible for landscaping andJosef Albersfor the brickwork intaglio mural. Building constructed in amid-century modernstyle;Scroll and Key,Richard Morris Huntin a Moorish- or Islamic-inspiredBeaux-Arts style(erected 1869–70);Skull and Bones, possiblyAlexander Jackson DavisorHenry Austinin anEgypto-Doric styleutilizingBrownstone(in\",\n \"1856 the first wing was completed, in 1903 the second wing, 1911 theNeo-Gothictowers in rear garden were completed);St. Elmo, (former tomb)Kenneth M. Murchison, 1912, designs inspired by Elizabethan manor. Current location, brick colonial; andWolf's Head,Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, erected 1923–1924, Collegiate Gothic. Sustainability Yale's Office of Sustainability develops and implements sustainability practices at Yale.Yale is committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 10% below 1990 levels by 2020. As part of this commitment, the university allocates renewable energy credits to offset some of the energy used by residential colleges.Eleven campus buildings are candidates for LEED design and certification.Yale Sustainable Food Project initiated the introduction of local, organic vegetables, fruits, and beef to all residential college dining halls.Yale was listed as a Campus Sustainability Leader on the Sustainable Endowments Institute's College Sustainability Report Card 2008, and received a \\\"B+\\\" grade\",\n \"a \\\"B+\\\" grade overall.Yale is a member of the Ivy Plus Sustainability Consortium, through which it has committed to best-practice sharing and the ongoing exchange of campus sustainability solutions along with other member institutions. Relationship with New Haven Yale is the largest taxpayer and employer in the City ofNew Haven,and has often buoyed the city's economy and communities. Yale, however, has consistently opposed paying a tax on its academic property.Yale'sArt Galleries, along with many other university resources, are free and openly accessible. Yale also funds theNew Haven Promiseprogram, paying full tuition for eligible students from New Haven public schools. Town–gown relations Yale has a complicated relationship with its home city; for example, thousands of students volunteer every year in myriad community organizations, but city officials, who decry Yale's exemption from local property taxes, have long pressed the university to do more to help. Under President Levin, Yale has financially\",\n \"has financially supported many of New Haven's efforts to reinvigorate the city. Evidence suggests that thetown and gownrelationships are mutually beneficial. Still, the economic power of the university increased dramatically with its financial success amid a decline in the local economy. Campus safety Several campus safety strategies have been pioneered at Yale. The first campus police force was founded at Yale in 1894, when the university contracted city police officers to exclusively cover the campus.Later hired by the university, the officers were originally brought in to quell unrest between students and city residents and curb destructive student behavior.In addition to the Yale Police Department, a variety of safety services are available including blue phones, asafety escort, and 24-hour shuttle service. In the 1970s and 1980s,povertyandviolent crimerose in New Haven, dampening Yale's student and faculty recruiting efforts.Between 1990 and 2006, New Haven's crime rate fell by half, helped by\",\n \"by half, helped by acommunity policing strategyby theNew Haven Policeand Yale's campus became the safest among peer schools. In 2004, the national non-profit watchdog group Security on Campus filed a complaint with theU.S. Department of Education, accusing Yale of under-reporting rape and sexual assaults. In April 2021, Yale announced that it will require students to receive aCOVID-19 vaccineas a condition of being on campus during the fall 2021 term. Academics Admissions Undergraduate admission to Yale College is considered \\\"most selective\\\" byU.S. News.In 2022, Yale accepted 2,234 students to the Class of 2026 out of 50,015 applicants, for an acceptance rate of 4.46%.98% of students graduate within six years. Through its program of need-based financial aid, Yale commits to meet the full demonstrated financial need of all applicants, and the university isneed-blindfor both domestic and international applicants.Most financial aid is in the form of grants and scholarships that do not need to be paid back to\",\n \"to be paid back to the university, and the average need-based aid grant for the Class of 2017 was $46,395.15% of Yale College students are expected to have no parental contribution, and about 50% receive some form of financial aid.About 16% of the Class of 2013 had some form of student loan debt at graduation, with an average debt of $13,000 among borrowers.For 2019, Yale ranked second in enrollment of recipients of theNational Merit $2,500 Scholarship(140 scholars). Half of all Yale undergraduates are women, more than 39% areethnic minorityU.S. citizens (19% are underrepresented minorities), and 10.5% areinternational students.55% attended public schools and 45% attended private, religious, or international schools, and 97% of students were in the top 10% of their high school class.Every year, Yale College also admits a small group ofnon-traditional studentsthrough the Eli Whitney Students Program. Collections Yale University Library, which holds over 15 million volumes, is the third-largest university\",\n \"university collection in the United States.The main library,Sterling Memorial Library, contains about 4 million volumes, and other holdings are dispersed at subject and location libraries. Rare books are found in several Yale collections. TheBeinecke Rare Book Libraryhas a large collection of rare books and manuscripts. TheHarvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Libraryincludes important historical medical texts, including an impressive collection of rare books, as well as historical medical instruments. TheLewis Walpole Librarycontains the largest collection of 18th‑century British literary works. TheElizabethan Club, technically a private organization, makes its Elizabethan folios and first editions available to qualified researchers through Yale. Yale's museum collections are also of international stature. TheYale University Art Gallery, the country's first university-affiliated art museum, contains more than 200,000 works, including Old Masters and important collections of modern art, in the Swartwout\",\n \"in the Swartwout and Kahn buildings. The latter,Louis Kahn's first large-scale American work (1953), was renovated and reopened in December 2006. TheYale Center for British Art, the largest collection of British art outside of the UK, grew from a gift ofPaul Mellonand is housed in another Kahn-designed building. ThePeabody Museum of Natural Historyin New Haven is used by school children and contains research collections in anthropology, archaeology, and the natural environment. TheYale University Collection of Musical Instruments, affiliated with the Yale School of Music, is perhaps the least-known of Yale's collections because its hours of opening are restricted. The museums once housed the artifacts brought to the United States fromPeruby Yale history professorHiram Binghamin his Yale-financed expedition toMachu Picchuin 1912 – when the removal of such artifacts was legal. The artifacts were restored to Peru in 2012. Rankings TheU.S. News & World Reportranked Yale third among U.S. national universities for\",\n \"universities for 2016,as it had for each of the previous sixteen years. Yale University isaccreditedby theNew England Commission of Higher Education. Internationally, Yale was ranked 11th in the 2016Academic Ranking of World Universities, tenth in the 2016–17 Nature Indexfor quality of scientific research output, and tenth in the 2016 CWUR World University Rankings.The university was also ranked sixth in the 2016 Times Higher Education (THE) Global University Employability Rankingsand eighth in the Academic World Reputation Rankings.In 2019, it ranked 27th among the universities around the world bySCImago Institutions Rankings. Faculty, research, and intellectual traditions Yale is a member of theAssociation of American Universities(AAU) and isclassifiedamong \\\"R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity\\\".TheNational Science Foundationranked Yale 15th among American universities for research and development expenditures in 2021 with $1.16 billion. Yale's current faculty include 67 members of\",\n \"67 members of theNational Academy of Sciences,55 members of theNational Academy of Medicine,8 members of theNational Academy of Engineering,and 187 members of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.The college is, after normalization for institution size, the tenth-largest baccalaureate source ofdoctoral degreerecipients in the United States, and the largest such source within the Ivy League.It also is a top 10 (ranked seventh) baccalaureate source (after normalization for the number of graduates) of some of the most notable scientists (Nobel,Fields,Turingprizes, or membership inNational Academy of Sciences,National Academy of Engineering, orNational Academy of Medicine). Yale's English and Comparative Literature departments were part of theNew Criticismmovement. Of the New Critics,Robert Penn Warren,W.K. Wimsatt, andCleanth Brookswere all Yale faculty. Later, the Yale Comparative literature department became a center of Americandeconstruction.Jacques Derrida, the father of deconstruction, taught at the\",\n \"taught at the department of comparative literature from the late 1970s to mid-1980s. Several other Yale faculty members were also associated with deconstruction, forming the so-called \\\"Yale School\\\". These includedPaul de Manwho taught in the Departments of Comparative Literature and French,J. Hillis Miller,Geoffrey Hartman(both taught in the Departments of English and Comparative Literature), andHarold Bloom(English), whose theoretical position was always somewhat specific, and who ultimately took a very different path from the rest of this group. Yale's history department has also originated important intellectual trends. HistoriansC. Vann WoodwardandDavid Brion Davisare credited with beginning in the 1960s and 1970s an important stream ofsouthernhistorians; likewise,David Montgomery, a labor historian, advised many of the current generation of labor historians in the country. Yale's Music School and department fostered the growth of Music Theory in the latter half of the 20th century. TheJournal of Music\",\n \"TheJournal of Music Theorywas founded there in 1957;Allen ForteandDavid Lewinwere influential teachers and scholars. Since the late 1960s, Yale produces social sciences and policy research through its Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS). In addition to eminent faculty members, Yale research relies heavily on the presence of roughly 1200Postdocsfrom various national and international origin working in the multiple laboratories in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and professional schools of the university. The university progressively recognized this working force with the recent creation of the Office for Postdoctoral Affairs and theYale Postdoctoral Association. Campus life Yale is a research university, with the majority of its students in thegraduateandprofessionalschools.Undergraduates, orYale Collegestudents, come from a variety of ethnic, national, socioeconomic, and personal backgrounds. Of the 2010–2011 freshman class, 10% are non‑U.S. citizens, while 54% went to public\",\n \"54% went to public high schools.The median family income of Yale students is $192,600, with 57% of students coming from the top 10% highest-earning families and 16% from the bottom 60%. Residential colleges Yale'sresidential collegesystem was established in 1933 byEdward S. Harkness, who admired the social intimacy of Oxford and Cambridge and donated significant funds to found similarcollegesat Yale and Harvard. Though Yale's colleges resemble their English precursors organizationally and architecturally, they aredependent entitiesof Yale College and have limited autonomy. The colleges are led by a head and an academic dean, who reside in the college, and university faculty and affiliates constitute each college's fellowship. Colleges offer their own seminars, social events, and speaking engagements known as \\\"Master's Teas\\\", but do not contain programs of study or academic departments. All other undergraduate courses are taught by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and are open to members of any college. All\",\n \"of any college. All undergraduates are members of a college, to which they are assigned before their freshman year, and 85 percent live in the college quadrangle or a college-affiliated dormitory.While the majority of upperclassman live in the colleges, most on-campus freshmen live on theOld Campus, the university's oldest precinct. While Harkness' original colleges wereGeorgian RevivalorCollegiate Gothicin style, two colleges constructed in the 1960s,MorseandEzra StilesColleges, have modernist designs. All twelve college quadrangles are organized around a courtyard, and each has a dining hall, courtyard, library, common room, and a range of student facilities. The twelve colleges are named for important alumni or significant places in university history. In 2017, the university opened two new colleges nearScience Hill. Calhoun College Since the 1960s,John C. Calhoun'swhite supremacistbeliefs and pro-slavery leadershiphad prompted calls to rename the college or remove its tributes to Calhoun. The racially\",\n \"The racially motivatedchurch shootinginCharleston, South Carolina, led to renewed calls in the summer of 2015 forCalhoun College, one of 12 residential colleges at the time, to be renamed. In July 2015 students signed a petition calling for the name change.They argued in the petition that—while Calhoun was respected in the 19th century as an \\\"extraordinary American statesman\\\"—he was \\\"one of the most prolific defenders of slavery and white supremacy\\\" in the history of the United States.In August 2015, Yale President Peter Salovey addressed the Freshman Class of 2019 in which he responded to the racial tensions but explained why the college would not be renamed.He described Calhoun as \\\"a notable political theorist, a vice president to two different U.S. presidents, a secretary of war and of state, and a congressman and senator representing South Carolina\\\".He acknowledged that Calhoun also \\\"believed that the highest forms of civilization depend on involuntary servitude. Not only that, but he also believed that\",\n \"also believed that the races he thought to be inferior, black people in particular, ought to be subjected to it for the sake of their own best interests.\\\"Student activism about this issue increased in the fall of 2015, and included further protests sparked by controversy surrounding an administrator's comments on the potential positive and negative implications of students who wearHalloween costumesthat areculturally sensitive.Campus-wide discussions expanded to include critical discussion of the experiences of women of color on campus, and the realities of racism in undergraduate life.The protests were sensationalized by the media and led to the labelling of some students as being members ofGeneration Snowflake. In April 2016, Salovey announced that \\\"despite decades of vigorous alumni and student protests\\\", Calhoun's name will remain on the Yale residential collegeexplaining that it is preferable for Yale students to live in Calhoun's \\\"shadow\\\" so they will be \\\"better prepared to rise to the challenges of\",\n \"the challenges of the present and the future\\\". He claimed that if they removed Calhoun's name, it would \\\"obscure\\\" his \\\"legacy of slavery rather than addressing it\\\".\\\"Yale is part of that history\\\" and \\\"We cannot erase American history, but we can confront it, teach it and learn from it.\\\" One change that will be issued is the title of \\\"master\\\" for faculty members who serve as residential college leaders will be renamed to \\\"head of college\\\" due to its connotation of slavery. Despite this apparently conclusive reasoning, Salovey announced that Calhoun College would be renamed for groundbreaking computer scientistGrace Hopperin February 2017.This renaming decision received a range of responses from Yale students and alumni.In his 2019 bookAssault on American Excellence, formerDean of Yale Law SchoolAnthony T. Kronmancriticized the title and name changes and the lack of support from Salovey forthe Christakises, who were targeted by the student activists. Other members of the university community disagreed with\",\n \"disagreed with Kronman's positions. Student organizations In 2024, Yale had 526 registered undergraduate student organizations, plus hundreds of others for graduate students. The university hosts a variety of student journals, magazines, and newspapers. TheYale Literary Magazine, founded in February 1836, is the oldest student literary magazine in the United States.Established in 1872,The Yale Recordis the world's oldest collegehumor magazine. Newspapers include theYale Daily News, which was first published in 1878, and the weeklyYale Herald, which was first published in 1986. TheYale Journal of Medicine & Lawis a biannual magazine that explores the intersection oflaw and medicine. Dwight Hall, an independent, non-profit community service organization, oversees more than 2,000 Yale undergraduates working on more than 70 community service initiatives in New Haven. The Yale College Council runs several agencies that oversee campus wide activities and student services. TheYale Dramatic Associationand Bulldog\",\n \"Bulldog Productions cater to the theater and film communities, respectively. In addition, the Yale Drama Coalitionserves to coordinate between and provide resources for the various Sudler Fund sponsored theater productions which run each weekend. WYBC Yale Radiois the campus's radio station, owned and operated by students. While students used to broadcast on AM and FM frequencies, they now have an Internet-only stream. TheYale College Council(YCC) serves as the campus's undergraduate student government. All registered student organizations are regulated and funded by a subsidiary organization of the YCC, known as the Undergraduate Organizations Funding Committee (UOFC).The Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) serves as Yale's graduate and professional student government. The Yale Political Union(YPU) is a debate society founded in 1934 to host student discussions on a wide variety of topics. It is advised by alumni political leaders such asJohn KerryandGeorge Pataki. TheYale International\",\n \"International Relations Association(YIRA) functions as the umbrella organization for the university's top-ranked Model UN team. YIRA also has a Europe-based offshoot,Yale Model Government Europe, other Model UN conferences such as YMUN, YMUN Korea, YMUN Taiwan and Yale Model African Union (YMAU), and educational programs such as the Yale Review of International Studies (YRIS), Yale International Relations Leadership Institute, and Hemispheres. The campus includes severalfraternities and sororities. The campus features at least 18a cappellagroups, the most famous of which isThe Whiffenpoofs, which from its founding in 1909 until 2018 was made up solely of senior men. TheElizabethan Club, a social club, has a membership of undergraduates, graduates, faculty and staff with literary or artistic interests. Membership is by invitation. Members and their guests may enter the \\\"Lizzie's\\\" premises for conversation and tea. The club owns first editions of a Shakespeare Folio, several Shakespeare Quartos, and a first\",\n \"and a first edition of Milton'sParadise Lost, among other important literary texts. Secret societies Yale'ssecret societiesincludeSkull and Bones,Scroll and Key,Wolf's Head,Book and Snake,Elihu,Berzelius,St. Elmo,Manuscript,Brothers in Unity,Linonia,St. Anthony Hall,Shabtai,Myth and Sword, Daughters of Sovereign Government (DSG),Mace and Chain, ISO,Spade and Grave, andSage and Chalice, among others. The two oldest existing honor societies are theAurelian(1910) and theTorch Honor Society(1916). These are akin toHarvard finals clubs,Princeton eating clubs, andsenior societies at University of Pennsylvania. Traditions Yale seniors at graduation smash clay pipes underfoot to symbolize passage from their \\\"bright college years\\\", though in recent history the pipes have been replaced with \\\"bubble pipes\\\".(\\\"Bright College Years\\\", the university's alma mater, was penned in 1881 byHenry Durand, Class of 1881, to the tune ofDie Wacht am Rhein.) Yale's student tour guides tell visitors that students consider it good luck\",\n \"it good luck to rub the toe of the statue ofTheodore Dwight Woolseyon Old Campus; however, actual students rarely do so.In the second half of the 20th centuryBladderball, a campus-wide game played with a large inflatable ball, became a popular tradition but was banned by administration due to safety concerns. In spite of administration opposition, students revived the game in 2009, 2011, and 2014. Athletics Yale supports 35 varsity athletic teams that compete in theIvy LeagueConference, theEastern College Athletic Conference, and theNew England Intercollegiate Sailing Association. Yale athletic teams compete intercollegiately at theNCAADivision I level. Like other members of the Ivy League, Yale does not offer athletic scholarships. Yale has numerous athletic facilities, including theYale Bowl(the nation's first natural \\\"bowl\\\" stadium, and prototype for such stadiums as theLos Angeles Memorial Coliseumand theRose Bowl), located at TheWalter CampField athletic complex, and thePayne Whitney Gymnasium, the\",\n \"Gymnasium, the second-largest indoor athletic complex in the world. In 1970, the NCAA banned Yale from participating in all NCAA sports for two years, in reaction to Yale – against the wishes of the NCAA – playing its Jewish centerJack Langerin college games after Langer had played for Team United States at the1969 Maccabiah Gamesin Israel with the approval of Yale PresidentKingman Brewster.The decision impacted 300 Yale students, every Yale student on its sports teams, over the next two years. In 2016, the men's basketball team won the Ivy League Championship title for the first time in 54 years, earning a spot in theNCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. In the first round of the tournament, the Bulldogs beat theBaylor Bears79–75 in the school's first-ever tournament win. In May 2018, the men's lacrosse team defeated theDuke Blue Devilsto claim their first-everNCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship,and were the first Ivy League school to win the title since thePrinceton Tigersin 2001. Yale crew\",\n \"2001. Yale crew is the oldest collegiate athletic team in America, and wonOlympic GamesGold Medalfor men's eights in 1924 and 1956. TheYale Corinthian Yacht Club, founded in 1881, is the oldest collegiatesailingclub in the world. October 21, 2000, marked the dedication of Yale's fourth new boathouse in 157 years of collegiate rowing. TheGilder Boathouseis named to honor former Olympic rower Virginia Gilder '79 and her fatherRichard Gilder'54, who gave $4 million towards the $7.5 million project. Yale also maintains theGales Ferrysite where the heavyweight men's team trains for theYale-Harvard Boat Race. In 1896, Yale andJohns Hopkinsplayed the first knownice hockeygame in the United States. Since 2006, the school's ice hockey clubs have played a commemorative game. Yale students claim to have inventedFrisbee, by tossing emptyFrisbie Pie Companytins. Yale athletics are supported by theYale Precision Marching Band. \\\"Precision\\\" is used here ironically; the band is a scatter-style band that runs wildly between\",\n \"runs wildly between formations rather than actually marching.The band attends every home football game and many away, as well as most hockey and basketball games throughout the winter. Yale intramural sports are also a significant aspect of student life. Students compete for their respective residential colleges, fostering a friendly rivalry. The year is divided into fall, winter, and spring seasons, each of which includes about 10 different sports. About half the sports are coeducational. At the end of the year, the residential college with the most points (not all sports count equally) wins the Tyng Cup. Song Notable among the songs commonly played and sung at events such ascommencement,convocation, alumni gatherings, and athletic games is the alma mater, \\\"Bright College Years\\\". Despite its popularity, \\\"Boola Boola\\\" is not the officialfight song, albeit being the origin of the university's unofficial motto. The official Yale fight song, \\\"Bulldog\\\" was written byCole Porterduring his undergraduate days and\",\n \"days and is sung after touchdowns during a football game.Additionally, two other songs, \\\"Down the Field\\\" by C.W. O'Conner, and \\\"Bingo Eli Yale\\\", also by Cole Porter, are still sung at football games. According toCollege Fight Songs: An Annotated Anthologypublished in 1998, \\\"Down the Field\\\" ranks as the fourth-greatest fight song of all time. Mascot The schoolmascotis \\\"Handsome Dan\\\", the Yalebulldog, and the Yale fight song contains the refrain, \\\"Bulldog, bulldog, bow wow wow.\\\" The school color, since 1894, isYale Blue.Yale's Handsome Dan is believed to be the first college mascot in America, having been established in 1889. Mental health Yale has faced significant criticism for its handling ofstudent mental healthon campus.Suicidal and depressed students say that Yale forced them to medically withdraw rather than provide them with academic accommodations under theAmericans with Disabilities Act, and in 2018 theRuderman Family Foundationranked Yale as having the worst mental health policies in the Ivy League.\",\n \"in the Ivy League. Dear Yale, I loved being here. I only wish I could've had some time. I needed time to work things out and to wait for new medication to kick in, but I couldn't do it in school, and I couldn't bear the thought of having to leave for a full year, or of leaving and never being readmitted. Love, Luchang. Luchang Wang, posted on Facebook in 2015 shortly before her death Students at Yale say that the university's policies force them to hide their depression and avoid seeking help, for fear of being forced to leave.One prominent case was the suicide of Luchang Wang in 2015, who died by suicide after making a Facebook post saying that she needed time to deal with her mental health issues, but could not deal with being forced to medically withdraw for an entire year with an uncertain chance of being readmitted.Wang had previously withdrawn from school due to mental health issues, and was afraid of being forced to withdraw again, as a second readmission attempt would be considerably more difficult\",\n \"more difficult for her.A friend of Wang said that she routinely lied to her university therapist to avoid being kicked out,and another student said that many at Yale lie to their counselors as \\\"there's no clear standard established that says exactly what students will get involuntarily hospitalized or withdrawn for\\\".In response, the university convened a commission to evaluate their readmission policies after a mental health withdrawal, renaming the process to \\\"reinstatement\\\" as well as eliminating the $50 reapplication fee. For students that do seek help, waitlists for therapy can be months long, with individual counselling sessions only 30 minutes in length.In 2022, after a Washington Post article about their medical withdrawal policies, the school increased the number of mental health clinicians on campus from 51 to 60 as well as promised further changes.In 2023, after a lawsuit was filed against the school for what the plaintiffs described as discrimination, the university changed the name of a \\\"medical\",\n \"name of a \\\"medical withdrawal\\\" to a \\\"medical leave of absence\\\" saying that the \\\"leave of absence\\\" terminology would allow students to remain on Yale's insurance while away from the school.The new policy also allowed for students on a leave of absence to participate in extracurricular clubs and visit campus,something a student on medical withdrawal was banned from doing.A representative of Yale also said that the criticism of their policies \\\"misrepresents our efforts and unwavering commitment to supporting our students, whose well-being and success are our primary focus\\\" and that \\\"the mental health of our students is a very, very high priority\\\". After the death of undergraduate student Rachael Shaw Rosenbaum by suicide, an organization called Elis for Rachael was formed, advocating for mental health-related reforms. The group has sued Yale, demanding changes. Notable people Benefactors Yale has had many financial supporters, but some stand out by the magnitude or timeliness of their contributions. Among those\",\n \"Among those who have made large donations commemorated at the university are:Elihu Yale,Jeremiah Dummer, theVanderbiltfamily, theHarknessfamily (Edward,Anna, andWilliam), theBeineckefamily (Edwin,Frederick, and Walter),John William Sterling,Payne Whitney,Joseph Earl Sheffield,Paul Mellon,Charles B. G. Murphy,Joseph Tsai,William K. Lanman, andStephen Schwarzman. The Yale Class of 1954, led byRichard Gilder, donated $70 million in commemoration of their 50th reunion.Charles B. Johnson, a 1954 graduate of Yale College, pledged a $250 million gift in 2013 to support the construction of two new residential colleges.The colleges have been named respectively in honor ofPauli MurrayandBenjamin Franklin. A $100 million contributionbyStephen Adamsenabled theYale School of Musicto become tuition-free and the Adams Center for Musical Arts to be built, while a $150 million contributionbyDavid Geffenenabled the Yale School of Drama (renamed theDavid Geffen School of Drama at Yale) to become tuition-free as well. Notable\",\n \"as well. Notable alumni Yale has produced many distinguished alumni in various fields, from the public to private sector. According to 2020 data, around 71% of undergraduates join the workforce, while 17% attend graduate or professional schools.Yale graduates have been recipients of 263Rhodes Scholarships,123Marshall Scholarships,67Truman Scholarships,21Churchill Scholarships,and 9Mitchell Scholarships.The university is the 2nd largest producer ofFulbright Scholars, with 1,244 in its historyand 89MacArthur Fellows.The U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs ranked Yale fifth among research institutions producing the most 2020–2021 Fulbright Scholars.31living billionairesare alumni. One of the most popular undergraduate majors is political science, with many going on to serve in government and politics.Former presidents who attended for undergrad includeWilliam Howard Taft,George H. W. Bush, andGeorge W. Bushwhile former presidentsGerald FordandBill Clintonattended Yale Law\",\n \"Yale Law School.Former vice-president and influentialantebellum erapoliticianJohn C. Calhounalso graduated from Yale. Former world leaders include Italian prime ministerMario Monti,Turkish prime ministerTansu Çiller,South Korean prime ministerLee Hong-koo,Mexican presidentErnesto Zedillo,German presidentKarl Carstens,Philippine presidentJosé Paciano Laurel,Latvian presidentValdis Zatlers,Taiwanese premierJiang Yi-huah,and Malawian presidentPeter Mutharika,among others. Prominent royals who graduated areCrown Princess Victoria of Sweden,andOlympia Bonaparte, Princess Napoléon. Alumni have had considerable presence in U.S. government in all three branches. On theU.S. Supreme Court, 19 justices have been alumni, including currentAssociate JusticesSonia Sotomayor,Samuel Alito,Clarence Thomas,andBrett Kavanaugh.Alumni have beenU.S. Senators, including current senatorsMichael Bennet,Richard Blumenthal,Cory Booker,Sherrod Brown,Chris Coons,Amy Klobuchar,Sheldon Whitehouse,andJD Vance.Current and former cabinet\",\n \"and former cabinet members include Secretaries of StateJohn Kerry,Hillary Clinton,Cyrus Vance,andDean Acheson;U.S. Secretaries of the TreasuryOliver Wolcott,Robert Rubin,Nicholas F. Brady,Steven Mnuchin,andJanet Yellen;U.S. Attorneys GeneralNicholas Katzenbach,Edwin Meese,John Ashcroft,andEdward H. Levi;and many others. Peace Corps founder and American diplomatSargent Shriverand public official and urban plannerRobert Mosesare Yale alumni. Yale has produced numerous award-winning authors and influential writers,likeNobel Prize in LiteraturelaureateSinclair LewisandPulitzer PrizewinnersStephen Vincent Benét,Thornton Wilder,Doug Wright,andDavid McCullough.Academy Awardwinning actors, actresses, and directors includeJodie Foster,Paul Newman,Meryl Streep,Elia Kazan,George Roy Hill,Lupita Nyong'o,Oliver Stone,andFrances McDormand.Alumni from Yale have also made notable contributions to both music and the arts. Leading American composer from the 20th centuryCharles Ives,Broadway composerCole Porter,Grammy\",\n \"Porter,Grammy awardwinnerDavid Lang,multi-Tony Awardwinner Composer and MusicologistMaury Yeston,and award-winning jazz pianist and composerVijay Iyerall hail from Yale.Hugo Boss PrizewinnerMatthew Barney,famed American sculptorRichard Serra,President Barack Obama presidential portrait painterKehinde Wiley,MacArthur Fellowsand contemporary artistsTschabalala Self,Titus Kaphar,Richard Whitten, andSarah Sze,Pulitzer Prizewinning cartoonistGarry Trudeau,andNational Medal of Artsphotorealist painterChuck Closeall graduated from Yale. Additional alumni include architect andPresidential Medal of FreedomwinnerMaya Lin,Pritzker PrizewinnerNorman Foster,andGateway ArchdesignerEero Saarinen.Journalists and pundits includeDick Cavett,Chris Cuomo,Anderson Cooper,William F. Buckley Jr.,Blake Hounshell,andFareed Zakaria. In business, Yale has had numerous alumni and former students go on to become founders of influential business, likeWilliam Boeing(Boeing,United Airlines),Briton HaddenandHenry Luce(Time Magazine),Stephen\",\n \"Magazine),Stephen A. Schwarzman(Blackstone Group),Frederick W. Smith(FedEx),Juan Trippe(Pan Am),Harold Stanley(Morgan Stanley),Bing Gordon(Electronic Arts), andBen Silbermann(Pinterest). Other business people from Yale include former chairman and CEO ofSears HoldingsEdward Lampert,formerTime WarnerpresidentJeffrey Bewkes,formerPepsiCochairperson and CEOIndra Nooyi,sports agentDonald Dell,and investor/philanthropist SirJohn Templeton, Alumni distinguished in academia include literary critic and historianHenry Louis Gates,economistsIrving Fischer,Mahbub ul Haq,and Nobel Prize laureatePaul Krugman;Nobel Prize in PhysicslaureatesErnest LawrenceandMurray Gell-Mann;Fields MedalistJohn G. Thompson;Human Genome Projectleader andNational Institutes of HealthdirectorFrancis S. Collins;brain surgery pioneerHarvey Cushing;pioneering computer scientistGrace Hopper;influential mathematician and chemistJosiah Willard Gibbs;National Women's Hall of Fameinductee and biochemistFlorence B. Seibert;Turing AwardrecipientRon\",\n \"AwardrecipientRon Rivest;inventorsSamuel F.B. MorseandEli Whitney;Nobel Prize in ChemistrylaureateJohn B. Goodenough;lexicographerNoah Webster;and theologiansJonathan EdwardsandReinhold Niebuhr. In the sporting arena, alumni include baseball playersRon DarlingandCraig Breslowwho in the major leagues played with fellow Yale alumRyan Lavarnwayand baseball executivesTheo EpsteinandGeorge Weiss;football playersCalvin Hill,Gary Fenick,Amos Alonzo Stagg,and \\\"the Father of American Football\\\"Walter Camp;ice hockey playersChris Higginsand OlympianHelen Resor;Olympic figure skating championsSarah HughesandNathan Chen;nine-timeU.S. Squashmen's championJulian Illingworth;Olympic swimmerDon Schollander;Olympic rowersJosh WestandRusty Wailes;Olympic sailorStuart McNay;Olympic runnerFrank Shorter;and others. In fiction and popular culture Yale University is a cultural referent as an institution that produces some of the most elite members of societyand its grounds, alumni, and students have been prominently portrayed in\",\n \"portrayed in fiction and U.S. popular culture. For example,Owen Johnson's novelStover at Yalefollows the college career of Dink Stover,andFrank Merriwell, the model for all later juvenile sports fiction, plays football, baseball, crew, and track at Yale while solving mysteries and righting wrongs.Yale University also is mentioned in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novelThe Great Gatsby. The narrator, Nick Carraway, wrote a series of editorials for theYale News, and Tom Buchanan was \\\"one of the most powerfulendsthat ever played football\\\" for Yale. Notes References Further reading External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":67,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Which player scored more than 15 goals in Eredevisie during the 21-22 season and had previously played for Auxerre?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"Sébastien Haller scored 21 goals that season and previously played for Auxerre."},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021–22_Eredivisie"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sébastien_Haller"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loïs_Openda"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vangelis_Pavlidis"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_van_Wolfswinkel"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Tabular reasoning | Multiple constraints | Temporal reasoning"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021–22_Eredivisie', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sébastien_Haller', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loïs_Openda', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vangelis_Pavlidis', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_van_Wolfswinkel']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021–22_Eredivisie","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sébastien_Haller","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loïs_Openda","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vangelis_Pavlidis","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_van_Wolfswinkel"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021–22_Eredivisie\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sébastien_Haller\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loïs_Openda\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vangelis_Pavlidis\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_van_Wolfswinkel\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["2021–22 Eredivisie The2021–22 Eredivisiewas the 66th season ofEredivisie, the premier football competition in theNetherlands. It began on 14 August 2021 and concluded on 15 May 2022. Teams Cambuur(promoted after a five-year absence),Go Ahead EaglesandNEC(both promoted after a four-year absence) were promoted from the2020–21 Eerste Divisie.ADO Den Haag(relegated after thirteen years in the top flight),VVV-Venlo(relegated after four years in the top flight) andEmmen(relegated after three years in the top flight) have been relegated to2021–22 Eerste Divisie. Stadiums and locations Number of teams by province Personnel and kits Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined underFIFAeligibility rules. Players and managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Managerial changes Standings League table Results Fixtures and results Results by round European play-offs The European play-offs were contested by the four highest ranked teams which were not yet qualified for any European tournament. The matches were played on ahome-and-awaybasis, from 18 to 29 May.The winner received a spot in the second qualifying round of the2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League. Qualified teams Bracket Semi-finals First legs Second legs Final First leg Second leg Promotion/relegation play-offs The seeds were assigned based on the final ranking after the regular season. The best ranked team got the highest seed (lowest number). Eredivisie teams were considered to be better ranked than Eerste Divisie teams. If a match was level at the end of normal playing time, extra time was played (two periods of fifteen minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners. Seven teams, six from the Eerste Divisie and one from the Eredivisie, played for a spot in the2022–23 Eredivisie. The remaining six teams played in the2022–23 Eerste Divisie. The highest seeded team or the team from the Eredivisie always host the second leg. Qualified teams Bracket First round First legs Second legs Semi-finals First legs Second legs Final First leg Second leg Statistics Top scorers Hat-tricks Top assists Clean sheets Discipline Player Club Awards Monthly awards Annual awards References External links","Sébastien Haller Sébastien Romain Teddy Haller(French pronunciation:; born 22 June 1994) is a professionalfootballerwho plays as astrikerforLa LigaclubLeganés, on loan fromBundesligaclubBorussia Dortmund. Born in France, he plays for theIvory Coast national team. Haller began his career in France withAuxerre, and moved on loan toEredivisiesideUtrechtin 2015, before signing on a permanent basis. Two years later, he moved to the German clubEintracht Frankfurt, winning theDFB-Pokalin 2018.Premier LeaguesideWest Ham Unitedsigned him a year later for a club-record transfer worth €49.8 million (£45 million). Haller returned to the Netherlands in 2021, signing withAjax, for a club record fee of €22.5 million (£18.8 million). In his first six months, he won the Eredivisie and theKNVB Cup. He became the first player to score across seven consecutive UEFA Champions League matches during the2021–22season, and then transferred toBorussia Dortmundfor an initial €31 million. Haller represented France at youth level, before switching his allegiance in 2020 to theIvory Coast. He scored on his international debut againstMadagascar, and represented the national team at theAfrica Cup of Nationsin2021and2023, scoring the winning goal in thefinalof the latter tournament. Early life Haller was born inRis-Orangis, Essonneto a French father and an Ivorian mother. Club career Auxerre During the2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup, on 26 June 2011, Haller signed his first professional contract withAuxerre, agreeing to a three-year deal. Ahead of the2012–13 season, Haller was promoted to the senior team bymanagerJean-Guy Wallemme. His professional debut came on 27 July 2012, in the team's openingleaguematch of the 2012–13 campaign againstNîmes. Utrecht On 24 December 2014, it was announced that Haller was sent on loan toEredivisieclubUtrechtuntil the end of the season.At the end of the season, it was announced that FC Utrecht had signed Haller.The supporters voted for Haller as the winner of theDi Tommaso Trophy2015, Utrecht's player of the year award. Eintracht Frankfurt On 15 May 2017, Haller signed withEintracht Frankfurton a four-year deal for a reported fee of €7 million.In the2017–18 DFB-Pokal, he scored four goals for Frankfurt, as the club won thefinal, marking the first trophy of Haller's career. In the2018–19 Bundesligaseason, he scored 15 league goals in 29 appearances as the club finished seventh.In addition to his goals scored, he also made nineassists, meaning he was involved in 24 goals, a figure only beaten in the 2018–19 season byRobert Lewandowskiwith 29. West Ham United On 17 July 2019, Haller signed withWest Ham Unitedon a five-year deal for a club record fee, that could rise to £45 million.He made his debut on 10 August, playing the full 90 minutes of a 5–0Premier Leagueloss against reigningchampionsManchester City.Two weeks later, he scored his first goals in a 3–1 away win againstWatfordin which the latter was an acrobaticbicycle kick.Haller struggled at West Ham, attributing it toDavid MoyesreplacingManuel Pellegrinias manager and then preferringMichail Antonioup front, as well as the ill health of his wife and newborn son. In July 2020, Frankfurt reported West Ham toFIFAafter they had failed to pay an instalment in May 2020 of £5.4 million as part of the £45 million transfer. West Ham claimed that they had withheld the payment, following a contractual dispute between the two clubs.On 16 December, Haller scored an overhead kick in a 1–1 draw againstCrystal Palacethat was voted as thePremier League Goal of the Month. Ajax On 8 January 2021, Haller signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with Dutch clubAjaxfor a club record fee of €22.5 million (£18.8 million), reuniting with his former Utrecht managerErik ten Hag.He made his debut two days later as a second-half substitute againstDe Topper rivalsPSV, assistingAntonyfor the equaliser in a 2–2 draw.On 14 January, he scored his first goal, and provided an assist, in a 3–1 away win overTwente.On 3 February, Haller was mistakenly omitted from the club's list for the knockout stages of theUEFA Europa Leagueand therefore would be unable to play for the club in the competition. In a 5–1 away victory overSporting CPin theUEFA Champions Leagueon 15 September 2021, Haller scored twice in each half to become the first player to score four on his Champions League debut sinceMarco van BastenforA.C. Milanin 1992; the Dutchman had however already played in the competition under its former name of the European Cup.In the following fixture 13 days later, he recorded a goal againstBeşiktaş, becoming the first player in the history of the competition to score five goals in his first two match appearances;against the same team on 24 November, Haller scored twice in a 2–1 win to become the first player to score nine goals in five consecutive matches of the competition.On 7 December, Haller scored in his team's Champions League group stage match, becoming only the second player to register in all six group games afterCristiano Ronaldoin2017–18and became the fastest player to 10 goals in competition history.He also joined Ronaldo,Lionel MessiandRobert Lewandowskias the only players to score in the double-digits for goals in the group stage.On 23 February 2022, he made amends for an earlier own goal, and helped Ajax to a 2–2 away draw againstBenficain the last, becoming the first player to score in seven consecutive matches in the competition;his side lost 3–2 aggregate. With 21 league goals in 31 games, he finished theseasonasEredivisie top scorer. Borussia Dortmund On 6 July 2022, Haller signed a contract withBorussia Dortmunduntil 30 June 2026.The transfer fee paid was€31 million, which could be increased to as much as €34.5 million after undisclosed bonuses.However, on 18 July, the forward withdrew from the club's pre-season training camp in Switzerland, after he was diagnosed with amalignanttesticular tumour.He then underwent twosurgeriesand four cycles ofchemotherapyin order to control the spread of the disease. After successfully completing his treatments, in January 2023 Haller was officially allowed to return to full-time training, as he joined the rest of Dortmund's team at their winter camp inMarbella.On 10 January, he played his first match in almost eight months, featuring in the final minutes of afriendlyagainstFortuna Düsseldorf.Three days later, he scored a hat-trick within eight minutes in a 6–0 victory in another friendly againstBasel.On 22 January, Haller came on as a second half substitute in a 4–3 home win againstAugsburg, finally making his competitive debut for Dortmund after a 6-month battle with cancer.On 4 February, he scored his first professional goal for the club in a 5–1 win againstFreiburg.Haller missed a crucial penalty, when his team was trailing 1–0, during the final game of the2022–23 Bundesligaseason which ended in a 2–2 draw withMainz. Borussia Dortmund subsequently suffered final-day heartbreak as they missed out on a first Bundesliga title for 11 years on goal difference.In 2023–24, he sustained an ankle injury which sidelined him for most of the season, in which he only scored three goals including two againstTSV Schott Mainzin theDFB-Pokaland one againstAtlético Madridin theChampions League quarter-final. Loan to Leganés On 30 August 2024, just before the transfer window closed, Haller joinedLa LigaclubLeganéson loan for the 2024–25 season. International career Youth Haller was aFrance youth international, having represented his country of birth at every youth level and totalling 51capsand 27 goals. He played with theunder-17 teamat the2011 FIFA U-17 World Cupin Mexico,scoring in a 3–0 win overArgentinain the opening group game. On 14 November 2013, Haller made hisunder-21debut, coming on forAnthony Martialin the 57th minute againstArmeniain a European qualifier inToulouseand scoring to conclude a 6–0 win.He scored a hat-trick on 25 March 2015 in a friendly win of the same score againstEstonia,and he did the same on 10 November 2016 in a 5–1 win over theIvory Coastat theStade Pierre Brisson. Senior In November 2020, Haller was called up to theIvory Coast national team.He debuted in a 2–12021 Africa Cup of Nations qualificationwin overMadagascaron 12 November, scoring his side's game-winning goal in the 55th minute.He was called up for the finals in Cameroon, where he scored in a 2–2 group stage draw withSierra Leone;in the last 16 againstEgypt, he was substituted at half time in extra time forMaxwel Cornetas the side lost on penalties. In December 2023, he was named in the Ivorian squad for the2023 Africa Cup of Nationshosted in his home nation.In the semi-final match againstDR Congo, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory, which qualified his country to thefinal.He later scored the winning goal in the final match againstNigeriawhich ended in a 2–1 victory. Personal life In 2022 Haller was diagnosed withtesticular cancer, which he overcame, returning to professional football in January 2023. Career statistics Club International Honours Eintracht Frankfurt Ajax Ivory Coast Individual References External links","Loïs Openda Ikoma-Loïs Openda(born 16 February 2000) is a Belgian professionalfootballerwho plays as astrikerforBundesligaclubRB Leipzigand theBelgium national team. Club career Early career Openda played as a youth for Patro Othee FC andRFC Liègebefore joining the youth academy ofStandard Liège. Club Brugge In 2015, he moved to the academy ofClub Brugge, where he made his senior debut on 10 August 2018 in theBelgian Pro LeagueagainstKortrijk. Openda replacedJelle Vossenafter 80 minutes. Loan to Vitesse On 21 July 2020, Openda joined DutchEredivisieclubVitesseon a season-long loan deal.He scored his first goal for the club on 3 October, in a 3–0 win overHeracles Almelo.Vitesse reached the final of theKNVB Cup, but lost 2–1 toAjax. Openda scored the only goal for theArnhem-based team.In June 2021, Openda rejoined Vitesse on loan for another season. Lens On 6 July 2022,Lensannounced the signing of Openda on a five-year deal from Club Brugge.The striker scored his first goal againstInter Milanin a friendly game on 22 July.On 28 October, he scored his first hat-trick for Lens in a 3–0 win overToulouse.After eight matches without scoring, on 12 March 2023, he scored thefastest hat-trickin Ligue 1 within four minutes and 30 seconds in a 4–0 away win overClermont, beating the previous record ofMatt Moussilou. RB Leipzig On 14 July 2023, Openda signed forBundesligaclubRB Leipzigon a five-year contract.The transfer fee reported was in the region of €43 to €46 million, with potential bonuses adding up to €6 million.On 19 August, he scored his first goal on his Bundesliga debut in a 3–2 defeat againstBayer Leverkusen.On 4 October, he netted his firstChampions Leaguegoal in a 1–3 home defeat againstManchester City.On 28 November, Openda scored twice at theCity of Manchester Stadiumagainst Manchester City, although his team lost 3–2.He finished his debutBundesliga seasonat the club as their top scorer with 24 goals, only behindHarry KaneandSerhou Guirassyin the league. On 31 August 2024, Openda scored two goals against Bayer Leverkusen to end their unbeatenBundesligastreak for the first time in 15 months. International career On 18 May 2022, Openda was named to the squad for the four2022–23 UEFA Nations Leaguematches on 3, 8, 10 and 13 June 2022 againstNetherlands,Poland(twice) andWalesrespectively. He played again against Wales in the UEFA Nations League on 13 September 2022. On 10 November 2022, he was named in the final squad for the2022 FIFA World Cupin Qatar. Personal life Openda is of Moroccanand Congolese descent.Openda is aChristian. Career statistics Club International Scores and results list Belgium's goal tally first. Honours Club Brugge RB Leipzig Individual References External links","Vangelis Pavlidis Evangelos \"Vangelis\" Pavlidis(Greek:Βαγγέλης Παυλίδης; born 21 November 1998) is a Greek professionalfootballerwho plays as acentre forwardforPrimeira LigaclubBenficaand theGreece national team. Club career VfL Bochum On 9 April 2016, Pavlidis signed a professional contract until the summer of 2019. On 15 May 2016, he made his debut with the club as a substitute in a2. Bundesliga4–2 away win against1. FC Heidenheim. Loan to Borussia Dortmund II On 26 January 2018, Pavlidis joinedBorussia Dortmund IIon loan for the second half of the season.On 22 June 2018, Pavlidis loan spell was extended until summer 2019. Loan to Willem II On 17 January 2019,Willem IIconfirmed the signing Pavlidis on loan from Bochum until the end of the2018–19 season.On 23 January 2019, he scored his first goal with the club afterMarios Vrousai's assist in a 3–2 awayKNVB Bekerwin againstFC Twente.On 16 February 2019, he scored his first goal inEredivisie. Willem II On 29 April 2019, Pavlidis signed a permanent deal with the club.Subsequently that year, on 2 August, in the opening game of the2019–20 EredivisiePavlidis scored twice as Willem II defeatedPEC Zwolle3–1. AZ Alkmaar On 9 July 2021, Pavlidis signed a contract until 2025 at Dutch clubAZ Alkmaar. Later that year, on 1 December, Pavlidis is one of the eleven nominees for the 2021Puskás Award. Benfica On 1 July 2024, Pavlidis joinedPrimeira LigasideBenficaon a permanent deal, signing a five-year contract with the club;the transfer reportedly commanded an€18 million fee, plus €2 million in possible add-ons, and a 10% sell-on clause in favor of AZ Alkmaar. He made his competitive debut for his new club in a 2–0 loss toFamalicãoon 11 August 2024,and scored his first goal in a 3–0 win againstCasa Piathree days later. International career On 29 August 2019, Pavlidis was called up to theGreek senior teamby coachJohn van 't Schipfor the forthcomingEuro 2020qualifiers againstFinlandandLiechtenstein.On 10 October 2024, he scored two goals againstEnglandin a 2–1 awayNations Leaguevictory, marking the first time Greece had beaten their opponents. In his celebration, he paid an emotional tribute to his recently deceased national teammateGeorge Baldock, who had died the day prior. He held aloft a shirt with Baldock's name on it. Career statistics Club International Personal life He was born inThessaloniki, but his parents came from the village ofKatachasinPieria. Honours Individual References External links","Ricky van Wolfswinkel Ricky van Wolfswinkel(Dutch pronunciation:; born 27 January 1989) is a Dutch professionalfootballerwho plays as astrikerforEredivisieclubFC Twente. He has played top-flight football in the Netherlands, Portugal, England, France, Spain and Switzerland and has beencappedtwice by theNetherlands national team. Club career Vitesse Van Wolfswinkel started his football career at the D-pupils ofVitesse Arnhem. In the A-juniors, he became top scorer in the national first division, winning a prize awarded by theRoyal Dutch Football Association(KNVB) for the feat. This prize was presented byWesley Sneijderin 2007.On 5 April 2008, Van Wolfswinkel made his debut for Vitesse's first team in a match againstSparta Rotterdam, in which he was the substitute in the 85th minute forSanti Kolk. AgainstDe Graafschap, in the2008–09season, he was in the starting lineup for the first time. In his third match that season, against Sparta Rotterdam, he scored his firstEredivisiegoal. Utrecht On 29 May 2009, Van Wolfswinkel announced his departure from Vitesse, subsequently signing a three-year contract withFC Utrecht.He began the2010–11league campaign with a goal in a 3–1 loss againstFeyenoord. On 22 August 2010, he scored two goals againstWillem IIresulting in a 3–0 win for Utrecht. On 26 August 2010, Van Wolfswinkel scored a hat-trick againstCelticin theUEFA Europa League; Utrecht went on to win the match 4–0.On 3 October 2010, Van Wolfswinkel scored two penalties againstAjaxto gain a 2–1 away win over the Dutch runners-up. Sporting CP On 3 June 2011, Van Wolfswinkel moved toSporting CP, signing a five-year contract on a €5.4 million deal;Sporting CP was given financial aid bySporting Portugal FundandQuality Sports Investments. He scored his first goal for Sporting on 10 September 2011 againstPaços de Ferreirain a 3–2 win. He was theSJPF Player of the Monthfor September 2011. Overall, he scored a total of 25 goals during the2011–12season, including a hat-trick in the final game, a 3–2 win overBragaat theEstádio José Alvaladeon 12 May 2012. In his second season inLisbon, Van Wolfswinkel recorded another 14 league goals in 30 games, although his team missed out on European competition by finishing 7th. He scored a hat-trick, again in a 3–2 win over Braga, on 1 April 2013. Norwich City On 22 March 2013, it was announced that Van Wolfswinkel had agreed a deal to join English clubNorwich Cityfor the2013–14season, a transfer worth €10 million, plus up to €2 million in bonuses.He joined the Canaries on 1 July on a four-year deal.He stated that the famous Netherlands playerJohan Neeskenshad urged him to join Norwich, saying, \"Ricky, you have to go. It's a great club for you. If you have a great feeling, do it.\" He scored on his league debut on 17 August, in a 2–2 home draw for Norwich againstEverton.After the match, he said in an interview thatManchester UnitedandNetherlandsinternationalRobin van Persiealso recommended Norwich to him. Van Persie was reported to have told Van Wolfswinkel that Norwich are \"a difficult team to beat\" and that the \"crowd always get really behind them.\" Van Wolfswinkel was involved in controversy in the 0–0 home draw againstCardiff Cityon 26 October 2013. After teammateAlexander Tetteywas injured, Cardiff goalkeeperDavid Marshallsportingly put the ball out of play. Van Wolfswinkel quickly threw the ball toLeroy Fer, who kicked the ball into the goal. This caused outrage amongst the Cardiff players, who started shoving both Van Wolfswinkel and Fer. The goal was disallowed despite it not technically being a violation of any rules.In February 2014, he was alleged to have been kicked byManchester City'sYaya Touré, who was investigated, and Van Wolfswinkel welcomedThe FA's verdict that Touré had done no wrong. Van Wolfswinkel failed to score for the remainder of the season, making 25 Premier League appearances in total,while Norwich were relegated to theChampionshipafter finishing with only 33 points. Loans On 5 August 2014, Van Wolfswinkel joinedSaint-Étienneof the FrenchLigue 1on a season-long loan. He stated that his goal was to work hard for the team and to be important for the club.Van Wolfswinkel scored his first goal for the club on 25 September, the first goal in the 1–1 home draw againstBordeaux.On 30 November, he scored the second goal as the team won 3–0 in theDerby du RhôneagainstLyon, his team's first home win over their rivals in 20 years. Upon his return to Norwich from his loan spell at Saint-Étienne, he scored againstRotherham Unitedin theLeague Cupsecond round on 25 August 2015, a 2–1 away win. On 31 August 2015, Van Wolfswinkel joinedReal Betisof the SpanishLa Ligaon a season-long loan.On 24 September, he made his first appearance in a 2–1 home defeat toDeportivo La Coruña, replacingJorge Molinain the 59th minute.He scored his first two goals on 15 December in aCopa del Reytie againstSporting Gijón, which finished as a 3–3 draw,and on 19 April 2016, he finally scored his first La Liga goal in a 1–0 home victory overLas Palmas. Return to Vitesse On 28 July 2016, Van Wolfswinkel rejoined Vitesse for an undisclosed fee from Norwich.On 6 August, he marked his comeback with a goal in the 21st minute to give Vitesse a 1–0 lead in an eventual 4–1 away victory overWillem II. He ultimately scored 20 goals in 32 games for the league season, one behind Golden Boot winnerNicolai Jørgensen. This included a hat-trick on 8 April 2017 in a 4–2 win overHeerenveenat theGelreDome.He scored two goals in the final of theKNVB Bekeragainst AZ on 30 April 2017 to lead the club to the title for the first time in its 125-year history. Basel On 14 June 2017, it was announced that van Wolfswinkel would join Swiss sideBaselon a three-year deal.He joined Basel's first team for their2017–18 seasonunder head coachRaphaël Wicky. After playing in five test games van Wolfswinkel played his first team league debut for his new club on 22 July in the 2–0 away defeat againstYoung Boysin theStade de Suisse.He scored his first goal for his new club in the next match in the 3–1 home win in theSt. Jakob-ParkagainstLuzernon 30 July.On 10 August, van Wolfswinkel scored twice as Basel beatGrasshoppers3–2; his first double strike for the club meant that he scored four times in his first four league games for the club. Van Wolfswinkel injured himself during theChampions League group stagehome game againstBenficaon 27 September. The game was won 5–0 and van Wolfswinkel had netted the third goal.However, the injury (a metatarsal fracture) meant that van Wolfswinkel could not play again in the first half of the season. He returned to the team after three months on 17 December in the 2–0 away win against Grasshoppers being substituted in five minutes from time. Under trainerMarcel KollerBasel won theSwiss Cup in the 2018–19 season. In the first round Basel beat FC Montlingen 3–0, in the second roundEchallens Région7–2 and in the round of 16Winterthur1–0. In the quarter-finalsSionwere defeated 4–2 after extra time and in the semi-finalsZürichwere defeated 3–1. All these games were played away from home. The final was held on 19 May 2019 in theStade de Suisse Wankdorf BernagainstThun. StrikerAlbian Ajetiscored the first goal,Fabian Freithe second for Basel, thenDejan Sorgićnetted a goal for Thun, but the result remained 2–1 for Basel.Van Wolfswinkel played in five cup games and scored twice. In August 2019, van Wolfswinkel underwent surgery for a brain aneurysm detected during a routine scan for concussion.After some complications and an injury in training, he returned to the squad in June the following year. His contract expired on 31 August 2020, but a week later, he signed for another two years.During their2020–21 seasonunder head coachCiriaco Sforzamade 25 league appearances, mainly as substitute. After the season van Wolfswinkel left the club. Between the years 2017 and 2020 he played a total of 148 games for Basel scoring a total of 54 goals. 88 of these games were in theSwiss Super League, 11 in theSwiss Cup, 16 in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 33 were friendly games. He scored 28 goals in the domestic league, 4 in the cup, 6 in the European games and the other 16 were scored during the test games. International career Van Wolfswinkel played several matches for the Netherlands' national youth sides in various age groupsand in August 2010 was called up for thesenior national teamfor a friendly againstUkraine, during which he made his senior debut.He earned his second full international cap againstIndonesiain June 2013. Career statistics Honours Sporting CP Vitesse Basel Individual References External links"],"string":"[\n \"2021–22 Eredivisie The2021–22 Eredivisiewas the 66th season ofEredivisie, the premier football competition in theNetherlands. It began on 14 August 2021 and concluded on 15 May 2022. Teams Cambuur(promoted after a five-year absence),Go Ahead EaglesandNEC(both promoted after a four-year absence) were promoted from the2020–21 Eerste Divisie.ADO Den Haag(relegated after thirteen years in the top flight),VVV-Venlo(relegated after four years in the top flight) andEmmen(relegated after three years in the top flight) have been relegated to2021–22 Eerste Divisie. Stadiums and locations Number of teams by province Personnel and kits Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined underFIFAeligibility rules. Players and managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Managerial changes Standings League table Results Fixtures and results Results by round European play-offs The European play-offs were contested by the four highest ranked teams which were not yet qualified for any European tournament. The matches were played on ahome-and-awaybasis, from 18 to 29 May.The winner received a spot in the second qualifying round of the2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League. Qualified teams Bracket Semi-finals First legs Second legs Final First leg Second leg Promotion/relegation play-offs The seeds were assigned based on the final ranking after the regular season. The best ranked team got the highest seed (lowest number). Eredivisie teams were considered to be better ranked than Eerste Divisie teams. If a match was level at the end of normal playing time, extra time was played (two periods of fifteen minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners. Seven teams, six from the Eerste Divisie and one from the Eredivisie, played for a spot in the2022–23 Eredivisie. The remaining six teams played in the2022–23 Eerste Divisie. The highest seeded team or the team from the Eredivisie always host the second leg. Qualified teams Bracket First round First legs Second legs Semi-finals First legs Second legs Final First leg Second leg Statistics Top scorers Hat-tricks Top assists Clean sheets Discipline Player Club Awards Monthly awards Annual awards References External links\",\n \"Sébastien Haller Sébastien Romain Teddy Haller(French pronunciation:; born 22 June 1994) is a professionalfootballerwho plays as astrikerforLa LigaclubLeganés, on loan fromBundesligaclubBorussia Dortmund. Born in France, he plays for theIvory Coast national team. Haller began his career in France withAuxerre, and moved on loan toEredivisiesideUtrechtin 2015, before signing on a permanent basis. Two years later, he moved to the German clubEintracht Frankfurt, winning theDFB-Pokalin 2018.Premier LeaguesideWest Ham Unitedsigned him a year later for a club-record transfer worth €49.8 million (£45 million). Haller returned to the Netherlands in 2021, signing withAjax, for a club record fee of €22.5 million (£18.8 million). In his first six months, he won the Eredivisie and theKNVB Cup. He became the first player to score across seven consecutive UEFA Champions League matches during the2021–22season, and then transferred toBorussia Dortmundfor an initial €31 million. Haller represented France at youth level, before switching his allegiance in 2020 to theIvory Coast. He scored on his international debut againstMadagascar, and represented the national team at theAfrica Cup of Nationsin2021and2023, scoring the winning goal in thefinalof the latter tournament. Early life Haller was born inRis-Orangis, Essonneto a French father and an Ivorian mother. Club career Auxerre During the2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup, on 26 June 2011, Haller signed his first professional contract withAuxerre, agreeing to a three-year deal. Ahead of the2012–13 season, Haller was promoted to the senior team bymanagerJean-Guy Wallemme. His professional debut came on 27 July 2012, in the team's openingleaguematch of the 2012–13 campaign againstNîmes. Utrecht On 24 December 2014, it was announced that Haller was sent on loan toEredivisieclubUtrechtuntil the end of the season.At the end of the season, it was announced that FC Utrecht had signed Haller.The supporters voted for Haller as the winner of theDi Tommaso Trophy2015, Utrecht's player of the year award. Eintracht Frankfurt On 15 May 2017, Haller signed withEintracht Frankfurton a four-year deal for a reported fee of €7 million.In the2017–18 DFB-Pokal, he scored four goals for Frankfurt, as the club won thefinal, marking the first trophy of Haller's career. In the2018–19 Bundesligaseason, he scored 15 league goals in 29 appearances as the club finished seventh.In addition to his goals scored, he also made nineassists, meaning he was involved in 24 goals, a figure only beaten in the 2018–19 season byRobert Lewandowskiwith 29. West Ham United On 17 July 2019, Haller signed withWest Ham Unitedon a five-year deal for a club record fee, that could rise to £45 million.He made his debut on 10 August, playing the full 90 minutes of a 5–0Premier Leagueloss against reigningchampionsManchester City.Two weeks later, he scored his first goals in a 3–1 away win againstWatfordin which the latter was an acrobaticbicycle kick.Haller struggled at West Ham, attributing it toDavid MoyesreplacingManuel Pellegrinias manager and then preferringMichail Antonioup front, as well as the ill health of his wife and newborn son. In July 2020, Frankfurt reported West Ham toFIFAafter they had failed to pay an instalment in May 2020 of £5.4 million as part of the £45 million transfer. West Ham claimed that they had withheld the payment, following a contractual dispute between the two clubs.On 16 December, Haller scored an overhead kick in a 1–1 draw againstCrystal Palacethat was voted as thePremier League Goal of the Month. Ajax On 8 January 2021, Haller signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with Dutch clubAjaxfor a club record fee of €22.5 million (£18.8 million), reuniting with his former Utrecht managerErik ten Hag.He made his debut two days later as a second-half substitute againstDe Topper rivalsPSV, assistingAntonyfor the equaliser in a 2–2 draw.On 14 January, he scored his first goal, and provided an assist, in a 3–1 away win overTwente.On 3 February, Haller was mistakenly omitted from the club's list for the knockout stages of theUEFA Europa Leagueand therefore would be unable to play for the club in the competition. In a 5–1 away victory overSporting CPin theUEFA Champions Leagueon 15 September 2021, Haller scored twice in each half to become the first player to score four on his Champions League debut sinceMarco van BastenforA.C. Milanin 1992; the Dutchman had however already played in the competition under its former name of the European Cup.In the following fixture 13 days later, he recorded a goal againstBeşiktaş, becoming the first player in the history of the competition to score five goals in his first two match appearances;against the same team on 24 November, Haller scored twice in a 2–1 win to become the first player to score nine goals in five consecutive matches of the competition.On 7 December, Haller scored in his team's Champions League group stage match, becoming only the second player to register in all six group games afterCristiano Ronaldoin2017–18and became the fastest player to 10 goals in competition history.He also joined Ronaldo,Lionel MessiandRobert Lewandowskias the only players to score in the double-digits for goals in the group stage.On 23 February 2022, he made amends for an earlier own goal, and helped Ajax to a 2–2 away draw againstBenficain the last, becoming the first player to score in seven consecutive matches in the competition;his side lost 3–2 aggregate. With 21 league goals in 31 games, he finished theseasonasEredivisie top scorer. Borussia Dortmund On 6 July 2022, Haller signed a contract withBorussia Dortmunduntil 30 June 2026.The transfer fee paid was€31 million, which could be increased to as much as €34.5 million after undisclosed bonuses.However, on 18 July, the forward withdrew from the club's pre-season training camp in Switzerland, after he was diagnosed with amalignanttesticular tumour.He then underwent twosurgeriesand four cycles ofchemotherapyin order to control the spread of the disease. After successfully completing his treatments, in January 2023 Haller was officially allowed to return to full-time training, as he joined the rest of Dortmund's team at their winter camp inMarbella.On 10 January, he played his first match in almost eight months, featuring in the final minutes of afriendlyagainstFortuna Düsseldorf.Three days later, he scored a hat-trick within eight minutes in a 6–0 victory in another friendly againstBasel.On 22 January, Haller came on as a second half substitute in a 4–3 home win againstAugsburg, finally making his competitive debut for Dortmund after a 6-month battle with cancer.On 4 February, he scored his first professional goal for the club in a 5–1 win againstFreiburg.Haller missed a crucial penalty, when his team was trailing 1–0, during the final game of the2022–23 Bundesligaseason which ended in a 2–2 draw withMainz. Borussia Dortmund subsequently suffered final-day heartbreak as they missed out on a first Bundesliga title for 11 years on goal difference.In 2023–24, he sustained an ankle injury which sidelined him for most of the season, in which he only scored three goals including two againstTSV Schott Mainzin theDFB-Pokaland one againstAtlético Madridin theChampions League quarter-final. Loan to Leganés On 30 August 2024, just before the transfer window closed, Haller joinedLa LigaclubLeganéson loan for the 2024–25 season. International career Youth Haller was aFrance youth international, having represented his country of birth at every youth level and totalling 51capsand 27 goals. He played with theunder-17 teamat the2011 FIFA U-17 World Cupin Mexico,scoring in a 3–0 win overArgentinain the opening group game. On 14 November 2013, Haller made hisunder-21debut, coming on forAnthony Martialin the 57th minute againstArmeniain a European qualifier inToulouseand scoring to conclude a 6–0 win.He scored a hat-trick on 25 March 2015 in a friendly win of the same score againstEstonia,and he did the same on 10 November 2016 in a 5–1 win over theIvory Coastat theStade Pierre Brisson. Senior In November 2020, Haller was called up to theIvory Coast national team.He debuted in a 2–12021 Africa Cup of Nations qualificationwin overMadagascaron 12 November, scoring his side's game-winning goal in the 55th minute.He was called up for the finals in Cameroon, where he scored in a 2–2 group stage draw withSierra Leone;in the last 16 againstEgypt, he was substituted at half time in extra time forMaxwel Cornetas the side lost on penalties. In December 2023, he was named in the Ivorian squad for the2023 Africa Cup of Nationshosted in his home nation.In the semi-final match againstDR Congo, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory, which qualified his country to thefinal.He later scored the winning goal in the final match againstNigeriawhich ended in a 2–1 victory. Personal life In 2022 Haller was diagnosed withtesticular cancer, which he overcame, returning to professional football in January 2023. Career statistics Club International Honours Eintracht Frankfurt Ajax Ivory Coast Individual References External links\",\n \"Loïs Openda Ikoma-Loïs Openda(born 16 February 2000) is a Belgian professionalfootballerwho plays as astrikerforBundesligaclubRB Leipzigand theBelgium national team. Club career Early career Openda played as a youth for Patro Othee FC andRFC Liègebefore joining the youth academy ofStandard Liège. Club Brugge In 2015, he moved to the academy ofClub Brugge, where he made his senior debut on 10 August 2018 in theBelgian Pro LeagueagainstKortrijk. Openda replacedJelle Vossenafter 80 minutes. Loan to Vitesse On 21 July 2020, Openda joined DutchEredivisieclubVitesseon a season-long loan deal.He scored his first goal for the club on 3 October, in a 3–0 win overHeracles Almelo.Vitesse reached the final of theKNVB Cup, but lost 2–1 toAjax. Openda scored the only goal for theArnhem-based team.In June 2021, Openda rejoined Vitesse on loan for another season. Lens On 6 July 2022,Lensannounced the signing of Openda on a five-year deal from Club Brugge.The striker scored his first goal againstInter Milanin a friendly game on 22 July.On 28 October, he scored his first hat-trick for Lens in a 3–0 win overToulouse.After eight matches without scoring, on 12 March 2023, he scored thefastest hat-trickin Ligue 1 within four minutes and 30 seconds in a 4–0 away win overClermont, beating the previous record ofMatt Moussilou. RB Leipzig On 14 July 2023, Openda signed forBundesligaclubRB Leipzigon a five-year contract.The transfer fee reported was in the region of €43 to €46 million, with potential bonuses adding up to €6 million.On 19 August, he scored his first goal on his Bundesliga debut in a 3–2 defeat againstBayer Leverkusen.On 4 October, he netted his firstChampions Leaguegoal in a 1–3 home defeat againstManchester City.On 28 November, Openda scored twice at theCity of Manchester Stadiumagainst Manchester City, although his team lost 3–2.He finished his debutBundesliga seasonat the club as their top scorer with 24 goals, only behindHarry KaneandSerhou Guirassyin the league. On 31 August 2024, Openda scored two goals against Bayer Leverkusen to end their unbeatenBundesligastreak for the first time in 15 months. International career On 18 May 2022, Openda was named to the squad for the four2022–23 UEFA Nations Leaguematches on 3, 8, 10 and 13 June 2022 againstNetherlands,Poland(twice) andWalesrespectively. He played again against Wales in the UEFA Nations League on 13 September 2022. On 10 November 2022, he was named in the final squad for the2022 FIFA World Cupin Qatar. Personal life Openda is of Moroccanand Congolese descent.Openda is aChristian. Career statistics Club International Scores and results list Belgium's goal tally first. Honours Club Brugge RB Leipzig Individual References External links\",\n \"Vangelis Pavlidis Evangelos \\\"Vangelis\\\" Pavlidis(Greek:Βαγγέλης Παυλίδης; born 21 November 1998) is a Greek professionalfootballerwho plays as acentre forwardforPrimeira LigaclubBenficaand theGreece national team. Club career VfL Bochum On 9 April 2016, Pavlidis signed a professional contract until the summer of 2019. On 15 May 2016, he made his debut with the club as a substitute in a2. Bundesliga4–2 away win against1. FC Heidenheim. Loan to Borussia Dortmund II On 26 January 2018, Pavlidis joinedBorussia Dortmund IIon loan for the second half of the season.On 22 June 2018, Pavlidis loan spell was extended until summer 2019. Loan to Willem II On 17 January 2019,Willem IIconfirmed the signing Pavlidis on loan from Bochum until the end of the2018–19 season.On 23 January 2019, he scored his first goal with the club afterMarios Vrousai's assist in a 3–2 awayKNVB Bekerwin againstFC Twente.On 16 February 2019, he scored his first goal inEredivisie. Willem II On 29 April 2019, Pavlidis signed a permanent deal with the club.Subsequently that year, on 2 August, in the opening game of the2019–20 EredivisiePavlidis scored twice as Willem II defeatedPEC Zwolle3–1. AZ Alkmaar On 9 July 2021, Pavlidis signed a contract until 2025 at Dutch clubAZ Alkmaar. Later that year, on 1 December, Pavlidis is one of the eleven nominees for the 2021Puskás Award. Benfica On 1 July 2024, Pavlidis joinedPrimeira LigasideBenficaon a permanent deal, signing a five-year contract with the club;the transfer reportedly commanded an€18 million fee, plus €2 million in possible add-ons, and a 10% sell-on clause in favor of AZ Alkmaar. He made his competitive debut for his new club in a 2–0 loss toFamalicãoon 11 August 2024,and scored his first goal in a 3–0 win againstCasa Piathree days later. International career On 29 August 2019, Pavlidis was called up to theGreek senior teamby coachJohn van 't Schipfor the forthcomingEuro 2020qualifiers againstFinlandandLiechtenstein.On 10 October 2024, he scored two goals againstEnglandin a 2–1 awayNations Leaguevictory, marking the first time Greece had beaten their opponents. In his celebration, he paid an emotional tribute to his recently deceased national teammateGeorge Baldock, who had died the day prior. He held aloft a shirt with Baldock's name on it. Career statistics Club International Personal life He was born inThessaloniki, but his parents came from the village ofKatachasinPieria. Honours Individual References External links\",\n \"Ricky van Wolfswinkel Ricky van Wolfswinkel(Dutch pronunciation:; born 27 January 1989) is a Dutch professionalfootballerwho plays as astrikerforEredivisieclubFC Twente. He has played top-flight football in the Netherlands, Portugal, England, France, Spain and Switzerland and has beencappedtwice by theNetherlands national team. Club career Vitesse Van Wolfswinkel started his football career at the D-pupils ofVitesse Arnhem. In the A-juniors, he became top scorer in the national first division, winning a prize awarded by theRoyal Dutch Football Association(KNVB) for the feat. This prize was presented byWesley Sneijderin 2007.On 5 April 2008, Van Wolfswinkel made his debut for Vitesse's first team in a match againstSparta Rotterdam, in which he was the substitute in the 85th minute forSanti Kolk. AgainstDe Graafschap, in the2008–09season, he was in the starting lineup for the first time. In his third match that season, against Sparta Rotterdam, he scored his firstEredivisiegoal. Utrecht On 29 May 2009, Van Wolfswinkel announced his departure from Vitesse, subsequently signing a three-year contract withFC Utrecht.He began the2010–11league campaign with a goal in a 3–1 loss againstFeyenoord. On 22 August 2010, he scored two goals againstWillem IIresulting in a 3–0 win for Utrecht. On 26 August 2010, Van Wolfswinkel scored a hat-trick againstCelticin theUEFA Europa League; Utrecht went on to win the match 4–0.On 3 October 2010, Van Wolfswinkel scored two penalties againstAjaxto gain a 2–1 away win over the Dutch runners-up. Sporting CP On 3 June 2011, Van Wolfswinkel moved toSporting CP, signing a five-year contract on a €5.4 million deal;Sporting CP was given financial aid bySporting Portugal FundandQuality Sports Investments. He scored his first goal for Sporting on 10 September 2011 againstPaços de Ferreirain a 3–2 win. He was theSJPF Player of the Monthfor September 2011. Overall, he scored a total of 25 goals during the2011–12season, including a hat-trick in the final game, a 3–2 win overBragaat theEstádio José Alvaladeon 12 May 2012. In his second season inLisbon, Van Wolfswinkel recorded another 14 league goals in 30 games, although his team missed out on European competition by finishing 7th. He scored a hat-trick, again in a 3–2 win over Braga, on 1 April 2013. Norwich City On 22 March 2013, it was announced that Van Wolfswinkel had agreed a deal to join English clubNorwich Cityfor the2013–14season, a transfer worth €10 million, plus up to €2 million in bonuses.He joined the Canaries on 1 July on a four-year deal.He stated that the famous Netherlands playerJohan Neeskenshad urged him to join Norwich, saying, \\\"Ricky, you have to go. It's a great club for you. If you have a great feeling, do it.\\\" He scored on his league debut on 17 August, in a 2–2 home draw for Norwich againstEverton.After the match, he said in an interview thatManchester UnitedandNetherlandsinternationalRobin van Persiealso recommended Norwich to him. Van Persie was reported to have told Van Wolfswinkel that Norwich are \\\"a difficult team to beat\\\" and that the \\\"crowd always get really behind them.\\\" Van Wolfswinkel was involved in controversy in the 0–0 home draw againstCardiff Cityon 26 October 2013. After teammateAlexander Tetteywas injured, Cardiff goalkeeperDavid Marshallsportingly put the ball out of play. Van Wolfswinkel quickly threw the ball toLeroy Fer, who kicked the ball into the goal. This caused outrage amongst the Cardiff players, who started shoving both Van Wolfswinkel and Fer. The goal was disallowed despite it not technically being a violation of any rules.In February 2014, he was alleged to have been kicked byManchester City'sYaya Touré, who was investigated, and Van Wolfswinkel welcomedThe FA's verdict that Touré had done no wrong. Van Wolfswinkel failed to score for the remainder of the season, making 25 Premier League appearances in total,while Norwich were relegated to theChampionshipafter finishing with only 33 points. Loans On 5 August 2014, Van Wolfswinkel joinedSaint-Étienneof the FrenchLigue 1on a season-long loan. He stated that his goal was to work hard for the team and to be important for the club.Van Wolfswinkel scored his first goal for the club on 25 September, the first goal in the 1–1 home draw againstBordeaux.On 30 November, he scored the second goal as the team won 3–0 in theDerby du RhôneagainstLyon, his team's first home win over their rivals in 20 years. Upon his return to Norwich from his loan spell at Saint-Étienne, he scored againstRotherham Unitedin theLeague Cupsecond round on 25 August 2015, a 2–1 away win. On 31 August 2015, Van Wolfswinkel joinedReal Betisof the SpanishLa Ligaon a season-long loan.On 24 September, he made his first appearance in a 2–1 home defeat toDeportivo La Coruña, replacingJorge Molinain the 59th minute.He scored his first two goals on 15 December in aCopa del Reytie againstSporting Gijón, which finished as a 3–3 draw,and on 19 April 2016, he finally scored his first La Liga goal in a 1–0 home victory overLas Palmas. Return to Vitesse On 28 July 2016, Van Wolfswinkel rejoined Vitesse for an undisclosed fee from Norwich.On 6 August, he marked his comeback with a goal in the 21st minute to give Vitesse a 1–0 lead in an eventual 4–1 away victory overWillem II. He ultimately scored 20 goals in 32 games for the league season, one behind Golden Boot winnerNicolai Jørgensen. This included a hat-trick on 8 April 2017 in a 4–2 win overHeerenveenat theGelreDome.He scored two goals in the final of theKNVB Bekeragainst AZ on 30 April 2017 to lead the club to the title for the first time in its 125-year history. Basel On 14 June 2017, it was announced that van Wolfswinkel would join Swiss sideBaselon a three-year deal.He joined Basel's first team for their2017–18 seasonunder head coachRaphaël Wicky. After playing in five test games van Wolfswinkel played his first team league debut for his new club on 22 July in the 2–0 away defeat againstYoung Boysin theStade de Suisse.He scored his first goal for his new club in the next match in the 3–1 home win in theSt. Jakob-ParkagainstLuzernon 30 July.On 10 August, van Wolfswinkel scored twice as Basel beatGrasshoppers3–2; his first double strike for the club meant that he scored four times in his first four league games for the club. Van Wolfswinkel injured himself during theChampions League group stagehome game againstBenficaon 27 September. The game was won 5–0 and van Wolfswinkel had netted the third goal.However, the injury (a metatarsal fracture) meant that van Wolfswinkel could not play again in the first half of the season. He returned to the team after three months on 17 December in the 2–0 away win against Grasshoppers being substituted in five minutes from time. Under trainerMarcel KollerBasel won theSwiss Cup in the 2018–19 season. In the first round Basel beat FC Montlingen 3–0, in the second roundEchallens Région7–2 and in the round of 16Winterthur1–0. In the quarter-finalsSionwere defeated 4–2 after extra time and in the semi-finalsZürichwere defeated 3–1. All these games were played away from home. The final was held on 19 May 2019 in theStade de Suisse Wankdorf BernagainstThun. StrikerAlbian Ajetiscored the first goal,Fabian Freithe second for Basel, thenDejan Sorgićnetted a goal for Thun, but the result remained 2–1 for Basel.Van Wolfswinkel played in five cup games and scored twice. In August 2019, van Wolfswinkel underwent surgery for a brain aneurysm detected during a routine scan for concussion.After some complications and an injury in training, he returned to the squad in June the following year. His contract expired on 31 August 2020, but a week later, he signed for another two years.During their2020–21 seasonunder head coachCiriaco Sforzamade 25 league appearances, mainly as substitute. After the season van Wolfswinkel left the club. Between the years 2017 and 2020 he played a total of 148 games for Basel scoring a total of 54 goals. 88 of these games were in theSwiss Super League, 11 in theSwiss Cup, 16 in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 33 were friendly games. He scored 28 goals in the domestic league, 4 in the cup, 6 in the European games and the other 16 were scored during the test games. International career Van Wolfswinkel played several matches for the Netherlands' national youth sides in various age groupsand in August 2010 was called up for thesenior national teamfor a friendly againstUkraine, during which he made his senior debut.He earned his second full international cap againstIndonesiain June 2013. Career statistics Honours Sporting CP Vitesse Basel Individual References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["2021–22 Eredivisie The2021–22 Eredivisiewas the 66th season ofEredivisie, the premier football competition in theNetherlands. It began on 14 August 2021 and concluded on 15 May 2022. Teams Cambuur(promoted after a five-year absence),Go Ahead EaglesandNEC(both promoted after a four-year absence) were promoted from the2020–21 Eerste Divisie.ADO Den Haag(relegated after thirteen years in the top flight),VVV-Venlo(relegated after four years in the top flight) andEmmen(relegated after three years in the top flight) have been relegated to2021–22 Eerste Divisie. Stadiums and locations Number of teams by province Personnel and kits Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined underFIFAeligibility rules. Players and managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Managerial changes Standings League table Results Fixtures and results Results by round European play-offs The European play-offs were contested by the four highest ranked teams which were not yet qualified for any European tournament. The","tournament. The matches were played on ahome-and-awaybasis, from 18 to 29 May.The winner received a spot in the second qualifying round of the2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League. Qualified teams Bracket Semi-finals First legs Second legs Final First leg Second leg Promotion/relegation play-offs The seeds were assigned based on the final ranking after the regular season. The best ranked team got the highest seed (lowest number). Eredivisie teams were considered to be better ranked than Eerste Divisie teams. If a match was level at the end of normal playing time, extra time was played (two periods of fifteen minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners. Seven teams, six from the Eerste Divisie and one from the Eredivisie, played for a spot in the2022–23 Eredivisie. The remaining six teams played in the2022–23 Eerste Divisie. The highest seeded team or the team from the Eredivisie always host the second leg. Qualified teams Bracket First round First legs Second","First legs Second legs Semi-finals First legs Second legs Final First leg Second leg Statistics Top scorers Hat-tricks Top assists Clean sheets Discipline Player Club Awards Monthly awards Annual awards References External links","Sébastien Haller Sébastien Romain Teddy Haller(French pronunciation:; born 22 June 1994) is a professionalfootballerwho plays as astrikerforLa LigaclubLeganés, on loan fromBundesligaclubBorussia Dortmund. Born in France, he plays for theIvory Coast national team. Haller began his career in France withAuxerre, and moved on loan toEredivisiesideUtrechtin 2015, before signing on a permanent basis. Two years later, he moved to the German clubEintracht Frankfurt, winning theDFB-Pokalin 2018.Premier LeaguesideWest Ham Unitedsigned him a year later for a club-record transfer worth €49.8 million (£45 million). Haller returned to the Netherlands in 2021, signing withAjax, for a club record fee of €22.5 million (£18.8 million). In his first six months, he won the Eredivisie and theKNVB Cup. He became the first player to score across seven consecutive UEFA Champions League matches during the2021–22season, and then transferred toBorussia Dortmundfor an initial €31 million. Haller represented France at youth level, before","youth level, before switching his allegiance in 2020 to theIvory Coast. He scored on his international debut againstMadagascar, and represented the national team at theAfrica Cup of Nationsin2021and2023, scoring the winning goal in thefinalof the latter tournament. Early life Haller was born inRis-Orangis, Essonneto a French father and an Ivorian mother. Club career Auxerre During the2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup, on 26 June 2011, Haller signed his first professional contract withAuxerre, agreeing to a three-year deal. Ahead of the2012–13 season, Haller was promoted to the senior team bymanagerJean-Guy Wallemme. His professional debut came on 27 July 2012, in the team's openingleaguematch of the 2012–13 campaign againstNîmes. Utrecht On 24 December 2014, it was announced that Haller was sent on loan toEredivisieclubUtrechtuntil the end of the season.At the end of the season, it was announced that FC Utrecht had signed Haller.The supporters voted for Haller as the winner of theDi Tommaso Trophy2015, Utrecht's","Utrecht's player of the year award. Eintracht Frankfurt On 15 May 2017, Haller signed withEintracht Frankfurton a four-year deal for a reported fee of €7 million.In the2017–18 DFB-Pokal, he scored four goals for Frankfurt, as the club won thefinal, marking the first trophy of Haller's career. In the2018–19 Bundesligaseason, he scored 15 league goals in 29 appearances as the club finished seventh.In addition to his goals scored, he also made nineassists, meaning he was involved in 24 goals, a figure only beaten in the 2018–19 season byRobert Lewandowskiwith 29. West Ham United On 17 July 2019, Haller signed withWest Ham Unitedon a five-year deal for a club record fee, that could rise to £45 million.He made his debut on 10 August, playing the full 90 minutes of a 5–0Premier Leagueloss against reigningchampionsManchester City.Two weeks later, he scored his first goals in a 3–1 away win againstWatfordin which the latter was an acrobaticbicycle kick.Haller struggled at West Ham, attributing it toDavid","it toDavid MoyesreplacingManuel Pellegrinias manager and then preferringMichail Antonioup front, as well as the ill health of his wife and newborn son. In July 2020, Frankfurt reported West Ham toFIFAafter they had failed to pay an instalment in May 2020 of £5.4 million as part of the £45 million transfer. West Ham claimed that they had withheld the payment, following a contractual dispute between the two clubs.On 16 December, Haller scored an overhead kick in a 1–1 draw againstCrystal Palacethat was voted as thePremier League Goal of the Month. Ajax On 8 January 2021, Haller signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with Dutch clubAjaxfor a club record fee of €22.5 million (£18.8 million), reuniting with his former Utrecht managerErik ten Hag.He made his debut two days later as a second-half substitute againstDe Topper rivalsPSV, assistingAntonyfor the equaliser in a 2–2 draw.On 14 January, he scored his first goal, and provided an assist, in a 3–1 away win overTwente.On 3 February, Haller was mistakenly","was mistakenly omitted from the club's list for the knockout stages of theUEFA Europa Leagueand therefore would be unable to play for the club in the competition. In a 5–1 away victory overSporting CPin theUEFA Champions Leagueon 15 September 2021, Haller scored twice in each half to become the first player to score four on his Champions League debut sinceMarco van BastenforA.C. Milanin 1992; the Dutchman had however already played in the competition under its former name of the European Cup.In the following fixture 13 days later, he recorded a goal againstBeşiktaş, becoming the first player in the history of the competition to score five goals in his first two match appearances;against the same team on 24 November, Haller scored twice in a 2–1 win to become the first player to score nine goals in five consecutive matches of the competition.On 7 December, Haller scored in his team's Champions League group stage match, becoming only the second player to register in all six group games afterCristiano","afterCristiano Ronaldoin2017–18and became the fastest player to 10 goals in competition history.He also joined Ronaldo,Lionel MessiandRobert Lewandowskias the only players to score in the double-digits for goals in the group stage.On 23 February 2022, he made amends for an earlier own goal, and helped Ajax to a 2–2 away draw againstBenficain the last, becoming the first player to score in seven consecutive matches in the competition;his side lost 3–2 aggregate. With 21 league goals in 31 games, he finished theseasonasEredivisie top scorer. Borussia Dortmund On 6 July 2022, Haller signed a contract withBorussia Dortmunduntil 30 June 2026.The transfer fee paid was€31 million, which could be increased to as much as €34.5 million after undisclosed bonuses.However, on 18 July, the forward withdrew from the club's pre-season training camp in Switzerland, after he was diagnosed with amalignanttesticular tumour.He then underwent twosurgeriesand four cycles ofchemotherapyin order to control the spread of the disease.","of the disease. After successfully completing his treatments, in January 2023 Haller was officially allowed to return to full-time training, as he joined the rest of Dortmund's team at their winter camp inMarbella.On 10 January, he played his first match in almost eight months, featuring in the final minutes of afriendlyagainstFortuna Düsseldorf.Three days later, he scored a hat-trick within eight minutes in a 6–0 victory in another friendly againstBasel.On 22 January, Haller came on as a second half substitute in a 4–3 home win againstAugsburg, finally making his competitive debut for Dortmund after a 6-month battle with cancer.On 4 February, he scored his first professional goal for the club in a 5–1 win againstFreiburg.Haller missed a crucial penalty, when his team was trailing 1–0, during the final game of the2022–23 Bundesligaseason which ended in a 2–2 draw withMainz. Borussia Dortmund subsequently suffered final-day heartbreak as they missed out on a first Bundesliga title for 11 years on goal","11 years on goal difference.In 2023–24, he sustained an ankle injury which sidelined him for most of the season, in which he only scored three goals including two againstTSV Schott Mainzin theDFB-Pokaland one againstAtlético Madridin theChampions League quarter-final. Loan to Leganés On 30 August 2024, just before the transfer window closed, Haller joinedLa LigaclubLeganéson loan for the 2024–25 season. International career Youth Haller was aFrance youth international, having represented his country of birth at every youth level and totalling 51capsand 27 goals. He played with theunder-17 teamat the2011 FIFA U-17 World Cupin Mexico,scoring in a 3–0 win overArgentinain the opening group game. On 14 November 2013, Haller made hisunder-21debut, coming on forAnthony Martialin the 57th minute againstArmeniain a European qualifier inToulouseand scoring to conclude a 6–0 win.He scored a hat-trick on 25 March 2015 in a friendly win of the same score againstEstonia,and he did the same on 10 November 2016 in a 5–1 win","2016 in a 5–1 win over theIvory Coastat theStade Pierre Brisson. Senior In November 2020, Haller was called up to theIvory Coast national team.He debuted in a 2–12021 Africa Cup of Nations qualificationwin overMadagascaron 12 November, scoring his side's game-winning goal in the 55th minute.He was called up for the finals in Cameroon, where he scored in a 2–2 group stage draw withSierra Leone;in the last 16 againstEgypt, he was substituted at half time in extra time forMaxwel Cornetas the side lost on penalties. In December 2023, he was named in the Ivorian squad for the2023 Africa Cup of Nationshosted in his home nation.In the semi-final match againstDR Congo, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory, which qualified his country to thefinal.He later scored the winning goal in the final match againstNigeriawhich ended in a 2–1 victory. Personal life In 2022 Haller was diagnosed withtesticular cancer, which he overcame, returning to professional football in January 2023. Career statistics Club International","Club International Honours Eintracht Frankfurt Ajax Ivory Coast Individual References External links","Loïs Openda Ikoma-Loïs Openda(born 16 February 2000) is a Belgian professionalfootballerwho plays as astrikerforBundesligaclubRB Leipzigand theBelgium national team. Club career Early career Openda played as a youth for Patro Othee FC andRFC Liègebefore joining the youth academy ofStandard Liège. Club Brugge In 2015, he moved to the academy ofClub Brugge, where he made his senior debut on 10 August 2018 in theBelgian Pro LeagueagainstKortrijk. Openda replacedJelle Vossenafter 80 minutes. Loan to Vitesse On 21 July 2020, Openda joined DutchEredivisieclubVitesseon a season-long loan deal.He scored his first goal for the club on 3 October, in a 3–0 win overHeracles Almelo.Vitesse reached the final of theKNVB Cup, but lost 2–1 toAjax. Openda scored the only goal for theArnhem-based team.In June 2021, Openda rejoined Vitesse on loan for another season. Lens On 6 July 2022,Lensannounced the signing of Openda on a five-year deal from Club Brugge.The striker scored his first goal againstInter Milanin a friendly game","a friendly game on 22 July.On 28 October, he scored his first hat-trick for Lens in a 3–0 win overToulouse.After eight matches without scoring, on 12 March 2023, he scored thefastest hat-trickin Ligue 1 within four minutes and 30 seconds in a 4–0 away win overClermont, beating the previous record ofMatt Moussilou. RB Leipzig On 14 July 2023, Openda signed forBundesligaclubRB Leipzigon a five-year contract.The transfer fee reported was in the region of €43 to €46 million, with potential bonuses adding up to €6 million.On 19 August, he scored his first goal on his Bundesliga debut in a 3–2 defeat againstBayer Leverkusen.On 4 October, he netted his firstChampions Leaguegoal in a 1–3 home defeat againstManchester City.On 28 November, Openda scored twice at theCity of Manchester Stadiumagainst Manchester City, although his team lost 3–2.He finished his debutBundesliga seasonat the club as their top scorer with 24 goals, only behindHarry KaneandSerhou Guirassyin the league. On 31 August 2024, Openda scored two","Openda scored two goals against Bayer Leverkusen to end their unbeatenBundesligastreak for the first time in 15 months. International career On 18 May 2022, Openda was named to the squad for the four2022–23 UEFA Nations Leaguematches on 3, 8, 10 and 13 June 2022 againstNetherlands,Poland(twice) andWalesrespectively. He played again against Wales in the UEFA Nations League on 13 September 2022. On 10 November 2022, he was named in the final squad for the2022 FIFA World Cupin Qatar. Personal life Openda is of Moroccanand Congolese descent.Openda is aChristian. Career statistics Club International Scores and results list Belgium's goal tally first. Honours Club Brugge RB Leipzig Individual References External links","Vangelis Pavlidis Evangelos \"Vangelis\" Pavlidis(Greek:Βαγγέλης Παυλίδης; born 21 November 1998) is a Greek professionalfootballerwho plays as acentre forwardforPrimeira LigaclubBenficaand theGreece national team. Club career VfL Bochum On 9 April 2016, Pavlidis signed a professional contract until the summer of 2019. On 15 May 2016, he made his debut with the club as a substitute in a2. Bundesliga4–2 away win against1. FC Heidenheim. Loan to Borussia Dortmund II On 26 January 2018, Pavlidis joinedBorussia Dortmund IIon loan for the second half of the season.On 22 June 2018, Pavlidis loan spell was extended until summer 2019. Loan to Willem II On 17 January 2019,Willem IIconfirmed the signing Pavlidis on loan from Bochum until the end of the2018–19 season.On 23 January 2019, he scored his first goal with the club afterMarios Vrousai's assist in a 3–2 awayKNVB Bekerwin againstFC Twente.On 16 February 2019, he scored his first goal inEredivisie. Willem II On 29 April 2019, Pavlidis signed a permanent deal with","permanent deal with the club.Subsequently that year, on 2 August, in the opening game of the2019–20 EredivisiePavlidis scored twice as Willem II defeatedPEC Zwolle3–1. AZ Alkmaar On 9 July 2021, Pavlidis signed a contract until 2025 at Dutch clubAZ Alkmaar. Later that year, on 1 December, Pavlidis is one of the eleven nominees for the 2021Puskás Award. Benfica On 1 July 2024, Pavlidis joinedPrimeira LigasideBenficaon a permanent deal, signing a five-year contract with the club;the transfer reportedly commanded an€18 million fee, plus €2 million in possible add-ons, and a 10% sell-on clause in favor of AZ Alkmaar. He made his competitive debut for his new club in a 2–0 loss toFamalicãoon 11 August 2024,and scored his first goal in a 3–0 win againstCasa Piathree days later. International career On 29 August 2019, Pavlidis was called up to theGreek senior teamby coachJohn van 't Schipfor the forthcomingEuro 2020qualifiers againstFinlandandLiechtenstein.On 10 October 2024, he scored two goals againstEnglandin a","againstEnglandin a 2–1 awayNations Leaguevictory, marking the first time Greece had beaten their opponents. In his celebration, he paid an emotional tribute to his recently deceased national teammateGeorge Baldock, who had died the day prior. He held aloft a shirt with Baldock's name on it. Career statistics Club International Personal life He was born inThessaloniki, but his parents came from the village ofKatachasinPieria. Honours Individual References External links","Ricky van Wolfswinkel Ricky van Wolfswinkel(Dutch pronunciation:; born 27 January 1989) is a Dutch professionalfootballerwho plays as astrikerforEredivisieclubFC Twente. He has played top-flight football in the Netherlands, Portugal, England, France, Spain and Switzerland and has beencappedtwice by theNetherlands national team. Club career Vitesse Van Wolfswinkel started his football career at the D-pupils ofVitesse Arnhem. In the A-juniors, he became top scorer in the national first division, winning a prize awarded by theRoyal Dutch Football Association(KNVB) for the feat. This prize was presented byWesley Sneijderin 2007.On 5 April 2008, Van Wolfswinkel made his debut for Vitesse's first team in a match againstSparta Rotterdam, in which he was the substitute in the 85th minute forSanti Kolk. AgainstDe Graafschap, in the2008–09season, he was in the starting lineup for the first time. In his third match that season, against Sparta Rotterdam, he scored his firstEredivisiegoal. Utrecht On 29 May 2009, Van","On 29 May 2009, Van Wolfswinkel announced his departure from Vitesse, subsequently signing a three-year contract withFC Utrecht.He began the2010–11league campaign with a goal in a 3–1 loss againstFeyenoord. On 22 August 2010, he scored two goals againstWillem IIresulting in a 3–0 win for Utrecht. On 26 August 2010, Van Wolfswinkel scored a hat-trick againstCelticin theUEFA Europa League; Utrecht went on to win the match 4–0.On 3 October 2010, Van Wolfswinkel scored two penalties againstAjaxto gain a 2–1 away win over the Dutch runners-up. Sporting CP On 3 June 2011, Van Wolfswinkel moved toSporting CP, signing a five-year contract on a €5.4 million deal;Sporting CP was given financial aid bySporting Portugal FundandQuality Sports Investments. He scored his first goal for Sporting on 10 September 2011 againstPaços de Ferreirain a 3–2 win. He was theSJPF Player of the Monthfor September 2011. Overall, he scored a total of 25 goals during the2011–12season, including a hat-trick in the final game, a 3–2 win","game, a 3–2 win overBragaat theEstádio José Alvaladeon 12 May 2012. In his second season inLisbon, Van Wolfswinkel recorded another 14 league goals in 30 games, although his team missed out on European competition by finishing 7th. He scored a hat-trick, again in a 3–2 win over Braga, on 1 April 2013. Norwich City On 22 March 2013, it was announced that Van Wolfswinkel had agreed a deal to join English clubNorwich Cityfor the2013–14season, a transfer worth €10 million, plus up to €2 million in bonuses.He joined the Canaries on 1 July on a four-year deal.He stated that the famous Netherlands playerJohan Neeskenshad urged him to join Norwich, saying, \"Ricky, you have to go. It's a great club for you. If you have a great feeling, do it.\" He scored on his league debut on 17 August, in a 2–2 home draw for Norwich againstEverton.After the match, he said in an interview thatManchester UnitedandNetherlandsinternationalRobin van Persiealso recommended Norwich to him. Van Persie was reported to have told Van","to have told Van Wolfswinkel that Norwich are \"a difficult team to beat\" and that the \"crowd always get really behind them.\" Van Wolfswinkel was involved in controversy in the 0–0 home draw againstCardiff Cityon 26 October 2013. After teammateAlexander Tetteywas injured, Cardiff goalkeeperDavid Marshallsportingly put the ball out of play. Van Wolfswinkel quickly threw the ball toLeroy Fer, who kicked the ball into the goal. This caused outrage amongst the Cardiff players, who started shoving both Van Wolfswinkel and Fer. The goal was disallowed despite it not technically being a violation of any rules.In February 2014, he was alleged to have been kicked byManchester City'sYaya Touré, who was investigated, and Van Wolfswinkel welcomedThe FA's verdict that Touré had done no wrong. Van Wolfswinkel failed to score for the remainder of the season, making 25 Premier League appearances in total,while Norwich were relegated to theChampionshipafter finishing with only 33 points. Loans On 5 August 2014, Van","5 August 2014, Van Wolfswinkel joinedSaint-Étienneof the FrenchLigue 1on a season-long loan. He stated that his goal was to work hard for the team and to be important for the club.Van Wolfswinkel scored his first goal for the club on 25 September, the first goal in the 1–1 home draw againstBordeaux.On 30 November, he scored the second goal as the team won 3–0 in theDerby du RhôneagainstLyon, his team's first home win over their rivals in 20 years. Upon his return to Norwich from his loan spell at Saint-Étienne, he scored againstRotherham Unitedin theLeague Cupsecond round on 25 August 2015, a 2–1 away win. On 31 August 2015, Van Wolfswinkel joinedReal Betisof the SpanishLa Ligaon a season-long loan.On 24 September, he made his first appearance in a 2–1 home defeat toDeportivo La Coruña, replacingJorge Molinain the 59th minute.He scored his first two goals on 15 December in aCopa del Reytie againstSporting Gijón, which finished as a 3–3 draw,and on 19 April 2016, he finally scored his first La Liga goal in a","La Liga goal in a 1–0 home victory overLas Palmas. Return to Vitesse On 28 July 2016, Van Wolfswinkel rejoined Vitesse for an undisclosed fee from Norwich.On 6 August, he marked his comeback with a goal in the 21st minute to give Vitesse a 1–0 lead in an eventual 4–1 away victory overWillem II. He ultimately scored 20 goals in 32 games for the league season, one behind Golden Boot winnerNicolai Jørgensen. This included a hat-trick on 8 April 2017 in a 4–2 win overHeerenveenat theGelreDome.He scored two goals in the final of theKNVB Bekeragainst AZ on 30 April 2017 to lead the club to the title for the first time in its 125-year history. Basel On 14 June 2017, it was announced that van Wolfswinkel would join Swiss sideBaselon a three-year deal.He joined Basel's first team for their2017–18 seasonunder head coachRaphaël Wicky. After playing in five test games van Wolfswinkel played his first team league debut for his new club on 22 July in the 2–0 away defeat againstYoung Boysin theStade de Suisse.He scored his","scored his first goal for his new club in the next match in the 3–1 home win in theSt. Jakob-ParkagainstLuzernon 30 July.On 10 August, van Wolfswinkel scored twice as Basel beatGrasshoppers3–2; his first double strike for the club meant that he scored four times in his first four league games for the club. Van Wolfswinkel injured himself during theChampions League group stagehome game againstBenficaon 27 September. The game was won 5–0 and van Wolfswinkel had netted the third goal.However, the injury (a metatarsal fracture) meant that van Wolfswinkel could not play again in the first half of the season. He returned to the team after three months on 17 December in the 2–0 away win against Grasshoppers being substituted in five minutes from time. Under trainerMarcel KollerBasel won theSwiss Cup in the 2018–19 season. In the first round Basel beat FC Montlingen 3–0, in the second roundEchallens Région7–2 and in the round of 16Winterthur1–0. In the quarter-finalsSionwere defeated 4–2 after extra time and in the","time and in the semi-finalsZürichwere defeated 3–1. All these games were played away from home. The final was held on 19 May 2019 in theStade de Suisse Wankdorf BernagainstThun. StrikerAlbian Ajetiscored the first goal,Fabian Freithe second for Basel, thenDejan Sorgićnetted a goal for Thun, but the result remained 2–1 for Basel.Van Wolfswinkel played in five cup games and scored twice. In August 2019, van Wolfswinkel underwent surgery for a brain aneurysm detected during a routine scan for concussion.After some complications and an injury in training, he returned to the squad in June the following year. His contract expired on 31 August 2020, but a week later, he signed for another two years.During their2020–21 seasonunder head coachCiriaco Sforzamade 25 league appearances, mainly as substitute. After the season van Wolfswinkel left the club. Between the years 2017 and 2020 he played a total of 148 games for Basel scoring a total of 54 goals. 88 of these games were in theSwiss Super League, 11 in theSwiss","11 in theSwiss Cup, 16 in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 33 were friendly games. He scored 28 goals in the domestic league, 4 in the cup, 6 in the European games and the other 16 were scored during the test games. International career Van Wolfswinkel played several matches for the Netherlands' national youth sides in various age groupsand in August 2010 was called up for thesenior national teamfor a friendly againstUkraine, during which he made his senior debut.He earned his second full international cap againstIndonesiain June 2013. Career statistics Honours Sporting CP Vitesse Basel Individual References External links"],"string":"[\n \"2021–22 Eredivisie The2021–22 Eredivisiewas the 66th season ofEredivisie, the premier football competition in theNetherlands. It began on 14 August 2021 and concluded on 15 May 2022. Teams Cambuur(promoted after a five-year absence),Go Ahead EaglesandNEC(both promoted after a four-year absence) were promoted from the2020–21 Eerste Divisie.ADO Den Haag(relegated after thirteen years in the top flight),VVV-Venlo(relegated after four years in the top flight) andEmmen(relegated after three years in the top flight) have been relegated to2021–22 Eerste Divisie. Stadiums and locations Number of teams by province Personnel and kits Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined underFIFAeligibility rules. Players and managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Managerial changes Standings League table Results Fixtures and results Results by round European play-offs The European play-offs were contested by the four highest ranked teams which were not yet qualified for any European tournament. The\",\n \"tournament. The matches were played on ahome-and-awaybasis, from 18 to 29 May.The winner received a spot in the second qualifying round of the2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League. Qualified teams Bracket Semi-finals First legs Second legs Final First leg Second leg Promotion/relegation play-offs The seeds were assigned based on the final ranking after the regular season. The best ranked team got the highest seed (lowest number). Eredivisie teams were considered to be better ranked than Eerste Divisie teams. If a match was level at the end of normal playing time, extra time was played (two periods of fifteen minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners. Seven teams, six from the Eerste Divisie and one from the Eredivisie, played for a spot in the2022–23 Eredivisie. The remaining six teams played in the2022–23 Eerste Divisie. The highest seeded team or the team from the Eredivisie always host the second leg. Qualified teams Bracket First round First legs Second\",\n \"First legs Second legs Semi-finals First legs Second legs Final First leg Second leg Statistics Top scorers Hat-tricks Top assists Clean sheets Discipline Player Club Awards Monthly awards Annual awards References External links\",\n \"Sébastien Haller Sébastien Romain Teddy Haller(French pronunciation:; born 22 June 1994) is a professionalfootballerwho plays as astrikerforLa LigaclubLeganés, on loan fromBundesligaclubBorussia Dortmund. Born in France, he plays for theIvory Coast national team. Haller began his career in France withAuxerre, and moved on loan toEredivisiesideUtrechtin 2015, before signing on a permanent basis. Two years later, he moved to the German clubEintracht Frankfurt, winning theDFB-Pokalin 2018.Premier LeaguesideWest Ham Unitedsigned him a year later for a club-record transfer worth €49.8 million (£45 million). Haller returned to the Netherlands in 2021, signing withAjax, for a club record fee of €22.5 million (£18.8 million). In his first six months, he won the Eredivisie and theKNVB Cup. He became the first player to score across seven consecutive UEFA Champions League matches during the2021–22season, and then transferred toBorussia Dortmundfor an initial €31 million. Haller represented France at youth level, before\",\n \"youth level, before switching his allegiance in 2020 to theIvory Coast. He scored on his international debut againstMadagascar, and represented the national team at theAfrica Cup of Nationsin2021and2023, scoring the winning goal in thefinalof the latter tournament. Early life Haller was born inRis-Orangis, Essonneto a French father and an Ivorian mother. Club career Auxerre During the2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup, on 26 June 2011, Haller signed his first professional contract withAuxerre, agreeing to a three-year deal. Ahead of the2012–13 season, Haller was promoted to the senior team bymanagerJean-Guy Wallemme. His professional debut came on 27 July 2012, in the team's openingleaguematch of the 2012–13 campaign againstNîmes. Utrecht On 24 December 2014, it was announced that Haller was sent on loan toEredivisieclubUtrechtuntil the end of the season.At the end of the season, it was announced that FC Utrecht had signed Haller.The supporters voted for Haller as the winner of theDi Tommaso Trophy2015, Utrecht's\",\n \"Utrecht's player of the year award. Eintracht Frankfurt On 15 May 2017, Haller signed withEintracht Frankfurton a four-year deal for a reported fee of €7 million.In the2017–18 DFB-Pokal, he scored four goals for Frankfurt, as the club won thefinal, marking the first trophy of Haller's career. In the2018–19 Bundesligaseason, he scored 15 league goals in 29 appearances as the club finished seventh.In addition to his goals scored, he also made nineassists, meaning he was involved in 24 goals, a figure only beaten in the 2018–19 season byRobert Lewandowskiwith 29. West Ham United On 17 July 2019, Haller signed withWest Ham Unitedon a five-year deal for a club record fee, that could rise to £45 million.He made his debut on 10 August, playing the full 90 minutes of a 5–0Premier Leagueloss against reigningchampionsManchester City.Two weeks later, he scored his first goals in a 3–1 away win againstWatfordin which the latter was an acrobaticbicycle kick.Haller struggled at West Ham, attributing it toDavid\",\n \"it toDavid MoyesreplacingManuel Pellegrinias manager and then preferringMichail Antonioup front, as well as the ill health of his wife and newborn son. In July 2020, Frankfurt reported West Ham toFIFAafter they had failed to pay an instalment in May 2020 of £5.4 million as part of the £45 million transfer. West Ham claimed that they had withheld the payment, following a contractual dispute between the two clubs.On 16 December, Haller scored an overhead kick in a 1–1 draw againstCrystal Palacethat was voted as thePremier League Goal of the Month. Ajax On 8 January 2021, Haller signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with Dutch clubAjaxfor a club record fee of €22.5 million (£18.8 million), reuniting with his former Utrecht managerErik ten Hag.He made his debut two days later as a second-half substitute againstDe Topper rivalsPSV, assistingAntonyfor the equaliser in a 2–2 draw.On 14 January, he scored his first goal, and provided an assist, in a 3–1 away win overTwente.On 3 February, Haller was mistakenly\",\n \"was mistakenly omitted from the club's list for the knockout stages of theUEFA Europa Leagueand therefore would be unable to play for the club in the competition. In a 5–1 away victory overSporting CPin theUEFA Champions Leagueon 15 September 2021, Haller scored twice in each half to become the first player to score four on his Champions League debut sinceMarco van BastenforA.C. Milanin 1992; the Dutchman had however already played in the competition under its former name of the European Cup.In the following fixture 13 days later, he recorded a goal againstBeşiktaş, becoming the first player in the history of the competition to score five goals in his first two match appearances;against the same team on 24 November, Haller scored twice in a 2–1 win to become the first player to score nine goals in five consecutive matches of the competition.On 7 December, Haller scored in his team's Champions League group stage match, becoming only the second player to register in all six group games afterCristiano\",\n \"afterCristiano Ronaldoin2017–18and became the fastest player to 10 goals in competition history.He also joined Ronaldo,Lionel MessiandRobert Lewandowskias the only players to score in the double-digits for goals in the group stage.On 23 February 2022, he made amends for an earlier own goal, and helped Ajax to a 2–2 away draw againstBenficain the last, becoming the first player to score in seven consecutive matches in the competition;his side lost 3–2 aggregate. With 21 league goals in 31 games, he finished theseasonasEredivisie top scorer. Borussia Dortmund On 6 July 2022, Haller signed a contract withBorussia Dortmunduntil 30 June 2026.The transfer fee paid was€31 million, which could be increased to as much as €34.5 million after undisclosed bonuses.However, on 18 July, the forward withdrew from the club's pre-season training camp in Switzerland, after he was diagnosed with amalignanttesticular tumour.He then underwent twosurgeriesand four cycles ofchemotherapyin order to control the spread of the disease.\",\n \"of the disease. After successfully completing his treatments, in January 2023 Haller was officially allowed to return to full-time training, as he joined the rest of Dortmund's team at their winter camp inMarbella.On 10 January, he played his first match in almost eight months, featuring in the final minutes of afriendlyagainstFortuna Düsseldorf.Three days later, he scored a hat-trick within eight minutes in a 6–0 victory in another friendly againstBasel.On 22 January, Haller came on as a second half substitute in a 4–3 home win againstAugsburg, finally making his competitive debut for Dortmund after a 6-month battle with cancer.On 4 February, he scored his first professional goal for the club in a 5–1 win againstFreiburg.Haller missed a crucial penalty, when his team was trailing 1–0, during the final game of the2022–23 Bundesligaseason which ended in a 2–2 draw withMainz. Borussia Dortmund subsequently suffered final-day heartbreak as they missed out on a first Bundesliga title for 11 years on goal\",\n \"11 years on goal difference.In 2023–24, he sustained an ankle injury which sidelined him for most of the season, in which he only scored three goals including two againstTSV Schott Mainzin theDFB-Pokaland one againstAtlético Madridin theChampions League quarter-final. Loan to Leganés On 30 August 2024, just before the transfer window closed, Haller joinedLa LigaclubLeganéson loan for the 2024–25 season. International career Youth Haller was aFrance youth international, having represented his country of birth at every youth level and totalling 51capsand 27 goals. He played with theunder-17 teamat the2011 FIFA U-17 World Cupin Mexico,scoring in a 3–0 win overArgentinain the opening group game. On 14 November 2013, Haller made hisunder-21debut, coming on forAnthony Martialin the 57th minute againstArmeniain a European qualifier inToulouseand scoring to conclude a 6–0 win.He scored a hat-trick on 25 March 2015 in a friendly win of the same score againstEstonia,and he did the same on 10 November 2016 in a 5–1 win\",\n \"2016 in a 5–1 win over theIvory Coastat theStade Pierre Brisson. Senior In November 2020, Haller was called up to theIvory Coast national team.He debuted in a 2–12021 Africa Cup of Nations qualificationwin overMadagascaron 12 November, scoring his side's game-winning goal in the 55th minute.He was called up for the finals in Cameroon, where he scored in a 2–2 group stage draw withSierra Leone;in the last 16 againstEgypt, he was substituted at half time in extra time forMaxwel Cornetas the side lost on penalties. In December 2023, he was named in the Ivorian squad for the2023 Africa Cup of Nationshosted in his home nation.In the semi-final match againstDR Congo, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory, which qualified his country to thefinal.He later scored the winning goal in the final match againstNigeriawhich ended in a 2–1 victory. Personal life In 2022 Haller was diagnosed withtesticular cancer, which he overcame, returning to professional football in January 2023. Career statistics Club International\",\n \"Club International Honours Eintracht Frankfurt Ajax Ivory Coast Individual References External links\",\n \"Loïs Openda Ikoma-Loïs Openda(born 16 February 2000) is a Belgian professionalfootballerwho plays as astrikerforBundesligaclubRB Leipzigand theBelgium national team. Club career Early career Openda played as a youth for Patro Othee FC andRFC Liègebefore joining the youth academy ofStandard Liège. Club Brugge In 2015, he moved to the academy ofClub Brugge, where he made his senior debut on 10 August 2018 in theBelgian Pro LeagueagainstKortrijk. Openda replacedJelle Vossenafter 80 minutes. Loan to Vitesse On 21 July 2020, Openda joined DutchEredivisieclubVitesseon a season-long loan deal.He scored his first goal for the club on 3 October, in a 3–0 win overHeracles Almelo.Vitesse reached the final of theKNVB Cup, but lost 2–1 toAjax. Openda scored the only goal for theArnhem-based team.In June 2021, Openda rejoined Vitesse on loan for another season. Lens On 6 July 2022,Lensannounced the signing of Openda on a five-year deal from Club Brugge.The striker scored his first goal againstInter Milanin a friendly game\",\n \"a friendly game on 22 July.On 28 October, he scored his first hat-trick for Lens in a 3–0 win overToulouse.After eight matches without scoring, on 12 March 2023, he scored thefastest hat-trickin Ligue 1 within four minutes and 30 seconds in a 4–0 away win overClermont, beating the previous record ofMatt Moussilou. RB Leipzig On 14 July 2023, Openda signed forBundesligaclubRB Leipzigon a five-year contract.The transfer fee reported was in the region of €43 to €46 million, with potential bonuses adding up to €6 million.On 19 August, he scored his first goal on his Bundesliga debut in a 3–2 defeat againstBayer Leverkusen.On 4 October, he netted his firstChampions Leaguegoal in a 1–3 home defeat againstManchester City.On 28 November, Openda scored twice at theCity of Manchester Stadiumagainst Manchester City, although his team lost 3–2.He finished his debutBundesliga seasonat the club as their top scorer with 24 goals, only behindHarry KaneandSerhou Guirassyin the league. On 31 August 2024, Openda scored two\",\n \"Openda scored two goals against Bayer Leverkusen to end their unbeatenBundesligastreak for the first time in 15 months. International career On 18 May 2022, Openda was named to the squad for the four2022–23 UEFA Nations Leaguematches on 3, 8, 10 and 13 June 2022 againstNetherlands,Poland(twice) andWalesrespectively. He played again against Wales in the UEFA Nations League on 13 September 2022. On 10 November 2022, he was named in the final squad for the2022 FIFA World Cupin Qatar. Personal life Openda is of Moroccanand Congolese descent.Openda is aChristian. Career statistics Club International Scores and results list Belgium's goal tally first. Honours Club Brugge RB Leipzig Individual References External links\",\n \"Vangelis Pavlidis Evangelos \\\"Vangelis\\\" Pavlidis(Greek:Βαγγέλης Παυλίδης; born 21 November 1998) is a Greek professionalfootballerwho plays as acentre forwardforPrimeira LigaclubBenficaand theGreece national team. Club career VfL Bochum On 9 April 2016, Pavlidis signed a professional contract until the summer of 2019. On 15 May 2016, he made his debut with the club as a substitute in a2. Bundesliga4–2 away win against1. FC Heidenheim. Loan to Borussia Dortmund II On 26 January 2018, Pavlidis joinedBorussia Dortmund IIon loan for the second half of the season.On 22 June 2018, Pavlidis loan spell was extended until summer 2019. Loan to Willem II On 17 January 2019,Willem IIconfirmed the signing Pavlidis on loan from Bochum until the end of the2018–19 season.On 23 January 2019, he scored his first goal with the club afterMarios Vrousai's assist in a 3–2 awayKNVB Bekerwin againstFC Twente.On 16 February 2019, he scored his first goal inEredivisie. Willem II On 29 April 2019, Pavlidis signed a permanent deal with\",\n \"permanent deal with the club.Subsequently that year, on 2 August, in the opening game of the2019–20 EredivisiePavlidis scored twice as Willem II defeatedPEC Zwolle3–1. AZ Alkmaar On 9 July 2021, Pavlidis signed a contract until 2025 at Dutch clubAZ Alkmaar. Later that year, on 1 December, Pavlidis is one of the eleven nominees for the 2021Puskás Award. Benfica On 1 July 2024, Pavlidis joinedPrimeira LigasideBenficaon a permanent deal, signing a five-year contract with the club;the transfer reportedly commanded an€18 million fee, plus €2 million in possible add-ons, and a 10% sell-on clause in favor of AZ Alkmaar. He made his competitive debut for his new club in a 2–0 loss toFamalicãoon 11 August 2024,and scored his first goal in a 3–0 win againstCasa Piathree days later. International career On 29 August 2019, Pavlidis was called up to theGreek senior teamby coachJohn van 't Schipfor the forthcomingEuro 2020qualifiers againstFinlandandLiechtenstein.On 10 October 2024, he scored two goals againstEnglandin a\",\n \"againstEnglandin a 2–1 awayNations Leaguevictory, marking the first time Greece had beaten their opponents. In his celebration, he paid an emotional tribute to his recently deceased national teammateGeorge Baldock, who had died the day prior. He held aloft a shirt with Baldock's name on it. Career statistics Club International Personal life He was born inThessaloniki, but his parents came from the village ofKatachasinPieria. Honours Individual References External links\",\n \"Ricky van Wolfswinkel Ricky van Wolfswinkel(Dutch pronunciation:; born 27 January 1989) is a Dutch professionalfootballerwho plays as astrikerforEredivisieclubFC Twente. He has played top-flight football in the Netherlands, Portugal, England, France, Spain and Switzerland and has beencappedtwice by theNetherlands national team. Club career Vitesse Van Wolfswinkel started his football career at the D-pupils ofVitesse Arnhem. In the A-juniors, he became top scorer in the national first division, winning a prize awarded by theRoyal Dutch Football Association(KNVB) for the feat. This prize was presented byWesley Sneijderin 2007.On 5 April 2008, Van Wolfswinkel made his debut for Vitesse's first team in a match againstSparta Rotterdam, in which he was the substitute in the 85th minute forSanti Kolk. AgainstDe Graafschap, in the2008–09season, he was in the starting lineup for the first time. In his third match that season, against Sparta Rotterdam, he scored his firstEredivisiegoal. Utrecht On 29 May 2009, Van\",\n \"On 29 May 2009, Van Wolfswinkel announced his departure from Vitesse, subsequently signing a three-year contract withFC Utrecht.He began the2010–11league campaign with a goal in a 3–1 loss againstFeyenoord. On 22 August 2010, he scored two goals againstWillem IIresulting in a 3–0 win for Utrecht. On 26 August 2010, Van Wolfswinkel scored a hat-trick againstCelticin theUEFA Europa League; Utrecht went on to win the match 4–0.On 3 October 2010, Van Wolfswinkel scored two penalties againstAjaxto gain a 2–1 away win over the Dutch runners-up. Sporting CP On 3 June 2011, Van Wolfswinkel moved toSporting CP, signing a five-year contract on a €5.4 million deal;Sporting CP was given financial aid bySporting Portugal FundandQuality Sports Investments. He scored his first goal for Sporting on 10 September 2011 againstPaços de Ferreirain a 3–2 win. He was theSJPF Player of the Monthfor September 2011. Overall, he scored a total of 25 goals during the2011–12season, including a hat-trick in the final game, a 3–2 win\",\n \"game, a 3–2 win overBragaat theEstádio José Alvaladeon 12 May 2012. In his second season inLisbon, Van Wolfswinkel recorded another 14 league goals in 30 games, although his team missed out on European competition by finishing 7th. He scored a hat-trick, again in a 3–2 win over Braga, on 1 April 2013. Norwich City On 22 March 2013, it was announced that Van Wolfswinkel had agreed a deal to join English clubNorwich Cityfor the2013–14season, a transfer worth €10 million, plus up to €2 million in bonuses.He joined the Canaries on 1 July on a four-year deal.He stated that the famous Netherlands playerJohan Neeskenshad urged him to join Norwich, saying, \\\"Ricky, you have to go. It's a great club for you. If you have a great feeling, do it.\\\" He scored on his league debut on 17 August, in a 2–2 home draw for Norwich againstEverton.After the match, he said in an interview thatManchester UnitedandNetherlandsinternationalRobin van Persiealso recommended Norwich to him. Van Persie was reported to have told Van\",\n \"to have told Van Wolfswinkel that Norwich are \\\"a difficult team to beat\\\" and that the \\\"crowd always get really behind them.\\\" Van Wolfswinkel was involved in controversy in the 0–0 home draw againstCardiff Cityon 26 October 2013. After teammateAlexander Tetteywas injured, Cardiff goalkeeperDavid Marshallsportingly put the ball out of play. Van Wolfswinkel quickly threw the ball toLeroy Fer, who kicked the ball into the goal. This caused outrage amongst the Cardiff players, who started shoving both Van Wolfswinkel and Fer. The goal was disallowed despite it not technically being a violation of any rules.In February 2014, he was alleged to have been kicked byManchester City'sYaya Touré, who was investigated, and Van Wolfswinkel welcomedThe FA's verdict that Touré had done no wrong. Van Wolfswinkel failed to score for the remainder of the season, making 25 Premier League appearances in total,while Norwich were relegated to theChampionshipafter finishing with only 33 points. Loans On 5 August 2014, Van\",\n \"5 August 2014, Van Wolfswinkel joinedSaint-Étienneof the FrenchLigue 1on a season-long loan. He stated that his goal was to work hard for the team and to be important for the club.Van Wolfswinkel scored his first goal for the club on 25 September, the first goal in the 1–1 home draw againstBordeaux.On 30 November, he scored the second goal as the team won 3–0 in theDerby du RhôneagainstLyon, his team's first home win over their rivals in 20 years. Upon his return to Norwich from his loan spell at Saint-Étienne, he scored againstRotherham Unitedin theLeague Cupsecond round on 25 August 2015, a 2–1 away win. On 31 August 2015, Van Wolfswinkel joinedReal Betisof the SpanishLa Ligaon a season-long loan.On 24 September, he made his first appearance in a 2–1 home defeat toDeportivo La Coruña, replacingJorge Molinain the 59th minute.He scored his first two goals on 15 December in aCopa del Reytie againstSporting Gijón, which finished as a 3–3 draw,and on 19 April 2016, he finally scored his first La Liga goal in a\",\n \"La Liga goal in a 1–0 home victory overLas Palmas. Return to Vitesse On 28 July 2016, Van Wolfswinkel rejoined Vitesse for an undisclosed fee from Norwich.On 6 August, he marked his comeback with a goal in the 21st minute to give Vitesse a 1–0 lead in an eventual 4–1 away victory overWillem II. He ultimately scored 20 goals in 32 games for the league season, one behind Golden Boot winnerNicolai Jørgensen. This included a hat-trick on 8 April 2017 in a 4–2 win overHeerenveenat theGelreDome.He scored two goals in the final of theKNVB Bekeragainst AZ on 30 April 2017 to lead the club to the title for the first time in its 125-year history. Basel On 14 June 2017, it was announced that van Wolfswinkel would join Swiss sideBaselon a three-year deal.He joined Basel's first team for their2017–18 seasonunder head coachRaphaël Wicky. After playing in five test games van Wolfswinkel played his first team league debut for his new club on 22 July in the 2–0 away defeat againstYoung Boysin theStade de Suisse.He scored his\",\n \"scored his first goal for his new club in the next match in the 3–1 home win in theSt. Jakob-ParkagainstLuzernon 30 July.On 10 August, van Wolfswinkel scored twice as Basel beatGrasshoppers3–2; his first double strike for the club meant that he scored four times in his first four league games for the club. Van Wolfswinkel injured himself during theChampions League group stagehome game againstBenficaon 27 September. The game was won 5–0 and van Wolfswinkel had netted the third goal.However, the injury (a metatarsal fracture) meant that van Wolfswinkel could not play again in the first half of the season. He returned to the team after three months on 17 December in the 2–0 away win against Grasshoppers being substituted in five minutes from time. Under trainerMarcel KollerBasel won theSwiss Cup in the 2018–19 season. In the first round Basel beat FC Montlingen 3–0, in the second roundEchallens Région7–2 and in the round of 16Winterthur1–0. In the quarter-finalsSionwere defeated 4–2 after extra time and in the\",\n \"time and in the semi-finalsZürichwere defeated 3–1. All these games were played away from home. The final was held on 19 May 2019 in theStade de Suisse Wankdorf BernagainstThun. StrikerAlbian Ajetiscored the first goal,Fabian Freithe second for Basel, thenDejan Sorgićnetted a goal for Thun, but the result remained 2–1 for Basel.Van Wolfswinkel played in five cup games and scored twice. In August 2019, van Wolfswinkel underwent surgery for a brain aneurysm detected during a routine scan for concussion.After some complications and an injury in training, he returned to the squad in June the following year. His contract expired on 31 August 2020, but a week later, he signed for another two years.During their2020–21 seasonunder head coachCiriaco Sforzamade 25 league appearances, mainly as substitute. After the season van Wolfswinkel left the club. Between the years 2017 and 2020 he played a total of 148 games for Basel scoring a total of 54 goals. 88 of these games were in theSwiss Super League, 11 in theSwiss\",\n \"11 in theSwiss Cup, 16 in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 33 were friendly games. He scored 28 goals in the domestic league, 4 in the cup, 6 in the European games and the other 16 were scored during the test games. International career Van Wolfswinkel played several matches for the Netherlands' national youth sides in various age groupsand in August 2010 was called up for thesenior national teamfor a friendly againstUkraine, during which he made his senior debut.He earned his second full international cap againstIndonesiain June 2013. Career statistics Honours Sporting CP Vitesse Basel Individual References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":68,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"The latest game, as of August 4, 2024, from the creator of Kirby won an award at The Game Awards. 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Apart from his work on those series, he also led the design ofMeteosin 2005 and directedKid Icarus: Uprisingin 2012. Formerly an employee ofHAL Laboratory, Sakurai left the company in 2003 and in 2005 with his wife Michiko Sakurai (also ex-HAL Laboratory) founded their companySora Ltd., under which they work on a freelance basis. He was also an author of a weekly column forFamitsumagazine from 2003 to 2021, and has done voice acting work in some of his games, most notably providing the voice ofKing DededeinKirby 64: The Crystal Shardsand theSuper Smash Bros.series. From 2022 to 2024, Sakurai has been creating videos for hisYouTubechannel,Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games, where he discusses game design and his career. Career Masahiro Sakurai was born on August 3, 1970, inMusashimurayama, Tokyo, Japan. One of Sakurai's earliest experiences in the video game industry began when he worked forHAL Laboratory, where he created the characterKirbyat age 19 and directed his first title,Kirby's Dream Land. Sakurai left HAL on August 5, 2003. He explained in an interview withNintendo Dreamthat that he felt it would be difficult to create new projects while staying at HAL due to the direction of the gaming industry, where the risk of failure was high. While he was not being pressured by HAL to createKirbysequels, he noted increasing tension within the industry as a whole: \"It was tough for me to see that every time I made a new game, people automatically assumed that a sequel was coming. Even if it's a sequel, lots of people have to give their all to make a game, but some people think the sequel process happens naturally.\" Soon after, Sakurai began working on a project withQ Entertainment, along withTetsuya Mizuguchi. This collaboration resulted inMeteosin 2005, a puzzle game for theNintendo DS. On September 30, 2005, Sakurai announced that he had formed his own company, Sora Ltd.Two games were announced to be in development but no information on the titles had been divulged. As for the future of theSuper Smash Bros.series, Nintendo and HAL Laboratory presidentSatoru Iwata, during Nintendo'sE3 2005press conference, promised an online iteration of the game would come to theNintendo Wii. In issue #885 ofFamitsumagazine, Sakurai revealed that he would be serving as a director and game designer onSuper Smash Bros. Brawlfor theWii.Super Smash Bros. Brawlwas released in 2008, after personnel borrowed from 19 different developer studios assisted in development.Sakurai had been updating daily theSuper Smash Bros Brawlwebsite called the Smash Bros. Dojo. Starting a year previous the release, he revealedBrawlsecrets and gameplay content through the site. The Smash Bros. Dojo had regular updates from May 22, 2007, to April 14, 2008. On the final day of updates, it was revealed that Sakurai provided the voice forKing DededeinKirby 64: The Crystal Shardsas well as Dedede inSuper Smash Bros. Brawl. He and his company, Sora Ltd. alongside Nintendo, started a first-party studio,Project Sora, which was 72% owned by Nintendo and 28% owned by Sora Ltd. It was revealed atE3 2010that Sakurai and Project Sora were working onKid Icarus: Uprisingfor the Nintendo 3DS. Project Sora was closed and ended development on June 30, 2012.AtE3 2011, Nintendo announced that Sakurai was working onSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DSandWii U. Sakurai began development of the title upon the release ofKid Icarus: Uprisingin March 2012. In February 2013, Sakurai was diagnosed withcalcific tendinitisnear his right shoulder, which caused him substantial pain whenever he moved his arm. He mentioned that this could effectively slow down his work, as he does some of hisgame testinghimself.Sakurai's wife, Michiko, has worked on the graphical user interface for many of his games, includingKirby Air Ride,Meteos, and theSuper Smash Bros.series. In a January 2015 column inWeekly Famitsu, Sakurai alluded to the possibility of retirement, expressing doubt that he would be able to continue making games if his career continued to be as stressful as it was.In December 2015, Sakurai once again stated that he was not sure if there would be another game in theSmash Bros.series,prior toSuper Smash Bros. Ultimatebeing released in 2018 with Sakurai once again as director. On March 14, 2022, Sakurai was awarded Best Creator byWeekly Famitsu. Sakurai also announced that he is working on a new project not related to game production. Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games Sakurai launchedMasahiro Sakurai on Creating Games, aYouTubechannel in both English and Japanese in August 2022. The channel's videos are focused on game development and design as well as his career.He stated that the channel was founded because he wanted to reach more people with his lessons after being asked tolectureat schools. Sakurai additionally noted that other venues for lessons from game developers, such as theGame Developers Conference, focused on more advanced, technical details, rather than more basic principles.Less than a day after its launch, the English edition of his channel gained over 200,000 subscribers.The opening and ending jingles for the channel were composed byYuzo Koshiro. Works Notes References External links","Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Super Smash Bros. Ultimateis a 2018crossoverfighting gamedeveloped byBandai Namco StudiosandSora Ltd. and published byNintendofor theNintendo Switch. It is the fifthinstallment in theSuper Smash Bros.series, succeedingSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DSandWii U(2014). The game follows the series' traditional style of gameplay, in which players control one of thevarious charactersand use attacks to weaken their opponents and knock them out of an arena. It features a wide variety ofgame modes, including asingle-playercampaignandmultiplayerversus modes.Ultimatefeatures 89 playable fighters, including all characters from previousSuper Smash Bros.games as well as newcomers. The roster ranges from Nintendo characters to those fromthird-partyfranchises. Planning for the game had begun by December 2015, with full development starting after the completion of3DS/Wii U'sdownloadable content(DLC). Series creator and directorMasahiro Sakuraireturned along with Bandai Namco Studios and Sora, the studios that developed3DS/Wii U,with their return speeding up the preparation process. Sakurai's goal withUltimatewas to include every character from previous games in the series, despite the various development and licensing challenges this would present. Several well-known video game musicians contributed to the soundtrack, withHideki Sakamotowriting the main theme \"Lifelight\". Nintendo first teasedUltimatein aNintendo Directin March 2018 and fully revealed it atE3 2018the following June. It later received two additional Directs prior to its release on December 7, 2018. The game received universal acclaim, with some critics calling it the best game in the series; they praised its large amount of content and fine-tuning of existingSmashgameplay elements, although its online mode received criticism.Ultimateis the best-selling fighting game of all time and one of thebest-selling on the Switch, having sold over 34 million copies as of March 2024. It is also a popularcompetitive fighting gameand has been cited as one of thegreatest video games of all time.Ultimatereceiveddownloadable contentadding new fighters, stages, and other content for nearly three years after release. Gameplay Super Smash Bros. Ultimateis aplatform fighterfor up to eight players in which characters fromNintendogames and third-party franchises fight to knock each other out of an arena. Each player has a percentage meter which raises as they take damage, thus increasing the knockback they take and making them easier to launch in the air and out of the arena.Standard battles use one of three victory conditions: Timed, where players aim to win the most points by defeating opponents within a time limit; Stock, where players have a set number of lives and aim to be the last player standing; and Stamina, where players reduce their opponent's health down to zero to defeat them. Players can adjust the rules to their liking and save them as presets for future matches. Players can also enable various items which attack enemies or grant them power-ups, along with Poké Balls and Assist Trophies, which respectively summonPokémonand other non-playable characters to assist them in battle. In Timed matches, certain Assist Trophies can be attacked and defeated to earn points.Each character also possesses a powerful Final Smash attack, which can be performed either by obtaining a Smash Ball or by filling up a special meter, both of which can be toggled on and off.The base game features 104 different stages, with additional stages being added alongside DLC fighters. Stages can be played in alternative Battlefield and Omega forms or toggled to remove stage hazards. A new feature called Stage Morph allows players to select two stages that the game alternates between at certain intervals during a match.Other tweaks include new icons and gauges for character-specific abilities, such asCloud's Limit gauge. In addition to returning modes such as Classic, Special Smash, and Home-Run Contest,Ultimateadds new modes. These are Smashdown, where each character can only be played once; Squad Strike, where players battle in teams of multiple characters; and a tournament mode that allows up to 32 players to battle in playoff brackets. Spirits Ultimateintroduces the Spirits mechanic, replacing the collectible trophies from previous games. Each of these Spirits, based on characters from represented franchises, can be used to power up a fighter with unique abilities.Players mainly gain Spirits through pre-made challenges called \"Spirit Battles\" that represent the character the Spirit depicts, which are embodied by one or more of the game's fighters and other specific level effects. For example, the Spirit battle of Rayquaza, a flying dragon Pokémon, requires players to defeat a large version of Ridley with a similar color palette and wind effects. Players are encouraged to strategically choose Spirits based on the level effects; in the same example, a player would need to equip a Spirit that provides wind resistance or immunity, or one that allows them to deal extra damage to a giant opponent. A separate mode called the Spirit Board presents a rotating set of Spirit battles for players to gain Spirits from. Spirits have a growth and evolution system, in which they can be leveled up to become more powerful or converted into Cores to summon new Spirits.Certain Spirits will also become an \"enhanced\" form upon reaching max level, but will return to level 1. Nintendo offers limited-timed Spirit events in cross-promotion with other games and franchises, with the Spirits featured only available to collect during the event. Eventually, these Spirits make their way into general rotation and can be found on the Spirit Board.The local multiplayer mode also allows for the option to use Spirits. World of Light Ultimatefeatures the return of Adventure Mode, which was absent in3DS/Wii U.It is now integrated into the Spirits mode with a new story,World of Light, which prominently uses the game's Spirit mechanics.The mode's narrative begins with an evil entity, Galeem, destroying theSmash Bros.world, vaporizing almost all of the fighter characters and placing them under his imprisonment; onlyKirby, due to his Warp Star, evades this attack.Players explore the titular World of Light, a new world that Galeem created in the original world's place, to rescue captured fighters and Spirits -the remnants of other characters' physical forms- by completing marked Spirit Battles. Players can use regained allies and Spirits to overcome certain challenges on the map and defeat Galeem.However, after Galeem is defeated, a new enemy, Dharkon, emerges; after Dharkon's defeat, it wages war against Galeem. If just Galeem is defeated, Dharkon will engulf the world in darkness, but if just Dharkon is defeated, then Galeem will cover the universe with light. However, by defeating an equal amount of light and dark Spirits on the final map, players are able to challenge and defeat both of them, freeing the Spirits from their control and allowing them to return to the real world. Additional features The game supports local multiplayer, local wireless with other systems, and online play viaWi-FiorLAN connections. By defeating players online, players earn tags which can be traded for in-game currency to buy new Spirits, music, andMiiFighter costumes. The game is compatible withJoy-Concontrollers, theNintendo Switch Pro Controller, andGameCube controllersvia a USB adapter.Like the previous entry,amiibofigurines can be used to create AI-controlled Figure Players, which can be trained to become stronger.Shortly after the game's release, a service for the Nintendo Switch Online mobile app, known as \"Smash World\", was launched, which allows players to check their game statistics and share images and videos captured from the game to social media.Ultimatefeatures over 900 music tracks, which can be played through the Switch's handheld mode while in standby mode.Version 3.0 of the game, released in April 2019, adds a Stage Builder, which allows players to create custom stages which can be shared or downloaded through the Switch Online service. The update also includes a replay editor, allowing players to edit stored replays, which can be shared online or downloaded to other devices. These replays are available within the Smash World app.An update in May 2019 provided limited support for thevirtual realityVR Kit ofNintendo Labo, allowing players to view computer-only matches in VR or play in a 1-on-1 mode against the computer.An update in September 2019 added the Home-Run Contest mode from previousSmashgames. Playable characters Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, like other games in theSuper Smash Bros.series, features acrossovercast of fighters from several differentNintendo franchises, as well as fighters from series bythird-partydevelopers such asKonami,Sega,Capcom,Bandai Namco Entertainment,Square Enix,PlatinumGames,Microsoft,SNK, andDisney. The base game features 74 playable fighters,consisting of all 63 previous fighters from past entries and 11 newcomers: theInklingsfromSplatoon;Princess Daisyfrom theMarioseries;Ridleyand Dark Samus from theMetroidseries;Simon Belmontand Richter Belmont from theCastlevaniaseries;ChromfromFire Emblem Awakening;King K. Roolfrom theDonkey Kongseries;Isabellefrom theAnimal Crossingseries;Ken Mastersfrom theStreet Fighterseries; and Incineroar fromPokémon SunandMoon.When starting the game, players only have access to the eight starter characters of the originalSuper Smash Bros.and unlock the rest by completing the game's Classic modes, playing through World of Light, or fighting a certain amount of battles. Certain characters whose movesets are directly based on other characters are now classified as \"Echo Fighters\", possessing similar movesets and proportions to the fighters they are based on, but with unique animations and gameplay differences. On the character selection screen, these characters can either be listed individually or stacked with the fighters they are based on.Select characters also have alternative skins featuring different genders or sometimes other characters, such asBowser Jr., who has the otherKoopalingsas skins, but with identical animations and abilities.Several returning characters received updates to their appearances, such asMariohaving Cappy fromSuper Mario Odysseyaccompanying him andThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's incarnation ofLinkreplacing the one fromTwilight Princess. Additional fighters have been added to the game via post-releasedownloadable content(DLC). The first of these,Piranha Plantfrom theMarioseries, was released in January 2019 and made available for free to those who purchased and registered the game with aMy Nintendoaccount before the end of that month.Additional fighters, each coming with a unique stage and related music, have been released both individually and as part of two Fighters Pass bundles.The first Fighters Pass consisted of five characters:JokerfromAtlus'Persona 5, released in April 2019;the Herofrom Square Enix'sDragon Questseries, released in July 2019;Banjo & KazooiefromRare'sBanjo-Kazooieseries, released in September 2019;Terry BogardfromSNK'sFatal Furyseries, released in November 2019;andBylethfromFire Emblem: Three Houses, released in January 2020. The second Fighters Pass, titled Fighters Pass Volume 2, consisted of six additional fighters and was the final content planned forUltimate.The first character in this collection,Min MinfromARMS, was released in June 2020.Steve,the default player avatar fromMojang Studios'Minecraft, was released in October 2020.Sephiroth, the antagonist from Square Enix'sFinal Fantasy VII, was released in December 2020, with players able to unlock him a few days early by defeating him in a limited-time boss battle known as the \"Sephiroth Challenge\".Pyra and Mythra, a dual character fromXenoblade Chronicles 2, were released in March 2021.Kazuya Mishimafrom Bandai Namco'sTekkenseries was released in June 2021.SorafromDisneyand Square Enix seriesKingdom Heartswas the final fighter to be added in October 2021. Development Super Smash Bros. Ultimatewas developed byBandai Namco StudiosandSora Ltd., the same studios that developedSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DSandWii U, for theNintendo Switch, with series creatorMasahiro Sakuraireturning as game director.Unlike previousSuper Smash Bros.games, the team was not assembled from the ground up, which sped up preparation time.The project plan for the game was in the works by December 2015, when the DLC for3DSandWii Uwas in development,and finished after it was completed.Staff gathering was done soon afterward.The development period was shorter compared to previous entries in the series.Hatenaassisted with the development of some elements,andtri-Crescendocontributed to programming and design. According to Sakurai, producing aSuper Smash Bros.game for the Switch was the last request that former Nintendo presidentSatoru Iwatahad given him before his death in 2015, and he wanted to make the game the best possible product he could to respect him.Sakurai sought to include every character from previous games, as to not disappoint fans.However, he knew this would be a complex problem for both development and licensing;it would also drastically increase the cost of development. The return of Bandai and Sora made it easier for this to happen.Sakurai also wanted to adjust character abilities to speed up the game,although not to an extent that would alienate players unfamiliar with the series.Sakurai knew thatUltimatewas a core game for Nintendo and that it had a dedicated player base that he did not want to disappoint, and believed that completing this goal was necessary to satisfy them.Sakurai was also faced with the decision to either create a completely new game system or build off of pre-existing ones; he chose to build off pre-existing ones because there would only be about a third of the characters he desired in the final game.All the returning characters' abilities had to be re-balancedso they could work inUltimate.Originally, gameplay would differ between the Switch's docked and handheld modes, but Sakurai scrapped this idea since the system's screen in handheld mode was better than he thought.Sakurai believed this would be the onlySmashgame to have the full roster of returning characters, calling the effort to include the characters, music, stage settings, and other elements as \"unprecedented\", and cautioned that future games in the series would likely be smaller in scope. However, he still wanted to add as many fighters as possible through DLC. Voice lines recorded byDavid Hayterfor Snake were re-used forUltimate.Xander Mobus, who voiced Crazy Hand,Master Hand, and the announcer inSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DSandWii U,also made a return with new voice clips, in addition to reprising his role asJokerfromPersona 5when he was added as DLC.The addition of Ridley fromMetroidas a playable character had been highly requested within theSuper Smash Bros.community for some time. In 2008, Sakurai stated that he knew Ridley was a high-demand character, but thought that he was \"impossible\" to add unless they were able to sacrifice the character's size for balancing purposes.So that Ridley could be included in the game, Sakurai studied the art of the character and redesigned him so he could stand upright.All characters were chosen at the beginning of development except for Incineroar, who had not been created yet;the team instead left a space open for aSun and MoonPokémon. The Inklings' inkmechanicproved challenging to implement due to its interactions with environments. The team builtUltimatefrom scratch with new assets and content. Localization manager Nate Bihldorff stated that the game significantly upgraded lighting effects and texture rendering from thegame engineof theWii Uversion.The World of Light mode was inspired byBrawl's(2008) Subspace Emissary, and Sakurai chose to start it with a cataclysmic event because he thought it would leave a greater impact on players.The team conceived the Spirits mechanic because they wanted to create an enjoyable single-player mode, but did not have enough resources to createcharacter models. While it did not let them tell stories for individual fighters or create new locations and rules, it let them use various characters and assets.One part of the team chose Spirits to include in the game and had to thoroughly research them; according to Sakurai, the Spirits mode was essential for using various franchises. Music Like previous games in the series,Ultimatefeatures several well-known video game music composers and arrangers providing a mix of original music and rearrangements of various tracks for the represented franchises, with over 1,000 tracks in total.New toUltimateis the tying of tracks to franchises instead of individual stages, as well as the ability to create custom playlists to listen to outside the game when the Switch is in handheld mode.Sakurai stated that he began contacting composers over a year before release, providing them with a database of over a thousand suggested track ideas.In addition, he allowed them to submit their own personal favorites, with those choices being given priority for inclusion.While Sakurai oversaw the process and preferred that the music retain the spirit of the original games, the direction of them was generally handled by the composers themselves.The main theme, \"Lifelight\", composed byHideki Sakamoto, is the basis of most of the game's original music. Downloadable content As with previous entries, Nintendo planned to offer new fighters through DLC; however, unlike with the3DSandWii U,where players could request which characters they wished to see in the game, Nintendo chose which characters they would add by November 2018.Like the previous title, additional Mii costumes were released as paid DLC, with certain costumes also adding new music tracks to the game.Sakurai believed that despite characters likeJoker, the first announced DLC fighter, not being from games usually associated with Nintendo, they were added because they were \"emblematic\" of the types of characters they wanted to add toUltimate.He also stated that they \"bring just a whole different level of fun and enjoyment for players\".The Piranha Plant was chosen as a DLC character because Sakurai wanted to add diversity to the roster.Nintendo met withRarestudio head Craig Duncan at E3 2018 to discuss the possibility of including Banjo and Kazooie as downloadable content; Duncan, believing it to be \"a great opportunity\", agreed and connected the two development teams for further discussions.Sakurai noted that Banjo and Kazooie were the second most requested character forSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DSandWii Uin a Nintendo-sanctioned fan vote in 2015,and that their addition happened \"quite easily\", despite the property being owned byMicrosoftthrough its acquisition ofRare.Phil Spencer, the head ofXbox, stated that negotiating their inclusion was \"an easy deal to make\" thanks to Microsoft's strong partnership with Nintendo. The development of Fighters Pass Volume 2 was heavily affected by theCOVID-19 pandemicin 2020, as due tostay-at-home ordersin Japan, Sakurai and his development team had to work remotely.According to Daniel Kaplan ofMojang Studios, early discussions between Nintendo andMicrosoftincludingMinecraftcontent in theSuper Smash Bros.series had begun roughly five years prior to Steve's addition into the game.The character's inclusion required the development team to rework every stage in the game to accommodate Steve's gameplay mechanics.Sakurai had wanted to includeSorafromKingdom Heartsin the game because he was the top fighter requested forNintendo 3DSandWii Uin the 2015 fan vote.However, they initially thought that the legality surrounding the intellectual property withDisneywould be insurmountable, and originally planned for only five fighters in the second pass. However, Sakurai met a Disney representative at an award venue, which facilitated the start of negotiations for Sora's inclusion. Nintendo, Disney, andSquare Enixsaw towards including Sora in the game and overseeing all aspects related to his inclusion, with several limitations and guidelines they were required to follow.The Sora Challenger Pack featured a promotional tie-in with the 2020 rhythm gameKingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory: players withMelody of Memorysave data on their Nintendo Switch would unlock the music track \"Dearly Beloved (Swing Version)\". Release Ultimatewas teased during aNintendo Directpresentation on March 8, 2018, under theworking titleSuper Smash Bros., with the release year shown to be 2018. Nintendo formally announced the game atE3 2018, revealing that the full roster of characters from past games would be included, as well as its release date.Demoversions were playable at E3 in June and atSan Diego Comic-Conthe following month.IGNnominatedUltimatefor its Best Game of E3 2018 award; the game won Best Nintendo Switch Game from bothIGNandGamescom.Two Nintendo Direct presentations in 2018, one on August 8 and another one on November 1, were devoted to the game, revealing new characters, stages, and game modes. Nintendo releasedSuper Smash Bros. Ultimateworldwide on December 7, 2018.In addition to the standard retail version, a special edition containing aSuper Smash Bros.-themedNintendo Switch Pro Controllerand a Switch with a download code was also released.An additional special edition contained a pair ofSuper Smash Bros.-themedJoy-Conas well as a Switch console, aSuper Smash Bros.-themed dock, and a download code for the game.AGameCube controllerwith theSuper Smash Bros. Ultimatelogo was released on November 2, 2018. One of the game's new additions had the characterMr. Game & Watchassuming the appearance of a feather- and loincloth-wearingNative Americanwhen using one of his attacks—a reference toFire Attack(1982), in which players controlled acowboydefending his fort from attacking indigenous people. Some users on social media saw this as racist, leading to Nintendo of America apologizing and removing the animation in an update shortly after release.Two weeks before its release, a leaked copy of the game was distributed across the internet. Nintendo took steps to issue copyright strikes on YouTube videos usingdata minedcontent, while fans worked to isolatespoilers, particularly the World of Light story mode, from those that had played the leaked version. Reception Ultimatereceived \"universal acclaim\" from critics, according to thereview aggregatorplatformMetacritic.Critics lauded the huge cast of characters and levels, new game modes, and combining of the best elements from its predecessors.French video game websiteJeuxvideo.comcalled it the best game in the series, praising its features which \"brilliantly mix gargantuan content with nostalgia\".Bleacher Reporthailed the game's colorful art style, faster gameplay, and unique stages.IGNpraised the game's decision to bring back every character from the series as \"ambitious and excellent\".The game's massive soundtrack and portable music player were praised byThe Verge. However, the game's online mode received criticism for its technical performance and matchmaking. Many players found significantlagaffecting their games, even when using wired connections over wireless, while the game's matchmaking features did not adhere to players' criteria, with players frequently playing matches with rule sets they did not choose. The matchmaking process was further criticized for making it difficult for friends to join matches over random players, and not allowing multiple local players to join in online matches.There had been so many complaints onUltimate'ssubredditthat the administrators forwarded all complaints to a separate thread.Ultimate'sWorld of Lightmode also received mixed reviews. While some found the single-player mode both accessible and challenging,others found the mode tedious and excessive. Sales In November 2018, Nintendo announcedUltimatewas the most pre-ordered game for the Switch and in the series.The Association for UK Interactive Entertainmentreported thatUltimatewas the fastest-selling Switch andSuper Smash Bros.game in the United Kingdom, with physical launch sales 302% higher than those forSuper Smash Bros. for Wii U, 233% higher than those for3DS, and 62.5% higher than those forBrawl.In its first three days on sale in Japan, the game sold 1.2 million copies, outsellingPokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu!andLet's Go, Eevee!andThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildin the region. Within 11 days of its release,Ultimatehad sold more than three million copies within the United States, making it the fastest-selling Switch game in the country.It was similarly the fastest-selling Switch game as well as the fastest-selling game for any Nintendo console in Europe based on the first 11-day sales.It was estimated that the game sold and shipped over five million copies within its first three days of release.Within three weeks,Ultimatebecame the fifth best-selling Switch game in the United Kingdom, surpassing the sales ofSplatoon 2.In January 2019,Amazonreported thatUltimatewas their highest selling video game product of 2018,with Nintendo officially announcing that the game had shipped over 12.08 million copies worldwide.Ultimatewas also Nintendo's fastest-selling game of all time until being surpassed byPokémon SwordandShieldin 2019.By September 2020, the game had sold over 21.10 million copies worldwide,making it the best-selling fighting game of all time,surpassing the record ofStreet Fighter II,and became thethird-best-selling Nintendo Switch game, only behindAnimal Crossing: New HorizonsandMario Kart 8 Deluxe. As of June 30, 2024, total sales reached34.66million. Awards The game won the award for \"Best Nintendo Switch Game\", \"Best Fighting Game\", and \"Best Multiplayer Game\" inIGN's Best of 2018 Awards, whereas its other nominations were for \"Game of the Year\" and \"Best Video Game Music\". Esports EVO 2019, held on August 2–4, 2019, featuredUltimateas one of its main events. It was the largest offlineSmash Bros.tournament of all time, with 3,534 entrants signed up.It set a new record for EVO concurrent viewership, with over 279,000 viewers during Top 8.On May 8–10, 2020, topSuper Smash Bros. MeleeplayerHungryboxpartnered withNFLrunning backLe'Veon Belland esports organizationTeam Liquidto host The Box, an online tournament with a $10,000 prize pool.With over 8,000 entrants, it was the largest onlineSmash Bros.tournament of all time. In February 2020, it was announced that the Smash World Tour would feature bothSuper Smash Bros. MeleeandUltimateplayers for a grand prize pool of $250,000. The tournament would have included international qualifiers, with the grand finals' location to be in the United States.However, theCOVID-19 pandemicquickly led to several of the qualifiers getting either postponed or canceled.The Smash World Tour was successfully relaunched in 2021, featuring a mix of online and offline qualifiers and culminating in a final offline championship.In 2022, an officially licensed circuit was introduced, being the Panda Cup, featuringSuper Smash Bros. MeleeandSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate.However on November 24, 2022, Nintendo stated that the Smash World Tour 2022 could not continue, as they did not have a license from Nintendo. Accusations of Panda CEO, Alan Bunney, caused many players who had qualified for the Panda Cup to drop out. This caused both the Panda Cup and the Smash World Tour 2022 Championships to be cancelled, along with the Smash World Tour 2023. Notes References External links","The Game Awards 2020 The Game Awards 2020was an award show that honored the bestvideo games of 2020. It was produced and hosted byGeoff Keighley, and took place on December 10, 2020. The preshow ceremony was hosted by Sydnee Goodman. Unlike previousGame Awards, the show was broadcast virtually due to theCOVID-19 pandemic; Keighley presented at a soundstage inLos Angeles, while musical performances took place virtually at stages inLondonandTokyo. The show introduced the award's first Future Class, a list of individuals from the video game industry who best represent the future of video games, Innovation in Accessibility award, an award for games that featured notableaccessibility options. The show waslive streamedacross 45 different platforms. It featured musical performances from theLondon Philharmonic OrchestraandEddie Vedder, and presentations from celebrity guests, includingReggie Fils-Aimé,Gal Gadot,Brie Larson, andKeanu Reeves. The Last of Us Part IIreceived the most nominations and wins in the show's history—eleven and seven, respectively—and was awardedGame of the Year.Neil DruckmannandHalley Grosswon Best Narrative for their work on the game, whileLaura Baileywas awarded Best Performance for her role asAbby. Several new games were announced, includingArk II,Perfect Dark, andan untitledMass Effectgame. The show was the most expensive ceremony to date. It was viewed by over 83 million streams, the most in its history to date,with 8.3 million concurrent viewers at its peak. It received a mixed reception from media publications, with praise directed at new game announcements, and criticism for not allowing developers more time to speak. Some critics and viewers shared concerns over the success ofThe Last of Us Part IIdue to its developer'scrunchpractices. Background As with previous iterations ofThe Game Awards, the 2020 show was hosted and produced by Canadian games journalistGeoff Keighley. He returned as an executive producer alongside Kimmie Kim, and Richard Preuss and LeRoy Bennett returned as director and creative director, respectively.Sydnee Goodman returned as host of the preshow.Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, Keighley did not want to host a normal ceremony.Not wanting to take a hiatus and inspired by the success ofSummer Game Fest,he considered hosting from his home but his board urged him to attempt a larger show on par with previous years.In case of a significant surge ofCOVID-19 cases in California, the crew had several back-up plans, including broadcasting from Keighley's house.He worked with his partners to develop a virtual show;he and his team took inspiration from other shows throughout the year, including theDemocratic National Convention, in which the \"audience\" was featured on virtual screens,as well as the72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, wherein the hosts were isolated on stage and the winners accepted viavideo call. The presentation used three soundstages in Los Angeles, London, and Tokyo; each had minimal attendees, mostly related to production crew and presenters. Keighley said this allowed them to include additional presentation events as with past shows, as well as explore taking future shows to different venues.The 2020 show—featuring a production of more than 400 people, six of whom are full-time employees—had a budget of underUS$10 millionand was the most expensive to date, partly due to theCOVID-19 testsrequired for the crew and the worldwide remote camera set-ups.It remained profitable due to revenue from advertisers and sponsors, as well as minor earnings from streaming services.The show's theme was strength and comfort due to the impact of the pandemic. Keighley wanted to implore the theme of unity, given the release of thePlayStation 5andXbox Series X/Sin November 2020; he citedThe Game Awards 2018as an example of this theme, which had led withNintendo'sReggie Fils-Aimé, Microsoft'sPhil Spencer, and Sony'sShawn Laydensharing the stage.Keighley felt the inclusion of film and television stars was an interesting way to show a wider appreciation for the industry. His team wanted to includeHenry Cavillin the show, but he was busy working onThe Witcher. While developing the show, Keighley spoke to hundreds of viewers viaZoomto discuss their own interests,often alongside industry figures likeValve CorporationpresidentGabe NewellandEpic Gamescreative director Donald Mustard.As with the previous show, the presentation ran alongside the Game Festival, consisting of playable demos and additional in-game content.The show introduced the award's first Future Class, a list of individuals from across the video game industry who best represent the future of video games. The inductees included industry professionals such asKinda Funny's Blessing Adeoye Jr.,Naughty Dog'sHalley Gross, andGameSpot'sKallie Plagge.The presentation was aired on December 10, 2020,live streamedacross more than 45 online platforms.It aired on more than ten networks in China, includingBilibili,Douyin, andHuya Live, and on several networks in India includingDisney+ Hotstar,JioTV, andMX Player. Announcements Around April and May in 2020, Keighley was worried about a potential lack of game announcements due to theimpact of COVID-19 on the industry; however, several developers were able to submit their announcements and trailers for demonstration.Announcements on recently released and upcoming games were made for: New games announced during the ceremony included: Winners and nominees The nominees for The Game Awards 2020 were announced on November 18, 2020.Any game released on or before November 20, 2020 was eligible for consideration.The nominees were compiled by a jury panel with members from 96 media outlets globally;ballots were sent to outlets on October 29 and due back on November 6, though they had until November 13 to submit updated ballots. Outlets were required to submit three games for each category to determine the nominees.Winners were determined between the jury (90%) and public votes (10%); the latter was held via the official website and on social media platforms such asFacebookandTwitter, and closed on December 9.The two exceptions were the Most Anticipated Game and Player's Voice awards, which were fully nominated and voted-on by the public;the former was determined exclusively on Twitter and announced during the show,and the latter was announced on December 8 after several rounds of voting.A new Innovation in Accessibility award was added for games that featured notableaccessibility options.Around 18.3 million people participated in the public vote, doubling from the previous show. Awards Winners are listed first, highlighted inboldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡). Video games Esports and creators Games with multiple nominations and awards Multiple nominations The Last of Us Part IIreceived eleven nominations, the most in the show's history. Other games with multiple nominations includedHadeswith nine,Ghost of Tsushimawith eight,Final Fantasy VII Remakewith six, andDoom Eternalwith five.Sony Interactive Entertainmenthad 26 total nominations, more than any other publisher, followed bySupergiant GamesandXbox Game Studioswith eight. Multiple awards The Last of Us Part IIreceived the most wins in the show's history, with seven. Four games—Among Us,Final Fantasy VII Remake,Ghost of Tsushima, andHades—won two awards. Across its two winning games, Sony Interactive Entertainment won a total of nine awards, whileInnersloth,Square Enix, Supergiant Games, and Xbox Game Studios won two. Presenters and performers Presenters The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or introduced trailers. All other awards were presented by Keighley or Goodman. Performers The following individuals or groups performed musical numbers.A planned orchestral version ofCyberpunk 2077's music was scrapped when the game was delayed to the same day as the ceremony, rendering it ineligible for nomination. Ratings and reception Nominees Inverse's Corey Plante felt the cutoff date led to several games getting snubbed, includingDemon's SoulsandMarvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, as well asPokémon SwordandShield, which was eligible for both the2019and 2020 awards but was unrecognized in both. He feltGhost of Tsushimawas more deserving of a Best Score and Music nomination thanDoom Eternal.Den of Geek's Matthew Byrd similarly lamented the lack of recognition forDemon's SoulsandMarvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales.Kat Bailey ofUSgamerquestionedDoom Eternal'snomination for Game of the Year, describing it as \"messy, unfocused, and, well, just not as good\" as its predecessor.Kotaku Australia's Alex Walker similarly found the nomination misplaced and considered games likeHalf-Life: AlyxandMicrosoft Flight Simulatormore deserving. Ceremony The show received a mixed reception from media publications.VentureBeat'sDean Takahashipraised the ceremony, particularly applauding its celebration of diverse games such asThe Last of Us Part IIandTell Me Whyas well as the varied and interesting new game announcements.Todd Martens ofLos Angeles Timesfelt the show should have allowed more time for the developers to speak and discuss their artistic visions behind the games, noting the presentation does little to demonstratevideo games as art.Eurogamer's Martin Robinson said the show was understandably \"low-key\" but called it a \"three-hour long advert\".Inverse's Ana Diaz criticized the rapid announcement of winners between premieres and during the preshow, preventing developers from accepting the awards, and its focus onHollywoodactors over game creators. Similar to concerns overDeath Stranding'spredominance in the nominations and ceremony for the 2019 awards due to its creatorHideo Kojima's friendship with Keighley, some viewers shared concerns related toThe Last of Us Part IIat the 2020 awards, both for its awards success and due to the developer'scrunchpractices.The Last of Us Part IIwas well-received at release but narrative elements polarized some critics and players, and the game had been subject toreview bombing;Keighley clarified the awards were not rigged in the manner some viewers had suggested and there was no influence of Naughty Dog or its staff on the award selection, citing the game's popularity among players and media alike as proven by its runner-up placement in the Player's Voice award.Kotaku'sIan Walker criticized the game's Best Game Direction win, notingHadesshould have won due to developer Supergiant Games's less demanding work culture.TheGamer's Peter Glagowski similarly felt the game's awards were a message excusing crunch culture in game development.Keighley felt it would be difficult to incorporate criteria related to games developed under poor industry practices like crunch into the awards selection process without becoming aslippery slope, but believes discussions of these practices should be a conversation held by the larger community. Viewership Over 83 million streams were used to view the ceremony, the most in the show's history to date,with 8.3 million concurrent viewers at its peak.OnTwitch, the show had over 2.63 million concurrent viewers, more than double the previous year, with 9,000 creators co-streaming the ceremony. OnYouTube, live viewership increased 84 percent over the previous year. In total, live hours viewed increased by over 129 percent acrossFacebook Gaming, Twitch, and YouTube. The showtrended worldwide on Twitter, with a 31 percent increase in conversation from the previous year, while usage of thehashtag#TheGameAwards increased 107 percent.Keighley expressed his surprise by the consistent growth of the show over the years, but confessed it has led him to fear \"that year where it doesn't grow ... There's going to be a year where we don't have the same viewers\". Notes References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirby_(series\",\n \"Masahiro Sakurai Masahiro Sakurai(桜井 政博,Sakurai Masahiro, born August 3, 1970)is a Japanese video game director andgame designerbest known as the creator of theKirbyandSuper Smash Bros.series. Apart from his work on those series, he also led the design ofMeteosin 2005 and directedKid Icarus: Uprisingin 2012. Formerly an employee ofHAL Laboratory, Sakurai left the company in 2003 and in 2005 with his wife Michiko Sakurai (also ex-HAL Laboratory) founded their companySora Ltd., under which they work on a freelance basis. He was also an author of a weekly column forFamitsumagazine from 2003 to 2021, and has done voice acting work in some of his games, most notably providing the voice ofKing DededeinKirby 64: The Crystal Shardsand theSuper Smash Bros.series. From 2022 to 2024, Sakurai has been creating videos for hisYouTubechannel,Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games, where he discusses game design and his career. Career Masahiro Sakurai was born on August 3, 1970, inMusashimurayama, Tokyo, Japan. One of Sakurai's earliest experiences in the video game industry began when he worked forHAL Laboratory, where he created the characterKirbyat age 19 and directed his first title,Kirby's Dream Land. Sakurai left HAL on August 5, 2003. He explained in an interview withNintendo Dreamthat that he felt it would be difficult to create new projects while staying at HAL due to the direction of the gaming industry, where the risk of failure was high. While he was not being pressured by HAL to createKirbysequels, he noted increasing tension within the industry as a whole: \\\"It was tough for me to see that every time I made a new game, people automatically assumed that a sequel was coming. Even if it's a sequel, lots of people have to give their all to make a game, but some people think the sequel process happens naturally.\\\" Soon after, Sakurai began working on a project withQ Entertainment, along withTetsuya Mizuguchi. This collaboration resulted inMeteosin 2005, a puzzle game for theNintendo DS. On September 30, 2005, Sakurai announced that he had formed his own company, Sora Ltd.Two games were announced to be in development but no information on the titles had been divulged. As for the future of theSuper Smash Bros.series, Nintendo and HAL Laboratory presidentSatoru Iwata, during Nintendo'sE3 2005press conference, promised an online iteration of the game would come to theNintendo Wii. In issue #885 ofFamitsumagazine, Sakurai revealed that he would be serving as a director and game designer onSuper Smash Bros. Brawlfor theWii.Super Smash Bros. Brawlwas released in 2008, after personnel borrowed from 19 different developer studios assisted in development.Sakurai had been updating daily theSuper Smash Bros Brawlwebsite called the Smash Bros. Dojo. Starting a year previous the release, he revealedBrawlsecrets and gameplay content through the site. The Smash Bros. Dojo had regular updates from May 22, 2007, to April 14, 2008. On the final day of updates, it was revealed that Sakurai provided the voice forKing DededeinKirby 64: The Crystal Shardsas well as Dedede inSuper Smash Bros. Brawl. He and his company, Sora Ltd. alongside Nintendo, started a first-party studio,Project Sora, which was 72% owned by Nintendo and 28% owned by Sora Ltd. It was revealed atE3 2010that Sakurai and Project Sora were working onKid Icarus: Uprisingfor the Nintendo 3DS. Project Sora was closed and ended development on June 30, 2012.AtE3 2011, Nintendo announced that Sakurai was working onSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DSandWii U. Sakurai began development of the title upon the release ofKid Icarus: Uprisingin March 2012. In February 2013, Sakurai was diagnosed withcalcific tendinitisnear his right shoulder, which caused him substantial pain whenever he moved his arm. He mentioned that this could effectively slow down his work, as he does some of hisgame testinghimself.Sakurai's wife, Michiko, has worked on the graphical user interface for many of his games, includingKirby Air Ride,Meteos, and theSuper Smash Bros.series. In a January 2015 column inWeekly Famitsu, Sakurai alluded to the possibility of retirement, expressing doubt that he would be able to continue making games if his career continued to be as stressful as it was.In December 2015, Sakurai once again stated that he was not sure if there would be another game in theSmash Bros.series,prior toSuper Smash Bros. Ultimatebeing released in 2018 with Sakurai once again as director. On March 14, 2022, Sakurai was awarded Best Creator byWeekly Famitsu. Sakurai also announced that he is working on a new project not related to game production. Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games Sakurai launchedMasahiro Sakurai on Creating Games, aYouTubechannel in both English and Japanese in August 2022. The channel's videos are focused on game development and design as well as his career.He stated that the channel was founded because he wanted to reach more people with his lessons after being asked tolectureat schools. Sakurai additionally noted that other venues for lessons from game developers, such as theGame Developers Conference, focused on more advanced, technical details, rather than more basic principles.Less than a day after its launch, the English edition of his channel gained over 200,000 subscribers.The opening and ending jingles for the channel were composed byYuzo Koshiro. Works Notes References External links\",\n \"Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Super Smash Bros. Ultimateis a 2018crossoverfighting gamedeveloped byBandai Namco StudiosandSora Ltd. and published byNintendofor theNintendo Switch. It is the fifthinstallment in theSuper Smash Bros.series, succeedingSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DSandWii U(2014). The game follows the series' traditional style of gameplay, in which players control one of thevarious charactersand use attacks to weaken their opponents and knock them out of an arena. It features a wide variety ofgame modes, including asingle-playercampaignandmultiplayerversus modes.Ultimatefeatures 89 playable fighters, including all characters from previousSuper Smash Bros.games as well as newcomers. The roster ranges from Nintendo characters to those fromthird-partyfranchises. Planning for the game had begun by December 2015, with full development starting after the completion of3DS/Wii U'sdownloadable content(DLC). Series creator and directorMasahiro Sakuraireturned along with Bandai Namco Studios and Sora, the studios that developed3DS/Wii U,with their return speeding up the preparation process. Sakurai's goal withUltimatewas to include every character from previous games in the series, despite the various development and licensing challenges this would present. Several well-known video game musicians contributed to the soundtrack, withHideki Sakamotowriting the main theme \\\"Lifelight\\\". Nintendo first teasedUltimatein aNintendo Directin March 2018 and fully revealed it atE3 2018the following June. It later received two additional Directs prior to its release on December 7, 2018. The game received universal acclaim, with some critics calling it the best game in the series; they praised its large amount of content and fine-tuning of existingSmashgameplay elements, although its online mode received criticism.Ultimateis the best-selling fighting game of all time and one of thebest-selling on the Switch, having sold over 34 million copies as of March 2024. It is also a popularcompetitive fighting gameand has been cited as one of thegreatest video games of all time.Ultimatereceiveddownloadable contentadding new fighters, stages, and other content for nearly three years after release. Gameplay Super Smash Bros. Ultimateis aplatform fighterfor up to eight players in which characters fromNintendogames and third-party franchises fight to knock each other out of an arena. Each player has a percentage meter which raises as they take damage, thus increasing the knockback they take and making them easier to launch in the air and out of the arena.Standard battles use one of three victory conditions: Timed, where players aim to win the most points by defeating opponents within a time limit; Stock, where players have a set number of lives and aim to be the last player standing; and Stamina, where players reduce their opponent's health down to zero to defeat them. Players can adjust the rules to their liking and save them as presets for future matches. Players can also enable various items which attack enemies or grant them power-ups, along with Poké Balls and Assist Trophies, which respectively summonPokémonand other non-playable characters to assist them in battle. In Timed matches, certain Assist Trophies can be attacked and defeated to earn points.Each character also possesses a powerful Final Smash attack, which can be performed either by obtaining a Smash Ball or by filling up a special meter, both of which can be toggled on and off.The base game features 104 different stages, with additional stages being added alongside DLC fighters. Stages can be played in alternative Battlefield and Omega forms or toggled to remove stage hazards. A new feature called Stage Morph allows players to select two stages that the game alternates between at certain intervals during a match.Other tweaks include new icons and gauges for character-specific abilities, such asCloud's Limit gauge. In addition to returning modes such as Classic, Special Smash, and Home-Run Contest,Ultimateadds new modes. These are Smashdown, where each character can only be played once; Squad Strike, where players battle in teams of multiple characters; and a tournament mode that allows up to 32 players to battle in playoff brackets. Spirits Ultimateintroduces the Spirits mechanic, replacing the collectible trophies from previous games. Each of these Spirits, based on characters from represented franchises, can be used to power up a fighter with unique abilities.Players mainly gain Spirits through pre-made challenges called \\\"Spirit Battles\\\" that represent the character the Spirit depicts, which are embodied by one or more of the game's fighters and other specific level effects. For example, the Spirit battle of Rayquaza, a flying dragon Pokémon, requires players to defeat a large version of Ridley with a similar color palette and wind effects. Players are encouraged to strategically choose Spirits based on the level effects; in the same example, a player would need to equip a Spirit that provides wind resistance or immunity, or one that allows them to deal extra damage to a giant opponent. A separate mode called the Spirit Board presents a rotating set of Spirit battles for players to gain Spirits from. Spirits have a growth and evolution system, in which they can be leveled up to become more powerful or converted into Cores to summon new Spirits.Certain Spirits will also become an \\\"enhanced\\\" form upon reaching max level, but will return to level 1. Nintendo offers limited-timed Spirit events in cross-promotion with other games and franchises, with the Spirits featured only available to collect during the event. Eventually, these Spirits make their way into general rotation and can be found on the Spirit Board.The local multiplayer mode also allows for the option to use Spirits. World of Light Ultimatefeatures the return of Adventure Mode, which was absent in3DS/Wii U.It is now integrated into the Spirits mode with a new story,World of Light, which prominently uses the game's Spirit mechanics.The mode's narrative begins with an evil entity, Galeem, destroying theSmash Bros.world, vaporizing almost all of the fighter characters and placing them under his imprisonment; onlyKirby, due to his Warp Star, evades this attack.Players explore the titular World of Light, a new world that Galeem created in the original world's place, to rescue captured fighters and Spirits -the remnants of other characters' physical forms- by completing marked Spirit Battles. Players can use regained allies and Spirits to overcome certain challenges on the map and defeat Galeem.However, after Galeem is defeated, a new enemy, Dharkon, emerges; after Dharkon's defeat, it wages war against Galeem. If just Galeem is defeated, Dharkon will engulf the world in darkness, but if just Dharkon is defeated, then Galeem will cover the universe with light. However, by defeating an equal amount of light and dark Spirits on the final map, players are able to challenge and defeat both of them, freeing the Spirits from their control and allowing them to return to the real world. Additional features The game supports local multiplayer, local wireless with other systems, and online play viaWi-FiorLAN connections. By defeating players online, players earn tags which can be traded for in-game currency to buy new Spirits, music, andMiiFighter costumes. The game is compatible withJoy-Concontrollers, theNintendo Switch Pro Controller, andGameCube controllersvia a USB adapter.Like the previous entry,amiibofigurines can be used to create AI-controlled Figure Players, which can be trained to become stronger.Shortly after the game's release, a service for the Nintendo Switch Online mobile app, known as \\\"Smash World\\\", was launched, which allows players to check their game statistics and share images and videos captured from the game to social media.Ultimatefeatures over 900 music tracks, which can be played through the Switch's handheld mode while in standby mode.Version 3.0 of the game, released in April 2019, adds a Stage Builder, which allows players to create custom stages which can be shared or downloaded through the Switch Online service. The update also includes a replay editor, allowing players to edit stored replays, which can be shared online or downloaded to other devices. These replays are available within the Smash World app.An update in May 2019 provided limited support for thevirtual realityVR Kit ofNintendo Labo, allowing players to view computer-only matches in VR or play in a 1-on-1 mode against the computer.An update in September 2019 added the Home-Run Contest mode from previousSmashgames. Playable characters Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, like other games in theSuper Smash Bros.series, features acrossovercast of fighters from several differentNintendo franchises, as well as fighters from series bythird-partydevelopers such asKonami,Sega,Capcom,Bandai Namco Entertainment,Square Enix,PlatinumGames,Microsoft,SNK, andDisney. The base game features 74 playable fighters,consisting of all 63 previous fighters from past entries and 11 newcomers: theInklingsfromSplatoon;Princess Daisyfrom theMarioseries;Ridleyand Dark Samus from theMetroidseries;Simon Belmontand Richter Belmont from theCastlevaniaseries;ChromfromFire Emblem Awakening;King K. Roolfrom theDonkey Kongseries;Isabellefrom theAnimal Crossingseries;Ken Mastersfrom theStreet Fighterseries; and Incineroar fromPokémon SunandMoon.When starting the game, players only have access to the eight starter characters of the originalSuper Smash Bros.and unlock the rest by completing the game's Classic modes, playing through World of Light, or fighting a certain amount of battles. Certain characters whose movesets are directly based on other characters are now classified as \\\"Echo Fighters\\\", possessing similar movesets and proportions to the fighters they are based on, but with unique animations and gameplay differences. On the character selection screen, these characters can either be listed individually or stacked with the fighters they are based on.Select characters also have alternative skins featuring different genders or sometimes other characters, such asBowser Jr., who has the otherKoopalingsas skins, but with identical animations and abilities.Several returning characters received updates to their appearances, such asMariohaving Cappy fromSuper Mario Odysseyaccompanying him andThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's incarnation ofLinkreplacing the one fromTwilight Princess. Additional fighters have been added to the game via post-releasedownloadable content(DLC). The first of these,Piranha Plantfrom theMarioseries, was released in January 2019 and made available for free to those who purchased and registered the game with aMy Nintendoaccount before the end of that month.Additional fighters, each coming with a unique stage and related music, have been released both individually and as part of two Fighters Pass bundles.The first Fighters Pass consisted of five characters:JokerfromAtlus'Persona 5, released in April 2019;the Herofrom Square Enix'sDragon Questseries, released in July 2019;Banjo & KazooiefromRare'sBanjo-Kazooieseries, released in September 2019;Terry BogardfromSNK'sFatal Furyseries, released in November 2019;andBylethfromFire Emblem: Three Houses, released in January 2020. The second Fighters Pass, titled Fighters Pass Volume 2, consisted of six additional fighters and was the final content planned forUltimate.The first character in this collection,Min MinfromARMS, was released in June 2020.Steve,the default player avatar fromMojang Studios'Minecraft, was released in October 2020.Sephiroth, the antagonist from Square Enix'sFinal Fantasy VII, was released in December 2020, with players able to unlock him a few days early by defeating him in a limited-time boss battle known as the \\\"Sephiroth Challenge\\\".Pyra and Mythra, a dual character fromXenoblade Chronicles 2, were released in March 2021.Kazuya Mishimafrom Bandai Namco'sTekkenseries was released in June 2021.SorafromDisneyand Square Enix seriesKingdom Heartswas the final fighter to be added in October 2021. Development Super Smash Bros. Ultimatewas developed byBandai Namco StudiosandSora Ltd., the same studios that developedSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DSandWii U, for theNintendo Switch, with series creatorMasahiro Sakuraireturning as game director.Unlike previousSuper Smash Bros.games, the team was not assembled from the ground up, which sped up preparation time.The project plan for the game was in the works by December 2015, when the DLC for3DSandWii Uwas in development,and finished after it was completed.Staff gathering was done soon afterward.The development period was shorter compared to previous entries in the series.Hatenaassisted with the development of some elements,andtri-Crescendocontributed to programming and design. According to Sakurai, producing aSuper Smash Bros.game for the Switch was the last request that former Nintendo presidentSatoru Iwatahad given him before his death in 2015, and he wanted to make the game the best possible product he could to respect him.Sakurai sought to include every character from previous games, as to not disappoint fans.However, he knew this would be a complex problem for both development and licensing;it would also drastically increase the cost of development. The return of Bandai and Sora made it easier for this to happen.Sakurai also wanted to adjust character abilities to speed up the game,although not to an extent that would alienate players unfamiliar with the series.Sakurai knew thatUltimatewas a core game for Nintendo and that it had a dedicated player base that he did not want to disappoint, and believed that completing this goal was necessary to satisfy them.Sakurai was also faced with the decision to either create a completely new game system or build off of pre-existing ones; he chose to build off pre-existing ones because there would only be about a third of the characters he desired in the final game.All the returning characters' abilities had to be re-balancedso they could work inUltimate.Originally, gameplay would differ between the Switch's docked and handheld modes, but Sakurai scrapped this idea since the system's screen in handheld mode was better than he thought.Sakurai believed this would be the onlySmashgame to have the full roster of returning characters, calling the effort to include the characters, music, stage settings, and other elements as \\\"unprecedented\\\", and cautioned that future games in the series would likely be smaller in scope. However, he still wanted to add as many fighters as possible through DLC. Voice lines recorded byDavid Hayterfor Snake were re-used forUltimate.Xander Mobus, who voiced Crazy Hand,Master Hand, and the announcer inSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DSandWii U,also made a return with new voice clips, in addition to reprising his role asJokerfromPersona 5when he was added as DLC.The addition of Ridley fromMetroidas a playable character had been highly requested within theSuper Smash Bros.community for some time. In 2008, Sakurai stated that he knew Ridley was a high-demand character, but thought that he was \\\"impossible\\\" to add unless they were able to sacrifice the character's size for balancing purposes.So that Ridley could be included in the game, Sakurai studied the art of the character and redesigned him so he could stand upright.All characters were chosen at the beginning of development except for Incineroar, who had not been created yet;the team instead left a space open for aSun and MoonPokémon. The Inklings' inkmechanicproved challenging to implement due to its interactions with environments. The team builtUltimatefrom scratch with new assets and content. Localization manager Nate Bihldorff stated that the game significantly upgraded lighting effects and texture rendering from thegame engineof theWii Uversion.The World of Light mode was inspired byBrawl's(2008) Subspace Emissary, and Sakurai chose to start it with a cataclysmic event because he thought it would leave a greater impact on players.The team conceived the Spirits mechanic because they wanted to create an enjoyable single-player mode, but did not have enough resources to createcharacter models. While it did not let them tell stories for individual fighters or create new locations and rules, it let them use various characters and assets.One part of the team chose Spirits to include in the game and had to thoroughly research them; according to Sakurai, the Spirits mode was essential for using various franchises. Music Like previous games in the series,Ultimatefeatures several well-known video game music composers and arrangers providing a mix of original music and rearrangements of various tracks for the represented franchises, with over 1,000 tracks in total.New toUltimateis the tying of tracks to franchises instead of individual stages, as well as the ability to create custom playlists to listen to outside the game when the Switch is in handheld mode.Sakurai stated that he began contacting composers over a year before release, providing them with a database of over a thousand suggested track ideas.In addition, he allowed them to submit their own personal favorites, with those choices being given priority for inclusion.While Sakurai oversaw the process and preferred that the music retain the spirit of the original games, the direction of them was generally handled by the composers themselves.The main theme, \\\"Lifelight\\\", composed byHideki Sakamoto, is the basis of most of the game's original music. Downloadable content As with previous entries, Nintendo planned to offer new fighters through DLC; however, unlike with the3DSandWii U,where players could request which characters they wished to see in the game, Nintendo chose which characters they would add by November 2018.Like the previous title, additional Mii costumes were released as paid DLC, with certain costumes also adding new music tracks to the game.Sakurai believed that despite characters likeJoker, the first announced DLC fighter, not being from games usually associated with Nintendo, they were added because they were \\\"emblematic\\\" of the types of characters they wanted to add toUltimate.He also stated that they \\\"bring just a whole different level of fun and enjoyment for players\\\".The Piranha Plant was chosen as a DLC character because Sakurai wanted to add diversity to the roster.Nintendo met withRarestudio head Craig Duncan at E3 2018 to discuss the possibility of including Banjo and Kazooie as downloadable content; Duncan, believing it to be \\\"a great opportunity\\\", agreed and connected the two development teams for further discussions.Sakurai noted that Banjo and Kazooie were the second most requested character forSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DSandWii Uin a Nintendo-sanctioned fan vote in 2015,and that their addition happened \\\"quite easily\\\", despite the property being owned byMicrosoftthrough its acquisition ofRare.Phil Spencer, the head ofXbox, stated that negotiating their inclusion was \\\"an easy deal to make\\\" thanks to Microsoft's strong partnership with Nintendo. The development of Fighters Pass Volume 2 was heavily affected by theCOVID-19 pandemicin 2020, as due tostay-at-home ordersin Japan, Sakurai and his development team had to work remotely.According to Daniel Kaplan ofMojang Studios, early discussions between Nintendo andMicrosoftincludingMinecraftcontent in theSuper Smash Bros.series had begun roughly five years prior to Steve's addition into the game.The character's inclusion required the development team to rework every stage in the game to accommodate Steve's gameplay mechanics.Sakurai had wanted to includeSorafromKingdom Heartsin the game because he was the top fighter requested forNintendo 3DSandWii Uin the 2015 fan vote.However, they initially thought that the legality surrounding the intellectual property withDisneywould be insurmountable, and originally planned for only five fighters in the second pass. However, Sakurai met a Disney representative at an award venue, which facilitated the start of negotiations for Sora's inclusion. Nintendo, Disney, andSquare Enixsaw towards including Sora in the game and overseeing all aspects related to his inclusion, with several limitations and guidelines they were required to follow.The Sora Challenger Pack featured a promotional tie-in with the 2020 rhythm gameKingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory: players withMelody of Memorysave data on their Nintendo Switch would unlock the music track \\\"Dearly Beloved (Swing Version)\\\". Release Ultimatewas teased during aNintendo Directpresentation on March 8, 2018, under theworking titleSuper Smash Bros., with the release year shown to be 2018. Nintendo formally announced the game atE3 2018, revealing that the full roster of characters from past games would be included, as well as its release date.Demoversions were playable at E3 in June and atSan Diego Comic-Conthe following month.IGNnominatedUltimatefor its Best Game of E3 2018 award; the game won Best Nintendo Switch Game from bothIGNandGamescom.Two Nintendo Direct presentations in 2018, one on August 8 and another one on November 1, were devoted to the game, revealing new characters, stages, and game modes. Nintendo releasedSuper Smash Bros. Ultimateworldwide on December 7, 2018.In addition to the standard retail version, a special edition containing aSuper Smash Bros.-themedNintendo Switch Pro Controllerand a Switch with a download code was also released.An additional special edition contained a pair ofSuper Smash Bros.-themedJoy-Conas well as a Switch console, aSuper Smash Bros.-themed dock, and a download code for the game.AGameCube controllerwith theSuper Smash Bros. Ultimatelogo was released on November 2, 2018. One of the game's new additions had the characterMr. Game & Watchassuming the appearance of a feather- and loincloth-wearingNative Americanwhen using one of his attacks—a reference toFire Attack(1982), in which players controlled acowboydefending his fort from attacking indigenous people. Some users on social media saw this as racist, leading to Nintendo of America apologizing and removing the animation in an update shortly after release.Two weeks before its release, a leaked copy of the game was distributed across the internet. Nintendo took steps to issue copyright strikes on YouTube videos usingdata minedcontent, while fans worked to isolatespoilers, particularly the World of Light story mode, from those that had played the leaked version. Reception Ultimatereceived \\\"universal acclaim\\\" from critics, according to thereview aggregatorplatformMetacritic.Critics lauded the huge cast of characters and levels, new game modes, and combining of the best elements from its predecessors.French video game websiteJeuxvideo.comcalled it the best game in the series, praising its features which \\\"brilliantly mix gargantuan content with nostalgia\\\".Bleacher Reporthailed the game's colorful art style, faster gameplay, and unique stages.IGNpraised the game's decision to bring back every character from the series as \\\"ambitious and excellent\\\".The game's massive soundtrack and portable music player were praised byThe Verge. However, the game's online mode received criticism for its technical performance and matchmaking. Many players found significantlagaffecting their games, even when using wired connections over wireless, while the game's matchmaking features did not adhere to players' criteria, with players frequently playing matches with rule sets they did not choose. The matchmaking process was further criticized for making it difficult for friends to join matches over random players, and not allowing multiple local players to join in online matches.There had been so many complaints onUltimate'ssubredditthat the administrators forwarded all complaints to a separate thread.Ultimate'sWorld of Lightmode also received mixed reviews. While some found the single-player mode both accessible and challenging,others found the mode tedious and excessive. Sales In November 2018, Nintendo announcedUltimatewas the most pre-ordered game for the Switch and in the series.The Association for UK Interactive Entertainmentreported thatUltimatewas the fastest-selling Switch andSuper Smash Bros.game in the United Kingdom, with physical launch sales 302% higher than those forSuper Smash Bros. for Wii U, 233% higher than those for3DS, and 62.5% higher than those forBrawl.In its first three days on sale in Japan, the game sold 1.2 million copies, outsellingPokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu!andLet's Go, Eevee!andThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildin the region. Within 11 days of its release,Ultimatehad sold more than three million copies within the United States, making it the fastest-selling Switch game in the country.It was similarly the fastest-selling Switch game as well as the fastest-selling game for any Nintendo console in Europe based on the first 11-day sales.It was estimated that the game sold and shipped over five million copies within its first three days of release.Within three weeks,Ultimatebecame the fifth best-selling Switch game in the United Kingdom, surpassing the sales ofSplatoon 2.In January 2019,Amazonreported thatUltimatewas their highest selling video game product of 2018,with Nintendo officially announcing that the game had shipped over 12.08 million copies worldwide.Ultimatewas also Nintendo's fastest-selling game of all time until being surpassed byPokémon SwordandShieldin 2019.By September 2020, the game had sold over 21.10 million copies worldwide,making it the best-selling fighting game of all time,surpassing the record ofStreet Fighter II,and became thethird-best-selling Nintendo Switch game, only behindAnimal Crossing: New HorizonsandMario Kart 8 Deluxe. As of June 30, 2024, total sales reached34.66million. Awards The game won the award for \\\"Best Nintendo Switch Game\\\", \\\"Best Fighting Game\\\", and \\\"Best Multiplayer Game\\\" inIGN's Best of 2018 Awards, whereas its other nominations were for \\\"Game of the Year\\\" and \\\"Best Video Game Music\\\". Esports EVO 2019, held on August 2–4, 2019, featuredUltimateas one of its main events. It was the largest offlineSmash Bros.tournament of all time, with 3,534 entrants signed up.It set a new record for EVO concurrent viewership, with over 279,000 viewers during Top 8.On May 8–10, 2020, topSuper Smash Bros. MeleeplayerHungryboxpartnered withNFLrunning backLe'Veon Belland esports organizationTeam Liquidto host The Box, an online tournament with a $10,000 prize pool.With over 8,000 entrants, it was the largest onlineSmash Bros.tournament of all time. In February 2020, it was announced that the Smash World Tour would feature bothSuper Smash Bros. MeleeandUltimateplayers for a grand prize pool of $250,000. The tournament would have included international qualifiers, with the grand finals' location to be in the United States.However, theCOVID-19 pandemicquickly led to several of the qualifiers getting either postponed or canceled.The Smash World Tour was successfully relaunched in 2021, featuring a mix of online and offline qualifiers and culminating in a final offline championship.In 2022, an officially licensed circuit was introduced, being the Panda Cup, featuringSuper Smash Bros. MeleeandSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate.However on November 24, 2022, Nintendo stated that the Smash World Tour 2022 could not continue, as they did not have a license from Nintendo. Accusations of Panda CEO, Alan Bunney, caused many players who had qualified for the Panda Cup to drop out. This caused both the Panda Cup and the Smash World Tour 2022 Championships to be cancelled, along with the Smash World Tour 2023. Notes References External links\",\n \"The Game Awards 2020 The Game Awards 2020was an award show that honored the bestvideo games of 2020. It was produced and hosted byGeoff Keighley, and took place on December 10, 2020. The preshow ceremony was hosted by Sydnee Goodman. Unlike previousGame Awards, the show was broadcast virtually due to theCOVID-19 pandemic; Keighley presented at a soundstage inLos Angeles, while musical performances took place virtually at stages inLondonandTokyo. The show introduced the award's first Future Class, a list of individuals from the video game industry who best represent the future of video games, Innovation in Accessibility award, an award for games that featured notableaccessibility options. The show waslive streamedacross 45 different platforms. It featured musical performances from theLondon Philharmonic OrchestraandEddie Vedder, and presentations from celebrity guests, includingReggie Fils-Aimé,Gal Gadot,Brie Larson, andKeanu Reeves. The Last of Us Part IIreceived the most nominations and wins in the show's history—eleven and seven, respectively—and was awardedGame of the Year.Neil DruckmannandHalley Grosswon Best Narrative for their work on the game, whileLaura Baileywas awarded Best Performance for her role asAbby. Several new games were announced, includingArk II,Perfect Dark, andan untitledMass Effectgame. The show was the most expensive ceremony to date. It was viewed by over 83 million streams, the most in its history to date,with 8.3 million concurrent viewers at its peak. It received a mixed reception from media publications, with praise directed at new game announcements, and criticism for not allowing developers more time to speak. Some critics and viewers shared concerns over the success ofThe Last of Us Part IIdue to its developer'scrunchpractices. Background As with previous iterations ofThe Game Awards, the 2020 show was hosted and produced by Canadian games journalistGeoff Keighley. He returned as an executive producer alongside Kimmie Kim, and Richard Preuss and LeRoy Bennett returned as director and creative director, respectively.Sydnee Goodman returned as host of the preshow.Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, Keighley did not want to host a normal ceremony.Not wanting to take a hiatus and inspired by the success ofSummer Game Fest,he considered hosting from his home but his board urged him to attempt a larger show on par with previous years.In case of a significant surge ofCOVID-19 cases in California, the crew had several back-up plans, including broadcasting from Keighley's house.He worked with his partners to develop a virtual show;he and his team took inspiration from other shows throughout the year, including theDemocratic National Convention, in which the \\\"audience\\\" was featured on virtual screens,as well as the72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, wherein the hosts were isolated on stage and the winners accepted viavideo call. The presentation used three soundstages in Los Angeles, London, and Tokyo; each had minimal attendees, mostly related to production crew and presenters. Keighley said this allowed them to include additional presentation events as with past shows, as well as explore taking future shows to different venues.The 2020 show—featuring a production of more than 400 people, six of whom are full-time employees—had a budget of underUS$10 millionand was the most expensive to date, partly due to theCOVID-19 testsrequired for the crew and the worldwide remote camera set-ups.It remained profitable due to revenue from advertisers and sponsors, as well as minor earnings from streaming services.The show's theme was strength and comfort due to the impact of the pandemic. Keighley wanted to implore the theme of unity, given the release of thePlayStation 5andXbox Series X/Sin November 2020; he citedThe Game Awards 2018as an example of this theme, which had led withNintendo'sReggie Fils-Aimé, Microsoft'sPhil Spencer, and Sony'sShawn Laydensharing the stage.Keighley felt the inclusion of film and television stars was an interesting way to show a wider appreciation for the industry. His team wanted to includeHenry Cavillin the show, but he was busy working onThe Witcher. While developing the show, Keighley spoke to hundreds of viewers viaZoomto discuss their own interests,often alongside industry figures likeValve CorporationpresidentGabe NewellandEpic Gamescreative director Donald Mustard.As with the previous show, the presentation ran alongside the Game Festival, consisting of playable demos and additional in-game content.The show introduced the award's first Future Class, a list of individuals from across the video game industry who best represent the future of video games. The inductees included industry professionals such asKinda Funny's Blessing Adeoye Jr.,Naughty Dog'sHalley Gross, andGameSpot'sKallie Plagge.The presentation was aired on December 10, 2020,live streamedacross more than 45 online platforms.It aired on more than ten networks in China, includingBilibili,Douyin, andHuya Live, and on several networks in India includingDisney+ Hotstar,JioTV, andMX Player. Announcements Around April and May in 2020, Keighley was worried about a potential lack of game announcements due to theimpact of COVID-19 on the industry; however, several developers were able to submit their announcements and trailers for demonstration.Announcements on recently released and upcoming games were made for: New games announced during the ceremony included: Winners and nominees The nominees for The Game Awards 2020 were announced on November 18, 2020.Any game released on or before November 20, 2020 was eligible for consideration.The nominees were compiled by a jury panel with members from 96 media outlets globally;ballots were sent to outlets on October 29 and due back on November 6, though they had until November 13 to submit updated ballots. Outlets were required to submit three games for each category to determine the nominees.Winners were determined between the jury (90%) and public votes (10%); the latter was held via the official website and on social media platforms such asFacebookandTwitter, and closed on December 9.The two exceptions were the Most Anticipated Game and Player's Voice awards, which were fully nominated and voted-on by the public;the former was determined exclusively on Twitter and announced during the show,and the latter was announced on December 8 after several rounds of voting.A new Innovation in Accessibility award was added for games that featured notableaccessibility options.Around 18.3 million people participated in the public vote, doubling from the previous show. Awards Winners are listed first, highlighted inboldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡). Video games Esports and creators Games with multiple nominations and awards Multiple nominations The Last of Us Part IIreceived eleven nominations, the most in the show's history. Other games with multiple nominations includedHadeswith nine,Ghost of Tsushimawith eight,Final Fantasy VII Remakewith six, andDoom Eternalwith five.Sony Interactive Entertainmenthad 26 total nominations, more than any other publisher, followed bySupergiant GamesandXbox Game Studioswith eight. Multiple awards The Last of Us Part IIreceived the most wins in the show's history, with seven. Four games—Among Us,Final Fantasy VII Remake,Ghost of Tsushima, andHades—won two awards. Across its two winning games, Sony Interactive Entertainment won a total of nine awards, whileInnersloth,Square Enix, Supergiant Games, and Xbox Game Studios won two. Presenters and performers Presenters The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or introduced trailers. All other awards were presented by Keighley or Goodman. Performers The following individuals or groups performed musical numbers.A planned orchestral version ofCyberpunk 2077's music was scrapped when the game was delayed to the same day as the ceremony, rendering it ineligible for nomination. Ratings and reception Nominees Inverse's Corey Plante felt the cutoff date led to several games getting snubbed, includingDemon's SoulsandMarvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, as well asPokémon SwordandShield, which was eligible for both the2019and 2020 awards but was unrecognized in both. He feltGhost of Tsushimawas more deserving of a Best Score and Music nomination thanDoom Eternal.Den of Geek's Matthew Byrd similarly lamented the lack of recognition forDemon's SoulsandMarvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales.Kat Bailey ofUSgamerquestionedDoom Eternal'snomination for Game of the Year, describing it as \\\"messy, unfocused, and, well, just not as good\\\" as its predecessor.Kotaku Australia's Alex Walker similarly found the nomination misplaced and considered games likeHalf-Life: AlyxandMicrosoft Flight Simulatormore deserving. Ceremony The show received a mixed reception from media publications.VentureBeat'sDean Takahashipraised the ceremony, particularly applauding its celebration of diverse games such asThe Last of Us Part IIandTell Me Whyas well as the varied and interesting new game announcements.Todd Martens ofLos Angeles Timesfelt the show should have allowed more time for the developers to speak and discuss their artistic visions behind the games, noting the presentation does little to demonstratevideo games as art.Eurogamer's Martin Robinson said the show was understandably \\\"low-key\\\" but called it a \\\"three-hour long advert\\\".Inverse's Ana Diaz criticized the rapid announcement of winners between premieres and during the preshow, preventing developers from accepting the awards, and its focus onHollywoodactors over game creators. Similar to concerns overDeath Stranding'spredominance in the nominations and ceremony for the 2019 awards due to its creatorHideo Kojima's friendship with Keighley, some viewers shared concerns related toThe Last of Us Part IIat the 2020 awards, both for its awards success and due to the developer'scrunchpractices.The Last of Us Part IIwas well-received at release but narrative elements polarized some critics and players, and the game had been subject toreview bombing;Keighley clarified the awards were not rigged in the manner some viewers had suggested and there was no influence of Naughty Dog or its staff on the award selection, citing the game's popularity among players and media alike as proven by its runner-up placement in the Player's Voice award.Kotaku'sIan Walker criticized the game's Best Game Direction win, notingHadesshould have won due to developer Supergiant Games's less demanding work culture.TheGamer's Peter Glagowski similarly felt the game's awards were a message excusing crunch culture in game development.Keighley felt it would be difficult to incorporate criteria related to games developed under poor industry practices like crunch into the awards selection process without becoming aslippery slope, but believes discussions of these practices should be a conversation held by the larger community. Viewership Over 83 million streams were used to view the ceremony, the most in the show's history to date,with 8.3 million concurrent viewers at its peak.OnTwitch, the show had over 2.63 million concurrent viewers, more than double the previous year, with 9,000 creators co-streaming the ceremony. OnYouTube, live viewership increased 84 percent over the previous year. In total, live hours viewed increased by over 129 percent acrossFacebook Gaming, Twitch, and YouTube. The showtrended worldwide on Twitter, with a 31 percent increase in conversation from the previous year, while usage of thehashtag#TheGameAwards increased 107 percent.Keighley expressed his surprise by the consistent growth of the show over the years, but confessed it has led him to fear \\\"that year where it doesn't grow ... There's going to be a year where we don't have the same viewers\\\". Notes References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirby_(series","Masahiro Sakurai Masahiro Sakurai(桜井 政博,Sakurai Masahiro, born August 3, 1970)is a Japanese video game director andgame designerbest known as the creator of theKirbyandSuper Smash Bros.series. Apart from his work on those series, he also led the design ofMeteosin 2005 and directedKid Icarus: Uprisingin 2012. Formerly an employee ofHAL Laboratory, Sakurai left the company in 2003 and in 2005 with his wife Michiko Sakurai (also ex-HAL Laboratory) founded their companySora Ltd., under which they work on a freelance basis. He was also an author of a weekly column forFamitsumagazine from 2003 to 2021, and has done voice acting work in some of his games, most notably providing the voice ofKing DededeinKirby 64: The Crystal Shardsand theSuper Smash Bros.series. From 2022 to 2024, Sakurai has been creating videos for hisYouTubechannel,Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games, where he discusses game design and his career. Career Masahiro Sakurai was born on August 3, 1970, inMusashimurayama, Tokyo, Japan. One of Sakurai's","One of Sakurai's earliest experiences in the video game industry began when he worked forHAL Laboratory, where he created the characterKirbyat age 19 and directed his first title,Kirby's Dream Land. Sakurai left HAL on August 5, 2003. He explained in an interview withNintendo Dreamthat that he felt it would be difficult to create new projects while staying at HAL due to the direction of the gaming industry, where the risk of failure was high. While he was not being pressured by HAL to createKirbysequels, he noted increasing tension within the industry as a whole: \"It was tough for me to see that every time I made a new game, people automatically assumed that a sequel was coming. Even if it's a sequel, lots of people have to give their all to make a game, but some people think the sequel process happens naturally.\" Soon after, Sakurai began working on a project withQ Entertainment, along withTetsuya Mizuguchi. This collaboration resulted inMeteosin 2005, a puzzle game for theNintendo DS. On September 30,","On September 30, 2005, Sakurai announced that he had formed his own company, Sora Ltd.Two games were announced to be in development but no information on the titles had been divulged. As for the future of theSuper Smash Bros.series, Nintendo and HAL Laboratory presidentSatoru Iwata, during Nintendo'sE3 2005press conference, promised an online iteration of the game would come to theNintendo Wii. In issue #885 ofFamitsumagazine, Sakurai revealed that he would be serving as a director and game designer onSuper Smash Bros. Brawlfor theWii.Super Smash Bros. Brawlwas released in 2008, after personnel borrowed from 19 different developer studios assisted in development.Sakurai had been updating daily theSuper Smash Bros Brawlwebsite called the Smash Bros. Dojo. Starting a year previous the release, he revealedBrawlsecrets and gameplay content through the site. The Smash Bros. Dojo had regular updates from May 22, 2007, to April 14, 2008. On the final day of updates, it was revealed that Sakurai provided the voice","provided the voice forKing DededeinKirby 64: The Crystal Shardsas well as Dedede inSuper Smash Bros. Brawl. He and his company, Sora Ltd. alongside Nintendo, started a first-party studio,Project Sora, which was 72% owned by Nintendo and 28% owned by Sora Ltd. It was revealed atE3 2010that Sakurai and Project Sora were working onKid Icarus: Uprisingfor the Nintendo 3DS. Project Sora was closed and ended development on June 30, 2012.AtE3 2011, Nintendo announced that Sakurai was working onSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DSandWii U. Sakurai began development of the title upon the release ofKid Icarus: Uprisingin March 2012. In February 2013, Sakurai was diagnosed withcalcific tendinitisnear his right shoulder, which caused him substantial pain whenever he moved his arm. He mentioned that this could effectively slow down his work, as he does some of hisgame testinghimself.Sakurai's wife, Michiko, has worked on the graphical user interface for many of his games, includingKirby Air Ride,Meteos, and theSuper Smash","and theSuper Smash Bros.series. In a January 2015 column inWeekly Famitsu, Sakurai alluded to the possibility of retirement, expressing doubt that he would be able to continue making games if his career continued to be as stressful as it was.In December 2015, Sakurai once again stated that he was not sure if there would be another game in theSmash Bros.series,prior toSuper Smash Bros. Ultimatebeing released in 2018 with Sakurai once again as director. On March 14, 2022, Sakurai was awarded Best Creator byWeekly Famitsu. Sakurai also announced that he is working on a new project not related to game production. Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games Sakurai launchedMasahiro Sakurai on Creating Games, aYouTubechannel in both English and Japanese in August 2022. The channel's videos are focused on game development and design as well as his career.He stated that the channel was founded because he wanted to reach more people with his lessons after being asked tolectureat schools. Sakurai additionally noted that other","noted that other venues for lessons from game developers, such as theGame Developers Conference, focused on more advanced, technical details, rather than more basic principles.Less than a day after its launch, the English edition of his channel gained over 200,000 subscribers.The opening and ending jingles for the channel were composed byYuzo Koshiro. Works Notes References External links","Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Super Smash Bros. Ultimateis a 2018crossoverfighting gamedeveloped byBandai Namco StudiosandSora Ltd. and published byNintendofor theNintendo Switch. It is the fifthinstallment in theSuper Smash Bros.series, succeedingSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DSandWii U(2014). The game follows the series' traditional style of gameplay, in which players control one of thevarious charactersand use attacks to weaken their opponents and knock them out of an arena. It features a wide variety ofgame modes, including asingle-playercampaignandmultiplayerversus modes.Ultimatefeatures 89 playable fighters, including all characters from previousSuper Smash Bros.games as well as newcomers. The roster ranges from Nintendo characters to those fromthird-partyfranchises. Planning for the game had begun by December 2015, with full development starting after the completion of3DS/Wii U'sdownloadable content(DLC). Series creator and directorMasahiro Sakuraireturned along with Bandai Namco Studios and Sora, the","and Sora, the studios that developed3DS/Wii U,with their return speeding up the preparation process. Sakurai's goal withUltimatewas to include every character from previous games in the series, despite the various development and licensing challenges this would present. Several well-known video game musicians contributed to the soundtrack, withHideki Sakamotowriting the main theme \"Lifelight\". Nintendo first teasedUltimatein aNintendo Directin March 2018 and fully revealed it atE3 2018the following June. It later received two additional Directs prior to its release on December 7, 2018. The game received universal acclaim, with some critics calling it the best game in the series; they praised its large amount of content and fine-tuning of existingSmashgameplay elements, although its online mode received criticism.Ultimateis the best-selling fighting game of all time and one of thebest-selling on the Switch, having sold over 34 million copies as of March 2024. It is also a popularcompetitive fighting gameand","fighting gameand has been cited as one of thegreatest video games of all time.Ultimatereceiveddownloadable contentadding new fighters, stages, and other content for nearly three years after release. Gameplay Super Smash Bros. Ultimateis aplatform fighterfor up to eight players in which characters fromNintendogames and third-party franchises fight to knock each other out of an arena. Each player has a percentage meter which raises as they take damage, thus increasing the knockback they take and making them easier to launch in the air and out of the arena.Standard battles use one of three victory conditions: Timed, where players aim to win the most points by defeating opponents within a time limit; Stock, where players have a set number of lives and aim to be the last player standing; and Stamina, where players reduce their opponent's health down to zero to defeat them. Players can adjust the rules to their liking and save them as presets for future matches. Players can also enable various items which attack","items which attack enemies or grant them power-ups, along with Poké Balls and Assist Trophies, which respectively summonPokémonand other non-playable characters to assist them in battle. In Timed matches, certain Assist Trophies can be attacked and defeated to earn points.Each character also possesses a powerful Final Smash attack, which can be performed either by obtaining a Smash Ball or by filling up a special meter, both of which can be toggled on and off.The base game features 104 different stages, with additional stages being added alongside DLC fighters. Stages can be played in alternative Battlefield and Omega forms or toggled to remove stage hazards. A new feature called Stage Morph allows players to select two stages that the game alternates between at certain intervals during a match.Other tweaks include new icons and gauges for character-specific abilities, such asCloud's Limit gauge. In addition to returning modes such as Classic, Special Smash, and Home-Run Contest,Ultimateadds new modes. These","new modes. These are Smashdown, where each character can only be played once; Squad Strike, where players battle in teams of multiple characters; and a tournament mode that allows up to 32 players to battle in playoff brackets. Spirits Ultimateintroduces the Spirits mechanic, replacing the collectible trophies from previous games. Each of these Spirits, based on characters from represented franchises, can be used to power up a fighter with unique abilities.Players mainly gain Spirits through pre-made challenges called \"Spirit Battles\" that represent the character the Spirit depicts, which are embodied by one or more of the game's fighters and other specific level effects. For example, the Spirit battle of Rayquaza, a flying dragon Pokémon, requires players to defeat a large version of Ridley with a similar color palette and wind effects. Players are encouraged to strategically choose Spirits based on the level effects; in the same example, a player would need to equip a Spirit that provides wind resistance","wind resistance or immunity, or one that allows them to deal extra damage to a giant opponent. A separate mode called the Spirit Board presents a rotating set of Spirit battles for players to gain Spirits from. Spirits have a growth and evolution system, in which they can be leveled up to become more powerful or converted into Cores to summon new Spirits.Certain Spirits will also become an \"enhanced\" form upon reaching max level, but will return to level 1. Nintendo offers limited-timed Spirit events in cross-promotion with other games and franchises, with the Spirits featured only available to collect during the event. Eventually, these Spirits make their way into general rotation and can be found on the Spirit Board.The local multiplayer mode also allows for the option to use Spirits. World of Light Ultimatefeatures the return of Adventure Mode, which was absent in3DS/Wii U.It is now integrated into the Spirits mode with a new story,World of Light, which prominently uses the game's Spirit mechanics.The","mechanics.The mode's narrative begins with an evil entity, Galeem, destroying theSmash Bros.world, vaporizing almost all of the fighter characters and placing them under his imprisonment; onlyKirby, due to his Warp Star, evades this attack.Players explore the titular World of Light, a new world that Galeem created in the original world's place, to rescue captured fighters and Spirits -the remnants of other characters' physical forms- by completing marked Spirit Battles. Players can use regained allies and Spirits to overcome certain challenges on the map and defeat Galeem.However, after Galeem is defeated, a new enemy, Dharkon, emerges; after Dharkon's defeat, it wages war against Galeem. If just Galeem is defeated, Dharkon will engulf the world in darkness, but if just Dharkon is defeated, then Galeem will cover the universe with light. However, by defeating an equal amount of light and dark Spirits on the final map, players are able to challenge and defeat both of them, freeing the Spirits from their","Spirits from their control and allowing them to return to the real world. Additional features The game supports local multiplayer, local wireless with other systems, and online play viaWi-FiorLAN connections. By defeating players online, players earn tags which can be traded for in-game currency to buy new Spirits, music, andMiiFighter costumes. The game is compatible withJoy-Concontrollers, theNintendo Switch Pro Controller, andGameCube controllersvia a USB adapter.Like the previous entry,amiibofigurines can be used to create AI-controlled Figure Players, which can be trained to become stronger.Shortly after the game's release, a service for the Nintendo Switch Online mobile app, known as \"Smash World\", was launched, which allows players to check their game statistics and share images and videos captured from the game to social media.Ultimatefeatures over 900 music tracks, which can be played through the Switch's handheld mode while in standby mode.Version 3.0 of the game, released in April 2019, adds a","April 2019, adds a Stage Builder, which allows players to create custom stages which can be shared or downloaded through the Switch Online service. The update also includes a replay editor, allowing players to edit stored replays, which can be shared online or downloaded to other devices. These replays are available within the Smash World app.An update in May 2019 provided limited support for thevirtual realityVR Kit ofNintendo Labo, allowing players to view computer-only matches in VR or play in a 1-on-1 mode against the computer.An update in September 2019 added the Home-Run Contest mode from previousSmashgames. Playable characters Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, like other games in theSuper Smash Bros.series, features acrossovercast of fighters from several differentNintendo franchises, as well as fighters from series bythird-partydevelopers such asKonami,Sega,Capcom,Bandai Namco Entertainment,Square Enix,PlatinumGames,Microsoft,SNK, andDisney. The base game features 74 playable fighters,consisting of all 63","of all 63 previous fighters from past entries and 11 newcomers: theInklingsfromSplatoon;Princess Daisyfrom theMarioseries;Ridleyand Dark Samus from theMetroidseries;Simon Belmontand Richter Belmont from theCastlevaniaseries;ChromfromFire Emblem Awakening;King K. Roolfrom theDonkey Kongseries;Isabellefrom theAnimal Crossingseries;Ken Mastersfrom theStreet Fighterseries; and Incineroar fromPokémon SunandMoon.When starting the game, players only have access to the eight starter characters of the originalSuper Smash Bros.and unlock the rest by completing the game's Classic modes, playing through World of Light, or fighting a certain amount of battles. Certain characters whose movesets are directly based on other characters are now classified as \"Echo Fighters\", possessing similar movesets and proportions to the fighters they are based on, but with unique animations and gameplay differences. On the character selection screen, these characters can either be listed individually or stacked with the fighters they are","fighters they are based on.Select characters also have alternative skins featuring different genders or sometimes other characters, such asBowser Jr., who has the otherKoopalingsas skins, but with identical animations and abilities.Several returning characters received updates to their appearances, such asMariohaving Cappy fromSuper Mario Odysseyaccompanying him andThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's incarnation ofLinkreplacing the one fromTwilight Princess. Additional fighters have been added to the game via post-releasedownloadable content(DLC). The first of these,Piranha Plantfrom theMarioseries, was released in January 2019 and made available for free to those who purchased and registered the game with aMy Nintendoaccount before the end of that month.Additional fighters, each coming with a unique stage and related music, have been released both individually and as part of two Fighters Pass bundles.The first Fighters Pass consisted of five characters:JokerfromAtlus'Persona 5, released in April","released in April 2019;the Herofrom Square Enix'sDragon Questseries, released in July 2019;Banjo & KazooiefromRare'sBanjo-Kazooieseries, released in September 2019;Terry BogardfromSNK'sFatal Furyseries, released in November 2019;andBylethfromFire Emblem: Three Houses, released in January 2020. The second Fighters Pass, titled Fighters Pass Volume 2, consisted of six additional fighters and was the final content planned forUltimate.The first character in this collection,Min MinfromARMS, was released in June 2020.Steve,the default player avatar fromMojang Studios'Minecraft, was released in October 2020.Sephiroth, the antagonist from Square Enix'sFinal Fantasy VII, was released in December 2020, with players able to unlock him a few days early by defeating him in a limited-time boss battle known as the \"Sephiroth Challenge\".Pyra and Mythra, a dual character fromXenoblade Chronicles 2, were released in March 2021.Kazuya Mishimafrom Bandai Namco'sTekkenseries was released in June 2021.SorafromDisneyand Square","Square Enix seriesKingdom Heartswas the final fighter to be added in October 2021. Development Super Smash Bros. Ultimatewas developed byBandai Namco StudiosandSora Ltd., the same studios that developedSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DSandWii U, for theNintendo Switch, with series creatorMasahiro Sakuraireturning as game director.Unlike previousSuper Smash Bros.games, the team was not assembled from the ground up, which sped up preparation time.The project plan for the game was in the works by December 2015, when the DLC for3DSandWii Uwas in development,and finished after it was completed.Staff gathering was done soon afterward.The development period was shorter compared to previous entries in the series.Hatenaassisted with the development of some elements,andtri-Crescendocontributed to programming and design. According to Sakurai, producing aSuper Smash Bros.game for the Switch was the last request that former Nintendo presidentSatoru Iwatahad given him before his death in 2015, and he wanted to make the","wanted to make the game the best possible product he could to respect him.Sakurai sought to include every character from previous games, as to not disappoint fans.However, he knew this would be a complex problem for both development and licensing;it would also drastically increase the cost of development. The return of Bandai and Sora made it easier for this to happen.Sakurai also wanted to adjust character abilities to speed up the game,although not to an extent that would alienate players unfamiliar with the series.Sakurai knew thatUltimatewas a core game for Nintendo and that it had a dedicated player base that he did not want to disappoint, and believed that completing this goal was necessary to satisfy them.Sakurai was also faced with the decision to either create a completely new game system or build off of pre-existing ones; he chose to build off pre-existing ones because there would only be about a third of the characters he desired in the final game.All the returning characters' abilities had to be","abilities had to be re-balancedso they could work inUltimate.Originally, gameplay would differ between the Switch's docked and handheld modes, but Sakurai scrapped this idea since the system's screen in handheld mode was better than he thought.Sakurai believed this would be the onlySmashgame to have the full roster of returning characters, calling the effort to include the characters, music, stage settings, and other elements as \"unprecedented\", and cautioned that future games in the series would likely be smaller in scope. However, he still wanted to add as many fighters as possible through DLC. Voice lines recorded byDavid Hayterfor Snake were re-used forUltimate.Xander Mobus, who voiced Crazy Hand,Master Hand, and the announcer inSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DSandWii U,also made a return with new voice clips, in addition to reprising his role asJokerfromPersona 5when he was added as DLC.The addition of Ridley fromMetroidas a playable character had been highly requested within theSuper Smash","theSuper Smash Bros.community for some time. In 2008, Sakurai stated that he knew Ridley was a high-demand character, but thought that he was \"impossible\" to add unless they were able to sacrifice the character's size for balancing purposes.So that Ridley could be included in the game, Sakurai studied the art of the character and redesigned him so he could stand upright.All characters were chosen at the beginning of development except for Incineroar, who had not been created yet;the team instead left a space open for aSun and MoonPokémon. The Inklings' inkmechanicproved challenging to implement due to its interactions with environments. The team builtUltimatefrom scratch with new assets and content. Localization manager Nate Bihldorff stated that the game significantly upgraded lighting effects and texture rendering from thegame engineof theWii Uversion.The World of Light mode was inspired byBrawl's(2008) Subspace Emissary, and Sakurai chose to start it with a cataclysmic event because he thought it would","he thought it would leave a greater impact on players.The team conceived the Spirits mechanic because they wanted to create an enjoyable single-player mode, but did not have enough resources to createcharacter models. While it did not let them tell stories for individual fighters or create new locations and rules, it let them use various characters and assets.One part of the team chose Spirits to include in the game and had to thoroughly research them; according to Sakurai, the Spirits mode was essential for using various franchises. Music Like previous games in the series,Ultimatefeatures several well-known video game music composers and arrangers providing a mix of original music and rearrangements of various tracks for the represented franchises, with over 1,000 tracks in total.New toUltimateis the tying of tracks to franchises instead of individual stages, as well as the ability to create custom playlists to listen to outside the game when the Switch is in handheld mode.Sakurai stated that he began","that he began contacting composers over a year before release, providing them with a database of over a thousand suggested track ideas.In addition, he allowed them to submit their own personal favorites, with those choices being given priority for inclusion.While Sakurai oversaw the process and preferred that the music retain the spirit of the original games, the direction of them was generally handled by the composers themselves.The main theme, \"Lifelight\", composed byHideki Sakamoto, is the basis of most of the game's original music. Downloadable content As with previous entries, Nintendo planned to offer new fighters through DLC; however, unlike with the3DSandWii U,where players could request which characters they wished to see in the game, Nintendo chose which characters they would add by November 2018.Like the previous title, additional Mii costumes were released as paid DLC, with certain costumes also adding new music tracks to the game.Sakurai believed that despite characters likeJoker, the first","the first announced DLC fighter, not being from games usually associated with Nintendo, they were added because they were \"emblematic\" of the types of characters they wanted to add toUltimate.He also stated that they \"bring just a whole different level of fun and enjoyment for players\".The Piranha Plant was chosen as a DLC character because Sakurai wanted to add diversity to the roster.Nintendo met withRarestudio head Craig Duncan at E3 2018 to discuss the possibility of including Banjo and Kazooie as downloadable content; Duncan, believing it to be \"a great opportunity\", agreed and connected the two development teams for further discussions.Sakurai noted that Banjo and Kazooie were the second most requested character forSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DSandWii Uin a Nintendo-sanctioned fan vote in 2015,and that their addition happened \"quite easily\", despite the property being owned byMicrosoftthrough its acquisition ofRare.Phil Spencer, the head ofXbox, stated that negotiating their inclusion was \"an easy","was \"an easy deal to make\" thanks to Microsoft's strong partnership with Nintendo. The development of Fighters Pass Volume 2 was heavily affected by theCOVID-19 pandemicin 2020, as due tostay-at-home ordersin Japan, Sakurai and his development team had to work remotely.According to Daniel Kaplan ofMojang Studios, early discussions between Nintendo andMicrosoftincludingMinecraftcontent in theSuper Smash Bros.series had begun roughly five years prior to Steve's addition into the game.The character's inclusion required the development team to rework every stage in the game to accommodate Steve's gameplay mechanics.Sakurai had wanted to includeSorafromKingdom Heartsin the game because he was the top fighter requested forNintendo 3DSandWii Uin the 2015 fan vote.However, they initially thought that the legality surrounding the intellectual property withDisneywould be insurmountable, and originally planned for only five fighters in the second pass. However, Sakurai met a Disney representative at an award venue,","at an award venue, which facilitated the start of negotiations for Sora's inclusion. Nintendo, Disney, andSquare Enixsaw towards including Sora in the game and overseeing all aspects related to his inclusion, with several limitations and guidelines they were required to follow.The Sora Challenger Pack featured a promotional tie-in with the 2020 rhythm gameKingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory: players withMelody of Memorysave data on their Nintendo Switch would unlock the music track \"Dearly Beloved (Swing Version)\". Release Ultimatewas teased during aNintendo Directpresentation on March 8, 2018, under theworking titleSuper Smash Bros., with the release year shown to be 2018. Nintendo formally announced the game atE3 2018, revealing that the full roster of characters from past games would be included, as well as its release date.Demoversions were playable at E3 in June and atSan Diego Comic-Conthe following month.IGNnominatedUltimatefor its Best Game of E3 2018 award; the game won Best Nintendo Switch Game from","Switch Game from bothIGNandGamescom.Two Nintendo Direct presentations in 2018, one on August 8 and another one on November 1, were devoted to the game, revealing new characters, stages, and game modes. Nintendo releasedSuper Smash Bros. Ultimateworldwide on December 7, 2018.In addition to the standard retail version, a special edition containing aSuper Smash Bros.-themedNintendo Switch Pro Controllerand a Switch with a download code was also released.An additional special edition contained a pair ofSuper Smash Bros.-themedJoy-Conas well as a Switch console, aSuper Smash Bros.-themed dock, and a download code for the game.AGameCube controllerwith theSuper Smash Bros. Ultimatelogo was released on November 2, 2018. One of the game's new additions had the characterMr. Game & Watchassuming the appearance of a feather- and loincloth-wearingNative Americanwhen using one of his attacks—a reference toFire Attack(1982), in which players controlled acowboydefending his fort from attacking indigenous people. Some users","people. Some users on social media saw this as racist, leading to Nintendo of America apologizing and removing the animation in an update shortly after release.Two weeks before its release, a leaked copy of the game was distributed across the internet. Nintendo took steps to issue copyright strikes on YouTube videos usingdata minedcontent, while fans worked to isolatespoilers, particularly the World of Light story mode, from those that had played the leaked version. Reception Ultimatereceived \"universal acclaim\" from critics, according to thereview aggregatorplatformMetacritic.Critics lauded the huge cast of characters and levels, new game modes, and combining of the best elements from its predecessors.French video game websiteJeuxvideo.comcalled it the best game in the series, praising its features which \"brilliantly mix gargantuan content with nostalgia\".Bleacher Reporthailed the game's colorful art style, faster gameplay, and unique stages.IGNpraised the game's decision to bring back every character from","character from the series as \"ambitious and excellent\".The game's massive soundtrack and portable music player were praised byThe Verge. However, the game's online mode received criticism for its technical performance and matchmaking. Many players found significantlagaffecting their games, even when using wired connections over wireless, while the game's matchmaking features did not adhere to players' criteria, with players frequently playing matches with rule sets they did not choose. The matchmaking process was further criticized for making it difficult for friends to join matches over random players, and not allowing multiple local players to join in online matches.There had been so many complaints onUltimate'ssubredditthat the administrators forwarded all complaints to a separate thread.Ultimate'sWorld of Lightmode also received mixed reviews. While some found the single-player mode both accessible and challenging,others found the mode tedious and excessive. Sales In November 2018, Nintendo","2018, Nintendo announcedUltimatewas the most pre-ordered game for the Switch and in the series.The Association for UK Interactive Entertainmentreported thatUltimatewas the fastest-selling Switch andSuper Smash Bros.game in the United Kingdom, with physical launch sales 302% higher than those forSuper Smash Bros. for Wii U, 233% higher than those for3DS, and 62.5% higher than those forBrawl.In its first three days on sale in Japan, the game sold 1.2 million copies, outsellingPokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu!andLet's Go, Eevee!andThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildin the region. Within 11 days of its release,Ultimatehad sold more than three million copies within the United States, making it the fastest-selling Switch game in the country.It was similarly the fastest-selling Switch game as well as the fastest-selling game for any Nintendo console in Europe based on the first 11-day sales.It was estimated that the game sold and shipped over five million copies within its first three days of release.Within three","three weeks,Ultimatebecame the fifth best-selling Switch game in the United Kingdom, surpassing the sales ofSplatoon 2.In January 2019,Amazonreported thatUltimatewas their highest selling video game product of 2018,with Nintendo officially announcing that the game had shipped over 12.08 million copies worldwide.Ultimatewas also Nintendo's fastest-selling game of all time until being surpassed byPokémon SwordandShieldin 2019.By September 2020, the game had sold over 21.10 million copies worldwide,making it the best-selling fighting game of all time,surpassing the record ofStreet Fighter II,and became thethird-best-selling Nintendo Switch game, only behindAnimal Crossing: New HorizonsandMario Kart 8 Deluxe. As of June 30, 2024, total sales reached34.66million. Awards The game won the award for \"Best Nintendo Switch Game\", \"Best Fighting Game\", and \"Best Multiplayer Game\" inIGN's Best of 2018 Awards, whereas its other nominations were for \"Game of the Year\" and \"Best Video Game Music\". Esports EVO 2019, held on","EVO 2019, held on August 2–4, 2019, featuredUltimateas one of its main events. It was the largest offlineSmash Bros.tournament of all time, with 3,534 entrants signed up.It set a new record for EVO concurrent viewership, with over 279,000 viewers during Top 8.On May 8–10, 2020, topSuper Smash Bros. MeleeplayerHungryboxpartnered withNFLrunning backLe'Veon Belland esports organizationTeam Liquidto host The Box, an online tournament with a $10,000 prize pool.With over 8,000 entrants, it was the largest onlineSmash Bros.tournament of all time. In February 2020, it was announced that the Smash World Tour would feature bothSuper Smash Bros. MeleeandUltimateplayers for a grand prize pool of $250,000. The tournament would have included international qualifiers, with the grand finals' location to be in the United States.However, theCOVID-19 pandemicquickly led to several of the qualifiers getting either postponed or canceled.The Smash World Tour was successfully relaunched in 2021, featuring a mix of online and","a mix of online and offline qualifiers and culminating in a final offline championship.In 2022, an officially licensed circuit was introduced, being the Panda Cup, featuringSuper Smash Bros. MeleeandSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate.However on November 24, 2022, Nintendo stated that the Smash World Tour 2022 could not continue, as they did not have a license from Nintendo. Accusations of Panda CEO, Alan Bunney, caused many players who had qualified for the Panda Cup to drop out. This caused both the Panda Cup and the Smash World Tour 2022 Championships to be cancelled, along with the Smash World Tour 2023. Notes References External links","The Game Awards 2020 The Game Awards 2020was an award show that honored the bestvideo games of 2020. It was produced and hosted byGeoff Keighley, and took place on December 10, 2020. The preshow ceremony was hosted by Sydnee Goodman. Unlike previousGame Awards, the show was broadcast virtually due to theCOVID-19 pandemic; Keighley presented at a soundstage inLos Angeles, while musical performances took place virtually at stages inLondonandTokyo. The show introduced the award's first Future Class, a list of individuals from the video game industry who best represent the future of video games, Innovation in Accessibility award, an award for games that featured notableaccessibility options. The show waslive streamedacross 45 different platforms. It featured musical performances from theLondon Philharmonic OrchestraandEddie Vedder, and presentations from celebrity guests, includingReggie Fils-Aimé,Gal Gadot,Brie Larson, andKeanu Reeves. The Last of Us Part IIreceived the most nominations and wins in the show's","wins in the show's history—eleven and seven, respectively—and was awardedGame of the Year.Neil DruckmannandHalley Grosswon Best Narrative for their work on the game, whileLaura Baileywas awarded Best Performance for her role asAbby. Several new games were announced, includingArk II,Perfect Dark, andan untitledMass Effectgame. The show was the most expensive ceremony to date. It was viewed by over 83 million streams, the most in its history to date,with 8.3 million concurrent viewers at its peak. It received a mixed reception from media publications, with praise directed at new game announcements, and criticism for not allowing developers more time to speak. Some critics and viewers shared concerns over the success ofThe Last of Us Part IIdue to its developer'scrunchpractices. Background As with previous iterations ofThe Game Awards, the 2020 show was hosted and produced by Canadian games journalistGeoff Keighley. He returned as an executive producer alongside Kimmie Kim, and Richard Preuss and LeRoy Bennett","and LeRoy Bennett returned as director and creative director, respectively.Sydnee Goodman returned as host of the preshow.Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, Keighley did not want to host a normal ceremony.Not wanting to take a hiatus and inspired by the success ofSummer Game Fest,he considered hosting from his home but his board urged him to attempt a larger show on par with previous years.In case of a significant surge ofCOVID-19 cases in California, the crew had several back-up plans, including broadcasting from Keighley's house.He worked with his partners to develop a virtual show;he and his team took inspiration from other shows throughout the year, including theDemocratic National Convention, in which the \"audience\" was featured on virtual screens,as well as the72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, wherein the hosts were isolated on stage and the winners accepted viavideo call. The presentation used three soundstages in Los Angeles, London, and Tokyo; each had minimal attendees, mostly related to production crew and","production crew and presenters. Keighley said this allowed them to include additional presentation events as with past shows, as well as explore taking future shows to different venues.The 2020 show—featuring a production of more than 400 people, six of whom are full-time employees—had a budget of underUS$10 millionand was the most expensive to date, partly due to theCOVID-19 testsrequired for the crew and the worldwide remote camera set-ups.It remained profitable due to revenue from advertisers and sponsors, as well as minor earnings from streaming services.The show's theme was strength and comfort due to the impact of the pandemic. Keighley wanted to implore the theme of unity, given the release of thePlayStation 5andXbox Series X/Sin November 2020; he citedThe Game Awards 2018as an example of this theme, which had led withNintendo'sReggie Fils-Aimé, Microsoft'sPhil Spencer, and Sony'sShawn Laydensharing the stage.Keighley felt the inclusion of film and television stars was an interesting way to show a","way to show a wider appreciation for the industry. His team wanted to includeHenry Cavillin the show, but he was busy working onThe Witcher. While developing the show, Keighley spoke to hundreds of viewers viaZoomto discuss their own interests,often alongside industry figures likeValve CorporationpresidentGabe NewellandEpic Gamescreative director Donald Mustard.As with the previous show, the presentation ran alongside the Game Festival, consisting of playable demos and additional in-game content.The show introduced the award's first Future Class, a list of individuals from across the video game industry who best represent the future of video games. The inductees included industry professionals such asKinda Funny's Blessing Adeoye Jr.,Naughty Dog'sHalley Gross, andGameSpot'sKallie Plagge.The presentation was aired on December 10, 2020,live streamedacross more than 45 online platforms.It aired on more than ten networks in China, includingBilibili,Douyin, andHuya Live, and on several networks in India","networks in India includingDisney+ Hotstar,JioTV, andMX Player. Announcements Around April and May in 2020, Keighley was worried about a potential lack of game announcements due to theimpact of COVID-19 on the industry; however, several developers were able to submit their announcements and trailers for demonstration.Announcements on recently released and upcoming games were made for: New games announced during the ceremony included: Winners and nominees The nominees for The Game Awards 2020 were announced on November 18, 2020.Any game released on or before November 20, 2020 was eligible for consideration.The nominees were compiled by a jury panel with members from 96 media outlets globally;ballots were sent to outlets on October 29 and due back on November 6, though they had until November 13 to submit updated ballots. Outlets were required to submit three games for each category to determine the nominees.Winners were determined between the jury (90%) and public votes (10%); the latter was held via the","was held via the official website and on social media platforms such asFacebookandTwitter, and closed on December 9.The two exceptions were the Most Anticipated Game and Player's Voice awards, which were fully nominated and voted-on by the public;the former was determined exclusively on Twitter and announced during the show,and the latter was announced on December 8 after several rounds of voting.A new Innovation in Accessibility award was added for games that featured notableaccessibility options.Around 18.3 million people participated in the public vote, doubling from the previous show. Awards Winners are listed first, highlighted inboldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡). Video games Esports and creators Games with multiple nominations and awards Multiple nominations The Last of Us Part IIreceived eleven nominations, the most in the show's history. Other games with multiple nominations includedHadeswith nine,Ghost of Tsushimawith eight,Final Fantasy VII Remakewith six, andDoom Eternalwith","andDoom Eternalwith five.Sony Interactive Entertainmenthad 26 total nominations, more than any other publisher, followed bySupergiant GamesandXbox Game Studioswith eight. Multiple awards The Last of Us Part IIreceived the most wins in the show's history, with seven. Four games—Among Us,Final Fantasy VII Remake,Ghost of Tsushima, andHades—won two awards. Across its two winning games, Sony Interactive Entertainment won a total of nine awards, whileInnersloth,Square Enix, Supergiant Games, and Xbox Game Studios won two. Presenters and performers Presenters The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or introduced trailers. All other awards were presented by Keighley or Goodman. Performers The following individuals or groups performed musical numbers.A planned orchestral version ofCyberpunk 2077's music was scrapped when the game was delayed to the same day as the ceremony, rendering it ineligible for nomination. Ratings and reception Nominees Inverse's Corey Plante felt the cutoff","felt the cutoff date led to several games getting snubbed, includingDemon's SoulsandMarvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, as well asPokémon SwordandShield, which was eligible for both the2019and 2020 awards but was unrecognized in both. He feltGhost of Tsushimawas more deserving of a Best Score and Music nomination thanDoom Eternal.Den of Geek's Matthew Byrd similarly lamented the lack of recognition forDemon's SoulsandMarvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales.Kat Bailey ofUSgamerquestionedDoom Eternal'snomination for Game of the Year, describing it as \"messy, unfocused, and, well, just not as good\" as its predecessor.Kotaku Australia's Alex Walker similarly found the nomination misplaced and considered games likeHalf-Life: AlyxandMicrosoft Flight Simulatormore deserving. Ceremony The show received a mixed reception from media publications.VentureBeat'sDean Takahashipraised the ceremony, particularly applauding its celebration of diverse games such asThe Last of Us Part IIandTell Me Whyas well as the varied and","as the varied and interesting new game announcements.Todd Martens ofLos Angeles Timesfelt the show should have allowed more time for the developers to speak and discuss their artistic visions behind the games, noting the presentation does little to demonstratevideo games as art.Eurogamer's Martin Robinson said the show was understandably \"low-key\" but called it a \"three-hour long advert\".Inverse's Ana Diaz criticized the rapid announcement of winners between premieres and during the preshow, preventing developers from accepting the awards, and its focus onHollywoodactors over game creators. Similar to concerns overDeath Stranding'spredominance in the nominations and ceremony for the 2019 awards due to its creatorHideo Kojima's friendship with Keighley, some viewers shared concerns related toThe Last of Us Part IIat the 2020 awards, both for its awards success and due to the developer'scrunchpractices.The Last of Us Part IIwas well-received at release but narrative elements polarized some critics and players,","and players, and the game had been subject toreview bombing;Keighley clarified the awards were not rigged in the manner some viewers had suggested and there was no influence of Naughty Dog or its staff on the award selection, citing the game's popularity among players and media alike as proven by its runner-up placement in the Player's Voice award.Kotaku'sIan Walker criticized the game's Best Game Direction win, notingHadesshould have won due to developer Supergiant Games's less demanding work culture.TheGamer's Peter Glagowski similarly felt the game's awards were a message excusing crunch culture in game development.Keighley felt it would be difficult to incorporate criteria related to games developed under poor industry practices like crunch into the awards selection process without becoming aslippery slope, but believes discussions of these practices should be a conversation held by the larger community. Viewership Over 83 million streams were used to view the ceremony, the most in the show's history to","show's history to date,with 8.3 million concurrent viewers at its peak.OnTwitch, the show had over 2.63 million concurrent viewers, more than double the previous year, with 9,000 creators co-streaming the ceremony. OnYouTube, live viewership increased 84 percent over the previous year. In total, live hours viewed increased by over 129 percent acrossFacebook Gaming, Twitch, and YouTube. The showtrended worldwide on Twitter, with a 31 percent increase in conversation from the previous year, while usage of thehashtag#TheGameAwards increased 107 percent.Keighley expressed his surprise by the consistent growth of the show over the years, but confessed it has led him to fear \"that year where it doesn't grow ... There's going to be a year where we don't have the same viewers\". Notes References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirby_(series\",\n \"Masahiro Sakurai Masahiro Sakurai(桜井 政博,Sakurai Masahiro, born August 3, 1970)is a Japanese video game director andgame designerbest known as the creator of theKirbyandSuper Smash Bros.series. Apart from his work on those series, he also led the design ofMeteosin 2005 and directedKid Icarus: Uprisingin 2012. Formerly an employee ofHAL Laboratory, Sakurai left the company in 2003 and in 2005 with his wife Michiko Sakurai (also ex-HAL Laboratory) founded their companySora Ltd., under which they work on a freelance basis. He was also an author of a weekly column forFamitsumagazine from 2003 to 2021, and has done voice acting work in some of his games, most notably providing the voice ofKing DededeinKirby 64: The Crystal Shardsand theSuper Smash Bros.series. From 2022 to 2024, Sakurai has been creating videos for hisYouTubechannel,Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games, where he discusses game design and his career. Career Masahiro Sakurai was born on August 3, 1970, inMusashimurayama, Tokyo, Japan. One of Sakurai's\",\n \"One of Sakurai's earliest experiences in the video game industry began when he worked forHAL Laboratory, where he created the characterKirbyat age 19 and directed his first title,Kirby's Dream Land. Sakurai left HAL on August 5, 2003. He explained in an interview withNintendo Dreamthat that he felt it would be difficult to create new projects while staying at HAL due to the direction of the gaming industry, where the risk of failure was high. While he was not being pressured by HAL to createKirbysequels, he noted increasing tension within the industry as a whole: \\\"It was tough for me to see that every time I made a new game, people automatically assumed that a sequel was coming. Even if it's a sequel, lots of people have to give their all to make a game, but some people think the sequel process happens naturally.\\\" Soon after, Sakurai began working on a project withQ Entertainment, along withTetsuya Mizuguchi. This collaboration resulted inMeteosin 2005, a puzzle game for theNintendo DS. On September 30,\",\n \"On September 30, 2005, Sakurai announced that he had formed his own company, Sora Ltd.Two games were announced to be in development but no information on the titles had been divulged. As for the future of theSuper Smash Bros.series, Nintendo and HAL Laboratory presidentSatoru Iwata, during Nintendo'sE3 2005press conference, promised an online iteration of the game would come to theNintendo Wii. In issue #885 ofFamitsumagazine, Sakurai revealed that he would be serving as a director and game designer onSuper Smash Bros. Brawlfor theWii.Super Smash Bros. Brawlwas released in 2008, after personnel borrowed from 19 different developer studios assisted in development.Sakurai had been updating daily theSuper Smash Bros Brawlwebsite called the Smash Bros. Dojo. Starting a year previous the release, he revealedBrawlsecrets and gameplay content through the site. The Smash Bros. Dojo had regular updates from May 22, 2007, to April 14, 2008. On the final day of updates, it was revealed that Sakurai provided the voice\",\n \"provided the voice forKing DededeinKirby 64: The Crystal Shardsas well as Dedede inSuper Smash Bros. Brawl. He and his company, Sora Ltd. alongside Nintendo, started a first-party studio,Project Sora, which was 72% owned by Nintendo and 28% owned by Sora Ltd. It was revealed atE3 2010that Sakurai and Project Sora were working onKid Icarus: Uprisingfor the Nintendo 3DS. Project Sora was closed and ended development on June 30, 2012.AtE3 2011, Nintendo announced that Sakurai was working onSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DSandWii U. Sakurai began development of the title upon the release ofKid Icarus: Uprisingin March 2012. In February 2013, Sakurai was diagnosed withcalcific tendinitisnear his right shoulder, which caused him substantial pain whenever he moved his arm. He mentioned that this could effectively slow down his work, as he does some of hisgame testinghimself.Sakurai's wife, Michiko, has worked on the graphical user interface for many of his games, includingKirby Air Ride,Meteos, and theSuper Smash\",\n \"and theSuper Smash Bros.series. In a January 2015 column inWeekly Famitsu, Sakurai alluded to the possibility of retirement, expressing doubt that he would be able to continue making games if his career continued to be as stressful as it was.In December 2015, Sakurai once again stated that he was not sure if there would be another game in theSmash Bros.series,prior toSuper Smash Bros. Ultimatebeing released in 2018 with Sakurai once again as director. On March 14, 2022, Sakurai was awarded Best Creator byWeekly Famitsu. Sakurai also announced that he is working on a new project not related to game production. Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games Sakurai launchedMasahiro Sakurai on Creating Games, aYouTubechannel in both English and Japanese in August 2022. The channel's videos are focused on game development and design as well as his career.He stated that the channel was founded because he wanted to reach more people with his lessons after being asked tolectureat schools. Sakurai additionally noted that other\",\n \"noted that other venues for lessons from game developers, such as theGame Developers Conference, focused on more advanced, technical details, rather than more basic principles.Less than a day after its launch, the English edition of his channel gained over 200,000 subscribers.The opening and ending jingles for the channel were composed byYuzo Koshiro. Works Notes References External links\",\n \"Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Super Smash Bros. Ultimateis a 2018crossoverfighting gamedeveloped byBandai Namco StudiosandSora Ltd. and published byNintendofor theNintendo Switch. It is the fifthinstallment in theSuper Smash Bros.series, succeedingSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DSandWii U(2014). The game follows the series' traditional style of gameplay, in which players control one of thevarious charactersand use attacks to weaken their opponents and knock them out of an arena. It features a wide variety ofgame modes, including asingle-playercampaignandmultiplayerversus modes.Ultimatefeatures 89 playable fighters, including all characters from previousSuper Smash Bros.games as well as newcomers. The roster ranges from Nintendo characters to those fromthird-partyfranchises. Planning for the game had begun by December 2015, with full development starting after the completion of3DS/Wii U'sdownloadable content(DLC). Series creator and directorMasahiro Sakuraireturned along with Bandai Namco Studios and Sora, the\",\n \"and Sora, the studios that developed3DS/Wii U,with their return speeding up the preparation process. Sakurai's goal withUltimatewas to include every character from previous games in the series, despite the various development and licensing challenges this would present. Several well-known video game musicians contributed to the soundtrack, withHideki Sakamotowriting the main theme \\\"Lifelight\\\". Nintendo first teasedUltimatein aNintendo Directin March 2018 and fully revealed it atE3 2018the following June. It later received two additional Directs prior to its release on December 7, 2018. The game received universal acclaim, with some critics calling it the best game in the series; they praised its large amount of content and fine-tuning of existingSmashgameplay elements, although its online mode received criticism.Ultimateis the best-selling fighting game of all time and one of thebest-selling on the Switch, having sold over 34 million copies as of March 2024. It is also a popularcompetitive fighting gameand\",\n \"fighting gameand has been cited as one of thegreatest video games of all time.Ultimatereceiveddownloadable contentadding new fighters, stages, and other content for nearly three years after release. Gameplay Super Smash Bros. Ultimateis aplatform fighterfor up to eight players in which characters fromNintendogames and third-party franchises fight to knock each other out of an arena. Each player has a percentage meter which raises as they take damage, thus increasing the knockback they take and making them easier to launch in the air and out of the arena.Standard battles use one of three victory conditions: Timed, where players aim to win the most points by defeating opponents within a time limit; Stock, where players have a set number of lives and aim to be the last player standing; and Stamina, where players reduce their opponent's health down to zero to defeat them. Players can adjust the rules to their liking and save them as presets for future matches. Players can also enable various items which attack\",\n \"items which attack enemies or grant them power-ups, along with Poké Balls and Assist Trophies, which respectively summonPokémonand other non-playable characters to assist them in battle. In Timed matches, certain Assist Trophies can be attacked and defeated to earn points.Each character also possesses a powerful Final Smash attack, which can be performed either by obtaining a Smash Ball or by filling up a special meter, both of which can be toggled on and off.The base game features 104 different stages, with additional stages being added alongside DLC fighters. Stages can be played in alternative Battlefield and Omega forms or toggled to remove stage hazards. A new feature called Stage Morph allows players to select two stages that the game alternates between at certain intervals during a match.Other tweaks include new icons and gauges for character-specific abilities, such asCloud's Limit gauge. In addition to returning modes such as Classic, Special Smash, and Home-Run Contest,Ultimateadds new modes. These\",\n \"new modes. These are Smashdown, where each character can only be played once; Squad Strike, where players battle in teams of multiple characters; and a tournament mode that allows up to 32 players to battle in playoff brackets. Spirits Ultimateintroduces the Spirits mechanic, replacing the collectible trophies from previous games. Each of these Spirits, based on characters from represented franchises, can be used to power up a fighter with unique abilities.Players mainly gain Spirits through pre-made challenges called \\\"Spirit Battles\\\" that represent the character the Spirit depicts, which are embodied by one or more of the game's fighters and other specific level effects. For example, the Spirit battle of Rayquaza, a flying dragon Pokémon, requires players to defeat a large version of Ridley with a similar color palette and wind effects. Players are encouraged to strategically choose Spirits based on the level effects; in the same example, a player would need to equip a Spirit that provides wind resistance\",\n \"wind resistance or immunity, or one that allows them to deal extra damage to a giant opponent. A separate mode called the Spirit Board presents a rotating set of Spirit battles for players to gain Spirits from. Spirits have a growth and evolution system, in which they can be leveled up to become more powerful or converted into Cores to summon new Spirits.Certain Spirits will also become an \\\"enhanced\\\" form upon reaching max level, but will return to level 1. Nintendo offers limited-timed Spirit events in cross-promotion with other games and franchises, with the Spirits featured only available to collect during the event. Eventually, these Spirits make their way into general rotation and can be found on the Spirit Board.The local multiplayer mode also allows for the option to use Spirits. World of Light Ultimatefeatures the return of Adventure Mode, which was absent in3DS/Wii U.It is now integrated into the Spirits mode with a new story,World of Light, which prominently uses the game's Spirit mechanics.The\",\n \"mechanics.The mode's narrative begins with an evil entity, Galeem, destroying theSmash Bros.world, vaporizing almost all of the fighter characters and placing them under his imprisonment; onlyKirby, due to his Warp Star, evades this attack.Players explore the titular World of Light, a new world that Galeem created in the original world's place, to rescue captured fighters and Spirits -the remnants of other characters' physical forms- by completing marked Spirit Battles. Players can use regained allies and Spirits to overcome certain challenges on the map and defeat Galeem.However, after Galeem is defeated, a new enemy, Dharkon, emerges; after Dharkon's defeat, it wages war against Galeem. If just Galeem is defeated, Dharkon will engulf the world in darkness, but if just Dharkon is defeated, then Galeem will cover the universe with light. However, by defeating an equal amount of light and dark Spirits on the final map, players are able to challenge and defeat both of them, freeing the Spirits from their\",\n \"Spirits from their control and allowing them to return to the real world. Additional features The game supports local multiplayer, local wireless with other systems, and online play viaWi-FiorLAN connections. By defeating players online, players earn tags which can be traded for in-game currency to buy new Spirits, music, andMiiFighter costumes. The game is compatible withJoy-Concontrollers, theNintendo Switch Pro Controller, andGameCube controllersvia a USB adapter.Like the previous entry,amiibofigurines can be used to create AI-controlled Figure Players, which can be trained to become stronger.Shortly after the game's release, a service for the Nintendo Switch Online mobile app, known as \\\"Smash World\\\", was launched, which allows players to check their game statistics and share images and videos captured from the game to social media.Ultimatefeatures over 900 music tracks, which can be played through the Switch's handheld mode while in standby mode.Version 3.0 of the game, released in April 2019, adds a\",\n \"April 2019, adds a Stage Builder, which allows players to create custom stages which can be shared or downloaded through the Switch Online service. The update also includes a replay editor, allowing players to edit stored replays, which can be shared online or downloaded to other devices. These replays are available within the Smash World app.An update in May 2019 provided limited support for thevirtual realityVR Kit ofNintendo Labo, allowing players to view computer-only matches in VR or play in a 1-on-1 mode against the computer.An update in September 2019 added the Home-Run Contest mode from previousSmashgames. Playable characters Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, like other games in theSuper Smash Bros.series, features acrossovercast of fighters from several differentNintendo franchises, as well as fighters from series bythird-partydevelopers such asKonami,Sega,Capcom,Bandai Namco Entertainment,Square Enix,PlatinumGames,Microsoft,SNK, andDisney. The base game features 74 playable fighters,consisting of all 63\",\n \"of all 63 previous fighters from past entries and 11 newcomers: theInklingsfromSplatoon;Princess Daisyfrom theMarioseries;Ridleyand Dark Samus from theMetroidseries;Simon Belmontand Richter Belmont from theCastlevaniaseries;ChromfromFire Emblem Awakening;King K. Roolfrom theDonkey Kongseries;Isabellefrom theAnimal Crossingseries;Ken Mastersfrom theStreet Fighterseries; and Incineroar fromPokémon SunandMoon.When starting the game, players only have access to the eight starter characters of the originalSuper Smash Bros.and unlock the rest by completing the game's Classic modes, playing through World of Light, or fighting a certain amount of battles. Certain characters whose movesets are directly based on other characters are now classified as \\\"Echo Fighters\\\", possessing similar movesets and proportions to the fighters they are based on, but with unique animations and gameplay differences. On the character selection screen, these characters can either be listed individually or stacked with the fighters they are\",\n \"fighters they are based on.Select characters also have alternative skins featuring different genders or sometimes other characters, such asBowser Jr., who has the otherKoopalingsas skins, but with identical animations and abilities.Several returning characters received updates to their appearances, such asMariohaving Cappy fromSuper Mario Odysseyaccompanying him andThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's incarnation ofLinkreplacing the one fromTwilight Princess. Additional fighters have been added to the game via post-releasedownloadable content(DLC). The first of these,Piranha Plantfrom theMarioseries, was released in January 2019 and made available for free to those who purchased and registered the game with aMy Nintendoaccount before the end of that month.Additional fighters, each coming with a unique stage and related music, have been released both individually and as part of two Fighters Pass bundles.The first Fighters Pass consisted of five characters:JokerfromAtlus'Persona 5, released in April\",\n \"released in April 2019;the Herofrom Square Enix'sDragon Questseries, released in July 2019;Banjo & KazooiefromRare'sBanjo-Kazooieseries, released in September 2019;Terry BogardfromSNK'sFatal Furyseries, released in November 2019;andBylethfromFire Emblem: Three Houses, released in January 2020. The second Fighters Pass, titled Fighters Pass Volume 2, consisted of six additional fighters and was the final content planned forUltimate.The first character in this collection,Min MinfromARMS, was released in June 2020.Steve,the default player avatar fromMojang Studios'Minecraft, was released in October 2020.Sephiroth, the antagonist from Square Enix'sFinal Fantasy VII, was released in December 2020, with players able to unlock him a few days early by defeating him in a limited-time boss battle known as the \\\"Sephiroth Challenge\\\".Pyra and Mythra, a dual character fromXenoblade Chronicles 2, were released in March 2021.Kazuya Mishimafrom Bandai Namco'sTekkenseries was released in June 2021.SorafromDisneyand Square\",\n \"Square Enix seriesKingdom Heartswas the final fighter to be added in October 2021. Development Super Smash Bros. Ultimatewas developed byBandai Namco StudiosandSora Ltd., the same studios that developedSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DSandWii U, for theNintendo Switch, with series creatorMasahiro Sakuraireturning as game director.Unlike previousSuper Smash Bros.games, the team was not assembled from the ground up, which sped up preparation time.The project plan for the game was in the works by December 2015, when the DLC for3DSandWii Uwas in development,and finished after it was completed.Staff gathering was done soon afterward.The development period was shorter compared to previous entries in the series.Hatenaassisted with the development of some elements,andtri-Crescendocontributed to programming and design. According to Sakurai, producing aSuper Smash Bros.game for the Switch was the last request that former Nintendo presidentSatoru Iwatahad given him before his death in 2015, and he wanted to make the\",\n \"wanted to make the game the best possible product he could to respect him.Sakurai sought to include every character from previous games, as to not disappoint fans.However, he knew this would be a complex problem for both development and licensing;it would also drastically increase the cost of development. The return of Bandai and Sora made it easier for this to happen.Sakurai also wanted to adjust character abilities to speed up the game,although not to an extent that would alienate players unfamiliar with the series.Sakurai knew thatUltimatewas a core game for Nintendo and that it had a dedicated player base that he did not want to disappoint, and believed that completing this goal was necessary to satisfy them.Sakurai was also faced with the decision to either create a completely new game system or build off of pre-existing ones; he chose to build off pre-existing ones because there would only be about a third of the characters he desired in the final game.All the returning characters' abilities had to be\",\n \"abilities had to be re-balancedso they could work inUltimate.Originally, gameplay would differ between the Switch's docked and handheld modes, but Sakurai scrapped this idea since the system's screen in handheld mode was better than he thought.Sakurai believed this would be the onlySmashgame to have the full roster of returning characters, calling the effort to include the characters, music, stage settings, and other elements as \\\"unprecedented\\\", and cautioned that future games in the series would likely be smaller in scope. However, he still wanted to add as many fighters as possible through DLC. Voice lines recorded byDavid Hayterfor Snake were re-used forUltimate.Xander Mobus, who voiced Crazy Hand,Master Hand, and the announcer inSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DSandWii U,also made a return with new voice clips, in addition to reprising his role asJokerfromPersona 5when he was added as DLC.The addition of Ridley fromMetroidas a playable character had been highly requested within theSuper Smash\",\n \"theSuper Smash Bros.community for some time. In 2008, Sakurai stated that he knew Ridley was a high-demand character, but thought that he was \\\"impossible\\\" to add unless they were able to sacrifice the character's size for balancing purposes.So that Ridley could be included in the game, Sakurai studied the art of the character and redesigned him so he could stand upright.All characters were chosen at the beginning of development except for Incineroar, who had not been created yet;the team instead left a space open for aSun and MoonPokémon. The Inklings' inkmechanicproved challenging to implement due to its interactions with environments. The team builtUltimatefrom scratch with new assets and content. Localization manager Nate Bihldorff stated that the game significantly upgraded lighting effects and texture rendering from thegame engineof theWii Uversion.The World of Light mode was inspired byBrawl's(2008) Subspace Emissary, and Sakurai chose to start it with a cataclysmic event because he thought it would\",\n \"he thought it would leave a greater impact on players.The team conceived the Spirits mechanic because they wanted to create an enjoyable single-player mode, but did not have enough resources to createcharacter models. While it did not let them tell stories for individual fighters or create new locations and rules, it let them use various characters and assets.One part of the team chose Spirits to include in the game and had to thoroughly research them; according to Sakurai, the Spirits mode was essential for using various franchises. Music Like previous games in the series,Ultimatefeatures several well-known video game music composers and arrangers providing a mix of original music and rearrangements of various tracks for the represented franchises, with over 1,000 tracks in total.New toUltimateis the tying of tracks to franchises instead of individual stages, as well as the ability to create custom playlists to listen to outside the game when the Switch is in handheld mode.Sakurai stated that he began\",\n \"that he began contacting composers over a year before release, providing them with a database of over a thousand suggested track ideas.In addition, he allowed them to submit their own personal favorites, with those choices being given priority for inclusion.While Sakurai oversaw the process and preferred that the music retain the spirit of the original games, the direction of them was generally handled by the composers themselves.The main theme, \\\"Lifelight\\\", composed byHideki Sakamoto, is the basis of most of the game's original music. Downloadable content As with previous entries, Nintendo planned to offer new fighters through DLC; however, unlike with the3DSandWii U,where players could request which characters they wished to see in the game, Nintendo chose which characters they would add by November 2018.Like the previous title, additional Mii costumes were released as paid DLC, with certain costumes also adding new music tracks to the game.Sakurai believed that despite characters likeJoker, the first\",\n \"the first announced DLC fighter, not being from games usually associated with Nintendo, they were added because they were \\\"emblematic\\\" of the types of characters they wanted to add toUltimate.He also stated that they \\\"bring just a whole different level of fun and enjoyment for players\\\".The Piranha Plant was chosen as a DLC character because Sakurai wanted to add diversity to the roster.Nintendo met withRarestudio head Craig Duncan at E3 2018 to discuss the possibility of including Banjo and Kazooie as downloadable content; Duncan, believing it to be \\\"a great opportunity\\\", agreed and connected the two development teams for further discussions.Sakurai noted that Banjo and Kazooie were the second most requested character forSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DSandWii Uin a Nintendo-sanctioned fan vote in 2015,and that their addition happened \\\"quite easily\\\", despite the property being owned byMicrosoftthrough its acquisition ofRare.Phil Spencer, the head ofXbox, stated that negotiating their inclusion was \\\"an easy\",\n \"was \\\"an easy deal to make\\\" thanks to Microsoft's strong partnership with Nintendo. The development of Fighters Pass Volume 2 was heavily affected by theCOVID-19 pandemicin 2020, as due tostay-at-home ordersin Japan, Sakurai and his development team had to work remotely.According to Daniel Kaplan ofMojang Studios, early discussions between Nintendo andMicrosoftincludingMinecraftcontent in theSuper Smash Bros.series had begun roughly five years prior to Steve's addition into the game.The character's inclusion required the development team to rework every stage in the game to accommodate Steve's gameplay mechanics.Sakurai had wanted to includeSorafromKingdom Heartsin the game because he was the top fighter requested forNintendo 3DSandWii Uin the 2015 fan vote.However, they initially thought that the legality surrounding the intellectual property withDisneywould be insurmountable, and originally planned for only five fighters in the second pass. However, Sakurai met a Disney representative at an award venue,\",\n \"at an award venue, which facilitated the start of negotiations for Sora's inclusion. Nintendo, Disney, andSquare Enixsaw towards including Sora in the game and overseeing all aspects related to his inclusion, with several limitations and guidelines they were required to follow.The Sora Challenger Pack featured a promotional tie-in with the 2020 rhythm gameKingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory: players withMelody of Memorysave data on their Nintendo Switch would unlock the music track \\\"Dearly Beloved (Swing Version)\\\". Release Ultimatewas teased during aNintendo Directpresentation on March 8, 2018, under theworking titleSuper Smash Bros., with the release year shown to be 2018. Nintendo formally announced the game atE3 2018, revealing that the full roster of characters from past games would be included, as well as its release date.Demoversions were playable at E3 in June and atSan Diego Comic-Conthe following month.IGNnominatedUltimatefor its Best Game of E3 2018 award; the game won Best Nintendo Switch Game from\",\n \"Switch Game from bothIGNandGamescom.Two Nintendo Direct presentations in 2018, one on August 8 and another one on November 1, were devoted to the game, revealing new characters, stages, and game modes. Nintendo releasedSuper Smash Bros. Ultimateworldwide on December 7, 2018.In addition to the standard retail version, a special edition containing aSuper Smash Bros.-themedNintendo Switch Pro Controllerand a Switch with a download code was also released.An additional special edition contained a pair ofSuper Smash Bros.-themedJoy-Conas well as a Switch console, aSuper Smash Bros.-themed dock, and a download code for the game.AGameCube controllerwith theSuper Smash Bros. Ultimatelogo was released on November 2, 2018. One of the game's new additions had the characterMr. Game & Watchassuming the appearance of a feather- and loincloth-wearingNative Americanwhen using one of his attacks—a reference toFire Attack(1982), in which players controlled acowboydefending his fort from attacking indigenous people. Some users\",\n \"people. Some users on social media saw this as racist, leading to Nintendo of America apologizing and removing the animation in an update shortly after release.Two weeks before its release, a leaked copy of the game was distributed across the internet. Nintendo took steps to issue copyright strikes on YouTube videos usingdata minedcontent, while fans worked to isolatespoilers, particularly the World of Light story mode, from those that had played the leaked version. Reception Ultimatereceived \\\"universal acclaim\\\" from critics, according to thereview aggregatorplatformMetacritic.Critics lauded the huge cast of characters and levels, new game modes, and combining of the best elements from its predecessors.French video game websiteJeuxvideo.comcalled it the best game in the series, praising its features which \\\"brilliantly mix gargantuan content with nostalgia\\\".Bleacher Reporthailed the game's colorful art style, faster gameplay, and unique stages.IGNpraised the game's decision to bring back every character from\",\n \"character from the series as \\\"ambitious and excellent\\\".The game's massive soundtrack and portable music player were praised byThe Verge. However, the game's online mode received criticism for its technical performance and matchmaking. Many players found significantlagaffecting their games, even when using wired connections over wireless, while the game's matchmaking features did not adhere to players' criteria, with players frequently playing matches with rule sets they did not choose. The matchmaking process was further criticized for making it difficult for friends to join matches over random players, and not allowing multiple local players to join in online matches.There had been so many complaints onUltimate'ssubredditthat the administrators forwarded all complaints to a separate thread.Ultimate'sWorld of Lightmode also received mixed reviews. While some found the single-player mode both accessible and challenging,others found the mode tedious and excessive. Sales In November 2018, Nintendo\",\n \"2018, Nintendo announcedUltimatewas the most pre-ordered game for the Switch and in the series.The Association for UK Interactive Entertainmentreported thatUltimatewas the fastest-selling Switch andSuper Smash Bros.game in the United Kingdom, with physical launch sales 302% higher than those forSuper Smash Bros. for Wii U, 233% higher than those for3DS, and 62.5% higher than those forBrawl.In its first three days on sale in Japan, the game sold 1.2 million copies, outsellingPokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu!andLet's Go, Eevee!andThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildin the region. Within 11 days of its release,Ultimatehad sold more than three million copies within the United States, making it the fastest-selling Switch game in the country.It was similarly the fastest-selling Switch game as well as the fastest-selling game for any Nintendo console in Europe based on the first 11-day sales.It was estimated that the game sold and shipped over five million copies within its first three days of release.Within three\",\n \"three weeks,Ultimatebecame the fifth best-selling Switch game in the United Kingdom, surpassing the sales ofSplatoon 2.In January 2019,Amazonreported thatUltimatewas their highest selling video game product of 2018,with Nintendo officially announcing that the game had shipped over 12.08 million copies worldwide.Ultimatewas also Nintendo's fastest-selling game of all time until being surpassed byPokémon SwordandShieldin 2019.By September 2020, the game had sold over 21.10 million copies worldwide,making it the best-selling fighting game of all time,surpassing the record ofStreet Fighter II,and became thethird-best-selling Nintendo Switch game, only behindAnimal Crossing: New HorizonsandMario Kart 8 Deluxe. As of June 30, 2024, total sales reached34.66million. Awards The game won the award for \\\"Best Nintendo Switch Game\\\", \\\"Best Fighting Game\\\", and \\\"Best Multiplayer Game\\\" inIGN's Best of 2018 Awards, whereas its other nominations were for \\\"Game of the Year\\\" and \\\"Best Video Game Music\\\". Esports EVO 2019, held on\",\n \"EVO 2019, held on August 2–4, 2019, featuredUltimateas one of its main events. It was the largest offlineSmash Bros.tournament of all time, with 3,534 entrants signed up.It set a new record for EVO concurrent viewership, with over 279,000 viewers during Top 8.On May 8–10, 2020, topSuper Smash Bros. MeleeplayerHungryboxpartnered withNFLrunning backLe'Veon Belland esports organizationTeam Liquidto host The Box, an online tournament with a $10,000 prize pool.With over 8,000 entrants, it was the largest onlineSmash Bros.tournament of all time. In February 2020, it was announced that the Smash World Tour would feature bothSuper Smash Bros. MeleeandUltimateplayers for a grand prize pool of $250,000. The tournament would have included international qualifiers, with the grand finals' location to be in the United States.However, theCOVID-19 pandemicquickly led to several of the qualifiers getting either postponed or canceled.The Smash World Tour was successfully relaunched in 2021, featuring a mix of online and\",\n \"a mix of online and offline qualifiers and culminating in a final offline championship.In 2022, an officially licensed circuit was introduced, being the Panda Cup, featuringSuper Smash Bros. MeleeandSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate.However on November 24, 2022, Nintendo stated that the Smash World Tour 2022 could not continue, as they did not have a license from Nintendo. Accusations of Panda CEO, Alan Bunney, caused many players who had qualified for the Panda Cup to drop out. This caused both the Panda Cup and the Smash World Tour 2022 Championships to be cancelled, along with the Smash World Tour 2023. Notes References External links\",\n \"The Game Awards 2020 The Game Awards 2020was an award show that honored the bestvideo games of 2020. It was produced and hosted byGeoff Keighley, and took place on December 10, 2020. The preshow ceremony was hosted by Sydnee Goodman. Unlike previousGame Awards, the show was broadcast virtually due to theCOVID-19 pandemic; Keighley presented at a soundstage inLos Angeles, while musical performances took place virtually at stages inLondonandTokyo. The show introduced the award's first Future Class, a list of individuals from the video game industry who best represent the future of video games, Innovation in Accessibility award, an award for games that featured notableaccessibility options. The show waslive streamedacross 45 different platforms. It featured musical performances from theLondon Philharmonic OrchestraandEddie Vedder, and presentations from celebrity guests, includingReggie Fils-Aimé,Gal Gadot,Brie Larson, andKeanu Reeves. The Last of Us Part IIreceived the most nominations and wins in the show's\",\n \"wins in the show's history—eleven and seven, respectively—and was awardedGame of the Year.Neil DruckmannandHalley Grosswon Best Narrative for their work on the game, whileLaura Baileywas awarded Best Performance for her role asAbby. Several new games were announced, includingArk II,Perfect Dark, andan untitledMass Effectgame. The show was the most expensive ceremony to date. It was viewed by over 83 million streams, the most in its history to date,with 8.3 million concurrent viewers at its peak. It received a mixed reception from media publications, with praise directed at new game announcements, and criticism for not allowing developers more time to speak. Some critics and viewers shared concerns over the success ofThe Last of Us Part IIdue to its developer'scrunchpractices. Background As with previous iterations ofThe Game Awards, the 2020 show was hosted and produced by Canadian games journalistGeoff Keighley. He returned as an executive producer alongside Kimmie Kim, and Richard Preuss and LeRoy Bennett\",\n \"and LeRoy Bennett returned as director and creative director, respectively.Sydnee Goodman returned as host of the preshow.Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, Keighley did not want to host a normal ceremony.Not wanting to take a hiatus and inspired by the success ofSummer Game Fest,he considered hosting from his home but his board urged him to attempt a larger show on par with previous years.In case of a significant surge ofCOVID-19 cases in California, the crew had several back-up plans, including broadcasting from Keighley's house.He worked with his partners to develop a virtual show;he and his team took inspiration from other shows throughout the year, including theDemocratic National Convention, in which the \\\"audience\\\" was featured on virtual screens,as well as the72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, wherein the hosts were isolated on stage and the winners accepted viavideo call. The presentation used three soundstages in Los Angeles, London, and Tokyo; each had minimal attendees, mostly related to production crew and\",\n \"production crew and presenters. Keighley said this allowed them to include additional presentation events as with past shows, as well as explore taking future shows to different venues.The 2020 show—featuring a production of more than 400 people, six of whom are full-time employees—had a budget of underUS$10 millionand was the most expensive to date, partly due to theCOVID-19 testsrequired for the crew and the worldwide remote camera set-ups.It remained profitable due to revenue from advertisers and sponsors, as well as minor earnings from streaming services.The show's theme was strength and comfort due to the impact of the pandemic. Keighley wanted to implore the theme of unity, given the release of thePlayStation 5andXbox Series X/Sin November 2020; he citedThe Game Awards 2018as an example of this theme, which had led withNintendo'sReggie Fils-Aimé, Microsoft'sPhil Spencer, and Sony'sShawn Laydensharing the stage.Keighley felt the inclusion of film and television stars was an interesting way to show a\",\n \"way to show a wider appreciation for the industry. His team wanted to includeHenry Cavillin the show, but he was busy working onThe Witcher. While developing the show, Keighley spoke to hundreds of viewers viaZoomto discuss their own interests,often alongside industry figures likeValve CorporationpresidentGabe NewellandEpic Gamescreative director Donald Mustard.As with the previous show, the presentation ran alongside the Game Festival, consisting of playable demos and additional in-game content.The show introduced the award's first Future Class, a list of individuals from across the video game industry who best represent the future of video games. The inductees included industry professionals such asKinda Funny's Blessing Adeoye Jr.,Naughty Dog'sHalley Gross, andGameSpot'sKallie Plagge.The presentation was aired on December 10, 2020,live streamedacross more than 45 online platforms.It aired on more than ten networks in China, includingBilibili,Douyin, andHuya Live, and on several networks in India\",\n \"networks in India includingDisney+ Hotstar,JioTV, andMX Player. Announcements Around April and May in 2020, Keighley was worried about a potential lack of game announcements due to theimpact of COVID-19 on the industry; however, several developers were able to submit their announcements and trailers for demonstration.Announcements on recently released and upcoming games were made for: New games announced during the ceremony included: Winners and nominees The nominees for The Game Awards 2020 were announced on November 18, 2020.Any game released on or before November 20, 2020 was eligible for consideration.The nominees were compiled by a jury panel with members from 96 media outlets globally;ballots were sent to outlets on October 29 and due back on November 6, though they had until November 13 to submit updated ballots. Outlets were required to submit three games for each category to determine the nominees.Winners were determined between the jury (90%) and public votes (10%); the latter was held via the\",\n \"was held via the official website and on social media platforms such asFacebookandTwitter, and closed on December 9.The two exceptions were the Most Anticipated Game and Player's Voice awards, which were fully nominated and voted-on by the public;the former was determined exclusively on Twitter and announced during the show,and the latter was announced on December 8 after several rounds of voting.A new Innovation in Accessibility award was added for games that featured notableaccessibility options.Around 18.3 million people participated in the public vote, doubling from the previous show. Awards Winners are listed first, highlighted inboldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡). Video games Esports and creators Games with multiple nominations and awards Multiple nominations The Last of Us Part IIreceived eleven nominations, the most in the show's history. Other games with multiple nominations includedHadeswith nine,Ghost of Tsushimawith eight,Final Fantasy VII Remakewith six, andDoom Eternalwith\",\n \"andDoom Eternalwith five.Sony Interactive Entertainmenthad 26 total nominations, more than any other publisher, followed bySupergiant GamesandXbox Game Studioswith eight. Multiple awards The Last of Us Part IIreceived the most wins in the show's history, with seven. Four games—Among Us,Final Fantasy VII Remake,Ghost of Tsushima, andHades—won two awards. Across its two winning games, Sony Interactive Entertainment won a total of nine awards, whileInnersloth,Square Enix, Supergiant Games, and Xbox Game Studios won two. Presenters and performers Presenters The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or introduced trailers. All other awards were presented by Keighley or Goodman. Performers The following individuals or groups performed musical numbers.A planned orchestral version ofCyberpunk 2077's music was scrapped when the game was delayed to the same day as the ceremony, rendering it ineligible for nomination. Ratings and reception Nominees Inverse's Corey Plante felt the cutoff\",\n \"felt the cutoff date led to several games getting snubbed, includingDemon's SoulsandMarvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, as well asPokémon SwordandShield, which was eligible for both the2019and 2020 awards but was unrecognized in both. He feltGhost of Tsushimawas more deserving of a Best Score and Music nomination thanDoom Eternal.Den of Geek's Matthew Byrd similarly lamented the lack of recognition forDemon's SoulsandMarvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales.Kat Bailey ofUSgamerquestionedDoom Eternal'snomination for Game of the Year, describing it as \\\"messy, unfocused, and, well, just not as good\\\" as its predecessor.Kotaku Australia's Alex Walker similarly found the nomination misplaced and considered games likeHalf-Life: AlyxandMicrosoft Flight Simulatormore deserving. Ceremony The show received a mixed reception from media publications.VentureBeat'sDean Takahashipraised the ceremony, particularly applauding its celebration of diverse games such asThe Last of Us Part IIandTell Me Whyas well as the varied and\",\n \"as the varied and interesting new game announcements.Todd Martens ofLos Angeles Timesfelt the show should have allowed more time for the developers to speak and discuss their artistic visions behind the games, noting the presentation does little to demonstratevideo games as art.Eurogamer's Martin Robinson said the show was understandably \\\"low-key\\\" but called it a \\\"three-hour long advert\\\".Inverse's Ana Diaz criticized the rapid announcement of winners between premieres and during the preshow, preventing developers from accepting the awards, and its focus onHollywoodactors over game creators. Similar to concerns overDeath Stranding'spredominance in the nominations and ceremony for the 2019 awards due to its creatorHideo Kojima's friendship with Keighley, some viewers shared concerns related toThe Last of Us Part IIat the 2020 awards, both for its awards success and due to the developer'scrunchpractices.The Last of Us Part IIwas well-received at release but narrative elements polarized some critics and players,\",\n \"and players, and the game had been subject toreview bombing;Keighley clarified the awards were not rigged in the manner some viewers had suggested and there was no influence of Naughty Dog or its staff on the award selection, citing the game's popularity among players and media alike as proven by its runner-up placement in the Player's Voice award.Kotaku'sIan Walker criticized the game's Best Game Direction win, notingHadesshould have won due to developer Supergiant Games's less demanding work culture.TheGamer's Peter Glagowski similarly felt the game's awards were a message excusing crunch culture in game development.Keighley felt it would be difficult to incorporate criteria related to games developed under poor industry practices like crunch into the awards selection process without becoming aslippery slope, but believes discussions of these practices should be a conversation held by the larger community. Viewership Over 83 million streams were used to view the ceremony, the most in the show's history to\",\n \"show's history to date,with 8.3 million concurrent viewers at its peak.OnTwitch, the show had over 2.63 million concurrent viewers, more than double the previous year, with 9,000 creators co-streaming the ceremony. OnYouTube, live viewership increased 84 percent over the previous year. In total, live hours viewed increased by over 129 percent acrossFacebook Gaming, Twitch, and YouTube. The showtrended worldwide on Twitter, with a 31 percent increase in conversation from the previous year, while usage of thehashtag#TheGameAwards increased 107 percent.Keighley expressed his surprise by the consistent growth of the show over the years, but confessed it has led him to fear \\\"that year where it doesn't grow ... There's going to be a year where we don't have the same viewers\\\". Notes References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":69,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"By how many years does the inception of the party to which former Finnish MP Lea Rakel Hiltunen last belonged predate the foundation of the Parliament of Finland itself?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"7 years."},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakel_Hiltunen"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_Finland"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Democratic_Party_of_Finland"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Numerical reasoning | Multiple constraints | Temporal reasoning"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakel_Hiltunen', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_Finland', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Democratic_Party_of_Finland']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakel_Hiltunen","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_Finland","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Democratic_Party_of_Finland"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakel_Hiltunen\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_Finland\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Democratic_Party_of_Finland\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["Rakel Hiltunen Lea Rakel Hiltunen(néeLyytikäinen; born 2 July 1940 inKeitele) is aFinnishsocial worker and politician. She was a member of theParliament of Finlandfrom 1999 to 2015, representing theSocial Democratic Party of Finland(SDP). References This article about aSocial Democratic Party of Finlandpolitician is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.","Parliament of Finland Opposition(91) TheParliament of Finland(Finnish:Suomen eduskunta;Swedish:Finlands riksdag) is theunicameralandsupremelegislature ofFinland, founded on 9 May 1906.In accordance with theConstitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament.The Parliament consists of 200 members, 199 of whom are elected every four years from 13 multi-member districts electing 6 to 37 members using the proportionalD'Hondt method. In addition, there is one member fromÅland. Legislation may be initiated by either theGovernmentor one of the members of Parliament. The Parliament passes legislation, decides on the state budget, approves international treaties, and supervises the activities of the government. It may bring about the resignation of the Finnish Government, override presidential vetoes, and alter the constitution. To make changes to the constitution, amendments must be approved by two successive parliaments, with an election cycle in between, or passed as an emergency law with a 167/200 majority. Most MPs work in parliamentary groups which correspond withthe political parties. The Parliament currently comprises nine parliamentary groups. Since the establishment of the Parliament in 1905, the parliamentary majority has been held once by a single party: the Social Democrats in the 1916 election. Thus, for the Government to gain a majority in the Parliament,coalition governmentsare favored. These are generally formed by at least two of the three historically major parties: the Social Democrats, Centre, and National Coalition. Ministers are often but not necessarily MPs. The Parliament meets in theParliament House(Finnish:Eduskuntatalo, Swedish:Riksdagshuset), which is located in centralHelsinki. Themost recent parliamentary electiontook place on 2 April 2023. After the 2023 election theOrpo Cabinetwas formed by theNational Coalition,FinnsandSwedish People'sparties as well as theChristian Democrats. Name Finnish The Parliament'sFinnishname iseduskunta, uncapitalized. The word was created in 1906 when the unicameral Parliament was established, with the approximate meaning of an 'Assembly of Representatives'.This word is used mostly to refer to Finland's legislature but can also be used as a general term for legislatures in any country. Swedish InSwedish, the Parliament's name isriksdag, uncapitalized. This is also the general term for theSwedish legislature.Riksdagderives from thegenitiveofrike('realm') referring to theindependent state of Finland, anddag, meaningdietor conference. Before independence, until theConstitution Act of 1919, the Parliament was known, in Swedish, aslantdagen(cognate oflandtag, having the sense of \"subnational assembly\") which was the old term for theDiet of Finland. History The Parliament of Finland was preceded by theDiet of Finland(Swedish:lantdagen; Finnish:maapäivät, modern Finnish:valtiopäivät), which had succeeded theRiksdag of the Estatesin 1809. When the unicameral Parliament of Finland was established by the Parliament Act in 1906, Finland was an autonomousgrand duchy and principalityunder theImperial RussianTsar, who ruled as theGrand Duke, rather than as an absolutemonarch. Universal suffrage and eligibility was implemented, making Finland the second country in the world to adopt universal suffrage.Women could both vote and run for office as equals, and this applied also to landless people, with no excluded minorities. The firstelectionto the Parliament was arranged in 1907. The first Parliament had 19 female representatives, an unprecedented number at the time, which grew to 21 by 1913. The first years of the new Parliament were difficult. Between 1908 and 1916 the power of the Finnish Parliament was almost completely neutralized by the Russian TsarNicholas IIand the so-called \"sabre senate\" of Finland, a bureaucratic government formed byImperial Russian Armyofficers during the second period of \"Russification\". The Parliament was dissolved and new elections were held almost every year. The Finnish Parliament received the true political power for the first time after theFebruary Revolution (First Revolution)of 1917 inRussia.Finland declaredits full independenceon 6 December 1917, and in the winter and spring of 1918 endured acivil warin which the forces of the Senate, known as theWhite Guard, defeated the socialistRed Guard. After the war, monarchists and republicans struggled over the country's form of government. The monarchists seemed to gain a victory when the Parliament elected a German prince asKing of Finlandin the fall of 1918. This decision was made on the basis of the otherNordic countriesalso having monarchs. However, the king-elect abdicated the throne afterImperial Germanywas defeated in World War I, on 11 November 1918. In theparliamentary election of 1919, the republican parties won three-quarters of the seats, extinguishing the monarchists' ambitions. Finland became a republic with a parliamentary system, but in order to appease the monarchist parties, which favoured a strong head of state, extensive powers were granted to thePresident of Finland. When the Soviet Union attacked Finland in theWinter War, in early December 1939 Parliament was evacuated and the legislature temporarily relocated toKauhajoki, a town in western Finland far away from the frontline. The parliament held 34 plenary sessions in Kauhajoki, with the last on 12 February 1940.Another temporary relocation was seen during the renovation of the Parliament House in 2015–2017 when the Parliament convened in the neighbouringSibelius Academy. The Constitution of 1919, which instituted a parliamentary system, did not undergo any major changes for 70 years. Although the government was responsible to the Parliament, the President wielded considerable authority, which was used to its full extent by long-standing PresidentUrho Kekkonen. As the Constitution implemented very strong protections for political minorities, most changes in legislation and state finances could be blocked by a qualified minority of one third. This, in conjunction with the inability of some of the parties to enter into coalition governments, led to weak, short-lived cabinets. During PresidentMauno Koivisto's tenure in the 1980s, cabinets sitting for the whole parliamentary term became the norm. At the same time, the ability of qualified minorities to block legislation was gradually removed and the powers of the Parliament were greatly increased in the constitutional reform of 1991. The revised 2000 draft of theFinnish constitutionremoved almost all domestic powers of the President, strengthening the position of the cabinet and the Parliament. It also included the methods for the discussion of EU legislation under preparation in the Parliament. Dissolutions of Parliament The Parliament of Finland has been dissolved before the end of its term fourteen times during its existence. The most recent instance was on 4 June 1975. Elections The Parliament's 200 representatives are elected directly by ballot on the basis of proportional representation. A standard electoral period is four years. Elections have previously taken two days, but asearly votinghas become more popular, they are now conducted during one day; the third Sunday of April of an election year. Every Finnish citizen who is at least 18 years of age on the election date is entitled to vote in general elections. There is normally no need to register as a voter, and citizens receive an invitation by mail. With certain exceptions, such as military personnel on active duty, high judicial officials, the President of the Republic, and persons under guardianship, any voter may also stand as a candidate for the Parliament. All registered parties are entitled to nominate candidates; individual citizens and independent electoral organizations must be endorsed by a sufficient number of voters through the form ofsupporter cardsto apply. In parliamentary elections, Finland is divided into13 electoral districts. The number of representatives granted to each district is proportional to its population, except forÅland, which always elects one representative. The provincial state offices appoint an election board in each electoral district to prepare lists of candidates and to approve the election results. TheMinistry of Justicehas the ultimate responsibility for holding elections. ThePresident of Finlandcan call for an early election. As per the version ofthe constitutioncurrently in use, the president can do this only upon proposal by the Prime Minister and after consultations with the parliamentary groups while the Parliament is in session. In prior versions of the constitution, the President had the power to do this unilaterally. There is no hard and fast election threshold to get a seat in Parliament. This results in a large number of parties being represented. In 2019, for instance, nine parties won seats, with six winning at least 15 seats. With so many parties and the lack of a threshold, it is nearly impossible for one party to win an outright majority. During the history of the Parliament, only one party has ever won an outright majority–when the Social Democrats won 103 seats in theelection of 1916. Since independence in 1917, no party has ever won the 101 seats needed for a majority. Instead, most Finnish governments have been coalitions formed by three or more parties. Many of them have beengrand coalitionsbetween parties with varying ideological backgrounds, as the socialist and non-socialist blocs usually do not win enough seats between them to govern on their own. The seats for each electoral district are assigned according to theD'Hondt method. Electoral districts were originally based on the historicalläänidivision of 1634, but there have been several subsequent changes. Although there is no set election threshold, many electoral districts have become smaller in terms of population in recent decades, and some now elect as few as six representatives. This makes it harder for small parties to win MPs in these districts. Parliamentary groups MPs work in parliamentary groups (eduskuntaryhmä). The parliamentary groups generally correspond to political parties, although occasionally dissidents can be removed from the party group and form their own. As of September 2019there are nine groups, one of which is a one-man group.A group generally tries to reach a unanimous decision on a common position, but failing to do so may take a vote. This position then defines voting in the parliamentary session proper according toparty discipline.Exceptions to this principle are made on matters on which no party line or government policy exists. Parliamentary groups make their decisions independently of their party leadership, and group leaders of major parties accordingly rank alongside government ministers and party leaders as influential political leaders. Each parliamentary group receives funding for its operations and may have staff of its own. Formation of government ThePresident of Finlandconsults theSpeaker of Parliamentand representatives of parliamentary groups about the formation of a newFinnish Government. According to theConstitution of Finland, the Parliament elects thePrime Minister, who is appointed to office by the President. The Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful politician in the country. Other ministers are appointed by the President on the Prime Minister's proposal. While individual ministers are not appointed by the Parliament, they may be individually removed by amotion of no confidence. The government, as a whole, must also have the confidence of the Parliament and must resign on a motion of no confidence. The government hascollective ministerial responsibility. Before the Prime Minister is elected, the parliamentary groups (which correspond to their respectivepolitical parties) negotiate on the government platform and on the composition of the government. On the basis of the outcome of these negotiations, and after having consulted the Speaker of the house and the parliamentary groups, the President informs the Parliament of the nominee for Prime Minister. The parliament votes on the proposal, and if successful, the nominee is elected Prime Minister. Although Finland essentially always has multi-party coalition governments, the process is made smoother byparty discipline: coalition MPs vote together to ensure a majority. Sessions The annual session of parliament generally begins in February and consists of two terms, the first from January to June, the second from September to December. At the start of an annual session, the nation's political leaders and their guests attend a special worship service atHelsinki Cathedralbefore the ceremonies continue at the Parliament House, where the President formally opens the session. On the first day of each annual session, the Parliament selects a speaker and two deputy speakers from its members. This election is chaired by the oldest MP in office. The three members who are elected to serve as speaker and first deputy speaker and second deputy speaker respectively take the following solemn oath before the Parliament; \"I, , affirm that in my office as Speaker I will to the best of my ability defend the rights of the people, Parliament and the government of Finland according to the Constitution.\" During each annual session of Parliament, Finland's delegations to theNordic Counciland theCouncil of Europeare assigned. The Parliament also elects five of its members to the bench of the High Court of Impeachment for the duration of the parliamentary term. Committees The Parliament has 17 committees. Most committees have 17 permanent members, except for the Grand Committee, which has 25; the Finance Committee, which has 21; and the Audit and Intelligence Oversight Committees, which have 11 each. In addition to these permanent members, each of the committees has a number of substitute members. On average, each member of the Parliament is also a member of two committees. Most of the committees are special committees, while the Grand Committee deals with EU affairs, but also has a wider range of tasks. As Finland does not have a constitutional court, the role of the Constitutional Law Committee is to oversee constitutional affairs. The Committee for the Future is also noteworthy, as it does not usually deal with bills, but instead assesses factors relating to future developments and gives statements to other committees on issues relating to the future outlooks of their respective fields of speciality.The newest committee is the Intelligence Oversight Committee which was created in 2019. Proceedings Domestic legislation Most of the bills discussed in the parliament originate within the Council of State. However, any member or group of members may introduce a bill, but usually these will not pass the committee phase. A third way to propose legislation was introduced in 2012: citizens may deliver an initiative for the parliament's consideration, if the initiative gains 50,000 endorsements from eligible voters within a period of six months. When delivered to the parliament, the initiative is dealt with in the same way as any other bill.Any bill introduced will initially be discussed by the members of the Parliament, prior to being sent to the committee to which it belongs. If the bill concerns several areas of legislation, the Grand Committee will first ask the other committees for opinions. If there is any concern about the constitutionality of the bill, the opinion of the Constitutional Committee is demanded. The Constitutional Committee works in non-partisan manner and uses the most distinguished legal scholars as experts. If the committee considers the bill to have unconstitutional elements, the bill must either be passed as a constitutional change or changed to be in concordance with the constitution. In most cases, the latter route is chosen. The bills receive their final form in the parliamentary committees. The committees work behind closed doors but their proceedings are publicized afterwards. Usually the committees hear experts from special interest groups and various authorities after which they formulate the necessary changes to the bill in question. If the committee does not agree, the members in minority may submit their own version of the bill. The committee statement is discussed by the parliament in two consecutive sessions. In the first session, the parliament discusses the bill and prepares its final form. In the first part of handling, a general discussion of the bill is undertaken. After this, the parliament discusses individual points of the bill and chooses between the bill proposed by the committee, minority opinions and the eventual other forms the members submit during the discussion. If the parliament wishes to do so, it may during the general discussion of the first handling submit the bill to the Grand Committee for further formulation. The bill is also always treated by the Grand Committee if the parliament decides to adopt any other form than the final opinion of the committee. The committee then formulates its own version of the bill and submits this to the parliament which then adopts either its former version or the version of the Grand Committee. The committee statements are influential documents in that they often used by the courts as indicative of the legislator's intent. In the second session, the final formulation of the bill is either passed or dismissed. If the bill entails a change in constitution, the second session takes place only after the next election unless the parliament decides to declare the matter to be urgent by a majority of five-sixths. In constitutional matters, the bills are passed by a majority of two-thirds. In other cases, the simple majority of votes given is enough. International treaties requiring changes to legislation are accepted by a simple majority in a single session. Treaties requiring changes to the constitution or changing the borders of Finland require a qualified majority of two-thirds. EU legislation The matters relating to the jurisdiction of the European Union are decided by theCouncil of the European Unionand theEuropean Parliament. However, as changes to European legislation are being prepared, the Parliament participates actively in formulating the government's position on these changes. As the proceedings of the committees are public, European Union matters handled by the Parliament tend to become public after committee meetings. However, the government may ask the Parliament for a secret handling of an EU matter. This can be the case if the government does not want to reveal its position to foreign nations before the beginning of negotiations. European Union legislation under preparation is brought to the Grand Committee by the Finnish government when they have received notice of the proposal from theEuropean Commission. The Grand Committee discusses the matter behind closed doors, and if appropriate, requests opinions from the committees of the Parliament. Both the Grand Committee and the specialized committees hear expert opinions while preparing their opinions. Finally, the Grand Committee formulates its opinion of the proposal. However, in matters concerning theexternal relations of the European Union, the Finnish stance is formulated by the Committee for Foreign and Security Policy, rather than the Grand Committee. The Finnish government is obligated by law to follow the parliamentary opinion when discussing the matter with the European Commission and other member states. The government may change the Finnish stance, but it is required to report such changes to the Parliament immediately. After the European Union has made a legislative decision that is to be implemented by the Parliament, the matter is brought back to the parliament as with usual legislation. At this stage, the Finnish state is committed to passing a bill fulfilling the requirements demanded by the EU, and the Parliament must vote accordingly. Other matters Every member of parliament has the right to ask the government written questions. The questions are answered in writing within 21 days by a minister responsible for the matter and do not cause any further discussion. Furthermore, the parliament has a questioning session from time to time. In these, the members are allowed to ask short verbal questions, which are answered by the responsible ministers and then discussed by the parliament. Any group of twenty members mayinterpellate. The motion ofcensuremay be for the whole government or any particular minister. The motion takes the form of a question that is replied to by the responsible minister. If the parliament decides to approve the motion of censure, the committee responsible for the matter in question formulates the motion, which is then passed by the parliament. The government may decide to make a report to the parliament in any matter. After discussion the parliament may either accept the report or pass a motion of censure. A passed motion of censure will cause the government to fall. Any group of 10 members may raise the question of the legality of the minister's official acts. If such question is raised, the Constitutional Committee will investigate the matter, using all the powers of police. After the final report of the committee, the parliament decides whether to charge the minister in theHigh Court of Impeachment. The criminal investigation of the Constitutional Committee may also be initiated by the Chancellor of Justice, ParliamentaryOmbudsmanor by any parliamentary committee. Similar proceedings may also be initiated against the Chancellor of Justice, Parliamentary Ombudsman or the judges of the supreme courts. The President of Finland may be also the target of a criminal investigation of the Constitutional Committee, but the parliament must accept the indictment by a majority of three-fourths and the charge must betreason,high treasonor acrime against humanity. Members of the Parliament Members of the Parliament are notemployeesand cannot voluntarily resign or belaid off. They can be granted leave or dismissal only with the consent of the Parliament. Members of the Parliament enjoyparliamentary immunity. Without the parliament's approval, members may not be prosecuted for anything they say in session or otherwise do in the course of parliamentary proceedings. MPs may not be prevented from carrying out their work as members of parliament. They may be charged with crimes they have committed in office only if the parliament gives a permission to that end with a majority of five-sixths of given votes. For other crimes, they may be arrested or imprisoned only for crimes which carry a minimum punishment of six months in prison, unless the parliament gives permission to arrest the member. The members receive a monthly taxableremuneration(palkkio) of 7,137 €, which is raised to 7,494 € after four years of service and to 7,993 € after twelve years. It is not legally asalary. In addition, all MPs automatically receive a tax-free compensation of expenses between 987 € and 1,809 € depending on the location of ones home. MPs from districts far from Helsinki can thus receive compensation for a second apartment in Helsinki.MPs may travel for free within the country by train, bus, or plane for purposes related to legislative work. Within theHelsinki metropolitan area, they may freely use taxis.Eduskunta is responsible for its own finances and the Minister of Finance is obliged to include their proposal to the state budget as is regardless of their own opinion. MPs are aided in their work by personal assistants, although there are fewer assistants than MPs and not every MP has one. Assistants are formally employed by the Parliamentary Office, but can be selected and directed by the MP. A member who is elected to theEuropean Parliamentmust choose between the two parliaments because a double mandate is not permissible. On the other hand, the members may have any municipal positions of trust, and it is common for them to have a position in a municipal council. If MPs leave the parliament or die in office, they are replaced by candidates from the same list they were elected from in the previous election, in order of their electoral score (theD'Hondt quotient). Those so selected are from asubstitutelist, the substitutes being named at the same time as the electoral results are announced. Finland does not have aby-electionsystem. The members have an unlimited right to discuss the matters at hand. However, they must behave in a \"solemn and dignified manner\" and refrain from personal insults. If the member breaks against this rule in the session of parliament, they may be interrupted by the speaker. Grave breaches of order may be punished by two weeks' suspension from office by the decision of the Parliament. If a member is convicted of an intentional crime for a term in prison or of an electoral crime to any punishment, the parliament may decide to dismiss the member if two-thirds of the votes given are for dismissal. The median age of MPs was 50 as of 2022, the oldest MP being 76 years (Erkki Tuomioja) and youngest 28 years (Iiris Suomela). 94 women were elected as MPs in the 2019 election (47%), though due to midterm replacements the number of female MPs dropped to 91 (45.5%). 8% of the population is born abroad, however there are only 4 current foreign-born MPs (2%),Bella Forsgrén(born in Ethiopia),Hussein al-Taee(born in Iraq),Suldaan Said Ahmed(born in Somalia) andAki Lindén(born in Denmark). 7% of MPs are Swedish-speakers, slightly higher than their proportion of the population (5.2%). Parliament House Before the construction of the Parliament House, the Parliament met in various different locations. TheDiet of Finland, the predecessor of the Parliament, wastetracameraland did not regularly meet together. TheDiet of Porvoo(1809) met in various buildings in Porvoo, with Borgå gymnasium as the main hall, the noble and burgher estates meeting in the town hall and the peasants' estate in chief judge Orraeus' house. However, the Diet assembled only once and did not reconvene until 1863. In 1863, the Diet began regular meetings again, reconvening in theHouse of Nobility(Ritarikatu 1). This building still stands, but is no longer in governmental use. Whereas nobility continued to meet there, in 1891 a newHouse of the Estateswas inaugurated for the other estates (clergy, burghers and peasants). This building is today owned by the state and occasionally used by theGovernment of Finland. When the modern 200-member Parliament was founded in 1906, they first met in the local voluntary fire brigade house (Keskuskatu 7), because there was not enough space for them in the House of Estates. The fire brigade house was demolished in 1967 and replaced by the Helsinki World Trade Center building. In 1911, the Heimola House, a building designed by Onni Tarjanne, was inaugurated at Yliopistonkatu 5. This building was demolished in 1969 and replaced by a 9-story office building. In 1923 a competition was held to choose a site for a new Parliament House. Arkadianmäki, a hill beside what is nowMannerheimintie, was chosen as the best site. An architectural competition was held in 1924, and it was won by the firm Borg–Sirén–Åberg with their proposal,Oratoribus.Johan Sigfrid Sirén(1889–1961), who was mainly responsible for preparing the proposal, was tasked with designing the Parliament House. The building was constructed 1926–1931 and was officially inaugurated on 7 March 1931.Ever since then, and especially during theWinter WarandContinuation War, it has been the scene of many key moments in the nation's political life. Parliament House was designed in the classic style of the 1920s. The exterior is reddish Kalvola granite. The façade is lined by fourteen columns with Corinthian capitals. The first floor contains the main lobby, the Speaker's reception rooms, the newspaper room, the Information Service, the Documents Office, the messenger centre, the copying room, and the restaurant and separate function rooms. At both ends of the lobby are marble staircases leading up to the fifth floor. The second or main floor is centered around the Chamber. Its galleries have seats for the public, the media and diplomats. Also located on this floor are the Hall of State, the Speaker's Corridor, the Government's Corridor, the cafeteria and adjacent function rooms. The third floor includes facilities for the Information Unit and the media and provides direct access to the press gallery overlooking the Session Hall. The Minutes Office and a number of committee rooms are also located here. The fourth floor is reserved for committees. Its largest rooms are the Grand Committee Room and the Finance Committee Room. The fifth floor contains meeting rooms and offices for the parliamentary groups. Additional offices for the parliamentary groups are located on the sixth floor, along with facilities for the media. Notable later additions to the building include the library annex, completed in 1978, and a separate office block, calledPikkuparlamentti, completed in 2004. The building underwent extensive renovations in the years 2007–2017 as part of the preparation for Finland's centennial independence celebration. Election results 2023 Result of the election held on 2 April 2023: See also References Sources External links","Social Democratic Party of Finland TheSocial Democratic Party of Finland(Finnish:Suomen sosialidemokraattinen puolueFinnish pronunciation:,SDP, nicknamed:demaritin Finnish;Swedish:Finlands socialdemokratiska parti,SD) is asocial democraticpolitical party in Finland. It is the third largest party in theParliament of Finlandwith a total of 43 seats. Founded in 1899 as theWorkers' Party of Finland(Finnish:Suomen työväenpuolue; Swedish:Finlands arbetarparti), the SDP is Finland's oldest active political party and has a close relationship with theCentral Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions. It is also a member of theParty of European Socialists,Progressive AllianceandSocialist International. Following the resignation ofAntti Rinnein December 2019,Sanna Marinbecame the country's 46thprime minister. The SDP formed a newcoalition governmenton the basis of its predecessor, theRinne Cabinet, in effect continuing its cooperation with theCentre Party,Green League,Left AllianceandSwedish People's Party. Of the nineteen ministerial spots that were decided upon in conjunction, seven of them were designated to the SDP in theMarin Cabinet.In September 2023,Antti Lindtmanwas elected as leader of the party following Marin's resignation after the2023 Finnish parliamentary election. History The party was founded as the Workers' Party of Finland in 1899, with its first meeting being held from 17–20 July inTurku. At the beginning of the 1900s the party presented demands as well as solutions to thetenant farmerquestion, the managing of employment, improvement ofworkers' rights,freedom of speechand an8-hour work day.In its 1903 second party conference inForssa, the party's name was renamed to the present form: Social Democratic Party of Finland, but theGrand Duchy of Finland's thengovernor-generalNikolay Bobrikovhad outlawed the SDP from using \"social democratic\" in their name before, but this ban was not followed on by the party members when the name was changed. At the same time, the at the time radicalForssa Programmewas agreed upon, which served as the official party platform until 1952. The goals of the programme were as follows: an 8-hour workday, aminimum wage,universal compulsory educationandprohibition. TheForssa Programmeis based on theErfurt Programmeapproved by theSocial Democratic Party of Germanyin 1891 and theSocial Democratic Party of Austria's programme, respectively. Its immediate demands have been fulfilled, but the most significant and currently unfulfilled requirement is the right to vote directly on laws (direct democracy, as opposed torepresentative democracy)The demands on total separation of church and state, abolition ofreligious educationin all schools and the prohibition of alcohol have all since then been abandoned. The SDP was closely associated with theFinnish Trade Union Federation(SAJ), established in 1907, with all of its members also being members of the party.The party remained a chiefly extra-parliamentary movement untiluniversal suffragewas introduced in 1906, after which the SDP's share of the votes reached 47% in the1916 Finnish parliamentary election, when the party secured amajorityin the parliament, the only time in the history of Finland when one party has had such a majority. The party lost its majority in the1917 Finnish parliamentary electionafter theRussian Provisional Governmenthad rejected itsValtalaki 1917proposal and disbanded the Finnish government, starting a rebellion with the broader Finnish labour movement that quickly escalated into theFinnish Civil Warin 1918. SDP members declared Finland asocialist republic, but they were defeated by the forces of theWhite Guard. The war resulted in most of the party leaders being killed, imprisoned or left to seek refuge inSoviet Russia.In addition, the process leading to the civil war and the war itself had stripped the party of itspolitical legitimacyand respectability in the eyes of the right-wing majority. However, the political support for the party remained strong. In the1919 Finnish parliamentary election, the party, reorganised byVäinö Tanner, received 80 of the 200 seats of the parliament. In 1918, former exiled SDP members founded theCommunist Party of Finland(SKP) in Moscow. Although the SKP was banned in Finland until 1944, it was represented by front organisations, leading to the support of the Finnish working class being divided between the SDP and the SKP. It became the life's work ofVäinö Tannerto re-establish the SDP as a serious, governing party. The result was a much more patriotic SDP which leaned less to the left and was relatively isolated from itsNordicsister parties, namely theDanish Social Democrats, theNorwegian Labour Partyand theSwedish Social Democratic Party. PresidentPehr Evind Svinhufvud's animosity kept the SDP out of government during his presidency from 1931 to 1937. With the exception of a brief period in 1926, when Tanner formed a minority government, the SDP was excluded from cabinet participation untilKyösti Kalliowas elected President in 1937. DuringWorld War II, the party played a central role in a series of broad coalition cabinets, symbolising national unity forged in response to the threat of theSoviet Unionin theWinter Warof 1939–1940. The SDP was a member of theLabour and Socialist Internationalfrom 1923 to 1940. During the first few months of theContinuation War(1941–1944), the country, the parliament and the cabinet were divided on the question of whether Finland's army should stop at the old border and thereby demonstratively refrain from any attempt of conquests. However, the country's dangerous position called for national unity and the SDP's leadership chose to refrain from any visible protests. This decision is sometimes indicated as one of the main reasons behind the post-war division between the main left-wing parties (the SKP and the SDP) and the high percentage of SKP voters in the first elections after the Continuation War. After the war, the SKP was allowed to continue working and the main feature of Finnish political life during the 1944–1949 period was the competition between the SDP and the SKP, both for voters and for the control of the labour unions. During this time, the political field was divided roughly equally between the SDP, the SKP and theAgrarian League, each party commanding some 25% of the vote. In the post-war era, the SDP adopted a line of defending Finnish sovereignty and democracy in line with the Agrarian League and otherbourgeoispolitical parties, finally leading to the expulsion of the SKP from the cabinet in 1948. As a result, the Soviet Union remained more openly critical towards the SDP than the centre-right parties. Because of the SDP'santi-communism, the United StatesCentral Intelligence Agencysupported the party by means of funds laundered through Nordic sister parties or through organisations that bought luxury goods such as coffee abroad, then imported and sold them for a high profit as post-warrationingserved to inflate prices. In the1956 Finnish presidential election, the SDP candidateKarl-August Fagerholmlost by only one electoral vote toUrho Kekkonen. Fagerholm would act as Prime Minister in theFagerholm II Cabinet(1956–1957) and theFagerholm III Cabinet(1958–1959). The latter cabinet was forced to resign due to Soviet pressure, leading to a series of cabinets led by the Agrarian League. In 1958, due to the election ofVäinö Tanneras party chairman, a faction of the SDP resigned and formed theSocial Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders(TPSL) around the former SDP chairmanEmil Skog. The dispute was over several issues, namely whether the party should function as an interest group and whether it should co-operate with the anti-communists and right-wingers or with president Kekkonen, the Agrarian League and the SKP. During the 1960s, the TPSL dwindled, its members returning one by one to the SDP or joining the SKP, with Skog himself returning to the SDP in 1965. In the1970 Finnish parliamentary election, the TPSL failed to gain any seats in parliament. Only in 1966 was the SDP able to satisfy the Soviet Union about its friendly attitude towards it and could thus return to the cabinet. Since then, the SDP has been represented in most Finnish cabinets, often cooperating with thecentrist-agrarianCentre Party (formerly the Agrarian League), but sometimes with theliberal-conservativeNational Coalition Party. The SDP was in opposition from 1991 to 1995, when the main parties in the cabinet were the Centre Party and theNational Coalition Party(NCP). The1995 Finnish parliamentary electionsaw a landslide victory for the SDP, achieving their best results sinceWorld War II. The SDP rose to government from the opposition and leaderPaavo Lipponenheaded two consecutive cabinets from 1995 to 2003. During this time, the party adopted apro-Europeanstance and contributed actively to the Finnish membership in the European Union in 1995 in concert with the cabinet. In the2003 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP won 53 of the 200 seats, ending up a close second to the Centre Party. As a result, Lipponen became theSpeaker of Parliamentand the Centre Party leaderAnneli Jäätteenmäkibecame the newPrime Minister, leading acoalition cabinetthat included the SDP which got eight ministerial posts. After two months in office, Jäätteenmäki resigned due to a scandal relating to theIraq leakand was replaced byMatti Vanhanen, another Centre Party representative, who commanded theVanhanen I Cabinet. In the2007 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP gained the third-most votes. The chairman of the then-largest Centre Party, Matti Vanhanen, became the Prime Minister and formed acoalition cabinetconsisting of theGreen League, the NCP and theSwedish People's Party of Finland(SPP), leaving the SDP to the opposition. SDP leaderEero Heinäluomadid not immediately resign as party chairman, but he did announce his withdrawal from running for party chairman in the following party conference. He was replaced byJutta Urpilainen. The SDP suffered further losses in the2008 Finnish municipal electionsand the2009 European Parliament election. In the2011 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP lost three more seats, ending up with 19.1 percent of the vote which corresponded to 42 seats, the party's worst-ever result. However, as the Centre Party lost even more voters, the SDP became the second-largest party in the country after the NCP, receiving only some 1,500 votes more than theFinns Partywhich came in third. After lengthy negotiations, a six-party coalition government, theKatainen Cabinet, was formed with the NCP and the SDP as the two main parties. SDP leader Jutta Urpilainen became the cabinet'sMinister of Finance, with NCP chairmanJyrki Katainenserving as Prime Minister. In the 2014 party conference, Urpilainen was narrowly defeated by her challengerAntti Rinnein a 257 to 243 vote.Urpilainen subsequently stepped down as the Minister of Finance, passing the seat on to Rinne.In the2015 Finnish parliamentary election, the drop of support continued for the SDP. The party lost eight more seats compared to the 2011 parliamentary election, ending up with 34 seats and 16.5 percent of the vote. With the repeat of the worst-ever result, the SDP dropped to being the fourth largest political party in Finland, receiving 50,110 fewer votes than the NCP, yet 237,000 more votes than the Green League. The SDP was left in the opposition and provided extensive criticism on the actions of theSipilä Cabineton matters such as alcohol policy, cuts to education spending and the so-called active model.On 22 June 2016,Maria Tolppanen, a Finns Party representative, joined the SDP. This increased the SDP's parliamentary seat number to 35. In the2019 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP gained 6 seats in comparison to the 2015 parliamentary election and became the largest party in the parliament.Based on the answers and initial talks with all parties,Rinneannounced that he would negotiate forming a government with theCentre Party, theGreen League, theLeft Allianceand theSwedish People's Party.The negotiations were ultimately successful and theRinne Cabinetwas formally inaugurated on 6 June 2019.On 3 December 2019, Rinne resigned as Prime Minister after the Centre Party had expressed a lack of confidence in Rinne for his handling of the events surrounding a postal strike in Finland.He was followed in the position bySanna Marin, who was appointed as Prime Minister on 10 December 2019. Ideology The SDP is a centre-leftsocial-democraticparty. In its 2020 declaration of principles the party's ideals and priorities are:sustainable development,all-encompassing equality,peace,solidarity,freedom,co-operation,a clean and pristine environmenttogether withdemocratic socialism. The SDP also embraceshumanism's values as well as theNordic model's accomplishments. In the 1900s, the party known as theFinnish Workers' Partywas founded on the basis ofsocial issues, class andsocialism. SDP was the only political party in Finland for a long time. In 1907, the SDP was the strongest socialist party in Europe, as evidenced by the qualified majority in theSenate of Finlandin 1917. At the beginning of the 20th century, the party received its main support from groups of thelandless populationand therural population. In 1919, at the SDP's meeting, a split was made with the radical communists, as a result of which they broke away and founded theSSTP. As a result of thecivil warand theOctober Revolution, the workers' movement became even more divided. Up untilRussia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine,the party opposed on joiningNATOand instead preferred to remain in thePartnership for Peace. The SDP is in favour ofqueer rights, the construction ofnuclear power plants, the conservation ofSwedishas one of Finland's twoofficial languagesand the increasing of funding given by the state topublic schoolsand universities.The party is advocating for Finland to become coal-free by 2030.The SDP had advocated for policies preventing foreigners from outside the EU from working in Finland,but has since then softened its positions on immigration and has come to support certain immigration reforms. In its 2023 parliamentaryelection programmeits self-declared goal was the increasing of work-based immigration coming to Finland as a way of responding to the country's labour shortage and lowbirth rate.In 2023, the SDP, along with theNCP, both criticised theFinns Partyfor their lack of willingness to the easing ofwork permitrequirements to foreigners coming from outside the European Union. The party opposed certain economic reforms both in the2011 Finnish parliamentary electionand in the subsequent negotiations about the government programme.The SDP maintains a close relationship with trade unions. The party has opposed social reforms that would reduce the role of earnings-related unemployment benefits. The government pays the benefits to recipients through financial middlemen that are almost exclusively trade unions.The SDP also supports theseparation of church and state. Controversies The SDP's politicians, among several other finnish political parties' members, have received criticism about their connections with the Russians for years by some of the media and academics, for example, SDP politiciansEero Heinäluoma,Paavo Lipponen,Erkki Tuomioja, Antton Rönnholm andTarja Halonenhave all had past connections to Russia. In 2005, according to Halonen, Russia's goals were: \"...democracy, human rights and good governance.\"9 years later, in 2014 afterRussia annexed Crimea, Halonen thought that Russia should not have been punished by sanctions or isolation. SDP's former party secretary Antton Rönnholm has also taken his part. Through hisconsulting firm's servicesoffered toGazprom, he sent an invoice for almost 200,000 euros to them for assisting in theSouth Stream gas pipeline project. More than half of Gazprom is owned by the Russian state, and it is partly used as a geopolitical tool in Europe and the rest of the world. In February 2022, politicianErkki Tuomiojapublished a work with the title \"Finland and NATO – Why Finland should have the opportunity to apply for NATO membership and why that opportunity should not be used now\". In his work Tuomioja estimated that Russia was viewed rather unanalytically. Also in February 2022, when Russia had already been pressuring Ukraine for a long time, the social democraticMEPEero HeinäluomaandMauri Pekkarinenfrom theCentre Partyboth said in a Finnish current affairs television programme that preparing for the Russian threat was part of the problem. According to Heinäluoma, placing defensive armaments in Russia's neighbouring countries was instead a threat to Russia. Paavo Lipponenhas lobbied for and been a consultant for Russia'sNord Streamproject since 2008.That year,Russia went to war against Georgia, which marked the start of Putin's foreign policy's aggresiveness.In a report of theEuropean Parliament'sspecial committeein 2022, former Social Democratic Party and Centre Party prime ministers Lipponen andEsko Ahowere said to be among the European politicians that Russia and China had hijacked to promote their interests.Some current SDP politicians have therefore built their careers by appeasing Russia. However, in 2023, during the premiership of former Social Democratic PartychairSanna Marin, Finland officially joinedNATO. In September 2023, whenAntti Lindtmangot electedchairof the SDP, a scandal broke out due to him in hisadolescent years, posing near four other naked young adults, nude, wearing apointed hatin the style of achristmas elf, covered by abalaclavaand with anairsoft gunin hand. While two others were doing anazi salutein the same picture. Because of this, Lindtman was accused of being a nazi. He responded by stating that the image had been taken during his time in a high school film group by the name of \"Team Paha, English: Team Bad\" in aPikkujouluparty while they were messing around and firmly denied the allegation of being anational socialist. Theparty secretary,Mikkel Näkkäläjärvi's, nomination and subsequent appointment to his role during the SDP's 2023conferenceinJyväskyläwas criticised because of his criminal background. In 2011 he haddriven a car while under the presence of alcohol, and was charged with a 30-daysuspended sentenceand an accompanying fine. Näkkäläjärvi had also broken into a retired old lady'ssummer cottageas a 15-year-old teenager with three others around the same age as him and participated in the killing and burning of a grown-up cat in abonfire. Following this, he was charged with burglary, vandalism andanimal crueltyas a young person. Näkkäläjärvi has apologised for all of his past misdeeds. Voter base The average age of an SDP member is 61.5 years.Over one half of all SDP voters are active members of the workforce. Organization Symbols, logos and posters Party Leaders Prominent members Election results Parliament of Finland Municipal European Parliament Presidential elections Indirect Direct See also Notes References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Rakel Hiltunen Lea Rakel Hiltunen(néeLyytikäinen; born 2 July 1940 inKeitele) is aFinnishsocial worker and politician. She was a member of theParliament of Finlandfrom 1999 to 2015, representing theSocial Democratic Party of Finland(SDP). References This article about aSocial Democratic Party of Finlandpolitician is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.\",\n \"Parliament of Finland Opposition(91) TheParliament of Finland(Finnish:Suomen eduskunta;Swedish:Finlands riksdag) is theunicameralandsupremelegislature ofFinland, founded on 9 May 1906.In accordance with theConstitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament.The Parliament consists of 200 members, 199 of whom are elected every four years from 13 multi-member districts electing 6 to 37 members using the proportionalD'Hondt method. In addition, there is one member fromÅland. Legislation may be initiated by either theGovernmentor one of the members of Parliament. The Parliament passes legislation, decides on the state budget, approves international treaties, and supervises the activities of the government. It may bring about the resignation of the Finnish Government, override presidential vetoes, and alter the constitution. To make changes to the constitution, amendments must be approved by two successive parliaments, with an election cycle in between, or passed as an emergency law with a 167/200 majority. Most MPs work in parliamentary groups which correspond withthe political parties. The Parliament currently comprises nine parliamentary groups. Since the establishment of the Parliament in 1905, the parliamentary majority has been held once by a single party: the Social Democrats in the 1916 election. Thus, for the Government to gain a majority in the Parliament,coalition governmentsare favored. These are generally formed by at least two of the three historically major parties: the Social Democrats, Centre, and National Coalition. Ministers are often but not necessarily MPs. The Parliament meets in theParliament House(Finnish:Eduskuntatalo, Swedish:Riksdagshuset), which is located in centralHelsinki. Themost recent parliamentary electiontook place on 2 April 2023. After the 2023 election theOrpo Cabinetwas formed by theNational Coalition,FinnsandSwedish People'sparties as well as theChristian Democrats. Name Finnish The Parliament'sFinnishname iseduskunta, uncapitalized. The word was created in 1906 when the unicameral Parliament was established, with the approximate meaning of an 'Assembly of Representatives'.This word is used mostly to refer to Finland's legislature but can also be used as a general term for legislatures in any country. Swedish InSwedish, the Parliament's name isriksdag, uncapitalized. This is also the general term for theSwedish legislature.Riksdagderives from thegenitiveofrike('realm') referring to theindependent state of Finland, anddag, meaningdietor conference. Before independence, until theConstitution Act of 1919, the Parliament was known, in Swedish, aslantdagen(cognate oflandtag, having the sense of \\\"subnational assembly\\\") which was the old term for theDiet of Finland. History The Parliament of Finland was preceded by theDiet of Finland(Swedish:lantdagen; Finnish:maapäivät, modern Finnish:valtiopäivät), which had succeeded theRiksdag of the Estatesin 1809. When the unicameral Parliament of Finland was established by the Parliament Act in 1906, Finland was an autonomousgrand duchy and principalityunder theImperial RussianTsar, who ruled as theGrand Duke, rather than as an absolutemonarch. Universal suffrage and eligibility was implemented, making Finland the second country in the world to adopt universal suffrage.Women could both vote and run for office as equals, and this applied also to landless people, with no excluded minorities. The firstelectionto the Parliament was arranged in 1907. The first Parliament had 19 female representatives, an unprecedented number at the time, which grew to 21 by 1913. The first years of the new Parliament were difficult. Between 1908 and 1916 the power of the Finnish Parliament was almost completely neutralized by the Russian TsarNicholas IIand the so-called \\\"sabre senate\\\" of Finland, a bureaucratic government formed byImperial Russian Armyofficers during the second period of \\\"Russification\\\". The Parliament was dissolved and new elections were held almost every year. The Finnish Parliament received the true political power for the first time after theFebruary Revolution (First Revolution)of 1917 inRussia.Finland declaredits full independenceon 6 December 1917, and in the winter and spring of 1918 endured acivil warin which the forces of the Senate, known as theWhite Guard, defeated the socialistRed Guard. After the war, monarchists and republicans struggled over the country's form of government. The monarchists seemed to gain a victory when the Parliament elected a German prince asKing of Finlandin the fall of 1918. This decision was made on the basis of the otherNordic countriesalso having monarchs. However, the king-elect abdicated the throne afterImperial Germanywas defeated in World War I, on 11 November 1918. In theparliamentary election of 1919, the republican parties won three-quarters of the seats, extinguishing the monarchists' ambitions. Finland became a republic with a parliamentary system, but in order to appease the monarchist parties, which favoured a strong head of state, extensive powers were granted to thePresident of Finland. When the Soviet Union attacked Finland in theWinter War, in early December 1939 Parliament was evacuated and the legislature temporarily relocated toKauhajoki, a town in western Finland far away from the frontline. The parliament held 34 plenary sessions in Kauhajoki, with the last on 12 February 1940.Another temporary relocation was seen during the renovation of the Parliament House in 2015–2017 when the Parliament convened in the neighbouringSibelius Academy. The Constitution of 1919, which instituted a parliamentary system, did not undergo any major changes for 70 years. Although the government was responsible to the Parliament, the President wielded considerable authority, which was used to its full extent by long-standing PresidentUrho Kekkonen. As the Constitution implemented very strong protections for political minorities, most changes in legislation and state finances could be blocked by a qualified minority of one third. This, in conjunction with the inability of some of the parties to enter into coalition governments, led to weak, short-lived cabinets. During PresidentMauno Koivisto's tenure in the 1980s, cabinets sitting for the whole parliamentary term became the norm. At the same time, the ability of qualified minorities to block legislation was gradually removed and the powers of the Parliament were greatly increased in the constitutional reform of 1991. The revised 2000 draft of theFinnish constitutionremoved almost all domestic powers of the President, strengthening the position of the cabinet and the Parliament. It also included the methods for the discussion of EU legislation under preparation in the Parliament. Dissolutions of Parliament The Parliament of Finland has been dissolved before the end of its term fourteen times during its existence. The most recent instance was on 4 June 1975. Elections The Parliament's 200 representatives are elected directly by ballot on the basis of proportional representation. A standard electoral period is four years. Elections have previously taken two days, but asearly votinghas become more popular, they are now conducted during one day; the third Sunday of April of an election year. Every Finnish citizen who is at least 18 years of age on the election date is entitled to vote in general elections. There is normally no need to register as a voter, and citizens receive an invitation by mail. With certain exceptions, such as military personnel on active duty, high judicial officials, the President of the Republic, and persons under guardianship, any voter may also stand as a candidate for the Parliament. All registered parties are entitled to nominate candidates; individual citizens and independent electoral organizations must be endorsed by a sufficient number of voters through the form ofsupporter cardsto apply. In parliamentary elections, Finland is divided into13 electoral districts. The number of representatives granted to each district is proportional to its population, except forÅland, which always elects one representative. The provincial state offices appoint an election board in each electoral district to prepare lists of candidates and to approve the election results. TheMinistry of Justicehas the ultimate responsibility for holding elections. ThePresident of Finlandcan call for an early election. As per the version ofthe constitutioncurrently in use, the president can do this only upon proposal by the Prime Minister and after consultations with the parliamentary groups while the Parliament is in session. In prior versions of the constitution, the President had the power to do this unilaterally. There is no hard and fast election threshold to get a seat in Parliament. This results in a large number of parties being represented. In 2019, for instance, nine parties won seats, with six winning at least 15 seats. With so many parties and the lack of a threshold, it is nearly impossible for one party to win an outright majority. During the history of the Parliament, only one party has ever won an outright majority–when the Social Democrats won 103 seats in theelection of 1916. Since independence in 1917, no party has ever won the 101 seats needed for a majority. Instead, most Finnish governments have been coalitions formed by three or more parties. Many of them have beengrand coalitionsbetween parties with varying ideological backgrounds, as the socialist and non-socialist blocs usually do not win enough seats between them to govern on their own. The seats for each electoral district are assigned according to theD'Hondt method. Electoral districts were originally based on the historicalläänidivision of 1634, but there have been several subsequent changes. Although there is no set election threshold, many electoral districts have become smaller in terms of population in recent decades, and some now elect as few as six representatives. This makes it harder for small parties to win MPs in these districts. Parliamentary groups MPs work in parliamentary groups (eduskuntaryhmä). The parliamentary groups generally correspond to political parties, although occasionally dissidents can be removed from the party group and form their own. As of September 2019there are nine groups, one of which is a one-man group.A group generally tries to reach a unanimous decision on a common position, but failing to do so may take a vote. This position then defines voting in the parliamentary session proper according toparty discipline.Exceptions to this principle are made on matters on which no party line or government policy exists. Parliamentary groups make their decisions independently of their party leadership, and group leaders of major parties accordingly rank alongside government ministers and party leaders as influential political leaders. Each parliamentary group receives funding for its operations and may have staff of its own. Formation of government ThePresident of Finlandconsults theSpeaker of Parliamentand representatives of parliamentary groups about the formation of a newFinnish Government. According to theConstitution of Finland, the Parliament elects thePrime Minister, who is appointed to office by the President. The Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful politician in the country. Other ministers are appointed by the President on the Prime Minister's proposal. While individual ministers are not appointed by the Parliament, they may be individually removed by amotion of no confidence. The government, as a whole, must also have the confidence of the Parliament and must resign on a motion of no confidence. The government hascollective ministerial responsibility. Before the Prime Minister is elected, the parliamentary groups (which correspond to their respectivepolitical parties) negotiate on the government platform and on the composition of the government. On the basis of the outcome of these negotiations, and after having consulted the Speaker of the house and the parliamentary groups, the President informs the Parliament of the nominee for Prime Minister. The parliament votes on the proposal, and if successful, the nominee is elected Prime Minister. Although Finland essentially always has multi-party coalition governments, the process is made smoother byparty discipline: coalition MPs vote together to ensure a majority. Sessions The annual session of parliament generally begins in February and consists of two terms, the first from January to June, the second from September to December. At the start of an annual session, the nation's political leaders and their guests attend a special worship service atHelsinki Cathedralbefore the ceremonies continue at the Parliament House, where the President formally opens the session. On the first day of each annual session, the Parliament selects a speaker and two deputy speakers from its members. This election is chaired by the oldest MP in office. The three members who are elected to serve as speaker and first deputy speaker and second deputy speaker respectively take the following solemn oath before the Parliament; \\\"I, , affirm that in my office as Speaker I will to the best of my ability defend the rights of the people, Parliament and the government of Finland according to the Constitution.\\\" During each annual session of Parliament, Finland's delegations to theNordic Counciland theCouncil of Europeare assigned. The Parliament also elects five of its members to the bench of the High Court of Impeachment for the duration of the parliamentary term. Committees The Parliament has 17 committees. Most committees have 17 permanent members, except for the Grand Committee, which has 25; the Finance Committee, which has 21; and the Audit and Intelligence Oversight Committees, which have 11 each. In addition to these permanent members, each of the committees has a number of substitute members. On average, each member of the Parliament is also a member of two committees. Most of the committees are special committees, while the Grand Committee deals with EU affairs, but also has a wider range of tasks. As Finland does not have a constitutional court, the role of the Constitutional Law Committee is to oversee constitutional affairs. The Committee for the Future is also noteworthy, as it does not usually deal with bills, but instead assesses factors relating to future developments and gives statements to other committees on issues relating to the future outlooks of their respective fields of speciality.The newest committee is the Intelligence Oversight Committee which was created in 2019. Proceedings Domestic legislation Most of the bills discussed in the parliament originate within the Council of State. However, any member or group of members may introduce a bill, but usually these will not pass the committee phase. A third way to propose legislation was introduced in 2012: citizens may deliver an initiative for the parliament's consideration, if the initiative gains 50,000 endorsements from eligible voters within a period of six months. When delivered to the parliament, the initiative is dealt with in the same way as any other bill.Any bill introduced will initially be discussed by the members of the Parliament, prior to being sent to the committee to which it belongs. If the bill concerns several areas of legislation, the Grand Committee will first ask the other committees for opinions. If there is any concern about the constitutionality of the bill, the opinion of the Constitutional Committee is demanded. The Constitutional Committee works in non-partisan manner and uses the most distinguished legal scholars as experts. If the committee considers the bill to have unconstitutional elements, the bill must either be passed as a constitutional change or changed to be in concordance with the constitution. In most cases, the latter route is chosen. The bills receive their final form in the parliamentary committees. The committees work behind closed doors but their proceedings are publicized afterwards. Usually the committees hear experts from special interest groups and various authorities after which they formulate the necessary changes to the bill in question. If the committee does not agree, the members in minority may submit their own version of the bill. The committee statement is discussed by the parliament in two consecutive sessions. In the first session, the parliament discusses the bill and prepares its final form. In the first part of handling, a general discussion of the bill is undertaken. After this, the parliament discusses individual points of the bill and chooses between the bill proposed by the committee, minority opinions and the eventual other forms the members submit during the discussion. If the parliament wishes to do so, it may during the general discussion of the first handling submit the bill to the Grand Committee for further formulation. The bill is also always treated by the Grand Committee if the parliament decides to adopt any other form than the final opinion of the committee. The committee then formulates its own version of the bill and submits this to the parliament which then adopts either its former version or the version of the Grand Committee. The committee statements are influential documents in that they often used by the courts as indicative of the legislator's intent. In the second session, the final formulation of the bill is either passed or dismissed. If the bill entails a change in constitution, the second session takes place only after the next election unless the parliament decides to declare the matter to be urgent by a majority of five-sixths. In constitutional matters, the bills are passed by a majority of two-thirds. In other cases, the simple majority of votes given is enough. International treaties requiring changes to legislation are accepted by a simple majority in a single session. Treaties requiring changes to the constitution or changing the borders of Finland require a qualified majority of two-thirds. EU legislation The matters relating to the jurisdiction of the European Union are decided by theCouncil of the European Unionand theEuropean Parliament. However, as changes to European legislation are being prepared, the Parliament participates actively in formulating the government's position on these changes. As the proceedings of the committees are public, European Union matters handled by the Parliament tend to become public after committee meetings. However, the government may ask the Parliament for a secret handling of an EU matter. This can be the case if the government does not want to reveal its position to foreign nations before the beginning of negotiations. European Union legislation under preparation is brought to the Grand Committee by the Finnish government when they have received notice of the proposal from theEuropean Commission. The Grand Committee discusses the matter behind closed doors, and if appropriate, requests opinions from the committees of the Parliament. Both the Grand Committee and the specialized committees hear expert opinions while preparing their opinions. Finally, the Grand Committee formulates its opinion of the proposal. However, in matters concerning theexternal relations of the European Union, the Finnish stance is formulated by the Committee for Foreign and Security Policy, rather than the Grand Committee. The Finnish government is obligated by law to follow the parliamentary opinion when discussing the matter with the European Commission and other member states. The government may change the Finnish stance, but it is required to report such changes to the Parliament immediately. After the European Union has made a legislative decision that is to be implemented by the Parliament, the matter is brought back to the parliament as with usual legislation. At this stage, the Finnish state is committed to passing a bill fulfilling the requirements demanded by the EU, and the Parliament must vote accordingly. Other matters Every member of parliament has the right to ask the government written questions. The questions are answered in writing within 21 days by a minister responsible for the matter and do not cause any further discussion. Furthermore, the parliament has a questioning session from time to time. In these, the members are allowed to ask short verbal questions, which are answered by the responsible ministers and then discussed by the parliament. Any group of twenty members mayinterpellate. The motion ofcensuremay be for the whole government or any particular minister. The motion takes the form of a question that is replied to by the responsible minister. If the parliament decides to approve the motion of censure, the committee responsible for the matter in question formulates the motion, which is then passed by the parliament. The government may decide to make a report to the parliament in any matter. After discussion the parliament may either accept the report or pass a motion of censure. A passed motion of censure will cause the government to fall. Any group of 10 members may raise the question of the legality of the minister's official acts. If such question is raised, the Constitutional Committee will investigate the matter, using all the powers of police. After the final report of the committee, the parliament decides whether to charge the minister in theHigh Court of Impeachment. The criminal investigation of the Constitutional Committee may also be initiated by the Chancellor of Justice, ParliamentaryOmbudsmanor by any parliamentary committee. Similar proceedings may also be initiated against the Chancellor of Justice, Parliamentary Ombudsman or the judges of the supreme courts. The President of Finland may be also the target of a criminal investigation of the Constitutional Committee, but the parliament must accept the indictment by a majority of three-fourths and the charge must betreason,high treasonor acrime against humanity. Members of the Parliament Members of the Parliament are notemployeesand cannot voluntarily resign or belaid off. They can be granted leave or dismissal only with the consent of the Parliament. Members of the Parliament enjoyparliamentary immunity. Without the parliament's approval, members may not be prosecuted for anything they say in session or otherwise do in the course of parliamentary proceedings. MPs may not be prevented from carrying out their work as members of parliament. They may be charged with crimes they have committed in office only if the parliament gives a permission to that end with a majority of five-sixths of given votes. For other crimes, they may be arrested or imprisoned only for crimes which carry a minimum punishment of six months in prison, unless the parliament gives permission to arrest the member. The members receive a monthly taxableremuneration(palkkio) of 7,137 €, which is raised to 7,494 € after four years of service and to 7,993 € after twelve years. It is not legally asalary. In addition, all MPs automatically receive a tax-free compensation of expenses between 987 € and 1,809 € depending on the location of ones home. MPs from districts far from Helsinki can thus receive compensation for a second apartment in Helsinki.MPs may travel for free within the country by train, bus, or plane for purposes related to legislative work. Within theHelsinki metropolitan area, they may freely use taxis.Eduskunta is responsible for its own finances and the Minister of Finance is obliged to include their proposal to the state budget as is regardless of their own opinion. MPs are aided in their work by personal assistants, although there are fewer assistants than MPs and not every MP has one. Assistants are formally employed by the Parliamentary Office, but can be selected and directed by the MP. A member who is elected to theEuropean Parliamentmust choose between the two parliaments because a double mandate is not permissible. On the other hand, the members may have any municipal positions of trust, and it is common for them to have a position in a municipal council. If MPs leave the parliament or die in office, they are replaced by candidates from the same list they were elected from in the previous election, in order of their electoral score (theD'Hondt quotient). Those so selected are from asubstitutelist, the substitutes being named at the same time as the electoral results are announced. Finland does not have aby-electionsystem. The members have an unlimited right to discuss the matters at hand. However, they must behave in a \\\"solemn and dignified manner\\\" and refrain from personal insults. If the member breaks against this rule in the session of parliament, they may be interrupted by the speaker. Grave breaches of order may be punished by two weeks' suspension from office by the decision of the Parliament. If a member is convicted of an intentional crime for a term in prison or of an electoral crime to any punishment, the parliament may decide to dismiss the member if two-thirds of the votes given are for dismissal. The median age of MPs was 50 as of 2022, the oldest MP being 76 years (Erkki Tuomioja) and youngest 28 years (Iiris Suomela). 94 women were elected as MPs in the 2019 election (47%), though due to midterm replacements the number of female MPs dropped to 91 (45.5%). 8% of the population is born abroad, however there are only 4 current foreign-born MPs (2%),Bella Forsgrén(born in Ethiopia),Hussein al-Taee(born in Iraq),Suldaan Said Ahmed(born in Somalia) andAki Lindén(born in Denmark). 7% of MPs are Swedish-speakers, slightly higher than their proportion of the population (5.2%). Parliament House Before the construction of the Parliament House, the Parliament met in various different locations. TheDiet of Finland, the predecessor of the Parliament, wastetracameraland did not regularly meet together. TheDiet of Porvoo(1809) met in various buildings in Porvoo, with Borgå gymnasium as the main hall, the noble and burgher estates meeting in the town hall and the peasants' estate in chief judge Orraeus' house. However, the Diet assembled only once and did not reconvene until 1863. In 1863, the Diet began regular meetings again, reconvening in theHouse of Nobility(Ritarikatu 1). This building still stands, but is no longer in governmental use. Whereas nobility continued to meet there, in 1891 a newHouse of the Estateswas inaugurated for the other estates (clergy, burghers and peasants). This building is today owned by the state and occasionally used by theGovernment of Finland. When the modern 200-member Parliament was founded in 1906, they first met in the local voluntary fire brigade house (Keskuskatu 7), because there was not enough space for them in the House of Estates. The fire brigade house was demolished in 1967 and replaced by the Helsinki World Trade Center building. In 1911, the Heimola House, a building designed by Onni Tarjanne, was inaugurated at Yliopistonkatu 5. This building was demolished in 1969 and replaced by a 9-story office building. In 1923 a competition was held to choose a site for a new Parliament House. Arkadianmäki, a hill beside what is nowMannerheimintie, was chosen as the best site. An architectural competition was held in 1924, and it was won by the firm Borg–Sirén–Åberg with their proposal,Oratoribus.Johan Sigfrid Sirén(1889–1961), who was mainly responsible for preparing the proposal, was tasked with designing the Parliament House. The building was constructed 1926–1931 and was officially inaugurated on 7 March 1931.Ever since then, and especially during theWinter WarandContinuation War, it has been the scene of many key moments in the nation's political life. Parliament House was designed in the classic style of the 1920s. The exterior is reddish Kalvola granite. The façade is lined by fourteen columns with Corinthian capitals. The first floor contains the main lobby, the Speaker's reception rooms, the newspaper room, the Information Service, the Documents Office, the messenger centre, the copying room, and the restaurant and separate function rooms. At both ends of the lobby are marble staircases leading up to the fifth floor. The second or main floor is centered around the Chamber. Its galleries have seats for the public, the media and diplomats. Also located on this floor are the Hall of State, the Speaker's Corridor, the Government's Corridor, the cafeteria and adjacent function rooms. The third floor includes facilities for the Information Unit and the media and provides direct access to the press gallery overlooking the Session Hall. The Minutes Office and a number of committee rooms are also located here. The fourth floor is reserved for committees. Its largest rooms are the Grand Committee Room and the Finance Committee Room. The fifth floor contains meeting rooms and offices for the parliamentary groups. Additional offices for the parliamentary groups are located on the sixth floor, along with facilities for the media. Notable later additions to the building include the library annex, completed in 1978, and a separate office block, calledPikkuparlamentti, completed in 2004. The building underwent extensive renovations in the years 2007–2017 as part of the preparation for Finland's centennial independence celebration. Election results 2023 Result of the election held on 2 April 2023: See also References Sources External links\",\n \"Social Democratic Party of Finland TheSocial Democratic Party of Finland(Finnish:Suomen sosialidemokraattinen puolueFinnish pronunciation:,SDP, nicknamed:demaritin Finnish;Swedish:Finlands socialdemokratiska parti,SD) is asocial democraticpolitical party in Finland. It is the third largest party in theParliament of Finlandwith a total of 43 seats. Founded in 1899 as theWorkers' Party of Finland(Finnish:Suomen työväenpuolue; Swedish:Finlands arbetarparti), the SDP is Finland's oldest active political party and has a close relationship with theCentral Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions. It is also a member of theParty of European Socialists,Progressive AllianceandSocialist International. Following the resignation ofAntti Rinnein December 2019,Sanna Marinbecame the country's 46thprime minister. The SDP formed a newcoalition governmenton the basis of its predecessor, theRinne Cabinet, in effect continuing its cooperation with theCentre Party,Green League,Left AllianceandSwedish People's Party. Of the nineteen ministerial spots that were decided upon in conjunction, seven of them were designated to the SDP in theMarin Cabinet.In September 2023,Antti Lindtmanwas elected as leader of the party following Marin's resignation after the2023 Finnish parliamentary election. History The party was founded as the Workers' Party of Finland in 1899, with its first meeting being held from 17–20 July inTurku. At the beginning of the 1900s the party presented demands as well as solutions to thetenant farmerquestion, the managing of employment, improvement ofworkers' rights,freedom of speechand an8-hour work day.In its 1903 second party conference inForssa, the party's name was renamed to the present form: Social Democratic Party of Finland, but theGrand Duchy of Finland's thengovernor-generalNikolay Bobrikovhad outlawed the SDP from using \\\"social democratic\\\" in their name before, but this ban was not followed on by the party members when the name was changed. At the same time, the at the time radicalForssa Programmewas agreed upon, which served as the official party platform until 1952. The goals of the programme were as follows: an 8-hour workday, aminimum wage,universal compulsory educationandprohibition. TheForssa Programmeis based on theErfurt Programmeapproved by theSocial Democratic Party of Germanyin 1891 and theSocial Democratic Party of Austria's programme, respectively. Its immediate demands have been fulfilled, but the most significant and currently unfulfilled requirement is the right to vote directly on laws (direct democracy, as opposed torepresentative democracy)The demands on total separation of church and state, abolition ofreligious educationin all schools and the prohibition of alcohol have all since then been abandoned. The SDP was closely associated with theFinnish Trade Union Federation(SAJ), established in 1907, with all of its members also being members of the party.The party remained a chiefly extra-parliamentary movement untiluniversal suffragewas introduced in 1906, after which the SDP's share of the votes reached 47% in the1916 Finnish parliamentary election, when the party secured amajorityin the parliament, the only time in the history of Finland when one party has had such a majority. The party lost its majority in the1917 Finnish parliamentary electionafter theRussian Provisional Governmenthad rejected itsValtalaki 1917proposal and disbanded the Finnish government, starting a rebellion with the broader Finnish labour movement that quickly escalated into theFinnish Civil Warin 1918. SDP members declared Finland asocialist republic, but they were defeated by the forces of theWhite Guard. The war resulted in most of the party leaders being killed, imprisoned or left to seek refuge inSoviet Russia.In addition, the process leading to the civil war and the war itself had stripped the party of itspolitical legitimacyand respectability in the eyes of the right-wing majority. However, the political support for the party remained strong. In the1919 Finnish parliamentary election, the party, reorganised byVäinö Tanner, received 80 of the 200 seats of the parliament. In 1918, former exiled SDP members founded theCommunist Party of Finland(SKP) in Moscow. Although the SKP was banned in Finland until 1944, it was represented by front organisations, leading to the support of the Finnish working class being divided between the SDP and the SKP. It became the life's work ofVäinö Tannerto re-establish the SDP as a serious, governing party. The result was a much more patriotic SDP which leaned less to the left and was relatively isolated from itsNordicsister parties, namely theDanish Social Democrats, theNorwegian Labour Partyand theSwedish Social Democratic Party. PresidentPehr Evind Svinhufvud's animosity kept the SDP out of government during his presidency from 1931 to 1937. With the exception of a brief period in 1926, when Tanner formed a minority government, the SDP was excluded from cabinet participation untilKyösti Kalliowas elected President in 1937. DuringWorld War II, the party played a central role in a series of broad coalition cabinets, symbolising national unity forged in response to the threat of theSoviet Unionin theWinter Warof 1939–1940. The SDP was a member of theLabour and Socialist Internationalfrom 1923 to 1940. During the first few months of theContinuation War(1941–1944), the country, the parliament and the cabinet were divided on the question of whether Finland's army should stop at the old border and thereby demonstratively refrain from any attempt of conquests. However, the country's dangerous position called for national unity and the SDP's leadership chose to refrain from any visible protests. This decision is sometimes indicated as one of the main reasons behind the post-war division between the main left-wing parties (the SKP and the SDP) and the high percentage of SKP voters in the first elections after the Continuation War. After the war, the SKP was allowed to continue working and the main feature of Finnish political life during the 1944–1949 period was the competition between the SDP and the SKP, both for voters and for the control of the labour unions. During this time, the political field was divided roughly equally between the SDP, the SKP and theAgrarian League, each party commanding some 25% of the vote. In the post-war era, the SDP adopted a line of defending Finnish sovereignty and democracy in line with the Agrarian League and otherbourgeoispolitical parties, finally leading to the expulsion of the SKP from the cabinet in 1948. As a result, the Soviet Union remained more openly critical towards the SDP than the centre-right parties. Because of the SDP'santi-communism, the United StatesCentral Intelligence Agencysupported the party by means of funds laundered through Nordic sister parties or through organisations that bought luxury goods such as coffee abroad, then imported and sold them for a high profit as post-warrationingserved to inflate prices. In the1956 Finnish presidential election, the SDP candidateKarl-August Fagerholmlost by only one electoral vote toUrho Kekkonen. Fagerholm would act as Prime Minister in theFagerholm II Cabinet(1956–1957) and theFagerholm III Cabinet(1958–1959). The latter cabinet was forced to resign due to Soviet pressure, leading to a series of cabinets led by the Agrarian League. In 1958, due to the election ofVäinö Tanneras party chairman, a faction of the SDP resigned and formed theSocial Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders(TPSL) around the former SDP chairmanEmil Skog. The dispute was over several issues, namely whether the party should function as an interest group and whether it should co-operate with the anti-communists and right-wingers or with president Kekkonen, the Agrarian League and the SKP. During the 1960s, the TPSL dwindled, its members returning one by one to the SDP or joining the SKP, with Skog himself returning to the SDP in 1965. In the1970 Finnish parliamentary election, the TPSL failed to gain any seats in parliament. Only in 1966 was the SDP able to satisfy the Soviet Union about its friendly attitude towards it and could thus return to the cabinet. Since then, the SDP has been represented in most Finnish cabinets, often cooperating with thecentrist-agrarianCentre Party (formerly the Agrarian League), but sometimes with theliberal-conservativeNational Coalition Party. The SDP was in opposition from 1991 to 1995, when the main parties in the cabinet were the Centre Party and theNational Coalition Party(NCP). The1995 Finnish parliamentary electionsaw a landslide victory for the SDP, achieving their best results sinceWorld War II. The SDP rose to government from the opposition and leaderPaavo Lipponenheaded two consecutive cabinets from 1995 to 2003. During this time, the party adopted apro-Europeanstance and contributed actively to the Finnish membership in the European Union in 1995 in concert with the cabinet. In the2003 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP won 53 of the 200 seats, ending up a close second to the Centre Party. As a result, Lipponen became theSpeaker of Parliamentand the Centre Party leaderAnneli Jäätteenmäkibecame the newPrime Minister, leading acoalition cabinetthat included the SDP which got eight ministerial posts. After two months in office, Jäätteenmäki resigned due to a scandal relating to theIraq leakand was replaced byMatti Vanhanen, another Centre Party representative, who commanded theVanhanen I Cabinet. In the2007 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP gained the third-most votes. The chairman of the then-largest Centre Party, Matti Vanhanen, became the Prime Minister and formed acoalition cabinetconsisting of theGreen League, the NCP and theSwedish People's Party of Finland(SPP), leaving the SDP to the opposition. SDP leaderEero Heinäluomadid not immediately resign as party chairman, but he did announce his withdrawal from running for party chairman in the following party conference. He was replaced byJutta Urpilainen. The SDP suffered further losses in the2008 Finnish municipal electionsand the2009 European Parliament election. In the2011 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP lost three more seats, ending up with 19.1 percent of the vote which corresponded to 42 seats, the party's worst-ever result. However, as the Centre Party lost even more voters, the SDP became the second-largest party in the country after the NCP, receiving only some 1,500 votes more than theFinns Partywhich came in third. After lengthy negotiations, a six-party coalition government, theKatainen Cabinet, was formed with the NCP and the SDP as the two main parties. SDP leader Jutta Urpilainen became the cabinet'sMinister of Finance, with NCP chairmanJyrki Katainenserving as Prime Minister. In the 2014 party conference, Urpilainen was narrowly defeated by her challengerAntti Rinnein a 257 to 243 vote.Urpilainen subsequently stepped down as the Minister of Finance, passing the seat on to Rinne.In the2015 Finnish parliamentary election, the drop of support continued for the SDP. The party lost eight more seats compared to the 2011 parliamentary election, ending up with 34 seats and 16.5 percent of the vote. With the repeat of the worst-ever result, the SDP dropped to being the fourth largest political party in Finland, receiving 50,110 fewer votes than the NCP, yet 237,000 more votes than the Green League. The SDP was left in the opposition and provided extensive criticism on the actions of theSipilä Cabineton matters such as alcohol policy, cuts to education spending and the so-called active model.On 22 June 2016,Maria Tolppanen, a Finns Party representative, joined the SDP. This increased the SDP's parliamentary seat number to 35. In the2019 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP gained 6 seats in comparison to the 2015 parliamentary election and became the largest party in the parliament.Based on the answers and initial talks with all parties,Rinneannounced that he would negotiate forming a government with theCentre Party, theGreen League, theLeft Allianceand theSwedish People's Party.The negotiations were ultimately successful and theRinne Cabinetwas formally inaugurated on 6 June 2019.On 3 December 2019, Rinne resigned as Prime Minister after the Centre Party had expressed a lack of confidence in Rinne for his handling of the events surrounding a postal strike in Finland.He was followed in the position bySanna Marin, who was appointed as Prime Minister on 10 December 2019. Ideology The SDP is a centre-leftsocial-democraticparty. In its 2020 declaration of principles the party's ideals and priorities are:sustainable development,all-encompassing equality,peace,solidarity,freedom,co-operation,a clean and pristine environmenttogether withdemocratic socialism. The SDP also embraceshumanism's values as well as theNordic model's accomplishments. In the 1900s, the party known as theFinnish Workers' Partywas founded on the basis ofsocial issues, class andsocialism. SDP was the only political party in Finland for a long time. In 1907, the SDP was the strongest socialist party in Europe, as evidenced by the qualified majority in theSenate of Finlandin 1917. At the beginning of the 20th century, the party received its main support from groups of thelandless populationand therural population. In 1919, at the SDP's meeting, a split was made with the radical communists, as a result of which they broke away and founded theSSTP. As a result of thecivil warand theOctober Revolution, the workers' movement became even more divided. Up untilRussia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine,the party opposed on joiningNATOand instead preferred to remain in thePartnership for Peace. The SDP is in favour ofqueer rights, the construction ofnuclear power plants, the conservation ofSwedishas one of Finland's twoofficial languagesand the increasing of funding given by the state topublic schoolsand universities.The party is advocating for Finland to become coal-free by 2030.The SDP had advocated for policies preventing foreigners from outside the EU from working in Finland,but has since then softened its positions on immigration and has come to support certain immigration reforms. In its 2023 parliamentaryelection programmeits self-declared goal was the increasing of work-based immigration coming to Finland as a way of responding to the country's labour shortage and lowbirth rate.In 2023, the SDP, along with theNCP, both criticised theFinns Partyfor their lack of willingness to the easing ofwork permitrequirements to foreigners coming from outside the European Union. The party opposed certain economic reforms both in the2011 Finnish parliamentary electionand in the subsequent negotiations about the government programme.The SDP maintains a close relationship with trade unions. The party has opposed social reforms that would reduce the role of earnings-related unemployment benefits. The government pays the benefits to recipients through financial middlemen that are almost exclusively trade unions.The SDP also supports theseparation of church and state. Controversies The SDP's politicians, among several other finnish political parties' members, have received criticism about their connections with the Russians for years by some of the media and academics, for example, SDP politiciansEero Heinäluoma,Paavo Lipponen,Erkki Tuomioja, Antton Rönnholm andTarja Halonenhave all had past connections to Russia. In 2005, according to Halonen, Russia's goals were: \\\"...democracy, human rights and good governance.\\\"9 years later, in 2014 afterRussia annexed Crimea, Halonen thought that Russia should not have been punished by sanctions or isolation. SDP's former party secretary Antton Rönnholm has also taken his part. Through hisconsulting firm's servicesoffered toGazprom, he sent an invoice for almost 200,000 euros to them for assisting in theSouth Stream gas pipeline project. More than half of Gazprom is owned by the Russian state, and it is partly used as a geopolitical tool in Europe and the rest of the world. In February 2022, politicianErkki Tuomiojapublished a work with the title \\\"Finland and NATO – Why Finland should have the opportunity to apply for NATO membership and why that opportunity should not be used now\\\". In his work Tuomioja estimated that Russia was viewed rather unanalytically. Also in February 2022, when Russia had already been pressuring Ukraine for a long time, the social democraticMEPEero HeinäluomaandMauri Pekkarinenfrom theCentre Partyboth said in a Finnish current affairs television programme that preparing for the Russian threat was part of the problem. According to Heinäluoma, placing defensive armaments in Russia's neighbouring countries was instead a threat to Russia. Paavo Lipponenhas lobbied for and been a consultant for Russia'sNord Streamproject since 2008.That year,Russia went to war against Georgia, which marked the start of Putin's foreign policy's aggresiveness.In a report of theEuropean Parliament'sspecial committeein 2022, former Social Democratic Party and Centre Party prime ministers Lipponen andEsko Ahowere said to be among the European politicians that Russia and China had hijacked to promote their interests.Some current SDP politicians have therefore built their careers by appeasing Russia. However, in 2023, during the premiership of former Social Democratic PartychairSanna Marin, Finland officially joinedNATO. In September 2023, whenAntti Lindtmangot electedchairof the SDP, a scandal broke out due to him in hisadolescent years, posing near four other naked young adults, nude, wearing apointed hatin the style of achristmas elf, covered by abalaclavaand with anairsoft gunin hand. While two others were doing anazi salutein the same picture. Because of this, Lindtman was accused of being a nazi. He responded by stating that the image had been taken during his time in a high school film group by the name of \\\"Team Paha, English: Team Bad\\\" in aPikkujouluparty while they were messing around and firmly denied the allegation of being anational socialist. Theparty secretary,Mikkel Näkkäläjärvi's, nomination and subsequent appointment to his role during the SDP's 2023conferenceinJyväskyläwas criticised because of his criminal background. In 2011 he haddriven a car while under the presence of alcohol, and was charged with a 30-daysuspended sentenceand an accompanying fine. Näkkäläjärvi had also broken into a retired old lady'ssummer cottageas a 15-year-old teenager with three others around the same age as him and participated in the killing and burning of a grown-up cat in abonfire. Following this, he was charged with burglary, vandalism andanimal crueltyas a young person. Näkkäläjärvi has apologised for all of his past misdeeds. Voter base The average age of an SDP member is 61.5 years.Over one half of all SDP voters are active members of the workforce. Organization Symbols, logos and posters Party Leaders Prominent members Election results Parliament of Finland Municipal European Parliament Presidential elections Indirect Direct See also Notes References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Rakel Hiltunen Lea Rakel Hiltunen(néeLyytikäinen; born 2 July 1940 inKeitele) is aFinnishsocial worker and politician. She was a member of theParliament of Finlandfrom 1999 to 2015, representing theSocial Democratic Party of Finland(SDP). References This article about aSocial Democratic Party of Finlandpolitician is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.","Parliament of Finland Opposition(91) TheParliament of Finland(Finnish:Suomen eduskunta;Swedish:Finlands riksdag) is theunicameralandsupremelegislature ofFinland, founded on 9 May 1906.In accordance with theConstitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament.The Parliament consists of 200 members, 199 of whom are elected every four years from 13 multi-member districts electing 6 to 37 members using the proportionalD'Hondt method. In addition, there is one member fromÅland. Legislation may be initiated by either theGovernmentor one of the members of Parliament. The Parliament passes legislation, decides on the state budget, approves international treaties, and supervises the activities of the government. It may bring about the resignation of the Finnish Government, override presidential vetoes, and alter the constitution. To make changes to the constitution, amendments must be approved by two successive parliaments, with an election cycle in between, or passed","between, or passed as an emergency law with a 167/200 majority. Most MPs work in parliamentary groups which correspond withthe political parties. The Parliament currently comprises nine parliamentary groups. Since the establishment of the Parliament in 1905, the parliamentary majority has been held once by a single party: the Social Democrats in the 1916 election. Thus, for the Government to gain a majority in the Parliament,coalition governmentsare favored. These are generally formed by at least two of the three historically major parties: the Social Democrats, Centre, and National Coalition. Ministers are often but not necessarily MPs. The Parliament meets in theParliament House(Finnish:Eduskuntatalo, Swedish:Riksdagshuset), which is located in centralHelsinki. Themost recent parliamentary electiontook place on 2 April 2023. After the 2023 election theOrpo Cabinetwas formed by theNational Coalition,FinnsandSwedish People'sparties as well as theChristian Democrats. Name Finnish The Parliament'sFinnishname","iseduskunta, uncapitalized. The word was created in 1906 when the unicameral Parliament was established, with the approximate meaning of an 'Assembly of Representatives'.This word is used mostly to refer to Finland's legislature but can also be used as a general term for legislatures in any country. Swedish InSwedish, the Parliament's name isriksdag, uncapitalized. This is also the general term for theSwedish legislature.Riksdagderives from thegenitiveofrike('realm') referring to theindependent state of Finland, anddag, meaningdietor conference. Before independence, until theConstitution Act of 1919, the Parliament was known, in Swedish, aslantdagen(cognate oflandtag, having the sense of \"subnational assembly\") which was the old term for theDiet of Finland. History The Parliament of Finland was preceded by theDiet of Finland(Swedish:lantdagen; Finnish:maapäivät, modern Finnish:valtiopäivät), which had succeeded theRiksdag of the Estatesin 1809. When the unicameral Parliament of Finland was established by the","established by the Parliament Act in 1906, Finland was an autonomousgrand duchy and principalityunder theImperial RussianTsar, who ruled as theGrand Duke, rather than as an absolutemonarch. Universal suffrage and eligibility was implemented, making Finland the second country in the world to adopt universal suffrage.Women could both vote and run for office as equals, and this applied also to landless people, with no excluded minorities. The firstelectionto the Parliament was arranged in 1907. The first Parliament had 19 female representatives, an unprecedented number at the time, which grew to 21 by 1913. The first years of the new Parliament were difficult. Between 1908 and 1916 the power of the Finnish Parliament was almost completely neutralized by the Russian TsarNicholas IIand the so-called \"sabre senate\" of Finland, a bureaucratic government formed byImperial Russian Armyofficers during the second period of \"Russification\". The Parliament was dissolved and new elections were held almost every year. The","every year. The Finnish Parliament received the true political power for the first time after theFebruary Revolution (First Revolution)of 1917 inRussia.Finland declaredits full independenceon 6 December 1917, and in the winter and spring of 1918 endured acivil warin which the forces of the Senate, known as theWhite Guard, defeated the socialistRed Guard. After the war, monarchists and republicans struggled over the country's form of government. The monarchists seemed to gain a victory when the Parliament elected a German prince asKing of Finlandin the fall of 1918. This decision was made on the basis of the otherNordic countriesalso having monarchs. However, the king-elect abdicated the throne afterImperial Germanywas defeated in World War I, on 11 November 1918. In theparliamentary election of 1919, the republican parties won three-quarters of the seats, extinguishing the monarchists' ambitions. Finland became a republic with a parliamentary system, but in order to appease the monarchist parties, which","parties, which favoured a strong head of state, extensive powers were granted to thePresident of Finland. When the Soviet Union attacked Finland in theWinter War, in early December 1939 Parliament was evacuated and the legislature temporarily relocated toKauhajoki, a town in western Finland far away from the frontline. The parliament held 34 plenary sessions in Kauhajoki, with the last on 12 February 1940.Another temporary relocation was seen during the renovation of the Parliament House in 2015–2017 when the Parliament convened in the neighbouringSibelius Academy. The Constitution of 1919, which instituted a parliamentary system, did not undergo any major changes for 70 years. Although the government was responsible to the Parliament, the President wielded considerable authority, which was used to its full extent by long-standing PresidentUrho Kekkonen. As the Constitution implemented very strong protections for political minorities, most changes in legislation and state finances could be blocked by a","be blocked by a qualified minority of one third. This, in conjunction with the inability of some of the parties to enter into coalition governments, led to weak, short-lived cabinets. During PresidentMauno Koivisto's tenure in the 1980s, cabinets sitting for the whole parliamentary term became the norm. At the same time, the ability of qualified minorities to block legislation was gradually removed and the powers of the Parliament were greatly increased in the constitutional reform of 1991. The revised 2000 draft of theFinnish constitutionremoved almost all domestic powers of the President, strengthening the position of the cabinet and the Parliament. It also included the methods for the discussion of EU legislation under preparation in the Parliament. Dissolutions of Parliament The Parliament of Finland has been dissolved before the end of its term fourteen times during its existence. The most recent instance was on 4 June 1975. Elections The Parliament's 200 representatives are elected directly by ballot","directly by ballot on the basis of proportional representation. A standard electoral period is four years. Elections have previously taken two days, but asearly votinghas become more popular, they are now conducted during one day; the third Sunday of April of an election year. Every Finnish citizen who is at least 18 years of age on the election date is entitled to vote in general elections. There is normally no need to register as a voter, and citizens receive an invitation by mail. With certain exceptions, such as military personnel on active duty, high judicial officials, the President of the Republic, and persons under guardianship, any voter may also stand as a candidate for the Parliament. All registered parties are entitled to nominate candidates; individual citizens and independent electoral organizations must be endorsed by a sufficient number of voters through the form ofsupporter cardsto apply. In parliamentary elections, Finland is divided into13 electoral districts. The number of representatives","of representatives granted to each district is proportional to its population, except forÅland, which always elects one representative. The provincial state offices appoint an election board in each electoral district to prepare lists of candidates and to approve the election results. TheMinistry of Justicehas the ultimate responsibility for holding elections. ThePresident of Finlandcan call for an early election. As per the version ofthe constitutioncurrently in use, the president can do this only upon proposal by the Prime Minister and after consultations with the parliamentary groups while the Parliament is in session. In prior versions of the constitution, the President had the power to do this unilaterally. There is no hard and fast election threshold to get a seat in Parliament. This results in a large number of parties being represented. In 2019, for instance, nine parties won seats, with six winning at least 15 seats. With so many parties and the lack of a threshold, it is nearly impossible for one","impossible for one party to win an outright majority. During the history of the Parliament, only one party has ever won an outright majority–when the Social Democrats won 103 seats in theelection of 1916. Since independence in 1917, no party has ever won the 101 seats needed for a majority. Instead, most Finnish governments have been coalitions formed by three or more parties. Many of them have beengrand coalitionsbetween parties with varying ideological backgrounds, as the socialist and non-socialist blocs usually do not win enough seats between them to govern on their own. The seats for each electoral district are assigned according to theD'Hondt method. Electoral districts were originally based on the historicalläänidivision of 1634, but there have been several subsequent changes. Although there is no set election threshold, many electoral districts have become smaller in terms of population in recent decades, and some now elect as few as six representatives. This makes it harder for small parties to win","parties to win MPs in these districts. Parliamentary groups MPs work in parliamentary groups (eduskuntaryhmä). The parliamentary groups generally correspond to political parties, although occasionally dissidents can be removed from the party group and form their own. As of September 2019there are nine groups, one of which is a one-man group.A group generally tries to reach a unanimous decision on a common position, but failing to do so may take a vote. This position then defines voting in the parliamentary session proper according toparty discipline.Exceptions to this principle are made on matters on which no party line or government policy exists. Parliamentary groups make their decisions independently of their party leadership, and group leaders of major parties accordingly rank alongside government ministers and party leaders as influential political leaders. Each parliamentary group receives funding for its operations and may have staff of its own. Formation of government ThePresident of Finlandconsults","of Finlandconsults theSpeaker of Parliamentand representatives of parliamentary groups about the formation of a newFinnish Government. According to theConstitution of Finland, the Parliament elects thePrime Minister, who is appointed to office by the President. The Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful politician in the country. Other ministers are appointed by the President on the Prime Minister's proposal. While individual ministers are not appointed by the Parliament, they may be individually removed by amotion of no confidence. The government, as a whole, must also have the confidence of the Parliament and must resign on a motion of no confidence. The government hascollective ministerial responsibility. Before the Prime Minister is elected, the parliamentary groups (which correspond to their respectivepolitical parties) negotiate on the government platform and on the composition of the government. On the basis of the outcome of these negotiations, and after having consulted the Speaker of the","the Speaker of the house and the parliamentary groups, the President informs the Parliament of the nominee for Prime Minister. The parliament votes on the proposal, and if successful, the nominee is elected Prime Minister. Although Finland essentially always has multi-party coalition governments, the process is made smoother byparty discipline: coalition MPs vote together to ensure a majority. Sessions The annual session of parliament generally begins in February and consists of two terms, the first from January to June, the second from September to December. At the start of an annual session, the nation's political leaders and their guests attend a special worship service atHelsinki Cathedralbefore the ceremonies continue at the Parliament House, where the President formally opens the session. On the first day of each annual session, the Parliament selects a speaker and two deputy speakers from its members. This election is chaired by the oldest MP in office. The three members who are elected to serve as","elected to serve as speaker and first deputy speaker and second deputy speaker respectively take the following solemn oath before the Parliament; \"I, , affirm that in my office as Speaker I will to the best of my ability defend the rights of the people, Parliament and the government of Finland according to the Constitution.\" During each annual session of Parliament, Finland's delegations to theNordic Counciland theCouncil of Europeare assigned. The Parliament also elects five of its members to the bench of the High Court of Impeachment for the duration of the parliamentary term. Committees The Parliament has 17 committees. Most committees have 17 permanent members, except for the Grand Committee, which has 25; the Finance Committee, which has 21; and the Audit and Intelligence Oversight Committees, which have 11 each. In addition to these permanent members, each of the committees has a number of substitute members. On average, each member of the Parliament is also a member of two committees. Most of the","Most of the committees are special committees, while the Grand Committee deals with EU affairs, but also has a wider range of tasks. As Finland does not have a constitutional court, the role of the Constitutional Law Committee is to oversee constitutional affairs. The Committee for the Future is also noteworthy, as it does not usually deal with bills, but instead assesses factors relating to future developments and gives statements to other committees on issues relating to the future outlooks of their respective fields of speciality.The newest committee is the Intelligence Oversight Committee which was created in 2019. Proceedings Domestic legislation Most of the bills discussed in the parliament originate within the Council of State. However, any member or group of members may introduce a bill, but usually these will not pass the committee phase. A third way to propose legislation was introduced in 2012: citizens may deliver an initiative for the parliament's consideration, if the initiative gains 50,000","gains 50,000 endorsements from eligible voters within a period of six months. When delivered to the parliament, the initiative is dealt with in the same way as any other bill.Any bill introduced will initially be discussed by the members of the Parliament, prior to being sent to the committee to which it belongs. If the bill concerns several areas of legislation, the Grand Committee will first ask the other committees for opinions. If there is any concern about the constitutionality of the bill, the opinion of the Constitutional Committee is demanded. The Constitutional Committee works in non-partisan manner and uses the most distinguished legal scholars as experts. If the committee considers the bill to have unconstitutional elements, the bill must either be passed as a constitutional change or changed to be in concordance with the constitution. In most cases, the latter route is chosen. The bills receive their final form in the parliamentary committees. The committees work behind closed doors but their","doors but their proceedings are publicized afterwards. Usually the committees hear experts from special interest groups and various authorities after which they formulate the necessary changes to the bill in question. If the committee does not agree, the members in minority may submit their own version of the bill. The committee statement is discussed by the parliament in two consecutive sessions. In the first session, the parliament discusses the bill and prepares its final form. In the first part of handling, a general discussion of the bill is undertaken. After this, the parliament discusses individual points of the bill and chooses between the bill proposed by the committee, minority opinions and the eventual other forms the members submit during the discussion. If the parliament wishes to do so, it may during the general discussion of the first handling submit the bill to the Grand Committee for further formulation. The bill is also always treated by the Grand Committee if the parliament decides to","decides to adopt any other form than the final opinion of the committee. The committee then formulates its own version of the bill and submits this to the parliament which then adopts either its former version or the version of the Grand Committee. The committee statements are influential documents in that they often used by the courts as indicative of the legislator's intent. In the second session, the final formulation of the bill is either passed or dismissed. If the bill entails a change in constitution, the second session takes place only after the next election unless the parliament decides to declare the matter to be urgent by a majority of five-sixths. In constitutional matters, the bills are passed by a majority of two-thirds. In other cases, the simple majority of votes given is enough. International treaties requiring changes to legislation are accepted by a simple majority in a single session. Treaties requiring changes to the constitution or changing the borders of Finland require a qualified","require a qualified majority of two-thirds. EU legislation The matters relating to the jurisdiction of the European Union are decided by theCouncil of the European Unionand theEuropean Parliament. However, as changes to European legislation are being prepared, the Parliament participates actively in formulating the government's position on these changes. As the proceedings of the committees are public, European Union matters handled by the Parliament tend to become public after committee meetings. However, the government may ask the Parliament for a secret handling of an EU matter. This can be the case if the government does not want to reveal its position to foreign nations before the beginning of negotiations. European Union legislation under preparation is brought to the Grand Committee by the Finnish government when they have received notice of the proposal from theEuropean Commission. The Grand Committee discusses the matter behind closed doors, and if appropriate, requests opinions from the committees","from the committees of the Parliament. Both the Grand Committee and the specialized committees hear expert opinions while preparing their opinions. Finally, the Grand Committee formulates its opinion of the proposal. However, in matters concerning theexternal relations of the European Union, the Finnish stance is formulated by the Committee for Foreign and Security Policy, rather than the Grand Committee. The Finnish government is obligated by law to follow the parliamentary opinion when discussing the matter with the European Commission and other member states. The government may change the Finnish stance, but it is required to report such changes to the Parliament immediately. After the European Union has made a legislative decision that is to be implemented by the Parliament, the matter is brought back to the parliament as with usual legislation. At this stage, the Finnish state is committed to passing a bill fulfilling the requirements demanded by the EU, and the Parliament must vote accordingly. Other","accordingly. Other matters Every member of parliament has the right to ask the government written questions. The questions are answered in writing within 21 days by a minister responsible for the matter and do not cause any further discussion. Furthermore, the parliament has a questioning session from time to time. In these, the members are allowed to ask short verbal questions, which are answered by the responsible ministers and then discussed by the parliament. Any group of twenty members mayinterpellate. The motion ofcensuremay be for the whole government or any particular minister. The motion takes the form of a question that is replied to by the responsible minister. If the parliament decides to approve the motion of censure, the committee responsible for the matter in question formulates the motion, which is then passed by the parliament. The government may decide to make a report to the parliament in any matter. After discussion the parliament may either accept the report or pass a motion of censure.","motion of censure. A passed motion of censure will cause the government to fall. Any group of 10 members may raise the question of the legality of the minister's official acts. If such question is raised, the Constitutional Committee will investigate the matter, using all the powers of police. After the final report of the committee, the parliament decides whether to charge the minister in theHigh Court of Impeachment. The criminal investigation of the Constitutional Committee may also be initiated by the Chancellor of Justice, ParliamentaryOmbudsmanor by any parliamentary committee. Similar proceedings may also be initiated against the Chancellor of Justice, Parliamentary Ombudsman or the judges of the supreme courts. The President of Finland may be also the target of a criminal investigation of the Constitutional Committee, but the parliament must accept the indictment by a majority of three-fourths and the charge must betreason,high treasonor acrime against humanity. Members of the Parliament Members of","Members of the Parliament are notemployeesand cannot voluntarily resign or belaid off. They can be granted leave or dismissal only with the consent of the Parliament. Members of the Parliament enjoyparliamentary immunity. Without the parliament's approval, members may not be prosecuted for anything they say in session or otherwise do in the course of parliamentary proceedings. MPs may not be prevented from carrying out their work as members of parliament. They may be charged with crimes they have committed in office only if the parliament gives a permission to that end with a majority of five-sixths of given votes. For other crimes, they may be arrested or imprisoned only for crimes which carry a minimum punishment of six months in prison, unless the parliament gives permission to arrest the member. The members receive a monthly taxableremuneration(palkkio) of 7,137 €, which is raised to 7,494 € after four years of service and to 7,993 € after twelve years. It is not legally asalary. In addition, all MPs","addition, all MPs automatically receive a tax-free compensation of expenses between 987 € and 1,809 € depending on the location of ones home. MPs from districts far from Helsinki can thus receive compensation for a second apartment in Helsinki.MPs may travel for free within the country by train, bus, or plane for purposes related to legislative work. Within theHelsinki metropolitan area, they may freely use taxis.Eduskunta is responsible for its own finances and the Minister of Finance is obliged to include their proposal to the state budget as is regardless of their own opinion. MPs are aided in their work by personal assistants, although there are fewer assistants than MPs and not every MP has one. Assistants are formally employed by the Parliamentary Office, but can be selected and directed by the MP. A member who is elected to theEuropean Parliamentmust choose between the two parliaments because a double mandate is not permissible. On the other hand, the members may have any municipal positions of trust,","positions of trust, and it is common for them to have a position in a municipal council. If MPs leave the parliament or die in office, they are replaced by candidates from the same list they were elected from in the previous election, in order of their electoral score (theD'Hondt quotient). Those so selected are from asubstitutelist, the substitutes being named at the same time as the electoral results are announced. Finland does not have aby-electionsystem. The members have an unlimited right to discuss the matters at hand. However, they must behave in a \"solemn and dignified manner\" and refrain from personal insults. If the member breaks against this rule in the session of parliament, they may be interrupted by the speaker. Grave breaches of order may be punished by two weeks' suspension from office by the decision of the Parliament. If a member is convicted of an intentional crime for a term in prison or of an electoral crime to any punishment, the parliament may decide to dismiss the member if two-thirds","if two-thirds of the votes given are for dismissal. The median age of MPs was 50 as of 2022, the oldest MP being 76 years (Erkki Tuomioja) and youngest 28 years (Iiris Suomela). 94 women were elected as MPs in the 2019 election (47%), though due to midterm replacements the number of female MPs dropped to 91 (45.5%). 8% of the population is born abroad, however there are only 4 current foreign-born MPs (2%),Bella Forsgrén(born in Ethiopia),Hussein al-Taee(born in Iraq),Suldaan Said Ahmed(born in Somalia) andAki Lindén(born in Denmark). 7% of MPs are Swedish-speakers, slightly higher than their proportion of the population (5.2%). Parliament House Before the construction of the Parliament House, the Parliament met in various different locations. TheDiet of Finland, the predecessor of the Parliament, wastetracameraland did not regularly meet together. TheDiet of Porvoo(1809) met in various buildings in Porvoo, with Borgå gymnasium as the main hall, the noble and burgher estates meeting in the town hall and the","town hall and the peasants' estate in chief judge Orraeus' house. However, the Diet assembled only once and did not reconvene until 1863. In 1863, the Diet began regular meetings again, reconvening in theHouse of Nobility(Ritarikatu 1). This building still stands, but is no longer in governmental use. Whereas nobility continued to meet there, in 1891 a newHouse of the Estateswas inaugurated for the other estates (clergy, burghers and peasants). This building is today owned by the state and occasionally used by theGovernment of Finland. When the modern 200-member Parliament was founded in 1906, they first met in the local voluntary fire brigade house (Keskuskatu 7), because there was not enough space for them in the House of Estates. The fire brigade house was demolished in 1967 and replaced by the Helsinki World Trade Center building. In 1911, the Heimola House, a building designed by Onni Tarjanne, was inaugurated at Yliopistonkatu 5. This building was demolished in 1969 and replaced by a 9-story office","by a 9-story office building. In 1923 a competition was held to choose a site for a new Parliament House. Arkadianmäki, a hill beside what is nowMannerheimintie, was chosen as the best site. An architectural competition was held in 1924, and it was won by the firm Borg–Sirén–Åberg with their proposal,Oratoribus.Johan Sigfrid Sirén(1889–1961), who was mainly responsible for preparing the proposal, was tasked with designing the Parliament House. The building was constructed 1926–1931 and was officially inaugurated on 7 March 1931.Ever since then, and especially during theWinter WarandContinuation War, it has been the scene of many key moments in the nation's political life. Parliament House was designed in the classic style of the 1920s. The exterior is reddish Kalvola granite. The façade is lined by fourteen columns with Corinthian capitals. The first floor contains the main lobby, the Speaker's reception rooms, the newspaper room, the Information Service, the Documents Office, the messenger centre, the","centre, the copying room, and the restaurant and separate function rooms. At both ends of the lobby are marble staircases leading up to the fifth floor. The second or main floor is centered around the Chamber. Its galleries have seats for the public, the media and diplomats. Also located on this floor are the Hall of State, the Speaker's Corridor, the Government's Corridor, the cafeteria and adjacent function rooms. The third floor includes facilities for the Information Unit and the media and provides direct access to the press gallery overlooking the Session Hall. The Minutes Office and a number of committee rooms are also located here. The fourth floor is reserved for committees. Its largest rooms are the Grand Committee Room and the Finance Committee Room. The fifth floor contains meeting rooms and offices for the parliamentary groups. Additional offices for the parliamentary groups are located on the sixth floor, along with facilities for the media. Notable later additions to the building include the","include the library annex, completed in 1978, and a separate office block, calledPikkuparlamentti, completed in 2004. The building underwent extensive renovations in the years 2007–2017 as part of the preparation for Finland's centennial independence celebration. Election results 2023 Result of the election held on 2 April 2023: See also References Sources External links","Social Democratic Party of Finland TheSocial Democratic Party of Finland(Finnish:Suomen sosialidemokraattinen puolueFinnish pronunciation:,SDP, nicknamed:demaritin Finnish;Swedish:Finlands socialdemokratiska parti,SD) is asocial democraticpolitical party in Finland. It is the third largest party in theParliament of Finlandwith a total of 43 seats. Founded in 1899 as theWorkers' Party of Finland(Finnish:Suomen työväenpuolue; Swedish:Finlands arbetarparti), the SDP is Finland's oldest active political party and has a close relationship with theCentral Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions. It is also a member of theParty of European Socialists,Progressive AllianceandSocialist International. Following the resignation ofAntti Rinnein December 2019,Sanna Marinbecame the country's 46thprime minister. The SDP formed a newcoalition governmenton the basis of its predecessor, theRinne Cabinet, in effect continuing its cooperation with theCentre Party,Green League,Left AllianceandSwedish People's Party. Of the nineteen","Of the nineteen ministerial spots that were decided upon in conjunction, seven of them were designated to the SDP in theMarin Cabinet.In September 2023,Antti Lindtmanwas elected as leader of the party following Marin's resignation after the2023 Finnish parliamentary election. History The party was founded as the Workers' Party of Finland in 1899, with its first meeting being held from 17–20 July inTurku. At the beginning of the 1900s the party presented demands as well as solutions to thetenant farmerquestion, the managing of employment, improvement ofworkers' rights,freedom of speechand an8-hour work day.In its 1903 second party conference inForssa, the party's name was renamed to the present form: Social Democratic Party of Finland, but theGrand Duchy of Finland's thengovernor-generalNikolay Bobrikovhad outlawed the SDP from using \"social democratic\" in their name before, but this ban was not followed on by the party members when the name was changed. At the same time, the at the time radicalForssa","time radicalForssa Programmewas agreed upon, which served as the official party platform until 1952. The goals of the programme were as follows: an 8-hour workday, aminimum wage,universal compulsory educationandprohibition. TheForssa Programmeis based on theErfurt Programmeapproved by theSocial Democratic Party of Germanyin 1891 and theSocial Democratic Party of Austria's programme, respectively. Its immediate demands have been fulfilled, but the most significant and currently unfulfilled requirement is the right to vote directly on laws (direct democracy, as opposed torepresentative democracy)The demands on total separation of church and state, abolition ofreligious educationin all schools and the prohibition of alcohol have all since then been abandoned. The SDP was closely associated with theFinnish Trade Union Federation(SAJ), established in 1907, with all of its members also being members of the party.The party remained a chiefly extra-parliamentary movement untiluniversal suffragewas introduced in","introduced in 1906, after which the SDP's share of the votes reached 47% in the1916 Finnish parliamentary election, when the party secured amajorityin the parliament, the only time in the history of Finland when one party has had such a majority. The party lost its majority in the1917 Finnish parliamentary electionafter theRussian Provisional Governmenthad rejected itsValtalaki 1917proposal and disbanded the Finnish government, starting a rebellion with the broader Finnish labour movement that quickly escalated into theFinnish Civil Warin 1918. SDP members declared Finland asocialist republic, but they were defeated by the forces of theWhite Guard. The war resulted in most of the party leaders being killed, imprisoned or left to seek refuge inSoviet Russia.In addition, the process leading to the civil war and the war itself had stripped the party of itspolitical legitimacyand respectability in the eyes of the right-wing majority. However, the political support for the party remained strong. In the1919","strong. In the1919 Finnish parliamentary election, the party, reorganised byVäinö Tanner, received 80 of the 200 seats of the parliament. In 1918, former exiled SDP members founded theCommunist Party of Finland(SKP) in Moscow. Although the SKP was banned in Finland until 1944, it was represented by front organisations, leading to the support of the Finnish working class being divided between the SDP and the SKP. It became the life's work ofVäinö Tannerto re-establish the SDP as a serious, governing party. The result was a much more patriotic SDP which leaned less to the left and was relatively isolated from itsNordicsister parties, namely theDanish Social Democrats, theNorwegian Labour Partyand theSwedish Social Democratic Party. PresidentPehr Evind Svinhufvud's animosity kept the SDP out of government during his presidency from 1931 to 1937. With the exception of a brief period in 1926, when Tanner formed a minority government, the SDP was excluded from cabinet participation untilKyösti Kalliowas elected","Kalliowas elected President in 1937. DuringWorld War II, the party played a central role in a series of broad coalition cabinets, symbolising national unity forged in response to the threat of theSoviet Unionin theWinter Warof 1939–1940. The SDP was a member of theLabour and Socialist Internationalfrom 1923 to 1940. During the first few months of theContinuation War(1941–1944), the country, the parliament and the cabinet were divided on the question of whether Finland's army should stop at the old border and thereby demonstratively refrain from any attempt of conquests. However, the country's dangerous position called for national unity and the SDP's leadership chose to refrain from any visible protests. This decision is sometimes indicated as one of the main reasons behind the post-war division between the main left-wing parties (the SKP and the SDP) and the high percentage of SKP voters in the first elections after the Continuation War. After the war, the SKP was allowed to continue working and the main","and the main feature of Finnish political life during the 1944–1949 period was the competition between the SDP and the SKP, both for voters and for the control of the labour unions. During this time, the political field was divided roughly equally between the SDP, the SKP and theAgrarian League, each party commanding some 25% of the vote. In the post-war era, the SDP adopted a line of defending Finnish sovereignty and democracy in line with the Agrarian League and otherbourgeoispolitical parties, finally leading to the expulsion of the SKP from the cabinet in 1948. As a result, the Soviet Union remained more openly critical towards the SDP than the centre-right parties. Because of the SDP'santi-communism, the United StatesCentral Intelligence Agencysupported the party by means of funds laundered through Nordic sister parties or through organisations that bought luxury goods such as coffee abroad, then imported and sold them for a high profit as post-warrationingserved to inflate prices. In the1956 Finnish","In the1956 Finnish presidential election, the SDP candidateKarl-August Fagerholmlost by only one electoral vote toUrho Kekkonen. Fagerholm would act as Prime Minister in theFagerholm II Cabinet(1956–1957) and theFagerholm III Cabinet(1958–1959). The latter cabinet was forced to resign due to Soviet pressure, leading to a series of cabinets led by the Agrarian League. In 1958, due to the election ofVäinö Tanneras party chairman, a faction of the SDP resigned and formed theSocial Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders(TPSL) around the former SDP chairmanEmil Skog. The dispute was over several issues, namely whether the party should function as an interest group and whether it should co-operate with the anti-communists and right-wingers or with president Kekkonen, the Agrarian League and the SKP. During the 1960s, the TPSL dwindled, its members returning one by one to the SDP or joining the SKP, with Skog himself returning to the SDP in 1965. In the1970 Finnish parliamentary election, the TPSL failed to","the TPSL failed to gain any seats in parliament. Only in 1966 was the SDP able to satisfy the Soviet Union about its friendly attitude towards it and could thus return to the cabinet. Since then, the SDP has been represented in most Finnish cabinets, often cooperating with thecentrist-agrarianCentre Party (formerly the Agrarian League), but sometimes with theliberal-conservativeNational Coalition Party. The SDP was in opposition from 1991 to 1995, when the main parties in the cabinet were the Centre Party and theNational Coalition Party(NCP). The1995 Finnish parliamentary electionsaw a landslide victory for the SDP, achieving their best results sinceWorld War II. The SDP rose to government from the opposition and leaderPaavo Lipponenheaded two consecutive cabinets from 1995 to 2003. During this time, the party adopted apro-Europeanstance and contributed actively to the Finnish membership in the European Union in 1995 in concert with the cabinet. In the2003 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP won 53 of","the SDP won 53 of the 200 seats, ending up a close second to the Centre Party. As a result, Lipponen became theSpeaker of Parliamentand the Centre Party leaderAnneli Jäätteenmäkibecame the newPrime Minister, leading acoalition cabinetthat included the SDP which got eight ministerial posts. After two months in office, Jäätteenmäki resigned due to a scandal relating to theIraq leakand was replaced byMatti Vanhanen, another Centre Party representative, who commanded theVanhanen I Cabinet. In the2007 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP gained the third-most votes. The chairman of the then-largest Centre Party, Matti Vanhanen, became the Prime Minister and formed acoalition cabinetconsisting of theGreen League, the NCP and theSwedish People's Party of Finland(SPP), leaving the SDP to the opposition. SDP leaderEero Heinäluomadid not immediately resign as party chairman, but he did announce his withdrawal from running for party chairman in the following party conference. He was replaced byJutta Urpilainen. The","Urpilainen. The SDP suffered further losses in the2008 Finnish municipal electionsand the2009 European Parliament election. In the2011 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP lost three more seats, ending up with 19.1 percent of the vote which corresponded to 42 seats, the party's worst-ever result. However, as the Centre Party lost even more voters, the SDP became the second-largest party in the country after the NCP, receiving only some 1,500 votes more than theFinns Partywhich came in third. After lengthy negotiations, a six-party coalition government, theKatainen Cabinet, was formed with the NCP and the SDP as the two main parties. SDP leader Jutta Urpilainen became the cabinet'sMinister of Finance, with NCP chairmanJyrki Katainenserving as Prime Minister. In the 2014 party conference, Urpilainen was narrowly defeated by her challengerAntti Rinnein a 257 to 243 vote.Urpilainen subsequently stepped down as the Minister of Finance, passing the seat on to Rinne.In the2015 Finnish parliamentary election, the","election, the drop of support continued for the SDP. The party lost eight more seats compared to the 2011 parliamentary election, ending up with 34 seats and 16.5 percent of the vote. With the repeat of the worst-ever result, the SDP dropped to being the fourth largest political party in Finland, receiving 50,110 fewer votes than the NCP, yet 237,000 more votes than the Green League. The SDP was left in the opposition and provided extensive criticism on the actions of theSipilä Cabineton matters such as alcohol policy, cuts to education spending and the so-called active model.On 22 June 2016,Maria Tolppanen, a Finns Party representative, joined the SDP. This increased the SDP's parliamentary seat number to 35. In the2019 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP gained 6 seats in comparison to the 2015 parliamentary election and became the largest party in the parliament.Based on the answers and initial talks with all parties,Rinneannounced that he would negotiate forming a government with theCentre Party,","theCentre Party, theGreen League, theLeft Allianceand theSwedish People's Party.The negotiations were ultimately successful and theRinne Cabinetwas formally inaugurated on 6 June 2019.On 3 December 2019, Rinne resigned as Prime Minister after the Centre Party had expressed a lack of confidence in Rinne for his handling of the events surrounding a postal strike in Finland.He was followed in the position bySanna Marin, who was appointed as Prime Minister on 10 December 2019. Ideology The SDP is a centre-leftsocial-democraticparty. In its 2020 declaration of principles the party's ideals and priorities are:sustainable development,all-encompassing equality,peace,solidarity,freedom,co-operation,a clean and pristine environmenttogether withdemocratic socialism. The SDP also embraceshumanism's values as well as theNordic model's accomplishments. In the 1900s, the party known as theFinnish Workers' Partywas founded on the basis ofsocial issues, class andsocialism. SDP was the only political party in Finland for a","in Finland for a long time. In 1907, the SDP was the strongest socialist party in Europe, as evidenced by the qualified majority in theSenate of Finlandin 1917. At the beginning of the 20th century, the party received its main support from groups of thelandless populationand therural population. In 1919, at the SDP's meeting, a split was made with the radical communists, as a result of which they broke away and founded theSSTP. As a result of thecivil warand theOctober Revolution, the workers' movement became even more divided. Up untilRussia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine,the party opposed on joiningNATOand instead preferred to remain in thePartnership for Peace. The SDP is in favour ofqueer rights, the construction ofnuclear power plants, the conservation ofSwedishas one of Finland's twoofficial languagesand the increasing of funding given by the state topublic schoolsand universities.The party is advocating for Finland to become coal-free by 2030.The SDP had advocated for policies preventing foreigners from","foreigners from outside the EU from working in Finland,but has since then softened its positions on immigration and has come to support certain immigration reforms. In its 2023 parliamentaryelection programmeits self-declared goal was the increasing of work-based immigration coming to Finland as a way of responding to the country's labour shortage and lowbirth rate.In 2023, the SDP, along with theNCP, both criticised theFinns Partyfor their lack of willingness to the easing ofwork permitrequirements to foreigners coming from outside the European Union. The party opposed certain economic reforms both in the2011 Finnish parliamentary electionand in the subsequent negotiations about the government programme.The SDP maintains a close relationship with trade unions. The party has opposed social reforms that would reduce the role of earnings-related unemployment benefits. The government pays the benefits to recipients through financial middlemen that are almost exclusively trade unions.The SDP also supports","SDP also supports theseparation of church and state. Controversies The SDP's politicians, among several other finnish political parties' members, have received criticism about their connections with the Russians for years by some of the media and academics, for example, SDP politiciansEero Heinäluoma,Paavo Lipponen,Erkki Tuomioja, Antton Rönnholm andTarja Halonenhave all had past connections to Russia. In 2005, according to Halonen, Russia's goals were: \"...democracy, human rights and good governance.\"9 years later, in 2014 afterRussia annexed Crimea, Halonen thought that Russia should not have been punished by sanctions or isolation. SDP's former party secretary Antton Rönnholm has also taken his part. Through hisconsulting firm's servicesoffered toGazprom, he sent an invoice for almost 200,000 euros to them for assisting in theSouth Stream gas pipeline project. More than half of Gazprom is owned by the Russian state, and it is partly used as a geopolitical tool in Europe and the rest of the world. In","of the world. In February 2022, politicianErkki Tuomiojapublished a work with the title \"Finland and NATO – Why Finland should have the opportunity to apply for NATO membership and why that opportunity should not be used now\". In his work Tuomioja estimated that Russia was viewed rather unanalytically. Also in February 2022, when Russia had already been pressuring Ukraine for a long time, the social democraticMEPEero HeinäluomaandMauri Pekkarinenfrom theCentre Partyboth said in a Finnish current affairs television programme that preparing for the Russian threat was part of the problem. According to Heinäluoma, placing defensive armaments in Russia's neighbouring countries was instead a threat to Russia. Paavo Lipponenhas lobbied for and been a consultant for Russia'sNord Streamproject since 2008.That year,Russia went to war against Georgia, which marked the start of Putin's foreign policy's aggresiveness.In a report of theEuropean Parliament'sspecial committeein 2022, former Social Democratic Party and","Party and Centre Party prime ministers Lipponen andEsko Ahowere said to be among the European politicians that Russia and China had hijacked to promote their interests.Some current SDP politicians have therefore built their careers by appeasing Russia. However, in 2023, during the premiership of former Social Democratic PartychairSanna Marin, Finland officially joinedNATO. In September 2023, whenAntti Lindtmangot electedchairof the SDP, a scandal broke out due to him in hisadolescent years, posing near four other naked young adults, nude, wearing apointed hatin the style of achristmas elf, covered by abalaclavaand with anairsoft gunin hand. While two others were doing anazi salutein the same picture. Because of this, Lindtman was accused of being a nazi. He responded by stating that the image had been taken during his time in a high school film group by the name of \"Team Paha, English: Team Bad\" in aPikkujouluparty while they were messing around and firmly denied the allegation of being anational socialist.","socialist. Theparty secretary,Mikkel Näkkäläjärvi's, nomination and subsequent appointment to his role during the SDP's 2023conferenceinJyväskyläwas criticised because of his criminal background. In 2011 he haddriven a car while under the presence of alcohol, and was charged with a 30-daysuspended sentenceand an accompanying fine. Näkkäläjärvi had also broken into a retired old lady'ssummer cottageas a 15-year-old teenager with three others around the same age as him and participated in the killing and burning of a grown-up cat in abonfire. Following this, he was charged with burglary, vandalism andanimal crueltyas a young person. Näkkäläjärvi has apologised for all of his past misdeeds. Voter base The average age of an SDP member is 61.5 years.Over one half of all SDP voters are active members of the workforce. Organization Symbols, logos and posters Party Leaders Prominent members Election results Parliament of Finland Municipal European Parliament Presidential elections Indirect Direct See also Notes","See also Notes References External links"],"string":"[\n \"Rakel Hiltunen Lea Rakel Hiltunen(néeLyytikäinen; born 2 July 1940 inKeitele) is aFinnishsocial worker and politician. She was a member of theParliament of Finlandfrom 1999 to 2015, representing theSocial Democratic Party of Finland(SDP). References This article about aSocial Democratic Party of Finlandpolitician is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.\",\n \"Parliament of Finland Opposition(91) TheParliament of Finland(Finnish:Suomen eduskunta;Swedish:Finlands riksdag) is theunicameralandsupremelegislature ofFinland, founded on 9 May 1906.In accordance with theConstitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament.The Parliament consists of 200 members, 199 of whom are elected every four years from 13 multi-member districts electing 6 to 37 members using the proportionalD'Hondt method. In addition, there is one member fromÅland. Legislation may be initiated by either theGovernmentor one of the members of Parliament. The Parliament passes legislation, decides on the state budget, approves international treaties, and supervises the activities of the government. It may bring about the resignation of the Finnish Government, override presidential vetoes, and alter the constitution. To make changes to the constitution, amendments must be approved by two successive parliaments, with an election cycle in between, or passed\",\n \"between, or passed as an emergency law with a 167/200 majority. Most MPs work in parliamentary groups which correspond withthe political parties. The Parliament currently comprises nine parliamentary groups. Since the establishment of the Parliament in 1905, the parliamentary majority has been held once by a single party: the Social Democrats in the 1916 election. Thus, for the Government to gain a majority in the Parliament,coalition governmentsare favored. These are generally formed by at least two of the three historically major parties: the Social Democrats, Centre, and National Coalition. Ministers are often but not necessarily MPs. The Parliament meets in theParliament House(Finnish:Eduskuntatalo, Swedish:Riksdagshuset), which is located in centralHelsinki. Themost recent parliamentary electiontook place on 2 April 2023. After the 2023 election theOrpo Cabinetwas formed by theNational Coalition,FinnsandSwedish People'sparties as well as theChristian Democrats. Name Finnish The Parliament'sFinnishname\",\n \"iseduskunta, uncapitalized. The word was created in 1906 when the unicameral Parliament was established, with the approximate meaning of an 'Assembly of Representatives'.This word is used mostly to refer to Finland's legislature but can also be used as a general term for legislatures in any country. Swedish InSwedish, the Parliament's name isriksdag, uncapitalized. This is also the general term for theSwedish legislature.Riksdagderives from thegenitiveofrike('realm') referring to theindependent state of Finland, anddag, meaningdietor conference. Before independence, until theConstitution Act of 1919, the Parliament was known, in Swedish, aslantdagen(cognate oflandtag, having the sense of \\\"subnational assembly\\\") which was the old term for theDiet of Finland. History The Parliament of Finland was preceded by theDiet of Finland(Swedish:lantdagen; Finnish:maapäivät, modern Finnish:valtiopäivät), which had succeeded theRiksdag of the Estatesin 1809. When the unicameral Parliament of Finland was established by the\",\n \"established by the Parliament Act in 1906, Finland was an autonomousgrand duchy and principalityunder theImperial RussianTsar, who ruled as theGrand Duke, rather than as an absolutemonarch. Universal suffrage and eligibility was implemented, making Finland the second country in the world to adopt universal suffrage.Women could both vote and run for office as equals, and this applied also to landless people, with no excluded minorities. The firstelectionto the Parliament was arranged in 1907. The first Parliament had 19 female representatives, an unprecedented number at the time, which grew to 21 by 1913. The first years of the new Parliament were difficult. Between 1908 and 1916 the power of the Finnish Parliament was almost completely neutralized by the Russian TsarNicholas IIand the so-called \\\"sabre senate\\\" of Finland, a bureaucratic government formed byImperial Russian Armyofficers during the second period of \\\"Russification\\\". The Parliament was dissolved and new elections were held almost every year. The\",\n \"every year. The Finnish Parliament received the true political power for the first time after theFebruary Revolution (First Revolution)of 1917 inRussia.Finland declaredits full independenceon 6 December 1917, and in the winter and spring of 1918 endured acivil warin which the forces of the Senate, known as theWhite Guard, defeated the socialistRed Guard. After the war, monarchists and republicans struggled over the country's form of government. The monarchists seemed to gain a victory when the Parliament elected a German prince asKing of Finlandin the fall of 1918. This decision was made on the basis of the otherNordic countriesalso having monarchs. However, the king-elect abdicated the throne afterImperial Germanywas defeated in World War I, on 11 November 1918. In theparliamentary election of 1919, the republican parties won three-quarters of the seats, extinguishing the monarchists' ambitions. Finland became a republic with a parliamentary system, but in order to appease the monarchist parties, which\",\n \"parties, which favoured a strong head of state, extensive powers were granted to thePresident of Finland. When the Soviet Union attacked Finland in theWinter War, in early December 1939 Parliament was evacuated and the legislature temporarily relocated toKauhajoki, a town in western Finland far away from the frontline. The parliament held 34 plenary sessions in Kauhajoki, with the last on 12 February 1940.Another temporary relocation was seen during the renovation of the Parliament House in 2015–2017 when the Parliament convened in the neighbouringSibelius Academy. The Constitution of 1919, which instituted a parliamentary system, did not undergo any major changes for 70 years. Although the government was responsible to the Parliament, the President wielded considerable authority, which was used to its full extent by long-standing PresidentUrho Kekkonen. As the Constitution implemented very strong protections for political minorities, most changes in legislation and state finances could be blocked by a\",\n \"be blocked by a qualified minority of one third. This, in conjunction with the inability of some of the parties to enter into coalition governments, led to weak, short-lived cabinets. During PresidentMauno Koivisto's tenure in the 1980s, cabinets sitting for the whole parliamentary term became the norm. At the same time, the ability of qualified minorities to block legislation was gradually removed and the powers of the Parliament were greatly increased in the constitutional reform of 1991. The revised 2000 draft of theFinnish constitutionremoved almost all domestic powers of the President, strengthening the position of the cabinet and the Parliament. It also included the methods for the discussion of EU legislation under preparation in the Parliament. Dissolutions of Parliament The Parliament of Finland has been dissolved before the end of its term fourteen times during its existence. The most recent instance was on 4 June 1975. Elections The Parliament's 200 representatives are elected directly by ballot\",\n \"directly by ballot on the basis of proportional representation. A standard electoral period is four years. Elections have previously taken two days, but asearly votinghas become more popular, they are now conducted during one day; the third Sunday of April of an election year. Every Finnish citizen who is at least 18 years of age on the election date is entitled to vote in general elections. There is normally no need to register as a voter, and citizens receive an invitation by mail. With certain exceptions, such as military personnel on active duty, high judicial officials, the President of the Republic, and persons under guardianship, any voter may also stand as a candidate for the Parliament. All registered parties are entitled to nominate candidates; individual citizens and independent electoral organizations must be endorsed by a sufficient number of voters through the form ofsupporter cardsto apply. In parliamentary elections, Finland is divided into13 electoral districts. The number of representatives\",\n \"of representatives granted to each district is proportional to its population, except forÅland, which always elects one representative. The provincial state offices appoint an election board in each electoral district to prepare lists of candidates and to approve the election results. TheMinistry of Justicehas the ultimate responsibility for holding elections. ThePresident of Finlandcan call for an early election. As per the version ofthe constitutioncurrently in use, the president can do this only upon proposal by the Prime Minister and after consultations with the parliamentary groups while the Parliament is in session. In prior versions of the constitution, the President had the power to do this unilaterally. There is no hard and fast election threshold to get a seat in Parliament. This results in a large number of parties being represented. In 2019, for instance, nine parties won seats, with six winning at least 15 seats. With so many parties and the lack of a threshold, it is nearly impossible for one\",\n \"impossible for one party to win an outright majority. During the history of the Parliament, only one party has ever won an outright majority–when the Social Democrats won 103 seats in theelection of 1916. Since independence in 1917, no party has ever won the 101 seats needed for a majority. Instead, most Finnish governments have been coalitions formed by three or more parties. Many of them have beengrand coalitionsbetween parties with varying ideological backgrounds, as the socialist and non-socialist blocs usually do not win enough seats between them to govern on their own. The seats for each electoral district are assigned according to theD'Hondt method. Electoral districts were originally based on the historicalläänidivision of 1634, but there have been several subsequent changes. Although there is no set election threshold, many electoral districts have become smaller in terms of population in recent decades, and some now elect as few as six representatives. This makes it harder for small parties to win\",\n \"parties to win MPs in these districts. Parliamentary groups MPs work in parliamentary groups (eduskuntaryhmä). The parliamentary groups generally correspond to political parties, although occasionally dissidents can be removed from the party group and form their own. As of September 2019there are nine groups, one of which is a one-man group.A group generally tries to reach a unanimous decision on a common position, but failing to do so may take a vote. This position then defines voting in the parliamentary session proper according toparty discipline.Exceptions to this principle are made on matters on which no party line or government policy exists. Parliamentary groups make their decisions independently of their party leadership, and group leaders of major parties accordingly rank alongside government ministers and party leaders as influential political leaders. Each parliamentary group receives funding for its operations and may have staff of its own. Formation of government ThePresident of Finlandconsults\",\n \"of Finlandconsults theSpeaker of Parliamentand representatives of parliamentary groups about the formation of a newFinnish Government. According to theConstitution of Finland, the Parliament elects thePrime Minister, who is appointed to office by the President. The Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful politician in the country. Other ministers are appointed by the President on the Prime Minister's proposal. While individual ministers are not appointed by the Parliament, they may be individually removed by amotion of no confidence. The government, as a whole, must also have the confidence of the Parliament and must resign on a motion of no confidence. The government hascollective ministerial responsibility. Before the Prime Minister is elected, the parliamentary groups (which correspond to their respectivepolitical parties) negotiate on the government platform and on the composition of the government. On the basis of the outcome of these negotiations, and after having consulted the Speaker of the\",\n \"the Speaker of the house and the parliamentary groups, the President informs the Parliament of the nominee for Prime Minister. The parliament votes on the proposal, and if successful, the nominee is elected Prime Minister. Although Finland essentially always has multi-party coalition governments, the process is made smoother byparty discipline: coalition MPs vote together to ensure a majority. Sessions The annual session of parliament generally begins in February and consists of two terms, the first from January to June, the second from September to December. At the start of an annual session, the nation's political leaders and their guests attend a special worship service atHelsinki Cathedralbefore the ceremonies continue at the Parliament House, where the President formally opens the session. On the first day of each annual session, the Parliament selects a speaker and two deputy speakers from its members. This election is chaired by the oldest MP in office. The three members who are elected to serve as\",\n \"elected to serve as speaker and first deputy speaker and second deputy speaker respectively take the following solemn oath before the Parliament; \\\"I, , affirm that in my office as Speaker I will to the best of my ability defend the rights of the people, Parliament and the government of Finland according to the Constitution.\\\" During each annual session of Parliament, Finland's delegations to theNordic Counciland theCouncil of Europeare assigned. The Parliament also elects five of its members to the bench of the High Court of Impeachment for the duration of the parliamentary term. Committees The Parliament has 17 committees. Most committees have 17 permanent members, except for the Grand Committee, which has 25; the Finance Committee, which has 21; and the Audit and Intelligence Oversight Committees, which have 11 each. In addition to these permanent members, each of the committees has a number of substitute members. On average, each member of the Parliament is also a member of two committees. Most of the\",\n \"Most of the committees are special committees, while the Grand Committee deals with EU affairs, but also has a wider range of tasks. As Finland does not have a constitutional court, the role of the Constitutional Law Committee is to oversee constitutional affairs. The Committee for the Future is also noteworthy, as it does not usually deal with bills, but instead assesses factors relating to future developments and gives statements to other committees on issues relating to the future outlooks of their respective fields of speciality.The newest committee is the Intelligence Oversight Committee which was created in 2019. Proceedings Domestic legislation Most of the bills discussed in the parliament originate within the Council of State. However, any member or group of members may introduce a bill, but usually these will not pass the committee phase. A third way to propose legislation was introduced in 2012: citizens may deliver an initiative for the parliament's consideration, if the initiative gains 50,000\",\n \"gains 50,000 endorsements from eligible voters within a period of six months. When delivered to the parliament, the initiative is dealt with in the same way as any other bill.Any bill introduced will initially be discussed by the members of the Parliament, prior to being sent to the committee to which it belongs. If the bill concerns several areas of legislation, the Grand Committee will first ask the other committees for opinions. If there is any concern about the constitutionality of the bill, the opinion of the Constitutional Committee is demanded. The Constitutional Committee works in non-partisan manner and uses the most distinguished legal scholars as experts. If the committee considers the bill to have unconstitutional elements, the bill must either be passed as a constitutional change or changed to be in concordance with the constitution. In most cases, the latter route is chosen. The bills receive their final form in the parliamentary committees. The committees work behind closed doors but their\",\n \"doors but their proceedings are publicized afterwards. Usually the committees hear experts from special interest groups and various authorities after which they formulate the necessary changes to the bill in question. If the committee does not agree, the members in minority may submit their own version of the bill. The committee statement is discussed by the parliament in two consecutive sessions. In the first session, the parliament discusses the bill and prepares its final form. In the first part of handling, a general discussion of the bill is undertaken. After this, the parliament discusses individual points of the bill and chooses between the bill proposed by the committee, minority opinions and the eventual other forms the members submit during the discussion. If the parliament wishes to do so, it may during the general discussion of the first handling submit the bill to the Grand Committee for further formulation. The bill is also always treated by the Grand Committee if the parliament decides to\",\n \"decides to adopt any other form than the final opinion of the committee. The committee then formulates its own version of the bill and submits this to the parliament which then adopts either its former version or the version of the Grand Committee. The committee statements are influential documents in that they often used by the courts as indicative of the legislator's intent. In the second session, the final formulation of the bill is either passed or dismissed. If the bill entails a change in constitution, the second session takes place only after the next election unless the parliament decides to declare the matter to be urgent by a majority of five-sixths. In constitutional matters, the bills are passed by a majority of two-thirds. In other cases, the simple majority of votes given is enough. International treaties requiring changes to legislation are accepted by a simple majority in a single session. Treaties requiring changes to the constitution or changing the borders of Finland require a qualified\",\n \"require a qualified majority of two-thirds. EU legislation The matters relating to the jurisdiction of the European Union are decided by theCouncil of the European Unionand theEuropean Parliament. However, as changes to European legislation are being prepared, the Parliament participates actively in formulating the government's position on these changes. As the proceedings of the committees are public, European Union matters handled by the Parliament tend to become public after committee meetings. However, the government may ask the Parliament for a secret handling of an EU matter. This can be the case if the government does not want to reveal its position to foreign nations before the beginning of negotiations. European Union legislation under preparation is brought to the Grand Committee by the Finnish government when they have received notice of the proposal from theEuropean Commission. The Grand Committee discusses the matter behind closed doors, and if appropriate, requests opinions from the committees\",\n \"from the committees of the Parliament. Both the Grand Committee and the specialized committees hear expert opinions while preparing their opinions. Finally, the Grand Committee formulates its opinion of the proposal. However, in matters concerning theexternal relations of the European Union, the Finnish stance is formulated by the Committee for Foreign and Security Policy, rather than the Grand Committee. The Finnish government is obligated by law to follow the parliamentary opinion when discussing the matter with the European Commission and other member states. The government may change the Finnish stance, but it is required to report such changes to the Parliament immediately. After the European Union has made a legislative decision that is to be implemented by the Parliament, the matter is brought back to the parliament as with usual legislation. At this stage, the Finnish state is committed to passing a bill fulfilling the requirements demanded by the EU, and the Parliament must vote accordingly. Other\",\n \"accordingly. Other matters Every member of parliament has the right to ask the government written questions. The questions are answered in writing within 21 days by a minister responsible for the matter and do not cause any further discussion. Furthermore, the parliament has a questioning session from time to time. In these, the members are allowed to ask short verbal questions, which are answered by the responsible ministers and then discussed by the parliament. Any group of twenty members mayinterpellate. The motion ofcensuremay be for the whole government or any particular minister. The motion takes the form of a question that is replied to by the responsible minister. If the parliament decides to approve the motion of censure, the committee responsible for the matter in question formulates the motion, which is then passed by the parliament. The government may decide to make a report to the parliament in any matter. After discussion the parliament may either accept the report or pass a motion of censure.\",\n \"motion of censure. A passed motion of censure will cause the government to fall. Any group of 10 members may raise the question of the legality of the minister's official acts. If such question is raised, the Constitutional Committee will investigate the matter, using all the powers of police. After the final report of the committee, the parliament decides whether to charge the minister in theHigh Court of Impeachment. The criminal investigation of the Constitutional Committee may also be initiated by the Chancellor of Justice, ParliamentaryOmbudsmanor by any parliamentary committee. Similar proceedings may also be initiated against the Chancellor of Justice, Parliamentary Ombudsman or the judges of the supreme courts. The President of Finland may be also the target of a criminal investigation of the Constitutional Committee, but the parliament must accept the indictment by a majority of three-fourths and the charge must betreason,high treasonor acrime against humanity. Members of the Parliament Members of\",\n \"Members of the Parliament are notemployeesand cannot voluntarily resign or belaid off. They can be granted leave or dismissal only with the consent of the Parliament. Members of the Parliament enjoyparliamentary immunity. Without the parliament's approval, members may not be prosecuted for anything they say in session or otherwise do in the course of parliamentary proceedings. MPs may not be prevented from carrying out their work as members of parliament. They may be charged with crimes they have committed in office only if the parliament gives a permission to that end with a majority of five-sixths of given votes. For other crimes, they may be arrested or imprisoned only for crimes which carry a minimum punishment of six months in prison, unless the parliament gives permission to arrest the member. The members receive a monthly taxableremuneration(palkkio) of 7,137 €, which is raised to 7,494 € after four years of service and to 7,993 € after twelve years. It is not legally asalary. In addition, all MPs\",\n \"addition, all MPs automatically receive a tax-free compensation of expenses between 987 € and 1,809 € depending on the location of ones home. MPs from districts far from Helsinki can thus receive compensation for a second apartment in Helsinki.MPs may travel for free within the country by train, bus, or plane for purposes related to legislative work. Within theHelsinki metropolitan area, they may freely use taxis.Eduskunta is responsible for its own finances and the Minister of Finance is obliged to include their proposal to the state budget as is regardless of their own opinion. MPs are aided in their work by personal assistants, although there are fewer assistants than MPs and not every MP has one. Assistants are formally employed by the Parliamentary Office, but can be selected and directed by the MP. A member who is elected to theEuropean Parliamentmust choose between the two parliaments because a double mandate is not permissible. On the other hand, the members may have any municipal positions of trust,\",\n \"positions of trust, and it is common for them to have a position in a municipal council. If MPs leave the parliament or die in office, they are replaced by candidates from the same list they were elected from in the previous election, in order of their electoral score (theD'Hondt quotient). Those so selected are from asubstitutelist, the substitutes being named at the same time as the electoral results are announced. Finland does not have aby-electionsystem. The members have an unlimited right to discuss the matters at hand. However, they must behave in a \\\"solemn and dignified manner\\\" and refrain from personal insults. If the member breaks against this rule in the session of parliament, they may be interrupted by the speaker. Grave breaches of order may be punished by two weeks' suspension from office by the decision of the Parliament. If a member is convicted of an intentional crime for a term in prison or of an electoral crime to any punishment, the parliament may decide to dismiss the member if two-thirds\",\n \"if two-thirds of the votes given are for dismissal. The median age of MPs was 50 as of 2022, the oldest MP being 76 years (Erkki Tuomioja) and youngest 28 years (Iiris Suomela). 94 women were elected as MPs in the 2019 election (47%), though due to midterm replacements the number of female MPs dropped to 91 (45.5%). 8% of the population is born abroad, however there are only 4 current foreign-born MPs (2%),Bella Forsgrén(born in Ethiopia),Hussein al-Taee(born in Iraq),Suldaan Said Ahmed(born in Somalia) andAki Lindén(born in Denmark). 7% of MPs are Swedish-speakers, slightly higher than their proportion of the population (5.2%). Parliament House Before the construction of the Parliament House, the Parliament met in various different locations. TheDiet of Finland, the predecessor of the Parliament, wastetracameraland did not regularly meet together. TheDiet of Porvoo(1809) met in various buildings in Porvoo, with Borgå gymnasium as the main hall, the noble and burgher estates meeting in the town hall and the\",\n \"town hall and the peasants' estate in chief judge Orraeus' house. However, the Diet assembled only once and did not reconvene until 1863. In 1863, the Diet began regular meetings again, reconvening in theHouse of Nobility(Ritarikatu 1). This building still stands, but is no longer in governmental use. Whereas nobility continued to meet there, in 1891 a newHouse of the Estateswas inaugurated for the other estates (clergy, burghers and peasants). This building is today owned by the state and occasionally used by theGovernment of Finland. When the modern 200-member Parliament was founded in 1906, they first met in the local voluntary fire brigade house (Keskuskatu 7), because there was not enough space for them in the House of Estates. The fire brigade house was demolished in 1967 and replaced by the Helsinki World Trade Center building. In 1911, the Heimola House, a building designed by Onni Tarjanne, was inaugurated at Yliopistonkatu 5. This building was demolished in 1969 and replaced by a 9-story office\",\n \"by a 9-story office building. In 1923 a competition was held to choose a site for a new Parliament House. Arkadianmäki, a hill beside what is nowMannerheimintie, was chosen as the best site. An architectural competition was held in 1924, and it was won by the firm Borg–Sirén–Åberg with their proposal,Oratoribus.Johan Sigfrid Sirén(1889–1961), who was mainly responsible for preparing the proposal, was tasked with designing the Parliament House. The building was constructed 1926–1931 and was officially inaugurated on 7 March 1931.Ever since then, and especially during theWinter WarandContinuation War, it has been the scene of many key moments in the nation's political life. Parliament House was designed in the classic style of the 1920s. The exterior is reddish Kalvola granite. The façade is lined by fourteen columns with Corinthian capitals. The first floor contains the main lobby, the Speaker's reception rooms, the newspaper room, the Information Service, the Documents Office, the messenger centre, the\",\n \"centre, the copying room, and the restaurant and separate function rooms. At both ends of the lobby are marble staircases leading up to the fifth floor. The second or main floor is centered around the Chamber. Its galleries have seats for the public, the media and diplomats. Also located on this floor are the Hall of State, the Speaker's Corridor, the Government's Corridor, the cafeteria and adjacent function rooms. The third floor includes facilities for the Information Unit and the media and provides direct access to the press gallery overlooking the Session Hall. The Minutes Office and a number of committee rooms are also located here. The fourth floor is reserved for committees. Its largest rooms are the Grand Committee Room and the Finance Committee Room. The fifth floor contains meeting rooms and offices for the parliamentary groups. Additional offices for the parliamentary groups are located on the sixth floor, along with facilities for the media. Notable later additions to the building include the\",\n \"include the library annex, completed in 1978, and a separate office block, calledPikkuparlamentti, completed in 2004. The building underwent extensive renovations in the years 2007–2017 as part of the preparation for Finland's centennial independence celebration. Election results 2023 Result of the election held on 2 April 2023: See also References Sources External links\",\n \"Social Democratic Party of Finland TheSocial Democratic Party of Finland(Finnish:Suomen sosialidemokraattinen puolueFinnish pronunciation:,SDP, nicknamed:demaritin Finnish;Swedish:Finlands socialdemokratiska parti,SD) is asocial democraticpolitical party in Finland. It is the third largest party in theParliament of Finlandwith a total of 43 seats. Founded in 1899 as theWorkers' Party of Finland(Finnish:Suomen työväenpuolue; Swedish:Finlands arbetarparti), the SDP is Finland's oldest active political party and has a close relationship with theCentral Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions. It is also a member of theParty of European Socialists,Progressive AllianceandSocialist International. Following the resignation ofAntti Rinnein December 2019,Sanna Marinbecame the country's 46thprime minister. The SDP formed a newcoalition governmenton the basis of its predecessor, theRinne Cabinet, in effect continuing its cooperation with theCentre Party,Green League,Left AllianceandSwedish People's Party. Of the nineteen\",\n \"Of the nineteen ministerial spots that were decided upon in conjunction, seven of them were designated to the SDP in theMarin Cabinet.In September 2023,Antti Lindtmanwas elected as leader of the party following Marin's resignation after the2023 Finnish parliamentary election. History The party was founded as the Workers' Party of Finland in 1899, with its first meeting being held from 17–20 July inTurku. At the beginning of the 1900s the party presented demands as well as solutions to thetenant farmerquestion, the managing of employment, improvement ofworkers' rights,freedom of speechand an8-hour work day.In its 1903 second party conference inForssa, the party's name was renamed to the present form: Social Democratic Party of Finland, but theGrand Duchy of Finland's thengovernor-generalNikolay Bobrikovhad outlawed the SDP from using \\\"social democratic\\\" in their name before, but this ban was not followed on by the party members when the name was changed. At the same time, the at the time radicalForssa\",\n \"time radicalForssa Programmewas agreed upon, which served as the official party platform until 1952. The goals of the programme were as follows: an 8-hour workday, aminimum wage,universal compulsory educationandprohibition. TheForssa Programmeis based on theErfurt Programmeapproved by theSocial Democratic Party of Germanyin 1891 and theSocial Democratic Party of Austria's programme, respectively. Its immediate demands have been fulfilled, but the most significant and currently unfulfilled requirement is the right to vote directly on laws (direct democracy, as opposed torepresentative democracy)The demands on total separation of church and state, abolition ofreligious educationin all schools and the prohibition of alcohol have all since then been abandoned. The SDP was closely associated with theFinnish Trade Union Federation(SAJ), established in 1907, with all of its members also being members of the party.The party remained a chiefly extra-parliamentary movement untiluniversal suffragewas introduced in\",\n \"introduced in 1906, after which the SDP's share of the votes reached 47% in the1916 Finnish parliamentary election, when the party secured amajorityin the parliament, the only time in the history of Finland when one party has had such a majority. The party lost its majority in the1917 Finnish parliamentary electionafter theRussian Provisional Governmenthad rejected itsValtalaki 1917proposal and disbanded the Finnish government, starting a rebellion with the broader Finnish labour movement that quickly escalated into theFinnish Civil Warin 1918. SDP members declared Finland asocialist republic, but they were defeated by the forces of theWhite Guard. The war resulted in most of the party leaders being killed, imprisoned or left to seek refuge inSoviet Russia.In addition, the process leading to the civil war and the war itself had stripped the party of itspolitical legitimacyand respectability in the eyes of the right-wing majority. However, the political support for the party remained strong. In the1919\",\n \"strong. In the1919 Finnish parliamentary election, the party, reorganised byVäinö Tanner, received 80 of the 200 seats of the parliament. In 1918, former exiled SDP members founded theCommunist Party of Finland(SKP) in Moscow. Although the SKP was banned in Finland until 1944, it was represented by front organisations, leading to the support of the Finnish working class being divided between the SDP and the SKP. It became the life's work ofVäinö Tannerto re-establish the SDP as a serious, governing party. The result was a much more patriotic SDP which leaned less to the left and was relatively isolated from itsNordicsister parties, namely theDanish Social Democrats, theNorwegian Labour Partyand theSwedish Social Democratic Party. PresidentPehr Evind Svinhufvud's animosity kept the SDP out of government during his presidency from 1931 to 1937. With the exception of a brief period in 1926, when Tanner formed a minority government, the SDP was excluded from cabinet participation untilKyösti Kalliowas elected\",\n \"Kalliowas elected President in 1937. DuringWorld War II, the party played a central role in a series of broad coalition cabinets, symbolising national unity forged in response to the threat of theSoviet Unionin theWinter Warof 1939–1940. The SDP was a member of theLabour and Socialist Internationalfrom 1923 to 1940. During the first few months of theContinuation War(1941–1944), the country, the parliament and the cabinet were divided on the question of whether Finland's army should stop at the old border and thereby demonstratively refrain from any attempt of conquests. However, the country's dangerous position called for national unity and the SDP's leadership chose to refrain from any visible protests. This decision is sometimes indicated as one of the main reasons behind the post-war division between the main left-wing parties (the SKP and the SDP) and the high percentage of SKP voters in the first elections after the Continuation War. After the war, the SKP was allowed to continue working and the main\",\n \"and the main feature of Finnish political life during the 1944–1949 period was the competition between the SDP and the SKP, both for voters and for the control of the labour unions. During this time, the political field was divided roughly equally between the SDP, the SKP and theAgrarian League, each party commanding some 25% of the vote. In the post-war era, the SDP adopted a line of defending Finnish sovereignty and democracy in line with the Agrarian League and otherbourgeoispolitical parties, finally leading to the expulsion of the SKP from the cabinet in 1948. As a result, the Soviet Union remained more openly critical towards the SDP than the centre-right parties. Because of the SDP'santi-communism, the United StatesCentral Intelligence Agencysupported the party by means of funds laundered through Nordic sister parties or through organisations that bought luxury goods such as coffee abroad, then imported and sold them for a high profit as post-warrationingserved to inflate prices. In the1956 Finnish\",\n \"In the1956 Finnish presidential election, the SDP candidateKarl-August Fagerholmlost by only one electoral vote toUrho Kekkonen. Fagerholm would act as Prime Minister in theFagerholm II Cabinet(1956–1957) and theFagerholm III Cabinet(1958–1959). The latter cabinet was forced to resign due to Soviet pressure, leading to a series of cabinets led by the Agrarian League. In 1958, due to the election ofVäinö Tanneras party chairman, a faction of the SDP resigned and formed theSocial Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders(TPSL) around the former SDP chairmanEmil Skog. The dispute was over several issues, namely whether the party should function as an interest group and whether it should co-operate with the anti-communists and right-wingers or with president Kekkonen, the Agrarian League and the SKP. During the 1960s, the TPSL dwindled, its members returning one by one to the SDP or joining the SKP, with Skog himself returning to the SDP in 1965. In the1970 Finnish parliamentary election, the TPSL failed to\",\n \"the TPSL failed to gain any seats in parliament. Only in 1966 was the SDP able to satisfy the Soviet Union about its friendly attitude towards it and could thus return to the cabinet. Since then, the SDP has been represented in most Finnish cabinets, often cooperating with thecentrist-agrarianCentre Party (formerly the Agrarian League), but sometimes with theliberal-conservativeNational Coalition Party. The SDP was in opposition from 1991 to 1995, when the main parties in the cabinet were the Centre Party and theNational Coalition Party(NCP). The1995 Finnish parliamentary electionsaw a landslide victory for the SDP, achieving their best results sinceWorld War II. The SDP rose to government from the opposition and leaderPaavo Lipponenheaded two consecutive cabinets from 1995 to 2003. During this time, the party adopted apro-Europeanstance and contributed actively to the Finnish membership in the European Union in 1995 in concert with the cabinet. In the2003 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP won 53 of\",\n \"the SDP won 53 of the 200 seats, ending up a close second to the Centre Party. As a result, Lipponen became theSpeaker of Parliamentand the Centre Party leaderAnneli Jäätteenmäkibecame the newPrime Minister, leading acoalition cabinetthat included the SDP which got eight ministerial posts. After two months in office, Jäätteenmäki resigned due to a scandal relating to theIraq leakand was replaced byMatti Vanhanen, another Centre Party representative, who commanded theVanhanen I Cabinet. In the2007 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP gained the third-most votes. The chairman of the then-largest Centre Party, Matti Vanhanen, became the Prime Minister and formed acoalition cabinetconsisting of theGreen League, the NCP and theSwedish People's Party of Finland(SPP), leaving the SDP to the opposition. SDP leaderEero Heinäluomadid not immediately resign as party chairman, but he did announce his withdrawal from running for party chairman in the following party conference. He was replaced byJutta Urpilainen. The\",\n \"Urpilainen. The SDP suffered further losses in the2008 Finnish municipal electionsand the2009 European Parliament election. In the2011 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP lost three more seats, ending up with 19.1 percent of the vote which corresponded to 42 seats, the party's worst-ever result. However, as the Centre Party lost even more voters, the SDP became the second-largest party in the country after the NCP, receiving only some 1,500 votes more than theFinns Partywhich came in third. After lengthy negotiations, a six-party coalition government, theKatainen Cabinet, was formed with the NCP and the SDP as the two main parties. SDP leader Jutta Urpilainen became the cabinet'sMinister of Finance, with NCP chairmanJyrki Katainenserving as Prime Minister. In the 2014 party conference, Urpilainen was narrowly defeated by her challengerAntti Rinnein a 257 to 243 vote.Urpilainen subsequently stepped down as the Minister of Finance, passing the seat on to Rinne.In the2015 Finnish parliamentary election, the\",\n \"election, the drop of support continued for the SDP. The party lost eight more seats compared to the 2011 parliamentary election, ending up with 34 seats and 16.5 percent of the vote. With the repeat of the worst-ever result, the SDP dropped to being the fourth largest political party in Finland, receiving 50,110 fewer votes than the NCP, yet 237,000 more votes than the Green League. The SDP was left in the opposition and provided extensive criticism on the actions of theSipilä Cabineton matters such as alcohol policy, cuts to education spending and the so-called active model.On 22 June 2016,Maria Tolppanen, a Finns Party representative, joined the SDP. This increased the SDP's parliamentary seat number to 35. In the2019 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP gained 6 seats in comparison to the 2015 parliamentary election and became the largest party in the parliament.Based on the answers and initial talks with all parties,Rinneannounced that he would negotiate forming a government with theCentre Party,\",\n \"theCentre Party, theGreen League, theLeft Allianceand theSwedish People's Party.The negotiations were ultimately successful and theRinne Cabinetwas formally inaugurated on 6 June 2019.On 3 December 2019, Rinne resigned as Prime Minister after the Centre Party had expressed a lack of confidence in Rinne for his handling of the events surrounding a postal strike in Finland.He was followed in the position bySanna Marin, who was appointed as Prime Minister on 10 December 2019. Ideology The SDP is a centre-leftsocial-democraticparty. In its 2020 declaration of principles the party's ideals and priorities are:sustainable development,all-encompassing equality,peace,solidarity,freedom,co-operation,a clean and pristine environmenttogether withdemocratic socialism. The SDP also embraceshumanism's values as well as theNordic model's accomplishments. In the 1900s, the party known as theFinnish Workers' Partywas founded on the basis ofsocial issues, class andsocialism. SDP was the only political party in Finland for a\",\n \"in Finland for a long time. In 1907, the SDP was the strongest socialist party in Europe, as evidenced by the qualified majority in theSenate of Finlandin 1917. At the beginning of the 20th century, the party received its main support from groups of thelandless populationand therural population. In 1919, at the SDP's meeting, a split was made with the radical communists, as a result of which they broke away and founded theSSTP. As a result of thecivil warand theOctober Revolution, the workers' movement became even more divided. Up untilRussia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine,the party opposed on joiningNATOand instead preferred to remain in thePartnership for Peace. The SDP is in favour ofqueer rights, the construction ofnuclear power plants, the conservation ofSwedishas one of Finland's twoofficial languagesand the increasing of funding given by the state topublic schoolsand universities.The party is advocating for Finland to become coal-free by 2030.The SDP had advocated for policies preventing foreigners from\",\n \"foreigners from outside the EU from working in Finland,but has since then softened its positions on immigration and has come to support certain immigration reforms. In its 2023 parliamentaryelection programmeits self-declared goal was the increasing of work-based immigration coming to Finland as a way of responding to the country's labour shortage and lowbirth rate.In 2023, the SDP, along with theNCP, both criticised theFinns Partyfor their lack of willingness to the easing ofwork permitrequirements to foreigners coming from outside the European Union. The party opposed certain economic reforms both in the2011 Finnish parliamentary electionand in the subsequent negotiations about the government programme.The SDP maintains a close relationship with trade unions. The party has opposed social reforms that would reduce the role of earnings-related unemployment benefits. The government pays the benefits to recipients through financial middlemen that are almost exclusively trade unions.The SDP also supports\",\n \"SDP also supports theseparation of church and state. Controversies The SDP's politicians, among several other finnish political parties' members, have received criticism about their connections with the Russians for years by some of the media and academics, for example, SDP politiciansEero Heinäluoma,Paavo Lipponen,Erkki Tuomioja, Antton Rönnholm andTarja Halonenhave all had past connections to Russia. In 2005, according to Halonen, Russia's goals were: \\\"...democracy, human rights and good governance.\\\"9 years later, in 2014 afterRussia annexed Crimea, Halonen thought that Russia should not have been punished by sanctions or isolation. SDP's former party secretary Antton Rönnholm has also taken his part. Through hisconsulting firm's servicesoffered toGazprom, he sent an invoice for almost 200,000 euros to them for assisting in theSouth Stream gas pipeline project. More than half of Gazprom is owned by the Russian state, and it is partly used as a geopolitical tool in Europe and the rest of the world. In\",\n \"of the world. In February 2022, politicianErkki Tuomiojapublished a work with the title \\\"Finland and NATO – Why Finland should have the opportunity to apply for NATO membership and why that opportunity should not be used now\\\". In his work Tuomioja estimated that Russia was viewed rather unanalytically. Also in February 2022, when Russia had already been pressuring Ukraine for a long time, the social democraticMEPEero HeinäluomaandMauri Pekkarinenfrom theCentre Partyboth said in a Finnish current affairs television programme that preparing for the Russian threat was part of the problem. According to Heinäluoma, placing defensive armaments in Russia's neighbouring countries was instead a threat to Russia. Paavo Lipponenhas lobbied for and been a consultant for Russia'sNord Streamproject since 2008.That year,Russia went to war against Georgia, which marked the start of Putin's foreign policy's aggresiveness.In a report of theEuropean Parliament'sspecial committeein 2022, former Social Democratic Party and\",\n \"Party and Centre Party prime ministers Lipponen andEsko Ahowere said to be among the European politicians that Russia and China had hijacked to promote their interests.Some current SDP politicians have therefore built their careers by appeasing Russia. However, in 2023, during the premiership of former Social Democratic PartychairSanna Marin, Finland officially joinedNATO. In September 2023, whenAntti Lindtmangot electedchairof the SDP, a scandal broke out due to him in hisadolescent years, posing near four other naked young adults, nude, wearing apointed hatin the style of achristmas elf, covered by abalaclavaand with anairsoft gunin hand. While two others were doing anazi salutein the same picture. Because of this, Lindtman was accused of being a nazi. He responded by stating that the image had been taken during his time in a high school film group by the name of \\\"Team Paha, English: Team Bad\\\" in aPikkujouluparty while they were messing around and firmly denied the allegation of being anational socialist.\",\n \"socialist. Theparty secretary,Mikkel Näkkäläjärvi's, nomination and subsequent appointment to his role during the SDP's 2023conferenceinJyväskyläwas criticised because of his criminal background. In 2011 he haddriven a car while under the presence of alcohol, and was charged with a 30-daysuspended sentenceand an accompanying fine. Näkkäläjärvi had also broken into a retired old lady'ssummer cottageas a 15-year-old teenager with three others around the same age as him and participated in the killing and burning of a grown-up cat in abonfire. Following this, he was charged with burglary, vandalism andanimal crueltyas a young person. Näkkäläjärvi has apologised for all of his past misdeeds. Voter base The average age of an SDP member is 61.5 years.Over one half of all SDP voters are active members of the workforce. Organization Symbols, logos and posters Party Leaders Prominent members Election results Parliament of Finland Municipal European Parliament Presidential elections Indirect Direct See also Notes\",\n \"See also Notes References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":70,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"According to the population data in their respective Wikipedia articles in August 2024, what is the difference between the population of Seattle, WA, and Portland, OR, according to the data from 2020?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"84,512"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland,_Oregon"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Numerical reasoning | Tabular reasoning"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland,_Oregon']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland,_Oregon"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland,_Oregon\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["Seattle Seattle(/siˈætəl/ⓘsee-AT-əl) is aseaportcity on theWest Coast of the United States. It is theseatofKing County,Washington. With a 2023 population of 755,078it is themost populous cityin both thestateof Washington and thePacific Northwestregion ofNorth America, and the18th-most populous cityin the United States. TheSeattle metropolitan area's population is 4.02 million, making it the15th-largestin the United States.Its growth rate of 21.1% between 2010 and 2020 made it one of the country's fastest-growing large cities. Seattle is situated on anisthmusbetweenPuget Sound, an inlet of thePacific Ocean, andLake Washington. It is the northernmost major city in the United States, located about 100 miles (160 km) south of theCanadian border. A gateway for trade withEast Asia, thePort of Seattleis the fourth-largest port in North America in terms of container handling as of 2021. The Seattle area has been inhabited byNative Americans(such as theDuwamish, who had at least 17 villages around Elliot Bay) for at least 4,000 years before the first permanent European settlers.Arthur A. Dennyand his group of travelers, subsequently known as theDenny Party, arrived fromIllinoisviaPortland, Oregon, on theschoonerExactatAlki Pointon November 13, 1851.The settlement was moved to the eastern shore ofElliott Bayin 1852 and named \"Seattle\" in honor of ChiefSeattle, a prominent 19th-century leader of the localDuwamishandSuquamishtribes. Seattle currently has high populations of Native Americans alongside Americans with strong Asian, African, European, and Scandinavian ancestry, and, as of 2015, hoststhe fifth-largest LGBT communityin the U.S. Loggingwas Seattle's first major industry, but by the late 19th century the city had become a commercial and shipbuilding center as a gateway toAlaskaduring theKlondike Gold Rush. The city grew afterWorld War II, partly due to the localBoeingcompany, which established Seattle as a center for its manufacturing of aircraft. Beginning in the 1980s, the Seattle area developed into atechnology center;Microsoftestablished its headquarters in the region. In 1994, Internet retailerAmazonwas founded in Seattle, andAlaska Airlinesis based inSeaTac, Washington, servingSeattle–Tacoma International Airport, Seattle's international airport. The stream of new software,biotechnology, and Internet companies led to an economic revival, which increased the city's population by almost 50,000 in the decade between 1990 and 2000. The culture of Seattle is heavily defined by itssignificant musical history. Between 1918 and 1951, nearly 24jazznightclubs existed along Jackson Street, from the currentChinatown/International Districtto theCentral District. The jazz scene nurtured the early careers ofErnestine Anderson,Ray Charles,Quincy Jones, and others. In the late 20th and early 21st century, the city also was the origin of severalrockbands, includingFoo Fighters,Heart, andJimi Hendrix, and the subgenre ofgrungeand its pioneering bands, includingAlice in Chains,Nirvana,Pearl Jam,Soundgarden, and others. History Archaeological excavationssuggest thatNative Americanshave inhabited the Seattle area for at least 4,000 years.By the time the first European settlers arrived, theDuwamish peopleoccupied at least 17 villages in the areas aroundElliott Bay.The name for the modern city of Seattle inLushootseed,dᶻidᶻəlal̓ič, meaning \"little crossing-over place\", comes from one of these villages, which was located at the present-dayKing Street Station. In May 1792,George Vancouverwas the first European to visit the Seattle area during his1791–1795 expeditionfor theRoyal Navy, which sought to chart thePacific Northwestfor the British. 19th century In 1851, a large party ofAmerican pioneersled by Luther Collins made a location on land at the mouth of theDuwamish River; they formally claimed it on September 14, 1851.Thirteen days later, members of the Collins Party on the way to their claim passed three scouts of the Denny Party.Members of the Denny Party claimed land onAlki Pointon September 28, 1851.The rest of the Denny Party set sail on theschoonerExactfromPortland, Oregon, stopping inAstoria, and landed at Alki Point during a rainstorm on November 13, 1851.After a difficult winter, most of the Denny Party relocated across Elliott Bay and claimed land a second time at the site of present-dayPioneer Square,naming this new settlementDuwamps. Charles Terry and John Low remained at the original landing location, reestablished their old land claim and called it \"New York\", but renamed \"New York Alki\" in April 1853, from aChinookword meaning, roughly, \"by and by\" or \"someday\".For the next few years, New York Alki and Duwamps competed for dominance, but in time Alki was abandoned and its residents moved across the bay to join the rest of the settlers. David Swinson \"Doc\" Maynard, one of the founders of Duwamps, was the primary advocate to name the settlement Seattle afterChief Seattle(Lushootseed:siʔaɫ, anglicized as \"Seattle\"), chief of the Duwamish andSuquamishtribes. The name \"Seattle\" appears on officialWashington Territorypapers dated May 23, 1853, when the first plats for the village were filed. In 1855, nominal land settlements were established. On January 14, 1865, the Legislature of Territorial Washington incorporated the Town of Seattle with aboard of trusteesmanaging the city. The Town of Seattle was disincorporated on January 18, 1867, and remained a mere precinct of King County until late 1869, when a new petition was filed and the city was re-incorporated December 2, 1869, with amayor–council government.The corporate seal of the City of Seattle carries the date \"1869\" and a likeness of Chief Seattle in left profile.That same year, Seattle acquired the epithet of the \"Queen City\", a designation officially changed in 1982 to the \"Emerald City\". Seattle has a history of boom-and-bust cycles, like many other cities near areas of extensive natural and mineral resources. Seattle has risen several times economically, then gone into precipitous decline, but it has typically used those periods to rebuild solid infrastructure. The first such boom, covering the early years of the city, rode on the lumber industry. During this period the road now known asYesler Waywon the nickname \"Skid Road\", supposedly after the timber skidding down the hill toHenry Yesler's sawmill. The later dereliction of the area may be a possible origin for the term which later entered the wider American lexicon asSkid Row.Like much of theU.S. West, Seattle experienced onflicts between labor and management and ethnic tensions that culminated in theanti-Chinese riots of 1885–1886.This violence originated with unemployed whites who were determined to drive the Chinese from Seattle; anti-Chinese riots also occurred inTacoma. Seattle had achieved sufficient economic success when theGreat Seattle Fireof 1889 destroyed the central business district. However, a far grander city center rapidly emerged in its place.Finance companyWashington Mutual, for example, was founded in the immediate wake of the fire.ThePanic of 1893hit Seattle hard. The second and most dramatic boom resulted from theKlondike Gold Rush, which ended the depression that had begun with thePanic of 1893. In a short time, Seattle became a major transportation center. On July 14, 1897, theS.S. Portlanddocked with its famed \"ton of gold\", and Seattle became the main transport and supply point for the miners inAlaskaand theYukon. Few of those working men found lasting wealth. However, it was Seattle's business of clothing the miners and feeding them salmon that panned out in the long run. Along with Seattle, other cities likeEverett,Tacoma,Port Townsend,Bremerton, andOlympia, all in the Puget Sound region, became competitors for exchange, rather thanmother lodesfor extraction, of precious metals. 20th century The boom lasted into the early part of the 20th century, and funded many new Seattle companies and products. In 1907, 19-year-oldJames E. Caseyborrowed $100 from a friend and founded theAmerican Messenger Company(laterUPS). Other Seattle companies founded during this period includeNordstromandEddie Bauer.Seattle brought in theOlmsted Brotherslandscape architecture firm to design a system of parks and boulevards. The Gold Rush era culminated in theAlaska–Yukon–Pacific Expositionof 1909, which is largely responsible for the layout of today'sUniversity of Washingtoncampus. Ashipbuildingboom in the early part of the 20th century became massive duringWorld War I, making Seattle somewhat of a company town. The subsequent retrenchment led to theSeattle General Strike of 1919, an earlygeneral strikein the country.A 1912 city development plan byVirgil Boguewent largely unused. Seattle was mildly prosperous in the 1920s but was particularly hard hit in the Great Depression, experiencing some of the country's harshest labor strife in that era. Violence during theMaritime Strike of 1934cost Seattle much of its maritime traffic, which was rerouted to thePort of Los Angeles. TheGreat Depressionin Seattle affected many minority groups, one being the Asian Pacific Americans; they were subject to racism, loss of property, and failed claims of unemployment due to citizenship status. Seattle was one of the major cities that benefited from programs such as theWorks Progress Administration,CCC,Public Works Administration, and others.The workers, mostly men, built roads, parks, dams, schools, railroads, bridges, docks, and even historical and archival record sites and buildings. Seattle faced significant unemployment, loss of lumber and construction industries asLos Angelesprevailed as the biggerWest Coastcity. Seattle had building contracts that rivaledNew York CityandChicago, but also lost to Los Angeles. Seattle's eastern farm land faded due toOregon's and theMidwest's, forcing people into town. Hoovervillearose during the Depression, leading to Seattle's growing homeless population. Stationed outside Seattle, the Hooverville housed thousands of men but very few children and no women. With work projects close to the city, Hooverville grew and the WPA settled into the city. A movement of women arose from Seattle during theGreat Depression, fueled in part byEleanor Roosevelt's 1933 bookIt's Up to the Women; women pushed for recognition, not just as housewives, but as the backbone to family. Using newspapers and journalsWorking WomanandThe Woman Today, women pushed to be seen as equal and receive some recognition. The Great Depression did not impact theUniversity of Washingtonnegatively. As schools across Washington lost funding and attendance, the university actually prospered during the time period as they focused on growing their student enrollment. WhileSeattle public schoolswere influenced by Washington's superintendent Worth McClure,they still struggled to pay teachers and maintain attendance. Seattle was the home base of impresarioAlexander Pantageswho, starting in 1902, opened a number of theaters in the city exhibitingvaudevilleacts and silent movies. He went on to become one of America's greatest theater and movie tycoons. Scottish-born architectB. Marcus Pritecadesigned several theaters for Pantages in Seattle, which were later demolished or converted to other uses. Seattle's survivingParamount Theatre, on which he collaborated, was not a Pantages theater. War work again brought local prosperity duringWorld War II, centered on the production ofBoeingaircraft. The war dispersed the city's numerous Japanese-American businessmen due to theJapanese American internment. After the World War II, however, the local economy dipped. It rose again with Boeing's growing dominance in the commercialairlinermarket.Seattle celebrated its restored prosperity and made a bid for world recognition with theCentury 21 Exposition, the1962 World's Fair, for which theSpace Needlewas built. Another major local economic downturn was in the late 1960s and early 1970s, at a time when Boeing was heavily affected by theoil crises, loss of government contracts, and costs and delays associated with theBoeing 747. Many people left the area to look for work elsewhere, and two local real estate agents put up a billboard reading \"Will the last person leaving Seattle – Turn out the lights.\" Seattle remained the corporate headquarters of Boeing until 2001, when the company separated its headquarters from its major production facilities; the headquarters were moved to Chicago.The Seattle area is still home to Boeing'sRenton narrow-body plantandEverett wide-body plant.The company'scredit unionfor employees,BECU, remains based in the Seattle area and has been open to all residents of Washington since 2002. On March 20, 1970, twenty-eight people were killed when the Ozark Hotel was burned by an unknown arsonist.TheWah Mee massacrein 1983 resulted in the killing of 13 people in an illegal gambling club in theSeattle Chinatown-International District. Prosperity began to return in the 1980s beginning withMicrosoft's 1979 move fromAlbuquerque, New Mexico, to nearbyBellevue, Washington. Seattle and its suburbs became home to a number of technology companies, includingAmazon,F5 Networks,RealNetworks,Nintendo of America, andT-Mobile.This success brought an influx of new residents with a population increase within city limits of almost 50,000 between 1990 and 2000,and saw Seattle's real estate become some of the most expensive in the country. Seattle in this period attracted attention as home to the companies opened operations in or around the city. In 1990, theGoodwill Gameswere held in the city.Three years later, in 1993, theAPECleaders was hosted in Seattle.The 1990s also witnessed a growing popularity ingrungemusic, a sound that was largely developed in Seattle's independent music scene. In 1993, the movieSleepless in Seattlebrought the city further national attention,as did the television sitcomFrasier. Thedot-com boomcaused a great frenzy among the technology companies in Seattle but the bubble ended in early 2001. In 1999, theWorld Trade Organizationheld its conference in Seattle, which was met withprotest activity. The protests and police reactions to them largely overshadowed the conference itself. 21st century In 2001, the city was impacted by theMardi Gras Riotsand then by theNisqually earthquakethe following day. Another boom began as the city emerged from theGreat Recession, commencing whenAmazonmoved its headquarters from NorthBeacon HilltoSouth Lake Union. The move initiated a historic construction boom which resulted in the completion of almost 10,000 apartments in Seattle in 2017, more than any previous year and nearly twice as many as were built in 2016. From 2010 to 2015, Seattle gained an average of 14,511 residents per year, with the growth strongly skewed toward the center of the city,and unemployment dropped from roughly 9 percent to 3.6 percent.The city has found itself \"bursting at the seams\", with over 45,000 households spending more than half their income on housing andat least 2,800 people homeless, and with the country's sixth-worst rush-hour traffic. Geography Topography Seattle is located between the saltwaterPuget Sound(an arm of the Pacific Ocean) to the west andLake Washingtonto the east. The city's chief harbor,Elliott Bay, is part of Puget Sound, making the city an oceanic port. To the west, beyond Puget Sound, are theKitsap PeninsulaandOlympic Mountainson theOlympic Peninsula; to the east, beyond Lake Washington and theEastsidesuburbs, areLake Sammamishand theCascade Range. Lake Washington's waters flow to Puget Sound through theLake Washington Ship Canal(consisting of two man-made canals,Lake Union, and theHiram M. Chittenden LocksatSalmon Bay, ending inShilshole Bayon Puget Sound). The sea, rivers, forests, lakes, and fields surrounding Seattle were once rich enough to support one of the world's few sedentaryhunter-gatherersocieties. In modern times the surrounding area lends itself well to sailing, skiing, bicycling, camping, and hiking year-round. The city is hilly in some places.Like Rome, the city is said to lie onseven hills;the lists vary but typically includeCapitol Hill,First Hill,West Seattle,Beacon Hill,Queen Anne, Magnolia, and the formerDenny Hill. TheWallingford,Delridge,Mount Baker,Seward Park,Washington Park,Broadmoor,Madrona,Phinney Ridge,Sunset Hill,Blue Ridge,Broadview,Laurelhurst,Hawthorne Hills,Maple Leaf, andCrown Hillneighborhoods are all located on hills. Many of the hilliest areas are near the city center, with Capitol Hill, First Hill, and Beacon Hill collectively constituting something of a ridge along an isthmus between Elliott Bay and Lake Washington.The break in the ridge between First Hill and Beacon Hill is man-made, a result of two of the manyregrading projectsthat reshaped the topography of the city center.The topography of the city center was also changed by the construction of aseawalland the artificialHarbor Island(completed 1909) at the mouth of the city's industrialDuwamish Waterway, the terminus of theGreen River. The highest point within city limits is atHigh Pointin West Seattle, which is located near 35th Ave SW and SW Myrtle St. North of the city center, the Lake Washington Ship Canal connects Puget Sound to Lake Washington. It incorporates four natural bodies of water:Lake Union,Salmon Bay,Portage Bay, andUnion Bay. Due to its location in thePacific Ring of Fire, Seattle is in a majorearthquake zone. On February 28, 2001, themagnitude 6.8Nisqually earthquakedid significant architectural damage, especially in thePioneer Squarearea (built onreclaimed land, as are theIndustrial Districtand part of the city center), and caused one fatality.Other strong earthquakes occurred onJanuary 26, 1700(estimated at 9 magnitude),December 14, 1872(7.3 or 7.4),April 13, 1949(7.1),and April 29, 1965 (6.5).The1965 quakecaused three deaths in Seattle directly and one more by heart failure.Although theSeattle Faultpasses just south of the city center, neither itnor theCascadia subduction zonehas caused an earthquake since the city's founding. The Cascadia subduction zone poses the threat of an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 or greater, capable of seriously damaging the city and collapsing many buildings, especially in zones built on fill. According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 142.5 square miles (369 km2),84 square miles (220 km2) of which is land and 58.1 square miles (150 km2) is water (41% of the total area). Cityscape Climate According to theKöppen climate classificationsystem, Seattle has a warm-summerMediterranean climate(Csb),while under theTrewarthasystem, it is labeled anoceanic climate(Do).It has cool, wet winters and mild, relatively dry summers, covering characteristics of both climate types.The climate is sometimes characterized as a \"modified Mediterranean\" climate because it is cooler and wetter than a \"true\" Mediterranean climate, but shares the characteristic dry summer (which has a strong influence on the region's vegetation). Temperature extremes are moderated by the adjacentPuget Sound, greaterPacific Ocean, andLake Washington. Thus extremeheat wavesare rare in the Seattle area, as are very cold temperatures (below about 15 °F; −9 °C). The Seattle area is the cloudiest region of theContinental United States, due in part to frequent storms andlowsmoving in from the adjacent Pacific Ocean. Seattle is cloudy 201 days out of the year and partly cloudy 93 days.With many more \"rain days\" than other major American cities, Seattle has a well-earned reputation for frequent rain:In an average year, there are 150 days in which at least 0.01 inches (0.25 mm) of precipitation falls, more days than in nearly all U.S. cities east of theRocky Mountains.However, because it often has merely a light drizzle falling from the sky for many days, Seattle actually receives significantly less rainfall (or other precipitation) overall than many other major U.S. cities likeNew York City,Miami, orHouston. Demographics According to the 2012–2016American Community Survey(ACS), the racial makeup of the city was 65.7%White Non-Hispanic, 16.9%Asian, 6.8%Black or African American, 6.6%HispanicorLatinoof any race, 0.4%Native American, 0.9%Pacific Islander, 0.2% other races, and 5.6%two or more races. Seattle's population historically has been predominantly white.The 2010 census showed that Seattle was one of the whitest big cities in the country, although its proportion of white residents has been gradually declining.In 1960, whites constituted 91.6% of the city's population,while in 2010 they constituted 69.5%.According to the 2006–2008American Community Survey, approximately 78.9% of residents over the age of five spoke only English at home. Those who spokeAsian languagesother than Indo-European languages made up 10.2% of the population, Spanish was spoken by 4.5% of the population, speakers of otherIndo-European languagesmade up 3.9%, and speakers of other languages made up 2.5%. Seattle's foreign-born population grew 40% between the 1990 and 2000 censuses.TheChinesepopulation in the Seattle area has origins inmainland China, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, andTaiwan. The earliest Chinese-Americans that came in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were almost entirely fromGuangdong Province. The Seattle area is also home to a largeVietnamesepopulation of more than 55,000 residents,as well as over 30,000Somaliimmigrants.The Seattle-Tacoma area is also home to one of the largestCambodiancommunities in the United States, numbering about 19,000 Cambodian Americans,and one of the largestSamoancommunities in the mainland U.S., with over 15,000 people having Samoan ancestry.Additionally, the Seattle area had the highest percentage of self-identified mixed-race people of any large metropolitan area in the United States, according to the 2000 United States Census Bureau.According to a 2012HistoryLinkstudy, Seattle's 98118 ZIP code (in the Columbia City neighborhood) was one of the most diverse ZIP Code Tabulation Areas in the United States. According to the ACS 1-year estimates, in 2018, the median income of a city household was $93,481, and the median income for a family was $130,656.11.0% of the population and 6.6% of families were below the poverty line. Of people living in poverty, 11.4% were under the age of 18 and 10.9% were 65 or older.According to a 2024 study byHenley & Partners, the city of Seattle has an estimated 54,200 millionaires and 11 billionaires. It is estimated that King County has 8,000 homeless people on any given night, and many of those live in Seattle.In September 2005, King County adopted a \"Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness\", one of the near-term results of which is a shift of funding fromhomeless shelterbeds to permanent housing. In recent years, the city has experienced steady population growth, and has been faced with the issue of accommodating more residents. In 2006, after growing by 4,000 citizens per year for the previous 16 years, regional planners expected the population of Seattle to grow by 200,000 people by 2040.However, former mayor Greg Nickels supported plans that would increase the population by 60%, or 350,000 people, by 2040 and worked on ways to accommodate this growth while keeping Seattle's single-family housing zoning laws.The Seattle City Council later voted to relax height limits on buildings in the greater part of Downtown, partly with the aim to increase residential density in the city center.As a sign of increasing downtown core growth, theDowntownpopulation crested to over 60,000 in 2009, up 77% since 1990. In 2021 Seattle experienced its first population decline in 50 years. Seattle has a relatively high number of adults living alone. According to the 2000 U.S. Census interim measurements of 2004, Seattle has the fifth highest proportion of single-person households nationwide among cities of 100,000 or more residents, at 40.8%. Sexual orientation and gender identity Seattle has a notably largelesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendercommunity. According to a 2006 study byUCLA, 12.9% of city residents polled identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. This was the second-highest proportion of any major U.S. city, behindSan Francisco.Greater Seattle also ranked second among major U.S. metropolitan areas, with 6.5% of the population identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual.According to 2012 estimates from the United States Census Bureau, Seattle has the highest percentage of same-sex households in the United States, at 2.6 percent, surpassing San Francisco (2.5 percent).TheCapitol Hilldistrict has historically been the center of LGBT culture in Seattle. Economy Seattle's economy is driven by a mix of older industrial companies and new-economy internet and technology companies, as well as service, design, andclean technologycompanies. The city's gross metropolitan product (GMP) was $231 billion in 2010, making it the11th-largest metropolitan economyin the United States.ThePort of Seattle, which also operatesSeattle–Tacoma International Airport, is a major gateway for trade with Asia and cruises to Alaska. It also is the 8th-largest port in the United States when measured by container capacity. Its maritime cargo operations merged with thePort of Tacomain 2015 to form theNorthwest Seaport Alliance. Although it was impacted by theGreat Recession, Seattle has retained a comparatively strong economy, and is noted for start-up businesses, especially in green building and clean technologies.In February 2010, the city government committed Seattle to become North America's first \"climate neutral\" city, with a goal of reaching net-zero per-capita greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Large companies continue to dominate the business landscape. Seven companies onFortune500's 2022 list of the United States' largest companies (based on total revenue) are headquartered in Seattle: Internet retailerAmazon(#2), coffee chainStarbucks(#120), freight forwarderExpeditors International of Washington(#225), department storeNordstrom(#245), forest products companyWeyerhaeuser(#354), online travel companyExpedia Group(#404), and real-estate tech companyZillow(#424) .Other Fortune 500 companies commonly associated with Seattle are based in nearby Puget Sound cities. Warehouse club chainCostco(#11), the largest retail company in Washington, is based inIssaquah.Microsoft(#14) is located inRedmond. Furthermore, Bellevue is home to truck manufacturerPaccar(#151).Other major companies headquartered in the area includeNintendo of Americain Redmond,T-Mobile USin Bellevue, andProvidence Health & Services(the state's largest health care system and fifth-largest employer) inRenton. The city has a reputation for heavycoffee consumption;coffee companies founded or based in Seattle include Starbucks,Seattle's Best Coffee,andTully's.There are also many successful independent artisanal espresso roasters and cafés. Before moving its headquarters toChicagoand then ultimatelyArlington County, Virginia, aerospace manufacturerBoeing(#60) was the largest company based in Seattle. Its largest division,Boeing Commercial Airplanes, is still headquartered within the Puget Sound region.The company also has large aircraft manufacturing plants in Everett and Renton; it remains the largest private employer in the Seattle metropolitan area.In 2006 former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels announced a desire to spark a new economic boom driven by thebiotechnologyindustry. Major redevelopment of theSouth Lake Unionneighborhood is underway in an effort to attract new and established biotech companies to the city, joining biotech companiesCorixa(acquired byGlaxoSmithKline), Immunex (now part of Amgen),Trubion, and ZymoGenetics.Vulcan Inc., the holding company of billionairePaul Allen, is behind most of the development projects in the region. While some see the new development as an economic boon, others have criticized Nickels and theSeattle City Councilfor pandering to Allen's interests at taxpayers' expense.In 2005,Forbesranked Seattle as the most expensive American city for buying a house based on the local income levels.Owing largely to the rapidly increasing cost of living, Seattle and Washington State have some of thehighest minimum wages in the country, at $15 per hour for smaller businesses and $16 for the city's largest employers. Operating a hub at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport,Alaska Airlinesmaintains its headquarters in the city ofSeaTac, next to the airport.Seattle is a hub for global health with the headquarters of theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation,PATH (global health organization),Infectious Disease Research Institute,Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and theInstitute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. In 2015, the Washington Global Health Alliance counted 168 global health organizations in Washington state. Many are headquartered in Seattle. Culture Many ofSeattle's neighborhoodshost one or morestreet fairs or parades. Performing arts Seattle has been a regional center for theperforming artsfor many years. The century-oldSeattle Symphony Orchestrahas won many awards and performs primarily atBenaroya Hall.TheSeattle OperaandPacific Northwest Ballet, which perform atMcCaw Hall(opened in 2003 on the site of the former Seattle Opera House at Seattle Center), are comparably distinguished,with the Opera being particularly known for its performances of the works ofRichard Wagnerand the PNB School (founded in 1974) ranking as one of the top three ballet training institutions in the United States.TheSeattle Youth Symphony Orchestras(SYSO) is the largest symphonic youth organization in the United States.The city also boasts lauded summer and winterchamber musicfestivals organized by theSeattle Chamber Music Society. The5th Avenue Theatre, built in 1926, stagesBroadway-stylemusical showsfeaturing both local talent and international stars.Seattle has \"around 100\" theatrical production companiesand over two dozen live theatre venues, many of them associated withfringe theatre;Seattle is probably second only to New York for number ofequitytheaters(28 Seattle theater companies have some sort ofActors' Equitycontract).In addition, the 900-seatRomanesque RevivalTown Hallon First Hill hosts numerous cultural events, especially lectures and recitals. Between 1918 and 1951, there were nearly two dozen jazz nightclubs along Jackson Street, running from the current Chinatown/International District to the Central District. The jazz scene developed the early careers ofRay Charles,Quincy Jones,Bumps Blackwell,Ernestine Anderson, and others. Early popular musical acts from the Seattle/Puget Sound area include the collegiate folk groupThe Brothers Four, vocal groupThe Fleetwoods, 1960s garage rockersThe WailersandThe Sonics, and instrumental surf groupThe Ventures, some of whom are still active. Seattle is considered the home ofgrungemusic,having produced artists such asNirvana,Soundgarden,Alice in Chains,Pearl Jam, andMudhoney, all of whom reached international audiences in the early 1990s.The city is also home to such varied artists asavant-garde jazzmusiciansBill FrisellandWayne Horvitz,hot jazzmusicianGlenn Crytzer,hip hopartistsSir Mix-a-Lot,Macklemore,Blue Scholars, andShabazz Palaces,smooth jazzsaxophonistKenny G,classic rockstaplesHeartandQueensrÿche, and alternative rock bands such asFoo Fighters,Harvey Danger,The Presidents of the United States of America,The Posies,Modest Mouse,Band of Horses,Death Cab for Cutie, andFleet Foxes. Rock musicians such asJimi Hendrix,Duff McKagan, andNikki Sixxspent their formative years in Seattle. The Seattle-basedSub Poprecord company continues to be one of the world's best-known independent/alternative music labels.Over the years,a number of songs have been written about Seattle. Seattle annually sends a team ofspoken wordslammers to theNational Poetry Slamand considers itself home to such performance poets asBuddy Wakefield, two-timeIndividual World Poetry SlamChamp;Anis Mojgani, two-time National Poetry Slam Champ;andDanny Sherrard, 2007 National Poetry Slam Champ and 2008 Individual World Poetry Slam Champ.Seattle also hosted the 2001 national Poetry Slam Tournament. The Seattle Poetry Festival is a biennial poetry festival that (launched first as the Poetry Circus in 1997) has featured local, regional, national, and international names in poetry. The city also has movie houses showing bothHollywoodproductions and works byindependent filmmakers.Among these, theSeattle Cineramastands out as one of only three movie theaters in the world still capable of showing three-panelCineramafilms. Tourism Among Seattle's prominent annual fairs and festivals are the 24-daySeattle International Film Festival,Northwest Folklife over theMemorial Dayweekend, numerousSeafairevents throughout July and August (ranging from aBon Odoricelebration to theSeafair Cuphydroplaneraces), theBite of Seattle, one of the largestGay Pridefestivals in the United States, and the art and music festivalBumbershoot, which programs music as well as other art and entertainment over the Labor Day weekend. All are typically attended by 100,000 people annually, as are theSeattle Hempfestand two separateIndependence Daycelebrations. Other significant events include numerous Native Americanpow-wows, a Greek Festival hosted bySt. Demetrios Greek Orthodox ChurchinMontlake, and numerous ethnic festivals (many associated withFestál at Seattle Center). There are other annual events, ranging from the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair & Book Arts Show;ananimeconvention,Sakura-Con;Penny Arcade Expo, a gaming convention;a two-day, 9,000-riderSeattle to Portland Bicycle Classic;and specialized film festivals, such as theMaelstrom International Fantastic Film Festival, theSeattle Asian American Film Festival, Children's Film Festival Seattle, Translation: the Seattle Transgender Film Festival, theSeattle Queer Film Festival, Seattle Latino Film Festival, and theSeattle Polish Film Festival. TheHenry Art Galleryopened in 1927, the first public art museum in Washington.TheSeattle Art Museum(SAM) opened in 1933 and moved to their current downtown location in 1991 (expanded and reopened in 2007); since 1991, the 1933 building has been SAM'sSeattle Asian Art Museum(SAAM).SAM also operates theOlympic Sculpture Park(opened in 2007) on the waterfront north of the downtown piers.TheFrye Art Museumis a free museum onFirst Hill. Regional history collections are at the Log House Museum in Alki,Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, theMuseum of History and Industry, and theBurke Museum of Natural History and Culture. Industry collections are at theCenter for Wooden Boatsand the adjacentNorthwest Seaport, and theMuseum of Flight. Regional ethnic collections include theNational Nordic Museum, theWing Luke Asian Museum, and theNorthwest African American Museum. Seattle has artist-run galleries,including ten-year veteran Soil Art Gallery,and the newer Crawl Space Gallery. TheSeattle Great Wheel, one of the largestFerris wheelsin the US, opened in June 2012 as a new, permanent attraction on the city's waterfront, atPier 57, next toDowntown Seattle.The city also has manycommunity centersfor recreation, including Rainier Beach, Van Asselt, Rainier, and Jefferson south of the Ship Canal and Green Lake, Laurelhurst, Loyal Heights north of the Canal, and Meadowbrook. Woodland Park Zooopened as a privatemenageriein 1889 but was sold to the city in 1899.TheSeattle Aquariumhas been open on the downtown waterfront since 1977 (undergoing a renovation in 2006).TheSeattle UndergroundTour is an exhibit of places that existed before the Great Fire. Since the mid-1990s, Seattle has experienced significant growth in the cruise industry, especially as a departure point for Alaska cruises. In 2008, a record total of 886,039 cruise passengers passed through the city, surpassing the number for Vancouver, BC, the other major departure point for Alaska cruises. Religion A 2024 Household Pulse Survey from the United States Census Bureau estimated that 64 percent of adults in the Seattle area never attend religious services or attend less than once a year, the highest percentage among large U.S. metropolitan areas. According to a 2014 study by thePew Research Center, the largest religious groupings areChristians(52%), followed by those ofno religion(37%),Hindus(2%),Buddhists(2%),Jews(1%),Muslims(1%) and a variety of other religions have smaller followings.According to the same study by thePew Research Center, about 34% of Seattleites areProtestant, and 15% areRoman Catholic. Meanwhile, 6% of the residents in Seattle call themselvesagnostics, while 10% call themselvesatheists. Sports Seattle has four major men'sprofessional sportsteams: theNational Football League(NFL)'sSeattle Seahawks,Major League Baseball(MLB)'sSeattle Mariners, theNational Hockey League(NHL)'sSeattle Kraken, andMajor League Soccer(MLS)'sSeattle Sounders FC. Other professional sports teams include theWomen's National Basketball Association(WNBA)'sSeattle Storm, theNational Women's Soccer League'sSeattle Reign FC; andMajor League Rugby(MLR)'sSeattle Seawolves. Seattle's professional sports history began at the start of the 20th century with thePCHA'sSeattle Metropolitans, which in 1917 became the first American hockey team to win theStanley Cup.In 1969, Seattle was awarded a Major League Baseball franchise, theSeattle Pilots. Based atSick's StadiuminMount Baker, home to Seattle'sformer minor-league teams, the Pilots played in Seattle forone seasonbefore relocating toMilwaukeeand becoming theMilwaukee Brewers.The city, alongside the county and state governments, sued the league and was offered a second expansion team, later named theSeattle Mariners, as settlement. The Mariners began play in 1977 at themulti-purposeKingdome, where the team struggled for most of its time. Relative success in the mid-to-late 1990s saved the team from being relocated and allowed them to move to a purpose-built baseball stadium,T-Mobile Park(formerlySafeco Field), in 1999.The Mariners have never reached aWorld Seriesand only appeared in the MLB playoffs five times, mostly between 1995 and 2001, but had Hall of Fame players and candidates likeKen Griffey Jr.,Randy Johnson,Ichiro Suzuki, andAlex Rodriguez.The team tied the all-time MLB single regular season wins record in 2001 with 116 wins.From 2001 to 2022, the Mariners failed to qualify for the playoffs—the longestactive postseason droughtin major North American sports, at 20 seasons. The Seattle Seahawks entered the National Football League in 1976 as anexpansion teamand have advanced to theSuper Bowlthree times:2005,2013and2014.The team played in theKingdomeuntil it was imploded in 2000 and moved into Qwest Field (nowLumen Field) at the same site in 2003.The Seahawks lostSuper Bowl XLin 2005 to thePittsburgh SteelersinDetroit, but wonSuper Bowl XLVIIIin 2013 by defeating theDenver Broncos43–8 atMetLife Stadium. The team advanced to the Super Bowl the following year, but lost to theNew England PatriotsinSuper Bowl XLIXon a last-minute play.Seahawks fans have set stadium noise records on several occasions and are collectively known as the \"12th Man\". Seattle Sounders FC has played in Major League Soccer since 2009, as the latest continuation of theoriginal 1974 Sounders teamof theNorth American Soccer Leagueafteran incarnationin thelower divisions of American soccer.Sharing Lumen Field with the Seahawks, the team set variousattendance recordsin its first few MLS seasons, averaging over 43,000 per match and placing themselves among the top 30 teams internationally.The Sounders have won theMLS Supporters' Shieldin 2014and theU.S. Open Cupon four occasions:2009,2010,2011, and2014.The Sounders won the first of their twoMLS Cuptitles in2016, defeatingToronto FC5–4 in apenalty shootoutin Toronto,before finishing as runners-up in a rematch against Toronto inMLS Cup 2017. In2019the Sounders made their first-ever home-field appearance in MLS Cup, once again against Toronto FC, and won the game 3–1 to earn their second MLS Cup title in front of a club-record attendance of 69,274.The stadium also hosted the second leg of the2022 CONCACAF Champions League Final, played in front of 68,741 to break the tournament attendance record. The Sounders became the first MLS team to win a continental title since 2000 and the first to win the modernChampions League. Seattle's Major League Rugby team, theSeattle Seawolves, play in nearbyTukwilaatStarfire Sports Complex, a small stadium that is also used by the Sounders for theirU.S. Open Cupmatches.The team began play in 2018 and wonthe league's inaugural championship.They successfully defended their title in the2019 seasonand finished as runners-up in the2022 championship game. From 1967 to 2008, Seattle was home to theSeattle SuperSonicsof theNational Basketball Association(NBA). A frequent playoff participant, the Sonics were the1978–79 NBA champions, and also contended for the championship in1978and1996. Following a team sale in 2006, a failed effort to replace the agingKeyArena, and settlement of a lawsuit to hold the team to the final two years of its lease with the city,the SuperSonics relocatedtoOklahoma Cityand became theOklahoma City Thunderahead of the2008–09 season.Aneffort in 2013to purchase theSacramento Kingsfranchise and relocate it to Seattle as a resurrected Sonics squad was denied by the NBA board of governors. TheSeattle Stormof theWomen's National Basketball Associationhave also played their games at KeyArena (nowClimate Pledge Arena) since their foundation in 2000. The WNBA granted Seattle their expansion side following the popularity of the recently foldedSeattle Reign, a women's professional basketball team that played from 1996 to 1998 in the rivalAmerican Basketball League.The Storm began as a sister team to the now-defunctSonicsof the NBA, but sold to separate Seattle-based ownership in 2006. Tied for the league record, the Storm have claimed theWNBA championshipon four occasions, winning in2004,2010,2018, and2020.The team also won the first-everWNBA Commissioner's Cupin2021. TheSeattle Thunderbirdshockey team has represented Seattle in the Canadian major-juniorWestern Hockey Leaguesince 1977. Originally playing inMercer Arenaand theSeattle Center Coliseum(which had hostedprevious minor-league hockey teams), the Thunderbirds have been based at theShoWare Centerin the suburb ofKentsince 2007, and have won one WHL championship in2017.In 1974, Seattle wasawarded a conditional expansion franchisein theNational Hockey League; however, this opportunity did not come to fruition. In 2018, a new Seattle-based group successfully applied for an expansion team in the NHL, which was named theSeattle Krakenand began play in 2021.The SuperSonics' former home arena, KeyArena (nowClimate Pledge Arena), underwent major renovations from 2018 to 2021 to accommodate the new NHL team.The NHL ownership group reached its goal of 10,000 deposits within 12 minutes of opening a ticket drive, which later increased to 25,000 in 75 minutes. Seattle Reign FC,a founding member of theNational Women's Soccer League, was founded in 2012, holding their home games in Seattle from 2014 to 2018 and again since 2022. The team name was chosen to honor thedefunct women's basketball team of the same name.The club played atStarfire Sports Complexin nearby Tukwila for the league's inaugural 2013 season before moving toSeattle Center'sMemorial Stadiumin 2014. Under new management, the team moved toTacoma'sCheney Stadiumin 2019, before moving to Seattle's Lumen Field in 2022.In 2020, OL Groupe, theparent companyof French clubsOlympique LyonnaisandOlympique Lyonnais Féminin, became the team's majority owner and rebranded the club as OL Reign.The Seattle Reign name was restored in 2024. Seattle has also been home to various minor-league professional teams, of which currentlyBallard FCandWest Seattle Junction FCofUSL League 2in soccer remain. Representing the Seattle neighborhood ofBallard, Ballard FC was founded in 2022 as an independent, semi-professional soccer team in the fourth-divisionUSL League 2. The team is owned by a group led by former Sounders playerLamar Neagleand wonits first national title in 2023. Ballard FC's primary home is the 1,000-seat Interbay Soccer Stadium (also home toSeattle Pacific University's andBallard High School's soccer teams), but during that field's renovations in the 2024 season, Ballard will play out of Memorial Stadium at the Seattle Center.Starting in 2024, Ballard FC's division will be joined by a new cross-town rival,West Seattle Junction FCrepresenting the neighborhood ofWest Seattle. The short-livedSeattle Sea Dragons, originally the Dragons, of theXFLplayed at Lumen Field in the league's inaugural season in 2020 prior to its suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.The Sea Dragons returned alongside the XFL in2023after the league's re-launch under new ownership.The team folded prior to the 2024 season during the XFL's merger with theUnited States Football Leagueto form theUnited Football League. Seattle also boasts two collegiate sports teams based at theUniversity of WashingtonandSeattle University, both competing inNCAA Division Ifor various sports.The University of Washington's athletic program, nicknamed theHuskies, competes in thePac-12 Conference, and Seattle University's athletic program, nicknamed theRedhawks, mostly competes in theWestern Athletic Conference. The Huskies teams use several facilities, including the 70,000-seatHusky Stadiumforfootballand theHec Edmundson Pavilionfor basketball and volleyball.The two schools have basketball and soccer teams that compete against each other in non-conference games and have formed a local rivalry due to their sporting success. TheMajor League Baseball All-Star Gamehas been held in Seattle three times, once at the Kingdome in1979, and twice at T-Mobile Park in2001and2023.TheNBA All-Star Gamewas also held in Seattle twice: the first in1974at theSeattle Center Coliseumand the second in1987at the Kingdome.Lumen FieldhostedMLS Cup 2009, played betweenReal Salt Lakeand theLos Angeles Galaxy, as a neutral site in front of 46,011 spectators.Seattle will be one of eleven US host cities for the2026 FIFA World Cup, with matches played at Lumen Field and training facilities atLongacresinRenton, Washington. Parks and recreation Seattle's mild, temperate marine climate allows year-round outdoor recreation, including walking, cycling, hiking, skiing, snowboarding, kayaking, rock climbing, motorboating, sailing, team sports, and swimming.In town, many people walk aroundGreen Lake, through the forests and along the bluffs and beaches of 535-acre (2.2 km2)Discovery Park(the largest park in the city) inMagnolia, along the shores ofMyrtle Edwards Parkon the Downtown waterfront, along the shoreline of Lake Washington atSeward Park, along Alki Beach in West Seattle, or along theBurke-Gilman Trail.Gas Works Parkfeatures the preservedsuperstructureof acoal gasificationplant closed in 1956. Located across Lake Union from downtown, the park provides panoramic views of the Seattle skyline.Also popular are hikes and skiing in the nearby Cascade or Olympic Mountains and kayaking and sailing in the waters of Puget Sound, theStrait of Juan de Fuca, and theStrait of Georgia. Government and politics Seattle is acharter city, with amayor–council form of government. From 1911 to 2013, Seattle's nine city councillors were elected at large, rather than by geographic subdivisions.For the 2015 election, this changed to a hybrid system of seven district members and two at-large members as a result of a ballot measure passed on November 5, 2013. The only other elected offices are thecity attorneyand Municipal Court judges. All city offices are officiallynon-partisan.Like some other parts of the United States, government and laws are also run by a series of ballot initiatives (allowing citizens to pass or reject laws), referendums (allowing citizens to approve or reject legislation already passed), and propositions (allowing specific government agencies to propose new laws or tax increases directly to the people). Seattle is widely considered one of the most socially liberal cities in the United States.In the 2012 U.S. general election, a majority of Seattleites voted to approve Referendum 74 and legalize gay marriage in Washington state.In the same election, an overwhelming majority of Seattleites also voted to approve the legalization of the recreational use ofcannabisin the state.Like much of thePacific Northwest(which has the lowest rate ofchurch attendancein the United States and consistently reports the highest percentage ofatheism), church attendance, religious belief, and political influence of religious leaders are much lower than in other parts of America.Seattle's political culture is very liberal andprogressivefor the United States, with over 80% of the population voting for theDemocratic Party. All precincts in Seattle voted for Democratic Party candidateBarack Obamain the2012 presidential election.In partisan elections for theWashington State LegislatureandUnited States Congress, nearly all elections are won by Democrats. Although local elections are nonpartisan, most of the city's elected officials are known to be Democrats, the most notable exception beingSeattle City AttorneyAnn Davison. In 1926, Seattle became the first major American city to elect a female mayor,Bertha Knight Landes.It has also elected an openly gay mayor,Ed Murray,and a third-party socialist councillor,Kshama Sawant.For the first time in United States history, an openly gay black woman was elected to public office when Sherry Harris was elected as a Seattle city councilor in 1991.In 2015, the majority of the city council was female. Bruce Harrellwas elected as mayor in the2021 mayoral election, succeedingJenny Durkan, and took office on January 1, 2022. The mayor's office also includes threedeputy mayors, appointed to advise the mayor on policies. In 2023, the city council voted to bancaste discriminationas part of the city's anti-discrimination laws. The ban is the first in the United States. Seattle lies within four districts on theKing County Council: the 1st district includes the northeastern corner of the city; the 2nd district generally covers areas east ofInterstate 5and south of Northeast 65th Street; the 4th district consists of the northwestern neighborhoods of Ballard, Fremont, Magnolia, and Queen Anne; and the 8th district includes Downtown Seattle, First Hill, SODO, and West Seattle.At the state level, Seattle is divided into six districts that each have onestate senatorand twostate representatives. Federally, Seattle is split between two congressional districts. Most of the city is in7th congressional district,represented by DemocratPramila Jayapal, the first Indian-American woman elected to Congress. She succeeded 28-year incumbent and fellow DemocratJim McDermott.Part of southeastern Seattle is in the9th congressional district,represented by DemocratAdam Smithsince 1997.The border between the two districts follows the Tukwila city limits around Boeing Field, Interstate 5, South Dearborn Street, 4th Avenue South, James Street, Madison Street, East Union Street, Martin Luther King Jr. Way, and East Yesler Way. Education Of the city's population over the age of 25, 53.8% (vs. a national average of 27.4%) hold abachelor's degreeor higher, and 91.9% (vs. 84.5% nationally) have a high school diploma orequivalent. A 2008 United States Census Bureau survey showed that Seattle had the highest percentage of college and university graduates of any major U.S. city.The city was listed as the most literate of the country's 69 largest cities in 2005 and 2006, the second most literate in 2007 and the most literate in 2008 in studies conducted byCentral Connecticut State University. Seattle Public Schoolsis the school district for the vast majority of the city.That school district desegregated without a court orderbut continue to struggle to achieve racial balance in a somewhat ethnically divided city (the south part of town having more ethnic minorities than the north).In 2007, Seattle's racial tie-breaking system was struck down by theUnited States Supreme Court, but the ruling left the door open for desegregation formulae based on other indicators (e.g., income or socioeconomic class).A very small portion of the city is within theHighline School District. The public school system is supplemented by a moderate number of private schools: Five of the private high schools areCatholic, one isLutheran, and six aresecular. Seattle is home to theUniversity of Washingtonand its professional and continuing education unit, theUniversity of Washington Educational Outreach. In 2017,U.S. News & World Reportranked the University of Washington eleventh in the world.The UW receives more federal research and development funding than any public institution. Over the last 10 years, it has also produced morePeace Corpsvolunteers than any other U.S. university. Seattle also has a number of smaller private universities, includingSeattle UniversityandSeattle Pacific University, the former a Jesuit Catholic institution, the latter a Free Methodist institution. TheSeattle Colleges Districtoperates three colleges:North Seattle College,Seattle Central College, andSouth Seattle College. Universities aimed at the working adult are theCity UniversityandAntioch University. Seminaries includeWestern Seminaryand a number of arts colleges, such asCornish College of the Arts,Pratt Fine Arts Center. In 2001,Timemagazine selected Seattle Central Community College as community college of the year, saying that the school \"pushes diverse students to work together in small teams.\" Media As of 2019, Seattle has one major daily newspaper,The Seattle Times. TheSeattle Post-Intelligencer, known as theP-I, published a daily newspaper from 1863 to March 17, 2009, before switching to a strictly on-line publication. There is also theSeattle Daily Journal of Commerce,and the University of Washington publishesThe Daily, a student-run publication, when school is in session. The most prominent weeklies are theSeattle WeeklyandThe Stranger; both consider themselves\"alternative\" papers.The weekly LGBT newspaper is theSeattle Gay News.Real Changeis a weeklystreet newspaperthat is sold mainly byhomelesspersons as an alternative topanhandling. There are also several ethnic newspapers, includingThe Facts,Northwest Asian Weeklyand theInternational Examineras well as numerous neighborhood newspapers. Seattle is also well served by television and radio, with all major U.S. networks represented, along with at least five other English-language stations and two Spanish-language stations.Seattle cable viewers also receiveCBUT2 (CBC) fromVancouver, British Columbia. Non-commercialradio stations includeNPRaffiliatesKUOW-FM94.9 andKNKX88.5 (Tacoma), as well asclassical musicstationKING-FM98.1. Other non-commercial stations includeKEXP-FM90.3 (affiliated with the UW),community radioKBCS-FM91.3 (affiliated withBellevue College), andhigh school radioKNHC-FM89.5, which broadcasts anelectronic dance musicradio format, is owned by the public school system and operated by students ofNathan Hale High School. Many Seattle radio stations are available throughInternet radio, with KEXP in particular being a pioneer of Internet radio.Seattle also has numerous commercial radio stations. In a March 2012 report by the consumer research firmArbitron, the top FM stations wereKRWM(adult contemporaryformat),KIRO-FM(news/talk), andKISW(active rock) while the top AM stations wereKOMO(all news),KJR (AM)(all sports),KIRO (AM)(all sports). Infrastructure Health systems The University of Washington is consistently ranked among the country's leading institutions in medical research, earning special merits for programs in neurology and neurosurgery. The university-runUW Medicinesystem encompasses several major local hospitals, includingHarborview Medical Center, the public county hospital and the only Level Itrauma hospitalfor Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho.Harborview and two other major hospitals—Virginia Mason Medical CenterandSwedish Medical Center—are located on First Hill, which is nicknamed \"Pill Hill\" for its concentration of medical facilities. Located in theLaurelhurstneighborhood,Seattle Children's, formerlyChildren's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, is the pediatric referral center for Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. TheFred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centerhas a campus in the Eastlake neighborhood. The University District is home to theUniversity of Washington Medical Centerwhich, along with Harborview, is operated by the University of Washington. Seattle is also served by aVeterans Affairshospital onBeacon Hill, a third campus of Swedish in Ballard, andUW Medical Center - NorthwestnearNorthgate Station. Seattle has seen local developments of modern paramedic services with the establishment ofMedic Onein 1970.In 1974, a60 Minutesstory on the success of the then four-year-old Medic One paramedic system called Seattle \"the best place in the world to have a heart attack.\"The city also has severalpharmacychains; these includeBartell Drugs, which was family-run in Seattle until its acquisition byRite Aidin 2020. As of 2024, Seattle lacks a 24-hour retail pharmacy due to the closure of locations across several chains. Transportation Thefirst streetcarsappeared in 1889 and were instrumental in the creation of a relatively well-defined downtown and strong neighborhoods at the end of their lines. The advent of the automobile began the dismantling of rail in Seattle. Tacoma–Seattle railway service ended in 1929 and the Everett–Seattle service came to an end in 1939, replaced by automobiles running on the recently developed highway system. Rails on city streets were paved over or removed, and the opening of theSeattle trolleybus systembrought the end ofstreetcars in Seattlein 1941. This left an extensive network of privately owned buses (later public) as the only mass transit within the city and throughout the region. King County Metroprovides regular bus service in the city and county, and theSouth Lake Union Streetcarline and theFirst Hill Streetcarline.Seattle is one of the few cities in North America whose bus fleet includes electric trolleybuses.Sound Transitprovides an express bus service within the metropolitan area, twoSounder commuter raillines between the suburbs and downtown, and its1 Linelight railline betweenNorthgateand Angle Lake.Washington State Ferries, which manages the largest network of ferries in the United States and third-largest in the world, connects Seattle toBainbridgeandVashon Islandsin Puget Sound and to Bremerton andSouthworthon the Kitsap Peninsula.King Street Stationin Pioneer Square servesAmtrakintercity trains and Sounder commuter trains, and is located adjacent to theInternational District/Chinatown light rail station. According to the 2007American Community Survey, 18.6% of Seattle residents used one of the three public transit systems that serve the city, giving it the highest transit ridership of all major cities without heavy or light rail prior to the completion of Sound Transit's 1 Line.The city has also been described byBert Sperlingas the fourth most walkable U.S. city and byWalk Scoreas the sixth most walkable of the fifty largest U.S. cities. Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, locally known as Sea-Tac Airport and located just south in the neighboring city of SeaTac, is operated by the Port of Seattle and provides commercial air service to destinations throughout the world. Closer to downtown,Boeing Fieldis used for general aviation, cargo flights, and testing/delivery of Boeing airliners. A secondary passenger airport,Paine Field, opened in 2019 and is located inEverett, 25 miles (40 km) north of Seattle. It is predominantly used by Boeing and theirlarge assembly plantlocated nearby. The main mode of transportation, however, is the street system, which is laid out in acardinal directionsgrid pattern, except in the central business district where early city leadersArthur DennyandCarson Boreninsisted on orienting the plats relative to the shoreline rather than to true North.Only two roads,Interstate 5andState Route 99(both limited-access highways) run uninterrupted through the city from north to south. From 1953 to 2019, State Route 99 ran through downtown Seattle on theAlaskan Way Viaduct, an elevated freeway on the waterfront. However, due to damage sustained during the 2001 Nisqually earthquake the viaduct was replaced by a tunnel. The 2-mile (3.2 km)Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnelwas originally scheduled to be completed in December 2015 at a cost of US$4.25 billion. The world's largesttunnel boring machine, named \"Bertha\", was commissioned for the project, measuring 57 feet (17 m) in diameter. The tunnel's opening was delayed to February 2019 due to issues with the machine, which included a two-year halt in excavation.Seattle has the 8th-worst traffic congestion of all American cities, and is 10th among all North American cities according toInrix. The city has started moving away from the automobile and toward mass transit. From 2004 to 2009, the annual number of unlinked public transportation trips increased by approximately 21%.In 2006, voters in King County passed the Transit Now proposition, which increased bus service hours on high ridership routes and paid for fivelimited-stopbus lines calledRapidRide.After rejecting aroads and transit measurein 2007, Seattle-area voters passed a transit only measure in 2008 to increase ST Express bus service, extend theLink light railsystem, and expand and improveSounder commuter railservice. A light rail line (now the1 Line) from downtown heading south to Sea-Tac Airport began service in 2009, giving the city its first rapid transit line with intermediate stations within the city limits. An extension north to theUniversity of Washingtonopened on March 19, 2016,followed by theNorthgateextension in October 2021 and theLynnwoodextension in August 2024.The2 Lineopened in April 2024, operating betweenBellevueandRedmond.Further extensions are planned to connect the 2 Line to the 1 Line in early 2025, as well as extend it to downtown Redmond,and for the 1 Line to reachFederal Wayto the south by 2026.Voters in the Puget Sound region approved an additional tax increase, part of theSound Transit 3package, in November 2016 to expand light rail to West Seattle and Ballard as well as Tacoma, Everett, and Issaquah. Utilities Water and electric power are municipal services, provided bySeattle Public UtilitiesandSeattle City Light, respectively. Other utility companies serving Seattle includePuget Sound Energy(natural gas, electricity),Seattle Steam Company(steam),Waste Management, IncandRecologyCleanScapes (curbside recycling, composting, and solid waste removal),CenturyLink,Frontier Communications,Wave Broadband, andComcast(telecommunications and television).About 90% of Seattle'selectricityis produced usinghydropower. Less than 2% of electricity is produced usingfossil fuels. Seattle Public Utilities manages twotap watersupply systems on theCedar RiverandTolt River.These systems are fed by meltedsnowpackin the Cascade Mountains over the autumn and winter that fill reservoirs as they melt.The city'swastewatersystem includes 1,422 miles (2,288 km) of sewers that reachtreatment plantsthat discharge into Puget Sound; a 485-mile (781 km) network of separate tunnels forstormwaterserve other treatment facilities.Older areas of the city have acombined sewersystem that dumps stormwater and untreated wastewater into Puget Sound during overflow events. Crime In 2023, Seattle had 5000 violentcrimes, and from 2013 to 2018 there was a slow increase in crimes, however it dipped in 2020, before spiking up again in 2021 and 2022. As of 2023 the city has a violent crime rate of 683 per 100,000 people, and 5,174 property crimes per 100,000 people. International relations Seattle has the followingsister cities: See also Notes References Bibliography Further reading External links","Portland, Oregon Portland(/ˈpɔːrtlənd/PORT-lənd) is themost populous cityin theU.S. stateofOregon, located in thePacific Northwestregion. Situated in the northwestern area of the state at theconfluenceof theWillametteandColumbiarivers, it is thecounty seatofMultnomah County, Oregon's most populous county. As of 2020,Portland's population was 652,503,making it the26th-most populouscity in the United States, the sixth-most populous on theWest Coast, and the second-most populous in the Pacific Northwest, afterSeattle.Approximately 2.5 million people live in thePortland metropolitan area, making it the25th-most populousin the United States. About half of Oregon's population resides within the Portland metro area. Named afterPortland, Maine,which is itself named after the EnglishIsle of Portland, the Oregon settlement began to be populated in the 1840s, near the end of theOregon Trail. Its water access provided convenient transportation of goods, and the timber industry was a major force in the city's early economy. At the turn of the 20th century, the city had a reputation as one of the most dangerousport citiesin the world, a hub for organized crime andracketeering. After the city's economy experienced an industrial boom duringWorld War II, its hard-edged reputation began to dissipate. Beginning in the 1960s,it became noted for its growingliberalandprogressivepolitical values, earning it a reputation as a bastion ofcounterculture. The city operates with acommission-based government, guided by a mayor and four commissioners, as well asMetro, the only directly electedmetropolitan planning organizationin the United States.Its climate is marked by warm, dry summers and cool, rainy winters. This climate isideal for growing roses, and Portland has been called the \"City of Roses\" for over a century. History Pre-settlement history During the prehistoric period, the land that would become Portlandwas flooded after the collapse of glacial damsfromLake Missoula, in what would later become Montana. These massive floods occurred during the last ice age and filled the Willamette Valley with 300 to 400 feet (91 to 122 m) of water. Before American settlers began arriving in the 1800s, the land was inhabited for many centuries by two bands of indigenousChinook people– theMultnomahand theClackamas.The Chinook people occupying the land were first documentedin 1805byMeriwether LewisandWilliam Clark.Before its European settlement, the Portland Basin of the lower Columbia River and Willamette River valleys had been one of the most densely populated regions on the Pacific Coast. Establishment Large numbers of pioneer settlers began arriving in the Willamette Valley in the 1840s via theOregon Trailwith many arriving in nearbyOregon City.A new settlement then emerged ten miles from the mouth of the Willamette River,roughly halfway between Oregon City andHudson's Bay Company'sFort Vancouver. This community was initially referred to as \"Stumptown\" and \"The Clearing\" because of the many trees cut down to allow for its growth.In 1843William Overtonsaw potential in the new settlement but lacked the funds to file an official land claim. For 25 cents, Overton agreed to share half of the 640-acre (2.6 km2) site withAsa LovejoyofBoston. In 1844, Overton sold his remaining half of the claim toFrancis W. PettygroveofPortland, Maine. Both Pettygrove and Lovejoy wished to rename \"The Clearing\" after their respective hometowns (Lovejoy's being Boston, and Pettygrove's, Portland). This controversy was settled with a coin toss that Pettygrove won in a series of two out of three tosses, thereby providing Portland with its namesake.The coin used for this decision, now known as thePortland Penny, is on display in the headquarters of theOregon Historical Society. At the time of its incorporation on February 8, 1851, Portland had over 800 inhabitants,a steam sawmill, a log cabin hotel, and a newspaper, theWeekly Oregonian.A major fire swept through downtown in August 1873, destroying twenty blocks on the west side of the Willamette along Yamhill and Morrison Streets, and causing $1.3 million in damage,roughly equivalent to $33.1 million today.By 1879, the population had grown to 17,500 and by 1890 it had grown to 46,385.In 1888, the first steel bridge on theWest Coastwas opened in Portland,the predecessor of the 1912 namesakeSteel Bridgethat survives today. In 1889, Henry Pittock's wife, Georgiana, established the Portland Rose Society. The movement to make Portland a \"Rose City\" started as the city was preparing for the 1905Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. Portland's access to thePacific Oceanvia the Willamette and Columbia rivers, as well as its easy access to the agriculturalTualatin Valleyvia the \"Great Plank Road\" (the route of current-dayU.S. Route 26), provided the pioneer city with an advantage over other nearby ports, and it grew very quickly.Portland remained the major port in the Pacific Northwest for much of the 19th century, until the 1890s, when Seattle's deepwater harbor was connected to the rest of the mainland by rail, affording an inland route without the treacherous navigation of the Columbia River. The city had its own Japantown,for one, and thelumber industryalso became a prominent economic presence, due to the area's large population ofDouglas fir,western hemlock,red cedar, andbig leaf mapletrees. Portland developed a reputation early in its history as a hard-edged and grittyport town.Some historians have described the city's early establishment as being a \"scionofNew England; an ends-of-the-earth home for the exiled spawn of the eastern established elite.\"In 1889,The Oregoniancalled Portland \"the most filthy city in the Northern States\", due to the unsanitary sewers and gutters,and, at the turn of the 20th century, it was considered one of the most dangerous port cities in the world.The city housed a large number of saloons,bordellos, gambling dens, and boarding houses which were populated with miners after theCalifornia Gold Rush, as well as the multitude of sailors passing through the port.By the early 20th century, the city had lost its reputation as a \"sober frontier city\" and garnered a reputation for being violent and dangerous. 20th-century development Between 1900 and 1930, the city's population tripled from nearly 100,000 to 301,815.DuringWorld War II, it housed an \"assembly center\" from which up to 3,676 people of Japanese descent were dispatched tointernment campsin the heartland. It was the first American city to have residents report thus,and thePacific International Livestock Expositionoperated from May through September 10, 1942, processing people from the city, northern Oregon, andcentral Washington.GeneralJohn DeWittcalled the city the first \"Jap-free city on the West Coast.\" At the same time, Portland became a notorious hub for underground criminal activity andorganized crimein the 1940s and 1950s.In 1957,Lifemagazine published an article detailing the city's history ofgovernment corruptionand crime, specifically its gambling rackets and illegal nightclubs.The article, which focused oncrime bossJim Elkins, became the basis of a fictionalized film titledPortland Exposé(1957). In spite of the city's seedier undercurrent of criminal activity, Portland enjoyed an economic and industrial surge during World War II. Ship builderHenry J. Kaiserhad been awarded contracts to buildLiberty shipsand aircraft carrier escorts, and chose sites in Portland andVancouver, Washington, for work yards.During this time, Portland's population rose by over 150,000, largely attributed to recruited laborers. During the 1960s, an influx ofhippiesubculture began to take root in the city in the wake ofSan Francisco's burgeoningcounterculturalscene.The city'sCrystal Ballroombecame a hub for the city'spsychedelic culture, whilefood cooperativesand listener-funded media and radio stations were established.A largesocial activistpresence evolved during this time as well, specifically concerningNative American rights,environmentalistcauses, andgay rights.By the 1970s, Portland had well established itself as a progressive city, and experienced an economic boom for the majority of the decade; however, the slowing of the housing market in 1979 caused demand for the city and state timber industries to drop significantly. Since 1990 In the 1990s, the technology industry began to emerge in Portland, specifically with the establishment of companies such asIntel, which brought more thanUS$10 billion in investments in 1995 alone.In the late 1990s, the Portland area was rated the fourth-least affordable place in the United States to purchase a new home.After 2000, Portland experienced significant growth, with a population rise of over 90,000 between the years 2000 and 2014.The city's increasing reputation for culture established it as a popular city for young people, and it was second only toLouisville, Kentucky, as one of the cities to attract and retain the highest number of college-educated people in the United States.Between 2001 and 2012, Portland's gross domestic product per person grew by fifty percent, more than any other city in the country. The city acquired adiverse range of nicknamesthroughout its history, though it is most often called \"Rose City\" or \"The City of Roses\"(unofficial nickname since 1888, official since 2003).Another widely used nickname by local residents in everyday speech is \"PDX\", the airport code forPortland International Airport. Other nicknames include Bridgetown,Stumptown,Rip City,Soccer City,P-Town,Portlandia, and the more antiquated Little Beirut. 2020 George Floyd protests From May 28, 2020, until spring 2021,there were dailyprotestsabout themurder of George Floydby police, and racial injustice. There were instances of looting, vandalism, and police actions causing injuries. One protestor was killed by an opposing one.Local businesses reported losses totaling millions of dollars as the result of vandalism and looting, according toOregon Public Broadcasting.Some protests caused injury to protesters and police. In July, federal officers were deployed to safeguard federal property; their presence and tactics were criticized by Oregon officials, who demanded they leave, while lawsuits were filed against local and federal law enforcement alleging wrongful actions by them. On May 25, 2021, a protest to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Floyd's murder caused property damage, and was followed by a number of arrests. Geography Geology Portland lies on top of a dormant volcanic field known as theBoring Lava Field, named after the nearbybedroom communityofBoring.The Boring Lava Field has at least 32 cinder cones such asMount Tabor,and its center lies in southeast Portland.Mount St. Helens, a highly active volcano 50 miles (80 km) northeast of the city in Washington state, is easily visible on clear days and is close enough to have dusted the city with volcanic ash after itseruption on May 18, 1980.The rocks of the Portland area range in age from lateEoceneto more recent eras. Multiple shallow, activefault linestraverse the Portland metropolitan area.Among them are thePortland Hills Faulton the city's west side,and theEast Bank Faulton the east side.According to a 2017 survey, several of these faults were characterized as \"probably more of a hazard\" than theCascadia subduction zonedue to their proximities to population centers, with the potential of producingmagnitude7earthquakes.Notable earthquakes that have impacted the Portland area in recent history include the 6.8-magnitudeNisqually earthquakein 2001, and a 5.6-magnitude earthquake that struck on March 25, 1993. Per a 2014 report, over 7,000 locations within the Portland area are at high risk for landslides andsoil liquefactionin the event of a major earthquake, including much of the city's west side (such asWashington Park) and sections ofClackamas County. Topography Portland is 60 miles (97 km) east of the Pacific Ocean at the northern end ofOregon's most populated region, the Willamette Valley. Downtown Portland straddles the banks of the Willamette River, which flows north through the city center and separates the city's east and west neighborhoods. Less than 10 miles (16 km) from downtown, the Willamette River flows into the Columbia River, the fourth-largest river in the United States, which divides Oregon from Washington state. Portland is approximately 100 miles (160 km) upriver from the Pacific Ocean on the Columbia. Though much of downtown Portland is relatively flat, the foothills of theTualatin Mountains, more commonly referred to locally as the \"West Hills\", pierce through the northwest and southwest reaches of the city.Council Crest Parkat 1,073 feet (327 m) is often quoted as the highest point in Portland; however, the highest point in Portland is on a section of NW Skyline Blvd just north ofWillamette Stone Heritage site.The highest point east of the river isMt. Tabor, an extinct volcanic cinder cone, which rises to 636 feet (194 m). NearbyPowell ButteandRocky Butterise to 614 feet (187 m) and 612 feet (187 m), respectively. To the west of the Tualatin Mountains lies theOregon Coast Range, and to the east lies the actively volcanicCascade Range. On clear days,Mt. HoodandMt. St. Helensdominate the horizon, whileMt. AdamsandMt. Rainiercan also be seen in the distance. According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 145.09 square miles (375.78 km2), of which 133.43 square miles (345.58 km2) is land and 11.66 square miles (30.20 km2) is water.Although almost all of Portland is withinMultnomah County, small portions of the city are within Clackamas andWashingtoncounties. Climate Portland has awarm-summer Mediterranean climate(KöppenCsb),falling just short of ahot-summer Mediterranean climate(KöppenCsa)with cool and rainy winters, and warm and dry summers.This climate is characterized by having overcast, wet, and changing weather conditions in fall, winter, and spring, as Portland lies in the direct path of the stormy westerly flow, and warm, dry summers when theNorth Pacific Highreaches its northernmost point in mid-summer.Portland'sUSDA Plant Hardiness Zoneis 8b, with parts of the Downtown area falling into zone 9a. Winters are cool, cloudy, and rainy. The coldest month is December with an average daily high temperature of 46.9 °F (8.3 °C), although overnight lows usually remain above freezing by a few degrees. Evening temperatures fall to or below freezing 32 nights per year on average, but very rarely below 18 °F (−8 °C). There are only 2.1 days per year where the daytime high temperature fails to rise above freezing; the mean for the lowest high is at the exact freezing point of 32 °F (0 °C).The lowest overnight temperature ever recorded was −3 °F (−19 °C),on February 2, 1950,while the lowest daytime high temperature ever recorded was 14 °F (−10 °C) on December 30, 1968.The average window in which freezing temperatures may occur is between November 15 and March 19, allowing a growing season of 240 days. Annual snowfall in Portland is 4.3 inches (10.9 cm), which usually falls between December and March.The city of Portland avoids snow more frequently than its suburbs, due in part to its low elevation and theurban heat islandeffect. Neighborhoods outside of the downtown core, especially in slightly higher elevations near theWest HillsandMount Tabor, can experience a dusting of snow while downtown receives no accumulation at all. The city has experienced a few major snow and ice storms in its past, with extreme totals having reached 44.5 in (113 cm) at the airport in 1949–50 and 60.9 in (155 cm) at downtown in 1892–93. Summers in Portland are warm, dry, and sunny, though the sunny warm weather is short-lived, from mid-June to early September.June, July, August and September account for a combined 4.19 inches (106 mm) of total rainfall – only 11% of the 36.91 in (938 mm) of annual precipitation. The warmest month is August, with an average high temperature of 82.3 °F (27.9 °C). Because of its inland location 62 miles (100 km) from the coast, as well as the protective nature of theOregon Coast Rangeto its west, Portland summers are less susceptible to the moderating influence of the nearby Pacific Ocean. Consequently, Portland occasionally experiencesheat waves, with temperatures rising above 90 °F (32 °C) for a few days. However, on average, temperatures reach or exceed 80 °F (27 °C) on only 61 days per year, of which 15 days will reach 90 °F (32 °C) and only 1.3 days will reach 100 °F (38 °C). In 2018 more 90-degree days were recorded than ever before. On June 28, 2021, Portland recorded its all-time record high temperature of 116 °F (47 °C) and its warmest daily low temperature of 75 °F (24 °C) during amajor regional heat wave.The record had been broken for three consecutive days with daytime highs of 108 °F (42 °C) on June 26 and 112 °F (44 °C) on June 27; the previous record of 107 °F (42 °C) was set in July 1965 and matched twice in August 1981.A temperature of 100 °F (38 °C) has been recorded in all five months from May through September. The warmest night of the year averages 68 °F (20 °C). Spring and fall can bring variable weather including high-pressure ridging that sends temperatures surging above 80 °F (27 °C) and cold fronts that plunge daytime temperatures into the 40s °F (4–9 °C). However, lengthy stretches of overcast days beginning in mid-fall and continuing into mid-spring are most common. Rain often falls as a light drizzle for several consecutive days at a time, contributing to 157 days on average with measurable (≥0.01 in or 0.25 mm) precipitation annually. Temperatures have reached 90 °F (32 °C) as early as April 30 and as late as October 5, while 80 °F (27 °C) has been reached as early as April 1 and as late as October 21.Thunderstormsare uncommon andtornadoesare very rare, although they do occur. See or editraw graph data. Cityscape Portland's cityscape derives much of its character from the many bridges that span the Willamette River downtown, several of which are historic landmarks, and Portland has been nicknamed \"Bridgetown\" for many decades as a result.Three of downtown's most heavily used bridges are more than 100 years old and are designated historic landmarks:Hawthorne Bridge(1910),Steel Bridge(1912), andBroadway Bridge(1913). Portland's newest bridge in the downtown area,Tilikum Crossing, opened in 2015 and is the first new bridge to span the Willamette in Portland since the 1973 opening of the double-deckerFremont Bridge. Other bridges that span the Willamette River in the downtown area include theBurnside Bridge, theRoss Island Bridge(both built 1926), and the double-deckerMarquam Bridge(built 1966). Other bridges outside the downtown area include theSellwood Bridge(built 2016) to the south; and theSt. Johns Bridge, aGothic revivalsuspension bridge built in 1931, to the north. TheGlenn L. Jackson Memorial Bridgeand theInterstate Bridgeprovide access from Portland across the Columbia River into Washington state. Neighborhoods The Willamette River, which flows north through downtown, serves as the natural boundary between East and West Portland. The denser and earlier-developed west side extends into the lap of theWest Hills, while the flatter east side extends for roughly 180 blocks until it meets the suburb ofGresham. In 1891 the cities of Portland,Albina, andEast Portlandwere consolidated, creating inconsistent patterns of street names and addresses. It was not unusual for a street name to be duplicated in disparate areas. The \"Great Renumbering\" on September 2, 1931, standardized street naming patterns and divided Portland into five \"general districts.\" It also changed house numbers from 20 per block to 100 per block and adopted a single street name on a grid. For example, the 200 block north of Burnside is either NW Davis Street or NE Davis Street throughout the entire city. The six previous addressing sections of Portland, which were colloquially known as quadrants despite there being six,have developed distinctive identities, with mild cultural differences and friendly rivalries between their residents, especially between those who live east of the Willamette River versus west of the river.Portland's addressing sections are North, Northwest, Northeast, South, Southeast, and Southwest (which includesdowntown Portland). The Willamette River divides the city into east and west whileBurnside Street, which traverses the entire city lengthwise, divides the north and south. North Portland consists of the peninsula formed by the Willamette and Columbia Rivers, with N Williams Ave serving as its eastern boundary. All addresses and streets within the city are prefixed by N, NW, NE, S, SW or SE with the exception of Burnside Street, which is prefixed with W or E. Starting on May 1, 2020, former Southwest prefix addresses with house numbers on east–west streets leading with zero dropped the zero and the street prefix on all streets (including north–south streets) converted from Southwest to South. For example, the current address of 246 S California St. was changed from 0246 SW California St. and the current address of 4310 S Macadam Ave. was converted from 4310 SW Macadam Ave. The new South Portland addressing section was approved by the Portland City Council on June 6, 2018and is bounded bySW Naito Parkway, SW View Point Terrace and theTryon Creek State Natural Areato the west, SW Clay Street to the north, the Willamette River to the east, and city limits to the south. It includes the Lair Hill, Johns Landing and South Waterfront districts and Lewis & Clark College as well as the Riverdale area of unincorporated Multnomah County south of the Portland city limits.In 2018, the city's Bureau of Transportation finalized a plan to transition this part of Portland into South Portland, beginning on May 1, 2020, to reduce confusion by 9-1-1 dispatchers and delivery services.With the addition of South Portland, all six addressing sectors (N, NE, NW, S, SE and SW) are now officially known as sextants. The Pearl DistrictinNorthwest Portland, which was largely occupied by warehouses, light industry and railroad classification yards in the early to mid-20th century, now houses upscaleart galleries, restaurants, and retail stores, and is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the city.Areas further west of the Pearl District include neighborhoods known as Uptown and Nob Hill, as well as the Alphabet District and NW 23rd Ave., a major shopping street lined with clothing boutiques and other upscale retail, mixed with cafes and restaurants. Northeast Portland is home to theLloyd District,Alberta Arts District, and theHollywood District. North Portland is largely residential and industrial. It containsKelley Point Park, the northernmost point of the city. It also contains theSt. Johnsneighborhood, which is historically one of the most ethnically diverse and poorest neighborhoods in the city. Old Town Chinatownis next to the Pearl District in Northwest Portland. In 1890 it was the second largest Chinese community in the United States.In 2017, the crime rate was several times above the city average. This neighborhood has been called Portland's skid row.Southwest Portland is largely residential.Downtown district, made up of commercial businesses, museums,skyscrapers, and public landmarks represents a small area within the southwest address section. Portland's South Waterfront area has been developing into a dense neighborhood of shops, condominiums, and apartments starting in the mid-2000s. Development in this area is ongoing.The area is served by thePortland Streetcar, theMAX Orange Lineand fourTriMetbus lines. This former industrial area sat as abrownfieldprior to development in the mid-2000s. Southeast Portland is largely residential, and consists of several neighborhoods, includingHawthorne District,Belmont,Brooklyn, andMount Tabor.Reed College, a private liberal arts college that was founded in 1908, is located within the confines of Southeast Portland as isMount Tabor, a volcanic landform. Demographics Ethnicity The 2020 census reported the city as 73.8%White(449,025 people), 8.2%Asian(52,854), 5.8% Black or African American (38,217), 0.9% Native American (7,335), 0.5% Pacific Islander (3,919), and 5.0% from two or more races (69,898).10.3% were Hispanic or Latino, of any race (72,336). Whites not of Hispanic origin made up 68.8% of the total population. The 2010 census reported the city as 76.1%White(444,254 people), 7.1%Asian(41,448), 6.3% Black or African American (36,778), 1.0% Native American (5,838), 0.5% Pacific Islander (2,919), 4.7% belonging to two or more racial groups (24,437) and 5.0% from other races (28,987).9.4% wereHispanicor Latino, of any race (54,840). Whites not of Hispanic origin made up 72.2% of the total population. In 1940, Portland's African-American population was approximately 2,000 and largely consisted of railroad employees and their families.During the war-timeLiberty Shipconstruction boom, the need for workers drew many Black people to the city. The new influx of Black people settled in specific neighborhoods, such as theAlbinadistrict andVanport. The May 1948 flood which destroyed Vanport eliminated the only integrated neighborhood, and an influx of blacks into the northeast quadrant of the city continued.Portland'slongshoremenracial mix was described as being \"lily-white\" in the 1960s when the localInternational Longshore and Warehouse Uniondeclined to represent grain handlers since some were black. Racial Makeup of Portland (2022) Over two-thirds of Oregon's African-American residents live in Portland.As of the 2000 census, three of its high schools (Cleveland, Lincoln and Wilson) were over 70% White, reflecting the overall population, whileJefferson High Schoolwas 87% non-White. The remaining six schools have a higher number of non-Whites, including Blacks and Asians. Hispanic students average from 3.3% at Wells to 31% atRoosevelt. Portland residents identifying solely as Asian Americans account for 7.1% of the population; an additional 1.8% is partially of Asian heritage.Vietnamese Americansmake up 2.2% of Portland's population, and make up the largest Asian ethnic group in the city, followed byChinese(1.7%),Filipinos(0.6%),Japanese(0.5%),Koreans(0.4%),Laotians(0.4%),Hmong(0.2%), andCambodians(0.1%).A small population ofIu Mienlive in Portland. Portland has two Chinatowns, with New Chinatown in the 'Jade District' along SE 82nd Avenue with Chinese supermarkets, Hong Kong style noodle houses,dim sum, and Vietnamesephởrestaurants. With about 12,000 Vietnamese residing in the city proper, Portland has one of the largest Vietnamese populations in America per capita.According to statistics, there are over 4,500Pacific Islandersin Portland, making up 0.7% of the city's population.There is aTongancommunity in Portland, who arrived in the area in the 1970s, and Tongans and Pacific Islanders as a whole are one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups in the Portland area. Portland's population has been and remains predominantlyWhite. In 1940, Whites were over 98% of the city's population.In 2009, Portland had the fifth-highest percentage of White residents among the 40 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. A 2007 survey of the 40 largest cities in the U.S. concluded Portland's urban core has the highest percentage of White residents.Some scholars have noted the Pacific Northwest as a whole is \"one of the last Caucasian bastions of the United States\".While Portland's diversity was historically comparable to metro Seattle and Salt Lake City, those areas grew more diverse in the late 1990s and 2000s. Portland not only remains White, but migration to Portland is disproportionately White. The Oregon Territory banned African American settlement in 1849. In the 19th century, certain laws allowed the immigration of Chinese laborers but prohibited them from owning property or bringing their families.The early 1920s saw the rapid growth of theKu Klux Klan, which became very influential in Oregon politics, culminating in the election ofWalter M. Pierceas governor. The largest influxes of minority populations occurred during World War II, as the African American population grew by a factor of 10 for wartime work.After World War II, theVanport floodin 1948 displaced many African Americans. As they resettled,redliningdirected the displaced workers from the wartime settlement to neighboringAlbina.There and elsewhere in Portland, they experienced police hostility, lack of employment, andmortgage discrimination, leading to half the black population leaving after the war. In the 1980s and 1990s, radical skinhead groups flourished in Portland.In 1988,Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian immigrant, was killed by three skinheads. The response to his murder involved a community-driven series of rallies, campaigns, nonprofits and events designed to address Portland's racial history, leading to a city considered significantly more tolerant than in 1988 at Seraw's death. Portland has a substantialRomapopulation. 76% of Latinos in Portland are ofMexicanheritage. Italians and Russian Jews had a very visible presence in Portland. Households As of the2010 census, there were 583,776 people living in the city, organized into 235,508 households. The population density was 4,375.2 people per square mile. There were 265,439 housing units at an average density of 1,989.4 per square mile (768.1/km2). Population growth in Portland increased 10.3% between 2000 and 2010.Population growth in thePortland metropolitan areahas outpaced the national average during the last decade, and this is expected to continue over the next 50 years. Out of 223,737 households, 24.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.1% were married couples living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.1% were non-families. 34.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.3 and the average family size was 3. The age distribution was 21.1% under the age of 18, 10.3% from 18 to 24, 34.7% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.9 males. The median income for a household in the city was $40,146, and the median income for a family was $50,271. Males had a reported median income of $35,279 versus $29,344 reported for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,643. 13.1% of the population and 8.5% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 15.7% of those under the age of 18 and 10.4% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line. Figures delineating the income levels based on race are not available at this time. According to theModern Language Association, in 2010 80.9% (539,885) percent of Multnomah County residents ages 5 and over spoke English as theirprimary languageat home.8.1% of the population spoke Spanish (54,036), with Vietnamese speakers making up 1.9%, and Russian 1.5%. Social The Portland metropolitan area has historically had a significantLGBTpopulation throughout the late 20th and early 21st century.In 2015, the city metro had the second highest percentage of LGBT residents in the United States with 5.4% of residents identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, second only to San Francisco.In 2006, it was reported to have the seventh highest LGBT population in the country, with 8.8% of residents identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, and the metro ranking fourth in the nation at 6.1%.The city held its firstpride festivalin 1975 on thePortland State Universitycampus. Religion Portland has been cited as the leastreligiouscity in the United States with over 42% of residents identifying as religiously \"unaffiliated\",according to the nonpartisan and nonprofitPublic Religion Research Institute's American Values Atlas. Homelessness A 2019 survey by the city's budget office showed that homelessness is perceived as the top challenge facing Portland, and was cited as a reason people move and do not participate in park programs.Calls to 911 concerning \"unwanted persons\" have significantly increased between 2013 and 2018, and the police are increasingly dealing with homeless and mentally ill.Homelessness has taken a toll on the sense of safety among visitors, and residents and business owners are adversely impacted.Even though homeless services and shelter beds have increased, as of 2020 homelessness is considered an intractable problem in Portland. The proposed budget for 2022–23 includes $5.8MM to buy land for affordable housing, and $36MM to equip and operate \"safe rest villages\".A 2022 initiative approved by the Portland city council makes homeless camping illegal, eventually requiring homeless individuals to move into mass shelters. Crime According to theFederal Bureau of Investigation'sUniform Crime Reportin 2009, Portland ranked 53rd in violent crime out of the top 75 U.S. cities with a population greater than 250,000.The murder rate in Portland in 2013 averaged 2.3 murders per 100,000 people per year, which was lower than the national average. In 2011, 72% of arrested male subjects tested positive for illegal drugs and the city was dubbed the \"deadliest drug market in the Pacific Northwest\" due to drug related deaths.In 2010,ABC's Nightlinereported that Portland is one of the largest hubs for child sex trafficking.Car theft rates in Portland are the fifth highest of any US metropolitan area as of 2023.According to theLos Angeles Timesin 2023: \"Shootings in the city have tripled\" and \"Lower-level crimes have spiked too: More than 11,000 vehicles were stolen in 2022, up from 6,500 in 2019.\" In the PortlandMetropolitan statistical areawhich includes Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, Washington, and Yamhill Counties, OR and Clark and Skamania Counties, WA for 2017, the murder rate was 2.6, violent crime was 283.2 per 100,000 people per year. In 2017, the population within the city of Portland was 649,408 and there were 24 murders and 3,349 violent crimes. Portland's 101 homicides in 2022 set a new record.For 2021 year, Portland recorded 90 homicides, compared with 20 in 2016, and 27 in 2017. Economy Portland's location is beneficial for several industries. Relatively low energy cost, accessible resources, north–south and east–west Interstates, international air terminals, large marine shipping facilities, and both west coast intercontinental railroads are all economic advantages. The city's marine terminals alone handle over 13 million tons of cargo per year, and the port is home to one of the largest commercial dry docks in the country.ThePort of Portlandis the third-largest export tonnage port on the west coast of the U.S., and being about 80 miles (130 km) upriver, it is the largest fresh-water port. The scrap steel industry's history in Portland predates World War II. The scrap steel industry thrives in the region, withSchnitzer Steel Industries, a prominent scrap steel company, shipping a record 1.15 billion tons of scrap metal to Asia during 2003. Other heavy industry companies includeESCO CorporationandOregon Steel Mills. Technology is a major component of the city's economy, with more than 1,200 technology companies existing within the metro.This high density of technology companies has led to the nicknameSilicon Forestbeing used to describe the Portland area, a reference to the abundance of trees in the region and to theSilicon Valleyregion in Northern California.The area also hosts facilities for software companies and onlinestartup companies, some supported by localseed fundingorganizations andbusiness incubators.Computer components manufacturerIntelis the Portland area's largest employer, providing jobs for more than 15,000 people, with several campuses to the west of central Portland in the city ofHillsboro. The Portland metro area has become abusiness clusterfor athletic/outdoor gear and footwear manufacturer's headquarters. Shoes are not manufactured in Portland.The area is home to the global, North American or U.S. headquarters ofNike(the onlyFortune 500company headquartered in Oregon),Adidas,Columbia Sportswear,LaCrosse Footwear,Dr. Martens,Li-Ning,Keen,andHi-Tec Sports.While headquartered elsewhere,Merrell,Amer SportsandUnder Armourhave design studios and local offices in the Portland area. Other notable Portland-based companies include industrial goods and metal fabrication companyPrecision Castparts, film animation studioLaika; commercial vehicle manufacturerDaimler Trucks North America; advertising firmWieden+Kennedy; bankersUmpqua Holdings; child care and early childhood education providerKinderCare Learning Centers; and retailersFred Meyer,New Seasons Market,Storables, andPowell's Books. Breweries are another major industry in Portland, which is home to 139 breweries/microbreweries, the 7th most in the nation, as of December 2018.Additionally, the city boasts a robustcoffee culturethat now rivals Seattle and hosts over 20 coffee roasters. Housing In 2016, home prices in Portland grew faster than in any other city in the United States.Apartment rental costs in Portland reported in November 2019 was $1,337 for two bedroom and $1,133 for one bedroom. In 2017, developers projected an additional 6,500 apartments to be built in the Portland Metro Area over the next year.However, as of December 2019, the number of homes available for rent or purchase in Portland continues to shrink. Over the past year, housing prices in Portland have risen 2.5%. Housing prices in Portland continue to rise, the median price rising from $391,400 in November 2018 to $415,000 in November 2019.There has been a rise of people from out of state moving to Portland, which impacts housing availability. Because of the demand for affordable housing and influx of new residents, more Portlanders in their 20s and 30s are still living in their parents' homes.There is a considerable amount of \"Airbnbtype\" rentals in the city. An audit in 2018 located around 4,600 listings, of which 80% were illegally operated. Arts and culture Music, film, and performing arts Portland is home to a range of classical performing arts institutions including thePortland Opera,Portland Baroque Orchestra,Oregon SymphonyandPortland Youth Philharmonic; the last of these, established in 1924, was the first youth orchestra established in the United States.The city is also home to several theaters and performing arts institutions including theOregon Ballet Theatre, Northwest Children's Theatre,Portland Center Stage,Artists Repertory Theatre, Curious Comedy Theatre andMiracle Theatre. In 2013,The Guardiannamed the city's music scene as one of the \"most vibrant\" in the United States.Portland is home to famous bands such as theKingsmenandPaul Revere & the Raiders, both famous for their association with the song \"Louie Louie\" (1963).Other widely known musical groups include theDandy Warhols,Quarterflash,Everclear,Pink Martini,Sleater-Kinney,Blitzen Trapper, theDecemberists, and the lateElliott Smith. More recently,Portugal. The Man,Modest Mouse, andthe Shinshave made their home in Portland. In the 1980s, the city was home to a burgeoning punk scene, which included bands such as theWipersandDead Moon.The city's now-demolishedSatyricon nightclubwas a punk venue notorious for being the place whereNirvanafrontmanKurt Cobainfirst encountered his future wife andHolefrontwomanCourtney Lovein 1990.Love was then a resident of Portland and started several bands there withKat Bjelland, later ofBabes in Toyland.Multi-Grammyaward-winning jazz artistEsperanza Spaldingis from Portland and performed with the Chamber Music Society of Oregon at a young age. Awide range of films have been shot in Portland, from various independent features to major big-budget productions. DirectorGus Van Santhas notably set and shot many of his films in the city.The city has also been featured in various television programs, notably theIFCsketch comedyseriesPortlandia. The series, which ran for eight seasons from 2011 to 2018,was shot on location in Portland, and satirized the city as a hub of liberal politics, organic food, alternative lifestyles, and anti-establishment attitudes.MTV's long-time running reality showThe Real Worldwas also shot in Portland for the show's 29th season:The Real World: Portlandpremiered on MTV in 2013.Other television series shot in the city includeLeverage,The Librarians,Under Suspicion,Grimm, andNowhere Man. An unusual feature of Portland entertainment is the large number of movie theaters serving beer, often with second-run or revival films.Notable examples of these \"brew and view\" theaters include theBagdad Theater and Pub, a formervaudevilletheater built in 1927 byUniversal Studios;Cinema 21; and theLaurelhurst Theater, in operation since 1923. Portland hosts the world's longest-runningH. P. Lovecraft Film Festivalat theHollywood Theatre. Museums and recreation Portland is home to numerous museums and educational institutions, ranging from art museums to institutions devoted to science and wildlife. Among the science-oriented institutions are theOregon Museum of Science and Industry(OMSI), which consists of five main halls and other ticketed attractions, such as theUSSBluebacksubmarine,the ultra-large-screen Empirical Theater (which replaced an OMNIMAX theater in 2013),and the KendallPlanetarium.TheWorld Forestry Center Discovery Museum, located in the city'sWashington Parkarea, offers educational exhibits on forests and forest-related subjects. Also located inWashington Parkare theHoyt Arboretum, theInternational Rose Test Garden, theJapanese Garden, and theOregon Zoo. ThePortland Art Museumowns the city's largest art collection and presents a variety of touring exhibitions each year and, with the recent addition of the Modern and Contemporary Art wing, it became one of the United States' 25 largest museums. TheOregon Historical Society Museum, founded in 1898, which has a variety of books, film, pictures, artifacts, and maps dating back throughout Oregon's history. It houses permanent and temporary exhibits about Oregon history, and hosts traveling exhibits about the history of the United States. Oaks Amusement Park, in the Sellwood district of Southeast Portland, is the city's onlyamusement parkand is also one of the country's longest-running amusement parks. It has operated since 1905 and was known as the \"Coney Islandof the Northwest\" upon its opening. Cuisine and breweries Food carts are extremely popular within the city, with over 600 licensed carts.The city is home toStumptown Coffee Roastersas well as dozens of other micro-roasteries and cafes. Portland has 58 active breweries within city limits,and 70+ within the surrounding metro area.and data compiled by the Brewers Association ranks Portland seventh in the United States as of 2018. Portland hosts a number of festivals throughout the year that celebrate beer and brewing, including theOregon Brewers Festival, held inTom McCall Waterfront Park. Held each summer during the last full weekend of July, it is the largest outdoor craft beer festival in North America, with over 70,000 attendees in 2008.Other major beer festivals throughout the calendar year include the Spring Beer and Wine Festival in April, the North American Organic Brewers Festival in June, thePortland International Beerfestin July,and the Holiday Ale Festival in December. Sustainability The city became a pioneer of state-directed metropolitan planning, a program which was instituted statewide in 1969 to compact theurban growth boundariesof the city.Portland was the first city to enact a comprehensive plan to reducecarbon dioxide emissions. Free speech and public nudity Strong free speech protections of theOregon Constitutionupheld by theOregon Supreme CourtinState v. Henry,specifically found that full nudity andlap dancesinstrip clubsareprotected speech.Portland has the highest number of strip clubs per-capita in a city in the United States, and Oregon ranks as the highest state for per-capita strip clubs. In November 2008, a Multnomah County judge dismissed charges against a nude bicyclist arrested on June 26, 2008. The judge stated that the city's annualWorld Naked Bike Ride– held each year in June since 2004 – has created a \"well-established tradition\" in Portland where cyclists may ride naked as a form of protest against cars and fossil fuel dependence.The defendant was not riding in the official World Naked Bike Ride at the time of his arrest as it had occurred 12 days earlier that year, on June 14. Protests From November 10 to 12, 2016, protests in Portland turned into ariot, when a group broke off from a larger group of peaceful protesters who were opposed to the election ofDonald Trumpas president of the United States. Public art Sports Portland is home to three major league sports franchises: thePortland Trail Blazersof theNBA, thePortland TimbersofMajor League Soccer(MLS), and thePortland Thorns FCof theNational Women's Soccer League. In 2015, the Timbers won theMLS Cup, which was the first male professional sports championship for a team from Portland since the Trail Blazers won theNBA championship in 1977.Despite being the 19th most populatedmetro areain the United States, Portland contains only one franchise from the NFL, NBA, NHL, or MLB, making it the United States' second most populated metro area with that distinction, behindSan Antonio, which also has only one NBA team (theSpurs). The city has been often rumored to receive an additional franchise, although efforts to acquire a team have failed due to stadium funding issues.An organization known as thePortland Diamond Project(PDP)has worked with MLB and local government, and there are plans to have an MLB stadium constructed atZidell Yardsin theSouth Waterfrontneighborhood.The PDP has not yet received the funding for this project. On September 18, 2024, it was announced that the city would receive a WNBA franchise, slated to start in 2026. Portland sports fans are characterized by their passionate support. The Trail Blazers sold out every home game between 1977 and 1995, a span of 814 consecutive games, the second-longest streak in American sports history.The Timbers joined MLS in 2011 and have sold out every home match since joining the league, a streak that has now reached 70+ matches.The Timbers season ticket waiting list has reached 10,000+, the longest waiting list in MLS.In 2015, they became the first team in the Northwest to win the MLS Cup. Player Diego Valeri marked a new record for fastest goal in MLS Cup history at 27 seconds into the game. The annualCambia Portland Classicwomen's golf tournament in September, now in its 50th year, is the longest-running non-major tournament on theLPGA Tour, plays in the southern suburb ofWest Linn. Two rival universities exist within Portland city limits: theUniversity of Portland Pilotsand thePortland State University Vikings, both of whom field teams in popular spectator sports including soccer, baseball, and basketball. Portland State also has a football team. Additionally, theUniversity of Oregon Ducks(inEugene) and theOregon State University Beavers(inCorvallis) both receive substantial attention and support from many Portland residents, despite their campuses being 110 and 84 miles from the city, respectively. Running is a popular activity in Portland, and every year the city hosts thePortland Marathonas well as parts of theHood to Coast Relay, the world's largest long-distance relay race (by number of participants). Portland served as the center to an elite running group, theNike Oregon Projectuntil its 2019 disbandment following coach Alberto Salazar's ban due to doping violations. Historic Erv Lind Stadium is located inNormandale Park.It has been home to professional and college softball. Portland also hosts numerous cycling events and has become an elite bicycle racing destination.TheOregon Bicycle Racing Associationsupports hundreds of official bicycling events every year. Weekly events atAlpenrose VelodromeandPortland International Racewayallow for racing nearly every night of the week from March through September.Cyclocrossraces, such as theCross Crusade, can attract over 1,000 riders and spectators. Parks and recreation Parks and greenspace planning date back toJohn Charles Olmsted's 1903Report to the Portland Park Board. In 1995, voters in the Portland metropolitan region passed a regional bond measure to acquire valuable natural areas for fish, wildlife, and people.Ten years later, more than 8,100 acres (33 km2) of ecologically valuable natural areas had been purchased and permanently protected from development. Portland is one of only four cities in the U.S. with extinct volcanoes within its boundaries (along withPilot ButteinBend, Oregon,Jackson VolcanoinJackson, Mississippi, andDiamond HeadinHonolulu, Hawaii).Mount Tabor Parkis known for its scenic views and historic reservoirs. Forest Parkis the largest wilderness park within city limits in the United States, covering more than 5,000 acres (2,023 ha).Portland is also home toMill Ends Park, the world's smallest park (a two-foot-diameter circle, the park's area is only about 0.3 m2).Washington Parkis just west of downtown and is home to theOregon Zoo,Hoyt Arboretum, thePortland Japanese Garden, and theInternational Rose Test Garden. Portland is also home toLan Su Chinese Garden(formerly the Portland Classical Chinese Garden), an authentic representation of aSuzhou-style walled garden. Portland's east side has several formal public gardens: the historicPeninsula ParkRose Garden, the rose gardens ofLadd's Addition, theCrystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, theLeach Botanical Garden, andThe Grotto. Portland's downtown features two groups of contiguous city blocks dedicated for park space: theNorthandSouth Park Blocks.The 37-acre (15 ha)Tom McCall Waterfront Parkwas built in 1974 along the length of the downtown waterfront afterHarbor Drivewas removed; it now hosts large events throughout the year.The nearby historically significantBurnside Skateparkand five indoorskateparksgive Portland a reputation as possibly \"the most skateboard-friendly town in America.\" Tryon Creek State Natural Areais one of threeOregon State Parksin Portland and the most popular; its creek has a run ofsteelhead. The other two State Parks areWillamette Stone State Heritage Site, in the West Hills, and theGovernment Island State Recreation Areain the Columbia River nearPortland International Airport. In February 2015, the City Council approved a total ban on smoking in all city parks and natural areas effective July 1, 2015. The ban includes cigarettes, vaping, as well as marijuana. Government City hall The city of Portland is governed by the Portland City Council, which includes a mayor, four commissioners, and anauditor. Each is elected citywide to serve a four-year term. Each commissioner oversees one or more bureaus responsible for the day-to-day operation of the city. The mayor serves as chairman of the council and is principally responsible for allocating department assignments to his fellow commissioners. The auditor provides checks and balances in the commission form of government and accountability for the use of public resources. In addition, the auditor provides access to information and reports on various matters of city government. Portland is the only large city left in the United States with the commission form of government. The city's Community & Civic Life (formerly Office of Neighborhood Involvement)serves as a conduit between city government and Portland's95 officially recognized neighborhoods. Each neighborhood is represented by a volunteer-basedneighborhood associationwhich serves as a liaison between residents of the neighborhood and the city government. The city provides funding to neighborhood associations through seven district coalitions, each of which is a geographical grouping of several neighborhood associations. Most (but not all) neighborhood associations belong to one of these district coalitions. Portland and its surrounding metropolitan area are served byMetro, the United States' only directly electedmetropolitan planning organization. Metro's charter gives it responsibility forland useandtransportation planning,solid waste management, and map development. TheMultnomah Countygovernment provides many services to the Portland area, as doWashingtonandClackamascounties to the west and south. Fire and emergency services are provided byPortland Fire & Rescue. On November 8, 2022, Portland residents approveda charter reformballot measure to replace the commission form of government with a 12-member council elected in four districts using thesingle transferable votesystem, with a professionalcity managerappointed by a directly elected mayor. The city expects to hold the first election for this new system in 2024. Courts and law enforcement Law enforcement is provided by thePortland Police Bureau. State and national politics Portland strongly favors theDemocratic Party; registered Democrats (51.2%) outnumberRepublicans(10.5%) nearly 5 to 1. All city offices arenon-partisan.However, almost all of the city's elected officials are known to be Democrats.Fred L. Petersonin 1952 is the city's last elected mayor who was known to be a Republican, and no Republican has served as mayor even on an interim basis sinceConnie McCreadyheld the post from 1979 to 1980. Portland is split among three of Oregon's U.S.congressional districts. Most of the city is in the3rd District, represented byEarl Blumenauer(D-Portland), who served on the city council from 1986 until his election to Congress in 1996. Most of the city west of the Willamette River is part of the1st District, represented bySuzanne Bonamici(D-Beaverton). A small portion of southeastern Portland is in the5th District, formerly represented byKurt Schrader(D-Canby) prior to losing his Democratic primary election to a more progressive candidate, but currently represented by the former mayor ofHappy Valley, RepublicanLori Chavez-DeRemer, who is the firstRepublicanto represent a significant portion of the city in theU.S. House of Representativessince 1975. Both of Oregon's senators,Ron WydenandJeff Merkley, are progressive Democrats from Portland. In the2008 presidential election, Democratic candidateBarack Obamaeasily carried Portland, winning 245,464 votes from city residents to 50,614 for hisRepublicanrival,John McCain. In the2012 presidential election, Democratic candidateBarack Obamaagain easily carried Portland, winning 256,925 votes from Multnomah county residents to 70,958 for hisRepublicanrival,Mitt Romney. Sam Adams, the former mayor of Portland, became the city's first openly gay mayor in 2009.In 2004, 59.7 percent of Multnomah County voters cast ballots againstOregon Ballot Measure 36, which amended theOregon Constitutionto prohibit recognition ofsame-sex marriages. The measure passed with 56.6% of the statewide vote. Multnomah County is one of two counties where a majority voted against the initiative; the other isBenton County, which includesCorvallis, home ofOregon State University.On April 28, 2005, Portland became the only city in the nation to withdraw from aJoint Terrorism Task Force.As of February 19, 2015, the Portland city council approved permanently staffing the JTTF with two of its city's police officers. City planning and development The city consulted with urban planners as far back as 1904, resulting in the development ofWashington Parkand the40-Mile Loopgreenway, which connects many of the city's parks.Portland is often cited as an example of a city with strongland use planningcontrols.This is largely the result of statewide land conservation policies adopted in 1973 under GovernorTom McCall, in particular the requirement for anurban growth boundary(UGB) for every city and metropolitan area. The opposite extreme, a city with few or no controls, is typically illustrated byHouston. Oregon's 1973 \"urban growth boundary\" law limits the boundaries for large-scale development in each metropolitan area in Oregon.This limits access to utilities such as sewage, water and telecommunications, as well as coverage by fire, police and schools.Portland's urban growth boundary, adopted in 1979, separates urban areas (where high-density development is encouraged and focused) from traditional farm land (where restrictions on non-agricultural development are very strict).This was atypical in an era when automobile use led many areas to neglect their core cities in favor of development alonginterstate highways, in suburbs, andsatellite cities. The original state rules included a provision for expanding urban growth boundaries, but critics felt this was not being accomplished. In 1995, the State passed a law requiring cities to expand UGBs to provide enough undeveloped land for a 20-year supply of future housing at projected growth levels.In 2007, the legislature changed the law to require the maintenance of an estimated 50 years of growth within the boundary, as well as the protection of accompanying farm and rural lands.The growth boundary, along with efforts of the Portland Development Commission to create economic development zones, has led to the development of a large portion of downtown, a large number of mid- and high-rise developments, and an overall increase in housing and business density. Prosper Portland(formerly the Portland Development Commission) is a semi-public agency that plays a major role in downtown development; city voters created it in 1958 to serve as the city'surban renewalagency. It provides housing and economic development programs within the city and works behind the scenes with major local developers to create large projects. In the early 1960s, the Portland Development Commission led the razing of a large Italian-Jewish neighborhood downtown, bounded roughly by I-405, the Willamette River, 4th Avenue and Market street.MayorNeil Goldschmidttook office in 1972 as a proponent of bringing housing and the associated vitality back to the downtown area, which was seen as emptying out after 5 pm. The effort has had dramatic effects in the 30 years since, with many thousands of new housing units clustered in three areas: north of Portland State University (between I-405, SW Broadway, and SW Taylor St.); the RiverPlace development along the waterfront under the Marquam (I-5) bridge; and most notably in the Pearl District (between I-405, Burnside St., NW Northrup St., and NW 9th Ave.). Historically,environmental consciousnesshas weighed significantly in the city's planning and development efforts.Portland was one of the first cities in the United States to promote and integrate alternative forms of transportation, such as theMAX Light Railand extensive bike paths.The Urban Greenspaces Institute, housed inPortland State UniversityGeography Department's Center for Mapping Research, promotes better integration of the built and natural environments. The institute works on urban park, trail, and natural areas planning issues, both at the local and regional levels.In October 2009, the Portland City Council unanimously adopted aclimate actionplan that will cut the city's greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. As of 2012, Portland was the largest city in the United States that did not addfluorideto its public water supply,andfluoridationhas historically been a subject ofcontroversyin the city.Portland voters have four times voted against fluoridation, in 1956, 1962, 1980 (repealing a 1978 vote in favor), and 2013.In 2012 the city council, responding to advocacy from public health organizations and others, voted unanimously to begin fluoridation by 2014. Fluoridation opponents forced a public vote on the issue,and on May 21, 2013, city voters again rejected fluoridation. Education Primary and secondary education Nine public school districts and many private schools include sections of Portland.Portland Public Schoolsis the largest school district, operating 86 public schools.In addition to PPS, other school districts in Multnomah County that serve parts of the city include theBeaverton School District,Centennial School District,David Douglas School District,Parkrose School District,Reynolds School District,Riverdale School District, andScappoose School District.Portions in Clackamas County are in theNorth Clackamas School Districtand Centennial School District.Portions in Washington County are in Portland Public Schools. David Douglas High School, in thePowellhurstneighborhood, has the largest enrollment of any public high school in the city.Other high schools includeBenson,Cleveland,Franklin,Grant,Jefferson,Madison,Parkrose,Roosevelt, andIda B Wells-Barnett(formerly Woodrow Wilson), and several suburban high schools which serve the city's outer areas. Established in 1869,Lincoln High School(formerly Portland High School) is the city's oldest public education institution, and is one of two of the oldest high schools west of theMississippi River(after San Francisco'sLowell High School). Former public schools in the city includedWashington High School, which operated from 1906 until 1981, as well asAdamsandJackson, which also closed the same year. Higher education Portland State Universityhas the second-largest enrollment rate of any university in the state (afterOregon State University), with a student body of nearly 30,000.It has been named among the top fifteen percentile of American regional universities byThe Princeton Reviewfor undergraduate education,and has been internationally recognized for its degrees inMaster of Business Administrationandurban planning.The city is also home to theOregon Health & Science University, as well asPortland Community College. Notable private universities include theUniversity of Portland, a Roman Catholic university affiliated with theCongregation of Holy Cross;Reed College, aliberal arts college, andLewis & Clark College. Media The Oregonianis the only daily general-interest newspaper serving Portland. It also circulates throughout the state and inClark County, Washington. Smaller local newspapers, distributed free of charge in newspaper boxes and at venues around the city, include thePortland Tribune(general-interest paper published on Wednesdays),Willamette Week(general-interestalternative weeklypublished on Wednesdays), andThe Portland Mercury(another alt-weekly, targeted at younger urban readers and published every other Thursday). The Portland area also has newspapers that are published for specific communities, includingThe Asian Reporter(a weekly covering Asian news, both international and local) andThe Skanner(a weeklyAfrican-American newspapercovering both local and national news). ThePortland Business Journalcovers business-related news on a weekly basis, as doesTheDaily Journal of Commerce, its main competitor.Portland Monthlyis a monthly news and culture magazine.The Bee, over 110 years old, is another neighborhood newspaper serving the inner southeast neighborhoods. Infrastructure Healthcare Legacy Health, a non-profit healthcare system in Portland, operates multiple facilities in the city and surrounding suburbs.These includeLegacy Emanuel, founded in 1912, in Northeast Portland; andLegacy Good Samaritan, founded in 1875, and in Northwest Portland.Randall's Children's Hospitaloperates at the Legacy Emanuel Campus. Good Samaritan has centers for breast health, cancer, and stroke, and is home to theLegacy Devers Eye Institute, the Legacy Obesity and Diabetes Institute, the Legacy Diabetes and Endocrinology Center, the Legacy Rehabilitation Clinic of Oregon, and theLinfield-Good Samaritan School of Nursing. The Catholic-affiliatedProvidence Health & ServicesoperatesProvidence Portland Medical Centerin theNorth Tabor neighborhoodof the city.Oregon Health & Science Universityis a university hospital formed in 1974. TheVeterans Affairs Medical Centeroperates next to the Oregon Health & Science University main campus.Adventist Medical Centeralso serves the city.Shriners Hospital for Childrenis a small children's hospital established in 1923. Transportation The Portland metropolitan area has transportation services common to major U.S. cities, though Oregon's emphasis on proactiveland-use planningandtransit-oriented developmentwithin theurban growth boundarymeans commuters have multiple well-developed options. In 2008, 12.6% of all commutes in Portland were on public transit.TriMetoperates most of the region's buses and theMAX(short for Metropolitan Area Express)light railsystem, which connects the city and suburbs. The 1986-opened MAX system has expanded to five lines, with the latest being theOrange LinetoMilwaukie, in service as of September 2015.WES Commuter Railopened in February 2009 in Portland's western suburbs, linkingBeavertonandWilsonville. The city-ownedPortland Streetcarserves two routes in the Central City –downtownand adjacent districts. The first line, which opened in 2001 and was extended in 2005–07, operates from the South Waterfront District through Portland State University and north through the West End of downtown, to shopping areas and dense residential districts north and northwest of downtown. The second line that opened in 2012 added 3.3 miles (5.3 km) of tracks on the east side of the Willamette River and across theBroadway Bridgeto a connection with the original line.The east-side line completed a loop to the tracks on the west side of the river upon completion of the newTilikum Crossingin 2015,and, in anticipation of that, had been named the Central Loop line in 2012. However, it was renamed theLoop Service, with an A Loop (clockwise) and B Loop (counterclockwise), when it became a complete loop with the opening of the Tilikum Crossing bridge. Fifth and Sixth avenues within downtown comprise thePortland Transit Mall, two streets devoted primarily to bus and light rail traffic with limited automobile access. Opened in 1977 for buses, the transit mall was renovated and rebuilt in 2007–09, with light rail added. Starting in 1975 and lasting nearly four decades, all transit service within downtown Portland was free, the area being known by TriMet asFareless Square, but a need for minor budget cuts and funding needed for expansion prompted the agency to limit free rides to rail service only in 2010,and subsequently to discontinue the fare-free zone entirely in 2012. TriMet provides real-time tracking of buses and trains with its TransitTracker, and makes the data available to software developers so they can create customized tools of their own. I-5connects Portland with the Willamette Valley,Southern Oregon, and California to the south and withWashingtonto the north.I-405forms a loop with I-5 around the central downtown area of the city andI-205is a loop freeway route on the east side which connects to thePortland International Airport.U.S. 26supports commuting within the metro area and continues to the Pacific Ocean westward andMount HoodandCentral Oregoneastward.U.S. 30has a main, bypass, and business route through the city extending toAstoriato the west; throughGresham, Oregon, and the easternexurbs, and connects toI-84, traveling towardsBoise, Idaho. Portland's main airport isPortland International Airport(PDX), about 20 minutes by car (40 minutes by MAX) northeast of downtown. Portland is also home toOregon'sonly public use heliport, thePortland Downtown Heliport. Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service to Portland atUnion Stationon three routes. Long-haul train routes include theCoast Starlight(with service from Los Angeles to Seattle) and theEmpire Builder(with service to Chicago). TheAmtrak Cascadesstate-supported trains operate betweenVancouver, B.C., andEugene, Oregon, and serve Portland several times daily. The city is also served byGreyhound Linesintercity bus service, which also operatesBoltBus, an express bus service. The city's first airport was theSwan Island Municipal Airport, which was closed in the 1940s. Portland is the only city in the United States that owns operating mainlinesteam locomotives, donated to the city in 1958 by the railroads that ran them.Spokane, Portland & Seattle 700and the world-famousSouthern Pacific 4449can be seen several times a year pulling a specialexcursion train, either locally or on an extended trip. The \"Holiday Express\", pulled over the tracks of theOregon Pacific Railroadon weekends in December, has become a Portland tradition over its several years running.These trains and others are operated by volunteers of theOregon Rail Heritage Foundation, an amalgamation of rail preservation groups which collaborated on the finance and construction of theOregon Rail Heritage Center, a permanent and publicly accessible home for the locomotives, which opened in 2012 adjacent to OMSI. In Portland, cyclingis a significant mode of transportation. As the city has been particularly supportive ofurban bicyclingit now ranks highly among the mostbicycle-friendlycities in the world.Bicycles accounted for 2.8% of commuting in 2021. Bicycle commuting declined by 46% between 2016 and 2022 according toPortland Bureau of Transportationreport.For its achievements in promoting cycling as an everyday means of transportation, Portland has been recognized by theLeague of American Bicyclistsand othercycling organizationsfor its network of on-street bicycling facilities and other bicycle-friendly services, being one of only three U.S. cities to have earned a Platinum-level rating.A newbicycle-sharing system,Biketown, launched on July 19, 2016,with 100 stations in the city's central and eastside neighborhoods. Portland abolished the requirement for parking minimum as well asMinneapolisandAustin. As of 2015, Portland is owed $32.4 million in unpaid parking citations due to thecity government's refusal to collect more aggressively. Water The cities main source of drinking water is several reservoirs in theBull Run Watershed, which consists of roughly 102 square miles (260 km2) of forested land just west of Mount Hood. The city also operates 25 groundwaterwellsnear the Columbia River in Northeast Portland, which supplements the cities water supply during the summer. Notable people Sister cities Portland'ssister citiesare: Portland also has a friendship city agreement with: See also Notes References Bibliography Further reading External links"],"string":"[\n \"Seattle Seattle(/siˈætəl/ⓘsee-AT-əl) is aseaportcity on theWest Coast of the United States. It is theseatofKing County,Washington. With a 2023 population of 755,078it is themost populous cityin both thestateof Washington and thePacific Northwestregion ofNorth America, and the18th-most populous cityin the United States. TheSeattle metropolitan area's population is 4.02 million, making it the15th-largestin the United States.Its growth rate of 21.1% between 2010 and 2020 made it one of the country's fastest-growing large cities. Seattle is situated on anisthmusbetweenPuget Sound, an inlet of thePacific Ocean, andLake Washington. It is the northernmost major city in the United States, located about 100 miles (160 km) south of theCanadian border. A gateway for trade withEast Asia, thePort of Seattleis the fourth-largest port in North America in terms of container handling as of 2021. The Seattle area has been inhabited byNative Americans(such as theDuwamish, who had at least 17 villages around Elliot Bay) for at least 4,000 years before the first permanent European settlers.Arthur A. Dennyand his group of travelers, subsequently known as theDenny Party, arrived fromIllinoisviaPortland, Oregon, on theschoonerExactatAlki Pointon November 13, 1851.The settlement was moved to the eastern shore ofElliott Bayin 1852 and named \\\"Seattle\\\" in honor of ChiefSeattle, a prominent 19th-century leader of the localDuwamishandSuquamishtribes. Seattle currently has high populations of Native Americans alongside Americans with strong Asian, African, European, and Scandinavian ancestry, and, as of 2015, hoststhe fifth-largest LGBT communityin the U.S. Loggingwas Seattle's first major industry, but by the late 19th century the city had become a commercial and shipbuilding center as a gateway toAlaskaduring theKlondike Gold Rush. The city grew afterWorld War II, partly due to the localBoeingcompany, which established Seattle as a center for its manufacturing of aircraft. Beginning in the 1980s, the Seattle area developed into atechnology center;Microsoftestablished its headquarters in the region. In 1994, Internet retailerAmazonwas founded in Seattle, andAlaska Airlinesis based inSeaTac, Washington, servingSeattle–Tacoma International Airport, Seattle's international airport. The stream of new software,biotechnology, and Internet companies led to an economic revival, which increased the city's population by almost 50,000 in the decade between 1990 and 2000. The culture of Seattle is heavily defined by itssignificant musical history. Between 1918 and 1951, nearly 24jazznightclubs existed along Jackson Street, from the currentChinatown/International Districtto theCentral District. The jazz scene nurtured the early careers ofErnestine Anderson,Ray Charles,Quincy Jones, and others. In the late 20th and early 21st century, the city also was the origin of severalrockbands, includingFoo Fighters,Heart, andJimi Hendrix, and the subgenre ofgrungeand its pioneering bands, includingAlice in Chains,Nirvana,Pearl Jam,Soundgarden, and others. History Archaeological excavationssuggest thatNative Americanshave inhabited the Seattle area for at least 4,000 years.By the time the first European settlers arrived, theDuwamish peopleoccupied at least 17 villages in the areas aroundElliott Bay.The name for the modern city of Seattle inLushootseed,dᶻidᶻəlal̓ič, meaning \\\"little crossing-over place\\\", comes from one of these villages, which was located at the present-dayKing Street Station. In May 1792,George Vancouverwas the first European to visit the Seattle area during his1791–1795 expeditionfor theRoyal Navy, which sought to chart thePacific Northwestfor the British. 19th century In 1851, a large party ofAmerican pioneersled by Luther Collins made a location on land at the mouth of theDuwamish River; they formally claimed it on September 14, 1851.Thirteen days later, members of the Collins Party on the way to their claim passed three scouts of the Denny Party.Members of the Denny Party claimed land onAlki Pointon September 28, 1851.The rest of the Denny Party set sail on theschoonerExactfromPortland, Oregon, stopping inAstoria, and landed at Alki Point during a rainstorm on November 13, 1851.After a difficult winter, most of the Denny Party relocated across Elliott Bay and claimed land a second time at the site of present-dayPioneer Square,naming this new settlementDuwamps. Charles Terry and John Low remained at the original landing location, reestablished their old land claim and called it \\\"New York\\\", but renamed \\\"New York Alki\\\" in April 1853, from aChinookword meaning, roughly, \\\"by and by\\\" or \\\"someday\\\".For the next few years, New York Alki and Duwamps competed for dominance, but in time Alki was abandoned and its residents moved across the bay to join the rest of the settlers. David Swinson \\\"Doc\\\" Maynard, one of the founders of Duwamps, was the primary advocate to name the settlement Seattle afterChief Seattle(Lushootseed:siʔaɫ, anglicized as \\\"Seattle\\\"), chief of the Duwamish andSuquamishtribes. The name \\\"Seattle\\\" appears on officialWashington Territorypapers dated May 23, 1853, when the first plats for the village were filed. In 1855, nominal land settlements were established. On January 14, 1865, the Legislature of Territorial Washington incorporated the Town of Seattle with aboard of trusteesmanaging the city. The Town of Seattle was disincorporated on January 18, 1867, and remained a mere precinct of King County until late 1869, when a new petition was filed and the city was re-incorporated December 2, 1869, with amayor–council government.The corporate seal of the City of Seattle carries the date \\\"1869\\\" and a likeness of Chief Seattle in left profile.That same year, Seattle acquired the epithet of the \\\"Queen City\\\", a designation officially changed in 1982 to the \\\"Emerald City\\\". Seattle has a history of boom-and-bust cycles, like many other cities near areas of extensive natural and mineral resources. Seattle has risen several times economically, then gone into precipitous decline, but it has typically used those periods to rebuild solid infrastructure. The first such boom, covering the early years of the city, rode on the lumber industry. During this period the road now known asYesler Waywon the nickname \\\"Skid Road\\\", supposedly after the timber skidding down the hill toHenry Yesler's sawmill. The later dereliction of the area may be a possible origin for the term which later entered the wider American lexicon asSkid Row.Like much of theU.S. West, Seattle experienced onflicts between labor and management and ethnic tensions that culminated in theanti-Chinese riots of 1885–1886.This violence originated with unemployed whites who were determined to drive the Chinese from Seattle; anti-Chinese riots also occurred inTacoma. Seattle had achieved sufficient economic success when theGreat Seattle Fireof 1889 destroyed the central business district. However, a far grander city center rapidly emerged in its place.Finance companyWashington Mutual, for example, was founded in the immediate wake of the fire.ThePanic of 1893hit Seattle hard. The second and most dramatic boom resulted from theKlondike Gold Rush, which ended the depression that had begun with thePanic of 1893. In a short time, Seattle became a major transportation center. On July 14, 1897, theS.S. Portlanddocked with its famed \\\"ton of gold\\\", and Seattle became the main transport and supply point for the miners inAlaskaand theYukon. Few of those working men found lasting wealth. However, it was Seattle's business of clothing the miners and feeding them salmon that panned out in the long run. Along with Seattle, other cities likeEverett,Tacoma,Port Townsend,Bremerton, andOlympia, all in the Puget Sound region, became competitors for exchange, rather thanmother lodesfor extraction, of precious metals. 20th century The boom lasted into the early part of the 20th century, and funded many new Seattle companies and products. In 1907, 19-year-oldJames E. Caseyborrowed $100 from a friend and founded theAmerican Messenger Company(laterUPS). Other Seattle companies founded during this period includeNordstromandEddie Bauer.Seattle brought in theOlmsted Brotherslandscape architecture firm to design a system of parks and boulevards. The Gold Rush era culminated in theAlaska–Yukon–Pacific Expositionof 1909, which is largely responsible for the layout of today'sUniversity of Washingtoncampus. Ashipbuildingboom in the early part of the 20th century became massive duringWorld War I, making Seattle somewhat of a company town. The subsequent retrenchment led to theSeattle General Strike of 1919, an earlygeneral strikein the country.A 1912 city development plan byVirgil Boguewent largely unused. Seattle was mildly prosperous in the 1920s but was particularly hard hit in the Great Depression, experiencing some of the country's harshest labor strife in that era. Violence during theMaritime Strike of 1934cost Seattle much of its maritime traffic, which was rerouted to thePort of Los Angeles. TheGreat Depressionin Seattle affected many minority groups, one being the Asian Pacific Americans; they were subject to racism, loss of property, and failed claims of unemployment due to citizenship status. Seattle was one of the major cities that benefited from programs such as theWorks Progress Administration,CCC,Public Works Administration, and others.The workers, mostly men, built roads, parks, dams, schools, railroads, bridges, docks, and even historical and archival record sites and buildings. Seattle faced significant unemployment, loss of lumber and construction industries asLos Angelesprevailed as the biggerWest Coastcity. Seattle had building contracts that rivaledNew York CityandChicago, but also lost to Los Angeles. Seattle's eastern farm land faded due toOregon's and theMidwest's, forcing people into town. Hoovervillearose during the Depression, leading to Seattle's growing homeless population. Stationed outside Seattle, the Hooverville housed thousands of men but very few children and no women. With work projects close to the city, Hooverville grew and the WPA settled into the city. A movement of women arose from Seattle during theGreat Depression, fueled in part byEleanor Roosevelt's 1933 bookIt's Up to the Women; women pushed for recognition, not just as housewives, but as the backbone to family. Using newspapers and journalsWorking WomanandThe Woman Today, women pushed to be seen as equal and receive some recognition. The Great Depression did not impact theUniversity of Washingtonnegatively. As schools across Washington lost funding and attendance, the university actually prospered during the time period as they focused on growing their student enrollment. WhileSeattle public schoolswere influenced by Washington's superintendent Worth McClure,they still struggled to pay teachers and maintain attendance. Seattle was the home base of impresarioAlexander Pantageswho, starting in 1902, opened a number of theaters in the city exhibitingvaudevilleacts and silent movies. He went on to become one of America's greatest theater and movie tycoons. Scottish-born architectB. Marcus Pritecadesigned several theaters for Pantages in Seattle, which were later demolished or converted to other uses. Seattle's survivingParamount Theatre, on which he collaborated, was not a Pantages theater. War work again brought local prosperity duringWorld War II, centered on the production ofBoeingaircraft. The war dispersed the city's numerous Japanese-American businessmen due to theJapanese American internment. After the World War II, however, the local economy dipped. It rose again with Boeing's growing dominance in the commercialairlinermarket.Seattle celebrated its restored prosperity and made a bid for world recognition with theCentury 21 Exposition, the1962 World's Fair, for which theSpace Needlewas built. Another major local economic downturn was in the late 1960s and early 1970s, at a time when Boeing was heavily affected by theoil crises, loss of government contracts, and costs and delays associated with theBoeing 747. Many people left the area to look for work elsewhere, and two local real estate agents put up a billboard reading \\\"Will the last person leaving Seattle – Turn out the lights.\\\" Seattle remained the corporate headquarters of Boeing until 2001, when the company separated its headquarters from its major production facilities; the headquarters were moved to Chicago.The Seattle area is still home to Boeing'sRenton narrow-body plantandEverett wide-body plant.The company'scredit unionfor employees,BECU, remains based in the Seattle area and has been open to all residents of Washington since 2002. On March 20, 1970, twenty-eight people were killed when the Ozark Hotel was burned by an unknown arsonist.TheWah Mee massacrein 1983 resulted in the killing of 13 people in an illegal gambling club in theSeattle Chinatown-International District. Prosperity began to return in the 1980s beginning withMicrosoft's 1979 move fromAlbuquerque, New Mexico, to nearbyBellevue, Washington. Seattle and its suburbs became home to a number of technology companies, includingAmazon,F5 Networks,RealNetworks,Nintendo of America, andT-Mobile.This success brought an influx of new residents with a population increase within city limits of almost 50,000 between 1990 and 2000,and saw Seattle's real estate become some of the most expensive in the country. Seattle in this period attracted attention as home to the companies opened operations in or around the city. In 1990, theGoodwill Gameswere held in the city.Three years later, in 1993, theAPECleaders was hosted in Seattle.The 1990s also witnessed a growing popularity ingrungemusic, a sound that was largely developed in Seattle's independent music scene. In 1993, the movieSleepless in Seattlebrought the city further national attention,as did the television sitcomFrasier. Thedot-com boomcaused a great frenzy among the technology companies in Seattle but the bubble ended in early 2001. In 1999, theWorld Trade Organizationheld its conference in Seattle, which was met withprotest activity. The protests and police reactions to them largely overshadowed the conference itself. 21st century In 2001, the city was impacted by theMardi Gras Riotsand then by theNisqually earthquakethe following day. Another boom began as the city emerged from theGreat Recession, commencing whenAmazonmoved its headquarters from NorthBeacon HilltoSouth Lake Union. The move initiated a historic construction boom which resulted in the completion of almost 10,000 apartments in Seattle in 2017, more than any previous year and nearly twice as many as were built in 2016. From 2010 to 2015, Seattle gained an average of 14,511 residents per year, with the growth strongly skewed toward the center of the city,and unemployment dropped from roughly 9 percent to 3.6 percent.The city has found itself \\\"bursting at the seams\\\", with over 45,000 households spending more than half their income on housing andat least 2,800 people homeless, and with the country's sixth-worst rush-hour traffic. Geography Topography Seattle is located between the saltwaterPuget Sound(an arm of the Pacific Ocean) to the west andLake Washingtonto the east. The city's chief harbor,Elliott Bay, is part of Puget Sound, making the city an oceanic port. To the west, beyond Puget Sound, are theKitsap PeninsulaandOlympic Mountainson theOlympic Peninsula; to the east, beyond Lake Washington and theEastsidesuburbs, areLake Sammamishand theCascade Range. Lake Washington's waters flow to Puget Sound through theLake Washington Ship Canal(consisting of two man-made canals,Lake Union, and theHiram M. Chittenden LocksatSalmon Bay, ending inShilshole Bayon Puget Sound). The sea, rivers, forests, lakes, and fields surrounding Seattle were once rich enough to support one of the world's few sedentaryhunter-gatherersocieties. In modern times the surrounding area lends itself well to sailing, skiing, bicycling, camping, and hiking year-round. The city is hilly in some places.Like Rome, the city is said to lie onseven hills;the lists vary but typically includeCapitol Hill,First Hill,West Seattle,Beacon Hill,Queen Anne, Magnolia, and the formerDenny Hill. TheWallingford,Delridge,Mount Baker,Seward Park,Washington Park,Broadmoor,Madrona,Phinney Ridge,Sunset Hill,Blue Ridge,Broadview,Laurelhurst,Hawthorne Hills,Maple Leaf, andCrown Hillneighborhoods are all located on hills. Many of the hilliest areas are near the city center, with Capitol Hill, First Hill, and Beacon Hill collectively constituting something of a ridge along an isthmus between Elliott Bay and Lake Washington.The break in the ridge between First Hill and Beacon Hill is man-made, a result of two of the manyregrading projectsthat reshaped the topography of the city center.The topography of the city center was also changed by the construction of aseawalland the artificialHarbor Island(completed 1909) at the mouth of the city's industrialDuwamish Waterway, the terminus of theGreen River. The highest point within city limits is atHigh Pointin West Seattle, which is located near 35th Ave SW and SW Myrtle St. North of the city center, the Lake Washington Ship Canal connects Puget Sound to Lake Washington. It incorporates four natural bodies of water:Lake Union,Salmon Bay,Portage Bay, andUnion Bay. Due to its location in thePacific Ring of Fire, Seattle is in a majorearthquake zone. On February 28, 2001, themagnitude 6.8Nisqually earthquakedid significant architectural damage, especially in thePioneer Squarearea (built onreclaimed land, as are theIndustrial Districtand part of the city center), and caused one fatality.Other strong earthquakes occurred onJanuary 26, 1700(estimated at 9 magnitude),December 14, 1872(7.3 or 7.4),April 13, 1949(7.1),and April 29, 1965 (6.5).The1965 quakecaused three deaths in Seattle directly and one more by heart failure.Although theSeattle Faultpasses just south of the city center, neither itnor theCascadia subduction zonehas caused an earthquake since the city's founding. The Cascadia subduction zone poses the threat of an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 or greater, capable of seriously damaging the city and collapsing many buildings, especially in zones built on fill. According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 142.5 square miles (369 km2),84 square miles (220 km2) of which is land and 58.1 square miles (150 km2) is water (41% of the total area). Cityscape Climate According to theKöppen climate classificationsystem, Seattle has a warm-summerMediterranean climate(Csb),while under theTrewarthasystem, it is labeled anoceanic climate(Do).It has cool, wet winters and mild, relatively dry summers, covering characteristics of both climate types.The climate is sometimes characterized as a \\\"modified Mediterranean\\\" climate because it is cooler and wetter than a \\\"true\\\" Mediterranean climate, but shares the characteristic dry summer (which has a strong influence on the region's vegetation). Temperature extremes are moderated by the adjacentPuget Sound, greaterPacific Ocean, andLake Washington. Thus extremeheat wavesare rare in the Seattle area, as are very cold temperatures (below about 15 °F; −9 °C). The Seattle area is the cloudiest region of theContinental United States, due in part to frequent storms andlowsmoving in from the adjacent Pacific Ocean. Seattle is cloudy 201 days out of the year and partly cloudy 93 days.With many more \\\"rain days\\\" than other major American cities, Seattle has a well-earned reputation for frequent rain:In an average year, there are 150 days in which at least 0.01 inches (0.25 mm) of precipitation falls, more days than in nearly all U.S. cities east of theRocky Mountains.However, because it often has merely a light drizzle falling from the sky for many days, Seattle actually receives significantly less rainfall (or other precipitation) overall than many other major U.S. cities likeNew York City,Miami, orHouston. Demographics According to the 2012–2016American Community Survey(ACS), the racial makeup of the city was 65.7%White Non-Hispanic, 16.9%Asian, 6.8%Black or African American, 6.6%HispanicorLatinoof any race, 0.4%Native American, 0.9%Pacific Islander, 0.2% other races, and 5.6%two or more races. Seattle's population historically has been predominantly white.The 2010 census showed that Seattle was one of the whitest big cities in the country, although its proportion of white residents has been gradually declining.In 1960, whites constituted 91.6% of the city's population,while in 2010 they constituted 69.5%.According to the 2006–2008American Community Survey, approximately 78.9% of residents over the age of five spoke only English at home. Those who spokeAsian languagesother than Indo-European languages made up 10.2% of the population, Spanish was spoken by 4.5% of the population, speakers of otherIndo-European languagesmade up 3.9%, and speakers of other languages made up 2.5%. Seattle's foreign-born population grew 40% between the 1990 and 2000 censuses.TheChinesepopulation in the Seattle area has origins inmainland China, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, andTaiwan. The earliest Chinese-Americans that came in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were almost entirely fromGuangdong Province. The Seattle area is also home to a largeVietnamesepopulation of more than 55,000 residents,as well as over 30,000Somaliimmigrants.The Seattle-Tacoma area is also home to one of the largestCambodiancommunities in the United States, numbering about 19,000 Cambodian Americans,and one of the largestSamoancommunities in the mainland U.S., with over 15,000 people having Samoan ancestry.Additionally, the Seattle area had the highest percentage of self-identified mixed-race people of any large metropolitan area in the United States, according to the 2000 United States Census Bureau.According to a 2012HistoryLinkstudy, Seattle's 98118 ZIP code (in the Columbia City neighborhood) was one of the most diverse ZIP Code Tabulation Areas in the United States. According to the ACS 1-year estimates, in 2018, the median income of a city household was $93,481, and the median income for a family was $130,656.11.0% of the population and 6.6% of families were below the poverty line. Of people living in poverty, 11.4% were under the age of 18 and 10.9% were 65 or older.According to a 2024 study byHenley & Partners, the city of Seattle has an estimated 54,200 millionaires and 11 billionaires. It is estimated that King County has 8,000 homeless people on any given night, and many of those live in Seattle.In September 2005, King County adopted a \\\"Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness\\\", one of the near-term results of which is a shift of funding fromhomeless shelterbeds to permanent housing. In recent years, the city has experienced steady population growth, and has been faced with the issue of accommodating more residents. In 2006, after growing by 4,000 citizens per year for the previous 16 years, regional planners expected the population of Seattle to grow by 200,000 people by 2040.However, former mayor Greg Nickels supported plans that would increase the population by 60%, or 350,000 people, by 2040 and worked on ways to accommodate this growth while keeping Seattle's single-family housing zoning laws.The Seattle City Council later voted to relax height limits on buildings in the greater part of Downtown, partly with the aim to increase residential density in the city center.As a sign of increasing downtown core growth, theDowntownpopulation crested to over 60,000 in 2009, up 77% since 1990. In 2021 Seattle experienced its first population decline in 50 years. Seattle has a relatively high number of adults living alone. According to the 2000 U.S. Census interim measurements of 2004, Seattle has the fifth highest proportion of single-person households nationwide among cities of 100,000 or more residents, at 40.8%. Sexual orientation and gender identity Seattle has a notably largelesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendercommunity. According to a 2006 study byUCLA, 12.9% of city residents polled identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. This was the second-highest proportion of any major U.S. city, behindSan Francisco.Greater Seattle also ranked second among major U.S. metropolitan areas, with 6.5% of the population identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual.According to 2012 estimates from the United States Census Bureau, Seattle has the highest percentage of same-sex households in the United States, at 2.6 percent, surpassing San Francisco (2.5 percent).TheCapitol Hilldistrict has historically been the center of LGBT culture in Seattle. Economy Seattle's economy is driven by a mix of older industrial companies and new-economy internet and technology companies, as well as service, design, andclean technologycompanies. The city's gross metropolitan product (GMP) was $231 billion in 2010, making it the11th-largest metropolitan economyin the United States.ThePort of Seattle, which also operatesSeattle–Tacoma International Airport, is a major gateway for trade with Asia and cruises to Alaska. It also is the 8th-largest port in the United States when measured by container capacity. Its maritime cargo operations merged with thePort of Tacomain 2015 to form theNorthwest Seaport Alliance. Although it was impacted by theGreat Recession, Seattle has retained a comparatively strong economy, and is noted for start-up businesses, especially in green building and clean technologies.In February 2010, the city government committed Seattle to become North America's first \\\"climate neutral\\\" city, with a goal of reaching net-zero per-capita greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Large companies continue to dominate the business landscape. Seven companies onFortune500's 2022 list of the United States' largest companies (based on total revenue) are headquartered in Seattle: Internet retailerAmazon(#2), coffee chainStarbucks(#120), freight forwarderExpeditors International of Washington(#225), department storeNordstrom(#245), forest products companyWeyerhaeuser(#354), online travel companyExpedia Group(#404), and real-estate tech companyZillow(#424) .Other Fortune 500 companies commonly associated with Seattle are based in nearby Puget Sound cities. Warehouse club chainCostco(#11), the largest retail company in Washington, is based inIssaquah.Microsoft(#14) is located inRedmond. Furthermore, Bellevue is home to truck manufacturerPaccar(#151).Other major companies headquartered in the area includeNintendo of Americain Redmond,T-Mobile USin Bellevue, andProvidence Health & Services(the state's largest health care system and fifth-largest employer) inRenton. The city has a reputation for heavycoffee consumption;coffee companies founded or based in Seattle include Starbucks,Seattle's Best Coffee,andTully's.There are also many successful independent artisanal espresso roasters and cafés. Before moving its headquarters toChicagoand then ultimatelyArlington County, Virginia, aerospace manufacturerBoeing(#60) was the largest company based in Seattle. Its largest division,Boeing Commercial Airplanes, is still headquartered within the Puget Sound region.The company also has large aircraft manufacturing plants in Everett and Renton; it remains the largest private employer in the Seattle metropolitan area.In 2006 former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels announced a desire to spark a new economic boom driven by thebiotechnologyindustry. Major redevelopment of theSouth Lake Unionneighborhood is underway in an effort to attract new and established biotech companies to the city, joining biotech companiesCorixa(acquired byGlaxoSmithKline), Immunex (now part of Amgen),Trubion, and ZymoGenetics.Vulcan Inc., the holding company of billionairePaul Allen, is behind most of the development projects in the region. While some see the new development as an economic boon, others have criticized Nickels and theSeattle City Councilfor pandering to Allen's interests at taxpayers' expense.In 2005,Forbesranked Seattle as the most expensive American city for buying a house based on the local income levels.Owing largely to the rapidly increasing cost of living, Seattle and Washington State have some of thehighest minimum wages in the country, at $15 per hour for smaller businesses and $16 for the city's largest employers. Operating a hub at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport,Alaska Airlinesmaintains its headquarters in the city ofSeaTac, next to the airport.Seattle is a hub for global health with the headquarters of theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation,PATH (global health organization),Infectious Disease Research Institute,Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and theInstitute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. In 2015, the Washington Global Health Alliance counted 168 global health organizations in Washington state. Many are headquartered in Seattle. Culture Many ofSeattle's neighborhoodshost one or morestreet fairs or parades. Performing arts Seattle has been a regional center for theperforming artsfor many years. The century-oldSeattle Symphony Orchestrahas won many awards and performs primarily atBenaroya Hall.TheSeattle OperaandPacific Northwest Ballet, which perform atMcCaw Hall(opened in 2003 on the site of the former Seattle Opera House at Seattle Center), are comparably distinguished,with the Opera being particularly known for its performances of the works ofRichard Wagnerand the PNB School (founded in 1974) ranking as one of the top three ballet training institutions in the United States.TheSeattle Youth Symphony Orchestras(SYSO) is the largest symphonic youth organization in the United States.The city also boasts lauded summer and winterchamber musicfestivals organized by theSeattle Chamber Music Society. The5th Avenue Theatre, built in 1926, stagesBroadway-stylemusical showsfeaturing both local talent and international stars.Seattle has \\\"around 100\\\" theatrical production companiesand over two dozen live theatre venues, many of them associated withfringe theatre;Seattle is probably second only to New York for number ofequitytheaters(28 Seattle theater companies have some sort ofActors' Equitycontract).In addition, the 900-seatRomanesque RevivalTown Hallon First Hill hosts numerous cultural events, especially lectures and recitals. Between 1918 and 1951, there were nearly two dozen jazz nightclubs along Jackson Street, running from the current Chinatown/International District to the Central District. The jazz scene developed the early careers ofRay Charles,Quincy Jones,Bumps Blackwell,Ernestine Anderson, and others. Early popular musical acts from the Seattle/Puget Sound area include the collegiate folk groupThe Brothers Four, vocal groupThe Fleetwoods, 1960s garage rockersThe WailersandThe Sonics, and instrumental surf groupThe Ventures, some of whom are still active. Seattle is considered the home ofgrungemusic,having produced artists such asNirvana,Soundgarden,Alice in Chains,Pearl Jam, andMudhoney, all of whom reached international audiences in the early 1990s.The city is also home to such varied artists asavant-garde jazzmusiciansBill FrisellandWayne Horvitz,hot jazzmusicianGlenn Crytzer,hip hopartistsSir Mix-a-Lot,Macklemore,Blue Scholars, andShabazz Palaces,smooth jazzsaxophonistKenny G,classic rockstaplesHeartandQueensrÿche, and alternative rock bands such asFoo Fighters,Harvey Danger,The Presidents of the United States of America,The Posies,Modest Mouse,Band of Horses,Death Cab for Cutie, andFleet Foxes. Rock musicians such asJimi Hendrix,Duff McKagan, andNikki Sixxspent their formative years in Seattle. The Seattle-basedSub Poprecord company continues to be one of the world's best-known independent/alternative music labels.Over the years,a number of songs have been written about Seattle. Seattle annually sends a team ofspoken wordslammers to theNational Poetry Slamand considers itself home to such performance poets asBuddy Wakefield, two-timeIndividual World Poetry SlamChamp;Anis Mojgani, two-time National Poetry Slam Champ;andDanny Sherrard, 2007 National Poetry Slam Champ and 2008 Individual World Poetry Slam Champ.Seattle also hosted the 2001 national Poetry Slam Tournament. The Seattle Poetry Festival is a biennial poetry festival that (launched first as the Poetry Circus in 1997) has featured local, regional, national, and international names in poetry. The city also has movie houses showing bothHollywoodproductions and works byindependent filmmakers.Among these, theSeattle Cineramastands out as one of only three movie theaters in the world still capable of showing three-panelCineramafilms. Tourism Among Seattle's prominent annual fairs and festivals are the 24-daySeattle International Film Festival,Northwest Folklife over theMemorial Dayweekend, numerousSeafairevents throughout July and August (ranging from aBon Odoricelebration to theSeafair Cuphydroplaneraces), theBite of Seattle, one of the largestGay Pridefestivals in the United States, and the art and music festivalBumbershoot, which programs music as well as other art and entertainment over the Labor Day weekend. All are typically attended by 100,000 people annually, as are theSeattle Hempfestand two separateIndependence Daycelebrations. Other significant events include numerous Native Americanpow-wows, a Greek Festival hosted bySt. Demetrios Greek Orthodox ChurchinMontlake, and numerous ethnic festivals (many associated withFestál at Seattle Center). There are other annual events, ranging from the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair & Book Arts Show;ananimeconvention,Sakura-Con;Penny Arcade Expo, a gaming convention;a two-day, 9,000-riderSeattle to Portland Bicycle Classic;and specialized film festivals, such as theMaelstrom International Fantastic Film Festival, theSeattle Asian American Film Festival, Children's Film Festival Seattle, Translation: the Seattle Transgender Film Festival, theSeattle Queer Film Festival, Seattle Latino Film Festival, and theSeattle Polish Film Festival. TheHenry Art Galleryopened in 1927, the first public art museum in Washington.TheSeattle Art Museum(SAM) opened in 1933 and moved to their current downtown location in 1991 (expanded and reopened in 2007); since 1991, the 1933 building has been SAM'sSeattle Asian Art Museum(SAAM).SAM also operates theOlympic Sculpture Park(opened in 2007) on the waterfront north of the downtown piers.TheFrye Art Museumis a free museum onFirst Hill. Regional history collections are at the Log House Museum in Alki,Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, theMuseum of History and Industry, and theBurke Museum of Natural History and Culture. Industry collections are at theCenter for Wooden Boatsand the adjacentNorthwest Seaport, and theMuseum of Flight. Regional ethnic collections include theNational Nordic Museum, theWing Luke Asian Museum, and theNorthwest African American Museum. Seattle has artist-run galleries,including ten-year veteran Soil Art Gallery,and the newer Crawl Space Gallery. TheSeattle Great Wheel, one of the largestFerris wheelsin the US, opened in June 2012 as a new, permanent attraction on the city's waterfront, atPier 57, next toDowntown Seattle.The city also has manycommunity centersfor recreation, including Rainier Beach, Van Asselt, Rainier, and Jefferson south of the Ship Canal and Green Lake, Laurelhurst, Loyal Heights north of the Canal, and Meadowbrook. Woodland Park Zooopened as a privatemenageriein 1889 but was sold to the city in 1899.TheSeattle Aquariumhas been open on the downtown waterfront since 1977 (undergoing a renovation in 2006).TheSeattle UndergroundTour is an exhibit of places that existed before the Great Fire. Since the mid-1990s, Seattle has experienced significant growth in the cruise industry, especially as a departure point for Alaska cruises. In 2008, a record total of 886,039 cruise passengers passed through the city, surpassing the number for Vancouver, BC, the other major departure point for Alaska cruises. Religion A 2024 Household Pulse Survey from the United States Census Bureau estimated that 64 percent of adults in the Seattle area never attend religious services or attend less than once a year, the highest percentage among large U.S. metropolitan areas. According to a 2014 study by thePew Research Center, the largest religious groupings areChristians(52%), followed by those ofno religion(37%),Hindus(2%),Buddhists(2%),Jews(1%),Muslims(1%) and a variety of other religions have smaller followings.According to the same study by thePew Research Center, about 34% of Seattleites areProtestant, and 15% areRoman Catholic. Meanwhile, 6% of the residents in Seattle call themselvesagnostics, while 10% call themselvesatheists. Sports Seattle has four major men'sprofessional sportsteams: theNational Football League(NFL)'sSeattle Seahawks,Major League Baseball(MLB)'sSeattle Mariners, theNational Hockey League(NHL)'sSeattle Kraken, andMajor League Soccer(MLS)'sSeattle Sounders FC. Other professional sports teams include theWomen's National Basketball Association(WNBA)'sSeattle Storm, theNational Women's Soccer League'sSeattle Reign FC; andMajor League Rugby(MLR)'sSeattle Seawolves. Seattle's professional sports history began at the start of the 20th century with thePCHA'sSeattle Metropolitans, which in 1917 became the first American hockey team to win theStanley Cup.In 1969, Seattle was awarded a Major League Baseball franchise, theSeattle Pilots. Based atSick's StadiuminMount Baker, home to Seattle'sformer minor-league teams, the Pilots played in Seattle forone seasonbefore relocating toMilwaukeeand becoming theMilwaukee Brewers.The city, alongside the county and state governments, sued the league and was offered a second expansion team, later named theSeattle Mariners, as settlement. The Mariners began play in 1977 at themulti-purposeKingdome, where the team struggled for most of its time. Relative success in the mid-to-late 1990s saved the team from being relocated and allowed them to move to a purpose-built baseball stadium,T-Mobile Park(formerlySafeco Field), in 1999.The Mariners have never reached aWorld Seriesand only appeared in the MLB playoffs five times, mostly between 1995 and 2001, but had Hall of Fame players and candidates likeKen Griffey Jr.,Randy Johnson,Ichiro Suzuki, andAlex Rodriguez.The team tied the all-time MLB single regular season wins record in 2001 with 116 wins.From 2001 to 2022, the Mariners failed to qualify for the playoffs—the longestactive postseason droughtin major North American sports, at 20 seasons. The Seattle Seahawks entered the National Football League in 1976 as anexpansion teamand have advanced to theSuper Bowlthree times:2005,2013and2014.The team played in theKingdomeuntil it was imploded in 2000 and moved into Qwest Field (nowLumen Field) at the same site in 2003.The Seahawks lostSuper Bowl XLin 2005 to thePittsburgh SteelersinDetroit, but wonSuper Bowl XLVIIIin 2013 by defeating theDenver Broncos43–8 atMetLife Stadium. The team advanced to the Super Bowl the following year, but lost to theNew England PatriotsinSuper Bowl XLIXon a last-minute play.Seahawks fans have set stadium noise records on several occasions and are collectively known as the \\\"12th Man\\\". Seattle Sounders FC has played in Major League Soccer since 2009, as the latest continuation of theoriginal 1974 Sounders teamof theNorth American Soccer Leagueafteran incarnationin thelower divisions of American soccer.Sharing Lumen Field with the Seahawks, the team set variousattendance recordsin its first few MLS seasons, averaging over 43,000 per match and placing themselves among the top 30 teams internationally.The Sounders have won theMLS Supporters' Shieldin 2014and theU.S. Open Cupon four occasions:2009,2010,2011, and2014.The Sounders won the first of their twoMLS Cuptitles in2016, defeatingToronto FC5–4 in apenalty shootoutin Toronto,before finishing as runners-up in a rematch against Toronto inMLS Cup 2017. In2019the Sounders made their first-ever home-field appearance in MLS Cup, once again against Toronto FC, and won the game 3–1 to earn their second MLS Cup title in front of a club-record attendance of 69,274.The stadium also hosted the second leg of the2022 CONCACAF Champions League Final, played in front of 68,741 to break the tournament attendance record. The Sounders became the first MLS team to win a continental title since 2000 and the first to win the modernChampions League. Seattle's Major League Rugby team, theSeattle Seawolves, play in nearbyTukwilaatStarfire Sports Complex, a small stadium that is also used by the Sounders for theirU.S. Open Cupmatches.The team began play in 2018 and wonthe league's inaugural championship.They successfully defended their title in the2019 seasonand finished as runners-up in the2022 championship game. From 1967 to 2008, Seattle was home to theSeattle SuperSonicsof theNational Basketball Association(NBA). A frequent playoff participant, the Sonics were the1978–79 NBA champions, and also contended for the championship in1978and1996. Following a team sale in 2006, a failed effort to replace the agingKeyArena, and settlement of a lawsuit to hold the team to the final two years of its lease with the city,the SuperSonics relocatedtoOklahoma Cityand became theOklahoma City Thunderahead of the2008–09 season.Aneffort in 2013to purchase theSacramento Kingsfranchise and relocate it to Seattle as a resurrected Sonics squad was denied by the NBA board of governors. TheSeattle Stormof theWomen's National Basketball Associationhave also played their games at KeyArena (nowClimate Pledge Arena) since their foundation in 2000. The WNBA granted Seattle their expansion side following the popularity of the recently foldedSeattle Reign, a women's professional basketball team that played from 1996 to 1998 in the rivalAmerican Basketball League.The Storm began as a sister team to the now-defunctSonicsof the NBA, but sold to separate Seattle-based ownership in 2006. Tied for the league record, the Storm have claimed theWNBA championshipon four occasions, winning in2004,2010,2018, and2020.The team also won the first-everWNBA Commissioner's Cupin2021. TheSeattle Thunderbirdshockey team has represented Seattle in the Canadian major-juniorWestern Hockey Leaguesince 1977. Originally playing inMercer Arenaand theSeattle Center Coliseum(which had hostedprevious minor-league hockey teams), the Thunderbirds have been based at theShoWare Centerin the suburb ofKentsince 2007, and have won one WHL championship in2017.In 1974, Seattle wasawarded a conditional expansion franchisein theNational Hockey League; however, this opportunity did not come to fruition. In 2018, a new Seattle-based group successfully applied for an expansion team in the NHL, which was named theSeattle Krakenand began play in 2021.The SuperSonics' former home arena, KeyArena (nowClimate Pledge Arena), underwent major renovations from 2018 to 2021 to accommodate the new NHL team.The NHL ownership group reached its goal of 10,000 deposits within 12 minutes of opening a ticket drive, which later increased to 25,000 in 75 minutes. Seattle Reign FC,a founding member of theNational Women's Soccer League, was founded in 2012, holding their home games in Seattle from 2014 to 2018 and again since 2022. The team name was chosen to honor thedefunct women's basketball team of the same name.The club played atStarfire Sports Complexin nearby Tukwila for the league's inaugural 2013 season before moving toSeattle Center'sMemorial Stadiumin 2014. Under new management, the team moved toTacoma'sCheney Stadiumin 2019, before moving to Seattle's Lumen Field in 2022.In 2020, OL Groupe, theparent companyof French clubsOlympique LyonnaisandOlympique Lyonnais Féminin, became the team's majority owner and rebranded the club as OL Reign.The Seattle Reign name was restored in 2024. Seattle has also been home to various minor-league professional teams, of which currentlyBallard FCandWest Seattle Junction FCofUSL League 2in soccer remain. Representing the Seattle neighborhood ofBallard, Ballard FC was founded in 2022 as an independent, semi-professional soccer team in the fourth-divisionUSL League 2. The team is owned by a group led by former Sounders playerLamar Neagleand wonits first national title in 2023. Ballard FC's primary home is the 1,000-seat Interbay Soccer Stadium (also home toSeattle Pacific University's andBallard High School's soccer teams), but during that field's renovations in the 2024 season, Ballard will play out of Memorial Stadium at the Seattle Center.Starting in 2024, Ballard FC's division will be joined by a new cross-town rival,West Seattle Junction FCrepresenting the neighborhood ofWest Seattle. The short-livedSeattle Sea Dragons, originally the Dragons, of theXFLplayed at Lumen Field in the league's inaugural season in 2020 prior to its suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.The Sea Dragons returned alongside the XFL in2023after the league's re-launch under new ownership.The team folded prior to the 2024 season during the XFL's merger with theUnited States Football Leagueto form theUnited Football League. Seattle also boasts two collegiate sports teams based at theUniversity of WashingtonandSeattle University, both competing inNCAA Division Ifor various sports.The University of Washington's athletic program, nicknamed theHuskies, competes in thePac-12 Conference, and Seattle University's athletic program, nicknamed theRedhawks, mostly competes in theWestern Athletic Conference. The Huskies teams use several facilities, including the 70,000-seatHusky Stadiumforfootballand theHec Edmundson Pavilionfor basketball and volleyball.The two schools have basketball and soccer teams that compete against each other in non-conference games and have formed a local rivalry due to their sporting success. TheMajor League Baseball All-Star Gamehas been held in Seattle three times, once at the Kingdome in1979, and twice at T-Mobile Park in2001and2023.TheNBA All-Star Gamewas also held in Seattle twice: the first in1974at theSeattle Center Coliseumand the second in1987at the Kingdome.Lumen FieldhostedMLS Cup 2009, played betweenReal Salt Lakeand theLos Angeles Galaxy, as a neutral site in front of 46,011 spectators.Seattle will be one of eleven US host cities for the2026 FIFA World Cup, with matches played at Lumen Field and training facilities atLongacresinRenton, Washington. Parks and recreation Seattle's mild, temperate marine climate allows year-round outdoor recreation, including walking, cycling, hiking, skiing, snowboarding, kayaking, rock climbing, motorboating, sailing, team sports, and swimming.In town, many people walk aroundGreen Lake, through the forests and along the bluffs and beaches of 535-acre (2.2 km2)Discovery Park(the largest park in the city) inMagnolia, along the shores ofMyrtle Edwards Parkon the Downtown waterfront, along the shoreline of Lake Washington atSeward Park, along Alki Beach in West Seattle, or along theBurke-Gilman Trail.Gas Works Parkfeatures the preservedsuperstructureof acoal gasificationplant closed in 1956. Located across Lake Union from downtown, the park provides panoramic views of the Seattle skyline.Also popular are hikes and skiing in the nearby Cascade or Olympic Mountains and kayaking and sailing in the waters of Puget Sound, theStrait of Juan de Fuca, and theStrait of Georgia. Government and politics Seattle is acharter city, with amayor–council form of government. From 1911 to 2013, Seattle's nine city councillors were elected at large, rather than by geographic subdivisions.For the 2015 election, this changed to a hybrid system of seven district members and two at-large members as a result of a ballot measure passed on November 5, 2013. The only other elected offices are thecity attorneyand Municipal Court judges. All city offices are officiallynon-partisan.Like some other parts of the United States, government and laws are also run by a series of ballot initiatives (allowing citizens to pass or reject laws), referendums (allowing citizens to approve or reject legislation already passed), and propositions (allowing specific government agencies to propose new laws or tax increases directly to the people). Seattle is widely considered one of the most socially liberal cities in the United States.In the 2012 U.S. general election, a majority of Seattleites voted to approve Referendum 74 and legalize gay marriage in Washington state.In the same election, an overwhelming majority of Seattleites also voted to approve the legalization of the recreational use ofcannabisin the state.Like much of thePacific Northwest(which has the lowest rate ofchurch attendancein the United States and consistently reports the highest percentage ofatheism), church attendance, religious belief, and political influence of religious leaders are much lower than in other parts of America.Seattle's political culture is very liberal andprogressivefor the United States, with over 80% of the population voting for theDemocratic Party. All precincts in Seattle voted for Democratic Party candidateBarack Obamain the2012 presidential election.In partisan elections for theWashington State LegislatureandUnited States Congress, nearly all elections are won by Democrats. Although local elections are nonpartisan, most of the city's elected officials are known to be Democrats, the most notable exception beingSeattle City AttorneyAnn Davison. In 1926, Seattle became the first major American city to elect a female mayor,Bertha Knight Landes.It has also elected an openly gay mayor,Ed Murray,and a third-party socialist councillor,Kshama Sawant.For the first time in United States history, an openly gay black woman was elected to public office when Sherry Harris was elected as a Seattle city councilor in 1991.In 2015, the majority of the city council was female. Bruce Harrellwas elected as mayor in the2021 mayoral election, succeedingJenny Durkan, and took office on January 1, 2022. The mayor's office also includes threedeputy mayors, appointed to advise the mayor on policies. In 2023, the city council voted to bancaste discriminationas part of the city's anti-discrimination laws. The ban is the first in the United States. Seattle lies within four districts on theKing County Council: the 1st district includes the northeastern corner of the city; the 2nd district generally covers areas east ofInterstate 5and south of Northeast 65th Street; the 4th district consists of the northwestern neighborhoods of Ballard, Fremont, Magnolia, and Queen Anne; and the 8th district includes Downtown Seattle, First Hill, SODO, and West Seattle.At the state level, Seattle is divided into six districts that each have onestate senatorand twostate representatives. Federally, Seattle is split between two congressional districts. Most of the city is in7th congressional district,represented by DemocratPramila Jayapal, the first Indian-American woman elected to Congress. She succeeded 28-year incumbent and fellow DemocratJim McDermott.Part of southeastern Seattle is in the9th congressional district,represented by DemocratAdam Smithsince 1997.The border between the two districts follows the Tukwila city limits around Boeing Field, Interstate 5, South Dearborn Street, 4th Avenue South, James Street, Madison Street, East Union Street, Martin Luther King Jr. Way, and East Yesler Way. Education Of the city's population over the age of 25, 53.8% (vs. a national average of 27.4%) hold abachelor's degreeor higher, and 91.9% (vs. 84.5% nationally) have a high school diploma orequivalent. A 2008 United States Census Bureau survey showed that Seattle had the highest percentage of college and university graduates of any major U.S. city.The city was listed as the most literate of the country's 69 largest cities in 2005 and 2006, the second most literate in 2007 and the most literate in 2008 in studies conducted byCentral Connecticut State University. Seattle Public Schoolsis the school district for the vast majority of the city.That school district desegregated without a court orderbut continue to struggle to achieve racial balance in a somewhat ethnically divided city (the south part of town having more ethnic minorities than the north).In 2007, Seattle's racial tie-breaking system was struck down by theUnited States Supreme Court, but the ruling left the door open for desegregation formulae based on other indicators (e.g., income or socioeconomic class).A very small portion of the city is within theHighline School District. The public school system is supplemented by a moderate number of private schools: Five of the private high schools areCatholic, one isLutheran, and six aresecular. Seattle is home to theUniversity of Washingtonand its professional and continuing education unit, theUniversity of Washington Educational Outreach. In 2017,U.S. News & World Reportranked the University of Washington eleventh in the world.The UW receives more federal research and development funding than any public institution. Over the last 10 years, it has also produced morePeace Corpsvolunteers than any other U.S. university. Seattle also has a number of smaller private universities, includingSeattle UniversityandSeattle Pacific University, the former a Jesuit Catholic institution, the latter a Free Methodist institution. TheSeattle Colleges Districtoperates three colleges:North Seattle College,Seattle Central College, andSouth Seattle College. Universities aimed at the working adult are theCity UniversityandAntioch University. Seminaries includeWestern Seminaryand a number of arts colleges, such asCornish College of the Arts,Pratt Fine Arts Center. In 2001,Timemagazine selected Seattle Central Community College as community college of the year, saying that the school \\\"pushes diverse students to work together in small teams.\\\" Media As of 2019, Seattle has one major daily newspaper,The Seattle Times. TheSeattle Post-Intelligencer, known as theP-I, published a daily newspaper from 1863 to March 17, 2009, before switching to a strictly on-line publication. There is also theSeattle Daily Journal of Commerce,and the University of Washington publishesThe Daily, a student-run publication, when school is in session. The most prominent weeklies are theSeattle WeeklyandThe Stranger; both consider themselves\\\"alternative\\\" papers.The weekly LGBT newspaper is theSeattle Gay News.Real Changeis a weeklystreet newspaperthat is sold mainly byhomelesspersons as an alternative topanhandling. There are also several ethnic newspapers, includingThe Facts,Northwest Asian Weeklyand theInternational Examineras well as numerous neighborhood newspapers. Seattle is also well served by television and radio, with all major U.S. networks represented, along with at least five other English-language stations and two Spanish-language stations.Seattle cable viewers also receiveCBUT2 (CBC) fromVancouver, British Columbia. Non-commercialradio stations includeNPRaffiliatesKUOW-FM94.9 andKNKX88.5 (Tacoma), as well asclassical musicstationKING-FM98.1. Other non-commercial stations includeKEXP-FM90.3 (affiliated with the UW),community radioKBCS-FM91.3 (affiliated withBellevue College), andhigh school radioKNHC-FM89.5, which broadcasts anelectronic dance musicradio format, is owned by the public school system and operated by students ofNathan Hale High School. Many Seattle radio stations are available throughInternet radio, with KEXP in particular being a pioneer of Internet radio.Seattle also has numerous commercial radio stations. In a March 2012 report by the consumer research firmArbitron, the top FM stations wereKRWM(adult contemporaryformat),KIRO-FM(news/talk), andKISW(active rock) while the top AM stations wereKOMO(all news),KJR (AM)(all sports),KIRO (AM)(all sports). Infrastructure Health systems The University of Washington is consistently ranked among the country's leading institutions in medical research, earning special merits for programs in neurology and neurosurgery. The university-runUW Medicinesystem encompasses several major local hospitals, includingHarborview Medical Center, the public county hospital and the only Level Itrauma hospitalfor Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho.Harborview and two other major hospitals—Virginia Mason Medical CenterandSwedish Medical Center—are located on First Hill, which is nicknamed \\\"Pill Hill\\\" for its concentration of medical facilities. Located in theLaurelhurstneighborhood,Seattle Children's, formerlyChildren's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, is the pediatric referral center for Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. TheFred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centerhas a campus in the Eastlake neighborhood. The University District is home to theUniversity of Washington Medical Centerwhich, along with Harborview, is operated by the University of Washington. Seattle is also served by aVeterans Affairshospital onBeacon Hill, a third campus of Swedish in Ballard, andUW Medical Center - NorthwestnearNorthgate Station. Seattle has seen local developments of modern paramedic services with the establishment ofMedic Onein 1970.In 1974, a60 Minutesstory on the success of the then four-year-old Medic One paramedic system called Seattle \\\"the best place in the world to have a heart attack.\\\"The city also has severalpharmacychains; these includeBartell Drugs, which was family-run in Seattle until its acquisition byRite Aidin 2020. As of 2024, Seattle lacks a 24-hour retail pharmacy due to the closure of locations across several chains. Transportation Thefirst streetcarsappeared in 1889 and were instrumental in the creation of a relatively well-defined downtown and strong neighborhoods at the end of their lines. The advent of the automobile began the dismantling of rail in Seattle. Tacoma–Seattle railway service ended in 1929 and the Everett–Seattle service came to an end in 1939, replaced by automobiles running on the recently developed highway system. Rails on city streets were paved over or removed, and the opening of theSeattle trolleybus systembrought the end ofstreetcars in Seattlein 1941. This left an extensive network of privately owned buses (later public) as the only mass transit within the city and throughout the region. King County Metroprovides regular bus service in the city and county, and theSouth Lake Union Streetcarline and theFirst Hill Streetcarline.Seattle is one of the few cities in North America whose bus fleet includes electric trolleybuses.Sound Transitprovides an express bus service within the metropolitan area, twoSounder commuter raillines between the suburbs and downtown, and its1 Linelight railline betweenNorthgateand Angle Lake.Washington State Ferries, which manages the largest network of ferries in the United States and third-largest in the world, connects Seattle toBainbridgeandVashon Islandsin Puget Sound and to Bremerton andSouthworthon the Kitsap Peninsula.King Street Stationin Pioneer Square servesAmtrakintercity trains and Sounder commuter trains, and is located adjacent to theInternational District/Chinatown light rail station. According to the 2007American Community Survey, 18.6% of Seattle residents used one of the three public transit systems that serve the city, giving it the highest transit ridership of all major cities without heavy or light rail prior to the completion of Sound Transit's 1 Line.The city has also been described byBert Sperlingas the fourth most walkable U.S. city and byWalk Scoreas the sixth most walkable of the fifty largest U.S. cities. Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, locally known as Sea-Tac Airport and located just south in the neighboring city of SeaTac, is operated by the Port of Seattle and provides commercial air service to destinations throughout the world. Closer to downtown,Boeing Fieldis used for general aviation, cargo flights, and testing/delivery of Boeing airliners. A secondary passenger airport,Paine Field, opened in 2019 and is located inEverett, 25 miles (40 km) north of Seattle. It is predominantly used by Boeing and theirlarge assembly plantlocated nearby. The main mode of transportation, however, is the street system, which is laid out in acardinal directionsgrid pattern, except in the central business district where early city leadersArthur DennyandCarson Boreninsisted on orienting the plats relative to the shoreline rather than to true North.Only two roads,Interstate 5andState Route 99(both limited-access highways) run uninterrupted through the city from north to south. From 1953 to 2019, State Route 99 ran through downtown Seattle on theAlaskan Way Viaduct, an elevated freeway on the waterfront. However, due to damage sustained during the 2001 Nisqually earthquake the viaduct was replaced by a tunnel. The 2-mile (3.2 km)Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnelwas originally scheduled to be completed in December 2015 at a cost of US$4.25 billion. The world's largesttunnel boring machine, named \\\"Bertha\\\", was commissioned for the project, measuring 57 feet (17 m) in diameter. The tunnel's opening was delayed to February 2019 due to issues with the machine, which included a two-year halt in excavation.Seattle has the 8th-worst traffic congestion of all American cities, and is 10th among all North American cities according toInrix. The city has started moving away from the automobile and toward mass transit. From 2004 to 2009, the annual number of unlinked public transportation trips increased by approximately 21%.In 2006, voters in King County passed the Transit Now proposition, which increased bus service hours on high ridership routes and paid for fivelimited-stopbus lines calledRapidRide.After rejecting aroads and transit measurein 2007, Seattle-area voters passed a transit only measure in 2008 to increase ST Express bus service, extend theLink light railsystem, and expand and improveSounder commuter railservice. A light rail line (now the1 Line) from downtown heading south to Sea-Tac Airport began service in 2009, giving the city its first rapid transit line with intermediate stations within the city limits. An extension north to theUniversity of Washingtonopened on March 19, 2016,followed by theNorthgateextension in October 2021 and theLynnwoodextension in August 2024.The2 Lineopened in April 2024, operating betweenBellevueandRedmond.Further extensions are planned to connect the 2 Line to the 1 Line in early 2025, as well as extend it to downtown Redmond,and for the 1 Line to reachFederal Wayto the south by 2026.Voters in the Puget Sound region approved an additional tax increase, part of theSound Transit 3package, in November 2016 to expand light rail to West Seattle and Ballard as well as Tacoma, Everett, and Issaquah. Utilities Water and electric power are municipal services, provided bySeattle Public UtilitiesandSeattle City Light, respectively. Other utility companies serving Seattle includePuget Sound Energy(natural gas, electricity),Seattle Steam Company(steam),Waste Management, IncandRecologyCleanScapes (curbside recycling, composting, and solid waste removal),CenturyLink,Frontier Communications,Wave Broadband, andComcast(telecommunications and television).About 90% of Seattle'selectricityis produced usinghydropower. Less than 2% of electricity is produced usingfossil fuels. Seattle Public Utilities manages twotap watersupply systems on theCedar RiverandTolt River.These systems are fed by meltedsnowpackin the Cascade Mountains over the autumn and winter that fill reservoirs as they melt.The city'swastewatersystem includes 1,422 miles (2,288 km) of sewers that reachtreatment plantsthat discharge into Puget Sound; a 485-mile (781 km) network of separate tunnels forstormwaterserve other treatment facilities.Older areas of the city have acombined sewersystem that dumps stormwater and untreated wastewater into Puget Sound during overflow events. Crime In 2023, Seattle had 5000 violentcrimes, and from 2013 to 2018 there was a slow increase in crimes, however it dipped in 2020, before spiking up again in 2021 and 2022. As of 2023 the city has a violent crime rate of 683 per 100,000 people, and 5,174 property crimes per 100,000 people. International relations Seattle has the followingsister cities: See also Notes References Bibliography Further reading External links\",\n \"Portland, Oregon Portland(/ˈpɔːrtlənd/PORT-lənd) is themost populous cityin theU.S. stateofOregon, located in thePacific Northwestregion. Situated in the northwestern area of the state at theconfluenceof theWillametteandColumbiarivers, it is thecounty seatofMultnomah County, Oregon's most populous county. As of 2020,Portland's population was 652,503,making it the26th-most populouscity in the United States, the sixth-most populous on theWest Coast, and the second-most populous in the Pacific Northwest, afterSeattle.Approximately 2.5 million people live in thePortland metropolitan area, making it the25th-most populousin the United States. About half of Oregon's population resides within the Portland metro area. Named afterPortland, Maine,which is itself named after the EnglishIsle of Portland, the Oregon settlement began to be populated in the 1840s, near the end of theOregon Trail. Its water access provided convenient transportation of goods, and the timber industry was a major force in the city's early economy. At the turn of the 20th century, the city had a reputation as one of the most dangerousport citiesin the world, a hub for organized crime andracketeering. After the city's economy experienced an industrial boom duringWorld War II, its hard-edged reputation began to dissipate. Beginning in the 1960s,it became noted for its growingliberalandprogressivepolitical values, earning it a reputation as a bastion ofcounterculture. The city operates with acommission-based government, guided by a mayor and four commissioners, as well asMetro, the only directly electedmetropolitan planning organizationin the United States.Its climate is marked by warm, dry summers and cool, rainy winters. This climate isideal for growing roses, and Portland has been called the \\\"City of Roses\\\" for over a century. History Pre-settlement history During the prehistoric period, the land that would become Portlandwas flooded after the collapse of glacial damsfromLake Missoula, in what would later become Montana. These massive floods occurred during the last ice age and filled the Willamette Valley with 300 to 400 feet (91 to 122 m) of water. Before American settlers began arriving in the 1800s, the land was inhabited for many centuries by two bands of indigenousChinook people– theMultnomahand theClackamas.The Chinook people occupying the land were first documentedin 1805byMeriwether LewisandWilliam Clark.Before its European settlement, the Portland Basin of the lower Columbia River and Willamette River valleys had been one of the most densely populated regions on the Pacific Coast. Establishment Large numbers of pioneer settlers began arriving in the Willamette Valley in the 1840s via theOregon Trailwith many arriving in nearbyOregon City.A new settlement then emerged ten miles from the mouth of the Willamette River,roughly halfway between Oregon City andHudson's Bay Company'sFort Vancouver. This community was initially referred to as \\\"Stumptown\\\" and \\\"The Clearing\\\" because of the many trees cut down to allow for its growth.In 1843William Overtonsaw potential in the new settlement but lacked the funds to file an official land claim. For 25 cents, Overton agreed to share half of the 640-acre (2.6 km2) site withAsa LovejoyofBoston. In 1844, Overton sold his remaining half of the claim toFrancis W. PettygroveofPortland, Maine. Both Pettygrove and Lovejoy wished to rename \\\"The Clearing\\\" after their respective hometowns (Lovejoy's being Boston, and Pettygrove's, Portland). This controversy was settled with a coin toss that Pettygrove won in a series of two out of three tosses, thereby providing Portland with its namesake.The coin used for this decision, now known as thePortland Penny, is on display in the headquarters of theOregon Historical Society. At the time of its incorporation on February 8, 1851, Portland had over 800 inhabitants,a steam sawmill, a log cabin hotel, and a newspaper, theWeekly Oregonian.A major fire swept through downtown in August 1873, destroying twenty blocks on the west side of the Willamette along Yamhill and Morrison Streets, and causing $1.3 million in damage,roughly equivalent to $33.1 million today.By 1879, the population had grown to 17,500 and by 1890 it had grown to 46,385.In 1888, the first steel bridge on theWest Coastwas opened in Portland,the predecessor of the 1912 namesakeSteel Bridgethat survives today. In 1889, Henry Pittock's wife, Georgiana, established the Portland Rose Society. The movement to make Portland a \\\"Rose City\\\" started as the city was preparing for the 1905Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. Portland's access to thePacific Oceanvia the Willamette and Columbia rivers, as well as its easy access to the agriculturalTualatin Valleyvia the \\\"Great Plank Road\\\" (the route of current-dayU.S. Route 26), provided the pioneer city with an advantage over other nearby ports, and it grew very quickly.Portland remained the major port in the Pacific Northwest for much of the 19th century, until the 1890s, when Seattle's deepwater harbor was connected to the rest of the mainland by rail, affording an inland route without the treacherous navigation of the Columbia River. The city had its own Japantown,for one, and thelumber industryalso became a prominent economic presence, due to the area's large population ofDouglas fir,western hemlock,red cedar, andbig leaf mapletrees. Portland developed a reputation early in its history as a hard-edged and grittyport town.Some historians have described the city's early establishment as being a \\\"scionofNew England; an ends-of-the-earth home for the exiled spawn of the eastern established elite.\\\"In 1889,The Oregoniancalled Portland \\\"the most filthy city in the Northern States\\\", due to the unsanitary sewers and gutters,and, at the turn of the 20th century, it was considered one of the most dangerous port cities in the world.The city housed a large number of saloons,bordellos, gambling dens, and boarding houses which were populated with miners after theCalifornia Gold Rush, as well as the multitude of sailors passing through the port.By the early 20th century, the city had lost its reputation as a \\\"sober frontier city\\\" and garnered a reputation for being violent and dangerous. 20th-century development Between 1900 and 1930, the city's population tripled from nearly 100,000 to 301,815.DuringWorld War II, it housed an \\\"assembly center\\\" from which up to 3,676 people of Japanese descent were dispatched tointernment campsin the heartland. It was the first American city to have residents report thus,and thePacific International Livestock Expositionoperated from May through September 10, 1942, processing people from the city, northern Oregon, andcentral Washington.GeneralJohn DeWittcalled the city the first \\\"Jap-free city on the West Coast.\\\" At the same time, Portland became a notorious hub for underground criminal activity andorganized crimein the 1940s and 1950s.In 1957,Lifemagazine published an article detailing the city's history ofgovernment corruptionand crime, specifically its gambling rackets and illegal nightclubs.The article, which focused oncrime bossJim Elkins, became the basis of a fictionalized film titledPortland Exposé(1957). In spite of the city's seedier undercurrent of criminal activity, Portland enjoyed an economic and industrial surge during World War II. Ship builderHenry J. Kaiserhad been awarded contracts to buildLiberty shipsand aircraft carrier escorts, and chose sites in Portland andVancouver, Washington, for work yards.During this time, Portland's population rose by over 150,000, largely attributed to recruited laborers. During the 1960s, an influx ofhippiesubculture began to take root in the city in the wake ofSan Francisco's burgeoningcounterculturalscene.The city'sCrystal Ballroombecame a hub for the city'spsychedelic culture, whilefood cooperativesand listener-funded media and radio stations were established.A largesocial activistpresence evolved during this time as well, specifically concerningNative American rights,environmentalistcauses, andgay rights.By the 1970s, Portland had well established itself as a progressive city, and experienced an economic boom for the majority of the decade; however, the slowing of the housing market in 1979 caused demand for the city and state timber industries to drop significantly. Since 1990 In the 1990s, the technology industry began to emerge in Portland, specifically with the establishment of companies such asIntel, which brought more thanUS$10 billion in investments in 1995 alone.In the late 1990s, the Portland area was rated the fourth-least affordable place in the United States to purchase a new home.After 2000, Portland experienced significant growth, with a population rise of over 90,000 between the years 2000 and 2014.The city's increasing reputation for culture established it as a popular city for young people, and it was second only toLouisville, Kentucky, as one of the cities to attract and retain the highest number of college-educated people in the United States.Between 2001 and 2012, Portland's gross domestic product per person grew by fifty percent, more than any other city in the country. The city acquired adiverse range of nicknamesthroughout its history, though it is most often called \\\"Rose City\\\" or \\\"The City of Roses\\\"(unofficial nickname since 1888, official since 2003).Another widely used nickname by local residents in everyday speech is \\\"PDX\\\", the airport code forPortland International Airport. Other nicknames include Bridgetown,Stumptown,Rip City,Soccer City,P-Town,Portlandia, and the more antiquated Little Beirut. 2020 George Floyd protests From May 28, 2020, until spring 2021,there were dailyprotestsabout themurder of George Floydby police, and racial injustice. There were instances of looting, vandalism, and police actions causing injuries. One protestor was killed by an opposing one.Local businesses reported losses totaling millions of dollars as the result of vandalism and looting, according toOregon Public Broadcasting.Some protests caused injury to protesters and police. In July, federal officers were deployed to safeguard federal property; their presence and tactics were criticized by Oregon officials, who demanded they leave, while lawsuits were filed against local and federal law enforcement alleging wrongful actions by them. On May 25, 2021, a protest to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Floyd's murder caused property damage, and was followed by a number of arrests. Geography Geology Portland lies on top of a dormant volcanic field known as theBoring Lava Field, named after the nearbybedroom communityofBoring.The Boring Lava Field has at least 32 cinder cones such asMount Tabor,and its center lies in southeast Portland.Mount St. Helens, a highly active volcano 50 miles (80 km) northeast of the city in Washington state, is easily visible on clear days and is close enough to have dusted the city with volcanic ash after itseruption on May 18, 1980.The rocks of the Portland area range in age from lateEoceneto more recent eras. Multiple shallow, activefault linestraverse the Portland metropolitan area.Among them are thePortland Hills Faulton the city's west side,and theEast Bank Faulton the east side.According to a 2017 survey, several of these faults were characterized as \\\"probably more of a hazard\\\" than theCascadia subduction zonedue to their proximities to population centers, with the potential of producingmagnitude7earthquakes.Notable earthquakes that have impacted the Portland area in recent history include the 6.8-magnitudeNisqually earthquakein 2001, and a 5.6-magnitude earthquake that struck on March 25, 1993. Per a 2014 report, over 7,000 locations within the Portland area are at high risk for landslides andsoil liquefactionin the event of a major earthquake, including much of the city's west side (such asWashington Park) and sections ofClackamas County. Topography Portland is 60 miles (97 km) east of the Pacific Ocean at the northern end ofOregon's most populated region, the Willamette Valley. Downtown Portland straddles the banks of the Willamette River, which flows north through the city center and separates the city's east and west neighborhoods. Less than 10 miles (16 km) from downtown, the Willamette River flows into the Columbia River, the fourth-largest river in the United States, which divides Oregon from Washington state. Portland is approximately 100 miles (160 km) upriver from the Pacific Ocean on the Columbia. Though much of downtown Portland is relatively flat, the foothills of theTualatin Mountains, more commonly referred to locally as the \\\"West Hills\\\", pierce through the northwest and southwest reaches of the city.Council Crest Parkat 1,073 feet (327 m) is often quoted as the highest point in Portland; however, the highest point in Portland is on a section of NW Skyline Blvd just north ofWillamette Stone Heritage site.The highest point east of the river isMt. Tabor, an extinct volcanic cinder cone, which rises to 636 feet (194 m). NearbyPowell ButteandRocky Butterise to 614 feet (187 m) and 612 feet (187 m), respectively. To the west of the Tualatin Mountains lies theOregon Coast Range, and to the east lies the actively volcanicCascade Range. On clear days,Mt. HoodandMt. St. Helensdominate the horizon, whileMt. AdamsandMt. Rainiercan also be seen in the distance. According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 145.09 square miles (375.78 km2), of which 133.43 square miles (345.58 km2) is land and 11.66 square miles (30.20 km2) is water.Although almost all of Portland is withinMultnomah County, small portions of the city are within Clackamas andWashingtoncounties. Climate Portland has awarm-summer Mediterranean climate(KöppenCsb),falling just short of ahot-summer Mediterranean climate(KöppenCsa)with cool and rainy winters, and warm and dry summers.This climate is characterized by having overcast, wet, and changing weather conditions in fall, winter, and spring, as Portland lies in the direct path of the stormy westerly flow, and warm, dry summers when theNorth Pacific Highreaches its northernmost point in mid-summer.Portland'sUSDA Plant Hardiness Zoneis 8b, with parts of the Downtown area falling into zone 9a. Winters are cool, cloudy, and rainy. The coldest month is December with an average daily high temperature of 46.9 °F (8.3 °C), although overnight lows usually remain above freezing by a few degrees. Evening temperatures fall to or below freezing 32 nights per year on average, but very rarely below 18 °F (−8 °C). There are only 2.1 days per year where the daytime high temperature fails to rise above freezing; the mean for the lowest high is at the exact freezing point of 32 °F (0 °C).The lowest overnight temperature ever recorded was −3 °F (−19 °C),on February 2, 1950,while the lowest daytime high temperature ever recorded was 14 °F (−10 °C) on December 30, 1968.The average window in which freezing temperatures may occur is between November 15 and March 19, allowing a growing season of 240 days. Annual snowfall in Portland is 4.3 inches (10.9 cm), which usually falls between December and March.The city of Portland avoids snow more frequently than its suburbs, due in part to its low elevation and theurban heat islandeffect. Neighborhoods outside of the downtown core, especially in slightly higher elevations near theWest HillsandMount Tabor, can experience a dusting of snow while downtown receives no accumulation at all. The city has experienced a few major snow and ice storms in its past, with extreme totals having reached 44.5 in (113 cm) at the airport in 1949–50 and 60.9 in (155 cm) at downtown in 1892–93. Summers in Portland are warm, dry, and sunny, though the sunny warm weather is short-lived, from mid-June to early September.June, July, August and September account for a combined 4.19 inches (106 mm) of total rainfall – only 11% of the 36.91 in (938 mm) of annual precipitation. The warmest month is August, with an average high temperature of 82.3 °F (27.9 °C). Because of its inland location 62 miles (100 km) from the coast, as well as the protective nature of theOregon Coast Rangeto its west, Portland summers are less susceptible to the moderating influence of the nearby Pacific Ocean. Consequently, Portland occasionally experiencesheat waves, with temperatures rising above 90 °F (32 °C) for a few days. However, on average, temperatures reach or exceed 80 °F (27 °C) on only 61 days per year, of which 15 days will reach 90 °F (32 °C) and only 1.3 days will reach 100 °F (38 °C). In 2018 more 90-degree days were recorded than ever before. On June 28, 2021, Portland recorded its all-time record high temperature of 116 °F (47 °C) and its warmest daily low temperature of 75 °F (24 °C) during amajor regional heat wave.The record had been broken for three consecutive days with daytime highs of 108 °F (42 °C) on June 26 and 112 °F (44 °C) on June 27; the previous record of 107 °F (42 °C) was set in July 1965 and matched twice in August 1981.A temperature of 100 °F (38 °C) has been recorded in all five months from May through September. The warmest night of the year averages 68 °F (20 °C). Spring and fall can bring variable weather including high-pressure ridging that sends temperatures surging above 80 °F (27 °C) and cold fronts that plunge daytime temperatures into the 40s °F (4–9 °C). However, lengthy stretches of overcast days beginning in mid-fall and continuing into mid-spring are most common. Rain often falls as a light drizzle for several consecutive days at a time, contributing to 157 days on average with measurable (≥0.01 in or 0.25 mm) precipitation annually. Temperatures have reached 90 °F (32 °C) as early as April 30 and as late as October 5, while 80 °F (27 °C) has been reached as early as April 1 and as late as October 21.Thunderstormsare uncommon andtornadoesare very rare, although they do occur. See or editraw graph data. Cityscape Portland's cityscape derives much of its character from the many bridges that span the Willamette River downtown, several of which are historic landmarks, and Portland has been nicknamed \\\"Bridgetown\\\" for many decades as a result.Three of downtown's most heavily used bridges are more than 100 years old and are designated historic landmarks:Hawthorne Bridge(1910),Steel Bridge(1912), andBroadway Bridge(1913). Portland's newest bridge in the downtown area,Tilikum Crossing, opened in 2015 and is the first new bridge to span the Willamette in Portland since the 1973 opening of the double-deckerFremont Bridge. Other bridges that span the Willamette River in the downtown area include theBurnside Bridge, theRoss Island Bridge(both built 1926), and the double-deckerMarquam Bridge(built 1966). Other bridges outside the downtown area include theSellwood Bridge(built 2016) to the south; and theSt. Johns Bridge, aGothic revivalsuspension bridge built in 1931, to the north. TheGlenn L. Jackson Memorial Bridgeand theInterstate Bridgeprovide access from Portland across the Columbia River into Washington state. Neighborhoods The Willamette River, which flows north through downtown, serves as the natural boundary between East and West Portland. The denser and earlier-developed west side extends into the lap of theWest Hills, while the flatter east side extends for roughly 180 blocks until it meets the suburb ofGresham. In 1891 the cities of Portland,Albina, andEast Portlandwere consolidated, creating inconsistent patterns of street names and addresses. It was not unusual for a street name to be duplicated in disparate areas. The \\\"Great Renumbering\\\" on September 2, 1931, standardized street naming patterns and divided Portland into five \\\"general districts.\\\" It also changed house numbers from 20 per block to 100 per block and adopted a single street name on a grid. For example, the 200 block north of Burnside is either NW Davis Street or NE Davis Street throughout the entire city. The six previous addressing sections of Portland, which were colloquially known as quadrants despite there being six,have developed distinctive identities, with mild cultural differences and friendly rivalries between their residents, especially between those who live east of the Willamette River versus west of the river.Portland's addressing sections are North, Northwest, Northeast, South, Southeast, and Southwest (which includesdowntown Portland). The Willamette River divides the city into east and west whileBurnside Street, which traverses the entire city lengthwise, divides the north and south. North Portland consists of the peninsula formed by the Willamette and Columbia Rivers, with N Williams Ave serving as its eastern boundary. All addresses and streets within the city are prefixed by N, NW, NE, S, SW or SE with the exception of Burnside Street, which is prefixed with W or E. Starting on May 1, 2020, former Southwest prefix addresses with house numbers on east–west streets leading with zero dropped the zero and the street prefix on all streets (including north–south streets) converted from Southwest to South. For example, the current address of 246 S California St. was changed from 0246 SW California St. and the current address of 4310 S Macadam Ave. was converted from 4310 SW Macadam Ave. The new South Portland addressing section was approved by the Portland City Council on June 6, 2018and is bounded bySW Naito Parkway, SW View Point Terrace and theTryon Creek State Natural Areato the west, SW Clay Street to the north, the Willamette River to the east, and city limits to the south. It includes the Lair Hill, Johns Landing and South Waterfront districts and Lewis & Clark College as well as the Riverdale area of unincorporated Multnomah County south of the Portland city limits.In 2018, the city's Bureau of Transportation finalized a plan to transition this part of Portland into South Portland, beginning on May 1, 2020, to reduce confusion by 9-1-1 dispatchers and delivery services.With the addition of South Portland, all six addressing sectors (N, NE, NW, S, SE and SW) are now officially known as sextants. The Pearl DistrictinNorthwest Portland, which was largely occupied by warehouses, light industry and railroad classification yards in the early to mid-20th century, now houses upscaleart galleries, restaurants, and retail stores, and is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the city.Areas further west of the Pearl District include neighborhoods known as Uptown and Nob Hill, as well as the Alphabet District and NW 23rd Ave., a major shopping street lined with clothing boutiques and other upscale retail, mixed with cafes and restaurants. Northeast Portland is home to theLloyd District,Alberta Arts District, and theHollywood District. North Portland is largely residential and industrial. It containsKelley Point Park, the northernmost point of the city. It also contains theSt. Johnsneighborhood, which is historically one of the most ethnically diverse and poorest neighborhoods in the city. Old Town Chinatownis next to the Pearl District in Northwest Portland. In 1890 it was the second largest Chinese community in the United States.In 2017, the crime rate was several times above the city average. This neighborhood has been called Portland's skid row.Southwest Portland is largely residential.Downtown district, made up of commercial businesses, museums,skyscrapers, and public landmarks represents a small area within the southwest address section. Portland's South Waterfront area has been developing into a dense neighborhood of shops, condominiums, and apartments starting in the mid-2000s. Development in this area is ongoing.The area is served by thePortland Streetcar, theMAX Orange Lineand fourTriMetbus lines. This former industrial area sat as abrownfieldprior to development in the mid-2000s. Southeast Portland is largely residential, and consists of several neighborhoods, includingHawthorne District,Belmont,Brooklyn, andMount Tabor.Reed College, a private liberal arts college that was founded in 1908, is located within the confines of Southeast Portland as isMount Tabor, a volcanic landform. Demographics Ethnicity The 2020 census reported the city as 73.8%White(449,025 people), 8.2%Asian(52,854), 5.8% Black or African American (38,217), 0.9% Native American (7,335), 0.5% Pacific Islander (3,919), and 5.0% from two or more races (69,898).10.3% were Hispanic or Latino, of any race (72,336). Whites not of Hispanic origin made up 68.8% of the total population. The 2010 census reported the city as 76.1%White(444,254 people), 7.1%Asian(41,448), 6.3% Black or African American (36,778), 1.0% Native American (5,838), 0.5% Pacific Islander (2,919), 4.7% belonging to two or more racial groups (24,437) and 5.0% from other races (28,987).9.4% wereHispanicor Latino, of any race (54,840). Whites not of Hispanic origin made up 72.2% of the total population. In 1940, Portland's African-American population was approximately 2,000 and largely consisted of railroad employees and their families.During the war-timeLiberty Shipconstruction boom, the need for workers drew many Black people to the city. The new influx of Black people settled in specific neighborhoods, such as theAlbinadistrict andVanport. The May 1948 flood which destroyed Vanport eliminated the only integrated neighborhood, and an influx of blacks into the northeast quadrant of the city continued.Portland'slongshoremenracial mix was described as being \\\"lily-white\\\" in the 1960s when the localInternational Longshore and Warehouse Uniondeclined to represent grain handlers since some were black. Racial Makeup of Portland (2022) Over two-thirds of Oregon's African-American residents live in Portland.As of the 2000 census, three of its high schools (Cleveland, Lincoln and Wilson) were over 70% White, reflecting the overall population, whileJefferson High Schoolwas 87% non-White. The remaining six schools have a higher number of non-Whites, including Blacks and Asians. Hispanic students average from 3.3% at Wells to 31% atRoosevelt. Portland residents identifying solely as Asian Americans account for 7.1% of the population; an additional 1.8% is partially of Asian heritage.Vietnamese Americansmake up 2.2% of Portland's population, and make up the largest Asian ethnic group in the city, followed byChinese(1.7%),Filipinos(0.6%),Japanese(0.5%),Koreans(0.4%),Laotians(0.4%),Hmong(0.2%), andCambodians(0.1%).A small population ofIu Mienlive in Portland. Portland has two Chinatowns, with New Chinatown in the 'Jade District' along SE 82nd Avenue with Chinese supermarkets, Hong Kong style noodle houses,dim sum, and Vietnamesephởrestaurants. With about 12,000 Vietnamese residing in the city proper, Portland has one of the largest Vietnamese populations in America per capita.According to statistics, there are over 4,500Pacific Islandersin Portland, making up 0.7% of the city's population.There is aTongancommunity in Portland, who arrived in the area in the 1970s, and Tongans and Pacific Islanders as a whole are one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups in the Portland area. Portland's population has been and remains predominantlyWhite. In 1940, Whites were over 98% of the city's population.In 2009, Portland had the fifth-highest percentage of White residents among the 40 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. A 2007 survey of the 40 largest cities in the U.S. concluded Portland's urban core has the highest percentage of White residents.Some scholars have noted the Pacific Northwest as a whole is \\\"one of the last Caucasian bastions of the United States\\\".While Portland's diversity was historically comparable to metro Seattle and Salt Lake City, those areas grew more diverse in the late 1990s and 2000s. Portland not only remains White, but migration to Portland is disproportionately White. The Oregon Territory banned African American settlement in 1849. In the 19th century, certain laws allowed the immigration of Chinese laborers but prohibited them from owning property or bringing their families.The early 1920s saw the rapid growth of theKu Klux Klan, which became very influential in Oregon politics, culminating in the election ofWalter M. Pierceas governor. The largest influxes of minority populations occurred during World War II, as the African American population grew by a factor of 10 for wartime work.After World War II, theVanport floodin 1948 displaced many African Americans. As they resettled,redliningdirected the displaced workers from the wartime settlement to neighboringAlbina.There and elsewhere in Portland, they experienced police hostility, lack of employment, andmortgage discrimination, leading to half the black population leaving after the war. In the 1980s and 1990s, radical skinhead groups flourished in Portland.In 1988,Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian immigrant, was killed by three skinheads. The response to his murder involved a community-driven series of rallies, campaigns, nonprofits and events designed to address Portland's racial history, leading to a city considered significantly more tolerant than in 1988 at Seraw's death. Portland has a substantialRomapopulation. 76% of Latinos in Portland are ofMexicanheritage. Italians and Russian Jews had a very visible presence in Portland. Households As of the2010 census, there were 583,776 people living in the city, organized into 235,508 households. The population density was 4,375.2 people per square mile. There were 265,439 housing units at an average density of 1,989.4 per square mile (768.1/km2). Population growth in Portland increased 10.3% between 2000 and 2010.Population growth in thePortland metropolitan areahas outpaced the national average during the last decade, and this is expected to continue over the next 50 years. Out of 223,737 households, 24.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.1% were married couples living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.1% were non-families. 34.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.3 and the average family size was 3. The age distribution was 21.1% under the age of 18, 10.3% from 18 to 24, 34.7% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.9 males. The median income for a household in the city was $40,146, and the median income for a family was $50,271. Males had a reported median income of $35,279 versus $29,344 reported for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,643. 13.1% of the population and 8.5% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 15.7% of those under the age of 18 and 10.4% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line. Figures delineating the income levels based on race are not available at this time. According to theModern Language Association, in 2010 80.9% (539,885) percent of Multnomah County residents ages 5 and over spoke English as theirprimary languageat home.8.1% of the population spoke Spanish (54,036), with Vietnamese speakers making up 1.9%, and Russian 1.5%. Social The Portland metropolitan area has historically had a significantLGBTpopulation throughout the late 20th and early 21st century.In 2015, the city metro had the second highest percentage of LGBT residents in the United States with 5.4% of residents identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, second only to San Francisco.In 2006, it was reported to have the seventh highest LGBT population in the country, with 8.8% of residents identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, and the metro ranking fourth in the nation at 6.1%.The city held its firstpride festivalin 1975 on thePortland State Universitycampus. Religion Portland has been cited as the leastreligiouscity in the United States with over 42% of residents identifying as religiously \\\"unaffiliated\\\",according to the nonpartisan and nonprofitPublic Religion Research Institute's American Values Atlas. Homelessness A 2019 survey by the city's budget office showed that homelessness is perceived as the top challenge facing Portland, and was cited as a reason people move and do not participate in park programs.Calls to 911 concerning \\\"unwanted persons\\\" have significantly increased between 2013 and 2018, and the police are increasingly dealing with homeless and mentally ill.Homelessness has taken a toll on the sense of safety among visitors, and residents and business owners are adversely impacted.Even though homeless services and shelter beds have increased, as of 2020 homelessness is considered an intractable problem in Portland. The proposed budget for 2022–23 includes $5.8MM to buy land for affordable housing, and $36MM to equip and operate \\\"safe rest villages\\\".A 2022 initiative approved by the Portland city council makes homeless camping illegal, eventually requiring homeless individuals to move into mass shelters. Crime According to theFederal Bureau of Investigation'sUniform Crime Reportin 2009, Portland ranked 53rd in violent crime out of the top 75 U.S. cities with a population greater than 250,000.The murder rate in Portland in 2013 averaged 2.3 murders per 100,000 people per year, which was lower than the national average. In 2011, 72% of arrested male subjects tested positive for illegal drugs and the city was dubbed the \\\"deadliest drug market in the Pacific Northwest\\\" due to drug related deaths.In 2010,ABC's Nightlinereported that Portland is one of the largest hubs for child sex trafficking.Car theft rates in Portland are the fifth highest of any US metropolitan area as of 2023.According to theLos Angeles Timesin 2023: \\\"Shootings in the city have tripled\\\" and \\\"Lower-level crimes have spiked too: More than 11,000 vehicles were stolen in 2022, up from 6,500 in 2019.\\\" In the PortlandMetropolitan statistical areawhich includes Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, Washington, and Yamhill Counties, OR and Clark and Skamania Counties, WA for 2017, the murder rate was 2.6, violent crime was 283.2 per 100,000 people per year. In 2017, the population within the city of Portland was 649,408 and there were 24 murders and 3,349 violent crimes. Portland's 101 homicides in 2022 set a new record.For 2021 year, Portland recorded 90 homicides, compared with 20 in 2016, and 27 in 2017. Economy Portland's location is beneficial for several industries. Relatively low energy cost, accessible resources, north–south and east–west Interstates, international air terminals, large marine shipping facilities, and both west coast intercontinental railroads are all economic advantages. The city's marine terminals alone handle over 13 million tons of cargo per year, and the port is home to one of the largest commercial dry docks in the country.ThePort of Portlandis the third-largest export tonnage port on the west coast of the U.S., and being about 80 miles (130 km) upriver, it is the largest fresh-water port. The scrap steel industry's history in Portland predates World War II. The scrap steel industry thrives in the region, withSchnitzer Steel Industries, a prominent scrap steel company, shipping a record 1.15 billion tons of scrap metal to Asia during 2003. Other heavy industry companies includeESCO CorporationandOregon Steel Mills. Technology is a major component of the city's economy, with more than 1,200 technology companies existing within the metro.This high density of technology companies has led to the nicknameSilicon Forestbeing used to describe the Portland area, a reference to the abundance of trees in the region and to theSilicon Valleyregion in Northern California.The area also hosts facilities for software companies and onlinestartup companies, some supported by localseed fundingorganizations andbusiness incubators.Computer components manufacturerIntelis the Portland area's largest employer, providing jobs for more than 15,000 people, with several campuses to the west of central Portland in the city ofHillsboro. The Portland metro area has become abusiness clusterfor athletic/outdoor gear and footwear manufacturer's headquarters. Shoes are not manufactured in Portland.The area is home to the global, North American or U.S. headquarters ofNike(the onlyFortune 500company headquartered in Oregon),Adidas,Columbia Sportswear,LaCrosse Footwear,Dr. Martens,Li-Ning,Keen,andHi-Tec Sports.While headquartered elsewhere,Merrell,Amer SportsandUnder Armourhave design studios and local offices in the Portland area. Other notable Portland-based companies include industrial goods and metal fabrication companyPrecision Castparts, film animation studioLaika; commercial vehicle manufacturerDaimler Trucks North America; advertising firmWieden+Kennedy; bankersUmpqua Holdings; child care and early childhood education providerKinderCare Learning Centers; and retailersFred Meyer,New Seasons Market,Storables, andPowell's Books. Breweries are another major industry in Portland, which is home to 139 breweries/microbreweries, the 7th most in the nation, as of December 2018.Additionally, the city boasts a robustcoffee culturethat now rivals Seattle and hosts over 20 coffee roasters. Housing In 2016, home prices in Portland grew faster than in any other city in the United States.Apartment rental costs in Portland reported in November 2019 was $1,337 for two bedroom and $1,133 for one bedroom. In 2017, developers projected an additional 6,500 apartments to be built in the Portland Metro Area over the next year.However, as of December 2019, the number of homes available for rent or purchase in Portland continues to shrink. Over the past year, housing prices in Portland have risen 2.5%. Housing prices in Portland continue to rise, the median price rising from $391,400 in November 2018 to $415,000 in November 2019.There has been a rise of people from out of state moving to Portland, which impacts housing availability. Because of the demand for affordable housing and influx of new residents, more Portlanders in their 20s and 30s are still living in their parents' homes.There is a considerable amount of \\\"Airbnbtype\\\" rentals in the city. An audit in 2018 located around 4,600 listings, of which 80% were illegally operated. Arts and culture Music, film, and performing arts Portland is home to a range of classical performing arts institutions including thePortland Opera,Portland Baroque Orchestra,Oregon SymphonyandPortland Youth Philharmonic; the last of these, established in 1924, was the first youth orchestra established in the United States.The city is also home to several theaters and performing arts institutions including theOregon Ballet Theatre, Northwest Children's Theatre,Portland Center Stage,Artists Repertory Theatre, Curious Comedy Theatre andMiracle Theatre. In 2013,The Guardiannamed the city's music scene as one of the \\\"most vibrant\\\" in the United States.Portland is home to famous bands such as theKingsmenandPaul Revere & the Raiders, both famous for their association with the song \\\"Louie Louie\\\" (1963).Other widely known musical groups include theDandy Warhols,Quarterflash,Everclear,Pink Martini,Sleater-Kinney,Blitzen Trapper, theDecemberists, and the lateElliott Smith. More recently,Portugal. The Man,Modest Mouse, andthe Shinshave made their home in Portland. In the 1980s, the city was home to a burgeoning punk scene, which included bands such as theWipersandDead Moon.The city's now-demolishedSatyricon nightclubwas a punk venue notorious for being the place whereNirvanafrontmanKurt Cobainfirst encountered his future wife andHolefrontwomanCourtney Lovein 1990.Love was then a resident of Portland and started several bands there withKat Bjelland, later ofBabes in Toyland.Multi-Grammyaward-winning jazz artistEsperanza Spaldingis from Portland and performed with the Chamber Music Society of Oregon at a young age. Awide range of films have been shot in Portland, from various independent features to major big-budget productions. DirectorGus Van Santhas notably set and shot many of his films in the city.The city has also been featured in various television programs, notably theIFCsketch comedyseriesPortlandia. The series, which ran for eight seasons from 2011 to 2018,was shot on location in Portland, and satirized the city as a hub of liberal politics, organic food, alternative lifestyles, and anti-establishment attitudes.MTV's long-time running reality showThe Real Worldwas also shot in Portland for the show's 29th season:The Real World: Portlandpremiered on MTV in 2013.Other television series shot in the city includeLeverage,The Librarians,Under Suspicion,Grimm, andNowhere Man. An unusual feature of Portland entertainment is the large number of movie theaters serving beer, often with second-run or revival films.Notable examples of these \\\"brew and view\\\" theaters include theBagdad Theater and Pub, a formervaudevilletheater built in 1927 byUniversal Studios;Cinema 21; and theLaurelhurst Theater, in operation since 1923. Portland hosts the world's longest-runningH. P. Lovecraft Film Festivalat theHollywood Theatre. Museums and recreation Portland is home to numerous museums and educational institutions, ranging from art museums to institutions devoted to science and wildlife. Among the science-oriented institutions are theOregon Museum of Science and Industry(OMSI), which consists of five main halls and other ticketed attractions, such as theUSSBluebacksubmarine,the ultra-large-screen Empirical Theater (which replaced an OMNIMAX theater in 2013),and the KendallPlanetarium.TheWorld Forestry Center Discovery Museum, located in the city'sWashington Parkarea, offers educational exhibits on forests and forest-related subjects. Also located inWashington Parkare theHoyt Arboretum, theInternational Rose Test Garden, theJapanese Garden, and theOregon Zoo. ThePortland Art Museumowns the city's largest art collection and presents a variety of touring exhibitions each year and, with the recent addition of the Modern and Contemporary Art wing, it became one of the United States' 25 largest museums. TheOregon Historical Society Museum, founded in 1898, which has a variety of books, film, pictures, artifacts, and maps dating back throughout Oregon's history. It houses permanent and temporary exhibits about Oregon history, and hosts traveling exhibits about the history of the United States. Oaks Amusement Park, in the Sellwood district of Southeast Portland, is the city's onlyamusement parkand is also one of the country's longest-running amusement parks. It has operated since 1905 and was known as the \\\"Coney Islandof the Northwest\\\" upon its opening. Cuisine and breweries Food carts are extremely popular within the city, with over 600 licensed carts.The city is home toStumptown Coffee Roastersas well as dozens of other micro-roasteries and cafes. Portland has 58 active breweries within city limits,and 70+ within the surrounding metro area.and data compiled by the Brewers Association ranks Portland seventh in the United States as of 2018. Portland hosts a number of festivals throughout the year that celebrate beer and brewing, including theOregon Brewers Festival, held inTom McCall Waterfront Park. Held each summer during the last full weekend of July, it is the largest outdoor craft beer festival in North America, with over 70,000 attendees in 2008.Other major beer festivals throughout the calendar year include the Spring Beer and Wine Festival in April, the North American Organic Brewers Festival in June, thePortland International Beerfestin July,and the Holiday Ale Festival in December. Sustainability The city became a pioneer of state-directed metropolitan planning, a program which was instituted statewide in 1969 to compact theurban growth boundariesof the city.Portland was the first city to enact a comprehensive plan to reducecarbon dioxide emissions. Free speech and public nudity Strong free speech protections of theOregon Constitutionupheld by theOregon Supreme CourtinState v. Henry,specifically found that full nudity andlap dancesinstrip clubsareprotected speech.Portland has the highest number of strip clubs per-capita in a city in the United States, and Oregon ranks as the highest state for per-capita strip clubs. In November 2008, a Multnomah County judge dismissed charges against a nude bicyclist arrested on June 26, 2008. The judge stated that the city's annualWorld Naked Bike Ride– held each year in June since 2004 – has created a \\\"well-established tradition\\\" in Portland where cyclists may ride naked as a form of protest against cars and fossil fuel dependence.The defendant was not riding in the official World Naked Bike Ride at the time of his arrest as it had occurred 12 days earlier that year, on June 14. Protests From November 10 to 12, 2016, protests in Portland turned into ariot, when a group broke off from a larger group of peaceful protesters who were opposed to the election ofDonald Trumpas president of the United States. Public art Sports Portland is home to three major league sports franchises: thePortland Trail Blazersof theNBA, thePortland TimbersofMajor League Soccer(MLS), and thePortland Thorns FCof theNational Women's Soccer League. In 2015, the Timbers won theMLS Cup, which was the first male professional sports championship for a team from Portland since the Trail Blazers won theNBA championship in 1977.Despite being the 19th most populatedmetro areain the United States, Portland contains only one franchise from the NFL, NBA, NHL, or MLB, making it the United States' second most populated metro area with that distinction, behindSan Antonio, which also has only one NBA team (theSpurs). The city has been often rumored to receive an additional franchise, although efforts to acquire a team have failed due to stadium funding issues.An organization known as thePortland Diamond Project(PDP)has worked with MLB and local government, and there are plans to have an MLB stadium constructed atZidell Yardsin theSouth Waterfrontneighborhood.The PDP has not yet received the funding for this project. On September 18, 2024, it was announced that the city would receive a WNBA franchise, slated to start in 2026. Portland sports fans are characterized by their passionate support. The Trail Blazers sold out every home game between 1977 and 1995, a span of 814 consecutive games, the second-longest streak in American sports history.The Timbers joined MLS in 2011 and have sold out every home match since joining the league, a streak that has now reached 70+ matches.The Timbers season ticket waiting list has reached 10,000+, the longest waiting list in MLS.In 2015, they became the first team in the Northwest to win the MLS Cup. Player Diego Valeri marked a new record for fastest goal in MLS Cup history at 27 seconds into the game. The annualCambia Portland Classicwomen's golf tournament in September, now in its 50th year, is the longest-running non-major tournament on theLPGA Tour, plays in the southern suburb ofWest Linn. Two rival universities exist within Portland city limits: theUniversity of Portland Pilotsand thePortland State University Vikings, both of whom field teams in popular spectator sports including soccer, baseball, and basketball. Portland State also has a football team. Additionally, theUniversity of Oregon Ducks(inEugene) and theOregon State University Beavers(inCorvallis) both receive substantial attention and support from many Portland residents, despite their campuses being 110 and 84 miles from the city, respectively. Running is a popular activity in Portland, and every year the city hosts thePortland Marathonas well as parts of theHood to Coast Relay, the world's largest long-distance relay race (by number of participants). Portland served as the center to an elite running group, theNike Oregon Projectuntil its 2019 disbandment following coach Alberto Salazar's ban due to doping violations. Historic Erv Lind Stadium is located inNormandale Park.It has been home to professional and college softball. Portland also hosts numerous cycling events and has become an elite bicycle racing destination.TheOregon Bicycle Racing Associationsupports hundreds of official bicycling events every year. Weekly events atAlpenrose VelodromeandPortland International Racewayallow for racing nearly every night of the week from March through September.Cyclocrossraces, such as theCross Crusade, can attract over 1,000 riders and spectators. Parks and recreation Parks and greenspace planning date back toJohn Charles Olmsted's 1903Report to the Portland Park Board. In 1995, voters in the Portland metropolitan region passed a regional bond measure to acquire valuable natural areas for fish, wildlife, and people.Ten years later, more than 8,100 acres (33 km2) of ecologically valuable natural areas had been purchased and permanently protected from development. Portland is one of only four cities in the U.S. with extinct volcanoes within its boundaries (along withPilot ButteinBend, Oregon,Jackson VolcanoinJackson, Mississippi, andDiamond HeadinHonolulu, Hawaii).Mount Tabor Parkis known for its scenic views and historic reservoirs. Forest Parkis the largest wilderness park within city limits in the United States, covering more than 5,000 acres (2,023 ha).Portland is also home toMill Ends Park, the world's smallest park (a two-foot-diameter circle, the park's area is only about 0.3 m2).Washington Parkis just west of downtown and is home to theOregon Zoo,Hoyt Arboretum, thePortland Japanese Garden, and theInternational Rose Test Garden. Portland is also home toLan Su Chinese Garden(formerly the Portland Classical Chinese Garden), an authentic representation of aSuzhou-style walled garden. Portland's east side has several formal public gardens: the historicPeninsula ParkRose Garden, the rose gardens ofLadd's Addition, theCrystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, theLeach Botanical Garden, andThe Grotto. Portland's downtown features two groups of contiguous city blocks dedicated for park space: theNorthandSouth Park Blocks.The 37-acre (15 ha)Tom McCall Waterfront Parkwas built in 1974 along the length of the downtown waterfront afterHarbor Drivewas removed; it now hosts large events throughout the year.The nearby historically significantBurnside Skateparkand five indoorskateparksgive Portland a reputation as possibly \\\"the most skateboard-friendly town in America.\\\" Tryon Creek State Natural Areais one of threeOregon State Parksin Portland and the most popular; its creek has a run ofsteelhead. The other two State Parks areWillamette Stone State Heritage Site, in the West Hills, and theGovernment Island State Recreation Areain the Columbia River nearPortland International Airport. In February 2015, the City Council approved a total ban on smoking in all city parks and natural areas effective July 1, 2015. The ban includes cigarettes, vaping, as well as marijuana. Government City hall The city of Portland is governed by the Portland City Council, which includes a mayor, four commissioners, and anauditor. Each is elected citywide to serve a four-year term. Each commissioner oversees one or more bureaus responsible for the day-to-day operation of the city. The mayor serves as chairman of the council and is principally responsible for allocating department assignments to his fellow commissioners. The auditor provides checks and balances in the commission form of government and accountability for the use of public resources. In addition, the auditor provides access to information and reports on various matters of city government. Portland is the only large city left in the United States with the commission form of government. The city's Community & Civic Life (formerly Office of Neighborhood Involvement)serves as a conduit between city government and Portland's95 officially recognized neighborhoods. Each neighborhood is represented by a volunteer-basedneighborhood associationwhich serves as a liaison between residents of the neighborhood and the city government. The city provides funding to neighborhood associations through seven district coalitions, each of which is a geographical grouping of several neighborhood associations. Most (but not all) neighborhood associations belong to one of these district coalitions. Portland and its surrounding metropolitan area are served byMetro, the United States' only directly electedmetropolitan planning organization. Metro's charter gives it responsibility forland useandtransportation planning,solid waste management, and map development. TheMultnomah Countygovernment provides many services to the Portland area, as doWashingtonandClackamascounties to the west and south. Fire and emergency services are provided byPortland Fire & Rescue. On November 8, 2022, Portland residents approveda charter reformballot measure to replace the commission form of government with a 12-member council elected in four districts using thesingle transferable votesystem, with a professionalcity managerappointed by a directly elected mayor. The city expects to hold the first election for this new system in 2024. Courts and law enforcement Law enforcement is provided by thePortland Police Bureau. State and national politics Portland strongly favors theDemocratic Party; registered Democrats (51.2%) outnumberRepublicans(10.5%) nearly 5 to 1. All city offices arenon-partisan.However, almost all of the city's elected officials are known to be Democrats.Fred L. Petersonin 1952 is the city's last elected mayor who was known to be a Republican, and no Republican has served as mayor even on an interim basis sinceConnie McCreadyheld the post from 1979 to 1980. Portland is split among three of Oregon's U.S.congressional districts. Most of the city is in the3rd District, represented byEarl Blumenauer(D-Portland), who served on the city council from 1986 until his election to Congress in 1996. Most of the city west of the Willamette River is part of the1st District, represented bySuzanne Bonamici(D-Beaverton). A small portion of southeastern Portland is in the5th District, formerly represented byKurt Schrader(D-Canby) prior to losing his Democratic primary election to a more progressive candidate, but currently represented by the former mayor ofHappy Valley, RepublicanLori Chavez-DeRemer, who is the firstRepublicanto represent a significant portion of the city in theU.S. House of Representativessince 1975. Both of Oregon's senators,Ron WydenandJeff Merkley, are progressive Democrats from Portland. In the2008 presidential election, Democratic candidateBarack Obamaeasily carried Portland, winning 245,464 votes from city residents to 50,614 for hisRepublicanrival,John McCain. In the2012 presidential election, Democratic candidateBarack Obamaagain easily carried Portland, winning 256,925 votes from Multnomah county residents to 70,958 for hisRepublicanrival,Mitt Romney. Sam Adams, the former mayor of Portland, became the city's first openly gay mayor in 2009.In 2004, 59.7 percent of Multnomah County voters cast ballots againstOregon Ballot Measure 36, which amended theOregon Constitutionto prohibit recognition ofsame-sex marriages. The measure passed with 56.6% of the statewide vote. Multnomah County is one of two counties where a majority voted against the initiative; the other isBenton County, which includesCorvallis, home ofOregon State University.On April 28, 2005, Portland became the only city in the nation to withdraw from aJoint Terrorism Task Force.As of February 19, 2015, the Portland city council approved permanently staffing the JTTF with two of its city's police officers. City planning and development The city consulted with urban planners as far back as 1904, resulting in the development ofWashington Parkand the40-Mile Loopgreenway, which connects many of the city's parks.Portland is often cited as an example of a city with strongland use planningcontrols.This is largely the result of statewide land conservation policies adopted in 1973 under GovernorTom McCall, in particular the requirement for anurban growth boundary(UGB) for every city and metropolitan area. The opposite extreme, a city with few or no controls, is typically illustrated byHouston. Oregon's 1973 \\\"urban growth boundary\\\" law limits the boundaries for large-scale development in each metropolitan area in Oregon.This limits access to utilities such as sewage, water and telecommunications, as well as coverage by fire, police and schools.Portland's urban growth boundary, adopted in 1979, separates urban areas (where high-density development is encouraged and focused) from traditional farm land (where restrictions on non-agricultural development are very strict).This was atypical in an era when automobile use led many areas to neglect their core cities in favor of development alonginterstate highways, in suburbs, andsatellite cities. The original state rules included a provision for expanding urban growth boundaries, but critics felt this was not being accomplished. In 1995, the State passed a law requiring cities to expand UGBs to provide enough undeveloped land for a 20-year supply of future housing at projected growth levels.In 2007, the legislature changed the law to require the maintenance of an estimated 50 years of growth within the boundary, as well as the protection of accompanying farm and rural lands.The growth boundary, along with efforts of the Portland Development Commission to create economic development zones, has led to the development of a large portion of downtown, a large number of mid- and high-rise developments, and an overall increase in housing and business density. Prosper Portland(formerly the Portland Development Commission) is a semi-public agency that plays a major role in downtown development; city voters created it in 1958 to serve as the city'surban renewalagency. It provides housing and economic development programs within the city and works behind the scenes with major local developers to create large projects. In the early 1960s, the Portland Development Commission led the razing of a large Italian-Jewish neighborhood downtown, bounded roughly by I-405, the Willamette River, 4th Avenue and Market street.MayorNeil Goldschmidttook office in 1972 as a proponent of bringing housing and the associated vitality back to the downtown area, which was seen as emptying out after 5 pm. The effort has had dramatic effects in the 30 years since, with many thousands of new housing units clustered in three areas: north of Portland State University (between I-405, SW Broadway, and SW Taylor St.); the RiverPlace development along the waterfront under the Marquam (I-5) bridge; and most notably in the Pearl District (between I-405, Burnside St., NW Northrup St., and NW 9th Ave.). Historically,environmental consciousnesshas weighed significantly in the city's planning and development efforts.Portland was one of the first cities in the United States to promote and integrate alternative forms of transportation, such as theMAX Light Railand extensive bike paths.The Urban Greenspaces Institute, housed inPortland State UniversityGeography Department's Center for Mapping Research, promotes better integration of the built and natural environments. The institute works on urban park, trail, and natural areas planning issues, both at the local and regional levels.In October 2009, the Portland City Council unanimously adopted aclimate actionplan that will cut the city's greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. As of 2012, Portland was the largest city in the United States that did not addfluorideto its public water supply,andfluoridationhas historically been a subject ofcontroversyin the city.Portland voters have four times voted against fluoridation, in 1956, 1962, 1980 (repealing a 1978 vote in favor), and 2013.In 2012 the city council, responding to advocacy from public health organizations and others, voted unanimously to begin fluoridation by 2014. Fluoridation opponents forced a public vote on the issue,and on May 21, 2013, city voters again rejected fluoridation. Education Primary and secondary education Nine public school districts and many private schools include sections of Portland.Portland Public Schoolsis the largest school district, operating 86 public schools.In addition to PPS, other school districts in Multnomah County that serve parts of the city include theBeaverton School District,Centennial School District,David Douglas School District,Parkrose School District,Reynolds School District,Riverdale School District, andScappoose School District.Portions in Clackamas County are in theNorth Clackamas School Districtand Centennial School District.Portions in Washington County are in Portland Public Schools. David Douglas High School, in thePowellhurstneighborhood, has the largest enrollment of any public high school in the city.Other high schools includeBenson,Cleveland,Franklin,Grant,Jefferson,Madison,Parkrose,Roosevelt, andIda B Wells-Barnett(formerly Woodrow Wilson), and several suburban high schools which serve the city's outer areas. Established in 1869,Lincoln High School(formerly Portland High School) is the city's oldest public education institution, and is one of two of the oldest high schools west of theMississippi River(after San Francisco'sLowell High School). Former public schools in the city includedWashington High School, which operated from 1906 until 1981, as well asAdamsandJackson, which also closed the same year. Higher education Portland State Universityhas the second-largest enrollment rate of any university in the state (afterOregon State University), with a student body of nearly 30,000.It has been named among the top fifteen percentile of American regional universities byThe Princeton Reviewfor undergraduate education,and has been internationally recognized for its degrees inMaster of Business Administrationandurban planning.The city is also home to theOregon Health & Science University, as well asPortland Community College. Notable private universities include theUniversity of Portland, a Roman Catholic university affiliated with theCongregation of Holy Cross;Reed College, aliberal arts college, andLewis & Clark College. Media The Oregonianis the only daily general-interest newspaper serving Portland. It also circulates throughout the state and inClark County, Washington. Smaller local newspapers, distributed free of charge in newspaper boxes and at venues around the city, include thePortland Tribune(general-interest paper published on Wednesdays),Willamette Week(general-interestalternative weeklypublished on Wednesdays), andThe Portland Mercury(another alt-weekly, targeted at younger urban readers and published every other Thursday). The Portland area also has newspapers that are published for specific communities, includingThe Asian Reporter(a weekly covering Asian news, both international and local) andThe Skanner(a weeklyAfrican-American newspapercovering both local and national news). ThePortland Business Journalcovers business-related news on a weekly basis, as doesTheDaily Journal of Commerce, its main competitor.Portland Monthlyis a monthly news and culture magazine.The Bee, over 110 years old, is another neighborhood newspaper serving the inner southeast neighborhoods. Infrastructure Healthcare Legacy Health, a non-profit healthcare system in Portland, operates multiple facilities in the city and surrounding suburbs.These includeLegacy Emanuel, founded in 1912, in Northeast Portland; andLegacy Good Samaritan, founded in 1875, and in Northwest Portland.Randall's Children's Hospitaloperates at the Legacy Emanuel Campus. Good Samaritan has centers for breast health, cancer, and stroke, and is home to theLegacy Devers Eye Institute, the Legacy Obesity and Diabetes Institute, the Legacy Diabetes and Endocrinology Center, the Legacy Rehabilitation Clinic of Oregon, and theLinfield-Good Samaritan School of Nursing. The Catholic-affiliatedProvidence Health & ServicesoperatesProvidence Portland Medical Centerin theNorth Tabor neighborhoodof the city.Oregon Health & Science Universityis a university hospital formed in 1974. TheVeterans Affairs Medical Centeroperates next to the Oregon Health & Science University main campus.Adventist Medical Centeralso serves the city.Shriners Hospital for Childrenis a small children's hospital established in 1923. Transportation The Portland metropolitan area has transportation services common to major U.S. cities, though Oregon's emphasis on proactiveland-use planningandtransit-oriented developmentwithin theurban growth boundarymeans commuters have multiple well-developed options. In 2008, 12.6% of all commutes in Portland were on public transit.TriMetoperates most of the region's buses and theMAX(short for Metropolitan Area Express)light railsystem, which connects the city and suburbs. The 1986-opened MAX system has expanded to five lines, with the latest being theOrange LinetoMilwaukie, in service as of September 2015.WES Commuter Railopened in February 2009 in Portland's western suburbs, linkingBeavertonandWilsonville. The city-ownedPortland Streetcarserves two routes in the Central City –downtownand adjacent districts. The first line, which opened in 2001 and was extended in 2005–07, operates from the South Waterfront District through Portland State University and north through the West End of downtown, to shopping areas and dense residential districts north and northwest of downtown. The second line that opened in 2012 added 3.3 miles (5.3 km) of tracks on the east side of the Willamette River and across theBroadway Bridgeto a connection with the original line.The east-side line completed a loop to the tracks on the west side of the river upon completion of the newTilikum Crossingin 2015,and, in anticipation of that, had been named the Central Loop line in 2012. However, it was renamed theLoop Service, with an A Loop (clockwise) and B Loop (counterclockwise), when it became a complete loop with the opening of the Tilikum Crossing bridge. Fifth and Sixth avenues within downtown comprise thePortland Transit Mall, two streets devoted primarily to bus and light rail traffic with limited automobile access. Opened in 1977 for buses, the transit mall was renovated and rebuilt in 2007–09, with light rail added. Starting in 1975 and lasting nearly four decades, all transit service within downtown Portland was free, the area being known by TriMet asFareless Square, but a need for minor budget cuts and funding needed for expansion prompted the agency to limit free rides to rail service only in 2010,and subsequently to discontinue the fare-free zone entirely in 2012. TriMet provides real-time tracking of buses and trains with its TransitTracker, and makes the data available to software developers so they can create customized tools of their own. I-5connects Portland with the Willamette Valley,Southern Oregon, and California to the south and withWashingtonto the north.I-405forms a loop with I-5 around the central downtown area of the city andI-205is a loop freeway route on the east side which connects to thePortland International Airport.U.S. 26supports commuting within the metro area and continues to the Pacific Ocean westward andMount HoodandCentral Oregoneastward.U.S. 30has a main, bypass, and business route through the city extending toAstoriato the west; throughGresham, Oregon, and the easternexurbs, and connects toI-84, traveling towardsBoise, Idaho. Portland's main airport isPortland International Airport(PDX), about 20 minutes by car (40 minutes by MAX) northeast of downtown. Portland is also home toOregon'sonly public use heliport, thePortland Downtown Heliport. Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service to Portland atUnion Stationon three routes. Long-haul train routes include theCoast Starlight(with service from Los Angeles to Seattle) and theEmpire Builder(with service to Chicago). TheAmtrak Cascadesstate-supported trains operate betweenVancouver, B.C., andEugene, Oregon, and serve Portland several times daily. The city is also served byGreyhound Linesintercity bus service, which also operatesBoltBus, an express bus service. The city's first airport was theSwan Island Municipal Airport, which was closed in the 1940s. Portland is the only city in the United States that owns operating mainlinesteam locomotives, donated to the city in 1958 by the railroads that ran them.Spokane, Portland & Seattle 700and the world-famousSouthern Pacific 4449can be seen several times a year pulling a specialexcursion train, either locally or on an extended trip. The \\\"Holiday Express\\\", pulled over the tracks of theOregon Pacific Railroadon weekends in December, has become a Portland tradition over its several years running.These trains and others are operated by volunteers of theOregon Rail Heritage Foundation, an amalgamation of rail preservation groups which collaborated on the finance and construction of theOregon Rail Heritage Center, a permanent and publicly accessible home for the locomotives, which opened in 2012 adjacent to OMSI. In Portland, cyclingis a significant mode of transportation. As the city has been particularly supportive ofurban bicyclingit now ranks highly among the mostbicycle-friendlycities in the world.Bicycles accounted for 2.8% of commuting in 2021. Bicycle commuting declined by 46% between 2016 and 2022 according toPortland Bureau of Transportationreport.For its achievements in promoting cycling as an everyday means of transportation, Portland has been recognized by theLeague of American Bicyclistsand othercycling organizationsfor its network of on-street bicycling facilities and other bicycle-friendly services, being one of only three U.S. cities to have earned a Platinum-level rating.A newbicycle-sharing system,Biketown, launched on July 19, 2016,with 100 stations in the city's central and eastside neighborhoods. Portland abolished the requirement for parking minimum as well asMinneapolisandAustin. As of 2015, Portland is owed $32.4 million in unpaid parking citations due to thecity government's refusal to collect more aggressively. Water The cities main source of drinking water is several reservoirs in theBull Run Watershed, which consists of roughly 102 square miles (260 km2) of forested land just west of Mount Hood. The city also operates 25 groundwaterwellsnear the Columbia River in Northeast Portland, which supplements the cities water supply during the summer. Notable people Sister cities Portland'ssister citiesare: Portland also has a friendship city agreement with: See also Notes References Bibliography Further reading External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Seattle Seattle(/siˈætəl/ⓘsee-AT-əl) is aseaportcity on theWest Coast of the United States. It is theseatofKing County,Washington. With a 2023 population of 755,078it is themost populous cityin both thestateof Washington and thePacific Northwestregion ofNorth America, and the18th-most populous cityin the United States. TheSeattle metropolitan area's population is 4.02 million, making it the15th-largestin the United States.Its growth rate of 21.1% between 2010 and 2020 made it one of the country's fastest-growing large cities. Seattle is situated on anisthmusbetweenPuget Sound, an inlet of thePacific Ocean, andLake Washington. It is the northernmost major city in the United States, located about 100 miles (160 km) south of theCanadian border. A gateway for trade withEast Asia, thePort of Seattleis the fourth-largest port in North America in terms of container handling as of 2021. The Seattle area has been inhabited byNative Americans(such as theDuwamish, who had at least 17 villages around Elliot Bay) for at","Elliot Bay) for at least 4,000 years before the first permanent European settlers.Arthur A. Dennyand his group of travelers, subsequently known as theDenny Party, arrived fromIllinoisviaPortland, Oregon, on theschoonerExactatAlki Pointon November 13, 1851.The settlement was moved to the eastern shore ofElliott Bayin 1852 and named \"Seattle\" in honor of ChiefSeattle, a prominent 19th-century leader of the localDuwamishandSuquamishtribes. Seattle currently has high populations of Native Americans alongside Americans with strong Asian, African, European, and Scandinavian ancestry, and, as of 2015, hoststhe fifth-largest LGBT communityin the U.S. Loggingwas Seattle's first major industry, but by the late 19th century the city had become a commercial and shipbuilding center as a gateway toAlaskaduring theKlondike Gold Rush. The city grew afterWorld War II, partly due to the localBoeingcompany, which established Seattle as a center for its manufacturing of aircraft. Beginning in the 1980s, the Seattle area","the Seattle area developed into atechnology center;Microsoftestablished its headquarters in the region. In 1994, Internet retailerAmazonwas founded in Seattle, andAlaska Airlinesis based inSeaTac, Washington, servingSeattle–Tacoma International Airport, Seattle's international airport. The stream of new software,biotechnology, and Internet companies led to an economic revival, which increased the city's population by almost 50,000 in the decade between 1990 and 2000. The culture of Seattle is heavily defined by itssignificant musical history. Between 1918 and 1951, nearly 24jazznightclubs existed along Jackson Street, from the currentChinatown/International Districtto theCentral District. The jazz scene nurtured the early careers ofErnestine Anderson,Ray Charles,Quincy Jones, and others. In the late 20th and early 21st century, the city also was the origin of severalrockbands, includingFoo Fighters,Heart, andJimi Hendrix, and the subgenre ofgrungeand its pioneering bands, includingAlice in","includingAlice in Chains,Nirvana,Pearl Jam,Soundgarden, and others. History Archaeological excavationssuggest thatNative Americanshave inhabited the Seattle area for at least 4,000 years.By the time the first European settlers arrived, theDuwamish peopleoccupied at least 17 villages in the areas aroundElliott Bay.The name for the modern city of Seattle inLushootseed,dᶻidᶻəlal̓ič, meaning \"little crossing-over place\", comes from one of these villages, which was located at the present-dayKing Street Station. In May 1792,George Vancouverwas the first European to visit the Seattle area during his1791–1795 expeditionfor theRoyal Navy, which sought to chart thePacific Northwestfor the British. 19th century In 1851, a large party ofAmerican pioneersled by Luther Collins made a location on land at the mouth of theDuwamish River; they formally claimed it on September 14, 1851.Thirteen days later, members of the Collins Party on the way to their claim passed three scouts of the Denny Party.Members of the Denny Party","of the Denny Party claimed land onAlki Pointon September 28, 1851.The rest of the Denny Party set sail on theschoonerExactfromPortland, Oregon, stopping inAstoria, and landed at Alki Point during a rainstorm on November 13, 1851.After a difficult winter, most of the Denny Party relocated across Elliott Bay and claimed land a second time at the site of present-dayPioneer Square,naming this new settlementDuwamps. Charles Terry and John Low remained at the original landing location, reestablished their old land claim and called it \"New York\", but renamed \"New York Alki\" in April 1853, from aChinookword meaning, roughly, \"by and by\" or \"someday\".For the next few years, New York Alki and Duwamps competed for dominance, but in time Alki was abandoned and its residents moved across the bay to join the rest of the settlers. David Swinson \"Doc\" Maynard, one of the founders of Duwamps, was the primary advocate to name the settlement Seattle afterChief Seattle(Lushootseed:siʔaɫ, anglicized as \"Seattle\"), chief of the","chief of the Duwamish andSuquamishtribes. The name \"Seattle\" appears on officialWashington Territorypapers dated May 23, 1853, when the first plats for the village were filed. In 1855, nominal land settlements were established. On January 14, 1865, the Legislature of Territorial Washington incorporated the Town of Seattle with aboard of trusteesmanaging the city. The Town of Seattle was disincorporated on January 18, 1867, and remained a mere precinct of King County until late 1869, when a new petition was filed and the city was re-incorporated December 2, 1869, with amayor–council government.The corporate seal of the City of Seattle carries the date \"1869\" and a likeness of Chief Seattle in left profile.That same year, Seattle acquired the epithet of the \"Queen City\", a designation officially changed in 1982 to the \"Emerald City\". Seattle has a history of boom-and-bust cycles, like many other cities near areas of extensive natural and mineral resources. Seattle has risen several times economically, then","economically, then gone into precipitous decline, but it has typically used those periods to rebuild solid infrastructure. The first such boom, covering the early years of the city, rode on the lumber industry. During this period the road now known asYesler Waywon the nickname \"Skid Road\", supposedly after the timber skidding down the hill toHenry Yesler's sawmill. The later dereliction of the area may be a possible origin for the term which later entered the wider American lexicon asSkid Row.Like much of theU.S. West, Seattle experienced onflicts between labor and management and ethnic tensions that culminated in theanti-Chinese riots of 1885–1886.This violence originated with unemployed whites who were determined to drive the Chinese from Seattle; anti-Chinese riots also occurred inTacoma. Seattle had achieved sufficient economic success when theGreat Seattle Fireof 1889 destroyed the central business district. However, a far grander city center rapidly emerged in its place.Finance companyWashington","companyWashington Mutual, for example, was founded in the immediate wake of the fire.ThePanic of 1893hit Seattle hard. The second and most dramatic boom resulted from theKlondike Gold Rush, which ended the depression that had begun with thePanic of 1893. In a short time, Seattle became a major transportation center. On July 14, 1897, theS.S. Portlanddocked with its famed \"ton of gold\", and Seattle became the main transport and supply point for the miners inAlaskaand theYukon. Few of those working men found lasting wealth. However, it was Seattle's business of clothing the miners and feeding them salmon that panned out in the long run. Along with Seattle, other cities likeEverett,Tacoma,Port Townsend,Bremerton, andOlympia, all in the Puget Sound region, became competitors for exchange, rather thanmother lodesfor extraction, of precious metals. 20th century The boom lasted into the early part of the 20th century, and funded many new Seattle companies and products. In 1907, 19-year-oldJames E. Caseyborrowed","E. Caseyborrowed $100 from a friend and founded theAmerican Messenger Company(laterUPS). Other Seattle companies founded during this period includeNordstromandEddie Bauer.Seattle brought in theOlmsted Brotherslandscape architecture firm to design a system of parks and boulevards. The Gold Rush era culminated in theAlaska–Yukon–Pacific Expositionof 1909, which is largely responsible for the layout of today'sUniversity of Washingtoncampus. Ashipbuildingboom in the early part of the 20th century became massive duringWorld War I, making Seattle somewhat of a company town. The subsequent retrenchment led to theSeattle General Strike of 1919, an earlygeneral strikein the country.A 1912 city development plan byVirgil Boguewent largely unused. Seattle was mildly prosperous in the 1920s but was particularly hard hit in the Great Depression, experiencing some of the country's harshest labor strife in that era. Violence during theMaritime Strike of 1934cost Seattle much of its maritime traffic, which was rerouted to","was rerouted to thePort of Los Angeles. TheGreat Depressionin Seattle affected many minority groups, one being the Asian Pacific Americans; they were subject to racism, loss of property, and failed claims of unemployment due to citizenship status. Seattle was one of the major cities that benefited from programs such as theWorks Progress Administration,CCC,Public Works Administration, and others.The workers, mostly men, built roads, parks, dams, schools, railroads, bridges, docks, and even historical and archival record sites and buildings. Seattle faced significant unemployment, loss of lumber and construction industries asLos Angelesprevailed as the biggerWest Coastcity. Seattle had building contracts that rivaledNew York CityandChicago, but also lost to Los Angeles. Seattle's eastern farm land faded due toOregon's and theMidwest's, forcing people into town. Hoovervillearose during the Depression, leading to Seattle's growing homeless population. Stationed outside Seattle, the Hooverville housed thousands","housed thousands of men but very few children and no women. With work projects close to the city, Hooverville grew and the WPA settled into the city. A movement of women arose from Seattle during theGreat Depression, fueled in part byEleanor Roosevelt's 1933 bookIt's Up to the Women; women pushed for recognition, not just as housewives, but as the backbone to family. Using newspapers and journalsWorking WomanandThe Woman Today, women pushed to be seen as equal and receive some recognition. The Great Depression did not impact theUniversity of Washingtonnegatively. As schools across Washington lost funding and attendance, the university actually prospered during the time period as they focused on growing their student enrollment. WhileSeattle public schoolswere influenced by Washington's superintendent Worth McClure,they still struggled to pay teachers and maintain attendance. Seattle was the home base of impresarioAlexander Pantageswho, starting in 1902, opened a number of theaters in the city","in the city exhibitingvaudevilleacts and silent movies. He went on to become one of America's greatest theater and movie tycoons. Scottish-born architectB. Marcus Pritecadesigned several theaters for Pantages in Seattle, which were later demolished or converted to other uses. Seattle's survivingParamount Theatre, on which he collaborated, was not a Pantages theater. War work again brought local prosperity duringWorld War II, centered on the production ofBoeingaircraft. The war dispersed the city's numerous Japanese-American businessmen due to theJapanese American internment. After the World War II, however, the local economy dipped. It rose again with Boeing's growing dominance in the commercialairlinermarket.Seattle celebrated its restored prosperity and made a bid for world recognition with theCentury 21 Exposition, the1962 World's Fair, for which theSpace Needlewas built. Another major local economic downturn was in the late 1960s and early 1970s, at a time when Boeing was heavily affected by theoil","affected by theoil crises, loss of government contracts, and costs and delays associated with theBoeing 747. Many people left the area to look for work elsewhere, and two local real estate agents put up a billboard reading \"Will the last person leaving Seattle – Turn out the lights.\" Seattle remained the corporate headquarters of Boeing until 2001, when the company separated its headquarters from its major production facilities; the headquarters were moved to Chicago.The Seattle area is still home to Boeing'sRenton narrow-body plantandEverett wide-body plant.The company'scredit unionfor employees,BECU, remains based in the Seattle area and has been open to all residents of Washington since 2002. On March 20, 1970, twenty-eight people were killed when the Ozark Hotel was burned by an unknown arsonist.TheWah Mee massacrein 1983 resulted in the killing of 13 people in an illegal gambling club in theSeattle Chinatown-International District. Prosperity began to return in the 1980s beginning withMicrosoft's 1979","1979 move fromAlbuquerque, New Mexico, to nearbyBellevue, Washington. Seattle and its suburbs became home to a number of technology companies, includingAmazon,F5 Networks,RealNetworks,Nintendo of America, andT-Mobile.This success brought an influx of new residents with a population increase within city limits of almost 50,000 between 1990 and 2000,and saw Seattle's real estate become some of the most expensive in the country. Seattle in this period attracted attention as home to the companies opened operations in or around the city. In 1990, theGoodwill Gameswere held in the city.Three years later, in 1993, theAPECleaders was hosted in Seattle.The 1990s also witnessed a growing popularity ingrungemusic, a sound that was largely developed in Seattle's independent music scene. In 1993, the movieSleepless in Seattlebrought the city further national attention,as did the television sitcomFrasier. Thedot-com boomcaused a great frenzy among the technology companies in Seattle but the bubble ended in early 2001. In","in early 2001. In 1999, theWorld Trade Organizationheld its conference in Seattle, which was met withprotest activity. The protests and police reactions to them largely overshadowed the conference itself. 21st century In 2001, the city was impacted by theMardi Gras Riotsand then by theNisqually earthquakethe following day. Another boom began as the city emerged from theGreat Recession, commencing whenAmazonmoved its headquarters from NorthBeacon HilltoSouth Lake Union. The move initiated a historic construction boom which resulted in the completion of almost 10,000 apartments in Seattle in 2017, more than any previous year and nearly twice as many as were built in 2016. From 2010 to 2015, Seattle gained an average of 14,511 residents per year, with the growth strongly skewed toward the center of the city,and unemployment dropped from roughly 9 percent to 3.6 percent.The city has found itself \"bursting at the seams\", with over 45,000 households spending more than half their income on housing andat least 2,800","andat least 2,800 people homeless, and with the country's sixth-worst rush-hour traffic. Geography Topography Seattle is located between the saltwaterPuget Sound(an arm of the Pacific Ocean) to the west andLake Washingtonto the east. The city's chief harbor,Elliott Bay, is part of Puget Sound, making the city an oceanic port. To the west, beyond Puget Sound, are theKitsap PeninsulaandOlympic Mountainson theOlympic Peninsula; to the east, beyond Lake Washington and theEastsidesuburbs, areLake Sammamishand theCascade Range. Lake Washington's waters flow to Puget Sound through theLake Washington Ship Canal(consisting of two man-made canals,Lake Union, and theHiram M. Chittenden LocksatSalmon Bay, ending inShilshole Bayon Puget Sound). The sea, rivers, forests, lakes, and fields surrounding Seattle were once rich enough to support one of the world's few sedentaryhunter-gatherersocieties. In modern times the surrounding area lends itself well to sailing, skiing, bicycling, camping, and hiking year-round. The city","The city is hilly in some places.Like Rome, the city is said to lie onseven hills;the lists vary but typically includeCapitol Hill,First Hill,West Seattle,Beacon Hill,Queen Anne, Magnolia, and the formerDenny Hill. TheWallingford,Delridge,Mount Baker,Seward Park,Washington Park,Broadmoor,Madrona,Phinney Ridge,Sunset Hill,Blue Ridge,Broadview,Laurelhurst,Hawthorne Hills,Maple Leaf, andCrown Hillneighborhoods are all located on hills. Many of the hilliest areas are near the city center, with Capitol Hill, First Hill, and Beacon Hill collectively constituting something of a ridge along an isthmus between Elliott Bay and Lake Washington.The break in the ridge between First Hill and Beacon Hill is man-made, a result of two of the manyregrading projectsthat reshaped the topography of the city center.The topography of the city center was also changed by the construction of aseawalland the artificialHarbor Island(completed 1909) at the mouth of the city's industrialDuwamish Waterway, the terminus of theGreen River.","of theGreen River. The highest point within city limits is atHigh Pointin West Seattle, which is located near 35th Ave SW and SW Myrtle St. North of the city center, the Lake Washington Ship Canal connects Puget Sound to Lake Washington. It incorporates four natural bodies of water:Lake Union,Salmon Bay,Portage Bay, andUnion Bay. Due to its location in thePacific Ring of Fire, Seattle is in a majorearthquake zone. On February 28, 2001, themagnitude 6.8Nisqually earthquakedid significant architectural damage, especially in thePioneer Squarearea (built onreclaimed land, as are theIndustrial Districtand part of the city center), and caused one fatality.Other strong earthquakes occurred onJanuary 26, 1700(estimated at 9 magnitude),December 14, 1872(7.3 or 7.4),April 13, 1949(7.1),and April 29, 1965 (6.5).The1965 quakecaused three deaths in Seattle directly and one more by heart failure.Although theSeattle Faultpasses just south of the city center, neither itnor theCascadia subduction zonehas caused an earthquake","an earthquake since the city's founding. The Cascadia subduction zone poses the threat of an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 or greater, capable of seriously damaging the city and collapsing many buildings, especially in zones built on fill. According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 142.5 square miles (369 km2),84 square miles (220 km2) of which is land and 58.1 square miles (150 km2) is water (41% of the total area). Cityscape Climate According to theKöppen climate classificationsystem, Seattle has a warm-summerMediterranean climate(Csb),while under theTrewarthasystem, it is labeled anoceanic climate(Do).It has cool, wet winters and mild, relatively dry summers, covering characteristics of both climate types.The climate is sometimes characterized as a \"modified Mediterranean\" climate because it is cooler and wetter than a \"true\" Mediterranean climate, but shares the characteristic dry summer (which has a strong influence on the region's vegetation). Temperature extremes are moderated by","are moderated by the adjacentPuget Sound, greaterPacific Ocean, andLake Washington. Thus extremeheat wavesare rare in the Seattle area, as are very cold temperatures (below about 15 °F; −9 °C). The Seattle area is the cloudiest region of theContinental United States, due in part to frequent storms andlowsmoving in from the adjacent Pacific Ocean. Seattle is cloudy 201 days out of the year and partly cloudy 93 days.With many more \"rain days\" than other major American cities, Seattle has a well-earned reputation for frequent rain:In an average year, there are 150 days in which at least 0.01 inches (0.25 mm) of precipitation falls, more days than in nearly all U.S. cities east of theRocky Mountains.However, because it often has merely a light drizzle falling from the sky for many days, Seattle actually receives significantly less rainfall (or other precipitation) overall than many other major U.S. cities likeNew York City,Miami, orHouston. Demographics According to the 2012–2016American Community Survey(ACS),","Survey(ACS), the racial makeup of the city was 65.7%White Non-Hispanic, 16.9%Asian, 6.8%Black or African American, 6.6%HispanicorLatinoof any race, 0.4%Native American, 0.9%Pacific Islander, 0.2% other races, and 5.6%two or more races. Seattle's population historically has been predominantly white.The 2010 census showed that Seattle was one of the whitest big cities in the country, although its proportion of white residents has been gradually declining.In 1960, whites constituted 91.6% of the city's population,while in 2010 they constituted 69.5%.According to the 2006–2008American Community Survey, approximately 78.9% of residents over the age of five spoke only English at home. Those who spokeAsian languagesother than Indo-European languages made up 10.2% of the population, Spanish was spoken by 4.5% of the population, speakers of otherIndo-European languagesmade up 3.9%, and speakers of other languages made up 2.5%. Seattle's foreign-born population grew 40% between the 1990 and 2000","the 1990 and 2000 censuses.TheChinesepopulation in the Seattle area has origins inmainland China, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, andTaiwan. The earliest Chinese-Americans that came in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were almost entirely fromGuangdong Province. The Seattle area is also home to a largeVietnamesepopulation of more than 55,000 residents,as well as over 30,000Somaliimmigrants.The Seattle-Tacoma area is also home to one of the largestCambodiancommunities in the United States, numbering about 19,000 Cambodian Americans,and one of the largestSamoancommunities in the mainland U.S., with over 15,000 people having Samoan ancestry.Additionally, the Seattle area had the highest percentage of self-identified mixed-race people of any large metropolitan area in the United States, according to the 2000 United States Census Bureau.According to a 2012HistoryLinkstudy, Seattle's 98118 ZIP code (in the Columbia City neighborhood) was one of the most diverse ZIP Code Tabulation Areas in the United States.","the United States. According to the ACS 1-year estimates, in 2018, the median income of a city household was $93,481, and the median income for a family was $130,656.11.0% of the population and 6.6% of families were below the poverty line. Of people living in poverty, 11.4% were under the age of 18 and 10.9% were 65 or older.According to a 2024 study byHenley & Partners, the city of Seattle has an estimated 54,200 millionaires and 11 billionaires. It is estimated that King County has 8,000 homeless people on any given night, and many of those live in Seattle.In September 2005, King County adopted a \"Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness\", one of the near-term results of which is a shift of funding fromhomeless shelterbeds to permanent housing. In recent years, the city has experienced steady population growth, and has been faced with the issue of accommodating more residents. In 2006, after growing by 4,000 citizens per year for the previous 16 years, regional planners expected the population of Seattle to grow","of Seattle to grow by 200,000 people by 2040.However, former mayor Greg Nickels supported plans that would increase the population by 60%, or 350,000 people, by 2040 and worked on ways to accommodate this growth while keeping Seattle's single-family housing zoning laws.The Seattle City Council later voted to relax height limits on buildings in the greater part of Downtown, partly with the aim to increase residential density in the city center.As a sign of increasing downtown core growth, theDowntownpopulation crested to over 60,000 in 2009, up 77% since 1990. In 2021 Seattle experienced its first population decline in 50 years. Seattle has a relatively high number of adults living alone. According to the 2000 U.S. Census interim measurements of 2004, Seattle has the fifth highest proportion of single-person households nationwide among cities of 100,000 or more residents, at 40.8%. Sexual orientation and gender identity Seattle has a notably largelesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendercommunity. According to","According to a 2006 study byUCLA, 12.9% of city residents polled identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. This was the second-highest proportion of any major U.S. city, behindSan Francisco.Greater Seattle also ranked second among major U.S. metropolitan areas, with 6.5% of the population identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual.According to 2012 estimates from the United States Census Bureau, Seattle has the highest percentage of same-sex households in the United States, at 2.6 percent, surpassing San Francisco (2.5 percent).TheCapitol Hilldistrict has historically been the center of LGBT culture in Seattle. Economy Seattle's economy is driven by a mix of older industrial companies and new-economy internet and technology companies, as well as service, design, andclean technologycompanies. The city's gross metropolitan product (GMP) was $231 billion in 2010, making it the11th-largest metropolitan economyin the United States.ThePort of Seattle, which also operatesSeattle–Tacoma International Airport, is a","Airport, is a major gateway for trade with Asia and cruises to Alaska. It also is the 8th-largest port in the United States when measured by container capacity. Its maritime cargo operations merged with thePort of Tacomain 2015 to form theNorthwest Seaport Alliance. Although it was impacted by theGreat Recession, Seattle has retained a comparatively strong economy, and is noted for start-up businesses, especially in green building and clean technologies.In February 2010, the city government committed Seattle to become North America's first \"climate neutral\" city, with a goal of reaching net-zero per-capita greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Large companies continue to dominate the business landscape. Seven companies onFortune500's 2022 list of the United States' largest companies (based on total revenue) are headquartered in Seattle: Internet retailerAmazon(#2), coffee chainStarbucks(#120), freight forwarderExpeditors International of Washington(#225), department storeNordstrom(#245), forest products","forest products companyWeyerhaeuser(#354), online travel companyExpedia Group(#404), and real-estate tech companyZillow(#424) .Other Fortune 500 companies commonly associated with Seattle are based in nearby Puget Sound cities. Warehouse club chainCostco(#11), the largest retail company in Washington, is based inIssaquah.Microsoft(#14) is located inRedmond. Furthermore, Bellevue is home to truck manufacturerPaccar(#151).Other major companies headquartered in the area includeNintendo of Americain Redmond,T-Mobile USin Bellevue, andProvidence Health & Services(the state's largest health care system and fifth-largest employer) inRenton. The city has a reputation for heavycoffee consumption;coffee companies founded or based in Seattle include Starbucks,Seattle's Best Coffee,andTully's.There are also many successful independent artisanal espresso roasters and cafés. Before moving its headquarters toChicagoand then ultimatelyArlington County, Virginia, aerospace manufacturerBoeing(#60) was the largest company","the largest company based in Seattle. Its largest division,Boeing Commercial Airplanes, is still headquartered within the Puget Sound region.The company also has large aircraft manufacturing plants in Everett and Renton; it remains the largest private employer in the Seattle metropolitan area.In 2006 former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels announced a desire to spark a new economic boom driven by thebiotechnologyindustry. Major redevelopment of theSouth Lake Unionneighborhood is underway in an effort to attract new and established biotech companies to the city, joining biotech companiesCorixa(acquired byGlaxoSmithKline), Immunex (now part of Amgen),Trubion, and ZymoGenetics.Vulcan Inc., the holding company of billionairePaul Allen, is behind most of the development projects in the region. While some see the new development as an economic boon, others have criticized Nickels and theSeattle City Councilfor pandering to Allen's interests at taxpayers' expense.In 2005,Forbesranked Seattle as the most expensive","the most expensive American city for buying a house based on the local income levels.Owing largely to the rapidly increasing cost of living, Seattle and Washington State have some of thehighest minimum wages in the country, at $15 per hour for smaller businesses and $16 for the city's largest employers. Operating a hub at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport,Alaska Airlinesmaintains its headquarters in the city ofSeaTac, next to the airport.Seattle is a hub for global health with the headquarters of theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation,PATH (global health organization),Infectious Disease Research Institute,Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and theInstitute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. In 2015, the Washington Global Health Alliance counted 168 global health organizations in Washington state. Many are headquartered in Seattle. Culture Many ofSeattle's neighborhoodshost one or morestreet fairs or parades. Performing arts Seattle has been a regional center for theperforming artsfor many years. The","many years. The century-oldSeattle Symphony Orchestrahas won many awards and performs primarily atBenaroya Hall.TheSeattle OperaandPacific Northwest Ballet, which perform atMcCaw Hall(opened in 2003 on the site of the former Seattle Opera House at Seattle Center), are comparably distinguished,with the Opera being particularly known for its performances of the works ofRichard Wagnerand the PNB School (founded in 1974) ranking as one of the top three ballet training institutions in the United States.TheSeattle Youth Symphony Orchestras(SYSO) is the largest symphonic youth organization in the United States.The city also boasts lauded summer and winterchamber musicfestivals organized by theSeattle Chamber Music Society. The5th Avenue Theatre, built in 1926, stagesBroadway-stylemusical showsfeaturing both local talent and international stars.Seattle has \"around 100\" theatrical production companiesand over two dozen live theatre venues, many of them associated withfringe theatre;Seattle is probably second only to","second only to New York for number ofequitytheaters(28 Seattle theater companies have some sort ofActors' Equitycontract).In addition, the 900-seatRomanesque RevivalTown Hallon First Hill hosts numerous cultural events, especially lectures and recitals. Between 1918 and 1951, there were nearly two dozen jazz nightclubs along Jackson Street, running from the current Chinatown/International District to the Central District. The jazz scene developed the early careers ofRay Charles,Quincy Jones,Bumps Blackwell,Ernestine Anderson, and others. Early popular musical acts from the Seattle/Puget Sound area include the collegiate folk groupThe Brothers Four, vocal groupThe Fleetwoods, 1960s garage rockersThe WailersandThe Sonics, and instrumental surf groupThe Ventures, some of whom are still active. Seattle is considered the home ofgrungemusic,having produced artists such asNirvana,Soundgarden,Alice in Chains,Pearl Jam, andMudhoney, all of whom reached international audiences in the early 1990s.The city is also home","city is also home to such varied artists asavant-garde jazzmusiciansBill FrisellandWayne Horvitz,hot jazzmusicianGlenn Crytzer,hip hopartistsSir Mix-a-Lot,Macklemore,Blue Scholars, andShabazz Palaces,smooth jazzsaxophonistKenny G,classic rockstaplesHeartandQueensrÿche, and alternative rock bands such asFoo Fighters,Harvey Danger,The Presidents of the United States of America,The Posies,Modest Mouse,Band of Horses,Death Cab for Cutie, andFleet Foxes. Rock musicians such asJimi Hendrix,Duff McKagan, andNikki Sixxspent their formative years in Seattle. The Seattle-basedSub Poprecord company continues to be one of the world's best-known independent/alternative music labels.Over the years,a number of songs have been written about Seattle. Seattle annually sends a team ofspoken wordslammers to theNational Poetry Slamand considers itself home to such performance poets asBuddy Wakefield, two-timeIndividual World Poetry SlamChamp;Anis Mojgani, two-time National Poetry Slam Champ;andDanny Sherrard, 2007 National","2007 National Poetry Slam Champ and 2008 Individual World Poetry Slam Champ.Seattle also hosted the 2001 national Poetry Slam Tournament. The Seattle Poetry Festival is a biennial poetry festival that (launched first as the Poetry Circus in 1997) has featured local, regional, national, and international names in poetry. The city also has movie houses showing bothHollywoodproductions and works byindependent filmmakers.Among these, theSeattle Cineramastands out as one of only three movie theaters in the world still capable of showing three-panelCineramafilms. Tourism Among Seattle's prominent annual fairs and festivals are the 24-daySeattle International Film Festival,Northwest Folklife over theMemorial Dayweekend, numerousSeafairevents throughout July and August (ranging from aBon Odoricelebration to theSeafair Cuphydroplaneraces), theBite of Seattle, one of the largestGay Pridefestivals in the United States, and the art and music festivalBumbershoot, which programs music as well as other art and","as other art and entertainment over the Labor Day weekend. All are typically attended by 100,000 people annually, as are theSeattle Hempfestand two separateIndependence Daycelebrations. Other significant events include numerous Native Americanpow-wows, a Greek Festival hosted bySt. Demetrios Greek Orthodox ChurchinMontlake, and numerous ethnic festivals (many associated withFestál at Seattle Center). There are other annual events, ranging from the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair & Book Arts Show;ananimeconvention,Sakura-Con;Penny Arcade Expo, a gaming convention;a two-day, 9,000-riderSeattle to Portland Bicycle Classic;and specialized film festivals, such as theMaelstrom International Fantastic Film Festival, theSeattle Asian American Film Festival, Children's Film Festival Seattle, Translation: the Seattle Transgender Film Festival, theSeattle Queer Film Festival, Seattle Latino Film Festival, and theSeattle Polish Film Festival. TheHenry Art Galleryopened in 1927, the first public art museum in","art museum in Washington.TheSeattle Art Museum(SAM) opened in 1933 and moved to their current downtown location in 1991 (expanded and reopened in 2007); since 1991, the 1933 building has been SAM'sSeattle Asian Art Museum(SAAM).SAM also operates theOlympic Sculpture Park(opened in 2007) on the waterfront north of the downtown piers.TheFrye Art Museumis a free museum onFirst Hill. Regional history collections are at the Log House Museum in Alki,Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, theMuseum of History and Industry, and theBurke Museum of Natural History and Culture. Industry collections are at theCenter for Wooden Boatsand the adjacentNorthwest Seaport, and theMuseum of Flight. Regional ethnic collections include theNational Nordic Museum, theWing Luke Asian Museum, and theNorthwest African American Museum. Seattle has artist-run galleries,including ten-year veteran Soil Art Gallery,and the newer Crawl Space Gallery. TheSeattle Great Wheel, one of the largestFerris wheelsin the US, opened in June 2012","opened in June 2012 as a new, permanent attraction on the city's waterfront, atPier 57, next toDowntown Seattle.The city also has manycommunity centersfor recreation, including Rainier Beach, Van Asselt, Rainier, and Jefferson south of the Ship Canal and Green Lake, Laurelhurst, Loyal Heights north of the Canal, and Meadowbrook. Woodland Park Zooopened as a privatemenageriein 1889 but was sold to the city in 1899.TheSeattle Aquariumhas been open on the downtown waterfront since 1977 (undergoing a renovation in 2006).TheSeattle UndergroundTour is an exhibit of places that existed before the Great Fire. Since the mid-1990s, Seattle has experienced significant growth in the cruise industry, especially as a departure point for Alaska cruises. In 2008, a record total of 886,039 cruise passengers passed through the city, surpassing the number for Vancouver, BC, the other major departure point for Alaska cruises. Religion A 2024 Household Pulse Survey from the United States Census Bureau estimated that 64 percent","that 64 percent of adults in the Seattle area never attend religious services or attend less than once a year, the highest percentage among large U.S. metropolitan areas. According to a 2014 study by thePew Research Center, the largest religious groupings areChristians(52%), followed by those ofno religion(37%),Hindus(2%),Buddhists(2%),Jews(1%),Muslims(1%) and a variety of other religions have smaller followings.According to the same study by thePew Research Center, about 34% of Seattleites areProtestant, and 15% areRoman Catholic. Meanwhile, 6% of the residents in Seattle call themselvesagnostics, while 10% call themselvesatheists. Sports Seattle has four major men'sprofessional sportsteams: theNational Football League(NFL)'sSeattle Seahawks,Major League Baseball(MLB)'sSeattle Mariners, theNational Hockey League(NHL)'sSeattle Kraken, andMajor League Soccer(MLS)'sSeattle Sounders FC. Other professional sports teams include theWomen's National Basketball Association(WNBA)'sSeattle Storm, theNational Women's","theNational Women's Soccer League'sSeattle Reign FC; andMajor League Rugby(MLR)'sSeattle Seawolves. Seattle's professional sports history began at the start of the 20th century with thePCHA'sSeattle Metropolitans, which in 1917 became the first American hockey team to win theStanley Cup.In 1969, Seattle was awarded a Major League Baseball franchise, theSeattle Pilots. Based atSick's StadiuminMount Baker, home to Seattle'sformer minor-league teams, the Pilots played in Seattle forone seasonbefore relocating toMilwaukeeand becoming theMilwaukee Brewers.The city, alongside the county and state governments, sued the league and was offered a second expansion team, later named theSeattle Mariners, as settlement. The Mariners began play in 1977 at themulti-purposeKingdome, where the team struggled for most of its time. Relative success in the mid-to-late 1990s saved the team from being relocated and allowed them to move to a purpose-built baseball stadium,T-Mobile Park(formerlySafeco Field), in 1999.The Mariners","1999.The Mariners have never reached aWorld Seriesand only appeared in the MLB playoffs five times, mostly between 1995 and 2001, but had Hall of Fame players and candidates likeKen Griffey Jr.,Randy Johnson,Ichiro Suzuki, andAlex Rodriguez.The team tied the all-time MLB single regular season wins record in 2001 with 116 wins.From 2001 to 2022, the Mariners failed to qualify for the playoffs—the longestactive postseason droughtin major North American sports, at 20 seasons. The Seattle Seahawks entered the National Football League in 1976 as anexpansion teamand have advanced to theSuper Bowlthree times:2005,2013and2014.The team played in theKingdomeuntil it was imploded in 2000 and moved into Qwest Field (nowLumen Field) at the same site in 2003.The Seahawks lostSuper Bowl XLin 2005 to thePittsburgh SteelersinDetroit, but wonSuper Bowl XLVIIIin 2013 by defeating theDenver Broncos43–8 atMetLife Stadium. The team advanced to the Super Bowl the following year, but lost to theNew England PatriotsinSuper Bowl","Bowl XLIXon a last-minute play.Seahawks fans have set stadium noise records on several occasions and are collectively known as the \"12th Man\". Seattle Sounders FC has played in Major League Soccer since 2009, as the latest continuation of theoriginal 1974 Sounders teamof theNorth American Soccer Leagueafteran incarnationin thelower divisions of American soccer.Sharing Lumen Field with the Seahawks, the team set variousattendance recordsin its first few MLS seasons, averaging over 43,000 per match and placing themselves among the top 30 teams internationally.The Sounders have won theMLS Supporters' Shieldin 2014and theU.S. Open Cupon four occasions:2009,2010,2011, and2014.The Sounders won the first of their twoMLS Cuptitles in2016, defeatingToronto FC5–4 in apenalty shootoutin Toronto,before finishing as runners-up in a rematch against Toronto inMLS Cup 2017. In2019the Sounders made their first-ever home-field appearance in MLS Cup, once again against Toronto FC, and won the game 3–1 to earn their second MLS","their second MLS Cup title in front of a club-record attendance of 69,274.The stadium also hosted the second leg of the2022 CONCACAF Champions League Final, played in front of 68,741 to break the tournament attendance record. The Sounders became the first MLS team to win a continental title since 2000 and the first to win the modernChampions League. Seattle's Major League Rugby team, theSeattle Seawolves, play in nearbyTukwilaatStarfire Sports Complex, a small stadium that is also used by the Sounders for theirU.S. Open Cupmatches.The team began play in 2018 and wonthe league's inaugural championship.They successfully defended their title in the2019 seasonand finished as runners-up in the2022 championship game. From 1967 to 2008, Seattle was home to theSeattle SuperSonicsof theNational Basketball Association(NBA). A frequent playoff participant, the Sonics were the1978–79 NBA champions, and also contended for the championship in1978and1996. Following a team sale in 2006, a failed effort to replace the","to replace the agingKeyArena, and settlement of a lawsuit to hold the team to the final two years of its lease with the city,the SuperSonics relocatedtoOklahoma Cityand became theOklahoma City Thunderahead of the2008–09 season.Aneffort in 2013to purchase theSacramento Kingsfranchise and relocate it to Seattle as a resurrected Sonics squad was denied by the NBA board of governors. TheSeattle Stormof theWomen's National Basketball Associationhave also played their games at KeyArena (nowClimate Pledge Arena) since their foundation in 2000. The WNBA granted Seattle their expansion side following the popularity of the recently foldedSeattle Reign, a women's professional basketball team that played from 1996 to 1998 in the rivalAmerican Basketball League.The Storm began as a sister team to the now-defunctSonicsof the NBA, but sold to separate Seattle-based ownership in 2006. Tied for the league record, the Storm have claimed theWNBA championshipon four occasions, winning in2004,2010,2018, and2020.The team also won","team also won the first-everWNBA Commissioner's Cupin2021. TheSeattle Thunderbirdshockey team has represented Seattle in the Canadian major-juniorWestern Hockey Leaguesince 1977. Originally playing inMercer Arenaand theSeattle Center Coliseum(which had hostedprevious minor-league hockey teams), the Thunderbirds have been based at theShoWare Centerin the suburb ofKentsince 2007, and have won one WHL championship in2017.In 1974, Seattle wasawarded a conditional expansion franchisein theNational Hockey League; however, this opportunity did not come to fruition. In 2018, a new Seattle-based group successfully applied for an expansion team in the NHL, which was named theSeattle Krakenand began play in 2021.The SuperSonics' former home arena, KeyArena (nowClimate Pledge Arena), underwent major renovations from 2018 to 2021 to accommodate the new NHL team.The NHL ownership group reached its goal of 10,000 deposits within 12 minutes of opening a ticket drive, which later increased to 25,000 in 75 minutes. Seattle","75 minutes. Seattle Reign FC,a founding member of theNational Women's Soccer League, was founded in 2012, holding their home games in Seattle from 2014 to 2018 and again since 2022. The team name was chosen to honor thedefunct women's basketball team of the same name.The club played atStarfire Sports Complexin nearby Tukwila for the league's inaugural 2013 season before moving toSeattle Center'sMemorial Stadiumin 2014. Under new management, the team moved toTacoma'sCheney Stadiumin 2019, before moving to Seattle's Lumen Field in 2022.In 2020, OL Groupe, theparent companyof French clubsOlympique LyonnaisandOlympique Lyonnais Féminin, became the team's majority owner and rebranded the club as OL Reign.The Seattle Reign name was restored in 2024. Seattle has also been home to various minor-league professional teams, of which currentlyBallard FCandWest Seattle Junction FCofUSL League 2in soccer remain. Representing the Seattle neighborhood ofBallard, Ballard FC was founded in 2022 as an independent,","as an independent, semi-professional soccer team in the fourth-divisionUSL League 2. The team is owned by a group led by former Sounders playerLamar Neagleand wonits first national title in 2023. Ballard FC's primary home is the 1,000-seat Interbay Soccer Stadium (also home toSeattle Pacific University's andBallard High School's soccer teams), but during that field's renovations in the 2024 season, Ballard will play out of Memorial Stadium at the Seattle Center.Starting in 2024, Ballard FC's division will be joined by a new cross-town rival,West Seattle Junction FCrepresenting the neighborhood ofWest Seattle. The short-livedSeattle Sea Dragons, originally the Dragons, of theXFLplayed at Lumen Field in the league's inaugural season in 2020 prior to its suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.The Sea Dragons returned alongside the XFL in2023after the league's re-launch under new ownership.The team folded prior to the 2024 season during the XFL's merger with theUnited States Football Leagueto form theUnited","form theUnited Football League. Seattle also boasts two collegiate sports teams based at theUniversity of WashingtonandSeattle University, both competing inNCAA Division Ifor various sports.The University of Washington's athletic program, nicknamed theHuskies, competes in thePac-12 Conference, and Seattle University's athletic program, nicknamed theRedhawks, mostly competes in theWestern Athletic Conference. The Huskies teams use several facilities, including the 70,000-seatHusky Stadiumforfootballand theHec Edmundson Pavilionfor basketball and volleyball.The two schools have basketball and soccer teams that compete against each other in non-conference games and have formed a local rivalry due to their sporting success. TheMajor League Baseball All-Star Gamehas been held in Seattle three times, once at the Kingdome in1979, and twice at T-Mobile Park in2001and2023.TheNBA All-Star Gamewas also held in Seattle twice: the first in1974at theSeattle Center Coliseumand the second in1987at the Kingdome.Lumen","the Kingdome.Lumen FieldhostedMLS Cup 2009, played betweenReal Salt Lakeand theLos Angeles Galaxy, as a neutral site in front of 46,011 spectators.Seattle will be one of eleven US host cities for the2026 FIFA World Cup, with matches played at Lumen Field and training facilities atLongacresinRenton, Washington. Parks and recreation Seattle's mild, temperate marine climate allows year-round outdoor recreation, including walking, cycling, hiking, skiing, snowboarding, kayaking, rock climbing, motorboating, sailing, team sports, and swimming.In town, many people walk aroundGreen Lake, through the forests and along the bluffs and beaches of 535-acre (2.2 km2)Discovery Park(the largest park in the city) inMagnolia, along the shores ofMyrtle Edwards Parkon the Downtown waterfront, along the shoreline of Lake Washington atSeward Park, along Alki Beach in West Seattle, or along theBurke-Gilman Trail.Gas Works Parkfeatures the preservedsuperstructureof acoal gasificationplant closed in 1956. Located across Lake Union","across Lake Union from downtown, the park provides panoramic views of the Seattle skyline.Also popular are hikes and skiing in the nearby Cascade or Olympic Mountains and kayaking and sailing in the waters of Puget Sound, theStrait of Juan de Fuca, and theStrait of Georgia. Government and politics Seattle is acharter city, with amayor–council form of government. From 1911 to 2013, Seattle's nine city councillors were elected at large, rather than by geographic subdivisions.For the 2015 election, this changed to a hybrid system of seven district members and two at-large members as a result of a ballot measure passed on November 5, 2013. The only other elected offices are thecity attorneyand Municipal Court judges. All city offices are officiallynon-partisan.Like some other parts of the United States, government and laws are also run by a series of ballot initiatives (allowing citizens to pass or reject laws), referendums (allowing citizens to approve or reject legislation already passed), and propositions","and propositions (allowing specific government agencies to propose new laws or tax increases directly to the people). Seattle is widely considered one of the most socially liberal cities in the United States.In the 2012 U.S. general election, a majority of Seattleites voted to approve Referendum 74 and legalize gay marriage in Washington state.In the same election, an overwhelming majority of Seattleites also voted to approve the legalization of the recreational use ofcannabisin the state.Like much of thePacific Northwest(which has the lowest rate ofchurch attendancein the United States and consistently reports the highest percentage ofatheism), church attendance, religious belief, and political influence of religious leaders are much lower than in other parts of America.Seattle's political culture is very liberal andprogressivefor the United States, with over 80% of the population voting for theDemocratic Party. All precincts in Seattle voted for Democratic Party candidateBarack Obamain the2012 presidential","presidential election.In partisan elections for theWashington State LegislatureandUnited States Congress, nearly all elections are won by Democrats. Although local elections are nonpartisan, most of the city's elected officials are known to be Democrats, the most notable exception beingSeattle City AttorneyAnn Davison. In 1926, Seattle became the first major American city to elect a female mayor,Bertha Knight Landes.It has also elected an openly gay mayor,Ed Murray,and a third-party socialist councillor,Kshama Sawant.For the first time in United States history, an openly gay black woman was elected to public office when Sherry Harris was elected as a Seattle city councilor in 1991.In 2015, the majority of the city council was female. Bruce Harrellwas elected as mayor in the2021 mayoral election, succeedingJenny Durkan, and took office on January 1, 2022. The mayor's office also includes threedeputy mayors, appointed to advise the mayor on policies. In 2023, the city council voted to bancaste discriminationas","discriminationas part of the city's anti-discrimination laws. The ban is the first in the United States. Seattle lies within four districts on theKing County Council: the 1st district includes the northeastern corner of the city; the 2nd district generally covers areas east ofInterstate 5and south of Northeast 65th Street; the 4th district consists of the northwestern neighborhoods of Ballard, Fremont, Magnolia, and Queen Anne; and the 8th district includes Downtown Seattle, First Hill, SODO, and West Seattle.At the state level, Seattle is divided into six districts that each have onestate senatorand twostate representatives. Federally, Seattle is split between two congressional districts. Most of the city is in7th congressional district,represented by DemocratPramila Jayapal, the first Indian-American woman elected to Congress. She succeeded 28-year incumbent and fellow DemocratJim McDermott.Part of southeastern Seattle is in the9th congressional district,represented by DemocratAdam Smithsince 1997.The","Smithsince 1997.The border between the two districts follows the Tukwila city limits around Boeing Field, Interstate 5, South Dearborn Street, 4th Avenue South, James Street, Madison Street, East Union Street, Martin Luther King Jr. Way, and East Yesler Way. Education Of the city's population over the age of 25, 53.8% (vs. a national average of 27.4%) hold abachelor's degreeor higher, and 91.9% (vs. 84.5% nationally) have a high school diploma orequivalent. A 2008 United States Census Bureau survey showed that Seattle had the highest percentage of college and university graduates of any major U.S. city.The city was listed as the most literate of the country's 69 largest cities in 2005 and 2006, the second most literate in 2007 and the most literate in 2008 in studies conducted byCentral Connecticut State University. Seattle Public Schoolsis the school district for the vast majority of the city.That school district desegregated without a court orderbut continue to struggle to achieve racial balance in a","racial balance in a somewhat ethnically divided city (the south part of town having more ethnic minorities than the north).In 2007, Seattle's racial tie-breaking system was struck down by theUnited States Supreme Court, but the ruling left the door open for desegregation formulae based on other indicators (e.g., income or socioeconomic class).A very small portion of the city is within theHighline School District. The public school system is supplemented by a moderate number of private schools: Five of the private high schools areCatholic, one isLutheran, and six aresecular. Seattle is home to theUniversity of Washingtonand its professional and continuing education unit, theUniversity of Washington Educational Outreach. In 2017,U.S. News & World Reportranked the University of Washington eleventh in the world.The UW receives more federal research and development funding than any public institution. Over the last 10 years, it has also produced morePeace Corpsvolunteers than any other U.S. university. Seattle","university. Seattle also has a number of smaller private universities, includingSeattle UniversityandSeattle Pacific University, the former a Jesuit Catholic institution, the latter a Free Methodist institution. TheSeattle Colleges Districtoperates three colleges:North Seattle College,Seattle Central College, andSouth Seattle College. Universities aimed at the working adult are theCity UniversityandAntioch University. Seminaries includeWestern Seminaryand a number of arts colleges, such asCornish College of the Arts,Pratt Fine Arts Center. In 2001,Timemagazine selected Seattle Central Community College as community college of the year, saying that the school \"pushes diverse students to work together in small teams.\" Media As of 2019, Seattle has one major daily newspaper,The Seattle Times. TheSeattle Post-Intelligencer, known as theP-I, published a daily newspaper from 1863 to March 17, 2009, before switching to a strictly on-line publication. There is also theSeattle Daily Journal of Commerce,and the","of Commerce,and the University of Washington publishesThe Daily, a student-run publication, when school is in session. The most prominent weeklies are theSeattle WeeklyandThe Stranger; both consider themselves\"alternative\" papers.The weekly LGBT newspaper is theSeattle Gay News.Real Changeis a weeklystreet newspaperthat is sold mainly byhomelesspersons as an alternative topanhandling. There are also several ethnic newspapers, includingThe Facts,Northwest Asian Weeklyand theInternational Examineras well as numerous neighborhood newspapers. Seattle is also well served by television and radio, with all major U.S. networks represented, along with at least five other English-language stations and two Spanish-language stations.Seattle cable viewers also receiveCBUT2 (CBC) fromVancouver, British Columbia. Non-commercialradio stations includeNPRaffiliatesKUOW-FM94.9 andKNKX88.5 (Tacoma), as well asclassical musicstationKING-FM98.1. Other non-commercial stations includeKEXP-FM90.3 (affiliated with the UW),community","the UW),community radioKBCS-FM91.3 (affiliated withBellevue College), andhigh school radioKNHC-FM89.5, which broadcasts anelectronic dance musicradio format, is owned by the public school system and operated by students ofNathan Hale High School. Many Seattle radio stations are available throughInternet radio, with KEXP in particular being a pioneer of Internet radio.Seattle also has numerous commercial radio stations. In a March 2012 report by the consumer research firmArbitron, the top FM stations wereKRWM(adult contemporaryformat),KIRO-FM(news/talk), andKISW(active rock) while the top AM stations wereKOMO(all news),KJR (AM)(all sports),KIRO (AM)(all sports). Infrastructure Health systems The University of Washington is consistently ranked among the country's leading institutions in medical research, earning special merits for programs in neurology and neurosurgery. The university-runUW Medicinesystem encompasses several major local hospitals, includingHarborview Medical Center, the public county hospital","county hospital and the only Level Itrauma hospitalfor Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho.Harborview and two other major hospitals—Virginia Mason Medical CenterandSwedish Medical Center—are located on First Hill, which is nicknamed \"Pill Hill\" for its concentration of medical facilities. Located in theLaurelhurstneighborhood,Seattle Children's, formerlyChildren's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, is the pediatric referral center for Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. TheFred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centerhas a campus in the Eastlake neighborhood. The University District is home to theUniversity of Washington Medical Centerwhich, along with Harborview, is operated by the University of Washington. Seattle is also served by aVeterans Affairshospital onBeacon Hill, a third campus of Swedish in Ballard, andUW Medical Center - NorthwestnearNorthgate Station. Seattle has seen local developments of modern paramedic services with the establishment ofMedic Onein 1970.In 1974, a60 Minutesstory on the","Minutesstory on the success of the then four-year-old Medic One paramedic system called Seattle \"the best place in the world to have a heart attack.\"The city also has severalpharmacychains; these includeBartell Drugs, which was family-run in Seattle until its acquisition byRite Aidin 2020. As of 2024, Seattle lacks a 24-hour retail pharmacy due to the closure of locations across several chains. Transportation Thefirst streetcarsappeared in 1889 and were instrumental in the creation of a relatively well-defined downtown and strong neighborhoods at the end of their lines. The advent of the automobile began the dismantling of rail in Seattle. Tacoma–Seattle railway service ended in 1929 and the Everett–Seattle service came to an end in 1939, replaced by automobiles running on the recently developed highway system. Rails on city streets were paved over or removed, and the opening of theSeattle trolleybus systembrought the end ofstreetcars in Seattlein 1941. This left an extensive network of privately owned buses","owned buses (later public) as the only mass transit within the city and throughout the region. King County Metroprovides regular bus service in the city and county, and theSouth Lake Union Streetcarline and theFirst Hill Streetcarline.Seattle is one of the few cities in North America whose bus fleet includes electric trolleybuses.Sound Transitprovides an express bus service within the metropolitan area, twoSounder commuter raillines between the suburbs and downtown, and its1 Linelight railline betweenNorthgateand Angle Lake.Washington State Ferries, which manages the largest network of ferries in the United States and third-largest in the world, connects Seattle toBainbridgeandVashon Islandsin Puget Sound and to Bremerton andSouthworthon the Kitsap Peninsula.King Street Stationin Pioneer Square servesAmtrakintercity trains and Sounder commuter trains, and is located adjacent to theInternational District/Chinatown light rail station. According to the 2007American Community Survey, 18.6% of Seattle residents","Seattle residents used one of the three public transit systems that serve the city, giving it the highest transit ridership of all major cities without heavy or light rail prior to the completion of Sound Transit's 1 Line.The city has also been described byBert Sperlingas the fourth most walkable U.S. city and byWalk Scoreas the sixth most walkable of the fifty largest U.S. cities. Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, locally known as Sea-Tac Airport and located just south in the neighboring city of SeaTac, is operated by the Port of Seattle and provides commercial air service to destinations throughout the world. Closer to downtown,Boeing Fieldis used for general aviation, cargo flights, and testing/delivery of Boeing airliners. A secondary passenger airport,Paine Field, opened in 2019 and is located inEverett, 25 miles (40 km) north of Seattle. It is predominantly used by Boeing and theirlarge assembly plantlocated nearby. The main mode of transportation, however, is the street system, which is laid out","which is laid out in acardinal directionsgrid pattern, except in the central business district where early city leadersArthur DennyandCarson Boreninsisted on orienting the plats relative to the shoreline rather than to true North.Only two roads,Interstate 5andState Route 99(both limited-access highways) run uninterrupted through the city from north to south. From 1953 to 2019, State Route 99 ran through downtown Seattle on theAlaskan Way Viaduct, an elevated freeway on the waterfront. However, due to damage sustained during the 2001 Nisqually earthquake the viaduct was replaced by a tunnel. The 2-mile (3.2 km)Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnelwas originally scheduled to be completed in December 2015 at a cost of US$4.25 billion. The world's largesttunnel boring machine, named \"Bertha\", was commissioned for the project, measuring 57 feet (17 m) in diameter. The tunnel's opening was delayed to February 2019 due to issues with the machine, which included a two-year halt in excavation.Seattle has the","has the 8th-worst traffic congestion of all American cities, and is 10th among all North American cities according toInrix. The city has started moving away from the automobile and toward mass transit. From 2004 to 2009, the annual number of unlinked public transportation trips increased by approximately 21%.In 2006, voters in King County passed the Transit Now proposition, which increased bus service hours on high ridership routes and paid for fivelimited-stopbus lines calledRapidRide.After rejecting aroads and transit measurein 2007, Seattle-area voters passed a transit only measure in 2008 to increase ST Express bus service, extend theLink light railsystem, and expand and improveSounder commuter railservice. A light rail line (now the1 Line) from downtown heading south to Sea-Tac Airport began service in 2009, giving the city its first rapid transit line with intermediate stations within the city limits. An extension north to theUniversity of Washingtonopened on March 19, 2016,followed by","2016,followed by theNorthgateextension in October 2021 and theLynnwoodextension in August 2024.The2 Lineopened in April 2024, operating betweenBellevueandRedmond.Further extensions are planned to connect the 2 Line to the 1 Line in early 2025, as well as extend it to downtown Redmond,and for the 1 Line to reachFederal Wayto the south by 2026.Voters in the Puget Sound region approved an additional tax increase, part of theSound Transit 3package, in November 2016 to expand light rail to West Seattle and Ballard as well as Tacoma, Everett, and Issaquah. Utilities Water and electric power are municipal services, provided bySeattle Public UtilitiesandSeattle City Light, respectively. Other utility companies serving Seattle includePuget Sound Energy(natural gas, electricity),Seattle Steam Company(steam),Waste Management, IncandRecologyCleanScapes (curbside recycling, composting, and solid waste removal),CenturyLink,Frontier Communications,Wave Broadband, andComcast(telecommunications and television).About 90% of","90% of Seattle'selectricityis produced usinghydropower. Less than 2% of electricity is produced usingfossil fuels. Seattle Public Utilities manages twotap watersupply systems on theCedar RiverandTolt River.These systems are fed by meltedsnowpackin the Cascade Mountains over the autumn and winter that fill reservoirs as they melt.The city'swastewatersystem includes 1,422 miles (2,288 km) of sewers that reachtreatment plantsthat discharge into Puget Sound; a 485-mile (781 km) network of separate tunnels forstormwaterserve other treatment facilities.Older areas of the city have acombined sewersystem that dumps stormwater and untreated wastewater into Puget Sound during overflow events. Crime In 2023, Seattle had 5000 violentcrimes, and from 2013 to 2018 there was a slow increase in crimes, however it dipped in 2020, before spiking up again in 2021 and 2022. As of 2023 the city has a violent crime rate of 683 per 100,000 people, and 5,174 property crimes per 100,000 people. International relations Seattle has","Seattle has the followingsister cities: See also Notes References Bibliography Further reading External links","Portland, Oregon Portland(/ˈpɔːrtlənd/PORT-lənd) is themost populous cityin theU.S. stateofOregon, located in thePacific Northwestregion. Situated in the northwestern area of the state at theconfluenceof theWillametteandColumbiarivers, it is thecounty seatofMultnomah County, Oregon's most populous county. As of 2020,Portland's population was 652,503,making it the26th-most populouscity in the United States, the sixth-most populous on theWest Coast, and the second-most populous in the Pacific Northwest, afterSeattle.Approximately 2.5 million people live in thePortland metropolitan area, making it the25th-most populousin the United States. About half of Oregon's population resides within the Portland metro area. Named afterPortland, Maine,which is itself named after the EnglishIsle of Portland, the Oregon settlement began to be populated in the 1840s, near the end of theOregon Trail. Its water access provided convenient transportation of goods, and the timber industry was a major force in the city's early","in the city's early economy. At the turn of the 20th century, the city had a reputation as one of the most dangerousport citiesin the world, a hub for organized crime andracketeering. After the city's economy experienced an industrial boom duringWorld War II, its hard-edged reputation began to dissipate. Beginning in the 1960s,it became noted for its growingliberalandprogressivepolitical values, earning it a reputation as a bastion ofcounterculture. The city operates with acommission-based government, guided by a mayor and four commissioners, as well asMetro, the only directly electedmetropolitan planning organizationin the United States.Its climate is marked by warm, dry summers and cool, rainy winters. This climate isideal for growing roses, and Portland has been called the \"City of Roses\" for over a century. History Pre-settlement history During the prehistoric period, the land that would become Portlandwas flooded after the collapse of glacial damsfromLake Missoula, in what would later become Montana.","become Montana. These massive floods occurred during the last ice age and filled the Willamette Valley with 300 to 400 feet (91 to 122 m) of water. Before American settlers began arriving in the 1800s, the land was inhabited for many centuries by two bands of indigenousChinook people– theMultnomahand theClackamas.The Chinook people occupying the land were first documentedin 1805byMeriwether LewisandWilliam Clark.Before its European settlement, the Portland Basin of the lower Columbia River and Willamette River valleys had been one of the most densely populated regions on the Pacific Coast. Establishment Large numbers of pioneer settlers began arriving in the Willamette Valley in the 1840s via theOregon Trailwith many arriving in nearbyOregon City.A new settlement then emerged ten miles from the mouth of the Willamette River,roughly halfway between Oregon City andHudson's Bay Company'sFort Vancouver. This community was initially referred to as \"Stumptown\" and \"The Clearing\" because of the many trees cut down","many trees cut down to allow for its growth.In 1843William Overtonsaw potential in the new settlement but lacked the funds to file an official land claim. For 25 cents, Overton agreed to share half of the 640-acre (2.6 km2) site withAsa LovejoyofBoston. In 1844, Overton sold his remaining half of the claim toFrancis W. PettygroveofPortland, Maine. Both Pettygrove and Lovejoy wished to rename \"The Clearing\" after their respective hometowns (Lovejoy's being Boston, and Pettygrove's, Portland). This controversy was settled with a coin toss that Pettygrove won in a series of two out of three tosses, thereby providing Portland with its namesake.The coin used for this decision, now known as thePortland Penny, is on display in the headquarters of theOregon Historical Society. At the time of its incorporation on February 8, 1851, Portland had over 800 inhabitants,a steam sawmill, a log cabin hotel, and a newspaper, theWeekly Oregonian.A major fire swept through downtown in August 1873, destroying twenty blocks on","twenty blocks on the west side of the Willamette along Yamhill and Morrison Streets, and causing $1.3 million in damage,roughly equivalent to $33.1 million today.By 1879, the population had grown to 17,500 and by 1890 it had grown to 46,385.In 1888, the first steel bridge on theWest Coastwas opened in Portland,the predecessor of the 1912 namesakeSteel Bridgethat survives today. In 1889, Henry Pittock's wife, Georgiana, established the Portland Rose Society. The movement to make Portland a \"Rose City\" started as the city was preparing for the 1905Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. Portland's access to thePacific Oceanvia the Willamette and Columbia rivers, as well as its easy access to the agriculturalTualatin Valleyvia the \"Great Plank Road\" (the route of current-dayU.S. Route 26), provided the pioneer city with an advantage over other nearby ports, and it grew very quickly.Portland remained the major port in the Pacific Northwest for much of the 19th century, until the 1890s, when Seattle's deepwater","Seattle's deepwater harbor was connected to the rest of the mainland by rail, affording an inland route without the treacherous navigation of the Columbia River. The city had its own Japantown,for one, and thelumber industryalso became a prominent economic presence, due to the area's large population ofDouglas fir,western hemlock,red cedar, andbig leaf mapletrees. Portland developed a reputation early in its history as a hard-edged and grittyport town.Some historians have described the city's early establishment as being a \"scionofNew England; an ends-of-the-earth home for the exiled spawn of the eastern established elite.\"In 1889,The Oregoniancalled Portland \"the most filthy city in the Northern States\", due to the unsanitary sewers and gutters,and, at the turn of the 20th century, it was considered one of the most dangerous port cities in the world.The city housed a large number of saloons,bordellos, gambling dens, and boarding houses which were populated with miners after theCalifornia Gold Rush, as well","Gold Rush, as well as the multitude of sailors passing through the port.By the early 20th century, the city had lost its reputation as a \"sober frontier city\" and garnered a reputation for being violent and dangerous. 20th-century development Between 1900 and 1930, the city's population tripled from nearly 100,000 to 301,815.DuringWorld War II, it housed an \"assembly center\" from which up to 3,676 people of Japanese descent were dispatched tointernment campsin the heartland. It was the first American city to have residents report thus,and thePacific International Livestock Expositionoperated from May through September 10, 1942, processing people from the city, northern Oregon, andcentral Washington.GeneralJohn DeWittcalled the city the first \"Jap-free city on the West Coast.\" At the same time, Portland became a notorious hub for underground criminal activity andorganized crimein the 1940s and 1950s.In 1957,Lifemagazine published an article detailing the city's history ofgovernment corruptionand crime,","crime, specifically its gambling rackets and illegal nightclubs.The article, which focused oncrime bossJim Elkins, became the basis of a fictionalized film titledPortland Exposé(1957). In spite of the city's seedier undercurrent of criminal activity, Portland enjoyed an economic and industrial surge during World War II. Ship builderHenry J. Kaiserhad been awarded contracts to buildLiberty shipsand aircraft carrier escorts, and chose sites in Portland andVancouver, Washington, for work yards.During this time, Portland's population rose by over 150,000, largely attributed to recruited laborers. During the 1960s, an influx ofhippiesubculture began to take root in the city in the wake ofSan Francisco's burgeoningcounterculturalscene.The city'sCrystal Ballroombecame a hub for the city'spsychedelic culture, whilefood cooperativesand listener-funded media and radio stations were established.A largesocial activistpresence evolved during this time as well, specifically concerningNative American","American rights,environmentalistcauses, andgay rights.By the 1970s, Portland had well established itself as a progressive city, and experienced an economic boom for the majority of the decade; however, the slowing of the housing market in 1979 caused demand for the city and state timber industries to drop significantly. Since 1990 In the 1990s, the technology industry began to emerge in Portland, specifically with the establishment of companies such asIntel, which brought more thanUS$10 billion in investments in 1995 alone.In the late 1990s, the Portland area was rated the fourth-least affordable place in the United States to purchase a new home.After 2000, Portland experienced significant growth, with a population rise of over 90,000 between the years 2000 and 2014.The city's increasing reputation for culture established it as a popular city for young people, and it was second only toLouisville, Kentucky, as one of the cities to attract and retain the highest number of college-educated people in the United","in the United States.Between 2001 and 2012, Portland's gross domestic product per person grew by fifty percent, more than any other city in the country. The city acquired adiverse range of nicknamesthroughout its history, though it is most often called \"Rose City\" or \"The City of Roses\"(unofficial nickname since 1888, official since 2003).Another widely used nickname by local residents in everyday speech is \"PDX\", the airport code forPortland International Airport. Other nicknames include Bridgetown,Stumptown,Rip City,Soccer City,P-Town,Portlandia, and the more antiquated Little Beirut. 2020 George Floyd protests From May 28, 2020, until spring 2021,there were dailyprotestsabout themurder of George Floydby police, and racial injustice. There were instances of looting, vandalism, and police actions causing injuries. One protestor was killed by an opposing one.Local businesses reported losses totaling millions of dollars as the result of vandalism and looting, according toOregon Public Broadcasting.Some","Broadcasting.Some protests caused injury to protesters and police. In July, federal officers were deployed to safeguard federal property; their presence and tactics were criticized by Oregon officials, who demanded they leave, while lawsuits were filed against local and federal law enforcement alleging wrongful actions by them. On May 25, 2021, a protest to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Floyd's murder caused property damage, and was followed by a number of arrests. Geography Geology Portland lies on top of a dormant volcanic field known as theBoring Lava Field, named after the nearbybedroom communityofBoring.The Boring Lava Field has at least 32 cinder cones such asMount Tabor,and its center lies in southeast Portland.Mount St. Helens, a highly active volcano 50 miles (80 km) northeast of the city in Washington state, is easily visible on clear days and is close enough to have dusted the city with volcanic ash after itseruption on May 18, 1980.The rocks of the Portland area range in age from","range in age from lateEoceneto more recent eras. Multiple shallow, activefault linestraverse the Portland metropolitan area.Among them are thePortland Hills Faulton the city's west side,and theEast Bank Faulton the east side.According to a 2017 survey, several of these faults were characterized as \"probably more of a hazard\" than theCascadia subduction zonedue to their proximities to population centers, with the potential of producingmagnitude7earthquakes.Notable earthquakes that have impacted the Portland area in recent history include the 6.8-magnitudeNisqually earthquakein 2001, and a 5.6-magnitude earthquake that struck on March 25, 1993. Per a 2014 report, over 7,000 locations within the Portland area are at high risk for landslides andsoil liquefactionin the event of a major earthquake, including much of the city's west side (such asWashington Park) and sections ofClackamas County. Topography Portland is 60 miles (97 km) east of the Pacific Ocean at the northern end ofOregon's most populated region,","populated region, the Willamette Valley. Downtown Portland straddles the banks of the Willamette River, which flows north through the city center and separates the city's east and west neighborhoods. Less than 10 miles (16 km) from downtown, the Willamette River flows into the Columbia River, the fourth-largest river in the United States, which divides Oregon from Washington state. Portland is approximately 100 miles (160 km) upriver from the Pacific Ocean on the Columbia. Though much of downtown Portland is relatively flat, the foothills of theTualatin Mountains, more commonly referred to locally as the \"West Hills\", pierce through the northwest and southwest reaches of the city.Council Crest Parkat 1,073 feet (327 m) is often quoted as the highest point in Portland; however, the highest point in Portland is on a section of NW Skyline Blvd just north ofWillamette Stone Heritage site.The highest point east of the river isMt. Tabor, an extinct volcanic cinder cone, which rises to 636 feet (194 m).","636 feet (194 m). NearbyPowell ButteandRocky Butterise to 614 feet (187 m) and 612 feet (187 m), respectively. To the west of the Tualatin Mountains lies theOregon Coast Range, and to the east lies the actively volcanicCascade Range. On clear days,Mt. HoodandMt. St. Helensdominate the horizon, whileMt. AdamsandMt. Rainiercan also be seen in the distance. According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 145.09 square miles (375.78 km2), of which 133.43 square miles (345.58 km2) is land and 11.66 square miles (30.20 km2) is water.Although almost all of Portland is withinMultnomah County, small portions of the city are within Clackamas andWashingtoncounties. Climate Portland has awarm-summer Mediterranean climate(KöppenCsb),falling just short of ahot-summer Mediterranean climate(KöppenCsa)with cool and rainy winters, and warm and dry summers.This climate is characterized by having overcast, wet, and changing weather conditions in fall, winter, and spring, as Portland lies in the direct path","in the direct path of the stormy westerly flow, and warm, dry summers when theNorth Pacific Highreaches its northernmost point in mid-summer.Portland'sUSDA Plant Hardiness Zoneis 8b, with parts of the Downtown area falling into zone 9a. Winters are cool, cloudy, and rainy. The coldest month is December with an average daily high temperature of 46.9 °F (8.3 °C), although overnight lows usually remain above freezing by a few degrees. Evening temperatures fall to or below freezing 32 nights per year on average, but very rarely below 18 °F (−8 °C). There are only 2.1 days per year where the daytime high temperature fails to rise above freezing; the mean for the lowest high is at the exact freezing point of 32 °F (0 °C).The lowest overnight temperature ever recorded was −3 °F (−19 °C),on February 2, 1950,while the lowest daytime high temperature ever recorded was 14 °F (−10 °C) on December 30, 1968.The average window in which freezing temperatures may occur is between November 15 and March 19, allowing a growing","allowing a growing season of 240 days. Annual snowfall in Portland is 4.3 inches (10.9 cm), which usually falls between December and March.The city of Portland avoids snow more frequently than its suburbs, due in part to its low elevation and theurban heat islandeffect. Neighborhoods outside of the downtown core, especially in slightly higher elevations near theWest HillsandMount Tabor, can experience a dusting of snow while downtown receives no accumulation at all. The city has experienced a few major snow and ice storms in its past, with extreme totals having reached 44.5 in (113 cm) at the airport in 1949–50 and 60.9 in (155 cm) at downtown in 1892–93. Summers in Portland are warm, dry, and sunny, though the sunny warm weather is short-lived, from mid-June to early September.June, July, August and September account for a combined 4.19 inches (106 mm) of total rainfall – only 11% of the 36.91 in (938 mm) of annual precipitation. The warmest month is August, with an average high temperature of 82.3 °F (27.9","of 82.3 °F (27.9 °C). Because of its inland location 62 miles (100 km) from the coast, as well as the protective nature of theOregon Coast Rangeto its west, Portland summers are less susceptible to the moderating influence of the nearby Pacific Ocean. Consequently, Portland occasionally experiencesheat waves, with temperatures rising above 90 °F (32 °C) for a few days. However, on average, temperatures reach or exceed 80 °F (27 °C) on only 61 days per year, of which 15 days will reach 90 °F (32 °C) and only 1.3 days will reach 100 °F (38 °C). In 2018 more 90-degree days were recorded than ever before. On June 28, 2021, Portland recorded its all-time record high temperature of 116 °F (47 °C) and its warmest daily low temperature of 75 °F (24 °C) during amajor regional heat wave.The record had been broken for three consecutive days with daytime highs of 108 °F (42 °C) on June 26 and 112 °F (44 °C) on June 27; the previous record of 107 °F (42 °C) was set in July 1965 and matched twice in August 1981.A","in August 1981.A temperature of 100 °F (38 °C) has been recorded in all five months from May through September. The warmest night of the year averages 68 °F (20 °C). Spring and fall can bring variable weather including high-pressure ridging that sends temperatures surging above 80 °F (27 °C) and cold fronts that plunge daytime temperatures into the 40s °F (4–9 °C). However, lengthy stretches of overcast days beginning in mid-fall and continuing into mid-spring are most common. Rain often falls as a light drizzle for several consecutive days at a time, contributing to 157 days on average with measurable (≥0.01 in or 0.25 mm) precipitation annually. Temperatures have reached 90 °F (32 °C) as early as April 30 and as late as October 5, while 80 °F (27 °C) has been reached as early as April 1 and as late as October 21.Thunderstormsare uncommon andtornadoesare very rare, although they do occur. See or editraw graph data. Cityscape Portland's cityscape derives much of its character from the many bridges that span","bridges that span the Willamette River downtown, several of which are historic landmarks, and Portland has been nicknamed \"Bridgetown\" for many decades as a result.Three of downtown's most heavily used bridges are more than 100 years old and are designated historic landmarks:Hawthorne Bridge(1910),Steel Bridge(1912), andBroadway Bridge(1913). Portland's newest bridge in the downtown area,Tilikum Crossing, opened in 2015 and is the first new bridge to span the Willamette in Portland since the 1973 opening of the double-deckerFremont Bridge. Other bridges that span the Willamette River in the downtown area include theBurnside Bridge, theRoss Island Bridge(both built 1926), and the double-deckerMarquam Bridge(built 1966). Other bridges outside the downtown area include theSellwood Bridge(built 2016) to the south; and theSt. Johns Bridge, aGothic revivalsuspension bridge built in 1931, to the north. TheGlenn L. Jackson Memorial Bridgeand theInterstate Bridgeprovide access from Portland across the Columbia River","the Columbia River into Washington state. Neighborhoods The Willamette River, which flows north through downtown, serves as the natural boundary between East and West Portland. The denser and earlier-developed west side extends into the lap of theWest Hills, while the flatter east side extends for roughly 180 blocks until it meets the suburb ofGresham. In 1891 the cities of Portland,Albina, andEast Portlandwere consolidated, creating inconsistent patterns of street names and addresses. It was not unusual for a street name to be duplicated in disparate areas. The \"Great Renumbering\" on September 2, 1931, standardized street naming patterns and divided Portland into five \"general districts.\" It also changed house numbers from 20 per block to 100 per block and adopted a single street name on a grid. For example, the 200 block north of Burnside is either NW Davis Street or NE Davis Street throughout the entire city. The six previous addressing sections of Portland, which were colloquially known as quadrants","known as quadrants despite there being six,have developed distinctive identities, with mild cultural differences and friendly rivalries between their residents, especially between those who live east of the Willamette River versus west of the river.Portland's addressing sections are North, Northwest, Northeast, South, Southeast, and Southwest (which includesdowntown Portland). The Willamette River divides the city into east and west whileBurnside Street, which traverses the entire city lengthwise, divides the north and south. North Portland consists of the peninsula formed by the Willamette and Columbia Rivers, with N Williams Ave serving as its eastern boundary. All addresses and streets within the city are prefixed by N, NW, NE, S, SW or SE with the exception of Burnside Street, which is prefixed with W or E. Starting on May 1, 2020, former Southwest prefix addresses with house numbers on east–west streets leading with zero dropped the zero and the street prefix on all streets (including north–south","north–south streets) converted from Southwest to South. For example, the current address of 246 S California St. was changed from 0246 SW California St. and the current address of 4310 S Macadam Ave. was converted from 4310 SW Macadam Ave. The new South Portland addressing section was approved by the Portland City Council on June 6, 2018and is bounded bySW Naito Parkway, SW View Point Terrace and theTryon Creek State Natural Areato the west, SW Clay Street to the north, the Willamette River to the east, and city limits to the south. It includes the Lair Hill, Johns Landing and South Waterfront districts and Lewis & Clark College as well as the Riverdale area of unincorporated Multnomah County south of the Portland city limits.In 2018, the city's Bureau of Transportation finalized a plan to transition this part of Portland into South Portland, beginning on May 1, 2020, to reduce confusion by 9-1-1 dispatchers and delivery services.With the addition of South Portland, all six addressing sectors (N, NE, NW, S,","(N, NE, NW, S, SE and SW) are now officially known as sextants. The Pearl DistrictinNorthwest Portland, which was largely occupied by warehouses, light industry and railroad classification yards in the early to mid-20th century, now houses upscaleart galleries, restaurants, and retail stores, and is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the city.Areas further west of the Pearl District include neighborhoods known as Uptown and Nob Hill, as well as the Alphabet District and NW 23rd Ave., a major shopping street lined with clothing boutiques and other upscale retail, mixed with cafes and restaurants. Northeast Portland is home to theLloyd District,Alberta Arts District, and theHollywood District. North Portland is largely residential and industrial. It containsKelley Point Park, the northernmost point of the city. It also contains theSt. Johnsneighborhood, which is historically one of the most ethnically diverse and poorest neighborhoods in the city. Old Town Chinatownis next to the Pearl District in","Pearl District in Northwest Portland. In 1890 it was the second largest Chinese community in the United States.In 2017, the crime rate was several times above the city average. This neighborhood has been called Portland's skid row.Southwest Portland is largely residential.Downtown district, made up of commercial businesses, museums,skyscrapers, and public landmarks represents a small area within the southwest address section. Portland's South Waterfront area has been developing into a dense neighborhood of shops, condominiums, and apartments starting in the mid-2000s. Development in this area is ongoing.The area is served by thePortland Streetcar, theMAX Orange Lineand fourTriMetbus lines. This former industrial area sat as abrownfieldprior to development in the mid-2000s. Southeast Portland is largely residential, and consists of several neighborhoods, includingHawthorne District,Belmont,Brooklyn, andMount Tabor.Reed College, a private liberal arts college that was founded in 1908, is located within the","located within the confines of Southeast Portland as isMount Tabor, a volcanic landform. Demographics Ethnicity The 2020 census reported the city as 73.8%White(449,025 people), 8.2%Asian(52,854), 5.8% Black or African American (38,217), 0.9% Native American (7,335), 0.5% Pacific Islander (3,919), and 5.0% from two or more races (69,898).10.3% were Hispanic or Latino, of any race (72,336). Whites not of Hispanic origin made up 68.8% of the total population. The 2010 census reported the city as 76.1%White(444,254 people), 7.1%Asian(41,448), 6.3% Black or African American (36,778), 1.0% Native American (5,838), 0.5% Pacific Islander (2,919), 4.7% belonging to two or more racial groups (24,437) and 5.0% from other races (28,987).9.4% wereHispanicor Latino, of any race (54,840). Whites not of Hispanic origin made up 72.2% of the total population. In 1940, Portland's African-American population was approximately 2,000 and largely consisted of railroad employees and their families.During the war-timeLiberty","the war-timeLiberty Shipconstruction boom, the need for workers drew many Black people to the city. The new influx of Black people settled in specific neighborhoods, such as theAlbinadistrict andVanport. The May 1948 flood which destroyed Vanport eliminated the only integrated neighborhood, and an influx of blacks into the northeast quadrant of the city continued.Portland'slongshoremenracial mix was described as being \"lily-white\" in the 1960s when the localInternational Longshore and Warehouse Uniondeclined to represent grain handlers since some were black. Racial Makeup of Portland (2022) Over two-thirds of Oregon's African-American residents live in Portland.As of the 2000 census, three of its high schools (Cleveland, Lincoln and Wilson) were over 70% White, reflecting the overall population, whileJefferson High Schoolwas 87% non-White. The remaining six schools have a higher number of non-Whites, including Blacks and Asians. Hispanic students average from 3.3% at Wells to 31% atRoosevelt. Portland","Portland residents identifying solely as Asian Americans account for 7.1% of the population; an additional 1.8% is partially of Asian heritage.Vietnamese Americansmake up 2.2% of Portland's population, and make up the largest Asian ethnic group in the city, followed byChinese(1.7%),Filipinos(0.6%),Japanese(0.5%),Koreans(0.4%),Laotians(0.4%),Hmong(0.2%), andCambodians(0.1%).A small population ofIu Mienlive in Portland. Portland has two Chinatowns, with New Chinatown in the 'Jade District' along SE 82nd Avenue with Chinese supermarkets, Hong Kong style noodle houses,dim sum, and Vietnamesephởrestaurants. With about 12,000 Vietnamese residing in the city proper, Portland has one of the largest Vietnamese populations in America per capita.According to statistics, there are over 4,500Pacific Islandersin Portland, making up 0.7% of the city's population.There is aTongancommunity in Portland, who arrived in the area in the 1970s, and Tongans and Pacific Islanders as a whole are one of the fastest-growing ethnic","ethnic groups in the Portland area. Portland's population has been and remains predominantlyWhite. In 1940, Whites were over 98% of the city's population.In 2009, Portland had the fifth-highest percentage of White residents among the 40 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. A 2007 survey of the 40 largest cities in the U.S. concluded Portland's urban core has the highest percentage of White residents.Some scholars have noted the Pacific Northwest as a whole is \"one of the last Caucasian bastions of the United States\".While Portland's diversity was historically comparable to metro Seattle and Salt Lake City, those areas grew more diverse in the late 1990s and 2000s. Portland not only remains White, but migration to Portland is disproportionately White. The Oregon Territory banned African American settlement in 1849. In the 19th century, certain laws allowed the immigration of Chinese laborers but prohibited them from owning property or bringing their families.The early 1920s saw the rapid growth of theKu Klux","of theKu Klux Klan, which became very influential in Oregon politics, culminating in the election ofWalter M. Pierceas governor. The largest influxes of minority populations occurred during World War II, as the African American population grew by a factor of 10 for wartime work.After World War II, theVanport floodin 1948 displaced many African Americans. As they resettled,redliningdirected the displaced workers from the wartime settlement to neighboringAlbina.There and elsewhere in Portland, they experienced police hostility, lack of employment, andmortgage discrimination, leading to half the black population leaving after the war. In the 1980s and 1990s, radical skinhead groups flourished in Portland.In 1988,Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian immigrant, was killed by three skinheads. The response to his murder involved a community-driven series of rallies, campaigns, nonprofits and events designed to address Portland's racial history, leading to a city considered significantly more tolerant than in 1988 at","than in 1988 at Seraw's death. Portland has a substantialRomapopulation. 76% of Latinos in Portland are ofMexicanheritage. Italians and Russian Jews had a very visible presence in Portland. Households As of the2010 census, there were 583,776 people living in the city, organized into 235,508 households. The population density was 4,375.2 people per square mile. There were 265,439 housing units at an average density of 1,989.4 per square mile (768.1/km2). Population growth in Portland increased 10.3% between 2000 and 2010.Population growth in thePortland metropolitan areahas outpaced the national average during the last decade, and this is expected to continue over the next 50 years. Out of 223,737 households, 24.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.1% were married couples living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.1% were non-families. 34.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.","of age or older. The average household size was 2.3 and the average family size was 3. The age distribution was 21.1% under the age of 18, 10.3% from 18 to 24, 34.7% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.9 males. The median income for a household in the city was $40,146, and the median income for a family was $50,271. Males had a reported median income of $35,279 versus $29,344 reported for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,643. 13.1% of the population and 8.5% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 15.7% of those under the age of 18 and 10.4% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line. Figures delineating the income levels based on race are not available at this time. According to theModern Language Association, in 2010 80.9% (539,885) percent of Multnomah County residents ages","residents ages 5 and over spoke English as theirprimary languageat home.8.1% of the population spoke Spanish (54,036), with Vietnamese speakers making up 1.9%, and Russian 1.5%. Social The Portland metropolitan area has historically had a significantLGBTpopulation throughout the late 20th and early 21st century.In 2015, the city metro had the second highest percentage of LGBT residents in the United States with 5.4% of residents identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, second only to San Francisco.In 2006, it was reported to have the seventh highest LGBT population in the country, with 8.8% of residents identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, and the metro ranking fourth in the nation at 6.1%.The city held its firstpride festivalin 1975 on thePortland State Universitycampus. Religion Portland has been cited as the leastreligiouscity in the United States with over 42% of residents identifying as religiously \"unaffiliated\",according to the nonpartisan and nonprofitPublic Religion Research","Religion Research Institute's American Values Atlas. Homelessness A 2019 survey by the city's budget office showed that homelessness is perceived as the top challenge facing Portland, and was cited as a reason people move and do not participate in park programs.Calls to 911 concerning \"unwanted persons\" have significantly increased between 2013 and 2018, and the police are increasingly dealing with homeless and mentally ill.Homelessness has taken a toll on the sense of safety among visitors, and residents and business owners are adversely impacted.Even though homeless services and shelter beds have increased, as of 2020 homelessness is considered an intractable problem in Portland. The proposed budget for 2022–23 includes $5.8MM to buy land for affordable housing, and $36MM to equip and operate \"safe rest villages\".A 2022 initiative approved by the Portland city council makes homeless camping illegal, eventually requiring homeless individuals to move into mass shelters. Crime According to theFederal Bureau","theFederal Bureau of Investigation'sUniform Crime Reportin 2009, Portland ranked 53rd in violent crime out of the top 75 U.S. cities with a population greater than 250,000.The murder rate in Portland in 2013 averaged 2.3 murders per 100,000 people per year, which was lower than the national average. In 2011, 72% of arrested male subjects tested positive for illegal drugs and the city was dubbed the \"deadliest drug market in the Pacific Northwest\" due to drug related deaths.In 2010,ABC's Nightlinereported that Portland is one of the largest hubs for child sex trafficking.Car theft rates in Portland are the fifth highest of any US metropolitan area as of 2023.According to theLos Angeles Timesin 2023: \"Shootings in the city have tripled\" and \"Lower-level crimes have spiked too: More than 11,000 vehicles were stolen in 2022, up from 6,500 in 2019.\" In the PortlandMetropolitan statistical areawhich includes Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, Washington, and Yamhill Counties, OR and Clark and Skamania Counties, WA","Counties, WA for 2017, the murder rate was 2.6, violent crime was 283.2 per 100,000 people per year. In 2017, the population within the city of Portland was 649,408 and there were 24 murders and 3,349 violent crimes. Portland's 101 homicides in 2022 set a new record.For 2021 year, Portland recorded 90 homicides, compared with 20 in 2016, and 27 in 2017. Economy Portland's location is beneficial for several industries. Relatively low energy cost, accessible resources, north–south and east–west Interstates, international air terminals, large marine shipping facilities, and both west coast intercontinental railroads are all economic advantages. The city's marine terminals alone handle over 13 million tons of cargo per year, and the port is home to one of the largest commercial dry docks in the country.ThePort of Portlandis the third-largest export tonnage port on the west coast of the U.S., and being about 80 miles (130 km) upriver, it is the largest fresh-water port. The scrap steel industry's history in","history in Portland predates World War II. The scrap steel industry thrives in the region, withSchnitzer Steel Industries, a prominent scrap steel company, shipping a record 1.15 billion tons of scrap metal to Asia during 2003. Other heavy industry companies includeESCO CorporationandOregon Steel Mills. Technology is a major component of the city's economy, with more than 1,200 technology companies existing within the metro.This high density of technology companies has led to the nicknameSilicon Forestbeing used to describe the Portland area, a reference to the abundance of trees in the region and to theSilicon Valleyregion in Northern California.The area also hosts facilities for software companies and onlinestartup companies, some supported by localseed fundingorganizations andbusiness incubators.Computer components manufacturerIntelis the Portland area's largest employer, providing jobs for more than 15,000 people, with several campuses to the west of central Portland in the city ofHillsboro. The Portland","The Portland metro area has become abusiness clusterfor athletic/outdoor gear and footwear manufacturer's headquarters. Shoes are not manufactured in Portland.The area is home to the global, North American or U.S. headquarters ofNike(the onlyFortune 500company headquartered in Oregon),Adidas,Columbia Sportswear,LaCrosse Footwear,Dr. Martens,Li-Ning,Keen,andHi-Tec Sports.While headquartered elsewhere,Merrell,Amer SportsandUnder Armourhave design studios and local offices in the Portland area. Other notable Portland-based companies include industrial goods and metal fabrication companyPrecision Castparts, film animation studioLaika; commercial vehicle manufacturerDaimler Trucks North America; advertising firmWieden+Kennedy; bankersUmpqua Holdings; child care and early childhood education providerKinderCare Learning Centers; and retailersFred Meyer,New Seasons Market,Storables, andPowell's Books. Breweries are another major industry in Portland, which is home to 139 breweries/microbreweries, the 7th most in the","the 7th most in the nation, as of December 2018.Additionally, the city boasts a robustcoffee culturethat now rivals Seattle and hosts over 20 coffee roasters. Housing In 2016, home prices in Portland grew faster than in any other city in the United States.Apartment rental costs in Portland reported in November 2019 was $1,337 for two bedroom and $1,133 for one bedroom. In 2017, developers projected an additional 6,500 apartments to be built in the Portland Metro Area over the next year.However, as of December 2019, the number of homes available for rent or purchase in Portland continues to shrink. Over the past year, housing prices in Portland have risen 2.5%. Housing prices in Portland continue to rise, the median price rising from $391,400 in November 2018 to $415,000 in November 2019.There has been a rise of people from out of state moving to Portland, which impacts housing availability. Because of the demand for affordable housing and influx of new residents, more Portlanders in their 20s and 30s are","20s and 30s are still living in their parents' homes.There is a considerable amount of \"Airbnbtype\" rentals in the city. An audit in 2018 located around 4,600 listings, of which 80% were illegally operated. Arts and culture Music, film, and performing arts Portland is home to a range of classical performing arts institutions including thePortland Opera,Portland Baroque Orchestra,Oregon SymphonyandPortland Youth Philharmonic; the last of these, established in 1924, was the first youth orchestra established in the United States.The city is also home to several theaters and performing arts institutions including theOregon Ballet Theatre, Northwest Children's Theatre,Portland Center Stage,Artists Repertory Theatre, Curious Comedy Theatre andMiracle Theatre. In 2013,The Guardiannamed the city's music scene as one of the \"most vibrant\" in the United States.Portland is home to famous bands such as theKingsmenandPaul Revere & the Raiders, both famous for their association with the song \"Louie Louie\" (1963).Other","Louie\" (1963).Other widely known musical groups include theDandy Warhols,Quarterflash,Everclear,Pink Martini,Sleater-Kinney,Blitzen Trapper, theDecemberists, and the lateElliott Smith. More recently,Portugal. The Man,Modest Mouse, andthe Shinshave made their home in Portland. In the 1980s, the city was home to a burgeoning punk scene, which included bands such as theWipersandDead Moon.The city's now-demolishedSatyricon nightclubwas a punk venue notorious for being the place whereNirvanafrontmanKurt Cobainfirst encountered his future wife andHolefrontwomanCourtney Lovein 1990.Love was then a resident of Portland and started several bands there withKat Bjelland, later ofBabes in Toyland.Multi-Grammyaward-winning jazz artistEsperanza Spaldingis from Portland and performed with the Chamber Music Society of Oregon at a young age. Awide range of films have been shot in Portland, from various independent features to major big-budget productions. DirectorGus Van Santhas notably set and shot many of his films in the","of his films in the city.The city has also been featured in various television programs, notably theIFCsketch comedyseriesPortlandia. The series, which ran for eight seasons from 2011 to 2018,was shot on location in Portland, and satirized the city as a hub of liberal politics, organic food, alternative lifestyles, and anti-establishment attitudes.MTV's long-time running reality showThe Real Worldwas also shot in Portland for the show's 29th season:The Real World: Portlandpremiered on MTV in 2013.Other television series shot in the city includeLeverage,The Librarians,Under Suspicion,Grimm, andNowhere Man. An unusual feature of Portland entertainment is the large number of movie theaters serving beer, often with second-run or revival films.Notable examples of these \"brew and view\" theaters include theBagdad Theater and Pub, a formervaudevilletheater built in 1927 byUniversal Studios;Cinema 21; and theLaurelhurst Theater, in operation since 1923. Portland hosts the world's longest-runningH. P. Lovecraft Film","P. Lovecraft Film Festivalat theHollywood Theatre. Museums and recreation Portland is home to numerous museums and educational institutions, ranging from art museums to institutions devoted to science and wildlife. Among the science-oriented institutions are theOregon Museum of Science and Industry(OMSI), which consists of five main halls and other ticketed attractions, such as theUSSBluebacksubmarine,the ultra-large-screen Empirical Theater (which replaced an OMNIMAX theater in 2013),and the KendallPlanetarium.TheWorld Forestry Center Discovery Museum, located in the city'sWashington Parkarea, offers educational exhibits on forests and forest-related subjects. Also located inWashington Parkare theHoyt Arboretum, theInternational Rose Test Garden, theJapanese Garden, and theOregon Zoo. ThePortland Art Museumowns the city's largest art collection and presents a variety of touring exhibitions each year and, with the recent addition of the Modern and Contemporary Art wing, it became one of the United States' 25","United States' 25 largest museums. TheOregon Historical Society Museum, founded in 1898, which has a variety of books, film, pictures, artifacts, and maps dating back throughout Oregon's history. It houses permanent and temporary exhibits about Oregon history, and hosts traveling exhibits about the history of the United States. Oaks Amusement Park, in the Sellwood district of Southeast Portland, is the city's onlyamusement parkand is also one of the country's longest-running amusement parks. It has operated since 1905 and was known as the \"Coney Islandof the Northwest\" upon its opening. Cuisine and breweries Food carts are extremely popular within the city, with over 600 licensed carts.The city is home toStumptown Coffee Roastersas well as dozens of other micro-roasteries and cafes. Portland has 58 active breweries within city limits,and 70+ within the surrounding metro area.and data compiled by the Brewers Association ranks Portland seventh in the United States as of 2018. Portland hosts a number of","hosts a number of festivals throughout the year that celebrate beer and brewing, including theOregon Brewers Festival, held inTom McCall Waterfront Park. Held each summer during the last full weekend of July, it is the largest outdoor craft beer festival in North America, with over 70,000 attendees in 2008.Other major beer festivals throughout the calendar year include the Spring Beer and Wine Festival in April, the North American Organic Brewers Festival in June, thePortland International Beerfestin July,and the Holiday Ale Festival in December. Sustainability The city became a pioneer of state-directed metropolitan planning, a program which was instituted statewide in 1969 to compact theurban growth boundariesof the city.Portland was the first city to enact a comprehensive plan to reducecarbon dioxide emissions. Free speech and public nudity Strong free speech protections of theOregon Constitutionupheld by theOregon Supreme CourtinState v. Henry,specifically found that full nudity andlap dancesinstrip","dancesinstrip clubsareprotected speech.Portland has the highest number of strip clubs per-capita in a city in the United States, and Oregon ranks as the highest state for per-capita strip clubs. In November 2008, a Multnomah County judge dismissed charges against a nude bicyclist arrested on June 26, 2008. The judge stated that the city's annualWorld Naked Bike Ride– held each year in June since 2004 – has created a \"well-established tradition\" in Portland where cyclists may ride naked as a form of protest against cars and fossil fuel dependence.The defendant was not riding in the official World Naked Bike Ride at the time of his arrest as it had occurred 12 days earlier that year, on June 14. Protests From November 10 to 12, 2016, protests in Portland turned into ariot, when a group broke off from a larger group of peaceful protesters who were opposed to the election ofDonald Trumpas president of the United States. Public art Sports Portland is home to three major league sports franchises: thePortland Trail","thePortland Trail Blazersof theNBA, thePortland TimbersofMajor League Soccer(MLS), and thePortland Thorns FCof theNational Women's Soccer League. In 2015, the Timbers won theMLS Cup, which was the first male professional sports championship for a team from Portland since the Trail Blazers won theNBA championship in 1977.Despite being the 19th most populatedmetro areain the United States, Portland contains only one franchise from the NFL, NBA, NHL, or MLB, making it the United States' second most populated metro area with that distinction, behindSan Antonio, which also has only one NBA team (theSpurs). The city has been often rumored to receive an additional franchise, although efforts to acquire a team have failed due to stadium funding issues.An organization known as thePortland Diamond Project(PDP)has worked with MLB and local government, and there are plans to have an MLB stadium constructed atZidell Yardsin theSouth Waterfrontneighborhood.The PDP has not yet received the funding for this project. On","this project. On September 18, 2024, it was announced that the city would receive a WNBA franchise, slated to start in 2026. Portland sports fans are characterized by their passionate support. The Trail Blazers sold out every home game between 1977 and 1995, a span of 814 consecutive games, the second-longest streak in American sports history.The Timbers joined MLS in 2011 and have sold out every home match since joining the league, a streak that has now reached 70+ matches.The Timbers season ticket waiting list has reached 10,000+, the longest waiting list in MLS.In 2015, they became the first team in the Northwest to win the MLS Cup. Player Diego Valeri marked a new record for fastest goal in MLS Cup history at 27 seconds into the game. The annualCambia Portland Classicwomen's golf tournament in September, now in its 50th year, is the longest-running non-major tournament on theLPGA Tour, plays in the southern suburb ofWest Linn. Two rival universities exist within Portland city limits: theUniversity of","theUniversity of Portland Pilotsand thePortland State University Vikings, both of whom field teams in popular spectator sports including soccer, baseball, and basketball. Portland State also has a football team. Additionally, theUniversity of Oregon Ducks(inEugene) and theOregon State University Beavers(inCorvallis) both receive substantial attention and support from many Portland residents, despite their campuses being 110 and 84 miles from the city, respectively. Running is a popular activity in Portland, and every year the city hosts thePortland Marathonas well as parts of theHood to Coast Relay, the world's largest long-distance relay race (by number of participants). Portland served as the center to an elite running group, theNike Oregon Projectuntil its 2019 disbandment following coach Alberto Salazar's ban due to doping violations. Historic Erv Lind Stadium is located inNormandale Park.It has been home to professional and college softball. Portland also hosts numerous cycling events and has become an","and has become an elite bicycle racing destination.TheOregon Bicycle Racing Associationsupports hundreds of official bicycling events every year. Weekly events atAlpenrose VelodromeandPortland International Racewayallow for racing nearly every night of the week from March through September.Cyclocrossraces, such as theCross Crusade, can attract over 1,000 riders and spectators. Parks and recreation Parks and greenspace planning date back toJohn Charles Olmsted's 1903Report to the Portland Park Board. In 1995, voters in the Portland metropolitan region passed a regional bond measure to acquire valuable natural areas for fish, wildlife, and people.Ten years later, more than 8,100 acres (33 km2) of ecologically valuable natural areas had been purchased and permanently protected from development. Portland is one of only four cities in the U.S. with extinct volcanoes within its boundaries (along withPilot ButteinBend, Oregon,Jackson VolcanoinJackson, Mississippi, andDiamond HeadinHonolulu, Hawaii).Mount Tabor","Hawaii).Mount Tabor Parkis known for its scenic views and historic reservoirs. Forest Parkis the largest wilderness park within city limits in the United States, covering more than 5,000 acres (2,023 ha).Portland is also home toMill Ends Park, the world's smallest park (a two-foot-diameter circle, the park's area is only about 0.3 m2).Washington Parkis just west of downtown and is home to theOregon Zoo,Hoyt Arboretum, thePortland Japanese Garden, and theInternational Rose Test Garden. Portland is also home toLan Su Chinese Garden(formerly the Portland Classical Chinese Garden), an authentic representation of aSuzhou-style walled garden. Portland's east side has several formal public gardens: the historicPeninsula ParkRose Garden, the rose gardens ofLadd's Addition, theCrystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, theLeach Botanical Garden, andThe Grotto. Portland's downtown features two groups of contiguous city blocks dedicated for park space: theNorthandSouth Park Blocks.The 37-acre (15 ha)Tom McCall Waterfront","McCall Waterfront Parkwas built in 1974 along the length of the downtown waterfront afterHarbor Drivewas removed; it now hosts large events throughout the year.The nearby historically significantBurnside Skateparkand five indoorskateparksgive Portland a reputation as possibly \"the most skateboard-friendly town in America.\" Tryon Creek State Natural Areais one of threeOregon State Parksin Portland and the most popular; its creek has a run ofsteelhead. The other two State Parks areWillamette Stone State Heritage Site, in the West Hills, and theGovernment Island State Recreation Areain the Columbia River nearPortland International Airport. In February 2015, the City Council approved a total ban on smoking in all city parks and natural areas effective July 1, 2015. The ban includes cigarettes, vaping, as well as marijuana. Government City hall The city of Portland is governed by the Portland City Council, which includes a mayor, four commissioners, and anauditor. Each is elected citywide to serve a four-year","serve a four-year term. Each commissioner oversees one or more bureaus responsible for the day-to-day operation of the city. The mayor serves as chairman of the council and is principally responsible for allocating department assignments to his fellow commissioners. The auditor provides checks and balances in the commission form of government and accountability for the use of public resources. In addition, the auditor provides access to information and reports on various matters of city government. Portland is the only large city left in the United States with the commission form of government. The city's Community & Civic Life (formerly Office of Neighborhood Involvement)serves as a conduit between city government and Portland's95 officially recognized neighborhoods. Each neighborhood is represented by a volunteer-basedneighborhood associationwhich serves as a liaison between residents of the neighborhood and the city government. The city provides funding to neighborhood associations through seven district","seven district coalitions, each of which is a geographical grouping of several neighborhood associations. Most (but not all) neighborhood associations belong to one of these district coalitions. Portland and its surrounding metropolitan area are served byMetro, the United States' only directly electedmetropolitan planning organization. Metro's charter gives it responsibility forland useandtransportation planning,solid waste management, and map development. TheMultnomah Countygovernment provides many services to the Portland area, as doWashingtonandClackamascounties to the west and south. Fire and emergency services are provided byPortland Fire & Rescue. On November 8, 2022, Portland residents approveda charter reformballot measure to replace the commission form of government with a 12-member council elected in four districts using thesingle transferable votesystem, with a professionalcity managerappointed by a directly elected mayor. The city expects to hold the first election for this new system in 2024.","new system in 2024. Courts and law enforcement Law enforcement is provided by thePortland Police Bureau. State and national politics Portland strongly favors theDemocratic Party; registered Democrats (51.2%) outnumberRepublicans(10.5%) nearly 5 to 1. All city offices arenon-partisan.However, almost all of the city's elected officials are known to be Democrats.Fred L. Petersonin 1952 is the city's last elected mayor who was known to be a Republican, and no Republican has served as mayor even on an interim basis sinceConnie McCreadyheld the post from 1979 to 1980. Portland is split among three of Oregon's U.S.congressional districts. Most of the city is in the3rd District, represented byEarl Blumenauer(D-Portland), who served on the city council from 1986 until his election to Congress in 1996. Most of the city west of the Willamette River is part of the1st District, represented bySuzanne Bonamici(D-Beaverton). A small portion of southeastern Portland is in the5th District, formerly represented byKurt","represented byKurt Schrader(D-Canby) prior to losing his Democratic primary election to a more progressive candidate, but currently represented by the former mayor ofHappy Valley, RepublicanLori Chavez-DeRemer, who is the firstRepublicanto represent a significant portion of the city in theU.S. House of Representativessince 1975. Both of Oregon's senators,Ron WydenandJeff Merkley, are progressive Democrats from Portland. In the2008 presidential election, Democratic candidateBarack Obamaeasily carried Portland, winning 245,464 votes from city residents to 50,614 for hisRepublicanrival,John McCain. In the2012 presidential election, Democratic candidateBarack Obamaagain easily carried Portland, winning 256,925 votes from Multnomah county residents to 70,958 for hisRepublicanrival,Mitt Romney. Sam Adams, the former mayor of Portland, became the city's first openly gay mayor in 2009.In 2004, 59.7 percent of Multnomah County voters cast ballots againstOregon Ballot Measure 36, which amended theOregon Constitutionto","Constitutionto prohibit recognition ofsame-sex marriages. The measure passed with 56.6% of the statewide vote. Multnomah County is one of two counties where a majority voted against the initiative; the other isBenton County, which includesCorvallis, home ofOregon State University.On April 28, 2005, Portland became the only city in the nation to withdraw from aJoint Terrorism Task Force.As of February 19, 2015, the Portland city council approved permanently staffing the JTTF with two of its city's police officers. City planning and development The city consulted with urban planners as far back as 1904, resulting in the development ofWashington Parkand the40-Mile Loopgreenway, which connects many of the city's parks.Portland is often cited as an example of a city with strongland use planningcontrols.This is largely the result of statewide land conservation policies adopted in 1973 under GovernorTom McCall, in particular the requirement for anurban growth boundary(UGB) for every city and metropolitan area. The","area. The opposite extreme, a city with few or no controls, is typically illustrated byHouston. Oregon's 1973 \"urban growth boundary\" law limits the boundaries for large-scale development in each metropolitan area in Oregon.This limits access to utilities such as sewage, water and telecommunications, as well as coverage by fire, police and schools.Portland's urban growth boundary, adopted in 1979, separates urban areas (where high-density development is encouraged and focused) from traditional farm land (where restrictions on non-agricultural development are very strict).This was atypical in an era when automobile use led many areas to neglect their core cities in favor of development alonginterstate highways, in suburbs, andsatellite cities. The original state rules included a provision for expanding urban growth boundaries, but critics felt this was not being accomplished. In 1995, the State passed a law requiring cities to expand UGBs to provide enough undeveloped land for a 20-year supply of future","supply of future housing at projected growth levels.In 2007, the legislature changed the law to require the maintenance of an estimated 50 years of growth within the boundary, as well as the protection of accompanying farm and rural lands.The growth boundary, along with efforts of the Portland Development Commission to create economic development zones, has led to the development of a large portion of downtown, a large number of mid- and high-rise developments, and an overall increase in housing and business density. Prosper Portland(formerly the Portland Development Commission) is a semi-public agency that plays a major role in downtown development; city voters created it in 1958 to serve as the city'surban renewalagency. It provides housing and economic development programs within the city and works behind the scenes with major local developers to create large projects. In the early 1960s, the Portland Development Commission led the razing of a large Italian-Jewish neighborhood downtown, bounded roughly by","bounded roughly by I-405, the Willamette River, 4th Avenue and Market street.MayorNeil Goldschmidttook office in 1972 as a proponent of bringing housing and the associated vitality back to the downtown area, which was seen as emptying out after 5 pm. The effort has had dramatic effects in the 30 years since, with many thousands of new housing units clustered in three areas: north of Portland State University (between I-405, SW Broadway, and SW Taylor St.); the RiverPlace development along the waterfront under the Marquam (I-5) bridge; and most notably in the Pearl District (between I-405, Burnside St., NW Northrup St., and NW 9th Ave.). Historically,environmental consciousnesshas weighed significantly in the city's planning and development efforts.Portland was one of the first cities in the United States to promote and integrate alternative forms of transportation, such as theMAX Light Railand extensive bike paths.The Urban Greenspaces Institute, housed inPortland State UniversityGeography Department's","Department's Center for Mapping Research, promotes better integration of the built and natural environments. The institute works on urban park, trail, and natural areas planning issues, both at the local and regional levels.In October 2009, the Portland City Council unanimously adopted aclimate actionplan that will cut the city's greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. As of 2012, Portland was the largest city in the United States that did not addfluorideto its public water supply,andfluoridationhas historically been a subject ofcontroversyin the city.Portland voters have four times voted against fluoridation, in 1956, 1962, 1980 (repealing a 1978 vote in favor), and 2013.In 2012 the city council, responding to advocacy from public health organizations and others, voted unanimously to begin fluoridation by 2014. Fluoridation opponents forced a public vote on the issue,and on May 21, 2013, city voters again rejected fluoridation. Education Primary and secondary education Nine public school","Nine public school districts and many private schools include sections of Portland.Portland Public Schoolsis the largest school district, operating 86 public schools.In addition to PPS, other school districts in Multnomah County that serve parts of the city include theBeaverton School District,Centennial School District,David Douglas School District,Parkrose School District,Reynolds School District,Riverdale School District, andScappoose School District.Portions in Clackamas County are in theNorth Clackamas School Districtand Centennial School District.Portions in Washington County are in Portland Public Schools. David Douglas High School, in thePowellhurstneighborhood, has the largest enrollment of any public high school in the city.Other high schools includeBenson,Cleveland,Franklin,Grant,Jefferson,Madison,Parkrose,Roosevelt, andIda B Wells-Barnett(formerly Woodrow Wilson), and several suburban high schools which serve the city's outer areas. Established in 1869,Lincoln High School(formerly Portland High","Portland High School) is the city's oldest public education institution, and is one of two of the oldest high schools west of theMississippi River(after San Francisco'sLowell High School). Former public schools in the city includedWashington High School, which operated from 1906 until 1981, as well asAdamsandJackson, which also closed the same year. Higher education Portland State Universityhas the second-largest enrollment rate of any university in the state (afterOregon State University), with a student body of nearly 30,000.It has been named among the top fifteen percentile of American regional universities byThe Princeton Reviewfor undergraduate education,and has been internationally recognized for its degrees inMaster of Business Administrationandurban planning.The city is also home to theOregon Health & Science University, as well asPortland Community College. Notable private universities include theUniversity of Portland, a Roman Catholic university affiliated with theCongregation of Holy Cross;Reed","of Holy Cross;Reed College, aliberal arts college, andLewis & Clark College. Media The Oregonianis the only daily general-interest newspaper serving Portland. It also circulates throughout the state and inClark County, Washington. Smaller local newspapers, distributed free of charge in newspaper boxes and at venues around the city, include thePortland Tribune(general-interest paper published on Wednesdays),Willamette Week(general-interestalternative weeklypublished on Wednesdays), andThe Portland Mercury(another alt-weekly, targeted at younger urban readers and published every other Thursday). The Portland area also has newspapers that are published for specific communities, includingThe Asian Reporter(a weekly covering Asian news, both international and local) andThe Skanner(a weeklyAfrican-American newspapercovering both local and national news). ThePortland Business Journalcovers business-related news on a weekly basis, as doesTheDaily Journal of Commerce, its main competitor.Portland Monthlyis a monthly","Monthlyis a monthly news and culture magazine.The Bee, over 110 years old, is another neighborhood newspaper serving the inner southeast neighborhoods. Infrastructure Healthcare Legacy Health, a non-profit healthcare system in Portland, operates multiple facilities in the city and surrounding suburbs.These includeLegacy Emanuel, founded in 1912, in Northeast Portland; andLegacy Good Samaritan, founded in 1875, and in Northwest Portland.Randall's Children's Hospitaloperates at the Legacy Emanuel Campus. Good Samaritan has centers for breast health, cancer, and stroke, and is home to theLegacy Devers Eye Institute, the Legacy Obesity and Diabetes Institute, the Legacy Diabetes and Endocrinology Center, the Legacy Rehabilitation Clinic of Oregon, and theLinfield-Good Samaritan School of Nursing. The Catholic-affiliatedProvidence Health & ServicesoperatesProvidence Portland Medical Centerin theNorth Tabor neighborhoodof the city.Oregon Health & Science Universityis a university hospital formed in 1974.","formed in 1974. TheVeterans Affairs Medical Centeroperates next to the Oregon Health & Science University main campus.Adventist Medical Centeralso serves the city.Shriners Hospital for Childrenis a small children's hospital established in 1923. Transportation The Portland metropolitan area has transportation services common to major U.S. cities, though Oregon's emphasis on proactiveland-use planningandtransit-oriented developmentwithin theurban growth boundarymeans commuters have multiple well-developed options. In 2008, 12.6% of all commutes in Portland were on public transit.TriMetoperates most of the region's buses and theMAX(short for Metropolitan Area Express)light railsystem, which connects the city and suburbs. The 1986-opened MAX system has expanded to five lines, with the latest being theOrange LinetoMilwaukie, in service as of September 2015.WES Commuter Railopened in February 2009 in Portland's western suburbs, linkingBeavertonandWilsonville. The city-ownedPortland Streetcarserves two routes in","two routes in the Central City –downtownand adjacent districts. The first line, which opened in 2001 and was extended in 2005–07, operates from the South Waterfront District through Portland State University and north through the West End of downtown, to shopping areas and dense residential districts north and northwest of downtown. The second line that opened in 2012 added 3.3 miles (5.3 km) of tracks on the east side of the Willamette River and across theBroadway Bridgeto a connection with the original line.The east-side line completed a loop to the tracks on the west side of the river upon completion of the newTilikum Crossingin 2015,and, in anticipation of that, had been named the Central Loop line in 2012. However, it was renamed theLoop Service, with an A Loop (clockwise) and B Loop (counterclockwise), when it became a complete loop with the opening of the Tilikum Crossing bridge. Fifth and Sixth avenues within downtown comprise thePortland Transit Mall, two streets devoted primarily to bus and light","to bus and light rail traffic with limited automobile access. Opened in 1977 for buses, the transit mall was renovated and rebuilt in 2007–09, with light rail added. Starting in 1975 and lasting nearly four decades, all transit service within downtown Portland was free, the area being known by TriMet asFareless Square, but a need for minor budget cuts and funding needed for expansion prompted the agency to limit free rides to rail service only in 2010,and subsequently to discontinue the fare-free zone entirely in 2012. TriMet provides real-time tracking of buses and trains with its TransitTracker, and makes the data available to software developers so they can create customized tools of their own. I-5connects Portland with the Willamette Valley,Southern Oregon, and California to the south and withWashingtonto the north.I-405forms a loop with I-5 around the central downtown area of the city andI-205is a loop freeway route on the east side which connects to thePortland International Airport.U.S. 26supports","26supports commuting within the metro area and continues to the Pacific Ocean westward andMount HoodandCentral Oregoneastward.U.S. 30has a main, bypass, and business route through the city extending toAstoriato the west; throughGresham, Oregon, and the easternexurbs, and connects toI-84, traveling towardsBoise, Idaho. Portland's main airport isPortland International Airport(PDX), about 20 minutes by car (40 minutes by MAX) northeast of downtown. Portland is also home toOregon'sonly public use heliport, thePortland Downtown Heliport. Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service to Portland atUnion Stationon three routes. Long-haul train routes include theCoast Starlight(with service from Los Angeles to Seattle) and theEmpire Builder(with service to Chicago). TheAmtrak Cascadesstate-supported trains operate betweenVancouver, B.C., andEugene, Oregon, and serve Portland several times daily. The city is also served byGreyhound Linesintercity bus service, which also operatesBoltBus, an express bus","an express bus service. The city's first airport was theSwan Island Municipal Airport, which was closed in the 1940s. Portland is the only city in the United States that owns operating mainlinesteam locomotives, donated to the city in 1958 by the railroads that ran them.Spokane, Portland & Seattle 700and the world-famousSouthern Pacific 4449can be seen several times a year pulling a specialexcursion train, either locally or on an extended trip. The \"Holiday Express\", pulled over the tracks of theOregon Pacific Railroadon weekends in December, has become a Portland tradition over its several years running.These trains and others are operated by volunteers of theOregon Rail Heritage Foundation, an amalgamation of rail preservation groups which collaborated on the finance and construction of theOregon Rail Heritage Center, a permanent and publicly accessible home for the locomotives, which opened in 2012 adjacent to OMSI. In Portland, cyclingis a significant mode of transportation. As the city has been","the city has been particularly supportive ofurban bicyclingit now ranks highly among the mostbicycle-friendlycities in the world.Bicycles accounted for 2.8% of commuting in 2021. Bicycle commuting declined by 46% between 2016 and 2022 according toPortland Bureau of Transportationreport.For its achievements in promoting cycling as an everyday means of transportation, Portland has been recognized by theLeague of American Bicyclistsand othercycling organizationsfor its network of on-street bicycling facilities and other bicycle-friendly services, being one of only three U.S. cities to have earned a Platinum-level rating.A newbicycle-sharing system,Biketown, launched on July 19, 2016,with 100 stations in the city's central and eastside neighborhoods. Portland abolished the requirement for parking minimum as well asMinneapolisandAustin. As of 2015, Portland is owed $32.4 million in unpaid parking citations due to thecity government's refusal to collect more aggressively. Water The cities main source of drinking","source of drinking water is several reservoirs in theBull Run Watershed, which consists of roughly 102 square miles (260 km2) of forested land just west of Mount Hood. The city also operates 25 groundwaterwellsnear the Columbia River in Northeast Portland, which supplements the cities water supply during the summer. Notable people Sister cities Portland'ssister citiesare: Portland also has a friendship city agreement with: See also Notes References Bibliography Further reading External links"],"string":"[\n \"Seattle Seattle(/siˈætəl/ⓘsee-AT-əl) is aseaportcity on theWest Coast of the United States. It is theseatofKing County,Washington. With a 2023 population of 755,078it is themost populous cityin both thestateof Washington and thePacific Northwestregion ofNorth America, and the18th-most populous cityin the United States. TheSeattle metropolitan area's population is 4.02 million, making it the15th-largestin the United States.Its growth rate of 21.1% between 2010 and 2020 made it one of the country's fastest-growing large cities. Seattle is situated on anisthmusbetweenPuget Sound, an inlet of thePacific Ocean, andLake Washington. It is the northernmost major city in the United States, located about 100 miles (160 km) south of theCanadian border. A gateway for trade withEast Asia, thePort of Seattleis the fourth-largest port in North America in terms of container handling as of 2021. The Seattle area has been inhabited byNative Americans(such as theDuwamish, who had at least 17 villages around Elliot Bay) for at\",\n \"Elliot Bay) for at least 4,000 years before the first permanent European settlers.Arthur A. Dennyand his group of travelers, subsequently known as theDenny Party, arrived fromIllinoisviaPortland, Oregon, on theschoonerExactatAlki Pointon November 13, 1851.The settlement was moved to the eastern shore ofElliott Bayin 1852 and named \\\"Seattle\\\" in honor of ChiefSeattle, a prominent 19th-century leader of the localDuwamishandSuquamishtribes. Seattle currently has high populations of Native Americans alongside Americans with strong Asian, African, European, and Scandinavian ancestry, and, as of 2015, hoststhe fifth-largest LGBT communityin the U.S. Loggingwas Seattle's first major industry, but by the late 19th century the city had become a commercial and shipbuilding center as a gateway toAlaskaduring theKlondike Gold Rush. The city grew afterWorld War II, partly due to the localBoeingcompany, which established Seattle as a center for its manufacturing of aircraft. Beginning in the 1980s, the Seattle area\",\n \"the Seattle area developed into atechnology center;Microsoftestablished its headquarters in the region. In 1994, Internet retailerAmazonwas founded in Seattle, andAlaska Airlinesis based inSeaTac, Washington, servingSeattle–Tacoma International Airport, Seattle's international airport. The stream of new software,biotechnology, and Internet companies led to an economic revival, which increased the city's population by almost 50,000 in the decade between 1990 and 2000. The culture of Seattle is heavily defined by itssignificant musical history. Between 1918 and 1951, nearly 24jazznightclubs existed along Jackson Street, from the currentChinatown/International Districtto theCentral District. The jazz scene nurtured the early careers ofErnestine Anderson,Ray Charles,Quincy Jones, and others. In the late 20th and early 21st century, the city also was the origin of severalrockbands, includingFoo Fighters,Heart, andJimi Hendrix, and the subgenre ofgrungeand its pioneering bands, includingAlice in\",\n \"includingAlice in Chains,Nirvana,Pearl Jam,Soundgarden, and others. History Archaeological excavationssuggest thatNative Americanshave inhabited the Seattle area for at least 4,000 years.By the time the first European settlers arrived, theDuwamish peopleoccupied at least 17 villages in the areas aroundElliott Bay.The name for the modern city of Seattle inLushootseed,dᶻidᶻəlal̓ič, meaning \\\"little crossing-over place\\\", comes from one of these villages, which was located at the present-dayKing Street Station. In May 1792,George Vancouverwas the first European to visit the Seattle area during his1791–1795 expeditionfor theRoyal Navy, which sought to chart thePacific Northwestfor the British. 19th century In 1851, a large party ofAmerican pioneersled by Luther Collins made a location on land at the mouth of theDuwamish River; they formally claimed it on September 14, 1851.Thirteen days later, members of the Collins Party on the way to their claim passed three scouts of the Denny Party.Members of the Denny Party\",\n \"of the Denny Party claimed land onAlki Pointon September 28, 1851.The rest of the Denny Party set sail on theschoonerExactfromPortland, Oregon, stopping inAstoria, and landed at Alki Point during a rainstorm on November 13, 1851.After a difficult winter, most of the Denny Party relocated across Elliott Bay and claimed land a second time at the site of present-dayPioneer Square,naming this new settlementDuwamps. Charles Terry and John Low remained at the original landing location, reestablished their old land claim and called it \\\"New York\\\", but renamed \\\"New York Alki\\\" in April 1853, from aChinookword meaning, roughly, \\\"by and by\\\" or \\\"someday\\\".For the next few years, New York Alki and Duwamps competed for dominance, but in time Alki was abandoned and its residents moved across the bay to join the rest of the settlers. David Swinson \\\"Doc\\\" Maynard, one of the founders of Duwamps, was the primary advocate to name the settlement Seattle afterChief Seattle(Lushootseed:siʔaɫ, anglicized as \\\"Seattle\\\"), chief of the\",\n \"chief of the Duwamish andSuquamishtribes. The name \\\"Seattle\\\" appears on officialWashington Territorypapers dated May 23, 1853, when the first plats for the village were filed. In 1855, nominal land settlements were established. On January 14, 1865, the Legislature of Territorial Washington incorporated the Town of Seattle with aboard of trusteesmanaging the city. The Town of Seattle was disincorporated on January 18, 1867, and remained a mere precinct of King County until late 1869, when a new petition was filed and the city was re-incorporated December 2, 1869, with amayor–council government.The corporate seal of the City of Seattle carries the date \\\"1869\\\" and a likeness of Chief Seattle in left profile.That same year, Seattle acquired the epithet of the \\\"Queen City\\\", a designation officially changed in 1982 to the \\\"Emerald City\\\". Seattle has a history of boom-and-bust cycles, like many other cities near areas of extensive natural and mineral resources. Seattle has risen several times economically, then\",\n \"economically, then gone into precipitous decline, but it has typically used those periods to rebuild solid infrastructure. The first such boom, covering the early years of the city, rode on the lumber industry. During this period the road now known asYesler Waywon the nickname \\\"Skid Road\\\", supposedly after the timber skidding down the hill toHenry Yesler's sawmill. The later dereliction of the area may be a possible origin for the term which later entered the wider American lexicon asSkid Row.Like much of theU.S. West, Seattle experienced onflicts between labor and management and ethnic tensions that culminated in theanti-Chinese riots of 1885–1886.This violence originated with unemployed whites who were determined to drive the Chinese from Seattle; anti-Chinese riots also occurred inTacoma. Seattle had achieved sufficient economic success when theGreat Seattle Fireof 1889 destroyed the central business district. However, a far grander city center rapidly emerged in its place.Finance companyWashington\",\n \"companyWashington Mutual, for example, was founded in the immediate wake of the fire.ThePanic of 1893hit Seattle hard. The second and most dramatic boom resulted from theKlondike Gold Rush, which ended the depression that had begun with thePanic of 1893. In a short time, Seattle became a major transportation center. On July 14, 1897, theS.S. Portlanddocked with its famed \\\"ton of gold\\\", and Seattle became the main transport and supply point for the miners inAlaskaand theYukon. Few of those working men found lasting wealth. However, it was Seattle's business of clothing the miners and feeding them salmon that panned out in the long run. Along with Seattle, other cities likeEverett,Tacoma,Port Townsend,Bremerton, andOlympia, all in the Puget Sound region, became competitors for exchange, rather thanmother lodesfor extraction, of precious metals. 20th century The boom lasted into the early part of the 20th century, and funded many new Seattle companies and products. In 1907, 19-year-oldJames E. Caseyborrowed\",\n \"E. Caseyborrowed $100 from a friend and founded theAmerican Messenger Company(laterUPS). Other Seattle companies founded during this period includeNordstromandEddie Bauer.Seattle brought in theOlmsted Brotherslandscape architecture firm to design a system of parks and boulevards. The Gold Rush era culminated in theAlaska–Yukon–Pacific Expositionof 1909, which is largely responsible for the layout of today'sUniversity of Washingtoncampus. Ashipbuildingboom in the early part of the 20th century became massive duringWorld War I, making Seattle somewhat of a company town. The subsequent retrenchment led to theSeattle General Strike of 1919, an earlygeneral strikein the country.A 1912 city development plan byVirgil Boguewent largely unused. Seattle was mildly prosperous in the 1920s but was particularly hard hit in the Great Depression, experiencing some of the country's harshest labor strife in that era. Violence during theMaritime Strike of 1934cost Seattle much of its maritime traffic, which was rerouted to\",\n \"was rerouted to thePort of Los Angeles. TheGreat Depressionin Seattle affected many minority groups, one being the Asian Pacific Americans; they were subject to racism, loss of property, and failed claims of unemployment due to citizenship status. Seattle was one of the major cities that benefited from programs such as theWorks Progress Administration,CCC,Public Works Administration, and others.The workers, mostly men, built roads, parks, dams, schools, railroads, bridges, docks, and even historical and archival record sites and buildings. Seattle faced significant unemployment, loss of lumber and construction industries asLos Angelesprevailed as the biggerWest Coastcity. Seattle had building contracts that rivaledNew York CityandChicago, but also lost to Los Angeles. Seattle's eastern farm land faded due toOregon's and theMidwest's, forcing people into town. Hoovervillearose during the Depression, leading to Seattle's growing homeless population. Stationed outside Seattle, the Hooverville housed thousands\",\n \"housed thousands of men but very few children and no women. With work projects close to the city, Hooverville grew and the WPA settled into the city. A movement of women arose from Seattle during theGreat Depression, fueled in part byEleanor Roosevelt's 1933 bookIt's Up to the Women; women pushed for recognition, not just as housewives, but as the backbone to family. Using newspapers and journalsWorking WomanandThe Woman Today, women pushed to be seen as equal and receive some recognition. The Great Depression did not impact theUniversity of Washingtonnegatively. As schools across Washington lost funding and attendance, the university actually prospered during the time period as they focused on growing their student enrollment. WhileSeattle public schoolswere influenced by Washington's superintendent Worth McClure,they still struggled to pay teachers and maintain attendance. Seattle was the home base of impresarioAlexander Pantageswho, starting in 1902, opened a number of theaters in the city\",\n \"in the city exhibitingvaudevilleacts and silent movies. He went on to become one of America's greatest theater and movie tycoons. Scottish-born architectB. Marcus Pritecadesigned several theaters for Pantages in Seattle, which were later demolished or converted to other uses. Seattle's survivingParamount Theatre, on which he collaborated, was not a Pantages theater. War work again brought local prosperity duringWorld War II, centered on the production ofBoeingaircraft. The war dispersed the city's numerous Japanese-American businessmen due to theJapanese American internment. After the World War II, however, the local economy dipped. It rose again with Boeing's growing dominance in the commercialairlinermarket.Seattle celebrated its restored prosperity and made a bid for world recognition with theCentury 21 Exposition, the1962 World's Fair, for which theSpace Needlewas built. Another major local economic downturn was in the late 1960s and early 1970s, at a time when Boeing was heavily affected by theoil\",\n \"affected by theoil crises, loss of government contracts, and costs and delays associated with theBoeing 747. Many people left the area to look for work elsewhere, and two local real estate agents put up a billboard reading \\\"Will the last person leaving Seattle – Turn out the lights.\\\" Seattle remained the corporate headquarters of Boeing until 2001, when the company separated its headquarters from its major production facilities; the headquarters were moved to Chicago.The Seattle area is still home to Boeing'sRenton narrow-body plantandEverett wide-body plant.The company'scredit unionfor employees,BECU, remains based in the Seattle area and has been open to all residents of Washington since 2002. On March 20, 1970, twenty-eight people were killed when the Ozark Hotel was burned by an unknown arsonist.TheWah Mee massacrein 1983 resulted in the killing of 13 people in an illegal gambling club in theSeattle Chinatown-International District. Prosperity began to return in the 1980s beginning withMicrosoft's 1979\",\n \"1979 move fromAlbuquerque, New Mexico, to nearbyBellevue, Washington. Seattle and its suburbs became home to a number of technology companies, includingAmazon,F5 Networks,RealNetworks,Nintendo of America, andT-Mobile.This success brought an influx of new residents with a population increase within city limits of almost 50,000 between 1990 and 2000,and saw Seattle's real estate become some of the most expensive in the country. Seattle in this period attracted attention as home to the companies opened operations in or around the city. In 1990, theGoodwill Gameswere held in the city.Three years later, in 1993, theAPECleaders was hosted in Seattle.The 1990s also witnessed a growing popularity ingrungemusic, a sound that was largely developed in Seattle's independent music scene. In 1993, the movieSleepless in Seattlebrought the city further national attention,as did the television sitcomFrasier. Thedot-com boomcaused a great frenzy among the technology companies in Seattle but the bubble ended in early 2001. In\",\n \"in early 2001. In 1999, theWorld Trade Organizationheld its conference in Seattle, which was met withprotest activity. The protests and police reactions to them largely overshadowed the conference itself. 21st century In 2001, the city was impacted by theMardi Gras Riotsand then by theNisqually earthquakethe following day. Another boom began as the city emerged from theGreat Recession, commencing whenAmazonmoved its headquarters from NorthBeacon HilltoSouth Lake Union. The move initiated a historic construction boom which resulted in the completion of almost 10,000 apartments in Seattle in 2017, more than any previous year and nearly twice as many as were built in 2016. From 2010 to 2015, Seattle gained an average of 14,511 residents per year, with the growth strongly skewed toward the center of the city,and unemployment dropped from roughly 9 percent to 3.6 percent.The city has found itself \\\"bursting at the seams\\\", with over 45,000 households spending more than half their income on housing andat least 2,800\",\n \"andat least 2,800 people homeless, and with the country's sixth-worst rush-hour traffic. Geography Topography Seattle is located between the saltwaterPuget Sound(an arm of the Pacific Ocean) to the west andLake Washingtonto the east. The city's chief harbor,Elliott Bay, is part of Puget Sound, making the city an oceanic port. To the west, beyond Puget Sound, are theKitsap PeninsulaandOlympic Mountainson theOlympic Peninsula; to the east, beyond Lake Washington and theEastsidesuburbs, areLake Sammamishand theCascade Range. Lake Washington's waters flow to Puget Sound through theLake Washington Ship Canal(consisting of two man-made canals,Lake Union, and theHiram M. Chittenden LocksatSalmon Bay, ending inShilshole Bayon Puget Sound). The sea, rivers, forests, lakes, and fields surrounding Seattle were once rich enough to support one of the world's few sedentaryhunter-gatherersocieties. In modern times the surrounding area lends itself well to sailing, skiing, bicycling, camping, and hiking year-round. The city\",\n \"The city is hilly in some places.Like Rome, the city is said to lie onseven hills;the lists vary but typically includeCapitol Hill,First Hill,West Seattle,Beacon Hill,Queen Anne, Magnolia, and the formerDenny Hill. TheWallingford,Delridge,Mount Baker,Seward Park,Washington Park,Broadmoor,Madrona,Phinney Ridge,Sunset Hill,Blue Ridge,Broadview,Laurelhurst,Hawthorne Hills,Maple Leaf, andCrown Hillneighborhoods are all located on hills. Many of the hilliest areas are near the city center, with Capitol Hill, First Hill, and Beacon Hill collectively constituting something of a ridge along an isthmus between Elliott Bay and Lake Washington.The break in the ridge between First Hill and Beacon Hill is man-made, a result of two of the manyregrading projectsthat reshaped the topography of the city center.The topography of the city center was also changed by the construction of aseawalland the artificialHarbor Island(completed 1909) at the mouth of the city's industrialDuwamish Waterway, the terminus of theGreen River.\",\n \"of theGreen River. The highest point within city limits is atHigh Pointin West Seattle, which is located near 35th Ave SW and SW Myrtle St. North of the city center, the Lake Washington Ship Canal connects Puget Sound to Lake Washington. It incorporates four natural bodies of water:Lake Union,Salmon Bay,Portage Bay, andUnion Bay. Due to its location in thePacific Ring of Fire, Seattle is in a majorearthquake zone. On February 28, 2001, themagnitude 6.8Nisqually earthquakedid significant architectural damage, especially in thePioneer Squarearea (built onreclaimed land, as are theIndustrial Districtand part of the city center), and caused one fatality.Other strong earthquakes occurred onJanuary 26, 1700(estimated at 9 magnitude),December 14, 1872(7.3 or 7.4),April 13, 1949(7.1),and April 29, 1965 (6.5).The1965 quakecaused three deaths in Seattle directly and one more by heart failure.Although theSeattle Faultpasses just south of the city center, neither itnor theCascadia subduction zonehas caused an earthquake\",\n \"an earthquake since the city's founding. The Cascadia subduction zone poses the threat of an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 or greater, capable of seriously damaging the city and collapsing many buildings, especially in zones built on fill. According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 142.5 square miles (369 km2),84 square miles (220 km2) of which is land and 58.1 square miles (150 km2) is water (41% of the total area). Cityscape Climate According to theKöppen climate classificationsystem, Seattle has a warm-summerMediterranean climate(Csb),while under theTrewarthasystem, it is labeled anoceanic climate(Do).It has cool, wet winters and mild, relatively dry summers, covering characteristics of both climate types.The climate is sometimes characterized as a \\\"modified Mediterranean\\\" climate because it is cooler and wetter than a \\\"true\\\" Mediterranean climate, but shares the characteristic dry summer (which has a strong influence on the region's vegetation). Temperature extremes are moderated by\",\n \"are moderated by the adjacentPuget Sound, greaterPacific Ocean, andLake Washington. Thus extremeheat wavesare rare in the Seattle area, as are very cold temperatures (below about 15 °F; −9 °C). The Seattle area is the cloudiest region of theContinental United States, due in part to frequent storms andlowsmoving in from the adjacent Pacific Ocean. Seattle is cloudy 201 days out of the year and partly cloudy 93 days.With many more \\\"rain days\\\" than other major American cities, Seattle has a well-earned reputation for frequent rain:In an average year, there are 150 days in which at least 0.01 inches (0.25 mm) of precipitation falls, more days than in nearly all U.S. cities east of theRocky Mountains.However, because it often has merely a light drizzle falling from the sky for many days, Seattle actually receives significantly less rainfall (or other precipitation) overall than many other major U.S. cities likeNew York City,Miami, orHouston. Demographics According to the 2012–2016American Community Survey(ACS),\",\n \"Survey(ACS), the racial makeup of the city was 65.7%White Non-Hispanic, 16.9%Asian, 6.8%Black or African American, 6.6%HispanicorLatinoof any race, 0.4%Native American, 0.9%Pacific Islander, 0.2% other races, and 5.6%two or more races. Seattle's population historically has been predominantly white.The 2010 census showed that Seattle was one of the whitest big cities in the country, although its proportion of white residents has been gradually declining.In 1960, whites constituted 91.6% of the city's population,while in 2010 they constituted 69.5%.According to the 2006–2008American Community Survey, approximately 78.9% of residents over the age of five spoke only English at home. Those who spokeAsian languagesother than Indo-European languages made up 10.2% of the population, Spanish was spoken by 4.5% of the population, speakers of otherIndo-European languagesmade up 3.9%, and speakers of other languages made up 2.5%. Seattle's foreign-born population grew 40% between the 1990 and 2000\",\n \"the 1990 and 2000 censuses.TheChinesepopulation in the Seattle area has origins inmainland China, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, andTaiwan. The earliest Chinese-Americans that came in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were almost entirely fromGuangdong Province. The Seattle area is also home to a largeVietnamesepopulation of more than 55,000 residents,as well as over 30,000Somaliimmigrants.The Seattle-Tacoma area is also home to one of the largestCambodiancommunities in the United States, numbering about 19,000 Cambodian Americans,and one of the largestSamoancommunities in the mainland U.S., with over 15,000 people having Samoan ancestry.Additionally, the Seattle area had the highest percentage of self-identified mixed-race people of any large metropolitan area in the United States, according to the 2000 United States Census Bureau.According to a 2012HistoryLinkstudy, Seattle's 98118 ZIP code (in the Columbia City neighborhood) was one of the most diverse ZIP Code Tabulation Areas in the United States.\",\n \"the United States. According to the ACS 1-year estimates, in 2018, the median income of a city household was $93,481, and the median income for a family was $130,656.11.0% of the population and 6.6% of families were below the poverty line. Of people living in poverty, 11.4% were under the age of 18 and 10.9% were 65 or older.According to a 2024 study byHenley & Partners, the city of Seattle has an estimated 54,200 millionaires and 11 billionaires. It is estimated that King County has 8,000 homeless people on any given night, and many of those live in Seattle.In September 2005, King County adopted a \\\"Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness\\\", one of the near-term results of which is a shift of funding fromhomeless shelterbeds to permanent housing. In recent years, the city has experienced steady population growth, and has been faced with the issue of accommodating more residents. In 2006, after growing by 4,000 citizens per year for the previous 16 years, regional planners expected the population of Seattle to grow\",\n \"of Seattle to grow by 200,000 people by 2040.However, former mayor Greg Nickels supported plans that would increase the population by 60%, or 350,000 people, by 2040 and worked on ways to accommodate this growth while keeping Seattle's single-family housing zoning laws.The Seattle City Council later voted to relax height limits on buildings in the greater part of Downtown, partly with the aim to increase residential density in the city center.As a sign of increasing downtown core growth, theDowntownpopulation crested to over 60,000 in 2009, up 77% since 1990. In 2021 Seattle experienced its first population decline in 50 years. Seattle has a relatively high number of adults living alone. According to the 2000 U.S. Census interim measurements of 2004, Seattle has the fifth highest proportion of single-person households nationwide among cities of 100,000 or more residents, at 40.8%. Sexual orientation and gender identity Seattle has a notably largelesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendercommunity. According to\",\n \"According to a 2006 study byUCLA, 12.9% of city residents polled identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. This was the second-highest proportion of any major U.S. city, behindSan Francisco.Greater Seattle also ranked second among major U.S. metropolitan areas, with 6.5% of the population identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual.According to 2012 estimates from the United States Census Bureau, Seattle has the highest percentage of same-sex households in the United States, at 2.6 percent, surpassing San Francisco (2.5 percent).TheCapitol Hilldistrict has historically been the center of LGBT culture in Seattle. Economy Seattle's economy is driven by a mix of older industrial companies and new-economy internet and technology companies, as well as service, design, andclean technologycompanies. The city's gross metropolitan product (GMP) was $231 billion in 2010, making it the11th-largest metropolitan economyin the United States.ThePort of Seattle, which also operatesSeattle–Tacoma International Airport, is a\",\n \"Airport, is a major gateway for trade with Asia and cruises to Alaska. It also is the 8th-largest port in the United States when measured by container capacity. Its maritime cargo operations merged with thePort of Tacomain 2015 to form theNorthwest Seaport Alliance. Although it was impacted by theGreat Recession, Seattle has retained a comparatively strong economy, and is noted for start-up businesses, especially in green building and clean technologies.In February 2010, the city government committed Seattle to become North America's first \\\"climate neutral\\\" city, with a goal of reaching net-zero per-capita greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Large companies continue to dominate the business landscape. Seven companies onFortune500's 2022 list of the United States' largest companies (based on total revenue) are headquartered in Seattle: Internet retailerAmazon(#2), coffee chainStarbucks(#120), freight forwarderExpeditors International of Washington(#225), department storeNordstrom(#245), forest products\",\n \"forest products companyWeyerhaeuser(#354), online travel companyExpedia Group(#404), and real-estate tech companyZillow(#424) .Other Fortune 500 companies commonly associated with Seattle are based in nearby Puget Sound cities. Warehouse club chainCostco(#11), the largest retail company in Washington, is based inIssaquah.Microsoft(#14) is located inRedmond. Furthermore, Bellevue is home to truck manufacturerPaccar(#151).Other major companies headquartered in the area includeNintendo of Americain Redmond,T-Mobile USin Bellevue, andProvidence Health & Services(the state's largest health care system and fifth-largest employer) inRenton. The city has a reputation for heavycoffee consumption;coffee companies founded or based in Seattle include Starbucks,Seattle's Best Coffee,andTully's.There are also many successful independent artisanal espresso roasters and cafés. Before moving its headquarters toChicagoand then ultimatelyArlington County, Virginia, aerospace manufacturerBoeing(#60) was the largest company\",\n \"the largest company based in Seattle. Its largest division,Boeing Commercial Airplanes, is still headquartered within the Puget Sound region.The company also has large aircraft manufacturing plants in Everett and Renton; it remains the largest private employer in the Seattle metropolitan area.In 2006 former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels announced a desire to spark a new economic boom driven by thebiotechnologyindustry. Major redevelopment of theSouth Lake Unionneighborhood is underway in an effort to attract new and established biotech companies to the city, joining biotech companiesCorixa(acquired byGlaxoSmithKline), Immunex (now part of Amgen),Trubion, and ZymoGenetics.Vulcan Inc., the holding company of billionairePaul Allen, is behind most of the development projects in the region. While some see the new development as an economic boon, others have criticized Nickels and theSeattle City Councilfor pandering to Allen's interests at taxpayers' expense.In 2005,Forbesranked Seattle as the most expensive\",\n \"the most expensive American city for buying a house based on the local income levels.Owing largely to the rapidly increasing cost of living, Seattle and Washington State have some of thehighest minimum wages in the country, at $15 per hour for smaller businesses and $16 for the city's largest employers. Operating a hub at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport,Alaska Airlinesmaintains its headquarters in the city ofSeaTac, next to the airport.Seattle is a hub for global health with the headquarters of theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation,PATH (global health organization),Infectious Disease Research Institute,Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and theInstitute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. In 2015, the Washington Global Health Alliance counted 168 global health organizations in Washington state. Many are headquartered in Seattle. Culture Many ofSeattle's neighborhoodshost one or morestreet fairs or parades. Performing arts Seattle has been a regional center for theperforming artsfor many years. The\",\n \"many years. The century-oldSeattle Symphony Orchestrahas won many awards and performs primarily atBenaroya Hall.TheSeattle OperaandPacific Northwest Ballet, which perform atMcCaw Hall(opened in 2003 on the site of the former Seattle Opera House at Seattle Center), are comparably distinguished,with the Opera being particularly known for its performances of the works ofRichard Wagnerand the PNB School (founded in 1974) ranking as one of the top three ballet training institutions in the United States.TheSeattle Youth Symphony Orchestras(SYSO) is the largest symphonic youth organization in the United States.The city also boasts lauded summer and winterchamber musicfestivals organized by theSeattle Chamber Music Society. The5th Avenue Theatre, built in 1926, stagesBroadway-stylemusical showsfeaturing both local talent and international stars.Seattle has \\\"around 100\\\" theatrical production companiesand over two dozen live theatre venues, many of them associated withfringe theatre;Seattle is probably second only to\",\n \"second only to New York for number ofequitytheaters(28 Seattle theater companies have some sort ofActors' Equitycontract).In addition, the 900-seatRomanesque RevivalTown Hallon First Hill hosts numerous cultural events, especially lectures and recitals. Between 1918 and 1951, there were nearly two dozen jazz nightclubs along Jackson Street, running from the current Chinatown/International District to the Central District. The jazz scene developed the early careers ofRay Charles,Quincy Jones,Bumps Blackwell,Ernestine Anderson, and others. Early popular musical acts from the Seattle/Puget Sound area include the collegiate folk groupThe Brothers Four, vocal groupThe Fleetwoods, 1960s garage rockersThe WailersandThe Sonics, and instrumental surf groupThe Ventures, some of whom are still active. Seattle is considered the home ofgrungemusic,having produced artists such asNirvana,Soundgarden,Alice in Chains,Pearl Jam, andMudhoney, all of whom reached international audiences in the early 1990s.The city is also home\",\n \"city is also home to such varied artists asavant-garde jazzmusiciansBill FrisellandWayne Horvitz,hot jazzmusicianGlenn Crytzer,hip hopartistsSir Mix-a-Lot,Macklemore,Blue Scholars, andShabazz Palaces,smooth jazzsaxophonistKenny G,classic rockstaplesHeartandQueensrÿche, and alternative rock bands such asFoo Fighters,Harvey Danger,The Presidents of the United States of America,The Posies,Modest Mouse,Band of Horses,Death Cab for Cutie, andFleet Foxes. Rock musicians such asJimi Hendrix,Duff McKagan, andNikki Sixxspent their formative years in Seattle. The Seattle-basedSub Poprecord company continues to be one of the world's best-known independent/alternative music labels.Over the years,a number of songs have been written about Seattle. Seattle annually sends a team ofspoken wordslammers to theNational Poetry Slamand considers itself home to such performance poets asBuddy Wakefield, two-timeIndividual World Poetry SlamChamp;Anis Mojgani, two-time National Poetry Slam Champ;andDanny Sherrard, 2007 National\",\n \"2007 National Poetry Slam Champ and 2008 Individual World Poetry Slam Champ.Seattle also hosted the 2001 national Poetry Slam Tournament. The Seattle Poetry Festival is a biennial poetry festival that (launched first as the Poetry Circus in 1997) has featured local, regional, national, and international names in poetry. The city also has movie houses showing bothHollywoodproductions and works byindependent filmmakers.Among these, theSeattle Cineramastands out as one of only three movie theaters in the world still capable of showing three-panelCineramafilms. Tourism Among Seattle's prominent annual fairs and festivals are the 24-daySeattle International Film Festival,Northwest Folklife over theMemorial Dayweekend, numerousSeafairevents throughout July and August (ranging from aBon Odoricelebration to theSeafair Cuphydroplaneraces), theBite of Seattle, one of the largestGay Pridefestivals in the United States, and the art and music festivalBumbershoot, which programs music as well as other art and\",\n \"as other art and entertainment over the Labor Day weekend. All are typically attended by 100,000 people annually, as are theSeattle Hempfestand two separateIndependence Daycelebrations. Other significant events include numerous Native Americanpow-wows, a Greek Festival hosted bySt. Demetrios Greek Orthodox ChurchinMontlake, and numerous ethnic festivals (many associated withFestál at Seattle Center). There are other annual events, ranging from the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair & Book Arts Show;ananimeconvention,Sakura-Con;Penny Arcade Expo, a gaming convention;a two-day, 9,000-riderSeattle to Portland Bicycle Classic;and specialized film festivals, such as theMaelstrom International Fantastic Film Festival, theSeattle Asian American Film Festival, Children's Film Festival Seattle, Translation: the Seattle Transgender Film Festival, theSeattle Queer Film Festival, Seattle Latino Film Festival, and theSeattle Polish Film Festival. TheHenry Art Galleryopened in 1927, the first public art museum in\",\n \"art museum in Washington.TheSeattle Art Museum(SAM) opened in 1933 and moved to their current downtown location in 1991 (expanded and reopened in 2007); since 1991, the 1933 building has been SAM'sSeattle Asian Art Museum(SAAM).SAM also operates theOlympic Sculpture Park(opened in 2007) on the waterfront north of the downtown piers.TheFrye Art Museumis a free museum onFirst Hill. Regional history collections are at the Log House Museum in Alki,Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, theMuseum of History and Industry, and theBurke Museum of Natural History and Culture. Industry collections are at theCenter for Wooden Boatsand the adjacentNorthwest Seaport, and theMuseum of Flight. Regional ethnic collections include theNational Nordic Museum, theWing Luke Asian Museum, and theNorthwest African American Museum. Seattle has artist-run galleries,including ten-year veteran Soil Art Gallery,and the newer Crawl Space Gallery. TheSeattle Great Wheel, one of the largestFerris wheelsin the US, opened in June 2012\",\n \"opened in June 2012 as a new, permanent attraction on the city's waterfront, atPier 57, next toDowntown Seattle.The city also has manycommunity centersfor recreation, including Rainier Beach, Van Asselt, Rainier, and Jefferson south of the Ship Canal and Green Lake, Laurelhurst, Loyal Heights north of the Canal, and Meadowbrook. Woodland Park Zooopened as a privatemenageriein 1889 but was sold to the city in 1899.TheSeattle Aquariumhas been open on the downtown waterfront since 1977 (undergoing a renovation in 2006).TheSeattle UndergroundTour is an exhibit of places that existed before the Great Fire. Since the mid-1990s, Seattle has experienced significant growth in the cruise industry, especially as a departure point for Alaska cruises. In 2008, a record total of 886,039 cruise passengers passed through the city, surpassing the number for Vancouver, BC, the other major departure point for Alaska cruises. Religion A 2024 Household Pulse Survey from the United States Census Bureau estimated that 64 percent\",\n \"that 64 percent of adults in the Seattle area never attend religious services or attend less than once a year, the highest percentage among large U.S. metropolitan areas. According to a 2014 study by thePew Research Center, the largest religious groupings areChristians(52%), followed by those ofno religion(37%),Hindus(2%),Buddhists(2%),Jews(1%),Muslims(1%) and a variety of other religions have smaller followings.According to the same study by thePew Research Center, about 34% of Seattleites areProtestant, and 15% areRoman Catholic. Meanwhile, 6% of the residents in Seattle call themselvesagnostics, while 10% call themselvesatheists. Sports Seattle has four major men'sprofessional sportsteams: theNational Football League(NFL)'sSeattle Seahawks,Major League Baseball(MLB)'sSeattle Mariners, theNational Hockey League(NHL)'sSeattle Kraken, andMajor League Soccer(MLS)'sSeattle Sounders FC. Other professional sports teams include theWomen's National Basketball Association(WNBA)'sSeattle Storm, theNational Women's\",\n \"theNational Women's Soccer League'sSeattle Reign FC; andMajor League Rugby(MLR)'sSeattle Seawolves. Seattle's professional sports history began at the start of the 20th century with thePCHA'sSeattle Metropolitans, which in 1917 became the first American hockey team to win theStanley Cup.In 1969, Seattle was awarded a Major League Baseball franchise, theSeattle Pilots. Based atSick's StadiuminMount Baker, home to Seattle'sformer minor-league teams, the Pilots played in Seattle forone seasonbefore relocating toMilwaukeeand becoming theMilwaukee Brewers.The city, alongside the county and state governments, sued the league and was offered a second expansion team, later named theSeattle Mariners, as settlement. The Mariners began play in 1977 at themulti-purposeKingdome, where the team struggled for most of its time. Relative success in the mid-to-late 1990s saved the team from being relocated and allowed them to move to a purpose-built baseball stadium,T-Mobile Park(formerlySafeco Field), in 1999.The Mariners\",\n \"1999.The Mariners have never reached aWorld Seriesand only appeared in the MLB playoffs five times, mostly between 1995 and 2001, but had Hall of Fame players and candidates likeKen Griffey Jr.,Randy Johnson,Ichiro Suzuki, andAlex Rodriguez.The team tied the all-time MLB single regular season wins record in 2001 with 116 wins.From 2001 to 2022, the Mariners failed to qualify for the playoffs—the longestactive postseason droughtin major North American sports, at 20 seasons. The Seattle Seahawks entered the National Football League in 1976 as anexpansion teamand have advanced to theSuper Bowlthree times:2005,2013and2014.The team played in theKingdomeuntil it was imploded in 2000 and moved into Qwest Field (nowLumen Field) at the same site in 2003.The Seahawks lostSuper Bowl XLin 2005 to thePittsburgh SteelersinDetroit, but wonSuper Bowl XLVIIIin 2013 by defeating theDenver Broncos43–8 atMetLife Stadium. The team advanced to the Super Bowl the following year, but lost to theNew England PatriotsinSuper Bowl\",\n \"Bowl XLIXon a last-minute play.Seahawks fans have set stadium noise records on several occasions and are collectively known as the \\\"12th Man\\\". Seattle Sounders FC has played in Major League Soccer since 2009, as the latest continuation of theoriginal 1974 Sounders teamof theNorth American Soccer Leagueafteran incarnationin thelower divisions of American soccer.Sharing Lumen Field with the Seahawks, the team set variousattendance recordsin its first few MLS seasons, averaging over 43,000 per match and placing themselves among the top 30 teams internationally.The Sounders have won theMLS Supporters' Shieldin 2014and theU.S. Open Cupon four occasions:2009,2010,2011, and2014.The Sounders won the first of their twoMLS Cuptitles in2016, defeatingToronto FC5–4 in apenalty shootoutin Toronto,before finishing as runners-up in a rematch against Toronto inMLS Cup 2017. In2019the Sounders made their first-ever home-field appearance in MLS Cup, once again against Toronto FC, and won the game 3–1 to earn their second MLS\",\n \"their second MLS Cup title in front of a club-record attendance of 69,274.The stadium also hosted the second leg of the2022 CONCACAF Champions League Final, played in front of 68,741 to break the tournament attendance record. The Sounders became the first MLS team to win a continental title since 2000 and the first to win the modernChampions League. Seattle's Major League Rugby team, theSeattle Seawolves, play in nearbyTukwilaatStarfire Sports Complex, a small stadium that is also used by the Sounders for theirU.S. Open Cupmatches.The team began play in 2018 and wonthe league's inaugural championship.They successfully defended their title in the2019 seasonand finished as runners-up in the2022 championship game. From 1967 to 2008, Seattle was home to theSeattle SuperSonicsof theNational Basketball Association(NBA). A frequent playoff participant, the Sonics were the1978–79 NBA champions, and also contended for the championship in1978and1996. Following a team sale in 2006, a failed effort to replace the\",\n \"to replace the agingKeyArena, and settlement of a lawsuit to hold the team to the final two years of its lease with the city,the SuperSonics relocatedtoOklahoma Cityand became theOklahoma City Thunderahead of the2008–09 season.Aneffort in 2013to purchase theSacramento Kingsfranchise and relocate it to Seattle as a resurrected Sonics squad was denied by the NBA board of governors. TheSeattle Stormof theWomen's National Basketball Associationhave also played their games at KeyArena (nowClimate Pledge Arena) since their foundation in 2000. The WNBA granted Seattle their expansion side following the popularity of the recently foldedSeattle Reign, a women's professional basketball team that played from 1996 to 1998 in the rivalAmerican Basketball League.The Storm began as a sister team to the now-defunctSonicsof the NBA, but sold to separate Seattle-based ownership in 2006. Tied for the league record, the Storm have claimed theWNBA championshipon four occasions, winning in2004,2010,2018, and2020.The team also won\",\n \"team also won the first-everWNBA Commissioner's Cupin2021. TheSeattle Thunderbirdshockey team has represented Seattle in the Canadian major-juniorWestern Hockey Leaguesince 1977. Originally playing inMercer Arenaand theSeattle Center Coliseum(which had hostedprevious minor-league hockey teams), the Thunderbirds have been based at theShoWare Centerin the suburb ofKentsince 2007, and have won one WHL championship in2017.In 1974, Seattle wasawarded a conditional expansion franchisein theNational Hockey League; however, this opportunity did not come to fruition. In 2018, a new Seattle-based group successfully applied for an expansion team in the NHL, which was named theSeattle Krakenand began play in 2021.The SuperSonics' former home arena, KeyArena (nowClimate Pledge Arena), underwent major renovations from 2018 to 2021 to accommodate the new NHL team.The NHL ownership group reached its goal of 10,000 deposits within 12 minutes of opening a ticket drive, which later increased to 25,000 in 75 minutes. Seattle\",\n \"75 minutes. Seattle Reign FC,a founding member of theNational Women's Soccer League, was founded in 2012, holding their home games in Seattle from 2014 to 2018 and again since 2022. The team name was chosen to honor thedefunct women's basketball team of the same name.The club played atStarfire Sports Complexin nearby Tukwila for the league's inaugural 2013 season before moving toSeattle Center'sMemorial Stadiumin 2014. Under new management, the team moved toTacoma'sCheney Stadiumin 2019, before moving to Seattle's Lumen Field in 2022.In 2020, OL Groupe, theparent companyof French clubsOlympique LyonnaisandOlympique Lyonnais Féminin, became the team's majority owner and rebranded the club as OL Reign.The Seattle Reign name was restored in 2024. Seattle has also been home to various minor-league professional teams, of which currentlyBallard FCandWest Seattle Junction FCofUSL League 2in soccer remain. Representing the Seattle neighborhood ofBallard, Ballard FC was founded in 2022 as an independent,\",\n \"as an independent, semi-professional soccer team in the fourth-divisionUSL League 2. The team is owned by a group led by former Sounders playerLamar Neagleand wonits first national title in 2023. Ballard FC's primary home is the 1,000-seat Interbay Soccer Stadium (also home toSeattle Pacific University's andBallard High School's soccer teams), but during that field's renovations in the 2024 season, Ballard will play out of Memorial Stadium at the Seattle Center.Starting in 2024, Ballard FC's division will be joined by a new cross-town rival,West Seattle Junction FCrepresenting the neighborhood ofWest Seattle. The short-livedSeattle Sea Dragons, originally the Dragons, of theXFLplayed at Lumen Field in the league's inaugural season in 2020 prior to its suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.The Sea Dragons returned alongside the XFL in2023after the league's re-launch under new ownership.The team folded prior to the 2024 season during the XFL's merger with theUnited States Football Leagueto form theUnited\",\n \"form theUnited Football League. Seattle also boasts two collegiate sports teams based at theUniversity of WashingtonandSeattle University, both competing inNCAA Division Ifor various sports.The University of Washington's athletic program, nicknamed theHuskies, competes in thePac-12 Conference, and Seattle University's athletic program, nicknamed theRedhawks, mostly competes in theWestern Athletic Conference. The Huskies teams use several facilities, including the 70,000-seatHusky Stadiumforfootballand theHec Edmundson Pavilionfor basketball and volleyball.The two schools have basketball and soccer teams that compete against each other in non-conference games and have formed a local rivalry due to their sporting success. TheMajor League Baseball All-Star Gamehas been held in Seattle three times, once at the Kingdome in1979, and twice at T-Mobile Park in2001and2023.TheNBA All-Star Gamewas also held in Seattle twice: the first in1974at theSeattle Center Coliseumand the second in1987at the Kingdome.Lumen\",\n \"the Kingdome.Lumen FieldhostedMLS Cup 2009, played betweenReal Salt Lakeand theLos Angeles Galaxy, as a neutral site in front of 46,011 spectators.Seattle will be one of eleven US host cities for the2026 FIFA World Cup, with matches played at Lumen Field and training facilities atLongacresinRenton, Washington. Parks and recreation Seattle's mild, temperate marine climate allows year-round outdoor recreation, including walking, cycling, hiking, skiing, snowboarding, kayaking, rock climbing, motorboating, sailing, team sports, and swimming.In town, many people walk aroundGreen Lake, through the forests and along the bluffs and beaches of 535-acre (2.2 km2)Discovery Park(the largest park in the city) inMagnolia, along the shores ofMyrtle Edwards Parkon the Downtown waterfront, along the shoreline of Lake Washington atSeward Park, along Alki Beach in West Seattle, or along theBurke-Gilman Trail.Gas Works Parkfeatures the preservedsuperstructureof acoal gasificationplant closed in 1956. Located across Lake Union\",\n \"across Lake Union from downtown, the park provides panoramic views of the Seattle skyline.Also popular are hikes and skiing in the nearby Cascade or Olympic Mountains and kayaking and sailing in the waters of Puget Sound, theStrait of Juan de Fuca, and theStrait of Georgia. Government and politics Seattle is acharter city, with amayor–council form of government. From 1911 to 2013, Seattle's nine city councillors were elected at large, rather than by geographic subdivisions.For the 2015 election, this changed to a hybrid system of seven district members and two at-large members as a result of a ballot measure passed on November 5, 2013. The only other elected offices are thecity attorneyand Municipal Court judges. All city offices are officiallynon-partisan.Like some other parts of the United States, government and laws are also run by a series of ballot initiatives (allowing citizens to pass or reject laws), referendums (allowing citizens to approve or reject legislation already passed), and propositions\",\n \"and propositions (allowing specific government agencies to propose new laws or tax increases directly to the people). Seattle is widely considered one of the most socially liberal cities in the United States.In the 2012 U.S. general election, a majority of Seattleites voted to approve Referendum 74 and legalize gay marriage in Washington state.In the same election, an overwhelming majority of Seattleites also voted to approve the legalization of the recreational use ofcannabisin the state.Like much of thePacific Northwest(which has the lowest rate ofchurch attendancein the United States and consistently reports the highest percentage ofatheism), church attendance, religious belief, and political influence of religious leaders are much lower than in other parts of America.Seattle's political culture is very liberal andprogressivefor the United States, with over 80% of the population voting for theDemocratic Party. All precincts in Seattle voted for Democratic Party candidateBarack Obamain the2012 presidential\",\n \"presidential election.In partisan elections for theWashington State LegislatureandUnited States Congress, nearly all elections are won by Democrats. Although local elections are nonpartisan, most of the city's elected officials are known to be Democrats, the most notable exception beingSeattle City AttorneyAnn Davison. In 1926, Seattle became the first major American city to elect a female mayor,Bertha Knight Landes.It has also elected an openly gay mayor,Ed Murray,and a third-party socialist councillor,Kshama Sawant.For the first time in United States history, an openly gay black woman was elected to public office when Sherry Harris was elected as a Seattle city councilor in 1991.In 2015, the majority of the city council was female. Bruce Harrellwas elected as mayor in the2021 mayoral election, succeedingJenny Durkan, and took office on January 1, 2022. The mayor's office also includes threedeputy mayors, appointed to advise the mayor on policies. In 2023, the city council voted to bancaste discriminationas\",\n \"discriminationas part of the city's anti-discrimination laws. The ban is the first in the United States. Seattle lies within four districts on theKing County Council: the 1st district includes the northeastern corner of the city; the 2nd district generally covers areas east ofInterstate 5and south of Northeast 65th Street; the 4th district consists of the northwestern neighborhoods of Ballard, Fremont, Magnolia, and Queen Anne; and the 8th district includes Downtown Seattle, First Hill, SODO, and West Seattle.At the state level, Seattle is divided into six districts that each have onestate senatorand twostate representatives. Federally, Seattle is split between two congressional districts. Most of the city is in7th congressional district,represented by DemocratPramila Jayapal, the first Indian-American woman elected to Congress. She succeeded 28-year incumbent and fellow DemocratJim McDermott.Part of southeastern Seattle is in the9th congressional district,represented by DemocratAdam Smithsince 1997.The\",\n \"Smithsince 1997.The border between the two districts follows the Tukwila city limits around Boeing Field, Interstate 5, South Dearborn Street, 4th Avenue South, James Street, Madison Street, East Union Street, Martin Luther King Jr. Way, and East Yesler Way. Education Of the city's population over the age of 25, 53.8% (vs. a national average of 27.4%) hold abachelor's degreeor higher, and 91.9% (vs. 84.5% nationally) have a high school diploma orequivalent. A 2008 United States Census Bureau survey showed that Seattle had the highest percentage of college and university graduates of any major U.S. city.The city was listed as the most literate of the country's 69 largest cities in 2005 and 2006, the second most literate in 2007 and the most literate in 2008 in studies conducted byCentral Connecticut State University. Seattle Public Schoolsis the school district for the vast majority of the city.That school district desegregated without a court orderbut continue to struggle to achieve racial balance in a\",\n \"racial balance in a somewhat ethnically divided city (the south part of town having more ethnic minorities than the north).In 2007, Seattle's racial tie-breaking system was struck down by theUnited States Supreme Court, but the ruling left the door open for desegregation formulae based on other indicators (e.g., income or socioeconomic class).A very small portion of the city is within theHighline School District. The public school system is supplemented by a moderate number of private schools: Five of the private high schools areCatholic, one isLutheran, and six aresecular. Seattle is home to theUniversity of Washingtonand its professional and continuing education unit, theUniversity of Washington Educational Outreach. In 2017,U.S. News & World Reportranked the University of Washington eleventh in the world.The UW receives more federal research and development funding than any public institution. Over the last 10 years, it has also produced morePeace Corpsvolunteers than any other U.S. university. Seattle\",\n \"university. Seattle also has a number of smaller private universities, includingSeattle UniversityandSeattle Pacific University, the former a Jesuit Catholic institution, the latter a Free Methodist institution. TheSeattle Colleges Districtoperates three colleges:North Seattle College,Seattle Central College, andSouth Seattle College. Universities aimed at the working adult are theCity UniversityandAntioch University. Seminaries includeWestern Seminaryand a number of arts colleges, such asCornish College of the Arts,Pratt Fine Arts Center. In 2001,Timemagazine selected Seattle Central Community College as community college of the year, saying that the school \\\"pushes diverse students to work together in small teams.\\\" Media As of 2019, Seattle has one major daily newspaper,The Seattle Times. TheSeattle Post-Intelligencer, known as theP-I, published a daily newspaper from 1863 to March 17, 2009, before switching to a strictly on-line publication. There is also theSeattle Daily Journal of Commerce,and the\",\n \"of Commerce,and the University of Washington publishesThe Daily, a student-run publication, when school is in session. The most prominent weeklies are theSeattle WeeklyandThe Stranger; both consider themselves\\\"alternative\\\" papers.The weekly LGBT newspaper is theSeattle Gay News.Real Changeis a weeklystreet newspaperthat is sold mainly byhomelesspersons as an alternative topanhandling. There are also several ethnic newspapers, includingThe Facts,Northwest Asian Weeklyand theInternational Examineras well as numerous neighborhood newspapers. Seattle is also well served by television and radio, with all major U.S. networks represented, along with at least five other English-language stations and two Spanish-language stations.Seattle cable viewers also receiveCBUT2 (CBC) fromVancouver, British Columbia. Non-commercialradio stations includeNPRaffiliatesKUOW-FM94.9 andKNKX88.5 (Tacoma), as well asclassical musicstationKING-FM98.1. Other non-commercial stations includeKEXP-FM90.3 (affiliated with the UW),community\",\n \"the UW),community radioKBCS-FM91.3 (affiliated withBellevue College), andhigh school radioKNHC-FM89.5, which broadcasts anelectronic dance musicradio format, is owned by the public school system and operated by students ofNathan Hale High School. Many Seattle radio stations are available throughInternet radio, with KEXP in particular being a pioneer of Internet radio.Seattle also has numerous commercial radio stations. In a March 2012 report by the consumer research firmArbitron, the top FM stations wereKRWM(adult contemporaryformat),KIRO-FM(news/talk), andKISW(active rock) while the top AM stations wereKOMO(all news),KJR (AM)(all sports),KIRO (AM)(all sports). Infrastructure Health systems The University of Washington is consistently ranked among the country's leading institutions in medical research, earning special merits for programs in neurology and neurosurgery. The university-runUW Medicinesystem encompasses several major local hospitals, includingHarborview Medical Center, the public county hospital\",\n \"county hospital and the only Level Itrauma hospitalfor Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho.Harborview and two other major hospitals—Virginia Mason Medical CenterandSwedish Medical Center—are located on First Hill, which is nicknamed \\\"Pill Hill\\\" for its concentration of medical facilities. Located in theLaurelhurstneighborhood,Seattle Children's, formerlyChildren's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, is the pediatric referral center for Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. TheFred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centerhas a campus in the Eastlake neighborhood. The University District is home to theUniversity of Washington Medical Centerwhich, along with Harborview, is operated by the University of Washington. Seattle is also served by aVeterans Affairshospital onBeacon Hill, a third campus of Swedish in Ballard, andUW Medical Center - NorthwestnearNorthgate Station. Seattle has seen local developments of modern paramedic services with the establishment ofMedic Onein 1970.In 1974, a60 Minutesstory on the\",\n \"Minutesstory on the success of the then four-year-old Medic One paramedic system called Seattle \\\"the best place in the world to have a heart attack.\\\"The city also has severalpharmacychains; these includeBartell Drugs, which was family-run in Seattle until its acquisition byRite Aidin 2020. As of 2024, Seattle lacks a 24-hour retail pharmacy due to the closure of locations across several chains. Transportation Thefirst streetcarsappeared in 1889 and were instrumental in the creation of a relatively well-defined downtown and strong neighborhoods at the end of their lines. The advent of the automobile began the dismantling of rail in Seattle. Tacoma–Seattle railway service ended in 1929 and the Everett–Seattle service came to an end in 1939, replaced by automobiles running on the recently developed highway system. Rails on city streets were paved over or removed, and the opening of theSeattle trolleybus systembrought the end ofstreetcars in Seattlein 1941. This left an extensive network of privately owned buses\",\n \"owned buses (later public) as the only mass transit within the city and throughout the region. King County Metroprovides regular bus service in the city and county, and theSouth Lake Union Streetcarline and theFirst Hill Streetcarline.Seattle is one of the few cities in North America whose bus fleet includes electric trolleybuses.Sound Transitprovides an express bus service within the metropolitan area, twoSounder commuter raillines between the suburbs and downtown, and its1 Linelight railline betweenNorthgateand Angle Lake.Washington State Ferries, which manages the largest network of ferries in the United States and third-largest in the world, connects Seattle toBainbridgeandVashon Islandsin Puget Sound and to Bremerton andSouthworthon the Kitsap Peninsula.King Street Stationin Pioneer Square servesAmtrakintercity trains and Sounder commuter trains, and is located adjacent to theInternational District/Chinatown light rail station. According to the 2007American Community Survey, 18.6% of Seattle residents\",\n \"Seattle residents used one of the three public transit systems that serve the city, giving it the highest transit ridership of all major cities without heavy or light rail prior to the completion of Sound Transit's 1 Line.The city has also been described byBert Sperlingas the fourth most walkable U.S. city and byWalk Scoreas the sixth most walkable of the fifty largest U.S. cities. Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, locally known as Sea-Tac Airport and located just south in the neighboring city of SeaTac, is operated by the Port of Seattle and provides commercial air service to destinations throughout the world. Closer to downtown,Boeing Fieldis used for general aviation, cargo flights, and testing/delivery of Boeing airliners. A secondary passenger airport,Paine Field, opened in 2019 and is located inEverett, 25 miles (40 km) north of Seattle. It is predominantly used by Boeing and theirlarge assembly plantlocated nearby. The main mode of transportation, however, is the street system, which is laid out\",\n \"which is laid out in acardinal directionsgrid pattern, except in the central business district where early city leadersArthur DennyandCarson Boreninsisted on orienting the plats relative to the shoreline rather than to true North.Only two roads,Interstate 5andState Route 99(both limited-access highways) run uninterrupted through the city from north to south. From 1953 to 2019, State Route 99 ran through downtown Seattle on theAlaskan Way Viaduct, an elevated freeway on the waterfront. However, due to damage sustained during the 2001 Nisqually earthquake the viaduct was replaced by a tunnel. The 2-mile (3.2 km)Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnelwas originally scheduled to be completed in December 2015 at a cost of US$4.25 billion. The world's largesttunnel boring machine, named \\\"Bertha\\\", was commissioned for the project, measuring 57 feet (17 m) in diameter. The tunnel's opening was delayed to February 2019 due to issues with the machine, which included a two-year halt in excavation.Seattle has the\",\n \"has the 8th-worst traffic congestion of all American cities, and is 10th among all North American cities according toInrix. The city has started moving away from the automobile and toward mass transit. From 2004 to 2009, the annual number of unlinked public transportation trips increased by approximately 21%.In 2006, voters in King County passed the Transit Now proposition, which increased bus service hours on high ridership routes and paid for fivelimited-stopbus lines calledRapidRide.After rejecting aroads and transit measurein 2007, Seattle-area voters passed a transit only measure in 2008 to increase ST Express bus service, extend theLink light railsystem, and expand and improveSounder commuter railservice. A light rail line (now the1 Line) from downtown heading south to Sea-Tac Airport began service in 2009, giving the city its first rapid transit line with intermediate stations within the city limits. An extension north to theUniversity of Washingtonopened on March 19, 2016,followed by\",\n \"2016,followed by theNorthgateextension in October 2021 and theLynnwoodextension in August 2024.The2 Lineopened in April 2024, operating betweenBellevueandRedmond.Further extensions are planned to connect the 2 Line to the 1 Line in early 2025, as well as extend it to downtown Redmond,and for the 1 Line to reachFederal Wayto the south by 2026.Voters in the Puget Sound region approved an additional tax increase, part of theSound Transit 3package, in November 2016 to expand light rail to West Seattle and Ballard as well as Tacoma, Everett, and Issaquah. Utilities Water and electric power are municipal services, provided bySeattle Public UtilitiesandSeattle City Light, respectively. Other utility companies serving Seattle includePuget Sound Energy(natural gas, electricity),Seattle Steam Company(steam),Waste Management, IncandRecologyCleanScapes (curbside recycling, composting, and solid waste removal),CenturyLink,Frontier Communications,Wave Broadband, andComcast(telecommunications and television).About 90% of\",\n \"90% of Seattle'selectricityis produced usinghydropower. Less than 2% of electricity is produced usingfossil fuels. Seattle Public Utilities manages twotap watersupply systems on theCedar RiverandTolt River.These systems are fed by meltedsnowpackin the Cascade Mountains over the autumn and winter that fill reservoirs as they melt.The city'swastewatersystem includes 1,422 miles (2,288 km) of sewers that reachtreatment plantsthat discharge into Puget Sound; a 485-mile (781 km) network of separate tunnels forstormwaterserve other treatment facilities.Older areas of the city have acombined sewersystem that dumps stormwater and untreated wastewater into Puget Sound during overflow events. Crime In 2023, Seattle had 5000 violentcrimes, and from 2013 to 2018 there was a slow increase in crimes, however it dipped in 2020, before spiking up again in 2021 and 2022. As of 2023 the city has a violent crime rate of 683 per 100,000 people, and 5,174 property crimes per 100,000 people. International relations Seattle has\",\n \"Seattle has the followingsister cities: See also Notes References Bibliography Further reading External links\",\n \"Portland, Oregon Portland(/ˈpɔːrtlənd/PORT-lənd) is themost populous cityin theU.S. stateofOregon, located in thePacific Northwestregion. Situated in the northwestern area of the state at theconfluenceof theWillametteandColumbiarivers, it is thecounty seatofMultnomah County, Oregon's most populous county. As of 2020,Portland's population was 652,503,making it the26th-most populouscity in the United States, the sixth-most populous on theWest Coast, and the second-most populous in the Pacific Northwest, afterSeattle.Approximately 2.5 million people live in thePortland metropolitan area, making it the25th-most populousin the United States. About half of Oregon's population resides within the Portland metro area. Named afterPortland, Maine,which is itself named after the EnglishIsle of Portland, the Oregon settlement began to be populated in the 1840s, near the end of theOregon Trail. Its water access provided convenient transportation of goods, and the timber industry was a major force in the city's early\",\n \"in the city's early economy. At the turn of the 20th century, the city had a reputation as one of the most dangerousport citiesin the world, a hub for organized crime andracketeering. After the city's economy experienced an industrial boom duringWorld War II, its hard-edged reputation began to dissipate. Beginning in the 1960s,it became noted for its growingliberalandprogressivepolitical values, earning it a reputation as a bastion ofcounterculture. The city operates with acommission-based government, guided by a mayor and four commissioners, as well asMetro, the only directly electedmetropolitan planning organizationin the United States.Its climate is marked by warm, dry summers and cool, rainy winters. This climate isideal for growing roses, and Portland has been called the \\\"City of Roses\\\" for over a century. History Pre-settlement history During the prehistoric period, the land that would become Portlandwas flooded after the collapse of glacial damsfromLake Missoula, in what would later become Montana.\",\n \"become Montana. These massive floods occurred during the last ice age and filled the Willamette Valley with 300 to 400 feet (91 to 122 m) of water. Before American settlers began arriving in the 1800s, the land was inhabited for many centuries by two bands of indigenousChinook people– theMultnomahand theClackamas.The Chinook people occupying the land were first documentedin 1805byMeriwether LewisandWilliam Clark.Before its European settlement, the Portland Basin of the lower Columbia River and Willamette River valleys had been one of the most densely populated regions on the Pacific Coast. Establishment Large numbers of pioneer settlers began arriving in the Willamette Valley in the 1840s via theOregon Trailwith many arriving in nearbyOregon City.A new settlement then emerged ten miles from the mouth of the Willamette River,roughly halfway between Oregon City andHudson's Bay Company'sFort Vancouver. This community was initially referred to as \\\"Stumptown\\\" and \\\"The Clearing\\\" because of the many trees cut down\",\n \"many trees cut down to allow for its growth.In 1843William Overtonsaw potential in the new settlement but lacked the funds to file an official land claim. For 25 cents, Overton agreed to share half of the 640-acre (2.6 km2) site withAsa LovejoyofBoston. In 1844, Overton sold his remaining half of the claim toFrancis W. PettygroveofPortland, Maine. Both Pettygrove and Lovejoy wished to rename \\\"The Clearing\\\" after their respective hometowns (Lovejoy's being Boston, and Pettygrove's, Portland). This controversy was settled with a coin toss that Pettygrove won in a series of two out of three tosses, thereby providing Portland with its namesake.The coin used for this decision, now known as thePortland Penny, is on display in the headquarters of theOregon Historical Society. At the time of its incorporation on February 8, 1851, Portland had over 800 inhabitants,a steam sawmill, a log cabin hotel, and a newspaper, theWeekly Oregonian.A major fire swept through downtown in August 1873, destroying twenty blocks on\",\n \"twenty blocks on the west side of the Willamette along Yamhill and Morrison Streets, and causing $1.3 million in damage,roughly equivalent to $33.1 million today.By 1879, the population had grown to 17,500 and by 1890 it had grown to 46,385.In 1888, the first steel bridge on theWest Coastwas opened in Portland,the predecessor of the 1912 namesakeSteel Bridgethat survives today. In 1889, Henry Pittock's wife, Georgiana, established the Portland Rose Society. The movement to make Portland a \\\"Rose City\\\" started as the city was preparing for the 1905Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. Portland's access to thePacific Oceanvia the Willamette and Columbia rivers, as well as its easy access to the agriculturalTualatin Valleyvia the \\\"Great Plank Road\\\" (the route of current-dayU.S. Route 26), provided the pioneer city with an advantage over other nearby ports, and it grew very quickly.Portland remained the major port in the Pacific Northwest for much of the 19th century, until the 1890s, when Seattle's deepwater\",\n \"Seattle's deepwater harbor was connected to the rest of the mainland by rail, affording an inland route without the treacherous navigation of the Columbia River. The city had its own Japantown,for one, and thelumber industryalso became a prominent economic presence, due to the area's large population ofDouglas fir,western hemlock,red cedar, andbig leaf mapletrees. Portland developed a reputation early in its history as a hard-edged and grittyport town.Some historians have described the city's early establishment as being a \\\"scionofNew England; an ends-of-the-earth home for the exiled spawn of the eastern established elite.\\\"In 1889,The Oregoniancalled Portland \\\"the most filthy city in the Northern States\\\", due to the unsanitary sewers and gutters,and, at the turn of the 20th century, it was considered one of the most dangerous port cities in the world.The city housed a large number of saloons,bordellos, gambling dens, and boarding houses which were populated with miners after theCalifornia Gold Rush, as well\",\n \"Gold Rush, as well as the multitude of sailors passing through the port.By the early 20th century, the city had lost its reputation as a \\\"sober frontier city\\\" and garnered a reputation for being violent and dangerous. 20th-century development Between 1900 and 1930, the city's population tripled from nearly 100,000 to 301,815.DuringWorld War II, it housed an \\\"assembly center\\\" from which up to 3,676 people of Japanese descent were dispatched tointernment campsin the heartland. It was the first American city to have residents report thus,and thePacific International Livestock Expositionoperated from May through September 10, 1942, processing people from the city, northern Oregon, andcentral Washington.GeneralJohn DeWittcalled the city the first \\\"Jap-free city on the West Coast.\\\" At the same time, Portland became a notorious hub for underground criminal activity andorganized crimein the 1940s and 1950s.In 1957,Lifemagazine published an article detailing the city's history ofgovernment corruptionand crime,\",\n \"crime, specifically its gambling rackets and illegal nightclubs.The article, which focused oncrime bossJim Elkins, became the basis of a fictionalized film titledPortland Exposé(1957). In spite of the city's seedier undercurrent of criminal activity, Portland enjoyed an economic and industrial surge during World War II. Ship builderHenry J. Kaiserhad been awarded contracts to buildLiberty shipsand aircraft carrier escorts, and chose sites in Portland andVancouver, Washington, for work yards.During this time, Portland's population rose by over 150,000, largely attributed to recruited laborers. During the 1960s, an influx ofhippiesubculture began to take root in the city in the wake ofSan Francisco's burgeoningcounterculturalscene.The city'sCrystal Ballroombecame a hub for the city'spsychedelic culture, whilefood cooperativesand listener-funded media and radio stations were established.A largesocial activistpresence evolved during this time as well, specifically concerningNative American\",\n \"American rights,environmentalistcauses, andgay rights.By the 1970s, Portland had well established itself as a progressive city, and experienced an economic boom for the majority of the decade; however, the slowing of the housing market in 1979 caused demand for the city and state timber industries to drop significantly. Since 1990 In the 1990s, the technology industry began to emerge in Portland, specifically with the establishment of companies such asIntel, which brought more thanUS$10 billion in investments in 1995 alone.In the late 1990s, the Portland area was rated the fourth-least affordable place in the United States to purchase a new home.After 2000, Portland experienced significant growth, with a population rise of over 90,000 between the years 2000 and 2014.The city's increasing reputation for culture established it as a popular city for young people, and it was second only toLouisville, Kentucky, as one of the cities to attract and retain the highest number of college-educated people in the United\",\n \"in the United States.Between 2001 and 2012, Portland's gross domestic product per person grew by fifty percent, more than any other city in the country. The city acquired adiverse range of nicknamesthroughout its history, though it is most often called \\\"Rose City\\\" or \\\"The City of Roses\\\"(unofficial nickname since 1888, official since 2003).Another widely used nickname by local residents in everyday speech is \\\"PDX\\\", the airport code forPortland International Airport. Other nicknames include Bridgetown,Stumptown,Rip City,Soccer City,P-Town,Portlandia, and the more antiquated Little Beirut. 2020 George Floyd protests From May 28, 2020, until spring 2021,there were dailyprotestsabout themurder of George Floydby police, and racial injustice. There were instances of looting, vandalism, and police actions causing injuries. One protestor was killed by an opposing one.Local businesses reported losses totaling millions of dollars as the result of vandalism and looting, according toOregon Public Broadcasting.Some\",\n \"Broadcasting.Some protests caused injury to protesters and police. In July, federal officers were deployed to safeguard federal property; their presence and tactics were criticized by Oregon officials, who demanded they leave, while lawsuits were filed against local and federal law enforcement alleging wrongful actions by them. On May 25, 2021, a protest to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Floyd's murder caused property damage, and was followed by a number of arrests. Geography Geology Portland lies on top of a dormant volcanic field known as theBoring Lava Field, named after the nearbybedroom communityofBoring.The Boring Lava Field has at least 32 cinder cones such asMount Tabor,and its center lies in southeast Portland.Mount St. Helens, a highly active volcano 50 miles (80 km) northeast of the city in Washington state, is easily visible on clear days and is close enough to have dusted the city with volcanic ash after itseruption on May 18, 1980.The rocks of the Portland area range in age from\",\n \"range in age from lateEoceneto more recent eras. Multiple shallow, activefault linestraverse the Portland metropolitan area.Among them are thePortland Hills Faulton the city's west side,and theEast Bank Faulton the east side.According to a 2017 survey, several of these faults were characterized as \\\"probably more of a hazard\\\" than theCascadia subduction zonedue to their proximities to population centers, with the potential of producingmagnitude7earthquakes.Notable earthquakes that have impacted the Portland area in recent history include the 6.8-magnitudeNisqually earthquakein 2001, and a 5.6-magnitude earthquake that struck on March 25, 1993. Per a 2014 report, over 7,000 locations within the Portland area are at high risk for landslides andsoil liquefactionin the event of a major earthquake, including much of the city's west side (such asWashington Park) and sections ofClackamas County. Topography Portland is 60 miles (97 km) east of the Pacific Ocean at the northern end ofOregon's most populated region,\",\n \"populated region, the Willamette Valley. Downtown Portland straddles the banks of the Willamette River, which flows north through the city center and separates the city's east and west neighborhoods. Less than 10 miles (16 km) from downtown, the Willamette River flows into the Columbia River, the fourth-largest river in the United States, which divides Oregon from Washington state. Portland is approximately 100 miles (160 km) upriver from the Pacific Ocean on the Columbia. Though much of downtown Portland is relatively flat, the foothills of theTualatin Mountains, more commonly referred to locally as the \\\"West Hills\\\", pierce through the northwest and southwest reaches of the city.Council Crest Parkat 1,073 feet (327 m) is often quoted as the highest point in Portland; however, the highest point in Portland is on a section of NW Skyline Blvd just north ofWillamette Stone Heritage site.The highest point east of the river isMt. Tabor, an extinct volcanic cinder cone, which rises to 636 feet (194 m).\",\n \"636 feet (194 m). NearbyPowell ButteandRocky Butterise to 614 feet (187 m) and 612 feet (187 m), respectively. To the west of the Tualatin Mountains lies theOregon Coast Range, and to the east lies the actively volcanicCascade Range. On clear days,Mt. HoodandMt. St. Helensdominate the horizon, whileMt. AdamsandMt. Rainiercan also be seen in the distance. According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 145.09 square miles (375.78 km2), of which 133.43 square miles (345.58 km2) is land and 11.66 square miles (30.20 km2) is water.Although almost all of Portland is withinMultnomah County, small portions of the city are within Clackamas andWashingtoncounties. Climate Portland has awarm-summer Mediterranean climate(KöppenCsb),falling just short of ahot-summer Mediterranean climate(KöppenCsa)with cool and rainy winters, and warm and dry summers.This climate is characterized by having overcast, wet, and changing weather conditions in fall, winter, and spring, as Portland lies in the direct path\",\n \"in the direct path of the stormy westerly flow, and warm, dry summers when theNorth Pacific Highreaches its northernmost point in mid-summer.Portland'sUSDA Plant Hardiness Zoneis 8b, with parts of the Downtown area falling into zone 9a. Winters are cool, cloudy, and rainy. The coldest month is December with an average daily high temperature of 46.9 °F (8.3 °C), although overnight lows usually remain above freezing by a few degrees. Evening temperatures fall to or below freezing 32 nights per year on average, but very rarely below 18 °F (−8 °C). There are only 2.1 days per year where the daytime high temperature fails to rise above freezing; the mean for the lowest high is at the exact freezing point of 32 °F (0 °C).The lowest overnight temperature ever recorded was −3 °F (−19 °C),on February 2, 1950,while the lowest daytime high temperature ever recorded was 14 °F (−10 °C) on December 30, 1968.The average window in which freezing temperatures may occur is between November 15 and March 19, allowing a growing\",\n \"allowing a growing season of 240 days. Annual snowfall in Portland is 4.3 inches (10.9 cm), which usually falls between December and March.The city of Portland avoids snow more frequently than its suburbs, due in part to its low elevation and theurban heat islandeffect. Neighborhoods outside of the downtown core, especially in slightly higher elevations near theWest HillsandMount Tabor, can experience a dusting of snow while downtown receives no accumulation at all. The city has experienced a few major snow and ice storms in its past, with extreme totals having reached 44.5 in (113 cm) at the airport in 1949–50 and 60.9 in (155 cm) at downtown in 1892–93. Summers in Portland are warm, dry, and sunny, though the sunny warm weather is short-lived, from mid-June to early September.June, July, August and September account for a combined 4.19 inches (106 mm) of total rainfall – only 11% of the 36.91 in (938 mm) of annual precipitation. The warmest month is August, with an average high temperature of 82.3 °F (27.9\",\n \"of 82.3 °F (27.9 °C). Because of its inland location 62 miles (100 km) from the coast, as well as the protective nature of theOregon Coast Rangeto its west, Portland summers are less susceptible to the moderating influence of the nearby Pacific Ocean. Consequently, Portland occasionally experiencesheat waves, with temperatures rising above 90 °F (32 °C) for a few days. However, on average, temperatures reach or exceed 80 °F (27 °C) on only 61 days per year, of which 15 days will reach 90 °F (32 °C) and only 1.3 days will reach 100 °F (38 °C). In 2018 more 90-degree days were recorded than ever before. On June 28, 2021, Portland recorded its all-time record high temperature of 116 °F (47 °C) and its warmest daily low temperature of 75 °F (24 °C) during amajor regional heat wave.The record had been broken for three consecutive days with daytime highs of 108 °F (42 °C) on June 26 and 112 °F (44 °C) on June 27; the previous record of 107 °F (42 °C) was set in July 1965 and matched twice in August 1981.A\",\n \"in August 1981.A temperature of 100 °F (38 °C) has been recorded in all five months from May through September. The warmest night of the year averages 68 °F (20 °C). Spring and fall can bring variable weather including high-pressure ridging that sends temperatures surging above 80 °F (27 °C) and cold fronts that plunge daytime temperatures into the 40s °F (4–9 °C). However, lengthy stretches of overcast days beginning in mid-fall and continuing into mid-spring are most common. Rain often falls as a light drizzle for several consecutive days at a time, contributing to 157 days on average with measurable (≥0.01 in or 0.25 mm) precipitation annually. Temperatures have reached 90 °F (32 °C) as early as April 30 and as late as October 5, while 80 °F (27 °C) has been reached as early as April 1 and as late as October 21.Thunderstormsare uncommon andtornadoesare very rare, although they do occur. See or editraw graph data. Cityscape Portland's cityscape derives much of its character from the many bridges that span\",\n \"bridges that span the Willamette River downtown, several of which are historic landmarks, and Portland has been nicknamed \\\"Bridgetown\\\" for many decades as a result.Three of downtown's most heavily used bridges are more than 100 years old and are designated historic landmarks:Hawthorne Bridge(1910),Steel Bridge(1912), andBroadway Bridge(1913). Portland's newest bridge in the downtown area,Tilikum Crossing, opened in 2015 and is the first new bridge to span the Willamette in Portland since the 1973 opening of the double-deckerFremont Bridge. Other bridges that span the Willamette River in the downtown area include theBurnside Bridge, theRoss Island Bridge(both built 1926), and the double-deckerMarquam Bridge(built 1966). Other bridges outside the downtown area include theSellwood Bridge(built 2016) to the south; and theSt. Johns Bridge, aGothic revivalsuspension bridge built in 1931, to the north. TheGlenn L. Jackson Memorial Bridgeand theInterstate Bridgeprovide access from Portland across the Columbia River\",\n \"the Columbia River into Washington state. Neighborhoods The Willamette River, which flows north through downtown, serves as the natural boundary between East and West Portland. The denser and earlier-developed west side extends into the lap of theWest Hills, while the flatter east side extends for roughly 180 blocks until it meets the suburb ofGresham. In 1891 the cities of Portland,Albina, andEast Portlandwere consolidated, creating inconsistent patterns of street names and addresses. It was not unusual for a street name to be duplicated in disparate areas. The \\\"Great Renumbering\\\" on September 2, 1931, standardized street naming patterns and divided Portland into five \\\"general districts.\\\" It also changed house numbers from 20 per block to 100 per block and adopted a single street name on a grid. For example, the 200 block north of Burnside is either NW Davis Street or NE Davis Street throughout the entire city. The six previous addressing sections of Portland, which were colloquially known as quadrants\",\n \"known as quadrants despite there being six,have developed distinctive identities, with mild cultural differences and friendly rivalries between their residents, especially between those who live east of the Willamette River versus west of the river.Portland's addressing sections are North, Northwest, Northeast, South, Southeast, and Southwest (which includesdowntown Portland). The Willamette River divides the city into east and west whileBurnside Street, which traverses the entire city lengthwise, divides the north and south. North Portland consists of the peninsula formed by the Willamette and Columbia Rivers, with N Williams Ave serving as its eastern boundary. All addresses and streets within the city are prefixed by N, NW, NE, S, SW or SE with the exception of Burnside Street, which is prefixed with W or E. Starting on May 1, 2020, former Southwest prefix addresses with house numbers on east–west streets leading with zero dropped the zero and the street prefix on all streets (including north–south\",\n \"north–south streets) converted from Southwest to South. For example, the current address of 246 S California St. was changed from 0246 SW California St. and the current address of 4310 S Macadam Ave. was converted from 4310 SW Macadam Ave. The new South Portland addressing section was approved by the Portland City Council on June 6, 2018and is bounded bySW Naito Parkway, SW View Point Terrace and theTryon Creek State Natural Areato the west, SW Clay Street to the north, the Willamette River to the east, and city limits to the south. It includes the Lair Hill, Johns Landing and South Waterfront districts and Lewis & Clark College as well as the Riverdale area of unincorporated Multnomah County south of the Portland city limits.In 2018, the city's Bureau of Transportation finalized a plan to transition this part of Portland into South Portland, beginning on May 1, 2020, to reduce confusion by 9-1-1 dispatchers and delivery services.With the addition of South Portland, all six addressing sectors (N, NE, NW, S,\",\n \"(N, NE, NW, S, SE and SW) are now officially known as sextants. The Pearl DistrictinNorthwest Portland, which was largely occupied by warehouses, light industry and railroad classification yards in the early to mid-20th century, now houses upscaleart galleries, restaurants, and retail stores, and is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the city.Areas further west of the Pearl District include neighborhoods known as Uptown and Nob Hill, as well as the Alphabet District and NW 23rd Ave., a major shopping street lined with clothing boutiques and other upscale retail, mixed with cafes and restaurants. Northeast Portland is home to theLloyd District,Alberta Arts District, and theHollywood District. North Portland is largely residential and industrial. It containsKelley Point Park, the northernmost point of the city. It also contains theSt. Johnsneighborhood, which is historically one of the most ethnically diverse and poorest neighborhoods in the city. Old Town Chinatownis next to the Pearl District in\",\n \"Pearl District in Northwest Portland. In 1890 it was the second largest Chinese community in the United States.In 2017, the crime rate was several times above the city average. This neighborhood has been called Portland's skid row.Southwest Portland is largely residential.Downtown district, made up of commercial businesses, museums,skyscrapers, and public landmarks represents a small area within the southwest address section. Portland's South Waterfront area has been developing into a dense neighborhood of shops, condominiums, and apartments starting in the mid-2000s. Development in this area is ongoing.The area is served by thePortland Streetcar, theMAX Orange Lineand fourTriMetbus lines. This former industrial area sat as abrownfieldprior to development in the mid-2000s. Southeast Portland is largely residential, and consists of several neighborhoods, includingHawthorne District,Belmont,Brooklyn, andMount Tabor.Reed College, a private liberal arts college that was founded in 1908, is located within the\",\n \"located within the confines of Southeast Portland as isMount Tabor, a volcanic landform. Demographics Ethnicity The 2020 census reported the city as 73.8%White(449,025 people), 8.2%Asian(52,854), 5.8% Black or African American (38,217), 0.9% Native American (7,335), 0.5% Pacific Islander (3,919), and 5.0% from two or more races (69,898).10.3% were Hispanic or Latino, of any race (72,336). Whites not of Hispanic origin made up 68.8% of the total population. The 2010 census reported the city as 76.1%White(444,254 people), 7.1%Asian(41,448), 6.3% Black or African American (36,778), 1.0% Native American (5,838), 0.5% Pacific Islander (2,919), 4.7% belonging to two or more racial groups (24,437) and 5.0% from other races (28,987).9.4% wereHispanicor Latino, of any race (54,840). Whites not of Hispanic origin made up 72.2% of the total population. In 1940, Portland's African-American population was approximately 2,000 and largely consisted of railroad employees and their families.During the war-timeLiberty\",\n \"the war-timeLiberty Shipconstruction boom, the need for workers drew many Black people to the city. The new influx of Black people settled in specific neighborhoods, such as theAlbinadistrict andVanport. The May 1948 flood which destroyed Vanport eliminated the only integrated neighborhood, and an influx of blacks into the northeast quadrant of the city continued.Portland'slongshoremenracial mix was described as being \\\"lily-white\\\" in the 1960s when the localInternational Longshore and Warehouse Uniondeclined to represent grain handlers since some were black. Racial Makeup of Portland (2022) Over two-thirds of Oregon's African-American residents live in Portland.As of the 2000 census, three of its high schools (Cleveland, Lincoln and Wilson) were over 70% White, reflecting the overall population, whileJefferson High Schoolwas 87% non-White. The remaining six schools have a higher number of non-Whites, including Blacks and Asians. Hispanic students average from 3.3% at Wells to 31% atRoosevelt. Portland\",\n \"Portland residents identifying solely as Asian Americans account for 7.1% of the population; an additional 1.8% is partially of Asian heritage.Vietnamese Americansmake up 2.2% of Portland's population, and make up the largest Asian ethnic group in the city, followed byChinese(1.7%),Filipinos(0.6%),Japanese(0.5%),Koreans(0.4%),Laotians(0.4%),Hmong(0.2%), andCambodians(0.1%).A small population ofIu Mienlive in Portland. Portland has two Chinatowns, with New Chinatown in the 'Jade District' along SE 82nd Avenue with Chinese supermarkets, Hong Kong style noodle houses,dim sum, and Vietnamesephởrestaurants. With about 12,000 Vietnamese residing in the city proper, Portland has one of the largest Vietnamese populations in America per capita.According to statistics, there are over 4,500Pacific Islandersin Portland, making up 0.7% of the city's population.There is aTongancommunity in Portland, who arrived in the area in the 1970s, and Tongans and Pacific Islanders as a whole are one of the fastest-growing ethnic\",\n \"ethnic groups in the Portland area. Portland's population has been and remains predominantlyWhite. In 1940, Whites were over 98% of the city's population.In 2009, Portland had the fifth-highest percentage of White residents among the 40 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. A 2007 survey of the 40 largest cities in the U.S. concluded Portland's urban core has the highest percentage of White residents.Some scholars have noted the Pacific Northwest as a whole is \\\"one of the last Caucasian bastions of the United States\\\".While Portland's diversity was historically comparable to metro Seattle and Salt Lake City, those areas grew more diverse in the late 1990s and 2000s. Portland not only remains White, but migration to Portland is disproportionately White. The Oregon Territory banned African American settlement in 1849. In the 19th century, certain laws allowed the immigration of Chinese laborers but prohibited them from owning property or bringing their families.The early 1920s saw the rapid growth of theKu Klux\",\n \"of theKu Klux Klan, which became very influential in Oregon politics, culminating in the election ofWalter M. Pierceas governor. The largest influxes of minority populations occurred during World War II, as the African American population grew by a factor of 10 for wartime work.After World War II, theVanport floodin 1948 displaced many African Americans. As they resettled,redliningdirected the displaced workers from the wartime settlement to neighboringAlbina.There and elsewhere in Portland, they experienced police hostility, lack of employment, andmortgage discrimination, leading to half the black population leaving after the war. In the 1980s and 1990s, radical skinhead groups flourished in Portland.In 1988,Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian immigrant, was killed by three skinheads. The response to his murder involved a community-driven series of rallies, campaigns, nonprofits and events designed to address Portland's racial history, leading to a city considered significantly more tolerant than in 1988 at\",\n \"than in 1988 at Seraw's death. Portland has a substantialRomapopulation. 76% of Latinos in Portland are ofMexicanheritage. Italians and Russian Jews had a very visible presence in Portland. Households As of the2010 census, there were 583,776 people living in the city, organized into 235,508 households. The population density was 4,375.2 people per square mile. There were 265,439 housing units at an average density of 1,989.4 per square mile (768.1/km2). Population growth in Portland increased 10.3% between 2000 and 2010.Population growth in thePortland metropolitan areahas outpaced the national average during the last decade, and this is expected to continue over the next 50 years. Out of 223,737 households, 24.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.1% were married couples living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.1% were non-families. 34.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.\",\n \"of age or older. The average household size was 2.3 and the average family size was 3. The age distribution was 21.1% under the age of 18, 10.3% from 18 to 24, 34.7% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.9 males. The median income for a household in the city was $40,146, and the median income for a family was $50,271. Males had a reported median income of $35,279 versus $29,344 reported for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,643. 13.1% of the population and 8.5% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 15.7% of those under the age of 18 and 10.4% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line. Figures delineating the income levels based on race are not available at this time. According to theModern Language Association, in 2010 80.9% (539,885) percent of Multnomah County residents ages\",\n \"residents ages 5 and over spoke English as theirprimary languageat home.8.1% of the population spoke Spanish (54,036), with Vietnamese speakers making up 1.9%, and Russian 1.5%. Social The Portland metropolitan area has historically had a significantLGBTpopulation throughout the late 20th and early 21st century.In 2015, the city metro had the second highest percentage of LGBT residents in the United States with 5.4% of residents identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, second only to San Francisco.In 2006, it was reported to have the seventh highest LGBT population in the country, with 8.8% of residents identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, and the metro ranking fourth in the nation at 6.1%.The city held its firstpride festivalin 1975 on thePortland State Universitycampus. Religion Portland has been cited as the leastreligiouscity in the United States with over 42% of residents identifying as religiously \\\"unaffiliated\\\",according to the nonpartisan and nonprofitPublic Religion Research\",\n \"Religion Research Institute's American Values Atlas. Homelessness A 2019 survey by the city's budget office showed that homelessness is perceived as the top challenge facing Portland, and was cited as a reason people move and do not participate in park programs.Calls to 911 concerning \\\"unwanted persons\\\" have significantly increased between 2013 and 2018, and the police are increasingly dealing with homeless and mentally ill.Homelessness has taken a toll on the sense of safety among visitors, and residents and business owners are adversely impacted.Even though homeless services and shelter beds have increased, as of 2020 homelessness is considered an intractable problem in Portland. The proposed budget for 2022–23 includes $5.8MM to buy land for affordable housing, and $36MM to equip and operate \\\"safe rest villages\\\".A 2022 initiative approved by the Portland city council makes homeless camping illegal, eventually requiring homeless individuals to move into mass shelters. Crime According to theFederal Bureau\",\n \"theFederal Bureau of Investigation'sUniform Crime Reportin 2009, Portland ranked 53rd in violent crime out of the top 75 U.S. cities with a population greater than 250,000.The murder rate in Portland in 2013 averaged 2.3 murders per 100,000 people per year, which was lower than the national average. In 2011, 72% of arrested male subjects tested positive for illegal drugs and the city was dubbed the \\\"deadliest drug market in the Pacific Northwest\\\" due to drug related deaths.In 2010,ABC's Nightlinereported that Portland is one of the largest hubs for child sex trafficking.Car theft rates in Portland are the fifth highest of any US metropolitan area as of 2023.According to theLos Angeles Timesin 2023: \\\"Shootings in the city have tripled\\\" and \\\"Lower-level crimes have spiked too: More than 11,000 vehicles were stolen in 2022, up from 6,500 in 2019.\\\" In the PortlandMetropolitan statistical areawhich includes Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, Washington, and Yamhill Counties, OR and Clark and Skamania Counties, WA\",\n \"Counties, WA for 2017, the murder rate was 2.6, violent crime was 283.2 per 100,000 people per year. In 2017, the population within the city of Portland was 649,408 and there were 24 murders and 3,349 violent crimes. Portland's 101 homicides in 2022 set a new record.For 2021 year, Portland recorded 90 homicides, compared with 20 in 2016, and 27 in 2017. Economy Portland's location is beneficial for several industries. Relatively low energy cost, accessible resources, north–south and east–west Interstates, international air terminals, large marine shipping facilities, and both west coast intercontinental railroads are all economic advantages. The city's marine terminals alone handle over 13 million tons of cargo per year, and the port is home to one of the largest commercial dry docks in the country.ThePort of Portlandis the third-largest export tonnage port on the west coast of the U.S., and being about 80 miles (130 km) upriver, it is the largest fresh-water port. The scrap steel industry's history in\",\n \"history in Portland predates World War II. The scrap steel industry thrives in the region, withSchnitzer Steel Industries, a prominent scrap steel company, shipping a record 1.15 billion tons of scrap metal to Asia during 2003. Other heavy industry companies includeESCO CorporationandOregon Steel Mills. Technology is a major component of the city's economy, with more than 1,200 technology companies existing within the metro.This high density of technology companies has led to the nicknameSilicon Forestbeing used to describe the Portland area, a reference to the abundance of trees in the region and to theSilicon Valleyregion in Northern California.The area also hosts facilities for software companies and onlinestartup companies, some supported by localseed fundingorganizations andbusiness incubators.Computer components manufacturerIntelis the Portland area's largest employer, providing jobs for more than 15,000 people, with several campuses to the west of central Portland in the city ofHillsboro. The Portland\",\n \"The Portland metro area has become abusiness clusterfor athletic/outdoor gear and footwear manufacturer's headquarters. Shoes are not manufactured in Portland.The area is home to the global, North American or U.S. headquarters ofNike(the onlyFortune 500company headquartered in Oregon),Adidas,Columbia Sportswear,LaCrosse Footwear,Dr. Martens,Li-Ning,Keen,andHi-Tec Sports.While headquartered elsewhere,Merrell,Amer SportsandUnder Armourhave design studios and local offices in the Portland area. Other notable Portland-based companies include industrial goods and metal fabrication companyPrecision Castparts, film animation studioLaika; commercial vehicle manufacturerDaimler Trucks North America; advertising firmWieden+Kennedy; bankersUmpqua Holdings; child care and early childhood education providerKinderCare Learning Centers; and retailersFred Meyer,New Seasons Market,Storables, andPowell's Books. Breweries are another major industry in Portland, which is home to 139 breweries/microbreweries, the 7th most in the\",\n \"the 7th most in the nation, as of December 2018.Additionally, the city boasts a robustcoffee culturethat now rivals Seattle and hosts over 20 coffee roasters. Housing In 2016, home prices in Portland grew faster than in any other city in the United States.Apartment rental costs in Portland reported in November 2019 was $1,337 for two bedroom and $1,133 for one bedroom. In 2017, developers projected an additional 6,500 apartments to be built in the Portland Metro Area over the next year.However, as of December 2019, the number of homes available for rent or purchase in Portland continues to shrink. Over the past year, housing prices in Portland have risen 2.5%. Housing prices in Portland continue to rise, the median price rising from $391,400 in November 2018 to $415,000 in November 2019.There has been a rise of people from out of state moving to Portland, which impacts housing availability. Because of the demand for affordable housing and influx of new residents, more Portlanders in their 20s and 30s are\",\n \"20s and 30s are still living in their parents' homes.There is a considerable amount of \\\"Airbnbtype\\\" rentals in the city. An audit in 2018 located around 4,600 listings, of which 80% were illegally operated. Arts and culture Music, film, and performing arts Portland is home to a range of classical performing arts institutions including thePortland Opera,Portland Baroque Orchestra,Oregon SymphonyandPortland Youth Philharmonic; the last of these, established in 1924, was the first youth orchestra established in the United States.The city is also home to several theaters and performing arts institutions including theOregon Ballet Theatre, Northwest Children's Theatre,Portland Center Stage,Artists Repertory Theatre, Curious Comedy Theatre andMiracle Theatre. In 2013,The Guardiannamed the city's music scene as one of the \\\"most vibrant\\\" in the United States.Portland is home to famous bands such as theKingsmenandPaul Revere & the Raiders, both famous for their association with the song \\\"Louie Louie\\\" (1963).Other\",\n \"Louie\\\" (1963).Other widely known musical groups include theDandy Warhols,Quarterflash,Everclear,Pink Martini,Sleater-Kinney,Blitzen Trapper, theDecemberists, and the lateElliott Smith. More recently,Portugal. The Man,Modest Mouse, andthe Shinshave made their home in Portland. In the 1980s, the city was home to a burgeoning punk scene, which included bands such as theWipersandDead Moon.The city's now-demolishedSatyricon nightclubwas a punk venue notorious for being the place whereNirvanafrontmanKurt Cobainfirst encountered his future wife andHolefrontwomanCourtney Lovein 1990.Love was then a resident of Portland and started several bands there withKat Bjelland, later ofBabes in Toyland.Multi-Grammyaward-winning jazz artistEsperanza Spaldingis from Portland and performed with the Chamber Music Society of Oregon at a young age. Awide range of films have been shot in Portland, from various independent features to major big-budget productions. DirectorGus Van Santhas notably set and shot many of his films in the\",\n \"of his films in the city.The city has also been featured in various television programs, notably theIFCsketch comedyseriesPortlandia. The series, which ran for eight seasons from 2011 to 2018,was shot on location in Portland, and satirized the city as a hub of liberal politics, organic food, alternative lifestyles, and anti-establishment attitudes.MTV's long-time running reality showThe Real Worldwas also shot in Portland for the show's 29th season:The Real World: Portlandpremiered on MTV in 2013.Other television series shot in the city includeLeverage,The Librarians,Under Suspicion,Grimm, andNowhere Man. An unusual feature of Portland entertainment is the large number of movie theaters serving beer, often with second-run or revival films.Notable examples of these \\\"brew and view\\\" theaters include theBagdad Theater and Pub, a formervaudevilletheater built in 1927 byUniversal Studios;Cinema 21; and theLaurelhurst Theater, in operation since 1923. Portland hosts the world's longest-runningH. P. Lovecraft Film\",\n \"P. Lovecraft Film Festivalat theHollywood Theatre. Museums and recreation Portland is home to numerous museums and educational institutions, ranging from art museums to institutions devoted to science and wildlife. Among the science-oriented institutions are theOregon Museum of Science and Industry(OMSI), which consists of five main halls and other ticketed attractions, such as theUSSBluebacksubmarine,the ultra-large-screen Empirical Theater (which replaced an OMNIMAX theater in 2013),and the KendallPlanetarium.TheWorld Forestry Center Discovery Museum, located in the city'sWashington Parkarea, offers educational exhibits on forests and forest-related subjects. Also located inWashington Parkare theHoyt Arboretum, theInternational Rose Test Garden, theJapanese Garden, and theOregon Zoo. ThePortland Art Museumowns the city's largest art collection and presents a variety of touring exhibitions each year and, with the recent addition of the Modern and Contemporary Art wing, it became one of the United States' 25\",\n \"United States' 25 largest museums. TheOregon Historical Society Museum, founded in 1898, which has a variety of books, film, pictures, artifacts, and maps dating back throughout Oregon's history. It houses permanent and temporary exhibits about Oregon history, and hosts traveling exhibits about the history of the United States. Oaks Amusement Park, in the Sellwood district of Southeast Portland, is the city's onlyamusement parkand is also one of the country's longest-running amusement parks. It has operated since 1905 and was known as the \\\"Coney Islandof the Northwest\\\" upon its opening. Cuisine and breweries Food carts are extremely popular within the city, with over 600 licensed carts.The city is home toStumptown Coffee Roastersas well as dozens of other micro-roasteries and cafes. Portland has 58 active breweries within city limits,and 70+ within the surrounding metro area.and data compiled by the Brewers Association ranks Portland seventh in the United States as of 2018. Portland hosts a number of\",\n \"hosts a number of festivals throughout the year that celebrate beer and brewing, including theOregon Brewers Festival, held inTom McCall Waterfront Park. Held each summer during the last full weekend of July, it is the largest outdoor craft beer festival in North America, with over 70,000 attendees in 2008.Other major beer festivals throughout the calendar year include the Spring Beer and Wine Festival in April, the North American Organic Brewers Festival in June, thePortland International Beerfestin July,and the Holiday Ale Festival in December. Sustainability The city became a pioneer of state-directed metropolitan planning, a program which was instituted statewide in 1969 to compact theurban growth boundariesof the city.Portland was the first city to enact a comprehensive plan to reducecarbon dioxide emissions. Free speech and public nudity Strong free speech protections of theOregon Constitutionupheld by theOregon Supreme CourtinState v. Henry,specifically found that full nudity andlap dancesinstrip\",\n \"dancesinstrip clubsareprotected speech.Portland has the highest number of strip clubs per-capita in a city in the United States, and Oregon ranks as the highest state for per-capita strip clubs. In November 2008, a Multnomah County judge dismissed charges against a nude bicyclist arrested on June 26, 2008. The judge stated that the city's annualWorld Naked Bike Ride– held each year in June since 2004 – has created a \\\"well-established tradition\\\" in Portland where cyclists may ride naked as a form of protest against cars and fossil fuel dependence.The defendant was not riding in the official World Naked Bike Ride at the time of his arrest as it had occurred 12 days earlier that year, on June 14. Protests From November 10 to 12, 2016, protests in Portland turned into ariot, when a group broke off from a larger group of peaceful protesters who were opposed to the election ofDonald Trumpas president of the United States. Public art Sports Portland is home to three major league sports franchises: thePortland Trail\",\n \"thePortland Trail Blazersof theNBA, thePortland TimbersofMajor League Soccer(MLS), and thePortland Thorns FCof theNational Women's Soccer League. In 2015, the Timbers won theMLS Cup, which was the first male professional sports championship for a team from Portland since the Trail Blazers won theNBA championship in 1977.Despite being the 19th most populatedmetro areain the United States, Portland contains only one franchise from the NFL, NBA, NHL, or MLB, making it the United States' second most populated metro area with that distinction, behindSan Antonio, which also has only one NBA team (theSpurs). The city has been often rumored to receive an additional franchise, although efforts to acquire a team have failed due to stadium funding issues.An organization known as thePortland Diamond Project(PDP)has worked with MLB and local government, and there are plans to have an MLB stadium constructed atZidell Yardsin theSouth Waterfrontneighborhood.The PDP has not yet received the funding for this project. On\",\n \"this project. On September 18, 2024, it was announced that the city would receive a WNBA franchise, slated to start in 2026. Portland sports fans are characterized by their passionate support. The Trail Blazers sold out every home game between 1977 and 1995, a span of 814 consecutive games, the second-longest streak in American sports history.The Timbers joined MLS in 2011 and have sold out every home match since joining the league, a streak that has now reached 70+ matches.The Timbers season ticket waiting list has reached 10,000+, the longest waiting list in MLS.In 2015, they became the first team in the Northwest to win the MLS Cup. Player Diego Valeri marked a new record for fastest goal in MLS Cup history at 27 seconds into the game. The annualCambia Portland Classicwomen's golf tournament in September, now in its 50th year, is the longest-running non-major tournament on theLPGA Tour, plays in the southern suburb ofWest Linn. Two rival universities exist within Portland city limits: theUniversity of\",\n \"theUniversity of Portland Pilotsand thePortland State University Vikings, both of whom field teams in popular spectator sports including soccer, baseball, and basketball. Portland State also has a football team. Additionally, theUniversity of Oregon Ducks(inEugene) and theOregon State University Beavers(inCorvallis) both receive substantial attention and support from many Portland residents, despite their campuses being 110 and 84 miles from the city, respectively. Running is a popular activity in Portland, and every year the city hosts thePortland Marathonas well as parts of theHood to Coast Relay, the world's largest long-distance relay race (by number of participants). Portland served as the center to an elite running group, theNike Oregon Projectuntil its 2019 disbandment following coach Alberto Salazar's ban due to doping violations. Historic Erv Lind Stadium is located inNormandale Park.It has been home to professional and college softball. Portland also hosts numerous cycling events and has become an\",\n \"and has become an elite bicycle racing destination.TheOregon Bicycle Racing Associationsupports hundreds of official bicycling events every year. Weekly events atAlpenrose VelodromeandPortland International Racewayallow for racing nearly every night of the week from March through September.Cyclocrossraces, such as theCross Crusade, can attract over 1,000 riders and spectators. Parks and recreation Parks and greenspace planning date back toJohn Charles Olmsted's 1903Report to the Portland Park Board. In 1995, voters in the Portland metropolitan region passed a regional bond measure to acquire valuable natural areas for fish, wildlife, and people.Ten years later, more than 8,100 acres (33 km2) of ecologically valuable natural areas had been purchased and permanently protected from development. Portland is one of only four cities in the U.S. with extinct volcanoes within its boundaries (along withPilot ButteinBend, Oregon,Jackson VolcanoinJackson, Mississippi, andDiamond HeadinHonolulu, Hawaii).Mount Tabor\",\n \"Hawaii).Mount Tabor Parkis known for its scenic views and historic reservoirs. Forest Parkis the largest wilderness park within city limits in the United States, covering more than 5,000 acres (2,023 ha).Portland is also home toMill Ends Park, the world's smallest park (a two-foot-diameter circle, the park's area is only about 0.3 m2).Washington Parkis just west of downtown and is home to theOregon Zoo,Hoyt Arboretum, thePortland Japanese Garden, and theInternational Rose Test Garden. Portland is also home toLan Su Chinese Garden(formerly the Portland Classical Chinese Garden), an authentic representation of aSuzhou-style walled garden. Portland's east side has several formal public gardens: the historicPeninsula ParkRose Garden, the rose gardens ofLadd's Addition, theCrystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, theLeach Botanical Garden, andThe Grotto. Portland's downtown features two groups of contiguous city blocks dedicated for park space: theNorthandSouth Park Blocks.The 37-acre (15 ha)Tom McCall Waterfront\",\n \"McCall Waterfront Parkwas built in 1974 along the length of the downtown waterfront afterHarbor Drivewas removed; it now hosts large events throughout the year.The nearby historically significantBurnside Skateparkand five indoorskateparksgive Portland a reputation as possibly \\\"the most skateboard-friendly town in America.\\\" Tryon Creek State Natural Areais one of threeOregon State Parksin Portland and the most popular; its creek has a run ofsteelhead. The other two State Parks areWillamette Stone State Heritage Site, in the West Hills, and theGovernment Island State Recreation Areain the Columbia River nearPortland International Airport. In February 2015, the City Council approved a total ban on smoking in all city parks and natural areas effective July 1, 2015. The ban includes cigarettes, vaping, as well as marijuana. Government City hall The city of Portland is governed by the Portland City Council, which includes a mayor, four commissioners, and anauditor. Each is elected citywide to serve a four-year\",\n \"serve a four-year term. Each commissioner oversees one or more bureaus responsible for the day-to-day operation of the city. The mayor serves as chairman of the council and is principally responsible for allocating department assignments to his fellow commissioners. The auditor provides checks and balances in the commission form of government and accountability for the use of public resources. In addition, the auditor provides access to information and reports on various matters of city government. Portland is the only large city left in the United States with the commission form of government. The city's Community & Civic Life (formerly Office of Neighborhood Involvement)serves as a conduit between city government and Portland's95 officially recognized neighborhoods. Each neighborhood is represented by a volunteer-basedneighborhood associationwhich serves as a liaison between residents of the neighborhood and the city government. The city provides funding to neighborhood associations through seven district\",\n \"seven district coalitions, each of which is a geographical grouping of several neighborhood associations. Most (but not all) neighborhood associations belong to one of these district coalitions. Portland and its surrounding metropolitan area are served byMetro, the United States' only directly electedmetropolitan planning organization. Metro's charter gives it responsibility forland useandtransportation planning,solid waste management, and map development. TheMultnomah Countygovernment provides many services to the Portland area, as doWashingtonandClackamascounties to the west and south. Fire and emergency services are provided byPortland Fire & Rescue. On November 8, 2022, Portland residents approveda charter reformballot measure to replace the commission form of government with a 12-member council elected in four districts using thesingle transferable votesystem, with a professionalcity managerappointed by a directly elected mayor. The city expects to hold the first election for this new system in 2024.\",\n \"new system in 2024. Courts and law enforcement Law enforcement is provided by thePortland Police Bureau. State and national politics Portland strongly favors theDemocratic Party; registered Democrats (51.2%) outnumberRepublicans(10.5%) nearly 5 to 1. All city offices arenon-partisan.However, almost all of the city's elected officials are known to be Democrats.Fred L. Petersonin 1952 is the city's last elected mayor who was known to be a Republican, and no Republican has served as mayor even on an interim basis sinceConnie McCreadyheld the post from 1979 to 1980. Portland is split among three of Oregon's U.S.congressional districts. Most of the city is in the3rd District, represented byEarl Blumenauer(D-Portland), who served on the city council from 1986 until his election to Congress in 1996. Most of the city west of the Willamette River is part of the1st District, represented bySuzanne Bonamici(D-Beaverton). A small portion of southeastern Portland is in the5th District, formerly represented byKurt\",\n \"represented byKurt Schrader(D-Canby) prior to losing his Democratic primary election to a more progressive candidate, but currently represented by the former mayor ofHappy Valley, RepublicanLori Chavez-DeRemer, who is the firstRepublicanto represent a significant portion of the city in theU.S. House of Representativessince 1975. Both of Oregon's senators,Ron WydenandJeff Merkley, are progressive Democrats from Portland. In the2008 presidential election, Democratic candidateBarack Obamaeasily carried Portland, winning 245,464 votes from city residents to 50,614 for hisRepublicanrival,John McCain. In the2012 presidential election, Democratic candidateBarack Obamaagain easily carried Portland, winning 256,925 votes from Multnomah county residents to 70,958 for hisRepublicanrival,Mitt Romney. Sam Adams, the former mayor of Portland, became the city's first openly gay mayor in 2009.In 2004, 59.7 percent of Multnomah County voters cast ballots againstOregon Ballot Measure 36, which amended theOregon Constitutionto\",\n \"Constitutionto prohibit recognition ofsame-sex marriages. The measure passed with 56.6% of the statewide vote. Multnomah County is one of two counties where a majority voted against the initiative; the other isBenton County, which includesCorvallis, home ofOregon State University.On April 28, 2005, Portland became the only city in the nation to withdraw from aJoint Terrorism Task Force.As of February 19, 2015, the Portland city council approved permanently staffing the JTTF with two of its city's police officers. City planning and development The city consulted with urban planners as far back as 1904, resulting in the development ofWashington Parkand the40-Mile Loopgreenway, which connects many of the city's parks.Portland is often cited as an example of a city with strongland use planningcontrols.This is largely the result of statewide land conservation policies adopted in 1973 under GovernorTom McCall, in particular the requirement for anurban growth boundary(UGB) for every city and metropolitan area. The\",\n \"area. The opposite extreme, a city with few or no controls, is typically illustrated byHouston. Oregon's 1973 \\\"urban growth boundary\\\" law limits the boundaries for large-scale development in each metropolitan area in Oregon.This limits access to utilities such as sewage, water and telecommunications, as well as coverage by fire, police and schools.Portland's urban growth boundary, adopted in 1979, separates urban areas (where high-density development is encouraged and focused) from traditional farm land (where restrictions on non-agricultural development are very strict).This was atypical in an era when automobile use led many areas to neglect their core cities in favor of development alonginterstate highways, in suburbs, andsatellite cities. The original state rules included a provision for expanding urban growth boundaries, but critics felt this was not being accomplished. In 1995, the State passed a law requiring cities to expand UGBs to provide enough undeveloped land for a 20-year supply of future\",\n \"supply of future housing at projected growth levels.In 2007, the legislature changed the law to require the maintenance of an estimated 50 years of growth within the boundary, as well as the protection of accompanying farm and rural lands.The growth boundary, along with efforts of the Portland Development Commission to create economic development zones, has led to the development of a large portion of downtown, a large number of mid- and high-rise developments, and an overall increase in housing and business density. Prosper Portland(formerly the Portland Development Commission) is a semi-public agency that plays a major role in downtown development; city voters created it in 1958 to serve as the city'surban renewalagency. It provides housing and economic development programs within the city and works behind the scenes with major local developers to create large projects. In the early 1960s, the Portland Development Commission led the razing of a large Italian-Jewish neighborhood downtown, bounded roughly by\",\n \"bounded roughly by I-405, the Willamette River, 4th Avenue and Market street.MayorNeil Goldschmidttook office in 1972 as a proponent of bringing housing and the associated vitality back to the downtown area, which was seen as emptying out after 5 pm. The effort has had dramatic effects in the 30 years since, with many thousands of new housing units clustered in three areas: north of Portland State University (between I-405, SW Broadway, and SW Taylor St.); the RiverPlace development along the waterfront under the Marquam (I-5) bridge; and most notably in the Pearl District (between I-405, Burnside St., NW Northrup St., and NW 9th Ave.). Historically,environmental consciousnesshas weighed significantly in the city's planning and development efforts.Portland was one of the first cities in the United States to promote and integrate alternative forms of transportation, such as theMAX Light Railand extensive bike paths.The Urban Greenspaces Institute, housed inPortland State UniversityGeography Department's\",\n \"Department's Center for Mapping Research, promotes better integration of the built and natural environments. The institute works on urban park, trail, and natural areas planning issues, both at the local and regional levels.In October 2009, the Portland City Council unanimously adopted aclimate actionplan that will cut the city's greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. As of 2012, Portland was the largest city in the United States that did not addfluorideto its public water supply,andfluoridationhas historically been a subject ofcontroversyin the city.Portland voters have four times voted against fluoridation, in 1956, 1962, 1980 (repealing a 1978 vote in favor), and 2013.In 2012 the city council, responding to advocacy from public health organizations and others, voted unanimously to begin fluoridation by 2014. Fluoridation opponents forced a public vote on the issue,and on May 21, 2013, city voters again rejected fluoridation. Education Primary and secondary education Nine public school\",\n \"Nine public school districts and many private schools include sections of Portland.Portland Public Schoolsis the largest school district, operating 86 public schools.In addition to PPS, other school districts in Multnomah County that serve parts of the city include theBeaverton School District,Centennial School District,David Douglas School District,Parkrose School District,Reynolds School District,Riverdale School District, andScappoose School District.Portions in Clackamas County are in theNorth Clackamas School Districtand Centennial School District.Portions in Washington County are in Portland Public Schools. David Douglas High School, in thePowellhurstneighborhood, has the largest enrollment of any public high school in the city.Other high schools includeBenson,Cleveland,Franklin,Grant,Jefferson,Madison,Parkrose,Roosevelt, andIda B Wells-Barnett(formerly Woodrow Wilson), and several suburban high schools which serve the city's outer areas. Established in 1869,Lincoln High School(formerly Portland High\",\n \"Portland High School) is the city's oldest public education institution, and is one of two of the oldest high schools west of theMississippi River(after San Francisco'sLowell High School). Former public schools in the city includedWashington High School, which operated from 1906 until 1981, as well asAdamsandJackson, which also closed the same year. Higher education Portland State Universityhas the second-largest enrollment rate of any university in the state (afterOregon State University), with a student body of nearly 30,000.It has been named among the top fifteen percentile of American regional universities byThe Princeton Reviewfor undergraduate education,and has been internationally recognized for its degrees inMaster of Business Administrationandurban planning.The city is also home to theOregon Health & Science University, as well asPortland Community College. Notable private universities include theUniversity of Portland, a Roman Catholic university affiliated with theCongregation of Holy Cross;Reed\",\n \"of Holy Cross;Reed College, aliberal arts college, andLewis & Clark College. Media The Oregonianis the only daily general-interest newspaper serving Portland. It also circulates throughout the state and inClark County, Washington. Smaller local newspapers, distributed free of charge in newspaper boxes and at venues around the city, include thePortland Tribune(general-interest paper published on Wednesdays),Willamette Week(general-interestalternative weeklypublished on Wednesdays), andThe Portland Mercury(another alt-weekly, targeted at younger urban readers and published every other Thursday). The Portland area also has newspapers that are published for specific communities, includingThe Asian Reporter(a weekly covering Asian news, both international and local) andThe Skanner(a weeklyAfrican-American newspapercovering both local and national news). ThePortland Business Journalcovers business-related news on a weekly basis, as doesTheDaily Journal of Commerce, its main competitor.Portland Monthlyis a monthly\",\n \"Monthlyis a monthly news and culture magazine.The Bee, over 110 years old, is another neighborhood newspaper serving the inner southeast neighborhoods. Infrastructure Healthcare Legacy Health, a non-profit healthcare system in Portland, operates multiple facilities in the city and surrounding suburbs.These includeLegacy Emanuel, founded in 1912, in Northeast Portland; andLegacy Good Samaritan, founded in 1875, and in Northwest Portland.Randall's Children's Hospitaloperates at the Legacy Emanuel Campus. Good Samaritan has centers for breast health, cancer, and stroke, and is home to theLegacy Devers Eye Institute, the Legacy Obesity and Diabetes Institute, the Legacy Diabetes and Endocrinology Center, the Legacy Rehabilitation Clinic of Oregon, and theLinfield-Good Samaritan School of Nursing. The Catholic-affiliatedProvidence Health & ServicesoperatesProvidence Portland Medical Centerin theNorth Tabor neighborhoodof the city.Oregon Health & Science Universityis a university hospital formed in 1974.\",\n \"formed in 1974. TheVeterans Affairs Medical Centeroperates next to the Oregon Health & Science University main campus.Adventist Medical Centeralso serves the city.Shriners Hospital for Childrenis a small children's hospital established in 1923. Transportation The Portland metropolitan area has transportation services common to major U.S. cities, though Oregon's emphasis on proactiveland-use planningandtransit-oriented developmentwithin theurban growth boundarymeans commuters have multiple well-developed options. In 2008, 12.6% of all commutes in Portland were on public transit.TriMetoperates most of the region's buses and theMAX(short for Metropolitan Area Express)light railsystem, which connects the city and suburbs. The 1986-opened MAX system has expanded to five lines, with the latest being theOrange LinetoMilwaukie, in service as of September 2015.WES Commuter Railopened in February 2009 in Portland's western suburbs, linkingBeavertonandWilsonville. The city-ownedPortland Streetcarserves two routes in\",\n \"two routes in the Central City –downtownand adjacent districts. The first line, which opened in 2001 and was extended in 2005–07, operates from the South Waterfront District through Portland State University and north through the West End of downtown, to shopping areas and dense residential districts north and northwest of downtown. The second line that opened in 2012 added 3.3 miles (5.3 km) of tracks on the east side of the Willamette River and across theBroadway Bridgeto a connection with the original line.The east-side line completed a loop to the tracks on the west side of the river upon completion of the newTilikum Crossingin 2015,and, in anticipation of that, had been named the Central Loop line in 2012. However, it was renamed theLoop Service, with an A Loop (clockwise) and B Loop (counterclockwise), when it became a complete loop with the opening of the Tilikum Crossing bridge. Fifth and Sixth avenues within downtown comprise thePortland Transit Mall, two streets devoted primarily to bus and light\",\n \"to bus and light rail traffic with limited automobile access. Opened in 1977 for buses, the transit mall was renovated and rebuilt in 2007–09, with light rail added. Starting in 1975 and lasting nearly four decades, all transit service within downtown Portland was free, the area being known by TriMet asFareless Square, but a need for minor budget cuts and funding needed for expansion prompted the agency to limit free rides to rail service only in 2010,and subsequently to discontinue the fare-free zone entirely in 2012. TriMet provides real-time tracking of buses and trains with its TransitTracker, and makes the data available to software developers so they can create customized tools of their own. I-5connects Portland with the Willamette Valley,Southern Oregon, and California to the south and withWashingtonto the north.I-405forms a loop with I-5 around the central downtown area of the city andI-205is a loop freeway route on the east side which connects to thePortland International Airport.U.S. 26supports\",\n \"26supports commuting within the metro area and continues to the Pacific Ocean westward andMount HoodandCentral Oregoneastward.U.S. 30has a main, bypass, and business route through the city extending toAstoriato the west; throughGresham, Oregon, and the easternexurbs, and connects toI-84, traveling towardsBoise, Idaho. Portland's main airport isPortland International Airport(PDX), about 20 minutes by car (40 minutes by MAX) northeast of downtown. Portland is also home toOregon'sonly public use heliport, thePortland Downtown Heliport. Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service to Portland atUnion Stationon three routes. Long-haul train routes include theCoast Starlight(with service from Los Angeles to Seattle) and theEmpire Builder(with service to Chicago). TheAmtrak Cascadesstate-supported trains operate betweenVancouver, B.C., andEugene, Oregon, and serve Portland several times daily. The city is also served byGreyhound Linesintercity bus service, which also operatesBoltBus, an express bus\",\n \"an express bus service. The city's first airport was theSwan Island Municipal Airport, which was closed in the 1940s. Portland is the only city in the United States that owns operating mainlinesteam locomotives, donated to the city in 1958 by the railroads that ran them.Spokane, Portland & Seattle 700and the world-famousSouthern Pacific 4449can be seen several times a year pulling a specialexcursion train, either locally or on an extended trip. The \\\"Holiday Express\\\", pulled over the tracks of theOregon Pacific Railroadon weekends in December, has become a Portland tradition over its several years running.These trains and others are operated by volunteers of theOregon Rail Heritage Foundation, an amalgamation of rail preservation groups which collaborated on the finance and construction of theOregon Rail Heritage Center, a permanent and publicly accessible home for the locomotives, which opened in 2012 adjacent to OMSI. In Portland, cyclingis a significant mode of transportation. As the city has been\",\n \"the city has been particularly supportive ofurban bicyclingit now ranks highly among the mostbicycle-friendlycities in the world.Bicycles accounted for 2.8% of commuting in 2021. Bicycle commuting declined by 46% between 2016 and 2022 according toPortland Bureau of Transportationreport.For its achievements in promoting cycling as an everyday means of transportation, Portland has been recognized by theLeague of American Bicyclistsand othercycling organizationsfor its network of on-street bicycling facilities and other bicycle-friendly services, being one of only three U.S. cities to have earned a Platinum-level rating.A newbicycle-sharing system,Biketown, launched on July 19, 2016,with 100 stations in the city's central and eastside neighborhoods. Portland abolished the requirement for parking minimum as well asMinneapolisandAustin. As of 2015, Portland is owed $32.4 million in unpaid parking citations due to thecity government's refusal to collect more aggressively. Water The cities main source of drinking\",\n \"source of drinking water is several reservoirs in theBull Run Watershed, which consists of roughly 102 square miles (260 km2) of forested land just west of Mount Hood. The city also operates 25 groundwaterwellsnear the Columbia River in Northeast Portland, which supplements the cities water supply during the summer. Notable people Sister cities Portland'ssister citiesare: Portland also has a friendship city agreement with: See also Notes References Bibliography Further reading External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":71,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"What was the Enhanced Fujita Scale rating of the 2011 tornado that hit the hometown of the band who had a controversial interview with Bryan Odell on June 3, 2012? "},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"EF5- Joplin, Missouri"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BryanStars"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_Shout_Never"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Joplin_tornado"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Multiple constraints"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BryanStars', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_Shout_Never', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Joplin_tornado']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BryanStars","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_Shout_Never","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Joplin_tornado"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BryanStars\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_Shout_Never\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Joplin_tornado\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["BryanStars Bryan Odell(born May 22, 1990), better known by hisonline aliasBryanStars, is an American formermusic interviewer, YouTube personality, musician, and artist manager. He is best known for hisBryanStars Interviewsseries, where he interviews with popular artists in thealternative scene, includingBlack Veil Brides,Asking Alexandria, andFalling in Reverse. Early life Odell was born on May 22, 1990, in Japan, where he resided until he was eight years old. His family later relocated toDallas, Texas, and then again toNebraskawhen he was a teenager.He attendedLincoln East High School, where he graduated in 2008.In his senior year, his short filmEnergy Crisis in America, highlightingrising gas prices, won third place in the high school section of theStudentCamcompetition, hosted byC-SPAN. He attended theUniversity of Nebraska–Lincolnfor two years, majoring in Broadcast Journalism.While in university, he did an internship where he would interview professional bands for a local television station. Odell chose to drop out of university to focus his attention on his YouTube channel \"BryanStars\" after winning YouTube NextUp in 2011.Through the NextUp contest, YouTube aimed to foster creators on its platform. Odell and 25 other YouTubers received a $35,000 grant for their channel and a multi-day workshop in New York City with professional online bloggers.At the time, he had about 55,000 subscribers. YouTube career Odell is best known for hisBryanStars Interviews,series on his YouTube channel, BryanStars. He primarily publishes interviews and music videos from bands of the rock andheavy metalscene. During his career, Odell interviewed artists includingAsking Alexandria,Blood On The Dance Floor,Millionaires,Never Shout Never,Motionless In White,Pierce the Veil,Black Veil Brides,All Time Low,Sleeping with Sirens,The Ready Set,One Ok Rock,Panic! at the Disco,Twenty One Pilots,Avenged Sevenfold,Escape the Fate,Suicide Silence,Disturbed,Creed,Hollywood Undead,Korn,Three Days Grace,Bullet For My Valentine,Cannibal Corpse,Chevelle, andSlipknot, as well as artists likeRob Zombie,Papa Roach,Cody Simpson,G-Eazy,Mitchel Mussoand winners ofAmerican Idol. Odell has also interviewed record producerMatt Goodand YouTube starsShane Dawson,Michael BuckleyandDave Days. He has published more than 1000 band interviews and music videos to his YouTube Channel. In 2013,BryanStars Interviewswas voted by music fans as the \"Best Music Blog\" in theAlternative PressReader's Choice Poll 2013.BryanStars Interviewswas nominated for aShorty Awardfor \"Best Web Show\" in 2014 along withJerry Seinfeld'sComedians in Cars Getting Coffee.In 2014, retailerJourneysproduced \"This Is My Journey\" segment about Odell that played in stores nationwide. Never Shout Never incident On June 3, 2012,Never Shout Neverwas interviewed by Odell in an interview that was being covered byThe New York Times. Never Shout Never lead vocalistChristofer Drew Inglewas aware ofThe New York Timescoverage of the interview. About halfway through the interview, Ingle cut Odell off, denouncing his show as \"a joke\" and his questions as \"bullshit\" with bassist Taylor MacFee also taking Odell's interview question papers from him, throwing them on the floor, and finding his questions to be annoying and irrelevant. As a result, the band abruptly ended the interview, leaving Odell in tears. An outpour of support for Odell resulted from the incident. Numerous musicians such asKellin QuinnofSleeping with Sirens,Chris FronzakofAttila, andAndy BiersackofBlack Veil Bridescame to Odell's defense.In aStickambroadcast, Ingle expressed remorse for making Odell cry, later admitting that he had takenacidearlier the day of the interview. Warped YouTube Program In 2014, Odell was picked to be one of the \"Warped YouTubers\" with Damon Fizzy (also calling himself DeeFizzy), Johnnie Guilbert, CYR and Piddleass. The following year,Kevin Lyman(creator ofWarped Tour) made Odell the official host of the tour. Odell worked with Warped Tour through 2015 as their official host on all social media, announcing over 100 bands for the tour. Odell taught a class on the 2015 Vans Warped Tour called \"YouTube 101\" where he taught aspiring YouTubers how to pursue a career in social media. My Digital Escape Odell then founded \"My Digital Escape,\" a collaborative project and YouTube channel featuring numerous smaller creators who shared a similar passion for music. While an active creator in My Digital Escape (MDE), Odell served as manager of the project as well.The channel stopped uploading in May 2016. The channel reached 800,000 subscribers and 100 million views.The channel prominently featured Odell, Johnnie Guilbert, Shannon Taylor (HeyThereImShannon), Luke Wale, Kyle David Hall, Alex Dorame, and Jordan Sweeto.In 2016, My Digital Escape went on tour across the United States and visited 21 cities. Musical endeavors In 2016, Odell went into the studio with ZK Studios to record his debut EP.On March 21, 2016, BryanStars announced the release of a 5-track EP entitled \"Follow Your Dreams\".It was released on April 1, 2016, and charted on Billboard at #22 on theAlternative New Artist Album Chart, #59 on theNew Artist Album Chartand #128 on theIndie Albums Chart. BryanStars also collaborated withSocial Reposeon a cover ofBring Me The Horizon's \"Follow You\". In November 2016, Odell announced that he would be releasing a second EP titled the \"Picture Perfect EP\". It was released on December 4, 2016. BryanStars Tour In 2012, Odell started the \"BryanStars Tour\", which toured throughout the United States. Odell created three BryanStars Tours from 2012 to 2013. Personal life Odell revealed his homosexuality on his YouTube channel in 2017. After considerable controversy later that same year due to being accused of covering up for convicted sex offenderAustin Jones, Odell stepped back from his social media ventures, specifically his YouTube channels.He has not been active on any of his YouTube channels or social media since. Awards and recognition Discography Extended plays Singles References External links","Never Shout Never Never Shout Never(originally typeset asnevershoutnever!andNeverShoutNever!) was an Americanrockband formed inJoplin, Missouri, in 2007. Vocalist and multi-instrumentalistChristofer Drewbegan the band as a solo project before expanding it to a band, whose best-known lineup included himself, bassist Taylor MacFee, and drummer Hayden Kaiser.The band that accompanied Drew when it was a solo project were originally known as \"The Shout\". Never Shout Never released eight full-length albums and nine EPs. History 2007–2009: Formation and early career Christofer Drew Ingle began making music under the alias nevershoutnever! in 2007, when he was 16 years old in his parents basement.His first exposure came through the internet, where he achieved success on Myspace before issuing the extended play,The Yippee EPon July 29, 2008, and selling 46,000 copies in the US.On July 30, 2008, he was featured onTRL, where he performed his debut single \"Big City Dreams\".The single peaked at number one on theBillboardHot Singles Saleschart.To support the EP, he went on tour in the US withJamestown Story,Owl City, and Handshakes and Highfives during the summer of 2008.He toured withHellogoodbyeandAce Endersin the fall of 2008. NeverShoutNever! released the lead single \"Trouble\" from his third EP,Me & My Ukeon December 29, 2008.The song peaked at number five on the Hot Singles Sales chart.The song was later certified gold by theRecording Industry Association of Americain May 2012.In January 2009,Me & My Ukewas officially released. NeverShoutNever! started touring withThe Scene Aesthetic,The Honorary Title, andThe Bigger Lightsin late February 2009and then toured with bands such asForever the Sickest Kids,The Cab, and Mercy Mercedes, among others in spring 2009 as part ofThe Bamboozle Roadshow 2009.He played at bothThe Bamboozle Left 2009andThe Bamboozle 2009.In 2009, Never Shout Never won themtvU Woodie Awardsfor Breaking Woodie. 2009–2010:What Is LoveandHarmony It was announced on May 29, 2009, that Ingle had signed toWarner Bros. Records, ending a major-label bidding war.As part of the deal, Ingle runs and make releases on his own imprint label, Loveway Records.Ingle's alias became officially stylized as Never Shout Never.The Summer EPwas Ingle's first release under Warner Bros. and was released on June 23, 2009.It sold 46,000 copies and the first single from the EP, titled \"Happy\", was released on iTunes on March 3, 2009.Production for Never Shout Never's debut album began in June 2009, whereButch Walkerproduced the album.The album was recorded inLos Angelesand atAbbey Road Studiosin London.The band embarked on a headlining tour in October 2009 with Carter Hulsey andNow Now Every Children, before joiningDashboard Confessionalon their headling tour in November. A self-titled EP,Never Shout Neverwas released on December 8, 2009 and featured two songs from his upcoming debut album (\"What Is Love?\" and \"Jane Doe\"), a re-recorded version of a song fromThe Yippee EP(\"She's Got Style\"), and a live version of a song fromThe Yippee EP(\"Big City Dreams\").The debut studio album from Never Shout Never,What Is Love?, was released on January 26, 2010.The album peaked at number 24 on theBillboard200chart and sold 21,000 copies.The album's first single, \"What Is Love?\" was released on December 15, 2009.\"I Love You 5\" was released on February 4, 2010 as the second single from the album.\"Can't Stand It\" was released on March 4, 2010 as the third and final single from the album along with its music video directed by Isaac Ravishankara.The song peaked at number 29 on theBillboardUS Rock Digital Song Sales chart.The group headlined theAlternative PressAP Tour in the spring of 2010 with support from Joplin,The Cab,Hey Monday,Every AvenueandThe Summer Set. Never Shout Never performed at theVans Warped Tourin summer of 2010.The band released a digital EP on July 27, 2010, titledMelody, which contained three tracks: \"CheaterCheaterBestFriendEater\", \"Coffee & Cigarettes\" and \"Lousy Truth\".Their second studio album,Harmony, was released in August 2010.The album peaked at number 14 on theBillboard200 chart and sold 23,000 copies in its first week.In October and November 2010, Never Shout Never co-headlined the Harmony Tour withThe Maine, where the bands had fans gather can foods to help those in need. As a gift to the fans, they released a live split EP and was made available for free download on Never Shout Never's website. 2011–2012:Time TravelandIndigo The band's hometown, Joplin, Missouri, was heavily damaged by atornado on May 22, 2011. Following the destruction, Ingle began a relief fund with United Way to raise $1.2 million for his hometown.To raise awareness about the devastation of Joplin, Ingle took video footage of the destruction and posted it onYouTubeon June 1, 2011. The video, which features the song \"Time Travel\", encouraged viewers to donate to the relief of the town via his United Way fund.The song later went on to become the lead single from their third studio album on July 22, 2011.The album was recorded inSpringfield, Missouriat the 2100 Studios. It is also the first album where Never Shout Never recorded as a full band.The album's second single \"Simplistic Trance - Like Getaway\" was released on August 26, 2011.Never Shout Never's third studio album,Time Travelwas released on September 20, 2011.The album peaked at number 35 on theBillboard200.In support of the album's release, they embarked on a fall headliner tour called The Time Travel Tour.The official music video for \"Time Travel\" was directed by Joey Boukadakis and was released in September 2011. Ingle first revealed the title of the group's fourth studio album in an interview with Alter The Press! on May 8, 2012,and on September 20, via his Twitter account, he announced the release date of his new albumIndigo.According to Drew, he wanted to record every song with a different producer, all in different cities, to give each song a unique feel and its own style.In support of the album's release, the band released five free tracks from their album throughAlternative PressandBillboard.Never Shout Never's fourth full-length studio album,Indigowas released November 13, 2012. It debuted at 194 on theBillboard200, a steep decline from the group's previous high of 14.The band toured the U.S. on the Indigo tour in late 2012. 2013:SunflowerandThe Xmas EP In May 2013, Never Shout Never revealed their fifth studio album,Sunflower, which was released on July 2, 2013.The band released the first promotional single, \"Good Times\" for streaming on May 23, 2013.On May 28, the group released the album's second promotional single, \"Subliminal Messages\" which premiered exclusively on PropertyOfZack.com.\"Malibu\" was released for streaming viaPureVolumeon June 4, as the third promotional single from the album.The album's fourth and final promotional single, \"Knock, Knock\" was released on June 18.The band performed at Warped Tour in the summer of 2013.During the Warped Tour, Ingle had also teamed with BandHappy, an organization in which experienced musicians taught amateurs how to reach success. He had led a workshop in which a limited number of fans could ask questions and learn from him, with the addition of a one-on-one meet and greet. A festive EP titledThe Xmas EPwas released on November 22, 2013.Drew produced and recorded the covers himself and collaborated withDia Framptonon the original track \"Under The Mistletoe\". The song was released for streaming on November 15.The EP was recorded in Drew's home.The group headlined the Xmas Tour with support fromThe Downtown FictionandNick Santinoin December 2013. 2014–2016:Recycled Youth,Black Cat, and Departure of MacFee In late 2013, Never Shout Never announced that the group was working on a new album calledRecycled Youth, Vol. 1.The album featured re-worked songs from previous Never Shout Never releases. In January 2014 the band announced that the group had begun recording the album, and was expected to be released later that year.The album was the first installment of what Drew envisioned to be a three part collection of re-recorded fan and band favorites. It was produced by Eric Palmquist inLos Angeles,California.In June 2014, Never Shout Never announced thatIan Crawfordjoined the band as the lead guitarist.Recycled Youth, Vol. 1was released on March 3, 2015. On June 9, 2015, it was announced that Never Shout Never would be releasing their seventh studio album,Black Caton August 7, 2015.The first single off of the album, titled \"Hey! We OK\", was released the same day.The album was recorded in the DTLA Recording Studio inLos Angeles,Californiaand was produced byDennis Herring.On June 17, the group released \"Boom!\" as the first promotional single from the album.On July 16, the band premiered a new track titled, \"Red Balloon\" and was released as the album's second promotional single.The album peaked at number 52 on theBillboard200.On November 24, 2015, Ian Crawford confirmed on his Facebook page that he had been let go from the band. The band embarked on the Black Cat Tour in January 2016.\"Red Balloon\" was officially released as the album's second single on February 5, 2016.\"Hey! We Ok\" was nominated at the 2016Alternative Press Music Awardsfor Song of the Year.The group headlined a US tour in June 2016 with support from Hundred Handed and Me Like Bees.On June 26, 2016, bassist Taylor MacFee announced his departure from the band.In November 2016, the group released their ninth EP,Advent Of Violett Soul. 2017–2018: Cancelled studio albums and break-up In June 2017, Never Shout Never performed at the 2017Warped Tour.They later embarked on the Throwback Tour, as well as performing at the So What?! Music Festival.The tour lasted throughout 2017 where they played songs from earlier albums that likely wouldn't be played again for a long time.In April 2017, Drew revealed he had plans on releasing Never Shout Never's eighth studio album,Emerald Sun. He described the record as \"conceptual,\" dealing with the theme of love. He stated, \"It's something I wrote that I feel has a higher message behind it. It's the album I've been wanting to make — portrays my heart and how I see the world.\" 13 tracks were written for the album.The album was expected to be released in the summer of 2018, but never made its way onto streaming services. On March 23, 2018, the band released a cover ofElvis Presley's \"Love Me Tender\" on their upcoming cover album,All for Love, composed entirely of covers of love songs.On April 2, they released their cover ofthe Beatles' \"Something\".It is unlikelyAll for Lovewas finished and will ever be released. Drew continued to upload a handful of covers on YouTube, but these were likely not final recordings for the album, nor were they likely intended to be on the album at all. Ingle revealed in December 2018 that after a small tour in Mexico and Brazil the following month that Never Shout Never would disband.However, he reached out to fans via an Instagram post two days later asking if he should keep making music under the name.Despite the initial announcement, the band performed shows in Brazil and Mexico in early 2019.Following the final show in Brazil (with long-time drummer Hayden Kaiser absent) he stated he was uncertain of the band's future, but no official breakup announcement was confirmed. 2020–2023:Unborn Spark, return and retirement On April 29, 2020, Drew announced a solo acoustic album titledUnborn Spark, due for release on May 13, his son's 1st birthday.However, on May 5, he announced that he needed a little more time for mixing and artwork to be completed.On May 17, he announced that the album would be released on June 12.On June 8, the first single, \"Time to Change\", was released. With it came the announcement that it would be released as a Never Shout Never album. Never Shout Never returned in late 2021, releasing a new single titled \"Easy Swagger\" in October.On March 8, 2022, Drew announced his retirement from music, putting an end to the band.In addition, Drew confirmed on Twitter that Never Shout Never was finished.However, on December 24, 2022, he announced that Never Shout Never would be returning the following year and also announced a release of a new album.On November 25, 2023, Drew announced viaTwitterhis second retirement from music, revealing that he would pursue a new career in professional painting.He also released the final mixes of his intended album,Advent of Violet Soulon the same day. Band members Former members Timeline Discography Awards and nominations Alternative Press Music Awards mtvU Woodie Awards PETA's Libby Awards References External links","2011 Joplin tornado The2011 Joplin tornadowas a large and devastatingmultiple-vortextornadothat struckJoplin,Missouri, United States, on the evening of Sunday, May 22, 2011. Part of alarger late-Maytornado outbreak, theEF5tornado began just west of Joplin and intensified very quickly, reaching a maximum width of nearly one mile (1.6 km) during its path through the southern part of the city. The tornado tracked eastward through Joplin, and then continued acrossInterstate 44into rural portions ofJasperandNewtoncounties, weakening before it dissipated. The tornado devastated a large portion of the city of Joplin, damaging nearly 8,000 buildings, and of those, destroying over 4,000. The damage—which included major facilities like one of Joplin's two hospitals as well as much of its basic infrastructure—amounted to a total of $2.8 billion, making the Joplin tornado the costliest single tornado in U.S. history. The insurance payout was the highest in Missouri history, breaking the previous record of $2 billion from thehailstorm of April 10, 2001. Overall, the tornado killed 158 people (with an additional eight indirect deaths) and injured some 1,150 others. It ranks as one of the United States' deadliest tornadoes: it was the deadliest U.S. tornado since theApril 9, 1947, F5 tornado inWoodward,Oklahoma, and the seventh-deadliest in U.S. history.It was the deadliest tornado in Missouri history, as well as the first single tornado since the1953 Flint–Beecher tornadoinMichiganto cause more than 100 fatalities.It was the first F5/EF5 tornado to occur in Missouri sinceMay 20, 1957, when an F5 tornado destroyed several suburbs ofKansas City,and only the second F5/EF5 tornado in Missouri since 1950.It was the third tornado to strike Joplin since May 1971. Meteorological synopsis On the evening of May 21, 2011, an area of low pressure was centered over westernSouth Dakota. This feature, in addition to steeplapse ratesanddewpointsabove 60 °F (16 °C), was conducive to the development ofsupercellslater in the day. Very largehailwas forecast, but the tornado threat was forecast to remain isolated.: 15–16At 8:00 a.m.CDT(1300UTC), theNational Weather Service(NWS)Storm Prediction Center(SPC) issued a slight risk of severe storms for much of the upperPlainsand theMidwest. By 8:00 a.m. CDT (1300 UTC) on May 22, forecasters at the SPC realized that a more intense weather outbreak was likely to occur, and upgraded a large swath of the Midwest to a moderate risk. The system was forecast to evolve into a wave early Monday morning as a trough strengthened from the western United States. At the surface, acold frontwas forecast to pass through the region later in the day, while adrylinewas forecast to intersect the cold front inKansas. These features, accompanied by the low-pressure system, encouraged very strong storm development along the cold front.By the 11:30 a.m. CDT (1630 UTC) updated outlook, certainty had grown stronger that a major severe weather event would occur that afternoon. A public severe weather outlook was issued at this time, and the outlook stated that severe weather was expected that afternoon, with tornadoes, large hail and strong winds all named as threats. At 1:30 p.m. CDT (1830 UTC), four hours prior to the tornado, the SPC issued atornado watchfor southwesternMissouri, to remain in effect until 9:00 p.m. CDT.: 2The watch predicted \"explosive thunderstorm development,\" with a \"strong tornado or two possible.\": 20Thunderstorms began developing between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. over southeast Kansas. They quickly became severe, and as thunderstorm development continued moving to the east, forecasters became more concerned about imminent tornado development. A tornado warning for the severe thunderstorm west ofJoplinthat eventually produced the EF5 tornado was first issued at 5:17 p.m. CDT (22:17 UTC), 17 minutes before it touched down and 19 minutes before it entered the city of Joplin.: 17 Storm track and damage Beginning The tornado first touched down inNewton County, Missouri, just east of the Missouri–Kansas state line, approximately one-half mile (0.80 km) southwest of the intersection of South Central City Road and 32nd Street, at 5:34 p.m. CDT (22:34 UTC). Eyewitnesses andstorm chasersreported multiple vortices rotating around the parent circulation. Here, the tornado downed several large trees at EF0 intensity.Civil defense sirenssounded in Joplin twenty minutes before the tornado struck, in response to the tornado warning issued at 5:17 p.m. CDT (22:17 UTC) for northwestern Newton and southwestern Jasper counties in Missouri, and southeastern portions ofCherokee County, Kansas, but many Joplin residents did not heed the warning or the sirens. The tornado moved east-northeast and strengthened to EF1 intensity as it continued through rural areas towards Joplin, snapping trees and power poles and damaging outbuildings. Widening, the tornado then tracked into the more densely populated southwest corner of the city near the Twin Hills Country Club. It heavily damaged several homes at asubdivisionin this area at up to EF3 strength. The tornado continued to cause EF3 damage as it moved through another subdivision just east of Iron Gates Road.Numerous homes were destroyed and multiple vehicles tossed around, some of which were thrown onto or rolled into homes. The tornado reached EF4 intensity just before crossing S. Schifferdecker Ave. EF5 intensity in Joplin The now massive and wedge-shaped tornado then crossed S. Schifferdecker Ave. at 5:38 p.m. CDT (22:38 UTC),: 17producing its first area of EF4 damage only four minutes after touching down, as several small but well-built commercial buildings were flattened. One person was killed after they were ejected from their car as the tornado crossed the road. Further strengthening resulted in the tornado reaching EF5 intensity shortly afterwards. Consistent EF4 to EF5 damage was noted east of S. Schifferdecker Ave. and continued through most of southern Joplin. Numerous homes, businesses, and medical buildings were flattened in this area, with concrete walls collapsed and crushed into the foundations. A large steel-reinforced step and floor structure leading to a completely destroyed medical building was \"deflected upward several inches and cracked\". Steel trusses from some of the buildings were \"rolled up like paper\", and deformation or twisting of the main support beams was noted. Multiple vehicles were thrown and mangled or wrapped around trees nearby. Several 300-pound concrete parking stops anchored with rebar were torn from a parking lot in this area and thrown up to 60 yards (55 m) away.Iowa State Universitywind engineer Partha Sarkar calculated the force needed to remove the parking stops from the lot and found that winds exceeding 200 mph (320 km/h) would have been required. Damage became remarkably widespread and catastrophic at and around the nearbySt. John's Regional Medical Center, which lost nearly every window on three sides, interior walls, ceilings, and part of its roof; its life flight helicopter was also blown away and destroyed.Loss of backup power caused five fatalities,and the nine-story building was so damaged that it was deemed structurally compromised, and later torn down. According to the NWS office inSpringfield, Missouri, such extreme structural damage to such a large and well-built structure likely indicated winds at or exceeding 200 mph (320 km/h).Vehicles in the hospital parking lot were thrown into the air and mangled beyond recognition, including a semi-truck that was tossed 125 yards (114 m) and wrapped completely around adebarkedtree.Small pieces of debris from the hospital, including X-rays, medical reports, and dental records, were found in Greene and Polk counties many miles to the east.Wind-rowing of debris was noted in this area, and more concrete parking stops were removed from the St. John's parking lot. Virtually every house near McClelland Boulevard and 26th Street was flattened; some were swept completely away, and trees sustained severe debarking. Peak intensity As the tornado tracked eastward, it maintained EF5 strength as it crossedMain Street (Route 43)between 20th and 26th Streets. It heavily damaged every business along that stretch and virtually destroyed several institutional buildings. It tracked just south of downtown, narrowly missing it. Entire neighborhoods were leveled in this area with some more homes swept away, and trees were stripped completely of their bark. At some residences, reinforced concrete porches were deformed or, in some cases, completely torn away. Damage to driveways was noted at some residences as well. Numerous vehicles were tossed up to several blocks, and a few homeowners never located their vehicles.A large church, a nursing home, Franklin Technology Center, St. Mary's Catholic Church and School, andJoplin High Schoolwere all destroyed along this corridor. The Greenbriar Nursing Home was completely leveled, with 21 fatalities occurring there alone,with dozens of fatalities occurring elsewhere in this area as well.No one was in the high school at the time, as the graduation ceremonies held about three miles (4.8 km) to the north atMissouri Southern State Universityhad concluded shortly before the storm. Pieces of cardboard were found embedded in stucco walls that remained standing at Joplin High School. Steel beams and pieces of fencing were deeply embedded into the ground in fields near the high school, steel fence posts were bent to the ground in opposite directions, and a school bus was thrown into a nearby bus garage. As the tornado crossed Connecticut Avenue further to the east, it destroyed several large apartment buildings which resulted in 14 fatalities, along with aDillonsgrocery store, and a bank. Only the concrete safety deposit box vault remained at the bank,and a wooden 2x4 was found speared completely through a concrete curb at one location. The tornado then approached Rangeline Road, the main commercial strip in the eastern part of Joplin, affecting additional neighborhoods along 20th Street. The now heavily rain-wrapped tornado continued at EF5 intensity as it crossed Range Line Road. In that corridor between about 13th and 32nd Streets, the tornado continued producing catastrophic damage as it reached its widest point nearly one mile (1.6 km) across. As the tornado struck aPizza Huton South Range Line Road, store manager Christopher Lucas herded four employees and 15 customers into a walk-in freezer. With difficulty closing the door, he wrapped abungee cordholding the door shut around his arm until he was sucked out and killed by the tornado.The tornado completely destroyed aWalmartsupercenter, aHome Depot, and numerous other businesses and restaurants in this area, many of which were flattened. Numerous metal roof trusses were torn from the Home Depot building and were found broken and mangled in nearby fields. Cars that originated at the Home Depot parking lot were found hundreds of yards away. Asphalt was scoured from parking lots at Walmart and a nearby pizza restaurant, and large tractor-trailers were thrown up to 200 yards (180 m) away. AnAcademy Sports + Outdoorsstore along Range Line sustained major structural damage, and a chair was found impaled legs-first through an exterior stucco wall there. A nearby three-story apartment complex was also devastated, and two cell phone towers collapsed. In this area, numerous cars were thrown and piled on top of each other, 100-pound (45 kg) manhole covers were removed from roads and thrown, the ground scoured, and aPepsidistribution plant was completely leveled. Additional calculations with regards to the manhole covers by Partha Sarkar revealed that winds had to have exceeded 200 miles per hour (320 km/h) for the manhole covers to be removed.Twenty fatalities occurred in this area, and the damage was rated as EF5. Extreme damage continued in the area of Duquesne Road in southeast Joplin. Many houses and industrial and commercial buildings were flattened in this area as well. The industrial park near the corner of 20th and Duquesne was especially hard hit with nearly every building flattened. Several large metal warehouse structures were swept cleanly from their foundations, and several heavy industrial vehicles were thrown up to 400 yards (370 m) away in this area. One of the many warehouses affected was aCumminswarehouse, a concrete block and steel building that was destroyed. The last area of EF5 damage occurred in the industrial park, and a nearby Fastrip gas station and convenience store was completely destroyed. Many homes were destroyed further to the east at EF3 to EF4 strength in a nearby subdivision, and East Middle School sustained major damage. Weakening and dissipation The tornado then continued on an east to east-southeast trajectory towardsI-44where it weakened; nonetheless, vehicles were blown off the highway and mangled nearUS 71(exit 11) on what is now theI-49interchange. The damage at and around the interchange was rated EF2 to EF3. The weakening tornado continued to track into the rural areas of southeasternJasper Countyand northeasternNewton Countywhere damage was generally minor to moderate, with trees, mobile homes, outbuildings, and frame homes damaged mainly at EF0 to EF1 strength. The tornado lifted east ofDiamondat 6:20 p.m. CDT (23:20 UTC), according to aerial surveys. The total track length was 21.62 miles (34.79 km) long, and the tornado was up to one mile (1.6 km) across at its widest point. A total of 158 people were killed, and over 1,150 others were injured along the path.A separate EF2 tornado touched down nearWentworthfrom the same supercell about 25 miles (40 km) east-southeast of Joplin, beginning roughly 10 minutes before the dissipation of this tornado. Aftermath and impact A preliminary survey of the tornado damage by the NWS office in Springfield began on May 23. The initial survey confirmed a violent tornado rated as a high-end EF4. Subsequent damage surveys, however, found evidence of more intense damage, and so the tornado was upgraded to an EF5with estimated winds over 200 mph (320 km/h), peaking at 225 to 250 mph (360 to 400 km/h). The scope of the damage was immense: according to the local branch of theAmerican Red Cross, about 25% of Joplin was destroyed,though emergency officials reported some level of damage to about 75% of the city.A week after the tornado, Joplin's mayor estimated that 25% of the businesses licensed in the city were damaged or destroyed. Official accountings of the precise number of buildings damaged or destroyed vary somewhat. According to theNational Institute of Standards and Technology(NIST) technical report, in total 7,964 buildings were damaged in Joplin, including 7,411 residential buildings and 553 non-residential. At least 3,734 of those buildings (including 3,181 of the residential and all 553 of the non-residential buildings) sustained so much damage as to be considered destroyed.: 77According to aFederal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA) study, 8,264 homes were impacted, and of those, 3,884 were \"significantly damaged\" and 4,380 were destroyed.: 8 Infrastructure The tornado also severely damaged critical infrastructure in the city, hampering emergency response and recovery efforts.Approximately 4,000 electricity distribution poles were damaged, more than 110 miles (180 km) ofdistribution linebrought down, 135transmission towers\"affected,\" and anelectrical substationin the path of the tornado was completely destroyed (two more were damaged, but reparably so). In the immediate aftermath of the storm, approximately 20,000 people were left without power, and those with homes left intact could not get it restored until 10–12 days later, when their dwellings were approved for safe occupancy. The ultimate cost of rebuilding Joplin's damaged electricity system was calculated at $25.7 million.: 222–224 The tornado also caused about 4,000 leaks in water service lines, dropping Joplin's water system pressure below operating level and necessitating a block-by-block effort to find and repair the service line leaks, with a water boil order issued for the entire city in the meantime. Water pressure was returned to normal outside of the damage area within 48 hours, and the water boil order was lifted after five and a half days.: 224–226Approximately 3,500 gas meters and 55,000 feet (17,000 m) ofgas mainwere damaged, and it took two weeks to stem every gas leak; some damaged mains could not be shut off because they served critical facilities likeFreeman Health System, the lone remaining hospital in Joplin.: 226In east Joplin, 3,000–5,000 pounds (1,400–2,300 kg) ofanhydrous ammoniawas released from a valve at a trucking facility and quickly contained; no significant toxic releases occurred. With 21 cell towers down and fiber cables damaged, cellular communications—voice calls in particular, text messages less so—were heavily impeded. Temporary mobile cell towers were deployed by wireless carriers to fill the gap within 24 hours.: 226By May 24, three towers owned byAT&TandSprinthad been restored. Insurance An early estimate from catastrophe risk modeling firm Eqecat, Inc. placed the insured losses from the tornado at $1–3 billion USD.By mid-June, more than 19,000 insurance claims had been filed,a number that eventually rose to 61,000, with a total payout of more than $2 billion—31% going to homeowners and 5% to those who lost vehicles.The impact on the insurance industry was not so much due to the number of claims, but the cumulative effect of such a large number of total losses. More than 2,500 local people employed in insurance were involved in some capacity. It was presumed thatState Farmwould assume the largest share of these losses, having market share of 27% forhomeowners insuranceand 21% forautomobile insurance. The $2.8 billion in damage is the largest amount for a tornado since 1950. Casualties As of May 2013, the official death toll from NWS was listed at 158 while the City of Joplin listed the death toll at 161 (158 direct). The list was up to 162, until one man's injuries were found to be unrelated to the event.In one indirect fatality,a policeman was struck by lightning and killed while assisting with recovery and cleanup efforts the day after the storm.Another five indirect fatalities occurred after a disease outbreak ofmucormycosisinfected 13 people, possibly 18 people.Shortly after the tornado, authorities had listed 1,300 people as missing, but the number quickly dwindled as they were accounted for.Many people were reported to have been trapped in destroyed houses. Seventeen people were rescued from the rubble the day after the tornado struck.Of 146 sets of remains recovered from the rubble, 134 victims had been positively identified by June 1.This total included four sets of partial remains, some of which may have been from a single person.On June 2, it was announced that four more victims had died. Six people were killed when St. John's Regional Medical Center was struck by the tornado. Five of those deaths were patients on ventilators who died after the building lost power and a backup generator did not work.The sixth fatality was a hospital visitor. TheJoplin Globereported that 54% of the people killed died in their residences, 32% died in non-residential areas and 14% died in vehicles or outdoors. Joplin officials after the tornado announced plans to requirehurricane tiesor other fasteners between the houses and their foundations (devices add about US$600 to the construction costs). Officials rejected a proposal to require concrete basements in new houses. Officials noted that as of 2009, only 28% of Joplin's new homes had basements, compared with 38% two decades before. At least 1,150 people were injured severely enough to seek treatment at regional hospitals.Injuries ranged from cuts and bruises to impalement by large debris. Officials said they rescued 944 pets and reunited 292 with owners. Rating dispute In 2013, theAmerican Society of Civil Engineerspublished a study disputing the tornado's initial EF5 rating, based on surveying damage on over 150 structures within a six-mile segment of the storm's path. According to the report, over 83% of the damage was caused by wind speeds of 135 mph (217 km/h) or less, the maximum wind speed of an EF2 tornado. An additional 13% was caused by EF3 wind speeds, and 3% was consistent with EF4 winds. The study found no damage consistent with wind speeds over 200 mph (320 km/h), the minimum threshold of an EF5 tornado.Researchers concluded that the inability to find EF5 damage was due to the absence of construction standards that were able to determine the necessary wind speeds. Bill Colbourne, a member of the engineering team that surveyed the damage, declared that \"a relatively large number of buildings could have survived in Joplin if they had been built to sustain hurricane winds.\" However, the EF5 rating stood. The NWS office in Springfield stated that their survey teams found only a small area of EF5 structural damage, and that it could have easily been missed in the survey (at and around St. John's Medical Center).Bill Davis, head of Springfield's NWS office, said that the results of the study \"do not surprise me at all,\" adding that \"there was only a very small area of EF5 damage in Joplin...we knew right off the bat there was EF4 damage. It took us longer to identify the EF5 damage and that it would take winds of over 200 mph (320 km/h) to do that damage.\"Additionally, the basis for the EF5 rating in Joplin was mainly contextual rather than structural, with non-conventional damage indicators such as the removal of concrete parking stops, manhole covers, reinforced concrete porches, driveways, and asphalt used to arrive at a final rating. The presence of wind rowed structural debris, instances of very large vehicles such as buses, vans, and semi-trucks being thrown hundreds of yards to several blocks from their points of origin, the fact that some homeowners never located their vehicles, and the overwhelming extent and totality of the destruction in Joplin were also taken into consideration. According to a detailed damage survey by Timothy Marshall, a majority of houses were destroyed at winds of EF2-3 strength. However he identified 22 well anchored houses which were assigned EF5 ratings. Response Immediately following the disaster, emergency responders were deployed within and to the city to undertake search and rescue efforts. ThenGovernorJay Nixondeclared astate of emergencyfor the Joplin area shortly after the tornado hit, and orderedMissouri National Guardtroops to the city.By May 23,Missouri Task Force One(consisting of 85 personnel, four dogs, and heavy equipment) arrived and began searching for missing persons. Five heavy rescue teams were also sent to the city a day later. Within two days, numerous agencies arrived to assist residents in the recovery process. The National Guard deployed 191 personnel and placed 2,000 more on standby to be deployed if needed. In addition, theMissouri State Highway Patrolprovided 180 troopers to assist theJoplin Police Departmentand other local agencies with law enforcement, rescue, and recovery efforts that also included the deployment of five ambulance strike teams, and a total of 25 ambulances in the affected area on May 24 as well over 75 Marines from theFt. Leonard WoodArmy base.Due to the severe damage caused by the tornado, the traveling Piccadilly Circus was unable to perform as scheduled. As a result, the circus employees brought their two adult elephants to help drag damaged automobiles and other heavy debris out of the streets. Despite the destruction, twoWaffle Houselocations in Joplin remained open following the tornado. This ledFederal Emergency Management AgencyAdministratorCraig Fugateto develop the concept of theWaffle House Indexfor measuring disaster impact. In May 2012, the Missouri National Guard released documents showing that four soldiers looted consumer electronics from a ruined Walmart during efforts to locate survivors the day after the tornado. According to the investigative memo, they believed the merchandise was going to be destroyed. All four soldiers were demoted and had letters of reprimand placed in their personnel files, but were never prosecuted, though many civilian looters were. Cleanup The Joplin tornado generated an estimated 3 million cubic yards of debris,an amount sufficient to cover a football field 120 stories high.: 19Removal efforts lasted for months, and at their height more than 410 trucks a day transported debris to landfills in Joplin itself, as well as nearbyGalenaandLamar. The tornado also led to renewed lead contamination on many Joplin properties. Joplin had been the site of lead mining and processing for decades before cleanup efforts began in the mid-1990s, and the tornado's upheaval of the surface as it swept houses from foundations and uprooted trees re-contaminated about 40% of yards in southern Joplin, leaving behind chunks of raw lead ore the size of tennis or golf balls. The city spent more than $5 million to clean the properties up using grants from the Environmental Protection Agency, scraping off the topsoil and replacing it with clean soil, and further required that builders in the damage area test for lead and clean it up before construction. Social media response The tornado also highlighted a new form of disaster response, using social media. This type of disaster response is now known as Social Media Emergency Management. News outlets began aggregating images and video from eyewitnesses shared through social media.Public citizen-led Facebook groups and web sites coordinated information, needs, and offers. The results were so effective the project became a finalist in the 2011 Mashable Awards for Best Social Good Cause Campaign. National attention PresidentBarack Obamatoured the community on May 29, flying intoJoplin Regional Airportand speaking at a memorial at the Taylor Performing Arts Center atMissouri Southern State Universityabout two miles (3.2 km) north of the worst of the devastation.Obama had been on a state visit to Europe at the time of the storm. Members of the controversialWestboro Baptist Churchwere also scheduled to protest the same day in Joplin, but they did not show up. There was a massive counterprotest that was organized in response to the Westboro protest, in which thousands of protesters showed up holding signs saying, \"God Loves Joplin\" and \"We Support You Joplin.\" President Obama also delivered thecommencement addressatJoplin High Schoolon May 21, 2012, a year after the tornado. Rebuilding and recovery FEMA maintained a large presence in Joplin following the tornado, with as many as 820 employees working in the city. One FEMA undertaking was the construction of 15 temporary housing sites in and around Joplin, which housed 586 families/households at their peak. The city, warned by federal officials that it should expect to lose 25% of its population following the tornado, responded quickly and built an average of five houses a week between 2011 and 2022. Most businesses reopened, and more than 300 new businesses opened between 2011 and early 2016. In April 2012, Joplin voters approved a $62 million bond to continue constructing new schools and repair damaged existing ones. Engineers criticized thetilt-upconstruction of the Home Depot building, in which all but two of the walls collapsed in adomino effectafter the tornado lifted the roof, killing seven people in the front of the store (although 28 people in the back of the store survived when those walls collapsed outwards). Home Depot officials disagreed with the study published byThe Kansas City Starand said they would use the tilt-up practice when they rebuilt the Joplin store.On June 1, the Home Depot said it would have a new temporary 30,000 sq ft (2,800 m2) building erected and operational within two weeks. In the meantime, it opened for business in the parking lot of its demolished building.On June 20, the Home Depot opened a temporary 60,000 sq ft (5,600 m2) building constructed by the company's disaster recovery team. Within two years, the city's workers and community groups compiled and published \"Joplin Pays it Forward\" to give recovery advice to other places struck by disasters.Many homes and businesses have been rebuilt since the tornado. Joplin High School was reopened on September 2, 2014. St. John's Regional Medical Center (nowMercy Hospital) had to be rebuilt and reopened in 2015. Mental health impacts Eighteen people committed suicide in the wake of the tornado, according to the executive director of the Community Clinic of Southwest Missouri, a co-chair of the city's long-term recovery team. Calls about domestic violence grew in the year following the disaster.In 2024, Jennifer M. First, J. Brian Houston, and Sangwon Lee with theUniversity of Tennesseealong with Megan Carnahan and Mansoo Yu with theUniversity of Missouri, published aqualitative case studyof survivors from the tornado, in which they described how survivors recovered from \"tornado brain\".In the paper, they stated approximately 41% of the residents of Joplin were directly impacted by the tornado and that the tornado lead to \"various mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder\". In popular culture A number of documentaries have been produced about the Joplin tornado and its effects on the city. These includeHeartland: A Portrait of Survival, directed byErica Tremblayand featured at the Omaha Film Festival and the St. Louis International Film Festival,as well asDeadline in Disaster(directed by Beth Pike), which followed the staff of The Joplin Globe in the tornado's aftermath and received a regional Emmy in the Documentary-Cultural category during the 37thMid-America Emmy Awards. In October 2011,The Joplin Globereleased a hard-cover pictorial book entitled32 Minutes in May: The Joplin Tornado. See also Notes References Further reading External links 37°03′38″N94°31′51″W / 37.06056°N 94.53083°W /37.06056; -94.53083"],"string":"[\n \"BryanStars Bryan Odell(born May 22, 1990), better known by hisonline aliasBryanStars, is an American formermusic interviewer, YouTube personality, musician, and artist manager. He is best known for hisBryanStars Interviewsseries, where he interviews with popular artists in thealternative scene, includingBlack Veil Brides,Asking Alexandria, andFalling in Reverse. Early life Odell was born on May 22, 1990, in Japan, where he resided until he was eight years old. His family later relocated toDallas, Texas, and then again toNebraskawhen he was a teenager.He attendedLincoln East High School, where he graduated in 2008.In his senior year, his short filmEnergy Crisis in America, highlightingrising gas prices, won third place in the high school section of theStudentCamcompetition, hosted byC-SPAN. He attended theUniversity of Nebraska–Lincolnfor two years, majoring in Broadcast Journalism.While in university, he did an internship where he would interview professional bands for a local television station. Odell chose to drop out of university to focus his attention on his YouTube channel \\\"BryanStars\\\" after winning YouTube NextUp in 2011.Through the NextUp contest, YouTube aimed to foster creators on its platform. Odell and 25 other YouTubers received a $35,000 grant for their channel and a multi-day workshop in New York City with professional online bloggers.At the time, he had about 55,000 subscribers. YouTube career Odell is best known for hisBryanStars Interviews,series on his YouTube channel, BryanStars. He primarily publishes interviews and music videos from bands of the rock andheavy metalscene. During his career, Odell interviewed artists includingAsking Alexandria,Blood On The Dance Floor,Millionaires,Never Shout Never,Motionless In White,Pierce the Veil,Black Veil Brides,All Time Low,Sleeping with Sirens,The Ready Set,One Ok Rock,Panic! at the Disco,Twenty One Pilots,Avenged Sevenfold,Escape the Fate,Suicide Silence,Disturbed,Creed,Hollywood Undead,Korn,Three Days Grace,Bullet For My Valentine,Cannibal Corpse,Chevelle, andSlipknot, as well as artists likeRob Zombie,Papa Roach,Cody Simpson,G-Eazy,Mitchel Mussoand winners ofAmerican Idol. Odell has also interviewed record producerMatt Goodand YouTube starsShane Dawson,Michael BuckleyandDave Days. He has published more than 1000 band interviews and music videos to his YouTube Channel. In 2013,BryanStars Interviewswas voted by music fans as the \\\"Best Music Blog\\\" in theAlternative PressReader's Choice Poll 2013.BryanStars Interviewswas nominated for aShorty Awardfor \\\"Best Web Show\\\" in 2014 along withJerry Seinfeld'sComedians in Cars Getting Coffee.In 2014, retailerJourneysproduced \\\"This Is My Journey\\\" segment about Odell that played in stores nationwide. Never Shout Never incident On June 3, 2012,Never Shout Neverwas interviewed by Odell in an interview that was being covered byThe New York Times. Never Shout Never lead vocalistChristofer Drew Inglewas aware ofThe New York Timescoverage of the interview. About halfway through the interview, Ingle cut Odell off, denouncing his show as \\\"a joke\\\" and his questions as \\\"bullshit\\\" with bassist Taylor MacFee also taking Odell's interview question papers from him, throwing them on the floor, and finding his questions to be annoying and irrelevant. As a result, the band abruptly ended the interview, leaving Odell in tears. An outpour of support for Odell resulted from the incident. Numerous musicians such asKellin QuinnofSleeping with Sirens,Chris FronzakofAttila, andAndy BiersackofBlack Veil Bridescame to Odell's defense.In aStickambroadcast, Ingle expressed remorse for making Odell cry, later admitting that he had takenacidearlier the day of the interview. Warped YouTube Program In 2014, Odell was picked to be one of the \\\"Warped YouTubers\\\" with Damon Fizzy (also calling himself DeeFizzy), Johnnie Guilbert, CYR and Piddleass. The following year,Kevin Lyman(creator ofWarped Tour) made Odell the official host of the tour. Odell worked with Warped Tour through 2015 as their official host on all social media, announcing over 100 bands for the tour. Odell taught a class on the 2015 Vans Warped Tour called \\\"YouTube 101\\\" where he taught aspiring YouTubers how to pursue a career in social media. My Digital Escape Odell then founded \\\"My Digital Escape,\\\" a collaborative project and YouTube channel featuring numerous smaller creators who shared a similar passion for music. While an active creator in My Digital Escape (MDE), Odell served as manager of the project as well.The channel stopped uploading in May 2016. The channel reached 800,000 subscribers and 100 million views.The channel prominently featured Odell, Johnnie Guilbert, Shannon Taylor (HeyThereImShannon), Luke Wale, Kyle David Hall, Alex Dorame, and Jordan Sweeto.In 2016, My Digital Escape went on tour across the United States and visited 21 cities. Musical endeavors In 2016, Odell went into the studio with ZK Studios to record his debut EP.On March 21, 2016, BryanStars announced the release of a 5-track EP entitled \\\"Follow Your Dreams\\\".It was released on April 1, 2016, and charted on Billboard at #22 on theAlternative New Artist Album Chart, #59 on theNew Artist Album Chartand #128 on theIndie Albums Chart. BryanStars also collaborated withSocial Reposeon a cover ofBring Me The Horizon's \\\"Follow You\\\". In November 2016, Odell announced that he would be releasing a second EP titled the \\\"Picture Perfect EP\\\". It was released on December 4, 2016. BryanStars Tour In 2012, Odell started the \\\"BryanStars Tour\\\", which toured throughout the United States. Odell created three BryanStars Tours from 2012 to 2013. Personal life Odell revealed his homosexuality on his YouTube channel in 2017. After considerable controversy later that same year due to being accused of covering up for convicted sex offenderAustin Jones, Odell stepped back from his social media ventures, specifically his YouTube channels.He has not been active on any of his YouTube channels or social media since. Awards and recognition Discography Extended plays Singles References External links\",\n \"Never Shout Never Never Shout Never(originally typeset asnevershoutnever!andNeverShoutNever!) was an Americanrockband formed inJoplin, Missouri, in 2007. Vocalist and multi-instrumentalistChristofer Drewbegan the band as a solo project before expanding it to a band, whose best-known lineup included himself, bassist Taylor MacFee, and drummer Hayden Kaiser.The band that accompanied Drew when it was a solo project were originally known as \\\"The Shout\\\". Never Shout Never released eight full-length albums and nine EPs. History 2007–2009: Formation and early career Christofer Drew Ingle began making music under the alias nevershoutnever! in 2007, when he was 16 years old in his parents basement.His first exposure came through the internet, where he achieved success on Myspace before issuing the extended play,The Yippee EPon July 29, 2008, and selling 46,000 copies in the US.On July 30, 2008, he was featured onTRL, where he performed his debut single \\\"Big City Dreams\\\".The single peaked at number one on theBillboardHot Singles Saleschart.To support the EP, he went on tour in the US withJamestown Story,Owl City, and Handshakes and Highfives during the summer of 2008.He toured withHellogoodbyeandAce Endersin the fall of 2008. NeverShoutNever! released the lead single \\\"Trouble\\\" from his third EP,Me & My Ukeon December 29, 2008.The song peaked at number five on the Hot Singles Sales chart.The song was later certified gold by theRecording Industry Association of Americain May 2012.In January 2009,Me & My Ukewas officially released. NeverShoutNever! started touring withThe Scene Aesthetic,The Honorary Title, andThe Bigger Lightsin late February 2009and then toured with bands such asForever the Sickest Kids,The Cab, and Mercy Mercedes, among others in spring 2009 as part ofThe Bamboozle Roadshow 2009.He played at bothThe Bamboozle Left 2009andThe Bamboozle 2009.In 2009, Never Shout Never won themtvU Woodie Awardsfor Breaking Woodie. 2009–2010:What Is LoveandHarmony It was announced on May 29, 2009, that Ingle had signed toWarner Bros. Records, ending a major-label bidding war.As part of the deal, Ingle runs and make releases on his own imprint label, Loveway Records.Ingle's alias became officially stylized as Never Shout Never.The Summer EPwas Ingle's first release under Warner Bros. and was released on June 23, 2009.It sold 46,000 copies and the first single from the EP, titled \\\"Happy\\\", was released on iTunes on March 3, 2009.Production for Never Shout Never's debut album began in June 2009, whereButch Walkerproduced the album.The album was recorded inLos Angelesand atAbbey Road Studiosin London.The band embarked on a headlining tour in October 2009 with Carter Hulsey andNow Now Every Children, before joiningDashboard Confessionalon their headling tour in November. A self-titled EP,Never Shout Neverwas released on December 8, 2009 and featured two songs from his upcoming debut album (\\\"What Is Love?\\\" and \\\"Jane Doe\\\"), a re-recorded version of a song fromThe Yippee EP(\\\"She's Got Style\\\"), and a live version of a song fromThe Yippee EP(\\\"Big City Dreams\\\").The debut studio album from Never Shout Never,What Is Love?, was released on January 26, 2010.The album peaked at number 24 on theBillboard200chart and sold 21,000 copies.The album's first single, \\\"What Is Love?\\\" was released on December 15, 2009.\\\"I Love You 5\\\" was released on February 4, 2010 as the second single from the album.\\\"Can't Stand It\\\" was released on March 4, 2010 as the third and final single from the album along with its music video directed by Isaac Ravishankara.The song peaked at number 29 on theBillboardUS Rock Digital Song Sales chart.The group headlined theAlternative PressAP Tour in the spring of 2010 with support from Joplin,The Cab,Hey Monday,Every AvenueandThe Summer Set. Never Shout Never performed at theVans Warped Tourin summer of 2010.The band released a digital EP on July 27, 2010, titledMelody, which contained three tracks: \\\"CheaterCheaterBestFriendEater\\\", \\\"Coffee & Cigarettes\\\" and \\\"Lousy Truth\\\".Their second studio album,Harmony, was released in August 2010.The album peaked at number 14 on theBillboard200 chart and sold 23,000 copies in its first week.In October and November 2010, Never Shout Never co-headlined the Harmony Tour withThe Maine, where the bands had fans gather can foods to help those in need. As a gift to the fans, they released a live split EP and was made available for free download on Never Shout Never's website. 2011–2012:Time TravelandIndigo The band's hometown, Joplin, Missouri, was heavily damaged by atornado on May 22, 2011. Following the destruction, Ingle began a relief fund with United Way to raise $1.2 million for his hometown.To raise awareness about the devastation of Joplin, Ingle took video footage of the destruction and posted it onYouTubeon June 1, 2011. The video, which features the song \\\"Time Travel\\\", encouraged viewers to donate to the relief of the town via his United Way fund.The song later went on to become the lead single from their third studio album on July 22, 2011.The album was recorded inSpringfield, Missouriat the 2100 Studios. It is also the first album where Never Shout Never recorded as a full band.The album's second single \\\"Simplistic Trance - Like Getaway\\\" was released on August 26, 2011.Never Shout Never's third studio album,Time Travelwas released on September 20, 2011.The album peaked at number 35 on theBillboard200.In support of the album's release, they embarked on a fall headliner tour called The Time Travel Tour.The official music video for \\\"Time Travel\\\" was directed by Joey Boukadakis and was released in September 2011. Ingle first revealed the title of the group's fourth studio album in an interview with Alter The Press! on May 8, 2012,and on September 20, via his Twitter account, he announced the release date of his new albumIndigo.According to Drew, he wanted to record every song with a different producer, all in different cities, to give each song a unique feel and its own style.In support of the album's release, the band released five free tracks from their album throughAlternative PressandBillboard.Never Shout Never's fourth full-length studio album,Indigowas released November 13, 2012. It debuted at 194 on theBillboard200, a steep decline from the group's previous high of 14.The band toured the U.S. on the Indigo tour in late 2012. 2013:SunflowerandThe Xmas EP In May 2013, Never Shout Never revealed their fifth studio album,Sunflower, which was released on July 2, 2013.The band released the first promotional single, \\\"Good Times\\\" for streaming on May 23, 2013.On May 28, the group released the album's second promotional single, \\\"Subliminal Messages\\\" which premiered exclusively on PropertyOfZack.com.\\\"Malibu\\\" was released for streaming viaPureVolumeon June 4, as the third promotional single from the album.The album's fourth and final promotional single, \\\"Knock, Knock\\\" was released on June 18.The band performed at Warped Tour in the summer of 2013.During the Warped Tour, Ingle had also teamed with BandHappy, an organization in which experienced musicians taught amateurs how to reach success. He had led a workshop in which a limited number of fans could ask questions and learn from him, with the addition of a one-on-one meet and greet. A festive EP titledThe Xmas EPwas released on November 22, 2013.Drew produced and recorded the covers himself and collaborated withDia Framptonon the original track \\\"Under The Mistletoe\\\". The song was released for streaming on November 15.The EP was recorded in Drew's home.The group headlined the Xmas Tour with support fromThe Downtown FictionandNick Santinoin December 2013. 2014–2016:Recycled Youth,Black Cat, and Departure of MacFee In late 2013, Never Shout Never announced that the group was working on a new album calledRecycled Youth, Vol. 1.The album featured re-worked songs from previous Never Shout Never releases. In January 2014 the band announced that the group had begun recording the album, and was expected to be released later that year.The album was the first installment of what Drew envisioned to be a three part collection of re-recorded fan and band favorites. It was produced by Eric Palmquist inLos Angeles,California.In June 2014, Never Shout Never announced thatIan Crawfordjoined the band as the lead guitarist.Recycled Youth, Vol. 1was released on March 3, 2015. On June 9, 2015, it was announced that Never Shout Never would be releasing their seventh studio album,Black Caton August 7, 2015.The first single off of the album, titled \\\"Hey! We OK\\\", was released the same day.The album was recorded in the DTLA Recording Studio inLos Angeles,Californiaand was produced byDennis Herring.On June 17, the group released \\\"Boom!\\\" as the first promotional single from the album.On July 16, the band premiered a new track titled, \\\"Red Balloon\\\" and was released as the album's second promotional single.The album peaked at number 52 on theBillboard200.On November 24, 2015, Ian Crawford confirmed on his Facebook page that he had been let go from the band. The band embarked on the Black Cat Tour in January 2016.\\\"Red Balloon\\\" was officially released as the album's second single on February 5, 2016.\\\"Hey! We Ok\\\" was nominated at the 2016Alternative Press Music Awardsfor Song of the Year.The group headlined a US tour in June 2016 with support from Hundred Handed and Me Like Bees.On June 26, 2016, bassist Taylor MacFee announced his departure from the band.In November 2016, the group released their ninth EP,Advent Of Violett Soul. 2017–2018: Cancelled studio albums and break-up In June 2017, Never Shout Never performed at the 2017Warped Tour.They later embarked on the Throwback Tour, as well as performing at the So What?! Music Festival.The tour lasted throughout 2017 where they played songs from earlier albums that likely wouldn't be played again for a long time.In April 2017, Drew revealed he had plans on releasing Never Shout Never's eighth studio album,Emerald Sun. He described the record as \\\"conceptual,\\\" dealing with the theme of love. He stated, \\\"It's something I wrote that I feel has a higher message behind it. It's the album I've been wanting to make — portrays my heart and how I see the world.\\\" 13 tracks were written for the album.The album was expected to be released in the summer of 2018, but never made its way onto streaming services. On March 23, 2018, the band released a cover ofElvis Presley's \\\"Love Me Tender\\\" on their upcoming cover album,All for Love, composed entirely of covers of love songs.On April 2, they released their cover ofthe Beatles' \\\"Something\\\".It is unlikelyAll for Lovewas finished and will ever be released. Drew continued to upload a handful of covers on YouTube, but these were likely not final recordings for the album, nor were they likely intended to be on the album at all. Ingle revealed in December 2018 that after a small tour in Mexico and Brazil the following month that Never Shout Never would disband.However, he reached out to fans via an Instagram post two days later asking if he should keep making music under the name.Despite the initial announcement, the band performed shows in Brazil and Mexico in early 2019.Following the final show in Brazil (with long-time drummer Hayden Kaiser absent) he stated he was uncertain of the band's future, but no official breakup announcement was confirmed. 2020–2023:Unborn Spark, return and retirement On April 29, 2020, Drew announced a solo acoustic album titledUnborn Spark, due for release on May 13, his son's 1st birthday.However, on May 5, he announced that he needed a little more time for mixing and artwork to be completed.On May 17, he announced that the album would be released on June 12.On June 8, the first single, \\\"Time to Change\\\", was released. With it came the announcement that it would be released as a Never Shout Never album. Never Shout Never returned in late 2021, releasing a new single titled \\\"Easy Swagger\\\" in October.On March 8, 2022, Drew announced his retirement from music, putting an end to the band.In addition, Drew confirmed on Twitter that Never Shout Never was finished.However, on December 24, 2022, he announced that Never Shout Never would be returning the following year and also announced a release of a new album.On November 25, 2023, Drew announced viaTwitterhis second retirement from music, revealing that he would pursue a new career in professional painting.He also released the final mixes of his intended album,Advent of Violet Soulon the same day. Band members Former members Timeline Discography Awards and nominations Alternative Press Music Awards mtvU Woodie Awards PETA's Libby Awards References External links\",\n \"2011 Joplin tornado The2011 Joplin tornadowas a large and devastatingmultiple-vortextornadothat struckJoplin,Missouri, United States, on the evening of Sunday, May 22, 2011. Part of alarger late-Maytornado outbreak, theEF5tornado began just west of Joplin and intensified very quickly, reaching a maximum width of nearly one mile (1.6 km) during its path through the southern part of the city. The tornado tracked eastward through Joplin, and then continued acrossInterstate 44into rural portions ofJasperandNewtoncounties, weakening before it dissipated. The tornado devastated a large portion of the city of Joplin, damaging nearly 8,000 buildings, and of those, destroying over 4,000. The damage—which included major facilities like one of Joplin's two hospitals as well as much of its basic infrastructure—amounted to a total of $2.8 billion, making the Joplin tornado the costliest single tornado in U.S. history. The insurance payout was the highest in Missouri history, breaking the previous record of $2 billion from thehailstorm of April 10, 2001. Overall, the tornado killed 158 people (with an additional eight indirect deaths) and injured some 1,150 others. It ranks as one of the United States' deadliest tornadoes: it was the deadliest U.S. tornado since theApril 9, 1947, F5 tornado inWoodward,Oklahoma, and the seventh-deadliest in U.S. history.It was the deadliest tornado in Missouri history, as well as the first single tornado since the1953 Flint–Beecher tornadoinMichiganto cause more than 100 fatalities.It was the first F5/EF5 tornado to occur in Missouri sinceMay 20, 1957, when an F5 tornado destroyed several suburbs ofKansas City,and only the second F5/EF5 tornado in Missouri since 1950.It was the third tornado to strike Joplin since May 1971. Meteorological synopsis On the evening of May 21, 2011, an area of low pressure was centered over westernSouth Dakota. This feature, in addition to steeplapse ratesanddewpointsabove 60 °F (16 °C), was conducive to the development ofsupercellslater in the day. Very largehailwas forecast, but the tornado threat was forecast to remain isolated.: 15–16At 8:00 a.m.CDT(1300UTC), theNational Weather Service(NWS)Storm Prediction Center(SPC) issued a slight risk of severe storms for much of the upperPlainsand theMidwest. By 8:00 a.m. CDT (1300 UTC) on May 22, forecasters at the SPC realized that a more intense weather outbreak was likely to occur, and upgraded a large swath of the Midwest to a moderate risk. The system was forecast to evolve into a wave early Monday morning as a trough strengthened from the western United States. At the surface, acold frontwas forecast to pass through the region later in the day, while adrylinewas forecast to intersect the cold front inKansas. These features, accompanied by the low-pressure system, encouraged very strong storm development along the cold front.By the 11:30 a.m. CDT (1630 UTC) updated outlook, certainty had grown stronger that a major severe weather event would occur that afternoon. A public severe weather outlook was issued at this time, and the outlook stated that severe weather was expected that afternoon, with tornadoes, large hail and strong winds all named as threats. At 1:30 p.m. CDT (1830 UTC), four hours prior to the tornado, the SPC issued atornado watchfor southwesternMissouri, to remain in effect until 9:00 p.m. CDT.: 2The watch predicted \\\"explosive thunderstorm development,\\\" with a \\\"strong tornado or two possible.\\\": 20Thunderstorms began developing between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. over southeast Kansas. They quickly became severe, and as thunderstorm development continued moving to the east, forecasters became more concerned about imminent tornado development. A tornado warning for the severe thunderstorm west ofJoplinthat eventually produced the EF5 tornado was first issued at 5:17 p.m. CDT (22:17 UTC), 17 minutes before it touched down and 19 minutes before it entered the city of Joplin.: 17 Storm track and damage Beginning The tornado first touched down inNewton County, Missouri, just east of the Missouri–Kansas state line, approximately one-half mile (0.80 km) southwest of the intersection of South Central City Road and 32nd Street, at 5:34 p.m. CDT (22:34 UTC). Eyewitnesses andstorm chasersreported multiple vortices rotating around the parent circulation. Here, the tornado downed several large trees at EF0 intensity.Civil defense sirenssounded in Joplin twenty minutes before the tornado struck, in response to the tornado warning issued at 5:17 p.m. CDT (22:17 UTC) for northwestern Newton and southwestern Jasper counties in Missouri, and southeastern portions ofCherokee County, Kansas, but many Joplin residents did not heed the warning or the sirens. The tornado moved east-northeast and strengthened to EF1 intensity as it continued through rural areas towards Joplin, snapping trees and power poles and damaging outbuildings. Widening, the tornado then tracked into the more densely populated southwest corner of the city near the Twin Hills Country Club. It heavily damaged several homes at asubdivisionin this area at up to EF3 strength. The tornado continued to cause EF3 damage as it moved through another subdivision just east of Iron Gates Road.Numerous homes were destroyed and multiple vehicles tossed around, some of which were thrown onto or rolled into homes. The tornado reached EF4 intensity just before crossing S. Schifferdecker Ave. EF5 intensity in Joplin The now massive and wedge-shaped tornado then crossed S. Schifferdecker Ave. at 5:38 p.m. CDT (22:38 UTC),: 17producing its first area of EF4 damage only four minutes after touching down, as several small but well-built commercial buildings were flattened. One person was killed after they were ejected from their car as the tornado crossed the road. Further strengthening resulted in the tornado reaching EF5 intensity shortly afterwards. Consistent EF4 to EF5 damage was noted east of S. Schifferdecker Ave. and continued through most of southern Joplin. Numerous homes, businesses, and medical buildings were flattened in this area, with concrete walls collapsed and crushed into the foundations. A large steel-reinforced step and floor structure leading to a completely destroyed medical building was \\\"deflected upward several inches and cracked\\\". Steel trusses from some of the buildings were \\\"rolled up like paper\\\", and deformation or twisting of the main support beams was noted. Multiple vehicles were thrown and mangled or wrapped around trees nearby. Several 300-pound concrete parking stops anchored with rebar were torn from a parking lot in this area and thrown up to 60 yards (55 m) away.Iowa State Universitywind engineer Partha Sarkar calculated the force needed to remove the parking stops from the lot and found that winds exceeding 200 mph (320 km/h) would have been required. Damage became remarkably widespread and catastrophic at and around the nearbySt. John's Regional Medical Center, which lost nearly every window on three sides, interior walls, ceilings, and part of its roof; its life flight helicopter was also blown away and destroyed.Loss of backup power caused five fatalities,and the nine-story building was so damaged that it was deemed structurally compromised, and later torn down. According to the NWS office inSpringfield, Missouri, such extreme structural damage to such a large and well-built structure likely indicated winds at or exceeding 200 mph (320 km/h).Vehicles in the hospital parking lot were thrown into the air and mangled beyond recognition, including a semi-truck that was tossed 125 yards (114 m) and wrapped completely around adebarkedtree.Small pieces of debris from the hospital, including X-rays, medical reports, and dental records, were found in Greene and Polk counties many miles to the east.Wind-rowing of debris was noted in this area, and more concrete parking stops were removed from the St. John's parking lot. Virtually every house near McClelland Boulevard and 26th Street was flattened; some were swept completely away, and trees sustained severe debarking. Peak intensity As the tornado tracked eastward, it maintained EF5 strength as it crossedMain Street (Route 43)between 20th and 26th Streets. It heavily damaged every business along that stretch and virtually destroyed several institutional buildings. It tracked just south of downtown, narrowly missing it. Entire neighborhoods were leveled in this area with some more homes swept away, and trees were stripped completely of their bark. At some residences, reinforced concrete porches were deformed or, in some cases, completely torn away. Damage to driveways was noted at some residences as well. Numerous vehicles were tossed up to several blocks, and a few homeowners never located their vehicles.A large church, a nursing home, Franklin Technology Center, St. Mary's Catholic Church and School, andJoplin High Schoolwere all destroyed along this corridor. The Greenbriar Nursing Home was completely leveled, with 21 fatalities occurring there alone,with dozens of fatalities occurring elsewhere in this area as well.No one was in the high school at the time, as the graduation ceremonies held about three miles (4.8 km) to the north atMissouri Southern State Universityhad concluded shortly before the storm. Pieces of cardboard were found embedded in stucco walls that remained standing at Joplin High School. Steel beams and pieces of fencing were deeply embedded into the ground in fields near the high school, steel fence posts were bent to the ground in opposite directions, and a school bus was thrown into a nearby bus garage. As the tornado crossed Connecticut Avenue further to the east, it destroyed several large apartment buildings which resulted in 14 fatalities, along with aDillonsgrocery store, and a bank. Only the concrete safety deposit box vault remained at the bank,and a wooden 2x4 was found speared completely through a concrete curb at one location. The tornado then approached Rangeline Road, the main commercial strip in the eastern part of Joplin, affecting additional neighborhoods along 20th Street. The now heavily rain-wrapped tornado continued at EF5 intensity as it crossed Range Line Road. In that corridor between about 13th and 32nd Streets, the tornado continued producing catastrophic damage as it reached its widest point nearly one mile (1.6 km) across. As the tornado struck aPizza Huton South Range Line Road, store manager Christopher Lucas herded four employees and 15 customers into a walk-in freezer. With difficulty closing the door, he wrapped abungee cordholding the door shut around his arm until he was sucked out and killed by the tornado.The tornado completely destroyed aWalmartsupercenter, aHome Depot, and numerous other businesses and restaurants in this area, many of which were flattened. Numerous metal roof trusses were torn from the Home Depot building and were found broken and mangled in nearby fields. Cars that originated at the Home Depot parking lot were found hundreds of yards away. Asphalt was scoured from parking lots at Walmart and a nearby pizza restaurant, and large tractor-trailers were thrown up to 200 yards (180 m) away. AnAcademy Sports + Outdoorsstore along Range Line sustained major structural damage, and a chair was found impaled legs-first through an exterior stucco wall there. A nearby three-story apartment complex was also devastated, and two cell phone towers collapsed. In this area, numerous cars were thrown and piled on top of each other, 100-pound (45 kg) manhole covers were removed from roads and thrown, the ground scoured, and aPepsidistribution plant was completely leveled. Additional calculations with regards to the manhole covers by Partha Sarkar revealed that winds had to have exceeded 200 miles per hour (320 km/h) for the manhole covers to be removed.Twenty fatalities occurred in this area, and the damage was rated as EF5. Extreme damage continued in the area of Duquesne Road in southeast Joplin. Many houses and industrial and commercial buildings were flattened in this area as well. The industrial park near the corner of 20th and Duquesne was especially hard hit with nearly every building flattened. Several large metal warehouse structures were swept cleanly from their foundations, and several heavy industrial vehicles were thrown up to 400 yards (370 m) away in this area. One of the many warehouses affected was aCumminswarehouse, a concrete block and steel building that was destroyed. The last area of EF5 damage occurred in the industrial park, and a nearby Fastrip gas station and convenience store was completely destroyed. Many homes were destroyed further to the east at EF3 to EF4 strength in a nearby subdivision, and East Middle School sustained major damage. Weakening and dissipation The tornado then continued on an east to east-southeast trajectory towardsI-44where it weakened; nonetheless, vehicles were blown off the highway and mangled nearUS 71(exit 11) on what is now theI-49interchange. The damage at and around the interchange was rated EF2 to EF3. The weakening tornado continued to track into the rural areas of southeasternJasper Countyand northeasternNewton Countywhere damage was generally minor to moderate, with trees, mobile homes, outbuildings, and frame homes damaged mainly at EF0 to EF1 strength. The tornado lifted east ofDiamondat 6:20 p.m. CDT (23:20 UTC), according to aerial surveys. The total track length was 21.62 miles (34.79 km) long, and the tornado was up to one mile (1.6 km) across at its widest point. A total of 158 people were killed, and over 1,150 others were injured along the path.A separate EF2 tornado touched down nearWentworthfrom the same supercell about 25 miles (40 km) east-southeast of Joplin, beginning roughly 10 minutes before the dissipation of this tornado. Aftermath and impact A preliminary survey of the tornado damage by the NWS office in Springfield began on May 23. The initial survey confirmed a violent tornado rated as a high-end EF4. Subsequent damage surveys, however, found evidence of more intense damage, and so the tornado was upgraded to an EF5with estimated winds over 200 mph (320 km/h), peaking at 225 to 250 mph (360 to 400 km/h). The scope of the damage was immense: according to the local branch of theAmerican Red Cross, about 25% of Joplin was destroyed,though emergency officials reported some level of damage to about 75% of the city.A week after the tornado, Joplin's mayor estimated that 25% of the businesses licensed in the city were damaged or destroyed. Official accountings of the precise number of buildings damaged or destroyed vary somewhat. According to theNational Institute of Standards and Technology(NIST) technical report, in total 7,964 buildings were damaged in Joplin, including 7,411 residential buildings and 553 non-residential. At least 3,734 of those buildings (including 3,181 of the residential and all 553 of the non-residential buildings) sustained so much damage as to be considered destroyed.: 77According to aFederal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA) study, 8,264 homes were impacted, and of those, 3,884 were \\\"significantly damaged\\\" and 4,380 were destroyed.: 8 Infrastructure The tornado also severely damaged critical infrastructure in the city, hampering emergency response and recovery efforts.Approximately 4,000 electricity distribution poles were damaged, more than 110 miles (180 km) ofdistribution linebrought down, 135transmission towers\\\"affected,\\\" and anelectrical substationin the path of the tornado was completely destroyed (two more were damaged, but reparably so). In the immediate aftermath of the storm, approximately 20,000 people were left without power, and those with homes left intact could not get it restored until 10–12 days later, when their dwellings were approved for safe occupancy. The ultimate cost of rebuilding Joplin's damaged electricity system was calculated at $25.7 million.: 222–224 The tornado also caused about 4,000 leaks in water service lines, dropping Joplin's water system pressure below operating level and necessitating a block-by-block effort to find and repair the service line leaks, with a water boil order issued for the entire city in the meantime. Water pressure was returned to normal outside of the damage area within 48 hours, and the water boil order was lifted after five and a half days.: 224–226Approximately 3,500 gas meters and 55,000 feet (17,000 m) ofgas mainwere damaged, and it took two weeks to stem every gas leak; some damaged mains could not be shut off because they served critical facilities likeFreeman Health System, the lone remaining hospital in Joplin.: 226In east Joplin, 3,000–5,000 pounds (1,400–2,300 kg) ofanhydrous ammoniawas released from a valve at a trucking facility and quickly contained; no significant toxic releases occurred. With 21 cell towers down and fiber cables damaged, cellular communications—voice calls in particular, text messages less so—were heavily impeded. Temporary mobile cell towers were deployed by wireless carriers to fill the gap within 24 hours.: 226By May 24, three towers owned byAT&TandSprinthad been restored. Insurance An early estimate from catastrophe risk modeling firm Eqecat, Inc. placed the insured losses from the tornado at $1–3 billion USD.By mid-June, more than 19,000 insurance claims had been filed,a number that eventually rose to 61,000, with a total payout of more than $2 billion—31% going to homeowners and 5% to those who lost vehicles.The impact on the insurance industry was not so much due to the number of claims, but the cumulative effect of such a large number of total losses. More than 2,500 local people employed in insurance were involved in some capacity. It was presumed thatState Farmwould assume the largest share of these losses, having market share of 27% forhomeowners insuranceand 21% forautomobile insurance. The $2.8 billion in damage is the largest amount for a tornado since 1950. Casualties As of May 2013, the official death toll from NWS was listed at 158 while the City of Joplin listed the death toll at 161 (158 direct). The list was up to 162, until one man's injuries were found to be unrelated to the event.In one indirect fatality,a policeman was struck by lightning and killed while assisting with recovery and cleanup efforts the day after the storm.Another five indirect fatalities occurred after a disease outbreak ofmucormycosisinfected 13 people, possibly 18 people.Shortly after the tornado, authorities had listed 1,300 people as missing, but the number quickly dwindled as they were accounted for.Many people were reported to have been trapped in destroyed houses. Seventeen people were rescued from the rubble the day after the tornado struck.Of 146 sets of remains recovered from the rubble, 134 victims had been positively identified by June 1.This total included four sets of partial remains, some of which may have been from a single person.On June 2, it was announced that four more victims had died. Six people were killed when St. John's Regional Medical Center was struck by the tornado. Five of those deaths were patients on ventilators who died after the building lost power and a backup generator did not work.The sixth fatality was a hospital visitor. TheJoplin Globereported that 54% of the people killed died in their residences, 32% died in non-residential areas and 14% died in vehicles or outdoors. Joplin officials after the tornado announced plans to requirehurricane tiesor other fasteners between the houses and their foundations (devices add about US$600 to the construction costs). Officials rejected a proposal to require concrete basements in new houses. Officials noted that as of 2009, only 28% of Joplin's new homes had basements, compared with 38% two decades before. At least 1,150 people were injured severely enough to seek treatment at regional hospitals.Injuries ranged from cuts and bruises to impalement by large debris. Officials said they rescued 944 pets and reunited 292 with owners. Rating dispute In 2013, theAmerican Society of Civil Engineerspublished a study disputing the tornado's initial EF5 rating, based on surveying damage on over 150 structures within a six-mile segment of the storm's path. According to the report, over 83% of the damage was caused by wind speeds of 135 mph (217 km/h) or less, the maximum wind speed of an EF2 tornado. An additional 13% was caused by EF3 wind speeds, and 3% was consistent with EF4 winds. The study found no damage consistent with wind speeds over 200 mph (320 km/h), the minimum threshold of an EF5 tornado.Researchers concluded that the inability to find EF5 damage was due to the absence of construction standards that were able to determine the necessary wind speeds. Bill Colbourne, a member of the engineering team that surveyed the damage, declared that \\\"a relatively large number of buildings could have survived in Joplin if they had been built to sustain hurricane winds.\\\" However, the EF5 rating stood. The NWS office in Springfield stated that their survey teams found only a small area of EF5 structural damage, and that it could have easily been missed in the survey (at and around St. John's Medical Center).Bill Davis, head of Springfield's NWS office, said that the results of the study \\\"do not surprise me at all,\\\" adding that \\\"there was only a very small area of EF5 damage in Joplin...we knew right off the bat there was EF4 damage. It took us longer to identify the EF5 damage and that it would take winds of over 200 mph (320 km/h) to do that damage.\\\"Additionally, the basis for the EF5 rating in Joplin was mainly contextual rather than structural, with non-conventional damage indicators such as the removal of concrete parking stops, manhole covers, reinforced concrete porches, driveways, and asphalt used to arrive at a final rating. The presence of wind rowed structural debris, instances of very large vehicles such as buses, vans, and semi-trucks being thrown hundreds of yards to several blocks from their points of origin, the fact that some homeowners never located their vehicles, and the overwhelming extent and totality of the destruction in Joplin were also taken into consideration. According to a detailed damage survey by Timothy Marshall, a majority of houses were destroyed at winds of EF2-3 strength. However he identified 22 well anchored houses which were assigned EF5 ratings. Response Immediately following the disaster, emergency responders were deployed within and to the city to undertake search and rescue efforts. ThenGovernorJay Nixondeclared astate of emergencyfor the Joplin area shortly after the tornado hit, and orderedMissouri National Guardtroops to the city.By May 23,Missouri Task Force One(consisting of 85 personnel, four dogs, and heavy equipment) arrived and began searching for missing persons. Five heavy rescue teams were also sent to the city a day later. Within two days, numerous agencies arrived to assist residents in the recovery process. The National Guard deployed 191 personnel and placed 2,000 more on standby to be deployed if needed. In addition, theMissouri State Highway Patrolprovided 180 troopers to assist theJoplin Police Departmentand other local agencies with law enforcement, rescue, and recovery efforts that also included the deployment of five ambulance strike teams, and a total of 25 ambulances in the affected area on May 24 as well over 75 Marines from theFt. Leonard WoodArmy base.Due to the severe damage caused by the tornado, the traveling Piccadilly Circus was unable to perform as scheduled. As a result, the circus employees brought their two adult elephants to help drag damaged automobiles and other heavy debris out of the streets. Despite the destruction, twoWaffle Houselocations in Joplin remained open following the tornado. This ledFederal Emergency Management AgencyAdministratorCraig Fugateto develop the concept of theWaffle House Indexfor measuring disaster impact. In May 2012, the Missouri National Guard released documents showing that four soldiers looted consumer electronics from a ruined Walmart during efforts to locate survivors the day after the tornado. According to the investigative memo, they believed the merchandise was going to be destroyed. All four soldiers were demoted and had letters of reprimand placed in their personnel files, but were never prosecuted, though many civilian looters were. Cleanup The Joplin tornado generated an estimated 3 million cubic yards of debris,an amount sufficient to cover a football field 120 stories high.: 19Removal efforts lasted for months, and at their height more than 410 trucks a day transported debris to landfills in Joplin itself, as well as nearbyGalenaandLamar. The tornado also led to renewed lead contamination on many Joplin properties. Joplin had been the site of lead mining and processing for decades before cleanup efforts began in the mid-1990s, and the tornado's upheaval of the surface as it swept houses from foundations and uprooted trees re-contaminated about 40% of yards in southern Joplin, leaving behind chunks of raw lead ore the size of tennis or golf balls. The city spent more than $5 million to clean the properties up using grants from the Environmental Protection Agency, scraping off the topsoil and replacing it with clean soil, and further required that builders in the damage area test for lead and clean it up before construction. Social media response The tornado also highlighted a new form of disaster response, using social media. This type of disaster response is now known as Social Media Emergency Management. News outlets began aggregating images and video from eyewitnesses shared through social media.Public citizen-led Facebook groups and web sites coordinated information, needs, and offers. The results were so effective the project became a finalist in the 2011 Mashable Awards for Best Social Good Cause Campaign. National attention PresidentBarack Obamatoured the community on May 29, flying intoJoplin Regional Airportand speaking at a memorial at the Taylor Performing Arts Center atMissouri Southern State Universityabout two miles (3.2 km) north of the worst of the devastation.Obama had been on a state visit to Europe at the time of the storm. Members of the controversialWestboro Baptist Churchwere also scheduled to protest the same day in Joplin, but they did not show up. There was a massive counterprotest that was organized in response to the Westboro protest, in which thousands of protesters showed up holding signs saying, \\\"God Loves Joplin\\\" and \\\"We Support You Joplin.\\\" President Obama also delivered thecommencement addressatJoplin High Schoolon May 21, 2012, a year after the tornado. Rebuilding and recovery FEMA maintained a large presence in Joplin following the tornado, with as many as 820 employees working in the city. One FEMA undertaking was the construction of 15 temporary housing sites in and around Joplin, which housed 586 families/households at their peak. The city, warned by federal officials that it should expect to lose 25% of its population following the tornado, responded quickly and built an average of five houses a week between 2011 and 2022. Most businesses reopened, and more than 300 new businesses opened between 2011 and early 2016. In April 2012, Joplin voters approved a $62 million bond to continue constructing new schools and repair damaged existing ones. Engineers criticized thetilt-upconstruction of the Home Depot building, in which all but two of the walls collapsed in adomino effectafter the tornado lifted the roof, killing seven people in the front of the store (although 28 people in the back of the store survived when those walls collapsed outwards). Home Depot officials disagreed with the study published byThe Kansas City Starand said they would use the tilt-up practice when they rebuilt the Joplin store.On June 1, the Home Depot said it would have a new temporary 30,000 sq ft (2,800 m2) building erected and operational within two weeks. In the meantime, it opened for business in the parking lot of its demolished building.On June 20, the Home Depot opened a temporary 60,000 sq ft (5,600 m2) building constructed by the company's disaster recovery team. Within two years, the city's workers and community groups compiled and published \\\"Joplin Pays it Forward\\\" to give recovery advice to other places struck by disasters.Many homes and businesses have been rebuilt since the tornado. Joplin High School was reopened on September 2, 2014. St. John's Regional Medical Center (nowMercy Hospital) had to be rebuilt and reopened in 2015. Mental health impacts Eighteen people committed suicide in the wake of the tornado, according to the executive director of the Community Clinic of Southwest Missouri, a co-chair of the city's long-term recovery team. Calls about domestic violence grew in the year following the disaster.In 2024, Jennifer M. First, J. Brian Houston, and Sangwon Lee with theUniversity of Tennesseealong with Megan Carnahan and Mansoo Yu with theUniversity of Missouri, published aqualitative case studyof survivors from the tornado, in which they described how survivors recovered from \\\"tornado brain\\\".In the paper, they stated approximately 41% of the residents of Joplin were directly impacted by the tornado and that the tornado lead to \\\"various mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder\\\". In popular culture A number of documentaries have been produced about the Joplin tornado and its effects on the city. These includeHeartland: A Portrait of Survival, directed byErica Tremblayand featured at the Omaha Film Festival and the St. Louis International Film Festival,as well asDeadline in Disaster(directed by Beth Pike), which followed the staff of The Joplin Globe in the tornado's aftermath and received a regional Emmy in the Documentary-Cultural category during the 37thMid-America Emmy Awards. In October 2011,The Joplin Globereleased a hard-cover pictorial book entitled32 Minutes in May: The Joplin Tornado. See also Notes References Further reading External links 37°03′38″N94°31′51″W / 37.06056°N 94.53083°W /37.06056; -94.53083\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["BryanStars Bryan Odell(born May 22, 1990), better known by hisonline aliasBryanStars, is an American formermusic interviewer, YouTube personality, musician, and artist manager. He is best known for hisBryanStars Interviewsseries, where he interviews with popular artists in thealternative scene, includingBlack Veil Brides,Asking Alexandria, andFalling in Reverse. Early life Odell was born on May 22, 1990, in Japan, where he resided until he was eight years old. His family later relocated toDallas, Texas, and then again toNebraskawhen he was a teenager.He attendedLincoln East High School, where he graduated in 2008.In his senior year, his short filmEnergy Crisis in America, highlightingrising gas prices, won third place in the high school section of theStudentCamcompetition, hosted byC-SPAN. He attended theUniversity of Nebraska–Lincolnfor two years, majoring in Broadcast Journalism.While in university, he did an internship where he would interview professional bands for a local television station. Odell chose","Odell chose to drop out of university to focus his attention on his YouTube channel \"BryanStars\" after winning YouTube NextUp in 2011.Through the NextUp contest, YouTube aimed to foster creators on its platform. Odell and 25 other YouTubers received a $35,000 grant for their channel and a multi-day workshop in New York City with professional online bloggers.At the time, he had about 55,000 subscribers. YouTube career Odell is best known for hisBryanStars Interviews,series on his YouTube channel, BryanStars. He primarily publishes interviews and music videos from bands of the rock andheavy metalscene. During his career, Odell interviewed artists includingAsking Alexandria,Blood On The Dance Floor,Millionaires,Never Shout Never,Motionless In White,Pierce the Veil,Black Veil Brides,All Time Low,Sleeping with Sirens,The Ready Set,One Ok Rock,Panic! at the Disco,Twenty One Pilots,Avenged Sevenfold,Escape the Fate,Suicide Silence,Disturbed,Creed,Hollywood Undead,Korn,Three Days Grace,Bullet For My","Grace,Bullet For My Valentine,Cannibal Corpse,Chevelle, andSlipknot, as well as artists likeRob Zombie,Papa Roach,Cody Simpson,G-Eazy,Mitchel Mussoand winners ofAmerican Idol. Odell has also interviewed record producerMatt Goodand YouTube starsShane Dawson,Michael BuckleyandDave Days. He has published more than 1000 band interviews and music videos to his YouTube Channel. In 2013,BryanStars Interviewswas voted by music fans as the \"Best Music Blog\" in theAlternative PressReader's Choice Poll 2013.BryanStars Interviewswas nominated for aShorty Awardfor \"Best Web Show\" in 2014 along withJerry Seinfeld'sComedians in Cars Getting Coffee.In 2014, retailerJourneysproduced \"This Is My Journey\" segment about Odell that played in stores nationwide. Never Shout Never incident On June 3, 2012,Never Shout Neverwas interviewed by Odell in an interview that was being covered byThe New York Times. Never Shout Never lead vocalistChristofer Drew Inglewas aware ofThe New York Timescoverage of the interview. About halfway","About halfway through the interview, Ingle cut Odell off, denouncing his show as \"a joke\" and his questions as \"bullshit\" with bassist Taylor MacFee also taking Odell's interview question papers from him, throwing them on the floor, and finding his questions to be annoying and irrelevant. As a result, the band abruptly ended the interview, leaving Odell in tears. An outpour of support for Odell resulted from the incident. Numerous musicians such asKellin QuinnofSleeping with Sirens,Chris FronzakofAttila, andAndy BiersackofBlack Veil Bridescame to Odell's defense.In aStickambroadcast, Ingle expressed remorse for making Odell cry, later admitting that he had takenacidearlier the day of the interview. Warped YouTube Program In 2014, Odell was picked to be one of the \"Warped YouTubers\" with Damon Fizzy (also calling himself DeeFizzy), Johnnie Guilbert, CYR and Piddleass. The following year,Kevin Lyman(creator ofWarped Tour) made Odell the official host of the tour. Odell worked with Warped Tour through 2015 as","through 2015 as their official host on all social media, announcing over 100 bands for the tour. Odell taught a class on the 2015 Vans Warped Tour called \"YouTube 101\" where he taught aspiring YouTubers how to pursue a career in social media. My Digital Escape Odell then founded \"My Digital Escape,\" a collaborative project and YouTube channel featuring numerous smaller creators who shared a similar passion for music. While an active creator in My Digital Escape (MDE), Odell served as manager of the project as well.The channel stopped uploading in May 2016. The channel reached 800,000 subscribers and 100 million views.The channel prominently featured Odell, Johnnie Guilbert, Shannon Taylor (HeyThereImShannon), Luke Wale, Kyle David Hall, Alex Dorame, and Jordan Sweeto.In 2016, My Digital Escape went on tour across the United States and visited 21 cities. Musical endeavors In 2016, Odell went into the studio with ZK Studios to record his debut EP.On March 21, 2016, BryanStars announced the release of a 5-track","of a 5-track EP entitled \"Follow Your Dreams\".It was released on April 1, 2016, and charted on Billboard at #22 on theAlternative New Artist Album Chart, #59 on theNew Artist Album Chartand #128 on theIndie Albums Chart. BryanStars also collaborated withSocial Reposeon a cover ofBring Me The Horizon's \"Follow You\". In November 2016, Odell announced that he would be releasing a second EP titled the \"Picture Perfect EP\". It was released on December 4, 2016. BryanStars Tour In 2012, Odell started the \"BryanStars Tour\", which toured throughout the United States. Odell created three BryanStars Tours from 2012 to 2013. Personal life Odell revealed his homosexuality on his YouTube channel in 2017. After considerable controversy later that same year due to being accused of covering up for convicted sex offenderAustin Jones, Odell stepped back from his social media ventures, specifically his YouTube channels.He has not been active on any of his YouTube channels or social media since. Awards and recognition","and recognition Discography Extended plays Singles References External links","Never Shout Never Never Shout Never(originally typeset asnevershoutnever!andNeverShoutNever!) was an Americanrockband formed inJoplin, Missouri, in 2007. Vocalist and multi-instrumentalistChristofer Drewbegan the band as a solo project before expanding it to a band, whose best-known lineup included himself, bassist Taylor MacFee, and drummer Hayden Kaiser.The band that accompanied Drew when it was a solo project were originally known as \"The Shout\". Never Shout Never released eight full-length albums and nine EPs. History 2007–2009: Formation and early career Christofer Drew Ingle began making music under the alias nevershoutnever! in 2007, when he was 16 years old in his parents basement.His first exposure came through the internet, where he achieved success on Myspace before issuing the extended play,The Yippee EPon July 29, 2008, and selling 46,000 copies in the US.On July 30, 2008, he was featured onTRL, where he performed his debut single \"Big City Dreams\".The single peaked at number one on","at number one on theBillboardHot Singles Saleschart.To support the EP, he went on tour in the US withJamestown Story,Owl City, and Handshakes and Highfives during the summer of 2008.He toured withHellogoodbyeandAce Endersin the fall of 2008. NeverShoutNever! released the lead single \"Trouble\" from his third EP,Me & My Ukeon December 29, 2008.The song peaked at number five on the Hot Singles Sales chart.The song was later certified gold by theRecording Industry Association of Americain May 2012.In January 2009,Me & My Ukewas officially released. NeverShoutNever! started touring withThe Scene Aesthetic,The Honorary Title, andThe Bigger Lightsin late February 2009and then toured with bands such asForever the Sickest Kids,The Cab, and Mercy Mercedes, among others in spring 2009 as part ofThe Bamboozle Roadshow 2009.He played at bothThe Bamboozle Left 2009andThe Bamboozle 2009.In 2009, Never Shout Never won themtvU Woodie Awardsfor Breaking Woodie. 2009–2010:What Is LoveandHarmony It was announced on May 29,","on May 29, 2009, that Ingle had signed toWarner Bros. Records, ending a major-label bidding war.As part of the deal, Ingle runs and make releases on his own imprint label, Loveway Records.Ingle's alias became officially stylized as Never Shout Never.The Summer EPwas Ingle's first release under Warner Bros. and was released on June 23, 2009.It sold 46,000 copies and the first single from the EP, titled \"Happy\", was released on iTunes on March 3, 2009.Production for Never Shout Never's debut album began in June 2009, whereButch Walkerproduced the album.The album was recorded inLos Angelesand atAbbey Road Studiosin London.The band embarked on a headlining tour in October 2009 with Carter Hulsey andNow Now Every Children, before joiningDashboard Confessionalon their headling tour in November. A self-titled EP,Never Shout Neverwas released on December 8, 2009 and featured two songs from his upcoming debut album (\"What Is Love?\" and \"Jane Doe\"), a re-recorded version of a song fromThe Yippee EP(\"She's Got Style\"),","Got Style\"), and a live version of a song fromThe Yippee EP(\"Big City Dreams\").The debut studio album from Never Shout Never,What Is Love?, was released on January 26, 2010.The album peaked at number 24 on theBillboard200chart and sold 21,000 copies.The album's first single, \"What Is Love?\" was released on December 15, 2009.\"I Love You 5\" was released on February 4, 2010 as the second single from the album.\"Can't Stand It\" was released on March 4, 2010 as the third and final single from the album along with its music video directed by Isaac Ravishankara.The song peaked at number 29 on theBillboardUS Rock Digital Song Sales chart.The group headlined theAlternative PressAP Tour in the spring of 2010 with support from Joplin,The Cab,Hey Monday,Every AvenueandThe Summer Set. Never Shout Never performed at theVans Warped Tourin summer of 2010.The band released a digital EP on July 27, 2010, titledMelody, which contained three tracks: \"CheaterCheaterBestFriendEater\", \"Coffee & Cigarettes\" and \"Lousy Truth\".Their","\"Lousy Truth\".Their second studio album,Harmony, was released in August 2010.The album peaked at number 14 on theBillboard200 chart and sold 23,000 copies in its first week.In October and November 2010, Never Shout Never co-headlined the Harmony Tour withThe Maine, where the bands had fans gather can foods to help those in need. As a gift to the fans, they released a live split EP and was made available for free download on Never Shout Never's website. 2011–2012:Time TravelandIndigo The band's hometown, Joplin, Missouri, was heavily damaged by atornado on May 22, 2011. Following the destruction, Ingle began a relief fund with United Way to raise $1.2 million for his hometown.To raise awareness about the devastation of Joplin, Ingle took video footage of the destruction and posted it onYouTubeon June 1, 2011. The video, which features the song \"Time Travel\", encouraged viewers to donate to the relief of the town via his United Way fund.The song later went on to become the lead single from their third studio","their third studio album on July 22, 2011.The album was recorded inSpringfield, Missouriat the 2100 Studios. It is also the first album where Never Shout Never recorded as a full band.The album's second single \"Simplistic Trance - Like Getaway\" was released on August 26, 2011.Never Shout Never's third studio album,Time Travelwas released on September 20, 2011.The album peaked at number 35 on theBillboard200.In support of the album's release, they embarked on a fall headliner tour called The Time Travel Tour.The official music video for \"Time Travel\" was directed by Joey Boukadakis and was released in September 2011. Ingle first revealed the title of the group's fourth studio album in an interview with Alter The Press! on May 8, 2012,and on September 20, via his Twitter account, he announced the release date of his new albumIndigo.According to Drew, he wanted to record every song with a different producer, all in different cities, to give each song a unique feel and its own style.In support of the album's","of the album's release, the band released five free tracks from their album throughAlternative PressandBillboard.Never Shout Never's fourth full-length studio album,Indigowas released November 13, 2012. It debuted at 194 on theBillboard200, a steep decline from the group's previous high of 14.The band toured the U.S. on the Indigo tour in late 2012. 2013:SunflowerandThe Xmas EP In May 2013, Never Shout Never revealed their fifth studio album,Sunflower, which was released on July 2, 2013.The band released the first promotional single, \"Good Times\" for streaming on May 23, 2013.On May 28, the group released the album's second promotional single, \"Subliminal Messages\" which premiered exclusively on PropertyOfZack.com.\"Malibu\" was released for streaming viaPureVolumeon June 4, as the third promotional single from the album.The album's fourth and final promotional single, \"Knock, Knock\" was released on June 18.The band performed at Warped Tour in the summer of 2013.During the Warped Tour, Ingle had also teamed","had also teamed with BandHappy, an organization in which experienced musicians taught amateurs how to reach success. He had led a workshop in which a limited number of fans could ask questions and learn from him, with the addition of a one-on-one meet and greet. A festive EP titledThe Xmas EPwas released on November 22, 2013.Drew produced and recorded the covers himself and collaborated withDia Framptonon the original track \"Under The Mistletoe\". The song was released for streaming on November 15.The EP was recorded in Drew's home.The group headlined the Xmas Tour with support fromThe Downtown FictionandNick Santinoin December 2013. 2014–2016:Recycled Youth,Black Cat, and Departure of MacFee In late 2013, Never Shout Never announced that the group was working on a new album calledRecycled Youth, Vol. 1.The album featured re-worked songs from previous Never Shout Never releases. In January 2014 the band announced that the group had begun recording the album, and was expected to be released later that year.The","later that year.The album was the first installment of what Drew envisioned to be a three part collection of re-recorded fan and band favorites. It was produced by Eric Palmquist inLos Angeles,California.In June 2014, Never Shout Never announced thatIan Crawfordjoined the band as the lead guitarist.Recycled Youth, Vol. 1was released on March 3, 2015. On June 9, 2015, it was announced that Never Shout Never would be releasing their seventh studio album,Black Caton August 7, 2015.The first single off of the album, titled \"Hey! We OK\", was released the same day.The album was recorded in the DTLA Recording Studio inLos Angeles,Californiaand was produced byDennis Herring.On June 17, the group released \"Boom!\" as the first promotional single from the album.On July 16, the band premiered a new track titled, \"Red Balloon\" and was released as the album's second promotional single.The album peaked at number 52 on theBillboard200.On November 24, 2015, Ian Crawford confirmed on his Facebook page that he had been let go","he had been let go from the band. The band embarked on the Black Cat Tour in January 2016.\"Red Balloon\" was officially released as the album's second single on February 5, 2016.\"Hey! We Ok\" was nominated at the 2016Alternative Press Music Awardsfor Song of the Year.The group headlined a US tour in June 2016 with support from Hundred Handed and Me Like Bees.On June 26, 2016, bassist Taylor MacFee announced his departure from the band.In November 2016, the group released their ninth EP,Advent Of Violett Soul. 2017–2018: Cancelled studio albums and break-up In June 2017, Never Shout Never performed at the 2017Warped Tour.They later embarked on the Throwback Tour, as well as performing at the So What?! Music Festival.The tour lasted throughout 2017 where they played songs from earlier albums that likely wouldn't be played again for a long time.In April 2017, Drew revealed he had plans on releasing Never Shout Never's eighth studio album,Emerald Sun. He described the record as \"conceptual,\" dealing with the theme","with the theme of love. He stated, \"It's something I wrote that I feel has a higher message behind it. It's the album I've been wanting to make — portrays my heart and how I see the world.\" 13 tracks were written for the album.The album was expected to be released in the summer of 2018, but never made its way onto streaming services. On March 23, 2018, the band released a cover ofElvis Presley's \"Love Me Tender\" on their upcoming cover album,All for Love, composed entirely of covers of love songs.On April 2, they released their cover ofthe Beatles' \"Something\".It is unlikelyAll for Lovewas finished and will ever be released. Drew continued to upload a handful of covers on YouTube, but these were likely not final recordings for the album, nor were they likely intended to be on the album at all. Ingle revealed in December 2018 that after a small tour in Mexico and Brazil the following month that Never Shout Never would disband.However, he reached out to fans via an Instagram post two days later asking if he","later asking if he should keep making music under the name.Despite the initial announcement, the band performed shows in Brazil and Mexico in early 2019.Following the final show in Brazil (with long-time drummer Hayden Kaiser absent) he stated he was uncertain of the band's future, but no official breakup announcement was confirmed. 2020–2023:Unborn Spark, return and retirement On April 29, 2020, Drew announced a solo acoustic album titledUnborn Spark, due for release on May 13, his son's 1st birthday.However, on May 5, he announced that he needed a little more time for mixing and artwork to be completed.On May 17, he announced that the album would be released on June 12.On June 8, the first single, \"Time to Change\", was released. With it came the announcement that it would be released as a Never Shout Never album. Never Shout Never returned in late 2021, releasing a new single titled \"Easy Swagger\" in October.On March 8, 2022, Drew announced his retirement from music, putting an end to the band.In addition,","band.In addition, Drew confirmed on Twitter that Never Shout Never was finished.However, on December 24, 2022, he announced that Never Shout Never would be returning the following year and also announced a release of a new album.On November 25, 2023, Drew announced viaTwitterhis second retirement from music, revealing that he would pursue a new career in professional painting.He also released the final mixes of his intended album,Advent of Violet Soulon the same day. Band members Former members Timeline Discography Awards and nominations Alternative Press Music Awards mtvU Woodie Awards PETA's Libby Awards References External links","2011 Joplin tornado The2011 Joplin tornadowas a large and devastatingmultiple-vortextornadothat struckJoplin,Missouri, United States, on the evening of Sunday, May 22, 2011. Part of alarger late-Maytornado outbreak, theEF5tornado began just west of Joplin and intensified very quickly, reaching a maximum width of nearly one mile (1.6 km) during its path through the southern part of the city. The tornado tracked eastward through Joplin, and then continued acrossInterstate 44into rural portions ofJasperandNewtoncounties, weakening before it dissipated. The tornado devastated a large portion of the city of Joplin, damaging nearly 8,000 buildings, and of those, destroying over 4,000. The damage—which included major facilities like one of Joplin's two hospitals as well as much of its basic infrastructure—amounted to a total of $2.8 billion, making the Joplin tornado the costliest single tornado in U.S. history. The insurance payout was the highest in Missouri history, breaking the previous record of $2 billion from","of $2 billion from thehailstorm of April 10, 2001. Overall, the tornado killed 158 people (with an additional eight indirect deaths) and injured some 1,150 others. It ranks as one of the United States' deadliest tornadoes: it was the deadliest U.S. tornado since theApril 9, 1947, F5 tornado inWoodward,Oklahoma, and the seventh-deadliest in U.S. history.It was the deadliest tornado in Missouri history, as well as the first single tornado since the1953 Flint–Beecher tornadoinMichiganto cause more than 100 fatalities.It was the first F5/EF5 tornado to occur in Missouri sinceMay 20, 1957, when an F5 tornado destroyed several suburbs ofKansas City,and only the second F5/EF5 tornado in Missouri since 1950.It was the third tornado to strike Joplin since May 1971. Meteorological synopsis On the evening of May 21, 2011, an area of low pressure was centered over westernSouth Dakota. This feature, in addition to steeplapse ratesanddewpointsabove 60 °F (16 °C), was conducive to the development ofsupercellslater in the","in the day. Very largehailwas forecast, but the tornado threat was forecast to remain isolated.: 15–16At 8:00 a.m.CDT(1300UTC), theNational Weather Service(NWS)Storm Prediction Center(SPC) issued a slight risk of severe storms for much of the upperPlainsand theMidwest. By 8:00 a.m. CDT (1300 UTC) on May 22, forecasters at the SPC realized that a more intense weather outbreak was likely to occur, and upgraded a large swath of the Midwest to a moderate risk. The system was forecast to evolve into a wave early Monday morning as a trough strengthened from the western United States. At the surface, acold frontwas forecast to pass through the region later in the day, while adrylinewas forecast to intersect the cold front inKansas. These features, accompanied by the low-pressure system, encouraged very strong storm development along the cold front.By the 11:30 a.m. CDT (1630 UTC) updated outlook, certainty had grown stronger that a major severe weather event would occur that afternoon. A public severe weather","severe weather outlook was issued at this time, and the outlook stated that severe weather was expected that afternoon, with tornadoes, large hail and strong winds all named as threats. At 1:30 p.m. CDT (1830 UTC), four hours prior to the tornado, the SPC issued atornado watchfor southwesternMissouri, to remain in effect until 9:00 p.m. CDT.: 2The watch predicted \"explosive thunderstorm development,\" with a \"strong tornado or two possible.\": 20Thunderstorms began developing between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. over southeast Kansas. They quickly became severe, and as thunderstorm development continued moving to the east, forecasters became more concerned about imminent tornado development. A tornado warning for the severe thunderstorm west ofJoplinthat eventually produced the EF5 tornado was first issued at 5:17 p.m. CDT (22:17 UTC), 17 minutes before it touched down and 19 minutes before it entered the city of Joplin.: 17 Storm track and damage Beginning The tornado first touched down inNewton County, Missouri, just","Missouri, just east of the Missouri–Kansas state line, approximately one-half mile (0.80 km) southwest of the intersection of South Central City Road and 32nd Street, at 5:34 p.m. CDT (22:34 UTC). Eyewitnesses andstorm chasersreported multiple vortices rotating around the parent circulation. Here, the tornado downed several large trees at EF0 intensity.Civil defense sirenssounded in Joplin twenty minutes before the tornado struck, in response to the tornado warning issued at 5:17 p.m. CDT (22:17 UTC) for northwestern Newton and southwestern Jasper counties in Missouri, and southeastern portions ofCherokee County, Kansas, but many Joplin residents did not heed the warning or the sirens. The tornado moved east-northeast and strengthened to EF1 intensity as it continued through rural areas towards Joplin, snapping trees and power poles and damaging outbuildings. Widening, the tornado then tracked into the more densely populated southwest corner of the city near the Twin Hills Country Club. It heavily damaged","It heavily damaged several homes at asubdivisionin this area at up to EF3 strength. The tornado continued to cause EF3 damage as it moved through another subdivision just east of Iron Gates Road.Numerous homes were destroyed and multiple vehicles tossed around, some of which were thrown onto or rolled into homes. The tornado reached EF4 intensity just before crossing S. Schifferdecker Ave. EF5 intensity in Joplin The now massive and wedge-shaped tornado then crossed S. Schifferdecker Ave. at 5:38 p.m. CDT (22:38 UTC),: 17producing its first area of EF4 damage only four minutes after touching down, as several small but well-built commercial buildings were flattened. One person was killed after they were ejected from their car as the tornado crossed the road. Further strengthening resulted in the tornado reaching EF5 intensity shortly afterwards. Consistent EF4 to EF5 damage was noted east of S. Schifferdecker Ave. and continued through most of southern Joplin. Numerous homes, businesses, and medical buildings","medical buildings were flattened in this area, with concrete walls collapsed and crushed into the foundations. A large steel-reinforced step and floor structure leading to a completely destroyed medical building was \"deflected upward several inches and cracked\". Steel trusses from some of the buildings were \"rolled up like paper\", and deformation or twisting of the main support beams was noted. Multiple vehicles were thrown and mangled or wrapped around trees nearby. Several 300-pound concrete parking stops anchored with rebar were torn from a parking lot in this area and thrown up to 60 yards (55 m) away.Iowa State Universitywind engineer Partha Sarkar calculated the force needed to remove the parking stops from the lot and found that winds exceeding 200 mph (320 km/h) would have been required. Damage became remarkably widespread and catastrophic at and around the nearbySt. John's Regional Medical Center, which lost nearly every window on three sides, interior walls, ceilings, and part of its roof; its life","its roof; its life flight helicopter was also blown away and destroyed.Loss of backup power caused five fatalities,and the nine-story building was so damaged that it was deemed structurally compromised, and later torn down. According to the NWS office inSpringfield, Missouri, such extreme structural damage to such a large and well-built structure likely indicated winds at or exceeding 200 mph (320 km/h).Vehicles in the hospital parking lot were thrown into the air and mangled beyond recognition, including a semi-truck that was tossed 125 yards (114 m) and wrapped completely around adebarkedtree.Small pieces of debris from the hospital, including X-rays, medical reports, and dental records, were found in Greene and Polk counties many miles to the east.Wind-rowing of debris was noted in this area, and more concrete parking stops were removed from the St. John's parking lot. Virtually every house near McClelland Boulevard and 26th Street was flattened; some were swept completely away, and trees sustained severe","sustained severe debarking. Peak intensity As the tornado tracked eastward, it maintained EF5 strength as it crossedMain Street (Route 43)between 20th and 26th Streets. It heavily damaged every business along that stretch and virtually destroyed several institutional buildings. It tracked just south of downtown, narrowly missing it. Entire neighborhoods were leveled in this area with some more homes swept away, and trees were stripped completely of their bark. At some residences, reinforced concrete porches were deformed or, in some cases, completely torn away. Damage to driveways was noted at some residences as well. Numerous vehicles were tossed up to several blocks, and a few homeowners never located their vehicles.A large church, a nursing home, Franklin Technology Center, St. Mary's Catholic Church and School, andJoplin High Schoolwere all destroyed along this corridor. The Greenbriar Nursing Home was completely leveled, with 21 fatalities occurring there alone,with dozens of fatalities occurring","occurring elsewhere in this area as well.No one was in the high school at the time, as the graduation ceremonies held about three miles (4.8 km) to the north atMissouri Southern State Universityhad concluded shortly before the storm. Pieces of cardboard were found embedded in stucco walls that remained standing at Joplin High School. Steel beams and pieces of fencing were deeply embedded into the ground in fields near the high school, steel fence posts were bent to the ground in opposite directions, and a school bus was thrown into a nearby bus garage. As the tornado crossed Connecticut Avenue further to the east, it destroyed several large apartment buildings which resulted in 14 fatalities, along with aDillonsgrocery store, and a bank. Only the concrete safety deposit box vault remained at the bank,and a wooden 2x4 was found speared completely through a concrete curb at one location. The tornado then approached Rangeline Road, the main commercial strip in the eastern part of Joplin, affecting additional","additional neighborhoods along 20th Street. The now heavily rain-wrapped tornado continued at EF5 intensity as it crossed Range Line Road. In that corridor between about 13th and 32nd Streets, the tornado continued producing catastrophic damage as it reached its widest point nearly one mile (1.6 km) across. As the tornado struck aPizza Huton South Range Line Road, store manager Christopher Lucas herded four employees and 15 customers into a walk-in freezer. With difficulty closing the door, he wrapped abungee cordholding the door shut around his arm until he was sucked out and killed by the tornado.The tornado completely destroyed aWalmartsupercenter, aHome Depot, and numerous other businesses and restaurants in this area, many of which were flattened. Numerous metal roof trusses were torn from the Home Depot building and were found broken and mangled in nearby fields. Cars that originated at the Home Depot parking lot were found hundreds of yards away. Asphalt was scoured from parking lots at Walmart and a","at Walmart and a nearby pizza restaurant, and large tractor-trailers were thrown up to 200 yards (180 m) away. AnAcademy Sports + Outdoorsstore along Range Line sustained major structural damage, and a chair was found impaled legs-first through an exterior stucco wall there. A nearby three-story apartment complex was also devastated, and two cell phone towers collapsed. In this area, numerous cars were thrown and piled on top of each other, 100-pound (45 kg) manhole covers were removed from roads and thrown, the ground scoured, and aPepsidistribution plant was completely leveled. Additional calculations with regards to the manhole covers by Partha Sarkar revealed that winds had to have exceeded 200 miles per hour (320 km/h) for the manhole covers to be removed.Twenty fatalities occurred in this area, and the damage was rated as EF5. Extreme damage continued in the area of Duquesne Road in southeast Joplin. Many houses and industrial and commercial buildings were flattened in this area as well. The industrial","The industrial park near the corner of 20th and Duquesne was especially hard hit with nearly every building flattened. Several large metal warehouse structures were swept cleanly from their foundations, and several heavy industrial vehicles were thrown up to 400 yards (370 m) away in this area. One of the many warehouses affected was aCumminswarehouse, a concrete block and steel building that was destroyed. The last area of EF5 damage occurred in the industrial park, and a nearby Fastrip gas station and convenience store was completely destroyed. Many homes were destroyed further to the east at EF3 to EF4 strength in a nearby subdivision, and East Middle School sustained major damage. Weakening and dissipation The tornado then continued on an east to east-southeast trajectory towardsI-44where it weakened; nonetheless, vehicles were blown off the highway and mangled nearUS 71(exit 11) on what is now theI-49interchange. The damage at and around the interchange was rated EF2 to EF3. The weakening tornado","weakening tornado continued to track into the rural areas of southeasternJasper Countyand northeasternNewton Countywhere damage was generally minor to moderate, with trees, mobile homes, outbuildings, and frame homes damaged mainly at EF0 to EF1 strength. The tornado lifted east ofDiamondat 6:20 p.m. CDT (23:20 UTC), according to aerial surveys. The total track length was 21.62 miles (34.79 km) long, and the tornado was up to one mile (1.6 km) across at its widest point. A total of 158 people were killed, and over 1,150 others were injured along the path.A separate EF2 tornado touched down nearWentworthfrom the same supercell about 25 miles (40 km) east-southeast of Joplin, beginning roughly 10 minutes before the dissipation of this tornado. Aftermath and impact A preliminary survey of the tornado damage by the NWS office in Springfield began on May 23. The initial survey confirmed a violent tornado rated as a high-end EF4. Subsequent damage surveys, however, found evidence of more intense damage, and so the","damage, and so the tornado was upgraded to an EF5with estimated winds over 200 mph (320 km/h), peaking at 225 to 250 mph (360 to 400 km/h). The scope of the damage was immense: according to the local branch of theAmerican Red Cross, about 25% of Joplin was destroyed,though emergency officials reported some level of damage to about 75% of the city.A week after the tornado, Joplin's mayor estimated that 25% of the businesses licensed in the city were damaged or destroyed. Official accountings of the precise number of buildings damaged or destroyed vary somewhat. According to theNational Institute of Standards and Technology(NIST) technical report, in total 7,964 buildings were damaged in Joplin, including 7,411 residential buildings and 553 non-residential. At least 3,734 of those buildings (including 3,181 of the residential and all 553 of the non-residential buildings) sustained so much damage as to be considered destroyed.: 77According to aFederal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA) study, 8,264 homes were","8,264 homes were impacted, and of those, 3,884 were \"significantly damaged\" and 4,380 were destroyed.: 8 Infrastructure The tornado also severely damaged critical infrastructure in the city, hampering emergency response and recovery efforts.Approximately 4,000 electricity distribution poles were damaged, more than 110 miles (180 km) ofdistribution linebrought down, 135transmission towers\"affected,\" and anelectrical substationin the path of the tornado was completely destroyed (two more were damaged, but reparably so). In the immediate aftermath of the storm, approximately 20,000 people were left without power, and those with homes left intact could not get it restored until 10–12 days later, when their dwellings were approved for safe occupancy. The ultimate cost of rebuilding Joplin's damaged electricity system was calculated at $25.7 million.: 222–224 The tornado also caused about 4,000 leaks in water service lines, dropping Joplin's water system pressure below operating level and necessitating a","and necessitating a block-by-block effort to find and repair the service line leaks, with a water boil order issued for the entire city in the meantime. Water pressure was returned to normal outside of the damage area within 48 hours, and the water boil order was lifted after five and a half days.: 224–226Approximately 3,500 gas meters and 55,000 feet (17,000 m) ofgas mainwere damaged, and it took two weeks to stem every gas leak; some damaged mains could not be shut off because they served critical facilities likeFreeman Health System, the lone remaining hospital in Joplin.: 226In east Joplin, 3,000–5,000 pounds (1,400–2,300 kg) ofanhydrous ammoniawas released from a valve at a trucking facility and quickly contained; no significant toxic releases occurred. With 21 cell towers down and fiber cables damaged, cellular communications—voice calls in particular, text messages less so—were heavily impeded. Temporary mobile cell towers were deployed by wireless carriers to fill the gap within 24 hours.: 226By May","hours.: 226By May 24, three towers owned byAT&TandSprinthad been restored. Insurance An early estimate from catastrophe risk modeling firm Eqecat, Inc. placed the insured losses from the tornado at $1–3 billion USD.By mid-June, more than 19,000 insurance claims had been filed,a number that eventually rose to 61,000, with a total payout of more than $2 billion—31% going to homeowners and 5% to those who lost vehicles.The impact on the insurance industry was not so much due to the number of claims, but the cumulative effect of such a large number of total losses. More than 2,500 local people employed in insurance were involved in some capacity. It was presumed thatState Farmwould assume the largest share of these losses, having market share of 27% forhomeowners insuranceand 21% forautomobile insurance. The $2.8 billion in damage is the largest amount for a tornado since 1950. Casualties As of May 2013, the official death toll from NWS was listed at 158 while the City of Joplin listed the death toll at 161 (158","toll at 161 (158 direct). The list was up to 162, until one man's injuries were found to be unrelated to the event.In one indirect fatality,a policeman was struck by lightning and killed while assisting with recovery and cleanup efforts the day after the storm.Another five indirect fatalities occurred after a disease outbreak ofmucormycosisinfected 13 people, possibly 18 people.Shortly after the tornado, authorities had listed 1,300 people as missing, but the number quickly dwindled as they were accounted for.Many people were reported to have been trapped in destroyed houses. Seventeen people were rescued from the rubble the day after the tornado struck.Of 146 sets of remains recovered from the rubble, 134 victims had been positively identified by June 1.This total included four sets of partial remains, some of which may have been from a single person.On June 2, it was announced that four more victims had died. Six people were killed when St. John's Regional Medical Center was struck by the tornado. Five of","tornado. Five of those deaths were patients on ventilators who died after the building lost power and a backup generator did not work.The sixth fatality was a hospital visitor. TheJoplin Globereported that 54% of the people killed died in their residences, 32% died in non-residential areas and 14% died in vehicles or outdoors. Joplin officials after the tornado announced plans to requirehurricane tiesor other fasteners between the houses and their foundations (devices add about US$600 to the construction costs). Officials rejected a proposal to require concrete basements in new houses. Officials noted that as of 2009, only 28% of Joplin's new homes had basements, compared with 38% two decades before. At least 1,150 people were injured severely enough to seek treatment at regional hospitals.Injuries ranged from cuts and bruises to impalement by large debris. Officials said they rescued 944 pets and reunited 292 with owners. Rating dispute In 2013, theAmerican Society of Civil Engineerspublished a study","a study disputing the tornado's initial EF5 rating, based on surveying damage on over 150 structures within a six-mile segment of the storm's path. According to the report, over 83% of the damage was caused by wind speeds of 135 mph (217 km/h) or less, the maximum wind speed of an EF2 tornado. An additional 13% was caused by EF3 wind speeds, and 3% was consistent with EF4 winds. The study found no damage consistent with wind speeds over 200 mph (320 km/h), the minimum threshold of an EF5 tornado.Researchers concluded that the inability to find EF5 damage was due to the absence of construction standards that were able to determine the necessary wind speeds. Bill Colbourne, a member of the engineering team that surveyed the damage, declared that \"a relatively large number of buildings could have survived in Joplin if they had been built to sustain hurricane winds.\" However, the EF5 rating stood. The NWS office in Springfield stated that their survey teams found only a small area of EF5 structural damage, and","damage, and that it could have easily been missed in the survey (at and around St. John's Medical Center).Bill Davis, head of Springfield's NWS office, said that the results of the study \"do not surprise me at all,\" adding that \"there was only a very small area of EF5 damage in Joplin...we knew right off the bat there was EF4 damage. It took us longer to identify the EF5 damage and that it would take winds of over 200 mph (320 km/h) to do that damage.\"Additionally, the basis for the EF5 rating in Joplin was mainly contextual rather than structural, with non-conventional damage indicators such as the removal of concrete parking stops, manhole covers, reinforced concrete porches, driveways, and asphalt used to arrive at a final rating. The presence of wind rowed structural debris, instances of very large vehicles such as buses, vans, and semi-trucks being thrown hundreds of yards to several blocks from their points of origin, the fact that some homeowners never located their vehicles, and the overwhelming","the overwhelming extent and totality of the destruction in Joplin were also taken into consideration. According to a detailed damage survey by Timothy Marshall, a majority of houses were destroyed at winds of EF2-3 strength. However he identified 22 well anchored houses which were assigned EF5 ratings. Response Immediately following the disaster, emergency responders were deployed within and to the city to undertake search and rescue efforts. ThenGovernorJay Nixondeclared astate of emergencyfor the Joplin area shortly after the tornado hit, and orderedMissouri National Guardtroops to the city.By May 23,Missouri Task Force One(consisting of 85 personnel, four dogs, and heavy equipment) arrived and began searching for missing persons. Five heavy rescue teams were also sent to the city a day later. Within two days, numerous agencies arrived to assist residents in the recovery process. The National Guard deployed 191 personnel and placed 2,000 more on standby to be deployed if needed. In addition, theMissouri","theMissouri State Highway Patrolprovided 180 troopers to assist theJoplin Police Departmentand other local agencies with law enforcement, rescue, and recovery efforts that also included the deployment of five ambulance strike teams, and a total of 25 ambulances in the affected area on May 24 as well over 75 Marines from theFt. Leonard WoodArmy base.Due to the severe damage caused by the tornado, the traveling Piccadilly Circus was unable to perform as scheduled. As a result, the circus employees brought their two adult elephants to help drag damaged automobiles and other heavy debris out of the streets. Despite the destruction, twoWaffle Houselocations in Joplin remained open following the tornado. This ledFederal Emergency Management AgencyAdministratorCraig Fugateto develop the concept of theWaffle House Indexfor measuring disaster impact. In May 2012, the Missouri National Guard released documents showing that four soldiers looted consumer electronics from a ruined Walmart during efforts to locate","efforts to locate survivors the day after the tornado. According to the investigative memo, they believed the merchandise was going to be destroyed. All four soldiers were demoted and had letters of reprimand placed in their personnel files, but were never prosecuted, though many civilian looters were. Cleanup The Joplin tornado generated an estimated 3 million cubic yards of debris,an amount sufficient to cover a football field 120 stories high.: 19Removal efforts lasted for months, and at their height more than 410 trucks a day transported debris to landfills in Joplin itself, as well as nearbyGalenaandLamar. The tornado also led to renewed lead contamination on many Joplin properties. Joplin had been the site of lead mining and processing for decades before cleanup efforts began in the mid-1990s, and the tornado's upheaval of the surface as it swept houses from foundations and uprooted trees re-contaminated about 40% of yards in southern Joplin, leaving behind chunks of raw lead ore the size of tennis or","size of tennis or golf balls. The city spent more than $5 million to clean the properties up using grants from the Environmental Protection Agency, scraping off the topsoil and replacing it with clean soil, and further required that builders in the damage area test for lead and clean it up before construction. Social media response The tornado also highlighted a new form of disaster response, using social media. This type of disaster response is now known as Social Media Emergency Management. News outlets began aggregating images and video from eyewitnesses shared through social media.Public citizen-led Facebook groups and web sites coordinated information, needs, and offers. The results were so effective the project became a finalist in the 2011 Mashable Awards for Best Social Good Cause Campaign. National attention PresidentBarack Obamatoured the community on May 29, flying intoJoplin Regional Airportand speaking at a memorial at the Taylor Performing Arts Center atMissouri Southern State Universityabout","Universityabout two miles (3.2 km) north of the worst of the devastation.Obama had been on a state visit to Europe at the time of the storm. Members of the controversialWestboro Baptist Churchwere also scheduled to protest the same day in Joplin, but they did not show up. There was a massive counterprotest that was organized in response to the Westboro protest, in which thousands of protesters showed up holding signs saying, \"God Loves Joplin\" and \"We Support You Joplin.\" President Obama also delivered thecommencement addressatJoplin High Schoolon May 21, 2012, a year after the tornado. Rebuilding and recovery FEMA maintained a large presence in Joplin following the tornado, with as many as 820 employees working in the city. One FEMA undertaking was the construction of 15 temporary housing sites in and around Joplin, which housed 586 families/households at their peak. The city, warned by federal officials that it should expect to lose 25% of its population following the tornado, responded quickly and built","quickly and built an average of five houses a week between 2011 and 2022. Most businesses reopened, and more than 300 new businesses opened between 2011 and early 2016. In April 2012, Joplin voters approved a $62 million bond to continue constructing new schools and repair damaged existing ones. Engineers criticized thetilt-upconstruction of the Home Depot building, in which all but two of the walls collapsed in adomino effectafter the tornado lifted the roof, killing seven people in the front of the store (although 28 people in the back of the store survived when those walls collapsed outwards). Home Depot officials disagreed with the study published byThe Kansas City Starand said they would use the tilt-up practice when they rebuilt the Joplin store.On June 1, the Home Depot said it would have a new temporary 30,000 sq ft (2,800 m2) building erected and operational within two weeks. In the meantime, it opened for business in the parking lot of its demolished building.On June 20, the Home Depot opened a","Home Depot opened a temporary 60,000 sq ft (5,600 m2) building constructed by the company's disaster recovery team. Within two years, the city's workers and community groups compiled and published \"Joplin Pays it Forward\" to give recovery advice to other places struck by disasters.Many homes and businesses have been rebuilt since the tornado. Joplin High School was reopened on September 2, 2014. St. John's Regional Medical Center (nowMercy Hospital) had to be rebuilt and reopened in 2015. Mental health impacts Eighteen people committed suicide in the wake of the tornado, according to the executive director of the Community Clinic of Southwest Missouri, a co-chair of the city's long-term recovery team. Calls about domestic violence grew in the year following the disaster.In 2024, Jennifer M. First, J. Brian Houston, and Sangwon Lee with theUniversity of Tennesseealong with Megan Carnahan and Mansoo Yu with theUniversity of Missouri, published aqualitative case studyof survivors from the tornado, in which they","in which they described how survivors recovered from \"tornado brain\".In the paper, they stated approximately 41% of the residents of Joplin were directly impacted by the tornado and that the tornado lead to \"various mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder\". In popular culture A number of documentaries have been produced about the Joplin tornado and its effects on the city. These includeHeartland: A Portrait of Survival, directed byErica Tremblayand featured at the Omaha Film Festival and the St. Louis International Film Festival,as well asDeadline in Disaster(directed by Beth Pike), which followed the staff of The Joplin Globe in the tornado's aftermath and received a regional Emmy in the Documentary-Cultural category during the 37thMid-America Emmy Awards. In October 2011,The Joplin Globereleased a hard-cover pictorial book entitled32 Minutes in May: The Joplin Tornado. See also Notes References Further reading External links 37°03′38″N94°31′51″W /","/ 37.06056°N 94.53083°W /37.06056; -94.53083"],"string":"[\n \"BryanStars Bryan Odell(born May 22, 1990), better known by hisonline aliasBryanStars, is an American formermusic interviewer, YouTube personality, musician, and artist manager. He is best known for hisBryanStars Interviewsseries, where he interviews with popular artists in thealternative scene, includingBlack Veil Brides,Asking Alexandria, andFalling in Reverse. Early life Odell was born on May 22, 1990, in Japan, where he resided until he was eight years old. His family later relocated toDallas, Texas, and then again toNebraskawhen he was a teenager.He attendedLincoln East High School, where he graduated in 2008.In his senior year, his short filmEnergy Crisis in America, highlightingrising gas prices, won third place in the high school section of theStudentCamcompetition, hosted byC-SPAN. He attended theUniversity of Nebraska–Lincolnfor two years, majoring in Broadcast Journalism.While in university, he did an internship where he would interview professional bands for a local television station. Odell chose\",\n \"Odell chose to drop out of university to focus his attention on his YouTube channel \\\"BryanStars\\\" after winning YouTube NextUp in 2011.Through the NextUp contest, YouTube aimed to foster creators on its platform. Odell and 25 other YouTubers received a $35,000 grant for their channel and a multi-day workshop in New York City with professional online bloggers.At the time, he had about 55,000 subscribers. YouTube career Odell is best known for hisBryanStars Interviews,series on his YouTube channel, BryanStars. He primarily publishes interviews and music videos from bands of the rock andheavy metalscene. During his career, Odell interviewed artists includingAsking Alexandria,Blood On The Dance Floor,Millionaires,Never Shout Never,Motionless In White,Pierce the Veil,Black Veil Brides,All Time Low,Sleeping with Sirens,The Ready Set,One Ok Rock,Panic! at the Disco,Twenty One Pilots,Avenged Sevenfold,Escape the Fate,Suicide Silence,Disturbed,Creed,Hollywood Undead,Korn,Three Days Grace,Bullet For My\",\n \"Grace,Bullet For My Valentine,Cannibal Corpse,Chevelle, andSlipknot, as well as artists likeRob Zombie,Papa Roach,Cody Simpson,G-Eazy,Mitchel Mussoand winners ofAmerican Idol. Odell has also interviewed record producerMatt Goodand YouTube starsShane Dawson,Michael BuckleyandDave Days. He has published more than 1000 band interviews and music videos to his YouTube Channel. In 2013,BryanStars Interviewswas voted by music fans as the \\\"Best Music Blog\\\" in theAlternative PressReader's Choice Poll 2013.BryanStars Interviewswas nominated for aShorty Awardfor \\\"Best Web Show\\\" in 2014 along withJerry Seinfeld'sComedians in Cars Getting Coffee.In 2014, retailerJourneysproduced \\\"This Is My Journey\\\" segment about Odell that played in stores nationwide. Never Shout Never incident On June 3, 2012,Never Shout Neverwas interviewed by Odell in an interview that was being covered byThe New York Times. Never Shout Never lead vocalistChristofer Drew Inglewas aware ofThe New York Timescoverage of the interview. About halfway\",\n \"About halfway through the interview, Ingle cut Odell off, denouncing his show as \\\"a joke\\\" and his questions as \\\"bullshit\\\" with bassist Taylor MacFee also taking Odell's interview question papers from him, throwing them on the floor, and finding his questions to be annoying and irrelevant. As a result, the band abruptly ended the interview, leaving Odell in tears. An outpour of support for Odell resulted from the incident. Numerous musicians such asKellin QuinnofSleeping with Sirens,Chris FronzakofAttila, andAndy BiersackofBlack Veil Bridescame to Odell's defense.In aStickambroadcast, Ingle expressed remorse for making Odell cry, later admitting that he had takenacidearlier the day of the interview. Warped YouTube Program In 2014, Odell was picked to be one of the \\\"Warped YouTubers\\\" with Damon Fizzy (also calling himself DeeFizzy), Johnnie Guilbert, CYR and Piddleass. The following year,Kevin Lyman(creator ofWarped Tour) made Odell the official host of the tour. Odell worked with Warped Tour through 2015 as\",\n \"through 2015 as their official host on all social media, announcing over 100 bands for the tour. Odell taught a class on the 2015 Vans Warped Tour called \\\"YouTube 101\\\" where he taught aspiring YouTubers how to pursue a career in social media. My Digital Escape Odell then founded \\\"My Digital Escape,\\\" a collaborative project and YouTube channel featuring numerous smaller creators who shared a similar passion for music. While an active creator in My Digital Escape (MDE), Odell served as manager of the project as well.The channel stopped uploading in May 2016. The channel reached 800,000 subscribers and 100 million views.The channel prominently featured Odell, Johnnie Guilbert, Shannon Taylor (HeyThereImShannon), Luke Wale, Kyle David Hall, Alex Dorame, and Jordan Sweeto.In 2016, My Digital Escape went on tour across the United States and visited 21 cities. Musical endeavors In 2016, Odell went into the studio with ZK Studios to record his debut EP.On March 21, 2016, BryanStars announced the release of a 5-track\",\n \"of a 5-track EP entitled \\\"Follow Your Dreams\\\".It was released on April 1, 2016, and charted on Billboard at #22 on theAlternative New Artist Album Chart, #59 on theNew Artist Album Chartand #128 on theIndie Albums Chart. BryanStars also collaborated withSocial Reposeon a cover ofBring Me The Horizon's \\\"Follow You\\\". In November 2016, Odell announced that he would be releasing a second EP titled the \\\"Picture Perfect EP\\\". It was released on December 4, 2016. BryanStars Tour In 2012, Odell started the \\\"BryanStars Tour\\\", which toured throughout the United States. Odell created three BryanStars Tours from 2012 to 2013. Personal life Odell revealed his homosexuality on his YouTube channel in 2017. After considerable controversy later that same year due to being accused of covering up for convicted sex offenderAustin Jones, Odell stepped back from his social media ventures, specifically his YouTube channels.He has not been active on any of his YouTube channels or social media since. Awards and recognition\",\n \"and recognition Discography Extended plays Singles References External links\",\n \"Never Shout Never Never Shout Never(originally typeset asnevershoutnever!andNeverShoutNever!) was an Americanrockband formed inJoplin, Missouri, in 2007. Vocalist and multi-instrumentalistChristofer Drewbegan the band as a solo project before expanding it to a band, whose best-known lineup included himself, bassist Taylor MacFee, and drummer Hayden Kaiser.The band that accompanied Drew when it was a solo project were originally known as \\\"The Shout\\\". Never Shout Never released eight full-length albums and nine EPs. History 2007–2009: Formation and early career Christofer Drew Ingle began making music under the alias nevershoutnever! in 2007, when he was 16 years old in his parents basement.His first exposure came through the internet, where he achieved success on Myspace before issuing the extended play,The Yippee EPon July 29, 2008, and selling 46,000 copies in the US.On July 30, 2008, he was featured onTRL, where he performed his debut single \\\"Big City Dreams\\\".The single peaked at number one on\",\n \"at number one on theBillboardHot Singles Saleschart.To support the EP, he went on tour in the US withJamestown Story,Owl City, and Handshakes and Highfives during the summer of 2008.He toured withHellogoodbyeandAce Endersin the fall of 2008. NeverShoutNever! released the lead single \\\"Trouble\\\" from his third EP,Me & My Ukeon December 29, 2008.The song peaked at number five on the Hot Singles Sales chart.The song was later certified gold by theRecording Industry Association of Americain May 2012.In January 2009,Me & My Ukewas officially released. NeverShoutNever! started touring withThe Scene Aesthetic,The Honorary Title, andThe Bigger Lightsin late February 2009and then toured with bands such asForever the Sickest Kids,The Cab, and Mercy Mercedes, among others in spring 2009 as part ofThe Bamboozle Roadshow 2009.He played at bothThe Bamboozle Left 2009andThe Bamboozle 2009.In 2009, Never Shout Never won themtvU Woodie Awardsfor Breaking Woodie. 2009–2010:What Is LoveandHarmony It was announced on May 29,\",\n \"on May 29, 2009, that Ingle had signed toWarner Bros. Records, ending a major-label bidding war.As part of the deal, Ingle runs and make releases on his own imprint label, Loveway Records.Ingle's alias became officially stylized as Never Shout Never.The Summer EPwas Ingle's first release under Warner Bros. and was released on June 23, 2009.It sold 46,000 copies and the first single from the EP, titled \\\"Happy\\\", was released on iTunes on March 3, 2009.Production for Never Shout Never's debut album began in June 2009, whereButch Walkerproduced the album.The album was recorded inLos Angelesand atAbbey Road Studiosin London.The band embarked on a headlining tour in October 2009 with Carter Hulsey andNow Now Every Children, before joiningDashboard Confessionalon their headling tour in November. A self-titled EP,Never Shout Neverwas released on December 8, 2009 and featured two songs from his upcoming debut album (\\\"What Is Love?\\\" and \\\"Jane Doe\\\"), a re-recorded version of a song fromThe Yippee EP(\\\"She's Got Style\\\"),\",\n \"Got Style\\\"), and a live version of a song fromThe Yippee EP(\\\"Big City Dreams\\\").The debut studio album from Never Shout Never,What Is Love?, was released on January 26, 2010.The album peaked at number 24 on theBillboard200chart and sold 21,000 copies.The album's first single, \\\"What Is Love?\\\" was released on December 15, 2009.\\\"I Love You 5\\\" was released on February 4, 2010 as the second single from the album.\\\"Can't Stand It\\\" was released on March 4, 2010 as the third and final single from the album along with its music video directed by Isaac Ravishankara.The song peaked at number 29 on theBillboardUS Rock Digital Song Sales chart.The group headlined theAlternative PressAP Tour in the spring of 2010 with support from Joplin,The Cab,Hey Monday,Every AvenueandThe Summer Set. Never Shout Never performed at theVans Warped Tourin summer of 2010.The band released a digital EP on July 27, 2010, titledMelody, which contained three tracks: \\\"CheaterCheaterBestFriendEater\\\", \\\"Coffee & Cigarettes\\\" and \\\"Lousy Truth\\\".Their\",\n \"\\\"Lousy Truth\\\".Their second studio album,Harmony, was released in August 2010.The album peaked at number 14 on theBillboard200 chart and sold 23,000 copies in its first week.In October and November 2010, Never Shout Never co-headlined the Harmony Tour withThe Maine, where the bands had fans gather can foods to help those in need. As a gift to the fans, they released a live split EP and was made available for free download on Never Shout Never's website. 2011–2012:Time TravelandIndigo The band's hometown, Joplin, Missouri, was heavily damaged by atornado on May 22, 2011. Following the destruction, Ingle began a relief fund with United Way to raise $1.2 million for his hometown.To raise awareness about the devastation of Joplin, Ingle took video footage of the destruction and posted it onYouTubeon June 1, 2011. The video, which features the song \\\"Time Travel\\\", encouraged viewers to donate to the relief of the town via his United Way fund.The song later went on to become the lead single from their third studio\",\n \"their third studio album on July 22, 2011.The album was recorded inSpringfield, Missouriat the 2100 Studios. It is also the first album where Never Shout Never recorded as a full band.The album's second single \\\"Simplistic Trance - Like Getaway\\\" was released on August 26, 2011.Never Shout Never's third studio album,Time Travelwas released on September 20, 2011.The album peaked at number 35 on theBillboard200.In support of the album's release, they embarked on a fall headliner tour called The Time Travel Tour.The official music video for \\\"Time Travel\\\" was directed by Joey Boukadakis and was released in September 2011. Ingle first revealed the title of the group's fourth studio album in an interview with Alter The Press! on May 8, 2012,and on September 20, via his Twitter account, he announced the release date of his new albumIndigo.According to Drew, he wanted to record every song with a different producer, all in different cities, to give each song a unique feel and its own style.In support of the album's\",\n \"of the album's release, the band released five free tracks from their album throughAlternative PressandBillboard.Never Shout Never's fourth full-length studio album,Indigowas released November 13, 2012. It debuted at 194 on theBillboard200, a steep decline from the group's previous high of 14.The band toured the U.S. on the Indigo tour in late 2012. 2013:SunflowerandThe Xmas EP In May 2013, Never Shout Never revealed their fifth studio album,Sunflower, which was released on July 2, 2013.The band released the first promotional single, \\\"Good Times\\\" for streaming on May 23, 2013.On May 28, the group released the album's second promotional single, \\\"Subliminal Messages\\\" which premiered exclusively on PropertyOfZack.com.\\\"Malibu\\\" was released for streaming viaPureVolumeon June 4, as the third promotional single from the album.The album's fourth and final promotional single, \\\"Knock, Knock\\\" was released on June 18.The band performed at Warped Tour in the summer of 2013.During the Warped Tour, Ingle had also teamed\",\n \"had also teamed with BandHappy, an organization in which experienced musicians taught amateurs how to reach success. He had led a workshop in which a limited number of fans could ask questions and learn from him, with the addition of a one-on-one meet and greet. A festive EP titledThe Xmas EPwas released on November 22, 2013.Drew produced and recorded the covers himself and collaborated withDia Framptonon the original track \\\"Under The Mistletoe\\\". The song was released for streaming on November 15.The EP was recorded in Drew's home.The group headlined the Xmas Tour with support fromThe Downtown FictionandNick Santinoin December 2013. 2014–2016:Recycled Youth,Black Cat, and Departure of MacFee In late 2013, Never Shout Never announced that the group was working on a new album calledRecycled Youth, Vol. 1.The album featured re-worked songs from previous Never Shout Never releases. In January 2014 the band announced that the group had begun recording the album, and was expected to be released later that year.The\",\n \"later that year.The album was the first installment of what Drew envisioned to be a three part collection of re-recorded fan and band favorites. It was produced by Eric Palmquist inLos Angeles,California.In June 2014, Never Shout Never announced thatIan Crawfordjoined the band as the lead guitarist.Recycled Youth, Vol. 1was released on March 3, 2015. On June 9, 2015, it was announced that Never Shout Never would be releasing their seventh studio album,Black Caton August 7, 2015.The first single off of the album, titled \\\"Hey! We OK\\\", was released the same day.The album was recorded in the DTLA Recording Studio inLos Angeles,Californiaand was produced byDennis Herring.On June 17, the group released \\\"Boom!\\\" as the first promotional single from the album.On July 16, the band premiered a new track titled, \\\"Red Balloon\\\" and was released as the album's second promotional single.The album peaked at number 52 on theBillboard200.On November 24, 2015, Ian Crawford confirmed on his Facebook page that he had been let go\",\n \"he had been let go from the band. The band embarked on the Black Cat Tour in January 2016.\\\"Red Balloon\\\" was officially released as the album's second single on February 5, 2016.\\\"Hey! We Ok\\\" was nominated at the 2016Alternative Press Music Awardsfor Song of the Year.The group headlined a US tour in June 2016 with support from Hundred Handed and Me Like Bees.On June 26, 2016, bassist Taylor MacFee announced his departure from the band.In November 2016, the group released their ninth EP,Advent Of Violett Soul. 2017–2018: Cancelled studio albums and break-up In June 2017, Never Shout Never performed at the 2017Warped Tour.They later embarked on the Throwback Tour, as well as performing at the So What?! Music Festival.The tour lasted throughout 2017 where they played songs from earlier albums that likely wouldn't be played again for a long time.In April 2017, Drew revealed he had plans on releasing Never Shout Never's eighth studio album,Emerald Sun. He described the record as \\\"conceptual,\\\" dealing with the theme\",\n \"with the theme of love. He stated, \\\"It's something I wrote that I feel has a higher message behind it. It's the album I've been wanting to make — portrays my heart and how I see the world.\\\" 13 tracks were written for the album.The album was expected to be released in the summer of 2018, but never made its way onto streaming services. On March 23, 2018, the band released a cover ofElvis Presley's \\\"Love Me Tender\\\" on their upcoming cover album,All for Love, composed entirely of covers of love songs.On April 2, they released their cover ofthe Beatles' \\\"Something\\\".It is unlikelyAll for Lovewas finished and will ever be released. Drew continued to upload a handful of covers on YouTube, but these were likely not final recordings for the album, nor were they likely intended to be on the album at all. Ingle revealed in December 2018 that after a small tour in Mexico and Brazil the following month that Never Shout Never would disband.However, he reached out to fans via an Instagram post two days later asking if he\",\n \"later asking if he should keep making music under the name.Despite the initial announcement, the band performed shows in Brazil and Mexico in early 2019.Following the final show in Brazil (with long-time drummer Hayden Kaiser absent) he stated he was uncertain of the band's future, but no official breakup announcement was confirmed. 2020–2023:Unborn Spark, return and retirement On April 29, 2020, Drew announced a solo acoustic album titledUnborn Spark, due for release on May 13, his son's 1st birthday.However, on May 5, he announced that he needed a little more time for mixing and artwork to be completed.On May 17, he announced that the album would be released on June 12.On June 8, the first single, \\\"Time to Change\\\", was released. With it came the announcement that it would be released as a Never Shout Never album. Never Shout Never returned in late 2021, releasing a new single titled \\\"Easy Swagger\\\" in October.On March 8, 2022, Drew announced his retirement from music, putting an end to the band.In addition,\",\n \"band.In addition, Drew confirmed on Twitter that Never Shout Never was finished.However, on December 24, 2022, he announced that Never Shout Never would be returning the following year and also announced a release of a new album.On November 25, 2023, Drew announced viaTwitterhis second retirement from music, revealing that he would pursue a new career in professional painting.He also released the final mixes of his intended album,Advent of Violet Soulon the same day. Band members Former members Timeline Discography Awards and nominations Alternative Press Music Awards mtvU Woodie Awards PETA's Libby Awards References External links\",\n \"2011 Joplin tornado The2011 Joplin tornadowas a large and devastatingmultiple-vortextornadothat struckJoplin,Missouri, United States, on the evening of Sunday, May 22, 2011. Part of alarger late-Maytornado outbreak, theEF5tornado began just west of Joplin and intensified very quickly, reaching a maximum width of nearly one mile (1.6 km) during its path through the southern part of the city. The tornado tracked eastward through Joplin, and then continued acrossInterstate 44into rural portions ofJasperandNewtoncounties, weakening before it dissipated. The tornado devastated a large portion of the city of Joplin, damaging nearly 8,000 buildings, and of those, destroying over 4,000. The damage—which included major facilities like one of Joplin's two hospitals as well as much of its basic infrastructure—amounted to a total of $2.8 billion, making the Joplin tornado the costliest single tornado in U.S. history. The insurance payout was the highest in Missouri history, breaking the previous record of $2 billion from\",\n \"of $2 billion from thehailstorm of April 10, 2001. Overall, the tornado killed 158 people (with an additional eight indirect deaths) and injured some 1,150 others. It ranks as one of the United States' deadliest tornadoes: it was the deadliest U.S. tornado since theApril 9, 1947, F5 tornado inWoodward,Oklahoma, and the seventh-deadliest in U.S. history.It was the deadliest tornado in Missouri history, as well as the first single tornado since the1953 Flint–Beecher tornadoinMichiganto cause more than 100 fatalities.It was the first F5/EF5 tornado to occur in Missouri sinceMay 20, 1957, when an F5 tornado destroyed several suburbs ofKansas City,and only the second F5/EF5 tornado in Missouri since 1950.It was the third tornado to strike Joplin since May 1971. Meteorological synopsis On the evening of May 21, 2011, an area of low pressure was centered over westernSouth Dakota. This feature, in addition to steeplapse ratesanddewpointsabove 60 °F (16 °C), was conducive to the development ofsupercellslater in the\",\n \"in the day. Very largehailwas forecast, but the tornado threat was forecast to remain isolated.: 15–16At 8:00 a.m.CDT(1300UTC), theNational Weather Service(NWS)Storm Prediction Center(SPC) issued a slight risk of severe storms for much of the upperPlainsand theMidwest. By 8:00 a.m. CDT (1300 UTC) on May 22, forecasters at the SPC realized that a more intense weather outbreak was likely to occur, and upgraded a large swath of the Midwest to a moderate risk. The system was forecast to evolve into a wave early Monday morning as a trough strengthened from the western United States. At the surface, acold frontwas forecast to pass through the region later in the day, while adrylinewas forecast to intersect the cold front inKansas. These features, accompanied by the low-pressure system, encouraged very strong storm development along the cold front.By the 11:30 a.m. CDT (1630 UTC) updated outlook, certainty had grown stronger that a major severe weather event would occur that afternoon. A public severe weather\",\n \"severe weather outlook was issued at this time, and the outlook stated that severe weather was expected that afternoon, with tornadoes, large hail and strong winds all named as threats. At 1:30 p.m. CDT (1830 UTC), four hours prior to the tornado, the SPC issued atornado watchfor southwesternMissouri, to remain in effect until 9:00 p.m. CDT.: 2The watch predicted \\\"explosive thunderstorm development,\\\" with a \\\"strong tornado or two possible.\\\": 20Thunderstorms began developing between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. over southeast Kansas. They quickly became severe, and as thunderstorm development continued moving to the east, forecasters became more concerned about imminent tornado development. A tornado warning for the severe thunderstorm west ofJoplinthat eventually produced the EF5 tornado was first issued at 5:17 p.m. CDT (22:17 UTC), 17 minutes before it touched down and 19 minutes before it entered the city of Joplin.: 17 Storm track and damage Beginning The tornado first touched down inNewton County, Missouri, just\",\n \"Missouri, just east of the Missouri–Kansas state line, approximately one-half mile (0.80 km) southwest of the intersection of South Central City Road and 32nd Street, at 5:34 p.m. CDT (22:34 UTC). Eyewitnesses andstorm chasersreported multiple vortices rotating around the parent circulation. Here, the tornado downed several large trees at EF0 intensity.Civil defense sirenssounded in Joplin twenty minutes before the tornado struck, in response to the tornado warning issued at 5:17 p.m. CDT (22:17 UTC) for northwestern Newton and southwestern Jasper counties in Missouri, and southeastern portions ofCherokee County, Kansas, but many Joplin residents did not heed the warning or the sirens. The tornado moved east-northeast and strengthened to EF1 intensity as it continued through rural areas towards Joplin, snapping trees and power poles and damaging outbuildings. Widening, the tornado then tracked into the more densely populated southwest corner of the city near the Twin Hills Country Club. It heavily damaged\",\n \"It heavily damaged several homes at asubdivisionin this area at up to EF3 strength. The tornado continued to cause EF3 damage as it moved through another subdivision just east of Iron Gates Road.Numerous homes were destroyed and multiple vehicles tossed around, some of which were thrown onto or rolled into homes. The tornado reached EF4 intensity just before crossing S. Schifferdecker Ave. EF5 intensity in Joplin The now massive and wedge-shaped tornado then crossed S. Schifferdecker Ave. at 5:38 p.m. CDT (22:38 UTC),: 17producing its first area of EF4 damage only four minutes after touching down, as several small but well-built commercial buildings were flattened. One person was killed after they were ejected from their car as the tornado crossed the road. Further strengthening resulted in the tornado reaching EF5 intensity shortly afterwards. Consistent EF4 to EF5 damage was noted east of S. Schifferdecker Ave. and continued through most of southern Joplin. Numerous homes, businesses, and medical buildings\",\n \"medical buildings were flattened in this area, with concrete walls collapsed and crushed into the foundations. A large steel-reinforced step and floor structure leading to a completely destroyed medical building was \\\"deflected upward several inches and cracked\\\". Steel trusses from some of the buildings were \\\"rolled up like paper\\\", and deformation or twisting of the main support beams was noted. Multiple vehicles were thrown and mangled or wrapped around trees nearby. Several 300-pound concrete parking stops anchored with rebar were torn from a parking lot in this area and thrown up to 60 yards (55 m) away.Iowa State Universitywind engineer Partha Sarkar calculated the force needed to remove the parking stops from the lot and found that winds exceeding 200 mph (320 km/h) would have been required. Damage became remarkably widespread and catastrophic at and around the nearbySt. John's Regional Medical Center, which lost nearly every window on three sides, interior walls, ceilings, and part of its roof; its life\",\n \"its roof; its life flight helicopter was also blown away and destroyed.Loss of backup power caused five fatalities,and the nine-story building was so damaged that it was deemed structurally compromised, and later torn down. According to the NWS office inSpringfield, Missouri, such extreme structural damage to such a large and well-built structure likely indicated winds at or exceeding 200 mph (320 km/h).Vehicles in the hospital parking lot were thrown into the air and mangled beyond recognition, including a semi-truck that was tossed 125 yards (114 m) and wrapped completely around adebarkedtree.Small pieces of debris from the hospital, including X-rays, medical reports, and dental records, were found in Greene and Polk counties many miles to the east.Wind-rowing of debris was noted in this area, and more concrete parking stops were removed from the St. John's parking lot. Virtually every house near McClelland Boulevard and 26th Street was flattened; some were swept completely away, and trees sustained severe\",\n \"sustained severe debarking. Peak intensity As the tornado tracked eastward, it maintained EF5 strength as it crossedMain Street (Route 43)between 20th and 26th Streets. It heavily damaged every business along that stretch and virtually destroyed several institutional buildings. It tracked just south of downtown, narrowly missing it. Entire neighborhoods were leveled in this area with some more homes swept away, and trees were stripped completely of their bark. At some residences, reinforced concrete porches were deformed or, in some cases, completely torn away. Damage to driveways was noted at some residences as well. Numerous vehicles were tossed up to several blocks, and a few homeowners never located their vehicles.A large church, a nursing home, Franklin Technology Center, St. Mary's Catholic Church and School, andJoplin High Schoolwere all destroyed along this corridor. The Greenbriar Nursing Home was completely leveled, with 21 fatalities occurring there alone,with dozens of fatalities occurring\",\n \"occurring elsewhere in this area as well.No one was in the high school at the time, as the graduation ceremonies held about three miles (4.8 km) to the north atMissouri Southern State Universityhad concluded shortly before the storm. Pieces of cardboard were found embedded in stucco walls that remained standing at Joplin High School. Steel beams and pieces of fencing were deeply embedded into the ground in fields near the high school, steel fence posts were bent to the ground in opposite directions, and a school bus was thrown into a nearby bus garage. As the tornado crossed Connecticut Avenue further to the east, it destroyed several large apartment buildings which resulted in 14 fatalities, along with aDillonsgrocery store, and a bank. Only the concrete safety deposit box vault remained at the bank,and a wooden 2x4 was found speared completely through a concrete curb at one location. The tornado then approached Rangeline Road, the main commercial strip in the eastern part of Joplin, affecting additional\",\n \"additional neighborhoods along 20th Street. The now heavily rain-wrapped tornado continued at EF5 intensity as it crossed Range Line Road. In that corridor between about 13th and 32nd Streets, the tornado continued producing catastrophic damage as it reached its widest point nearly one mile (1.6 km) across. As the tornado struck aPizza Huton South Range Line Road, store manager Christopher Lucas herded four employees and 15 customers into a walk-in freezer. With difficulty closing the door, he wrapped abungee cordholding the door shut around his arm until he was sucked out and killed by the tornado.The tornado completely destroyed aWalmartsupercenter, aHome Depot, and numerous other businesses and restaurants in this area, many of which were flattened. Numerous metal roof trusses were torn from the Home Depot building and were found broken and mangled in nearby fields. Cars that originated at the Home Depot parking lot were found hundreds of yards away. Asphalt was scoured from parking lots at Walmart and a\",\n \"at Walmart and a nearby pizza restaurant, and large tractor-trailers were thrown up to 200 yards (180 m) away. AnAcademy Sports + Outdoorsstore along Range Line sustained major structural damage, and a chair was found impaled legs-first through an exterior stucco wall there. A nearby three-story apartment complex was also devastated, and two cell phone towers collapsed. In this area, numerous cars were thrown and piled on top of each other, 100-pound (45 kg) manhole covers were removed from roads and thrown, the ground scoured, and aPepsidistribution plant was completely leveled. Additional calculations with regards to the manhole covers by Partha Sarkar revealed that winds had to have exceeded 200 miles per hour (320 km/h) for the manhole covers to be removed.Twenty fatalities occurred in this area, and the damage was rated as EF5. Extreme damage continued in the area of Duquesne Road in southeast Joplin. Many houses and industrial and commercial buildings were flattened in this area as well. The industrial\",\n \"The industrial park near the corner of 20th and Duquesne was especially hard hit with nearly every building flattened. Several large metal warehouse structures were swept cleanly from their foundations, and several heavy industrial vehicles were thrown up to 400 yards (370 m) away in this area. One of the many warehouses affected was aCumminswarehouse, a concrete block and steel building that was destroyed. The last area of EF5 damage occurred in the industrial park, and a nearby Fastrip gas station and convenience store was completely destroyed. Many homes were destroyed further to the east at EF3 to EF4 strength in a nearby subdivision, and East Middle School sustained major damage. Weakening and dissipation The tornado then continued on an east to east-southeast trajectory towardsI-44where it weakened; nonetheless, vehicles were blown off the highway and mangled nearUS 71(exit 11) on what is now theI-49interchange. The damage at and around the interchange was rated EF2 to EF3. The weakening tornado\",\n \"weakening tornado continued to track into the rural areas of southeasternJasper Countyand northeasternNewton Countywhere damage was generally minor to moderate, with trees, mobile homes, outbuildings, and frame homes damaged mainly at EF0 to EF1 strength. The tornado lifted east ofDiamondat 6:20 p.m. CDT (23:20 UTC), according to aerial surveys. The total track length was 21.62 miles (34.79 km) long, and the tornado was up to one mile (1.6 km) across at its widest point. A total of 158 people were killed, and over 1,150 others were injured along the path.A separate EF2 tornado touched down nearWentworthfrom the same supercell about 25 miles (40 km) east-southeast of Joplin, beginning roughly 10 minutes before the dissipation of this tornado. Aftermath and impact A preliminary survey of the tornado damage by the NWS office in Springfield began on May 23. The initial survey confirmed a violent tornado rated as a high-end EF4. Subsequent damage surveys, however, found evidence of more intense damage, and so the\",\n \"damage, and so the tornado was upgraded to an EF5with estimated winds over 200 mph (320 km/h), peaking at 225 to 250 mph (360 to 400 km/h). The scope of the damage was immense: according to the local branch of theAmerican Red Cross, about 25% of Joplin was destroyed,though emergency officials reported some level of damage to about 75% of the city.A week after the tornado, Joplin's mayor estimated that 25% of the businesses licensed in the city were damaged or destroyed. Official accountings of the precise number of buildings damaged or destroyed vary somewhat. According to theNational Institute of Standards and Technology(NIST) technical report, in total 7,964 buildings were damaged in Joplin, including 7,411 residential buildings and 553 non-residential. At least 3,734 of those buildings (including 3,181 of the residential and all 553 of the non-residential buildings) sustained so much damage as to be considered destroyed.: 77According to aFederal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA) study, 8,264 homes were\",\n \"8,264 homes were impacted, and of those, 3,884 were \\\"significantly damaged\\\" and 4,380 were destroyed.: 8 Infrastructure The tornado also severely damaged critical infrastructure in the city, hampering emergency response and recovery efforts.Approximately 4,000 electricity distribution poles were damaged, more than 110 miles (180 km) ofdistribution linebrought down, 135transmission towers\\\"affected,\\\" and anelectrical substationin the path of the tornado was completely destroyed (two more were damaged, but reparably so). In the immediate aftermath of the storm, approximately 20,000 people were left without power, and those with homes left intact could not get it restored until 10–12 days later, when their dwellings were approved for safe occupancy. The ultimate cost of rebuilding Joplin's damaged electricity system was calculated at $25.7 million.: 222–224 The tornado also caused about 4,000 leaks in water service lines, dropping Joplin's water system pressure below operating level and necessitating a\",\n \"and necessitating a block-by-block effort to find and repair the service line leaks, with a water boil order issued for the entire city in the meantime. Water pressure was returned to normal outside of the damage area within 48 hours, and the water boil order was lifted after five and a half days.: 224–226Approximately 3,500 gas meters and 55,000 feet (17,000 m) ofgas mainwere damaged, and it took two weeks to stem every gas leak; some damaged mains could not be shut off because they served critical facilities likeFreeman Health System, the lone remaining hospital in Joplin.: 226In east Joplin, 3,000–5,000 pounds (1,400–2,300 kg) ofanhydrous ammoniawas released from a valve at a trucking facility and quickly contained; no significant toxic releases occurred. With 21 cell towers down and fiber cables damaged, cellular communications—voice calls in particular, text messages less so—were heavily impeded. Temporary mobile cell towers were deployed by wireless carriers to fill the gap within 24 hours.: 226By May\",\n \"hours.: 226By May 24, three towers owned byAT&TandSprinthad been restored. Insurance An early estimate from catastrophe risk modeling firm Eqecat, Inc. placed the insured losses from the tornado at $1–3 billion USD.By mid-June, more than 19,000 insurance claims had been filed,a number that eventually rose to 61,000, with a total payout of more than $2 billion—31% going to homeowners and 5% to those who lost vehicles.The impact on the insurance industry was not so much due to the number of claims, but the cumulative effect of such a large number of total losses. More than 2,500 local people employed in insurance were involved in some capacity. It was presumed thatState Farmwould assume the largest share of these losses, having market share of 27% forhomeowners insuranceand 21% forautomobile insurance. The $2.8 billion in damage is the largest amount for a tornado since 1950. Casualties As of May 2013, the official death toll from NWS was listed at 158 while the City of Joplin listed the death toll at 161 (158\",\n \"toll at 161 (158 direct). The list was up to 162, until one man's injuries were found to be unrelated to the event.In one indirect fatality,a policeman was struck by lightning and killed while assisting with recovery and cleanup efforts the day after the storm.Another five indirect fatalities occurred after a disease outbreak ofmucormycosisinfected 13 people, possibly 18 people.Shortly after the tornado, authorities had listed 1,300 people as missing, but the number quickly dwindled as they were accounted for.Many people were reported to have been trapped in destroyed houses. Seventeen people were rescued from the rubble the day after the tornado struck.Of 146 sets of remains recovered from the rubble, 134 victims had been positively identified by June 1.This total included four sets of partial remains, some of which may have been from a single person.On June 2, it was announced that four more victims had died. Six people were killed when St. John's Regional Medical Center was struck by the tornado. Five of\",\n \"tornado. Five of those deaths were patients on ventilators who died after the building lost power and a backup generator did not work.The sixth fatality was a hospital visitor. TheJoplin Globereported that 54% of the people killed died in their residences, 32% died in non-residential areas and 14% died in vehicles or outdoors. Joplin officials after the tornado announced plans to requirehurricane tiesor other fasteners between the houses and their foundations (devices add about US$600 to the construction costs). Officials rejected a proposal to require concrete basements in new houses. Officials noted that as of 2009, only 28% of Joplin's new homes had basements, compared with 38% two decades before. At least 1,150 people were injured severely enough to seek treatment at regional hospitals.Injuries ranged from cuts and bruises to impalement by large debris. Officials said they rescued 944 pets and reunited 292 with owners. Rating dispute In 2013, theAmerican Society of Civil Engineerspublished a study\",\n \"a study disputing the tornado's initial EF5 rating, based on surveying damage on over 150 structures within a six-mile segment of the storm's path. According to the report, over 83% of the damage was caused by wind speeds of 135 mph (217 km/h) or less, the maximum wind speed of an EF2 tornado. An additional 13% was caused by EF3 wind speeds, and 3% was consistent with EF4 winds. The study found no damage consistent with wind speeds over 200 mph (320 km/h), the minimum threshold of an EF5 tornado.Researchers concluded that the inability to find EF5 damage was due to the absence of construction standards that were able to determine the necessary wind speeds. Bill Colbourne, a member of the engineering team that surveyed the damage, declared that \\\"a relatively large number of buildings could have survived in Joplin if they had been built to sustain hurricane winds.\\\" However, the EF5 rating stood. The NWS office in Springfield stated that their survey teams found only a small area of EF5 structural damage, and\",\n \"damage, and that it could have easily been missed in the survey (at and around St. John's Medical Center).Bill Davis, head of Springfield's NWS office, said that the results of the study \\\"do not surprise me at all,\\\" adding that \\\"there was only a very small area of EF5 damage in Joplin...we knew right off the bat there was EF4 damage. It took us longer to identify the EF5 damage and that it would take winds of over 200 mph (320 km/h) to do that damage.\\\"Additionally, the basis for the EF5 rating in Joplin was mainly contextual rather than structural, with non-conventional damage indicators such as the removal of concrete parking stops, manhole covers, reinforced concrete porches, driveways, and asphalt used to arrive at a final rating. The presence of wind rowed structural debris, instances of very large vehicles such as buses, vans, and semi-trucks being thrown hundreds of yards to several blocks from their points of origin, the fact that some homeowners never located their vehicles, and the overwhelming\",\n \"the overwhelming extent and totality of the destruction in Joplin were also taken into consideration. According to a detailed damage survey by Timothy Marshall, a majority of houses were destroyed at winds of EF2-3 strength. However he identified 22 well anchored houses which were assigned EF5 ratings. Response Immediately following the disaster, emergency responders were deployed within and to the city to undertake search and rescue efforts. ThenGovernorJay Nixondeclared astate of emergencyfor the Joplin area shortly after the tornado hit, and orderedMissouri National Guardtroops to the city.By May 23,Missouri Task Force One(consisting of 85 personnel, four dogs, and heavy equipment) arrived and began searching for missing persons. Five heavy rescue teams were also sent to the city a day later. Within two days, numerous agencies arrived to assist residents in the recovery process. The National Guard deployed 191 personnel and placed 2,000 more on standby to be deployed if needed. In addition, theMissouri\",\n \"theMissouri State Highway Patrolprovided 180 troopers to assist theJoplin Police Departmentand other local agencies with law enforcement, rescue, and recovery efforts that also included the deployment of five ambulance strike teams, and a total of 25 ambulances in the affected area on May 24 as well over 75 Marines from theFt. Leonard WoodArmy base.Due to the severe damage caused by the tornado, the traveling Piccadilly Circus was unable to perform as scheduled. As a result, the circus employees brought their two adult elephants to help drag damaged automobiles and other heavy debris out of the streets. Despite the destruction, twoWaffle Houselocations in Joplin remained open following the tornado. This ledFederal Emergency Management AgencyAdministratorCraig Fugateto develop the concept of theWaffle House Indexfor measuring disaster impact. In May 2012, the Missouri National Guard released documents showing that four soldiers looted consumer electronics from a ruined Walmart during efforts to locate\",\n \"efforts to locate survivors the day after the tornado. According to the investigative memo, they believed the merchandise was going to be destroyed. All four soldiers were demoted and had letters of reprimand placed in their personnel files, but were never prosecuted, though many civilian looters were. Cleanup The Joplin tornado generated an estimated 3 million cubic yards of debris,an amount sufficient to cover a football field 120 stories high.: 19Removal efforts lasted for months, and at their height more than 410 trucks a day transported debris to landfills in Joplin itself, as well as nearbyGalenaandLamar. The tornado also led to renewed lead contamination on many Joplin properties. Joplin had been the site of lead mining and processing for decades before cleanup efforts began in the mid-1990s, and the tornado's upheaval of the surface as it swept houses from foundations and uprooted trees re-contaminated about 40% of yards in southern Joplin, leaving behind chunks of raw lead ore the size of tennis or\",\n \"size of tennis or golf balls. The city spent more than $5 million to clean the properties up using grants from the Environmental Protection Agency, scraping off the topsoil and replacing it with clean soil, and further required that builders in the damage area test for lead and clean it up before construction. Social media response The tornado also highlighted a new form of disaster response, using social media. This type of disaster response is now known as Social Media Emergency Management. News outlets began aggregating images and video from eyewitnesses shared through social media.Public citizen-led Facebook groups and web sites coordinated information, needs, and offers. The results were so effective the project became a finalist in the 2011 Mashable Awards for Best Social Good Cause Campaign. National attention PresidentBarack Obamatoured the community on May 29, flying intoJoplin Regional Airportand speaking at a memorial at the Taylor Performing Arts Center atMissouri Southern State Universityabout\",\n \"Universityabout two miles (3.2 km) north of the worst of the devastation.Obama had been on a state visit to Europe at the time of the storm. Members of the controversialWestboro Baptist Churchwere also scheduled to protest the same day in Joplin, but they did not show up. There was a massive counterprotest that was organized in response to the Westboro protest, in which thousands of protesters showed up holding signs saying, \\\"God Loves Joplin\\\" and \\\"We Support You Joplin.\\\" President Obama also delivered thecommencement addressatJoplin High Schoolon May 21, 2012, a year after the tornado. Rebuilding and recovery FEMA maintained a large presence in Joplin following the tornado, with as many as 820 employees working in the city. One FEMA undertaking was the construction of 15 temporary housing sites in and around Joplin, which housed 586 families/households at their peak. The city, warned by federal officials that it should expect to lose 25% of its population following the tornado, responded quickly and built\",\n \"quickly and built an average of five houses a week between 2011 and 2022. Most businesses reopened, and more than 300 new businesses opened between 2011 and early 2016. In April 2012, Joplin voters approved a $62 million bond to continue constructing new schools and repair damaged existing ones. Engineers criticized thetilt-upconstruction of the Home Depot building, in which all but two of the walls collapsed in adomino effectafter the tornado lifted the roof, killing seven people in the front of the store (although 28 people in the back of the store survived when those walls collapsed outwards). Home Depot officials disagreed with the study published byThe Kansas City Starand said they would use the tilt-up practice when they rebuilt the Joplin store.On June 1, the Home Depot said it would have a new temporary 30,000 sq ft (2,800 m2) building erected and operational within two weeks. In the meantime, it opened for business in the parking lot of its demolished building.On June 20, the Home Depot opened a\",\n \"Home Depot opened a temporary 60,000 sq ft (5,600 m2) building constructed by the company's disaster recovery team. Within two years, the city's workers and community groups compiled and published \\\"Joplin Pays it Forward\\\" to give recovery advice to other places struck by disasters.Many homes and businesses have been rebuilt since the tornado. Joplin High School was reopened on September 2, 2014. St. John's Regional Medical Center (nowMercy Hospital) had to be rebuilt and reopened in 2015. Mental health impacts Eighteen people committed suicide in the wake of the tornado, according to the executive director of the Community Clinic of Southwest Missouri, a co-chair of the city's long-term recovery team. Calls about domestic violence grew in the year following the disaster.In 2024, Jennifer M. First, J. Brian Houston, and Sangwon Lee with theUniversity of Tennesseealong with Megan Carnahan and Mansoo Yu with theUniversity of Missouri, published aqualitative case studyof survivors from the tornado, in which they\",\n \"in which they described how survivors recovered from \\\"tornado brain\\\".In the paper, they stated approximately 41% of the residents of Joplin were directly impacted by the tornado and that the tornado lead to \\\"various mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder\\\". In popular culture A number of documentaries have been produced about the Joplin tornado and its effects on the city. These includeHeartland: A Portrait of Survival, directed byErica Tremblayand featured at the Omaha Film Festival and the St. Louis International Film Festival,as well asDeadline in Disaster(directed by Beth Pike), which followed the staff of The Joplin Globe in the tornado's aftermath and received a regional Emmy in the Documentary-Cultural category during the 37thMid-America Emmy Awards. In October 2011,The Joplin Globereleased a hard-cover pictorial book entitled32 Minutes in May: The Joplin Tornado. See also Notes References Further reading External links 37°03′38″N94°31′51″W /\",\n \"/ 37.06056°N 94.53083°W /37.06056; -94.53083\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":72,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Which MP standing as the leader of a major party in the 2019 United Kingdom General Election was also an MP for Henley?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"Boris Johnson was leader of the Conservative Party and a former MP for Henley."},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_United_Kingdom_general_election"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Johnson"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Corbyn"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicola_Sturgeon"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Swinson"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Multiple constraints"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_United_Kingdom_general_election', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Johnson', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Corbyn', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicola_Sturgeon', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Swinson']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_United_Kingdom_general_election","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Johnson","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Corbyn","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicola_Sturgeon","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Swinson"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_United_Kingdom_general_election\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Johnson\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Corbyn\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicola_Sturgeon\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Swinson\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["2019 United Kingdom general election Boris JohnsonConservative Boris JohnsonConservative The2019 United Kingdom general electionwas held on Thursday 12 December 2019, with 47,567,752 registered votersentitled to vote to elect 650Members of Parliament(MPs) to theHouse of Commons. The governingConservative Party, led by theprime ministerBoris Johnson, won alandslide victorywith a majority of 80 seats,a net gain of 48, on 43.6 per cent of the popular vote, the highest percentage for any party since the1979 general election,though with a narrower popular vote margin than that achieved by theLabour Partyover the Conservatives at the1997 general election. This was the second national election to be held in 2019 in the United Kingdom, the first being the2019 European Parliament election. After it lost its parliamentary majority at the2017 general election, the Conservative Party governed in minority with the support of theDemocratic Unionist Party(DUP). The prime minister,Theresa May, resigned in July 2019 after repeatedly failing to pass herBrexit withdrawal agreementin parliament. Johnson succeeded her as theleader of the Conservative Partyand as prime minister in July 2019. Johnson could not persuade Parliament to approve a revised withdrawal agreement by the end of October, and chose to call asnap election, which the House of Commons supported under theEarly Parliamentary General Election Act 2019.Opinion polls showed a firm lead for the Conservatives against the opposition Labour Party throughout the campaign. The Conservatives won 365 seats, their highest number and proportion since the1987 general election, and recorded their highest share of the popular vote since 1979; many of their gains were made in seats once considered previously safe for Labour, dubbed thered wall, which had voted strongly in favour of British withdrawal from the EU in the2016 European Union (EU) membership referendum. Labour won 202 seats, its fewest since the1935 general election.TheScottish National Party(SNP) made a net gain of 13 seats with 45 per cent of the vote in Scotland, winning 48 of the 59 seats there.TheLiberal Democratsincreased their vote share to 11.6 per cent, but won only 11 seats, a net loss of one since the last election. The party's leader,Jo Swinson, lost her seat to the SNP, thus triggering the2020 party leadership election, which was won byEd Davey.The DUP won apluralityof seats in Northern Ireland. TheSocial Democratic and Labour Party(SDLP) and theAlliance Party of Northern Ireland(APNI) regained parliamentary representation as the DUP lost seats. The election result gave Johnson the mandate he sought from the electorate to formally implement thewithdrawal of the United Kingdomfrom theEuropean Union, and to complete the repeal of theEuropean Communities Act 1972on 31 January 2020.Jeremy Corbyn, Labour's leader at the election, resigned, triggering the2020 party leadership election, which was won by his shadow Brexit secretary,Keir Starmer.Jane Dodds, the Liberal Democrats' leader in Wales, was also unseated inBrecon and Radnorshire.In Northern Ireland,Irish nationalistMPs outnumberedunionistsfor the first time, although the unionist popular vote remained higher at 43.1 per cent, and the sevenSinn FéinMPs did not take their seats due to their tradition ofabstentionism. Despite being elected with a landslide, Johnson went on to resign amid agovernment crisisin 2022, being followed byLiz Trussfor fifty daysand then byRishi Sunak, who went on to lead the Conservatives in thesubsequent election. Background Withdrawalof theUnited Kingdomfrom theEuropean Union In July 2016,Theresa Maywas electedPrime Ministerto succeedDavid Cameron, who had resigned following the 2016Brexit referendum. TheConservative Partyhad governed since the2010 general election, initially in coalition with theLiberal Democratsand then alone with a small majority following the2015 general election. In the2017 general election, May lost her majority but was able to resume office as a result of aconfidence and supplyagreement with Northern Ireland'sDemocratic Unionist Party(DUP), known as theConservative–DUP agreement. In the face of opposition from the DUP and Conservativebackbenchers, thesecond May ministrywas unable to pass itsBrexit withdrawal agreementby 29 March 2019, so some political commentators considered that an early general election was likely. The oppositionLabour Partycalled for a2019 vote of confidence in the May ministrybut the motion, held in January, failed.May resigned following her party's poor performance in the2019 European Parliament electionduring the first extension granted by the European Union for negotiations on the withdrawal agreement.Boris Johnsonwon the2019 Conservative leadership electionand became the prime minister on 24 July 2019. Along with attempting to revise the withdrawal agreement arranged by his predecessor's negotiations, Johnson made three attempts to hold a snap election under the process defined in theFixed-term Parliaments Act 2011,which required a two-thirdssupermajorityin order for an election to take place. All three attempts to call an election failed to gain support; Parliament insisted that Johnson \"take ano-deal Brexitoff the table first\" and secure a negotiated Withdrawal Agreement, expressed in particular by its enactment against his will of theEuropean Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019, often called the Benn Act, after Labour MPHilary Benn, who introduced the bill. After failing to pass a revised deal before the first extension's deadline of 31 October 2019, Johnson agreed to a second extension on negotiations with the European Union and finally secured a revised withdrawal agreement. Parliament agreed to an election through a motion proposed by the Liberal Democrats and theScottish National Party(SNP) on 28 October. TheEarly Parliamentary General Election Act 2019(EPGEA) was passed in theHouse of Commonsby 438 votes to 20; an attempt to pass an amendment by opposition parties for the election to be held on 9 December failed by 315 votes to 295.TheHouse of Lordsfollowed suit on 30 October,withroyal assentmade the day after for the ratification of the EPGEA. Date of the election The deadline for candidate nominations was 14 November 2019,with political campaigning for four weeks until polling day on 12 December. On the day of the election, polling stations across the country were open from 7 am, and closed at 10 pm.The date chosen for the 2019 general election made it the first to be held in December since the1923 general election. Voting eligibility Individuals eligible to vote had to be registered to vote by midnight on 26 November.To be eligible to vote, individuals had to be aged 18 or over;residing as an Irish or Commonwealth citizen at an address in the United Kingdom,or be a British citizen overseas who registered to vote in the last 15 years;and not legally excluded (on grounds of detainment in prison, a mental hospital, or on the run from law enforcement),or disqualified from voting.Anyone who qualified as ananonymous electorhad until midnight on 6 December to register. Timetable Contesting political parties and candidates Most candidates are representatives of apolitical party, which must be registered with the Electoral Commission's Register. Those who do not belong to one must use the labelIndependentor none. In the 2019 election 3,415 candidates stood: 206 being independents, the rest representing one of 68 political parties. Campaign Campaign background The Conservative Party and Labour Party have been the two biggest political parties, and have supplied every Prime Minister since the1922 general election. The Conservative Party have governed since the 2010 election, in coalition with the Liberal Democrats from 2010 to 2015. At the 2015 general election, the Conservative Party committed to offering a referendum on whether the United Kingdom should leave theEuropean Union(EU) and won a majority in that election. A referendum was held in June 2016, and the Leave campaign won by 51.9% to 48.1%. United Kingdom invocation of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Unioncame in March 2017, andTheresa Maytriggered asnap electionin 2017, in order to demonstrate support for her planned negotiation of Brexit. Instead, the Conservative Party lost seats. They won a plurality of MPs but not a majority, and the result was ahung parliament. They formed aminority government, with theDemocratic Unionist Party(DUP) as theirconfidence and supplypartner. Neither May nor her successorBoris Johnson, the winner of the2019 Conservative leadership election,was able to secure parliamentary support either for a deal on the terms of the country's exit from the EU, or for exiting the EU without an agreed deal. Johnson later succeeded in bringing his withdrawal agreement to a second reading in Parliament, following another extension until January 2020. After Johnson's 2019 win, a new Withdrawal Agreement Bill was introduced in 2020. Compared to its 2019 October predecessor, this bill offered, in the words of political scientistMeg Russell, \"significantly weaker parliamentary oversight of Brexit ... giving parliament no formal role in agreeing the future relationship negotiating objectives, and a diminished role in approving any resulting treaty.\" During the lifespan of the 2017 Parliament, twenty MPs resigned from their parties, mostly due to disputes with their party leaderships; some formed new parties and alliances. In February 2019, eight Labour and three Conservative MPs left their parties to sit together asThe Independent Group.Having undergone a split and two name changes, at dissolution, this group numbered five MPs who sat as the registered party The Independent Group for Change under the leadership ofAnna Soubry. Two MPs sat in a group calledThe Independents, which at its peak had five members. One MP created theBirkenhead Social Justice Party, while a further 20 MPs who began as Labour or Conservative ended Parliament as unaffiliated independents. Seven MPs, from both the Conservatives and Labour, joined the Liberal Democrats during Parliament, in combination with a gain after the2019 Brecon and Radnorshire by-election. By the time Parliament was dissolved, the Liberal Democrats had raised their number from 12 at the election to 20 at dissolution. One reason for the defections from the Labour Party was the ongoing row over allegedantisemitism in the Labour Party. Labour entered the election campaign while under investigation by theEquality and Human Rights Commission.TheJewish Labour Movementdeclared that it would not generally campaign for Labour.The Conservative Party was also criticised for not doing enough to tackle the allegedIslamophobia in the Conservative Party.The Conservatives ended the previous parliamentary period with fewer seats than they had started with because of defections and also saw the2019 suspension of rebel Conservative MPsfor going against the party line by voting to prevent ano-deal Brexit.Of the 21 expelled, 10 were subsequently reinstated, while the others continued as independents. Policy positions Brexit The major parties had a wide variety of stances on Brexit. The Conservative Party supported leaving under the terms of the withdrawal agreement as negotiated by Johnson (amending May's previous agreement), and this agreement formed a central part of the Conservative campaign via the slogan \"Get Brexit Done\".TheBrexit Partywas in favour of a no-deal Brexit, with its leaderNigel Faragecalling for Johnson to drop the deal. The Conservative manifesto read \"If we elect a majority of Conservative MPs to Parliament, we will start putting our deal through Parliament before Christmas and we will leave the European Union in January\" which ultimately happened. The Labour Party proposed a renegotiation of the withdrawal agreement, towards a closer post-withdrawal relationship with the EU, and would then put this forward as an option in a referendum alongside the option of remaining in the EU.The Labour Party's campaigning stance in that referendum would be decided at a special conference.In aQuestion Timespecial featuring four party leaders, Labour leaderJeremy Corbynsaid that he would stay neutral in the referendum campaign. TheLiberal Democrats,Scottish National Party,Plaid Cymru,The Independent Group for Change, and theGreen Party of England and Waleswere all opposed to Brexit, and proposed that a further referendum be held with the option, for which they would campaign, to remain in the EU.The Liberal Democrats originally pledged that if they formed amajority government, which was considered a highly unlikely outcome by observers,they would revoke the Article 50 notification immediately and cancel Brexit.Part-way through the campaign, the Liberal Democrats dropped the policy of revoking Article 50 after the party realised it was not going to win a majority in the election. TheDemocratic Unionist Partywas in favour of a withdrawal agreement in principle but opposed the deals negotiated by both May and Johnson, believing that they created too great a divide between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.Sinn Féin, theSocial Democratic and Labour Party, theUlster Unionist Party(UUP),and theAlliance Party of Northern Irelandall favoured remaining in the EU. The UUP did not see a second referendum as a necessary route to achieving this goal. The environment The Labour Party promised what they described as a green industrial revolution. This included support for renewable energies and a promise to plant 2 billion trees by 2040. The party also promised to transition to electrify the United Kingdom's bus fleet by 2030.The Liberal Democrats promised to put the environment at the heart of their agenda with a promise to plant 60 million trees a year. They promised to significantly reduce carbon emissions by 2030 and hit zero carbon emissions by 2045. By 2030, they planned to generate 80% of the country's energy needs from renewable energies such as solar power and wind and retrofit 26 million homes with insulation by 2030. They also promised to build more environmentally friendly homes and to establish a new Department for the Climate Crisis. The Conservatives pledged net zero emissions by 2050 with investment in clean energy solutions and green infrastructure to reduce carbon emissions and pollution. They also pledged to plant 30 million trees and boost wind and solar energy. Tax and spending commitments In September 2019, the Conservative government performed a spending review, where they announced plans to increase public spending by £13.8 billion a year, and reaffirmed plans to spend another £33.9 billion a year on theNational Health Service(NHS) by 2023. ChancellorSajid Javidsaid the government had turned the page on 10 years ofausterity in the United Kingdom. During the election, the parties produced manifestos that outlined spending in addition to that already planned. TheConservative Party manifestowas described as having \"little in the way of changes to tax\" by theInstitute for Fiscal Studies(IFS). The decision to keep the rate of corporation tax at 19%, and not reduce it to 17% as planned, was expected to raise £6 billion a year. The plan to increase the national insurance threshold for employees and self-employed to £9,500 would cost £2 billion a year.They committed to not raise rates of income tax,National Insurance, orVAT. There were increased spending commitments of £3 billion current spending and £8 billion investment spending. Overall, this would have led to the country's debt as a percentage of GDP remaining stable. The IFS assessed that it would rise in the event of a no-deal Brexit.TheLabour Party manifestoplanned to raise an extra £78 billion a year from taxes over the course of Parliament, with sources including: In addition, Labour was to obtain income from the Inclusive Ownership Fund, windfall tax on oil companies, and some smaller tax changes. There were increased spending commitments of £98 billion current spending and £55 billion investment spending. Overall, this would have led to the national debt as a percentage of GDP rising.Labour'sJohn McDonnellsaid borrowing would only be for investment and one-offs (e.g. compensatingWASPIwomen, not shown above), and not for day-to-day spending. The Liberal Democrats manifesto planned to raise an extra £36 billion per year from taxes over the course of Parliament, with sources including: There were increased commitments of £37 billion current spending and £26 billion investment spending, which would overall lead to the debt as a percentage of GDP falling, partly due to improved economic conditions which would result from staying in the EU. Institute for Fiscal Studies analysis TheInstitute of Fiscal Studies(IFS), an influential research body, released on 28 November its in-depth analysis of themanifestosof the three main national political parties.The analysis provided a summary of the financial promises made by each party and an inspection of the accuracy of claims around government income and expenditure.The IFS reported that neither the Conservatives nor the Labour Party had published a \"properly credible prospectus\". Its analysis of the Conservative manifesto concluded there was \"essentially nothing new in the manifesto\", that there was \"little in the way of changes to tax, spending, welfare or anything else\", and that they had already promised increased spending for health and education whilst in government. The Labour manifesto was described as introducing \"enormous economic and social change\", and increasing the role of the state to be bigger than anything in the last 40 years. The IFS highlighted a raft of changes in including free childcare, university, personal care, and prescriptions, as well as nationalisations, labour market regulations, increases in the minimum wage, and enforcing \"effective ownership of 10% of large companies from current owners to a combination of employees and government\". The IFS said that Labour's vision \"is of a state not so dissimilar to those seen in many other successful Western European economies\", and presumed that the manifesto should be seen as \"a long-term prospectus for change rather than a realistic deliverable plan for a five-year parliament\".They said that the Liberal Democrats manifesto was not as radical as the Labour manifesto but was a \"decisive move away from the policies of the past decade\". The Conservative manifesto was criticised for a commitment not to raise rates of income tax, National Insurance, or VAT, as this put a significant constraint on reactions to events that might affect government finances. One such event could be the \"die in a ditch\" promise to terminate the Brexit transition period by the end of 2020, which risked harming the economy.The IFS also stated that it is \"highly likely\" spending under a Conservative government would be higher than in that party's manifesto, partly due to a number of uncosted commitments.Outside of commitments to the NHS, the proposals would leave public service spending 14% lower in 2023–2024 than it was in 2010–2011, which the IFS described as \"no more austerity perhaps, but an awful lot of it baked in\". The IFS stated it had \"serious doubt\" that tax rises proposed would raise the amount Labour suggested, and said that they would need to introduce more broad based tax increases. They assessed that the public sector does not have the capacity to increase investment spending as Labour would want. The IFS further assessed the claim that tax rises would only hit the top 5% of earners as \"certainly progressive\" but \"clearly not true\", with those under that threshold impacted by changes to the marriage allowance, taxes on dividends, or capital gains, and lower wages or higher prices that might be passed on from corporation tax changes. Some of Labour's proposals were described as \"huge and complex undertakings\", where significant care is required in implementation. The IFS was particularly critical of the policy to compensate the WASPI women, announced after the manifesto, which was a £58bn promise to women who are \"relatively well off on average\" and would result in public finances going off target.They said that Labour's manifesto would not increase UK public spending as a share of national income above Germany.They found that Labour's plan to spend and invest would boost economic growth but that the impact of tax rises, government regulation, nationalisations, and the inclusive ownership fund could reduce growth, meaning the overall impact of Labour's plan on growth was uncertain. The IFS described the plans of the Liberal Democrats as a radicaltax and spendpackage, and said that the proposals would require lower borrowing than Conservative or Labour plans. The report said they were the only party whose proposals would put debt \"on a decisively downward path\", praising their plan to put 1p on income tax to go to the NHS as \"simple, progressive and would raise a secure level of revenue\". The IFS also said plans to \"virtually quintuple\" current spending levels on universal free childcare amounted to \"creating a whole new leg of the universal welfare state\".The IFS said that the SNP's manifesto was not costed. Their proposals on spending increases and tax cuts would mean the government would have to borrow to cover day-to-day spending. They concluded that the SNP's plans for Scottish independence would likely require increased austerity. Other issues The Conservatives proposed increasing spending on public services, including the NHS and education.They also proposed increased funding for childcare and on the environment. They proposed more funding for care services and to work with other parties on reforming how care is delivered. They wished to maintain the triple lock on pensions. They proposed investing in local infrastructure, including rail, bus, cycle, and electric cars. They pledged to build a high speed new rail line between Leeds and Manchester. Labour proposed significantly increasing government spending to 45% of national output, which would be high compared to most of British history.This was to pay for an increased NHS budget; stopping state pension age rises; introducing a National Care Service providing free personal care; move to a net-zero carbon economy by the 2030s; nationalising key industries; scrappingUniversal Credit; free bus travel for under-25s; building 100,000 council houses per year; and other proposals. Within this, the Labour Party proposed to take rail-operating companies, energy supply networks,Royal Mail, sewerage infrastructure, and England's private water companies back intopublic ownership. Labour proposednationalisingpart of theBT Groupand to provide freebroadbandto everyone,along withfree educationfor six years during each person's adult life.Over a decade, Labour planned to reduce the average full-time weekly working hours to 32, with resulting productivity increases facilitating no loss of pay.Labour's spending plans were endorsed by more than 160economistsandacademicsand characterised as a \"serious programme\" to deal with internal problems. The main priority of the Liberal Democrats was opposing Brexit. Other policies included increased spending on the NHS; free childcare for two-to-four-year-olds; recruiting 20,000 more teachers; generating 80% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030; freezing train fares; and legalising cannabis.The Brexit Party was also focused on Brexit. It opposed privatising the NHS. It sought to reduce immigration, cutting net migration to 50,000 per year; cutting VAT on domestic fuel; banning the exporting of waste; free broadband in deprived regions; scrapping the BBC licence fee; and abolishing inheritance tax, interest on student loans, andHigh Speed 2. It also wanted to move to a United States-stylesupreme court. The policies of the SNP included a second referendum on Scottish independence to be held in 2020, as well as one on Brexit, removing theTrident nuclear deterrent, anddevolutionacross issues like as employment law, drug policy, and migration.The Liberal Democrats, the Greens, the SNP, and Labour all supported a ban onfracking in the United Kingdom, whilst the Conservatives proposed approving fracking on a case-by-case basis. Party positions in the event of a hung parliament The Conservatives and Labour insisted they were on course for outright majorities, while smaller parties were quizzed about what they would do in the event of a hung parliament. The Liberal Democrats said that they would not actively support Johnson or Corbyn becoming Prime Minister but that they could, if an alternative could not be achieved, abstain on votes allowing a minority government to form if there was support for a second referendum on Brexit.The SNP ruled out either supporting the Conservatives or a coalition with Labour but spoke about a looser form of support, such as aconfidence and supplyarrangement with the latter, if they supported a second referendum onScottish independence. The DUP previously supported the Conservative government but withdrew that support given their opposition to Johnson's proposed Brexit deal. It said that it would never support Corbyn as prime minister but could work with Labour if that party were led by someone else. Labour's position on a hung parliament was that it would do no deals with any other party, citing Corbyn to say: \"We are out here to win it.\" At the same time, it was prepared to adopt key policies proposed by the SNP and Liberal Democrats to woo them into supporting a minority government.The UUP said they would never support Corbyn as prime minister, with their leaderSteve Aikenalso saying that he \"can't really see\" any situation in which they would support a Conservative government either. Their focus would be on remaining in the EU. Tactical voting Under thefirst-past-the-postelectoral system, there is often concern, especially inmarginal seats, that if voters of similar ideological leanings are split between multiple different parties they may allow a victory for a candidate with significantly different views.In the early stages of the campaign, there was considerable discussion oftactical voting, generally in the context of support or opposition to Brexit, and whether parties would stand in all seats or not. There were various electoral pacts and unilateral decisions. The Brexit Party chose not to stand against sitting Conservative candidates but stood in most other constituencies. The Brexit Party alleged that pressure was put on its candidates by the Conservatives to withdraw, including the offer of peerages, which would be illegal. This was denied by the Conservative Party.Under the banner ofUnite to Remain, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, and the Green Party of England and Wales agreed an electoral pact in some seats; some commentators criticised the Liberal Democrats for not standing down in some Labour seats. A number of tactical voting websites were set up in an attempt to help voters choose the candidate in their constituency who would be best placed to beat the Conservative one.The websites did not always give the same advice, whichMichael Savage, political editor ofThe Guardian, said had the potential to confuse voters.One of the websites, named GetVoting.org and set up byBest for Britain, was accused of giving bogus advice in Labour/Conservative marginal seats.The website, which had links to the Liberal Democrats,was criticised for advising pro-Remain voters to back the Liberal Democrats, when doing so risked pulling voters away from Labour candidates and enabling the Conservative candidate to gain most votes. The website changed their controversial recommendation inKensingtonto Labour, which had won it in 2017 by 20 votes,and lined up with Tacticalvote.co.uk in this seat. Describing itself as a progressive grassroots campaign not affiliated with any political party, Tacticalvote.co.uk was previously known as Tactical2017.Gina Miller's Remain United and People's Vote kept their recommendation for the Liberal Democrats. This caused a lot of confusion around tactical voting,as it was reported that the sites did not match one another's advice. Further into the election period, tactical voting websites that relied onmultilevel regression with poststratification, such as Best for Britain, People's Vote, Remain United,andSurvation,changed their recommendations on other seats because of new data.The effectiveness of their tactical voting has also been questioned,and the loss of Kensington, which was a Labour gain in 2017, was blamed by Labour MPs on Liberal Democrats for splitting the vote. In the final weekend before voting,The Guardiancited a poll suggesting that the Conservative Party held a 15% lead over Labour;on the same day, the Conservative-backingDaily Telegraphemphasised a poll indicating a lower 8% lead.Senior opposition politicians from Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and the SNP launched a late-stage appeal to anti-Conservative voters to consider switching allegiance in the general election, amid signs that tactical voting in a relatively small number of marginal seats could deprive Johnson of a majority in parliament. Shortly before the election,The Observernewspaper recommended Remainers tactically vote for 50 Labour, Liberal Democrats, SNP, and independent candidates across Great Britain;of these, 13 triumphed, 9 of which were SNP gains in Scotland (in line with a broader trend of relative success for the party), along with four in England divided equally between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. The pollster responsible argued in the aftermath that the unpopularity of the Labour leadership limited the effectiveness of tactical voting.Other research suggested it would have taken 78% of people voting tactically to prevent a Conservative majority completely, and it would not have been possible to deliver a Labour majority. Canvassing and leafleting Predictions of an overall Conservative majority were based on their targeting of primarily Labour-held, Brexit-backing seats in theMidlandsand the north of England.At the start of the election period, Labour-supporting organisationMomentumheld what was described as \"the largest mobilising call in UK history\", involving more than 2,000 canvassers.The organisation challenged Labour supporters to devote a week or more to campaigning full-time; by 4 December, 1,400 people had signed up. Momentum also developed an app called My Campaign Map that updated members about where they could be more effective, particularly in canvassing in marginal constituencies. Over one weekend during the campaign period, 700 Labour supporters campaigned inIain Duncan Smith's constituency,Chingford and Woodford Green, which was regarded as a marginal, with a majority of 2,438 votes at the 2017 general election. The Liberal Democrats were considered possible winners of a number of Conservative-held southern English constituencies; a large swing was postulated that might even toppleDominic RaabinEsher and Walton.At the beginning of the 2019 campaign, they had been accused of attempting to mislead voters by using selectiveopinion pollingdata,and use of a quotation attributed toThe Guardianrather than to their leaderJo Swinson.They were also accused of making campaign leaflets look like newspapers, although this practice had been used by all major British political parties for many years, including by Labour and the Conservatives during this election. The Liberal Democrats won a court case stopping the SNP from distributing a \"potentially defamatory\" leaflet in Swinson's constituency over false claims about funding she had received.Two Labour Party campaigners, both in their seventies, were verbally abused and physically assaulted in separate attacks on the weekend of 23–24 November. One attack occurred inBromyard,Herefordshire, and the other inRotherham,South Yorkshire. Party officials in Bromyard, where Labour campaigners experiencedred-baitingand had been called \"Marxists\",decided that activists should only canvass in pairs. Online campaigning The use ofsocial media advertisingwas seen as particularly useful to political parties as it could be used to target people of particular demographics.Labour was reported to have the most interactions, withThe Timesdescribing Labour's \"aggressive, anti-establishment messages\" as \"beating clever Tory memes\". In the first week of November, Labour was reported to have four of the five most likedtweetsby political parties, many of the top interactions ofFacebookposts, as well as doing very well onInstagram, where younger voters are particularly active.Bloomberg Newsreported that between 6 and 21 November the views on Twitter/Facebook were 18.7/31.0 million for Labour, 10/15.5 million for the Conservatives, 2.9/2.0 million for the Brexit Party, and 0.4/1.4 million for the Liberal Democrats. Brexit was the most tweeted topic for the Conservative Party (~45% of tweets), the Liberal Democrats, and the Brexit Party (~40% each). Labour focused on health care (24.1%), the environment, and business, mentioning Brexit in less than 5 per cent of its tweets.Devolution was the topic most tweeted about by the SNP (29.8%) and Plaid Cymru (21.4%), and the environment was the top issue for the Green Party (45.9%) on Twitter. The Conservatives were unique in their focus on taxation (16.2%), and the Brexit Party on defence (14%). Prior to the campaign, the Conservatives contracted New Zealand marketing agency Topham Guerin, which had been credited with helping Australia'sLiberal–National Coalitionunexpectedly win the2019 Australian federal election. The agency's social media approach was described as purposefully posting badly-designed social media material that becomes viral and so would be seen by a wider audience.Some of the Conservative social media activity created headlines challenging whether it was deceptive,including by the BBC,amiddisinformationconcerns.This included editing a clip ofKeir Starmerto give the appearance that he was unable to answer a question about Labour's Brexit policy.In response to criticism over the doctored Starmer footage, Conservative Party chairmanJames Cleverlysaid the clip of Starmer was satire and \"obviously edited\". Veracity of statements by political parties During the 19 November debate between Johnson and Corbyn hosted byITV, the press office of theConservative Campaign Headquarters(CCHQ) re-branded their Twitter account (@CCHQPress) asfactcheckUK(with \"from CCHQ\" in small text appearing underneath the logo in the account's banner image), which critics suggested could be mistaken for that of an independentfact-checkingbody, and published posts supporting the Conservative's position.In defence, Conservative chairman Cleverly stated: \"The Twitter handle of the CCHQ press office remained CCHQPress, so it's clear the nature of the site\", and as \"calling out when the Labour Party put what they know to be complete fabrications in the public domain.\" In response to the re-branding on Twitter, theElectoral Commission, which does not have a role in regulating election campaign content, called on all campaigners to act \"responsibly\".Fact-checking bodyFull Factcriticised this behaviour as \"inappropriate and misleading\", and Twitter stated that it would take \"decisive corrective action\" if there were \"further attempts to mislead people\". First Draft Newsreleased an analysis of Facebook ads posted by political parties between 1 and 4 December. The analysis reported that 88% of the 6,749 posts the Conservatives made had been \"challenged\" by fact checker Full Fact. 5,000 of these ads related to a \"40 new hospitals\" claim, of which Full Fact concluded only six had been costed, with the others only receiving money for planning, with building uncosted and due to occur after 2025. 4,000 featured inaccurate claims about the cost of Labour's spending plans to the tax payer. 500 related to a \"50,000 more nurses\" pledge, consisting of 31,500 new nurses, and convincing 18,500 nurses already in post to remain. 16.5% of Liberal Democrats posts were highlighted, which related to claims they are the only party to beat Labour, the Conservatives, or the SNP \"in seats like yours\".None of the posts made by Labour in the period were challenged, although posts made on 10 December stating that a \"Labour government would save households thousands in bills\" and the Conservative Party had \"cut £8bn from social care\" since 2010 were flagged as misleading.According to theBBC, Labour supporters had been more likely to share unpaid-for electioneering posts, some of which included misleading claims. Television debates ITV aired a head-to-head election debate between Johnson and Corbyn on 19 November, hosted byJulie Etchingham.ITV Cymru Walesaired a debate featuring representatives from the Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, and the Brexit Party on 17 November, hosted byAdrian Masters.Johnson cancelled his ITV interview with Etchingham, scheduled for 6 December, whilst the other major party leaders agreed to be interviewed. On the BBC, broadcasterAndrew Neilwas due to separately interview party leaders inThe Andrew Neil Interviews, andBBC Northern IrelandjournalistMark Carruthersto separately interview the five main Northern Irish political leaders.The leaders of the SNP, Labour, Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrats, and the Brexit Party were all interviewed by Neil and the leader of the Conservative Party was not,leading Neil to release a challenge to Johnson to be interviewed.The Conservatives dismissed Neil's challenge.BBC Scotland,BBC Cymru Wales, and BBC Northern Ireland also hosted a variety of regional debates. Channel 4cancelled a debate scheduled for 24 November after Johnson would not agree to a head-to-head with Corbyn.A few days later, the network hosted a leaders' debate focused on the climate. Johnson and Farage did not attend and were replaced on stage by ice sculptures with their party names written on them.The Conservatives alleged this was part of a pattern of bias at the channel, complained toOfcomthat Channel 4 had breached due impartiality rules as a result of their refusal to allowMichael Goveto appear as a substitute,and suggested that they might review the channel's broadcasting licence.In response, the Conservatives, as well as the Brexit Party, did not send a representative to Channel 4's \"Everything but Brexit\" on 8 December,and Conservative ministers were briefed not to appear onChannel 4 News.Ofcom rejected the Conservatives' complaint on 3 December. Sky Newswas due to hold a three-way election debate on 28 November, inviting Johnson, Corbyn, and Swinson.Swinson confirmed she would attend the debate,which was later cancelled after agreements could not be made with Corbyn or Johnson. Campaign events Before candidate nominations closed, several planned candidates for Labour and for the Conservatives withdrew, principally because of past social media activity. At least three Labour candidates and one Conservative candidate stood down, with two of the Labour candidates doing so following allegedly antisemitic remarks.Two other Conservative candidates were suspended from the Conservative Party over antisemitic social media posts, but retained their candidacy for the party.The Liberal Democrats removed one of its candidates over antisemitic social media posts, and defended two others. Several former Labour MPs critical of Corbyn endorsed the Conservatives.Meanwhile, several former Conservative MPs, including former deputy prime ministerMichael Heseltine, endorsed the Liberal Democrats and independent candidates.A week before election day, former Conservative prime ministerJohn Majorwarned the public against enabling a majority Conservative government, to avoid what he saw as the damage a Johnson-led government could do to the country through Brexit. Major encouraged voters to vote tactically and to back former Conservative candidates instead of those put forward by the Conservative Party. The2019–20 United Kingdom floodsstarted hitting parts of England from 7 to 18 November. Johnson was criticised for what some saw as his late response to the flooding,after he said they were not a national emergency.The Conservatives bannedDaily Mirrorreporters from Johnson'scampaign bus.On 27 November, Labour announced it had obtained leaked government documents; they said these showed that the Conservatives were in trade negotiations with the US over the NHS. The Conservatives said Labour was peddling \"conspiracy theories\",withDominic Raablater suggesting this was evidence of Russian interference in the election.The election also saw the2019 London Bridge stabbing, a terrorist stabbing attack that occurred in London on 29 November; owing to this, the political parties suspended campaigning in London for a time. The2019 London summitofNATOwas held inWatfordon 3–4 December 2019. It was attended by 29 heads of state and heads of government, including then United States presidentDonald Trump.On 6 December, Labour announced it had obtained leaked government documents that they said showed that Johnson had misled the public about the Conservatives' Brexit deal with the EU, specifically regarding customs checks between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which are part of theGood Friday Agreementand that Johnson had said would not exist. Third-party campaigns In February 2021, an investigation byopenDemocracyfound that third-party campaign groups \"pushed anti-Labour attack ads to millions of voters ahead of the 2019 general election spent more than £700,000 without declaring any individual donation\".These included Capitalist Worker and Campaign Against Corbynism, both of which were set up less than three months before the election and quickly disappeared thereafter.A further investigation, also reported by theDaily Mirror, found that a group run by Conservative activist Jennifer Powers had spent around £65,000 on dozens of advertisements attacking Corbyn and Labour on housing policy without declaring any donations. During the campaign,ihad reported that Powers was \"a corporate lobbyist who is a former employee of the Conservative Party\" and that her group had been one of \"16 registrations completed since 5 November\".Meanwhile,openDemocracyreported on the new phenomenon of United States-style,Super PAC-esque groups in British elections.Adam Ramsay, who wrote the article, contacted Powers and got her to admit to being an associate at the trade consultancy firm Competere, which was set up by lobbyistShanker Singham, who works for the neoliberal think tank, theInstitute for Economic Affairs.Powers' group \"Right to Rent, Right to Buy, Right to Own\" made claims that Labour wanted to \"attack property rights in the UK\" and \"your mortgage will be harder to pay under Labour\". Additionally,openDemocracyreported that, during the election campaign, the pro-Labour groupMomentumspent more than £500,000, the European Movement for the United Kingdom spent almost £300,000 and the anti-Brexit groupsLed By DonkeysandBest for Britainspent £458,237 and more than one million pounds respectively.Following these reports, former Liberal Democrats MPTom Brake, who lost his seat in the election and was now director of the pressure groupUnlock Democracy, wrote to theElectoral Commission, urging them to investigate.These calls were echoed byJohn McDonnell, Labour MP and former Shadow Chancellor, who insisted that \"a serious and in-depth inquiry into third-party campaigning\" was needed. Religious groups' opinions on the parties Ethnic minority and religious leaders and organisations made statements about the general election. Leaders of theChurch of Englandstated people had a \"democratic duty to vote\", that they should \"leave their echo chambers\", and \"issues need to be debated respectfully, and without resorting to personal abuse\". Antisemitism in the Labour Partywas persistently covered in the media in the lead up to the election. In his leader's interview with Jeremy Corbyn,Andrew Neildedicated the first third of the 30-minute programme entirely to discussion of Labour's relationship with the Jewish community.This interview drew attention as Corbyn refused to apologise for antisemitism in the Labour Party, despite having done so on previous occasions.The British chief rabbiEphraim Mirvismade an unprecedented intervention in politics, warning that antisemitism was a \"poison sanctioned from the top\" of the Labour Party, and saying thatBritish Jewswere gripped by anxiety about the prospect of a Corbyn-led government.Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, theMuslim Council of Britainand theHindu Council UKsupported Mirvis's intervention, if not entirely endorsing it.TheJewish Labour Movementsaid they would not be actively campaigning for Labour except for exceptional candidates.The pro-CorbynMorning Starreported thatJewish Voice for Labourand theJewish Socialist Groupsaid that Mirvis did not represent all Jews, with some people within the religious groups being keen to express that no one person or organisation represents the views of all the members of the faith. TheCatholic Church in the United Kingdomurged voters to respect theright to life, opposingabortion,euthanasia, andassisted suicide, along with a peaceful solution to Brexit, support the poor, care for the homeless, and attention tohuman rights.TheMuslim Council of Britain(MCB) spokesman stated thatIslamophobia\"is particularly acute in the Conservative Party\" and that Conservatives treat it \"with denial, dismissal and deceit\".In addition they released a 72-page document, outlining what they assess are the key issues from aBritish Muslimperspective. The MCB specifically criticised those who \"seek to stigmatise and undermine Muslims\"; for example, by implying that Pakistanis (\"often used as a proxy for Muslims\") vote \"en bloc as directed byImams\".TheSunday Mirrorstated that many of the candidates campaigning for the Brexit Party were Islamophobic. The Times of Indiareported that supporters ofNarendra Modi's rulingBharatiya Janata Party(BJP) were actively campaigning for the Conservatives in 48 marginal seats,and theTodayprogramme reported that it had seenWhatsAppmessages sent to Hindus across the country urging them to vote Conservative.Some British Indians spoke out against what they saw as the BJP's meddling in the election.TheHindu Council UKwas strongly critical of Labour, going as far as to say that Labour is \"anti-Hindu\",and objected to the party's condemnation of the Indian government's actions resulting in therevocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.Labour's perceived introduction of aparachute candidateintoLeicester Eastdisappointed many with Indian heritage;specifically, no candidates of Indian descent were interviewed. The party selected or re-selected one candidate of Indian descent among its 39 safest seats. Endorsements Newspapers, organisations, and individuals had endorsed parties or individual candidates for the election. Media coverage Party representation According toLoughborough University's Centre for Research in Communication and Culture (CRCC), media coverage of the first week of the campaign was dominated by the Conservatives and Labour, with the leaders of both parties being the most represented campaigners (Johnson with 20.8%; Corbyn with 18.8%).Due to this, the election coverage was characterised as increasingly 'presidential' as smaller parties have been marginalised. In television coverage,Boris Johnsonhad a particularly high-profile (30.4% against Corbyn's 22.6%). Labour (32%) and the Conservative Party (33%) received about a third of TV coverage each. In newspapers, Labour received two-fifths (40%) of the coverage and the Conservatives 35%. Spokespeople from both parties were quoted near equally, with Conservative sources being the most prominent in both press and TV coverage in terms of frequency of appearance.Sajid JavidandJohn McDonnellfeatured prominently during the first week because theeconomy of the United Kingdomwas a top story for the media. McDonnell had more coverage than Javid on both TV and in print. A large proportion of the newspaper coverage of Labour was negative.Writing in theBritish Journalism Review, James Hanning said that, when reporting and commenting on Johnson, Conservative supporting newspapers made little mention of \"a track record that would have sunk any other politician\".In theLoughboroughanalysis, during the first week of the campaign, for example, the Conservatives had a positive press coverage score of +29.7, making them the only party to receive a positive overall presentation in the press. Meanwhile, Labour, meanwhile had a negative score of −70, followed by the Brexit Party on −19.7 and the Liberal Democrats on −10.Over the whole campaign, press hostility towards Labour had doubled compared with during the 2017 election, and negative coverage of the Conservatives halved. The Liberal Democrats were the party with the most TV coverage in the first week after Labour and the Conservatives, with an eighth of all reporting (13%). In newspapers, they received less coverage than the Brexit Party, whose leaderNigel Faragereceived nearly as much coverage (12.3%) as Johnson and Corbyn (17.4% each). Most of this coverage regarded the Brexit Party's proposed electoral pact with the Conservatives.The Brexit Party (7%) and the SNP (5%) were fourth and fifth in terms of TV coverage, respectively. Dominant issues As during the 2017 election and in line for British elections, the electoral process was the most covered media topic for this election at 31% of all coverage.Brexit was the most prominent policy issue on both TV (18%) and in the press (11%), followed by the economy, and health (8% and 7% of all coverage, respectively).There was little focused analysis of what the implementation of Brexit policies might mean, which contrasted with the more detailed analysis often undertaken of other manifesto commitments, such as those on the economy. Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland's place within the United Kingdom received some prominence on TV but little coverage in the press.\"Standards/scandals\" and \"Minorities/religion\" received relatively significant discussion in large part relating to allegations ofantisemitism in the Labour partyand in the prior case an incident when Johnson was accused of reacting unsympathetically to an image of an ill child without a bed in hospital.Coverage of immigration and border controls fell overall from to 2017, while focus on environmental issues slightly increased. Gender balance Of the 20 most prominent spokespeople in media coverage of the first week of the election period, five were women, withNicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader andfirst minister of Scotland, in seventh place, the most featured.Women including citizens, experts, pollsters, businesspeople, trade union representatives, and the like featured in 23.9% of coverage and men in 76.1%. Men spoke three times as much as women in TV coverage, and five times as much in newspaper coverage. Members of Parliament not standing for re-election 74members of Parliament(MPs) who held seats at the end of Parliament did not stand for re-election. Of these, 32 were Conservative MPs, 20 were Labour, 3 were Liberal Democrats, and 16 were independents. The number of MPs retiring was higher than the 2017 general election, when 31 stood down. Opinion polling The chart below depicts the results of opinion polls, mostly only of voters in Great Britain, conducted from the 2017 general election until the election. The line plotted is the average of the last 15 polls and the larger circles at the end represent the actual results of the election. The graph shows that the Conservatives and Labour polled to similar levels from mid-2017 to mid-2019. Following Johnson's election in July, the Conservatives established a clear lead over Labour, and simultaneously support for the Brexit Party declined from its peak in summer 2019. The Spreadex columns below cover bets on the number of seats each party would win, with the midpoint between asking and selling price. Predictions three weeks before the vote The first-past-the-post system used in the United Kingdom general elections means that the number of seats won is not directly related to vote share. Thus, several approaches are used to convert polling data and other information into seat predictions. The table below lists some of the predictions. Predictions two weeks before the vote Note: Elections Etc. does not add up to 650 seats due to rounding, the speaker is shown under \"Others\" and not \"Labour\", and majority figures assume all elected members take up their seats. Predictions one week before the vote Below are listed predictions based upon polls. as of 5 December 2019 Note: Elections Etc. does not add up to 650 seats due to rounding, the speaker is shown under \"Others\" and not \"Labour\", and majority figures assume all elected members take up their seats. Below are listed predictions based upon betting odds, assuming the favourite wins in each constituency. Note: The speaker is shown under \"Others\" and not \"Labour\", and majority figures assume all elected members take up their seats. Final predictions as of 11 December 2019 Exit poll Anexit pollconducted byIpsos MORIfor theBBC,ITV, andSky Newswas published at the end of voting at 10 pm, predicting the number of seats for each party. Results The Conservative Party won, securing 365 seats out of 650, giving them an overall majority of 80 seats in the House of Commons. They gained seats in several Labour Party strongholds in Northern England that had been held by the party for decades and which had formed thered wall; for instance, the constituency ofBishop Auckland, which elected a Conservative MP for the first time in its 134-year history. This marked a fourth consecutive general election defeat for the Labour Party. In the worst result for the party in 84 years,despite a better vote share than other losses as in 1931, 1983, 1987, and 2010, Labour won 202 seats, which was the lowest number since 1935 and a loss of 60 compared to the previous election. The Liberal Democrats won 11 seats, down 1, despite significantly increasing their share of the popular vote.Ed Davey, formerCameron–Clegg coalitioncabinet minister and MP forKingston and Surbiton, was the winner of the2020 Liberal Democrats leadership election. This came afterJo Swinsonlost her seat toAmy Callaghanof the SNP by 150 votes and was disqualified from continuing as leader of the party. Swinson also became the first party leader to lose their seat since Liberal Party leaderArchibald Sinclairin 1945. While the Conservatives gained support in England and Wales, they lost support in Scotland in the face of a major SNP advance. The Conservatives won in England, advancing by 1.7% and gaining 48 seats to win 345 out of 533, while Labour fell back by 8% and lost 47 seats to win just 180.Labour won in Wales but lost 8% of its 2017 vote share and six seats, retaining 22 out of 40, while the Conservatives advanced by 2.5% and gained six seats, winning 14 in total. The SNP advanced by 8.1% and gained 13 seats to win 48 out of 59, gaining several seats from the Conservatives and Labour. The Conservatives lost 3.5% of their 2017 vote share and half their seats, while Labour was reduced to one Scottish seat,Edinburgh South. This is the same Scottish seat that returnedIan Murrayin the 2015–17 Parliament as the country's sole Labour MP.Among the Labour MPs who lost their seats in Scotland wasLesley Laird, deputy leader ofScottish LabourandShadow Secretary of State for Scotland.In Northern Ireland, nationalist political parties won more seats than unionist ones for the first time.Nigel Dodds, the DUP's leader in Westminster, lost his seat inBelfast North. Analysis The results have been attributed toLeave-supporting areas backing the Conservatives, the Conservatives broadening their appeal to working-class voters, and the Conservatives making gains in the Midlands and the north of England.Most notable was the red wall turning blue in the election, which greatly contributed to the Conservative majority. In exit polls conducted byOpinium, 43% of voters who did not vote for the Labour Party cited 'the leadership' as their reason.Among those who did not vote for the Conservative Party, the cited reason was equally split between 'their stance on Brexit' and 'the leadership', with both at 26%. Several commentators stated that the party's loss was due to a complicated manifesto and Brexit policy, a poor approach to campaigning, and the unpopularity of Corbyn's leadership. AYouGovpost-election survey determined that the age over which voters were more likely to opt for the Conservatives than for Labour was 39, down from 47 in the 2017 election. In contrast to previous elections, the YouGov survey additionally found that a plurality of voters in the DE'sNRS social grade— comprising the unemployed, state pensioners, and semi-skilled and unskilled workers — had opted for the Conservatives over Labour.This change reflects the collapse of the 'Red Wall' which has a plurality of people in the DE classification according to theONS. Between 26% and 33% of voters engaged intactical voting, as they said that they were trying to prevent a victory by the party they liked least.Recommendation by tactical voting websites had some benefit for Liberal Democrat candidates.The new Parliament reportedly had the highest number of openly LGBT MPs in the world, with 20 Conservative MPs, 15 Labour MPs, and 10 SNP MPs who identify as LGBT. For the first time in both cases, the majority of elected Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs were female. The election also returned a record number of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) MPs, with 65 MPs (10%) describing themselves as BAME. In a post-election review featuring Labour MPs, trade union officials and activists one of several reasons attributed to the electoral defeat was due to the declining popularity of Jeremy Corbyn in relation to the Brexit position and allegations of party antisemitism. The review projected that Labour would have retained 38% of the vote had Corbyn's popularity levels retained at its peak level in 2017. Summary A summarised results of the parties that won seats at the election is shown below. Full results In total, the Green Party of England and Wales, Scottish Greens, and Green Party Northern Ireland received 865,715 votes (2.70%). This may be unclear from the table and sources which cite the total of the Greens in the whole of the United Kingdom rather than by region. Voter demographics Ipsos MORI Below is listedIpsos MORI's demographic breakdown. YouGov Below is listedYouGov's demographic breakdown. Seats changing hands Seats which changed allegiance Reaction and aftermath In his victory speech, Johnson described the result as a mandate for leaving the EU and promised to do so by 31 January.The United Kingdom left the EU on 31 January 2020but continued using EU trading rules until 23:00 on December 31. The election led to both Labour and the Liberal Democrats having leadership contests: the former as Corbyn resigned, the latter as Swinson failed to be elected as an MP. Corbyn portrayed the 2019 election results primarily as a consequence of attitudes surrounding Brexit rather than a rejection of Labour's social and economic policies. In an interview held on 13 December 2019, Corbyn said the election was \"taken over ultimately by Brexit\", and said that he was \"proud of the manifesto\". The Labour leadership campaign was marked by conflicting analyses of what had gone wrong for the party in the general election.There was debate as to whether Corbyn's unpopularity or their position on Brexit was more significant.The 2020Labour Togetherreport, published by internal Labour party figures afterKeir Starmerwas elected as leader, highlighted issues like Corbyn's unpopularity, the party's Brexit policy, and poor seat targeting, as well as long-term changes in Labour's electoral coalition.InopenDemocracy, Jo Michell and Rob Calvert Jump argued that the report underplayed the fact the geographical redistributions, stating that \"Labour's decline in the North, Midlands and Wales is not the result of a dramatic collapse in its vote share, but changes in the distribution of votes between parties and constituencies.\" Successful Liberal Democrats MPs were critical in private of how the party had decided to advocate revoking the exercise of Article 50, and the communication of that policy. Some criticised the election campaign for being hubristic, with its initial defining message that Swinson could be the country's next prime minister.Ed Davey, the party's co-acting leader after the election, argued that the unpopularity of Corbyn lost the Liberal Democrats votes to the Conservatives.Wera Hobhouse, who was re-elected by a majority of 12,322,argued that the party had been wrong to pursue a policy of equidistance between Labour and the Conservatives in the general election campaign. Instead, she argued that the party should have concentrated more on campaigning against the Conservatives.The SNP's leaderNicola Sturgeondescribed the result as a clear mandate to hold a new referendum for Scottish independence.The British government said that it would not agree to a referendum being held and the Scottish government announced a few months later that it would put the issue on hold due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. See also Notes References Further reading External links Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019 Party manifestos","Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson(born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served asPrime Minister of the United KingdomandLeader of the Conservative Partyfrom 2019 to 2022. He was previouslyForeign Secretaryfrom 2016 to 2018 andMayor of Londonfrom 2008 to 2016. He wasMember of Parliament(MP) forHenleyfrom 2001 to 2008 andUxbridge and South Ruislipfrom 2015 to 2023. In his youth Johnson attendedEton CollegeandBalliol College, Oxford, and he was electedPresident of the Oxford Unionin 1986. In 1989 he began writing forThe Daily Telegraph, and from 1999 to 2005 he was the editor ofThe Spectator. He became a member of theShadow CabinetofMichael Howardin 2001 before being dismissed over a claim that he had lied about an extramarital affair. After Howard resigned Johnson became a member ofDavid Cameron'sShadow Cabinet. Hewas elected Mayor of London in 2008and resigned from theHouse of Commonsto focus his attention on the mayoralty. He wasre-elected mayor in 2012, but did not run for re-election in2016. At the2015 general electionhe was elected MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip. Johnson was a prominent figure in theBrexit campaignin the2016 European Union membership referendum. After the referendum Prime MinisterTheresa Mayappointed him foreign secretary. He resigned from the position in 2018 in protest at both theChequers Agreementand May's approach to Brexit. Johnson succeeded May as prime minister. Here-opened Brexit negotiationswith the European Union and in early September heprorogued Parliament; theSupreme Courtlater ruled the prorogation to have been unlawful. After agreeing to a revised Brexit withdrawal agreement butfailing to win parliamentary support, Johnson called asnap general electionto be held in December 2019, in which he won alandslide victory. During Johnson's premiership, the governmentrespondedto theCOVID-19 pandemicby introducing variousemergency powersto mitigate its impact and approved anationwide vaccination programme. He also responded to theRussian invasion of Ukraineby imposingsanctions on Russiaand authorisingforeign aid and weapons shipmentsto Ukraine.In thePartygatescandal it was found that numerous parties had been held at10 Downing Streetduringnational COVID-19 lockdowns, and COVID-19 social distancing laws were breached by 83 individuals, including Johnson, who in April 2022 was issued with afixed penalty notice. The publishing of theSue Gray reportin May 2022 and a widespread sense of dissatisfaction led in June 2022 to avote of confidence in his leadershipamongst Conservative MPs, which he won. In July 2022, revelations over hisappointment of Chris Pincheras deputychief whip of the partywhile knowing of allegations of sexual misconduct against him led to amass resignation of members of his governmentand to Johnson announcing his resignation as prime minister. He was succeeded as prime minister byLiz Truss, his foreign secretary. He remained in the House of Commons as abackbencheruntil 9 June 2023, when he received the draft of theCommons Privileges Committee investigation into his conductthat unanimously found that he had lied to the Commons on numerous occasions. Johnson resigned his position as MP the same day. Johnson is acontroversial figurein British politics. His supporters have praised him for being humorous, witty, and entertaining, with an appeal reaching beyond traditional Conservative Party voters, viewing him as an electoral asset to the party. Conversely, his critics have accused him of lying,elitism,cronyism, andbigotry. During his premiership his supporters praised him for \"getting Brexit done\", overseeing the UK's COVID-19 vaccination programme, which was amongst the fastest in the world, and being one of the first world leaders to offerhumanitarian support to Ukrainefollowing the Russian invasion of the country. His tenure also encompassed several controversies and scandals, and is viewed as the most scandalous premiership of modern times by historians and biographers alike. Early life and education Childhood Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson was born on 19 June 1964 in theUpper East SideofManhattan, New York City,toStanley Johnson, then studying economics atColumbia University,andCharlotte Fawcett,an artist, whose fatherSir James Fawcett, was a prominentbarristerand president of theEuropean Commission of Human Rightsfrom 1972 to 1981.Johnson is one of only two British prime ministers to have been anAmerican citizen(seeHonorary citizenship of the United States).Johnson's parents returned to the UK in September 1964 so Charlotte could study at theUniversity of Oxford.She lived with her son inSummertown, Oxford, and in September 1965 she gave birth to a daughter,Rachel.In July 1965, the family moved toCrouch Endinnorth London,and in February 1966 they relocated to Washington, DC, where Stanley worked with theWorld Bank.Stanley then took a job with a policy panel onpopulation control, and moved the family toNorwalk, Connecticut, in June.A third child, Leo, was born in September 1967. The family returned to the UK in 1969, and lived at West Nethercote Farm, Somerset, Stanley's family home inExmoor.His father was regularly absent, leaving Johnson to be raised largely by his mother, assisted byau pairs.As a child, Johnson was quiet, studious,and deaf, resulting in several operations to insertgrommetsinto his ears.He and his siblings were encouraged to engage in intellectual activities from a young age.Johnson's earliest recorded ambition was to be \"world king\".Having no other friends, the siblings became very close. In late 1969, the family moved toMaida Valein west London, while Stanley began post-graduate research at theLondon School of Economics.In 1970, Charlotte and the children briefly returned to Nethercote, where Johnson attended Winsford Village School, before returning to London to settle inPrimrose Hill,where they were educated at Primrose Hill Primary School.A fourth child,Joseph, was born in late 1971. After Stanley secured employment at theEuropean Commissionin April 1973, he moved his family toUccle, Brussels, where Johnson attended theEuropean School, Brussels Iand learnt to speak French.Charlotte had anervous breakdownand was hospitalised with depression, after which Johnson and his siblings were sent back to the UK in 1975 to attendAshdown House, a preparatory boarding school in East Sussex.There, he developed interests inrugby,Ancient Greek, andLatin.In December 1978 his parents' relationship broke down; they divorced in 1980,and Charlotte moved toNotting Hill, London, where her children joined her for much of their time. Eton and Oxford: 1977–1987 As a kid I was extremely spotty, extremely nerdy and horriblyswotty. My idea of a really good time was to travel across London on the tube to visit theBritish Museum. — Boris Johnson Johnson gained aKing's Scholarshipto study atEton College, a boarding school nearWindsor, Berkshire.Arriving in the autumn term of 1977,he began going by his middle name Boris,and developed \"the eccentric English persona\" for which he became famous.He denounced Catholicism and joined theChurch of England.School reports complained about his idleness, complacency, and lateness,but he was popular at Eton. Johnson's friends were largely from the wealthy upper classes; his best friends wereDarius GuppyandCharles Spencer. Both would go on to accompany him at theUniversity of Oxfordand remained his friends into adulthood.Johnson excelled inEnglishand theClassics, winning prizes in both,and became secretary of the schooldebating societyand editor of the school newspaper.In late 1981, he became a member ofPop,a small, self-selecting elite group of school prefects. After leaving Eton, Johnson went on agap yearto Australia, where he taught English and Latin atTimbertop, anOutward Bound-inspired campus ofGeelong Grammar, an independent boarding school. Johnson won a scholarship to readLiterae humanioresatBalliol College, Oxford, a four-year course in Classics, ancient languages, literature, history, and philosophy.Matriculatingin late 1983,he was one of a generation of Oxford undergraduates who dominated British politics and media in the early 21st century, including Cameron,William Hague,Michael Gove,Jeremy HuntandNick Boles.While at Oxford, Johnson joined the college'srugby unionteam as atighthead prop.To his later regret, he joined theBullingdon Club, an exclusive drinking society notorious for vandalism.Many years later,a group photographincluding himself and Cameron in Bullingdon Club formal dress led to much negative press coverage. While at Oxford, he began a relationship withAllegra Mostyn-Owen, cover girl forTatlermagazine and daughter ofChristie's EducationchairmanWilliam Mostyn-Owen. They became engaged. Johnson was popular and well known at Oxford.Alongside Guppy, he edited the university's satirical magazineTributary.In 1984, Johnson was elected secretary of theOxford Union,and campaigned unsuccessfully for the position ofUnion President.In 1986, Johnson ran successfully for President,but his term was not distinguished or memorable,and questions were raised regarding his competence and seriousness.At graduation, Johnson was awarded anupper second-classdegree,and was deeply unhappy he did not receive a first. Early career The TimesandThe Daily Telegraph: 1987–1994 In September 1987, Johnson and Mostyn-Owen married.They settled inWest Kensington, London.In late 1987, through family connections, he began work as a graduate trainee atThe Times.Scandal erupted when Johnson wrote an article for the newspaper on the archaeological discovery ofEdward II's palace, having invented a quote which he falsely attributed to the historianColin Lucas, his godfather. After the paper's editor,Charles Wilson, learnt of the matter, he dismissed Johnson. Johnson secured employment on the lead-writing desk ofThe Daily Telegraph, having met its editor,Max Hastings, while at university.His articles appealed to the newspaper's Conservative-voting \"Middle England\" readership,and he was known for his distinctive literary style, replete with old-fashioned phrasing and for regularly referring to the readership as \"my friends\".In early 1989, Johnson was appointed to the newspaper's Brussels bureau to report on the European Commission,remaining in the post until 1994.A strong critic of the integrationist Commission presidentJacques Delors, he established himself as one of the city's fewEuroscepticjournalists.He wrote articles abouteuromyths: that Brussels had recruited sniffer dogs to ensure that all manure smelt the same,they were about to dictate the acceptable curve of British bananas,limit the power of their vacuum cleanersand order women to return their old sex toys.He wrote that euro notes made people impotent and that a plan to blow up theBerlaymont buildingwas in place because asbestos cladding made the building too dangerous to inhabit.Many of his fellow journalists were critical of his articles, saying they often contained lies designed to discredit the commission.The Europhile Conservative politicianChris Pattenlater said that Johnson was \"one of the greatest exponents of fake journalism\".Johnson opposed banning handguns after theDunblane school massacre, writing in his column \"Nanny is confiscating their toys. It is like one of those vastIndian programmes of compulsory vasectomy.\" According to one of his biographers,Sonia Purnell, – who was Johnson's Brussels deputy– he helped make Euroscepticism \"an attractive and emotionally resonant cause for the Right\", whereas it had been associated previously with the Left.Johnson's articles exacerbated tensions between the Conservative Party's Eurosceptic and Europhile factions. As a result, he earned the mistrust of many party members.His writings were also a key influence on the emergence of the euroscepticUK Independence Party(UKIP) in the early 1990s.Conrad Black, then proprietor ofThe Daily Telegraph, said Johnson \"was such an effective correspondent for us in Brussels that he greatly influenced British opinion on this country's relations with Europe\". In February 1990, Johnson's wife Allegra broke up with him; after several attempts at reconciliation, their marriage ended in April 1993.He began a relationship with childhood friendMarina Wheeler, who had moved to Brussels in 1990.They were married in May 1993.Soon after, Marina gave birth to a daughter.Johnson and his new wife settled inIslington, north London,an area known for its association with the left-liberalintelligentsia. Under the influence of thismilieuand of his wife, Johnson moved in a more liberal direction on issues such asclimate change,LGBT rightsand race relations.While in Islington, the couple had three more children, all given the surname Johnson-Wheeler.They were sent to the local Canonbury Primary School and then to private secondary schools.Devoting much time to his children, Johnson wrote a book of verse,The Perils of the Pushy Parents: A Cautionary Tale, which was published to largely poor reviews. Political columnist: 1994–1999 Back in London, Hastings turned down Johnson's request to become awar reporter,instead promoting him to assistant editor and chief political columnist.Johnson's column received praise for being ideologically eclectic and distinctively written, and earned him Commentator of the Year Award at theWhat the Papers Sayawards.Some critics condemned his writing style as bigotry; in columns he used the words \"piccaninnies\" and \"watermelon smiles\" when referring to Africans, championed European colonialism in Ugandaand referred to gay men as \"tank-topped bumboys\". In 1993, Johnson outlined his desire to run as a Conservative in the1994 European Parliament elections.Andrew Mitchellconvinced Major not to veto Johnson's candidacy, but Johnson could not find a constituency.He turned his attention to obtaining a seat in the House of Commons instead. After being rejected as Conservative candidate forHolborn and St. Pancras, he was selected the Conservative candidate forClwyd Southin north Wales, then aLabour Partysafe seat. Spending six weeks campaigning, he attained 9,091 votes (23 per cent) in the1997 general election, losing to Labour candidateMartyn Jones. Scandal erupted in June 1995 when a recording of a 1990 telephone conversation between Johnson and his friendDarius Guppywas made public.In it, Guppy said that his criminal activities involving insurance fraud were being investigated byNews of the Worldjournalist Stuart Collier, and he asked Johnson to provide him with Collier's private address, seeking to have the latter beaten. Johnson agreed, although he expressed concern that he would be associated with the attack.When the phone conversation was published, Johnson stated that ultimately he had not obliged Guppy's request. Hastings reprimanded Johnson but did not dismiss him. Johnson was given a regular column inThe Spectator, sister publication toThe Daily Telegraph, which attracted mixed reviews and was often thought rushed.In 1999, he was also given a column reviewing new cars in the American men's monthly magazineGQ.The large number of parking fines that Johnson acquired while testing cars frustrated staff.AtThe Daily TelegraphandThe Spectator, he was consistently late delivering copy, forcing staff to stay late to accommodate him; some related that if they published without his work, he would shout at them with expletives. Johnson's April 1998 appearance on the BBC's satirical current affairs showHave I Got News for Youbrought him national fame.He was invited back on to later episodes, including as a guest presenter; for his 2003 appearance, Johnson was nominated for theBAFTA Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance.After these appearances, he came to be recognised on the street, and was invited to appear on other shows, such asTop Gear,Parkinson,Breakfast with Frost, andQuestion Time. The Spectatorand MP for Henley: 1999–2008 In July 1999, Conrad Black offered Johnson the editorship ofThe Spectatoron the condition he abandon his parliamentary aspirations; Johnson agreed.While retainingThe Spectator's traditional right-wing bent, Johnson welcomed contributions from leftist writers and cartoonists.Under Johnson's editorship, the magazine's circulation grew by 10% to 62,000 and it became profitable.His editorship also drew criticism; some opined that under himThe Spectatoravoided serious issues,while colleagues became annoyed that he was regularly absent from the office, meetings, and events.He gained a reputation as a poor political pundit because of incorrect political predictions.His father-in-lawCharles Wheelerand others strongly criticised him for allowingSpectatorcolumnistTaki Theodoracopulosto publish racist and antisemitic language. Journalist Charlotte Edwardes wrote inThe Timesin 2019 that Johnson had squeezed her thigh at a private lunch at theSpectatorin 1999 and that another woman had told her he had done the same to her. A spokesman denied the allegation. In 2004, Johnson published an editorial inThe Spectatorafter the murder ofKen Bigleysuggesting that Liverpudlians were wallowing in their victim status and \"hooked on grief\" over theHillsborough disaster, which Johnson partly blamed on \"drunken fans\".In an appendix added to a later edition of his 2005 bookThe Dream of Rome,Tell MAMAand theMuslim Council of Britaincriticised Johnson for arguingIslamhas caused theMuslim worldto be \"literally centuries behind\" the West. Becoming an MP The selection of Boris Johnson ... confirms the Tory Party's increasing weakness for celebrity personalities over the dreary exigencies of politics. Johnson, for all his gifts, is unlikely to grace any future Tory cabinet. Indeed, he is not known for his excessive interest in serious policy matters, and it is hard to see him grubbing away at administrative detail as an obscure, hardworking junior minister for social security. To maintain his funny man reputation he will no doubt find himself refining hisBertie Woosterinterpretation to the point where the impersonation becomes the man. –Max Hastings,London Evening Standard, FollowingMichael Heseltine's retirement, Johnson decided to stand as Conservative candidate forHenley, a Conservative safe seat inOxfordshire.The local Conservative branch selected him although it was split over Johnson's candidacy. Some thought him amusing and charming while others disliked his flippant attitude and perceived lack of knowledge of the local area.Assisted by his television fame, Johnson won the seat in the2001 general election.Alongside his Islington home, Johnson bought a farmhouse outsideThamein his new constituency.He regularly attended Henley social events and occasionally wrote for theHenley Standard.His constituency surgeries proved popular, and he joined local campaigns to stop the closure ofTownlands Hospitaland the localair ambulance. In Parliament, Johnson was appointed to astanding committeeassessing theProceeds of Crime Bill, but missed many of its meetings.Despite his credentials as a public speaker, his speeches in the House of Commons were widely deemed lacklustre.He attended around half of Commons votes,usually supporting the Conservativeparty line.Infree votes, he demonstrated a more socially liberal attitude, supporting theGender Recognition Act 2004and the repeal ofSection 28.However, in 2001, Johnson had spoken out against plans to repeal Section 28, saying it was \"Labour's appalling agenda, encouraging the teaching of homosexuality in schools\".After initially stating he would not, hesupportedthe government's plans to join the United States in the2003 invasion of Iraq,and in April 2003 visited occupied Baghdad.In August 2004, he backed unsuccessfulimpeachment proceduresagainst Prime MinisterTony Blairfor \"high crimes and misdemeanours\" regarding the war,and in December 2006 described the invasion as \"a colossal mistake and misadventure\". Although labelling Johnson \"ineffably duplicitous\" for breaking his promise not to become an MP, Black decided not to dismiss him because he \"helped promote the magazine and raise its circulation\".Johnson remained editor ofThe Spectator, while also writing columns forThe Daily TelegraphandGQ, and making television appearances.His 2001 book,Friends, Voters, Countrymen: Jottings on the Stump, recounted that year's election campaign,while 2003'sLend Me Your Earscollected previously published columns and articles.In 2004,HarperCollinspublished his first novel:Seventy-Two Virgins: A Comedy of Errorsrevolved around the life of a Conservative MP and contained autobiographical elements.Responding to criticism that he was juggling too many jobs, he citedWinston ChurchillandBenjamin Disraelias exemplars who combined political and literary careers.To manage stress, he took up jogging and cycling,and became so well known for the latter that Gimson suggested he was \"perhaps the most famous cyclist in Britain\". FollowingWilliam Hague's resignation as Conservative leader, the party electedIain Duncan Smith.Johnson had a strained relationship with Duncan Smith, andThe Spectatorbecame critical of his party leadership.Duncan Smith was succeeded byMichael Howardin November 2003; Howard deemed Johnson to be the most popular Conservative politician with the electorate and appointed him vice-chairman of the party, responsible for overseeing its electoral campaign.In his Shadow Cabinet reshuffle of May 2004, Howard appointed Johnson as shadow arts minister.In October, Howard ordered Johnson to apologise publicly inLiverpoolfor publishing aSpectatorarticle – anonymously written bySimon Heffer– which said the crowds at theHillsborough disasterhad contributed to the incident and that Liverpudlians had a predilection for reliance on thewelfare state. In November 2004, the tabloids revealed that since 2000 Johnson had been having an affair withSpectatorcolumnistPetronella Wyatt, resulting in two abortions.Johnson denied the allegations but they were subsequently proven to be true, and Howard dismissed him as vice-chairman and shadow arts minister when he refused to resign. Second term At the2005 general election, Johnson was re-elected MP for Henley.Labour won the election and Howard stood down as Conservative leader; Johnson backedDavid Cameronas his successor.After Cameron was elected, he appointed Johnson as the shadow higher education minister.Interested in streamlining university funding,Johnson supported Labour'sproposed top-up fees.He campaigned in 2006 to become theRector of the University of Edinburgh, but his support for top-up fees damaged his campaign, and he came third. In April 2006, theNews of the Worldalleged that Johnson was having an affair with journalist Anna Fazackerley; the pair did not comment, and shortly afterwards Johnson began employing Fazackerley.In September 2006, Papua New Guinea'sHigh Commissionprotested after he compared the Conservatives' frequently changing leadership tocannibalism in the country. In 2005,The Spectator's new chief executive,Andrew Neil, dismissed Johnson as editor.To make up for this loss of income, Johnson negotiated withThe Daily Telegraphto raise his salary from £200,000 to £250,000, averaging £5,000 per column.He presented apopular historytelevision show,The Dream of Rome, which was broadcast in January 2006; a book followed in February.A sequel,After Rome, focused on early Islamic history.In 2007, he earned £540,000, making him the third-highest-earning MP that year. Mayor of London (2008–2016) Mayoral election: 2007–2008 In September, Johnson was selected as the Conservative candidate forMayor of Londonafter a public London-wideprimary.Johnson's campaign focused on reducing youth crime, making public transport safer, and replacing thearticulated buseswith an updated version of theAEC Routemaster.Targeting the Conservative-leaning suburbs ofouter London, it capitalised on perceptions that the Labour Mayoralty had neglected them in favour ofinner London.His campaign emphasised his popularity, even among those who opposed his policies,with opponents complaining a common attitude among voters was: \"I'm voting for Boris because he is a laugh.\"The campaign of Labour incumbentKen Livingstoneportrayed Johnson as an out-of-touchtoffand bigot. In the election, Johnson received 43% and Livingstone 37% of first-preference votes; when second-preference votes were added, Johnson was victorious with 53% to Livingstone's 47%.Johnson subsequently announced his intention to stand down as MP for Henley. First term: 2008–2012 After Johnson became mayor, those in City Hall deemed too closely allied to Livingstone's administration had their employment terminated.Johnson appointedTim Parkeras his deputy mayor, but after Parker began taking increasing control at City Hall, Johnson dismissed him.Many in the Conservative Party initially distanced themselves from Johnson's administration, fearing it would be damaging for the2010 general election. During the campaign, Johnson had confided toBrian Paddickhe was unsure how he would maintain his lifestyle on the mayoral salary of £140,000 a year.He agreed to continue hisDaily Telegraphcolumn, thus earning a further £250,000 a year.His team believed this would cause controversy and made him promise to donate 20% of hisDaily Telegraphsalary to a charitable cause. Johnson resented this, and ultimately did not pay the full 20%.Controversy erupted when on theBBC'sHARDtalkhe referred to the £250,000 salary as \"chicken feed\"; this was at the time approximately 10 times the average yearly wage for a British worker. During his first administration, Johnson was embroiled in several personal scandals. After moving to a new house in Islington, he built a shed without obtainingplanning permission; after neighbours complained, he dismantled it.The press also accused him of having an affair with Helen Macintyre and of fathering her child, allegations that he did not deny.Johnson was accused of warningDamian Greenthat police were planning to arrest him; Johnson denied the claims.He was accused ofcronyism,in particular for appointingVeronica Wadleyas the chair of London'sArts Council.In theparliamentary expenses scandal, he was accused of excessive expenses claims for taxis.Johnson remained a popular figure in London with a strong celebrity status in the city. Policies Johnson made no major changes to the mayoral system of the previous administration.However, he did reverse several other measures implemented by Livingstone: ending the city's oil deal with Venezuela, abolishingThe Londonernewsletter, and scrapping the half-yearly inspections ofblack cabs, which was reinstated three years later.Abolishing the western wing of thecongestion chargingzone,he cancelled plans to increase the congestion charge forfour-wheel-drive vehicles.He was subsequently accused of failing to publish an independent report on air pollution commissioned by theGreater London Authority, which revealed the city breached legal limits onnitrogen dioxidelevels. Johnson retained Livingstone projects such asCrossrailand the2012 Olympic Games, but was accused of trying to take credit for them.He introduced a public bicycle scheme that had been mooted by Livingstone's administration; colloquially known as \"Boris Bikes\", the part privately financed system was a significant financial loss but proved popular.Despite Johnson's support of cycling, and his much-publicised identity as a cyclist, some cycling groups argued he had failed to make the city's roads safer for cyclists.As per his election pledge, he commissioned the development of theNew Routemasterbuses for central London.He also ordered the construction of acable car systemthat crossed theRiver Thamesbetween theGreenwich Peninsulaand theRoyal Docks. Johnson's first policy initiative was a ban on drinking alcohol on public transport.He announced plans to extend pay-as-you-goOyster cardsto national rail services in London.A pledge in Johnson's manifesto was to retain Tube ticket offices, in opposition to Livingstone's proposal to close up to 40.On 2 July 2008, the Mayor's office announced the closure plan was to be abandoned.On 21 November 2013,Transport for Londonannounced that all London Underground ticket offices would close by 2015.In financing these projects, Johnson's administration borrowed £100 million,while public transport fares were increased by 50%. During his first term, Johnson was perceived as having moved leftward on certain issues, supporting theLondon Living Wageand endorsing an amnesty for illegal migrants.He tried placating critics who had deemed him a bigot by appearing atLondon's gay pride paradeand praising ethnic minority newspapers.Johnson broke from the traditional protocol of those in public office not publicly commenting on other nations' elections by endorsingBarack Obamafor the2008 United States presidential election. Relations with the police, finance, and the media Johnson appointed himself chair of theMetropolitan Police Authority(MPA), and in October 2008 successfully pushed for the resignation of Metropolitan Police CommissionerIan Blair, after Blair was criticised for allegedly handing contracts to friends and for his handling of thedeath of Jean Charles de Menezes.This earned Johnson respect among Conservatives, who interpreted it as his first act of strength.Johnson resigned as chairman of the MPA in January 2010,but throughout his mayoralty was highly supportive of the Metropolitan Police, particularly during the controversy surrounding thedeath of Ian Tomlinson.Overall crime in London fell during his administration, but his claim that serious youth crime had decreased proved to be false, and he acknowledged the error.He was criticised for his response to the2011 London riots. Johnson championed London's financial sector and denounced what he saw as \"banker bashing\" following thefinancial crisis of 2007–08,condemning theanti-capitalistOccupy Londonmovement that appeared in 2011.He collected donations from the city's wealthy for a charitable enterprise, the Mayor's Fund, which he had established to aid disadvantaged youths. It initially announced the fund would raise £100 million, but by 2010 it had only earnt £1.5 million.He also maintained extensive personal contacts throughout the British media,which resulted in widespread favourable press coverage of his administration.In turn he remained largely supportive of his friends in the media, includingRupert Murdoch, during theNews International phone hacking scandal. The formation of the Forensic Audit Panel was announced on 8 May 2008. The panel was tasked with monitoring and investigating financial management at theLondon Development Agencyand theGreater London Authority.Johnson's announcement was criticised by Labour for the perceived politicisation of this nominally independent panel.The head of the panel,Patience Wheatcroft, was married to a Conservative councillorand three of the four remaining panel members also had close links to the Conservatives. Re-election campaign Up for re-election in 2012, Johnson again hired Crosby to orchestrate his campaign.Before the election, Johnson publishedJohnson's Life of London, a work of popular history that historianA. N. Wilsoncharacterised as a \"coded plea\" for votes.Polls suggested that while Livingstone's approach to transport was preferred, voters in London placed greater trust in Johnson on crime and the economy.Johnson's campaign emphasised the accusation that Livingstone was guilty oftax evasion, for which Livingstone called Johnson a \"bare-faced liar\".Political scientist Andrew Crines believed that Livingstone's campaign focused on criticising Johnson rather than presenting an alternate and progressive vision of London's future.Johnson wasre-elected. Second term: 2012–2016 After a successful bid under Livingstone in 2005, London hosted the2012 Summer Olympics, with Johnson as board co-chair.He improved transportation around London by making more tickets available and adding buses around the capital when thousands of spectators were temporary visitors.Johnson was accused of covering up pollution ahead of the games by deploying dust suppressants to remove air particulates near monitoring stations.In November 2013, Johnson announced major changes to the operation of theLondon Underground, including the extension of operating hours. All staffed ticket offices were replaced with automated ticketing systems. Johnson was close friends with American entrepreneurand modelJennifer Arcuri, withThe Sunday Timesdescribing him as a regular visitor to her flat,and implying they were in a sexual relationship.Arcuri and her company, Innotech, were awarded substantial government grants, and Johnson intervened to allow her onto three trade mission trips.The Sunday Timessaid in September 2019 that Johnson failed to declare his personal relationship as a conflict of interest.The Greater London Authority referred the matter to theIndependent Office for Police Conduct(IOPC) \"so it can assess whether or not it is necessary to investigate the former mayor of London for the criminal offence of misconduct in public office\", for the Mayor is also London'spolice and crime commissioner.On 9 November 2019 it was revealed that the IOPC had decided to publish its report after the general election on 12 December.The IOPC eventually issued its report in May 2020, concluding that, although there was no basis for any criminal charge, there was evidence that the close relationship between Johnson and Arcuri had influenced decisions, that Johnson should have declared an interest, and that his failure to do this could have breached the London Assembly's code of conduct. In 2015, Johnson criticised then-presidential candidateDonald Trump's false comments that there wereno-go zones in Londoninaccessible for non-Muslims. Johnson said Trump was \"betraying a quite stupefying ignorance that makes him frankly unfit to hold the office of President of the United States\",becoming the first senior politician in the UK to declare Trump unfit for office, but rejecting calls for him to be banned from the country.In 2016, he said he was \"genuinely worried that could become president\", telling ITV'sTom Bradbythat being mistaken for Trump in New York was \"one of the worst moments\" of his life. Johnson did not run for a third mayoral and stepped down on 5 May 2016 followingthe election. AYouGovpoll commissioned at the end of Johnson's term revealed that 52% of Londoners believed he did a \"good job\" while 29% believed he did a \"bad job\". Return to Parliament Johnson initially said that he would not return to the House of Commons while mayor.After much media speculation, in August 2014 he sought selection as the Conservative candidate for thesafe seatofUxbridge and South Ruislipat the2015 general election.In the2015 general election, Johnson was elected. There was speculation that he had returned to Parliament because he wanted to replace Cameron as Conservative leader and prime minister. Brexit campaign: 2015–2016 In February 2016, Johnson endorsedVote Leavein the \"Out\" campaign for the2016 European Union membership referendum.Following this announcement, which was interpreted by financial markets as making Brexit more probable, thepound sterlingslumped by nearly 2% against the US dollar, reaching its lowest level since March 2009. In April 2016, in response to a comment by PresidentBarack Obamathat Britain should remain in the European Union, Johnson wrote an \"ancestral dislike\" of Britain owing to his \"part-Kenyan\" background may have shaped Obama's views.Several politicians condemned his comments as racist and unacceptable.Conversely, former Conservative Party leaderIain Duncan SmithandUK Independence Party(UKIP) leaderNigel Faragedefended them. Johnson supported Vote Leave's statement that the government was committed toTurkish accession to the EU. Vote Leave was accused of implying that 80 million Turks would come to the UK if it stayed in the EU. When interviewed in January 2019, he said he had not mentioned Turkey during the campaign.On 22 June 2016, Johnson declared 23 June could be \"Britain's independence day\" in a televised debate. Following the victory of the \"Leave\" campaign, Cameron resigned. Johnson was widely regarded as the front-runner to succeed him.Johnson announced he would not stand in theConservative leadership election.Shortly before this, Michael Gove, hitherto a Johnson ally, concluded that Johnson \"cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead\".The Daily Telegraphcalled Gove's comments \"the most spectacular political assassination in a generation\".Johnson endorsedAndrea Leadsom's candidature, but she dropped out, leaving Theresa May to be elected uncontested. Foreign Secretary: 2016–2018 May appointed Johnsonforeign secretaryin July 2016.Analysts saw the appointment as a tactic to weaken Johnson politically: the new positions of \"Brexit secretary\" andinternational trade secretaryleft the foreign secretary as a figurehead.Johnson's appointment ensured he would often be out of the country and unable to mobilise backbenchers against her, while forcing him to take responsibility for problems caused by withdrawing from the EU. Some journalists and foreign politicians criticised Johnson's appointment because of his controversial statements about other countries.His tenure attracted criticism from diplomats and foreign policy experts.A number of diplomats, FCO staff and foreign ministers who worked with Johnson compared his leadership unfavourably to previous foreign secretaries for his perceived lack of conviction or substantive positions on foreign policy issues.A senior official in Obama's government suggested Johnson's appointment would push the US further towardsGermanyat the expense of theSpecial Relationshipwith the UK.On one occasion Egyptian presidentAbdel Fattah el-Sisiwalked out of a meeting with Johnson after a meeting did not \"get beyond the pleasantries\". Johnson's visit to Turkey in September 2016 was somewhat tense because he had wonDouglas Murray's offensive poetry competition about the President of Turkey,Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, four months earlier.When questioned by a journalist whether he would apologise for the poem, Johnson dismissed the matter as \"trivia\".Johnson pledged to helpTurkey join the EUand expressed support for Erdogan's government.Johnson described theGülen movementas a \"cult\" and supportedTurkey's post-coup purges. Johnson supported theSaudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemenand refused to block UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia.In September 2016, human rights groups accused him of blocking the UN inquiry into Saudi war crimes in Yemen.Given the UK-Saudi alliance, in December 2016, he attracted attention for commenting the Saudis were akin to the Iranians in \"puppeteering and playingproxy wars\".In November 2017, Johnson told theForeign Affairs Select CommitteethatNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe– a British-Iranian citizen imprisoned in Iran after being arrested for training citizen journalists and bloggers in aBBC World Service Trustproject – had been \"simply teaching people journalism\". Facing criticism, Johnson stated he had been misquoted and that nothing he said had justified Zaghari-Ratcliffe's sentence.In May 2018, Johnson backedtheIran nuclear deal framework, despite Donald Trump's withdrawal. In April 2017, Johnson said thatGibraltar's sovereigntywas \"not going to change\" after Brexit.Johnson promised while inNorthern Irelandthat Brexit would leave the Irish border \"absolutely unchanged\".Johnson visitedAnguillaandTortolain September 2017 to confirm the UK's commitment to helping restoreBritish territoriesdevastated byHurricane Irma.In September 2017, he was criticised for reciting lines fromRudyard Kipling's poemMandalaywhile visiting aMyanmartemple; the British ambassador, who was with him, suggested it was \"not appropriate\".In October 2017, he faced criticism for stating the Libyan city ofSirtecould become an economic success likeDubai: \"all they have to do is clear the dead bodies away\". Initially favouring a less hostile approach to Russia,Johnson soon backed a more aggressive policy.Following the March 2018poisoning of Sergei and Yulia SkripalinSalisbury, an act which the UK government blamed on Russia,Johnson comparedVladimir Putin's hosting of theWorld Cup in RussiatoAdolf Hitler's hosting of theOlympic Games in Berlinin 1936.Russia's Foreign Ministry denounced Johnson's \"unacceptable and unworthy\" parallel towards Russia, a \"nation thatlost millions of livesin fighting Nazism\".Johnson described theNord Stream 2gas pipeline from Russia to Germany as \"divisive\" and a \"threat\" that left Europe dependent on a \"malign Russia\" for itsenergy supplies. Johnson condemned thepersecutionofRohingya Muslimsin Myanmar,comparing the situation with thedisplacement of Palestiniansin 1948.Johnson supported theTurkish invasion of northern Syriaaimed at ousting theSyrian KurdsfromAfrin.He accused theUNHRCof focusing disproportionately on theIsraeli–Palestinian conflictand Israel'soccupationof thePalestinian territories. In a September 2017 op-ed, Johnson reiterated the UK would regain control of £350m a week after Brexit, suggesting it go to theNational Health Service(NHS).Cabinet colleagues subsequently criticised him for reviving the assertion.Following the2017 general election, Johnson denied media reports he intended to challenge May's leadership.In a February 2018 letter to May, Johnson suggested that Northern Ireland may have to accept border controls after Brexit and that it would not seriously affect trade, having initially said a hard border would be unthinkable.In June, he was reported as having said \"fuck business\" when asked about corporate concerns regarding a 'hard' Brexit. Secret recordings obtained byBuzzFeed Newsin June 2018 revealed Johnson's dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Theresa May's negotiating style, accusing her of being too collaborative with the European Union in Brexit negotiations. Comparing May's approach to that of the US president Donald Trump – who at the time was engaged in a combative trade war with the EU because it raised tariffs on metal – Johnson said: \"Imagine Trump doing Brexit. He'd go in bloody hard ... There'd be all sorts of breakdowns, all sorts of chaos. Everyone would think he'd gone mad. But actually you might get somewhere.\" He accused individuals of scaremongering over a Brexit \"meltdown\", saying \"No panic.Pro bono publico, no bloody panic. It's going to be all right in the end.\" In April 2018, Johnson travelled to Italy to attend a party at thePalazzo Terranova, owned by the formerKGBagentAlexander Lebedevand hosted by his sonEvgeny. He travelled without security protection or other officials,and did not document the trip, which led to accusations of Johnson having misled parliament.In June 2023, it was revealed that Lord Simon McDonald, the most senior civil servant of his department, was not aware of the trip. Johnson stated that \"no government business was discussed\" at the event as far as he was aware.Lebedev's villa was monitored by the Italian secret service at the time, who, according to aChannel 4documentary, suspected it to be used for espionage activities.Johnson granted a peerage toEvgenyin 2020, against the advice of theMI6, and met with criticism over potential security concerns. In July 2018, three days after thecabinethad its meeting to agree on aBrexit strategy,Johnson, along with Brexit secretaryDavid Davis,resigned his post. Return to the backbenches: 2018–2019 Johnson returned to the role of abackbench MP. In July, he delivered a resignation speech, stating \"it is not too late to save Brexit\".In January 2019, Johnson came under criticism for remarks he had made during the 2016 Leave campaign regarding the prospect of Turkish accession to the European Union; he denied making such remarks.In March 2019, he was criticized for saying that expenditure on investigating historic allegations of child abuse was money \"spaffed up the wall\". Journalism In July 2018, Johnson signed a 12‑month contract to write articles for theTelegraph Media Group.TheAdvisory Committee on Business Appointments(ACOBA) reported that this was a breach of theMinisterial Code.Johnson was ordered to apologise for failing to declare £50,000 of earnings. TheParliamentary Commissioner for Standardsfound the errors were not inadvertent, and that Johnson had failed on nine occasions to make declarations within the rules. In September 2018, Johnson wrote: \"We have opened ourselves to perpetual political blackmail. We have wrapped a suicide vest around the British constitution – and handed the detonator toMichel Barnier.\" Senior Tories heavily criticised him, withAlan Duncanof the Foreign Office vowing to ensure the comments marked \"the political end of Boris Johnson\".In April 2019, theIndependent Press Standards Organisationruled that a claim in a 6 January 2019 article inThe Daily Telegraph, \"The British people won't be scared into backing a woeful Brexit deal nobody voted for\", authored by Johnson,that a no-dealBrexitwas \"by some margin preferred by the British public\" was false, and \"represented a failure to take care over the accuracy of the article in breach of Clause 1 (i)\" of its guidelines, and required that a correction be published. 2019 Conservative Party leadership election On 12 June 2019, Johnson launched his campaign for theConservative Party leadership election, saying, \"we must leave the EU on 31 October.\"On the campaign trail, Johnson warned of \"catastrophic consequences for voter trust in politics\" if the government pushed the EU for further delays. He advocated removing thebackstopfrom any Brexit deal. On 25 and 26 August, he announced plans to retain £7 or £9 billion of the £39 billion divorce payment the UK is due to transfer to the EU upon withdrawal.Johnson initially pledged to cut income tax for earners of more than £50,000 but backed away from this plan in June 2019 after coming under criticism in a televisedBBCdebate. Johnson was elected leader with 92,153 votes (66%) to Hunt's 46,656 (34%). Premiership (2019–2022) First term (July–December 2019) On 24 July 2019, the day following Johnson's election as Conservative Party leader, QueenElizabeth IIacceptedTheresa May's resignation and appointed Johnson as prime minister. This made Johnson the first prime minister to be born outsideBritish territories.Johnson appointedDominic Cummingsas his senior advisor. Brexit policy In hisfirst speech as PM, Johnson said that the United Kingdom would leave the European Union on 31 October 2019 with orwithout a deal, and promised to remove theIrish backstopfrom the withdrawal agreement.Johnson declared his intention tore-open negotiations, but talks did not immediately resume as the EU refused to accept Johnson's condition that the backstop be removed.On 28 August 2019, UK and EU negotiators agreed to resume regular meetings. Also on 28 August 2019, Johnson declared he had asked the Queen toprorogue Parliamentfrom 10 September, reducing the time in which Parliament could block a no-deal Brexit and causing apolitical controversy.The Queen atPrivy Councilapproved prorogation later the same day, and it began on 10 September, scheduled to last until 14 October.Some suggestedthat this prorogation amounted to aself-coup, and on 31 August 2019, protests occurred throughout the United Kingdom.By 2 September 2019, three separate court cases challenging Johnson's action were in progress or scheduled to take place,and on 11 September, three Scottish judges ruled the prorogation of the UK Parliament to be unlawful.On 12 September, Johnson denied lying to the Queen over suspension of the Parliament, while a Belfast Court rejected claims that his Brexit plans would have a negative impact on Northern Ireland's peace policy.On 24 September, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Johnson's advice to prorogue Parliament was unlawful, and therefore the prorogation was rendered null. When Parliament resumed on 3 September 2019, Johnson indicated he would call a general election under theFixed-term Parliaments Actafter opposition and rebel Conservative MPs successfully voted against the government to take control of the order of business to prevent a no-deal exit.Despite government opposition, theBenn Act, a bill to block a no-deal exit, passed the Commons on 4 September 2019, causing Johnson to propose a general election on 15 October.His motion was unsuccessful as it failed to command the support of two-thirds of the House. In October 2019, following bilateral talks between Johnson andTaoiseachLeo Varadkar,the UK and EU agreed to arevised deal, whichreplaced the backstopwith a newNorthern Ireland Protocol. First Cabinet JohnsonappointedhisCabineton 24 July 2019,dismissing 11 senior ministers and accepting the resignation of six others.The mass dismissal was the most extensive postwar Cabinet reorganisation without a change in the ruling party. Among other appointments, Johnson madeDominic RaabtheFirst Secretary of Stateand foreign secretary and appointedSajid JavidandPriti Patelas theChancellor of the ExchequerandHome Secretary, respectively. Loss of working majority On 3 September 2019,Phillip Leecrossed the floorto theLiberal Democratsfollowing a disagreement with Johnson'sBrexitpolicy. This left the government without aworking majorityin the House of Commons.Later that day,21 Conservative MPshad the partywhipwithdrawn for defying party orders and supporting an opposition motion.(The whip was restored to 10 former Conservative ministers on 29 October.) On 5 September 2019, Johnson's brotherJo Johnsonresigned from the government and announced that he would step down as MP, describing his position as \"torn between family and national interest\".Two days later,Amber Ruddresigned asSecretary of State for Work and Pensionsand from the Conservative Party, describing the withdrawal of the party whip as an \"assault on decency and democracy\". 2019 general election In October 2019, Parliament was dissolved, and an election called for 12 December. The election resulted in the Conservative Party winning 43.6% of the vote and a parliamentary landslide majority of 80 seats.A key slogan used in the Conservative campaign was \"Get Brexit Done\". Second term (December 2019 – September 2022) Second Cabinet Johnsonreshuffled his cabinetin February 2020.Five Cabinet ministers were sacked, including theNorthern Ireland secretaryJulian Smith, a decision that was criticised by several politicians and commentators following his success in restoring theNorthern Ireland Executivedevolved government.Chancellor of the ExchequerSajid Javidresigned from the Cabinet and was replaced byRishi Sunak; Javid later returned to Johnson's Cabinet asSecretary of State for Health and Social Carein June 2021 following the resignation ofMatt Hancock. Johnson reshuffled his cabinet again in September 2021. Changes included the dismissal ofEducation SecretaryGavin Williamsonwho had received significant criticism for his handling of disruption to education during the COVID-19 pandemic.Dominic Raabwas moved from foreign secretary todeputy prime ministerandjustice secretary. Raab was replaced as foreign secretary byLiz Truss. COVID-19 pandemic TheCOVID-19 pandemicemerged as a serious crisis within the first few months of Johnson's second term.Johnson's non-attendance of fiveCOBRbriefings during the early months and the failure of the UK government to prepare for and control the outbreak has been criticised.The UK was among the last majorEuropean states to close schools, ban public events and order alockdown.This response is thought by some scientists to have contributed to the UK's high death toll from COVID-19, which as of January 2021was among the highest in the world. Reutersreported that scientists were critical of Johnson both for acting too slowly to stop the spread of COVID-19 and for mishandling the government's response;PoliticoquotedChief Medical OfficerChris Whittyas saying that an earlier initial lockdown would have significantly lowered the death toll.TheBMJpublished several editorials critical of the policies adopted during the country's public health response.Johnson's public communication over the virus and the UK's test and trace system were also criticised. On 3 March 2020, Johnson claimed to have shaken hands with COVID-19 patients in hospital on the same day thatSAGEhad advised the government to warn the public not to shake hands and minimise physical contact,though it was unclear whether the hospital he visited actually contained any coronavirus patients.He continued to shake hands publicly in the following days.On 23 March, aCOVID-19 lockdownwas imposed throughout the UK, except for a few limited purposes, backed up bynew legal powers. On 27 March, it was announced that Johnson had tested positive forCOVID-19.On 5 April, he was admitted to a hospital.The next day, he was moved to the hospital's intensive care unit.Johnson left intensive care on 9 April,and left hospital three days later to recuperate atChequers.After a fortnight at Chequers, he returned to Downing Street on 26 April.Johnson later said that he had been givenemergency oxygenwhile in intensive care, and that doctors had made preparations in case he died. Ascandalin May 2020 involved Johnson's chief political advisorDominic Cummings, who made a trip with his family toDurhamduring the March 2020 lockdown while experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. Both Cummings and Johnson rejected widespread calls that Cummings resign.Johnson's defence of Cummings and his refusal to sack him caused a widespread backlash.This resulted in a loss of confidence in the government and specifically its response to the pandemic, referred to as 'the Cummings effect' inThe Lancet. Concerns were raised in the study that this could affect the public's compliance with pandemic restrictions. The Johnson ministry wasaccused of cronyism in their assignment of contractsrelated to the pandemic response. Procurement of government contracts for key COVID-19 supplies became less transparent as a result of emergency measures bypassing the usual competitive tendering process.In October 2020, Johnson conceded that the UK'stest and tracesystem and its specially developedcontact tracing app, which had been criticised for their cost and operational issues, had caused \"frustrations\". Johnson reportedly resisted calls from SAGE and within the government to enact a second lockdown throughout September as COVID-19 infections rose.In April 2021, Johnson denied allegations he had said he would rather \"let the bodies pile high in their thousands\" on 30 October 2020.The government enacted a second national lockdown on 31 October.Throughout December 2020, COVID-19 cases across the UK rose significantly, straining emergency services and hospitals.In response, the government enacted further restrictions to large parts of southern and eastern England and on 21 December shortened a planned household mixing period over Christmas. Britain beganits COVID-19 vaccination programmein December 2020.Half of UK adults had received at least their first vaccine dose by 20 March 2021.A third lockdown for the whole of England was introduced on 6 January 2021.Record numbers of infections and daily deaths were recorded in the UK throughout January, and the government began exploring quarantine procedures on arrival.Johnson said he was \"deeply sorry\" and \"take full responsibility\" as the UK passed 100,000 deaths from COVID-19, the first European country to do so, on 26 January. In July 2021, Johnson announced that most generalised public health restrictions in England would be lifted and replaced by recommendations. This took place despite an increase in cases driven by theDelta variant.In September 2021, Johnson was pictured in a cabinet meeting, with \"at least 30 people crammed shoulder-to-shoulder\", without anyone wearing masks and with all windows apparently closed, contradicting government advice.Johnson was also photographed without a face mask during a visit to a hospital in November. In December 2021, more stringent \"Plan B\" restrictions for England were put forward, a partial renewal of previous measures due to the increased incidence of theSARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. These proposals included face coverings to be required in more public settings, guidance towork from homewherever possible, and requirements ofCOVID-19 passportsto enter certain venues.The government experienced the largest rebellion of Conservative MPs during Johnson's premiership, in opposition to these measures. Immigration In 2019, Johnson promised to reduce net migration to the United Kingdom (the number of people immigrating minus the number emigrating) below 250,000 per year by the next election.In 2021, net migration to the UK was 488,000,up from 184,000 in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.Most of the migrants came from non-EU countries. As a result of Brexit, more EU nationals left the UK than arrived. In 2021, Johnson's government launched ascheme for Hongkongersfollowing theHong Kong national security law, with more than 200,000 Hong Kong residents immigrating to the UK. Long-term net migration to the UK reached a record high of 764,000 in 2022,with immigration at 1.26 million and emigration at 493,000. Legislative agenda At theState Opening of Parliament on 11 May 2021, a range of proposed laws were announced, including theDissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill, which would restore theroyal prerogativeto dissolve Parliament; aHigher Education (Freedom of Speech) Billto combatdeplatformingat universities;anOnline Safety Billthat would impose a statutoryduty of careon online companies and empowerOfcomto block particular websites;and anAnimal Welfare (Sentience) Billthat would legally recognise animal sentience. Further laws would introducemandatory voter identificationat general elections, reform the national immigration system, and implement alevelling up policyto reduce imbalances between areas. 2021 Downing Street refurbishment controversy In April 2021, Cummings alleged that Johnson had arranged for donors to \"secretly pay\" for renovations on the private residence at 11 Downing Street.On 27 April Johnson asked the Cabinet Secretary,Simon Case, to hold a review about the refurbishment.On 28 April, theElectoral Commissionannounced it had opened a formal investigation.On the same day Johnson said that he had not broken any laws over the refurbishment and had met the requirements he was obliged to meet.DuringPrime Minister's Questions, the leader of the opposition,Keir Starmer, asked: \"Whoinitiallypaid for the redecoration of his Downing Street flat?\"; Johnson responded: \"I paid for Downing Street's refurbishment personally.\" On 28 MayLord Geidtpublished a report on the allegations which concluded that Johnson did not breach the Ministerial Code and that no conflict, or reasonably perceived conflict, of interest arose. However, Lord Geidt expressed that it was \"unwise\" for Johnson to have proceeded without \"more rigorous regard for how this would be funded\".The Electoral Commission reported on 9 December that it found that the Conservative Party had failed to follow the law in not accurately reporting donations to the party from Lord Brownlow and imposed a £17,800 fine on the party.The Heraldsaid the commission's report outlined how, in March, all the money paid by Brownlow and his company had been reimbursed, as had the payments made by the Conservative Party and Cabinet Office.Downing Street had said at the time that the full cost of the works had been met personally by the prime minister. Owen Paterson controversy In November 2021, Johnson backed a motion to block the suspension ofOwen Paterson, a Conservative MP found to have abused his position by theindependent standards commissionerafter undertaking paid lobbying.The motion called for the creation of a new Conservative-majority committee to examine reforms of the standards investigation process.Many Conservative MPs refused to support the motion, and 13 defied athree-line whipto vote against it.Following the announcement by opposition parties that they would boycott the new committee, and faced with a backlash in the media and from MPs of all parties, the government announced that a new vote would take place on whether Paterson should be suspended.Paterson announced his resignation as an MP the same day.Aby-electionin Paterson's former constituency ofNorth Shropshiresaw theLiberal Democratcandidate,Helen Morgan, overturn a Conservative majority of nearly 23,000,theseventh largest swing in United Kingdom by-election history. Partygate scandal In December 2021, reports emerged thatsocial gatherings of government and Conservative Party staffin Downing Street had taken place ahead of Christmas 2020 against COVID-19 regulations. Johnson denied these allegations.Following a leaked video showing Downing Street staff joking about a \"fictional party\", at a press conference rehearsal recorded days after one alleged party took place, Johnson apologised for the contents of the video and suggested he had been misled but had now ordered an inquiry. On 10 January 2022,ITV Newsreported that a planned party had taken place on 20 May 2020, during the first lockdown. ITV had obtained an email sent by principal private secretaryMartin Reynoldsto staff inviting them to \"socially distanced drinks\" in the garden of No. 10.At the time, people outdoors were not allowed to meet more than one person from outside their household.Two eyewitnesses later alleged that Johnson and Symonds attended, contradicting Johnson's insistence in December 2021 that there were \"no parties\". On 12 January 2022, Johnson apologised to MPs in the Commons for \"attending an event in the Downing Street garden during the first lockdown\",stating he believed it was \"a work event\".He said that MPs should await the outcome of the independent inquiry, led by senior civil servantSue Gray, which he said \"will report as soon as possible\".There were calls across the House for Johnson to resign. On 19 January,Bury SouthMPChristian Wakeforddefected from the Conservative Party to the Labour Party.Conservative former ministerDavid Daviscalled for Johnson to resign, quotingLeo Amerycalling onNeville Chamberlainto resign during theNorway Debatein 1940, and saying: \"You have sat there too long for all the good you have done. In the name of God, go.\" On 25 January, theMetropolitan Police's chief commander,Cressida Dick, announced that they were commencing investigations into the Downing Street Parties.An abbreviated version of theSue Gray reportinto the controversy was released on 31 January, where Gray concluded there was a \"failure of leadership\" over the events that she had examined. The release of the full report was delayed pending the Metropolitan Police's investigation. In April 2022, Johnson was issued afixed penalty noticeas police determined that he committed a criminal offence by breaching the COVID-19 lockdown regulations.Johnson therefore became the first prime minister in British history to have been sanctioned for breaking the law while in office. According to Downing Street insiders, Johnson was involved in instigating a party on the occasion ofLee Cainleaving Number 10. What had begun as press office drinks became a party after Johnson arrived, gave a speech and poured drinks for staff.Labour's deputy leader,Angela Raynersaid, \"If the latest reports are true, it would mean that not only did the prime minister attend parties, but he had a hand in instigating at least one of them. He has deliberately misled the British people at every turn. The prime minister has demeaned his office.\"On 21 April, MPs voted to refer Johnson to theParliamentary Privileges Committeeto investigate whether he knowingly misled Parliament.Steve Bakersaid Johnson's \"marvellous contrition... only lasted as long as it took to get out of the headmaster's study\". Following theMay 2022 local elections, many leading Conservatives in areas where the Conservatives had done badly blamed Johnson and calling on Johnson to resign.On 6 June,Graham Bradyannounced that the threshold for a vote on Johnson's leadership had been passed; the vote was scheduled for later that same day. On 3 March 2023, an interim report from theCommons Select Committee of Privilegessaid there was evidence that \"strongly suggests\" breaches of coronavirus regulations would have been \"obvious\" to Johnson.The report also said \"There is evidence that those who were advising Mr Johnson about what to say to the press and in the House were themselves struggling to contend that some gatherings were within the rules\".Johnson said none of the evidence showed he \"knowingly\" misled Parliament.The report stated that the Commons may have been misled on multiple occasions and Johnson \"did not correct the statements earliest opportunity\".The committee also stated that Johnson had \"personal knowledge\" over lockdown gatherings in No 10, which he could have disclosed. Starmer slur controversy While speaking in the House of Commons in January 2022, Johnson falsely blamed Starmer for the non-prosecution of the serial sex offenderJimmy Savilewhen Starmer wasDirector of Public Prosecutionsin theCrown Prosecution Service. Starmer was DPP in the years immediately prior to Savile's death but there is no evidence he was involved in the decision to not have him prosecuted.A few days later, Johnson defended his comments but conceded that Starmer \"had nothing to do personally with those decisions\" by the CPS not to investigate Savile. Vote of confidence In the week prior to and throughout thePlatinum Jubilee of Elizabeth IIin June 2022, it had been speculated that a vote of confidence in Johnson's leadership of the Conservative Party might soon occur.On 6 June 2022, the Conservative Party announced that Johnson would face a vote of confidence in his leadership of the party, after at least 54 Conservative MPs wrote no-confidence letters to SirGraham Brady, the chairman of the1922 Committee. Johnson won the vote, with 211 in favour and 148 against.The number of rebel MPs was larger than had been expected.The result was described by Keir Starmer as the \"beginning of the end\" for Johnson's premiership. June 2022 by-elections Following heavy Conservative defeats in the 23 June 2022 by-elections inWakefieldandTiverton and Honiton, former party leader Michael Howard called for Johnson to resign, saying: \" biggest asset has always been his ability to win votes but I'm afraid yesterday's results make it clear that he no longer has that ability.\" Oliver Dowden, the Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party, resigned saying: \"somebody must take responsibility\".Johnson announced that he had no intention of changing or resigning; senior Conservatives accused him of increasingly \"delusional\" behaviour.On 26 June 2022 Johnson said: \"At the moment I'm thinking actively about the third term and what could happen then, but I will review that when I get to it.\" He also claimed that he intended to stay as prime minister until the mid-2030s, although Number 10 later said that he had been joking. Pincher scandal Government Deputy Chief WhipChris Pincherresigned on 30 June 2022, saying he had \"drunk far too much\" the night before at theCarlton ClubinSt James's, London, and having \"embarrassed myself and other people\".It was later alleged that he sexually assaulted two men,and he was suspended as an MP.On 3 July 2022 six new allegations against Pincher emerged, involving behaviour over a decade. Johnson allegedly referred to Pincher as \"handsy\" and Cummings said Johnson joked about him being \"Pincher by name, pincher by nature\" in 2020, leading to calls for Johnson to explain how much he knew about Pincher's behaviour.Ministers initially said that Johnson was unaware of any specific complaints against Pincher when he was appointed as deputy chief whip. The BBC then reported, however, that an official complaint and subsequent investigation into Pincher, while he was at the Foreign Office (July 2019 to February 2020), had confirmed his misconduct, and that Johnson had been made aware at that time.SirSimon McDonald, formerPermanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, later said that the prime minister had been briefed \"in person\" about Pincher. Mass resignations On 5 July 2022, Sunak and Javid resigned within minutes of each other,followed over the next 24 hours by 11 other ministers, as well as Conservative MPs fromparliamentary private secretaryand other Government positions;otherbackbenchersalso withdrew their support for Johnson. Many of the MPs stated that the Pincher affair had led them to change their minds on the suitability of Johnson to be prime minister.It was reported on 6 July that Johnson could face another confidence vote, with members of the 1922 Committee considering changing the rules as soon as that evening to allow this to happen.By 6 July, there had been a total of 31 resignations.As of May 2022, the government comprised 122 ministers. Announcement of resignation By the morning of 7 July, the newly installedChancellor of the Exchequer,Nadhim Zahawi, publicly stated his belief that Johnson should resign. Within hours, the BBC and other media reported Johnson's intention to resign. Johnson announced his resignation at 12.30 pm. I know that there will be many who are relieved, but perhaps quite a few who will be disappointed. And I want you to know how sad I am to give up the best job in the world - but them's the breaks. Upon reports of his resignation, thepound sterlingtemporarily strengthened in value, and UK stocks rose.He remained as prime minister until September, while the Conservative Party chose a new leader.On 5 September 2022, it was announced thatLiz Trusshad won theConservative leadership election. She became prime minister the next day.During his farewell speech outside 10 Downing Street on 6 September 2022 Johnson referred to the Roman statesmanCincinnatus. Some commentators noted that, while, as Johnson said, Cincinnatus returned to his plough, he was also later recalled to power. Environmental policies In November 2020, Johnson announced a 10-point plan for a \"green industrial revolution\", to include ending the sale of petrol anddieselcars and vans by 2030,quadrupling the amount ofoffshore wind powercapacity within a decade, funding emissions-cutting proposals, and spurning a proposedgreen post-COVID-19 recovery.In 2021, the Johnson government announced plans to cutcarbon emissionsby 78% by 2035. Johnson announced that the UK would join the Global Methane Pledge to cutmethane emissionsby 30% by 2030 at theCOP26summit, which the UK hosted.Before the summit, representatives ofGreenpeaceandFriends of the Earthcriticised Johnson's comments on plans to introduce \"enforceable limits\" on carbon emissions for other countries, which they accused of being unsubstantive,and his government faced criticism from environmental groups for cutting taxes on domestic air travel, given theenvironmental impact of aviation. In April 2022, Johnson announced that eight morenuclear reactorswould be built on existingnuclear power plantsites and called for an expansion in wind energy.Under these plans, up to 95% of the UK's electricity could come fromlow-carbon powersources by 2030. Foreign policy Johnson supported theEuropean Union–Mercosur Free Trade Agreement,which would form one of the world's largest free trade areas.Johnson's government placed importance on the \"Special Relationship\" with theUnited States.In 2022, his government introduced anasylum dealwhereby people entering the UK illegally would be sent toRwanda. Hong Kong and China Johnson said in July 2019 that his government would be very \"pro-China\" in an interview with the Hong Kong broadcasterPhoenix TV. He voiced support for Chinese presidentXi Jinping's infrastructure investment effort, theBelt and Road Initiative, and promised to keep the United Kingdom \"the most open economy in Europe\" forChinese investment. In June 2020, Johnson announced that if China were to continue pursuing theHong Kong national security law, the UK would offer 350,000Hong Kong residentswho areBritish National (Overseas) passportholders, and 2.6 million other eligible individuals, the chance to move to the UK.China accused the UK of interfering in its internal affairs. Johnson declined to describe the Chinese government'streatment of the Uyghur peopleas \"genocide\", despite use of the term by the United States.Johnson's government argued that genocide should be decided by the International Criminal Court.Nevertheless, he called what is happening to theUyghursin Xinjiang as \"utterly abhorrent\". The UK joined theAUKUSdefence pact with the United States and Australia in September 2021. The pact was denounced by Chinaand caused a French backlash, as it usurped existingplans for Australia to procure French submarines. Afghanistan On 8 July 2021, the day after saying he was \"apprehensive\" about the future of Afghanistan following what was then theimpending withdrawal of US troops, while announcing the near completion of British troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, Johnson expressed the view that there was \"no military path to victory for theTaliban\".Following thefall of Kabul to the Taliban, he blamed the United States for the crisis,saying thatNATOalliance members \"could not continue this US-led mission, a mission conceived and executed in support of America, without American logistics, without US air power and without American might\". UK–EU trade negotiation Following the formalwithdrawal from the European Unionin January 2020, Johnson's government enteredtrade negotiations with the EU.Fisheries was a major topicof the negotiations.On 16 October 2020 Johnson said that the UK \"must get ready\" for no trade deal with the EU.It was announced on 24 December 2020that theEU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreementhad been reached; it came into force formally on 1 May. Afisheries dispute between the UK and Franceoccurred shortly afterwards. Introduction of new UK border checks were delayed until 2022 to minimise the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2022, Johnson readied a draft that would unilaterally change parts of theNorthern Ireland Protocol, citing issues with medical supplies and cuts in VAT. One of the thornier points of contention involves safety regulations for food and plants, where the British government is opposed to a closer alignment with existing EU regulations. The EU rebuffed the idea of changing the text of the treaty to accommodate the British. A unilateral override by the UK would be tantamount to a breach of the agreement. As Johnson sought a more conciliatory tone, sources within the government began to stress that the draft is designed to be an \"insurance policy\" and would take years to become law. Russia and Ukraine In November 2021, Johnson warned that the European Union faces \"a choice\" between \"sticking up for Ukraine\" and approving theNord Stream 2natural gas pipeline from Russia to Europe. During theprelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Johnson's government warned the Russian Government not to invadeDonbas.Johnson andVladimir Putinagreed in a phone call to work towards a \"peaceful resolution\".On 1 February 2022, Johnson arrived inKyivon a diplomatic visit.He called the presence of theRussian Armed Forcesnear theRussia–Ukraine border\"the biggest security crisis that Europe has faced for decades\".The Kremlin denied that it wanted to attack Ukraine.On 20 February 2022, Johnson warned that Russia is planning the \"biggest war in Europe since1945\" as Putin intends to invade and encircle Kyiv.On 21 February 2022, Johnson condemnedRussia's diplomatic recognitionof twoself-proclaimedrepublics in Donbas. On 24 February 2022, Johnson condemned theRussian invasion of Ukraine, and ensured the UK joined ininternational sanctionson Russian banks andoligarchs.He later announced the UK would phase outRussian oilby the end of 2022. On 9 April 2022, Johnson travelled to Kyiv and met thePresident of Ukraine,Volodymyr Zelenskyy.On 16 April 2022, Russia'sMinistry for Foreign Affairsbanned Johnson and a number of senior British politicians from visiting Russia, saying that Britain aimed to isolate Russia politically and supply \"the Kyiv regime with lethal weapons and coordinating similar efforts on the part of NATO\". Within Ukraine, Johnson is praised by many as a supporter of anti-Russian sanctions andmilitary aid for Ukraine.On 3 May, Johnsonvirtually addressedtheUkrainian Parliament, becoming the first world leader to speak in Ukraine since the invasion. He pledged an extra £300m in military aid to Ukraine, praised Ukraine's resistance to Russia as its \"finest hour\" and said that the West had been \"too slow to grasp what was actually happening\" prior to Russia's invasion.In July 2022, Johnson warned that it would be a mistake to cease fire andfreeze the conflict.In August 2022, Johnson blamed Vladimir Putin for the emergingglobal energy crisis. Post-premiership (2022–present) After stepping down, Johnson reverted to being a backbench MP.Following thedeath of Queen Elizabeth II, Johnson took part inCharles III'sAccession Council. AfterLiz Trussannounced her resignation as Conservative Party leader on 20 October 2022, Johnson received more than the 100 MPs' nominations required to stand in theleadership election,but soon announced that he would not stand. In May 2023, Johnson was referred to the police by the Cabinet Office regarding previously unknown potential breaches of COVID regulations between June 2020 and May 2021,to which Johnson's office issued a statement criticising the \"unfounded suggestions\" which \"has all the hallmarks of yet another politically motivated stitch-up\". On 9 June 2023, the publication of his2022 Prime Minister's Resignation Honoursled to a public feud with Sunak.Johnson supporterNadine Dorriesannounced that she was resigning as an MP due to not being included as a peer on the honours list.The same day, after receiving a confidential report from a committee of theHouse of Commonsthat was looking into whether he had lied to Parliament over lockdown-breaking parties, Johnson announced his resignation as MP.His resignation statement said he is \"not alone in thinking that there is a witch-hunt under way, to take revenge for Brexit and ultimately to reverse the 2016 referendum result\". On 15 June, the Commons Privileges Committee published their report, which concluded that Johnson lied to and deliberately misled the House of Commons over Partygate, misled the Committee themselves during the hearing, and acted in contempt of the Committee itself through a \"campaign of abuse and intimidation\".The report noted that had Johnson still been an MP, the Committee would have recommended he be suspended from Parliament for 90 days.The contents of the report represented a recommendation to the House of Commons,which accepted the report by 354 votes to seven. On 16 June, Johnson was unveiled as a new columnist for theDaily Mail. The news websitePolitico Europereported that Johnson would be paid a \"very-high six-figure sum\".Johnson reportedly informed theAdvisory Committee on Business Appointmentshalf an hour before the columnist assignment was publicly announced. The committee ruled that Johnson committed a \"clear breach\" of the rules since he had not sought its advice on the matter within an appropriate timeframe. In October 2023, Johnson announced he would join the television channelGB Newsas a commentator and programme maker for thenext general electionandUS presidential election. Johnson condemnedHamas' attackon Israel, saying \"there can be no moral equivalence between the terrorism of Hamas and the actions of the Israeli Defense Forces\". He rejected calls for a ceasefire in theGaza Stripduring theIsrael–Hamas war, and criticisedpro-Palestinian protests in the UK.On 5 November 2023, Johnson visited Israel to express solidarity. In February 2024, Johnson had a private meeting with the president of Venezuela,Nicolás Maduro.In March 2024,The Timesreported that Johnson is expected to campaign for the Conservatives in the next General Election. On 2 May 2024 Johnson was turned away from his polling station for theThames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner, after forgetting to bringvalid photographic identification, a requirement of theElections Act, which Johnson introduced while in office. When he arrived he had nothing to prove his identity except the sleeve of his copy ofProspectmagazine, on which his name and address had been printed. He said that when he returned a few minutes later, with hisdriving licence, he was then able to vote.During the2024 general election, Johnson campaigned for the Conservatives, who lost the election in a landslide to Labour. Johnson's memoirsUnleashedare scheduled to be released in October 2024. Political positions and ideology free-market, tolerant, broadly libertarian (though perhaps not ultra-libertarian), inclined to see the merit of traditions, anti-regulation, pro-immigrant, pro-standing on your own two feet, pro-alcohol, pro-hunting, pro-motorist and ready to defend to the death the right ofGlenn Hoddle to believe in reincarnation. — Boris Johnson, 2011 Ideologically, Johnson has been described as a \"One-Nation Tory\".Political scientists have described Johnson's political positions as ambiguous and contradictory, encompassingnativist, authoritarian andfree markettendencies on the one hand, and one-nationliberal conservatismon the other.Some scholars have questioned Johnson's commitment to one-nation conservativism, instead characterising his ideology as flexible and populist.Purnell stated that Johnson regularly changed his opinion on political issues, commenting on what she perceived to be \"an ideological emptiness beneath the staunch Tory exterior\". During his tenure as mayor, Johnson gained a reputation as \"a liberal, centre-ground politician\", according toBusiness Insider.In 2012, the political scientistTony Traversdescribed Johnson as \"a fairly classic—that is, small-state—mildlyeuroscepticConservative\" who also embraced \"modern social liberalism\".The Guardianstated that while mayor, Johnson blended economic and social liberalism,withThe Economistsaying that in doing so Johnson \"transcends his Tory identity\" and adopts a more libertarian perspective.According to political scientist Richard Hayton, Johnson's premiership was about Brexit, which served as a \"national cause\". Johnson evoked the discourse ofpopular sovereigntyandanti-establishmentpopulism to portray Parliament as seeking to \"sabotage\" Brexit, and in doing so, presented himself \"as the true representative of 'the people'\". Scholars ofcomparative politicshave drawn comparisons between Johnson and other populist leaders such as Donald Trump andViktor Orban.Some commentators have likened Johnson's political style toTrumpism,although others have argued that Johnson's stance on matters such as social policy, immigration and free trade is liberal.Johnson biographer Gimson wrote that Johnson is economically and socially \"a genuine liberal\", although he retains a \"Tory element\" through his \"love of existing institutions, and a recognition of the inevitability of hierarchy\".In 2019, reacting to reports inThe Sun, that Johnson had told cabinet colleagues he was \"basically a Brexity Hezza\", former deputy leader of the Conservative PartyMichael Heseltinewrote: \"I fear that any traces of liberal conservatism that still exist within the prime minister have long since been captured by the rightwing, foreigner-bashing, inward-looking view of the world that has come to characterise his fellow Brexiters.\" Environment Johnson expressedclimate scepticalviews in several columns,conflating the distinction between weather and climate and highlighting a factually incorrect claim by weather forecaster and conspiracy theoristPiers Corbynthat reduced solar activity could lead to a \"mini-Ice Age\". Bloomberg Newssuggested that Johnson's interest in climate change increased after becoming prime minister, and suggested this could have been influenced by his wifeCarrie Symondsand fatherStanley Johnson, who are both environmental campaigners. In 2019 and 2020, Johnson expressed support for the UK to have\"net-zero\" greenhouse gas emissionsby 2050and spoke about increasing ambition for mitigating climate change throughcarbon capture and storageand arenewable energy transition.During the2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Johnson called for greater efforts towardsclimate change mitigation,and welcomed the prospect ofcoal phase-out. It was reported in 2022 that Johnson was convinced of thescientific consensus on climate changefollowing a briefing by the chief scientist of theMet Officein January 2020, and subsequently made the issue a priority for his government. According toTheyWorkForYouas of 2022, Johnson has \"generally voted against\" what it described as \"key measures to preventclimate change\"while an MP,and other sources confirm this. Immigration and the European Union Purnell believed it was the influence of Johnson's maternal family that led to him developing \"a genuine abhorrence of racial discrimination\".In 2003, Johnson said, \"I am not by any means an ultra-Eurosceptic. In some ways, I am a bit of a fan of theEuropean Union. If we did not have one, we would invent something like it.\"As mayor, Johnson was known as a supporter ofimmigration.From 2009, he advocated a referendum on Britain's EU membership. In 2018, during Brexit negotiations, Johnson called for Britain to leave theSingle Marketand advocated a more liberal approach to immigration than that of Prime Minister May.He stated many people believed thatBritain's EU membershiphad led to the suppression of British wages and said the EU was intent on creating a \"superstate\" that would seek to rob Britain of its sovereignty.In 2019, Johnson said he would take Britain out of the EU on 31 October whether there was a trade deal in place or not.Johnson also stated his opposition to areferendum on the Brexit withdrawal agreement. On 19 August 2019, Johnson wrote a letter to the EU asking for the removal of the \"backstop\" accord. The president of the European Council,Donald Tusk, rejected the proposal.On 26 August 2019, Johnson said that Britain would not pay £39 billion for the withdrawal agreement were the UK to leave without a deal. The European Parliament Brexit coordinatorGuy Verhofstadtsaid there would be no further negotiation unless the UK agreed to pay the entire sum. Unionism and devolution Johnson described himself as a \"fervent and passionateunionist\".He proposed building anIrish Sea Bridge, but he later scrapped this initiative. The devolved administrations have criticised theInternal Market Billfor its re-centralisation of control over commerce. Public image Johnson has said that \"humour is a utensil that you can use to sugar the pill and to get important points across\".He is said to have a genuine desire to be liked.Johnson has been described as having a light-hearted and charming persona;many biographers and commentators suggest he has put significant effort into developing this version of himself.He has also been described as heavily focused on his own interests,with an often vitriolic or irresponsible way of conducting himself in private. Johnson has been described as a divisive, controversial figure in British politics.Supporters have praised him as witty and entertaining.Johnson has been accused of lying or making misleading statements throughout his career,and has been compared to former US presidentDonald Trump.He has been considered a figure with broad appeal outside of the usual Conservative support base.Johnson's premiership has been described by historians as the most controversial and scandal-affected since that ofDavid Lloyd Georgeabout a century earlier. Personal life Since Johnson was born in New York City to British parents, he heldBritish-Americandual citizenship. In 2015, he agreed to paycapital gains taxto theUS tax authoritieson a property that he inherited in the UK.He renounced his US citizenship the following year.Johnson has knowledge of French, Italian, German, Spanish,LatinandAncient Greek,frequently makingclassicalallusions in his newspaper columns and his speeches. Sonia Purnellwrote in 2011 that Johnson was a \"highly evasive figure\" when it came to his personal life,who remained detached from others and who had few intimate friends.Among friends and family, Johnson is more commonly known as Al (short for his forename Alexander), rather than Boris. In 2007, Johnson said he had smokedcannabisbefore he went to university.He has also said he had usedcocaine.Johnson partakes in cycling, tennis andpilates, and returned to road running in 2023.He was consideredobesein 2018 andoverweightin 2020, and has spoken of making efforts to lose weight. Johnson previously owned a £1.3 million buy-to-let townhouse inCamberwell, South London. According toHM Land Registrydocuments, he bought the four-bedroom property with his then-girlfriendCarrie Symondsin July 2019. The register of MPs' interests states that Johnson had a rental income of at least £10,000 a year.In 2023, Johnson and Symonds boughtBrightwell Manor, a £3.8 million moated mansion inBrightwell-cum-Sotwell, Oxfordshire. Religion Johnson was baptisedCatholicand laterconfirmedin theChurch of England,but has said that his faith \"comes and goes\"and that he is not a serious practising Christian.In 2020, his son Wilfred was baptised Catholic.Johnson and Symonds married in a Catholic ceremony atWestminster Cathedralon 29 May 2021.Since he was baptised Catholic, but his previous weddings were not conferred by the Catholic Church, the Catholic Church considered them putatively invalid. Johnson holds ancient Greek statesmanPericlesas a personal hero.According to Johnson's biographer, Andrew Gimson, regarding ancient Greek andRoman polytheism: \"it is clear that is inspired by the Romans, and even more by the Greeks, and repelled by theearly Christians\".Johnson viewssecular humanismpositively and sees it as owing more to theclassical worldthan to Christian thinking.However, in 2021, Johnson was asked if he held pre-Christian beliefs, which he denied, saying, \"Christianity is a superb ethical system and I would count myself as a kind of very, very bad Christian... Christianity makes a lot of sense to me.\" Relationships In 1987, Johnson marriedAllegra Mostyn-Owen, daughter of the art historianWilliam Mostyn-Owenand Italian writerGaia Servadio.The couple's marriage ended in divorce orannulmentin 1993and 12 days later Johnson marriedMarina Wheeler, a barrister, daughter of journalistCharles Wheeler.Five weeks later, their first child was born.They have four children:Lara Lettice, Milo Arthur, Cassia Peaches and Theodore Apollo. Between 2000 and 2004, Johnson had an affair withSpectatorcolumnistPetronella Wyattwhen he was its editor, resulting in a terminated pregnancy and amiscarriage.In April 2006, theNews of the Worldalleged that Johnson was having an affair withGuardianjournalist Anna Fazackerley. The pair did not comment; shortly afterward, Johnson employed Fazackerley. In 2009, Johnson fathered a daughter with Helen Macintyre, an arts consultant.In September 2021, Johnson stated that he had six children, thereby denying the existence of further illegitimate children. In September 2018, Johnson and Wheeler issued a statement confirming that they had separated months earlier;they divorced in 2020. Jennifer Arcurisaid that she had an affair with Johnson from 2012 to 2016. In 2019, Johnson was living withCarrie Symonds, the daughter ofMatthew Symonds, co-founder ofThe Independentnewspaper.Johnson and Symonds became engaged in late 2019and their son, Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson,was born in April 2020. On 29 May 2021, Johnson married Symonds atWestminster Cathedral.Their daughter, Romy Iris Charlotte Johnson,was born in December 2021.Their third child, a son named Frank Alfred Odysseus Johnson, was born in July 2023. Family and ancestors Johnson is the eldest of the four children ofStanley Johnson, a formerConservativemember of the European Parliament, and the painterCharlotte Johnson Wahl(née Fawcett),the daughter of SirJames Fawcett, president of theEuropean Commission of Human Rights.His younger siblings areRachel Johnson, a writer and journalist, Leo Johnson, a broadcaster,andJo Johnson, ex-minister of state and former Conservative MP forOrpington, who resigned from his brother's government in September 2019and is now a member of theHouse of Lords. Johnson's stepmother, Jenny, the second wife of his father Stanley, is the stepdaughter ofTeddy Sieff, the former chairman ofMarks & Spencer.Having been a member of the Conservatives between 2008 and 2011, Rachel Johnson joined the Liberal Democrats in 2017.She stood as a candidate forChange UKin the2019 European Elections.Johnson also has two half-siblings,Juliaand Maximilian, through his father's later marriage to Jennifer Kidd. Johnson's paternal grandfather, Wilfred Johnson, was an RAF pilot inCoastal Commandduring the Second World War.Wilfred Johnson's father was theOttomanInterior Ministerand journalistAli Kemal. Ali Kemal's father was aTurkwhile his mother was aCircassianreputedly ofslaveorigin.His other paternal ancestry includes English, German and French; one of his German ancestors was said to be theillegitimatedaughter ofPrince Paul of Württembergand thus a descendant ofGeorge II of Great Britain,which was later confirmed on an episode ofWho Do You Think You Are? Johnson's mother is the granddaughter ofElias Avery Lowe, apalaeographerand aRussian Jewishimmigrant to the US,andPennsylvania-bornHelen Tracy Lowe-Porter, a translator ofThomas Mann.Referring to his varied ancestry, Johnson has described himself as a \"one-man melting pot\".Johnson was given the middle name \"Boris\" after a White Russian émigré named Boris Litwin, who was a friend of his parents. Honours Works Notes References Footnotes Sources Further reading External links","Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn(/ˈkɔːrbɪn/; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has beenMember of Parliament(MP) forIslington Northsince 1983. Anindependent, Corbyn was a member of theLabour Partyfrom 1965 until his expulsion in 2024, and is a member of theSocialist Campaign Groupparliamentarycaucus. He served asLeader of the OppositionandLeader of the Labour Partyfrom 2015 to 2020. Corbyn identifies ideologically as asocialiston thepolitical left. Born inChippenham,Wiltshire, Corbyn joined the Labour Party as a teenager. Moving to London, he became atrade unionrepresentative. In 1974, he was elected toHaringey Counciland became Secretary ofHornseyConstituency Labour Partyuntil elected as the MP for Islington North in 1983. His activism has includedAnti-Fascist Action, theAnti-Apartheid Movement, theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and advocating for aunited IrelandandPalestinian statehood. As abackbencher, Corbyn routinely voted against the Labourwhip, includingNew Labourgovernments. A vocal opponent of theIraq War, he chaired theStop the War Coalitionfrom 2011 to 2015, and received theGandhi International Peace AwardandSeán MacBride Peace Prize. FollowingEd Miliband's resignation after the party had lost the2015 general election, Corbyn won the2015 party leadership electionto succeed him. The Labour Party's membership increased sharply, both during theleadership campaignand following his election. Taking the party to the left, Corbyn advocatedrenationalisingpublic utilities andrailways, aless interventionistmilitary policy, and reversals ofausterity cutsto welfare and public services. Although he had sometimes been critical of theEuropean Union(EU), he supported theRemain campaignin the2016 EU membership referendum. After Labour MPssought to remove him in 2016through a leadership challenge, he won asecond leadership contestagainstOwen Smith. Despitehostile treatment from the media, in the2017 general electionCorbyn led Labour to increase its vote share by 10 percentage points to 40 per cent, their largest rise since the1945 general election. During his tenure as leader, Corbyn was criticised for theantisemitism within the party. He condemnedantisemitismand apologised for its presence,while his leadership saw astrengthening of disciplinary proceduresregarding hate speech and racism.In 2019, afterdeadlock in Parliament over Brexit, Corbyn endorsed holding areferendum on the withdrawal agreement, with a personal stance of neutrality. In the2019 general election, Labour's vote share fell to 32 per cent, leading to a loss of 60 seats, leaving it with 202, its fewest since the1935 general election. Corbyn remained Labour leader for four months while theleadership electionto replace him took place. His resignation as Labour leader formally took effect in April 2020 following the election ofKeir Starmer, who led the party to victory atthe next general electionin 2024. After asserting that the scale of antisemitism had been overstated for political reasons, Corbyn was suspended from the party in 2020. In May 2024, after the2024 general electionhad been called, Corbyn was not allowed to stand as a Labour candidate for his constituency, and subsequently announced he wouldstand as an independent candidate for Islington North; he was then expelled from Labour.He won re-election with a majority of 7,247. Early life Jeremy Bernard Corbyn was born on 26 May 1949 inChippenham, Wiltshire,the son of mathematics teacher Naomi Loveday (née Josling; 1915–1987)and electrical engineer andpower rectifierexpert David Benjamin Corbyn (1915–1986).He has three elder brothers; one of them,Piers Corbyn(born 1947), is a weather forecaster who later became known as aclimate change denierandanti-vaccine conspiracy theorist.For the first seven years of his life, the family lived inKington St Michael, Wiltshire.His parents wereLabour Partymembersandpeace campaignerswho met in the 1930s at a committee meeting in support of theSpanish RepublicatConway Hallduring theSpanish Civil War. When Corbyn was seven, the family moved toPave Lane, Shropshire, where his father bought Yew Tree Manor, a 17th-century farmhousewhich was once part of theDuke of Sutherland'sLilleshallestate.Corbyn attendedCastle House School, an independentpreparatory schoolnearNewport, Shropshire, before becoming a day student at Newport'sAdams Grammar Schoolat the age of 11. While still at school, Corbyn became active in theLeague Against Cruel Sportsand theLabour Party Young SocialistswithinThe Wrekin.He joined the Labour Party at the age of 16.He achieved twoA-Levelsat grade E, the lowest possible passing grade, before leaving school at 18.Corbyn joined theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmamentin 1966 while at schooland later became one of its three vice-chairs and subsequently vice-president.Around this time, he also campaigned against theVietnam War. After school, Corbyn worked briefly as a reporter for the localNewport and Market Drayton Advertisernewspaper.Around the age of 19, he spent two years doingVoluntary Service Overseasin Jamaica as ayouth workerand geography teacher.He subsequently visited Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay throughout 1969 and 1970. While in Brazil, he participated in a student demonstration inSão Pauloagainst theBrazilian military government. He also attended aMay Daymarch inSantiago, where the atmosphere aroundSalvador Allende'sPopular Unityalliance which swept to power inthe Chilean elections of 1970made an impression on him: \" noticed something very different from anything I had experienced... what Popular Unity and Allende had done was weld together the folk tradition, the song tradition, the artistic tradition and the intellectual tradition\". Early career and political activities Returning to the UK in 1971, Corbyn worked as anofficialfor theNational Union of Tailors and Garment Workers.He began a course in Trade Union Studies atNorth London Polytechnicbut left after a year without a degree after a series of arguments with his tutors over the curriculum.He worked as a trade union organiser for theNational Union of Public Employees(NUPE) andAmalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union,where his union was approached byTony Bennand \"encouraged ... to produce a blueprint for workers' control ofBritish Leyland\"; the plans did not proceed after Benn was moved to a different Department. Corbyn was appointed amemberof adistrict health authorityand in early 1974, at the age of 24, he was elected toHaringey CouncilfromSouth Hornseyward.After boundary changes in 1978 he was re-elected inHarringayward ascouncillor, remaining so until 1983.As a delegate fromHornseyto theLabour Party Conferencein 1978, Corbyn successfully moved a motion calling for dentists to be employed by theNational Health Service(NHS) rather than as private contractors.He also spoke in another debate, describing a motion calling for greater support for law and order as \"more appropriate to theNational Frontthan to the Labour Party\". Corbyn became the local Labour Party's agent and organiser,and had responsibility for the1979 general election campaignin Hornsey. Around this time, he became involved with theLondon Labour Briefing, where he was a contributor. Described byThe Timesin 1981 as \"Briefing's founder\",The Economistin a 1982 article named Corbyn as \"Briefing's general secretary figure\",as did a profile on Corbyn compiled by parliamentary biographerAndrew Rothin 2004,which states that he joined the editorial board as General Secretary in 1979.Michael Crick, in the 2016 edition of his bookMilitant, says that Corbyn was \"a member of the editorial board\",as does Lansley, Goss andWolmar's 1989 workThe Rise and Fall of the Municipal Left.Corbyn said in 2017 that these reports were inaccurate, tellingSophy Ridge: \"I read the magazine. I wrote for the magazine. I was not a member of the editorial board. I didn't agree with it.\" He worked on Tony Benn'sunsuccessful deputy leadership campaign in 1981. Corbyn was keen to allow formerInternational Marxist GroupmemberTariq Alito join the party, despite Labour's National Executive having declared him unacceptable, and declared that \"so far as we are concerned ... he's a member of the party and he'll be issued with a card.\"In May 1982, when Corbyn was chairman of the Constituency Labour Party, Ali was given a party card signed by Corbyn;in November, the local party voted by 17 to 14 to insist on Ali's membership \"up to and including the point of disbandment of the party\". In the July 1982 edition ofBriefing, Corbyn opposed expulsions of theTrotskyistandentryistgroupMilitant, saying that \"If expulsions are in order for Militant, they should apply to us too.\" In the same year, he was the \"provisional convener\" of \"Defeat the Witch-Hunt Campaign\", based at Corbyn's then address.TheMetropolitan Police'sSpecial Branchmonitored Corbyn for two decades, until the early 2000s, as he was \"deemed to be a subversive\". According to the Labour Party, \"The Security Services kept files on many peace and Labour movement campaigners at the time, including anti-Apartheid activists and trade unionists\". Parliamentary backbencher (1983–2015) Labour in opposition (1982–1997) Corbyn was selected as theLabour Partycandidatefor theconstituencyofIslington North, in February 1982,winning the final ballot for selection by 39 votes against 35 for GLC councillorPaul Boateng, who in 1987 became one of the first three Black BritishMembers of Parliament(MP).At the1983 general electionhe was elected MP for the constituency,defeating theIndependent LabourincumbentMichael O'Halloran, and immediately joined the socialistCampaign Group, later becoming secretary of the group. Shortly after being elected to Parliament, he began writing a weekly column for the left-wingMorning Starnewspaper.In May 2015, he said that \"theStaris the most precious and only voice we have in the daily media\".In February 2017, theMorning Starsaid of Corbyn: \"He has been bullied, betrayed and ridiculed, and yet he carries on with the same grace and care he always shows to others – however objectionable their behaviour and treatment of him might be.\" In 1983, Corbyn spoke on a \"no socialism withoutgay liberation\" platform and continued to campaign forLGBT rights. He was a campaigner againstapartheidin South Africa, serving on the National Executive of theAnti-Apartheid Movement,and was arrested in 1984 while demonstrating outsideSouth Africa House, leading, decades later, to a viral image of Corbyn being arrested circulated by supporters on social media.This was as a member of the City of London Anti-Apartheid Group (CLAAG) who carried out a \"non-stop picket\" for 1,408 days to campaign forNelson Mandela's release from prison. The Anti-Apartheid Movement did not support this protest, as they had agreed not to demonstrate within 30 feet of the embassy, and the picket failed to gain support from the LondonANC; Mandela's failure to respond to CLAAG following his release from prison in 1990 is frequently described as a 'snub'. He supported the1984–85 miners' strike.In 1985, he invited striking miners into the gallery of the House of Commons; they were expelled for shouting: \"Coal not dole\".At the end of the strike Corbyn was given a medallion by the miners in recognition of his help. In 1985, he was appointed national secretary of the newly launchedAnti-Fascist Action. During the BBC'sNewsnightin 1984, Conservative MPTerry Dickssaid that so-called Labour \"scruffs\" (such as Corbyn, who at this time was known for wearing an old polo-necked sweater to the Commons) should be banned from addressing the House of Commons unless they maintained higher standards. Corbyn responded, saying that: \"It's not a fashion parade, it's not a gentleman's club, it's not a bankers' institute, it's a place where the people are represented.\" In 1990, Corbyn opposed thepoll tax(formally known as the Community Charge)and nearly went to jail for not paying the tax.He appeared in court the following year as a result. Corbyn supported the campaign to overturn the convictions of Jawad Botmeh and Samar Alami for the1994 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Londonwhich argued that there was insufficient evidence to tie them to the act, along withAmnesty International,Unisonand a number of journalists and other MPs. Botmeh and Alami had admitted possessing explosives and guns but denied they were for use in Britain. The convictions were upheld by theHigh Court of Justicein 2001 and by theEuropean Court of Human Rightsin 2007. Corbyn sat on theSocial Security Select Committeefrom 1992 to 1997. Irish politics A longstanding supporter of aunited Ireland, in the 1980s Corbyn metSinn FéinleaderGerry Adamsa number of times.Corbyn consistently stated that he maintained links with Sinn Fein in order to work for a resolution to the armed conflict.According toThe Sunday Times, Corbyn was involved in over 72 events connected with Sinn Féin or other pro-republican groups during the period of the IRA's paramilitary campaign. Corbyn met Adams at the 1983 and 1989 Labour conferences (facilitated by pro-IRARed Action)and in 1983 at Westminster, along with a number of other Labour MPs.In 1984, Corbyn and Ken Livingstone invited Adams, two convicted IRA volunteers and other members of Sinn Féin to Westminster.He was criticised by the Labour Party leadership for the meeting, which took place two weeks after the IRA'sbombingof the Conservative Party leadership that killed five people. During the 1980s he campaigned on behalf of theGuildford FourandBirmingham Six, who were wrongly convicted of responsibility for IRA bombings in England in the mid-1970s.In 1986, Corbyn was arrested with 15 demonstrators protesting against what they saw as weak evidence and poor treatment during the trial of a group of IRA members includingPatrick Magee, who was convicted of the Brighton hotel bombing and other attacks. After refusing police requests to move from outside the court, Corbyn and the other protesters were arrested for obstruction and held for five hours before being released on bail, but were not charged. In 1987, Corbyn attended a commemoration by theWolfe Tone Societyin London for eight IRA members who were killed bySpecial Air Servicesoldierswhile attackingaRoyal Ulster Constabularypolice station inLoughgall,County Armagh. At the commemoration, he told his fellow attendees that \"I'm happy to commemorate all those who died fighting for an independent Ireland\" and attacked the British government's policies in Northern Ireland, calling for all British troops to be withdrawn from the region.Corbyn subsequently said that he had attended the event, which included aminute of silencefor the eight IRA members, to \"call for a peace and dialogue process\". He voted against the 1985Anglo-Irish Agreement, saying \"We believe that the agreement strengthens rather than weakens the border between the six and the 26 counties, and those of us who wish to see a United Ireland oppose the agreement for that reason.\" In the early 1990s,MI5opened a file on Corbyn to monitor his links to the IRA. In 1994, Corbyn signed a Commons motion condemning the 1974Birmingham pub bombings, which killed 21 people. A short time after IRA plans to bomb London were foiled in 1996, Corbyn invited Adams to the House of Commons for a press conference to promote Adams' autobiography,Before the Dawn. Shadow Northern Ireland SecretaryMo Mowlamand Labour leaderTony Blaircondemned the invitation, with Mowlam arguing that it was detrimental to the peace process, and Blair threatening disciplinary action.Adams cancelled the event, to save further embarrassment to Corbyn and to avoid negative publicity. In 1998, he voted for theGood Friday Agreement, saying he looked forward to \"peace, hope and reconciliation in Ireland in the future.\" In 2017, Corbyn said that he had \"never met the IRA\", although Shadow Home SecretaryDiane Abbottlater clarified that although he had met members of the IRA, \"he met with them in their capacity as activists in Sinn Fein\". Labour in government (1997–2010) Between 1997 and 2010, during theNew Labourgovernments, Corbyn was the Labour MP who voted most often against the party whip, includingthree-line whipvotes. In 2005 he was identified as the second most rebellious Labour MP of all time during the New Labour governments.He was the most rebellious Labour MP in the 1997–2001 Parliament,the 2001–2005 Parliamentand the 2005–2010 Parliament, defying the whip 428 times while Labour was in power.Jacobindescribed him as \"a figure who for decades challenged them from the backbench as one of the most rebellious left-wing members of parliament\". Corbyn has called forTony Blairto be investigated for allegedwar crimes during the Iraq War.In July 2016, theChilcot Reportof theIraq Inquirywas issued, criticising Blair for joining the United States in the war against Iraq. Subsequently, Corbyn – who had voted against military action against Iraq – gave a speech in Westminster commenting: \"I now apologise sincerely on behalf of my party for the disastrous decision to go to war in Iraq in March 2003\" which he called an \"act of military aggression launched on a false pretext\" something that has \"long been regarded as illegal by the overwhelming weight of international opinion\".Corbyn specifically apologised to \"the people of Iraq\"; to the families of British soldiers who died in Iraq or returned injured; and to \"the millions of British citizens who feel our democracy was traduced and undermined by the way in which the decision to go to war was taken on.\" Corbyn sat on theLondon Regional Select Committeefrom 2009 to 2010. Stop the War Coalition and anti-war activism In October 2001, Corbyn was elected to the steering committee of theStop the War Coalition, which was formed to oppose theWar in Afghanistanwhich started later that year. In 2002, Corbyn reported unrest : \"there is disquiet...about issues of foreign policy\" among some members of the Labour party. He cited \"the deployment of troops to Afghanistan and the threat of bombing Iraq\" as examples.He was vehemently opposed to Britain's involvement in theIraq Warin 2003, and spoke at dozens of anti-war rallies in Britain and overseas. He spoke at theFebruary anti-Iraq War protestwhich was said to be the largest such protest in British political history.At the same time, he expressed support for the Iraqi insurgency and the Palestinian intifada when he signed the second Cairo Declaration in December 2003, which said \"The Iraqis themselves are now engaged in a titanic struggle to rid their country of occupying forces. The Palestinian intifada continues under the most difficult circumstances. The US administration threatens Iran and other countries on a daily basis. Now is the time to draw together the forces of resistance in the Arab world and from around the globe.\" In 2006, Corbyn was one of 12 Labour MPs to supportPlaid Cymruand theScottish National Party's call for aparliamentary inquiry into the Iraq War.He was elected chair of the coalition in succession toAndrew Murrayin September 2011, but resigned once he becameLeader of the Labour Partyin September 2015. Parliamentary groups and activism Corbyn is a member of a number of Parliamentary Trade Union Groups: he is sponsored by several trade unions, includingUNISON,Uniteand theNational Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers. He is a supporter of theUnite Against Fascismpressure group. Corbyn was chair of theAll-Party Parliamentary Group(APPG) on theChagos Islands, chair of the APPG on Mexico, Vice-Chair of the APPG on Latin America and vice-chair of the APPG on Human Rights. He has advocated for the rights of the forcibly removedChagossiansto return to theBritish Indian Ocean Territory. Corbyn appeared on a call-in show onPress TV, an Iranian government television channel, several times between 2009 and 2012. He was criticised for appearing on the channel in light of Iran executing and imprisoning homosexuals, as well as Corbyn not questioning contributors who called the BBC \"Zionist liars\" and described Israel as a \"disease\".Corbyn said in response that he used the programme to address \"human rights issues\" and that his appearance fee was \"not an enormous amount\" and was used to help meet constituency office costs.Corbyn's final appearance was six months after the network was fined byOfcomfor its part in filming an interview withMaziar Bahari, an Iranian journalist, saying the interview had been held under duress and after torture. Labour in opposition (2010–2015) In the2010 Labour Party leadership election, Corbyn supported Diane Abbott in the first round in which she was eliminated; thereafter, he supportedEd Miliband. Corbyn was one of 16 signatories to an open letter to Ed Miliband in January 2015 calling for Labour to make a commitment toopposing further austerity, to takerail franchisesback intopublic ownership, and to strengthencollective bargainingarrangements. Corbyn sat on theJustice Select Committeefrom 2010 to 2015.Before becoming party leader Corbyn had been returned as member of Parliament for Islington North seven times, gaining 60.24% of the vote and a majority of 21,194 in the2015 general election. Leadership elections Following the Labour Party's defeat at the general election on 7 May 2015,Ed Milibandresigned as its party leader, triggering aleadership election. Corbyn decided to stand as a candidate, having been disillusioned by the lack of a left-wing voice, and said to his local newspaper,TheIslington Tribune, that he would have a \"clear anti-austerity platform\". He also said he would vote to scrap the Trident nuclear weapons system and would \"seek to withdraw from Nato\". He suggested that Britain should establish a national investment bank to boost house-building and improve economic growth and lift wages in areas that had less investment in infrastructure. He would also aim to eliminate the current budget deficit over time and restore the 50p top rate of income tax.He added: \"This decision is in response to an overwhelming call by Labour Party members who want to see a broader range of candidates and a thorough debate about the future of the party. I am standing to give Labour Party members a voice in this debate\".He indicated that, if he were elected, policies that he put forward would need to be approved by party members before being adopted and that he wanted to \"implement the democratic will of our party\".The other candidates were Shadow Home SecretaryYvette Cooper, Shadow Health SecretaryAndy Burnhamand Shadow Care MinisterLiz Kendall.Several who nominated Corbyn later said they had ensured he had enough votes to stand, more to widen the political debate within the party than because of a desire or expectation that he would win. At the Second Reading of theWelfare Reform and Work Billin July 2015, Corbyn joined 47 Labour MPs to oppose the Bill, describing it as \"rotten and indefensible\", whilst the other three leadership candidates abstained under direction from interim leader Harriet Harman.In August 2015, he called onIain Duncan Smithto resign asSecretary of State for Work and Pensionsafter it was reported that thousands of disabled people had died after being found fit to work byWork Capability Assessments(instituted in 2008) between 2011 and 2014, although this was challenged by the government and by FullFact who said that the figure included those who had died and therefore their claim had ended, rather than being found fit for work. Corbyn rapidly became the frontrunner among the candidates and was perceived to benefit from a large influx of new members. Hundreds of supporters turned out to hear him speak at thehustingsacross the nation and their enthusiastic reception and support for him was dubbed \"Corbynmania\" by the press.Membership numbers continued to climb after the start of his leadership.In addition, following a rule change under Miliband, members of the public who supported Labour's aims and values could join the party as \"registered supporters\" for £3 and be entitled to vote in the election.There was speculation that the rule change would lead to Corbyn being elected by registered supporters without majority support from ordinary members.He was elected party leader in a landslide victory on 12 September 2015 with 59.5% of first-preference votes in the first round of voting.He would have won in the first round with 51% of votes, even without \"£3 registered supporters\", having gained the support of 49.6% of full members and 57.6% of affiliated supporters.His 40.5% majority was a larger proportional majority than that attained by Tony Blair in1994.His margin of victory was said to be \"the largest mandate ever won by a party leader\". An internal Labour Party report, entitledThe work of the Labour Party's Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism, 2014–2019, was leaked to the media in April 2020. The report stated that during the 2015 and 2016 leadership contests, staff members at Labour party headquarters looked for ways to exclude from voting members who they believed would vote for Corbyn. The staff members referred to this activity as \"trotbusting\", \"bashing trots\" and \"trot spotting\". Corbynmania Corbyn was initially viewed as atoken candidatefor the left wing of the party and not expected to win. However, many new, young party members, who had joined after the membership fee had been reduced to £3, were attracted by what they saw as Corbyn'sauthentic, informal style and radical policies.Hundreds of supporters turned out to hear him speak at thehustingsacross the nation and their enthusiastic reception and support for him was dubbed \"Corbynmania\" by the press. Jonathan Dean characterised Corbynmania as a politicalfandom, comparable with the enthusiastic followings of popular media stars and other modern politicians such asBernie SandersandJustin Trudeau. Specific features included use of the #jezwecanhashtag, attendance at rallies and the posting of pictures such asselfieson social media. Artistic, merchandising and other activity consolidated and spread this fannish enthusiasm. This included a \"Jeremy Corbyn for Prime Minister\" (JC4PM) tour by celebrities such asCharlotte Church,Jeremy HardyandMaxine Peake; a Corbyn superhero comic book; mash-ups and videos. Many of Corbyn's supporters felt he possessed personal qualities such as earnestness and modesty leading them to develop a sense of emotional attachment to him as individual. These were seen as cultish by critics such asMargaret Beckettwho said in 2016 that the Labour Party had been turned into the \"Jeremy Corbyn Fan Club\". Achantof \"Oh, Jeremy Corbyn\" was adopted as an anthem or chorus by his supporters. Sung in the style of afootball chantto the tune of arifffrom \"Seven Nation Army\" byThe White Stripes,it attracted special attention at theGlastonbury Festival 2017, where Corbyn appeared and spoke to the crowds.Labour's weaker-than-expected performance in the2018 local electionsled to suggestions that Corbynmania had peaked. Leadership of the Labour Party (2015–2020) First term as Leader of the Opposition (2015–2017) After being elected leader, Corbyn becameLeader of the Official Oppositionand shortly thereafter his appointment to thePrivy Councilwas announced.In Corbyn's firstPrime Minister's Questionssession as leader, he broke with the traditional format by asking the Prime Minister six questions he had received from members of the public, the result of his invitation to Labour Party members to send suggestions, for which he received around 40,000 emails.Corbyn stressed his desire to reduce the \"theatrical\" nature of the House of Commons, and his début was described in aGuardianeditorial as \"a good start\" and a \"long overdue\" change to the tone of PMQs.He delivered his first Labour Party Conference address as leader on 29 September 2015.Party membership nearly doubled between the May 2015 election and October 2015, attributed largely to the election as leader of Corbyn. In September 2015 an unnamed senior serving general in the British Army stated that a mutiny by the Army could occur if a future Corbyn government moved to scrap Trident, pull out of Nato or reduce the size of the armed forces. The general said \"the Army just wouldn't stand for it. The general staff would not allow a prime minister to jeopardise the security of this country and I think people would use whatever means possible, fair or foul to prevent that. You can't put a maverick in charge of a country's security\". In July 2016, a study and analysis by academics from theLondon School of Economicsof national newspaper articles about Corbyn in the first months of his leadership of Labour showed that 75% of them either distorted or failed to represent his actual views on subjects. 2017 general election The Labour campaign in the2017 general electionfocused on social issues such as health care, education and ending austerity.Corbyn's election campaign was run under the slogan \"For the Many, Not the Few\"and featured rallies with a large audience and connected with agrassrootsfollowing for the party, including appearing on stage in front of a crowd of 20,000 at the Wirral Live Festival inPrenton Park. Although Labour started the campaign as far as 20 points behind, and again finished as the second largest party in parliament, it increased its share of the popular vote to 40%, resulting in a net gain of 30 seats and a hung parliament. This was its greatest vote share since2001. It was the first time Labour had made a net gain of seats since 1997, and the party's 9.6% increase in vote share was its largest in a single general election since 1945.This was partly attributed to the popularity of its 2017 Manifesto that promised to scrap tuition fees, address public sector pay, make housing more affordable, end austerity, nationalise the railways and provide school students with free lunches. 2019 general election and resignation In May 2019,Theresa Mayannounced her resignation and stood down as prime minister in July, following the election of her replacement, formerForeign SecretaryBoris Johnson.Corbyn said that Labour was ready to fight an election against Johnson. The 2019 Labour Party Manifesto included policies to increase funding for health, negotiate a Brexit deal and hold a referendum giving a choice between the deal and remain, raise the minimum wage, stop the age pension age increase, nationalise key industries, and replaceuniversal credit.Due to the plans to nationalise the \"big six\" energy firms, the National Grid, the water industry, Royal Mail, the railways and the broadband arm of BT, the 2019 manifesto was widely considered as the most radical in several decades, more closely resembling Labour's politics of the 1970s than subsequent decades. During the campaign for the upcoming general elections, Corbyn was accused by theHindu Council UKof promotinganti-Hindu sentimentsfollowing his disparaging comments on thecaste system& his condemnation of theHindu-rightwingBharatiya Janata Partyled Indian government'srevocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.ManyHindus living in the UKsaw Corbyn's attitude towards Hindus to be heavily influenced byPakistaniMuslimleaders of his party,with whom he shared a common pro-Palestinian stance. The2019 general electionwas the worst defeat in seats for Labour since 1935, with Labour winning just 202 out of 650 seats, their fourth successive election defeat.At 32.2%, Labour's share of the vote was down around eight points on the 2017 general election and is lower than that achieved by Neil Kinnock in 1992, although it was higher than in 2010 and 2015. In the aftermath, opinions differed to why the Labour Party was defeated to the extent it was. The Shadow ChancellorJohn McDonnelllargely blamedBrexitand themedia representationof the party.Tony Blairargued that the party's unclear position on Brexit and the economic policy pursued by the Corbyn leadership were to blame. Following the Labour Party's unsuccessful performance in the 2019 general election, Corbynconceded defeatand stated that he intended to step down as leader following the election of a successor and that he would not lead the party into the next election.Corbyn himself was re-elected for Islington North with 64.3% of the vote share and a majority of 26,188 votes over the runner-up candidate representing the Liberal Democrats, with Labour's share of the vote falling by 8.7%.The Guardiandescribed the results as a \"realignment\" of UK politics as the Conservative landslide took many traditionally Labour seats in England and Wales.Corbyn insisted that he had \"pride in the manifesto\" that Labour put forward and blamed the defeat on Brexit.According to polling byLord Ashcroft, Corbyn was himself a major contribution to the party's defeat.Corbyn remained Labour leader for four months while theleadership electionto replace him took place. His resignation as Labour leader formally took effect in April 2020 following the election ofKeir Starmer. Post-leadership EHRC report and suspension Allegations of antisemitism within the party grew during Corbyn's leadership. Incidents involvingNaz Shahin 2014 andKen Livingstonein 2016 resulted in their suspension from party membership pending investigation. In response, Corbyn established theChakrabarti Inquiry, which concluded that while the party was not \"overrun by anti-Semitism or other forms of racism,\" there was an \"occasionally toxic atmosphere\" and \"clear evidence of ignorant attitudes.\" In 2017, Labour Party rules were amended to categorizehate speech, including antisemitism, as a disciplinary matter. In 2018, Corbyn faced scrutiny for his response in 2012 to an allegedly antisemitic mural and for his association with Facebook groups, mainly pro-Palestinian, containing antisemitic posts. Labour'sNational Executive Committee(NEC) adopted a definition of antisemitism, for disciplinary purposes, in July of that year, aligning with theInternational Holocaust Remembrance Alliance(IHRA)Working Definition, with modified examples related to criticism of Israel.In September 2018, the NEC incorporated all 11 IHRA examples, unamended, into the party's code of conduct.In May 2019, theEquality and Human Rights Commission(EHRC) launched an inquiry into whether Labour had \"unlawfully discriminated against, harassed or victimised people because they are Jewish.\" After asserting that the scale of antisemitism had been overstated for political reasons, Corbyn was suspended from the party in 2020. The Forde Report, written by lawyer Martin Forde in response to the dossier that was leaked in April 2020 (The work of the Labour Party's Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism, 2014–2019), was released on 19 July 2022, stating that: \"ather than confront the paramount need to deal with the profoundly serious issue of anti-Semitism in the party, both factions treated it as a factional weapon.\"It also described senior Labour staff as having displayed \"deplorably factional and insensitive, and at times discriminatory, attitudes\" towards Corbyn and his supporters,and detailed concerns by some staff about a \"hierarchy of racism\" in the party which ignored Black people.The report also expressed regret that Corbyn himself did not engage with the authors' request to interview him. Responding to this, Corbyn's former advisorAndrew Fisherwrote: \"Forde confirms that reflection is necessary. Cultural change requires painstaking work, not glib assertions of change.\"Corbyn himself stated that report \"calls into question the behaviour of senior officials in the party, in particular during the 2017 election\" and that \"wrongs must be righted.\" Peace and Justice Project On 13 December 2020, Corbyn announced the Project for Peace and Justice. Corbyn launched the project on 17 January 2021, and its affiliates includeChristine Blower,Len McCluskeyandZarah Sultana.Rafael Correasaid that he \"welcome the creation\" of the project. Stop the War Coalition statement on Ukraine crisis On 18 February 2022, in the week before theRussian invasion of Ukraine, Corbyn alongside 11 Labour MPs cosigned a statement from theStop the War Coalitionopposing any war in Ukraine.The statement said that \"the crisis should be settled on a basis which recognises the right of the Ukrainian people to self-determination and addresses Russia's security concerns\", that NATO \"should call a halt to its eastward expansion\", and that the British government's sending of arms to Ukraine and troops to eastern Europe served \"no purpose other than inflaming tensions and indicating disdain for Russian concerns\".The statement's authors also said that they \"refute the idea that NATO is a defensive alliance\". On the evening of 24 February, the first day of the invasion, Labour chief whipAlan Campbellwrote to all 11 Labour MPs who had signed the statement, requesting that they withdraw their signatures.All 11 agreed to do so the same evening.Corbyn and fellow former Labour independent MPClaudia Webbedid not withdraw their signatures from the statement, thoughDavid Lammyurged Corbyn to do so. Expulsion from the Labour Party and 2024 general election Media speculation that Corbyn would contest the2024 general electionas an Independent was reported in October 2023.Despite \"unanimous support\" from hisConstituency Labour Party(CLP),Corbyn was not permitted to stand as a Labour parliamentary candidate. After announcing on 24 May 2024 that he would stand as an independent parliamentary candidate for Islington North, he was fully expelled from the Labour Party.He was endorsed byMick Lynchof theNational Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers. Corbyn responded to Keir Starmer's claim of knowing the party would lose the 2019 election by saying \"Well, he never said that to me, at any time. And so I just think rewriting history is no help. It shows double standards, shall we say, that he now says he always thought that but he never said it at the time or anything about it. He was part of the campaign. He and I spoke together at events and I find it actually quite sad.\" A poll released just over two weeks before the election showed Corbyn in second behind Labour candidate Praful Nargund.Leading members of the Islington North CLP resigned in order to support Corbyn, while also criticising the manner in which Nargund was selected as Islington North's candidate.Corbyn was comfortably re-elected as an independent, even as Labour won a landslide victory in the general election. His majority over Nargund was over 7,000. Policies and views Corbyn self-identifies as asocialist.He has also been referred to as a \"mainstream social democrat\".He advocates reversingausterity cutsto public services and some welfare funding made since 2010, as well asrenationalisationof public utilities andthe railways.A longstandinganti-warandanti-nuclearactivist, he supports a foreign policy of militarynon-interventionismandunilateralnuclear disarmament, and has been a prominent activist for Palestinian solidarity throughout theGaza–Israel conflict.WriterRonan Bennett, who formerly worked as a research assistant to Corbyn, has described him as \"a kind of vegan, pacifist idealist, one with a clear understanding of politics and history, and a commitment to the underdog\". In 1997, the political scientistsDavid ButlerandDennis Kavanaghdescribed Corbyn's political stance as \"far-left\".Corbyn has describedKarl Marxas a \"great economist\"and said he has read some of the works ofAdam Smith, Marx andDavid Ricardoand has \"looked at many, many others\".However, some have argued that Corbyn is less radical than previously described:for example, the journalistGeorge Eatonhas called him \"Keynesian\".In 2023,The Daily Telegraphreported that most of the tax policies in Corbyn's 2019 general election manifesto had been implemented by the winning Conservative government, including a highercorporation tax, awindfall taxon oil companies, a reduction in annual tax allowances on dividend income, raising income tax on high earners, and introducing adigital services taxon online retailers. Corbyn namedJohn Smithas the former Labour leader whom he most admired, describing him as \"a decent, nice, inclusive leader\". He also said he was \"very close and very good friends\" withMichael Foot. Media coverage Analyses of domestic media coverage of Corbyn have found it to be critical or antagonistic.In July 2016, academics from the London School of Economics published a study of 812 articles about Corbyn taken from eight national newspapers around the time of his Labour leadership election. The study found that 75 percent of the articles either distorted or failed to represent his actual views on subjects. The study's director commented that \"Our analysis shows that Corbyn was thoroughly delegitimised as a political actor from the moment he became a prominent candidate and even more so after he was elected as party leader\". Another report by the Media Reform Coalition andBirkbeckCollege in July 2016, based on 10 days of coverage around the time of multiple shadow cabinet resignations, found \"marked and persistent imbalance\" in favour of sources critical to him; theInternational Business Timeswas the only outlet that gave him more favourable than critical coverage. In August 2016, aYouGovsurvey found that 97% of Corbyn supporters agreed that the \"mainstream media as a whole has been deliberately biasing coverage to portray Jeremy Corbyn in a negative manner\", as did 51% of the general \"Labour selectorate\" sample. In May 2017,Loughborough University's Centre for Research in Communication and Culture concluded that the media was attacking Corbyn far more than May during nine election campaign weekdays examined.TheDaily MailandDaily Expresspraised Theresa May for election pledges that were condemned when proposed by Labour in previous elections. In February 2018, Momentum reported that attacks on Corbyn in the press were associated with increases in their membership applications.In September 2019, Labour leaders argued that traditional mainstream media outlets showed bias. In December 2019, a study by Loughborough University found that British press coverage was twice as hostile to Labour and half as critical of the Conservatives during the 2019 general election campaign as it had been during the 2017 campaign. In an interview withMiddle East Eyein June 2020, Corbyn described the media's treatment of himself while he was Labour leader as obsessive and \"at one level laughable, but all designed to be undermining\".He said that the media coverage had diverted his media team from helping him pursue \"a political agenda on homelessness, on poverty in Britain, on housing, on international issues\" to \"rebutting these crazy stories, abusive stories, about me the whole time\".He said he considered suing as a result of media treatment but was guided by advice from Tony Benn, who told him, \"Libel is a rich man's game, and you're not a rich man Go to a libel case – even if you win the case, you'll be destroyed financially in doing so\". Personal life Corbyn lives in theFinsbury Parkarea of London.He has been married three times and divorced twice, and has three sons with his second wife.In 1974, he married his first wife,Jane Chapman, a fellow Labour Councillor for Haringey and now a professor at theUniversity of Lincoln.They divorced in 1979.In the late 1970s, Corbyn had a brief relationship with Labour MPDiane Abbott. In 1987, Corbyn married Chilean exile Claudia Bracchitta, granddaughter of Ricardo Bracchitta (Consul-General of Spain in Santiago), with whom he has three sons. He missed his youngest son's birth as he was lecturing National Union of Public Employees members at the same hospital.Following a difference of opinion about sending their son to agrammar school(Corbyn opposesselective education), they divorced in 1999 after two years of separation, although Corbyn said in June 2015 that he continues to \"get on very well\" with her.His son subsequently attendedQueen Elizabeth's School, which had been his wife's first choice.Their second son, Sebastian, worked on his leadership campaign and was later employed asJohn McDonnell's Chief of Staff. Corbyn's second-eldest brother, Andrew, who was a geologist, died of a brain haemorrhage while inPapua New Guineain 2001. Corbyn escorted the body from Papua New Guinea to Australia, where his brother's widow and children lived. In 2012, Corbyn went to Mexico to marry his Mexican partner Laura Álvarez,who runs afair tradecoffee import business that has been the subject of some controversy.A former human rights lawyer in Mexico, she first met Corbyn shortly after his divorce from Bracchitta, having come to London to support her sister Marcela following the abduction of her niece to America by her sister's estranged husband. They contacted fellow Labour MP Tony Benn for assistance, who introduced them to Corbyn, who met with the police on their behalf and spoke at fundraisers until the girl was located in 2003.Álvarez then returned to Mexico, with the couple maintaining a long-distance relationship until she moved to London in 2011.Álvarez has described Corbyn as \"not very good at house work but he is a good politician\".They have a cat called El Gato (\"The Cat\" in Spanish),while Corbyn had previously owned a dog called Mango, described byThe Observerin 1984 as his \"only constant companion\" at the time. Personal beliefs and interests When interviewed byThe Huffington Postin December 2015, Corbyn refused to reveal his religious beliefs and called them a \"private thing\", but denied that he was anatheist.He has said that he is \"sceptical\" of having agodin his life.He compared his concerns about the environment to a sort of \"spiritualism\".Corbyn has described himself asfrugal, tellingSimon HattenstoneofThe Guardian: \"I don't spend a lot of money, I lead a very normal life, I ride a bicycle and I don't have a car.\"He has been a vegetarian for nearly 50 years, after having volunteered on a pig farm in Jamaica when he was 19, and stated in April 2018 that he was considering becoming avegan.Although he has been described in the media asteetotal, he said in an interview with theDaily Mirrorthat he does drink alcohol but \"very, very little\". Corbyn is a member of theAll-Party Parliamentary Group on Cycling.He enjoys reading and writing,and speaks fluent Spanish.He supportsArsenal F.C., which is based in his constituency, and has signed parliamentary motions praising the successes of its men's andwomen's teams.He namedJens Lehmann,Ian Wright, andDennis Bergkampas his favourite Arsenal players, and has campaigned for the club to pay its staff a living wage.Corbyn is an avid \"drain spotter\" and has photographed decorative drain andmanhole coversthroughout the country. Corbyn co-edited with Len McCluskey the anthologyPoetry for the Many, published in November 2023 byOR Books. Awards and recognition In 2013, Corbyn was awarded theGandhi International Peace Awardfor his \"consistent efforts over a 30-year parliamentary career to uphold theGandhianvalues of social justice and non‐violence\".In the same year, he was honoured by theGrassroot DiplomatInitiative for his \"ongoing support for a number of non-government organisations and civil causes\".Corbyn has won the Parliamentary \"Beard of the Year Award\" a record six times, as well as being named as theBeard Liberation Front'sBeard of the Year, having previously described his beard as \"a form of dissent\" againstNew Labour. In 2016, Corbyn was the subject of a musical entitledCorbyn the Musical: The Motorcycle Diaries, written by journalists Rupert Myers and Bobby Friedman. In 2017 the American magazineForeign Policynamed Corbyn in its Top 100 Global Thinkers list for that year \"for inspiring a new generation to re-engage in politics\".In December 2017 he was one of three recipients awarded theSeán MacBride Peace Prize\"for his sustained and powerful political work for disarmament and peace\".The award was announced the previous September. See also References Further reading External links e","Nicola Sturgeon Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon(born 19 July 1970) is a Scottish politician who served asFirst Minister of ScotlandandLeader of the Scottish National Party(SNP) from 2014 to 2023.She has served as amember of the Scottish Parliament(MSP) since 1999, first as anadditional memberfor theGlasgow electoral region, and as the member forGlasgow Southside(formerlyGlasgow Govan) from 2007. Born inAyrshire, Sturgeon is a law graduate of theUniversity of Glasgow. She worked as a solicitor in Glasgow before her election to theScottish Parliamentin1999. She served successively as the SNP's shadow minister for education, health, and justice. Sturgeon entered theleadership of the SNPbut later withdrew from the contest in favour ofAlex Salmond, standing instead asdeputeleader on a joint ticket with Salmond. Both were subsequently elected; as Salmond was still an MP, Sturgeon led the SNP in the Scottish Parliament asLeader of the Oppositionfrom 2004 to 2007. The SNP emerged as the largest party following the2007 electionand Salmond headed thefirst SNP minority government, with Sturgeon as hisdeputy. From 2007 to 2012, she served ashealth secretary, overseeing thescrapping of prescription chargesand the2009 swine flu pandemic. Following the SNP's landslide majority in 2011, she was appointedCabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Capital Investment and Cities, which saw her in charge of the legislative process for the2014 Scottish independence referendum. The defeat of theYes Scotlandcampaign resulted in Salmond's resignation as SNP leader. Sturgeon waselected unopposed as SNP leader in November 2014and was subsequently appointed as first minister, becoming the first woman to hold either position.She entered office amid a rapid surge in membership of the SNP, which was reflected in the party's performance in the2015 general election, winning 56 of the 59 Scottish seats and replacing theLiberal Democratsas the third-largest party in theHouse of Commons. The SNP continued to enjoy electoral successes throughout Sturgeon's nine years in office, but lost 21 seats in the2017 general election. Despite losing her majority, Sturgeon secured a second term in office in 2016, forming aminority government. Sturgeon led theScottish Government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, implementing a series ofrestrictions on social gatheringsand the rollout of thevaccine programme. A seat short of a majority in2021, Sturgeon became the only first minister toserve a third term, and she subsequently entereda power-sharing agreementwith theScottish Greens. The calls from Sturgeon's government and the wider independence movement for a second referendum were unsuccessful, as successiveConservativeprime ministers refused to grant aSection 30 order. From 2022, Sturgeon received heavier criticism for her positions ongender reforms. On 15 February 2023, Sturgeon resigned the leadership of the SNP claimingoccupational burnout; she wassucceededby her health secretary,Humza Yousaf, the following month. First Minister of Scotland UK General elections Early life and education Nicola Ferguson Sturgeonwas born inAyrshire Central HospitalinIrvineon 19 July 1970.She is the eldest of two daughters born toJoan Kerr Sturgeon(néeFerguson, born 23 October 1952), adental nurse, and Robin Sturgeon (born 28 September 1948), an electrician.Her younger sister, Gillian Sturgeon, is anNHS worker.Her family has some roots inNorth East England; her paternal grandmother, Margaret Sturgeon (néeMill), was fromRyhopein what is now theCity of Sunderland.Her grandmother married Robert Sturgeon, a gardener fromAyr, at St Paul's Parish Church in 1943, and they both eventually moved back to the south west of Scotland. Sturgeon grew up inPrestwickand in the village ofDreghorn, in a terracedcouncil house, which her parents bought through theright-to-buy scheme. Sturgeon was a quiet child and has been described by her younger sister as \"the sensible one\" of the two.Sturgeon was shy and has said that she \"much preferred to sit with my head in a book than talking to people\".She developed a passion for books and reading which continued into adult life. She has described herself as being an \"austere\" teen whose style tended towardsgoth, adding that \"if you see pictures of me back then, you would struggle to know whether I was a boy or a girl\".Sturgeon was a fan ofWham!andDuran Duran, and enjoyed spending Saturday nights at Frosty's Ice Disco inIrvine. Sturgeon attendedDreghorn Primary Schoolfrom 1975 to 1982 andGreenwood Academyfrom 1982 to 1988.She later studiedlawat theUniversity of Glasgow School of Law, graduating with aBachelor of Laws(Hons) in 1992 and aDiploma in Legal Practicethe following year.During her time at theUniversity of Glasgowshe was active as a member of theGlasgow University Scottish Nationalist Associationand theGlasgow University Students' Representative Council. Legal career Following her graduation, Sturgeon completed her legal traineeship atMcClure Naismith, a Glasgow firm of solicitors, in 1995. After qualifying as asolicitor, she worked for Bell & Craig, a firm of solicitors inStirling, and later at theDrumchapelLaw Centreand a Money Advice Centre inGlasgowfrom 1997 until her election to theScottish Parliamentin 1999. Early parliamentary career Early political years In her early teens, Sturgeon joined theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament(CND) and in 1986, at the age of 16, she became a member of theScottish National Party(SNP), quickly becoming the party's Youth Affairs Vice Convener and Publicity Vice Convener. She joined the SNP following an assumption by her English teacher, who was a Labour councillor, she would be a Labour supporter. In the1987 UK General election, Sturgeon got her first taste of campaigning, going door-to-door to get her local SNP candidate,Kay Ullrich, elected toWestminster. Despite Ullrich failing to win the seat, Sturgeon ploughed her political energy into theYoung Scottish Nationalists(nowYoung Scots for Independence), joining its national executive when she was 17. In an interview with the BBC'sWoman's Hour, Sturgeon revealed that it wasMargaret Thatcherwho inspired her to enter politics, because, due to rising unemployment in Scotland at the time, she developed \"a strong feeling that it was wrong for Scotland to be governed by a Tory government that we hadn't elected\". Thatcher was the motivation for my entire political career. I hated everything she stood for. Sturgeon became the youngest ever parliamentary candidate in Scotland in the1992 general election. Aged 21, Sturgeon was selected as the SNP candidate in theGlasgow Shettlestonconstituency. She was unsuccessful, having been beaten by almost 15,000 votes by Labour.Sturgeon also stood unsuccessfully as the SNP candidate for the Irvine NorthwardonCunninghameDistrict Council in May 1992, for theBaillieston/Mount Vernonward onStrathclyde Regional Councilin 1994, and for theBridgetonward onGlasgow City Councilin 1995. In the mid-1990s Sturgeon andCharles Kennedywent together on a political study visit to Australia. The1997 general electionsaw Sturgeon selected to fight theGlasgow Govanseat for the SNP. Boundary changes meant that the notionalLabourmajority in the seat had increased substantially. However, infighting between the two rival candidates for the Labour nomination,Mohammed SarwarandMike Watson, along with an energetic local campaign,resulted in Glasgow Govan being the only Scottish seat to see a swing away from Labour in the midst of a Labourlandslidenationwide. Sarwar did, however, win the seat with a majority of 2,914 votes.Shortly after this, Sturgeon was appointed as the SNP's spokesperson for energy and education matters. SNP in opposition Sturgeon stood for election to theScottish Parliamentin thefirst Scottish Parliament electionin 1999 as the SNP candidate forGlasgow Govan.Although she failed to win the seat, she was placed first in the SNP's regional list for theGlasgow region, and was thus elected as aMember of the Scottish Parliament. The SNP emerged as the second largest party and sat inoppositionto theLabour-Lib Dem coalition. InAlex Salmond's shadow cabinet, she served asShadow Minister for Children and Educationfrom 1999 to 2000. As Shadow Education minister, Sturgeon backed Labour's efforts to repealSection 28– a Westminster law that banned the promotion of homosexuality in schools. There was, however, significant publicopposition to repealand an unscientific postal vote on the issue – organised by SNP donorBrian Souter– suggested most Scots wanted to keep the clause. Acknowledging this, Sturgeon suggested: \"That is why the SNP have urged a policy for many months that we believe can provide people with the necessary reassurance, by providing a statutory underpinning to the guidelines, and resolve this difficult debate. We believe that the value of marriage should be clearly referred to in the guidelines, without denigrating other relationships or children brought up in other kinds of relationship.\" The compromise had the support of Souter but an amendment to that effect was voted down by MSPs who expressed concerns it would stigmatise children from single parent and unmarried families. Sturgeon served asShadow Minister for Health and Community Carefrom 2000 to 2003, andShadow Minister for Justicefrom 2003 to 2004. She also served as a member of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee and the Health and Community Care Committee. 2004 SNP leadership election On 22 June 2004, John Swinney resigned as Leader of the SNP following poor results in theEuropean Parliament election. His then-depute,Roseanna Cunningham, immediately stood for the leadership. The previous leader, Alex Salmond, at the time refused to stand.On 24 June 2004, Sturgeon also entered the leadership contest, withKenny MacAskillas her running mate.The political columnistIain Macwhirterdeclared that while she \"didn't inspire great warmth\", she was \"quick on her feet, lacks any ideological baggage and has real determination – unlike... Roseanna Cunningham\". However, once Cunningham emerged as the favourite to win,Salmond entered the contest and Sturgeon subsequently withdrew from the contest and declared her support for Salmond, standing instead as his running mate for the depute leadership. It was reported that Salmond had privately supported Sturgeon in her leadership bid, but decided to run for the position himself as it became apparent she was unlikely to beat Cunningham.The majority of the SNP hierarchy lent their support to the Salmond–Sturgeon bid for the leadership, although MSPAlex Neilbacked Salmond as leader, but refused to endorse Sturgeon as depute. On 3 September 2004, the leadership contest resulted in Salmond and Sturgeon elected as Leader and Depute Leader respectively.As Salmond was still an MP in theHouse of Commons, Sturgeon led the SNP at the Scottish Parliament until the2007 election, when Salmond was elected as an MSP. Leader of the Opposition; 2004–2007 As leader of the SNP in the Scottish Parliament, she served as theLeader of the Opposition in Holyrood. Sturgeon became a high-profile figure in Scottish politics and often clashed withFirst MinisterJack McConnellatFirst Minister's Questions. This included rows over theHouse of Commons'decision to replace the Trident nuclear weapon system, and the SNP's plans to replacecouncil taxin Scotland with alocal income tax.Sturgeon quickly grew a reputation in Holyrood as opposition leader, becoming known as \"nippy sweetie\" – Scottish slang for the \"sharp-tongued and strong-minded\". Deputy First Minister of Scotland (2007–2014) In the2007 Scottish Parliament election, Sturgeon defeatedGordon JacksonQCwith a 4.7% swing to the SNP in theGlasgow Govan constituency.This was one of many swings to the SNP, as the party emerged as the largest party, winning one seat more than the governingScottish Labour Party.Although the SNP was recognised as the winners of the election, it failed to obtain a majority and Labour was not willing to allow the SNP to enter government.Sturgeon led coalition negotiation talks between theScottish Liberal Democratsand theScottish Greens, but these talks failed to reach an agreement, with the Lib Dems backing out and the Greens instead supporting a 'confidence and supply' agreement.Ultimately, Salmond formed aminority governmentand he was appointedFirst Minister of Scotland.He appointed Sturgeon asDeputy First Ministerand tasked her with theCabinet positionofCabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing. Health Secretary (2007–2012) Sturgeon served asHealth SecretaryinSalmond's first, and for a year, inhis second cabinet.She was supported in her role as Health Secretary byShona Robison, theMinister for Public Health and Sport, and byAlex Neil, theMinister for Housing and Communities. She launched her programme for government, theBetter Health, Better Care: Action Plan,which settled a new vision forNHS Scotland.She reversed the decision to close casualty units atUniversity Hospital AyrandUniversity Hospital Monklands.Sturgeon oversaw the scrapping ofprescription chargesIn Scotland, an election pledge by the SNP originally for thechronically illand those withcancer. Health policy Sturgeon also outlined a guaranteed maximum 18-week wait for patients after they had seen their GP and vowed to do away with deferred or \"hidden\" waiting lists. She ordered a review of the thorny issue of hospital car parking charges – as high as £7 in some areas – and launched an inquiry into the infection of NHS patients with Hepatitis C and HIV from tainted blood products. 2009 swine flu pandemic As Health Secretary, Sturgeon became more widely known internationally for her handling of the2009 flu pandemic. On 26 April 2009, the Scottish Government confirmed that two people who had returned from Mexico had been admitted toMonklands HospitalinAirdrieafter experiencing \"mild flu-like symptoms\".Sturgeon stated that there was \"no immediate threat to public health in Scotland\", but added, \"monitoring of those who have been in close contact with the two people is also being carried out as an additional precaution.\"The following day, she confirmed that these were cases of theswine influenza A (H1N1) virus.Authorities in both Scotland and England stated that there were no plans to trace the fellow airline passengers who may have travelled alongside the couple, since the authorities do not classify them as \"close contacts\". On 11 June, theWorld Health Organization(WHO) declared the influenza virus apandemic.Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament that containment of the virus had failed and that the Scottish Government was taking steps to mitigate the spread of the virus. \"We have seen a rapid increase in the number of confirmed cases in Scotland over the past 10 days\", she told Parliament. \"Based on this experience,Health Protection Scotlandhas expressed the view that sustained community transmission appears to be taking place.\"Four days later, a Scottish woman with underlying health conditions died at theRoyal Alexandra HospitalinPaisley.This marked the first death in Scotland and Europe. Minimum pricing unit To tackleScotland's poor relationship with alcohol, Sturgeon passed legislation to increase the price ofalcoholperunitto help reduce sales, in particular, for thoseaddicted.In June 2012, theAlcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012was passed after receiving support from the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and Greens. Labour refused to support the bill as they claimed it failed to tacklewindfall profitfrom alcohol retailers. Infrastructure Secretary (2012–2014) At the2011 election, the SNP won a large overall majority. Sturgeon was retained as Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing until a reshuffle one year later, when she was appointed asCabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Capital Investment and Citiesand an additional role overseeing thereferendum onScottish independence, essentially putting her in charge of the SNP's referendum campaign. In 2012 she pledged to build a high-speed railway line between Glasgow and Edinburgh by 2024, cutting journey times between the two cities to under 30 minutes.Sturgeon said the Scottish Government would \"not wait\" for Westminster to build a high-speed line to Scotland. However, in 2016 the plan was abandoned and the Scottish Government blamed Westminster. 2014 Scottish independence referendum Salmond put Sturgeon in charge of the Scottish Government's legislative process for areferendum on Scottish Independenceand she was essentially in charge of the SNP's referendum campaign. In December 2012, Sturgeon said that she believed that independence would allow Scotland to build a stronger and more competitive country, and would change spending priorities to address \"the scandal of soaring poverty in a country as rich as Scotland\". While campaigning for a Yes vote in August 2013, she toldThe Guardianthat if Scots voted for the Union: \"Will there be another referendum round the corner? No. We can't bind our successors, but we've made very clear our belief that constitutional referenda are once-in-a-generation events.\" In November 2013, Sturgeon joined Salmond to launchScotland's Future– the Scottish Government's prospectus for independence.Sturgeon was one of the white paper's most high-profile media champions and frequently debated its contents with opposition politicians and sceptical Scots. When the British Government turned down the Scottish Government's idea of a formal currency union – on the grounds that the rationale for sharing a currency with a foreign country was \"not clear\" – Sturgeon accused Westminster of trying to \"bully Scotland\" and said it would \"cost their own businesses hundreds of millions in transaction costs\". During the campaign, theEuropean Commissionsaid that if Scots decided to leave the United Kingdom, it would also mean leaving the European Union. Scotland would then have to reapply for EU membership and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso predicted this would be \"extremely difficult, if not impossible\".In July 2014 Sturgeon said this would put at risk the right of EU citizens to continue living in Scotland: \"There are 160,000 EU nationals from other states living in Scotland, including some in the Commonwealth Games city of Glasgow. If Scotland was outside Europe, they would lose the right to stay here.\" On 19 September 2014, independence was rejected in the Scottish independence referendum, with 55.3% of the voters voting no and 44.7% voting yes.Following the defeat of theYes Scotlandcampaign, Salmond resigned as First Minister and Leader of the SNP. Sturgeon immediately entered the election to replace him, and received huge support from the SNP hierarchy.Sturgeon said that there would be \"no greater privilege\" than to lead the SNP. On Salmond's resignation, Sturgeon said: The personal debt of gratitude I owe Alex is immeasurable. He has been my friend, mentor and colleague for more than 20 years. Quite simply, I would not have been able to do what I have in politics without his constant advice, guidance and support through all these years. I can think of no greater privilege than to seek to lead the party I joined when I was just 16. However, that decision is not for today. Following the referendum defeat, Sturgeon said that \"further devolution is the route to independence\".She also opined that Scottish independence was a matter of \"when, not if\". Leadership of the Scottish National Party On 24 September 2014, Sturgeon officially launched her campaign bid to succeed Salmond as Leader of the Scottish National Party at theNovember leadership election.It quickly became apparent that no other candidate would be able to receive enough required nominations to run a credible leadership campaign.Upon launching her campaign, Sturgeon also resigned as Depute Leader, triggering a concurrentdepute leadership election; the MSPsAngela ConstanceandKeith Brownand the MPStewart Hosieall nominated themselves to succeed Sturgeon as Depute Leader. Nominations for the SNP leadership closed on 15 October, with Sturgeon confirmed as the only candidate. SNP convenerDerek Mackaypublicly congratulated Sturgeon as de facto leader in waiting, saying that she would be \"a fantastic new leader\" for both the SNP and for Scotland.On this date, Sturgeon also came out on top in a trust rating opinion poll, conducted for the SNP, which indicated that 54% of the Scottish population trusted her to \"stand up for Scotland's interests\". At a speech in Dundee's Caird Hall on 7 November, Sturgeon pledged to be \"the most accessible First Minister ever\" when she took over. She also promised to hold a monthly Facebook question and answer session with members of the public, regular town hall meetings and that the Scottish Cabinet would meet outside Edinburgh once every two months. Sturgeon was formally acclaimed as the first female Leader of the SNP on 14 November 2014 at the Autumn Conference inPerth, with Hosie as her depute. This also made her First Minister-Designate, given the SNP's absolute majority in the Scottish Parliament.In her first speech as leader, Sturgeon said that it was \"the privilege of her life\" to lead the party she joined as a teenager. Although Salmond officially tendered his resignation as First Minister on 18 November 2014, Sturgeon was not sworn in until two days later. From 18 November until her official appointment on 20 November, she served as the acting First Minister, essentially the First Minister-elect. First Minister of Scotland (2014–2023) First term (2014–2016) On 20 November 2014, Sturgeon was sworn into office at theCourt of Sessionin a ceremony presided byLord Gill,after receiving theroyal warrant of appointmentby QueenElizabeth II.She became the first woman tohold office.During her firstFirst Minister's Questionsafter being sworn in, Sturgeon tried to strike a conciliatory tone, saying that she came into her new post \"with an open mind and a willingness to hear proposals from all sides of the chamber.\" First cabinet Sturgeon began makingappointments to her first cabineton 21 November 2014, beginning with the appointment offinance secretaryJohn Swinneyto become herDeputy First Minister.Shona Robison, a close ally to Sturgeon, became thehealth secretary, whileKeith BrownandAngela Constance, who were both unsuccessful in their bids for thedeputy leadership of the SNP, were appointedinfrastructure secretaryandeducation secretary, respectively.Michael Mathesonwas promoted asjustice secretary. The departure ofKenny MacAskillandMichael Russellsignalled a generational shift away from the \"79 group\".Alex Neil, who many speculated would be dismissed, remained in cabinet but in a \"less prominent portfolio\" ofsocial justice, communities and pensioners' rights.Roseanna Cunningham, who had difficult relationship with Sturgeon, was surprisingly promoted to cabinet as thefair work secretary.Fiona HyslopandRichard Lochheadremained in their portfolios ofculture secretaryandrural affairs secretary, respectively. Sturgeon's cabinet was 50/50 gender balance, with five men and five women, including herself. 2015 Westminster landslide Sturgeon led theScottish National Partythrough alandslide victoryin the2015 UK general election, winning 56 out of 59 Scottish seats atWestminster, the party's best ever performance.The party received 50% of the vote share in Scotland and replaced theLiberal Democratsas the third largest party in theBritish House of Commons.Sturgeon had stated that the party's success in the election was not a mandate for another independence referendum, but primarily for a stronger voice for Scotland in London. In the run-up to the elections, Sturgeon took part in several Scottish and UK-wideTV election debatesand according to opinion polls was regarded to have had a successful performance.As part of the election campaign, Sturgeon indicated that the SNP would hold another independence referendum if it won the upcoming 2016 Scottish Parliament election. 2016 Scottish Parliament election Sturgeon launched, in what she claimed, as the most \"bold, ambitious and reforming\" SNP manifesto for the2016 Scottish Parliament election.She set out the party's plans to increase income tax by freezing tax thresholds, reversing her previous policy of cutting taxes for higher earners.The manifesto also included a commitment to increase NHS funding by £500 million, \"baby boxes\" full of essentials to newborn parents, and an ambitious new target to cut emissions by 50% by 2020 as of the party's effort to tackle climate change.Sturgeon also hinted if re-elected she would hold asecond referendum on Scottish independence. Despite losing her majority, Sturgeon claimed a \"historic victory\" after the SNP won a third consecutive term in governmentand sought a second term in office as a minority government. Second term (2016–2021) 2016 EU membership referendum In 2016, theEuropean Union membership referendumto decide the future of the UK's European Union membership resulted in 52% of voters in the UK voting forBrexit(leaving the EU), with 48% voting to remain; all council areas in Scotland voted by a majority for the UK to remain a member of the EU. Across Scotland, 62% of voters backed the UK remaining a member of the EU, with 38% voting for the UK to leave. In response to the result, on 24 June 2016, Sturgeon said thatScottish Governmentofficials would begin planning for a second independence referendum.Sturgeon claimed that it was \"clear that the people of Scotland see their future as part of the European Union\" and that Scotland had \"spoken decisively\" with a \"strong, unequivocal\" vote to remain in the European Union.Sturgeon said it was \"democratically unacceptable\" that Scotland could be taken out of the EU \"against its will\".An emergency Scottish cabinet meeting on 25 June agreed that the Scottish Government would seek to enter negotiations with the EU and its member states, to explore options to protect Scotland's place in the EU.Sturgeon later said that while she believed in Scottish independence, her starting point in these discussions was to protect Scotland's relationship with the EU. Future referendum on independence Sturgeon confirmed in June 2016 that the Scottish government had formally agreed to draft legislation to allow a second independence referendum to take place.As the constitution is a reserved matter under theScotland Act 1998, for a future referendum on Scottish independence to be legal under UK law, it would need to receive the consent of the British Parliament to take place. Prior to the day the Prime Minister triggeredArticle 50, formally allowing the process of the United Kingdom leaving theEuropean Union, theScottish Parliamentvoted 69 to 59 in favour of another independence referendum.By the end of that week, on 30 March 2017, Sturgeon wrote to the Prime Minister requesting a Section 30 order, formally devolving the responsibility and power to theScottish Governmentto plan for and hold another referendum on Scottish independence.Previously, May andDavid Mundell,Secretary of State for Scotland, had both highlighted that as the negotiations began with the European Union on the United Kingdom's withdraw, it was important for Scotland to work with the UK Government to get the best exit deal for both the United Kingdom and Scotland, stating that \"now is not the time for another referendum\". Following the 2017 UK general election, Sturgeon's government postponed legislation pertaining to the proposed second referendum on Scottish independence until at least autumn 2018.Following the outbreak of theCOVID-19 pandemic, all plans for another referendum were put on hold. 2017 UK general election Sturgeon kicked off her election campaign pledging that a strong result for the SNP would \"reinforce\" her mandate for a second independence referendum.However, the SNP lost 21 seats in the2017 United Kingdom general election in Scotlandand the party's vote dropped by 13%, although they remained the biggest party in Scotland. Sturgeon admitted that these results were \"bitterly disappointing\" and acknowledged that her party's plans for a second referendum were 'undoubtedly' a factor in the election results.It was the best result for the Scottish Conservatives since Margaret Thatcher and the party's campaign slogan, \"We said No to independence. We meant it\", resonated in areas that had voted strongly for the Union in 2014.Observers also concluded that opposition to the EU'sCommon Fisheries Policyin coastal communities was a factor behind large swings to the Tories in North East seats previously held by nationalists for decades. Several weeks later Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament that she would \"reset\" and delay her plans for a second independence referendum; the SNP losses in that month's election had led her to conclude that many Scots \"just want a break from making big political decisions\". Alex Salmond sexual harassment case In January 2019, Sturgeon referred herself to an independent ministerial ethics body, which led to an investigation into her actions with respect to asexual harassment case concerning allegations against Salmond. This followed her admitting that she had had a secret meeting and subsequent phone call with Salmond about the Scottish government's allegations against him. She raised these with the Permanent Secretary to theScottish Government,Leslie Evans, two months later, rather than reporting them immediately, as she should have done if they constitute government matters (as per the ministerial code). Sturgeon argued that the meetings were SNP party matters, and thus not covered. The investigating panel consisted of DameElish Angiolini, a formerSolicitor General for Scotlandandlord advocate, andJames Hamilton, a formerdirector of public prosecutionsin the Republic of Ireland. On 15 January 2019, theScottish Parliamentagreed to hold its own inquiry into the matter, theCommittee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints,to investigate how the Government breached its own guidelines in its original investigation into the harassment claims against Salmond, and then lost a judicial review into their actions and had to pay over £500,000 to Salmond for legal expenses.Sturgeon's husband,Peter Murrell, was called to this inquiry to give evidence on 8 December 2020.Opposition parties criticised Sturgeon on disparity and contradictions between the narratives of Murrell and herself. On 4 March 2021, Sturgeon answered questions over a period of eight hours from members of the committee.Two of the civil servants who made complaints about Salmond later said they felt they had been \"dropped\" by the Scottish Government after it lost the judicial review against him, adding they feared their experiences would make it less likely people would make complaints in the future.Labour MPJess Phillips, a former employee ofWomen's Aid, accused Sturgeon of being \"unprofessional with those women's lives\" and said there had been a \"litany of failures in professionalism and decency.\" 2019 UK general election Sturgeon led her party to alandslide victoryin the2019 United Kingdom general election in Scotland. The SNP won 48 seats, and came second place in the 11 others; their 45% of the vote yielded 80% of the seats in Scotland.Among the election casualties wasLiberal DemocratsleaderJo Swinson, who lost her seat inEast Dunbartonshire.Sturgeon was branded as \"ungracious\" when she was filmed bySky Newscelebrating Swinson's defeat. Sturgeon apologised for being overexcited although expressed that she was celebratingAmy Callaghan's win.In the wake of the results, Sturgeon said thatPrime MinisterBoris Johnsonhad \"no right\" to stand in the way of another Scottish independence referendum after an \"overwhelming\" SNP election victory. She also said that the result \"renews, reinforces and strengthens\" the mandate forIndyref2. COVID-19 pandemic Theworldwide pandemicofCOVID-19began during Sturgeon's second term as First Minister. The first case of the virus in Scotland was confirmed on 1 March 2020, when a resident inTaysidehad tested positive. Initially, the Scottish Government resisted banning public events and on 12 March allowed 47,000 fans to attend a Rangers match at Ibrox, insisting that, \"stopping mass gatherings not the best way to contain this virus.\"However, Sturgeon's government ordered all schools and nurseries in Scotland closed on 20 March to try to limit the spread of the virus.On 23 March, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Sturgeon ordered Scotland into \"lockdown\", limiting the reasons why people may leave their homes in an attempt to limit the spread of the virus, to protect the health of the population, and to ease the pressure the virus placed onNHS Scotlandservices and workforce.Subsequently the restrictions were repeatedly tightened, loosened and adapted in parts or all of Scotland in response to developments in the situation. During the early stages of the pandemic, 1,300 elderly hospital patients were transferred into care homes without receiving a negative coronavirus test result.Many had been infected with the virus and ended up passing it on to other care home residents.Over three thousand care home residents died from COVID-19and Gary Smith, Scotland Secretary of theGMB, said the policy had turned \"care homes into morgues\".When asked by the BBC if the policy had been a mistake, Sturgeon said: \"Looking back on that now, with the knowledge we have now and with the benefit of hindsight, yes.\" In April 2020 whistle-blowers in the NHS came forward to reveal that staff were being made to reuse dirtypersonal protective equipment (PPE)while at work. One nurse told STV, \" it's not frustrating, it's crushing. It is absolutely crushing. We feel we are being lied to.\"Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament in July, \"At no point within this crisis has Scotland run out of any aspect of PPE. We have worked hard to make sure that supplies are there, we've worked hard overcoming challenges that we have faced along the way.\" In July 2020, Sturgeon advocated that the leaders of the four UK nations adopt a coordinatedZero-COVIDstrategy. In February 2021, Audit Scotland published a report that concluded the Scottish government had not prepared adequately for a pandemic. While it commended the authorities for preventing hospitals from becoming overwhelmed during the crisis, the watchdog also noted that recommendations from pandemic planning exercises in 2015, 2016 and 2018 had not been fully implemented. One particular problem it highlighted was that not enough had been done to ensure Scottish hospitals and care homes had enough personal protective equipment. Overall, it concluded that ministers \"could have been better prepared to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic\". Sturgeon said there were \"lots of lessons to learn\". In March 2021, theCourt of Sessiondeclared that the Scottish government's prohibition on communal worship, imposed during the pandemic, was unlawful.This followed an open letter two months earlier, written by 200 church leaders to Sturgeon, warning her that the prohibition could be unlawful. In April 2021, Scotland's death toll from COVID-19 passed 10,000. At a session of First Minister's Questions in June 2021, Sturgeon was asked about mistakes made early on in the pandemic, and she replied: \"If I could turn the clock back, would we go into lockdown earlier than we did? Yes, I think that is true.\" In April 2022, Sturgeon demanded that Prime Minister Boris Johnson resign after police fined him for breaking lockdown rules in 2020. \"The basic values of integrity and decency – essential to the proper working of any parliamentary democracy – demand that he go\", she tweeted.The following week, Sturgeon received an official reprimand from Police Scotland after a video emerged of her campaigning in a barber shop without a mask. Sturgeon – who had previously apologised to the Scottish Parliament after she was caught breaking the same law in December 2020– apologised once more and said the police had been \"absolutely right to treat me no differently to any other citizen.\" Third term (2021–23) Sturgeon led the SNP into the2021 Scottish Parliament electionon a manifesto promise to hold a second independence referendum after the COVID-19 pandemic was over.In the election, the SNP won 64 of the 129 seats contested.The SNP won a fourth consecutive election, albeit short of an overall majority, with a record number of votes on both the constituency and regional voteas well as increasing their share of the constituency vote and making a net gain of one seat. Sturgeon was nominated for the post ofFirst Ministerby a vote of theScottish Parliamenton 18 May, defeatingScottish ConservativeleaderDouglas RossandScottish Liberal Democratleader Willie Rennie by 64 votes to 31 and 4 respectively. This win resulted in Sturgeon becoming the first First Minister in the history of the Scottish Parliament to form athird government. Shortly after being elected, Sturgeon appointed John Swinney to the newly created position ofCabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery. Power-sharing agreement In August 2021, Sturgeon and Scottish Green Party co-leadersPatrick HarvieandLorna Slaterreached apower-sharing agreement between their parties. There was no agreement on oil and gas exploration, but the government now argued that it had a stronger case for a national independence referendum.As part of the agreement, the Green Party co-leaders would be nominated to serve as ministers. Climate crisis In August 2021, confronted by climate activist Lauren Macdonald about theCambo oil fieldwest of Shetland, Sturgeon refused to take a position on whether its development should go ahead. A video of the interaction went viraland a few days later, Sturgeon wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, asking that the development of Cambo should be \"reassessed in light of the severity of the climate emergency\".The letter represented a significant shift in policy for the SNP, which hadhistorically been a strong supporter of the oil and gas industry; the party's blueprint for an independent Scotland in 2013 was predicated on tax revenue earned from domestic oil production, while Sturgeon had predicted in the run-up to the referendum that, \"We're on the verge of another North Sea bonanza\". This shift in position was welcomed by the Scottish Green party butGreenpeacecriticised Sturgeon for not coming out more strongly against the oil field. \"The First Minister must stop hiding behind Boris Johnson\", a spokesperson for the organisation said. \"If she wants to show leadership on climate she must clearly say: stop Cambo.\"In November 2021, although no assessment had taken place, Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament she believed the oilfield \"should not get the green light\". Caledonian MacBrayne ferry delay In the late 2010s, Scottish islanders began to complain that the ageing ferry fleet that connected them to the mainland had become increasingly unreliable.During the winter of 2022 only one in three sailings to the island ofCollwent ahead;Hebridean shopkeepers kept receiving deliveries of rotten food;while other islanders said they had missed doctors' appointments, funerals and even the chance to say goodbye to dying loved ones because of cancelled sailings. The Scottish Government had commissioned two new ferries for £97m from Ferguson's shipyard in 2015, but the construction of the two vessels was beset by delays and complications. In 2022 Audit Scotland concluded that the final price tag for the vessels would be somewhere between £250m and £400m once the ships were finished in 2023. Furthermore, they concluded that the Scottish Government had awarded the contracts without normal financial safeguards and presided over a \"multitude of failings\". Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament of her \"deep regret\" that islanders were enduring such chaos, and said that the government was \"learning lessons from this experience\".Key documentation, which might have explained why ministers signed the contracts without appropriate safeguards to protect taxpayers' money, was lost and Sturgeon later said this too was \"regrettable\" and that \"the government will learn lessons.\" Second independence referendum proposals In June 2022, Sturgeon officially unveiled plans forScottish independenceonce again.She argued that her government had an \"indisputable mandate\" for asecond Scottish independence referendum.She argued that independence would allow Scotland to set out \"a different and better vision\"and claimed that there is a legally secure path to get a referendum without permission from thecabinet.This plan has been met with condemnation from various opposing parties, with thePrime Ministerrejecting her plan. Sturgeon scheduled the referendum for 19 October 2023.She sought the Prime Minister to consent to the vote by signing a section 30 order, a move that Downing Street has refused to comply.She askedScotland's Lord Advocateto consider referring the matter to theSupreme Court of the United Kingdomto rule if theScottish Governmenthas the power to host a referendum without theGovernment of the United Kingdom'sapproval, this request has since been granted. In October 2022, Sturgeon launched her government's third independence paper, which outlines the currency in an independent Scotland and joining the EU.She proposed the Scottish Government would use thepound sterlingfor a brief period before transitioning to a new currency known as the 'Scottish Pound'.She argued independence would be \"essential\" foreconomic prosperityfor Scotland as she claimed the economic climate throughout the UK does not offer strength, stability or security. On the day the Supreme Court ruled the Scottish Parliament does not have the power to legislate a referendum on independence, Sturgeon declared the next democratic election in Scotland - in this case aUK general electionexpectedto be held in 2024- would be campaigned by the SNP as ade factoreferendum.Unionist parties have rejected this characterisation.Some SNP members urged Sturgeon to call anearly election at Holyroodto speed up the process for a de facto referendum. Gender recognition reforms As part of the SNP's 2016 manifesto policy, the SNP pledged to voters that it would review and reform the way that trans people change their legal gender.However, the policy divided the party and the bill was delayed during Sturgeon's second term in office because of opposition to the policy and the COVID-19 pandemic.In the 2021 SNP manifesto, Sturgeon committed the party once again to reform theGender Recognition Act 2004of theUK Parliamentand in August that year included the commitment in her agreement with theScottish Greenson power-sharing. In September 2021, Sturgeon was accused of shutting down debate about gender reforms after she described concerns about gender recognition reform as \"not valid\" and campaign groups and analysts complained that their concerns were being ignored. On 22 December 2022, the Scottish Parliament voted 86 to 39 to pass theGender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Billwhich was introduced by Sturgeon's government. On 17 January 2023, the UK Government decided to invoke, for the first time, section 35 of the Scottish Act 1998, to make an order which prevented the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill from gaining Royal Assent. She opposed the decision made and criticisedScottish SecretaryAlister Jackfor blocking the bill and said that the decision was an attack on the Scottish Parliament and Scottish democracy as a whole and said that the matter would be brought to the courts. In 2023, Sturgeon was criticised in connection withthe case of Isla Bryson, atransgender womanwho had raped two women prior to hertransition. On this basis, Bryson was initially sent to a women's prison but was later moved to a men's prison. Sturgeon refused to say if she regards Bryson as a man or woman, though she used female pronouns when talking about Bryson. Resignation On 15 February 2023, Sturgeon resigned asfirst minister of Scotlandandleader of the Scottish National Party, pending aleadership election.At a press conference in Bute House, Sturgeon insisted that her resignation was not due to \"short term pressures\" and stated that the job \"takes its toll on you\".Sturgeon stated that she believed that her successor would lead Scotland to independence and that she would look on with pride whoever takes on the role. While appearing on apodcastfor BBC Scotland, Sturgeon would later say that internet speculation about her life was a part of the reason she decided to stand down from her position as first minister, specifically referring to rumours regarding her sexuality, love life and property portfolio as being wildly inaccurate. Domestic issues Drugs deaths crisis In 2016, the Scottish Government cut direct funding to drug and alcohol rehabilitation programmes from £69.2 million to £53.8 million – a drop of 22%.At the time, Scottish Drugs Forum Chief Executive David Liddell said he was concerned that the cuts had \"the potential to increase harm and drug-related deaths.\"That year 867 Scots lost their lives to drugs – an increase of 23% on the previous year's figure – and the SNP insisted it was part of a trend seen across much of Europe.In December 2020, figures were released revealing that 1,264 people in Scotland had died from drug overdoses in 2019 – the highest number in Europe per head and more than double the number in 2014.Sturgeon sacked her Public Health MinisterJoe FitzPatrick, and in April 2021 said of the crisis: \"I think we took our eye off the ball.\" The crisis has particularly impacted the homeless in Scotland: 216 homeless people died in Scotland in 2019 – an increase of 11% on the previous year; over half (54%) of these deaths were drug-related.Per head, Scotland's death rate among the homeless is the highest in Britain. In August 2021, the Scottish Government announced there had been 1,339 drug deaths in the previous year – a new record high.Sturgeon tweeted that the figures were \"unacceptable, each one a human tragedy\",while the Scottish Liberal Democrats said: \"It was Nicola Sturgeon's choice to ignore this unfolding epidemic. Issuing apologies now is too late for thousands of people. The victims of drugs and their families were failed. It is a scar on the conscience of this Scottish Government.\" In July 2022, the figures for 2021 were released, revealing that 1,330 had died – nine fewer than in 2020.Annemarie Ward, chief executive at the FAVOR Scotland charity, said: \"Nicola Sturgeon said she would make it her national mission to save lives – but we're still losing more than 1000 people a year. The national mission is failing.\" Education performance In 2015, Sturgeon said that she planned to make education her \"defining priority\" while in office.In particular, she said she hoped to focus on closing the attainment gap between the richest and poorest children in Scottish schools, telling journalists: \"Let me be clear – I want to be judged on this. If you are not, as First Minister, prepared to put your neck on the line on the education of our young people then what are you prepared to. It really matters.\" In 2021, Audit Scotland concluded: \"Progress on closing the poverty-related attainment gap between the most and least deprived school pupils has been limited\"and fell short of the Government's aims.In some local authorities, the attainment gap between the richest and poorest students had widened. International relations Whileforeign policyremains areserved matter,Sturgeon has undertaken a number of visits to Europe, North America and Asia to promote Scotland as a place of investment and Scottish businesses to trade and do business with.Sturgeon has committed to strengthening links between Scotland andAfrica. European Union In response to the Brexit vote, to discuss Scotland's interests, Sturgeon travelled toBrusselsto meet with bothJean-Claude Juncker, thePresident of the European Commissionas well asMartin Schulz, thePresident of the European Parliament. In response to the UK-wide vote for the United Kingdom to leave theEuropean Union, theScottish Government, headed by Sturgeon, launched theScotland's Place in Europedocument, a white paper setting out the Scottish government's aims and wishes of Scotland's role in Europe post-Brexit. The paper was sent to the centralBritish Governmentto be read by Prime MinisterTheresa May. In June 2017, Sturgeon criticised the approaches taken by bothTheresa Mayand the British Government towards the Brexit approach, claiming that May \"will struggle\" as she is a \"difficult person to build a rapport with\". In the same interview, Sturgeon committed to no independence referendum being held prior to the terms of a UK wide Brexit deal being agreed and presented. With a view towards Brexit, Sturgeon demanded greater powers for the Scottish Parliament, arguing that Brexit is threatening Scotland'sdevolution settlement.With London seeking to restrict immigration to the United Kingdom, she asserted that Scotland should be able to set its own immigration policy, as well as policies relating to employment and trade. United States Sturgeon was highly critical ofDonald Trumpand his policies during the2016 United States presidential electionand had publicly backed hisDemocraticrivalHillary Clinton.Sturgeon highlighted her disapproval of his language and views relating to sexism and misogyny, and stated upon Trump's victory that she hopes \"Trump turns out to be a president different to the one he was during his campaign and reaches out to those who felt vilified by his campaign\". Sturgeon had previously stripped Trump of his ambassadorial role for Scottish businesses with the Scottish government in the aftermath of Trump's views of an outright ban ofMuslimsfrom entering the United States. Sturgeon claimed following comments made by Trump in relation to Muslims entering the United States that he was \"not fit\" for the ambassadorial role with the Scottish government. In May 2022, Sturgeon made a trip to the United States and met with controversialRepublicanmember ofCongressRobert Aderholt, a prominentanti-abortionsupporter. Spain In the run up to the2017 Catalan independence referendum, Nicola Sturgeon offered her own personal backing and that of theScottish GovernmenttoCataloniain the holding of a referendum.TheGovernment of Spaincriticised Sturgeon, claiming she had \"totally misunderstood\" the situation in Spain and Catalonia.Sturgeon highlighted that Spain should follow \"the shining example\" that was created as part of theEdinburgh Agreementbetween the Scottish and British governments that allowed Scotland to hold a legally binding referendum. Political positions Constitutional affairs Scottish independence An advocate forScottish independence, Sturgeon has campaigned for independence from theUnited Kingdomsince her late teens. She was categorised in 2015 as part of theSNP's gradualist wing, which believed in achieving independence through accumulating the Scottish Parliament's powers from the UK Parliament over time.In recent years, following the defeat of theYes Scotland campaignin2014 Scottish Independence referendum, Sturgeon has aligned herself with the new gradualist wing, who believe in only holding asecond referendumif there is clear public support, such as polling being over 60%, or if there is a material change in circumstances. Monarch Sturgeon is a constitutional monarchist, telling journalists that it is \"a model that has many merits\".On the dayQueen Elizabeth IIbecame Britain's longest reigning monarch, Sturgeon travelled with her to open theBorders Railwayand told a crowd of well-wishers: \"She has carried out her duties with dedication, wisdom and an exemplary sense of public service. The reception she has received today, demonstrates that that admiration and affection is certainly felt here in Scotland.\" Following thedeath of the Queen Elizabeth II, Sturgeon led tributes to the Queen.She described the Queen as the \"greatest constant in our national life\" and added her death was \"a day for reflection and remembrance\" and \"a day for giving thanks to The Queen for her devotion to duty and the decades of public service she gave to the people of Scotland.\" Economic policy She has at times been a critic ofausterity, saying that the UK government's \"austerity economics\" is \"morally unjustifiable and economically unsustainable\".However, in 2018, she endorsed her party's Growth Commission report that pledged to reduce an independent Scotland's budget deficit as a percentage of GDP– something theInstitute for Fiscal Studiesconcluded meant \"continued austerity\". Social issues Women's rights Sturgeon has also campaigned onwomen's rightsandgender equality, and is a self-describedfeminist; she has argued that Scotland's feminist movement is not simply symbolic, but \"sends a powerful signal about equality\".She has hailed Scottish feminist economistAilsa McKayas one of her inspirations.She has at various points commented on the behaviour or attitudes of men towards women; publicly condemning Donald Trump,Tony Abbottand former Labour MSPNeil Findlay.However, she defended her party's leader Alex Salmond from accusations of sexism. After Salmond had told Conservative MPAnna Soubry, \"Behave yourself, woman\" in 2015, Sturgeon said: \"The fundamental question, 'does that language indicate that Alex Salmond is sexist?' Absolutely not, there's no man I know who is less sexist.\" Commenting on the need for men to challenge their friends' misogynistic behaviour, Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament in 2021: \"I would say to all men in this chamber and all men across the country — challenge it if it's on the part of other men you may know, challenge your own behaviour and then let's collectively, as a society, turn the page and turn the corner so that women can live free of the fear of harassment, abuse, intimidation, violence and, in the worst cases, death.\" Transgender rights Ahead of the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, Sturgeon pledged to review and reform the way that trans people change their legal gender.However, proposed changes to Scotland's Gender Recognition Act that would have allowed people to change their identity through self-identification, rather than a medical process, were paused in June 2019.Critics of the changes within the SNP had accused Sturgeon of being \"out of step\" on the issue, and expressed concerns that the reforms would be open to abuse and allow predatory men into women's spaces.The Scottish Government said it had paused the legislation in order to find \"maximum consensus\" on the issueand commentators described the issue as having divided the SNP like no other, with many dubbing the debate a \"civil war\". In April 2020, the reforms were again delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2021, a former trans officer in the SNP's LGBT wing, Teddy Hope, quit the party, claiming it was one of the \"core hubs of transphobia in Scotland\".Large numbers of LGBT activists followed suit and Sturgeon released a video message in which she said that transphobia is \"not acceptable\" and said she hoped they would re-join the party. In the 2021 SNP manifesto, Sturgeon committed the party once again to reform the Gender Recognition Actand in August that year included the commitment in her agreement with theScottish Greenson power-sharing.In September 2021, Sturgeon was accused of shutting down debate about gender reforms after she described concerns about gender recognition reform as \"not valid\" and campaign groups and analysts complained that their concerns were being ignored. On 22 December 2022, the Scottish Parliament voted 86 to 39 to pass theGender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Billwhich was introduced by Sturgeon's government, but the bill was vetoed by the UK government. In 2023, Sturgeon was criticised in connection with theIsla Bryson case, in which atransgender womanwho had raped two women when named Adam Graham began self-identifying as a woman after being charged. Bryson was sent to a women's prison before being moved to a men's prison.Sturgeon refused to say if she regards Bryson as a man or woman, though she used female pronouns when talking about Bryson. Nuclear weapons Sturgeon has campaigned against replacing theTrident nuclear weapons system. Views on Conservative government policies At the SNP's 2022 annual party conference inAberdeen, Sturgeon stated: \"I detest theToriesand everything they stand for\" in an interview on the BBC.She was accused of using \"dangerous language\" and when asked if she regretted the comments, Sturgeon simply replied \"no\" and emphasised the point she detested Tory policies and not supporters or voters. Sturgeon has been highly critical towards the leadership ofBoris Johnson'sgovernment.Following Johnson's appointment asBritish prime minister, she claimed he \"rambled\" in his first speech outside10 Downing Streetand suggested he was \"blame shifting\".In July 2019, the prime minister met Sturgeon at her official residence, Bute House, where Johnson was \"booed and heckled\" by protesters.This was the only occasion when he made a formal visit to Edinburgh, as he declined future invites by the first minister.Sturgeon claimed Johnson's \"fragile male ego\" stopped him from meeting her.Sturgeon's attempts to request approval for a second referendum on Scottish independence were declined by the Johnson administration.Speaking after Johnson had resigned in 2022, Sturgeon said that he was the only prime minister she had worked with who was \"a disgrace to the office\". Post premiership (2023–present) Upon her resignation as First Minister, Sturgeon returned to thebackbench, where she continues to serve as the MSP forGlasgow Southside.On 7 September 2023, she made her first speech in parliament since her arrest. SNP finance fraud inquiry and arrest In the latter half of Sturgeon's leadership of the SNP, aPolice Scotlandfraud inquirywas launched to investigate the spending of money that was raised specifically for independence campaigning.She dismissed claims the investigation was a result of her resignation as party leader and first minister.On 5 April 2023, Sturgeon's husband and the party's former chief executive,Peter Murrell, was arrested at their Glasgow residence and their home was searched amid the ongoing investigation.The SNP's HQ in Edinburgh and several other addresses related to party officials were also searched by police.Murrell was later released without charge and Sturgeon pulled out of a UN climate event. On 16 April, a meeting of the party's ruling body in March 2021 was leaked by a member to theDaily Mail, which showed Sturgeon warning members to be \"very careful\" about suggesting claims there were financial problems within the SNP.The following day, it was revealed Sturgeon would work remotely from parliament as a spokesperson stated: \"in order to ensure the focus of this week is on the new First Minister setting out his priorities for the people of Scotland, Ms Sturgeon has always intended to participate remotely and intends to return to Holyrood in the near future.\".In that same week, the SNP's treasurer,Colin Beatie, was arrested and later released without charge.Beatie subsequently resigned from the role.Sturgeon's successor,Humza Yousaf, has had calls by opposition for her party membership to be suspended, however, he has rejected these calls. Widespread speculation that Sturgeon could be arrested for police questioning amid the ongoing inquirycame to fruition when, on 11 June 2023, Sturgeon was arrested byPolice Scotlandover the investigation into the finances of her SNP party, which reportedly diverted £600,000 meant for the Scottish Independence campaign elsewhere.She was released without charge pending further investigation later that day.On 23 May 2024Police Scotlandhanded a prosecution report in relation toPeter Murrellto theCrown Officewho confirmed that a \"53 year-old woman\" also remained under investigation. COVID-19 inquiry Sturgeon is facing a potential criminal inquiry in 2024 after it was disclosed that all herWhatsAppmessages during the pandemic had been deleted despite being instructed by the government to retain all information in 2021 and again in 2022 and having agreed to provide them in 2021 to theUK COVID-19 Inquiry. Public image and legacy At the beginning of Sturgeon's political career, she was often regarded as a \"nippy sweetie\",Scottish slangfor the \"sharp-tongued and strong-minded\".The term was used to describe Sturgeon's \"fierce\" attitude.Conversely, newspapers ideologically opposed to the SNP, such as theDaily Express,The Scottish Sun, andThe Spectatorhave repeatedly and derogatorily compared Sturgeon to \"Wee Jimmy Krankie\", a character from Scottish comedy duoThe Krankies. Sturgeon was elected leader of the SNP at a time in which the party enjoyed a surge in membership. In 2015, Sturgeon was described in aDaily Mailheadline as the \"most dangerous woman in Britain\".It followed her party's unprecedented gains in the2015 general election, which questioned the future of the union. Sturgeon and her party experienced a surge in popularity during theCOVID-19 pandemic,in part due to her willingness to communicate with the public and the Press through regular, televised briefings, and her willingness to take responsibility for her government's mistakes. This contrasted to then-PM Boris Johnson'sapproach, who was \"less proactive and more evasive when it came to dealing with the press\". The circumstances of Sturgeon's resignation in 2023, as well as her appearances at the 2024 UK COVID-19 Inquiry left a question mark over her political legacy. A wide range of media outlets were quick to condemn her reputation, includingPolitico Europe,The Times,BBC News,The Spectator,The WeekandtheI. Nonetheless, public polling shows that Sturgeon remains a popular figure in Scottish and wider UK politics, with 46% of Scots having a favourable opinion of her in 2023YouGovpolling and 50% seeing her as having \"been a good leader for Scotland\".On leaving office, she was the most popular party leader in the UK according toIpsospolling.Her popular reputation suffered following her appearance at the 2024 COVID-19 inquiry and revelations she had deleted Whatsapp messages;however, polling has differed and there is still evidence of high trust towards her, usually along partisan lines. There is evidence that Nicola Sturgeon's popularity had an effect on the2023 SNP leadership racewhich sawHumza Yousafelected as leader of the SNP andFirst Minister of Scotland. Yousaf was widely regarded as Sturgeon's \"continuity candidate\",having previously worked as Sturgeon'sCabinet Secretary for Justice (2018–2021)and forHealth (2021–2023). Hence, SNP members with a favourable view of Sturgeon were more likely to elect Yousaf, whereas those more critical of the outgoing FM were more likely to vote for his opponents,Kate ForbesandAsh Regan. Sturgeon plans to publish a memoir withPan MacMillanin 2025. Awards and acknowledgements Sturgeon won theScottish Politician of the Year Awardin 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2019. Forbesmagazine ranked Sturgeon as the 50th most powerful woman in the world in 2016 and 2nd in the United Kingdom.She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2014.In 2015,BBC Radio 4'sWoman's Hourassessed Sturgeon to be the most powerful and influential woman in the United Kingdom. Personal life Sturgeon lives inBroomhouse,Glasgowwith her husband,Peter Murrell, who is the former chief executive officer of the SNP.The couple have been in a relationship since 2003. They got engaged on 29 January 2010,and were married on 16 July 2010 atÒran Mórin Glasgow. Sturgeon is known for her love of fiction and says reading \"gives me a lot of joy and helps with the stresses and strains of work\". Her mother Joan was the SNP Provost ofNorth Ayrshirecouncil, where she was councillor for the Irvine East ward from 2007 until 2016. In 2016, Sturgeon disclosed that she had miscarried five years previously. In May 2022, Sturgeon tested positive for COVID-19. In line with Government guidance, she completed a self-isolation period. See also Notes References External links","Jo Swinson Joanne Kate SwinsonCBEFRSA(born 5 February 1980) is a former British politician who wasLeader of the Liberal Democratsfrom July to December 2019. She was the first woman and the youngest person to hold the position, as well as the shortest-serving holder of the post. Swinson was the first leader of the Liberal Democrats to be defeated in their own constituency. Swinson wasMember of Parliament(MP) forEast Dunbartonshirefrom2005to2015and2017to2019. In September 2020, Swinson became Director of Partners for a New Economy (P4NE). Swinson studied at theLondon School of Economics, and briefly worked inpublic relations, before being elected to theHouse of Commons, becoming theyoungest MPat the time.She was a Liberal DemocratSpokespersoncovering various portfolios, includingScotland,Women and Equalities,Communities and Local Government, andForeign and Commonwealth Affairs. In 2010, after the Liberal Democrats entered into acoalition governmentwith theConservative Party, Swinson was a Parliamentary Private Secretary toDeputy Prime MinisterNick Clegg, and was later appointedParliamentary Under Secretary of State for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs.She lost her seat in the2015 election, but regained it in thesnap electionheld two years later. Shortly after returning to Parliament, she waselected unopposedas Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats.In July 2019, following the retirement ofVince Cable, Swinson defeatedEd Daveyin aleadership electionto become Leader of the Liberal Democrats. Swinson led her party through the2019 general election, suggesting she could lead a Liberal Democratmajority governmentwhich would revokeArticle 50and cancelBrexit. Instead, Swinson and the Liberal Democrats sustained a net loss in seats, including her own to theScottish National Partyand was disqualified from continuing as party leader.At less than five months, her tenure as leader was the shortest in the Liberal Democrats' history. She is also the only incumbent Liberal Democrat leader to havelost a Parliamentary seat. Early life and education Swinson was born in Glasgowon 5 February 1980, the daughter of Peter and Annette Swinson.She was educated atDouglas Academy,a mixed state school in the town ofMilngavieinEast Dunbartonshirein western Scotland, followed by theLondon School of Economics, where she studiedManagement, gaining afirst-classBachelor of Sciencedegree in 2000.She signed up as an active member of theLiberal Democratsat the age of 17. Early career After graduating from theLondon School of Economics, Swinson moved toYorkshireand worked for Ace Visual and Sound Systems inThorne, before becoming amarketingandpublic relationsmanager forHull-based commercial radio stationViking FMfrom December 2000,and media company Space and People. At the age of 21, Swinson stood unsuccessfully in theKingston upon Hull Eastconstituency in the2001 general election, but gained a 6%swingfromJohn Prescott, then theDeputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. In 2003, she unsuccessfully contestedStrathkelvin and Bearsdenseat in theScottish Parliament election, finishing third with 14% of the vote. Member of Parliament (2005–2015) Swinson was elected to theHouse of Commonsas the MP forEast Dunbartonshireat the2005 general election. She defeatedJohn LyonsofLabourby 4,061 votes, and was the first ever Member of Parliament born in the 1980s.As the youngest MP she replaced fellow Lib Dem MPSarah Teatheras the \"Baby of the House\". This lasted until 2009, whenConservativeMPChloe Smithwas elected at theNorwich North by-election. Swinson was vocal in heropposition to the Iraq Warand the Labour government's proposals fornational identity cards. She has supported measures both by individuals and government to tackleclimate changesuch asconserving energyin the home and the Liberal Democrat policy of introducinggreen taxeswhile reducingincome taxto offset the burden. She supports reducing thevoting ageto 16 as one way of engaging young people in politics. She believes more women should be involved in politics but that encouragement is better than affirmative action in achieving this. She opposespositive discriminationto address gender imbalance, and led the argument against positive discrimination to select her party's candidates at their nationalparty conferencein 2002, wearing a pink T-shirt inscribed with the slogan, \"I am not a token woman\". Swinson has also called for a \"wellbeing index\" to be introduced, to be compared againstGDP, and tabled anearly day motionon the issue in 2008, gaining 50 signatures. She found support from MPs such asVince CableandAngela Eagle. Swinson cited the fact that althoughstandard of livinghad increased, people's level of wellbeing had been virtually static for some time, according to polls. Swinson believed that newprisonsought not to be built and had campaigned vocally, but without success, against the rebuilding of a prison atBishopbriggswithin the constituency. She had said that if a prison was built it must not be built cheaply,and that it must not be named after the town in which is to be sited.The campaign to give the prison its original name was ultimately successful,as the replacement prison will retain its original name,Lowmoss Prison. She is an active campaigner against excessive packaging ofchocolateEaster eggs. Each year from 2007 saw Swinson attackconfectionerymanufacturers for wasteful use of non-recyclable materials in packaging of the seasonal goods. She has namedGuylianas the worst offender, followed byLindt,BaileysandCadbury. Swinson successfully held her seat ofEast Dunbartonshirein the2010 general election, although with a slightly decreased majority.Her party, the Liberal Democrats, subsequentlyenteredinto acoalition with the Conservative Party. Parliamentary Private Secretary In November 2010, Swinson was madeParliamentary Private Secretaryto then Business Secretary Vince Cable. In December 2010, she was one of 27 Liberal Democrat MPs who voted in favour of allowing universities to raise tuition fees up to £9,000 per year. In February 2012, Swinson replacedNorman Lambas Parliamentary Private Secretary to then Liberal Democrat Leader andDeputy Prime MinisterNick Clegg, holding this position until her promotion to government minister later that year. Business Minister (2012–2015) In September 2012, Swinson was appointed Under Secretary of State for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs in a reshuffle by then Prime MinisterDavid Cameron.She maintained this role for the remainder of theCameron–Clegg coalition, except for several months of maternity leave between 2013 and 2014. Swinson initially focused efforts on scrapping the 1871 Pedlars Act, which preventspedlars(travelling salesmen) andstreet tradersfrom trading without first acquiring a certificate from the police. In November 2012, Swinson said that the proposed deregulation would help \"eliminate barriers to street traders and pedlars by making it easier to trade, boosting retail and helping small traders – including many young entrepreneurs – to expand and grow”.The proposal was criticised by theLocal Government Association, which claimed that it would lead to a 'free for all' of pedlars targeting vulnerable people.By 2014, however, Swinson announced she would seek to amend rather than repeal the laws. Swinson opposed forcing companies to adopt gender quotas, stating that such a move would \"negatively affect\" the performance of businesses.She instead promoted voluntary solutions, telling an event organised by theBritish Chambers of Commerce, \"What women need is confidence, not quotas. So rather than telling companies what to do, we're encouraging them to see the real business benefits of taking voluntary action.\" From 2013, Swinson sought to promotefathers' rightsin regard toparental leave, bringing forth new legislation which allowed parents to divide parental leave between themselves with an aim to encourage fathers to spend more time with their newborn infants. In October 2013, controversy emerged after MPs in the House of Commons allowed Swinson, then pregnant, to stand for 20 minutes without offering her a seat. This led to political debate and comment about whether or not it wassexistto give up a seat for a pregnant woman, with Prime MinisterDavid Cameronwading into the row to say that offering pregnant women seats was the right thing to do.Swinson herself later commented that it was not sexist to offer a pregnant woman a seat, and that it was \"great for people to offer, and part of life's little courtesies.\" In the area of employment, she was supportive of bothzero hours contractsandflexible working, seeking to promote the latter especially.On minimum wage, in February 2013 Swinson joined calls by other ministers to warn that \"caution\" was required when increasing it any further amid claims that minimum wage could be cut or frozen if it began costing jobs.Swinson pledged £80,000 of government financial support for the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, an initiative led bycorporationsincludingAviva InvestorsandCalvertwhich measures and ranks performance of global companies in regard to human rights. Swinson was keen to promote employee ownership, such asemployee ownership of shares, through the establishment of aFTSE-compliant UK Employee Ownership Index, supporting measures to reduce regulations for companies choosing to adopt employee ownership practices, and a scheme allowing companies to contractually offer employees £2,000 to £50,000 worth of shares (which would beexemptedfrom capital gains tax) in exchange for waiving certain employee rights.Swinson traced employee ownership back to the philosophy ofJeremy Bentham, and claimed such ownership models improve productivity and lower absenteeism in staff. By 2014, it was being reported that Swinson was tipped to replaceAlistair CarmichaelasScottish Secretaryand enter theCabinetin a potential reshuffle, which at the time would have made her the youngest female Cabinet member ever and the first Cabinet member to be born in the 1980s.At the same time, however, electoral projections for the2015 general electionshowed Swinson was under serious risk of losing herEast Dunbartonshireseat to a surge ofScottish National Partysupport. Swinson introduced to parliament theConsumer Rights Act 2015on 23 January 2014, so as to consolidate and updateconsumer protection lawand thereby provide a \"modern framework of consumer rights\". Shortly before the 2015 general election,The Timesand theFinancial Timesreported that Swinson was one of a number of prominent 'right-leaning' Liberal Democrat MPs, aligned to then Liberal Democrat leaderNick Clegg, deliberately excluded from campaign funding by former leading Liberal Democratpeerand donorMatthew Oakeshotteven though their seats, including Swinson's, were vulnerablemarginals. Swinson was featured in the 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 editions of the 'London's 1000 most influential people' list by theEvening Standard. 2015 and 2017 general elections Swinson lost her parliamentary seat in the2015 general electiontoScottish National PartycandidateJohn Nicolsonby 2,167 votes (4.0%).She stood again for her former seat during the2017 general electionand won with a lead of 5,339 votes (10.3%) over Nicolson.During this time, she wrote her bookEqual Power: And How You Can Make It Happen. Between 2017 and 2018, Swinson received political funding from Mark Petterson, the director of Warwick Energy Ltd, which has fracking licences across England.She also voted against plans to ban fracking in the UK. Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats (2017–2019) Following the resignation ofTim Farronas Liberal Democrat leader on 14 June 2017, Swinson was named by theBBCas one of the possible contenders for the leadership along withNorman LambandVince Cable.She later announced that she would not seek the leadership; instead, she became Deputy Leader after being the only candidate at the close of nominations. As of October 2017, she was her party's Spokesperson for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. At the Liberal Democrat autumn conference of 2017, Swinson drew media attention for using the phrase \"Faragey, Trumpy, angry, arsey, shouty slogans\" in criticising populism. In the same speech she called for thestate visitof U.S. PresidentDonald Trumpto be cancelled and warned aboutBrexit. In February 2018, Swinson's first bookEqual Power: And How You Can Make It Happenwas published byAtlantic Books.Discussing her book, Swinson explained that government has \"limitations\" when addressing gender inequality, so her book instead mainly suggests ideas for people to make changes in their own homes and workplaces.The Irish TimeslikenedEqual Powerto the \"corporate feminism\" ofSheryl Sandberg'sLean In,whileThe Heraldalso noted \"A read ofEqual Powermakes it apparent that Swinson is a fan of Sheryl Sandberg'sLean In.\"Swinson's book was featured at theAye Write!literary festival in Glasgow. In a March 2018 article forThe Mail on Sunday,Swinson came out in favour of erecting a statue of former Prime MinisterMargaret ThatcherinParliament Square.She justified her position on feminist grounds and claimed that Thatcher was able to \"single-handedly transform the fortunes of women\", accusing opponents of the Thatcher statue as being \"pretty sexist\".Swinson praised Thatcher for her skills in negotiating theUK rebateand for taking the UK into the single market, but was also critical of Thatcher for thepoll taxand stressed she did not consider herself aThatcherite.In addition, she wrote that there should be a statue of the first femaleFirst Minister of ScotlandNicola Sturgeonin time, though she disagrees withScottish independence. In July 2018, Swinson was absent for key votes on the Brexit negotiations, having been on maternity leave following the birth of her second son. During this period, she attended an anti-Trumpprotest, drawing criticism from Labour MPKate HoeyonThe Spectator's podcast.Conservative Party ChairmanBrandon Lewishad formally agreed not to vote, so that Swinson's absence would not affect the result.Lewis voted with the government nonetheless, leading Swinson to accuse the government of resorting to \"desperate stuff\" and a \"calculated, deliberate breaking of trust\".Lewis apologised, alongsideCabinet OfficeministerDavid Lidingtonandgovernment chief whipJulian Smith.Apologising on Twitter, Lewis said that it was an \"honest mistake made by the whips in fast-moving circumstances.\" Leader of the Liberal Democrats (2019) In May 2019,Vince Cableannounced he would relinquish his role as leader of the Liberal Democrats in July, triggering a leadership election.Subsequently, while appearing on the 30 May edition of the BBC political discussion programmeQuestion Time, Swinson confirmed that she would put her name forward in the forthcoming contest. On 22 July 2019, Swinson waselectedthe first-ever female leader of the Liberal Democrats, with 47,997 (62.8%) votes, gaining a clear victory over SirEd Davey, with 28,021 votes. She was the first leader of a major British political party who was born in the 1980s.Under her leadership, the party's candidate andWelsh Liberal DemocratsleaderJane Doddswon theBrecon and Radnorshire by-election, following a \"remain alliance\" in whichChange UK,Plaid Cymruand theGreen Partyagreed not to stand candidates.The party's membership also rose to a record 115,000+ members, with many party supporters attributing this rise to what they called \"the Swinson surge\". In her first Leader's Speech to theLiberal Democrat Federal Conference, on 17 September 2019, Swinson said thatBoris Johnson\"claims he can negotiate a Brexit deal in a month. I wouldn't hold out much hope: yesterday he couldn't negotiate where to have a press conference\". 2019 election campaign Swinson campaigned on a platform ofrevokingArticle 50if the Liberal Democrats formed the government. The policy proved to be controversial with both Remain and Leave voters, who criticised it as undemocratic.Swinson launched her campaign by declaring that she was \"a candidate to be prime minister\", and suggesting her party could win a majority.However, poll ratings for the party were poor and Swinson's personal ratings declined throughout the campaign. During the campaign, Swinson clashed withNicola Sturgeon, theFirst Minister of Scotlandon the subject of nuclear weapons. Asked if she would be prepared to use nuclear weapons, Swinson replied simply \"yes\". Sturgeon commented that \"It's sickening to hear this question asked and answered as if it's some kind of virility test and without any context... Using nuclear weapons would mean killing millions of people.\"Swinson was subject to afake newsstory in which she was accused of 'hunting squirrels'.First Draft News, an organisation that seeks to identify online misinformation, found that the claim originated from a doctored video clip, with a spokesperson for the organisation warning that the propagation of false stories such as this were leading to the \"gentle erosion of trust\". In November 2019, Swinson also was confronted by Jay Sutherland, a student activist in Scotland.Along with the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats,Willie Rennie, Swinson was accused of supporting austerity.The student said \"People are dying here, they’re in poverty, because of what you’ve done on austerity\".The altercation was featured heavily on British news outlets.Afterwards the Liberal Democrats reaffirmed the party \"does not have a problem attracting young voters.\" Swinson’s campaign was reported to be funded by companies sellingpuberty blockers, a medication that somesocial conservativeshave criticised.In December 2019, it was reported that a pharmaceutical firm marketing drugs to delay puberty had donated £100,000 to the Liberal Democrats.When questioned about her beliefs on sex and gender, Swinson replied that she didn't \"think things are as binary as they are often presented”. Swinson ceased to be leader on13 December 2019, when in the general electionshelost her own seatin parliament to theSNP'sAmy Callaghan. The party's rules disqualified her from continuing as its leader. She had led the party for 144 days. As well as losing seats, the Liberal Democrats failed to make predicted gains.An internal party review said that their election campaign was worsened by \"an inexperienced inner circle\" around Swinson. It said that voters who were neither fervently leave nor remain were \"effectively ignored\" by her promise to revoke Article 50.On 27 August 2020, SirEd Daveywonthe leadership electionto succeed her. Later career In July 2020, Swinson accepted a position as visiting professor atCranfield School of ManagementinBedfordshire.In September 2020, she became Director of Partners for a New Economy (P4NE). Personal life On 13 May 2011, Swinson married then fellow Liberal Democrat MPDuncan Hames.The couple's first child, Andrew, was born in December 2013.A second son, Gabriel, was born in June 2018.Swinson gave birth to the couple's third son, Robin, on 28 July 2023. Swinson completed theLoch Ness Marathonin 2007, the2011 London Marathonand the inauguralStirling Scottish Marathonin 2017.Through this, she has raised money for theAnaphylaxis CampaignandBloodwise.She ran the London Landmarks Half Marathon in March 2019 in memory of her father, who had died ofblood cancerthe previous year. Having apeanut allergy,Swinson sustainedanaphylactic shockin May 2013 after eating a biscuit containing nuts in Glasgow. She collapsed with breathing difficulty, recovering on administration ofadrenaline, and an overnight stay in hospital. Swinson was made aCommander of the Order of the British Empire(CBE) in the2018 New Year Honoursfor political and public service.On receiving the honour, Swinson said she was privileged \"to be listed among so many remarkable people from all walks of life, making amazing contributions right across our country\". Swinson is ahumanistand is a member of the humanist charityHumanists UK. References External links"],"string":"[\n \"2019 United Kingdom general election Boris JohnsonConservative Boris JohnsonConservative The2019 United Kingdom general electionwas held on Thursday 12 December 2019, with 47,567,752 registered votersentitled to vote to elect 650Members of Parliament(MPs) to theHouse of Commons. The governingConservative Party, led by theprime ministerBoris Johnson, won alandslide victorywith a majority of 80 seats,a net gain of 48, on 43.6 per cent of the popular vote, the highest percentage for any party since the1979 general election,though with a narrower popular vote margin than that achieved by theLabour Partyover the Conservatives at the1997 general election. This was the second national election to be held in 2019 in the United Kingdom, the first being the2019 European Parliament election. After it lost its parliamentary majority at the2017 general election, the Conservative Party governed in minority with the support of theDemocratic Unionist Party(DUP). The prime minister,Theresa May, resigned in July 2019 after repeatedly failing to pass herBrexit withdrawal agreementin parliament. Johnson succeeded her as theleader of the Conservative Partyand as prime minister in July 2019. Johnson could not persuade Parliament to approve a revised withdrawal agreement by the end of October, and chose to call asnap election, which the House of Commons supported under theEarly Parliamentary General Election Act 2019.Opinion polls showed a firm lead for the Conservatives against the opposition Labour Party throughout the campaign. The Conservatives won 365 seats, their highest number and proportion since the1987 general election, and recorded their highest share of the popular vote since 1979; many of their gains were made in seats once considered previously safe for Labour, dubbed thered wall, which had voted strongly in favour of British withdrawal from the EU in the2016 European Union (EU) membership referendum. Labour won 202 seats, its fewest since the1935 general election.TheScottish National Party(SNP) made a net gain of 13 seats with 45 per cent of the vote in Scotland, winning 48 of the 59 seats there.TheLiberal Democratsincreased their vote share to 11.6 per cent, but won only 11 seats, a net loss of one since the last election. The party's leader,Jo Swinson, lost her seat to the SNP, thus triggering the2020 party leadership election, which was won byEd Davey.The DUP won apluralityof seats in Northern Ireland. TheSocial Democratic and Labour Party(SDLP) and theAlliance Party of Northern Ireland(APNI) regained parliamentary representation as the DUP lost seats. The election result gave Johnson the mandate he sought from the electorate to formally implement thewithdrawal of the United Kingdomfrom theEuropean Union, and to complete the repeal of theEuropean Communities Act 1972on 31 January 2020.Jeremy Corbyn, Labour's leader at the election, resigned, triggering the2020 party leadership election, which was won by his shadow Brexit secretary,Keir Starmer.Jane Dodds, the Liberal Democrats' leader in Wales, was also unseated inBrecon and Radnorshire.In Northern Ireland,Irish nationalistMPs outnumberedunionistsfor the first time, although the unionist popular vote remained higher at 43.1 per cent, and the sevenSinn FéinMPs did not take their seats due to their tradition ofabstentionism. Despite being elected with a landslide, Johnson went on to resign amid agovernment crisisin 2022, being followed byLiz Trussfor fifty daysand then byRishi Sunak, who went on to lead the Conservatives in thesubsequent election. Background Withdrawalof theUnited Kingdomfrom theEuropean Union In July 2016,Theresa Maywas electedPrime Ministerto succeedDavid Cameron, who had resigned following the 2016Brexit referendum. TheConservative Partyhad governed since the2010 general election, initially in coalition with theLiberal Democratsand then alone with a small majority following the2015 general election. In the2017 general election, May lost her majority but was able to resume office as a result of aconfidence and supplyagreement with Northern Ireland'sDemocratic Unionist Party(DUP), known as theConservative–DUP agreement. In the face of opposition from the DUP and Conservativebackbenchers, thesecond May ministrywas unable to pass itsBrexit withdrawal agreementby 29 March 2019, so some political commentators considered that an early general election was likely. The oppositionLabour Partycalled for a2019 vote of confidence in the May ministrybut the motion, held in January, failed.May resigned following her party's poor performance in the2019 European Parliament electionduring the first extension granted by the European Union for negotiations on the withdrawal agreement.Boris Johnsonwon the2019 Conservative leadership electionand became the prime minister on 24 July 2019. Along with attempting to revise the withdrawal agreement arranged by his predecessor's negotiations, Johnson made three attempts to hold a snap election under the process defined in theFixed-term Parliaments Act 2011,which required a two-thirdssupermajorityin order for an election to take place. All three attempts to call an election failed to gain support; Parliament insisted that Johnson \\\"take ano-deal Brexitoff the table first\\\" and secure a negotiated Withdrawal Agreement, expressed in particular by its enactment against his will of theEuropean Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019, often called the Benn Act, after Labour MPHilary Benn, who introduced the bill. After failing to pass a revised deal before the first extension's deadline of 31 October 2019, Johnson agreed to a second extension on negotiations with the European Union and finally secured a revised withdrawal agreement. Parliament agreed to an election through a motion proposed by the Liberal Democrats and theScottish National Party(SNP) on 28 October. TheEarly Parliamentary General Election Act 2019(EPGEA) was passed in theHouse of Commonsby 438 votes to 20; an attempt to pass an amendment by opposition parties for the election to be held on 9 December failed by 315 votes to 295.TheHouse of Lordsfollowed suit on 30 October,withroyal assentmade the day after for the ratification of the EPGEA. Date of the election The deadline for candidate nominations was 14 November 2019,with political campaigning for four weeks until polling day on 12 December. On the day of the election, polling stations across the country were open from 7 am, and closed at 10 pm.The date chosen for the 2019 general election made it the first to be held in December since the1923 general election. Voting eligibility Individuals eligible to vote had to be registered to vote by midnight on 26 November.To be eligible to vote, individuals had to be aged 18 or over;residing as an Irish or Commonwealth citizen at an address in the United Kingdom,or be a British citizen overseas who registered to vote in the last 15 years;and not legally excluded (on grounds of detainment in prison, a mental hospital, or on the run from law enforcement),or disqualified from voting.Anyone who qualified as ananonymous electorhad until midnight on 6 December to register. Timetable Contesting political parties and candidates Most candidates are representatives of apolitical party, which must be registered with the Electoral Commission's Register. Those who do not belong to one must use the labelIndependentor none. In the 2019 election 3,415 candidates stood: 206 being independents, the rest representing one of 68 political parties. Campaign Campaign background The Conservative Party and Labour Party have been the two biggest political parties, and have supplied every Prime Minister since the1922 general election. The Conservative Party have governed since the 2010 election, in coalition with the Liberal Democrats from 2010 to 2015. At the 2015 general election, the Conservative Party committed to offering a referendum on whether the United Kingdom should leave theEuropean Union(EU) and won a majority in that election. A referendum was held in June 2016, and the Leave campaign won by 51.9% to 48.1%. United Kingdom invocation of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Unioncame in March 2017, andTheresa Maytriggered asnap electionin 2017, in order to demonstrate support for her planned negotiation of Brexit. Instead, the Conservative Party lost seats. They won a plurality of MPs but not a majority, and the result was ahung parliament. They formed aminority government, with theDemocratic Unionist Party(DUP) as theirconfidence and supplypartner. Neither May nor her successorBoris Johnson, the winner of the2019 Conservative leadership election,was able to secure parliamentary support either for a deal on the terms of the country's exit from the EU, or for exiting the EU without an agreed deal. Johnson later succeeded in bringing his withdrawal agreement to a second reading in Parliament, following another extension until January 2020. After Johnson's 2019 win, a new Withdrawal Agreement Bill was introduced in 2020. Compared to its 2019 October predecessor, this bill offered, in the words of political scientistMeg Russell, \\\"significantly weaker parliamentary oversight of Brexit ... giving parliament no formal role in agreeing the future relationship negotiating objectives, and a diminished role in approving any resulting treaty.\\\" During the lifespan of the 2017 Parliament, twenty MPs resigned from their parties, mostly due to disputes with their party leaderships; some formed new parties and alliances. In February 2019, eight Labour and three Conservative MPs left their parties to sit together asThe Independent Group.Having undergone a split and two name changes, at dissolution, this group numbered five MPs who sat as the registered party The Independent Group for Change under the leadership ofAnna Soubry. Two MPs sat in a group calledThe Independents, which at its peak had five members. One MP created theBirkenhead Social Justice Party, while a further 20 MPs who began as Labour or Conservative ended Parliament as unaffiliated independents. Seven MPs, from both the Conservatives and Labour, joined the Liberal Democrats during Parliament, in combination with a gain after the2019 Brecon and Radnorshire by-election. By the time Parliament was dissolved, the Liberal Democrats had raised their number from 12 at the election to 20 at dissolution. One reason for the defections from the Labour Party was the ongoing row over allegedantisemitism in the Labour Party. Labour entered the election campaign while under investigation by theEquality and Human Rights Commission.TheJewish Labour Movementdeclared that it would not generally campaign for Labour.The Conservative Party was also criticised for not doing enough to tackle the allegedIslamophobia in the Conservative Party.The Conservatives ended the previous parliamentary period with fewer seats than they had started with because of defections and also saw the2019 suspension of rebel Conservative MPsfor going against the party line by voting to prevent ano-deal Brexit.Of the 21 expelled, 10 were subsequently reinstated, while the others continued as independents. Policy positions Brexit The major parties had a wide variety of stances on Brexit. The Conservative Party supported leaving under the terms of the withdrawal agreement as negotiated by Johnson (amending May's previous agreement), and this agreement formed a central part of the Conservative campaign via the slogan \\\"Get Brexit Done\\\".TheBrexit Partywas in favour of a no-deal Brexit, with its leaderNigel Faragecalling for Johnson to drop the deal. The Conservative manifesto read \\\"If we elect a majority of Conservative MPs to Parliament, we will start putting our deal through Parliament before Christmas and we will leave the European Union in January\\\" which ultimately happened. The Labour Party proposed a renegotiation of the withdrawal agreement, towards a closer post-withdrawal relationship with the EU, and would then put this forward as an option in a referendum alongside the option of remaining in the EU.The Labour Party's campaigning stance in that referendum would be decided at a special conference.In aQuestion Timespecial featuring four party leaders, Labour leaderJeremy Corbynsaid that he would stay neutral in the referendum campaign. TheLiberal Democrats,Scottish National Party,Plaid Cymru,The Independent Group for Change, and theGreen Party of England and Waleswere all opposed to Brexit, and proposed that a further referendum be held with the option, for which they would campaign, to remain in the EU.The Liberal Democrats originally pledged that if they formed amajority government, which was considered a highly unlikely outcome by observers,they would revoke the Article 50 notification immediately and cancel Brexit.Part-way through the campaign, the Liberal Democrats dropped the policy of revoking Article 50 after the party realised it was not going to win a majority in the election. TheDemocratic Unionist Partywas in favour of a withdrawal agreement in principle but opposed the deals negotiated by both May and Johnson, believing that they created too great a divide between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.Sinn Féin, theSocial Democratic and Labour Party, theUlster Unionist Party(UUP),and theAlliance Party of Northern Irelandall favoured remaining in the EU. The UUP did not see a second referendum as a necessary route to achieving this goal. The environment The Labour Party promised what they described as a green industrial revolution. This included support for renewable energies and a promise to plant 2 billion trees by 2040. The party also promised to transition to electrify the United Kingdom's bus fleet by 2030.The Liberal Democrats promised to put the environment at the heart of their agenda with a promise to plant 60 million trees a year. They promised to significantly reduce carbon emissions by 2030 and hit zero carbon emissions by 2045. By 2030, they planned to generate 80% of the country's energy needs from renewable energies such as solar power and wind and retrofit 26 million homes with insulation by 2030. They also promised to build more environmentally friendly homes and to establish a new Department for the Climate Crisis. The Conservatives pledged net zero emissions by 2050 with investment in clean energy solutions and green infrastructure to reduce carbon emissions and pollution. They also pledged to plant 30 million trees and boost wind and solar energy. Tax and spending commitments In September 2019, the Conservative government performed a spending review, where they announced plans to increase public spending by £13.8 billion a year, and reaffirmed plans to spend another £33.9 billion a year on theNational Health Service(NHS) by 2023. ChancellorSajid Javidsaid the government had turned the page on 10 years ofausterity in the United Kingdom. During the election, the parties produced manifestos that outlined spending in addition to that already planned. TheConservative Party manifestowas described as having \\\"little in the way of changes to tax\\\" by theInstitute for Fiscal Studies(IFS). The decision to keep the rate of corporation tax at 19%, and not reduce it to 17% as planned, was expected to raise £6 billion a year. The plan to increase the national insurance threshold for employees and self-employed to £9,500 would cost £2 billion a year.They committed to not raise rates of income tax,National Insurance, orVAT. There were increased spending commitments of £3 billion current spending and £8 billion investment spending. Overall, this would have led to the country's debt as a percentage of GDP remaining stable. The IFS assessed that it would rise in the event of a no-deal Brexit.TheLabour Party manifestoplanned to raise an extra £78 billion a year from taxes over the course of Parliament, with sources including: In addition, Labour was to obtain income from the Inclusive Ownership Fund, windfall tax on oil companies, and some smaller tax changes. There were increased spending commitments of £98 billion current spending and £55 billion investment spending. Overall, this would have led to the national debt as a percentage of GDP rising.Labour'sJohn McDonnellsaid borrowing would only be for investment and one-offs (e.g. compensatingWASPIwomen, not shown above), and not for day-to-day spending. The Liberal Democrats manifesto planned to raise an extra £36 billion per year from taxes over the course of Parliament, with sources including: There were increased commitments of £37 billion current spending and £26 billion investment spending, which would overall lead to the debt as a percentage of GDP falling, partly due to improved economic conditions which would result from staying in the EU. Institute for Fiscal Studies analysis TheInstitute of Fiscal Studies(IFS), an influential research body, released on 28 November its in-depth analysis of themanifestosof the three main national political parties.The analysis provided a summary of the financial promises made by each party and an inspection of the accuracy of claims around government income and expenditure.The IFS reported that neither the Conservatives nor the Labour Party had published a \\\"properly credible prospectus\\\". Its analysis of the Conservative manifesto concluded there was \\\"essentially nothing new in the manifesto\\\", that there was \\\"little in the way of changes to tax, spending, welfare or anything else\\\", and that they had already promised increased spending for health and education whilst in government. The Labour manifesto was described as introducing \\\"enormous economic and social change\\\", and increasing the role of the state to be bigger than anything in the last 40 years. The IFS highlighted a raft of changes in including free childcare, university, personal care, and prescriptions, as well as nationalisations, labour market regulations, increases in the minimum wage, and enforcing \\\"effective ownership of 10% of large companies from current owners to a combination of employees and government\\\". The IFS said that Labour's vision \\\"is of a state not so dissimilar to those seen in many other successful Western European economies\\\", and presumed that the manifesto should be seen as \\\"a long-term prospectus for change rather than a realistic deliverable plan for a five-year parliament\\\".They said that the Liberal Democrats manifesto was not as radical as the Labour manifesto but was a \\\"decisive move away from the policies of the past decade\\\". The Conservative manifesto was criticised for a commitment not to raise rates of income tax, National Insurance, or VAT, as this put a significant constraint on reactions to events that might affect government finances. One such event could be the \\\"die in a ditch\\\" promise to terminate the Brexit transition period by the end of 2020, which risked harming the economy.The IFS also stated that it is \\\"highly likely\\\" spending under a Conservative government would be higher than in that party's manifesto, partly due to a number of uncosted commitments.Outside of commitments to the NHS, the proposals would leave public service spending 14% lower in 2023–2024 than it was in 2010–2011, which the IFS described as \\\"no more austerity perhaps, but an awful lot of it baked in\\\". The IFS stated it had \\\"serious doubt\\\" that tax rises proposed would raise the amount Labour suggested, and said that they would need to introduce more broad based tax increases. They assessed that the public sector does not have the capacity to increase investment spending as Labour would want. The IFS further assessed the claim that tax rises would only hit the top 5% of earners as \\\"certainly progressive\\\" but \\\"clearly not true\\\", with those under that threshold impacted by changes to the marriage allowance, taxes on dividends, or capital gains, and lower wages or higher prices that might be passed on from corporation tax changes. Some of Labour's proposals were described as \\\"huge and complex undertakings\\\", where significant care is required in implementation. The IFS was particularly critical of the policy to compensate the WASPI women, announced after the manifesto, which was a £58bn promise to women who are \\\"relatively well off on average\\\" and would result in public finances going off target.They said that Labour's manifesto would not increase UK public spending as a share of national income above Germany.They found that Labour's plan to spend and invest would boost economic growth but that the impact of tax rises, government regulation, nationalisations, and the inclusive ownership fund could reduce growth, meaning the overall impact of Labour's plan on growth was uncertain. The IFS described the plans of the Liberal Democrats as a radicaltax and spendpackage, and said that the proposals would require lower borrowing than Conservative or Labour plans. The report said they were the only party whose proposals would put debt \\\"on a decisively downward path\\\", praising their plan to put 1p on income tax to go to the NHS as \\\"simple, progressive and would raise a secure level of revenue\\\". The IFS also said plans to \\\"virtually quintuple\\\" current spending levels on universal free childcare amounted to \\\"creating a whole new leg of the universal welfare state\\\".The IFS said that the SNP's manifesto was not costed. Their proposals on spending increases and tax cuts would mean the government would have to borrow to cover day-to-day spending. They concluded that the SNP's plans for Scottish independence would likely require increased austerity. Other issues The Conservatives proposed increasing spending on public services, including the NHS and education.They also proposed increased funding for childcare and on the environment. They proposed more funding for care services and to work with other parties on reforming how care is delivered. They wished to maintain the triple lock on pensions. They proposed investing in local infrastructure, including rail, bus, cycle, and electric cars. They pledged to build a high speed new rail line between Leeds and Manchester. Labour proposed significantly increasing government spending to 45% of national output, which would be high compared to most of British history.This was to pay for an increased NHS budget; stopping state pension age rises; introducing a National Care Service providing free personal care; move to a net-zero carbon economy by the 2030s; nationalising key industries; scrappingUniversal Credit; free bus travel for under-25s; building 100,000 council houses per year; and other proposals. Within this, the Labour Party proposed to take rail-operating companies, energy supply networks,Royal Mail, sewerage infrastructure, and England's private water companies back intopublic ownership. Labour proposednationalisingpart of theBT Groupand to provide freebroadbandto everyone,along withfree educationfor six years during each person's adult life.Over a decade, Labour planned to reduce the average full-time weekly working hours to 32, with resulting productivity increases facilitating no loss of pay.Labour's spending plans were endorsed by more than 160economistsandacademicsand characterised as a \\\"serious programme\\\" to deal with internal problems. The main priority of the Liberal Democrats was opposing Brexit. Other policies included increased spending on the NHS; free childcare for two-to-four-year-olds; recruiting 20,000 more teachers; generating 80% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030; freezing train fares; and legalising cannabis.The Brexit Party was also focused on Brexit. It opposed privatising the NHS. It sought to reduce immigration, cutting net migration to 50,000 per year; cutting VAT on domestic fuel; banning the exporting of waste; free broadband in deprived regions; scrapping the BBC licence fee; and abolishing inheritance tax, interest on student loans, andHigh Speed 2. It also wanted to move to a United States-stylesupreme court. The policies of the SNP included a second referendum on Scottish independence to be held in 2020, as well as one on Brexit, removing theTrident nuclear deterrent, anddevolutionacross issues like as employment law, drug policy, and migration.The Liberal Democrats, the Greens, the SNP, and Labour all supported a ban onfracking in the United Kingdom, whilst the Conservatives proposed approving fracking on a case-by-case basis. Party positions in the event of a hung parliament The Conservatives and Labour insisted they were on course for outright majorities, while smaller parties were quizzed about what they would do in the event of a hung parliament. The Liberal Democrats said that they would not actively support Johnson or Corbyn becoming Prime Minister but that they could, if an alternative could not be achieved, abstain on votes allowing a minority government to form if there was support for a second referendum on Brexit.The SNP ruled out either supporting the Conservatives or a coalition with Labour but spoke about a looser form of support, such as aconfidence and supplyarrangement with the latter, if they supported a second referendum onScottish independence. The DUP previously supported the Conservative government but withdrew that support given their opposition to Johnson's proposed Brexit deal. It said that it would never support Corbyn as prime minister but could work with Labour if that party were led by someone else. Labour's position on a hung parliament was that it would do no deals with any other party, citing Corbyn to say: \\\"We are out here to win it.\\\" At the same time, it was prepared to adopt key policies proposed by the SNP and Liberal Democrats to woo them into supporting a minority government.The UUP said they would never support Corbyn as prime minister, with their leaderSteve Aikenalso saying that he \\\"can't really see\\\" any situation in which they would support a Conservative government either. Their focus would be on remaining in the EU. Tactical voting Under thefirst-past-the-postelectoral system, there is often concern, especially inmarginal seats, that if voters of similar ideological leanings are split between multiple different parties they may allow a victory for a candidate with significantly different views.In the early stages of the campaign, there was considerable discussion oftactical voting, generally in the context of support or opposition to Brexit, and whether parties would stand in all seats or not. There were various electoral pacts and unilateral decisions. The Brexit Party chose not to stand against sitting Conservative candidates but stood in most other constituencies. The Brexit Party alleged that pressure was put on its candidates by the Conservatives to withdraw, including the offer of peerages, which would be illegal. This was denied by the Conservative Party.Under the banner ofUnite to Remain, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, and the Green Party of England and Wales agreed an electoral pact in some seats; some commentators criticised the Liberal Democrats for not standing down in some Labour seats. A number of tactical voting websites were set up in an attempt to help voters choose the candidate in their constituency who would be best placed to beat the Conservative one.The websites did not always give the same advice, whichMichael Savage, political editor ofThe Guardian, said had the potential to confuse voters.One of the websites, named GetVoting.org and set up byBest for Britain, was accused of giving bogus advice in Labour/Conservative marginal seats.The website, which had links to the Liberal Democrats,was criticised for advising pro-Remain voters to back the Liberal Democrats, when doing so risked pulling voters away from Labour candidates and enabling the Conservative candidate to gain most votes. The website changed their controversial recommendation inKensingtonto Labour, which had won it in 2017 by 20 votes,and lined up with Tacticalvote.co.uk in this seat. Describing itself as a progressive grassroots campaign not affiliated with any political party, Tacticalvote.co.uk was previously known as Tactical2017.Gina Miller's Remain United and People's Vote kept their recommendation for the Liberal Democrats. This caused a lot of confusion around tactical voting,as it was reported that the sites did not match one another's advice. Further into the election period, tactical voting websites that relied onmultilevel regression with poststratification, such as Best for Britain, People's Vote, Remain United,andSurvation,changed their recommendations on other seats because of new data.The effectiveness of their tactical voting has also been questioned,and the loss of Kensington, which was a Labour gain in 2017, was blamed by Labour MPs on Liberal Democrats for splitting the vote. In the final weekend before voting,The Guardiancited a poll suggesting that the Conservative Party held a 15% lead over Labour;on the same day, the Conservative-backingDaily Telegraphemphasised a poll indicating a lower 8% lead.Senior opposition politicians from Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and the SNP launched a late-stage appeal to anti-Conservative voters to consider switching allegiance in the general election, amid signs that tactical voting in a relatively small number of marginal seats could deprive Johnson of a majority in parliament. Shortly before the election,The Observernewspaper recommended Remainers tactically vote for 50 Labour, Liberal Democrats, SNP, and independent candidates across Great Britain;of these, 13 triumphed, 9 of which were SNP gains in Scotland (in line with a broader trend of relative success for the party), along with four in England divided equally between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. The pollster responsible argued in the aftermath that the unpopularity of the Labour leadership limited the effectiveness of tactical voting.Other research suggested it would have taken 78% of people voting tactically to prevent a Conservative majority completely, and it would not have been possible to deliver a Labour majority. Canvassing and leafleting Predictions of an overall Conservative majority were based on their targeting of primarily Labour-held, Brexit-backing seats in theMidlandsand the north of England.At the start of the election period, Labour-supporting organisationMomentumheld what was described as \\\"the largest mobilising call in UK history\\\", involving more than 2,000 canvassers.The organisation challenged Labour supporters to devote a week or more to campaigning full-time; by 4 December, 1,400 people had signed up. Momentum also developed an app called My Campaign Map that updated members about where they could be more effective, particularly in canvassing in marginal constituencies. Over one weekend during the campaign period, 700 Labour supporters campaigned inIain Duncan Smith's constituency,Chingford and Woodford Green, which was regarded as a marginal, with a majority of 2,438 votes at the 2017 general election. The Liberal Democrats were considered possible winners of a number of Conservative-held southern English constituencies; a large swing was postulated that might even toppleDominic RaabinEsher and Walton.At the beginning of the 2019 campaign, they had been accused of attempting to mislead voters by using selectiveopinion pollingdata,and use of a quotation attributed toThe Guardianrather than to their leaderJo Swinson.They were also accused of making campaign leaflets look like newspapers, although this practice had been used by all major British political parties for many years, including by Labour and the Conservatives during this election. The Liberal Democrats won a court case stopping the SNP from distributing a \\\"potentially defamatory\\\" leaflet in Swinson's constituency over false claims about funding she had received.Two Labour Party campaigners, both in their seventies, were verbally abused and physically assaulted in separate attacks on the weekend of 23–24 November. One attack occurred inBromyard,Herefordshire, and the other inRotherham,South Yorkshire. Party officials in Bromyard, where Labour campaigners experiencedred-baitingand had been called \\\"Marxists\\\",decided that activists should only canvass in pairs. Online campaigning The use ofsocial media advertisingwas seen as particularly useful to political parties as it could be used to target people of particular demographics.Labour was reported to have the most interactions, withThe Timesdescribing Labour's \\\"aggressive, anti-establishment messages\\\" as \\\"beating clever Tory memes\\\". In the first week of November, Labour was reported to have four of the five most likedtweetsby political parties, many of the top interactions ofFacebookposts, as well as doing very well onInstagram, where younger voters are particularly active.Bloomberg Newsreported that between 6 and 21 November the views on Twitter/Facebook were 18.7/31.0 million for Labour, 10/15.5 million for the Conservatives, 2.9/2.0 million for the Brexit Party, and 0.4/1.4 million for the Liberal Democrats. Brexit was the most tweeted topic for the Conservative Party (~45% of tweets), the Liberal Democrats, and the Brexit Party (~40% each). Labour focused on health care (24.1%), the environment, and business, mentioning Brexit in less than 5 per cent of its tweets.Devolution was the topic most tweeted about by the SNP (29.8%) and Plaid Cymru (21.4%), and the environment was the top issue for the Green Party (45.9%) on Twitter. The Conservatives were unique in their focus on taxation (16.2%), and the Brexit Party on defence (14%). Prior to the campaign, the Conservatives contracted New Zealand marketing agency Topham Guerin, which had been credited with helping Australia'sLiberal–National Coalitionunexpectedly win the2019 Australian federal election. The agency's social media approach was described as purposefully posting badly-designed social media material that becomes viral and so would be seen by a wider audience.Some of the Conservative social media activity created headlines challenging whether it was deceptive,including by the BBC,amiddisinformationconcerns.This included editing a clip ofKeir Starmerto give the appearance that he was unable to answer a question about Labour's Brexit policy.In response to criticism over the doctored Starmer footage, Conservative Party chairmanJames Cleverlysaid the clip of Starmer was satire and \\\"obviously edited\\\". Veracity of statements by political parties During the 19 November debate between Johnson and Corbyn hosted byITV, the press office of theConservative Campaign Headquarters(CCHQ) re-branded their Twitter account (@CCHQPress) asfactcheckUK(with \\\"from CCHQ\\\" in small text appearing underneath the logo in the account's banner image), which critics suggested could be mistaken for that of an independentfact-checkingbody, and published posts supporting the Conservative's position.In defence, Conservative chairman Cleverly stated: \\\"The Twitter handle of the CCHQ press office remained CCHQPress, so it's clear the nature of the site\\\", and as \\\"calling out when the Labour Party put what they know to be complete fabrications in the public domain.\\\" In response to the re-branding on Twitter, theElectoral Commission, which does not have a role in regulating election campaign content, called on all campaigners to act \\\"responsibly\\\".Fact-checking bodyFull Factcriticised this behaviour as \\\"inappropriate and misleading\\\", and Twitter stated that it would take \\\"decisive corrective action\\\" if there were \\\"further attempts to mislead people\\\". First Draft Newsreleased an analysis of Facebook ads posted by political parties between 1 and 4 December. The analysis reported that 88% of the 6,749 posts the Conservatives made had been \\\"challenged\\\" by fact checker Full Fact. 5,000 of these ads related to a \\\"40 new hospitals\\\" claim, of which Full Fact concluded only six had been costed, with the others only receiving money for planning, with building uncosted and due to occur after 2025. 4,000 featured inaccurate claims about the cost of Labour's spending plans to the tax payer. 500 related to a \\\"50,000 more nurses\\\" pledge, consisting of 31,500 new nurses, and convincing 18,500 nurses already in post to remain. 16.5% of Liberal Democrats posts were highlighted, which related to claims they are the only party to beat Labour, the Conservatives, or the SNP \\\"in seats like yours\\\".None of the posts made by Labour in the period were challenged, although posts made on 10 December stating that a \\\"Labour government would save households thousands in bills\\\" and the Conservative Party had \\\"cut £8bn from social care\\\" since 2010 were flagged as misleading.According to theBBC, Labour supporters had been more likely to share unpaid-for electioneering posts, some of which included misleading claims. Television debates ITV aired a head-to-head election debate between Johnson and Corbyn on 19 November, hosted byJulie Etchingham.ITV Cymru Walesaired a debate featuring representatives from the Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, and the Brexit Party on 17 November, hosted byAdrian Masters.Johnson cancelled his ITV interview with Etchingham, scheduled for 6 December, whilst the other major party leaders agreed to be interviewed. On the BBC, broadcasterAndrew Neilwas due to separately interview party leaders inThe Andrew Neil Interviews, andBBC Northern IrelandjournalistMark Carruthersto separately interview the five main Northern Irish political leaders.The leaders of the SNP, Labour, Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrats, and the Brexit Party were all interviewed by Neil and the leader of the Conservative Party was not,leading Neil to release a challenge to Johnson to be interviewed.The Conservatives dismissed Neil's challenge.BBC Scotland,BBC Cymru Wales, and BBC Northern Ireland also hosted a variety of regional debates. Channel 4cancelled a debate scheduled for 24 November after Johnson would not agree to a head-to-head with Corbyn.A few days later, the network hosted a leaders' debate focused on the climate. Johnson and Farage did not attend and were replaced on stage by ice sculptures with their party names written on them.The Conservatives alleged this was part of a pattern of bias at the channel, complained toOfcomthat Channel 4 had breached due impartiality rules as a result of their refusal to allowMichael Goveto appear as a substitute,and suggested that they might review the channel's broadcasting licence.In response, the Conservatives, as well as the Brexit Party, did not send a representative to Channel 4's \\\"Everything but Brexit\\\" on 8 December,and Conservative ministers were briefed not to appear onChannel 4 News.Ofcom rejected the Conservatives' complaint on 3 December. Sky Newswas due to hold a three-way election debate on 28 November, inviting Johnson, Corbyn, and Swinson.Swinson confirmed she would attend the debate,which was later cancelled after agreements could not be made with Corbyn or Johnson. Campaign events Before candidate nominations closed, several planned candidates for Labour and for the Conservatives withdrew, principally because of past social media activity. At least three Labour candidates and one Conservative candidate stood down, with two of the Labour candidates doing so following allegedly antisemitic remarks.Two other Conservative candidates were suspended from the Conservative Party over antisemitic social media posts, but retained their candidacy for the party.The Liberal Democrats removed one of its candidates over antisemitic social media posts, and defended two others. Several former Labour MPs critical of Corbyn endorsed the Conservatives.Meanwhile, several former Conservative MPs, including former deputy prime ministerMichael Heseltine, endorsed the Liberal Democrats and independent candidates.A week before election day, former Conservative prime ministerJohn Majorwarned the public against enabling a majority Conservative government, to avoid what he saw as the damage a Johnson-led government could do to the country through Brexit. Major encouraged voters to vote tactically and to back former Conservative candidates instead of those put forward by the Conservative Party. The2019–20 United Kingdom floodsstarted hitting parts of England from 7 to 18 November. Johnson was criticised for what some saw as his late response to the flooding,after he said they were not a national emergency.The Conservatives bannedDaily Mirrorreporters from Johnson'scampaign bus.On 27 November, Labour announced it had obtained leaked government documents; they said these showed that the Conservatives were in trade negotiations with the US over the NHS. The Conservatives said Labour was peddling \\\"conspiracy theories\\\",withDominic Raablater suggesting this was evidence of Russian interference in the election.The election also saw the2019 London Bridge stabbing, a terrorist stabbing attack that occurred in London on 29 November; owing to this, the political parties suspended campaigning in London for a time. The2019 London summitofNATOwas held inWatfordon 3–4 December 2019. It was attended by 29 heads of state and heads of government, including then United States presidentDonald Trump.On 6 December, Labour announced it had obtained leaked government documents that they said showed that Johnson had misled the public about the Conservatives' Brexit deal with the EU, specifically regarding customs checks between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which are part of theGood Friday Agreementand that Johnson had said would not exist. Third-party campaigns In February 2021, an investigation byopenDemocracyfound that third-party campaign groups \\\"pushed anti-Labour attack ads to millions of voters ahead of the 2019 general election spent more than £700,000 without declaring any individual donation\\\".These included Capitalist Worker and Campaign Against Corbynism, both of which were set up less than three months before the election and quickly disappeared thereafter.A further investigation, also reported by theDaily Mirror, found that a group run by Conservative activist Jennifer Powers had spent around £65,000 on dozens of advertisements attacking Corbyn and Labour on housing policy without declaring any donations. During the campaign,ihad reported that Powers was \\\"a corporate lobbyist who is a former employee of the Conservative Party\\\" and that her group had been one of \\\"16 registrations completed since 5 November\\\".Meanwhile,openDemocracyreported on the new phenomenon of United States-style,Super PAC-esque groups in British elections.Adam Ramsay, who wrote the article, contacted Powers and got her to admit to being an associate at the trade consultancy firm Competere, which was set up by lobbyistShanker Singham, who works for the neoliberal think tank, theInstitute for Economic Affairs.Powers' group \\\"Right to Rent, Right to Buy, Right to Own\\\" made claims that Labour wanted to \\\"attack property rights in the UK\\\" and \\\"your mortgage will be harder to pay under Labour\\\". Additionally,openDemocracyreported that, during the election campaign, the pro-Labour groupMomentumspent more than £500,000, the European Movement for the United Kingdom spent almost £300,000 and the anti-Brexit groupsLed By DonkeysandBest for Britainspent £458,237 and more than one million pounds respectively.Following these reports, former Liberal Democrats MPTom Brake, who lost his seat in the election and was now director of the pressure groupUnlock Democracy, wrote to theElectoral Commission, urging them to investigate.These calls were echoed byJohn McDonnell, Labour MP and former Shadow Chancellor, who insisted that \\\"a serious and in-depth inquiry into third-party campaigning\\\" was needed. Religious groups' opinions on the parties Ethnic minority and religious leaders and organisations made statements about the general election. Leaders of theChurch of Englandstated people had a \\\"democratic duty to vote\\\", that they should \\\"leave their echo chambers\\\", and \\\"issues need to be debated respectfully, and without resorting to personal abuse\\\". Antisemitism in the Labour Partywas persistently covered in the media in the lead up to the election. In his leader's interview with Jeremy Corbyn,Andrew Neildedicated the first third of the 30-minute programme entirely to discussion of Labour's relationship with the Jewish community.This interview drew attention as Corbyn refused to apologise for antisemitism in the Labour Party, despite having done so on previous occasions.The British chief rabbiEphraim Mirvismade an unprecedented intervention in politics, warning that antisemitism was a \\\"poison sanctioned from the top\\\" of the Labour Party, and saying thatBritish Jewswere gripped by anxiety about the prospect of a Corbyn-led government.Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, theMuslim Council of Britainand theHindu Council UKsupported Mirvis's intervention, if not entirely endorsing it.TheJewish Labour Movementsaid they would not be actively campaigning for Labour except for exceptional candidates.The pro-CorbynMorning Starreported thatJewish Voice for Labourand theJewish Socialist Groupsaid that Mirvis did not represent all Jews, with some people within the religious groups being keen to express that no one person or organisation represents the views of all the members of the faith. TheCatholic Church in the United Kingdomurged voters to respect theright to life, opposingabortion,euthanasia, andassisted suicide, along with a peaceful solution to Brexit, support the poor, care for the homeless, and attention tohuman rights.TheMuslim Council of Britain(MCB) spokesman stated thatIslamophobia\\\"is particularly acute in the Conservative Party\\\" and that Conservatives treat it \\\"with denial, dismissal and deceit\\\".In addition they released a 72-page document, outlining what they assess are the key issues from aBritish Muslimperspective. The MCB specifically criticised those who \\\"seek to stigmatise and undermine Muslims\\\"; for example, by implying that Pakistanis (\\\"often used as a proxy for Muslims\\\") vote \\\"en bloc as directed byImams\\\".TheSunday Mirrorstated that many of the candidates campaigning for the Brexit Party were Islamophobic. The Times of Indiareported that supporters ofNarendra Modi's rulingBharatiya Janata Party(BJP) were actively campaigning for the Conservatives in 48 marginal seats,and theTodayprogramme reported that it had seenWhatsAppmessages sent to Hindus across the country urging them to vote Conservative.Some British Indians spoke out against what they saw as the BJP's meddling in the election.TheHindu Council UKwas strongly critical of Labour, going as far as to say that Labour is \\\"anti-Hindu\\\",and objected to the party's condemnation of the Indian government's actions resulting in therevocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.Labour's perceived introduction of aparachute candidateintoLeicester Eastdisappointed many with Indian heritage;specifically, no candidates of Indian descent were interviewed. The party selected or re-selected one candidate of Indian descent among its 39 safest seats. Endorsements Newspapers, organisations, and individuals had endorsed parties or individual candidates for the election. Media coverage Party representation According toLoughborough University's Centre for Research in Communication and Culture (CRCC), media coverage of the first week of the campaign was dominated by the Conservatives and Labour, with the leaders of both parties being the most represented campaigners (Johnson with 20.8%; Corbyn with 18.8%).Due to this, the election coverage was characterised as increasingly 'presidential' as smaller parties have been marginalised. In television coverage,Boris Johnsonhad a particularly high-profile (30.4% against Corbyn's 22.6%). Labour (32%) and the Conservative Party (33%) received about a third of TV coverage each. In newspapers, Labour received two-fifths (40%) of the coverage and the Conservatives 35%. Spokespeople from both parties were quoted near equally, with Conservative sources being the most prominent in both press and TV coverage in terms of frequency of appearance.Sajid JavidandJohn McDonnellfeatured prominently during the first week because theeconomy of the United Kingdomwas a top story for the media. McDonnell had more coverage than Javid on both TV and in print. A large proportion of the newspaper coverage of Labour was negative.Writing in theBritish Journalism Review, James Hanning said that, when reporting and commenting on Johnson, Conservative supporting newspapers made little mention of \\\"a track record that would have sunk any other politician\\\".In theLoughboroughanalysis, during the first week of the campaign, for example, the Conservatives had a positive press coverage score of +29.7, making them the only party to receive a positive overall presentation in the press. Meanwhile, Labour, meanwhile had a negative score of −70, followed by the Brexit Party on −19.7 and the Liberal Democrats on −10.Over the whole campaign, press hostility towards Labour had doubled compared with during the 2017 election, and negative coverage of the Conservatives halved. The Liberal Democrats were the party with the most TV coverage in the first week after Labour and the Conservatives, with an eighth of all reporting (13%). In newspapers, they received less coverage than the Brexit Party, whose leaderNigel Faragereceived nearly as much coverage (12.3%) as Johnson and Corbyn (17.4% each). Most of this coverage regarded the Brexit Party's proposed electoral pact with the Conservatives.The Brexit Party (7%) and the SNP (5%) were fourth and fifth in terms of TV coverage, respectively. Dominant issues As during the 2017 election and in line for British elections, the electoral process was the most covered media topic for this election at 31% of all coverage.Brexit was the most prominent policy issue on both TV (18%) and in the press (11%), followed by the economy, and health (8% and 7% of all coverage, respectively).There was little focused analysis of what the implementation of Brexit policies might mean, which contrasted with the more detailed analysis often undertaken of other manifesto commitments, such as those on the economy. Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland's place within the United Kingdom received some prominence on TV but little coverage in the press.\\\"Standards/scandals\\\" and \\\"Minorities/religion\\\" received relatively significant discussion in large part relating to allegations ofantisemitism in the Labour partyand in the prior case an incident when Johnson was accused of reacting unsympathetically to an image of an ill child without a bed in hospital.Coverage of immigration and border controls fell overall from to 2017, while focus on environmental issues slightly increased. Gender balance Of the 20 most prominent spokespeople in media coverage of the first week of the election period, five were women, withNicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader andfirst minister of Scotland, in seventh place, the most featured.Women including citizens, experts, pollsters, businesspeople, trade union representatives, and the like featured in 23.9% of coverage and men in 76.1%. Men spoke three times as much as women in TV coverage, and five times as much in newspaper coverage. Members of Parliament not standing for re-election 74members of Parliament(MPs) who held seats at the end of Parliament did not stand for re-election. Of these, 32 were Conservative MPs, 20 were Labour, 3 were Liberal Democrats, and 16 were independents. The number of MPs retiring was higher than the 2017 general election, when 31 stood down. Opinion polling The chart below depicts the results of opinion polls, mostly only of voters in Great Britain, conducted from the 2017 general election until the election. The line plotted is the average of the last 15 polls and the larger circles at the end represent the actual results of the election. The graph shows that the Conservatives and Labour polled to similar levels from mid-2017 to mid-2019. Following Johnson's election in July, the Conservatives established a clear lead over Labour, and simultaneously support for the Brexit Party declined from its peak in summer 2019. The Spreadex columns below cover bets on the number of seats each party would win, with the midpoint between asking and selling price. Predictions three weeks before the vote The first-past-the-post system used in the United Kingdom general elections means that the number of seats won is not directly related to vote share. Thus, several approaches are used to convert polling data and other information into seat predictions. The table below lists some of the predictions. Predictions two weeks before the vote Note: Elections Etc. does not add up to 650 seats due to rounding, the speaker is shown under \\\"Others\\\" and not \\\"Labour\\\", and majority figures assume all elected members take up their seats. Predictions one week before the vote Below are listed predictions based upon polls. as of 5 December 2019 Note: Elections Etc. does not add up to 650 seats due to rounding, the speaker is shown under \\\"Others\\\" and not \\\"Labour\\\", and majority figures assume all elected members take up their seats. Below are listed predictions based upon betting odds, assuming the favourite wins in each constituency. Note: The speaker is shown under \\\"Others\\\" and not \\\"Labour\\\", and majority figures assume all elected members take up their seats. Final predictions as of 11 December 2019 Exit poll Anexit pollconducted byIpsos MORIfor theBBC,ITV, andSky Newswas published at the end of voting at 10 pm, predicting the number of seats for each party. Results The Conservative Party won, securing 365 seats out of 650, giving them an overall majority of 80 seats in the House of Commons. They gained seats in several Labour Party strongholds in Northern England that had been held by the party for decades and which had formed thered wall; for instance, the constituency ofBishop Auckland, which elected a Conservative MP for the first time in its 134-year history. This marked a fourth consecutive general election defeat for the Labour Party. In the worst result for the party in 84 years,despite a better vote share than other losses as in 1931, 1983, 1987, and 2010, Labour won 202 seats, which was the lowest number since 1935 and a loss of 60 compared to the previous election. The Liberal Democrats won 11 seats, down 1, despite significantly increasing their share of the popular vote.Ed Davey, formerCameron–Clegg coalitioncabinet minister and MP forKingston and Surbiton, was the winner of the2020 Liberal Democrats leadership election. This came afterJo Swinsonlost her seat toAmy Callaghanof the SNP by 150 votes and was disqualified from continuing as leader of the party. Swinson also became the first party leader to lose their seat since Liberal Party leaderArchibald Sinclairin 1945. While the Conservatives gained support in England and Wales, they lost support in Scotland in the face of a major SNP advance. The Conservatives won in England, advancing by 1.7% and gaining 48 seats to win 345 out of 533, while Labour fell back by 8% and lost 47 seats to win just 180.Labour won in Wales but lost 8% of its 2017 vote share and six seats, retaining 22 out of 40, while the Conservatives advanced by 2.5% and gained six seats, winning 14 in total. The SNP advanced by 8.1% and gained 13 seats to win 48 out of 59, gaining several seats from the Conservatives and Labour. The Conservatives lost 3.5% of their 2017 vote share and half their seats, while Labour was reduced to one Scottish seat,Edinburgh South. This is the same Scottish seat that returnedIan Murrayin the 2015–17 Parliament as the country's sole Labour MP.Among the Labour MPs who lost their seats in Scotland wasLesley Laird, deputy leader ofScottish LabourandShadow Secretary of State for Scotland.In Northern Ireland, nationalist political parties won more seats than unionist ones for the first time.Nigel Dodds, the DUP's leader in Westminster, lost his seat inBelfast North. Analysis The results have been attributed toLeave-supporting areas backing the Conservatives, the Conservatives broadening their appeal to working-class voters, and the Conservatives making gains in the Midlands and the north of England.Most notable was the red wall turning blue in the election, which greatly contributed to the Conservative majority. In exit polls conducted byOpinium, 43% of voters who did not vote for the Labour Party cited 'the leadership' as their reason.Among those who did not vote for the Conservative Party, the cited reason was equally split between 'their stance on Brexit' and 'the leadership', with both at 26%. Several commentators stated that the party's loss was due to a complicated manifesto and Brexit policy, a poor approach to campaigning, and the unpopularity of Corbyn's leadership. AYouGovpost-election survey determined that the age over which voters were more likely to opt for the Conservatives than for Labour was 39, down from 47 in the 2017 election. In contrast to previous elections, the YouGov survey additionally found that a plurality of voters in the DE'sNRS social grade— comprising the unemployed, state pensioners, and semi-skilled and unskilled workers — had opted for the Conservatives over Labour.This change reflects the collapse of the 'Red Wall' which has a plurality of people in the DE classification according to theONS. Between 26% and 33% of voters engaged intactical voting, as they said that they were trying to prevent a victory by the party they liked least.Recommendation by tactical voting websites had some benefit for Liberal Democrat candidates.The new Parliament reportedly had the highest number of openly LGBT MPs in the world, with 20 Conservative MPs, 15 Labour MPs, and 10 SNP MPs who identify as LGBT. For the first time in both cases, the majority of elected Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs were female. The election also returned a record number of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) MPs, with 65 MPs (10%) describing themselves as BAME. In a post-election review featuring Labour MPs, trade union officials and activists one of several reasons attributed to the electoral defeat was due to the declining popularity of Jeremy Corbyn in relation to the Brexit position and allegations of party antisemitism. The review projected that Labour would have retained 38% of the vote had Corbyn's popularity levels retained at its peak level in 2017. Summary A summarised results of the parties that won seats at the election is shown below. Full results In total, the Green Party of England and Wales, Scottish Greens, and Green Party Northern Ireland received 865,715 votes (2.70%). This may be unclear from the table and sources which cite the total of the Greens in the whole of the United Kingdom rather than by region. Voter demographics Ipsos MORI Below is listedIpsos MORI's demographic breakdown. YouGov Below is listedYouGov's demographic breakdown. Seats changing hands Seats which changed allegiance Reaction and aftermath In his victory speech, Johnson described the result as a mandate for leaving the EU and promised to do so by 31 January.The United Kingdom left the EU on 31 January 2020but continued using EU trading rules until 23:00 on December 31. The election led to both Labour and the Liberal Democrats having leadership contests: the former as Corbyn resigned, the latter as Swinson failed to be elected as an MP. Corbyn portrayed the 2019 election results primarily as a consequence of attitudes surrounding Brexit rather than a rejection of Labour's social and economic policies. In an interview held on 13 December 2019, Corbyn said the election was \\\"taken over ultimately by Brexit\\\", and said that he was \\\"proud of the manifesto\\\". The Labour leadership campaign was marked by conflicting analyses of what had gone wrong for the party in the general election.There was debate as to whether Corbyn's unpopularity or their position on Brexit was more significant.The 2020Labour Togetherreport, published by internal Labour party figures afterKeir Starmerwas elected as leader, highlighted issues like Corbyn's unpopularity, the party's Brexit policy, and poor seat targeting, as well as long-term changes in Labour's electoral coalition.InopenDemocracy, Jo Michell and Rob Calvert Jump argued that the report underplayed the fact the geographical redistributions, stating that \\\"Labour's decline in the North, Midlands and Wales is not the result of a dramatic collapse in its vote share, but changes in the distribution of votes between parties and constituencies.\\\" Successful Liberal Democrats MPs were critical in private of how the party had decided to advocate revoking the exercise of Article 50, and the communication of that policy. Some criticised the election campaign for being hubristic, with its initial defining message that Swinson could be the country's next prime minister.Ed Davey, the party's co-acting leader after the election, argued that the unpopularity of Corbyn lost the Liberal Democrats votes to the Conservatives.Wera Hobhouse, who was re-elected by a majority of 12,322,argued that the party had been wrong to pursue a policy of equidistance between Labour and the Conservatives in the general election campaign. Instead, she argued that the party should have concentrated more on campaigning against the Conservatives.The SNP's leaderNicola Sturgeondescribed the result as a clear mandate to hold a new referendum for Scottish independence.The British government said that it would not agree to a referendum being held and the Scottish government announced a few months later that it would put the issue on hold due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. See also Notes References Further reading External links Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019 Party manifestos\",\n \"Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson(born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served asPrime Minister of the United KingdomandLeader of the Conservative Partyfrom 2019 to 2022. He was previouslyForeign Secretaryfrom 2016 to 2018 andMayor of Londonfrom 2008 to 2016. He wasMember of Parliament(MP) forHenleyfrom 2001 to 2008 andUxbridge and South Ruislipfrom 2015 to 2023. In his youth Johnson attendedEton CollegeandBalliol College, Oxford, and he was electedPresident of the Oxford Unionin 1986. In 1989 he began writing forThe Daily Telegraph, and from 1999 to 2005 he was the editor ofThe Spectator. He became a member of theShadow CabinetofMichael Howardin 2001 before being dismissed over a claim that he had lied about an extramarital affair. After Howard resigned Johnson became a member ofDavid Cameron'sShadow Cabinet. Hewas elected Mayor of London in 2008and resigned from theHouse of Commonsto focus his attention on the mayoralty. He wasre-elected mayor in 2012, but did not run for re-election in2016. At the2015 general electionhe was elected MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip. Johnson was a prominent figure in theBrexit campaignin the2016 European Union membership referendum. After the referendum Prime MinisterTheresa Mayappointed him foreign secretary. He resigned from the position in 2018 in protest at both theChequers Agreementand May's approach to Brexit. Johnson succeeded May as prime minister. Here-opened Brexit negotiationswith the European Union and in early September heprorogued Parliament; theSupreme Courtlater ruled the prorogation to have been unlawful. After agreeing to a revised Brexit withdrawal agreement butfailing to win parliamentary support, Johnson called asnap general electionto be held in December 2019, in which he won alandslide victory. During Johnson's premiership, the governmentrespondedto theCOVID-19 pandemicby introducing variousemergency powersto mitigate its impact and approved anationwide vaccination programme. He also responded to theRussian invasion of Ukraineby imposingsanctions on Russiaand authorisingforeign aid and weapons shipmentsto Ukraine.In thePartygatescandal it was found that numerous parties had been held at10 Downing Streetduringnational COVID-19 lockdowns, and COVID-19 social distancing laws were breached by 83 individuals, including Johnson, who in April 2022 was issued with afixed penalty notice. The publishing of theSue Gray reportin May 2022 and a widespread sense of dissatisfaction led in June 2022 to avote of confidence in his leadershipamongst Conservative MPs, which he won. In July 2022, revelations over hisappointment of Chris Pincheras deputychief whip of the partywhile knowing of allegations of sexual misconduct against him led to amass resignation of members of his governmentand to Johnson announcing his resignation as prime minister. He was succeeded as prime minister byLiz Truss, his foreign secretary. He remained in the House of Commons as abackbencheruntil 9 June 2023, when he received the draft of theCommons Privileges Committee investigation into his conductthat unanimously found that he had lied to the Commons on numerous occasions. Johnson resigned his position as MP the same day. Johnson is acontroversial figurein British politics. His supporters have praised him for being humorous, witty, and entertaining, with an appeal reaching beyond traditional Conservative Party voters, viewing him as an electoral asset to the party. Conversely, his critics have accused him of lying,elitism,cronyism, andbigotry. During his premiership his supporters praised him for \\\"getting Brexit done\\\", overseeing the UK's COVID-19 vaccination programme, which was amongst the fastest in the world, and being one of the first world leaders to offerhumanitarian support to Ukrainefollowing the Russian invasion of the country. His tenure also encompassed several controversies and scandals, and is viewed as the most scandalous premiership of modern times by historians and biographers alike. Early life and education Childhood Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson was born on 19 June 1964 in theUpper East SideofManhattan, New York City,toStanley Johnson, then studying economics atColumbia University,andCharlotte Fawcett,an artist, whose fatherSir James Fawcett, was a prominentbarristerand president of theEuropean Commission of Human Rightsfrom 1972 to 1981.Johnson is one of only two British prime ministers to have been anAmerican citizen(seeHonorary citizenship of the United States).Johnson's parents returned to the UK in September 1964 so Charlotte could study at theUniversity of Oxford.She lived with her son inSummertown, Oxford, and in September 1965 she gave birth to a daughter,Rachel.In July 1965, the family moved toCrouch Endinnorth London,and in February 1966 they relocated to Washington, DC, where Stanley worked with theWorld Bank.Stanley then took a job with a policy panel onpopulation control, and moved the family toNorwalk, Connecticut, in June.A third child, Leo, was born in September 1967. The family returned to the UK in 1969, and lived at West Nethercote Farm, Somerset, Stanley's family home inExmoor.His father was regularly absent, leaving Johnson to be raised largely by his mother, assisted byau pairs.As a child, Johnson was quiet, studious,and deaf, resulting in several operations to insertgrommetsinto his ears.He and his siblings were encouraged to engage in intellectual activities from a young age.Johnson's earliest recorded ambition was to be \\\"world king\\\".Having no other friends, the siblings became very close. In late 1969, the family moved toMaida Valein west London, while Stanley began post-graduate research at theLondon School of Economics.In 1970, Charlotte and the children briefly returned to Nethercote, where Johnson attended Winsford Village School, before returning to London to settle inPrimrose Hill,where they were educated at Primrose Hill Primary School.A fourth child,Joseph, was born in late 1971. After Stanley secured employment at theEuropean Commissionin April 1973, he moved his family toUccle, Brussels, where Johnson attended theEuropean School, Brussels Iand learnt to speak French.Charlotte had anervous breakdownand was hospitalised with depression, after which Johnson and his siblings were sent back to the UK in 1975 to attendAshdown House, a preparatory boarding school in East Sussex.There, he developed interests inrugby,Ancient Greek, andLatin.In December 1978 his parents' relationship broke down; they divorced in 1980,and Charlotte moved toNotting Hill, London, where her children joined her for much of their time. Eton and Oxford: 1977–1987 As a kid I was extremely spotty, extremely nerdy and horriblyswotty. My idea of a really good time was to travel across London on the tube to visit theBritish Museum. — Boris Johnson Johnson gained aKing's Scholarshipto study atEton College, a boarding school nearWindsor, Berkshire.Arriving in the autumn term of 1977,he began going by his middle name Boris,and developed \\\"the eccentric English persona\\\" for which he became famous.He denounced Catholicism and joined theChurch of England.School reports complained about his idleness, complacency, and lateness,but he was popular at Eton. Johnson's friends were largely from the wealthy upper classes; his best friends wereDarius GuppyandCharles Spencer. Both would go on to accompany him at theUniversity of Oxfordand remained his friends into adulthood.Johnson excelled inEnglishand theClassics, winning prizes in both,and became secretary of the schooldebating societyand editor of the school newspaper.In late 1981, he became a member ofPop,a small, self-selecting elite group of school prefects. After leaving Eton, Johnson went on agap yearto Australia, where he taught English and Latin atTimbertop, anOutward Bound-inspired campus ofGeelong Grammar, an independent boarding school. Johnson won a scholarship to readLiterae humanioresatBalliol College, Oxford, a four-year course in Classics, ancient languages, literature, history, and philosophy.Matriculatingin late 1983,he was one of a generation of Oxford undergraduates who dominated British politics and media in the early 21st century, including Cameron,William Hague,Michael Gove,Jeremy HuntandNick Boles.While at Oxford, Johnson joined the college'srugby unionteam as atighthead prop.To his later regret, he joined theBullingdon Club, an exclusive drinking society notorious for vandalism.Many years later,a group photographincluding himself and Cameron in Bullingdon Club formal dress led to much negative press coverage. While at Oxford, he began a relationship withAllegra Mostyn-Owen, cover girl forTatlermagazine and daughter ofChristie's EducationchairmanWilliam Mostyn-Owen. They became engaged. Johnson was popular and well known at Oxford.Alongside Guppy, he edited the university's satirical magazineTributary.In 1984, Johnson was elected secretary of theOxford Union,and campaigned unsuccessfully for the position ofUnion President.In 1986, Johnson ran successfully for President,but his term was not distinguished or memorable,and questions were raised regarding his competence and seriousness.At graduation, Johnson was awarded anupper second-classdegree,and was deeply unhappy he did not receive a first. Early career The TimesandThe Daily Telegraph: 1987–1994 In September 1987, Johnson and Mostyn-Owen married.They settled inWest Kensington, London.In late 1987, through family connections, he began work as a graduate trainee atThe Times.Scandal erupted when Johnson wrote an article for the newspaper on the archaeological discovery ofEdward II's palace, having invented a quote which he falsely attributed to the historianColin Lucas, his godfather. After the paper's editor,Charles Wilson, learnt of the matter, he dismissed Johnson. Johnson secured employment on the lead-writing desk ofThe Daily Telegraph, having met its editor,Max Hastings, while at university.His articles appealed to the newspaper's Conservative-voting \\\"Middle England\\\" readership,and he was known for his distinctive literary style, replete with old-fashioned phrasing and for regularly referring to the readership as \\\"my friends\\\".In early 1989, Johnson was appointed to the newspaper's Brussels bureau to report on the European Commission,remaining in the post until 1994.A strong critic of the integrationist Commission presidentJacques Delors, he established himself as one of the city's fewEuroscepticjournalists.He wrote articles abouteuromyths: that Brussels had recruited sniffer dogs to ensure that all manure smelt the same,they were about to dictate the acceptable curve of British bananas,limit the power of their vacuum cleanersand order women to return their old sex toys.He wrote that euro notes made people impotent and that a plan to blow up theBerlaymont buildingwas in place because asbestos cladding made the building too dangerous to inhabit.Many of his fellow journalists were critical of his articles, saying they often contained lies designed to discredit the commission.The Europhile Conservative politicianChris Pattenlater said that Johnson was \\\"one of the greatest exponents of fake journalism\\\".Johnson opposed banning handguns after theDunblane school massacre, writing in his column \\\"Nanny is confiscating their toys. It is like one of those vastIndian programmes of compulsory vasectomy.\\\" According to one of his biographers,Sonia Purnell, – who was Johnson's Brussels deputy– he helped make Euroscepticism \\\"an attractive and emotionally resonant cause for the Right\\\", whereas it had been associated previously with the Left.Johnson's articles exacerbated tensions between the Conservative Party's Eurosceptic and Europhile factions. As a result, he earned the mistrust of many party members.His writings were also a key influence on the emergence of the euroscepticUK Independence Party(UKIP) in the early 1990s.Conrad Black, then proprietor ofThe Daily Telegraph, said Johnson \\\"was such an effective correspondent for us in Brussels that he greatly influenced British opinion on this country's relations with Europe\\\". In February 1990, Johnson's wife Allegra broke up with him; after several attempts at reconciliation, their marriage ended in April 1993.He began a relationship with childhood friendMarina Wheeler, who had moved to Brussels in 1990.They were married in May 1993.Soon after, Marina gave birth to a daughter.Johnson and his new wife settled inIslington, north London,an area known for its association with the left-liberalintelligentsia. Under the influence of thismilieuand of his wife, Johnson moved in a more liberal direction on issues such asclimate change,LGBT rightsand race relations.While in Islington, the couple had three more children, all given the surname Johnson-Wheeler.They were sent to the local Canonbury Primary School and then to private secondary schools.Devoting much time to his children, Johnson wrote a book of verse,The Perils of the Pushy Parents: A Cautionary Tale, which was published to largely poor reviews. Political columnist: 1994–1999 Back in London, Hastings turned down Johnson's request to become awar reporter,instead promoting him to assistant editor and chief political columnist.Johnson's column received praise for being ideologically eclectic and distinctively written, and earned him Commentator of the Year Award at theWhat the Papers Sayawards.Some critics condemned his writing style as bigotry; in columns he used the words \\\"piccaninnies\\\" and \\\"watermelon smiles\\\" when referring to Africans, championed European colonialism in Ugandaand referred to gay men as \\\"tank-topped bumboys\\\". In 1993, Johnson outlined his desire to run as a Conservative in the1994 European Parliament elections.Andrew Mitchellconvinced Major not to veto Johnson's candidacy, but Johnson could not find a constituency.He turned his attention to obtaining a seat in the House of Commons instead. After being rejected as Conservative candidate forHolborn and St. Pancras, he was selected the Conservative candidate forClwyd Southin north Wales, then aLabour Partysafe seat. Spending six weeks campaigning, he attained 9,091 votes (23 per cent) in the1997 general election, losing to Labour candidateMartyn Jones. Scandal erupted in June 1995 when a recording of a 1990 telephone conversation between Johnson and his friendDarius Guppywas made public.In it, Guppy said that his criminal activities involving insurance fraud were being investigated byNews of the Worldjournalist Stuart Collier, and he asked Johnson to provide him with Collier's private address, seeking to have the latter beaten. Johnson agreed, although he expressed concern that he would be associated with the attack.When the phone conversation was published, Johnson stated that ultimately he had not obliged Guppy's request. Hastings reprimanded Johnson but did not dismiss him. Johnson was given a regular column inThe Spectator, sister publication toThe Daily Telegraph, which attracted mixed reviews and was often thought rushed.In 1999, he was also given a column reviewing new cars in the American men's monthly magazineGQ.The large number of parking fines that Johnson acquired while testing cars frustrated staff.AtThe Daily TelegraphandThe Spectator, he was consistently late delivering copy, forcing staff to stay late to accommodate him; some related that if they published without his work, he would shout at them with expletives. Johnson's April 1998 appearance on the BBC's satirical current affairs showHave I Got News for Youbrought him national fame.He was invited back on to later episodes, including as a guest presenter; for his 2003 appearance, Johnson was nominated for theBAFTA Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance.After these appearances, he came to be recognised on the street, and was invited to appear on other shows, such asTop Gear,Parkinson,Breakfast with Frost, andQuestion Time. The Spectatorand MP for Henley: 1999–2008 In July 1999, Conrad Black offered Johnson the editorship ofThe Spectatoron the condition he abandon his parliamentary aspirations; Johnson agreed.While retainingThe Spectator's traditional right-wing bent, Johnson welcomed contributions from leftist writers and cartoonists.Under Johnson's editorship, the magazine's circulation grew by 10% to 62,000 and it became profitable.His editorship also drew criticism; some opined that under himThe Spectatoravoided serious issues,while colleagues became annoyed that he was regularly absent from the office, meetings, and events.He gained a reputation as a poor political pundit because of incorrect political predictions.His father-in-lawCharles Wheelerand others strongly criticised him for allowingSpectatorcolumnistTaki Theodoracopulosto publish racist and antisemitic language. Journalist Charlotte Edwardes wrote inThe Timesin 2019 that Johnson had squeezed her thigh at a private lunch at theSpectatorin 1999 and that another woman had told her he had done the same to her. A spokesman denied the allegation. In 2004, Johnson published an editorial inThe Spectatorafter the murder ofKen Bigleysuggesting that Liverpudlians were wallowing in their victim status and \\\"hooked on grief\\\" over theHillsborough disaster, which Johnson partly blamed on \\\"drunken fans\\\".In an appendix added to a later edition of his 2005 bookThe Dream of Rome,Tell MAMAand theMuslim Council of Britaincriticised Johnson for arguingIslamhas caused theMuslim worldto be \\\"literally centuries behind\\\" the West. Becoming an MP The selection of Boris Johnson ... confirms the Tory Party's increasing weakness for celebrity personalities over the dreary exigencies of politics. Johnson, for all his gifts, is unlikely to grace any future Tory cabinet. Indeed, he is not known for his excessive interest in serious policy matters, and it is hard to see him grubbing away at administrative detail as an obscure, hardworking junior minister for social security. To maintain his funny man reputation he will no doubt find himself refining hisBertie Woosterinterpretation to the point where the impersonation becomes the man. –Max Hastings,London Evening Standard, FollowingMichael Heseltine's retirement, Johnson decided to stand as Conservative candidate forHenley, a Conservative safe seat inOxfordshire.The local Conservative branch selected him although it was split over Johnson's candidacy. Some thought him amusing and charming while others disliked his flippant attitude and perceived lack of knowledge of the local area.Assisted by his television fame, Johnson won the seat in the2001 general election.Alongside his Islington home, Johnson bought a farmhouse outsideThamein his new constituency.He regularly attended Henley social events and occasionally wrote for theHenley Standard.His constituency surgeries proved popular, and he joined local campaigns to stop the closure ofTownlands Hospitaland the localair ambulance. In Parliament, Johnson was appointed to astanding committeeassessing theProceeds of Crime Bill, but missed many of its meetings.Despite his credentials as a public speaker, his speeches in the House of Commons were widely deemed lacklustre.He attended around half of Commons votes,usually supporting the Conservativeparty line.Infree votes, he demonstrated a more socially liberal attitude, supporting theGender Recognition Act 2004and the repeal ofSection 28.However, in 2001, Johnson had spoken out against plans to repeal Section 28, saying it was \\\"Labour's appalling agenda, encouraging the teaching of homosexuality in schools\\\".After initially stating he would not, hesupportedthe government's plans to join the United States in the2003 invasion of Iraq,and in April 2003 visited occupied Baghdad.In August 2004, he backed unsuccessfulimpeachment proceduresagainst Prime MinisterTony Blairfor \\\"high crimes and misdemeanours\\\" regarding the war,and in December 2006 described the invasion as \\\"a colossal mistake and misadventure\\\". Although labelling Johnson \\\"ineffably duplicitous\\\" for breaking his promise not to become an MP, Black decided not to dismiss him because he \\\"helped promote the magazine and raise its circulation\\\".Johnson remained editor ofThe Spectator, while also writing columns forThe Daily TelegraphandGQ, and making television appearances.His 2001 book,Friends, Voters, Countrymen: Jottings on the Stump, recounted that year's election campaign,while 2003'sLend Me Your Earscollected previously published columns and articles.In 2004,HarperCollinspublished his first novel:Seventy-Two Virgins: A Comedy of Errorsrevolved around the life of a Conservative MP and contained autobiographical elements.Responding to criticism that he was juggling too many jobs, he citedWinston ChurchillandBenjamin Disraelias exemplars who combined political and literary careers.To manage stress, he took up jogging and cycling,and became so well known for the latter that Gimson suggested he was \\\"perhaps the most famous cyclist in Britain\\\". FollowingWilliam Hague's resignation as Conservative leader, the party electedIain Duncan Smith.Johnson had a strained relationship with Duncan Smith, andThe Spectatorbecame critical of his party leadership.Duncan Smith was succeeded byMichael Howardin November 2003; Howard deemed Johnson to be the most popular Conservative politician with the electorate and appointed him vice-chairman of the party, responsible for overseeing its electoral campaign.In his Shadow Cabinet reshuffle of May 2004, Howard appointed Johnson as shadow arts minister.In October, Howard ordered Johnson to apologise publicly inLiverpoolfor publishing aSpectatorarticle – anonymously written bySimon Heffer– which said the crowds at theHillsborough disasterhad contributed to the incident and that Liverpudlians had a predilection for reliance on thewelfare state. In November 2004, the tabloids revealed that since 2000 Johnson had been having an affair withSpectatorcolumnistPetronella Wyatt, resulting in two abortions.Johnson denied the allegations but they were subsequently proven to be true, and Howard dismissed him as vice-chairman and shadow arts minister when he refused to resign. Second term At the2005 general election, Johnson was re-elected MP for Henley.Labour won the election and Howard stood down as Conservative leader; Johnson backedDavid Cameronas his successor.After Cameron was elected, he appointed Johnson as the shadow higher education minister.Interested in streamlining university funding,Johnson supported Labour'sproposed top-up fees.He campaigned in 2006 to become theRector of the University of Edinburgh, but his support for top-up fees damaged his campaign, and he came third. In April 2006, theNews of the Worldalleged that Johnson was having an affair with journalist Anna Fazackerley; the pair did not comment, and shortly afterwards Johnson began employing Fazackerley.In September 2006, Papua New Guinea'sHigh Commissionprotested after he compared the Conservatives' frequently changing leadership tocannibalism in the country. In 2005,The Spectator's new chief executive,Andrew Neil, dismissed Johnson as editor.To make up for this loss of income, Johnson negotiated withThe Daily Telegraphto raise his salary from £200,000 to £250,000, averaging £5,000 per column.He presented apopular historytelevision show,The Dream of Rome, which was broadcast in January 2006; a book followed in February.A sequel,After Rome, focused on early Islamic history.In 2007, he earned £540,000, making him the third-highest-earning MP that year. Mayor of London (2008–2016) Mayoral election: 2007–2008 In September, Johnson was selected as the Conservative candidate forMayor of Londonafter a public London-wideprimary.Johnson's campaign focused on reducing youth crime, making public transport safer, and replacing thearticulated buseswith an updated version of theAEC Routemaster.Targeting the Conservative-leaning suburbs ofouter London, it capitalised on perceptions that the Labour Mayoralty had neglected them in favour ofinner London.His campaign emphasised his popularity, even among those who opposed his policies,with opponents complaining a common attitude among voters was: \\\"I'm voting for Boris because he is a laugh.\\\"The campaign of Labour incumbentKen Livingstoneportrayed Johnson as an out-of-touchtoffand bigot. In the election, Johnson received 43% and Livingstone 37% of first-preference votes; when second-preference votes were added, Johnson was victorious with 53% to Livingstone's 47%.Johnson subsequently announced his intention to stand down as MP for Henley. First term: 2008–2012 After Johnson became mayor, those in City Hall deemed too closely allied to Livingstone's administration had their employment terminated.Johnson appointedTim Parkeras his deputy mayor, but after Parker began taking increasing control at City Hall, Johnson dismissed him.Many in the Conservative Party initially distanced themselves from Johnson's administration, fearing it would be damaging for the2010 general election. During the campaign, Johnson had confided toBrian Paddickhe was unsure how he would maintain his lifestyle on the mayoral salary of £140,000 a year.He agreed to continue hisDaily Telegraphcolumn, thus earning a further £250,000 a year.His team believed this would cause controversy and made him promise to donate 20% of hisDaily Telegraphsalary to a charitable cause. Johnson resented this, and ultimately did not pay the full 20%.Controversy erupted when on theBBC'sHARDtalkhe referred to the £250,000 salary as \\\"chicken feed\\\"; this was at the time approximately 10 times the average yearly wage for a British worker. During his first administration, Johnson was embroiled in several personal scandals. After moving to a new house in Islington, he built a shed without obtainingplanning permission; after neighbours complained, he dismantled it.The press also accused him of having an affair with Helen Macintyre and of fathering her child, allegations that he did not deny.Johnson was accused of warningDamian Greenthat police were planning to arrest him; Johnson denied the claims.He was accused ofcronyism,in particular for appointingVeronica Wadleyas the chair of London'sArts Council.In theparliamentary expenses scandal, he was accused of excessive expenses claims for taxis.Johnson remained a popular figure in London with a strong celebrity status in the city. Policies Johnson made no major changes to the mayoral system of the previous administration.However, he did reverse several other measures implemented by Livingstone: ending the city's oil deal with Venezuela, abolishingThe Londonernewsletter, and scrapping the half-yearly inspections ofblack cabs, which was reinstated three years later.Abolishing the western wing of thecongestion chargingzone,he cancelled plans to increase the congestion charge forfour-wheel-drive vehicles.He was subsequently accused of failing to publish an independent report on air pollution commissioned by theGreater London Authority, which revealed the city breached legal limits onnitrogen dioxidelevels. Johnson retained Livingstone projects such asCrossrailand the2012 Olympic Games, but was accused of trying to take credit for them.He introduced a public bicycle scheme that had been mooted by Livingstone's administration; colloquially known as \\\"Boris Bikes\\\", the part privately financed system was a significant financial loss but proved popular.Despite Johnson's support of cycling, and his much-publicised identity as a cyclist, some cycling groups argued he had failed to make the city's roads safer for cyclists.As per his election pledge, he commissioned the development of theNew Routemasterbuses for central London.He also ordered the construction of acable car systemthat crossed theRiver Thamesbetween theGreenwich Peninsulaand theRoyal Docks. Johnson's first policy initiative was a ban on drinking alcohol on public transport.He announced plans to extend pay-as-you-goOyster cardsto national rail services in London.A pledge in Johnson's manifesto was to retain Tube ticket offices, in opposition to Livingstone's proposal to close up to 40.On 2 July 2008, the Mayor's office announced the closure plan was to be abandoned.On 21 November 2013,Transport for Londonannounced that all London Underground ticket offices would close by 2015.In financing these projects, Johnson's administration borrowed £100 million,while public transport fares were increased by 50%. During his first term, Johnson was perceived as having moved leftward on certain issues, supporting theLondon Living Wageand endorsing an amnesty for illegal migrants.He tried placating critics who had deemed him a bigot by appearing atLondon's gay pride paradeand praising ethnic minority newspapers.Johnson broke from the traditional protocol of those in public office not publicly commenting on other nations' elections by endorsingBarack Obamafor the2008 United States presidential election. Relations with the police, finance, and the media Johnson appointed himself chair of theMetropolitan Police Authority(MPA), and in October 2008 successfully pushed for the resignation of Metropolitan Police CommissionerIan Blair, after Blair was criticised for allegedly handing contracts to friends and for his handling of thedeath of Jean Charles de Menezes.This earned Johnson respect among Conservatives, who interpreted it as his first act of strength.Johnson resigned as chairman of the MPA in January 2010,but throughout his mayoralty was highly supportive of the Metropolitan Police, particularly during the controversy surrounding thedeath of Ian Tomlinson.Overall crime in London fell during his administration, but his claim that serious youth crime had decreased proved to be false, and he acknowledged the error.He was criticised for his response to the2011 London riots. Johnson championed London's financial sector and denounced what he saw as \\\"banker bashing\\\" following thefinancial crisis of 2007–08,condemning theanti-capitalistOccupy Londonmovement that appeared in 2011.He collected donations from the city's wealthy for a charitable enterprise, the Mayor's Fund, which he had established to aid disadvantaged youths. It initially announced the fund would raise £100 million, but by 2010 it had only earnt £1.5 million.He also maintained extensive personal contacts throughout the British media,which resulted in widespread favourable press coverage of his administration.In turn he remained largely supportive of his friends in the media, includingRupert Murdoch, during theNews International phone hacking scandal. The formation of the Forensic Audit Panel was announced on 8 May 2008. The panel was tasked with monitoring and investigating financial management at theLondon Development Agencyand theGreater London Authority.Johnson's announcement was criticised by Labour for the perceived politicisation of this nominally independent panel.The head of the panel,Patience Wheatcroft, was married to a Conservative councillorand three of the four remaining panel members also had close links to the Conservatives. Re-election campaign Up for re-election in 2012, Johnson again hired Crosby to orchestrate his campaign.Before the election, Johnson publishedJohnson's Life of London, a work of popular history that historianA. N. Wilsoncharacterised as a \\\"coded plea\\\" for votes.Polls suggested that while Livingstone's approach to transport was preferred, voters in London placed greater trust in Johnson on crime and the economy.Johnson's campaign emphasised the accusation that Livingstone was guilty oftax evasion, for which Livingstone called Johnson a \\\"bare-faced liar\\\".Political scientist Andrew Crines believed that Livingstone's campaign focused on criticising Johnson rather than presenting an alternate and progressive vision of London's future.Johnson wasre-elected. Second term: 2012–2016 After a successful bid under Livingstone in 2005, London hosted the2012 Summer Olympics, with Johnson as board co-chair.He improved transportation around London by making more tickets available and adding buses around the capital when thousands of spectators were temporary visitors.Johnson was accused of covering up pollution ahead of the games by deploying dust suppressants to remove air particulates near monitoring stations.In November 2013, Johnson announced major changes to the operation of theLondon Underground, including the extension of operating hours. All staffed ticket offices were replaced with automated ticketing systems. Johnson was close friends with American entrepreneurand modelJennifer Arcuri, withThe Sunday Timesdescribing him as a regular visitor to her flat,and implying they were in a sexual relationship.Arcuri and her company, Innotech, were awarded substantial government grants, and Johnson intervened to allow her onto three trade mission trips.The Sunday Timessaid in September 2019 that Johnson failed to declare his personal relationship as a conflict of interest.The Greater London Authority referred the matter to theIndependent Office for Police Conduct(IOPC) \\\"so it can assess whether or not it is necessary to investigate the former mayor of London for the criminal offence of misconduct in public office\\\", for the Mayor is also London'spolice and crime commissioner.On 9 November 2019 it was revealed that the IOPC had decided to publish its report after the general election on 12 December.The IOPC eventually issued its report in May 2020, concluding that, although there was no basis for any criminal charge, there was evidence that the close relationship between Johnson and Arcuri had influenced decisions, that Johnson should have declared an interest, and that his failure to do this could have breached the London Assembly's code of conduct. In 2015, Johnson criticised then-presidential candidateDonald Trump's false comments that there wereno-go zones in Londoninaccessible for non-Muslims. Johnson said Trump was \\\"betraying a quite stupefying ignorance that makes him frankly unfit to hold the office of President of the United States\\\",becoming the first senior politician in the UK to declare Trump unfit for office, but rejecting calls for him to be banned from the country.In 2016, he said he was \\\"genuinely worried that could become president\\\", telling ITV'sTom Bradbythat being mistaken for Trump in New York was \\\"one of the worst moments\\\" of his life. Johnson did not run for a third mayoral and stepped down on 5 May 2016 followingthe election. AYouGovpoll commissioned at the end of Johnson's term revealed that 52% of Londoners believed he did a \\\"good job\\\" while 29% believed he did a \\\"bad job\\\". Return to Parliament Johnson initially said that he would not return to the House of Commons while mayor.After much media speculation, in August 2014 he sought selection as the Conservative candidate for thesafe seatofUxbridge and South Ruislipat the2015 general election.In the2015 general election, Johnson was elected. There was speculation that he had returned to Parliament because he wanted to replace Cameron as Conservative leader and prime minister. Brexit campaign: 2015–2016 In February 2016, Johnson endorsedVote Leavein the \\\"Out\\\" campaign for the2016 European Union membership referendum.Following this announcement, which was interpreted by financial markets as making Brexit more probable, thepound sterlingslumped by nearly 2% against the US dollar, reaching its lowest level since March 2009. In April 2016, in response to a comment by PresidentBarack Obamathat Britain should remain in the European Union, Johnson wrote an \\\"ancestral dislike\\\" of Britain owing to his \\\"part-Kenyan\\\" background may have shaped Obama's views.Several politicians condemned his comments as racist and unacceptable.Conversely, former Conservative Party leaderIain Duncan SmithandUK Independence Party(UKIP) leaderNigel Faragedefended them. Johnson supported Vote Leave's statement that the government was committed toTurkish accession to the EU. Vote Leave was accused of implying that 80 million Turks would come to the UK if it stayed in the EU. When interviewed in January 2019, he said he had not mentioned Turkey during the campaign.On 22 June 2016, Johnson declared 23 June could be \\\"Britain's independence day\\\" in a televised debate. Following the victory of the \\\"Leave\\\" campaign, Cameron resigned. Johnson was widely regarded as the front-runner to succeed him.Johnson announced he would not stand in theConservative leadership election.Shortly before this, Michael Gove, hitherto a Johnson ally, concluded that Johnson \\\"cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead\\\".The Daily Telegraphcalled Gove's comments \\\"the most spectacular political assassination in a generation\\\".Johnson endorsedAndrea Leadsom's candidature, but she dropped out, leaving Theresa May to be elected uncontested. Foreign Secretary: 2016–2018 May appointed Johnsonforeign secretaryin July 2016.Analysts saw the appointment as a tactic to weaken Johnson politically: the new positions of \\\"Brexit secretary\\\" andinternational trade secretaryleft the foreign secretary as a figurehead.Johnson's appointment ensured he would often be out of the country and unable to mobilise backbenchers against her, while forcing him to take responsibility for problems caused by withdrawing from the EU. Some journalists and foreign politicians criticised Johnson's appointment because of his controversial statements about other countries.His tenure attracted criticism from diplomats and foreign policy experts.A number of diplomats, FCO staff and foreign ministers who worked with Johnson compared his leadership unfavourably to previous foreign secretaries for his perceived lack of conviction or substantive positions on foreign policy issues.A senior official in Obama's government suggested Johnson's appointment would push the US further towardsGermanyat the expense of theSpecial Relationshipwith the UK.On one occasion Egyptian presidentAbdel Fattah el-Sisiwalked out of a meeting with Johnson after a meeting did not \\\"get beyond the pleasantries\\\". Johnson's visit to Turkey in September 2016 was somewhat tense because he had wonDouglas Murray's offensive poetry competition about the President of Turkey,Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, four months earlier.When questioned by a journalist whether he would apologise for the poem, Johnson dismissed the matter as \\\"trivia\\\".Johnson pledged to helpTurkey join the EUand expressed support for Erdogan's government.Johnson described theGülen movementas a \\\"cult\\\" and supportedTurkey's post-coup purges. Johnson supported theSaudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemenand refused to block UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia.In September 2016, human rights groups accused him of blocking the UN inquiry into Saudi war crimes in Yemen.Given the UK-Saudi alliance, in December 2016, he attracted attention for commenting the Saudis were akin to the Iranians in \\\"puppeteering and playingproxy wars\\\".In November 2017, Johnson told theForeign Affairs Select CommitteethatNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe– a British-Iranian citizen imprisoned in Iran after being arrested for training citizen journalists and bloggers in aBBC World Service Trustproject – had been \\\"simply teaching people journalism\\\". Facing criticism, Johnson stated he had been misquoted and that nothing he said had justified Zaghari-Ratcliffe's sentence.In May 2018, Johnson backedtheIran nuclear deal framework, despite Donald Trump's withdrawal. In April 2017, Johnson said thatGibraltar's sovereigntywas \\\"not going to change\\\" after Brexit.Johnson promised while inNorthern Irelandthat Brexit would leave the Irish border \\\"absolutely unchanged\\\".Johnson visitedAnguillaandTortolain September 2017 to confirm the UK's commitment to helping restoreBritish territoriesdevastated byHurricane Irma.In September 2017, he was criticised for reciting lines fromRudyard Kipling's poemMandalaywhile visiting aMyanmartemple; the British ambassador, who was with him, suggested it was \\\"not appropriate\\\".In October 2017, he faced criticism for stating the Libyan city ofSirtecould become an economic success likeDubai: \\\"all they have to do is clear the dead bodies away\\\". Initially favouring a less hostile approach to Russia,Johnson soon backed a more aggressive policy.Following the March 2018poisoning of Sergei and Yulia SkripalinSalisbury, an act which the UK government blamed on Russia,Johnson comparedVladimir Putin's hosting of theWorld Cup in RussiatoAdolf Hitler's hosting of theOlympic Games in Berlinin 1936.Russia's Foreign Ministry denounced Johnson's \\\"unacceptable and unworthy\\\" parallel towards Russia, a \\\"nation thatlost millions of livesin fighting Nazism\\\".Johnson described theNord Stream 2gas pipeline from Russia to Germany as \\\"divisive\\\" and a \\\"threat\\\" that left Europe dependent on a \\\"malign Russia\\\" for itsenergy supplies. Johnson condemned thepersecutionofRohingya Muslimsin Myanmar,comparing the situation with thedisplacement of Palestiniansin 1948.Johnson supported theTurkish invasion of northern Syriaaimed at ousting theSyrian KurdsfromAfrin.He accused theUNHRCof focusing disproportionately on theIsraeli–Palestinian conflictand Israel'soccupationof thePalestinian territories. In a September 2017 op-ed, Johnson reiterated the UK would regain control of £350m a week after Brexit, suggesting it go to theNational Health Service(NHS).Cabinet colleagues subsequently criticised him for reviving the assertion.Following the2017 general election, Johnson denied media reports he intended to challenge May's leadership.In a February 2018 letter to May, Johnson suggested that Northern Ireland may have to accept border controls after Brexit and that it would not seriously affect trade, having initially said a hard border would be unthinkable.In June, he was reported as having said \\\"fuck business\\\" when asked about corporate concerns regarding a 'hard' Brexit. Secret recordings obtained byBuzzFeed Newsin June 2018 revealed Johnson's dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Theresa May's negotiating style, accusing her of being too collaborative with the European Union in Brexit negotiations. Comparing May's approach to that of the US president Donald Trump – who at the time was engaged in a combative trade war with the EU because it raised tariffs on metal – Johnson said: \\\"Imagine Trump doing Brexit. He'd go in bloody hard ... There'd be all sorts of breakdowns, all sorts of chaos. Everyone would think he'd gone mad. But actually you might get somewhere.\\\" He accused individuals of scaremongering over a Brexit \\\"meltdown\\\", saying \\\"No panic.Pro bono publico, no bloody panic. It's going to be all right in the end.\\\" In April 2018, Johnson travelled to Italy to attend a party at thePalazzo Terranova, owned by the formerKGBagentAlexander Lebedevand hosted by his sonEvgeny. He travelled without security protection or other officials,and did not document the trip, which led to accusations of Johnson having misled parliament.In June 2023, it was revealed that Lord Simon McDonald, the most senior civil servant of his department, was not aware of the trip. Johnson stated that \\\"no government business was discussed\\\" at the event as far as he was aware.Lebedev's villa was monitored by the Italian secret service at the time, who, according to aChannel 4documentary, suspected it to be used for espionage activities.Johnson granted a peerage toEvgenyin 2020, against the advice of theMI6, and met with criticism over potential security concerns. In July 2018, three days after thecabinethad its meeting to agree on aBrexit strategy,Johnson, along with Brexit secretaryDavid Davis,resigned his post. Return to the backbenches: 2018–2019 Johnson returned to the role of abackbench MP. In July, he delivered a resignation speech, stating \\\"it is not too late to save Brexit\\\".In January 2019, Johnson came under criticism for remarks he had made during the 2016 Leave campaign regarding the prospect of Turkish accession to the European Union; he denied making such remarks.In March 2019, he was criticized for saying that expenditure on investigating historic allegations of child abuse was money \\\"spaffed up the wall\\\". Journalism In July 2018, Johnson signed a 12‑month contract to write articles for theTelegraph Media Group.TheAdvisory Committee on Business Appointments(ACOBA) reported that this was a breach of theMinisterial Code.Johnson was ordered to apologise for failing to declare £50,000 of earnings. TheParliamentary Commissioner for Standardsfound the errors were not inadvertent, and that Johnson had failed on nine occasions to make declarations within the rules. In September 2018, Johnson wrote: \\\"We have opened ourselves to perpetual political blackmail. We have wrapped a suicide vest around the British constitution – and handed the detonator toMichel Barnier.\\\" Senior Tories heavily criticised him, withAlan Duncanof the Foreign Office vowing to ensure the comments marked \\\"the political end of Boris Johnson\\\".In April 2019, theIndependent Press Standards Organisationruled that a claim in a 6 January 2019 article inThe Daily Telegraph, \\\"The British people won't be scared into backing a woeful Brexit deal nobody voted for\\\", authored by Johnson,that a no-dealBrexitwas \\\"by some margin preferred by the British public\\\" was false, and \\\"represented a failure to take care over the accuracy of the article in breach of Clause 1 (i)\\\" of its guidelines, and required that a correction be published. 2019 Conservative Party leadership election On 12 June 2019, Johnson launched his campaign for theConservative Party leadership election, saying, \\\"we must leave the EU on 31 October.\\\"On the campaign trail, Johnson warned of \\\"catastrophic consequences for voter trust in politics\\\" if the government pushed the EU for further delays. He advocated removing thebackstopfrom any Brexit deal. On 25 and 26 August, he announced plans to retain £7 or £9 billion of the £39 billion divorce payment the UK is due to transfer to the EU upon withdrawal.Johnson initially pledged to cut income tax for earners of more than £50,000 but backed away from this plan in June 2019 after coming under criticism in a televisedBBCdebate. Johnson was elected leader with 92,153 votes (66%) to Hunt's 46,656 (34%). Premiership (2019–2022) First term (July–December 2019) On 24 July 2019, the day following Johnson's election as Conservative Party leader, QueenElizabeth IIacceptedTheresa May's resignation and appointed Johnson as prime minister. This made Johnson the first prime minister to be born outsideBritish territories.Johnson appointedDominic Cummingsas his senior advisor. Brexit policy In hisfirst speech as PM, Johnson said that the United Kingdom would leave the European Union on 31 October 2019 with orwithout a deal, and promised to remove theIrish backstopfrom the withdrawal agreement.Johnson declared his intention tore-open negotiations, but talks did not immediately resume as the EU refused to accept Johnson's condition that the backstop be removed.On 28 August 2019, UK and EU negotiators agreed to resume regular meetings. Also on 28 August 2019, Johnson declared he had asked the Queen toprorogue Parliamentfrom 10 September, reducing the time in which Parliament could block a no-deal Brexit and causing apolitical controversy.The Queen atPrivy Councilapproved prorogation later the same day, and it began on 10 September, scheduled to last until 14 October.Some suggestedthat this prorogation amounted to aself-coup, and on 31 August 2019, protests occurred throughout the United Kingdom.By 2 September 2019, three separate court cases challenging Johnson's action were in progress or scheduled to take place,and on 11 September, three Scottish judges ruled the prorogation of the UK Parliament to be unlawful.On 12 September, Johnson denied lying to the Queen over suspension of the Parliament, while a Belfast Court rejected claims that his Brexit plans would have a negative impact on Northern Ireland's peace policy.On 24 September, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Johnson's advice to prorogue Parliament was unlawful, and therefore the prorogation was rendered null. When Parliament resumed on 3 September 2019, Johnson indicated he would call a general election under theFixed-term Parliaments Actafter opposition and rebel Conservative MPs successfully voted against the government to take control of the order of business to prevent a no-deal exit.Despite government opposition, theBenn Act, a bill to block a no-deal exit, passed the Commons on 4 September 2019, causing Johnson to propose a general election on 15 October.His motion was unsuccessful as it failed to command the support of two-thirds of the House. In October 2019, following bilateral talks between Johnson andTaoiseachLeo Varadkar,the UK and EU agreed to arevised deal, whichreplaced the backstopwith a newNorthern Ireland Protocol. First Cabinet JohnsonappointedhisCabineton 24 July 2019,dismissing 11 senior ministers and accepting the resignation of six others.The mass dismissal was the most extensive postwar Cabinet reorganisation without a change in the ruling party. Among other appointments, Johnson madeDominic RaabtheFirst Secretary of Stateand foreign secretary and appointedSajid JavidandPriti Patelas theChancellor of the ExchequerandHome Secretary, respectively. Loss of working majority On 3 September 2019,Phillip Leecrossed the floorto theLiberal Democratsfollowing a disagreement with Johnson'sBrexitpolicy. This left the government without aworking majorityin the House of Commons.Later that day,21 Conservative MPshad the partywhipwithdrawn for defying party orders and supporting an opposition motion.(The whip was restored to 10 former Conservative ministers on 29 October.) On 5 September 2019, Johnson's brotherJo Johnsonresigned from the government and announced that he would step down as MP, describing his position as \\\"torn between family and national interest\\\".Two days later,Amber Ruddresigned asSecretary of State for Work and Pensionsand from the Conservative Party, describing the withdrawal of the party whip as an \\\"assault on decency and democracy\\\". 2019 general election In October 2019, Parliament was dissolved, and an election called for 12 December. The election resulted in the Conservative Party winning 43.6% of the vote and a parliamentary landslide majority of 80 seats.A key slogan used in the Conservative campaign was \\\"Get Brexit Done\\\". Second term (December 2019 – September 2022) Second Cabinet Johnsonreshuffled his cabinetin February 2020.Five Cabinet ministers were sacked, including theNorthern Ireland secretaryJulian Smith, a decision that was criticised by several politicians and commentators following his success in restoring theNorthern Ireland Executivedevolved government.Chancellor of the ExchequerSajid Javidresigned from the Cabinet and was replaced byRishi Sunak; Javid later returned to Johnson's Cabinet asSecretary of State for Health and Social Carein June 2021 following the resignation ofMatt Hancock. Johnson reshuffled his cabinet again in September 2021. Changes included the dismissal ofEducation SecretaryGavin Williamsonwho had received significant criticism for his handling of disruption to education during the COVID-19 pandemic.Dominic Raabwas moved from foreign secretary todeputy prime ministerandjustice secretary. Raab was replaced as foreign secretary byLiz Truss. COVID-19 pandemic TheCOVID-19 pandemicemerged as a serious crisis within the first few months of Johnson's second term.Johnson's non-attendance of fiveCOBRbriefings during the early months and the failure of the UK government to prepare for and control the outbreak has been criticised.The UK was among the last majorEuropean states to close schools, ban public events and order alockdown.This response is thought by some scientists to have contributed to the UK's high death toll from COVID-19, which as of January 2021was among the highest in the world. Reutersreported that scientists were critical of Johnson both for acting too slowly to stop the spread of COVID-19 and for mishandling the government's response;PoliticoquotedChief Medical OfficerChris Whittyas saying that an earlier initial lockdown would have significantly lowered the death toll.TheBMJpublished several editorials critical of the policies adopted during the country's public health response.Johnson's public communication over the virus and the UK's test and trace system were also criticised. On 3 March 2020, Johnson claimed to have shaken hands with COVID-19 patients in hospital on the same day thatSAGEhad advised the government to warn the public not to shake hands and minimise physical contact,though it was unclear whether the hospital he visited actually contained any coronavirus patients.He continued to shake hands publicly in the following days.On 23 March, aCOVID-19 lockdownwas imposed throughout the UK, except for a few limited purposes, backed up bynew legal powers. On 27 March, it was announced that Johnson had tested positive forCOVID-19.On 5 April, he was admitted to a hospital.The next day, he was moved to the hospital's intensive care unit.Johnson left intensive care on 9 April,and left hospital three days later to recuperate atChequers.After a fortnight at Chequers, he returned to Downing Street on 26 April.Johnson later said that he had been givenemergency oxygenwhile in intensive care, and that doctors had made preparations in case he died. Ascandalin May 2020 involved Johnson's chief political advisorDominic Cummings, who made a trip with his family toDurhamduring the March 2020 lockdown while experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. Both Cummings and Johnson rejected widespread calls that Cummings resign.Johnson's defence of Cummings and his refusal to sack him caused a widespread backlash.This resulted in a loss of confidence in the government and specifically its response to the pandemic, referred to as 'the Cummings effect' inThe Lancet. Concerns were raised in the study that this could affect the public's compliance with pandemic restrictions. The Johnson ministry wasaccused of cronyism in their assignment of contractsrelated to the pandemic response. Procurement of government contracts for key COVID-19 supplies became less transparent as a result of emergency measures bypassing the usual competitive tendering process.In October 2020, Johnson conceded that the UK'stest and tracesystem and its specially developedcontact tracing app, which had been criticised for their cost and operational issues, had caused \\\"frustrations\\\". Johnson reportedly resisted calls from SAGE and within the government to enact a second lockdown throughout September as COVID-19 infections rose.In April 2021, Johnson denied allegations he had said he would rather \\\"let the bodies pile high in their thousands\\\" on 30 October 2020.The government enacted a second national lockdown on 31 October.Throughout December 2020, COVID-19 cases across the UK rose significantly, straining emergency services and hospitals.In response, the government enacted further restrictions to large parts of southern and eastern England and on 21 December shortened a planned household mixing period over Christmas. Britain beganits COVID-19 vaccination programmein December 2020.Half of UK adults had received at least their first vaccine dose by 20 March 2021.A third lockdown for the whole of England was introduced on 6 January 2021.Record numbers of infections and daily deaths were recorded in the UK throughout January, and the government began exploring quarantine procedures on arrival.Johnson said he was \\\"deeply sorry\\\" and \\\"take full responsibility\\\" as the UK passed 100,000 deaths from COVID-19, the first European country to do so, on 26 January. In July 2021, Johnson announced that most generalised public health restrictions in England would be lifted and replaced by recommendations. This took place despite an increase in cases driven by theDelta variant.In September 2021, Johnson was pictured in a cabinet meeting, with \\\"at least 30 people crammed shoulder-to-shoulder\\\", without anyone wearing masks and with all windows apparently closed, contradicting government advice.Johnson was also photographed without a face mask during a visit to a hospital in November. In December 2021, more stringent \\\"Plan B\\\" restrictions for England were put forward, a partial renewal of previous measures due to the increased incidence of theSARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. These proposals included face coverings to be required in more public settings, guidance towork from homewherever possible, and requirements ofCOVID-19 passportsto enter certain venues.The government experienced the largest rebellion of Conservative MPs during Johnson's premiership, in opposition to these measures. Immigration In 2019, Johnson promised to reduce net migration to the United Kingdom (the number of people immigrating minus the number emigrating) below 250,000 per year by the next election.In 2021, net migration to the UK was 488,000,up from 184,000 in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.Most of the migrants came from non-EU countries. As a result of Brexit, more EU nationals left the UK than arrived. In 2021, Johnson's government launched ascheme for Hongkongersfollowing theHong Kong national security law, with more than 200,000 Hong Kong residents immigrating to the UK. Long-term net migration to the UK reached a record high of 764,000 in 2022,with immigration at 1.26 million and emigration at 493,000. Legislative agenda At theState Opening of Parliament on 11 May 2021, a range of proposed laws were announced, including theDissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill, which would restore theroyal prerogativeto dissolve Parliament; aHigher Education (Freedom of Speech) Billto combatdeplatformingat universities;anOnline Safety Billthat would impose a statutoryduty of careon online companies and empowerOfcomto block particular websites;and anAnimal Welfare (Sentience) Billthat would legally recognise animal sentience. Further laws would introducemandatory voter identificationat general elections, reform the national immigration system, and implement alevelling up policyto reduce imbalances between areas. 2021 Downing Street refurbishment controversy In April 2021, Cummings alleged that Johnson had arranged for donors to \\\"secretly pay\\\" for renovations on the private residence at 11 Downing Street.On 27 April Johnson asked the Cabinet Secretary,Simon Case, to hold a review about the refurbishment.On 28 April, theElectoral Commissionannounced it had opened a formal investigation.On the same day Johnson said that he had not broken any laws over the refurbishment and had met the requirements he was obliged to meet.DuringPrime Minister's Questions, the leader of the opposition,Keir Starmer, asked: \\\"Whoinitiallypaid for the redecoration of his Downing Street flat?\\\"; Johnson responded: \\\"I paid for Downing Street's refurbishment personally.\\\" On 28 MayLord Geidtpublished a report on the allegations which concluded that Johnson did not breach the Ministerial Code and that no conflict, or reasonably perceived conflict, of interest arose. However, Lord Geidt expressed that it was \\\"unwise\\\" for Johnson to have proceeded without \\\"more rigorous regard for how this would be funded\\\".The Electoral Commission reported on 9 December that it found that the Conservative Party had failed to follow the law in not accurately reporting donations to the party from Lord Brownlow and imposed a £17,800 fine on the party.The Heraldsaid the commission's report outlined how, in March, all the money paid by Brownlow and his company had been reimbursed, as had the payments made by the Conservative Party and Cabinet Office.Downing Street had said at the time that the full cost of the works had been met personally by the prime minister. Owen Paterson controversy In November 2021, Johnson backed a motion to block the suspension ofOwen Paterson, a Conservative MP found to have abused his position by theindependent standards commissionerafter undertaking paid lobbying.The motion called for the creation of a new Conservative-majority committee to examine reforms of the standards investigation process.Many Conservative MPs refused to support the motion, and 13 defied athree-line whipto vote against it.Following the announcement by opposition parties that they would boycott the new committee, and faced with a backlash in the media and from MPs of all parties, the government announced that a new vote would take place on whether Paterson should be suspended.Paterson announced his resignation as an MP the same day.Aby-electionin Paterson's former constituency ofNorth Shropshiresaw theLiberal Democratcandidate,Helen Morgan, overturn a Conservative majority of nearly 23,000,theseventh largest swing in United Kingdom by-election history. Partygate scandal In December 2021, reports emerged thatsocial gatherings of government and Conservative Party staffin Downing Street had taken place ahead of Christmas 2020 against COVID-19 regulations. Johnson denied these allegations.Following a leaked video showing Downing Street staff joking about a \\\"fictional party\\\", at a press conference rehearsal recorded days after one alleged party took place, Johnson apologised for the contents of the video and suggested he had been misled but had now ordered an inquiry. On 10 January 2022,ITV Newsreported that a planned party had taken place on 20 May 2020, during the first lockdown. ITV had obtained an email sent by principal private secretaryMartin Reynoldsto staff inviting them to \\\"socially distanced drinks\\\" in the garden of No. 10.At the time, people outdoors were not allowed to meet more than one person from outside their household.Two eyewitnesses later alleged that Johnson and Symonds attended, contradicting Johnson's insistence in December 2021 that there were \\\"no parties\\\". On 12 January 2022, Johnson apologised to MPs in the Commons for \\\"attending an event in the Downing Street garden during the first lockdown\\\",stating he believed it was \\\"a work event\\\".He said that MPs should await the outcome of the independent inquiry, led by senior civil servantSue Gray, which he said \\\"will report as soon as possible\\\".There were calls across the House for Johnson to resign. On 19 January,Bury SouthMPChristian Wakeforddefected from the Conservative Party to the Labour Party.Conservative former ministerDavid Daviscalled for Johnson to resign, quotingLeo Amerycalling onNeville Chamberlainto resign during theNorway Debatein 1940, and saying: \\\"You have sat there too long for all the good you have done. In the name of God, go.\\\" On 25 January, theMetropolitan Police's chief commander,Cressida Dick, announced that they were commencing investigations into the Downing Street Parties.An abbreviated version of theSue Gray reportinto the controversy was released on 31 January, where Gray concluded there was a \\\"failure of leadership\\\" over the events that she had examined. The release of the full report was delayed pending the Metropolitan Police's investigation. In April 2022, Johnson was issued afixed penalty noticeas police determined that he committed a criminal offence by breaching the COVID-19 lockdown regulations.Johnson therefore became the first prime minister in British history to have been sanctioned for breaking the law while in office. According to Downing Street insiders, Johnson was involved in instigating a party on the occasion ofLee Cainleaving Number 10. What had begun as press office drinks became a party after Johnson arrived, gave a speech and poured drinks for staff.Labour's deputy leader,Angela Raynersaid, \\\"If the latest reports are true, it would mean that not only did the prime minister attend parties, but he had a hand in instigating at least one of them. He has deliberately misled the British people at every turn. The prime minister has demeaned his office.\\\"On 21 April, MPs voted to refer Johnson to theParliamentary Privileges Committeeto investigate whether he knowingly misled Parliament.Steve Bakersaid Johnson's \\\"marvellous contrition... only lasted as long as it took to get out of the headmaster's study\\\". Following theMay 2022 local elections, many leading Conservatives in areas where the Conservatives had done badly blamed Johnson and calling on Johnson to resign.On 6 June,Graham Bradyannounced that the threshold for a vote on Johnson's leadership had been passed; the vote was scheduled for later that same day. On 3 March 2023, an interim report from theCommons Select Committee of Privilegessaid there was evidence that \\\"strongly suggests\\\" breaches of coronavirus regulations would have been \\\"obvious\\\" to Johnson.The report also said \\\"There is evidence that those who were advising Mr Johnson about what to say to the press and in the House were themselves struggling to contend that some gatherings were within the rules\\\".Johnson said none of the evidence showed he \\\"knowingly\\\" misled Parliament.The report stated that the Commons may have been misled on multiple occasions and Johnson \\\"did not correct the statements earliest opportunity\\\".The committee also stated that Johnson had \\\"personal knowledge\\\" over lockdown gatherings in No 10, which he could have disclosed. Starmer slur controversy While speaking in the House of Commons in January 2022, Johnson falsely blamed Starmer for the non-prosecution of the serial sex offenderJimmy Savilewhen Starmer wasDirector of Public Prosecutionsin theCrown Prosecution Service. Starmer was DPP in the years immediately prior to Savile's death but there is no evidence he was involved in the decision to not have him prosecuted.A few days later, Johnson defended his comments but conceded that Starmer \\\"had nothing to do personally with those decisions\\\" by the CPS not to investigate Savile. Vote of confidence In the week prior to and throughout thePlatinum Jubilee of Elizabeth IIin June 2022, it had been speculated that a vote of confidence in Johnson's leadership of the Conservative Party might soon occur.On 6 June 2022, the Conservative Party announced that Johnson would face a vote of confidence in his leadership of the party, after at least 54 Conservative MPs wrote no-confidence letters to SirGraham Brady, the chairman of the1922 Committee. Johnson won the vote, with 211 in favour and 148 against.The number of rebel MPs was larger than had been expected.The result was described by Keir Starmer as the \\\"beginning of the end\\\" for Johnson's premiership. June 2022 by-elections Following heavy Conservative defeats in the 23 June 2022 by-elections inWakefieldandTiverton and Honiton, former party leader Michael Howard called for Johnson to resign, saying: \\\" biggest asset has always been his ability to win votes but I'm afraid yesterday's results make it clear that he no longer has that ability.\\\" Oliver Dowden, the Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party, resigned saying: \\\"somebody must take responsibility\\\".Johnson announced that he had no intention of changing or resigning; senior Conservatives accused him of increasingly \\\"delusional\\\" behaviour.On 26 June 2022 Johnson said: \\\"At the moment I'm thinking actively about the third term and what could happen then, but I will review that when I get to it.\\\" He also claimed that he intended to stay as prime minister until the mid-2030s, although Number 10 later said that he had been joking. Pincher scandal Government Deputy Chief WhipChris Pincherresigned on 30 June 2022, saying he had \\\"drunk far too much\\\" the night before at theCarlton ClubinSt James's, London, and having \\\"embarrassed myself and other people\\\".It was later alleged that he sexually assaulted two men,and he was suspended as an MP.On 3 July 2022 six new allegations against Pincher emerged, involving behaviour over a decade. Johnson allegedly referred to Pincher as \\\"handsy\\\" and Cummings said Johnson joked about him being \\\"Pincher by name, pincher by nature\\\" in 2020, leading to calls for Johnson to explain how much he knew about Pincher's behaviour.Ministers initially said that Johnson was unaware of any specific complaints against Pincher when he was appointed as deputy chief whip. The BBC then reported, however, that an official complaint and subsequent investigation into Pincher, while he was at the Foreign Office (July 2019 to February 2020), had confirmed his misconduct, and that Johnson had been made aware at that time.SirSimon McDonald, formerPermanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, later said that the prime minister had been briefed \\\"in person\\\" about Pincher. Mass resignations On 5 July 2022, Sunak and Javid resigned within minutes of each other,followed over the next 24 hours by 11 other ministers, as well as Conservative MPs fromparliamentary private secretaryand other Government positions;otherbackbenchersalso withdrew their support for Johnson. Many of the MPs stated that the Pincher affair had led them to change their minds on the suitability of Johnson to be prime minister.It was reported on 6 July that Johnson could face another confidence vote, with members of the 1922 Committee considering changing the rules as soon as that evening to allow this to happen.By 6 July, there had been a total of 31 resignations.As of May 2022, the government comprised 122 ministers. Announcement of resignation By the morning of 7 July, the newly installedChancellor of the Exchequer,Nadhim Zahawi, publicly stated his belief that Johnson should resign. Within hours, the BBC and other media reported Johnson's intention to resign. Johnson announced his resignation at 12.30 pm. I know that there will be many who are relieved, but perhaps quite a few who will be disappointed. And I want you to know how sad I am to give up the best job in the world - but them's the breaks. Upon reports of his resignation, thepound sterlingtemporarily strengthened in value, and UK stocks rose.He remained as prime minister until September, while the Conservative Party chose a new leader.On 5 September 2022, it was announced thatLiz Trusshad won theConservative leadership election. She became prime minister the next day.During his farewell speech outside 10 Downing Street on 6 September 2022 Johnson referred to the Roman statesmanCincinnatus. Some commentators noted that, while, as Johnson said, Cincinnatus returned to his plough, he was also later recalled to power. Environmental policies In November 2020, Johnson announced a 10-point plan for a \\\"green industrial revolution\\\", to include ending the sale of petrol anddieselcars and vans by 2030,quadrupling the amount ofoffshore wind powercapacity within a decade, funding emissions-cutting proposals, and spurning a proposedgreen post-COVID-19 recovery.In 2021, the Johnson government announced plans to cutcarbon emissionsby 78% by 2035. Johnson announced that the UK would join the Global Methane Pledge to cutmethane emissionsby 30% by 2030 at theCOP26summit, which the UK hosted.Before the summit, representatives ofGreenpeaceandFriends of the Earthcriticised Johnson's comments on plans to introduce \\\"enforceable limits\\\" on carbon emissions for other countries, which they accused of being unsubstantive,and his government faced criticism from environmental groups for cutting taxes on domestic air travel, given theenvironmental impact of aviation. In April 2022, Johnson announced that eight morenuclear reactorswould be built on existingnuclear power plantsites and called for an expansion in wind energy.Under these plans, up to 95% of the UK's electricity could come fromlow-carbon powersources by 2030. Foreign policy Johnson supported theEuropean Union–Mercosur Free Trade Agreement,which would form one of the world's largest free trade areas.Johnson's government placed importance on the \\\"Special Relationship\\\" with theUnited States.In 2022, his government introduced anasylum dealwhereby people entering the UK illegally would be sent toRwanda. Hong Kong and China Johnson said in July 2019 that his government would be very \\\"pro-China\\\" in an interview with the Hong Kong broadcasterPhoenix TV. He voiced support for Chinese presidentXi Jinping's infrastructure investment effort, theBelt and Road Initiative, and promised to keep the United Kingdom \\\"the most open economy in Europe\\\" forChinese investment. In June 2020, Johnson announced that if China were to continue pursuing theHong Kong national security law, the UK would offer 350,000Hong Kong residentswho areBritish National (Overseas) passportholders, and 2.6 million other eligible individuals, the chance to move to the UK.China accused the UK of interfering in its internal affairs. Johnson declined to describe the Chinese government'streatment of the Uyghur peopleas \\\"genocide\\\", despite use of the term by the United States.Johnson's government argued that genocide should be decided by the International Criminal Court.Nevertheless, he called what is happening to theUyghursin Xinjiang as \\\"utterly abhorrent\\\". The UK joined theAUKUSdefence pact with the United States and Australia in September 2021. The pact was denounced by Chinaand caused a French backlash, as it usurped existingplans for Australia to procure French submarines. Afghanistan On 8 July 2021, the day after saying he was \\\"apprehensive\\\" about the future of Afghanistan following what was then theimpending withdrawal of US troops, while announcing the near completion of British troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, Johnson expressed the view that there was \\\"no military path to victory for theTaliban\\\".Following thefall of Kabul to the Taliban, he blamed the United States for the crisis,saying thatNATOalliance members \\\"could not continue this US-led mission, a mission conceived and executed in support of America, without American logistics, without US air power and without American might\\\". UK–EU trade negotiation Following the formalwithdrawal from the European Unionin January 2020, Johnson's government enteredtrade negotiations with the EU.Fisheries was a major topicof the negotiations.On 16 October 2020 Johnson said that the UK \\\"must get ready\\\" for no trade deal with the EU.It was announced on 24 December 2020that theEU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreementhad been reached; it came into force formally on 1 May. Afisheries dispute between the UK and Franceoccurred shortly afterwards. Introduction of new UK border checks were delayed until 2022 to minimise the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2022, Johnson readied a draft that would unilaterally change parts of theNorthern Ireland Protocol, citing issues with medical supplies and cuts in VAT. One of the thornier points of contention involves safety regulations for food and plants, where the British government is opposed to a closer alignment with existing EU regulations. The EU rebuffed the idea of changing the text of the treaty to accommodate the British. A unilateral override by the UK would be tantamount to a breach of the agreement. As Johnson sought a more conciliatory tone, sources within the government began to stress that the draft is designed to be an \\\"insurance policy\\\" and would take years to become law. Russia and Ukraine In November 2021, Johnson warned that the European Union faces \\\"a choice\\\" between \\\"sticking up for Ukraine\\\" and approving theNord Stream 2natural gas pipeline from Russia to Europe. During theprelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Johnson's government warned the Russian Government not to invadeDonbas.Johnson andVladimir Putinagreed in a phone call to work towards a \\\"peaceful resolution\\\".On 1 February 2022, Johnson arrived inKyivon a diplomatic visit.He called the presence of theRussian Armed Forcesnear theRussia–Ukraine border\\\"the biggest security crisis that Europe has faced for decades\\\".The Kremlin denied that it wanted to attack Ukraine.On 20 February 2022, Johnson warned that Russia is planning the \\\"biggest war in Europe since1945\\\" as Putin intends to invade and encircle Kyiv.On 21 February 2022, Johnson condemnedRussia's diplomatic recognitionof twoself-proclaimedrepublics in Donbas. On 24 February 2022, Johnson condemned theRussian invasion of Ukraine, and ensured the UK joined ininternational sanctionson Russian banks andoligarchs.He later announced the UK would phase outRussian oilby the end of 2022. On 9 April 2022, Johnson travelled to Kyiv and met thePresident of Ukraine,Volodymyr Zelenskyy.On 16 April 2022, Russia'sMinistry for Foreign Affairsbanned Johnson and a number of senior British politicians from visiting Russia, saying that Britain aimed to isolate Russia politically and supply \\\"the Kyiv regime with lethal weapons and coordinating similar efforts on the part of NATO\\\". Within Ukraine, Johnson is praised by many as a supporter of anti-Russian sanctions andmilitary aid for Ukraine.On 3 May, Johnsonvirtually addressedtheUkrainian Parliament, becoming the first world leader to speak in Ukraine since the invasion. He pledged an extra £300m in military aid to Ukraine, praised Ukraine's resistance to Russia as its \\\"finest hour\\\" and said that the West had been \\\"too slow to grasp what was actually happening\\\" prior to Russia's invasion.In July 2022, Johnson warned that it would be a mistake to cease fire andfreeze the conflict.In August 2022, Johnson blamed Vladimir Putin for the emergingglobal energy crisis. Post-premiership (2022–present) After stepping down, Johnson reverted to being a backbench MP.Following thedeath of Queen Elizabeth II, Johnson took part inCharles III'sAccession Council. AfterLiz Trussannounced her resignation as Conservative Party leader on 20 October 2022, Johnson received more than the 100 MPs' nominations required to stand in theleadership election,but soon announced that he would not stand. In May 2023, Johnson was referred to the police by the Cabinet Office regarding previously unknown potential breaches of COVID regulations between June 2020 and May 2021,to which Johnson's office issued a statement criticising the \\\"unfounded suggestions\\\" which \\\"has all the hallmarks of yet another politically motivated stitch-up\\\". On 9 June 2023, the publication of his2022 Prime Minister's Resignation Honoursled to a public feud with Sunak.Johnson supporterNadine Dorriesannounced that she was resigning as an MP due to not being included as a peer on the honours list.The same day, after receiving a confidential report from a committee of theHouse of Commonsthat was looking into whether he had lied to Parliament over lockdown-breaking parties, Johnson announced his resignation as MP.His resignation statement said he is \\\"not alone in thinking that there is a witch-hunt under way, to take revenge for Brexit and ultimately to reverse the 2016 referendum result\\\". On 15 June, the Commons Privileges Committee published their report, which concluded that Johnson lied to and deliberately misled the House of Commons over Partygate, misled the Committee themselves during the hearing, and acted in contempt of the Committee itself through a \\\"campaign of abuse and intimidation\\\".The report noted that had Johnson still been an MP, the Committee would have recommended he be suspended from Parliament for 90 days.The contents of the report represented a recommendation to the House of Commons,which accepted the report by 354 votes to seven. On 16 June, Johnson was unveiled as a new columnist for theDaily Mail. The news websitePolitico Europereported that Johnson would be paid a \\\"very-high six-figure sum\\\".Johnson reportedly informed theAdvisory Committee on Business Appointmentshalf an hour before the columnist assignment was publicly announced. The committee ruled that Johnson committed a \\\"clear breach\\\" of the rules since he had not sought its advice on the matter within an appropriate timeframe. In October 2023, Johnson announced he would join the television channelGB Newsas a commentator and programme maker for thenext general electionandUS presidential election. Johnson condemnedHamas' attackon Israel, saying \\\"there can be no moral equivalence between the terrorism of Hamas and the actions of the Israeli Defense Forces\\\". He rejected calls for a ceasefire in theGaza Stripduring theIsrael–Hamas war, and criticisedpro-Palestinian protests in the UK.On 5 November 2023, Johnson visited Israel to express solidarity. In February 2024, Johnson had a private meeting with the president of Venezuela,Nicolás Maduro.In March 2024,The Timesreported that Johnson is expected to campaign for the Conservatives in the next General Election. On 2 May 2024 Johnson was turned away from his polling station for theThames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner, after forgetting to bringvalid photographic identification, a requirement of theElections Act, which Johnson introduced while in office. When he arrived he had nothing to prove his identity except the sleeve of his copy ofProspectmagazine, on which his name and address had been printed. He said that when he returned a few minutes later, with hisdriving licence, he was then able to vote.During the2024 general election, Johnson campaigned for the Conservatives, who lost the election in a landslide to Labour. Johnson's memoirsUnleashedare scheduled to be released in October 2024. Political positions and ideology free-market, tolerant, broadly libertarian (though perhaps not ultra-libertarian), inclined to see the merit of traditions, anti-regulation, pro-immigrant, pro-standing on your own two feet, pro-alcohol, pro-hunting, pro-motorist and ready to defend to the death the right ofGlenn Hoddle to believe in reincarnation. — Boris Johnson, 2011 Ideologically, Johnson has been described as a \\\"One-Nation Tory\\\".Political scientists have described Johnson's political positions as ambiguous and contradictory, encompassingnativist, authoritarian andfree markettendencies on the one hand, and one-nationliberal conservatismon the other.Some scholars have questioned Johnson's commitment to one-nation conservativism, instead characterising his ideology as flexible and populist.Purnell stated that Johnson regularly changed his opinion on political issues, commenting on what she perceived to be \\\"an ideological emptiness beneath the staunch Tory exterior\\\". During his tenure as mayor, Johnson gained a reputation as \\\"a liberal, centre-ground politician\\\", according toBusiness Insider.In 2012, the political scientistTony Traversdescribed Johnson as \\\"a fairly classic—that is, small-state—mildlyeuroscepticConservative\\\" who also embraced \\\"modern social liberalism\\\".The Guardianstated that while mayor, Johnson blended economic and social liberalism,withThe Economistsaying that in doing so Johnson \\\"transcends his Tory identity\\\" and adopts a more libertarian perspective.According to political scientist Richard Hayton, Johnson's premiership was about Brexit, which served as a \\\"national cause\\\". Johnson evoked the discourse ofpopular sovereigntyandanti-establishmentpopulism to portray Parliament as seeking to \\\"sabotage\\\" Brexit, and in doing so, presented himself \\\"as the true representative of 'the people'\\\". Scholars ofcomparative politicshave drawn comparisons between Johnson and other populist leaders such as Donald Trump andViktor Orban.Some commentators have likened Johnson's political style toTrumpism,although others have argued that Johnson's stance on matters such as social policy, immigration and free trade is liberal.Johnson biographer Gimson wrote that Johnson is economically and socially \\\"a genuine liberal\\\", although he retains a \\\"Tory element\\\" through his \\\"love of existing institutions, and a recognition of the inevitability of hierarchy\\\".In 2019, reacting to reports inThe Sun, that Johnson had told cabinet colleagues he was \\\"basically a Brexity Hezza\\\", former deputy leader of the Conservative PartyMichael Heseltinewrote: \\\"I fear that any traces of liberal conservatism that still exist within the prime minister have long since been captured by the rightwing, foreigner-bashing, inward-looking view of the world that has come to characterise his fellow Brexiters.\\\" Environment Johnson expressedclimate scepticalviews in several columns,conflating the distinction between weather and climate and highlighting a factually incorrect claim by weather forecaster and conspiracy theoristPiers Corbynthat reduced solar activity could lead to a \\\"mini-Ice Age\\\". Bloomberg Newssuggested that Johnson's interest in climate change increased after becoming prime minister, and suggested this could have been influenced by his wifeCarrie Symondsand fatherStanley Johnson, who are both environmental campaigners. In 2019 and 2020, Johnson expressed support for the UK to have\\\"net-zero\\\" greenhouse gas emissionsby 2050and spoke about increasing ambition for mitigating climate change throughcarbon capture and storageand arenewable energy transition.During the2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Johnson called for greater efforts towardsclimate change mitigation,and welcomed the prospect ofcoal phase-out. It was reported in 2022 that Johnson was convinced of thescientific consensus on climate changefollowing a briefing by the chief scientist of theMet Officein January 2020, and subsequently made the issue a priority for his government. According toTheyWorkForYouas of 2022, Johnson has \\\"generally voted against\\\" what it described as \\\"key measures to preventclimate change\\\"while an MP,and other sources confirm this. Immigration and the European Union Purnell believed it was the influence of Johnson's maternal family that led to him developing \\\"a genuine abhorrence of racial discrimination\\\".In 2003, Johnson said, \\\"I am not by any means an ultra-Eurosceptic. In some ways, I am a bit of a fan of theEuropean Union. If we did not have one, we would invent something like it.\\\"As mayor, Johnson was known as a supporter ofimmigration.From 2009, he advocated a referendum on Britain's EU membership. In 2018, during Brexit negotiations, Johnson called for Britain to leave theSingle Marketand advocated a more liberal approach to immigration than that of Prime Minister May.He stated many people believed thatBritain's EU membershiphad led to the suppression of British wages and said the EU was intent on creating a \\\"superstate\\\" that would seek to rob Britain of its sovereignty.In 2019, Johnson said he would take Britain out of the EU on 31 October whether there was a trade deal in place or not.Johnson also stated his opposition to areferendum on the Brexit withdrawal agreement. On 19 August 2019, Johnson wrote a letter to the EU asking for the removal of the \\\"backstop\\\" accord. The president of the European Council,Donald Tusk, rejected the proposal.On 26 August 2019, Johnson said that Britain would not pay £39 billion for the withdrawal agreement were the UK to leave without a deal. The European Parliament Brexit coordinatorGuy Verhofstadtsaid there would be no further negotiation unless the UK agreed to pay the entire sum. Unionism and devolution Johnson described himself as a \\\"fervent and passionateunionist\\\".He proposed building anIrish Sea Bridge, but he later scrapped this initiative. The devolved administrations have criticised theInternal Market Billfor its re-centralisation of control over commerce. Public image Johnson has said that \\\"humour is a utensil that you can use to sugar the pill and to get important points across\\\".He is said to have a genuine desire to be liked.Johnson has been described as having a light-hearted and charming persona;many biographers and commentators suggest he has put significant effort into developing this version of himself.He has also been described as heavily focused on his own interests,with an often vitriolic or irresponsible way of conducting himself in private. Johnson has been described as a divisive, controversial figure in British politics.Supporters have praised him as witty and entertaining.Johnson has been accused of lying or making misleading statements throughout his career,and has been compared to former US presidentDonald Trump.He has been considered a figure with broad appeal outside of the usual Conservative support base.Johnson's premiership has been described by historians as the most controversial and scandal-affected since that ofDavid Lloyd Georgeabout a century earlier. Personal life Since Johnson was born in New York City to British parents, he heldBritish-Americandual citizenship. In 2015, he agreed to paycapital gains taxto theUS tax authoritieson a property that he inherited in the UK.He renounced his US citizenship the following year.Johnson has knowledge of French, Italian, German, Spanish,LatinandAncient Greek,frequently makingclassicalallusions in his newspaper columns and his speeches. Sonia Purnellwrote in 2011 that Johnson was a \\\"highly evasive figure\\\" when it came to his personal life,who remained detached from others and who had few intimate friends.Among friends and family, Johnson is more commonly known as Al (short for his forename Alexander), rather than Boris. In 2007, Johnson said he had smokedcannabisbefore he went to university.He has also said he had usedcocaine.Johnson partakes in cycling, tennis andpilates, and returned to road running in 2023.He was consideredobesein 2018 andoverweightin 2020, and has spoken of making efforts to lose weight. Johnson previously owned a £1.3 million buy-to-let townhouse inCamberwell, South London. According toHM Land Registrydocuments, he bought the four-bedroom property with his then-girlfriendCarrie Symondsin July 2019. The register of MPs' interests states that Johnson had a rental income of at least £10,000 a year.In 2023, Johnson and Symonds boughtBrightwell Manor, a £3.8 million moated mansion inBrightwell-cum-Sotwell, Oxfordshire. Religion Johnson was baptisedCatholicand laterconfirmedin theChurch of England,but has said that his faith \\\"comes and goes\\\"and that he is not a serious practising Christian.In 2020, his son Wilfred was baptised Catholic.Johnson and Symonds married in a Catholic ceremony atWestminster Cathedralon 29 May 2021.Since he was baptised Catholic, but his previous weddings were not conferred by the Catholic Church, the Catholic Church considered them putatively invalid. Johnson holds ancient Greek statesmanPericlesas a personal hero.According to Johnson's biographer, Andrew Gimson, regarding ancient Greek andRoman polytheism: \\\"it is clear that is inspired by the Romans, and even more by the Greeks, and repelled by theearly Christians\\\".Johnson viewssecular humanismpositively and sees it as owing more to theclassical worldthan to Christian thinking.However, in 2021, Johnson was asked if he held pre-Christian beliefs, which he denied, saying, \\\"Christianity is a superb ethical system and I would count myself as a kind of very, very bad Christian... Christianity makes a lot of sense to me.\\\" Relationships In 1987, Johnson marriedAllegra Mostyn-Owen, daughter of the art historianWilliam Mostyn-Owenand Italian writerGaia Servadio.The couple's marriage ended in divorce orannulmentin 1993and 12 days later Johnson marriedMarina Wheeler, a barrister, daughter of journalistCharles Wheeler.Five weeks later, their first child was born.They have four children:Lara Lettice, Milo Arthur, Cassia Peaches and Theodore Apollo. Between 2000 and 2004, Johnson had an affair withSpectatorcolumnistPetronella Wyattwhen he was its editor, resulting in a terminated pregnancy and amiscarriage.In April 2006, theNews of the Worldalleged that Johnson was having an affair withGuardianjournalist Anna Fazackerley. The pair did not comment; shortly afterward, Johnson employed Fazackerley. In 2009, Johnson fathered a daughter with Helen Macintyre, an arts consultant.In September 2021, Johnson stated that he had six children, thereby denying the existence of further illegitimate children. In September 2018, Johnson and Wheeler issued a statement confirming that they had separated months earlier;they divorced in 2020. Jennifer Arcurisaid that she had an affair with Johnson from 2012 to 2016. In 2019, Johnson was living withCarrie Symonds, the daughter ofMatthew Symonds, co-founder ofThe Independentnewspaper.Johnson and Symonds became engaged in late 2019and their son, Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson,was born in April 2020. On 29 May 2021, Johnson married Symonds atWestminster Cathedral.Their daughter, Romy Iris Charlotte Johnson,was born in December 2021.Their third child, a son named Frank Alfred Odysseus Johnson, was born in July 2023. Family and ancestors Johnson is the eldest of the four children ofStanley Johnson, a formerConservativemember of the European Parliament, and the painterCharlotte Johnson Wahl(née Fawcett),the daughter of SirJames Fawcett, president of theEuropean Commission of Human Rights.His younger siblings areRachel Johnson, a writer and journalist, Leo Johnson, a broadcaster,andJo Johnson, ex-minister of state and former Conservative MP forOrpington, who resigned from his brother's government in September 2019and is now a member of theHouse of Lords. Johnson's stepmother, Jenny, the second wife of his father Stanley, is the stepdaughter ofTeddy Sieff, the former chairman ofMarks & Spencer.Having been a member of the Conservatives between 2008 and 2011, Rachel Johnson joined the Liberal Democrats in 2017.She stood as a candidate forChange UKin the2019 European Elections.Johnson also has two half-siblings,Juliaand Maximilian, through his father's later marriage to Jennifer Kidd. Johnson's paternal grandfather, Wilfred Johnson, was an RAF pilot inCoastal Commandduring the Second World War.Wilfred Johnson's father was theOttomanInterior Ministerand journalistAli Kemal. Ali Kemal's father was aTurkwhile his mother was aCircassianreputedly ofslaveorigin.His other paternal ancestry includes English, German and French; one of his German ancestors was said to be theillegitimatedaughter ofPrince Paul of Württembergand thus a descendant ofGeorge II of Great Britain,which was later confirmed on an episode ofWho Do You Think You Are? Johnson's mother is the granddaughter ofElias Avery Lowe, apalaeographerand aRussian Jewishimmigrant to the US,andPennsylvania-bornHelen Tracy Lowe-Porter, a translator ofThomas Mann.Referring to his varied ancestry, Johnson has described himself as a \\\"one-man melting pot\\\".Johnson was given the middle name \\\"Boris\\\" after a White Russian émigré named Boris Litwin, who was a friend of his parents. Honours Works Notes References Footnotes Sources Further reading External links\",\n \"Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn(/ˈkɔːrbɪn/; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has beenMember of Parliament(MP) forIslington Northsince 1983. Anindependent, Corbyn was a member of theLabour Partyfrom 1965 until his expulsion in 2024, and is a member of theSocialist Campaign Groupparliamentarycaucus. He served asLeader of the OppositionandLeader of the Labour Partyfrom 2015 to 2020. Corbyn identifies ideologically as asocialiston thepolitical left. Born inChippenham,Wiltshire, Corbyn joined the Labour Party as a teenager. Moving to London, he became atrade unionrepresentative. In 1974, he was elected toHaringey Counciland became Secretary ofHornseyConstituency Labour Partyuntil elected as the MP for Islington North in 1983. His activism has includedAnti-Fascist Action, theAnti-Apartheid Movement, theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and advocating for aunited IrelandandPalestinian statehood. As abackbencher, Corbyn routinely voted against the Labourwhip, includingNew Labourgovernments. A vocal opponent of theIraq War, he chaired theStop the War Coalitionfrom 2011 to 2015, and received theGandhi International Peace AwardandSeán MacBride Peace Prize. FollowingEd Miliband's resignation after the party had lost the2015 general election, Corbyn won the2015 party leadership electionto succeed him. The Labour Party's membership increased sharply, both during theleadership campaignand following his election. Taking the party to the left, Corbyn advocatedrenationalisingpublic utilities andrailways, aless interventionistmilitary policy, and reversals ofausterity cutsto welfare and public services. Although he had sometimes been critical of theEuropean Union(EU), he supported theRemain campaignin the2016 EU membership referendum. After Labour MPssought to remove him in 2016through a leadership challenge, he won asecond leadership contestagainstOwen Smith. Despitehostile treatment from the media, in the2017 general electionCorbyn led Labour to increase its vote share by 10 percentage points to 40 per cent, their largest rise since the1945 general election. During his tenure as leader, Corbyn was criticised for theantisemitism within the party. He condemnedantisemitismand apologised for its presence,while his leadership saw astrengthening of disciplinary proceduresregarding hate speech and racism.In 2019, afterdeadlock in Parliament over Brexit, Corbyn endorsed holding areferendum on the withdrawal agreement, with a personal stance of neutrality. In the2019 general election, Labour's vote share fell to 32 per cent, leading to a loss of 60 seats, leaving it with 202, its fewest since the1935 general election. Corbyn remained Labour leader for four months while theleadership electionto replace him took place. His resignation as Labour leader formally took effect in April 2020 following the election ofKeir Starmer, who led the party to victory atthe next general electionin 2024. After asserting that the scale of antisemitism had been overstated for political reasons, Corbyn was suspended from the party in 2020. In May 2024, after the2024 general electionhad been called, Corbyn was not allowed to stand as a Labour candidate for his constituency, and subsequently announced he wouldstand as an independent candidate for Islington North; he was then expelled from Labour.He won re-election with a majority of 7,247. Early life Jeremy Bernard Corbyn was born on 26 May 1949 inChippenham, Wiltshire,the son of mathematics teacher Naomi Loveday (née Josling; 1915–1987)and electrical engineer andpower rectifierexpert David Benjamin Corbyn (1915–1986).He has three elder brothers; one of them,Piers Corbyn(born 1947), is a weather forecaster who later became known as aclimate change denierandanti-vaccine conspiracy theorist.For the first seven years of his life, the family lived inKington St Michael, Wiltshire.His parents wereLabour Partymembersandpeace campaignerswho met in the 1930s at a committee meeting in support of theSpanish RepublicatConway Hallduring theSpanish Civil War. When Corbyn was seven, the family moved toPave Lane, Shropshire, where his father bought Yew Tree Manor, a 17th-century farmhousewhich was once part of theDuke of Sutherland'sLilleshallestate.Corbyn attendedCastle House School, an independentpreparatory schoolnearNewport, Shropshire, before becoming a day student at Newport'sAdams Grammar Schoolat the age of 11. While still at school, Corbyn became active in theLeague Against Cruel Sportsand theLabour Party Young SocialistswithinThe Wrekin.He joined the Labour Party at the age of 16.He achieved twoA-Levelsat grade E, the lowest possible passing grade, before leaving school at 18.Corbyn joined theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmamentin 1966 while at schooland later became one of its three vice-chairs and subsequently vice-president.Around this time, he also campaigned against theVietnam War. After school, Corbyn worked briefly as a reporter for the localNewport and Market Drayton Advertisernewspaper.Around the age of 19, he spent two years doingVoluntary Service Overseasin Jamaica as ayouth workerand geography teacher.He subsequently visited Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay throughout 1969 and 1970. While in Brazil, he participated in a student demonstration inSão Pauloagainst theBrazilian military government. He also attended aMay Daymarch inSantiago, where the atmosphere aroundSalvador Allende'sPopular Unityalliance which swept to power inthe Chilean elections of 1970made an impression on him: \\\" noticed something very different from anything I had experienced... what Popular Unity and Allende had done was weld together the folk tradition, the song tradition, the artistic tradition and the intellectual tradition\\\". Early career and political activities Returning to the UK in 1971, Corbyn worked as anofficialfor theNational Union of Tailors and Garment Workers.He began a course in Trade Union Studies atNorth London Polytechnicbut left after a year without a degree after a series of arguments with his tutors over the curriculum.He worked as a trade union organiser for theNational Union of Public Employees(NUPE) andAmalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union,where his union was approached byTony Bennand \\\"encouraged ... to produce a blueprint for workers' control ofBritish Leyland\\\"; the plans did not proceed after Benn was moved to a different Department. Corbyn was appointed amemberof adistrict health authorityand in early 1974, at the age of 24, he was elected toHaringey CouncilfromSouth Hornseyward.After boundary changes in 1978 he was re-elected inHarringayward ascouncillor, remaining so until 1983.As a delegate fromHornseyto theLabour Party Conferencein 1978, Corbyn successfully moved a motion calling for dentists to be employed by theNational Health Service(NHS) rather than as private contractors.He also spoke in another debate, describing a motion calling for greater support for law and order as \\\"more appropriate to theNational Frontthan to the Labour Party\\\". Corbyn became the local Labour Party's agent and organiser,and had responsibility for the1979 general election campaignin Hornsey. Around this time, he became involved with theLondon Labour Briefing, where he was a contributor. Described byThe Timesin 1981 as \\\"Briefing's founder\\\",The Economistin a 1982 article named Corbyn as \\\"Briefing's general secretary figure\\\",as did a profile on Corbyn compiled by parliamentary biographerAndrew Rothin 2004,which states that he joined the editorial board as General Secretary in 1979.Michael Crick, in the 2016 edition of his bookMilitant, says that Corbyn was \\\"a member of the editorial board\\\",as does Lansley, Goss andWolmar's 1989 workThe Rise and Fall of the Municipal Left.Corbyn said in 2017 that these reports were inaccurate, tellingSophy Ridge: \\\"I read the magazine. I wrote for the magazine. I was not a member of the editorial board. I didn't agree with it.\\\" He worked on Tony Benn'sunsuccessful deputy leadership campaign in 1981. Corbyn was keen to allow formerInternational Marxist GroupmemberTariq Alito join the party, despite Labour's National Executive having declared him unacceptable, and declared that \\\"so far as we are concerned ... he's a member of the party and he'll be issued with a card.\\\"In May 1982, when Corbyn was chairman of the Constituency Labour Party, Ali was given a party card signed by Corbyn;in November, the local party voted by 17 to 14 to insist on Ali's membership \\\"up to and including the point of disbandment of the party\\\". In the July 1982 edition ofBriefing, Corbyn opposed expulsions of theTrotskyistandentryistgroupMilitant, saying that \\\"If expulsions are in order for Militant, they should apply to us too.\\\" In the same year, he was the \\\"provisional convener\\\" of \\\"Defeat the Witch-Hunt Campaign\\\", based at Corbyn's then address.TheMetropolitan Police'sSpecial Branchmonitored Corbyn for two decades, until the early 2000s, as he was \\\"deemed to be a subversive\\\". According to the Labour Party, \\\"The Security Services kept files on many peace and Labour movement campaigners at the time, including anti-Apartheid activists and trade unionists\\\". Parliamentary backbencher (1983–2015) Labour in opposition (1982–1997) Corbyn was selected as theLabour Partycandidatefor theconstituencyofIslington North, in February 1982,winning the final ballot for selection by 39 votes against 35 for GLC councillorPaul Boateng, who in 1987 became one of the first three Black BritishMembers of Parliament(MP).At the1983 general electionhe was elected MP for the constituency,defeating theIndependent LabourincumbentMichael O'Halloran, and immediately joined the socialistCampaign Group, later becoming secretary of the group. Shortly after being elected to Parliament, he began writing a weekly column for the left-wingMorning Starnewspaper.In May 2015, he said that \\\"theStaris the most precious and only voice we have in the daily media\\\".In February 2017, theMorning Starsaid of Corbyn: \\\"He has been bullied, betrayed and ridiculed, and yet he carries on with the same grace and care he always shows to others – however objectionable their behaviour and treatment of him might be.\\\" In 1983, Corbyn spoke on a \\\"no socialism withoutgay liberation\\\" platform and continued to campaign forLGBT rights. He was a campaigner againstapartheidin South Africa, serving on the National Executive of theAnti-Apartheid Movement,and was arrested in 1984 while demonstrating outsideSouth Africa House, leading, decades later, to a viral image of Corbyn being arrested circulated by supporters on social media.This was as a member of the City of London Anti-Apartheid Group (CLAAG) who carried out a \\\"non-stop picket\\\" for 1,408 days to campaign forNelson Mandela's release from prison. The Anti-Apartheid Movement did not support this protest, as they had agreed not to demonstrate within 30 feet of the embassy, and the picket failed to gain support from the LondonANC; Mandela's failure to respond to CLAAG following his release from prison in 1990 is frequently described as a 'snub'. He supported the1984–85 miners' strike.In 1985, he invited striking miners into the gallery of the House of Commons; they were expelled for shouting: \\\"Coal not dole\\\".At the end of the strike Corbyn was given a medallion by the miners in recognition of his help. In 1985, he was appointed national secretary of the newly launchedAnti-Fascist Action. During the BBC'sNewsnightin 1984, Conservative MPTerry Dickssaid that so-called Labour \\\"scruffs\\\" (such as Corbyn, who at this time was known for wearing an old polo-necked sweater to the Commons) should be banned from addressing the House of Commons unless they maintained higher standards. Corbyn responded, saying that: \\\"It's not a fashion parade, it's not a gentleman's club, it's not a bankers' institute, it's a place where the people are represented.\\\" In 1990, Corbyn opposed thepoll tax(formally known as the Community Charge)and nearly went to jail for not paying the tax.He appeared in court the following year as a result. Corbyn supported the campaign to overturn the convictions of Jawad Botmeh and Samar Alami for the1994 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Londonwhich argued that there was insufficient evidence to tie them to the act, along withAmnesty International,Unisonand a number of journalists and other MPs. Botmeh and Alami had admitted possessing explosives and guns but denied they were for use in Britain. The convictions were upheld by theHigh Court of Justicein 2001 and by theEuropean Court of Human Rightsin 2007. Corbyn sat on theSocial Security Select Committeefrom 1992 to 1997. Irish politics A longstanding supporter of aunited Ireland, in the 1980s Corbyn metSinn FéinleaderGerry Adamsa number of times.Corbyn consistently stated that he maintained links with Sinn Fein in order to work for a resolution to the armed conflict.According toThe Sunday Times, Corbyn was involved in over 72 events connected with Sinn Féin or other pro-republican groups during the period of the IRA's paramilitary campaign. Corbyn met Adams at the 1983 and 1989 Labour conferences (facilitated by pro-IRARed Action)and in 1983 at Westminster, along with a number of other Labour MPs.In 1984, Corbyn and Ken Livingstone invited Adams, two convicted IRA volunteers and other members of Sinn Féin to Westminster.He was criticised by the Labour Party leadership for the meeting, which took place two weeks after the IRA'sbombingof the Conservative Party leadership that killed five people. During the 1980s he campaigned on behalf of theGuildford FourandBirmingham Six, who were wrongly convicted of responsibility for IRA bombings in England in the mid-1970s.In 1986, Corbyn was arrested with 15 demonstrators protesting against what they saw as weak evidence and poor treatment during the trial of a group of IRA members includingPatrick Magee, who was convicted of the Brighton hotel bombing and other attacks. After refusing police requests to move from outside the court, Corbyn and the other protesters were arrested for obstruction and held for five hours before being released on bail, but were not charged. In 1987, Corbyn attended a commemoration by theWolfe Tone Societyin London for eight IRA members who were killed bySpecial Air Servicesoldierswhile attackingaRoyal Ulster Constabularypolice station inLoughgall,County Armagh. At the commemoration, he told his fellow attendees that \\\"I'm happy to commemorate all those who died fighting for an independent Ireland\\\" and attacked the British government's policies in Northern Ireland, calling for all British troops to be withdrawn from the region.Corbyn subsequently said that he had attended the event, which included aminute of silencefor the eight IRA members, to \\\"call for a peace and dialogue process\\\". He voted against the 1985Anglo-Irish Agreement, saying \\\"We believe that the agreement strengthens rather than weakens the border between the six and the 26 counties, and those of us who wish to see a United Ireland oppose the agreement for that reason.\\\" In the early 1990s,MI5opened a file on Corbyn to monitor his links to the IRA. In 1994, Corbyn signed a Commons motion condemning the 1974Birmingham pub bombings, which killed 21 people. A short time after IRA plans to bomb London were foiled in 1996, Corbyn invited Adams to the House of Commons for a press conference to promote Adams' autobiography,Before the Dawn. Shadow Northern Ireland SecretaryMo Mowlamand Labour leaderTony Blaircondemned the invitation, with Mowlam arguing that it was detrimental to the peace process, and Blair threatening disciplinary action.Adams cancelled the event, to save further embarrassment to Corbyn and to avoid negative publicity. In 1998, he voted for theGood Friday Agreement, saying he looked forward to \\\"peace, hope and reconciliation in Ireland in the future.\\\" In 2017, Corbyn said that he had \\\"never met the IRA\\\", although Shadow Home SecretaryDiane Abbottlater clarified that although he had met members of the IRA, \\\"he met with them in their capacity as activists in Sinn Fein\\\". Labour in government (1997–2010) Between 1997 and 2010, during theNew Labourgovernments, Corbyn was the Labour MP who voted most often against the party whip, includingthree-line whipvotes. In 2005 he was identified as the second most rebellious Labour MP of all time during the New Labour governments.He was the most rebellious Labour MP in the 1997–2001 Parliament,the 2001–2005 Parliamentand the 2005–2010 Parliament, defying the whip 428 times while Labour was in power.Jacobindescribed him as \\\"a figure who for decades challenged them from the backbench as one of the most rebellious left-wing members of parliament\\\". Corbyn has called forTony Blairto be investigated for allegedwar crimes during the Iraq War.In July 2016, theChilcot Reportof theIraq Inquirywas issued, criticising Blair for joining the United States in the war against Iraq. Subsequently, Corbyn – who had voted against military action against Iraq – gave a speech in Westminster commenting: \\\"I now apologise sincerely on behalf of my party for the disastrous decision to go to war in Iraq in March 2003\\\" which he called an \\\"act of military aggression launched on a false pretext\\\" something that has \\\"long been regarded as illegal by the overwhelming weight of international opinion\\\".Corbyn specifically apologised to \\\"the people of Iraq\\\"; to the families of British soldiers who died in Iraq or returned injured; and to \\\"the millions of British citizens who feel our democracy was traduced and undermined by the way in which the decision to go to war was taken on.\\\" Corbyn sat on theLondon Regional Select Committeefrom 2009 to 2010. Stop the War Coalition and anti-war activism In October 2001, Corbyn was elected to the steering committee of theStop the War Coalition, which was formed to oppose theWar in Afghanistanwhich started later that year. In 2002, Corbyn reported unrest : \\\"there is disquiet...about issues of foreign policy\\\" among some members of the Labour party. He cited \\\"the deployment of troops to Afghanistan and the threat of bombing Iraq\\\" as examples.He was vehemently opposed to Britain's involvement in theIraq Warin 2003, and spoke at dozens of anti-war rallies in Britain and overseas. He spoke at theFebruary anti-Iraq War protestwhich was said to be the largest such protest in British political history.At the same time, he expressed support for the Iraqi insurgency and the Palestinian intifada when he signed the second Cairo Declaration in December 2003, which said \\\"The Iraqis themselves are now engaged in a titanic struggle to rid their country of occupying forces. The Palestinian intifada continues under the most difficult circumstances. The US administration threatens Iran and other countries on a daily basis. Now is the time to draw together the forces of resistance in the Arab world and from around the globe.\\\" In 2006, Corbyn was one of 12 Labour MPs to supportPlaid Cymruand theScottish National Party's call for aparliamentary inquiry into the Iraq War.He was elected chair of the coalition in succession toAndrew Murrayin September 2011, but resigned once he becameLeader of the Labour Partyin September 2015. Parliamentary groups and activism Corbyn is a member of a number of Parliamentary Trade Union Groups: he is sponsored by several trade unions, includingUNISON,Uniteand theNational Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers. He is a supporter of theUnite Against Fascismpressure group. Corbyn was chair of theAll-Party Parliamentary Group(APPG) on theChagos Islands, chair of the APPG on Mexico, Vice-Chair of the APPG on Latin America and vice-chair of the APPG on Human Rights. He has advocated for the rights of the forcibly removedChagossiansto return to theBritish Indian Ocean Territory. Corbyn appeared on a call-in show onPress TV, an Iranian government television channel, several times between 2009 and 2012. He was criticised for appearing on the channel in light of Iran executing and imprisoning homosexuals, as well as Corbyn not questioning contributors who called the BBC \\\"Zionist liars\\\" and described Israel as a \\\"disease\\\".Corbyn said in response that he used the programme to address \\\"human rights issues\\\" and that his appearance fee was \\\"not an enormous amount\\\" and was used to help meet constituency office costs.Corbyn's final appearance was six months after the network was fined byOfcomfor its part in filming an interview withMaziar Bahari, an Iranian journalist, saying the interview had been held under duress and after torture. Labour in opposition (2010–2015) In the2010 Labour Party leadership election, Corbyn supported Diane Abbott in the first round in which she was eliminated; thereafter, he supportedEd Miliband. Corbyn was one of 16 signatories to an open letter to Ed Miliband in January 2015 calling for Labour to make a commitment toopposing further austerity, to takerail franchisesback intopublic ownership, and to strengthencollective bargainingarrangements. Corbyn sat on theJustice Select Committeefrom 2010 to 2015.Before becoming party leader Corbyn had been returned as member of Parliament for Islington North seven times, gaining 60.24% of the vote and a majority of 21,194 in the2015 general election. Leadership elections Following the Labour Party's defeat at the general election on 7 May 2015,Ed Milibandresigned as its party leader, triggering aleadership election. Corbyn decided to stand as a candidate, having been disillusioned by the lack of a left-wing voice, and said to his local newspaper,TheIslington Tribune, that he would have a \\\"clear anti-austerity platform\\\". He also said he would vote to scrap the Trident nuclear weapons system and would \\\"seek to withdraw from Nato\\\". He suggested that Britain should establish a national investment bank to boost house-building and improve economic growth and lift wages in areas that had less investment in infrastructure. He would also aim to eliminate the current budget deficit over time and restore the 50p top rate of income tax.He added: \\\"This decision is in response to an overwhelming call by Labour Party members who want to see a broader range of candidates and a thorough debate about the future of the party. I am standing to give Labour Party members a voice in this debate\\\".He indicated that, if he were elected, policies that he put forward would need to be approved by party members before being adopted and that he wanted to \\\"implement the democratic will of our party\\\".The other candidates were Shadow Home SecretaryYvette Cooper, Shadow Health SecretaryAndy Burnhamand Shadow Care MinisterLiz Kendall.Several who nominated Corbyn later said they had ensured he had enough votes to stand, more to widen the political debate within the party than because of a desire or expectation that he would win. At the Second Reading of theWelfare Reform and Work Billin July 2015, Corbyn joined 47 Labour MPs to oppose the Bill, describing it as \\\"rotten and indefensible\\\", whilst the other three leadership candidates abstained under direction from interim leader Harriet Harman.In August 2015, he called onIain Duncan Smithto resign asSecretary of State for Work and Pensionsafter it was reported that thousands of disabled people had died after being found fit to work byWork Capability Assessments(instituted in 2008) between 2011 and 2014, although this was challenged by the government and by FullFact who said that the figure included those who had died and therefore their claim had ended, rather than being found fit for work. Corbyn rapidly became the frontrunner among the candidates and was perceived to benefit from a large influx of new members. Hundreds of supporters turned out to hear him speak at thehustingsacross the nation and their enthusiastic reception and support for him was dubbed \\\"Corbynmania\\\" by the press.Membership numbers continued to climb after the start of his leadership.In addition, following a rule change under Miliband, members of the public who supported Labour's aims and values could join the party as \\\"registered supporters\\\" for £3 and be entitled to vote in the election.There was speculation that the rule change would lead to Corbyn being elected by registered supporters without majority support from ordinary members.He was elected party leader in a landslide victory on 12 September 2015 with 59.5% of first-preference votes in the first round of voting.He would have won in the first round with 51% of votes, even without \\\"£3 registered supporters\\\", having gained the support of 49.6% of full members and 57.6% of affiliated supporters.His 40.5% majority was a larger proportional majority than that attained by Tony Blair in1994.His margin of victory was said to be \\\"the largest mandate ever won by a party leader\\\". An internal Labour Party report, entitledThe work of the Labour Party's Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism, 2014–2019, was leaked to the media in April 2020. The report stated that during the 2015 and 2016 leadership contests, staff members at Labour party headquarters looked for ways to exclude from voting members who they believed would vote for Corbyn. The staff members referred to this activity as \\\"trotbusting\\\", \\\"bashing trots\\\" and \\\"trot spotting\\\". Corbynmania Corbyn was initially viewed as atoken candidatefor the left wing of the party and not expected to win. However, many new, young party members, who had joined after the membership fee had been reduced to £3, were attracted by what they saw as Corbyn'sauthentic, informal style and radical policies.Hundreds of supporters turned out to hear him speak at thehustingsacross the nation and their enthusiastic reception and support for him was dubbed \\\"Corbynmania\\\" by the press. Jonathan Dean characterised Corbynmania as a politicalfandom, comparable with the enthusiastic followings of popular media stars and other modern politicians such asBernie SandersandJustin Trudeau. Specific features included use of the #jezwecanhashtag, attendance at rallies and the posting of pictures such asselfieson social media. Artistic, merchandising and other activity consolidated and spread this fannish enthusiasm. This included a \\\"Jeremy Corbyn for Prime Minister\\\" (JC4PM) tour by celebrities such asCharlotte Church,Jeremy HardyandMaxine Peake; a Corbyn superhero comic book; mash-ups and videos. Many of Corbyn's supporters felt he possessed personal qualities such as earnestness and modesty leading them to develop a sense of emotional attachment to him as individual. These were seen as cultish by critics such asMargaret Beckettwho said in 2016 that the Labour Party had been turned into the \\\"Jeremy Corbyn Fan Club\\\". Achantof \\\"Oh, Jeremy Corbyn\\\" was adopted as an anthem or chorus by his supporters. Sung in the style of afootball chantto the tune of arifffrom \\\"Seven Nation Army\\\" byThe White Stripes,it attracted special attention at theGlastonbury Festival 2017, where Corbyn appeared and spoke to the crowds.Labour's weaker-than-expected performance in the2018 local electionsled to suggestions that Corbynmania had peaked. Leadership of the Labour Party (2015–2020) First term as Leader of the Opposition (2015–2017) After being elected leader, Corbyn becameLeader of the Official Oppositionand shortly thereafter his appointment to thePrivy Councilwas announced.In Corbyn's firstPrime Minister's Questionssession as leader, he broke with the traditional format by asking the Prime Minister six questions he had received from members of the public, the result of his invitation to Labour Party members to send suggestions, for which he received around 40,000 emails.Corbyn stressed his desire to reduce the \\\"theatrical\\\" nature of the House of Commons, and his début was described in aGuardianeditorial as \\\"a good start\\\" and a \\\"long overdue\\\" change to the tone of PMQs.He delivered his first Labour Party Conference address as leader on 29 September 2015.Party membership nearly doubled between the May 2015 election and October 2015, attributed largely to the election as leader of Corbyn. In September 2015 an unnamed senior serving general in the British Army stated that a mutiny by the Army could occur if a future Corbyn government moved to scrap Trident, pull out of Nato or reduce the size of the armed forces. The general said \\\"the Army just wouldn't stand for it. The general staff would not allow a prime minister to jeopardise the security of this country and I think people would use whatever means possible, fair or foul to prevent that. You can't put a maverick in charge of a country's security\\\". In July 2016, a study and analysis by academics from theLondon School of Economicsof national newspaper articles about Corbyn in the first months of his leadership of Labour showed that 75% of them either distorted or failed to represent his actual views on subjects. 2017 general election The Labour campaign in the2017 general electionfocused on social issues such as health care, education and ending austerity.Corbyn's election campaign was run under the slogan \\\"For the Many, Not the Few\\\"and featured rallies with a large audience and connected with agrassrootsfollowing for the party, including appearing on stage in front of a crowd of 20,000 at the Wirral Live Festival inPrenton Park. Although Labour started the campaign as far as 20 points behind, and again finished as the second largest party in parliament, it increased its share of the popular vote to 40%, resulting in a net gain of 30 seats and a hung parliament. This was its greatest vote share since2001. It was the first time Labour had made a net gain of seats since 1997, and the party's 9.6% increase in vote share was its largest in a single general election since 1945.This was partly attributed to the popularity of its 2017 Manifesto that promised to scrap tuition fees, address public sector pay, make housing more affordable, end austerity, nationalise the railways and provide school students with free lunches. 2019 general election and resignation In May 2019,Theresa Mayannounced her resignation and stood down as prime minister in July, following the election of her replacement, formerForeign SecretaryBoris Johnson.Corbyn said that Labour was ready to fight an election against Johnson. The 2019 Labour Party Manifesto included policies to increase funding for health, negotiate a Brexit deal and hold a referendum giving a choice between the deal and remain, raise the minimum wage, stop the age pension age increase, nationalise key industries, and replaceuniversal credit.Due to the plans to nationalise the \\\"big six\\\" energy firms, the National Grid, the water industry, Royal Mail, the railways and the broadband arm of BT, the 2019 manifesto was widely considered as the most radical in several decades, more closely resembling Labour's politics of the 1970s than subsequent decades. During the campaign for the upcoming general elections, Corbyn was accused by theHindu Council UKof promotinganti-Hindu sentimentsfollowing his disparaging comments on thecaste system& his condemnation of theHindu-rightwingBharatiya Janata Partyled Indian government'srevocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.ManyHindus living in the UKsaw Corbyn's attitude towards Hindus to be heavily influenced byPakistaniMuslimleaders of his party,with whom he shared a common pro-Palestinian stance. The2019 general electionwas the worst defeat in seats for Labour since 1935, with Labour winning just 202 out of 650 seats, their fourth successive election defeat.At 32.2%, Labour's share of the vote was down around eight points on the 2017 general election and is lower than that achieved by Neil Kinnock in 1992, although it was higher than in 2010 and 2015. In the aftermath, opinions differed to why the Labour Party was defeated to the extent it was. The Shadow ChancellorJohn McDonnelllargely blamedBrexitand themedia representationof the party.Tony Blairargued that the party's unclear position on Brexit and the economic policy pursued by the Corbyn leadership were to blame. Following the Labour Party's unsuccessful performance in the 2019 general election, Corbynconceded defeatand stated that he intended to step down as leader following the election of a successor and that he would not lead the party into the next election.Corbyn himself was re-elected for Islington North with 64.3% of the vote share and a majority of 26,188 votes over the runner-up candidate representing the Liberal Democrats, with Labour's share of the vote falling by 8.7%.The Guardiandescribed the results as a \\\"realignment\\\" of UK politics as the Conservative landslide took many traditionally Labour seats in England and Wales.Corbyn insisted that he had \\\"pride in the manifesto\\\" that Labour put forward and blamed the defeat on Brexit.According to polling byLord Ashcroft, Corbyn was himself a major contribution to the party's defeat.Corbyn remained Labour leader for four months while theleadership electionto replace him took place. His resignation as Labour leader formally took effect in April 2020 following the election ofKeir Starmer. Post-leadership EHRC report and suspension Allegations of antisemitism within the party grew during Corbyn's leadership. Incidents involvingNaz Shahin 2014 andKen Livingstonein 2016 resulted in their suspension from party membership pending investigation. In response, Corbyn established theChakrabarti Inquiry, which concluded that while the party was not \\\"overrun by anti-Semitism or other forms of racism,\\\" there was an \\\"occasionally toxic atmosphere\\\" and \\\"clear evidence of ignorant attitudes.\\\" In 2017, Labour Party rules were amended to categorizehate speech, including antisemitism, as a disciplinary matter. In 2018, Corbyn faced scrutiny for his response in 2012 to an allegedly antisemitic mural and for his association with Facebook groups, mainly pro-Palestinian, containing antisemitic posts. Labour'sNational Executive Committee(NEC) adopted a definition of antisemitism, for disciplinary purposes, in July of that year, aligning with theInternational Holocaust Remembrance Alliance(IHRA)Working Definition, with modified examples related to criticism of Israel.In September 2018, the NEC incorporated all 11 IHRA examples, unamended, into the party's code of conduct.In May 2019, theEquality and Human Rights Commission(EHRC) launched an inquiry into whether Labour had \\\"unlawfully discriminated against, harassed or victimised people because they are Jewish.\\\" After asserting that the scale of antisemitism had been overstated for political reasons, Corbyn was suspended from the party in 2020. The Forde Report, written by lawyer Martin Forde in response to the dossier that was leaked in April 2020 (The work of the Labour Party's Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism, 2014–2019), was released on 19 July 2022, stating that: \\\"ather than confront the paramount need to deal with the profoundly serious issue of anti-Semitism in the party, both factions treated it as a factional weapon.\\\"It also described senior Labour staff as having displayed \\\"deplorably factional and insensitive, and at times discriminatory, attitudes\\\" towards Corbyn and his supporters,and detailed concerns by some staff about a \\\"hierarchy of racism\\\" in the party which ignored Black people.The report also expressed regret that Corbyn himself did not engage with the authors' request to interview him. Responding to this, Corbyn's former advisorAndrew Fisherwrote: \\\"Forde confirms that reflection is necessary. Cultural change requires painstaking work, not glib assertions of change.\\\"Corbyn himself stated that report \\\"calls into question the behaviour of senior officials in the party, in particular during the 2017 election\\\" and that \\\"wrongs must be righted.\\\" Peace and Justice Project On 13 December 2020, Corbyn announced the Project for Peace and Justice. Corbyn launched the project on 17 January 2021, and its affiliates includeChristine Blower,Len McCluskeyandZarah Sultana.Rafael Correasaid that he \\\"welcome the creation\\\" of the project. Stop the War Coalition statement on Ukraine crisis On 18 February 2022, in the week before theRussian invasion of Ukraine, Corbyn alongside 11 Labour MPs cosigned a statement from theStop the War Coalitionopposing any war in Ukraine.The statement said that \\\"the crisis should be settled on a basis which recognises the right of the Ukrainian people to self-determination and addresses Russia's security concerns\\\", that NATO \\\"should call a halt to its eastward expansion\\\", and that the British government's sending of arms to Ukraine and troops to eastern Europe served \\\"no purpose other than inflaming tensions and indicating disdain for Russian concerns\\\".The statement's authors also said that they \\\"refute the idea that NATO is a defensive alliance\\\". On the evening of 24 February, the first day of the invasion, Labour chief whipAlan Campbellwrote to all 11 Labour MPs who had signed the statement, requesting that they withdraw their signatures.All 11 agreed to do so the same evening.Corbyn and fellow former Labour independent MPClaudia Webbedid not withdraw their signatures from the statement, thoughDavid Lammyurged Corbyn to do so. Expulsion from the Labour Party and 2024 general election Media speculation that Corbyn would contest the2024 general electionas an Independent was reported in October 2023.Despite \\\"unanimous support\\\" from hisConstituency Labour Party(CLP),Corbyn was not permitted to stand as a Labour parliamentary candidate. After announcing on 24 May 2024 that he would stand as an independent parliamentary candidate for Islington North, he was fully expelled from the Labour Party.He was endorsed byMick Lynchof theNational Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers. Corbyn responded to Keir Starmer's claim of knowing the party would lose the 2019 election by saying \\\"Well, he never said that to me, at any time. And so I just think rewriting history is no help. It shows double standards, shall we say, that he now says he always thought that but he never said it at the time or anything about it. He was part of the campaign. He and I spoke together at events and I find it actually quite sad.\\\" A poll released just over two weeks before the election showed Corbyn in second behind Labour candidate Praful Nargund.Leading members of the Islington North CLP resigned in order to support Corbyn, while also criticising the manner in which Nargund was selected as Islington North's candidate.Corbyn was comfortably re-elected as an independent, even as Labour won a landslide victory in the general election. His majority over Nargund was over 7,000. Policies and views Corbyn self-identifies as asocialist.He has also been referred to as a \\\"mainstream social democrat\\\".He advocates reversingausterity cutsto public services and some welfare funding made since 2010, as well asrenationalisationof public utilities andthe railways.A longstandinganti-warandanti-nuclearactivist, he supports a foreign policy of militarynon-interventionismandunilateralnuclear disarmament, and has been a prominent activist for Palestinian solidarity throughout theGaza–Israel conflict.WriterRonan Bennett, who formerly worked as a research assistant to Corbyn, has described him as \\\"a kind of vegan, pacifist idealist, one with a clear understanding of politics and history, and a commitment to the underdog\\\". In 1997, the political scientistsDavid ButlerandDennis Kavanaghdescribed Corbyn's political stance as \\\"far-left\\\".Corbyn has describedKarl Marxas a \\\"great economist\\\"and said he has read some of the works ofAdam Smith, Marx andDavid Ricardoand has \\\"looked at many, many others\\\".However, some have argued that Corbyn is less radical than previously described:for example, the journalistGeorge Eatonhas called him \\\"Keynesian\\\".In 2023,The Daily Telegraphreported that most of the tax policies in Corbyn's 2019 general election manifesto had been implemented by the winning Conservative government, including a highercorporation tax, awindfall taxon oil companies, a reduction in annual tax allowances on dividend income, raising income tax on high earners, and introducing adigital services taxon online retailers. Corbyn namedJohn Smithas the former Labour leader whom he most admired, describing him as \\\"a decent, nice, inclusive leader\\\". He also said he was \\\"very close and very good friends\\\" withMichael Foot. Media coverage Analyses of domestic media coverage of Corbyn have found it to be critical or antagonistic.In July 2016, academics from the London School of Economics published a study of 812 articles about Corbyn taken from eight national newspapers around the time of his Labour leadership election. The study found that 75 percent of the articles either distorted or failed to represent his actual views on subjects. The study's director commented that \\\"Our analysis shows that Corbyn was thoroughly delegitimised as a political actor from the moment he became a prominent candidate and even more so after he was elected as party leader\\\". Another report by the Media Reform Coalition andBirkbeckCollege in July 2016, based on 10 days of coverage around the time of multiple shadow cabinet resignations, found \\\"marked and persistent imbalance\\\" in favour of sources critical to him; theInternational Business Timeswas the only outlet that gave him more favourable than critical coverage. In August 2016, aYouGovsurvey found that 97% of Corbyn supporters agreed that the \\\"mainstream media as a whole has been deliberately biasing coverage to portray Jeremy Corbyn in a negative manner\\\", as did 51% of the general \\\"Labour selectorate\\\" sample. In May 2017,Loughborough University's Centre for Research in Communication and Culture concluded that the media was attacking Corbyn far more than May during nine election campaign weekdays examined.TheDaily MailandDaily Expresspraised Theresa May for election pledges that were condemned when proposed by Labour in previous elections. In February 2018, Momentum reported that attacks on Corbyn in the press were associated with increases in their membership applications.In September 2019, Labour leaders argued that traditional mainstream media outlets showed bias. In December 2019, a study by Loughborough University found that British press coverage was twice as hostile to Labour and half as critical of the Conservatives during the 2019 general election campaign as it had been during the 2017 campaign. In an interview withMiddle East Eyein June 2020, Corbyn described the media's treatment of himself while he was Labour leader as obsessive and \\\"at one level laughable, but all designed to be undermining\\\".He said that the media coverage had diverted his media team from helping him pursue \\\"a political agenda on homelessness, on poverty in Britain, on housing, on international issues\\\" to \\\"rebutting these crazy stories, abusive stories, about me the whole time\\\".He said he considered suing as a result of media treatment but was guided by advice from Tony Benn, who told him, \\\"Libel is a rich man's game, and you're not a rich man Go to a libel case – even if you win the case, you'll be destroyed financially in doing so\\\". Personal life Corbyn lives in theFinsbury Parkarea of London.He has been married three times and divorced twice, and has three sons with his second wife.In 1974, he married his first wife,Jane Chapman, a fellow Labour Councillor for Haringey and now a professor at theUniversity of Lincoln.They divorced in 1979.In the late 1970s, Corbyn had a brief relationship with Labour MPDiane Abbott. In 1987, Corbyn married Chilean exile Claudia Bracchitta, granddaughter of Ricardo Bracchitta (Consul-General of Spain in Santiago), with whom he has three sons. He missed his youngest son's birth as he was lecturing National Union of Public Employees members at the same hospital.Following a difference of opinion about sending their son to agrammar school(Corbyn opposesselective education), they divorced in 1999 after two years of separation, although Corbyn said in June 2015 that he continues to \\\"get on very well\\\" with her.His son subsequently attendedQueen Elizabeth's School, which had been his wife's first choice.Their second son, Sebastian, worked on his leadership campaign and was later employed asJohn McDonnell's Chief of Staff. Corbyn's second-eldest brother, Andrew, who was a geologist, died of a brain haemorrhage while inPapua New Guineain 2001. Corbyn escorted the body from Papua New Guinea to Australia, where his brother's widow and children lived. In 2012, Corbyn went to Mexico to marry his Mexican partner Laura Álvarez,who runs afair tradecoffee import business that has been the subject of some controversy.A former human rights lawyer in Mexico, she first met Corbyn shortly after his divorce from Bracchitta, having come to London to support her sister Marcela following the abduction of her niece to America by her sister's estranged husband. They contacted fellow Labour MP Tony Benn for assistance, who introduced them to Corbyn, who met with the police on their behalf and spoke at fundraisers until the girl was located in 2003.Álvarez then returned to Mexico, with the couple maintaining a long-distance relationship until she moved to London in 2011.Álvarez has described Corbyn as \\\"not very good at house work but he is a good politician\\\".They have a cat called El Gato (\\\"The Cat\\\" in Spanish),while Corbyn had previously owned a dog called Mango, described byThe Observerin 1984 as his \\\"only constant companion\\\" at the time. Personal beliefs and interests When interviewed byThe Huffington Postin December 2015, Corbyn refused to reveal his religious beliefs and called them a \\\"private thing\\\", but denied that he was anatheist.He has said that he is \\\"sceptical\\\" of having agodin his life.He compared his concerns about the environment to a sort of \\\"spiritualism\\\".Corbyn has described himself asfrugal, tellingSimon HattenstoneofThe Guardian: \\\"I don't spend a lot of money, I lead a very normal life, I ride a bicycle and I don't have a car.\\\"He has been a vegetarian for nearly 50 years, after having volunteered on a pig farm in Jamaica when he was 19, and stated in April 2018 that he was considering becoming avegan.Although he has been described in the media asteetotal, he said in an interview with theDaily Mirrorthat he does drink alcohol but \\\"very, very little\\\". Corbyn is a member of theAll-Party Parliamentary Group on Cycling.He enjoys reading and writing,and speaks fluent Spanish.He supportsArsenal F.C., which is based in his constituency, and has signed parliamentary motions praising the successes of its men's andwomen's teams.He namedJens Lehmann,Ian Wright, andDennis Bergkampas his favourite Arsenal players, and has campaigned for the club to pay its staff a living wage.Corbyn is an avid \\\"drain spotter\\\" and has photographed decorative drain andmanhole coversthroughout the country. Corbyn co-edited with Len McCluskey the anthologyPoetry for the Many, published in November 2023 byOR Books. Awards and recognition In 2013, Corbyn was awarded theGandhi International Peace Awardfor his \\\"consistent efforts over a 30-year parliamentary career to uphold theGandhianvalues of social justice and non‐violence\\\".In the same year, he was honoured by theGrassroot DiplomatInitiative for his \\\"ongoing support for a number of non-government organisations and civil causes\\\".Corbyn has won the Parliamentary \\\"Beard of the Year Award\\\" a record six times, as well as being named as theBeard Liberation Front'sBeard of the Year, having previously described his beard as \\\"a form of dissent\\\" againstNew Labour. In 2016, Corbyn was the subject of a musical entitledCorbyn the Musical: The Motorcycle Diaries, written by journalists Rupert Myers and Bobby Friedman. In 2017 the American magazineForeign Policynamed Corbyn in its Top 100 Global Thinkers list for that year \\\"for inspiring a new generation to re-engage in politics\\\".In December 2017 he was one of three recipients awarded theSeán MacBride Peace Prize\\\"for his sustained and powerful political work for disarmament and peace\\\".The award was announced the previous September. See also References Further reading External links e\",\n \"Nicola Sturgeon Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon(born 19 July 1970) is a Scottish politician who served asFirst Minister of ScotlandandLeader of the Scottish National Party(SNP) from 2014 to 2023.She has served as amember of the Scottish Parliament(MSP) since 1999, first as anadditional memberfor theGlasgow electoral region, and as the member forGlasgow Southside(formerlyGlasgow Govan) from 2007. Born inAyrshire, Sturgeon is a law graduate of theUniversity of Glasgow. She worked as a solicitor in Glasgow before her election to theScottish Parliamentin1999. She served successively as the SNP's shadow minister for education, health, and justice. Sturgeon entered theleadership of the SNPbut later withdrew from the contest in favour ofAlex Salmond, standing instead asdeputeleader on a joint ticket with Salmond. Both were subsequently elected; as Salmond was still an MP, Sturgeon led the SNP in the Scottish Parliament asLeader of the Oppositionfrom 2004 to 2007. The SNP emerged as the largest party following the2007 electionand Salmond headed thefirst SNP minority government, with Sturgeon as hisdeputy. From 2007 to 2012, she served ashealth secretary, overseeing thescrapping of prescription chargesand the2009 swine flu pandemic. Following the SNP's landslide majority in 2011, she was appointedCabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Capital Investment and Cities, which saw her in charge of the legislative process for the2014 Scottish independence referendum. The defeat of theYes Scotlandcampaign resulted in Salmond's resignation as SNP leader. Sturgeon waselected unopposed as SNP leader in November 2014and was subsequently appointed as first minister, becoming the first woman to hold either position.She entered office amid a rapid surge in membership of the SNP, which was reflected in the party's performance in the2015 general election, winning 56 of the 59 Scottish seats and replacing theLiberal Democratsas the third-largest party in theHouse of Commons. The SNP continued to enjoy electoral successes throughout Sturgeon's nine years in office, but lost 21 seats in the2017 general election. Despite losing her majority, Sturgeon secured a second term in office in 2016, forming aminority government. Sturgeon led theScottish Government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, implementing a series ofrestrictions on social gatheringsand the rollout of thevaccine programme. A seat short of a majority in2021, Sturgeon became the only first minister toserve a third term, and she subsequently entereda power-sharing agreementwith theScottish Greens. The calls from Sturgeon's government and the wider independence movement for a second referendum were unsuccessful, as successiveConservativeprime ministers refused to grant aSection 30 order. From 2022, Sturgeon received heavier criticism for her positions ongender reforms. On 15 February 2023, Sturgeon resigned the leadership of the SNP claimingoccupational burnout; she wassucceededby her health secretary,Humza Yousaf, the following month. First Minister of Scotland UK General elections Early life and education Nicola Ferguson Sturgeonwas born inAyrshire Central HospitalinIrvineon 19 July 1970.She is the eldest of two daughters born toJoan Kerr Sturgeon(néeFerguson, born 23 October 1952), adental nurse, and Robin Sturgeon (born 28 September 1948), an electrician.Her younger sister, Gillian Sturgeon, is anNHS worker.Her family has some roots inNorth East England; her paternal grandmother, Margaret Sturgeon (néeMill), was fromRyhopein what is now theCity of Sunderland.Her grandmother married Robert Sturgeon, a gardener fromAyr, at St Paul's Parish Church in 1943, and they both eventually moved back to the south west of Scotland. Sturgeon grew up inPrestwickand in the village ofDreghorn, in a terracedcouncil house, which her parents bought through theright-to-buy scheme. Sturgeon was a quiet child and has been described by her younger sister as \\\"the sensible one\\\" of the two.Sturgeon was shy and has said that she \\\"much preferred to sit with my head in a book than talking to people\\\".She developed a passion for books and reading which continued into adult life. She has described herself as being an \\\"austere\\\" teen whose style tended towardsgoth, adding that \\\"if you see pictures of me back then, you would struggle to know whether I was a boy or a girl\\\".Sturgeon was a fan ofWham!andDuran Duran, and enjoyed spending Saturday nights at Frosty's Ice Disco inIrvine. Sturgeon attendedDreghorn Primary Schoolfrom 1975 to 1982 andGreenwood Academyfrom 1982 to 1988.She later studiedlawat theUniversity of Glasgow School of Law, graduating with aBachelor of Laws(Hons) in 1992 and aDiploma in Legal Practicethe following year.During her time at theUniversity of Glasgowshe was active as a member of theGlasgow University Scottish Nationalist Associationand theGlasgow University Students' Representative Council. Legal career Following her graduation, Sturgeon completed her legal traineeship atMcClure Naismith, a Glasgow firm of solicitors, in 1995. After qualifying as asolicitor, she worked for Bell & Craig, a firm of solicitors inStirling, and later at theDrumchapelLaw Centreand a Money Advice Centre inGlasgowfrom 1997 until her election to theScottish Parliamentin 1999. Early parliamentary career Early political years In her early teens, Sturgeon joined theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament(CND) and in 1986, at the age of 16, she became a member of theScottish National Party(SNP), quickly becoming the party's Youth Affairs Vice Convener and Publicity Vice Convener. She joined the SNP following an assumption by her English teacher, who was a Labour councillor, she would be a Labour supporter. In the1987 UK General election, Sturgeon got her first taste of campaigning, going door-to-door to get her local SNP candidate,Kay Ullrich, elected toWestminster. Despite Ullrich failing to win the seat, Sturgeon ploughed her political energy into theYoung Scottish Nationalists(nowYoung Scots for Independence), joining its national executive when she was 17. In an interview with the BBC'sWoman's Hour, Sturgeon revealed that it wasMargaret Thatcherwho inspired her to enter politics, because, due to rising unemployment in Scotland at the time, she developed \\\"a strong feeling that it was wrong for Scotland to be governed by a Tory government that we hadn't elected\\\". Thatcher was the motivation for my entire political career. I hated everything she stood for. Sturgeon became the youngest ever parliamentary candidate in Scotland in the1992 general election. Aged 21, Sturgeon was selected as the SNP candidate in theGlasgow Shettlestonconstituency. She was unsuccessful, having been beaten by almost 15,000 votes by Labour.Sturgeon also stood unsuccessfully as the SNP candidate for the Irvine NorthwardonCunninghameDistrict Council in May 1992, for theBaillieston/Mount Vernonward onStrathclyde Regional Councilin 1994, and for theBridgetonward onGlasgow City Councilin 1995. In the mid-1990s Sturgeon andCharles Kennedywent together on a political study visit to Australia. The1997 general electionsaw Sturgeon selected to fight theGlasgow Govanseat for the SNP. Boundary changes meant that the notionalLabourmajority in the seat had increased substantially. However, infighting between the two rival candidates for the Labour nomination,Mohammed SarwarandMike Watson, along with an energetic local campaign,resulted in Glasgow Govan being the only Scottish seat to see a swing away from Labour in the midst of a Labourlandslidenationwide. Sarwar did, however, win the seat with a majority of 2,914 votes.Shortly after this, Sturgeon was appointed as the SNP's spokesperson for energy and education matters. SNP in opposition Sturgeon stood for election to theScottish Parliamentin thefirst Scottish Parliament electionin 1999 as the SNP candidate forGlasgow Govan.Although she failed to win the seat, she was placed first in the SNP's regional list for theGlasgow region, and was thus elected as aMember of the Scottish Parliament. The SNP emerged as the second largest party and sat inoppositionto theLabour-Lib Dem coalition. InAlex Salmond's shadow cabinet, she served asShadow Minister for Children and Educationfrom 1999 to 2000. As Shadow Education minister, Sturgeon backed Labour's efforts to repealSection 28– a Westminster law that banned the promotion of homosexuality in schools. There was, however, significant publicopposition to repealand an unscientific postal vote on the issue – organised by SNP donorBrian Souter– suggested most Scots wanted to keep the clause. Acknowledging this, Sturgeon suggested: \\\"That is why the SNP have urged a policy for many months that we believe can provide people with the necessary reassurance, by providing a statutory underpinning to the guidelines, and resolve this difficult debate. We believe that the value of marriage should be clearly referred to in the guidelines, without denigrating other relationships or children brought up in other kinds of relationship.\\\" The compromise had the support of Souter but an amendment to that effect was voted down by MSPs who expressed concerns it would stigmatise children from single parent and unmarried families. Sturgeon served asShadow Minister for Health and Community Carefrom 2000 to 2003, andShadow Minister for Justicefrom 2003 to 2004. She also served as a member of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee and the Health and Community Care Committee. 2004 SNP leadership election On 22 June 2004, John Swinney resigned as Leader of the SNP following poor results in theEuropean Parliament election. His then-depute,Roseanna Cunningham, immediately stood for the leadership. The previous leader, Alex Salmond, at the time refused to stand.On 24 June 2004, Sturgeon also entered the leadership contest, withKenny MacAskillas her running mate.The political columnistIain Macwhirterdeclared that while she \\\"didn't inspire great warmth\\\", she was \\\"quick on her feet, lacks any ideological baggage and has real determination – unlike... Roseanna Cunningham\\\". However, once Cunningham emerged as the favourite to win,Salmond entered the contest and Sturgeon subsequently withdrew from the contest and declared her support for Salmond, standing instead as his running mate for the depute leadership. It was reported that Salmond had privately supported Sturgeon in her leadership bid, but decided to run for the position himself as it became apparent she was unlikely to beat Cunningham.The majority of the SNP hierarchy lent their support to the Salmond–Sturgeon bid for the leadership, although MSPAlex Neilbacked Salmond as leader, but refused to endorse Sturgeon as depute. On 3 September 2004, the leadership contest resulted in Salmond and Sturgeon elected as Leader and Depute Leader respectively.As Salmond was still an MP in theHouse of Commons, Sturgeon led the SNP at the Scottish Parliament until the2007 election, when Salmond was elected as an MSP. Leader of the Opposition; 2004–2007 As leader of the SNP in the Scottish Parliament, she served as theLeader of the Opposition in Holyrood. Sturgeon became a high-profile figure in Scottish politics and often clashed withFirst MinisterJack McConnellatFirst Minister's Questions. This included rows over theHouse of Commons'decision to replace the Trident nuclear weapon system, and the SNP's plans to replacecouncil taxin Scotland with alocal income tax.Sturgeon quickly grew a reputation in Holyrood as opposition leader, becoming known as \\\"nippy sweetie\\\" – Scottish slang for the \\\"sharp-tongued and strong-minded\\\". Deputy First Minister of Scotland (2007–2014) In the2007 Scottish Parliament election, Sturgeon defeatedGordon JacksonQCwith a 4.7% swing to the SNP in theGlasgow Govan constituency.This was one of many swings to the SNP, as the party emerged as the largest party, winning one seat more than the governingScottish Labour Party.Although the SNP was recognised as the winners of the election, it failed to obtain a majority and Labour was not willing to allow the SNP to enter government.Sturgeon led coalition negotiation talks between theScottish Liberal Democratsand theScottish Greens, but these talks failed to reach an agreement, with the Lib Dems backing out and the Greens instead supporting a 'confidence and supply' agreement.Ultimately, Salmond formed aminority governmentand he was appointedFirst Minister of Scotland.He appointed Sturgeon asDeputy First Ministerand tasked her with theCabinet positionofCabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing. Health Secretary (2007–2012) Sturgeon served asHealth SecretaryinSalmond's first, and for a year, inhis second cabinet.She was supported in her role as Health Secretary byShona Robison, theMinister for Public Health and Sport, and byAlex Neil, theMinister for Housing and Communities. She launched her programme for government, theBetter Health, Better Care: Action Plan,which settled a new vision forNHS Scotland.She reversed the decision to close casualty units atUniversity Hospital AyrandUniversity Hospital Monklands.Sturgeon oversaw the scrapping ofprescription chargesIn Scotland, an election pledge by the SNP originally for thechronically illand those withcancer. Health policy Sturgeon also outlined a guaranteed maximum 18-week wait for patients after they had seen their GP and vowed to do away with deferred or \\\"hidden\\\" waiting lists. She ordered a review of the thorny issue of hospital car parking charges – as high as £7 in some areas – and launched an inquiry into the infection of NHS patients with Hepatitis C and HIV from tainted blood products. 2009 swine flu pandemic As Health Secretary, Sturgeon became more widely known internationally for her handling of the2009 flu pandemic. On 26 April 2009, the Scottish Government confirmed that two people who had returned from Mexico had been admitted toMonklands HospitalinAirdrieafter experiencing \\\"mild flu-like symptoms\\\".Sturgeon stated that there was \\\"no immediate threat to public health in Scotland\\\", but added, \\\"monitoring of those who have been in close contact with the two people is also being carried out as an additional precaution.\\\"The following day, she confirmed that these were cases of theswine influenza A (H1N1) virus.Authorities in both Scotland and England stated that there were no plans to trace the fellow airline passengers who may have travelled alongside the couple, since the authorities do not classify them as \\\"close contacts\\\". On 11 June, theWorld Health Organization(WHO) declared the influenza virus apandemic.Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament that containment of the virus had failed and that the Scottish Government was taking steps to mitigate the spread of the virus. \\\"We have seen a rapid increase in the number of confirmed cases in Scotland over the past 10 days\\\", she told Parliament. \\\"Based on this experience,Health Protection Scotlandhas expressed the view that sustained community transmission appears to be taking place.\\\"Four days later, a Scottish woman with underlying health conditions died at theRoyal Alexandra HospitalinPaisley.This marked the first death in Scotland and Europe. Minimum pricing unit To tackleScotland's poor relationship with alcohol, Sturgeon passed legislation to increase the price ofalcoholperunitto help reduce sales, in particular, for thoseaddicted.In June 2012, theAlcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012was passed after receiving support from the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and Greens. Labour refused to support the bill as they claimed it failed to tacklewindfall profitfrom alcohol retailers. Infrastructure Secretary (2012–2014) At the2011 election, the SNP won a large overall majority. Sturgeon was retained as Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing until a reshuffle one year later, when she was appointed asCabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Capital Investment and Citiesand an additional role overseeing thereferendum onScottish independence, essentially putting her in charge of the SNP's referendum campaign. In 2012 she pledged to build a high-speed railway line between Glasgow and Edinburgh by 2024, cutting journey times between the two cities to under 30 minutes.Sturgeon said the Scottish Government would \\\"not wait\\\" for Westminster to build a high-speed line to Scotland. However, in 2016 the plan was abandoned and the Scottish Government blamed Westminster. 2014 Scottish independence referendum Salmond put Sturgeon in charge of the Scottish Government's legislative process for areferendum on Scottish Independenceand she was essentially in charge of the SNP's referendum campaign. In December 2012, Sturgeon said that she believed that independence would allow Scotland to build a stronger and more competitive country, and would change spending priorities to address \\\"the scandal of soaring poverty in a country as rich as Scotland\\\". While campaigning for a Yes vote in August 2013, she toldThe Guardianthat if Scots voted for the Union: \\\"Will there be another referendum round the corner? No. We can't bind our successors, but we've made very clear our belief that constitutional referenda are once-in-a-generation events.\\\" In November 2013, Sturgeon joined Salmond to launchScotland's Future– the Scottish Government's prospectus for independence.Sturgeon was one of the white paper's most high-profile media champions and frequently debated its contents with opposition politicians and sceptical Scots. When the British Government turned down the Scottish Government's idea of a formal currency union – on the grounds that the rationale for sharing a currency with a foreign country was \\\"not clear\\\" – Sturgeon accused Westminster of trying to \\\"bully Scotland\\\" and said it would \\\"cost their own businesses hundreds of millions in transaction costs\\\". During the campaign, theEuropean Commissionsaid that if Scots decided to leave the United Kingdom, it would also mean leaving the European Union. Scotland would then have to reapply for EU membership and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso predicted this would be \\\"extremely difficult, if not impossible\\\".In July 2014 Sturgeon said this would put at risk the right of EU citizens to continue living in Scotland: \\\"There are 160,000 EU nationals from other states living in Scotland, including some in the Commonwealth Games city of Glasgow. If Scotland was outside Europe, they would lose the right to stay here.\\\" On 19 September 2014, independence was rejected in the Scottish independence referendum, with 55.3% of the voters voting no and 44.7% voting yes.Following the defeat of theYes Scotlandcampaign, Salmond resigned as First Minister and Leader of the SNP. Sturgeon immediately entered the election to replace him, and received huge support from the SNP hierarchy.Sturgeon said that there would be \\\"no greater privilege\\\" than to lead the SNP. On Salmond's resignation, Sturgeon said: The personal debt of gratitude I owe Alex is immeasurable. He has been my friend, mentor and colleague for more than 20 years. Quite simply, I would not have been able to do what I have in politics without his constant advice, guidance and support through all these years. I can think of no greater privilege than to seek to lead the party I joined when I was just 16. However, that decision is not for today. Following the referendum defeat, Sturgeon said that \\\"further devolution is the route to independence\\\".She also opined that Scottish independence was a matter of \\\"when, not if\\\". Leadership of the Scottish National Party On 24 September 2014, Sturgeon officially launched her campaign bid to succeed Salmond as Leader of the Scottish National Party at theNovember leadership election.It quickly became apparent that no other candidate would be able to receive enough required nominations to run a credible leadership campaign.Upon launching her campaign, Sturgeon also resigned as Depute Leader, triggering a concurrentdepute leadership election; the MSPsAngela ConstanceandKeith Brownand the MPStewart Hosieall nominated themselves to succeed Sturgeon as Depute Leader. Nominations for the SNP leadership closed on 15 October, with Sturgeon confirmed as the only candidate. SNP convenerDerek Mackaypublicly congratulated Sturgeon as de facto leader in waiting, saying that she would be \\\"a fantastic new leader\\\" for both the SNP and for Scotland.On this date, Sturgeon also came out on top in a trust rating opinion poll, conducted for the SNP, which indicated that 54% of the Scottish population trusted her to \\\"stand up for Scotland's interests\\\". At a speech in Dundee's Caird Hall on 7 November, Sturgeon pledged to be \\\"the most accessible First Minister ever\\\" when she took over. She also promised to hold a monthly Facebook question and answer session with members of the public, regular town hall meetings and that the Scottish Cabinet would meet outside Edinburgh once every two months. Sturgeon was formally acclaimed as the first female Leader of the SNP on 14 November 2014 at the Autumn Conference inPerth, with Hosie as her depute. This also made her First Minister-Designate, given the SNP's absolute majority in the Scottish Parliament.In her first speech as leader, Sturgeon said that it was \\\"the privilege of her life\\\" to lead the party she joined as a teenager. Although Salmond officially tendered his resignation as First Minister on 18 November 2014, Sturgeon was not sworn in until two days later. From 18 November until her official appointment on 20 November, she served as the acting First Minister, essentially the First Minister-elect. First Minister of Scotland (2014–2023) First term (2014–2016) On 20 November 2014, Sturgeon was sworn into office at theCourt of Sessionin a ceremony presided byLord Gill,after receiving theroyal warrant of appointmentby QueenElizabeth II.She became the first woman tohold office.During her firstFirst Minister's Questionsafter being sworn in, Sturgeon tried to strike a conciliatory tone, saying that she came into her new post \\\"with an open mind and a willingness to hear proposals from all sides of the chamber.\\\" First cabinet Sturgeon began makingappointments to her first cabineton 21 November 2014, beginning with the appointment offinance secretaryJohn Swinneyto become herDeputy First Minister.Shona Robison, a close ally to Sturgeon, became thehealth secretary, whileKeith BrownandAngela Constance, who were both unsuccessful in their bids for thedeputy leadership of the SNP, were appointedinfrastructure secretaryandeducation secretary, respectively.Michael Mathesonwas promoted asjustice secretary. The departure ofKenny MacAskillandMichael Russellsignalled a generational shift away from the \\\"79 group\\\".Alex Neil, who many speculated would be dismissed, remained in cabinet but in a \\\"less prominent portfolio\\\" ofsocial justice, communities and pensioners' rights.Roseanna Cunningham, who had difficult relationship with Sturgeon, was surprisingly promoted to cabinet as thefair work secretary.Fiona HyslopandRichard Lochheadremained in their portfolios ofculture secretaryandrural affairs secretary, respectively. Sturgeon's cabinet was 50/50 gender balance, with five men and five women, including herself. 2015 Westminster landslide Sturgeon led theScottish National Partythrough alandslide victoryin the2015 UK general election, winning 56 out of 59 Scottish seats atWestminster, the party's best ever performance.The party received 50% of the vote share in Scotland and replaced theLiberal Democratsas the third largest party in theBritish House of Commons.Sturgeon had stated that the party's success in the election was not a mandate for another independence referendum, but primarily for a stronger voice for Scotland in London. In the run-up to the elections, Sturgeon took part in several Scottish and UK-wideTV election debatesand according to opinion polls was regarded to have had a successful performance.As part of the election campaign, Sturgeon indicated that the SNP would hold another independence referendum if it won the upcoming 2016 Scottish Parliament election. 2016 Scottish Parliament election Sturgeon launched, in what she claimed, as the most \\\"bold, ambitious and reforming\\\" SNP manifesto for the2016 Scottish Parliament election.She set out the party's plans to increase income tax by freezing tax thresholds, reversing her previous policy of cutting taxes for higher earners.The manifesto also included a commitment to increase NHS funding by £500 million, \\\"baby boxes\\\" full of essentials to newborn parents, and an ambitious new target to cut emissions by 50% by 2020 as of the party's effort to tackle climate change.Sturgeon also hinted if re-elected she would hold asecond referendum on Scottish independence. Despite losing her majority, Sturgeon claimed a \\\"historic victory\\\" after the SNP won a third consecutive term in governmentand sought a second term in office as a minority government. Second term (2016–2021) 2016 EU membership referendum In 2016, theEuropean Union membership referendumto decide the future of the UK's European Union membership resulted in 52% of voters in the UK voting forBrexit(leaving the EU), with 48% voting to remain; all council areas in Scotland voted by a majority for the UK to remain a member of the EU. Across Scotland, 62% of voters backed the UK remaining a member of the EU, with 38% voting for the UK to leave. In response to the result, on 24 June 2016, Sturgeon said thatScottish Governmentofficials would begin planning for a second independence referendum.Sturgeon claimed that it was \\\"clear that the people of Scotland see their future as part of the European Union\\\" and that Scotland had \\\"spoken decisively\\\" with a \\\"strong, unequivocal\\\" vote to remain in the European Union.Sturgeon said it was \\\"democratically unacceptable\\\" that Scotland could be taken out of the EU \\\"against its will\\\".An emergency Scottish cabinet meeting on 25 June agreed that the Scottish Government would seek to enter negotiations with the EU and its member states, to explore options to protect Scotland's place in the EU.Sturgeon later said that while she believed in Scottish independence, her starting point in these discussions was to protect Scotland's relationship with the EU. Future referendum on independence Sturgeon confirmed in June 2016 that the Scottish government had formally agreed to draft legislation to allow a second independence referendum to take place.As the constitution is a reserved matter under theScotland Act 1998, for a future referendum on Scottish independence to be legal under UK law, it would need to receive the consent of the British Parliament to take place. Prior to the day the Prime Minister triggeredArticle 50, formally allowing the process of the United Kingdom leaving theEuropean Union, theScottish Parliamentvoted 69 to 59 in favour of another independence referendum.By the end of that week, on 30 March 2017, Sturgeon wrote to the Prime Minister requesting a Section 30 order, formally devolving the responsibility and power to theScottish Governmentto plan for and hold another referendum on Scottish independence.Previously, May andDavid Mundell,Secretary of State for Scotland, had both highlighted that as the negotiations began with the European Union on the United Kingdom's withdraw, it was important for Scotland to work with the UK Government to get the best exit deal for both the United Kingdom and Scotland, stating that \\\"now is not the time for another referendum\\\". Following the 2017 UK general election, Sturgeon's government postponed legislation pertaining to the proposed second referendum on Scottish independence until at least autumn 2018.Following the outbreak of theCOVID-19 pandemic, all plans for another referendum were put on hold. 2017 UK general election Sturgeon kicked off her election campaign pledging that a strong result for the SNP would \\\"reinforce\\\" her mandate for a second independence referendum.However, the SNP lost 21 seats in the2017 United Kingdom general election in Scotlandand the party's vote dropped by 13%, although they remained the biggest party in Scotland. Sturgeon admitted that these results were \\\"bitterly disappointing\\\" and acknowledged that her party's plans for a second referendum were 'undoubtedly' a factor in the election results.It was the best result for the Scottish Conservatives since Margaret Thatcher and the party's campaign slogan, \\\"We said No to independence. We meant it\\\", resonated in areas that had voted strongly for the Union in 2014.Observers also concluded that opposition to the EU'sCommon Fisheries Policyin coastal communities was a factor behind large swings to the Tories in North East seats previously held by nationalists for decades. Several weeks later Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament that she would \\\"reset\\\" and delay her plans for a second independence referendum; the SNP losses in that month's election had led her to conclude that many Scots \\\"just want a break from making big political decisions\\\". Alex Salmond sexual harassment case In January 2019, Sturgeon referred herself to an independent ministerial ethics body, which led to an investigation into her actions with respect to asexual harassment case concerning allegations against Salmond. This followed her admitting that she had had a secret meeting and subsequent phone call with Salmond about the Scottish government's allegations against him. She raised these with the Permanent Secretary to theScottish Government,Leslie Evans, two months later, rather than reporting them immediately, as she should have done if they constitute government matters (as per the ministerial code). Sturgeon argued that the meetings were SNP party matters, and thus not covered. The investigating panel consisted of DameElish Angiolini, a formerSolicitor General for Scotlandandlord advocate, andJames Hamilton, a formerdirector of public prosecutionsin the Republic of Ireland. On 15 January 2019, theScottish Parliamentagreed to hold its own inquiry into the matter, theCommittee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints,to investigate how the Government breached its own guidelines in its original investigation into the harassment claims against Salmond, and then lost a judicial review into their actions and had to pay over £500,000 to Salmond for legal expenses.Sturgeon's husband,Peter Murrell, was called to this inquiry to give evidence on 8 December 2020.Opposition parties criticised Sturgeon on disparity and contradictions between the narratives of Murrell and herself. On 4 March 2021, Sturgeon answered questions over a period of eight hours from members of the committee.Two of the civil servants who made complaints about Salmond later said they felt they had been \\\"dropped\\\" by the Scottish Government after it lost the judicial review against him, adding they feared their experiences would make it less likely people would make complaints in the future.Labour MPJess Phillips, a former employee ofWomen's Aid, accused Sturgeon of being \\\"unprofessional with those women's lives\\\" and said there had been a \\\"litany of failures in professionalism and decency.\\\" 2019 UK general election Sturgeon led her party to alandslide victoryin the2019 United Kingdom general election in Scotland. The SNP won 48 seats, and came second place in the 11 others; their 45% of the vote yielded 80% of the seats in Scotland.Among the election casualties wasLiberal DemocratsleaderJo Swinson, who lost her seat inEast Dunbartonshire.Sturgeon was branded as \\\"ungracious\\\" when she was filmed bySky Newscelebrating Swinson's defeat. Sturgeon apologised for being overexcited although expressed that she was celebratingAmy Callaghan's win.In the wake of the results, Sturgeon said thatPrime MinisterBoris Johnsonhad \\\"no right\\\" to stand in the way of another Scottish independence referendum after an \\\"overwhelming\\\" SNP election victory. She also said that the result \\\"renews, reinforces and strengthens\\\" the mandate forIndyref2. COVID-19 pandemic Theworldwide pandemicofCOVID-19began during Sturgeon's second term as First Minister. The first case of the virus in Scotland was confirmed on 1 March 2020, when a resident inTaysidehad tested positive. Initially, the Scottish Government resisted banning public events and on 12 March allowed 47,000 fans to attend a Rangers match at Ibrox, insisting that, \\\"stopping mass gatherings not the best way to contain this virus.\\\"However, Sturgeon's government ordered all schools and nurseries in Scotland closed on 20 March to try to limit the spread of the virus.On 23 March, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Sturgeon ordered Scotland into \\\"lockdown\\\", limiting the reasons why people may leave their homes in an attempt to limit the spread of the virus, to protect the health of the population, and to ease the pressure the virus placed onNHS Scotlandservices and workforce.Subsequently the restrictions were repeatedly tightened, loosened and adapted in parts or all of Scotland in response to developments in the situation. During the early stages of the pandemic, 1,300 elderly hospital patients were transferred into care homes without receiving a negative coronavirus test result.Many had been infected with the virus and ended up passing it on to other care home residents.Over three thousand care home residents died from COVID-19and Gary Smith, Scotland Secretary of theGMB, said the policy had turned \\\"care homes into morgues\\\".When asked by the BBC if the policy had been a mistake, Sturgeon said: \\\"Looking back on that now, with the knowledge we have now and with the benefit of hindsight, yes.\\\" In April 2020 whistle-blowers in the NHS came forward to reveal that staff were being made to reuse dirtypersonal protective equipment (PPE)while at work. One nurse told STV, \\\" it's not frustrating, it's crushing. It is absolutely crushing. We feel we are being lied to.\\\"Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament in July, \\\"At no point within this crisis has Scotland run out of any aspect of PPE. We have worked hard to make sure that supplies are there, we've worked hard overcoming challenges that we have faced along the way.\\\" In July 2020, Sturgeon advocated that the leaders of the four UK nations adopt a coordinatedZero-COVIDstrategy. In February 2021, Audit Scotland published a report that concluded the Scottish government had not prepared adequately for a pandemic. While it commended the authorities for preventing hospitals from becoming overwhelmed during the crisis, the watchdog also noted that recommendations from pandemic planning exercises in 2015, 2016 and 2018 had not been fully implemented. One particular problem it highlighted was that not enough had been done to ensure Scottish hospitals and care homes had enough personal protective equipment. Overall, it concluded that ministers \\\"could have been better prepared to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic\\\". Sturgeon said there were \\\"lots of lessons to learn\\\". In March 2021, theCourt of Sessiondeclared that the Scottish government's prohibition on communal worship, imposed during the pandemic, was unlawful.This followed an open letter two months earlier, written by 200 church leaders to Sturgeon, warning her that the prohibition could be unlawful. In April 2021, Scotland's death toll from COVID-19 passed 10,000. At a session of First Minister's Questions in June 2021, Sturgeon was asked about mistakes made early on in the pandemic, and she replied: \\\"If I could turn the clock back, would we go into lockdown earlier than we did? Yes, I think that is true.\\\" In April 2022, Sturgeon demanded that Prime Minister Boris Johnson resign after police fined him for breaking lockdown rules in 2020. \\\"The basic values of integrity and decency – essential to the proper working of any parliamentary democracy – demand that he go\\\", she tweeted.The following week, Sturgeon received an official reprimand from Police Scotland after a video emerged of her campaigning in a barber shop without a mask. Sturgeon – who had previously apologised to the Scottish Parliament after she was caught breaking the same law in December 2020– apologised once more and said the police had been \\\"absolutely right to treat me no differently to any other citizen.\\\" Third term (2021–23) Sturgeon led the SNP into the2021 Scottish Parliament electionon a manifesto promise to hold a second independence referendum after the COVID-19 pandemic was over.In the election, the SNP won 64 of the 129 seats contested.The SNP won a fourth consecutive election, albeit short of an overall majority, with a record number of votes on both the constituency and regional voteas well as increasing their share of the constituency vote and making a net gain of one seat. Sturgeon was nominated for the post ofFirst Ministerby a vote of theScottish Parliamenton 18 May, defeatingScottish ConservativeleaderDouglas RossandScottish Liberal Democratleader Willie Rennie by 64 votes to 31 and 4 respectively. This win resulted in Sturgeon becoming the first First Minister in the history of the Scottish Parliament to form athird government. Shortly after being elected, Sturgeon appointed John Swinney to the newly created position ofCabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery. Power-sharing agreement In August 2021, Sturgeon and Scottish Green Party co-leadersPatrick HarvieandLorna Slaterreached apower-sharing agreement between their parties. There was no agreement on oil and gas exploration, but the government now argued that it had a stronger case for a national independence referendum.As part of the agreement, the Green Party co-leaders would be nominated to serve as ministers. Climate crisis In August 2021, confronted by climate activist Lauren Macdonald about theCambo oil fieldwest of Shetland, Sturgeon refused to take a position on whether its development should go ahead. A video of the interaction went viraland a few days later, Sturgeon wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, asking that the development of Cambo should be \\\"reassessed in light of the severity of the climate emergency\\\".The letter represented a significant shift in policy for the SNP, which hadhistorically been a strong supporter of the oil and gas industry; the party's blueprint for an independent Scotland in 2013 was predicated on tax revenue earned from domestic oil production, while Sturgeon had predicted in the run-up to the referendum that, \\\"We're on the verge of another North Sea bonanza\\\". This shift in position was welcomed by the Scottish Green party butGreenpeacecriticised Sturgeon for not coming out more strongly against the oil field. \\\"The First Minister must stop hiding behind Boris Johnson\\\", a spokesperson for the organisation said. \\\"If she wants to show leadership on climate she must clearly say: stop Cambo.\\\"In November 2021, although no assessment had taken place, Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament she believed the oilfield \\\"should not get the green light\\\". Caledonian MacBrayne ferry delay In the late 2010s, Scottish islanders began to complain that the ageing ferry fleet that connected them to the mainland had become increasingly unreliable.During the winter of 2022 only one in three sailings to the island ofCollwent ahead;Hebridean shopkeepers kept receiving deliveries of rotten food;while other islanders said they had missed doctors' appointments, funerals and even the chance to say goodbye to dying loved ones because of cancelled sailings. The Scottish Government had commissioned two new ferries for £97m from Ferguson's shipyard in 2015, but the construction of the two vessels was beset by delays and complications. In 2022 Audit Scotland concluded that the final price tag for the vessels would be somewhere between £250m and £400m once the ships were finished in 2023. Furthermore, they concluded that the Scottish Government had awarded the contracts without normal financial safeguards and presided over a \\\"multitude of failings\\\". Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament of her \\\"deep regret\\\" that islanders were enduring such chaos, and said that the government was \\\"learning lessons from this experience\\\".Key documentation, which might have explained why ministers signed the contracts without appropriate safeguards to protect taxpayers' money, was lost and Sturgeon later said this too was \\\"regrettable\\\" and that \\\"the government will learn lessons.\\\" Second independence referendum proposals In June 2022, Sturgeon officially unveiled plans forScottish independenceonce again.She argued that her government had an \\\"indisputable mandate\\\" for asecond Scottish independence referendum.She argued that independence would allow Scotland to set out \\\"a different and better vision\\\"and claimed that there is a legally secure path to get a referendum without permission from thecabinet.This plan has been met with condemnation from various opposing parties, with thePrime Ministerrejecting her plan. Sturgeon scheduled the referendum for 19 October 2023.She sought the Prime Minister to consent to the vote by signing a section 30 order, a move that Downing Street has refused to comply.She askedScotland's Lord Advocateto consider referring the matter to theSupreme Court of the United Kingdomto rule if theScottish Governmenthas the power to host a referendum without theGovernment of the United Kingdom'sapproval, this request has since been granted. In October 2022, Sturgeon launched her government's third independence paper, which outlines the currency in an independent Scotland and joining the EU.She proposed the Scottish Government would use thepound sterlingfor a brief period before transitioning to a new currency known as the 'Scottish Pound'.She argued independence would be \\\"essential\\\" foreconomic prosperityfor Scotland as she claimed the economic climate throughout the UK does not offer strength, stability or security. On the day the Supreme Court ruled the Scottish Parliament does not have the power to legislate a referendum on independence, Sturgeon declared the next democratic election in Scotland - in this case aUK general electionexpectedto be held in 2024- would be campaigned by the SNP as ade factoreferendum.Unionist parties have rejected this characterisation.Some SNP members urged Sturgeon to call anearly election at Holyroodto speed up the process for a de facto referendum. Gender recognition reforms As part of the SNP's 2016 manifesto policy, the SNP pledged to voters that it would review and reform the way that trans people change their legal gender.However, the policy divided the party and the bill was delayed during Sturgeon's second term in office because of opposition to the policy and the COVID-19 pandemic.In the 2021 SNP manifesto, Sturgeon committed the party once again to reform theGender Recognition Act 2004of theUK Parliamentand in August that year included the commitment in her agreement with theScottish Greenson power-sharing. In September 2021, Sturgeon was accused of shutting down debate about gender reforms after she described concerns about gender recognition reform as \\\"not valid\\\" and campaign groups and analysts complained that their concerns were being ignored. On 22 December 2022, the Scottish Parliament voted 86 to 39 to pass theGender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Billwhich was introduced by Sturgeon's government. On 17 January 2023, the UK Government decided to invoke, for the first time, section 35 of the Scottish Act 1998, to make an order which prevented the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill from gaining Royal Assent. She opposed the decision made and criticisedScottish SecretaryAlister Jackfor blocking the bill and said that the decision was an attack on the Scottish Parliament and Scottish democracy as a whole and said that the matter would be brought to the courts. In 2023, Sturgeon was criticised in connection withthe case of Isla Bryson, atransgender womanwho had raped two women prior to hertransition. On this basis, Bryson was initially sent to a women's prison but was later moved to a men's prison. Sturgeon refused to say if she regards Bryson as a man or woman, though she used female pronouns when talking about Bryson. Resignation On 15 February 2023, Sturgeon resigned asfirst minister of Scotlandandleader of the Scottish National Party, pending aleadership election.At a press conference in Bute House, Sturgeon insisted that her resignation was not due to \\\"short term pressures\\\" and stated that the job \\\"takes its toll on you\\\".Sturgeon stated that she believed that her successor would lead Scotland to independence and that she would look on with pride whoever takes on the role. While appearing on apodcastfor BBC Scotland, Sturgeon would later say that internet speculation about her life was a part of the reason she decided to stand down from her position as first minister, specifically referring to rumours regarding her sexuality, love life and property portfolio as being wildly inaccurate. Domestic issues Drugs deaths crisis In 2016, the Scottish Government cut direct funding to drug and alcohol rehabilitation programmes from £69.2 million to £53.8 million – a drop of 22%.At the time, Scottish Drugs Forum Chief Executive David Liddell said he was concerned that the cuts had \\\"the potential to increase harm and drug-related deaths.\\\"That year 867 Scots lost their lives to drugs – an increase of 23% on the previous year's figure – and the SNP insisted it was part of a trend seen across much of Europe.In December 2020, figures were released revealing that 1,264 people in Scotland had died from drug overdoses in 2019 – the highest number in Europe per head and more than double the number in 2014.Sturgeon sacked her Public Health MinisterJoe FitzPatrick, and in April 2021 said of the crisis: \\\"I think we took our eye off the ball.\\\" The crisis has particularly impacted the homeless in Scotland: 216 homeless people died in Scotland in 2019 – an increase of 11% on the previous year; over half (54%) of these deaths were drug-related.Per head, Scotland's death rate among the homeless is the highest in Britain. In August 2021, the Scottish Government announced there had been 1,339 drug deaths in the previous year – a new record high.Sturgeon tweeted that the figures were \\\"unacceptable, each one a human tragedy\\\",while the Scottish Liberal Democrats said: \\\"It was Nicola Sturgeon's choice to ignore this unfolding epidemic. Issuing apologies now is too late for thousands of people. The victims of drugs and their families were failed. It is a scar on the conscience of this Scottish Government.\\\" In July 2022, the figures for 2021 were released, revealing that 1,330 had died – nine fewer than in 2020.Annemarie Ward, chief executive at the FAVOR Scotland charity, said: \\\"Nicola Sturgeon said she would make it her national mission to save lives – but we're still losing more than 1000 people a year. The national mission is failing.\\\" Education performance In 2015, Sturgeon said that she planned to make education her \\\"defining priority\\\" while in office.In particular, she said she hoped to focus on closing the attainment gap between the richest and poorest children in Scottish schools, telling journalists: \\\"Let me be clear – I want to be judged on this. If you are not, as First Minister, prepared to put your neck on the line on the education of our young people then what are you prepared to. It really matters.\\\" In 2021, Audit Scotland concluded: \\\"Progress on closing the poverty-related attainment gap between the most and least deprived school pupils has been limited\\\"and fell short of the Government's aims.In some local authorities, the attainment gap between the richest and poorest students had widened. International relations Whileforeign policyremains areserved matter,Sturgeon has undertaken a number of visits to Europe, North America and Asia to promote Scotland as a place of investment and Scottish businesses to trade and do business with.Sturgeon has committed to strengthening links between Scotland andAfrica. European Union In response to the Brexit vote, to discuss Scotland's interests, Sturgeon travelled toBrusselsto meet with bothJean-Claude Juncker, thePresident of the European Commissionas well asMartin Schulz, thePresident of the European Parliament. In response to the UK-wide vote for the United Kingdom to leave theEuropean Union, theScottish Government, headed by Sturgeon, launched theScotland's Place in Europedocument, a white paper setting out the Scottish government's aims and wishes of Scotland's role in Europe post-Brexit. The paper was sent to the centralBritish Governmentto be read by Prime MinisterTheresa May. In June 2017, Sturgeon criticised the approaches taken by bothTheresa Mayand the British Government towards the Brexit approach, claiming that May \\\"will struggle\\\" as she is a \\\"difficult person to build a rapport with\\\". In the same interview, Sturgeon committed to no independence referendum being held prior to the terms of a UK wide Brexit deal being agreed and presented. With a view towards Brexit, Sturgeon demanded greater powers for the Scottish Parliament, arguing that Brexit is threatening Scotland'sdevolution settlement.With London seeking to restrict immigration to the United Kingdom, she asserted that Scotland should be able to set its own immigration policy, as well as policies relating to employment and trade. United States Sturgeon was highly critical ofDonald Trumpand his policies during the2016 United States presidential electionand had publicly backed hisDemocraticrivalHillary Clinton.Sturgeon highlighted her disapproval of his language and views relating to sexism and misogyny, and stated upon Trump's victory that she hopes \\\"Trump turns out to be a president different to the one he was during his campaign and reaches out to those who felt vilified by his campaign\\\". Sturgeon had previously stripped Trump of his ambassadorial role for Scottish businesses with the Scottish government in the aftermath of Trump's views of an outright ban ofMuslimsfrom entering the United States. Sturgeon claimed following comments made by Trump in relation to Muslims entering the United States that he was \\\"not fit\\\" for the ambassadorial role with the Scottish government. In May 2022, Sturgeon made a trip to the United States and met with controversialRepublicanmember ofCongressRobert Aderholt, a prominentanti-abortionsupporter. Spain In the run up to the2017 Catalan independence referendum, Nicola Sturgeon offered her own personal backing and that of theScottish GovernmenttoCataloniain the holding of a referendum.TheGovernment of Spaincriticised Sturgeon, claiming she had \\\"totally misunderstood\\\" the situation in Spain and Catalonia.Sturgeon highlighted that Spain should follow \\\"the shining example\\\" that was created as part of theEdinburgh Agreementbetween the Scottish and British governments that allowed Scotland to hold a legally binding referendum. Political positions Constitutional affairs Scottish independence An advocate forScottish independence, Sturgeon has campaigned for independence from theUnited Kingdomsince her late teens. She was categorised in 2015 as part of theSNP's gradualist wing, which believed in achieving independence through accumulating the Scottish Parliament's powers from the UK Parliament over time.In recent years, following the defeat of theYes Scotland campaignin2014 Scottish Independence referendum, Sturgeon has aligned herself with the new gradualist wing, who believe in only holding asecond referendumif there is clear public support, such as polling being over 60%, or if there is a material change in circumstances. Monarch Sturgeon is a constitutional monarchist, telling journalists that it is \\\"a model that has many merits\\\".On the dayQueen Elizabeth IIbecame Britain's longest reigning monarch, Sturgeon travelled with her to open theBorders Railwayand told a crowd of well-wishers: \\\"She has carried out her duties with dedication, wisdom and an exemplary sense of public service. The reception she has received today, demonstrates that that admiration and affection is certainly felt here in Scotland.\\\" Following thedeath of the Queen Elizabeth II, Sturgeon led tributes to the Queen.She described the Queen as the \\\"greatest constant in our national life\\\" and added her death was \\\"a day for reflection and remembrance\\\" and \\\"a day for giving thanks to The Queen for her devotion to duty and the decades of public service she gave to the people of Scotland.\\\" Economic policy She has at times been a critic ofausterity, saying that the UK government's \\\"austerity economics\\\" is \\\"morally unjustifiable and economically unsustainable\\\".However, in 2018, she endorsed her party's Growth Commission report that pledged to reduce an independent Scotland's budget deficit as a percentage of GDP– something theInstitute for Fiscal Studiesconcluded meant \\\"continued austerity\\\". Social issues Women's rights Sturgeon has also campaigned onwomen's rightsandgender equality, and is a self-describedfeminist; she has argued that Scotland's feminist movement is not simply symbolic, but \\\"sends a powerful signal about equality\\\".She has hailed Scottish feminist economistAilsa McKayas one of her inspirations.She has at various points commented on the behaviour or attitudes of men towards women; publicly condemning Donald Trump,Tony Abbottand former Labour MSPNeil Findlay.However, she defended her party's leader Alex Salmond from accusations of sexism. After Salmond had told Conservative MPAnna Soubry, \\\"Behave yourself, woman\\\" in 2015, Sturgeon said: \\\"The fundamental question, 'does that language indicate that Alex Salmond is sexist?' Absolutely not, there's no man I know who is less sexist.\\\" Commenting on the need for men to challenge their friends' misogynistic behaviour, Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament in 2021: \\\"I would say to all men in this chamber and all men across the country — challenge it if it's on the part of other men you may know, challenge your own behaviour and then let's collectively, as a society, turn the page and turn the corner so that women can live free of the fear of harassment, abuse, intimidation, violence and, in the worst cases, death.\\\" Transgender rights Ahead of the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, Sturgeon pledged to review and reform the way that trans people change their legal gender.However, proposed changes to Scotland's Gender Recognition Act that would have allowed people to change their identity through self-identification, rather than a medical process, were paused in June 2019.Critics of the changes within the SNP had accused Sturgeon of being \\\"out of step\\\" on the issue, and expressed concerns that the reforms would be open to abuse and allow predatory men into women's spaces.The Scottish Government said it had paused the legislation in order to find \\\"maximum consensus\\\" on the issueand commentators described the issue as having divided the SNP like no other, with many dubbing the debate a \\\"civil war\\\". In April 2020, the reforms were again delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2021, a former trans officer in the SNP's LGBT wing, Teddy Hope, quit the party, claiming it was one of the \\\"core hubs of transphobia in Scotland\\\".Large numbers of LGBT activists followed suit and Sturgeon released a video message in which she said that transphobia is \\\"not acceptable\\\" and said she hoped they would re-join the party. In the 2021 SNP manifesto, Sturgeon committed the party once again to reform the Gender Recognition Actand in August that year included the commitment in her agreement with theScottish Greenson power-sharing.In September 2021, Sturgeon was accused of shutting down debate about gender reforms after she described concerns about gender recognition reform as \\\"not valid\\\" and campaign groups and analysts complained that their concerns were being ignored. On 22 December 2022, the Scottish Parliament voted 86 to 39 to pass theGender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Billwhich was introduced by Sturgeon's government, but the bill was vetoed by the UK government. In 2023, Sturgeon was criticised in connection with theIsla Bryson case, in which atransgender womanwho had raped two women when named Adam Graham began self-identifying as a woman after being charged. Bryson was sent to a women's prison before being moved to a men's prison.Sturgeon refused to say if she regards Bryson as a man or woman, though she used female pronouns when talking about Bryson. Nuclear weapons Sturgeon has campaigned against replacing theTrident nuclear weapons system. Views on Conservative government policies At the SNP's 2022 annual party conference inAberdeen, Sturgeon stated: \\\"I detest theToriesand everything they stand for\\\" in an interview on the BBC.She was accused of using \\\"dangerous language\\\" and when asked if she regretted the comments, Sturgeon simply replied \\\"no\\\" and emphasised the point she detested Tory policies and not supporters or voters. Sturgeon has been highly critical towards the leadership ofBoris Johnson'sgovernment.Following Johnson's appointment asBritish prime minister, she claimed he \\\"rambled\\\" in his first speech outside10 Downing Streetand suggested he was \\\"blame shifting\\\".In July 2019, the prime minister met Sturgeon at her official residence, Bute House, where Johnson was \\\"booed and heckled\\\" by protesters.This was the only occasion when he made a formal visit to Edinburgh, as he declined future invites by the first minister.Sturgeon claimed Johnson's \\\"fragile male ego\\\" stopped him from meeting her.Sturgeon's attempts to request approval for a second referendum on Scottish independence were declined by the Johnson administration.Speaking after Johnson had resigned in 2022, Sturgeon said that he was the only prime minister she had worked with who was \\\"a disgrace to the office\\\". Post premiership (2023–present) Upon her resignation as First Minister, Sturgeon returned to thebackbench, where she continues to serve as the MSP forGlasgow Southside.On 7 September 2023, she made her first speech in parliament since her arrest. SNP finance fraud inquiry and arrest In the latter half of Sturgeon's leadership of the SNP, aPolice Scotlandfraud inquirywas launched to investigate the spending of money that was raised specifically for independence campaigning.She dismissed claims the investigation was a result of her resignation as party leader and first minister.On 5 April 2023, Sturgeon's husband and the party's former chief executive,Peter Murrell, was arrested at their Glasgow residence and their home was searched amid the ongoing investigation.The SNP's HQ in Edinburgh and several other addresses related to party officials were also searched by police.Murrell was later released without charge and Sturgeon pulled out of a UN climate event. On 16 April, a meeting of the party's ruling body in March 2021 was leaked by a member to theDaily Mail, which showed Sturgeon warning members to be \\\"very careful\\\" about suggesting claims there were financial problems within the SNP.The following day, it was revealed Sturgeon would work remotely from parliament as a spokesperson stated: \\\"in order to ensure the focus of this week is on the new First Minister setting out his priorities for the people of Scotland, Ms Sturgeon has always intended to participate remotely and intends to return to Holyrood in the near future.\\\".In that same week, the SNP's treasurer,Colin Beatie, was arrested and later released without charge.Beatie subsequently resigned from the role.Sturgeon's successor,Humza Yousaf, has had calls by opposition for her party membership to be suspended, however, he has rejected these calls. Widespread speculation that Sturgeon could be arrested for police questioning amid the ongoing inquirycame to fruition when, on 11 June 2023, Sturgeon was arrested byPolice Scotlandover the investigation into the finances of her SNP party, which reportedly diverted £600,000 meant for the Scottish Independence campaign elsewhere.She was released without charge pending further investigation later that day.On 23 May 2024Police Scotlandhanded a prosecution report in relation toPeter Murrellto theCrown Officewho confirmed that a \\\"53 year-old woman\\\" also remained under investigation. COVID-19 inquiry Sturgeon is facing a potential criminal inquiry in 2024 after it was disclosed that all herWhatsAppmessages during the pandemic had been deleted despite being instructed by the government to retain all information in 2021 and again in 2022 and having agreed to provide them in 2021 to theUK COVID-19 Inquiry. Public image and legacy At the beginning of Sturgeon's political career, she was often regarded as a \\\"nippy sweetie\\\",Scottish slangfor the \\\"sharp-tongued and strong-minded\\\".The term was used to describe Sturgeon's \\\"fierce\\\" attitude.Conversely, newspapers ideologically opposed to the SNP, such as theDaily Express,The Scottish Sun, andThe Spectatorhave repeatedly and derogatorily compared Sturgeon to \\\"Wee Jimmy Krankie\\\", a character from Scottish comedy duoThe Krankies. Sturgeon was elected leader of the SNP at a time in which the party enjoyed a surge in membership. In 2015, Sturgeon was described in aDaily Mailheadline as the \\\"most dangerous woman in Britain\\\".It followed her party's unprecedented gains in the2015 general election, which questioned the future of the union. Sturgeon and her party experienced a surge in popularity during theCOVID-19 pandemic,in part due to her willingness to communicate with the public and the Press through regular, televised briefings, and her willingness to take responsibility for her government's mistakes. This contrasted to then-PM Boris Johnson'sapproach, who was \\\"less proactive and more evasive when it came to dealing with the press\\\". The circumstances of Sturgeon's resignation in 2023, as well as her appearances at the 2024 UK COVID-19 Inquiry left a question mark over her political legacy. A wide range of media outlets were quick to condemn her reputation, includingPolitico Europe,The Times,BBC News,The Spectator,The WeekandtheI. Nonetheless, public polling shows that Sturgeon remains a popular figure in Scottish and wider UK politics, with 46% of Scots having a favourable opinion of her in 2023YouGovpolling and 50% seeing her as having \\\"been a good leader for Scotland\\\".On leaving office, she was the most popular party leader in the UK according toIpsospolling.Her popular reputation suffered following her appearance at the 2024 COVID-19 inquiry and revelations she had deleted Whatsapp messages;however, polling has differed and there is still evidence of high trust towards her, usually along partisan lines. There is evidence that Nicola Sturgeon's popularity had an effect on the2023 SNP leadership racewhich sawHumza Yousafelected as leader of the SNP andFirst Minister of Scotland. Yousaf was widely regarded as Sturgeon's \\\"continuity candidate\\\",having previously worked as Sturgeon'sCabinet Secretary for Justice (2018–2021)and forHealth (2021–2023). Hence, SNP members with a favourable view of Sturgeon were more likely to elect Yousaf, whereas those more critical of the outgoing FM were more likely to vote for his opponents,Kate ForbesandAsh Regan. Sturgeon plans to publish a memoir withPan MacMillanin 2025. Awards and acknowledgements Sturgeon won theScottish Politician of the Year Awardin 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2019. Forbesmagazine ranked Sturgeon as the 50th most powerful woman in the world in 2016 and 2nd in the United Kingdom.She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2014.In 2015,BBC Radio 4'sWoman's Hourassessed Sturgeon to be the most powerful and influential woman in the United Kingdom. Personal life Sturgeon lives inBroomhouse,Glasgowwith her husband,Peter Murrell, who is the former chief executive officer of the SNP.The couple have been in a relationship since 2003. They got engaged on 29 January 2010,and were married on 16 July 2010 atÒran Mórin Glasgow. Sturgeon is known for her love of fiction and says reading \\\"gives me a lot of joy and helps with the stresses and strains of work\\\". Her mother Joan was the SNP Provost ofNorth Ayrshirecouncil, where she was councillor for the Irvine East ward from 2007 until 2016. In 2016, Sturgeon disclosed that she had miscarried five years previously. In May 2022, Sturgeon tested positive for COVID-19. In line with Government guidance, she completed a self-isolation period. See also Notes References External links\",\n \"Jo Swinson Joanne Kate SwinsonCBEFRSA(born 5 February 1980) is a former British politician who wasLeader of the Liberal Democratsfrom July to December 2019. She was the first woman and the youngest person to hold the position, as well as the shortest-serving holder of the post. Swinson was the first leader of the Liberal Democrats to be defeated in their own constituency. Swinson wasMember of Parliament(MP) forEast Dunbartonshirefrom2005to2015and2017to2019. In September 2020, Swinson became Director of Partners for a New Economy (P4NE). Swinson studied at theLondon School of Economics, and briefly worked inpublic relations, before being elected to theHouse of Commons, becoming theyoungest MPat the time.She was a Liberal DemocratSpokespersoncovering various portfolios, includingScotland,Women and Equalities,Communities and Local Government, andForeign and Commonwealth Affairs. In 2010, after the Liberal Democrats entered into acoalition governmentwith theConservative Party, Swinson was a Parliamentary Private Secretary toDeputy Prime MinisterNick Clegg, and was later appointedParliamentary Under Secretary of State for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs.She lost her seat in the2015 election, but regained it in thesnap electionheld two years later. Shortly after returning to Parliament, she waselected unopposedas Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats.In July 2019, following the retirement ofVince Cable, Swinson defeatedEd Daveyin aleadership electionto become Leader of the Liberal Democrats. Swinson led her party through the2019 general election, suggesting she could lead a Liberal Democratmajority governmentwhich would revokeArticle 50and cancelBrexit. Instead, Swinson and the Liberal Democrats sustained a net loss in seats, including her own to theScottish National Partyand was disqualified from continuing as party leader.At less than five months, her tenure as leader was the shortest in the Liberal Democrats' history. She is also the only incumbent Liberal Democrat leader to havelost a Parliamentary seat. Early life and education Swinson was born in Glasgowon 5 February 1980, the daughter of Peter and Annette Swinson.She was educated atDouglas Academy,a mixed state school in the town ofMilngavieinEast Dunbartonshirein western Scotland, followed by theLondon School of Economics, where she studiedManagement, gaining afirst-classBachelor of Sciencedegree in 2000.She signed up as an active member of theLiberal Democratsat the age of 17. Early career After graduating from theLondon School of Economics, Swinson moved toYorkshireand worked for Ace Visual and Sound Systems inThorne, before becoming amarketingandpublic relationsmanager forHull-based commercial radio stationViking FMfrom December 2000,and media company Space and People. At the age of 21, Swinson stood unsuccessfully in theKingston upon Hull Eastconstituency in the2001 general election, but gained a 6%swingfromJohn Prescott, then theDeputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. In 2003, she unsuccessfully contestedStrathkelvin and Bearsdenseat in theScottish Parliament election, finishing third with 14% of the vote. Member of Parliament (2005–2015) Swinson was elected to theHouse of Commonsas the MP forEast Dunbartonshireat the2005 general election. She defeatedJohn LyonsofLabourby 4,061 votes, and was the first ever Member of Parliament born in the 1980s.As the youngest MP she replaced fellow Lib Dem MPSarah Teatheras the \\\"Baby of the House\\\". This lasted until 2009, whenConservativeMPChloe Smithwas elected at theNorwich North by-election. Swinson was vocal in heropposition to the Iraq Warand the Labour government's proposals fornational identity cards. She has supported measures both by individuals and government to tackleclimate changesuch asconserving energyin the home and the Liberal Democrat policy of introducinggreen taxeswhile reducingincome taxto offset the burden. She supports reducing thevoting ageto 16 as one way of engaging young people in politics. She believes more women should be involved in politics but that encouragement is better than affirmative action in achieving this. She opposespositive discriminationto address gender imbalance, and led the argument against positive discrimination to select her party's candidates at their nationalparty conferencein 2002, wearing a pink T-shirt inscribed with the slogan, \\\"I am not a token woman\\\". Swinson has also called for a \\\"wellbeing index\\\" to be introduced, to be compared againstGDP, and tabled anearly day motionon the issue in 2008, gaining 50 signatures. She found support from MPs such asVince CableandAngela Eagle. Swinson cited the fact that althoughstandard of livinghad increased, people's level of wellbeing had been virtually static for some time, according to polls. Swinson believed that newprisonsought not to be built and had campaigned vocally, but without success, against the rebuilding of a prison atBishopbriggswithin the constituency. She had said that if a prison was built it must not be built cheaply,and that it must not be named after the town in which is to be sited.The campaign to give the prison its original name was ultimately successful,as the replacement prison will retain its original name,Lowmoss Prison. She is an active campaigner against excessive packaging ofchocolateEaster eggs. Each year from 2007 saw Swinson attackconfectionerymanufacturers for wasteful use of non-recyclable materials in packaging of the seasonal goods. She has namedGuylianas the worst offender, followed byLindt,BaileysandCadbury. Swinson successfully held her seat ofEast Dunbartonshirein the2010 general election, although with a slightly decreased majority.Her party, the Liberal Democrats, subsequentlyenteredinto acoalition with the Conservative Party. Parliamentary Private Secretary In November 2010, Swinson was madeParliamentary Private Secretaryto then Business Secretary Vince Cable. In December 2010, she was one of 27 Liberal Democrat MPs who voted in favour of allowing universities to raise tuition fees up to £9,000 per year. In February 2012, Swinson replacedNorman Lambas Parliamentary Private Secretary to then Liberal Democrat Leader andDeputy Prime MinisterNick Clegg, holding this position until her promotion to government minister later that year. Business Minister (2012–2015) In September 2012, Swinson was appointed Under Secretary of State for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs in a reshuffle by then Prime MinisterDavid Cameron.She maintained this role for the remainder of theCameron–Clegg coalition, except for several months of maternity leave between 2013 and 2014. Swinson initially focused efforts on scrapping the 1871 Pedlars Act, which preventspedlars(travelling salesmen) andstreet tradersfrom trading without first acquiring a certificate from the police. In November 2012, Swinson said that the proposed deregulation would help \\\"eliminate barriers to street traders and pedlars by making it easier to trade, boosting retail and helping small traders – including many young entrepreneurs – to expand and grow”.The proposal was criticised by theLocal Government Association, which claimed that it would lead to a 'free for all' of pedlars targeting vulnerable people.By 2014, however, Swinson announced she would seek to amend rather than repeal the laws. Swinson opposed forcing companies to adopt gender quotas, stating that such a move would \\\"negatively affect\\\" the performance of businesses.She instead promoted voluntary solutions, telling an event organised by theBritish Chambers of Commerce, \\\"What women need is confidence, not quotas. So rather than telling companies what to do, we're encouraging them to see the real business benefits of taking voluntary action.\\\" From 2013, Swinson sought to promotefathers' rightsin regard toparental leave, bringing forth new legislation which allowed parents to divide parental leave between themselves with an aim to encourage fathers to spend more time with their newborn infants. In October 2013, controversy emerged after MPs in the House of Commons allowed Swinson, then pregnant, to stand for 20 minutes without offering her a seat. This led to political debate and comment about whether or not it wassexistto give up a seat for a pregnant woman, with Prime MinisterDavid Cameronwading into the row to say that offering pregnant women seats was the right thing to do.Swinson herself later commented that it was not sexist to offer a pregnant woman a seat, and that it was \\\"great for people to offer, and part of life's little courtesies.\\\" In the area of employment, she was supportive of bothzero hours contractsandflexible working, seeking to promote the latter especially.On minimum wage, in February 2013 Swinson joined calls by other ministers to warn that \\\"caution\\\" was required when increasing it any further amid claims that minimum wage could be cut or frozen if it began costing jobs.Swinson pledged £80,000 of government financial support for the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, an initiative led bycorporationsincludingAviva InvestorsandCalvertwhich measures and ranks performance of global companies in regard to human rights. Swinson was keen to promote employee ownership, such asemployee ownership of shares, through the establishment of aFTSE-compliant UK Employee Ownership Index, supporting measures to reduce regulations for companies choosing to adopt employee ownership practices, and a scheme allowing companies to contractually offer employees £2,000 to £50,000 worth of shares (which would beexemptedfrom capital gains tax) in exchange for waiving certain employee rights.Swinson traced employee ownership back to the philosophy ofJeremy Bentham, and claimed such ownership models improve productivity and lower absenteeism in staff. By 2014, it was being reported that Swinson was tipped to replaceAlistair CarmichaelasScottish Secretaryand enter theCabinetin a potential reshuffle, which at the time would have made her the youngest female Cabinet member ever and the first Cabinet member to be born in the 1980s.At the same time, however, electoral projections for the2015 general electionshowed Swinson was under serious risk of losing herEast Dunbartonshireseat to a surge ofScottish National Partysupport. Swinson introduced to parliament theConsumer Rights Act 2015on 23 January 2014, so as to consolidate and updateconsumer protection lawand thereby provide a \\\"modern framework of consumer rights\\\". Shortly before the 2015 general election,The Timesand theFinancial Timesreported that Swinson was one of a number of prominent 'right-leaning' Liberal Democrat MPs, aligned to then Liberal Democrat leaderNick Clegg, deliberately excluded from campaign funding by former leading Liberal Democratpeerand donorMatthew Oakeshotteven though their seats, including Swinson's, were vulnerablemarginals. Swinson was featured in the 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 editions of the 'London's 1000 most influential people' list by theEvening Standard. 2015 and 2017 general elections Swinson lost her parliamentary seat in the2015 general electiontoScottish National PartycandidateJohn Nicolsonby 2,167 votes (4.0%).She stood again for her former seat during the2017 general electionand won with a lead of 5,339 votes (10.3%) over Nicolson.During this time, she wrote her bookEqual Power: And How You Can Make It Happen. Between 2017 and 2018, Swinson received political funding from Mark Petterson, the director of Warwick Energy Ltd, which has fracking licences across England.She also voted against plans to ban fracking in the UK. Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats (2017–2019) Following the resignation ofTim Farronas Liberal Democrat leader on 14 June 2017, Swinson was named by theBBCas one of the possible contenders for the leadership along withNorman LambandVince Cable.She later announced that she would not seek the leadership; instead, she became Deputy Leader after being the only candidate at the close of nominations. As of October 2017, she was her party's Spokesperson for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. At the Liberal Democrat autumn conference of 2017, Swinson drew media attention for using the phrase \\\"Faragey, Trumpy, angry, arsey, shouty slogans\\\" in criticising populism. In the same speech she called for thestate visitof U.S. PresidentDonald Trumpto be cancelled and warned aboutBrexit. In February 2018, Swinson's first bookEqual Power: And How You Can Make It Happenwas published byAtlantic Books.Discussing her book, Swinson explained that government has \\\"limitations\\\" when addressing gender inequality, so her book instead mainly suggests ideas for people to make changes in their own homes and workplaces.The Irish TimeslikenedEqual Powerto the \\\"corporate feminism\\\" ofSheryl Sandberg'sLean In,whileThe Heraldalso noted \\\"A read ofEqual Powermakes it apparent that Swinson is a fan of Sheryl Sandberg'sLean In.\\\"Swinson's book was featured at theAye Write!literary festival in Glasgow. In a March 2018 article forThe Mail on Sunday,Swinson came out in favour of erecting a statue of former Prime MinisterMargaret ThatcherinParliament Square.She justified her position on feminist grounds and claimed that Thatcher was able to \\\"single-handedly transform the fortunes of women\\\", accusing opponents of the Thatcher statue as being \\\"pretty sexist\\\".Swinson praised Thatcher for her skills in negotiating theUK rebateand for taking the UK into the single market, but was also critical of Thatcher for thepoll taxand stressed she did not consider herself aThatcherite.In addition, she wrote that there should be a statue of the first femaleFirst Minister of ScotlandNicola Sturgeonin time, though she disagrees withScottish independence. In July 2018, Swinson was absent for key votes on the Brexit negotiations, having been on maternity leave following the birth of her second son. During this period, she attended an anti-Trumpprotest, drawing criticism from Labour MPKate HoeyonThe Spectator's podcast.Conservative Party ChairmanBrandon Lewishad formally agreed not to vote, so that Swinson's absence would not affect the result.Lewis voted with the government nonetheless, leading Swinson to accuse the government of resorting to \\\"desperate stuff\\\" and a \\\"calculated, deliberate breaking of trust\\\".Lewis apologised, alongsideCabinet OfficeministerDavid Lidingtonandgovernment chief whipJulian Smith.Apologising on Twitter, Lewis said that it was an \\\"honest mistake made by the whips in fast-moving circumstances.\\\" Leader of the Liberal Democrats (2019) In May 2019,Vince Cableannounced he would relinquish his role as leader of the Liberal Democrats in July, triggering a leadership election.Subsequently, while appearing on the 30 May edition of the BBC political discussion programmeQuestion Time, Swinson confirmed that she would put her name forward in the forthcoming contest. On 22 July 2019, Swinson waselectedthe first-ever female leader of the Liberal Democrats, with 47,997 (62.8%) votes, gaining a clear victory over SirEd Davey, with 28,021 votes. She was the first leader of a major British political party who was born in the 1980s.Under her leadership, the party's candidate andWelsh Liberal DemocratsleaderJane Doddswon theBrecon and Radnorshire by-election, following a \\\"remain alliance\\\" in whichChange UK,Plaid Cymruand theGreen Partyagreed not to stand candidates.The party's membership also rose to a record 115,000+ members, with many party supporters attributing this rise to what they called \\\"the Swinson surge\\\". In her first Leader's Speech to theLiberal Democrat Federal Conference, on 17 September 2019, Swinson said thatBoris Johnson\\\"claims he can negotiate a Brexit deal in a month. I wouldn't hold out much hope: yesterday he couldn't negotiate where to have a press conference\\\". 2019 election campaign Swinson campaigned on a platform ofrevokingArticle 50if the Liberal Democrats formed the government. The policy proved to be controversial with both Remain and Leave voters, who criticised it as undemocratic.Swinson launched her campaign by declaring that she was \\\"a candidate to be prime minister\\\", and suggesting her party could win a majority.However, poll ratings for the party were poor and Swinson's personal ratings declined throughout the campaign. During the campaign, Swinson clashed withNicola Sturgeon, theFirst Minister of Scotlandon the subject of nuclear weapons. Asked if she would be prepared to use nuclear weapons, Swinson replied simply \\\"yes\\\". Sturgeon commented that \\\"It's sickening to hear this question asked and answered as if it's some kind of virility test and without any context... Using nuclear weapons would mean killing millions of people.\\\"Swinson was subject to afake newsstory in which she was accused of 'hunting squirrels'.First Draft News, an organisation that seeks to identify online misinformation, found that the claim originated from a doctored video clip, with a spokesperson for the organisation warning that the propagation of false stories such as this were leading to the \\\"gentle erosion of trust\\\". In November 2019, Swinson also was confronted by Jay Sutherland, a student activist in Scotland.Along with the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats,Willie Rennie, Swinson was accused of supporting austerity.The student said \\\"People are dying here, they’re in poverty, because of what you’ve done on austerity\\\".The altercation was featured heavily on British news outlets.Afterwards the Liberal Democrats reaffirmed the party \\\"does not have a problem attracting young voters.\\\" Swinson’s campaign was reported to be funded by companies sellingpuberty blockers, a medication that somesocial conservativeshave criticised.In December 2019, it was reported that a pharmaceutical firm marketing drugs to delay puberty had donated £100,000 to the Liberal Democrats.When questioned about her beliefs on sex and gender, Swinson replied that she didn't \\\"think things are as binary as they are often presented”. Swinson ceased to be leader on13 December 2019, when in the general electionshelost her own seatin parliament to theSNP'sAmy Callaghan. The party's rules disqualified her from continuing as its leader. She had led the party for 144 days. As well as losing seats, the Liberal Democrats failed to make predicted gains.An internal party review said that their election campaign was worsened by \\\"an inexperienced inner circle\\\" around Swinson. It said that voters who were neither fervently leave nor remain were \\\"effectively ignored\\\" by her promise to revoke Article 50.On 27 August 2020, SirEd Daveywonthe leadership electionto succeed her. Later career In July 2020, Swinson accepted a position as visiting professor atCranfield School of ManagementinBedfordshire.In September 2020, she became Director of Partners for a New Economy (P4NE). Personal life On 13 May 2011, Swinson married then fellow Liberal Democrat MPDuncan Hames.The couple's first child, Andrew, was born in December 2013.A second son, Gabriel, was born in June 2018.Swinson gave birth to the couple's third son, Robin, on 28 July 2023. Swinson completed theLoch Ness Marathonin 2007, the2011 London Marathonand the inauguralStirling Scottish Marathonin 2017.Through this, she has raised money for theAnaphylaxis CampaignandBloodwise.She ran the London Landmarks Half Marathon in March 2019 in memory of her father, who had died ofblood cancerthe previous year. Having apeanut allergy,Swinson sustainedanaphylactic shockin May 2013 after eating a biscuit containing nuts in Glasgow. She collapsed with breathing difficulty, recovering on administration ofadrenaline, and an overnight stay in hospital. Swinson was made aCommander of the Order of the British Empire(CBE) in the2018 New Year Honoursfor political and public service.On receiving the honour, Swinson said she was privileged \\\"to be listed among so many remarkable people from all walks of life, making amazing contributions right across our country\\\". Swinson is ahumanistand is a member of the humanist charityHumanists UK. References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["2019 United Kingdom general election Boris JohnsonConservative Boris JohnsonConservative The2019 United Kingdom general electionwas held on Thursday 12 December 2019, with 47,567,752 registered votersentitled to vote to elect 650Members of Parliament(MPs) to theHouse of Commons. The governingConservative Party, led by theprime ministerBoris Johnson, won alandslide victorywith a majority of 80 seats,a net gain of 48, on 43.6 per cent of the popular vote, the highest percentage for any party since the1979 general election,though with a narrower popular vote margin than that achieved by theLabour Partyover the Conservatives at the1997 general election. This was the second national election to be held in 2019 in the United Kingdom, the first being the2019 European Parliament election. After it lost its parliamentary majority at the2017 general election, the Conservative Party governed in minority with the support of theDemocratic Unionist Party(DUP). The prime minister,Theresa May, resigned in July 2019 after","in July 2019 after repeatedly failing to pass herBrexit withdrawal agreementin parliament. Johnson succeeded her as theleader of the Conservative Partyand as prime minister in July 2019. Johnson could not persuade Parliament to approve a revised withdrawal agreement by the end of October, and chose to call asnap election, which the House of Commons supported under theEarly Parliamentary General Election Act 2019.Opinion polls showed a firm lead for the Conservatives against the opposition Labour Party throughout the campaign. The Conservatives won 365 seats, their highest number and proportion since the1987 general election, and recorded their highest share of the popular vote since 1979; many of their gains were made in seats once considered previously safe for Labour, dubbed thered wall, which had voted strongly in favour of British withdrawal from the EU in the2016 European Union (EU) membership referendum. Labour won 202 seats, its fewest since the1935 general election.TheScottish National Party(SNP)","National Party(SNP) made a net gain of 13 seats with 45 per cent of the vote in Scotland, winning 48 of the 59 seats there.TheLiberal Democratsincreased their vote share to 11.6 per cent, but won only 11 seats, a net loss of one since the last election. The party's leader,Jo Swinson, lost her seat to the SNP, thus triggering the2020 party leadership election, which was won byEd Davey.The DUP won apluralityof seats in Northern Ireland. TheSocial Democratic and Labour Party(SDLP) and theAlliance Party of Northern Ireland(APNI) regained parliamentary representation as the DUP lost seats. The election result gave Johnson the mandate he sought from the electorate to formally implement thewithdrawal of the United Kingdomfrom theEuropean Union, and to complete the repeal of theEuropean Communities Act 1972on 31 January 2020.Jeremy Corbyn, Labour's leader at the election, resigned, triggering the2020 party leadership election, which was won by his shadow Brexit secretary,Keir Starmer.Jane Dodds, the Liberal","Dodds, the Liberal Democrats' leader in Wales, was also unseated inBrecon and Radnorshire.In Northern Ireland,Irish nationalistMPs outnumberedunionistsfor the first time, although the unionist popular vote remained higher at 43.1 per cent, and the sevenSinn FéinMPs did not take their seats due to their tradition ofabstentionism. Despite being elected with a landslide, Johnson went on to resign amid agovernment crisisin 2022, being followed byLiz Trussfor fifty daysand then byRishi Sunak, who went on to lead the Conservatives in thesubsequent election. Background Withdrawalof theUnited Kingdomfrom theEuropean Union In July 2016,Theresa Maywas electedPrime Ministerto succeedDavid Cameron, who had resigned following the 2016Brexit referendum. TheConservative Partyhad governed since the2010 general election, initially in coalition with theLiberal Democratsand then alone with a small majority following the2015 general election. In the2017 general election, May lost her majority but was able to resume office as a","resume office as a result of aconfidence and supplyagreement with Northern Ireland'sDemocratic Unionist Party(DUP), known as theConservative–DUP agreement. In the face of opposition from the DUP and Conservativebackbenchers, thesecond May ministrywas unable to pass itsBrexit withdrawal agreementby 29 March 2019, so some political commentators considered that an early general election was likely. The oppositionLabour Partycalled for a2019 vote of confidence in the May ministrybut the motion, held in January, failed.May resigned following her party's poor performance in the2019 European Parliament electionduring the first extension granted by the European Union for negotiations on the withdrawal agreement.Boris Johnsonwon the2019 Conservative leadership electionand became the prime minister on 24 July 2019. Along with attempting to revise the withdrawal agreement arranged by his predecessor's negotiations, Johnson made three attempts to hold a snap election under the process defined in theFixed-term","in theFixed-term Parliaments Act 2011,which required a two-thirdssupermajorityin order for an election to take place. All three attempts to call an election failed to gain support; Parliament insisted that Johnson \"take ano-deal Brexitoff the table first\" and secure a negotiated Withdrawal Agreement, expressed in particular by its enactment against his will of theEuropean Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019, often called the Benn Act, after Labour MPHilary Benn, who introduced the bill. After failing to pass a revised deal before the first extension's deadline of 31 October 2019, Johnson agreed to a second extension on negotiations with the European Union and finally secured a revised withdrawal agreement. Parliament agreed to an election through a motion proposed by the Liberal Democrats and theScottish National Party(SNP) on 28 October. TheEarly Parliamentary General Election Act 2019(EPGEA) was passed in theHouse of Commonsby 438 votes to 20; an attempt to pass an amendment by opposition parties for the","parties for the election to be held on 9 December failed by 315 votes to 295.TheHouse of Lordsfollowed suit on 30 October,withroyal assentmade the day after for the ratification of the EPGEA. Date of the election The deadline for candidate nominations was 14 November 2019,with political campaigning for four weeks until polling day on 12 December. On the day of the election, polling stations across the country were open from 7 am, and closed at 10 pm.The date chosen for the 2019 general election made it the first to be held in December since the1923 general election. Voting eligibility Individuals eligible to vote had to be registered to vote by midnight on 26 November.To be eligible to vote, individuals had to be aged 18 or over;residing as an Irish or Commonwealth citizen at an address in the United Kingdom,or be a British citizen overseas who registered to vote in the last 15 years;and not legally excluded (on grounds of detainment in prison, a mental hospital, or on the run from law enforcement),or","law enforcement),or disqualified from voting.Anyone who qualified as ananonymous electorhad until midnight on 6 December to register. Timetable Contesting political parties and candidates Most candidates are representatives of apolitical party, which must be registered with the Electoral Commission's Register. Those who do not belong to one must use the labelIndependentor none. In the 2019 election 3,415 candidates stood: 206 being independents, the rest representing one of 68 political parties. Campaign Campaign background The Conservative Party and Labour Party have been the two biggest political parties, and have supplied every Prime Minister since the1922 general election. The Conservative Party have governed since the 2010 election, in coalition with the Liberal Democrats from 2010 to 2015. At the 2015 general election, the Conservative Party committed to offering a referendum on whether the United Kingdom should leave theEuropean Union(EU) and won a majority in that election. A referendum was held in","was held in June 2016, and the Leave campaign won by 51.9% to 48.1%. United Kingdom invocation of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Unioncame in March 2017, andTheresa Maytriggered asnap electionin 2017, in order to demonstrate support for her planned negotiation of Brexit. Instead, the Conservative Party lost seats. They won a plurality of MPs but not a majority, and the result was ahung parliament. They formed aminority government, with theDemocratic Unionist Party(DUP) as theirconfidence and supplypartner. Neither May nor her successorBoris Johnson, the winner of the2019 Conservative leadership election,was able to secure parliamentary support either for a deal on the terms of the country's exit from the EU, or for exiting the EU without an agreed deal. Johnson later succeeded in bringing his withdrawal agreement to a second reading in Parliament, following another extension until January 2020. After Johnson's 2019 win, a new Withdrawal Agreement Bill was introduced in 2020. Compared to its 2019","to its 2019 October predecessor, this bill offered, in the words of political scientistMeg Russell, \"significantly weaker parliamentary oversight of Brexit ... giving parliament no formal role in agreeing the future relationship negotiating objectives, and a diminished role in approving any resulting treaty.\" During the lifespan of the 2017 Parliament, twenty MPs resigned from their parties, mostly due to disputes with their party leaderships; some formed new parties and alliances. In February 2019, eight Labour and three Conservative MPs left their parties to sit together asThe Independent Group.Having undergone a split and two name changes, at dissolution, this group numbered five MPs who sat as the registered party The Independent Group for Change under the leadership ofAnna Soubry. Two MPs sat in a group calledThe Independents, which at its peak had five members. One MP created theBirkenhead Social Justice Party, while a further 20 MPs who began as Labour or Conservative ended Parliament as unaffiliated","as unaffiliated independents. Seven MPs, from both the Conservatives and Labour, joined the Liberal Democrats during Parliament, in combination with a gain after the2019 Brecon and Radnorshire by-election. By the time Parliament was dissolved, the Liberal Democrats had raised their number from 12 at the election to 20 at dissolution. One reason for the defections from the Labour Party was the ongoing row over allegedantisemitism in the Labour Party. Labour entered the election campaign while under investigation by theEquality and Human Rights Commission.TheJewish Labour Movementdeclared that it would not generally campaign for Labour.The Conservative Party was also criticised for not doing enough to tackle the allegedIslamophobia in the Conservative Party.The Conservatives ended the previous parliamentary period with fewer seats than they had started with because of defections and also saw the2019 suspension of rebel Conservative MPsfor going against the party line by voting to prevent ano-deal Brexit.Of the","Brexit.Of the 21 expelled, 10 were subsequently reinstated, while the others continued as independents. Policy positions Brexit The major parties had a wide variety of stances on Brexit. The Conservative Party supported leaving under the terms of the withdrawal agreement as negotiated by Johnson (amending May's previous agreement), and this agreement formed a central part of the Conservative campaign via the slogan \"Get Brexit Done\".TheBrexit Partywas in favour of a no-deal Brexit, with its leaderNigel Faragecalling for Johnson to drop the deal. The Conservative manifesto read \"If we elect a majority of Conservative MPs to Parliament, we will start putting our deal through Parliament before Christmas and we will leave the European Union in January\" which ultimately happened. The Labour Party proposed a renegotiation of the withdrawal agreement, towards a closer post-withdrawal relationship with the EU, and would then put this forward as an option in a referendum alongside the option of remaining in the","of remaining in the EU.The Labour Party's campaigning stance in that referendum would be decided at a special conference.In aQuestion Timespecial featuring four party leaders, Labour leaderJeremy Corbynsaid that he would stay neutral in the referendum campaign. TheLiberal Democrats,Scottish National Party,Plaid Cymru,The Independent Group for Change, and theGreen Party of England and Waleswere all opposed to Brexit, and proposed that a further referendum be held with the option, for which they would campaign, to remain in the EU.The Liberal Democrats originally pledged that if they formed amajority government, which was considered a highly unlikely outcome by observers,they would revoke the Article 50 notification immediately and cancel Brexit.Part-way through the campaign, the Liberal Democrats dropped the policy of revoking Article 50 after the party realised it was not going to win a majority in the election. TheDemocratic Unionist Partywas in favour of a withdrawal agreement in principle but opposed the","but opposed the deals negotiated by both May and Johnson, believing that they created too great a divide between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.Sinn Féin, theSocial Democratic and Labour Party, theUlster Unionist Party(UUP),and theAlliance Party of Northern Irelandall favoured remaining in the EU. The UUP did not see a second referendum as a necessary route to achieving this goal. The environment The Labour Party promised what they described as a green industrial revolution. This included support for renewable energies and a promise to plant 2 billion trees by 2040. The party also promised to transition to electrify the United Kingdom's bus fleet by 2030.The Liberal Democrats promised to put the environment at the heart of their agenda with a promise to plant 60 million trees a year. They promised to significantly reduce carbon emissions by 2030 and hit zero carbon emissions by 2045. By 2030, they planned to generate 80% of the country's energy needs from renewable energies such as solar","such as solar power and wind and retrofit 26 million homes with insulation by 2030. They also promised to build more environmentally friendly homes and to establish a new Department for the Climate Crisis. The Conservatives pledged net zero emissions by 2050 with investment in clean energy solutions and green infrastructure to reduce carbon emissions and pollution. They also pledged to plant 30 million trees and boost wind and solar energy. Tax and spending commitments In September 2019, the Conservative government performed a spending review, where they announced plans to increase public spending by £13.8 billion a year, and reaffirmed plans to spend another £33.9 billion a year on theNational Health Service(NHS) by 2023. ChancellorSajid Javidsaid the government had turned the page on 10 years ofausterity in the United Kingdom. During the election, the parties produced manifestos that outlined spending in addition to that already planned. TheConservative Party manifestowas described as having \"little in the","\"little in the way of changes to tax\" by theInstitute for Fiscal Studies(IFS). The decision to keep the rate of corporation tax at 19%, and not reduce it to 17% as planned, was expected to raise £6 billion a year. The plan to increase the national insurance threshold for employees and self-employed to £9,500 would cost £2 billion a year.They committed to not raise rates of income tax,National Insurance, orVAT. There were increased spending commitments of £3 billion current spending and £8 billion investment spending. Overall, this would have led to the country's debt as a percentage of GDP remaining stable. The IFS assessed that it would rise in the event of a no-deal Brexit.TheLabour Party manifestoplanned to raise an extra £78 billion a year from taxes over the course of Parliament, with sources including: In addition, Labour was to obtain income from the Inclusive Ownership Fund, windfall tax on oil companies, and some smaller tax changes. There were increased spending commitments of £98 billion current","£98 billion current spending and £55 billion investment spending. Overall, this would have led to the national debt as a percentage of GDP rising.Labour'sJohn McDonnellsaid borrowing would only be for investment and one-offs (e.g. compensatingWASPIwomen, not shown above), and not for day-to-day spending. The Liberal Democrats manifesto planned to raise an extra £36 billion per year from taxes over the course of Parliament, with sources including: There were increased commitments of £37 billion current spending and £26 billion investment spending, which would overall lead to the debt as a percentage of GDP falling, partly due to improved economic conditions which would result from staying in the EU. Institute for Fiscal Studies analysis TheInstitute of Fiscal Studies(IFS), an influential research body, released on 28 November its in-depth analysis of themanifestosof the three main national political parties.The analysis provided a summary of the financial promises made by each party and an inspection of the","inspection of the accuracy of claims around government income and expenditure.The IFS reported that neither the Conservatives nor the Labour Party had published a \"properly credible prospectus\". Its analysis of the Conservative manifesto concluded there was \"essentially nothing new in the manifesto\", that there was \"little in the way of changes to tax, spending, welfare or anything else\", and that they had already promised increased spending for health and education whilst in government. The Labour manifesto was described as introducing \"enormous economic and social change\", and increasing the role of the state to be bigger than anything in the last 40 years. The IFS highlighted a raft of changes in including free childcare, university, personal care, and prescriptions, as well as nationalisations, labour market regulations, increases in the minimum wage, and enforcing \"effective ownership of 10% of large companies from current owners to a combination of employees and government\". The IFS said that Labour's","said that Labour's vision \"is of a state not so dissimilar to those seen in many other successful Western European economies\", and presumed that the manifesto should be seen as \"a long-term prospectus for change rather than a realistic deliverable plan for a five-year parliament\".They said that the Liberal Democrats manifesto was not as radical as the Labour manifesto but was a \"decisive move away from the policies of the past decade\". The Conservative manifesto was criticised for a commitment not to raise rates of income tax, National Insurance, or VAT, as this put a significant constraint on reactions to events that might affect government finances. One such event could be the \"die in a ditch\" promise to terminate the Brexit transition period by the end of 2020, which risked harming the economy.The IFS also stated that it is \"highly likely\" spending under a Conservative government would be higher than in that party's manifesto, partly due to a number of uncosted commitments.Outside of commitments to the","commitments to the NHS, the proposals would leave public service spending 14% lower in 2023–2024 than it was in 2010–2011, which the IFS described as \"no more austerity perhaps, but an awful lot of it baked in\". The IFS stated it had \"serious doubt\" that tax rises proposed would raise the amount Labour suggested, and said that they would need to introduce more broad based tax increases. They assessed that the public sector does not have the capacity to increase investment spending as Labour would want. The IFS further assessed the claim that tax rises would only hit the top 5% of earners as \"certainly progressive\" but \"clearly not true\", with those under that threshold impacted by changes to the marriage allowance, taxes on dividends, or capital gains, and lower wages or higher prices that might be passed on from corporation tax changes. Some of Labour's proposals were described as \"huge and complex undertakings\", where significant care is required in implementation. The IFS was particularly critical of the","critical of the policy to compensate the WASPI women, announced after the manifesto, which was a £58bn promise to women who are \"relatively well off on average\" and would result in public finances going off target.They said that Labour's manifesto would not increase UK public spending as a share of national income above Germany.They found that Labour's plan to spend and invest would boost economic growth but that the impact of tax rises, government regulation, nationalisations, and the inclusive ownership fund could reduce growth, meaning the overall impact of Labour's plan on growth was uncertain. The IFS described the plans of the Liberal Democrats as a radicaltax and spendpackage, and said that the proposals would require lower borrowing than Conservative or Labour plans. The report said they were the only party whose proposals would put debt \"on a decisively downward path\", praising their plan to put 1p on income tax to go to the NHS as \"simple, progressive and would raise a secure level of revenue\". The","of revenue\". The IFS also said plans to \"virtually quintuple\" current spending levels on universal free childcare amounted to \"creating a whole new leg of the universal welfare state\".The IFS said that the SNP's manifesto was not costed. Their proposals on spending increases and tax cuts would mean the government would have to borrow to cover day-to-day spending. They concluded that the SNP's plans for Scottish independence would likely require increased austerity. Other issues The Conservatives proposed increasing spending on public services, including the NHS and education.They also proposed increased funding for childcare and on the environment. They proposed more funding for care services and to work with other parties on reforming how care is delivered. They wished to maintain the triple lock on pensions. They proposed investing in local infrastructure, including rail, bus, cycle, and electric cars. They pledged to build a high speed new rail line between Leeds and Manchester. Labour proposed","Labour proposed significantly increasing government spending to 45% of national output, which would be high compared to most of British history.This was to pay for an increased NHS budget; stopping state pension age rises; introducing a National Care Service providing free personal care; move to a net-zero carbon economy by the 2030s; nationalising key industries; scrappingUniversal Credit; free bus travel for under-25s; building 100,000 council houses per year; and other proposals. Within this, the Labour Party proposed to take rail-operating companies, energy supply networks,Royal Mail, sewerage infrastructure, and England's private water companies back intopublic ownership. Labour proposednationalisingpart of theBT Groupand to provide freebroadbandto everyone,along withfree educationfor six years during each person's adult life.Over a decade, Labour planned to reduce the average full-time weekly working hours to 32, with resulting productivity increases facilitating no loss of pay.Labour's spending plans","spending plans were endorsed by more than 160economistsandacademicsand characterised as a \"serious programme\" to deal with internal problems. The main priority of the Liberal Democrats was opposing Brexit. Other policies included increased spending on the NHS; free childcare for two-to-four-year-olds; recruiting 20,000 more teachers; generating 80% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030; freezing train fares; and legalising cannabis.The Brexit Party was also focused on Brexit. It opposed privatising the NHS. It sought to reduce immigration, cutting net migration to 50,000 per year; cutting VAT on domestic fuel; banning the exporting of waste; free broadband in deprived regions; scrapping the BBC licence fee; and abolishing inheritance tax, interest on student loans, andHigh Speed 2. It also wanted to move to a United States-stylesupreme court. The policies of the SNP included a second referendum on Scottish independence to be held in 2020, as well as one on Brexit, removing theTrident nuclear","theTrident nuclear deterrent, anddevolutionacross issues like as employment law, drug policy, and migration.The Liberal Democrats, the Greens, the SNP, and Labour all supported a ban onfracking in the United Kingdom, whilst the Conservatives proposed approving fracking on a case-by-case basis. Party positions in the event of a hung parliament The Conservatives and Labour insisted they were on course for outright majorities, while smaller parties were quizzed about what they would do in the event of a hung parliament. The Liberal Democrats said that they would not actively support Johnson or Corbyn becoming Prime Minister but that they could, if an alternative could not be achieved, abstain on votes allowing a minority government to form if there was support for a second referendum on Brexit.The SNP ruled out either supporting the Conservatives or a coalition with Labour but spoke about a looser form of support, such as aconfidence and supplyarrangement with the latter, if they supported a second referendum","a second referendum onScottish independence. The DUP previously supported the Conservative government but withdrew that support given their opposition to Johnson's proposed Brexit deal. It said that it would never support Corbyn as prime minister but could work with Labour if that party were led by someone else. Labour's position on a hung parliament was that it would do no deals with any other party, citing Corbyn to say: \"We are out here to win it.\" At the same time, it was prepared to adopt key policies proposed by the SNP and Liberal Democrats to woo them into supporting a minority government.The UUP said they would never support Corbyn as prime minister, with their leaderSteve Aikenalso saying that he \"can't really see\" any situation in which they would support a Conservative government either. Their focus would be on remaining in the EU. Tactical voting Under thefirst-past-the-postelectoral system, there is often concern, especially inmarginal seats, that if voters of similar ideological leanings are","leanings are split between multiple different parties they may allow a victory for a candidate with significantly different views.In the early stages of the campaign, there was considerable discussion oftactical voting, generally in the context of support or opposition to Brexit, and whether parties would stand in all seats or not. There were various electoral pacts and unilateral decisions. The Brexit Party chose not to stand against sitting Conservative candidates but stood in most other constituencies. The Brexit Party alleged that pressure was put on its candidates by the Conservatives to withdraw, including the offer of peerages, which would be illegal. This was denied by the Conservative Party.Under the banner ofUnite to Remain, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, and the Green Party of England and Wales agreed an electoral pact in some seats; some commentators criticised the Liberal Democrats for not standing down in some Labour seats. A number of tactical voting websites were set up in an attempt to","up in an attempt to help voters choose the candidate in their constituency who would be best placed to beat the Conservative one.The websites did not always give the same advice, whichMichael Savage, political editor ofThe Guardian, said had the potential to confuse voters.One of the websites, named GetVoting.org and set up byBest for Britain, was accused of giving bogus advice in Labour/Conservative marginal seats.The website, which had links to the Liberal Democrats,was criticised for advising pro-Remain voters to back the Liberal Democrats, when doing so risked pulling voters away from Labour candidates and enabling the Conservative candidate to gain most votes. The website changed their controversial recommendation inKensingtonto Labour, which had won it in 2017 by 20 votes,and lined up with Tacticalvote.co.uk in this seat. Describing itself as a progressive grassroots campaign not affiliated with any political party, Tacticalvote.co.uk was previously known as Tactical2017.Gina Miller's Remain United and","Remain United and People's Vote kept their recommendation for the Liberal Democrats. This caused a lot of confusion around tactical voting,as it was reported that the sites did not match one another's advice. Further into the election period, tactical voting websites that relied onmultilevel regression with poststratification, such as Best for Britain, People's Vote, Remain United,andSurvation,changed their recommendations on other seats because of new data.The effectiveness of their tactical voting has also been questioned,and the loss of Kensington, which was a Labour gain in 2017, was blamed by Labour MPs on Liberal Democrats for splitting the vote. In the final weekend before voting,The Guardiancited a poll suggesting that the Conservative Party held a 15% lead over Labour;on the same day, the Conservative-backingDaily Telegraphemphasised a poll indicating a lower 8% lead.Senior opposition politicians from Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and the SNP launched a late-stage appeal to anti-Conservative voters","voters to consider switching allegiance in the general election, amid signs that tactical voting in a relatively small number of marginal seats could deprive Johnson of a majority in parliament. Shortly before the election,The Observernewspaper recommended Remainers tactically vote for 50 Labour, Liberal Democrats, SNP, and independent candidates across Great Britain;of these, 13 triumphed, 9 of which were SNP gains in Scotland (in line with a broader trend of relative success for the party), along with four in England divided equally between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. The pollster responsible argued in the aftermath that the unpopularity of the Labour leadership limited the effectiveness of tactical voting.Other research suggested it would have taken 78% of people voting tactically to prevent a Conservative majority completely, and it would not have been possible to deliver a Labour majority. Canvassing and leafleting Predictions of an overall Conservative majority were based on their targeting of","their targeting of primarily Labour-held, Brexit-backing seats in theMidlandsand the north of England.At the start of the election period, Labour-supporting organisationMomentumheld what was described as \"the largest mobilising call in UK history\", involving more than 2,000 canvassers.The organisation challenged Labour supporters to devote a week or more to campaigning full-time; by 4 December, 1,400 people had signed up. Momentum also developed an app called My Campaign Map that updated members about where they could be more effective, particularly in canvassing in marginal constituencies. Over one weekend during the campaign period, 700 Labour supporters campaigned inIain Duncan Smith's constituency,Chingford and Woodford Green, which was regarded as a marginal, with a majority of 2,438 votes at the 2017 general election. The Liberal Democrats were considered possible winners of a number of Conservative-held southern English constituencies; a large swing was postulated that might even toppleDominic","even toppleDominic RaabinEsher and Walton.At the beginning of the 2019 campaign, they had been accused of attempting to mislead voters by using selectiveopinion pollingdata,and use of a quotation attributed toThe Guardianrather than to their leaderJo Swinson.They were also accused of making campaign leaflets look like newspapers, although this practice had been used by all major British political parties for many years, including by Labour and the Conservatives during this election. The Liberal Democrats won a court case stopping the SNP from distributing a \"potentially defamatory\" leaflet in Swinson's constituency over false claims about funding she had received.Two Labour Party campaigners, both in their seventies, were verbally abused and physically assaulted in separate attacks on the weekend of 23–24 November. One attack occurred inBromyard,Herefordshire, and the other inRotherham,South Yorkshire. Party officials in Bromyard, where Labour campaigners experiencedred-baitingand had been called","had been called \"Marxists\",decided that activists should only canvass in pairs. Online campaigning The use ofsocial media advertisingwas seen as particularly useful to political parties as it could be used to target people of particular demographics.Labour was reported to have the most interactions, withThe Timesdescribing Labour's \"aggressive, anti-establishment messages\" as \"beating clever Tory memes\". In the first week of November, Labour was reported to have four of the five most likedtweetsby political parties, many of the top interactions ofFacebookposts, as well as doing very well onInstagram, where younger voters are particularly active.Bloomberg Newsreported that between 6 and 21 November the views on Twitter/Facebook were 18.7/31.0 million for Labour, 10/15.5 million for the Conservatives, 2.9/2.0 million for the Brexit Party, and 0.4/1.4 million for the Liberal Democrats. Brexit was the most tweeted topic for the Conservative Party (~45% of tweets), the Liberal Democrats, and the Brexit Party","the Brexit Party (~40% each). Labour focused on health care (24.1%), the environment, and business, mentioning Brexit in less than 5 per cent of its tweets.Devolution was the topic most tweeted about by the SNP (29.8%) and Plaid Cymru (21.4%), and the environment was the top issue for the Green Party (45.9%) on Twitter. The Conservatives were unique in their focus on taxation (16.2%), and the Brexit Party on defence (14%). Prior to the campaign, the Conservatives contracted New Zealand marketing agency Topham Guerin, which had been credited with helping Australia'sLiberal–National Coalitionunexpectedly win the2019 Australian federal election. The agency's social media approach was described as purposefully posting badly-designed social media material that becomes viral and so would be seen by a wider audience.Some of the Conservative social media activity created headlines challenging whether it was deceptive,including by the BBC,amiddisinformationconcerns.This included editing a clip ofKeir Starmerto give","Starmerto give the appearance that he was unable to answer a question about Labour's Brexit policy.In response to criticism over the doctored Starmer footage, Conservative Party chairmanJames Cleverlysaid the clip of Starmer was satire and \"obviously edited\". Veracity of statements by political parties During the 19 November debate between Johnson and Corbyn hosted byITV, the press office of theConservative Campaign Headquarters(CCHQ) re-branded their Twitter account (@CCHQPress) asfactcheckUK(with \"from CCHQ\" in small text appearing underneath the logo in the account's banner image), which critics suggested could be mistaken for that of an independentfact-checkingbody, and published posts supporting the Conservative's position.In defence, Conservative chairman Cleverly stated: \"The Twitter handle of the CCHQ press office remained CCHQPress, so it's clear the nature of the site\", and as \"calling out when the Labour Party put what they know to be complete fabrications in the public domain.\" In response to the","In response to the re-branding on Twitter, theElectoral Commission, which does not have a role in regulating election campaign content, called on all campaigners to act \"responsibly\".Fact-checking bodyFull Factcriticised this behaviour as \"inappropriate and misleading\", and Twitter stated that it would take \"decisive corrective action\" if there were \"further attempts to mislead people\". First Draft Newsreleased an analysis of Facebook ads posted by political parties between 1 and 4 December. The analysis reported that 88% of the 6,749 posts the Conservatives made had been \"challenged\" by fact checker Full Fact. 5,000 of these ads related to a \"40 new hospitals\" claim, of which Full Fact concluded only six had been costed, with the others only receiving money for planning, with building uncosted and due to occur after 2025. 4,000 featured inaccurate claims about the cost of Labour's spending plans to the tax payer. 500 related to a \"50,000 more nurses\" pledge, consisting of 31,500 new nurses, and convincing","and convincing 18,500 nurses already in post to remain. 16.5% of Liberal Democrats posts were highlighted, which related to claims they are the only party to beat Labour, the Conservatives, or the SNP \"in seats like yours\".None of the posts made by Labour in the period were challenged, although posts made on 10 December stating that a \"Labour government would save households thousands in bills\" and the Conservative Party had \"cut £8bn from social care\" since 2010 were flagged as misleading.According to theBBC, Labour supporters had been more likely to share unpaid-for electioneering posts, some of which included misleading claims. Television debates ITV aired a head-to-head election debate between Johnson and Corbyn on 19 November, hosted byJulie Etchingham.ITV Cymru Walesaired a debate featuring representatives from the Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, and the Brexit Party on 17 November, hosted byAdrian Masters.Johnson cancelled his ITV interview with Etchingham, scheduled for 6","scheduled for 6 December, whilst the other major party leaders agreed to be interviewed. On the BBC, broadcasterAndrew Neilwas due to separately interview party leaders inThe Andrew Neil Interviews, andBBC Northern IrelandjournalistMark Carruthersto separately interview the five main Northern Irish political leaders.The leaders of the SNP, Labour, Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrats, and the Brexit Party were all interviewed by Neil and the leader of the Conservative Party was not,leading Neil to release a challenge to Johnson to be interviewed.The Conservatives dismissed Neil's challenge.BBC Scotland,BBC Cymru Wales, and BBC Northern Ireland also hosted a variety of regional debates. Channel 4cancelled a debate scheduled for 24 November after Johnson would not agree to a head-to-head with Corbyn.A few days later, the network hosted a leaders' debate focused on the climate. Johnson and Farage did not attend and were replaced on stage by ice sculptures with their party names written on them.The Conservatives","Conservatives alleged this was part of a pattern of bias at the channel, complained toOfcomthat Channel 4 had breached due impartiality rules as a result of their refusal to allowMichael Goveto appear as a substitute,and suggested that they might review the channel's broadcasting licence.In response, the Conservatives, as well as the Brexit Party, did not send a representative to Channel 4's \"Everything but Brexit\" on 8 December,and Conservative ministers were briefed not to appear onChannel 4 News.Ofcom rejected the Conservatives' complaint on 3 December. Sky Newswas due to hold a three-way election debate on 28 November, inviting Johnson, Corbyn, and Swinson.Swinson confirmed she would attend the debate,which was later cancelled after agreements could not be made with Corbyn or Johnson. Campaign events Before candidate nominations closed, several planned candidates for Labour and for the Conservatives withdrew, principally because of past social media activity. At least three Labour candidates and one","candidates and one Conservative candidate stood down, with two of the Labour candidates doing so following allegedly antisemitic remarks.Two other Conservative candidates were suspended from the Conservative Party over antisemitic social media posts, but retained their candidacy for the party.The Liberal Democrats removed one of its candidates over antisemitic social media posts, and defended two others. Several former Labour MPs critical of Corbyn endorsed the Conservatives.Meanwhile, several former Conservative MPs, including former deputy prime ministerMichael Heseltine, endorsed the Liberal Democrats and independent candidates.A week before election day, former Conservative prime ministerJohn Majorwarned the public against enabling a majority Conservative government, to avoid what he saw as the damage a Johnson-led government could do to the country through Brexit. Major encouraged voters to vote tactically and to back former Conservative candidates instead of those put forward by the Conservative Party.","Conservative Party. The2019–20 United Kingdom floodsstarted hitting parts of England from 7 to 18 November. Johnson was criticised for what some saw as his late response to the flooding,after he said they were not a national emergency.The Conservatives bannedDaily Mirrorreporters from Johnson'scampaign bus.On 27 November, Labour announced it had obtained leaked government documents; they said these showed that the Conservatives were in trade negotiations with the US over the NHS. The Conservatives said Labour was peddling \"conspiracy theories\",withDominic Raablater suggesting this was evidence of Russian interference in the election.The election also saw the2019 London Bridge stabbing, a terrorist stabbing attack that occurred in London on 29 November; owing to this, the political parties suspended campaigning in London for a time. The2019 London summitofNATOwas held inWatfordon 3–4 December 2019. It was attended by 29 heads of state and heads of government, including then United States presidentDonald","presidentDonald Trump.On 6 December, Labour announced it had obtained leaked government documents that they said showed that Johnson had misled the public about the Conservatives' Brexit deal with the EU, specifically regarding customs checks between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which are part of theGood Friday Agreementand that Johnson had said would not exist. Third-party campaigns In February 2021, an investigation byopenDemocracyfound that third-party campaign groups \"pushed anti-Labour attack ads to millions of voters ahead of the 2019 general election spent more than £700,000 without declaring any individual donation\".These included Capitalist Worker and Campaign Against Corbynism, both of which were set up less than three months before the election and quickly disappeared thereafter.A further investigation, also reported by theDaily Mirror, found that a group run by Conservative activist Jennifer Powers had spent around £65,000 on dozens of advertisements attacking Corbyn and Labour on housing","Labour on housing policy without declaring any donations. During the campaign,ihad reported that Powers was \"a corporate lobbyist who is a former employee of the Conservative Party\" and that her group had been one of \"16 registrations completed since 5 November\".Meanwhile,openDemocracyreported on the new phenomenon of United States-style,Super PAC-esque groups in British elections.Adam Ramsay, who wrote the article, contacted Powers and got her to admit to being an associate at the trade consultancy firm Competere, which was set up by lobbyistShanker Singham, who works for the neoliberal think tank, theInstitute for Economic Affairs.Powers' group \"Right to Rent, Right to Buy, Right to Own\" made claims that Labour wanted to \"attack property rights in the UK\" and \"your mortgage will be harder to pay under Labour\". Additionally,openDemocracyreported that, during the election campaign, the pro-Labour groupMomentumspent more than £500,000, the European Movement for the United Kingdom spent almost £300,000 and the","£300,000 and the anti-Brexit groupsLed By DonkeysandBest for Britainspent £458,237 and more than one million pounds respectively.Following these reports, former Liberal Democrats MPTom Brake, who lost his seat in the election and was now director of the pressure groupUnlock Democracy, wrote to theElectoral Commission, urging them to investigate.These calls were echoed byJohn McDonnell, Labour MP and former Shadow Chancellor, who insisted that \"a serious and in-depth inquiry into third-party campaigning\" was needed. Religious groups' opinions on the parties Ethnic minority and religious leaders and organisations made statements about the general election. Leaders of theChurch of Englandstated people had a \"democratic duty to vote\", that they should \"leave their echo chambers\", and \"issues need to be debated respectfully, and without resorting to personal abuse\". Antisemitism in the Labour Partywas persistently covered in the media in the lead up to the election. In his leader's interview with Jeremy","with Jeremy Corbyn,Andrew Neildedicated the first third of the 30-minute programme entirely to discussion of Labour's relationship with the Jewish community.This interview drew attention as Corbyn refused to apologise for antisemitism in the Labour Party, despite having done so on previous occasions.The British chief rabbiEphraim Mirvismade an unprecedented intervention in politics, warning that antisemitism was a \"poison sanctioned from the top\" of the Labour Party, and saying thatBritish Jewswere gripped by anxiety about the prospect of a Corbyn-led government.Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, theMuslim Council of Britainand theHindu Council UKsupported Mirvis's intervention, if not entirely endorsing it.TheJewish Labour Movementsaid they would not be actively campaigning for Labour except for exceptional candidates.The pro-CorbynMorning Starreported thatJewish Voice for Labourand theJewish Socialist Groupsaid that Mirvis did not represent all Jews, with some people within the religious groups","religious groups being keen to express that no one person or organisation represents the views of all the members of the faith. TheCatholic Church in the United Kingdomurged voters to respect theright to life, opposingabortion,euthanasia, andassisted suicide, along with a peaceful solution to Brexit, support the poor, care for the homeless, and attention tohuman rights.TheMuslim Council of Britain(MCB) spokesman stated thatIslamophobia\"is particularly acute in the Conservative Party\" and that Conservatives treat it \"with denial, dismissal and deceit\".In addition they released a 72-page document, outlining what they assess are the key issues from aBritish Muslimperspective. The MCB specifically criticised those who \"seek to stigmatise and undermine Muslims\"; for example, by implying that Pakistanis (\"often used as a proxy for Muslims\") vote \"en bloc as directed byImams\".TheSunday Mirrorstated that many of the candidates campaigning for the Brexit Party were Islamophobic. The Times of Indiareported that","Indiareported that supporters ofNarendra Modi's rulingBharatiya Janata Party(BJP) were actively campaigning for the Conservatives in 48 marginal seats,and theTodayprogramme reported that it had seenWhatsAppmessages sent to Hindus across the country urging them to vote Conservative.Some British Indians spoke out against what they saw as the BJP's meddling in the election.TheHindu Council UKwas strongly critical of Labour, going as far as to say that Labour is \"anti-Hindu\",and objected to the party's condemnation of the Indian government's actions resulting in therevocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.Labour's perceived introduction of aparachute candidateintoLeicester Eastdisappointed many with Indian heritage;specifically, no candidates of Indian descent were interviewed. The party selected or re-selected one candidate of Indian descent among its 39 safest seats. Endorsements Newspapers, organisations, and individuals had endorsed parties or individual candidates for the election. Media","the election. Media coverage Party representation According toLoughborough University's Centre for Research in Communication and Culture (CRCC), media coverage of the first week of the campaign was dominated by the Conservatives and Labour, with the leaders of both parties being the most represented campaigners (Johnson with 20.8%; Corbyn with 18.8%).Due to this, the election coverage was characterised as increasingly 'presidential' as smaller parties have been marginalised. In television coverage,Boris Johnsonhad a particularly high-profile (30.4% against Corbyn's 22.6%). Labour (32%) and the Conservative Party (33%) received about a third of TV coverage each. In newspapers, Labour received two-fifths (40%) of the coverage and the Conservatives 35%. Spokespeople from both parties were quoted near equally, with Conservative sources being the most prominent in both press and TV coverage in terms of frequency of appearance.Sajid JavidandJohn McDonnellfeatured prominently during the first week because","first week because theeconomy of the United Kingdomwas a top story for the media. McDonnell had more coverage than Javid on both TV and in print. A large proportion of the newspaper coverage of Labour was negative.Writing in theBritish Journalism Review, James Hanning said that, when reporting and commenting on Johnson, Conservative supporting newspapers made little mention of \"a track record that would have sunk any other politician\".In theLoughboroughanalysis, during the first week of the campaign, for example, the Conservatives had a positive press coverage score of +29.7, making them the only party to receive a positive overall presentation in the press. Meanwhile, Labour, meanwhile had a negative score of −70, followed by the Brexit Party on −19.7 and the Liberal Democrats on −10.Over the whole campaign, press hostility towards Labour had doubled compared with during the 2017 election, and negative coverage of the Conservatives halved. The Liberal Democrats were the party with the most TV coverage in","most TV coverage in the first week after Labour and the Conservatives, with an eighth of all reporting (13%). In newspapers, they received less coverage than the Brexit Party, whose leaderNigel Faragereceived nearly as much coverage (12.3%) as Johnson and Corbyn (17.4% each). Most of this coverage regarded the Brexit Party's proposed electoral pact with the Conservatives.The Brexit Party (7%) and the SNP (5%) were fourth and fifth in terms of TV coverage, respectively. Dominant issues As during the 2017 election and in line for British elections, the electoral process was the most covered media topic for this election at 31% of all coverage.Brexit was the most prominent policy issue on both TV (18%) and in the press (11%), followed by the economy, and health (8% and 7% of all coverage, respectively).There was little focused analysis of what the implementation of Brexit policies might mean, which contrasted with the more detailed analysis often undertaken of other manifesto commitments, such as those on the","as those on the economy. Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland's place within the United Kingdom received some prominence on TV but little coverage in the press.\"Standards/scandals\" and \"Minorities/religion\" received relatively significant discussion in large part relating to allegations ofantisemitism in the Labour partyand in the prior case an incident when Johnson was accused of reacting unsympathetically to an image of an ill child without a bed in hospital.Coverage of immigration and border controls fell overall from to 2017, while focus on environmental issues slightly increased. Gender balance Of the 20 most prominent spokespeople in media coverage of the first week of the election period, five were women, withNicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader andfirst minister of Scotland, in seventh place, the most featured.Women including citizens, experts, pollsters, businesspeople, trade union representatives, and the like featured in 23.9% of coverage and men in 76.1%. Men spoke three times as much as women in TV","much as women in TV coverage, and five times as much in newspaper coverage. Members of Parliament not standing for re-election 74members of Parliament(MPs) who held seats at the end of Parliament did not stand for re-election. Of these, 32 were Conservative MPs, 20 were Labour, 3 were Liberal Democrats, and 16 were independents. The number of MPs retiring was higher than the 2017 general election, when 31 stood down. Opinion polling The chart below depicts the results of opinion polls, mostly only of voters in Great Britain, conducted from the 2017 general election until the election. The line plotted is the average of the last 15 polls and the larger circles at the end represent the actual results of the election. The graph shows that the Conservatives and Labour polled to similar levels from mid-2017 to mid-2019. Following Johnson's election in July, the Conservatives established a clear lead over Labour, and simultaneously support for the Brexit Party declined from its peak in summer 2019. The Spreadex","2019. The Spreadex columns below cover bets on the number of seats each party would win, with the midpoint between asking and selling price. Predictions three weeks before the vote The first-past-the-post system used in the United Kingdom general elections means that the number of seats won is not directly related to vote share. Thus, several approaches are used to convert polling data and other information into seat predictions. The table below lists some of the predictions. Predictions two weeks before the vote Note: Elections Etc. does not add up to 650 seats due to rounding, the speaker is shown under \"Others\" and not \"Labour\", and majority figures assume all elected members take up their seats. Predictions one week before the vote Below are listed predictions based upon polls. as of 5 December 2019 Note: Elections Etc. does not add up to 650 seats due to rounding, the speaker is shown under \"Others\" and not \"Labour\", and majority figures assume all elected members take up their seats. Below are listed","Below are listed predictions based upon betting odds, assuming the favourite wins in each constituency. Note: The speaker is shown under \"Others\" and not \"Labour\", and majority figures assume all elected members take up their seats. Final predictions as of 11 December 2019 Exit poll Anexit pollconducted byIpsos MORIfor theBBC,ITV, andSky Newswas published at the end of voting at 10 pm, predicting the number of seats for each party. Results The Conservative Party won, securing 365 seats out of 650, giving them an overall majority of 80 seats in the House of Commons. They gained seats in several Labour Party strongholds in Northern England that had been held by the party for decades and which had formed thered wall; for instance, the constituency ofBishop Auckland, which elected a Conservative MP for the first time in its 134-year history. This marked a fourth consecutive general election defeat for the Labour Party. In the worst result for the party in 84 years,despite a better vote share than other losses as","other losses as in 1931, 1983, 1987, and 2010, Labour won 202 seats, which was the lowest number since 1935 and a loss of 60 compared to the previous election. The Liberal Democrats won 11 seats, down 1, despite significantly increasing their share of the popular vote.Ed Davey, formerCameron–Clegg coalitioncabinet minister and MP forKingston and Surbiton, was the winner of the2020 Liberal Democrats leadership election. This came afterJo Swinsonlost her seat toAmy Callaghanof the SNP by 150 votes and was disqualified from continuing as leader of the party. Swinson also became the first party leader to lose their seat since Liberal Party leaderArchibald Sinclairin 1945. While the Conservatives gained support in England and Wales, they lost support in Scotland in the face of a major SNP advance. The Conservatives won in England, advancing by 1.7% and gaining 48 seats to win 345 out of 533, while Labour fell back by 8% and lost 47 seats to win just 180.Labour won in Wales but lost 8% of its 2017 vote share and","2017 vote share and six seats, retaining 22 out of 40, while the Conservatives advanced by 2.5% and gained six seats, winning 14 in total. The SNP advanced by 8.1% and gained 13 seats to win 48 out of 59, gaining several seats from the Conservatives and Labour. The Conservatives lost 3.5% of their 2017 vote share and half their seats, while Labour was reduced to one Scottish seat,Edinburgh South. This is the same Scottish seat that returnedIan Murrayin the 2015–17 Parliament as the country's sole Labour MP.Among the Labour MPs who lost their seats in Scotland wasLesley Laird, deputy leader ofScottish LabourandShadow Secretary of State for Scotland.In Northern Ireland, nationalist political parties won more seats than unionist ones for the first time.Nigel Dodds, the DUP's leader in Westminster, lost his seat inBelfast North. Analysis The results have been attributed toLeave-supporting areas backing the Conservatives, the Conservatives broadening their appeal to working-class voters, and the Conservatives","the Conservatives making gains in the Midlands and the north of England.Most notable was the red wall turning blue in the election, which greatly contributed to the Conservative majority. In exit polls conducted byOpinium, 43% of voters who did not vote for the Labour Party cited 'the leadership' as their reason.Among those who did not vote for the Conservative Party, the cited reason was equally split between 'their stance on Brexit' and 'the leadership', with both at 26%. Several commentators stated that the party's loss was due to a complicated manifesto and Brexit policy, a poor approach to campaigning, and the unpopularity of Corbyn's leadership. AYouGovpost-election survey determined that the age over which voters were more likely to opt for the Conservatives than for Labour was 39, down from 47 in the 2017 election. In contrast to previous elections, the YouGov survey additionally found that a plurality of voters in the DE'sNRS social grade— comprising the unemployed, state pensioners, and","pensioners, and semi-skilled and unskilled workers — had opted for the Conservatives over Labour.This change reflects the collapse of the 'Red Wall' which has a plurality of people in the DE classification according to theONS. Between 26% and 33% of voters engaged intactical voting, as they said that they were trying to prevent a victory by the party they liked least.Recommendation by tactical voting websites had some benefit for Liberal Democrat candidates.The new Parliament reportedly had the highest number of openly LGBT MPs in the world, with 20 Conservative MPs, 15 Labour MPs, and 10 SNP MPs who identify as LGBT. For the first time in both cases, the majority of elected Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs were female. The election also returned a record number of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) MPs, with 65 MPs (10%) describing themselves as BAME. In a post-election review featuring Labour MPs, trade union officials and activists one of several reasons attributed to the electoral defeat was due to","defeat was due to the declining popularity of Jeremy Corbyn in relation to the Brexit position and allegations of party antisemitism. The review projected that Labour would have retained 38% of the vote had Corbyn's popularity levels retained at its peak level in 2017. Summary A summarised results of the parties that won seats at the election is shown below. Full results In total, the Green Party of England and Wales, Scottish Greens, and Green Party Northern Ireland received 865,715 votes (2.70%). This may be unclear from the table and sources which cite the total of the Greens in the whole of the United Kingdom rather than by region. Voter demographics Ipsos MORI Below is listedIpsos MORI's demographic breakdown. YouGov Below is listedYouGov's demographic breakdown. Seats changing hands Seats which changed allegiance Reaction and aftermath In his victory speech, Johnson described the result as a mandate for leaving the EU and promised to do so by 31 January.The United Kingdom left the EU on 31 January","EU on 31 January 2020but continued using EU trading rules until 23:00 on December 31. The election led to both Labour and the Liberal Democrats having leadership contests: the former as Corbyn resigned, the latter as Swinson failed to be elected as an MP. Corbyn portrayed the 2019 election results primarily as a consequence of attitudes surrounding Brexit rather than a rejection of Labour's social and economic policies. In an interview held on 13 December 2019, Corbyn said the election was \"taken over ultimately by Brexit\", and said that he was \"proud of the manifesto\". The Labour leadership campaign was marked by conflicting analyses of what had gone wrong for the party in the general election.There was debate as to whether Corbyn's unpopularity or their position on Brexit was more significant.The 2020Labour Togetherreport, published by internal Labour party figures afterKeir Starmerwas elected as leader, highlighted issues like Corbyn's unpopularity, the party's Brexit policy, and poor seat targeting, as","seat targeting, as well as long-term changes in Labour's electoral coalition.InopenDemocracy, Jo Michell and Rob Calvert Jump argued that the report underplayed the fact the geographical redistributions, stating that \"Labour's decline in the North, Midlands and Wales is not the result of a dramatic collapse in its vote share, but changes in the distribution of votes between parties and constituencies.\" Successful Liberal Democrats MPs were critical in private of how the party had decided to advocate revoking the exercise of Article 50, and the communication of that policy. Some criticised the election campaign for being hubristic, with its initial defining message that Swinson could be the country's next prime minister.Ed Davey, the party's co-acting leader after the election, argued that the unpopularity of Corbyn lost the Liberal Democrats votes to the Conservatives.Wera Hobhouse, who was re-elected by a majority of 12,322,argued that the party had been wrong to pursue a policy of equidistance between","between Labour and the Conservatives in the general election campaign. Instead, she argued that the party should have concentrated more on campaigning against the Conservatives.The SNP's leaderNicola Sturgeondescribed the result as a clear mandate to hold a new referendum for Scottish independence.The British government said that it would not agree to a referendum being held and the Scottish government announced a few months later that it would put the issue on hold due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. See also Notes References Further reading External links Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019 Party manifestos","Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson(born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served asPrime Minister of the United KingdomandLeader of the Conservative Partyfrom 2019 to 2022. He was previouslyForeign Secretaryfrom 2016 to 2018 andMayor of Londonfrom 2008 to 2016. He wasMember of Parliament(MP) forHenleyfrom 2001 to 2008 andUxbridge and South Ruislipfrom 2015 to 2023. In his youth Johnson attendedEton CollegeandBalliol College, Oxford, and he was electedPresident of the Oxford Unionin 1986. In 1989 he began writing forThe Daily Telegraph, and from 1999 to 2005 he was the editor ofThe Spectator. He became a member of theShadow CabinetofMichael Howardin 2001 before being dismissed over a claim that he had lied about an extramarital affair. After Howard resigned Johnson became a member ofDavid Cameron'sShadow Cabinet. Hewas elected Mayor of London in 2008and resigned from theHouse of Commonsto focus his attention on the mayoralty. He wasre-elected mayor in 2012, but did not run for","but did not run for re-election in2016. At the2015 general electionhe was elected MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip. Johnson was a prominent figure in theBrexit campaignin the2016 European Union membership referendum. After the referendum Prime MinisterTheresa Mayappointed him foreign secretary. He resigned from the position in 2018 in protest at both theChequers Agreementand May's approach to Brexit. Johnson succeeded May as prime minister. Here-opened Brexit negotiationswith the European Union and in early September heprorogued Parliament; theSupreme Courtlater ruled the prorogation to have been unlawful. After agreeing to a revised Brexit withdrawal agreement butfailing to win parliamentary support, Johnson called asnap general electionto be held in December 2019, in which he won alandslide victory. During Johnson's premiership, the governmentrespondedto theCOVID-19 pandemicby introducing variousemergency powersto mitigate its impact and approved anationwide vaccination programme. He also responded to","also responded to theRussian invasion of Ukraineby imposingsanctions on Russiaand authorisingforeign aid and weapons shipmentsto Ukraine.In thePartygatescandal it was found that numerous parties had been held at10 Downing Streetduringnational COVID-19 lockdowns, and COVID-19 social distancing laws were breached by 83 individuals, including Johnson, who in April 2022 was issued with afixed penalty notice. The publishing of theSue Gray reportin May 2022 and a widespread sense of dissatisfaction led in June 2022 to avote of confidence in his leadershipamongst Conservative MPs, which he won. In July 2022, revelations over hisappointment of Chris Pincheras deputychief whip of the partywhile knowing of allegations of sexual misconduct against him led to amass resignation of members of his governmentand to Johnson announcing his resignation as prime minister. He was succeeded as prime minister byLiz Truss, his foreign secretary. He remained in the House of Commons as abackbencheruntil 9 June 2023, when he received","when he received the draft of theCommons Privileges Committee investigation into his conductthat unanimously found that he had lied to the Commons on numerous occasions. Johnson resigned his position as MP the same day. Johnson is acontroversial figurein British politics. His supporters have praised him for being humorous, witty, and entertaining, with an appeal reaching beyond traditional Conservative Party voters, viewing him as an electoral asset to the party. Conversely, his critics have accused him of lying,elitism,cronyism, andbigotry. During his premiership his supporters praised him for \"getting Brexit done\", overseeing the UK's COVID-19 vaccination programme, which was amongst the fastest in the world, and being one of the first world leaders to offerhumanitarian support to Ukrainefollowing the Russian invasion of the country. His tenure also encompassed several controversies and scandals, and is viewed as the most scandalous premiership of modern times by historians and biographers alike. Early","alike. Early life and education Childhood Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson was born on 19 June 1964 in theUpper East SideofManhattan, New York City,toStanley Johnson, then studying economics atColumbia University,andCharlotte Fawcett,an artist, whose fatherSir James Fawcett, was a prominentbarristerand president of theEuropean Commission of Human Rightsfrom 1972 to 1981.Johnson is one of only two British prime ministers to have been anAmerican citizen(seeHonorary citizenship of the United States).Johnson's parents returned to the UK in September 1964 so Charlotte could study at theUniversity of Oxford.She lived with her son inSummertown, Oxford, and in September 1965 she gave birth to a daughter,Rachel.In July 1965, the family moved toCrouch Endinnorth London,and in February 1966 they relocated to Washington, DC, where Stanley worked with theWorld Bank.Stanley then took a job with a policy panel onpopulation control, and moved the family toNorwalk, Connecticut, in June.A third child, Leo, was born in","Leo, was born in September 1967. The family returned to the UK in 1969, and lived at West Nethercote Farm, Somerset, Stanley's family home inExmoor.His father was regularly absent, leaving Johnson to be raised largely by his mother, assisted byau pairs.As a child, Johnson was quiet, studious,and deaf, resulting in several operations to insertgrommetsinto his ears.He and his siblings were encouraged to engage in intellectual activities from a young age.Johnson's earliest recorded ambition was to be \"world king\".Having no other friends, the siblings became very close. In late 1969, the family moved toMaida Valein west London, while Stanley began post-graduate research at theLondon School of Economics.In 1970, Charlotte and the children briefly returned to Nethercote, where Johnson attended Winsford Village School, before returning to London to settle inPrimrose Hill,where they were educated at Primrose Hill Primary School.A fourth child,Joseph, was born in late 1971. After Stanley secured employment at","employment at theEuropean Commissionin April 1973, he moved his family toUccle, Brussels, where Johnson attended theEuropean School, Brussels Iand learnt to speak French.Charlotte had anervous breakdownand was hospitalised with depression, after which Johnson and his siblings were sent back to the UK in 1975 to attendAshdown House, a preparatory boarding school in East Sussex.There, he developed interests inrugby,Ancient Greek, andLatin.In December 1978 his parents' relationship broke down; they divorced in 1980,and Charlotte moved toNotting Hill, London, where her children joined her for much of their time. Eton and Oxford: 1977–1987 As a kid I was extremely spotty, extremely nerdy and horriblyswotty. My idea of a really good time was to travel across London on the tube to visit theBritish Museum. — Boris Johnson Johnson gained aKing's Scholarshipto study atEton College, a boarding school nearWindsor, Berkshire.Arriving in the autumn term of 1977,he began going by his middle name Boris,and developed \"the","developed \"the eccentric English persona\" for which he became famous.He denounced Catholicism and joined theChurch of England.School reports complained about his idleness, complacency, and lateness,but he was popular at Eton. Johnson's friends were largely from the wealthy upper classes; his best friends wereDarius GuppyandCharles Spencer. Both would go on to accompany him at theUniversity of Oxfordand remained his friends into adulthood.Johnson excelled inEnglishand theClassics, winning prizes in both,and became secretary of the schooldebating societyand editor of the school newspaper.In late 1981, he became a member ofPop,a small, self-selecting elite group of school prefects. After leaving Eton, Johnson went on agap yearto Australia, where he taught English and Latin atTimbertop, anOutward Bound-inspired campus ofGeelong Grammar, an independent boarding school. Johnson won a scholarship to readLiterae humanioresatBalliol College, Oxford, a four-year course in Classics, ancient languages, literature,","literature, history, and philosophy.Matriculatingin late 1983,he was one of a generation of Oxford undergraduates who dominated British politics and media in the early 21st century, including Cameron,William Hague,Michael Gove,Jeremy HuntandNick Boles.While at Oxford, Johnson joined the college'srugby unionteam as atighthead prop.To his later regret, he joined theBullingdon Club, an exclusive drinking society notorious for vandalism.Many years later,a group photographincluding himself and Cameron in Bullingdon Club formal dress led to much negative press coverage. While at Oxford, he began a relationship withAllegra Mostyn-Owen, cover girl forTatlermagazine and daughter ofChristie's EducationchairmanWilliam Mostyn-Owen. They became engaged. Johnson was popular and well known at Oxford.Alongside Guppy, he edited the university's satirical magazineTributary.In 1984, Johnson was elected secretary of theOxford Union,and campaigned unsuccessfully for the position ofUnion President.In 1986, Johnson ran","1986, Johnson ran successfully for President,but his term was not distinguished or memorable,and questions were raised regarding his competence and seriousness.At graduation, Johnson was awarded anupper second-classdegree,and was deeply unhappy he did not receive a first. Early career The TimesandThe Daily Telegraph: 1987–1994 In September 1987, Johnson and Mostyn-Owen married.They settled inWest Kensington, London.In late 1987, through family connections, he began work as a graduate trainee atThe Times.Scandal erupted when Johnson wrote an article for the newspaper on the archaeological discovery ofEdward II's palace, having invented a quote which he falsely attributed to the historianColin Lucas, his godfather. After the paper's editor,Charles Wilson, learnt of the matter, he dismissed Johnson. Johnson secured employment on the lead-writing desk ofThe Daily Telegraph, having met its editor,Max Hastings, while at university.His articles appealed to the newspaper's Conservative-voting \"Middle England\"","\"Middle England\" readership,and he was known for his distinctive literary style, replete with old-fashioned phrasing and for regularly referring to the readership as \"my friends\".In early 1989, Johnson was appointed to the newspaper's Brussels bureau to report on the European Commission,remaining in the post until 1994.A strong critic of the integrationist Commission presidentJacques Delors, he established himself as one of the city's fewEuroscepticjournalists.He wrote articles abouteuromyths: that Brussels had recruited sniffer dogs to ensure that all manure smelt the same,they were about to dictate the acceptable curve of British bananas,limit the power of their vacuum cleanersand order women to return their old sex toys.He wrote that euro notes made people impotent and that a plan to blow up theBerlaymont buildingwas in place because asbestos cladding made the building too dangerous to inhabit.Many of his fellow journalists were critical of his articles, saying they often contained lies designed to","lies designed to discredit the commission.The Europhile Conservative politicianChris Pattenlater said that Johnson was \"one of the greatest exponents of fake journalism\".Johnson opposed banning handguns after theDunblane school massacre, writing in his column \"Nanny is confiscating their toys. It is like one of those vastIndian programmes of compulsory vasectomy.\" According to one of his biographers,Sonia Purnell, – who was Johnson's Brussels deputy– he helped make Euroscepticism \"an attractive and emotionally resonant cause for the Right\", whereas it had been associated previously with the Left.Johnson's articles exacerbated tensions between the Conservative Party's Eurosceptic and Europhile factions. As a result, he earned the mistrust of many party members.His writings were also a key influence on the emergence of the euroscepticUK Independence Party(UKIP) in the early 1990s.Conrad Black, then proprietor ofThe Daily Telegraph, said Johnson \"was such an effective correspondent for us in Brussels that he","in Brussels that he greatly influenced British opinion on this country's relations with Europe\". In February 1990, Johnson's wife Allegra broke up with him; after several attempts at reconciliation, their marriage ended in April 1993.He began a relationship with childhood friendMarina Wheeler, who had moved to Brussels in 1990.They were married in May 1993.Soon after, Marina gave birth to a daughter.Johnson and his new wife settled inIslington, north London,an area known for its association with the left-liberalintelligentsia. Under the influence of thismilieuand of his wife, Johnson moved in a more liberal direction on issues such asclimate change,LGBT rightsand race relations.While in Islington, the couple had three more children, all given the surname Johnson-Wheeler.They were sent to the local Canonbury Primary School and then to private secondary schools.Devoting much time to his children, Johnson wrote a book of verse,The Perils of the Pushy Parents: A Cautionary Tale, which was published to largely","to largely poor reviews. Political columnist: 1994–1999 Back in London, Hastings turned down Johnson's request to become awar reporter,instead promoting him to assistant editor and chief political columnist.Johnson's column received praise for being ideologically eclectic and distinctively written, and earned him Commentator of the Year Award at theWhat the Papers Sayawards.Some critics condemned his writing style as bigotry; in columns he used the words \"piccaninnies\" and \"watermelon smiles\" when referring to Africans, championed European colonialism in Ugandaand referred to gay men as \"tank-topped bumboys\". In 1993, Johnson outlined his desire to run as a Conservative in the1994 European Parliament elections.Andrew Mitchellconvinced Major not to veto Johnson's candidacy, but Johnson could not find a constituency.He turned his attention to obtaining a seat in the House of Commons instead. After being rejected as Conservative candidate forHolborn and St. Pancras, he was selected the Conservative candidate","candidate forClwyd Southin north Wales, then aLabour Partysafe seat. Spending six weeks campaigning, he attained 9,091 votes (23 per cent) in the1997 general election, losing to Labour candidateMartyn Jones. Scandal erupted in June 1995 when a recording of a 1990 telephone conversation between Johnson and his friendDarius Guppywas made public.In it, Guppy said that his criminal activities involving insurance fraud were being investigated byNews of the Worldjournalist Stuart Collier, and he asked Johnson to provide him with Collier's private address, seeking to have the latter beaten. Johnson agreed, although he expressed concern that he would be associated with the attack.When the phone conversation was published, Johnson stated that ultimately he had not obliged Guppy's request. Hastings reprimanded Johnson but did not dismiss him. Johnson was given a regular column inThe Spectator, sister publication toThe Daily Telegraph, which attracted mixed reviews and was often thought rushed.In 1999, he was also","1999, he was also given a column reviewing new cars in the American men's monthly magazineGQ.The large number of parking fines that Johnson acquired while testing cars frustrated staff.AtThe Daily TelegraphandThe Spectator, he was consistently late delivering copy, forcing staff to stay late to accommodate him; some related that if they published without his work, he would shout at them with expletives. Johnson's April 1998 appearance on the BBC's satirical current affairs showHave I Got News for Youbrought him national fame.He was invited back on to later episodes, including as a guest presenter; for his 2003 appearance, Johnson was nominated for theBAFTA Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance.After these appearances, he came to be recognised on the street, and was invited to appear on other shows, such asTop Gear,Parkinson,Breakfast with Frost, andQuestion Time. The Spectatorand MP for Henley: 1999–2008 In July 1999, Conrad Black offered Johnson the editorship ofThe Spectatoron the condition","the condition he abandon his parliamentary aspirations; Johnson agreed.While retainingThe Spectator's traditional right-wing bent, Johnson welcomed contributions from leftist writers and cartoonists.Under Johnson's editorship, the magazine's circulation grew by 10% to 62,000 and it became profitable.His editorship also drew criticism; some opined that under himThe Spectatoravoided serious issues,while colleagues became annoyed that he was regularly absent from the office, meetings, and events.He gained a reputation as a poor political pundit because of incorrect political predictions.His father-in-lawCharles Wheelerand others strongly criticised him for allowingSpectatorcolumnistTaki Theodoracopulosto publish racist and antisemitic language. Journalist Charlotte Edwardes wrote inThe Timesin 2019 that Johnson had squeezed her thigh at a private lunch at theSpectatorin 1999 and that another woman had told her he had done the same to her. A spokesman denied the allegation. In 2004, Johnson published an","published an editorial inThe Spectatorafter the murder ofKen Bigleysuggesting that Liverpudlians were wallowing in their victim status and \"hooked on grief\" over theHillsborough disaster, which Johnson partly blamed on \"drunken fans\".In an appendix added to a later edition of his 2005 bookThe Dream of Rome,Tell MAMAand theMuslim Council of Britaincriticised Johnson for arguingIslamhas caused theMuslim worldto be \"literally centuries behind\" the West. Becoming an MP The selection of Boris Johnson ... confirms the Tory Party's increasing weakness for celebrity personalities over the dreary exigencies of politics. Johnson, for all his gifts, is unlikely to grace any future Tory cabinet. Indeed, he is not known for his excessive interest in serious policy matters, and it is hard to see him grubbing away at administrative detail as an obscure, hardworking junior minister for social security. To maintain his funny man reputation he will no doubt find himself refining hisBertie Woosterinterpretation to the point","to the point where the impersonation becomes the man. –Max Hastings,London Evening Standard, FollowingMichael Heseltine's retirement, Johnson decided to stand as Conservative candidate forHenley, a Conservative safe seat inOxfordshire.The local Conservative branch selected him although it was split over Johnson's candidacy. Some thought him amusing and charming while others disliked his flippant attitude and perceived lack of knowledge of the local area.Assisted by his television fame, Johnson won the seat in the2001 general election.Alongside his Islington home, Johnson bought a farmhouse outsideThamein his new constituency.He regularly attended Henley social events and occasionally wrote for theHenley Standard.His constituency surgeries proved popular, and he joined local campaigns to stop the closure ofTownlands Hospitaland the localair ambulance. In Parliament, Johnson was appointed to astanding committeeassessing theProceeds of Crime Bill, but missed many of its meetings.Despite his credentials as a","credentials as a public speaker, his speeches in the House of Commons were widely deemed lacklustre.He attended around half of Commons votes,usually supporting the Conservativeparty line.Infree votes, he demonstrated a more socially liberal attitude, supporting theGender Recognition Act 2004and the repeal ofSection 28.However, in 2001, Johnson had spoken out against plans to repeal Section 28, saying it was \"Labour's appalling agenda, encouraging the teaching of homosexuality in schools\".After initially stating he would not, hesupportedthe government's plans to join the United States in the2003 invasion of Iraq,and in April 2003 visited occupied Baghdad.In August 2004, he backed unsuccessfulimpeachment proceduresagainst Prime MinisterTony Blairfor \"high crimes and misdemeanours\" regarding the war,and in December 2006 described the invasion as \"a colossal mistake and misadventure\". Although labelling Johnson \"ineffably duplicitous\" for breaking his promise not to become an MP, Black decided not to dismiss him","not to dismiss him because he \"helped promote the magazine and raise its circulation\".Johnson remained editor ofThe Spectator, while also writing columns forThe Daily TelegraphandGQ, and making television appearances.His 2001 book,Friends, Voters, Countrymen: Jottings on the Stump, recounted that year's election campaign,while 2003'sLend Me Your Earscollected previously published columns and articles.In 2004,HarperCollinspublished his first novel:Seventy-Two Virgins: A Comedy of Errorsrevolved around the life of a Conservative MP and contained autobiographical elements.Responding to criticism that he was juggling too many jobs, he citedWinston ChurchillandBenjamin Disraelias exemplars who combined political and literary careers.To manage stress, he took up jogging and cycling,and became so well known for the latter that Gimson suggested he was \"perhaps the most famous cyclist in Britain\". FollowingWilliam Hague's resignation as Conservative leader, the party electedIain Duncan Smith.Johnson had a strained","had a strained relationship with Duncan Smith, andThe Spectatorbecame critical of his party leadership.Duncan Smith was succeeded byMichael Howardin November 2003; Howard deemed Johnson to be the most popular Conservative politician with the electorate and appointed him vice-chairman of the party, responsible for overseeing its electoral campaign.In his Shadow Cabinet reshuffle of May 2004, Howard appointed Johnson as shadow arts minister.In October, Howard ordered Johnson to apologise publicly inLiverpoolfor publishing aSpectatorarticle – anonymously written bySimon Heffer– which said the crowds at theHillsborough disasterhad contributed to the incident and that Liverpudlians had a predilection for reliance on thewelfare state. In November 2004, the tabloids revealed that since 2000 Johnson had been having an affair withSpectatorcolumnistPetronella Wyatt, resulting in two abortions.Johnson denied the allegations but they were subsequently proven to be true, and Howard dismissed him as vice-chairman and","vice-chairman and shadow arts minister when he refused to resign. Second term At the2005 general election, Johnson was re-elected MP for Henley.Labour won the election and Howard stood down as Conservative leader; Johnson backedDavid Cameronas his successor.After Cameron was elected, he appointed Johnson as the shadow higher education minister.Interested in streamlining university funding,Johnson supported Labour'sproposed top-up fees.He campaigned in 2006 to become theRector of the University of Edinburgh, but his support for top-up fees damaged his campaign, and he came third. In April 2006, theNews of the Worldalleged that Johnson was having an affair with journalist Anna Fazackerley; the pair did not comment, and shortly afterwards Johnson began employing Fazackerley.In September 2006, Papua New Guinea'sHigh Commissionprotested after he compared the Conservatives' frequently changing leadership tocannibalism in the country. In 2005,The Spectator's new chief executive,Andrew Neil, dismissed Johnson as","Johnson as editor.To make up for this loss of income, Johnson negotiated withThe Daily Telegraphto raise his salary from £200,000 to £250,000, averaging £5,000 per column.He presented apopular historytelevision show,The Dream of Rome, which was broadcast in January 2006; a book followed in February.A sequel,After Rome, focused on early Islamic history.In 2007, he earned £540,000, making him the third-highest-earning MP that year. Mayor of London (2008–2016) Mayoral election: 2007–2008 In September, Johnson was selected as the Conservative candidate forMayor of Londonafter a public London-wideprimary.Johnson's campaign focused on reducing youth crime, making public transport safer, and replacing thearticulated buseswith an updated version of theAEC Routemaster.Targeting the Conservative-leaning suburbs ofouter London, it capitalised on perceptions that the Labour Mayoralty had neglected them in favour ofinner London.His campaign emphasised his popularity, even among those who opposed his policies,with","his policies,with opponents complaining a common attitude among voters was: \"I'm voting for Boris because he is a laugh.\"The campaign of Labour incumbentKen Livingstoneportrayed Johnson as an out-of-touchtoffand bigot. In the election, Johnson received 43% and Livingstone 37% of first-preference votes; when second-preference votes were added, Johnson was victorious with 53% to Livingstone's 47%.Johnson subsequently announced his intention to stand down as MP for Henley. First term: 2008–2012 After Johnson became mayor, those in City Hall deemed too closely allied to Livingstone's administration had their employment terminated.Johnson appointedTim Parkeras his deputy mayor, but after Parker began taking increasing control at City Hall, Johnson dismissed him.Many in the Conservative Party initially distanced themselves from Johnson's administration, fearing it would be damaging for the2010 general election. During the campaign, Johnson had confided toBrian Paddickhe was unsure how he would maintain his","would maintain his lifestyle on the mayoral salary of £140,000 a year.He agreed to continue hisDaily Telegraphcolumn, thus earning a further £250,000 a year.His team believed this would cause controversy and made him promise to donate 20% of hisDaily Telegraphsalary to a charitable cause. Johnson resented this, and ultimately did not pay the full 20%.Controversy erupted when on theBBC'sHARDtalkhe referred to the £250,000 salary as \"chicken feed\"; this was at the time approximately 10 times the average yearly wage for a British worker. During his first administration, Johnson was embroiled in several personal scandals. After moving to a new house in Islington, he built a shed without obtainingplanning permission; after neighbours complained, he dismantled it.The press also accused him of having an affair with Helen Macintyre and of fathering her child, allegations that he did not deny.Johnson was accused of warningDamian Greenthat police were planning to arrest him; Johnson denied the claims.He was accused","was accused ofcronyism,in particular for appointingVeronica Wadleyas the chair of London'sArts Council.In theparliamentary expenses scandal, he was accused of excessive expenses claims for taxis.Johnson remained a popular figure in London with a strong celebrity status in the city. Policies Johnson made no major changes to the mayoral system of the previous administration.However, he did reverse several other measures implemented by Livingstone: ending the city's oil deal with Venezuela, abolishingThe Londonernewsletter, and scrapping the half-yearly inspections ofblack cabs, which was reinstated three years later.Abolishing the western wing of thecongestion chargingzone,he cancelled plans to increase the congestion charge forfour-wheel-drive vehicles.He was subsequently accused of failing to publish an independent report on air pollution commissioned by theGreater London Authority, which revealed the city breached legal limits onnitrogen dioxidelevels. Johnson retained Livingstone projects such","projects such asCrossrailand the2012 Olympic Games, but was accused of trying to take credit for them.He introduced a public bicycle scheme that had been mooted by Livingstone's administration; colloquially known as \"Boris Bikes\", the part privately financed system was a significant financial loss but proved popular.Despite Johnson's support of cycling, and his much-publicised identity as a cyclist, some cycling groups argued he had failed to make the city's roads safer for cyclists.As per his election pledge, he commissioned the development of theNew Routemasterbuses for central London.He also ordered the construction of acable car systemthat crossed theRiver Thamesbetween theGreenwich Peninsulaand theRoyal Docks. Johnson's first policy initiative was a ban on drinking alcohol on public transport.He announced plans to extend pay-as-you-goOyster cardsto national rail services in London.A pledge in Johnson's manifesto was to retain Tube ticket offices, in opposition to Livingstone's proposal to close up to","to close up to 40.On 2 July 2008, the Mayor's office announced the closure plan was to be abandoned.On 21 November 2013,Transport for Londonannounced that all London Underground ticket offices would close by 2015.In financing these projects, Johnson's administration borrowed £100 million,while public transport fares were increased by 50%. During his first term, Johnson was perceived as having moved leftward on certain issues, supporting theLondon Living Wageand endorsing an amnesty for illegal migrants.He tried placating critics who had deemed him a bigot by appearing atLondon's gay pride paradeand praising ethnic minority newspapers.Johnson broke from the traditional protocol of those in public office not publicly commenting on other nations' elections by endorsingBarack Obamafor the2008 United States presidential election. Relations with the police, finance, and the media Johnson appointed himself chair of theMetropolitan Police Authority(MPA), and in October 2008 successfully pushed for the resignation of","the resignation of Metropolitan Police CommissionerIan Blair, after Blair was criticised for allegedly handing contracts to friends and for his handling of thedeath of Jean Charles de Menezes.This earned Johnson respect among Conservatives, who interpreted it as his first act of strength.Johnson resigned as chairman of the MPA in January 2010,but throughout his mayoralty was highly supportive of the Metropolitan Police, particularly during the controversy surrounding thedeath of Ian Tomlinson.Overall crime in London fell during his administration, but his claim that serious youth crime had decreased proved to be false, and he acknowledged the error.He was criticised for his response to the2011 London riots. Johnson championed London's financial sector and denounced what he saw as \"banker bashing\" following thefinancial crisis of 2007–08,condemning theanti-capitalistOccupy Londonmovement that appeared in 2011.He collected donations from the city's wealthy for a charitable enterprise, the Mayor's Fund, which","Mayor's Fund, which he had established to aid disadvantaged youths. It initially announced the fund would raise £100 million, but by 2010 it had only earnt £1.5 million.He also maintained extensive personal contacts throughout the British media,which resulted in widespread favourable press coverage of his administration.In turn he remained largely supportive of his friends in the media, includingRupert Murdoch, during theNews International phone hacking scandal. The formation of the Forensic Audit Panel was announced on 8 May 2008. The panel was tasked with monitoring and investigating financial management at theLondon Development Agencyand theGreater London Authority.Johnson's announcement was criticised by Labour for the perceived politicisation of this nominally independent panel.The head of the panel,Patience Wheatcroft, was married to a Conservative councillorand three of the four remaining panel members also had close links to the Conservatives. Re-election campaign Up for re-election in 2012, Johnson","in 2012, Johnson again hired Crosby to orchestrate his campaign.Before the election, Johnson publishedJohnson's Life of London, a work of popular history that historianA. N. Wilsoncharacterised as a \"coded plea\" for votes.Polls suggested that while Livingstone's approach to transport was preferred, voters in London placed greater trust in Johnson on crime and the economy.Johnson's campaign emphasised the accusation that Livingstone was guilty oftax evasion, for which Livingstone called Johnson a \"bare-faced liar\".Political scientist Andrew Crines believed that Livingstone's campaign focused on criticising Johnson rather than presenting an alternate and progressive vision of London's future.Johnson wasre-elected. Second term: 2012–2016 After a successful bid under Livingstone in 2005, London hosted the2012 Summer Olympics, with Johnson as board co-chair.He improved transportation around London by making more tickets available and adding buses around the capital when thousands of spectators were temporary","were temporary visitors.Johnson was accused of covering up pollution ahead of the games by deploying dust suppressants to remove air particulates near monitoring stations.In November 2013, Johnson announced major changes to the operation of theLondon Underground, including the extension of operating hours. All staffed ticket offices were replaced with automated ticketing systems. Johnson was close friends with American entrepreneurand modelJennifer Arcuri, withThe Sunday Timesdescribing him as a regular visitor to her flat,and implying they were in a sexual relationship.Arcuri and her company, Innotech, were awarded substantial government grants, and Johnson intervened to allow her onto three trade mission trips.The Sunday Timessaid in September 2019 that Johnson failed to declare his personal relationship as a conflict of interest.The Greater London Authority referred the matter to theIndependent Office for Police Conduct(IOPC) \"so it can assess whether or not it is necessary to investigate the former mayor","the former mayor of London for the criminal offence of misconduct in public office\", for the Mayor is also London'spolice and crime commissioner.On 9 November 2019 it was revealed that the IOPC had decided to publish its report after the general election on 12 December.The IOPC eventually issued its report in May 2020, concluding that, although there was no basis for any criminal charge, there was evidence that the close relationship between Johnson and Arcuri had influenced decisions, that Johnson should have declared an interest, and that his failure to do this could have breached the London Assembly's code of conduct. In 2015, Johnson criticised then-presidential candidateDonald Trump's false comments that there wereno-go zones in Londoninaccessible for non-Muslims. Johnson said Trump was \"betraying a quite stupefying ignorance that makes him frankly unfit to hold the office of President of the United States\",becoming the first senior politician in the UK to declare Trump unfit for office, but rejecting","but rejecting calls for him to be banned from the country.In 2016, he said he was \"genuinely worried that could become president\", telling ITV'sTom Bradbythat being mistaken for Trump in New York was \"one of the worst moments\" of his life. Johnson did not run for a third mayoral and stepped down on 5 May 2016 followingthe election. AYouGovpoll commissioned at the end of Johnson's term revealed that 52% of Londoners believed he did a \"good job\" while 29% believed he did a \"bad job\". Return to Parliament Johnson initially said that he would not return to the House of Commons while mayor.After much media speculation, in August 2014 he sought selection as the Conservative candidate for thesafe seatofUxbridge and South Ruislipat the2015 general election.In the2015 general election, Johnson was elected. There was speculation that he had returned to Parliament because he wanted to replace Cameron as Conservative leader and prime minister. Brexit campaign: 2015–2016 In February 2016, Johnson endorsedVote Leavein","Leavein the \"Out\" campaign for the2016 European Union membership referendum.Following this announcement, which was interpreted by financial markets as making Brexit more probable, thepound sterlingslumped by nearly 2% against the US dollar, reaching its lowest level since March 2009. In April 2016, in response to a comment by PresidentBarack Obamathat Britain should remain in the European Union, Johnson wrote an \"ancestral dislike\" of Britain owing to his \"part-Kenyan\" background may have shaped Obama's views.Several politicians condemned his comments as racist and unacceptable.Conversely, former Conservative Party leaderIain Duncan SmithandUK Independence Party(UKIP) leaderNigel Faragedefended them. Johnson supported Vote Leave's statement that the government was committed toTurkish accession to the EU. Vote Leave was accused of implying that 80 million Turks would come to the UK if it stayed in the EU. When interviewed in January 2019, he said he had not mentioned Turkey during the campaign.On 22 June","campaign.On 22 June 2016, Johnson declared 23 June could be \"Britain's independence day\" in a televised debate. Following the victory of the \"Leave\" campaign, Cameron resigned. Johnson was widely regarded as the front-runner to succeed him.Johnson announced he would not stand in theConservative leadership election.Shortly before this, Michael Gove, hitherto a Johnson ally, concluded that Johnson \"cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead\".The Daily Telegraphcalled Gove's comments \"the most spectacular political assassination in a generation\".Johnson endorsedAndrea Leadsom's candidature, but she dropped out, leaving Theresa May to be elected uncontested. Foreign Secretary: 2016–2018 May appointed Johnsonforeign secretaryin July 2016.Analysts saw the appointment as a tactic to weaken Johnson politically: the new positions of \"Brexit secretary\" andinternational trade secretaryleft the foreign secretary as a figurehead.Johnson's appointment ensured he would often be out of the country","out of the country and unable to mobilise backbenchers against her, while forcing him to take responsibility for problems caused by withdrawing from the EU. Some journalists and foreign politicians criticised Johnson's appointment because of his controversial statements about other countries.His tenure attracted criticism from diplomats and foreign policy experts.A number of diplomats, FCO staff and foreign ministers who worked with Johnson compared his leadership unfavourably to previous foreign secretaries for his perceived lack of conviction or substantive positions on foreign policy issues.A senior official in Obama's government suggested Johnson's appointment would push the US further towardsGermanyat the expense of theSpecial Relationshipwith the UK.On one occasion Egyptian presidentAbdel Fattah el-Sisiwalked out of a meeting with Johnson after a meeting did not \"get beyond the pleasantries\". Johnson's visit to Turkey in September 2016 was somewhat tense because he had wonDouglas Murray's offensive","Murray's offensive poetry competition about the President of Turkey,Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, four months earlier.When questioned by a journalist whether he would apologise for the poem, Johnson dismissed the matter as \"trivia\".Johnson pledged to helpTurkey join the EUand expressed support for Erdogan's government.Johnson described theGülen movementas a \"cult\" and supportedTurkey's post-coup purges. Johnson supported theSaudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemenand refused to block UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia.In September 2016, human rights groups accused him of blocking the UN inquiry into Saudi war crimes in Yemen.Given the UK-Saudi alliance, in December 2016, he attracted attention for commenting the Saudis were akin to the Iranians in \"puppeteering and playingproxy wars\".In November 2017, Johnson told theForeign Affairs Select CommitteethatNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe– a British-Iranian citizen imprisoned in Iran after being arrested for training citizen journalists and bloggers in aBBC World Service","aBBC World Service Trustproject – had been \"simply teaching people journalism\". Facing criticism, Johnson stated he had been misquoted and that nothing he said had justified Zaghari-Ratcliffe's sentence.In May 2018, Johnson backedtheIran nuclear deal framework, despite Donald Trump's withdrawal. In April 2017, Johnson said thatGibraltar's sovereigntywas \"not going to change\" after Brexit.Johnson promised while inNorthern Irelandthat Brexit would leave the Irish border \"absolutely unchanged\".Johnson visitedAnguillaandTortolain September 2017 to confirm the UK's commitment to helping restoreBritish territoriesdevastated byHurricane Irma.In September 2017, he was criticised for reciting lines fromRudyard Kipling's poemMandalaywhile visiting aMyanmartemple; the British ambassador, who was with him, suggested it was \"not appropriate\".In October 2017, he faced criticism for stating the Libyan city ofSirtecould become an economic success likeDubai: \"all they have to do is clear the dead bodies away\". Initially","away\". Initially favouring a less hostile approach to Russia,Johnson soon backed a more aggressive policy.Following the March 2018poisoning of Sergei and Yulia SkripalinSalisbury, an act which the UK government blamed on Russia,Johnson comparedVladimir Putin's hosting of theWorld Cup in RussiatoAdolf Hitler's hosting of theOlympic Games in Berlinin 1936.Russia's Foreign Ministry denounced Johnson's \"unacceptable and unworthy\" parallel towards Russia, a \"nation thatlost millions of livesin fighting Nazism\".Johnson described theNord Stream 2gas pipeline from Russia to Germany as \"divisive\" and a \"threat\" that left Europe dependent on a \"malign Russia\" for itsenergy supplies. Johnson condemned thepersecutionofRohingya Muslimsin Myanmar,comparing the situation with thedisplacement of Palestiniansin 1948.Johnson supported theTurkish invasion of northern Syriaaimed at ousting theSyrian KurdsfromAfrin.He accused theUNHRCof focusing disproportionately on theIsraeli–Palestinian conflictand Israel'soccupationof","thePalestinian territories. In a September 2017 op-ed, Johnson reiterated the UK would regain control of £350m a week after Brexit, suggesting it go to theNational Health Service(NHS).Cabinet colleagues subsequently criticised him for reviving the assertion.Following the2017 general election, Johnson denied media reports he intended to challenge May's leadership.In a February 2018 letter to May, Johnson suggested that Northern Ireland may have to accept border controls after Brexit and that it would not seriously affect trade, having initially said a hard border would be unthinkable.In June, he was reported as having said \"fuck business\" when asked about corporate concerns regarding a 'hard' Brexit. Secret recordings obtained byBuzzFeed Newsin June 2018 revealed Johnson's dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Theresa May's negotiating style, accusing her of being too collaborative with the European Union in Brexit negotiations. Comparing May's approach to that of the US president Donald Trump – who at the time","– who at the time was engaged in a combative trade war with the EU because it raised tariffs on metal – Johnson said: \"Imagine Trump doing Brexit. He'd go in bloody hard ... There'd be all sorts of breakdowns, all sorts of chaos. Everyone would think he'd gone mad. But actually you might get somewhere.\" He accused individuals of scaremongering over a Brexit \"meltdown\", saying \"No panic.Pro bono publico, no bloody panic. It's going to be all right in the end.\" In April 2018, Johnson travelled to Italy to attend a party at thePalazzo Terranova, owned by the formerKGBagentAlexander Lebedevand hosted by his sonEvgeny. He travelled without security protection or other officials,and did not document the trip, which led to accusations of Johnson having misled parliament.In June 2023, it was revealed that Lord Simon McDonald, the most senior civil servant of his department, was not aware of the trip. Johnson stated that \"no government business was discussed\" at the event as far as he was aware.Lebedev's villa was","villa was monitored by the Italian secret service at the time, who, according to aChannel 4documentary, suspected it to be used for espionage activities.Johnson granted a peerage toEvgenyin 2020, against the advice of theMI6, and met with criticism over potential security concerns. In July 2018, three days after thecabinethad its meeting to agree on aBrexit strategy,Johnson, along with Brexit secretaryDavid Davis,resigned his post. Return to the backbenches: 2018–2019 Johnson returned to the role of abackbench MP. In July, he delivered a resignation speech, stating \"it is not too late to save Brexit\".In January 2019, Johnson came under criticism for remarks he had made during the 2016 Leave campaign regarding the prospect of Turkish accession to the European Union; he denied making such remarks.In March 2019, he was criticized for saying that expenditure on investigating historic allegations of child abuse was money \"spaffed up the wall\". Journalism In July 2018, Johnson signed a 12‑month contract to write","contract to write articles for theTelegraph Media Group.TheAdvisory Committee on Business Appointments(ACOBA) reported that this was a breach of theMinisterial Code.Johnson was ordered to apologise for failing to declare £50,000 of earnings. TheParliamentary Commissioner for Standardsfound the errors were not inadvertent, and that Johnson had failed on nine occasions to make declarations within the rules. In September 2018, Johnson wrote: \"We have opened ourselves to perpetual political blackmail. We have wrapped a suicide vest around the British constitution – and handed the detonator toMichel Barnier.\" Senior Tories heavily criticised him, withAlan Duncanof the Foreign Office vowing to ensure the comments marked \"the political end of Boris Johnson\".In April 2019, theIndependent Press Standards Organisationruled that a claim in a 6 January 2019 article inThe Daily Telegraph, \"The British people won't be scared into backing a woeful Brexit deal nobody voted for\", authored by Johnson,that a no-dealBrexitwas","a no-dealBrexitwas \"by some margin preferred by the British public\" was false, and \"represented a failure to take care over the accuracy of the article in breach of Clause 1 (i)\" of its guidelines, and required that a correction be published. 2019 Conservative Party leadership election On 12 June 2019, Johnson launched his campaign for theConservative Party leadership election, saying, \"we must leave the EU on 31 October.\"On the campaign trail, Johnson warned of \"catastrophic consequences for voter trust in politics\" if the government pushed the EU for further delays. He advocated removing thebackstopfrom any Brexit deal. On 25 and 26 August, he announced plans to retain £7 or £9 billion of the £39 billion divorce payment the UK is due to transfer to the EU upon withdrawal.Johnson initially pledged to cut income tax for earners of more than £50,000 but backed away from this plan in June 2019 after coming under criticism in a televisedBBCdebate. Johnson was elected leader with 92,153 votes (66%) to Hunt's","(66%) to Hunt's 46,656 (34%). Premiership (2019–2022) First term (July–December 2019) On 24 July 2019, the day following Johnson's election as Conservative Party leader, QueenElizabeth IIacceptedTheresa May's resignation and appointed Johnson as prime minister. This made Johnson the first prime minister to be born outsideBritish territories.Johnson appointedDominic Cummingsas his senior advisor. Brexit policy In hisfirst speech as PM, Johnson said that the United Kingdom would leave the European Union on 31 October 2019 with orwithout a deal, and promised to remove theIrish backstopfrom the withdrawal agreement.Johnson declared his intention tore-open negotiations, but talks did not immediately resume as the EU refused to accept Johnson's condition that the backstop be removed.On 28 August 2019, UK and EU negotiators agreed to resume regular meetings. Also on 28 August 2019, Johnson declared he had asked the Queen toprorogue Parliamentfrom 10 September, reducing the time in which Parliament could block a","could block a no-deal Brexit and causing apolitical controversy.The Queen atPrivy Councilapproved prorogation later the same day, and it began on 10 September, scheduled to last until 14 October.Some suggestedthat this prorogation amounted to aself-coup, and on 31 August 2019, protests occurred throughout the United Kingdom.By 2 September 2019, three separate court cases challenging Johnson's action were in progress or scheduled to take place,and on 11 September, three Scottish judges ruled the prorogation of the UK Parliament to be unlawful.On 12 September, Johnson denied lying to the Queen over suspension of the Parliament, while a Belfast Court rejected claims that his Brexit plans would have a negative impact on Northern Ireland's peace policy.On 24 September, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Johnson's advice to prorogue Parliament was unlawful, and therefore the prorogation was rendered null. When Parliament resumed on 3 September 2019, Johnson indicated he would call a general election under","election under theFixed-term Parliaments Actafter opposition and rebel Conservative MPs successfully voted against the government to take control of the order of business to prevent a no-deal exit.Despite government opposition, theBenn Act, a bill to block a no-deal exit, passed the Commons on 4 September 2019, causing Johnson to propose a general election on 15 October.His motion was unsuccessful as it failed to command the support of two-thirds of the House. In October 2019, following bilateral talks between Johnson andTaoiseachLeo Varadkar,the UK and EU agreed to arevised deal, whichreplaced the backstopwith a newNorthern Ireland Protocol. First Cabinet JohnsonappointedhisCabineton 24 July 2019,dismissing 11 senior ministers and accepting the resignation of six others.The mass dismissal was the most extensive postwar Cabinet reorganisation without a change in the ruling party. Among other appointments, Johnson madeDominic RaabtheFirst Secretary of Stateand foreign secretary and appointedSajid","and appointedSajid JavidandPriti Patelas theChancellor of the ExchequerandHome Secretary, respectively. Loss of working majority On 3 September 2019,Phillip Leecrossed the floorto theLiberal Democratsfollowing a disagreement with Johnson'sBrexitpolicy. This left the government without aworking majorityin the House of Commons.Later that day,21 Conservative MPshad the partywhipwithdrawn for defying party orders and supporting an opposition motion.(The whip was restored to 10 former Conservative ministers on 29 October.) On 5 September 2019, Johnson's brotherJo Johnsonresigned from the government and announced that he would step down as MP, describing his position as \"torn between family and national interest\".Two days later,Amber Ruddresigned asSecretary of State for Work and Pensionsand from the Conservative Party, describing the withdrawal of the party whip as an \"assault on decency and democracy\". 2019 general election In October 2019, Parliament was dissolved, and an election called for 12 December. The","12 December. The election resulted in the Conservative Party winning 43.6% of the vote and a parliamentary landslide majority of 80 seats.A key slogan used in the Conservative campaign was \"Get Brexit Done\". Second term (December 2019 – September 2022) Second Cabinet Johnsonreshuffled his cabinetin February 2020.Five Cabinet ministers were sacked, including theNorthern Ireland secretaryJulian Smith, a decision that was criticised by several politicians and commentators following his success in restoring theNorthern Ireland Executivedevolved government.Chancellor of the ExchequerSajid Javidresigned from the Cabinet and was replaced byRishi Sunak; Javid later returned to Johnson's Cabinet asSecretary of State for Health and Social Carein June 2021 following the resignation ofMatt Hancock. Johnson reshuffled his cabinet again in September 2021. Changes included the dismissal ofEducation SecretaryGavin Williamsonwho had received significant criticism for his handling of disruption to education during the","during the COVID-19 pandemic.Dominic Raabwas moved from foreign secretary todeputy prime ministerandjustice secretary. Raab was replaced as foreign secretary byLiz Truss. COVID-19 pandemic TheCOVID-19 pandemicemerged as a serious crisis within the first few months of Johnson's second term.Johnson's non-attendance of fiveCOBRbriefings during the early months and the failure of the UK government to prepare for and control the outbreak has been criticised.The UK was among the last majorEuropean states to close schools, ban public events and order alockdown.This response is thought by some scientists to have contributed to the UK's high death toll from COVID-19, which as of January 2021was among the highest in the world. Reutersreported that scientists were critical of Johnson both for acting too slowly to stop the spread of COVID-19 and for mishandling the government's response;PoliticoquotedChief Medical OfficerChris Whittyas saying that an earlier initial lockdown would have significantly lowered the death","lowered the death toll.TheBMJpublished several editorials critical of the policies adopted during the country's public health response.Johnson's public communication over the virus and the UK's test and trace system were also criticised. On 3 March 2020, Johnson claimed to have shaken hands with COVID-19 patients in hospital on the same day thatSAGEhad advised the government to warn the public not to shake hands and minimise physical contact,though it was unclear whether the hospital he visited actually contained any coronavirus patients.He continued to shake hands publicly in the following days.On 23 March, aCOVID-19 lockdownwas imposed throughout the UK, except for a few limited purposes, backed up bynew legal powers. On 27 March, it was announced that Johnson had tested positive forCOVID-19.On 5 April, he was admitted to a hospital.The next day, he was moved to the hospital's intensive care unit.Johnson left intensive care on 9 April,and left hospital three days later to recuperate atChequers.After a","atChequers.After a fortnight at Chequers, he returned to Downing Street on 26 April.Johnson later said that he had been givenemergency oxygenwhile in intensive care, and that doctors had made preparations in case he died. Ascandalin May 2020 involved Johnson's chief political advisorDominic Cummings, who made a trip with his family toDurhamduring the March 2020 lockdown while experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. Both Cummings and Johnson rejected widespread calls that Cummings resign.Johnson's defence of Cummings and his refusal to sack him caused a widespread backlash.This resulted in a loss of confidence in the government and specifically its response to the pandemic, referred to as 'the Cummings effect' inThe Lancet. Concerns were raised in the study that this could affect the public's compliance with pandemic restrictions. The Johnson ministry wasaccused of cronyism in their assignment of contractsrelated to the pandemic response. Procurement of government contracts for key COVID-19 supplies became less","became less transparent as a result of emergency measures bypassing the usual competitive tendering process.In October 2020, Johnson conceded that the UK'stest and tracesystem and its specially developedcontact tracing app, which had been criticised for their cost and operational issues, had caused \"frustrations\". Johnson reportedly resisted calls from SAGE and within the government to enact a second lockdown throughout September as COVID-19 infections rose.In April 2021, Johnson denied allegations he had said he would rather \"let the bodies pile high in their thousands\" on 30 October 2020.The government enacted a second national lockdown on 31 October.Throughout December 2020, COVID-19 cases across the UK rose significantly, straining emergency services and hospitals.In response, the government enacted further restrictions to large parts of southern and eastern England and on 21 December shortened a planned household mixing period over Christmas. Britain beganits COVID-19 vaccination programmein December","December 2020.Half of UK adults had received at least their first vaccine dose by 20 March 2021.A third lockdown for the whole of England was introduced on 6 January 2021.Record numbers of infections and daily deaths were recorded in the UK throughout January, and the government began exploring quarantine procedures on arrival.Johnson said he was \"deeply sorry\" and \"take full responsibility\" as the UK passed 100,000 deaths from COVID-19, the first European country to do so, on 26 January. In July 2021, Johnson announced that most generalised public health restrictions in England would be lifted and replaced by recommendations. This took place despite an increase in cases driven by theDelta variant.In September 2021, Johnson was pictured in a cabinet meeting, with \"at least 30 people crammed shoulder-to-shoulder\", without anyone wearing masks and with all windows apparently closed, contradicting government advice.Johnson was also photographed without a face mask during a visit to a hospital in November. In","in November. In December 2021, more stringent \"Plan B\" restrictions for England were put forward, a partial renewal of previous measures due to the increased incidence of theSARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. These proposals included face coverings to be required in more public settings, guidance towork from homewherever possible, and requirements ofCOVID-19 passportsto enter certain venues.The government experienced the largest rebellion of Conservative MPs during Johnson's premiership, in opposition to these measures. Immigration In 2019, Johnson promised to reduce net migration to the United Kingdom (the number of people immigrating minus the number emigrating) below 250,000 per year by the next election.In 2021, net migration to the UK was 488,000,up from 184,000 in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.Most of the migrants came from non-EU countries. As a result of Brexit, more EU nationals left the UK than arrived. In 2021, Johnson's government launched ascheme for Hongkongersfollowing theHong Kong national","Kong national security law, with more than 200,000 Hong Kong residents immigrating to the UK. Long-term net migration to the UK reached a record high of 764,000 in 2022,with immigration at 1.26 million and emigration at 493,000. Legislative agenda At theState Opening of Parliament on 11 May 2021, a range of proposed laws were announced, including theDissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill, which would restore theroyal prerogativeto dissolve Parliament; aHigher Education (Freedom of Speech) Billto combatdeplatformingat universities;anOnline Safety Billthat would impose a statutoryduty of careon online companies and empowerOfcomto block particular websites;and anAnimal Welfare (Sentience) Billthat would legally recognise animal sentience. Further laws would introducemandatory voter identificationat general elections, reform the national immigration system, and implement alevelling up policyto reduce imbalances between areas. 2021 Downing Street refurbishment controversy In April 2021, Cummings alleged that","alleged that Johnson had arranged for donors to \"secretly pay\" for renovations on the private residence at 11 Downing Street.On 27 April Johnson asked the Cabinet Secretary,Simon Case, to hold a review about the refurbishment.On 28 April, theElectoral Commissionannounced it had opened a formal investigation.On the same day Johnson said that he had not broken any laws over the refurbishment and had met the requirements he was obliged to meet.DuringPrime Minister's Questions, the leader of the opposition,Keir Starmer, asked: \"Whoinitiallypaid for the redecoration of his Downing Street flat?\"; Johnson responded: \"I paid for Downing Street's refurbishment personally.\" On 28 MayLord Geidtpublished a report on the allegations which concluded that Johnson did not breach the Ministerial Code and that no conflict, or reasonably perceived conflict, of interest arose. However, Lord Geidt expressed that it was \"unwise\" for Johnson to have proceeded without \"more rigorous regard for how this would be funded\".The","be funded\".The Electoral Commission reported on 9 December that it found that the Conservative Party had failed to follow the law in not accurately reporting donations to the party from Lord Brownlow and imposed a £17,800 fine on the party.The Heraldsaid the commission's report outlined how, in March, all the money paid by Brownlow and his company had been reimbursed, as had the payments made by the Conservative Party and Cabinet Office.Downing Street had said at the time that the full cost of the works had been met personally by the prime minister. Owen Paterson controversy In November 2021, Johnson backed a motion to block the suspension ofOwen Paterson, a Conservative MP found to have abused his position by theindependent standards commissionerafter undertaking paid lobbying.The motion called for the creation of a new Conservative-majority committee to examine reforms of the standards investigation process.Many Conservative MPs refused to support the motion, and 13 defied athree-line whipto vote against","whipto vote against it.Following the announcement by opposition parties that they would boycott the new committee, and faced with a backlash in the media and from MPs of all parties, the government announced that a new vote would take place on whether Paterson should be suspended.Paterson announced his resignation as an MP the same day.Aby-electionin Paterson's former constituency ofNorth Shropshiresaw theLiberal Democratcandidate,Helen Morgan, overturn a Conservative majority of nearly 23,000,theseventh largest swing in United Kingdom by-election history. Partygate scandal In December 2021, reports emerged thatsocial gatherings of government and Conservative Party staffin Downing Street had taken place ahead of Christmas 2020 against COVID-19 regulations. Johnson denied these allegations.Following a leaked video showing Downing Street staff joking about a \"fictional party\", at a press conference rehearsal recorded days after one alleged party took place, Johnson apologised for the contents of the video and","of the video and suggested he had been misled but had now ordered an inquiry. On 10 January 2022,ITV Newsreported that a planned party had taken place on 20 May 2020, during the first lockdown. ITV had obtained an email sent by principal private secretaryMartin Reynoldsto staff inviting them to \"socially distanced drinks\" in the garden of No. 10.At the time, people outdoors were not allowed to meet more than one person from outside their household.Two eyewitnesses later alleged that Johnson and Symonds attended, contradicting Johnson's insistence in December 2021 that there were \"no parties\". On 12 January 2022, Johnson apologised to MPs in the Commons for \"attending an event in the Downing Street garden during the first lockdown\",stating he believed it was \"a work event\".He said that MPs should await the outcome of the independent inquiry, led by senior civil servantSue Gray, which he said \"will report as soon as possible\".There were calls across the House for Johnson to resign. On 19 January,Bury","On 19 January,Bury SouthMPChristian Wakeforddefected from the Conservative Party to the Labour Party.Conservative former ministerDavid Daviscalled for Johnson to resign, quotingLeo Amerycalling onNeville Chamberlainto resign during theNorway Debatein 1940, and saying: \"You have sat there too long for all the good you have done. In the name of God, go.\" On 25 January, theMetropolitan Police's chief commander,Cressida Dick, announced that they were commencing investigations into the Downing Street Parties.An abbreviated version of theSue Gray reportinto the controversy was released on 31 January, where Gray concluded there was a \"failure of leadership\" over the events that she had examined. The release of the full report was delayed pending the Metropolitan Police's investigation. In April 2022, Johnson was issued afixed penalty noticeas police determined that he committed a criminal offence by breaching the COVID-19 lockdown regulations.Johnson therefore became the first prime minister in British history to","British history to have been sanctioned for breaking the law while in office. According to Downing Street insiders, Johnson was involved in instigating a party on the occasion ofLee Cainleaving Number 10. What had begun as press office drinks became a party after Johnson arrived, gave a speech and poured drinks for staff.Labour's deputy leader,Angela Raynersaid, \"If the latest reports are true, it would mean that not only did the prime minister attend parties, but he had a hand in instigating at least one of them. He has deliberately misled the British people at every turn. The prime minister has demeaned his office.\"On 21 April, MPs voted to refer Johnson to theParliamentary Privileges Committeeto investigate whether he knowingly misled Parliament.Steve Bakersaid Johnson's \"marvellous contrition... only lasted as long as it took to get out of the headmaster's study\". Following theMay 2022 local elections, many leading Conservatives in areas where the Conservatives had done badly blamed Johnson and calling","Johnson and calling on Johnson to resign.On 6 June,Graham Bradyannounced that the threshold for a vote on Johnson's leadership had been passed; the vote was scheduled for later that same day. On 3 March 2023, an interim report from theCommons Select Committee of Privilegessaid there was evidence that \"strongly suggests\" breaches of coronavirus regulations would have been \"obvious\" to Johnson.The report also said \"There is evidence that those who were advising Mr Johnson about what to say to the press and in the House were themselves struggling to contend that some gatherings were within the rules\".Johnson said none of the evidence showed he \"knowingly\" misled Parliament.The report stated that the Commons may have been misled on multiple occasions and Johnson \"did not correct the statements earliest opportunity\".The committee also stated that Johnson had \"personal knowledge\" over lockdown gatherings in No 10, which he could have disclosed. Starmer slur controversy While speaking in the House of Commons in","House of Commons in January 2022, Johnson falsely blamed Starmer for the non-prosecution of the serial sex offenderJimmy Savilewhen Starmer wasDirector of Public Prosecutionsin theCrown Prosecution Service. Starmer was DPP in the years immediately prior to Savile's death but there is no evidence he was involved in the decision to not have him prosecuted.A few days later, Johnson defended his comments but conceded that Starmer \"had nothing to do personally with those decisions\" by the CPS not to investigate Savile. Vote of confidence In the week prior to and throughout thePlatinum Jubilee of Elizabeth IIin June 2022, it had been speculated that a vote of confidence in Johnson's leadership of the Conservative Party might soon occur.On 6 June 2022, the Conservative Party announced that Johnson would face a vote of confidence in his leadership of the party, after at least 54 Conservative MPs wrote no-confidence letters to SirGraham Brady, the chairman of the1922 Committee. Johnson won the vote, with 211 in","vote, with 211 in favour and 148 against.The number of rebel MPs was larger than had been expected.The result was described by Keir Starmer as the \"beginning of the end\" for Johnson's premiership. June 2022 by-elections Following heavy Conservative defeats in the 23 June 2022 by-elections inWakefieldandTiverton and Honiton, former party leader Michael Howard called for Johnson to resign, saying: \" biggest asset has always been his ability to win votes but I'm afraid yesterday's results make it clear that he no longer has that ability.\" Oliver Dowden, the Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party, resigned saying: \"somebody must take responsibility\".Johnson announced that he had no intention of changing or resigning; senior Conservatives accused him of increasingly \"delusional\" behaviour.On 26 June 2022 Johnson said: \"At the moment I'm thinking actively about the third term and what could happen then, but I will review that when I get to it.\" He also claimed that he intended to stay as prime minister until the","minister until the mid-2030s, although Number 10 later said that he had been joking. Pincher scandal Government Deputy Chief WhipChris Pincherresigned on 30 June 2022, saying he had \"drunk far too much\" the night before at theCarlton ClubinSt James's, London, and having \"embarrassed myself and other people\".It was later alleged that he sexually assaulted two men,and he was suspended as an MP.On 3 July 2022 six new allegations against Pincher emerged, involving behaviour over a decade. Johnson allegedly referred to Pincher as \"handsy\" and Cummings said Johnson joked about him being \"Pincher by name, pincher by nature\" in 2020, leading to calls for Johnson to explain how much he knew about Pincher's behaviour.Ministers initially said that Johnson was unaware of any specific complaints against Pincher when he was appointed as deputy chief whip. The BBC then reported, however, that an official complaint and subsequent investigation into Pincher, while he was at the Foreign Office (July 2019 to February 2020),","to February 2020), had confirmed his misconduct, and that Johnson had been made aware at that time.SirSimon McDonald, formerPermanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, later said that the prime minister had been briefed \"in person\" about Pincher. Mass resignations On 5 July 2022, Sunak and Javid resigned within minutes of each other,followed over the next 24 hours by 11 other ministers, as well as Conservative MPs fromparliamentary private secretaryand other Government positions;otherbackbenchersalso withdrew their support for Johnson. Many of the MPs stated that the Pincher affair had led them to change their minds on the suitability of Johnson to be prime minister.It was reported on 6 July that Johnson could face another confidence vote, with members of the 1922 Committee considering changing the rules as soon as that evening to allow this to happen.By 6 July, there had been a total of 31 resignations.As of May 2022, the government comprised 122 ministers. Announcement of resignation By the","resignation By the morning of 7 July, the newly installedChancellor of the Exchequer,Nadhim Zahawi, publicly stated his belief that Johnson should resign. Within hours, the BBC and other media reported Johnson's intention to resign. Johnson announced his resignation at 12.30 pm. I know that there will be many who are relieved, but perhaps quite a few who will be disappointed. And I want you to know how sad I am to give up the best job in the world - but them's the breaks. Upon reports of his resignation, thepound sterlingtemporarily strengthened in value, and UK stocks rose.He remained as prime minister until September, while the Conservative Party chose a new leader.On 5 September 2022, it was announced thatLiz Trusshad won theConservative leadership election. She became prime minister the next day.During his farewell speech outside 10 Downing Street on 6 September 2022 Johnson referred to the Roman statesmanCincinnatus. Some commentators noted that, while, as Johnson said, Cincinnatus returned to his","returned to his plough, he was also later recalled to power. Environmental policies In November 2020, Johnson announced a 10-point plan for a \"green industrial revolution\", to include ending the sale of petrol anddieselcars and vans by 2030,quadrupling the amount ofoffshore wind powercapacity within a decade, funding emissions-cutting proposals, and spurning a proposedgreen post-COVID-19 recovery.In 2021, the Johnson government announced plans to cutcarbon emissionsby 78% by 2035. Johnson announced that the UK would join the Global Methane Pledge to cutmethane emissionsby 30% by 2030 at theCOP26summit, which the UK hosted.Before the summit, representatives ofGreenpeaceandFriends of the Earthcriticised Johnson's comments on plans to introduce \"enforceable limits\" on carbon emissions for other countries, which they accused of being unsubstantive,and his government faced criticism from environmental groups for cutting taxes on domestic air travel, given theenvironmental impact of aviation. In April 2022,","In April 2022, Johnson announced that eight morenuclear reactorswould be built on existingnuclear power plantsites and called for an expansion in wind energy.Under these plans, up to 95% of the UK's electricity could come fromlow-carbon powersources by 2030. Foreign policy Johnson supported theEuropean Union–Mercosur Free Trade Agreement,which would form one of the world's largest free trade areas.Johnson's government placed importance on the \"Special Relationship\" with theUnited States.In 2022, his government introduced anasylum dealwhereby people entering the UK illegally would be sent toRwanda. Hong Kong and China Johnson said in July 2019 that his government would be very \"pro-China\" in an interview with the Hong Kong broadcasterPhoenix TV. He voiced support for Chinese presidentXi Jinping's infrastructure investment effort, theBelt and Road Initiative, and promised to keep the United Kingdom \"the most open economy in Europe\" forChinese investment. In June 2020, Johnson announced that if China were to","if China were to continue pursuing theHong Kong national security law, the UK would offer 350,000Hong Kong residentswho areBritish National (Overseas) passportholders, and 2.6 million other eligible individuals, the chance to move to the UK.China accused the UK of interfering in its internal affairs. Johnson declined to describe the Chinese government'streatment of the Uyghur peopleas \"genocide\", despite use of the term by the United States.Johnson's government argued that genocide should be decided by the International Criminal Court.Nevertheless, he called what is happening to theUyghursin Xinjiang as \"utterly abhorrent\". The UK joined theAUKUSdefence pact with the United States and Australia in September 2021. The pact was denounced by Chinaand caused a French backlash, as it usurped existingplans for Australia to procure French submarines. Afghanistan On 8 July 2021, the day after saying he was \"apprehensive\" about the future of Afghanistan following what was then theimpending withdrawal of US troops,","of US troops, while announcing the near completion of British troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, Johnson expressed the view that there was \"no military path to victory for theTaliban\".Following thefall of Kabul to the Taliban, he blamed the United States for the crisis,saying thatNATOalliance members \"could not continue this US-led mission, a mission conceived and executed in support of America, without American logistics, without US air power and without American might\". UK–EU trade negotiation Following the formalwithdrawal from the European Unionin January 2020, Johnson's government enteredtrade negotiations with the EU.Fisheries was a major topicof the negotiations.On 16 October 2020 Johnson said that the UK \"must get ready\" for no trade deal with the EU.It was announced on 24 December 2020that theEU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreementhad been reached; it came into force formally on 1 May. Afisheries dispute between the UK and Franceoccurred shortly afterwards. Introduction of new UK border checks were","border checks were delayed until 2022 to minimise the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2022, Johnson readied a draft that would unilaterally change parts of theNorthern Ireland Protocol, citing issues with medical supplies and cuts in VAT. One of the thornier points of contention involves safety regulations for food and plants, where the British government is opposed to a closer alignment with existing EU regulations. The EU rebuffed the idea of changing the text of the treaty to accommodate the British. A unilateral override by the UK would be tantamount to a breach of the agreement. As Johnson sought a more conciliatory tone, sources within the government began to stress that the draft is designed to be an \"insurance policy\" and would take years to become law. Russia and Ukraine In November 2021, Johnson warned that the European Union faces \"a choice\" between \"sticking up for Ukraine\" and approving theNord Stream 2natural gas pipeline from Russia to Europe. During theprelude to the","theprelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Johnson's government warned the Russian Government not to invadeDonbas.Johnson andVladimir Putinagreed in a phone call to work towards a \"peaceful resolution\".On 1 February 2022, Johnson arrived inKyivon a diplomatic visit.He called the presence of theRussian Armed Forcesnear theRussia–Ukraine border\"the biggest security crisis that Europe has faced for decades\".The Kremlin denied that it wanted to attack Ukraine.On 20 February 2022, Johnson warned that Russia is planning the \"biggest war in Europe since1945\" as Putin intends to invade and encircle Kyiv.On 21 February 2022, Johnson condemnedRussia's diplomatic recognitionof twoself-proclaimedrepublics in Donbas. On 24 February 2022, Johnson condemned theRussian invasion of Ukraine, and ensured the UK joined ininternational sanctionson Russian banks andoligarchs.He later announced the UK would phase outRussian oilby the end of 2022. On 9 April 2022, Johnson travelled to Kyiv and met thePresident of","met thePresident of Ukraine,Volodymyr Zelenskyy.On 16 April 2022, Russia'sMinistry for Foreign Affairsbanned Johnson and a number of senior British politicians from visiting Russia, saying that Britain aimed to isolate Russia politically and supply \"the Kyiv regime with lethal weapons and coordinating similar efforts on the part of NATO\". Within Ukraine, Johnson is praised by many as a supporter of anti-Russian sanctions andmilitary aid for Ukraine.On 3 May, Johnsonvirtually addressedtheUkrainian Parliament, becoming the first world leader to speak in Ukraine since the invasion. He pledged an extra £300m in military aid to Ukraine, praised Ukraine's resistance to Russia as its \"finest hour\" and said that the West had been \"too slow to grasp what was actually happening\" prior to Russia's invasion.In July 2022, Johnson warned that it would be a mistake to cease fire andfreeze the conflict.In August 2022, Johnson blamed Vladimir Putin for the emergingglobal energy crisis. Post-premiership (2022–present) After","After stepping down, Johnson reverted to being a backbench MP.Following thedeath of Queen Elizabeth II, Johnson took part inCharles III'sAccession Council. AfterLiz Trussannounced her resignation as Conservative Party leader on 20 October 2022, Johnson received more than the 100 MPs' nominations required to stand in theleadership election,but soon announced that he would not stand. In May 2023, Johnson was referred to the police by the Cabinet Office regarding previously unknown potential breaches of COVID regulations between June 2020 and May 2021,to which Johnson's office issued a statement criticising the \"unfounded suggestions\" which \"has all the hallmarks of yet another politically motivated stitch-up\". On 9 June 2023, the publication of his2022 Prime Minister's Resignation Honoursled to a public feud with Sunak.Johnson supporterNadine Dorriesannounced that she was resigning as an MP due to not being included as a peer on the honours list.The same day, after receiving a confidential report from a","report from a committee of theHouse of Commonsthat was looking into whether he had lied to Parliament over lockdown-breaking parties, Johnson announced his resignation as MP.His resignation statement said he is \"not alone in thinking that there is a witch-hunt under way, to take revenge for Brexit and ultimately to reverse the 2016 referendum result\". On 15 June, the Commons Privileges Committee published their report, which concluded that Johnson lied to and deliberately misled the House of Commons over Partygate, misled the Committee themselves during the hearing, and acted in contempt of the Committee itself through a \"campaign of abuse and intimidation\".The report noted that had Johnson still been an MP, the Committee would have recommended he be suspended from Parliament for 90 days.The contents of the report represented a recommendation to the House of Commons,which accepted the report by 354 votes to seven. On 16 June, Johnson was unveiled as a new columnist for theDaily Mail. The news websitePolitico","websitePolitico Europereported that Johnson would be paid a \"very-high six-figure sum\".Johnson reportedly informed theAdvisory Committee on Business Appointmentshalf an hour before the columnist assignment was publicly announced. The committee ruled that Johnson committed a \"clear breach\" of the rules since he had not sought its advice on the matter within an appropriate timeframe. In October 2023, Johnson announced he would join the television channelGB Newsas a commentator and programme maker for thenext general electionandUS presidential election. Johnson condemnedHamas' attackon Israel, saying \"there can be no moral equivalence between the terrorism of Hamas and the actions of the Israeli Defense Forces\". He rejected calls for a ceasefire in theGaza Stripduring theIsrael–Hamas war, and criticisedpro-Palestinian protests in the UK.On 5 November 2023, Johnson visited Israel to express solidarity. In February 2024, Johnson had a private meeting with the president of Venezuela,Nicolás Maduro.In March","Maduro.In March 2024,The Timesreported that Johnson is expected to campaign for the Conservatives in the next General Election. On 2 May 2024 Johnson was turned away from his polling station for theThames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner, after forgetting to bringvalid photographic identification, a requirement of theElections Act, which Johnson introduced while in office. When he arrived he had nothing to prove his identity except the sleeve of his copy ofProspectmagazine, on which his name and address had been printed. He said that when he returned a few minutes later, with hisdriving licence, he was then able to vote.During the2024 general election, Johnson campaigned for the Conservatives, who lost the election in a landslide to Labour. Johnson's memoirsUnleashedare scheduled to be released in October 2024. Political positions and ideology free-market, tolerant, broadly libertarian (though perhaps not ultra-libertarian), inclined to see the merit of traditions, anti-regulation, pro-immigrant,","pro-immigrant, pro-standing on your own two feet, pro-alcohol, pro-hunting, pro-motorist and ready to defend to the death the right ofGlenn Hoddle to believe in reincarnation. — Boris Johnson, 2011 Ideologically, Johnson has been described as a \"One-Nation Tory\".Political scientists have described Johnson's political positions as ambiguous and contradictory, encompassingnativist, authoritarian andfree markettendencies on the one hand, and one-nationliberal conservatismon the other.Some scholars have questioned Johnson's commitment to one-nation conservativism, instead characterising his ideology as flexible and populist.Purnell stated that Johnson regularly changed his opinion on political issues, commenting on what she perceived to be \"an ideological emptiness beneath the staunch Tory exterior\". During his tenure as mayor, Johnson gained a reputation as \"a liberal, centre-ground politician\", according toBusiness Insider.In 2012, the political scientistTony Traversdescribed Johnson as \"a fairly classic—that","fairly classic—that is, small-state—mildlyeuroscepticConservative\" who also embraced \"modern social liberalism\".The Guardianstated that while mayor, Johnson blended economic and social liberalism,withThe Economistsaying that in doing so Johnson \"transcends his Tory identity\" and adopts a more libertarian perspective.According to political scientist Richard Hayton, Johnson's premiership was about Brexit, which served as a \"national cause\". Johnson evoked the discourse ofpopular sovereigntyandanti-establishmentpopulism to portray Parliament as seeking to \"sabotage\" Brexit, and in doing so, presented himself \"as the true representative of 'the people'\". Scholars ofcomparative politicshave drawn comparisons between Johnson and other populist leaders such as Donald Trump andViktor Orban.Some commentators have likened Johnson's political style toTrumpism,although others have argued that Johnson's stance on matters such as social policy, immigration and free trade is liberal.Johnson biographer Gimson wrote that","Gimson wrote that Johnson is economically and socially \"a genuine liberal\", although he retains a \"Tory element\" through his \"love of existing institutions, and a recognition of the inevitability of hierarchy\".In 2019, reacting to reports inThe Sun, that Johnson had told cabinet colleagues he was \"basically a Brexity Hezza\", former deputy leader of the Conservative PartyMichael Heseltinewrote: \"I fear that any traces of liberal conservatism that still exist within the prime minister have long since been captured by the rightwing, foreigner-bashing, inward-looking view of the world that has come to characterise his fellow Brexiters.\" Environment Johnson expressedclimate scepticalviews in several columns,conflating the distinction between weather and climate and highlighting a factually incorrect claim by weather forecaster and conspiracy theoristPiers Corbynthat reduced solar activity could lead to a \"mini-Ice Age\". Bloomberg Newssuggested that Johnson's interest in climate change increased after becoming","after becoming prime minister, and suggested this could have been influenced by his wifeCarrie Symondsand fatherStanley Johnson, who are both environmental campaigners. In 2019 and 2020, Johnson expressed support for the UK to have\"net-zero\" greenhouse gas emissionsby 2050and spoke about increasing ambition for mitigating climate change throughcarbon capture and storageand arenewable energy transition.During the2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Johnson called for greater efforts towardsclimate change mitigation,and welcomed the prospect ofcoal phase-out. It was reported in 2022 that Johnson was convinced of thescientific consensus on climate changefollowing a briefing by the chief scientist of theMet Officein January 2020, and subsequently made the issue a priority for his government. According toTheyWorkForYouas of 2022, Johnson has \"generally voted against\" what it described as \"key measures to preventclimate change\"while an MP,and other sources confirm this. Immigration and the European Union","the European Union Purnell believed it was the influence of Johnson's maternal family that led to him developing \"a genuine abhorrence of racial discrimination\".In 2003, Johnson said, \"I am not by any means an ultra-Eurosceptic. In some ways, I am a bit of a fan of theEuropean Union. If we did not have one, we would invent something like it.\"As mayor, Johnson was known as a supporter ofimmigration.From 2009, he advocated a referendum on Britain's EU membership. In 2018, during Brexit negotiations, Johnson called for Britain to leave theSingle Marketand advocated a more liberal approach to immigration than that of Prime Minister May.He stated many people believed thatBritain's EU membershiphad led to the suppression of British wages and said the EU was intent on creating a \"superstate\" that would seek to rob Britain of its sovereignty.In 2019, Johnson said he would take Britain out of the EU on 31 October whether there was a trade deal in place or not.Johnson also stated his opposition to areferendum on the","areferendum on the Brexit withdrawal agreement. On 19 August 2019, Johnson wrote a letter to the EU asking for the removal of the \"backstop\" accord. The president of the European Council,Donald Tusk, rejected the proposal.On 26 August 2019, Johnson said that Britain would not pay £39 billion for the withdrawal agreement were the UK to leave without a deal. The European Parliament Brexit coordinatorGuy Verhofstadtsaid there would be no further negotiation unless the UK agreed to pay the entire sum. Unionism and devolution Johnson described himself as a \"fervent and passionateunionist\".He proposed building anIrish Sea Bridge, but he later scrapped this initiative. The devolved administrations have criticised theInternal Market Billfor its re-centralisation of control over commerce. Public image Johnson has said that \"humour is a utensil that you can use to sugar the pill and to get important points across\".He is said to have a genuine desire to be liked.Johnson has been described as having a light-hearted and","a light-hearted and charming persona;many biographers and commentators suggest he has put significant effort into developing this version of himself.He has also been described as heavily focused on his own interests,with an often vitriolic or irresponsible way of conducting himself in private. Johnson has been described as a divisive, controversial figure in British politics.Supporters have praised him as witty and entertaining.Johnson has been accused of lying or making misleading statements throughout his career,and has been compared to former US presidentDonald Trump.He has been considered a figure with broad appeal outside of the usual Conservative support base.Johnson's premiership has been described by historians as the most controversial and scandal-affected since that ofDavid Lloyd Georgeabout a century earlier. Personal life Since Johnson was born in New York City to British parents, he heldBritish-Americandual citizenship. In 2015, he agreed to paycapital gains taxto theUS tax authoritieson a","tax authoritieson a property that he inherited in the UK.He renounced his US citizenship the following year.Johnson has knowledge of French, Italian, German, Spanish,LatinandAncient Greek,frequently makingclassicalallusions in his newspaper columns and his speeches. Sonia Purnellwrote in 2011 that Johnson was a \"highly evasive figure\" when it came to his personal life,who remained detached from others and who had few intimate friends.Among friends and family, Johnson is more commonly known as Al (short for his forename Alexander), rather than Boris. In 2007, Johnson said he had smokedcannabisbefore he went to university.He has also said he had usedcocaine.Johnson partakes in cycling, tennis andpilates, and returned to road running in 2023.He was consideredobesein 2018 andoverweightin 2020, and has spoken of making efforts to lose weight. Johnson previously owned a £1.3 million buy-to-let townhouse inCamberwell, South London. According toHM Land Registrydocuments, he bought the four-bedroom property with his","property with his then-girlfriendCarrie Symondsin July 2019. The register of MPs' interests states that Johnson had a rental income of at least £10,000 a year.In 2023, Johnson and Symonds boughtBrightwell Manor, a £3.8 million moated mansion inBrightwell-cum-Sotwell, Oxfordshire. Religion Johnson was baptisedCatholicand laterconfirmedin theChurch of England,but has said that his faith \"comes and goes\"and that he is not a serious practising Christian.In 2020, his son Wilfred was baptised Catholic.Johnson and Symonds married in a Catholic ceremony atWestminster Cathedralon 29 May 2021.Since he was baptised Catholic, but his previous weddings were not conferred by the Catholic Church, the Catholic Church considered them putatively invalid. Johnson holds ancient Greek statesmanPericlesas a personal hero.According to Johnson's biographer, Andrew Gimson, regarding ancient Greek andRoman polytheism: \"it is clear that is inspired by the Romans, and even more by the Greeks, and repelled by theearly","by theearly Christians\".Johnson viewssecular humanismpositively and sees it as owing more to theclassical worldthan to Christian thinking.However, in 2021, Johnson was asked if he held pre-Christian beliefs, which he denied, saying, \"Christianity is a superb ethical system and I would count myself as a kind of very, very bad Christian... Christianity makes a lot of sense to me.\" Relationships In 1987, Johnson marriedAllegra Mostyn-Owen, daughter of the art historianWilliam Mostyn-Owenand Italian writerGaia Servadio.The couple's marriage ended in divorce orannulmentin 1993and 12 days later Johnson marriedMarina Wheeler, a barrister, daughter of journalistCharles Wheeler.Five weeks later, their first child was born.They have four children:Lara Lettice, Milo Arthur, Cassia Peaches and Theodore Apollo. Between 2000 and 2004, Johnson had an affair withSpectatorcolumnistPetronella Wyattwhen he was its editor, resulting in a terminated pregnancy and amiscarriage.In April 2006, theNews of the Worldalleged that","Worldalleged that Johnson was having an affair withGuardianjournalist Anna Fazackerley. The pair did not comment; shortly afterward, Johnson employed Fazackerley. In 2009, Johnson fathered a daughter with Helen Macintyre, an arts consultant.In September 2021, Johnson stated that he had six children, thereby denying the existence of further illegitimate children. In September 2018, Johnson and Wheeler issued a statement confirming that they had separated months earlier;they divorced in 2020. Jennifer Arcurisaid that she had an affair with Johnson from 2012 to 2016. In 2019, Johnson was living withCarrie Symonds, the daughter ofMatthew Symonds, co-founder ofThe Independentnewspaper.Johnson and Symonds became engaged in late 2019and their son, Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson,was born in April 2020. On 29 May 2021, Johnson married Symonds atWestminster Cathedral.Their daughter, Romy Iris Charlotte Johnson,was born in December 2021.Their third child, a son named Frank Alfred Odysseus Johnson, was born in July","was born in July 2023. Family and ancestors Johnson is the eldest of the four children ofStanley Johnson, a formerConservativemember of the European Parliament, and the painterCharlotte Johnson Wahl(née Fawcett),the daughter of SirJames Fawcett, president of theEuropean Commission of Human Rights.His younger siblings areRachel Johnson, a writer and journalist, Leo Johnson, a broadcaster,andJo Johnson, ex-minister of state and former Conservative MP forOrpington, who resigned from his brother's government in September 2019and is now a member of theHouse of Lords. Johnson's stepmother, Jenny, the second wife of his father Stanley, is the stepdaughter ofTeddy Sieff, the former chairman ofMarks & Spencer.Having been a member of the Conservatives between 2008 and 2011, Rachel Johnson joined the Liberal Democrats in 2017.She stood as a candidate forChange UKin the2019 European Elections.Johnson also has two half-siblings,Juliaand Maximilian, through his father's later marriage to Jennifer Kidd. Johnson's paternal","Johnson's paternal grandfather, Wilfred Johnson, was an RAF pilot inCoastal Commandduring the Second World War.Wilfred Johnson's father was theOttomanInterior Ministerand journalistAli Kemal. Ali Kemal's father was aTurkwhile his mother was aCircassianreputedly ofslaveorigin.His other paternal ancestry includes English, German and French; one of his German ancestors was said to be theillegitimatedaughter ofPrince Paul of Württembergand thus a descendant ofGeorge II of Great Britain,which was later confirmed on an episode ofWho Do You Think You Are? Johnson's mother is the granddaughter ofElias Avery Lowe, apalaeographerand aRussian Jewishimmigrant to the US,andPennsylvania-bornHelen Tracy Lowe-Porter, a translator ofThomas Mann.Referring to his varied ancestry, Johnson has described himself as a \"one-man melting pot\".Johnson was given the middle name \"Boris\" after a White Russian émigré named Boris Litwin, who was a friend of his parents. Honours Works Notes References Footnotes Sources Further reading","Further reading External links","Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn(/ˈkɔːrbɪn/; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has beenMember of Parliament(MP) forIslington Northsince 1983. Anindependent, Corbyn was a member of theLabour Partyfrom 1965 until his expulsion in 2024, and is a member of theSocialist Campaign Groupparliamentarycaucus. He served asLeader of the OppositionandLeader of the Labour Partyfrom 2015 to 2020. Corbyn identifies ideologically as asocialiston thepolitical left. Born inChippenham,Wiltshire, Corbyn joined the Labour Party as a teenager. Moving to London, he became atrade unionrepresentative. In 1974, he was elected toHaringey Counciland became Secretary ofHornseyConstituency Labour Partyuntil elected as the MP for Islington North in 1983. His activism has includedAnti-Fascist Action, theAnti-Apartheid Movement, theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and advocating for aunited IrelandandPalestinian statehood. As abackbencher, Corbyn routinely voted against the Labourwhip, includingNew Labourgovernments. A vocal","A vocal opponent of theIraq War, he chaired theStop the War Coalitionfrom 2011 to 2015, and received theGandhi International Peace AwardandSeán MacBride Peace Prize. FollowingEd Miliband's resignation after the party had lost the2015 general election, Corbyn won the2015 party leadership electionto succeed him. The Labour Party's membership increased sharply, both during theleadership campaignand following his election. Taking the party to the left, Corbyn advocatedrenationalisingpublic utilities andrailways, aless interventionistmilitary policy, and reversals ofausterity cutsto welfare and public services. Although he had sometimes been critical of theEuropean Union(EU), he supported theRemain campaignin the2016 EU membership referendum. After Labour MPssought to remove him in 2016through a leadership challenge, he won asecond leadership contestagainstOwen Smith. Despitehostile treatment from the media, in the2017 general electionCorbyn led Labour to increase its vote share by 10 percentage points to 40 per","points to 40 per cent, their largest rise since the1945 general election. During his tenure as leader, Corbyn was criticised for theantisemitism within the party. He condemnedantisemitismand apologised for its presence,while his leadership saw astrengthening of disciplinary proceduresregarding hate speech and racism.In 2019, afterdeadlock in Parliament over Brexit, Corbyn endorsed holding areferendum on the withdrawal agreement, with a personal stance of neutrality. In the2019 general election, Labour's vote share fell to 32 per cent, leading to a loss of 60 seats, leaving it with 202, its fewest since the1935 general election. Corbyn remained Labour leader for four months while theleadership electionto replace him took place. His resignation as Labour leader formally took effect in April 2020 following the election ofKeir Starmer, who led the party to victory atthe next general electionin 2024. After asserting that the scale of antisemitism had been overstated for political reasons, Corbyn was suspended","was suspended from the party in 2020. In May 2024, after the2024 general electionhad been called, Corbyn was not allowed to stand as a Labour candidate for his constituency, and subsequently announced he wouldstand as an independent candidate for Islington North; he was then expelled from Labour.He won re-election with a majority of 7,247. Early life Jeremy Bernard Corbyn was born on 26 May 1949 inChippenham, Wiltshire,the son of mathematics teacher Naomi Loveday (née Josling; 1915–1987)and electrical engineer andpower rectifierexpert David Benjamin Corbyn (1915–1986).He has three elder brothers; one of them,Piers Corbyn(born 1947), is a weather forecaster who later became known as aclimate change denierandanti-vaccine conspiracy theorist.For the first seven years of his life, the family lived inKington St Michael, Wiltshire.His parents wereLabour Partymembersandpeace campaignerswho met in the 1930s at a committee meeting in support of theSpanish RepublicatConway Hallduring theSpanish Civil War. When Corbyn","War. When Corbyn was seven, the family moved toPave Lane, Shropshire, where his father bought Yew Tree Manor, a 17th-century farmhousewhich was once part of theDuke of Sutherland'sLilleshallestate.Corbyn attendedCastle House School, an independentpreparatory schoolnearNewport, Shropshire, before becoming a day student at Newport'sAdams Grammar Schoolat the age of 11. While still at school, Corbyn became active in theLeague Against Cruel Sportsand theLabour Party Young SocialistswithinThe Wrekin.He joined the Labour Party at the age of 16.He achieved twoA-Levelsat grade E, the lowest possible passing grade, before leaving school at 18.Corbyn joined theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmamentin 1966 while at schooland later became one of its three vice-chairs and subsequently vice-president.Around this time, he also campaigned against theVietnam War. After school, Corbyn worked briefly as a reporter for the localNewport and Market Drayton Advertisernewspaper.Around the age of 19, he spent two years doingVoluntary","doingVoluntary Service Overseasin Jamaica as ayouth workerand geography teacher.He subsequently visited Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay throughout 1969 and 1970. While in Brazil, he participated in a student demonstration inSão Pauloagainst theBrazilian military government. He also attended aMay Daymarch inSantiago, where the atmosphere aroundSalvador Allende'sPopular Unityalliance which swept to power inthe Chilean elections of 1970made an impression on him: \" noticed something very different from anything I had experienced... what Popular Unity and Allende had done was weld together the folk tradition, the song tradition, the artistic tradition and the intellectual tradition\". Early career and political activities Returning to the UK in 1971, Corbyn worked as anofficialfor theNational Union of Tailors and Garment Workers.He began a course in Trade Union Studies atNorth London Polytechnicbut left after a year without a degree after a series of arguments with his tutors over the curriculum.He worked as","worked as a trade union organiser for theNational Union of Public Employees(NUPE) andAmalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union,where his union was approached byTony Bennand \"encouraged ... to produce a blueprint for workers' control ofBritish Leyland\"; the plans did not proceed after Benn was moved to a different Department. Corbyn was appointed amemberof adistrict health authorityand in early 1974, at the age of 24, he was elected toHaringey CouncilfromSouth Hornseyward.After boundary changes in 1978 he was re-elected inHarringayward ascouncillor, remaining so until 1983.As a delegate fromHornseyto theLabour Party Conferencein 1978, Corbyn successfully moved a motion calling for dentists to be employed by theNational Health Service(NHS) rather than as private contractors.He also spoke in another debate, describing a motion calling for greater support for law and order as \"more appropriate to theNational Frontthan to the Labour Party\". Corbyn became the local Labour Party's agent and organiser,and had","organiser,and had responsibility for the1979 general election campaignin Hornsey. Around this time, he became involved with theLondon Labour Briefing, where he was a contributor. Described byThe Timesin 1981 as \"Briefing's founder\",The Economistin a 1982 article named Corbyn as \"Briefing's general secretary figure\",as did a profile on Corbyn compiled by parliamentary biographerAndrew Rothin 2004,which states that he joined the editorial board as General Secretary in 1979.Michael Crick, in the 2016 edition of his bookMilitant, says that Corbyn was \"a member of the editorial board\",as does Lansley, Goss andWolmar's 1989 workThe Rise and Fall of the Municipal Left.Corbyn said in 2017 that these reports were inaccurate, tellingSophy Ridge: \"I read the magazine. I wrote for the magazine. I was not a member of the editorial board. I didn't agree with it.\" He worked on Tony Benn'sunsuccessful deputy leadership campaign in 1981. Corbyn was keen to allow formerInternational Marxist GroupmemberTariq Alito join the","Alito join the party, despite Labour's National Executive having declared him unacceptable, and declared that \"so far as we are concerned ... he's a member of the party and he'll be issued with a card.\"In May 1982, when Corbyn was chairman of the Constituency Labour Party, Ali was given a party card signed by Corbyn;in November, the local party voted by 17 to 14 to insist on Ali's membership \"up to and including the point of disbandment of the party\". In the July 1982 edition ofBriefing, Corbyn opposed expulsions of theTrotskyistandentryistgroupMilitant, saying that \"If expulsions are in order for Militant, they should apply to us too.\" In the same year, he was the \"provisional convener\" of \"Defeat the Witch-Hunt Campaign\", based at Corbyn's then address.TheMetropolitan Police'sSpecial Branchmonitored Corbyn for two decades, until the early 2000s, as he was \"deemed to be a subversive\". According to the Labour Party, \"The Security Services kept files on many peace and Labour movement campaigners at the time,","at the time, including anti-Apartheid activists and trade unionists\". Parliamentary backbencher (1983–2015) Labour in opposition (1982–1997) Corbyn was selected as theLabour Partycandidatefor theconstituencyofIslington North, in February 1982,winning the final ballot for selection by 39 votes against 35 for GLC councillorPaul Boateng, who in 1987 became one of the first three Black BritishMembers of Parliament(MP).At the1983 general electionhe was elected MP for the constituency,defeating theIndependent LabourincumbentMichael O'Halloran, and immediately joined the socialistCampaign Group, later becoming secretary of the group. Shortly after being elected to Parliament, he began writing a weekly column for the left-wingMorning Starnewspaper.In May 2015, he said that \"theStaris the most precious and only voice we have in the daily media\".In February 2017, theMorning Starsaid of Corbyn: \"He has been bullied, betrayed and ridiculed, and yet he carries on with the same grace and care he always shows to others –","shows to others – however objectionable their behaviour and treatment of him might be.\" In 1983, Corbyn spoke on a \"no socialism withoutgay liberation\" platform and continued to campaign forLGBT rights. He was a campaigner againstapartheidin South Africa, serving on the National Executive of theAnti-Apartheid Movement,and was arrested in 1984 while demonstrating outsideSouth Africa House, leading, decades later, to a viral image of Corbyn being arrested circulated by supporters on social media.This was as a member of the City of London Anti-Apartheid Group (CLAAG) who carried out a \"non-stop picket\" for 1,408 days to campaign forNelson Mandela's release from prison. The Anti-Apartheid Movement did not support this protest, as they had agreed not to demonstrate within 30 feet of the embassy, and the picket failed to gain support from the LondonANC; Mandela's failure to respond to CLAAG following his release from prison in 1990 is frequently described as a 'snub'. He supported the1984–85 miners' strike.In","miners' strike.In 1985, he invited striking miners into the gallery of the House of Commons; they were expelled for shouting: \"Coal not dole\".At the end of the strike Corbyn was given a medallion by the miners in recognition of his help. In 1985, he was appointed national secretary of the newly launchedAnti-Fascist Action. During the BBC'sNewsnightin 1984, Conservative MPTerry Dickssaid that so-called Labour \"scruffs\" (such as Corbyn, who at this time was known for wearing an old polo-necked sweater to the Commons) should be banned from addressing the House of Commons unless they maintained higher standards. Corbyn responded, saying that: \"It's not a fashion parade, it's not a gentleman's club, it's not a bankers' institute, it's a place where the people are represented.\" In 1990, Corbyn opposed thepoll tax(formally known as the Community Charge)and nearly went to jail for not paying the tax.He appeared in court the following year as a result. Corbyn supported the campaign to overturn the convictions of","the convictions of Jawad Botmeh and Samar Alami for the1994 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Londonwhich argued that there was insufficient evidence to tie them to the act, along withAmnesty International,Unisonand a number of journalists and other MPs. Botmeh and Alami had admitted possessing explosives and guns but denied they were for use in Britain. The convictions were upheld by theHigh Court of Justicein 2001 and by theEuropean Court of Human Rightsin 2007. Corbyn sat on theSocial Security Select Committeefrom 1992 to 1997. Irish politics A longstanding supporter of aunited Ireland, in the 1980s Corbyn metSinn FéinleaderGerry Adamsa number of times.Corbyn consistently stated that he maintained links with Sinn Fein in order to work for a resolution to the armed conflict.According toThe Sunday Times, Corbyn was involved in over 72 events connected with Sinn Féin or other pro-republican groups during the period of the IRA's paramilitary campaign. Corbyn met Adams at the 1983 and 1989 Labour conferences","Labour conferences (facilitated by pro-IRARed Action)and in 1983 at Westminster, along with a number of other Labour MPs.In 1984, Corbyn and Ken Livingstone invited Adams, two convicted IRA volunteers and other members of Sinn Féin to Westminster.He was criticised by the Labour Party leadership for the meeting, which took place two weeks after the IRA'sbombingof the Conservative Party leadership that killed five people. During the 1980s he campaigned on behalf of theGuildford FourandBirmingham Six, who were wrongly convicted of responsibility for IRA bombings in England in the mid-1970s.In 1986, Corbyn was arrested with 15 demonstrators protesting against what they saw as weak evidence and poor treatment during the trial of a group of IRA members includingPatrick Magee, who was convicted of the Brighton hotel bombing and other attacks. After refusing police requests to move from outside the court, Corbyn and the other protesters were arrested for obstruction and held for five hours before being released on","being released on bail, but were not charged. In 1987, Corbyn attended a commemoration by theWolfe Tone Societyin London for eight IRA members who were killed bySpecial Air Servicesoldierswhile attackingaRoyal Ulster Constabularypolice station inLoughgall,County Armagh. At the commemoration, he told his fellow attendees that \"I'm happy to commemorate all those who died fighting for an independent Ireland\" and attacked the British government's policies in Northern Ireland, calling for all British troops to be withdrawn from the region.Corbyn subsequently said that he had attended the event, which included aminute of silencefor the eight IRA members, to \"call for a peace and dialogue process\". He voted against the 1985Anglo-Irish Agreement, saying \"We believe that the agreement strengthens rather than weakens the border between the six and the 26 counties, and those of us who wish to see a United Ireland oppose the agreement for that reason.\" In the early 1990s,MI5opened a file on Corbyn to monitor his links","monitor his links to the IRA. In 1994, Corbyn signed a Commons motion condemning the 1974Birmingham pub bombings, which killed 21 people. A short time after IRA plans to bomb London were foiled in 1996, Corbyn invited Adams to the House of Commons for a press conference to promote Adams' autobiography,Before the Dawn. Shadow Northern Ireland SecretaryMo Mowlamand Labour leaderTony Blaircondemned the invitation, with Mowlam arguing that it was detrimental to the peace process, and Blair threatening disciplinary action.Adams cancelled the event, to save further embarrassment to Corbyn and to avoid negative publicity. In 1998, he voted for theGood Friday Agreement, saying he looked forward to \"peace, hope and reconciliation in Ireland in the future.\" In 2017, Corbyn said that he had \"never met the IRA\", although Shadow Home SecretaryDiane Abbottlater clarified that although he had met members of the IRA, \"he met with them in their capacity as activists in Sinn Fein\". Labour in government (1997–2010) Between","(1997–2010) Between 1997 and 2010, during theNew Labourgovernments, Corbyn was the Labour MP who voted most often against the party whip, includingthree-line whipvotes. In 2005 he was identified as the second most rebellious Labour MP of all time during the New Labour governments.He was the most rebellious Labour MP in the 1997–2001 Parliament,the 2001–2005 Parliamentand the 2005–2010 Parliament, defying the whip 428 times while Labour was in power.Jacobindescribed him as \"a figure who for decades challenged them from the backbench as one of the most rebellious left-wing members of parliament\". Corbyn has called forTony Blairto be investigated for allegedwar crimes during the Iraq War.In July 2016, theChilcot Reportof theIraq Inquirywas issued, criticising Blair for joining the United States in the war against Iraq. Subsequently, Corbyn – who had voted against military action against Iraq – gave a speech in Westminster commenting: \"I now apologise sincerely on behalf of my party for the disastrous decision","disastrous decision to go to war in Iraq in March 2003\" which he called an \"act of military aggression launched on a false pretext\" something that has \"long been regarded as illegal by the overwhelming weight of international opinion\".Corbyn specifically apologised to \"the people of Iraq\"; to the families of British soldiers who died in Iraq or returned injured; and to \"the millions of British citizens who feel our democracy was traduced and undermined by the way in which the decision to go to war was taken on.\" Corbyn sat on theLondon Regional Select Committeefrom 2009 to 2010. Stop the War Coalition and anti-war activism In October 2001, Corbyn was elected to the steering committee of theStop the War Coalition, which was formed to oppose theWar in Afghanistanwhich started later that year. In 2002, Corbyn reported unrest : \"there is disquiet...about issues of foreign policy\" among some members of the Labour party. He cited \"the deployment of troops to Afghanistan and the threat of bombing Iraq\" as","of bombing Iraq\" as examples.He was vehemently opposed to Britain's involvement in theIraq Warin 2003, and spoke at dozens of anti-war rallies in Britain and overseas. He spoke at theFebruary anti-Iraq War protestwhich was said to be the largest such protest in British political history.At the same time, he expressed support for the Iraqi insurgency and the Palestinian intifada when he signed the second Cairo Declaration in December 2003, which said \"The Iraqis themselves are now engaged in a titanic struggle to rid their country of occupying forces. The Palestinian intifada continues under the most difficult circumstances. The US administration threatens Iran and other countries on a daily basis. Now is the time to draw together the forces of resistance in the Arab world and from around the globe.\" In 2006, Corbyn was one of 12 Labour MPs to supportPlaid Cymruand theScottish National Party's call for aparliamentary inquiry into the Iraq War.He was elected chair of the coalition in succession toAndrew","succession toAndrew Murrayin September 2011, but resigned once he becameLeader of the Labour Partyin September 2015. Parliamentary groups and activism Corbyn is a member of a number of Parliamentary Trade Union Groups: he is sponsored by several trade unions, includingUNISON,Uniteand theNational Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers. He is a supporter of theUnite Against Fascismpressure group. Corbyn was chair of theAll-Party Parliamentary Group(APPG) on theChagos Islands, chair of the APPG on Mexico, Vice-Chair of the APPG on Latin America and vice-chair of the APPG on Human Rights. He has advocated for the rights of the forcibly removedChagossiansto return to theBritish Indian Ocean Territory. Corbyn appeared on a call-in show onPress TV, an Iranian government television channel, several times between 2009 and 2012. He was criticised for appearing on the channel in light of Iran executing and imprisoning homosexuals, as well as Corbyn not questioning contributors who called the BBC \"Zionist liars\"","BBC \"Zionist liars\" and described Israel as a \"disease\".Corbyn said in response that he used the programme to address \"human rights issues\" and that his appearance fee was \"not an enormous amount\" and was used to help meet constituency office costs.Corbyn's final appearance was six months after the network was fined byOfcomfor its part in filming an interview withMaziar Bahari, an Iranian journalist, saying the interview had been held under duress and after torture. Labour in opposition (2010–2015) In the2010 Labour Party leadership election, Corbyn supported Diane Abbott in the first round in which she was eliminated; thereafter, he supportedEd Miliband. Corbyn was one of 16 signatories to an open letter to Ed Miliband in January 2015 calling for Labour to make a commitment toopposing further austerity, to takerail franchisesback intopublic ownership, and to strengthencollective bargainingarrangements. Corbyn sat on theJustice Select Committeefrom 2010 to 2015.Before becoming party leader Corbyn had been","Corbyn had been returned as member of Parliament for Islington North seven times, gaining 60.24% of the vote and a majority of 21,194 in the2015 general election. Leadership elections Following the Labour Party's defeat at the general election on 7 May 2015,Ed Milibandresigned as its party leader, triggering aleadership election. Corbyn decided to stand as a candidate, having been disillusioned by the lack of a left-wing voice, and said to his local newspaper,TheIslington Tribune, that he would have a \"clear anti-austerity platform\". He also said he would vote to scrap the Trident nuclear weapons system and would \"seek to withdraw from Nato\". He suggested that Britain should establish a national investment bank to boost house-building and improve economic growth and lift wages in areas that had less investment in infrastructure. He would also aim to eliminate the current budget deficit over time and restore the 50p top rate of income tax.He added: \"This decision is in response to an overwhelming call by","call by Labour Party members who want to see a broader range of candidates and a thorough debate about the future of the party. I am standing to give Labour Party members a voice in this debate\".He indicated that, if he were elected, policies that he put forward would need to be approved by party members before being adopted and that he wanted to \"implement the democratic will of our party\".The other candidates were Shadow Home SecretaryYvette Cooper, Shadow Health SecretaryAndy Burnhamand Shadow Care MinisterLiz Kendall.Several who nominated Corbyn later said they had ensured he had enough votes to stand, more to widen the political debate within the party than because of a desire or expectation that he would win. At the Second Reading of theWelfare Reform and Work Billin July 2015, Corbyn joined 47 Labour MPs to oppose the Bill, describing it as \"rotten and indefensible\", whilst the other three leadership candidates abstained under direction from interim leader Harriet Harman.In August 2015, he called","2015, he called onIain Duncan Smithto resign asSecretary of State for Work and Pensionsafter it was reported that thousands of disabled people had died after being found fit to work byWork Capability Assessments(instituted in 2008) between 2011 and 2014, although this was challenged by the government and by FullFact who said that the figure included those who had died and therefore their claim had ended, rather than being found fit for work. Corbyn rapidly became the frontrunner among the candidates and was perceived to benefit from a large influx of new members. Hundreds of supporters turned out to hear him speak at thehustingsacross the nation and their enthusiastic reception and support for him was dubbed \"Corbynmania\" by the press.Membership numbers continued to climb after the start of his leadership.In addition, following a rule change under Miliband, members of the public who supported Labour's aims and values could join the party as \"registered supporters\" for £3 and be entitled to vote in the","to vote in the election.There was speculation that the rule change would lead to Corbyn being elected by registered supporters without majority support from ordinary members.He was elected party leader in a landslide victory on 12 September 2015 with 59.5% of first-preference votes in the first round of voting.He would have won in the first round with 51% of votes, even without \"£3 registered supporters\", having gained the support of 49.6% of full members and 57.6% of affiliated supporters.His 40.5% majority was a larger proportional majority than that attained by Tony Blair in1994.His margin of victory was said to be \"the largest mandate ever won by a party leader\". An internal Labour Party report, entitledThe work of the Labour Party's Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism, 2014–2019, was leaked to the media in April 2020. The report stated that during the 2015 and 2016 leadership contests, staff members at Labour party headquarters looked for ways to exclude from voting members who they","members who they believed would vote for Corbyn. The staff members referred to this activity as \"trotbusting\", \"bashing trots\" and \"trot spotting\". Corbynmania Corbyn was initially viewed as atoken candidatefor the left wing of the party and not expected to win. However, many new, young party members, who had joined after the membership fee had been reduced to £3, were attracted by what they saw as Corbyn'sauthentic, informal style and radical policies.Hundreds of supporters turned out to hear him speak at thehustingsacross the nation and their enthusiastic reception and support for him was dubbed \"Corbynmania\" by the press. Jonathan Dean characterised Corbynmania as a politicalfandom, comparable with the enthusiastic followings of popular media stars and other modern politicians such asBernie SandersandJustin Trudeau. Specific features included use of the #jezwecanhashtag, attendance at rallies and the posting of pictures such asselfieson social media. Artistic, merchandising and other activity consolidated","consolidated and spread this fannish enthusiasm. This included a \"Jeremy Corbyn for Prime Minister\" (JC4PM) tour by celebrities such asCharlotte Church,Jeremy HardyandMaxine Peake; a Corbyn superhero comic book; mash-ups and videos. Many of Corbyn's supporters felt he possessed personal qualities such as earnestness and modesty leading them to develop a sense of emotional attachment to him as individual. These were seen as cultish by critics such asMargaret Beckettwho said in 2016 that the Labour Party had been turned into the \"Jeremy Corbyn Fan Club\". Achantof \"Oh, Jeremy Corbyn\" was adopted as an anthem or chorus by his supporters. Sung in the style of afootball chantto the tune of arifffrom \"Seven Nation Army\" byThe White Stripes,it attracted special attention at theGlastonbury Festival 2017, where Corbyn appeared and spoke to the crowds.Labour's weaker-than-expected performance in the2018 local electionsled to suggestions that Corbynmania had peaked. Leadership of the Labour Party (2015–2020) First term","First term as Leader of the Opposition (2015–2017) After being elected leader, Corbyn becameLeader of the Official Oppositionand shortly thereafter his appointment to thePrivy Councilwas announced.In Corbyn's firstPrime Minister's Questionssession as leader, he broke with the traditional format by asking the Prime Minister six questions he had received from members of the public, the result of his invitation to Labour Party members to send suggestions, for which he received around 40,000 emails.Corbyn stressed his desire to reduce the \"theatrical\" nature of the House of Commons, and his début was described in aGuardianeditorial as \"a good start\" and a \"long overdue\" change to the tone of PMQs.He delivered his first Labour Party Conference address as leader on 29 September 2015.Party membership nearly doubled between the May 2015 election and October 2015, attributed largely to the election as leader of Corbyn. In September 2015 an unnamed senior serving general in the British Army stated that a mutiny by the","a mutiny by the Army could occur if a future Corbyn government moved to scrap Trident, pull out of Nato or reduce the size of the armed forces. The general said \"the Army just wouldn't stand for it. The general staff would not allow a prime minister to jeopardise the security of this country and I think people would use whatever means possible, fair or foul to prevent that. You can't put a maverick in charge of a country's security\". In July 2016, a study and analysis by academics from theLondon School of Economicsof national newspaper articles about Corbyn in the first months of his leadership of Labour showed that 75% of them either distorted or failed to represent his actual views on subjects. 2017 general election The Labour campaign in the2017 general electionfocused on social issues such as health care, education and ending austerity.Corbyn's election campaign was run under the slogan \"For the Many, Not the Few\"and featured rallies with a large audience and connected with agrassrootsfollowing for the","for the party, including appearing on stage in front of a crowd of 20,000 at the Wirral Live Festival inPrenton Park. Although Labour started the campaign as far as 20 points behind, and again finished as the second largest party in parliament, it increased its share of the popular vote to 40%, resulting in a net gain of 30 seats and a hung parliament. This was its greatest vote share since2001. It was the first time Labour had made a net gain of seats since 1997, and the party's 9.6% increase in vote share was its largest in a single general election since 1945.This was partly attributed to the popularity of its 2017 Manifesto that promised to scrap tuition fees, address public sector pay, make housing more affordable, end austerity, nationalise the railways and provide school students with free lunches. 2019 general election and resignation In May 2019,Theresa Mayannounced her resignation and stood down as prime minister in July, following the election of her replacement, formerForeign SecretaryBoris","SecretaryBoris Johnson.Corbyn said that Labour was ready to fight an election against Johnson. The 2019 Labour Party Manifesto included policies to increase funding for health, negotiate a Brexit deal and hold a referendum giving a choice between the deal and remain, raise the minimum wage, stop the age pension age increase, nationalise key industries, and replaceuniversal credit.Due to the plans to nationalise the \"big six\" energy firms, the National Grid, the water industry, Royal Mail, the railways and the broadband arm of BT, the 2019 manifesto was widely considered as the most radical in several decades, more closely resembling Labour's politics of the 1970s than subsequent decades. During the campaign for the upcoming general elections, Corbyn was accused by theHindu Council UKof promotinganti-Hindu sentimentsfollowing his disparaging comments on thecaste system& his condemnation of theHindu-rightwingBharatiya Janata Partyled Indian government'srevocation of the special status of Jammu and","status of Jammu and Kashmir.ManyHindus living in the UKsaw Corbyn's attitude towards Hindus to be heavily influenced byPakistaniMuslimleaders of his party,with whom he shared a common pro-Palestinian stance. The2019 general electionwas the worst defeat in seats for Labour since 1935, with Labour winning just 202 out of 650 seats, their fourth successive election defeat.At 32.2%, Labour's share of the vote was down around eight points on the 2017 general election and is lower than that achieved by Neil Kinnock in 1992, although it was higher than in 2010 and 2015. In the aftermath, opinions differed to why the Labour Party was defeated to the extent it was. The Shadow ChancellorJohn McDonnelllargely blamedBrexitand themedia representationof the party.Tony Blairargued that the party's unclear position on Brexit and the economic policy pursued by the Corbyn leadership were to blame. Following the Labour Party's unsuccessful performance in the 2019 general election, Corbynconceded defeatand stated that he","stated that he intended to step down as leader following the election of a successor and that he would not lead the party into the next election.Corbyn himself was re-elected for Islington North with 64.3% of the vote share and a majority of 26,188 votes over the runner-up candidate representing the Liberal Democrats, with Labour's share of the vote falling by 8.7%.The Guardiandescribed the results as a \"realignment\" of UK politics as the Conservative landslide took many traditionally Labour seats in England and Wales.Corbyn insisted that he had \"pride in the manifesto\" that Labour put forward and blamed the defeat on Brexit.According to polling byLord Ashcroft, Corbyn was himself a major contribution to the party's defeat.Corbyn remained Labour leader for four months while theleadership electionto replace him took place. His resignation as Labour leader formally took effect in April 2020 following the election ofKeir Starmer. Post-leadership EHRC report and suspension Allegations of antisemitism within the","within the party grew during Corbyn's leadership. Incidents involvingNaz Shahin 2014 andKen Livingstonein 2016 resulted in their suspension from party membership pending investigation. In response, Corbyn established theChakrabarti Inquiry, which concluded that while the party was not \"overrun by anti-Semitism or other forms of racism,\" there was an \"occasionally toxic atmosphere\" and \"clear evidence of ignorant attitudes.\" In 2017, Labour Party rules were amended to categorizehate speech, including antisemitism, as a disciplinary matter. In 2018, Corbyn faced scrutiny for his response in 2012 to an allegedly antisemitic mural and for his association with Facebook groups, mainly pro-Palestinian, containing antisemitic posts. Labour'sNational Executive Committee(NEC) adopted a definition of antisemitism, for disciplinary purposes, in July of that year, aligning with theInternational Holocaust Remembrance Alliance(IHRA)Working Definition, with modified examples related to criticism of Israel.In September 2018,","September 2018, the NEC incorporated all 11 IHRA examples, unamended, into the party's code of conduct.In May 2019, theEquality and Human Rights Commission(EHRC) launched an inquiry into whether Labour had \"unlawfully discriminated against, harassed or victimised people because they are Jewish.\" After asserting that the scale of antisemitism had been overstated for political reasons, Corbyn was suspended from the party in 2020. The Forde Report, written by lawyer Martin Forde in response to the dossier that was leaked in April 2020 (The work of the Labour Party's Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism, 2014–2019), was released on 19 July 2022, stating that: \"ather than confront the paramount need to deal with the profoundly serious issue of anti-Semitism in the party, both factions treated it as a factional weapon.\"It also described senior Labour staff as having displayed \"deplorably factional and insensitive, and at times discriminatory, attitudes\" towards Corbyn and his supporters,and","his supporters,and detailed concerns by some staff about a \"hierarchy of racism\" in the party which ignored Black people.The report also expressed regret that Corbyn himself did not engage with the authors' request to interview him. Responding to this, Corbyn's former advisorAndrew Fisherwrote: \"Forde confirms that reflection is necessary. Cultural change requires painstaking work, not glib assertions of change.\"Corbyn himself stated that report \"calls into question the behaviour of senior officials in the party, in particular during the 2017 election\" and that \"wrongs must be righted.\" Peace and Justice Project On 13 December 2020, Corbyn announced the Project for Peace and Justice. Corbyn launched the project on 17 January 2021, and its affiliates includeChristine Blower,Len McCluskeyandZarah Sultana.Rafael Correasaid that he \"welcome the creation\" of the project. Stop the War Coalition statement on Ukraine crisis On 18 February 2022, in the week before theRussian invasion of Ukraine, Corbyn alongside 11","Corbyn alongside 11 Labour MPs cosigned a statement from theStop the War Coalitionopposing any war in Ukraine.The statement said that \"the crisis should be settled on a basis which recognises the right of the Ukrainian people to self-determination and addresses Russia's security concerns\", that NATO \"should call a halt to its eastward expansion\", and that the British government's sending of arms to Ukraine and troops to eastern Europe served \"no purpose other than inflaming tensions and indicating disdain for Russian concerns\".The statement's authors also said that they \"refute the idea that NATO is a defensive alliance\". On the evening of 24 February, the first day of the invasion, Labour chief whipAlan Campbellwrote to all 11 Labour MPs who had signed the statement, requesting that they withdraw their signatures.All 11 agreed to do so the same evening.Corbyn and fellow former Labour independent MPClaudia Webbedid not withdraw their signatures from the statement, thoughDavid Lammyurged Corbyn to do so.","Corbyn to do so. Expulsion from the Labour Party and 2024 general election Media speculation that Corbyn would contest the2024 general electionas an Independent was reported in October 2023.Despite \"unanimous support\" from hisConstituency Labour Party(CLP),Corbyn was not permitted to stand as a Labour parliamentary candidate. After announcing on 24 May 2024 that he would stand as an independent parliamentary candidate for Islington North, he was fully expelled from the Labour Party.He was endorsed byMick Lynchof theNational Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers. Corbyn responded to Keir Starmer's claim of knowing the party would lose the 2019 election by saying \"Well, he never said that to me, at any time. And so I just think rewriting history is no help. It shows double standards, shall we say, that he now says he always thought that but he never said it at the time or anything about it. He was part of the campaign. He and I spoke together at events and I find it actually quite sad.\" A poll released","A poll released just over two weeks before the election showed Corbyn in second behind Labour candidate Praful Nargund.Leading members of the Islington North CLP resigned in order to support Corbyn, while also criticising the manner in which Nargund was selected as Islington North's candidate.Corbyn was comfortably re-elected as an independent, even as Labour won a landslide victory in the general election. His majority over Nargund was over 7,000. Policies and views Corbyn self-identifies as asocialist.He has also been referred to as a \"mainstream social democrat\".He advocates reversingausterity cutsto public services and some welfare funding made since 2010, as well asrenationalisationof public utilities andthe railways.A longstandinganti-warandanti-nuclearactivist, he supports a foreign policy of militarynon-interventionismandunilateralnuclear disarmament, and has been a prominent activist for Palestinian solidarity throughout theGaza–Israel conflict.WriterRonan Bennett, who formerly worked as a research","as a research assistant to Corbyn, has described him as \"a kind of vegan, pacifist idealist, one with a clear understanding of politics and history, and a commitment to the underdog\". In 1997, the political scientistsDavid ButlerandDennis Kavanaghdescribed Corbyn's political stance as \"far-left\".Corbyn has describedKarl Marxas a \"great economist\"and said he has read some of the works ofAdam Smith, Marx andDavid Ricardoand has \"looked at many, many others\".However, some have argued that Corbyn is less radical than previously described:for example, the journalistGeorge Eatonhas called him \"Keynesian\".In 2023,The Daily Telegraphreported that most of the tax policies in Corbyn's 2019 general election manifesto had been implemented by the winning Conservative government, including a highercorporation tax, awindfall taxon oil companies, a reduction in annual tax allowances on dividend income, raising income tax on high earners, and introducing adigital services taxon online retailers. Corbyn namedJohn Smithas the","Smithas the former Labour leader whom he most admired, describing him as \"a decent, nice, inclusive leader\". He also said he was \"very close and very good friends\" withMichael Foot. Media coverage Analyses of domestic media coverage of Corbyn have found it to be critical or antagonistic.In July 2016, academics from the London School of Economics published a study of 812 articles about Corbyn taken from eight national newspapers around the time of his Labour leadership election. The study found that 75 percent of the articles either distorted or failed to represent his actual views on subjects. The study's director commented that \"Our analysis shows that Corbyn was thoroughly delegitimised as a political actor from the moment he became a prominent candidate and even more so after he was elected as party leader\". Another report by the Media Reform Coalition andBirkbeckCollege in July 2016, based on 10 days of coverage around the time of multiple shadow cabinet resignations, found \"marked and persistent","and persistent imbalance\" in favour of sources critical to him; theInternational Business Timeswas the only outlet that gave him more favourable than critical coverage. In August 2016, aYouGovsurvey found that 97% of Corbyn supporters agreed that the \"mainstream media as a whole has been deliberately biasing coverage to portray Jeremy Corbyn in a negative manner\", as did 51% of the general \"Labour selectorate\" sample. In May 2017,Loughborough University's Centre for Research in Communication and Culture concluded that the media was attacking Corbyn far more than May during nine election campaign weekdays examined.TheDaily MailandDaily Expresspraised Theresa May for election pledges that were condemned when proposed by Labour in previous elections. In February 2018, Momentum reported that attacks on Corbyn in the press were associated with increases in their membership applications.In September 2019, Labour leaders argued that traditional mainstream media outlets showed bias. In December 2019, a study by","2019, a study by Loughborough University found that British press coverage was twice as hostile to Labour and half as critical of the Conservatives during the 2019 general election campaign as it had been during the 2017 campaign. In an interview withMiddle East Eyein June 2020, Corbyn described the media's treatment of himself while he was Labour leader as obsessive and \"at one level laughable, but all designed to be undermining\".He said that the media coverage had diverted his media team from helping him pursue \"a political agenda on homelessness, on poverty in Britain, on housing, on international issues\" to \"rebutting these crazy stories, abusive stories, about me the whole time\".He said he considered suing as a result of media treatment but was guided by advice from Tony Benn, who told him, \"Libel is a rich man's game, and you're not a rich man Go to a libel case – even if you win the case, you'll be destroyed financially in doing so\". Personal life Corbyn lives in theFinsbury Parkarea of London.He has","of London.He has been married three times and divorced twice, and has three sons with his second wife.In 1974, he married his first wife,Jane Chapman, a fellow Labour Councillor for Haringey and now a professor at theUniversity of Lincoln.They divorced in 1979.In the late 1970s, Corbyn had a brief relationship with Labour MPDiane Abbott. In 1987, Corbyn married Chilean exile Claudia Bracchitta, granddaughter of Ricardo Bracchitta (Consul-General of Spain in Santiago), with whom he has three sons. He missed his youngest son's birth as he was lecturing National Union of Public Employees members at the same hospital.Following a difference of opinion about sending their son to agrammar school(Corbyn opposesselective education), they divorced in 1999 after two years of separation, although Corbyn said in June 2015 that he continues to \"get on very well\" with her.His son subsequently attendedQueen Elizabeth's School, which had been his wife's first choice.Their second son, Sebastian, worked on his leadership","on his leadership campaign and was later employed asJohn McDonnell's Chief of Staff. Corbyn's second-eldest brother, Andrew, who was a geologist, died of a brain haemorrhage while inPapua New Guineain 2001. Corbyn escorted the body from Papua New Guinea to Australia, where his brother's widow and children lived. In 2012, Corbyn went to Mexico to marry his Mexican partner Laura Álvarez,who runs afair tradecoffee import business that has been the subject of some controversy.A former human rights lawyer in Mexico, she first met Corbyn shortly after his divorce from Bracchitta, having come to London to support her sister Marcela following the abduction of her niece to America by her sister's estranged husband. They contacted fellow Labour MP Tony Benn for assistance, who introduced them to Corbyn, who met with the police on their behalf and spoke at fundraisers until the girl was located in 2003.Álvarez then returned to Mexico, with the couple maintaining a long-distance relationship until she moved to London in","moved to London in 2011.Álvarez has described Corbyn as \"not very good at house work but he is a good politician\".They have a cat called El Gato (\"The Cat\" in Spanish),while Corbyn had previously owned a dog called Mango, described byThe Observerin 1984 as his \"only constant companion\" at the time. Personal beliefs and interests When interviewed byThe Huffington Postin December 2015, Corbyn refused to reveal his religious beliefs and called them a \"private thing\", but denied that he was anatheist.He has said that he is \"sceptical\" of having agodin his life.He compared his concerns about the environment to a sort of \"spiritualism\".Corbyn has described himself asfrugal, tellingSimon HattenstoneofThe Guardian: \"I don't spend a lot of money, I lead a very normal life, I ride a bicycle and I don't have a car.\"He has been a vegetarian for nearly 50 years, after having volunteered on a pig farm in Jamaica when he was 19, and stated in April 2018 that he was considering becoming avegan.Although he has been described","has been described in the media asteetotal, he said in an interview with theDaily Mirrorthat he does drink alcohol but \"very, very little\". Corbyn is a member of theAll-Party Parliamentary Group on Cycling.He enjoys reading and writing,and speaks fluent Spanish.He supportsArsenal F.C., which is based in his constituency, and has signed parliamentary motions praising the successes of its men's andwomen's teams.He namedJens Lehmann,Ian Wright, andDennis Bergkampas his favourite Arsenal players, and has campaigned for the club to pay its staff a living wage.Corbyn is an avid \"drain spotter\" and has photographed decorative drain andmanhole coversthroughout the country. Corbyn co-edited with Len McCluskey the anthologyPoetry for the Many, published in November 2023 byOR Books. Awards and recognition In 2013, Corbyn was awarded theGandhi International Peace Awardfor his \"consistent efforts over a 30-year parliamentary career to uphold theGandhianvalues of social justice and non‐violence\".In the same year, he was","same year, he was honoured by theGrassroot DiplomatInitiative for his \"ongoing support for a number of non-government organisations and civil causes\".Corbyn has won the Parliamentary \"Beard of the Year Award\" a record six times, as well as being named as theBeard Liberation Front'sBeard of the Year, having previously described his beard as \"a form of dissent\" againstNew Labour. In 2016, Corbyn was the subject of a musical entitledCorbyn the Musical: The Motorcycle Diaries, written by journalists Rupert Myers and Bobby Friedman. In 2017 the American magazineForeign Policynamed Corbyn in its Top 100 Global Thinkers list for that year \"for inspiring a new generation to re-engage in politics\".In December 2017 he was one of three recipients awarded theSeán MacBride Peace Prize\"for his sustained and powerful political work for disarmament and peace\".The award was announced the previous September. See also References Further reading External links e","Nicola Sturgeon Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon(born 19 July 1970) is a Scottish politician who served asFirst Minister of ScotlandandLeader of the Scottish National Party(SNP) from 2014 to 2023.She has served as amember of the Scottish Parliament(MSP) since 1999, first as anadditional memberfor theGlasgow electoral region, and as the member forGlasgow Southside(formerlyGlasgow Govan) from 2007. Born inAyrshire, Sturgeon is a law graduate of theUniversity of Glasgow. She worked as a solicitor in Glasgow before her election to theScottish Parliamentin1999. She served successively as the SNP's shadow minister for education, health, and justice. Sturgeon entered theleadership of the SNPbut later withdrew from the contest in favour ofAlex Salmond, standing instead asdeputeleader on a joint ticket with Salmond. Both were subsequently elected; as Salmond was still an MP, Sturgeon led the SNP in the Scottish Parliament asLeader of the Oppositionfrom 2004 to 2007. The SNP emerged as the largest party following the2007","following the2007 electionand Salmond headed thefirst SNP minority government, with Sturgeon as hisdeputy. From 2007 to 2012, she served ashealth secretary, overseeing thescrapping of prescription chargesand the2009 swine flu pandemic. Following the SNP's landslide majority in 2011, she was appointedCabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Capital Investment and Cities, which saw her in charge of the legislative process for the2014 Scottish independence referendum. The defeat of theYes Scotlandcampaign resulted in Salmond's resignation as SNP leader. Sturgeon waselected unopposed as SNP leader in November 2014and was subsequently appointed as first minister, becoming the first woman to hold either position.She entered office amid a rapid surge in membership of the SNP, which was reflected in the party's performance in the2015 general election, winning 56 of the 59 Scottish seats and replacing theLiberal Democratsas the third-largest party in theHouse of Commons. The SNP continued to enjoy electoral successes","electoral successes throughout Sturgeon's nine years in office, but lost 21 seats in the2017 general election. Despite losing her majority, Sturgeon secured a second term in office in 2016, forming aminority government. Sturgeon led theScottish Government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, implementing a series ofrestrictions on social gatheringsand the rollout of thevaccine programme. A seat short of a majority in2021, Sturgeon became the only first minister toserve a third term, and she subsequently entereda power-sharing agreementwith theScottish Greens. The calls from Sturgeon's government and the wider independence movement for a second referendum were unsuccessful, as successiveConservativeprime ministers refused to grant aSection 30 order. From 2022, Sturgeon received heavier criticism for her positions ongender reforms. On 15 February 2023, Sturgeon resigned the leadership of the SNP claimingoccupational burnout; she wassucceededby her health secretary,Humza Yousaf, the following month. First","month. First Minister of Scotland UK General elections Early life and education Nicola Ferguson Sturgeonwas born inAyrshire Central HospitalinIrvineon 19 July 1970.She is the eldest of two daughters born toJoan Kerr Sturgeon(néeFerguson, born 23 October 1952), adental nurse, and Robin Sturgeon (born 28 September 1948), an electrician.Her younger sister, Gillian Sturgeon, is anNHS worker.Her family has some roots inNorth East England; her paternal grandmother, Margaret Sturgeon (néeMill), was fromRyhopein what is now theCity of Sunderland.Her grandmother married Robert Sturgeon, a gardener fromAyr, at St Paul's Parish Church in 1943, and they both eventually moved back to the south west of Scotland. Sturgeon grew up inPrestwickand in the village ofDreghorn, in a terracedcouncil house, which her parents bought through theright-to-buy scheme. Sturgeon was a quiet child and has been described by her younger sister as \"the sensible one\" of the two.Sturgeon was shy and has said that she \"much preferred to sit with","to sit with my head in a book than talking to people\".She developed a passion for books and reading which continued into adult life. She has described herself as being an \"austere\" teen whose style tended towardsgoth, adding that \"if you see pictures of me back then, you would struggle to know whether I was a boy or a girl\".Sturgeon was a fan ofWham!andDuran Duran, and enjoyed spending Saturday nights at Frosty's Ice Disco inIrvine. Sturgeon attendedDreghorn Primary Schoolfrom 1975 to 1982 andGreenwood Academyfrom 1982 to 1988.She later studiedlawat theUniversity of Glasgow School of Law, graduating with aBachelor of Laws(Hons) in 1992 and aDiploma in Legal Practicethe following year.During her time at theUniversity of Glasgowshe was active as a member of theGlasgow University Scottish Nationalist Associationand theGlasgow University Students' Representative Council. Legal career Following her graduation, Sturgeon completed her legal traineeship atMcClure Naismith, a Glasgow firm of solicitors, in 1995.","in 1995. After qualifying as asolicitor, she worked for Bell & Craig, a firm of solicitors inStirling, and later at theDrumchapelLaw Centreand a Money Advice Centre inGlasgowfrom 1997 until her election to theScottish Parliamentin 1999. Early parliamentary career Early political years In her early teens, Sturgeon joined theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament(CND) and in 1986, at the age of 16, she became a member of theScottish National Party(SNP), quickly becoming the party's Youth Affairs Vice Convener and Publicity Vice Convener. She joined the SNP following an assumption by her English teacher, who was a Labour councillor, she would be a Labour supporter. In the1987 UK General election, Sturgeon got her first taste of campaigning, going door-to-door to get her local SNP candidate,Kay Ullrich, elected toWestminster. Despite Ullrich failing to win the seat, Sturgeon ploughed her political energy into theYoung Scottish Nationalists(nowYoung Scots for Independence), joining its national executive when she was","when she was 17. In an interview with the BBC'sWoman's Hour, Sturgeon revealed that it wasMargaret Thatcherwho inspired her to enter politics, because, due to rising unemployment in Scotland at the time, she developed \"a strong feeling that it was wrong for Scotland to be governed by a Tory government that we hadn't elected\". Thatcher was the motivation for my entire political career. I hated everything she stood for. Sturgeon became the youngest ever parliamentary candidate in Scotland in the1992 general election. Aged 21, Sturgeon was selected as the SNP candidate in theGlasgow Shettlestonconstituency. She was unsuccessful, having been beaten by almost 15,000 votes by Labour.Sturgeon also stood unsuccessfully as the SNP candidate for the Irvine NorthwardonCunninghameDistrict Council in May 1992, for theBaillieston/Mount Vernonward onStrathclyde Regional Councilin 1994, and for theBridgetonward onGlasgow City Councilin 1995. In the mid-1990s Sturgeon andCharles Kennedywent together on a political study","a political study visit to Australia. The1997 general electionsaw Sturgeon selected to fight theGlasgow Govanseat for the SNP. Boundary changes meant that the notionalLabourmajority in the seat had increased substantially. However, infighting between the two rival candidates for the Labour nomination,Mohammed SarwarandMike Watson, along with an energetic local campaign,resulted in Glasgow Govan being the only Scottish seat to see a swing away from Labour in the midst of a Labourlandslidenationwide. Sarwar did, however, win the seat with a majority of 2,914 votes.Shortly after this, Sturgeon was appointed as the SNP's spokesperson for energy and education matters. SNP in opposition Sturgeon stood for election to theScottish Parliamentin thefirst Scottish Parliament electionin 1999 as the SNP candidate forGlasgow Govan.Although she failed to win the seat, she was placed first in the SNP's regional list for theGlasgow region, and was thus elected as aMember of the Scottish Parliament. The SNP emerged as the","SNP emerged as the second largest party and sat inoppositionto theLabour-Lib Dem coalition. InAlex Salmond's shadow cabinet, she served asShadow Minister for Children and Educationfrom 1999 to 2000. As Shadow Education minister, Sturgeon backed Labour's efforts to repealSection 28– a Westminster law that banned the promotion of homosexuality in schools. There was, however, significant publicopposition to repealand an unscientific postal vote on the issue – organised by SNP donorBrian Souter– suggested most Scots wanted to keep the clause. Acknowledging this, Sturgeon suggested: \"That is why the SNP have urged a policy for many months that we believe can provide people with the necessary reassurance, by providing a statutory underpinning to the guidelines, and resolve this difficult debate. We believe that the value of marriage should be clearly referred to in the guidelines, without denigrating other relationships or children brought up in other kinds of relationship.\" The compromise had the support of","had the support of Souter but an amendment to that effect was voted down by MSPs who expressed concerns it would stigmatise children from single parent and unmarried families. Sturgeon served asShadow Minister for Health and Community Carefrom 2000 to 2003, andShadow Minister for Justicefrom 2003 to 2004. She also served as a member of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee and the Health and Community Care Committee. 2004 SNP leadership election On 22 June 2004, John Swinney resigned as Leader of the SNP following poor results in theEuropean Parliament election. His then-depute,Roseanna Cunningham, immediately stood for the leadership. The previous leader, Alex Salmond, at the time refused to stand.On 24 June 2004, Sturgeon also entered the leadership contest, withKenny MacAskillas her running mate.The political columnistIain Macwhirterdeclared that while she \"didn't inspire great warmth\", she was \"quick on her feet, lacks any ideological baggage and has real determination – unlike... Roseanna","unlike... Roseanna Cunningham\". However, once Cunningham emerged as the favourite to win,Salmond entered the contest and Sturgeon subsequently withdrew from the contest and declared her support for Salmond, standing instead as his running mate for the depute leadership. It was reported that Salmond had privately supported Sturgeon in her leadership bid, but decided to run for the position himself as it became apparent she was unlikely to beat Cunningham.The majority of the SNP hierarchy lent their support to the Salmond–Sturgeon bid for the leadership, although MSPAlex Neilbacked Salmond as leader, but refused to endorse Sturgeon as depute. On 3 September 2004, the leadership contest resulted in Salmond and Sturgeon elected as Leader and Depute Leader respectively.As Salmond was still an MP in theHouse of Commons, Sturgeon led the SNP at the Scottish Parliament until the2007 election, when Salmond was elected as an MSP. Leader of the Opposition; 2004–2007 As leader of the SNP in the Scottish Parliament, she","Parliament, she served as theLeader of the Opposition in Holyrood. Sturgeon became a high-profile figure in Scottish politics and often clashed withFirst MinisterJack McConnellatFirst Minister's Questions. This included rows over theHouse of Commons'decision to replace the Trident nuclear weapon system, and the SNP's plans to replacecouncil taxin Scotland with alocal income tax.Sturgeon quickly grew a reputation in Holyrood as opposition leader, becoming known as \"nippy sweetie\" – Scottish slang for the \"sharp-tongued and strong-minded\". Deputy First Minister of Scotland (2007–2014) In the2007 Scottish Parliament election, Sturgeon defeatedGordon JacksonQCwith a 4.7% swing to the SNP in theGlasgow Govan constituency.This was one of many swings to the SNP, as the party emerged as the largest party, winning one seat more than the governingScottish Labour Party.Although the SNP was recognised as the winners of the election, it failed to obtain a majority and Labour was not willing to allow the SNP to enter","the SNP to enter government.Sturgeon led coalition negotiation talks between theScottish Liberal Democratsand theScottish Greens, but these talks failed to reach an agreement, with the Lib Dems backing out and the Greens instead supporting a 'confidence and supply' agreement.Ultimately, Salmond formed aminority governmentand he was appointedFirst Minister of Scotland.He appointed Sturgeon asDeputy First Ministerand tasked her with theCabinet positionofCabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing. Health Secretary (2007–2012) Sturgeon served asHealth SecretaryinSalmond's first, and for a year, inhis second cabinet.She was supported in her role as Health Secretary byShona Robison, theMinister for Public Health and Sport, and byAlex Neil, theMinister for Housing and Communities. She launched her programme for government, theBetter Health, Better Care: Action Plan,which settled a new vision forNHS Scotland.She reversed the decision to close casualty units atUniversity Hospital AyrandUniversity Hospital","Hospital Monklands.Sturgeon oversaw the scrapping ofprescription chargesIn Scotland, an election pledge by the SNP originally for thechronically illand those withcancer. Health policy Sturgeon also outlined a guaranteed maximum 18-week wait for patients after they had seen their GP and vowed to do away with deferred or \"hidden\" waiting lists. She ordered a review of the thorny issue of hospital car parking charges – as high as £7 in some areas – and launched an inquiry into the infection of NHS patients with Hepatitis C and HIV from tainted blood products. 2009 swine flu pandemic As Health Secretary, Sturgeon became more widely known internationally for her handling of the2009 flu pandemic. On 26 April 2009, the Scottish Government confirmed that two people who had returned from Mexico had been admitted toMonklands HospitalinAirdrieafter experiencing \"mild flu-like symptoms\".Sturgeon stated that there was \"no immediate threat to public health in Scotland\", but added, \"monitoring of those who have been in","who have been in close contact with the two people is also being carried out as an additional precaution.\"The following day, she confirmed that these were cases of theswine influenza A (H1N1) virus.Authorities in both Scotland and England stated that there were no plans to trace the fellow airline passengers who may have travelled alongside the couple, since the authorities do not classify them as \"close contacts\". On 11 June, theWorld Health Organization(WHO) declared the influenza virus apandemic.Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament that containment of the virus had failed and that the Scottish Government was taking steps to mitigate the spread of the virus. \"We have seen a rapid increase in the number of confirmed cases in Scotland over the past 10 days\", she told Parliament. \"Based on this experience,Health Protection Scotlandhas expressed the view that sustained community transmission appears to be taking place.\"Four days later, a Scottish woman with underlying health conditions died at theRoyal","died at theRoyal Alexandra HospitalinPaisley.This marked the first death in Scotland and Europe. Minimum pricing unit To tackleScotland's poor relationship with alcohol, Sturgeon passed legislation to increase the price ofalcoholperunitto help reduce sales, in particular, for thoseaddicted.In June 2012, theAlcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012was passed after receiving support from the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and Greens. Labour refused to support the bill as they claimed it failed to tacklewindfall profitfrom alcohol retailers. Infrastructure Secretary (2012–2014) At the2011 election, the SNP won a large overall majority. Sturgeon was retained as Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing until a reshuffle one year later, when she was appointed asCabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Capital Investment and Citiesand an additional role overseeing thereferendum onScottish independence, essentially putting her in charge of the SNP's referendum campaign. In 2012 she","In 2012 she pledged to build a high-speed railway line between Glasgow and Edinburgh by 2024, cutting journey times between the two cities to under 30 minutes.Sturgeon said the Scottish Government would \"not wait\" for Westminster to build a high-speed line to Scotland. However, in 2016 the plan was abandoned and the Scottish Government blamed Westminster. 2014 Scottish independence referendum Salmond put Sturgeon in charge of the Scottish Government's legislative process for areferendum on Scottish Independenceand she was essentially in charge of the SNP's referendum campaign. In December 2012, Sturgeon said that she believed that independence would allow Scotland to build a stronger and more competitive country, and would change spending priorities to address \"the scandal of soaring poverty in a country as rich as Scotland\". While campaigning for a Yes vote in August 2013, she toldThe Guardianthat if Scots voted for the Union: \"Will there be another referendum round the corner? No. We can't bind our","We can't bind our successors, but we've made very clear our belief that constitutional referenda are once-in-a-generation events.\" In November 2013, Sturgeon joined Salmond to launchScotland's Future– the Scottish Government's prospectus for independence.Sturgeon was one of the white paper's most high-profile media champions and frequently debated its contents with opposition politicians and sceptical Scots. When the British Government turned down the Scottish Government's idea of a formal currency union – on the grounds that the rationale for sharing a currency with a foreign country was \"not clear\" – Sturgeon accused Westminster of trying to \"bully Scotland\" and said it would \"cost their own businesses hundreds of millions in transaction costs\". During the campaign, theEuropean Commissionsaid that if Scots decided to leave the United Kingdom, it would also mean leaving the European Union. Scotland would then have to reapply for EU membership and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso predicted","Barroso predicted this would be \"extremely difficult, if not impossible\".In July 2014 Sturgeon said this would put at risk the right of EU citizens to continue living in Scotland: \"There are 160,000 EU nationals from other states living in Scotland, including some in the Commonwealth Games city of Glasgow. If Scotland was outside Europe, they would lose the right to stay here.\" On 19 September 2014, independence was rejected in the Scottish independence referendum, with 55.3% of the voters voting no and 44.7% voting yes.Following the defeat of theYes Scotlandcampaign, Salmond resigned as First Minister and Leader of the SNP. Sturgeon immediately entered the election to replace him, and received huge support from the SNP hierarchy.Sturgeon said that there would be \"no greater privilege\" than to lead the SNP. On Salmond's resignation, Sturgeon said: The personal debt of gratitude I owe Alex is immeasurable. He has been my friend, mentor and colleague for more than 20 years. Quite simply, I would not have been","would not have been able to do what I have in politics without his constant advice, guidance and support through all these years. I can think of no greater privilege than to seek to lead the party I joined when I was just 16. However, that decision is not for today. Following the referendum defeat, Sturgeon said that \"further devolution is the route to independence\".She also opined that Scottish independence was a matter of \"when, not if\". Leadership of the Scottish National Party On 24 September 2014, Sturgeon officially launched her campaign bid to succeed Salmond as Leader of the Scottish National Party at theNovember leadership election.It quickly became apparent that no other candidate would be able to receive enough required nominations to run a credible leadership campaign.Upon launching her campaign, Sturgeon also resigned as Depute Leader, triggering a concurrentdepute leadership election; the MSPsAngela ConstanceandKeith Brownand the MPStewart Hosieall nominated themselves to succeed Sturgeon as","succeed Sturgeon as Depute Leader. Nominations for the SNP leadership closed on 15 October, with Sturgeon confirmed as the only candidate. SNP convenerDerek Mackaypublicly congratulated Sturgeon as de facto leader in waiting, saying that she would be \"a fantastic new leader\" for both the SNP and for Scotland.On this date, Sturgeon also came out on top in a trust rating opinion poll, conducted for the SNP, which indicated that 54% of the Scottish population trusted her to \"stand up for Scotland's interests\". At a speech in Dundee's Caird Hall on 7 November, Sturgeon pledged to be \"the most accessible First Minister ever\" when she took over. She also promised to hold a monthly Facebook question and answer session with members of the public, regular town hall meetings and that the Scottish Cabinet would meet outside Edinburgh once every two months. Sturgeon was formally acclaimed as the first female Leader of the SNP on 14 November 2014 at the Autumn Conference inPerth, with Hosie as her depute. This also made","This also made her First Minister-Designate, given the SNP's absolute majority in the Scottish Parliament.In her first speech as leader, Sturgeon said that it was \"the privilege of her life\" to lead the party she joined as a teenager. Although Salmond officially tendered his resignation as First Minister on 18 November 2014, Sturgeon was not sworn in until two days later. From 18 November until her official appointment on 20 November, she served as the acting First Minister, essentially the First Minister-elect. First Minister of Scotland (2014–2023) First term (2014–2016) On 20 November 2014, Sturgeon was sworn into office at theCourt of Sessionin a ceremony presided byLord Gill,after receiving theroyal warrant of appointmentby QueenElizabeth II.She became the first woman tohold office.During her firstFirst Minister's Questionsafter being sworn in, Sturgeon tried to strike a conciliatory tone, saying that she came into her new post \"with an open mind and a willingness to hear proposals from all sides of the","all sides of the chamber.\" First cabinet Sturgeon began makingappointments to her first cabineton 21 November 2014, beginning with the appointment offinance secretaryJohn Swinneyto become herDeputy First Minister.Shona Robison, a close ally to Sturgeon, became thehealth secretary, whileKeith BrownandAngela Constance, who were both unsuccessful in their bids for thedeputy leadership of the SNP, were appointedinfrastructure secretaryandeducation secretary, respectively.Michael Mathesonwas promoted asjustice secretary. The departure ofKenny MacAskillandMichael Russellsignalled a generational shift away from the \"79 group\".Alex Neil, who many speculated would be dismissed, remained in cabinet but in a \"less prominent portfolio\" ofsocial justice, communities and pensioners' rights.Roseanna Cunningham, who had difficult relationship with Sturgeon, was surprisingly promoted to cabinet as thefair work secretary.Fiona HyslopandRichard Lochheadremained in their portfolios ofculture secretaryandrural affairs secretary,","affairs secretary, respectively. Sturgeon's cabinet was 50/50 gender balance, with five men and five women, including herself. 2015 Westminster landslide Sturgeon led theScottish National Partythrough alandslide victoryin the2015 UK general election, winning 56 out of 59 Scottish seats atWestminster, the party's best ever performance.The party received 50% of the vote share in Scotland and replaced theLiberal Democratsas the third largest party in theBritish House of Commons.Sturgeon had stated that the party's success in the election was not a mandate for another independence referendum, but primarily for a stronger voice for Scotland in London. In the run-up to the elections, Sturgeon took part in several Scottish and UK-wideTV election debatesand according to opinion polls was regarded to have had a successful performance.As part of the election campaign, Sturgeon indicated that the SNP would hold another independence referendum if it won the upcoming 2016 Scottish Parliament election. 2016 Scottish","2016 Scottish Parliament election Sturgeon launched, in what she claimed, as the most \"bold, ambitious and reforming\" SNP manifesto for the2016 Scottish Parliament election.She set out the party's plans to increase income tax by freezing tax thresholds, reversing her previous policy of cutting taxes for higher earners.The manifesto also included a commitment to increase NHS funding by £500 million, \"baby boxes\" full of essentials to newborn parents, and an ambitious new target to cut emissions by 50% by 2020 as of the party's effort to tackle climate change.Sturgeon also hinted if re-elected she would hold asecond referendum on Scottish independence. Despite losing her majority, Sturgeon claimed a \"historic victory\" after the SNP won a third consecutive term in governmentand sought a second term in office as a minority government. Second term (2016–2021) 2016 EU membership referendum In 2016, theEuropean Union membership referendumto decide the future of the UK's European Union membership resulted in 52% of","resulted in 52% of voters in the UK voting forBrexit(leaving the EU), with 48% voting to remain; all council areas in Scotland voted by a majority for the UK to remain a member of the EU. Across Scotland, 62% of voters backed the UK remaining a member of the EU, with 38% voting for the UK to leave. In response to the result, on 24 June 2016, Sturgeon said thatScottish Governmentofficials would begin planning for a second independence referendum.Sturgeon claimed that it was \"clear that the people of Scotland see their future as part of the European Union\" and that Scotland had \"spoken decisively\" with a \"strong, unequivocal\" vote to remain in the European Union.Sturgeon said it was \"democratically unacceptable\" that Scotland could be taken out of the EU \"against its will\".An emergency Scottish cabinet meeting on 25 June agreed that the Scottish Government would seek to enter negotiations with the EU and its member states, to explore options to protect Scotland's place in the EU.Sturgeon later said that while","said that while she believed in Scottish independence, her starting point in these discussions was to protect Scotland's relationship with the EU. Future referendum on independence Sturgeon confirmed in June 2016 that the Scottish government had formally agreed to draft legislation to allow a second independence referendum to take place.As the constitution is a reserved matter under theScotland Act 1998, for a future referendum on Scottish independence to be legal under UK law, it would need to receive the consent of the British Parliament to take place. Prior to the day the Prime Minister triggeredArticle 50, formally allowing the process of the United Kingdom leaving theEuropean Union, theScottish Parliamentvoted 69 to 59 in favour of another independence referendum.By the end of that week, on 30 March 2017, Sturgeon wrote to the Prime Minister requesting a Section 30 order, formally devolving the responsibility and power to theScottish Governmentto plan for and hold another referendum on Scottish","on Scottish independence.Previously, May andDavid Mundell,Secretary of State for Scotland, had both highlighted that as the negotiations began with the European Union on the United Kingdom's withdraw, it was important for Scotland to work with the UK Government to get the best exit deal for both the United Kingdom and Scotland, stating that \"now is not the time for another referendum\". Following the 2017 UK general election, Sturgeon's government postponed legislation pertaining to the proposed second referendum on Scottish independence until at least autumn 2018.Following the outbreak of theCOVID-19 pandemic, all plans for another referendum were put on hold. 2017 UK general election Sturgeon kicked off her election campaign pledging that a strong result for the SNP would \"reinforce\" her mandate for a second independence referendum.However, the SNP lost 21 seats in the2017 United Kingdom general election in Scotlandand the party's vote dropped by 13%, although they remained the biggest party in Scotland.","party in Scotland. Sturgeon admitted that these results were \"bitterly disappointing\" and acknowledged that her party's plans for a second referendum were 'undoubtedly' a factor in the election results.It was the best result for the Scottish Conservatives since Margaret Thatcher and the party's campaign slogan, \"We said No to independence. We meant it\", resonated in areas that had voted strongly for the Union in 2014.Observers also concluded that opposition to the EU'sCommon Fisheries Policyin coastal communities was a factor behind large swings to the Tories in North East seats previously held by nationalists for decades. Several weeks later Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament that she would \"reset\" and delay her plans for a second independence referendum; the SNP losses in that month's election had led her to conclude that many Scots \"just want a break from making big political decisions\". Alex Salmond sexual harassment case In January 2019, Sturgeon referred herself to an independent ministerial ethics","ministerial ethics body, which led to an investigation into her actions with respect to asexual harassment case concerning allegations against Salmond. This followed her admitting that she had had a secret meeting and subsequent phone call with Salmond about the Scottish government's allegations against him. She raised these with the Permanent Secretary to theScottish Government,Leslie Evans, two months later, rather than reporting them immediately, as she should have done if they constitute government matters (as per the ministerial code). Sturgeon argued that the meetings were SNP party matters, and thus not covered. The investigating panel consisted of DameElish Angiolini, a formerSolicitor General for Scotlandandlord advocate, andJames Hamilton, a formerdirector of public prosecutionsin the Republic of Ireland. On 15 January 2019, theScottish Parliamentagreed to hold its own inquiry into the matter, theCommittee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints,to investigate how the","investigate how the Government breached its own guidelines in its original investigation into the harassment claims against Salmond, and then lost a judicial review into their actions and had to pay over £500,000 to Salmond for legal expenses.Sturgeon's husband,Peter Murrell, was called to this inquiry to give evidence on 8 December 2020.Opposition parties criticised Sturgeon on disparity and contradictions between the narratives of Murrell and herself. On 4 March 2021, Sturgeon answered questions over a period of eight hours from members of the committee.Two of the civil servants who made complaints about Salmond later said they felt they had been \"dropped\" by the Scottish Government after it lost the judicial review against him, adding they feared their experiences would make it less likely people would make complaints in the future.Labour MPJess Phillips, a former employee ofWomen's Aid, accused Sturgeon of being \"unprofessional with those women's lives\" and said there had been a \"litany of failures in","of failures in professionalism and decency.\" 2019 UK general election Sturgeon led her party to alandslide victoryin the2019 United Kingdom general election in Scotland. The SNP won 48 seats, and came second place in the 11 others; their 45% of the vote yielded 80% of the seats in Scotland.Among the election casualties wasLiberal DemocratsleaderJo Swinson, who lost her seat inEast Dunbartonshire.Sturgeon was branded as \"ungracious\" when she was filmed bySky Newscelebrating Swinson's defeat. Sturgeon apologised for being overexcited although expressed that she was celebratingAmy Callaghan's win.In the wake of the results, Sturgeon said thatPrime MinisterBoris Johnsonhad \"no right\" to stand in the way of another Scottish independence referendum after an \"overwhelming\" SNP election victory. She also said that the result \"renews, reinforces and strengthens\" the mandate forIndyref2. COVID-19 pandemic Theworldwide pandemicofCOVID-19began during Sturgeon's second term as First Minister. The first case of the virus","case of the virus in Scotland was confirmed on 1 March 2020, when a resident inTaysidehad tested positive. Initially, the Scottish Government resisted banning public events and on 12 March allowed 47,000 fans to attend a Rangers match at Ibrox, insisting that, \"stopping mass gatherings not the best way to contain this virus.\"However, Sturgeon's government ordered all schools and nurseries in Scotland closed on 20 March to try to limit the spread of the virus.On 23 March, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Sturgeon ordered Scotland into \"lockdown\", limiting the reasons why people may leave their homes in an attempt to limit the spread of the virus, to protect the health of the population, and to ease the pressure the virus placed onNHS Scotlandservices and workforce.Subsequently the restrictions were repeatedly tightened, loosened and adapted in parts or all of Scotland in response to developments in the situation. During the early stages of the pandemic, 1,300 elderly hospital patients were transferred into","transferred into care homes without receiving a negative coronavirus test result.Many had been infected with the virus and ended up passing it on to other care home residents.Over three thousand care home residents died from COVID-19and Gary Smith, Scotland Secretary of theGMB, said the policy had turned \"care homes into morgues\".When asked by the BBC if the policy had been a mistake, Sturgeon said: \"Looking back on that now, with the knowledge we have now and with the benefit of hindsight, yes.\" In April 2020 whistle-blowers in the NHS came forward to reveal that staff were being made to reuse dirtypersonal protective equipment (PPE)while at work. One nurse told STV, \" it's not frustrating, it's crushing. It is absolutely crushing. We feel we are being lied to.\"Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament in July, \"At no point within this crisis has Scotland run out of any aspect of PPE. We have worked hard to make sure that supplies are there, we've worked hard overcoming challenges that we have faced along the","faced along the way.\" In July 2020, Sturgeon advocated that the leaders of the four UK nations adopt a coordinatedZero-COVIDstrategy. In February 2021, Audit Scotland published a report that concluded the Scottish government had not prepared adequately for a pandemic. While it commended the authorities for preventing hospitals from becoming overwhelmed during the crisis, the watchdog also noted that recommendations from pandemic planning exercises in 2015, 2016 and 2018 had not been fully implemented. One particular problem it highlighted was that not enough had been done to ensure Scottish hospitals and care homes had enough personal protective equipment. Overall, it concluded that ministers \"could have been better prepared to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic\". Sturgeon said there were \"lots of lessons to learn\". In March 2021, theCourt of Sessiondeclared that the Scottish government's prohibition on communal worship, imposed during the pandemic, was unlawful.This followed an open letter two months earlier,","two months earlier, written by 200 church leaders to Sturgeon, warning her that the prohibition could be unlawful. In April 2021, Scotland's death toll from COVID-19 passed 10,000. At a session of First Minister's Questions in June 2021, Sturgeon was asked about mistakes made early on in the pandemic, and she replied: \"If I could turn the clock back, would we go into lockdown earlier than we did? Yes, I think that is true.\" In April 2022, Sturgeon demanded that Prime Minister Boris Johnson resign after police fined him for breaking lockdown rules in 2020. \"The basic values of integrity and decency – essential to the proper working of any parliamentary democracy – demand that he go\", she tweeted.The following week, Sturgeon received an official reprimand from Police Scotland after a video emerged of her campaigning in a barber shop without a mask. Sturgeon – who had previously apologised to the Scottish Parliament after she was caught breaking the same law in December 2020– apologised once more and said the","more and said the police had been \"absolutely right to treat me no differently to any other citizen.\" Third term (2021–23) Sturgeon led the SNP into the2021 Scottish Parliament electionon a manifesto promise to hold a second independence referendum after the COVID-19 pandemic was over.In the election, the SNP won 64 of the 129 seats contested.The SNP won a fourth consecutive election, albeit short of an overall majority, with a record number of votes on both the constituency and regional voteas well as increasing their share of the constituency vote and making a net gain of one seat. Sturgeon was nominated for the post ofFirst Ministerby a vote of theScottish Parliamenton 18 May, defeatingScottish ConservativeleaderDouglas RossandScottish Liberal Democratleader Willie Rennie by 64 votes to 31 and 4 respectively. This win resulted in Sturgeon becoming the first First Minister in the history of the Scottish Parliament to form athird government. Shortly after being elected, Sturgeon appointed John Swinney to","John Swinney to the newly created position ofCabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery. Power-sharing agreement In August 2021, Sturgeon and Scottish Green Party co-leadersPatrick HarvieandLorna Slaterreached apower-sharing agreement between their parties. There was no agreement on oil and gas exploration, but the government now argued that it had a stronger case for a national independence referendum.As part of the agreement, the Green Party co-leaders would be nominated to serve as ministers. Climate crisis In August 2021, confronted by climate activist Lauren Macdonald about theCambo oil fieldwest of Shetland, Sturgeon refused to take a position on whether its development should go ahead. A video of the interaction went viraland a few days later, Sturgeon wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, asking that the development of Cambo should be \"reassessed in light of the severity of the climate emergency\".The letter represented a significant shift in policy for the SNP, which hadhistorically been a strong","been a strong supporter of the oil and gas industry; the party's blueprint for an independent Scotland in 2013 was predicated on tax revenue earned from domestic oil production, while Sturgeon had predicted in the run-up to the referendum that, \"We're on the verge of another North Sea bonanza\". This shift in position was welcomed by the Scottish Green party butGreenpeacecriticised Sturgeon for not coming out more strongly against the oil field. \"The First Minister must stop hiding behind Boris Johnson\", a spokesperson for the organisation said. \"If she wants to show leadership on climate she must clearly say: stop Cambo.\"In November 2021, although no assessment had taken place, Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament she believed the oilfield \"should not get the green light\". Caledonian MacBrayne ferry delay In the late 2010s, Scottish islanders began to complain that the ageing ferry fleet that connected them to the mainland had become increasingly unreliable.During the winter of 2022 only one in three","only one in three sailings to the island ofCollwent ahead;Hebridean shopkeepers kept receiving deliveries of rotten food;while other islanders said they had missed doctors' appointments, funerals and even the chance to say goodbye to dying loved ones because of cancelled sailings. The Scottish Government had commissioned two new ferries for £97m from Ferguson's shipyard in 2015, but the construction of the two vessels was beset by delays and complications. In 2022 Audit Scotland concluded that the final price tag for the vessels would be somewhere between £250m and £400m once the ships were finished in 2023. Furthermore, they concluded that the Scottish Government had awarded the contracts without normal financial safeguards and presided over a \"multitude of failings\". Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament of her \"deep regret\" that islanders were enduring such chaos, and said that the government was \"learning lessons from this experience\".Key documentation, which might have explained why ministers signed the","signed the contracts without appropriate safeguards to protect taxpayers' money, was lost and Sturgeon later said this too was \"regrettable\" and that \"the government will learn lessons.\" Second independence referendum proposals In June 2022, Sturgeon officially unveiled plans forScottish independenceonce again.She argued that her government had an \"indisputable mandate\" for asecond Scottish independence referendum.She argued that independence would allow Scotland to set out \"a different and better vision\"and claimed that there is a legally secure path to get a referendum without permission from thecabinet.This plan has been met with condemnation from various opposing parties, with thePrime Ministerrejecting her plan. Sturgeon scheduled the referendum for 19 October 2023.She sought the Prime Minister to consent to the vote by signing a section 30 order, a move that Downing Street has refused to comply.She askedScotland's Lord Advocateto consider referring the matter to theSupreme Court of the United Kingdomto","United Kingdomto rule if theScottish Governmenthas the power to host a referendum without theGovernment of the United Kingdom'sapproval, this request has since been granted. In October 2022, Sturgeon launched her government's third independence paper, which outlines the currency in an independent Scotland and joining the EU.She proposed the Scottish Government would use thepound sterlingfor a brief period before transitioning to a new currency known as the 'Scottish Pound'.She argued independence would be \"essential\" foreconomic prosperityfor Scotland as she claimed the economic climate throughout the UK does not offer strength, stability or security. On the day the Supreme Court ruled the Scottish Parliament does not have the power to legislate a referendum on independence, Sturgeon declared the next democratic election in Scotland - in this case aUK general electionexpectedto be held in 2024- would be campaigned by the SNP as ade factoreferendum.Unionist parties have rejected this characterisation.Some SNP","SNP members urged Sturgeon to call anearly election at Holyroodto speed up the process for a de facto referendum. Gender recognition reforms As part of the SNP's 2016 manifesto policy, the SNP pledged to voters that it would review and reform the way that trans people change their legal gender.However, the policy divided the party and the bill was delayed during Sturgeon's second term in office because of opposition to the policy and the COVID-19 pandemic.In the 2021 SNP manifesto, Sturgeon committed the party once again to reform theGender Recognition Act 2004of theUK Parliamentand in August that year included the commitment in her agreement with theScottish Greenson power-sharing. In September 2021, Sturgeon was accused of shutting down debate about gender reforms after she described concerns about gender recognition reform as \"not valid\" and campaign groups and analysts complained that their concerns were being ignored. On 22 December 2022, the Scottish Parliament voted 86 to 39 to pass theGender","to pass theGender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Billwhich was introduced by Sturgeon's government. On 17 January 2023, the UK Government decided to invoke, for the first time, section 35 of the Scottish Act 1998, to make an order which prevented the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill from gaining Royal Assent. She opposed the decision made and criticisedScottish SecretaryAlister Jackfor blocking the bill and said that the decision was an attack on the Scottish Parliament and Scottish democracy as a whole and said that the matter would be brought to the courts. In 2023, Sturgeon was criticised in connection withthe case of Isla Bryson, atransgender womanwho had raped two women prior to hertransition. On this basis, Bryson was initially sent to a women's prison but was later moved to a men's prison. Sturgeon refused to say if she regards Bryson as a man or woman, though she used female pronouns when talking about Bryson. Resignation On 15 February 2023, Sturgeon resigned asfirst minister of","asfirst minister of Scotlandandleader of the Scottish National Party, pending aleadership election.At a press conference in Bute House, Sturgeon insisted that her resignation was not due to \"short term pressures\" and stated that the job \"takes its toll on you\".Sturgeon stated that she believed that her successor would lead Scotland to independence and that she would look on with pride whoever takes on the role. While appearing on apodcastfor BBC Scotland, Sturgeon would later say that internet speculation about her life was a part of the reason she decided to stand down from her position as first minister, specifically referring to rumours regarding her sexuality, love life and property portfolio as being wildly inaccurate. Domestic issues Drugs deaths crisis In 2016, the Scottish Government cut direct funding to drug and alcohol rehabilitation programmes from £69.2 million to £53.8 million – a drop of 22%.At the time, Scottish Drugs Forum Chief Executive David Liddell said he was concerned that the cuts had","that the cuts had \"the potential to increase harm and drug-related deaths.\"That year 867 Scots lost their lives to drugs – an increase of 23% on the previous year's figure – and the SNP insisted it was part of a trend seen across much of Europe.In December 2020, figures were released revealing that 1,264 people in Scotland had died from drug overdoses in 2019 – the highest number in Europe per head and more than double the number in 2014.Sturgeon sacked her Public Health MinisterJoe FitzPatrick, and in April 2021 said of the crisis: \"I think we took our eye off the ball.\" The crisis has particularly impacted the homeless in Scotland: 216 homeless people died in Scotland in 2019 – an increase of 11% on the previous year; over half (54%) of these deaths were drug-related.Per head, Scotland's death rate among the homeless is the highest in Britain. In August 2021, the Scottish Government announced there had been 1,339 drug deaths in the previous year – a new record high.Sturgeon tweeted that the figures were","the figures were \"unacceptable, each one a human tragedy\",while the Scottish Liberal Democrats said: \"It was Nicola Sturgeon's choice to ignore this unfolding epidemic. Issuing apologies now is too late for thousands of people. The victims of drugs and their families were failed. It is a scar on the conscience of this Scottish Government.\" In July 2022, the figures for 2021 were released, revealing that 1,330 had died – nine fewer than in 2020.Annemarie Ward, chief executive at the FAVOR Scotland charity, said: \"Nicola Sturgeon said she would make it her national mission to save lives – but we're still losing more than 1000 people a year. The national mission is failing.\" Education performance In 2015, Sturgeon said that she planned to make education her \"defining priority\" while in office.In particular, she said she hoped to focus on closing the attainment gap between the richest and poorest children in Scottish schools, telling journalists: \"Let me be clear – I want to be judged on this. If you are not, as","If you are not, as First Minister, prepared to put your neck on the line on the education of our young people then what are you prepared to. It really matters.\" In 2021, Audit Scotland concluded: \"Progress on closing the poverty-related attainment gap between the most and least deprived school pupils has been limited\"and fell short of the Government's aims.In some local authorities, the attainment gap between the richest and poorest students had widened. International relations Whileforeign policyremains areserved matter,Sturgeon has undertaken a number of visits to Europe, North America and Asia to promote Scotland as a place of investment and Scottish businesses to trade and do business with.Sturgeon has committed to strengthening links between Scotland andAfrica. European Union In response to the Brexit vote, to discuss Scotland's interests, Sturgeon travelled toBrusselsto meet with bothJean-Claude Juncker, thePresident of the European Commissionas well asMartin Schulz, thePresident of the European","of the European Parliament. In response to the UK-wide vote for the United Kingdom to leave theEuropean Union, theScottish Government, headed by Sturgeon, launched theScotland's Place in Europedocument, a white paper setting out the Scottish government's aims and wishes of Scotland's role in Europe post-Brexit. The paper was sent to the centralBritish Governmentto be read by Prime MinisterTheresa May. In June 2017, Sturgeon criticised the approaches taken by bothTheresa Mayand the British Government towards the Brexit approach, claiming that May \"will struggle\" as she is a \"difficult person to build a rapport with\". In the same interview, Sturgeon committed to no independence referendum being held prior to the terms of a UK wide Brexit deal being agreed and presented. With a view towards Brexit, Sturgeon demanded greater powers for the Scottish Parliament, arguing that Brexit is threatening Scotland'sdevolution settlement.With London seeking to restrict immigration to the United Kingdom, she asserted that","she asserted that Scotland should be able to set its own immigration policy, as well as policies relating to employment and trade. United States Sturgeon was highly critical ofDonald Trumpand his policies during the2016 United States presidential electionand had publicly backed hisDemocraticrivalHillary Clinton.Sturgeon highlighted her disapproval of his language and views relating to sexism and misogyny, and stated upon Trump's victory that she hopes \"Trump turns out to be a president different to the one he was during his campaign and reaches out to those who felt vilified by his campaign\". Sturgeon had previously stripped Trump of his ambassadorial role for Scottish businesses with the Scottish government in the aftermath of Trump's views of an outright ban ofMuslimsfrom entering the United States. Sturgeon claimed following comments made by Trump in relation to Muslims entering the United States that he was \"not fit\" for the ambassadorial role with the Scottish government. In May 2022, Sturgeon made a","Sturgeon made a trip to the United States and met with controversialRepublicanmember ofCongressRobert Aderholt, a prominentanti-abortionsupporter. Spain In the run up to the2017 Catalan independence referendum, Nicola Sturgeon offered her own personal backing and that of theScottish GovernmenttoCataloniain the holding of a referendum.TheGovernment of Spaincriticised Sturgeon, claiming she had \"totally misunderstood\" the situation in Spain and Catalonia.Sturgeon highlighted that Spain should follow \"the shining example\" that was created as part of theEdinburgh Agreementbetween the Scottish and British governments that allowed Scotland to hold a legally binding referendum. Political positions Constitutional affairs Scottish independence An advocate forScottish independence, Sturgeon has campaigned for independence from theUnited Kingdomsince her late teens. She was categorised in 2015 as part of theSNP's gradualist wing, which believed in achieving independence through accumulating the Scottish Parliament's","Parliament's powers from the UK Parliament over time.In recent years, following the defeat of theYes Scotland campaignin2014 Scottish Independence referendum, Sturgeon has aligned herself with the new gradualist wing, who believe in only holding asecond referendumif there is clear public support, such as polling being over 60%, or if there is a material change in circumstances. Monarch Sturgeon is a constitutional monarchist, telling journalists that it is \"a model that has many merits\".On the dayQueen Elizabeth IIbecame Britain's longest reigning monarch, Sturgeon travelled with her to open theBorders Railwayand told a crowd of well-wishers: \"She has carried out her duties with dedication, wisdom and an exemplary sense of public service. The reception she has received today, demonstrates that that admiration and affection is certainly felt here in Scotland.\" Following thedeath of the Queen Elizabeth II, Sturgeon led tributes to the Queen.She described the Queen as the \"greatest constant in our national","in our national life\" and added her death was \"a day for reflection and remembrance\" and \"a day for giving thanks to The Queen for her devotion to duty and the decades of public service she gave to the people of Scotland.\" Economic policy She has at times been a critic ofausterity, saying that the UK government's \"austerity economics\" is \"morally unjustifiable and economically unsustainable\".However, in 2018, she endorsed her party's Growth Commission report that pledged to reduce an independent Scotland's budget deficit as a percentage of GDP– something theInstitute for Fiscal Studiesconcluded meant \"continued austerity\". Social issues Women's rights Sturgeon has also campaigned onwomen's rightsandgender equality, and is a self-describedfeminist; she has argued that Scotland's feminist movement is not simply symbolic, but \"sends a powerful signal about equality\".She has hailed Scottish feminist economistAilsa McKayas one of her inspirations.She has at various points commented on the behaviour or attitudes","or attitudes of men towards women; publicly condemning Donald Trump,Tony Abbottand former Labour MSPNeil Findlay.However, she defended her party's leader Alex Salmond from accusations of sexism. After Salmond had told Conservative MPAnna Soubry, \"Behave yourself, woman\" in 2015, Sturgeon said: \"The fundamental question, 'does that language indicate that Alex Salmond is sexist?' Absolutely not, there's no man I know who is less sexist.\" Commenting on the need for men to challenge their friends' misogynistic behaviour, Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament in 2021: \"I would say to all men in this chamber and all men across the country — challenge it if it's on the part of other men you may know, challenge your own behaviour and then let's collectively, as a society, turn the page and turn the corner so that women can live free of the fear of harassment, abuse, intimidation, violence and, in the worst cases, death.\" Transgender rights Ahead of the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, Sturgeon pledged to review","pledged to review and reform the way that trans people change their legal gender.However, proposed changes to Scotland's Gender Recognition Act that would have allowed people to change their identity through self-identification, rather than a medical process, were paused in June 2019.Critics of the changes within the SNP had accused Sturgeon of being \"out of step\" on the issue, and expressed concerns that the reforms would be open to abuse and allow predatory men into women's spaces.The Scottish Government said it had paused the legislation in order to find \"maximum consensus\" on the issueand commentators described the issue as having divided the SNP like no other, with many dubbing the debate a \"civil war\". In April 2020, the reforms were again delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2021, a former trans officer in the SNP's LGBT wing, Teddy Hope, quit the party, claiming it was one of the \"core hubs of transphobia in Scotland\".Large numbers of LGBT activists followed suit and Sturgeon released","Sturgeon released a video message in which she said that transphobia is \"not acceptable\" and said she hoped they would re-join the party. In the 2021 SNP manifesto, Sturgeon committed the party once again to reform the Gender Recognition Actand in August that year included the commitment in her agreement with theScottish Greenson power-sharing.In September 2021, Sturgeon was accused of shutting down debate about gender reforms after she described concerns about gender recognition reform as \"not valid\" and campaign groups and analysts complained that their concerns were being ignored. On 22 December 2022, the Scottish Parliament voted 86 to 39 to pass theGender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Billwhich was introduced by Sturgeon's government, but the bill was vetoed by the UK government. In 2023, Sturgeon was criticised in connection with theIsla Bryson case, in which atransgender womanwho had raped two women when named Adam Graham began self-identifying as a woman after being charged. Bryson was sent to a","was sent to a women's prison before being moved to a men's prison.Sturgeon refused to say if she regards Bryson as a man or woman, though she used female pronouns when talking about Bryson. Nuclear weapons Sturgeon has campaigned against replacing theTrident nuclear weapons system. Views on Conservative government policies At the SNP's 2022 annual party conference inAberdeen, Sturgeon stated: \"I detest theToriesand everything they stand for\" in an interview on the BBC.She was accused of using \"dangerous language\" and when asked if she regretted the comments, Sturgeon simply replied \"no\" and emphasised the point she detested Tory policies and not supporters or voters. Sturgeon has been highly critical towards the leadership ofBoris Johnson'sgovernment.Following Johnson's appointment asBritish prime minister, she claimed he \"rambled\" in his first speech outside10 Downing Streetand suggested he was \"blame shifting\".In July 2019, the prime minister met Sturgeon at her official residence, Bute House, where","Bute House, where Johnson was \"booed and heckled\" by protesters.This was the only occasion when he made a formal visit to Edinburgh, as he declined future invites by the first minister.Sturgeon claimed Johnson's \"fragile male ego\" stopped him from meeting her.Sturgeon's attempts to request approval for a second referendum on Scottish independence were declined by the Johnson administration.Speaking after Johnson had resigned in 2022, Sturgeon said that he was the only prime minister she had worked with who was \"a disgrace to the office\". Post premiership (2023–present) Upon her resignation as First Minister, Sturgeon returned to thebackbench, where she continues to serve as the MSP forGlasgow Southside.On 7 September 2023, she made her first speech in parliament since her arrest. SNP finance fraud inquiry and arrest In the latter half of Sturgeon's leadership of the SNP, aPolice Scotlandfraud inquirywas launched to investigate the spending of money that was raised specifically for independence","for independence campaigning.She dismissed claims the investigation was a result of her resignation as party leader and first minister.On 5 April 2023, Sturgeon's husband and the party's former chief executive,Peter Murrell, was arrested at their Glasgow residence and their home was searched amid the ongoing investigation.The SNP's HQ in Edinburgh and several other addresses related to party officials were also searched by police.Murrell was later released without charge and Sturgeon pulled out of a UN climate event. On 16 April, a meeting of the party's ruling body in March 2021 was leaked by a member to theDaily Mail, which showed Sturgeon warning members to be \"very careful\" about suggesting claims there were financial problems within the SNP.The following day, it was revealed Sturgeon would work remotely from parliament as a spokesperson stated: \"in order to ensure the focus of this week is on the new First Minister setting out his priorities for the people of Scotland, Ms Sturgeon has always intended to","always intended to participate remotely and intends to return to Holyrood in the near future.\".In that same week, the SNP's treasurer,Colin Beatie, was arrested and later released without charge.Beatie subsequently resigned from the role.Sturgeon's successor,Humza Yousaf, has had calls by opposition for her party membership to be suspended, however, he has rejected these calls. Widespread speculation that Sturgeon could be arrested for police questioning amid the ongoing inquirycame to fruition when, on 11 June 2023, Sturgeon was arrested byPolice Scotlandover the investigation into the finances of her SNP party, which reportedly diverted £600,000 meant for the Scottish Independence campaign elsewhere.She was released without charge pending further investigation later that day.On 23 May 2024Police Scotlandhanded a prosecution report in relation toPeter Murrellto theCrown Officewho confirmed that a \"53 year-old woman\" also remained under investigation. COVID-19 inquiry Sturgeon is facing a potential criminal","potential criminal inquiry in 2024 after it was disclosed that all herWhatsAppmessages during the pandemic had been deleted despite being instructed by the government to retain all information in 2021 and again in 2022 and having agreed to provide them in 2021 to theUK COVID-19 Inquiry. Public image and legacy At the beginning of Sturgeon's political career, she was often regarded as a \"nippy sweetie\",Scottish slangfor the \"sharp-tongued and strong-minded\".The term was used to describe Sturgeon's \"fierce\" attitude.Conversely, newspapers ideologically opposed to the SNP, such as theDaily Express,The Scottish Sun, andThe Spectatorhave repeatedly and derogatorily compared Sturgeon to \"Wee Jimmy Krankie\", a character from Scottish comedy duoThe Krankies. Sturgeon was elected leader of the SNP at a time in which the party enjoyed a surge in membership. In 2015, Sturgeon was described in aDaily Mailheadline as the \"most dangerous woman in Britain\".It followed her party's unprecedented gains in the2015 general","in the2015 general election, which questioned the future of the union. Sturgeon and her party experienced a surge in popularity during theCOVID-19 pandemic,in part due to her willingness to communicate with the public and the Press through regular, televised briefings, and her willingness to take responsibility for her government's mistakes. This contrasted to then-PM Boris Johnson'sapproach, who was \"less proactive and more evasive when it came to dealing with the press\". The circumstances of Sturgeon's resignation in 2023, as well as her appearances at the 2024 UK COVID-19 Inquiry left a question mark over her political legacy. A wide range of media outlets were quick to condemn her reputation, includingPolitico Europe,The Times,BBC News,The Spectator,The WeekandtheI. Nonetheless, public polling shows that Sturgeon remains a popular figure in Scottish and wider UK politics, with 46% of Scots having a favourable opinion of her in 2023YouGovpolling and 50% seeing her as having \"been a good leader for","a good leader for Scotland\".On leaving office, she was the most popular party leader in the UK according toIpsospolling.Her popular reputation suffered following her appearance at the 2024 COVID-19 inquiry and revelations she had deleted Whatsapp messages;however, polling has differed and there is still evidence of high trust towards her, usually along partisan lines. There is evidence that Nicola Sturgeon's popularity had an effect on the2023 SNP leadership racewhich sawHumza Yousafelected as leader of the SNP andFirst Minister of Scotland. Yousaf was widely regarded as Sturgeon's \"continuity candidate\",having previously worked as Sturgeon'sCabinet Secretary for Justice (2018–2021)and forHealth (2021–2023). Hence, SNP members with a favourable view of Sturgeon were more likely to elect Yousaf, whereas those more critical of the outgoing FM were more likely to vote for his opponents,Kate ForbesandAsh Regan. Sturgeon plans to publish a memoir withPan MacMillanin 2025. Awards and acknowledgements Sturgeon won","Sturgeon won theScottish Politician of the Year Awardin 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2019. Forbesmagazine ranked Sturgeon as the 50th most powerful woman in the world in 2016 and 2nd in the United Kingdom.She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2014.In 2015,BBC Radio 4'sWoman's Hourassessed Sturgeon to be the most powerful and influential woman in the United Kingdom. Personal life Sturgeon lives inBroomhouse,Glasgowwith her husband,Peter Murrell, who is the former chief executive officer of the SNP.The couple have been in a relationship since 2003. They got engaged on 29 January 2010,and were married on 16 July 2010 atÒran Mórin Glasgow. Sturgeon is known for her love of fiction and says reading \"gives me a lot of joy and helps with the stresses and strains of work\". Her mother Joan was the SNP Provost ofNorth Ayrshirecouncil, where she was councillor for the Irvine East ward from 2007 until 2016. In 2016, Sturgeon disclosed that she had miscarried five years previously. In May 2022, Sturgeon","May 2022, Sturgeon tested positive for COVID-19. In line with Government guidance, she completed a self-isolation period. See also Notes References External links","Jo Swinson Joanne Kate SwinsonCBEFRSA(born 5 February 1980) is a former British politician who wasLeader of the Liberal Democratsfrom July to December 2019. She was the first woman and the youngest person to hold the position, as well as the shortest-serving holder of the post. Swinson was the first leader of the Liberal Democrats to be defeated in their own constituency. Swinson wasMember of Parliament(MP) forEast Dunbartonshirefrom2005to2015and2017to2019. In September 2020, Swinson became Director of Partners for a New Economy (P4NE). Swinson studied at theLondon School of Economics, and briefly worked inpublic relations, before being elected to theHouse of Commons, becoming theyoungest MPat the time.She was a Liberal DemocratSpokespersoncovering various portfolios, includingScotland,Women and Equalities,Communities and Local Government, andForeign and Commonwealth Affairs. In 2010, after the Liberal Democrats entered into acoalition governmentwith theConservative Party, Swinson was a Parliamentary Private","Private Secretary toDeputy Prime MinisterNick Clegg, and was later appointedParliamentary Under Secretary of State for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs.She lost her seat in the2015 election, but regained it in thesnap electionheld two years later. Shortly after returning to Parliament, she waselected unopposedas Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats.In July 2019, following the retirement ofVince Cable, Swinson defeatedEd Daveyin aleadership electionto become Leader of the Liberal Democrats. Swinson led her party through the2019 general election, suggesting she could lead a Liberal Democratmajority governmentwhich would revokeArticle 50and cancelBrexit. Instead, Swinson and the Liberal Democrats sustained a net loss in seats, including her own to theScottish National Partyand was disqualified from continuing as party leader.At less than five months, her tenure as leader was the shortest in the Liberal Democrats' history. She is also the only incumbent Liberal Democrat leader to havelost a","to havelost a Parliamentary seat. Early life and education Swinson was born in Glasgowon 5 February 1980, the daughter of Peter and Annette Swinson.She was educated atDouglas Academy,a mixed state school in the town ofMilngavieinEast Dunbartonshirein western Scotland, followed by theLondon School of Economics, where she studiedManagement, gaining afirst-classBachelor of Sciencedegree in 2000.She signed up as an active member of theLiberal Democratsat the age of 17. Early career After graduating from theLondon School of Economics, Swinson moved toYorkshireand worked for Ace Visual and Sound Systems inThorne, before becoming amarketingandpublic relationsmanager forHull-based commercial radio stationViking FMfrom December 2000,and media company Space and People. At the age of 21, Swinson stood unsuccessfully in theKingston upon Hull Eastconstituency in the2001 general election, but gained a 6%swingfromJohn Prescott, then theDeputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. In 2003, she unsuccessfully","she unsuccessfully contestedStrathkelvin and Bearsdenseat in theScottish Parliament election, finishing third with 14% of the vote. Member of Parliament (2005–2015) Swinson was elected to theHouse of Commonsas the MP forEast Dunbartonshireat the2005 general election. She defeatedJohn LyonsofLabourby 4,061 votes, and was the first ever Member of Parliament born in the 1980s.As the youngest MP she replaced fellow Lib Dem MPSarah Teatheras the \"Baby of the House\". This lasted until 2009, whenConservativeMPChloe Smithwas elected at theNorwich North by-election. Swinson was vocal in heropposition to the Iraq Warand the Labour government's proposals fornational identity cards. She has supported measures both by individuals and government to tackleclimate changesuch asconserving energyin the home and the Liberal Democrat policy of introducinggreen taxeswhile reducingincome taxto offset the burden. She supports reducing thevoting ageto 16 as one way of engaging young people in politics. She believes more women","believes more women should be involved in politics but that encouragement is better than affirmative action in achieving this. She opposespositive discriminationto address gender imbalance, and led the argument against positive discrimination to select her party's candidates at their nationalparty conferencein 2002, wearing a pink T-shirt inscribed with the slogan, \"I am not a token woman\". Swinson has also called for a \"wellbeing index\" to be introduced, to be compared againstGDP, and tabled anearly day motionon the issue in 2008, gaining 50 signatures. She found support from MPs such asVince CableandAngela Eagle. Swinson cited the fact that althoughstandard of livinghad increased, people's level of wellbeing had been virtually static for some time, according to polls. Swinson believed that newprisonsought not to be built and had campaigned vocally, but without success, against the rebuilding of a prison atBishopbriggswithin the constituency. She had said that if a prison was built it must not be built","must not be built cheaply,and that it must not be named after the town in which is to be sited.The campaign to give the prison its original name was ultimately successful,as the replacement prison will retain its original name,Lowmoss Prison. She is an active campaigner against excessive packaging ofchocolateEaster eggs. Each year from 2007 saw Swinson attackconfectionerymanufacturers for wasteful use of non-recyclable materials in packaging of the seasonal goods. She has namedGuylianas the worst offender, followed byLindt,BaileysandCadbury. Swinson successfully held her seat ofEast Dunbartonshirein the2010 general election, although with a slightly decreased majority.Her party, the Liberal Democrats, subsequentlyenteredinto acoalition with the Conservative Party. Parliamentary Private Secretary In November 2010, Swinson was madeParliamentary Private Secretaryto then Business Secretary Vince Cable. In December 2010, she was one of 27 Liberal Democrat MPs who voted in favour of allowing universities to raise","to raise tuition fees up to £9,000 per year. In February 2012, Swinson replacedNorman Lambas Parliamentary Private Secretary to then Liberal Democrat Leader andDeputy Prime MinisterNick Clegg, holding this position until her promotion to government minister later that year. Business Minister (2012–2015) In September 2012, Swinson was appointed Under Secretary of State for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs in a reshuffle by then Prime MinisterDavid Cameron.She maintained this role for the remainder of theCameron–Clegg coalition, except for several months of maternity leave between 2013 and 2014. Swinson initially focused efforts on scrapping the 1871 Pedlars Act, which preventspedlars(travelling salesmen) andstreet tradersfrom trading without first acquiring a certificate from the police. In November 2012, Swinson said that the proposed deregulation would help \"eliminate barriers to street traders and pedlars by making it easier to trade, boosting retail and helping small traders – including many","– including many young entrepreneurs – to expand and grow”.The proposal was criticised by theLocal Government Association, which claimed that it would lead to a 'free for all' of pedlars targeting vulnerable people.By 2014, however, Swinson announced she would seek to amend rather than repeal the laws. Swinson opposed forcing companies to adopt gender quotas, stating that such a move would \"negatively affect\" the performance of businesses.She instead promoted voluntary solutions, telling an event organised by theBritish Chambers of Commerce, \"What women need is confidence, not quotas. So rather than telling companies what to do, we're encouraging them to see the real business benefits of taking voluntary action.\" From 2013, Swinson sought to promotefathers' rightsin regard toparental leave, bringing forth new legislation which allowed parents to divide parental leave between themselves with an aim to encourage fathers to spend more time with their newborn infants. In October 2013, controversy emerged after","emerged after MPs in the House of Commons allowed Swinson, then pregnant, to stand for 20 minutes without offering her a seat. This led to political debate and comment about whether or not it wassexistto give up a seat for a pregnant woman, with Prime MinisterDavid Cameronwading into the row to say that offering pregnant women seats was the right thing to do.Swinson herself later commented that it was not sexist to offer a pregnant woman a seat, and that it was \"great for people to offer, and part of life's little courtesies.\" In the area of employment, she was supportive of bothzero hours contractsandflexible working, seeking to promote the latter especially.On minimum wage, in February 2013 Swinson joined calls by other ministers to warn that \"caution\" was required when increasing it any further amid claims that minimum wage could be cut or frozen if it began costing jobs.Swinson pledged £80,000 of government financial support for the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, an initiative led","an initiative led bycorporationsincludingAviva InvestorsandCalvertwhich measures and ranks performance of global companies in regard to human rights. Swinson was keen to promote employee ownership, such asemployee ownership of shares, through the establishment of aFTSE-compliant UK Employee Ownership Index, supporting measures to reduce regulations for companies choosing to adopt employee ownership practices, and a scheme allowing companies to contractually offer employees £2,000 to £50,000 worth of shares (which would beexemptedfrom capital gains tax) in exchange for waiving certain employee rights.Swinson traced employee ownership back to the philosophy ofJeremy Bentham, and claimed such ownership models improve productivity and lower absenteeism in staff. By 2014, it was being reported that Swinson was tipped to replaceAlistair CarmichaelasScottish Secretaryand enter theCabinetin a potential reshuffle, which at the time would have made her the youngest female Cabinet member ever and the first Cabinet","the first Cabinet member to be born in the 1980s.At the same time, however, electoral projections for the2015 general electionshowed Swinson was under serious risk of losing herEast Dunbartonshireseat to a surge ofScottish National Partysupport. Swinson introduced to parliament theConsumer Rights Act 2015on 23 January 2014, so as to consolidate and updateconsumer protection lawand thereby provide a \"modern framework of consumer rights\". Shortly before the 2015 general election,The Timesand theFinancial Timesreported that Swinson was one of a number of prominent 'right-leaning' Liberal Democrat MPs, aligned to then Liberal Democrat leaderNick Clegg, deliberately excluded from campaign funding by former leading Liberal Democratpeerand donorMatthew Oakeshotteven though their seats, including Swinson's, were vulnerablemarginals. Swinson was featured in the 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 editions of the 'London's 1000 most influential people' list by theEvening Standard. 2015 and 2017 general elections Swinson lost","Swinson lost her parliamentary seat in the2015 general electiontoScottish National PartycandidateJohn Nicolsonby 2,167 votes (4.0%).She stood again for her former seat during the2017 general electionand won with a lead of 5,339 votes (10.3%) over Nicolson.During this time, she wrote her bookEqual Power: And How You Can Make It Happen. Between 2017 and 2018, Swinson received political funding from Mark Petterson, the director of Warwick Energy Ltd, which has fracking licences across England.She also voted against plans to ban fracking in the UK. Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats (2017–2019) Following the resignation ofTim Farronas Liberal Democrat leader on 14 June 2017, Swinson was named by theBBCas one of the possible contenders for the leadership along withNorman LambandVince Cable.She later announced that she would not seek the leadership; instead, she became Deputy Leader after being the only candidate at the close of nominations. As of October 2017, she was her party's Spokesperson for Foreign and","for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. At the Liberal Democrat autumn conference of 2017, Swinson drew media attention for using the phrase \"Faragey, Trumpy, angry, arsey, shouty slogans\" in criticising populism. In the same speech she called for thestate visitof U.S. PresidentDonald Trumpto be cancelled and warned aboutBrexit. In February 2018, Swinson's first bookEqual Power: And How You Can Make It Happenwas published byAtlantic Books.Discussing her book, Swinson explained that government has \"limitations\" when addressing gender inequality, so her book instead mainly suggests ideas for people to make changes in their own homes and workplaces.The Irish TimeslikenedEqual Powerto the \"corporate feminism\" ofSheryl Sandberg'sLean In,whileThe Heraldalso noted \"A read ofEqual Powermakes it apparent that Swinson is a fan of Sheryl Sandberg'sLean In.\"Swinson's book was featured at theAye Write!literary festival in Glasgow. In a March 2018 article forThe Mail on Sunday,Swinson came out in favour of erecting a statue","erecting a statue of former Prime MinisterMargaret ThatcherinParliament Square.She justified her position on feminist grounds and claimed that Thatcher was able to \"single-handedly transform the fortunes of women\", accusing opponents of the Thatcher statue as being \"pretty sexist\".Swinson praised Thatcher for her skills in negotiating theUK rebateand for taking the UK into the single market, but was also critical of Thatcher for thepoll taxand stressed she did not consider herself aThatcherite.In addition, she wrote that there should be a statue of the first femaleFirst Minister of ScotlandNicola Sturgeonin time, though she disagrees withScottish independence. In July 2018, Swinson was absent for key votes on the Brexit negotiations, having been on maternity leave following the birth of her second son. During this period, she attended an anti-Trumpprotest, drawing criticism from Labour MPKate HoeyonThe Spectator's podcast.Conservative Party ChairmanBrandon Lewishad formally agreed not to vote, so that","to vote, so that Swinson's absence would not affect the result.Lewis voted with the government nonetheless, leading Swinson to accuse the government of resorting to \"desperate stuff\" and a \"calculated, deliberate breaking of trust\".Lewis apologised, alongsideCabinet OfficeministerDavid Lidingtonandgovernment chief whipJulian Smith.Apologising on Twitter, Lewis said that it was an \"honest mistake made by the whips in fast-moving circumstances.\" Leader of the Liberal Democrats (2019) In May 2019,Vince Cableannounced he would relinquish his role as leader of the Liberal Democrats in July, triggering a leadership election.Subsequently, while appearing on the 30 May edition of the BBC political discussion programmeQuestion Time, Swinson confirmed that she would put her name forward in the forthcoming contest. On 22 July 2019, Swinson waselectedthe first-ever female leader of the Liberal Democrats, with 47,997 (62.8%) votes, gaining a clear victory over SirEd Davey, with 28,021 votes. She was the first leader of a","first leader of a major British political party who was born in the 1980s.Under her leadership, the party's candidate andWelsh Liberal DemocratsleaderJane Doddswon theBrecon and Radnorshire by-election, following a \"remain alliance\" in whichChange UK,Plaid Cymruand theGreen Partyagreed not to stand candidates.The party's membership also rose to a record 115,000+ members, with many party supporters attributing this rise to what they called \"the Swinson surge\". In her first Leader's Speech to theLiberal Democrat Federal Conference, on 17 September 2019, Swinson said thatBoris Johnson\"claims he can negotiate a Brexit deal in a month. I wouldn't hold out much hope: yesterday he couldn't negotiate where to have a press conference\". 2019 election campaign Swinson campaigned on a platform ofrevokingArticle 50if the Liberal Democrats formed the government. The policy proved to be controversial with both Remain and Leave voters, who criticised it as undemocratic.Swinson launched her campaign by declaring that she was","that she was \"a candidate to be prime minister\", and suggesting her party could win a majority.However, poll ratings for the party were poor and Swinson's personal ratings declined throughout the campaign. During the campaign, Swinson clashed withNicola Sturgeon, theFirst Minister of Scotlandon the subject of nuclear weapons. Asked if she would be prepared to use nuclear weapons, Swinson replied simply \"yes\". Sturgeon commented that \"It's sickening to hear this question asked and answered as if it's some kind of virility test and without any context... Using nuclear weapons would mean killing millions of people.\"Swinson was subject to afake newsstory in which she was accused of 'hunting squirrels'.First Draft News, an organisation that seeks to identify online misinformation, found that the claim originated from a doctored video clip, with a spokesperson for the organisation warning that the propagation of false stories such as this were leading to the \"gentle erosion of trust\". In November 2019, Swinson","2019, Swinson also was confronted by Jay Sutherland, a student activist in Scotland.Along with the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats,Willie Rennie, Swinson was accused of supporting austerity.The student said \"People are dying here, they’re in poverty, because of what you’ve done on austerity\".The altercation was featured heavily on British news outlets.Afterwards the Liberal Democrats reaffirmed the party \"does not have a problem attracting young voters.\" Swinson’s campaign was reported to be funded by companies sellingpuberty blockers, a medication that somesocial conservativeshave criticised.In December 2019, it was reported that a pharmaceutical firm marketing drugs to delay puberty had donated £100,000 to the Liberal Democrats.When questioned about her beliefs on sex and gender, Swinson replied that she didn't \"think things are as binary as they are often presented”. Swinson ceased to be leader on13 December 2019, when in the general electionshelost her own seatin parliament to theSNP'sAmy","to theSNP'sAmy Callaghan. The party's rules disqualified her from continuing as its leader. She had led the party for 144 days. As well as losing seats, the Liberal Democrats failed to make predicted gains.An internal party review said that their election campaign was worsened by \"an inexperienced inner circle\" around Swinson. It said that voters who were neither fervently leave nor remain were \"effectively ignored\" by her promise to revoke Article 50.On 27 August 2020, SirEd Daveywonthe leadership electionto succeed her. Later career In July 2020, Swinson accepted a position as visiting professor atCranfield School of ManagementinBedfordshire.In September 2020, she became Director of Partners for a New Economy (P4NE). Personal life On 13 May 2011, Swinson married then fellow Liberal Democrat MPDuncan Hames.The couple's first child, Andrew, was born in December 2013.A second son, Gabriel, was born in June 2018.Swinson gave birth to the couple's third son, Robin, on 28 July 2023. Swinson completed theLoch","completed theLoch Ness Marathonin 2007, the2011 London Marathonand the inauguralStirling Scottish Marathonin 2017.Through this, she has raised money for theAnaphylaxis CampaignandBloodwise.She ran the London Landmarks Half Marathon in March 2019 in memory of her father, who had died ofblood cancerthe previous year. Having apeanut allergy,Swinson sustainedanaphylactic shockin May 2013 after eating a biscuit containing nuts in Glasgow. She collapsed with breathing difficulty, recovering on administration ofadrenaline, and an overnight stay in hospital. Swinson was made aCommander of the Order of the British Empire(CBE) in the2018 New Year Honoursfor political and public service.On receiving the honour, Swinson said she was privileged \"to be listed among so many remarkable people from all walks of life, making amazing contributions right across our country\". Swinson is ahumanistand is a member of the humanist charityHumanists UK. References External links"],"string":"[\n \"2019 United Kingdom general election Boris JohnsonConservative Boris JohnsonConservative The2019 United Kingdom general electionwas held on Thursday 12 December 2019, with 47,567,752 registered votersentitled to vote to elect 650Members of Parliament(MPs) to theHouse of Commons. The governingConservative Party, led by theprime ministerBoris Johnson, won alandslide victorywith a majority of 80 seats,a net gain of 48, on 43.6 per cent of the popular vote, the highest percentage for any party since the1979 general election,though with a narrower popular vote margin than that achieved by theLabour Partyover the Conservatives at the1997 general election. This was the second national election to be held in 2019 in the United Kingdom, the first being the2019 European Parliament election. After it lost its parliamentary majority at the2017 general election, the Conservative Party governed in minority with the support of theDemocratic Unionist Party(DUP). The prime minister,Theresa May, resigned in July 2019 after\",\n \"in July 2019 after repeatedly failing to pass herBrexit withdrawal agreementin parliament. Johnson succeeded her as theleader of the Conservative Partyand as prime minister in July 2019. Johnson could not persuade Parliament to approve a revised withdrawal agreement by the end of October, and chose to call asnap election, which the House of Commons supported under theEarly Parliamentary General Election Act 2019.Opinion polls showed a firm lead for the Conservatives against the opposition Labour Party throughout the campaign. The Conservatives won 365 seats, their highest number and proportion since the1987 general election, and recorded their highest share of the popular vote since 1979; many of their gains were made in seats once considered previously safe for Labour, dubbed thered wall, which had voted strongly in favour of British withdrawal from the EU in the2016 European Union (EU) membership referendum. Labour won 202 seats, its fewest since the1935 general election.TheScottish National Party(SNP)\",\n \"National Party(SNP) made a net gain of 13 seats with 45 per cent of the vote in Scotland, winning 48 of the 59 seats there.TheLiberal Democratsincreased their vote share to 11.6 per cent, but won only 11 seats, a net loss of one since the last election. The party's leader,Jo Swinson, lost her seat to the SNP, thus triggering the2020 party leadership election, which was won byEd Davey.The DUP won apluralityof seats in Northern Ireland. TheSocial Democratic and Labour Party(SDLP) and theAlliance Party of Northern Ireland(APNI) regained parliamentary representation as the DUP lost seats. The election result gave Johnson the mandate he sought from the electorate to formally implement thewithdrawal of the United Kingdomfrom theEuropean Union, and to complete the repeal of theEuropean Communities Act 1972on 31 January 2020.Jeremy Corbyn, Labour's leader at the election, resigned, triggering the2020 party leadership election, which was won by his shadow Brexit secretary,Keir Starmer.Jane Dodds, the Liberal\",\n \"Dodds, the Liberal Democrats' leader in Wales, was also unseated inBrecon and Radnorshire.In Northern Ireland,Irish nationalistMPs outnumberedunionistsfor the first time, although the unionist popular vote remained higher at 43.1 per cent, and the sevenSinn FéinMPs did not take their seats due to their tradition ofabstentionism. Despite being elected with a landslide, Johnson went on to resign amid agovernment crisisin 2022, being followed byLiz Trussfor fifty daysand then byRishi Sunak, who went on to lead the Conservatives in thesubsequent election. Background Withdrawalof theUnited Kingdomfrom theEuropean Union In July 2016,Theresa Maywas electedPrime Ministerto succeedDavid Cameron, who had resigned following the 2016Brexit referendum. TheConservative Partyhad governed since the2010 general election, initially in coalition with theLiberal Democratsand then alone with a small majority following the2015 general election. In the2017 general election, May lost her majority but was able to resume office as a\",\n \"resume office as a result of aconfidence and supplyagreement with Northern Ireland'sDemocratic Unionist Party(DUP), known as theConservative–DUP agreement. In the face of opposition from the DUP and Conservativebackbenchers, thesecond May ministrywas unable to pass itsBrexit withdrawal agreementby 29 March 2019, so some political commentators considered that an early general election was likely. The oppositionLabour Partycalled for a2019 vote of confidence in the May ministrybut the motion, held in January, failed.May resigned following her party's poor performance in the2019 European Parliament electionduring the first extension granted by the European Union for negotiations on the withdrawal agreement.Boris Johnsonwon the2019 Conservative leadership electionand became the prime minister on 24 July 2019. Along with attempting to revise the withdrawal agreement arranged by his predecessor's negotiations, Johnson made three attempts to hold a snap election under the process defined in theFixed-term\",\n \"in theFixed-term Parliaments Act 2011,which required a two-thirdssupermajorityin order for an election to take place. All three attempts to call an election failed to gain support; Parliament insisted that Johnson \\\"take ano-deal Brexitoff the table first\\\" and secure a negotiated Withdrawal Agreement, expressed in particular by its enactment against his will of theEuropean Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019, often called the Benn Act, after Labour MPHilary Benn, who introduced the bill. After failing to pass a revised deal before the first extension's deadline of 31 October 2019, Johnson agreed to a second extension on negotiations with the European Union and finally secured a revised withdrawal agreement. Parliament agreed to an election through a motion proposed by the Liberal Democrats and theScottish National Party(SNP) on 28 October. TheEarly Parliamentary General Election Act 2019(EPGEA) was passed in theHouse of Commonsby 438 votes to 20; an attempt to pass an amendment by opposition parties for the\",\n \"parties for the election to be held on 9 December failed by 315 votes to 295.TheHouse of Lordsfollowed suit on 30 October,withroyal assentmade the day after for the ratification of the EPGEA. Date of the election The deadline for candidate nominations was 14 November 2019,with political campaigning for four weeks until polling day on 12 December. On the day of the election, polling stations across the country were open from 7 am, and closed at 10 pm.The date chosen for the 2019 general election made it the first to be held in December since the1923 general election. Voting eligibility Individuals eligible to vote had to be registered to vote by midnight on 26 November.To be eligible to vote, individuals had to be aged 18 or over;residing as an Irish or Commonwealth citizen at an address in the United Kingdom,or be a British citizen overseas who registered to vote in the last 15 years;and not legally excluded (on grounds of detainment in prison, a mental hospital, or on the run from law enforcement),or\",\n \"law enforcement),or disqualified from voting.Anyone who qualified as ananonymous electorhad until midnight on 6 December to register. Timetable Contesting political parties and candidates Most candidates are representatives of apolitical party, which must be registered with the Electoral Commission's Register. Those who do not belong to one must use the labelIndependentor none. In the 2019 election 3,415 candidates stood: 206 being independents, the rest representing one of 68 political parties. Campaign Campaign background The Conservative Party and Labour Party have been the two biggest political parties, and have supplied every Prime Minister since the1922 general election. The Conservative Party have governed since the 2010 election, in coalition with the Liberal Democrats from 2010 to 2015. At the 2015 general election, the Conservative Party committed to offering a referendum on whether the United Kingdom should leave theEuropean Union(EU) and won a majority in that election. A referendum was held in\",\n \"was held in June 2016, and the Leave campaign won by 51.9% to 48.1%. United Kingdom invocation of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Unioncame in March 2017, andTheresa Maytriggered asnap electionin 2017, in order to demonstrate support for her planned negotiation of Brexit. Instead, the Conservative Party lost seats. They won a plurality of MPs but not a majority, and the result was ahung parliament. They formed aminority government, with theDemocratic Unionist Party(DUP) as theirconfidence and supplypartner. Neither May nor her successorBoris Johnson, the winner of the2019 Conservative leadership election,was able to secure parliamentary support either for a deal on the terms of the country's exit from the EU, or for exiting the EU without an agreed deal. Johnson later succeeded in bringing his withdrawal agreement to a second reading in Parliament, following another extension until January 2020. After Johnson's 2019 win, a new Withdrawal Agreement Bill was introduced in 2020. Compared to its 2019\",\n \"to its 2019 October predecessor, this bill offered, in the words of political scientistMeg Russell, \\\"significantly weaker parliamentary oversight of Brexit ... giving parliament no formal role in agreeing the future relationship negotiating objectives, and a diminished role in approving any resulting treaty.\\\" During the lifespan of the 2017 Parliament, twenty MPs resigned from their parties, mostly due to disputes with their party leaderships; some formed new parties and alliances. In February 2019, eight Labour and three Conservative MPs left their parties to sit together asThe Independent Group.Having undergone a split and two name changes, at dissolution, this group numbered five MPs who sat as the registered party The Independent Group for Change under the leadership ofAnna Soubry. Two MPs sat in a group calledThe Independents, which at its peak had five members. One MP created theBirkenhead Social Justice Party, while a further 20 MPs who began as Labour or Conservative ended Parliament as unaffiliated\",\n \"as unaffiliated independents. Seven MPs, from both the Conservatives and Labour, joined the Liberal Democrats during Parliament, in combination with a gain after the2019 Brecon and Radnorshire by-election. By the time Parliament was dissolved, the Liberal Democrats had raised their number from 12 at the election to 20 at dissolution. One reason for the defections from the Labour Party was the ongoing row over allegedantisemitism in the Labour Party. Labour entered the election campaign while under investigation by theEquality and Human Rights Commission.TheJewish Labour Movementdeclared that it would not generally campaign for Labour.The Conservative Party was also criticised for not doing enough to tackle the allegedIslamophobia in the Conservative Party.The Conservatives ended the previous parliamentary period with fewer seats than they had started with because of defections and also saw the2019 suspension of rebel Conservative MPsfor going against the party line by voting to prevent ano-deal Brexit.Of the\",\n \"Brexit.Of the 21 expelled, 10 were subsequently reinstated, while the others continued as independents. Policy positions Brexit The major parties had a wide variety of stances on Brexit. The Conservative Party supported leaving under the terms of the withdrawal agreement as negotiated by Johnson (amending May's previous agreement), and this agreement formed a central part of the Conservative campaign via the slogan \\\"Get Brexit Done\\\".TheBrexit Partywas in favour of a no-deal Brexit, with its leaderNigel Faragecalling for Johnson to drop the deal. The Conservative manifesto read \\\"If we elect a majority of Conservative MPs to Parliament, we will start putting our deal through Parliament before Christmas and we will leave the European Union in January\\\" which ultimately happened. The Labour Party proposed a renegotiation of the withdrawal agreement, towards a closer post-withdrawal relationship with the EU, and would then put this forward as an option in a referendum alongside the option of remaining in the\",\n \"of remaining in the EU.The Labour Party's campaigning stance in that referendum would be decided at a special conference.In aQuestion Timespecial featuring four party leaders, Labour leaderJeremy Corbynsaid that he would stay neutral in the referendum campaign. TheLiberal Democrats,Scottish National Party,Plaid Cymru,The Independent Group for Change, and theGreen Party of England and Waleswere all opposed to Brexit, and proposed that a further referendum be held with the option, for which they would campaign, to remain in the EU.The Liberal Democrats originally pledged that if they formed amajority government, which was considered a highly unlikely outcome by observers,they would revoke the Article 50 notification immediately and cancel Brexit.Part-way through the campaign, the Liberal Democrats dropped the policy of revoking Article 50 after the party realised it was not going to win a majority in the election. TheDemocratic Unionist Partywas in favour of a withdrawal agreement in principle but opposed the\",\n \"but opposed the deals negotiated by both May and Johnson, believing that they created too great a divide between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.Sinn Féin, theSocial Democratic and Labour Party, theUlster Unionist Party(UUP),and theAlliance Party of Northern Irelandall favoured remaining in the EU. The UUP did not see a second referendum as a necessary route to achieving this goal. The environment The Labour Party promised what they described as a green industrial revolution. This included support for renewable energies and a promise to plant 2 billion trees by 2040. The party also promised to transition to electrify the United Kingdom's bus fleet by 2030.The Liberal Democrats promised to put the environment at the heart of their agenda with a promise to plant 60 million trees a year. They promised to significantly reduce carbon emissions by 2030 and hit zero carbon emissions by 2045. By 2030, they planned to generate 80% of the country's energy needs from renewable energies such as solar\",\n \"such as solar power and wind and retrofit 26 million homes with insulation by 2030. They also promised to build more environmentally friendly homes and to establish a new Department for the Climate Crisis. The Conservatives pledged net zero emissions by 2050 with investment in clean energy solutions and green infrastructure to reduce carbon emissions and pollution. They also pledged to plant 30 million trees and boost wind and solar energy. Tax and spending commitments In September 2019, the Conservative government performed a spending review, where they announced plans to increase public spending by £13.8 billion a year, and reaffirmed plans to spend another £33.9 billion a year on theNational Health Service(NHS) by 2023. ChancellorSajid Javidsaid the government had turned the page on 10 years ofausterity in the United Kingdom. During the election, the parties produced manifestos that outlined spending in addition to that already planned. TheConservative Party manifestowas described as having \\\"little in the\",\n \"\\\"little in the way of changes to tax\\\" by theInstitute for Fiscal Studies(IFS). The decision to keep the rate of corporation tax at 19%, and not reduce it to 17% as planned, was expected to raise £6 billion a year. The plan to increase the national insurance threshold for employees and self-employed to £9,500 would cost £2 billion a year.They committed to not raise rates of income tax,National Insurance, orVAT. There were increased spending commitments of £3 billion current spending and £8 billion investment spending. Overall, this would have led to the country's debt as a percentage of GDP remaining stable. The IFS assessed that it would rise in the event of a no-deal Brexit.TheLabour Party manifestoplanned to raise an extra £78 billion a year from taxes over the course of Parliament, with sources including: In addition, Labour was to obtain income from the Inclusive Ownership Fund, windfall tax on oil companies, and some smaller tax changes. There were increased spending commitments of £98 billion current\",\n \"£98 billion current spending and £55 billion investment spending. Overall, this would have led to the national debt as a percentage of GDP rising.Labour'sJohn McDonnellsaid borrowing would only be for investment and one-offs (e.g. compensatingWASPIwomen, not shown above), and not for day-to-day spending. The Liberal Democrats manifesto planned to raise an extra £36 billion per year from taxes over the course of Parliament, with sources including: There were increased commitments of £37 billion current spending and £26 billion investment spending, which would overall lead to the debt as a percentage of GDP falling, partly due to improved economic conditions which would result from staying in the EU. Institute for Fiscal Studies analysis TheInstitute of Fiscal Studies(IFS), an influential research body, released on 28 November its in-depth analysis of themanifestosof the three main national political parties.The analysis provided a summary of the financial promises made by each party and an inspection of the\",\n \"inspection of the accuracy of claims around government income and expenditure.The IFS reported that neither the Conservatives nor the Labour Party had published a \\\"properly credible prospectus\\\". Its analysis of the Conservative manifesto concluded there was \\\"essentially nothing new in the manifesto\\\", that there was \\\"little in the way of changes to tax, spending, welfare or anything else\\\", and that they had already promised increased spending for health and education whilst in government. The Labour manifesto was described as introducing \\\"enormous economic and social change\\\", and increasing the role of the state to be bigger than anything in the last 40 years. The IFS highlighted a raft of changes in including free childcare, university, personal care, and prescriptions, as well as nationalisations, labour market regulations, increases in the minimum wage, and enforcing \\\"effective ownership of 10% of large companies from current owners to a combination of employees and government\\\". The IFS said that Labour's\",\n \"said that Labour's vision \\\"is of a state not so dissimilar to those seen in many other successful Western European economies\\\", and presumed that the manifesto should be seen as \\\"a long-term prospectus for change rather than a realistic deliverable plan for a five-year parliament\\\".They said that the Liberal Democrats manifesto was not as radical as the Labour manifesto but was a \\\"decisive move away from the policies of the past decade\\\". The Conservative manifesto was criticised for a commitment not to raise rates of income tax, National Insurance, or VAT, as this put a significant constraint on reactions to events that might affect government finances. One such event could be the \\\"die in a ditch\\\" promise to terminate the Brexit transition period by the end of 2020, which risked harming the economy.The IFS also stated that it is \\\"highly likely\\\" spending under a Conservative government would be higher than in that party's manifesto, partly due to a number of uncosted commitments.Outside of commitments to the\",\n \"commitments to the NHS, the proposals would leave public service spending 14% lower in 2023–2024 than it was in 2010–2011, which the IFS described as \\\"no more austerity perhaps, but an awful lot of it baked in\\\". The IFS stated it had \\\"serious doubt\\\" that tax rises proposed would raise the amount Labour suggested, and said that they would need to introduce more broad based tax increases. They assessed that the public sector does not have the capacity to increase investment spending as Labour would want. The IFS further assessed the claim that tax rises would only hit the top 5% of earners as \\\"certainly progressive\\\" but \\\"clearly not true\\\", with those under that threshold impacted by changes to the marriage allowance, taxes on dividends, or capital gains, and lower wages or higher prices that might be passed on from corporation tax changes. Some of Labour's proposals were described as \\\"huge and complex undertakings\\\", where significant care is required in implementation. The IFS was particularly critical of the\",\n \"critical of the policy to compensate the WASPI women, announced after the manifesto, which was a £58bn promise to women who are \\\"relatively well off on average\\\" and would result in public finances going off target.They said that Labour's manifesto would not increase UK public spending as a share of national income above Germany.They found that Labour's plan to spend and invest would boost economic growth but that the impact of tax rises, government regulation, nationalisations, and the inclusive ownership fund could reduce growth, meaning the overall impact of Labour's plan on growth was uncertain. The IFS described the plans of the Liberal Democrats as a radicaltax and spendpackage, and said that the proposals would require lower borrowing than Conservative or Labour plans. The report said they were the only party whose proposals would put debt \\\"on a decisively downward path\\\", praising their plan to put 1p on income tax to go to the NHS as \\\"simple, progressive and would raise a secure level of revenue\\\". The\",\n \"of revenue\\\". The IFS also said plans to \\\"virtually quintuple\\\" current spending levels on universal free childcare amounted to \\\"creating a whole new leg of the universal welfare state\\\".The IFS said that the SNP's manifesto was not costed. Their proposals on spending increases and tax cuts would mean the government would have to borrow to cover day-to-day spending. They concluded that the SNP's plans for Scottish independence would likely require increased austerity. Other issues The Conservatives proposed increasing spending on public services, including the NHS and education.They also proposed increased funding for childcare and on the environment. They proposed more funding for care services and to work with other parties on reforming how care is delivered. They wished to maintain the triple lock on pensions. They proposed investing in local infrastructure, including rail, bus, cycle, and electric cars. They pledged to build a high speed new rail line between Leeds and Manchester. Labour proposed\",\n \"Labour proposed significantly increasing government spending to 45% of national output, which would be high compared to most of British history.This was to pay for an increased NHS budget; stopping state pension age rises; introducing a National Care Service providing free personal care; move to a net-zero carbon economy by the 2030s; nationalising key industries; scrappingUniversal Credit; free bus travel for under-25s; building 100,000 council houses per year; and other proposals. Within this, the Labour Party proposed to take rail-operating companies, energy supply networks,Royal Mail, sewerage infrastructure, and England's private water companies back intopublic ownership. Labour proposednationalisingpart of theBT Groupand to provide freebroadbandto everyone,along withfree educationfor six years during each person's adult life.Over a decade, Labour planned to reduce the average full-time weekly working hours to 32, with resulting productivity increases facilitating no loss of pay.Labour's spending plans\",\n \"spending plans were endorsed by more than 160economistsandacademicsand characterised as a \\\"serious programme\\\" to deal with internal problems. The main priority of the Liberal Democrats was opposing Brexit. Other policies included increased spending on the NHS; free childcare for two-to-four-year-olds; recruiting 20,000 more teachers; generating 80% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030; freezing train fares; and legalising cannabis.The Brexit Party was also focused on Brexit. It opposed privatising the NHS. It sought to reduce immigration, cutting net migration to 50,000 per year; cutting VAT on domestic fuel; banning the exporting of waste; free broadband in deprived regions; scrapping the BBC licence fee; and abolishing inheritance tax, interest on student loans, andHigh Speed 2. It also wanted to move to a United States-stylesupreme court. The policies of the SNP included a second referendum on Scottish independence to be held in 2020, as well as one on Brexit, removing theTrident nuclear\",\n \"theTrident nuclear deterrent, anddevolutionacross issues like as employment law, drug policy, and migration.The Liberal Democrats, the Greens, the SNP, and Labour all supported a ban onfracking in the United Kingdom, whilst the Conservatives proposed approving fracking on a case-by-case basis. Party positions in the event of a hung parliament The Conservatives and Labour insisted they were on course for outright majorities, while smaller parties were quizzed about what they would do in the event of a hung parliament. The Liberal Democrats said that they would not actively support Johnson or Corbyn becoming Prime Minister but that they could, if an alternative could not be achieved, abstain on votes allowing a minority government to form if there was support for a second referendum on Brexit.The SNP ruled out either supporting the Conservatives or a coalition with Labour but spoke about a looser form of support, such as aconfidence and supplyarrangement with the latter, if they supported a second referendum\",\n \"a second referendum onScottish independence. The DUP previously supported the Conservative government but withdrew that support given their opposition to Johnson's proposed Brexit deal. It said that it would never support Corbyn as prime minister but could work with Labour if that party were led by someone else. Labour's position on a hung parliament was that it would do no deals with any other party, citing Corbyn to say: \\\"We are out here to win it.\\\" At the same time, it was prepared to adopt key policies proposed by the SNP and Liberal Democrats to woo them into supporting a minority government.The UUP said they would never support Corbyn as prime minister, with their leaderSteve Aikenalso saying that he \\\"can't really see\\\" any situation in which they would support a Conservative government either. Their focus would be on remaining in the EU. Tactical voting Under thefirst-past-the-postelectoral system, there is often concern, especially inmarginal seats, that if voters of similar ideological leanings are\",\n \"leanings are split between multiple different parties they may allow a victory for a candidate with significantly different views.In the early stages of the campaign, there was considerable discussion oftactical voting, generally in the context of support or opposition to Brexit, and whether parties would stand in all seats or not. There were various electoral pacts and unilateral decisions. The Brexit Party chose not to stand against sitting Conservative candidates but stood in most other constituencies. The Brexit Party alleged that pressure was put on its candidates by the Conservatives to withdraw, including the offer of peerages, which would be illegal. This was denied by the Conservative Party.Under the banner ofUnite to Remain, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, and the Green Party of England and Wales agreed an electoral pact in some seats; some commentators criticised the Liberal Democrats for not standing down in some Labour seats. A number of tactical voting websites were set up in an attempt to\",\n \"up in an attempt to help voters choose the candidate in their constituency who would be best placed to beat the Conservative one.The websites did not always give the same advice, whichMichael Savage, political editor ofThe Guardian, said had the potential to confuse voters.One of the websites, named GetVoting.org and set up byBest for Britain, was accused of giving bogus advice in Labour/Conservative marginal seats.The website, which had links to the Liberal Democrats,was criticised for advising pro-Remain voters to back the Liberal Democrats, when doing so risked pulling voters away from Labour candidates and enabling the Conservative candidate to gain most votes. The website changed their controversial recommendation inKensingtonto Labour, which had won it in 2017 by 20 votes,and lined up with Tacticalvote.co.uk in this seat. Describing itself as a progressive grassroots campaign not affiliated with any political party, Tacticalvote.co.uk was previously known as Tactical2017.Gina Miller's Remain United and\",\n \"Remain United and People's Vote kept their recommendation for the Liberal Democrats. This caused a lot of confusion around tactical voting,as it was reported that the sites did not match one another's advice. Further into the election period, tactical voting websites that relied onmultilevel regression with poststratification, such as Best for Britain, People's Vote, Remain United,andSurvation,changed their recommendations on other seats because of new data.The effectiveness of their tactical voting has also been questioned,and the loss of Kensington, which was a Labour gain in 2017, was blamed by Labour MPs on Liberal Democrats for splitting the vote. In the final weekend before voting,The Guardiancited a poll suggesting that the Conservative Party held a 15% lead over Labour;on the same day, the Conservative-backingDaily Telegraphemphasised a poll indicating a lower 8% lead.Senior opposition politicians from Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and the SNP launched a late-stage appeal to anti-Conservative voters\",\n \"voters to consider switching allegiance in the general election, amid signs that tactical voting in a relatively small number of marginal seats could deprive Johnson of a majority in parliament. Shortly before the election,The Observernewspaper recommended Remainers tactically vote for 50 Labour, Liberal Democrats, SNP, and independent candidates across Great Britain;of these, 13 triumphed, 9 of which were SNP gains in Scotland (in line with a broader trend of relative success for the party), along with four in England divided equally between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. The pollster responsible argued in the aftermath that the unpopularity of the Labour leadership limited the effectiveness of tactical voting.Other research suggested it would have taken 78% of people voting tactically to prevent a Conservative majority completely, and it would not have been possible to deliver a Labour majority. Canvassing and leafleting Predictions of an overall Conservative majority were based on their targeting of\",\n \"their targeting of primarily Labour-held, Brexit-backing seats in theMidlandsand the north of England.At the start of the election period, Labour-supporting organisationMomentumheld what was described as \\\"the largest mobilising call in UK history\\\", involving more than 2,000 canvassers.The organisation challenged Labour supporters to devote a week or more to campaigning full-time; by 4 December, 1,400 people had signed up. Momentum also developed an app called My Campaign Map that updated members about where they could be more effective, particularly in canvassing in marginal constituencies. Over one weekend during the campaign period, 700 Labour supporters campaigned inIain Duncan Smith's constituency,Chingford and Woodford Green, which was regarded as a marginal, with a majority of 2,438 votes at the 2017 general election. The Liberal Democrats were considered possible winners of a number of Conservative-held southern English constituencies; a large swing was postulated that might even toppleDominic\",\n \"even toppleDominic RaabinEsher and Walton.At the beginning of the 2019 campaign, they had been accused of attempting to mislead voters by using selectiveopinion pollingdata,and use of a quotation attributed toThe Guardianrather than to their leaderJo Swinson.They were also accused of making campaign leaflets look like newspapers, although this practice had been used by all major British political parties for many years, including by Labour and the Conservatives during this election. The Liberal Democrats won a court case stopping the SNP from distributing a \\\"potentially defamatory\\\" leaflet in Swinson's constituency over false claims about funding she had received.Two Labour Party campaigners, both in their seventies, were verbally abused and physically assaulted in separate attacks on the weekend of 23–24 November. One attack occurred inBromyard,Herefordshire, and the other inRotherham,South Yorkshire. Party officials in Bromyard, where Labour campaigners experiencedred-baitingand had been called\",\n \"had been called \\\"Marxists\\\",decided that activists should only canvass in pairs. Online campaigning The use ofsocial media advertisingwas seen as particularly useful to political parties as it could be used to target people of particular demographics.Labour was reported to have the most interactions, withThe Timesdescribing Labour's \\\"aggressive, anti-establishment messages\\\" as \\\"beating clever Tory memes\\\". In the first week of November, Labour was reported to have four of the five most likedtweetsby political parties, many of the top interactions ofFacebookposts, as well as doing very well onInstagram, where younger voters are particularly active.Bloomberg Newsreported that between 6 and 21 November the views on Twitter/Facebook were 18.7/31.0 million for Labour, 10/15.5 million for the Conservatives, 2.9/2.0 million for the Brexit Party, and 0.4/1.4 million for the Liberal Democrats. Brexit was the most tweeted topic for the Conservative Party (~45% of tweets), the Liberal Democrats, and the Brexit Party\",\n \"the Brexit Party (~40% each). Labour focused on health care (24.1%), the environment, and business, mentioning Brexit in less than 5 per cent of its tweets.Devolution was the topic most tweeted about by the SNP (29.8%) and Plaid Cymru (21.4%), and the environment was the top issue for the Green Party (45.9%) on Twitter. The Conservatives were unique in their focus on taxation (16.2%), and the Brexit Party on defence (14%). Prior to the campaign, the Conservatives contracted New Zealand marketing agency Topham Guerin, which had been credited with helping Australia'sLiberal–National Coalitionunexpectedly win the2019 Australian federal election. The agency's social media approach was described as purposefully posting badly-designed social media material that becomes viral and so would be seen by a wider audience.Some of the Conservative social media activity created headlines challenging whether it was deceptive,including by the BBC,amiddisinformationconcerns.This included editing a clip ofKeir Starmerto give\",\n \"Starmerto give the appearance that he was unable to answer a question about Labour's Brexit policy.In response to criticism over the doctored Starmer footage, Conservative Party chairmanJames Cleverlysaid the clip of Starmer was satire and \\\"obviously edited\\\". Veracity of statements by political parties During the 19 November debate between Johnson and Corbyn hosted byITV, the press office of theConservative Campaign Headquarters(CCHQ) re-branded their Twitter account (@CCHQPress) asfactcheckUK(with \\\"from CCHQ\\\" in small text appearing underneath the logo in the account's banner image), which critics suggested could be mistaken for that of an independentfact-checkingbody, and published posts supporting the Conservative's position.In defence, Conservative chairman Cleverly stated: \\\"The Twitter handle of the CCHQ press office remained CCHQPress, so it's clear the nature of the site\\\", and as \\\"calling out when the Labour Party put what they know to be complete fabrications in the public domain.\\\" In response to the\",\n \"In response to the re-branding on Twitter, theElectoral Commission, which does not have a role in regulating election campaign content, called on all campaigners to act \\\"responsibly\\\".Fact-checking bodyFull Factcriticised this behaviour as \\\"inappropriate and misleading\\\", and Twitter stated that it would take \\\"decisive corrective action\\\" if there were \\\"further attempts to mislead people\\\". First Draft Newsreleased an analysis of Facebook ads posted by political parties between 1 and 4 December. The analysis reported that 88% of the 6,749 posts the Conservatives made had been \\\"challenged\\\" by fact checker Full Fact. 5,000 of these ads related to a \\\"40 new hospitals\\\" claim, of which Full Fact concluded only six had been costed, with the others only receiving money for planning, with building uncosted and due to occur after 2025. 4,000 featured inaccurate claims about the cost of Labour's spending plans to the tax payer. 500 related to a \\\"50,000 more nurses\\\" pledge, consisting of 31,500 new nurses, and convincing\",\n \"and convincing 18,500 nurses already in post to remain. 16.5% of Liberal Democrats posts were highlighted, which related to claims they are the only party to beat Labour, the Conservatives, or the SNP \\\"in seats like yours\\\".None of the posts made by Labour in the period were challenged, although posts made on 10 December stating that a \\\"Labour government would save households thousands in bills\\\" and the Conservative Party had \\\"cut £8bn from social care\\\" since 2010 were flagged as misleading.According to theBBC, Labour supporters had been more likely to share unpaid-for electioneering posts, some of which included misleading claims. Television debates ITV aired a head-to-head election debate between Johnson and Corbyn on 19 November, hosted byJulie Etchingham.ITV Cymru Walesaired a debate featuring representatives from the Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, and the Brexit Party on 17 November, hosted byAdrian Masters.Johnson cancelled his ITV interview with Etchingham, scheduled for 6\",\n \"scheduled for 6 December, whilst the other major party leaders agreed to be interviewed. On the BBC, broadcasterAndrew Neilwas due to separately interview party leaders inThe Andrew Neil Interviews, andBBC Northern IrelandjournalistMark Carruthersto separately interview the five main Northern Irish political leaders.The leaders of the SNP, Labour, Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrats, and the Brexit Party were all interviewed by Neil and the leader of the Conservative Party was not,leading Neil to release a challenge to Johnson to be interviewed.The Conservatives dismissed Neil's challenge.BBC Scotland,BBC Cymru Wales, and BBC Northern Ireland also hosted a variety of regional debates. Channel 4cancelled a debate scheduled for 24 November after Johnson would not agree to a head-to-head with Corbyn.A few days later, the network hosted a leaders' debate focused on the climate. Johnson and Farage did not attend and were replaced on stage by ice sculptures with their party names written on them.The Conservatives\",\n \"Conservatives alleged this was part of a pattern of bias at the channel, complained toOfcomthat Channel 4 had breached due impartiality rules as a result of their refusal to allowMichael Goveto appear as a substitute,and suggested that they might review the channel's broadcasting licence.In response, the Conservatives, as well as the Brexit Party, did not send a representative to Channel 4's \\\"Everything but Brexit\\\" on 8 December,and Conservative ministers were briefed not to appear onChannel 4 News.Ofcom rejected the Conservatives' complaint on 3 December. Sky Newswas due to hold a three-way election debate on 28 November, inviting Johnson, Corbyn, and Swinson.Swinson confirmed she would attend the debate,which was later cancelled after agreements could not be made with Corbyn or Johnson. Campaign events Before candidate nominations closed, several planned candidates for Labour and for the Conservatives withdrew, principally because of past social media activity. At least three Labour candidates and one\",\n \"candidates and one Conservative candidate stood down, with two of the Labour candidates doing so following allegedly antisemitic remarks.Two other Conservative candidates were suspended from the Conservative Party over antisemitic social media posts, but retained their candidacy for the party.The Liberal Democrats removed one of its candidates over antisemitic social media posts, and defended two others. Several former Labour MPs critical of Corbyn endorsed the Conservatives.Meanwhile, several former Conservative MPs, including former deputy prime ministerMichael Heseltine, endorsed the Liberal Democrats and independent candidates.A week before election day, former Conservative prime ministerJohn Majorwarned the public against enabling a majority Conservative government, to avoid what he saw as the damage a Johnson-led government could do to the country through Brexit. Major encouraged voters to vote tactically and to back former Conservative candidates instead of those put forward by the Conservative Party.\",\n \"Conservative Party. The2019–20 United Kingdom floodsstarted hitting parts of England from 7 to 18 November. Johnson was criticised for what some saw as his late response to the flooding,after he said they were not a national emergency.The Conservatives bannedDaily Mirrorreporters from Johnson'scampaign bus.On 27 November, Labour announced it had obtained leaked government documents; they said these showed that the Conservatives were in trade negotiations with the US over the NHS. The Conservatives said Labour was peddling \\\"conspiracy theories\\\",withDominic Raablater suggesting this was evidence of Russian interference in the election.The election also saw the2019 London Bridge stabbing, a terrorist stabbing attack that occurred in London on 29 November; owing to this, the political parties suspended campaigning in London for a time. The2019 London summitofNATOwas held inWatfordon 3–4 December 2019. It was attended by 29 heads of state and heads of government, including then United States presidentDonald\",\n \"presidentDonald Trump.On 6 December, Labour announced it had obtained leaked government documents that they said showed that Johnson had misled the public about the Conservatives' Brexit deal with the EU, specifically regarding customs checks between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which are part of theGood Friday Agreementand that Johnson had said would not exist. Third-party campaigns In February 2021, an investigation byopenDemocracyfound that third-party campaign groups \\\"pushed anti-Labour attack ads to millions of voters ahead of the 2019 general election spent more than £700,000 without declaring any individual donation\\\".These included Capitalist Worker and Campaign Against Corbynism, both of which were set up less than three months before the election and quickly disappeared thereafter.A further investigation, also reported by theDaily Mirror, found that a group run by Conservative activist Jennifer Powers had spent around £65,000 on dozens of advertisements attacking Corbyn and Labour on housing\",\n \"Labour on housing policy without declaring any donations. During the campaign,ihad reported that Powers was \\\"a corporate lobbyist who is a former employee of the Conservative Party\\\" and that her group had been one of \\\"16 registrations completed since 5 November\\\".Meanwhile,openDemocracyreported on the new phenomenon of United States-style,Super PAC-esque groups in British elections.Adam Ramsay, who wrote the article, contacted Powers and got her to admit to being an associate at the trade consultancy firm Competere, which was set up by lobbyistShanker Singham, who works for the neoliberal think tank, theInstitute for Economic Affairs.Powers' group \\\"Right to Rent, Right to Buy, Right to Own\\\" made claims that Labour wanted to \\\"attack property rights in the UK\\\" and \\\"your mortgage will be harder to pay under Labour\\\". Additionally,openDemocracyreported that, during the election campaign, the pro-Labour groupMomentumspent more than £500,000, the European Movement for the United Kingdom spent almost £300,000 and the\",\n \"£300,000 and the anti-Brexit groupsLed By DonkeysandBest for Britainspent £458,237 and more than one million pounds respectively.Following these reports, former Liberal Democrats MPTom Brake, who lost his seat in the election and was now director of the pressure groupUnlock Democracy, wrote to theElectoral Commission, urging them to investigate.These calls were echoed byJohn McDonnell, Labour MP and former Shadow Chancellor, who insisted that \\\"a serious and in-depth inquiry into third-party campaigning\\\" was needed. Religious groups' opinions on the parties Ethnic minority and religious leaders and organisations made statements about the general election. Leaders of theChurch of Englandstated people had a \\\"democratic duty to vote\\\", that they should \\\"leave their echo chambers\\\", and \\\"issues need to be debated respectfully, and without resorting to personal abuse\\\". Antisemitism in the Labour Partywas persistently covered in the media in the lead up to the election. In his leader's interview with Jeremy\",\n \"with Jeremy Corbyn,Andrew Neildedicated the first third of the 30-minute programme entirely to discussion of Labour's relationship with the Jewish community.This interview drew attention as Corbyn refused to apologise for antisemitism in the Labour Party, despite having done so on previous occasions.The British chief rabbiEphraim Mirvismade an unprecedented intervention in politics, warning that antisemitism was a \\\"poison sanctioned from the top\\\" of the Labour Party, and saying thatBritish Jewswere gripped by anxiety about the prospect of a Corbyn-led government.Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, theMuslim Council of Britainand theHindu Council UKsupported Mirvis's intervention, if not entirely endorsing it.TheJewish Labour Movementsaid they would not be actively campaigning for Labour except for exceptional candidates.The pro-CorbynMorning Starreported thatJewish Voice for Labourand theJewish Socialist Groupsaid that Mirvis did not represent all Jews, with some people within the religious groups\",\n \"religious groups being keen to express that no one person or organisation represents the views of all the members of the faith. TheCatholic Church in the United Kingdomurged voters to respect theright to life, opposingabortion,euthanasia, andassisted suicide, along with a peaceful solution to Brexit, support the poor, care for the homeless, and attention tohuman rights.TheMuslim Council of Britain(MCB) spokesman stated thatIslamophobia\\\"is particularly acute in the Conservative Party\\\" and that Conservatives treat it \\\"with denial, dismissal and deceit\\\".In addition they released a 72-page document, outlining what they assess are the key issues from aBritish Muslimperspective. The MCB specifically criticised those who \\\"seek to stigmatise and undermine Muslims\\\"; for example, by implying that Pakistanis (\\\"often used as a proxy for Muslims\\\") vote \\\"en bloc as directed byImams\\\".TheSunday Mirrorstated that many of the candidates campaigning for the Brexit Party were Islamophobic. The Times of Indiareported that\",\n \"Indiareported that supporters ofNarendra Modi's rulingBharatiya Janata Party(BJP) were actively campaigning for the Conservatives in 48 marginal seats,and theTodayprogramme reported that it had seenWhatsAppmessages sent to Hindus across the country urging them to vote Conservative.Some British Indians spoke out against what they saw as the BJP's meddling in the election.TheHindu Council UKwas strongly critical of Labour, going as far as to say that Labour is \\\"anti-Hindu\\\",and objected to the party's condemnation of the Indian government's actions resulting in therevocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.Labour's perceived introduction of aparachute candidateintoLeicester Eastdisappointed many with Indian heritage;specifically, no candidates of Indian descent were interviewed. The party selected or re-selected one candidate of Indian descent among its 39 safest seats. Endorsements Newspapers, organisations, and individuals had endorsed parties or individual candidates for the election. Media\",\n \"the election. Media coverage Party representation According toLoughborough University's Centre for Research in Communication and Culture (CRCC), media coverage of the first week of the campaign was dominated by the Conservatives and Labour, with the leaders of both parties being the most represented campaigners (Johnson with 20.8%; Corbyn with 18.8%).Due to this, the election coverage was characterised as increasingly 'presidential' as smaller parties have been marginalised. In television coverage,Boris Johnsonhad a particularly high-profile (30.4% against Corbyn's 22.6%). Labour (32%) and the Conservative Party (33%) received about a third of TV coverage each. In newspapers, Labour received two-fifths (40%) of the coverage and the Conservatives 35%. Spokespeople from both parties were quoted near equally, with Conservative sources being the most prominent in both press and TV coverage in terms of frequency of appearance.Sajid JavidandJohn McDonnellfeatured prominently during the first week because\",\n \"first week because theeconomy of the United Kingdomwas a top story for the media. McDonnell had more coverage than Javid on both TV and in print. A large proportion of the newspaper coverage of Labour was negative.Writing in theBritish Journalism Review, James Hanning said that, when reporting and commenting on Johnson, Conservative supporting newspapers made little mention of \\\"a track record that would have sunk any other politician\\\".In theLoughboroughanalysis, during the first week of the campaign, for example, the Conservatives had a positive press coverage score of +29.7, making them the only party to receive a positive overall presentation in the press. Meanwhile, Labour, meanwhile had a negative score of −70, followed by the Brexit Party on −19.7 and the Liberal Democrats on −10.Over the whole campaign, press hostility towards Labour had doubled compared with during the 2017 election, and negative coverage of the Conservatives halved. The Liberal Democrats were the party with the most TV coverage in\",\n \"most TV coverage in the first week after Labour and the Conservatives, with an eighth of all reporting (13%). In newspapers, they received less coverage than the Brexit Party, whose leaderNigel Faragereceived nearly as much coverage (12.3%) as Johnson and Corbyn (17.4% each). Most of this coverage regarded the Brexit Party's proposed electoral pact with the Conservatives.The Brexit Party (7%) and the SNP (5%) were fourth and fifth in terms of TV coverage, respectively. Dominant issues As during the 2017 election and in line for British elections, the electoral process was the most covered media topic for this election at 31% of all coverage.Brexit was the most prominent policy issue on both TV (18%) and in the press (11%), followed by the economy, and health (8% and 7% of all coverage, respectively).There was little focused analysis of what the implementation of Brexit policies might mean, which contrasted with the more detailed analysis often undertaken of other manifesto commitments, such as those on the\",\n \"as those on the economy. Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland's place within the United Kingdom received some prominence on TV but little coverage in the press.\\\"Standards/scandals\\\" and \\\"Minorities/religion\\\" received relatively significant discussion in large part relating to allegations ofantisemitism in the Labour partyand in the prior case an incident when Johnson was accused of reacting unsympathetically to an image of an ill child without a bed in hospital.Coverage of immigration and border controls fell overall from to 2017, while focus on environmental issues slightly increased. Gender balance Of the 20 most prominent spokespeople in media coverage of the first week of the election period, five were women, withNicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader andfirst minister of Scotland, in seventh place, the most featured.Women including citizens, experts, pollsters, businesspeople, trade union representatives, and the like featured in 23.9% of coverage and men in 76.1%. Men spoke three times as much as women in TV\",\n \"much as women in TV coverage, and five times as much in newspaper coverage. Members of Parliament not standing for re-election 74members of Parliament(MPs) who held seats at the end of Parliament did not stand for re-election. Of these, 32 were Conservative MPs, 20 were Labour, 3 were Liberal Democrats, and 16 were independents. The number of MPs retiring was higher than the 2017 general election, when 31 stood down. Opinion polling The chart below depicts the results of opinion polls, mostly only of voters in Great Britain, conducted from the 2017 general election until the election. The line plotted is the average of the last 15 polls and the larger circles at the end represent the actual results of the election. The graph shows that the Conservatives and Labour polled to similar levels from mid-2017 to mid-2019. Following Johnson's election in July, the Conservatives established a clear lead over Labour, and simultaneously support for the Brexit Party declined from its peak in summer 2019. The Spreadex\",\n \"2019. The Spreadex columns below cover bets on the number of seats each party would win, with the midpoint between asking and selling price. Predictions three weeks before the vote The first-past-the-post system used in the United Kingdom general elections means that the number of seats won is not directly related to vote share. Thus, several approaches are used to convert polling data and other information into seat predictions. The table below lists some of the predictions. Predictions two weeks before the vote Note: Elections Etc. does not add up to 650 seats due to rounding, the speaker is shown under \\\"Others\\\" and not \\\"Labour\\\", and majority figures assume all elected members take up their seats. Predictions one week before the vote Below are listed predictions based upon polls. as of 5 December 2019 Note: Elections Etc. does not add up to 650 seats due to rounding, the speaker is shown under \\\"Others\\\" and not \\\"Labour\\\", and majority figures assume all elected members take up their seats. Below are listed\",\n \"Below are listed predictions based upon betting odds, assuming the favourite wins in each constituency. Note: The speaker is shown under \\\"Others\\\" and not \\\"Labour\\\", and majority figures assume all elected members take up their seats. Final predictions as of 11 December 2019 Exit poll Anexit pollconducted byIpsos MORIfor theBBC,ITV, andSky Newswas published at the end of voting at 10 pm, predicting the number of seats for each party. Results The Conservative Party won, securing 365 seats out of 650, giving them an overall majority of 80 seats in the House of Commons. They gained seats in several Labour Party strongholds in Northern England that had been held by the party for decades and which had formed thered wall; for instance, the constituency ofBishop Auckland, which elected a Conservative MP for the first time in its 134-year history. This marked a fourth consecutive general election defeat for the Labour Party. In the worst result for the party in 84 years,despite a better vote share than other losses as\",\n \"other losses as in 1931, 1983, 1987, and 2010, Labour won 202 seats, which was the lowest number since 1935 and a loss of 60 compared to the previous election. The Liberal Democrats won 11 seats, down 1, despite significantly increasing their share of the popular vote.Ed Davey, formerCameron–Clegg coalitioncabinet minister and MP forKingston and Surbiton, was the winner of the2020 Liberal Democrats leadership election. This came afterJo Swinsonlost her seat toAmy Callaghanof the SNP by 150 votes and was disqualified from continuing as leader of the party. Swinson also became the first party leader to lose their seat since Liberal Party leaderArchibald Sinclairin 1945. While the Conservatives gained support in England and Wales, they lost support in Scotland in the face of a major SNP advance. The Conservatives won in England, advancing by 1.7% and gaining 48 seats to win 345 out of 533, while Labour fell back by 8% and lost 47 seats to win just 180.Labour won in Wales but lost 8% of its 2017 vote share and\",\n \"2017 vote share and six seats, retaining 22 out of 40, while the Conservatives advanced by 2.5% and gained six seats, winning 14 in total. The SNP advanced by 8.1% and gained 13 seats to win 48 out of 59, gaining several seats from the Conservatives and Labour. The Conservatives lost 3.5% of their 2017 vote share and half their seats, while Labour was reduced to one Scottish seat,Edinburgh South. This is the same Scottish seat that returnedIan Murrayin the 2015–17 Parliament as the country's sole Labour MP.Among the Labour MPs who lost their seats in Scotland wasLesley Laird, deputy leader ofScottish LabourandShadow Secretary of State for Scotland.In Northern Ireland, nationalist political parties won more seats than unionist ones for the first time.Nigel Dodds, the DUP's leader in Westminster, lost his seat inBelfast North. Analysis The results have been attributed toLeave-supporting areas backing the Conservatives, the Conservatives broadening their appeal to working-class voters, and the Conservatives\",\n \"the Conservatives making gains in the Midlands and the north of England.Most notable was the red wall turning blue in the election, which greatly contributed to the Conservative majority. In exit polls conducted byOpinium, 43% of voters who did not vote for the Labour Party cited 'the leadership' as their reason.Among those who did not vote for the Conservative Party, the cited reason was equally split between 'their stance on Brexit' and 'the leadership', with both at 26%. Several commentators stated that the party's loss was due to a complicated manifesto and Brexit policy, a poor approach to campaigning, and the unpopularity of Corbyn's leadership. AYouGovpost-election survey determined that the age over which voters were more likely to opt for the Conservatives than for Labour was 39, down from 47 in the 2017 election. In contrast to previous elections, the YouGov survey additionally found that a plurality of voters in the DE'sNRS social grade— comprising the unemployed, state pensioners, and\",\n \"pensioners, and semi-skilled and unskilled workers — had opted for the Conservatives over Labour.This change reflects the collapse of the 'Red Wall' which has a plurality of people in the DE classification according to theONS. Between 26% and 33% of voters engaged intactical voting, as they said that they were trying to prevent a victory by the party they liked least.Recommendation by tactical voting websites had some benefit for Liberal Democrat candidates.The new Parliament reportedly had the highest number of openly LGBT MPs in the world, with 20 Conservative MPs, 15 Labour MPs, and 10 SNP MPs who identify as LGBT. For the first time in both cases, the majority of elected Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs were female. The election also returned a record number of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) MPs, with 65 MPs (10%) describing themselves as BAME. In a post-election review featuring Labour MPs, trade union officials and activists one of several reasons attributed to the electoral defeat was due to\",\n \"defeat was due to the declining popularity of Jeremy Corbyn in relation to the Brexit position and allegations of party antisemitism. The review projected that Labour would have retained 38% of the vote had Corbyn's popularity levels retained at its peak level in 2017. Summary A summarised results of the parties that won seats at the election is shown below. Full results In total, the Green Party of England and Wales, Scottish Greens, and Green Party Northern Ireland received 865,715 votes (2.70%). This may be unclear from the table and sources which cite the total of the Greens in the whole of the United Kingdom rather than by region. Voter demographics Ipsos MORI Below is listedIpsos MORI's demographic breakdown. YouGov Below is listedYouGov's demographic breakdown. Seats changing hands Seats which changed allegiance Reaction and aftermath In his victory speech, Johnson described the result as a mandate for leaving the EU and promised to do so by 31 January.The United Kingdom left the EU on 31 January\",\n \"EU on 31 January 2020but continued using EU trading rules until 23:00 on December 31. The election led to both Labour and the Liberal Democrats having leadership contests: the former as Corbyn resigned, the latter as Swinson failed to be elected as an MP. Corbyn portrayed the 2019 election results primarily as a consequence of attitudes surrounding Brexit rather than a rejection of Labour's social and economic policies. In an interview held on 13 December 2019, Corbyn said the election was \\\"taken over ultimately by Brexit\\\", and said that he was \\\"proud of the manifesto\\\". The Labour leadership campaign was marked by conflicting analyses of what had gone wrong for the party in the general election.There was debate as to whether Corbyn's unpopularity or their position on Brexit was more significant.The 2020Labour Togetherreport, published by internal Labour party figures afterKeir Starmerwas elected as leader, highlighted issues like Corbyn's unpopularity, the party's Brexit policy, and poor seat targeting, as\",\n \"seat targeting, as well as long-term changes in Labour's electoral coalition.InopenDemocracy, Jo Michell and Rob Calvert Jump argued that the report underplayed the fact the geographical redistributions, stating that \\\"Labour's decline in the North, Midlands and Wales is not the result of a dramatic collapse in its vote share, but changes in the distribution of votes between parties and constituencies.\\\" Successful Liberal Democrats MPs were critical in private of how the party had decided to advocate revoking the exercise of Article 50, and the communication of that policy. Some criticised the election campaign for being hubristic, with its initial defining message that Swinson could be the country's next prime minister.Ed Davey, the party's co-acting leader after the election, argued that the unpopularity of Corbyn lost the Liberal Democrats votes to the Conservatives.Wera Hobhouse, who was re-elected by a majority of 12,322,argued that the party had been wrong to pursue a policy of equidistance between\",\n \"between Labour and the Conservatives in the general election campaign. Instead, she argued that the party should have concentrated more on campaigning against the Conservatives.The SNP's leaderNicola Sturgeondescribed the result as a clear mandate to hold a new referendum for Scottish independence.The British government said that it would not agree to a referendum being held and the Scottish government announced a few months later that it would put the issue on hold due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. See also Notes References Further reading External links Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019 Party manifestos\",\n \"Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson(born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served asPrime Minister of the United KingdomandLeader of the Conservative Partyfrom 2019 to 2022. He was previouslyForeign Secretaryfrom 2016 to 2018 andMayor of Londonfrom 2008 to 2016. He wasMember of Parliament(MP) forHenleyfrom 2001 to 2008 andUxbridge and South Ruislipfrom 2015 to 2023. In his youth Johnson attendedEton CollegeandBalliol College, Oxford, and he was electedPresident of the Oxford Unionin 1986. In 1989 he began writing forThe Daily Telegraph, and from 1999 to 2005 he was the editor ofThe Spectator. He became a member of theShadow CabinetofMichael Howardin 2001 before being dismissed over a claim that he had lied about an extramarital affair. After Howard resigned Johnson became a member ofDavid Cameron'sShadow Cabinet. Hewas elected Mayor of London in 2008and resigned from theHouse of Commonsto focus his attention on the mayoralty. He wasre-elected mayor in 2012, but did not run for\",\n \"but did not run for re-election in2016. At the2015 general electionhe was elected MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip. Johnson was a prominent figure in theBrexit campaignin the2016 European Union membership referendum. After the referendum Prime MinisterTheresa Mayappointed him foreign secretary. He resigned from the position in 2018 in protest at both theChequers Agreementand May's approach to Brexit. Johnson succeeded May as prime minister. Here-opened Brexit negotiationswith the European Union and in early September heprorogued Parliament; theSupreme Courtlater ruled the prorogation to have been unlawful. After agreeing to a revised Brexit withdrawal agreement butfailing to win parliamentary support, Johnson called asnap general electionto be held in December 2019, in which he won alandslide victory. During Johnson's premiership, the governmentrespondedto theCOVID-19 pandemicby introducing variousemergency powersto mitigate its impact and approved anationwide vaccination programme. He also responded to\",\n \"also responded to theRussian invasion of Ukraineby imposingsanctions on Russiaand authorisingforeign aid and weapons shipmentsto Ukraine.In thePartygatescandal it was found that numerous parties had been held at10 Downing Streetduringnational COVID-19 lockdowns, and COVID-19 social distancing laws were breached by 83 individuals, including Johnson, who in April 2022 was issued with afixed penalty notice. The publishing of theSue Gray reportin May 2022 and a widespread sense of dissatisfaction led in June 2022 to avote of confidence in his leadershipamongst Conservative MPs, which he won. In July 2022, revelations over hisappointment of Chris Pincheras deputychief whip of the partywhile knowing of allegations of sexual misconduct against him led to amass resignation of members of his governmentand to Johnson announcing his resignation as prime minister. He was succeeded as prime minister byLiz Truss, his foreign secretary. He remained in the House of Commons as abackbencheruntil 9 June 2023, when he received\",\n \"when he received the draft of theCommons Privileges Committee investigation into his conductthat unanimously found that he had lied to the Commons on numerous occasions. Johnson resigned his position as MP the same day. Johnson is acontroversial figurein British politics. His supporters have praised him for being humorous, witty, and entertaining, with an appeal reaching beyond traditional Conservative Party voters, viewing him as an electoral asset to the party. Conversely, his critics have accused him of lying,elitism,cronyism, andbigotry. During his premiership his supporters praised him for \\\"getting Brexit done\\\", overseeing the UK's COVID-19 vaccination programme, which was amongst the fastest in the world, and being one of the first world leaders to offerhumanitarian support to Ukrainefollowing the Russian invasion of the country. His tenure also encompassed several controversies and scandals, and is viewed as the most scandalous premiership of modern times by historians and biographers alike. Early\",\n \"alike. Early life and education Childhood Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson was born on 19 June 1964 in theUpper East SideofManhattan, New York City,toStanley Johnson, then studying economics atColumbia University,andCharlotte Fawcett,an artist, whose fatherSir James Fawcett, was a prominentbarristerand president of theEuropean Commission of Human Rightsfrom 1972 to 1981.Johnson is one of only two British prime ministers to have been anAmerican citizen(seeHonorary citizenship of the United States).Johnson's parents returned to the UK in September 1964 so Charlotte could study at theUniversity of Oxford.She lived with her son inSummertown, Oxford, and in September 1965 she gave birth to a daughter,Rachel.In July 1965, the family moved toCrouch Endinnorth London,and in February 1966 they relocated to Washington, DC, where Stanley worked with theWorld Bank.Stanley then took a job with a policy panel onpopulation control, and moved the family toNorwalk, Connecticut, in June.A third child, Leo, was born in\",\n \"Leo, was born in September 1967. The family returned to the UK in 1969, and lived at West Nethercote Farm, Somerset, Stanley's family home inExmoor.His father was regularly absent, leaving Johnson to be raised largely by his mother, assisted byau pairs.As a child, Johnson was quiet, studious,and deaf, resulting in several operations to insertgrommetsinto his ears.He and his siblings were encouraged to engage in intellectual activities from a young age.Johnson's earliest recorded ambition was to be \\\"world king\\\".Having no other friends, the siblings became very close. In late 1969, the family moved toMaida Valein west London, while Stanley began post-graduate research at theLondon School of Economics.In 1970, Charlotte and the children briefly returned to Nethercote, where Johnson attended Winsford Village School, before returning to London to settle inPrimrose Hill,where they were educated at Primrose Hill Primary School.A fourth child,Joseph, was born in late 1971. After Stanley secured employment at\",\n \"employment at theEuropean Commissionin April 1973, he moved his family toUccle, Brussels, where Johnson attended theEuropean School, Brussels Iand learnt to speak French.Charlotte had anervous breakdownand was hospitalised with depression, after which Johnson and his siblings were sent back to the UK in 1975 to attendAshdown House, a preparatory boarding school in East Sussex.There, he developed interests inrugby,Ancient Greek, andLatin.In December 1978 his parents' relationship broke down; they divorced in 1980,and Charlotte moved toNotting Hill, London, where her children joined her for much of their time. Eton and Oxford: 1977–1987 As a kid I was extremely spotty, extremely nerdy and horriblyswotty. My idea of a really good time was to travel across London on the tube to visit theBritish Museum. — Boris Johnson Johnson gained aKing's Scholarshipto study atEton College, a boarding school nearWindsor, Berkshire.Arriving in the autumn term of 1977,he began going by his middle name Boris,and developed \\\"the\",\n \"developed \\\"the eccentric English persona\\\" for which he became famous.He denounced Catholicism and joined theChurch of England.School reports complained about his idleness, complacency, and lateness,but he was popular at Eton. Johnson's friends were largely from the wealthy upper classes; his best friends wereDarius GuppyandCharles Spencer. Both would go on to accompany him at theUniversity of Oxfordand remained his friends into adulthood.Johnson excelled inEnglishand theClassics, winning prizes in both,and became secretary of the schooldebating societyand editor of the school newspaper.In late 1981, he became a member ofPop,a small, self-selecting elite group of school prefects. After leaving Eton, Johnson went on agap yearto Australia, where he taught English and Latin atTimbertop, anOutward Bound-inspired campus ofGeelong Grammar, an independent boarding school. Johnson won a scholarship to readLiterae humanioresatBalliol College, Oxford, a four-year course in Classics, ancient languages, literature,\",\n \"literature, history, and philosophy.Matriculatingin late 1983,he was one of a generation of Oxford undergraduates who dominated British politics and media in the early 21st century, including Cameron,William Hague,Michael Gove,Jeremy HuntandNick Boles.While at Oxford, Johnson joined the college'srugby unionteam as atighthead prop.To his later regret, he joined theBullingdon Club, an exclusive drinking society notorious for vandalism.Many years later,a group photographincluding himself and Cameron in Bullingdon Club formal dress led to much negative press coverage. While at Oxford, he began a relationship withAllegra Mostyn-Owen, cover girl forTatlermagazine and daughter ofChristie's EducationchairmanWilliam Mostyn-Owen. They became engaged. Johnson was popular and well known at Oxford.Alongside Guppy, he edited the university's satirical magazineTributary.In 1984, Johnson was elected secretary of theOxford Union,and campaigned unsuccessfully for the position ofUnion President.In 1986, Johnson ran\",\n \"1986, Johnson ran successfully for President,but his term was not distinguished or memorable,and questions were raised regarding his competence and seriousness.At graduation, Johnson was awarded anupper second-classdegree,and was deeply unhappy he did not receive a first. Early career The TimesandThe Daily Telegraph: 1987–1994 In September 1987, Johnson and Mostyn-Owen married.They settled inWest Kensington, London.In late 1987, through family connections, he began work as a graduate trainee atThe Times.Scandal erupted when Johnson wrote an article for the newspaper on the archaeological discovery ofEdward II's palace, having invented a quote which he falsely attributed to the historianColin Lucas, his godfather. After the paper's editor,Charles Wilson, learnt of the matter, he dismissed Johnson. Johnson secured employment on the lead-writing desk ofThe Daily Telegraph, having met its editor,Max Hastings, while at university.His articles appealed to the newspaper's Conservative-voting \\\"Middle England\\\"\",\n \"\\\"Middle England\\\" readership,and he was known for his distinctive literary style, replete with old-fashioned phrasing and for regularly referring to the readership as \\\"my friends\\\".In early 1989, Johnson was appointed to the newspaper's Brussels bureau to report on the European Commission,remaining in the post until 1994.A strong critic of the integrationist Commission presidentJacques Delors, he established himself as one of the city's fewEuroscepticjournalists.He wrote articles abouteuromyths: that Brussels had recruited sniffer dogs to ensure that all manure smelt the same,they were about to dictate the acceptable curve of British bananas,limit the power of their vacuum cleanersand order women to return their old sex toys.He wrote that euro notes made people impotent and that a plan to blow up theBerlaymont buildingwas in place because asbestos cladding made the building too dangerous to inhabit.Many of his fellow journalists were critical of his articles, saying they often contained lies designed to\",\n \"lies designed to discredit the commission.The Europhile Conservative politicianChris Pattenlater said that Johnson was \\\"one of the greatest exponents of fake journalism\\\".Johnson opposed banning handguns after theDunblane school massacre, writing in his column \\\"Nanny is confiscating their toys. It is like one of those vastIndian programmes of compulsory vasectomy.\\\" According to one of his biographers,Sonia Purnell, – who was Johnson's Brussels deputy– he helped make Euroscepticism \\\"an attractive and emotionally resonant cause for the Right\\\", whereas it had been associated previously with the Left.Johnson's articles exacerbated tensions between the Conservative Party's Eurosceptic and Europhile factions. As a result, he earned the mistrust of many party members.His writings were also a key influence on the emergence of the euroscepticUK Independence Party(UKIP) in the early 1990s.Conrad Black, then proprietor ofThe Daily Telegraph, said Johnson \\\"was such an effective correspondent for us in Brussels that he\",\n \"in Brussels that he greatly influenced British opinion on this country's relations with Europe\\\". In February 1990, Johnson's wife Allegra broke up with him; after several attempts at reconciliation, their marriage ended in April 1993.He began a relationship with childhood friendMarina Wheeler, who had moved to Brussels in 1990.They were married in May 1993.Soon after, Marina gave birth to a daughter.Johnson and his new wife settled inIslington, north London,an area known for its association with the left-liberalintelligentsia. Under the influence of thismilieuand of his wife, Johnson moved in a more liberal direction on issues such asclimate change,LGBT rightsand race relations.While in Islington, the couple had three more children, all given the surname Johnson-Wheeler.They were sent to the local Canonbury Primary School and then to private secondary schools.Devoting much time to his children, Johnson wrote a book of verse,The Perils of the Pushy Parents: A Cautionary Tale, which was published to largely\",\n \"to largely poor reviews. Political columnist: 1994–1999 Back in London, Hastings turned down Johnson's request to become awar reporter,instead promoting him to assistant editor and chief political columnist.Johnson's column received praise for being ideologically eclectic and distinctively written, and earned him Commentator of the Year Award at theWhat the Papers Sayawards.Some critics condemned his writing style as bigotry; in columns he used the words \\\"piccaninnies\\\" and \\\"watermelon smiles\\\" when referring to Africans, championed European colonialism in Ugandaand referred to gay men as \\\"tank-topped bumboys\\\". In 1993, Johnson outlined his desire to run as a Conservative in the1994 European Parliament elections.Andrew Mitchellconvinced Major not to veto Johnson's candidacy, but Johnson could not find a constituency.He turned his attention to obtaining a seat in the House of Commons instead. After being rejected as Conservative candidate forHolborn and St. Pancras, he was selected the Conservative candidate\",\n \"candidate forClwyd Southin north Wales, then aLabour Partysafe seat. Spending six weeks campaigning, he attained 9,091 votes (23 per cent) in the1997 general election, losing to Labour candidateMartyn Jones. Scandal erupted in June 1995 when a recording of a 1990 telephone conversation between Johnson and his friendDarius Guppywas made public.In it, Guppy said that his criminal activities involving insurance fraud were being investigated byNews of the Worldjournalist Stuart Collier, and he asked Johnson to provide him with Collier's private address, seeking to have the latter beaten. Johnson agreed, although he expressed concern that he would be associated with the attack.When the phone conversation was published, Johnson stated that ultimately he had not obliged Guppy's request. Hastings reprimanded Johnson but did not dismiss him. Johnson was given a regular column inThe Spectator, sister publication toThe Daily Telegraph, which attracted mixed reviews and was often thought rushed.In 1999, he was also\",\n \"1999, he was also given a column reviewing new cars in the American men's monthly magazineGQ.The large number of parking fines that Johnson acquired while testing cars frustrated staff.AtThe Daily TelegraphandThe Spectator, he was consistently late delivering copy, forcing staff to stay late to accommodate him; some related that if they published without his work, he would shout at them with expletives. Johnson's April 1998 appearance on the BBC's satirical current affairs showHave I Got News for Youbrought him national fame.He was invited back on to later episodes, including as a guest presenter; for his 2003 appearance, Johnson was nominated for theBAFTA Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance.After these appearances, he came to be recognised on the street, and was invited to appear on other shows, such asTop Gear,Parkinson,Breakfast with Frost, andQuestion Time. The Spectatorand MP for Henley: 1999–2008 In July 1999, Conrad Black offered Johnson the editorship ofThe Spectatoron the condition\",\n \"the condition he abandon his parliamentary aspirations; Johnson agreed.While retainingThe Spectator's traditional right-wing bent, Johnson welcomed contributions from leftist writers and cartoonists.Under Johnson's editorship, the magazine's circulation grew by 10% to 62,000 and it became profitable.His editorship also drew criticism; some opined that under himThe Spectatoravoided serious issues,while colleagues became annoyed that he was regularly absent from the office, meetings, and events.He gained a reputation as a poor political pundit because of incorrect political predictions.His father-in-lawCharles Wheelerand others strongly criticised him for allowingSpectatorcolumnistTaki Theodoracopulosto publish racist and antisemitic language. Journalist Charlotte Edwardes wrote inThe Timesin 2019 that Johnson had squeezed her thigh at a private lunch at theSpectatorin 1999 and that another woman had told her he had done the same to her. A spokesman denied the allegation. In 2004, Johnson published an\",\n \"published an editorial inThe Spectatorafter the murder ofKen Bigleysuggesting that Liverpudlians were wallowing in their victim status and \\\"hooked on grief\\\" over theHillsborough disaster, which Johnson partly blamed on \\\"drunken fans\\\".In an appendix added to a later edition of his 2005 bookThe Dream of Rome,Tell MAMAand theMuslim Council of Britaincriticised Johnson for arguingIslamhas caused theMuslim worldto be \\\"literally centuries behind\\\" the West. Becoming an MP The selection of Boris Johnson ... confirms the Tory Party's increasing weakness for celebrity personalities over the dreary exigencies of politics. Johnson, for all his gifts, is unlikely to grace any future Tory cabinet. Indeed, he is not known for his excessive interest in serious policy matters, and it is hard to see him grubbing away at administrative detail as an obscure, hardworking junior minister for social security. To maintain his funny man reputation he will no doubt find himself refining hisBertie Woosterinterpretation to the point\",\n \"to the point where the impersonation becomes the man. –Max Hastings,London Evening Standard, FollowingMichael Heseltine's retirement, Johnson decided to stand as Conservative candidate forHenley, a Conservative safe seat inOxfordshire.The local Conservative branch selected him although it was split over Johnson's candidacy. Some thought him amusing and charming while others disliked his flippant attitude and perceived lack of knowledge of the local area.Assisted by his television fame, Johnson won the seat in the2001 general election.Alongside his Islington home, Johnson bought a farmhouse outsideThamein his new constituency.He regularly attended Henley social events and occasionally wrote for theHenley Standard.His constituency surgeries proved popular, and he joined local campaigns to stop the closure ofTownlands Hospitaland the localair ambulance. In Parliament, Johnson was appointed to astanding committeeassessing theProceeds of Crime Bill, but missed many of its meetings.Despite his credentials as a\",\n \"credentials as a public speaker, his speeches in the House of Commons were widely deemed lacklustre.He attended around half of Commons votes,usually supporting the Conservativeparty line.Infree votes, he demonstrated a more socially liberal attitude, supporting theGender Recognition Act 2004and the repeal ofSection 28.However, in 2001, Johnson had spoken out against plans to repeal Section 28, saying it was \\\"Labour's appalling agenda, encouraging the teaching of homosexuality in schools\\\".After initially stating he would not, hesupportedthe government's plans to join the United States in the2003 invasion of Iraq,and in April 2003 visited occupied Baghdad.In August 2004, he backed unsuccessfulimpeachment proceduresagainst Prime MinisterTony Blairfor \\\"high crimes and misdemeanours\\\" regarding the war,and in December 2006 described the invasion as \\\"a colossal mistake and misadventure\\\". Although labelling Johnson \\\"ineffably duplicitous\\\" for breaking his promise not to become an MP, Black decided not to dismiss him\",\n \"not to dismiss him because he \\\"helped promote the magazine and raise its circulation\\\".Johnson remained editor ofThe Spectator, while also writing columns forThe Daily TelegraphandGQ, and making television appearances.His 2001 book,Friends, Voters, Countrymen: Jottings on the Stump, recounted that year's election campaign,while 2003'sLend Me Your Earscollected previously published columns and articles.In 2004,HarperCollinspublished his first novel:Seventy-Two Virgins: A Comedy of Errorsrevolved around the life of a Conservative MP and contained autobiographical elements.Responding to criticism that he was juggling too many jobs, he citedWinston ChurchillandBenjamin Disraelias exemplars who combined political and literary careers.To manage stress, he took up jogging and cycling,and became so well known for the latter that Gimson suggested he was \\\"perhaps the most famous cyclist in Britain\\\". FollowingWilliam Hague's resignation as Conservative leader, the party electedIain Duncan Smith.Johnson had a strained\",\n \"had a strained relationship with Duncan Smith, andThe Spectatorbecame critical of his party leadership.Duncan Smith was succeeded byMichael Howardin November 2003; Howard deemed Johnson to be the most popular Conservative politician with the electorate and appointed him vice-chairman of the party, responsible for overseeing its electoral campaign.In his Shadow Cabinet reshuffle of May 2004, Howard appointed Johnson as shadow arts minister.In October, Howard ordered Johnson to apologise publicly inLiverpoolfor publishing aSpectatorarticle – anonymously written bySimon Heffer– which said the crowds at theHillsborough disasterhad contributed to the incident and that Liverpudlians had a predilection for reliance on thewelfare state. In November 2004, the tabloids revealed that since 2000 Johnson had been having an affair withSpectatorcolumnistPetronella Wyatt, resulting in two abortions.Johnson denied the allegations but they were subsequently proven to be true, and Howard dismissed him as vice-chairman and\",\n \"vice-chairman and shadow arts minister when he refused to resign. Second term At the2005 general election, Johnson was re-elected MP for Henley.Labour won the election and Howard stood down as Conservative leader; Johnson backedDavid Cameronas his successor.After Cameron was elected, he appointed Johnson as the shadow higher education minister.Interested in streamlining university funding,Johnson supported Labour'sproposed top-up fees.He campaigned in 2006 to become theRector of the University of Edinburgh, but his support for top-up fees damaged his campaign, and he came third. In April 2006, theNews of the Worldalleged that Johnson was having an affair with journalist Anna Fazackerley; the pair did not comment, and shortly afterwards Johnson began employing Fazackerley.In September 2006, Papua New Guinea'sHigh Commissionprotested after he compared the Conservatives' frequently changing leadership tocannibalism in the country. In 2005,The Spectator's new chief executive,Andrew Neil, dismissed Johnson as\",\n \"Johnson as editor.To make up for this loss of income, Johnson negotiated withThe Daily Telegraphto raise his salary from £200,000 to £250,000, averaging £5,000 per column.He presented apopular historytelevision show,The Dream of Rome, which was broadcast in January 2006; a book followed in February.A sequel,After Rome, focused on early Islamic history.In 2007, he earned £540,000, making him the third-highest-earning MP that year. Mayor of London (2008–2016) Mayoral election: 2007–2008 In September, Johnson was selected as the Conservative candidate forMayor of Londonafter a public London-wideprimary.Johnson's campaign focused on reducing youth crime, making public transport safer, and replacing thearticulated buseswith an updated version of theAEC Routemaster.Targeting the Conservative-leaning suburbs ofouter London, it capitalised on perceptions that the Labour Mayoralty had neglected them in favour ofinner London.His campaign emphasised his popularity, even among those who opposed his policies,with\",\n \"his policies,with opponents complaining a common attitude among voters was: \\\"I'm voting for Boris because he is a laugh.\\\"The campaign of Labour incumbentKen Livingstoneportrayed Johnson as an out-of-touchtoffand bigot. In the election, Johnson received 43% and Livingstone 37% of first-preference votes; when second-preference votes were added, Johnson was victorious with 53% to Livingstone's 47%.Johnson subsequently announced his intention to stand down as MP for Henley. First term: 2008–2012 After Johnson became mayor, those in City Hall deemed too closely allied to Livingstone's administration had their employment terminated.Johnson appointedTim Parkeras his deputy mayor, but after Parker began taking increasing control at City Hall, Johnson dismissed him.Many in the Conservative Party initially distanced themselves from Johnson's administration, fearing it would be damaging for the2010 general election. During the campaign, Johnson had confided toBrian Paddickhe was unsure how he would maintain his\",\n \"would maintain his lifestyle on the mayoral salary of £140,000 a year.He agreed to continue hisDaily Telegraphcolumn, thus earning a further £250,000 a year.His team believed this would cause controversy and made him promise to donate 20% of hisDaily Telegraphsalary to a charitable cause. Johnson resented this, and ultimately did not pay the full 20%.Controversy erupted when on theBBC'sHARDtalkhe referred to the £250,000 salary as \\\"chicken feed\\\"; this was at the time approximately 10 times the average yearly wage for a British worker. During his first administration, Johnson was embroiled in several personal scandals. After moving to a new house in Islington, he built a shed without obtainingplanning permission; after neighbours complained, he dismantled it.The press also accused him of having an affair with Helen Macintyre and of fathering her child, allegations that he did not deny.Johnson was accused of warningDamian Greenthat police were planning to arrest him; Johnson denied the claims.He was accused\",\n \"was accused ofcronyism,in particular for appointingVeronica Wadleyas the chair of London'sArts Council.In theparliamentary expenses scandal, he was accused of excessive expenses claims for taxis.Johnson remained a popular figure in London with a strong celebrity status in the city. Policies Johnson made no major changes to the mayoral system of the previous administration.However, he did reverse several other measures implemented by Livingstone: ending the city's oil deal with Venezuela, abolishingThe Londonernewsletter, and scrapping the half-yearly inspections ofblack cabs, which was reinstated three years later.Abolishing the western wing of thecongestion chargingzone,he cancelled plans to increase the congestion charge forfour-wheel-drive vehicles.He was subsequently accused of failing to publish an independent report on air pollution commissioned by theGreater London Authority, which revealed the city breached legal limits onnitrogen dioxidelevels. Johnson retained Livingstone projects such\",\n \"projects such asCrossrailand the2012 Olympic Games, but was accused of trying to take credit for them.He introduced a public bicycle scheme that had been mooted by Livingstone's administration; colloquially known as \\\"Boris Bikes\\\", the part privately financed system was a significant financial loss but proved popular.Despite Johnson's support of cycling, and his much-publicised identity as a cyclist, some cycling groups argued he had failed to make the city's roads safer for cyclists.As per his election pledge, he commissioned the development of theNew Routemasterbuses for central London.He also ordered the construction of acable car systemthat crossed theRiver Thamesbetween theGreenwich Peninsulaand theRoyal Docks. Johnson's first policy initiative was a ban on drinking alcohol on public transport.He announced plans to extend pay-as-you-goOyster cardsto national rail services in London.A pledge in Johnson's manifesto was to retain Tube ticket offices, in opposition to Livingstone's proposal to close up to\",\n \"to close up to 40.On 2 July 2008, the Mayor's office announced the closure plan was to be abandoned.On 21 November 2013,Transport for Londonannounced that all London Underground ticket offices would close by 2015.In financing these projects, Johnson's administration borrowed £100 million,while public transport fares were increased by 50%. During his first term, Johnson was perceived as having moved leftward on certain issues, supporting theLondon Living Wageand endorsing an amnesty for illegal migrants.He tried placating critics who had deemed him a bigot by appearing atLondon's gay pride paradeand praising ethnic minority newspapers.Johnson broke from the traditional protocol of those in public office not publicly commenting on other nations' elections by endorsingBarack Obamafor the2008 United States presidential election. Relations with the police, finance, and the media Johnson appointed himself chair of theMetropolitan Police Authority(MPA), and in October 2008 successfully pushed for the resignation of\",\n \"the resignation of Metropolitan Police CommissionerIan Blair, after Blair was criticised for allegedly handing contracts to friends and for his handling of thedeath of Jean Charles de Menezes.This earned Johnson respect among Conservatives, who interpreted it as his first act of strength.Johnson resigned as chairman of the MPA in January 2010,but throughout his mayoralty was highly supportive of the Metropolitan Police, particularly during the controversy surrounding thedeath of Ian Tomlinson.Overall crime in London fell during his administration, but his claim that serious youth crime had decreased proved to be false, and he acknowledged the error.He was criticised for his response to the2011 London riots. Johnson championed London's financial sector and denounced what he saw as \\\"banker bashing\\\" following thefinancial crisis of 2007–08,condemning theanti-capitalistOccupy Londonmovement that appeared in 2011.He collected donations from the city's wealthy for a charitable enterprise, the Mayor's Fund, which\",\n \"Mayor's Fund, which he had established to aid disadvantaged youths. It initially announced the fund would raise £100 million, but by 2010 it had only earnt £1.5 million.He also maintained extensive personal contacts throughout the British media,which resulted in widespread favourable press coverage of his administration.In turn he remained largely supportive of his friends in the media, includingRupert Murdoch, during theNews International phone hacking scandal. The formation of the Forensic Audit Panel was announced on 8 May 2008. The panel was tasked with monitoring and investigating financial management at theLondon Development Agencyand theGreater London Authority.Johnson's announcement was criticised by Labour for the perceived politicisation of this nominally independent panel.The head of the panel,Patience Wheatcroft, was married to a Conservative councillorand three of the four remaining panel members also had close links to the Conservatives. Re-election campaign Up for re-election in 2012, Johnson\",\n \"in 2012, Johnson again hired Crosby to orchestrate his campaign.Before the election, Johnson publishedJohnson's Life of London, a work of popular history that historianA. N. Wilsoncharacterised as a \\\"coded plea\\\" for votes.Polls suggested that while Livingstone's approach to transport was preferred, voters in London placed greater trust in Johnson on crime and the economy.Johnson's campaign emphasised the accusation that Livingstone was guilty oftax evasion, for which Livingstone called Johnson a \\\"bare-faced liar\\\".Political scientist Andrew Crines believed that Livingstone's campaign focused on criticising Johnson rather than presenting an alternate and progressive vision of London's future.Johnson wasre-elected. Second term: 2012–2016 After a successful bid under Livingstone in 2005, London hosted the2012 Summer Olympics, with Johnson as board co-chair.He improved transportation around London by making more tickets available and adding buses around the capital when thousands of spectators were temporary\",\n \"were temporary visitors.Johnson was accused of covering up pollution ahead of the games by deploying dust suppressants to remove air particulates near monitoring stations.In November 2013, Johnson announced major changes to the operation of theLondon Underground, including the extension of operating hours. All staffed ticket offices were replaced with automated ticketing systems. Johnson was close friends with American entrepreneurand modelJennifer Arcuri, withThe Sunday Timesdescribing him as a regular visitor to her flat,and implying they were in a sexual relationship.Arcuri and her company, Innotech, were awarded substantial government grants, and Johnson intervened to allow her onto three trade mission trips.The Sunday Timessaid in September 2019 that Johnson failed to declare his personal relationship as a conflict of interest.The Greater London Authority referred the matter to theIndependent Office for Police Conduct(IOPC) \\\"so it can assess whether or not it is necessary to investigate the former mayor\",\n \"the former mayor of London for the criminal offence of misconduct in public office\\\", for the Mayor is also London'spolice and crime commissioner.On 9 November 2019 it was revealed that the IOPC had decided to publish its report after the general election on 12 December.The IOPC eventually issued its report in May 2020, concluding that, although there was no basis for any criminal charge, there was evidence that the close relationship between Johnson and Arcuri had influenced decisions, that Johnson should have declared an interest, and that his failure to do this could have breached the London Assembly's code of conduct. In 2015, Johnson criticised then-presidential candidateDonald Trump's false comments that there wereno-go zones in Londoninaccessible for non-Muslims. Johnson said Trump was \\\"betraying a quite stupefying ignorance that makes him frankly unfit to hold the office of President of the United States\\\",becoming the first senior politician in the UK to declare Trump unfit for office, but rejecting\",\n \"but rejecting calls for him to be banned from the country.In 2016, he said he was \\\"genuinely worried that could become president\\\", telling ITV'sTom Bradbythat being mistaken for Trump in New York was \\\"one of the worst moments\\\" of his life. Johnson did not run for a third mayoral and stepped down on 5 May 2016 followingthe election. AYouGovpoll commissioned at the end of Johnson's term revealed that 52% of Londoners believed he did a \\\"good job\\\" while 29% believed he did a \\\"bad job\\\". Return to Parliament Johnson initially said that he would not return to the House of Commons while mayor.After much media speculation, in August 2014 he sought selection as the Conservative candidate for thesafe seatofUxbridge and South Ruislipat the2015 general election.In the2015 general election, Johnson was elected. There was speculation that he had returned to Parliament because he wanted to replace Cameron as Conservative leader and prime minister. Brexit campaign: 2015–2016 In February 2016, Johnson endorsedVote Leavein\",\n \"Leavein the \\\"Out\\\" campaign for the2016 European Union membership referendum.Following this announcement, which was interpreted by financial markets as making Brexit more probable, thepound sterlingslumped by nearly 2% against the US dollar, reaching its lowest level since March 2009. In April 2016, in response to a comment by PresidentBarack Obamathat Britain should remain in the European Union, Johnson wrote an \\\"ancestral dislike\\\" of Britain owing to his \\\"part-Kenyan\\\" background may have shaped Obama's views.Several politicians condemned his comments as racist and unacceptable.Conversely, former Conservative Party leaderIain Duncan SmithandUK Independence Party(UKIP) leaderNigel Faragedefended them. Johnson supported Vote Leave's statement that the government was committed toTurkish accession to the EU. Vote Leave was accused of implying that 80 million Turks would come to the UK if it stayed in the EU. When interviewed in January 2019, he said he had not mentioned Turkey during the campaign.On 22 June\",\n \"campaign.On 22 June 2016, Johnson declared 23 June could be \\\"Britain's independence day\\\" in a televised debate. Following the victory of the \\\"Leave\\\" campaign, Cameron resigned. Johnson was widely regarded as the front-runner to succeed him.Johnson announced he would not stand in theConservative leadership election.Shortly before this, Michael Gove, hitherto a Johnson ally, concluded that Johnson \\\"cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead\\\".The Daily Telegraphcalled Gove's comments \\\"the most spectacular political assassination in a generation\\\".Johnson endorsedAndrea Leadsom's candidature, but she dropped out, leaving Theresa May to be elected uncontested. Foreign Secretary: 2016–2018 May appointed Johnsonforeign secretaryin July 2016.Analysts saw the appointment as a tactic to weaken Johnson politically: the new positions of \\\"Brexit secretary\\\" andinternational trade secretaryleft the foreign secretary as a figurehead.Johnson's appointment ensured he would often be out of the country\",\n \"out of the country and unable to mobilise backbenchers against her, while forcing him to take responsibility for problems caused by withdrawing from the EU. Some journalists and foreign politicians criticised Johnson's appointment because of his controversial statements about other countries.His tenure attracted criticism from diplomats and foreign policy experts.A number of diplomats, FCO staff and foreign ministers who worked with Johnson compared his leadership unfavourably to previous foreign secretaries for his perceived lack of conviction or substantive positions on foreign policy issues.A senior official in Obama's government suggested Johnson's appointment would push the US further towardsGermanyat the expense of theSpecial Relationshipwith the UK.On one occasion Egyptian presidentAbdel Fattah el-Sisiwalked out of a meeting with Johnson after a meeting did not \\\"get beyond the pleasantries\\\". Johnson's visit to Turkey in September 2016 was somewhat tense because he had wonDouglas Murray's offensive\",\n \"Murray's offensive poetry competition about the President of Turkey,Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, four months earlier.When questioned by a journalist whether he would apologise for the poem, Johnson dismissed the matter as \\\"trivia\\\".Johnson pledged to helpTurkey join the EUand expressed support for Erdogan's government.Johnson described theGülen movementas a \\\"cult\\\" and supportedTurkey's post-coup purges. Johnson supported theSaudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemenand refused to block UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia.In September 2016, human rights groups accused him of blocking the UN inquiry into Saudi war crimes in Yemen.Given the UK-Saudi alliance, in December 2016, he attracted attention for commenting the Saudis were akin to the Iranians in \\\"puppeteering and playingproxy wars\\\".In November 2017, Johnson told theForeign Affairs Select CommitteethatNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe– a British-Iranian citizen imprisoned in Iran after being arrested for training citizen journalists and bloggers in aBBC World Service\",\n \"aBBC World Service Trustproject – had been \\\"simply teaching people journalism\\\". Facing criticism, Johnson stated he had been misquoted and that nothing he said had justified Zaghari-Ratcliffe's sentence.In May 2018, Johnson backedtheIran nuclear deal framework, despite Donald Trump's withdrawal. In April 2017, Johnson said thatGibraltar's sovereigntywas \\\"not going to change\\\" after Brexit.Johnson promised while inNorthern Irelandthat Brexit would leave the Irish border \\\"absolutely unchanged\\\".Johnson visitedAnguillaandTortolain September 2017 to confirm the UK's commitment to helping restoreBritish territoriesdevastated byHurricane Irma.In September 2017, he was criticised for reciting lines fromRudyard Kipling's poemMandalaywhile visiting aMyanmartemple; the British ambassador, who was with him, suggested it was \\\"not appropriate\\\".In October 2017, he faced criticism for stating the Libyan city ofSirtecould become an economic success likeDubai: \\\"all they have to do is clear the dead bodies away\\\". Initially\",\n \"away\\\". Initially favouring a less hostile approach to Russia,Johnson soon backed a more aggressive policy.Following the March 2018poisoning of Sergei and Yulia SkripalinSalisbury, an act which the UK government blamed on Russia,Johnson comparedVladimir Putin's hosting of theWorld Cup in RussiatoAdolf Hitler's hosting of theOlympic Games in Berlinin 1936.Russia's Foreign Ministry denounced Johnson's \\\"unacceptable and unworthy\\\" parallel towards Russia, a \\\"nation thatlost millions of livesin fighting Nazism\\\".Johnson described theNord Stream 2gas pipeline from Russia to Germany as \\\"divisive\\\" and a \\\"threat\\\" that left Europe dependent on a \\\"malign Russia\\\" for itsenergy supplies. Johnson condemned thepersecutionofRohingya Muslimsin Myanmar,comparing the situation with thedisplacement of Palestiniansin 1948.Johnson supported theTurkish invasion of northern Syriaaimed at ousting theSyrian KurdsfromAfrin.He accused theUNHRCof focusing disproportionately on theIsraeli–Palestinian conflictand Israel'soccupationof\",\n \"thePalestinian territories. In a September 2017 op-ed, Johnson reiterated the UK would regain control of £350m a week after Brexit, suggesting it go to theNational Health Service(NHS).Cabinet colleagues subsequently criticised him for reviving the assertion.Following the2017 general election, Johnson denied media reports he intended to challenge May's leadership.In a February 2018 letter to May, Johnson suggested that Northern Ireland may have to accept border controls after Brexit and that it would not seriously affect trade, having initially said a hard border would be unthinkable.In June, he was reported as having said \\\"fuck business\\\" when asked about corporate concerns regarding a 'hard' Brexit. Secret recordings obtained byBuzzFeed Newsin June 2018 revealed Johnson's dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Theresa May's negotiating style, accusing her of being too collaborative with the European Union in Brexit negotiations. Comparing May's approach to that of the US president Donald Trump – who at the time\",\n \"– who at the time was engaged in a combative trade war with the EU because it raised tariffs on metal – Johnson said: \\\"Imagine Trump doing Brexit. He'd go in bloody hard ... There'd be all sorts of breakdowns, all sorts of chaos. Everyone would think he'd gone mad. But actually you might get somewhere.\\\" He accused individuals of scaremongering over a Brexit \\\"meltdown\\\", saying \\\"No panic.Pro bono publico, no bloody panic. It's going to be all right in the end.\\\" In April 2018, Johnson travelled to Italy to attend a party at thePalazzo Terranova, owned by the formerKGBagentAlexander Lebedevand hosted by his sonEvgeny. He travelled without security protection or other officials,and did not document the trip, which led to accusations of Johnson having misled parliament.In June 2023, it was revealed that Lord Simon McDonald, the most senior civil servant of his department, was not aware of the trip. Johnson stated that \\\"no government business was discussed\\\" at the event as far as he was aware.Lebedev's villa was\",\n \"villa was monitored by the Italian secret service at the time, who, according to aChannel 4documentary, suspected it to be used for espionage activities.Johnson granted a peerage toEvgenyin 2020, against the advice of theMI6, and met with criticism over potential security concerns. In July 2018, three days after thecabinethad its meeting to agree on aBrexit strategy,Johnson, along with Brexit secretaryDavid Davis,resigned his post. Return to the backbenches: 2018–2019 Johnson returned to the role of abackbench MP. In July, he delivered a resignation speech, stating \\\"it is not too late to save Brexit\\\".In January 2019, Johnson came under criticism for remarks he had made during the 2016 Leave campaign regarding the prospect of Turkish accession to the European Union; he denied making such remarks.In March 2019, he was criticized for saying that expenditure on investigating historic allegations of child abuse was money \\\"spaffed up the wall\\\". Journalism In July 2018, Johnson signed a 12‑month contract to write\",\n \"contract to write articles for theTelegraph Media Group.TheAdvisory Committee on Business Appointments(ACOBA) reported that this was a breach of theMinisterial Code.Johnson was ordered to apologise for failing to declare £50,000 of earnings. TheParliamentary Commissioner for Standardsfound the errors were not inadvertent, and that Johnson had failed on nine occasions to make declarations within the rules. In September 2018, Johnson wrote: \\\"We have opened ourselves to perpetual political blackmail. We have wrapped a suicide vest around the British constitution – and handed the detonator toMichel Barnier.\\\" Senior Tories heavily criticised him, withAlan Duncanof the Foreign Office vowing to ensure the comments marked \\\"the political end of Boris Johnson\\\".In April 2019, theIndependent Press Standards Organisationruled that a claim in a 6 January 2019 article inThe Daily Telegraph, \\\"The British people won't be scared into backing a woeful Brexit deal nobody voted for\\\", authored by Johnson,that a no-dealBrexitwas\",\n \"a no-dealBrexitwas \\\"by some margin preferred by the British public\\\" was false, and \\\"represented a failure to take care over the accuracy of the article in breach of Clause 1 (i)\\\" of its guidelines, and required that a correction be published. 2019 Conservative Party leadership election On 12 June 2019, Johnson launched his campaign for theConservative Party leadership election, saying, \\\"we must leave the EU on 31 October.\\\"On the campaign trail, Johnson warned of \\\"catastrophic consequences for voter trust in politics\\\" if the government pushed the EU for further delays. He advocated removing thebackstopfrom any Brexit deal. On 25 and 26 August, he announced plans to retain £7 or £9 billion of the £39 billion divorce payment the UK is due to transfer to the EU upon withdrawal.Johnson initially pledged to cut income tax for earners of more than £50,000 but backed away from this plan in June 2019 after coming under criticism in a televisedBBCdebate. Johnson was elected leader with 92,153 votes (66%) to Hunt's\",\n \"(66%) to Hunt's 46,656 (34%). Premiership (2019–2022) First term (July–December 2019) On 24 July 2019, the day following Johnson's election as Conservative Party leader, QueenElizabeth IIacceptedTheresa May's resignation and appointed Johnson as prime minister. This made Johnson the first prime minister to be born outsideBritish territories.Johnson appointedDominic Cummingsas his senior advisor. Brexit policy In hisfirst speech as PM, Johnson said that the United Kingdom would leave the European Union on 31 October 2019 with orwithout a deal, and promised to remove theIrish backstopfrom the withdrawal agreement.Johnson declared his intention tore-open negotiations, but talks did not immediately resume as the EU refused to accept Johnson's condition that the backstop be removed.On 28 August 2019, UK and EU negotiators agreed to resume regular meetings. Also on 28 August 2019, Johnson declared he had asked the Queen toprorogue Parliamentfrom 10 September, reducing the time in which Parliament could block a\",\n \"could block a no-deal Brexit and causing apolitical controversy.The Queen atPrivy Councilapproved prorogation later the same day, and it began on 10 September, scheduled to last until 14 October.Some suggestedthat this prorogation amounted to aself-coup, and on 31 August 2019, protests occurred throughout the United Kingdom.By 2 September 2019, three separate court cases challenging Johnson's action were in progress or scheduled to take place,and on 11 September, three Scottish judges ruled the prorogation of the UK Parliament to be unlawful.On 12 September, Johnson denied lying to the Queen over suspension of the Parliament, while a Belfast Court rejected claims that his Brexit plans would have a negative impact on Northern Ireland's peace policy.On 24 September, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Johnson's advice to prorogue Parliament was unlawful, and therefore the prorogation was rendered null. When Parliament resumed on 3 September 2019, Johnson indicated he would call a general election under\",\n \"election under theFixed-term Parliaments Actafter opposition and rebel Conservative MPs successfully voted against the government to take control of the order of business to prevent a no-deal exit.Despite government opposition, theBenn Act, a bill to block a no-deal exit, passed the Commons on 4 September 2019, causing Johnson to propose a general election on 15 October.His motion was unsuccessful as it failed to command the support of two-thirds of the House. In October 2019, following bilateral talks between Johnson andTaoiseachLeo Varadkar,the UK and EU agreed to arevised deal, whichreplaced the backstopwith a newNorthern Ireland Protocol. First Cabinet JohnsonappointedhisCabineton 24 July 2019,dismissing 11 senior ministers and accepting the resignation of six others.The mass dismissal was the most extensive postwar Cabinet reorganisation without a change in the ruling party. Among other appointments, Johnson madeDominic RaabtheFirst Secretary of Stateand foreign secretary and appointedSajid\",\n \"and appointedSajid JavidandPriti Patelas theChancellor of the ExchequerandHome Secretary, respectively. Loss of working majority On 3 September 2019,Phillip Leecrossed the floorto theLiberal Democratsfollowing a disagreement with Johnson'sBrexitpolicy. This left the government without aworking majorityin the House of Commons.Later that day,21 Conservative MPshad the partywhipwithdrawn for defying party orders and supporting an opposition motion.(The whip was restored to 10 former Conservative ministers on 29 October.) On 5 September 2019, Johnson's brotherJo Johnsonresigned from the government and announced that he would step down as MP, describing his position as \\\"torn between family and national interest\\\".Two days later,Amber Ruddresigned asSecretary of State for Work and Pensionsand from the Conservative Party, describing the withdrawal of the party whip as an \\\"assault on decency and democracy\\\". 2019 general election In October 2019, Parliament was dissolved, and an election called for 12 December. The\",\n \"12 December. The election resulted in the Conservative Party winning 43.6% of the vote and a parliamentary landslide majority of 80 seats.A key slogan used in the Conservative campaign was \\\"Get Brexit Done\\\". Second term (December 2019 – September 2022) Second Cabinet Johnsonreshuffled his cabinetin February 2020.Five Cabinet ministers were sacked, including theNorthern Ireland secretaryJulian Smith, a decision that was criticised by several politicians and commentators following his success in restoring theNorthern Ireland Executivedevolved government.Chancellor of the ExchequerSajid Javidresigned from the Cabinet and was replaced byRishi Sunak; Javid later returned to Johnson's Cabinet asSecretary of State for Health and Social Carein June 2021 following the resignation ofMatt Hancock. Johnson reshuffled his cabinet again in September 2021. Changes included the dismissal ofEducation SecretaryGavin Williamsonwho had received significant criticism for his handling of disruption to education during the\",\n \"during the COVID-19 pandemic.Dominic Raabwas moved from foreign secretary todeputy prime ministerandjustice secretary. Raab was replaced as foreign secretary byLiz Truss. COVID-19 pandemic TheCOVID-19 pandemicemerged as a serious crisis within the first few months of Johnson's second term.Johnson's non-attendance of fiveCOBRbriefings during the early months and the failure of the UK government to prepare for and control the outbreak has been criticised.The UK was among the last majorEuropean states to close schools, ban public events and order alockdown.This response is thought by some scientists to have contributed to the UK's high death toll from COVID-19, which as of January 2021was among the highest in the world. Reutersreported that scientists were critical of Johnson both for acting too slowly to stop the spread of COVID-19 and for mishandling the government's response;PoliticoquotedChief Medical OfficerChris Whittyas saying that an earlier initial lockdown would have significantly lowered the death\",\n \"lowered the death toll.TheBMJpublished several editorials critical of the policies adopted during the country's public health response.Johnson's public communication over the virus and the UK's test and trace system were also criticised. On 3 March 2020, Johnson claimed to have shaken hands with COVID-19 patients in hospital on the same day thatSAGEhad advised the government to warn the public not to shake hands and minimise physical contact,though it was unclear whether the hospital he visited actually contained any coronavirus patients.He continued to shake hands publicly in the following days.On 23 March, aCOVID-19 lockdownwas imposed throughout the UK, except for a few limited purposes, backed up bynew legal powers. On 27 March, it was announced that Johnson had tested positive forCOVID-19.On 5 April, he was admitted to a hospital.The next day, he was moved to the hospital's intensive care unit.Johnson left intensive care on 9 April,and left hospital three days later to recuperate atChequers.After a\",\n \"atChequers.After a fortnight at Chequers, he returned to Downing Street on 26 April.Johnson later said that he had been givenemergency oxygenwhile in intensive care, and that doctors had made preparations in case he died. Ascandalin May 2020 involved Johnson's chief political advisorDominic Cummings, who made a trip with his family toDurhamduring the March 2020 lockdown while experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. Both Cummings and Johnson rejected widespread calls that Cummings resign.Johnson's defence of Cummings and his refusal to sack him caused a widespread backlash.This resulted in a loss of confidence in the government and specifically its response to the pandemic, referred to as 'the Cummings effect' inThe Lancet. Concerns were raised in the study that this could affect the public's compliance with pandemic restrictions. The Johnson ministry wasaccused of cronyism in their assignment of contractsrelated to the pandemic response. Procurement of government contracts for key COVID-19 supplies became less\",\n \"became less transparent as a result of emergency measures bypassing the usual competitive tendering process.In October 2020, Johnson conceded that the UK'stest and tracesystem and its specially developedcontact tracing app, which had been criticised for their cost and operational issues, had caused \\\"frustrations\\\". Johnson reportedly resisted calls from SAGE and within the government to enact a second lockdown throughout September as COVID-19 infections rose.In April 2021, Johnson denied allegations he had said he would rather \\\"let the bodies pile high in their thousands\\\" on 30 October 2020.The government enacted a second national lockdown on 31 October.Throughout December 2020, COVID-19 cases across the UK rose significantly, straining emergency services and hospitals.In response, the government enacted further restrictions to large parts of southern and eastern England and on 21 December shortened a planned household mixing period over Christmas. Britain beganits COVID-19 vaccination programmein December\",\n \"December 2020.Half of UK adults had received at least their first vaccine dose by 20 March 2021.A third lockdown for the whole of England was introduced on 6 January 2021.Record numbers of infections and daily deaths were recorded in the UK throughout January, and the government began exploring quarantine procedures on arrival.Johnson said he was \\\"deeply sorry\\\" and \\\"take full responsibility\\\" as the UK passed 100,000 deaths from COVID-19, the first European country to do so, on 26 January. In July 2021, Johnson announced that most generalised public health restrictions in England would be lifted and replaced by recommendations. This took place despite an increase in cases driven by theDelta variant.In September 2021, Johnson was pictured in a cabinet meeting, with \\\"at least 30 people crammed shoulder-to-shoulder\\\", without anyone wearing masks and with all windows apparently closed, contradicting government advice.Johnson was also photographed without a face mask during a visit to a hospital in November. In\",\n \"in November. In December 2021, more stringent \\\"Plan B\\\" restrictions for England were put forward, a partial renewal of previous measures due to the increased incidence of theSARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. These proposals included face coverings to be required in more public settings, guidance towork from homewherever possible, and requirements ofCOVID-19 passportsto enter certain venues.The government experienced the largest rebellion of Conservative MPs during Johnson's premiership, in opposition to these measures. Immigration In 2019, Johnson promised to reduce net migration to the United Kingdom (the number of people immigrating minus the number emigrating) below 250,000 per year by the next election.In 2021, net migration to the UK was 488,000,up from 184,000 in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.Most of the migrants came from non-EU countries. As a result of Brexit, more EU nationals left the UK than arrived. In 2021, Johnson's government launched ascheme for Hongkongersfollowing theHong Kong national\",\n \"Kong national security law, with more than 200,000 Hong Kong residents immigrating to the UK. Long-term net migration to the UK reached a record high of 764,000 in 2022,with immigration at 1.26 million and emigration at 493,000. Legislative agenda At theState Opening of Parliament on 11 May 2021, a range of proposed laws were announced, including theDissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill, which would restore theroyal prerogativeto dissolve Parliament; aHigher Education (Freedom of Speech) Billto combatdeplatformingat universities;anOnline Safety Billthat would impose a statutoryduty of careon online companies and empowerOfcomto block particular websites;and anAnimal Welfare (Sentience) Billthat would legally recognise animal sentience. Further laws would introducemandatory voter identificationat general elections, reform the national immigration system, and implement alevelling up policyto reduce imbalances between areas. 2021 Downing Street refurbishment controversy In April 2021, Cummings alleged that\",\n \"alleged that Johnson had arranged for donors to \\\"secretly pay\\\" for renovations on the private residence at 11 Downing Street.On 27 April Johnson asked the Cabinet Secretary,Simon Case, to hold a review about the refurbishment.On 28 April, theElectoral Commissionannounced it had opened a formal investigation.On the same day Johnson said that he had not broken any laws over the refurbishment and had met the requirements he was obliged to meet.DuringPrime Minister's Questions, the leader of the opposition,Keir Starmer, asked: \\\"Whoinitiallypaid for the redecoration of his Downing Street flat?\\\"; Johnson responded: \\\"I paid for Downing Street's refurbishment personally.\\\" On 28 MayLord Geidtpublished a report on the allegations which concluded that Johnson did not breach the Ministerial Code and that no conflict, or reasonably perceived conflict, of interest arose. However, Lord Geidt expressed that it was \\\"unwise\\\" for Johnson to have proceeded without \\\"more rigorous regard for how this would be funded\\\".The\",\n \"be funded\\\".The Electoral Commission reported on 9 December that it found that the Conservative Party had failed to follow the law in not accurately reporting donations to the party from Lord Brownlow and imposed a £17,800 fine on the party.The Heraldsaid the commission's report outlined how, in March, all the money paid by Brownlow and his company had been reimbursed, as had the payments made by the Conservative Party and Cabinet Office.Downing Street had said at the time that the full cost of the works had been met personally by the prime minister. Owen Paterson controversy In November 2021, Johnson backed a motion to block the suspension ofOwen Paterson, a Conservative MP found to have abused his position by theindependent standards commissionerafter undertaking paid lobbying.The motion called for the creation of a new Conservative-majority committee to examine reforms of the standards investigation process.Many Conservative MPs refused to support the motion, and 13 defied athree-line whipto vote against\",\n \"whipto vote against it.Following the announcement by opposition parties that they would boycott the new committee, and faced with a backlash in the media and from MPs of all parties, the government announced that a new vote would take place on whether Paterson should be suspended.Paterson announced his resignation as an MP the same day.Aby-electionin Paterson's former constituency ofNorth Shropshiresaw theLiberal Democratcandidate,Helen Morgan, overturn a Conservative majority of nearly 23,000,theseventh largest swing in United Kingdom by-election history. Partygate scandal In December 2021, reports emerged thatsocial gatherings of government and Conservative Party staffin Downing Street had taken place ahead of Christmas 2020 against COVID-19 regulations. Johnson denied these allegations.Following a leaked video showing Downing Street staff joking about a \\\"fictional party\\\", at a press conference rehearsal recorded days after one alleged party took place, Johnson apologised for the contents of the video and\",\n \"of the video and suggested he had been misled but had now ordered an inquiry. On 10 January 2022,ITV Newsreported that a planned party had taken place on 20 May 2020, during the first lockdown. ITV had obtained an email sent by principal private secretaryMartin Reynoldsto staff inviting them to \\\"socially distanced drinks\\\" in the garden of No. 10.At the time, people outdoors were not allowed to meet more than one person from outside their household.Two eyewitnesses later alleged that Johnson and Symonds attended, contradicting Johnson's insistence in December 2021 that there were \\\"no parties\\\". On 12 January 2022, Johnson apologised to MPs in the Commons for \\\"attending an event in the Downing Street garden during the first lockdown\\\",stating he believed it was \\\"a work event\\\".He said that MPs should await the outcome of the independent inquiry, led by senior civil servantSue Gray, which he said \\\"will report as soon as possible\\\".There were calls across the House for Johnson to resign. On 19 January,Bury\",\n \"On 19 January,Bury SouthMPChristian Wakeforddefected from the Conservative Party to the Labour Party.Conservative former ministerDavid Daviscalled for Johnson to resign, quotingLeo Amerycalling onNeville Chamberlainto resign during theNorway Debatein 1940, and saying: \\\"You have sat there too long for all the good you have done. In the name of God, go.\\\" On 25 January, theMetropolitan Police's chief commander,Cressida Dick, announced that they were commencing investigations into the Downing Street Parties.An abbreviated version of theSue Gray reportinto the controversy was released on 31 January, where Gray concluded there was a \\\"failure of leadership\\\" over the events that she had examined. The release of the full report was delayed pending the Metropolitan Police's investigation. In April 2022, Johnson was issued afixed penalty noticeas police determined that he committed a criminal offence by breaching the COVID-19 lockdown regulations.Johnson therefore became the first prime minister in British history to\",\n \"British history to have been sanctioned for breaking the law while in office. According to Downing Street insiders, Johnson was involved in instigating a party on the occasion ofLee Cainleaving Number 10. What had begun as press office drinks became a party after Johnson arrived, gave a speech and poured drinks for staff.Labour's deputy leader,Angela Raynersaid, \\\"If the latest reports are true, it would mean that not only did the prime minister attend parties, but he had a hand in instigating at least one of them. He has deliberately misled the British people at every turn. The prime minister has demeaned his office.\\\"On 21 April, MPs voted to refer Johnson to theParliamentary Privileges Committeeto investigate whether he knowingly misled Parliament.Steve Bakersaid Johnson's \\\"marvellous contrition... only lasted as long as it took to get out of the headmaster's study\\\". Following theMay 2022 local elections, many leading Conservatives in areas where the Conservatives had done badly blamed Johnson and calling\",\n \"Johnson and calling on Johnson to resign.On 6 June,Graham Bradyannounced that the threshold for a vote on Johnson's leadership had been passed; the vote was scheduled for later that same day. On 3 March 2023, an interim report from theCommons Select Committee of Privilegessaid there was evidence that \\\"strongly suggests\\\" breaches of coronavirus regulations would have been \\\"obvious\\\" to Johnson.The report also said \\\"There is evidence that those who were advising Mr Johnson about what to say to the press and in the House were themselves struggling to contend that some gatherings were within the rules\\\".Johnson said none of the evidence showed he \\\"knowingly\\\" misled Parliament.The report stated that the Commons may have been misled on multiple occasions and Johnson \\\"did not correct the statements earliest opportunity\\\".The committee also stated that Johnson had \\\"personal knowledge\\\" over lockdown gatherings in No 10, which he could have disclosed. Starmer slur controversy While speaking in the House of Commons in\",\n \"House of Commons in January 2022, Johnson falsely blamed Starmer for the non-prosecution of the serial sex offenderJimmy Savilewhen Starmer wasDirector of Public Prosecutionsin theCrown Prosecution Service. Starmer was DPP in the years immediately prior to Savile's death but there is no evidence he was involved in the decision to not have him prosecuted.A few days later, Johnson defended his comments but conceded that Starmer \\\"had nothing to do personally with those decisions\\\" by the CPS not to investigate Savile. Vote of confidence In the week prior to and throughout thePlatinum Jubilee of Elizabeth IIin June 2022, it had been speculated that a vote of confidence in Johnson's leadership of the Conservative Party might soon occur.On 6 June 2022, the Conservative Party announced that Johnson would face a vote of confidence in his leadership of the party, after at least 54 Conservative MPs wrote no-confidence letters to SirGraham Brady, the chairman of the1922 Committee. Johnson won the vote, with 211 in\",\n \"vote, with 211 in favour and 148 against.The number of rebel MPs was larger than had been expected.The result was described by Keir Starmer as the \\\"beginning of the end\\\" for Johnson's premiership. June 2022 by-elections Following heavy Conservative defeats in the 23 June 2022 by-elections inWakefieldandTiverton and Honiton, former party leader Michael Howard called for Johnson to resign, saying: \\\" biggest asset has always been his ability to win votes but I'm afraid yesterday's results make it clear that he no longer has that ability.\\\" Oliver Dowden, the Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party, resigned saying: \\\"somebody must take responsibility\\\".Johnson announced that he had no intention of changing or resigning; senior Conservatives accused him of increasingly \\\"delusional\\\" behaviour.On 26 June 2022 Johnson said: \\\"At the moment I'm thinking actively about the third term and what could happen then, but I will review that when I get to it.\\\" He also claimed that he intended to stay as prime minister until the\",\n \"minister until the mid-2030s, although Number 10 later said that he had been joking. Pincher scandal Government Deputy Chief WhipChris Pincherresigned on 30 June 2022, saying he had \\\"drunk far too much\\\" the night before at theCarlton ClubinSt James's, London, and having \\\"embarrassed myself and other people\\\".It was later alleged that he sexually assaulted two men,and he was suspended as an MP.On 3 July 2022 six new allegations against Pincher emerged, involving behaviour over a decade. Johnson allegedly referred to Pincher as \\\"handsy\\\" and Cummings said Johnson joked about him being \\\"Pincher by name, pincher by nature\\\" in 2020, leading to calls for Johnson to explain how much he knew about Pincher's behaviour.Ministers initially said that Johnson was unaware of any specific complaints against Pincher when he was appointed as deputy chief whip. The BBC then reported, however, that an official complaint and subsequent investigation into Pincher, while he was at the Foreign Office (July 2019 to February 2020),\",\n \"to February 2020), had confirmed his misconduct, and that Johnson had been made aware at that time.SirSimon McDonald, formerPermanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, later said that the prime minister had been briefed \\\"in person\\\" about Pincher. Mass resignations On 5 July 2022, Sunak and Javid resigned within minutes of each other,followed over the next 24 hours by 11 other ministers, as well as Conservative MPs fromparliamentary private secretaryand other Government positions;otherbackbenchersalso withdrew their support for Johnson. Many of the MPs stated that the Pincher affair had led them to change their minds on the suitability of Johnson to be prime minister.It was reported on 6 July that Johnson could face another confidence vote, with members of the 1922 Committee considering changing the rules as soon as that evening to allow this to happen.By 6 July, there had been a total of 31 resignations.As of May 2022, the government comprised 122 ministers. Announcement of resignation By the\",\n \"resignation By the morning of 7 July, the newly installedChancellor of the Exchequer,Nadhim Zahawi, publicly stated his belief that Johnson should resign. Within hours, the BBC and other media reported Johnson's intention to resign. Johnson announced his resignation at 12.30 pm. I know that there will be many who are relieved, but perhaps quite a few who will be disappointed. And I want you to know how sad I am to give up the best job in the world - but them's the breaks. Upon reports of his resignation, thepound sterlingtemporarily strengthened in value, and UK stocks rose.He remained as prime minister until September, while the Conservative Party chose a new leader.On 5 September 2022, it was announced thatLiz Trusshad won theConservative leadership election. She became prime minister the next day.During his farewell speech outside 10 Downing Street on 6 September 2022 Johnson referred to the Roman statesmanCincinnatus. Some commentators noted that, while, as Johnson said, Cincinnatus returned to his\",\n \"returned to his plough, he was also later recalled to power. Environmental policies In November 2020, Johnson announced a 10-point plan for a \\\"green industrial revolution\\\", to include ending the sale of petrol anddieselcars and vans by 2030,quadrupling the amount ofoffshore wind powercapacity within a decade, funding emissions-cutting proposals, and spurning a proposedgreen post-COVID-19 recovery.In 2021, the Johnson government announced plans to cutcarbon emissionsby 78% by 2035. Johnson announced that the UK would join the Global Methane Pledge to cutmethane emissionsby 30% by 2030 at theCOP26summit, which the UK hosted.Before the summit, representatives ofGreenpeaceandFriends of the Earthcriticised Johnson's comments on plans to introduce \\\"enforceable limits\\\" on carbon emissions for other countries, which they accused of being unsubstantive,and his government faced criticism from environmental groups for cutting taxes on domestic air travel, given theenvironmental impact of aviation. In April 2022,\",\n \"In April 2022, Johnson announced that eight morenuclear reactorswould be built on existingnuclear power plantsites and called for an expansion in wind energy.Under these plans, up to 95% of the UK's electricity could come fromlow-carbon powersources by 2030. Foreign policy Johnson supported theEuropean Union–Mercosur Free Trade Agreement,which would form one of the world's largest free trade areas.Johnson's government placed importance on the \\\"Special Relationship\\\" with theUnited States.In 2022, his government introduced anasylum dealwhereby people entering the UK illegally would be sent toRwanda. Hong Kong and China Johnson said in July 2019 that his government would be very \\\"pro-China\\\" in an interview with the Hong Kong broadcasterPhoenix TV. He voiced support for Chinese presidentXi Jinping's infrastructure investment effort, theBelt and Road Initiative, and promised to keep the United Kingdom \\\"the most open economy in Europe\\\" forChinese investment. In June 2020, Johnson announced that if China were to\",\n \"if China were to continue pursuing theHong Kong national security law, the UK would offer 350,000Hong Kong residentswho areBritish National (Overseas) passportholders, and 2.6 million other eligible individuals, the chance to move to the UK.China accused the UK of interfering in its internal affairs. Johnson declined to describe the Chinese government'streatment of the Uyghur peopleas \\\"genocide\\\", despite use of the term by the United States.Johnson's government argued that genocide should be decided by the International Criminal Court.Nevertheless, he called what is happening to theUyghursin Xinjiang as \\\"utterly abhorrent\\\". The UK joined theAUKUSdefence pact with the United States and Australia in September 2021. The pact was denounced by Chinaand caused a French backlash, as it usurped existingplans for Australia to procure French submarines. Afghanistan On 8 July 2021, the day after saying he was \\\"apprehensive\\\" about the future of Afghanistan following what was then theimpending withdrawal of US troops,\",\n \"of US troops, while announcing the near completion of British troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, Johnson expressed the view that there was \\\"no military path to victory for theTaliban\\\".Following thefall of Kabul to the Taliban, he blamed the United States for the crisis,saying thatNATOalliance members \\\"could not continue this US-led mission, a mission conceived and executed in support of America, without American logistics, without US air power and without American might\\\". UK–EU trade negotiation Following the formalwithdrawal from the European Unionin January 2020, Johnson's government enteredtrade negotiations with the EU.Fisheries was a major topicof the negotiations.On 16 October 2020 Johnson said that the UK \\\"must get ready\\\" for no trade deal with the EU.It was announced on 24 December 2020that theEU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreementhad been reached; it came into force formally on 1 May. Afisheries dispute between the UK and Franceoccurred shortly afterwards. Introduction of new UK border checks were\",\n \"border checks were delayed until 2022 to minimise the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2022, Johnson readied a draft that would unilaterally change parts of theNorthern Ireland Protocol, citing issues with medical supplies and cuts in VAT. One of the thornier points of contention involves safety regulations for food and plants, where the British government is opposed to a closer alignment with existing EU regulations. The EU rebuffed the idea of changing the text of the treaty to accommodate the British. A unilateral override by the UK would be tantamount to a breach of the agreement. As Johnson sought a more conciliatory tone, sources within the government began to stress that the draft is designed to be an \\\"insurance policy\\\" and would take years to become law. Russia and Ukraine In November 2021, Johnson warned that the European Union faces \\\"a choice\\\" between \\\"sticking up for Ukraine\\\" and approving theNord Stream 2natural gas pipeline from Russia to Europe. During theprelude to the\",\n \"theprelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Johnson's government warned the Russian Government not to invadeDonbas.Johnson andVladimir Putinagreed in a phone call to work towards a \\\"peaceful resolution\\\".On 1 February 2022, Johnson arrived inKyivon a diplomatic visit.He called the presence of theRussian Armed Forcesnear theRussia–Ukraine border\\\"the biggest security crisis that Europe has faced for decades\\\".The Kremlin denied that it wanted to attack Ukraine.On 20 February 2022, Johnson warned that Russia is planning the \\\"biggest war in Europe since1945\\\" as Putin intends to invade and encircle Kyiv.On 21 February 2022, Johnson condemnedRussia's diplomatic recognitionof twoself-proclaimedrepublics in Donbas. On 24 February 2022, Johnson condemned theRussian invasion of Ukraine, and ensured the UK joined ininternational sanctionson Russian banks andoligarchs.He later announced the UK would phase outRussian oilby the end of 2022. On 9 April 2022, Johnson travelled to Kyiv and met thePresident of\",\n \"met thePresident of Ukraine,Volodymyr Zelenskyy.On 16 April 2022, Russia'sMinistry for Foreign Affairsbanned Johnson and a number of senior British politicians from visiting Russia, saying that Britain aimed to isolate Russia politically and supply \\\"the Kyiv regime with lethal weapons and coordinating similar efforts on the part of NATO\\\". Within Ukraine, Johnson is praised by many as a supporter of anti-Russian sanctions andmilitary aid for Ukraine.On 3 May, Johnsonvirtually addressedtheUkrainian Parliament, becoming the first world leader to speak in Ukraine since the invasion. He pledged an extra £300m in military aid to Ukraine, praised Ukraine's resistance to Russia as its \\\"finest hour\\\" and said that the West had been \\\"too slow to grasp what was actually happening\\\" prior to Russia's invasion.In July 2022, Johnson warned that it would be a mistake to cease fire andfreeze the conflict.In August 2022, Johnson blamed Vladimir Putin for the emergingglobal energy crisis. Post-premiership (2022–present) After\",\n \"After stepping down, Johnson reverted to being a backbench MP.Following thedeath of Queen Elizabeth II, Johnson took part inCharles III'sAccession Council. AfterLiz Trussannounced her resignation as Conservative Party leader on 20 October 2022, Johnson received more than the 100 MPs' nominations required to stand in theleadership election,but soon announced that he would not stand. In May 2023, Johnson was referred to the police by the Cabinet Office regarding previously unknown potential breaches of COVID regulations between June 2020 and May 2021,to which Johnson's office issued a statement criticising the \\\"unfounded suggestions\\\" which \\\"has all the hallmarks of yet another politically motivated stitch-up\\\". On 9 June 2023, the publication of his2022 Prime Minister's Resignation Honoursled to a public feud with Sunak.Johnson supporterNadine Dorriesannounced that she was resigning as an MP due to not being included as a peer on the honours list.The same day, after receiving a confidential report from a\",\n \"report from a committee of theHouse of Commonsthat was looking into whether he had lied to Parliament over lockdown-breaking parties, Johnson announced his resignation as MP.His resignation statement said he is \\\"not alone in thinking that there is a witch-hunt under way, to take revenge for Brexit and ultimately to reverse the 2016 referendum result\\\". On 15 June, the Commons Privileges Committee published their report, which concluded that Johnson lied to and deliberately misled the House of Commons over Partygate, misled the Committee themselves during the hearing, and acted in contempt of the Committee itself through a \\\"campaign of abuse and intimidation\\\".The report noted that had Johnson still been an MP, the Committee would have recommended he be suspended from Parliament for 90 days.The contents of the report represented a recommendation to the House of Commons,which accepted the report by 354 votes to seven. On 16 June, Johnson was unveiled as a new columnist for theDaily Mail. The news websitePolitico\",\n \"websitePolitico Europereported that Johnson would be paid a \\\"very-high six-figure sum\\\".Johnson reportedly informed theAdvisory Committee on Business Appointmentshalf an hour before the columnist assignment was publicly announced. The committee ruled that Johnson committed a \\\"clear breach\\\" of the rules since he had not sought its advice on the matter within an appropriate timeframe. In October 2023, Johnson announced he would join the television channelGB Newsas a commentator and programme maker for thenext general electionandUS presidential election. Johnson condemnedHamas' attackon Israel, saying \\\"there can be no moral equivalence between the terrorism of Hamas and the actions of the Israeli Defense Forces\\\". He rejected calls for a ceasefire in theGaza Stripduring theIsrael–Hamas war, and criticisedpro-Palestinian protests in the UK.On 5 November 2023, Johnson visited Israel to express solidarity. In February 2024, Johnson had a private meeting with the president of Venezuela,Nicolás Maduro.In March\",\n \"Maduro.In March 2024,The Timesreported that Johnson is expected to campaign for the Conservatives in the next General Election. On 2 May 2024 Johnson was turned away from his polling station for theThames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner, after forgetting to bringvalid photographic identification, a requirement of theElections Act, which Johnson introduced while in office. When he arrived he had nothing to prove his identity except the sleeve of his copy ofProspectmagazine, on which his name and address had been printed. He said that when he returned a few minutes later, with hisdriving licence, he was then able to vote.During the2024 general election, Johnson campaigned for the Conservatives, who lost the election in a landslide to Labour. Johnson's memoirsUnleashedare scheduled to be released in October 2024. Political positions and ideology free-market, tolerant, broadly libertarian (though perhaps not ultra-libertarian), inclined to see the merit of traditions, anti-regulation, pro-immigrant,\",\n \"pro-immigrant, pro-standing on your own two feet, pro-alcohol, pro-hunting, pro-motorist and ready to defend to the death the right ofGlenn Hoddle to believe in reincarnation. — Boris Johnson, 2011 Ideologically, Johnson has been described as a \\\"One-Nation Tory\\\".Political scientists have described Johnson's political positions as ambiguous and contradictory, encompassingnativist, authoritarian andfree markettendencies on the one hand, and one-nationliberal conservatismon the other.Some scholars have questioned Johnson's commitment to one-nation conservativism, instead characterising his ideology as flexible and populist.Purnell stated that Johnson regularly changed his opinion on political issues, commenting on what she perceived to be \\\"an ideological emptiness beneath the staunch Tory exterior\\\". During his tenure as mayor, Johnson gained a reputation as \\\"a liberal, centre-ground politician\\\", according toBusiness Insider.In 2012, the political scientistTony Traversdescribed Johnson as \\\"a fairly classic—that\",\n \"fairly classic—that is, small-state—mildlyeuroscepticConservative\\\" who also embraced \\\"modern social liberalism\\\".The Guardianstated that while mayor, Johnson blended economic and social liberalism,withThe Economistsaying that in doing so Johnson \\\"transcends his Tory identity\\\" and adopts a more libertarian perspective.According to political scientist Richard Hayton, Johnson's premiership was about Brexit, which served as a \\\"national cause\\\". Johnson evoked the discourse ofpopular sovereigntyandanti-establishmentpopulism to portray Parliament as seeking to \\\"sabotage\\\" Brexit, and in doing so, presented himself \\\"as the true representative of 'the people'\\\". Scholars ofcomparative politicshave drawn comparisons between Johnson and other populist leaders such as Donald Trump andViktor Orban.Some commentators have likened Johnson's political style toTrumpism,although others have argued that Johnson's stance on matters such as social policy, immigration and free trade is liberal.Johnson biographer Gimson wrote that\",\n \"Gimson wrote that Johnson is economically and socially \\\"a genuine liberal\\\", although he retains a \\\"Tory element\\\" through his \\\"love of existing institutions, and a recognition of the inevitability of hierarchy\\\".In 2019, reacting to reports inThe Sun, that Johnson had told cabinet colleagues he was \\\"basically a Brexity Hezza\\\", former deputy leader of the Conservative PartyMichael Heseltinewrote: \\\"I fear that any traces of liberal conservatism that still exist within the prime minister have long since been captured by the rightwing, foreigner-bashing, inward-looking view of the world that has come to characterise his fellow Brexiters.\\\" Environment Johnson expressedclimate scepticalviews in several columns,conflating the distinction between weather and climate and highlighting a factually incorrect claim by weather forecaster and conspiracy theoristPiers Corbynthat reduced solar activity could lead to a \\\"mini-Ice Age\\\". Bloomberg Newssuggested that Johnson's interest in climate change increased after becoming\",\n \"after becoming prime minister, and suggested this could have been influenced by his wifeCarrie Symondsand fatherStanley Johnson, who are both environmental campaigners. In 2019 and 2020, Johnson expressed support for the UK to have\\\"net-zero\\\" greenhouse gas emissionsby 2050and spoke about increasing ambition for mitigating climate change throughcarbon capture and storageand arenewable energy transition.During the2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Johnson called for greater efforts towardsclimate change mitigation,and welcomed the prospect ofcoal phase-out. It was reported in 2022 that Johnson was convinced of thescientific consensus on climate changefollowing a briefing by the chief scientist of theMet Officein January 2020, and subsequently made the issue a priority for his government. According toTheyWorkForYouas of 2022, Johnson has \\\"generally voted against\\\" what it described as \\\"key measures to preventclimate change\\\"while an MP,and other sources confirm this. Immigration and the European Union\",\n \"the European Union Purnell believed it was the influence of Johnson's maternal family that led to him developing \\\"a genuine abhorrence of racial discrimination\\\".In 2003, Johnson said, \\\"I am not by any means an ultra-Eurosceptic. In some ways, I am a bit of a fan of theEuropean Union. If we did not have one, we would invent something like it.\\\"As mayor, Johnson was known as a supporter ofimmigration.From 2009, he advocated a referendum on Britain's EU membership. In 2018, during Brexit negotiations, Johnson called for Britain to leave theSingle Marketand advocated a more liberal approach to immigration than that of Prime Minister May.He stated many people believed thatBritain's EU membershiphad led to the suppression of British wages and said the EU was intent on creating a \\\"superstate\\\" that would seek to rob Britain of its sovereignty.In 2019, Johnson said he would take Britain out of the EU on 31 October whether there was a trade deal in place or not.Johnson also stated his opposition to areferendum on the\",\n \"areferendum on the Brexit withdrawal agreement. On 19 August 2019, Johnson wrote a letter to the EU asking for the removal of the \\\"backstop\\\" accord. The president of the European Council,Donald Tusk, rejected the proposal.On 26 August 2019, Johnson said that Britain would not pay £39 billion for the withdrawal agreement were the UK to leave without a deal. The European Parliament Brexit coordinatorGuy Verhofstadtsaid there would be no further negotiation unless the UK agreed to pay the entire sum. Unionism and devolution Johnson described himself as a \\\"fervent and passionateunionist\\\".He proposed building anIrish Sea Bridge, but he later scrapped this initiative. The devolved administrations have criticised theInternal Market Billfor its re-centralisation of control over commerce. Public image Johnson has said that \\\"humour is a utensil that you can use to sugar the pill and to get important points across\\\".He is said to have a genuine desire to be liked.Johnson has been described as having a light-hearted and\",\n \"a light-hearted and charming persona;many biographers and commentators suggest he has put significant effort into developing this version of himself.He has also been described as heavily focused on his own interests,with an often vitriolic or irresponsible way of conducting himself in private. Johnson has been described as a divisive, controversial figure in British politics.Supporters have praised him as witty and entertaining.Johnson has been accused of lying or making misleading statements throughout his career,and has been compared to former US presidentDonald Trump.He has been considered a figure with broad appeal outside of the usual Conservative support base.Johnson's premiership has been described by historians as the most controversial and scandal-affected since that ofDavid Lloyd Georgeabout a century earlier. Personal life Since Johnson was born in New York City to British parents, he heldBritish-Americandual citizenship. In 2015, he agreed to paycapital gains taxto theUS tax authoritieson a\",\n \"tax authoritieson a property that he inherited in the UK.He renounced his US citizenship the following year.Johnson has knowledge of French, Italian, German, Spanish,LatinandAncient Greek,frequently makingclassicalallusions in his newspaper columns and his speeches. Sonia Purnellwrote in 2011 that Johnson was a \\\"highly evasive figure\\\" when it came to his personal life,who remained detached from others and who had few intimate friends.Among friends and family, Johnson is more commonly known as Al (short for his forename Alexander), rather than Boris. In 2007, Johnson said he had smokedcannabisbefore he went to university.He has also said he had usedcocaine.Johnson partakes in cycling, tennis andpilates, and returned to road running in 2023.He was consideredobesein 2018 andoverweightin 2020, and has spoken of making efforts to lose weight. Johnson previously owned a £1.3 million buy-to-let townhouse inCamberwell, South London. According toHM Land Registrydocuments, he bought the four-bedroom property with his\",\n \"property with his then-girlfriendCarrie Symondsin July 2019. The register of MPs' interests states that Johnson had a rental income of at least £10,000 a year.In 2023, Johnson and Symonds boughtBrightwell Manor, a £3.8 million moated mansion inBrightwell-cum-Sotwell, Oxfordshire. Religion Johnson was baptisedCatholicand laterconfirmedin theChurch of England,but has said that his faith \\\"comes and goes\\\"and that he is not a serious practising Christian.In 2020, his son Wilfred was baptised Catholic.Johnson and Symonds married in a Catholic ceremony atWestminster Cathedralon 29 May 2021.Since he was baptised Catholic, but his previous weddings were not conferred by the Catholic Church, the Catholic Church considered them putatively invalid. Johnson holds ancient Greek statesmanPericlesas a personal hero.According to Johnson's biographer, Andrew Gimson, regarding ancient Greek andRoman polytheism: \\\"it is clear that is inspired by the Romans, and even more by the Greeks, and repelled by theearly\",\n \"by theearly Christians\\\".Johnson viewssecular humanismpositively and sees it as owing more to theclassical worldthan to Christian thinking.However, in 2021, Johnson was asked if he held pre-Christian beliefs, which he denied, saying, \\\"Christianity is a superb ethical system and I would count myself as a kind of very, very bad Christian... Christianity makes a lot of sense to me.\\\" Relationships In 1987, Johnson marriedAllegra Mostyn-Owen, daughter of the art historianWilliam Mostyn-Owenand Italian writerGaia Servadio.The couple's marriage ended in divorce orannulmentin 1993and 12 days later Johnson marriedMarina Wheeler, a barrister, daughter of journalistCharles Wheeler.Five weeks later, their first child was born.They have four children:Lara Lettice, Milo Arthur, Cassia Peaches and Theodore Apollo. Between 2000 and 2004, Johnson had an affair withSpectatorcolumnistPetronella Wyattwhen he was its editor, resulting in a terminated pregnancy and amiscarriage.In April 2006, theNews of the Worldalleged that\",\n \"Worldalleged that Johnson was having an affair withGuardianjournalist Anna Fazackerley. The pair did not comment; shortly afterward, Johnson employed Fazackerley. In 2009, Johnson fathered a daughter with Helen Macintyre, an arts consultant.In September 2021, Johnson stated that he had six children, thereby denying the existence of further illegitimate children. In September 2018, Johnson and Wheeler issued a statement confirming that they had separated months earlier;they divorced in 2020. Jennifer Arcurisaid that she had an affair with Johnson from 2012 to 2016. In 2019, Johnson was living withCarrie Symonds, the daughter ofMatthew Symonds, co-founder ofThe Independentnewspaper.Johnson and Symonds became engaged in late 2019and their son, Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson,was born in April 2020. On 29 May 2021, Johnson married Symonds atWestminster Cathedral.Their daughter, Romy Iris Charlotte Johnson,was born in December 2021.Their third child, a son named Frank Alfred Odysseus Johnson, was born in July\",\n \"was born in July 2023. Family and ancestors Johnson is the eldest of the four children ofStanley Johnson, a formerConservativemember of the European Parliament, and the painterCharlotte Johnson Wahl(née Fawcett),the daughter of SirJames Fawcett, president of theEuropean Commission of Human Rights.His younger siblings areRachel Johnson, a writer and journalist, Leo Johnson, a broadcaster,andJo Johnson, ex-minister of state and former Conservative MP forOrpington, who resigned from his brother's government in September 2019and is now a member of theHouse of Lords. Johnson's stepmother, Jenny, the second wife of his father Stanley, is the stepdaughter ofTeddy Sieff, the former chairman ofMarks & Spencer.Having been a member of the Conservatives between 2008 and 2011, Rachel Johnson joined the Liberal Democrats in 2017.She stood as a candidate forChange UKin the2019 European Elections.Johnson also has two half-siblings,Juliaand Maximilian, through his father's later marriage to Jennifer Kidd. Johnson's paternal\",\n \"Johnson's paternal grandfather, Wilfred Johnson, was an RAF pilot inCoastal Commandduring the Second World War.Wilfred Johnson's father was theOttomanInterior Ministerand journalistAli Kemal. Ali Kemal's father was aTurkwhile his mother was aCircassianreputedly ofslaveorigin.His other paternal ancestry includes English, German and French; one of his German ancestors was said to be theillegitimatedaughter ofPrince Paul of Württembergand thus a descendant ofGeorge II of Great Britain,which was later confirmed on an episode ofWho Do You Think You Are? Johnson's mother is the granddaughter ofElias Avery Lowe, apalaeographerand aRussian Jewishimmigrant to the US,andPennsylvania-bornHelen Tracy Lowe-Porter, a translator ofThomas Mann.Referring to his varied ancestry, Johnson has described himself as a \\\"one-man melting pot\\\".Johnson was given the middle name \\\"Boris\\\" after a White Russian émigré named Boris Litwin, who was a friend of his parents. Honours Works Notes References Footnotes Sources Further reading\",\n \"Further reading External links\",\n \"Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn(/ˈkɔːrbɪn/; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has beenMember of Parliament(MP) forIslington Northsince 1983. Anindependent, Corbyn was a member of theLabour Partyfrom 1965 until his expulsion in 2024, and is a member of theSocialist Campaign Groupparliamentarycaucus. He served asLeader of the OppositionandLeader of the Labour Partyfrom 2015 to 2020. Corbyn identifies ideologically as asocialiston thepolitical left. Born inChippenham,Wiltshire, Corbyn joined the Labour Party as a teenager. Moving to London, he became atrade unionrepresentative. In 1974, he was elected toHaringey Counciland became Secretary ofHornseyConstituency Labour Partyuntil elected as the MP for Islington North in 1983. His activism has includedAnti-Fascist Action, theAnti-Apartheid Movement, theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and advocating for aunited IrelandandPalestinian statehood. As abackbencher, Corbyn routinely voted against the Labourwhip, includingNew Labourgovernments. A vocal\",\n \"A vocal opponent of theIraq War, he chaired theStop the War Coalitionfrom 2011 to 2015, and received theGandhi International Peace AwardandSeán MacBride Peace Prize. FollowingEd Miliband's resignation after the party had lost the2015 general election, Corbyn won the2015 party leadership electionto succeed him. The Labour Party's membership increased sharply, both during theleadership campaignand following his election. Taking the party to the left, Corbyn advocatedrenationalisingpublic utilities andrailways, aless interventionistmilitary policy, and reversals ofausterity cutsto welfare and public services. Although he had sometimes been critical of theEuropean Union(EU), he supported theRemain campaignin the2016 EU membership referendum. After Labour MPssought to remove him in 2016through a leadership challenge, he won asecond leadership contestagainstOwen Smith. Despitehostile treatment from the media, in the2017 general electionCorbyn led Labour to increase its vote share by 10 percentage points to 40 per\",\n \"points to 40 per cent, their largest rise since the1945 general election. During his tenure as leader, Corbyn was criticised for theantisemitism within the party. He condemnedantisemitismand apologised for its presence,while his leadership saw astrengthening of disciplinary proceduresregarding hate speech and racism.In 2019, afterdeadlock in Parliament over Brexit, Corbyn endorsed holding areferendum on the withdrawal agreement, with a personal stance of neutrality. In the2019 general election, Labour's vote share fell to 32 per cent, leading to a loss of 60 seats, leaving it with 202, its fewest since the1935 general election. Corbyn remained Labour leader for four months while theleadership electionto replace him took place. His resignation as Labour leader formally took effect in April 2020 following the election ofKeir Starmer, who led the party to victory atthe next general electionin 2024. After asserting that the scale of antisemitism had been overstated for political reasons, Corbyn was suspended\",\n \"was suspended from the party in 2020. In May 2024, after the2024 general electionhad been called, Corbyn was not allowed to stand as a Labour candidate for his constituency, and subsequently announced he wouldstand as an independent candidate for Islington North; he was then expelled from Labour.He won re-election with a majority of 7,247. Early life Jeremy Bernard Corbyn was born on 26 May 1949 inChippenham, Wiltshire,the son of mathematics teacher Naomi Loveday (née Josling; 1915–1987)and electrical engineer andpower rectifierexpert David Benjamin Corbyn (1915–1986).He has three elder brothers; one of them,Piers Corbyn(born 1947), is a weather forecaster who later became known as aclimate change denierandanti-vaccine conspiracy theorist.For the first seven years of his life, the family lived inKington St Michael, Wiltshire.His parents wereLabour Partymembersandpeace campaignerswho met in the 1930s at a committee meeting in support of theSpanish RepublicatConway Hallduring theSpanish Civil War. When Corbyn\",\n \"War. When Corbyn was seven, the family moved toPave Lane, Shropshire, where his father bought Yew Tree Manor, a 17th-century farmhousewhich was once part of theDuke of Sutherland'sLilleshallestate.Corbyn attendedCastle House School, an independentpreparatory schoolnearNewport, Shropshire, before becoming a day student at Newport'sAdams Grammar Schoolat the age of 11. While still at school, Corbyn became active in theLeague Against Cruel Sportsand theLabour Party Young SocialistswithinThe Wrekin.He joined the Labour Party at the age of 16.He achieved twoA-Levelsat grade E, the lowest possible passing grade, before leaving school at 18.Corbyn joined theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmamentin 1966 while at schooland later became one of its three vice-chairs and subsequently vice-president.Around this time, he also campaigned against theVietnam War. After school, Corbyn worked briefly as a reporter for the localNewport and Market Drayton Advertisernewspaper.Around the age of 19, he spent two years doingVoluntary\",\n \"doingVoluntary Service Overseasin Jamaica as ayouth workerand geography teacher.He subsequently visited Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay throughout 1969 and 1970. While in Brazil, he participated in a student demonstration inSão Pauloagainst theBrazilian military government. He also attended aMay Daymarch inSantiago, where the atmosphere aroundSalvador Allende'sPopular Unityalliance which swept to power inthe Chilean elections of 1970made an impression on him: \\\" noticed something very different from anything I had experienced... what Popular Unity and Allende had done was weld together the folk tradition, the song tradition, the artistic tradition and the intellectual tradition\\\". Early career and political activities Returning to the UK in 1971, Corbyn worked as anofficialfor theNational Union of Tailors and Garment Workers.He began a course in Trade Union Studies atNorth London Polytechnicbut left after a year without a degree after a series of arguments with his tutors over the curriculum.He worked as\",\n \"worked as a trade union organiser for theNational Union of Public Employees(NUPE) andAmalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union,where his union was approached byTony Bennand \\\"encouraged ... to produce a blueprint for workers' control ofBritish Leyland\\\"; the plans did not proceed after Benn was moved to a different Department. Corbyn was appointed amemberof adistrict health authorityand in early 1974, at the age of 24, he was elected toHaringey CouncilfromSouth Hornseyward.After boundary changes in 1978 he was re-elected inHarringayward ascouncillor, remaining so until 1983.As a delegate fromHornseyto theLabour Party Conferencein 1978, Corbyn successfully moved a motion calling for dentists to be employed by theNational Health Service(NHS) rather than as private contractors.He also spoke in another debate, describing a motion calling for greater support for law and order as \\\"more appropriate to theNational Frontthan to the Labour Party\\\". Corbyn became the local Labour Party's agent and organiser,and had\",\n \"organiser,and had responsibility for the1979 general election campaignin Hornsey. Around this time, he became involved with theLondon Labour Briefing, where he was a contributor. Described byThe Timesin 1981 as \\\"Briefing's founder\\\",The Economistin a 1982 article named Corbyn as \\\"Briefing's general secretary figure\\\",as did a profile on Corbyn compiled by parliamentary biographerAndrew Rothin 2004,which states that he joined the editorial board as General Secretary in 1979.Michael Crick, in the 2016 edition of his bookMilitant, says that Corbyn was \\\"a member of the editorial board\\\",as does Lansley, Goss andWolmar's 1989 workThe Rise and Fall of the Municipal Left.Corbyn said in 2017 that these reports were inaccurate, tellingSophy Ridge: \\\"I read the magazine. I wrote for the magazine. I was not a member of the editorial board. I didn't agree with it.\\\" He worked on Tony Benn'sunsuccessful deputy leadership campaign in 1981. Corbyn was keen to allow formerInternational Marxist GroupmemberTariq Alito join the\",\n \"Alito join the party, despite Labour's National Executive having declared him unacceptable, and declared that \\\"so far as we are concerned ... he's a member of the party and he'll be issued with a card.\\\"In May 1982, when Corbyn was chairman of the Constituency Labour Party, Ali was given a party card signed by Corbyn;in November, the local party voted by 17 to 14 to insist on Ali's membership \\\"up to and including the point of disbandment of the party\\\". In the July 1982 edition ofBriefing, Corbyn opposed expulsions of theTrotskyistandentryistgroupMilitant, saying that \\\"If expulsions are in order for Militant, they should apply to us too.\\\" In the same year, he was the \\\"provisional convener\\\" of \\\"Defeat the Witch-Hunt Campaign\\\", based at Corbyn's then address.TheMetropolitan Police'sSpecial Branchmonitored Corbyn for two decades, until the early 2000s, as he was \\\"deemed to be a subversive\\\". According to the Labour Party, \\\"The Security Services kept files on many peace and Labour movement campaigners at the time,\",\n \"at the time, including anti-Apartheid activists and trade unionists\\\". Parliamentary backbencher (1983–2015) Labour in opposition (1982–1997) Corbyn was selected as theLabour Partycandidatefor theconstituencyofIslington North, in February 1982,winning the final ballot for selection by 39 votes against 35 for GLC councillorPaul Boateng, who in 1987 became one of the first three Black BritishMembers of Parliament(MP).At the1983 general electionhe was elected MP for the constituency,defeating theIndependent LabourincumbentMichael O'Halloran, and immediately joined the socialistCampaign Group, later becoming secretary of the group. Shortly after being elected to Parliament, he began writing a weekly column for the left-wingMorning Starnewspaper.In May 2015, he said that \\\"theStaris the most precious and only voice we have in the daily media\\\".In February 2017, theMorning Starsaid of Corbyn: \\\"He has been bullied, betrayed and ridiculed, and yet he carries on with the same grace and care he always shows to others –\",\n \"shows to others – however objectionable their behaviour and treatment of him might be.\\\" In 1983, Corbyn spoke on a \\\"no socialism withoutgay liberation\\\" platform and continued to campaign forLGBT rights. He was a campaigner againstapartheidin South Africa, serving on the National Executive of theAnti-Apartheid Movement,and was arrested in 1984 while demonstrating outsideSouth Africa House, leading, decades later, to a viral image of Corbyn being arrested circulated by supporters on social media.This was as a member of the City of London Anti-Apartheid Group (CLAAG) who carried out a \\\"non-stop picket\\\" for 1,408 days to campaign forNelson Mandela's release from prison. The Anti-Apartheid Movement did not support this protest, as they had agreed not to demonstrate within 30 feet of the embassy, and the picket failed to gain support from the LondonANC; Mandela's failure to respond to CLAAG following his release from prison in 1990 is frequently described as a 'snub'. He supported the1984–85 miners' strike.In\",\n \"miners' strike.In 1985, he invited striking miners into the gallery of the House of Commons; they were expelled for shouting: \\\"Coal not dole\\\".At the end of the strike Corbyn was given a medallion by the miners in recognition of his help. In 1985, he was appointed national secretary of the newly launchedAnti-Fascist Action. During the BBC'sNewsnightin 1984, Conservative MPTerry Dickssaid that so-called Labour \\\"scruffs\\\" (such as Corbyn, who at this time was known for wearing an old polo-necked sweater to the Commons) should be banned from addressing the House of Commons unless they maintained higher standards. Corbyn responded, saying that: \\\"It's not a fashion parade, it's not a gentleman's club, it's not a bankers' institute, it's a place where the people are represented.\\\" In 1990, Corbyn opposed thepoll tax(formally known as the Community Charge)and nearly went to jail for not paying the tax.He appeared in court the following year as a result. Corbyn supported the campaign to overturn the convictions of\",\n \"the convictions of Jawad Botmeh and Samar Alami for the1994 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Londonwhich argued that there was insufficient evidence to tie them to the act, along withAmnesty International,Unisonand a number of journalists and other MPs. Botmeh and Alami had admitted possessing explosives and guns but denied they were for use in Britain. The convictions were upheld by theHigh Court of Justicein 2001 and by theEuropean Court of Human Rightsin 2007. Corbyn sat on theSocial Security Select Committeefrom 1992 to 1997. Irish politics A longstanding supporter of aunited Ireland, in the 1980s Corbyn metSinn FéinleaderGerry Adamsa number of times.Corbyn consistently stated that he maintained links with Sinn Fein in order to work for a resolution to the armed conflict.According toThe Sunday Times, Corbyn was involved in over 72 events connected with Sinn Féin or other pro-republican groups during the period of the IRA's paramilitary campaign. Corbyn met Adams at the 1983 and 1989 Labour conferences\",\n \"Labour conferences (facilitated by pro-IRARed Action)and in 1983 at Westminster, along with a number of other Labour MPs.In 1984, Corbyn and Ken Livingstone invited Adams, two convicted IRA volunteers and other members of Sinn Féin to Westminster.He was criticised by the Labour Party leadership for the meeting, which took place two weeks after the IRA'sbombingof the Conservative Party leadership that killed five people. During the 1980s he campaigned on behalf of theGuildford FourandBirmingham Six, who were wrongly convicted of responsibility for IRA bombings in England in the mid-1970s.In 1986, Corbyn was arrested with 15 demonstrators protesting against what they saw as weak evidence and poor treatment during the trial of a group of IRA members includingPatrick Magee, who was convicted of the Brighton hotel bombing and other attacks. After refusing police requests to move from outside the court, Corbyn and the other protesters were arrested for obstruction and held for five hours before being released on\",\n \"being released on bail, but were not charged. In 1987, Corbyn attended a commemoration by theWolfe Tone Societyin London for eight IRA members who were killed bySpecial Air Servicesoldierswhile attackingaRoyal Ulster Constabularypolice station inLoughgall,County Armagh. At the commemoration, he told his fellow attendees that \\\"I'm happy to commemorate all those who died fighting for an independent Ireland\\\" and attacked the British government's policies in Northern Ireland, calling for all British troops to be withdrawn from the region.Corbyn subsequently said that he had attended the event, which included aminute of silencefor the eight IRA members, to \\\"call for a peace and dialogue process\\\". He voted against the 1985Anglo-Irish Agreement, saying \\\"We believe that the agreement strengthens rather than weakens the border between the six and the 26 counties, and those of us who wish to see a United Ireland oppose the agreement for that reason.\\\" In the early 1990s,MI5opened a file on Corbyn to monitor his links\",\n \"monitor his links to the IRA. In 1994, Corbyn signed a Commons motion condemning the 1974Birmingham pub bombings, which killed 21 people. A short time after IRA plans to bomb London were foiled in 1996, Corbyn invited Adams to the House of Commons for a press conference to promote Adams' autobiography,Before the Dawn. Shadow Northern Ireland SecretaryMo Mowlamand Labour leaderTony Blaircondemned the invitation, with Mowlam arguing that it was detrimental to the peace process, and Blair threatening disciplinary action.Adams cancelled the event, to save further embarrassment to Corbyn and to avoid negative publicity. In 1998, he voted for theGood Friday Agreement, saying he looked forward to \\\"peace, hope and reconciliation in Ireland in the future.\\\" In 2017, Corbyn said that he had \\\"never met the IRA\\\", although Shadow Home SecretaryDiane Abbottlater clarified that although he had met members of the IRA, \\\"he met with them in their capacity as activists in Sinn Fein\\\". Labour in government (1997–2010) Between\",\n \"(1997–2010) Between 1997 and 2010, during theNew Labourgovernments, Corbyn was the Labour MP who voted most often against the party whip, includingthree-line whipvotes. In 2005 he was identified as the second most rebellious Labour MP of all time during the New Labour governments.He was the most rebellious Labour MP in the 1997–2001 Parliament,the 2001–2005 Parliamentand the 2005–2010 Parliament, defying the whip 428 times while Labour was in power.Jacobindescribed him as \\\"a figure who for decades challenged them from the backbench as one of the most rebellious left-wing members of parliament\\\". Corbyn has called forTony Blairto be investigated for allegedwar crimes during the Iraq War.In July 2016, theChilcot Reportof theIraq Inquirywas issued, criticising Blair for joining the United States in the war against Iraq. Subsequently, Corbyn – who had voted against military action against Iraq – gave a speech in Westminster commenting: \\\"I now apologise sincerely on behalf of my party for the disastrous decision\",\n \"disastrous decision to go to war in Iraq in March 2003\\\" which he called an \\\"act of military aggression launched on a false pretext\\\" something that has \\\"long been regarded as illegal by the overwhelming weight of international opinion\\\".Corbyn specifically apologised to \\\"the people of Iraq\\\"; to the families of British soldiers who died in Iraq or returned injured; and to \\\"the millions of British citizens who feel our democracy was traduced and undermined by the way in which the decision to go to war was taken on.\\\" Corbyn sat on theLondon Regional Select Committeefrom 2009 to 2010. Stop the War Coalition and anti-war activism In October 2001, Corbyn was elected to the steering committee of theStop the War Coalition, which was formed to oppose theWar in Afghanistanwhich started later that year. In 2002, Corbyn reported unrest : \\\"there is disquiet...about issues of foreign policy\\\" among some members of the Labour party. He cited \\\"the deployment of troops to Afghanistan and the threat of bombing Iraq\\\" as\",\n \"of bombing Iraq\\\" as examples.He was vehemently opposed to Britain's involvement in theIraq Warin 2003, and spoke at dozens of anti-war rallies in Britain and overseas. He spoke at theFebruary anti-Iraq War protestwhich was said to be the largest such protest in British political history.At the same time, he expressed support for the Iraqi insurgency and the Palestinian intifada when he signed the second Cairo Declaration in December 2003, which said \\\"The Iraqis themselves are now engaged in a titanic struggle to rid their country of occupying forces. The Palestinian intifada continues under the most difficult circumstances. The US administration threatens Iran and other countries on a daily basis. Now is the time to draw together the forces of resistance in the Arab world and from around the globe.\\\" In 2006, Corbyn was one of 12 Labour MPs to supportPlaid Cymruand theScottish National Party's call for aparliamentary inquiry into the Iraq War.He was elected chair of the coalition in succession toAndrew\",\n \"succession toAndrew Murrayin September 2011, but resigned once he becameLeader of the Labour Partyin September 2015. Parliamentary groups and activism Corbyn is a member of a number of Parliamentary Trade Union Groups: he is sponsored by several trade unions, includingUNISON,Uniteand theNational Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers. He is a supporter of theUnite Against Fascismpressure group. Corbyn was chair of theAll-Party Parliamentary Group(APPG) on theChagos Islands, chair of the APPG on Mexico, Vice-Chair of the APPG on Latin America and vice-chair of the APPG on Human Rights. He has advocated for the rights of the forcibly removedChagossiansto return to theBritish Indian Ocean Territory. Corbyn appeared on a call-in show onPress TV, an Iranian government television channel, several times between 2009 and 2012. He was criticised for appearing on the channel in light of Iran executing and imprisoning homosexuals, as well as Corbyn not questioning contributors who called the BBC \\\"Zionist liars\\\"\",\n \"BBC \\\"Zionist liars\\\" and described Israel as a \\\"disease\\\".Corbyn said in response that he used the programme to address \\\"human rights issues\\\" and that his appearance fee was \\\"not an enormous amount\\\" and was used to help meet constituency office costs.Corbyn's final appearance was six months after the network was fined byOfcomfor its part in filming an interview withMaziar Bahari, an Iranian journalist, saying the interview had been held under duress and after torture. Labour in opposition (2010–2015) In the2010 Labour Party leadership election, Corbyn supported Diane Abbott in the first round in which she was eliminated; thereafter, he supportedEd Miliband. Corbyn was one of 16 signatories to an open letter to Ed Miliband in January 2015 calling for Labour to make a commitment toopposing further austerity, to takerail franchisesback intopublic ownership, and to strengthencollective bargainingarrangements. Corbyn sat on theJustice Select Committeefrom 2010 to 2015.Before becoming party leader Corbyn had been\",\n \"Corbyn had been returned as member of Parliament for Islington North seven times, gaining 60.24% of the vote and a majority of 21,194 in the2015 general election. Leadership elections Following the Labour Party's defeat at the general election on 7 May 2015,Ed Milibandresigned as its party leader, triggering aleadership election. Corbyn decided to stand as a candidate, having been disillusioned by the lack of a left-wing voice, and said to his local newspaper,TheIslington Tribune, that he would have a \\\"clear anti-austerity platform\\\". He also said he would vote to scrap the Trident nuclear weapons system and would \\\"seek to withdraw from Nato\\\". He suggested that Britain should establish a national investment bank to boost house-building and improve economic growth and lift wages in areas that had less investment in infrastructure. He would also aim to eliminate the current budget deficit over time and restore the 50p top rate of income tax.He added: \\\"This decision is in response to an overwhelming call by\",\n \"call by Labour Party members who want to see a broader range of candidates and a thorough debate about the future of the party. I am standing to give Labour Party members a voice in this debate\\\".He indicated that, if he were elected, policies that he put forward would need to be approved by party members before being adopted and that he wanted to \\\"implement the democratic will of our party\\\".The other candidates were Shadow Home SecretaryYvette Cooper, Shadow Health SecretaryAndy Burnhamand Shadow Care MinisterLiz Kendall.Several who nominated Corbyn later said they had ensured he had enough votes to stand, more to widen the political debate within the party than because of a desire or expectation that he would win. At the Second Reading of theWelfare Reform and Work Billin July 2015, Corbyn joined 47 Labour MPs to oppose the Bill, describing it as \\\"rotten and indefensible\\\", whilst the other three leadership candidates abstained under direction from interim leader Harriet Harman.In August 2015, he called\",\n \"2015, he called onIain Duncan Smithto resign asSecretary of State for Work and Pensionsafter it was reported that thousands of disabled people had died after being found fit to work byWork Capability Assessments(instituted in 2008) between 2011 and 2014, although this was challenged by the government and by FullFact who said that the figure included those who had died and therefore their claim had ended, rather than being found fit for work. Corbyn rapidly became the frontrunner among the candidates and was perceived to benefit from a large influx of new members. Hundreds of supporters turned out to hear him speak at thehustingsacross the nation and their enthusiastic reception and support for him was dubbed \\\"Corbynmania\\\" by the press.Membership numbers continued to climb after the start of his leadership.In addition, following a rule change under Miliband, members of the public who supported Labour's aims and values could join the party as \\\"registered supporters\\\" for £3 and be entitled to vote in the\",\n \"to vote in the election.There was speculation that the rule change would lead to Corbyn being elected by registered supporters without majority support from ordinary members.He was elected party leader in a landslide victory on 12 September 2015 with 59.5% of first-preference votes in the first round of voting.He would have won in the first round with 51% of votes, even without \\\"£3 registered supporters\\\", having gained the support of 49.6% of full members and 57.6% of affiliated supporters.His 40.5% majority was a larger proportional majority than that attained by Tony Blair in1994.His margin of victory was said to be \\\"the largest mandate ever won by a party leader\\\". An internal Labour Party report, entitledThe work of the Labour Party's Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism, 2014–2019, was leaked to the media in April 2020. The report stated that during the 2015 and 2016 leadership contests, staff members at Labour party headquarters looked for ways to exclude from voting members who they\",\n \"members who they believed would vote for Corbyn. The staff members referred to this activity as \\\"trotbusting\\\", \\\"bashing trots\\\" and \\\"trot spotting\\\". Corbynmania Corbyn was initially viewed as atoken candidatefor the left wing of the party and not expected to win. However, many new, young party members, who had joined after the membership fee had been reduced to £3, were attracted by what they saw as Corbyn'sauthentic, informal style and radical policies.Hundreds of supporters turned out to hear him speak at thehustingsacross the nation and their enthusiastic reception and support for him was dubbed \\\"Corbynmania\\\" by the press. Jonathan Dean characterised Corbynmania as a politicalfandom, comparable with the enthusiastic followings of popular media stars and other modern politicians such asBernie SandersandJustin Trudeau. Specific features included use of the #jezwecanhashtag, attendance at rallies and the posting of pictures such asselfieson social media. Artistic, merchandising and other activity consolidated\",\n \"consolidated and spread this fannish enthusiasm. This included a \\\"Jeremy Corbyn for Prime Minister\\\" (JC4PM) tour by celebrities such asCharlotte Church,Jeremy HardyandMaxine Peake; a Corbyn superhero comic book; mash-ups and videos. Many of Corbyn's supporters felt he possessed personal qualities such as earnestness and modesty leading them to develop a sense of emotional attachment to him as individual. These were seen as cultish by critics such asMargaret Beckettwho said in 2016 that the Labour Party had been turned into the \\\"Jeremy Corbyn Fan Club\\\". Achantof \\\"Oh, Jeremy Corbyn\\\" was adopted as an anthem or chorus by his supporters. Sung in the style of afootball chantto the tune of arifffrom \\\"Seven Nation Army\\\" byThe White Stripes,it attracted special attention at theGlastonbury Festival 2017, where Corbyn appeared and spoke to the crowds.Labour's weaker-than-expected performance in the2018 local electionsled to suggestions that Corbynmania had peaked. Leadership of the Labour Party (2015–2020) First term\",\n \"First term as Leader of the Opposition (2015–2017) After being elected leader, Corbyn becameLeader of the Official Oppositionand shortly thereafter his appointment to thePrivy Councilwas announced.In Corbyn's firstPrime Minister's Questionssession as leader, he broke with the traditional format by asking the Prime Minister six questions he had received from members of the public, the result of his invitation to Labour Party members to send suggestions, for which he received around 40,000 emails.Corbyn stressed his desire to reduce the \\\"theatrical\\\" nature of the House of Commons, and his début was described in aGuardianeditorial as \\\"a good start\\\" and a \\\"long overdue\\\" change to the tone of PMQs.He delivered his first Labour Party Conference address as leader on 29 September 2015.Party membership nearly doubled between the May 2015 election and October 2015, attributed largely to the election as leader of Corbyn. In September 2015 an unnamed senior serving general in the British Army stated that a mutiny by the\",\n \"a mutiny by the Army could occur if a future Corbyn government moved to scrap Trident, pull out of Nato or reduce the size of the armed forces. The general said \\\"the Army just wouldn't stand for it. The general staff would not allow a prime minister to jeopardise the security of this country and I think people would use whatever means possible, fair or foul to prevent that. You can't put a maverick in charge of a country's security\\\". In July 2016, a study and analysis by academics from theLondon School of Economicsof national newspaper articles about Corbyn in the first months of his leadership of Labour showed that 75% of them either distorted or failed to represent his actual views on subjects. 2017 general election The Labour campaign in the2017 general electionfocused on social issues such as health care, education and ending austerity.Corbyn's election campaign was run under the slogan \\\"For the Many, Not the Few\\\"and featured rallies with a large audience and connected with agrassrootsfollowing for the\",\n \"for the party, including appearing on stage in front of a crowd of 20,000 at the Wirral Live Festival inPrenton Park. Although Labour started the campaign as far as 20 points behind, and again finished as the second largest party in parliament, it increased its share of the popular vote to 40%, resulting in a net gain of 30 seats and a hung parliament. This was its greatest vote share since2001. It was the first time Labour had made a net gain of seats since 1997, and the party's 9.6% increase in vote share was its largest in a single general election since 1945.This was partly attributed to the popularity of its 2017 Manifesto that promised to scrap tuition fees, address public sector pay, make housing more affordable, end austerity, nationalise the railways and provide school students with free lunches. 2019 general election and resignation In May 2019,Theresa Mayannounced her resignation and stood down as prime minister in July, following the election of her replacement, formerForeign SecretaryBoris\",\n \"SecretaryBoris Johnson.Corbyn said that Labour was ready to fight an election against Johnson. The 2019 Labour Party Manifesto included policies to increase funding for health, negotiate a Brexit deal and hold a referendum giving a choice between the deal and remain, raise the minimum wage, stop the age pension age increase, nationalise key industries, and replaceuniversal credit.Due to the plans to nationalise the \\\"big six\\\" energy firms, the National Grid, the water industry, Royal Mail, the railways and the broadband arm of BT, the 2019 manifesto was widely considered as the most radical in several decades, more closely resembling Labour's politics of the 1970s than subsequent decades. During the campaign for the upcoming general elections, Corbyn was accused by theHindu Council UKof promotinganti-Hindu sentimentsfollowing his disparaging comments on thecaste system& his condemnation of theHindu-rightwingBharatiya Janata Partyled Indian government'srevocation of the special status of Jammu and\",\n \"status of Jammu and Kashmir.ManyHindus living in the UKsaw Corbyn's attitude towards Hindus to be heavily influenced byPakistaniMuslimleaders of his party,with whom he shared a common pro-Palestinian stance. The2019 general electionwas the worst defeat in seats for Labour since 1935, with Labour winning just 202 out of 650 seats, their fourth successive election defeat.At 32.2%, Labour's share of the vote was down around eight points on the 2017 general election and is lower than that achieved by Neil Kinnock in 1992, although it was higher than in 2010 and 2015. In the aftermath, opinions differed to why the Labour Party was defeated to the extent it was. The Shadow ChancellorJohn McDonnelllargely blamedBrexitand themedia representationof the party.Tony Blairargued that the party's unclear position on Brexit and the economic policy pursued by the Corbyn leadership were to blame. Following the Labour Party's unsuccessful performance in the 2019 general election, Corbynconceded defeatand stated that he\",\n \"stated that he intended to step down as leader following the election of a successor and that he would not lead the party into the next election.Corbyn himself was re-elected for Islington North with 64.3% of the vote share and a majority of 26,188 votes over the runner-up candidate representing the Liberal Democrats, with Labour's share of the vote falling by 8.7%.The Guardiandescribed the results as a \\\"realignment\\\" of UK politics as the Conservative landslide took many traditionally Labour seats in England and Wales.Corbyn insisted that he had \\\"pride in the manifesto\\\" that Labour put forward and blamed the defeat on Brexit.According to polling byLord Ashcroft, Corbyn was himself a major contribution to the party's defeat.Corbyn remained Labour leader for four months while theleadership electionto replace him took place. His resignation as Labour leader formally took effect in April 2020 following the election ofKeir Starmer. Post-leadership EHRC report and suspension Allegations of antisemitism within the\",\n \"within the party grew during Corbyn's leadership. Incidents involvingNaz Shahin 2014 andKen Livingstonein 2016 resulted in their suspension from party membership pending investigation. In response, Corbyn established theChakrabarti Inquiry, which concluded that while the party was not \\\"overrun by anti-Semitism or other forms of racism,\\\" there was an \\\"occasionally toxic atmosphere\\\" and \\\"clear evidence of ignorant attitudes.\\\" In 2017, Labour Party rules were amended to categorizehate speech, including antisemitism, as a disciplinary matter. In 2018, Corbyn faced scrutiny for his response in 2012 to an allegedly antisemitic mural and for his association with Facebook groups, mainly pro-Palestinian, containing antisemitic posts. Labour'sNational Executive Committee(NEC) adopted a definition of antisemitism, for disciplinary purposes, in July of that year, aligning with theInternational Holocaust Remembrance Alliance(IHRA)Working Definition, with modified examples related to criticism of Israel.In September 2018,\",\n \"September 2018, the NEC incorporated all 11 IHRA examples, unamended, into the party's code of conduct.In May 2019, theEquality and Human Rights Commission(EHRC) launched an inquiry into whether Labour had \\\"unlawfully discriminated against, harassed or victimised people because they are Jewish.\\\" After asserting that the scale of antisemitism had been overstated for political reasons, Corbyn was suspended from the party in 2020. The Forde Report, written by lawyer Martin Forde in response to the dossier that was leaked in April 2020 (The work of the Labour Party's Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism, 2014–2019), was released on 19 July 2022, stating that: \\\"ather than confront the paramount need to deal with the profoundly serious issue of anti-Semitism in the party, both factions treated it as a factional weapon.\\\"It also described senior Labour staff as having displayed \\\"deplorably factional and insensitive, and at times discriminatory, attitudes\\\" towards Corbyn and his supporters,and\",\n \"his supporters,and detailed concerns by some staff about a \\\"hierarchy of racism\\\" in the party which ignored Black people.The report also expressed regret that Corbyn himself did not engage with the authors' request to interview him. Responding to this, Corbyn's former advisorAndrew Fisherwrote: \\\"Forde confirms that reflection is necessary. Cultural change requires painstaking work, not glib assertions of change.\\\"Corbyn himself stated that report \\\"calls into question the behaviour of senior officials in the party, in particular during the 2017 election\\\" and that \\\"wrongs must be righted.\\\" Peace and Justice Project On 13 December 2020, Corbyn announced the Project for Peace and Justice. Corbyn launched the project on 17 January 2021, and its affiliates includeChristine Blower,Len McCluskeyandZarah Sultana.Rafael Correasaid that he \\\"welcome the creation\\\" of the project. Stop the War Coalition statement on Ukraine crisis On 18 February 2022, in the week before theRussian invasion of Ukraine, Corbyn alongside 11\",\n \"Corbyn alongside 11 Labour MPs cosigned a statement from theStop the War Coalitionopposing any war in Ukraine.The statement said that \\\"the crisis should be settled on a basis which recognises the right of the Ukrainian people to self-determination and addresses Russia's security concerns\\\", that NATO \\\"should call a halt to its eastward expansion\\\", and that the British government's sending of arms to Ukraine and troops to eastern Europe served \\\"no purpose other than inflaming tensions and indicating disdain for Russian concerns\\\".The statement's authors also said that they \\\"refute the idea that NATO is a defensive alliance\\\". On the evening of 24 February, the first day of the invasion, Labour chief whipAlan Campbellwrote to all 11 Labour MPs who had signed the statement, requesting that they withdraw their signatures.All 11 agreed to do so the same evening.Corbyn and fellow former Labour independent MPClaudia Webbedid not withdraw their signatures from the statement, thoughDavid Lammyurged Corbyn to do so.\",\n \"Corbyn to do so. Expulsion from the Labour Party and 2024 general election Media speculation that Corbyn would contest the2024 general electionas an Independent was reported in October 2023.Despite \\\"unanimous support\\\" from hisConstituency Labour Party(CLP),Corbyn was not permitted to stand as a Labour parliamentary candidate. After announcing on 24 May 2024 that he would stand as an independent parliamentary candidate for Islington North, he was fully expelled from the Labour Party.He was endorsed byMick Lynchof theNational Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers. Corbyn responded to Keir Starmer's claim of knowing the party would lose the 2019 election by saying \\\"Well, he never said that to me, at any time. And so I just think rewriting history is no help. It shows double standards, shall we say, that he now says he always thought that but he never said it at the time or anything about it. He was part of the campaign. He and I spoke together at events and I find it actually quite sad.\\\" A poll released\",\n \"A poll released just over two weeks before the election showed Corbyn in second behind Labour candidate Praful Nargund.Leading members of the Islington North CLP resigned in order to support Corbyn, while also criticising the manner in which Nargund was selected as Islington North's candidate.Corbyn was comfortably re-elected as an independent, even as Labour won a landslide victory in the general election. His majority over Nargund was over 7,000. Policies and views Corbyn self-identifies as asocialist.He has also been referred to as a \\\"mainstream social democrat\\\".He advocates reversingausterity cutsto public services and some welfare funding made since 2010, as well asrenationalisationof public utilities andthe railways.A longstandinganti-warandanti-nuclearactivist, he supports a foreign policy of militarynon-interventionismandunilateralnuclear disarmament, and has been a prominent activist for Palestinian solidarity throughout theGaza–Israel conflict.WriterRonan Bennett, who formerly worked as a research\",\n \"as a research assistant to Corbyn, has described him as \\\"a kind of vegan, pacifist idealist, one with a clear understanding of politics and history, and a commitment to the underdog\\\". In 1997, the political scientistsDavid ButlerandDennis Kavanaghdescribed Corbyn's political stance as \\\"far-left\\\".Corbyn has describedKarl Marxas a \\\"great economist\\\"and said he has read some of the works ofAdam Smith, Marx andDavid Ricardoand has \\\"looked at many, many others\\\".However, some have argued that Corbyn is less radical than previously described:for example, the journalistGeorge Eatonhas called him \\\"Keynesian\\\".In 2023,The Daily Telegraphreported that most of the tax policies in Corbyn's 2019 general election manifesto had been implemented by the winning Conservative government, including a highercorporation tax, awindfall taxon oil companies, a reduction in annual tax allowances on dividend income, raising income tax on high earners, and introducing adigital services taxon online retailers. Corbyn namedJohn Smithas the\",\n \"Smithas the former Labour leader whom he most admired, describing him as \\\"a decent, nice, inclusive leader\\\". He also said he was \\\"very close and very good friends\\\" withMichael Foot. Media coverage Analyses of domestic media coverage of Corbyn have found it to be critical or antagonistic.In July 2016, academics from the London School of Economics published a study of 812 articles about Corbyn taken from eight national newspapers around the time of his Labour leadership election. The study found that 75 percent of the articles either distorted or failed to represent his actual views on subjects. The study's director commented that \\\"Our analysis shows that Corbyn was thoroughly delegitimised as a political actor from the moment he became a prominent candidate and even more so after he was elected as party leader\\\". Another report by the Media Reform Coalition andBirkbeckCollege in July 2016, based on 10 days of coverage around the time of multiple shadow cabinet resignations, found \\\"marked and persistent\",\n \"and persistent imbalance\\\" in favour of sources critical to him; theInternational Business Timeswas the only outlet that gave him more favourable than critical coverage. In August 2016, aYouGovsurvey found that 97% of Corbyn supporters agreed that the \\\"mainstream media as a whole has been deliberately biasing coverage to portray Jeremy Corbyn in a negative manner\\\", as did 51% of the general \\\"Labour selectorate\\\" sample. In May 2017,Loughborough University's Centre for Research in Communication and Culture concluded that the media was attacking Corbyn far more than May during nine election campaign weekdays examined.TheDaily MailandDaily Expresspraised Theresa May for election pledges that were condemned when proposed by Labour in previous elections. In February 2018, Momentum reported that attacks on Corbyn in the press were associated with increases in their membership applications.In September 2019, Labour leaders argued that traditional mainstream media outlets showed bias. In December 2019, a study by\",\n \"2019, a study by Loughborough University found that British press coverage was twice as hostile to Labour and half as critical of the Conservatives during the 2019 general election campaign as it had been during the 2017 campaign. In an interview withMiddle East Eyein June 2020, Corbyn described the media's treatment of himself while he was Labour leader as obsessive and \\\"at one level laughable, but all designed to be undermining\\\".He said that the media coverage had diverted his media team from helping him pursue \\\"a political agenda on homelessness, on poverty in Britain, on housing, on international issues\\\" to \\\"rebutting these crazy stories, abusive stories, about me the whole time\\\".He said he considered suing as a result of media treatment but was guided by advice from Tony Benn, who told him, \\\"Libel is a rich man's game, and you're not a rich man Go to a libel case – even if you win the case, you'll be destroyed financially in doing so\\\". Personal life Corbyn lives in theFinsbury Parkarea of London.He has\",\n \"of London.He has been married three times and divorced twice, and has three sons with his second wife.In 1974, he married his first wife,Jane Chapman, a fellow Labour Councillor for Haringey and now a professor at theUniversity of Lincoln.They divorced in 1979.In the late 1970s, Corbyn had a brief relationship with Labour MPDiane Abbott. In 1987, Corbyn married Chilean exile Claudia Bracchitta, granddaughter of Ricardo Bracchitta (Consul-General of Spain in Santiago), with whom he has three sons. He missed his youngest son's birth as he was lecturing National Union of Public Employees members at the same hospital.Following a difference of opinion about sending their son to agrammar school(Corbyn opposesselective education), they divorced in 1999 after two years of separation, although Corbyn said in June 2015 that he continues to \\\"get on very well\\\" with her.His son subsequently attendedQueen Elizabeth's School, which had been his wife's first choice.Their second son, Sebastian, worked on his leadership\",\n \"on his leadership campaign and was later employed asJohn McDonnell's Chief of Staff. Corbyn's second-eldest brother, Andrew, who was a geologist, died of a brain haemorrhage while inPapua New Guineain 2001. Corbyn escorted the body from Papua New Guinea to Australia, where his brother's widow and children lived. In 2012, Corbyn went to Mexico to marry his Mexican partner Laura Álvarez,who runs afair tradecoffee import business that has been the subject of some controversy.A former human rights lawyer in Mexico, she first met Corbyn shortly after his divorce from Bracchitta, having come to London to support her sister Marcela following the abduction of her niece to America by her sister's estranged husband. They contacted fellow Labour MP Tony Benn for assistance, who introduced them to Corbyn, who met with the police on their behalf and spoke at fundraisers until the girl was located in 2003.Álvarez then returned to Mexico, with the couple maintaining a long-distance relationship until she moved to London in\",\n \"moved to London in 2011.Álvarez has described Corbyn as \\\"not very good at house work but he is a good politician\\\".They have a cat called El Gato (\\\"The Cat\\\" in Spanish),while Corbyn had previously owned a dog called Mango, described byThe Observerin 1984 as his \\\"only constant companion\\\" at the time. Personal beliefs and interests When interviewed byThe Huffington Postin December 2015, Corbyn refused to reveal his religious beliefs and called them a \\\"private thing\\\", but denied that he was anatheist.He has said that he is \\\"sceptical\\\" of having agodin his life.He compared his concerns about the environment to a sort of \\\"spiritualism\\\".Corbyn has described himself asfrugal, tellingSimon HattenstoneofThe Guardian: \\\"I don't spend a lot of money, I lead a very normal life, I ride a bicycle and I don't have a car.\\\"He has been a vegetarian for nearly 50 years, after having volunteered on a pig farm in Jamaica when he was 19, and stated in April 2018 that he was considering becoming avegan.Although he has been described\",\n \"has been described in the media asteetotal, he said in an interview with theDaily Mirrorthat he does drink alcohol but \\\"very, very little\\\". Corbyn is a member of theAll-Party Parliamentary Group on Cycling.He enjoys reading and writing,and speaks fluent Spanish.He supportsArsenal F.C., which is based in his constituency, and has signed parliamentary motions praising the successes of its men's andwomen's teams.He namedJens Lehmann,Ian Wright, andDennis Bergkampas his favourite Arsenal players, and has campaigned for the club to pay its staff a living wage.Corbyn is an avid \\\"drain spotter\\\" and has photographed decorative drain andmanhole coversthroughout the country. Corbyn co-edited with Len McCluskey the anthologyPoetry for the Many, published in November 2023 byOR Books. Awards and recognition In 2013, Corbyn was awarded theGandhi International Peace Awardfor his \\\"consistent efforts over a 30-year parliamentary career to uphold theGandhianvalues of social justice and non‐violence\\\".In the same year, he was\",\n \"same year, he was honoured by theGrassroot DiplomatInitiative for his \\\"ongoing support for a number of non-government organisations and civil causes\\\".Corbyn has won the Parliamentary \\\"Beard of the Year Award\\\" a record six times, as well as being named as theBeard Liberation Front'sBeard of the Year, having previously described his beard as \\\"a form of dissent\\\" againstNew Labour. In 2016, Corbyn was the subject of a musical entitledCorbyn the Musical: The Motorcycle Diaries, written by journalists Rupert Myers and Bobby Friedman. In 2017 the American magazineForeign Policynamed Corbyn in its Top 100 Global Thinkers list for that year \\\"for inspiring a new generation to re-engage in politics\\\".In December 2017 he was one of three recipients awarded theSeán MacBride Peace Prize\\\"for his sustained and powerful political work for disarmament and peace\\\".The award was announced the previous September. See also References Further reading External links e\",\n \"Nicola Sturgeon Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon(born 19 July 1970) is a Scottish politician who served asFirst Minister of ScotlandandLeader of the Scottish National Party(SNP) from 2014 to 2023.She has served as amember of the Scottish Parliament(MSP) since 1999, first as anadditional memberfor theGlasgow electoral region, and as the member forGlasgow Southside(formerlyGlasgow Govan) from 2007. Born inAyrshire, Sturgeon is a law graduate of theUniversity of Glasgow. She worked as a solicitor in Glasgow before her election to theScottish Parliamentin1999. She served successively as the SNP's shadow minister for education, health, and justice. Sturgeon entered theleadership of the SNPbut later withdrew from the contest in favour ofAlex Salmond, standing instead asdeputeleader on a joint ticket with Salmond. Both were subsequently elected; as Salmond was still an MP, Sturgeon led the SNP in the Scottish Parliament asLeader of the Oppositionfrom 2004 to 2007. The SNP emerged as the largest party following the2007\",\n \"following the2007 electionand Salmond headed thefirst SNP minority government, with Sturgeon as hisdeputy. From 2007 to 2012, she served ashealth secretary, overseeing thescrapping of prescription chargesand the2009 swine flu pandemic. Following the SNP's landslide majority in 2011, she was appointedCabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Capital Investment and Cities, which saw her in charge of the legislative process for the2014 Scottish independence referendum. The defeat of theYes Scotlandcampaign resulted in Salmond's resignation as SNP leader. Sturgeon waselected unopposed as SNP leader in November 2014and was subsequently appointed as first minister, becoming the first woman to hold either position.She entered office amid a rapid surge in membership of the SNP, which was reflected in the party's performance in the2015 general election, winning 56 of the 59 Scottish seats and replacing theLiberal Democratsas the third-largest party in theHouse of Commons. The SNP continued to enjoy electoral successes\",\n \"electoral successes throughout Sturgeon's nine years in office, but lost 21 seats in the2017 general election. Despite losing her majority, Sturgeon secured a second term in office in 2016, forming aminority government. Sturgeon led theScottish Government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, implementing a series ofrestrictions on social gatheringsand the rollout of thevaccine programme. A seat short of a majority in2021, Sturgeon became the only first minister toserve a third term, and she subsequently entereda power-sharing agreementwith theScottish Greens. The calls from Sturgeon's government and the wider independence movement for a second referendum were unsuccessful, as successiveConservativeprime ministers refused to grant aSection 30 order. From 2022, Sturgeon received heavier criticism for her positions ongender reforms. On 15 February 2023, Sturgeon resigned the leadership of the SNP claimingoccupational burnout; she wassucceededby her health secretary,Humza Yousaf, the following month. First\",\n \"month. First Minister of Scotland UK General elections Early life and education Nicola Ferguson Sturgeonwas born inAyrshire Central HospitalinIrvineon 19 July 1970.She is the eldest of two daughters born toJoan Kerr Sturgeon(néeFerguson, born 23 October 1952), adental nurse, and Robin Sturgeon (born 28 September 1948), an electrician.Her younger sister, Gillian Sturgeon, is anNHS worker.Her family has some roots inNorth East England; her paternal grandmother, Margaret Sturgeon (néeMill), was fromRyhopein what is now theCity of Sunderland.Her grandmother married Robert Sturgeon, a gardener fromAyr, at St Paul's Parish Church in 1943, and they both eventually moved back to the south west of Scotland. Sturgeon grew up inPrestwickand in the village ofDreghorn, in a terracedcouncil house, which her parents bought through theright-to-buy scheme. Sturgeon was a quiet child and has been described by her younger sister as \\\"the sensible one\\\" of the two.Sturgeon was shy and has said that she \\\"much preferred to sit with\",\n \"to sit with my head in a book than talking to people\\\".She developed a passion for books and reading which continued into adult life. She has described herself as being an \\\"austere\\\" teen whose style tended towardsgoth, adding that \\\"if you see pictures of me back then, you would struggle to know whether I was a boy or a girl\\\".Sturgeon was a fan ofWham!andDuran Duran, and enjoyed spending Saturday nights at Frosty's Ice Disco inIrvine. Sturgeon attendedDreghorn Primary Schoolfrom 1975 to 1982 andGreenwood Academyfrom 1982 to 1988.She later studiedlawat theUniversity of Glasgow School of Law, graduating with aBachelor of Laws(Hons) in 1992 and aDiploma in Legal Practicethe following year.During her time at theUniversity of Glasgowshe was active as a member of theGlasgow University Scottish Nationalist Associationand theGlasgow University Students' Representative Council. Legal career Following her graduation, Sturgeon completed her legal traineeship atMcClure Naismith, a Glasgow firm of solicitors, in 1995.\",\n \"in 1995. After qualifying as asolicitor, she worked for Bell & Craig, a firm of solicitors inStirling, and later at theDrumchapelLaw Centreand a Money Advice Centre inGlasgowfrom 1997 until her election to theScottish Parliamentin 1999. Early parliamentary career Early political years In her early teens, Sturgeon joined theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament(CND) and in 1986, at the age of 16, she became a member of theScottish National Party(SNP), quickly becoming the party's Youth Affairs Vice Convener and Publicity Vice Convener. She joined the SNP following an assumption by her English teacher, who was a Labour councillor, she would be a Labour supporter. In the1987 UK General election, Sturgeon got her first taste of campaigning, going door-to-door to get her local SNP candidate,Kay Ullrich, elected toWestminster. Despite Ullrich failing to win the seat, Sturgeon ploughed her political energy into theYoung Scottish Nationalists(nowYoung Scots for Independence), joining its national executive when she was\",\n \"when she was 17. In an interview with the BBC'sWoman's Hour, Sturgeon revealed that it wasMargaret Thatcherwho inspired her to enter politics, because, due to rising unemployment in Scotland at the time, she developed \\\"a strong feeling that it was wrong for Scotland to be governed by a Tory government that we hadn't elected\\\". Thatcher was the motivation for my entire political career. I hated everything she stood for. Sturgeon became the youngest ever parliamentary candidate in Scotland in the1992 general election. Aged 21, Sturgeon was selected as the SNP candidate in theGlasgow Shettlestonconstituency. She was unsuccessful, having been beaten by almost 15,000 votes by Labour.Sturgeon also stood unsuccessfully as the SNP candidate for the Irvine NorthwardonCunninghameDistrict Council in May 1992, for theBaillieston/Mount Vernonward onStrathclyde Regional Councilin 1994, and for theBridgetonward onGlasgow City Councilin 1995. In the mid-1990s Sturgeon andCharles Kennedywent together on a political study\",\n \"a political study visit to Australia. The1997 general electionsaw Sturgeon selected to fight theGlasgow Govanseat for the SNP. Boundary changes meant that the notionalLabourmajority in the seat had increased substantially. However, infighting between the two rival candidates for the Labour nomination,Mohammed SarwarandMike Watson, along with an energetic local campaign,resulted in Glasgow Govan being the only Scottish seat to see a swing away from Labour in the midst of a Labourlandslidenationwide. Sarwar did, however, win the seat with a majority of 2,914 votes.Shortly after this, Sturgeon was appointed as the SNP's spokesperson for energy and education matters. SNP in opposition Sturgeon stood for election to theScottish Parliamentin thefirst Scottish Parliament electionin 1999 as the SNP candidate forGlasgow Govan.Although she failed to win the seat, she was placed first in the SNP's regional list for theGlasgow region, and was thus elected as aMember of the Scottish Parliament. The SNP emerged as the\",\n \"SNP emerged as the second largest party and sat inoppositionto theLabour-Lib Dem coalition. InAlex Salmond's shadow cabinet, she served asShadow Minister for Children and Educationfrom 1999 to 2000. As Shadow Education minister, Sturgeon backed Labour's efforts to repealSection 28– a Westminster law that banned the promotion of homosexuality in schools. There was, however, significant publicopposition to repealand an unscientific postal vote on the issue – organised by SNP donorBrian Souter– suggested most Scots wanted to keep the clause. Acknowledging this, Sturgeon suggested: \\\"That is why the SNP have urged a policy for many months that we believe can provide people with the necessary reassurance, by providing a statutory underpinning to the guidelines, and resolve this difficult debate. We believe that the value of marriage should be clearly referred to in the guidelines, without denigrating other relationships or children brought up in other kinds of relationship.\\\" The compromise had the support of\",\n \"had the support of Souter but an amendment to that effect was voted down by MSPs who expressed concerns it would stigmatise children from single parent and unmarried families. Sturgeon served asShadow Minister for Health and Community Carefrom 2000 to 2003, andShadow Minister for Justicefrom 2003 to 2004. She also served as a member of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee and the Health and Community Care Committee. 2004 SNP leadership election On 22 June 2004, John Swinney resigned as Leader of the SNP following poor results in theEuropean Parliament election. His then-depute,Roseanna Cunningham, immediately stood for the leadership. The previous leader, Alex Salmond, at the time refused to stand.On 24 June 2004, Sturgeon also entered the leadership contest, withKenny MacAskillas her running mate.The political columnistIain Macwhirterdeclared that while she \\\"didn't inspire great warmth\\\", she was \\\"quick on her feet, lacks any ideological baggage and has real determination – unlike... Roseanna\",\n \"unlike... Roseanna Cunningham\\\". However, once Cunningham emerged as the favourite to win,Salmond entered the contest and Sturgeon subsequently withdrew from the contest and declared her support for Salmond, standing instead as his running mate for the depute leadership. It was reported that Salmond had privately supported Sturgeon in her leadership bid, but decided to run for the position himself as it became apparent she was unlikely to beat Cunningham.The majority of the SNP hierarchy lent their support to the Salmond–Sturgeon bid for the leadership, although MSPAlex Neilbacked Salmond as leader, but refused to endorse Sturgeon as depute. On 3 September 2004, the leadership contest resulted in Salmond and Sturgeon elected as Leader and Depute Leader respectively.As Salmond was still an MP in theHouse of Commons, Sturgeon led the SNP at the Scottish Parliament until the2007 election, when Salmond was elected as an MSP. Leader of the Opposition; 2004–2007 As leader of the SNP in the Scottish Parliament, she\",\n \"Parliament, she served as theLeader of the Opposition in Holyrood. Sturgeon became a high-profile figure in Scottish politics and often clashed withFirst MinisterJack McConnellatFirst Minister's Questions. This included rows over theHouse of Commons'decision to replace the Trident nuclear weapon system, and the SNP's plans to replacecouncil taxin Scotland with alocal income tax.Sturgeon quickly grew a reputation in Holyrood as opposition leader, becoming known as \\\"nippy sweetie\\\" – Scottish slang for the \\\"sharp-tongued and strong-minded\\\". Deputy First Minister of Scotland (2007–2014) In the2007 Scottish Parliament election, Sturgeon defeatedGordon JacksonQCwith a 4.7% swing to the SNP in theGlasgow Govan constituency.This was one of many swings to the SNP, as the party emerged as the largest party, winning one seat more than the governingScottish Labour Party.Although the SNP was recognised as the winners of the election, it failed to obtain a majority and Labour was not willing to allow the SNP to enter\",\n \"the SNP to enter government.Sturgeon led coalition negotiation talks between theScottish Liberal Democratsand theScottish Greens, but these talks failed to reach an agreement, with the Lib Dems backing out and the Greens instead supporting a 'confidence and supply' agreement.Ultimately, Salmond formed aminority governmentand he was appointedFirst Minister of Scotland.He appointed Sturgeon asDeputy First Ministerand tasked her with theCabinet positionofCabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing. Health Secretary (2007–2012) Sturgeon served asHealth SecretaryinSalmond's first, and for a year, inhis second cabinet.She was supported in her role as Health Secretary byShona Robison, theMinister for Public Health and Sport, and byAlex Neil, theMinister for Housing and Communities. She launched her programme for government, theBetter Health, Better Care: Action Plan,which settled a new vision forNHS Scotland.She reversed the decision to close casualty units atUniversity Hospital AyrandUniversity Hospital\",\n \"Hospital Monklands.Sturgeon oversaw the scrapping ofprescription chargesIn Scotland, an election pledge by the SNP originally for thechronically illand those withcancer. Health policy Sturgeon also outlined a guaranteed maximum 18-week wait for patients after they had seen their GP and vowed to do away with deferred or \\\"hidden\\\" waiting lists. She ordered a review of the thorny issue of hospital car parking charges – as high as £7 in some areas – and launched an inquiry into the infection of NHS patients with Hepatitis C and HIV from tainted blood products. 2009 swine flu pandemic As Health Secretary, Sturgeon became more widely known internationally for her handling of the2009 flu pandemic. On 26 April 2009, the Scottish Government confirmed that two people who had returned from Mexico had been admitted toMonklands HospitalinAirdrieafter experiencing \\\"mild flu-like symptoms\\\".Sturgeon stated that there was \\\"no immediate threat to public health in Scotland\\\", but added, \\\"monitoring of those who have been in\",\n \"who have been in close contact with the two people is also being carried out as an additional precaution.\\\"The following day, she confirmed that these were cases of theswine influenza A (H1N1) virus.Authorities in both Scotland and England stated that there were no plans to trace the fellow airline passengers who may have travelled alongside the couple, since the authorities do not classify them as \\\"close contacts\\\". On 11 June, theWorld Health Organization(WHO) declared the influenza virus apandemic.Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament that containment of the virus had failed and that the Scottish Government was taking steps to mitigate the spread of the virus. \\\"We have seen a rapid increase in the number of confirmed cases in Scotland over the past 10 days\\\", she told Parliament. \\\"Based on this experience,Health Protection Scotlandhas expressed the view that sustained community transmission appears to be taking place.\\\"Four days later, a Scottish woman with underlying health conditions died at theRoyal\",\n \"died at theRoyal Alexandra HospitalinPaisley.This marked the first death in Scotland and Europe. Minimum pricing unit To tackleScotland's poor relationship with alcohol, Sturgeon passed legislation to increase the price ofalcoholperunitto help reduce sales, in particular, for thoseaddicted.In June 2012, theAlcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012was passed after receiving support from the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and Greens. Labour refused to support the bill as they claimed it failed to tacklewindfall profitfrom alcohol retailers. Infrastructure Secretary (2012–2014) At the2011 election, the SNP won a large overall majority. Sturgeon was retained as Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing until a reshuffle one year later, when she was appointed asCabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Capital Investment and Citiesand an additional role overseeing thereferendum onScottish independence, essentially putting her in charge of the SNP's referendum campaign. In 2012 she\",\n \"In 2012 she pledged to build a high-speed railway line between Glasgow and Edinburgh by 2024, cutting journey times between the two cities to under 30 minutes.Sturgeon said the Scottish Government would \\\"not wait\\\" for Westminster to build a high-speed line to Scotland. However, in 2016 the plan was abandoned and the Scottish Government blamed Westminster. 2014 Scottish independence referendum Salmond put Sturgeon in charge of the Scottish Government's legislative process for areferendum on Scottish Independenceand she was essentially in charge of the SNP's referendum campaign. In December 2012, Sturgeon said that she believed that independence would allow Scotland to build a stronger and more competitive country, and would change spending priorities to address \\\"the scandal of soaring poverty in a country as rich as Scotland\\\". While campaigning for a Yes vote in August 2013, she toldThe Guardianthat if Scots voted for the Union: \\\"Will there be another referendum round the corner? No. We can't bind our\",\n \"We can't bind our successors, but we've made very clear our belief that constitutional referenda are once-in-a-generation events.\\\" In November 2013, Sturgeon joined Salmond to launchScotland's Future– the Scottish Government's prospectus for independence.Sturgeon was one of the white paper's most high-profile media champions and frequently debated its contents with opposition politicians and sceptical Scots. When the British Government turned down the Scottish Government's idea of a formal currency union – on the grounds that the rationale for sharing a currency with a foreign country was \\\"not clear\\\" – Sturgeon accused Westminster of trying to \\\"bully Scotland\\\" and said it would \\\"cost their own businesses hundreds of millions in transaction costs\\\". During the campaign, theEuropean Commissionsaid that if Scots decided to leave the United Kingdom, it would also mean leaving the European Union. Scotland would then have to reapply for EU membership and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso predicted\",\n \"Barroso predicted this would be \\\"extremely difficult, if not impossible\\\".In July 2014 Sturgeon said this would put at risk the right of EU citizens to continue living in Scotland: \\\"There are 160,000 EU nationals from other states living in Scotland, including some in the Commonwealth Games city of Glasgow. If Scotland was outside Europe, they would lose the right to stay here.\\\" On 19 September 2014, independence was rejected in the Scottish independence referendum, with 55.3% of the voters voting no and 44.7% voting yes.Following the defeat of theYes Scotlandcampaign, Salmond resigned as First Minister and Leader of the SNP. Sturgeon immediately entered the election to replace him, and received huge support from the SNP hierarchy.Sturgeon said that there would be \\\"no greater privilege\\\" than to lead the SNP. On Salmond's resignation, Sturgeon said: The personal debt of gratitude I owe Alex is immeasurable. He has been my friend, mentor and colleague for more than 20 years. Quite simply, I would not have been\",\n \"would not have been able to do what I have in politics without his constant advice, guidance and support through all these years. I can think of no greater privilege than to seek to lead the party I joined when I was just 16. However, that decision is not for today. Following the referendum defeat, Sturgeon said that \\\"further devolution is the route to independence\\\".She also opined that Scottish independence was a matter of \\\"when, not if\\\". Leadership of the Scottish National Party On 24 September 2014, Sturgeon officially launched her campaign bid to succeed Salmond as Leader of the Scottish National Party at theNovember leadership election.It quickly became apparent that no other candidate would be able to receive enough required nominations to run a credible leadership campaign.Upon launching her campaign, Sturgeon also resigned as Depute Leader, triggering a concurrentdepute leadership election; the MSPsAngela ConstanceandKeith Brownand the MPStewart Hosieall nominated themselves to succeed Sturgeon as\",\n \"succeed Sturgeon as Depute Leader. Nominations for the SNP leadership closed on 15 October, with Sturgeon confirmed as the only candidate. SNP convenerDerek Mackaypublicly congratulated Sturgeon as de facto leader in waiting, saying that she would be \\\"a fantastic new leader\\\" for both the SNP and for Scotland.On this date, Sturgeon also came out on top in a trust rating opinion poll, conducted for the SNP, which indicated that 54% of the Scottish population trusted her to \\\"stand up for Scotland's interests\\\". At a speech in Dundee's Caird Hall on 7 November, Sturgeon pledged to be \\\"the most accessible First Minister ever\\\" when she took over. She also promised to hold a monthly Facebook question and answer session with members of the public, regular town hall meetings and that the Scottish Cabinet would meet outside Edinburgh once every two months. Sturgeon was formally acclaimed as the first female Leader of the SNP on 14 November 2014 at the Autumn Conference inPerth, with Hosie as her depute. This also made\",\n \"This also made her First Minister-Designate, given the SNP's absolute majority in the Scottish Parliament.In her first speech as leader, Sturgeon said that it was \\\"the privilege of her life\\\" to lead the party she joined as a teenager. Although Salmond officially tendered his resignation as First Minister on 18 November 2014, Sturgeon was not sworn in until two days later. From 18 November until her official appointment on 20 November, she served as the acting First Minister, essentially the First Minister-elect. First Minister of Scotland (2014–2023) First term (2014–2016) On 20 November 2014, Sturgeon was sworn into office at theCourt of Sessionin a ceremony presided byLord Gill,after receiving theroyal warrant of appointmentby QueenElizabeth II.She became the first woman tohold office.During her firstFirst Minister's Questionsafter being sworn in, Sturgeon tried to strike a conciliatory tone, saying that she came into her new post \\\"with an open mind and a willingness to hear proposals from all sides of the\",\n \"all sides of the chamber.\\\" First cabinet Sturgeon began makingappointments to her first cabineton 21 November 2014, beginning with the appointment offinance secretaryJohn Swinneyto become herDeputy First Minister.Shona Robison, a close ally to Sturgeon, became thehealth secretary, whileKeith BrownandAngela Constance, who were both unsuccessful in their bids for thedeputy leadership of the SNP, were appointedinfrastructure secretaryandeducation secretary, respectively.Michael Mathesonwas promoted asjustice secretary. The departure ofKenny MacAskillandMichael Russellsignalled a generational shift away from the \\\"79 group\\\".Alex Neil, who many speculated would be dismissed, remained in cabinet but in a \\\"less prominent portfolio\\\" ofsocial justice, communities and pensioners' rights.Roseanna Cunningham, who had difficult relationship with Sturgeon, was surprisingly promoted to cabinet as thefair work secretary.Fiona HyslopandRichard Lochheadremained in their portfolios ofculture secretaryandrural affairs secretary,\",\n \"affairs secretary, respectively. Sturgeon's cabinet was 50/50 gender balance, with five men and five women, including herself. 2015 Westminster landslide Sturgeon led theScottish National Partythrough alandslide victoryin the2015 UK general election, winning 56 out of 59 Scottish seats atWestminster, the party's best ever performance.The party received 50% of the vote share in Scotland and replaced theLiberal Democratsas the third largest party in theBritish House of Commons.Sturgeon had stated that the party's success in the election was not a mandate for another independence referendum, but primarily for a stronger voice for Scotland in London. In the run-up to the elections, Sturgeon took part in several Scottish and UK-wideTV election debatesand according to opinion polls was regarded to have had a successful performance.As part of the election campaign, Sturgeon indicated that the SNP would hold another independence referendum if it won the upcoming 2016 Scottish Parliament election. 2016 Scottish\",\n \"2016 Scottish Parliament election Sturgeon launched, in what she claimed, as the most \\\"bold, ambitious and reforming\\\" SNP manifesto for the2016 Scottish Parliament election.She set out the party's plans to increase income tax by freezing tax thresholds, reversing her previous policy of cutting taxes for higher earners.The manifesto also included a commitment to increase NHS funding by £500 million, \\\"baby boxes\\\" full of essentials to newborn parents, and an ambitious new target to cut emissions by 50% by 2020 as of the party's effort to tackle climate change.Sturgeon also hinted if re-elected she would hold asecond referendum on Scottish independence. Despite losing her majority, Sturgeon claimed a \\\"historic victory\\\" after the SNP won a third consecutive term in governmentand sought a second term in office as a minority government. Second term (2016–2021) 2016 EU membership referendum In 2016, theEuropean Union membership referendumto decide the future of the UK's European Union membership resulted in 52% of\",\n \"resulted in 52% of voters in the UK voting forBrexit(leaving the EU), with 48% voting to remain; all council areas in Scotland voted by a majority for the UK to remain a member of the EU. Across Scotland, 62% of voters backed the UK remaining a member of the EU, with 38% voting for the UK to leave. In response to the result, on 24 June 2016, Sturgeon said thatScottish Governmentofficials would begin planning for a second independence referendum.Sturgeon claimed that it was \\\"clear that the people of Scotland see their future as part of the European Union\\\" and that Scotland had \\\"spoken decisively\\\" with a \\\"strong, unequivocal\\\" vote to remain in the European Union.Sturgeon said it was \\\"democratically unacceptable\\\" that Scotland could be taken out of the EU \\\"against its will\\\".An emergency Scottish cabinet meeting on 25 June agreed that the Scottish Government would seek to enter negotiations with the EU and its member states, to explore options to protect Scotland's place in the EU.Sturgeon later said that while\",\n \"said that while she believed in Scottish independence, her starting point in these discussions was to protect Scotland's relationship with the EU. Future referendum on independence Sturgeon confirmed in June 2016 that the Scottish government had formally agreed to draft legislation to allow a second independence referendum to take place.As the constitution is a reserved matter under theScotland Act 1998, for a future referendum on Scottish independence to be legal under UK law, it would need to receive the consent of the British Parliament to take place. Prior to the day the Prime Minister triggeredArticle 50, formally allowing the process of the United Kingdom leaving theEuropean Union, theScottish Parliamentvoted 69 to 59 in favour of another independence referendum.By the end of that week, on 30 March 2017, Sturgeon wrote to the Prime Minister requesting a Section 30 order, formally devolving the responsibility and power to theScottish Governmentto plan for and hold another referendum on Scottish\",\n \"on Scottish independence.Previously, May andDavid Mundell,Secretary of State for Scotland, had both highlighted that as the negotiations began with the European Union on the United Kingdom's withdraw, it was important for Scotland to work with the UK Government to get the best exit deal for both the United Kingdom and Scotland, stating that \\\"now is not the time for another referendum\\\". Following the 2017 UK general election, Sturgeon's government postponed legislation pertaining to the proposed second referendum on Scottish independence until at least autumn 2018.Following the outbreak of theCOVID-19 pandemic, all plans for another referendum were put on hold. 2017 UK general election Sturgeon kicked off her election campaign pledging that a strong result for the SNP would \\\"reinforce\\\" her mandate for a second independence referendum.However, the SNP lost 21 seats in the2017 United Kingdom general election in Scotlandand the party's vote dropped by 13%, although they remained the biggest party in Scotland.\",\n \"party in Scotland. Sturgeon admitted that these results were \\\"bitterly disappointing\\\" and acknowledged that her party's plans for a second referendum were 'undoubtedly' a factor in the election results.It was the best result for the Scottish Conservatives since Margaret Thatcher and the party's campaign slogan, \\\"We said No to independence. We meant it\\\", resonated in areas that had voted strongly for the Union in 2014.Observers also concluded that opposition to the EU'sCommon Fisheries Policyin coastal communities was a factor behind large swings to the Tories in North East seats previously held by nationalists for decades. Several weeks later Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament that she would \\\"reset\\\" and delay her plans for a second independence referendum; the SNP losses in that month's election had led her to conclude that many Scots \\\"just want a break from making big political decisions\\\". Alex Salmond sexual harassment case In January 2019, Sturgeon referred herself to an independent ministerial ethics\",\n \"ministerial ethics body, which led to an investigation into her actions with respect to asexual harassment case concerning allegations against Salmond. This followed her admitting that she had had a secret meeting and subsequent phone call with Salmond about the Scottish government's allegations against him. She raised these with the Permanent Secretary to theScottish Government,Leslie Evans, two months later, rather than reporting them immediately, as she should have done if they constitute government matters (as per the ministerial code). Sturgeon argued that the meetings were SNP party matters, and thus not covered. The investigating panel consisted of DameElish Angiolini, a formerSolicitor General for Scotlandandlord advocate, andJames Hamilton, a formerdirector of public prosecutionsin the Republic of Ireland. On 15 January 2019, theScottish Parliamentagreed to hold its own inquiry into the matter, theCommittee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints,to investigate how the\",\n \"investigate how the Government breached its own guidelines in its original investigation into the harassment claims against Salmond, and then lost a judicial review into their actions and had to pay over £500,000 to Salmond for legal expenses.Sturgeon's husband,Peter Murrell, was called to this inquiry to give evidence on 8 December 2020.Opposition parties criticised Sturgeon on disparity and contradictions between the narratives of Murrell and herself. On 4 March 2021, Sturgeon answered questions over a period of eight hours from members of the committee.Two of the civil servants who made complaints about Salmond later said they felt they had been \\\"dropped\\\" by the Scottish Government after it lost the judicial review against him, adding they feared their experiences would make it less likely people would make complaints in the future.Labour MPJess Phillips, a former employee ofWomen's Aid, accused Sturgeon of being \\\"unprofessional with those women's lives\\\" and said there had been a \\\"litany of failures in\",\n \"of failures in professionalism and decency.\\\" 2019 UK general election Sturgeon led her party to alandslide victoryin the2019 United Kingdom general election in Scotland. The SNP won 48 seats, and came second place in the 11 others; their 45% of the vote yielded 80% of the seats in Scotland.Among the election casualties wasLiberal DemocratsleaderJo Swinson, who lost her seat inEast Dunbartonshire.Sturgeon was branded as \\\"ungracious\\\" when she was filmed bySky Newscelebrating Swinson's defeat. Sturgeon apologised for being overexcited although expressed that she was celebratingAmy Callaghan's win.In the wake of the results, Sturgeon said thatPrime MinisterBoris Johnsonhad \\\"no right\\\" to stand in the way of another Scottish independence referendum after an \\\"overwhelming\\\" SNP election victory. She also said that the result \\\"renews, reinforces and strengthens\\\" the mandate forIndyref2. COVID-19 pandemic Theworldwide pandemicofCOVID-19began during Sturgeon's second term as First Minister. The first case of the virus\",\n \"case of the virus in Scotland was confirmed on 1 March 2020, when a resident inTaysidehad tested positive. Initially, the Scottish Government resisted banning public events and on 12 March allowed 47,000 fans to attend a Rangers match at Ibrox, insisting that, \\\"stopping mass gatherings not the best way to contain this virus.\\\"However, Sturgeon's government ordered all schools and nurseries in Scotland closed on 20 March to try to limit the spread of the virus.On 23 March, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Sturgeon ordered Scotland into \\\"lockdown\\\", limiting the reasons why people may leave their homes in an attempt to limit the spread of the virus, to protect the health of the population, and to ease the pressure the virus placed onNHS Scotlandservices and workforce.Subsequently the restrictions were repeatedly tightened, loosened and adapted in parts or all of Scotland in response to developments in the situation. During the early stages of the pandemic, 1,300 elderly hospital patients were transferred into\",\n \"transferred into care homes without receiving a negative coronavirus test result.Many had been infected with the virus and ended up passing it on to other care home residents.Over three thousand care home residents died from COVID-19and Gary Smith, Scotland Secretary of theGMB, said the policy had turned \\\"care homes into morgues\\\".When asked by the BBC if the policy had been a mistake, Sturgeon said: \\\"Looking back on that now, with the knowledge we have now and with the benefit of hindsight, yes.\\\" In April 2020 whistle-blowers in the NHS came forward to reveal that staff were being made to reuse dirtypersonal protective equipment (PPE)while at work. One nurse told STV, \\\" it's not frustrating, it's crushing. It is absolutely crushing. We feel we are being lied to.\\\"Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament in July, \\\"At no point within this crisis has Scotland run out of any aspect of PPE. We have worked hard to make sure that supplies are there, we've worked hard overcoming challenges that we have faced along the\",\n \"faced along the way.\\\" In July 2020, Sturgeon advocated that the leaders of the four UK nations adopt a coordinatedZero-COVIDstrategy. In February 2021, Audit Scotland published a report that concluded the Scottish government had not prepared adequately for a pandemic. While it commended the authorities for preventing hospitals from becoming overwhelmed during the crisis, the watchdog also noted that recommendations from pandemic planning exercises in 2015, 2016 and 2018 had not been fully implemented. One particular problem it highlighted was that not enough had been done to ensure Scottish hospitals and care homes had enough personal protective equipment. Overall, it concluded that ministers \\\"could have been better prepared to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic\\\". Sturgeon said there were \\\"lots of lessons to learn\\\". In March 2021, theCourt of Sessiondeclared that the Scottish government's prohibition on communal worship, imposed during the pandemic, was unlawful.This followed an open letter two months earlier,\",\n \"two months earlier, written by 200 church leaders to Sturgeon, warning her that the prohibition could be unlawful. In April 2021, Scotland's death toll from COVID-19 passed 10,000. At a session of First Minister's Questions in June 2021, Sturgeon was asked about mistakes made early on in the pandemic, and she replied: \\\"If I could turn the clock back, would we go into lockdown earlier than we did? Yes, I think that is true.\\\" In April 2022, Sturgeon demanded that Prime Minister Boris Johnson resign after police fined him for breaking lockdown rules in 2020. \\\"The basic values of integrity and decency – essential to the proper working of any parliamentary democracy – demand that he go\\\", she tweeted.The following week, Sturgeon received an official reprimand from Police Scotland after a video emerged of her campaigning in a barber shop without a mask. Sturgeon – who had previously apologised to the Scottish Parliament after she was caught breaking the same law in December 2020– apologised once more and said the\",\n \"more and said the police had been \\\"absolutely right to treat me no differently to any other citizen.\\\" Third term (2021–23) Sturgeon led the SNP into the2021 Scottish Parliament electionon a manifesto promise to hold a second independence referendum after the COVID-19 pandemic was over.In the election, the SNP won 64 of the 129 seats contested.The SNP won a fourth consecutive election, albeit short of an overall majority, with a record number of votes on both the constituency and regional voteas well as increasing their share of the constituency vote and making a net gain of one seat. Sturgeon was nominated for the post ofFirst Ministerby a vote of theScottish Parliamenton 18 May, defeatingScottish ConservativeleaderDouglas RossandScottish Liberal Democratleader Willie Rennie by 64 votes to 31 and 4 respectively. This win resulted in Sturgeon becoming the first First Minister in the history of the Scottish Parliament to form athird government. Shortly after being elected, Sturgeon appointed John Swinney to\",\n \"John Swinney to the newly created position ofCabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery. Power-sharing agreement In August 2021, Sturgeon and Scottish Green Party co-leadersPatrick HarvieandLorna Slaterreached apower-sharing agreement between their parties. There was no agreement on oil and gas exploration, but the government now argued that it had a stronger case for a national independence referendum.As part of the agreement, the Green Party co-leaders would be nominated to serve as ministers. Climate crisis In August 2021, confronted by climate activist Lauren Macdonald about theCambo oil fieldwest of Shetland, Sturgeon refused to take a position on whether its development should go ahead. A video of the interaction went viraland a few days later, Sturgeon wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, asking that the development of Cambo should be \\\"reassessed in light of the severity of the climate emergency\\\".The letter represented a significant shift in policy for the SNP, which hadhistorically been a strong\",\n \"been a strong supporter of the oil and gas industry; the party's blueprint for an independent Scotland in 2013 was predicated on tax revenue earned from domestic oil production, while Sturgeon had predicted in the run-up to the referendum that, \\\"We're on the verge of another North Sea bonanza\\\". This shift in position was welcomed by the Scottish Green party butGreenpeacecriticised Sturgeon for not coming out more strongly against the oil field. \\\"The First Minister must stop hiding behind Boris Johnson\\\", a spokesperson for the organisation said. \\\"If she wants to show leadership on climate she must clearly say: stop Cambo.\\\"In November 2021, although no assessment had taken place, Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament she believed the oilfield \\\"should not get the green light\\\". Caledonian MacBrayne ferry delay In the late 2010s, Scottish islanders began to complain that the ageing ferry fleet that connected them to the mainland had become increasingly unreliable.During the winter of 2022 only one in three\",\n \"only one in three sailings to the island ofCollwent ahead;Hebridean shopkeepers kept receiving deliveries of rotten food;while other islanders said they had missed doctors' appointments, funerals and even the chance to say goodbye to dying loved ones because of cancelled sailings. The Scottish Government had commissioned two new ferries for £97m from Ferguson's shipyard in 2015, but the construction of the two vessels was beset by delays and complications. In 2022 Audit Scotland concluded that the final price tag for the vessels would be somewhere between £250m and £400m once the ships were finished in 2023. Furthermore, they concluded that the Scottish Government had awarded the contracts without normal financial safeguards and presided over a \\\"multitude of failings\\\". Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament of her \\\"deep regret\\\" that islanders were enduring such chaos, and said that the government was \\\"learning lessons from this experience\\\".Key documentation, which might have explained why ministers signed the\",\n \"signed the contracts without appropriate safeguards to protect taxpayers' money, was lost and Sturgeon later said this too was \\\"regrettable\\\" and that \\\"the government will learn lessons.\\\" Second independence referendum proposals In June 2022, Sturgeon officially unveiled plans forScottish independenceonce again.She argued that her government had an \\\"indisputable mandate\\\" for asecond Scottish independence referendum.She argued that independence would allow Scotland to set out \\\"a different and better vision\\\"and claimed that there is a legally secure path to get a referendum without permission from thecabinet.This plan has been met with condemnation from various opposing parties, with thePrime Ministerrejecting her plan. Sturgeon scheduled the referendum for 19 October 2023.She sought the Prime Minister to consent to the vote by signing a section 30 order, a move that Downing Street has refused to comply.She askedScotland's Lord Advocateto consider referring the matter to theSupreme Court of the United Kingdomto\",\n \"United Kingdomto rule if theScottish Governmenthas the power to host a referendum without theGovernment of the United Kingdom'sapproval, this request has since been granted. In October 2022, Sturgeon launched her government's third independence paper, which outlines the currency in an independent Scotland and joining the EU.She proposed the Scottish Government would use thepound sterlingfor a brief period before transitioning to a new currency known as the 'Scottish Pound'.She argued independence would be \\\"essential\\\" foreconomic prosperityfor Scotland as she claimed the economic climate throughout the UK does not offer strength, stability or security. On the day the Supreme Court ruled the Scottish Parliament does not have the power to legislate a referendum on independence, Sturgeon declared the next democratic election in Scotland - in this case aUK general electionexpectedto be held in 2024- would be campaigned by the SNP as ade factoreferendum.Unionist parties have rejected this characterisation.Some SNP\",\n \"SNP members urged Sturgeon to call anearly election at Holyroodto speed up the process for a de facto referendum. Gender recognition reforms As part of the SNP's 2016 manifesto policy, the SNP pledged to voters that it would review and reform the way that trans people change their legal gender.However, the policy divided the party and the bill was delayed during Sturgeon's second term in office because of opposition to the policy and the COVID-19 pandemic.In the 2021 SNP manifesto, Sturgeon committed the party once again to reform theGender Recognition Act 2004of theUK Parliamentand in August that year included the commitment in her agreement with theScottish Greenson power-sharing. In September 2021, Sturgeon was accused of shutting down debate about gender reforms after she described concerns about gender recognition reform as \\\"not valid\\\" and campaign groups and analysts complained that their concerns were being ignored. On 22 December 2022, the Scottish Parliament voted 86 to 39 to pass theGender\",\n \"to pass theGender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Billwhich was introduced by Sturgeon's government. On 17 January 2023, the UK Government decided to invoke, for the first time, section 35 of the Scottish Act 1998, to make an order which prevented the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill from gaining Royal Assent. She opposed the decision made and criticisedScottish SecretaryAlister Jackfor blocking the bill and said that the decision was an attack on the Scottish Parliament and Scottish democracy as a whole and said that the matter would be brought to the courts. In 2023, Sturgeon was criticised in connection withthe case of Isla Bryson, atransgender womanwho had raped two women prior to hertransition. On this basis, Bryson was initially sent to a women's prison but was later moved to a men's prison. Sturgeon refused to say if she regards Bryson as a man or woman, though she used female pronouns when talking about Bryson. Resignation On 15 February 2023, Sturgeon resigned asfirst minister of\",\n \"asfirst minister of Scotlandandleader of the Scottish National Party, pending aleadership election.At a press conference in Bute House, Sturgeon insisted that her resignation was not due to \\\"short term pressures\\\" and stated that the job \\\"takes its toll on you\\\".Sturgeon stated that she believed that her successor would lead Scotland to independence and that she would look on with pride whoever takes on the role. While appearing on apodcastfor BBC Scotland, Sturgeon would later say that internet speculation about her life was a part of the reason she decided to stand down from her position as first minister, specifically referring to rumours regarding her sexuality, love life and property portfolio as being wildly inaccurate. Domestic issues Drugs deaths crisis In 2016, the Scottish Government cut direct funding to drug and alcohol rehabilitation programmes from £69.2 million to £53.8 million – a drop of 22%.At the time, Scottish Drugs Forum Chief Executive David Liddell said he was concerned that the cuts had\",\n \"that the cuts had \\\"the potential to increase harm and drug-related deaths.\\\"That year 867 Scots lost their lives to drugs – an increase of 23% on the previous year's figure – and the SNP insisted it was part of a trend seen across much of Europe.In December 2020, figures were released revealing that 1,264 people in Scotland had died from drug overdoses in 2019 – the highest number in Europe per head and more than double the number in 2014.Sturgeon sacked her Public Health MinisterJoe FitzPatrick, and in April 2021 said of the crisis: \\\"I think we took our eye off the ball.\\\" The crisis has particularly impacted the homeless in Scotland: 216 homeless people died in Scotland in 2019 – an increase of 11% on the previous year; over half (54%) of these deaths were drug-related.Per head, Scotland's death rate among the homeless is the highest in Britain. In August 2021, the Scottish Government announced there had been 1,339 drug deaths in the previous year – a new record high.Sturgeon tweeted that the figures were\",\n \"the figures were \\\"unacceptable, each one a human tragedy\\\",while the Scottish Liberal Democrats said: \\\"It was Nicola Sturgeon's choice to ignore this unfolding epidemic. Issuing apologies now is too late for thousands of people. The victims of drugs and their families were failed. It is a scar on the conscience of this Scottish Government.\\\" In July 2022, the figures for 2021 were released, revealing that 1,330 had died – nine fewer than in 2020.Annemarie Ward, chief executive at the FAVOR Scotland charity, said: \\\"Nicola Sturgeon said she would make it her national mission to save lives – but we're still losing more than 1000 people a year. The national mission is failing.\\\" Education performance In 2015, Sturgeon said that she planned to make education her \\\"defining priority\\\" while in office.In particular, she said she hoped to focus on closing the attainment gap between the richest and poorest children in Scottish schools, telling journalists: \\\"Let me be clear – I want to be judged on this. If you are not, as\",\n \"If you are not, as First Minister, prepared to put your neck on the line on the education of our young people then what are you prepared to. It really matters.\\\" In 2021, Audit Scotland concluded: \\\"Progress on closing the poverty-related attainment gap between the most and least deprived school pupils has been limited\\\"and fell short of the Government's aims.In some local authorities, the attainment gap between the richest and poorest students had widened. International relations Whileforeign policyremains areserved matter,Sturgeon has undertaken a number of visits to Europe, North America and Asia to promote Scotland as a place of investment and Scottish businesses to trade and do business with.Sturgeon has committed to strengthening links between Scotland andAfrica. European Union In response to the Brexit vote, to discuss Scotland's interests, Sturgeon travelled toBrusselsto meet with bothJean-Claude Juncker, thePresident of the European Commissionas well asMartin Schulz, thePresident of the European\",\n \"of the European Parliament. In response to the UK-wide vote for the United Kingdom to leave theEuropean Union, theScottish Government, headed by Sturgeon, launched theScotland's Place in Europedocument, a white paper setting out the Scottish government's aims and wishes of Scotland's role in Europe post-Brexit. The paper was sent to the centralBritish Governmentto be read by Prime MinisterTheresa May. In June 2017, Sturgeon criticised the approaches taken by bothTheresa Mayand the British Government towards the Brexit approach, claiming that May \\\"will struggle\\\" as she is a \\\"difficult person to build a rapport with\\\". In the same interview, Sturgeon committed to no independence referendum being held prior to the terms of a UK wide Brexit deal being agreed and presented. With a view towards Brexit, Sturgeon demanded greater powers for the Scottish Parliament, arguing that Brexit is threatening Scotland'sdevolution settlement.With London seeking to restrict immigration to the United Kingdom, she asserted that\",\n \"she asserted that Scotland should be able to set its own immigration policy, as well as policies relating to employment and trade. United States Sturgeon was highly critical ofDonald Trumpand his policies during the2016 United States presidential electionand had publicly backed hisDemocraticrivalHillary Clinton.Sturgeon highlighted her disapproval of his language and views relating to sexism and misogyny, and stated upon Trump's victory that she hopes \\\"Trump turns out to be a president different to the one he was during his campaign and reaches out to those who felt vilified by his campaign\\\". Sturgeon had previously stripped Trump of his ambassadorial role for Scottish businesses with the Scottish government in the aftermath of Trump's views of an outright ban ofMuslimsfrom entering the United States. Sturgeon claimed following comments made by Trump in relation to Muslims entering the United States that he was \\\"not fit\\\" for the ambassadorial role with the Scottish government. In May 2022, Sturgeon made a\",\n \"Sturgeon made a trip to the United States and met with controversialRepublicanmember ofCongressRobert Aderholt, a prominentanti-abortionsupporter. Spain In the run up to the2017 Catalan independence referendum, Nicola Sturgeon offered her own personal backing and that of theScottish GovernmenttoCataloniain the holding of a referendum.TheGovernment of Spaincriticised Sturgeon, claiming she had \\\"totally misunderstood\\\" the situation in Spain and Catalonia.Sturgeon highlighted that Spain should follow \\\"the shining example\\\" that was created as part of theEdinburgh Agreementbetween the Scottish and British governments that allowed Scotland to hold a legally binding referendum. Political positions Constitutional affairs Scottish independence An advocate forScottish independence, Sturgeon has campaigned for independence from theUnited Kingdomsince her late teens. She was categorised in 2015 as part of theSNP's gradualist wing, which believed in achieving independence through accumulating the Scottish Parliament's\",\n \"Parliament's powers from the UK Parliament over time.In recent years, following the defeat of theYes Scotland campaignin2014 Scottish Independence referendum, Sturgeon has aligned herself with the new gradualist wing, who believe in only holding asecond referendumif there is clear public support, such as polling being over 60%, or if there is a material change in circumstances. Monarch Sturgeon is a constitutional monarchist, telling journalists that it is \\\"a model that has many merits\\\".On the dayQueen Elizabeth IIbecame Britain's longest reigning monarch, Sturgeon travelled with her to open theBorders Railwayand told a crowd of well-wishers: \\\"She has carried out her duties with dedication, wisdom and an exemplary sense of public service. The reception she has received today, demonstrates that that admiration and affection is certainly felt here in Scotland.\\\" Following thedeath of the Queen Elizabeth II, Sturgeon led tributes to the Queen.She described the Queen as the \\\"greatest constant in our national\",\n \"in our national life\\\" and added her death was \\\"a day for reflection and remembrance\\\" and \\\"a day for giving thanks to The Queen for her devotion to duty and the decades of public service she gave to the people of Scotland.\\\" Economic policy She has at times been a critic ofausterity, saying that the UK government's \\\"austerity economics\\\" is \\\"morally unjustifiable and economically unsustainable\\\".However, in 2018, she endorsed her party's Growth Commission report that pledged to reduce an independent Scotland's budget deficit as a percentage of GDP– something theInstitute for Fiscal Studiesconcluded meant \\\"continued austerity\\\". Social issues Women's rights Sturgeon has also campaigned onwomen's rightsandgender equality, and is a self-describedfeminist; she has argued that Scotland's feminist movement is not simply symbolic, but \\\"sends a powerful signal about equality\\\".She has hailed Scottish feminist economistAilsa McKayas one of her inspirations.She has at various points commented on the behaviour or attitudes\",\n \"or attitudes of men towards women; publicly condemning Donald Trump,Tony Abbottand former Labour MSPNeil Findlay.However, she defended her party's leader Alex Salmond from accusations of sexism. After Salmond had told Conservative MPAnna Soubry, \\\"Behave yourself, woman\\\" in 2015, Sturgeon said: \\\"The fundamental question, 'does that language indicate that Alex Salmond is sexist?' Absolutely not, there's no man I know who is less sexist.\\\" Commenting on the need for men to challenge their friends' misogynistic behaviour, Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament in 2021: \\\"I would say to all men in this chamber and all men across the country — challenge it if it's on the part of other men you may know, challenge your own behaviour and then let's collectively, as a society, turn the page and turn the corner so that women can live free of the fear of harassment, abuse, intimidation, violence and, in the worst cases, death.\\\" Transgender rights Ahead of the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, Sturgeon pledged to review\",\n \"pledged to review and reform the way that trans people change their legal gender.However, proposed changes to Scotland's Gender Recognition Act that would have allowed people to change their identity through self-identification, rather than a medical process, were paused in June 2019.Critics of the changes within the SNP had accused Sturgeon of being \\\"out of step\\\" on the issue, and expressed concerns that the reforms would be open to abuse and allow predatory men into women's spaces.The Scottish Government said it had paused the legislation in order to find \\\"maximum consensus\\\" on the issueand commentators described the issue as having divided the SNP like no other, with many dubbing the debate a \\\"civil war\\\". In April 2020, the reforms were again delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2021, a former trans officer in the SNP's LGBT wing, Teddy Hope, quit the party, claiming it was one of the \\\"core hubs of transphobia in Scotland\\\".Large numbers of LGBT activists followed suit and Sturgeon released\",\n \"Sturgeon released a video message in which she said that transphobia is \\\"not acceptable\\\" and said she hoped they would re-join the party. In the 2021 SNP manifesto, Sturgeon committed the party once again to reform the Gender Recognition Actand in August that year included the commitment in her agreement with theScottish Greenson power-sharing.In September 2021, Sturgeon was accused of shutting down debate about gender reforms after she described concerns about gender recognition reform as \\\"not valid\\\" and campaign groups and analysts complained that their concerns were being ignored. On 22 December 2022, the Scottish Parliament voted 86 to 39 to pass theGender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Billwhich was introduced by Sturgeon's government, but the bill was vetoed by the UK government. In 2023, Sturgeon was criticised in connection with theIsla Bryson case, in which atransgender womanwho had raped two women when named Adam Graham began self-identifying as a woman after being charged. Bryson was sent to a\",\n \"was sent to a women's prison before being moved to a men's prison.Sturgeon refused to say if she regards Bryson as a man or woman, though she used female pronouns when talking about Bryson. Nuclear weapons Sturgeon has campaigned against replacing theTrident nuclear weapons system. Views on Conservative government policies At the SNP's 2022 annual party conference inAberdeen, Sturgeon stated: \\\"I detest theToriesand everything they stand for\\\" in an interview on the BBC.She was accused of using \\\"dangerous language\\\" and when asked if she regretted the comments, Sturgeon simply replied \\\"no\\\" and emphasised the point she detested Tory policies and not supporters or voters. Sturgeon has been highly critical towards the leadership ofBoris Johnson'sgovernment.Following Johnson's appointment asBritish prime minister, she claimed he \\\"rambled\\\" in his first speech outside10 Downing Streetand suggested he was \\\"blame shifting\\\".In July 2019, the prime minister met Sturgeon at her official residence, Bute House, where\",\n \"Bute House, where Johnson was \\\"booed and heckled\\\" by protesters.This was the only occasion when he made a formal visit to Edinburgh, as he declined future invites by the first minister.Sturgeon claimed Johnson's \\\"fragile male ego\\\" stopped him from meeting her.Sturgeon's attempts to request approval for a second referendum on Scottish independence were declined by the Johnson administration.Speaking after Johnson had resigned in 2022, Sturgeon said that he was the only prime minister she had worked with who was \\\"a disgrace to the office\\\". Post premiership (2023–present) Upon her resignation as First Minister, Sturgeon returned to thebackbench, where she continues to serve as the MSP forGlasgow Southside.On 7 September 2023, she made her first speech in parliament since her arrest. SNP finance fraud inquiry and arrest In the latter half of Sturgeon's leadership of the SNP, aPolice Scotlandfraud inquirywas launched to investigate the spending of money that was raised specifically for independence\",\n \"for independence campaigning.She dismissed claims the investigation was a result of her resignation as party leader and first minister.On 5 April 2023, Sturgeon's husband and the party's former chief executive,Peter Murrell, was arrested at their Glasgow residence and their home was searched amid the ongoing investigation.The SNP's HQ in Edinburgh and several other addresses related to party officials were also searched by police.Murrell was later released without charge and Sturgeon pulled out of a UN climate event. On 16 April, a meeting of the party's ruling body in March 2021 was leaked by a member to theDaily Mail, which showed Sturgeon warning members to be \\\"very careful\\\" about suggesting claims there were financial problems within the SNP.The following day, it was revealed Sturgeon would work remotely from parliament as a spokesperson stated: \\\"in order to ensure the focus of this week is on the new First Minister setting out his priorities for the people of Scotland, Ms Sturgeon has always intended to\",\n \"always intended to participate remotely and intends to return to Holyrood in the near future.\\\".In that same week, the SNP's treasurer,Colin Beatie, was arrested and later released without charge.Beatie subsequently resigned from the role.Sturgeon's successor,Humza Yousaf, has had calls by opposition for her party membership to be suspended, however, he has rejected these calls. Widespread speculation that Sturgeon could be arrested for police questioning amid the ongoing inquirycame to fruition when, on 11 June 2023, Sturgeon was arrested byPolice Scotlandover the investigation into the finances of her SNP party, which reportedly diverted £600,000 meant for the Scottish Independence campaign elsewhere.She was released without charge pending further investigation later that day.On 23 May 2024Police Scotlandhanded a prosecution report in relation toPeter Murrellto theCrown Officewho confirmed that a \\\"53 year-old woman\\\" also remained under investigation. COVID-19 inquiry Sturgeon is facing a potential criminal\",\n \"potential criminal inquiry in 2024 after it was disclosed that all herWhatsAppmessages during the pandemic had been deleted despite being instructed by the government to retain all information in 2021 and again in 2022 and having agreed to provide them in 2021 to theUK COVID-19 Inquiry. Public image and legacy At the beginning of Sturgeon's political career, she was often regarded as a \\\"nippy sweetie\\\",Scottish slangfor the \\\"sharp-tongued and strong-minded\\\".The term was used to describe Sturgeon's \\\"fierce\\\" attitude.Conversely, newspapers ideologically opposed to the SNP, such as theDaily Express,The Scottish Sun, andThe Spectatorhave repeatedly and derogatorily compared Sturgeon to \\\"Wee Jimmy Krankie\\\", a character from Scottish comedy duoThe Krankies. Sturgeon was elected leader of the SNP at a time in which the party enjoyed a surge in membership. In 2015, Sturgeon was described in aDaily Mailheadline as the \\\"most dangerous woman in Britain\\\".It followed her party's unprecedented gains in the2015 general\",\n \"in the2015 general election, which questioned the future of the union. Sturgeon and her party experienced a surge in popularity during theCOVID-19 pandemic,in part due to her willingness to communicate with the public and the Press through regular, televised briefings, and her willingness to take responsibility for her government's mistakes. This contrasted to then-PM Boris Johnson'sapproach, who was \\\"less proactive and more evasive when it came to dealing with the press\\\". The circumstances of Sturgeon's resignation in 2023, as well as her appearances at the 2024 UK COVID-19 Inquiry left a question mark over her political legacy. A wide range of media outlets were quick to condemn her reputation, includingPolitico Europe,The Times,BBC News,The Spectator,The WeekandtheI. Nonetheless, public polling shows that Sturgeon remains a popular figure in Scottish and wider UK politics, with 46% of Scots having a favourable opinion of her in 2023YouGovpolling and 50% seeing her as having \\\"been a good leader for\",\n \"a good leader for Scotland\\\".On leaving office, she was the most popular party leader in the UK according toIpsospolling.Her popular reputation suffered following her appearance at the 2024 COVID-19 inquiry and revelations she had deleted Whatsapp messages;however, polling has differed and there is still evidence of high trust towards her, usually along partisan lines. There is evidence that Nicola Sturgeon's popularity had an effect on the2023 SNP leadership racewhich sawHumza Yousafelected as leader of the SNP andFirst Minister of Scotland. Yousaf was widely regarded as Sturgeon's \\\"continuity candidate\\\",having previously worked as Sturgeon'sCabinet Secretary for Justice (2018–2021)and forHealth (2021–2023). Hence, SNP members with a favourable view of Sturgeon were more likely to elect Yousaf, whereas those more critical of the outgoing FM were more likely to vote for his opponents,Kate ForbesandAsh Regan. Sturgeon plans to publish a memoir withPan MacMillanin 2025. Awards and acknowledgements Sturgeon won\",\n \"Sturgeon won theScottish Politician of the Year Awardin 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2019. Forbesmagazine ranked Sturgeon as the 50th most powerful woman in the world in 2016 and 2nd in the United Kingdom.She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2014.In 2015,BBC Radio 4'sWoman's Hourassessed Sturgeon to be the most powerful and influential woman in the United Kingdom. Personal life Sturgeon lives inBroomhouse,Glasgowwith her husband,Peter Murrell, who is the former chief executive officer of the SNP.The couple have been in a relationship since 2003. They got engaged on 29 January 2010,and were married on 16 July 2010 atÒran Mórin Glasgow. Sturgeon is known for her love of fiction and says reading \\\"gives me a lot of joy and helps with the stresses and strains of work\\\". Her mother Joan was the SNP Provost ofNorth Ayrshirecouncil, where she was councillor for the Irvine East ward from 2007 until 2016. In 2016, Sturgeon disclosed that she had miscarried five years previously. In May 2022, Sturgeon\",\n \"May 2022, Sturgeon tested positive for COVID-19. In line with Government guidance, she completed a self-isolation period. See also Notes References External links\",\n \"Jo Swinson Joanne Kate SwinsonCBEFRSA(born 5 February 1980) is a former British politician who wasLeader of the Liberal Democratsfrom July to December 2019. She was the first woman and the youngest person to hold the position, as well as the shortest-serving holder of the post. Swinson was the first leader of the Liberal Democrats to be defeated in their own constituency. Swinson wasMember of Parliament(MP) forEast Dunbartonshirefrom2005to2015and2017to2019. In September 2020, Swinson became Director of Partners for a New Economy (P4NE). Swinson studied at theLondon School of Economics, and briefly worked inpublic relations, before being elected to theHouse of Commons, becoming theyoungest MPat the time.She was a Liberal DemocratSpokespersoncovering various portfolios, includingScotland,Women and Equalities,Communities and Local Government, andForeign and Commonwealth Affairs. In 2010, after the Liberal Democrats entered into acoalition governmentwith theConservative Party, Swinson was a Parliamentary Private\",\n \"Private Secretary toDeputy Prime MinisterNick Clegg, and was later appointedParliamentary Under Secretary of State for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs.She lost her seat in the2015 election, but regained it in thesnap electionheld two years later. Shortly after returning to Parliament, she waselected unopposedas Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats.In July 2019, following the retirement ofVince Cable, Swinson defeatedEd Daveyin aleadership electionto become Leader of the Liberal Democrats. Swinson led her party through the2019 general election, suggesting she could lead a Liberal Democratmajority governmentwhich would revokeArticle 50and cancelBrexit. Instead, Swinson and the Liberal Democrats sustained a net loss in seats, including her own to theScottish National Partyand was disqualified from continuing as party leader.At less than five months, her tenure as leader was the shortest in the Liberal Democrats' history. She is also the only incumbent Liberal Democrat leader to havelost a\",\n \"to havelost a Parliamentary seat. Early life and education Swinson was born in Glasgowon 5 February 1980, the daughter of Peter and Annette Swinson.She was educated atDouglas Academy,a mixed state school in the town ofMilngavieinEast Dunbartonshirein western Scotland, followed by theLondon School of Economics, where she studiedManagement, gaining afirst-classBachelor of Sciencedegree in 2000.She signed up as an active member of theLiberal Democratsat the age of 17. Early career After graduating from theLondon School of Economics, Swinson moved toYorkshireand worked for Ace Visual and Sound Systems inThorne, before becoming amarketingandpublic relationsmanager forHull-based commercial radio stationViking FMfrom December 2000,and media company Space and People. At the age of 21, Swinson stood unsuccessfully in theKingston upon Hull Eastconstituency in the2001 general election, but gained a 6%swingfromJohn Prescott, then theDeputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. In 2003, she unsuccessfully\",\n \"she unsuccessfully contestedStrathkelvin and Bearsdenseat in theScottish Parliament election, finishing third with 14% of the vote. Member of Parliament (2005–2015) Swinson was elected to theHouse of Commonsas the MP forEast Dunbartonshireat the2005 general election. She defeatedJohn LyonsofLabourby 4,061 votes, and was the first ever Member of Parliament born in the 1980s.As the youngest MP she replaced fellow Lib Dem MPSarah Teatheras the \\\"Baby of the House\\\". This lasted until 2009, whenConservativeMPChloe Smithwas elected at theNorwich North by-election. Swinson was vocal in heropposition to the Iraq Warand the Labour government's proposals fornational identity cards. She has supported measures both by individuals and government to tackleclimate changesuch asconserving energyin the home and the Liberal Democrat policy of introducinggreen taxeswhile reducingincome taxto offset the burden. She supports reducing thevoting ageto 16 as one way of engaging young people in politics. She believes more women\",\n \"believes more women should be involved in politics but that encouragement is better than affirmative action in achieving this. She opposespositive discriminationto address gender imbalance, and led the argument against positive discrimination to select her party's candidates at their nationalparty conferencein 2002, wearing a pink T-shirt inscribed with the slogan, \\\"I am not a token woman\\\". Swinson has also called for a \\\"wellbeing index\\\" to be introduced, to be compared againstGDP, and tabled anearly day motionon the issue in 2008, gaining 50 signatures. She found support from MPs such asVince CableandAngela Eagle. Swinson cited the fact that althoughstandard of livinghad increased, people's level of wellbeing had been virtually static for some time, according to polls. Swinson believed that newprisonsought not to be built and had campaigned vocally, but without success, against the rebuilding of a prison atBishopbriggswithin the constituency. She had said that if a prison was built it must not be built\",\n \"must not be built cheaply,and that it must not be named after the town in which is to be sited.The campaign to give the prison its original name was ultimately successful,as the replacement prison will retain its original name,Lowmoss Prison. She is an active campaigner against excessive packaging ofchocolateEaster eggs. Each year from 2007 saw Swinson attackconfectionerymanufacturers for wasteful use of non-recyclable materials in packaging of the seasonal goods. She has namedGuylianas the worst offender, followed byLindt,BaileysandCadbury. Swinson successfully held her seat ofEast Dunbartonshirein the2010 general election, although with a slightly decreased majority.Her party, the Liberal Democrats, subsequentlyenteredinto acoalition with the Conservative Party. Parliamentary Private Secretary In November 2010, Swinson was madeParliamentary Private Secretaryto then Business Secretary Vince Cable. In December 2010, she was one of 27 Liberal Democrat MPs who voted in favour of allowing universities to raise\",\n \"to raise tuition fees up to £9,000 per year. In February 2012, Swinson replacedNorman Lambas Parliamentary Private Secretary to then Liberal Democrat Leader andDeputy Prime MinisterNick Clegg, holding this position until her promotion to government minister later that year. Business Minister (2012–2015) In September 2012, Swinson was appointed Under Secretary of State for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs in a reshuffle by then Prime MinisterDavid Cameron.She maintained this role for the remainder of theCameron–Clegg coalition, except for several months of maternity leave between 2013 and 2014. Swinson initially focused efforts on scrapping the 1871 Pedlars Act, which preventspedlars(travelling salesmen) andstreet tradersfrom trading without first acquiring a certificate from the police. In November 2012, Swinson said that the proposed deregulation would help \\\"eliminate barriers to street traders and pedlars by making it easier to trade, boosting retail and helping small traders – including many\",\n \"– including many young entrepreneurs – to expand and grow”.The proposal was criticised by theLocal Government Association, which claimed that it would lead to a 'free for all' of pedlars targeting vulnerable people.By 2014, however, Swinson announced she would seek to amend rather than repeal the laws. Swinson opposed forcing companies to adopt gender quotas, stating that such a move would \\\"negatively affect\\\" the performance of businesses.She instead promoted voluntary solutions, telling an event organised by theBritish Chambers of Commerce, \\\"What women need is confidence, not quotas. So rather than telling companies what to do, we're encouraging them to see the real business benefits of taking voluntary action.\\\" From 2013, Swinson sought to promotefathers' rightsin regard toparental leave, bringing forth new legislation which allowed parents to divide parental leave between themselves with an aim to encourage fathers to spend more time with their newborn infants. In October 2013, controversy emerged after\",\n \"emerged after MPs in the House of Commons allowed Swinson, then pregnant, to stand for 20 minutes without offering her a seat. This led to political debate and comment about whether or not it wassexistto give up a seat for a pregnant woman, with Prime MinisterDavid Cameronwading into the row to say that offering pregnant women seats was the right thing to do.Swinson herself later commented that it was not sexist to offer a pregnant woman a seat, and that it was \\\"great for people to offer, and part of life's little courtesies.\\\" In the area of employment, she was supportive of bothzero hours contractsandflexible working, seeking to promote the latter especially.On minimum wage, in February 2013 Swinson joined calls by other ministers to warn that \\\"caution\\\" was required when increasing it any further amid claims that minimum wage could be cut or frozen if it began costing jobs.Swinson pledged £80,000 of government financial support for the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, an initiative led\",\n \"an initiative led bycorporationsincludingAviva InvestorsandCalvertwhich measures and ranks performance of global companies in regard to human rights. Swinson was keen to promote employee ownership, such asemployee ownership of shares, through the establishment of aFTSE-compliant UK Employee Ownership Index, supporting measures to reduce regulations for companies choosing to adopt employee ownership practices, and a scheme allowing companies to contractually offer employees £2,000 to £50,000 worth of shares (which would beexemptedfrom capital gains tax) in exchange for waiving certain employee rights.Swinson traced employee ownership back to the philosophy ofJeremy Bentham, and claimed such ownership models improve productivity and lower absenteeism in staff. By 2014, it was being reported that Swinson was tipped to replaceAlistair CarmichaelasScottish Secretaryand enter theCabinetin a potential reshuffle, which at the time would have made her the youngest female Cabinet member ever and the first Cabinet\",\n \"the first Cabinet member to be born in the 1980s.At the same time, however, electoral projections for the2015 general electionshowed Swinson was under serious risk of losing herEast Dunbartonshireseat to a surge ofScottish National Partysupport. Swinson introduced to parliament theConsumer Rights Act 2015on 23 January 2014, so as to consolidate and updateconsumer protection lawand thereby provide a \\\"modern framework of consumer rights\\\". Shortly before the 2015 general election,The Timesand theFinancial Timesreported that Swinson was one of a number of prominent 'right-leaning' Liberal Democrat MPs, aligned to then Liberal Democrat leaderNick Clegg, deliberately excluded from campaign funding by former leading Liberal Democratpeerand donorMatthew Oakeshotteven though their seats, including Swinson's, were vulnerablemarginals. Swinson was featured in the 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 editions of the 'London's 1000 most influential people' list by theEvening Standard. 2015 and 2017 general elections Swinson lost\",\n \"Swinson lost her parliamentary seat in the2015 general electiontoScottish National PartycandidateJohn Nicolsonby 2,167 votes (4.0%).She stood again for her former seat during the2017 general electionand won with a lead of 5,339 votes (10.3%) over Nicolson.During this time, she wrote her bookEqual Power: And How You Can Make It Happen. Between 2017 and 2018, Swinson received political funding from Mark Petterson, the director of Warwick Energy Ltd, which has fracking licences across England.She also voted against plans to ban fracking in the UK. Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats (2017–2019) Following the resignation ofTim Farronas Liberal Democrat leader on 14 June 2017, Swinson was named by theBBCas one of the possible contenders for the leadership along withNorman LambandVince Cable.She later announced that she would not seek the leadership; instead, she became Deputy Leader after being the only candidate at the close of nominations. As of October 2017, she was her party's Spokesperson for Foreign and\",\n \"for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. At the Liberal Democrat autumn conference of 2017, Swinson drew media attention for using the phrase \\\"Faragey, Trumpy, angry, arsey, shouty slogans\\\" in criticising populism. In the same speech she called for thestate visitof U.S. PresidentDonald Trumpto be cancelled and warned aboutBrexit. In February 2018, Swinson's first bookEqual Power: And How You Can Make It Happenwas published byAtlantic Books.Discussing her book, Swinson explained that government has \\\"limitations\\\" when addressing gender inequality, so her book instead mainly suggests ideas for people to make changes in their own homes and workplaces.The Irish TimeslikenedEqual Powerto the \\\"corporate feminism\\\" ofSheryl Sandberg'sLean In,whileThe Heraldalso noted \\\"A read ofEqual Powermakes it apparent that Swinson is a fan of Sheryl Sandberg'sLean In.\\\"Swinson's book was featured at theAye Write!literary festival in Glasgow. In a March 2018 article forThe Mail on Sunday,Swinson came out in favour of erecting a statue\",\n \"erecting a statue of former Prime MinisterMargaret ThatcherinParliament Square.She justified her position on feminist grounds and claimed that Thatcher was able to \\\"single-handedly transform the fortunes of women\\\", accusing opponents of the Thatcher statue as being \\\"pretty sexist\\\".Swinson praised Thatcher for her skills in negotiating theUK rebateand for taking the UK into the single market, but was also critical of Thatcher for thepoll taxand stressed she did not consider herself aThatcherite.In addition, she wrote that there should be a statue of the first femaleFirst Minister of ScotlandNicola Sturgeonin time, though she disagrees withScottish independence. In July 2018, Swinson was absent for key votes on the Brexit negotiations, having been on maternity leave following the birth of her second son. During this period, she attended an anti-Trumpprotest, drawing criticism from Labour MPKate HoeyonThe Spectator's podcast.Conservative Party ChairmanBrandon Lewishad formally agreed not to vote, so that\",\n \"to vote, so that Swinson's absence would not affect the result.Lewis voted with the government nonetheless, leading Swinson to accuse the government of resorting to \\\"desperate stuff\\\" and a \\\"calculated, deliberate breaking of trust\\\".Lewis apologised, alongsideCabinet OfficeministerDavid Lidingtonandgovernment chief whipJulian Smith.Apologising on Twitter, Lewis said that it was an \\\"honest mistake made by the whips in fast-moving circumstances.\\\" Leader of the Liberal Democrats (2019) In May 2019,Vince Cableannounced he would relinquish his role as leader of the Liberal Democrats in July, triggering a leadership election.Subsequently, while appearing on the 30 May edition of the BBC political discussion programmeQuestion Time, Swinson confirmed that she would put her name forward in the forthcoming contest. On 22 July 2019, Swinson waselectedthe first-ever female leader of the Liberal Democrats, with 47,997 (62.8%) votes, gaining a clear victory over SirEd Davey, with 28,021 votes. She was the first leader of a\",\n \"first leader of a major British political party who was born in the 1980s.Under her leadership, the party's candidate andWelsh Liberal DemocratsleaderJane Doddswon theBrecon and Radnorshire by-election, following a \\\"remain alliance\\\" in whichChange UK,Plaid Cymruand theGreen Partyagreed not to stand candidates.The party's membership also rose to a record 115,000+ members, with many party supporters attributing this rise to what they called \\\"the Swinson surge\\\". In her first Leader's Speech to theLiberal Democrat Federal Conference, on 17 September 2019, Swinson said thatBoris Johnson\\\"claims he can negotiate a Brexit deal in a month. I wouldn't hold out much hope: yesterday he couldn't negotiate where to have a press conference\\\". 2019 election campaign Swinson campaigned on a platform ofrevokingArticle 50if the Liberal Democrats formed the government. The policy proved to be controversial with both Remain and Leave voters, who criticised it as undemocratic.Swinson launched her campaign by declaring that she was\",\n \"that she was \\\"a candidate to be prime minister\\\", and suggesting her party could win a majority.However, poll ratings for the party were poor and Swinson's personal ratings declined throughout the campaign. During the campaign, Swinson clashed withNicola Sturgeon, theFirst Minister of Scotlandon the subject of nuclear weapons. Asked if she would be prepared to use nuclear weapons, Swinson replied simply \\\"yes\\\". Sturgeon commented that \\\"It's sickening to hear this question asked and answered as if it's some kind of virility test and without any context... Using nuclear weapons would mean killing millions of people.\\\"Swinson was subject to afake newsstory in which she was accused of 'hunting squirrels'.First Draft News, an organisation that seeks to identify online misinformation, found that the claim originated from a doctored video clip, with a spokesperson for the organisation warning that the propagation of false stories such as this were leading to the \\\"gentle erosion of trust\\\". In November 2019, Swinson\",\n \"2019, Swinson also was confronted by Jay Sutherland, a student activist in Scotland.Along with the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats,Willie Rennie, Swinson was accused of supporting austerity.The student said \\\"People are dying here, they’re in poverty, because of what you’ve done on austerity\\\".The altercation was featured heavily on British news outlets.Afterwards the Liberal Democrats reaffirmed the party \\\"does not have a problem attracting young voters.\\\" Swinson’s campaign was reported to be funded by companies sellingpuberty blockers, a medication that somesocial conservativeshave criticised.In December 2019, it was reported that a pharmaceutical firm marketing drugs to delay puberty had donated £100,000 to the Liberal Democrats.When questioned about her beliefs on sex and gender, Swinson replied that she didn't \\\"think things are as binary as they are often presented”. Swinson ceased to be leader on13 December 2019, when in the general electionshelost her own seatin parliament to theSNP'sAmy\",\n \"to theSNP'sAmy Callaghan. The party's rules disqualified her from continuing as its leader. She had led the party for 144 days. As well as losing seats, the Liberal Democrats failed to make predicted gains.An internal party review said that their election campaign was worsened by \\\"an inexperienced inner circle\\\" around Swinson. It said that voters who were neither fervently leave nor remain were \\\"effectively ignored\\\" by her promise to revoke Article 50.On 27 August 2020, SirEd Daveywonthe leadership electionto succeed her. Later career In July 2020, Swinson accepted a position as visiting professor atCranfield School of ManagementinBedfordshire.In September 2020, she became Director of Partners for a New Economy (P4NE). Personal life On 13 May 2011, Swinson married then fellow Liberal Democrat MPDuncan Hames.The couple's first child, Andrew, was born in December 2013.A second son, Gabriel, was born in June 2018.Swinson gave birth to the couple's third son, Robin, on 28 July 2023. Swinson completed theLoch\",\n \"completed theLoch Ness Marathonin 2007, the2011 London Marathonand the inauguralStirling Scottish Marathonin 2017.Through this, she has raised money for theAnaphylaxis CampaignandBloodwise.She ran the London Landmarks Half Marathon in March 2019 in memory of her father, who had died ofblood cancerthe previous year. Having apeanut allergy,Swinson sustainedanaphylactic shockin May 2013 after eating a biscuit containing nuts in Glasgow. She collapsed with breathing difficulty, recovering on administration ofadrenaline, and an overnight stay in hospital. Swinson was made aCommander of the Order of the British Empire(CBE) in the2018 New Year Honoursfor political and public service.On receiving the honour, Swinson said she was privileged \\\"to be listed among so many remarkable people from all walks of life, making amazing contributions right across our country\\\". Swinson is ahumanistand is a member of the humanist charityHumanists UK. References External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":73,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Who was the author of the novel whose film adaptation lead singer Mark Arm took the name of his band from?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"Raymond Friday Locke"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Arm"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudhoney"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudhoney_(film)"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Multiple constraints"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Arm', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudhoney', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudhoney_(film)']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Arm","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudhoney","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudhoney_(film"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Arm\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudhoney\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudhoney_(film\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["Mark Arm Mark Arm(bornMark Thomas McLaughlin; February 21, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter, best known as the vocalist for thegrungebandMudhoney. His former group,Green River, was one of the first grunge bands, along withMalfunkshun,Soundgarden,Skin Yard, theU-Men, and others. He is also the manager of theSub Popwarehouseand previously worked atFantagraphics Books. Early life Arm was born February 21, 1962, atVandenberg Air Force BaseinCalifornia, and was raised inKirkland, Washington.As a child, he was a member ofBoy Scouts of America.He graduated fromBellevue Christian High SchoolinBellevue, Washington. In 1985, Arm earned an English degree with an emphasis in creative writing from theUniversity of Washington. Early career Arm first entered theSeattlerock scene in 1980, when he formed a band while still in high school, called \"Mr. Epp and the Calculations\" with singer Jo Smitty, and Peter Wick, who wrote and recorded their first song,\"The Pigeon in the Fountain bed,\" which caused local radio DJ Stephen Rabow to declare them, \"The worst band in the world.\" The band played its first show in 1981, opening for the band Student Nurse. In 1982 they released a 7-inch EP entitled \"Mohawk Man\", produced by Johnny Rubato (of Rubato Records, a local used record shop for more than 30 years). The next year they added a second guitarist,Steve Turner, and released acassettedescribed on the lyric sheet as a \"combination of art andhardcore.\"The cassette featured one side of live recordings and aflip-sideof studio recordings and experimental sounds; a sonic amalgamy described in a 1984 issue ofRevenge Against Boredom'zine(produced by notableskateboardinghistorian Jocko Weyland), as \"45 or so minutes of Pillow Fights, Jokes, some songs, preachers' garbled talking. And you get to find out what you get if you give up your personality.\" Mr. Epp and the Calculations also played withTen Minute Warningandthe Dead Kennedysat the Eagles Auditorium in April. The band came to an end the following year. After Mr. Epp and the Calculations ended, Mark Arm and Steve Turner (who had become close friends) joined the bandLimp Richerdsfor a few weeks. Afterward, Arm and Turner took on futurePearl JammembersJeff AmentandStone Gossard, as well asAlex Vincent, to form the bandGreen River. Green River released two EPs and a full length album before disbanding. Steve Turner left the band to finish college, and Arm was forced to find a new band again. After Turner returned from schooling, they resumed their Green River side project, The Thrown Ups. Mudhoney Arm and Turner took on drummerDan Peters, and bassistMatt Lukin, formerly ofMelvins. The new band renamed themselves Mudhoney. In 1988,Sub Popreleased Mudhoney's first single, \"Touch Me I'm Sick\". After extensive touring and an EP album, Mudhoney releasedtheir self-titled full length debutin 1989. Their next album,Every Good Boy Deserves Fudgecame out soon after, just before the explosion of grunge spearheaded byNirvana's seminalNevermind. At the time, Sub Pop, their record label, was \"on the verge of bankruptcy, having trouble paying its flagship band, severely delaying the release of the album to July 1991.\"In 1992, they signed to a major record label,Repriseand releasedPiece of Cake. The album did not sell well, due to a combination of the band's uncompromising sound and an oversaturation of the genre; according to Stephen Turner, the album references \"how easily things had come to them...the songs were kinda half-baked... and Mark wasn't at his best.\" Although they never achieved the fame of some of their contemporaries, Arm and Mudhoney have made significant contributions to grunge music. Mudhoney is one of the few grunge bands that continue to release albums; in 2002 they releasedSince We've Become Translucent,Under a Billion Sunsin 2005,The Lucky Onesfollowed in May 2008,Vanishing Pointcame in April 2013,Digital Garbagecame out in September 2018 and, most recently,Plastic Eternityin 2023. All of these releases have been on theSub Poprecord label. Solo and side projects Arm released \"The Freewheelin' Mark Arm\", a solo single in 1990. He was a singer and guitarist for the groupBloodlossand singer for the SeattlesupergroupThe Monkeywrench.Monkeywrench members include Arm, Turner, Tim Kerr (Lord Hi Fixers,Big Boys, Poison 13), Tom Price (Gas Huffer) and Martin Bland (Bloodloss). He has also made guest appearances on several albums, most notably onAlice in Chains' 1992 EPSap. In 1998, he made an appearance on the motion picture soundtrack for the filmVelvet GoldminewithRon Asheton,Mike Watt,Thurston Moore, andSteve Shelleyunder the nameWylde Ratttz. In 1999, he recorded the vocals for the song \"I Need Somebody\", a cover of the song byThe Stooges, featured onNebula's first album,To the Center. In 2000, Arm, Turner, Peters,Scott McCaughey, Tom Price and Bill Henderson recorded the album \"The New Original Sonic Sound\" under the band name The New Strychnines. they recorded a compilation of 16 songs by the legendary mid-1960's Seattle garage bandThe Sonics. The album was released by Book Records. In 2004, he toured withMC5, standing in for the lateRob Tyneron vocals. In 2013, he contributed vocals on a cover version ofThe Scientists' \"Set It on Fire\" for theMelvins' albumEverybody Loves Sausages. Personal life Mark Arm lives in Seattle with his wife Emily Rieman and their little dogs. References Further reading External links","Mudhoney Mudhoneyis an Americanrockband formed inSeattle, Washington, on January 1, 1988, following the demise ofGreen River. Its members are singer and rhythm guitaristMark Arm, lead guitaristSteve Turner, bassistGuy Maddisonand drummerDan Peters. Original bassistMatt Lukinleft the band in 1999, but rejoined the band in December 2000 for a tour that lasted through January 2001. Mudhoney's early releases on theSub Poplabel, particularly their debut single \"Touch Me I'm Sick\" and theSuperfuzz BigmuffEP, were instrumental in the creation of thegrungegenre.Although the band found little commercial success and remained somewhat 'underground' and non-mainstream, Mudhoney has released eleven studio albums and inspired countless grunge andalternative rockmusicians during their long career. History Mr. Epp and the Calculations: 1978–1984 Mark ArmandSteve Turnermet through their association with Mr. Epp and the Calculations. This band formed in 1978 inBellevue, Washington, a suburb of Seattle. While at Bellevue Christian High School, Mark McLaughlin (later known as Mark Arm) and some friends started Mr. Epp and the Calculations, a band named after amathteacher of his. Initially the band was essentially a joke band rather than a serious one; their first \"show\" was in class singingMarvin Gaye's \"Got to Give It Up\", using rolled-up maps as guitars because they could not actually play any instruments. Mr. Epp and the Calculations played their first real show in 1981, three years after they formed. To make the band seem more serious, Mr. Epp added a second guitarist, Steve Turner, who was in a small garage band called The Ducky Boys. Arm and Turner became instant friends. In 1983, three songs of Mr. Epp were included inFirst Strike: a compilation, the first cassette in the BCT catalog. Mr. Epp and the Calculations appeared onKZAMradio and were introduced as \"the worst band in the world.\" They played their last show on February 3, 1984, withMalfunkshunat Seattle's Metropolis. Arm and Turner formed a joke-punk band called The Limp Richerds in 1984 near the end of Mr. Epp but this band ended shortly after Mr. Epp's ending as well. Green River: 1984–1987 Green Riverwas formed in 1984 when Arm and Turner recruitedAlex Vincentas drummer, who had previously played with Turner in the short-livedSpluii Numa. BassistJeff Amentjoined the band after arriving in Seattle with his band Deranged Diction.Stone Gossard, another of Turner's former bandmates, was recruited as second guitarist. Green River recorded their debut EP,Come on Down, in 1985, and it is considered the firstgrungerecord because it was released several months before theDeep Sixalbum (which featured music by Green River and five other Seattle grunge bands).Turner left the band after its release due to his distaste of the band'shard rockleanings. He was replaced by another Deranged Diction member,Bruce Fairweather. After recording another EP (Dry As a Bone) and a full-length album (Rehab Doll), the band disbanded in late 1987. Gossard, Ament, and Fairweather went on to joinMother Love Bone. Following lead singerAndrew Wood's death, Gossard and Ament went on to formPearl Jam, and Fairweather joinedLove Battery. Sub Pop: 1988–1991 Turner wanted to start a band that practiced before playing to a live audience. He and Arm began songwriting withBundle of HissdrummerDan Peters. The trio decided thatMatt Lukin, who had recently leftMelvins, should join the band as bassist.The band named themselves after theRuss MeyerfilmMudhoney. Early on, Mudhoney's sound would reflect such influences asDinosaur Jr.,Spacemen 3,Neil Young,Black Flag, andthe Scientists. In 1988, the band recorded and released their debut EP,Superfuzz Bigmuff, and their first single, \"Touch Me I'm Sick\", on theSub Poplabel.The single attracted attention and the band enjoyed moderate success in the United States. Mudhoney quickly became Sub Pop's flagship band.Sonic Youth, who were fans of the band, had invited Mudhoney to join them for a tour in the UK in 1989.After this tourSuperfuzz Bigmuffentered the Britishindiecharts and they received a respectable amount of press coverage. The band released their first album,Mudhoney, in 1989. Kurt Cobain listedSuperfuzz Bigmuffas one of his favourite albums in his journal in 1993. They released their second album,Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, in 1991.After the album's release they were offered a deal withReprise Records, and they joined the label in 1992. Reprise: 1992–1999 Mudhoney's first album with Reprise wasPiece of Cake.In a 2008Mojomagazine article, Turner explained the album references \"how easily things had come to them ... the songs were kinda half-baked ...\" They also contributed a track \"Overblown\" at this time to the soundtrack to the filmSingles. With their 1995 albumMy Brother the Cowthey mixed their earlier and more recent sound, but Turner explained in an article inMojo, \"There was a backlash after Kurt killed himself. The English press were so angry that we were still around. Those were some of the worst reviews we'd ever gotten. We were mocked for still existing.\"The press was not all negative, as the album received praise in certain U.S. publications, includingPeoplemagazine: \"Leave the brooding anthems to Pearl Jam. Mudhoney delivers pure grunge—messy music that casts a powerful spell.\" In 1996, Mudhoney appeared in the comedy movieBlack Sheep, starringChris FarleyandDavid Spade. The band was shown performing at an MTV concert and then speaking with Farley backstage.Tomorrow Hit Todaywas released in September 1998.The album demonstrated ablues-rockinfluence, and the band used record producer Jim Dickinson, who worked withThe Rolling Stones. They recorded the set in three different cities. After a few years of touring, Reprise decided to cut ties with Mudhoney. Subsequently, Lukin left the band. They releasedMarch to Fuzz, a retrospectivecompilation album. After Matt Lukin: 2000–present Mudhoney continued to play some concerts in the Pacific Northwest and recruited permanent bassistGuy Maddison(of Monroe's Fur andLubricated Goat) who had played with Arm in one of his many side projects, Bloodloss. In 2002, following their return to Sub Pop, the band recorded and released a new studio album,Since We've Become Translucent. This was followed by a major South American tour. In early 2003 the band entered the studio to record \"Hard-On For War\", that would appear exclusively onBuddyhead Presents: Gimme Skeltercompilation album. Later that year the band recordedUnder a Billion Sunson which a new version of the song appeared. The album was released in 2006 and received favorable reviews. In 2006 the band also helped to curate an edition of the BritishAll Tomorrow's Partiesfestival. During 2007, Mudhoney played in Brazil again and went on a brief European tour.In November that year, the band released a live album entitledLive Mud, containing songs recorded at a concert in Mexico. In 2008, Mudhoney began recording their next album with producerTucker Martine,The Lucky Ones, which was released in May 2008. Shortly thereafter, Sub Pop released a deluxe, remastered edition ofSuperfuzz Bigmuff. The reissue contained the original EP in its correct running order, along with singles, demos, and two live recordings from 1988. In the liner notes of the reissuedSuperfuzz Bigmuff, Jay Hinman wrote: My feeling—and I know I'm not alone in this one—is that for all the play and worldwide attention several Seattle-area bands got during the 1988–92 period, at the end of the day (and even at the time), there was Mudhoney—and then there was everybody else. To me, you, and everyone else paying close attention to underground rock music during those years, Mudhoney still sound like the undisputed kingpins of roaring, surging, fuzzed-out, punk music. In 2009, Mudhoney announced a series of live dates. This included an extensive tour of Europe which started inEdinburgh, Scotland with Sub Pop labelmatesThe Vaselines. The tour ended on October 26. The group performed at theNelsonville Music FestivalinNelsonville, Ohio, in May 2009.The group played at theATP New York 2010music festival in Monticello, New York in September 2010, where they performedSuperfuzz Bigmuffin its entirety. In 2011, Pearl Jam had Mudhoney open for them on their 20th Anniversary tour. They were chosen by Mogwai to perform in May 2012 at theAll Tomorrow's Parties'I'll Be Your Mirror' festival at Alexandra Palace, London.In April 2013 the band put out their ninth studio albumVanishing Point,followed by 2018'sDigital Garbage. In 2021, Mudhoney and Sub Pop celebrated the 30-year anniversary ofEvery Good Boy Deserves Fudgewith a remastered deluxe version. This included remastered and re-released music videos and songs, as well as previously unreleased songs and demos. Plastic Eternitywas released by Sub Pop on April 6, 2023. Members Current members Former members Discography References Other sources External links","Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudhoney_(film"],"string":"[\n \"Mark Arm Mark Arm(bornMark Thomas McLaughlin; February 21, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter, best known as the vocalist for thegrungebandMudhoney. His former group,Green River, was one of the first grunge bands, along withMalfunkshun,Soundgarden,Skin Yard, theU-Men, and others. He is also the manager of theSub Popwarehouseand previously worked atFantagraphics Books. Early life Arm was born February 21, 1962, atVandenberg Air Force BaseinCalifornia, and was raised inKirkland, Washington.As a child, he was a member ofBoy Scouts of America.He graduated fromBellevue Christian High SchoolinBellevue, Washington. In 1985, Arm earned an English degree with an emphasis in creative writing from theUniversity of Washington. Early career Arm first entered theSeattlerock scene in 1980, when he formed a band while still in high school, called \\\"Mr. Epp and the Calculations\\\" with singer Jo Smitty, and Peter Wick, who wrote and recorded their first song,\\\"The Pigeon in the Fountain bed,\\\" which caused local radio DJ Stephen Rabow to declare them, \\\"The worst band in the world.\\\" The band played its first show in 1981, opening for the band Student Nurse. In 1982 they released a 7-inch EP entitled \\\"Mohawk Man\\\", produced by Johnny Rubato (of Rubato Records, a local used record shop for more than 30 years). The next year they added a second guitarist,Steve Turner, and released acassettedescribed on the lyric sheet as a \\\"combination of art andhardcore.\\\"The cassette featured one side of live recordings and aflip-sideof studio recordings and experimental sounds; a sonic amalgamy described in a 1984 issue ofRevenge Against Boredom'zine(produced by notableskateboardinghistorian Jocko Weyland), as \\\"45 or so minutes of Pillow Fights, Jokes, some songs, preachers' garbled talking. And you get to find out what you get if you give up your personality.\\\" Mr. Epp and the Calculations also played withTen Minute Warningandthe Dead Kennedysat the Eagles Auditorium in April. The band came to an end the following year. After Mr. Epp and the Calculations ended, Mark Arm and Steve Turner (who had become close friends) joined the bandLimp Richerdsfor a few weeks. Afterward, Arm and Turner took on futurePearl JammembersJeff AmentandStone Gossard, as well asAlex Vincent, to form the bandGreen River. Green River released two EPs and a full length album before disbanding. Steve Turner left the band to finish college, and Arm was forced to find a new band again. After Turner returned from schooling, they resumed their Green River side project, The Thrown Ups. Mudhoney Arm and Turner took on drummerDan Peters, and bassistMatt Lukin, formerly ofMelvins. The new band renamed themselves Mudhoney. In 1988,Sub Popreleased Mudhoney's first single, \\\"Touch Me I'm Sick\\\". After extensive touring and an EP album, Mudhoney releasedtheir self-titled full length debutin 1989. Their next album,Every Good Boy Deserves Fudgecame out soon after, just before the explosion of grunge spearheaded byNirvana's seminalNevermind. At the time, Sub Pop, their record label, was \\\"on the verge of bankruptcy, having trouble paying its flagship band, severely delaying the release of the album to July 1991.\\\"In 1992, they signed to a major record label,Repriseand releasedPiece of Cake. The album did not sell well, due to a combination of the band's uncompromising sound and an oversaturation of the genre; according to Stephen Turner, the album references \\\"how easily things had come to them...the songs were kinda half-baked... and Mark wasn't at his best.\\\" Although they never achieved the fame of some of their contemporaries, Arm and Mudhoney have made significant contributions to grunge music. Mudhoney is one of the few grunge bands that continue to release albums; in 2002 they releasedSince We've Become Translucent,Under a Billion Sunsin 2005,The Lucky Onesfollowed in May 2008,Vanishing Pointcame in April 2013,Digital Garbagecame out in September 2018 and, most recently,Plastic Eternityin 2023. All of these releases have been on theSub Poprecord label. Solo and side projects Arm released \\\"The Freewheelin' Mark Arm\\\", a solo single in 1990. He was a singer and guitarist for the groupBloodlossand singer for the SeattlesupergroupThe Monkeywrench.Monkeywrench members include Arm, Turner, Tim Kerr (Lord Hi Fixers,Big Boys, Poison 13), Tom Price (Gas Huffer) and Martin Bland (Bloodloss). He has also made guest appearances on several albums, most notably onAlice in Chains' 1992 EPSap. In 1998, he made an appearance on the motion picture soundtrack for the filmVelvet GoldminewithRon Asheton,Mike Watt,Thurston Moore, andSteve Shelleyunder the nameWylde Ratttz. In 1999, he recorded the vocals for the song \\\"I Need Somebody\\\", a cover of the song byThe Stooges, featured onNebula's first album,To the Center. In 2000, Arm, Turner, Peters,Scott McCaughey, Tom Price and Bill Henderson recorded the album \\\"The New Original Sonic Sound\\\" under the band name The New Strychnines. they recorded a compilation of 16 songs by the legendary mid-1960's Seattle garage bandThe Sonics. The album was released by Book Records. In 2004, he toured withMC5, standing in for the lateRob Tyneron vocals. In 2013, he contributed vocals on a cover version ofThe Scientists' \\\"Set It on Fire\\\" for theMelvins' albumEverybody Loves Sausages. Personal life Mark Arm lives in Seattle with his wife Emily Rieman and their little dogs. References Further reading External links\",\n \"Mudhoney Mudhoneyis an Americanrockband formed inSeattle, Washington, on January 1, 1988, following the demise ofGreen River. Its members are singer and rhythm guitaristMark Arm, lead guitaristSteve Turner, bassistGuy Maddisonand drummerDan Peters. Original bassistMatt Lukinleft the band in 1999, but rejoined the band in December 2000 for a tour that lasted through January 2001. Mudhoney's early releases on theSub Poplabel, particularly their debut single \\\"Touch Me I'm Sick\\\" and theSuperfuzz BigmuffEP, were instrumental in the creation of thegrungegenre.Although the band found little commercial success and remained somewhat 'underground' and non-mainstream, Mudhoney has released eleven studio albums and inspired countless grunge andalternative rockmusicians during their long career. History Mr. Epp and the Calculations: 1978–1984 Mark ArmandSteve Turnermet through their association with Mr. Epp and the Calculations. This band formed in 1978 inBellevue, Washington, a suburb of Seattle. While at Bellevue Christian High School, Mark McLaughlin (later known as Mark Arm) and some friends started Mr. Epp and the Calculations, a band named after amathteacher of his. Initially the band was essentially a joke band rather than a serious one; their first \\\"show\\\" was in class singingMarvin Gaye's \\\"Got to Give It Up\\\", using rolled-up maps as guitars because they could not actually play any instruments. Mr. Epp and the Calculations played their first real show in 1981, three years after they formed. To make the band seem more serious, Mr. Epp added a second guitarist, Steve Turner, who was in a small garage band called The Ducky Boys. Arm and Turner became instant friends. In 1983, three songs of Mr. Epp were included inFirst Strike: a compilation, the first cassette in the BCT catalog. Mr. Epp and the Calculations appeared onKZAMradio and were introduced as \\\"the worst band in the world.\\\" They played their last show on February 3, 1984, withMalfunkshunat Seattle's Metropolis. Arm and Turner formed a joke-punk band called The Limp Richerds in 1984 near the end of Mr. Epp but this band ended shortly after Mr. Epp's ending as well. Green River: 1984–1987 Green Riverwas formed in 1984 when Arm and Turner recruitedAlex Vincentas drummer, who had previously played with Turner in the short-livedSpluii Numa. BassistJeff Amentjoined the band after arriving in Seattle with his band Deranged Diction.Stone Gossard, another of Turner's former bandmates, was recruited as second guitarist. Green River recorded their debut EP,Come on Down, in 1985, and it is considered the firstgrungerecord because it was released several months before theDeep Sixalbum (which featured music by Green River and five other Seattle grunge bands).Turner left the band after its release due to his distaste of the band'shard rockleanings. He was replaced by another Deranged Diction member,Bruce Fairweather. After recording another EP (Dry As a Bone) and a full-length album (Rehab Doll), the band disbanded in late 1987. Gossard, Ament, and Fairweather went on to joinMother Love Bone. Following lead singerAndrew Wood's death, Gossard and Ament went on to formPearl Jam, and Fairweather joinedLove Battery. Sub Pop: 1988–1991 Turner wanted to start a band that practiced before playing to a live audience. He and Arm began songwriting withBundle of HissdrummerDan Peters. The trio decided thatMatt Lukin, who had recently leftMelvins, should join the band as bassist.The band named themselves after theRuss MeyerfilmMudhoney. Early on, Mudhoney's sound would reflect such influences asDinosaur Jr.,Spacemen 3,Neil Young,Black Flag, andthe Scientists. In 1988, the band recorded and released their debut EP,Superfuzz Bigmuff, and their first single, \\\"Touch Me I'm Sick\\\", on theSub Poplabel.The single attracted attention and the band enjoyed moderate success in the United States. Mudhoney quickly became Sub Pop's flagship band.Sonic Youth, who were fans of the band, had invited Mudhoney to join them for a tour in the UK in 1989.After this tourSuperfuzz Bigmuffentered the Britishindiecharts and they received a respectable amount of press coverage. The band released their first album,Mudhoney, in 1989. Kurt Cobain listedSuperfuzz Bigmuffas one of his favourite albums in his journal in 1993. They released their second album,Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, in 1991.After the album's release they were offered a deal withReprise Records, and they joined the label in 1992. Reprise: 1992–1999 Mudhoney's first album with Reprise wasPiece of Cake.In a 2008Mojomagazine article, Turner explained the album references \\\"how easily things had come to them ... the songs were kinda half-baked ...\\\" They also contributed a track \\\"Overblown\\\" at this time to the soundtrack to the filmSingles. With their 1995 albumMy Brother the Cowthey mixed their earlier and more recent sound, but Turner explained in an article inMojo, \\\"There was a backlash after Kurt killed himself. The English press were so angry that we were still around. Those were some of the worst reviews we'd ever gotten. We were mocked for still existing.\\\"The press was not all negative, as the album received praise in certain U.S. publications, includingPeoplemagazine: \\\"Leave the brooding anthems to Pearl Jam. Mudhoney delivers pure grunge—messy music that casts a powerful spell.\\\" In 1996, Mudhoney appeared in the comedy movieBlack Sheep, starringChris FarleyandDavid Spade. The band was shown performing at an MTV concert and then speaking with Farley backstage.Tomorrow Hit Todaywas released in September 1998.The album demonstrated ablues-rockinfluence, and the band used record producer Jim Dickinson, who worked withThe Rolling Stones. They recorded the set in three different cities. After a few years of touring, Reprise decided to cut ties with Mudhoney. Subsequently, Lukin left the band. They releasedMarch to Fuzz, a retrospectivecompilation album. After Matt Lukin: 2000–present Mudhoney continued to play some concerts in the Pacific Northwest and recruited permanent bassistGuy Maddison(of Monroe's Fur andLubricated Goat) who had played with Arm in one of his many side projects, Bloodloss. In 2002, following their return to Sub Pop, the band recorded and released a new studio album,Since We've Become Translucent. This was followed by a major South American tour. In early 2003 the band entered the studio to record \\\"Hard-On For War\\\", that would appear exclusively onBuddyhead Presents: Gimme Skeltercompilation album. Later that year the band recordedUnder a Billion Sunson which a new version of the song appeared. The album was released in 2006 and received favorable reviews. In 2006 the band also helped to curate an edition of the BritishAll Tomorrow's Partiesfestival. During 2007, Mudhoney played in Brazil again and went on a brief European tour.In November that year, the band released a live album entitledLive Mud, containing songs recorded at a concert in Mexico. In 2008, Mudhoney began recording their next album with producerTucker Martine,The Lucky Ones, which was released in May 2008. Shortly thereafter, Sub Pop released a deluxe, remastered edition ofSuperfuzz Bigmuff. The reissue contained the original EP in its correct running order, along with singles, demos, and two live recordings from 1988. In the liner notes of the reissuedSuperfuzz Bigmuff, Jay Hinman wrote: My feeling—and I know I'm not alone in this one—is that for all the play and worldwide attention several Seattle-area bands got during the 1988–92 period, at the end of the day (and even at the time), there was Mudhoney—and then there was everybody else. To me, you, and everyone else paying close attention to underground rock music during those years, Mudhoney still sound like the undisputed kingpins of roaring, surging, fuzzed-out, punk music. In 2009, Mudhoney announced a series of live dates. This included an extensive tour of Europe which started inEdinburgh, Scotland with Sub Pop labelmatesThe Vaselines. The tour ended on October 26. The group performed at theNelsonville Music FestivalinNelsonville, Ohio, in May 2009.The group played at theATP New York 2010music festival in Monticello, New York in September 2010, where they performedSuperfuzz Bigmuffin its entirety. In 2011, Pearl Jam had Mudhoney open for them on their 20th Anniversary tour. They were chosen by Mogwai to perform in May 2012 at theAll Tomorrow's Parties'I'll Be Your Mirror' festival at Alexandra Palace, London.In April 2013 the band put out their ninth studio albumVanishing Point,followed by 2018'sDigital Garbage. In 2021, Mudhoney and Sub Pop celebrated the 30-year anniversary ofEvery Good Boy Deserves Fudgewith a remastered deluxe version. This included remastered and re-released music videos and songs, as well as previously unreleased songs and demos. Plastic Eternitywas released by Sub Pop on April 6, 2023. Members Current members Former members Discography References Other sources External links\",\n \"Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudhoney_(film\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["Mark Arm Mark Arm(bornMark Thomas McLaughlin; February 21, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter, best known as the vocalist for thegrungebandMudhoney. His former group,Green River, was one of the first grunge bands, along withMalfunkshun,Soundgarden,Skin Yard, theU-Men, and others. He is also the manager of theSub Popwarehouseand previously worked atFantagraphics Books. Early life Arm was born February 21, 1962, atVandenberg Air Force BaseinCalifornia, and was raised inKirkland, Washington.As a child, he was a member ofBoy Scouts of America.He graduated fromBellevue Christian High SchoolinBellevue, Washington. In 1985, Arm earned an English degree with an emphasis in creative writing from theUniversity of Washington. Early career Arm first entered theSeattlerock scene in 1980, when he formed a band while still in high school, called \"Mr. Epp and the Calculations\" with singer Jo Smitty, and Peter Wick, who wrote and recorded their first song,\"The Pigeon in the Fountain bed,\" which caused local radio DJ","local radio DJ Stephen Rabow to declare them, \"The worst band in the world.\" The band played its first show in 1981, opening for the band Student Nurse. In 1982 they released a 7-inch EP entitled \"Mohawk Man\", produced by Johnny Rubato (of Rubato Records, a local used record shop for more than 30 years). The next year they added a second guitarist,Steve Turner, and released acassettedescribed on the lyric sheet as a \"combination of art andhardcore.\"The cassette featured one side of live recordings and aflip-sideof studio recordings and experimental sounds; a sonic amalgamy described in a 1984 issue ofRevenge Against Boredom'zine(produced by notableskateboardinghistorian Jocko Weyland), as \"45 or so minutes of Pillow Fights, Jokes, some songs, preachers' garbled talking. And you get to find out what you get if you give up your personality.\" Mr. Epp and the Calculations also played withTen Minute Warningandthe Dead Kennedysat the Eagles Auditorium in April. The band came to an end the following year. After Mr.","year. After Mr. Epp and the Calculations ended, Mark Arm and Steve Turner (who had become close friends) joined the bandLimp Richerdsfor a few weeks. Afterward, Arm and Turner took on futurePearl JammembersJeff AmentandStone Gossard, as well asAlex Vincent, to form the bandGreen River. Green River released two EPs and a full length album before disbanding. Steve Turner left the band to finish college, and Arm was forced to find a new band again. After Turner returned from schooling, they resumed their Green River side project, The Thrown Ups. Mudhoney Arm and Turner took on drummerDan Peters, and bassistMatt Lukin, formerly ofMelvins. The new band renamed themselves Mudhoney. In 1988,Sub Popreleased Mudhoney's first single, \"Touch Me I'm Sick\". After extensive touring and an EP album, Mudhoney releasedtheir self-titled full length debutin 1989. Their next album,Every Good Boy Deserves Fudgecame out soon after, just before the explosion of grunge spearheaded byNirvana's seminalNevermind. At the time, Sub Pop,","the time, Sub Pop, their record label, was \"on the verge of bankruptcy, having trouble paying its flagship band, severely delaying the release of the album to July 1991.\"In 1992, they signed to a major record label,Repriseand releasedPiece of Cake. The album did not sell well, due to a combination of the band's uncompromising sound and an oversaturation of the genre; according to Stephen Turner, the album references \"how easily things had come to them...the songs were kinda half-baked... and Mark wasn't at his best.\" Although they never achieved the fame of some of their contemporaries, Arm and Mudhoney have made significant contributions to grunge music. Mudhoney is one of the few grunge bands that continue to release albums; in 2002 they releasedSince We've Become Translucent,Under a Billion Sunsin 2005,The Lucky Onesfollowed in May 2008,Vanishing Pointcame in April 2013,Digital Garbagecame out in September 2018 and, most recently,Plastic Eternityin 2023. All of these releases have been on theSub Poprecord","on theSub Poprecord label. Solo and side projects Arm released \"The Freewheelin' Mark Arm\", a solo single in 1990. He was a singer and guitarist for the groupBloodlossand singer for the SeattlesupergroupThe Monkeywrench.Monkeywrench members include Arm, Turner, Tim Kerr (Lord Hi Fixers,Big Boys, Poison 13), Tom Price (Gas Huffer) and Martin Bland (Bloodloss). He has also made guest appearances on several albums, most notably onAlice in Chains' 1992 EPSap. In 1998, he made an appearance on the motion picture soundtrack for the filmVelvet GoldminewithRon Asheton,Mike Watt,Thurston Moore, andSteve Shelleyunder the nameWylde Ratttz. In 1999, he recorded the vocals for the song \"I Need Somebody\", a cover of the song byThe Stooges, featured onNebula's first album,To the Center. In 2000, Arm, Turner, Peters,Scott McCaughey, Tom Price and Bill Henderson recorded the album \"The New Original Sonic Sound\" under the band name The New Strychnines. they recorded a compilation of 16 songs by the legendary mid-1960's","mid-1960's Seattle garage bandThe Sonics. The album was released by Book Records. In 2004, he toured withMC5, standing in for the lateRob Tyneron vocals. In 2013, he contributed vocals on a cover version ofThe Scientists' \"Set It on Fire\" for theMelvins' albumEverybody Loves Sausages. Personal life Mark Arm lives in Seattle with his wife Emily Rieman and their little dogs. References Further reading External links","Mudhoney Mudhoneyis an Americanrockband formed inSeattle, Washington, on January 1, 1988, following the demise ofGreen River. Its members are singer and rhythm guitaristMark Arm, lead guitaristSteve Turner, bassistGuy Maddisonand drummerDan Peters. Original bassistMatt Lukinleft the band in 1999, but rejoined the band in December 2000 for a tour that lasted through January 2001. Mudhoney's early releases on theSub Poplabel, particularly their debut single \"Touch Me I'm Sick\" and theSuperfuzz BigmuffEP, were instrumental in the creation of thegrungegenre.Although the band found little commercial success and remained somewhat 'underground' and non-mainstream, Mudhoney has released eleven studio albums and inspired countless grunge andalternative rockmusicians during their long career. History Mr. Epp and the Calculations: 1978–1984 Mark ArmandSteve Turnermet through their association with Mr. Epp and the Calculations. This band formed in 1978 inBellevue, Washington, a suburb of Seattle. While at Bellevue","While at Bellevue Christian High School, Mark McLaughlin (later known as Mark Arm) and some friends started Mr. Epp and the Calculations, a band named after amathteacher of his. Initially the band was essentially a joke band rather than a serious one; their first \"show\" was in class singingMarvin Gaye's \"Got to Give It Up\", using rolled-up maps as guitars because they could not actually play any instruments. Mr. Epp and the Calculations played their first real show in 1981, three years after they formed. To make the band seem more serious, Mr. Epp added a second guitarist, Steve Turner, who was in a small garage band called The Ducky Boys. Arm and Turner became instant friends. In 1983, three songs of Mr. Epp were included inFirst Strike: a compilation, the first cassette in the BCT catalog. Mr. Epp and the Calculations appeared onKZAMradio and were introduced as \"the worst band in the world.\" They played their last show on February 3, 1984, withMalfunkshunat Seattle's Metropolis. Arm and Turner formed a","and Turner formed a joke-punk band called The Limp Richerds in 1984 near the end of Mr. Epp but this band ended shortly after Mr. Epp's ending as well. Green River: 1984–1987 Green Riverwas formed in 1984 when Arm and Turner recruitedAlex Vincentas drummer, who had previously played with Turner in the short-livedSpluii Numa. BassistJeff Amentjoined the band after arriving in Seattle with his band Deranged Diction.Stone Gossard, another of Turner's former bandmates, was recruited as second guitarist. Green River recorded their debut EP,Come on Down, in 1985, and it is considered the firstgrungerecord because it was released several months before theDeep Sixalbum (which featured music by Green River and five other Seattle grunge bands).Turner left the band after its release due to his distaste of the band'shard rockleanings. He was replaced by another Deranged Diction member,Bruce Fairweather. After recording another EP (Dry As a Bone) and a full-length album (Rehab Doll), the band disbanded in late 1987.","in late 1987. Gossard, Ament, and Fairweather went on to joinMother Love Bone. Following lead singerAndrew Wood's death, Gossard and Ament went on to formPearl Jam, and Fairweather joinedLove Battery. Sub Pop: 1988–1991 Turner wanted to start a band that practiced before playing to a live audience. He and Arm began songwriting withBundle of HissdrummerDan Peters. The trio decided thatMatt Lukin, who had recently leftMelvins, should join the band as bassist.The band named themselves after theRuss MeyerfilmMudhoney. Early on, Mudhoney's sound would reflect such influences asDinosaur Jr.,Spacemen 3,Neil Young,Black Flag, andthe Scientists. In 1988, the band recorded and released their debut EP,Superfuzz Bigmuff, and their first single, \"Touch Me I'm Sick\", on theSub Poplabel.The single attracted attention and the band enjoyed moderate success in the United States. Mudhoney quickly became Sub Pop's flagship band.Sonic Youth, who were fans of the band, had invited Mudhoney to join them for a tour in the UK in","a tour in the UK in 1989.After this tourSuperfuzz Bigmuffentered the Britishindiecharts and they received a respectable amount of press coverage. The band released their first album,Mudhoney, in 1989. Kurt Cobain listedSuperfuzz Bigmuffas one of his favourite albums in his journal in 1993. They released their second album,Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, in 1991.After the album's release they were offered a deal withReprise Records, and they joined the label in 1992. Reprise: 1992–1999 Mudhoney's first album with Reprise wasPiece of Cake.In a 2008Mojomagazine article, Turner explained the album references \"how easily things had come to them ... the songs were kinda half-baked ...\" They also contributed a track \"Overblown\" at this time to the soundtrack to the filmSingles. With their 1995 albumMy Brother the Cowthey mixed their earlier and more recent sound, but Turner explained in an article inMojo, \"There was a backlash after Kurt killed himself. The English press were so angry that we were still around.","were still around. Those were some of the worst reviews we'd ever gotten. We were mocked for still existing.\"The press was not all negative, as the album received praise in certain U.S. publications, includingPeoplemagazine: \"Leave the brooding anthems to Pearl Jam. Mudhoney delivers pure grunge—messy music that casts a powerful spell.\" In 1996, Mudhoney appeared in the comedy movieBlack Sheep, starringChris FarleyandDavid Spade. The band was shown performing at an MTV concert and then speaking with Farley backstage.Tomorrow Hit Todaywas released in September 1998.The album demonstrated ablues-rockinfluence, and the band used record producer Jim Dickinson, who worked withThe Rolling Stones. They recorded the set in three different cities. After a few years of touring, Reprise decided to cut ties with Mudhoney. Subsequently, Lukin left the band. They releasedMarch to Fuzz, a retrospectivecompilation album. After Matt Lukin: 2000–present Mudhoney continued to play some concerts in the Pacific Northwest and","Northwest and recruited permanent bassistGuy Maddison(of Monroe's Fur andLubricated Goat) who had played with Arm in one of his many side projects, Bloodloss. In 2002, following their return to Sub Pop, the band recorded and released a new studio album,Since We've Become Translucent. This was followed by a major South American tour. In early 2003 the band entered the studio to record \"Hard-On For War\", that would appear exclusively onBuddyhead Presents: Gimme Skeltercompilation album. Later that year the band recordedUnder a Billion Sunson which a new version of the song appeared. The album was released in 2006 and received favorable reviews. In 2006 the band also helped to curate an edition of the BritishAll Tomorrow's Partiesfestival. During 2007, Mudhoney played in Brazil again and went on a brief European tour.In November that year, the band released a live album entitledLive Mud, containing songs recorded at a concert in Mexico. In 2008, Mudhoney began recording their next album with producerTucker","with producerTucker Martine,The Lucky Ones, which was released in May 2008. Shortly thereafter, Sub Pop released a deluxe, remastered edition ofSuperfuzz Bigmuff. The reissue contained the original EP in its correct running order, along with singles, demos, and two live recordings from 1988. In the liner notes of the reissuedSuperfuzz Bigmuff, Jay Hinman wrote: My feeling—and I know I'm not alone in this one—is that for all the play and worldwide attention several Seattle-area bands got during the 1988–92 period, at the end of the day (and even at the time), there was Mudhoney—and then there was everybody else. To me, you, and everyone else paying close attention to underground rock music during those years, Mudhoney still sound like the undisputed kingpins of roaring, surging, fuzzed-out, punk music. In 2009, Mudhoney announced a series of live dates. This included an extensive tour of Europe which started inEdinburgh, Scotland with Sub Pop labelmatesThe Vaselines. The tour ended on October 26. The group","26. The group performed at theNelsonville Music FestivalinNelsonville, Ohio, in May 2009.The group played at theATP New York 2010music festival in Monticello, New York in September 2010, where they performedSuperfuzz Bigmuffin its entirety. In 2011, Pearl Jam had Mudhoney open for them on their 20th Anniversary tour. They were chosen by Mogwai to perform in May 2012 at theAll Tomorrow's Parties'I'll Be Your Mirror' festival at Alexandra Palace, London.In April 2013 the band put out their ninth studio albumVanishing Point,followed by 2018'sDigital Garbage. In 2021, Mudhoney and Sub Pop celebrated the 30-year anniversary ofEvery Good Boy Deserves Fudgewith a remastered deluxe version. This included remastered and re-released music videos and songs, as well as previously unreleased songs and demos. Plastic Eternitywas released by Sub Pop on April 6, 2023. Members Current members Former members Discography References Other sources External links","Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudhoney_(film"],"string":"[\n \"Mark Arm Mark Arm(bornMark Thomas McLaughlin; February 21, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter, best known as the vocalist for thegrungebandMudhoney. His former group,Green River, was one of the first grunge bands, along withMalfunkshun,Soundgarden,Skin Yard, theU-Men, and others. He is also the manager of theSub Popwarehouseand previously worked atFantagraphics Books. Early life Arm was born February 21, 1962, atVandenberg Air Force BaseinCalifornia, and was raised inKirkland, Washington.As a child, he was a member ofBoy Scouts of America.He graduated fromBellevue Christian High SchoolinBellevue, Washington. In 1985, Arm earned an English degree with an emphasis in creative writing from theUniversity of Washington. Early career Arm first entered theSeattlerock scene in 1980, when he formed a band while still in high school, called \\\"Mr. Epp and the Calculations\\\" with singer Jo Smitty, and Peter Wick, who wrote and recorded their first song,\\\"The Pigeon in the Fountain bed,\\\" which caused local radio DJ\",\n \"local radio DJ Stephen Rabow to declare them, \\\"The worst band in the world.\\\" The band played its first show in 1981, opening for the band Student Nurse. In 1982 they released a 7-inch EP entitled \\\"Mohawk Man\\\", produced by Johnny Rubato (of Rubato Records, a local used record shop for more than 30 years). The next year they added a second guitarist,Steve Turner, and released acassettedescribed on the lyric sheet as a \\\"combination of art andhardcore.\\\"The cassette featured one side of live recordings and aflip-sideof studio recordings and experimental sounds; a sonic amalgamy described in a 1984 issue ofRevenge Against Boredom'zine(produced by notableskateboardinghistorian Jocko Weyland), as \\\"45 or so minutes of Pillow Fights, Jokes, some songs, preachers' garbled talking. And you get to find out what you get if you give up your personality.\\\" Mr. Epp and the Calculations also played withTen Minute Warningandthe Dead Kennedysat the Eagles Auditorium in April. The band came to an end the following year. After Mr.\",\n \"year. After Mr. Epp and the Calculations ended, Mark Arm and Steve Turner (who had become close friends) joined the bandLimp Richerdsfor a few weeks. Afterward, Arm and Turner took on futurePearl JammembersJeff AmentandStone Gossard, as well asAlex Vincent, to form the bandGreen River. Green River released two EPs and a full length album before disbanding. Steve Turner left the band to finish college, and Arm was forced to find a new band again. After Turner returned from schooling, they resumed their Green River side project, The Thrown Ups. Mudhoney Arm and Turner took on drummerDan Peters, and bassistMatt Lukin, formerly ofMelvins. The new band renamed themselves Mudhoney. In 1988,Sub Popreleased Mudhoney's first single, \\\"Touch Me I'm Sick\\\". After extensive touring and an EP album, Mudhoney releasedtheir self-titled full length debutin 1989. Their next album,Every Good Boy Deserves Fudgecame out soon after, just before the explosion of grunge spearheaded byNirvana's seminalNevermind. At the time, Sub Pop,\",\n \"the time, Sub Pop, their record label, was \\\"on the verge of bankruptcy, having trouble paying its flagship band, severely delaying the release of the album to July 1991.\\\"In 1992, they signed to a major record label,Repriseand releasedPiece of Cake. The album did not sell well, due to a combination of the band's uncompromising sound and an oversaturation of the genre; according to Stephen Turner, the album references \\\"how easily things had come to them...the songs were kinda half-baked... and Mark wasn't at his best.\\\" Although they never achieved the fame of some of their contemporaries, Arm and Mudhoney have made significant contributions to grunge music. Mudhoney is one of the few grunge bands that continue to release albums; in 2002 they releasedSince We've Become Translucent,Under a Billion Sunsin 2005,The Lucky Onesfollowed in May 2008,Vanishing Pointcame in April 2013,Digital Garbagecame out in September 2018 and, most recently,Plastic Eternityin 2023. All of these releases have been on theSub Poprecord\",\n \"on theSub Poprecord label. Solo and side projects Arm released \\\"The Freewheelin' Mark Arm\\\", a solo single in 1990. He was a singer and guitarist for the groupBloodlossand singer for the SeattlesupergroupThe Monkeywrench.Monkeywrench members include Arm, Turner, Tim Kerr (Lord Hi Fixers,Big Boys, Poison 13), Tom Price (Gas Huffer) and Martin Bland (Bloodloss). He has also made guest appearances on several albums, most notably onAlice in Chains' 1992 EPSap. In 1998, he made an appearance on the motion picture soundtrack for the filmVelvet GoldminewithRon Asheton,Mike Watt,Thurston Moore, andSteve Shelleyunder the nameWylde Ratttz. In 1999, he recorded the vocals for the song \\\"I Need Somebody\\\", a cover of the song byThe Stooges, featured onNebula's first album,To the Center. In 2000, Arm, Turner, Peters,Scott McCaughey, Tom Price and Bill Henderson recorded the album \\\"The New Original Sonic Sound\\\" under the band name The New Strychnines. they recorded a compilation of 16 songs by the legendary mid-1960's\",\n \"mid-1960's Seattle garage bandThe Sonics. The album was released by Book Records. In 2004, he toured withMC5, standing in for the lateRob Tyneron vocals. In 2013, he contributed vocals on a cover version ofThe Scientists' \\\"Set It on Fire\\\" for theMelvins' albumEverybody Loves Sausages. Personal life Mark Arm lives in Seattle with his wife Emily Rieman and their little dogs. References Further reading External links\",\n \"Mudhoney Mudhoneyis an Americanrockband formed inSeattle, Washington, on January 1, 1988, following the demise ofGreen River. Its members are singer and rhythm guitaristMark Arm, lead guitaristSteve Turner, bassistGuy Maddisonand drummerDan Peters. Original bassistMatt Lukinleft the band in 1999, but rejoined the band in December 2000 for a tour that lasted through January 2001. Mudhoney's early releases on theSub Poplabel, particularly their debut single \\\"Touch Me I'm Sick\\\" and theSuperfuzz BigmuffEP, were instrumental in the creation of thegrungegenre.Although the band found little commercial success and remained somewhat 'underground' and non-mainstream, Mudhoney has released eleven studio albums and inspired countless grunge andalternative rockmusicians during their long career. History Mr. Epp and the Calculations: 1978–1984 Mark ArmandSteve Turnermet through their association with Mr. Epp and the Calculations. This band formed in 1978 inBellevue, Washington, a suburb of Seattle. While at Bellevue\",\n \"While at Bellevue Christian High School, Mark McLaughlin (later known as Mark Arm) and some friends started Mr. Epp and the Calculations, a band named after amathteacher of his. Initially the band was essentially a joke band rather than a serious one; their first \\\"show\\\" was in class singingMarvin Gaye's \\\"Got to Give It Up\\\", using rolled-up maps as guitars because they could not actually play any instruments. Mr. Epp and the Calculations played their first real show in 1981, three years after they formed. To make the band seem more serious, Mr. Epp added a second guitarist, Steve Turner, who was in a small garage band called The Ducky Boys. Arm and Turner became instant friends. In 1983, three songs of Mr. Epp were included inFirst Strike: a compilation, the first cassette in the BCT catalog. Mr. Epp and the Calculations appeared onKZAMradio and were introduced as \\\"the worst band in the world.\\\" They played their last show on February 3, 1984, withMalfunkshunat Seattle's Metropolis. Arm and Turner formed a\",\n \"and Turner formed a joke-punk band called The Limp Richerds in 1984 near the end of Mr. Epp but this band ended shortly after Mr. Epp's ending as well. Green River: 1984–1987 Green Riverwas formed in 1984 when Arm and Turner recruitedAlex Vincentas drummer, who had previously played with Turner in the short-livedSpluii Numa. BassistJeff Amentjoined the band after arriving in Seattle with his band Deranged Diction.Stone Gossard, another of Turner's former bandmates, was recruited as second guitarist. Green River recorded their debut EP,Come on Down, in 1985, and it is considered the firstgrungerecord because it was released several months before theDeep Sixalbum (which featured music by Green River and five other Seattle grunge bands).Turner left the band after its release due to his distaste of the band'shard rockleanings. He was replaced by another Deranged Diction member,Bruce Fairweather. After recording another EP (Dry As a Bone) and a full-length album (Rehab Doll), the band disbanded in late 1987.\",\n \"in late 1987. Gossard, Ament, and Fairweather went on to joinMother Love Bone. Following lead singerAndrew Wood's death, Gossard and Ament went on to formPearl Jam, and Fairweather joinedLove Battery. Sub Pop: 1988–1991 Turner wanted to start a band that practiced before playing to a live audience. He and Arm began songwriting withBundle of HissdrummerDan Peters. The trio decided thatMatt Lukin, who had recently leftMelvins, should join the band as bassist.The band named themselves after theRuss MeyerfilmMudhoney. Early on, Mudhoney's sound would reflect such influences asDinosaur Jr.,Spacemen 3,Neil Young,Black Flag, andthe Scientists. In 1988, the band recorded and released their debut EP,Superfuzz Bigmuff, and their first single, \\\"Touch Me I'm Sick\\\", on theSub Poplabel.The single attracted attention and the band enjoyed moderate success in the United States. Mudhoney quickly became Sub Pop's flagship band.Sonic Youth, who were fans of the band, had invited Mudhoney to join them for a tour in the UK in\",\n \"a tour in the UK in 1989.After this tourSuperfuzz Bigmuffentered the Britishindiecharts and they received a respectable amount of press coverage. The band released their first album,Mudhoney, in 1989. Kurt Cobain listedSuperfuzz Bigmuffas one of his favourite albums in his journal in 1993. They released their second album,Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, in 1991.After the album's release they were offered a deal withReprise Records, and they joined the label in 1992. Reprise: 1992–1999 Mudhoney's first album with Reprise wasPiece of Cake.In a 2008Mojomagazine article, Turner explained the album references \\\"how easily things had come to them ... the songs were kinda half-baked ...\\\" They also contributed a track \\\"Overblown\\\" at this time to the soundtrack to the filmSingles. With their 1995 albumMy Brother the Cowthey mixed their earlier and more recent sound, but Turner explained in an article inMojo, \\\"There was a backlash after Kurt killed himself. The English press were so angry that we were still around.\",\n \"were still around. Those were some of the worst reviews we'd ever gotten. We were mocked for still existing.\\\"The press was not all negative, as the album received praise in certain U.S. publications, includingPeoplemagazine: \\\"Leave the brooding anthems to Pearl Jam. Mudhoney delivers pure grunge—messy music that casts a powerful spell.\\\" In 1996, Mudhoney appeared in the comedy movieBlack Sheep, starringChris FarleyandDavid Spade. The band was shown performing at an MTV concert and then speaking with Farley backstage.Tomorrow Hit Todaywas released in September 1998.The album demonstrated ablues-rockinfluence, and the band used record producer Jim Dickinson, who worked withThe Rolling Stones. They recorded the set in three different cities. After a few years of touring, Reprise decided to cut ties with Mudhoney. Subsequently, Lukin left the band. They releasedMarch to Fuzz, a retrospectivecompilation album. After Matt Lukin: 2000–present Mudhoney continued to play some concerts in the Pacific Northwest and\",\n \"Northwest and recruited permanent bassistGuy Maddison(of Monroe's Fur andLubricated Goat) who had played with Arm in one of his many side projects, Bloodloss. In 2002, following their return to Sub Pop, the band recorded and released a new studio album,Since We've Become Translucent. This was followed by a major South American tour. In early 2003 the band entered the studio to record \\\"Hard-On For War\\\", that would appear exclusively onBuddyhead Presents: Gimme Skeltercompilation album. Later that year the band recordedUnder a Billion Sunson which a new version of the song appeared. The album was released in 2006 and received favorable reviews. In 2006 the band also helped to curate an edition of the BritishAll Tomorrow's Partiesfestival. During 2007, Mudhoney played in Brazil again and went on a brief European tour.In November that year, the band released a live album entitledLive Mud, containing songs recorded at a concert in Mexico. In 2008, Mudhoney began recording their next album with producerTucker\",\n \"with producerTucker Martine,The Lucky Ones, which was released in May 2008. Shortly thereafter, Sub Pop released a deluxe, remastered edition ofSuperfuzz Bigmuff. The reissue contained the original EP in its correct running order, along with singles, demos, and two live recordings from 1988. In the liner notes of the reissuedSuperfuzz Bigmuff, Jay Hinman wrote: My feeling—and I know I'm not alone in this one—is that for all the play and worldwide attention several Seattle-area bands got during the 1988–92 period, at the end of the day (and even at the time), there was Mudhoney—and then there was everybody else. To me, you, and everyone else paying close attention to underground rock music during those years, Mudhoney still sound like the undisputed kingpins of roaring, surging, fuzzed-out, punk music. In 2009, Mudhoney announced a series of live dates. This included an extensive tour of Europe which started inEdinburgh, Scotland with Sub Pop labelmatesThe Vaselines. The tour ended on October 26. The group\",\n \"26. The group performed at theNelsonville Music FestivalinNelsonville, Ohio, in May 2009.The group played at theATP New York 2010music festival in Monticello, New York in September 2010, where they performedSuperfuzz Bigmuffin its entirety. In 2011, Pearl Jam had Mudhoney open for them on their 20th Anniversary tour. They were chosen by Mogwai to perform in May 2012 at theAll Tomorrow's Parties'I'll Be Your Mirror' festival at Alexandra Palace, London.In April 2013 the band put out their ninth studio albumVanishing Point,followed by 2018'sDigital Garbage. In 2021, Mudhoney and Sub Pop celebrated the 30-year anniversary ofEvery Good Boy Deserves Fudgewith a remastered deluxe version. This included remastered and re-released music videos and songs, as well as previously unreleased songs and demos. Plastic Eternitywas released by Sub Pop on April 6, 2023. Members Current members Former members Discography References Other sources External links\",\n \"Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudhoney_(film\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":74,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"As of August 3, 2024, how much taller was the tsunami wave of the most powerful earthquake in North America than the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"26.5 meters of 87 feet"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami#Nuclear_power_plants"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_earthquakes#Largest_earthquakes_by_magnitude"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Alaska_earthquake"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Numerical reasoning | Tabular reasoning"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami#Nuclear_power_plants', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_earthquakes#Largest_earthquakes_by_magnitude', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Alaska_earthquake']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami#Nuclear_power_plants","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_earthquakes#Largest_earthquakes_by_magnitude","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Alaska_earthquake"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami#Nuclear_power_plants\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_earthquakes#Largest_earthquakes_by_magnitude\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Alaska_earthquake\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami On 11 March 2011, at 14:46JST(05:46UTC), aMw9.0–9.1underseamegathrust earthquakeoccurred in the Pacific Ocean, 72 km (45 mi) east of theOshika Peninsulaof theTōhoku region. It lasted approximately six minutes and caused atsunami. It is sometimes known in Japan as the \"Great East Japan Earthquake\"(東日本大震災,Higashi nihon daishinsai), among other names.The disaster is often referred to by its numerical date,3.11(readsan ten ichi-ichiin Japanese). It was themost powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan, and thefourth most powerful earthquake recorded in the worldsince modern seismography began in 1900.The earthquake triggered powerfultsunamiwaves that may have reached heights of up to 40.5 meters (133 ft) inMiyakoin Tōhoku'sIwate Prefecture,and which, in theSendaiarea, traveled at 700 km/h (435 mph)and up to 10 km (6 mi) inland.Residents of Sendai had only eight to ten minutes of warning, and more than a hundred evacuation sites were washed away.The snowfall which accompanied the tsunamiand the freezing temperature hindered rescue works greatly;for instance,Ishinomaki, the city with the most deaths,was 0 °C (32 °F) as the tsunami hit.The official figures released in 2021 reported 19,759 deaths,6,242 injured,and 2,553 people missing,and a report from 2015 indicated 228,863 people were still living away from their home in either temporary housing or due to permanent relocation. The tsunami caused theFukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, primarily themeltdownsof three of its reactors, thedischarge of radioactive water in Fukushimaand the associated evacuation zones affecting hundreds of thousands of residents.Many electrical generators ran out of fuel. The loss of electrical power halted cooling systems, causing heat to build up. The heat build-up caused the generation of hydrogen gas. Without ventilation, gas accumulated within the upper refueling hall and eventually exploded causing the refueling hall's blast panels to be forcefully ejected from the structure. Residents within a 20 km (12 mi) radius of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and a 10 km (6.2 mi) radius of theFukushima Daini Nuclear Power Plantwere evacuated. Early estimates placed insured losses from the earthquake alone at US$14.5 to $34.6 billion.TheBank of Japanoffered¥15 trillion (US$183 billion) to the banking system on 14 March 2011 in an effort to normalize market conditions.The estimated economic damages amounted to over $300 billion, making it thecostliest natural disaster in history.According to a 2020 study, \"the earthquake and its aftermaths resulted in a 0.47 percentage point decline in Japan's real GDP growth in the year following the disaster.\" Earthquake Themagnitude9.1 (Mw)underseamegathrust earthquakeoccurred on 11 March 2011 at 14:46JST(05:46 UTC) in the north-western Pacific Ocean at a relatively shallow depth of 32 km (20 mi),with itsepicenterapproximately 72 km (45 mi) east of theOshika PeninsulaofTōhoku, Japan, lasting approximately six minutes.The earthquake was initially reported as 7.9 Mwby theUSGSbefore it was quickly upgraded to 8.8 Mw, then to 8.9 Mw,and then finally to 9.0 Mw.On 11 July 2016, the USGS further upgraded the earthquake to 9.1.Sendaiwas the nearest major city to the earthquake, 130 km (81 mi) from the epicenter; the earthquake occurred 373 km (232 mi) northeast ofTokyo. The main earthquake was preceded by a number of largeforeshocks, with hundreds ofaftershocksreported. One of the first major foreshocks was a 7.2 Mwevent on 9 March, approximately 40 km (25 mi) from the epicenter of the 11 March earthquake, with another three on the same day in excess of 6.0 Mw.Following the main earthquake on 11 March, a 7.4 Mwaftershock was reported at 15:08 JST (6:06 UTC), succeeded by a 7.9 Mwat 15:15 JST (6:16 UTC) and a 7.7 Mwat 15:26 JST (6:26 UTC).Over 800 aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 Mwor greater have occurred since the initial quake,including one on 26 October 2013 (local time) of magnitude 7.1 Mw.Aftershocks followOmori's law, which states that the rate of aftershocks declines with the reciprocal of the time since the main quake. The aftershocks will thus taper off in time, but could continue for years. The earthquake movedHonshu2.4 m (8 ft) east, shifted the Earth on its axis by estimates of between 10 and 25 cm (4 and 10 in),increased Earth's rotational speed by 1.8μsper day,and generatedinfrasoundwaves detected in perturbations of the low-orbitingGravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorersatellite.Initially, the earthquake caused sinking of part of Honshu's Pacific coast by up to roughly a metre, but after about three years, the coast rose back and then kept on rising to exceed its original height. Geology This megathrust earthquake was a recurrence of the mechanism of the earlier869 Sanriku earthquake, which has been estimated as having a magnitude of at least 8.4 Mw, which also created a large tsunami that inundated the Sendai plain.Three tsunami deposits have been identified within theHolocenesequence of the plain, all formed within the last 3,000 years, suggesting an 800 to 1,100 year recurrence interval for large tsunamigenic earthquakes. In 2001 it was reckoned that there was a high likelihood of a large tsunami hitting the Sendai plain as more than 1,100 years had then elapsed.In 2007, the probability of an earthquake with a magnitude of Mw8.1–8.3 was estimated as 99% within the following 30 years. This earthquake occurred where thePacific Plateissubductingunder the plate beneath northern Honshu.The Pacific Plate, which moves at a rate of 8 to 9 cm (3.1 to 3.5 in) per year, dips under Honshu's underlying plate, building large amounts ofelastic energy. This motion pushes the upper plate down until the accumulated stress causes a seismic slip-rupture event. The break caused the sea floor to rise by several metres.The magnitude of this earthquake was a surprise to some seismologists.A quake of this magnitude usually has a rupture length of at least 500 km (310 mi) and generally requires a long, relatively straight fault surface. Because the plate boundary andsubduction zonein the area of the Honshu rupture is not very straight, it is unusual for the magnitude of its earthquake to exceed 8.5 Mw.Thehypocentral regionof this earthquake extended from offshoreIwate Prefectureto offshoreIbaraki Prefecture.TheJapanese Meteorological Agencysaid that the earthquake may have ruptured the fault zone from Iwate to Ibaraki with a length of 500 km (310 mi) and a width of 200 km (120 mi).Analysis showed that this earthquake consisted of a set of three events.Other major earthquakes with tsunamis struck theSanriku Coastregionin 1896andin 1933. The source area of this earthquake has a relatively high coupling coefficient surrounded by areas of relatively low coupling coefficients in the west, north, and south. From the averaged coupling coefficient of 0.5–0.8 in the source area and the seismic moment, it was estimated that the slip deficit of this earthquake was accumulated over a period of 260–880 years, which is consistent with the recurrence interval of such great earthquakes estimated from the tsunami deposit data. The seismic moment of this earthquake accounts for about 93% of the estimated cumulative moment from 1926 to March 2011. Hence, earthquakes in this area with magnitudes of about 7 since 1926 had only released part of the accumulated energy. In the area near the trench, the coupling coefficient is high, which could act as the source of the large tsunami. Most of the foreshocks are interplate earthquakes with thrust-type focal mechanisms. Both interplate and intraplate earthquakes appeared in the aftershocks offshore Sanriku coast with considerable proportions. Energy Thesurface energyof the seismic waves from the earthquake was calculated to be1.9×1017joules,which is nearly double that of the 9.1 Mw2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamithat killed 230,000 people. If harnessed, the seismic energy from this earthquake would power a city the size of Los Angeles for an entire year.Theseismic moment(M0), which represents a physical size for the event, was calculated by the USGS at 3.9×1022joules,slightly less than the 2004 Indian Ocean quake. Japan's National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED) calculated apeak ground accelerationof 2.99g(29.33 m/s2).The largest individual recording in Japan was 2.7g, in Miyagi Prefecture, 75 km from the epicentre; the highest reading in the Tokyo metropolitan area was 0.16g. Intensity The strong ground motion registered at the maximum of 7 on theJapan Meteorological Agency seismic intensity scaleinKurihara,Miyagi Prefecture.Three other prefectures—Fukushima,IbarakiandTochigi—recorded a 6 upper on the JMA scale. Seismic stations inIwate,Gunma,SaitamaandChiba Prefecturemeasured a 6 lower, recording a 5 upper in Tokyo. Geophysical effects Portions of northeastern Japan shifted by as much as 2.4 metres (7 ft 10 in) closer to North America,making some sections of Japan's landmass wider than before.Those areas of Japan closest to the epicenter experienced the largest shifts.A 400-kilometre (250 mi) stretch of coastline dropped vertically by 0.6 metres (2 ft 0 in), allowing the tsunami to travel farther and faster onto land.One early estimate suggested that the Pacific plate may have moved westward by up to 20 metres (66 ft),and another early estimate put the amount of slippage at as much as 40 m (130 ft).On 6 April the Japanese coast guard said that the quake shifted the seabed near the epicenter 24 metres (79 ft) and elevated the seabed off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture by 3 metres (9.8 ft).A report by theJapan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, published inScienceon 2 December 2011, concluded that the seabed in the area between the epicenter and theJapan Trenchmoved 50 metres (160 ft) east-southeast and rose about 7 metres (23 ft) as a result of the quake. The report also stated that the quake had caused several major landslides on the seabed in the affected area. The Earth'saxisshifted by estimates of between 10 and 25 cm (4 and 10 in).This deviation led to a number of small planetary changes, including thelength of a day, thetilt of the Earth, and theChandler wobble.The speed of the Earth's rotation increased, shortening the day by 1.8microsecondsdue to the redistribution of Earth's mass.The axial shift was caused by the redistribution of mass on the Earth's surface, which changed the planet'smoment of inertia. Because ofconservation of angular momentum, such changes ofinertiaresult in small changes to the Earth's rate of rotation.These are expected changesfor an earthquake of this magnitude.The earthquake also generated infrasound waves detected by perturbations in the orbit of theGOCEsatellite, which thusserendipitouslybecame the first seismograph in orbit. Following the earthquake, cracks were observed to have formed in the roof ofMount Fuji'smagma chamber. Seichesobserved inSognefjorden, Norway were attributed to distantS wavesandLove wavesgenerated by the earthquake. These seiches began to occur roughly half an hour after the main shock hit Japan, and continued to occur for 3 hours, during which waves of up to 1.5 meters high were observed. Soil liquefactionwas evident in areas ofreclaimed landaround Tokyo, particularly inUrayasu,Chiba City,Funabashi,Narashino(all inChiba Prefecture) and in theKoto,Edogawa,Minato,Chūō, andŌtaWards of Tokyo. Approximately 30 homes or buildings were destroyed and 1,046 other buildings were damaged to varying degrees.NearbyHaneda Airport, built mostly on reclaimed land, was not damaged.Odaibaalso experienced liquefaction, but damage was minimal. Shinmoedake, a volcano inKyushu, erupted three days after the earthquake. The volcano had previously erupted in January 2011; it is not known if the later eruption was linked to the earthquake.InAntarctica, the seismic waves from the earthquake were reported to have caused theWhillans Ice Streamto slip by about 0.5 metres (1 ft 8 in). The first sign international researchers had that the earthquake caused such a dramatic change in the Earth's rotation came from the United States Geological Survey which monitors Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) stations across the world. The Survey team had several GPS monitors located near the scene of the earthquake. The GPS station located nearest the epicenter moved almost 4 m (13 ft). This motivated government researchers to look into other ways the earthquake may have had large scale effects on the planet. Calculations at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory determined that the Earth's rotation was changed by the earthquake to the point where the days are now 1.8microsecondsshorter. Aftershocks Japan experienced over 1,000 aftershocks since the earthquake, with 80 registering over magnitude 6.0 Mwand several of which have been over magnitude 7.0 Mw. A magnitude 7.4 Mwat 15:08 (JST), 7.9 Mwat 15:15 and a 7.7 Mwquake at 15:26 all occurred on 11 March. A month later, amajor aftershockstruck offshore on 7 April with a magnitude of 7.1 Mw. Its epicenter was underwater, 66 km (41 mi) off the coast of Sendai. TheJapan Meteorological Agencyassigned a magnitude of 7.4 MJMA, while theU.S. Geological Surveylowered it to 7.1 Mw.At least four people were killed, and electricity was cut off across much of northern Japan including the loss of external power toHigashidōri Nuclear Power PlantandRokkasho Reprocessing Plant. Four days later on 11 April, anothermagnitude 7.1 Mwaftershockstruck Fukushima, causing additional damage and killing a total of three people. On 7 December 2012 alarge aftershock of magnitude 7.3 Mwcaused a minor tsunami, and again on 26 October 2013 a small tsunami was recorded after a 7.1 Mwaftershock. As of 16 March 2012 aftershocks continued, totaling 1887 events over magnitude 4.0; a regularly updated map showing all shocks of magnitude 4.5 and above near or off the east coast of Honshu in the last seven daysshowed over 20 events. As of 11 March 2016there had been 869 aftershocks of 5.0 Mwor greater, 118 of 6.0 Mwor greater, and 9 over 7.0 Mwas reported by the Japanese Meteorological Agency. The number of aftershocks was associated with decreased health across Japan. On 13 February 2021, amagnitude 7.1–7.3 earthquakestruck off the coast of Sendai. It caused some damage in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures. One person was killed, and 185 were injured. Land subsidence TheGeospatial Information Authority of Japanreported landsubsidencebased on the height oftriangulation stationsin the area measured byGPSas compared to their previous values from 14 April 2011. Scientists say that the subsidence is permanent. As a result, the communities in question are now more susceptible to flooding during high tides. Earthquake Warning System One minute before the earthquake was felt in Tokyo, theEarthquake Early Warningsystem, which includes more than 1,000seismometersin Japan, sent out warnings of impending strong shaking to millions. It is believed that the early warning by theJapan Meteorological Agency(JMA) saved many lives.The warning for the general public was delivered about eight seconds after the firstP wavewas detected, or about 31 seconds after the earthquake occurred. However, the estimated intensities were smaller than the actual ones in some places, especially in Kanto,Koshinetsu, and Northern Tōhoku regions where the populace warning did not trigger. According to theJapan Meteorological Agency, reasons for the underestimation include a saturated magnitude scale when using maximum amplitude as input, failure to fully take into account the area of thehypocenter, and the initial amplitude of the earthquake being less than that which would be predicted by an empirical relationship. There were also cases where large differences between estimated intensities by the Earthquake Early Warning system and the actual intensities occurred in the aftershocks and triggered earthquakes. Such discrepancies in the warning were attributed by the JMA to the system's inability to distinguish between two different earthquakes that happened at around same time, as well as to the reduced number of reporting seismometers due to power outages and connection failures.The system's software was subsequently modified to handle this kind of situation. Tsunami An upthrust of 6 to 8 metres (20 to 26 ft) along a 180 kilometres (110 mi) wide seabed at 60 kilometres (37 mi) offshore from the east coast of Tōhokuresulted in a majortsunamithat brought destruction along thePacificcoastline of Japan's northern islands. Thousands of people died and entire towns were devastated. The tsunami propagated throughout the Pacific Ocean region reaching the entire Pacific coast of North and South America fromAlaskatoChile. Warnings were issued and evacuations were carried out in many countries bordering the Pacific. Although the tsunami affected many of these places, the heights of the waves were minor.Chile's Pacific coast, one of the farthest from Japan at about 17,000 kilometres (11,000 mi) away, was struck by waves 2 metres (6.6 ft) high,compared with an estimated wave height of 38.9 metres (128 ft) at Omoe peninsula, Miyako city, Japan. Japan Thetsunami warningissued by theJapan Meteorological Agencywas the most serious on its warning scale; it was rated as a \"major tsunami\", being at least 3 metres (9.8 ft) high.The actual height prediction varied, the greatest being for Miyagi at 6 metres (20 ft) high.The tsunami inundated a total area of approximately 561 square kilometres (217 sq mi) in Japan. The earthquake took place at 14:46 JST (UTC 05:46) around 67 kilometres (42 mi) from the nearest point on Japan's coastline, and initial estimates indicated the tsunami would have taken 10 to 30 minutes to reach the areas first affected, and then areas farther north and south based on the geography of the coastline.At 15:55 JST, a tsunami was observed floodingSendai Airport, which is located near the coast ofMiyagi Prefecture,with waves sweeping away cars and planes and flooding various buildings as they traveled inland.The impact of the tsunami in and around Sendai Airport was filmed by anNHKNews helicopter, showing a number of vehicles on local roads trying to escape the approaching wave and being engulfed by it.A 4-metre-high (13 ft) tsunami hitIwate Prefecture.Wakabayashi Wardin Sendai was also particularly hard hit.At least 101 designated tsunami evacuation sites were hit by the wave. Like the2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the damage by surging water, though much more localized, was far more deadly and destructive than the actual quake. Entire towns were destroyed in tsunami-hit areas in Japan, including 9,500 missing inMinamisanriku;one thousand bodies had been recovered in the town by 14 March 2011. Among the factors in the high death toll was the unexpectedly large water surge. Thesea wallsin several cities had been built to protect against tsunamis of much lower heights. Also, many people caught in the tsunami thought they were on high enough ground to be safe.According to a special committee on disaster prevention designated by the Japanese government, the tsunami protection policy had been intended to deal with only tsunamis that had been scientifically proved to occur repeatedly. The committee advised that future policy should be to protect against the highest possible tsunami. Because tsunami walls had beenovertopped, the committee also suggested, besides building taller tsunami walls, also teaching citizens how to evacuate if a large-scale tsunami should strike. Large parts ofKujiand the southern section ofŌfunatoincluding the port area were almost entirely destroyed.Also largely destroyed wasRikuzentakata, where the tsunami was three stories high.Other cities destroyed or heavily damaged by the tsunami includeKamaishi,Miyako,Ōtsuchi, andYamada(in Iwate Prefecture),Namie,Sōma, andMinamisōma(in Fukushima Prefecture) andShichigahama,Higashimatsushima,Onagawa,Natori,Ishinomaki, andKesennuma(in Miyagi Prefecture).The most severe effects of the tsunami were felt along a 670-kilometre-long (420 mi) stretch of coastline fromErimo, Hokkaido, in the north toŌarai, Ibaraki, in the south, with most of the destruction in that area occurring in the hour following the earthquake.Near Ōarai, people captured images of a hugewhirlpoolthat had been generated by the tsunami.The tsunami washed away the sole bridge to Miyatojima, Miyagi, isolating the island's 900 residents.A 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) high tsunami hitChiba Prefectureabout2+1⁄2hours after the quake, causing heavy damage to cities such asAsahi. On 13 March 2011, theJapan Meteorological Agency(JMA) published details of tsunami observations recorded around the coastline of Japan following the earthquake. These observations included tsunami maximum readings of over 3 metres (9.8 ft) at the following locations and times on 11 March 2011, following the earthquake at 14:46 JST: Many areas were also affected by waves of 1 to 3 metres (3 ft 3 in to 9 ft 10 in) in height, and the JMA bulletin also included the caveat that\"At some parts of the coasts, tsunamis may be higher than those observed at the observation sites.\"The timing of the earliest recorded tsunami maximum readings ranged from 15:12 to 15:21, between 26 and 35 minutes after the earthquake had struck. The bulletin also included initial tsunami observation details, as well as more detailed maps for the coastlines affected by the tsunami waves. JMA also reported offshore tsunami height recorded bytelemetryfrommooredGPSwave-height meter buoys as follows: On 25 March 2011, Port and Airport Research Institute (PARI) reported tsunami height by visiting the port sites as follows: The tsunami at Ryōri Bay (綾里湾), Ōfunato reached a height of 40.1 metres (132 ft) (run-up elevation). Fishing equipment was scattered on the high cliff above the bay.AtTarō, Iwate, the tsunami reached a height of 37.9 metres (124 ft) up the slope of a mountain some 200 metres (660 ft) away from thecoastline.Also, at the slope of a nearby mountain from 400 metres (1,300 ft) away at Aneyoshi fishery port (姉吉漁港) of Omoe peninsula (重茂半島) inMiyako, Iwate,Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technologyfound estimated tsunami run up height of 38.9 metres (128 ft).This height is deemed the record in Japan historically, as of reporting date, that exceeds 38.2 metres (125 ft) from the1896 Meiji-Sanriku earthquake.It was also estimated that the tsunami reached heights of up to 40.5 metres (133 ft) in Miyako in Tōhoku's Iwate Prefecture. The inundated areas closely matched those of the869 Sanriku tsunami. Inundation heights were observed along 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) of the coast from Hokkaido to Kyushu in a 2012 study. Maximumrun-upheights greater than 10 metres (33 ft) were distributed along 530 kilometres (330 mi) of coast, and maximum run-up heights greater than 20 metres (66 ft) were distributed along 200 kilometres (120 mi) of the coast, measured directly.The tsunami resulted in significant erosion of the Rikuzen-Takata coastline, mainly caused by backwash. A 2016 study indicated that the coast has not naturally recovered at a desirable rate since the tsunami. A Japanese government study found that 58% of people in coastal areas in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures heeded tsunami warnings immediately after the quake and headed for higher ground. Of those who attempted to evacuate after hearing the warning, only five percent were caught in the tsunami. Of those who did not heed the warning, 49% were hit by the water. Delayed evacuations in response to the warnings had a number of causes. The tsunami height that had been initially predicted by thetsunami warning systemwas lower than the actual tsunami height; this error contributed to the delayed escape of some residents. The discrepancy arose as follows: in order to produce a quick prediction of a tsunami's height and thus to provide a timely warning, the initial earthquake and tsunami warning that was issued for the event was based on a calculation that requires only about three minutes. This calculation is, in turn, based on the maximum amplitude of the seismic wave. The amplitude of the seismic wave is measured using theJMA magnitude scale, which is similar toRichter magnitude scale. However, these scales \"saturate\" for earthquakes that are above a certain magnitude (magnitude 8 on the JMA scale); that is, in the case of very large earthquakes, the scales' values change little despite large differences in the earthquakes' energy. This resulted in an underestimation of the tsunami's height in initial reports. Problems in issuing updates also contributed to delays in evacuations. The warning system was supposed to be updated about 15 minutes after the earthquake occurred, by which time the calculation for themoment magnitude scalewould normally be completed. However, the strong quake had exceeded the measurement limit of all of theteleseismometerswithin Japan, and thus it was impossible to calculate the moment magnitude based on data from those seismometers. Another cause of delayed evacuations was the release of the second update on the tsunami warning long after the earthquake (28 minutes, according to observations); by that time, power failures and similar circumstances reportedly prevented the update from reaching some residents. Also, observed data from tidal meters that were located off the coast were not fully reflected in the second warning. Furthermore, shortly after the earthquake, some wave meters reported a fluctuation of \"20 centimetres (7.9 in)\", and this value was broadcast throughout the mass media and the warning system, which caused some residents to underestimate the danger of their situation and even delayed or suspended their evacuation. In response to the aforementioned shortcomings in the tsunami warning system, JMA began an investigation in 2011 and updated their system in 2013. In the updated system, for a powerful earthquake that is capable of causing the JMA magnitude scale to saturate, no quantitative prediction will be released in the initial warning; instead, there will be words that describe the situation's emergency. There are plans to install new teleseismometers with the ability to measure larger earthquakes, which would allow the calculation of a quake's moment magnitude scale in a timely manner. JMA also implemented a simpler empirical method to integrate, into a tsunami warning, data from GPS tidal meters as well as from undersea water pressure meters, and there are plans to install more of these meters and to develop further technology to utilize data observed by them. To prevent under-reporting of tsunami heights, early quantitative observation data that are smaller than the expected amplitude will be overridden and the public will instead be told that the situation is under observation. About 90 seconds after an earthquake, an additional report on the possibility of a tsunami will also be included in observation reports, in order to warn people before the JMA magnitude can be calculated. Elsewhere across the Pacific ThePacific Tsunami Warning Center(PTWC) in Hawaii issued tsunami watches and announcements for locations in the Pacific. At 07:30 UTC, PTWC issued a widespread tsunami warning covering the entire Pacific Ocean.Russia evacuated 11,000 residents from coastal areas of theKuril Islands.The United StatesNational Tsunami Warning Centerissued a tsunami warning for the coastal areas in most ofCalifornia, all ofOregon, and the western part ofAlaska, and a tsunami advisory covering the Pacific coastlines of most of Alaska, and all ofWashingtonandBritish Columbia, Canada.InCaliforniaandOregon, up to 2.4 m-high (7.9 ft) tsunami waves hit some areas, damaging docks and harbors and causing over US$10 million in damage.InCurry County, Oregon, US$7 million in damage occurred including the destruction of 1,100 m (3,600 ft) of docks at theBrookingsharbor; the county received over US$1 million inFEMAemergency grants from the US Federal Government.Surges of up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) hitVancouver Islandin Canadaprompting some evacuations, and causing boats to be banned from the waters surrounding the island for 12 hours following the wave strike, leaving many island residents in the area without means of getting to work. In thePhilippines, waves up to 0.5 m (1 ft 8 in) high hit the eastern seaboard of the country. Some houses along the coast inJayapura, Indonesiawere destroyed.Authorities inWewak,East Sepik, Papua New Guinea evacuated 100 patients from the city's Boram Hospital before it was hit by waves, causing an estimated US$4 million in damage.Hawaii estimated damage to public infrastructure alone at US$3 million, with damage to private properties, including resort hotels such asFour Seasons Resort Hualalai, estimated at tens of millions of dollars.It was reported that a 1.5 m-high (4.9 ft) wave completely submergedMidway Atoll's reef inlets and Spit Island, killing more than 110,000 nestingseabirdsat theMidway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.Some other South Pacific countries, includingTongaand New Zealand, and US territoriesAmerican SamoaandGuam, experienced larger-than-normal waves, but did not report any major damage.However, in Guam some roads were closed off and people were evacuated from low-lying areas. Along the Pacific Coast of Mexico and South America, tsunami surges were reported, but in most places caused little or no damage.Perureported a wave of 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) and more than 300 homes damaged.The surge inChilewas large enough to damage more than 200 houses,with waves of up to 3 m (9.8 ft).In theGalápagos Islands, 260 families received assistance following a 3 m (9.8 ft) surge which arrived 20 hours after the earthquake, after the tsunami warning had been lifted.There was a great deal of damage to buildings on the islands and one man was injured but there were no reported fatalities. After a 2 m (6 ft 7 in) high surge hit Chile, it was reported that the reflection from those surges traveledbackacross the Pacific, causing a 30–60 cm (12–24 in) surge in Japan, 47–48 hours after the earthquake, according to observation from multipletide gauges, including in Onahama, Owase, and Kushimoto. The tsunami brokeicebergsoff theSulzberger Ice ShelfinAntarctica, 13,000 km (8,100 mi) away. The main iceberg measured 9.5 km × 6.5 km (5.9 mi × 4.0 mi) (approximately the area ofManhattan Island) and about 80 m (260 ft) thick. A total of 125 km2(48 sq mi; 31,000 acres) of ice broke away. As of April 2012, wreckage from the tsunami spread around the world, including asoccerball which was found in Alaska'sMiddleton Islandand a Japanese motorcycle found in British Columbia, Canada. Norway On the day of the earthquake, the waters of severalfjordsacross Norway appeared to seethe as if boiling, and formed waves that rolled onto shores, most prominently inSognefjorden, where the phenomenon was caught on film. After two years of research, scientists concluded that the massive earthquake also triggered these surpriseseichewaves thousands of miles away. Casualties Japan Key statistics The official figures released in 2021 reported 19,759 deaths,6,242 injured,and 2,553 people missing.There were 10,567 deaths inMiyagi, 5,145 inIwate, 3,920 inFukushima, 66 inIbaraki, 22 inChiba, eight inTokyo, six inKanagawa, four inTochigi, three each inAomoriandYamagata, and one each inGunma,SaitamaandHokkaido.The leading causes of death were drowning (90.64% or 14,308 bodies), burning (0.9% or 145 bodies) and others (4.2% or 667 bodies, mostly crushed by heavy objects).Injuries related tonuclear exposureor thedischarge of radioactive water in Fukushimaare difficult to trace as 60% of the 20,000 workers on-site declined to participate in state-sponsored free health checks. Elderly aged over 60 account for 65.8% of all deaths, as shown on the table to the right.In particular, in theOkawa Elementary School tragedyin which 84 drowned, it was discovered that in the wake of the tsunami, young housewives who wanted to pick up their children to high ground found their voices drowned out by retired, elderly, male villagers, who preferred to stay put at the school, which was a sea-level evacuation site meant for earthquakes but not tsunamis.Richard Lloyd Parryconcluded the tragedy to be \"the ancient dialogue between the entreating voices of women, and the oblivious, overbearing dismissiveness of old men\". For the purpose of relief fund, an \"earthquake-related death\" was defined to include \"Physical and mental fatigue caused by life in temporary shelter\", \"Physical and mental fatigue caused by evacuation\", \"Delayed treatment due to an inoperative hospital\", \"Physical and mental fatigue caused by stress from the earthquake and tsunami\". A few cases of suicide are also included. Most of these deaths occurred during the first six months after the earthquake and the number dropped thereafter, but as time has passed, the number has continued to increase. Most of these deaths occurred in Fukushima Prefecture, where the prefectural government has suggested that they could be due to evacuations caused by theFukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.Within Fukushima Prefecture, these indirect casualties have already resulted in more deaths than the number of people killed directly by earthquake and tsunami. Others Save the Childrenreports that as many as 100,000 children were uprooted from their homes, some of whom were separated from their families because the earthquake occurred during the school day.236 children were orphaned in the prefectures ofIwate,MiyagiandFukushimaby the disaster;1,580 children lost either one or both parents,846 in Miyagi, 572 in Iwate, and 162 in Fukushima.The quake and tsunami killed 378 elementary, middle-school, and high school students and left 158 others missing.One elementary school inIshinomaki, Miyagi,Okawa Elementary School, lost 74 of 108 students and 10 of 13 teachers in the tsunami due to poor decision making in evacuation. The Japanese Foreign Ministry confirmed the deaths of nineteen foreigners.Among them were two English teachers from the United States affiliated with theJapan Exchange and Teaching Program;a Canadian missionary inShiogama;and citizens of China, North and South Korea, Taiwan, Pakistan and the Philippines. By 9:30 UTC on 11 March 2011,Google Person Finder, which was previously used in theHaitian,Chilean, andChristchurch, New Zealandearthquakes, was collecting information about survivors and their locations. Japanese funeralsare normally elaborate Buddhist ceremonies that entail cremation. The thousands of bodies, however, exceeded the capacity of availablecrematoriumsandmorgues, many of them damaged,and there were shortages of both kerosene—each cremation requires 50 litres—anddry icefor preservation.The single crematorium inHigashimatsushima, for example, could only handle four bodies a day, although hundreds were found there.Governments and the military were forced to bury many bodies in hastily dugmass graveswith rudimentary or no rites, although relatives of the deceased were promised that they would be cremated later. As of 27 May 2011, threeJapan Ground Self-Defense Forcemembers had died while conducting relief operations in Tōhoku.As of March 2012, the Japanese government had recognized 1,331 deaths as indirectly related to the earthquake, such as caused by harsh living conditions after the disaster.As of 30 April 2012, 18 people had died and 420 had been injured while participating in disaster recovery or clean-up efforts. Overseas The tsunami was reported to have caused several deaths outside Japan. One man was killed inJayapura,Papua, Indonesia after being swept out to sea.A man who is said to have been attempting to photograph the oncoming tsunami at the mouth of theKlamath River, south ofCrescent City, California, was swept out to sea.His body was found on 2 April 2011 along Ocean Beach inFort Stevens State Park, Oregon, 530 km (330 mi) to the north. Damage and effects The degree and extent of damage caused by the earthquake and resulting tsunami were enormous, with most of the damage being caused by the tsunami. Video footage of the towns that were worst affected shows little more than piles of rubble, with almost no parts of any structures left standing.Estimates of the cost of the damage range well into the tens of billions ofUS dollars; before-and-aftersatellitephotographs of devastated regions show immense damage to many regions.Although Japan has invested the equivalent of billions of dollars on anti-tsunami seawalls which line at least 40% of its 34,751 km (21,593 mi) coastline and stand up to 12 m (39 ft) high, the tsunami simply washed over the top of some seawalls, collapsing some in the process. Japan'sNational Police Agencysaid on 3 April 2011, that 45,700 buildings were destroyed and 144,300 were damaged by the quake and tsunami. The damaged buildings included 29,500 structures in Miyagi Prefecture, 12,500 in Iwate Prefecture and 2,400 in Fukushima Prefecture.Three hundred hospitals with 20 beds or more in Tōhoku were damaged by the disaster, with 11 being completely destroyed.The earthquake and tsunami created an estimated 24–25 million tons of rubble and debris in Japan. A report by the National Police Agency of Japan on 10 September 2018 listed 121,778 buildings as \"total collapsed\", with a further 280,926 buildings \"half collapsed\", and another 699,180 buildings \"partially damaged\".The earthquake and tsunami also caused extensive and severe structural damage in north-eastern Japan, including heavy damage to roads and railways as well as fires in many areas, and a dam collapse.Japanese Prime MinisterNaoto Kansaid, \"In the 65 years after the end of World War II, this is the toughest and the most difficult crisis for Japan.\"Around 4.4 million households in northeastern Japan were left without electricity and 1.5 million without water. An estimated 230,000 automobiles and trucks were damaged or destroyed in the disaster. As of the end of May 2011, residents of Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures had requested the deregistration of 15,000 vehicles, meaning that the owners of those vehicles were writing them off as unrepairable or unsalvageable. Weather conditions Low temperature andsnowfallwere major concerns after the earthquake.Snow arrived minutes before or after the tsunami, depending on locations.InIshinomaki, the city which suffered the most deaths,a temperature of 0 °C (32 °F) was measured, and it began to snow within a couple of hours of the earthquake.Major snow fell again on 16 March,and intermittently in the coming weeks.18 March was the coldest of that month, recording −4 to 6 °C (25 to 43 °F) inSendai.Photos of city ruins covered with snow were featured in various photo albums in international media, includingNASA. Waste The tsunami produced huge amounts of debris: estimates of 5 million tonnes of waste were reported by theJapanese Ministry of the Environment. Some of this waste, mostly plastic andstyrofoamwashed up on the coasts of Canada and the United States in late 2011. Along the west coast of the United States, this increased the amount of litter by a factor of ten and may have transportedalien species. Ports All of Japan's ports were briefly shut down after the earthquake, though the ones in Tokyo and southwards soon re-opened. Fifteen ports were located in the disaster zone. The north eastern ports of Hachinohe, Sendai, Ishinomaki and Onahama were destroyed, while thePort of Chiba(which serves the hydrocarbon industry) and Japan's ninth-largest container port atKashimawere also affected, though less severely. The ports at Hitachinaka, Hitachi, Soma, Shiogama, Kesennuma, Ofunato, Kamashi and Miyako were also damaged and closed to ships.All 15 ports reopened to limited ship traffic by 29 March 2011.A total of 319 fishing ports, about 10% of Japan's fishing ports, were damaged in the disaster.Most were restored to operating condition by 18 April 2012. ThePort of Tokyosuffered slight damage; the effects of the quake included visible smoke rising from a building in the port with parts of the port areas being flooded, includingsoil liquefactioninTokyo Disneyland's parking lot. Dams and water problems TheFujinuma irrigation daminSukagawaruptured,causing flooding and the washing away of five homes.Eight people were missing and four bodies were discovered by the morning.Reportedly, some locals had attempted to repair leaks in the dam before it completelyfailed.On 12 March 252 dams were inspected and it was discovered that sixembankment damshad shallow cracks on their crests. The reservoir at one concretegravity damsuffered a small non-seriousslope failure. All damaged dams are functioning with no problems. Four dams within the quake area were unreachable. In the immediate aftermath of the calamity, at least 1.5 million households were reported to have lost access to water supplies.By 21 March 2011, this number fell to 1.04 million. Electricity According to the Japanese trade ministry, around 4.4 million households served byTōhoku Electric Power(TEP) in northeastern Japan were left without electricity.Several nuclear and conventional power plants went offline, reducing theTokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) total capacity by 21 GW.Rolling blackoutsbegan on 14 March due to power shortages caused by the earthquake.TEPCO, which normally provides approximately 40GWof electricity, announced that it could only provide about 30 GW, because 40% of the electricity used in the greater Tokyo area was supplied by reactors in theNiigataandFukushimaprefectures.The reactors at theFukushima DaiichiandFukushima Dai-niplants were automatically taken offline when the first earthquake occurred and sustained major damage from the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Rolling blackouts of approximately three hours were experienced throughout April and May while TEPCO scrambled to find a temporary power solution. The blackouts affected Tokyo,Kanagawa, EasternShizuoka,Yamanashi,Chiba,Ibaraki,Saitama,Tochigi, andGunmaprefectures.Voluntary reductions in electricity use by consumers in the Kanto area helped reduce the predicted frequency and duration of the blackouts.By 21 March 2011, the number of households in the north without electricity fell to 242,927. Tōhoku Electric Power was not able to provide the Kanto region with additional power because TEP's power plants were also damaged in the earthquake.Kansai Electric Power Company(Kepco) could not share electricity, because its system operated at 60 hertz, whereas TEPCO and TEP operate their systems at 50 hertz; the disparity is due to early industrial and infrastructure development in the 1880s that left Japan without a unified nationalpower grid.Two substations, one in Shizuoka Prefecture and one in Nagano Prefecture, were able to convert between frequencies and transfer electricity from Kansai to Kanto and Tōhoku, but their capacity was limited to 1 GW. With damage to so many power plants, it was feared it might be years before a long-term solution could be found. To help alleviate the shortage, three steel manufacturers in the Kanto region contributed electricity produced by their in-house conventional power stations to TEPCO for distribution to the general public.Sumitomo Metal Industriescould produce up to 500 MW,JFE Steel400 MW, andNippon Steel500 MW of electric power.Auto and auto parts makers in Kanto and Tōhoku agreed in May 2011 to operate their factories on Saturdays and Sundays and close on Thursdays and Fridays to help alleviate electricity shortages during the summer of 2011.The public and other companies were also encouraged to conserve electricity in the 2011 summer months (Setsuden). The expected electricity crisis in 2011 summer was successfully prevented thanks to all thesetsudenmeasures. Peak electricity consumption recorded by TEPCO during the period was 49.22GW, which is 10.77GW (18%) lower than the peak consumption in the previous year. Overall electricity consumption during July and August was also 14% less than in the previous year.The peak electricity consumption within TEP's area was 12.46GW during the 2011 summer, 3.11GW (20%) less than the peak consumption in the previous year, and the overall consumption have been reduced by 11% in July with 17% in August compared to previous year.The Japanese government continued to ask the public to conserve electricity until 2016, when it is predicted that the supply will be sufficient to meet demand, thanks to the deepening of the mindset to conserve electricity among corporate and general public, addition of new electricity providers due to theelectricity liberalizationpolicy, increased output from renewable energy as well as fossil fuel power stations, as well as sharing of electricity between different electricity companies. Oil, gas and coal A 220,000-barrel (35,000 m3)-per-dayoil refineryofCosmo Oil Companywas set on fire by the quake atIchihara,Chiba Prefecture, to the east of Tokyo.It was extinguished after ten days, injuring six people, and destroying storage tanks.Other refineries halted production due to safety checks and power loss.In Sendai, a 145,000-barrel (23,100 m3)-per-day refinery owned by the largest refiner in Japan,JX Nippon Oil & Energy, was also set ablaze by the quake.Workers were evacuated,but tsunami warnings hindered efforts to extinguish the fire until 14 March, when officials planned to do so. An analyst estimates that consumption of various types of oil may increase by as much as 300,000 barrels (48,000 m3) per day (as well as LNG), as back-up power plants burningfossil fuelstry to compensate for the loss of 11 GW of Japan's nuclear power capacity. The city-owned plant for importingliquefied natural gasin Sendai was severely damaged, and supplies were halted for at least a month. In addition to refining and storage, several power plants were damaged. These include Sendai #4, New-Sendai #1 and #2, Haranomachi #1 and #2, Hirono #2 and #4 and Hitachinaka #1. Nuclear power plants TheFukushima Daiichi,Fukushima Daini,Onagawa Nuclear Power PlantandTōkai nuclear power stations, consisting of a total eleven reactors, wereautomatically shut downfollowing the earthquake.Higashidōri, also on the northeast coast, was already shut down for a periodic inspection. Cooling is needed to removedecay heatafter aGeneration II reactorhas been shut down, and to maintain spent fuel pools. The backup cooling process is powered by emergency diesel generators at the plants and atRokkasho nuclear reprocessing plant.At Fukushima Daiichi and Daini, tsunami waves overtopped seawalls and destroyed diesel backup power systems, leading to severe problems at Fukushima Daiichi, including three large explosions and radioactive leakage. Subsequent analysis found that many Japanese nuclear plants, including Fukushima Daiichi, were not adequately protected against tsunamis.Over 200,000 people were evacuated. Thedischarge of radioactive water in Fukushimawas confirmed in later analysis at the three reactors atFukushima I(Units 1, 2, and 3), which suffered meltdowns and continued to leak coolant water. The aftershock on 7 April caused the loss of external power to Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant and Higashidori Nuclear Power Plant but backup generators were functional.Onagawa Nuclear Power Plantlost three of its four external power lines and temporarily lost cooling function in its spent fuel pools for \"20 to 80 minutes\". A spill of \"up to 3.8 litres\" of radioactive water also occurred at Onagawa following the aftershock.A report by theIAEAin 2012 found that theOnagawa Nuclear Power Planthad remained largely undamaged. In 2013, only two nuclear reactors in Japan had been restarted since the 2011 shutdowns.In February 2019, there were 42 operable reactors in Japan. Of these, only nine reactors in five power plants were operating after having been restarted post-2011. Fukushima meltdowns Japan declared a state of emergency following the failure of the cooling system at theFukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, resulting in the evacuation of nearby residents.Officials from the JapaneseNuclear and Industrial Safety Agencyreported that radiation levels inside the plant were up to 1,000 times normal levels,and that radiation levels outside the plant were up to eight times normal levels.Later, a state of emergency was also declared at theFukushima Daininuclear power plant about 11 km (6.8 mi) south.Experts described the Fukushima disaster was not as bad as theChernobyl disaster, but worse than theThree Mile Island accident. Thedischarge of radioactive water of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plantwas later detected in tap water. Radioactive iodine was detected in the tap water in Fukushima, Tochigi, Gunma, Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama, and Niigata, and radioactive caesium in the tap water in Fukushima, Tochigi and Gunma.Radioactive caesium, iodine, and strontiumwere also detected in the soil in some places in Fukushima. There may be a need to replace the contaminated soil.Many radioactive hotspots were found outside the evacuation zone, including Tokyo.Radioactive contamination of food productswere detected in several places in Japan.In 2021, the Japanese cabinet finally approved thedumping of radioactive water in Fukushimainto the Pacific Ocean over a course of 30 years, with full support of IAEA. Incidents elsewhere A fire occurred in the turbine section of theOnagawa Nuclear Power Plantfollowing the earthquake.The blaze was in a building housing the turbine, which is sited separately from the plant's reactor,and was soon extinguished.The plant was shut down as a precaution. On 13 March the lowest-level state of emergency was declared regarding the Onagawa plant as radioactivity readings temporarilyexceeded allowed levels in the area of the plant.Tōhoku Electric Power Co. stated this may have been due to radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accidents but was not from the Onagawa plant itself. As a result of the 7 April aftershock, Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant lost three of four external power lines and lost cooling function for as much as 80 minutes. A spill of a couple of litres of radioactive water occurred at Onagawa. The number 2 reactor atTōkai Nuclear Power Plantwas shut down automatically.On 14 March it was reported that a cooling system pump for this reactor had stopped working;however, the Japan Atomic Power Company stated that there was a second operational pump sustaining the cooling systems, but that two of three diesel generators used to power the cooling system were out of order. Transport Japan's transport network suffered severe disruptions. Many sections ofTōhoku Expresswayserving northern Japan were damaged. The expressway did not reopen to general public use until 24 March 2011.All railway services were suspended in Tokyo, with an estimated 20,000 people stranded at major stations across the city.In the hours after the earthquake, some train services were resumed.Most Tokyo area train lines resumed full service by the next day—12 March.Twenty thousand stranded visitors spent the night of 11–12 March insideTokyo Disneyland. A tsunami floodedSendai Airportat 15:55 JST,about one hour after the initial quake, causing severe damage.NaritaandHaneda Airportboth briefly suspended operations after the quake, but suffered little damage and reopened within 24 hours.Eleven airliners bound for Narita were diverted to nearbyYokota Air Base. Various train services around Japan were also canceled, withJR Eastsuspending all services for the rest of the day.Four trains on coastal lines were reported as being out of contact with operators; one, a four-car train on theSenseki Line, was found to have derailed, and its occupants were rescued shortly after 8 am the next morning.Minami-Kesennuma Stationon theKesennuma Linewas obliterated save for its platform;62 of 70 (31 of 35) JR East train lines suffered damage to some degree;in the worst-hit areas, 23 stations on 7 lines were washed away, with damage or loss of track in 680 locations and the 30-km radius around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant unable to be assessed. There were no derailments ofShinkansenbullet train services in and out of Tokyo, but their services were also suspended.TheTokaido Shinkansenresumed limited service late in the day and was back to its normal schedule by the next day, while theJōetsuandNagano Shinkansenresumed services late on 12 March. Services onYamagata Shinkansenresumed with limited numbers of trains on 31 March. Derailments were minimized because of anearly warning system that detected the earthquakebefore it struck. The system automatically stopped all high-speed trains, which minimized the damage. TheTōhoku Shinkansenline was worst hit, with JR East estimating that 1,100 sections of the line, varying from collapsed station roofs to bent power pylons, would need repairs. Services on the Tōhoku Shinkansen partially resumed only in Kantō area on 15 March, with one round-trip service per hour betweenTokyoandNasu-Shiobara,and Tōhoku area service partially resumed on 22 March betweenMoriokaandShin-Aomori.Services onAkita Shinkansenresumed with limited numbers of trains on 18 March.Service between Tokyo andShin-Aomoriwas restored by May, but at lower speeds due to ongoing restoration work; the pre-earthquake timetable was not reinstated until late September. The rolling blackouts brought on by the crises at the nuclear power plants in Fukushima had a profound effect on the rail networks around Tokyo starting on 14 March. Major railways began running trains at 10–20 minute intervals, rather than the usual 3–5 minute intervals, operating some lines only at rush hour and completely shutting down others; notably, theTōkaidō Main Line,Yokosuka Line,Sōbu Main LineandChūō-Sōbu Linewere all stopped for the day.This led to near-paralysis within the capital, with long lines at train stations and many people unable to come to work or get home. Railway operators gradually increased capacity over the next few days, until running at approximately 80% capacity by 17 March and relieving the worst of the passenger congestion. Telecommunications Cellular and landline phone service suffered major disruptions in the affected area.Immediately after the earthquake cellular communication was jammed across much of Japan due to a surge of network activity. On the day of the quake itself American broadcasterNPRwas unable to reach anyone in Sendai with a working phone or access to the Internet.Internet services were largely unaffected in areas where basic infrastructure remained, despite the earthquake having damaged portions of severalundersea cablesystems landing in the affected regions; these systems were able to reroute around affected segments onto redundant links.Within Japan, only a few websites were initially unreachable.SeveralWi-Fihotspot providers reacted to the quake by providing free access to their networks,and some American telecommunications andVoIPcompanies such asAT&T,Sprint,Verizon,T-Mobileand VoIP companies such as netTALKandVonagehave offered free calls to (and in some cases, from) Japan for a limited time, as did Germany'sDeutsche Telekom. Defense Matsushima Air Fieldof theJapan Self-Defense Forcein Miyagi Prefecture received a tsunami warning, and the airbase public address 'Tanoy' was used to give the warning: 'A tsunami is coming evacuate to the third floor.' Shortly after the warning the airbase was struck by the tsunami, flooding the base. There was no loss of life, although the tsunami resulted in damage to all 18Mitsubishi F-2fighter jets of the 21st Fighter Training Squadron.Twelve of the aircraft were scrapped, while the remaining six were slated for repair at a cost of 80 billion yen ($1 billion), exceeding the original cost of the aircraft.After the tsunami, elements of theJapanese Maritime Self-Defence Forceput to sea without orders and started rescuing those who had been washed out to sea. Tsunami plans were for the Japanese Self-Defence Force assets to be led, directed, and coordinated by local civic governments. However, the earthquake destroyed town halls (the seat of local municipal government), police, and fire services in many places, so the military not only had to respond to but also command rescues. Cultural properties 754cultural propertieswere damaged across nineteen prefectures, including fiveNational Treasures(atZuigan-ji,Ōsaki Hachiman-gū,Shiramizu Amidadō, andSeihaku-ji); 160Important Cultural Properties(including atSendai Tōshō-gū, theKōdōkan, andEntsū-in, with itsWestern decorative motifs); 144Monuments of Japan(includingMatsushima,Takata-matsubara,Yūbikan, and theSite of Tagajō); sixGroups of Traditional Buildings; and fourImportant Tangible Folk Cultural Properties. Stone monuments at the UNESCOWorld Heritage Site:Shrines and Temples of Nikkōwere toppled.In Tokyo, there was damage toKoishikawa Kōrakuen,Rikugien,Hamarikyū Onshi Teien, and the walls ofEdo Castle.Information on the condition of collections held by museums, libraries and archives is still incomplete.There was no damage to theHistoric Monuments and Sites of Hiraizumiin Iwate Prefecture, and the recommendation for their inscription on theUNESCO World Heritage Listin June was seized upon as a symbol of international recognition and recovery. Aftermath The aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami included a humanitarian crisis and a major economic impact. The tsunami resulted in over 340,000 displaced people in the Tōhoku region, and shortages of food, water, shelter, medicine, and fuel for survivors. In response, the Japanese government mobilized the Self-Defence Forces (under Joint Task Force – Tōhoku, led by Lieutenant GeneralEiji Kimizuka), while many countries sent search and rescue teams to help search for survivors. Aid organizations in Japan and worldwide responded, with the Japanese Red Cross reporting $1 billion in donations. The economic impact included immediate problems, with industrial production suspended in many factories, and the longer term issue of the cost of rebuilding, which has been estimated at ¥10 trillion ($122 billion). In comparison to the1995 Great Hanshin earthquake, the East Japan earthquake brought serious damage to an extremely wide range. The aftermath of the twin disasters left Japan's coastal cities and towns with nearly 25 million tons of debris. In Ishinomaki alone, there were 17 trash collection sites 180 metres (590 ft) long and at least 4.5 metres (15 ft) high. An official in the city's government trash disposal department estimated that it would take three years to empty these sites. In April 2015, authorities off the coast ofOregondiscovered debris that was thought to be from a boat destroyed during the tsunami. The cargo containedyellowtail amberjack, a species of fish that lives off the coast of Japan, still alive. KGW estimates that more than 1 million tons of debris still remain in the Pacific Ocean. In February 2016, a memorial was inaugurated by two architects for the victims of the disaster, consisting of a 6.5-square-metre structure on a hillside between a temple and a cherry tree inIshinomaki. Scientific and research response Seismologists anticipated a very large quake would strike in the same place as the1923 Great Kantō earthquake—in theSagami Trough, southwest of Tokyo.The Japanese government had tracked plate movements since 1976 in preparation for the so-calledTokai earthquake, predicted to take place in that region.However, occurring as it did 373 km (232 mi) north east of Tokyo, the Tōhoku earthquake came as a surprise to seismologists. While theJapan Trenchwas known for creating large quakes, it had not been expected to generate quakes above an 8.0 magnitude.The Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion set up by the Japanese government then reassessed the long-term risk of trench-type earthquakes around Japan, and it was announced in November 2011 that research on the869 Sanriku earthquakeindicated that a similar earthquake with a magnitude ofMw8.4–9.0 would take place off the Pacific coast of northeastern Japan, on average, every 600 years. Also, a tsunami-earthquake with atsunami magnitude scales(Mt) between 8.6 and 9.0 (Similar to the1896 Sanriku earthquake, the Mt for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake was 9.1–9.4) had a 30% chance to occur within 30 years. The quake gave scientists the opportunity to collect a large amount of data to model the seismic events that took place in great detail.This data is expected to be used in a variety of ways, providing unprecedented information about how buildings respond to shaking, and other effects.Gravimetricdata from the quake have been used to create a model forincreased warning timecompared to seismic models, as gravity fields travel faster than seismic waves. Researchers have also analysed the economic effects of this earthquake and have developed models of the nationwide propagation via interfirm supply networks of the shock that originated in the Tōhoku region. After the full extent of the disaster was known, researchers soon launched a project to gather all digital material relating to the disaster into an online searchable archive to form the basis of future research into the events during and after the disaster. The Japan Digital Archive is presented in English and Japanese and is hosted at the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies atHarvard Universityin Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some of the first research to come from the archive was a 2014 paper from the Digital Methods Initiative in Amsterdam about patterns ofTwitterusage around the time of the disaster. After the 2011 disaster, theUnited Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reductionheld itsWorld Conference on Disaster Risk Reductionin Tohoku in March 2015, which produced theSendai Frameworkdocument to guide efforts by international development agencies to act before disasters instead of reacting to them after the fact. At this time Japan's Disaster Management Office (Naikakufu Bosai Keikaku) published a bi-lingual guide in Japanese and English,Disaster Management in Japan, to outline the several varieties of natural disaster and the preparations being made for the eventuality of each. In the fall of 2016, Japan's National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED; Japanese abbreviation, Bosai Kaken; full name Bousai Kagaku Gijutsu Kenkyusho) launched the online interactive \"Disaster Chronology Map for Japan, 416–2013\" (map labels in Japanese) to display in visual form the location, disaster time, and date across the islands. TheJapan Trench Fast Drilling Project, a scientific expedition conducted in 2012–2013, drilled ocean-floor boreholes through the fault zone of the earthquake and gathered important data about the rupture mechanism and physical properties of the fault that caused the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Ecological research The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami had a great environmental impact on Japan's eastern coast. The rarity and magnitude of the earthquake-tsunami prompted researchersJotaro Urabe, Takao Suzuki, Tatsuki Nishita, and Wataru Makino to study their immediate ecological impacts on intertidal flat communities at Sendai Bay and the Sanriku Ria coast. Pre- and post-event surveys show a reduction in animal taxon richness and change in taxon composition mainly attributed to the tsunami and its physical impacts. In particular,sessileepibenthicanimals and endobenthic animals both decreased in taxon richness. Mobile epibenthic animals, such as hermit crabs, were not as affected. Post-surveys also recorded taxa that were not previously recorded before, suggesting that tsunamis have the potential to introduce species and change taxon composition and local community structure. The long term ecological impacts at Sendai Bay and the greater east coast of Japan require further study. See also 3.11 and aftermath Lists of earthquakes and tsunamis Documentaries and commemoration events Explanatory notes References Further reading Sources This article incorporates text from afree contentwork. Licensed under Cc BY-SA 3.0 IGO (license statement/permission). Text taken fromDrowning in Plastics – Marine Litter and Plastic Waste Vital Graphics, United Nations Environment Programme. External links","Lists of earthquakes Earthquakesare caused by movements within theEarth's crustand uppermostmantle. They range from weak events detectable only byseismometers, to sudden and violent events lasting many minutes which have caused some of the greatest disasters inhuman history. Below, earthquakes are listed by period, region or country, year, magnitude, cost, fatalities, and number of scientific studies. Lists by time period By century By decade By year Lists by location By country By region Deadliest earthquakes The following is a summary list of earthquakes with over approximately 100,000 deaths.The893 Ardabil earthquakeprobably relate to the893 Dvin earthquake, due to misreading of the Arabic word forDvin, 'Dabil' as 'Ardabil'.This is regarded as a 'fake earthquake'. Deadliest earthquakes by year Largest earthquakes by magnitude For those which occurred before the development and deployment ofseismographs– starting around 1900 – magnitudes are estimated from historical reports of the extent and severity of damage. Pre-instrumental earthquakes List by year List by country/territory Costliest earthquakes This is the top ten major earthquakes by the dollar value of property (public and private) losses directly attributable to the earthquake. Most studied earthquakes The 50 most studied earthquakes according to theInternational Seismological Centre(ISC), based on a count of scientific papers (mostly in English) that discuss that earthquake. The \"Event #\" is linked to the ISC Event Bibliography for that event. Modified from figure 2, \"The most studied events\", at the ISC'sOverview of the ISC Event Bibliography. International Seismological Centre.Event Bibliography. Thatcham, United Kingdom.2018. See also References External links","1964 Alaska earthquake The1964 Alaskan earthquake, also known as theGreat Alaskan earthquakeandGood Friday earthquake, occurred at 5:36 PMAKSTonGood Friday, March 27, 1964.Across south-centralAlaska, ground fissures, collapsing structures, andtsunamisresulting from the earthquake caused about 131 deaths. Lasting four minutes and thirty-eight seconds, the magnitude 9.2–9.3megathrust earthquakeremains the most powerful earthquake ever recorded inNorth America,and thesecond most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the worldsince modern seismography began in 1900.Six hundred miles (970 km) of fault ruptured at once and moved up to 60 ft (18 m), releasing about 500 years of stress buildup.Soil liquefaction, fissures, landslides, and other ground failures caused major structural damage in several communities and much damage to property.Anchoragesustained great destruction or damage to many inadequatelyearthquake-engineeredhouses, buildings, and infrastructure (paved streets, sidewalks, water and sewer mains, electrical systems, and other man-made equipment), particularly in the several landslide zones alongKnik Arm. Two hundred miles (320 km) southwest, some areas nearKodiakwere permanently raised by 30 feet (9 m). Southeast of Anchorage, areas around the head ofTurnagain ArmnearGirdwoodandPortagedropped as much as 8 feet (2.4 m), requiring reconstruction and fill to raise theSeward Highwayabove the new hightidemark. InPrince William Sound,Port Valdezsuffered a massive underwater landslide, resulting in the deaths of 32 people between the collapse of theValdezcity harbor and docks, and inside the ship that was docked there at the time. Nearby, a 27-foot (8.2 m) tsunami destroyed the village ofChenega, killing 23 of the 68 people who lived there. The survivors out-ran the wave, climbing to high ground. Post-quake tsunamis severely affectedWhittier,Seward,Kodiak, and other Alaskan communities, as well as people and property inBritish Columbia,Washington,Oregon, andCalifornia.Tsunamis also caused damage inHawaiiandJapan. Evidence of motion directly related to the earthquake was also reported fromFloridaandTexas. Geology On March 27, 1964, at 5:36 p.m. AKST (March 28, at 3:36 a.m.UTC),afaultbetween thePacificandNorth Americanplatesruptured nearCollege Fjordin Prince William Sound. Theepicenterof the earthquake was 12.4 mi (20.0 km) north ofPrince William Sound, 78 miles (126 km) east of Anchorage and 40 miles (64 km) west of Valdez. The focus occurred at a depth of approximately 15.5 mi (24.9 km). Ocean floor shifts created large tsunamis (up to 220 feet (67 m) in height), which resulted in many of the deaths and much of the property damage.Large rockslides were also caused, resulting in great property damage.Vertical displacementof up to 38 feet (12 m) occurred, affecting an area of 100,000 square miles (260,000 km2) within Alaska. Studies ofground motionhave led to apeak ground accelerationestimate of 0.14–0.18g.The earthquake was assigned a maximumModified Mercalli intensityof X (Extreme). Shaking was felt across much of Alaska and parts of westernYukonandBritish Columbiain Canada. The Alaska earthquake was asubduction zone(megathrust) earthquake, caused by an oceanic plate sinking under a continental plate. The fault responsible was theAleutian Megathrust, a reverse fault caused by a compressional force. This caused much of the uneven ground which is the result of ground shifted to the opposite elevation.Uplift occurred across 520,000 km2(200,000 sq mi) from southern Kodiak to Prince William Sound and further east of the sound. The maximum uplift was in Montague Island, where the ground was raised 13–15 m (43–49 ft) relative to sea level. The uplift also affected Kodiak, Sitkalidak, and Sitkinak islands. Subsidence was observed for 285,000 km2(110,000 sq mi) from north and west of the sound, in Chugach Mountains, most of Kenai Peninsula, and almost all the Kodiak Island group. Tsunami Two types of tsunami were produced by this subduction zone earthquake. There was a tectonic tsunami produced in addition to about 20 smaller and local tsunamis. These smaller tsunamis were produced by submarine and subaerial landslides and were responsible for the majority of the tsunami damage. Tsunami waves were noted in over 20 countries, including Peru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Japan, Mexico, and in thecontinent of Antarctica. The largest tsunami wave was recorded inShoup Bay, Alaska, with a height of about 220 ft (67 m). Death toll, damage, and casualties As a result of the earthquake, 131 people are believed to have died:Nine died as a result of the earthquake itself and another 122 died from the subsequent tsunamis all over the world.Five died from the tsunami inOregon,and 12 died from the tsunami inCrescent City,California.Property damage was estimated at $116 million($0.87 billion in 2023 dollars). Anchorage area Most damage occurred in Anchorage, 75 mi (121 km) northwest of the epicenter. Anchorage was not hit by tsunamis, butdowntownAnchorage was heavily damaged, and parts of the city built on sandy bluffs overlying \"Bootlegger Coveclay\" nearCook Inlet, most notably the Turnagain neighborhood, sufferedlandslidedamage. The neighborhood lost 75 houses in the landslide, and the destroyed area has since been turned intoEarthquake Park.TheGovernment Hill schoolsuffered from theGovernment Hilllandslide, leaving it in two jagged, broken pieces. Land overlooking theShip Creekvalley near theAlaska Railroadyards also slid, destroying many acres of buildings and city blocks in downtown Anchorage. Most other areas of the city were only moderately damaged. The 60-foot (18 m) concrete control tower atAnchorage International Airportwas not engineered to withstand earthquake activity and collapsed, killing William George Taylor, theFederal Aviation Agencyair traffic controller on duty in the tower cab at the time the earthquake began. One house on W. 10th Avenue suffered peripheral damage, but only one block away the recently completed (and still unoccupied) Four Seasons Building on Ninth Avenue collapsed completely, with the concrete elevator shafts sticking up out of the rubble like a seesaw. The hamlets ofGirdwoodandPortage, located 30 and 40 mi (48 and 64 km) southeast of central Anchorage on theTurnagain Arm, were destroyed by subsidence and subsequent tidal action. Girdwood was relocated inland and Portage was abandoned. About 20 miles (32 km) of the Seward Highway sank below the high-water mark of Turnagain Arm; the highway and its bridges were raised and rebuilt in 1964–66. Elsewhere in Alaska Most coastal towns in the Prince William Sound,Kenai Peninsula, andKodiak Islandareas, especially the major ports ofSeward,WhittierandKodiakwere heavily damaged by a combination of seismic activity,subsidence, post-quake tsunamis and/or earthquake-causedfires. Valdez with 32 dead was not totally destroyed, but after three years, the town relocated to higher ground four miles (6.4 km) west of its original site. SomeAlaska Nativevillages, includingChenegaandAfognak, were destroyed or damaged.The earthquake caused theballistic missiledetection radar ofClear Air Force Stationto go offline for six minutes,the only unscheduled interruption in its operational history. NearCordova, theMillion Dollar Bridgecrossing theCopper Riveralso suffered damage, with Span #4 slipping off its pylon and collapsing. The community ofGirdwoodwas also confined to the southern side of the Seward Highway when water rushed into Turnagain Arm and flooded or destroyed any buildings left standing to the north of the highway. Only the ground immediately along the highway and that on the north side of the road dropped, prompting geologists to speculate that Girdwood may rest upon an ancient cliff face covered by thousands of years of sediment and glacial deposits. Canada A 4.5 ft (1.4 m) wave reachedPrince Rupert, British Columbia, just south of theAlaska Panhandle, about three hours after the earthquake. The tsunami then reachedTofino, on the exposed west coast ofVancouver Island, and traveled up afjordto hitPort Albernitwice, washing away 55 homes and damaging 375 others. The towns ofHot Springs Cove,Zeballos, andAmaialso saw damage.The damage in British Columbia was estimated at CA$10 million ($96 million in 2023 Canadian dollars or $91 million in 2023 US dollars). Elsewhere Twelve people were killed by the tsunami in or nearCrescent City, California, while four children were killed on the Oregon coast atBeverly Beach State Park.Other coastal towns in the U.S.Pacific NorthwestandHawaiiwere damaged. Minor damage to boats occurred as far south asLos Angeles.Effects of the earthquake were even noted as far east asFreeport, Texas, where tide gauges recorded waves similar toseismic surface waves.Seicheswere detected in wells in countries around the world, including England, Namibia, and Australia. Aftershocks There were hundreds of aftershocks in the first weeks following the main shock. In the first day alone, eleven major aftershocks were recorded with a magnitude greater than 6.0. Nine more struck over the next three weeks. In all, thousands of aftershocks occurred in the months following the quake, and smaller aftershocks continued to strike the region for more than a year. Recovery efforts Alaska had never experienced a major disaster in a highly populated area before, and had very limited resources for dealing with the effects of such an event. In Anchorage, at the urging of geologistLidia Selkregg, the City of Anchorage and the Alaska State Housing Authority appointed a team of 40 scientists, including geologists, soil scientists, and engineers, to assess the damage done by the earthquake to the city.The team, called the Engineering and Geological Evaluation Group, was headed byDr. Ruth A. M. Schmidt, a geology professor at theUniversity of Alaska Anchorage. The team of scientists came into conflict with local developers and downtown business owners who wanted to immediately rebuild; the scientists wanted to identify future dangers to ensure that rebuilt infrastructure would be safe.The team produced a report on May 8, 1964, just a little more than a month after the earthquake. The United States military, which has a large active presence in Alaska, also stepped in to assist within moments of the end of the quake. TheU.S. Armyrapidly re-established communications with the lower 48 states, deployed troops to assist the citizens of Anchorage, and dispatched a convoy to Valdez.On the advice of military and civilian leaders, PresidentLyndon B. Johnsondeclared all of Alaska a major disaster area the day after the quake. TheU.S. NavyandU.S. Coast Guarddeployed ships to isolated coastal communities to assist with immediate needs. Bad weather and poor visibility hampered air rescue and observation efforts the day after the quake, but on Sunday the 29th the situation improved and rescue helicopters and observation aircraft were deployed.A military airlift immediately began shipping relief supplies to Alaska, eventually delivering 2,570,000 pounds (1,170,000 kg) of food and other supplies.Broadcast journalistGenie Chanceassisted in recovery and relief efforts, staying on theKENIair waves over Anchorage for more than 24 continuous hours as the voice of calm from her temporary post within the Anchorage Public Safety Building.She was effectively designated as the public safety officer by the city's police chief.Chance provided breaking news of the catastrophic events that continued to develop following the magnitude 9.2 earthquake, and she served as the voice of the public safety office, coordinating response efforts, connecting available resources to needs around the community, disseminating information about shelters and prepared food rations, passing messages of well-being between loved ones, and helping to reunite families. In the longer term, theU.S. Army Corps of Engineersled the effort to rebuild roads, clear debris, and establish new townsites for communities that had been completely destroyed, at a cost of $110 million.TheWest Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Centerwas formed as a direct response to the disaster. Federal disaster relief funds paid for reconstruction as well as financially supporting the devastated infrastructure of Alaska's government, spending hundreds of millions of dollars that helped keep Alaska financially solvent until the discovery of massive oil deposits atPrudhoe Bay. At the order of theU.S. Defense Department, theAlaska National Guardfounded theAlaska Division of Emergency Servicesto respond to any future disasters. See also Notes References Specific General External links"],"string":"[\n \"2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami On 11 March 2011, at 14:46JST(05:46UTC), aMw9.0–9.1underseamegathrust earthquakeoccurred in the Pacific Ocean, 72 km (45 mi) east of theOshika Peninsulaof theTōhoku region. It lasted approximately six minutes and caused atsunami. It is sometimes known in Japan as the \\\"Great East Japan Earthquake\\\"(東日本大震災,Higashi nihon daishinsai), among other names.The disaster is often referred to by its numerical date,3.11(readsan ten ichi-ichiin Japanese). It was themost powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan, and thefourth most powerful earthquake recorded in the worldsince modern seismography began in 1900.The earthquake triggered powerfultsunamiwaves that may have reached heights of up to 40.5 meters (133 ft) inMiyakoin Tōhoku'sIwate Prefecture,and which, in theSendaiarea, traveled at 700 km/h (435 mph)and up to 10 km (6 mi) inland.Residents of Sendai had only eight to ten minutes of warning, and more than a hundred evacuation sites were washed away.The snowfall which accompanied the tsunamiand the freezing temperature hindered rescue works greatly;for instance,Ishinomaki, the city with the most deaths,was 0 °C (32 °F) as the tsunami hit.The official figures released in 2021 reported 19,759 deaths,6,242 injured,and 2,553 people missing,and a report from 2015 indicated 228,863 people were still living away from their home in either temporary housing or due to permanent relocation. The tsunami caused theFukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, primarily themeltdownsof three of its reactors, thedischarge of radioactive water in Fukushimaand the associated evacuation zones affecting hundreds of thousands of residents.Many electrical generators ran out of fuel. The loss of electrical power halted cooling systems, causing heat to build up. The heat build-up caused the generation of hydrogen gas. Without ventilation, gas accumulated within the upper refueling hall and eventually exploded causing the refueling hall's blast panels to be forcefully ejected from the structure. Residents within a 20 km (12 mi) radius of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and a 10 km (6.2 mi) radius of theFukushima Daini Nuclear Power Plantwere evacuated. Early estimates placed insured losses from the earthquake alone at US$14.5 to $34.6 billion.TheBank of Japanoffered¥15 trillion (US$183 billion) to the banking system on 14 March 2011 in an effort to normalize market conditions.The estimated economic damages amounted to over $300 billion, making it thecostliest natural disaster in history.According to a 2020 study, \\\"the earthquake and its aftermaths resulted in a 0.47 percentage point decline in Japan's real GDP growth in the year following the disaster.\\\" Earthquake Themagnitude9.1 (Mw)underseamegathrust earthquakeoccurred on 11 March 2011 at 14:46JST(05:46 UTC) in the north-western Pacific Ocean at a relatively shallow depth of 32 km (20 mi),with itsepicenterapproximately 72 km (45 mi) east of theOshika PeninsulaofTōhoku, Japan, lasting approximately six minutes.The earthquake was initially reported as 7.9 Mwby theUSGSbefore it was quickly upgraded to 8.8 Mw, then to 8.9 Mw,and then finally to 9.0 Mw.On 11 July 2016, the USGS further upgraded the earthquake to 9.1.Sendaiwas the nearest major city to the earthquake, 130 km (81 mi) from the epicenter; the earthquake occurred 373 km (232 mi) northeast ofTokyo. The main earthquake was preceded by a number of largeforeshocks, with hundreds ofaftershocksreported. One of the first major foreshocks was a 7.2 Mwevent on 9 March, approximately 40 km (25 mi) from the epicenter of the 11 March earthquake, with another three on the same day in excess of 6.0 Mw.Following the main earthquake on 11 March, a 7.4 Mwaftershock was reported at 15:08 JST (6:06 UTC), succeeded by a 7.9 Mwat 15:15 JST (6:16 UTC) and a 7.7 Mwat 15:26 JST (6:26 UTC).Over 800 aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 Mwor greater have occurred since the initial quake,including one on 26 October 2013 (local time) of magnitude 7.1 Mw.Aftershocks followOmori's law, which states that the rate of aftershocks declines with the reciprocal of the time since the main quake. The aftershocks will thus taper off in time, but could continue for years. The earthquake movedHonshu2.4 m (8 ft) east, shifted the Earth on its axis by estimates of between 10 and 25 cm (4 and 10 in),increased Earth's rotational speed by 1.8μsper day,and generatedinfrasoundwaves detected in perturbations of the low-orbitingGravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorersatellite.Initially, the earthquake caused sinking of part of Honshu's Pacific coast by up to roughly a metre, but after about three years, the coast rose back and then kept on rising to exceed its original height. Geology This megathrust earthquake was a recurrence of the mechanism of the earlier869 Sanriku earthquake, which has been estimated as having a magnitude of at least 8.4 Mw, which also created a large tsunami that inundated the Sendai plain.Three tsunami deposits have been identified within theHolocenesequence of the plain, all formed within the last 3,000 years, suggesting an 800 to 1,100 year recurrence interval for large tsunamigenic earthquakes. In 2001 it was reckoned that there was a high likelihood of a large tsunami hitting the Sendai plain as more than 1,100 years had then elapsed.In 2007, the probability of an earthquake with a magnitude of Mw8.1–8.3 was estimated as 99% within the following 30 years. This earthquake occurred where thePacific Plateissubductingunder the plate beneath northern Honshu.The Pacific Plate, which moves at a rate of 8 to 9 cm (3.1 to 3.5 in) per year, dips under Honshu's underlying plate, building large amounts ofelastic energy. This motion pushes the upper plate down until the accumulated stress causes a seismic slip-rupture event. The break caused the sea floor to rise by several metres.The magnitude of this earthquake was a surprise to some seismologists.A quake of this magnitude usually has a rupture length of at least 500 km (310 mi) and generally requires a long, relatively straight fault surface. Because the plate boundary andsubduction zonein the area of the Honshu rupture is not very straight, it is unusual for the magnitude of its earthquake to exceed 8.5 Mw.Thehypocentral regionof this earthquake extended from offshoreIwate Prefectureto offshoreIbaraki Prefecture.TheJapanese Meteorological Agencysaid that the earthquake may have ruptured the fault zone from Iwate to Ibaraki with a length of 500 km (310 mi) and a width of 200 km (120 mi).Analysis showed that this earthquake consisted of a set of three events.Other major earthquakes with tsunamis struck theSanriku Coastregionin 1896andin 1933. The source area of this earthquake has a relatively high coupling coefficient surrounded by areas of relatively low coupling coefficients in the west, north, and south. From the averaged coupling coefficient of 0.5–0.8 in the source area and the seismic moment, it was estimated that the slip deficit of this earthquake was accumulated over a period of 260–880 years, which is consistent with the recurrence interval of such great earthquakes estimated from the tsunami deposit data. The seismic moment of this earthquake accounts for about 93% of the estimated cumulative moment from 1926 to March 2011. Hence, earthquakes in this area with magnitudes of about 7 since 1926 had only released part of the accumulated energy. In the area near the trench, the coupling coefficient is high, which could act as the source of the large tsunami. Most of the foreshocks are interplate earthquakes with thrust-type focal mechanisms. Both interplate and intraplate earthquakes appeared in the aftershocks offshore Sanriku coast with considerable proportions. Energy Thesurface energyof the seismic waves from the earthquake was calculated to be1.9×1017joules,which is nearly double that of the 9.1 Mw2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamithat killed 230,000 people. If harnessed, the seismic energy from this earthquake would power a city the size of Los Angeles for an entire year.Theseismic moment(M0), which represents a physical size for the event, was calculated by the USGS at 3.9×1022joules,slightly less than the 2004 Indian Ocean quake. Japan's National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED) calculated apeak ground accelerationof 2.99g(29.33 m/s2).The largest individual recording in Japan was 2.7g, in Miyagi Prefecture, 75 km from the epicentre; the highest reading in the Tokyo metropolitan area was 0.16g. Intensity The strong ground motion registered at the maximum of 7 on theJapan Meteorological Agency seismic intensity scaleinKurihara,Miyagi Prefecture.Three other prefectures—Fukushima,IbarakiandTochigi—recorded a 6 upper on the JMA scale. Seismic stations inIwate,Gunma,SaitamaandChiba Prefecturemeasured a 6 lower, recording a 5 upper in Tokyo. Geophysical effects Portions of northeastern Japan shifted by as much as 2.4 metres (7 ft 10 in) closer to North America,making some sections of Japan's landmass wider than before.Those areas of Japan closest to the epicenter experienced the largest shifts.A 400-kilometre (250 mi) stretch of coastline dropped vertically by 0.6 metres (2 ft 0 in), allowing the tsunami to travel farther and faster onto land.One early estimate suggested that the Pacific plate may have moved westward by up to 20 metres (66 ft),and another early estimate put the amount of slippage at as much as 40 m (130 ft).On 6 April the Japanese coast guard said that the quake shifted the seabed near the epicenter 24 metres (79 ft) and elevated the seabed off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture by 3 metres (9.8 ft).A report by theJapan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, published inScienceon 2 December 2011, concluded that the seabed in the area between the epicenter and theJapan Trenchmoved 50 metres (160 ft) east-southeast and rose about 7 metres (23 ft) as a result of the quake. The report also stated that the quake had caused several major landslides on the seabed in the affected area. The Earth'saxisshifted by estimates of between 10 and 25 cm (4 and 10 in).This deviation led to a number of small planetary changes, including thelength of a day, thetilt of the Earth, and theChandler wobble.The speed of the Earth's rotation increased, shortening the day by 1.8microsecondsdue to the redistribution of Earth's mass.The axial shift was caused by the redistribution of mass on the Earth's surface, which changed the planet'smoment of inertia. Because ofconservation of angular momentum, such changes ofinertiaresult in small changes to the Earth's rate of rotation.These are expected changesfor an earthquake of this magnitude.The earthquake also generated infrasound waves detected by perturbations in the orbit of theGOCEsatellite, which thusserendipitouslybecame the first seismograph in orbit. Following the earthquake, cracks were observed to have formed in the roof ofMount Fuji'smagma chamber. Seichesobserved inSognefjorden, Norway were attributed to distantS wavesandLove wavesgenerated by the earthquake. These seiches began to occur roughly half an hour after the main shock hit Japan, and continued to occur for 3 hours, during which waves of up to 1.5 meters high were observed. Soil liquefactionwas evident in areas ofreclaimed landaround Tokyo, particularly inUrayasu,Chiba City,Funabashi,Narashino(all inChiba Prefecture) and in theKoto,Edogawa,Minato,Chūō, andŌtaWards of Tokyo. Approximately 30 homes or buildings were destroyed and 1,046 other buildings were damaged to varying degrees.NearbyHaneda Airport, built mostly on reclaimed land, was not damaged.Odaibaalso experienced liquefaction, but damage was minimal. Shinmoedake, a volcano inKyushu, erupted three days after the earthquake. The volcano had previously erupted in January 2011; it is not known if the later eruption was linked to the earthquake.InAntarctica, the seismic waves from the earthquake were reported to have caused theWhillans Ice Streamto slip by about 0.5 metres (1 ft 8 in). The first sign international researchers had that the earthquake caused such a dramatic change in the Earth's rotation came from the United States Geological Survey which monitors Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) stations across the world. The Survey team had several GPS monitors located near the scene of the earthquake. The GPS station located nearest the epicenter moved almost 4 m (13 ft). This motivated government researchers to look into other ways the earthquake may have had large scale effects on the planet. Calculations at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory determined that the Earth's rotation was changed by the earthquake to the point where the days are now 1.8microsecondsshorter. Aftershocks Japan experienced over 1,000 aftershocks since the earthquake, with 80 registering over magnitude 6.0 Mwand several of which have been over magnitude 7.0 Mw. A magnitude 7.4 Mwat 15:08 (JST), 7.9 Mwat 15:15 and a 7.7 Mwquake at 15:26 all occurred on 11 March. A month later, amajor aftershockstruck offshore on 7 April with a magnitude of 7.1 Mw. Its epicenter was underwater, 66 km (41 mi) off the coast of Sendai. TheJapan Meteorological Agencyassigned a magnitude of 7.4 MJMA, while theU.S. Geological Surveylowered it to 7.1 Mw.At least four people were killed, and electricity was cut off across much of northern Japan including the loss of external power toHigashidōri Nuclear Power PlantandRokkasho Reprocessing Plant. Four days later on 11 April, anothermagnitude 7.1 Mwaftershockstruck Fukushima, causing additional damage and killing a total of three people. On 7 December 2012 alarge aftershock of magnitude 7.3 Mwcaused a minor tsunami, and again on 26 October 2013 a small tsunami was recorded after a 7.1 Mwaftershock. As of 16 March 2012 aftershocks continued, totaling 1887 events over magnitude 4.0; a regularly updated map showing all shocks of magnitude 4.5 and above near or off the east coast of Honshu in the last seven daysshowed over 20 events. As of 11 March 2016there had been 869 aftershocks of 5.0 Mwor greater, 118 of 6.0 Mwor greater, and 9 over 7.0 Mwas reported by the Japanese Meteorological Agency. The number of aftershocks was associated with decreased health across Japan. On 13 February 2021, amagnitude 7.1–7.3 earthquakestruck off the coast of Sendai. It caused some damage in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures. One person was killed, and 185 were injured. Land subsidence TheGeospatial Information Authority of Japanreported landsubsidencebased on the height oftriangulation stationsin the area measured byGPSas compared to their previous values from 14 April 2011. Scientists say that the subsidence is permanent. As a result, the communities in question are now more susceptible to flooding during high tides. Earthquake Warning System One minute before the earthquake was felt in Tokyo, theEarthquake Early Warningsystem, which includes more than 1,000seismometersin Japan, sent out warnings of impending strong shaking to millions. It is believed that the early warning by theJapan Meteorological Agency(JMA) saved many lives.The warning for the general public was delivered about eight seconds after the firstP wavewas detected, or about 31 seconds after the earthquake occurred. However, the estimated intensities were smaller than the actual ones in some places, especially in Kanto,Koshinetsu, and Northern Tōhoku regions where the populace warning did not trigger. According to theJapan Meteorological Agency, reasons for the underestimation include a saturated magnitude scale when using maximum amplitude as input, failure to fully take into account the area of thehypocenter, and the initial amplitude of the earthquake being less than that which would be predicted by an empirical relationship. There were also cases where large differences between estimated intensities by the Earthquake Early Warning system and the actual intensities occurred in the aftershocks and triggered earthquakes. Such discrepancies in the warning were attributed by the JMA to the system's inability to distinguish between two different earthquakes that happened at around same time, as well as to the reduced number of reporting seismometers due to power outages and connection failures.The system's software was subsequently modified to handle this kind of situation. Tsunami An upthrust of 6 to 8 metres (20 to 26 ft) along a 180 kilometres (110 mi) wide seabed at 60 kilometres (37 mi) offshore from the east coast of Tōhokuresulted in a majortsunamithat brought destruction along thePacificcoastline of Japan's northern islands. Thousands of people died and entire towns were devastated. The tsunami propagated throughout the Pacific Ocean region reaching the entire Pacific coast of North and South America fromAlaskatoChile. Warnings were issued and evacuations were carried out in many countries bordering the Pacific. Although the tsunami affected many of these places, the heights of the waves were minor.Chile's Pacific coast, one of the farthest from Japan at about 17,000 kilometres (11,000 mi) away, was struck by waves 2 metres (6.6 ft) high,compared with an estimated wave height of 38.9 metres (128 ft) at Omoe peninsula, Miyako city, Japan. Japan Thetsunami warningissued by theJapan Meteorological Agencywas the most serious on its warning scale; it was rated as a \\\"major tsunami\\\", being at least 3 metres (9.8 ft) high.The actual height prediction varied, the greatest being for Miyagi at 6 metres (20 ft) high.The tsunami inundated a total area of approximately 561 square kilometres (217 sq mi) in Japan. The earthquake took place at 14:46 JST (UTC 05:46) around 67 kilometres (42 mi) from the nearest point on Japan's coastline, and initial estimates indicated the tsunami would have taken 10 to 30 minutes to reach the areas first affected, and then areas farther north and south based on the geography of the coastline.At 15:55 JST, a tsunami was observed floodingSendai Airport, which is located near the coast ofMiyagi Prefecture,with waves sweeping away cars and planes and flooding various buildings as they traveled inland.The impact of the tsunami in and around Sendai Airport was filmed by anNHKNews helicopter, showing a number of vehicles on local roads trying to escape the approaching wave and being engulfed by it.A 4-metre-high (13 ft) tsunami hitIwate Prefecture.Wakabayashi Wardin Sendai was also particularly hard hit.At least 101 designated tsunami evacuation sites were hit by the wave. Like the2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the damage by surging water, though much more localized, was far more deadly and destructive than the actual quake. Entire towns were destroyed in tsunami-hit areas in Japan, including 9,500 missing inMinamisanriku;one thousand bodies had been recovered in the town by 14 March 2011. Among the factors in the high death toll was the unexpectedly large water surge. Thesea wallsin several cities had been built to protect against tsunamis of much lower heights. Also, many people caught in the tsunami thought they were on high enough ground to be safe.According to a special committee on disaster prevention designated by the Japanese government, the tsunami protection policy had been intended to deal with only tsunamis that had been scientifically proved to occur repeatedly. The committee advised that future policy should be to protect against the highest possible tsunami. Because tsunami walls had beenovertopped, the committee also suggested, besides building taller tsunami walls, also teaching citizens how to evacuate if a large-scale tsunami should strike. Large parts ofKujiand the southern section ofŌfunatoincluding the port area were almost entirely destroyed.Also largely destroyed wasRikuzentakata, where the tsunami was three stories high.Other cities destroyed or heavily damaged by the tsunami includeKamaishi,Miyako,Ōtsuchi, andYamada(in Iwate Prefecture),Namie,Sōma, andMinamisōma(in Fukushima Prefecture) andShichigahama,Higashimatsushima,Onagawa,Natori,Ishinomaki, andKesennuma(in Miyagi Prefecture).The most severe effects of the tsunami were felt along a 670-kilometre-long (420 mi) stretch of coastline fromErimo, Hokkaido, in the north toŌarai, Ibaraki, in the south, with most of the destruction in that area occurring in the hour following the earthquake.Near Ōarai, people captured images of a hugewhirlpoolthat had been generated by the tsunami.The tsunami washed away the sole bridge to Miyatojima, Miyagi, isolating the island's 900 residents.A 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) high tsunami hitChiba Prefectureabout2+1⁄2hours after the quake, causing heavy damage to cities such asAsahi. On 13 March 2011, theJapan Meteorological Agency(JMA) published details of tsunami observations recorded around the coastline of Japan following the earthquake. These observations included tsunami maximum readings of over 3 metres (9.8 ft) at the following locations and times on 11 March 2011, following the earthquake at 14:46 JST: Many areas were also affected by waves of 1 to 3 metres (3 ft 3 in to 9 ft 10 in) in height, and the JMA bulletin also included the caveat that\\\"At some parts of the coasts, tsunamis may be higher than those observed at the observation sites.\\\"The timing of the earliest recorded tsunami maximum readings ranged from 15:12 to 15:21, between 26 and 35 minutes after the earthquake had struck. The bulletin also included initial tsunami observation details, as well as more detailed maps for the coastlines affected by the tsunami waves. JMA also reported offshore tsunami height recorded bytelemetryfrommooredGPSwave-height meter buoys as follows: On 25 March 2011, Port and Airport Research Institute (PARI) reported tsunami height by visiting the port sites as follows: The tsunami at Ryōri Bay (綾里湾), Ōfunato reached a height of 40.1 metres (132 ft) (run-up elevation). Fishing equipment was scattered on the high cliff above the bay.AtTarō, Iwate, the tsunami reached a height of 37.9 metres (124 ft) up the slope of a mountain some 200 metres (660 ft) away from thecoastline.Also, at the slope of a nearby mountain from 400 metres (1,300 ft) away at Aneyoshi fishery port (姉吉漁港) of Omoe peninsula (重茂半島) inMiyako, Iwate,Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technologyfound estimated tsunami run up height of 38.9 metres (128 ft).This height is deemed the record in Japan historically, as of reporting date, that exceeds 38.2 metres (125 ft) from the1896 Meiji-Sanriku earthquake.It was also estimated that the tsunami reached heights of up to 40.5 metres (133 ft) in Miyako in Tōhoku's Iwate Prefecture. The inundated areas closely matched those of the869 Sanriku tsunami. Inundation heights were observed along 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) of the coast from Hokkaido to Kyushu in a 2012 study. Maximumrun-upheights greater than 10 metres (33 ft) were distributed along 530 kilometres (330 mi) of coast, and maximum run-up heights greater than 20 metres (66 ft) were distributed along 200 kilometres (120 mi) of the coast, measured directly.The tsunami resulted in significant erosion of the Rikuzen-Takata coastline, mainly caused by backwash. A 2016 study indicated that the coast has not naturally recovered at a desirable rate since the tsunami. A Japanese government study found that 58% of people in coastal areas in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures heeded tsunami warnings immediately after the quake and headed for higher ground. Of those who attempted to evacuate after hearing the warning, only five percent were caught in the tsunami. Of those who did not heed the warning, 49% were hit by the water. Delayed evacuations in response to the warnings had a number of causes. The tsunami height that had been initially predicted by thetsunami warning systemwas lower than the actual tsunami height; this error contributed to the delayed escape of some residents. The discrepancy arose as follows: in order to produce a quick prediction of a tsunami's height and thus to provide a timely warning, the initial earthquake and tsunami warning that was issued for the event was based on a calculation that requires only about three minutes. This calculation is, in turn, based on the maximum amplitude of the seismic wave. The amplitude of the seismic wave is measured using theJMA magnitude scale, which is similar toRichter magnitude scale. However, these scales \\\"saturate\\\" for earthquakes that are above a certain magnitude (magnitude 8 on the JMA scale); that is, in the case of very large earthquakes, the scales' values change little despite large differences in the earthquakes' energy. This resulted in an underestimation of the tsunami's height in initial reports. Problems in issuing updates also contributed to delays in evacuations. The warning system was supposed to be updated about 15 minutes after the earthquake occurred, by which time the calculation for themoment magnitude scalewould normally be completed. However, the strong quake had exceeded the measurement limit of all of theteleseismometerswithin Japan, and thus it was impossible to calculate the moment magnitude based on data from those seismometers. Another cause of delayed evacuations was the release of the second update on the tsunami warning long after the earthquake (28 minutes, according to observations); by that time, power failures and similar circumstances reportedly prevented the update from reaching some residents. Also, observed data from tidal meters that were located off the coast were not fully reflected in the second warning. Furthermore, shortly after the earthquake, some wave meters reported a fluctuation of \\\"20 centimetres (7.9 in)\\\", and this value was broadcast throughout the mass media and the warning system, which caused some residents to underestimate the danger of their situation and even delayed or suspended their evacuation. In response to the aforementioned shortcomings in the tsunami warning system, JMA began an investigation in 2011 and updated their system in 2013. In the updated system, for a powerful earthquake that is capable of causing the JMA magnitude scale to saturate, no quantitative prediction will be released in the initial warning; instead, there will be words that describe the situation's emergency. There are plans to install new teleseismometers with the ability to measure larger earthquakes, which would allow the calculation of a quake's moment magnitude scale in a timely manner. JMA also implemented a simpler empirical method to integrate, into a tsunami warning, data from GPS tidal meters as well as from undersea water pressure meters, and there are plans to install more of these meters and to develop further technology to utilize data observed by them. To prevent under-reporting of tsunami heights, early quantitative observation data that are smaller than the expected amplitude will be overridden and the public will instead be told that the situation is under observation. About 90 seconds after an earthquake, an additional report on the possibility of a tsunami will also be included in observation reports, in order to warn people before the JMA magnitude can be calculated. Elsewhere across the Pacific ThePacific Tsunami Warning Center(PTWC) in Hawaii issued tsunami watches and announcements for locations in the Pacific. At 07:30 UTC, PTWC issued a widespread tsunami warning covering the entire Pacific Ocean.Russia evacuated 11,000 residents from coastal areas of theKuril Islands.The United StatesNational Tsunami Warning Centerissued a tsunami warning for the coastal areas in most ofCalifornia, all ofOregon, and the western part ofAlaska, and a tsunami advisory covering the Pacific coastlines of most of Alaska, and all ofWashingtonandBritish Columbia, Canada.InCaliforniaandOregon, up to 2.4 m-high (7.9 ft) tsunami waves hit some areas, damaging docks and harbors and causing over US$10 million in damage.InCurry County, Oregon, US$7 million in damage occurred including the destruction of 1,100 m (3,600 ft) of docks at theBrookingsharbor; the county received over US$1 million inFEMAemergency grants from the US Federal Government.Surges of up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) hitVancouver Islandin Canadaprompting some evacuations, and causing boats to be banned from the waters surrounding the island for 12 hours following the wave strike, leaving many island residents in the area without means of getting to work. In thePhilippines, waves up to 0.5 m (1 ft 8 in) high hit the eastern seaboard of the country. Some houses along the coast inJayapura, Indonesiawere destroyed.Authorities inWewak,East Sepik, Papua New Guinea evacuated 100 patients from the city's Boram Hospital before it was hit by waves, causing an estimated US$4 million in damage.Hawaii estimated damage to public infrastructure alone at US$3 million, with damage to private properties, including resort hotels such asFour Seasons Resort Hualalai, estimated at tens of millions of dollars.It was reported that a 1.5 m-high (4.9 ft) wave completely submergedMidway Atoll's reef inlets and Spit Island, killing more than 110,000 nestingseabirdsat theMidway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.Some other South Pacific countries, includingTongaand New Zealand, and US territoriesAmerican SamoaandGuam, experienced larger-than-normal waves, but did not report any major damage.However, in Guam some roads were closed off and people were evacuated from low-lying areas. Along the Pacific Coast of Mexico and South America, tsunami surges were reported, but in most places caused little or no damage.Perureported a wave of 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) and more than 300 homes damaged.The surge inChilewas large enough to damage more than 200 houses,with waves of up to 3 m (9.8 ft).In theGalápagos Islands, 260 families received assistance following a 3 m (9.8 ft) surge which arrived 20 hours after the earthquake, after the tsunami warning had been lifted.There was a great deal of damage to buildings on the islands and one man was injured but there were no reported fatalities. After a 2 m (6 ft 7 in) high surge hit Chile, it was reported that the reflection from those surges traveledbackacross the Pacific, causing a 30–60 cm (12–24 in) surge in Japan, 47–48 hours after the earthquake, according to observation from multipletide gauges, including in Onahama, Owase, and Kushimoto. The tsunami brokeicebergsoff theSulzberger Ice ShelfinAntarctica, 13,000 km (8,100 mi) away. The main iceberg measured 9.5 km × 6.5 km (5.9 mi × 4.0 mi) (approximately the area ofManhattan Island) and about 80 m (260 ft) thick. A total of 125 km2(48 sq mi; 31,000 acres) of ice broke away. As of April 2012, wreckage from the tsunami spread around the world, including asoccerball which was found in Alaska'sMiddleton Islandand a Japanese motorcycle found in British Columbia, Canada. Norway On the day of the earthquake, the waters of severalfjordsacross Norway appeared to seethe as if boiling, and formed waves that rolled onto shores, most prominently inSognefjorden, where the phenomenon was caught on film. After two years of research, scientists concluded that the massive earthquake also triggered these surpriseseichewaves thousands of miles away. Casualties Japan Key statistics The official figures released in 2021 reported 19,759 deaths,6,242 injured,and 2,553 people missing.There were 10,567 deaths inMiyagi, 5,145 inIwate, 3,920 inFukushima, 66 inIbaraki, 22 inChiba, eight inTokyo, six inKanagawa, four inTochigi, three each inAomoriandYamagata, and one each inGunma,SaitamaandHokkaido.The leading causes of death were drowning (90.64% or 14,308 bodies), burning (0.9% or 145 bodies) and others (4.2% or 667 bodies, mostly crushed by heavy objects).Injuries related tonuclear exposureor thedischarge of radioactive water in Fukushimaare difficult to trace as 60% of the 20,000 workers on-site declined to participate in state-sponsored free health checks. Elderly aged over 60 account for 65.8% of all deaths, as shown on the table to the right.In particular, in theOkawa Elementary School tragedyin which 84 drowned, it was discovered that in the wake of the tsunami, young housewives who wanted to pick up their children to high ground found their voices drowned out by retired, elderly, male villagers, who preferred to stay put at the school, which was a sea-level evacuation site meant for earthquakes but not tsunamis.Richard Lloyd Parryconcluded the tragedy to be \\\"the ancient dialogue between the entreating voices of women, and the oblivious, overbearing dismissiveness of old men\\\". For the purpose of relief fund, an \\\"earthquake-related death\\\" was defined to include \\\"Physical and mental fatigue caused by life in temporary shelter\\\", \\\"Physical and mental fatigue caused by evacuation\\\", \\\"Delayed treatment due to an inoperative hospital\\\", \\\"Physical and mental fatigue caused by stress from the earthquake and tsunami\\\". A few cases of suicide are also included. Most of these deaths occurred during the first six months after the earthquake and the number dropped thereafter, but as time has passed, the number has continued to increase. Most of these deaths occurred in Fukushima Prefecture, where the prefectural government has suggested that they could be due to evacuations caused by theFukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.Within Fukushima Prefecture, these indirect casualties have already resulted in more deaths than the number of people killed directly by earthquake and tsunami. Others Save the Childrenreports that as many as 100,000 children were uprooted from their homes, some of whom were separated from their families because the earthquake occurred during the school day.236 children were orphaned in the prefectures ofIwate,MiyagiandFukushimaby the disaster;1,580 children lost either one or both parents,846 in Miyagi, 572 in Iwate, and 162 in Fukushima.The quake and tsunami killed 378 elementary, middle-school, and high school students and left 158 others missing.One elementary school inIshinomaki, Miyagi,Okawa Elementary School, lost 74 of 108 students and 10 of 13 teachers in the tsunami due to poor decision making in evacuation. The Japanese Foreign Ministry confirmed the deaths of nineteen foreigners.Among them were two English teachers from the United States affiliated with theJapan Exchange and Teaching Program;a Canadian missionary inShiogama;and citizens of China, North and South Korea, Taiwan, Pakistan and the Philippines. By 9:30 UTC on 11 March 2011,Google Person Finder, which was previously used in theHaitian,Chilean, andChristchurch, New Zealandearthquakes, was collecting information about survivors and their locations. Japanese funeralsare normally elaborate Buddhist ceremonies that entail cremation. The thousands of bodies, however, exceeded the capacity of availablecrematoriumsandmorgues, many of them damaged,and there were shortages of both kerosene—each cremation requires 50 litres—anddry icefor preservation.The single crematorium inHigashimatsushima, for example, could only handle four bodies a day, although hundreds were found there.Governments and the military were forced to bury many bodies in hastily dugmass graveswith rudimentary or no rites, although relatives of the deceased were promised that they would be cremated later. As of 27 May 2011, threeJapan Ground Self-Defense Forcemembers had died while conducting relief operations in Tōhoku.As of March 2012, the Japanese government had recognized 1,331 deaths as indirectly related to the earthquake, such as caused by harsh living conditions after the disaster.As of 30 April 2012, 18 people had died and 420 had been injured while participating in disaster recovery or clean-up efforts. Overseas The tsunami was reported to have caused several deaths outside Japan. One man was killed inJayapura,Papua, Indonesia after being swept out to sea.A man who is said to have been attempting to photograph the oncoming tsunami at the mouth of theKlamath River, south ofCrescent City, California, was swept out to sea.His body was found on 2 April 2011 along Ocean Beach inFort Stevens State Park, Oregon, 530 km (330 mi) to the north. Damage and effects The degree and extent of damage caused by the earthquake and resulting tsunami were enormous, with most of the damage being caused by the tsunami. Video footage of the towns that were worst affected shows little more than piles of rubble, with almost no parts of any structures left standing.Estimates of the cost of the damage range well into the tens of billions ofUS dollars; before-and-aftersatellitephotographs of devastated regions show immense damage to many regions.Although Japan has invested the equivalent of billions of dollars on anti-tsunami seawalls which line at least 40% of its 34,751 km (21,593 mi) coastline and stand up to 12 m (39 ft) high, the tsunami simply washed over the top of some seawalls, collapsing some in the process. Japan'sNational Police Agencysaid on 3 April 2011, that 45,700 buildings were destroyed and 144,300 were damaged by the quake and tsunami. The damaged buildings included 29,500 structures in Miyagi Prefecture, 12,500 in Iwate Prefecture and 2,400 in Fukushima Prefecture.Three hundred hospitals with 20 beds or more in Tōhoku were damaged by the disaster, with 11 being completely destroyed.The earthquake and tsunami created an estimated 24–25 million tons of rubble and debris in Japan. A report by the National Police Agency of Japan on 10 September 2018 listed 121,778 buildings as \\\"total collapsed\\\", with a further 280,926 buildings \\\"half collapsed\\\", and another 699,180 buildings \\\"partially damaged\\\".The earthquake and tsunami also caused extensive and severe structural damage in north-eastern Japan, including heavy damage to roads and railways as well as fires in many areas, and a dam collapse.Japanese Prime MinisterNaoto Kansaid, \\\"In the 65 years after the end of World War II, this is the toughest and the most difficult crisis for Japan.\\\"Around 4.4 million households in northeastern Japan were left without electricity and 1.5 million without water. An estimated 230,000 automobiles and trucks were damaged or destroyed in the disaster. As of the end of May 2011, residents of Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures had requested the deregistration of 15,000 vehicles, meaning that the owners of those vehicles were writing them off as unrepairable or unsalvageable. Weather conditions Low temperature andsnowfallwere major concerns after the earthquake.Snow arrived minutes before or after the tsunami, depending on locations.InIshinomaki, the city which suffered the most deaths,a temperature of 0 °C (32 °F) was measured, and it began to snow within a couple of hours of the earthquake.Major snow fell again on 16 March,and intermittently in the coming weeks.18 March was the coldest of that month, recording −4 to 6 °C (25 to 43 °F) inSendai.Photos of city ruins covered with snow were featured in various photo albums in international media, includingNASA. Waste The tsunami produced huge amounts of debris: estimates of 5 million tonnes of waste were reported by theJapanese Ministry of the Environment. Some of this waste, mostly plastic andstyrofoamwashed up on the coasts of Canada and the United States in late 2011. Along the west coast of the United States, this increased the amount of litter by a factor of ten and may have transportedalien species. Ports All of Japan's ports were briefly shut down after the earthquake, though the ones in Tokyo and southwards soon re-opened. Fifteen ports were located in the disaster zone. The north eastern ports of Hachinohe, Sendai, Ishinomaki and Onahama were destroyed, while thePort of Chiba(which serves the hydrocarbon industry) and Japan's ninth-largest container port atKashimawere also affected, though less severely. The ports at Hitachinaka, Hitachi, Soma, Shiogama, Kesennuma, Ofunato, Kamashi and Miyako were also damaged and closed to ships.All 15 ports reopened to limited ship traffic by 29 March 2011.A total of 319 fishing ports, about 10% of Japan's fishing ports, were damaged in the disaster.Most were restored to operating condition by 18 April 2012. ThePort of Tokyosuffered slight damage; the effects of the quake included visible smoke rising from a building in the port with parts of the port areas being flooded, includingsoil liquefactioninTokyo Disneyland's parking lot. Dams and water problems TheFujinuma irrigation daminSukagawaruptured,causing flooding and the washing away of five homes.Eight people were missing and four bodies were discovered by the morning.Reportedly, some locals had attempted to repair leaks in the dam before it completelyfailed.On 12 March 252 dams were inspected and it was discovered that sixembankment damshad shallow cracks on their crests. The reservoir at one concretegravity damsuffered a small non-seriousslope failure. All damaged dams are functioning with no problems. Four dams within the quake area were unreachable. In the immediate aftermath of the calamity, at least 1.5 million households were reported to have lost access to water supplies.By 21 March 2011, this number fell to 1.04 million. Electricity According to the Japanese trade ministry, around 4.4 million households served byTōhoku Electric Power(TEP) in northeastern Japan were left without electricity.Several nuclear and conventional power plants went offline, reducing theTokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) total capacity by 21 GW.Rolling blackoutsbegan on 14 March due to power shortages caused by the earthquake.TEPCO, which normally provides approximately 40GWof electricity, announced that it could only provide about 30 GW, because 40% of the electricity used in the greater Tokyo area was supplied by reactors in theNiigataandFukushimaprefectures.The reactors at theFukushima DaiichiandFukushima Dai-niplants were automatically taken offline when the first earthquake occurred and sustained major damage from the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Rolling blackouts of approximately three hours were experienced throughout April and May while TEPCO scrambled to find a temporary power solution. The blackouts affected Tokyo,Kanagawa, EasternShizuoka,Yamanashi,Chiba,Ibaraki,Saitama,Tochigi, andGunmaprefectures.Voluntary reductions in electricity use by consumers in the Kanto area helped reduce the predicted frequency and duration of the blackouts.By 21 March 2011, the number of households in the north without electricity fell to 242,927. Tōhoku Electric Power was not able to provide the Kanto region with additional power because TEP's power plants were also damaged in the earthquake.Kansai Electric Power Company(Kepco) could not share electricity, because its system operated at 60 hertz, whereas TEPCO and TEP operate their systems at 50 hertz; the disparity is due to early industrial and infrastructure development in the 1880s that left Japan without a unified nationalpower grid.Two substations, one in Shizuoka Prefecture and one in Nagano Prefecture, were able to convert between frequencies and transfer electricity from Kansai to Kanto and Tōhoku, but their capacity was limited to 1 GW. With damage to so many power plants, it was feared it might be years before a long-term solution could be found. To help alleviate the shortage, three steel manufacturers in the Kanto region contributed electricity produced by their in-house conventional power stations to TEPCO for distribution to the general public.Sumitomo Metal Industriescould produce up to 500 MW,JFE Steel400 MW, andNippon Steel500 MW of electric power.Auto and auto parts makers in Kanto and Tōhoku agreed in May 2011 to operate their factories on Saturdays and Sundays and close on Thursdays and Fridays to help alleviate electricity shortages during the summer of 2011.The public and other companies were also encouraged to conserve electricity in the 2011 summer months (Setsuden). The expected electricity crisis in 2011 summer was successfully prevented thanks to all thesetsudenmeasures. Peak electricity consumption recorded by TEPCO during the period was 49.22GW, which is 10.77GW (18%) lower than the peak consumption in the previous year. Overall electricity consumption during July and August was also 14% less than in the previous year.The peak electricity consumption within TEP's area was 12.46GW during the 2011 summer, 3.11GW (20%) less than the peak consumption in the previous year, and the overall consumption have been reduced by 11% in July with 17% in August compared to previous year.The Japanese government continued to ask the public to conserve electricity until 2016, when it is predicted that the supply will be sufficient to meet demand, thanks to the deepening of the mindset to conserve electricity among corporate and general public, addition of new electricity providers due to theelectricity liberalizationpolicy, increased output from renewable energy as well as fossil fuel power stations, as well as sharing of electricity between different electricity companies. Oil, gas and coal A 220,000-barrel (35,000 m3)-per-dayoil refineryofCosmo Oil Companywas set on fire by the quake atIchihara,Chiba Prefecture, to the east of Tokyo.It was extinguished after ten days, injuring six people, and destroying storage tanks.Other refineries halted production due to safety checks and power loss.In Sendai, a 145,000-barrel (23,100 m3)-per-day refinery owned by the largest refiner in Japan,JX Nippon Oil & Energy, was also set ablaze by the quake.Workers were evacuated,but tsunami warnings hindered efforts to extinguish the fire until 14 March, when officials planned to do so. An analyst estimates that consumption of various types of oil may increase by as much as 300,000 barrels (48,000 m3) per day (as well as LNG), as back-up power plants burningfossil fuelstry to compensate for the loss of 11 GW of Japan's nuclear power capacity. The city-owned plant for importingliquefied natural gasin Sendai was severely damaged, and supplies were halted for at least a month. In addition to refining and storage, several power plants were damaged. These include Sendai #4, New-Sendai #1 and #2, Haranomachi #1 and #2, Hirono #2 and #4 and Hitachinaka #1. Nuclear power plants TheFukushima Daiichi,Fukushima Daini,Onagawa Nuclear Power PlantandTōkai nuclear power stations, consisting of a total eleven reactors, wereautomatically shut downfollowing the earthquake.Higashidōri, also on the northeast coast, was already shut down for a periodic inspection. Cooling is needed to removedecay heatafter aGeneration II reactorhas been shut down, and to maintain spent fuel pools. The backup cooling process is powered by emergency diesel generators at the plants and atRokkasho nuclear reprocessing plant.At Fukushima Daiichi and Daini, tsunami waves overtopped seawalls and destroyed diesel backup power systems, leading to severe problems at Fukushima Daiichi, including three large explosions and radioactive leakage. Subsequent analysis found that many Japanese nuclear plants, including Fukushima Daiichi, were not adequately protected against tsunamis.Over 200,000 people were evacuated. Thedischarge of radioactive water in Fukushimawas confirmed in later analysis at the three reactors atFukushima I(Units 1, 2, and 3), which suffered meltdowns and continued to leak coolant water. The aftershock on 7 April caused the loss of external power to Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant and Higashidori Nuclear Power Plant but backup generators were functional.Onagawa Nuclear Power Plantlost three of its four external power lines and temporarily lost cooling function in its spent fuel pools for \\\"20 to 80 minutes\\\". A spill of \\\"up to 3.8 litres\\\" of radioactive water also occurred at Onagawa following the aftershock.A report by theIAEAin 2012 found that theOnagawa Nuclear Power Planthad remained largely undamaged. In 2013, only two nuclear reactors in Japan had been restarted since the 2011 shutdowns.In February 2019, there were 42 operable reactors in Japan. Of these, only nine reactors in five power plants were operating after having been restarted post-2011. Fukushima meltdowns Japan declared a state of emergency following the failure of the cooling system at theFukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, resulting in the evacuation of nearby residents.Officials from the JapaneseNuclear and Industrial Safety Agencyreported that radiation levels inside the plant were up to 1,000 times normal levels,and that radiation levels outside the plant were up to eight times normal levels.Later, a state of emergency was also declared at theFukushima Daininuclear power plant about 11 km (6.8 mi) south.Experts described the Fukushima disaster was not as bad as theChernobyl disaster, but worse than theThree Mile Island accident. Thedischarge of radioactive water of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plantwas later detected in tap water. Radioactive iodine was detected in the tap water in Fukushima, Tochigi, Gunma, Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama, and Niigata, and radioactive caesium in the tap water in Fukushima, Tochigi and Gunma.Radioactive caesium, iodine, and strontiumwere also detected in the soil in some places in Fukushima. There may be a need to replace the contaminated soil.Many radioactive hotspots were found outside the evacuation zone, including Tokyo.Radioactive contamination of food productswere detected in several places in Japan.In 2021, the Japanese cabinet finally approved thedumping of radioactive water in Fukushimainto the Pacific Ocean over a course of 30 years, with full support of IAEA. Incidents elsewhere A fire occurred in the turbine section of theOnagawa Nuclear Power Plantfollowing the earthquake.The blaze was in a building housing the turbine, which is sited separately from the plant's reactor,and was soon extinguished.The plant was shut down as a precaution. On 13 March the lowest-level state of emergency was declared regarding the Onagawa plant as radioactivity readings temporarilyexceeded allowed levels in the area of the plant.Tōhoku Electric Power Co. stated this may have been due to radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accidents but was not from the Onagawa plant itself. As a result of the 7 April aftershock, Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant lost three of four external power lines and lost cooling function for as much as 80 minutes. A spill of a couple of litres of radioactive water occurred at Onagawa. The number 2 reactor atTōkai Nuclear Power Plantwas shut down automatically.On 14 March it was reported that a cooling system pump for this reactor had stopped working;however, the Japan Atomic Power Company stated that there was a second operational pump sustaining the cooling systems, but that two of three diesel generators used to power the cooling system were out of order. Transport Japan's transport network suffered severe disruptions. Many sections ofTōhoku Expresswayserving northern Japan were damaged. The expressway did not reopen to general public use until 24 March 2011.All railway services were suspended in Tokyo, with an estimated 20,000 people stranded at major stations across the city.In the hours after the earthquake, some train services were resumed.Most Tokyo area train lines resumed full service by the next day—12 March.Twenty thousand stranded visitors spent the night of 11–12 March insideTokyo Disneyland. A tsunami floodedSendai Airportat 15:55 JST,about one hour after the initial quake, causing severe damage.NaritaandHaneda Airportboth briefly suspended operations after the quake, but suffered little damage and reopened within 24 hours.Eleven airliners bound for Narita were diverted to nearbyYokota Air Base. Various train services around Japan were also canceled, withJR Eastsuspending all services for the rest of the day.Four trains on coastal lines were reported as being out of contact with operators; one, a four-car train on theSenseki Line, was found to have derailed, and its occupants were rescued shortly after 8 am the next morning.Minami-Kesennuma Stationon theKesennuma Linewas obliterated save for its platform;62 of 70 (31 of 35) JR East train lines suffered damage to some degree;in the worst-hit areas, 23 stations on 7 lines were washed away, with damage or loss of track in 680 locations and the 30-km radius around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant unable to be assessed. There were no derailments ofShinkansenbullet train services in and out of Tokyo, but their services were also suspended.TheTokaido Shinkansenresumed limited service late in the day and was back to its normal schedule by the next day, while theJōetsuandNagano Shinkansenresumed services late on 12 March. Services onYamagata Shinkansenresumed with limited numbers of trains on 31 March. Derailments were minimized because of anearly warning system that detected the earthquakebefore it struck. The system automatically stopped all high-speed trains, which minimized the damage. TheTōhoku Shinkansenline was worst hit, with JR East estimating that 1,100 sections of the line, varying from collapsed station roofs to bent power pylons, would need repairs. Services on the Tōhoku Shinkansen partially resumed only in Kantō area on 15 March, with one round-trip service per hour betweenTokyoandNasu-Shiobara,and Tōhoku area service partially resumed on 22 March betweenMoriokaandShin-Aomori.Services onAkita Shinkansenresumed with limited numbers of trains on 18 March.Service between Tokyo andShin-Aomoriwas restored by May, but at lower speeds due to ongoing restoration work; the pre-earthquake timetable was not reinstated until late September. The rolling blackouts brought on by the crises at the nuclear power plants in Fukushima had a profound effect on the rail networks around Tokyo starting on 14 March. Major railways began running trains at 10–20 minute intervals, rather than the usual 3–5 minute intervals, operating some lines only at rush hour and completely shutting down others; notably, theTōkaidō Main Line,Yokosuka Line,Sōbu Main LineandChūō-Sōbu Linewere all stopped for the day.This led to near-paralysis within the capital, with long lines at train stations and many people unable to come to work or get home. Railway operators gradually increased capacity over the next few days, until running at approximately 80% capacity by 17 March and relieving the worst of the passenger congestion. Telecommunications Cellular and landline phone service suffered major disruptions in the affected area.Immediately after the earthquake cellular communication was jammed across much of Japan due to a surge of network activity. On the day of the quake itself American broadcasterNPRwas unable to reach anyone in Sendai with a working phone or access to the Internet.Internet services were largely unaffected in areas where basic infrastructure remained, despite the earthquake having damaged portions of severalundersea cablesystems landing in the affected regions; these systems were able to reroute around affected segments onto redundant links.Within Japan, only a few websites were initially unreachable.SeveralWi-Fihotspot providers reacted to the quake by providing free access to their networks,and some American telecommunications andVoIPcompanies such asAT&T,Sprint,Verizon,T-Mobileand VoIP companies such as netTALKandVonagehave offered free calls to (and in some cases, from) Japan for a limited time, as did Germany'sDeutsche Telekom. Defense Matsushima Air Fieldof theJapan Self-Defense Forcein Miyagi Prefecture received a tsunami warning, and the airbase public address 'Tanoy' was used to give the warning: 'A tsunami is coming evacuate to the third floor.' Shortly after the warning the airbase was struck by the tsunami, flooding the base. There was no loss of life, although the tsunami resulted in damage to all 18Mitsubishi F-2fighter jets of the 21st Fighter Training Squadron.Twelve of the aircraft were scrapped, while the remaining six were slated for repair at a cost of 80 billion yen ($1 billion), exceeding the original cost of the aircraft.After the tsunami, elements of theJapanese Maritime Self-Defence Forceput to sea without orders and started rescuing those who had been washed out to sea. Tsunami plans were for the Japanese Self-Defence Force assets to be led, directed, and coordinated by local civic governments. However, the earthquake destroyed town halls (the seat of local municipal government), police, and fire services in many places, so the military not only had to respond to but also command rescues. Cultural properties 754cultural propertieswere damaged across nineteen prefectures, including fiveNational Treasures(atZuigan-ji,Ōsaki Hachiman-gū,Shiramizu Amidadō, andSeihaku-ji); 160Important Cultural Properties(including atSendai Tōshō-gū, theKōdōkan, andEntsū-in, with itsWestern decorative motifs); 144Monuments of Japan(includingMatsushima,Takata-matsubara,Yūbikan, and theSite of Tagajō); sixGroups of Traditional Buildings; and fourImportant Tangible Folk Cultural Properties. Stone monuments at the UNESCOWorld Heritage Site:Shrines and Temples of Nikkōwere toppled.In Tokyo, there was damage toKoishikawa Kōrakuen,Rikugien,Hamarikyū Onshi Teien, and the walls ofEdo Castle.Information on the condition of collections held by museums, libraries and archives is still incomplete.There was no damage to theHistoric Monuments and Sites of Hiraizumiin Iwate Prefecture, and the recommendation for their inscription on theUNESCO World Heritage Listin June was seized upon as a symbol of international recognition and recovery. Aftermath The aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami included a humanitarian crisis and a major economic impact. The tsunami resulted in over 340,000 displaced people in the Tōhoku region, and shortages of food, water, shelter, medicine, and fuel for survivors. In response, the Japanese government mobilized the Self-Defence Forces (under Joint Task Force – Tōhoku, led by Lieutenant GeneralEiji Kimizuka), while many countries sent search and rescue teams to help search for survivors. Aid organizations in Japan and worldwide responded, with the Japanese Red Cross reporting $1 billion in donations. The economic impact included immediate problems, with industrial production suspended in many factories, and the longer term issue of the cost of rebuilding, which has been estimated at ¥10 trillion ($122 billion). In comparison to the1995 Great Hanshin earthquake, the East Japan earthquake brought serious damage to an extremely wide range. The aftermath of the twin disasters left Japan's coastal cities and towns with nearly 25 million tons of debris. In Ishinomaki alone, there were 17 trash collection sites 180 metres (590 ft) long and at least 4.5 metres (15 ft) high. An official in the city's government trash disposal department estimated that it would take three years to empty these sites. In April 2015, authorities off the coast ofOregondiscovered debris that was thought to be from a boat destroyed during the tsunami. The cargo containedyellowtail amberjack, a species of fish that lives off the coast of Japan, still alive. KGW estimates that more than 1 million tons of debris still remain in the Pacific Ocean. In February 2016, a memorial was inaugurated by two architects for the victims of the disaster, consisting of a 6.5-square-metre structure on a hillside between a temple and a cherry tree inIshinomaki. Scientific and research response Seismologists anticipated a very large quake would strike in the same place as the1923 Great Kantō earthquake—in theSagami Trough, southwest of Tokyo.The Japanese government had tracked plate movements since 1976 in preparation for the so-calledTokai earthquake, predicted to take place in that region.However, occurring as it did 373 km (232 mi) north east of Tokyo, the Tōhoku earthquake came as a surprise to seismologists. While theJapan Trenchwas known for creating large quakes, it had not been expected to generate quakes above an 8.0 magnitude.The Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion set up by the Japanese government then reassessed the long-term risk of trench-type earthquakes around Japan, and it was announced in November 2011 that research on the869 Sanriku earthquakeindicated that a similar earthquake with a magnitude ofMw8.4–9.0 would take place off the Pacific coast of northeastern Japan, on average, every 600 years. Also, a tsunami-earthquake with atsunami magnitude scales(Mt) between 8.6 and 9.0 (Similar to the1896 Sanriku earthquake, the Mt for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake was 9.1–9.4) had a 30% chance to occur within 30 years. The quake gave scientists the opportunity to collect a large amount of data to model the seismic events that took place in great detail.This data is expected to be used in a variety of ways, providing unprecedented information about how buildings respond to shaking, and other effects.Gravimetricdata from the quake have been used to create a model forincreased warning timecompared to seismic models, as gravity fields travel faster than seismic waves. Researchers have also analysed the economic effects of this earthquake and have developed models of the nationwide propagation via interfirm supply networks of the shock that originated in the Tōhoku region. After the full extent of the disaster was known, researchers soon launched a project to gather all digital material relating to the disaster into an online searchable archive to form the basis of future research into the events during and after the disaster. The Japan Digital Archive is presented in English and Japanese and is hosted at the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies atHarvard Universityin Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some of the first research to come from the archive was a 2014 paper from the Digital Methods Initiative in Amsterdam about patterns ofTwitterusage around the time of the disaster. After the 2011 disaster, theUnited Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reductionheld itsWorld Conference on Disaster Risk Reductionin Tohoku in March 2015, which produced theSendai Frameworkdocument to guide efforts by international development agencies to act before disasters instead of reacting to them after the fact. At this time Japan's Disaster Management Office (Naikakufu Bosai Keikaku) published a bi-lingual guide in Japanese and English,Disaster Management in Japan, to outline the several varieties of natural disaster and the preparations being made for the eventuality of each. In the fall of 2016, Japan's National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED; Japanese abbreviation, Bosai Kaken; full name Bousai Kagaku Gijutsu Kenkyusho) launched the online interactive \\\"Disaster Chronology Map for Japan, 416–2013\\\" (map labels in Japanese) to display in visual form the location, disaster time, and date across the islands. TheJapan Trench Fast Drilling Project, a scientific expedition conducted in 2012–2013, drilled ocean-floor boreholes through the fault zone of the earthquake and gathered important data about the rupture mechanism and physical properties of the fault that caused the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Ecological research The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami had a great environmental impact on Japan's eastern coast. The rarity and magnitude of the earthquake-tsunami prompted researchersJotaro Urabe, Takao Suzuki, Tatsuki Nishita, and Wataru Makino to study their immediate ecological impacts on intertidal flat communities at Sendai Bay and the Sanriku Ria coast. Pre- and post-event surveys show a reduction in animal taxon richness and change in taxon composition mainly attributed to the tsunami and its physical impacts. In particular,sessileepibenthicanimals and endobenthic animals both decreased in taxon richness. Mobile epibenthic animals, such as hermit crabs, were not as affected. Post-surveys also recorded taxa that were not previously recorded before, suggesting that tsunamis have the potential to introduce species and change taxon composition and local community structure. The long term ecological impacts at Sendai Bay and the greater east coast of Japan require further study. See also 3.11 and aftermath Lists of earthquakes and tsunamis Documentaries and commemoration events Explanatory notes References Further reading Sources This article incorporates text from afree contentwork. Licensed under Cc BY-SA 3.0 IGO (license statement/permission). Text taken fromDrowning in Plastics – Marine Litter and Plastic Waste Vital Graphics, United Nations Environment Programme. External links\",\n \"Lists of earthquakes Earthquakesare caused by movements within theEarth's crustand uppermostmantle. They range from weak events detectable only byseismometers, to sudden and violent events lasting many minutes which have caused some of the greatest disasters inhuman history. Below, earthquakes are listed by period, region or country, year, magnitude, cost, fatalities, and number of scientific studies. Lists by time period By century By decade By year Lists by location By country By region Deadliest earthquakes The following is a summary list of earthquakes with over approximately 100,000 deaths.The893 Ardabil earthquakeprobably relate to the893 Dvin earthquake, due to misreading of the Arabic word forDvin, 'Dabil' as 'Ardabil'.This is regarded as a 'fake earthquake'. Deadliest earthquakes by year Largest earthquakes by magnitude For those which occurred before the development and deployment ofseismographs– starting around 1900 – magnitudes are estimated from historical reports of the extent and severity of damage. Pre-instrumental earthquakes List by year List by country/territory Costliest earthquakes This is the top ten major earthquakes by the dollar value of property (public and private) losses directly attributable to the earthquake. Most studied earthquakes The 50 most studied earthquakes according to theInternational Seismological Centre(ISC), based on a count of scientific papers (mostly in English) that discuss that earthquake. The \\\"Event #\\\" is linked to the ISC Event Bibliography for that event. Modified from figure 2, \\\"The most studied events\\\", at the ISC'sOverview of the ISC Event Bibliography. International Seismological Centre.Event Bibliography. Thatcham, United Kingdom.2018. See also References External links\",\n \"1964 Alaska earthquake The1964 Alaskan earthquake, also known as theGreat Alaskan earthquakeandGood Friday earthquake, occurred at 5:36 PMAKSTonGood Friday, March 27, 1964.Across south-centralAlaska, ground fissures, collapsing structures, andtsunamisresulting from the earthquake caused about 131 deaths. Lasting four minutes and thirty-eight seconds, the magnitude 9.2–9.3megathrust earthquakeremains the most powerful earthquake ever recorded inNorth America,and thesecond most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the worldsince modern seismography began in 1900.Six hundred miles (970 km) of fault ruptured at once and moved up to 60 ft (18 m), releasing about 500 years of stress buildup.Soil liquefaction, fissures, landslides, and other ground failures caused major structural damage in several communities and much damage to property.Anchoragesustained great destruction or damage to many inadequatelyearthquake-engineeredhouses, buildings, and infrastructure (paved streets, sidewalks, water and sewer mains, electrical systems, and other man-made equipment), particularly in the several landslide zones alongKnik Arm. Two hundred miles (320 km) southwest, some areas nearKodiakwere permanently raised by 30 feet (9 m). Southeast of Anchorage, areas around the head ofTurnagain ArmnearGirdwoodandPortagedropped as much as 8 feet (2.4 m), requiring reconstruction and fill to raise theSeward Highwayabove the new hightidemark. InPrince William Sound,Port Valdezsuffered a massive underwater landslide, resulting in the deaths of 32 people between the collapse of theValdezcity harbor and docks, and inside the ship that was docked there at the time. Nearby, a 27-foot (8.2 m) tsunami destroyed the village ofChenega, killing 23 of the 68 people who lived there. The survivors out-ran the wave, climbing to high ground. Post-quake tsunamis severely affectedWhittier,Seward,Kodiak, and other Alaskan communities, as well as people and property inBritish Columbia,Washington,Oregon, andCalifornia.Tsunamis also caused damage inHawaiiandJapan. Evidence of motion directly related to the earthquake was also reported fromFloridaandTexas. Geology On March 27, 1964, at 5:36 p.m. AKST (March 28, at 3:36 a.m.UTC),afaultbetween thePacificandNorth Americanplatesruptured nearCollege Fjordin Prince William Sound. Theepicenterof the earthquake was 12.4 mi (20.0 km) north ofPrince William Sound, 78 miles (126 km) east of Anchorage and 40 miles (64 km) west of Valdez. The focus occurred at a depth of approximately 15.5 mi (24.9 km). Ocean floor shifts created large tsunamis (up to 220 feet (67 m) in height), which resulted in many of the deaths and much of the property damage.Large rockslides were also caused, resulting in great property damage.Vertical displacementof up to 38 feet (12 m) occurred, affecting an area of 100,000 square miles (260,000 km2) within Alaska. Studies ofground motionhave led to apeak ground accelerationestimate of 0.14–0.18g.The earthquake was assigned a maximumModified Mercalli intensityof X (Extreme). Shaking was felt across much of Alaska and parts of westernYukonandBritish Columbiain Canada. The Alaska earthquake was asubduction zone(megathrust) earthquake, caused by an oceanic plate sinking under a continental plate. The fault responsible was theAleutian Megathrust, a reverse fault caused by a compressional force. This caused much of the uneven ground which is the result of ground shifted to the opposite elevation.Uplift occurred across 520,000 km2(200,000 sq mi) from southern Kodiak to Prince William Sound and further east of the sound. The maximum uplift was in Montague Island, where the ground was raised 13–15 m (43–49 ft) relative to sea level. The uplift also affected Kodiak, Sitkalidak, and Sitkinak islands. Subsidence was observed for 285,000 km2(110,000 sq mi) from north and west of the sound, in Chugach Mountains, most of Kenai Peninsula, and almost all the Kodiak Island group. Tsunami Two types of tsunami were produced by this subduction zone earthquake. There was a tectonic tsunami produced in addition to about 20 smaller and local tsunamis. These smaller tsunamis were produced by submarine and subaerial landslides and were responsible for the majority of the tsunami damage. Tsunami waves were noted in over 20 countries, including Peru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Japan, Mexico, and in thecontinent of Antarctica. The largest tsunami wave was recorded inShoup Bay, Alaska, with a height of about 220 ft (67 m). Death toll, damage, and casualties As a result of the earthquake, 131 people are believed to have died:Nine died as a result of the earthquake itself and another 122 died from the subsequent tsunamis all over the world.Five died from the tsunami inOregon,and 12 died from the tsunami inCrescent City,California.Property damage was estimated at $116 million($0.87 billion in 2023 dollars). Anchorage area Most damage occurred in Anchorage, 75 mi (121 km) northwest of the epicenter. Anchorage was not hit by tsunamis, butdowntownAnchorage was heavily damaged, and parts of the city built on sandy bluffs overlying \\\"Bootlegger Coveclay\\\" nearCook Inlet, most notably the Turnagain neighborhood, sufferedlandslidedamage. The neighborhood lost 75 houses in the landslide, and the destroyed area has since been turned intoEarthquake Park.TheGovernment Hill schoolsuffered from theGovernment Hilllandslide, leaving it in two jagged, broken pieces. Land overlooking theShip Creekvalley near theAlaska Railroadyards also slid, destroying many acres of buildings and city blocks in downtown Anchorage. Most other areas of the city were only moderately damaged. The 60-foot (18 m) concrete control tower atAnchorage International Airportwas not engineered to withstand earthquake activity and collapsed, killing William George Taylor, theFederal Aviation Agencyair traffic controller on duty in the tower cab at the time the earthquake began. One house on W. 10th Avenue suffered peripheral damage, but only one block away the recently completed (and still unoccupied) Four Seasons Building on Ninth Avenue collapsed completely, with the concrete elevator shafts sticking up out of the rubble like a seesaw. The hamlets ofGirdwoodandPortage, located 30 and 40 mi (48 and 64 km) southeast of central Anchorage on theTurnagain Arm, were destroyed by subsidence and subsequent tidal action. Girdwood was relocated inland and Portage was abandoned. About 20 miles (32 km) of the Seward Highway sank below the high-water mark of Turnagain Arm; the highway and its bridges were raised and rebuilt in 1964–66. Elsewhere in Alaska Most coastal towns in the Prince William Sound,Kenai Peninsula, andKodiak Islandareas, especially the major ports ofSeward,WhittierandKodiakwere heavily damaged by a combination of seismic activity,subsidence, post-quake tsunamis and/or earthquake-causedfires. Valdez with 32 dead was not totally destroyed, but after three years, the town relocated to higher ground four miles (6.4 km) west of its original site. SomeAlaska Nativevillages, includingChenegaandAfognak, were destroyed or damaged.The earthquake caused theballistic missiledetection radar ofClear Air Force Stationto go offline for six minutes,the only unscheduled interruption in its operational history. NearCordova, theMillion Dollar Bridgecrossing theCopper Riveralso suffered damage, with Span #4 slipping off its pylon and collapsing. The community ofGirdwoodwas also confined to the southern side of the Seward Highway when water rushed into Turnagain Arm and flooded or destroyed any buildings left standing to the north of the highway. Only the ground immediately along the highway and that on the north side of the road dropped, prompting geologists to speculate that Girdwood may rest upon an ancient cliff face covered by thousands of years of sediment and glacial deposits. Canada A 4.5 ft (1.4 m) wave reachedPrince Rupert, British Columbia, just south of theAlaska Panhandle, about three hours after the earthquake. The tsunami then reachedTofino, on the exposed west coast ofVancouver Island, and traveled up afjordto hitPort Albernitwice, washing away 55 homes and damaging 375 others. The towns ofHot Springs Cove,Zeballos, andAmaialso saw damage.The damage in British Columbia was estimated at CA$10 million ($96 million in 2023 Canadian dollars or $91 million in 2023 US dollars). Elsewhere Twelve people were killed by the tsunami in or nearCrescent City, California, while four children were killed on the Oregon coast atBeverly Beach State Park.Other coastal towns in the U.S.Pacific NorthwestandHawaiiwere damaged. Minor damage to boats occurred as far south asLos Angeles.Effects of the earthquake were even noted as far east asFreeport, Texas, where tide gauges recorded waves similar toseismic surface waves.Seicheswere detected in wells in countries around the world, including England, Namibia, and Australia. Aftershocks There were hundreds of aftershocks in the first weeks following the main shock. In the first day alone, eleven major aftershocks were recorded with a magnitude greater than 6.0. Nine more struck over the next three weeks. In all, thousands of aftershocks occurred in the months following the quake, and smaller aftershocks continued to strike the region for more than a year. Recovery efforts Alaska had never experienced a major disaster in a highly populated area before, and had very limited resources for dealing with the effects of such an event. In Anchorage, at the urging of geologistLidia Selkregg, the City of Anchorage and the Alaska State Housing Authority appointed a team of 40 scientists, including geologists, soil scientists, and engineers, to assess the damage done by the earthquake to the city.The team, called the Engineering and Geological Evaluation Group, was headed byDr. Ruth A. M. Schmidt, a geology professor at theUniversity of Alaska Anchorage. The team of scientists came into conflict with local developers and downtown business owners who wanted to immediately rebuild; the scientists wanted to identify future dangers to ensure that rebuilt infrastructure would be safe.The team produced a report on May 8, 1964, just a little more than a month after the earthquake. The United States military, which has a large active presence in Alaska, also stepped in to assist within moments of the end of the quake. TheU.S. Armyrapidly re-established communications with the lower 48 states, deployed troops to assist the citizens of Anchorage, and dispatched a convoy to Valdez.On the advice of military and civilian leaders, PresidentLyndon B. Johnsondeclared all of Alaska a major disaster area the day after the quake. TheU.S. NavyandU.S. Coast Guarddeployed ships to isolated coastal communities to assist with immediate needs. Bad weather and poor visibility hampered air rescue and observation efforts the day after the quake, but on Sunday the 29th the situation improved and rescue helicopters and observation aircraft were deployed.A military airlift immediately began shipping relief supplies to Alaska, eventually delivering 2,570,000 pounds (1,170,000 kg) of food and other supplies.Broadcast journalistGenie Chanceassisted in recovery and relief efforts, staying on theKENIair waves over Anchorage for more than 24 continuous hours as the voice of calm from her temporary post within the Anchorage Public Safety Building.She was effectively designated as the public safety officer by the city's police chief.Chance provided breaking news of the catastrophic events that continued to develop following the magnitude 9.2 earthquake, and she served as the voice of the public safety office, coordinating response efforts, connecting available resources to needs around the community, disseminating information about shelters and prepared food rations, passing messages of well-being between loved ones, and helping to reunite families. In the longer term, theU.S. Army Corps of Engineersled the effort to rebuild roads, clear debris, and establish new townsites for communities that had been completely destroyed, at a cost of $110 million.TheWest Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Centerwas formed as a direct response to the disaster. Federal disaster relief funds paid for reconstruction as well as financially supporting the devastated infrastructure of Alaska's government, spending hundreds of millions of dollars that helped keep Alaska financially solvent until the discovery of massive oil deposits atPrudhoe Bay. At the order of theU.S. Defense Department, theAlaska National Guardfounded theAlaska Division of Emergency Servicesto respond to any future disasters. See also Notes References Specific General External links\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami On 11 March 2011, at 14:46JST(05:46UTC), aMw9.0–9.1underseamegathrust earthquakeoccurred in the Pacific Ocean, 72 km (45 mi) east of theOshika Peninsulaof theTōhoku region. It lasted approximately six minutes and caused atsunami. It is sometimes known in Japan as the \"Great East Japan Earthquake\"(東日本大震災,Higashi nihon daishinsai), among other names.The disaster is often referred to by its numerical date,3.11(readsan ten ichi-ichiin Japanese). It was themost powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan, and thefourth most powerful earthquake recorded in the worldsince modern seismography began in 1900.The earthquake triggered powerfultsunamiwaves that may have reached heights of up to 40.5 meters (133 ft) inMiyakoin Tōhoku'sIwate Prefecture,and which, in theSendaiarea, traveled at 700 km/h (435 mph)and up to 10 km (6 mi) inland.Residents of Sendai had only eight to ten minutes of warning, and more than a hundred evacuation sites were washed away.The snowfall which accompanied","which accompanied the tsunamiand the freezing temperature hindered rescue works greatly;for instance,Ishinomaki, the city with the most deaths,was 0 °C (32 °F) as the tsunami hit.The official figures released in 2021 reported 19,759 deaths,6,242 injured,and 2,553 people missing,and a report from 2015 indicated 228,863 people were still living away from their home in either temporary housing or due to permanent relocation. The tsunami caused theFukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, primarily themeltdownsof three of its reactors, thedischarge of radioactive water in Fukushimaand the associated evacuation zones affecting hundreds of thousands of residents.Many electrical generators ran out of fuel. The loss of electrical power halted cooling systems, causing heat to build up. The heat build-up caused the generation of hydrogen gas. Without ventilation, gas accumulated within the upper refueling hall and eventually exploded causing the refueling hall's blast panels to be forcefully ejected from the structure.","from the structure. Residents within a 20 km (12 mi) radius of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and a 10 km (6.2 mi) radius of theFukushima Daini Nuclear Power Plantwere evacuated. Early estimates placed insured losses from the earthquake alone at US$14.5 to $34.6 billion.TheBank of Japanoffered¥15 trillion (US$183 billion) to the banking system on 14 March 2011 in an effort to normalize market conditions.The estimated economic damages amounted to over $300 billion, making it thecostliest natural disaster in history.According to a 2020 study, \"the earthquake and its aftermaths resulted in a 0.47 percentage point decline in Japan's real GDP growth in the year following the disaster.\" Earthquake Themagnitude9.1 (Mw)underseamegathrust earthquakeoccurred on 11 March 2011 at 14:46JST(05:46 UTC) in the north-western Pacific Ocean at a relatively shallow depth of 32 km (20 mi),with itsepicenterapproximately 72 km (45 mi) east of theOshika PeninsulaofTōhoku, Japan, lasting approximately six minutes.The","six minutes.The earthquake was initially reported as 7.9 Mwby theUSGSbefore it was quickly upgraded to 8.8 Mw, then to 8.9 Mw,and then finally to 9.0 Mw.On 11 July 2016, the USGS further upgraded the earthquake to 9.1.Sendaiwas the nearest major city to the earthquake, 130 km (81 mi) from the epicenter; the earthquake occurred 373 km (232 mi) northeast ofTokyo. The main earthquake was preceded by a number of largeforeshocks, with hundreds ofaftershocksreported. One of the first major foreshocks was a 7.2 Mwevent on 9 March, approximately 40 km (25 mi) from the epicenter of the 11 March earthquake, with another three on the same day in excess of 6.0 Mw.Following the main earthquake on 11 March, a 7.4 Mwaftershock was reported at 15:08 JST (6:06 UTC), succeeded by a 7.9 Mwat 15:15 JST (6:16 UTC) and a 7.7 Mwat 15:26 JST (6:26 UTC).Over 800 aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 Mwor greater have occurred since the initial quake,including one on 26 October 2013 (local time) of magnitude 7.1 Mw.Aftershocks followOmori's","followOmori's law, which states that the rate of aftershocks declines with the reciprocal of the time since the main quake. The aftershocks will thus taper off in time, but could continue for years. The earthquake movedHonshu2.4 m (8 ft) east, shifted the Earth on its axis by estimates of between 10 and 25 cm (4 and 10 in),increased Earth's rotational speed by 1.8μsper day,and generatedinfrasoundwaves detected in perturbations of the low-orbitingGravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorersatellite.Initially, the earthquake caused sinking of part of Honshu's Pacific coast by up to roughly a metre, but after about three years, the coast rose back and then kept on rising to exceed its original height. Geology This megathrust earthquake was a recurrence of the mechanism of the earlier869 Sanriku earthquake, which has been estimated as having a magnitude of at least 8.4 Mw, which also created a large tsunami that inundated the Sendai plain.Three tsunami deposits have been identified within","identified within theHolocenesequence of the plain, all formed within the last 3,000 years, suggesting an 800 to 1,100 year recurrence interval for large tsunamigenic earthquakes. In 2001 it was reckoned that there was a high likelihood of a large tsunami hitting the Sendai plain as more than 1,100 years had then elapsed.In 2007, the probability of an earthquake with a magnitude of Mw8.1–8.3 was estimated as 99% within the following 30 years. This earthquake occurred where thePacific Plateissubductingunder the plate beneath northern Honshu.The Pacific Plate, which moves at a rate of 8 to 9 cm (3.1 to 3.5 in) per year, dips under Honshu's underlying plate, building large amounts ofelastic energy. This motion pushes the upper plate down until the accumulated stress causes a seismic slip-rupture event. The break caused the sea floor to rise by several metres.The magnitude of this earthquake was a surprise to some seismologists.A quake of this magnitude usually has a rupture length of at least 500 km (310 mi)","500 km (310 mi) and generally requires a long, relatively straight fault surface. Because the plate boundary andsubduction zonein the area of the Honshu rupture is not very straight, it is unusual for the magnitude of its earthquake to exceed 8.5 Mw.Thehypocentral regionof this earthquake extended from offshoreIwate Prefectureto offshoreIbaraki Prefecture.TheJapanese Meteorological Agencysaid that the earthquake may have ruptured the fault zone from Iwate to Ibaraki with a length of 500 km (310 mi) and a width of 200 km (120 mi).Analysis showed that this earthquake consisted of a set of three events.Other major earthquakes with tsunamis struck theSanriku Coastregionin 1896andin 1933. The source area of this earthquake has a relatively high coupling coefficient surrounded by areas of relatively low coupling coefficients in the west, north, and south. From the averaged coupling coefficient of 0.5–0.8 in the source area and the seismic moment, it was estimated that the slip deficit of this earthquake was","this earthquake was accumulated over a period of 260–880 years, which is consistent with the recurrence interval of such great earthquakes estimated from the tsunami deposit data. The seismic moment of this earthquake accounts for about 93% of the estimated cumulative moment from 1926 to March 2011. Hence, earthquakes in this area with magnitudes of about 7 since 1926 had only released part of the accumulated energy. In the area near the trench, the coupling coefficient is high, which could act as the source of the large tsunami. Most of the foreshocks are interplate earthquakes with thrust-type focal mechanisms. Both interplate and intraplate earthquakes appeared in the aftershocks offshore Sanriku coast with considerable proportions. Energy Thesurface energyof the seismic waves from the earthquake was calculated to be1.9×1017joules,which is nearly double that of the 9.1 Mw2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamithat killed 230,000 people. If harnessed, the seismic energy from this earthquake would power a","would power a city the size of Los Angeles for an entire year.Theseismic moment(M0), which represents a physical size for the event, was calculated by the USGS at 3.9×1022joules,slightly less than the 2004 Indian Ocean quake. Japan's National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED) calculated apeak ground accelerationof 2.99g(29.33 m/s2).The largest individual recording in Japan was 2.7g, in Miyagi Prefecture, 75 km from the epicentre; the highest reading in the Tokyo metropolitan area was 0.16g. Intensity The strong ground motion registered at the maximum of 7 on theJapan Meteorological Agency seismic intensity scaleinKurihara,Miyagi Prefecture.Three other prefectures—Fukushima,IbarakiandTochigi—recorded a 6 upper on the JMA scale. Seismic stations inIwate,Gunma,SaitamaandChiba Prefecturemeasured a 6 lower, recording a 5 upper in Tokyo. Geophysical effects Portions of northeastern Japan shifted by as much as 2.4 metres (7 ft 10 in) closer to North America,making some sections of","some sections of Japan's landmass wider than before.Those areas of Japan closest to the epicenter experienced the largest shifts.A 400-kilometre (250 mi) stretch of coastline dropped vertically by 0.6 metres (2 ft 0 in), allowing the tsunami to travel farther and faster onto land.One early estimate suggested that the Pacific plate may have moved westward by up to 20 metres (66 ft),and another early estimate put the amount of slippage at as much as 40 m (130 ft).On 6 April the Japanese coast guard said that the quake shifted the seabed near the epicenter 24 metres (79 ft) and elevated the seabed off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture by 3 metres (9.8 ft).A report by theJapan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, published inScienceon 2 December 2011, concluded that the seabed in the area between the epicenter and theJapan Trenchmoved 50 metres (160 ft) east-southeast and rose about 7 metres (23 ft) as a result of the quake. The report also stated that the quake had caused several major landslides on the","landslides on the seabed in the affected area. The Earth'saxisshifted by estimates of between 10 and 25 cm (4 and 10 in).This deviation led to a number of small planetary changes, including thelength of a day, thetilt of the Earth, and theChandler wobble.The speed of the Earth's rotation increased, shortening the day by 1.8microsecondsdue to the redistribution of Earth's mass.The axial shift was caused by the redistribution of mass on the Earth's surface, which changed the planet'smoment of inertia. Because ofconservation of angular momentum, such changes ofinertiaresult in small changes to the Earth's rate of rotation.These are expected changesfor an earthquake of this magnitude.The earthquake also generated infrasound waves detected by perturbations in the orbit of theGOCEsatellite, which thusserendipitouslybecame the first seismograph in orbit. Following the earthquake, cracks were observed to have formed in the roof ofMount Fuji'smagma chamber. Seichesobserved inSognefjorden, Norway were attributed to","were attributed to distantS wavesandLove wavesgenerated by the earthquake. These seiches began to occur roughly half an hour after the main shock hit Japan, and continued to occur for 3 hours, during which waves of up to 1.5 meters high were observed. Soil liquefactionwas evident in areas ofreclaimed landaround Tokyo, particularly inUrayasu,Chiba City,Funabashi,Narashino(all inChiba Prefecture) and in theKoto,Edogawa,Minato,Chūō, andŌtaWards of Tokyo. Approximately 30 homes or buildings were destroyed and 1,046 other buildings were damaged to varying degrees.NearbyHaneda Airport, built mostly on reclaimed land, was not damaged.Odaibaalso experienced liquefaction, but damage was minimal. Shinmoedake, a volcano inKyushu, erupted three days after the earthquake. The volcano had previously erupted in January 2011; it is not known if the later eruption was linked to the earthquake.InAntarctica, the seismic waves from the earthquake were reported to have caused theWhillans Ice Streamto slip by about 0.5 metres (1","about 0.5 metres (1 ft 8 in). The first sign international researchers had that the earthquake caused such a dramatic change in the Earth's rotation came from the United States Geological Survey which monitors Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) stations across the world. The Survey team had several GPS monitors located near the scene of the earthquake. The GPS station located nearest the epicenter moved almost 4 m (13 ft). This motivated government researchers to look into other ways the earthquake may have had large scale effects on the planet. Calculations at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory determined that the Earth's rotation was changed by the earthquake to the point where the days are now 1.8microsecondsshorter. Aftershocks Japan experienced over 1,000 aftershocks since the earthquake, with 80 registering over magnitude 6.0 Mwand several of which have been over magnitude 7.0 Mw. A magnitude 7.4 Mwat 15:08 (JST), 7.9 Mwat 15:15 and a 7.7 Mwquake at 15:26 all occurred on 11 March. A month later, amajor","month later, amajor aftershockstruck offshore on 7 April with a magnitude of 7.1 Mw. Its epicenter was underwater, 66 km (41 mi) off the coast of Sendai. TheJapan Meteorological Agencyassigned a magnitude of 7.4 MJMA, while theU.S. Geological Surveylowered it to 7.1 Mw.At least four people were killed, and electricity was cut off across much of northern Japan including the loss of external power toHigashidōri Nuclear Power PlantandRokkasho Reprocessing Plant. Four days later on 11 April, anothermagnitude 7.1 Mwaftershockstruck Fukushima, causing additional damage and killing a total of three people. On 7 December 2012 alarge aftershock of magnitude 7.3 Mwcaused a minor tsunami, and again on 26 October 2013 a small tsunami was recorded after a 7.1 Mwaftershock. As of 16 March 2012 aftershocks continued, totaling 1887 events over magnitude 4.0; a regularly updated map showing all shocks of magnitude 4.5 and above near or off the east coast of Honshu in the last seven daysshowed over 20 events. As of 11 March","As of 11 March 2016there had been 869 aftershocks of 5.0 Mwor greater, 118 of 6.0 Mwor greater, and 9 over 7.0 Mwas reported by the Japanese Meteorological Agency. The number of aftershocks was associated with decreased health across Japan. On 13 February 2021, amagnitude 7.1–7.3 earthquakestruck off the coast of Sendai. It caused some damage in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures. One person was killed, and 185 were injured. Land subsidence TheGeospatial Information Authority of Japanreported landsubsidencebased on the height oftriangulation stationsin the area measured byGPSas compared to their previous values from 14 April 2011. Scientists say that the subsidence is permanent. As a result, the communities in question are now more susceptible to flooding during high tides. Earthquake Warning System One minute before the earthquake was felt in Tokyo, theEarthquake Early Warningsystem, which includes more than 1,000seismometersin Japan, sent out warnings of impending strong shaking to millions. It is believed","It is believed that the early warning by theJapan Meteorological Agency(JMA) saved many lives.The warning for the general public was delivered about eight seconds after the firstP wavewas detected, or about 31 seconds after the earthquake occurred. However, the estimated intensities were smaller than the actual ones in some places, especially in Kanto,Koshinetsu, and Northern Tōhoku regions where the populace warning did not trigger. According to theJapan Meteorological Agency, reasons for the underestimation include a saturated magnitude scale when using maximum amplitude as input, failure to fully take into account the area of thehypocenter, and the initial amplitude of the earthquake being less than that which would be predicted by an empirical relationship. There were also cases where large differences between estimated intensities by the Earthquake Early Warning system and the actual intensities occurred in the aftershocks and triggered earthquakes. Such discrepancies in the warning were attributed by","were attributed by the JMA to the system's inability to distinguish between two different earthquakes that happened at around same time, as well as to the reduced number of reporting seismometers due to power outages and connection failures.The system's software was subsequently modified to handle this kind of situation. Tsunami An upthrust of 6 to 8 metres (20 to 26 ft) along a 180 kilometres (110 mi) wide seabed at 60 kilometres (37 mi) offshore from the east coast of Tōhokuresulted in a majortsunamithat brought destruction along thePacificcoastline of Japan's northern islands. Thousands of people died and entire towns were devastated. The tsunami propagated throughout the Pacific Ocean region reaching the entire Pacific coast of North and South America fromAlaskatoChile. Warnings were issued and evacuations were carried out in many countries bordering the Pacific. Although the tsunami affected many of these places, the heights of the waves were minor.Chile's Pacific coast, one of the farthest from Japan","farthest from Japan at about 17,000 kilometres (11,000 mi) away, was struck by waves 2 metres (6.6 ft) high,compared with an estimated wave height of 38.9 metres (128 ft) at Omoe peninsula, Miyako city, Japan. Japan Thetsunami warningissued by theJapan Meteorological Agencywas the most serious on its warning scale; it was rated as a \"major tsunami\", being at least 3 metres (9.8 ft) high.The actual height prediction varied, the greatest being for Miyagi at 6 metres (20 ft) high.The tsunami inundated a total area of approximately 561 square kilometres (217 sq mi) in Japan. The earthquake took place at 14:46 JST (UTC 05:46) around 67 kilometres (42 mi) from the nearest point on Japan's coastline, and initial estimates indicated the tsunami would have taken 10 to 30 minutes to reach the areas first affected, and then areas farther north and south based on the geography of the coastline.At 15:55 JST, a tsunami was observed floodingSendai Airport, which is located near the coast ofMiyagi Prefecture,with waves","waves sweeping away cars and planes and flooding various buildings as they traveled inland.The impact of the tsunami in and around Sendai Airport was filmed by anNHKNews helicopter, showing a number of vehicles on local roads trying to escape the approaching wave and being engulfed by it.A 4-metre-high (13 ft) tsunami hitIwate Prefecture.Wakabayashi Wardin Sendai was also particularly hard hit.At least 101 designated tsunami evacuation sites were hit by the wave. Like the2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the damage by surging water, though much more localized, was far more deadly and destructive than the actual quake. Entire towns were destroyed in tsunami-hit areas in Japan, including 9,500 missing inMinamisanriku;one thousand bodies had been recovered in the town by 14 March 2011. Among the factors in the high death toll was the unexpectedly large water surge. Thesea wallsin several cities had been built to protect against tsunamis of much lower heights. Also, many people caught in the tsunami","in the tsunami thought they were on high enough ground to be safe.According to a special committee on disaster prevention designated by the Japanese government, the tsunami protection policy had been intended to deal with only tsunamis that had been scientifically proved to occur repeatedly. The committee advised that future policy should be to protect against the highest possible tsunami. Because tsunami walls had beenovertopped, the committee also suggested, besides building taller tsunami walls, also teaching citizens how to evacuate if a large-scale tsunami should strike. Large parts ofKujiand the southern section ofŌfunatoincluding the port area were almost entirely destroyed.Also largely destroyed wasRikuzentakata, where the tsunami was three stories high.Other cities destroyed or heavily damaged by the tsunami includeKamaishi,Miyako,Ōtsuchi, andYamada(in Iwate Prefecture),Namie,Sōma, andMinamisōma(in Fukushima Prefecture) andShichigahama,Higashimatsushima,Onagawa,Natori,Ishinomaki, andKesennuma(in","andKesennuma(in Miyagi Prefecture).The most severe effects of the tsunami were felt along a 670-kilometre-long (420 mi) stretch of coastline fromErimo, Hokkaido, in the north toŌarai, Ibaraki, in the south, with most of the destruction in that area occurring in the hour following the earthquake.Near Ōarai, people captured images of a hugewhirlpoolthat had been generated by the tsunami.The tsunami washed away the sole bridge to Miyatojima, Miyagi, isolating the island's 900 residents.A 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) high tsunami hitChiba Prefectureabout2+1⁄2hours after the quake, causing heavy damage to cities such asAsahi. On 13 March 2011, theJapan Meteorological Agency(JMA) published details of tsunami observations recorded around the coastline of Japan following the earthquake. These observations included tsunami maximum readings of over 3 metres (9.8 ft) at the following locations and times on 11 March 2011, following the earthquake at 14:46 JST: Many areas were also affected by waves of 1 to 3 metres (3 ft 3 in","3 metres (3 ft 3 in to 9 ft 10 in) in height, and the JMA bulletin also included the caveat that\"At some parts of the coasts, tsunamis may be higher than those observed at the observation sites.\"The timing of the earliest recorded tsunami maximum readings ranged from 15:12 to 15:21, between 26 and 35 minutes after the earthquake had struck. The bulletin also included initial tsunami observation details, as well as more detailed maps for the coastlines affected by the tsunami waves. JMA also reported offshore tsunami height recorded bytelemetryfrommooredGPSwave-height meter buoys as follows: On 25 March 2011, Port and Airport Research Institute (PARI) reported tsunami height by visiting the port sites as follows: The tsunami at Ryōri Bay (綾里湾), Ōfunato reached a height of 40.1 metres (132 ft) (run-up elevation). Fishing equipment was scattered on the high cliff above the bay.AtTarō, Iwate, the tsunami reached a height of 37.9 metres (124 ft) up the slope of a mountain some 200 metres (660 ft) away from","(660 ft) away from thecoastline.Also, at the slope of a nearby mountain from 400 metres (1,300 ft) away at Aneyoshi fishery port (姉吉漁港) of Omoe peninsula (重茂半島) inMiyako, Iwate,Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technologyfound estimated tsunami run up height of 38.9 metres (128 ft).This height is deemed the record in Japan historically, as of reporting date, that exceeds 38.2 metres (125 ft) from the1896 Meiji-Sanriku earthquake.It was also estimated that the tsunami reached heights of up to 40.5 metres (133 ft) in Miyako in Tōhoku's Iwate Prefecture. The inundated areas closely matched those of the869 Sanriku tsunami. Inundation heights were observed along 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) of the coast from Hokkaido to Kyushu in a 2012 study. Maximumrun-upheights greater than 10 metres (33 ft) were distributed along 530 kilometres (330 mi) of coast, and maximum run-up heights greater than 20 metres (66 ft) were distributed along 200 kilometres (120 mi) of the coast, measured directly.The tsunami resulted in","tsunami resulted in significant erosion of the Rikuzen-Takata coastline, mainly caused by backwash. A 2016 study indicated that the coast has not naturally recovered at a desirable rate since the tsunami. A Japanese government study found that 58% of people in coastal areas in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures heeded tsunami warnings immediately after the quake and headed for higher ground. Of those who attempted to evacuate after hearing the warning, only five percent were caught in the tsunami. Of those who did not heed the warning, 49% were hit by the water. Delayed evacuations in response to the warnings had a number of causes. The tsunami height that had been initially predicted by thetsunami warning systemwas lower than the actual tsunami height; this error contributed to the delayed escape of some residents. The discrepancy arose as follows: in order to produce a quick prediction of a tsunami's height and thus to provide a timely warning, the initial earthquake and tsunami warning that was","warning that was issued for the event was based on a calculation that requires only about three minutes. This calculation is, in turn, based on the maximum amplitude of the seismic wave. The amplitude of the seismic wave is measured using theJMA magnitude scale, which is similar toRichter magnitude scale. However, these scales \"saturate\" for earthquakes that are above a certain magnitude (magnitude 8 on the JMA scale); that is, in the case of very large earthquakes, the scales' values change little despite large differences in the earthquakes' energy. This resulted in an underestimation of the tsunami's height in initial reports. Problems in issuing updates also contributed to delays in evacuations. The warning system was supposed to be updated about 15 minutes after the earthquake occurred, by which time the calculation for themoment magnitude scalewould normally be completed. However, the strong quake had exceeded the measurement limit of all of theteleseismometerswithin Japan, and thus it was impossible","it was impossible to calculate the moment magnitude based on data from those seismometers. Another cause of delayed evacuations was the release of the second update on the tsunami warning long after the earthquake (28 minutes, according to observations); by that time, power failures and similar circumstances reportedly prevented the update from reaching some residents. Also, observed data from tidal meters that were located off the coast were not fully reflected in the second warning. Furthermore, shortly after the earthquake, some wave meters reported a fluctuation of \"20 centimetres (7.9 in)\", and this value was broadcast throughout the mass media and the warning system, which caused some residents to underestimate the danger of their situation and even delayed or suspended their evacuation. In response to the aforementioned shortcomings in the tsunami warning system, JMA began an investigation in 2011 and updated their system in 2013. In the updated system, for a powerful earthquake that is capable of","that is capable of causing the JMA magnitude scale to saturate, no quantitative prediction will be released in the initial warning; instead, there will be words that describe the situation's emergency. There are plans to install new teleseismometers with the ability to measure larger earthquakes, which would allow the calculation of a quake's moment magnitude scale in a timely manner. JMA also implemented a simpler empirical method to integrate, into a tsunami warning, data from GPS tidal meters as well as from undersea water pressure meters, and there are plans to install more of these meters and to develop further technology to utilize data observed by them. To prevent under-reporting of tsunami heights, early quantitative observation data that are smaller than the expected amplitude will be overridden and the public will instead be told that the situation is under observation. About 90 seconds after an earthquake, an additional report on the possibility of a tsunami will also be included in observation","in observation reports, in order to warn people before the JMA magnitude can be calculated. Elsewhere across the Pacific ThePacific Tsunami Warning Center(PTWC) in Hawaii issued tsunami watches and announcements for locations in the Pacific. At 07:30 UTC, PTWC issued a widespread tsunami warning covering the entire Pacific Ocean.Russia evacuated 11,000 residents from coastal areas of theKuril Islands.The United StatesNational Tsunami Warning Centerissued a tsunami warning for the coastal areas in most ofCalifornia, all ofOregon, and the western part ofAlaska, and a tsunami advisory covering the Pacific coastlines of most of Alaska, and all ofWashingtonandBritish Columbia, Canada.InCaliforniaandOregon, up to 2.4 m-high (7.9 ft) tsunami waves hit some areas, damaging docks and harbors and causing over US$10 million in damage.InCurry County, Oregon, US$7 million in damage occurred including the destruction of 1,100 m (3,600 ft) of docks at theBrookingsharbor; the county received over US$1 million","over US$1 million inFEMAemergency grants from the US Federal Government.Surges of up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) hitVancouver Islandin Canadaprompting some evacuations, and causing boats to be banned from the waters surrounding the island for 12 hours following the wave strike, leaving many island residents in the area without means of getting to work. In thePhilippines, waves up to 0.5 m (1 ft 8 in) high hit the eastern seaboard of the country. Some houses along the coast inJayapura, Indonesiawere destroyed.Authorities inWewak,East Sepik, Papua New Guinea evacuated 100 patients from the city's Boram Hospital before it was hit by waves, causing an estimated US$4 million in damage.Hawaii estimated damage to public infrastructure alone at US$3 million, with damage to private properties, including resort hotels such asFour Seasons Resort Hualalai, estimated at tens of millions of dollars.It was reported that a 1.5 m-high (4.9 ft) wave completely submergedMidway Atoll's reef inlets and Spit Island, killing more than","killing more than 110,000 nestingseabirdsat theMidway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.Some other South Pacific countries, includingTongaand New Zealand, and US territoriesAmerican SamoaandGuam, experienced larger-than-normal waves, but did not report any major damage.However, in Guam some roads were closed off and people were evacuated from low-lying areas. Along the Pacific Coast of Mexico and South America, tsunami surges were reported, but in most places caused little or no damage.Perureported a wave of 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) and more than 300 homes damaged.The surge inChilewas large enough to damage more than 200 houses,with waves of up to 3 m (9.8 ft).In theGalápagos Islands, 260 families received assistance following a 3 m (9.8 ft) surge which arrived 20 hours after the earthquake, after the tsunami warning had been lifted.There was a great deal of damage to buildings on the islands and one man was injured but there were no reported fatalities. After a 2 m (6 ft 7 in) high surge hit Chile, it was reported","it was reported that the reflection from those surges traveledbackacross the Pacific, causing a 30–60 cm (12–24 in) surge in Japan, 47–48 hours after the earthquake, according to observation from multipletide gauges, including in Onahama, Owase, and Kushimoto. The tsunami brokeicebergsoff theSulzberger Ice ShelfinAntarctica, 13,000 km (8,100 mi) away. The main iceberg measured 9.5 km × 6.5 km (5.9 mi × 4.0 mi) (approximately the area ofManhattan Island) and about 80 m (260 ft) thick. A total of 125 km2(48 sq mi; 31,000 acres) of ice broke away. As of April 2012, wreckage from the tsunami spread around the world, including asoccerball which was found in Alaska'sMiddleton Islandand a Japanese motorcycle found in British Columbia, Canada. Norway On the day of the earthquake, the waters of severalfjordsacross Norway appeared to seethe as if boiling, and formed waves that rolled onto shores, most prominently inSognefjorden, where the phenomenon was caught on film. After two years of research, scientists concluded","concluded that the massive earthquake also triggered these surpriseseichewaves thousands of miles away. Casualties Japan Key statistics The official figures released in 2021 reported 19,759 deaths,6,242 injured,and 2,553 people missing.There were 10,567 deaths inMiyagi, 5,145 inIwate, 3,920 inFukushima, 66 inIbaraki, 22 inChiba, eight inTokyo, six inKanagawa, four inTochigi, three each inAomoriandYamagata, and one each inGunma,SaitamaandHokkaido.The leading causes of death were drowning (90.64% or 14,308 bodies), burning (0.9% or 145 bodies) and others (4.2% or 667 bodies, mostly crushed by heavy objects).Injuries related tonuclear exposureor thedischarge of radioactive water in Fukushimaare difficult to trace as 60% of the 20,000 workers on-site declined to participate in state-sponsored free health checks. Elderly aged over 60 account for 65.8% of all deaths, as shown on the table to the right.In particular, in theOkawa Elementary School tragedyin which 84 drowned, it was discovered that in the wake of the","in the wake of the tsunami, young housewives who wanted to pick up their children to high ground found their voices drowned out by retired, elderly, male villagers, who preferred to stay put at the school, which was a sea-level evacuation site meant for earthquakes but not tsunamis.Richard Lloyd Parryconcluded the tragedy to be \"the ancient dialogue between the entreating voices of women, and the oblivious, overbearing dismissiveness of old men\". For the purpose of relief fund, an \"earthquake-related death\" was defined to include \"Physical and mental fatigue caused by life in temporary shelter\", \"Physical and mental fatigue caused by evacuation\", \"Delayed treatment due to an inoperative hospital\", \"Physical and mental fatigue caused by stress from the earthquake and tsunami\". A few cases of suicide are also included. Most of these deaths occurred during the first six months after the earthquake and the number dropped thereafter, but as time has passed, the number has continued to increase. Most of these","Most of these deaths occurred in Fukushima Prefecture, where the prefectural government has suggested that they could be due to evacuations caused by theFukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.Within Fukushima Prefecture, these indirect casualties have already resulted in more deaths than the number of people killed directly by earthquake and tsunami. Others Save the Childrenreports that as many as 100,000 children were uprooted from their homes, some of whom were separated from their families because the earthquake occurred during the school day.236 children were orphaned in the prefectures ofIwate,MiyagiandFukushimaby the disaster;1,580 children lost either one or both parents,846 in Miyagi, 572 in Iwate, and 162 in Fukushima.The quake and tsunami killed 378 elementary, middle-school, and high school students and left 158 others missing.One elementary school inIshinomaki, Miyagi,Okawa Elementary School, lost 74 of 108 students and 10 of 13 teachers in the tsunami due to poor decision making in evacuation. The","in evacuation. The Japanese Foreign Ministry confirmed the deaths of nineteen foreigners.Among them were two English teachers from the United States affiliated with theJapan Exchange and Teaching Program;a Canadian missionary inShiogama;and citizens of China, North and South Korea, Taiwan, Pakistan and the Philippines. By 9:30 UTC on 11 March 2011,Google Person Finder, which was previously used in theHaitian,Chilean, andChristchurch, New Zealandearthquakes, was collecting information about survivors and their locations. Japanese funeralsare normally elaborate Buddhist ceremonies that entail cremation. The thousands of bodies, however, exceeded the capacity of availablecrematoriumsandmorgues, many of them damaged,and there were shortages of both kerosene—each cremation requires 50 litres—anddry icefor preservation.The single crematorium inHigashimatsushima, for example, could only handle four bodies a day, although hundreds were found there.Governments and the military were forced to bury many bodies in","bury many bodies in hastily dugmass graveswith rudimentary or no rites, although relatives of the deceased were promised that they would be cremated later. As of 27 May 2011, threeJapan Ground Self-Defense Forcemembers had died while conducting relief operations in Tōhoku.As of March 2012, the Japanese government had recognized 1,331 deaths as indirectly related to the earthquake, such as caused by harsh living conditions after the disaster.As of 30 April 2012, 18 people had died and 420 had been injured while participating in disaster recovery or clean-up efforts. Overseas The tsunami was reported to have caused several deaths outside Japan. One man was killed inJayapura,Papua, Indonesia after being swept out to sea.A man who is said to have been attempting to photograph the oncoming tsunami at the mouth of theKlamath River, south ofCrescent City, California, was swept out to sea.His body was found on 2 April 2011 along Ocean Beach inFort Stevens State Park, Oregon, 530 km (330 mi) to the north. Damage and","north. Damage and effects The degree and extent of damage caused by the earthquake and resulting tsunami were enormous, with most of the damage being caused by the tsunami. Video footage of the towns that were worst affected shows little more than piles of rubble, with almost no parts of any structures left standing.Estimates of the cost of the damage range well into the tens of billions ofUS dollars; before-and-aftersatellitephotographs of devastated regions show immense damage to many regions.Although Japan has invested the equivalent of billions of dollars on anti-tsunami seawalls which line at least 40% of its 34,751 km (21,593 mi) coastline and stand up to 12 m (39 ft) high, the tsunami simply washed over the top of some seawalls, collapsing some in the process. Japan'sNational Police Agencysaid on 3 April 2011, that 45,700 buildings were destroyed and 144,300 were damaged by the quake and tsunami. The damaged buildings included 29,500 structures in Miyagi Prefecture, 12,500 in Iwate Prefecture and","Prefecture and 2,400 in Fukushima Prefecture.Three hundred hospitals with 20 beds or more in Tōhoku were damaged by the disaster, with 11 being completely destroyed.The earthquake and tsunami created an estimated 24–25 million tons of rubble and debris in Japan. A report by the National Police Agency of Japan on 10 September 2018 listed 121,778 buildings as \"total collapsed\", with a further 280,926 buildings \"half collapsed\", and another 699,180 buildings \"partially damaged\".The earthquake and tsunami also caused extensive and severe structural damage in north-eastern Japan, including heavy damage to roads and railways as well as fires in many areas, and a dam collapse.Japanese Prime MinisterNaoto Kansaid, \"In the 65 years after the end of World War II, this is the toughest and the most difficult crisis for Japan.\"Around 4.4 million households in northeastern Japan were left without electricity and 1.5 million without water. An estimated 230,000 automobiles and trucks were damaged or destroyed in the","or destroyed in the disaster. As of the end of May 2011, residents of Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures had requested the deregistration of 15,000 vehicles, meaning that the owners of those vehicles were writing them off as unrepairable or unsalvageable. Weather conditions Low temperature andsnowfallwere major concerns after the earthquake.Snow arrived minutes before or after the tsunami, depending on locations.InIshinomaki, the city which suffered the most deaths,a temperature of 0 °C (32 °F) was measured, and it began to snow within a couple of hours of the earthquake.Major snow fell again on 16 March,and intermittently in the coming weeks.18 March was the coldest of that month, recording −4 to 6 °C (25 to 43 °F) inSendai.Photos of city ruins covered with snow were featured in various photo albums in international media, includingNASA. Waste The tsunami produced huge amounts of debris: estimates of 5 million tonnes of waste were reported by theJapanese Ministry of the Environment. Some of this","Some of this waste, mostly plastic andstyrofoamwashed up on the coasts of Canada and the United States in late 2011. Along the west coast of the United States, this increased the amount of litter by a factor of ten and may have transportedalien species. Ports All of Japan's ports were briefly shut down after the earthquake, though the ones in Tokyo and southwards soon re-opened. Fifteen ports were located in the disaster zone. The north eastern ports of Hachinohe, Sendai, Ishinomaki and Onahama were destroyed, while thePort of Chiba(which serves the hydrocarbon industry) and Japan's ninth-largest container port atKashimawere also affected, though less severely. The ports at Hitachinaka, Hitachi, Soma, Shiogama, Kesennuma, Ofunato, Kamashi and Miyako were also damaged and closed to ships.All 15 ports reopened to limited ship traffic by 29 March 2011.A total of 319 fishing ports, about 10% of Japan's fishing ports, were damaged in the disaster.Most were restored to operating condition by 18 April 2012. ThePort","April 2012. ThePort of Tokyosuffered slight damage; the effects of the quake included visible smoke rising from a building in the port with parts of the port areas being flooded, includingsoil liquefactioninTokyo Disneyland's parking lot. Dams and water problems TheFujinuma irrigation daminSukagawaruptured,causing flooding and the washing away of five homes.Eight people were missing and four bodies were discovered by the morning.Reportedly, some locals had attempted to repair leaks in the dam before it completelyfailed.On 12 March 252 dams were inspected and it was discovered that sixembankment damshad shallow cracks on their crests. The reservoir at one concretegravity damsuffered a small non-seriousslope failure. All damaged dams are functioning with no problems. Four dams within the quake area were unreachable. In the immediate aftermath of the calamity, at least 1.5 million households were reported to have lost access to water supplies.By 21 March 2011, this number fell to 1.04 million. Electricity","Electricity According to the Japanese trade ministry, around 4.4 million households served byTōhoku Electric Power(TEP) in northeastern Japan were left without electricity.Several nuclear and conventional power plants went offline, reducing theTokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) total capacity by 21 GW.Rolling blackoutsbegan on 14 March due to power shortages caused by the earthquake.TEPCO, which normally provides approximately 40GWof electricity, announced that it could only provide about 30 GW, because 40% of the electricity used in the greater Tokyo area was supplied by reactors in theNiigataandFukushimaprefectures.The reactors at theFukushima DaiichiandFukushima Dai-niplants were automatically taken offline when the first earthquake occurred and sustained major damage from the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Rolling blackouts of approximately three hours were experienced throughout April and May while TEPCO scrambled to find a temporary power solution. The blackouts affected Tokyo,Kanagawa,","Tokyo,Kanagawa, EasternShizuoka,Yamanashi,Chiba,Ibaraki,Saitama,Tochigi, andGunmaprefectures.Voluntary reductions in electricity use by consumers in the Kanto area helped reduce the predicted frequency and duration of the blackouts.By 21 March 2011, the number of households in the north without electricity fell to 242,927. Tōhoku Electric Power was not able to provide the Kanto region with additional power because TEP's power plants were also damaged in the earthquake.Kansai Electric Power Company(Kepco) could not share electricity, because its system operated at 60 hertz, whereas TEPCO and TEP operate their systems at 50 hertz; the disparity is due to early industrial and infrastructure development in the 1880s that left Japan without a unified nationalpower grid.Two substations, one in Shizuoka Prefecture and one in Nagano Prefecture, were able to convert between frequencies and transfer electricity from Kansai to Kanto and Tōhoku, but their capacity was limited to 1 GW. With damage to so many power","to so many power plants, it was feared it might be years before a long-term solution could be found. To help alleviate the shortage, three steel manufacturers in the Kanto region contributed electricity produced by their in-house conventional power stations to TEPCO for distribution to the general public.Sumitomo Metal Industriescould produce up to 500 MW,JFE Steel400 MW, andNippon Steel500 MW of electric power.Auto and auto parts makers in Kanto and Tōhoku agreed in May 2011 to operate their factories on Saturdays and Sundays and close on Thursdays and Fridays to help alleviate electricity shortages during the summer of 2011.The public and other companies were also encouraged to conserve electricity in the 2011 summer months (Setsuden). The expected electricity crisis in 2011 summer was successfully prevented thanks to all thesetsudenmeasures. Peak electricity consumption recorded by TEPCO during the period was 49.22GW, which is 10.77GW (18%) lower than the peak consumption in the previous year. Overall","year. Overall electricity consumption during July and August was also 14% less than in the previous year.The peak electricity consumption within TEP's area was 12.46GW during the 2011 summer, 3.11GW (20%) less than the peak consumption in the previous year, and the overall consumption have been reduced by 11% in July with 17% in August compared to previous year.The Japanese government continued to ask the public to conserve electricity until 2016, when it is predicted that the supply will be sufficient to meet demand, thanks to the deepening of the mindset to conserve electricity among corporate and general public, addition of new electricity providers due to theelectricity liberalizationpolicy, increased output from renewable energy as well as fossil fuel power stations, as well as sharing of electricity between different electricity companies. Oil, gas and coal A 220,000-barrel (35,000 m3)-per-dayoil refineryofCosmo Oil Companywas set on fire by the quake atIchihara,Chiba Prefecture, to the east of","to the east of Tokyo.It was extinguished after ten days, injuring six people, and destroying storage tanks.Other refineries halted production due to safety checks and power loss.In Sendai, a 145,000-barrel (23,100 m3)-per-day refinery owned by the largest refiner in Japan,JX Nippon Oil & Energy, was also set ablaze by the quake.Workers were evacuated,but tsunami warnings hindered efforts to extinguish the fire until 14 March, when officials planned to do so. An analyst estimates that consumption of various types of oil may increase by as much as 300,000 barrels (48,000 m3) per day (as well as LNG), as back-up power plants burningfossil fuelstry to compensate for the loss of 11 GW of Japan's nuclear power capacity. The city-owned plant for importingliquefied natural gasin Sendai was severely damaged, and supplies were halted for at least a month. In addition to refining and storage, several power plants were damaged. These include Sendai #4, New-Sendai #1 and #2, Haranomachi #1 and #2, Hirono #2 and #4 and","#2 and #4 and Hitachinaka #1. Nuclear power plants TheFukushima Daiichi,Fukushima Daini,Onagawa Nuclear Power PlantandTōkai nuclear power stations, consisting of a total eleven reactors, wereautomatically shut downfollowing the earthquake.Higashidōri, also on the northeast coast, was already shut down for a periodic inspection. Cooling is needed to removedecay heatafter aGeneration II reactorhas been shut down, and to maintain spent fuel pools. The backup cooling process is powered by emergency diesel generators at the plants and atRokkasho nuclear reprocessing plant.At Fukushima Daiichi and Daini, tsunami waves overtopped seawalls and destroyed diesel backup power systems, leading to severe problems at Fukushima Daiichi, including three large explosions and radioactive leakage. Subsequent analysis found that many Japanese nuclear plants, including Fukushima Daiichi, were not adequately protected against tsunamis.Over 200,000 people were evacuated. Thedischarge of radioactive water in Fukushimawas confirmed","confirmed in later analysis at the three reactors atFukushima I(Units 1, 2, and 3), which suffered meltdowns and continued to leak coolant water. The aftershock on 7 April caused the loss of external power to Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant and Higashidori Nuclear Power Plant but backup generators were functional.Onagawa Nuclear Power Plantlost three of its four external power lines and temporarily lost cooling function in its spent fuel pools for \"20 to 80 minutes\". A spill of \"up to 3.8 litres\" of radioactive water also occurred at Onagawa following the aftershock.A report by theIAEAin 2012 found that theOnagawa Nuclear Power Planthad remained largely undamaged. In 2013, only two nuclear reactors in Japan had been restarted since the 2011 shutdowns.In February 2019, there were 42 operable reactors in Japan. Of these, only nine reactors in five power plants were operating after having been restarted post-2011. Fukushima meltdowns Japan declared a state of emergency following the failure of the cooling system at","cooling system at theFukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, resulting in the evacuation of nearby residents.Officials from the JapaneseNuclear and Industrial Safety Agencyreported that radiation levels inside the plant were up to 1,000 times normal levels,and that radiation levels outside the plant were up to eight times normal levels.Later, a state of emergency was also declared at theFukushima Daininuclear power plant about 11 km (6.8 mi) south.Experts described the Fukushima disaster was not as bad as theChernobyl disaster, but worse than theThree Mile Island accident. Thedischarge of radioactive water of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plantwas later detected in tap water. Radioactive iodine was detected in the tap water in Fukushima, Tochigi, Gunma, Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama, and Niigata, and radioactive caesium in the tap water in Fukushima, Tochigi and Gunma.Radioactive caesium, iodine, and strontiumwere also detected in the soil in some places in Fukushima. There may be a need to replace the","need to replace the contaminated soil.Many radioactive hotspots were found outside the evacuation zone, including Tokyo.Radioactive contamination of food productswere detected in several places in Japan.In 2021, the Japanese cabinet finally approved thedumping of radioactive water in Fukushimainto the Pacific Ocean over a course of 30 years, with full support of IAEA. Incidents elsewhere A fire occurred in the turbine section of theOnagawa Nuclear Power Plantfollowing the earthquake.The blaze was in a building housing the turbine, which is sited separately from the plant's reactor,and was soon extinguished.The plant was shut down as a precaution. On 13 March the lowest-level state of emergency was declared regarding the Onagawa plant as radioactivity readings temporarilyexceeded allowed levels in the area of the plant.Tōhoku Electric Power Co. stated this may have been due to radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accidents but was not from the Onagawa plant itself. As a result of the 7 April","of the 7 April aftershock, Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant lost three of four external power lines and lost cooling function for as much as 80 minutes. A spill of a couple of litres of radioactive water occurred at Onagawa. The number 2 reactor atTōkai Nuclear Power Plantwas shut down automatically.On 14 March it was reported that a cooling system pump for this reactor had stopped working;however, the Japan Atomic Power Company stated that there was a second operational pump sustaining the cooling systems, but that two of three diesel generators used to power the cooling system were out of order. Transport Japan's transport network suffered severe disruptions. Many sections ofTōhoku Expresswayserving northern Japan were damaged. The expressway did not reopen to general public use until 24 March 2011.All railway services were suspended in Tokyo, with an estimated 20,000 people stranded at major stations across the city.In the hours after the earthquake, some train services were resumed.Most Tokyo area train lines","area train lines resumed full service by the next day—12 March.Twenty thousand stranded visitors spent the night of 11–12 March insideTokyo Disneyland. A tsunami floodedSendai Airportat 15:55 JST,about one hour after the initial quake, causing severe damage.NaritaandHaneda Airportboth briefly suspended operations after the quake, but suffered little damage and reopened within 24 hours.Eleven airliners bound for Narita were diverted to nearbyYokota Air Base. Various train services around Japan were also canceled, withJR Eastsuspending all services for the rest of the day.Four trains on coastal lines were reported as being out of contact with operators; one, a four-car train on theSenseki Line, was found to have derailed, and its occupants were rescued shortly after 8 am the next morning.Minami-Kesennuma Stationon theKesennuma Linewas obliterated save for its platform;62 of 70 (31 of 35) JR East train lines suffered damage to some degree;in the worst-hit areas, 23 stations on 7 lines were washed away, with","washed away, with damage or loss of track in 680 locations and the 30-km radius around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant unable to be assessed. There were no derailments ofShinkansenbullet train services in and out of Tokyo, but their services were also suspended.TheTokaido Shinkansenresumed limited service late in the day and was back to its normal schedule by the next day, while theJōetsuandNagano Shinkansenresumed services late on 12 March. Services onYamagata Shinkansenresumed with limited numbers of trains on 31 March. Derailments were minimized because of anearly warning system that detected the earthquakebefore it struck. The system automatically stopped all high-speed trains, which minimized the damage. TheTōhoku Shinkansenline was worst hit, with JR East estimating that 1,100 sections of the line, varying from collapsed station roofs to bent power pylons, would need repairs. Services on the Tōhoku Shinkansen partially resumed only in Kantō area on 15 March, with one round-trip service per hour","service per hour betweenTokyoandNasu-Shiobara,and Tōhoku area service partially resumed on 22 March betweenMoriokaandShin-Aomori.Services onAkita Shinkansenresumed with limited numbers of trains on 18 March.Service between Tokyo andShin-Aomoriwas restored by May, but at lower speeds due to ongoing restoration work; the pre-earthquake timetable was not reinstated until late September. The rolling blackouts brought on by the crises at the nuclear power plants in Fukushima had a profound effect on the rail networks around Tokyo starting on 14 March. Major railways began running trains at 10–20 minute intervals, rather than the usual 3–5 minute intervals, operating some lines only at rush hour and completely shutting down others; notably, theTōkaidō Main Line,Yokosuka Line,Sōbu Main LineandChūō-Sōbu Linewere all stopped for the day.This led to near-paralysis within the capital, with long lines at train stations and many people unable to come to work or get home. Railway operators gradually increased capacity","increased capacity over the next few days, until running at approximately 80% capacity by 17 March and relieving the worst of the passenger congestion. Telecommunications Cellular and landline phone service suffered major disruptions in the affected area.Immediately after the earthquake cellular communication was jammed across much of Japan due to a surge of network activity. On the day of the quake itself American broadcasterNPRwas unable to reach anyone in Sendai with a working phone or access to the Internet.Internet services were largely unaffected in areas where basic infrastructure remained, despite the earthquake having damaged portions of severalundersea cablesystems landing in the affected regions; these systems were able to reroute around affected segments onto redundant links.Within Japan, only a few websites were initially unreachable.SeveralWi-Fihotspot providers reacted to the quake by providing free access to their networks,and some American telecommunications andVoIPcompanies such","such asAT&T,Sprint,Verizon,T-Mobileand VoIP companies such as netTALKandVonagehave offered free calls to (and in some cases, from) Japan for a limited time, as did Germany'sDeutsche Telekom. Defense Matsushima Air Fieldof theJapan Self-Defense Forcein Miyagi Prefecture received a tsunami warning, and the airbase public address 'Tanoy' was used to give the warning: 'A tsunami is coming evacuate to the third floor.' Shortly after the warning the airbase was struck by the tsunami, flooding the base. There was no loss of life, although the tsunami resulted in damage to all 18Mitsubishi F-2fighter jets of the 21st Fighter Training Squadron.Twelve of the aircraft were scrapped, while the remaining six were slated for repair at a cost of 80 billion yen ($1 billion), exceeding the original cost of the aircraft.After the tsunami, elements of theJapanese Maritime Self-Defence Forceput to sea without orders and started rescuing those who had been washed out to sea. Tsunami plans were for the Japanese Self-Defence Force","Self-Defence Force assets to be led, directed, and coordinated by local civic governments. However, the earthquake destroyed town halls (the seat of local municipal government), police, and fire services in many places, so the military not only had to respond to but also command rescues. Cultural properties 754cultural propertieswere damaged across nineteen prefectures, including fiveNational Treasures(atZuigan-ji,Ōsaki Hachiman-gū,Shiramizu Amidadō, andSeihaku-ji); 160Important Cultural Properties(including atSendai Tōshō-gū, theKōdōkan, andEntsū-in, with itsWestern decorative motifs); 144Monuments of Japan(includingMatsushima,Takata-matsubara,Yūbikan, and theSite of Tagajō); sixGroups of Traditional Buildings; and fourImportant Tangible Folk Cultural Properties. Stone monuments at the UNESCOWorld Heritage Site:Shrines and Temples of Nikkōwere toppled.In Tokyo, there was damage toKoishikawa Kōrakuen,Rikugien,Hamarikyū Onshi Teien, and the walls ofEdo Castle.Information on the condition of collections held","of collections held by museums, libraries and archives is still incomplete.There was no damage to theHistoric Monuments and Sites of Hiraizumiin Iwate Prefecture, and the recommendation for their inscription on theUNESCO World Heritage Listin June was seized upon as a symbol of international recognition and recovery. Aftermath The aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami included a humanitarian crisis and a major economic impact. The tsunami resulted in over 340,000 displaced people in the Tōhoku region, and shortages of food, water, shelter, medicine, and fuel for survivors. In response, the Japanese government mobilized the Self-Defence Forces (under Joint Task Force – Tōhoku, led by Lieutenant GeneralEiji Kimizuka), while many countries sent search and rescue teams to help search for survivors. Aid organizations in Japan and worldwide responded, with the Japanese Red Cross reporting $1 billion in donations. The economic impact included immediate problems, with industrial production suspended in many","suspended in many factories, and the longer term issue of the cost of rebuilding, which has been estimated at ¥10 trillion ($122 billion). In comparison to the1995 Great Hanshin earthquake, the East Japan earthquake brought serious damage to an extremely wide range. The aftermath of the twin disasters left Japan's coastal cities and towns with nearly 25 million tons of debris. In Ishinomaki alone, there were 17 trash collection sites 180 metres (590 ft) long and at least 4.5 metres (15 ft) high. An official in the city's government trash disposal department estimated that it would take three years to empty these sites. In April 2015, authorities off the coast ofOregondiscovered debris that was thought to be from a boat destroyed during the tsunami. The cargo containedyellowtail amberjack, a species of fish that lives off the coast of Japan, still alive. KGW estimates that more than 1 million tons of debris still remain in the Pacific Ocean. In February 2016, a memorial was inaugurated by two architects for","two architects for the victims of the disaster, consisting of a 6.5-square-metre structure on a hillside between a temple and a cherry tree inIshinomaki. Scientific and research response Seismologists anticipated a very large quake would strike in the same place as the1923 Great Kantō earthquake—in theSagami Trough, southwest of Tokyo.The Japanese government had tracked plate movements since 1976 in preparation for the so-calledTokai earthquake, predicted to take place in that region.However, occurring as it did 373 km (232 mi) north east of Tokyo, the Tōhoku earthquake came as a surprise to seismologists. While theJapan Trenchwas known for creating large quakes, it had not been expected to generate quakes above an 8.0 magnitude.The Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion set up by the Japanese government then reassessed the long-term risk of trench-type earthquakes around Japan, and it was announced in November 2011 that research on the869 Sanriku earthquakeindicated that a similar earthquake with a","earthquake with a magnitude ofMw8.4–9.0 would take place off the Pacific coast of northeastern Japan, on average, every 600 years. Also, a tsunami-earthquake with atsunami magnitude scales(Mt) between 8.6 and 9.0 (Similar to the1896 Sanriku earthquake, the Mt for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake was 9.1–9.4) had a 30% chance to occur within 30 years. The quake gave scientists the opportunity to collect a large amount of data to model the seismic events that took place in great detail.This data is expected to be used in a variety of ways, providing unprecedented information about how buildings respond to shaking, and other effects.Gravimetricdata from the quake have been used to create a model forincreased warning timecompared to seismic models, as gravity fields travel faster than seismic waves. Researchers have also analysed the economic effects of this earthquake and have developed models of the nationwide propagation via interfirm supply networks of the shock that originated in the Tōhoku region. After the full","After the full extent of the disaster was known, researchers soon launched a project to gather all digital material relating to the disaster into an online searchable archive to form the basis of future research into the events during and after the disaster. The Japan Digital Archive is presented in English and Japanese and is hosted at the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies atHarvard Universityin Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some of the first research to come from the archive was a 2014 paper from the Digital Methods Initiative in Amsterdam about patterns ofTwitterusage around the time of the disaster. After the 2011 disaster, theUnited Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reductionheld itsWorld Conference on Disaster Risk Reductionin Tohoku in March 2015, which produced theSendai Frameworkdocument to guide efforts by international development agencies to act before disasters instead of reacting to them after the fact. At this time Japan's Disaster Management Office (Naikakufu Bosai Keikaku)","Bosai Keikaku) published a bi-lingual guide in Japanese and English,Disaster Management in Japan, to outline the several varieties of natural disaster and the preparations being made for the eventuality of each. In the fall of 2016, Japan's National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED; Japanese abbreviation, Bosai Kaken; full name Bousai Kagaku Gijutsu Kenkyusho) launched the online interactive \"Disaster Chronology Map for Japan, 416–2013\" (map labels in Japanese) to display in visual form the location, disaster time, and date across the islands. TheJapan Trench Fast Drilling Project, a scientific expedition conducted in 2012–2013, drilled ocean-floor boreholes through the fault zone of the earthquake and gathered important data about the rupture mechanism and physical properties of the fault that caused the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Ecological research The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami had a great environmental impact on Japan's eastern coast. The rarity and magnitude","and magnitude of the earthquake-tsunami prompted researchersJotaro Urabe, Takao Suzuki, Tatsuki Nishita, and Wataru Makino to study their immediate ecological impacts on intertidal flat communities at Sendai Bay and the Sanriku Ria coast. Pre- and post-event surveys show a reduction in animal taxon richness and change in taxon composition mainly attributed to the tsunami and its physical impacts. In particular,sessileepibenthicanimals and endobenthic animals both decreased in taxon richness. Mobile epibenthic animals, such as hermit crabs, were not as affected. Post-surveys also recorded taxa that were not previously recorded before, suggesting that tsunamis have the potential to introduce species and change taxon composition and local community structure. The long term ecological impacts at Sendai Bay and the greater east coast of Japan require further study. See also 3.11 and aftermath Lists of earthquakes and tsunamis Documentaries and commemoration events Explanatory notes References Further reading","Further reading Sources This article incorporates text from afree contentwork. Licensed under Cc BY-SA 3.0 IGO (license statement/permission). Text taken fromDrowning in Plastics – Marine Litter and Plastic Waste Vital Graphics, United Nations Environment Programme. External links","Lists of earthquakes Earthquakesare caused by movements within theEarth's crustand uppermostmantle. They range from weak events detectable only byseismometers, to sudden and violent events lasting many minutes which have caused some of the greatest disasters inhuman history. Below, earthquakes are listed by period, region or country, year, magnitude, cost, fatalities, and number of scientific studies. Lists by time period By century By decade By year Lists by location By country By region Deadliest earthquakes The following is a summary list of earthquakes with over approximately 100,000 deaths.The893 Ardabil earthquakeprobably relate to the893 Dvin earthquake, due to misreading of the Arabic word forDvin, 'Dabil' as 'Ardabil'.This is regarded as a 'fake earthquake'. Deadliest earthquakes by year Largest earthquakes by magnitude For those which occurred before the development and deployment ofseismographs– starting around 1900 – magnitudes are estimated from historical reports of the extent and severity of","and severity of damage. Pre-instrumental earthquakes List by year List by country/territory Costliest earthquakes This is the top ten major earthquakes by the dollar value of property (public and private) losses directly attributable to the earthquake. Most studied earthquakes The 50 most studied earthquakes according to theInternational Seismological Centre(ISC), based on a count of scientific papers (mostly in English) that discuss that earthquake. The \"Event #\" is linked to the ISC Event Bibliography for that event. Modified from figure 2, \"The most studied events\", at the ISC'sOverview of the ISC Event Bibliography. International Seismological Centre.Event Bibliography. Thatcham, United Kingdom.2018. See also References External links","1964 Alaska earthquake The1964 Alaskan earthquake, also known as theGreat Alaskan earthquakeandGood Friday earthquake, occurred at 5:36 PMAKSTonGood Friday, March 27, 1964.Across south-centralAlaska, ground fissures, collapsing structures, andtsunamisresulting from the earthquake caused about 131 deaths. Lasting four minutes and thirty-eight seconds, the magnitude 9.2–9.3megathrust earthquakeremains the most powerful earthquake ever recorded inNorth America,and thesecond most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the worldsince modern seismography began in 1900.Six hundred miles (970 km) of fault ruptured at once and moved up to 60 ft (18 m), releasing about 500 years of stress buildup.Soil liquefaction, fissures, landslides, and other ground failures caused major structural damage in several communities and much damage to property.Anchoragesustained great destruction or damage to many inadequatelyearthquake-engineeredhouses, buildings, and infrastructure (paved streets, sidewalks, water and sewer mains,","and sewer mains, electrical systems, and other man-made equipment), particularly in the several landslide zones alongKnik Arm. Two hundred miles (320 km) southwest, some areas nearKodiakwere permanently raised by 30 feet (9 m). Southeast of Anchorage, areas around the head ofTurnagain ArmnearGirdwoodandPortagedropped as much as 8 feet (2.4 m), requiring reconstruction and fill to raise theSeward Highwayabove the new hightidemark. InPrince William Sound,Port Valdezsuffered a massive underwater landslide, resulting in the deaths of 32 people between the collapse of theValdezcity harbor and docks, and inside the ship that was docked there at the time. Nearby, a 27-foot (8.2 m) tsunami destroyed the village ofChenega, killing 23 of the 68 people who lived there. The survivors out-ran the wave, climbing to high ground. Post-quake tsunamis severely affectedWhittier,Seward,Kodiak, and other Alaskan communities, as well as people and property inBritish Columbia,Washington,Oregon, andCalifornia.Tsunamis also caused","also caused damage inHawaiiandJapan. Evidence of motion directly related to the earthquake was also reported fromFloridaandTexas. Geology On March 27, 1964, at 5:36 p.m. AKST (March 28, at 3:36 a.m.UTC),afaultbetween thePacificandNorth Americanplatesruptured nearCollege Fjordin Prince William Sound. Theepicenterof the earthquake was 12.4 mi (20.0 km) north ofPrince William Sound, 78 miles (126 km) east of Anchorage and 40 miles (64 km) west of Valdez. The focus occurred at a depth of approximately 15.5 mi (24.9 km). Ocean floor shifts created large tsunamis (up to 220 feet (67 m) in height), which resulted in many of the deaths and much of the property damage.Large rockslides were also caused, resulting in great property damage.Vertical displacementof up to 38 feet (12 m) occurred, affecting an area of 100,000 square miles (260,000 km2) within Alaska. Studies ofground motionhave led to apeak ground accelerationestimate of 0.14–0.18g.The earthquake was assigned a maximumModified Mercalli intensityof X","intensityof X (Extreme). Shaking was felt across much of Alaska and parts of westernYukonandBritish Columbiain Canada. The Alaska earthquake was asubduction zone(megathrust) earthquake, caused by an oceanic plate sinking under a continental plate. The fault responsible was theAleutian Megathrust, a reverse fault caused by a compressional force. This caused much of the uneven ground which is the result of ground shifted to the opposite elevation.Uplift occurred across 520,000 km2(200,000 sq mi) from southern Kodiak to Prince William Sound and further east of the sound. The maximum uplift was in Montague Island, where the ground was raised 13–15 m (43–49 ft) relative to sea level. The uplift also affected Kodiak, Sitkalidak, and Sitkinak islands. Subsidence was observed for 285,000 km2(110,000 sq mi) from north and west of the sound, in Chugach Mountains, most of Kenai Peninsula, and almost all the Kodiak Island group. Tsunami Two types of tsunami were produced by this subduction zone earthquake. There was a","There was a tectonic tsunami produced in addition to about 20 smaller and local tsunamis. These smaller tsunamis were produced by submarine and subaerial landslides and were responsible for the majority of the tsunami damage. Tsunami waves were noted in over 20 countries, including Peru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Japan, Mexico, and in thecontinent of Antarctica. The largest tsunami wave was recorded inShoup Bay, Alaska, with a height of about 220 ft (67 m). Death toll, damage, and casualties As a result of the earthquake, 131 people are believed to have died:Nine died as a result of the earthquake itself and another 122 died from the subsequent tsunamis all over the world.Five died from the tsunami inOregon,and 12 died from the tsunami inCrescent City,California.Property damage was estimated at $116 million($0.87 billion in 2023 dollars). Anchorage area Most damage occurred in Anchorage, 75 mi (121 km) northwest of the epicenter. Anchorage was not hit by tsunamis, butdowntownAnchorage was heavily","was heavily damaged, and parts of the city built on sandy bluffs overlying \"Bootlegger Coveclay\" nearCook Inlet, most notably the Turnagain neighborhood, sufferedlandslidedamage. The neighborhood lost 75 houses in the landslide, and the destroyed area has since been turned intoEarthquake Park.TheGovernment Hill schoolsuffered from theGovernment Hilllandslide, leaving it in two jagged, broken pieces. Land overlooking theShip Creekvalley near theAlaska Railroadyards also slid, destroying many acres of buildings and city blocks in downtown Anchorage. Most other areas of the city were only moderately damaged. The 60-foot (18 m) concrete control tower atAnchorage International Airportwas not engineered to withstand earthquake activity and collapsed, killing William George Taylor, theFederal Aviation Agencyair traffic controller on duty in the tower cab at the time the earthquake began. One house on W. 10th Avenue suffered peripheral damage, but only one block away the recently completed (and still unoccupied)","still unoccupied) Four Seasons Building on Ninth Avenue collapsed completely, with the concrete elevator shafts sticking up out of the rubble like a seesaw. The hamlets ofGirdwoodandPortage, located 30 and 40 mi (48 and 64 km) southeast of central Anchorage on theTurnagain Arm, were destroyed by subsidence and subsequent tidal action. Girdwood was relocated inland and Portage was abandoned. About 20 miles (32 km) of the Seward Highway sank below the high-water mark of Turnagain Arm; the highway and its bridges were raised and rebuilt in 1964–66. Elsewhere in Alaska Most coastal towns in the Prince William Sound,Kenai Peninsula, andKodiak Islandareas, especially the major ports ofSeward,WhittierandKodiakwere heavily damaged by a combination of seismic activity,subsidence, post-quake tsunamis and/or earthquake-causedfires. Valdez with 32 dead was not totally destroyed, but after three years, the town relocated to higher ground four miles (6.4 km) west of its original site. SomeAlaska Nativevillages,","Nativevillages, includingChenegaandAfognak, were destroyed or damaged.The earthquake caused theballistic missiledetection radar ofClear Air Force Stationto go offline for six minutes,the only unscheduled interruption in its operational history. NearCordova, theMillion Dollar Bridgecrossing theCopper Riveralso suffered damage, with Span #4 slipping off its pylon and collapsing. The community ofGirdwoodwas also confined to the southern side of the Seward Highway when water rushed into Turnagain Arm and flooded or destroyed any buildings left standing to the north of the highway. Only the ground immediately along the highway and that on the north side of the road dropped, prompting geologists to speculate that Girdwood may rest upon an ancient cliff face covered by thousands of years of sediment and glacial deposits. Canada A 4.5 ft (1.4 m) wave reachedPrince Rupert, British Columbia, just south of theAlaska Panhandle, about three hours after the earthquake. The tsunami then reachedTofino, on the exposed west","on the exposed west coast ofVancouver Island, and traveled up afjordto hitPort Albernitwice, washing away 55 homes and damaging 375 others. The towns ofHot Springs Cove,Zeballos, andAmaialso saw damage.The damage in British Columbia was estimated at CA$10 million ($96 million in 2023 Canadian dollars or $91 million in 2023 US dollars). Elsewhere Twelve people were killed by the tsunami in or nearCrescent City, California, while four children were killed on the Oregon coast atBeverly Beach State Park.Other coastal towns in the U.S.Pacific NorthwestandHawaiiwere damaged. Minor damage to boats occurred as far south asLos Angeles.Effects of the earthquake were even noted as far east asFreeport, Texas, where tide gauges recorded waves similar toseismic surface waves.Seicheswere detected in wells in countries around the world, including England, Namibia, and Australia. Aftershocks There were hundreds of aftershocks in the first weeks following the main shock. In the first day alone, eleven major aftershocks were","aftershocks were recorded with a magnitude greater than 6.0. Nine more struck over the next three weeks. In all, thousands of aftershocks occurred in the months following the quake, and smaller aftershocks continued to strike the region for more than a year. Recovery efforts Alaska had never experienced a major disaster in a highly populated area before, and had very limited resources for dealing with the effects of such an event. In Anchorage, at the urging of geologistLidia Selkregg, the City of Anchorage and the Alaska State Housing Authority appointed a team of 40 scientists, including geologists, soil scientists, and engineers, to assess the damage done by the earthquake to the city.The team, called the Engineering and Geological Evaluation Group, was headed byDr. Ruth A. M. Schmidt, a geology professor at theUniversity of Alaska Anchorage. The team of scientists came into conflict with local developers and downtown business owners who wanted to immediately rebuild; the scientists wanted to identify","wanted to identify future dangers to ensure that rebuilt infrastructure would be safe.The team produced a report on May 8, 1964, just a little more than a month after the earthquake. The United States military, which has a large active presence in Alaska, also stepped in to assist within moments of the end of the quake. TheU.S. Armyrapidly re-established communications with the lower 48 states, deployed troops to assist the citizens of Anchorage, and dispatched a convoy to Valdez.On the advice of military and civilian leaders, PresidentLyndon B. Johnsondeclared all of Alaska a major disaster area the day after the quake. TheU.S. NavyandU.S. Coast Guarddeployed ships to isolated coastal communities to assist with immediate needs. Bad weather and poor visibility hampered air rescue and observation efforts the day after the quake, but on Sunday the 29th the situation improved and rescue helicopters and observation aircraft were deployed.A military airlift immediately began shipping relief supplies to Alaska,","supplies to Alaska, eventually delivering 2,570,000 pounds (1,170,000 kg) of food and other supplies.Broadcast journalistGenie Chanceassisted in recovery and relief efforts, staying on theKENIair waves over Anchorage for more than 24 continuous hours as the voice of calm from her temporary post within the Anchorage Public Safety Building.She was effectively designated as the public safety officer by the city's police chief.Chance provided breaking news of the catastrophic events that continued to develop following the magnitude 9.2 earthquake, and she served as the voice of the public safety office, coordinating response efforts, connecting available resources to needs around the community, disseminating information about shelters and prepared food rations, passing messages of well-being between loved ones, and helping to reunite families. In the longer term, theU.S. Army Corps of Engineersled the effort to rebuild roads, clear debris, and establish new townsites for communities that had been completely","had been completely destroyed, at a cost of $110 million.TheWest Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Centerwas formed as a direct response to the disaster. Federal disaster relief funds paid for reconstruction as well as financially supporting the devastated infrastructure of Alaska's government, spending hundreds of millions of dollars that helped keep Alaska financially solvent until the discovery of massive oil deposits atPrudhoe Bay. At the order of theU.S. Defense Department, theAlaska National Guardfounded theAlaska Division of Emergency Servicesto respond to any future disasters. See also Notes References Specific General External links"],"string":"[\n \"2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami On 11 March 2011, at 14:46JST(05:46UTC), aMw9.0–9.1underseamegathrust earthquakeoccurred in the Pacific Ocean, 72 km (45 mi) east of theOshika Peninsulaof theTōhoku region. It lasted approximately six minutes and caused atsunami. It is sometimes known in Japan as the \\\"Great East Japan Earthquake\\\"(東日本大震災,Higashi nihon daishinsai), among other names.The disaster is often referred to by its numerical date,3.11(readsan ten ichi-ichiin Japanese). It was themost powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan, and thefourth most powerful earthquake recorded in the worldsince modern seismography began in 1900.The earthquake triggered powerfultsunamiwaves that may have reached heights of up to 40.5 meters (133 ft) inMiyakoin Tōhoku'sIwate Prefecture,and which, in theSendaiarea, traveled at 700 km/h (435 mph)and up to 10 km (6 mi) inland.Residents of Sendai had only eight to ten minutes of warning, and more than a hundred evacuation sites were washed away.The snowfall which accompanied\",\n \"which accompanied the tsunamiand the freezing temperature hindered rescue works greatly;for instance,Ishinomaki, the city with the most deaths,was 0 °C (32 °F) as the tsunami hit.The official figures released in 2021 reported 19,759 deaths,6,242 injured,and 2,553 people missing,and a report from 2015 indicated 228,863 people were still living away from their home in either temporary housing or due to permanent relocation. The tsunami caused theFukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, primarily themeltdownsof three of its reactors, thedischarge of radioactive water in Fukushimaand the associated evacuation zones affecting hundreds of thousands of residents.Many electrical generators ran out of fuel. The loss of electrical power halted cooling systems, causing heat to build up. The heat build-up caused the generation of hydrogen gas. Without ventilation, gas accumulated within the upper refueling hall and eventually exploded causing the refueling hall's blast panels to be forcefully ejected from the structure.\",\n \"from the structure. Residents within a 20 km (12 mi) radius of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and a 10 km (6.2 mi) radius of theFukushima Daini Nuclear Power Plantwere evacuated. Early estimates placed insured losses from the earthquake alone at US$14.5 to $34.6 billion.TheBank of Japanoffered¥15 trillion (US$183 billion) to the banking system on 14 March 2011 in an effort to normalize market conditions.The estimated economic damages amounted to over $300 billion, making it thecostliest natural disaster in history.According to a 2020 study, \\\"the earthquake and its aftermaths resulted in a 0.47 percentage point decline in Japan's real GDP growth in the year following the disaster.\\\" Earthquake Themagnitude9.1 (Mw)underseamegathrust earthquakeoccurred on 11 March 2011 at 14:46JST(05:46 UTC) in the north-western Pacific Ocean at a relatively shallow depth of 32 km (20 mi),with itsepicenterapproximately 72 km (45 mi) east of theOshika PeninsulaofTōhoku, Japan, lasting approximately six minutes.The\",\n \"six minutes.The earthquake was initially reported as 7.9 Mwby theUSGSbefore it was quickly upgraded to 8.8 Mw, then to 8.9 Mw,and then finally to 9.0 Mw.On 11 July 2016, the USGS further upgraded the earthquake to 9.1.Sendaiwas the nearest major city to the earthquake, 130 km (81 mi) from the epicenter; the earthquake occurred 373 km (232 mi) northeast ofTokyo. The main earthquake was preceded by a number of largeforeshocks, with hundreds ofaftershocksreported. One of the first major foreshocks was a 7.2 Mwevent on 9 March, approximately 40 km (25 mi) from the epicenter of the 11 March earthquake, with another three on the same day in excess of 6.0 Mw.Following the main earthquake on 11 March, a 7.4 Mwaftershock was reported at 15:08 JST (6:06 UTC), succeeded by a 7.9 Mwat 15:15 JST (6:16 UTC) and a 7.7 Mwat 15:26 JST (6:26 UTC).Over 800 aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 Mwor greater have occurred since the initial quake,including one on 26 October 2013 (local time) of magnitude 7.1 Mw.Aftershocks followOmori's\",\n \"followOmori's law, which states that the rate of aftershocks declines with the reciprocal of the time since the main quake. The aftershocks will thus taper off in time, but could continue for years. The earthquake movedHonshu2.4 m (8 ft) east, shifted the Earth on its axis by estimates of between 10 and 25 cm (4 and 10 in),increased Earth's rotational speed by 1.8μsper day,and generatedinfrasoundwaves detected in perturbations of the low-orbitingGravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorersatellite.Initially, the earthquake caused sinking of part of Honshu's Pacific coast by up to roughly a metre, but after about three years, the coast rose back and then kept on rising to exceed its original height. Geology This megathrust earthquake was a recurrence of the mechanism of the earlier869 Sanriku earthquake, which has been estimated as having a magnitude of at least 8.4 Mw, which also created a large tsunami that inundated the Sendai plain.Three tsunami deposits have been identified within\",\n \"identified within theHolocenesequence of the plain, all formed within the last 3,000 years, suggesting an 800 to 1,100 year recurrence interval for large tsunamigenic earthquakes. In 2001 it was reckoned that there was a high likelihood of a large tsunami hitting the Sendai plain as more than 1,100 years had then elapsed.In 2007, the probability of an earthquake with a magnitude of Mw8.1–8.3 was estimated as 99% within the following 30 years. This earthquake occurred where thePacific Plateissubductingunder the plate beneath northern Honshu.The Pacific Plate, which moves at a rate of 8 to 9 cm (3.1 to 3.5 in) per year, dips under Honshu's underlying plate, building large amounts ofelastic energy. This motion pushes the upper plate down until the accumulated stress causes a seismic slip-rupture event. The break caused the sea floor to rise by several metres.The magnitude of this earthquake was a surprise to some seismologists.A quake of this magnitude usually has a rupture length of at least 500 km (310 mi)\",\n \"500 km (310 mi) and generally requires a long, relatively straight fault surface. Because the plate boundary andsubduction zonein the area of the Honshu rupture is not very straight, it is unusual for the magnitude of its earthquake to exceed 8.5 Mw.Thehypocentral regionof this earthquake extended from offshoreIwate Prefectureto offshoreIbaraki Prefecture.TheJapanese Meteorological Agencysaid that the earthquake may have ruptured the fault zone from Iwate to Ibaraki with a length of 500 km (310 mi) and a width of 200 km (120 mi).Analysis showed that this earthquake consisted of a set of three events.Other major earthquakes with tsunamis struck theSanriku Coastregionin 1896andin 1933. The source area of this earthquake has a relatively high coupling coefficient surrounded by areas of relatively low coupling coefficients in the west, north, and south. From the averaged coupling coefficient of 0.5–0.8 in the source area and the seismic moment, it was estimated that the slip deficit of this earthquake was\",\n \"this earthquake was accumulated over a period of 260–880 years, which is consistent with the recurrence interval of such great earthquakes estimated from the tsunami deposit data. The seismic moment of this earthquake accounts for about 93% of the estimated cumulative moment from 1926 to March 2011. Hence, earthquakes in this area with magnitudes of about 7 since 1926 had only released part of the accumulated energy. In the area near the trench, the coupling coefficient is high, which could act as the source of the large tsunami. Most of the foreshocks are interplate earthquakes with thrust-type focal mechanisms. Both interplate and intraplate earthquakes appeared in the aftershocks offshore Sanriku coast with considerable proportions. Energy Thesurface energyof the seismic waves from the earthquake was calculated to be1.9×1017joules,which is nearly double that of the 9.1 Mw2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamithat killed 230,000 people. If harnessed, the seismic energy from this earthquake would power a\",\n \"would power a city the size of Los Angeles for an entire year.Theseismic moment(M0), which represents a physical size for the event, was calculated by the USGS at 3.9×1022joules,slightly less than the 2004 Indian Ocean quake. Japan's National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED) calculated apeak ground accelerationof 2.99g(29.33 m/s2).The largest individual recording in Japan was 2.7g, in Miyagi Prefecture, 75 km from the epicentre; the highest reading in the Tokyo metropolitan area was 0.16g. Intensity The strong ground motion registered at the maximum of 7 on theJapan Meteorological Agency seismic intensity scaleinKurihara,Miyagi Prefecture.Three other prefectures—Fukushima,IbarakiandTochigi—recorded a 6 upper on the JMA scale. Seismic stations inIwate,Gunma,SaitamaandChiba Prefecturemeasured a 6 lower, recording a 5 upper in Tokyo. Geophysical effects Portions of northeastern Japan shifted by as much as 2.4 metres (7 ft 10 in) closer to North America,making some sections of\",\n \"some sections of Japan's landmass wider than before.Those areas of Japan closest to the epicenter experienced the largest shifts.A 400-kilometre (250 mi) stretch of coastline dropped vertically by 0.6 metres (2 ft 0 in), allowing the tsunami to travel farther and faster onto land.One early estimate suggested that the Pacific plate may have moved westward by up to 20 metres (66 ft),and another early estimate put the amount of slippage at as much as 40 m (130 ft).On 6 April the Japanese coast guard said that the quake shifted the seabed near the epicenter 24 metres (79 ft) and elevated the seabed off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture by 3 metres (9.8 ft).A report by theJapan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, published inScienceon 2 December 2011, concluded that the seabed in the area between the epicenter and theJapan Trenchmoved 50 metres (160 ft) east-southeast and rose about 7 metres (23 ft) as a result of the quake. The report also stated that the quake had caused several major landslides on the\",\n \"landslides on the seabed in the affected area. The Earth'saxisshifted by estimates of between 10 and 25 cm (4 and 10 in).This deviation led to a number of small planetary changes, including thelength of a day, thetilt of the Earth, and theChandler wobble.The speed of the Earth's rotation increased, shortening the day by 1.8microsecondsdue to the redistribution of Earth's mass.The axial shift was caused by the redistribution of mass on the Earth's surface, which changed the planet'smoment of inertia. Because ofconservation of angular momentum, such changes ofinertiaresult in small changes to the Earth's rate of rotation.These are expected changesfor an earthquake of this magnitude.The earthquake also generated infrasound waves detected by perturbations in the orbit of theGOCEsatellite, which thusserendipitouslybecame the first seismograph in orbit. Following the earthquake, cracks were observed to have formed in the roof ofMount Fuji'smagma chamber. Seichesobserved inSognefjorden, Norway were attributed to\",\n \"were attributed to distantS wavesandLove wavesgenerated by the earthquake. These seiches began to occur roughly half an hour after the main shock hit Japan, and continued to occur for 3 hours, during which waves of up to 1.5 meters high were observed. Soil liquefactionwas evident in areas ofreclaimed landaround Tokyo, particularly inUrayasu,Chiba City,Funabashi,Narashino(all inChiba Prefecture) and in theKoto,Edogawa,Minato,Chūō, andŌtaWards of Tokyo. Approximately 30 homes or buildings were destroyed and 1,046 other buildings were damaged to varying degrees.NearbyHaneda Airport, built mostly on reclaimed land, was not damaged.Odaibaalso experienced liquefaction, but damage was minimal. Shinmoedake, a volcano inKyushu, erupted three days after the earthquake. The volcano had previously erupted in January 2011; it is not known if the later eruption was linked to the earthquake.InAntarctica, the seismic waves from the earthquake were reported to have caused theWhillans Ice Streamto slip by about 0.5 metres (1\",\n \"about 0.5 metres (1 ft 8 in). The first sign international researchers had that the earthquake caused such a dramatic change in the Earth's rotation came from the United States Geological Survey which monitors Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) stations across the world. The Survey team had several GPS monitors located near the scene of the earthquake. The GPS station located nearest the epicenter moved almost 4 m (13 ft). This motivated government researchers to look into other ways the earthquake may have had large scale effects on the planet. Calculations at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory determined that the Earth's rotation was changed by the earthquake to the point where the days are now 1.8microsecondsshorter. Aftershocks Japan experienced over 1,000 aftershocks since the earthquake, with 80 registering over magnitude 6.0 Mwand several of which have been over magnitude 7.0 Mw. A magnitude 7.4 Mwat 15:08 (JST), 7.9 Mwat 15:15 and a 7.7 Mwquake at 15:26 all occurred on 11 March. A month later, amajor\",\n \"month later, amajor aftershockstruck offshore on 7 April with a magnitude of 7.1 Mw. Its epicenter was underwater, 66 km (41 mi) off the coast of Sendai. TheJapan Meteorological Agencyassigned a magnitude of 7.4 MJMA, while theU.S. Geological Surveylowered it to 7.1 Mw.At least four people were killed, and electricity was cut off across much of northern Japan including the loss of external power toHigashidōri Nuclear Power PlantandRokkasho Reprocessing Plant. Four days later on 11 April, anothermagnitude 7.1 Mwaftershockstruck Fukushima, causing additional damage and killing a total of three people. On 7 December 2012 alarge aftershock of magnitude 7.3 Mwcaused a minor tsunami, and again on 26 October 2013 a small tsunami was recorded after a 7.1 Mwaftershock. As of 16 March 2012 aftershocks continued, totaling 1887 events over magnitude 4.0; a regularly updated map showing all shocks of magnitude 4.5 and above near or off the east coast of Honshu in the last seven daysshowed over 20 events. As of 11 March\",\n \"As of 11 March 2016there had been 869 aftershocks of 5.0 Mwor greater, 118 of 6.0 Mwor greater, and 9 over 7.0 Mwas reported by the Japanese Meteorological Agency. The number of aftershocks was associated with decreased health across Japan. On 13 February 2021, amagnitude 7.1–7.3 earthquakestruck off the coast of Sendai. It caused some damage in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures. One person was killed, and 185 were injured. Land subsidence TheGeospatial Information Authority of Japanreported landsubsidencebased on the height oftriangulation stationsin the area measured byGPSas compared to their previous values from 14 April 2011. Scientists say that the subsidence is permanent. As a result, the communities in question are now more susceptible to flooding during high tides. Earthquake Warning System One minute before the earthquake was felt in Tokyo, theEarthquake Early Warningsystem, which includes more than 1,000seismometersin Japan, sent out warnings of impending strong shaking to millions. It is believed\",\n \"It is believed that the early warning by theJapan Meteorological Agency(JMA) saved many lives.The warning for the general public was delivered about eight seconds after the firstP wavewas detected, or about 31 seconds after the earthquake occurred. However, the estimated intensities were smaller than the actual ones in some places, especially in Kanto,Koshinetsu, and Northern Tōhoku regions where the populace warning did not trigger. According to theJapan Meteorological Agency, reasons for the underestimation include a saturated magnitude scale when using maximum amplitude as input, failure to fully take into account the area of thehypocenter, and the initial amplitude of the earthquake being less than that which would be predicted by an empirical relationship. There were also cases where large differences between estimated intensities by the Earthquake Early Warning system and the actual intensities occurred in the aftershocks and triggered earthquakes. Such discrepancies in the warning were attributed by\",\n \"were attributed by the JMA to the system's inability to distinguish between two different earthquakes that happened at around same time, as well as to the reduced number of reporting seismometers due to power outages and connection failures.The system's software was subsequently modified to handle this kind of situation. Tsunami An upthrust of 6 to 8 metres (20 to 26 ft) along a 180 kilometres (110 mi) wide seabed at 60 kilometres (37 mi) offshore from the east coast of Tōhokuresulted in a majortsunamithat brought destruction along thePacificcoastline of Japan's northern islands. Thousands of people died and entire towns were devastated. The tsunami propagated throughout the Pacific Ocean region reaching the entire Pacific coast of North and South America fromAlaskatoChile. Warnings were issued and evacuations were carried out in many countries bordering the Pacific. Although the tsunami affected many of these places, the heights of the waves were minor.Chile's Pacific coast, one of the farthest from Japan\",\n \"farthest from Japan at about 17,000 kilometres (11,000 mi) away, was struck by waves 2 metres (6.6 ft) high,compared with an estimated wave height of 38.9 metres (128 ft) at Omoe peninsula, Miyako city, Japan. Japan Thetsunami warningissued by theJapan Meteorological Agencywas the most serious on its warning scale; it was rated as a \\\"major tsunami\\\", being at least 3 metres (9.8 ft) high.The actual height prediction varied, the greatest being for Miyagi at 6 metres (20 ft) high.The tsunami inundated a total area of approximately 561 square kilometres (217 sq mi) in Japan. The earthquake took place at 14:46 JST (UTC 05:46) around 67 kilometres (42 mi) from the nearest point on Japan's coastline, and initial estimates indicated the tsunami would have taken 10 to 30 minutes to reach the areas first affected, and then areas farther north and south based on the geography of the coastline.At 15:55 JST, a tsunami was observed floodingSendai Airport, which is located near the coast ofMiyagi Prefecture,with waves\",\n \"waves sweeping away cars and planes and flooding various buildings as they traveled inland.The impact of the tsunami in and around Sendai Airport was filmed by anNHKNews helicopter, showing a number of vehicles on local roads trying to escape the approaching wave and being engulfed by it.A 4-metre-high (13 ft) tsunami hitIwate Prefecture.Wakabayashi Wardin Sendai was also particularly hard hit.At least 101 designated tsunami evacuation sites were hit by the wave. Like the2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the damage by surging water, though much more localized, was far more deadly and destructive than the actual quake. Entire towns were destroyed in tsunami-hit areas in Japan, including 9,500 missing inMinamisanriku;one thousand bodies had been recovered in the town by 14 March 2011. Among the factors in the high death toll was the unexpectedly large water surge. Thesea wallsin several cities had been built to protect against tsunamis of much lower heights. Also, many people caught in the tsunami\",\n \"in the tsunami thought they were on high enough ground to be safe.According to a special committee on disaster prevention designated by the Japanese government, the tsunami protection policy had been intended to deal with only tsunamis that had been scientifically proved to occur repeatedly. The committee advised that future policy should be to protect against the highest possible tsunami. Because tsunami walls had beenovertopped, the committee also suggested, besides building taller tsunami walls, also teaching citizens how to evacuate if a large-scale tsunami should strike. Large parts ofKujiand the southern section ofŌfunatoincluding the port area were almost entirely destroyed.Also largely destroyed wasRikuzentakata, where the tsunami was three stories high.Other cities destroyed or heavily damaged by the tsunami includeKamaishi,Miyako,Ōtsuchi, andYamada(in Iwate Prefecture),Namie,Sōma, andMinamisōma(in Fukushima Prefecture) andShichigahama,Higashimatsushima,Onagawa,Natori,Ishinomaki, andKesennuma(in\",\n \"andKesennuma(in Miyagi Prefecture).The most severe effects of the tsunami were felt along a 670-kilometre-long (420 mi) stretch of coastline fromErimo, Hokkaido, in the north toŌarai, Ibaraki, in the south, with most of the destruction in that area occurring in the hour following the earthquake.Near Ōarai, people captured images of a hugewhirlpoolthat had been generated by the tsunami.The tsunami washed away the sole bridge to Miyatojima, Miyagi, isolating the island's 900 residents.A 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) high tsunami hitChiba Prefectureabout2+1⁄2hours after the quake, causing heavy damage to cities such asAsahi. On 13 March 2011, theJapan Meteorological Agency(JMA) published details of tsunami observations recorded around the coastline of Japan following the earthquake. These observations included tsunami maximum readings of over 3 metres (9.8 ft) at the following locations and times on 11 March 2011, following the earthquake at 14:46 JST: Many areas were also affected by waves of 1 to 3 metres (3 ft 3 in\",\n \"3 metres (3 ft 3 in to 9 ft 10 in) in height, and the JMA bulletin also included the caveat that\\\"At some parts of the coasts, tsunamis may be higher than those observed at the observation sites.\\\"The timing of the earliest recorded tsunami maximum readings ranged from 15:12 to 15:21, between 26 and 35 minutes after the earthquake had struck. The bulletin also included initial tsunami observation details, as well as more detailed maps for the coastlines affected by the tsunami waves. JMA also reported offshore tsunami height recorded bytelemetryfrommooredGPSwave-height meter buoys as follows: On 25 March 2011, Port and Airport Research Institute (PARI) reported tsunami height by visiting the port sites as follows: The tsunami at Ryōri Bay (綾里湾), Ōfunato reached a height of 40.1 metres (132 ft) (run-up elevation). Fishing equipment was scattered on the high cliff above the bay.AtTarō, Iwate, the tsunami reached a height of 37.9 metres (124 ft) up the slope of a mountain some 200 metres (660 ft) away from\",\n \"(660 ft) away from thecoastline.Also, at the slope of a nearby mountain from 400 metres (1,300 ft) away at Aneyoshi fishery port (姉吉漁港) of Omoe peninsula (重茂半島) inMiyako, Iwate,Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technologyfound estimated tsunami run up height of 38.9 metres (128 ft).This height is deemed the record in Japan historically, as of reporting date, that exceeds 38.2 metres (125 ft) from the1896 Meiji-Sanriku earthquake.It was also estimated that the tsunami reached heights of up to 40.5 metres (133 ft) in Miyako in Tōhoku's Iwate Prefecture. The inundated areas closely matched those of the869 Sanriku tsunami. Inundation heights were observed along 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) of the coast from Hokkaido to Kyushu in a 2012 study. Maximumrun-upheights greater than 10 metres (33 ft) were distributed along 530 kilometres (330 mi) of coast, and maximum run-up heights greater than 20 metres (66 ft) were distributed along 200 kilometres (120 mi) of the coast, measured directly.The tsunami resulted in\",\n \"tsunami resulted in significant erosion of the Rikuzen-Takata coastline, mainly caused by backwash. A 2016 study indicated that the coast has not naturally recovered at a desirable rate since the tsunami. A Japanese government study found that 58% of people in coastal areas in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures heeded tsunami warnings immediately after the quake and headed for higher ground. Of those who attempted to evacuate after hearing the warning, only five percent were caught in the tsunami. Of those who did not heed the warning, 49% were hit by the water. Delayed evacuations in response to the warnings had a number of causes. The tsunami height that had been initially predicted by thetsunami warning systemwas lower than the actual tsunami height; this error contributed to the delayed escape of some residents. The discrepancy arose as follows: in order to produce a quick prediction of a tsunami's height and thus to provide a timely warning, the initial earthquake and tsunami warning that was\",\n \"warning that was issued for the event was based on a calculation that requires only about three minutes. This calculation is, in turn, based on the maximum amplitude of the seismic wave. The amplitude of the seismic wave is measured using theJMA magnitude scale, which is similar toRichter magnitude scale. However, these scales \\\"saturate\\\" for earthquakes that are above a certain magnitude (magnitude 8 on the JMA scale); that is, in the case of very large earthquakes, the scales' values change little despite large differences in the earthquakes' energy. This resulted in an underestimation of the tsunami's height in initial reports. Problems in issuing updates also contributed to delays in evacuations. The warning system was supposed to be updated about 15 minutes after the earthquake occurred, by which time the calculation for themoment magnitude scalewould normally be completed. However, the strong quake had exceeded the measurement limit of all of theteleseismometerswithin Japan, and thus it was impossible\",\n \"it was impossible to calculate the moment magnitude based on data from those seismometers. Another cause of delayed evacuations was the release of the second update on the tsunami warning long after the earthquake (28 minutes, according to observations); by that time, power failures and similar circumstances reportedly prevented the update from reaching some residents. Also, observed data from tidal meters that were located off the coast were not fully reflected in the second warning. Furthermore, shortly after the earthquake, some wave meters reported a fluctuation of \\\"20 centimetres (7.9 in)\\\", and this value was broadcast throughout the mass media and the warning system, which caused some residents to underestimate the danger of their situation and even delayed or suspended their evacuation. In response to the aforementioned shortcomings in the tsunami warning system, JMA began an investigation in 2011 and updated their system in 2013. In the updated system, for a powerful earthquake that is capable of\",\n \"that is capable of causing the JMA magnitude scale to saturate, no quantitative prediction will be released in the initial warning; instead, there will be words that describe the situation's emergency. There are plans to install new teleseismometers with the ability to measure larger earthquakes, which would allow the calculation of a quake's moment magnitude scale in a timely manner. JMA also implemented a simpler empirical method to integrate, into a tsunami warning, data from GPS tidal meters as well as from undersea water pressure meters, and there are plans to install more of these meters and to develop further technology to utilize data observed by them. To prevent under-reporting of tsunami heights, early quantitative observation data that are smaller than the expected amplitude will be overridden and the public will instead be told that the situation is under observation. About 90 seconds after an earthquake, an additional report on the possibility of a tsunami will also be included in observation\",\n \"in observation reports, in order to warn people before the JMA magnitude can be calculated. Elsewhere across the Pacific ThePacific Tsunami Warning Center(PTWC) in Hawaii issued tsunami watches and announcements for locations in the Pacific. At 07:30 UTC, PTWC issued a widespread tsunami warning covering the entire Pacific Ocean.Russia evacuated 11,000 residents from coastal areas of theKuril Islands.The United StatesNational Tsunami Warning Centerissued a tsunami warning for the coastal areas in most ofCalifornia, all ofOregon, and the western part ofAlaska, and a tsunami advisory covering the Pacific coastlines of most of Alaska, and all ofWashingtonandBritish Columbia, Canada.InCaliforniaandOregon, up to 2.4 m-high (7.9 ft) tsunami waves hit some areas, damaging docks and harbors and causing over US$10 million in damage.InCurry County, Oregon, US$7 million in damage occurred including the destruction of 1,100 m (3,600 ft) of docks at theBrookingsharbor; the county received over US$1 million\",\n \"over US$1 million inFEMAemergency grants from the US Federal Government.Surges of up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) hitVancouver Islandin Canadaprompting some evacuations, and causing boats to be banned from the waters surrounding the island for 12 hours following the wave strike, leaving many island residents in the area without means of getting to work. In thePhilippines, waves up to 0.5 m (1 ft 8 in) high hit the eastern seaboard of the country. Some houses along the coast inJayapura, Indonesiawere destroyed.Authorities inWewak,East Sepik, Papua New Guinea evacuated 100 patients from the city's Boram Hospital before it was hit by waves, causing an estimated US$4 million in damage.Hawaii estimated damage to public infrastructure alone at US$3 million, with damage to private properties, including resort hotels such asFour Seasons Resort Hualalai, estimated at tens of millions of dollars.It was reported that a 1.5 m-high (4.9 ft) wave completely submergedMidway Atoll's reef inlets and Spit Island, killing more than\",\n \"killing more than 110,000 nestingseabirdsat theMidway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.Some other South Pacific countries, includingTongaand New Zealand, and US territoriesAmerican SamoaandGuam, experienced larger-than-normal waves, but did not report any major damage.However, in Guam some roads were closed off and people were evacuated from low-lying areas. Along the Pacific Coast of Mexico and South America, tsunami surges were reported, but in most places caused little or no damage.Perureported a wave of 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) and more than 300 homes damaged.The surge inChilewas large enough to damage more than 200 houses,with waves of up to 3 m (9.8 ft).In theGalápagos Islands, 260 families received assistance following a 3 m (9.8 ft) surge which arrived 20 hours after the earthquake, after the tsunami warning had been lifted.There was a great deal of damage to buildings on the islands and one man was injured but there were no reported fatalities. After a 2 m (6 ft 7 in) high surge hit Chile, it was reported\",\n \"it was reported that the reflection from those surges traveledbackacross the Pacific, causing a 30–60 cm (12–24 in) surge in Japan, 47–48 hours after the earthquake, according to observation from multipletide gauges, including in Onahama, Owase, and Kushimoto. The tsunami brokeicebergsoff theSulzberger Ice ShelfinAntarctica, 13,000 km (8,100 mi) away. The main iceberg measured 9.5 km × 6.5 km (5.9 mi × 4.0 mi) (approximately the area ofManhattan Island) and about 80 m (260 ft) thick. A total of 125 km2(48 sq mi; 31,000 acres) of ice broke away. As of April 2012, wreckage from the tsunami spread around the world, including asoccerball which was found in Alaska'sMiddleton Islandand a Japanese motorcycle found in British Columbia, Canada. Norway On the day of the earthquake, the waters of severalfjordsacross Norway appeared to seethe as if boiling, and formed waves that rolled onto shores, most prominently inSognefjorden, where the phenomenon was caught on film. After two years of research, scientists concluded\",\n \"concluded that the massive earthquake also triggered these surpriseseichewaves thousands of miles away. Casualties Japan Key statistics The official figures released in 2021 reported 19,759 deaths,6,242 injured,and 2,553 people missing.There were 10,567 deaths inMiyagi, 5,145 inIwate, 3,920 inFukushima, 66 inIbaraki, 22 inChiba, eight inTokyo, six inKanagawa, four inTochigi, three each inAomoriandYamagata, and one each inGunma,SaitamaandHokkaido.The leading causes of death were drowning (90.64% or 14,308 bodies), burning (0.9% or 145 bodies) and others (4.2% or 667 bodies, mostly crushed by heavy objects).Injuries related tonuclear exposureor thedischarge of radioactive water in Fukushimaare difficult to trace as 60% of the 20,000 workers on-site declined to participate in state-sponsored free health checks. Elderly aged over 60 account for 65.8% of all deaths, as shown on the table to the right.In particular, in theOkawa Elementary School tragedyin which 84 drowned, it was discovered that in the wake of the\",\n \"in the wake of the tsunami, young housewives who wanted to pick up their children to high ground found their voices drowned out by retired, elderly, male villagers, who preferred to stay put at the school, which was a sea-level evacuation site meant for earthquakes but not tsunamis.Richard Lloyd Parryconcluded the tragedy to be \\\"the ancient dialogue between the entreating voices of women, and the oblivious, overbearing dismissiveness of old men\\\". For the purpose of relief fund, an \\\"earthquake-related death\\\" was defined to include \\\"Physical and mental fatigue caused by life in temporary shelter\\\", \\\"Physical and mental fatigue caused by evacuation\\\", \\\"Delayed treatment due to an inoperative hospital\\\", \\\"Physical and mental fatigue caused by stress from the earthquake and tsunami\\\". A few cases of suicide are also included. Most of these deaths occurred during the first six months after the earthquake and the number dropped thereafter, but as time has passed, the number has continued to increase. Most of these\",\n \"Most of these deaths occurred in Fukushima Prefecture, where the prefectural government has suggested that they could be due to evacuations caused by theFukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.Within Fukushima Prefecture, these indirect casualties have already resulted in more deaths than the number of people killed directly by earthquake and tsunami. Others Save the Childrenreports that as many as 100,000 children were uprooted from their homes, some of whom were separated from their families because the earthquake occurred during the school day.236 children were orphaned in the prefectures ofIwate,MiyagiandFukushimaby the disaster;1,580 children lost either one or both parents,846 in Miyagi, 572 in Iwate, and 162 in Fukushima.The quake and tsunami killed 378 elementary, middle-school, and high school students and left 158 others missing.One elementary school inIshinomaki, Miyagi,Okawa Elementary School, lost 74 of 108 students and 10 of 13 teachers in the tsunami due to poor decision making in evacuation. The\",\n \"in evacuation. The Japanese Foreign Ministry confirmed the deaths of nineteen foreigners.Among them were two English teachers from the United States affiliated with theJapan Exchange and Teaching Program;a Canadian missionary inShiogama;and citizens of China, North and South Korea, Taiwan, Pakistan and the Philippines. By 9:30 UTC on 11 March 2011,Google Person Finder, which was previously used in theHaitian,Chilean, andChristchurch, New Zealandearthquakes, was collecting information about survivors and their locations. Japanese funeralsare normally elaborate Buddhist ceremonies that entail cremation. The thousands of bodies, however, exceeded the capacity of availablecrematoriumsandmorgues, many of them damaged,and there were shortages of both kerosene—each cremation requires 50 litres—anddry icefor preservation.The single crematorium inHigashimatsushima, for example, could only handle four bodies a day, although hundreds were found there.Governments and the military were forced to bury many bodies in\",\n \"bury many bodies in hastily dugmass graveswith rudimentary or no rites, although relatives of the deceased were promised that they would be cremated later. As of 27 May 2011, threeJapan Ground Self-Defense Forcemembers had died while conducting relief operations in Tōhoku.As of March 2012, the Japanese government had recognized 1,331 deaths as indirectly related to the earthquake, such as caused by harsh living conditions after the disaster.As of 30 April 2012, 18 people had died and 420 had been injured while participating in disaster recovery or clean-up efforts. Overseas The tsunami was reported to have caused several deaths outside Japan. One man was killed inJayapura,Papua, Indonesia after being swept out to sea.A man who is said to have been attempting to photograph the oncoming tsunami at the mouth of theKlamath River, south ofCrescent City, California, was swept out to sea.His body was found on 2 April 2011 along Ocean Beach inFort Stevens State Park, Oregon, 530 km (330 mi) to the north. Damage and\",\n \"north. Damage and effects The degree and extent of damage caused by the earthquake and resulting tsunami were enormous, with most of the damage being caused by the tsunami. Video footage of the towns that were worst affected shows little more than piles of rubble, with almost no parts of any structures left standing.Estimates of the cost of the damage range well into the tens of billions ofUS dollars; before-and-aftersatellitephotographs of devastated regions show immense damage to many regions.Although Japan has invested the equivalent of billions of dollars on anti-tsunami seawalls which line at least 40% of its 34,751 km (21,593 mi) coastline and stand up to 12 m (39 ft) high, the tsunami simply washed over the top of some seawalls, collapsing some in the process. Japan'sNational Police Agencysaid on 3 April 2011, that 45,700 buildings were destroyed and 144,300 were damaged by the quake and tsunami. The damaged buildings included 29,500 structures in Miyagi Prefecture, 12,500 in Iwate Prefecture and\",\n \"Prefecture and 2,400 in Fukushima Prefecture.Three hundred hospitals with 20 beds or more in Tōhoku were damaged by the disaster, with 11 being completely destroyed.The earthquake and tsunami created an estimated 24–25 million tons of rubble and debris in Japan. A report by the National Police Agency of Japan on 10 September 2018 listed 121,778 buildings as \\\"total collapsed\\\", with a further 280,926 buildings \\\"half collapsed\\\", and another 699,180 buildings \\\"partially damaged\\\".The earthquake and tsunami also caused extensive and severe structural damage in north-eastern Japan, including heavy damage to roads and railways as well as fires in many areas, and a dam collapse.Japanese Prime MinisterNaoto Kansaid, \\\"In the 65 years after the end of World War II, this is the toughest and the most difficult crisis for Japan.\\\"Around 4.4 million households in northeastern Japan were left without electricity and 1.5 million without water. An estimated 230,000 automobiles and trucks were damaged or destroyed in the\",\n \"or destroyed in the disaster. As of the end of May 2011, residents of Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures had requested the deregistration of 15,000 vehicles, meaning that the owners of those vehicles were writing them off as unrepairable or unsalvageable. Weather conditions Low temperature andsnowfallwere major concerns after the earthquake.Snow arrived minutes before or after the tsunami, depending on locations.InIshinomaki, the city which suffered the most deaths,a temperature of 0 °C (32 °F) was measured, and it began to snow within a couple of hours of the earthquake.Major snow fell again on 16 March,and intermittently in the coming weeks.18 March was the coldest of that month, recording −4 to 6 °C (25 to 43 °F) inSendai.Photos of city ruins covered with snow were featured in various photo albums in international media, includingNASA. Waste The tsunami produced huge amounts of debris: estimates of 5 million tonnes of waste were reported by theJapanese Ministry of the Environment. Some of this\",\n \"Some of this waste, mostly plastic andstyrofoamwashed up on the coasts of Canada and the United States in late 2011. Along the west coast of the United States, this increased the amount of litter by a factor of ten and may have transportedalien species. Ports All of Japan's ports were briefly shut down after the earthquake, though the ones in Tokyo and southwards soon re-opened. Fifteen ports were located in the disaster zone. The north eastern ports of Hachinohe, Sendai, Ishinomaki and Onahama were destroyed, while thePort of Chiba(which serves the hydrocarbon industry) and Japan's ninth-largest container port atKashimawere also affected, though less severely. The ports at Hitachinaka, Hitachi, Soma, Shiogama, Kesennuma, Ofunato, Kamashi and Miyako were also damaged and closed to ships.All 15 ports reopened to limited ship traffic by 29 March 2011.A total of 319 fishing ports, about 10% of Japan's fishing ports, were damaged in the disaster.Most were restored to operating condition by 18 April 2012. ThePort\",\n \"April 2012. ThePort of Tokyosuffered slight damage; the effects of the quake included visible smoke rising from a building in the port with parts of the port areas being flooded, includingsoil liquefactioninTokyo Disneyland's parking lot. Dams and water problems TheFujinuma irrigation daminSukagawaruptured,causing flooding and the washing away of five homes.Eight people were missing and four bodies were discovered by the morning.Reportedly, some locals had attempted to repair leaks in the dam before it completelyfailed.On 12 March 252 dams were inspected and it was discovered that sixembankment damshad shallow cracks on their crests. The reservoir at one concretegravity damsuffered a small non-seriousslope failure. All damaged dams are functioning with no problems. Four dams within the quake area were unreachable. In the immediate aftermath of the calamity, at least 1.5 million households were reported to have lost access to water supplies.By 21 March 2011, this number fell to 1.04 million. Electricity\",\n \"Electricity According to the Japanese trade ministry, around 4.4 million households served byTōhoku Electric Power(TEP) in northeastern Japan were left without electricity.Several nuclear and conventional power plants went offline, reducing theTokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) total capacity by 21 GW.Rolling blackoutsbegan on 14 March due to power shortages caused by the earthquake.TEPCO, which normally provides approximately 40GWof electricity, announced that it could only provide about 30 GW, because 40% of the electricity used in the greater Tokyo area was supplied by reactors in theNiigataandFukushimaprefectures.The reactors at theFukushima DaiichiandFukushima Dai-niplants were automatically taken offline when the first earthquake occurred and sustained major damage from the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Rolling blackouts of approximately three hours were experienced throughout April and May while TEPCO scrambled to find a temporary power solution. The blackouts affected Tokyo,Kanagawa,\",\n \"Tokyo,Kanagawa, EasternShizuoka,Yamanashi,Chiba,Ibaraki,Saitama,Tochigi, andGunmaprefectures.Voluntary reductions in electricity use by consumers in the Kanto area helped reduce the predicted frequency and duration of the blackouts.By 21 March 2011, the number of households in the north without electricity fell to 242,927. Tōhoku Electric Power was not able to provide the Kanto region with additional power because TEP's power plants were also damaged in the earthquake.Kansai Electric Power Company(Kepco) could not share electricity, because its system operated at 60 hertz, whereas TEPCO and TEP operate their systems at 50 hertz; the disparity is due to early industrial and infrastructure development in the 1880s that left Japan without a unified nationalpower grid.Two substations, one in Shizuoka Prefecture and one in Nagano Prefecture, were able to convert between frequencies and transfer electricity from Kansai to Kanto and Tōhoku, but their capacity was limited to 1 GW. With damage to so many power\",\n \"to so many power plants, it was feared it might be years before a long-term solution could be found. To help alleviate the shortage, three steel manufacturers in the Kanto region contributed electricity produced by their in-house conventional power stations to TEPCO for distribution to the general public.Sumitomo Metal Industriescould produce up to 500 MW,JFE Steel400 MW, andNippon Steel500 MW of electric power.Auto and auto parts makers in Kanto and Tōhoku agreed in May 2011 to operate their factories on Saturdays and Sundays and close on Thursdays and Fridays to help alleviate electricity shortages during the summer of 2011.The public and other companies were also encouraged to conserve electricity in the 2011 summer months (Setsuden). The expected electricity crisis in 2011 summer was successfully prevented thanks to all thesetsudenmeasures. Peak electricity consumption recorded by TEPCO during the period was 49.22GW, which is 10.77GW (18%) lower than the peak consumption in the previous year. Overall\",\n \"year. Overall electricity consumption during July and August was also 14% less than in the previous year.The peak electricity consumption within TEP's area was 12.46GW during the 2011 summer, 3.11GW (20%) less than the peak consumption in the previous year, and the overall consumption have been reduced by 11% in July with 17% in August compared to previous year.The Japanese government continued to ask the public to conserve electricity until 2016, when it is predicted that the supply will be sufficient to meet demand, thanks to the deepening of the mindset to conserve electricity among corporate and general public, addition of new electricity providers due to theelectricity liberalizationpolicy, increased output from renewable energy as well as fossil fuel power stations, as well as sharing of electricity between different electricity companies. Oil, gas and coal A 220,000-barrel (35,000 m3)-per-dayoil refineryofCosmo Oil Companywas set on fire by the quake atIchihara,Chiba Prefecture, to the east of\",\n \"to the east of Tokyo.It was extinguished after ten days, injuring six people, and destroying storage tanks.Other refineries halted production due to safety checks and power loss.In Sendai, a 145,000-barrel (23,100 m3)-per-day refinery owned by the largest refiner in Japan,JX Nippon Oil & Energy, was also set ablaze by the quake.Workers were evacuated,but tsunami warnings hindered efforts to extinguish the fire until 14 March, when officials planned to do so. An analyst estimates that consumption of various types of oil may increase by as much as 300,000 barrels (48,000 m3) per day (as well as LNG), as back-up power plants burningfossil fuelstry to compensate for the loss of 11 GW of Japan's nuclear power capacity. The city-owned plant for importingliquefied natural gasin Sendai was severely damaged, and supplies were halted for at least a month. In addition to refining and storage, several power plants were damaged. These include Sendai #4, New-Sendai #1 and #2, Haranomachi #1 and #2, Hirono #2 and #4 and\",\n \"#2 and #4 and Hitachinaka #1. Nuclear power plants TheFukushima Daiichi,Fukushima Daini,Onagawa Nuclear Power PlantandTōkai nuclear power stations, consisting of a total eleven reactors, wereautomatically shut downfollowing the earthquake.Higashidōri, also on the northeast coast, was already shut down for a periodic inspection. Cooling is needed to removedecay heatafter aGeneration II reactorhas been shut down, and to maintain spent fuel pools. The backup cooling process is powered by emergency diesel generators at the plants and atRokkasho nuclear reprocessing plant.At Fukushima Daiichi and Daini, tsunami waves overtopped seawalls and destroyed diesel backup power systems, leading to severe problems at Fukushima Daiichi, including three large explosions and radioactive leakage. Subsequent analysis found that many Japanese nuclear plants, including Fukushima Daiichi, were not adequately protected against tsunamis.Over 200,000 people were evacuated. Thedischarge of radioactive water in Fukushimawas confirmed\",\n \"confirmed in later analysis at the three reactors atFukushima I(Units 1, 2, and 3), which suffered meltdowns and continued to leak coolant water. The aftershock on 7 April caused the loss of external power to Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant and Higashidori Nuclear Power Plant but backup generators were functional.Onagawa Nuclear Power Plantlost three of its four external power lines and temporarily lost cooling function in its spent fuel pools for \\\"20 to 80 minutes\\\". A spill of \\\"up to 3.8 litres\\\" of radioactive water also occurred at Onagawa following the aftershock.A report by theIAEAin 2012 found that theOnagawa Nuclear Power Planthad remained largely undamaged. In 2013, only two nuclear reactors in Japan had been restarted since the 2011 shutdowns.In February 2019, there were 42 operable reactors in Japan. Of these, only nine reactors in five power plants were operating after having been restarted post-2011. Fukushima meltdowns Japan declared a state of emergency following the failure of the cooling system at\",\n \"cooling system at theFukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, resulting in the evacuation of nearby residents.Officials from the JapaneseNuclear and Industrial Safety Agencyreported that radiation levels inside the plant were up to 1,000 times normal levels,and that radiation levels outside the plant were up to eight times normal levels.Later, a state of emergency was also declared at theFukushima Daininuclear power plant about 11 km (6.8 mi) south.Experts described the Fukushima disaster was not as bad as theChernobyl disaster, but worse than theThree Mile Island accident. Thedischarge of radioactive water of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plantwas later detected in tap water. Radioactive iodine was detected in the tap water in Fukushima, Tochigi, Gunma, Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama, and Niigata, and radioactive caesium in the tap water in Fukushima, Tochigi and Gunma.Radioactive caesium, iodine, and strontiumwere also detected in the soil in some places in Fukushima. There may be a need to replace the\",\n \"need to replace the contaminated soil.Many radioactive hotspots were found outside the evacuation zone, including Tokyo.Radioactive contamination of food productswere detected in several places in Japan.In 2021, the Japanese cabinet finally approved thedumping of radioactive water in Fukushimainto the Pacific Ocean over a course of 30 years, with full support of IAEA. Incidents elsewhere A fire occurred in the turbine section of theOnagawa Nuclear Power Plantfollowing the earthquake.The blaze was in a building housing the turbine, which is sited separately from the plant's reactor,and was soon extinguished.The plant was shut down as a precaution. On 13 March the lowest-level state of emergency was declared regarding the Onagawa plant as radioactivity readings temporarilyexceeded allowed levels in the area of the plant.Tōhoku Electric Power Co. stated this may have been due to radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accidents but was not from the Onagawa plant itself. As a result of the 7 April\",\n \"of the 7 April aftershock, Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant lost three of four external power lines and lost cooling function for as much as 80 minutes. A spill of a couple of litres of radioactive water occurred at Onagawa. The number 2 reactor atTōkai Nuclear Power Plantwas shut down automatically.On 14 March it was reported that a cooling system pump for this reactor had stopped working;however, the Japan Atomic Power Company stated that there was a second operational pump sustaining the cooling systems, but that two of three diesel generators used to power the cooling system were out of order. Transport Japan's transport network suffered severe disruptions. Many sections ofTōhoku Expresswayserving northern Japan were damaged. The expressway did not reopen to general public use until 24 March 2011.All railway services were suspended in Tokyo, with an estimated 20,000 people stranded at major stations across the city.In the hours after the earthquake, some train services were resumed.Most Tokyo area train lines\",\n \"area train lines resumed full service by the next day—12 March.Twenty thousand stranded visitors spent the night of 11–12 March insideTokyo Disneyland. A tsunami floodedSendai Airportat 15:55 JST,about one hour after the initial quake, causing severe damage.NaritaandHaneda Airportboth briefly suspended operations after the quake, but suffered little damage and reopened within 24 hours.Eleven airliners bound for Narita were diverted to nearbyYokota Air Base. Various train services around Japan were also canceled, withJR Eastsuspending all services for the rest of the day.Four trains on coastal lines were reported as being out of contact with operators; one, a four-car train on theSenseki Line, was found to have derailed, and its occupants were rescued shortly after 8 am the next morning.Minami-Kesennuma Stationon theKesennuma Linewas obliterated save for its platform;62 of 70 (31 of 35) JR East train lines suffered damage to some degree;in the worst-hit areas, 23 stations on 7 lines were washed away, with\",\n \"washed away, with damage or loss of track in 680 locations and the 30-km radius around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant unable to be assessed. There were no derailments ofShinkansenbullet train services in and out of Tokyo, but their services were also suspended.TheTokaido Shinkansenresumed limited service late in the day and was back to its normal schedule by the next day, while theJōetsuandNagano Shinkansenresumed services late on 12 March. Services onYamagata Shinkansenresumed with limited numbers of trains on 31 March. Derailments were minimized because of anearly warning system that detected the earthquakebefore it struck. The system automatically stopped all high-speed trains, which minimized the damage. TheTōhoku Shinkansenline was worst hit, with JR East estimating that 1,100 sections of the line, varying from collapsed station roofs to bent power pylons, would need repairs. Services on the Tōhoku Shinkansen partially resumed only in Kantō area on 15 March, with one round-trip service per hour\",\n \"service per hour betweenTokyoandNasu-Shiobara,and Tōhoku area service partially resumed on 22 March betweenMoriokaandShin-Aomori.Services onAkita Shinkansenresumed with limited numbers of trains on 18 March.Service between Tokyo andShin-Aomoriwas restored by May, but at lower speeds due to ongoing restoration work; the pre-earthquake timetable was not reinstated until late September. The rolling blackouts brought on by the crises at the nuclear power plants in Fukushima had a profound effect on the rail networks around Tokyo starting on 14 March. Major railways began running trains at 10–20 minute intervals, rather than the usual 3–5 minute intervals, operating some lines only at rush hour and completely shutting down others; notably, theTōkaidō Main Line,Yokosuka Line,Sōbu Main LineandChūō-Sōbu Linewere all stopped for the day.This led to near-paralysis within the capital, with long lines at train stations and many people unable to come to work or get home. Railway operators gradually increased capacity\",\n \"increased capacity over the next few days, until running at approximately 80% capacity by 17 March and relieving the worst of the passenger congestion. Telecommunications Cellular and landline phone service suffered major disruptions in the affected area.Immediately after the earthquake cellular communication was jammed across much of Japan due to a surge of network activity. On the day of the quake itself American broadcasterNPRwas unable to reach anyone in Sendai with a working phone or access to the Internet.Internet services were largely unaffected in areas where basic infrastructure remained, despite the earthquake having damaged portions of severalundersea cablesystems landing in the affected regions; these systems were able to reroute around affected segments onto redundant links.Within Japan, only a few websites were initially unreachable.SeveralWi-Fihotspot providers reacted to the quake by providing free access to their networks,and some American telecommunications andVoIPcompanies such\",\n \"such asAT&T,Sprint,Verizon,T-Mobileand VoIP companies such as netTALKandVonagehave offered free calls to (and in some cases, from) Japan for a limited time, as did Germany'sDeutsche Telekom. Defense Matsushima Air Fieldof theJapan Self-Defense Forcein Miyagi Prefecture received a tsunami warning, and the airbase public address 'Tanoy' was used to give the warning: 'A tsunami is coming evacuate to the third floor.' Shortly after the warning the airbase was struck by the tsunami, flooding the base. There was no loss of life, although the tsunami resulted in damage to all 18Mitsubishi F-2fighter jets of the 21st Fighter Training Squadron.Twelve of the aircraft were scrapped, while the remaining six were slated for repair at a cost of 80 billion yen ($1 billion), exceeding the original cost of the aircraft.After the tsunami, elements of theJapanese Maritime Self-Defence Forceput to sea without orders and started rescuing those who had been washed out to sea. Tsunami plans were for the Japanese Self-Defence Force\",\n \"Self-Defence Force assets to be led, directed, and coordinated by local civic governments. However, the earthquake destroyed town halls (the seat of local municipal government), police, and fire services in many places, so the military not only had to respond to but also command rescues. Cultural properties 754cultural propertieswere damaged across nineteen prefectures, including fiveNational Treasures(atZuigan-ji,Ōsaki Hachiman-gū,Shiramizu Amidadō, andSeihaku-ji); 160Important Cultural Properties(including atSendai Tōshō-gū, theKōdōkan, andEntsū-in, with itsWestern decorative motifs); 144Monuments of Japan(includingMatsushima,Takata-matsubara,Yūbikan, and theSite of Tagajō); sixGroups of Traditional Buildings; and fourImportant Tangible Folk Cultural Properties. Stone monuments at the UNESCOWorld Heritage Site:Shrines and Temples of Nikkōwere toppled.In Tokyo, there was damage toKoishikawa Kōrakuen,Rikugien,Hamarikyū Onshi Teien, and the walls ofEdo Castle.Information on the condition of collections held\",\n \"of collections held by museums, libraries and archives is still incomplete.There was no damage to theHistoric Monuments and Sites of Hiraizumiin Iwate Prefecture, and the recommendation for their inscription on theUNESCO World Heritage Listin June was seized upon as a symbol of international recognition and recovery. Aftermath The aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami included a humanitarian crisis and a major economic impact. The tsunami resulted in over 340,000 displaced people in the Tōhoku region, and shortages of food, water, shelter, medicine, and fuel for survivors. In response, the Japanese government mobilized the Self-Defence Forces (under Joint Task Force – Tōhoku, led by Lieutenant GeneralEiji Kimizuka), while many countries sent search and rescue teams to help search for survivors. Aid organizations in Japan and worldwide responded, with the Japanese Red Cross reporting $1 billion in donations. The economic impact included immediate problems, with industrial production suspended in many\",\n \"suspended in many factories, and the longer term issue of the cost of rebuilding, which has been estimated at ¥10 trillion ($122 billion). In comparison to the1995 Great Hanshin earthquake, the East Japan earthquake brought serious damage to an extremely wide range. The aftermath of the twin disasters left Japan's coastal cities and towns with nearly 25 million tons of debris. In Ishinomaki alone, there were 17 trash collection sites 180 metres (590 ft) long and at least 4.5 metres (15 ft) high. An official in the city's government trash disposal department estimated that it would take three years to empty these sites. In April 2015, authorities off the coast ofOregondiscovered debris that was thought to be from a boat destroyed during the tsunami. The cargo containedyellowtail amberjack, a species of fish that lives off the coast of Japan, still alive. KGW estimates that more than 1 million tons of debris still remain in the Pacific Ocean. In February 2016, a memorial was inaugurated by two architects for\",\n \"two architects for the victims of the disaster, consisting of a 6.5-square-metre structure on a hillside between a temple and a cherry tree inIshinomaki. Scientific and research response Seismologists anticipated a very large quake would strike in the same place as the1923 Great Kantō earthquake—in theSagami Trough, southwest of Tokyo.The Japanese government had tracked plate movements since 1976 in preparation for the so-calledTokai earthquake, predicted to take place in that region.However, occurring as it did 373 km (232 mi) north east of Tokyo, the Tōhoku earthquake came as a surprise to seismologists. While theJapan Trenchwas known for creating large quakes, it had not been expected to generate quakes above an 8.0 magnitude.The Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion set up by the Japanese government then reassessed the long-term risk of trench-type earthquakes around Japan, and it was announced in November 2011 that research on the869 Sanriku earthquakeindicated that a similar earthquake with a\",\n \"earthquake with a magnitude ofMw8.4–9.0 would take place off the Pacific coast of northeastern Japan, on average, every 600 years. Also, a tsunami-earthquake with atsunami magnitude scales(Mt) between 8.6 and 9.0 (Similar to the1896 Sanriku earthquake, the Mt for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake was 9.1–9.4) had a 30% chance to occur within 30 years. The quake gave scientists the opportunity to collect a large amount of data to model the seismic events that took place in great detail.This data is expected to be used in a variety of ways, providing unprecedented information about how buildings respond to shaking, and other effects.Gravimetricdata from the quake have been used to create a model forincreased warning timecompared to seismic models, as gravity fields travel faster than seismic waves. Researchers have also analysed the economic effects of this earthquake and have developed models of the nationwide propagation via interfirm supply networks of the shock that originated in the Tōhoku region. After the full\",\n \"After the full extent of the disaster was known, researchers soon launched a project to gather all digital material relating to the disaster into an online searchable archive to form the basis of future research into the events during and after the disaster. The Japan Digital Archive is presented in English and Japanese and is hosted at the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies atHarvard Universityin Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some of the first research to come from the archive was a 2014 paper from the Digital Methods Initiative in Amsterdam about patterns ofTwitterusage around the time of the disaster. After the 2011 disaster, theUnited Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reductionheld itsWorld Conference on Disaster Risk Reductionin Tohoku in March 2015, which produced theSendai Frameworkdocument to guide efforts by international development agencies to act before disasters instead of reacting to them after the fact. At this time Japan's Disaster Management Office (Naikakufu Bosai Keikaku)\",\n \"Bosai Keikaku) published a bi-lingual guide in Japanese and English,Disaster Management in Japan, to outline the several varieties of natural disaster and the preparations being made for the eventuality of each. In the fall of 2016, Japan's National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED; Japanese abbreviation, Bosai Kaken; full name Bousai Kagaku Gijutsu Kenkyusho) launched the online interactive \\\"Disaster Chronology Map for Japan, 416–2013\\\" (map labels in Japanese) to display in visual form the location, disaster time, and date across the islands. TheJapan Trench Fast Drilling Project, a scientific expedition conducted in 2012–2013, drilled ocean-floor boreholes through the fault zone of the earthquake and gathered important data about the rupture mechanism and physical properties of the fault that caused the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Ecological research The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami had a great environmental impact on Japan's eastern coast. The rarity and magnitude\",\n \"and magnitude of the earthquake-tsunami prompted researchersJotaro Urabe, Takao Suzuki, Tatsuki Nishita, and Wataru Makino to study their immediate ecological impacts on intertidal flat communities at Sendai Bay and the Sanriku Ria coast. Pre- and post-event surveys show a reduction in animal taxon richness and change in taxon composition mainly attributed to the tsunami and its physical impacts. In particular,sessileepibenthicanimals and endobenthic animals both decreased in taxon richness. Mobile epibenthic animals, such as hermit crabs, were not as affected. Post-surveys also recorded taxa that were not previously recorded before, suggesting that tsunamis have the potential to introduce species and change taxon composition and local community structure. The long term ecological impacts at Sendai Bay and the greater east coast of Japan require further study. See also 3.11 and aftermath Lists of earthquakes and tsunamis Documentaries and commemoration events Explanatory notes References Further reading\",\n \"Further reading Sources This article incorporates text from afree contentwork. Licensed under Cc BY-SA 3.0 IGO (license statement/permission). Text taken fromDrowning in Plastics – Marine Litter and Plastic Waste Vital Graphics, United Nations Environment Programme. External links\",\n \"Lists of earthquakes Earthquakesare caused by movements within theEarth's crustand uppermostmantle. They range from weak events detectable only byseismometers, to sudden and violent events lasting many minutes which have caused some of the greatest disasters inhuman history. Below, earthquakes are listed by period, region or country, year, magnitude, cost, fatalities, and number of scientific studies. Lists by time period By century By decade By year Lists by location By country By region Deadliest earthquakes The following is a summary list of earthquakes with over approximately 100,000 deaths.The893 Ardabil earthquakeprobably relate to the893 Dvin earthquake, due to misreading of the Arabic word forDvin, 'Dabil' as 'Ardabil'.This is regarded as a 'fake earthquake'. Deadliest earthquakes by year Largest earthquakes by magnitude For those which occurred before the development and deployment ofseismographs– starting around 1900 – magnitudes are estimated from historical reports of the extent and severity of\",\n \"and severity of damage. Pre-instrumental earthquakes List by year List by country/territory Costliest earthquakes This is the top ten major earthquakes by the dollar value of property (public and private) losses directly attributable to the earthquake. Most studied earthquakes The 50 most studied earthquakes according to theInternational Seismological Centre(ISC), based on a count of scientific papers (mostly in English) that discuss that earthquake. The \\\"Event #\\\" is linked to the ISC Event Bibliography for that event. Modified from figure 2, \\\"The most studied events\\\", at the ISC'sOverview of the ISC Event Bibliography. International Seismological Centre.Event Bibliography. Thatcham, United Kingdom.2018. See also References External links\",\n \"1964 Alaska earthquake The1964 Alaskan earthquake, also known as theGreat Alaskan earthquakeandGood Friday earthquake, occurred at 5:36 PMAKSTonGood Friday, March 27, 1964.Across south-centralAlaska, ground fissures, collapsing structures, andtsunamisresulting from the earthquake caused about 131 deaths. Lasting four minutes and thirty-eight seconds, the magnitude 9.2–9.3megathrust earthquakeremains the most powerful earthquake ever recorded inNorth America,and thesecond most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the worldsince modern seismography began in 1900.Six hundred miles (970 km) of fault ruptured at once and moved up to 60 ft (18 m), releasing about 500 years of stress buildup.Soil liquefaction, fissures, landslides, and other ground failures caused major structural damage in several communities and much damage to property.Anchoragesustained great destruction or damage to many inadequatelyearthquake-engineeredhouses, buildings, and infrastructure (paved streets, sidewalks, water and sewer mains,\",\n \"and sewer mains, electrical systems, and other man-made equipment), particularly in the several landslide zones alongKnik Arm. Two hundred miles (320 km) southwest, some areas nearKodiakwere permanently raised by 30 feet (9 m). Southeast of Anchorage, areas around the head ofTurnagain ArmnearGirdwoodandPortagedropped as much as 8 feet (2.4 m), requiring reconstruction and fill to raise theSeward Highwayabove the new hightidemark. InPrince William Sound,Port Valdezsuffered a massive underwater landslide, resulting in the deaths of 32 people between the collapse of theValdezcity harbor and docks, and inside the ship that was docked there at the time. Nearby, a 27-foot (8.2 m) tsunami destroyed the village ofChenega, killing 23 of the 68 people who lived there. The survivors out-ran the wave, climbing to high ground. Post-quake tsunamis severely affectedWhittier,Seward,Kodiak, and other Alaskan communities, as well as people and property inBritish Columbia,Washington,Oregon, andCalifornia.Tsunamis also caused\",\n \"also caused damage inHawaiiandJapan. Evidence of motion directly related to the earthquake was also reported fromFloridaandTexas. Geology On March 27, 1964, at 5:36 p.m. AKST (March 28, at 3:36 a.m.UTC),afaultbetween thePacificandNorth Americanplatesruptured nearCollege Fjordin Prince William Sound. Theepicenterof the earthquake was 12.4 mi (20.0 km) north ofPrince William Sound, 78 miles (126 km) east of Anchorage and 40 miles (64 km) west of Valdez. The focus occurred at a depth of approximately 15.5 mi (24.9 km). Ocean floor shifts created large tsunamis (up to 220 feet (67 m) in height), which resulted in many of the deaths and much of the property damage.Large rockslides were also caused, resulting in great property damage.Vertical displacementof up to 38 feet (12 m) occurred, affecting an area of 100,000 square miles (260,000 km2) within Alaska. Studies ofground motionhave led to apeak ground accelerationestimate of 0.14–0.18g.The earthquake was assigned a maximumModified Mercalli intensityof X\",\n \"intensityof X (Extreme). Shaking was felt across much of Alaska and parts of westernYukonandBritish Columbiain Canada. The Alaska earthquake was asubduction zone(megathrust) earthquake, caused by an oceanic plate sinking under a continental plate. The fault responsible was theAleutian Megathrust, a reverse fault caused by a compressional force. This caused much of the uneven ground which is the result of ground shifted to the opposite elevation.Uplift occurred across 520,000 km2(200,000 sq mi) from southern Kodiak to Prince William Sound and further east of the sound. The maximum uplift was in Montague Island, where the ground was raised 13–15 m (43–49 ft) relative to sea level. The uplift also affected Kodiak, Sitkalidak, and Sitkinak islands. Subsidence was observed for 285,000 km2(110,000 sq mi) from north and west of the sound, in Chugach Mountains, most of Kenai Peninsula, and almost all the Kodiak Island group. Tsunami Two types of tsunami were produced by this subduction zone earthquake. There was a\",\n \"There was a tectonic tsunami produced in addition to about 20 smaller and local tsunamis. These smaller tsunamis were produced by submarine and subaerial landslides and were responsible for the majority of the tsunami damage. Tsunami waves were noted in over 20 countries, including Peru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Japan, Mexico, and in thecontinent of Antarctica. The largest tsunami wave was recorded inShoup Bay, Alaska, with a height of about 220 ft (67 m). Death toll, damage, and casualties As a result of the earthquake, 131 people are believed to have died:Nine died as a result of the earthquake itself and another 122 died from the subsequent tsunamis all over the world.Five died from the tsunami inOregon,and 12 died from the tsunami inCrescent City,California.Property damage was estimated at $116 million($0.87 billion in 2023 dollars). Anchorage area Most damage occurred in Anchorage, 75 mi (121 km) northwest of the epicenter. Anchorage was not hit by tsunamis, butdowntownAnchorage was heavily\",\n \"was heavily damaged, and parts of the city built on sandy bluffs overlying \\\"Bootlegger Coveclay\\\" nearCook Inlet, most notably the Turnagain neighborhood, sufferedlandslidedamage. The neighborhood lost 75 houses in the landslide, and the destroyed area has since been turned intoEarthquake Park.TheGovernment Hill schoolsuffered from theGovernment Hilllandslide, leaving it in two jagged, broken pieces. Land overlooking theShip Creekvalley near theAlaska Railroadyards also slid, destroying many acres of buildings and city blocks in downtown Anchorage. Most other areas of the city were only moderately damaged. The 60-foot (18 m) concrete control tower atAnchorage International Airportwas not engineered to withstand earthquake activity and collapsed, killing William George Taylor, theFederal Aviation Agencyair traffic controller on duty in the tower cab at the time the earthquake began. One house on W. 10th Avenue suffered peripheral damage, but only one block away the recently completed (and still unoccupied)\",\n \"still unoccupied) Four Seasons Building on Ninth Avenue collapsed completely, with the concrete elevator shafts sticking up out of the rubble like a seesaw. The hamlets ofGirdwoodandPortage, located 30 and 40 mi (48 and 64 km) southeast of central Anchorage on theTurnagain Arm, were destroyed by subsidence and subsequent tidal action. Girdwood was relocated inland and Portage was abandoned. About 20 miles (32 km) of the Seward Highway sank below the high-water mark of Turnagain Arm; the highway and its bridges were raised and rebuilt in 1964–66. Elsewhere in Alaska Most coastal towns in the Prince William Sound,Kenai Peninsula, andKodiak Islandareas, especially the major ports ofSeward,WhittierandKodiakwere heavily damaged by a combination of seismic activity,subsidence, post-quake tsunamis and/or earthquake-causedfires. Valdez with 32 dead was not totally destroyed, but after three years, the town relocated to higher ground four miles (6.4 km) west of its original site. SomeAlaska Nativevillages,\",\n \"Nativevillages, includingChenegaandAfognak, were destroyed or damaged.The earthquake caused theballistic missiledetection radar ofClear Air Force Stationto go offline for six minutes,the only unscheduled interruption in its operational history. NearCordova, theMillion Dollar Bridgecrossing theCopper Riveralso suffered damage, with Span #4 slipping off its pylon and collapsing. The community ofGirdwoodwas also confined to the southern side of the Seward Highway when water rushed into Turnagain Arm and flooded or destroyed any buildings left standing to the north of the highway. Only the ground immediately along the highway and that on the north side of the road dropped, prompting geologists to speculate that Girdwood may rest upon an ancient cliff face covered by thousands of years of sediment and glacial deposits. Canada A 4.5 ft (1.4 m) wave reachedPrince Rupert, British Columbia, just south of theAlaska Panhandle, about three hours after the earthquake. The tsunami then reachedTofino, on the exposed west\",\n \"on the exposed west coast ofVancouver Island, and traveled up afjordto hitPort Albernitwice, washing away 55 homes and damaging 375 others. The towns ofHot Springs Cove,Zeballos, andAmaialso saw damage.The damage in British Columbia was estimated at CA$10 million ($96 million in 2023 Canadian dollars or $91 million in 2023 US dollars). Elsewhere Twelve people were killed by the tsunami in or nearCrescent City, California, while four children were killed on the Oregon coast atBeverly Beach State Park.Other coastal towns in the U.S.Pacific NorthwestandHawaiiwere damaged. Minor damage to boats occurred as far south asLos Angeles.Effects of the earthquake were even noted as far east asFreeport, Texas, where tide gauges recorded waves similar toseismic surface waves.Seicheswere detected in wells in countries around the world, including England, Namibia, and Australia. Aftershocks There were hundreds of aftershocks in the first weeks following the main shock. In the first day alone, eleven major aftershocks were\",\n \"aftershocks were recorded with a magnitude greater than 6.0. Nine more struck over the next three weeks. In all, thousands of aftershocks occurred in the months following the quake, and smaller aftershocks continued to strike the region for more than a year. Recovery efforts Alaska had never experienced a major disaster in a highly populated area before, and had very limited resources for dealing with the effects of such an event. In Anchorage, at the urging of geologistLidia Selkregg, the City of Anchorage and the Alaska State Housing Authority appointed a team of 40 scientists, including geologists, soil scientists, and engineers, to assess the damage done by the earthquake to the city.The team, called the Engineering and Geological Evaluation Group, was headed byDr. Ruth A. M. Schmidt, a geology professor at theUniversity of Alaska Anchorage. The team of scientists came into conflict with local developers and downtown business owners who wanted to immediately rebuild; the scientists wanted to identify\",\n \"wanted to identify future dangers to ensure that rebuilt infrastructure would be safe.The team produced a report on May 8, 1964, just a little more than a month after the earthquake. The United States military, which has a large active presence in Alaska, also stepped in to assist within moments of the end of the quake. TheU.S. Armyrapidly re-established communications with the lower 48 states, deployed troops to assist the citizens of Anchorage, and dispatched a convoy to Valdez.On the advice of military and civilian leaders, PresidentLyndon B. Johnsondeclared all of Alaska a major disaster area the day after the quake. TheU.S. NavyandU.S. Coast Guarddeployed ships to isolated coastal communities to assist with immediate needs. Bad weather and poor visibility hampered air rescue and observation efforts the day after the quake, but on Sunday the 29th the situation improved and rescue helicopters and observation aircraft were deployed.A military airlift immediately began shipping relief supplies to Alaska,\",\n \"supplies to Alaska, eventually delivering 2,570,000 pounds (1,170,000 kg) of food and other supplies.Broadcast journalistGenie Chanceassisted in recovery and relief efforts, staying on theKENIair waves over Anchorage for more than 24 continuous hours as the voice of calm from her temporary post within the Anchorage Public Safety Building.She was effectively designated as the public safety officer by the city's police chief.Chance provided breaking news of the catastrophic events that continued to develop following the magnitude 9.2 earthquake, and she served as the voice of the public safety office, coordinating response efforts, connecting available resources to needs around the community, disseminating information about shelters and prepared food rations, passing messages of well-being between loved ones, and helping to reunite families. In the longer term, theU.S. Army Corps of Engineersled the effort to rebuild roads, clear debris, and establish new townsites for communities that had been completely\",\n \"had been completely destroyed, at a cost of $110 million.TheWest Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Centerwas formed as a direct response to the disaster. Federal disaster relief funds paid for reconstruction as well as financially supporting the devastated infrastructure of Alaska's government, spending hundreds of millions of dollars that helped keep Alaska financially solvent until the discovery of massive oil deposits atPrudhoe Bay. At the order of theU.S. Defense Department, theAlaska National Guardfounded theAlaska Division of Emergency Servicesto respond to any future disasters. See also Notes References Specific General External links\"\n]","isConversational":false}}},{"rowIdx":75,"cells":{"question":{"kind":"string","value":"How old would the 1975 winner of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize have been if they were still alive on the date when Rupi Kaur released her book titled, \"Milk and Honey\"?"},"answers":{"kind":"string","value":"90"},"wikipedia_link_1":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winners_of_the_Lenore_Marshall_Poetry_Prize"},"wikipedia_link_2":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cid_Corman"},"wikipedia_link_3":{"kind":"string","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_and_Honey_(poetry_collection)"},"wikipedia_link_4":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_5":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_6":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_7":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_8":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_9":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_10":{"kind":"null"},"wikipedia_link_11+":{"kind":"null"},"reasoning_types":{"kind":"string","value":"Numerical reasoning | Multiple constraints | Post processing | Temporal reasoning"},"wiki_links":{"kind":"string","value":"['https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winners_of_the_Lenore_Marshall_Poetry_Prize', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cid_Corman', 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_and_Honey_(poetry_collection)']"},"urls":{"kind":"list like","value":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winners_of_the_Lenore_Marshall_Poetry_Prize","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cid_Corman","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_and_Honey_(poetry_collection"],"string":"[\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winners_of_the_Lenore_Marshall_Poetry_Prize\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cid_Corman\",\n \"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_and_Honey_(poetry_collection\"\n]","isConversational":false},"content":{"kind":"list like","value":["List of winners of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize TheLenore Marshall Poetry Prizeis administered by theAcademy of American Poetsselected by the New Hope Foundation in 1994. Established in 1975, this $25,000 award recognizes the most outstanding book of poetry published in the United States in the previous year. The Prize was created in 1975 by the New Hope Foundation of Pennsylvania, which was a philanthropic foundation created byLenore Marshalland her husband, James Marshall, to \"support the arts and the cause of world peace\";Lenore Marshall, a poet, novelist, editor, and peace activist, had died in 1971.Receipt of the prize has been among the distinctions noted by theLibrary of Congresswhen thePoet Laureate of the United Statesis named. The Prize was initially administered by theSaturday Reviewmagazine.Following the folding ofSaturday Review, the Prize was administered byThe Nationmagazine.In 1995, administration of the Prize became the responsibility of the Academy; the Prize has a permanent endowment. The Prize is still sponsored byThe Nation, which usually publishes an article about the poetry of each year's finalists and winner. The cash value of the prize is currently $25,000. Winners References","Cid Corman Cid (Sidney) Corman(June 29, 1924 – March 12, 2004)was an Americanpoet, translator and editor, most notably ofOrigin, who was a key figure in the history of American poetry in the second half of the 20th century. Life Corman was born inBoston'sRoxburyneighborhood and grew up nearby in theDorchesterneighborhood. His parents were both fromUkraine. From an early age he was an avid reader and showed an aptitude for drawing and calligraphy. He attendedBoston Latin Schooland in 1941 he enteredTufts University, where he achievedPhi Beta Kappahonours and wrote his first poems. He was excused from service inWorld War IIfor medical reasons and graduated in 1945. Corman studied for hisMaster's degreeat theUniversity of Michigan, where he won the Hopwood poetry award,but dropped out two credits short of completion. After a brief stint at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he spent some time travelling around theUnited States, returning to Boston in 1948. Career Early work Corman's first book, Subluna, was privately printed in 1944. He ran poetry events in public libraries and, with the help of his high-school friendNat Hentoff, he started the country's first poetry radio program. In 1952, Corman wrote: \"I initiated my weekly broadcasts, known asThis Is Poetry, fromWMEX(1510 kc.) in Boston. The program has been usually a fifteen-minute reading of modern verse on Saturday evenings at seven thirty; however, I have taken some liberties and have read from Moby Dick and from stories by Dylan Thomas, Robert Creeley, and Joyce.\" This program featured readings byRobert Creeley,Stephen Spender,Theodore Roethkeand many other Boston-based and visiting poets. He also spent some time at theYaddoartists' retreat inSaratoga Springs. It was about this time that Corman changed his name from Sydney Corman to the simpler \"Cid.\" As Corman indicated in conversation, this name change—similar toWalt Whitman's assumption of Walt over Walter—signaled his beginnings as a poet for the common man. During this period, Corman was writing prolifically and published in excess of 500 poems in about 100 magazines by 1954. He considered this to be a kind of apprenticeship, and none of these poems were ever published in book form. Originand Europe In 1951, Corman beganOriginin response to the failure of a magazine that Creeley had planned. The magazine typically featured one writer per issue and ran, with breaks, until the mid-1980s. Poets featured includedRobert Creeley,Robert Duncan,Larry Eigner,Denise Levertov,William Bronk,Theodore Enslin,Charles Olson,Louis Zukofsky,Clive Faust (Australian Poet),Gary Snyder,Lorine Niedecker,Wallace Stevens,William Carlos Williams,Paul BlackburnandFrank Samperi. The magazine also led to the establishment of Origin Press, which published books by a similar range of poets as well as by Corman himself and which remains currently active. In 1954, Corman won aFulbright Fellowshipgrant (with an endorsement fromMarianne Moore)and moved toFrance, where he studied for a time at theSorbonne. He then moved toItalyto teachEnglishin a small town calledMatera. By this time, Corman had published a number of small books, but his Italian experiences were to provide the materials for his first major work,Sun Rock Man(1962). He also experimented with oral poetry, recording improvised poems on tape. These tapes were later to influence the talk-poems ofDavid Antin, one of the key developments in the emergence ofperformance poetry. At this time he produced the first English translations ofPaul Celan, even though he didn't have the poet's approval. Japan In 1958, Corman got a teaching job inKyotothrough the auspices ofWill Petersenor, according to one account, poetGary Snyder.Here he continued to write and to runOriginand in 1959 he published Snyder's first book,Riprap. He remained in Japan until 1960, when he returned to the States for two years. Back in Japan he married Konishi Shizumi, a Japanese TV news editor. Corman began to translate Japanese poetry, particularly work byBashōand KusanoShimpei. The Cormans spent the years 1980 to 1982 in Boston, where they unsuccessfully tried to establish a number of small businesses. They returned to Kyoto, where they remained, running CC's Coffee Shop in Kyoto, \"offering poetry and western-style patisserie\". Later work Corman has been associated with theBeats,Black Mountain poetsandObjectivists, mainly through his championing as an editor, publisher and critic. However, he remained independent of all groups and fashions throughout his career. Michael Carlson, who contributed toOriginsand corresponded with Corman starting in the 1980s, described Corman's correspondence this way: \"In the days before email his words came by return post, aerogrammes densely typed to take advantage of every inch of space, or postcards printed in his fine hand. They were encouraging, gossipy, and always challenging; he expected everyone to match his commitment to poetry as a way of life. But they also digressed into other shared enthusiasms: in my case his love of baseball andsumowrestling, and often into the difficulties of making a living in expensive Japan.\" He was a prolific poet until his final illness, publishing more than 100 books and pamphlets. In 1990, he published the first two volumes of poems entitled,OF, running to some 1500 poems. These are mostly new works, not a selection of previously published poems. Volume 3, with a further 750 poems appeared in 1998. Volumes 4 and 5 were published as a single book in 2015 to complete the work. Several collections of wide-rangingessayshave been published. His translations (or co-translations) includeBashō'sBack Roads to Far Towns,ThingsbyFrancis Ponge, poems byPaul Celanand collections ofhaiku. Cid Corman did not speak, read, or writeJapanese, even though his co-translation with Susumu Kamaike of Bashō'sOku No Hosomichi(see above) is considered to be one of the most accurate in tone in the English language. Corman also felt himself able to translate fromclassical Chinesewithout so much as a minimal understanding of the language. One of Corman's last appearances in the United States was at the 2003 centennial symposium and celebration in southern Wisconsin that honored his friend and fellow poet,Lorine Niedecker. At the time, Corman spoke warmly about his connection to theFort Atkinson, Wisconsinpoet (playing the only known audio tape of Niedecker reading from her works). Niedecker had died in 1970, shortly after Corman had visited her. As he told friends and admirers during the 2003 gathering, Corman had not returned to theBlack Hawk Islandhaunts of Niedecker since that first (and only) visit with Niedecker. He died inKyoto,Japanon March 12, 2004 after being hospitalized for a cardiac condition since January 2004. References External links","Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_and_Honey_(poetry_collection"],"string":"[\n \"List of winners of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize TheLenore Marshall Poetry Prizeis administered by theAcademy of American Poetsselected by the New Hope Foundation in 1994. Established in 1975, this $25,000 award recognizes the most outstanding book of poetry published in the United States in the previous year. The Prize was created in 1975 by the New Hope Foundation of Pennsylvania, which was a philanthropic foundation created byLenore Marshalland her husband, James Marshall, to \\\"support the arts and the cause of world peace\\\";Lenore Marshall, a poet, novelist, editor, and peace activist, had died in 1971.Receipt of the prize has been among the distinctions noted by theLibrary of Congresswhen thePoet Laureate of the United Statesis named. The Prize was initially administered by theSaturday Reviewmagazine.Following the folding ofSaturday Review, the Prize was administered byThe Nationmagazine.In 1995, administration of the Prize became the responsibility of the Academy; the Prize has a permanent endowment. The Prize is still sponsored byThe Nation, which usually publishes an article about the poetry of each year's finalists and winner. The cash value of the prize is currently $25,000. Winners References\",\n \"Cid Corman Cid (Sidney) Corman(June 29, 1924 – March 12, 2004)was an Americanpoet, translator and editor, most notably ofOrigin, who was a key figure in the history of American poetry in the second half of the 20th century. Life Corman was born inBoston'sRoxburyneighborhood and grew up nearby in theDorchesterneighborhood. His parents were both fromUkraine. From an early age he was an avid reader and showed an aptitude for drawing and calligraphy. He attendedBoston Latin Schooland in 1941 he enteredTufts University, where he achievedPhi Beta Kappahonours and wrote his first poems. He was excused from service inWorld War IIfor medical reasons and graduated in 1945. Corman studied for hisMaster's degreeat theUniversity of Michigan, where he won the Hopwood poetry award,but dropped out two credits short of completion. After a brief stint at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he spent some time travelling around theUnited States, returning to Boston in 1948. Career Early work Corman's first book, Subluna, was privately printed in 1944. He ran poetry events in public libraries and, with the help of his high-school friendNat Hentoff, he started the country's first poetry radio program. In 1952, Corman wrote: \\\"I initiated my weekly broadcasts, known asThis Is Poetry, fromWMEX(1510 kc.) in Boston. The program has been usually a fifteen-minute reading of modern verse on Saturday evenings at seven thirty; however, I have taken some liberties and have read from Moby Dick and from stories by Dylan Thomas, Robert Creeley, and Joyce.\\\" This program featured readings byRobert Creeley,Stephen Spender,Theodore Roethkeand many other Boston-based and visiting poets. He also spent some time at theYaddoartists' retreat inSaratoga Springs. It was about this time that Corman changed his name from Sydney Corman to the simpler \\\"Cid.\\\" As Corman indicated in conversation, this name change—similar toWalt Whitman's assumption of Walt over Walter—signaled his beginnings as a poet for the common man. During this period, Corman was writing prolifically and published in excess of 500 poems in about 100 magazines by 1954. He considered this to be a kind of apprenticeship, and none of these poems were ever published in book form. Originand Europe In 1951, Corman beganOriginin response to the failure of a magazine that Creeley had planned. The magazine typically featured one writer per issue and ran, with breaks, until the mid-1980s. Poets featured includedRobert Creeley,Robert Duncan,Larry Eigner,Denise Levertov,William Bronk,Theodore Enslin,Charles Olson,Louis Zukofsky,Clive Faust (Australian Poet),Gary Snyder,Lorine Niedecker,Wallace Stevens,William Carlos Williams,Paul BlackburnandFrank Samperi. The magazine also led to the establishment of Origin Press, which published books by a similar range of poets as well as by Corman himself and which remains currently active. In 1954, Corman won aFulbright Fellowshipgrant (with an endorsement fromMarianne Moore)and moved toFrance, where he studied for a time at theSorbonne. He then moved toItalyto teachEnglishin a small town calledMatera. By this time, Corman had published a number of small books, but his Italian experiences were to provide the materials for his first major work,Sun Rock Man(1962). He also experimented with oral poetry, recording improvised poems on tape. These tapes were later to influence the talk-poems ofDavid Antin, one of the key developments in the emergence ofperformance poetry. At this time he produced the first English translations ofPaul Celan, even though he didn't have the poet's approval. Japan In 1958, Corman got a teaching job inKyotothrough the auspices ofWill Petersenor, according to one account, poetGary Snyder.Here he continued to write and to runOriginand in 1959 he published Snyder's first book,Riprap. He remained in Japan until 1960, when he returned to the States for two years. Back in Japan he married Konishi Shizumi, a Japanese TV news editor. Corman began to translate Japanese poetry, particularly work byBashōand KusanoShimpei. The Cormans spent the years 1980 to 1982 in Boston, where they unsuccessfully tried to establish a number of small businesses. They returned to Kyoto, where they remained, running CC's Coffee Shop in Kyoto, \\\"offering poetry and western-style patisserie\\\". Later work Corman has been associated with theBeats,Black Mountain poetsandObjectivists, mainly through his championing as an editor, publisher and critic. However, he remained independent of all groups and fashions throughout his career. Michael Carlson, who contributed toOriginsand corresponded with Corman starting in the 1980s, described Corman's correspondence this way: \\\"In the days before email his words came by return post, aerogrammes densely typed to take advantage of every inch of space, or postcards printed in his fine hand. They were encouraging, gossipy, and always challenging; he expected everyone to match his commitment to poetry as a way of life. But they also digressed into other shared enthusiasms: in my case his love of baseball andsumowrestling, and often into the difficulties of making a living in expensive Japan.\\\" He was a prolific poet until his final illness, publishing more than 100 books and pamphlets. In 1990, he published the first two volumes of poems entitled,OF, running to some 1500 poems. These are mostly new works, not a selection of previously published poems. Volume 3, with a further 750 poems appeared in 1998. Volumes 4 and 5 were published as a single book in 2015 to complete the work. Several collections of wide-rangingessayshave been published. His translations (or co-translations) includeBashō'sBack Roads to Far Towns,ThingsbyFrancis Ponge, poems byPaul Celanand collections ofhaiku. Cid Corman did not speak, read, or writeJapanese, even though his co-translation with Susumu Kamaike of Bashō'sOku No Hosomichi(see above) is considered to be one of the most accurate in tone in the English language. Corman also felt himself able to translate fromclassical Chinesewithout so much as a minimal understanding of the language. One of Corman's last appearances in the United States was at the 2003 centennial symposium and celebration in southern Wisconsin that honored his friend and fellow poet,Lorine Niedecker. At the time, Corman spoke warmly about his connection to theFort Atkinson, Wisconsinpoet (playing the only known audio tape of Niedecker reading from her works). Niedecker had died in 1970, shortly after Corman had visited her. As he told friends and admirers during the 2003 gathering, Corman had not returned to theBlack Hawk Islandhaunts of Niedecker since that first (and only) visit with Niedecker. He died inKyoto,Japanon March 12, 2004 after being hospitalized for a cardiac condition since January 2004. References External links\",\n \"Error fetching content: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_and_Honey_(poetry_collection\"\n]","isConversational":false},"chunks_1024_20":{"kind":"list like","value":["List of winners of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize TheLenore Marshall Poetry Prizeis administered by theAcademy of American Poetsselected by the New Hope Foundation in 1994. Established in 1975, this $25,000 award recognizes the most outstanding book of poetry published in the United States in the previous year. The Prize was created in 1975 by the New Hope Foundation of Pennsylvania, which was a philanthropic foundation created byLenore Marshalland her husband, James Marshall, to \"support the arts and the cause of world peace\";Lenore Marshall, a poet, novelist, editor, and peace activist, had died in 1971.Receipt of the prize has been among the distinctions noted by theLibrary of Congresswhen thePoet Laureate of the United Statesis named. The Prize was initially administered by theSaturday Reviewmagazine.Following the folding ofSaturday Review, the Prize was administered byThe Nationmagazine.In 1995, administration of the Prize became the responsibility of the Academy; the Prize has a permanent endowment.","endowment. The Prize is still sponsored byThe Nation, which usually publishes an article about the poetry of each year's finalists and winner. The cash value of the prize is currently $25,000. Winners References","